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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump's Mideast Tour Signals Major Foreign Policy Shift; Lawmakers Press Secretary Kennedy on Health Cuts; Sources Say, Hundreds More Agents to be Deployed in Immigration Crackdown. Defense To Cross-Examine Star Witness Cassie Ventura Tomorrow; Daughter Of Crypto CEO Escapes Kidnapping In Paris. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 14, 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 ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Taper.

This hour, a lavish welcome for President Trump on the second stop of his Middle East tour, the president denouncing 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.

[18:00:02]

And the White House reportedly planning to deploy hundreds more federal agents to arrest undocumented immigrants the U.S. How exactly is this going to work? Where will they go? When will this start? President Trump's border czar, Tom Holman, will be here.

Also, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifying on Capitol Hill today, what the Health and Human Services secretary said today about massive cuts to health programs, the measles outbreak, and the impact of ultra processed food in our diets.

And our small business series, business leaders, takes us to California today, where a CEO of a shoe company says he's already having to raise prices on customers because of Trump's tariffs. But will the temporary truce with China help bring those costs down, or is the damage done?

The Lead Tonight, a day of deal-making in Doha, handshakes between President Trump and Qatari officials over new weapons and plane manufacturing deals after the small Middle Eastern nation welcomed Trump with a parade. Later, the president attended a state dinner in Doha where he discussed ongoing high-stakes nuclear talks with Iran and acknowledged two options of how he thinks it could play out. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's a friendly and a non-friendly, and the non-friendly is a violent course, and I don't want that. I'll say it up front, I don't want that, but they have to get moving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Kaitlan Collins rode with President Trump on Air Force 1, the old one, the Boeing one. She's in Doha now. Kaitlan?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's just the normal ones still, Jake, obviously we're what we believe if this plan goes according to plan years away from that new plane. But it was notable to be on that flight on the way here as we were coming for the president to sit down at the administrative offices of the emir here in Qatar.

And I should also note, Jake, another layer to this is the plane has been kind of looming over this part of the president's trip is the Boeing CEO was actually there in the room as they were announcing that Qatar plans to buy many planes from Boeing to use for their military. And so that was just another layer to this.

But, yes, Jake, as we were on the way here the president was obviously going to sit down with the emir. They had this meeting as they were talking on the second stop of his trip, and the president was talking about their strong relationship between the two of them, how much respect he has for the emir, as this question, though, of course over the influence that they have given Qatar's role in gifting the Trump administration this luxury plane that he is going to have.

I actually spoke to the president on Air Force 1 as we were on the way here when he came back briefly to gaggle with reporters for about ten minutes in the press cabin. And I asked him about one thing that's happening in Washington, a development there where Senator Chuck Schumer has said he's going to be blocking the president's political appointees at the Justice Department until they get more answers about that transaction and what's going to happen and what's taking place and that dynamic. The president just responded by criticizing Chuck Schumer without addressing the fact that Democrats and even some Republicans have said that they're uncomfortable with this arrangement.

TAPPER: And, Kaitlan, Trump met with another world leader, Syria's interim president. This is a day after Trump announced the U.S. is going to lift sanctions on Syria. It obviously just underwent to a massive political upheaval with Assad deposed six months ago. The new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, I'm sure I'm botching the pronunciation there, he's a former jihadist who until recently had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.

COLLINS: Yes, used to fight for Al-Qaeda as well, Jake, when you look at his background. And the president referenced that when we were speaking with him and this was before he left to come here to Doha. This is earlier when we were still in Saudi Arabia. The president sat down with him behind closed doors.

Press was not part of that room. But the Saudi Crown Prince was there, the Turkish president was on the phone for this conversation as it was essentially a meet and greet between the two of them, though they did have a conversation about several critical issues between the two of them, and press was not in there.

But when we later saw President Trump, we asked him what were his takeaways initially after he became the first U.S. president to sit down with a Syrian leader in 25 years, and this is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: How did you find the Syrian president?

TRUMP: Great, great. I think very good, young, attractive guy, tough guy, you know, strong past, very strong past, fighter.

COLLINS: Does that really worry you at all?

TRUMP: But he's got a real shot at pulling it together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Obviously strong past, Jake, is putting it lightly there when you look at Ahmed al-Sharaa's background here, but what the White House is -- how they're viewing this is they're not trying to kind of gloss over that, but they're saying they do believe this is a chance to kind of provide this economic lifeline to Syria by lifting these sanctions.

