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April Job Cuts Highest For The Month Since 2020; Federal Judge Rules Trump's Use Of Alien Enemies Act Is Unlawful; Actor Ed Helms On His New Book "SNAFU". Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 01, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:31:12]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is still trying to sell the American public on his trade policy, though even he admits it could raise costs for parents.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Maybe the children will have $2 instead of $30, you know? And maybe the $2 will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally, but we're not talking about something that we have to go out of our way.

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BASH: The uncertainty facing the American economy is working its way into the jobs numbers. Matt Egan is here to explain. Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Dana. You know, in the last 24 hours or so, we have heard from a number of major corporations that have sounded increasingly concerned about the economic situation. General Motors slashed its profit outlook and is warning that tariffs could cost the automaker up to $5 billion this year alone.

McDonald's said that it suffered its worst quarter of U.S. sales since COVID. And Harley-Davidson, they abandoned their financial outlook altogether. Now, all of this, of course, is coming as the focus is shifting to the U.S. jobs market. We've gotten a number of indicators in the last day or so. None of them have been particularly great.

ADP said that private sector hiring slowed more than expected last month. We've seen an uptick in weekly jobless claims. And also outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports that last month, U.S.-based employers announced more than 105,000 job cuts.

Now, the good news is that is a significant decline from March, but the bad news is this is a 63 percent increase from April of last year. In fact, going back to history, Challenger's been tracking this stat since 1989, and there's only been two Aprils that have been higher, and neither of them are years that you would want to be associated with. One was in 2009 during the Great Recession. The other was in 2020 during COVID. Now, when we look at the trend for job cut announcements, you can see on that chart that layoff announcements remain elevated. Again, the only two years that were higher were in 2009 and in 2020, and as far as where these job cuts are taking place, I think we can see the fingerprints of Elon Musk's DOGE all over where the layoff announcements have happened because we've seen a significant increase in layoff announcements from the non-profit sector.

Of course, that comes as the federal government has been slashing spending and research grants. Also, the government sector itself. Look at that. There's been an almost 700 percent increase in layoff announcements so far this year compared to last year.

And when you look at the map of where these layoff announcements are happening, again, you can see the impact of DOGE because look at that, the East, you have a 200 percent plus increase in layoff announcements. And so all of this sets the stage for tomorrow's much more important, more closely watched government jobs report.

And the expectation from economists is that it's going to show that hiring slowed significantly in April and that the unemployment rate remained relatively --

BASH: Yes.

EGAN: -- low at 4.2 percent. But Dana, the question is how long can it stay low --

BASH: That is --

EGAN: -- given everything going on in the economy?

BASH: Yes, that definitely is the question.

Matt, thank you so much for that.

EGAN: Thanks, Dana.

BASH: Coming up, we have more breaking news. This on a Trump-appointed judge ruling against the President's deportation plan. We'll explain after a break.

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[12:39:19]

BASH: And we're back with breaking news. A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas ruled that the President unlawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act and blocked the administration from quickly deporting some alleged gang members.

I want to quickly bring in Priscilla Alvarez, who's got the details. Priscilla, tell us more.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Dana, this is a significant blow for the Trump administration, which has wanted to lean on this sweeping wartime authority, the Alien Enemies Act. Well, a federal judge in Texas saying just moments ago that the President exceeded his authority by invoking this law that was intended to be used during wartime.

Let me read you a snippet of what he said. He said, quote, "Allowing the President to unilaterally define the conditions when he may invoke the AEA," the Alien Enemies Act, "and then summarily declare that those conditions exist would remove all limitations to the executive branch's authority under the AEA and would strip the courts of their traditional role of interpreting congressional statutes to determine whether a government official has exceeded the statute's scope". Goes on to say, "The law does not support such a position".

[12:40:27]

The position, Dana, that the administration has taken is that Tren de Aragua, that Venezuelan gang, is a foreign terrorist organization and that they are invading the United States. And so the administration has said that they can use the authority based on that. Well, this federal judge is not buying it according to this opinion.

And Dana, while there have been legal challenges across the country over the use of this act, this is, again, the first time that a federal judge is weighing in on whether or not the President exceeded his authority. ACLU's Lee Gelernt told me in a statement that this is the first court, quote, "to squarely rule on the fundamental question of whether a wartime authority can be used during peacetime and properly concluded it cannot".

Now, as far as for the immigrants who are detained in this judge's district, they cannot be deported under this authority as of now. But again, that is constrained to those in his district. But, of course, Dana, this is going to launch perhaps several more steps in the court system when, again, this federal judge says that Trump exceeded his authority to invoke the Alien Enemies Act.

