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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Blames Biden, Not Tariffs, For Economic Struggles; Rep, Ami Bera, (D-CA), Is Interviewed About U.S. And Ukraine Last Minute Disagreements, Approval Ratings For Congress, Kamala Harris; Sources: U.S. And Ukraine Face Last-Minute Disagreement; CNN Poll Shows Dismissal Approval Ratings For Congress; Tonight: Harris To Address Trump's Agenda In Rare Speech; Soon: Senate Vote On Symbolic Rebuke Of Trump Tariffs; Threat Of Famine Grows As Israel Blocks Aid; Trump Admin Restructures Health Programs Impacting Children. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired April 30, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Important note, our CNN legal analyst, Elliot Williams, is the one who pitched this story to us. So I guess, Elliot, you must be a fan.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, look, you know, Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande are doing a duet with Barbra Streisand. Why did we talk about anything else for the last hour? I don't understand.

HUNT: Great question. All right. Thank you so much for that. Thanks to all of you for watching. "The Lead" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

[17:00:32]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So why does Trump get to blame Biden for the current economy? The Lead starts right now. As new numbers show the U.S. economy shrank for the first time in three years, the president who just yesterday heralded how much he accomplishes and accomplished in his first hundred days now says he's not to blame at all. Can Biden credibly be blamed for any of the economic shrinkage? We're talking to experts.

Plus, a major Senate vote coming up. Some Republicans say they will vote against Trump's global tariffs. But how many will fly into the Trump danger zone? We could find out in a matter of minutes. And is the Trump administration about to make yet another bold new move dealing with deportation? What sources are telling CNN about plans to possibly deport illegal immigrants to Africa?

And we are talking about undocumented immigrants who are not from Africa.

Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We're going to start in our Money lead today with U.S. stocks closing out the month of April in the red less than an hour ago, marking the first time the U.S. economy has shrunk since 2022. Right now, President Trump is delivering remarks on the state of the economy. We're going to bring you any updates. But this comes after President Trump has spent much of today trying to blame the state of the economy on his predecessor, former President Joe Biden posting on Truth Social this morning, quote, "This is Biden's stock market, not Trump's. I didn't take over until January 20th." It's a theme he reiterated today during a Cabinet meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I have to start off by saying that's Biden. I was very against everything that Biden was doing in terms of the economy. It came in on January 20th. So this is Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You heard the president there blaming Biden for the state of the economy. I want to know that in January of last year, 2024, when the stock market was surging toward record highs and Joe Biden was actually president, Mr. Trump wrote, quote, "This is the Trump stock market because my polls against Biden are so good that investors are projecting that I will win and that will drive the market up." So interesting little trick there during Trump years, Biden stock market, during Biden years Trump stock market. Interesting.

Today's speech comes after a wild April for the U.S. stock market. On April 8, days after Trump announced his tariffs during his so called Liberation Day speech, stocks were down 11 percent. That put the market on track for its worst April since the Great Depression, however big however, Trump then issued a 90-day pause on his tariffs which allowed the market to recover a bit. After today's close, the market will end down less than 1 percent. But even with that rebound, the stock market during Trump's second term is the third worst performance during the first 100 days of any presidential term in U.S. history after only President Richard Nixon and President Gerald Ford.

And this comes on the heels of CNN releasing a new poll of polls today putting Trump's approval rating average among all polls at 41 percent. That's the lowest it has been during his first 100 days. We're going to start today with CNN's Kaitlan Collins live for us at the White House.

And Kaitlan, President Trump struck a similar tone today in his Cabinet meeting. What did he have to say?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, and it's a defensive tone from President Trump when he's looking at this new data, reviewing it. You saw him -- we heard from him on Truth Social first off this morning. And then we heard that repeated as he was meeting with his Cabinet. Right now he is meeting with dozens of business leaders here at the White House. And obviously this new data in this growth report being shown, that it went into reverse in the first quarter of this year is what is really looming over the meeting that he's having right now with these business leaders.

