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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt

Trump Says Putin Call Went "Well," Putin Calls It "Candid"; Biden Battles "Aggressive Form" Of Prostate Cancer; Rep. Lauren Underwood Tells CNN She Won't Run For Senate; Former Best Friend Of Cassie Ventura Testifies That Sean "Diddy" Combs Assaulted Her In 2018. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired May 19, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:02]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: So, look, that's a very unique way to start a -- start -- look at that, Mrs. Blizzard. Start a marriage.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yeah, yeah, you got to find the corporate sponsorship if you're going to get married. They're getting very expensive nowadays.

DEAN: It's very expensive, okay.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

DEAN: You know.

SANCHEZ: McDonald's, Taco Bell, I don't know. I got to find -- I got to find a fast food outlet.

Jessica, great to be with you today.

DEAN: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Come back any time.

THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT starts in just a few seconds. Thanks for joining us today.

(MUSIC)

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: It's war versus peace.

Let's head into THE ARENA.

Right now, no ceasefire. President Trump failing to pause the fighting after a round of high stakes calls. What he's just now saying about the future of Russia's war after he talked to Vladimir Putin.

Also this hour, the latest on the cancer diagnosis for former President Biden. The new reaction coming in as he weighs treatment options.

Plus, dramatic testimony today in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. We'll show you the new pictures now being made public as more witnesses take the stand saying they were also abused by the musician.

(MUSIC)

HUNT: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to THE ARENA. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Monday.

Right now, a critical moment in the push for peace between Russia and Ukraine, or at least President Trump wants it to be a critical moment. But is it?

President Trump, after a two hour call with Vladimir Putin that ended just a little while ago, announcing that the two sides would immediately begin ceasefire talks? If that sounds familiar, it's because talks are already ongoing. The issue is that the talks aren't going anywhere.

Russian President Vladimir Putin skipped negotiations that were held in Turkey last week, and instead he sent a low-level delegation.

After today's hourlong call, which Trump, we'll dig into this in a minute, described in far more glowing terms than Putin did. Putin once again claiming he wants peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia also stands for a peaceful resolution to Ukrainian crisis. We must simply determine the most effective paths toward peace. Russia's position is clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Said that he believes his call with Putin went very well, and he seems to be back to offering carrots instead of sticks. He wrote this quote there is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is unlimited, end quote.

President Trump, remember, wanted to see this conflict ended back when he had marked 100 days in office. That was almost a month ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has made it clear his goal is to see a cease fire and to see this conflict come to an end, and he's grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict. The president and his team have put an enormous amount of effort in solving this very complicated war that, again, began because of the last administration's weakness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Weary and frustrated, and increasingly, the source of that frustration is Vladimir Putin.

Last month, following deadly strikes on Kyiv, President Trump publicly pleaded with the Russian president writing in all caps, Vladimir, stop.

Vladimir, spoiler alert, did not stop. The war continues, the airstrikes continue, and on Sunday, Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the war began.

You might remember, Trump has already given Putin so much of what he might want. He's ruled out Ukraine joining NATO. He's even said that Russia can keep the Crimean peninsula, the 2014 seizure of which, of course, got Russia kicked out of what is now the G7 instead of the G8.

So, now, will President Trump be forced to accept that its Russia who's preventing peace? That is a reality that he has repeatedly dodged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: Is Putin now the obstacle to peace in your mind?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, I had a real rough session with Zelenskyy because I didn't like what he said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, over the weekend, there was quite the vibe shift from that real rough session that he was referencing there in the Oval Office, President Zelenskyy met with Vice President J.D. Vance. Photos show the two smiling on a sunny patio in Rome. Again, quite the contrast.

So where do things go from here? President Trump says that talks will begin immediately. Zelenskyy has showed up at the negotiating table. The question now, will Putin?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Things the president thinks this is frankly stupid that we should be able to move beyond the mistakes that have been made in the past. But that takes two to tango. I know the president is willing to do that.

But if Russia is not willing to do that, then were eventually going to have to say, this is not our war.

[16:05:00]

It's Joe Biden's war. It's Vladimir Putin's war. It's not our war. We're going to try to end it. But if we can't end it, we're eventually going to say, you know what? That was worth a try, but we're not doing any more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Our panel is here, and we're also joined by CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who's live at the White House.

