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Trump Does Not Dismiss Running For A Third Term; Elon Musk Rallies In Wisconsin Before State Supreme Court Race; Rescuers Search For Survivors In Rubble Of Quake; White House To Take Over Briefing Room Seating Chart; White House Correspondents' Dinner Drops Plan To Comedian Host; North Carolina Brewers Already Hurting Now Coping with New Tariffs. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 30, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:09]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

President Trump tonight not ruling out a third term in the White House. Trump telling NBC News, quote, "there are methods" by which he could do it and that he's, quote, "not joking." However, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution does prevent this. It says in part, quote, "No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice."

CNN's Betsy Klein is live for us tonight from West Palm Beach.

Betsy, this is not the first time Trump has mused about this. Tell us what he's saying now.

I'm waiting for hopefully Betsy can hear us. We'll try to get back to Betsy in just a moment, but I will note that President Trump did go on to say that it was too early to be talking about it, but that he did say he wasn't joking.

Let's turn now to our panel. Joining us, Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to the Bernie Sanders campaign, Chuck Rocha, and CNN senior political commentator, conservative columnist and former special assistant to President George H.W. Bush, Scott Jennings.

Gentlemen, hello. Good to see you.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey.

DEAN: Scott, I want to start first with you. The president says he's not joking. What do you say?

JENNINGS: Well, I think that the Constitution is obviously an impediment, number one, and number two, you know, my advice would be it's not politically helpful to muse about it because it tends to fuel this fire that Democrats have started, you know, about the idea that he wants to be a dictator and so on and so forth. And finally, I don't think he's going to need it because I think this term is going to be really successful. I think what he's trying to do is going to work. I think the American people are going to respond to it. And ultimately

after this term, I think people are going to be more than happy with what they got in reelecting Donald Trump the second time around. So, you know, I, you know, we'll see. He did say it was far too early to be wondering about what's going to happen in 2028. And I also agree with that, too.

DEAN: He certainly does have to know, though, that this creates exactly what we're doing now, right? It creates a whole firestorm around him. Oh, my gosh, he's musing about maybe a third term. Do you think that's part of it, too, just to stir the pot?

JENNINGS: Of course. I think often he says things that he knows are going to, you know, churn up the conversation out there with the media and with Democrats and others. And he's been doing it since he came onto the scene. This could be one of those issues that he's using to do that, but obviously it'll dominate some conversations for the next couple of days. And I don't know whether he thinks that's good or bad for him. But, yes, no question. He sometimes throws things out into the water as a bit of a troll for the people who hate him the most.

DEAN: And yet, Chuck, like President Trump has followed through on a lot of things he said he would do on the campaign trail. Right? And he says he's not joking. What do you think about this?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think that it's ammunition for Democrats to use in the midterm elections, whether he's serious or not. As Scott said, sometimes he says things just to get the reaction.

But when you say something like this and when people question him and he goes, I'm being serious, whether he's being serious or not, a political ad maker like me who's trying to make the point that he's dangerous and doesn't respect the Constitution, no matter how many good or bad things the Democrats or Republicans think he has done, I think makes the case of what Democrats have been saying for a long time is that this guy has no guardrails and that he has no identification with any kind of rules. And I think how this plays out is yet to be seen.

DEAN: I do want to play a clip from Steve Bannon, of course, a very close outside ally of the president. This is what he said about this earlier this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: I'm a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028.

CHRIS CUOMO, NEWS NATION HOST: You know he's term limited. How do you think he gets another term?

BANNON: We're working on it. I think we'll have a couple of alternatives. Let's say that. We'll see what the definition --

CUOMO: Don't be mysterious. Because it's going to make people say --

BANNON: We'll see the definition of term -- we'll see what the definition of term limit is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:05:03]

DEAN: Now, Scott, I hear you, what you said at the beginning, which is that the Constitution, it's pretty, pretty big hurdle in trying to do this because it's pretty explicit about you can hold the office twice. But how helpful is it, I guess, is maybe the right word to have people like Steve Bannon saying things like that for President Trump?

