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The Lead with Jake Tapper

New Book Reveals How Biden's Inner Circle Kept Cabinet From Him In Final Two Years Of Presidency; Trump Family's Crypto Holdings Stir Ethics Questions; Defense To Cross-Examine Star Witness Cassie Ventura Tomorrow; Dr. Gupta Answers Your Questions On Animal Transplants. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 14, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Do have a claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: At this moment, how close are we to a potentially hot conflict there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the risk is high if we don't deliver --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I found this on the web, for how high do you believe the risk of --

HUNT: My apologies, sir. That was Siri interrupting us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Always listening. Always on, your friend, Siri.

HUNT: Indeed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Jake Tapper standing by for "The Lead." Do you have a claim, Jake?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: I do. But can you imagine -- I'm sure there are some really awful ones that took place.

HUNT: I'm sure there are.

TAPPER: I mean, that was fine, you know, whatever, but I can't even imagine somebody out in Hollywood needs to get on that. But thank you so much, Kasie. We'll see you back in "The Arena" tomorrow.

HUNT: Have a great show.

[17:00:41]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Today, President Trump is embracing a former jihadist turned president of Syria. The Lead starts right now. Twenty years ago, Syria's now leader was known as a jihadist captured by U.S. forces. But today he's all smiles with the most powerful man in the world. And it's not the only moment on this presidential trip where Trump is flipping foreign relations expectations upside down. Then immigration crackdown, the new step the administration's taking that could upend any remaining rights for deported undocumented migrants. I'm going to talk about it with Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, for his first ever appearance on The Lead.

And first on CNN, a new excerpt from "Original Sin." My new book with Alex Thompson about the cover-up of Joe Biden's cognitive decline. We're going to bring that to you in one second.

Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

Today we are seeing signs of major changes in U.S. foreign policy as President Donald Trump continues his trip across the Middle East. President Trump was greeted today by camels and red Teslas as he arrived in Qatar where he announced a $200 billion deal for Qatar to purchase 160 jets from U.S. airplane manufacturer Boeing. This is separate from the plane he says he will accept from Qatar to be used as Air Force One, a gift that has of course, raised legal and ethical and national security questions. But before leaving for -- before leaving Saudi Arabia for Qatar today, President Trump held an informal meeting over tea with Syria's new interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. It's a moment that would have really been unthinkable until recently because Sharaa is a former jihadist who had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head before he led the overthrow of the brutal Assad regime six months ago.

This meeting today came one day after Trump said he would remove decade's old sanctions on Syria, a major change in U.S. foreign policy. Trump's moves on Syria are even earning praise from former Obama Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta. Despite Sharaa's past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, CIA DIRECTOR UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: This individual was able to lead that rebellion, was able to depose Assad, and as far as I can see, is working to try to stabilize a difficult challenge with regards to Syria. The United States has an interest instability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Doha, Qatar for us.

And Jeff, put in perspective how Trump is really shaking up, if not completely upending Middle East policy on this trip. But first, CNN's Becky Anderson is getting some exclusive comments from the Qatari prime minister about their offer of the plane Trump wants to turn into the new Air Force One.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we are hearing for the first time from the Qatari government responding to what really has developed into days and days of controversy over the notion of the Qatari royal family gifting the U.S. president a lavish aircraft to be turned into Air Force One. So our managing editor, Becky Anderson sat down just a few moments ago with the Qatari prime minister who said it's not trying to buy the United States anything. He said it's an act of love.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN BIN JASSIM AL THANI, QATARI PRIME MINISTER: It is a government to government transaction. It has nothing to do with personnel, whether it's on the U.S. side or on the Qatari side.

Why would we buy an influence in the United States? If you look just, you know, in the last 10 years of the U.S.-Qatar relationship, Qatar has been always there for the U.S.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: If it's not deemed legal, the offer would be withdrawn, I assume.

