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Joe Biden Diagnosed With "Aggressive" Prostate Cancer That Has Spread To His Bones; Suspect Identified In Palm Springs Fertility Clinic Bombing; Trump Agenda Faces Key Vote Amid GOP Infighting. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 18, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:11]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And we start this hour with breaking news. 82-year-old former President Joe Biden diagnosed with cancer. In a statement, his personal office calling it an aggressive form of prostate cancer, adding that it has spread to his bones.

CNN correspondent Arlette Saenz and CNN senior reporter and writer Betsy Klein both joining us now.

Betsy, let's start first with you. You were there at the White House. What more do we know about the former president -- I'm sorry. We're going to go to Arlette first.

Arlette, what more can you tell us about the former president's diagnosis?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. That is according to a statement from his personal office that was released this afternoon.

To put a bit of a timeline on this, on Monday, we had learned that Biden was being evaluated after a small nodule was found on his prostate and he received the diagnosis and results this last Friday. I want to read you a bit of that statement that they put out this afternoon. It said, "Last week President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.

"On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer characterized by a Gleason score of nine, grade group five, with metastasis to the bone. While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone sensitive, which allows for effective management."

Now, Biden and his team are evaluating -- and his family are evaluating the treatment options with their physicians. But this is certainly a very sad news for the Biden family, also for many of his staffers and aides who have been with him through the years.

Now, Biden has really kept a relatively low profile since leaving the White House, but he has started to reemerge into the public spotlight, and there has been a lot of focus on the former president's mental and physical capabilities in recent weeks, as there is new reporting coming out in one of our colleague's books relating to that topic.

Now, Biden and his family, of course, have suffered so many lifelong tragedies. Biden had lost his wife and daughter in a car accident when he was young, just elected to the U.S. Senate, and then in 2015, his son, Beau Biden, had passed away from brain cancer. And it was after that that Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, had really mobilized to try to take on the issue of cancer.

In 2016, during the State of the Union, President Obama had announced that Biden would head up the Cancer Moonshot to try to reduce cancer. That is something that Biden, when he took office, also really had wrapped his arm around as a key initiative for both he and his wife. So he has a lot of experience in trying to fight back against or trying to find ways to reduce and end cancer.

But now he will find himself battling this disease. And so certainly so many staffers, I've been texting with people this afternoon, who are expressing quite a bit of sadness with this news, as they've learned that the former president, Joe Biden, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, which has metastasized to the bones.

I will note that Biden is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware. He's likely there with some of his family as they are processing this news that they just started to receive on Friday. And then now the next steps will be trying to determine what that treatment will look like for Biden going forward.

DEAN: Yes, and more steps to come there. Thank you, Arlette, for that reporting. Obviously you've covered Joe Biden for many, many years. So no better person to walk us through that. Thank you so much.

Betsy, walk us through what's happening in terms of reaction, what we're hearing from the White House as this news starts to spread.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT AND WRITER: Yes. Well, just like Arlette, I have heard from so many former staffers, aides and supporters of the president expressing so much shock and issuing their thoughts and prayers to the former president. But we are also hearing from President Donald Trump, who said in a post to social media moments ago, quote, "Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery."

Of course, the two of them have had such a contentious relationship. They were together most recently in April 26th for the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican. And President Trump has not shied away from actively disparaging, taking personal attacks at his predecessor, even on the world stage.

[18:05:03]

Multiple times during his trip to the Middle East this week taking aim at the former president in personal and striking terms, and of course, really ignoring those long held norms of declining to criticize a domestic political rival while on foreign soil.

We are also hearing from former Vice President Kamala Harris, who herself issued a statement on social media a few minutes ago. She also expressed her concern. She said, quote, "Doug and I are saddened to learn of President Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis. We are keeping him, Dr. Biden and their entire family in our hearts and prayers during this time." She goes on to say, "Joe is a fighter and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership. We are hopeful for a full and speedy recovery."

Now, I want to go back to that statement that Arlette read from the Biden personal office a few moments ago. It really is a moderated statement. On one hand, it makes clear that there are treatments available for this, striking a positive note about potential outcomes. But at the same time, it makes clear there is a source of very grave concern, and that is that this cancer has spread to the former president's bones.

