Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Party Infighting Threatens to Derail Midterms; Heat Wave to Smash Records; One-on-One With Ford CEO Jim Farley. Trump: New Air Force One "The World's Most Luxurious Plane"; Venezuela Official: Earthquake Death Toll Rises To 2,295. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 01, 2026 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, the midterm elections are quickly approaching, but instead of aiming their fire at each other, the two parties are embroiled in civil wars. House Speaker Mike Johnson sending Republicans home as their agenda is derailed by GOP hardliners, while another Democratic socialist knocks out another longtime Democratic incumbent.

What is the path forward for these parties? I'm going to ask a member of each party, each stuck in the middle of the chaos, in moments.

[18:00:03]

Also, nearly half of all Americans are facing heat alerts as a major heat wave settles in across the Eastern United States, here in the nation's capital, where America 250 celebrations are already underway. It's set to be the hottest ever Fourth of July ever recorded in Washington, D.C. We're going to the CNN Weather Center for an update on this dangerous forecast.

Plus, speaking of America 250, we're going to go one-on-one with the CEO of Ford at their company's new exhibit celebrating American innovations. Hear what CEO Jim Farley has to say about ongoing threats from China, the growing importance of A.I., and the tens of thousands of jobs that Ford is trying to fill.

And we're less than two hours away from a do-or-die for Team USA in the World Cup. A victory means advancing to the final 16. A loss, and the team's run is over. Fans are already packing the streets and the stands for the high-stakes game. That's ahead.

The Lead tonight, the intraparty upsets threatening the future of both the Democratic and Republican coalitions. In Colorado, Democratic socialists strike again with 29-year-old Melat Kiros defeating the progressive incumbent who's been in office since before Kiros was born amid a wave of left flank wins nationwide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELAT KIROS (D), COLORADO CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: We will not wait to put an end to the politics of the past, to get big money out of our politics.

This is about something so much bigger than this moment, than one moment. This is a movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The socialist surge is sending shudders throughout the Democratic establishment, party leaders now trying to confront its far left members and their frequently controversial views.

Meanwhile, a Republican rebellion stalls key bills on Capitol Hill over the lack of Senate support for President Trump's Save America Election Security Act. House Speaker Mike Johnson spent the entire -- sent the entire House home last night early without a vote on the National Defense Bill.

And joining me now, Republican Congressman James Comer from Kentucky. He is the chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

So, this group of Republican hardliners yesterday voted down what was essentially a compromise from Speaker Johnson. He was trying to put the Save America Act, the president's favored election security bill, onto the defense bill, the National Defense Authorization Act. He was trying to add it as an amendment. And they voted it down, saying the strategy wasn't good enough. What do you make of what happened?

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Well, I've had to deal with a few of these Republicans that continue to tank the procedural votes. They join with the Democrats to tank even the rules to begin discussion on the bill. I mean, we can't even vote on the bill, much less debate a bill.

I mean, it's very frustrating to be in Congress right now. And I felt like Speaker Johnson gave them what they initially asked for, even though we've already passed the Save America Act, and it's in the Senate. According to Thune, they don't have the votes to pass it. But then those members led by, you know, my friend and colleague, Anna Paulina Luna, they rejected that.

So, sometimes I feel like some of those Republicans don't know when to declare victory in many of the crusades that they lead, and I believe in the cause but punishing the House for inaction in the Senate is not a good strategy for Republicans moving forward in the House of Representatives.

TAPPER: President Trump, as is required by law, filed his financial disclosures for 2025 and revealed he had made an eye-popping $2.2 billion last year including more than $1 billion from crypto-related ventures. Today, he's showing off the new Air Force One gifted by Qatar that was retrofitted using taxpayer funds and is probably going to end up with him in Florida, perhaps at the Trump Library. He's denying any conflict of interest concerns.

Obviously, you investigated the Biden family over potentially improper financial activities related to ties to power, whether Biden as vice president or president. Do any of President Trump's activities concern you?

COMER: Well, first of all, the difference in Trump and Biden is Trump's putting them on his disclosure form. So, he's being transparent about the great amount of wealth that he's accumulated over the past 12 months. Whereas the Biden family were not transparent and to this day have not admitted what I believe you and I have talked about before. They were taking money from other countries.

Now, do I like what President Trump's doing? I mean, that's, you know, obviously another discussion. But at the end of the day, what he's done is he's filled out his disclosure form, and I don't think he's left anything out.

