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Ben Sasse Shares Life with Cancer Diagnosis; Polls on Trump and Tariffs; Actor Ken Jeong and Singer Rei Ami Are Interviewed about Shark Week. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired July 23, 2026 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:30:25]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Former Senator Ben Sasse has been opening up about his terminal cancer diagnosis. In a deeply personal, wide- ranging interview, he spoke with our Jake Tapper about the experimental treatment that he's undergoing and how that treatment is giving him what he wants most in the world, which is more time with his family.
Here's a look at some of the interview.
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BEN SASSE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: I felt the heaviness of death being terrible. And, obviously, not wanting your wife to go through being widowed or your kids to be orphaned, to lose their dad. But I -- I just felt at peace that death is real. I've always known we're all on the clock. And to get a finite number felt horrible, but not surprising.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Your faith is -- it always has been remarkable. But never more so, I think, as somebody who's long admired and covered you, during this period. Just your supreme confidence in what happens next. And that you will see your loved ones again. And do you ever have any moments of doubt about any of it?
SASSE: I mean --
TAPPER: Let me just say --
SASSE: Sure.
TAPPER: I envy it. I wish I felt that way. I think there are a lot of people probably watching who think, God, what a gift.
SASSE: I think death is wicked, but I don't think it's a surprise to any of us who reckon hard with a conscience that says, we're broken, this world is broken, things are not as they should be. So, to your direct question, no, I don't -- I don't doubt it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: Wow. Jake Tapper spoke with Ben Sasse for an hour long special episode of "The Whole Story."
Jake, I'm just curious if he -- if he sort of shared with you why he is being so public about something that is the most difficult, the most searingly private thing that somebody can go through with his family.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I did ask him that, Sara. And thank you for having me.
The idea that he is dying very publicly and he has said that that was not his intention to do so.
But, look, this is a man who is, first and foremost, a scholar, an intellect. Before he was a senator, he was a college president in Fremont, Nebraska. And I think he sees his journey as a way to foster a national, if not international, dialog about what we seldom talk about on CNN or anywhere, even in our living rooms, which is that we're all going to die. Every one of us. And even though Ben Sasse might have a better idea of when he is going to, most of us, you're an exception, of course, Sara, because of your journey, but most of us don't think about this on a regular basis.
SIDNER: Yes.
TAPPER: And don't think about this on a -- on a philosophical or spiritual way. And so I think he sees this as an opportunity to, I don't think he would use the word, but I would use the word teach. To teach and to foster a conversation about all of this. And as he says in the clip you just ran, he is very confident that he's going to a better place and he will see his loved ones again.
SIDNER: Yes. I mean, yes, I have thought a lot about death these last couple of years.
I am curious what he said about this treatment that is extending his life, that he has been undergoing, because that is another lesson. It's another gift that he is giving to people. A little bit of hope for those who have similar diagnoses.
TAPPER: That's right. And if you had given me three hours prep, I would be able to pronounce the name of the medication. But let's just say it's a -- it's a -- it's a -- I get it -- I get it right in the piece, and it is this new pancreatic cancer medication that has given him life.
Look, when he got his diagnosis in December, the doctors didn't think he was going to make it past March or April. And here we are in July. And it is doing the job of eliminating tumors.
Now, he knows that he still will die of this.
[09:35:02]
He has now like five different kinds of cancer. But he is taking this experimental drug. And it is working. And what he is doing now, in being a lab rat of sorts, will give more life to patients in the future because doctors are figuring out what works, what doesn't work. So, he is also, in his death, extending the life of other people in the future.
SIDNER: It really is remarkable what he's doing, but also this conversation that you had with him. One thing that stood out to me, because I've seen a bit of it, is that he talks about his regret. And his biggest regret was that he traveled too much. And I thought, that's the opposite of most people, when they think, oh, I should have done more travel.
TAPPER: Yes.
SIDNER: I should have -- said, no, because I wasn't with my family. That nearly broke me, Jake Tapper. You got me in my feelings this morning, damn it.
Thank you so much for this piece. I think everybody should watch this.
TAPPER: Thank you, Sara.
SIDNER: It really is a lesson in life.
Watch "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper," "Ben Sasse is Going Home: Lessons on Life and Death." And that airs CNN Sunday night at eight and streaming the next day on the CNN app.
John.
BERMAN: All right, we do have some breaking news. You can see right now, a live look at oil prices. You can see Brent crude at $99.75, just under $100 a barrel. A few moments ago, it crossed that $100 a barrel threshold. The first time it's been there since May. Oil prices teetering at these levels we haven't seen in a long, long time. The markets not liking what they're seeing in the Middle East.
Also, countdown for SpaceX ahead of a critical test launch today.
And the owner of a Michelin two starred restaurant in culinary jail and potentially headed to real jail for garnishing a sherbet dessert with ants.
