Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Source Says, Trump Wanted China Deal Before Middle East Trip; Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed At Lowering U.S. Drug Costs; First Two Witnesses Testify In Sean Combs' Criminal Trial; Air Traffic Control Staffing Issues Cause More Newark Delays. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 12, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, a trade war semi-pause means lower tariffs between the U.S. and China are on the way, but they're not gone entirely, and the deal is only temporary. So, what might this mean for your wallet and the prices you see at the store?

[18:00:03]

Plus, President Trump signing an executive order aimed at cracking down on high prescription drug prices. But some conservatives are calling this undemocratic price controls. And there are a lot of questions about how it's all exactly going to work. I'm going to pose questions to the FDA administrator about this in moments.

And if you thought things were already bad with air travel, somehow things are getting worse after another day of delays in cancelations at Newark's Airport. The transportation secretary, Mr. Duffy, is unveiling a new plan aimed at making your future trips faster and safer.

The Lead Tonight, a U.S.-China trade breakthrough announced in the wee hours of the morning after marathon talks in Switzerland. The U.S. stock market signaling its approval by closing up more than 1,100 points, as President Trump embarks on his very first big foreign trip with plane stops in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Riyadh. CNN's Marc Stewart is in Beijing. Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, as President Trump makes his way here for his first major foreign trip of his second term in office, he is coming with a bit of a win, at least in his view. And that was his instruction, we were told. He was advising his aides, particularly via Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to find a win, find something that they could sort of hold their hats on as he comes here to Riyadh for the first day of his foreign policy trip. He'll be arriving here tomorrow.

But before leaving the White House, he had this to say about the on again, off again relationship and trade war with China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're not looking to hurt China. They were very happy to be able to do something with us and the relationship is very, very good. I'll speak to President Xi may be at the end of the week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, President Trump saying he may speak with President Xi Jinping at the end of the week. That would be fairly extraordinary because they have not spoken throughout this ongoing a trade war, Jake. But even though he was advising his officials and the treasury secretary to find a win, it's an open question what type of a win that actually is, because China certainly did not give up nearly as much as the U.S. did, and it's only a 90-day pause on this as well.

But the president is coming here to the Middle East. He'll be traveling here to Saudi Arabia, as well as to a Qatar and the UAE. It's more of a trip of deals, if you will, than diplomacy. But he certainly wants to come here with the wind at his back, if you will, particularly the financial markets. He's looking for investments from the Gulf states here, Jake, and certainly wanted the financial markets to be up today. And, in fact, they were because of that win, at least in his view, with China. Jake?

TAPPER: Marc Stewart's in Beijing. Marc, why did the government of China agree to this?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jake, I think this is about economics. This is also about ego. China wanted respect. It didn't want to be bullied by the United States. This has been a big point of conversation on Chinese social media. So, after a number of overtures from Washington, this decision to meet in Geneva, which is seen as neutral territory, these talks move forward, the other aspect of this is the economics. China's economy was already shaky before this trade war, then it hit really hard. It added to concerns about manufacturing about exports. That also led to the conversations.

But I want to point out some very important context here. This U.S.- China relationship is still very fragile. It's a point I'm hearing over and over again. Trade deals are very tricky. They can fall apart very easily. So, if we look at some of the messaging that is coming from Beijing, Jake, it's very guarded. While there is optimism, we're also hearing some restraint from the central government.

TAPPER: All right. Marc Stewart in Beijing, Jeff Zeleny in Saudi Arabia, traveling with President Trump, thanks to both of you.

Moments ago, Goldman Sachs cut its odds of a U.S. recession to 35 percent, citing Trump's temporary truce with China. That's good news. The Wall Street bank had previously estimated a 45 percent chance of a U.S. recession.

Let's bring in CNN's Phil Mattingly. Phil, walk us through the specifics of this temporary trade truce with China and what it means for the average American consumer.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the Goldman forecast really kind of sets the baseline and how it has shifted based on where it stood by President Trump's own actions. Where we stand now is instead of 145 percent tariffs from the U.S. side, 125 percent terrorist from the Chinese side, that is now 30 percent from the U.S. side, 10 percent from the Chinese side.