[18:05:02]

So, he's in compliance with the law.

I think the laws should be looked at with respect to, you know, what assets and what type of income a president and their family should be allowed to earn while the president's in office.

We've never had a president that was a businessman. We've had presidents like Jimmy Carter that had a little business about the size of my small business back in Kentucky, but we've never had a mega multi-millionaire or now billionaire president. And, you know, I think that in the future we're probably going to have more businesspeople that are elected president in both parties.

So, I think that there's going to be some discussion about ethics laws and things moving forward. But to answer your question, Jake, it doesn't appear to me that President Trump's done anything illegal.

TAPPER: Well, that's not really necessarily the question though, right? The question is whether or not he's financially benefiting from the presidency in terms of crypto, in terms of people going to Mar-a- Lago. It amounts to more than $2 billion. And then, of course, you have his kids, his sons, Eric and Don Jr., who are entering into various ventures that foreign governments that do business with their dad and need their dad are working with them on, whether it's that tungsten mine or all the crypto investments. None of this raises eyebrows for you?

COMER: Well, yes, I mean, there are a lot of things that raise eyebrows to me when it comes to ethics and financial disclosure. But, again, they're disclosing that, and that's a big difference between the Trump family and the Biden family.

Now the question is, should Congress do something about this moving forward? I actually had a bill last year with Katie Porter, a Democrat from California, who, unfortunately, no longer is in Congress, she ran for governor of California, but we had an ethics bill that would have required more financial disclosures from the president of the United States and the president's family. But Jamie Raskin blocked the bill from getting out of the House Oversight Committee. And it's very unfortunate because I think that would have created more transparency. But, again, it didn't make illegal what the Trump family's done. I do think, Jake, that there will be many discussions about this scenario moving forward in Congress, and I can see a scenario where the next president will have much stricter financial disclosure laws and probably rules pertaining to what is allowable with respect to foreign business transactions from not just a president, but his immediate family.

TAPPER: Let's talk about the House Oversight investigation into Jeffrey Epstein that you're leading. Yesterday, you heard from longtime Clinton aide -- Bill Clinton aide, Doug Band, who had, according to Congresswoman Nancy Mace, walked back a claim that he had made in 2003 to Vanity Fair that President Clinton had visited Epstein's island. What more can you tell us about that?

COMER: Yes, we'll be releasing that transcript as soon as all the lawyers agree to it, so hopefully by Monday or Tuesday. But she's correct in what she said. We all knew going into this interview that Doug Band had said to Vanity Fair that President Trump had visited the island, and he was President Trump's scheduler and assistant.

And with president -- or with President Clinton, rather, he said President Clinton had been to the Epstein island, excuse me. And he was President Clinton's assistant and had gone with President Clinton on all the Epstein flights.

So, when we asked President Clinton in his interview, he said he had never been to the island. So, this was a very important question that I knew Doug Band would be expecting, and he said that the Vanity Fair essentially misquoted him. And we asked Doug Band, well, did you try to correct it with Vanity Fair? And he said, no.

So, that's a pretty big omission there, but that was what he stated under oath that President Clinton did not attend or ever visit Epstein island even though Vanity Fair quoted him as saying he did, and one of the Epstein victims also said that she saw President Clinton on the island.

So, that's what we got out of that transcribed interview, and that interview was like so many others that we've had where many of these men just couldn't recall. They just couldn't recall the activities or the surroundings when they spent time with Epstein. They admitted to spending a lot of time with Epstein only because there's emails and travel records that show they were with Epstein. But just so many of these men just can't recall the exact details of that.

And it's been a pretty frustrating investigation, but I do think that, you know, we're making progress. We're getting names. We're referring those names back to the Department of Justice of people that, according to the victims, were abused in Jeffrey Epstein's presence.

[18:10:03]

TAPPER: All right. Republican Congressman, Chairman James Comer, thank you so much for your time today, sir. Have a happy 4th of July.

COMER: Thank you, Jake. I appreciate it. TAPPER: Let's turn now to the divide in the Democratic Party. Here with me to discuss is Colorado Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper.

Senator Hickenlooper, you managed to fend off a challenge in your Democratic primary yesterday from a progressive state senator, Julie Gonzalez, a former Democratic socialist who campaigned along with the controversial podcaster, Hasan Piker. Why do you think you were able to hold off an opponent from the left when other incumbents this cycle have not been as lucky?