Jeff, let me start with you on what we're learning in the wake of this phone call. How has President Trump been characterizing it, and how is that different from how the Russian president has been talking about it?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kasie, as you said, President Trump is essentially giving this two hour phone call a glowing review. I mean, just reading this readout of the phone call, you would think that things are headed toward a ceasefire. But it also sounds like a different season. As we head into summer here now, as we head into the month of June, another month of fighting. This is exactly where the conversations were a few months ago, negotiating discussions about settlements, about going into a ceasefire discussion rather than negotiating a ceasefire itself.

So, the -- what I'm struck by, Kasie, is all last week, as the president traveled throughout the Middle East, as we traveled along with him, on Friday, he said specifically, he said, we will have to meet -- Vladimir Putin, President Trump, we will have to meet he and I will meet and we'll solve it.

But today in the statement, the president said that -- you know, essentially said that to Russia and Ukraine will have to negotiate this out themselves. So, something has changed a bit here. But the president of the U.S. president clearly is not pressuring Putin at all. There was no sign of leverage. And the bottom line, there was also no response as far as we can tell about Vladimir Putin wanting to meet.

Donald Trump ended last week wanting to meet face to face with Vladimir Putin. There was no such a discussion of that. So, the bottom line is it seems like we are a long way from even a ceasefire, let alone a sustained peace here.

But look, any conversation obviously is a good conversation to have. Both parties are talking, but at the end of the day here, I'm not sure what was gained by this. There certainly were no significant breakthroughs, if any breakthroughs at all.

HUNT: All right. Jeff Zeleny reporting for us. Fascinating stuff there. Jeff, thank you very much.

All right. Our panel joins us now. CNN anchor, chief national security analyst, Jim Sciutto; CNN contributor, "New York Times" journalist and podcast host, Lulu Garcia-Navarro; former communications director for the DNC, Mo Elleithee, and CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Brad Todd.

Welcome to all of you. Thank you all for being here.

Jim Sciutto, let me start with you. I was reading a little bit into how J.D. Vance was framing that there. I mean, on the one hand, the much sunnier meeting with Vladimir Zelenskyy, right? Of course, it was Vance who, if anyone, you know, really talked that Oval Office meeting, he made it worse.

But on the other hand, what he said there on the plane really leave the door open to them saying, this is not our war and potentially ceasing to offer U.S. support. What did you hear in it?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, I mean, I heard quite the same thing. And it's interesting because I spoke to a senior European diplomat and I said, what are your takeaways from this call? And the first one was, it looks like the U.S. is stepping back from the talks, making it clear this is between Russia and Ukraine. And it's really not -- not our game.

The second piece is that this diplomat was disappointed that President Trump did not bring up U.S. sanctions on Russia, because the obvious point here is that Russia still has not agreed to a ceasefire that Ukraine agreed to weeks ago, and that the president demanded weeks ago. And hanging over this had always been the threat that the U.S. would apply a stick of sanctions. But even with another call where you didn't get that deliverable, still no threat of sanctions.

And really, the message seems to be, I'm going to let them duke it out, right. That kind of thing, which is a -- from the European perspective, it's a disappointment, right? Because they want -- they do want to push these -- push these forward. And the administration position seems to be stepping back.

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean, wouldn't it be wonderful if you could just say, I'm not going to do anything about this and it would all go away? But that's not what's happened. We see that in Gaza.

I mean, the war there is expanding. There was a promise that there was going to be a ceasefire under Donald Trump. He said it was really important to end that war. And now that war is again expanding. And we're seeing something similar with Ukraine.

If the United States just says, you know what? I'm going to let this go whatever way it's going to go, it doesn't mean the war goes away. It doesn't mean that the threats go away. It doesn't mean that Russia's aggression goes away. It simply means that the United States is just stepping back and washing its hands of it.

HUNT: Brad Todd, I mean, we've seen the MAGA wing of the Republican Party push for this conflict to be ended for U.S. support, in many cases for the Ukraine war to stop. But, of course, the premise, the reason why we've spent so much money on it already is that its this is a representative -- representation of defense of the West, of the Western way of living.

How do you look at what president Trump is doing here, and how much of it relates to electoral politics here?

[16:10:01]

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, I think first of all, it's a mess that Trump inherited when he didn't want. It really goes back all the way to when Crimea -- when Russia took Crimea and Obama let him take it. We sort of all been trying to get out of that mess since then. I think the Trump strategy so far has been to try to let Russia save

face and let Ukraine save sovereignty, and that's been a tough needle to thread. All the while, our European allies are doing nothing to get themselves off the Russian -- the dependance on Russian oil and gas long term, it's almost as if Europe's cheering for success and not willing to pay for it.

