Return to Transcripts main page
CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
MAGA Rips Liberals for Rooting Against Musk's Tesla; Ben & Jerry's Says CEO was Fired Over Liberal Views; Musk Donates to Lawmakers Who Support Impeaching Judges. W.H. Press Secretary Leavitt Goes After Judge And Wife; Police End Democratic Rep. Sean Casten Event After Confrontations With Constituents. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired March 19, 2025 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight, he's a lightning rod at the ring. Should the left be rooting for American companies to fail?
Plus, a new MAGA conspiracy is born.
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This judge is a Democrat activist.
PHILLIP: The White House is fighting the law. But will the law win?
Also, outlook not good. The Fed draws a line from Trump's tariffs to a dim prediction.
And, a rocky road for an American ice cream giant. Why Ben and Jerry's says its CEO was fired for his liberal views.
Live at the table, Kevin O'Leary, Angela Rye, Shermichael Singleton, Congressman Ro Khanna, and Sara Fischer.
Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Good evening -- right to what America's talking about a debate over protest. At the heart of it, should liberals be cheering on the demise of Tesla as Elon Musk continues his chainsaw attack in Washington? Now, keep in mind, the stock has taken a nosedive since the inauguration of Donald Trump and it's so bad that Musk even recruited Trump to hawk cars outside of the White House.
And the problems are getting worse for Tesla. Tesla vehicles are being vandalized, set on fire across the nation. And the attorney general is now echoing claims by Musk and by Trump that the attacks are being coordinated by the left.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We believe these are organized. These are not individuals out there throughout the country doing this on their own. They're targeting Tesla owners. They're targeting Tesla dealerships. They're targeting Elon Musk, who is out there trying to save our country, and it will not be tolerated. We are coming after you. We will find you. And if you are an organized group who is funding this, we're going to find you too. You better look out and you better stop it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Now, it should be said, the White House isn't providing any evidence of coordinated attacks, but MAGA is furious over liberal reaction to Tesla's troubles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!: Tesla stock is way down, almost disastrously so. People have been vandalizing Tesla vehicles, new Tesla vehicles. Please don't vandalize, don't ever vandalize Tesla vehicles. And so --
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So, I know it's a dark time, but I was saying on my phone, I don't know if some of you know this on the iPhone, they've got that little stock app. I added Tesla to it to give me a little booster in the day, 225 an hour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Now, I just want to be clear, no one at this table condones violence, right? Setting cars on fire breaking windows, whatever, all of that is bad. But the question is, I mean, is it okay for an American company to just be hated, for people to want it to not do well?
KEVIN O'LEARY, CHAIRMAN, O'LEARY VENTURES AND SHARK TANK INVESTOR: I think, go back to point one. When you set a car on fire, you should go to jail. You're a criminal. I don't think we have to talk about it in any other context. And all those cars have cameras in them and those dealerships have cameras. You're beyond being stupid when you do that. You're going to go to jail.
And you now have a government that just got their mandate. They can't wait to find idiots that do this. You're going to spend 5 to 20 years in prison. If they get them on terrorism, which I think is a stretch, they will have no parole, no shortened sentence, they'll rot in hell in prison for 20 years. And, frankly, as far as I'm concerned, that's okay.
Breaking in, shooting a car, setting on fire, nothing to do with the politics, nothing to do with Tesla, you are a criminal, and you should go to jail.
PHILLIP: What about the broader question about the protest factor? I mean, you heard Tim Walz.
O'LEARY: What protest? You're a criminal.
PHILLIP: I'm talking about Tim Walz and his comments about the Tesla stock. He says it gives him a boost to see that stock going down.
O'LEARY: That poor guy didn't check his portfolio and his own pension plan for state. It's beyond stupid what he did. He's talking down a 3.5 percent weighting his own pension plan. I mean, what's the matter with that guy? He doesn't check the wellbeing of his own constituent, and he's saying -- that's their investment.
[22:05:04]
What a bozo.
PHILLIP: The Minnesota Tesla State Board of Investment, they have 1.6 million shares in Tesla in their retirement fund, 211,000 shares in a non retirement fund. It's a relatively small amount, but that's one company, one single stock. And that's because Tesla is a huge part of the tech growth. But this is not the first time that companies have been in the crosshairs of protests. I mean, Republicans have protested companies all the time.
SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: All the time. I mean, the violence is absolutely unspeakable and terrible and should be condoned. But in terms of the broader theme, I've covered so many companies who a particular political party or group of people go after them, and it tends to die down.
So, in 2014, everyone on the left hated the Coke industries. Coke is one of the largest privately held companies today. They're not impacted. You think about Meta and all those massive boycotts in 2020, Meta is one of the largest advertising companies in the world. They are doing fine. I think even about Budweiser, their reputation has recovered from some of the scandal.
So, I think it's horrific that there's a lot of this violence, but companies being targeted, especially by one political party, doesn't ruin them forever. Oftentimes, it's just one solid period of the time that they have to go through it.