JENNINGS: Well, I mean, I guess it's -- to me it looks like it could be a bit of a distraction about all the other things Donald Trump is doing. Look, I'm somebody who voted for Donald Trump, and I'm more than happy with what's going on right now. I think a lot of Republicans feel that way. And I think the rest of his term is going to be very defensible. I think the results are going to be good.

And I think he's taking on some things that Republicans have wanted a Republican president to take on for a very long time, chiefly reducing the size and cost of the federal government, among other issues. So I really have no issues with what he's doing right now. I think throwing this out in the water right now could be a political distraction from what I would argue is otherwise, you know, a pretty good record at the moment.

So I, you know, I think politically you just heard Chuck, you know, he's one of the best ad makers on the other side. You know, what they're going to do with it. And, you know, for a Democratic base that seems a little bit amped up right now, this probably throws fuel on the fire.

DEAN: Yes. And, Chuck, is it possible -- look, there's this whole thing with Signalgate that's swirling around right now, and it isn't -- it hasn't gone away over the last several days. It's a situation that Americans can really understand. They understand getting added to a group text. They understand that there was all of this very sensitive information there.

Do you think at all it's possible that the president is trying to use this to distract from that at all?

ROCHA: He could be. It's a long time between now and the midterm elections, and I've run lots of campaigns. Scott would adhere to this, too, is that it's a long time between now when people actually are voting. Now in the upcoming special elections, like we've been talking about, we may talk about later in this segment, that's where you're going to see --

DEAN: We will.

ROCHA: That's where you're going to see more generation of turnout. Now, what he could be doing here, and this is a little crazy, but hear me out, is that Scott knows that. me and Scott have talked about this on air, as Republicans have a problem in motivating folks in a special election. Democrats have to show up more. Maybe this is a mechanism for him to get his base who's all with him, if you love Trump and you got a Trump poster, you're all in, but he's maybe looking for a way to motivate folks, especially with two special elections coming up on Tuesday and a Wisconsin Supreme Court race.

DEAN: Scott, look, there's a YouGov poll that was conducted in February. In that polling, 52 percent of Americans believe that Trump would try to run for a third term. How -- is it concerning in a democracy that we live in with, the Constitution that, you know, a lot of Americans out there think he may just try to do this anyway? Do you think -- do you worry at all about kind of the corrosive nature of just even this conversation?

JENNINGS: Well, look, I don't tend to worry about things that haven't happened yet. I mean, look, we play the hypothetical game a lot with Trump and with our politics in general. And oftentimes the hypotheticals and doomsday scenarios that are laid out never come to fruition. But it certainly served as great conversation fodder at the time. So, as Trump said today, the president said it's far too early to be talking about 2028.

So, you know, my personal expectation has been that he would get elected for a second time, which was true, and that he would have a very successful four years, and that the Republican Party, following on a successful four-year term, would then elect a successor to Donald Trump, who would build on those successes. So that has been and continues to be my expectation. And it's -- we're a long way away from 2028. So I think I'm going to leave it at that.

DEAN: Yes. Chuck, last thoughts on that before we take a quick break?

ROCHA: There's a lot of time between now and the midterms, and even more time between now and '28. Democrats, hear me out. You have to do two things to win an election. You have to tell people why they should fire Donald Trump, and he's doing that themselves. But you also got to give people a vision for the future and tell them why you're not him. And that's what Democrats need to be focused on.

DEAN: All right. You guys, stay with us. We're going to take a quick break. And up next, we are live in Wisconsin, where Elon Musk is inserting himself and his money and potential influence into an election there. But a pivotal race could give Musk and President Trump their first test of how voters feel about what they're doing. We're going to talk more about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:14:05]

DEAN: We do have breaking news tonight, as New Mexico's Republican Party is blaming what they call a deliberate act of arson for a fire that damaged the state's headquarters. Firefighters in Albuquerque say they were called to the building early this morning. No one was hurt, but someone did spray paint "ICE equals KKK" on the building. The ATF and the FBI are now both investigating that fire.

