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The Lead with Jake Tapper
President Biden Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer; President Trump Wraps Up Two-Hour Call With President Putin; U.S Businesses Bracing The Tariffs Impact On Increased Prices; Trump Vows "Investigation" Into Harris' Celebrity Endorsements; New Trump Comments On Biden's Cancer Diagnosis; NTSB: Investigation Into Ship Crash Will Be A "Long Process". Aired 5-6p ET
Aired May 19, 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 & POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The groom also made a second large pizza in the shape of a heart with the couple's initials written in pepperoni. Very romantic. Congratulations Beth and Brandon. I am curious how much that cost per plate as someone who once planned a wedding and is absolutely just floored by how much it was going to cost if you (inaudible) one of my wedding guests. What'd you serve at your wedding? Pizza?
UNKNOWN: It was shrimp. It was in South Carolina so, shrimp, coastal shrimp. I predict a lot more people are going to do the same for pizza now.
UNKNOWN: I'm like jealous of this. I want to go to that wedding.
HUNT: All right guys. Thank you very much. "The Lead" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: President Trump's got a lot to say about his two-hour phone call today with Putin. "The Lead" starts right now. The president working the phones, getting what could be a breakthrough in the Russia's brutal war against Ukraine. According to President Trump, the two sides are ready to negotiate. The big request, he says, Putin wants if three years of his brutal war against Ukraine finally comes to an end.
Plus, brand new details just in on the Mexican training ship that hit the Brooklyn Bridge killing two people on the vessel. One investigator are now saying about how that boat ended up on a deadly course.
But first, former President Joe Biden's new reaction today after the world learned of his aggressive form of prostate cancer and sent well wishes and prayers.
Welcome to "The Lead." I'm Jake Tapper. We're going to start today with our "Health Lead" and the tragic news of former President Joe Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis. Here's what we know. Last Monday, "The New York Times" was the first to report that President Biden visited a Philadelphia hospital the previous Friday where, quote, "a small nodule" was discovered on his prostate that required, quote, "further evaluation." A Biden spokesperson confirmed most of that to CNN, but would not
elaborate on when or where the physical examination or future evaluation was conducted. Biden is 82. He's kept a relatively low profile since leaving office in January. Now, yesterday afternoon, Biden's personal office revealed that a prostate nodule was found after the former president experienced increasing urinary symptoms. The statement continues that last Friday, Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
The statement goes on to say that while this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone sensitive, which allows for effective management. CNN has told that Biden's treatment options include hormone therapy as well as chemotherapy and radiation, and, obviously, everybody here at CNN is sending out our thoughts and prayers and best wishes to the former first family.
Today, Biden posted a picture of himself, his wife, and a family cat with the message, "Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support." And as I said, the well wishes came quickly from national and world leaders, including Sunday on Truth Social, with President Trump posting, quote, "Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery," unquote.
Our coverage of this story begins with CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who's at the White House. We're hearing some reaction from the Trump White House about the diagnosis, Jeff.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, certainly some of the kindest and warm words and presidential words from the Trump's to the Biden in the statement yesterday. The president has not yet been asked about this, but he is in the Oval Office at this moment, at an event with reporters. We will see if he speaks about it. But there's no question, there is a lot of discussion here at the White House about the Biden condition, and Vice President J.D. Vance weighed in from Rome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job. Whether it was doctors or whether there were staffers around the former president, I don't think he was able to do a good job for the American people. And that's not politics. That's not because I disagreed with him on policies. That's because I don't think that he was in good enough health. In some ways, I blame him less than I blame the people around him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: So President Biden, has not yet weighed in in that vein. We will see if he does today. But, Jake, the president, the current president talks significantly about his predecessor. In fact, Joe Biden has become a recurring theme and punching bag and something for the Trump administration to blame on everything from the economy to foreign policy. But president Trump, as of now has respectfully offered his well wishes. But there are many questions swirling around from Donald Trump, Jr. and others on social media about the timing of this diagnosis.
TAPPER: Let me ask you, Jeff. In light of Vice President Vance's remarks, what is the current White House saying about President Trump's health and President Trump's doctors?
