Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Deadline Approaching For DOJ To Recommend Redactions In Mar-a- Lago Search Affidavit; Rep. Zoe Lofgren, (D-CA), Is Interviewed About Mar-a-Lago Search Affidavit, January 6 Hearings; Jan. 6 CMTE Considers Holding Public Hearings In Sept.; Judge: Friday Deadline For Trump To Refine Special Master Request; Rep. Pat Ryan, (D-NY), Is Interviewed About Abortion Rights And Election; Victory In New York Special Election Fuels Midterms Hope For Dems; Oz Sharpens Attack On Fetterman Health After Crudites Flub; Mild Electric Shocks To The Brain May Protect Older People From Memory Loss; L.A. Voters To Decide If Hotel Rooms Should Go To Homeless; Heavy Rain Causing Flooding, Evacuations In Mississippi. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 24, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Trump's legal team has until Friday to explain to another federal judge why they are searching for a special master who would, you know, serve as somebody to go through the materials before handing them over to the Justice Department?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the judge basically told the Trump team that you need to come back and really explain to me why -- first of all, you're even coming to me and not to the other judge, the judge that you just spoke about who is overseeing the issue of the affidavit. The judge wants the Trump team to explain what relief are they seeking? You know, what exactly are they asking her to do? And really, you know, to explain fully what case law supports what they're asking for.

Again, they're asking for a special master, a third party, Jake, to oversee these records that the FBI has been looking at now for two weeks. The question is, why they took this long and whether it's really too late for the judge to intervene.

TAPPER: And also Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, he's asking a Georgia federal courts to limit the topics that he'll be questioned about in this Fulton County Georgia investigation into Donald Trump and others meddling trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. What do we know about Senator Graham's request?

PEREZ: Well, Senator Graham is arguing, Jake, that under the speech or Debate Clause, this is the clause of the Constitution to protect lawmakers from a certain judicial proceeding simply because they're doing their legislative duties. He says that these conversations he had with Georgia lawmakers after the 2020 election were protected under speech or debate.

Obviously, Fani Willis, the district attorney in Atlanta there in Fulton County says that there are important parts of these conversations that possibly go to crimes that she's investigating and therefore are not shielded by this clause of the Constitution. You will remember, of course, Jake, that a judge had previously ordered this and has been asked to take a second look to see whether some parts of this need to be changed.

TAPPER: All right, Evan Perez, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. She's a member of the January 6 Select House Committee.

Congresswoman, the Justice Department has until noon tomorrow to recommend to a judge what they want redacted from that affidavit, used to show probable cause for the search of Mar-a-Lago for all those top secret highly confidential documents. DOJ previously said they're worried about releasing the affidavit because it could compromise their ongoing criminal investigation. What do you think about the affidavit being released?

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA), JANUARY 6 SELECT COMMITTEE: Well, you know, it's not within the purview, obviously, of the January 6 committee, but just as a lawyer and member of the Judiciary Committee, I think the Justice Department has some merit to their argument. Certainly, there has been intimidation of witnesses, you can outline the entire case in an affidavit, and if it's prematurely released, it would disrupt the case. So, the court has to balance really an important public need to know what was behind this without breaking up the DOJ's investigation.

I guess, to some extent, I think the judge may defer to DOJ because it's not just a question of what but when, and certainly this will be able to be released at some point, perhaps not tomorrow.

TAPPER: These documents that Trump had at Mar-a-Lago, we should know, they weren't just classified. And yes, there's a lot of over classification by federal governments in general, they were top secret documents, some were labeled as Sensitive Compartmented Information, Special Access Programs material, which is one of the highest levels of classification you can have. Give us an idea of what kinds of information are in documents labeled that. I know you don't know or couldn't say even if you did know what these -- what's in these documents, but what are we talking about?

LOFGREN: Well, you know, I don't know what's in these documents. But those types of classifications relate to things that are really quite sensitive. For example, we might, as a nation have access to information, we may be using technology, there could be human embedded spies that are providing information. And if that came out, it would be very damaging and even dangerous when it comes to the human intelligence and also disrupt important technological advantages that country might have. Obviously, nuclear secrets is something that's very important.

