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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Rep. Rob Wittman, (R-VA), Is Interviewed About Trump Won't Commit To Taiwan Arms Sale, Oil Prices Rises As Summit Yields No Deal To Reopen Hormuz Strait; Trump: Not Asking For "Favors" On Reopening Strait Of Hormuz; Trump: Xi Said He Isn't Going To Give Iran Military Equipment; Understaffing, Poor Medical Care Drive Deaths In Ice Detention; Trump Falsely Accuses NYT & CNN Of Treason Over Iran War Reports. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired May 15, 2026 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:04]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Did President Trump just open the door to the U.S. no longer selling Taiwan defensive arms? The Lead starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think 1980s was a long way. That's a -- that's a big far distance away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: The 1980s is a long way. President Trump revealing his thoughts on the Reagan era commitment to Taiwan, making it sound less like an ironclad promise and more like ancient history. What else the president is revealing about his talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as he heads back to D.C. as China says, it came away from the historic summit with substantial outcomes.
And a rare move from Federal prosecutors in D.C. now seeking the death penalty. The case involves last year's killing of a young couple at the Capitol Jewish museum. Plus a CNN investigation into deaths and at ICE detention centers, finding that many possibly could have been prevented.
Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We start in our world lead President Donald Trump returning home right now from that major summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In addition to making no major deals on trade or tech or fentanyl or the Iran war and other key U.S. priorities, China is saying that they took home something of a win on the highly sensitive issue of Taiwan. Why? Well, because President Trump refused to commit two future U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, even though the U.S. is already bound by the Taiwan Relations Act from 1979 to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
President Trump today on Air Force One, asked about the status of an arms sale to Taiwan, said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I'll make a determination over the next fairly short period.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you're not necessarily going to go ahead? It was your proposal --
TRUMP: To make a determination. I'm going to say I have to speak to the person that right now is, you know, you know who he is, that's running Taiwan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I'll make a determination over the next fairly short period the president says. For those who cannot recall the name of Taiwan's president, including, I suppose, President Trump, his name is Lai Ching-te. Now, President Trump may eventually commit to an arms sale to Taiwan, but his comments that he's thinking about it seemed to leave an opening for the leader of China. And some U.S. and Taiwanese officials have long feared that Trump might be inclined to use Taiwan as something of a bargaining chip to make deals with Xi Jinping. Here's what President Trump said today about President Xi warning the U.S. to not test China when it comes to Taiwan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And on Taiwan, he doesn't want to see a movement for independence. He says, look, you know, we've had it for thousands of years. And then at a certain period of time it left that we would going to get it back. On Taiwan he feels very strongly. I made no commitment either way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So look, under the long standing One China Policy, the United States government has long acknowledged China's position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognized the Chinese Communist Party's claim to Taiwan, which is a self-governing island. Now, China has never actually controlled Taiwan, but China has long vowed to eventually unify Taiwan with the mainland by force if necessary. The president today was also asked if the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would the U.S. defend Taiwan if it came to it?
TRUMP: I don't want to say, I mean, I'm not going to say that. There's only one person that knows that. You know who it is? Me. I'm the only person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Just in case you couldn't hear that because of the Air Force One rumble, would the U.S. defend Taiwan? I don't want to say, the president said.
Now, to be clear, in fairness, while some past presidents, including Joe Biden and George W. Bush, have said explicitly that they would defend Taiwan, historically, the United States government has deliberately avoided clarifying whether it would or would not intervene military in the situ -- militarily in this situation. It's a strategy called strategic ambiguity.
In fact, as we examine President Trump's posture toward China and Taiwan, it's worth a look back to see how that squares against the so called Six Assurances to Taiwan. Now, this is a set of nonbinding but formal U.S. policy principles intended to reassure Taiwan and Congress that the U.S. government will continue supporting Taiwan despite earlier cutting formal diplomatic relations. In August of 1982, President Ronald Reagan, Secretary of State George Shultz laid out these assurances, these Six Assurances, in a cable to Taiwan. And number two of the six states explicitly, the U.S. quote, "has not agreed to consult with the People's Republic of China on arms sales to Taiwan," unquote.