Tonight, the richest man in the world is headed to Wisconsin ahead of a high-stakes election Tuesday. It is a key state Supreme Court race that could be the first major test of Trump's second term. Musk, who was Trump's biggest donor, has poured millions of his own dollars into this race. And tonight he wants to hand out million-dollar prizes to some winners. A controversial move he also used in Trump's election last year. But tonight, Wisconsin's attorney general is taking legal action.

CNN's Arlette Saenz picks the story up for us there live from Green Bay, Wisconsin, with new reporting.

Arlette, Musk is supposed to give out these checks at a town hall tonight. Where do things stand?

[18:15:05]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, the Wisconsin Democratic attorney general Josh Kaul had asked the state Supreme Court to intervene to put a stop to these promotions for $1 million cash giveaways at this event. This is still making its way through the courts, but it's another sign or another use, I should say, of a controversial get-out-the-vote tactic that Elon Musk had used back in the 2024 campaign.

Now, Elon Musk has made it clear he is going all in on this Wisconsin Supreme Court case, hoping to boost the conservative candidate Brad Schimel. He has poured millions of his own personal fortune into the race above $20 million at this point, either directly from Musk or from groups that are affiliated with him. And tonight he is making the trek here to Wisconsin to make this pitch directly to voters.

Democrats are really trying to use this moment to their advantage, hoping that they can mobilize voters who are either turned off by Elon Musk's big spending or his efforts through DOGE to slash the federal government. Now, a bit earlier today, the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel, did an interview where he tried to argue that Musk's spending in the state is done independently of his campaign. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD SCHIMEL, WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT CANDIDATE: I don't control any of the spending from any outside group, whether it's Elon Musk or anyone else that has an organization spending money in this race. I've run a 72-county race in Wisconsin. I've campaigned in every county for 16 months.

I'm not running anything for Elon Musk or any other person. And frankly, the only thing that anyone, including President Trump and his endorsement of my campaign, all he asked of me was, Brad, do you reject activist judges? Are you going to follow the law? That's exactly what I've committed to anybody, whether it's President Trump, Elon Musk or any donors or supporters or voters in Wisconsin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, the liberal candidate, Susan Crawford, and her Democratic allies have tried to argue that Musk is trying to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. For Democrats, this could be a major test of their messaging, as they are still grappling with how to push back in the Trump era. But this race is officially a nonpartizan race. But that's really just in name only. This race has attracted a lot of national attention from politicians like President Trump, former president Barack Obama.

And this is really a high stakes race here in the state of Wisconsin, as the election will determine the ideological balance of the court, which currently has a liberal majority. But if the conservative candidate wins, it would flip it to conservative control. So a lot of attention will be paid over the coming days with this election shaping up to take place, as these two candidates are vying for a single seat on the state Supreme Court, and Elon Musk has gotten involved in a very big way.

DEAN: All right. Arlette Saenz, for us there in Wisconsin, thank you so much for that.

And our panel is back now with us.

Chuck, let's start first with you. Do you think this Supreme Court race is a referendum on Elon?

ROCHA: Absolutely. And it's a referendum on this first 50, 60 days of the Trump presidency. Let's talk about Wisconsin for just a second. Donald Trump won this state just five months ago. But it's very important for everyone to realize to level set that also a Democratic U.S. senator also won. So you had folks who went in and voted for Donald Trump and then went home. They didn't vote down ticket.

So Tammy Baldwin, who I'd also like to say is an LGBTQ white woman, I bring that up just to say that she outperformed Donald Trump. I'm not saying, better or worse, I'm giving you some parameters of how 50-50 this state really is. This is a state that only has a couple media markets. It's also one of those states if you dump $20 million, you can only buy so much TV. And as an ad maker, I can tell you there's no more TV left to buy. So it comes down to a referendum on really, Musk more so than Donald Trump right now.

DEAN: Scott, what do you think?

JENNINGS: I don't think it's a referendum on anybody. I will agree with one thing Chuck said. And that is the Republican Party has an interesting condition right now, and it's new to us. But it is true. We have a lot of new people in the party. They turned out for Donald Trump. And as Chuck correctly pointed out, a lot of them only vote for Donald Trump or when Donald Trump is on the ballot.

