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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Holds Excellent Two-Hour Call With Putin; Republicans Rush to Push Massive Bill Through by Thursday; Biden Diagnosed With Aggressive Form of Prostate Cancer; At Least 28 People Killed After String Of Violent Storms; New Book Explores Personal Life Of Renowned American Author. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 19, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:00]

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

This hour, an excellent call between Trump and Putin, that's how President Trump describes his nearly two-hour-long conversation with the Russian president today. And now Trump says, ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will start immediately. But is it possible Putin's just stringing everybody along?

Plus, President Biden making his first comments today after publicly revealing that he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, what we're learning about his possible treatment options coming up.

Also, more than 50 million Americans are under threat of severe storms this evening after a weekend of violence storms killed at least 28 people in the United States. CNN's on the ground in some of the hardest hit areas with a look at the destruction.

And the multi-state manhunt underway tonight for seven inmates who escaped a New Orleans jail last Friday. Coming up, I'm going to ask the local district attorney if they have any leads as to where these convicts are hiding.

The Lead Tonight, President Trump's massive agenda on Capitol Hill facing a watershed moment both at home and abroad, in the U.S. He's going to pay a visit to Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill tomorrow morning where he will try to push them to get behind what he calls his big, beautiful bill, a massive piece of legislation that aims to pass tax cuts and spending cuts. But changes to Medicaid and how to pay for the bill have moderate Republicans wringing their hands.

Meanwhile, Trump's promise to end foreign wars has been put to the test after his two-hour call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin today, what Trump says, Putin agreed to start negotiating a ceasefire with Ukraine immediately.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House and CNN's Matthew Chance is in London. Kristen? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. And we really heard a lot more about what happened in this 2.5- hour phone call just now. When he was speaking in the Oval Office, he was asked questions about what he put to Putin, at one point saying that he asked Vladimir when he was going to end this bloodshed. And then he was asked specifically by our Kaitlan Collins what would -- if he still felt like he needed to meet face to face with Vladimir Putin to get anything done, this is what he said.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think something's going to happen. It's a very -- we got very big egos involved, I tell you, big egos involved. But I think something's going to happen. And if it doesn't, just back away and they're going to have to keep going. Again, this was a European situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, this is really the first time we've heard him say again that he would just walk away. He was asked specifically what would cause him to walk away. He said he had something in mind, but he wasn't going to elaborate on what that was. And he went on to say that this is not our war. We were not involved in this war. We got brought into this war, so clearly here, backing away from this idea that he and Putin had to sit down to move the needle forward.

I will add one thing. He also said that he was not going to increase sanctions on Russia because he thinks things will probably move in the right direction, and increasing those sanctions could stop that from happening. Jake?

TAPPER: Interesting. Matthew, how are Russian officials, how is the Kremlin characterizing the two-hour phone call?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I definitely think that, you know, Trump is -- President Trump is putting in a much more positive spin on this phone call than Russian officials are. For instance, President Trump said that the tone and the spirit of the conversation was excellent. He said that in his readout of the call posted on Truth Social immediately afterwards, whereas the Kremlin said, well, Vladimir Putin came out and said, you know, it was substantial, but candid and frank. And so much more kind of, you know, confrontational language used there by the Kremlin.

President Trump talks about how the two sides, Russia and Ukraine, would immediately start discussing a ceasefire, whereas the Kremlin characterized it more that they would work towards a memorandum on peace, and so much less specific, much more vague.

The other thing that really stood out, a couple of things, first is that, you know, President Putin -- sorry, President Trump did not mention this idea of a 30-day ceasefire that he'd been insisting on from the outset, that the Ukrainians have accepted and which Vladimir Putin has rejected. He didn't even mention it in his readout of the call, nor did Putin. It seems that 30-day ceasefire demand has gone away. And most importantly, of course, no breakthrough, no breakthrough highlighted by either side that could bridge the massive gap between what Ukraine would settle for and what Russia would settle for.

And so, you know, it's going to be really interesting to see, you know, if any progress can be made if these face-to-face talks potentially at the Vatican go ahead as discussed.