So, I think that perhaps over time, if the U.S. does step back some now, there can be a resetting of that U.S. European axis so that the Europeans get fully on board with cutting Russia off long term, not just this month.

HUNT: But, Mo, how do you look at this? And again, I mean, Brad references Obama. Republicans will blame Obama for a lot of this. And you heard J.D. Vance say this is Joe Bidens war.

MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR OF THE DNC: Yeah. I mean, look, and to pick up something -- on something that Lulu said, Donald Trump ran on a promise to stop wars. The two biggest conflicts in the world haven't stopped. They haven't been contained. They have both expanded under Donald Trump's watch, and I look at this approach to Russia, Ukraine, and I can't help but wonder if Putin isn't just sitting back saying, I can hold out because this guy is giving me everything I want.

Think about this. Russia's economy is in tatters in large part because of this war. We actually have leverage. We actually can put just a little bit of economic sanctions pressure on them. And that would hurt.

But that didn't come up. The president and the vice president are saying we can just, you know, if you guys don't work this out, well just sit back. That might make the MAGA wing happy. But Putin's sort of in the drivers seat here.

TODD: He is offering a carrot today, though, of trade in a potential to help Russia's economy through proactive trade. If you combine that offer to trade with America, with Europe swearing to get off Russian oil and gas and importing American LNG gas, for instance, or restarting their nuclear programs, maybe that's the trick long term, but --

ELLEITHEE: Maybe but --

SCIUTTO: Think about that is that trade off? By the way, no one begrudges the president's attempt to end bloody wars that have victimized the. And of course, it's the people who suffer these wars the most, the civilians, et cetera.

But the idea that Putin who envisions rebuilding his near abroad and Europe, who, by the way, denies Ukraine's existence as a sovereign state, is going to be moved off what he views as a strategic objective, right, regaining that foothold and frankly weakening the United States. He calculates that in his interest that he's going to be moved off that by a, hey, were going to make were going to sell more stuff to each other. It just misses his view of this conflict. Putin -- much like if you

look at Israel, right, with the Israel looks at the war in Gaza, as in its strategic interest. Granted, there are Israelis who don't believe that the progress of the war right there is in its interest.

So, the idea of a, I don't know, redeveloping Gaza as a beach resort. Again, those trade deals don't move nations off their calculations of their own strategic interests.

HUNT: Well, and, Jim, let me put up the different ways in which these two leaders talked about this call briefly, and I'll let you finish out our conversation here. I think the last one under Putin, eliminate the root causes of this crisis, right? I mean, that --

SCIUTTO: I had a highlighted --

HUNT: It's paper (ph), right?

SCIUTTO: Yeah, the trouble is that they look at -- Russia looks at the root causes of the crisis as Ukraine wanting to move away. Well, Ukraine, a country, right?

HUNT: Exactly. That's my point.

Ukraine wanting to be closer to Europe as opposed to closer to Russia, which is a 20-year-old battle there. I mean, this is why Russia has been interfering in Ukraine's elections going back. It's why they poisoned their leaders, et cetera.

So, so, if he still -- if he still thinks the root causes have been addressed, remember what his view of the root cause is.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What is the strategy here from the Trump administration? I mean, this is really what it comes down to. What actually is it trying to achieve? What does it want? What is it offering?

I mean, this is not getting to kids that are fighting to sit together in the sandbox. This is actually very important geostrategic stuff. And I still don't understand what it is that they are trying to achieve.

HUNT: Yeah. Well, I mean, I go back to what Jeff said at the, at the top of the show, which I think is very interesting that they went from Trump and Putin can get on the phone and fix it to them, essentially saying, well, Trump and Putin got on the phone. This is Putin and Zelenskyy's problem now.

Jim Sciutto --

TODD: A lot of American presidents have looked --

HUNT: Very much.

TODD: -- Putin's eyes and seen his soul, right? That goes all the way back to George Bush, right? HUNT: Right, and somehow Putin is still --

SCIUTTO: Reset buttons, too, remember that, right?

HUNT: Reset buttons. And here we are still talking about it.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

HUNT: Jim, thank you. Very grateful for your expertise on the show today.

All right. Coming up next, the latest on former President Biden's cancer diagnosis, someone who knows him both personally and professionally will join our conversation.