AL THANI: Yes, of course. I mean, we will not do anything illegal. I mean, if there was something illegal, there were many ways to hide these kind of transactions when will not be visible for the public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So he said he would not do anything illegal. The Qatari government would not. But Jake, the open question here is it wouldn't necessarily be illegal here in Doha, but it could be unethical and perhaps illegal as well as unsafe and other pieces of criticism we've heard in the United States. So it's very much an open question where this is going from here. We do know that the president flew to Doha today on the old Air Force One.

[17:05:15]

It is something he has long wanted to change. So we shall see where this goes. But the Qatari leaders, not surprisingly, saying they're not trying to buy anything from the United States, just simply trying to give away a $450 million plane. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Jeff Zeleny and Doha, Qatar, thanks so much.

Some breaking news on the Russian, Ukraine war talks or peace talks that are set to take place in Turkey tomorrow. CNN's Clarissa Ward is in Istanbul, Turkey, for us right now.

And Clarissa, Russian President Vladimir Putin initially proposed these talks. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy was also set to attend. Even President Trump had expressed interest in going. So what's the latest?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is, as far as we know now, Jake, President Vladimir Putin will not attend those talks, nor will his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. The Russian delegation has been announced by the Kremlin. The head of the delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, is a senior aide to the president. But certainly this is not what President Trump was hoping for. It's not necessarily what President Zelenskyy was hoping for, although this does reinforce the point that he has been trying to make again and again, which is that Ukraine does not believe that Russia is actually serious about these peace talks. Ukraine believes that this is essentially a tactic to play for time and run down the clock. Now, what does this mean for President Zelenskyy's visit? He is now on his way to the Turkish capital of Ankara, expected to meet with President Erdogan tomorrow. He had said earlier tonight that his next movements would essentially be dictated by who Russia sends here. Will these talks now even happen?

Who will be present? On top of that, of course, you had President Trump who had said that he might come. You have foreign envoy Steve Witkoff and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg coming into town. You have Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Antalya. So a lot of moving parts and everything now really thrown up in the air by this announcement that it appears President Vladimir Putin will not be attending.

TAPPER: So that's Putin not going also Trump not going. Also, Clarissa, today President Trump met with the new president of Syria, remarkable given that in 2013 he was placed on the U.S. Specially Designated Global Terrorist list, that is, until he led the ouster of the Assad regime, which you are on the ground to witness.

WARD: That's right. When I first was spending time on the ground in northern Syria, Jake, I mean, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, as he was known then by his nom de guerre, was one of the most feared men inside Syria. He was the leader of the Al Qaeda affiliate there, Jabhat al- Nusra. He had been held in an American camp in Iraq because of his involvement with Al-Qaeda in Iraq. But over the last 10, 12 years, I would say you started to see this kind of gradual metamorphosis, if you will, into this modern day statesman. I think a lot of people still scratching their heads, is it too good to be true?

So this is a remarkable turn of events. But what it does mean so crucially, Jake, with the lifting of those sanctions is that Syrian people can go about trying to rebuild their country after more than a decade of war, after so much death and destruction. And that is certainly going to have a hugely positive impact on people who have suffered so greatly, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Clarissa Ward in Istanbul, thank you so much as always.

While President Trump shakes hands overseas, is he enriching himself and his family with digital deals? The potential for conflict with his cryptocurrency policies and filings ahead? Plus, court just rapping moments ago in Sean Diddy crimes -- Sean Diddy Combs trial. The second day of damning testimony from the music mogul's ex-girlfriend. And why tomorrow could be even more explosive.

[17:09:06]

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: We're back with breaking news in our politics lead and a brand new excerpt from my upcoming book with Axios' Alex Thompson. It's called "Original Sin." It's coming out next Tuesday, May 20th. Right now we're going to reveal some new details about how some of the most important figures in the Biden administration were kept away from President Biden during the second half of his term. We spoke with three different cabinet secretaries who told us that Biden's inner circle shielded the president from them in 2023 and 2024.

The cabinet secretaries were no longer even directly briefing the president in any regular way. Instead, they briefed senior White House aides who would then speak to Biden. And in the rare instances these secretaries did see him, one Cabinet secretary told me that Biden was, quote, "disoriented" and, quote, "out of it," with other sources saying that in meetings, Biden would, quote, "occasionally be mumbling and not making much sense." Quote, "The presidency requires someone who can perform at 2:00 a.m. during an emergency," we write in the book. "Cabinet secretaries in his own administration told us that by 2024, he could not be relied upon for this."