And, obviously, the market liked that change and a dramatic change it was on those top line rates quite a bit. If you look across all of the major indices, the Dow up more than a thousand points, S&P 500 up more than 3 percent, the NASDAQ now shifting back heavily into bull territory.

[18:05:08]

That reaction was significant.

But it's important to note that while the baseline may have shifted, that shift includes tariffs that are still at a very high level. In fact, when you look at where those rates currently stand, well, in January of 2025, before the Trump administration took office, the overall tariff rate was around 2.4 percent. In April, at the height post-liberation day, as the president called it 28 percent.

Where do they stand now? Still 17.8 percent, roughly 15 percent higher than they were before President Trump took office. That is still very high and that's still going to have an impact on consumers, not as dramatic as one, as it would've been before this pause, which according to the Yale Budget Lab, which has been tracking this stuff very closely, it would've been $3,443 for the average middle class family, that is now $2,237 for the average middle class family. That is not nothing, Jake, there are still significant tariffs in place as these negotiations over the course of the next 90 days play out.

TAPPER: So, Phil, the Trump administration obviously argues that the end goal. Of these tariffs is for America to make more money. Is that happening in any way?

MATTINGLY: Yes. Revenue, a key component the president often talks about, and that is actually playing out, as you would expect it would, given where rates have been. In fact, in the month of April, $16 billion in customs duty revenue, that's 130 percent higher than April of last year. In fact, it's the largest monthly sum in a least a decade, perhaps even longer than that.

The question, of course, Jake, is who's actually paying for that? U.S importers pay tariffs. Oftentimes that gets transferred to the consumers. The administration claims that's not going to be the case this time around. No question. That money is coming in. Who's actually financing that money though, still an open question, as these negotiations play out. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Phil Mattingly, thanks so much.

President Trump also announced a new executive order today, seeking to lower the cost of prescription drugs. The 2022 report by the Department of Health and Human Services showed Americans pay almost three times the price for drugs than other comparable countries. Today's order takes aim at other government's negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, but many conservatives are warning that this executive order goes against the American free market philosophy.

Right now, U.S. drug prices are negotiated behind closed doors between drug makers and middlemen working for health insurance companies. Several industry analysts are saying the order that President Trump signed is more bark than bite. And the question, what impact it will really have on drug prices.

So, joining us now to talk about this is the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, Dr. Martin Makary. He was at the executive order signing this morning. Thanks so much for being here.

DR. MARTIN MAKARY, FDA COMMISSIONER: Great to be with you, Jake.

TAPPER: So, Commissioner, President Trump says if the plan doesn't lower the cost quickly enough, the administration will enact what he calls the most favored nation model, which will be the lowest price available among peer countries. Trump did try this during his first term and he was blocked by federal courts, and that was just for a small set, a small subset of Medicare drugs. How is this time different and how is he going to get this through the courts?

MAKARY: Well, good to be with you, Jake. You're right. That was a different version. It was blocked in one court, and the president now is convening all the power of the executive branch, the federal trade representative, the DOJ, to look at unfair practices and collusion among different manufacturers in pricing these drugs. The FDA, we can do things to lower drug prices. And the biggest payer of drugs in the United States is Medicare and they have rulemaking abilities that they've never really explored before.

So, he's convening all of these parts of the executive branch to say, we want to achieve this goal. Let's wait a little bit to bring the different pharma companies to the table and see if they can address this problem. Because I've met with them and they're well aware that they're pricing some of these drugs 5, 10, 12 times higher in the United States than they're priced in London and Germany and France. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to any voter out there. And so we need more parity. We want a level playing field, not with the price of drugs here and Singapore. We want parity among wealthy countries, like these European countries, the OECD countries.

TAPPER: Okay. How soon might consumers see lower prices?

MAKARY: I think pretty soon. We're going to work with the pharma companies and these middlemen groups to try to do everything possible to lower prices. They see the writing on the wall. They see a tremendous amount of pain out there. You know, I've been a surgeon at Hopkins for most of my career, and people are suffering financial toxicity from bills, from drug prices. It affects access, it affects poor and minority communities the worst. And medical bankruptcy now is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States.

We didn't take an oath as physicians to take care of somebody and then ruin their life financially, watching them get destroyed, their life, retirement, future, their savings, their mortgage, all get wiped out by the price of one drug.

