Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Makes High-Stakes Middle East Visit; Some GOP Lawmakers Concerned With Qatar's Jet Offer To Trump; Tariffs Rattle Small Businesses Despite Stable Economic Month; Source: Israel Targets Hamas Leader In Hospital Strike; Kim Kardashian Takes Stand In French Burglary. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 13, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

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

This hour, rolling out the lavender carpet, President Trump greeted with quite a bit of fanfare during his first stop on his Middle East trip. Up next Qatar, as backlash grows from both Republicans and Democrats over Trump's plan to accept a $400 million luxury jet from that country's royal family.

Plus, the brand new details we're releasing today about President Biden's cognitive and physical decline, and the efforts by his inner circle to hide that information from not just the press and the American people but other lawmakers and people in the administration, the Biden administration.

Also some good news today about the U.S. economy, as inflation slowed and the price of eggs finally dropped. So, will this streak continue or should you be worried that prices will re-spike?

Plus, our small business series takes us to Illinois for a reality check on Trump's tariffs.

And Kim Kardashian takes the stand facing her alleged attackers for the very first time since that terrifying 2016 crime. What the reality T.V. star and advocate for criminal justice reform told jurors today about the people accused of tying her up and robbing her at gunpoint

The Lead Tonight, President Trump in Saudi Arabia, his first stop in a high-stakes Middle East visit, the president today signaling several new agreements with Saudi Arabia, announcing plans to lift sanctions on Syria.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, the president just concluded a whirlwind day here in Riyadh that often had the feel of a day on the campaign trail with him with many promises, mingling with some of the world's most wealthy and successful business leaders, even as they were trying to get their time with him.

Now, there were a lot of promises discussed, Jake, but there were fewer discussions about how those geopolitical challenges may be solved.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (voice over): The trumpets rang out today for President Trump on a royal welcome to Saudi Arabia. There was pomp, pageantry, and even Arabian horses to mark the moment of Trump's foray back to the Middle East on his first major overseas trip since returning to power.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're at a great place, but more importantly with great people.

ZELENY: The president lavish praise on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and invested more time on deal making than diplomacy. Yet he did unveil a major change in U.S. policy, calling for an end to sanctions in Syria. He's set to meet for the first time Wednesday with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the December rebellion to oust Dictator Bashar al-Assad.

TRUMP: The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important -- really an important function, nevertheless, at the time, but now it's their time to shine.

ZELENY: Trump also implored Iran to find a way to end its nuclear program.

TRUMP: I'm here today not merely to condemn the past chaos of Iran's leaders, but to offer them a new path and a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future.

ZELENY: And he looked ahead to the prospect of extending the Abraham Accords to one day normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, as neighboring UAE and Bahrain did in 2020.

TRUMP: My fervent hope wish and even my dream that Saudi Arabia will soon be joining the Abraham Accords. You'll do it in your own time, and that's what I want and that's what you want.

ZELENY: He devoted little time to one of the biggest obstacles of all, the unresolved conflict in Gaza. He is notably not visiting Israel on this trip, unlike he did on his first trip here eight years ago.

TRUMP: The people of Gaza deserve a much better future.

ZELENY: From morning to nightfall, Trump took part in a day-long series of events, many of which included some of the world's business elites. Among them, Elon Musk, who was set to leave the White House later this month. Trump touted a $600 billion investment commitment from Saudi Arabia, whose Crown Prince stayed at the president's side, sending a clear message of his high standing with this administration.

TRUMP: He's an incredible man, known him a long time now. There is nobody like him.

ZELENY: It was a marked departure from former President Joe Biden's fist bump and his vow to make the kingdom a pariah after the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a killing that today went without mention as Trump hailed the Crown Prince.

TRUMP: Oh, what'd I do for the Crown Prince?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (on camera): So, the president said he would never let Iran obtain a nuclear weapon, but he did extend a hand and say he was eager to have a nuclear discussion with Iran and that, Jake, taken together with the ending of sanctions in Syria, offered something of a one-two punch, if you will, against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

[18:05:01]

Of course, he is not on this itinerary. That is widely seen in the region as a snub. There is just no question about that. But the president tomorrow will have a brief meeting with the new Syrian leader here before making his way on the rest of his journey continuing in Doha. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Jeff Zeleny in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, thanks so much.