These new details coming on the heels of two excerpts released yesterday, one first in the New Yorker revealing that President Biden did not recognize George Clooney at a 2024 fundraiser despite personally knowing him for more than 15 years and including his international fame as a movie star, not to mention the fact he was headlining the fundraiser. The other excerpt, first published in Axios, detailing how aides were privately discussing putting Biden in a wheelchair for his potential second term because of his physical deterioration and especially in case there was another fall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's why I wanted to convene this Cabinet meeting.

TAPPER (voice-over): That was just one of three Cabinet meetings President Biden held in 2023, and in 2024, the president would hold only one. We spoke with several Cabinet secretaries for the book and this period of time is what one of the secretaries called the weird period, detailed in a brand new excerpt of my upcoming book with Axios', Alex Thompson.

[17:15:10]

It says the presidency requires someone who can perform at 2:00 a.m. during an emergency. Cabinet secretaries in his own administration told us that by 2024, he could not be relied upon for this. The book is based on more than 200 interviews, mostly with Democratic insiders, almost all of which occurred after the 2024 election was over. And it provides a striking look at how the circle of people with access to the president grew smaller and smaller in the last two years of his term.

BIDEN: You talk to my staff. All of you talk to my staff. Sometimes my staff talks a lot.

TAPPER (voice-over): Shrinking so small that ultimately most cabinet secretaries were not included. People who Biden lauded for what they could bring to the country.

BIDEN: It's a cabinet that's battle tested, qualified, experienced, creative, innovative and forward looking.

TAPPER (voice-over): Despite the earlier praise, the third cabinet secretary we spoke with told us that starting in 2023, quote, "For months we didn't have access to him. There was clearly a deliberate strategy by the White House to have him meet with as few people as necessary." That cabinet secretary, adding that from October 2023 on, quote, "the cabinet was kept at bay," with few exceptions. Those with national security roles, for example, such as Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin.

LLOYD AUSTIN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: It is my honor to introduce the President of the United States.

TAPPER (voice-over): And it was not just Cabinet members who were kept away from the president. Aides who had once seen Biden regularly say they went months without seeing him. Others told us that in some meetings, Biden would mumble incoherently something the public only got glimpses of.

BIDEN: It is used to make the brew bearded is defined.

TAPPER (voice-over): The first cabinet secretary we spoke with told us they thought at some point these restrictions were about control. Yes, the President is making the decisions, but if the inner circle is shaping them in such a way, is it really a decision? They told us. Are they leading him to something? The third cabinet secretary told me they shielded him in every meeting.

They always wanted to keep him happy. They would say, don't say that. Don't tell him that. They always wanted to shield him from bad news. But at other times, it seemed the inner circle was doing everything they could to hide the extent to which Biden was diminished.

During one rare meeting during that time, the third cabinet secretary told me they were shocked by how the President was acting. He seemed, quote, "disoriented" and, quote, "out of it." I don't think he has Dementia, said cabinet secretary number two. But the thing is, he's an old man. The president can give you four to six good hours a day.

When he got tired, sloppy isn't the right word, but his guard was down. The third cabinet secretary later reminisced, quote, "The staff did him wrong. If you were with him every day and you knew this was a problem, why didn't you go to him and say something?" As for the second cabinet secretary, if he had asked me, they said, I would have told him, do one term and you're done to preserve your legacy. They would all later learn that they were far from the only ones with these concerns.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER (on camera): A Biden spokesperson responded to our reporting with a statement saying in part, quote, "We continue to await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite. He was very effective president," unquote. And to that I say the book drops on Tuesday and we will have more on his abilities as president and the questions being raised there.

With me now, two of the heroic reporters were covering this intensely during the Biden years, Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes. They were with their -- they are with the Wall Street Journal. They reported on the decline of Biden's mental acuity back in June of last year. The piece then, quote, "Behind closed doors, Biden shows signs of slipping. Participants in meetings said the 81 year old President performed poorly at times.

