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Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) On House Debate Over Trump's Agenda Bill; DOJ Opens Investigation Into Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Availability Ends For Cheaper Versions of Popular Weight-Loss Drugs. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 21, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. New this morning America's billionaires got a lot richer over the past year. It must be nice. This as Republicans on Capitol Hill are debating the president's tax and spending bill that could make the wealthiest Americans even more wealthy while leading to deep cuts in certain safety net programs.

Matt Egan here with the latest on this. Good for those billionaires.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, John. It must be nice, as you said. But look, this really highlights America's inequality problem, right?

Oxfam found that the top 10 richest Americans got $365 billion richer in just the past year. Now this measures their net worth from April 2024 to April 2025. And this, of course, comes despite the fact that there was that scary market drop earlier this year. This amounts to these billionaires gaining a billion dollars collectively each day, which is pretty stunning.

And to put a finer point on things here, Oxfam also found that it would take 10 typical workers making median earnings 726,000 years to make $365 billion. It's kind of a mind-blowing stat there.

Now as far as who got richer, the top 10 list includes legendary investor Warren Buffett. He got $35 billion richer over the last year. Jim Walton and Rob Walton, the Walmart heirs, almost $40 billion. Thirty-nine billion dollars for Mark Zuckerberg. But far and away this list, of course, is led not surprisingly by Elon Musk who got $186 billion richer in again, just the past year.

So I asked the White House about these findings and concerns about inequality and a spokesperson argued that wealth and equality got better during Trump's first term and that this legislation being debated by House Republicans would restore prosperity for Main Street.

But John, nonpartisan experts -- they are warning that this legislation would, in fact, make the richer even richer while simultaneously cutting almost a trillion dollars from Medicaid and food stamps.

BERMAN: Well -- and overnight we got a new score about how much this legislation will cost.

EGAN: Yeah, a lot of money. This is coming from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. They're finding that this legislation would add almost $4 trillion in debt over a decade. This comes completely contradicting what the White House said just the other day, arguing that this would not add to the deficit.

Keep in mind this would just add to the mountain of debt that the U.S. already has. Now that's, of course, a bipartisan problem. Republicans and Democrats alike can share some blame. But this debate over the House GOP tax cuts are -- it's coming at a time when there's these growing concerns about the fiscal mess, right?

Moody's, just the other day, cut America's perfect credit rating, and there are these concerns that this would also add to inequality. This is the nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model -- they say that the top 10 percent of earners would get 65 percent of the gains here, and the bottom 20 percent -- they would lose $1,000 each next year due to these cuts to Medicaid and also food stamps -- John.

BERMAN: That is what they will be debating. They're debating right now as we speak in the --

EGAN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- House Rules Committee but later today on the House floor probably.

Matt, thank you very much.

EGAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And that is the story that will be developing all throughout this morning, which is really just Capitol Hill and what is happening.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says that the president's agenda -- that bill may head to the floor for a full vote tonight. Is he being overly optimistic? We will see since, so far, the divisions still remain among Republicans themselves over this massive tax and spending bill the House majority is trying to push through.

A key committee is still meeting right now after beginning their hearing at 1:00 a.m. this morning. The House Speaker all the while working behind the scenes on making changes just enough, he hopes, to get enough Republicans on board, but what those changes are still not known.

Joining us right now to talk about the state of things is Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California. Congressman, thank you for coming in.

You were up late into the night as well taking part in proposing some of the amendments to the bill in the Rules Committee. Where do you think this is headed today? Do you think that it's going

to head to the floor?

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): We will see. But I have 14 amendments that will help lower the cost of living for Americans, making sure that we tax billionaires in order to do that. And there's Democrats -- other Democrats have another 520 amendments to offer. So we're going to sit there and debate this bill and really highlight how it's going to hurt average working people.

Remember, this bill -- this is a tax sheet basically of the income levels and how much they're going to get taxed under this bill. And guess what? People making under $30,000 a year are going to see tax increases going over the next decade.

BOLDUAN: So the reality of not having the majority is you're offering the amendments and in doing so helping to slow the process down, but you cannot stop it.

[07:35:00]

What other procedures can you all use or what other procedures do you plan to use to try to slow this down?

GOMEZ: So one of the things that we want to slow it down in order for people to have time to organize their communities to tell people what's at stake. How people are cutting Medicaid, and half of children here in this country are born on Medicaid. Half of the -- 50 percent of the people in rural communities.