[18:10:11]

Now, we've got these GoFundMe campaigns where people are enlisting their communities, their churches and synagogues to raise money for a drug that costs five, ten times more than a dozen in these other countries.

TAPPER: So, weeks, months? Like when can people, when do you think people should expect to see that?

MAKARY: I think it's going to be soon. At the FDA, we have good relationships with the pharma companies. We are asking them to come to the table. They know the system is broken. They know it doesn't make sense. They've got kids too that go to the hospital and get these crazy bills. We also have the ability to enable states to get a waiver to import drugs. Well, we don't plan to use that unless we need to. But there are other options in the FTC and the trade representatives --

TAPPER: So, you know that there are conservatives saying this sounds like price controls from Soviet Union, and then that's criticism from the right, and then from the left, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan Justin Wolfers argued on CNN today that this policy means the U.S. drug prices will be set overseas. He used Sierra Leone as an example. I understand that you're pushing back on that. But take a, listen to what he has to say, his larger argument.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN WOLFERS, ECONOMIST, UNIVERISTY OF MICHIGAN: We are effectively outsourcing our pricing of drugs to Sierra Leone. Do you think that Sierra Leone is setting its drug prices in such a way as to maximize the sorts of R&D development and drug development that we Americans want? My fear is that we're not, in which case this could end up hurting the health of all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, I understand you've already said it's not Sierra Leone. It's not. But let's say Germany. His argument is, is Germany going to take in effect what these pharmaceutical companies need to do the research and development? This is the argument that pharmaceutical companies make. What's your response?

MAKARY: Yes, so good question. These are not price controls because the government is not setting prices. Instead, the government, as the largest purchaser financially of these drugs, is saying, if you're selling these drugs at different prices in wealthy countries, in the OECD countries, we want the same good price that you're listing in other countries.

So, it is part of the negotiation of getting a good price. And I think anyone looks at this and says, the real -- if we could be honest, Americans are just getting ripped off because these companies can, and no one has stood up against it.

The same with the NATO fees or the WHO membership fees, this president has felt that Americans have been getting ripped off that other countries, wealthy countries, have not been paying their fair share. And so drug pricing is a logical next step in that sort of understanding.

TAPPER: All right. FDA Commissioner Dr. Martin Makary, thank you so much for being here.

MAKARY: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: I really appreciate it. Come back soon. We appreciate your time.

It's one of the few issues that both Republicans and Democrats agree on, the U.S. immigration system is broken. A new proposal aims to fix some of the glaring problems, but will Congress support it? I'll ask the man, the senator behind the plan. That's next.

Plus, the disturbing details we learned from the first two witnesses called today to the stand in the trial of Sean Diddy Comb.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week over challenges to President Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship. The justices will look at whether lower courts have the power to block Trump's order. It's a procedural issue, but it still could impact immigration and any other new presidential policies.

My next guest is out with a new immigration plan today. Iraq War veteran, Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who's on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, joins me now. Thanks for being here, Senator. Good to see you.

SEN. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ): So, part of your plan includes ramping up border security, reforming the asylum system, finding a pathway to citizenship for certain undocumented immigrants, all of which sounds, I have to say, I'm a little older than you, I think, I've been covering this issue now for 25, 26 years. It sounds similar to previous attempts. Why is this going to be different? Why would this succeed?

GALLEGO: Well, I think the first thing that we have to recognize is that we actually still have to prioritize border security first. In the past, we've always had this, you know, tradeoff between Democrats and Republicans was like, we will give you border security in return, we want immigration reform. What I'm trying to say is like, no, border security itself is a value that both Democrats and Republicans like. This comes from my campaign where I, you know, I won a state that was very, very hard to win, ended up going, you know, hard for Trump. And for me, and what we heard from people every day, people on the border, people in Phoenix, people in Tucson saying, you know, we want border security and we want a sane pathway to immigration reform for some people in this country.

But it doesn't mean that they wanted, they needed to both happen at the same time. And in some regards, the Democrats need to make sure that we get border security right in order for us to actually get trust with the American public for us to get everything else right.

TAPPER: Do you have any Republicans on board with your plan?

GALLEGO: No. Today, we introduced our plan and, you know, it has been well received by a lot of nonprofits, immigration groups, as well as, you know, business and border groups, right? So, we're going to try to work on that. And a lot of elements of this will be found within other even Republican bills. You know, you have seen Republicans that are open to having a very flexible program when it comes to visas and worker visas.

