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FBI On Scene Of Explosion At Palm Springs Fertility Clinic; Trump Plans To Speak With Putin By Phone Monday; Interview With Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN); Police And Firefighters Responding To Large Palm Springs Explosion; Tornado-Spawning Storm System Kills At Least 25 In Missouri, Kentucky; GOP Hardliners Deal Major Blow To Trump Agenda. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired May 17, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RON DEHARTE, PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA: We don't have a timeline, but we are asking all residents to stay clear of the area. But if they do come across any evidence to leave it in place and call the non- emergency number, and officers will be with them and collect the evidence that they may find.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: The Associated Press is reporting the FBI has sent bomb technicians to the location of a car explosion, and the mayor told the "L.A. Times" a bomb went off inside a vehicle at or near that building.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you see a car inside there? What did you -- you just walk all the way down there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We weren't able to. No, we weren't able to. We just -- we couldn't leave our patients. We just came out to see if we could see for their safety.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Assess the situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And we had to go back in there and reassure them that everything was going to be OK and that, you know, we can still finish their treatment.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you ever seen something like this happen in Palm Springs?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, never. I mean, especially so close to us in a place where there's all these clinics with all these people. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: Now, the doctor who runs that fertility clinic telling the Associated Press the explosion damaged the office space, but that the IVF lab and the place where the frozen embryos are stored was all unharmed.

Nima Tabrizi was nearby the explosion and joins us now to talk more about what you experienced, Nima. Take us there. Thanks for being here. What was that like?

NIMA TABRIZI, WITNESSED EXPLOSION NEAR FERTILITY CLINIC: Yes. Thank you for having me. Well, it started off early in the morning, me and my girlfriend, we went to go to the local dispensary, and upon checkout, we just heard a boom. And freaked out the guy that was helping me. And next thing you know, we looked to our right outside. It looked like a movie. Everyone was just pointing getting their cameras out, and we saw this large smoke.

So I said, oh, my god, let's go see, because it's right next to where we're staying at. And upon pulling up, we see what looked like a human remain on the ground. And then we see a bunch of fire, ambulance, everything, firefighters right there. And I immediately pulled out my phone and started recording from the back end of the clinic of firefighters trying to put it out.

And I mean, it was a pretty crazy explosive. You could definitely feel it. It was pretty wild. Never seen something like that before in my life. It's only about a block away from where we were staying at as well. So it was pretty wild. Pulled out my phone. I felt so bad for the liquor store that was completely blown out. I mean, I posted footage of the windows all smashed inside. You could see some of the stuff knocked over.

You see what looks like to be the employee there, too, like, pretty shocked as well. And upon coming I see the IVF clinic. And one of the videos you see as well that he claims he was the police chief on hand right there in regular street clothes, assessing the scene, telling people to back away as well. Pretty wild scene. I mean, to wake up on the Saturday in Palm Springs when you want to chill poolside. Not the day we were expecting today.

DEAN: Absolutely. And, Nima, while you're talking, we are looking at your video, I believe what is your video. So it is helpful to hear you kind of narrate us through that. I want to go back to one thing you mentioned, which is that you saw what you thought were human remains. Take us --

TABRIZI: Correct.

DEAN: Take us to that in the sense that where you were on the backside of the clinic? Where did you see what was it by?

TABRIZI: So here's the thing. That remain, it exploded to the street over. So I don't really, I don't really know the main street names, but in -- so there's one street this way that blew out the clinic and then you had the other street over here that actually had the remain. As we pulled up to it, I said, babe, that's a human remain. And there was actually some guy hovering over it saying, hey, let's get everyone away from this.

So I didn't really, I didn't want to get the footage of that. But when I turned back the car around several minutes later when ambulance and everything arrived, it confirmed that it was a human remain because they put a drape over it, started blocking it off. And I actually posted a live about an hour ago to my X account where that street that the human remain was on, they've actually blocked out and secured completely more than the IVF section of the street. So pretty wild. I can only imagine that there's only more of the human remains throughout the street. But it definitely was pretty wild.

[19:05:02]

Thankfully no one else was hurt. I can't imagine if you were within the immediate vicinity of that blast for you not to get hurt.

