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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Suspect Charged In Colorado Anti-Semitic Terrorist Attack; White House Says, Trump And Xi Likely To Speak This Week; Veteran Groups Push Congress To End Wounded Veterans Tax; Dozens Killed And Injured Near Gaza Aid Hub; Huge Eruption On Mt. Etna Sends Tourists Running. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 02, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, the suspect in yesterday's horrific anti-Semitic terrorist attack just made his first court appearance as we learn more about the 12 people who were injured, including a Holocaust survivor. CNN's live on the scene in Boulder, Colorado, where the Jewish community is grappling with this latest senseless act of anti-Semitic violence.

Plus, President Trump threatening to impose tariffs on two major American companies, Apple and Mattel. Mattel's the toymaker behind Barbie. But why would the White House go after American companies and how might that affect the prices you pay?

And stunning video shows tourists running for safety after a massive volcano erupted in Italy, spewing lava ash and rock into the air. But why were tourists so close to one of the world's most active volcanoes to begin with?

Our Lead Tonight, the latest act of horrific anti-Semitic terrorism in the U.S., in Boulder, Colorado. Yesterday, an Egyptian national in the U.S. illegally has been charged with 16 counts of attempted murder plus a federal hate crime charge. Police say that the man used Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower to burn people who were peacefully marching in support of hostages being held by the group -- the terrorist group, Hamas he injured 12 people. Two of them remain hospitalized.

Investigators say that the suspect, Mohamed Soliman, told them he had been planning the attack for more than a year, and he, quote, wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead, end quote.

CNN Shimone Prokupecz is in Boulder, Colorado. The suspect just appeared in court. Shimone, tell us what happened.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, it was a very quick appearance. This is his initial appearance where he made this appearance before court. He did it from jail, so he didn't even have to physically come to the courthouse. But he's in on a $10 million bail, so there's no chance that he's going to get out, and he's going to be back in court on Thursday here in Colorado where they're going to file, officially file those several charges against him for this horrific attack.

TAPPER: The suspect also faces a federal hate crime charge?

PROKUPECZ: Yes, there is. And that is a very significant charge against him, that federal hate crime charge. He could potentially face more charges from the Department of Justice, but that was also filed today. So, you have the state charges now, and then you also now have this federal hate crime. And the FBI and DOJ are continuing to investigate those acts as well. So, they're working together with the Boulder Police as this investigation continues, Jake.

TAPPER: What happens next? What's the next step, Shimon?

PROKUPECZ: So, the next step will be for him to appear in federal court on that hate crime. You know, generally, what will happen is perhaps maybe the state case will go first.

But the thing right now is about the victims. Two of the victims, Jake, remain in the hospital. There are several other victims who were released from the hospital. There's that 80-something-year-old Holocaust survivor, very significant, a pillar, a woman of this community that everyone knows, who is such a strength to this community. She was injured. Her daughter was seriously injured as well.

And everyone that I have talked to in this community today, this is the woman that everyone talks about because she is here. She has been walking in these walks every week, and to have her attack in this way has really shaken many of the people. On Sunday, Jake, here in Boulder, there's supposed to be an Israeli festival, so we're going to see an intense amount of security as law enforcement prepares for that festival. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Shimon Prokupecz in Boulder, Colorado, thank you so much.

With us now, Colorado Republican Congressman Gabe Evans. Congressman Evans, thanks for joining us. So, your district is just east of Boulder. What are you hearing from your community and the community in Boulder about this horrific attack?

REP. GABE EVANS (R-CO): Well, first, just the abject horror that this happened here. Of course, we violently -- you know, any violent crime like this is absolutely impermissible in Colorado and America. And so we make no bones about condemning anti-Semitic attacks like this. But the problem is how do we keep this from happening again?

And when we look at the investigation and the information that we have already and as we'll continue to uncover more information, I mean, two things really stand out to me.

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I spent 22 years in the military and law enforcement, and so I've done these investigations. I've been a part of the global war on terror, and, unfortunately, when we have sanctuary states, like Colorado, that prohibit state and local law enforcement from being able to work with their federal counterparts to be able to identify risky behavior, who's overstayed two Visas attempting to buy a firearm, which is what happened in this in this case.

We can't put all the pieces of the puzzle together to be able to prevent things like this from happening, even when there's potentially red flags out there that we're going to continue to learn about as the investigation progresses.

