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State of the Union

Interview With Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI); Interview With Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff; Interview With Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD); Interview With Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). Aired 9-10a ET

Aired March 16, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:34]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Deal or no deal? Trump turns the tables and negotiations with Russia and talks with Hamas.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're speaking with President Putin. We want to get the war over.

TAPPER: Is he on the path to peace or getting played?

Trump's top dealmaker, Steve Witkoff, back from his meeting with Putin will join me live in moments.

Plus: Democratic debacle. Outrage across the party, as Democratic senators join Republicans to pass the GOP government funding bill.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): House Democrats are taking a stand.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): I'm confident I did the right thing.

TAPPER: Can Democrats get back on track? Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett sounds off live.

And number one issue? As stocks plunge and recession fears grow...

TRUMP: I'm not going to bend at all. I'm sorry we have to do this.

TAPPER: ... Trump zeros in on immigration, invoking new wartime deportation powers.

Republican Senator Mike Rounds, plus my panel, will break it down ahead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Hello. I'm Jake Tapper in Washington, where the state of our union is boning up on 18th century immigration law.

Last night, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act from 1798 signed by President John Adams to expedite deportations, the president said, of alleged members of a Venezuelan gang. It's a sweeping wartime power that has been activated only three times in the history of this country, always during war.

And, most recently, it was abused, with FDR invoking it to detain Japanese Americans during World War II. Now, in this case, a federal judge issued an order attempting to halt Trump's action and executive order, invoking it late last night, ordering any planes already in the air deporting members of the criminal gang to turn around and return to the United States.

But, this morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that -- quote -- "hundreds of violent criminals were sent out of our country." And Rubio reposted new video posted by the president of El Salvador this morning purporting to show those deported migrants arriving in El Salvador, raising questions about whether the Trump administration defied or ignored that federal court order.

We will have more on that coming up.

But, this morning, President Trump has his eyes set on another target, ending Russia's war against Ukraine. He's meeting with his top foreign policy advisers in Florida this weekend to work on negotiations that increasingly seem to leave Ukraine making all the concessions -- at least, that's what it seems like right now -- still failing to get a yes from Vladimir Putin and prompting even more demands of Ukraine, the country that has been, you know, attacked.

My first guest this morning is just back from his hourslong meeting with Putin himself behind closed doors in Moscow.

Joining us now, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Envoy Witkoff, thanks for joining us.

How was the meeting? Tell us about it. What did Putin tell you?

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: Well, first of all, Jake, thank you. And thank you for having me on the show this morning.

I met with President Putin. I think the meeting was somewhere between three and four hours. It was positive. We discussed -- it was a solution-based discussion. And that's how I would describe it.

TAPPER: So, as we understand it, and please correct us if we're wrong, Putin's demands include, one, the complete surrender of Ukrainian forces in Kursk -- that's that Russian region that Ukraine seized -- two, international recognition that Ukrainian territory seized by Russia no longer belongs to Ukraine, three, limits on Ukraine's ability to mobilize its military, and, four, a halt to Western military aid to Ukraine and a ban on foreign peacekeepers such as French or British soldiers in Ukraine.

Is that accurate? And, if that is accurate, it does sound as though Putin wants to keep the land that he seized and then he wants Ukraine to not be able to defend itself in the future.

Is Trump worried that accepting these conditions might just set the stage for another Russian invasion of Ukraine?

WITKOFF: Jake, I would not call your description entirely accurate.

Look, back before this visit, there was another visit, and, before that visit, the two sides were miles apart in where they were. The two sides are today a lot closer. We had some really positive results coming out of Saudi Arabia, discussions led by our national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and our secretary of state, Marco Rubio.

[09:05:09]

I Would describe my conversation with President Putin as equally positive. So, the two sides have -- we have narrowed the differences between them, and now we're sitting at the table. I was with the president all day yesterday. I will be with him today. We're sitting with him discussing how to narrow it even further.

That's how I would describe it.

TAPPER: Can you tell us where they are right now? The four points I just outlined might be a meeting or two old. Where is Russia right now?

WITKOFF: No, I think the four regions are of critical importance here, and we're in discussions with Ukraine. We're in discussions with all the stakeholder European countries. So, that includes France, Britain, Norway, Finland, the whole host.

And we're in discussions with the Russians too about those regions. We're also in discussions about all kinds of other elements that would be encompassed in a cease-fire.