DEAN: It is incredible. I mean, we are looking at aerial video right now a from a news chopper that shows just how extreme that impact was, how extreme the damage is. As you kind of heard this happen, obviously, I would imagine the sound really is frightening. You probably feel it. It's so powerful. Did you notice --

TABRIZI: Yes.

DEAN: Yes. And we do know that one person, only one person confirmed dead at this point, and that the doctor that runs that clinic said that all of his staff is safe and accounted for as well. Did you see anyone coming out of that, that clinic at all, or did it seem to be pretty empty?

TABRIZI: I mean, it looked like it was empty. To be honest, at first I didn't even, I didn't even think it was a car that exploded because like I said, we were on the back end, so you could kind of see into the back side. When I first pulled out and started taking footage, it didn't look like a car explosion to me. It sounded like a bomb. For sure a bomb. But it didn't look like it was a bomb inside of a car because, again, you see, the building was blown out this way.

So I guess it was a car explosion. I mean, a bomb inside of a car that exploded. I mean, it's a shame someone had to stoop to that level. I have no idea what the reasoning would be, but thankfully, everyone is OK except for that one person unfortunately that didn't survive.

DEAN: The one person. Yes. I do want to know, too, how quickly did you see law enforcement there and what was kind of their immediate reaction?

TABRIZI: Yes. Shoutout to Palm Springs Police Department and the firefighters, they were there within, I would say less than 60 seconds.

DEAN: Wow.

TABRIZI: I mean, I guess you would never expect something like this to happen in this area. So they were ready. And like I said that the guy who you see him in one of the videos that I posted, he claims he was the chief of police in regular street clothes talking to another individual. He was there like immediately on top of the firefighters. So shoutout to them because they were there within seconds, I would say.

DEAN: Well, I'm really glad that you and your girlfriend are safe. I know that is a scary thing to witness and be a part of, but thank you for sharing your experience with us. We really appreciate it.

TABRIZI: Definitely. Thank you for having me on.

DEAN: All right, Nima, take care. Thanks so much.

And we are going to continue our coverage of this. I want to bring in retired FBI special agent Daniel Brunner now.

And so now, hearing from that witness, Daniel, that's the first witness we've talked to personally since this all happened. What is standing out to you about this situation so far?

DANIEL BRUNNER, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, everything that he witnessed exactly is going down the lines of that it indication that this is a terrorist attack. Cars just don't explode on themselves. So that's going to be one indicator. The FBI of Los Angeles division is going to be leading this investigation. They've got their bomb techs. They're going to be coordinating with the locals, and they're going to make sure that every little piece of evidence is collected.

FBI, I'm sure, is going to be the lead agency. They're going to coordinate with what's called TDAC, which is the Terrorism Explosive Detection Analysis unit down in Huntsville, Alabama. All that evidence that is collected there, every little piece of evidence is collected there. Vehicle identification number, fingerprints, DNA, electronic data, everything will be sent to TDAC in Alabama, where they will be putting it all together to conduct analysis.

I'm sure there's coordination coming out of Quantico. The FBI has rapid response teams. They've been extensive experience in this from Africa to the Middle East to the United States with North Carolina or in Oklahoma City. They've got a lot of experience in dealing with these type of attacks.

The weather is looking very good for collection of data. We want to get anything before the rain or anything that would wash away any evidence. So the weather is looking very beneficial for the evidence response teams from the FBI to get in there and coordinate with the bomb techs to get all those identification numbers from the vehicle, whether there's ID's in there, the vehicle identification number, license plates, every little piece of evidence is going to be collected.

And as I was saying before, the swath, the area of this evidence collection is going to be very large, and it's going to take a lot of time to very meticulously collect everything correctly.

DEAN: Yes, I mean, it is. And we can tell from this aerial video just how large this perimeter is and how the blast field just really extends blocks and blocks. We know it was felt blocks away, but you can't help but be drawn to that fertility clinic. It certainly has the most damage that we can see. And, you know, at this point, we still have so many questions unanswered that as you just laid out there trying to figure out, chief among them will be was this clinic targeted, and if so, why.