[17:04:57]
ZELENY: Well, of course, President Trump was the oldest American to be sworn into office as president. He is 78, so he's a bit younger than Joe Biden, but was older at the time of his swearing in. In the White House briefing today, there were some questions for the White House press secretary about the current president's health. And the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has that the president has full of faith in his physicians, and she said he's in very good shape.
And she uses an example of the Middle East trip last week when he was going, essentially around the clock, from a country to country to country. So we shall see. Of course, he did just have a health checkup at Walter Reed, but we've all covered all presidents and all health checkups. And Jake, very little is often released to the public for presidents of both parties.
TAPPER: Yeah. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much. CNN's Arlette Saenz is with me now. She covered Biden on the campaign and in the White House. The prostate cancer diagnosis is the latest in what has been a lifetime of challenges and potentially devastating events, and to a great extent overcome. It's one of the things that so many of his fans love about him, this idea that no matter what life throws at him, he can get back up.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. If you look at the long arc of Biden's political and public life, it is peppered with tragic moments, throughout. But his experience with loss has allowed him to connect with people one on one over that, but it's also led to a lot of resilience. One common word that so many of his allies pointed to after this diagnosis was, they described him as a fighter.
If you think back to when he was just 29-years-old, he lost his wife and baby daughter in that car accident. He then suffered two brain aneurysms in 1988. And then in 2015, while he was vice president, his own son, Beau Biden, was diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away. In fact, Biden's own cancer diagnosis this week was two weeks before the family was set to mark the 10 year anniversary of Beau's passing.
But then while he was in office, you know, he struggled -- or he endured the very public struggles that his son, Hunter, had faced with drug addiction, and Biden's own exit from political life had really been marred in in tragic ways as well. He had decided to seek a second term. Those chances were really evaporated on that debate stage against Donald Trump, and ultimately, he decided to exit the races. There were limitations of his age were on display for many to see.
But, really, for Biden, one thing that they've all -- his allies always point to is that he has turned his grief, his pain into purpose. One way that he did that after Beau Biden's passing was really working to try to invigorate research to end cancer. He launched the cancer moonshot.
And back in August when they had rolled out some additional funding for this program, Biden actually said families touched by cancer are in a race against time, and that's now something that the Biden family is facing themselves as they're evaluating what his treatment options might be.
TAPPER: Alright. Arlette Saenz, thanks so much. Let's turn now to Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel. He's a cancer specialist and Vice Provost for the Global Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. Zeke, Dr. Emanuel, thank you so much, for joining us. So take us through the details. Biden's statement says his prostate cancer is characterized by a Gleason score of nine, grade group five, with metastasis to the bone. Put that into English for us.
EZEKIEL EMANUEL, VICE PROVOST FOR GLOBAL INITIATIVE, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: Well, it's a stage four, so Gleason goes up to scale 10. That's the highest, which means it's the most aggressive cancer when it's a 10. And so he's in the most aggressive category. And more importantly, the metastasis means that the cancer has spread out of the prostate to a bone where prostate cancer often goes, which also means it's incurable. You will not be cured of it.
I should say, it's also important to recognize that most people with prostate cancer don't die from the prostate cancer. They die with the prostate cancer. And this is a prostate cancer, which as you noted, is probably, treatable with hormonal treatment that blocks testosterone and androgens.
TAPPER: So my impression, and I could be completely wrong, so correct me if so, is that, prostate cancer is usually caught pretty early on and it's rare to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as advanced as his is. Is that right?
EMANUEL: That is right. About seven percent of people have it diagnosed when it's metastatic.
TAPPER: So how long has this cancer been growing then, and would there have been symptoms before the last couple weeks? Would there be indications in his medical records that have been made public from when he was vice president's candidate and then president?
[17:09:57]
EMANUEL: It has been growing for years. It didn't just pop up in the last few days or the last few weeks or the last 200 days. Cancer grows over time. Initially, we don't -- we can't see it, diagnose it, because it's a few thousand, hundred thousand cells. It needs to be more than tens of millions of cells to be diagnosable. And that takes time to develop in most cases. Not every case, but in prostate cancer, it does. In breast cancer, it does. In colon cancer, it does.