TAPPER: Has President Trump decided on next steps? Are these negotiations at any point where President Trump himself might get involved?

WITKOFF: Well, I think President Trump is involved in every aspect and dimension of these discussions.

I briefed him within five or 10 minutes of the meeting with President Putin. I was in the U.S. Embassy briefing him and the vice president and Susie Wiles, our chief of staff, and Mike Waltz, our national security adviser.

So we're -- they're getting -- the president is getting updates in real time on everything that's happening, and he's involved in every important decision here. I expect that there will be a call with both presidents this week, and we're also continuing to engage and have a conversation with the Ukrainians.

We're advising them on everything we're thinking about.

TAPPER: Is the U.S. willing, as part of this peace process, to recognize Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian territory as part of a deal?

WITKOFF: I don't want to speak to that at this moment. I mean, I think it's a little bit premature to get into that now.

I think the -- we're going to have teams, United States negotiators meeting with the Ukrainians this week and discussions with them this week. Same thing will happen with the Russians. And I think, as the president said, he really expects there to be some sort of deal in the coming weeks maybe.

And I believe that that's the case. I actually believe that that's the sort of progress that we saw in my conversation with President Putin. And that's the sort of progress that we saw in the Saudi talks.

TAPPER: So, after Ukraine agreed to a cease-fire without preconditions, take a listen to what Secretary of State Marco Rubio said about Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're going to tell them this is what's on the table. Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking. And now it'll be up to them to say yes or no. I hope they're going to say yes. And, if they do, then I think we made great progress. If they say no, then we will unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, Putin has not immediately said yes to this cease-fire deal. So, as Secretary Rubio puts it, is it now clear that Putin is the impediment to peace right now?

WITKOFF: I think, look, I don't want to put words in President Putin's mouth, but I think he's indicated that he accepts the philosophy of President Trump.

President Trump wants to see an end to this. I think President Putin wants to see an end to this. I think President Zelenskyy wants to see an end to this. I think that there are specific conditions in the field. There's a 2,000-kilometer border that -- where there's all kinds of fighting going on currently between Russian and Ukrainian troops.

There's a Kursk region that's important to think about here. These are all details that have to get worked out at the table. And all sides, I believe, are committed to doing that.

TAPPER: When do you think there will be a deal? You said soon. Weeks, months?

WITKOFF: You know, the president uses the word -- uses the time frame weeks, and I don't disagree with him. I am really hopeful that we're going to see some real progress here.

We have made -- Jake, I think everybody has to focus on the progress that's been made since the president was inaugurated. Nobody expected progress this fast. This is a highly -- very complicated situation, and yet we're bridging the gap between two sides. [09:10:09]

So, lots of things that remain to be discussed, but I think the two presidents are going to have a really good and positive discussion this week.

TAPPER: Let's turn to the Middle East.

You gave Hamas a proposal to extend the cease-fire in Gaza for a month and restore the flow of aid in exchange for the release of a number of living hostages that Hamas is still holding. Hamas responded by saying that they would release the American-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander and the bodies of four dual national hostages.

But, at least according to press reports, you appeared to throw cold water on the proposal. Just to be clear, is the Hamas proposal or whatever you would call it, is it a nonstarter? What is going to happen next, do you think?

WITKOFF: The Hamas proposal is a nonstarter, Jake.

I spent -- along with senior policy director Eric Trager from Mike Waltz's office, I spent close to 7.5 hours at the Arab summit. We had really positive conversation there. I would describe it as game- changing, but for Hamas' response.

So we spent a good deal of time talking about a bridge, a bridge proposal that would see the release of five live hostages that included Edan Alexander and also, by the way, see the release of a substantial amount of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, which would be a wonderful thing for these Palestinian families.

And I thought the proposal was compelling. The Israelis were informed about it and advised about it beforehand. And after waiting for two or three days from Hamas, which is their usual mode, we got an unacceptable response.

I'm not going to go into the specific details of what made it unacceptable, but it was totally unacceptable. I think there's an opportunity for them, but the opportunity is closing fast. What happened with the Houthis yesterday, what happened with our strike order inform as to where we stand with regard to terrorism and our tolerance level for terrorist actions.

And I would encourage Hamas to get much more sensible than how they have been.

TAPPER: All right, Envoy Steve Witkoff, we always appreciate you coming here. Thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it.

And, as always, best of luck trying to bring peace to this bellicose world.

WITKOFF: Thank you, Jake. Thank you so much.

