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The Situation Room

Trump and El Salvador Migrant Deal-Making; Trump 100-Day Approval Rating Lowest in Seven Decades. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 29, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, we're getting a closer look at the Trump administration's ongoing relationship with El Salvador, a key ally in their unprecedented deportation agenda.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. E-mails seen by CNN are revealing never before reported details about the administration's controversial deal to send migrants to the country's notorious mega- prison and just how it came together and what it could cost. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us with the latest. So, what are we learning from these e-mails?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We talked extensively about these controversial deportation flights to El Salvador in mid-March, but now my colleague, Jennifer Hansler, and I are learning about how exactly that came together, even in the days just before those flights happened.

And what this correspondence show is the deal-making that was happening between the two governments. For example who they were going to send. Not only did the U.S. want to send around 500 -- up to 500 migrants, but El Salvador similarly wanted some MS-13 leaders to be sent back to El Salvador similarly to be held in that mega-prison.

Now, a U.S. official told me that the 500 number was notional and ultimately, the El Salvadorian government agreed to up to 300, 238 total Venezuelan migrants were sent in mid-March. But the other part that is striking about this is that it's not a formal agreement. We have been hearing lawmakers clamoring to see the written language of this, but they're not going to get it, because, ultimately, in some ways it was just a funding directive. $15 million is what the State Department approved to be sent to El Salvador. Just less than 5 million has been sent. And the reason for that is because the idea of this is that as more people are sent, more money is sent.

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So, 20,000 per person is what they were talking about as they continue this arrangement for a year and then possibly for a second year.

Now, the way that it was described to me, ultimately, is a friendly non-binding fashion arrangement. So, do with that, with what you will, ultimately, a handshake agreement with what is a key ally for the United States as they try to execute on their deportation agenda. Now, a State Department spokesperson also weighed in saying in a statement, quote, "The United States has provided funding for El Salvador's law enforcement and anti-crime needs in connection with the government of El Salvador's offer to receive Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members removed from the United States." Also saying that they will continue to provide assistance. But really revealing in how they plan to lean on El Salvador as they send more migrants there.

BROWN: It certainly is. All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

BLITZER: Thanks for me as well. Just ahead, GOP. Senator James Lankford will be here in the Situation Room. I'll ask him how he's feeling about President Trump's first 100 days and what he's hearing from his own constituents. We'll be right back.

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[10:40:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, House leaders are speaking up on Capitol Hill as lawmakers are kicking off one of the busiest legislative periods of President Trump's second term, and they'll be making decisions that could impact everyday Americans in a big way.

House members have been tasked with finding $1.5 trillion, yes, trillion dollars in spending cuts. But many people fear that number is only achievable by gutting very crucial programs like Medicaid and Social Security, something the House speaker Mike Johnson has vowed not to do.

Let's discuss this and more with Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma. He is the author of an important new book entitled "Turnaround: America's Revival." Senator, thanks very much.

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK), AUTHOR, "TURNAROUND: AMERICAN'S REVIVAL": You bet.

BLITZER: Thanks very much for writing this excellent new book.

LANKFORD: Thank you.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.

LANKFORD: Thank you. I hope it's helpful in national conversation.

BLITZER: It's very -- It's going to be very helpful. I want to talk about it. But let's talk about some of the issues that are ongoing right now. You're watching all of this unfold. President Trump's approval rating for his first 100 days, as you've seen in all these polls, not just the CNN poll, is the lowest of any president in at least 70 years, 70 years since modern polling actually began. Does he need to rethink seriously the way he's approaching his second term, given the fact his numbers are going down, down, down on the economy, national security, other critical issues? LANKFORD: Yes, he's been very focused on the long-term results, trying to be able to open up trade agreements around the world, and he put tariffs, obviously, globally around the world and said, I want everyone to come to the table and to be able to negotiate. This is a high risk, high reward strategy that he is put in place.

BLITZER: Is he doing the right thing with these tariffs?

LANKFORD: Well, he's starting to negotiate. That's very helpful on this. And I think this is going to be one of those things history's going to write, not actually the newspaper today is going to write. It's --

BLITZER: But a lot of the agricultural farmers in your state in Oklahoma are suffering right now as a result of what President Trump is doing.

LANKFORD: No, no. The AG folks are not suffering in my state right now because of that. They're suffering because of the high inflation that they've experienced the last several years on it. Every single product has gone up significantly, whether it be the diesel into their tractors, the tractor itself, all the equipment, all the inputs, fertilizer has gone -- just skyrocketed in the last four years.

They're actually hopeful. When I talked to the AG folks in the last two weeks, as I was traveling around the state, around that Easter gap that we had, the AG folks are very hopeful to say, we want to open up new markets that we've not been able to get access to.

BLITZER: But so -- but Oklahoma's agricultural exports to various countries have really gone down, haven't they?

LANKFORD: They've not had new markets, and that's been their challenge under the Biden administration. They've --

BLITZER: But even -- forget about the new markets. What about the existing markets like China, for example?