The White House said Biden is sharp and his critics are playing partisan politics," unquote. This is not the first time you guys have been on. I said it last year before the election and I'll say it again, the journalism you did was vital and the smear campaign by Democrats against you two is disgraceful. So, thanks for being here.

So what you published was before the debate, before the disaster and before our book and the leaks and like of the -- of our book. And obviously we had -- and you probably found it too, because I know you've done subsequent reporting after the election. People are more willing to talk after the election, after the stakes are gone. Do you feel vindicated? How do you feel?

ANNIE LINSKEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yes, I mean, I do. I do feel that our reporting has been vindicated. You know, particularly after that first story came out and there was such blowback by Democrats. And really, 10 minutes into that debate, I know that my phone was blowing up with some people apologizing for their criticism of us. And you know, from there were off and running.

But -- so there is a vindication, but it was just really gut wrenching reporting. And it was a difficult -- it was a difficult period, but an important one, and I'm glad we did it.

[17:20:01]

TAPPER: One of the things that when we're reporting this book, me and Alex, and you guys ran it and heroic, don't worry, you're portrayed positively. First of all.

And I'm glad we did it.

One of the things that when were reporting this book, me and Alex and you guys are in it, and you're heroic, don't worry, you're portrayed positively. First of all, the communications director of the White House was saying this was a hit piece assigned by Rupert Murdoch. Completely untrue. Not even remotely true. But beyond that, two of the Democratic senators who on the record attacked your reporting were in the meeting, the Senate meeting that the senators had with the campaign leadership really being quite skeptical of Joe Biden after the debate. What did you make of that?

SIOBHAN HUGHES, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: I mean, I'm still kind of processing exactly what happened there, but I think they were clearly under enormous pressure to back the Democratic Party. And it was so much pressure that, you know, they were willing to interact with me in ways that were probably not so truthful.

TAPPER: Yes. One of the things -- so obviously, we're getting a lot of heat from the left and the right on this book, as happens. One of the things people on the left are saying is, where's the cover-up? Where's the cover-up? What do you think?

I don't think you guys use that term. We do, and I'm happy to explain why we did. But what do you think?

LINSKEY: Sure. Yes, yes. Look, I mean, it's very clear that people that were close to the president were aware of his shortcomings, and they did. They took all sorts of steps to prevent those shortcomings from being widely viewed by the American people. And you can call that spin. There's a number of words that you can use to describe what that is.

In -- you know, in our reporting we just tried to show that, you know, the president was being -- was not doing press conferences even -- you know, and we had some similar reporting that he was not interacting very often with key cabinet secretaries for us, including Janet Yellen, who is Secretary of Treasury, at a time when there was a inflation. So we were really -- you know, we just tried to describe, you know, what we saw when we didn't give it a label, you know.

TAPPER: Yes. And Siobhan, slowly but surely, Democratic people, especially ones that want to be president in 2028, are starting to say things not as much as the three of us will say, despite the fact that it doesn't help us in terms of reading our mentions. But Pete Buttigieg was asked by, I think, Adam Wren of Politico, would Democrats better off if Biden had not run? And he said maybe. Earlier today, also to Politico, Senator Chris Murphy was asked if Biden experienced cognitive decline as president and Chris Murphy said, "There's no doubt about it.

The debate is whether it was enough that it compromised his ability to act as chief executive. How far do you think a Democrat to get the nomination is going to be able to go to earn the respect of people who saw what the three of us are acknowledge -- like, obviously this happened versus alienating the Democratic faithful who blow up our mentions?

HUGHES: I mean, Democrats have always been concerned about alienating their base on this front. But the problem for them is if they are not willing to level with the American people about a very basic fact of what happened, it's going to be very difficult for them to have credibility on other fronts, including with the independents they know they need if they're going to win.