SEN. JOHN HICKENLOOPER (D-CO): Well, thanks, Jake. Let me tell you, we pushed on what pretty much everyone's pushed on, which is the corruption at the White House, the chaos that President Trump has created. We went to every corner of the state and, A, made a case, whether we're talking about the cost of living emergency where, you know, President Trump came in his first Big, Beautiful -- I call it the Big Bad Betrayal Act.

But, you know, he took -- basically, millions of people lost their healthcare so that they could get a massive tax cut to billionaires and the largest corporations. And then we went from that into tariffs, where for small businesses in Colorado, it meant they were paying more for all the components of what they made, and then often they were having, unable to get the prices they were used to getting from foreign countries because of retaliatory tariffs.

And then you get into the war, and you look at the war, what that's done to -- I mean, look at farmers and ranchers. Diesel is a huge cost of modern farming, but then you tack on the incredible inflation on fertilizer, which is for a while there even more than the inflation of diesel. I mean, this coming in a drought year where farmers aren't sure what the commodity prices will be because of the tariff situation, what they'll get.

I mean, all this, we went from one corner to the next made the same points again and again and again at, you know, whether round tables or whatever, that we were going to fight for this. We were going to fight Trump from top to bottom. You know, I wasn't seeing everybody else's campaign, but I know we did a full court press on this ourselves.

TAPPER: So, with respect, you didn't really answer my question. I guess maybe you did in a way. Like I'm asking how you fended off this challenge from the left in your party successfully. You won 55 to 45. And others have not been able to do so as well. Perhaps your answer is in how on message you were in your response, that you just stayed on message, which was a number of progressive arguments.

But let me note your colleague, Congresswoman Diana DeGette, she lost her seat last night to a Democratic socialist. She's a progressive incumbent like you. So, what's going on with that race that you were able -- is it just that her district is more progressive than Colorado as a whole?

HICKENLOOPER: Yes. She's representing the city and county of Denver mostly, and that is a very liberal, very progressive component of Colorado. I was running for the whole state. TAPPER: Right.

HICKENLOOPER: And when you get out to the West Slope and the Eastern Plains, those are much more conservative areas that while I was governor there, I went to great lengths to get out there and hear the issues facing ranchers and farmers and the issues around tariffs and the issues around water. And I think that makes it easier for me to defend my turf.

TAPPER: So, the winner, Menat Kiros, she declined during her campaign to call the attack on the Boulder, Colorado march for Israeli hostages, she declined to call it an act of anti-Semitism. She has also told local news that America shares responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Now, she's not the only DSA candidate to make more controversial remarks like this. Do you have any concerns that some of these DSA candidates who have views that are more controversial like this might actually hurt your party even while they are also bringing energy and enthusiasm?

HICKENLOOPER: Yes. And, again, you and almost everyone I've talked to today really wants to talk about what are the differences and are we okay with the differences. I'll tell you what we are united about. We are united that we all have to work to make sure we win the Senate back in November. We've got to win back, and we're united to win back the House. And we're united to win back and push back against the White House.

And I think, you know, I don't agree with everything that's that Ms. Kiros is claiming and fighting for, but I believe in a big tent, that if the Democratic Party is going to really represent farmers and ranchers and middle-class workers, and be able to compete in states like Indiana, Kansas, and Nebraska, we've got to have a big tent. And we're not going to agree on everything. And we're going to make our arguments within our party and fight hard for what we believe.

[18:15:02]

But the bottom line is we are united that we have to win back the Senate and the House.

TAPPER: Before you go, I do want to ask you about the deadly wildfires tearing across the Western U.S. right now, including in Colorado. What can you tell us about the efforts to contain the fires and about relief for those impacted?

HICKENLOOPER: Yes. I was -- I went out there actually on Monday. It wasn't how I planned to spend the day before the election. We've got nine wildfires in Colorado. We went to the incident command center and they're doing everything they can. When you lose firefighters -- we lost three firefighters over the weekend -- it is a loss for the state and for all of us. We feel it. But for their families and for the other firefighters, it is just -- I've gone through this a number of times back when I was governor. It gets worse every time. And wildfires, I mean, people are saying, oh, climate change is exaggerated, it's not real. This is going to be the hottest July 4th in Washington, D.C., we just heard. It's also going to be probably the hottest, driest 4th of July that we've ever seen in the west. And we're going to have to get a lot better at fighting fires and doing more with less in terms of water and some of the tools we use to fight those fires, because we're not going to have enough.