You know, we have an element of this where eventually, as you know, once we have a secure border and we have a worker visa program that is well and very flexible, we actually have an e-Verify program. So, this is something I think that a lot of people and a lot of Democrats and Republicans have talked about in the past, but it's an actual emphasis on reality of the politics of the border and border security that's happening right now.

TAPPER: So, earlier today, a reporter asked President Trump why he is expediting a pathway to citizenship for one distinct group, South Africa's Afrikaners, which are the white descendants of the Dutch settlers in South Africa.

[18:20:05]

Afrikaners, like I said, descendants of mainly Dutch colonial settlers. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's a genocide that's taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white. But whether they're white or black makes no difference to me.

We've essentially extended citizenship to those people to escape from that violence and come here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: In fact, a group of Afrikaners granted refugee status arrived in the U.S. today. What's your reaction to this?

GALLEGO: That's all B.S. First of all, the president can't offer citizenship. I mean, if the Republicans want to give power to the president to offer citizenship, I think they're opening up something that they don't want to happen. Number two, if these Afrikaners had ever showed up at the border and actually claimed that type for the claims that they're having, they would be automatically rejected, right?

TAPPER: Why?

GALLEGO: Because you can't actually claim status of endangerment based on the fact that your land is potentially going to be taken away, which actually hasn't happened over there. So, there are Cuban refugees, there are Venezuelan refugees that are actually literally being, you know, politically hunted by the regimes in this country, and they're getting extradited from this country to very dangerous areas, because this president can't tell the difference. This is just Elon Musk trying to play his politics and Donald Trump is just buying right into it.

By the way, this is a further example why we actually need to reform our asylums system so there is actually clear pathways for good to actually apply, and it can't be a political tool used by politicians just so they could actually make their biggest donors happy.

TAPPER: This past Saturday, you had a town hall. You participated in a town hall, but it wasn't in Arizona. It was in my neck --

GALLEGO: I've had eight of those, but yes.

TAPPER: Yes. You've had them in Arizona, but it wasn't in your neck of the woods. It was in my neck of the woods right outside Philadelphia, in Bucks County, Trump won by nearly 300 votes in last year's election. That's the swingiest of the battlegrounds of the collar counties. Why did you go to Bucks County and what did you hear from voters there?

GALLEGO: Well, Bucks County is one of the many places I have been invited to speak since the election. And it's not the first swing state. We've been invited to speak all over the country. It's one that was convenient to my family's schedule.

But, you know, I do think it's important that we are talking to everybody. We're talking to every part of America about what's happening specific. Right now we're trying to save Medicaid and we just saw the House Republicans come out with a budget proposal that's going to end up cutting close to 12 million Americans from Medicaid.

And the fact that we were talking in Bucks County to people that have an influence over a swing vote, it was important and we're happy to rally them with the invite, obviously, of a lot of other Pennsylvanians. But, you know, it's going to come down to probably four Republicans and one of them lives in Bucks County and we're happy to be there and make sure we're fighting for them to save Medicaid. And, you know, the fact that they want to cut Medicaid to give the top, you know, 1 percent of bigger tax cut. I think everyone in that area wants to know that.

TAPPER: So, during this town hall, you said, quote, sometimes my decisions are not going to be aligned with the National Democratic Party and that they are going to, quote, piss off a lot of people. Do you think that's the way forward for Democrats? Because, obviously, the 2026 map is tough for your party.

GALLEGO: Yes.

TAPPER: And obviously your party's not in a great place. I mean, do senators, members of the House need to be taking on Democratic orthodoxies more?

GALLEGO: Look, I think we have to throw the biggest net to win, right? We got to win in states that are, you know, R plus 12. I won my state in 2024 and I think ended up being an R plus 11 state, and that was a hard, hard year. That means you had to really go against the tide. And we're going to have to have people that are going to run for offices in some of these states that we're not going to be in 100 percent alignment with.

But if we claim to be the big tent party, we need to accept people in that big tent, even though it's going to make us uncomfortable sometimes, provide that we all have the core belief and that we want to have a government that is for the people and by the people that's here to actually make the middle class work.