We're going to highlight those issues and we're going to organize, organize, organize to slow it even down further, and we're going to show up and fight.

Other things that we can do is we can actually do things on the floor. Hakeem Jeffries still has his magic minute that he can use. And remember, the last time Pelosi did it she did it for 15 hours.

So we're going to have this debate but our job is to slow it down enough so the American people see what's going on and what the Republicans are trying to get away with.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, is that -- is that in discussion using the -- we'll call it -- just continue to call it the magic minute to kind of hold up the floor?

GOMEZ: I recommended to him to use the magic minute in order to really emphasize what's at stake because we have to -- we have to fight. And the people out there know that we're outnumbered in the House. That they control the Senate and they control the White House. But they want to see us like a prizefighter. Even if we're going to lose every single round, we better be throwing punches. And that's what we want to see on the House floor and in the Rules Committee.

BOLDUAN: So in an interesting and a bit of a surprise move Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen was able to get a standalone bill pushed through in the Senate yesterday on no tax on tips. It eliminates taxes on tips -- eliminating taxes on tips is one of the broadly popular policies that is included in the House Republican bill.

Are you worried what it will mean if and when you vote against that? I mean, you're going to have to vote against that aspect of this massive tax and spending bill if you -- when you -- when you do vote against the whole thing. Are you worried what that means for you?

GOMEZ: No. I co-sponsored a bill by Steven Horsford that actually is a true banning of tax on tips. That's a real bill. What the Republicans have in their budget reconciliation isn't that. It doesn't do -- it actually -- it does a little bit, but not enough. We asked the Joint Committee on Taxation, and they say that people who earn tips are still going to be paying taxes on those tips.

So it's not even real. It's a -- it's a lie. And what we want to see is a real ban on taxes on tips. But here's the thing.

BOLDUAN: But --

GOMEZ: When you're taking away people's Medicaid it's going to even make things even worse for them.

BOLDUAN: But Jacky Rosen's bill now heads to the House. I mean, what can you do with that?

GOMEZ: Well, if the Republicans bring it up, we're happy to support it because that's one of the things that Democrats always know that if it can help working people.

Here's the thing. Right now what their budget reconciliation is doing is that they're taking money from all these programs that help the working class -- people that actually make tips in order to make a living -- and they're giving that to the billionaires.

We don't want that -- to see that. But if there's something specific to help working people, like people who work in the services industry -- heck yeah, we're going to support that.

BOLDUAN: All right. Let's see what happens in the coming hours.

Congressman, thank you for your time -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, we learned that the Justice Department has opened an investigation into former New York governor Andrew Cuomo over his testimony to Congress about the pandemic. Cuomo is a top candidate for mayor of New York City.

The investigation comes after Justice Department officials ended a corruption prosecution of Eric Adams, the current mayor and Cuomo's chief rival in the race. Adams has vowed to help the president's immigration crackdown.

Let's get right to CNN's Katelyn Polantz in Washington about this investigation. Good morning to you.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

This is now the confirmation that the Justice Department is investigating Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York.

John, it dates back to whenever Cuomo was testifying to Congress on Capitol Hill. And Republicans have repeatedly accused him of lying to them because at the time they say that Cuomo was downplaying his state's response when he was governor to the impact of the pandemic -- COVID-19 -- on nursing home patients. That the state health department report early in the pandemic really underestimated significantly nursing home death counts and that Cuomo, they say, played a role in that and lied to them.

Now, Cuomo's spokesperson Rich Azzopardi -- he gave a statement to CNN that says, "We have never been informed of any such matter [like this investigation], so why would someone leak it now? The answer is obvious. This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple -- something President Trump and his top Justice Department officials say they are against. Governor Cuomo testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the subcommittee. But from the beginning this was all transparently political."

[07:40:08]

John, that statement makes reference to the political intrigue around here. It's not just that Cuomo is running in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, trying to revive his political career and could face, if he wins that primary, Eric Adams running as an Independent in the general election. But also there was a referral from congressional Republicans on this very accusation last year to the Justice Department under President Joe Biden, and that did not result in an investigation. Now the Trump administration is investigating him, saying they want to have one tier of justice for all Americans -- John.