PHILLIP: Well, let's, let's play some of the Budweiser sound just to remind people of what -- this was just a couple of years ago, actually.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: American beer brand Bud Light knocked $4 billion off of its parent company, Anheuser Busch's market cap this past week. And this is great. This is a great thing and we need to keep it up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand Bud Light is piss water masquerading as beer. So, I guess that, you know, it's sort of trans beer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This boycott is just getting started. It's not losing its legs. It's not petering out. It's not waiting for the storm to pass. This boycott means business. This boycott -- this is such wonderful news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (BLEEP) Bud Light and (BLEEP) Anheuser Busch. Have a terrific day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: You can't make it up. But, look, I mean --
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There is a difference.
PHILLIP: I mean, what is the difference? I mean, I'm not talking about the violence. We've already established that. What's the difference between that and Tim Walz saying I get a kick out of it?
SINGLETON: First of all, Tim Walz is a complete moron to me. I have to be very honest. And I'm not surprised why the American people did not choose him, nothing against the vice president. With that said, Elon Musk employs 80,000-plus American, Americans, most of them are working class people. The implications of the stock, let's say this were to continue on for another year, so I'm just throwing out a hypothetical, will the company at some point have to decrease its workplace?
Most of those people, I would imagine, probably vote for Democrats, at least some of them. So, now you're impacting people who likely share your worldview because you disagree with Elon Musk. Don't buy the car. Just like those guys are saying, let's protest Anheuser Busch, et cetera. We're just not going to buy their beer. I'm okay with that. But destroying public property, there is no place for that. I agree with Kevin. Lock them up and set an example that this is not what we're going to tolerate in this country.
PHILLIP: Obviously, the violence is completely unacceptable and these people will go to jail. I mean, you can't burn a dealership and not get caught eventually and go to jail. But it is, again, the broader question here about has it crossed the line when people are sort of rooting for the failure of a company?
REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Well, first, let me say until yesterday, I think I was one of the only Democratic elected officials to unambiguously condemn the violence and destruction against Tesla, I don't think you have to be tough on crime to do that. As you know, my grandfather is part of Gandhi's Satyagraha movement, independence movement. He said, sabotage is a form of violence. I mean, this is not the best form of protest and it's not the tradition.
The second point is I'm not going to root against Tesla. There are 20,000 people who work in my district who make a living off this. They're building electric vehicles that ultimately are good for the climate. I have huge, huge problems with what Elon Musk is doing. Have the protest and the conversation and criticism of Musk. Don't take it out on a company where you have workers, where you have engineers, where you have scientists, which are creating wealth for the country, which is helping the climate. And I think Democrats have to be able to offer common sense perspectives, focus on what the problem is with Musk. Don't focus on the wealth of the company.
PHILLIP: The other thing -- I mean, the other side of this coin is a company like Ben and Jerry's. The CEO says that he was fired because -- you know Ben and Jerry's. They put out a political statement about virtually everything. And they've been pretty, you know, strident against a lot of the things happening in the Trump administration. If it is true that he was fired for that reason, what do you say to that?
[22:10:00]
ANGELA RYE, PODCAST CO-HOST, NATIVE LAND POD: I think it's remarkably unfair. Shout out to Ben and Jerry's because they've taken some really incredible stances. You know, we're talking about people who should be locked up and go to jail, it's the same party that's rooting for and seeking a pardon for Derek Chauvin. You know, it is so rich to me to see that folks don't understand when folks use their platforms of privilege to ensure that the least of these among us have a voice in the process.
I don't condone violence, but I wish people would take a look in the mirror and see what's actually happening. This is not an America First company. It's a South African First company. That's what Tesla is. But this is the same party that talks about America First and make America great again, but they're giving someone unfettered access who is an immigrant. And if you leave it to this party to talk about, there's no space for immigrants.
(CROSSTALKS)
RYE: No. Some of us are here by force.
O'LEARY: Oh, some of us are lesser immigrants?
RYE: No, you're right. That's exactly what you all think.
O'LEARY: Is that what you just said?
RYE: That's exactly what you all think.
O'LEARY: He's a lesser immigrant?
RYE: No. What I'm saying is --
O'LEARY: He's tainted because he's from South Africa and he's really brilliant?
RYE: Oh, you know what is so funny about that? You all are also the party of the birtherism movement.
O'LEARY: Wow, he's a tainted immigrant.
RYE: No. That's what you all would have liked to say about Barack Obama.
O'LEARY: Where's the class on this? Where do I fit in? I'm average Lebanese. Am I like second class or where am I? RYE: You tell me. Ask your party.
O'LEARY: Wow. I mean --
SINGLETON: There's not -- Angela's entitled to her views. There's not a single person in terms of leadership in the Republican Party who wants to get Derek Chauvin out of prison. That was a ludicrous idea that came out from some people who are on social media who are podcast hosts. Number two, Elon Musk's company is an American company.
