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Ted Deutch is Interviewed about the Jewish Museum Shooting; Three Arrested for Helping Escaped Inmates; David Yaffe-Bellany is Interviewed about Trump's Memecoin; Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) is Interviewed about Trump's Bill Passage. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 22, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:40]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And back to our breaking news this morning.

Two staffers at the Israeli embassy in Washington were shot at close range and killed overnight. This happened outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where they were taking part in an interfaith event. Police say the suspect said that he did it for Palestine. He's seen on video shouting "free Palestine" as he's being taken into custody.

The staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, they were a couple. And the Israeli ambassador told reporters early this morning that they were soon to be engaged.

Police have identified the suspect as a 30-year-old man from Chicago. Video obtained by CNN appears to show him being patted down by law enforcement, and police say that he was pacing back and forth outside the museum before carrying out this attack.

Now, after the shooting, according to people at the scene, the suspect actually went into the museum where others were trying to take shelter, and those inside offered him comfort and water, not knowing that he was the suspected shooter. Several minutes later, police moved in and they say that he confessed to the crime.

The couple who was killed was attending an event at the museum, and it was hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

And joining us right now is the CEO of the American Jewish Committee, Ted Deutch, the former congressman from Florida.

Congressman, thank you for being here.

TED DEUTCH, CEO, AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: What more can you tell us about what happened last night? I'm sure you've had no sleep.

DEUTCH: Well, there is an ongoing investigation, obviously. And what happened last night was a horrific tragedy. What happened last night is a reminder that -- that words have consequences. It's a reminder that anti-Semitism, left unchecked can turn violent.

And when, quite frankly, Kate, when -- when people dress like terrorists, use the slogans of terrorists and -- and think that there won't be these kinds of consequences, last night reminds us why it's so important for us to fight back against anti-Semitism and the kind of rhetoric, the kind of vicious, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel rhetoric that puts people's lives at risk and that last night, horrifically, actually took two incredible people from our earth. Sarah and Yaron are people that I knew, people that AJC worked very closely with.

[08:35:06]

Yaron, an Israeli who was looking forward to going back to -- to Israel to celebrate the holidays with his family. And, Sarah, an American Jew from the Midwest, who was working at the embassy. This is a -- a tragedy. An enormous tragedy. But also it's got to be a call to action.

BOLDUAN: I didn't (ph) appreciate that you knew them personally. The Israeli ambassador said that they were about to be engaged, Congressman.

DEUTCH: Look, the -- the picture that's -- that's making -- making the rounds on social media of the two of them is -- is a picture that I think everyone needs to look at. The -- this is not about -- this is not just about -- about fighting anti-Semitism. This is about America and the world and the kind of world that we want to live in and whether we're prepared to simply tolerate the kind of horrific anti- Semitism and incitement that leads to violence and the -- and the murder of incredible people like Yaron and Sarah. That's what we all have to -- to fight against.

And it's not just the Jewish community. Our community is resilient, Kate. We will stand up. We will be proud. We will fight back. It's that -- the -- the people across the country and the world, so many of whom have reached out to offer support. It's all of them who need to stand together against anti-Semitism, whether they're a college professor or a doctor (INAUDIBLE) they are. We cannot just allow anti- Semitism to go unchecked, because when it does, it leads to the kind of awful, horrific violence that -- that we saw last night. And that is obviously affecting me and AJC and the entire Jewish community around the world who feels very, very much at risk and is reminded why this is such a fraught moment for our community.

BOLDUAN: And we all should be affected by it. If not, then that's part of the problem. I mean what -- talk about what the event was about. We've heard -- I've heard that it was an interfaith -- interfaith event. I mean it almost seems all the more shocking because of what this event that you were hosting was entirely about.

DEUTCH: Yes, it's a -- it was an event for our -- our young leaders. It's an event that brings together young people, Jewish and non- Jewish, young diplomats from across the Washington area, to focus on ways to work together, to learn from one another.

Last night's session was on humanitarian diplomacy. Humanitarian diplomacy. The idea of how to work together to bring about peace and a better world. That's -- that's what had just ended when this -- when this murderer came and --and gunned down Sarah and Yaron. And you're right, anti-Semitism never just affects the Jewish community. It -- we've been saying this over and over, and last night, as a reminder, it affects our entire community. This happened in our nation's capital. And the Trump administration and -- and Mayor Bowser and her team and the police and everyone has responded so remarkably well and powerfully.

But if this can happen in Washington, this kind of brutal attack on the Jewish community, it represents an attack as well on our -- on our society, on the kind of country we want to live in. That's -- that's what this was about.

And you're right, last night's event should have sent people home feeling hopeful, feeling that there is a brighter future ahead for all of us. And instead, we're reminded again of the awful reality that we live in still.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And for Sarah and Yaron, may their memory be a blessing.