I consulted our colleagues at CNN Health for some insight into what this means. They got me some expert analysis on what to expect. Of course, prostate cancer is so common particularly for older American men. You are assigned a score when you're diagnosed based on what the cells look like. It's called the Gleason score. A Gleason score of nine, which is what the statement said, that President Biden has, means that it is the most aggressive form of prostate cancer.

Doctor Benjamin Davies, who's a professor of urologic oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, he's not involved in Biden's case, but he tells our colleagues at CNN Health that the fact that this cancer has spread to Biden's bones is very serious and not curable. Davies goes on to say there is some good news in the newer hormonal and chemotherapy therapies that have come into the space in recent years that has shown impressive results and extended the longevity of patients significantly.

He also said that it could take a few weeks to see how the former president responds to this treatment, so of course we'll be watching that quite closely. We'll be standing by for any additional reaction or updates going forward -- Jessica.

DEAN: OK, Betsy and Arlette, our thanks to both of you. We will continue to check in with you both as the hours go by.

In the meantime, urologist Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt is joining us now.

Doctor, thank you so much for being here with us. You are not treating Joe Biden just to be clear, but you are an expert in your field and I want to know what your understanding is of this diagnosis we're getting. DR. JAMIN BRAHMBHATT, UROLOGIST, ORLANDO HEALTH: I'm not treating Joe

Biden, but I probably diagnose hundreds of men a year with prostate cancer. If you look at globally in the United States, over 300,000 men a year are diagnosed with prostate cancer. Unfortunately, what the former president has is rare. Out of all the cancers that we've diagnosed, about 5 percent or 7 percent are what he has where it's already spreading to the bone.

So for me, this is a very common conversation that I have with patients. Obviously with who President Biden is it's raising a lot more awareness and alarm. So I'm going to tell you what I tell all my patients like this is a start of a journey. The good thing about prostate cancer is that there's lots of treatment options. As a reporter just mentioned, talking to one of my colleagues, there are a lot of treatment options. And there's also a lot of unknowns.

So we can't get scared just yet. We have to keep an open mind, and we have to kind of be very supportive of him and his family during this time.

DEAN: And when you -- when it comes to treatment options, what might the former president be looking at?

BRAHMBHATT: You know, it's going to be a very personalized approach. Every patient has a different approach taken to them. We can't just treat the prostate cancer. We have to look at his age. We have to look at his other medical problems. Most patients generally start off with something called androgen deprivation therapy, where the hormones are castrated. The testosterone is brought down to a minimal number. These are the things that feed the cancer.

Beyond that, he may get things like chemotherapy. He may get medications that can help support his bones as they're being chewed up with cancer. He may also get specific targeted therapies. But generally the initial is like, let's get as much as we can in this patient. But not everyone can tolerate all these treatments. Some of these treatments do have their own side effects. So this is where you have to look at the individual patient, their age, other medical comorbidities.

And how aggressive do you want to treat the cancer and will it affect some of the other medical conditions this patient has. So everything as I started I'm going to end, it's very personalized. So the care is getting is probably going to be very specific to what his needs are.

DEAN: And that makes perfect sense. And I would imagine that is where you evaluate and account for the former president's age as well.

[18:10:02]

BRAHMBHATT: Absolutely. One of the most common things that I hear when patients undergo these treatments is fatigue, weight loss, but also mood changes, hot flashes. So you have to kind of think like, OK, are they going to be able to tolerate these symptoms? You know, back in the day, a few decades ago, we didn't have that many options for men like him. If you look at like the five-year life expectancy for what the president has, it's 37 percent.

Decades ago, it was a lot less so with the advances of medicine, the numbers have gone much better but it's not 100 percent. When cancer is localized to the actual prostate, it's almost a 99 percent, 100 percent like five-year survival. In this case, because of the condition it is, the aggressive nature that it is, whether it's hormone sensitive like his press release says, or hormone insensitive or resistant, you know, life expectancy is only about 37 percent at five years.

DEAN: And what does it tell you? As we also obviously there was some, as Betsy said, some hope in that statement that they were hopeful that because it is hormone sensitive, they could use certain therapies and treatments on that which was somewhat hopeful. And then you also -- but you also combine that with this news that it has spread to his bones, and that is daunting.

