On today's show, CNN's Jake Tapper talks about the border crisis, the ongoing investigation into the actions of Georgia's top prosecutor, Fawnie Willis, and the impact of President Donald Trump's immigration policies on the ongoing case against him.
00:00:09.060What's interesting to me is there are a lot of angry people out there, and that's why the border crisis is the number one issue for voters.
00:00:16.640I don't see how we have a better story to tell when we miss the one opportunity we have to fix it.
00:00:21.260And we go and say, you know, I would love to have fixed it, but it was election season, so I thought I'd wait.
00:00:26.540Anything that interrupts that negotiation, I think, would be tragic.
00:00:31.920I don't doubt that he wants a perfect deal.
00:00:34.520But we've got to be able to figure out how to be able to do something right now to get as much done as we can possibly get done.
00:00:39.420I hope we don't live in a world today in which one person inside the Republican Party holds so much power that they could stop a bipartisan bill.
00:00:52.520Now, behind closed doors today, Senator McConnell tried to clear up confusion about where he stands on this issue.
00:01:00.320He reaffirmed his support for those trio of senators, including Republican Senator James Langford, for trying to get a deal on this issue.
00:01:11.300They still are hopeful that they can get it out by next week.
00:01:13.880But, Jake, still getting the votes in the Senate, getting it through the Republican-led House, all huge questions, in large part because of Donald Trump.
00:01:21.120The Senate took a significant step on Friday, initiating a special investigation into the actions of Fulton County District Attorney Fawnie Willis.
00:01:29.120Now, the probe comes amid rumors of an improper relationship with her chief prosecutor in the controversial case against former President Donald Trump over the 2020 election.
00:01:38.980Willis has also informed Republican lawmakers that our office is firmly against releasing any documents pertaining to Trump's alleged election interference in Georgia.
00:01:47.860CNN's Nick Valencia has more from the courthouse.
00:01:51.120Victor and Amara, this is the latest in a longstanding back and forth between D.A. Fawnie Willis and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
00:01:59.920Republican Jim Jordan has long tried to undermine the credibility of Fawnie Willis' case, parroting things from the former president, calling this a political persecution rather than a prosecution.
00:02:09.840And in his latest efforts to try to get documents from Fawnie Willis, the D.A. here in Fulton County has again rebuffed these demands.
00:02:16.640And this is what she's saying in part of her response to Jim Jordan.
00:02:20.500Your requests implicate significant, well-recognized confidentiality interests related to an ongoing criminal matter.
00:02:27.240Your requests violate principles of separation of powers and federalism, as well as respect for the legal protections provided to attorney work product in ongoing litigation.
00:02:36.400Since this alleged romance was first made public, Fawnie Willis has been facing criticism and now it's coming from all sides, not just foes, but also allies calling on her to step down.
00:02:46.060She's yet to directly address this alleged romance, but she has previously defended her selection of Nathan Wade as the top deputy in this Trump case.
00:02:54.600Meanwhile, she is facing a deadline from a judge who has asked her to respond in writing to these claims by next Friday.
00:03:00.940The stage is also set for a potential dramatic evidentiary hearing on February 15th.
00:03:05.800Recently, we reported that subpoenas have been sent out to people believed to have firsthand knowledge of this alleged affair.
00:03:11.800And if they are called to testify, their testimony would be broadcast live for everyone to see.
00:03:17.700One follow up question, you know, there is and, you know, I used to work on the root cause of migration when I worked at the White House.
00:03:23.120It's the Trump administration completely gutted the infrastructure as it relates to, you know, how we facilitate people coming into this country via the southern border.
00:03:32.160But in what the president said that he would do on Friday, he put this statement out.
00:03:37.160He promised to shut the border down if crossings overwhelmed the border, if Congress, you know, passes bipartisan immigration legislation.
00:03:46.960Seeking asylum is a right in this country.
00:03:49.180I saw that statement and there are a number of people that said, oh, this sounds like something from another era.
00:03:55.320Like, is that something that you and House Democrats support, the shutting down of the border?
00:03:59.820Well, I'd have to understand the context within which, you know, the president is speaking based on whatever authority he may be given.
00:04:08.400The president, of course, I believe, will always do what he believes is in the best interest of the American people.
00:04:15.220Consistent, you know, with the fact that America is a safe haven for people who are fleeing oppression and persecution.
00:04:24.400But it has to be managed in a reasonable way.
00:04:28.120And clearly, the system is being overwhelmed right now.
00:04:32.760I think people on all sides on the Democratic within the Democratic family and coalition acknowledge that.
00:04:39.640But figuring out the path forward so that it's consistent with who we are as America, but decisively addresses the clear challenges and the fact that you have people taking dangerous, perilous journeys because they are fleeing horrific conditions.
00:04:55.880How do we improve the conditions throughout the region in these other?
00:05:00.020This is the primal scream of a dying regime.
00:05:07.660Pray for our enemies, because we're going medieval on these people.
00:05:12.880You've not got a free shot at all these networks lying about the people.
00:05:17.140The people have had a belly full of it.
00:21:28.120I want to start with England, the Tories, because this European parliamentary election that's going to take place in June is going to be analogous to Brexit that happened in June of 16 that kind of set the predicate for the Trump revolution in November of 16.
00:21:43.140I think this European parliament election could be the same thing.