Something that I should note has actually earned the president bipartisan praise, people like Senator Chris Murphy, who I spoke to last night, said that they believe this is a step in the right direction.

[18:05:02]

But you heard the president there essentially saying that they're going to give Syria a time to get the country on the right track.

One thing he made clear to us, Jake, is that he does to see Syria normalize relations with Israel, as he's been trying to build on the Abraham Accords. But he essentially made clear to us that that is further down the road, and that essentially this is going to be the starting point with these two leaders. And it was notable that obviously Erdogan and the Crown Prince were all part of this. It was the Crown Prince who was urging President Trump behind the scenes before this trip to lift those sanctions on Syria.

TAPPER: Kaitlan Collins in Qatar, thanks so much. Look out for Kaitlan in just a few hours on her show, The Source. It's an excellent show. It airs weeknights at 9:00 P.M. Eastern only here on CNN. Thanks, Kaitlan, safe Travel.

CNN's Becky Anderson is also in Qatar. And, Becky, you sat down with the prime minister of Qatar today. What did he have to say about this very controversial offer of a $400 million jet being offered to President Trump by Qatar?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, we talked, it was a wide ranging interview, I have to say. We talked about Syria. We talked about the ongoing Gaza talks here. There is an Israeli delegation here along with Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler, the chief U.S. hostage negotiator in indirect talks once again with Hamas. And there is some hope for progress. Although, the prime minister did say to me that when, he understands it, Israel has sent the delegation over only to talk about hostages and not a ceasefire. That doesn't put a great sheen and doesn't, you know, bode for great optimism for these talks going forward.

After all Qatar has been involved in mediating these talks along with Egypt and the U.S., of course, for 19 months. They've had many breakthroughs, November of 2023 and at the beginning of this year. But this is a long, drawn out process, not least for those hostages and the people of Gaza. And so, you know, I don't think we should expect any breakthroughs on that any time soon.

But we talked about this important mediation role that Qatar has, which makes them an indispensable ally for the United States in this region and around the world. But, of course, I asked him about what is this ongoing controversy this criticism of Israel -- of Qatar, sorry, over the offer of this plane. And I asked him to explain how it all went down. This is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN BIN JASSIM AL THANI, QATARI PRIME MINISTER: This is a very simple government to government dealing when Ministry of Defense and Department of Defense are still exchanging the possibility of transferring of one of our 747-8 to be used as Air Force 1. And it's still under the legal review. So, there is nothing really -- I don't know what was like -- why it became like so big as a news that this is something that, you know, considered, you know, very -- in a very strange way. It's -- we have done a lot together with the U.S.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: And, Jake, I asked him whether he was concerned, what his response was to this criticism, these cries that Qatar is trying to buy influence. He said, why do we do that? We have a lot of influence with the United States. We have a good relationship, he said, and that is borne out as partners when, for example, Qatar lent so much support to repatriate Americans and others from Afghanistan, for example.

And so, you know, to him this seems very odd. He talks about this being a mutual relationship, a government to government relationship, and that is squarely where he sees the offer of this plane. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Becky Anderson in Qatar, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Joining us now to discuss, Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin. He's also on the Armed Services and the Appropriations Committees. Thanks for joining us, Senator.

So, a Justice Department official tells CNN that internal legal advisers cleared a memo signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi endorsing the legality of President Donald Trump accepting the luxury jet from Qatar. And as you know, after his term would be over, he would take that jet with him to his presidential library. It has been pointed out, not just by liberals, by conservatives too, the Bondi was previously a lobbyist on behalf of Qatar's government. Do you have any concerns about her being the person to give the clearance?

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): A couple things in this. First of all, there's no guarantee that it's going to go to the presidential library. What was said was, when the plane is retired, it could possibly end up in the President Trump's presidential library. That's what was said.

Now a question, and I don't have any problem with Pam making an opinion on this, the real question is, Jake, why is this an issue?

[18:10:01]

Could you explain to me why this is a big issue? Because I can't figure it out. The last time I checked, we were okay when France gave us a Statue of Liberty. And, by the way, it worked out pretty good for them. because if it wasn't for America, I think Europe would look much different coming out of World War I and maybe World War II. So could you help me understand why this is becoming an issue?