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Now, in this summit with President Xi, President Trump says the subject of arms sales to Taiwan was discussed, quote, "in great detail," unquote. President Trump was asked if he violated these six Reagan era assurances to Taiwan laid out in 1982.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think 1982 is a long way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was.
TRUMP: That's a -- that's a big far distance away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you (inaudible) to do that?
TRUMP: No, I didn't say anything about it, but certainly he, you know, he brought that up. He talked about that to me, obviously. So what am I going to do? Say I don't want to talk to you about it because I have an agreement that was signed in 1982?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: 1982 is a long way away. 1776, also a long way away, but here we are about to celebrate 250 years of freedom since then.
CNN's Will Ripley is in Taipei, Taiwan.
Will, what does Taiwan think about all of this?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're pointing to the remarks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio who said that the U.S. policy on Taiwan remains unchanged and it would be a terrible mistake for China to use force against Taiwan. They're pointing to that as a clear sign that the United States still supports Taiwan. Obviously this headline that was in the newspaper yesterday which says no surprises may have been a little bit premature because that's what Taiwan was hoping for is no surprises. Are these comments on president -- from President Trump on Air Force One a surprise? They certainly are a bit more ambiguous than I think Taiwan was hoping for.
That said, this -- the delay on this 14 billion -- Taiwan's own government just actually approved the funding for that a matter of days ago, even though there was bipartisan approval in U.S. Congress back in January. So if President Trump in the coming days does go ahead and authorize the $14 billion arms package, then Taipei would say that this was just the usual kind of delay that you can expect when you're dealing with such a massive amount. If the can keeps getting kicked down the road longer, that obviously could be seen as President Trump giving a concession to Beijing.
Another really eyebrow raising remark here that people are going to seek clarification about is when President Trump was talking about meeting with the person who runs Taiwan, was he talking about President Lai Ching-te? Because remember, Xi Jinping just met a couple of weeks ago with the opposition leader here in Taiwan, China, Cheng Li-wun, and Xi has been one who's been pushing for less arms sales, less money spent on U.S. made weapons and domestic weapons in general. She's also been accused by some here of parroting Beijing's talking points, particularly when she met with Xi and she's headed to Washington next month, Jake. She said publicly she wants to meet with Trump. Did Xi Jinping throw her name in and say that Trump should meet with her?
And if he did, that would be a whole next level of disruption. And if President Trump's actually going to talk with Taiwan's elected president, that would also be disruptive because he hasn't even gotten authorization to transit through the United States during his presidency. So a lot of questions still unanswered here in Taipei, Jake.
TAPPER: More questions than answers. Will Ripley in Taipei, Taiwan, thanks so much.
Let's talk about all this with Republican Congressman Rob Wittman of the great Commonwealth of Virginia. He serves as the vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee. He also serves on the House Select Committee on China.
Congressman, thanks for joining us. Does it concern you at all that President Trump did not directly and explicitly commit to this arms sale to Taiwan?
REP. ROB WITTMAN (R-VA): Well, as you point out, Jake, Congress has been pretty clear the Taiwan Relations Act, the second tenet of that says the United States is not going to consult with China on defensive arms sales to Taiwan. And we have an obligation there with the $14 billion arms sales that foreign military sale has to take place. We have to stand by our commitments and we have to stand by the conditions of the Taiwan Relations Act.
TAPPER: You mentioned the second assurance of the 19826 assurances that the U.S. will not consult with the Chinese when it comes to selling arms to Taiwan. But it looks as though the president did at least talk to Xi Jinping about these arms sales when he and Xi Jinping -- WITTMAN: Sorry, Jake, I lost you.
TAPPER: Do you not hear me? Congressman?
It looks like we're having some problems with -- we lost him. Well, we're going to get our comms back in order and then we will take a quick break and then we'll bring him back. The perils of modern technology.
