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The Lead with Jake Tapper

White House Calls Putin Meeting A Listening Exercise; Officials Say, Gunman Fired Nearly 500 Rounds During CDC Shooting; Sources Say, Texas Democrats Weighing Whether To Return To State And End Redistricting Standoff; Taylor Swift Announces New Album On Kelce Brothers' Podcast; Erin Expected To Become First Hurricane Of 2025 Season. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 12, 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 HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

And this hour, we now know that President Trump will meet with Vladimir Putin, not only in Alaska, but in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday. Whether at a military base or the international airport or somewhere else, we don't know. But what about that invite for Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, has it been completely ruled out? We're going to go to the White House and to Kyiv in moments.

Plus, investigators are revealing new details about the shooting at the CDC in Atlanta last Friday, including that the gunman fired nearly 500 rounds and left behind writings about his distrust of the COVID vaccine.

[18:00:11]

And now CDC employees are voicing their concerns about the dangerous spread of vaccine misinformation and the vilification of public health workers.

Also, a new report finds the majority of children and adults in the United States get more than half of their daily calories from ultra processed foods. I'm going to be joined by the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, who once led the fight against tobacco companies and now is trying to improve the food that you and your family eats.

And it's no longer a cruel summer for Swifties after Taylor Swift delighted her fans with a surprise appearance on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's podcast to announce her new album. We're going to dig into any possible hints that the Grammy winner has dropped ahead of the release.

And The Lead tonight, right now, Ukrainian troops are attempting to stave off Russian forces as they pierce through frontlines in Eastern Ukraine, trying to grab more land before any peace deal and land swap is proposed. Just days before President Trump and Russian Leader Putin meet in Anchorage, Alaska, this afternoon, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy reiterated his refusal to cede any land from the Eastern Donbas region of his country, saying it would give Putin a, quote, springboard for any future offensives. And now the White House is characterizing the big Trump-Putin meeting as not a summit, but a listening session rather than what Trump likely truly hopes for a legacy defining peace deal.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins is at the White House for us. Kaitlan?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. Obviously, this is going to be one of the closely, most closely watched meetings that President Trump has of his second term, his first face-to-face since retaking office with Vladimir Putin.

And we're learning a little bit more about what exactly that meeting is going to look like, Jake, and also what the structure of that meeting is going to be that's happening in Anchorage this Friday, the sit-down between Trump and Putin. And, obviously, they have met many times before, Jake, whether it was on the sidelines or summits or that major face-to-face that they had in Helsinki during Trump's first term in office.

But one key question was whether or not Donald Trump would be alone in the room with Vladimir Putin. And I asked the White House about that earlier, and this is what the press secretary said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: On the Putin meeting on Friday, does the president plan to meet with Putin one-on-one?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Yes, that's part of the plan. And as for the other mechanics and logistics, I will let our team speak to that when they're ironed out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Jake, obviously that's notable. Trump has met with Putin one- on-one before, just with translators inside the room. He once also had a conversation with him on the sidelines of a summit at a dinner that they had when he was in office the last time around. And those conversations between the two of them and what exactly they discuss is going to be critical here.

And so one thing to watch for this time, Jake, that will be different from Trump's first term in office is the aides who were around him. He had a lot of Russia hawks that were in his first term that were deeply skeptical of Vladimir Putin. And so there is a real question, Jake, of what it looks like this time around, because he is surrounded by more voices who echo his own foreign policy views, who have similar stances to him when it comes to aid to Ukraine. That's the exception of a few people like Marco Rubio, who certainly was a Russia hawk when he was a senator up on Capitol Hill. But it'll be a critical summit to watch.

And, obviously, what the White House said today, Jake, is they're not expecting it to have major deliverables coming out of it in terms of what that's going to look like, that Trump is going into this as a listening session to hear what the Russian leader has to say.

TAPPER: Kaitlan, Trump yesterday mentioned twice that he was going to Russia on Friday, not to Alaska, but to Russia. Did the White House explain that at all?

COLLINS: They were asked about that, Jake, and if that was just a slip of the tongue that the president had. They didn't acknowledge that he obviously meant Alaska when he was saying Russia, but instead pointed to the fact that if he plans to visit Russia, that could be something that is in the future of his relationship with Vladimir Putin going forward. Obviously, it remains to be seen what happens when it comes to the war in Ukraine and the president's frustration over the fact that it hasn't ended yet.

TAPPER: Obviously, the president going to Russia would be a huge diplomatic victory for Vladimir Putin.

Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much.

And don't miss Kaitlan on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. That's tonight and every weeknight at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

A former top Ukrainian military official says Ukrainian President Zelenskyy needs to know the situation on the frontlines is a, quote, complete mess.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh speaks to people near those frontlines in Eastern Ukraine who hope that their homes and towns will remain Ukrainian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Forget a moment about Alaska and imagine being here where Russia is advancing, where its drones could not reach when we were there a week ago. Despite the endless talk of a peace deal, it's exactly here that land might be swapped.

[18:05:01]

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There'll be some land swapping going on.

WALSH: His special envoy's visit to the Kremlin, leading to reports Ukraine might just give away Donetsk and sparking panic among real people here yesterday at a Donetsk railway station and, frankly, all over Ukraine.

Speaking to European officials over the past days, one of the challenges seems to have been for them trying to clarify exactly what it was that U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff was offered by the Kremlin. What are the bones and details of that potential deal? And that just adds to how unconventional this whole process feels. A meeting of this grandeur would take months normally to prepare with the agenda and details ironed out by teams of diplomats for months instead, at this point, so much is still unknown.

TRUMP: This is really a feel-out meeting a little bit. President Trump has lowered expectations for their first meeting in six years. While Russia keeps flaunting claims it's captured towns like this. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

President Zelenskyy clear as the evidence supports so far, Putin does not seek peace.

ZELENSKYY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

WALSH: On the eastern frontline near this town, Dobropillya, reports Tuesday emerged over notable Russian advance, the extent or permanent unclear, but enough to spark denials and reinforcements from Kyiv.

Wednesday, Zelenskyy will join German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other key European leaders, and this time President Trump to pre-game Alaska, clarifying if the White House hasn't heard it yet that Europe wants a ceasefire first and Ukraine are the table.

But what awaits in Alaska likely only Putin and Trump, and from that, a roll of a dice between two men whose relationship is impenetrable, but could decide the fate of tens of millions of lives in Ukraine and beyond.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH (on camera): Now, Jake, just a reminder that days ago we were looking at the potential for secondary sanctions against Russia's main energy customers, India and China, and then talk of that seemed to evaporate. And now, focus turns to this summit in Alaska on Friday. It was meant to really make or break about a peace deal, but has now had expectations lowered so extensively that the White House referred to it as a listening exercise, that President Trump says he's going to feel Russian President Vladimir Putin out a bit as to what's possible.

A lot changing fast as to what people think may be viable in this key summit. Ukrainians deeply anxious, they're not only not there, the potential for peace is much less. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv, Ukraine, for us, thank you so much.

Joining us now to discuss, Republican Congressman Don Bacon from Nebraska. Thanks for joining us, Congressman.

So, you told Canadian channel, CBC, that President Trump has been, quote, unpredictable and hit and miss on Russia. What topics or concessions would you advise President Trump to stay away from on Friday?

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): He should not be offering land for peace, Ukrainian land, and he should have President Zelenskyy at the table. You know, it's too reminiscent of 1938 when the prime minister of Great Britain and the leader of France met with Hitler and, you know, gave away Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and came back so they had peace in our time. We don't want that. Any negotiation has to have Zelenskyy at the table and we have to force Putin to agree to that.

He doesn't want to have Zelenskyy at the table. He doesn't want people to see Ukraine is an equal to Russia, or Zelenskyy is an equal leader to Putin. And so that vision or that image is something he does not want. But we can't be giving concessions to Russia in rewarding an invasion, bombing cities, commit all these war crimes that Putin has done.

And so I hope we see a Trump that we've seen in the last month, not the President Trump that we've seen the first seven or eight months of his presidency, where I thought he was way too weak on Putin. And so we want to see a stronger Trump standing up for freedom and standing on the right side of this war.

TAPPER: President Zelenskyy reiterated today that he is not willing to cede any land in Eastern Ukraine because it would give Putin a springboard to invade other parts of his country. Do you agree with Zelenskyy or do you think, ultimately, he will need to cede some land in order for there to be any sort of peace deal?

BACON: Well, he clearly shouldn't cede any land that hasn't been taken by Russia, and that's been floated out there that the whole Donbas or the whole -- you know, those two or three provinces that would totally be ceded over, not just the areas that Russia controls.

[18:10:00]

I think that would be a terrible mistake.