And what the Republican Party has got to do is condition some of these low propensity voters who were only attracted to the party by Trump in the first place, to continue to show up in off year elections or off cycle elections or special elections or what have you. And the Democrats, you know, a lot of the higher propensity voters who people who vote in five out of every five elections, they're in the Democratic Party right now. So they've been doing better in some of these off cycle contests that

I assume is going to continue to be the case until the Republicans can condition their new people. Hey, it's good for you to show up, you know, more than just once every four years. It's a real thing, and the party is going to have to grapple with it.

DEAN: Scott, do you think it's appropriate what Musk is doing with his money and offering these million-dollar prizes?

[18:20:02]

JENNINGS: I think as long as you're engaged in ways that don't run afoul of clear campaign finance laws, I don't have problems with money in politics, I never have. You know, I believe if people have money and they want to spend it on speech, I think they ought to be able to do that. I certainly respect campaign finance laws, and they're different in, you know, state to state, as Chuck knows.

But no, I generally don't have a problem when people get involved with money. Certainly there are Democratic billionaires who spend all kinds of money in elections. And as Chuck pointed out, there's only so much money you can spend in Wisconsin. And it sounds like it's all being spent there by both parties right now. But no, I'm not, I'm not, I don't have a problem with money being spent.

Ultimately voters, you know, they sift through the things and they decide how they're going to vote. I think this election really, as the Republican or conservative judge pointed out, is really about whether you want a judge who's going to follow the law and not be an activist judge. I think it's as simple as that. And hopefully the people of Wisconsin side with him on it.

DEAN: Chuck, what do you think? Is it appropriate?

ROCHA: Look, I think our campaign laws are a hot mess. I think that we have a nonfunctioning Federal Election Commission. I think that money in politics is a bad thing. But I also think that you're never going to get money out of politics since the beginning of time. And Democrats on my side who want a purity test, I will say from the rooftops that money is power, but also that money corrupts. We all know that with half a sense.

But as a consultant, I'm not just going to sit back and let them spend money, and we're not going to spend money because we've got to compete on the battlefield. And here's where the battlefield is. And let me build off of one thing Scott was saying about Wisconsin. Wisconsin is much different than another battleground state. Wisconsin doesn't have a huge population of African-American voters or a huge population of Latino voters, which I will give credit to Donald Trump, he overperformed with both of those compared to years past.

That's why this is such a unique state, because there's a lot of white voters. There's Madison, Wisconsin, a lot of educated voters, which Scott pointed out are more Democratic now. And it breaks my heart because I'm the blue-collar Democrat here who back in the day we used to lose every special election, but now things are turned on their heads where you're seeing the realignment of the parties.

DEAN: Yes, I do think that there is so much realignment happening across the political spectrum right now that it is something to kind of behold and to keep keeping track of.

Scott, I want to ask you about this other special election in -- this one in Florida, Republicans trying to hold on to the congressional seats there with the departures of Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz. Trump won those districts by more than 30 points in 2024. Democratic challengers are outraising Republican opponents. However, we have seen Democrats raise a lot of money and still not win. How would you kind of evaluate this right now?

JENNINGS: Well, my expectation is that Republicans will win. Certainly, it's possible that the Republican candidates underperform the Donald Trump number, and that's to be expected because of the issues I mentioned earlier. And, look, Democrats are jacked up and they have this population of voters who vote in every election, no matter when it is, and Republicans are going to have to condition their people that showing up for special elections is just as important as showing up and voting for president.

I do think that the Republicans will win here, and it's not -- if they win, but it's a smaller margin than what Trump won by, I don't really think it means anything other than the party is still grappling with this new reality of having a huge base of voters that simply haven't conditioned themselves to turnout in special elections. But you can see, you know, Democrats are doing all kinds of things around the country up to and including, you know, committing all kinds of vandalism and other acts.

They're anxious to do something. And I suspect voting on these specials is going to be one of them. So they're jacked up right now. Republicans need to take note of it.

DEAN: I see, Chuck, you want to talk. Go.