[19:10:13]

BRUNNER: Well, exactly that. That is what they're going to -- the investigative teams working back at the Los Angeles division, they will be conducting this investigation as little bits of evidence are collected. They're going to scour social media and they're going to get evidence from TDAC, from the investigators on scene. They will be collecting that, and they will be moving on that to try and identify where this bomb was built, or was it just a bomb put inside a vehicle, and that vehicle took the explosive to the area.

I worked investigated domestic terrorism and these type of incidents are this type of -- to create intimidation. But a lot of times when people, they want to move forward an agenda, they believe that their attack, their incident will begin a larger battle, a larger cause that only them, only they can move forward their belief because they believe so wholeheartedly that only they can make a change.

So they're going to look at anybody who was targeting fertility clinics, who was looking and harassing them with letters, phones, you know, harassment all up and down in California, all on the West Coast. They're going to analyze them all. They're going to be coordinating with all FBI divisions. I'm sure it's all hands on deck to get all this data and information to them from San Diego division, L.A. division to Sacramento division. All of them will be coordinating together because this individual may not be from Palm Springs.

This may be individual may not be from Los Angeles. They could have traveled down from Sacramento. So all of these will be possibilities that the investigators, the Los Angeles division will be looking at, and coordinating with the investigators on scene.

DEAN: Right. And we still don't know the person responsible. Are they alive? Are they not alive? That obviously a huge question here as well.

Daniel Brunner, thank you so much for your expertise on this. We really appreciate it.

BRUNNER: My pleasure.

DEAN: And we're going to keep following the very latest on this situation. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:45]

DEAN: New developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. President Trump says he'll be speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, just days after the Russian leader skipped a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey. The U.S. and European allies have been pushing for a ceasefire, and Trump is hoping that this time Putin will listen.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is live outside the White House with more.

What more can we expect from Monday -- Julia.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, President Donald Trump is outlining several conversations that he plans to have next week focused on ending the war in Ukraine. As you mentioned, he is going to speak directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin at 10:00 a.m. on Monday. And then he says following that call, he plans to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and various NATO members.

Now, as he outlined his overall goals for these discussions, he said, quote, "Hopefully it will be a productive day. A ceasefire will take place and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end."

Now this comes after representatives from Ukraine and Russia met for face-to-face talks in Turkey on Friday. It was the first time that the two countries have had direct talks at any level in three years. Leading up to that meeting, there was some confusion. There was speculation that we could see Zelenskyy, Putin and maybe even Trump all in the room for those talks, but they took place at a lower level.

Zelenskyy sent his defense minister and he criticized Russia for not sending anyone who had real negotiating power to that table.

Now, the two delegations were able to come to an agreement on a prisoner swap, but we did not see any major breakthroughs when it comes to a ceasefire agreement. The White House has maintained that they don't believe there will be any breakthroughs until Trump and Putin have a conversation. That conversation now scheduled for Monday morning.

DEAN: And, Julia, in the meantime, on Capitol Hill there in Washington, the president's agenda is under threat as Republicans spar over this bill. What's the latest?

BENBROOK: Trump's agenda faces challenges as a group of GOP hardliners blocked it from a key committee vote on Friday. House Speaker Mike Johnson and several members of his leadership team have been working to try and convince those Republicans who voted against it to support it before they vote for it again. And negotiations are ongoing. But some of those hardliners are calling for stricter cuts in some areas.

Now, any change, though, to this big bill could cause more problems for Johnson because if he does something to appease this group, then it could cause problems with another group like the more moderate members of the GOP there in the House. Now, Trump's message on all of this has remained the same throughout, he says, passed this so-called beautiful bill and do it quickly. In fact, he posted on social media before that failed vote on Friday and said, quote, "We don't need grandstanders in the Republican Party. Stop talking and get it done." The Budget Committee is now expected to meet again on Sunday for a

late-night vote. It's expected at 10:00 p.m. in hopes of getting this thing moving before the workweek starts. And then, Jessica, Johnson has set a lofty goal of bringing this to the House floor for a vote before Memorial Day.

DEAN: All right, Julia Benbrook, at the White House, thank you so much.

[19:20:02]

And joining us now, Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz of Indiana.

Congresswoman, thank you very much for being here with us. I appreciate your time tonight. I want to pick up there with this Republican bill that you all are trying to get together before Memorial Day. I know that you are deeply concerned about the deficit in this country. I am curious if you feel comfortable with where things are right now, that you feel comfortable with how that balances with the deficit enough to support it?

REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ (R-IN): Thank you for having me, Jessica. It's not just me actually worried about it. You saw that Moody's, the last rating agency, downgraded us on Friday, and they have significant concerns. So unfortunately, we will not be able to deal with our huge debts and deficits in this bill. But at least we are trying to make sure that we don't add to deficits. We need to make sure that we pass tax cuts and have growth of the economy. But also we need to make sure that we go after some bad spending so these tax cuts can last. Otherwise they will be very short lived and we want to make sure that they survive and bring growth to the economy.

DEAN: I'm also curious. There's a group of Republicans, mostly from New York state, who are very intent on pushing not either not having a cap for or raising the cap for the amount of taxes that people can deduct for state and local taxes. And one of the ideas they're floating is in order to kind of offset that is to raise the income bracket, the income tax bracket for the highest earners. Is that an acceptable trade-off for you?

SPARTZ: I don't think that is going to work very well with a lot of other side of the Republicans, but I think they already got very generous, you know, deduction. It was increased from 10,000 to 30,000. And in reality really it benefits more wealthy taxpayers and high tax states like Illinois, you know, New York, California, and the lowest tax state have to pay for it, which is really unfair.

So that deduction is not fair to everyone. We really shouldn't even have it. But if we have it, you know, it shouldn't be increasing. And a lot of other Republicans will be very upset and they will lose a lot of people from low state tax. And I think that's why it's important to really keep it how it is.

DEAN: And so that's not something you could support. SPARTZ: Well, listen, I think, you know, I don't really don't like it

because it's a lot of money. We already increase the deduction. I think the states, you know, need to pay for the expenditures. If they want to have high taxes, you know, and, you know, spend on whatever services they want, that's up to their constituents. I don't think other states should be paying for New York and for their spending. And I truly believe that's a fair thing. I think it's already unfair tax and go even further. I think it's going to lose a lot of Republicans.

DEAN: And how confident are you, Congresswoman, that you all can meet this Memorial Day deadline?

SPARTZ: I think, you know, it's going to be a work in process. I think we're trying. I think we're working. I should this weekend. There are a variety of groups with concerns. It's not just one group. You know, we're trying to figure out how we can before Sunday night find a resolution. We need to make sure that we're closing all loopholes on spending. We need to make sure that we address some other kind of ad hoc concerns, because it's a big bill.

But I think it will be a good bill. And I think eventually we're going to pass it. We'll see what the Senate is going to do. But I think this bill will be fiscally responsible because we'll make sure that we pay for, you know, what, with tax cuts because some of them do bring growth. Some of them don't. But we need to make sure that we are thinking not just about next election, but also next generation and care what's happening with our reckless spending, which has really put our country in a very, very dangerous fiscal situation.

DEAN: What would you say, as you say, that you all are having these conversations over the weekend, what would you say is the stickiest sticking point right now?

SPARTZ: Well, I think we're still talking about SALT. And there is maybe way to change a little bit the dynamics, but just lifting the cap, that's not going to work very well. You know, maybe change some of the calculations within SALT. I think that's one group. There is another group, you know, looking at how we can make sure that we tighten so in Medicaid because unfortunately states created money laundering operations and given money left and right to large special interest group in their states, and they're not partner anymore.

It meant to be partnership. They're not helping people and beneficiaries to have Medicaid better. But a lot of money made by insurance and hospitals on Medicaid. That's wrong. So we need to make sure that we make it better. And there are a lot of variety of issues, just generally smaller ones. But some members are very concerned. So, you know, it's kind of three groups of people that work in but probably sold. And some of the Medicaid and healthcare things, that's probably the biggest items that we need to resolve.

[19:25:01]

DEAN: Those state and local taxes, Medicaid and the other -- the health care issues.

All right, Congresswoman, thank you very much for your time. We sure do appreciate it.

SPARTZ: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

DEAN: Yes. 25 people have been killed in two states. We have the very latest on these deadly tornadoes that hit the Midwest.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: We're updating now this breaking news we're following tonight out of Palm Springs, California. The mayor of Palm Springs telling me one person is dead after an explosion rocked the Uptown Design District of Palm Springs. Officials say that this explosion appears to be an intentional act of violence and a fertility clinic, as you see there, very badly damaged in that blast.