But during his Cabinet meeting earlier, as we heard from him, weighing in on this data and again blaming it on President Biden and his policies, which economists have said is inaccurate. He also hinted that for the second quarter he may also be prepared to blame his predecessor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This is a quarter that we looked at today and I took -- we took, all of us together, we came in on January 20th. So this is Biden. And you could even say the next quarter is sort of Biden because it doesn't just happen on a daily or an hourly basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:05:00]

COLLINS: Now, Jake, when you listen to what the president said there, you also have to keep in mind this GDP data showed the wave of imports that a lot of people had in order to get ahead of the president's tariffs. As he said last night in the ABC interview, he as he asserted voters voted for this knowing that this was a policy that he was going to pursue. He repeated it essentially every time he could on the campaign trail.

But Jake, the one question that some people have raised to me that I've been having in my conversations is when you talk to White House aides about what the data is showing now, they often try to point out what they say are strong numbers underlying data. We heard that from the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, just here at the White House yesterday morning before the markets were opening is whether or not this blaming President Biden for the first quarter report and the data in that and the economic contraction in that, if that's going to trip up their efforts to then also take credit for the numbers that they do like and believe reflect positively on what policies President Trump is putting into place and has been doing so for these last several months, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. And tonight on her show "The Source with Kaitlan Collins," Kaitlan's special guest is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

Let's turn now to CNN's Richard Quest. And Richard, President Trump says the economy is the fault of former President Biden. Is there any part of this, the economy slower -- slowing in this first quarter that can be credibly blamed on President Biden or his policies?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: I suppose if I look deep into the questions and to sort of the numbers, yes, you could find some scintilla of evidence, but the reality is, no, because these numbers show technical factors. Imports count against your GDP. Imports are a minus against your GDP. There was a huge number of imports specifically to beat the tariffs that were coming down -- that have come down the road. Therefore, this number remains reflects the Trump policy of tariffs. People imported ahead of the tariffs.

And what we will get in the next few months is the effect of the headwind of the tariffs, Jake, though, 20 percent, 25 percent, 145 percent. So no, it's disingenuous to claim that it's Biden's quarter. It's not.

TAPPER: Richard Quest, thank you so much.

I now want to bring in the Chief Economist for Apollo Global Management, Torsten Slok.

Torsten, thanks for joining us. I want to start with this startling timeline that you've laid out for when the U.S. could potentially see a recession. On April 2, Trump announced his tariffs in his Rose Garden Liberation Day speech. You predict that by early to mid-May, container ships to the United States will stop. That's only two weeks away, today's April 30th.

Then by mid to late May, you predict that Americans will begin to see empty shelves in stores. By late May to early June, you predict we will see layoffs in trucking and retail with the country officially entering a recession during the summer. Now, for the record, these are predictions. These are not facts. But what are you seeing that made you predict this dire timeline that will unfold over just the next few weeks?

TORSTEN SLOK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT: Well, the problem, Jake, is that the level of tariffs on China at 145 percent is just simply so high that we are seeing a significant slowdown in the number of containers that ship from China to the U.S. Think about every day we have about 30,000 containers arriving from China into the U.S. and if we now have an extended period where companies in the U.S. are no longer importing. Think about your independent toy seller in Wyoming, your men's clothing wear store in Dallas, or your hardware store here in New York City, the independent companies that are no longer able to import from China because they are not able to pay the bill because 145 percent is so high. The risk is that they simply will be canceling orders. And we have been seeing canceling of orders of containers.

And as a result of that, we will ultimately, if we remain at these levels of tariffs, see empty shelves across the country simply because we cannot get the goods into the U.S.

TAPPER: Here's how President Trump, or at least his economic advisers view U.S. economic growth. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Core GDP removing distortions from imports, inventories and government spending was up plus 3 percent. When you add it, we had numbers that despite what were handed, we turned them around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Again, he's stripping imports, inventory and federal spending to make his case for the U.S. economy. What do you make of that argument?