TAPPER: And I have to say, like, this is just my personal theory. I think this is one of the reasons why even with Trump's poll numbers going down, Democrats poll numbers are not going up. I think that this is an albatross the way that the Iraq war was for Republicans, you know, more than a decade ago. What do you think? LINSKEY: I think there's a failure to reckon with this. There was a failure at the time to reckon with just what people could see in the public. There was a willingness by Democratic leaders to unquestionably listen to White House insiders who were assuring them that things were fine. And there's just been an unwillingness to reckon with the fact that they were willing to put forward a clearly weak candidate in what they were calling, you know, the most important election of their time.

TAPPER: Yes. All right. The book comes out Tuesday and we're going to have you back. You won't have any problems with your portrayal. I just want to assure you that -- or your editor.

Thank you so much, Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes. My book with Alex Thompson, "Original Sin," is out Tuesday.

[17:24:17]

In the last month alone, investors have poured a reported $140 million worth of crypto into President Trump's digital meme coin. The truth value of that depends on who you ask. We're questioning the potential conflict of interest. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our tech lead, the Trump family's cryptocurrency empire continues to expand and with it, so does the controversy bidding wrapped up Monday for one of the most eyebrow raising examples so far, a chance for top buyers of President Trump's, quote, "meme coin" to be invited to a private gala with the sitting U.S. president. CNN's Allison Morrow joins me now.

Allison, you've been writing about this. Bring us up to speed on what the Trump family has been working on in the crypto space.

ALLISON MORROW, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: Sure. It's pretty remarkable. The president has gone from a huge crypto skeptic in his first term to one of the industry's biggest cheerleaders and now an investor. So his family and Trump and his organizations have all these interests in crypto projects, including World Liberty Financial, which is a crypto exchange, a bitcoin mining company that's going to go public soon. And as you mentioned, the meme coins, which, Jake, I have to just tell you, everyone in the crypto industry thinks meme coins are a joke and they really have no utility. They're just great for showing your affection for the president.

[17:30:00]

So the main thing to keep in mind here is that crypto is complicated and obscure and Trump is directly overseeing the agencies that would otherwise be regulating and keeping these companies in check.

TAPPER: Yes, long gone are the days where Jimmy Carter turned over his peanut farm to avoid conflicts of interest. This is far from Trump's first business venture. What makes this one different and to critics troubling? MORROW: I think there are two reasons that ethics experts are really worried about crypto in particular. You know, real estate assets are an obvious conflict of interest, but there are only so many hotel rooms you can book out at a Trump hotel if you're a foreign dignitary trying to buy influence with the President or something like that. With crypto, there's virtually no cap. So that's the big thing. It's the scale of the potential corruption it is just boundless. And then the second thing is the obscurity of it.

You know, can do crypto transactions anonymously with no real friction over borders. So it's just impossible to know where the money's coming from unless -- unless you're, you know, really, really investigating one person at a time. And -- and then it becomes very hard to trace once -- once it gets moved around. So it's the obscurity provides this kind of security in a sense for corruption to happen with no one noticing.

TAPPER: Yes. And the people in charge of the agencies who would be investigating start with the President of the United States. Allison Morrow, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Let's bring in Eswar Prasad. He's a Cornell University trade policy and professor. He's the author of the book "The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming -- Transforming Currencies and Finance." Thanks for being here, professor. Appreciate it. So when President Trump came into office, he made crypto a priority. What has he done so far to deregulate the industry?

ESWAR PRASAD, PROFESSOR OF TRADE POLICY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: So essentially, the crypto industry is getting exactly what it wants, which is the legitimacy of government oversight, including boosting by the commander-in-chief himself. But at the same time, government oversight that is going to be very light touch. So in other words, crypto promoters, crypto exchanges will pretty much be able to do what they want.

But with the notion that the government is giving them some legitimacy, because when an investor looks at the crypto industry and now sees the President and his officials promoting it, they think it's legitimate. So this is, I think, going to unleash a whole range of risks. And these risks are going to fall on naive and unsophisticated retail investors who ultimately will bear much of the risk.

TAPPER: And what about the idea, if it's true or not, you tell me, that he is, while simultaneously allowing the light touch regulation of this industry, aggressively profiting off the industry? Is that fair?