TAPPER: Colorado Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper, congratulations on your primary win, and have a happy 4th.

HICKENLOOPER: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: A dangerous and record-setting heat wave is settling in, putting tens of millions of Americans at risk as we head into the long July 4th holiday weekend. We're going to get an updated forecast from the CNN Weather Center next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

TAPPER: In our National Lead, it is hot. It is dangerously hot. Some 150 million people across the United States are under heat warnings as a scorching heat wave expands and intensifies along the East Coast of the United States, bringing triple-digit highs and little relief overnight for the July 4th holiday weekend.

Allison Chinchar is tracking this heat wave in the CNN Weather Center. Allison, what can Americans expect heading into the 4th of July weekend?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, roughly half of the U.S. population is going to be looking at these extreme temperatures just because of exactly where this heat dome has kind of set up.

So, you've got the high pressure system kind of hovering right over the Tennessee Valley. What that's essentially doing is it's trapping all of that heat down at the surface level and doing it for several days in a row. And that's what's leading to these extreme temperatures. That's why you have all of these heat alerts in effect stretching from Louisiana all the way up to Maine. And in some cases, these areas are under those alert for three to four days in a row.

When you look at these temperatures going forward, again, Atlanta looking at in the mid to upper 90s every single one of the next few days, Raleigh, D.C., New York even getting some of their numbers into the triple digits.

Keep in mind, this is the actual air temperature. Now, when we take into account the humidity, getting that feels-like temperature or the heat index, those numbers go even higher. Raleigh, look at this. The coolest of the heat index is 102. Washington, D.C., looking at Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, right around that 110 mark for the feels-like temperature. The other concern here, too, is the overnight lows. They are not getting low enough to really effectively allow the body to cool down at night before it has to rebound back again for those afternoon high temperatures. What we mean is take New York, for example. 80 is all the cooler it's going to get tomorrow morning, 83 for Friday, and then 80 yet again on Saturday morning.

So, this is a concern not just because it feels uncomfortable, but for health safety reasons. That's why you have a lot of these areas in this purple shaded color you see here, not just for Thursday, but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That's the extreme risk level that we have here.

And the big concern when you get those high-risk days where you have that purple color, especially for multiple days in a row, is it increases people's risks for things like heat exhaustion and heat stroke, especially when you are in that purple color for several days in a row.

So, a lot of officials really kind of recommending folks just avoid the outdoors at all possible. If you have to be out there, wear lightweight, light-colored clothing and also stay hydrated as often as you can throughout the day.

TAPPER: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for the update.

Serious misconduct allegations are rocking a Republican primary in Arizona with fewer than three weeks until Election Day. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK LAMB (R), ARIZONA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I've been called a racist. I've been called a misogynist.

I'm going to tell you folks, these are lies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, that is former Pinal County Sheriff and Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for Arizona's Fifth Congressional seat, Mark Lamb, denying reports from the Arizona Republic after the newspaper uncovered and published explicit text messages, threats, and racist messages going back to 2016, allegations his Republican rival in the primary called disqualifying, and some voters in the ruby-red district seem to agree, as CNN's Leigh Waldman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the desert of the East Valley, a Congressional race is turning up the heat. LAMB: They never talk about the job that I did. They only talk about personal things, personal lies and attacks.

WALDMAN: Not across party lines, but between two Republicans in a deep red Congressional district.

DANIEL KEENAN (R), ARIZONA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: You know what would be nice? Instead of me having to answer Mark Lamb's questions, if he could answer the questions.

WALDMAN: Business owner Daniel Keenan and former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who's been endorsed by President Trump and who is facing allegations of sexual impropriety and racist and discriminatory comments, according to reporting by the Arizona Republic.

In one online exchange from 2016 uncovered by The Republic, Lamb made a racist joke in response to a post from a member of a border vigilante group who used the N-word. CNN has not independently verified many of the claims detailed by The Republic.

STEPHANIE WRIGHT, FRIEND OF MARK LAMB ACCUSER JILLIAN STANNARD: I signed the petition to put him on the ballot for sheriff, because at the time I didn't know anything about this, and he was a member of the church, and usually that means he's a good guy, right?