TAPPER: An uproar from House Democrats sparks a moment of reckoning for the Democratic Party. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is live in moments.

And the Trump administration is touting deportations this morning using a rare wartime powers law from the Adams administration, despite a federal court order.

I'm going to ask Republican Senator Mike Rounds if he's on board. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:32]

TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.

"No plan, no strategy, no message," that's a quote. That's how a Democratic lawmaker was describing the Democratic Senate vote with Republicans this weekend to fund the government with a Republican funding bill, averting a government shutdown. But there was virtually no fight and nothing achieved for Democratic priorities.

This comes as our brand-new CNN poll this morning shows that the Democratic Party's favorability is at an all-time low in this CNN poll. It's just 29 percent approval. That's a 20-point drop since 2021.

Joining us now is Congresswoman from Texas Jasmine Crockett.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate you squeezing us in before you go to church.

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): Yes.

TAPPER: This has been a rough 72 hours for Democrats.

I want to play some of what Democratic Senate Leader Schumer told me on "THE LEAD" on Friday about his decision to vote with the Republicans to fund the government. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: A government shutdown gives Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE almost complete power as to what to close down, because they can decide what is an essential service. If they determine that SNAP, kids shouldn't get food is not essential, they can just cut it out summarily. They could fire half the workers in the federal government.

It would have been a far worse consequence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So he's saying that the path that House Democrats wanted would have presented a worse consequence. Is he wrong?

CROCKETT: He's absolutely wrong.

I mean, look at the reality of the votes, right? I understand that the American people are frustrated. Please believe many of us did not sleep because we were calling and trying to impress upon the senators the importance of pushing back in this moment.

And, as you saw, we had all but one Democrat in the House that voted for this. So that's 212 Democrats in the House. And then you had the vast majority of senators vote against for it -- or vote it as well. And so the idea that Chuck Schumer is the only one that's got a brain in the room and the only one that can think through all of the pros and cons is absolutely ridiculous.

And, Jake, you and I both know that this administration could care less about whether or not they violate the law. We know that we have had to rely heavily upon the courts.

And I want to say -- as you're talking about the polling on my party, I want to say that it is the Democratic attorney generals and some governors that are standing up against this administration and bringing those lawsuits and winning every single time. They are losing in court.

[09:20:08]

Could we do a better job of making sure that the American people know that we are winning in the courts? We probably could. But, at the end of the day, it's still Democrats that are winning for the American people.

TAPPER: Some progressive groups are calling for new leadership in the Senate for Democrats. Even House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, your leader, he was asked if he supports Schumer as leader of the Senate Democrats, and he said, "Next question."

Do you think Senate Democrats should replace Chuck Schumer?

CROCKETT: I think Senate Democrats have to sit down and take a look and decide whether or not Chuck Schumer is the one to lead in this moment.

TAPPER: You're close with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Some of your fellow House Democrats say -- and not just progressives, by the way -- we have heard that moderates have said this too -- that they're ready to support her to challenge Chuck Schumer in a Democratic primary.

Would you get behind that?

CROCKETT: That's four years from now. If you were asking me, at least in two years, then I would have an absolute answer.

But I can tell you that there are a lot of people that are watching his leadership in this moment. This is the moment. We don't even know what elections will look like in four years, if we will have elections. And so I definitely think that younger, fresher leadership may be something that many of us not, just depending on what part of the spectrum you're on, but many Americans may be looking for, especially in the state of New York. TAPPER: How to take on the Republicans is a big topic of discussion

among Democrats. Last week, you were one of those who participated in a choose your fighter video. It got some criticism online, including Democratic Senator John Fetterman called it bizarre and reportedly mocked it in the Senate hallway.

I will say that your punching looked better than some of your colleagues. He's been...

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: Fetterman has been criticizing your party for undignified antics and a sad cavalcade of self-owns during the president's address to Congress. What's your response to Senator Fetterman?

CROCKETT: He's not the one to talk about anything.

I mean, this is a guy that doesn't seemingly want to own a suit, own a suit. I'm not really sure. But I don't show up in hoodies when I'm going on the floor.

And so the idea that you would say that we could not have a moment in which an influencer asked us to do this. Now, I will be perfectly honest with you and tell you that, when she asked me to jump, I said, did you ask my older colleagues to do this? Because I feel like you're picking on me because you think that my knees are a little younger.