TAPPER: Kristen, are there plans for Trump and Putin to meet in person?

HOLMES: Well, look, you hear this about the Vatican, these negotiations, but Donald Trump was specifically asked if he asked Putin if he could sit down with him, and he kind of evaded the question.

[18:05:06]

He said that, of course, he talked to him about it, but didn't give any sort of concrete details on what that would look like.

TAPPER: All right. Kristen Holmes and Matthew Chance, thanks to both of you.

Joining us now, Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, Texas congressman, I'll get to the Trump big, beautiful bill in a second, but, first, you're a veteran, you're a vocal supporter of aid of Ukraine. What are your thoughts on the Trump-Putin phone call? Trump says Russia wants to do, quote, large scale trade with the U.S. when the war is over, but Trump didn't say if he demanded anything from Putin. Do you have any concerns that Putin is playing us?

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): Oh, well, hey, Jake, thanks for having me. One, I don't trust Putin. No one should trust Putin. I do think it's very positive though, that President Trump is having these conversations. It's great to see the United States be a leader of the free world again, and I want to see more of that. War is hell. I fought in two wars. You've covered war. You know how bad that is. So, the sooner this war can end, the better. It's pretty clear though Russia has come to a standstill. The Ukrainians have fought them to a stalemate. And the sooner that war ends, the better. But no matter what you give Putin, it'll never be enough.

TAPPER: Turning to the bill, the legislation, the spending cuts and tax cuts, you wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson in February urging him to not cut Medicaid. You warned, quote, slashing Medicaid would've serious consequences, particularly in rural and predominantly Hispanic communities, excuse me, where hospitals and nursing homes are already struggling to keep their doors open, unquote.

So, conservatives are still pushing for major changes to Medicaid and Speaker Johnson might have to give them at least a partial win. Will you vote for the bill if there are changes to Medicaid that could hurt the program?

GONZALES: Yes, let's see how the bill turns out. But I think we can do both. I think if we can reform Medicaid, that, you know, these programs that -- not only Medicaid but other programs that need to be reformed without pulling the rug out from underneath Americans.

This is how it's going to go, Jake. Democrats are going to say, this is the worst bill they've ever seen. Republicans are going to see this is the best bill they've ever seen. I'm more concerned with the details. What is in the bill? What's the final version look like? And I'd also remind your viewers, the Senate is going to have their say. I've probably been working closer with the Senate than some of my House colleagues just because they're going to have a bite at the apple as well before this gets to the president's desk.

TAPPER: Your fellow Congressman Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, tells CNN he's worried about phasing out green energy tax credits, and he warned of a recession in part of the Midwest because that part depends on biofuels, wind energy. Texas also, of course, relies on wind energy. Do you agree with Don Bacon?

GONZALES: He's got a point. Look I'm of the all of the above energy approach. There's a lot of oil and gas in my district and in Texas, and I think that's important that we lean on natural gas to do that. But if there are other ways, like wind and solar that are working, let's have him work. What I don't want to have happen is I don't want the federal government to put its thumb on the scale and subsidize some of these programs. Let's let them -- you know, if they work, let them work. If they don't work, let's get out of the way.

TAPPER: With all the infighting in your party, we should remember, of course, the Republicans control the House and the Senate and the White House. How do you think Republican voters will feel if this big, beautiful bill doesn't end up on President Trump's desk?

GONZALES: Oh, it will end up on President Trump's desk. I'm more concerned with what it's going to look like when it gets there. We absolute -- Republicans absolutely have to meet the moment right now, and we have to make sure that, once again, we protect these programs that work, like Medicaid. We protect these programs for hardworking Americans. But we also cut down the deficit. We tackle the debt. We take the fraud and waste out. It's a big task ahead of us, but, once again, the House is only half of this equation. The other half of it is the Senate to get this over the finish line. But this will -- I've been jokingly saying we will get it to the president sometime this year. I think the sooner the better though.

TAPPER: And Democrats argue that this bill, ultimately, whatever it is, deliver huge tax cuts to wealthy individuals on the back of those who receive Medicaid, who are obviously some of the society's most vulnerable. How will you counter that argument?