BRAHMBHATT: Yes, I think with any cancer diagnosis you have to be supportive and you have to be kind of cautiously optimistic. And I think that's what the statement is doing. That's what his team of doctors are doing. You know, this is not just something that's treated by me, a urologist. We recruit medical oncology, radiation oncology. We recruit nutritionists. It's like a very, very team approach to the care that he's going to get.

You know, we in our mind know what the statistics are. But we're always very hopeful that our patients can defy the statistics. You know, just me alone. Like as I was coming home from work today, I have a patient that has the exact same diagnosis as President Biden. I'm going to have to give this patient the news this week. And so this is something that we do day to day, day to day. But I can't tell him what is going to happen in five years or three months.

It really is a day-to-day thing. It's the same thing with President Biden. It's going to be a day-to-day, week-to-week thing that hopefully we'll get updates on.

DEAN: All right, Dr. Brahmbhatt, thank you so much for your expertise, for your kind of context around all of this. We really appreciate it.

BRAHMBHATT: Thank you.

DEAN: We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:17:04]

DEAN: We are following breaking news tonight as former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with what his personal office calls an aggressive form of prostate cancer, which they say has spread to his bones.

This news coming just a few months after the 82-year-old left the White House. And as you can imagine, there's already been an outpouring of support from Democrats and Republicans alike, including from President Donald Trump.

CNN senior political commentator Van Jones is joining us now.

And Van, as it goes in television news, you were booked days ago to come on about general politics and then this news broke just a very short time ago. And I think everybody is kind of trying to absorb it and process it. I know you've known President Biden for a long time. I just first want to get your reaction.

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's heartbreaking, heartbreaking, heartbreaking. You know, everybody has got their own personal stories about Joe Biden being kind to them. You know, he is, you know, the empathizer-in-chief. You know, he kind of was one of the people that picked me out when I was just a young activist in Oakland, California, working on green jobs locally, encouraged me to champion what I was doing. wound up in some ways making it possible for me to be a part of the Obama administration.

When I was in the Obama administration, I got to work with, got a chance to work with him on the middle class task force. And I just saw up close how this guy is just all heart. I remember the day after or the day of Teddy Kennedy's funeral. And, you know, people were just really devastated for political reasons because it meant our majority had been knocked out, our supermajority had been knocked out.

But also people just loved Ted Kennedy. And this guy who had lost his own friend, Ted Kennedy was a good friend of his, just basically was holding a whole White House together. He's just has this unbelievable ability to empathize and to step up in moments of personal pain. And so I think what you're seeing, you know, from Donald Trump all the way down, all the way across, people are putting politics aside.

People are putting all these political agendas and all that stuff to one side today just to say, look, hang in there. You know, and prayers are going up. People are making phone calls. Text messages are going all over the place. People are just really shocked and hoping for a good outcome here. But this is a guy who, and you can see in the reaction even from Donald Trump nobody wants to take a shot at him today with regard to this.

People are pulling for him. They're praying for him as he has pulled for and prayed for so many others.

DEAN: Yes. I mean, I think about what you're talking about, which is just, what I covered him. I heard all these stories, but just, you have personal stories about how he pick up the phone and call people, members of someone's family that are dealing with a cancer diagnosis or who are in need of somebody to comfort them or whatever the case may be. And then, of course, his son, Beau Biden, dying of cancer in 2015, him really getting behind the Cancer Moonshot initiative.

[18:20:07]

Just how -- I think the word is ironic that this would be where he finds himself today.

JONES: Yes, though, as was said earlier, you know, about one in three of us will be in that situation, you know.

DEAN: Yes.

JONES: And that's part of why, you know, the great thing about Joe Biden is, you know, he reaches out to people, he touches people. He understands people personally. And then he turns right over to policy and tries to make a difference when it comes to policy. And so this Cancer Moonshot, it touched him personally. Beau Biden, I think honestly, I think Joe Biden hoped that Beau Biden would be president of the United States someday, even when he had maybe given up on his own dreams.