And I did not know who all was in this particular trend whatsoever. And I think that it is important that people see that we're real people. And even if that means that there is a moment to laugh, that's OK, especially since it seems like we're doing more crying than anything.

But just know that we were not on the House floor jumping around at all, whereas Senator Fetterman is consistently walking around the Senate chamber and he is walking around in such a way that they literally had to change the rules in the Senate so that he could walk around that way. So I just don't think that he's necessarily the one to actually have an opinion about this.

TAPPER: Let me ask you about the big news of this morning, President Trump seeking to use the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority, a law signed by John Adams in 1798, to deport undocumented Venezuelans that the administration say are dangerous individuals with ties to the gang Tren de Aragua.

That gang is obviously associated with a lot of crime, human trafficking, drug dealing theft, shootings, including in your state of Texas, right outside of your congressional district. Do you agree with this? And, if not, what's your issue with the U.S. using any tool at its disposal to remove undocumented violent people from this country?

CROCKETT: Well, my argument is that we already have tools that are available to remove undocumented violent people from our country.

And so the idea that you want to go into a zombie law -- this is kind of like what we saw in Arizona when they decided to revive a zombie law around abortion -- it is the fact that we can't trust this administration to actually use a scalpel, but instead they love to use a butcher knife on things.

And so giving them this wide latitude to just kind of go across and just claim that anybody is anything is wrong. And so we do have courts, we do have processes, we do have laws, and we should just go ahead and use those. There's a reason that nobody else has decided to go back until -- into Adams' times in order to try to find ways to make sure that we can keep our country safe.

[09:25:02]

All right, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, thank you so much for joining us today.

Appreciate it.

CROCKETT: Thank you.

TAPPER: A federal judge halted Trump's wartime deportation order within hours last night, but the Trump administration is this morning touting those very same deportations anyway.

I'm going to ask Republican Senator Mike Rounds if he's on board. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.

A rather interesting tweet this morning from Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing just a few minutes ago that more than 250 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang were deported to El Salvador. This is after President Trump last night invoked a 1798 law signed by President John Adams giving the president sweeping wartime deportation powers.

[09:30:07]

Now, these deportations came despite a federal judge last night ordering a halt to the removals under the law and ordering, in fact, any planes carrying deported migrants even in the air to turn around and return to the U.S. That apparently did not happen.

Joining us now to discuss this and more, Republican Mike Rounds, senator of South Dakota.

Senator, thank you so much for being with us.

Let's start on the news this morning about those deportations, despite the order from the federal judge. Is the Trump administration ignoring a court order from a federal judge? What exactly is going on here?

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): Well, I found out about this at about the same time that you did this morning, so I don't have a good background to share with you.

I can tell you that clearly these individuals should never have been in the United States to begin with. And the question is, is which laws are we using to get them back out and whether or not the courts agree. That part will be determined by the courts.

But, in the meantime, I'm happy to see that the president is following up with his promises that he's going to keep Americans safe. And that means getting these criminal drug or gang members, clearly criminal in nature, out of the United States. And there are thousands of them here. We will use whatever the legal resources are to protect the American people.

This is one of those cases. I'm not sure exactly where we're at with regard to the timing of it. As I say, I heard about it this morning about the same time that you did. So I don't have much more than that to say, except that I'm happy to see that they are doing everything they can to get them out of the United States.

I think the vast majority of the American people are saying it's about time we get them out. We want a country that does not have these individuals walking around our streets. We want our families safe.

TAPPER: Sure, absolutely we want our communities safe. And as a philosophical matter, I don't dispute that. I'm sure most Americans, if not all Americans, would support the idea that any violent people who are not in this country legally should not be in this country.

But there are obviously -- you noted the word legal there. And it is just also a fact that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered last night that -- quote -- "Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States" -- unquote.

If the Trump administration defied or ignored that order, is that a concern?

ROUNDS: We will find out whether or not that actually occurred or not. We don't know if that happened that way. I don't know about the timing on it.

I do know that we will follow the law. We expect the executive branch to follow the law. We have said in the past that we will follow the law. That will remain consistent. We are a constitutional republic, and we will follow those laws.

At the same time, just once again, I think the president is doing everything he can to honor his promise that he's going to keep our families safe. These illegal immigrants, to begin with, that are here, they're parts of a violent gang. And, in this particular case, I believe the terminology that most of us would use would be TDA.

TDA is a recognized, what we believe to be a terrorist -- not a terrorist, but a criminal drug organization. And if we can get them out of the United States, we're going to do it with whatever legal means there are that we have available to do that.