President Trump's visit to Qatar tomorrow comes as he faces some backlash even from Republicans in the United States, and even from some of his most diehard supporters after he tried to defend plans for him to accept a luxury plane from the Qatari Royal Family to serve as Air Force One for the remainder of his presidency, and then for him to take to the Trump presidential library.

Let's bring in CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller. So, John, you're an expert on lots of things. I'm not going to get into the ethics of it all, but President Trump once treated Qatar as a pariah. He called out Qatar's ties to terrorism. Obviously, the political leadership of Hamas are headquartered in Qatar. Take a listen to how Trump talked about Qatar in his first term.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism.

The time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding. They have to end that funding and it's extremist ideology in terms of funding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, what's your take on all this as somebody well-steeped in not only law enforcement but intelligence matters? Do you have any issues with him accepting this plane?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it's certainly a sign that Qatar knows its customer. It is very customary, Jake, as you know, from having been there when someone important in the region shows up that they are given gifts and remembrances and so on. If you introduce Donald Trump to the concept of a plane that was designed for a prince, where the trimming is, you know, polished wood and lots of gold inside, if you know your customer, you know that's going to get his attention.

Now, from a legal sense, the attorney general, Pam Bondi has said, well, this is legal because it's a transfer from one government of a piece of military equipment to another government. It happens all the time. But as an intelligence officer, when you stand back and look at it, that's not what it really is. It's a gift of an airplane, especially for Donald Trump in his presidency with the proviso that when he leaves the presidency, he gets to take it with him as a gift to his presidential library, which he has the use of.

So, I guess we got to call it what it is. It is the largest gift a foreign government has ever given to the U.S. leader in American history, and that's a real ethical question.

TAPPER: So, as an intelligence matter, how can the United States government be sure that there aren't any bugs or spyware or anything on that plane? I would think it would be close to impossible to be 100 percent confident.

MILLER: A plane is literally made of wires and electronics. It is -- in terms of hiding listening devices or other intelligence gathering devices, you're literally being able to hide a tree in a forest full of trees. You would have to look at it very carefully. And, by the way, that is not to assume that the Qatari would bug Donald Trump or the president of the United States, although you'd have to cover that possibility. That is to assume that we don't know who made it for the Qataris, where they bought it, who those people were, whether they had clearances.

But this is a larger thing. The Qataris have refashioned themselves into a state that was once an outcast in the Middle East from other Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, to kind of a boutique superpower, a place that's doing what the United Nations can't seem to do, which is bringing parties together, whether it's Russia, Ukraine, Hamas and Israel, the Chad and Rwanda, all kinds of places are coming there to negotiate ceasefires, peace deals, agreements. And that has given them outsized standing beyond their size, beyond their wealth as a real player on the world stage. And this plane is another flex.

Now, you have to ask yourself, Jake, well, what are the Saudis supposed to come up with now that Qatar has made this gesture? It really complicates things.

TAPPER: And also just the idea that anybody, any world leader, forget Qatar or whatever, would do this just to be nice, just to make a nice gesture and not to expect anything in return.

MILLER: Well, that comes back to, it is what it is.

TAPPER: Right. John Miller, thanks so much.

Let's bring in retired four Star Navy Admiral James Stavridis, the former supreme allied commander of NATO, and the partner of the Carlisle Group, which is an international investment firm.

[18:10:01] So, Admiral Stavridis, should the Trump administration accept this plane from Qatar if he asked you for your counsel? And what does it signal to Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries that are looking to make closer relations with the United States with the Trump administration?

JAMES STAVRIDIS, CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: No, they should not accept the plane. You've outlined the key reasons, number one, the source. So, this is simply inappropriate, to come from a nation that has also funded Hamas, that has close ties with the Iranian regime. Number two, it's the ethics of it. You said, well, we're not going to talk about ethics.

TAPPER: Well, I met with John.

STAVRIDIS: Yes, you got to talk about the ethics of this. And having been a senior official who would receive gifts as supreme allied commander, you can't accept anything above a couple of hundred bucks. So, how is it that you can receive this $400 million gift? So, there's an ethical problem.

And then I think worst of all is where you started to go with John a moment ago, you'd have to take this plane apart. You'd have to take it down to the studs and then rebuild it. So, it doesn't make much sense from a cost perspective. And also who knows who's been in around through that plane. I think it is a non-starter to accept it.