SLOK: Well, there is some facts here that is very important also to remember. It was not only imports that went up as people were buying before tariffs took effect, but consumers have also in the last few weeks of March, been buying front loading purchases, buying stuff that they could keep on the shelves once tariffs then began to kick in. So as a result of that, we did see higher consumer spending and we should expect to see that maybe for a few more weeks. But as tariffs now have kicked in since Liberation Day at these very elevated levels again, in particular from China, that does mean that we should begin to see eventually over the next several three, four, five weeks, we should begin to see the slowdown coming in particular because think about 80 percent of employment in the U.S. economy is in businesses with less than 500 workers.

[17:10:18]

And given that small businesses are particularly hard hit by tariffs at these extreme levels, that means the small businesses don't have a lot of cash around that they can pay for paying these very elevated levels of tariffs that they have to pay once the goods arrive in Los Angeles. So as a result of that, we did see indeed some front loading of purchases for consumers. But now that tariffs are in effect, then we are seeing a lot of signs that the data is slowing down. Especially consumer sentiment is a lot weaker. But also when it comes to corporates, when you ask companies, are you planning to do more Capex, we've seen a collapse in the data.

Also new orders in the Fed regional surveys have also come down. So in short, yes, the data is still looking reasonably OK. But over the next several weeks with these high levels of tariffs, we will begin to see a slowdown. And the most important data point is the employment report on Friday where the consensus is expecting 135,000 jobs. But that should begin to slow down eventually.

TAPPER: All right, Torsten Slack, thanks so much.

Let's get a different point of view. President Trump is speaking now at the White House at an event with CEOs. Let's listen.

TRUMP: Brian Schimpf. Brian. Thank you, Brian. He's investing 1 billion for a new manufacturing facility in Ohio on display. Next to me is their 125 pound Roadrunner drone. Where is that little sucker?

Where is it? Which is that? Whoa, that's a nasty looking thing. That's nasty how it look up there when I'm having dinner outside. I used to look up and see the moon.

And isn't it beautiful? Now you see the moon, but you see drones all over the place and they say, let's get the hell out of here. That's a good one, isn't it? I can see it.

CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, Doug Herrington, thank you very much. Thank you, Doug, very much. Investing $4 billion this year alone. And they -- I know they said they're going to be investing a lot over the next two years. We appreciate it very much.

Thank you. And say hello to everybody.

CEO of Venture Global, Mike Sabel. Mike, thank you very much, Mike. Investing $18 billion in liquefied natural gas expansion in Louisiana. That's going to work out good. Thank you very much.

President and CEO of Siemens USA, big company, Barbara Humpton. Thank you, Barbara. Thank you very much. Investing $285 million.

Executive Global Chairman of Pratt Industries, friend of mine, Anthony Pratt. He's investing $5 billion. Thank you. Thank you, Anthony.

I read a report today he's the richest man in Australia. But who the hell knows? Do you think you're the richest man in Australia? Close.

I don't like to put you on the spot like that, Anthony, but that's pretty good. Thank you very much. That's great, $5 billion.

Founder and CEO Chobani Hamdi Ulukaya. Where are you? Thank you very much. Investing $1.2 billion. Thank you very much.

CEO of Bell Brands USA, Ivan Giraud. Ivan, thank you very much. Thank you very much, $350 million.

President of Schneider Electric North America, Aamir Paul. Aamir, thank you very much. Investing $700 million for energy infrastructure and its largest investment in its 135 year history.

Chairman and CEO of Johnson and Johnson. Oh, I know, I've heard of that company. Yes. My hair looks so beautiful because of your product. Joaquin Duato, $55 billion manufacturing company, plant and research and development and technology. Thank you very much, $55 billion. That's a lot.

But you've got to catch up with Apple and so many others. We got to get you to make a little. You -- one of the few companies that could do that, right?

Chair and CEO of Eli Lilly, a great guy. Every time I talk to him about drug prices, he sweet talks me. He tells me about the middleman, the middleman. Keeps telling me about the middleman. By the time -- by the time I leave the meetings, I was telling my people, I think, I say, gee, he's giving us a great bargain, you know.