ROCHA: Look, let me let me set the parameters here. There was a primary, a Democratic primary and a Republican primary in the Florida Sixth District just on January 28th. Let me give some numbers. The Democrats, only 16,000 people showed up to vote in that primary. 40,000 people in the Republican primary just back in January 28th. That's how much more Republican this district is.

The Democrat has raised $9 million. The real winner in this race really is the consultants working on it. And I'm a little bitter that I'm not because somebody is making a fortune. But I think that we probably fall short in a Trump plus 35. And if we don't, something is really going on out there even more than I'm seeing. But to overcome a 16,000 to 40,000 turnout in the primary just six weeks ago would be astonishing.

DEAN: Yes. Before I let you go, Scott, I do want to touch on to the White House pulling Congresswoman Elise Stefanik's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N. They're worried about the Republicans' slim margins in the House chamber. They want to get their tax package through. What does that tell you? I mean, obviously they want the numbers there, but they were really nervous about this.

JENNINGS: Of course. And we have no margin for error in the House really. I'm sad for Elise because she has been an absolute all-star, totally rock solid player, a team player.

[18:25:01]

You know what she did to hold those university presidents to account over the antisemitism on their campuses was nothing short of heroic. She deserved this appointment. She would have been a great U.N. ambassador. But I'll tell you something that is true about her. She's a team player, and politics is a team sport. And right now, as President Trump said, she's more valuable holding down that seat in the House so that he can pass his legislative agenda than she is going to the United Nations.

If she's in the House and we have that seat, it makes it that much more likely that we can make the tax cuts permanent, change energy policy for the better, and so on and so forth. Getting that right, getting the Donald Trump legislative package through the Congress, is really all that Republicans should be worried about up on the Hill right now, and Elise being in the House makes it that much more likely.

So she's young. We served in the Bush White House together. I couldn't love her any more than I do. I'm sure something better will come down the road for her, but always be grateful for team players and a team sport which politics is.

DEAN: Chuck, what did the move say to you?

ROCHA: That she represents a district that Donald Trump won by 60 and the Democrat got 40. There's 128 other congressional seats around America that aren't as good as that one is. That means that if we're worried, if they're worried about that race, and I get it, it would be a special election and we show up in special elections. I'm not arguing that. But as somebody who helped flip four congressional seats in the last election, when Democrats got their butt kicked from Republican to Democrat, Democrats and congressional races are much different than this national thing that you see.

So we move into the off year when you move into these races where you don't have 60 percent turnout, 70 percent turnout, this is the opportunity for Democrats to make a comeback.

DEAN: All right, Chuck, Scott, as always, thank you so much. We appreciate both of you.

JENNINGS: Thank you both.

ROCHA: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, we're going to take you live to Southeast Asia where there is a desperate and urgent search for any survivors 48 hours after a massive earthquake there. But collapsed buildings, ruined roads and communication blackouts making a difficult situation even more difficult.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:26]

DEAN: Crews in Myanmar are still searching for survivors in the rubble of that 7.7 earthquake that rocked the country Friday. Many rescuers have nothing but their own hands to help them dig beneath all of that wreckage. They aren't giving up, though. This video showing searchers pulling a man alive from the wreckage in Mandalay City a short time ago. That was more than 40 hours after the earthquake.

Officials say at least 1700 people are confirmed dead. That number is expected to rise dramatically in the coming weeks. The earthquake toppled buildings as far away as Bangkok, Thailand. That's where CNN's Will Ripley is tonight.

And Will, I see -- we see the destruction behind you. What are -- what's happening in Bangkok?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I just want to get you right into the scene here, Jessica, because, you know, even though they have all this heavy equipment, you mentioned people digging by hand up at the very top of what is left of this 30-story skyscraper, you can see those men working up there with the lights. They say that they have now detected using special equipment six people.

One of them, several hours ago, was moving and is now no longer moving. The other ones were not moving. So they don't know if any of these people are still alive or if they have all passed on. But they're now digging delicately by hand. They don't want to disturb the area. And then we've actually been told that we need to clear out of this. As soon as we finish speaking with you, we need to clear out of this area because they're setting up a medical triage area just in case somebody happens to be alive.