In the end, I have to defer to the Ukrainians on what land, if any, that they cede. But I do think this. If any land is ceded to Russia, we must provide security guarantees to Ukraine, whether it's NATO or bilateral security guarantees, because I believe it's 95 percent certain that if we just do a truce, next year, Putin will break it again and start the invasion all over again.

And so whatever agreement is done, if Ukraine has to cede anything, security guarantees are very important to prevent Putin from doing this invasion again.

TAPPER: Former Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk says that President Trump should take a cue from President Reagan, ehen Reagan met with Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev in Iceland in 1986. He writes Reagan, quote, arrived with firm principles on which he would not budge. Reagan's refusal to budge even at risk of increasing Cold War tensions and the failed summit one month before midterm elections ultimately set the conditions for peace.

Do you think Trump will be able to be that stern with Putin to, or do you think maybe his desire to strike a deal, to be seen as this great deal maker might overtake the actual quality of the deal?

BACON: He needs to be strong like Reagan, like we saw at Reykjavik, where Reagan walked away when he saw that Gorbachev was making demands that win against his principles. So, we need Trump to have that same mindset. And that is a weakness with Americans, in general. I mean, I study history. We want to get a deal, we want to get a deal fast because of that, our opponents know that and we make unnecessary concessions and put ourselves in a bad spot. And case in point, before President Trump's even met with Putin, he's talking about Ukraine having to do lands swaps before he is even talked to Putin. And I think -- so doing any kind of concessions before you even meet with Putin, that's a bad thing. And that's not just a President Trump thing. We see that on our side quite a bit. We were too eager to get a deal, and that puts us at a disadvantage.

TAPPER: I wanted to get your response to something the Vice President Vance said over the weekend. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think the president and I certainly think that America, we're done with the funding of the Ukraine war business. We want to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing. We want to stop the killing. But Americans, I think, are sick of continuing to send their money, their tax dollars to this particular conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What did you make of that?

BACON: I think he's wrong. First of all, I take offense when he says we're tired of sending money to the Ukrainian war business, something like that. This is not the Ukrainian war business. This is the Russian invading Ukraine, an innocent sovereign country. That's the war. This isn't Ukraine's war. This is Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And he seems to not have the moral clarity to see that, and it bothers me.

And, by the way, two out of three Americans support Ukraine. These guys are taking a political stand that most Americans disagree with. I wish our leadership of the White House stood tall on principle -- treat Ukraine and Russia as equals when one country is actually invading the other, that's a failure.

So, I would like to see moral clarity out of our vice president on this and I think he's standing with one third of Americans, not the two thirds in this. And if he spoke up more clearly, it would be more than two out of three. Maybe we'd see three out of four standing here.

So we need President Vance's -- or Vice President Vance's leadership here, not moral weakness.

TAPPER: Retired Air Force General and Republican Congressman Don Bacon from Nebraska, thank you, sir, always good to have you on.

BACON: Thank you.

TAPPER: look for seeing on special coverage of the Trump-Putin summit on Friday. I'm going to lead coverage live from Alaska. Anderson Cooper will hold up the fort here in Washington, D.C.

The new details investigators are revealing today about the gunman who fired hundreds of shots at the CDC building on Friday in Atlanta and the writings he left behind. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: Our National Lead now, new details about last Friday's horrific shooting, targeting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Authorities say today, the gunman fired -- or authorities said today that the gunman fired nearly 500 rounds and about 200 of them hit the CDC campus, leaving behind dozens of bullet holes. No CDC employees were hurt, but DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was killed. Authorities also said they found written documents expressing the gun, the gunman's discontent with COVID vaccines.

CNN's Ryan Young is outside a memorial for Officer Rose in Tucker, Georgia. Ryan, tell us more about what officials revealed about the gunman.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. They found those ridings inside his house, and, of course, they also told us that he broke into his father's gun cabinet and took all those guns.

I want to also remind people that he wore earmuffs while he was shooting all that gunfire, 500 rounds. That's a large amount of bullets to be firing toward a building, six buildings hit at the CDC. But you talk about the officer who was lost. Jake, we've been watching all day long as people have been showing up to put these flowers here.

Two CDC employees just showed up in the last half hour or so. They were crying. They felt so torn about this because, obviously, this was a life lost. And, of course, the father of the shooting suspect also tells police that they believed he was suicidal. They called police to give them a heads-up, apparently. That's something that's a part of this investigation.