TAPPER: Well, in point of fact, when it comes to the Statue of Liberty, I think Congress authorized that, but it's not really an -- I'm not the one bringing it up as an issue as much as some of your Republican colleagues, Senator Ted Cruz.

MULLIN: No.

TAPPER: Well just listen to --

MULLIN: It wasn't brought up as an issue. They asked him if this could be -- if this is concerning.

TAPPER: Okay. And he said the plane poses, quote, significant espionage and surveillance problems. That's not true?

MULLIN: Yes. If you took it and you assume that the president's going to jump in it as it sets and ride along and have security briefings, there's no chance in the world that's going to happen. Anybody that knows anything about the intelligence world knows that, one, we're going to strip it completely down because the only thing we need is the frame. The interior and the electronics on a standard 747 will never work for the Presidential Air Force 1. It doesn't work. We have some air defense technology that doesn't come from Boeing. We have a lot of technology that's on there for the president to be connected, so it can be the White House in the air. No chance that anything inside that plane stays inside that plane.

So, for anyone that has concerns, they don't even begin to understand our intelligence agencies.

TAPPER: So, some of the concerns I've heard raised, and, again, by conservatives as well as progressives and liberals, are the fact that Qatar is the home country of the political leadership of Hamas. Qatar funds and has funded terrorism in the past. Qatar is the supplier of propaganda via Al Jazeera. And people do not think that Qatar -- now this is -- I'm telling you what people are saying. This is not my opinion. And people do not think that Qatar is a good faith actor on the world stage.

MULLIN: It's funny when you address that as people and you're not giving names on this. Now, you and I have a great relationship. You said --

TAPPER: I can give you a name, Ben Shapiro. He's a conservative. That's just one. But that's --

MULLIN: Ben Shapiro's also a talk show host, which we can go down that road. We can do whatever he want to on that one. People's a right to their opinion, but the facts remain, why wouldn't the country or the United States take a 747. But here's what's interesting to me. What the media isn't telling me, what no one's talking to you about is this same 747 has been in negotiations for a year. The Biden administration is the one that started these conversations. It didn't start or at the Trump administration. Why? Because we need a back up for Air Force 1. Because right now the president of the United States is flying around on a 40-year-old plane and there is no backup for it. The backup we had, the airframe started having structural issues.

No one's discussing that part. They're just discussing that the deal ended with President Trump. Maybe the media doesn't know. Maybe I'll give them a pass. Maybe you didn't know. I'll give you the pass. I'll give you a pass on that one. But the fact is this conversation started with Qatar with Biden a year ago.

TAPPER: So, what I know is that President Trump has been very frustrated with the long time it's taken Boeing to get the new Air Force 1 ready for him.

MULLIN: This is true.

TAPPER: He ordered that in the first administration and still here we are, and, you know, welcome to government bureaucracy and defense contractors, et cetera. But I think that there are people that do have legitimate questions, such as Ted Cruz, Ben Shapiro.

Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, it's always good to have you on the show next time in person. Tell John Thune not acceptable calling votes this late.

MULLIN: Thank you. I appreciate that.

TAPPER: Combative moments on Capitol Hill today as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified. What did he say about the measles outbreak that's still expanding across multiple states?

Plus, do you ever find yourself craving something else to eat even after you had a meal? We're digging into the science of how and why so many ultra processed foods have become addictive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: Our Health Lead now takes us to Capitol Hill where the Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tried today to reassure lawmakers worried about the Trump administration's huge cuts to agencies like his and the National Institutes of Health.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: If you appropriate the money to me, I'm going to spend --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have appropriated, Mr. Secretary.

KENNEDY: I'm going to spend it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then you're going to spend. You're not going to cut $20 billion from the NIH.

KENNEDY: The White House proposal is to do very, very large cuts at NIH.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that is contrary to the money appropriated.

KENNEDY: Ranking member, if Congress appropriated just made the money, I'm going to spend the money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It's kind of confusing there. CNN's Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill. So, is money being spent or is it being cut?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's being cut, Jake. There's no doubt about it. And that was one of the big points of contention throughout the course of two hearings today on Capitol Hill. In fact, that there have been outside estimates that have said that roughly $1.8 billion in NIH, National Institutes of Health, which is, of course, the largest research agency in the world, that $1.8 billion of that money has not gone out despite congressional appropriation. Remember, the Congress appropriates the money and the executive branch is supposed to spend the money, and there's been the point of contention.