So, number one, I think most Americans are going to say, I don't care how old the law is. If you can use it to get these guys out and keep my family safe, we're going to do it.

In the meantime, along with that, there's a lot of other things going on in the world.

TAPPER: Yes.

ROUNDS: And I think just the fact that the president is looking at a lot of these things and we're making progress in a lot of areas right now, that's a sign that we're very, very active and we are trying to do our best to keep our promises.

TAPPER: So, let's talk about the escalating trade war with other countries, seemingly the rest of the world sometimes, even as the president acknowledges there will be disruptions to the economy.

The head of the farmers union in your state, South Dakota, said -- quote -- "Access to fair markets is essential to protecting family farms and ranches. American farmers and ranchers depend upon export markets. Extreme export tariffs will have extreme impacts on farmers and ranchers' ability to earn an income. Our way of life is in jeopardy" -- unquote.

So he is expressing concern about the way of life of your constituents, farmers and ranchers, in the midst of and because of these tariffs that President Trump is imposing.

How long are you willing to tolerate what the president calls disruptions to the way of life for your constituents?

ROUNDS: Yes, look, I have talked to a lot of farmers and ranchers here in the state. They still support the president. They're going to give him time to actually make a difference.

But we know that most tariffs that the president has talked about have been a way to open negotiations on trade agreements. Jake, we have not had a new trade agreement on our ag products now in over four years. And our commodity prices show that.

[09:35:11]

Most of the farmers and ranchers in our part of the country that have commodities to sell, they're not making a profit right now. They're breaking even or less. So we do need to make some changes. I think the fact that the president is focused on tariffs right now will change as we bring people to the table.

Our friends up north -- and they are our friends in Canada -- they are -- as the president says, they are nasty negotiators, which is a compliment coming from him. He thinks they did a heck of a job in terms of taking advantage of the United States and the trade agreements that have been established so far. He wants to redo them.

And this is the first shot over the bow.

TAPPER: Yes.

ROUNDS: I think most of the folks that I talk to in my state, number one, they want good prices and they know that the president cares about them. Matter of fact, he made that very clear in his communications to Congress a couple of weeks ago.

TAPPER: So, quickly, before we go, you're a member of both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee. You heard Steve Witkoff on the show earlier discussing his meeting with Putin.

President Trump and Witkoff sound optimistic that there can be a cease-fire reached. A few months ago, you said -- quote -- "We may be deceiving ourselves" by thinking -- quote -- "there's a path towards a peaceful resolution to this by negotiating with a tyrant."

Based on what you have heard so far from Witkoff and Trump, what do you think? Is President Trump deceiving himself?

ROUNDS: Time will tell whether or not Putin is deceiving us.

Look, this guy could have had peace to begin with. He's the guy that started the war. He is the aggressor. He is the guy that is not honoring Russia's agreement from 30 years ago in which Ukrainians gave up their nuclear weapons in exchange for an agreement on sovereignty and the protection of their borders. Russia signed that agreement.

They're the ones that have gone back on that agreement. They're the ones that invaded Ukraine. They could have had peace a long time ago if they wanted it. In this particular case, if Mr. Putin is changing his mind and he is recognizing the damage that it's doing to his economy, the damage that it's done to his military already, and he's now looking for a way out, as long as it is an enforceable peace, then I think we might be able to move forward.

I question whether or not Mr. Putin is still serious about it, but whatever agreements we make, they have to be enforceable, or they will not work when we're dealing with Mr. Putin.

TAPPER: All right, Senator Mike Rounds, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate your time.

ROUNDS: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Coming up: The Ides of March may be over, but the knives are still out for Chuck Schumer. Is his job in jeopardy?

We will talk to our panel next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:42:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) QUESTION: Is it time for new leadership in the Senate?

JEFFRIES: Next question.

QUESTION: Have you lost confidence in him, the fact that you guys see this so differently?

JEFFRIES: Next question.

SCHUMER: I'm confident I did the right thing, and I think history will vindicate that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I mean, it's a cliche to say Democrats in disarray, but come on, Democrats in disarray, a striking display of disunity between the top Democrats in the House and Senate.

Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. My panel joins me now.

I'm going to start with the Democratic lawmaker.

What's going on?

REP. HALEY STEVENS (D-MI): Well, Trump and Musk are wreaking havoc on our government. They're firing veterans. And...