And so there has been cancer there. President Biden and his doctors, don't appear to have known about that. And, so that's what we know. I think that there are really four possibilities here. One is, if they took a PSA, which I haven't seen, it was low and some people do get diagnosed with low PSAs. We have that from good clinical trials. And you could have a low PSA and still have cancer.
It could be that his doctor following the United States Preventive Services Task Force, all recommendations in 2018, did not offer to a man over 70. Did not offer a PSA screening over 70. It could be that he did offer it because President Biden was president, was going to run for re-election, and had, you know, everyone thought 10 years more of life. And they discussed it and decided not to test for it. And then it could have been tested for and we just didn't see the result.
TAPPER: So why would --
EMANUEL: I think those are the four and only four possibilities.
TAPPER: Because why would they decide not to test for it? Because you -- you've said that Presidents Obama and Bush took the PSA test, which detects prostate cancer. Biden apparently didn't. Is that because Biden's older and the recommendations are no longer for people 70 to get the test because there's so many people with elevated PSA levels? Like what's the reason to not get the test?
EMANUEL: So let me make three points, Jake. The first one is, yes, the Preventative Services Task Force in 2018 said people over -- men over 70 should not get tested. But other groups like the American Neurological Association, the American Cancer Society has said, anyone who has more than 10 years of life expectancy should have a discussion about getting tested. That's the first thing.
So there are many different guidelines and they don't all agree on the 70-year cutoff. And we noted that the Preventative Services Task Force is revising its guidelines, probably to say if you've got 10 years you should be tested. The second thing is that the PSA is a bad test. I actually would have preferred never to have gotten a PSA test and I can think of many people who think, you know, it's got a lot of what we call false positives.
It's elevated. It turns out not to be cancer. And that's actually the majority of cases when it's elevated to between four and 10. And I think a lot of people think it's not a great screening test. And so that's a reason not to do it. I don't know what the discussion is. I don't know what Dr. O'Connor or President Biden were discussed if they discussed that option and declined it. That is a view that very rational people can take and actually a view that increasing numbers of people have taken over time.
TAPPER: So quickly, Zeke, if you could, I guess one of the things that's so scary about this diagnosis is, usually when there is prostate cancer, I think, there's some sort of symptom, usually urinary or something like that, that causes the patient to go to the doctor and say something's going on. And I'm just really and again, it's just horrible thing. So, it's just possible to make it this far with this aggressive form of cancer, prostate cancer that is metastasized to the bone, and he would only have had symptoms in the last couple weeks?
EMANUEL: So, Jake, you're very perceptive about this. Again, I haven't, examined President Biden. I don't know the particulars of the case, but I understand he had what's called benign prostatic hypertrophy. He had an enlarged prostate that was causing urinary symptoms. And at some point, he got surgery for that and he -- his prostate was taken out or pieces of his prostate were taken out. That is usually by a TERP, a transurethral, procedure.
[17:14:50]
And it may be that he was having perfectly fine urinary symptoms until very, very recently because he had much less prostate there that what wasn't caused blockage or any of the usual symptoms that you might associate with an enlarged prostate from a cancer. That's a hypothesis. Again, I haven't examined him. I'm not his doctor, but that is not unreasonable in this situation.
TAPPER: Alright. Doctor Ezekiel Emanuel, thank you so much for your expertise. We really appreciate it.
EMANUEL: Thank you, Jake. Nice to be here. I appreciate it.
TAPPER: Then let's turn to the sitting president, what President Trump says he told Russia's Vladimir Putin today on that two-hour phone call. Is the U.S. any closer to bringing peace to Ukraine?
And another day of explosive testimony in the Sean "Diddy' Combs trial. This time, Cassie Ventura's longtime friend on the stand. The two women no longer speak. We'll tell you why, ahead.
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TAPPER: In our "World Lead," after his two-hour long phone call with Russian leader, Vladimir Putin today, President Trump is saying that ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will start immediately. Trump's phone call with Putin comes a day after Russia's largest drone attack against Ukraine since the war began more than three years ago.