WALDMAN: Stephanie Wright is a longtime friend of Jillian Stannard, who accuses Lamb of facilitating a sexual relationship between her then husband and Lamb's wife.

WRIGHT: She offered to share some of the pictures, and I saw them on her phone, and I -- it was just, yuck. Like it was enough to solidify that this was truth that she was sharing.

WALDMAN: In 2018, Wright says she and Stannard reported the behavior to leadership at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where Lamb is a member and both women are former members.

Lamb is now running for Congress on a platform of faith, family, and freedom.

LAMB: There's a lot of work that needs to be done, and we need real patriots in Washington to do it.

WALDMAN: Lamb's campaign declined CNN's request for an interview or to respond directly to Wright's claims, but in a statement said, the stories printed in the Arizona Republic are decade-old lies and slander from long-discredited individuals who have been attacking Sheriff Lamb and his family for years.

[18:30:04]

Charmon Puhlman agrees.

CHARMON PUHLMAN, MARK LAMB SUPPORTER: It's a gut feeling, something inside of me, and hearing him and hearing Keenan, that I know it flies. WALDMAN: Keenan is digging in, and has spent six figures making the allegations a centerpiece of his messaging.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Local news has reported on Mark Lamb's disqualifying behavior, sending pornographic images of himself and his wife to unwilling recipients.

WALDMAN: After coming out to see Keenan speak, Kathy Atkinson says she's grateful there's an alternative to Lamb she can vote for.

KATHY ATKINSON, ARIZONA VOTER, SUPPORTING MARK LAMB: It's really the allegations about his personal life that I think, you know, we're kind of on a path that this behavior's becoming more mainstream, so I'd like to speak against that.

WALDMAN: Wright, a three-time Trump voter, is certain if Lamb becomes the Republican nominee, he won't have her vote.

To the people who are supporting him, because he is the frontrunner in all of this, who say, look, this is ten years ago, it was something happening in his private life, why should it matter?

WRIGHT: You know, and that's a hard question to answer, because I can see that, and people do change and, you know, situations change.

So, I think that it matters now because it shows a character pattern. It shows that he is not who he claimed to be.

WALDMAN: Leigh Waldman, CNN, Gilbert, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Our thanks to Lee Waldman for that report.

Up next, we're going to go one-on-one with the CEO of Ford as his company marks the 4th of July celebrations with a tribute to American innovation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

TAPPER: In our Money Lead, there are so many challenges facing American automakers these days, from tariffs, to high gas prices, to foreign competition, to A.I., to a labor force not matching the skills they need.

Earlier today, I hopped over to Union Station here in Washington, D.C., to see an exhibit for the Ford Motor Company, one of America's most iconic companies, from the Model T, the vehicle that revolutionized transportation, to the iconic Mustang and its prominent roles in films, like Bullet. And there, I spoke with the Ford CEO, Jim Farley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: There're so many iconic models here.

JIM FARLEY, CEO, FORD: Yes.

TAPPER: We're standing in front of a '56 Ford Thunderbird.

FARLEY: Yes.

TAPPER: There's a Model T over there.

FARLEY: At one point, we were kind of like every person's brand, you know, with the Model T and, you know, when cars became more than transportation with the Mustang, we were kind of the one that democratized cool for an average person. And, you know, we had breakout vehicles like the T-Bird and American Graffiti that, you know, a lot of us grew up being unique.

I think it's our commitment to making vehicles for everyone that makes us different.

TAPPER: Why is Ford here with this exhibit for America's 250th?

FARLEY: Because for half the country's history, Ford's been intertwined, from the $5 a day wage and the Great Migration from the South to the war effort and the arsenal of democracy, building the Mission Control for Gemini and Apollo. Our history as a company is so intertwined with America. And, you know, we don't -- we think that the history of 250 years should highlight companies like Ford that are just as interesting part of our history.

I don't think you could think of our country today without a company like Ford. You know, we developed our industrial capability and are still fighting for that future with countries like China now dominating global auto, you know? If we were ever to have to go to war, companies like Ford would be what the country would rely on to make -- you know, to defend ourselves.

And we're a global company, so we compete everywhere. And we're also the most American. We produce 85 percent of our vehicles in the U.S. No one's even close to that.

TAPPER: A 125 years ago, when Ford started, do you think anybody back then could have imagined that racing would be what it has become? Now, it's a major American and worldwide pastime.

