Interview With West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin; President Trump in Wisconsin; Facebook Murder Manhunt Ends; Dems: Trump Can't Reform Tax Code Without Releasing His Returns
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The president just signed an executive order to buy American. So, wait, does that want he wants me to stop buying Trump products? THE LEAD starts right now. Make America buy American again, President Trump ordering the U.S. government to buy America -- buy American and hire American, but should the president be looking into his own company's business practices first? The latest in conflict of interest watch. On the same April night she had dinner with President Xi, Ivanka Trump won some potentially lucrative trademarks in President Xi's home country of China. Plus, breaking news. After a three-day manhunt that started with a murder that was horrendously posted to Facebook, the suspect is now dead, but do police know if he made good on his evil promise to kill more people before he killed himself? Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Just moments ago, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at putting to paper some of the rhetoric from his campaign, what the White House is calling its buy American, hire American order. It would beef up some protections for specific products made in the U.S., while also initiating a review of the program for skilled immigrants, the H-1B visa program, which the White House and plenty of other critics say has been abused by corporate America. Buying American and hiring American, it's time, the president said today, repeatedly assailing cheap subsidized and low-quality foreign goods. It's an important issue. It's one I asked then candidate Trump about in June 2015, because, of course, many Trump corporation products are not made in the U.S., far from it.</s>TAPPER: As you may or may not know, this is a Trump tie.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.</s>TAPPER: I bought it for this interview.</s>TRUMP: Oh, and not only that. I mean, I buy a lot of stuff, because...</s>TAPPER: But, as you know, they're made in China.</s>TRUMP: Very beautiful tie, though.</s>TAPPER: It's a lovely tie.</s>TRUMP: Yes.</s>TAPPER: It's made in China.</s>TRUMP: Correct.</s>TAPPER: Is it hypocritical at all for you to talk about this...</s>TRUMP: No, not at all, not at all.</s>TAPPER: It's not just the ties, of course. Trump clothing, according to reporting by CNN and "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post," is made in Bangladesh, it's made in Pakistan, it's made in India and Honduras, in addition to the U.S. Ivanka Trump apparel is also made in China and Indonesia and Vietnam. Now, as for hiring American, a CNN review found that the president, as a corporate head, has hired more than 1,300 foreign guest workers to work at his various businesses here in the U.S. over the past 15 years, including requesting 78 visas to staff his two Florida properties for this year. Let's go now to CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who is live in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the president toured a high-end tool manufacturer, Snap-on tools, designed and manufactured and marketed in the U.S. And, Jeff, the president could be a leader here, not just as a president, but as a corporate titan. Does the White House acknowledge that he has not practiced what he's preaching?</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, that is not something that came up here in Kenosha when the president was speaking. He, of course, did not acknowledge that he's been exhibit A of all of the things that you just mentioned there. And it also highlights the shortcomings of the executive order he just signed here. It is not a piece of legislation. It is not a law that would require companies, that would require people to hire Americans or would require companies to use American products. Instead, it's more of a directive, if you will, and it's urging federal agencies to, you know, try and use more American goods, but it would do nothing at all for business men or women like the Trumps who have done this. And I did talk to a senior administration official earlier today about, is there any hypocrisy in this, the fact that, you know, the president himself before he came president did all what you just mentioned? And they said, look, he was a private citizen then. It's one of the reasons he believes the laws need to change. But, Jake, again, this executive order that the president signed is going on the shelf with other executive orders. Yes, it does things around the edges, but it does not do what a piece of legislation would do, and you wonder why it's not been proposed in Congress, because it is actually something that might pass the House or the Senate here, but that, of course, has not been done. We're in Speaker Paul Ryan's home district here in Kenosha, Wisconsin. So far, this has not been something that's been part of the Trump legislative agenda. But, Jake, the president did talk I think in the most interesting terms about health care reform yet that I have heard him talk about. He said that people need to urge their members of Congress to vote for it, acknowledging that it's been hard and, without that, tax reform is even harder -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right. Jeff Zeleny for us at Kenosha, Wisconsin, at the site of the president's speech, thanks so much. I'm joined now by Senator Joe Manchin. He's a Democrat of West Virginia. Senator, thanks so much for joining me. Appreciate it.