[17:19:58]
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports for us from Ukraine with more details on Trump's lengthy conversation with Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three presidents who didn't meet last week in three very different (inaudible) very fruitful phone call. First up, Russian president Vladimir Putin taking the most important call of his war casually from here, a music school by the sea. A ceasefire might come with the right paperwork, he said, and President Trump knows Russia wants peace, but no substantive change from three months ago.
Russia's position is clear, he said. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis. Flash across the Black Sea to Kyiv, where Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has got through a weekend of record drone strikes, nine killed in one on a minibus, to see the supposed breakthrough moment for diplomacy just heap frustration on the frustration. They don't even know who will meet next or where.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PREISDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): Such a meeting could take place in Turkey, in the Vatican, or in Switzerland. We are now considering these three venues. The question is, who will be able to organize this with the appropriate result?
WALSH (voice-over): And the most positive spin from President Donald Trump.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We just spent two and a half hours talking to Vladimir Putin.
WALSH: Who five days ago wanted to personally intermediate between two enemies, but now seems tinge with a sense he might be stepping back. And Ukraine and Russia can talk about a ceasefire alone, maybe in the Vatican.
The conditions for that, he wrote, will be negotiated between the two parties as it only can be because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(On Camera): Now being no doubt, this was supposed to be a moment of diplomatic breakthrough. Ultimately, it seems like the signals we're getting from President Trump is they're trying to step back a little bit from a process where perhaps they're beginning to realize what the critics of the Kremlin have said for quite some time, that Putin isn't really interested in peace, that he's quite happy to string the White House along. He's ultimately focused on a summer offensive here in Ukraine where troops are massing near the eastern front lines.
But here is what Trump said when asked by our Kaitlan Collins about how he felt over the past few hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT & ANCHOR: Mr. President, on Ukraine and on your call today that you have with President Putin, you said last week that you thought nothing was going to happen, no advances would be made until you and Putin got together. Do you still feel that way?
TRUMP: I think something's going to happen. It's a very, very -- big egos involved, I tell you. Big egos involved, but I think something's going to happen. And if it doesn't, I'd just back away and they're going to have to keep going. Again, this was a European situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALSH: Now, when he says it's a European situation, that, of course, will lead many to conclude that he's beginning to feel that Putin doesn't want to consent to the fast peace he's been looking for and that ultimately, he's trying to push us back into the European court. The problem with that is, that he's given long messaging, and the Europeans have too, that they can't really handle this without the U.S. as their backstop.
And Moscow, I think, will see weakness there and will see an opportunity to continue with its military campaign here and push diplomacy aside. That's really been a signal for quite some time, but it now seems to be emerging much more transparently, Jake?
TAPPER: Alright. Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv, Ukraine. Thank you so much for that report. Attention shoppers. A new business survey has some bad news for buyers. What some stores are predicting about business and the months to come. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:25:00]
TAPPER: In our "Money Lead," American businesses are tempering expectations for the year ahead amid President Trump's tariffs that have already managed to rattle the global trade landscape. I want to bring in my economic experts, Diane Swonk and Steve Moore.
Steve, a new survey out today from the National Association for Business Economics reveals that 25 percent of U.S. firms, according to their survey, are considering price hikes in response to the tariffs. Does that number seem right to you? Low? High? What do you think?
STEPHEN MOORE, FORMER TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER: Well, you know, what surprised me, Jake, is that so far, even though the tariff wars began, what -- a couple of months ago, we really haven't seen much inflation. And I'm sort of surprised by that because tariffs are a tax on when you buy things. And if you're buying shoes from China or other things from other countries and the tariffs applied, the consumer is going to bear some of that cost.
But if you look at the most recent inflation report on consumer items, not a lot of inflation. If you look at the producer price index numbers that came out last week, those showed a pretty tame inflation as well. And even commodities, which are kind of the lead indicator of where prices are going have been pretty tame. So right now, it doesn't look like there's been a big lift off in inflation. So I think these business accounts may be wrong about this.