TAPPER: $400 million, Trojan Horse perhaps, who knows?

While in Saudi Arabia today, President Trump said Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and he threatened to put maximum pressure if a deal's not reached. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't like permanent enemies, but sometimes you need enemies to do the job and you have to do it right. Enemies get you motivated.

If Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What's your reaction?

STAVRIDIS: Number one, he is correct, Iran should never have a nuclear weapon because they have vowed to use it to destroy the state of Israel, our closest democratic ally and partner. So, I agree we should never permit Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

Number two, I think the president is right to have both an opportunity for the Iranians to come to the table and to hold in the background the Sunday punch. And the reason it's a good time to do that, Jake, is because Iran is in the worst negotiating position I've seen in my decades in uniform. All their proxies are bent or broken. Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria the Houthis are backing down. And their air defense system is minimized. So, it's a good time, I think, to not only restate the fundamental proposition, kind of paragraph one, you'll never get a nuclear weapon, and, number two, let's go in and try and make a deal that avoids that Sunday punch.

TAPPER: So, Trump also announced plans today to lift all sanctions against Syria, this, of course, following last year's fall of the Assad regime. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, a White House official says President Trump's expected to informally greet the new president of Syria tomorrow. How does this all impact Israel given the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been rather skeptical towards the new government of Syria?

STAVRIDIS: I think if you had told me six months ago that President Trump would be having a meeting with the leader of Syria and not taking a meeting with the prime minister of Israel, I would've said that's impossible.

TAPPER: Right.

STAVRIDIS: I mean, there really is a kind of dramatic irony here. A point too to be made, you know, I led the war in Libya, and I watched Libya kind of unfold and it's still completely broken. My view, let's try and give the new Syrian regime a chance. And number three, if there is a loser in this trip, it really is Israel.

They have to be standing back and watching all the attention, all the focus on the Arab world and on Iran, but really not much focus on Israel. If you're Prime Minister Netanyahu, I think you're asking yourself maybe I'm not handling my Trump account properly. Watch for changes.

TAPPER: Interesting. Retired Four Star Navy Admiral James Stavridis, also an accomplished author, thanks for being here, I really appreciate it.

The new details today about President Biden's declining health during his presidency and efforts to cover it up all revealed in excerpts of my upcoming book with Axios Alex Thompson, comes out in one week. We're digging into some new details that will be released today. That's next.

Plus, our small business series takes us to Illinois, where a toy store owner is suing the Trump administration, claiming that he now faces a $100 million tariff bill. [18:15:05]

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our Money Lead, inflation slowing to its lowest rate in four years, even as Americans brace for prices to rise because of President Trump's dramatic global tariffs. Last month, prices went up just two tenths of a percent, according to the Consumer Price Index, and the cost of a carton of eggs actually dropped last month.

That is welcome news for the White House and for you. President Trump has been falsely claiming egg prices have been tumbling for months now, but now it's finally accurate. He finally gets to cash in on the reality. Prices did fall 12.7 percent last month. The trend is expected to continue next month as well.

But, of course, not all industries are the same and not all industries are reacting the same way to President Trump's tariffs, which brings us to our series, business leaders, where we talk with small business owners from coast to coast about how the tariffs have reshaped their operations and affected you, the consumer.

[18:20:09]

Rick Woldenberg joins me now. He's the CEO of Learning Resources. Now, that's a family owned educational toy store in Vernon Hills, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. They're currently suing the Trump administration over the tariff policy. Rick, thanks so much for joining us.

So, these tariffs have hit a lot of small businesses hard, yours particularly hard. Can you tell us why it was so disruptive that it actually led you to take legal action?

RICK WOLDENBERG, CEO, LEARNING RESOURCES: Well, the tariffs that we were hit with at 145 percent out of China were essentially a ban of importation. We make 60 percent of our products in China, although we've moved quite a bit out, and so we couldn't stand by. It was putting our business in peril. That's why we decided to sue. We don't believe that he has the authority to impose these tariffs.

TAPPER: So, your argument is that the tariffs are unlawful because the president doesn't have the power, it should be the legislative branch?

WOLDENBERG: Right. The Constitution vests the power to tax and to collect taxes in Congress. They also vest in Congress the power to regulate commerce. It can be delegated to the president, but with strings attached, the president has placed a tax on basically everything that comes in the country.