But David, you have done some job. David Ricks, you have done some job. I'll see you later too. Twenty-seven billion dollars, doubling its manufacturing investment in the U.S. and he's got a very hot topic right now going, don't you? This stuff is doing really well, isn't it?

[17:15:03]

Really hot company. Thank you very much, David.

CEO of Novartis, Vasant Narasimhan. And that's $23 billion. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Vasant.

CEO of Genentech, Ashley Magargee, $50 billion. Whoa. That's a lot of money. Good. Thank you, Ashley. That's a big one.

CEO of AbbVie, Rob Michael, $10 billion. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good company. President and CEO of Thermo Fisher, Marc Casper, $2 billion. Thank you, Marc, very much.

Chairman and CEO of Merck, great company, Rob Davis, $9 billion. Thank you very much, Rob.

Chairman and CEO of Abbott, Robert Ford, $500 million. Thank you, Robert.

Chairman and CEO of a company called IBM. Arvind, where are you? Where are you? Thank you very much. That's fantastic, $150 billion.

That's all? That's great. Thank you very much. You've done a great job. You've done a great job with that company, too, I'll tell you.

Chairman and CEO of GE Aerospace, Larry Culp. Larry. Thank you very much, Larry.

TAPPER: All right, we're hearing from the president here. He's introducing and welcoming each individual CEO talking about their investments in the United States. We'll continue to monitor that, see what he says about the economy and tariffs and more and bring that to you if need be.

On Capitol Hill this hour, we have a Senate vote, very important one. And the big question, will enough Republicans join Democrats in an effort to rein in Trump's powers to impose tariffs? We know of at least three Republicans we think are going to vote for it. Plus what President Trump said just hours ago about the chances of a major deal signed possibly today between the U.S. and Ukraine. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:21:01]

TAPPER: In our world lead, the United States and Ukraine are hashing out last minute disagreements over that minerals deal, one that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals in exchange for U.S. investment in the war battered country. Take a listen to President Trump earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I assume they're going to honor the deal. We haven't really seen the fruits of that deal yet. I suspect we will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's bring in Democratic Congressman Ami Bera from California, who's on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, good to see you.

So Ukraine's prime minister says this deal is, quote, "truly an equal and beneficial international agreement," unquote. Even President Biden had a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine outlining similar goals. Do you support the basic premise of this deal, even if you don't know the specifics?

REP. AMI BERA M.D. (D-CA): Yes, Jake, thanks for having me on. In principle, I do. I mean, I, you know, we've seen that President Trump is a transactional guy. I was just watching that press conference that he's doing, you know, praising American CEOs. So I think the way you get the United States into Ukraine to help rebuild after whatever conclusion of this war is it a transactional way.

I think that's how he's looking at it. And, you know, can he build up the rare earth industry in Ukraine? They've got deposits and in a way that benefits the United States. So the basic contour probably makes sense as long as President Zelenskyy is fine with it.

TAPPER: So President Trump's polling numbers have been going down, but one thing that Republicans, when they come on my show are always able to say is, well, at least our numbers aren't as bad as the Democrats. And we are indeed seeing dismal numbers for your party. In CNN's new poll, 27 percent approve of congressional Democrats. That's a record low for the party and CNN polling dating all the way back to 2008. You just did a telephone town hall, which you say was attended by more than 14,000 Sacramento County residents. What was their biggest issue with the Democratic Party, and how are you and your leaders going to address it?

BERA: I mean, I think we're hearing the same thing all across this country. Fight, fight, fight. Stop President Trump. Don't let him get away with what is battering our Constitution. I think our message to my constituents and folks across the country are we are fighting.

We're fighting an inside game. We're trying to block the cuts to Medicaid that are being proposed. We're willing to negotiate. We're willing to look at ways to make government more efficient. We're fighting the inside game.

We need those folks on the outside to fight the outside game and support us. I get it. People are angry. They're scared. They're looking at the 401ks, and I think that's reflective in polling all across the board.

TAPPER: Let's talk about your fellow Californian, former Vice President Kamala Harris. She's going to deliver a big speech in San Francisco this evening. She's reportedly deciding on whether to run for California governor in 2026 or maybe take another stab at the White House in 2028. Where do you think she would be most effective for the Democratic Party?