Now, you don't like his views. I respect that. You're entitled to that.
RYE: No, it's not just about me not liking his views.
SINGLETON: But it is an American company, Angela, that employs a lot of American people.
RYE: That's true.
SINGLETON: Black, white, Latinos, Republican, Democrat.
RYE: You guys are misunderstanding my point. The point is the hypocrisy inside the GOP. I'm not rooting for the demise of the company. I'm asking for there to be fairness across the aisle about how we see immigration, that we don't prefer South African refugees, as they're now being called, when their land was stolen, as some of your party are saying right now. Derek Chauvin is not just a random podcast idea. This is also the party that wanted to get rid of the Department of Justice police database for transparency and accountability when crimes were committed against American people.
PHILLIP: And on the Derek Chauvin point, I mean, the question was asked by a conservative reporter.
SINGLETON: And the president -- the White House said no. I mean, like, why are we debating this? I mean, the White House said no.
RYE: We're debating it because this is what the party is about.
SINGLETON: It's not what the party is.
RYE: It is, Shermichael.
SINGLETON: Well, what is the Democratic Party about? Can you answer that question?
RYE: Sure, happy to.
SINGLETON: Because most people in your party isn't even happy with the direction partner.
RYE: I'm happy to talk about that too. Are you --
SINGLETON: I'd love to know. Please educate me and the rest of the American people who are watching this show. PHILLIP: We'll have much more ahead on that. But, Sara?
FISCHER: Just going back to the Ben and Jerry's thing, I think one of the challenges is if you're a brand and you align with a political point of view, which, by the way, isn't always bad for business, Patagonia, high trust scores when we measure them, Hobby Lobby, high trust scores when we measure them. But if you're going to sell to a large conglomerate as Ben and Jerry's did in 2000, when they sold to Unilever, you then have to understand that you're putting yourself in a position where your corporate overlords can do what they need to do for business.
Right now, we're in an environment where having a company in your portfolio with a political perspective can be a risk. We see this in M&A all the time. I sat in the AT&T Time Warner trial when the DOJ sued AT&T over a merger that did not seem to need to be sued, according to lawyers but most likely was because of CNN.
PHILLIP: But it's not just -- I mean, the truth is, it's not just any political perspective. It's any anti-Trump political perspective. Because on the other side of things, here is what the commerce secretary, the actual Commerce Secretary is saying on T.V. just tonight about a publicly traded stock. Listen,
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: I think if you want to learn something on this show tonight by Tesla, it's unbelievable that this guy's stock is this cheap. It'll never be this cheap again. When people understand the things he's building, the robots he's building, the technology he's building, people are going to be dreaming of today and Jesse Watters and thinking, gosh, I should have bought it Elon Musk's stock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: I mean, isn't it a conservative principle that the government shouldn't be picking winners and losers?
O'LEARY: Why don't we ask ourselves about the market? It's down eight to 20 percent depending on the sector you look at. Tech is down, Tesla's down. We're having a market correction. It happens every 18 to 20 months. And E.V.s are under pressure because of lots of competition, including from China. And so there's a reason, it's not just the fact that it's a political issue around DOGE, but the stock is down.
PHILLIP: Why is he saying that if it's not about politics? He seems to think that it is. Because he's saying, oh, I'm going to use my platform as the commerce secretary to tell people how to buy and sell stocks.
O'LEARY: Well, Howard's actually a private sector guy. He's well- known.
PHILLIP: In New York. [22:15:00]
He's got a government job now.
O'LEARY: There's merit to maybe having somebody that worked on Wall Street for that long in that position. But at the end of the day, when people say, oh, Tesla's down because it's a political problem, I think it's a market issue. And if it has great performance and they deliver cars and they make money, the stock will go back up, like every tech stock.
What about Boeing? That's even a bigger piece of crap.
KHANNA: I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. You're a business guy. You talk to all these business folks. Be honest. I mean, you look at Trump's policies, consumer confidence down from the lowest point in two years. One day tariffs, the other day not tariffs. One day someone's cutting something. I mean, aren't you hearing honestly that there's uncertainty in the business world? They don't know what the policy is going to be and that this has caused a lot of problems.
O'LEARY: Why don't you wait until April 2nd to see all the tariff schedules in every country on Earth? And at the end of the day, even the British prime minister called over the weekend saying, before we get to April 2nd, let me level out a little bit. Let's make a deal before you expose my tariffs on agriculture.
FISCHER: Yes, but the market's moving faster, I'll just say. Like I cover advertising. Advertising -- advertisers are already cutting budgets. They're not waiting.
O'LEARY: Yes, that's true.
PHILLIP: Okay. Everybody hold that thought because we are about to talk about this very thing next.
Breaking news though, in MAGA's war against the judiciary, how Musk is putting his money behind the effort to impeach judges, and the fear is spreading in the GOP. Another special guest is going to join us in our fifth seat.