TAPPER: Well, have you had to raise prices for your customers to offset the cost of tariffs?

WOLDENBERG: We've been dragging our heels, but we're in the process of raising prices right now. Since we're a mission-driven business and we make educational products, it's very important to us to make our products as value priced as possible. Every child has an equal right to education. So, we raise our prices very, very, very reluctantly.

TAPPER: So, there is this 90-day pause with China where the 145 percent tariffs are down to 30 percent. Has that been a relief at all for you to hear?

WOLDENBERG: I don't know if I would describe it as a relief. It's a low enough number that we probably will take advantage of bringing some product in. We had a lot of inventory at the beginning of the year, and so this will allow us to fill in holes and to bring in products that we really didn't have a backup manufacturing site for. But nevertheless, we pay a 30 percent penalty. And the only way you would think 30 percent is small is if you compare it to 145 percent. Last year, we paid zero.

TAPPER: Have you had to lay off any employees?

WOLDENBERG: No, that's the last on our list. We're doing everything we can to rally around our team. There's 500 families that depend on our company for their livelihood, and they're very, very important to us. So, we're doing everything we can to keep the team together.

TAPPER: So, President Trump, obviously, in addition to arguing that he wants trade deals to be more equal, he also says he wants to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Is it possible for a business like yours for manufacturing to be brought to the United States?

WOLDENBERG: Well, based on ten years of trying to work that out, my answer is no. We've had various incentives over the years to manufacture products in the U.S. and we've come up with exactly zero partners that can help us with that. We do some printing in the U.S. and we do assembly here but nothing else works. We recently went out and quoted building out a 3D printing farm and that raised our prices 24x. The item that we quoted out sells for $23 and we'd have to raise the price to $600. There's no business in that.

TAPPER: Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. Rick Woldenberg, once again, at Learning Resources based in Vernon Hills, Illinois, just north of Chicago, thank you so much for joining us and telling us your story.

WOLDENBERG: Thank you.

TAPPER: Coming up next, details from my upcoming book with Alex Thompson about the shocking moment when President Joe Biden did not recognize behind the scenes somebody he had known for more than 15 years and one of the most recognizable faces in the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, so do you recognize the man on the far left in this photo? Maybe zoom in on him. You probably don't have to know him personally to answer that question, as we zoom in on the man next to President Biden. That's obviously George Clooney, one of the most famous and recognizable actors of our time.

But former President Joe Biden, who's known Clooney for at least 15 years, did not recognize George Clooney at the event where this photo was taken. The fundraiser that Clooney himself was co-hosting for Biden's campaign, raising a record setting $30 million. This was just two weeks before Biden's disastrous debate, June 27th, 2024.

The story all laid out in a brand new excerpt published today in The New Yorker Magazine from my upcoming book with Axios' Alex Thompson. The book is called Original Sin. It's due out Next Tuesday, one week from today, the book based on more than 200 interviews, mostly with Democratic insiders. Almost all of the interviews occurred after the 2024 election was over.

Clooney's fears from the fundraiser were confirmed when he watched Biden debate. Our book says, quote, this was too much for Clooney. He reached out to Obama to tell him that he was considering writing an op-ed to call for Biden to drop out. Obama advised that doing so would only make Biden dig in deeper, unquote.

Here to discuss, David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama.

[18:30:03]

David, you haven't gotten a copy of the book yet and none of the excerpts about you have come out yet, but you're in this book quite a bit as well because you were one of the early Democratic voices out there saying, President Biden should really think about whether or not he runs for reelection.

And, of course, the anvil dropped from the Biden White House landed on you not long after. Do you think at that point President Obama was -- well, what do you think was going through his mind? You know Obama well. He said to Clooney something along the lines of, if you run this op -- write this op-ed. It's, he's just going to dig in more. The relationship between Obama and Biden is so complicated. Give us your diagnosis on this all.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, they were at once friends and they were also, you know, politicians in their own right who were both presidents and with their own personality quirks and, you know, so there was a sense of deep friendship, but also at least on the part of Biden, I think, also some sense of rivalry to compete with the reputation and the achievements of Obama.