TAPPER: Diane, here on "The Lead," we talked to a small business owner nearly every day about Trump's tariffs. Some have been happy about them. Most, are not and many are struggling to keep up. Do you think the tariffs are doing permanent damage to the small business landscape in this country at all?
DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, KPMG: We are seeing a lot of weakness in small business. Not only did we see a decline in small business employment in the ADP report, we've seen job openings for small businesses decline precipitously this year. We're also seeing that effect spill over into other parts of the economy.
We're seeing in the underlying, sort of underlying employment numbers, permanent unemployment is going up, the length of time to find a new job is going up. Those are things that are not welcome news at this stage of the game, even though the unemployment rate is still very low.
[17:30:00]
And I would argue that in fact, it's still a little early to actually see those tariffs, given all the front running we saw, the ordering ahead of tariffs and the inventories that were built to cushion the blow. We do know from Cox Automotive that in fact, auto prices have begun to move up $700,000 a vehicle and used vehicle prices have begun to move up as well. And those are extremely good lead indicators on what's going to happen in the CPI as we get into May.
We also know some of the shortages that were coming from the initial cessation of trade with China are not likely to hit until late May and you could actually see some empty store shelves. That's a different kind of sort of inability to get things that consumers are not used to in the United States.
TAPPER: Steve, I want to shift to what President Trump said about Walmart's announcement that the retailer might have to raise prices in response to the tariffs. He posted on Truth Social, quote, between Walmart and China, they should, as it said, eat the tariffs and not charge valued customers anything. I'll be watching, unquote. What -- what do you make of that response?
STEPHEN MOORE, FORMER TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER: Yes, I don't like that. I don't like when politicians tell stores and businesses what they can charge. Listen, I -- I do have some -- I'm not a tariff guy, as you know, Jake, so I'm not a big fan of the tariffs, but we have had two pretty big blockbuster trade deals that look like they're going to get consummated soon with Britain and China, and that will be good news for consumers. Certainly the stock markets like that a lot.
And so I'm -- I guess I'm not quite as gloomy as Diane is. You know, if you look at the latest jobs report, we had a record number of Americans working, never before in American history were -- were more Americans in jobs. So, and there are still, I mean, there's still 5 or 6 million job openings. So I guess I'm not quite as pessimistic, and especially if we can get the big, beautiful tax bill done.
TAPPER: All right, Steve Moore, Diane Swonk, thanks to both of you, really appreciate it.
From Bono to Beyonce, why President Trump is taking issue with the 2024 election celebrities who lined up to endorse Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:36:33]
TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, it's an interesting thing amidst all these important developments going on with deportations and tariffs, President Trump is also simultaneously trying to pick fights with A- list celebrities who have historically backed Democrats, such as Beyonce, Oprah, The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. Mr. Trump claiming on Truth Social that the Kamala Harris campaign paid Beyonce $11 million for her endorsement. That was after he called for a major investigation into the matter. This was at a Truth Social post at 1:30 in the morning.
Federal Election Commission filings show that the Harris campaign did pay Beyonce's Parkwood Production Media $165,000 in November 2024 and then made two payments of $500,000 to Oprah's Harpo Productions in October. You may remember Oprah did an interview-ish with Kamala for the campaign. Both Beyonce's team and Oprah's team have said that the money was for production costs. My panel joins me now.
Ayesha, I -- I -- I know that you are not a qualified psychologist.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST, NPR'S WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY: I am not.
TAPPER: But what do you think is going through his mind, given the fact that there is really legitimately, whether people like it or not, so much policy going on, so many things he's trying to achieve, peace negotiations, and then, or, and then, or, you know, he's, now, why Beyonce and Oprah?
RASCOE: Well, he's always been obsessed with celebrity, right? Like, and -- and he can also multitask. But like -- like I think the irony of this is that Trump himself has been -- has tried to surround himself with celebrities. Look, I went to Dover where they were, you know, receiving fallen soldiers, and Jon Voight was on that trip. And it was like, well, do you know the family? No, it was like he was just there because Trump likes him and he's an actor.