TAPPER: That's not what I meant.

STEVENS: You're talking about the party.

Well, listen, let me let me be honest with you. I think Chuck Schumer is a great leader. He got us the CHIPS Act, which has meant a whole lot to us in Michigan. Hakeem Jeffries has the full backing of his caucus. He's the leader we need. Gretchen Whitmer is a great leader, and she's working with this administration right now, trying to navigate these tariffs.

TAPPER: But is Chuck Schumer the right person to be the leader of the Senate right now for Democrats?

STEVENS: I don't think we should be talking about that and giving Trump any more wins.

TAPPER: Let me ask the other Democrat on the panel.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: What do you think? You said that Democrats should not support a shutdown. Chuck Schumer, whether he heard you or just agreed with you or just whatever, followed that lead.

But, apparently, most elected Democrats are -- disagree with you.

ASHLEY ETIENNE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I mean, I think, in this moment, we have to -- my advice to the party would be to deny your instincts to save Trump and the Republicans from themselves. Get out of the way.

Donald Trump said he was better for the economy. Let him prove it. But all -- by all indications, he's not. We have got a situation, in less than two months that he's been in office, there's the talk of a recession from Wall Street to Main Street. You have got a situation where 50 percent of the country disagree with his economic strategy and agenda and path.

You have got a situation where headlines in West Virginia are saying that Trump's tariff wars are going to cost them $3 billion in revenue. You got a situation in Indiana where the farmers and the manufacturers are freaking out about a recession.

So my advice to the party would be -- I think James Carville advises this too -- take a step back, let Donald Trump prove that he can -- he is the better guy for the economy. And the reality is, he's not. And the American people are feeling it and suffering it on the ground.

TAPPER: All right, now to the Republicans at the table.

What do you see is the dynamic going on here? Is it generational? Why are Jeffries and Schumer on such different pages?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, because, first of all, I just want to say I'm grateful for Chuck Schumer today. He helped defeat a racist Jim Crow filibuster in the Senate and to stand up against the racist Jim Crow filibuster...

[09:45:02]

TAPPER: OK.

JENNINGS: ... tactics, was a moment of pure courage. And I just think he should be lauded by anybody in any party for -- that's number one.

Number two....

TAPPER: It's a deep cut.

JENNINGS: I'm just saying.

TAPPER: Let me just tell you explain for people at home, when there was a Democratic push against the filibuster, people in the Democratic Party were saying it was a racist era -- Jim Crow era tactic, the filibuster.

JENNINGS: And it was terrible.

TAPPER: So he's being cheeky. All right, back to...

JENNINGS: And not only that, but he saved us from the Democrats in the House laying off every single veteran in the federal government. Chuck Schumer working with Donald Trump saved us from that.

(CROSSTALK) JENNINGS: So, I think he deserves a lot of credit this morning. Every veteran would have been laid off. Every veteran would have been laid off.

TAPPER: Let me just go to Brad.

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Scott's having a lot of fun at the Democrats disarray.

And I will tell you what. As Republicans this week, we have overdosed on popcorn watching this Democrat civil war. But if you look at CNN's poll out this morning, I think the big number to look at, 16 percent of Democrats -- that's one in six -- say their party's too extreme. That's the voice Democrats should be listening to and the one Hakeem Jeffries should be listening to right now.

The far left is going to crash the ship if they let them.

(CROSSTALK)

ETIENNE: Here's the reality. Republicans -- Democrats are not in charge. The president is in charge. And the most important...

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: And the government's funded. And the government's funded.

(CROSSTALK)

STEVENS: And Michigan manufacturers are on hold and frozen...

TAPPER: Because of these tariffs.

STEVENS: ... because of these darn tariffs threats that are coming down. And I cannot tell you how dangerous it is, so on to the next thing.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Let us turn to the tariffs in the time we have left, because there is a lot of chaos in the markets because of the uncertainty.

Voters do not seem to like it, as you noted. Here's Trump approval on the economy, approval 44 percent, if we could bring up that graphic, disapproval 56 percent.

And I will say, President Trump historically gets high marks on the economy.

JENNINGS: Yes.

TAPPER: This is the lowest his number has ever been, including his first term and including Biden's term. This is the lowest it's ever been.

(CROSSTALK) JENNINGS: I think it's the markets that are -- that are causing people to have some uncertainty.

However, there are other signs. Gas is down. Eggs are down. Inflation markers are down. There's some evidence that people are responding to the tariffs and opening up manufacturing investment in the United States. So his plan...