But now, so many questions leading into how this all happened and maybe could have been stopped. Let's not forget the gunman had five different weapons. Take a listen to the GBI talking earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS HOSEY, DIRECTOR, GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: The shooter had no known criminal history. Evidence in this investigation indicates that the shooter had recently verbalized thoughts of suicide, which even led to law enforcement being contacted several weeks prior to the incident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Let's remember these guns were taken from the safe.

[18:20:00]

According to the father of the shooter, the shooter broke in, took those guns, and then went on that rampage, according to the father of the shooter. Jake?

TAPPER: The shooter was 30 years old, we should note.

All these updates are coming at the same day that the CDC held an all- agency meeting. What was said at this all-agency meeting?

YOUNG: Well, this is the tough part for people who obviously work at the CDC, and I just talked to some of the workers there today. They were saying that, one, the call was glitchy. Two, they didn't get to answer or ask all the questions they wanted to ask. And as they showed up to hear, they felt like the reflections from the leadership did not say what the GBI was saying. They believe it's connected to the vaccine. That's what the GBI is saying.

And then, of course, today in that meeting, they felt like it was just sort of being pushed aside and RFK Jr. apparently said that they're not sure where the shooting investigation is leading to. So, a lot of questions.

But let's talk about safety. That is something that was top of mind from people. They wanted to know what the next steps would be at the CDC building. That's something that was not answered today. I even asked that question of the FBI. They said they could not tell us what would happen next. All those windows broken in several different buildings, a lot of questions, how to move forward in a community that's already shaken and hurting for a family that's lost the love of their life, Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Ryan Young, thank you so much. Let's bring in the former FDA commissioner, Dr. David Kessler, the author of Diet, Drugs and Dopamine, the New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight. And I want to ask you about the mission, the reason why you're here, about -- to talk about ultra processed foods. But as long as I have you, I do want to ask you about this because you are not part of the CDC, but you did help lead the fight against COVID through Operation Warp Speed under the Biden administration.

Take a listen to RFK Jr., the new HHS secretary, criticizing the government's pandemic response in a taped interview just two days after the CDC was targeted and shot at in this horrific incident. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Now, one of the things that. We saw during COVID is that the government was overreaching and in its efforts to persuade the public to get vaccinated. And they were saying things that were not always true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Speaking of saying things that weren't always true, RFK Jr. has falsely described the COVID shot as the deadliest vaccine ever made. Not true at all. It saved millions of lives. He's also contradicted law enforcement in those remarks saying there's not enough information about the gunman's motive in the CDC shooting when there is, according to the police. What's your reaction to his response?

DR. DAVID KESSLER, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER, G.H.W. BUSH: CDC was the target. Let's talk a little, and I've studied this, you know, this murder, suicide mindset. Reality is, you know, it's a form of depression. I hate myself. But I also can -- it can be, I'm very angry at who made me feel this way. People who have this mindset, they hang on to the words of others, the hateful words of others. Those words, you know, can become salient. They can resonate in these people's heads.

Now, I don't know this specific case.

TAPPER: Sure, right.

KESSLER: Okay. But I can tell you that words have consequences and CDC was made the target here.

TAPPER: So, The Washington Post reported on the anger that some CDC employees are feeling towards RFK Jr. Some of them protested against his visit at the CDC yesterday. One woman, Lauren Owens, a CDC scientist who joined the protest, told The Washington Post, I've never worked on anything nefarious. We're public servants and she was holding a sign that read RFK Jr.'s lies about vax safety and CDC scientists endanger us all.

Are you concerned about the rhetoric out there about the CDC, about the COVID vaccine from RFK Jr. and others?

KESSLER: My former colleagues at CDC, I worked with them side by side through Operation Warp Speed.

TAPPER: They're dedicated public servants,

KESSLER: 676 million vaccines, millions of lives saved. You know, my former colleagues at CDC are feeling very vulnerable, scared, and unsupported right now.

I mean, think about this, Jake, right? First administration, right, what was Trump's greatest success?

TAPPER: I think my personal opinion, although I'm not supposed to give my opinions, I think that Operation Warp Speed is one of the most fantastic achievements of any president, and that's Donald Trump.

KESSLER: I agree with you.

TAPPER: Yes.

KESSLER: I mean, you know, I worked for coming in on the second act, I mean --

TAPPER: Getting the shots into arms.

KESSLER: The arms and we did this, but enormous respect, right, for my colleagues who were there. We were --

TAPPER: Saved millions of lives.