PRASAD: You know, what is happening here is really remarkable. If you think about a meme coin, it is purely speculative. It does not pretend to have any utility. So it is essentially a gamble. And what's the harm if people decide to take a roll of the dice? But what is important here is that you have a government official, no less than the leader of the free world, essentially creating and promoting a rampant vehicle for financial speculation and then using his office to promote it and directly profit from it. So the number of red flags you should be raising are all over the place. And it's really worrying. And as you earlier pointed out, he's going to be in charge of all the agencies that regulate not just meme coins, but also other types of crypto-related securities. And the Trump family is essentially making inroads into every aspect of crypto.

It's not just the meme coin, but there are parts of, you know, his enterprises that are acquiring Bitcoin. And by setting up an official government authorized Bitcoin stockpile, that is certainly going to drive up the price of Bitcoin. And as Allison Morrow pointed out, part of the ventures that he's promoting are also into Bitcoin mining. So every part of the crypto sphere, he's got his hands on.

TAPPER: Right. And his sons, too, right? All three of his sons and the two sons of Steve Witkoff, right? They have -- they're doing this, too?

PRASAD: That's exactly right. And there is this company, World Liberty Financial, that they're all very heavily involved in. Now, they've sort of backed off a little bit. If you look at the World Liberty Financial website, it says inspired by Trump and says that all of the members of his family are advisors. But the chances are they're directly profiting from this.

TAPPER: So foreign companies have been utilizing the Trump family's crypto assets. Recently, an Abu Dhabi investment firm used the Trump family's World Liberty Financial coin that we just talked about for a $2 billion investment into the exchange Binance and a Mexican based supply chain company entered an agreement to acquire $20 million worth of the Trump meme coin.

It deals like that. It seems like they should be sounding alarm bells, as you say, to regulators. Is -- is anybody stepping in and saying this is weird? This looks like people trying to curry favor by going, you know, by -- by utilizing these crypto currencies?

[17:35:02]

PRASAD: They should. The conflicts of interest are rampant, but Trump is in charge of the regulators. So the question is, who is going to call him out on these activities? And there is more beyond what he just said. It turns out that he's going to essentially give large acquirers of his meme coin the ability to meet with him for dinner. And there is this notion of a Chinese company that has some relationship with TikTok that is acquiring a large amount of this meme coin, which will have easy access to the White House and could potentially influence policies towards TikTok and other Chinese companies.

So there is a lot to worry about here. But the question is, who is going to restrain Trump and his family from doing this? And as President of the United States, it's not obvious there is anybody who can stop him.

TAPPER: Could Congress? Could the judicial branch? PRASAD: If there were to be conflicts of interest, yes. And one of the concerns that I have about this meme coin, for instance, is that many people seem to have been able to get in early. And those who get in early are going to benefit from the price increases. But it's potentially, again, the unsophisticated investors who believe that they're going to be supporting Trump who could be left holding the bag if the price were to fall.

TAPPER: Professor Eswar Prasad, thank you so much. I think I almost even understand what you're talking about. Your students must be very grateful. Thank you for being here. Appreciate it.

Before court wrapped this moment -- moments ago in the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial, his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, revealed that she settled her civil lawsuit with him for a stunning $20 million. There's a lot more she also revealed. CNN's Laura Coates, a former prosecutor herself, was in the courtroom. She's coming up next on The Lead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:03]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, Cassie Ventura continued her testimony against Sean "Diddy" Combs today. The star witness and former girlfriend of Combs testified about the alleged abuse she endured and the freak-offs that Combs allegedly orchestrated. Combs has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty.

CNN anchor and chief legal analyst, Laura Coates, joins us now from outside court in New York. And Laura, Cassie Ventura back on the stand for a second day of testimony. Tell us what happened.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: So much happened today. This was a day, in many respects, that Cassie Ventura has feared. She has looked under a cloud of fear and anxiety about the release of images or the videos of those so-called freak-offs, these days-long, drug-fueled sexual encounters with paid male escorts, the basis of which the prosecution is suggesting that there was a racketeering enterprise, sex trafficking, and prostitution.