Democrats actually say it's much higher. Bernie Sanders, who's put out a report, his staff said $2.7 billion has now been spent by the administration. That figure has been disputed by the administration, but nevertheless, that's been -- that was an argument all through the course of the day.

There were other notable moments too, Jake, in this hearing, including about whether the U.S. is doing enough to combat the measles vaccine. RFK Jr. defended the U.S.'s action, said it was doing better than other countries.

[18:20:04]

That prompted some pushback from Democrats.

And there was this one notable moment, Congressman Mark Pocan, a Democrat from Madison, Wisconsin, asked him directly, asked for RFK Jr. about if he were to decide now whether to vaccinate his children against a measles vaccine, Kennedy responded, said, quote, probably he would. He wanted to say, my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant. And, Jake, he also said, I don't think people should be taking a medical advice from me. And that prompted some pushback too from Democrats who said, well, you're the nation's top public health official. They should take medical advice from you. But as you can see their county (ph) trying to handle his anti-vaccine views rather delicately of sorts before the House and Senate. Jake?

TAPPER: Okay. Manu Raju, thanks so much.

Also, during his testimony today, RFK Jr. called ultra processed food, quote, a genocide on the American-Indian, end quote. That is drastically shortening their lifespan.

Kennedy's not alone in worrying about the impact of what we are eating. There's a brand new book exploring our complicated relationship with food. It's called Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine, the New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight. And the author, physician and former FDA Commissioner, Dr. David Kessler, joins us now. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

So, your book talks about how many of us are addicted to hyper palatable and ultra processed foods or ultra formulated foods, as you describe it, writing quote, you could not have designed a better weapon to blow up the human body. So, why is it so hard scientifically, medically for us to avoid hotdogs or chicken nuggets?

DR. DAVID KESSLER, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: It's all -- we're living in a food circus. The food environment is it obesogenic, wherever you go, your brain is triggered. We those -- circuits that evolved over, you know, millions of years were designed so we would survive. We focused on the most salient stimuli in our environment, energy dense, ultra formulated foods are the most are the most salient stimuli and they allowed us to survive in the past. But now in an environment of abundance, they're only creating this enormous problem, this toxic fact, this visceral adiposity.

Jake, we can make America healthy again. We know what the problem is. The problem is -- that's why I wrote this book, so is this visceral adiposity. I mean this metabolically active fat. The problem is not weight, right? It's this visceral adiposity that collects in the abdomen. It gets into your liver. It gets into your pancreas, into your heart.

TAPPER: How do you get rid of it and how do you stop ingesting it?

KESSLER: I mean, it's excess calories. And the type of foods that we're eating give rise to this visceral adiposity. But we are at the point, and this was what was so important. You know, I've had the privilege of doing tobacco, COVID, and this is as big as tobacco.

TAPPER: Well, obesity in the United States is one of the leading health problems, right? You can't walk around in America without seeing, no wonder we're so unhealthy.

KESSLER: And we now have the tools to reclaim our health, but we have to use those wisely. They include nutrition. They include physical activity. They include behavior change. And they include these new medicines, these new anti-obesity.

TAPPER: Yes. Let's talk about GLP-1s, like -- what's it called again?

KESSLER: The GLP-1.

TAPPER: Ozempic, yes. So, you wrote of these GLP-1s, Ozempic is an example of it. These GLP-1 drugs are complicated and potentially dangerous. In some cases they seem to steer users away from addiction and into a state of near starvation.

But everybody I know on these drugs looks thinner, seems happier, seems healthier, but you worry that they're so suppressing appetites that it's unhealthy.

KESSLER: There are a lot of people who are taking these drugs, eating less than a thousand calories, and that poses certain risks. Look, I went on these drugs after I ran. Operation Warp Speed, I was 40, 50 pounds heavier. After that, you know, I didn't leave my computer. It was an intense period for all of us. These are highly effective drugs. But, please, they need to be done under good medical care. They need to be done in conjunction with nutrition, physical activity. That's what I wrote the book for, because people should have the information.