[18:25:00]

KESSLER: Absolutely. I mean, I actually think Trump needs to reverse this HHS cancelation of the mRNA vaccine. I mean, you know, we don't -- you know what the question is there something about the data on these vaccines? You know, put it out. They didn't put it out.

TAPPER: Right.

KESSLER: But the head of the NIH said something this weekend, no the reason we canceled these because the people don't have trust in them. But who's undermining the trust? It was his greatest legacy.

TAPPER: It's -- well, that's like, the scene in that horror movie, he knows you're alone. The call is coming from inside the house.

Let's talk about the crackdown on ultra processed foods, which are things such as fast food, chips, hotdogs, candy, frozen foods. You filed a petition last week testing RFK Jr.'s commitment to fighting processed foods. Tell us about that and why you think he should be doing more.

KESSLER: So, the actual ingredients you ever pick up the package, you read the ingredients.

TAPPER: It's like a list of chemicals.

KESSLER: Invert sugars, maltose, maltodextran, corn syrups, corn solids. I mean, those were the things that, I mean, I question.

Understand how the law works. The law requires all food additives to be reasonable certainty of no harm. That's the burden. But there was this exception in the law. It said anything that was generally recognized as safe could come on the market.

And if you go back and you look in the 60s and 70s, the industry got these substances or all these emulsifiers in the new humectants, the corn syrups and the corn solids as generally recognized as safe. But you look at the science back in the 70s, they said no link with obesity, no link with diabetes.

TAPPER: But now we know there is a link.

KESSLER: So, how can it be -- it can no longer be generally recognized as safe. And that's the point that I raised. The law requires that.

TAPPER: So, very quickly, a new report published last week shows more than half the calories that kids and adults in the U.S. eat. And we should note, the United States is a rather obese country are from ultra processed foods. For a lot of low income families, this is what they can afford, right?

KESSLER: That's the argument.

TAPPER: So, what should -- KESSLER: That's the argument that the food industry gives you. They are providing food, but what they're really providing, right, is nutritionally inadequate food.

TAPPER: So, what do you want to --

KESSLER: Is it really cheaper? I mean, look at the chronic disease. 25 percent of us are going to end up with heart failure. A third of us are going to be diabetic. 25 percent are going to have a stroke, right? We can't afford that and it's starting in our kids.

TAPPER: All right. Dr. David Kessler, we'll have you back to talk about this again and again and again. Thanks so much.

Just into CNN, Texas Democrats are now weighing whether to return to the state and end the redistricting standoff. Why now? Our panel will weigh in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: This just in. Texas State House Democrats are currently holding a members-only meeting and discussing their next steps as they weigh how long to continue this standoff in which they deny Republicans a quorum, so they deny them the opportunity to create a new Congressional map. The discussions come as Republican signal they intend to end the current special session on Friday and call a new one immediately after to continue pushing this new map that would net Republicans in additional five House seats.

Let's discuss. Karen, Texas Democrats do not have the votes to block the redistricting measure. Do you think they were able to get their message across? Is it time for them to fold? What do you think?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think the country is more aware of what they're trying to do in Texas, and I know we've talked about as political gerrymandering, but it's really, it's racial gerrymandering if you look at the numbers. And so I think they've tried to raise that message. I think more people are aware of it. We've obviously seen the president talk about, now it might be, you know, five other cities or states where they're going to try to do this.

But I think they always knew that they were not likely. They're not likely to ultimately win, but this fight is worth it in order to get the awareness up that. I mean, because what we're talking about here, you know, Texas is a state where black, Latino and Asian Americans make up 60 percent of the population, but they only control 10 of the 38 Congressional seats. White Texans make up 40 percent, but they control 28 of the 38 seats. That's not fair.

TAPPER: Yes.

FINNEY: So, I think they're getting their message across. TAPPER: Governor Abbott said to me yesterday that one of the things that these redistricting plans will do is create more Latino districts and listen to what else he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Those runaway Democrats are required to act on that agenda. They're failing to do their duty.

I'm going to call special session after special session after special session. They could remain in hiding for literally years, tying the hands of the state of Texas from performing essential government needs. That cannot be allowed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Do you think Democrats are hurting themselves?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Potentially so, because they're being seen as not doing their jobs. And I've been involved in redistricting since very early in my career. My second internship at the RNC, I spent most of my time working on a racially gerrymandered Congressional district. It was the milwat district that stretched from Charlotte to Durham. And I've certainly seen this up close working in California politics.

