wednesday in new york. we cool back down with temperatures back in the 40s and 50s by the end of the week. >> mid week tease. down 25 degrees. thank you, ivan. figures reveal violent crime in chicago new figures reveal violent crime in chicago remains on a steady decline. march was the is 13th consecutive month of decline in gun violence. murders to date have dropped 22%. shootings, 25%. chicago police attribute the drop to hiring more officers and stronger community efforts including technology. thanks for joining us. i'm dave briggs. >> i'm renee marsh. "new day" starts right now. >> it is the largest deficit of any country in the history of our world. >> imposing new tariffs on nearly $3 billion of u.s. goods. >> taking on the chinese for

diplomacy. >> a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of daca. can't happen that way any more. >> this will stir up opponents of this program. >> they will say this is an example of a white house that does not know how to lead. >> the white house insisting that the outgoing v.a. secretary resigned. >> there will be no reason for me to resign. i made a commitment. >> it is all smoke and mirrors, a distraction to keep you away from the real issues he's having to deal with. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day". it is monday, april 2nd, 6:00 here in new york. chris is off today. and jim and john avlon join me. >> you're stuck with us. >> it takes two guys to fill in for chris. i don't know what madness is about to unfold, but here's our starting line. china makes good on its promise

to slap back. it is slapping tariffs on exports in response to president trump's tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. it heightening fears of a trade war between the world's two largest economies. and president trump claims there will be no deal for dreamers and plans to pull out of nafta unless mechanics co protects the border. new cnn's reporting of who had mr. trump's ear over the weekend. david shulkin says he was fired. the white house insisted he resigned. he will join us live in the next hour. president trump back after the holiday weekend with his staff shrinking. he is calling his own shots and

is, quote, unhinged. ivan watson is live in baugh skwreupbg with our top story. beijing with our top store. >> reporter: china is retaliating for the tariffs imposed last month on steel and aluminum. the chinese finance ministry said they seriously damaged china's interesting. 15% on one group including fruits, nuts, wines, 25% tariff on pork and recycled aluminum. this is about $3 billion in u.s. exports to china. it is a drop in the bucket if you compare to the overall bilateral trade which is around $650 billion in 2016. but make no mistake, certain

industries are going to feel this. the pork industry, for example, according to national pork producers council, china is the third largest export market for the u.s. $1.1 billion market. they just saw their prices jump 25%. so expect to feel that in places like iowa, which are big pork producers. is this a trade war? probably not yet. this might be the squirmish. but we might slap tariffs for retaliation for alleged intellectual property theft. if that goes into effect, expect a chinese retaliation. then we are much closer to a real trade war. >> a lot of u.s. companies, workers fend on that business. thank you. while we wait for reaction to the are he tal tore tariffs,

president trump is vowing there will be no deal on dreamers and threatening to exit the nafta deal. kaitlan collins is live at the white house with more. what are you hearing? >> reporter: after a 2002 days of vie lens from our tweeter in chief, he unleashed fiery ones on easter saying there would be no deal for the dreamers hoping to get legal status and threatening to pull out of nafta if mexico doesn't do more to curtail the border crossings. president trump spending the easter holiday weekend venting about immigration. in a series of combative tweets he is saying they are pouring into the u.s. because sthethey in on the act. >> they want to take advantage of daca. we'll have to see. >> reporter: the president confused about the program.

it only applies to those who have lives in the u.s. since 2007. meaning no one crossing the border now would be he eligible. president trump also blaming democrats for fail to go broker a deal to protect dreamers, he despite it was his idea to end the program in the first place. in stark contrast to these earlier promises. >> very, very tough subject. >> it should be a bipartisan bill. it should be a bill of love. truly it should be a bill of love. and we can do that. >> reporter: the president's outburst prompting criticism from members of both parties, including ohio governor john kasich who tweeted a true leader preference and offers hope, doesn't take hope from innocent children who call america home.