President Trump said he had a specific reason for not asking China to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. I'm going to talk about that with someone, a former -- who was a former U.S. Ambassador to China.
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And later, a statement bound to ruffle some feathers. The German chancellor saying he would not advise his kids to come to the U.S. to live in the U.S.
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TAPPER: And we're back with the world lead. Republican Congressman Rob Whitman is back with us after fixing the comms problem.
So Congressman, thanks for joining us. So I was asking you --
WITTMAN: Thank you.
TAPPER: -- about the president's comments today on Taiwan. He did not seem particularly concerned about potentially violating the second of the so-called Six Assurances to Taiwan from 1982 because he did in fact discuss arms sales to Taiwan with the President of Tai -- of China. Do you think these Six Assurances are still valid U.S. policy? The president was talking about 1982 being a long time ago.
WITTMAN: Jake, yes, they are. They were determined to be put in place by Congress. They haven't been changed or removed by Congress, so they still stand regardless they went -- when they went into effect. So yes, they are still the policy of this nation.
TAPPER: Are you afraid at all when you hear comments like President Trump sounding at least ambivalent on arms sales or on assurance number two?
WITTMAN: Well, I hope what he's doing is giving himself some room so he can have those discussions with folks in the Pentagon, with folks in Congress to make sure he has a full scope of everybody's thoughts and ideas on what this policy is today and that we should stick by it. I think that's going to be key going forward.
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TAPPER: The summit yielded some nebulous agreements on agricultural purchases, commitments on oil purchases, some talk about opening sales up when it comes to microchips to China. No firm deal to get China's help to push Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said tariffs didn't even come up. Did you think that the -- this was going to be the sum total of what the U.S. came away with at the end of the summit?
WITTMAN: Well, it's good to have those discussions, Jake, and we want to make sure we figure out where can we reach agreement. I'd like, obviously, to achieve more, but having those discussions and at least opening that door, I think is positive. It should lead to further discussions to hopefully open up more of China's economy to the United States, also to address unfair trade practices by China. That's what deeply concerns me, is making sure that we are on a level playing field with China.
China doesn't play by the rules. And when they don't, it hurts the United States. So I hope that these discussions at least got us to a point to have a frank discussion about making sure that they play by the rules.
TAPPER: I'm sure you hear a lot -- you're hearing a lot from your constituents about the fact that gas costs an average of $4.53 per gallon. Today, polls show Americans blame Trump and the Iran War for these rising costs. This week you were one of a majority to vote against the War Powers Resolution, which would limit President Trump's ability to wage military actions against Iran. Is there a point at which you're willing to say, I don't want to be involved -- I don't want the U.S. to be involved in this war anymore. I'm out?
WITTMAN: Sure. Well, right now this military action is in a cease fire. So I want to give the president the maximum flexibility to make sure he gets to a good place with this, gets the Straits of Hormuz opened again, make sure, too, that we work with allies in the region to assure a safe and stable Middle East. So I think you have to provide room for that to happen. And that's where I am at this particular point.
We'll see how things unfold in the future. But I think the president needs that flexibility to make sure that we get to a point to settle the Middle East, open the straits and get things flowing like oil and commerce through the Gulf.
TAPPER: Republican Congressman Rob Wittman of Virginia, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
On his way back from Beijing today --
WITTMAN: Thanks so much, Jake.
TAPPER: -- President Trump indicated to reporters he and Xi see eye to eye on Trump's oft repeated bottom line in Iran, that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He said that very strongly they cannot have a nuclear weapon. And he wants them to open up the strait. But as he said, they closed it and then you closed them with a smile. And it's true, we control the strait.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: We're joined now by Nicholas Burns, who was the U.S. ambassador to China during the Biden administration.
Ambassador Burns, thanks for joining us. So if, as you heard the president say, the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz, why is it still effectively blocked by the Iranians?
NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA, BIDEN ADMIN.: Well, I was intrigued by the Iranian -- the Chinese answers at the summit. The Chinese have held for 20 years, Jake, that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. That's a consistent position. And throughout this entire war, the Chinese had been calling for the strait to be reopened without a toll keeper. That would be Iran.