And I think what one of the challenges that we see here is not just what's happening in Texas. This happens everywhere in the country. It's different in Texas because it's a big grab and because everything in Texas is bigger and they're doing it midyear. So, there's a --

FINNEY: Mid-decade.

TAPPER: -- time and decade, yes.

FINNEY: Mid-decade.

TAPPER: So, there's an scheduling argument on that, fine. But how many times, Jake, did you have on this show or a State of the Union, a Democrat who would say, we need more Adam Kinzingers? And what did Illinois Democrats do? Obviously, Texas Democrats went to Illinois. They redistricted Adam Kinzinger and Rodney Davis out of his district. Look at Massachusetts. We've re-elected Republican senators and Republican governors in Massachusetts.

[18:35:03]

We haven't a Republican member of Congress since 1996.

FINNEY: But we haven't had a Republican president who said, hey, find me 11,000 more votes, hey, find me five more seats, right? That's part of why this is happening. So, racial gerrymandering at the -- because the president says, hey, I need five more seats, oh, and if you could just diminish the political power of blacks and Latinos, that'd be great.

HEYE: So, I love Karen. I would right here quote Michael Corleone. We're both probably the same hypocrisy.

TAPPER: All right. So, Lauren, I want to turn to the president had a takeover of the D.C. Police Department. He's long been focused on the crime of and cleanliness of D.C. and other major urban centers. The White House said, of the 800-some agents deployed, federal agents deployed in D.C. yesterday, they made 23 arrests ranging from homicide to fair evasion hopping a turnstile at the metro. How much do you think is Trump posturing? How much of this is actually trying to clean up Washington?

LAUREN TOMLINSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think he's actually trying to clean up Washington. I think a little bit of it is posturing, right? But I think that there's such frustration that it has been going on for so long and Mayor Bowser and the city has been unable to do it. It's historic understaffing of police agents -- I mean, police officers. I think it's really interesting that the D.C. Police Union is so supportive of this, so adamant that this is what they needed as far as support. So, there needed to be a big shakeup.

And if this is the big shakeup, if it's 48 hours or 30 days, depending on how long the emergency is declared, and how long they're able to justify this, if it jolts the conversation and makes me Bowser do more, I think, to protect the city, then that's a good thing.

TAPPER: And, Karen, let me just say, yes, Brian Todd did a piece for us earlier in the show. And one of the things he did was interview an African American woman, I believe, in southeast, community activist, and she was like, great. We need less crime in the city.

FINNEY: Well, here's the thing. As we know, crime rates are down, also down in all the cities led by black mayors that the president happened to mention the other day. This is not how you reduce crime. What you do is you would go -- you wouldn't take a billion dollars out of the D.C. budget if you really cared about safety and security in the city. You would go to the mayor and say, look, this crime violence interruption program seemed to be working. What more do you need to make that more effective. You don't take away money for the security of the city. You don't take them away -- you don't kill job corps, you don't kill meals for poor kids, you don't increase healthcare costs.

So, this is --

TOMLINSON: But I do think though what's interesting is The Atlantic, of all places, had a great article that was reporting that there's this idea of the few that keep perpetrating the same crimes. And D.C. is one of these places where they're not actively prosecuting. So, it's the same people going out --

TAPPER: Well, especially if they're underage teenagers.

TOMLINSON: Especially if they're under 18 (INAUDIBLE) carjacking.

TAPPER: Or there's a cash bail.

TOMLINSON: Yes. FINNEY: But that same piece also said that the way Trump is going about this is not actually how you would do it if you were trying to go after those individuals.

TOMLINSON: If you get these people and you get them off the streets on a permanent basis, it would reduce crime by 60 percent.

FINNEY: If you cut the budget, you can't convict people.

HEYE: The kids that mugged me five blocks from here two years ago did the same thing half an hour earlier, a mile away, and the cop said, good luck, we're never going to catch them. One way, if we catch them --

FINNEY: How many years ago?

HEYE: Two years ago.

FINNEY: Two years ago.

HEYE: Okay.

FINNEY: Crime is going down. It's the same.

HEYE: Great. Let's go to Union Station, three blocks from here, and I can talk about the girl brawl that I saw two weeks ago. I can talk about the public masturbation that I saw. That was fun. I can talk about all kinds of public urination and all kinds of things that we see in real time.

FINNEY: So, is cutting the budget for D.C. is the way to make that better?