BERA: You know, obviously, Vice President Harris is someone that I've known for a long time, close friend. She was a very effective attorney general representing California, obviously, a short time, as our state senator before she became vice president. I think she'd be a very strong candidate for governor, especially as we try to preserve what we're doing in California against the Trump administration. I think she could be an effective fighter against President Trump.

TAPPER: Democrat from California, Congressman Ami Bera, thank you so much. Good to see you again. Let's talk more about President Trump and the new numbers today showing U.S. economic growth slowing down. With me now, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic. Jeffrey and two of his colleagues just got an interview with President Trump just last week. Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer were the other two Atlantic journalists.

And Jeffrey, moments ago, we just heard President Trump blaming the new economic numbers on President Biden. We've heard this theme from him before, blaming others for anything that normally would be considered his responsibility. What was the president's tone when you met with him?

[17:25:00]

JEFFREY GOLDBERG, EDITOR IN CHIEF, THE ATLANTIC: Well, on that direct point, Jake, it was interesting because -- and I don't have the exact number in front of me, but at least six or eight times in the course of the hour we spent with him, he brought up Joe Biden. Not invited by us to bring up Joe Biden, he brought it up -- brought up Biden's name of his own accord, to blame him for various specific things or just to say how terrible a president he was. It was noticeable, in other words, every five or ten minutes, some reference to Biden and his faults. He even said, as we walked into the Oval Office, even said, in reference to the interview, he said, I bet Biden would never do this. I mean, what I took from that is that he's got Biden on the brain.

Part of it is obviously political, tactical, like, I'm going to blame my predecessor as long as I possibly can for whatever I don't like about the economy or politics in America. Part of it is just it's sort of organic to who he is. The need or desire to spread blame is really strong in him. And obviously, every day that goes on, every day we get further away from the Biden administration, it becomes that much more difficult to sell the idea that anything good that happens is Trump's -- is Trump's responsibility. Anything bad that happens is Biden's responsibility.

TAPPER: In point of fact, in point of fact, and I do want to move on, but in point of fact, he did -- Biden didn't give the Atlantic an interview, right?

GOLDBERG: Oh, yes, no, that is that is --

TAPPER: That's true.

GOLDBERG: -- that is true.

TAPPER: Yes. Fact check, true.

GOLDBERG: So I laughed and I said, no, you know, you're right about that. I was just noting that in --

TAPPER: Yes.

GOLDBERG: -- I was just noting that in terms of we didn't come in talking about Biden. TAPPER: Right.

GOLDBERG: You know, he just --

TAPPER: No, no, I get it. I get it.

GOLDBERG: -- speaking of him all the time.

TAPPER: So I want to read what the --

GOLDBERG: Yes.

TAPPER: -- president said during the interview with you and your colleagues about running in 2028. Trump says, quote, "Well, I just will tell you this, I don't want to really talk about it, but it's not something that I'm looking to do. It's not something that I'm looking to do. And I think it a very hard thing to do. But I do have it shouted at me, no, no, you've got to run."

Do you believe his answer? He's not looking to run again in 2028?

GOLDBERG: I mean, I think, of course he's looking to run in 2028. He told us that he's not interesting in -- interested in shattering the biggest norm or one of the biggest norms of all. But there's an easy way to answer the question. And most presidents would answer the question, well, the Constitution says I can't run. So even if I wanted to, which I don't, I'm not running.

Like, it's not -- it's not -- you know, it's very easy to answer that, saying, well, it would be against the law to run for president. But why would you even ask me that? He leaves it -- he leaves all doors open.

TAPPER: Lastly, we only have a little bit of time, but what was the most interesting thing that you took away from your meeting with President Trump?

GOLDBERG: Well, I mean, we talked about Signalgate. And that was interesting. I -- what I sensed was a little bit of softness around Pete Hegseth and his support for Pete Hegseth. He indicated that he thinks in hopes that Pete Hegseth is going to be just fine. But it wasn't a ringing endorsement.