But they're closely aligned with Iran. So I just don't know -- I'm skeptical that the Chinese are going to go beyond these basic statements of policy that are of long standing and really lean into the Iranians and use their leverage to convince the Iranians to do something that's probably not in Iran's interest. Because, as you know, China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are all working together on Ukraine, and China's been a strategic partner of Iran. So I hope that -- I think President Trump was right to ask, by the way.
TAPPER: Yes.
BURNS: I hope that the Chinese will use leverage. But knowing the Chinese, they don't always uphold their commitments.
TAPPER: Here's something else the president said today about the Strait of Hormuz. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did President Xi make any firm commitment to put pressure on the Iranians to reopen the Strait of Hormuz?
TRUMP: I'm not asking for any favors, because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return. We don't need favors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Just to reiterate for you or anyone else that couldn't hear that particularly well because of the Air Force One. Did President Xi make any firm commitment to put pressure on the Iranians to reopen the strait? And the president said, I'm not asking for any favors. When you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return. We don't need favors.
What do you think about that?
BURNS: You know, I think if we raise this issue of Iran at the negotiating table yesterday, and the president said yesterday that he was delighted he said this to Sean Hannity of Fox News that Xi Jinping offered to be of help. So I think if you're Chinese listening to this and the president raised the Iran issue and raised the problem of Iran not complying with what we want, I think the message that the Chinese probably heard is, please help us with this. I don't blame President Trump for doing that. China as an upstanding -- it considers itself an upstanding member of the international community, so it should help. This is one of the major international waterways that affects the global economy.
[17:20:07]
I just am not sure that the Chinese are going to give up this close strategic relationship with Iran. And, you know, the Chinese are comfortable with the United States getting caught in the quicksand of the Middle East. So we can't concentrate so much on the Indo Pacific.
TAPPER: There was a lot of speculation before the summit that President Trump would bring up the matter of China supplying weapons to Iran. Listen to something else that Trump told Hannity yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: You've been asked about it and you've spoken about it, and that is China's support of Iran. How big a discussion was that today?
TRUMP: We discussed it. I mean, when you say support, they're not fighting a war with us or anything.
HANNITY: No.
TRUMP: He said he's not going to give military equipment. That's a big statement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I mean, the president might think it's a big statement, but take a listen to what the commander of CENTCOM told the Senate hearing yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Is it fair to say that the -- that the Chinese are providing intelligence to the Iranians to help them target U.S. forces?
ADM. BRAD COOPER, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: So I think best to talk about anything regarding intelligence in a classified manner. What I can say is the Iranian military is largely made up of Russian and Chinese equipment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: What's your reaction to all that?
BURNS: My reaction, Jake, is that China has been a strategic military partner of Iran since the 1980s, and it's waxed and waned. But they've been pretty close. And I would say when the Chinese look out in the world, they see key strategic partners. Russia, certainly, President Putin will be in Beijing next week. North Korea, Iran, all of them are working together to support the Russian war machine in Ukraine, for instance.
So we can't take at face value what the Chinese leadership tells us. President Obama was told by President Xi more than 10 years ago, we're not going to militarize the islands of the South China Sea. They went ahead and did it. They say -- they've said repeatedly, we're not conducting cyberattacks against the American grid and the American economy but our FBI director, Chris Wray, said they were. And so I think you've got to be a little bit skeptical of commitments made even by Xi Jinping to American presidents.
TAPPER: Ambassador Nicholas Burns, thank you so much, sir. Always good to have you on.
Coming up next, the rare move by federal prosecutors in D.C. to pursue the death penalty. This is for the individual who killed the couple who met at the Israeli embassy and then were shot to death outside the Capitol Jewish Museum.
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JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR DC: My message to anyone who seeks to commit political violence in this district, D.C. is not the place. You will be held accountable and you will face the full wrath of the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: That was the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, earlier today as the Justice Department announced it will seek the death penalty for the man who killed that young couple at the Capitol Jewish Museum. You might remember Jaron Lisinski and Sarah Lynn Milgrim. They worked for the Israeli embassy here in Washington, D.C. According to the indictment, the gunman shouted "free Palestine" before the deadly shooting and later told police, quote, "I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza," unquote.