>> mexico has got to help us at the border. they flow right through mexico and send them to the united states. can't happen way any more. >> reporter: sources tell cnn it came after he had a number of conversations over the weekend. multiple people pointing to ann coulter calling trump a disappointment. all this as the trump administration continues to insist that ousted veterans affairs secretary david shulkin are signed rather than being fired. shulkin denying this claim, saying he never submitted a resignation letter. >> i would not resign. i'm committed to making sure this job was seen through to the very is end. >> so you were fired? >> i did not resign. >> it is unclear whether the tweets represent a change in policy or whether he was venting

a after reading an article or watching a television news program. it is important to keep in mind it goes to show how capricious this president can be when it comes to immigration policy. it is important to remember when he spent the weekend with, a series of fox news he hosts, and steven mural, his aide, who is the most hard line on immigration. john, jim, and alisyn. >> thank you very much for all of of that interesting reporting. we will get to that right now. joining us is brian karen and jeffrey toobin. great to see all of you guys. john avlon, let's start with china retaliating. here's the graphic. 128 u.s. products. 120 involve fruits, nuts, wine, steel products, pork products, recycled aluminum. what do we think is going to happen now? >> it's a step to the trade war.

what is interesting to me is pork on 25%. that is a pitch back to iowa. and the khaochinese ambassador, governor of iowa. that is targeted to eye eye, designed to inflict pain on the ambassador. worse can come. this is only $3 billion. it is not even approaching what the u.s. has done. so watch for escalation. >> so what determines whether there's escalation or not? >> whether china does another round. >> that's the only thing? i don't know. i'm just asking. >> cnn is reporting this is about the first round of aluminum tariffs. the second round, if china decides to match that, then we have more problems. >> china plays trump interestingly. they could have is easily gone at the same level. u.s. tariffs are worth $50 billion. these are $3 billion. it seems like they are planning

to see whether he will double down on this, right? >> i think it's a nice brushback pitch 90 miles per hour around the chin. of course it is meant to find out exactly how far the president is going to go. no one knows, including the president himself until he takes to the twitter litter and tweets policy based solely on what he thinks that morning or who he has talked to recently or what he had for breakfast. i think no one kind of knows what's going to happen because the president doesn't know what's going to happen. i think where it ends up is anyone's guest at this point. >> this is awe calculated risk. he knew this could set off a trade war. he always said the u.s. is being screwed over by places like china. this has been a long time battle cry of his. the u.s. still wins in this

calculation. >> they are going to keep arguing until it is impossible to argue otherwise. >> it is impossible to argue it. what they argue has little basis in fact. it is basis of the moment. right now it doesn't seem like it's all that much compared to what the u.s. has done. but, again, where does it go from here and how long does it take to get there? as you said, brushback. are we going to blink or take one step forward? one thing you can count on from this president, he doesn't like to have his manhood challenged. i guarantee you this is probably not going to be the last step. it's just where do we go from here? >> the impact of the last person in his ear, as we have said. this weend, mar-a-lago. look at the cast of characters. >> we have the graphic. not only do they have his ear,

they make a point of explaining where they think he should go. >> three fox news hosts, two ex-cons and a pillow salesman. >> is this jeffersonian level? >> sounds like my weekend. >> that's just the weekend. >> the folks who challenge this president and this cabinet, this don't last long. that is an echo chamber in the white house. >> and nothing matters more to him and to those folks than immigration. immigration is the issue. build the wall. mexico is going to pay for it. that's the core issue. that's what ann coulter has been criticizing him for. you know what never gets talked about these days anymore is

there are 800,000 human beings, people's lives are in serious jeopardy of major, major disruption because these daca people, the young people who lived their entire lives in america, their status remains completely in limbo. and donald trump, he clearly doesn't even understand. >> let's talk about that. hold on. i'm so glad jeff relative brought this up. we can now connect the dots between the seeds that are planted, and policy. here's the tweet. i'll work backwards. here's the tweet that the president sent out. we can fact check it. border patrol agents are not properly allowed to do their job at the border because of ridiculous hrub ral democrat laws like chas and release. getting more dangerous. caravans coming. republicans must go to nuclear option to pass tough laws now. no more daca deal, in all caps