But he took that pain and he turned it into a policy initiative that could ultimately wind up saving millions and millions of lives. And who knows, maybe some of the things that he's focused on might wind up helping him in extending his own life. But, you know, I think people have a hard time understanding this. The median age of an American right now is 38 years old. Joe Biden has been in public life for 50 years, so longer than most Americans have been alive.

Joe Biden has been walking the halls, marble halls, pressing the flesh, trying to get things done for Americans. Cancer is just one of the many causes that he has championed, but this one now strikes very close to home.

DEAN: Yes, I think we do have a clip of him talking about this. I want to just play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The fight against cancer, the fight to eliminate racial disparities in cancer, and outcomes, is a fight we have to be unwilling to postpone. I am convinced as we make significant progress in cancer, the only truly nonpartisan issue facing this country, that the rest of the nation is going to say, damn it, we can do anything. This is the United States of America. This is fully, thoroughly, totally, completely within our wheelhouse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Yes. So, Van, I mean, to your point, this is something he's been so passionate about for a very long time. That clip is from 2019, you know, again, before he was elected president.

JONES: Look, I mean, and you see the passion there and the focus and that belief that the American people can accomplish great things with great goals and great leadership. He has believed that his entire career, he's been knocked down many times. He's been counted out many times. He's had, you know, self-inflicted and other inflicted wounds many times. But he's always come back to that deep, deep confidence in the American people and the American system.

And he believes we can do great things. And that that Cancer Moonshot is just one of the great things that Joe Biden believes that we can do when we come together. And so, you know, I think, look, people are pulling for him. I was very, very pleased to see President Trump putting forward such a kind statement. And -- but across the political spectrum, across the political spectrum, it's just, you know, a great deal of empathy for a guy that everybody knows that if you had gotten that phone call, if you had had that meeting with that doctor, the Joe Biden would be pulling for you.

If he knew you, he'd call you. If he didn't know you and found out about it, he'd pray for you. And that's why I think you're seeing this kind of reaction.

DEAN: Yes. And we're having that reaction, that very human reaction to somebody getting this very tough news, this very challenging news. And at the same time, the backdrop of just the political timing of those Hur tapes being released on Friday, we have our colleague Jake Tapper's book with Alex Thompson coming out this week, that he's back in the spotlight for a lot of these questions around, you know, his mental fitness and that this -- and his physical ability, you know, and now to have this.

I think Dana Bash said she talked to someone who's close to him who said this week was already going to be tough and now you have to deal with this as well.

JONES: Yes, it's true. And you know, Jake Tapper's book is an extraordinary book. It's well-researched, it's well-written. I think it's important for the record, for people to understand what happened and what went wrong there. And I hope that people will. And the thing about when you're a legend, as a Joe Biden, you're going to have the good and the bad all in the same news cycle. That's been true for him for a very long time. It's true again. But I think this afternoon everybody is just all about hopes and prayers for Joe Biden. We'll deal with the politics tomorrow.

DEAN: Yes. All right. Van Jones, thanks so much. It's really good to see you. We appreciate it.

JONES: Thank you.

DEAN: We're going to have more on our breaking news. We're going to take a quick break. Again, former President Joe Biden being diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. We'll have the latest for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:14]

DEAN: Back now with our breaking news as former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. His office saying that cancer has spread to his bones. The news coming when there is renewed discussion about his age and health while in the White House.

CNN national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny is joining us now.

And, Jeff, I know you covered Joe Biden for many, many years. We covered him on the campaign trail when he was running for president in 2020. And you were covering him in his most recent campaign. As you talk to people who know him, who worked for him, what are you hearing?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Jessica, it certainly is the subject of so much conversation this afternoon reaching out to many Biden associates. And there are legions of people who have worked for Joe Biden from, you know, a half century of his time in Washington, from the Senate to the vice presidency to the presidency.

[18:30:09]

Look, everyone is -- the news is shocking, there's no doubt, and people are saddened by it. But it's just so Shakespearean that it is coming at a time when there are so many questions about his capacity as president, his decision to keep going forward, and so many what ifs. What if he had run in 2016? What if he had just retired to public life after he was given that Medal of Freedom by President Obama and gone to his private life? What would the country be like now?