Plus, the Fed sounds the alarm on the economy and puts the blame on one thing. I bet you can guess what it is. We'll discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00]
PHILLIP: Tonight, MAGA's war on judges is intensifying as President Trump and his allies are calling for the impeachment of a judge who is questioning them about deportations. Elon Musk is using his wallet now to start a bandwagon. According to the Times, the billionaire has given the maximum donation to seven Republican members who have endorsed this impeachment thing.
Now, remember, Chief Justice John Roberts delivered a rare rebuke of these efforts and the judge in question is hardly a radical leftist. James Boasberg made his name as a homicide prosecutor. He got his first job on the bench from George W. Bush. The Senate unanimously approved his promotion by Barack Obama in 2011. He ruled in favor of conservative groups in their fight over Hillary Clinton's emails. He rejected an effort by one group to get Trump's tax records. But none of that matters to Musk and Trump, who have baselessly claimed that this is a judicial coup. And if you disagree, your job is on the line, according to one Republican senator, at least.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): It may be that Elon Musk has decided he's going to take the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against Lisa Murkowski.
That's why you've got everybody just like zip lip, not saying a word, because they're afraid they're going to be taken down, they're going to be primaried, they're going to be given names in the media. You know what? We cannot be cowed into not speaking up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Joining us in our fifth seat, Criminal defense and Trial Attorney Stacey Schneider.
We'll get to you on the legal stuff in just a second, but, Angela, what's your take on the fear factor? How much of this do you think is truly just the fear of the sheer amount of money that Elon can put behind any of these races if he just wants to?
RYE: Well, I want to point out first that this again goes to the heart of the issues with this administration. This is a violation of the law, 18 USC Section 201 of the United States Code talks about bribery or illegal gratuity. And when you -- whether the intention exists or not, if you pay someone or you give someone something of value for an official act, that is illegal. You cannot do that. So, he is violating the law.
Three of the members that he maxed out to, as we call it on the Hill, give the maximum contribution to, have already introduced impeachment articles for three judges that went afoul of the rules that Donald Trump is trying to get everyone to abide by. We are in the hearts of a constitutional crisis. So, of course, people are afraid. If all he has to do is remove a judge, because he has control of the House and the Senate, removes a judge, impeaches the judge, and removes them, appoints someone else, all who are willing to do his handiwork, therein lies a constitutional crisis.
PHILLIP: So, just one thing, here are the seven Republicans that he gave to, Boebert, Crane, Clyde, Brandon Gill, who has introduced the articles of impeachment, Ogles, Orden, and Grassley.
But, Stacey, first of all, I'm curious what you think about what Angela just said, but also, I mean, the chief justice seemed to very clearly just be saying, this is not a thing. You are not going to impeach judges just because you don't like how they rule. What part of that doesn't Elon Musk and others understand?
STACEY SCHNEIDER, MANHATTAN CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: First of all, I don't think we've ever seen a Supreme Court justice come out and make a statement about the behavior of the White House. And he, Justice Roberts, used the word inappropriate. Going after judges because you don't like their rulings is inappropriate. You have an appeals process to do that.
Now, I'm not saying Elon Musk -- I don't agree that Elon Musk is breaking the law by getting involved in this and donating to these candidates, or donating to these House Republicans, because he's going to donate the maximum that he's allowed to, he's not going over that, and he's voicing his opinion at his First Amendment right about what's important to him.
But why is this important to him?
[22:25:00]
Why is he out of his lane on this one? He's already dismantling the government, and now he's going to use his wallet to dismantle the judiciary. Why is he involved in this? It's insulting as an attorney. I mean, we all take oaths. Judges take oaths. Attorneys take oaths. We are supposed to be fair. We are not supposed to break the law. A judge making a decision about pushing back on President Trump's deportation policy, perfectly legal, appropriate.
And the judge is not stopping Trump, he's saying, wait a minute, you're not following procedure. There's deportation procedures. You're making up the law. And what Trump just did was when he deported the migrants who he claimed were from Venezuela and they were gang members, he was invoking a law that it's never really talked about, from 1798, the alien enemy law, which is invoked when we're at war. And as far as I know, we're not at war with Venezuela, where he should be able to use that law to carry out his immigration policies.
So, the judge is just putting a brake on that and saying, if the president wants to carry out a policy, follow the immigration law.
PHILLIP: Let's hash it out. I mean, the honest truth is that this is basic kind of grade school civic stuff. It's honestly not that complicated if you are familiar with how our system of government works. But all of a sudden, just putting this stuff out there makes it a conversation when it's really not that much of a conversation.
RYE: But can I just tag team in really quick? Congressman Khanna, because I think that there's something where we're missing each other, Stacey, there's the FEC, right, where if he would have extended the amount by law that he could contribute, that's one thing. We're talking about a quid pro quo exchange.
And I just want to say, we have ethics guidelines for members, we have, I'm sure, friends who have been caught up in things like this, where a member of Congress does a favor for someone who just so happens to contribute to their campaign around the same time. It is a violation of the law. O'LEARY: You're mixing two narratives here. You're saying fundraising.