The most interesting thing to me, though, was that when I asked him why this intense focus on vengeance or revenge or retribution against people, including people who worked for Joe Biden and Joe Biden himself, he said, you know, look, there are people around here who think we should just go forward and make policy and lead the country. I'm in that camp. He says, you may not believe it. And I said, I might not believe that. I said, there are other people on the White House staff who think that we should really go after our enemies for what they did to us.

So he was sort of pinning it on the staff.

TAPPER: Right. GOLDBERG: This desire to investigate and punish people he felt did him wrong. I thought that was an interesting moment.

TAPPER: Very interesting. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic, thank you so much. Good to see you.

Coming up, what President Trump just said about potential Republican holdouts who might threaten his big, beautiful bill, a bill he's banking on to improve the U.S. economy. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In our Politics Lead, at any moment, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on symbolically rebuking President Trump's sweeping tariffs. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky introduced the resolution. It's supported by Democrats, of course, as well as two other Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

The resolution is likely going to be dead on arrival in the House of Representatives. Let's talk economy with Ashley Etienne, who was communications director for Vice President Harris, and Republican strategist T.W. Arrigi T.W., Trump claims that signs of economic down torn -- downturn, quote, has nothing to do with tariffs.

Clearly seasoned Republican senators are not necessarily buying that. He'll -- he'll probably, even if he only gets three Republican senators voting against the tariffs, there are a lot others -- a lot of others that still have very serious reservations about this. What do you think of the American people, though? Where -- where do you think they are? I mean, the economic numbers, polling numbers for him are pretty bad.

T.W. ARRIGHI, VICE PRESIDENT, PUSH DIGITAL GROUP: Right. It is without question tariffs are divisive in the Republican Party. They have been for a long time. But I think the majority of the party, and we'll see this with the votes today. And when it goes to the House, that the -- the party is fully on board, willing to give Donald Trump the chance to enact this sweeping global change in trade that he's been talking about since the 70s.

[17:35:00]

Look, I don't think it's unusual that a president criticizes his predecessor and blames a poor market on them. It's been done --

TAPPER: Sure.

ARRIGHI: -- since the beginning of time. But I do find it strange that he said that, given the fact that he admitted, even just a week ago, that the economy would sputter with this tariff plan. And moreover, just another point, I think it's also very clear and fair to say that President Biden left us a weakened economy. I was baffled by a number I saw that I had to confirm today, that in the final two years of Joe Biden's term, a third of new jobs created were government jobs. And if you add in government subsidized jobs, it was another 40 percent. So look, there's a lot of criticism to go around. Tariff is definitely debated, but they're willing to give him a shot.

TAPPER: So Ashley, I want to ask you about the Vice -- former Vice President Kamala Harris' --

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: You don't want to ask me about tariffs?

TAPPER: Well, we can come back to it. But you -- but you have --

ETIENNE: We went from the strongest economy in the world to now producing a recession. But OK. I'll talk about Kamala Harris.

TAPPER: OK. Because you have some new information.

ETIENNE: Yeah. Sure.

TAPPER: And I want to hear it. You're hearing new information about what Vice President Harris, former Vice President Harris, is going to say in her speech this evening. I think she's in San Francisco. What -- what can you tell us?

ETIENNE: So I talked to her team, and there's three things that they sort of told me she's going to focus on and hit on. One, she's going to acknowledge the pain that the American people are feeling right now.

As you mentioned, Donald Trump's underwater in the polls on every issue from the economy to foreign policy. So she's going to acknowledge the pain. Unlike the president who said that he couldn't care less, she's going to acknowledge the pain.

The second thing she's going to actually do is to make this point that it feels chaotic, but this is the plan that Republicans have been trying to implement for decades, from undermining, reversing Roe, to ending the Department of Education. So they are to blame for where we are.

And then the third thing is that she's going to make this point that what we're seeing from the Democratic Party, all of these different messengers from Governor Pritzker to her and others, we need -- to Senator Booker, we need all of that energy in the Democratic Party.

We need everyone out there engaging people. That's how we win. We need to get folks on the ground engaged.