And if that person is running in any state, if they're willing to run as a Democrat, maybe we're not going to have 100 percent alignment. I'm willing to support them. And if we don't get on that kind of timetable, we don't get onto that belief. We're not going to be in power, not just in 2026, but we're going to miss the boat in 2026 and 2028 because we maybe can win the presidency, but have a very, very slim chance of also winning the Senate. And if we don't have the trifecta, it's hard for us to govern.

TAPPER: Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, thanks so much. I appreciate it, sir.

CNN's teams we're in court today as the very first witnesses testified to the trial of Sean Diddy Combs. What we heard from both the defense and the prosecution, that story's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, just moments ago, court wrapped on the first day in the federal sex trafficking trial against music icon Sean Diddy Combs. Testimony is expected to resume tomorrow morning. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.

And CNN's Kara Scannell live outside the courthouse for us in New York. Kara, we heard from two witnesses today. What stood out to you?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the first witness that the prosecution called was the security guard who worked at the Intercontinental Hotel. And so he was there during that infamous scene where CNN first aired the footage of the surveillance video of Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in the elevator lobby.

So, he described getting off the elevator bank there seeing Combs, what he said had a devilish, scary look on his face, and he said Ventura looked scared. He also told the jury that Combs had offered him a bribe to make it go away.

The other witness was a man who said that he was paid by Cassie to have sex with her while Combs watch. She describes several sexual encounters.

[18:30:00]

And during some of the graphic testimony, Combs' daughters got up, left the courtroom, they came back, but the testimony was continuing. They got up and left again for the day.

Now, he also testified that he was paid thousands of dollars to engage in these sex acts and that he testified about two instances where he said that Combs was violent toward Ventura. The man testified that he was shocked, terrified, and he said that he didn't say anything to law enforcement because he might lose his life.

Now, his testimony will continue tomorrow under cross-examination. Then prosecutors said they're going to call Cassie Ventura. She will testify beginning tomorrow, and her testimony could last the entire week. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Kara Scannell, thanks so much.

Let's bring in Criminal Defense Trial Attorney Stacy Schneider.

Stacy, during opening statements, Combs' attorney brought up that 2016 hotel surveillance video calling it, quote, indefensible, as well as, quote, virtually every bad word you can think of, unquote. As a defense attorney, do you think that was the right move?

STACY SCHNEIDER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE TRIAL ATTORNEY: He has to do that because what the prosecution did today in opening the case with their first witness is they went for the jugular and they brought in this videotape. And this is going to stay with the jury throughout the entire trial, no matter who's testifying, that Sean Combs was portrayed that way.

The defense has to portray Sean Combs as a domestic violence abuser because this is such a bizarre trial. It's actually a sexual misconduct or sexual abuse trial disguised as a racketeering trial. Remember that Sean Combs is charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy. These are by federal prosecutors. He's charged with two counts of sex trafficking, and he is charged with two more counts of transporting human beings across state lines to engage in prostitution.

All this underlying conduct that's going to come out throughout the trial, the alleged sex abuse, the coercion, the alleged -- there's going to be arson, there's going to be all kinds of criminal acts, bribery. Sean Combs isn't charged with any of those acts. He's merely charged with a racketeering conspiracy. And this is a type of statute that is used to normally prosecute the mafia.

So, the defense has to make this case that these were consensual relationships between adults, no matter how violent or bizarre they were, that these women were engaging in a consensual relationship. And at the same time, he has to be real with the jury and say, my client's not a great guy. My client -- as they said in court, my client is flawed. My client is in dysfunctional, toxic relationships, but they're going to hammer away that these women were there of their own free will.

TAPPER: During the cross-examination of the police officer who responded to the hotel, he was pressed on details that he did not include in his incident report, details like Sean Combs' facial expressions, or the fact that there was another man in the hotel room. What's the defense doing there?

SCHNEIDER: The defense is poking holes in the testimony of the officer who showed up at the scene that day. This was ten years ago. His memory is freshest at the time when the incident happened. So, nine or ten years later, he's now adding things at trial, and this is a typical defense tactic to show that if it's not in the report, it probably didn't happen.