PHILLIP: One second, isn't it also true though, Angela, that this is lobbying, right? Like if you're a company, you can --
RYE: No, there's a cooling off period.
PHILLIP: Yes, but I'm saying like, you can contribute to whoever you want, and the hope is that they're going to know that you want certain priorities.
RYE: He literally tweeted to the members of Congress that -- you don't have to touch me. He literally tweeted to these members, thank you for doing this. I don't want you to touch me. That's my personal space.
O'LEARY: I won't ever do it again.
RYE: Thank you. But he literally says, he literally -- he says thank you to the members who introduced articles of impeachment. That is an exchange of value. That is a violation of the law.
O'LEARY: Okay. Let's talk about the two narratives going on simultaneously. The oldest profession on earth is not prostitution. It's politicians raising money. That has happened from the beginning of time. That's going on forever and will continue forever.
This issue around judges, this is pure politics. Get over it. This is what we live in today, every day. No laws have been broken. You don't like it? Too bad.
SCHNEIDER: I do agree with that. I do agree. It's disgusting what's going on. I mean, to dismantle even judge --
O'LEARY: Kumbaya.
SCHNEIDER: Well, you know what, Judge Roberts even said, it's 200 years of precedent here. We don't attack judges because we don't like what they think. And I want to say something.
I don't agree with your opinion, and I partially agree with you, but Donald Trump as a private citizen, when he was being tried on his criminal, his 34 count indictment in New York City, he attacked Judge Merchan every single day and he attacked the judge's daughter. And you know what? He was a private citizen and he's allowed to do it. Was it acceptable? Not really, but he did it. What is the judge going to do but hold him in contempt?
O'LEARY: Is there anything illegal?
SCHNEIDER: No. Well, the judge could hold him in contempt for (INAUDIBLE) the court, but he didn't.
The big problem, but the point -- can I just finish one point? The point is he is a president of the United States. You want to change the government, you want to make new policy, go right ahead, that's your job. But your job is not to dismantle 200 years of the judiciary, of people who took an oath to carry out a job, remain neutral, and push back if someone's breaking the law.
PHILLIP: Go ahead, Congressman.
KHANNA: The big problem, in my view, is not the Musk just donations to these members of Congress, which is $3,500 or $7,000. It's the fact that we have a system where people can contribute hundreds of millions of dollars on these super PACs. And, frankly, it happens on both sides.
PHILLIP: It's the hundred million that he's put to the side for.
KHANNA: And it needs to stop.
O'LEARY: You want to ban that?
KHANNA: We need to ban those super PACs. It's never going to happen, or at least under Citizens United, regulate it so you can't give more to a super PAC than you can give to a candidate. And it's happening on both sides.
But here's what's I think finally breaking through with the American public. They're not looking at every detail of every judge, but what they are seeing is Trump at a lot of momentum coming in. You know, I was sitting in that inauguration. I was really concerned. First week, he gets off executive orders.
And why is his -- why are his numbers going down? Why is it the first time that his numbers on the economy are down? It's because there's chaos. Here's what they're seeing. They're seeing a president who now -- a vice president who's saying, I may not obey the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court rules, we should say you've ruled, how are you going to enforce it?
[22:30:02]
They see a fight with judges when the rule of law is what has made us a great economy. They see capricious tariff policy. They see a person who -- they wanted efficiency in government. They wanted the waste cut. They see someone who is cutting before he's thinking. No rational plan. And they're saying, this is chaos. And, Kevin, you know this. You know business leaders of --
(CROSSTALK)
KEVIN O'LEARY, CHAIRMAN, O'LEARY VENTURES AND "SHARK TANK" INVESTOR: You're right, it will come to four in 18 months at the midterms. That's when the test will happen. He has a full majority mandate and the popular vote mandate for the next eighteen months.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Let me -- let me introduce one more. Let me introduce you more thing on the judges. Okay. Here's Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, not just going after the judge, but also the judge's wife. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Judge Boasberg is a Democrat activist. He was appointed by Barack Obama. His wife has donated more than $10,000 to Democrats and he has consistently shown his disdain for this president and his policies, and it's unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STACEY SCHNEIDER, MANHATTAN CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, like, that -- that's on a story. That's -- that's unacceptable, what she just said. So, I mean, you don't go -- you don't bring up a judge's wife in a -- in a White House press conference.
PHILLIP: Yes, so why is this happening? I mean, I'm old enough to remember Ginni Thomas who was offended by Republicans.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was just-- I was going to bring that up. But, Abby, look. I get your point, Congressman, on the economic numbers. The numbers are what the numbers are. But one area where the president maintains strength is on immigration issues. All of the recent data that recently came out, 90 plus percent of Republicans, the vast majority of independents actually believe the President is doing the right thing in terms of getting people out of the country.