BASH: Before I let you go, Priscilla, just on that note, is it just these particular people who are alleged to be part of a gang that can't be deported or sent to that notorious prison in El Salvador, or is this potentially more broad?

ALVAREZ: That's correct. It is those individuals, Venezuelan migrants, who have been alleged to be part of this gang who are in this district who cannot be deported under this authority. There are various other legal challenges playing out around the country as to others who may be eligible based off the administration's determination, but that is who it affects as of this afternoon.

BASH: OK. Thank you so much, Priscilla. I appreciate that.

Just to emphasize a couple of things. First of all, that it is a first. It's the first time we have seen a federal judge say that on its merit, the Alien Enemies Act should not be used in this case, but it's also the who of it all. Judge Fernando Rodriguez of the Southern District of Texas was appointed by Donald Trump. JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: He was back in 2017, the President's first year in office. And this is something that we really shouldn't have to say because a federal judge rules as they rule, but it has become part of the fight in all of this, if it's an Obama-appointed judge or whatnot. So it was a Trump-appointed judge.

And the reason it's so significant for what Priscilla was laying out there is because it's more difficult for the White House to sort of go after this judge, as he has been doing on Judge Boasberg here in Washington and others. But I think a bigger question is, this, you know, likely to end up in the Supreme Court or something, and does the White House follow this?

As of now, the President, you know, has says that he does follow the rulings and orders of judges, so we shall see. But 1798, that's when the Alien Enemies Act was signed, only used three times in wartime. So the minute that was signed and happened, which was on a Saturday, you knew that it would be challenged, and this is it.

DASHA BURNS, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: Yes, they are not surprised by any of this. This is certainly the biggest blow, but this is the biggest blow in a series of setbacks in the courts for the Trump administration. But what I'm hearing inside is that there's the legal piece of it, right? And they will fight this in the courts, but for Trump in particular, just as important is the messaging and communications fight on this.

It's going to be tougher because this is a Trump-appointed judge, but they are saying, and you heard Stephen Miller, I was in the briefing room, you were there today, say that judges are trying to restrict the President's power. They're trying to play Secretary of State, and they cannot do that.

Stephen Miller has his own legal theories about how this should all play out. But the main thing that they are going to do is hammer the messaging on this, and they think that is the best way to win in the court of public opinion right now as they wait for the Supreme Court to ultimately take this up.

MARIO PARKER, NATIONAL POLITICS TEAM LEADER, BLOOMBERG: And we saw this with the President yesterday in the Cabinet meeting, right, when he was speaking with Pam Bondi, saying that they -- you've got a couple of --

BURNS: Yes, judge problems.

PARKER: Exactly.

BURNS: Yes.

PARKER: You've got judge problems. We saw JD Vance talk about the limitations of the judges to subvert the President's executive power, particularly during an emergency, which they're casting now. But this is the first big blow, and this isn't a great deal, right? This isn't a great look for the President. This is back-to-back now, two days of two of his most central themes of his 2024 campaign. Yesterday, we had some sour economic news. Today, he gets a setback on the immigration front as well, whether or not he can message and continue to, which is what he's done to the public, that judges are staying in his way and he's keeping people safe remains to be seen, but it's not a good look for the President right now.

[12:45:12]

BASH: All right, everybody, thank you so much. A lot of breaking news this hour. But don't go anywhere because my next guest is exploring what he calls our collective idiocy. You see him there, the one and only Ed Helms will be here on his new book after a break.

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BASH: My next guest needs no introduction, but I'm not going to miss an opportunity to play a clip from this comedic genius, Ed Helms, on The Office.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

(SINGING)

ED HELMS, AUTHOR, "SNAFU: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO HISTORY'S GREATEST SCREWUPS": My plan is to make Erin (ph) fall back in love with me tonight. Women cannot resist a man singing show tunes.

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[12:50:34]

BASH: Fact check true. Ed has taken his show tunes chops to the world of podcasting and turned his exploration of our collective idiocy into a fantastic new book, "Situation Normal: All F'd Up", otherwise known as "SNAFU: The Definitive Guide To History's Greatest Screw Ups".

Ed Helms is here in our office. I couldn't resist. I have to tell you that I think you know that my son Jonah is a huge Ed Helms fan, big Office fan.

I said to him, I'm going to play a clip. What's your favorite? He was like, Sweeney Todd, obviously.

HELMS: Oh, nice.

BASH: Yes.

HELMS: Yes, he nailed it. That's one of my all-time favorite clips as well.

BASH: Also because we could hear you sing.

HELMS: Yes.

BASH: Yes.

HELMS: Yes. And we really, like, we rehearsed that scene like a full on Broadway musical.

BASH: You could see.