LANKFORD: Sure. Yes. That's one of the issues that President Trump had actually in his first administration making a deal with China to be able to say, you got to buy more soybeans. You got to do this. China didn't fulfill that, but there's a lot of it there. Australia doesn't take our beef, for instance. We have issues with Argentina. We have -- the U.K. doesn't want to take our chicken. They say it has chlorinated chicken on. They don't want to be able to take that, even if it's unchlorinated chicken for cleansing on it.

So, all these different trade barriers that we have around the world, the AG folks are very specific, open those up. We want to be able to trade more around the world. The goal of this should be have a tariff fight where we bring everyone to the table, have negotiations, open up more markets than have low tariffs. I do not want to see high tariffs at the end of this. I want to see low tariffs and trade barriers go down.

BLITZER: The American public is beginning to sour big time on Republican control of Washington, according to these latest new polls. And our CNN polls just out today, 58 percent say unified Republican control of Congress and the White House is bad for the country. What's your reaction to that?

LANKFORD: I would say there's a lot of people just reaction to where the tariffs are right now and trying to be able to figure out where we're going to go. What we're trying to be able to work on currently is trying to be able to reduce federal spending, which we've got to do. We still have $2 trillion in overspending just this year. If we have the tax revenue coming in right now and the revenue we had even before COVID, we would be in balance right now, but we're not.

The spending went up during COVID and then never came back down again. And Americans feel that. That drives inflation, drives everything else. So, we got to reduce spending. We got to be able to settle the tax policy. That's the task. By the time we finish July, we've got to have tax policy done.

BLITZER: In our new poll, 56 percent of the American people say Congress isn't doing enough to enforce checks and balances on President Trump. Do Republicans need to reconsider their lockstep support for his agenda?

LANKFORD: So, there's two ways to be able to handle checks and balances. One is to go out and do big press conferences and meetings and the other ones that go privately to people to be able to sit down and say, how do we actually solve this? Let's actually do input.

You'll find a lot of Republicans that are -- when they have concerns, when they have questions, they're going to administration officials behind the scenes saying, let me give you some ideas. We are seeing the administration engage with Congress in ways that we have not seen recently.

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The real rapid check and balance, whether Republican or Democrat, is always the court. That's the rapid check and balance. When Congress actually does something, the president still has to sign it. So, the check and balance to the executive branch is always the judicial branch first, and then it's a matter of processing it through the law.

BLITZER: In these latest poll numbers, Americans also have clearly -- they've gone south as far as Trump's decision on the economy -- decisions on the economy, which is of course so important for people out there. You've expressed optimism that Trump eventually will be able to land some major new trade deals, but he hasn't done that yet. How long are you willing to wait?

LANKFORD: So, this has only been a month in the process. Trade deals are exceptionally complicated. He's opened up a lot of trade deals around the world. I would think he's going to land countries like Israel, India, Vietnam fairly rapidly, because those are major trading partners for us that we have very significant engagement with. But India, for instance, has had huge trade barriers for us, very high tariffs on American products. They block out things like corn. There's lots of different products and they just block out entirely on it. We need to be able to open those markets up. This is the largest democracy in the world. We should be a very active trade partner with them, and we're not.

BLITZER: It's interesting, at the White House briefing earlier this morning that an early morning briefing, the White House said this report that Amazon is now adding a tariff charge, and they're calling it a hostile and political act on the part of Amazon. They're really going after Amazon for telling the American public, you know, you're paying X amount of money for this product, but a certain percentage of that as a result of these tariffs that have been imposed.

How do you see it? Does that show that this is an act of transparency for the American public to see where their money is going, or is this a hostile and political act as the White House says?

LANKFORD: It'd be interesting. I haven't seen how Amazon's going to roll that out. Obviously, that's been noted that they're going to do it. I haven't actually been able to see it on their site. I think what they'll see a lot of times is some products that are made in China or other products that are made in America, and it'll also give Americans the opportunity to be able to see one versus the other, the origin where it's coming from, or to be able to note if this is coming from a place that has lower tariffs or higher tariffs on it.

Americans often want a choice. They want to know. That's why we label all of our fruits and vegetables that are coming in. What country does this come from, that country of origin. People just want to be able to have that kind of insight. If it allows greater transparency, I don't have a problem with it. If it's a political action, there are a lot of big companies that have made a mistake getting into politics on it and they suffer because half the country got frustrated with them on it.

BLITZER: Before we go, I want to talk a little bit about your brand- new book. I know you spent a lot of time writing this book entitled "Turnaround: America's Revival." In the book, you write this, and let me put a quote up on the screen, "The greatest nation in the world with a message of freedom, values, and opportunity is drifting instead of intentionally sailing. The mixed messages to our youth, a rapidly growing national debt and a diminished commitment to our foundational values have disconnected us from our solid mooring."