and exclamation point. catch and release is not a law. >> right. sometimes they come back in. sometimes they commit crimes. they must go the nuclear option. that's not what republicans are talking about. no more daca deal. the person who said he was going to protect the dreamers. >> he's been all over. he's the one who suspended that executive order. then said the democrats are the ones risking the deal. this is a president who doesn't have his hands on the policy. it says a lot about where his head and his heart is. >> it's not even, to the point, catch and release. that goes back to the regan era. this is not new. and it's not news. on easter sunday you're going to tweet that out. last year at the same time he's tweeting out how immigrants, 40%

less illegal immigration since he came into office. what happened? suddenly there was a swarm of them. and then the problem of drug addiction because of illegal immigrants. that's just bogus. you have a drug problem because there is a demand for the drug. there is better weed in united states and mexico. it is all disingenuous. it is all to feed a base that is very, very much not involved in what is going on in the united states. >> actually this tweet was six minutes after a fox and friends weekend segment where they talked about caravans coming across the border. in the next hour we will play you that segment and show you how the president cobbled together what he wants policy made out of it. thank you, gentlemen, very much. david shulkin, can he quit or

was he fired? the white house claims that he resigned are wrong. why that matters and why he departed, next. here's the story of green mountain coffee roasters sumatra reserve. let's go to sumatra. the coffee here is amazing. because the volcanic soil is amazing. so we give farmers like win more plants. to grow more delicious coffee. which helps provide for win's family. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters.

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♪ ♪ wait, i have something for you! every stay is a special stay at holiday inn. save up to 15% when you book early at hollidayinn.com the commute is worth it.me, the more you know save up to 15% when you book early you and that john deere tractor... you can keep dreaming up projects all the way home. it's a longer drive. but just like a john deere, it's worth it. former veterans affairs secretary david shulkin was on a

media blitz. the white house says he resigned, but he tells a different story. >> i would not resign because i'm committed to making sure this job was seen through to the very end. >> so you were fired? >> i did not resign. >> we actually spoke the day that he sent the tweet out, just a few hours before. in fact, we had set is up a meeting for the very next day. but there were political appointees in my administration and didn't see it that way and wanted to take a harder stance towards privatization. every cabinet member stands at the pleasure of the president and it is his prerogative to have the team around him he thinks is doing his job. >> jeffrey toobin, it matters whether he resigned or fired from protocol in terms of who replaces him? >> and how much discretion the president has. if he resigns -- let me see if i get this right. if he's fired, that means that

the deputy immediately takes over. deputy secretary. if he resigns, the president can appoint in acting. >> that's what he's done. >> this came up with the consumer finance protection board. the only significance is who is in charge of the agency until a successor is named. we'll see whether he gets confirmed. >> john avlon, isn't this as simple as the white house creating its own reality here? they fired the guy, including the guy involved. >> they are just stick to go their guns. when you have pretty provable reality pwaufd on the guy himself who said, no, i didn't resign. they are going to keep existing because they have this statute they need to play ball with.

>> pwraoeurbrian carem, he had guard outside his office to protect him from some of his staff members because there was a mutiny he had on his hands because he didn't want privatization. >> you have one of those, right? >> maybe i need one. >> we have always heard the story. it speaks to two matters. one, going back to what john said, yes, there is a huge distortion bubble inside the white house. they create a reality and they want you to buy through it. meanwhile, those who have the reality have to have armed guards. i didn't see them. i wasn't there. but i can tell you that the very idea of what that man has had to go through and what's been said about him coming out is frightening.