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[09:41:21]
BERMAN: The United States has entered into a new era of Trump tariffs after the Supreme Court threw out many of the tariffs he levied last year. The president has gone a new route to reinstate some of them. There are tariffs now in place on Brazil, tariffs announced on Canada. Others are sure to follow.
So, how do voters feel about all this?
With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten. So, what are voters saying about tariffs?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I feel like I'm in bizarro world, OK, because the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and hope for a different result. And that is just, simply put, not been the case with President Trump in terms of the train has left the station and the American people have spoken. They hate, hate, hate these new tariffs. U.S. on new tariffs on imported goods.
You know, you go back to November of 2024. Look, 52 percent of Americans favor him, right after Donald Trump's election, 48 percent opposed. But then we entered the real world in tariffs, and Americans saw the effects of them. What happened to the opposition to new tariffs? Up like a rocket. We're talking 63 percent of Americans now oppose the idea of new tariffs. Compared to just 37 percent who favor it.
So, the bottom line is this, the American people have seen what tariffs have done to the economy, and they, simply put, do not like it and have turned against the president of the United States, who, as I said, it feels like bizarro world because, from a political standpoint, it is absolutely insanity that he keeps trying to do something that the American people clearly very much do not like.
BERMAN: Bizarro world also because there is a red sun, but that's another thing.
ENTEN: Yes, that's a whole thing for me.
BERMAN: All right. And the president's approval rating, how has it been? Or how has it sort of mirrored the tariff situation?
ENTEN: Yes, exactly right. I mean the tariffs were what set Donald Trump off on a pathway to nowhere, on a pathway to a presidency that is a dead end.
Take a look at this. Trump's negative net approval rating. Every single poll since March 29, 2025, that is over a year ago, in fact, days in a row, it's 482 days in which every single poll that meets CNN standards for publication, Donald Trump has had a negative net approval rating.
Well, what happened right around March 29, 2025? All polls just before Liberation Day 2025. It was the tariffs. It was the massive implication of those tariffs, the implementation of it. Then, of course, many of them got overturned. That turned the American people, once and for all, against Donald Trump in his second term as president.
BERMAN: Went underwater just around Liberation Day. Been underwater every day since.
All right, how does the rest of the world feel about this?
ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, the rest of the world doesn't like it either. I mean that's not much of a surprise, right? But still, it's notable, right? Net approval rating, Trump on tariffs. Brazil, 51 points under war. Canada, 65 points underwater. Mexico, 73 points underwater. Trump has been underwater so long on tariffs, both here and abroad, that the bottom line is this, it's almost like he is the little mermaid, he just doesn't even come up for air anymore.
BERMAN: And this could have a political impact in the other direction the president wants in some of these countries.
ENTEN: Exactly right. Take a look at Brazil, 51 points underwater there. Well, there's a presidential election going on there. Top chances to win the Brazilian presidential election. Lula, who President Trump does not like, he has now a 63 percent chance, while, in fact, Bolsonaro, who Trump very much likes, an ally, 25 percent chance. Donald Trump is killing, killing his allies with these tariffs.
BERMAN: Harold Enten, thank you very much.
ENTEN: Thank you, Johnny B.
BERMAN: We have a lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.
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[09:49:15]
SIDNER: This is wild video on our radar for you. A shopkeeper in India survives a terrifying attack by a leopard. New CCTV video shows the man fighting off the huge cat after it somehow got into the store, jumped over the counter and lunged at him inside that really -- look at that, inside that really tight space. He managed to break free, eventually, escape without serious injuries, but certainly some. A forest department team eventually tranquilized the leopard and managed to take it away.
Now to Kate.
BOLDUAN: The most anticipated animal-themed week of the year is coming up. You can see it around me. I'm, of course, referring to shark week. And this year the stars of the hit movie "K-pop Demon Hunters" are jumping in on the action on a mission to change how people often see and fear sharks in east Asia and around the world.
[09:50:03]
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN JEONG, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: Our mission is to rebrand sharks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With hammerheads, they're really stingray specialists. They are cruising close to the ground and they can avoid humans with their electromagnetic senses.
REI AMI, GRAMMY-NOMINATED SINGER: Being a part of their ecosystem, huge honor. Gift of a lifetime.
JEONG: Incredible.
They're not hunting us. They're misunderstood bad boys, like me.
REI AMI: K-pop, sharks, and Ken Jeong, what could possibly go wrong?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: What is so unbelievably right is the question. And note, Discovery has the same parent company as CNN.
Now let's get to the fun stuff. Joining me right now are the stars of "K-pop Shark Heroes," actor Ken Jeong and Grammy nominated singer Rei Ami.
Guys, this is, Ken, the coolest, most unexpected crossover. It almost feels like a Mad Libs. It's like, let's throw it together. How do you explain "K-pop Shark Heroes" to someone who is -- doesn't know about it?