CNN's Katelyn Polantz is with me.
Katelyn, tell us more about this decision.
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Jake, it's not that much of a surprise because the U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro and the Trump administration, they have wanted capital cases and they've wanted this one to be a capital case. It has these allegations of essentially a hate crime, a political motivation of Elias Rodriguez for shooting these two people. He will, as of now, face trial.
The question was whether when he goes to trial, would the jury be asked to weigh in on his crimes? Would they also be asked then to weigh separately whether he should be put to death, if that would be the sentence? That is the way that it works in the federal system. But D.C. does not have cases like this. So since the current federal death penalty law came into existence in 1988, there have only been two federal death penalty cases in Washington, D.C. and obviously none at the state or district court level, the Superior Court, because the D.C. citizens did not want death penalties.
Both of those ended in those juries declining to put the defendants to death. And the last one that happened it was in 2003. That case, it was called Murder, Inc. There were about two dozen murders that the two defendants there were tried and convicted on. And the jury was able to come to the decision that they were guilty on everything, but they refused to come to an agreement on capital punishment.
And so this is a city where, if you ask people who tried that case, people who watch the courts, even people in the federal courthouse now, they would say, this is not a city that will ever approve the death penalty. And so this case is going to be quite significant for the Justice Department to even mount a case like this against someone like Elias Rodriguez.
TAPPER: So it'll ultimately be decided by a jury, though, right? A federal jury here in Washington, D.C. How is Jeanine Pirro's track record so far as U.S. attorney when it comes to juries?
POLANTZ: Well, this is the other thing I'm hearing in the federal court every time I'm over there, which is pretty frequently that she is losing the juries. She is really struggling with juries. We had seen some juries refusing to approve indictments at the grand jury level. That's the secret grand jury proceedings. But then since the beginning of this year, she's had a really mixed record in a district where sometimes there are juries that will nullify or will acquit defendants.
[17:30:19]
Now, it is almost every other case where there is an acquittal or a hung jury that can't reach an agreement that happens in a lot of different things. But this case is going to be a real test for if the administration has lost juries. And it wouldn't be a very insignificant thing, either.
The previous Murder, Inc. jury, they called one percent of the city's population and it went on for almost a year.
TAPPER: Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up next, a CNN investigation. It's an exclusive into a number of deaths at ICE detention centers, a troubling link in several cases. The point to substandard treatment and medical teams significantly understaffed.
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[17:35:24] TAPPER: In our National Lead, 10 minutes. That's how long a witness says it took medics at a remote ICE detention center in Southern California to respond to an inmate struggling to breathe, even as his cellmates were calling for help, 10 minutes. Fifty-two-year-old Jose Ramos is one of nearly 50 detainees who have died in ICE custody since President Trump took office. An exclusive investigation led by CNN's Priscilla Alvarez reveals many of these deaths appear to have been preventable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTONIA TOVAR, HUSBAND DIED IN ICE DETENTION (through audio translation): Very hard. That is why I tell my tree. I tell it my husband won't be eating its avocados anymore.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER (voice-over): Antonia Tovar's husband, Jose Ramos, died in March, only about a month after being detained by immigration officials. He's now one of nearly 50 ICE detainees who have died since President Donald Trump's return to office.
TOVAR (through audio translation): They used to call him "big hands" at work because he was muscular, right?
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Ramos came to the U.S. nearly 30 years ago. Last year, he was charged with theft and possession of a controlled substance and was placed in a diversion program, which meant that if completed, those charges would have been dismissed.
ALVAREZ: We know from ICE that Jose was arrested on February 23rd. His wife said they were making a stop here at the Superior Courthouse in Torrance so he could deliver some paperwork.
TOVAR (through audio translation): There's his truck. That one.
ALVAREZ (through audio translation): This one?