TAPPER: After the attack, you posted a message on X in support of law enforcement that included the message, quote, hate has no home in Colorado, unquote. Do you think the state of Colorado is doing enough to combat anti-Semitism?

EVANS: Absolutely not. We are the second most violent state in the country right now. We've actually gotten worse. We were the third most violent state last year. And a huge part of that is because of the sanctuary state laws in Colorado that, again, imposed a $50,000 fine on law enforcement, state and local law enforcement, if they try to work with their federal counterparts, and immigration is potentially implicated in that conversation.

And so one of the big things to mention after September 11th is that state, local and federal law enforcement have been able to prevent things like this. Additionally, we haven't seen a consistent message from the ruling Democrats in the state of Colorado condemning anti- Semitism. In fact, just last year, families of the Israeli hostages, some of the hostages that had been taken, were denied entry into the Colorado State House of Representatives by the Democrat speaker of the House because they weren't sure that they could keep order amongst the pro-Hamas wing of their party. We have got to condemn the anti- Semitism wherever it's found, and not just when the violence occurs, but beforehand as well.

TAPPER: Anti-Semitism obviously is a big problem on the left, and we've seen that in these violent attacks in recent months, Governor Shapiro's house, the attack and murders outside the Jewish museum. It is also a problem on the right. I mean in addition to the Tree of Life synagogue killing in Pittsburgh, which is obviously homicidal, there's been reporting recently that the Pentagon press secretary, Kingsley Wilson, has a history of social media posts pushing anti-Semitic tropes, extremist theories. NPR reports it has identified three Trump officials with close ties to anti-Semitic extremists, like Nick Fuentes.

I think -- and, again, the problem right now that we're seeing in terms of violence is on the left. And I want to make it clear I'm not whataboutism, I'm not doing whataboutism. But it is really difficult to be a Jew in America and not see this as a bipartisan affliction.

EVANS: Well, to your point right there, again, the violence right now is coming from the left, which is why we do two things. We empower our state and local law enforcement to work with their federal counterparts to absolutely hold accountable these violent attacks when they slip through the cracks. But more than that, we support our state and local law enforcement being able to work with the feds to prevent these things from happening in the first place.

And that is very, very difficult in sanctuary states, like Colorado, like California, like many other blue states around the country, where state and local law enforcement is not allowed to work with their federal counterparts to be able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together to prevent things like this happening.

So, you know, to your point about the violence, we have to be able to work, federal, state and local, together to stop this from happening. And then we always condemn anti-Semitic actions, words, deeds, wherever they're found to make sure that everyone in our community knows this is not appropriate, this is not okay, and you will be called out for it. And if you ever commit a bias-motivated crime against the Jewish community, you'll be held to account to the fullest extent of the law.

TAPPER: All right. Republican Congressman Gabe Evans of Colorado, thanks for your time and thank you for your service, sir. I appreciate it.

EVANS: Thanks for having me on.

TAPPER: Let's discuss what can be done about this crisis of anti- Semitism in the United States of America. We have with us Ted Deutch, former Florida congressman, Democrat, who is now CEO of the American Jewish Community. Liora Rez -- one of you needs to turn off your T.V., I think. Liora Rez is the founder and executive director of StopAntisemitism. That's a grassroots organization that exposes anti- Semitic behavior. You've maybe seen her tweets.

Liora, let me start with you. You're a refugee from the former Soviet Union. How is anti-Semitism in America right now compared to what you experienced in the USSR and during that era when it was difficult to be a Jew?

LIORA REZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STOPANTISEMITISM: So, thanks for having me, Jake. My family thankfully fled the USSR when I was a small child to escape the horrors of socialism and anti-Semitism that were just widespread in the entire region.

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And growing up, I was very thankful and blessed to never have experienced anti-Semitism as a child, as a teenager, but hearing horror stories from my parents, from my grandparents regarding the horrific oppression that the Jewish people had faced in apartheid like conditions in the former Soviet Union.

So now, as I am currently in my mid-40s, as a wife, as a mother myself, now seeing history repeating itself, it's extremely, extremely frightening.

TAPPER: And former, Congressman, Deutch you have repeatedly warned that extremist rhetoric is spreading. And I have to say I didn't -- as a -- I'm 56. I -- this wasn't the normal when I was a kid. And acts of anti-Semitism and open anti-Semitism on the left and on the right just only one step removed from major figures in the Democratic Party and Republican Party. What is it like for you, Ted?