So we've been watching this for several hours. That's how long it's taken them to kind of get to this stage. And it could still be several more hours before anybody is actually brought down. But that's something that we're going to continue watching out here just to show you, even when you have all this machinery, it's a long and painstaking process. And in Myanmar, where there are thousands potentially of people who are buried underneath buildings, they have nothing like this.

Rescue crews have arrived with limited equipment, digging by hand. They've had some success. But now that we're getting close to, you know, 70 hours since the initial earthquake, really these are the final hours that there's any chance of somebody being alive. And they're trying to take advantage of every second and hoping that they can have some positive stories, some small miracle out of all of this tragedy, because they still believe about 80 people are buried in what's left of that building.

And as I said, scores of people we have not even close to getting an estimate of how many people may be buried closer to the epicenter, more than 600 miles from here in Myanmar -- Jessica.

DEAN: It is just devastating. And Myanmar's ruling military has largely shut that country off from the world during its civil war. We do know that it's now taking this rare step of asking for international help. How do you assess what that means about how devastating the damage is there, and how much help they actually do need?

RIPLEY: Yes, I mean, this is a great point. The fact that the junta even acknowledged that there is a crisis and asked for international assistance is noteworthy, although they've also put out a statement in recent hours asking international journalists not to go to Myanmar, saying that they don't have hotels and things like that to accommodate. Of course CNN, we have plenty of equipment, camping equipment. We'll go there. We don't care if we have to sleep on the street. We want to show people what's happening there.

But the junta asking journalists not to come. Some say there may be a more sinister reason for why they don't want the eyes of the world actually on the ground in Myanmar. There are reports from opposition rebel groups that despite the earthquake devastation, the junta within the last day carried out airstrikes against rebel held areas that are already devastated by the earthquake. We're still working to confirm that ourselves, but we have a statement from opposition groups who say that civilians were bombed by the junta within the last 24 hours, the same junta that's asking for international aid.

[18:35:08]

So obviously, Jessica, we need to get there. We're working to try to get there as quickly as we can to show the world what's happening.

DEAN: Absolutely. Will Ripley, thank you so much from Bangkok. We really, really appreciate that.

And for more information about how you can help the earthquake victims, you can go to CNN.com/impact.

Still ahead, the newest move by the White House to reshape the way the executive branch interacts with the media.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:10]

DEAN: And tonight were learning the White House is planning to take over the seating chart for the briefing room in the coming weeks. Taking the reins from the reporters themselves, who manage seating through the White House Correspondents Association.

CNN media analyst and Axios media correspondent Sara Fischer is joining us now.

Sara, good to see you. Walk us through how the administration is justifying this change, how it's being received. SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST; Yes. So broadly, Jessica, they've

made a lot of efforts to try to take more control over the press corps and who is covering the president. You'll recall they banned the AP from the Oval Office and Air Force One events. When the White House Correspondents Association stood with the AP, that's when they started to decide which members of the press pool were going to get to travel with the president.

That was an unprecedented move because the White House Correspondents Association has always been the one to make those decisions. Now they're going a step further according to Axios' Mike Allen, who broke the story this morning. And they want to decide who gets to sit where within the James Brady Press Room.

Now that's important, Jessica, because seating really matters when it comes to getting your questions answered. Visibility, you know, if you're sitting in the front row, it's much easier to catch the press secretary's eye and get your question asked. It also makes the difference if you're a big broadcaster or a cable network, you typically are having camera people inside of those briefing rooms. You're going to want your correspondent towards the front to get a nice shot of the exchange between your correspondent and the press secretary.

And so this would be a massive, massive change if it's something they're really considering. One thing I'll note, it would be a change, not just in rearranging the deck chairs, but bringing more new digital outlets in, bringing in more influencers. Of course, when you bring in folks like influencers, they don't have the type of infrastructure to be able to cover a press briefing daily. And so the White House wants to make sure that they're managing that.