But I will tell you that I think when Obama gave him advice, and I'm not going to tell you what that advice was, but he gave the advice that a good and loving friend should give. And I think one of the tragedies of this story is that Joe Biden served this country honorably for more than half a century, did accomplish some very significant things as president, but mistakenly thought that he was equipped to run for another term. When I said -- as I said, back in 2022, he'd be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of that term. And that was just not sensible. And a lot of people around him did not serve him well because they reinforced his desire to run instead of protecting his legacy and him, and, by the way, also the Democratic Party in the country.

TAPPER: Yes. One of the things, there's obviously pushback coming from the Biden camp about the book. And I don't blame him. It has some really ugly stories from Democratic insiders. But one of the things that, that is so obvious is the fact that they still -- the family and these top aides, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, especially, they still obviously can't see what the rest of us see. Because why would they think putting Biden and Jill Biden out on The View last week would somehow disprove the thesis of our book? It only proved it.

AXELROD: Well, not only that. Not only that. You know, if you consider the politics of this moment, the only person who's talking about Joe Biden every day is Donald Trump. And he likes to set up this strawman invidious comparison between a president who's no longer there and himself because he thinks he benefits from that. And so injecting himself back into this is not only a disservice to himself because he's not disproven your thesis, but it's also a disservice to the Democratic Party in the country, you know, a country that wants to look forward, not back.

So, I think it was -- I think the same people who gave him bad advice before may be giving him bad advice now.

TAPPER: Another excerpt from the book that's in The New Yorker today about Biden's decision to stay in the race, quote, it was an abomination, one prominent Democratic strategist, who publicly defended Biden, told us, quote, he stole an election from the Democratic Party.

He stole it from the American people, unquote. One of the things that's interesting about that quote is that that Democratic strategist has only said things positive about Joe Biden publicly, but that's how the person feels privately, and there are a lot of Democrats like that.

AXELROD: Yes. And I heard from a lot of them when I spoke out first in 2022 and then in 2023, some saying, Jim, I'm glad you're saying what you're saying, others saying, you know, what are you doing, this is treacherous, you shouldn't be saying these things. You know, he's the only guy who can win or he is going to run and we can't stop them and we don't want an ugly primary.

I heard from a lot of them, Jake, in the first three minutes of that debate that you moderated, that tragic debate with President Trump, that shocking and stunning debate. People who were writing say, well, what do we do now?

TAPPER: Right.

AXELROD: And so, you know, I am -- you know, it doesn't -- I'm not impressed by people, especially in unnamed quotes, who are willing to speak out now.

[18:35:02]

The time to have said something was, you know, years ago, because it was not -- the presidency of the United States is the toughest job on the planet. I sat next to a president for two years. I watched a young man age before my eyes under the pressures of the presidency. And he was in a time of life when he could withstand that.

But the idea that you can at this age handle those pressures and what that New Yorker segment of your book reflects is the president had been on -- he had been in Europe and he had, I guess, NATO meetings, and he had been traveling while. And he was spent and he was exhausted.

And, you know, people offered that as an excuse. But, no, the presidency doesn't allow for that. You have to be relentless and you have to deal and power through all of that, and you cannot do that when you're in your 80s. And certainly he couldn't.

And, by the way, I think there is -- you know, I know Donald Trump feels like he's indestructible. He's a very energetic guy. But it's worrisome because this age thing, it plays tricks on you and it catches up with you very, very quickly, and under the pressures of this job more quickly.

TAPPER: David, keep your schedule open next week, because the book drops in one week from today. And I want to have you back to talk about it, especially the parts involving you.

David Axelrod, thanks so much.

Let's go back to our Money Lead. President Trump managing to cool tensions in his global trade war with this week's major, yet temporary 90-day agreement with China. Worries about future economic instability, of course, are still plaguing Americans and American business leaders.

Joining us now to discuss, the director of President Trump's National Economic Council at the White House, Kevin Hassett. Kevin, good to see you. Thanks so much.

So, we've been talking to small business owners all over the country, left, right center, pro-Trump, not so much, et cetera, et cetera. My guest today said his toy company was hit with $100 million in tariffs. Many of our guests are struggling to adapt. Is the administration trying to come up with a plan to support small businesses who can't manufacture in the United States, who have tried, but it's just not there, the infrastructure's not there, so that these businesses don't go out of business and/or costs are not passed on to consumer?