You know, when you go in to these skiffs, and I've done it many times, I mean, you have to basically take off your iWatch, you have to leave all your electronics behind. You can't bring anything in there. And it's shielded from all kinds of electronic spying and you're not permitted to ever discuss what you see or hear in those classified settings.

[17:05:11]

So, a setting that is less secure, I mean, basically a storage room off the pool doesn't really meet that standard that all the rest of us have to live with when we look at this sensitive information.

TAPPER: In that letter from May the National Archives wrote that they wanted to, quote, "conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported and take any necessary remedial steps," unquote. If this intelligence community assessment finds that former President Trump compromised national secrets or classified information, do you think he should potentially face charges?

LOFGREN: Well, that's speculative at this point. I mean, I don't know what they would find, and it doesn't serve any particular good purpose for me to be guessing about what the DOJ should do. I think to some extent, we have to have a little patience here and see what is found, what damage if any, has been done. Obviously, it's urgent that this analysis be done.

If, for example, human intelligence sources were compromised, or those people could be in severe danger. So, this needs to be done promptly. And I think we'll see in due course what the DOJ thinks is appropriate.

Obviously, nobody's above the law in this country, including ex- presidents. So, with that in mind, I assume the DOJ will proceed accordingly.

TAPPER: Turning to the January 6 investigations, your committee left open the idea to holding public hearings in September. Where does that stand? What might we hear in those hearings if they were to happen?

LOFGREN: Well, I think, you know, we're working through the summer. Not only the staff but the members we meet remotely.

I made a practice of not getting out ahead of the chairman and the vice chairman -- chairwoman in terms of announcing hearings, but I think the chairman and Ms. Cheney did indicate we will have at least one hearing in September. And we hope that it will be informative. I think the other hearings have brought new information forward for the public to review.

TAPPER: Oh, yes, lots of information. We've learned a lot.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California, thank you so much for your time today.

I want to bring in George Conway. He's a conservative attorney.

And George, Trump's legal team has until Friday to clarify their request for a special mass superior to suss (ph) out this information. We saw a special master appointed after the FBI search Michael Cohen's home and office and the same for Rudy Giuliani after the FBI searched his Manhattan home, is it a strange request?

GEORGE CONWAY, CONSERVATIVE ATTORNEY: It's a bizarre request here for a number of reasons. One is, this was no reason to believe that there is any attorney client privilege here. The only privilege that could possibly apply is executive privilege. And the executive privilege doesn't apply against the executive. It's these documents belong to the executive branch, they belong to the United States of America. And Donald Trump can't assert an executive branch privilege as a former president against the current executive branch.

And beyond that, it's bizarre in terms of its timing. This search warrant was executed, what, two weeks in two days ago. And it's inconceivable that given the importance of the investigation, the FBI has not already gone through all of those boxes that the so called taint team that's supposed to cite -- call out anything that's not relevant to the investigation. So, I mean, the horse has left the barn and there's really no point to the request for a special master.

TAPPER: So you can't claim executive privilege if you're no longer the president?

CONWAY: Well, it's an open question whether a former president over the decision of a current president could assert executive privilege for documents against another -- against Congress, for example or -- that's totally different here. These documents belong to the executive branch, Trump took them, he stole them, in fact, he wasn't authorized to have them. He has the right to look at them under the Presidential Records Act but only when they are in the -- under circumstances that are secure if they're -- if they are sensitive documents and only when they're in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration, which is what, you know, from President Obama wanted to look at documents there he would have to go to narrow and that's what all presidents have done in the past since 1981 when the Presidential Records Act came into force.