You know, the networks are reliable coverage. They don't want empty seats in the briefing room. And so I think you're going to see a mix of the broadcasters, the traditional outlets, the papers and the wires, being joined by some of these newer outlets and influencers.

DEAN: It is so interesting to kind of balance it out because we know that President Trump is a consumer, as much as he rails against the traditional media, he does consume a lot of it. And yet, so much of the new media, these podcasters, these influencers, is where he's been able to get a lot of attention and support as well. So it will be interesting to see how that all kind of mixes together, and also to how Americans are consuming their news. A lot of Americans get their news from YouTube now.

FISCHER: Yes, and that was part of their rationale, according to this report, is that you want to make sure you're addressing how everyday people get their news and they're not always getting it from the same outlets that maybe their parents got it from. But I will say to your point, Jessica, Donald Trump is an extremely visual person. He cares a lot about television. He cares a lot about pictures. And so that, to me, is going to be a signal that the wire services that have big photography arms, I think about the AP and Reuters or even Getty Photos, the broadcasters that need to get great shots, I don't think they're going to want to do a lot to stand in the way of those types of outlets.

I think the types of outlets that are more likely to get pushed back are more of the traditional sort of print outlets that don't necessarily always come with as big of an infrastructure visually.

DEAN: Yes. That will be very interesting to see how that all plays out. I also do want to ask you, staying with the White House Correspondents Association again, again, that is the group of, that is kind of the group of journalists that make rules for themselves. They elect who sits on that association, who is their president. And then they, of course, negotiate with the White House on their behalf. They announced there would be no headliner at the Correspondents Dinner next month, canceling this planned appearance by comedian Amber Ruffin.

What do you make of all of these changes?

FISCHER: Yes, I think that the White House Correspondents Association is trying to deescalate tensions from the White House in order to ensure that they can continue to somewhat manage the press coverage of the president. And so, Taylor Budowich, one of the White House communications officials, had tweeted that some of the comments that she had made on a recent podcast were disparaging, and he kind of insinuated what kind of journalists would want to attend a dinner in which this woman was saying those types of things.

I think that the White House Correspondents Association hears that as a signal that if they want to get along nice with the White House, you know, they might need to pull this comedian from their annual event.

Now, this is not a totally new thing, Jessica. We had historians who came and presented at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner in the past instead of comedians during the first Trump era, in order to de-escalate things. What is interesting, though, that we haven't had in the past, is there's been a lot of rumors and reports that the White House is considering programing their own shadow dinner at the same time, and so I'm very curious to see if the president attends the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, if them removing this comedian helps to bring attendance, bring viewership, maybe to deescalate terms at the White House.

[18:45:07]

It's hard to tell, but it's coming up pretty quick. That's the last week in April, so we'll know in a few weeks.

DEAN: Yes. More to come on that. Sara Fischer, as always, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

FISCHER: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: Still to come, brewing trouble for the country's craft beer makers. Up next we're going to take you to Asheville, North Carolina, where tariffs are putting a squeeze on brewers in an area where, of course, so many are still picking up the pieces from Hurricane Helene and it simply doesn't show any signs of getting better. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:11]

DEAN: President Trump says Wednesday will be America's liberation day when he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on some of the country's biggest trading partners. But hefty tariffs are already in place on aluminum and steel, and that's creating another major headache for some North Carolina businesses. These are the same businesses that are still trying to recover from Hurricane Helene that hit last year.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher spoke to several brewers about the roadblocks they're hitting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bustling brewery hands stacked to the ceiling. As new ones come down the line. Just six months ago.

ADAM CHARNACK, HI-WIRE BREWING: All this was destroyed in the hurricane.

GALLAGHER: Hi-Wire Brewing's distribution warehouse fully underwater after Hurricane Helene.

CHARNACK: 1.3 million unfilled raw cans, waiting to be filled with beer. Almost 200,000 filled cans and all that was destroyed.

GALLAGHER: Co-founder Adam Charnack says they've improvised and spent a lot of money to get Hi-Wire brewing again.

CHARNACK: Oh, yes.

GALLAGHER: Cheers.