Weight has been such a mystery. To really explain why is it, you know, when we lose weight, I always thought I lost weight, I was done. That's what --

TAPPER: Right. A lot of people gain it all back.

KESSLER: And that is -- it's not willpower. It's biology. But you have to know how to manage it.

[18:25:02]

It's a chronic disease. And most importantly, you know, it leads to the majority of chronic diseases, cardiac disease, kidney disease, forms of dementia, 13 forms of cancer. I mean, cardiologists, nephrologists, neurologists, we're just waking up to the fact that this visceral fact is causal and we now can reclaim our health. But it has to be done under good care and people have to be informed.

TAPPER: Is there one tip that you could leave our viewers with right now that would help them avoid this problem. Obviously, nutrition, obviously exercise, obviously GLP-1s in a healthy way with medical supervision, if need be. But what's something that most people don't even think about? KESSLER: That's the reason why, you know, I wrote the book to give people information to understand this is a journey, right? This is not a one and done thing. I mean, you have to be able to use a range of tools over your life to be able to get to a healthy weight.

But we can change the health of this country dramatically. The American body is sick, and we can change that.

TAPPER: So, I want everybody to buy the book. I'm going to hold it up right now. Let's get a close up here. The book is Diet, Drugs, Dopamine. Can you just give me one thing so people say, okay, that sounded interesting, let me find out more? Is there the one quick thing that you can tell people?

KESSLER: Make sure you get a good physician, a good nutritionist, dieticians. They're the salt of the Earth. They can help you.

TAPPER: Dieticians?

KESSLER: Don't have to try to do this yourself. This is about biology. It's not willpower. We need to take the shame and the stigma out of taking these drugs.

TAPPER: I love it. All right, once again, book is Diet, Drugs, Dopamine. Dr. Robert Kessler, thank you so much. And, by the way, thanks for Operation Warp Speed.

KESSLER: Thank you, sir.

TAPPER: Thank you for saving all those lives.

Coming up next, President Trump's Border Czar Tom Homan's here as we're learning new details about White House plants to deploy hundreds more federal agents across the U.S. to deport undocumented immigrants.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: In our National Lead now, sources tell CNN that the Trump administration is preparing to deploy hundreds more federal agents nationwide to arrest undocumented immigrants. It could happen as soon as this week. The plan, we're told, includes the use of border patrol agents across the country and support from state National Guard units.

And joining us now is the president's border policy adviser, Tom Homan, often called the Trump administration's border czar. Mr. Homan, thank you so much. Welcome to The Lead.

First, what can you share about the Trump administration preparing to deploy more agents soon? Where will they come from? How many of them? Where will they go? What are their tasks, et cetera?

TOM HOMAN, BORDER POLICY ADVISER: Well, we're going to ramp up the number of teams in the interior of the United States. Just -- you know, so we're building that teams. Now we're going to increase the teams going out. They're coming from various agency, right? We got about 14,000 officers within ICE between ERO and HSI. We're going to pull more of them into this event. Plus, we got other federal agencies.

You know, President Trump has all the government on this. So, we got ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals. You know, we got all the DOJ law enforcement entities, plus the State Department. So, we're bringing law enforcement officials from all the federal agencies in.

TAPPER: Is the priority still violent criminals or is it just anyone who is in this country and is undocumented, anybody in the country illegally?

HOMAN: The priority is always going to be public safety threats and national security threats. But the problem with that is in sanctuary cities, we can't get our hands on these people in the jail where one agent can arrest one bad guy in jail, they're releasing to the communities. And that's why we're flooding the sanctuary city zones right now. We got to send agents to the neighborhood. We got to send a whole team for officer safety reasons.

So, we're going to increase agents in these cities. We're also going to increase work site enforcement in these cities, because we can't arrest them in the jail. Then we got to go to community and in the work site to find these people. So, that's what we're going to do.

TAPPER: White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Friday that the Trump administration was actively looking at suspending habeas corpus. That's the legal principle that allows people who believe they're being unlawfully detained or in prison to petition a court for their release to produce evidence. Today, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told members of Congress that requirements had been met to suspend habeas corpus, although she noted she's not a constitutional lawyer.

So, is the administration talking about suspending habeas corpus only for undocumented immigrants or are you talking about anyone who ICE and other agents might encounter in this deportation mission?