But I think at this moment, even seeing the well wishes and thoughtful notes coming in from his successor obviously has had very few kind words to say about Joe Biden. But a Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump obviously sending their best wishes, I think that is the best sign, the biggest sign that we can see that, really, everyone is, you know, in America and leaders around the world who have relations with him are hoping the best for him.

So we will see what his treatment is. Obviously, this is something that the Biden family has been through. Many, many challenges, many health challenges. And this is just the latest in that. But it just as questions, this is not going to take away from the questions that are being rightly asked about the people around him who urged him to run for reelection. Those still exist. This is just one more chapter, I guess, to his story line.

DEAN: Yes. And you mentioned the statement from President Trump, Jeff. It said, "Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery." That coming just about an hour ago.

And what was interesting to me, jeff, is, I had Dana Bash on with me when that came on, where we got that news and she used the word, you know, this kind of more traditional comment from a president in this situation, which to me really was the striking thing about it. This is a very traditional comment in this moment from President Trump to former President Biden, when they have had such a contentious relationship and he has continued to attack Joe Biden even once he got into office and Joe Biden was long out of office.

ZELENY: No question. I think it's presidential. It's certainly a traditional, but it's presidential and it's human. And I was traveling with the president just last week in the Middle East. And every day, every stop, President Trump had ill words to say about Joe Biden. So that is just part of Donald Trump's mechanism to deflect some of the challenges that he has in office, on the economy, on Ukraine and Russia. Blaming Biden has become a mantra of the Trump presidency. But in this

moment, at this time, I think it's a very presidential and respectful statement. Going forward, it will, we, of course, have seen the statement from former Vice President Kamala Harris wishing her partner well, as have many statements been coming in. But the questions now are his treatment obviously. He was the oldest president 82 years old, but he will have access to the best medical treatment that exists. But he has endured the rigors of cancer and the tragedies. So this is just one more challenge facing Joe Biden.

But I do think we have to sort of separate in our discussion here, you know, the questions that have become new storylines because of books that are coming out and other things what President Biden's decision to run again, what course that set the country off on, and that is a separate discussion from this. I think everyone is certainly wishing him well at this time. There's no question about that.

DEAN: To this more human piece of it.

Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much for being here with us. We appreciate it.

ZELENY: My pleasure, Jessica. Thank you.

DEAN: Thanks.

We're going to have more on former President Joe Biden coming up. We also have a major development out of Palm Springs, California, where the FBI has identified a suspect in the bombing of a fertility clinic. We're going to have more details on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:39:05]

DEAN: Police in California have now identified the suspect in the bombing outside a fertility clinic in Palm Springs. Authorities say 25-year-old Guy Bartkus is the suspected bomber, and they believe he died in that explosion and that he also intended to do a lot of damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AKIL DAVIS, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE OF LOS ANGELES: The subject had nihilistic ideations, and this was a targeted attack against the IVF facility. Make no mistake, we are treating this, as I said yesterday, as an intentional act of terrorism. We are able to save all of the embryos at this facility. Good guys one, bad guys zero.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: According to police, the suspect left behind a manifesto and was attempting to livestream this attack. Four other people were injured. They have all been treated and released.

I want to bring in CNN's Stephanie Elam, who is joining us from Palm Springs now.

Stephanie, when this first happened yesterday, there were so many questions around who might have done this, why they did this, and now we're getting some more information. What are you learning?

[18:40:07]

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Jessica. They've zeroed in on this one individual even carrying out a search warrant at that Twentynine Palms residence, which they do believe is connected to Bartkus. They even evacuated some people nearby out of an abundance of caution as they've done that.

And I can tell you, it's still very active here. I can see out here that the FBI has been out here. They're still cordoning off part of this road, which is actually a pretty large thoroughfare here, because the debris field was so large when this bomb went off. It is really quite amazing at that time of the day on a street that's as busy as this one is in Palm Springs, that only four people were injured, and that he was the only one who died.

What they're also trying to figure out is whether or not he was in the car or outside of the car when the bomb detonated. That's still unclear at this point, but they did say that they are going to have to use forensics to identify him with some finality there. So they're investigating that as well. They're also looking into this manifesto. They're also looking into a video rambling about someone who has said that they were anti-life and which may be connected to the IVF clinic here.