And so, like, there is an obsession with celebrity, but I don't think he likes the quality of celebrities that he gets. I think if he could get Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen to hang out with him, he would do it all -- he would do it on, twice on Sunday, right? Every day, twice on Sunday. So I think that's -- I think it's envy.
TAPPER: Celebrity envy. We should note, he -- Shermichael, Trump did get some celebrity endorsements during the campaign. Some, a number of them spoke at the convention. Jason Aldean, Hulk Hogan, Dennis Quaid hit the stage at campaign rallies. Elon Musk is a celebrity entrepreneur, the richest man in -- in -- in the world. Do you think there's actually going to be an investigation? I don't -- we don't even know where the $11 million figure came from.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I don't know if there will be an investigation on that, but this is what I do know. The campaign spent over a billion dollars, the Harris campaign, and they were still what, 40 plus million in debt. I believe they summarily dismissed a bunch of lower level staffers who dedicated themselves because they truly believed in the vice president at the time, yet they were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on production costs for celebrities, which didn't move the needle one way or another at the federal level.
We know this pretty clearly that most people don't make their decisions in terms of who they're going to vote for because Oprah or Beyonce said, go and vote for this particular person. And so is it, you know, fair to make a critique that they wasted money? Sure. But as a strategist, I say, Democrats, please continue to spend hundreds of thousands and millions on celebrities that will not move the needle. It's good for Republicans if they're wasting their money on those things versus actually getting boots on the ground.
TAPPER: What do you make of that larger criticism? Forget the Trump hate tweets for a second, hate posts about the Beyonce and Taylor Swift. The idea that like, that's the old playbook. Democrats can't do that anymore. You're not going to win just because you have Jay-Z and Beyonce performing in Philadelphia the night before election night. What -- what do you think?
[17:40:03]
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Yes, I think that's absolutely right. I think we saw that in 2020 and we definitely saw it in 2024. I don't think the American people are as easy to be swayed as we think they are. I think the American people want to talk about the economy and how to lower prices.
And I don't think they care if someone's a Democrat or a Republican, they want them to do that. And I think that's what most of the country is. And that's why you have these battleground states that decide elections and they keep swinging back and forth.
Every -- in the last, every four years, they've swung back and forth the last couple of elections. So I think -- I don't think it matters what Beyonce is telling people or Oprah is telling people. I think it matters how people are going to lower their costs and that's all they care about.
TAPPER: So one other thing I wanted to ask about Shermichael Trump received some Republican criticism, not a ton, but some when he accepted the $400 million plane from Qatar last week. But his administration is coming to his defense. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: The French gave us the Statue of Liberty. The British gave us a Resolute Desk. I'm not sure they asked for anything in advance.
TAPPER: Well, I will just say about the Statue of Liberty. I mean, that was authorized by Congress and it belongs to the American people. It doesn't belong to whoever was president at the time.
BESSENT: Well, I think that this plane would be a gift to the American government. KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This plane is not a personal donation or gift to the president of the United States. This is a donation to our country and to the United States Air Force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: There was talk initially that the plane at the end of the Trump's term would go to his presidential library. Is that gone?
SINGLETON: Well, I mean, that appears to be the case. I have issues with this in part because of Qatar's past involvement with supporting terrorist organizations. I just don't trust them. I think some national security advisors have stated they would have to completely strip the plane down to just make sure that it's safe for the President. I want the President to fly safely and go wherever he needs to go to continue to lead the country.
It makes me nervous, Jake. And also, I'm appalled by the fact that Boeing can't seem to get a freaking plane built on schedule. How the heck is that possible?
RASCOE: Well, I mean, how does this save money, though? Like, the fact is Boeing, you can be upset about Boeing not making it on time, and that's totally legitimate. But we're spending a billion dollars on that. And then we're going to spend however much money on this plane. And the idea that a country will give this away for free, would the U.S. do that? Would we just give away a 400, you know, million dollar gift and say this is just from our hearts?
HAYS: And it's also just not Boeing. We can't find people to pass security clearances to do the work on these planes. Trump already bought two planes from Russia and they had to be completely stripped down and we still don't have them. So the fact that anyone thinks he's going to be flying on a plane from Qatar before he -- his term finishes, it's delusional. That's just not happening.