Plus, Republicans for now are advancing President Trump's massive tax bill.

[16:15:02]

We're going to talk with Democratic Congresswoman Lauren Underwood. She'll be here live in THE ARENA.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

Former President Biden addressing his metastatic prostate cancer diagnosis for the first time this morning. He wrote this in a post on X, quote: Cancer touches us all. Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.

While it's unclear where the president will seek treatment, the statement from Biden's personal office says that the cancer appears to be hormone sensitive, which allows for effective management.

[16:20:03]

The president, now fighting the disease that he made a priority to fight on behalf of others during his time in office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We can end cancer as we know it. I committed to this fight when I was vice president. It's one of the reasons why, quite frankly, I ran for president. Let there be no doubt now that I am president, this is a presidential White House priority, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And of course, Biden lost his own son to cancer.

CNN correspondent Arlette Saenz joins our panel. She extensively covered the Biden White House. We also have with us CNN chief political analyst David Axelrod.

Thank you both very much for being here.

Arlette, let me start with you. Just in terms of kind of the big picture reporting here, obviously, this is a tragedy for the Biden family. They have a very difficult journey ahead. President Biden has been known to be very personal in his outreach to others that he knows have struggled with cancer. As we discussed, he had the cancer moonshot. This is something he very much focused on.

But of course, he's also facing quite a bit of political headwind right now as people raise questions about what was known about his health when he was in office and whether that should have factored into his decision to run again.

What do you know about that piece of it from your time covering his presidency?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, that really highlights the tricky dynamic that the Biden family is facing right now. They are trying to chart these next steps after receiving this prostate cancer diagnosis, trying to determine what his treatment will look like. It's really just the latest tragic moment when you think of Biden's long political and public life, starting with the death of his young daughter and wife in that car accident, and then Beau Biden, who passed away from brain cancer in 2015. Bidens diagnosis actually comes or came two weeks before they were set to mark the 10th anniversary of Beau Biden's passing.

So that kind of speaks to the emotions that this really has presented to the Biden family. But it also comes as we have heard more questions come up over the past few weeks about what Biden's physical and mental capacity was like when he was in office. Really, these revelations from forthcoming books, in some ways casting a shadow on his long political legacy.

And so, this is something that the family will have to navigate as well in the coming weeks, as they are also facing this cancer diagnosis, too.

HUNT: David Axelrod, you, of course, have worked with president Biden for many, many years in in different capacities. And of course, you know him personally. You know, his family at such a difficult moment for any family to have to grapple with this.

But, of course, it is also coming as they are taking an incredible amount of criticism for how they handled his health while he was in office. What are -- what are you thinking about in terms of this right now? And I think it's worth remembering, too. We just heard the audio from the special counsel Hur, which of course, you know, the very difficult example from that was him misremembering the date of Beau Biden, his son's death from cancer. I mean, it's just -- it's so tragic all the way around.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: No, it really is. Look, I want to separate out my thoughts. First and foremost, I did serve with Joe Biden. I knew him well in the White House. I've been the recipient of his kindness and his empathy for struggles in my own life and I deeply appreciated that then, and I appreciate it now.

And I feel for him and his family because they're dealing with a lot right now. They're dealing with this illness, and they're dealing with these stories.

That said, the stories are, you know, troubling and there is a lot to account for. You know, Kasie, I said in 2022 and 2023 that he ought to think about what he was doing in terms of thinking about reelection, because, as I said back then, it's hard to explain to people why you should be president until you're closer to 90 than 80. And I and I said then and I say now, that was an actuarial judgment. It wasn't a political judgment.

And we see, why? Because you're in the toughest job on the planet. I sat next to a president for two years and I saw what that job entails. I watched a rather young man age pretty rapidly in that job. But he had the resources to do it because he was in his 40s when he took that job over.

And you could see the impact on him. And certainly, we could see it in President Biden and the book that our colleague Jake Tapper coauthored that is coming, I guess is coming out tomorrow details in some -- you know, to a large degree that -- the effort on the part of the people around him to keep his condition isolated from others and to keep him isolated from the truth of his political standing.

[16:25:24]

And that was a tragedy.

HUNT: David, who do you think is accountable for the decision that Joe Biden made to run again? Is it Joe Biden himself, or is it more the people around him who do you think should be held accountable for it?