TED DEUTCH, CEO, AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: Well, you're right, Jake. This wasn't -- it wasn't like this when we were younger, and it's only gotten worse since October 7th especially. These two events in less than two weeks, the killings, the murders in Washington, D.C., outside of the Jewish event, at a Jewish museum, and yesterday when the crowd gathered just to call for the release of 58 hostages who have been held for over 600 days, these two events happened because the assailants were looking for Jews, the terrorists were going after Jews.

And it's been clear now for more than a year-and-a-half that these slogans that we keep hearing over and over, they keep being attributed to just protest movement that somehow calls for globalizing intifada are just social justice calls that, in fact, these are calls to violence. Were it not for the actions of law enforcement yesterday who got this guy when he still had 16 unused Molotov cocktails, we would have seen this a situation even worse.

Jake, this is the moment when everyone has to come together and say that it's just not acceptable. It's not enough to condemn what happened. It's not enough to express sympathy. It's using our voices, everyone who is watching, using our voices to say that these calls to violence cannot stand. Everyone has a role to play and we have to fight it together.

TAPPER: Liora, you run this website this -- I'm sorry, this Twitter feed or X feed, StopAntisemitism. And I remember a major newspaper did an article about you which was almost framing you as the bad guy. And it described the people that you target as critics of Israel, which is not who you target. And it specifically mentioned two individuals, one who had openly expressed support for Hamas, which is a terrorist group that targets civilians, and the other one who tore down posters of people who were either murdered or taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th. Those were portrayed in this major newspaper as your victims.

And it occurs to me that one of the reasons why some of this anti- Semitic violence is being mainstreamed seemingly is because the dehumanization of Jews is being mainstreamed. What do you think?

REZ: Yes, 100 percent. And, listen, let's name the publication. It was The Washington Post, which is, you know, one of the most reputable, oldest publications in the United States. And when you have a reporter that's literally defending a pro-Hamas cheerleaders, and like you said, dehumanizing the lives of Jews, ripping down posters of fellow U.S. citizens, some of them babies and toddlers, we have to ask ourselves, how in the world did we get here?

So, StopAntisemitism has featured hundreds and hundreds of individuals like these two that The Washington Post essentially glorifies. And the rhetoric that we find that they spew is alarming at best. And we're extremely concerned how these individuals operate in modern society amongst us, in the medical field, in the beauty industry, in our schools, in K-12. And while they work quietly amongst us during the day, they're at home at night promoting our deaths and cheerleading for terror organizations.

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TAPPER: Ted, what do you think of the state of the Democratic Party right now? Because as we've mentioned, obviously, this -- you know, this anti-Semitism exists on the right as well. We covered Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, other shootings perpetrated by the right. But this really does seem to be a problem, a major problem on the left right now.

DEUTCH: Well, as you know, Jake, I've been clear all along that when there is anti-Semitism present, when you see, when you hear people espousing Jew hatred, when the language that they use tracks the same language being used by Hamas, on October 7th, 1,200 people were killed, not just Jews. 1,200 people were killed by Hamas. Today, you see people across America. Who are using the same language in celebrating what's happening here, the massacre or attempted massacre of Jews.

We have to call it out wherever it comes from. For Democrats, that means calling out Democrats even more than calling out Republicans. That's what's the most effective. Same thing is true for Republicans. It's always easy to call out anti-Semitism when it happens, when it's coming from someone that's not part of your group. You have to be willing to call it out, whether it's your party, whether it's the people you work with, whether it's the people that you socialize with. It can never be tolerated.

And, specifically, let's get past this ridiculous idea that somehow it is a social justice movement to call for the destruction of Israel and the massacre of Jews. It isn't. It's Jew hatred. It's anti-Semitism and it is never, never just the Jews who are at risk. We saw that in Israel on October 7th, 2023. We see the same thing now in the United States.

TAPPER: Ted Deutch, Liora Rez, thank you so much. I appreciate you being on the show today.

President Trump is threatening tariffs on two major American companies, but so many questions remain, including why these two business specifically and how it might affect the prices you pay at the store.

Plus, a fight many military veterans never saw coming, those who receive disability benefits don't get full retirement money. Why not? My next guest is joining lawmakers in the push to change the law.

Stay with us.