I ultimately believe the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the President. The President has broad constitutional authority as it pertains to immigration. I don't think he's going to necessarily lose this fight. I wouldn't even waste my time attacking this judge because the President appears to be on the right mark as it pertains to immigration writ large. He has supported the American people.
PHILLIP: Well, we don't know how -- we don't know how the Court is going to rule out on that, but it's also pretty clear that the broad constitutional authority he has on immigration is still also subject to the law, which includes due process protections. We got a lot to get to, though, because these folks really want to talk about the economy, and we will. Stacy, thank you very much for being here.
SCHNEIDER: Thanks, Abby.
PHILLIP: Everyone else, hang tight. Coming up next, the President won't be happy with who the Fed is now blaming for a sluggish economy. It's Donald Trump himself. We'll debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:36:56]
PHILLIP: Tonight, the Federal Reserve is blaming Donald Trump's trade war for a slowing economy. Jerome Powell says that he's not changing interest rates for now, but he acknowledged that the President's, quote, "turmoil is dragging down the markets and driving up prices".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: In our summary of economic projections, the median participant projects GDP to rise 1.7 percent this year, somewhat lower than projected in December. Inflation, has started to move up now, we think, partly in response to tariffs, and there may be, a delay in further progress over the course of this year. Forecasting is always very, very hard. And, in the current situation, I just think it's uncertainty is, you know, remarkably high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Sara Fischer is back with us, and, you know, Jerome Powell, is, pretty even keeled guy. But he's pretty much saying, Kevin, as what the Congressman was saying to you earlier, the uncertainty is here, and it's already having an impact on the economy. It doesn't actually matter whether the other countries put in place tariffs. The American companies are already acting on the assumption that the waters are choppy.
O'LEARY: Before the tariffs were announced or even the punitive fentanyl tariffs were announced, inflation was sticky. It was not getting docked back to two. It was 2.6, 2.8, 3.1 depending on what sector you looked at. CPP, same problem.
So, this narrative that the Fed has was problematic before the tariffs. The tariffs really have an effect yet. It takes a little longer for them to occur. But, you know, if you're looking for a cut from the Fed this year, I think it's zero probability.
PHILLIP: Well, they're -- they're saying I mean, they're saying they might do two cuts this year. No chance. And that's my opinion. I'm investing as if there's no Not to get bogged down in that. But, I mean, what you're saying though, I don't think that's what business owners are saying. I mean, we've played the clips on this show ad nauseam. They are saying that the uncertainty is affecting their business decisions. And smaller businesses, larger businesses, they are retrenching. They're holding back.
O'LEARY: Look. Here's why this is so damaging. Usually, to get -- to be elected president, you have one superpower. Donald Trump's real superpower was that he was a billionaire businessperson. The amount of people who say to me, you know what? Donald Trump knows business. He knows the economy. You politicians don't know it.
And now you have the Fed Reserve. What is he saying in plain English? He's saying the economy is slowing down, and he's saying inflation is going up. Donald Trump ran on bringing inflation down, and he's saying he's created chaos in the economy. And this is the first time Donald Trump's numbers have gone underwater on the economy.
When Joe Biden beat him, Donald Trump was still up on the economy. This is why we lost the election. It was inflation. It was the economy, and he's giving the Democrats a golden opportunity to now take the lead on the economy again. SINGLETON: Look. I'm not going to disagree that economic stability is important, especially for anyone who runs a business. I mean, I know I'm thinking about it all the time. However, I would say one good thing the Fed did not say that he was going to increase rates compared to the Biden administration of four years.
[22:40:00]
The rates increased, what, four or five times. That to me, I would argue, Kevin, is a very good thing. There's still an opportunity for the president to figure out the totality of his tariff strategy to exude stability to the business sectors. I say, let's give the president a couple more months to figure this out.
PHILLIP: At what cost?
SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yeah. Well, that's the -- the only challenge is that for some businesses in certain sectors, I referenced advertising before --
SINGLETON: Yeah.
FISCHER: - they do need to prepare and they do need to budget even ahead of time. Like, what we're seeing with advertising in particular is if these tariffs impact the goods that they have to sell, then they have to adjust their marketing spend accordingly. That is a different thing altogether than just, oh, blanket uncertainty, I'm pulling my dollars.
We saw this happen with certain sectors, not necessarily attributed to tariffs, but a great example of this, when we had a big chip shortage, auto advertisers didn't have -- or auto companies didn't have cars to sell. They yanked all their auto advertising.
Who did that impact? The local broadcasters. That's the type of thing that companies are preparing for. It's not necessarily that they're feeling all the tariffs now. Not everything's been announced, but they're anticipating.
(CROSSTALK)
SINGLETON: Well, when (inaudible) have people's spending habits --
ANGELA RYE, PODCAST CO-HOST, "NATIVE LAND POD": Let's just point out the fact that he has been in office for two months. The amount of uncertainty that's been created in two months by a place that should be the most stable, the federal government with the chainsaw, they have created more economic instability in the thing that many of us in my community were told, you go get a good government job. And they slashed and hacked even in the government sector.