00:21:45.500There's a lot going on, but I want to focus first on the U.K., the rise of our own colleague, Nigel Farage.
00:21:55.660Well, look, to put this all into context, there are basically peasants' revolts breaking out now right across continental Europe and the U.K.
00:22:05.500In the U.K., it's principally to do with opposition, as we covered the other day, to do with the net zero climate change in immigration.
00:22:15.960In continental Europe, pleasantly right now, it's the same thing.
00:22:19.600But what's really manifesting the crowds is the reforms to do with fuel prices for tractors and the low cost of living.
00:22:27.200One of the things that binds all this together, Steve, is the fact that we are ruled here, likewise in the United States, by a political class that is so out of touch with people, it doesn't realize how out of touch it is.
00:23:06.340So I actually highlighted this story, Steve, this embryonic story, right back at the end of December.
00:23:12.400I flagged it up as my international story for 2024.
00:23:16.280I said this was the death of the British Conservative Party, the world's oldest political party, being taken over by Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
00:23:27.200Now, there's been a development yesterday.
00:23:30.680And we're just going to have a quick look at this now.
00:23:32.140There's a poll that's come out which has put the Reform UK movement now on 13%.
00:24:10.420The reason this is important for the American audience is that they are facing a crisis on this immigration.
00:24:16.820And the Tories are trying to deal with it exactly—consider the Tories the moral equivalent of the collaborationist Republican senators in the Senate, McConnell's crowd.
00:24:29.280Lankford, they're trying to come up and play, you know, patty cake with this thing.
00:24:35.060Nigel Farage is coming in with real solutions.
00:24:37.680They're the equivalent of MAGA or equivalent of the hardliners to say, hey, to save our country, to save our civilization, right, to save our way of life.
00:24:48.240The same open borders run by the same globalists with the same weak political conservative parties in Europe is exactly analogous to what's happening here.
00:24:58.700This is why this European parliamentary election is going to be so important.
00:25:11.920He's the honorary president of reform.
00:25:14.440This is what he told the Daily Telegraph.
00:25:16.440He said, I think there is an increasing feeling among conservative voters now that they want their party to be replaced.
00:25:24.620Now, I think that's a particularly genius way for Farage to put this, because he's pitching himself here not to fight the conservative voters.
00:25:37.080And that is a message, I think, which is, as we can see, it is taking great resonance.
00:25:42.280I'll just close with this point on this story for now.
00:25:44.820This is something that we're watching every day, Steve.
00:25:46.760We're really on this move, this development.
00:25:49.980But I'll just recap by putting into context now the importance of what is happening in the UK political scene.
00:25:58.860We have first, like in the United States, we have first passed the post.
00:26:01.840At 13%, right, if they were to achieve that at the next general election, it's not definite that they would get any seats.
00:26:11.280It's not definite that Nigel Farage would get any seats.
00:26:14.320But what they absolutely would do is stop the Tory party from ever forming a government again.
00:26:19.860That's crucially important to understand, the fulcrum position that Farage is giving himself here.
00:26:27.000He will dominate and be the kingmaker now of the centre-right political spectrum moving forward.
00:26:33.380And the reason this has happened, and the Tory party could stop this if it wanted to at any moment in time.
00:26:38.700The reason this has happened is because the Tory party, even now, do not want, they institutionally do not want to appease the anger of the British electorate.
00:26:50.440And they're trying to fob them off with platitudes.
00:27:10.300We're going to hold you through the break.
00:27:13.300It's exactly analogous of what's going on here.
00:27:15.620That is why it is so providential that this fight over the Senate bill that we're going to kill, that Johnson said it's already DOA, that all you hear, oh, this is the Trump's stopping it, and this is going to secure the border.
00:27:46.560We're going to get into this right-wing revolt on continental Europe, how it ties directly to the politics here in the United States of America.
00:27:54.920Kind of an international movement now of the populist right.
00:30:48.820What we do know is that every day you look and there's an implosion on their economy.
00:30:53.040One thing to look at, if you're in that middle class, what they've tried to attempt to create out of that middle class, their stocks are dramatically underwater.
00:31:02.340Any bonds they held by the China are totally underwater.
00:31:05.020And the real estate they're getting crushed on.
00:31:07.160So for an entire life of work, it's turned out to be for naught.
00:31:11.300Now, instead of fomenting a revolution, a lot of people are telling me, well, look, these are the children of the Cultural Revolution.
00:31:15.620And what they think about is, hey, we're not on a farm getting beaten every day by the Red Guard.
00:31:21.260My point is there's tremendous turmoil in mainland China about the economy and prospects for the economy.
00:31:27.200Is Xi going to pivot and go to some ultra-nationalistic, we've got to take Taiwan back?
00:32:05.700Find out to the shock of yourself, but what the elites in this country knew is that 100% of active pharmaceutical ingredients are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party in mainland China and how that's going to impact your life.
00:32:19.340Ben, we've got, it's great to see there's a convoy starting in Virginia Beach on Monday.
00:32:24.320We're going to try to cover it, get some folks there going to the border, both truckers and maybe farmers.
00:32:29.400You're seeing a populist revolt, a right-wing revolt in Europe against immigration, about what they're trying to do, destroy societies and cultures.
00:32:40.100A revolt against this ridiculous cult of climate change by the farmers.
00:32:44.940France is the topic today, but Germany and the Dutch are not far behind.