HELMS: We committed so hard to that. And I am insanely proud of it.

BASH: One of my favorite parts, which we didn't play is somebody said, did you write that? You said, no, Stephen Sondheim. Who's that? That was funny.

OK, let's talk about this book. So it's so great, "SNAFU". You go through the decades in American history, really world history, but I think it's mostly American.

HELMS: Mostly American history, yes.

BASH: 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. And look at some of the most messed up events that happened.

HELMS: Yes.

BASH: Mess ups.

HELMS: Yes.

BASH: Otherwise known as Snafus. The 50s, you have a chapter entitled, "Jimmy Carter's Nuclear Nuts". I'm just going to give you the floor and let you explain that one.

HELMS: So, yes, well, thank you so much, Dana. The book is kind of a survey of Snafus and it's full of stories. It's such an easy book to just pick up and read quickly, little snippets. But this one that you mentioned, it's an incredible story.

In the 50s, there was a nuclear reactor in Ontario and they had a meltdown start. And one of the first nuclear meltdowns in human history, actually. So they're panicking. They call the U.S. government. What do we do? How can -- can you help us?

They said, well, we've got this young kid. He works on nuclear subs and he's really bright and he's a good leader. We'll send him up there. That's a 25-year-old Jimmy Carter.

BASH: That is so crazy.

HELMS: Yes. And he -- it's incredible. They build a replica of the reactor on a nearby tennis court. And he -- you can only be exposed to the radioactivity for 90 seconds at a time. So they're like a NASCAR pit crew running in, just zip, zip, zip, getting this thing dismantled and they save it from a complete meltdown.

BASH: And the nuts are referring to the peanuts that he grew?

HELMS: The nuts are referring to the bolts, the nuts and bolts on the reactor that they had to dismantle.

BASH: OK. OK.

HELMS: But he did have radio --

BASH: So it's a triple entendre (ph).

HELMS: Yes. Actually, he did have radioactive pee for three months after this, yes, after this happened.

BASH: How did I not know this story? OK, let's jump ahead, 1970s. Because there is a chapter that reads how one woman's bullshit detector exposed the largest ever infiltration of the U.S. government. Probably isn't surprising to you that that really struck --

HELMS: Sure.

BASH: -- a nerve with me --

HELMS: Yes.

BASH: -- a woman who's a bullshit detector. Talk more about that.

HELMS: Yes, that's an incredible story. 1956, the Church of Scientology is granted tax exemption as a religion. 1966 rolls around, the IRS is like, we think you guys are more of a commercial enterprise, so we're revoking your tax exempt status. They don't like that, so they start to infiltrate the IRS.

They get scientologists hired in low-level positions throughout the IRS, but it's -- they're creating a sort of intelligence web within the U.S. government to fight all these lawsuits that they're bringing to regain tax exempt status. Christine Hansen is the FBI agent in 1976 who catches a couple of them snooping around an assistant U.S. attorney's office.

She's like, what are you guys doing? They're like, well, we work for the IRS. We're just getting some files for a case we're working on. That was true, they did work for the IRS, but they were double agents for the Church of Scientology. The whole thing blows up and it's revealed that tens of thousands of documents were stolen or copied --

BASH: Wow.

HELMS: -- and they were bugging offices. It was a crazy debacle, crazy intelligence breach.

BASH: You're a really good reporter.

HELMS: Oh, thanks.

BASH: Yes. I mean, I didn't even realize, I know you were a reporter on The Daily Show, which is kind of like what I do.

[12:55:04]

HELMS: It's the opposite of what you do.

BASH: Any snack foods that you've seen in the last 102 days --

HELMS: No, not a single one.

BASH: No. Yes?

HELMS: No. Well, here's -- I do want to -- obviously we're swimming in snack foods right now.

BASH: Yes.

HELMS: But I will say the book benefits from the old saying that tragedy plus time equals comedy, which is why so many of the stories in there are funny or I tried to put sort of funny top spin on them. The Snafus that we're swimming in right now, we have no distance from them. They're too --

BASH: Yes.

HELMS: -- they're not funny. It is not a funny moment.

BASH: Well, but because you are such a gifted comedian, we have to find humor and everything.

HELMS: Yes.

BASH: And if not for people like you, where would we be?

HELMS: You know what? I think --

BASH: We need to laugh.

HELMS: I think I -- if you're implying that I am saving the world somehow, then I'll accept that.

BASH: I mean -- yes, I mean, you can take from that what I said.

HELMS: Yes.

BASH: And it's so good to see you. Thank you.

HELMS: Likewise.

BASH: The book is "SNAFU". Go get it. It's terrific. Thank you.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts after the break.

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