HEYE: No. I think the first thing we can do once we catch these -- I think the best thing that this president can do, aside from declaring emergencies, which he does on everything, is if we want to fix this problem, yes, increase policing, but also appoint judges. So when we do catch those kids who mugged me and somebody else on Capitol Hill, that they have a trial and they go to jail. We have a real judicial shortage here. That's one of the things that Trump can do it now.

TAPPER: Let me just say, on behalf of everybody, I'm sorry you were mugged.

HEYE: They didn't get me.

FINNEY: Sure.

TAPPER: Thanks everyone for being here. I appreciate it.

Our small business series takes us to Washington State next, where the owner of three toy and gift shop, Says she's struggling under the weight of the tariffs, despite mainly working with U.S. manufacturers. So, is she being forced to raise price prices on customers? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

TAPPER: We are back with our Business Leaders series, where we talk to small business owners from coast to coast to see what they think about Trump's tariffs. In Tacoma, Washington, the Paper Luxe and The Curious Bear are retail shops to sell stationary gifts and toys.

Owner Jennifer Luna joins us now. Jennifer, how, if at all, have tariffs impacted your stores, your business?

JENNIFER LUNA, OWNER AND CEO, THE KINDSHIP: Well, thanks for having me, and especially for continuing to shine a light on small businesses. I feel in the tariff conversation we've often been forgotten and not brought to the table, so thank you.

Tariffs are definitely impacting us. We haven't 100 percent felt that immediately, but what I can tell you are two things, first and foremost is price increases. We're at the point in the tariff game where all the inventory that was stateside prior to the tariffs has been sold through and everything that we're buying for our stores is now goods that American businesses have paid a tariff on, anywhere from 10 percent to over 150 percent.

So, they're increasing their cost to us pretty much across the board. We're seeing anywhere from 10 percent to 30 percent increases. And as much as I would love to absorb that cost as a small business, razor thin margins, there's no room for that. So, I think customers and consumers are going to have a big shock when it comes to fourth quarter to holiday buying. And my biggest fear is that there'll be a tipping point where even our most loyal customers who love to shop small and local, it's going to be too much for them and they'll go to the big box stores.

TAPPER: So --

LUNA: And then the second part --

TAPPER: Go ahead. I'm sorry.

LUNA: I was going to say the other big thing besides the price increasing that is affecting small businesses like mine is the instability. Back in March, we were putting in offers on different places to open another toy store that's been in the works for a long time. But then the tariffs hit and immediately my gut said, no way, no way, we're not doing this right now because how can you open a store when you don't know if it's going to cost you $100,000 in products or $200,000.

[18:45:01]

That's the difference between viable and not viable.

TAPPER: So, inflation held steady in July. We did see some products see some price increase due to tariffs, but not enough to impact average inflation. Have you had to raise your prices yet? LUNA: Yes. It's very slowly trickling out. You'll see it in different industries. For example, we have two stationery and gift stores. A lot of that is greeting cards made in the U.S. and Canada. So we haven't really seen the increases quite as much there.

But in our toy store, for example, where 80 percent of toys are made in China, yes, we've immediately felt those impacts. All of our prices are going up and we've had to frontload a lot of inventory to avoid availability issues and significant increases.

So, the short answer is yes, and it will be more so come holiday time.

TAPPER: How have you seen customer behavior change since the tariffs were enacted?

LUNA: Yeah, it's funny because sales are kind of strong right now. If you look at just data points. But what we've noticed is that parents, grandparents, they are trying to buy those big ticket items, especially right now, and stocking up because they know prices are going to go up. So, while sales have been good, that doesn't necessarily translate to them continuing to be good come fourth quarter when they've already bought a lot of their products.

TAPPER: We only have about 30 seconds left.

If you could tell President Trump anything about tariffs, what would you want to tell him?

LUNA: You know, if you truly want to make America great, you cannot forget about main street, plain and simple. We're struggling and we need help.

TAPPER: And if you live in Tacoma, Washington, you can stop by the paper luxe or the curious bear shops. Are they online? Jennifer, can people shop online and buy stuff if they want?

LUNA: Absolutely. Paperlocks.com and curiousbeartoys.com.

TAPPER: All right. Jennifer Luna, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

The wildest dreams of many Swifties are coming true. What we're learning about the new album Taylor Swift surprisingly announced last night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:49]

TAPPER: In our pop culture lead, welcome to a new era for Taylor Swift.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: This is my brand new album, "The Life of A Showgirl". (YELLING)

TRAVIS KELCE, NFL PLAYER: TS 12.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Taylor Swift rolling out a new album in style on new heights. Her boyfriend -- her boyfriend Travis Kelce's podcast with his brother, former Super Bowl winning Philadelphia Eagle Jason Kelce.