But they do believe that this was definitely targeted to this clinic. However, they are saying overall they do think that the city is safe. This was just one person on his own. They don't think that this was something carried out by many, many people, but still, this neighborhood is rattled. I talked to one resident who lives around the corner. He says that some of the people in his building are still afraid to come outside because so many of the windows, like, like 800 feet, 900 feet away, were broken and shattered after this bomb went off. A very large blast that really rocked this community here out in the desert -- Jessica.

DEAN: No doubt about it. And you're just looking at those images you can see, like you're saying, just how big of the blast zone and the perimeter there was.

Stephanie Elam, in Palm Springs, thank you so much for that reporting.

Still ahead, we're going to have more on tonight's breaking news as former President Biden has announced he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. We're going to have more on that coming up. Plus, intense negotiations happening right now on Capitol Hill before a key vote that could determine the success or failure of President Trump's agenda.

The key change that could convince some GOP holdouts to get behind this legislation. We're going to have more on that. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:47:03]

DEAN: We will have much more on President Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis in just a few minutes. But tonight, House Speaker Mike Johnson is back on Capitol Hill hoping to win or a group of GOP hardliners just days after those lawmakers dealt a major blow to President Trump's, quote, "big, beautiful bill." The speaker is hoping to get a vote passed through the Budget Committee as soon as tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We're on track, working around the clock to deliver this nation shaping legislation for the American people as soon as possible. The plan is to move it to the Rules Committee by midweek, and to the House floor by the end of the week. So we meet our initial, our original Memorial Day deadline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Julia Benbrook is joining us now live from Washington with more on this.

Julia, there are still some sticky sticking points at this point. What are they trying to work through?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica. Trump's agenda faces another big test tonight after that group of GOP hardliners blocked the bill from advancing on Friday. House Speaker Mike Johnson and members of his leadership team have worked throughout the weekend trying to convince those who voted against it to support it in this next vote. And we expect that to happen in just a matter of hours.

It is going to be a 10:00 p.m. Sunday night vote, a very rare late Sunday vote. And among the demands that the hardliners have been making, they're calling for deeper cuts to a clean energy tax program as well as stricter overhauls on Medicaid, specifically taking a look at the work requirements, wanting those to go into effect earlier. The current proposal has them going into effect in 2029.

Now, in an interview on FOX News that aired earlier today, Johnson said that he believes that these weekend negotiations are, quote, "going well," and he did imply that there could be room for compromise specifically on those work requirement timelines, but added that he is concerned about giving the states enough time to properly implement any changes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: The concern is what we're trying to work with is the ability of the states to retool their systems and ensure the verification process is to make sure that all the new laws and all the new safeguards that we're placing can actually be enforced. And so we're working through all those details and we'll get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Representative Ralph Norman, one of the Republicans who voted against advancing it on Friday, tells CNN that weekend negotiations suggest that GOP leadership may be moving in the hardliners' direction on some of the key sticking points.

Now, Johnson has set a really lofty goal of getting this to the House floor for a vote by Memorial Day. And as you heard earlier, he said that he thinks that this will get out of committee. They'll get it to the Rules Committee by midweek and then get it to a full House vote by the end of the week. And then, of course, all eyes turn to the Senate, where there will likely be challenges as well as some Republican members are already voicing concerns, some saying that the cuts don't go deep enough and others raising an issue with any changes to Medicaid.

[18:50:02]

DEAN: Yes. All right. More to come. Julia Benbrook, thank you so much for that.

And joining us now to talk more about this CNN senior political analyst Scott Jennings.

Scott, good to see you on this Sunday evening. Thanks so much for being here with us.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, good evening.

DEAN: Look, there's a -- Speaker Johnson has a big lift in front of him that he's trying to really thread a needle, that is tough. He's got these moderate Republicans and these GOP hardliners. Do you think he can get there?

JENNINGS: I do actually. I've talked to some sources and House Republican leadership tonight, they're very confident about what's going to happen in the Budget Committee tonight. But, you know, when you're dealing with legislation this large that deals with taxation, that deals with Medicaid, that deals with energy, and these are big ticket items. You're bound to have some friction internally because people have ideas.