HOMAN: Well, I didn't tell you generally, look, this administration looked at all the tools in the tool chests that we can use legally to remove the most dangerous and, you know, rather public safety threats and national security threats from this country, which is why we used the Alien Enemies Act when we use every tool available to us lawfully.

I'm not involved with the whole habeas discussion. It's kind of out of my lane. I've been concentrating on the border and interior enforcement. So I'll leave that to the attorneys and DOJ to work that out, but it's really out of my name and I have not been involved in those discussions at all.

TAPPER: Last week, CNN reported that the Trump administration was communicating with the country of Libya about having that country take undocumented immigrants from the U.S. And Reuters reported on a potential military flight to Libya being prepared. A federal judge said that Libya deportation flights would violate a prior court order, but are you aware of any such plans to deport individuals to Libya? And, again, would that involve only violent, undocumented criminals or any undocumented immigrants?

HOMAN: I'm not aware of any Libya plan, but I will say we're talking to numerous countries about them taking illegal aliens that their home countries won't accept them. So, if their home countries won't accept them, they're public safety threat and national security threats, we're looking for third safe countries to repatriate them to.

[18:35:04]

So, those discussions are ongoing.

TAPPER: Which, if any, other countries are you talking to about regarding shipping undocumented immigrants who are national security threats to?

HOMAN: Until we have a signed agreement, I won't disclose that. I mean, I'm not going to give them credit for something they're not doing yet. So, we'll see what countries we get assigned agreement on, then we'll go from there.

TAPPER: Anecdotally, several members of my staff know people who are legal residents in the United States, some of them U.S. citizens from immigrant families who describe themselves as being terribly afraid of doing anything to draw any attention to themselves or their families because of concerns they will be picked up and mistakenly deported. What do you say to people who say that this immigration crackdown is also creating -- in addition to doing what you want it to do, it's also creating an atmosphere of fear among people who are in the United States legally?

HOMAN: Well, look, we're sending a message. It's not okay to enter this country illegally. It is a crime. It's not okay to be in this country illegally. It's not okay to hire an illegal alien because you're simply undercutting your competition who hires U.S. citizens. So, it's not okay to be in this country legally.

But President Trump's been, from the beginning, concentrating on public safety threats and national security threats. We don't deport U.S. citizens. If you're a resident alien with a green card, you have certain rules when you get the resident alien card. You got to obey those rules. You can't violate the law, because even resident aliens can be deported if they commit certain felonies or many misdemeanors. There's laws on the books, which every resident alien who gets a green card knows what those rules are.

So, it's a great honor to be in this country, whether it's on a visa or whether you have a green card. Simply follow the rules. Don't break the law. You'll be just fine.

TAPPER: Last Friday, there was obviously something of a to-do outside the ICE detention facility in New Jersey. Newark's mayor joined several members of Congress who came. They said they wanted to inspect the ICE facility as part of their congressional oversight duties. I'm sure you've seen the images. There was a lot of pushing and shoving. The mayor was arrested, pardon me, briefly detained.

Over the weekend, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN that one member of Congress body slammed an agent and threatened legal action against her. I spoke with that. Member of Congress, New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, the woman in the red coat we're showing right now on T.V. right now. She denies body slamming anyone.

I want to play something that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York posted on her Instagram account and get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): If anyone's breaking the law in this situation, it's not members of Congress, it's the Department of Homeland Security. It's people like Tom Homan and Secretary Kristi Noem.

You lay a finger on someone, on Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, on representative -- or any of the rep representatives that were there, you lay a finger on them, we are going to have a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What's your response, Mr. Homan?

HOMAN: First of all, you can't intimidate me. Come on, give me a break. You know, I was enforcing -- I was wearing a green uniform Border Patrol agent for five years before she was even born. I had more than three decades enforcing immigration law before she became a member of Congress. I worked for six presidents. I've seen policies, I've seen hundreds of policies, some work, some didn't. But you can't deny the success of the Trump administration when it comes to border of security, again, the most secure border in history of this nation.

And I said from day one, and she knows this, you cannot support ICE, shame on you, you can support sanctuary cities, shame on you, but you can't cross the line. You can't knowingly impede ICE law enforcement officers. That is a felony. You can't harbor and conceal, knowingly harbor and conceal illegal aliens from ICE. That is a felony. And you certainly can't commit criminal trespass, you know?