ALVAREZ: OK. That's their car.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Antonia told us she briefly stepped away and when she looked back, she saw this.
Antonio worried about Ramos' medical conditions, diabetes and high blood pressure. He was sent to the Adelanto ICE processing center, about two hours from where they lived. According to ICE records, Ramos went through a medical intake and was prescribed medications.
GLORIA RAMOS, FATHER DIED IN ICE DETENTION: I don't think it really hit me until I walked into the room and I saw him.
ALVAREZ: What was that feeling like?
RAMOS: And when I walked into the room, his back was towards us and we walked in and I walked towards him and he was just sitting there looking down. ALVAREZ: We're driving to the Adelanto detention facility. This is where Jose was held for several weeks and it's one of many facilities across the United States where ICE holds detainees. As you can see in this case, it is in a pretty remote area of California, about an hour and a half or more outside of Los Angeles. Now, Adelanto had stopped accepting new detainees because of a federal judge during the coronavirus pandemic, but that was lifted in January of 2025. And since then, the population ballooned from around three people to nearly 2,000.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): A CNN investigation found that deadly outcomes in more than a dozen cases could, at times, be linked to substandard treatment at facilities where populations are rapidly growing. At Adelanto, four people in detention have died since 2025.
A spokesperson for GEO Group, the private company that operates Adelanto, did not answer questions about Ramos's death, but told CNN that the company provides detainees with, "around-the-clock access to medical care" and is, "independently accredited by industry groups."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This call is subject to recording and monitoring. Press 1 to accept the call.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): We spoke to one of Ramos's cellmates, Marco Martinez, who called for help when Ramos collapsed.
MARCO MARTINEZ, ICE DETAINEE: The guard didn't do anything at all. Like he just sat there and watched him shake, and it got to a point where his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he still didn't do anything. The medical showed up, but they didn't show up until another 10 minutes.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): According to a public ICE detainee death report, a registered nurse arrived one minute after a guard first noticed Ramos in medical distress and began providing aid. Emergency medical care services arrived 10 minutes later and began administering care. Ramos was transferred to a nearby hospital and was pronounced dead three minutes after he arrived.
ROB BONTA (D), CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Lack of adequate health care staffing has been a theme across the facilities, including in Adelanto.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): The California attorney general has the unique authority, as of 2017, to inspect detention facilities in the state. The AG's office exclusively shared those findings with CNN.
[17:39:58]
BONTA: I think a big part of the really difficult set of results and data that we're seeing, including the deaths, is the surge in number of detainees and the complete inability and unpreparedness of the facilities.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Ramos' family still has not been notified of the cause of death. The uncertainty over what happened is a living nightmare.
TOVAR (through audio translation): My god. We want justice. Let justice be served, because my husband did not deserve to die.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALVAREZ: Now, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security disputed that there has been a spike in deaths. They gave us this statement, which says, "consistent with data over the last decade, as of April 30th, death rates in custody under the Trump administration are 0.009 percent of the detained population. They went on to say that as bed space has rapidly expanded. We have maintained higher a standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens, including providing access to proper medical care." Of course, Jake, Ramos' family is still trying to get answers as to what happened in his final moments.
TAPPER: Powerful piece. Thank you, Priscilla. Appreciate it.
President Trump is set to arrive back in D.C. in the next hour. Why he accused a reporter traveling with him on Air Force One of treason.
Plus, the world leader who says he would advise his kids to not live in the U.S. right now if they can avoid it. Hear his reasoning coming up.
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[17:46:07]
TAPPER: In our World Lead, President Trump had some choice words on Air Force One for the widely respected New York Times national security reporter and CNN analyst, David Sanger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I had a total military victory, but the fake news, guys like you write incorrectly. You're a fake guy and guys like you write about it incorrectly. We had a total military victory. I actually think it's sort of treasonous what you write, but you and "The New York Times" and CNN, you should be ashamed of this. I actually think it's treason when you write like they're doing well militarily.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: This is all part of a Trump campaign. Here's a Truth Social post from earlier this week. "When the fake news says that the Iranian enemy is doing well militarily against us, it's virtual treason in that it is such a false and even preposterous statement. They are aiding and abetting the enemy. All it does is give Iran false hope when none should exist."