GONZALES: Yes, they're always going to complain no matter what. I've been in the opposition. That's the point of the opposition. What I'd say this is, we need more of our money to go back into our pockets. I think that's what Americans voted on this last election is what about us? So, let's stop good in all these programs and these other places, what about our own pockets? What about our own communities? What about our own businesses? I think the more money that we can put in our American pockets and the less money that's coming up to D.C. is a positive thing, but there has to be a balance to make sure you don't pull the rug out from underneath people.

TAPPER: All right, Republican Congressman from Texas Tony Gonzales, thank you so much.

Joining us now for response, Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado, also a veteran, for anybody keeping track. What's your response to what you heard from your friend there on the big, beautiful bill?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, there's no doubt in my mind that my friend, Tony, you know, who I served with in the bipartisan veterans caucus means well and is trying to represent his constituents, but here's the truth.

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The truth is this bill is going to cut taxes for the wealthiest 1 percent for billionaires, for large corporations. It's going to add to the deficit, and it's going to do so on the back of working Americans by cutting healthcare and cutting critical services for Americans.

TAPPER: You heard him. He says that's what you guys say about everything every time.

CROW: Well, it's the truth. It's the truth in this case, absolutely. I mean, there's just -- listen, there is a reality here, right? There's no, you know, my version, their version, yes, we can debate it, but we actually have the bill.

TAPPER: Yes.

CROW: We have the language of the bill so people can look at it themselves. This is what the bill does.

TAPPER: You know, there's this argument out there among like the Steve Bannons of the world, like the real MAGA folks, who want the working class protected and actually don't care about tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans, in fact have even floated tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans. I don't sense that that's getting any momentum in the House, but I have heard Trump talk about it even.

CROW: Well, those folks aren't winning the battle in the Trump administration, that is for damn sure, right? Well, who's winning the battle are the elites, the large corporations, the cronies of Donald Trump who are going to get a massive windfall out of this. And not even fiscal conservatives are winning in the Trump administration because this is undoubtedly going to add to the deficit.

TAPPER: I also --

CROW: There is no fiscal conservatism in this bill. There's no working class American component of this bill. This is a massive win for the wealthiest Americans, and that is it. TAPPER: I want to get your take on today's call that President Trump had with Vladimir Putin, two hours long. Trump appears to have pulled back on the idea of the U.S. being the main mediators when it comes to this peace talk, calling, quote, a European situation. He said that just moments ago and saying only Russia and Ukraine, quote, no details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of. What's going on? What do you make of that?

CROW: Well, we know what happens when the United States pulls back from global leadership, when we try to isolate ourselves from the world. We've seen that time and time again throughout history. It never ends well, right? We have a global economy. You know, pandemic and disease are global. We cannot retreat from the world. When we do so, it's disastrous for Americans. So, we absolutely have a vested interest. That's one.

Number two is this war must end and it will end at a negotiating table like most wars. I firmly believe that. But what Donald Trump is doing will not deliver that result. And here's why. Vladimir Putin has been doing this for decades, making deals and breaking deals. He only does what he is forced to do, what he's compelled to do. And right now, nobody is compelling him to come to the deal in good -- come to the table in good faith and nobody is forcing him to keep any agreements.

He believes he's winning. He believes he can draw this out. And until that changes, which means more sanctions, more support a more, more moral clarity from the United States. He's going to continue to draw this out.

TAPPER: I want to turn to a different topic because The Washington Post was the first to report that the Trump administration has agreed to pay nearly $5 million to Ashli Babbitt. She's the Trump supporter who was shot and killed by police during the January 6th attack on the Capitol when she was trying to break into the House chamber. You were in the thick of the chaos that day, pictured -- there you are assisting your colleague crouch in the House chamber. What's your reaction to this $5 million payment?

CROW: Well, the Trump administration continues to try to rewrite history because Donald Trump doesn't want to admit, he doesn't want to acknowledge that he weaponized a mob and sent that mob to attack the Capitol to brutalize hundreds of officers, 140 of whom still have major injuries, five of whom died from their wounds and their trauma after the days leading up to that. We passed a bipartisan bill in 2022 to erect a plaque in honor of those officers. House Republicans and the speaker have refused to put that plaque up because they want to sweep it all under the rug.