And as far as New York, her district, this administration has done more to protect her district than she has. The number of criminal aliens we took off the streets of New York made her community much safer. She ought to be thanking the members of this administration, the men and women of ICE, who protect this country and make her community safer.

So, you know, it's politics over public safety. It's just ridiculous. She ought to love her community more than she hates Trump because we're doing a lot to protect her community.

TAPPER: Border Czar Tom Homan, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you stopping by.

HOMAN: Thank you. TAPPER: Coming up next, we're heading to California for our small business series, business leaders. They're a footwear company that already had to raise prices on consumers, on customers. Are these price hikes temporary? We'll talk, next.

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[18:40:00]

TAPPER: In our Money Lead, we're continuing our business leaders segment where we speak with small business owners from coast to coast about President Trump's tariffs. Some like them, some are optimistic, some hate them, some are pessimistic.

Joining us right now is Haley Pavone. She's the founder and CEO of Passion footwear based in St. Lou. I'm going to botch this. How do you say the name of your hometown?

HALEY PAVONE, FOUNDER AND CEO, PASHION FOOTWEAR: San Luis Obispo, California.

TAPPER: Oh, yes. Boy, I've read it. I've never said it before. San Luis Obispo, California. They sell -- your store sells high heels. It can be fully converted into a flat shoe. Welcome. Thank you for the lesson.

This is a unique invention in the footwear industry, which we know relies heavily on imports. How have Trump's tariffs impacted your business so far this year?

PAVONE: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me, Jake, and you hit the nail on the head. This is a very unique product, a fully convertible high heel that turns into a flat and also lets you swap out your heels to create custom looks. I think it's fair to say this is the most highly engineered and difficult to manufacture footwear product on the market. And as it stands right now, you know, we've scoured the globe trying to find competitive supply chains, and, truly, the complex manufacturing methods that we need to execute our technology only exist at scale in China.

So, we've had, you know, no choice but to build our supply chain in China. We have incredible partners there. But, unfortunately, right now, these tariffs are absolutely getting our bottom line and we're left feeling like, you know, what are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go if this is the only workable supply chain for us?

TAPPER: So, the tariff on China on goods coming from China was 145 percent. It was then lowered to 30 percent. Am I right that it was lowered to 10 percent for the next 90 days too?

[18:45:02]

And do any of these reductions help for you?

PAVONE: So, at least the most current information that I have, to be fair, part of the issue here is that it does seem to be changing quite frequently and not without -- you know, not with the clearest communication. Currently, I believe the tariff is 30 percent, but something that's very important to know is for industries like mine, this round of tariffs is actually stacking on top of the 301 tariff from the first Trump administration, as well as on the base import duty rate.

So, to your point, the 145 percent, when that was in effect for us, actually stacked up to 190 percent in total. So, of course, seeing that 145 percent reduced to 30 is certainly a step in the right direction and provides a degree of relief. But this is by no means business as usual for small businesses. This is still gutting the bottom line.

In our use case, the lowest duty were paying on certain products is 63 percent now, and at the highest, 75 percent. So, you know, there's -- there's no way around it. The math is still not great. At least we're not at embargo levels. But this is still a very difficult trade climate for small businesses without large backstops of capital.

TAPPER: So most Trump administration officials, when asked about this and when asked about economists who say which is most economists who say that tariffs are basically just taxes passed on to consumers, they dispute that. They say that's not true, that businesses just eat it. Have you had to raise prices for your customers?

PAVONE: Yes, we have. So, to your point, there really are only two ways to problem solve this. One is for the business to eat it. In a larger corporation, they might be able to do that in order to maintain competitive pricing and quite frankly, crush the small businesses that will have to raise their prices because in a smaller business, we can't afford to eat it.

We're running very tight margins. The profit that we clear is what directly contributes to keeping our U.S. employees employed, as well as growing the team, investing in more product. We do not have a big enough cash backing to run a loss for three months, six months, however long this goes on.

So, we personally have had no choice but to pass this price hike on to the consumer in the form of a tariff tax line item that's spelled out at checkout on our website. At the 145 percent level. That was equating to an additional $40 to $60 per product for our consumers. Luckily, with this reduction, that fee is now more like $10 to $25.