So, what needs to change? And you write a whole book about this in order to see this turnaround in your view?

LANKFORD: Yes. This is a book I've actually written over three years. So, there's been a long project, lots of flights and such. When I'm going back and forth to home, spending time riding or riding on weekends, be able pull it together. But it's an emotion that I really feel, because I'll have people that'll catch me and say, well, you're elected, go fix the country. And I'll smile at them and go, I do have a job and a responsibility every person that's elected us, but so does every other American.

And my sense is Americans are feeling like that they're not connected to the national message in that sense. Somebody else is. And a lot of the book is each person should know their own calling, their own responsibility. We're Americans. We're not in a nation like we see several dictators -- dictatorships around the world where people are helpless.

We are Americans. As Americans determine, what's my task, how do I help solve the problem, rather than just vote and ask them to solve the problem, what do I do locally in my school board, in my family, in my community, my neighborhood? How am I dealing with racism? What am I dealing with on poverty? Where am I donating my time to it? How am I engaged in solving the problem? People that gripe and are angry are often not the same people who are actually engaged in solving the problem.

BLITZER: And a lot -- big chunk of the book deals with faith.

LANKFORD: It does.

BLITZER: And the role it has played in your life.

LANKFORD: It does.

BLITZER: And how important it is.

LANKFORD: It is. And I think people need to live the values of their faith. It's amazing to me the number of people that say they have a faith that they live, but they don't live that same faith in a political conversation. I'm like, we should live our faith in all aspects, our family, our community, our workplace, and also in our conversations.

You know, I'm a follower of Jesus personally, and he made this very famous statement about love your neighbor as yourself. Well, there was no asterisk at the end of it that said, unless you're in politics, then you don't have to do this. That's a principle that should be lived out with all people in all places.

BLITZER: Let's see if you get some bipartisanship going.

LANKFORD: I'll take that.

BLITZER: The book is entitled "Turnaround: America's Revival." Thanks so much for coming in, Senator.

LANKFORD: I'm glad to be able to do it.

BLITZER: You got a great state out there in Oklahoma.

LANKFORD: I do actually.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.

LANKFORD: Thank you.

BLITZER: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:50:00]

BROWN: The NBA playoffs are in full swing. Another night of action is in the books. And the Golden State Warriors now have a commanding lead on the Houston Rockets after a thriller last night in San Francisco.

BLITZER: All right. Let's go live right now to CNN Sports Anchor Andy Scholes. He is got the latest developments for us. Andy, catch us up on all these late breaking developments overnight.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Wolf and Pam, yes. As a Rockets fan, last night's game for me, it was depressing. Because the story before this series was that Houston's still too young and the Warriors, Wiley veterans would win despite being the seven seed, and that's the way it's played out in these first four games.

This series though, continues to be super physical. Second quarter, Draymond Green, he knocks down Amen Thompson. So, then Dillon Brooks drop Steph. The two sides would have some words. Draymond, Steph and Brooks all get technicals there.

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Then later in the quarter, Tari Eason steals it from Draymond, and then Draymond just puts his legs all over him. Draymond got a flagrant foul for that, but this was a tight game. Fourth quarter, Rockets down one, the closing seconds Alperen Sengun misses. Jimmy Butler flies in for the rebound. Butler scored 14 in the fourth after missing game three with that pelvic contusion.

Rockets have one last chance at the buzzer to tie it, but Fred VanVleet shot there, no Good. Warriors win 109 to 106. To take a 3-1 lead in the series. And here was Butler afterwards on how he's feeling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY BUTLER, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS FORWARD: I'll die for these guys for real. It's so fun. I got my joy back as some would say. But more than anything, it's always good to win. Let me go, man. Go back there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do?

BUTLER: Nothing on national TV.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, Warriors all smiles. The Cavs meanwhile sweeping the Heat. This was the least competitive series of all time. Cleveland was up by as many as 60 in game four. They ended up winning by 55. The Cavs won the two games in Miami by 92 points, which is a record. The 122-point differential, also the largest ever for a series. Cavs now await the winner between the Bucks and the Pacers.

Four games tonight starting early, that Pacers-Bucks game, 6:00 Eastern. Knicks can also advance against the Pistons. That one's at 7:30 Eastern on our sister channel TNT. You also got four Stanley Cup playoff games tonight, guys. So, it's one of those nights you're going to need a multi-view going or multiple televisions because you got sports going everywhere.

BROWN: Great night for sports lovers.

BLITZER: You know, I --

BROWN: I know you are.

BLITZER: I'm one of them.

BROWN: I know you are, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Good.

BROWN: I can't say the same for myself. I like sports, but not necessarily.

BLITZER: I know you don't. I'm more of a --

BROWN: All right. Andy, thank you.

SCHOLES: All right.

BLITZER: All right. Coming up, a Situation Room special report, breaking down President Trump's first 100 days in office. Today, we will be going through his actions on several foreign policy issues. That's just ahead.

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