We can't allow that to happen, and this is just part of that, right? They want to ignore that entire part of history because it's inconvenient to Donald Trump. And that includes pardoning hundreds and hundreds of violent felons who beat police officers and sending them back out on our streets.

TAPPER: All right. Democratic Congressman from Colorado Jason Crow, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

What comes next for former President Biden after his prostate cancer diagnosis? I'm going to be joined by an expert in treatments for prostate cancer in moments.

Plus, millions of Americans are at risk for strong tornadoes tonight after a weekend of violence storms killed at least 28 people in the United States. The latest on those recovery efforts ahead.

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TAPPER: In our Health Lead, former President Joe Biden's alarming diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Today, former President Biden posted a picture of himself with former First Lady Jill Biden and a cat. The message, quote, cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned, but we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support, end quote.

A statement from Biden's team revealed yesterday that the 82-year-old former president was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has tragically spread to his bones. His doctors are now reviewing treatment options, which could include chemotherapy or radiation, or hormone therapy.

Joining us now is Dr. Daniel Petrylak is a prostate cancer specialist. Doc, thanks for joining us. How serious is this diagnosis? It sounds awful.

DR. DANIEL PETRYLAK, CHIEF OF GENITOURINARY ONCOLOGY, YALE CANCER CENTER: Thank you, Jake, for inviting me to talk about this important men's health issue. So, we know that prostate cancer, once it spreads to the bones to other areas, is incurable. However, it can be controlled for a long period of time, sometimes several years, sometimes is close to ten years. But it is a controllable but not curable disease.

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TAPPER: What are the treatment options for President Biden?

PETRYLAK: So, prostate cancer is stimulated by testosterone. And metastatic prostate cancer is treated by lowering testosterone levels almost to zero. We have pills and injections that can basically interfere with the signal from the brain to the testicle to make testosterone and also block the binding of testosterone to its receptor, the androgen receptor.

And this treatment can result in dramatic declines in PSA. Also as we saw from the reports, President Biden has difficulty urinating. That obstruction can be relieved by giving the anti-testosterone treatments or the hormonal treatments. It's called androgen deprivation therapy. And also we could administer chemotherapy early, but that depends upon the patient's condition. Often, fairly, patients may not be able to tolerate chemotherapy in that situation and that drug is a drug called docetaxel, which is given at the initiation of treatment.

TAPPER: Dr. Zeke Emanuel was on the show earlier today and he said that this is something that Biden probably has had for several years. Do you agree?

PETRYLAK: Well, it's very, very difficult to say what actually has gone on without the medical records, but we know that PSA is one of the best tumor markers that's out there, but it's not perfect. And there are patients that I've had in my practice where the PSAs are normal and we detect the disease by a digital rectal exam. So not only PSA should be used, but a rectal exam should be performed as well to see, as we see in this situation, see that there's a nodule.

I've seen patients who've developed explosive disease very, very rapidly, and PSAs have gone from, you know, one to a thousand within a year's period of time. So, it is certainly possible that he's had this for longer period of time but there are other explanations as well for this.

TAPPER: Prostate cancer is a slow-moving kind of cancer, right?

PETRYLAK: Well, yes and no. There are two types of prostate cancer, the type that you die with and the type that you die from. More than 300,000 men will be diagnosed in the United States with prostate cancer, and more than 35,000 men will die from prostate cancer. And this is the second leading cause of prostate cancer death or actually cancer death in the United States.

So, there are really two forms of it. We can, for the Gleason six, which is the low grade tumors. We can watch these patients with serial prostate biopsies, MRIs. We can also -- but for the more aggressive lesions, we can treat that with radiation therapy, surgery, hormone therapy, chemotherapy. So, it's important to determine where the disease is, how aggressive it is to come up with the proper treatment.