BERMAN: We will see where this goes. A lot of politics involved here.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you very much for that -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also new developments out of Louisiana this morning. Authorities have recaptured a fifth escapee from a New Orleans jail. Five more men still on the run this morning.

And we're learning more about Friday's jailbreak -- that it was apparently an inside job. A 33-year-old maintenance worker is now under arrest and facing charges for allegedly helping the 10 men escape on Friday. That man that you see right there -- he is claiming that he was threatened by one of the convicts and forced essentially to help them.

CNN's Ryan Young has been tracking this, and he has the very latest for us. And Ryan, what more are you learning?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kate, this really plays out like a movie script at this point. That maintenance worker saying that one of those inmates threatened to "shank" him if he did not turn off the water. If the water was not turned off that hole that we've all seen for the last few days -- when they broke through that area the water would have flooded into the cell, stopping the men from being able to escape.

What we do know happened -- what happened is the water was shut off. They were able to get through this hole. You see they left that note saying "It's too easy" and they went right across the highway.

Five of them have been captured. Crimestoppers playing an enormous role in this. From what we're told tips from the public have helped catch so many of these inmates so far. And at this point, 200 agents are on the ground tracking these men even as we speak.

But you think about that maintenance worker who was threatened with his own life at some point and then had to shut that water off for those men to escape.

Take a listen to the sheriff though who is taking full responsibility for what happened and the fact of what she plans to do next -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF SUSAN HUTSON, ORLEANS PARISH: This was a coordinated effort aided by individuals inside our own agency who made the choice to break the law. One arrest has been made, and we are continuing to pursue everyone involved. And that investigation is active and ongoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yeah, Kate, as you can imagine, this investigation is far from over. The governor is actually sending auditors down to that jail right now -- 10 of them -- seasoned auditors. The last time that jail was gone through was about 2014, so they'll be looking to put some things in place so this won't happen again.

There have been failures in terms of notifying the public, but I think it's important to note that the Crimestoppers element and the public has been calling in and turning a lot of these guys in -- five so far -- all caught in the New Orleans area -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Let's see what happens today.

Ryan, thank you very much for the update -- John.

BERMAN: Wait for the music. All right, this morning OKC -- they turned it around after a slow start taking game one of the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Andy Scholes is with us now. The Thunder thundering.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: That's right. Yeah, John, the Thunder -- they've been the most dominant team in the NBA all season long and they certainly showed why in game one against the Timberwolves. I mean, their defense just so relentless in the fourth quarter. They really turned it up a notch.

Here they get the steal and Julius Randle and then they give it to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Goes coast-to-coast and gets the and one. He finished with 31 and showed why he would likely be the MVP.

And the Thunder -- they outscored the T-wolves 70 to 40 in the second half. They held Minnesota to just 20 points in the paint, which is the lowest in a game since 2015. OKC takes game one 114-88.

And tonight's the night Knicks fans have been waiting 25 years for. Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Knicks and Pacers tip off at 8:00 Eastern and you can watch that one on TNT or screen it on Max.

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs defending champs -- a successful start to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Panthers jumping on the Hurricanes from the start to the dismay of that home crowd in Raleigh.

In the third period things get chippy in this one. Brad Marchand -- he tried to take out Shayne Gostisbehere. Well, Gostisbehere -- then when he has the puck, he's just going to fire it right at Marchand. And then it was on. The two tango for a bit before being separated.

It was Marchan and the Panthers though happy afterwards. They win 5-2.

[07:45:00]

The Hurricanes -- they've now lost 13-straight Eastern Conference Finals games.

All right. And finally, NFL players -- they are coming to the Olympics in 2028. The owners voting unanimously to allow players to compete in the first-ever flag football competition at the Games. And Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson -- well, he's super-excited for the chance to go for gold in L.A.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN JEFFERSON, WIDE RECEIVER, MINNESOTA VIKINGS: You know, just think about the chances of playing in our Olympics and getting a gold medal is a dream. You know, just reverting back to being a kid and watching the track and field meets, watching basketball win the gold medal. So that's something that as a kid I always wanted to be a part of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah. So each NFL team can have a max of one American player compete. So it could be pretty cool to see Patrick Mahomes throwing to a Justin Jefferson and whatnot.

The NFL owners meeting is wrapping up today, John, and we will find out the fate of the tush push -- whether it is going to be banned or allowed to continue.

BERMAN: We will be on the edge of our seats, Andy, on that. See what I did there? All right, that one didn't land very well.