there are such things as facts, folks. >> also, it relates to something real in the world, which is privatization. look at what the administration wants to do. whether it's for-profit charter schools in the education field. whether it's infrastructure plan, turning over highways to private companies that will build them and collect tolls. whether it's here in the v.a. and will privatation significant parts of the v.a. system. there's a lot of silliness here. it is also about actual government and how it works or does not work. >> it doesn't work. the idea is they are trying to solve a problem by throwing it into the private sector with things that have traditionally been what we consider, you know, public sector. everything that affects us, roads, schools, v. is a. benefits. turning them over has inherent

risks. >> we talked about you have a v.a. secretary who wasn't on board for that plan. they seemed to express those concerns internally and was beaten out because of that disagreement. meanwhile, he's going to be replaced someone who is with -- listen, a president has every right to have people who are with him in the program. but there is nobody who is challenging his position. >> the government should be about great debates about policy. but increasingly we are seeing permit injected into this, personal whim. this is about personal chemistry more than policy. that becomes a real problem. and if the president is vowing personal chemistry over competence, that's bad news. >> that's the bad news, the competence part of it. having people in place that have knowledge, education and are able to debate the issues based

on knowledge and education. if it is a personal whim and boils down to personal instead of reality and facts, that's where the problem is and that's what this administration is running on. seat of the pants. join him or die. that's a very, very -- again, inherently dangerous way to run a federal government. >> let's talk about the new washington post reporting. the president's inner circle, who he gets advice from. hope hicks left. and so what does that mean? where does that leave him? by the way, they said they had 23 sources. it's interesting when newspapers reveal how many sources they are so you get the scope of who they are talking to. they are internal close aides and people who left the white house. this is now a president a little bit alone, isolated, without any moderating influences and if anything a president who is

being encouraged and goaded on by people around him. it really is a president unhinged. >> look who he was with this weekend, all the fox news people who care about cracking down on immigration. that's what we see, including statements like people are coming across the border to take advantage of daca, which is factually inaccurate. daca only applies to people who have grown up here. you can't come across the border and take advantage of daca. that's the people who he is getting his facts from. >> it's a tiny group. he has folks who are on with the program. you survive if you follow the lead. >> the president of the united states -- here's the core reality where we are. the president of the united states is taking action based on

things he sees on tv rather than intelligence reports. that is objectively troubling. >> not only that, i think he is taking action what he ate last night, what he saw on tv. it doesn't matter. unhinged is what we have seen covering this white house from the very beginning. what you are now seeing is people protecting him, being the gatekeeper, leaving him. that is seeing them "out in the open" a little bit more. in the last 15 months, they have seen him act in an unpresidential matter on a number of cautious. it drifts down to staff. the 23 people said that to many reporters. read anything that's come out. it's not news. it's scary. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. we should let you know coming up in our next hour, former veterans affairs secretary david shulkin will join us live and

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march madness started with 68 teams. now it is down to two. new my and villanova square off with michigan. i'm a villanova guy. my nephew is an standpoint to jay wright. give me the right preview. >> oh, i see. >> i'll tell you what, jim, if villanova wins tonight, they will enter into the college dynasty conversation. the fourth team in the last 40 to win two out of three championships, joining the likes of duke, kentucky, and florida. wildcats jalen brunson one of of three players left from their championship team. we asked what it would be like to win another one.

>> it would be awesome just to be able to do that with my teammates. it would be really special. i'll definitely be haurpbd and honored and cherish that for the rest of my life. >> we have a late tip-off. game will get started at 9:20 eastern. we had a thriller between notre dame and mississippi state. ogunbowale had another last-second shot. the first for notre dame in 17 years. they were down 15 in the third before mounting the greatest come can back in women's title game history. ogunbowale's parents named her arike, which means to see and to cherish. this will be something they

cherish for a very long time. how cool that notre dame wins a national championship on easter sunday. she is going to go down as one of the clutchest women's basketball players of all time. >> the women's national championship never gets as much attention as it deserves. >> that's right. >> if a guy won the semis and finals as she did, he would be president. >> she should be president. >> this has been so fascinating. loyola, great run for them. >> i just found out i'm in 12th place for my bracket. so there's a chance. trump cabinet chaos. could epa chair pruitt be out the door next? john avlon breaks it down for us next. ♪