AXELROD: Well, look, I think Joe Biden, anybody has -- anybody who runs has to be held most accountable for the decision they made. In some ways, I think he had a group of very -- people who were very loyal to him around him. He had his family around him who were all encouraging him. And I kind of blame them because I'll tell you something, having served a president, the hardest thing to do is to tell a president of the United States hard truths.

And a lot of people don't want to do that, but it's -- that's how you demonstrate your ultimate loyalty. If you're willing to go in and tell hard truths, what we saw and what we've seen his closest aides living in a delusion (AUDIO GAP) that election, that somehow his age was not an insuperable barrier for him. That wasn't true. And he should have been told that.

And he should have been told that your legacy, the Democratic Party, and most importantly, the country would be better served if you stepped aside and let the party have the chance for a competitive primary and choose a new leader. He didn't do that. I think it was a mistake, but I hold the people around him accountable because I don't think they told him the truth.

HUNT: Do you do you hold Biden responsible for Trump's reelection?

AXELROD: I think that the -- I think the Democratic Party would have had a better, much better chance if there was a candidate running who wasn't Biden and frankly, wasn't Joe Biden's number two. (AUDIO GAP). Kasie, if you had handed me a piece of paper and said the right track direction of the country was 28 percent thought we were on the right track, 40 percent approved of the president's performance in office, and 70 percent thought the economy was on the wrong track or was fair or poor, I would say, without knowing anything else, the incumbent party was going to lose that election.

The only chance for the Democratic Party, in my view, was to nominate a candidate who was not associated with the president closely and who was a governor or someone from completely outside who would not have to defend some of the things that Kamala Harris felt she had to defend. There's a lot about Bidens record that I think you could defend and you could run on. There were things that were plainly -- things that you shouldn't run on, like their handling of the border.

And she was hamstrung or felt hamstrung, couldn't do that. Someone who could, could have beaten Donald Trump, who wasn't despite what he says, not a terribly popular candidate then he's not a terribly popular president now.

HUNT: Yeah. Really, really tough set of decisions that unfolded.

Mo Elleithee, I think that the you know, the reality is Americans were telling us leading up to the election that they didn't think that Joe Biden was up to another term in office, right? And the reality is we're now, you know, 100 plus days into the second term, and he's been diagnosed with this terrible disease. Had he been reelected, that's what we would be facing as a country.

ELLEITHEE: That's right. Look, first of all, you know, most heartfelt thoughts with the Biden family, whatever you think of the political decision he made, the man had an extraordinary life in public service. And that should not get lost in this conversation.

HUNT: Sure.

ELLEITHEE: But I get it. I get why people are connecting these. I wish people on the other side would use a little less snark in talking about his diagnosis, as they're talking about some --

HUNT: Snark is not appropriate.

ELLEITHEE: Political decisions. The Democratic Party has a reckoning. It's going to have to struggle with this over the next couple of years. The candidates who put themselves forward are going to have to answer to this. They're going to get tough questions from the press. They're going to get tough questions from primary voters.

It will figure out how to move forward from this. But I don't think there are many people left who look back at the last year and a half, two years and say this was handled well, and so they're going to have to figure out -- the party's going to have to figure out what to do moving forward.

[16:30;05]

There's one last thing, though, that I do hope this diagnosis helps recenter in the political conversation. And you touched on it earlier, Kasie, it is the national priority of fighting cancer. And he made it a huge priority. The federal government made it a huge priority.

Over the past 150 days or so, we have seen the federal government make it less of a priority, pulling funding for research. As part of the DOGE efforts, I hope the more we talk about this, we can remember that is an important priority we need to focus on, regardless of who's in the White House.

HUNT: Cancer is not -- it does not discriminate. It is not partisan, and it has touched so many of you at home and so many of us sitting here at this table as well.

All right. Arlette Saenz, thank you very much for being here. I appreciate it.

The rest of our panel, including David Axelrod, will stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:35:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're almost there. And I'm very optimistic that we will find the right equilibrium point to get this bill delivered. We're going to have a lot of discussion amongst the conference over the next 48 hours, and that's all part of it. So just -- all I can say is stay tuned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Speaker Johnson downplaying divisions, admitting there are divisions within his conference over President Trump's so-called big beautiful bill. Those divisions apparently real enough to warrant a presidential visit. Sources telling CNN the President will go to the Hill tomorrow to try to get all Republicans in line.