[17:10:00]

TAPPER: Let's talk about the Justice Department, they have a deadline to recommend to the judge what they want redacted from the affidavit to seize the documents from Mar-a-Lago and to search Mar-a-Lago. If you were the DOJ, would you ask for it to be heavily redacted, lightly redacted? I mean, there is -- there are two competing issues here, the public's right to know and the idea of, you know, such an extraordinary search for an extraordinary action by Donald Trump. But then also, you know, the right to preserve information for their criminal investigation that they don't want to get any lead any witnesses or potential defendants know about.

CONWAY: Yes, it's hard -- that's a hard question to answer in the sense that we don't really know what's behind the curtain. But surely, given this person's -- Donald Trump's tendency to try to influence witnesses and intimidate witnesses, we certainly don't -- I think the Justice Department is going to certainly try to get redacted basically the entire story of who told them what about, you know, or who the sources are for their information about the fact that he did retain some documents even after he had given some back or after NARA had taken some back. And that stuff has to obviously goes to security, the investigation and they're not going to allow that, they're going to -- they would take that up on appeal.

That said, I mean, there are some things that are going probably in the affidavit just guessing that will be, you know, that don't need to be blacked out like the address of Mar-a-Lago.

TAPPER: Right.

CONWAY: These letters, the some of the correspondence between -- that has already been released between the Trump teams, the Trump people NARA, maybe that could be left on blacked out. But mostly, it's hard to just guessing, mostly it's going to be hard for them to justify, it's going to be hard for the judge to justify overruling the Department of Justice's judgment on what is sensitive.

TAPPER: Yes, in the midst of a criminal investigation. Absolutely. George Conway, thanks so much. Always good to have you here.

Could abortion rights give Democrats the momentum they need to hold on to the House and Senate come November? We're going to talk to the Democratic primary winner who made abortion a central piece of his campaign. Special election winner I should say.

Then on average, more than 60,000 people are homeless and more than 20,000 hotel rooms cities sit empty each night in Los Angeles. The controversial proposal that would lower both of those numbers. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:16:20]

TAPPER: We're back with our politics lead with just over two months until the midterm elections, Democrats say they now have even more proof that running on Roe v Wade is a winning message. They're highlighting last night's victory by Pat Ryan in the special election to represent New York's 19th congressional district. Ryan set the terms of the contest early on within an hour of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade with this T.V. ad that his campaign reportedly started preparing after Politico published that draft opinion in May.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pat Ryan graduated from West Point and risked his life in combat. He fought for our families, for our freedom.

PAT RYAN (D-NY), CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: And freedom includes a woman's right to choose.

How can we be a free country if the government tries to control women's bodies? That's not the country I fought to defend.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: Joining us now is Democratic Congressman-elect Pat Ryan of New York.

Congressman-elect, first of all, congratulations. We should note you are running in a battleground district. It's a swing district. Joe Biden narrowly, narrowly carried it in 2020. Do you think abortion rights is as strong of a campaign issue for other Democrats who might be in similar districts?

RYAN: Thanks, Jake. I think this was a referendum not only on choice, but really on freedom. I mean, we are seeing a multi front attempt to rip away fundamental rights and freedoms. And of course, front and center was abortion rights, reproductive rights, but voting rights, protecting our environment, my ability as a dad to drop my three-year- old and seven-month-old off at daycare and not worry that the same weapons I carried in combat are going to end up at their school. And so, we're at a moment where I really think threats to our democracy, threats to our core freedoms are very much on people's minds. And we saw that in the outcome here last night.

TAPPER: We should note that you're an Army veteran that served two tours in Iraq. On your campaign site, you say you will, quote, "fight to reestablish the protections guaranteed by Roe v. Wade." We're a little more than two months out from the midterms, can Democrats codify Roe v Wade before possibly losing control of one or both chambers?

RYAN: We have to do everything that we can. This is an existential fight. I mean, these are fundamental rights and freedoms. So many millions protested and rallied and did everything that they could to secure these rights. And to see them ripped away, I mean, we have to have all options on the table to figure out how to return these rights.

And I think the willingness to say that clearly, strongly, and to really do that work, is what people desperately want to see. And we show that in the campaign. So now we have to deliver. And certainly, that is very much front and center for me as I head down and start.