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TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, the White House says that President Trump will finally have that long awaited call with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week as the blame game continues to escalate in the raging trade war between China and the United States.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins is at the White House now tracking the latest for us. Kaitlan, what do we know about the likelihood this call may actually happen?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think we have to wait and see if it's going to happen, Jake. What we've been hearing from top officials to President Trump is that it's likely, and they do expect that it could happen in the coming days, has been a phrase that we've heard from several of them.

But this is a call, to be clear, that they've been trying to set up for weeks now, maybe months, potentially even, as they have been trying to get to have these two leaders have a direct conversation about the trade war that has been playing out, and especially in recent days for rare earth minerals that the US needs and that China has and what the exports of those looks like.

And also after we saw President Trump come out and accuse China of violating essentially the truth that they had come to that agreement after his top trade officials, including the treasury secretary, had been in Switzerland speaking with their counterparts in China.

And so obviously if this call did happen, what the expectations are inside the White House is that it could help iron out a lot of the issues that are happening between the United States and China when it comes to trade.

But I think it remains to be seen, Jake, and you kind of have to wait and see how these calls with world leaders go, especially with President Trump. They're not, you know, kind of typical talking points affairs it can go into, while the Chinese side, we know, has often been very carefully choreographed and scripted in their conversations. And so it remains to be seen if that call happens.

So, obviously, Jake, everyone will be watching to see what happens and what the readout of it is, if it does.

TAPPER: And, Kaitlan, President Trump is obviously not happy with the way some American companies are reacting to the tariffs and he singled out Apple and Mattel. They are not moving manufacturing to the U.S., which is one of the points of these tariffs, to re-shore manufacturing back to the United States. Is the White House looking seriously to take further action there against those two companies?

COLLINS: I'm told by people who have been speaking to the president that he is serious about this. The question is what that looks like. Because, one, he's unhappy with Tim Cook and Apple because they said they were going to shift production to India. The president said no.

What he wanted was them to shift production, not from China to India, but from China to the United States, something that a lot of experts and Apple watchers have said, it's just not sustainable really for Apple, given how much they've invested. And then Mattel after the CEO there came out and said he might have to raise prices because of the president's tariffs.

But what we've heard from experts is that the idea that they could just put tariffs on a company specifically because the president is unhappy with how their CEO has handled things likely would not stand legal merit inside of a court if there was a challenge to that, just putting it on specific products.

Obviously, with Apple it's difficult enough because it would make iPhones so expensive for Americans who buy a lot of iPhones. And then, obviously, with Mattel, if toys are going up, if dolls are going up, the argument we've heard from experts is it might be hard for the White House to say, well, this is a national security matter. That's why we're putting these tariffs in place on Mattel.

And so, yes, this is something the president has threatened to do and said he'd like to do. Whether or not he can only do it on a company specifically just because he doesn't like how they handled his tariffs or remains to be seen, Jake. But as we've seen before, sometimes they have been willing to do things that legal experts have questioned and just fight it out in the courts later on.

TAPPER: Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. And you can look out for Kaitlan in just a few hours.

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She'll be on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins, weeknights, 9:00 P.M. Eastern only here on CNN.

Let's talk about this more though now. Let's bring in two economic professors from the great University of Michigan, Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson. Go Blue to both of you.

Betsey, let me start with you. Do you think a phone call between Trump and Xi Jinping will help cool tensions in this ongoing trade war or do you think it might even cause a further risk of escalation?

BETSEY STEVENSON, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMIC AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Oh, that's a really hard one to speculate on, right, because President Trump is not an easy to predict guy, either for, you know, the other side, or for me or for any of us. I think it's, you know, possible that it's certainly better for them to be talking than to not be talking.

And, you know, hopefully Scott Bessent is also talking to President Trump that there is more at stake here than the tariffs because we've also got his big, beautiful bill that's going to be a big, beautiful budget buster. And so he has got to figure out how we're going to keep funding these budget deficits and we've got a bond market that is, you know, starting to crack.

So, you know, is China going to be holding U.S. debt? Are they going to be selling stuff to the U.S.? What is it that we're trying to get out of them? I think, you know, the big mystery in all of these tariffs is nobody knows what the president wants. So, how can I predict how that call's going to go? TAPPER: Justin, on Friday, President Trump doubled the tariffs on steel from 25 percent to 50 percent. We saw the markets react today, steel companies up, auto stocks, tumbling. What are you keeping an eye on right now?

JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Everyone who uses steel. Look, Jake, the problem with steel is it's a very, very small sector of the American economy. The president managed to find a room full of steel workers but it is used as an input throughout vast tracks of the economy. And so what this is going to do is jack up the price of steel, which then jacks up the price of inputs for American manufacturers.

We've actually seen this movie once before, Jake, in 2018, the exact same movie, Trump raised tariffs on steel, saved 1,000 steel jobs, which sounds terrific until you realize that the higher cost of steel costs 75 times as many jobs elsewhere in the manufacturing sector.

So, look for this to hurt the rest of the manufacturing sector, and then look for other countries to be a little more reluctant to accept his calls for trade deals. The bloke reckons he's been talking to, you know, 90 countries in 90 days. If you're in the middle of a conversation with someone, and all of a sudden they say, forgot to tell you, the boss just decided he's going to double tariffs on steel. You might have second thoughts about how well that conversation's going and how seriously the Americans are in engaging with you.

TAPPER: And, Betsey, you just echoed earlier what JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned about earlier today that the bond market was still at the risk of cracking/ Take a listen to what else he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE DIMON, CEO, JPMORGAN CHASE: It is a real problem. But one day, we're going to have -- the bond market's going to have a tough time. I don't know if it's six months or six years.

If people decide that the U.S. dollar isn't the place to be, yes, you could see, you know, spreads gap out, you know, credit spreads gap out and that will become a problem. We had that during COVID. You know, the Fed probably stepped in then. We had that in 2019. We had it in '20. It will happen again. I can almost guarantee you that. I just didn't know exactly when or what the trigger might be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you make of the warning?

STEVENSON: I think it is a warning that we should all be paying a lot of attention to. And it's one of my concerns about the Trump administration is that he is playing with all these tariffs and not understanding how interconnected the entire economy is. You know, it's the same kind of frustration or he is mad at, you know, Tim Cook or Mattel and saying, how can you raise prices or why won't you manufacture things here? The bottom line is things cost real money and there's nothing that,

you know, Apple can do. You know, they have tried manufacturing before in the United States and it was just very expensive, not very reliable. And if they were to do that again, they'd have to drive the price of phones up even higher.

So, they're trying to find a way to match what President Trump wants without doubling the price of iPhones for Americans. You've got Mattel doing the same thing, trying to figure out how do they get, you know, dolls to people so they can sell as many as possible at as low a price as possible. These are just economic realities, just like it's an economic reality that if we're going to go into debt, if we're going to run budget deficits, someone's got to be willing to hold those dollars -- to hold that debt, and that might mean that they have to buy U.S. dollars.

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And so, you know, all of these things play together, and I don't see an administration that fully seems to understand to understand these interconnections.

TAPPER: Betsey Stevenson, Justin Wolfers, thanks to both of you. I really appreciate it. We'll have you back.

Many veterans who were wounded while honorably serving our country are getting reduced retirement benefits, forcing them to lose out on nearly $2,000 every month. I'm going to talk to a veteran, a disabled veteran who's working to change that, next.

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TAPPER: Now to our National Lead and a new bill that could transform the benefits that some military veterans are allowed to receive. Wounded Veterans tax, as it's informally called, does not currently allow roughly 50,000 wounded veterans to get both the full retirement to which they are owed and disability compensation, which they are also owed at the same time.

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Instead, what happens is many wounded veterans get reduced retirement benefits, which forces them to lose out on nearly $2,000 every month.

Let's bring in Army Veteran Dan Nevins. While deployed in Iraq. In 2004, an IED detonated under his vehicle. Nevins suffered a traumatic brain injury and later had to have both of his legs amputated.

Dan, so just explain to our viewers, how are you currently affected by the wounded veterans tax?

DAN NEVINS, U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD VETERAN: Well, thanks Jake, for having me on. How I'm currently affected is realizing I spent 15 years in the military in the United States Army, working towards retirement, and then ultimately got blown up, and as you said, live with -- both legs below the knee, and then all of a sudden I'm not entitled to the re retirement pay that I was working towards.

And they say, oh, well, since you got wounded and you're disabled, then you only get disability pay. Like there's a magical number called 20 years. Once you hit 20 years of service, you're allowed to have both. But in my case, in many, many other cases, we wanted to serve 20 years or more, and then that was cut short by combat, and it feels like a tax.

TAPPER: So, you advocate for what's called the Major Richard Star Act. How would that change benefits for you and the other veterans affected by this?