FARLEY: In fact, the company started with a race. Our sweepstakes car -- Mr. Ford had no money. He had gone bankrupt twice. He sponsored a race. And to win a race, he used the winnings from the sweepstakes race to start his third car company, Ford Motor Company.

TAPPER: Yes.

FARLEY: So, our company was founded on racing, frankly. And we won Le Mans. We're the first American company to win Le Mans. We love it because our engineers can get immediate feedback of whether their idea was really not good or really good in a racetrack.

TAPPER: Just like our Founding Fathers had parts of them, in terms of slavery and other things that were -- that don't -- didn't age well.

FARLEY: Yes.

TAPPER: Henry Ford obviously had some very troubled beliefs and everything. He was also a rather notorious anti-Semite.

FARLEY: I think founders -- you know, founders are founders. And, you know, he is who he is. You know, history is pretty clear about all that. I would say for us in the company, we're extremely proud of the great migration, the $5 a day wage. My grandfather was an hourly worker. He was an orphan. He had nothing. His job at Ford got my mom to college. That's the part of Ford that's also important to understand.

TAPPER: People are wondering about your last name.

FARLEY: Yes.

TAPPER: You are first cousins Chris Farley, the comedian.

FARLEY: Yes. But I'm not funny at all.

TAPPER: You're not funny at all? He got all the funny?

FARLEY: He got the entire gene pool. Actually, I have two other cousins that are working comics, his brothers too. So, it kind of runs in the family, and Chris was special, let's say it that way. It was pretty obvious, at least in our family that he had some serious physical talent.

[18:40:04]

TAPPER: What are some of the other ways Ford technology has played a role in this country that people might not know about?

FARLEY: When you say we built Mission Control for Apollo and Gemini, they're surprised. I think, you know, obviously, the Arsenal of Democracy was a pretty huge moment for our company.

TAPPER: During World War II?

FARLEY: Yes, and later. You know, we made the B-24s, the original Jeep. We made all the bodies. You know, we produced tanks and boats and everything in World War I and World War II. We made almost 300,000 Jeeps in our facility where we make the F-150 today.

I think Ford has always, you know, answered the call when when the country need us.

TAPPER: What's the threat from China to a company like Ford?

FARLEY: I've never seen anything like it.

TAPPER: Like what are they doing?

FARLEY: Well, they will export 10 million vehicles this year. That's more than we produce in our entire country.

China will export more than South Korea and Japan combined this year.

TAPPER: Oh, wow.

FARLEY: We have never seen this kind of export power. And their factories are still, you know, a third empty.

We think about the average China exported vehicle has probably $5,000 of government support, tax advantages.

TAPPER: Oh, is that right?

FARLEY: You know, free training free land, you know, R&D credits. That's a big advantage they have.

TAPPER: You also have been having some problems with people meeting the skills necessary for hiring.

FARLEY: Yes.

TAPPER: Tell us about that and what can be done about that.

FARLEY: Well, we have a crisis in our country that people aren't talking about it, the essential economy, people that build things, you know, drive things. We have a huge shortage. In our industry, for example, we have 400,000 openings for technicians to work on cars.

TAPPER: 400,000 openings?

FARLEY: Yes. And those jobs go, entry job, $50,000, goes up to $150,000, a decent job.

TAPPER: And how do people get, how do people get trained so that they can get one of these jobs? Because these are good jobs, right, six- figure jobs.

FARLEY: Yes. And our plumbers, electricians in our country, they don't have a succession. There's not people going into these skilled trades like there were with my grandparents and my parents. So -- and this is what made our country great. We have a huge crisis with all this A.I. going on, of all these skilled trades.

If you really look, you know, technically at the job openings in America, they are great jobs that have huge deficits, but it requires technical training, and it requires time. All of us, we convinced our kids they have to get a four-year education to have a valuable career, well, that's total baloney.

So, what I'm --

TAPPER: This is cable. You can use stronger language than that if you want.

FARLEY: Okay. Well, my cousin would.

TAPPER: Okay. Your cousin would. That's right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Our thanks to Ford CEO Jim Farley for that little tour.