So two important points here. One, "The New York Times" has not reported that the Iranians are doing, "well" militarily, nor has CNN. "The New York Times" and CNN have reported, as is accurate, that despite devastating U.S. and Israeli blows to the Iranian military and Iranian leadership, the Iranians continue to have some military abilities.
Three days ago, "The Times" reported that U.S. intelligence shows Iran retains substantial missile capabilities, "operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz." On April 2nd, CNN reported U.S. intelligence assessed, "half of Iran's missile launchers roughly were intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran's arsenal." And yesterday, CNN did an analysis noting the intelligence contradicts Trump's assertions about how obliterated Iran's military actually is.
All of what "The Times" and CNN have reported is 100 percent true. This is what the intelligence run by Trump administration agencies is assessing. Now, the second point, reporting these facts isn't treason and it's deranged for any president to say such a thing and potentially dangerous for the reporters he's accusing of treason. As defined in the U.S. Constitution, treason is levying war against the U.S. or adhering to its enemies and giving them aid and comfort.
This has been defined in courts as concrete actions with traitorous intent, not reporting facts. Was it treason when the news media reported the fall of Saigon in 1975? Was it treasonous when we here at CNN reported that the Taliban had taken over Kabul during the disastrous U.S. exit from Afghanistan in 2021? Of course not. Of course it wasn't treasonous.
Treason, of course, is punishable by death potentially, which is all part of the point of the President's accusation. He wants to intimidate news media to not report anything that doesn't please him or adhere to what he's trying to tell the American people, facts be damned. The President's real issue here is not with us. It is with the facts that we are reporting and with the intelligence reports that contradict his claims.
His real issue is the fact that the war isn't over. And it seems his real issue is that there are still some of us willing to tell the American people these facts despite his best efforts.
Joining us now is the panel. And I just -- I only want to talk about this for one more question, but I do want to share with "The New York Times." A spokesperson said to me after Trump said this about David Sanger and CNN and "Times," "President Trump seems to misunderstand this fundamental role for a free press in a democracy and particularly its responsibility to examine the reality underlying government pronouncements and question their accuracy if the evidence points that way. It's independent reporting and the core of our responsibilities." Jamil, I'm sure that you're not a big fan of this accusing reporters of treason thing.
JAMIL JAFFER, FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SECURITY INSTITUTE: No, I mean, it's crazy. Look, the reality is that the whole point we have a First Amendment, the whole reason we have a free press, the reason we have news media is we want them to question our politicians. We want them to question the story, the narrative.
[17:50:06] It's exactly what the conservative media that I'm on all the time does when it questioned Joe Biden and Barack Obama, when they said things that weren't accurate, when they talked about the economy and how good it was doing. That's what you want the news media doing and calling it treasonous is actually the opposite of what America believes in. It's the opposite of what presidents should be doing. It's the opposite of what our constitution and our entire system of government teaches us.
TAPPER: And Sabrina, having been at the Pentagon, we -- when the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was going on, I'm sure you were not a fan of a lot of what we were reporting or even the tone with which we said it, but you never accused us of being treasonous.
SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: There were -- no, I didn't. And there were many stories that were reported by CNN, by other outlets that we certainly took issue with, whether it was the withdrawal from Afghanistan or whether it was the war in Ukraine. And then post, you know, some of our capabilities surging in the Middle East and, you know, especially against the fight against the Houthis. I remember, you know, we were saying we're degrading their capabilities and there'd be reporting saying, well, actually, you're not.
And of course, you can have frustrations with that. But in no means would we ever say that reporting or asking us questions was wrong or treasonous. And I think that was also the point of having those briefings and the podium. Those are the reasons why journalists are there to ask those tough questions to an administration.