Overnight, the House Budget committee advanced the bill after initial opposition from a group of conservative hardliners. Those hardliners opting to vote present in order to inch the bill forward. But dueling factions and unresolved concerns about Medicaid, energy cuts and state and local tax deductions continue.

Joining us now to discuss Democratic Congresswoman Lauren Underwood of Illinois. She currently sits on the House Appropriations Committee.

Congresswoman, thank you very much for being here. Good to see you. REP. LAUREN UNDERWOOD (D-IL): Thank you for having me.

HUNT: At this point, the bill that Republicans are advancing forward, there do seem to be some moderates who have concerns about the levels of cuts at to Medicaid. How do you expect Democrats to be focusing on this? Is there -- because, I mean, the reality is you don't control the levers of power. So, what can you do?

UNDERWOOD: Well, Democrats are going to be united in voting no on this bill, that's for sure. Without a doubt, we know that it represents the largest health care cut in U.S. history, the largest cut to nutrition assistance, literally taking food out of the mouths of hungry kids and babies across the country. It makes it very easy for us to stand in front of our communities and say that we'll be voting no.

But beyond that, we are also encouraging folks to reach out to Republicans and share their story, right. Their actions are so deeply unpopular that they're going to have to go home and explain their actions to their communities, who are deeply unhappy.

HUNT: Congressman, I want to ask you also, as Democrats, of course, across the country, grapple with how to return to power. There are a lot of decisions to be made across the board. Theres a major Senate race in Illinois after Senator Dick Durbin, who I've known for many years had elected to step down. There is this big question out there.

Do you plan to run for Senate to seek Senator Durbin's seat?

UNDERWOOD: Well, I was so surprised to hear Senator Durbin's announcement. You know, he has been such a strong leader for our state for the last 30 years. And as I really reflected on why I ran for Congress in the first place, it was to protect health care.

And I got to work when I was elected in the 2018 cycle and passed a bill to lower health care costs for people who have ACA coverage. It's helped millions of families around the country afford health care. And now Donald Trump and my colleagues across the aisle are seeking to undo all of that progress that we've made.

So, when I reflected on the way that I could best serve families in Illinois and around the country, I really decided to stay in the House of Representatives. I'm in leadership and to help the trip as we seek to reclaim the majority.

HUNT: Can you talk a little bit about why you might have decided that? It does seem like you were fairly advanced in your preparations, and there's a report, the local NBC affiliate in Chicago reported that the team of the governor, Governor Pritzker, called you damaged goods and tried to get you to stop running for Senate. Did that happen?

UNDERWOOD: Well, I didn't speak to the governor, and I don't need to speak with him. But what I do know is that kind of ugliness has no place in our politics. I know that Illinois voters are going to decide this election. Illinois voters can't be bought, right? And this is going to be a really rigorous, competitive election. And I think the voters are excited to have a choice. HUNT: Do you think Governor Pritzker pushed you out of the race?

UNDERWOOD: Absolutely not. You know, the work that we're doing here in the House of Representatives is so important. When we get back in that House majority, that is how well be able to stop the damage of Donald Trump's agenda and make sure that were protecting health care for the American people. Thats the work that I've done throughout my career.

I'm not someone who's ever sought a title. I'm not just power hungry. I'm a nurse, and I have always wanted the American people to have access to high quality, affordable health care. And that work is ongoing.

HUNT: So, speaking of your background as a nurse, I did want to ask you about what we've heard about President Biden. He, of course, had this devastating prostate cancer diagnosis. But of course, it comes as were having a conversation about whether or not it was the right thing for him to decide to run for a second term based on how his aides the things we're learning from a book my colleague Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson are writing.

And what was your reaction when you heard of this diagnosis?

[16:40:03]

And, do you think it relates to the politics of all of it?

UNDERWOOD: Well, I certainly feel for President Biden and the whole Biden family, and I'm sending them my prayers that a cancer diagnosis is devastating for anybody. And I hope that he receives great treatment, the kind of treatment that we would want all Americans to have access to. And that's what makes these Medicaid cuts so devastating.

HUNT: When you think about what the future looks like for your party -- I mean, do you feel and this is this is something that many Democrats are starting to grapple with is something of a litmus test issue. Certainly, in the presidential race that is looming in 2028.

Do you think that it was a mistake for President Biden to run?

UNDERWOOD: Oh, no. I was a Biden surrogate. Okay? So I was on the campaign trail for President Biden. I became a surrogate for Vice President Harris when she launched her presidential campaign.