TAPPER: So, we don't have any record of President Biden when president getting a PSA test, which would indicate, you know, what his PSA levels were. There are -- you know, I know it's a disagreement in the medical community about whether or not men over 70 should even have these tests because of so many false positives. You alluded to it being an imperfect test. What do you tell patients and is it different, for instance, for like a president as opposed to just your average guy on the street, whether or not they should get a PSA test?

PETRYLAK: Well, that's a great question. And the way I counsel my patients is look at their overall medical condition. If somebody's in great shape -- I have some 80 year olds who are in better shape than some 50 year olds that I take care of. And you have to look at not only the chronological age, the physiological age for the patient, because we often see men in their 80s and 70s who are diagnosed just like this and they potentially could be cured by local treatment.

What we need are better markers. Even though PSA is an excellent marker, it's not perfect. And we need better ways of molecularly turn looking at the cancers to see what their prognosis is. So, you know, I recommend screening based upon the patient's overall medical condition. For younger patients, obviously, we need to do that 45 for a patient with a family history, also for African-American history 50 for the general population. So, it's dependent upon how the patient, what their medical condition is.

TAPPER: All right, Doc, thank you so much, Dr. Daniel Petrylak, I really appreciate your expertise.

Seven inmates are still on the run nearly three days after they escaped from a Louisiana jail. Coming up next, I'm going to talk to the local district attorney to see if they have any leads as to where these men may be hiding.

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TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, the manhunt for seven escaped inmates has expanded outside Louisiana into nearby states. As the search nears the end of its third day, of the initial ten escapees, three have been apprehended. Authorities warned these men are armed and dangerous and their whereabouts are currently unknown.

Joining me to discuss is Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams. Thanks so much for joining us, Mr. Williams. Do you have any leads as to where these remaining seven men might be or might be headed?

JASON WILLIAMS, ORLEANS PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY: There are leads, there are threads and we're pulling on every single one of them, This is a local, state and federal team effort at this point. My team is scouring through all the jail calls and the hours and days that led up to this escape to see if we can figure out where they may have been headed, who might have known something. And we're sharing all those leads as fast as we can. We've got an open source intelligence team that's scanning through dozens and dozens of calls to do that.

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TAPPER: How did this jailbreak happen?

WILLIAMS: You know, it appears to be absolutely someone inside of the jail. I think the sheriff has already admitted that the issue was this just absolute negligence, or was this criminal culpability in assisting in this jailbreak, or the other possibility that it was both. And I think that's what it's shaping up to be.

This is not like a lock and key type of jail. I've toured this facility. It's a $150 million facility with cameras all over. Unfortunately, no one at the jail was manning the post to watch those monitors in real time. And it is unexplainable and inexcusable how ten of the most violent individuals in the jail were able to get out through a hole on the first floor.

TAPPER: So, you're saying that somebody, an employee at the jail, helped them get out?

WILLIAMS: It certainly is appearing that way. The sheriff has basically stated that she believes it was an inside job. As the D.A. for this municipality, we will be doing a full and complete inquiry into who did what and who knew what including every individual in a uniform or not in a uniform who may have played a role in this jailbreak.

TAPPER: You said today that you're personally afraid and fear for the safety of your staff as well as witnesses that testified against some of these inmates. What steps are being taken to make sure you, those witnesses, your employees, that everyone's safe.

WILLIAMS: So, I personally tried one of these individuals who was convicted of second-degree murder, which carries a life sentence. We had to try -- I tried it twice. Other members of my team tried it more times than not because of hung juries and the like. There was witness intimidation throughout all of those trials. The two lawyers who I worked with got out of town when this happened with their families. I'm not going to talk about where they are, what protections are in place.

We have reached out to the witnesses next to kin who testified in this case, because this man was charged with shooting up a barbecue with women, children, men. It was a massive block load of party on Mardi Gras day. And there are a number of people who were out there who were scared. We relocated the ones who want to be relocated. Obviously we're not going to discuss where they are. But no one is going to feel safe until he is back in custody, including myself.

TAPPER: What type of help are you receiving from other states or from federal law enforcement?