PHILLIP: Yeah. And as Chairman Powell said, a job is a job, and it doesn't really matter whether it's a government job or not.
UNKNOWN: That's exactly right. PHILLIP: I want to just introduce something here because this is -- on the question of what are the Democrats doing, how are they talking about this to the American people. Here's what Chuck Schumer said, in his interview on "The View". I just wanted you to listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D) MINORITY LEADER: The Republican Party is a different kettle of fish than it used to be, and that's why we're fighting them so hard. They are controlled by a small group of wealthy, greedy people. And you know what their attitude is? I made my money all by myself. How dare your government take my money from me? I don't want to pay taxes.
Or I built my company with my bare hands. How dare your government tell me how I should treat my customers, my -- the land and order water that I own, or my employees. They hate government. Government's a barrier to people -- the a barrier to stop them from doing things. They want to destroy it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SINGLETON: Oh, government is --
PHILLIP: That's not our playoff music.
SINGLETON: Government is a barrier to creativity and ingenuity as a business owner. And, yes, I want to pay less taxes so that I can hire more people, so that I can be more creative running my business.
PHILLIP: I mean, is that --
SINGLETON: Government does not make that easy yet.
PHILLIP: To your point, I mean, is that really the right pitch for the moment? I mean -
RYE: He's not getting anything right, right now. Like, this might be a moment of rare bipartisan agreement.
UNKNOWN: We all agree.
RYE: Chuck Schumer can go. Like, he needs to go sit down with (inaudible) at this point. Yeah, he's not getting anything right. He's not talking to the American people. He could take that little voice and say we're beating them. Doing what? By voting with them? What are you talking about, Chuck? I'm -- I'm over him right now. I'm over him.
KHANNA: I --I think he could stay off the cameras. He's not -- he's not helping us our --
RYE: At all.
KHANNA: -- messaging. But here's, look. I represent a district with (inaudible) million dollars (ph) of value, and the hardest Silicon Valley, what I say all the time is I'm proud of economic success. I'm proud of prosperity. I'm proud of the founders. I'm proud of the innovators.
But you know what? We've gone from fifty third in income inequality in this country to a 20 in people. 25 percent of Americans are making less than $25,000 a year or unemployed. And if you have to pay a little bit more because we can provide people health care and education, it's not that I don't value your success, your hard work, your ingenuity, but that's the patriotic thing to do.
PHILLIP: But nobody wants to pay taxes, right?
O'LEARY: What I'm hearing from both of you, actually, he shouldn't talk about the Republicans. I hear the whacking stick coming for him from within your own party. You want him gone.
RYE: I do. I mean, he didn't say that. I will.
O'LEARY: I'm saying it. I'm just listening.
RYE: I'm not putting that on you.
KHANNA: (inaudible) is going to listen to their house.
RYE: I own it. My name is Angela Rye, and I approve this (inaudible) --
O'LEARY: I think --
RYE: Absolutely.
O'LEARY: -- there is something we agree on. The whacking stick is a common for sure.
PHILLIP: Okay. So, at what point do Democrats need to then make the case to the American people that -- why they're paying taxes, right? I think that's underlying this. And just -- let's play this real quick. This is Ezra Klein, talking about why this isn't working for Democrats, what Chuck Schumer just said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EZRA KLEIN, "THE EZRA KLEIN SHOW" PODCAST HOST: Almost always, the phrase of the complaint that I hear is I am paying all these taxes, and what am I getting for it? And I think that what am I getting for it is really important, right?
KARA SWISHER, "ON WITH KARA SWISHER" HOST: Yes.
KLEIN: People are like, what the hell am I getting for it? Look at the New York City subway. It feels like it's getting worse to me.
SWISHER: Look at the homeless on the street.
KLEIN: Look at the homeless on the street. So --
SWISHER: Cleanliness. KLEIN: There's a -- a big dimension here. Not -- I don't think the
most important question is how high the tax rate is. I think the most important question is how much people think they are getting for their taxes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: And this is -- this is top to bottom on the economic ladder, it seems.
[22:45:01]
It's not just about whether taxes are high or low. I think people generally want to know what are they getting for it. And are Democrats making that case?
RYE: I don't think the Democratic messaging is the place to look right now for guidance. I think that there are a lot of misses. This is the time where the American people writ large, whether you see a Republican town hall or a Democratic town hall like, Congressman Glenn Ivey in Maryland just the other day.
People want a different type of fight. I don't think people don't care. I think that is a false narrative, as well, But I think we have to be clear about what we're fighting for. It's an opposition party has to have a clear message with alternatives.
And I think right now, it's just a rubber stamp. If you look at the senate and the 10 senators who voted for the continuing resolution that even government employees said they didn't want. And on the House side, it's just been tamed. But at least, Hakeem Jeffries and others in leadership kept their party.
KHANNA: Well, I'll tell you what we're getting from taxes for the federal government. We got Silicon Valley because of taxes to the federal government.