TAPPER: There's an NBC News poll familiar this week that asked voters their top issue heading into the midterms. The number one issue in this poll was threats to democracy, followed by cost of living, jobs in the economy, immigration in the border, climate change, guns, and then there's abortion at 8 percent tide with guns and yet you really made this a front and center issue even if polling didn't suggest that it would have been. Did Democrats at the D Triple C or the New York party tell you don't talk too much about this, you should be talking about other issues?

RYAN: I think you win in any endeavor. When you actually listen to people on the ground, and as a leader you amplify that.

[17:20:00]

And what we heard and felt and saw in so many conversations, the number of people who were literally crying as we learned about the draft opinion coming out, it was just heart wrenching and it called for real action and moral leadership. And you don't see that in polls. That's just listening to people on the ground and then stepping up and rallying people.

And I think, you know, the other challenge in a poll like that is those issues are all interrelated. To me threats to democracy include the fact that we're ripping away fundamental rights that are enshrined in our democracy.

Going back to our founding principles mean when rights are being trampled on, Americans stand up. And I think it transcends a lot of the partisanship that we're certainly experiencing now. We saw that in Kansas. We definitely saw it last night. And I think we'll continue to see that

TAPPER: Do you think you've got Republican votes on this issue?

RYAN: Absolutely. I mean, this is one of the last, as you said, of the sort of toss up purple districts, I grew up here. My family has been here five generations. This is a community that is pragmatic, that wants results, that doesn't like the government telling them what to do in their private lives and their health care decisions, that doesn't like rights that they fought to secure being ripped away from them.

And I think these Supreme Court decisions, especially on both guns and on Roe or Dobbs, I should say, struck a real nerve that's much deeper than some of the other issues people are experiencing and kind of hit guardrails of democracy.

TAPPER: All right, Congressman-elect Pat Ryan, Democrat of New York, thanks so much. Hope to have you back. We'll talk about a lot more including what needs to be done for veterans and how your service informed your view on Foreign Affairs. Thanks so much for being here. Congratulations again.

RYAN: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: Up next, we head to Pennsylvania and Senate candidate John Fetterman has returned to the campaign trail after suffering a stroke. What he has not done since his return, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:26:34]

TAPPER: In our politics lead is a veritable or maybe I should say vegetable war of words in the closely watched Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race, Republican candidate Mehmet Oz's campaign is under fire for another self-inflicted misstep. His campaign issuing a rather nasty, not to mention unscientific comment about Democrat John Fetterman's stroke, saying that Fetterman would not have had the health problem if he'd eaten more vegetables. This coming after Dr. Oz became the subject of mockery over his disastrous crudite video.

And as CNN's Eva McKend reports for us from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania legitimate questions do remain about Fetterman's health.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER (voice-over): From Erie to Pittsburgh,

JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA), SENATE CANDIDATE: Steel workers,

MCKEND (voice-over): Pennsylvania's Democratic candidate for Senate John Fetterman back on the campaign trail more than three months after suffering a stroke.

FETTERMAN: If I'm your next senator to Washington, D.C., guess what? You're still going to have a senator that's going to be living across the street from your steel plant.

MCKEND (voice-over): Rallying members of the United Steelworkers Tuesday, Fetterman was on message but often halting in his speech and occasionally dropped words midsentence.

FETTERMAN: Being anti-union is anti-American. What is wrong with demanding for an easy, safe, kind of their income, a path to a safe place for them to win or excuse me, to work?

MCKEND (voice-over): Fetterman declined to answer questions from CNN and other reporters at the event. A campaign spokesperson telling CNN Fetterman is doing really well, walking five to six miles a day and following doctor's orders.

They didn't say when the public would receive a status update from his physician about his condition, instead pointing to a June letter from his doctor that said Fetterman would return in six months for a checkup and noting a July interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where the 53-year-old said he had nothing to hide while acknowledging he had times struggles with hearing, may miss a word or slur two words together.