Well, today, the jurors were able to see still images of these explicit photos, so much so that when Cassie Ventura was going through the binder that was set out before her to ensure that only the jurors herself and the parties, not the public, could see, she sort of rolled her shoulders in discomfort for a moment. A juror grabbed her chest and let out a deep sigh. Another male juror looked quickly and looked away. Another one drew notes.

It was quite a moment of this culmination of her fear. But she also described violence at the hands of Sean "Diddy" Combs and violence towards other people, including some that she initiated. She described an opioid addiction, Jake. She described even, shocking to so many people in the room, she described a suicide attempt where she came home about two years ago after feeling triggered, having worked on a video shoot, and having all sorts of flashbacks, goes to her home with her now-husband, her two children inside, and says to him, you've got this, you don't need me, and tries to walk into oncoming traffic, prompting her to not only go into rehab for an opioid addiction, but also trauma addiction and trauma awareness and trauma therapy.

TAPPER: The defense agreed that Combs committed domestic violence. He's not on trial for that. He's facing racketeering conspiracy, transportation to engage in prostitution, and sex trafficking charges. Is the prosecution making their case when it comes to those charges?

COATES: This is no cakewalk for the prosecution. On day one of opening statements, the prosecution said, we're going to give you a lot of information. It might not come in chronologically. They're going to come at the end and try to piece it all together. But so far, here's how the prosecution has tried. They have tried to create the impression of an enterprise, the inner circle of Sean "Diddy" Combs, comprised of his high-level executives, his trusted assistants, his security guards, who are all working together, they say, to engage in criminal activity, namely facilitating these freak-offs involving interstate transport and escorts and paid prostitution for sex trafficking.

They've tried to put those pieces together, and they have talked about the payments that were made. They've shown photos of the escorts, almost a series of sort of headshots of people, dozens that they have shown already. And they're trying to put that together. What we're still waiting to hear more from, including through the cross- examination, which they will definitely try to undermine, is to what extent Cassie herself was forced, coerced, threatened into sex trafficking, which must include her non-consent.

TAPPER: Combs' team will begin their cross-examination of Cassie Ventura tomorrow, which I'm sure she is dreading. What -- what are you expecting from their cross?

COATES: They're going to have a strategy that takes into consideration optics. One of the things the defense didn't even want to do, they didn't want her to even walk down that center hallway as she passed by the jurors, visibly pregnant, to sit down and describe her life before she was a married woman with now three children expected, two already here with her.

[17:45:01]

They're going to have to adapt in the sense of being straightforward, direct, but not allowing these juror to con -- these jurors to conflate the yesterday Cassie Ventura with today. But I'll tell you, they have a hard task ahead of them in that sense, because as she was describing, Jake, the abuse at the hands of Sean "Diddy" Combs, including at one point saying that she had been kicked in the back, she moved her body to -- to almost mimic that. The optics were real.

TAPPER: Take us inside the courtroom, Laura. What was Sean Combs, what was Diddy Combs' demeanor while Cassie was testifying? Because I'm sure his attorneys told him to behave a certain way, don't scowl at her, don't be angry. What did he do? COATES: Oh, every defense counsel knows that every eye in that courtroom was on the defendant, trying to read every emotion, interpret every single look and glance. He kept his eyes trained on her throughout the testimony, often writing notes, however, to his counsel, leaning over, shifting in his seat, crossing and then recrossing his legs, and finally landing on a position where he held his hands, fingers intertwined on his lap before adjusting again.

Meanwhile, of course, when she would walk past him, he would follow to see her walk out of the courtroom. She would not look his way, but she certainly knew that she's being watched, including by the jury.

TAPPER: Laura Coates, excellent work. Thank you so much. Laura's going to have much more on her show. Laura Coates Live tonight at 11:00 Eastern. She's going to go in depth on this case. Also in her new podcast, Trial by Jury. Look for that wherever you get your podcasts.

Coming up next here on The Lead, the major update on the number of overdose deaths in the United States. You're going to want to hear this.