[19:30:06]

The doctor who runs the clinic telling the associated press that the explosion damaged its office space. But the IVF lab and all of the stored embryos remain unharmed.

The FBI has sent bomb technicians to the location of a car explosion, while the city's mayor told the "L.A. Times" that a bomb went off inside a vehicle at or near that building. Again, we're going to continue to monitor this and bring you updates as we get them.

In the meantime, in just a few hours, an overnight curfew will begin in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Officials there say they want to keep the streets clear so crews can continue their cleanup efforts. After a string of deadly storms tore through that area. The violent storm system is being blamed for at least seven deaths in that state.

Tornadoes killing at least 18 people in nearby Kentucky. Police in the southeastern part of that state are describing the devastation as overwhelming.

The London Corbin Airport was hit hard by the storm. Wow, look at that. The local medical helicopter destroyed with medical supplies scattered all across the runway, officials telling the CNN affiliate WLKY at least one plane was sucked up into a funnel cloud.

Julia Vargas Jones joining us now from St. Louis.

Julia, we noted that a curfew about to go into place there. What else are you are you learning and seeing there on the ground?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've seen all day, Jessica, the cleanup and people just trying to make way for those cleanup crews that you mentioned from the city that will be going around to be able to get through. And if I can just show you these homes on the other side of the street, this is where some of the crews have already been through. That is the work that will continue throughout the night as these crews continue to make their way to check on people that might still be missing, and make sure that everyone is accounted for.

That is tireless work, and I want to toss just to the salt from the fire chief of the city on what he said about this specifically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS JENKERSON, ST. LOUIS FIRE DEPARTMENT, CHIEF: The fire department in the City of Saint Louis has spent the day. Sweeping and rolling down and inspecting every street in this city. That's 62 square miles, we've made every street. We are making one more last search of an area a little bit north of us.

Right now, the status quo has kind of remained the same as far as injuries and fatalities. So, you're going to see the trucks out all night. Give them room, they've been working all day. So, right now we're holding our own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Thirty-two thousand residents and businesses are still without power here, Jessica. So, that's an added concern. But we have seen so many people, neighbors come together to try and help each other because this is the level of destruction. Behind me here this first home has been in this family, they tell me for six generations.

There were people in that house when the storm hit, another neighbor telling us that in 15 minutes, this entire street sustained this level of damage. We also went and spoke to another resident just down two blocks from here.

She led us into her home, and we were able to see inside what it's like coming up to her top floor, which is mostly where the damage has happened here, completely tore off -- just the ceiling fan staying there in her son's bedroom, attached to one of the beams completely, the ceiling gone, the roof gone. Her daughter had been in that house when the storm hit.

People are scared. They're still telling us about the moment the storm hit and what they heard, which was the high winds 100 miles an hour in the hail and how they sought shelter at the lower parts of their homes, which thankfully, a lot of them were built for this kind of weather in this part of the country, right, 5,000 residences have been damaged in the St. Louis area, according to the mayor.

And that's why this work has to continue. But it will take a long time. Now this curfew is going into place, not just to help those crews go ahead and finish that work as soon as possible, but also to protect the residents. The authorities here are urging people to not take the matters into their own hands and to coordinate with authorities, because it is dangerous. There are lots of downed power lines around here, and we are seeing those crews making their ways.

But again, the mayor asking people to coordinate with those authorities before trying to do anything by themselves.

DEAN: All right. Julia Vargas Jones in St. Louis, thank you very much. We are hearing President Biden, in his own words, talking to special counsel Robert Hur during that now closed investigation into his handling of classified documents.

More on this here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:39:29]

DEAN: The full audio of then President Joe Biden's 2023 interview with former special counsel Robert Hur is now public. That audio obtained by AXIOS.

This was the interview that led the special counsel to describe Biden as, "an elderly man with a poor memory." The tapes were part of the now closed probe over his handling -- Biden's handling of classified documents. Transcripts had already been released last year, but it's the first time the audio has been released, so you can hear it from yourself.

This bit is from when he was talking about his son, Beau Biden, who died in 2015.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT HUR, SPECIAL COUNSEL: Where did you keep papers that related to those things that you were actively working?