Andy Scholes, thank you very much for that.

Seats -- we'll be on the edge of our seats for the tush --

BOLDUAN: I get it. I get it. And I was resisting --

BERMAN: -- push.

BOLDUAN: I was resisting --

BERMAN: All right.

BOLDUAN: -- the urge when I snuck up behind you --

BERMAN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- to just try to pull off the play.

BERMAN: Exactly -- all to get a touchdown, as he said.

BOLDUAN: It's all in for the greater good --

BERMAN: Right.

BOLDUAN: -- because --

BERMAN: All for the game.

BOLDUAN: -- we here at CNN NEWS CENTRAL stand with the tush push. Yes, we do.

Can I do this now?

BERMAN: Yeah, please.

BOLDUAN: OK.

New video shows the terrifying moments a dump truck driver loses control and crashes full speed into a New Jersey home. Can you imagine?

And one very special commencement address is coming. Sara Sidner sits down with everyone's favorite frog for a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up we are sitting down with Kermit the Frog -- yes, the frog. He's here with us and he's giving us some life lessons that we can use throughout our lives. Kermit, do you have anything you want to say?

KERMIT THE FROG, MUPPET: Yeah, a quick one. Always use sunscreen. How was that?

SIDNER: That was pretty good. KERMIT THE FROG: Hmm.

SIDNER: I -- but there's more. There's a lot more.

KERMIT THE FROG: Yeah, man, what's important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:51:45]

BERMAN: This week an FDA crackdown on compounding pharmacy versions of Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs. This means off-brand versions of these popular weight loss and diabetes drugs will no longer be produced and sold, essentially tightening supply.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard is here. So what exactly does this all mean?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: John, what this means is starting tomorrow, May 22, the FDA says it's going to start this broader crackdown on the production and sale of compounded versions of these popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs, like Ozempic.

Now, in some cases, some patients may still be able to access compounded versions but it's going to be a broader crackdown that we're going to see happen.

And the reason why -- when you think back to when compounded versions began, in 2022, the FDA made certain allowances for compounded pharmacies to step in to help supply when we saw a shortage of these popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs. So we saw a shortage of the branded versions. So compounding pharmacies were allowed to step in to provide these compounded versions.

Well, in February of this year, the FDA said the shortage has ended and therefore allowances for compounded versions is coming to an end, John.

BERMAN: How many people use these compounded versions?

HOWARD: We do know tens of thousands of people each month use these compounded versions, so this will impact many people out there. These compounded versions, again, are also cheaper than the branded versions. In some cases we will see some patients still access these, but it will be interesting to see as this broader crackdown happens what enforcement may look like moving forward, John.

BERMAN: All right, we will watch that closely.

Jacqueline Howard, thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also new this morning Pope Leo held the first general audience of his papacy in St. Peter's Square today. The pope urged Israel to allow -- in his remarks he urged Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and for an end to the hostilities. The pope said, "The heartbreaking price is being paid by the children, the elderly, and the sick."

Israel is mounting a global pressure campaign over -- is facing global pressure over Gaza as the Israeli military is expanding its Gaza operation and trying to put more pressure on Hamas to get the terrorist group to finally release the remaining 58 hostages. Gaza's Civil Defense Agency said overnight strikes killed at least 19 people, including children.

Beloved "CHEERS" actor George Wendt has died. Wendt is best known for his iconic role, of course, as Norm in the hit show "CHEERS."

His co-star Real Perlman called him "the sweetest, kindest man that she'd ever met."

The Cheers bar in Boston posted this picture to honor him, saying "We're looking toward your spot at the bar and you're not there."

His family says that he passed away peacefully at home. George Wendt was 76 years old.

And there were some really scary moments caught on dashcam. Look at this -- and this not sped up -- the moment a dump truck smashed directly into a New Jersey home. Police say the driver lost control, hit a utility pole, and then crashed into the house. The truck was traveling at something like 50 miles an hour when it crashed. Police believe the driver may have had a medical emergency.

[07:55:10]

The homeowner was inside at the time and taken to the hospital thankfully with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver was trapped inside the truck for hours before first responders managed to pull him out -- John.

BERMAN: It kind of looked like just the home was all but knocked down. I mean --

BOLDUAN: It was crazy.

BERMAN: -- the home didn't survive. Wow.