Today, President Trump showed off the new Air Force One. It's an estimated $400 million gift from Qatar. It comes just as we're learning more about just how much money, we're talking billions, Trump has made since returning to the White House. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:46:51]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's never been a plane like it. Frankly, we couldn't build a plane like this because we wouldn't be willing to spend the kind of money necessary. They spent top dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Our politics lead, that's President Trump defending his brand-new Air Force One gift before its inaugural flight today to North Dakota. It was a $400 million present from the government of Qatar that the Air Force secretary told lawmakers last month would cost less than $400 million of taxpayer money to retrofit in order to meet security standards. The plane is likely to leave the government, along with President Trump, and go to Florida with him when his term's over.

Our panel's in the studio.

Thanks so much for being here, folks.

So, after White House Communications Director Steve Cheung posted from inside the plane, California Governor Gavin Newsom responded, quote, "Air fraud one".

But we should note, it's not just Democrats criticizing the new Air Force One, this $400 million gift for President Trump. You'll remember a staunch Trump supporter and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer posted this back when the gift was announced, quote, "This is really going to be such a stain on the administration." I think she was saying that more in regret than anger.

Shermichael, do you agree? Is this a stain on the administration along with the $2.2 billion that President Trump made last year?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I had never agreed with this gift. And I remember when we first talked about it on your show several months ago, and I was appalled by the fact that we would allow the president of the United States to fly on a plane from a foreign country that I guess is quasi-friendly when they want to be, considering the history of Qatar endorsing terrorism, et cetera. And then I understand they stripped the plane and they enhanced it with security features.

But I don't like this, Jake. I'm going to be honest. And if a Democrat were to do something like this, my side, rightfully so, would be appalled by it. I'm a bit dismayed that Boeing has taken so long to build new modern Air Force Ones for the commander in chief. But to take a gift from a foreign adversary or, again, friendly quasi-state, I can't support it. I'm sorry. This is just not a good look to me.

TAPPER: And, Adrienne, the $400 million pales in comparison to the $2.2 billion Trump raked in last year, according to the financial disclosure report that, by law, he has to file.

Democratic Congressman Jason Crow from Colorado posted, quote, Trump made $1 billion from his crypto ventures while in office. Today, he's taking his first flight on his illegal $400 million gift from a foreign government. This grift and corruption is staggering. Accountability is coming. I suppose that's a reference to Democrats recapturing the House this fall, and we shall see about that.

Do you think that there is a choice Democrats have to make here in running on affordability or running on going after what they're describing as corruption?

ADRIENNE ELROD, FORMER SENIOR SPOKESMAN, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: Well, I think they're essentially one and the same, Jake, because, yes, if you're somebody in America who is trying to figure out how to buy groceries, how to put food on the table, how to afford your medicine, how to, you know, provide for your family, and then you're looking at Donald Trump running around in this plane that -- from a foreign country that is sometimes on our side and Shermichael said sometimes not, and you're looking at also how much money, most importantly, Donald Trump is made while in office the second time around.

[18:50:00]

And you're thinking, is he fighting for me or is he fighting to enrich himself and his family? It is a simple -- it's a simple analysis of where things stand. And I think when you are the average voter trying to decide who to vote for in the midterms, if you are on the fence, all you have to do is look and see who's making a lot of money, and that's Trump, versus is he fighting for you, and he's not.

SINGLETON: And just quickly, I'll say, that's the argument that we don't want to debate going into midterms when we're running against Democrats this fall. I've said this for months now, the priority for the Republican Party must be affordability, cost of living, and housing. Anytime we endorse or not say something about an issue that recedes our ability to stand firm on that point, you're effectively granting Democratic friends a potential victory on a silver platter. And that's something that I and I would imagine every other Republican strategist in this town would not want to do.

TAPPER: Speaking of affordability, Vice President Vance had this message for Democrats last night on Fox. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would love it if Democrats were willing, you know, not that they are going to agree with Republicans all the time, but if they were willing to work with us on lowering housing prices, on lowering gas prices, on actually making the lives of American citizens better, you know, we could have some real bipartisan compromise. That's not what they're talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He wishes that Democrats were willing to work with them on a bipartisan compromise on lowering housing prices.

ELROD: I mean, what do you even say to that, Jake? Does he think that the American people are not paying attention?

TAPPER: Well, just in case they aren't, explain why that strikes you.

ELROD: Well, because there was a bipartisan deal that Congress struck and it went to the president's desk and he rejected it because he was mad that his voter law that's going to disenfranchise voters across the country and make it harder for people to vote if it's passed in the law than not, he was mad that that didn't pass.