But this is still something that is going directly into American households and impacting the consumer negatively and also overall impacting our sales.

TAPPER: The business is Pashion Footwear in California.

Haley Pavone, thank you so much for joining us and telling us your story.

PAVONE: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

TAPPER: After an emotional second day on the stand, Sean "Diddy" Combs' ex-girlfriend is going to face cross-examination by his attorneys tomorrow. What to expect when court resumes in the morning. That's next.

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[18:51:36]

TAPPER: In our law and justice lead, star witness Cassie Ventura finished her direct testimony in Sean "Diddy" Combs racketeering and sex trafficking trial earlier today. Ventura spent the day on the stand testifying about the alleged abuse she suffered from Combs. The defendant Combs has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

CNN's Kara Scannell joins us now from outside the Manhattan courtroom.

And, Kara, you were in court today. What stood out to you?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the prosecution was building on the presentation that they put up yesterday where Ventura testified about the freak offs today. The focus was on the question of coercion. She testified about the physical violence that she sustained at the hands of combs, telling the jury that she had been beaten once so badly in the back of a car, she was forced to hide out in a hotel for a week for her injuries to recover. The jury had seen half a dozen or so photos of this assault, including black eyes, a fat lip, a gash on her forehead and other bruising on her body.

They also focused her testimony on blackmail. Ventura said that more than once, Combs had threatened to release videos of the freak offs if she were to disobey him or do something that she didn't like. She said that she felt trapped.

Ventura also testified that to cope with what she was going through, she became addicted to opiates. She testified that she eventually went into rehab, but that came years after they had broken up. And she said after she was filming a music video, and began to have flashbacks of her experiences with Combs, she said she's breaking down in tears on the witness stand that she felt suicidal.

Now, also, to underscore the freak offs, the prosecution today showed just to the jury, not to members of the public. Still, images from the videos of the freak offs the jury saw about seven of them as Ventura described who was in them. She was in them, she said, with several different escorts and the different photos.

We looked at the jury as they were absorbing this information. Several of them looked slightly uncomfortable. Seeing that. And, Jake, you know, the cross-examination will begin tomorrow. First thing, Ventura will have to take questions from Combs's attorneys -- Jake.

TAPPER: Kara, Cassie's testimony is at the center of the case for the prosecution. What more can we expect from prosecutors, if anything?

SCANNELL: Well, the prosecution is expecting to call a number of other witnesses to try to bolster her testimony, including her mother is expected to take the stand. But there's also other alleged victims in this case who are expected to testify, both of them will be testifying under pseudonyms. One of the attorneys for one of the women said that he thinks this is going to be very difficult for her.

But prosecutors here wanting to show that there was a pattern, that this wasn't just the domestic violence and consensual sex that Combs team is arguing -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Kara Scannell, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Stunning video showing the moment masked men jumped out of a van and tried to kidnap the daughter of a CEO. The shocking details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:58:41]

TAPPER: Our last lead start in our national lead, where a former National Guard soldier was arrested after he allegedly tried to carry out a plan to conduct a mass shooting at a Michigan military base on behalf of ISIS. The U.S. Justice Department says the 19-year-old was arrested yesterday, which was allegedly the date of the scheduled attack. Prosecutors say he was in contact with undercover FBI employees, whom he thought were fellow ISIS supporters.

According to our world lead in Paris video shows the moment four masked men attempted to kidnap the pregnant daughter of a French. Cryptocurrency CEO.

The woman and her partner fought back, and people, people nearby who heard their screams raced to help. The men eventually gave up and got away. This is the latest in a string of violent incidents targeting figures in France's growing crypto industry.

And in our politics lead, the House of Representatives will not be forced to take an impeachment vote after all. Democratic Congressman Srinagar introduced seven articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. It's a move that had been strongly condemned by many in his own Democratic Party. The congressman failed to show up on the floor at the correct time to trigger the vote. How interesting.

I have two books coming out. I'm sure you've heard. On May 20th, that's Tuesday, "Original Sin" with Alex Thompson. It's about President Bidens decision to run for reelection and the cover up of his decline.

In October, "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.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Substack, and on TikTok @jaketapper. You can follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN.

Erin Burnett, my bestie at 7:00 p.m. "OUTFRONT" starts now. Take it away, Erin.