BOLDUAN: I know. Look at that.

BERMAN: All right.

Tomorrow one of America's great journalists and great frogs will be the commencement speaker at the University of Maryland. This is to honor the history between the university and Muppets creator Jim Henson, a graduate in 1960.

We teased it right there. Our very own Sara Sidner got to spend some time with Kermit as he was preparing for this commencement speech. I hope you didn't get in his head too much because he's got a lot to do.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, he almost blew his top with a couple of the questions that I asked him, but I love it when he does that. They're calling it, John, the "Kermencement" just so you know.

But it is interesting. Jim Henson graduated from the University of Maryland in 1960, and he got a degree in home economics. I don't know if that is still offered at this time.

But Kermit is offering up some life lessons, telling people to leap into the future. And also, he spilled some tea on what he thinks about his friends going over to a streaming network.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: I would like to start with a song.

KERMIT THE FROG: OK.

SIDNER AND KERMIT THE FROG: (Singing) "Rainbow Connection."

KERMIT THE FROG: That's pretty good.

SIDNER: I try. I try. I'm so glad we began this with a song, Kermit.

There's a lot going on in the world, Kermit --

KERMIT THE FROG: Um-hum.

SIDNER: -- as you well know.

KERMIT THE FROG: Yeah.

SIDNER: So what would you say to someone if they said frogs, and puppets, and public television weren't really worth the money?

KERMIT THE FROG: Hmm. Well, you know, what I would say I think all that stuff is part of the arts, and the arts are for everyone, you know -- even a little humble little frog from the swamp. I'm not sure who I would be if I wasn't an artist. And art and creativity -- they've helped me find out what I'm good at and meet my people and make millions of people happy.

SIDNER: Your people.

KERMIT THE FROG: Um-hum.

SIDNER: The Muppets.

KERMIT THE FROG: Yeah.

SIDNER: How do you stay calm while leading a group of totally chaotic, all over the place friends?

KERMIT THE FROG: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the Muppets, alright. When you're a -- you know, you're in something together with friends and with like-minded folks it kind of feels less intimidating, I think.

You know, it kind of is something that's a little calming. And when it's not possible to be with friends and like-minded folks like I said, you know, and I'm on stage alone, I just kind of remind myself that I have those friends out there somewhere and they believe in me. So why shouldn't I believe in me too? And that kind of makes me calm.

SIDNER: I love that. This is a bit impromptu because I was just thinking about it, but when you blow your top it actually makes me feel better because sometimes I blow my top.

KERMIT THE FROG: Oh, really?

SIDNER: Yeah.

KERMIT THE FROG: Well, I try not to but sometimes the feelings come out, you know? It's better not to just kind of bury those feelings down deep inside and just kind of like let them out, you know. It can be frustrating. You know what I'm saying?

SIDNER: I know exactly what you're saying.

KERMIT THE FROG: I'm really sorry doing this in an interview situation. You touched a nerve a little bit there.

SIDNER: OK. Are you going to be alright?

KERMIT THE FROG: No, I'm going to be fine. Yeah, I'm going to be fine.

SIDNER: OK. I just want to make sure nothing wild happens while we're doing this.

KERMIT THE FROG: No, nothing wild is going to happen I assure you. Animal is not in the room, is he? No?

SIDNER: I don't see him. But I love Animal. I think he is my spirit animal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And John, there was some advice that I think was particular for you actually. He wrote it in his new book, which is called "Before You Leap: A Frog's-eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons." And here is one that I thought would be good to share with you.

"You should never bite the hand that feeds you. It's not kind, it is not sanitary, and rabies shots hurt like the dickens."

BERMAN: Yeah, I will take that to heart.

I also loved your question -- you know, how do you manage to stay calm when you work with so many creatures made of cloth? I think that is very appropriate. I identify. I very much identify with that.

SIDNER: Do you, now?

BERMAN: Yeah, just saying, just saying.

So Kermit -- you know, look, he's got a lot on his plate. He gets around. How does he do it? How does he manage it all, Sara Sidner?

SIDNER: OK. This is one of those things that -- like, these are the little details that will stay with me for the rest of my life. There is an actual job called "the Muppet wrangler." And the Muppet wrangler was there to make sure that everyone was in their place. That there was no wild Muppets running around doing things they weren't supposed to be doing. And making sure that Kermit was on time and had all his stuff together.