TAPPER: Members of Sean Combs' family were also in court today. Well, do you think that will have any impact on the jury?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. I think it's really important and it's definitely a strategic move to have. His six children showed up in court. They were sitting in the second row behind him. That was not a coincidence. That was directed, I'm sure, by the attorneys. They need everything they can get to humanize Sean Combs because of all the violent testimony that's going to come out, and that has started to come out, particularly from the two witnesses today.

TAPPER: All right. Stacy Schneider, thanks so much. We always appreciate it.

Our small business series takes us to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts today, where one owner is already having to pass on the cost of the tariffs to her customers. What does Trump's temporary truce with China mean for her business and for her customers? We'll talk to her next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

TAPPER: In our Money Lead, we're back with our series on business leaders, in which we talked to small business owners from coast to coast about Trump's tariffs. A newly announced pause on tariff, the intense tar war with China, it's offering some relief. But for Americans who rely on other parts of the globe, the uncertainty that continues may be sticking around for a while. And here's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on State of the Union talking to Dana Bash just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: So, we do expect a 10 percent baseline tariff to be in place for the foreseeable future, but don't buy the silly arguments that the U.S. consumer pays.

The businesses and the countries primarily eat the tariff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining us now is Shayna Ferullo. She's the owner of Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters in Sandwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Shayna, most of America's coffee imports come from South America. Where do you source your coffee? And how have your prices changed, if at all, since the tariffs began?

SHAYNA FERULLO, OWNER, SNOW OWL COFFEE ROASTERS: Yes. Hi, Jake, thanks so much for having me on and paying attention to this.

So, we source a lot of our coffee from Peru. We also buy a lot of coffee from Columbia and Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Burundi, so all over the world. So, you know, that 10 percent baseline tariff affects all of those countries. We contract our coffee, you know, with a year's worth of coffee at one time. So, we're running through those contracts now.

But what I think it's important that Americans understand is that this has been a really difficult year in coffee, in general.

[18:40:04]

So, since the beginning of 2024 and February of 2025, the coffee price has more than doubled on The C Market, which isn't -- is directly correlated to specialty coffee.

So, we are already experiencing really dramatic price increases in our green coffee and trying to navigate that. So, the 10 percent baseline tariff just adds another dimension of unpredictability, especially because a lot of these agreements, these bilateral agreements remain to be completed and we don't have any idea how they're going to end up.

TAPPER: So, Commerce Secretary Lutnick said that it's a silly argument that the U.S. consumer pays, that it's the businesses and the countries that eat the tariff. Is that accurate in your case?

FERULLO: No, and it won't be accurate for almost all small coffee shops or small coffee operators. Like I said, all of us were preparing or have already raised our prices because of the state of the coffee trade in the world. And so these tariffs are just going to, you know, seal that deal. And so I think it's important that American consumers, especially those that love to support their local coffee shop, understand that we're not raising prices because we want to, or we're not taking advantage of a situation. We really have to in order to stay in business, in order to compete with, you know, the Dunkin's, the Starbucks, the Nestle's, the coffee giants of the world.

TAPPER: Have you talked with customers at all about how they are feeling right now with prices potentially going up at a number of businesses including yours?

FERULLO: So, we have paved the road a little bit. We started -- we raised our prices for our bagged beans earlier this year, before the tariffs were announced, and we're getting ready to launch some price increases in the next couple weeks on our prepared drinks here in the cafes.

You know, I think a lot of people will understand we're fortunate to operate in a wonderful community that has been supporting small businesses and really focuses on small businesses. That said, you know, we also want to be accessible. And for some people, I think, you know, that extra $0.25, $0.35 compounded by, you know, the daily consumption of coffee will add up and will be outside of people's budget. So, you know, we expect there to be a little bit of a shift there.

TAPPER: And last week, you met with lawmakers in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts about this issue. What did you say to them? What did you want from them?

FERULLO: Yes. I mean, I think, in general, I would just love sort of some more strategy to be laid out. I think what I learned from that conversation is that a lot of other businesses, you know, are days, are weeks away from closing their doors. We're lucky in that we're not there yet. But I think it's really important that rather than having this kind of baseline uniform strategy, that the government and lawmakers look kind of sector by sector and location by location throughout this country to see where there can be carve outs for small businesses, especially because I expect there to be a lot of turnover with small businesses.