Congressman, thank you for your time.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, right now, authorities are continuing to search for five of the ten inmates who escaped from a Louisiana jail, as we learn more about how they made it out in the first place, and who is being accused of helping them.

Plus, the White House set to release a plan to make America healthy again. What we expect from the report put together by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Those stories and more ahead.

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[08:43:46]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, two new arrests in connection with the escape of ten inmates from a Louisiana jail. Five inmates are still on the loose. The first person to be arrested was a maintenance worker at the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, arrested for allegedly helping with the jailbreak.

Now we learned that two women were also arrested for allegedly helping the inmates after they broke out.

Let's get right to CNN's senior national correspondent Ryan Young, who's got the latest on this.

What are you hearing this morning, Ryan?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, the big question now is, who knew what and when. Of course, the maintenance worker's attorney is basically saying his guy is not good for this. That he was just doing his job. The two women apparently may have provided food and a ride. But how much did they know about the men after they escaped?

We have so many questions about this case, especially what tools were used. Was this a big plan where all ten expected to get in a certain cell and then go through the door? That's not been answered just yet. And, of course, we'd love to talk to the sheriff's department about this.

As we show you the video to the side of me right now, you can see the people that have been captured. Five have been captured so far, five others still on the run.

But there are so many questions about this, especially with that $20,000 bounty that's on all the heads of the people who are still out there, as the five people continue to run.

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I've talked to Crime Stoppers in the last 24 hours. They say tips have been coming in at a steady pace, more than 65 a day. What they're asking for is detailed information from the public to make sure they can help the authorities track these people down who are still on the loose.

But take a listen to the attorney of the man, the maintenance worker who says, hey, his -- his client is not the one they should be looking at as harshly (ph) as they are.

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MICHAEL KENNEDY, STERLING WILLIAMS' ATTORNEY: Mr. Williams is absolutely innocent. That he was used as a tool by the escapees, and is being used as a fall guy by Sheriff Hutson.

His bond is over $1 million and he's a jail plumber. He has not bonded out.

LIZ MURRILL, LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don't think it's credible to say that -- that it was all just a threat and he did everything that he did because somebody threatened him. I mean -- just -- I've seen how it happened. And I don't -- I don't think that's credible. But he can take that up with his defense.

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YOUNG: Yes, John, when you think about that threat, it is the fact that he was threatened with the shank. And that's what someone was talking about earlier.

But one other thing here. The sheriff has suspended her campaign for re-election. It's a case that we continue to watch as these men continue to run.

John.

BERMAN: Five people on the loose.

All right, Ryan Young, thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Happening today, President Trump is set to hold a "Make America Healthy Again" event at the White House, where we expect to see what really is a highly anticipated report from the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. President Trump created this so-called MAHA commission through executive order in February. And at that time, promised to produce a report within one -- within 100 days. And it was tasked with investigating chronic illness and delivering an action plan to fight childhood diseases. A source tells CNN that the report will offer a broad take on toxins and food, vaccines and pharmaceutical drugs. We should note, a programing note, RFK Jr. will then be on CNN tonight on "THE SOURCE" at 9:00 p.m.

Still ahead for us, President Trump is calling it, quote, "the most exclusive invitation in the world." Details on the private dinner that he is hosting for more than 200 people, all of them the top investors in his own memecoin.

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[08:51:42]

BERMAN: All right, tonight President Trump will host more than 200 global investors for a dinner he calls the most exclusive invitation in the world. The attendees basically bought their seats, all by investing millions of dollars in the President's Trump memecoin.

With us now is "New York Times" technology reporter David Yaffe- Bellany.

David, thanks so much for being with us.

So, who's going to be at this dinner tonight?

DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY, TECHNOLOGY REPORTER, "NEW YORK TIMES": So, we don't know the identities of all 220 people who will be there. We have the nicknames that are assigned to them on this online leaderboard, where the attendees are listed. But through our reporting we've managed to identify some of them. One of them is a crypto billionaire named Justin Sun. Others are the types of foreign-based investors who normally wouldn't be allowed to contribute financially to a president, but this memecoin kind of offers an end run around those rules.

BERMAN: So, I guess collectively they bought or spent about $394 million on this memecoin. Where's the money go?

YAFFE-BELLANY: So, the money goes in a few different places. I mean, when you're -- when you're buying a coin on the crypto market, you know, you -- you spend, you know, whatever the coin costs, and then the person who's selling it to you gets that money.

But the Trump family and a business entity associated with -- with the organizers of this coin collect a transaction fee every time the coins change hands. And so, the Trump family has already, you know, made as much as $300 million, perhaps more at this point, purely from these transaction fees. And the family and its business partners also sits on a large stash of the coins. So, when the coins are trading well, the price goes up and the value of that stash increases. So, there are two ways that the Trump family can kind of benefit from the frenzy around the coin.