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Well, when I look at the real hard data, Jake, then one of the things I'm seeing is the core GDP was about 3 percent, the jobs numbers are very positive. There's lots of wage growth. Capital spending was up 20 percent in the first quarter, which means that there's a lot of on-shoring going on. And I think in addition, we've got something like $5 trillion in hard

commitments and a whole bunch more, we got $600 billion more from the Saudis today, to create jobs in America, to build businesses in America. And the momentum is super positive. And so the sentiment data is going to catch up with the real data. The real data is strong.

And imagine, the inflation was down, way down in the CPI report today. And it was a year -- I mean a month April, where we had about $20 billion in tariffs. And the story that everybody's been saying is, oh, those tariffs are going to cause prices to go way up. They're going to harm consumers. But, clearly, we got the revenue, that's good for treasury rates and it didn't cause inflation.

And so I understand that there are people, individual people with stories that are going to affect them. We're going to have to change their business model, some. That's what happens when you onshore production in America and put America workers first.

TAPPER: Sure. Okay. But we talked to a guy today, he owns an educational toy company in Illinois. He's tried to create incentives for there to be manufacturing in the United States. It fails. And he's facing so many tariffs that he doesn't know what he's going to do. 500 families depend on that business.

We talked to another guy in Virginia the other day. They manufacture lithium batteries that are the ingredients, the core ingredients only come from China. He would love to have the manufacturing ability. The big automakers have it, but he doesn't have it because he makes these small batteries or he gets these small batteries for what he does having to do with motorcycles and race cars. There are small businesses hurting who do not think that this pain is going to go away anytime soon. Is there any plan for relief for them?

HASSETT: Well, there's an enormous plan right now, and it's in the reconciliation package, Jake. If you look at the fact that we've got expensing for equipment investment in the U.S., we've got expensing for factories that are built in the U.S. You know, it used to be you had to write them off over 39 years. Now, you can expense them right away.

And so there's never been a bigger stimulus effort to bring jobs and employment home. And I think that the folks that you talk to should look at the tax bill and study it because there's so much in there for them.

[18:40:00]

And so, yes, there is a plan. There is a plan. That's in addition to making great trade deals. And we've got, you know, U.K., we've got China, we've got 24, 25 on tap for the next few weeks. And so we got all these deals coming out that are lowering the rates, giving people certainty that they want. And we've also got the big, beautiful tax bill coming that's going to be incentive enough for people to onshore more production and more factories.

And the fact that you could already see it, like in the State of the Union, you might recall, President Trump said that the expensing was going to be retroactive to the 20th of January, and that's where the 20 percent boom in the first quarter came. And so the tax cuts are already working even though they're not in effect yet because President Trump said they'd be retroactive.

TAPPER: All right. Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett, come back soon, sir. I appreciate having.

HASSETT: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Thank you. Did a military strike today kill one of the top leaders of Hamas? We're going to go live to Israel next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our World Lead, Israel launched multiple airstrikes targeting a hospital in Southern Gaza today. A senior Israeli official said the target was Mohammed Sinwar, a leader of Hamas and brother of Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in Israel in October.

[18:45:01]

Hamas regularly takes shelter in hospitals and schools.

This attack comes just one day after the release of Israeli-American hostages Edan Alexander. That's the result of talks between the Trump administration and Hamas bypassing Israel.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, what do we know about this strike?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we know that according to an Israeli official and two sources familiar with the matter, that Mohammed Sinwar was indeed the target of this strike. He is Hamas's de facto leader in the Gaza strip, since his brother Yahya was killed back in October by Israeli forces.

What we do not yet know is whether that strike was successful from the Israeli military's point of view. And it could take days if not weeks, even to actually know the answer to that question.

You'll recall back in the summer, when the Israeli military carried out a strike against Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas's military wing. It took weeks before the Israeli military was actually able to confirm that he had been killed.

But this is a strike that comes at a very significant time. Just one day after Hamas made what has been described widely as a gesture towards the United States by releasing the last living American hostage, the Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, a move that was expected to kind of kick start a broader negotiations towards reaching a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

But now Israel has targeted the man who would need to greenlight that deal inside of Gaza. And so major questions now about the feasibility of reaching such a deal in the coming days. And also, Israel's commitment to that negotiating process.

TAPPER: And, Jeremy, do we know in this one particular strike how many Palestinians were killed or injured and how many of them were members of Hamas, as opposed to innocent civilians?