DR. RICHARD BERNSTEIN, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NEUROLOGY PROFESSOR: It is one of the most common symptoms of a stroke. The slurred speech doesn't always indicate a problem with language processing. Sometimes it's simply a problem with pronunciation.

MCKEND (voice-over): In May, doctors attached a pacemaker with a defibrillator to Fetterman's heart to treat his cardiomyopathy, a heart disease that makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood through the body. In that same July interview with the Post-Gazette, Fetterman said he is working with a speech therapist.

Fetterman's health has emerged as a line of attack by his rival, celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz. On defense recently over an April video about crudite aimed at highlighting grocery store prices as his campaign releasing a statement Tuesday that said, "If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn't have had a major stroke." Fetterman responding, "I know politics can be nasty, but even then I could never imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges." Fetterman's supporters at that union rally downplaying concerns over his health.

JIM JOHNSON, STEELWORKER: I think that he's back fairly quick from it, to be honest with you. I think if it was, you know, a bigger issue than what it is, he would absolutely be a more open about it.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

[17:30:00]

MCKEND: A key question now is when we see these two candidates debate. Oz has really made this a central focus Fetterman's campaign telling me that Armenia is up for debating odds, but has not yet committed to a date. Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Eva McKend in Pittsburgh, in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thanks. Let's discuss, Charlie, let me start with you a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, I have to say I agree with Fetterman. I haven't -- I can't remember a politician or campaign in Pennsylvania, mocking somebody's health challenges. He had a stroke. I mean, it's something we can talk about. It's certainly a valid issue for any candidate, but to make fun of it like that doesn't seem like reading the room of Pennsylvania.

CHARLIE DENT (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, PENNSYLVANIA: Yes. Well, my advice to Dr. Oz is to not talk about vegetables anymore. never uttered the word crudite.

TAPPER: I didn't even know what that was until I --

DENT: I didn't either. I thought it was crude, I thought was a rock, kryptonite. But nevertheless, look, he's got to stop that. But having said that, there are legitimate questions about John Fetterman's health, many believe that he is understated the severity of his situation. There's been a lack of transparency. And being a U.S. congressman or senator is a very physically demanding job. And you know, he has not agreed to any debates that I'm aware of so far. So there's legitimate concern about his health, but you shouldn't mock the condition or how he got there.

TAPPER: OK, Kasie, you were there. And we saw the Fetterman's last event before he had that stroke. And again, just to underline this, nobody's making fun of it. We all hope him a complete and quick recovery, et cetera. But you were there. And you see a difference?

KASIE HUNT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes. I mean, there's -- I think there's a very distinct difference. I mean, this is a candidate who prided himself on the way he interacted with voters. He was a very easy conversationalist speaker had no problem. I mean, I did an interview with him.

TAPPER: Sure.

HUNT: He talked to other reporters while he was there. He's not doing that anymore on the campaign trail. And, you know, look, I think, as is always the case, with issues of candidates health, the question is, are you capable of serving the people that you are running to represent, right? That is the important question. And that is why it becomes a legitimate question.

But like, to your point, I've never seen, I mean, how many times have we all been in receipt of opposite nasty opposition research suggesting someone is too old or senile or whatever, like, whatever the problem may or may not be? I've never heard people just do it out in public like this. I mean, especially because --

TAPPER: It was a written statement too, which means they thought about it and had it approved.

DENT: So with as the crudite thing.

HUNT: What?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It always seemed like a trip wire for Oz. And really, I mean, maybe it's more like a trapdoor because as a doctor, kind of the condescension toward Fetterman, that basically the Fetterman campaign is going to take that and turn it around and say he's talking about you, you who, like me, didn't listen to your wife and go to the doctor are being mocked by Dr. Oz. That's why this has always been a possibility for us to go there. I'm surprised that that they decided to go there.

Maybe it's a mark of a sense that they need to get tough on Fetterman because Fetterman has been relentlessly going after Oz on social media, but it may be in a way that I think for the voters, the average voter is not going to play well.