At the end of the day, we know that elections are about choices, right? And we've seen in these first several months of Trump's administration, he's completely turned his back on his promises to lower costs for people. We had an economy that was on the rise.

You know, we're now seeing ratings agencies like Moody's downgrading the United States of America. It's devastating. And working families in my district feel it. Farmers in my district feel it and they're not happy.

HUNT: Do you think that if president Biden had given Democrats a chance to have a primary, that the country might have avoided what you're talking about?

UNDERWOOD: I think that Vice President Harris was an exceptional candidate, and she ran a great --

HUNT: Yeah, no question about her. I mean, I mean, the decision, you know, President Biden had said he was going to be a transitional figure, right? Presumably a one term president. And then he decided, and I'm not talking about the summer of 2024. I'm talking about after the midterms in 2022. He made that decision to run again.

Do you have any -- any reservations about what happened at that time?

UNDERWOOD: I do not, because it was clear, you know, we had gotten out of the pandemic. We were seeing month after month job growth. We were making progress and impacting people's lives.

And, you know, we had passed major legislation that was bringing dollars to communities across the country, creating economic opportunity. That is a record that any presidential campaign would want to run for when you consider the prospect of reelection. And so I was honored to be on the team with Joe Biden, and I'm honored to stand with him now.

HUNT: Would you like to see Governor Pritzker run for president in 2028?

UNDERWOOD: Well, Governor Pritzker is very popular across our state. He's done a great job in standing up and fighting for Illinois families. And so, he'd have to make a decision about what's in terms of his future. He's obviously up for reelection next year. And so we're all just waiting to find out his plans.

HUNT: All right. Congresswoman Lauren Underwood --

UNDERWOOD: Thank you so much.

HUNT: -- thanks for coming on. I really appreciate it.

All right. David Axelrod, I want to bring you in quickly because, of course, you have been covering and observing Illinois and national politics for many a decade.

AXELROD: Yeah, since the Civil War.

HUNT: Yeah. Explain to us what you -- what you see here. And, you know, I think also worth noting, Rahm Emanuel, very close confidante of yours for many years, also considering J.B. Pritzker thinks he's considering running for governor. But obviously the White House is also looming large.

AXELROD: Yeah. Look, I think that Lauren Underwood would have been a formidable candidate. But for one deficiency and that's money. And you have Raja Krishnamoorthi, one of her colleagues from also from the western suburbs, who's amassed a $20 million war chest already. You have Juliana Stratton, the lieutenant governor, who's been endorsed by the governor and by Senator Duckworth. And this is going to be important for the governor. He's put his -- he

immediately endorsed her. And, you know, with J.B. Pritzker's endorsement often comes financial resources, which are going to be very, very important to Stratton in this campaign.

And then you have Robin Kelly, another member of Congress from the -- from the south of Chicago, on the south side of Chicago and the southern suburbs and exurbs. And she is, you know, she's going to get some votes. So, it was a crowded but doesn't really have the money.

I think Lauren Underwood looked at that and said, I just am not going to be able to compete in that kind of an environment. So, well -- whether the governor called her damaged goods or not or was, pressuring her, you know, overtly or, you know, obliquely. I think the sober discussion of money now, he wanted her out because he thought three African-American women would divide the field, and Krishnamoorthi would have a better chance.

[16:45:03]

I think the reality is a lot of her vote may go to Raja because they share -- they are both suburbanites. They're both -- they kind of share a lot. And I've actually seen some polling that suggests that. So, it's not as clear cut to me that her leaving, at least at this juncture particularly favors one candidate.

HUNT: All right. David Axelrod, always grateful for your expertise, sir. Thank you very much for being here.

AXELROD: Good to see you, guys. Thanks.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next, the other news of the day, the newly released a graphic photos that were shown to the jury in the Sean "Diddy" Combs criminal trial.

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[16:50:04]

HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

Another day of testimony is just wrapped up in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. I want to bring in CNN correspondent Kara Scannell. She's live outside the federal courthouse in New York.

And we're also joined by CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams.