So literally, Jake, in a Congress where you very rarely see bipartisanship, Democrats and Republicans coming together, here they are coming together to solve an issue that, as sure Michael eloquently put, millions of Americans are having a difficult time trying to afford housing, trying to find housing.

So, I don't know if Vance misspoke. I don't know if he thought we wouldn't catch this --

SINGLETON: By the way, I was excited about this bill because I already started working on messaging points of how we could go on air and other places and start messaging to people.

TAPPER: Affordability.

SINGLETON: Republicans are on top of affordability.

TAPPER: Shermichael, instead, he called it a big yawn. President Trump, not J.D. Vance.

SINGLETON: Yeah, yeah.

TAPPER: President Trump called it a big yawn. By the way, in case you didn't think that message on affordability was bad enough, take a listen to Republican Congressman Troy Nehls from Texas. telling a MeidasTouch reporter yesterday when asked how he's going to convince his constituents that he's working to make life more affordable for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): Affordability, what are you talking about?

REPORTER: Well, affordability is a good --

NEHLS: I'm going to go there tomorrow. I'm going to, well, over the Fourth. I'm going to give me a couple of big lobster tails. I'm going to get me some nice ribeyes.

REPORTER: You think 60 percent of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck can afford lobster tails and ribeyes and all of that?

NEHLS: Maybe not. Maybe the 60 percent of America don't work as hard as I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Wow. Shermichael. I have a feeling that I'm going to see that clip, not just in Troy Nehls' free election contest.

SINGLETON: Look, I got to be transparent. I know the congressman and his brother who will be running to replace him. The congressman is actually retiring soon.

I do want to say, though, I think the vice president's instincts. are correct in terms of this needs to be a priority. Now, the problem here, though, is even within our own caucus, but specifically on the House side, we can't really agree on much of anything, which is why the speaker has dismissed them, what, twice in the past month now, I believe.

So, let's just put Democrats aside. The onus is on the majority to lead and to govern. And right now, we're not doing that great of a job of doing so. We're not delivering results for our own people, let alone the people in the middle who we will have to convince specifically in some of those challenging districts.

TAPPER: And asked if -- asked about affordability, Troy Nehls says, affordability, what are you talking about? I'm going to get me a couple big lobster tails. I'm going to get me some nice rib eyes. Somebody said, what about the 60 percent of Americans who can't afford that living paycheck to paycheck? Maybe the 60, he said, maybe the 60 percent of Americans don't work as hard as I do.

ELROD: I mean, I just, I feel like every time I go on the show, Jake, I am speechless. This is another one of those moments. I mean, look, the ads are writing themselves, right? Every day I feel like there's something -- Trump says, Vance says, another Republican says that we're going to see certainly an ad coming up.

And my final thought on this is maybe we just send Shermichael out as a surrogate.

TAPPER: I've always said. He has -- he has my vote.

ELROD: He's doing a great job making our point.

TAPPER: But --

SINGLETON: Maybe I should be the speaker of the House.

TAPPER: People like him, you don't have to be a member of Congress to be speaker of the House.

SINGLETON: That's right.

TAPPER: Thanks to both of you.

We're just -- I was going to say people like him don't run for office so much anymore. Anyway, we're just about an hour away from a must-win match for Team USA, the latest on tonight's World Cup stakes, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:59:07]

TAPPER: Our last lead start and our world lead where a top Venezuelan official says the death toll from last week's devastating earthquakes is now at least 2,295 souls. The government there is facing mounting criticism for its response, or lack thereof, to the crisis. People report having to dig survivors out of the rubble by hand because large government machinery does not have gas to operate.

Also in our world lead, the U.S. Navy is searching for a missing crew member after a helicopter went down in the Arabian Sea. Three other crew members were recovered and are in stable condition. Naval Central Command says there are not any indications of hostile action causing the emergency landing.

In our sports lead, it's do or die tonight for the United States on the World Cup stage. In just an hour, the U.S. will take on Bosnia- Herzegovina in the must-win round of 32, Team USA is favored to win tonight as star player Christian Pulisic returns to the starting lineup for the first time since suffering a calf injury during their opening game against Paraguay. A win would give USA its first World Cup knockout victory since 2002.

If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can watch the show on the CNN app. Happy 4th of July.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.