JOE BIDEN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, I don't know. This is what, 2017-18, that area?

HUR: Yes, sir.

BIDEN: Remember, in this time frame. My son is either been deployed or is dying. And so, it was --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:40:50]

DEAN: CNN's senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein joining us now.

Ron, good to see you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Jessica.

DEAN: President Biden has been out of office for a while, but obviously we are continuing to hear about him, and he's very much back in the news cycle right now. How much does this matter to voters' opinions and how they perceive the Democratic Party?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think it is, you know, it is going to the renewed focus on Biden's capacity is going to reinforce something that was already there in great strength in the Democratic Party, which is a desire for demographic and generational change at the top, both in terms of the congressional leadership and the 2028 field.

I mean, you know, I think you have a lot of frustration among Democrats that the party leadership, you know, is tilted so much toward people who have been there for a long time. But I would say that even that is subordinate to a larger desire among Democrats, which is finding leaders who can effectively resist what they see coming out of the Trump administration. Bernie Sanders, you know, is no spring chicken. But his rallies around the country with AOC have definitely caught the attention of a lot of Democrats.

I think the bigger frustration, the biggest frustration is that while the governors and state attorney generals have found a way to push back on Trump, mostly by taking him to court, really haven't seen that much effective pushback from the leaders in Congress. Although the budget fight that is now intensifying really is going to be their best chance this year to do that.

DEAN: And so let's talk about that, that budget fight, because I think you know rightly that this is -- for Republicans it's tough to do all these things at one time that they're trying to do, and that's why we're seeing them get jammed up over the weekend as they look to try to get this done by in the house, at least by memorial day.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, they are pursuing a strategy in Congress that they haven't tried in 30 years. And the pressure is to do even more. You know, when Republicans have cut taxes in the 21st Century under Bush and Trump, it was all sugar, no spinach. They put the tax cuts out, didn't deal with spending cuts.

The last time they tried to do what they are doing now was the '95, '96 budget shutdown, showdown and shutdown between Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton when they put big tax cuts and big spending cuts in the same bill. It was a politically toxic combination. It allowed Clinton to revive his presidency.

And here we are with a bill that, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model that came out yesterday, would actually, if you combine the tax cuts and the spending changes would reduce incomes for the bottom 40 percent of households leave the middle, the people, the 20 percent in the middle with a $45.00 a year gain after ten years, and provide over $114,000.00 a year in benefits to people at the top, all while cutting 13.5 million people off of health care, between the Medicaid cuts and ending the ACA subsidies.

Now, you know, all the pressure in the Republican Party is to go further in the house with the conservatives, as you were talking about before, you know, stalling the bill until they can get even deeper and faster cuts. Well, that is taking them back toward a strategy that in the past has proven very difficult to sell to the American people.

If you can make the argument that you're cutting programs that mostly benefit the middle and working class to fund tax cuts for the rich, that's not an argument Republicans have won in the past. They're going to face it again over the coming weeks.

DEAN: Yes and so, then to your point before, what did the Democrats do to capitalize on that, if that becomes the case? And can they?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, you know this, as I've said to you before, this is the argument that Democrats, you know, traditionally have been able to fall out of bed at two in the morning and, I mean, and be able to make. I mean, this is sort of the ante for being an effective Democratic leader should be to be able to defend programs, government programs that provide broad social benefits, especially when they are paired with tax cuts that are disproportionately targeted toward the few.

I mean, this is their moment to begin to kind of change the narrative about their leadership. Nothing is going to erase the desire for Democrats for a generational change. And I think in 2028, you're going to see that very clearly desire for a younger nominee and probably someone who isn't tied to Washington.

But at a time when many Americans, you know, when Trump's approval for handling the economy and inflation is weaker than it was at any point in his first term, and the tariffs have clearly concerned many Americans, they feel that it is raising their costs when they elected him to control their costs, putting out a budget that has the potential to increase the costs of average American's healthcare and maybe food assistance, while mostly benefiting the rich and tax cuts would seem to be, you know, kind of a hanging curveball for Democrats and it will be a test of their leaders whether they can make some progress on an argument that has worked for them in the past.