Kara, let me start with you. What did we hear today? I mean, a lot of what we're looking at, I mean, it's really graphic and awful.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kasie, the jury heard additional testimony today about physical violence that these witnesses said they saw Sean Combs do to Cassie Ventura. One witness who testified today was Kerry Morgan, Ventura's best friend of 17 years. She was friends with Ventura before she started dating Combs, and throughout most of their relationship. She testified about several incidences of violence. One, she said that

they were in Jamaica sitting at a bar in Ventura, went to the bathroom, Combs said she was taking too long. Then Morgan testified that she heard a guttural scream, had seen Combs dragging Ventura by her hair down a hallway. She said that continued to outside, where she saw Combs throw Ventura to the ground. Ventura had hit a brick, and Morgan testified she wasn't sure if Ventura was knocked out.

She said she -- Ventura did get up, ran to the woods, and they eventually found her, but they were hiding for a while in a ditch, trying to avoid Combs and his associates who were looking for them.

She also testified about what occurred after the March 2016 assault that was captured on that hotel surveillance video. The jury had last week seen photos of some injuries to Ventura's face, and Morgan said that when she Ventura returned to her home, Morgan was there. She said that it was that combs had showed up and was knocking, banging on the door with a hammer.

Morgan testified that she was terrified. The police ultimately came, but Ventura did not speak to them. She wouldn't identify herself, and she said later that Ventura had not wanted her to talk to the authorities, and that Ventura felt like she couldn't leave Combs because he was in control of her career.

Now, we also heard today from a personal assistant to Combs, who became emotional on the witness stand when he testified about his interview with at Bad Boy Records to become his personal assistant. This assistant, David James, testified that he was told by the head of human resources that this is Mr. Combs' kingdom, and we're all here to serve him.

He also testified about an exchange he had with Ventura in which he talked to her about leaving this chaotic, crazy lifestyle. And Ventura told him, James testified that she couldn't leave because Combs was in charge of her career and her money and her apartment, and so she couldn't leave. He'll be back on the witness stand tomorrow.

It was interesting. When he was leaving the courtroom, he looked over at Combs. He nodded at him, and Combs nodded back toward him. This testimony, clearly not helpful for Combs' defense -- Kasie.

HUNT: Well, and Elliott Williams to that point -- I mean, why is this all such a focus? It seems to be that they need to prove that this was against her will in order to prove sex trafficking, because we saw those opening statements where the defense basically said, well, domestic violence is not sex trafficking. What are your takeaways from what we learned today?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And, Kasie, you just beautifully laid out what the law on sex trafficking is. Look, no one disputes and I don't think Sean Combs would dispute the existence of these sex acts and somewhat what, say, avant-garde sex parties that took place.

Now, the question is for what he's been charged with, you would have to show some level of force, fraud or coercion in getting people to participate in them. And what you're seeing here at least what the prosecutors are attempting to put on, is establishing a pattern of not just acts, but acts of force that led to the acts.

And what's not helping Sean Combs is that what seems like every time he gets a useful piece of evidence, there's a countervailing piece of evidence of him beating up the person who gave it. There's -- there was testimony today about whether Cassie -- Cassie and the other Kerry Morgan is the name voluntarily went on trips. Well, there's also evidence that he beat both of them. One of them with a coat hanger.

This is certainly not useful evidence for a defendant who is attempting to undermine these questions of whether he used force, fraud or coercion to get people to go along with his behavior.

HUNT: Yeah. Really awful.

All right. Kara Scannell, Elliot Williams, thank you both very much for being here.

We'll be right back.

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[16:59:06]

HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

Time for something completely different. Picture this, a pizza so big that you need six guys to lift it. I'm sorry. What is this?

A bride and groom in Texas served an eight-foot wood fired pizza at their wedding reception in Texas. You guessed it. Earlier this month, the newlyweds Beth and Brandon hired a company to make the giant pizza on site for their 160 wedding guests. I mean, honestly, it kind of looks delicious. It was served right away.

Hot, fresh, cheesy, no pun intended. The couple's wedding photographer, who shared these photos with us, told people magazine that the pizza only took about five minutes to cut. Thanks to that super-sized pizza wheel.

The groom also made a second large pizza in the shape of a heart, with the couple's initials written in pepperoni. Very romantic. Congratulations Beth and Brandon, I am curious how much that cost per plate. As someone who once planned a wedding.

Yes, absolutely. Just floored by how much it was going to cost to feed each one of my wedding guests. What would you serve at your wedding? Pizza.

TODD: It was shrimp. It was in South Carolina. It was shrimp. Coastal shrimp. I predict a lot more people are going to do --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'm like, jealous of this. I want to go to that wedding.

HUNT: All right, guys, thank you very much.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.