KAREN FINNEY, SENIOR ADVISER AND SPOKESPERSON, HILLARY FOR AMERICA 2016: And I feel like it was they were -- they thought they were trying to attack him or get at his health. But they did it in such a boneheaded way that it really backlash and especially for Dr. Oz, who is someone, you know, folks have made fun of some of the kinds of things he used to push on his shows.

TAPPER: The quackery.

FINNEY: The quackery.

TAPPER: He's hauled before Congress.

FINNEY: Exactly. So that's what it also I think, reminds people.

TAPPER: So let's talk about the midterms in general, because Abby, the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade has reshaped the midterm elections, Democrats are arguing you saw the interview we just did with the New York Congressman elect Ryan from a competitive district.

Before the Supreme Court decision, Democrats are running about six point worse than Biden. Since Roe was overturned, Democrats are doing five points better than the President did in 2020. You just saw the interview with Matt Ryan, who basically focused his campaign on a pro- abortion rights message. Do you think that's what's happening here? And could this actually show momentum for Democrats?

PHILLIP: Look, I think if it were one data point, I would be like, OK, wait, but we're talking about a series of data points that seem to indicate that momentum is shifting in the Democrats favor. It's the Kansas referendum on abortion that was unexpected in a red state. It's a generic ballot that has moved pretty definitively to show that Democrats and Republicans are now head to head and now this special election.

Democrats needed two things going into this fall. They needed a miracle on gas prices, and they may be getting one because the gas prices have been coming down in a historic fashion. And they also needed something to motivate the base and the road decision definitely motivated the base, it puts them in a better position but does it you know prevent them from losing the house. I don't think we know that just yet.

[17:35:05]

FINNEY: But I would mention, you know, Ryan, actually, it wasn't just abortion, it was freedom. And as somebody who fought for the freedom of this country, and that is if you look at Kansas, how people talked about it, it is the freedom to make your own decisions about your body. And if you look at his state, we're just talking about Pennsylvania.

TAPPER: Commonwealth.

FINNEY: Sorry. Commonwealth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The difference.

FINNEY: I know. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where of the people who have registered to vote post the Dobbs decision, two-thirds women.

TAPPER: Yes.

FINNEY: Registering as Democrats, high uptick in men registering also registering as Democrats, by the way, those are not Oz voters.

TAPPER: Yes.

HUNT: Right. You know, it's -- I think you hit on such a great point, because you're not wrong. But your point is, I think, exactly the right one, because this is one of the places where Democrats, I think, are getting their messaging right in a way that reaches the broadest swath of voters, right. By making that freedom argument and making it less about the actual procedures and details of abortion.

Republicans are actually doing the opposite. They're having to in some, many of these red states, the laws are so draconian.

TAPPER: Yes.

HUNT: They are just not where the public is. I mean, would the public support, you know, some sort of restrictions on abortion after 20 weeks with exceptions for rape and incest? My guess is probably if you look in the numbers, it's that's probably realistic. But that's not what we're talking about. That's what six weeks it's no exception.

DENT: See, Republicans are now -- I always was the last pro-choice member of the House Republican conference. So I know what I'm talking about in this. I used to warn these guys, you're playing with blanks right now, as long as there's a backstop called Roe v. Wade, none of these things become law. But once that backstop is gone, now you're shooting live rounds. And they're going to be consequences to these things, because these are not popular issues.

And so this abortion issue certainly has given Democrats a new intensity and energy that they didn't have, though, I still think they're going to lose the House. But I think this will mitigate some of their losses. Republicans will have to pick up what, five seats.