TAPPER: It's a nice looking plane, I have to say.
SINGLETON: It is. Boeing -- Boeing needs to get their act together, though, Jake. I mean, what's going on with them?
HAYS: Air Force One is also lovely, guys. So it's nice.
TAPPER: It's a little clunky. It's a little clunky. It's old. All right. Thanks, everybody, for -- for joining us.
A major resignation today from the head of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, calls it quits. She wrote a memo to staff saying, quote, it's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It's time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.
McMahon's departure comes as CBS and CBS News and their parent company, Paramount Global, face a firestorm, including trying to settle a lawsuit with President Trump, who says that the network deceptively edited a 60 Minutes interview last October with then Vice President Kamala Harris.
Most legal experts we've spoken with consider the lawsuit baseless, the edits being relatively normal editorial judgment. But rather than fight the case and prove Trump wrong, CBS News, led by Paramount, are in talks for a settlement. A source close to the negotiations tells me that the price tag for the settlement could be anywhere from 30 to $50 million paid to President Trump, 30 to $50 million, a settlement that could then help Paramount with its plans for a major merger with Skydance Media, which brings us back to McMahon. Her resignation today follows last month's exit of Bill Owens.
He was executive producer of 60 Minutes, had been with the show for 24 years. Owens said at the time it was becoming clear he would not be able to run the show the way he'd always run it. McMahon said standing behind Owens was an easy decision, but let's be honest, with corporate overlords appearing to be willing to sell out the truth so they can make money, none of this is easy. And now Wendy McMahon is out of work.
[17:44:03]
President Trump just gave new comments about his predecessor Joe Biden and the cancer diagnosis. We're going to bring that to you next.
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TAPPER: Some breaking news in our Politics Lead now. President Trump just weighed in on the sad news that his predecessor, President Joe Biden, has been diagnosed -- diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. President Trump and the first lady did wish the Bidens well yesterday in a message on Truth Social. CNN's Kaitlan Collins was in the room for us today. Kaitlan, what did the President have to say?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, obviously, this was a pressing question for President Trump. His reaction to this news that came down from President Biden yesterday that he had been diagnosed with cancer. We were just inside the Oval Office for a separate event that the President was hosting here at the White House with members of law enforcement. And I asked President Trump for his reaction. This is what he told me.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's very sad, actually. I'm surprised that it wasn't, you know, the public wasn't notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine, that's a long time. I think that if you take a look, it's the same doctor that said that Joe was cognitively fine. There was nothing wrong with him. Well, he said if it's the same doctor, he said there was nothing wrong there. And that's being proven to be a sad situation.
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COLLINS: So the President immediately drawing a connection between the cancer diagnosis that the world found out about yesterday, Jake, and President Biden's cognitive issues that he's always accused him of having ever since they were in the campaign together, obviously. He did not say whether or not he intends to call his predecessor. Obviously, they have had conversations.
President Biden welcomed him here to the White House the day of his inauguration when he was being sworn in for the second time. So stay tuned on that, Jake. But also, we asked the President about his conversation today that he had with the Russian president.
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And at one point, as he was getting multiple questions on this, Jake, part of what he said to me that he said to Putin today was, when are we going to end this? And he called him Vladimir by his first name. And said, I've known him for a long time now. I asked him, when are going to end this bloodshed and this bloodbath?
And he said that he also told him, Jake, quote, we've got to get going. Some notable comments there from the President as he was fielding multiple questions on this and on President Biden from the Oval Office.
TAPPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. And we will look for more on your show tonight, The Source with Kaitlan Collins tonight at 9 o'clock Eastern, only here on CNN.
And this just in, in our National Lead, brand new details about that Mexican Navy training ship that tragically hit the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday night, killing two crew members. You've likely seen the shocking video. The ship was on an international goodwill mission, fueling in New York before sailing to Iceland. That was the plan anyway. Around 8:20 Saturday night, the ship undocked from New York's Pier 17. Minutes later, its tall mast slammed right into the bridge.