Here's what I also, what struck me about this speech, is that it seems, the audience for this speech seems to be dissatisfied, dis -- dejected Democrats from someone who sees himself as the head of the Democratic Party.

TAPPER: T.W., I want to change the subject back to the economy for one second if I could.

ARRIGHI: All right. Sure.

TAPPER: Because President Trump just moments ago made some remarks on what he calls this big, beautiful bill that he wants the House of Representatives to pass. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We may or may not have a couple of grand standards, I don't know. But if we do, it would be good if you could work on anybody. I mean, if I were a Democrat, I'd be voting for it 100 percent. Because I think it's very dangerous politically not to vote for it. Think of it, your taxes go up almost 68 percent.

So, but it looks like we're in good shape, I think. And hopefully we'll -- we'll get it approved. It'll be the biggest bill ever approved in the history of our country. And it'll be the biggest tax cut ever approved in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I'm sure it'll be easy for Republicans to vote for a huge tax cut. But it's possible that there will be cuts to Medicaid in the final bill. We do not know yet. If there are cuts to Medicaid, are you concerned at all as a Republican about Republicans voting for that, even if it comes with a big tax cut?

ARRIGHI: Well, I think it's important to note that when we talk cuts sometimes, and Chip Roy tweeted this out today, his dissatisfaction. It's not that -- it's not that Medicaid funding won't increase, it might just increase at a slower rate.

The Biden administration pointed out there was waste in Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare. We know that to be a fact. If the cuts are done wisely and -- and payments to people are not impacted whatsoever, then that is fine. Absolutely, Republicans should vote for it.

But this bill also comes with 1.5 trillion -- 1 trillion in cuts. It comes with tons of tax breaks on tips, on Social Security benefits. It's a great bill for Republicans, but they need to pass it.

TAPPER: All right, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

[17:39:04]

Coming up next, the story you just have to see. What is really going on in Gaza? Well, new video gives us a glimpse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our World Lead, as Israel's total blockade of Gaza nears its third month, groups such as the World Health Organization are warning of an imminent famine that could theoretically leave millions starving. Warehouses that once supplied aid to vulnerable populations are now barren, as you see in these images. CNN's Jeremy Diamond takes a look now at how severe malnutrition is impacting families in Gaza. And a warning for our viewers, some of the images you're about to see are quite disturbing.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside her fly-infested tent, Iman Rajab is doing her best to keep her six children alive. Today, survival looks like this. Sifting the half-bag of flour she found on a garbage dumpster in Gaza City after all of its bakeries shut down.

It is rancid, crawling with pests and clear signs of contamination. But Rajab hopes she can salvage enough to make bread for her children.

My kids are vomiting after they eat it. It smells horrible, she says. I keep cleaning it and it won't get clean. But what else can I do, she asks. What will I feed my children if not this?

Rajab is one of hundreds of thousands of parents in Gaza struggling to feed their children, an entirely man-made crisis that is rapidly spiraling. For nearly two months now, Israel has carried out a total siege of Gaza, refusing to allow a single truck of humanitarian aid or commercial goods into the strip. Israel says it is trying to pressure Hamas into releasing the hostages. But it is civilians in Gaza who are paying the heaviest price.

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There is no food, no nothing. Death is easier than this life, this elderly woman says.

This soup kitchen in central Gaza can now only provide one meal a day to those who are growing increasingly desperate. This man says he has been standing in line for hours, hoping to feed his family. These scenes, an echo of last summer, when hunger swept across Gaza, killing 52 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health. The Biden administration pushed Israel then to let in aid.

There is no such public pressure from the White House now, which says it backs Israel's tactics. Food warehouses are now barren.

YASMIN MAYDHANE, EMERGENCY COORDINATOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: We are in a position now where over 400,000 people that were receiving assistance from our hot meal kitchens, which is the last lifeline for the population, is in itself grinding to a halt.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Cases of acute malnutrition are now spiking. The United Nations said nearly 3,700 children were diagnosed in March, 85 percent more than the previous month. Five-year-old Oussama (ph) al- Raqab is among those most severely affected by Israel's blockade, which has exacerbated his pre-existing medical conditions. He has lost eight pounds in the last month, and now weighs just 20 pounds. His skin sticking to his bones, every movement is painful. Because of this war, my son has reached this state, she explains. Now he can barely walk. I have to carry him everywhere.