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not a long shelf life in president trump's cabinet. see what i did there? rex tillerson and david shulkin now out. who could be next? john avlon is here to break it all down. >> cabinet humor. i like it. >> good. we have a lot of it. remind us of what's hatched so far. >> we are over 50% turnover in the trump white house between west wing and cabinet. that is unprecedented. good-bye rex. 4 42 scaramuccis. that is a respectable -- scare

futu scaramucci is 10 days. did he retire? was he fired? who knows? david shulkin said he didn't resign. the white house says he resigned. we will put a question mark after resigned. >> we'll find out in the next hour what he says. >> we hear a lot about scott pruitt. he has been spending a lot of taxpayer dollars. is that why his head is next? >> that is one of many reasons. we have a significant issue with with a $50 a night stay.

wife of a lobbyist. >> and he is paying $50 a night. >> that's below market rate. if i tried to get that, i would be staying in a cubby hole by the train station. >> i don't know how he survives this one. if he has to go, it's because he never should have been there in the first place. >> also there have been reports that he spent $68,000 on hotel stays in the span of six months. why is is he doing that? doesn't he know this is not kosher to spend taxpayer dollars like this? >> folks were getting messages, this is fine. this is normal. they didn't adjust their

behavior. now they are taking it to the wood shed. and then you have ben carson. >> that dining room set. >> he threw his wife under the bus for ordering that table set. >> she had ordered it and he was checked out. >> not classy ben carson. he pushed to remove anti-discrimination language. why do that? according to the "new york times", deep reporting, pulling back on the fair housing actment that's one of the fundamental reasons it exists. that itself should be the ledger against him. >> he's probably just echoing the thoughts of the president.

some of these people are trying to scale back the agencies with which they are tasked with heading. >> yeah. but i think there's a core issue of principle. what's likely to get him is probably the dining room set is because it makes for a television ready made scandal. >> what has ryan zinke done wrong? >> he is someone beloved on the right. but he's had more taxpayer travel, more issues with lobbyists. and of course jeff sessions and john kelly who have been hanging on despite a lot of tough media cycles against him. the cover of "time" magazine this week. doesn't want to resign despite a lot of pressure from the white house. >> thank you for walking us through all of this. winter refusing to let up. some could see spring snow. we are seeing it in new york. where and how much will fall. that's next. can avoid drama by getting an annual check-up. so go, know, and take control of your health.

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okay. april show for a wide swath of the u.s. today.

it is creating a slick morning commute. alli allison has that for us. >> this is a live camera shot of new york city. a lot of snow sticking to the camera. if you look closely, you can see a lot of snow coming down. is and it's coming down in quite heavy bands at this point. we have the winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings in effect for much of the areas in the northeast. this is the live radar. look at some of those dark bands moving through areas of northern new jersey and new york city as we speak. finally coming to an end for areas like pittsburgh, for example. that will be the trend as we go through the rest of the day. right now areas of new jersey, new york, eastern pennsylvania are getting the heaviest snow they are going to get for the day. as it moves out, it looks like a timeline should wrap up around new york, jim, say 12:00. this is good news because the yankees home opener is expected at 1:00 this afternoon.

cutting it close, but it looks like they will make it. >> i'm a mets fan. >> you're getting this later. you are definitely in the clear. another story here, really an alarming one. the deadly suv plunge off a california cliff that killed a couple and at least three of their children. it now appears to be intersection intentional. the suv was stopped roughly 70 feet before quickly accelerating. at the bottom of the cliff, the speedometer was pinned at 90 miles per hour. the couple's three other children believed to be in the vehicle have not yet been found. really just a sad story. >> it is also haunting. i don't understand. did both members agree? was this a plot? this begs so many questions. >> yeah. >> and it's so deeply disturbing. >> those poor kids. >> it's horrible. >> and one of the kids was the one from the iconic photograph

in the aftermath of ferguson. >> we need to know more about the back story. they were facing a possible court hearing coming up. we need to know more about what was happening inside that house. >> we do. >> tell us what's going on with sinclair. >> a lot of credit for first floating this. sinclair broadcasting group is getting a number of television stations but tasking their anchors with reading a prewritten statement attacking news and pushing partisan gender of being nonpartisan. can i get some help. watch his head. ♪ i'm so happy. ♪ whatever they went through, they went through together. welcome guys. life well planned.