I mean, it's a big conference and people have ideas. And so as the speaker, he's been working through all these different factions that have their ideas. I think the Medicaid work requirements is the big issue. There are a lot of people that want those to go into effect sooner than 2029. So my expectation is they'll back those down. But at the end of the day, what the speaker has to tell this conference and what I think the most resonant message is for Republicans is this is the president's agenda.

This reconciliation package, this is the president's agenda that he ran on and the American people elected him to enact. So ultimately, when they get this down to the floor on Thursday, that's the choice. Are you going to vote to support the president and enact the president's agenda or not? And because of that, I'm quite confident they'll get it over the line.

DEAN: And so we have those more the GOP hardliners that I think to your point, they're trying to appeal to with putting these Medicaid work requirements into place or having them be enacted sooner. Then you've got these New York state Republicans who are more moderate in the sense that they really are concerned about these state and local tax deductions, known as SALT. And Congressman Mike Lawler has said that there are Republicans from districts like his or California in these high tax states where Republicans, they help Republicans get their slim majority, that they're the majority makers in these kind of tighter districts, and they need to take something home to their constituents.

Does he have a point there? Do you think that's resonating?

JENNINGS: Yes, it's another group that has to be appeased. I mean, that's what I was saying earlier. When you're dealing with so many different kinds of issues and so many different groups of Republicans, you know, everybody has got the issue that they've got to take back home or that they believe they were sent to Congress to enact. So yes, it's another one of those things they got to try to help.

And like Congressman Lawler, he's one of those districts that's very purple. And that will be obviously an issue next year. So I'm sure the speaker and his team are taking all of that into account as they move towards final passage. Of course, just getting it out of the house is not the end of the story here.

DEAN: Right.

JENNINGS: No matter what is in this thing, when it goes over to the Senate, you know, they say in Washington there's two parties, the House and the Senate.

DEAN: Yes. Yes.

JENNINGS: And when it goes over to the Senate, they're going to have changes. There's people in the Senate that have ideas, and you could see even, you know, a much different bill when they pass something and then the two chambers come together. So, you know, there's still a long way to go. The real issue here is getting it out of the House, moving the ball down the field, getting the president towards what he wants, which is one big, beautiful bill that enacts the agenda on which he ran.

My political thought is they really, the Congress, needs to get this done by August before the August recess, if at all possible, because I think if these Republicans go home before August without having delivered for the president, they're going to face some hard questions from their constituents who voted for Donald Trump about why you're not helping him enough to get his agenda enacted.

DEAN: It's also, the longer time goes on, harder to keep all those people in line and keep them together.

JENNINGS: Yes. DEAN: That can get really tricky, too. What is the president's role in

all of this? How much does he put his finger on the scale?

JENNINGS: Well, he's got a huge role to play. Number one, it's his agenda. And so when he speaks, the party listens. He is the number one spokesperson and agenda setter for the Republican Party. So when he says I'm endorsing this legislation or this provision is something that I'm for, every Republican has to take that into consideration because it will matter to their constituents back home.

Number two, personal lobbying, I think when it comes right down to it, when the president of the United States calls you on the phone and says, I need you to do this for me, that's about the most powerful phone call you can get in Washington, D.C. So I think it's broad table setting for the message. And I think it's individual lobbying on members of Congress that need to hear directly from the president.

Look, ultimately, they're all Republicans. They all want to go in for the big winning touchdown here with Donald Trump. I mean, I remember back when they passed the tax cuts back in 2017, and all the Republicans went to the South Lawn. It was a victorious day for the Republican Party. They want to have that kind of day again. The provisions are great. They're cutting taxes, energy deregulation, historic investments in the border.

The alternative here is terrible. A, it hurts the president. B, failure to make the tax cuts permanent is, in effect, the largest tax increase in American history. Republicans do not want to do that. So there's a lot of political incentive to get this done. And the main man here is Donald Trump. And I do think the Republicans will ultimately respond to his leadership.

[18:55:00]

DEAN: All right, Scott Jennings, always good to see you. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

DEAN: Reaction is pouring in after President Biden says he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer, which has spread to his bones. We are covering this from all angles, and we're going to have much more on all this breaking news. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

DEAN: And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.