BERMAN: So, if I'm hearing you correctly, the Trump family -- the president is going to an event tonight where the Trump family is making money off of it. That's a fair way of saying it?

YAFFE-BELLANY: Yes, in -- in effect, the president has sold access to himself to the public.

BERMAN: And I guess this is a somewhat loaded question, but what are these people hoping to gain from their attendance at this event, or from owning the memecoin?

YAFFE-BELLANY: I mean, it's interesting, there -- there are a combination of reasons that people give. There are certainly some who are coming who are sort of purely kind of Trump fans who want a chance to be in the room with the president. But there are others we've spoken to who said that they want to take this opportunity specifically to try to influence U.S. policy on crypto. And -- and that's the sort of kind of pay to play scenario that critics of this administration, and particularly of the president's business interests, have pointed to all along. You've got a situation where the president is selling access, and people are trying to use that to shape what the government does.

BERMAN: David Yaffe-Bellany, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate reading your work. You cover this area that seems very complicated and inaccessible to a lot of people, but you explain it very, very well. So, thank you for being with us.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, he really does. That was helpful to me.

Breaking news this morning, a big win for President Trump, big win for the House Speaker and for the House Republican majority.

Early this morning, they pushed the President's domestic agenda a big step forward.

[08:55:05]

The massive tax cut and spending bill passed the House by just one vote just before 7 a.m. And now it heads to the Senate, where the senators have already made clear that they're looking to make changes, something the House Speaker even joked about as he celebrated the win this morning.

Joining us right now is Republican Congressman Jack Bergman of Michigan. He's a member of the Budget Committee, and he's also leading a bipartisan group of lawmakers today in a special Memorial Day event at the Veterans Memorial, which we're going to get to. I look forward to asking you about that.

First, to the breaking news this morning, Congressman, you voted for this bill for passage. Your reaction to it?

REP. JACK BERGMAN (R-MI): Well, as a part of the Budget Committee, we started right after the election back in November putting together the framework for the budget resolution that allowed then the committees of jurisdiction to fill out the framework, if you will. And what we voted on this morning was a result of literally thousands of hours of effort to make this the next first step in delivering President Trump's promises to the American people. To basically keep the working class from getting a massive tax increase on them, to provide capabilities for those in need of jobs, for those who -- by the way, if you hear a lot about Medicaid being cut, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Medicaid was designed for those people who need it. There's going to be even more dollars for that, because if you're a fraudster or you're abusing it, we're coming after you to make sure that that money that is meant for the people who need it doesn't go down the wrong rabbit hole.

But the bottom line is it's over now in the Senate. They're going to work with it and do what they do. And then we'll get it on over eventually to the president's desk by the 4th of July. I think that's the game plan right now.

But it's a great day for America because we are beginning in Washington, D.C., to going to trim off some of the morbid obesity of the federal government.

BOLDUAN: And two Republicans voted against this. Warren Davidson is one of them. And he explained his no vote. He posted about it this morning, Congressman, and he said this.

While I love many things in the bill, promising someone else will cut spending in the future does not cut spending. Deficits do matter and this bill grows them now. The only Congress we can control is the one we're in. Consequently, I cannot support this big deficit plan. No.

Do you share his deficit -- his concerns over the deficit or not?

BERGMAN: I share his concerns over the deficit. But I believe, you know, from my time in the Department of Defense and building an annual budget for my command of about a billion dollars, and that was 20 years ago, that the redirection of money that's already in the system is going to naturally begin to cut the deficit. But the savings have to come from with inside the waste within the federal government.

That's not fraud. That's not abuse. That's just the waste within the federal government.

We needed to get this bill passed because of the fact that we're going to take some more short term debt. But the long term fiscal responsibility of the federal government, especially under President Trump's leadership, is going to take its effect down the road. So while I agree with Warren, debt is not good, but also Alexander Hamilton, in his view of the financial system a long time ago, believed you have to take debt at certain times, but you also have to have a plan to reduce it at the same time after you -- after you use it when you needed it.

BOLDUAN: We'll continue to track that for sure as this process continues.

And now, if I could turn to -- you're standing just in front of the Vietnam Memorial this morning for a very special reason. You are one of just three Vietnam veterans serving right now in the House, and you're hosting a bipartisan event today to clean the wall.

What does this event and this Memorial Day weekend mean for you? And also just to highlight the bipartisan nature of it?

BERGMAN: Well, I guess there's three things here. When I think about Memorial Day ceremonies, first ones I attended, I was probably four or five years old because my dad was a World War II vet. And on Memorial Day, we went to the cemeteries to honor those veterans who had perished, given their lives in World War II. So I grew up with this.

For me to be here today, especially as part of the bipartisan For Country Caucus. This is not politics. This is people here in our caucus who have served.

[09:00:01]

And we are honoring those who perished in Vietnam.