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you've got to hear this story. tensions are rising between sinclair broadcast group and their local affiliates after the company told the journalists to record these promos bashing what they called fake news. they went viral after dead spin edited dozens showing the anchors across the country reading the exact same script.

>> the sharing of biased and -- >> false news has become all too common. >> on social media. >> it is something out of 1984. >> gorge orwell. >> 173 stations owned or operated across the country. they're trying to buy dozens more now. that is pending with the government. what's interesting is the owners

conservative politics have been trickling down into the stations. you are given the script. you're told you have to read it. you have to attack fake news. say you're the only trustworthy source. >> they are reading the words, john avlon. i'm sure it is hard to disobey. >> you would lose you're job. >> to viewers it's a local state of conscience. >> right. >> it is allegedly defends the virtues of objective news, nonpartisan news, attacking fake news. but it is coming from a partisan perspective. >> it is like saying fair imbalanced. the owner of sinclair, terrorism, pro trump commentators. now it is these promos.

>> they are undermining their own journalism. this is propaganda when you order someone to say something they don't believe in. >> a few local anchors did say we're not going to do it. i'm working more on this story to find out what happens to these journalists. are they safe in their jobs? >> obviously it's always an ethical dilemma when your boss wants you to do something you don't want to do. people say, well, you should quit. obviously there are bills to be paid. they do feel uncomfortable. it's not so flagrant that you would absolutely say i can't go. for instance, some media outlets publish the same fake news

stories. that's true. some do publish fake news stories. so it feels a little bit like a hostage video. they are all having to read these lines they didn't write. but it's also what's next. once you get them to do this, then what's next? >> what is implicitly being targeted here is the mainstream media. they are called into credibility, inspect objective journalism. >> there's a back story. jared kushner came out and said they had to deal with sinclair, the trump campaign had to deal with it. >> i spent time in china which has an actual state media. it rings very familiar. this is the way authoritarian states operate.

roseanne barr is a trump supporter and a conspiracy theorist or at least a propag e propagator of conspiracy theories. there is a conspiracy theory that she bought into once again the age-old child sex trafficking, child sex ring. >> the age-old child sex ring by democrats? >> didn't we learn during comet pizza or whatever it was, pizza ga gate. a guy had to go to jail over this because he showed up with his gun. roseanne barr, what does it mean that she is either retweeting this or falling for it? >> beloved actress. tens of millions will watch her show again tomorrow. yet she is vulnerable to the conspiracy we see from so many people. it's a huge headache for abc.

executives at abc know that. that said, this isn't just about roseanne. it's about why so many people want to believe deranged conspiracy theory. >> she tweeted about hillary clinton. >> she's a comedian and actress. by should her political views matter? >> they are trying to sell it as part of the show. it matters if trump then tweets. he takes credit for that.

>> i could never having a show having political influence. >> thanks to our international viewers for watching. for you cnn talk is next. for u.s. viewers, "new day" continues right now. i don't think we've ever had a better relationship with china. the only thing that can get in its way is trade. >> china retaliating against the u.s. announcing new tariffs on american goods. our shared objective is to reduce the trade deficit. we're not afraid of a trade war. >> the idea that people are coming here to take advantage of daca is completely wrong. >> this is how trump negotiates. this is him pushing things along. >> so you were fired. >> i did not resign. >> the white house pushing back insisting the secretary step down. >> it adds more