DIAMOND: We don't yet. The Palestinian ministry of health, which we should note, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its numbers, has said that at least six people were killed, so far, more than 40 others were injured in this strike.

One doctor at the hospital described a catastrophic situation where one of these strikes landed in the hospital's courtyard. He said that many more people were still trapped under the rubble. And so well probably get a better sense of that death toll tomorrow.

Of course, this comes as Gaza's hospitals are also struggling under the weight of this Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has now lasted more than two months, with no food, no water, no medical supplies getting into Gaza. Gaza's population of more than 2 million people very much being pushed to the brink -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv for us, thank you so much, as always.

What the former girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs told jurors today when she took the stand today in Comb's federal criminal trial. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:32]

TAPPER: In our law and justice lead, it was day two in Sean Combs' federal sex trafficking trial in New York today as the prosecutions key witness, Cassie Ventura, Sean "Diddy" Combs' former girlfriend, gave emotional, gripping testimony, often in graphic detail, about the sexual encounters known as freak offs, which she described as drug fueled sessions with male escorts orchestrated by the defendant.

Mr. Combs was also asked about the 2016 surveillance footage that CNN's -- CNN uncovered. She was asked how many other times combs had assaulted her in that manner. Ventura testified, quote, two too many to count. I don't know.

I'm sure will be back on the stand tomorrow. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges, but if convicted, could face up to life in prison, if convicted.

Also, in our law and justice league, reality TV star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian took the stand in a Paris courtroom today, giving dramatic and emotional testimony, saying she, quote, absolutely thought she would be killed when she was robbed at gunpoint of nearly $10 million in cash and jewelry during Paris fashion week in 2016.

CNN's Saskya Vandoorne has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Jake. It was a very long and emotional day for Kim Kardashian. She testified for almost five hours, and most of that she did standing. It was only right at the end when she was visibly drained that she asked to sit down, and during the proceedings, she broke down several times.

As she recounted in detail what happened nine years ago in that hotel room. She said she thought she was going to be killed. She thought she was going to be raped. She described how violent the heist was, that she was duct taped and that she was handcuffed and then placed in a bath.

Inside that courtroom with her, the 10 people who are on trial, nine men and one woman. They've been nicknamed here the "Grandpa Gang" because most of them are over the age of 60. The alleged mastermind, Aomar Ait Khedache. He has pleaded guilty to armed robbery and kidnaping, and a letter that he wrote to Kim Kardashian was read out by the judge, in which he asked for forgiveness. Kim Kardashian responded to that letter saying, quote, I believe so much in second chances, and I meet people who have done horrible crimes and I try to have empathy for them.

But I do also fight for victims who have been through horrific crimes. And then she forgave him.

Now, we expect a verdict on May 23rd. Two of the defendants have pleaded guilty to some of the charges, but the remaining eight said that they had nothing to do with the heist -- Jake.

TAPPER: Saskya Vandoorne in Paris for us, thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:58:32]

TAPPER: Our last lead start in our national lead, a flash flood emergency unfolding in parts of western Maryland right now, with rescue boats evacuating about 150 students and 50 adults from an elementary school in Westernport, floodwaters began to reach the second floor thanks to those rescue crews, however, everyone is now safe.

But officials say the floods are trapping other people in houses and cars. More rainfall on the way through this evening and into tomorrow. More serious weather in Minnesota were record breaking. Heat and winds have caused three wildfires to break out in northern parts of the state.

Governor Tim Walz authorized the states national guard to help contain the fires. So far, the fires have destroyed dozens of structures and prompted evacuation orders.

A stunning decision today in our sports league, Major League Baseball removed its lifetime ban on 17 deceased people, including Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, two of the most famous players previously banned for gambling on Major League Baseball. In response to an application filed by Pete Rose's family, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred wrote, quote, obviously a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game, unquote. This means Rose, and anyone who gets a lifetime ban can now become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration after they die. They still, of course, have to get voted into the Hall of Fame.

I do have two books coming out. I know I've talked about this one, but obviously May 20th, "Original Sin", about President Biden's decision to run for reelection and the cover up of his decline.

And then in October, I have another one, "Race Against Terror", about the hunt to prosecute an al Qaeda terrorist who killed Americans and was out to kill more. You can check them out and preorder them at jaketapper.com. "Original Sin" comes out one week from today.

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

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now. I'll see you tomorrow.