[19:45:46]

DEAN: Yes, we shall see. Ron Brownstein, good to see you. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: The President is not pulling any punches against Walmart, telling the retail giant to, "eat the tariffs."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:50:35]

DEAN: "Eat the tariffs," that's the message tonight from President Trump to Walmart, after the company warned it would have to raise prices because of the President's tariff war with China.

The President demanded Walmart eat the tariffs and not pass higher prices on to customers, adding, "I'll be watching."

Gene Seroka is joining us now. He's a global trade expert. He's also the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. Last week, there were no cargo ships entering the port from China. Have things changed with the easing of these tariffs? How would you say things are now?

GENE SEROKA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT OF LOS ANGELES: Good evening Jessica, nice to see you. For the month of May, we'll have 17 of 80 scheduled sailings canceled coming to Los Angeles. Now, the balance of those will have some port calls in China, but most are impacting that import cargo flow coming from China. So, it's going to be a fairly light month for us.

Now, as we talk about what happens closer to home on the docks, that means fewer job opportunities for longshoremen and truck drivers, warehouse workers as well.

DEAN: And so what does this mean more broadly too, for the store shelves beyond just the port, what would be coming into the country and being sold in stores?

SEROKA: Jessica, we're cutting it real close on some seasonal products. Summer fashion, back to school Halloween and may is typically the month where importers place orders to factories in Asia for the all-important Christmas and year-end holiday season, not knowing exactly what price or quantity to buy right now is the bigger part of the questioning.

DEAN: Yes for sure. And listen, I think there's also just this bigger issue, which is regardless of what happens, it's not just flipping a switch to get things "back to normal." There is some lag time, right, there is -- that can that can take some time.

SEROKA: That's right, we've seen over the past few days bookings or reservations for shipments tick up just a little bit. We've gone a few weeks with cargo that's already been manufactured and sitting in China, and now importers are trying to scoop some of that up when the tariffs were reduced to 30 percent. Still, a really big number for a lot of companies.

But I don't see a deluge of cargo coming across the Pacific right now, because companies likely are going to be more selective in how much they buy in the coming months.

DEAN: Yes and then how fast can the supply chain catch up to this constant fluctuation, or can it? Or does it just kind of do fits and starts as it as everything continues to fluctuate?

SEROKA: Yes, this is going to be really difficult, 190 days of a reprieve is not a long time in our business. And for those that want to pick up some of that cargo, after we saw that tariff relief out of the meetings in Geneva, it takes the shipping companies about two weeks to reposition their vessels in places like Qingdao, Shanghai, Xiamen and Yantian.

And then another two weeks to come this way to Los Angeles before we distribute throughout the country. So, that lag time is real.

DEAN: Yes, and so, bottom line, what should people -- because you're like where the rubber meets the road there at the ports in terms of getting goods into this country. What should people out there expect in the coming weeks.

SEROKA: We'll we see or that there will be fewer selections on store shelves and online buying platforms, and likely prices will be higher.

DEAN: Okay, We will keep that in mind.

Gene Seroka, thank you so much for your time tonight. We really appreciate it.

SEROKA: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:58:49]

DEAN: Back now to the breaking news out of Palm Springs, California.

Law enforcement investigating what they say appears to be an intentional act of violence, which was an explosion. The Mayor of Palm Springs telling me one person is dead after the blast, a fertility clinic heavily damaged. Here's one person who was right nearby when this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIMA TABRIZI, WITNESSED EXPLOSION NEAR FERTILITY CLINIC: We just heard a boom, and freaked out. The guy that was helping me, and next thing you know, we looked to our right outside. It looked like a movie.

Upon pulling up, we see what looked like a human remain on the ground and then we see a bunch of fire, ambulance, everything, firefighters right there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Now, Attorney General Pam Bondi recently posted on social media. She said: I have been briefed on the explosion at the fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California that took place today. Federal agents are on the ground responding alongside local law enforcement. We are working to learn more. But let me be clear the Trump administration understands that women and mothers are the heartbeat of America violence against a fertility clinic is unforgivable.

CNN will continue to bring you the very latest on this still developing story.

In the meantime, thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. I'm going to see you again tomorrow night starting at 5:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

A new episode of "Real Time With Bill Maher" is up next. Have a great night everyone.

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