PHILLIP: And you cannot message your way out of reality. That's the problem for Republicans. You cannot turn around a situation that people are seeing with their own eyes. And that was true of Democrats, by the way, too. They couldn't message their way out of inflation and have high gas prices. But once the reality shifts in their favor, you're in a better position. I don't think Republicans can change the abortion landscape in the next couple --

TAPPER: I just want to, Abby, I want to get your take on this statement from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He's up for reelection this November. Dr. Anthony Fauci announced that he's retiring in December, from decades and decades serving the American people public health. People can criticize Dr. Fauci and I'm sure there are decisions he made that not everybody agrees with. But, you know, you can't doubt the fact that he's done his best to save as many lives as possible. Take a listen to Governor DeSantis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R) FLORIDA: And I'm just sick of seeing him I know, he says he's going to retire, someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We talking about credit, just to be clear here, the guy has a Secret Service detail because he gets death threats.

PHILLIP: Yes, real threats, and I'm going to put Charlie on the spot because we were just discussing this. The Republican base right now wants their candidates to be mean to be tough. And that is what Ron DeSantis is serving up on a silver platter. But in this kind of political environment, there is a thing as too far and I think that this is one of those --

HUNT: That's not mean it's violence. If you ask me it's violent.

DENT: I cringed when I heard that, you know, I had the opportunity to deal with Dr. Fauci. And we all -- he was a highly respected professional. He was the guy who did the aids work in the day. TAPPER: Yes.

DENT: And I just can't imagine this man has been beaten on so badly.

TAPPER: Medal of Freedom from Georgia -- President H.W. George.

HUNT: Yes.

TAPPER: Thanks anyone of you being here. Zapping the brain with small electric shocks could help patients recover memory that's next in our health lead, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:43:19]

TAPPER: In our health lead, promising research about improving our memories as we age. A new study shows non-invasive brain stimulation with electrical currents could help improve memory. Let's bring in CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, how does this work?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's pretty, pretty interesting, Jake. I mean, this is basically using energy in the form of electrical currents to try and change the brain. This is relatively new research, Jake. And it's just been over the last several decades, where they've figured out how to actually use noninvasive techniques to change or actually affect the brain, in large part because of the skull. I mean, every other organ in the body doesn't have bones surrounding it. So that's been one of the challenges. But now they use magnetic energy. They use sound energy and electric energy to try and actually change the brain or synchronize the brain waves, which is what they're doing here.

It's called transcranial alternating current. They direct some of the energy towards an area near the front of the brain over here, the prefrontal cortex, some further back the parietal cortex. People wear a skullcap like what you see there. It's noninvasive, so it doesn't hurt. It may feel a bit a heat or a little bit of pressure. And they basically sort of target these waves called beta and gamma waves at those specific areas of the brain.

What the goal was these were people over the age of 65 was to have them remember, memorize word lists as they were going through this 20- minute session to try and see how much of a difference it made in terms of the memory. That's a study. They basically had a group of people who did this, a group of people who had the skullcap but did not get any of the specific Pick energy directed at their brain and they wanted to see the difference.

[17:45:03]

TAPPER: And how promising is it?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting, if you look at the results overall against small study, what they found was that people who had these specific waves, gamma waves target at the front of their brain, 17 of the 20 of the people in the group actually did improve in terms of longer term memory. And people who had these other types of waves, theta waves directed closer to the back of their brain did have short term memory improvement as well, 18 out of 20.

It's early, Jake, and it's not even clear. Does this memory that they have for wordless extend to other parts of their lives? Or are they just getting better at remembering words? These are the types of trials that need to happen. But they could say definitively that based on the study, that type of transcranial current does make an impact on the brain. So the proof of principles there, Jake.

TAPPER: Let's hope for more. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Coming up the proposal that would force every hotel and one of America's largest cities to offer empty rooms to people who are experiencing homelessness. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:26]

TAPPER: In our national lead, Los Angeles voters will decide on a proposal in 2024 and whether hotels will have to offer any vacant rooms to those people experiencing homelessness. But as CNN's Nick Watt reports, this is becoming a rather contentious debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Los Angeles County, more than 60,000 people are homeless on the average night and more than 20,000 hotel rooms lie empty on the average night. See where this might be going.

STUART WALDMAN, PRESIDENT, VALLEY INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE ASSOCIATION: It's just -- it's insane. It isn't going to solve the problem.