CHARNACK: Cheers.

GALLAGHER (voice-over: And while these cans are signs of a comeback, they're also the source of a new challenge.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is the beginning of making America rich again.

GALLAGHER: President Trump imposed sweeping 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported into the United States, much of which comes from Canada and is used by brewers around the country. Now Trump says the tariffs will level the playing field for domestic manufacturing.

JAMES SMITH, ECONOMIC FORECASTER: It's a tax. A tariff is a tax.

GALLAGHER: Economists warn it's not that simple.

SMITH: The U.S. doesn't produce enough aluminum. We may cure that, but that will probably take at least a decade. So we have to import it. CHARNACK: There's only so many options on where you buy your things.

The cans are manufactured in the United States. I can't control where they get their aluminum from. Our can prices went up immediately 5 percent, and they'll probably go up again. There's 24 cans in a case so, you know, you already have a quarter a case right there. So those things really add up. And when you're selling, you know, it's a volume game. You know, we don't sell 100 cases a day or a week. We're selling thousands and thousands of meeting that cost.

GALLAGHER: And the only alternative to recoup that right now would be to charge more.

CHARNACK: I can't do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the most active beer cities in the country.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): The extra costs are especially hard to swallow here in Asheville, home to more than 50 breweries that account for more than 2500 jobs, with nearly $1 billion in local economic impact, according to the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. After months of loss, the beer industry, like the city, is still getting back on its feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Six months to the day we finally got a beer in the tank.

GALLAGHER: The French Broad River Brewery is still recovering from Helene. Owner Paul Casey says tariffs could make some of these small businesses pivot.

Is there sort of a breaking point?

PAUL CASEY, OWNER, FRENCH BROAD BREWERY: I think it will change some people's or some companies or breweries' business plan. So instead of packaging their beers up and sending them out into the market they may focus more on their taprooms. It's a lot lower cost.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Brewers also worry about tariff proposals on the horizon.

CASEY: A lot of our grain and malts are sourced from overseas, from Germany and the U.K. And that will impact a lot of breweries across the board.

CHARNACK: Now, a lot of our ingredients are just globally sourced.

GALLAGHER: Is it sustainable?

CHARNACK: Right now I can tell you, you know, our costs have gone up in our cans. There's nothing I can do about it. Our margins are pretty thin as it is. So it's making it harder in an already difficult situation to be a successful small business.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Dianne Gallagher, CNN, Asheville, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE) DEAN: Tonight we have a new episode of the "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL," focusing on cyclist Lance Armstrong's rise to fame and his eventual fall after doping allegations.

Here's Jake Tapper with a preview of that.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for having me, Jessica. So this week's episode takes a look at the scandal that shocked sports fans everywhere. Despite his seemingly perfect public image, his incredible story of surviving stage four cancer, multiple professional cycling accolades, Lance Armstrong and his fame and his reputation were utterly destroyed ultimately by accusations of doping and the web of deception and lies and bullying that he created while trying to so desperately protect his legacy.

I spoke with his former teammate Floyd Landis about the circumstances that led to Armstrong's public fall from grace. Here's a little preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It took about 15 years for the truth to come out about Lance and doping in the sport in general. Why? Why did it take so long? And would it have come out were it not for you?

FLOYD LANDIS, FORMER TEAMMATE: It may have never come out, I don't know. I can't believe that I was the reason for it. I can't believe it had to -- it had to be that because it had gone on so long.

[18:55:05]

TAPPER: So long indeed. Lance finally confessed to doping in 2013, and the story of what was going on in all those years between becoming a phenom and his shameful admission is fascinating and upsetting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Armstrong's story of survival and triumph turned into one of deception and lies, and really brutal bullying. It devolved into a cautionary tale about the lengths some will go in order to protect their legacy -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Jake, thank you. And be sure to tune in a new episode of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL" airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

But first here in the CNN NEWSROOM, President Trump giving his strongest indication yet he might make a run at a third term in the White House. He's making it clear he's serious. He's not joking, he said. The methods he says he could potentially use to bypass what it says in the Constitution.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)