WILLIAMS: So, we've got the FBI, we've got the ATF they've been involved. The U.S. Marshal Service really has been -- that was one of the first calls I made when this occurred. The sheriff had not reached out to him at that point. And they have been on the spot because, as you know, these guys could be in Orleans Parish, they could be in another parish within the state or by this time outside of the state.

And so having U.S. Marshals and the FBI involved helps us coordinate this effort from the multi-jurisdictional level to get these pictures out to other states so they can be on the lookout for these individuals. Unfortunately, they got close to an eight-hour head-start because the jailbreak happened at 1:00 A.M. and the sheriff's department did not do a press conference or alert the public until close to 10:00 A.M. the next day. So, that head start has drastically impaired our chances getting these individuals back in custody.

TAPPER: Do you think that eight-hour head-start is why we're three days into this and seven of these escape convicts remain on the run, or do you think that there were extensive preparations for the escape or both?

WILLIAMS: I think it's both, Jake. Absolutely, if you've got individuals leaving a facility, some of them still wearing prison garb, the public, that's your sixth man on the team. The media is one of the biggest assets you have in terms of getting the word out. If you see something odd, a bike stolen, it's not just a bike stolen in the wake of a jailbreak. A shed lock being broken open, it's not just a shed lock being broken open in the middle of a jailbreak.

The sheriff cost us the opportunity, I'm speaking about as a member of the public, to participate in getting these folks back into custody by delaying reporting of the break. So, yes, that is playing a huge role in us not having these individuals back in custody as of yet. But I do believe there are members of the public who have aided and assisted these individuals. And I'll say to them here, as I've said over and over again in New Orleans if you're found to have given any assistance, piece of bread, a place to lay your head down, a ride, you will be prosecuted.

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TAPPER: All right. Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, thank you so much. Good luck to you, sir.

Our small business series takes us to Washington State next, where we're checking in with the owner of a plant and flower store. Are they having to lay off in employees, raise prices, or is everything fine? We'll find out next.

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TAPPER: We're back with our business leaders, our series where we talk to entrepreneurs from coast to coast about President Trump's tariffs. A few have been in favor of the policy, but many are feeling overwhelmed.

Joining me now, Katherine Raz, owner of the Fernseed, that's a flower and plant shop in Tacoma, Washington. Catherine, you source many of your plants locally to you in the Pacific Northwest. What part of your business is being most impacted by tariffs?

KATHERINE RAZ, OWNER, THE FERNSEED: Well, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate inviting me and the other members of the Main Street Alliance on to talk about this, first of all.

[18:45:06]

As you said, we source a lot of our products locally already. It's kind of how our customers know us. It's how we differentiate ourselves. The plants and the flowers that we sell in our shop are grown in the U.S. or grown right here in Washington.

The part of our shop that's going to be impacted, you know, we also sell a lot of handmade pottery. So we've made that commitment from the very beginning of our store. About 20 percent of the ceramics that we sell in our shop are handmade or small batch produced here in the U.S., but it's that percentage of the plant pots that are not made in the U.S. and that our customers -- you know, we're still a neighborhood business at the end of the day. So, our customers do expect for us to have some products on the shelves that they would find at a plant and flower shop.

And we're trying to compete with some of the larger big box chains, honestly, to make sure that we have those products on the shelves and that they're priced competitively. So those are the products that we work with vendors who manufacture them overseas to stock.

TAPPER: Have you or are you planning to start raising prices on customers to weather the supply chain costs?

RAZ: It's really tricky and it's a great question, because as I said, we're already competing with some of the big box pricing. So, people are used to paying a little bit more in a local business. But when it comes to what somebody's willing to pay for a six, eight-inch planter for a house plant, we are still competing with your Amazons, your Targets. So, there's not a lot of wiggle room there for us. A lot of these impacts we're going to have to absorb ourselves.

TAPPER: By not raising prices, what does that do to your profit margin? Does it wipe it out? Is there anything left?

RAZ: Well it's -- I've been trying to project that out, but the tariff percentages keep changing, which is what makes it so additionally difficult for us. But it looks like -- again, once the dust settles, and we know what the actual numbers are going to be, then I'm going to hear from my vendors who are the direct importers, they're going to let me know how much of that percentage they're going to pass on to us. That might change.