Fans hope that Taylor Swift will reveal the albums release date on the full episode, which drops tomorrow.

Swifties, all of you Swifties out there, I know that you are ready for it right now, but you need to calm down.

CNN's chief data mastermind, Harry Enten, is here to fill the Taylor Swift blank space in our hearts.

Harry, what are you watching for tomorrow?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: First off, I am not calming down at all, okay, Jake Tapper? I am not calming down. My excitement level is through the roof and I will tell you what am I watching for tomorrow?

Well, you know, you mentioned the podcast, and I think what's so important to note is, is this going to be the most listened to podcast episode ever? Because take a look here. New heights podcast ranking. You go back a few weeks ago, they weren't even in the top 150.

Now, without even the podcast episode out, guess where they rank? They rank numero uno on the Apple charts. My goodness gracious. There are a lot of folks who are interested in this podcast coming out and just wondering, when the heck is this actual album going to drop? Thus, the question remains.

TAPPER: So, her Eras Tour concert, shattered records. I mean, Swiftie army is unbeatable. Are there any records left for Taylor Swift to break?

ENTEN: I think there's one very big record left to break. What are we talking about here? Let's take a look at the Billboard top artists of the year. It has never happened three times in a row that the same artist won three years in a row.

But Taylor Swift's got a shot because she was the number one artist in 2023. The number one artist in 2024. If this album gets released this year, as we expect it to be, and it goes to the top of the charts, and she has the number one song, she could in fact be the number one artist three years in a row.

Billboard's been keeping track of this since the early 1980s. It has never happened, but I believe in the Swifties and I believe in Taylor Swift, and I believe that Taylor Swift can break this record like she's broken so many records before, Jake. TAPPER: So, my teenage daughter woke me and my wife up last night to

tell us that this was happening. You'd think from the way Swifties are reacting that it had been years since she had last released an album.

ENTEN: Yeah, I will just tell you, I wish that I could do as much work in a year that Taylor Swift can do, because the bottom line is she is relentless, Jake. She is relentless. Taylor swift albums released. You know, you go back over basically the first decade of her career, 2006 to 2015. She released one, two, three, four and five.

But look at this. Since 2016, over the last decade, she has doubled. She has doubled her output, she has released 11, including the latest album, which we of course believe will be released this year. And of course, this does include re-recordings. But she's doing so much, Jake, she is doing so much doubling the output.

The only question I have left because I am a big believer in love, Jake Tapper. I'm a big believer in love. Will she actually get engaged to the famous Chiefs tight end Mr. Kelce? At this particular point, the betting markets say there's only a 26 percent chance that it happens this year. But as I said, leading into this slide, I'm a big believer in love. I'm a big believer in the Kelce-Swift relationship.

And I just believe that they are going to do it. They are going to get engaged and they're going to make all of us. So fantastically excited, just like we all are. For the release date of that album, which of course will come in about 24 hours, I believe, Jake.

TAPPER: Well, Harry, I to admire miss swift. I too, applaud love. I will note that her magic dust did not work at the Super Bowl in New Orleans earlier this year, when she was rooting for the wrong team. But that's okay, because she has succeeded in so many other ways.

Harry Enten, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

TAPPER: A tropical storm in the Atlantic is poised to become the first major storm as hurricane season kicks in, we're going to take a look at the timing next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:59:07]

TAPPER: Our last leads start in our money lead as photography company Eastman Kodak is warning it may not survive much longer. The company's been in business for 133 years, but is currently struggling to find financing to pay its upcoming debt obligations. Kodak says the decision is not a result of the new tariffs, since many of its parts are made in the United States.

And our world lead, Tropical Storm Erin is tracking west over the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters expect the storm to become the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. It's too early to know what threat Erin poses for the Caribbean,

Bermuda, or even the U.S., but forecasters say it could become a hurricane as soon as tomorrow night, with potential to grow into at least a category three major hurricane this weekend.

In our out of this world lead, the Perseid meteor shower, also known as the best meteor shower of the year, starts peaking tomorrow it starts, sorry, starts peaking tonight into tomorrow. Viewing visibility is not currently in the favor of the U.S. East Coast, but if you're in the Central and Western United States, you might be able to see up to 100 shooting stars per hour.

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