TAPPER: So, policymakers say, look, these are -- these tariffs are meant to do two things, one, to stop other countries from ripping us off, and, two, so that more of these businesses are sourcing products domestically. I guess that's not possible. We don't grow coffee in the United States.

FERULLO: Well, so the great state of Hawaii does but --

TAPPER: Sorry, in the mainland, in the mainland. I apologize to my Hawaiian friends, yes.

FERULLO: In the mainland, exactly. No, we love our Hawaiian growers. But, you know, Hawaii, you know, accounts for less than, you know -- basically 0.1 percent of all coffee consumed in the United States is produced by Hawaii. So, it's not actually possible for Americans to continue drinking coffee and source green coffee from the United States. We really depend on -- Brazil and Vietnam are the two largest producers, but a lot of small growing countries throughout the world.

TAPPER: All right, you at home --

FERULLO: So, it's not possible in our case.

TAPPER: You at home can find Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters on Cape Cod in the town of Sandwich Massachusetts. Shayna Ferullo, thank you so much for joining us and telling your story.

FERULLO: Thank you, Jake.

Another string of serious issues is disrupting travel through Newark's Airport. What in the world is going on and how is the Trump administration going to fix it?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:22]

TAPPER: In our national lead, the utter chaos and confusion that continues to plague travelers at Newark's International Airport in New Jersey again this morning, with delays coming just one day after a telecommunications issue led to a complete stop of all planes in and out of the airport for 45 minutes.

It's unbelievable.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is here with me.

Pete, what's going on at Newark?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: A few big updates here, and we just got this update from United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby sent a 3.7 million passengers to insist that flying in and out of Newark is safe.

Also, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy just held a press conference, and the bottom line from him, he insists that Newark is nearly out of the woods. Though the Trump administration is now spinning.

Yesterday's outage at Newark approach control as a test of sorts, was the first failure since the FAA installed a software patch on Friday evening. Duffy says that update and a backup system worked as planned yesterday. But even still, the FAA implemented a ground stop for about 45 minutes to make sure that things were stable.

Just to bring you up to speed. This is the third outage in two weeks. Friday, there was a 90-second outage of radar, about a 30-second outage of radio.

Nearly identical to the outage on April 28th, that brought this all into focus. Five controllers took trauma leave after that incident. The point reiterated today by Duffy and this was the big one, is that the Biden administration should have fixed this aging air traffic control infrastructure.

I want you to listen now to Secretary Sean Duffy calling for an investigation of the previous administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Spent a lot of money and they didn't spend the money here. The president was understanding the cracks at the end of his administration and was going to fix it four years ago.

[18:50:04]

But the last administration, they did nothing about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Tonight, we have a new statement from the Pete Buttigieg camp, which says, Duffy needs to fix the problems at Newark and spend less time blaming others. So, we got pretty deep in the weeds on the blame game today, Jake.

TAPPER: Newark's airport has been the focus these past few weeks. But -- but as you've said many times, this is just the canary in the coal mine. It's likely that a lot of these problems exist all over the country.

MUNTEAN: It's symptomatic of a larger issue. Newark is a bit of a special case because they moved that air traffic control facility responsible for Newark flights last July from Long Island to Philadelphia. That created some newer problems, introduced some sort of failure modes into the systems.

The big thing here, though, is just modernizing air traffic control nationwide. Thats a huge priority of the Trump administration now, and Duffy is sort of laid out this multibillion dollar plan to do that. It's pretty aggressive. And he says, we can do this in 2 to 3 years if the White House gets all the money up front from Congress.

The other big part of this system here is the people and air traffic control is short 3,000 controllers nationwide. And when you factor in retirements as a mandatory retirement age of 56 and attrition some years, the system only gets a few dozen controllers. So, things are pretty dire.

TAPPER: Pete Muntean, thanks. One of America's most prolific novelist has a new book out today, and were thrilled to have him in studio next for a conversation you don't want to miss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:39]

TAPPER: In our national lead, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche is now the acting librarian of Congress. The White House fired the librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, on Friday for, quote, putting inappropriate books in the library for children, unquote.

My next guest has written more than 200 books. He's a fierce advocate for libraries and the value of reading. He's also got a new book out. It's called "The #1 Dad Book: How to Be the Best Dad You Can Be in One Hour".

It's out today.