But at the end of the day, we're estimating it might have a $9,000 to $12,000 impact on our business. Yes, that basically erases all of our profit in a good year.

TAPPER: A number of the business leaders we've spoken to are already still struggling because of the difficulties they had during the COVID-19 pandemic, to say nothing of all the inflation in the previous administration. Your business, you've said, managed to grow during that time. So, what have the tariffs done to your ability to keep growing?

RAZ: We did really well during the pandemic because everyone was interested in house plants. But that also set us up to incur some losses when we -- when sales plummeted during that recession. That's not called a recession. And we had to struggle to keep up. So, we have incurred some debt. We're trying to pay that debt back. We have to pay that back with the profit that we make.

So, we were finally kind of clawing out of that hole and we were doing really well, return to profitability. The impact of these tariffs is what's going to send us back. It's going to delay any of those gains or improvements that we were planning on making in any further investment in our business. So, it is pretty disappointing.

TAPPER: All right. The business once again is the Fernseed. It's in Tacoma, Washington. If you want to help support them, the Fernseed in Tacoma, Washington. Catherine Raz, thanks so much for joining us today. I appreciate it. RAZ: Thank you.

TAPPER: The storm threats facing tens of millions of Americans tonight after a string of violent storms decimated communities. Our team is on the ground in some of the hardest hit areas. That's next.

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TAPPER: Some breaking news in the national lead, a third straight day of severe weather right now. Tornado watches stretch from Nebraska down to Texas. More than 50 million people could see severe storms. The threat of these strong storms is expected to extend into the overnight hours.

Meanwhile, new drone footage out of St. Louis, Missouri, shows some of the destruction caused by tornadoes. This was one of the areas hardest hit. The weekend's storms killed at least 28 people and caused widespread damage, even leveling entire streets.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is in Missouri, where she spoke with survivors of some of the catastrophic damage.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in the tornado. Oh. We need all hands-on deck.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Violent winds, hail and dozens of tornadoes roared across central and eastern states, forging a path of death and destruction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just like a freight train going through.

VARGAS JONES: In Kentucky, Oklahoma and Kansas, neighborhoods gutted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stuff came through the windows and I guess flew around inside the house.

VARJAS JONES: In Missouri, homes left battered, trees ripped out by their roots.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It got really dark. All of sudden, I hear a big crash.

VARGAS JONES: One resident told CNN the damage looks like multiple tornadoes hit this area all at once.

CRAIG COLE, ST. LOUIS RESIDENT: That's something you don't see every day.

VARGAS JONES: Craig Cole watched the tornado roll through his hometown of St. Louis.

COLE: I was in the truck in the middle of the street looking like truck shaking. I mean, I thought I was going to fly away like the Wizard of Oz.

VARGAS JONES: When he returned home, his entire house was gone. He's now helping others, facing the same grim reality, handing out hot food and supplies.

OMAR SYKES, VOLUNTEER: So, I was going to change depending on the day.

VARGAS JONES: Omar Sykes, a Navy veteran, helped evacuate dozens of people from his neighborhood to this church. Now, a Red Cross shelter.

SYKES: There were kids, you know, and these people -- our home is gone, right?

[18:50:04]

VARGAS JONES: Rebuilding after this degree of devastation will be a monumental effort, but neighbors say it may also bring this diverse St. Louis community closer together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has been beautiful to watch in these past 48 hours, the mobilization of people who are just eager to help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS JONES (on camera): And, Jake, recovery here in St. Louis will take time. Thousands of homes and businesses are still without power. And now, they're facing the potential threat of even more weather with rain in the coming days.

An overnight curfew will remain in place until further notice -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much.

Coming up next, I'm joined by the author of a biography that inspired the hit Broadway musical, "Hamilton". He's out with another book on another American icon. It's a conversation you won't want to miss.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:15]

TAPPER: In our pop culture lead, Pulitzer Prize winning American biographer Ron Chernow, whose work inspired the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton", is out with a brand-new biography of yet another American icon.