</s>SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Thanks for having me, Jake.</s>TAPPER: So, Senator, bottom line, as you know, when it comes to buy American provisions, American products and American employees tend to cost more than foreign products and foreign employees. So while it's great for those manufacturers and employees, it might be worse for consumers and employers. At the end of the day, will a buy American provision, if it were broader than this executive order, which is fairly narrow, would it help your constituents more or hurt your constituents more?</s>MANCHIN: Well, I think any time we can create jobs in America, it helps us all. West Virginia has taken a tremendous hit, Jake, on a lot of manufacturing jobs that left, starting with NAFTA and on down the line, so anything that we can do to create more opportunities here. The bottom line is, is the free enterprise system that we have, capitalist society that we live in, people are going to migrate to the cheapest price. But I think America can compete. We have not put as much attention to manufacturing lately and innovation, creation and new techniques of manufacturing. We're still the best innovators and creators. I still believe we're the best workers. We don't work as cheap as everyone else, but we live a better quality of life, and I just can't see how that can't be balanced out to where we have more opportunities here and offset the tariffs coming in to balance things out. You know, you're not going to be able to compete with Vietnamese at less than $1 a hour. And there's a lot of countries that pay no minimum wage at all. So, with that being said, I think that we have to reshuffle the deck, if you will, and give us a chance.</s>TAPPER: Well, you're talking about trade policy, in addition to buy America. So, I mean, one of the reasons why so many Americans...</s>MANCHIN: Well, trade policy...</s>TAPPER: Go ahead.</s>MANCHIN: Jake, it goes hand in hand. You know, first of all, you need a competitive tax. We need a tax overhaul. We have known that for quite some time. It's not been since the middle '80s, 30-some years, since we have done it. We have never gone that long. And the world has changed. The economy has changed. The markets have changed. We need a competitive global tax rate. People pay their fair share. The wealthy pay their fair share. Everybody pays something into this. But with that being said, then you can start looking at, how do we compete? And you're going to be able to compete by not just continually wholesaling your jobs out, saying someone else can do it cheaper. The bottom line is, we have to have workers, and we have to have work for workers. And, you know, I just -- I believe it can be done, but you have got to have the fortitude to do it and want to do it and the will to do it. And I'm very appreciative that, if this is the order that comes down, and we are going to have more attention, then let's do it. But don't just say you're going do it and sign an order and think it's going to happen.</s>TAPPER: Right. And that's what I wanted to ask you about, in addition, because, in 2015, then candidate Trump told me that his clothing companies manufactured so many of their clothing items in places like China and Bangladesh, because it was so much cheaper to do so. Does the fact that this self-described billionaire continues to make so many of his products overseas say anything to you about how seriously he actually takes this issue? It's obviously a lot easier to tell the federal government to do something than it is to tell your own corporation to do it, because it will actually cost you money.</s>MANCHIN: Well, in a competitive world, you want to make sure everyone is playing on the same field. The president could lead by example here. But if we change the tax code, if we change basically how we tax products coming to this market, when they are made so much cheaper with cheaper labor, giving the American worker a chance in America, and if he would pursue that and push that and start bringing, you know, the products that he or his family are having made elsewhere, say we can do it with a proper tax code and compete, and we will do it in America, but someone has got to step to the plate. Leadership is leading. And this is what we're hoping that will happen.</s>TAPPER: Just a quick question. Would you like it, Senator, if Donald Trump, businessman, were to announce that his company was going -- his corporation was going to start manufacturing clothing in West Virginia?</s>MANCHIN: Oh, my goodness, would we ever. We used to have some of the best shirt companies in America right here. Morgan shirt companies was one of the finest shirt companies in the whole world. And they went out of business many, many years ago because they couldn't compete. We're up and ready to go. Give us a chance. We can do the job.</s>TAPPER: All right.</s>MANCHIN: Absolutely.</s>TAPPER: Don Jr. and Eric, I hope you heard that. Senator Joe Manchin, thank you so much. Appreciate it, sir.</s>MANCHIN: I hope they did. I hope they did, too. We need all the jobs we can get in West Virginia, and we're appreciative of them also.</s>TAPPER: All right, thank you, sir. Appreciate it. And on this Tax Day, we ask, what could come first, tax reform or President Trump releasing his tax returns? That story next.