Every day, his condition worsens. Every day, Israel prevents food from getting into Gaza. Oussama's (ph) life becomes more at risk.

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DIAMOND: And Jake, President Trump said last week that he told his Israeli counterpart, we've got to be good to Gaza and let food and medicine in. But the reality is, beyond those offhand comments, there's really been no pressure to speak of from the United States for Israel to lift this blockade. In fact, there's been public support for it, with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, saying last week that the real pressure should be applied not on Israel, but on Hamas to free the hostages. And then, he says, aid could be let in. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.

Coming up next, the changes in U.S. policy that are now impacting America's healthcare.

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TAPPER: Our Health Lead now, President Trump and other top health officials of his administration have been reshaping children's health since he took office. Parents have lots of questions. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to help try to answer them. Sanjay, the President has said he wants to fight chronic health conditions in kids.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

TAPPER: How big of an issue is this in the U.S.? And what are chronic health conditions?

GUPTA: Yes, first of all, I'll tell you the backdrop on all this as you -- as you look at some of these numbers is that we spend about $4 trillion a year on health care in the United States. And we have some of the worst outcome -- outcomes when it comes to chronic health conditions for adults and for children.

So -- so take a -- take a look at this. I thought this was really interesting. How many children have at least one chronic health condition? How many have more than one health condition versus no health conditions? And it's interesting, Jake, only about 60 percent of the country and again, these are kids we're talking about would say that they don't have some sort of chronic health condition, obesity, diabetes, cancer, asthma, things like that.

So, you know, a significant percentage, nearly half of the -- the country's children are dealing with this. So it -- it is a pretty significant issue. Many of those chronic health conditions in some way, shape, or form related to the food that we eat. In terms of what the administration has done so far, a couple of things. You've heard a lot about autism.

Now they say, the administration says that they're going to try and figure out what's causing autism by September. It's going to be a tough task. I mean, you know, people have been studying this for decades, as you know, Jake. Another big thing that we've heard a lot about is fluoride. Removing fluoride from water. We've heard about this in the state of Utah. We're now hearing about it in Florida. That's going to be a big topic of discussion.

And then finally, food dyes. We talked about this last week, Jay -- Jake. Removing these food dyes, these petroleum-based food dyes from food. They do this in other countries. Will it make a difference here in the United States? That's what we've heard a lot about over the last three months or so.

TAPPER: And -- and obviously, a lot of people are very concerned about RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary since he has said so many things that aren't true about childhood vaccines and vaccines in general. What has been the Trump administration's approach to childhood vaccines, at least so far?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, I think it's been confusing, to be -- to be honest, and -- and concerning. You know, on one hand, we heard even during his confirmation hearing, Secretary Kennedy saying he did not want to take away anyone's vaccines. When he visited West Texas, he talked about the fact that vaccines could play an important role. But at the same time, I mean, there have been some significant changes within HHS.

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You've had the top vaccine adviser for -- for safety resign. And this was over concerns about transparency issues. Independent vaccine advisers, so people outside the government who come to advise on things like the flu vaccine, they've effectively been sidelined.

So apparently there was a meeting about next year's flu vaccine, but we don't have any insight into what that showed. And then, you know, Jake, I think one of the big headlines has been how many cuts there have been. So on one hand, you have these audacious goals. On the other hand, there have been significant cuts, and that -- that pertains to vaccines as well.

TAPPER: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. We'll see you back here tomorrow to answer questions from viewers. Look at the QR code right there. You can submit them that way.

Is Elon Musk done with DOGE? His comments today make you wonder.

And some breaking news just in, what sources tell CNN about a major deal now signed between the United States and Ukraine, that raw minerals deal, rare minerals deal, rather. We'll have that story next.

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