Perhaps his new book, "Mark Twain", could inspire another musical. It looks at the complex life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature and humor. Twain, of course, wrote fixtures such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", but really was so much more than just that. And Ron Chernow joins me now.

First of all, Ron, it's good to see you again. RON CHERNOW, AUTHOR", MARK TWAIN": It's a pleasure to be here.

TAPPER: I interviewed last after the George Washington biography in 2010. You're a historian. You've written at length about George Washington, Alexander Hamilton.

You are not. This is not meant as an insult. You're not a literary scholar. What drew you to Twain?

CHERNOW: Well, back when I was 25 years old, I was living in Philadelphia. I was a struggling freelance writer, and I saw a poster up for Mark Twain tonight, exclamation point. It was Hal Holbrook who did a one man show, 90 minutes, and I went and he was standing up there in this signature white suit, smoking the cigar with the unruly mustache.

And I just found so hilarious the political witticisms. I still remember them. He said there's no distinctly Native American criminal class except for Congress he said, suppose that you're an idiot, and suppose that you're a congressman but I repeat myself and I was completely captivated.

So, I think that really my initial attraction to Mark Twain was less from the novels but of Mark Twain, the political pundit, Mark Twain, the showman, Mark Twain, the original celebrity. He really was the most colorful personality in American literary history.

TAPPER: And he remains an icon today, perhaps best known for the Mark Twain Award, given out every year at the Kennedy Center. Conan O'Brien won it this year. He was, and I have to say, of all the people who have been given that award, he definitely seemed the one most steeped in Mark Twain's actual writings. I want to play this little clip from his acceptance speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O'BRIEN, TV HOST: Twain was allergic to hypocrisy, and he loathed racism. Twain wrote, there are many humorous things in the world, among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages. When we celebrate Twain, truly see him for who he was, we acknowledge our commonality and we move just a little closer together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: One thing that you explore in the book is how Twain, in 19th century America handled race. Obviously, Huckleberry Finn is seen as a great anti-slavery novel, even though it does have a word that a lot of people object to. Talk about how he engaged with the black community and how his views on race evolved.

CHERNOW: Yeah, okay. He grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi, all the way in the northeast corner of Missouri. He was born into a slave-owning family in a slave-owning town where slavery was unquestioned.

He said that he went to church. They said that slavery was sacred. It was the pet of the deity.

And what happens is the year goes by. He marries into an abolitionist family, the Langdons, publishes "Huck Finn", still arguably the greatest anti-slavery novel in the language, but he feels so deeply about the injustice that the white community has done the black that not long after Huck Finn, he finances the education of a black law student at Yale Law School named Warner T. McGuinn, and writing to the law school dean, he says, we, the white people, have ground the manhood out of them, the Blacks and the shame is ours, you know, not theirs.

And his friend William Dean Howells said that no man detested slavery more than Mark Twain. And he said that Mark Twain is a white person, felt personally responsible for what had happened to the black community, and that paying for Warner McGuinn's education was his form of reparations.

TAPPER: Quickly, if you could, did the Mark Twain that you knew and liked match up to the one that you met while researching the book? Did he live up to your expectations?

CHERNOW: He lived up to my expectations. It turned out to be much more complicated figure for me as a biographer. It was an ideal story because it was full of both light and shadow.

TAPPER: Fascinating stuff.

Ron Chernow, thanks so much. Congratulations again.

CHERNOW: My pleasure. Thank you.

TAPPER: Also on our pop culture lead, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and the entire crew have a new home. It is on Netflix. The streamer announced the upcoming new season will feature some changes, but also the return of some fan favorite segments. Rerun episodes of "Sesame Street" will still continue to appear on PBS.

In our sports lead, the Chicago White Sox, will honor Pope Leo XIV with a visual tribute where the pope sat during the 2005 World Series. The art will commemorate the pope's Chicago roots and the unifying power of baseball. You'll recall a divide between White Sox and Cubs fan over who could claim the new pope. Well, his brother settled that debate. It's the Sox.

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

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