Author James Patterson is here.

And, James, you're -- you're a frequent donor to libraries. Youve had your own work banned in Florida.

JAMES PATTERSON, AMERICAN AUTHOR: Yeah, and nobody will banning -- nobody will ban "The #1 Dad Book".

TAPPER: Well, you never know.

PATTERSON: This is important. This is useful. No, no, no, nobody will ban this one.

TAPPER: But before I get to this, I just want to ask -- you talk about the value of reading, all different types of books. You write: Kids whose parents read to them daily are exposed to almost 300,000 more words before kindergarten than kids whose parents don't read to them. Can you just talk for a second about the importance of libraries?

PATTERSON: An importance of reading and getting kids reading? It's huge.

Now look, the thing about libraries, if you really want to save libraries, you know, have your things in the museums. You have the big posters up there. But put -- put big signs up in all libraries say the free store.

TAPPER: Yeah.

PATTERSON: So when people walk by, they go, oh, the free store. Thats good. If you had a free store in a mall, you'd all go to the free store.

TAPPER: So one of the great parts about this book is that it's so fun and easy to read, so digestible. Sit down.

PATTERSON: There's a problem. Theres a big problem with guys in this country.

TAPPER: Yes.

PATTERSON: Every woman, including your producer, but I was on Mel Robbins, or it's going to come in a couple of weeks. But we recorded it, and she said something, and every woman that has read this said the same thing. I'm giving this to my husband. Im giving this to my father. I'm giving this to my two knuckleheaded brothers.

TAPPER: Right.

PATTERSON: Because it actually helps, books. You can -- there's not many things that you're going to do where in an hour you can become a better dad. You literally can become a better dad.

TAPPER: What made you sit down?

PATTERSON: This thing jumped to number one today on Amazon, boom, like that.

TAPPER: What made you want to sit down everything you write?

PATTERSON: No, no, no, that's not true.

TAPPER: What made you want to write down and sit a book and write a book on how to be a better dad?

PATTERSON: Okay. My -- my father, the only hug that I ever got from my father was on his deathbed.

TAPPER: Really?

PATTERSON: And he said -- he apologized and he started to cry. And he never cried. And I told him, I said, no, you were a good dad. You're a good dad. But he didn't hug.

So this is a book about hugging. It's about saying, I love you. It's about -- it's about taking responsibility for for these kids that you brought into the world. It's about listening, listening, listening.

Guys don't like to listen. They like to talk. And it really -- and guys won't talk to other guys about this so they can talk to me.

TAPPER: So beyond just your writing, you have lists of book recommendations, quotes from other dads interspersed throughout, what did you learn from other dads as you wrote this book?

PATTERSON: I don't say I learned. One of the things in terms of my own, I if I had -- if I had researched this book and I talked to the kids, I would have been a better dad myself and in particular. And I think this is useful. I think women who are listening to this will get it.

And Father's Day is coming, but for dads to be present, to be present to, I don't know, literally -- I mean, I was present in our house because I worked out of the house, but I wasn't present all the time, you know, and we were present right now because you're on television and were doing a big thing. But a lot of times you talk and you're not present to tell your kids your stories.

Yeah, listen to their stories. I guarantee that with this book, anybody, you're not going to become a perfect dad, but you'll be a better dad. And who can promise you that in a book you will be a better dad? Whatever it is you're going to pick up hugging or saying I love you, or different things that are just going to make you a better dad, a better father, and a better partner.

TAPPER: All right. The book is "The #1 Dad Book: Be the Best Dad You Can Be in One Hour".

PATTERSON: Yeah.

TAPPER: And the author is James Patterson. It's always great to have you.

PATTERSON: It's good to be here. Thank you so much.

TAPPER: I -- you should -- I should just note, I have two books coming out. One --

PATTERSON: -- cares about your book --

TAPPER: -- in one week and one day, "Original Sin", about President Biden's decision to run for reelection and the cover up of his decline. One week and one day.

In October, I have another book called "Race Against Terror", about the hunt to prosecute an al Qaeda terrorist who killed Americans and was out to kill more.

You will not become a better dad if you read my books, but you can check them out at jaketapper.com.

PATTERSON: He's a very good writer.

TAPPER: If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can listen to the show whence you get your podcast.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.