CNN's Gloria Pazmino is in New York. And Gloria, the NTSB, National Transportation Safety Board, just gave an update. What did they have to say?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jake. We learned at least some of the portions that this investigation is going to be focused on. It's still very early stages. In fact, NTSB officials are still working with the Mexican government in order to gain access to the ship and to gain access to any sort of data or voice recording devices that may be on board.
They have not secured those yet, but they are working to do so. We also learned that the NTSB is particularly looking at the role of the tugboat. We can see in some of the video that there was a tugboat that appeared to be pushing or pulling the ship when it left Pier 17.
Over the last day, we've learned that the captain of that ship reported a loss of power and that he had a problem when it came to steering. He wasn't able to steer the ship. But we also see in the video that the ship is being pushed by the current of the river. That's part of what officials confirmed to me yesterday.
Now, I want you to take a listen to the NTSB officials also focusing on the speed that that sail -- that sailboat was going at when it crashed against the Brooklyn Bridge. Take a listen.
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BRIAN YOUNG, NTSB INVESTIGATOR IN CHARGE: We do have a bit of time where it was maintaining a constant speed of about 2 -- 2.3 knots, and then the speed began to increase. And that's something we will be looking into as part of our engineering assessment of the operation of the engine.
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PAZMINO: Jake, a majority of the crew has returned back to Mexico. They flew back home yesterday evening, but 94 members of the Cuauhtemoc's crew remain on board. They will continue to be there as part of the investigation. Also of note so far, Jake, the NTSB has not been able to interview the ship's captain or the tugboat's operator. They are still working to have some access to them and be able to speak with them about what happened here on Saturday. Jake?
TAPPER: All right, Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much. And our Law and Justice Lead, new disturbing and graphic testimony today in Sean "Diddy" Combs' racketeering and sex trafficking trial. One of the latest witnesses to testify, the former best friend of Sean Combs' ex- girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister is outside the courthouse of Manhattan for us. Elizabeth, what damning testimony did Ventura's ex-girl -- ex-friend of about 17 years have to say to the jury?
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, this certainly was damning testimony that came from Kerry Morgan, the former best friend of Cassie Ventura. And her purpose on the stand today was to corroborate pieces of Cassie Ventura's account. Now, Kerry Morgan said that she and Cassie Ventura met when they were just teenagers and they started off as models. She said that she noticed a big change in Cassie after she met Sean Combs and started dating him.
I want to read you a direct quote. Here's what Kerry Morgan said on the stand. Quote, she lost her confidence big time. She lost her spark. She was not the same Cassie. Now, Kerry Morgan testified to the fact that she herself, with her own eyes, witnessed Cassie being physically violently assaulted on at least two occasions.
One of those occurred at Combs' home in Los Angeles, according to her testimony. And another time on vacation in Jamaica. Now, Kerry Morgan, she said that when she witnessed Combs beating Cassie, that it essentially seemed to come out of nowhere. One of the times she said that Cassie was beaten just simply because Combs said that she was taking too long in the bathroom.
Now, Kerry Morgan also said that she herself was assaulted by Sean Combs one time at Cassie's home in Los Angeles. Here's what she said, Jake. She said that Combs entered into Cassie's home, that he had a key, that he choked Kerry Morgan from behind by putting his hands on her neck and then hit her over the head with a wooden hanger.
[17:55:00] Now, after this happened, the friendship with Kerry and Cassie was broken forever. They have never talked again. Now, she was asked why they've never talked again and here's what she said. She said that Cassie met up with her and offered her $30,000 in exchange to sign an NDA.
Now, Kerry Morgan said that was not her money, that she implied it came from Combs and that she thought it was because she was trying to silence her via Combs. Now, we also heard very brief testimony from a former personal assistant of Combs, who will continue on the stand tomorrow. And also tomorrow, Jake, we are expecting to hear from Cassie Ventura's mother. Jake?
TAPPER: Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you so much.
We're watching a huge fight playing out on Capitol Hill over President Trump's so-called massive, big, beautiful bill. Hear the pitch to the American people from a Republican and a Democrat who are going to join me here on The Lead with different views on the bill. Stay with us.
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TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.