KEN JEONG, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: OK. On the shores of Korea, in the last 12 months, there have been a preponderance of sharks in the oceans near Korea to the point where there's so many viral videos where I believe like a bull shark just jumped on a Korean fisher boat. And I, Ken Jeong, want to inform my community and educate my fellow community about the nuances of sharks, how they are to be respected, not feared. And I will do it through the power of song. A K-pop anthem. And I've enlisted the help of Rei Ami of "K-pop Demon Hunters" of Huntr/x, to sing the song.
REI AMI, GRAMMY-NOMINATED SINGER: Well, you're doing all the singing?
JEONG: Oh, gosh (ph).
REI AMI: I'm just there to manage and like kind of make sure you're on the right track.
JEONG: Right, make sure I'm in pitch. That's right. Right.
REI AMI: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Yes, here's the crossover. Rei Ami's doing all the -- all the comedy and Ken's doing all the singing. Here's the real crossover that is occurring.
REI AMI: Yes. I'm doing all the (INAUDIBLE) as well.
BOLDUAN: Yes. Yes, I know. I did notice that. So --
JEONG: Yes. Yes. Exactly. It's a little bit of a "Freaky Friday."
BOLDUAN: You are a longtime shark conservationist I learned in prepping for this. Tell me where this love comes from.
REI AMI: Well, I'm not a -- well, I guess technically, if I care about ocean health and the ecosystem --
BOLDUAN: Yes, you care about ocean health, so you are a conservationist.
REI AMI: Yes. So, you know, Shark Week is like, I think, growing up it was everywhere. It was like the biggest summer tradition. I still remember the commercials that we would see with the great white. So, I think from a very early age I've had an affinity and love for the ocean, ocean mammals, ocean life. And so, when this opportunity came to go to Bimini, Bahamas, and dive with sharks with Ken, I couldn't say no. And that was my first time ever scuba diving, let alone diving with 16 reef sharks that you can see on the screen right now. But that was the most exhilarating and rewarding experience of a lifetime.
BOLDUAN: Rei Ami, your music has, one, been running through my head for years now and, two, in informing my children that I would be speaking with you, their heads would explode with excitement.
REI AMI: Oh, my gosh (ph).
BOLDUAN: Talk about -- I mean just like your career arc, you guys are coming back together, having also done work together in "Demon Hunters." What's it been like kind of getting -- going after this now as like a new fun chapter for you?
REI AMI: It's just been so exciting. I think this last year was really chaotic in the best way. And it significantly changed my life and my platform and career. And just to be able to partake in Shark Week again, another like staple in pop culture, doing something I love also with Ken, who was also my acting manager in the film, it was just, it was like a family affair. It didn't feel like work. It was just so seamless and smooth. And I want to go shark diving again.
BOLDUAN: What's the big takeaway? You guys are launching Shark Week. Like this is the -- from your show, on the premiere day. No pressure, guys. What do you hope is the big takeaway from the big show?
JEONG: Yes, the sharks are to be respected, not feared. They're a heterogeneous mix. They -- there's nuances. There's different types of sharks. And truly Rei is the driver of that narrative because to see her swim with every species of sharks that we came across in Bimini was just nothing short of breathtaking. So, I can't wait to see the final cut. And a shout out to Tristan and Sora.
REI AMI: Dr. Sora Kim.
JEONG: Yes, Dr. Sora Kim and --
REI AMI: Tristan Guttridge.
JEONG: Yes, Tristan --
REI AMI: Dr. Tristan Guttridge.
JEONG: Yes, Dr. Tristan Guttridge. I don't know their last names. I don't -- I don't make eye contact with them. But they were these amazing scientists and scuba diving experts.
Look, I'm talent.
[09:55:01]
I'm famous. Do I really have to talk to these scientists? But they were -- they were so instrumental in guiding us. They are the true unsung heroes. And I am -- and I put the "un" in unsung. They deserve to be heard, not seen. Because, I mean, we're celebrities.
REI AMI: Heard, not seen. Oh, my gosh.
BOLDUAN: I cannot -- I will -- I'm not even going to try to top. You two are unbelievable. I was huge fans before. Now I know we're best friends. It's going to be great when we all get back together for another project.
Thank you guys both. You're absolutely amazing.
REI AMI: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: Thank you for making me smile because sometimes it can be hard these days. So, thank you. It is great to see you guys.
And do not forget Discovery's --
JEONG: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: And you're welcome.
Discovery's "K-pop Shark Heroes" premieres July 26th.
SIDNER: They're to be respected, not feared, unlike you two.
BERMAN: I was going to say --
BOLDUAN: Do not respect us and fear us?
SIDNER: No, you both respect and fear.
BOLDUAN: Oh, gosh.
SIDNER: That's what I think.
BERMAN: I am so afraid of both of you. I really got to get going.
Thank you all for joining us. "THE SITUATION --
BOLDUAN: I'm like the leopard.
BERMAN: "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.
BOLDUAN: Is it a leopard?
BERMAN: That reminds me --
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