Plus, the questions that many of you had about animal organs transplanted into humans. Sanjay told us about it yesterday. We're paging him to come back to answer your questions. Stay with us.

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[17:51:04]

TAPPER: In our Health Lead, an unprecedented drop in drug overdose deaths in the United States, down to the lowest level in five years. New CDC data out today shows an estimated 80,000 overdose deaths in 2024. That's horrifyingly high, but it's about 30,000 fewer deaths than in 2023, constituting a 27 percent drop.

Experts believe that this promising trend was driven by a wide range of intervention efforts starting to take effect. A letter sent to congressional leaders this week from hundreds of researchers and doctors warned of dire consequences to substance abuse programs if funding is cut.

Also on our Health Lead, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back to answer some of your questions about state-of-the-art transplants using animal origins in humans. Sanjay, like me, you might remember, viewers have lots of questions. The first question comes from Paul McIntosh, who asks, over the past two decades, work was happening in the area of using one's cell makeup to create an organ in the lab. Is this still an approach being considered?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is really interesting. It is an approach still being considered. And this is sort of the -- the genesis of personalized organs, Jake. So what they essentially do is they take an existing organ and they basically strip it of all of its cells. And that is now called a ghost organ. You can see a picture of what that looks like there. And then, Jake, let's say it were you, they would take some of your cells and they would essentially repopulate that ghost organ. So it essentially becomes a personalized organ for whoever the recipient might be. That is the future. It's still some ways away. But if -- if it were to work, that would be an organ that, you know, would not require any kind of immunosuppression or anti-rejection drugs because it would be your own cells.

That's, you know, maybe -- maybe a couple decades away still, Jake, which is why the focus still for now is on these xenotransplants, animal organs, which we talked about yesterday.

TAPPER: Sanjay, a lot of viewers, such as Ann in Kansas, wanted -- wanted to know about the -- the medications that transplant patients typically use. She asks, how many pig kidneys have they transplanted into people? And has anyone lived long term with these kidneys? Also, is the rejection medication different?

GUPTA: So first of all, the first part of the question, there have been four pig kidneys that have been transplanted into human beings on the planet. So this is really new stuff, Jake. It's very exciting, but it's very early days as well. The -- the longest living survivor with a pig kidney in them was 130 days, which doesn't sound that long, obviously.

But keep in mind, the first patients that are getting these transplants are sort of the sickest patients of all. They're the ones who usually qualify for these compassionate use transplants in the early days like this. And finally, you know, when it comes to anti- rejection medicines, they're pretty similar to what people would take if they got a human organ transplant. Some slightly modified doses, slightly increased doses, but pretty similar. These pig kidneys and human kidneys, Jake, are very, very similar.

TAPPER: Lastly, many people such as Alia in Kuwait wanted to know, how far are we from this being a solution to the organ crisis?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I asked everybody this question, every scientist, everybody who's working on this at any level. And the answer always came back around some version of about five years, but which is -- which is fast. I mean, they're starting clinical trials now.

They're starting pilot studies now at NYU and in Boston at Massachusetts General Hospital. Got to see what that data shows. But when I talked to Robert Montgomery, who is one of the stars of our documentary airing this Sunday, he mentioned that five years, this could be mainstream and this could be a viable option for people who are on that waiting list, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Watch Sanjay's documentary on this topic called Animal Pharm. That's P-H-A-R-M. You really have to see it to understand the pun being made there, pharm. That's this Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern and Pacific, only here on CNN.

[17:55:02]

The breaking news this hour, the White House is confirming that President Trump will not travel to Turkey for tomorrow's meeting between officials of Ukraine and Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also said he will not go. So where does that leave the chances of any kind of actual peace talks? That's next.

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TAPPER: Welcome to the Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, a -- a lavish welcome for President Trump on the second stop of his Middle East tour. The President announcing what he calls a $200 billion deal while in Qatar as questions and concerns grow over his plan to accept a mega luxury jet from that country's royal family.

[18:00:03]

And the White House reportedly planning to deploy hundreds more federal agents to arrest undocumented immigrants --