PHILLIP: Tesla --
KHANNA: If it weren't if it weren't for Tesla buying semiconductors, there would be no Intel. There would be no semi -- there would be no Silicon Valley. Elon Musk is a product with Tesla of Obama's loan. He's a product of Ash Carter at the Defense Department creating SpaceX and giving him contracts.
Beyond that, we got Medicaid, the largest insurance program in the world. You want that gone? We got Social Security savings -- it's for people's retirement. We have Medicare that seniors rely on. We have the best transportation and highway system. I think Democrats have to talk about what government can do, how we can partner with the business leaders, not demonize them, to help create economic opportunity here.
PHILLIP: All right, everyone. Coming up next, some breaking news from the land of town halls tonight. Police ending a Democratic lawmaker's event after confrontations with his constituents. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: You are the most soulless piece of crap I've ever seen.
REP. SEAN CASTEN (D-IL): That's your opinion.
UNKNOWN: Soulless. Soulless.
CASTEN: Sir, get off -- sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:51:37]
PHILLIP: We're back, and it's time for the "NewsNight"cap, freebie edition. Harvard University will offer free tuition for families with incomes of $200,000 or less. And so, now, you each have 30 seconds to tell us what else is really, really expensive that you would like to be free. Shermichael.
SINGLETON: This isn't expensive. It's just more of a nuisance to me, and that's free WiFi on airplanes. You get on airplane, even if you upgrade to first class, it's not free. Most of the times, it doesn't really work. The only time Wi Fi has ever worked for me is when you're flying private, and most people can't afford to fly private. So, give people free Wi Fi on planes.
PHILLIP: That was a subtle flex, but I --
SINGLETON: That wasn't a subtle flex.
PHILLIP: But I agree with you. I mean, why are they nickel and diming us for --
SINGLETON: For crappy WiFi.
PHILLIP: -- WiFi, when you've already paid for an overpriced ticket?
KHANNA: I just take one that works. Look, Harvard is important, but you know what's more important? People having basic health care in this country, and I think we need to make sure that everyone has Medicare in America.
O'LEARY: For free?
KHANNA: Oh, they have a small fee already on Medicare.
O'LEARY: That's called Canada, by the way.
KHANNA: A single payer system. But with -- with Medicare for all -- where the people pay for Medicare, but they get basic health care. You could have supplemental insurance after that.
PHILLIP: All right. FISCHER: Mine's sort of similar. I think we were just talking about this before, emergency services, ambulances. I can't tell you how many people are in a bad situation and tell me, you know what? I'd rather Uber because I don't want to be stuck with the ambulance bill. That is a pretty big problem in this country.
O'LEARY: That is a good point.
PHILLIP: That is super true. I mean, in the -- it's like $20,000 sometimes for these things. So, anyway, Angela?
RYE: Mine is freedom. I cannot think of a time in this country where my -- where my people did not lose their lives fighting for freedom. And God forbid that we have to go back there. And it looks like that's where we're headed.
PHILLIP: Freedom is not free.
RYE: It's not.
O'LEARY: Mine's very simple. Everybody gets a watch the day they're born with the time and date of their birth engraved on the back. It's the most important moment in your life, and I love watches. That's the key.
PHILLIP: All right. I'll take the one on your left wrist. Thank you.
O'LEARY: Well, not this one.
PHILLIP: And thank you everyone for watching. Coming up next, breaking news from the town halls where police just ended one lawmaker's event after some confrontations with constituents that got too heated. We'll show you what happened right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:58:27]
Breaking news tonight. Police forced to end a town hall in Illinois after heated confrontations with constituents. Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupting Democratic Congressman Sean Casten.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASTEN: Sir, sir, sit down. Show some respect for everybody who is here. Show some respect for the people who are here.
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: Yesterday (inaudible) --
(CROWD CHANTING "CASTEN, CASTEN")
CASTEN: People did not come here to hear you. Show some respect for the people in this district.
UNKNOWN: What you're saying is I'm not going to get my way when my people are being slaughtered, and I want you to stop funding them.
CASTEN: If you would like to run for office, run for office.
UNKNOWN: That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You are the most soulless piece of crap I've ever seen.
CASTEN: That's your opinion.
UNKNOWN: Soulless. Soulless.
CASTEN: Sir, get off the -- sir, get off the stage right now.
UNKNOWN: You are --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Police arrived after that man jumped onto the stage as you saw there, and Casten took a break, but the interruptions continued when he returned. He eventually told the audience that it was the police's decision to end this event.
This is starting to be a common occurrence across the country at these town halls, both Democrats and Republicans getting a lot of heat from their constituents both about this issue, Israel and Palestine, but also about the economy, DOGE and Elon Musk's actions in Washington. We'll keep you posted on all of this.
Thank you very much for watching "NewsNight". You can catch me anytime on your favorite social media platforms -- X, Instagram and TikTok at AbbyDPhillip. "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