JURT PETERSON, CO-PRESIDENT, UNITE HERE LOCAL 11: We think this is one part of the solution by no means that we think this solves a homelessness crisis. But do hotels have a role to play? Of course they do.

WATT: So the union he leads which reps hotel workers gathered enough signatures and Angelenos will vote on a bill that would force every hotel in town to report vacancies at 2:00 p.m. every day, then welcome homeless people into those vacant rooms.

MANOJ PATEL, MANAGER, MOTEL 6: Honestly, would you check into a hotel knowing that the chance of your neighbor to the left or right is a homeless individual.

WATT: Manoj Patel voluntarily rent some rooms to homeless people who are vetted and paid for by a local church. But he's against this bill that would make that mandatory.

PATEL: We barely are surviving, number one. Number two, we have to think of the safety of our staff. And number three, we're not professionally or any other ways equipped with any of the supporting mechanism that the homeless guest would require.

WATT: What services would be provided remains unclear, also unclear the funding and hotels would be paid fair market rate.

PETERSON: It's up to the city. I mean, they did it during Project Roomkey.

WATT: The pandemic era program now winding down that inspired this bill by placing more than 10,000 people in hotels that volunteered showing Bigdeli among them.

SHAWN BIGDELI, RECIPIENT PROJECT ROOMKEY: Well, first of all, it's a blessing. It's a great room, that technology is not up to par. But, you know, what technologies you have in a tent.

WATT: This bill would also force developers to replace housing demolished to make way for new hotels, and hotel permits would be introduced, as well as making every hotel from a Super Eight to the Biltmore except homeless people as guests.

BIGDELI: I don't think that's a good idea.

WATT: Why not?

BIGDELI: Maybe for some, but you know, there's a lot of people with untreated mental health and some people do some damage these poor buildings, man.

WATT: This happened in Manoj Patel's motel.

PATEL: And she marked all walls. Curtains she burned, thank God there was no fire, even mark the ceiling.

WATT: Opponents of housing the homeless in hotels fear this and fear tourists could be put off from even coming to LA.

WALDMAN: I wouldn't want my kids around people that I'm not sure about. I wouldn't want to be in an elevator with somebody who's clearly having a mental break. The idea that you can intermingle homeless folks with paying normal gas just doesn't work out.

PETERSON: We don't want to head backwards into the segregated south. But that's kind of the language that they're talking about. There's a certain class of people less than humans, animals, they almost describe us to be honest with you. They don't tend to understand who the unhoused are we talking about seniors, students, working people, that's who the voucher program would benefit the most.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WATT: So about 18 months until this is actually on a ballot and expect plenty mudslinging between now and then some opponents have already told us that they think the union is pushing this bill, just as a negotiating tactic for leverage the union themselves tell us that is false, but the union says they want to hold the hotels accountable, and make sure that the hotels play their part in tackling a problem that is, frankly, only getting worse. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Nick Watt in Los Angeles. Thanks so much. The devastating flooding has left Texas and it's moving east. The water is rising so quickly in one state. School buses are being used to evacuate nursing homes. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:58:48]

TAPPER: In our Earth matters series new evidence of the climate crisis in Mississippi, a flash flood emergency and dozens of water rescues including this one. And a nursing home in the City of Brandon. CNN's Jennifer Gray is there. And Jennifer, the Brandon Mayor you told me says they've never seen this type of rain before not even during Hurricane Katrina.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Jake, Jackson, Mississippi right outside of Brandon or Brandon right outside of Jackson, this area received about 10 inches of rain in just three days. And if you take a look around me you can see this creek just as fast as the water rises it begins to fall but it's creeks like this one that can cause some catastrophic damage. These areas normally run bone dry but when you get 10 inches of rain and just three days this creek is responsible for devastating. This assisted living facility behind me where 42 residents had to be evacuated. Three feet of water was inside this facility earlier today.

Now everyone is safe and accounted for. The director here said they can replace the staff but they are so happy that everyone is OK.

[18:00:02]

Also in Pearl, Mississippi, we had water rescues.