TAPPER: Yes. Let's turn to something Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz said today during a panel discussion in Germany, "I am a great admirer of America, but my admiration is not growing at the moment. However, I wouldn't recommend that my children go to the U.S. today, get their education there and work there simply because a social climate has suddenly developed there." Jamil, your reaction?
JAFFER: Well, I mean, that's ridiculous. Look, the reality is that a lot of people want to come to America because America is still the greatest country in the world. We may have our problems. We may have disagreements politically. We may have the President talk about treason and reporters. But the reality is that Germans should come here. Living in Germany, you're not going to have a small opportunity to grow your capabilities, your skill set. You're not going to innovate.
The reality is that this country is still the greatest country in the world. We're the ones developing the cutting edge A.I. We're the ones with the most, most, most intellectual population in the world. We do ourselves harm, no question. But the idea that the world's population doesn't want to or shouldn't come here is ridiculous. And Friedrich Merz is wrong about that.
TAPPER: Let's talk about what President Trump said when it came to Taiwan and China today, because the President said he made no commitment either way when it came to whether the U.S. would defend China and then also wouldn't really commit about whether or not he would sell weapons to Taiwan. I know this is a complicated issue for every president. And, you know, people thought that President Biden was over his skis when he once he called Xi a dictator. You guys had to walk that back. He said he would absolutely defend Taiwan if China attacked. I mean that was -- I remember that causing a lot of agita, sleepless nights. But what do you make of all this?
SINGH: Well, what President Trump said today would essentially be a break in U.S. policy, I mean, for a very long time. And like you said, many presidents have wrestled with this, this idea of strategic ambiguity. And it's a really hard line to walk. But if the President says that we might be or he might be reviewing the idea that we're going to hold back a weapons sales package to Taiwan, not only would that break with U.S. policy, but that would give President Xi a win. I mean, that's exactly what China wants. And that is exactly what the summit that's what he wanted to come out of the summit was for the United States to say, you know what, we're going to put a pause in our support.
And I do think the president walked into these meetings in China with the weaker hand. The President, the war in Iran loomed over the President. And I think what the president really wanted to come out of these meetings was China to say to Iran, you're going to open up the straight and you're going to do it now. And they didn't walk away with that commitment. They walked away with a few trade agreements. And, you know, I guess, President Xi is going to send some roses back. But at the end of the day, if the commitment is that the President is going to review arms sales to Taiwan, that is a huge victory to China.
TAPPER: What do you think?
JAFFER: Well, to be clear, the president said he's looking at it. He didn't make any determinations. And let's be clear, President Trump has sent the largest package of any weapons sale ever in history to Taiwan. So the idea is not doubling down on it. Still unclear. We'll see how this plays out. If he does that, that would be a huge mistake. But it's not clear he's going to do that. And he has been very aggressive and lean forward on the Taiwan front.
I do agree that he went into this thing with the wrong idea to all bring all these CEOs, not a great look, looking like we're the supplicants here. That was a mistake. He gave away. I mean, he's he views us as a top negotiator. And yet he keeps giving away negotiating leverage, whether it's with the Iranians or the Russians over Ukraine or with China over trade.
I don't get the play. The right play with all these people, Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese is played from strength. Donald Trump knows how to do that. For whatever reason, he doesn't seem to be playing that out right now. He's got to go back to his normal move, negotiate from position strength. He's not doing it.
TAPPER: All right. Thanks to both. I really appreciate it.
[17:54:53]
In Colorado today, the governor granted clemency to Tina Peters. Tina Peters. Peters is the former election clerk. He's in prison for her part in letting people have access to election machines. After years of complaint from President Trump, the Democratic governor is letting her out of prison now. Stay with us.
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TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, President Trump set to arrive back in these here United States soon after a whirlwind trip to China. But the two days of meetings ended without any real agreements in significant ways on key issues. So is the President bringing home any wins?
Plus, as the White House tried to reassure the public that the Hantavirus outbreak is under control, they rolled out a physician who until recently specialized in penile implants and hosted a YouTube show called Erection Connection. Why was this doctor, who has little public health experience and a history of promoting conspiracy theories, given this job?
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