(CROSSTALK)

ETIENNE: You should tell that to the senators asking -- that are asking the president to reverse course right now, because they're freaking out completely, because they're reading those local headlines, headline after headline...

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: I'm sorry. You have a 29 percent approval rating. Your credibility on this is so limited.

ETIENNE: It's fine, because we're not we're not in charge, so we have got plenty of time to switch up leadership. But the point is...

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: The point is, Trump is trying to make a long-term structural change to the economy. He's asked people to give him some time. We will see if they do it.

STEVENS: And he's going to cancel the CHIPS Act. And he's putting on tariffs on steel and aluminum. It is from Canada -- from Canada. That's my point here.

Canada tariffs are not good for Michigan. And I will tell you what. It's $6 billion to build a new smelter in the United States of America. If you're canceling something like CHIPS, where is that $6 billion going to come from for those jobs? Are you going to tell those companies to do that?

TODD: When he did tariffs on steel and aluminum in his first term, Joe Biden continued them. Joe Biden accepted those tariffs.

STEVENS: But not on Canada.

TODD: Steel production.

STEVENS: We were not campaigning in Michigan saying we were going to tariff our neighbors from the north. This will put my state into a recession.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: Steel production in America went up six million metric tons for -- the last time he did this. This -- he's trying to reorient the manufacturing mind-set of CEOs and global companies.

(CROSSTALK)

ETIENNE: But his tariffs in his first term cost the American people $50 billion. And it was not successful. And here's the real question.

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: Then why did Biden continue? Why did Biden keep it? If it wasn't successful, why did he keep it?

(CROSSTALK)

ETIENNE: He's not answered to the American people what this actually does to improve their lives. How does this lower costs?

JENNINGS: If it wasn't successful, why didn't Biden keep it?

ETIENNE: We have not gotten to that yet.

JENNINGS: Why did Biden keep it?

ETIENNE: It's only increasing costs.

JENNINGS: Why did Biden keep it?

ETIENNE: That's the problem. He's not answered that question.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: So let me just ask you a very quick question. There is this attempt -- you just laid it out. President Trump is trying to restructure the economy.

JENNINGS: Yes.

TAPPER: That's what he's trying to do. It's not going to be about lower prices anymore, lower costs. It's going to be about higher wages. This is a major structural change.

And I wonder if, in the same way President Biden was accused of misreading his mandate, if President Trump is misreading his.

JENNINGS: Well, his economic agenda is built around strengthening and empowering working-class Americans, which is exactly the coalition that put him in office.

I do think they're going to lower prices, especially on energy.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: We only have 30 seconds left. There is an open Senate seat in Michigan. And I'm wondering, Congresswoman, if this is something that you will be pursuing.

STEVENS: Gary Peters is retiring. He's a champion for Michigan manufacturing. And I'm absolutely taking a look at the open...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Taking a look.

STEVENS: Taking a look.

TAPPER: What does that mean?

STEVENS: Talking to a lot of people.

TODD: News here today.

STEVENS: My manufacturers, my autoworkers, a lot of building trades unions, a lot of work to get done.

TAPPER: So you're not throwing your hand into the ring just yet, but it is certainly a possibility?

STEVENS: I am not making my announcement to you right now, Jake Tapper.

TAPPER: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Thanks everyone for being here. Really appreciate it.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:54:35]

TAPPER: Before I leave you today, a new episode of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL" airs this evening.

Our focus tonight, one of the biggest financial frauds in our nation's history, the downfall of Enron. Here's a little preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What was he doing that was so alarming and such a no-no?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In effect, if I just bought a company for $10 million from you and one month later, I'm saying, it's really worth 15. We're going to write it up to 15 and put $5 million on the income statement.

[09:55:03]

That $5 million is just bogus. You just made it up.

TAPPER: And that's what Jeff Skilling did?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what they did. Yes.

TAPPER: They would just assess what they thought it was worth. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but just a month ago, we had just bought

the asset.

TAPPER: There actually is a hard number.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a hard number.

TAPPER: But they would not do that. They'd say, well, we think we can get five times this on the market, and so we're going to say this is worth $50 million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes, it was all legal, but you just can't write things up like that. I mean, that was the beginning of -- of the seeds of the -- of the fraud that killed Enron.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL," don't miss it tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

Thanks for spending your Sunday morning with us.

"FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" starts next.