NEVINS: Well, the Major Richard Star Act will restore fairness, actually. It would honor the promise that everyone that rose the right hand to serve, you know, it would fulfill the promise that we all expected, that if we got retired, whether it's through years or through medical retirement from combat, that we would get that. And the Major Richard Star Act would actually make that happen.

TAPPER: You were up on Capitol Hill a couple weeks ago -- yes. You were up on Capitol Hill a couple weeks ago pushing for this bill to pass. Why do lawmakers say that they haven't taken this up already? I'm sure nobody will say to your face that they oppose it.

NEVINS: Well, this bill has more -- it has more support than any other bill in Congress right now. The congressmen, the people, the staff, they want this to happen. But what they're saying is it comes down to money actually.

And it's kind of funny now, like as a layperson, I am obviously not in Congress, you know, I hear about savings and you know, everything that's happening right now, and this -- for ten years of this to get enacted, for ten years, it would cost less than one tenth of 1 percent of one year's defense budget. So, it doesn't feel like a lot. They're saying they don't know how to pay for it, but I feel like there's got to be a way to figure it out.

TAPPER: Well, they're talking about some military parade that's going to cost tens of millions of dollars. It seems to me that at least the veterans I know would rather have you made whole than have that parade. I mean, theoretically, what do you think?

NEVINS: No, absolutely. The active duty people that I'm still in relationship and still talk to and the citizens of the country that I talk to, they are all in support, and we're all left scratching our heads on why this hasn't -- well, first of all, why it was like that in the first place. Then second of all, here we are, like for me, almost 21 years later and still being shortchanged.

It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel right, but I think that if people act and they call their Congress people, they call their senators and say, now is the time, I think we can make it happen.

TAPPER: So, the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, estimates that this change would cost about $10 billion over ten years, so that's about a billion dollars a year. But do you think it's going to pass or do you think that, ultimately, a lot of congressmen and congresswomen are blowing smoke when they see you, but ultimately they're not going to go to bat because it's going to cost a billion dollars a year?

NEVINS: Well, I hope they do go to bat because, I mean, I feel like that's what we're supposed to do in Congress anyway, is be the voice of the people. And I think the people are pretty clear that they want this to happen and they want, you know, over 50,000 warriors to be restored to what they were rightfully owed. And, you know, and it the number $10 billion, I think it's actually closer to $8 billion. And considering the defense budget is $800 billion-plus. It's literally nothing in comparison.

And they talk about rolling it into the National Defense Appropriations Act and like maybe that's the way to get it done. But the reality is this just needs to happen. It's the will of the American people. And it's, I think, the right thing to do.

TAPPER: Dan, let us know next time you're in D.C. I'd love to go on Capitol Hill with you and get even more attention to this issue.

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And we thank you for your service and we thank you for your advocacy and we thank you for coming on the show today. I appreciate it.

NEVINS: Thanks, Jake, will do.

TAPPER: All right. Our small business series takes us to Wisconsin this evening in a community-based ice cream shop struggling to make up for rising costs because of tariffs. Are they passing those tariff costs onto customers? That's next.

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TAPPER: And we're back at our Money Lead with our Business Leaders series, where we talk to small business owners from coast-to-coast about President Trump's tariffs. Some have been supportive of the tariffs, many are feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about the future.

Today's business is Frio Mexican Treats. It's a family-owned ice cream shop in Appleton, Wisconsin. They specialize in handcrafted Mexican- inspired desserts, and they aim to empower and employ young people in the community.

And owner, Hugo Ramirez is joining us now. Hugo, good to see you. With summer just about here, I'm sure it's a busy time of year to be selling ice cream. How have tariffs impacted your business and how it's been going the last few months?

[18:45:03]

HUGO RAMIREZ, OWNER, FRIO MEXICAN TREATS: Well, Jake, first of all, thank you for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity.

And well, if we talk about the numbers last year compared to this year, we've been short about $7,000 in revenue. So, for us that we, based on hiring youth employees, that's about three more employees that we couldn't hire this summer, though.

TAPPER: And why is that? Is it because people are not spending as much on ice cream? Is it because of tariffs impacting your business? What's the specific reason?

RAMIREZ: Well, Jake, the reality is I think people are being careful. And you can hear in the conversation where they hear day to day when they're talking about raising prices and rent and everything else. And to be honest, were not a necessity. We're a commodity, though. So, of course, our suppliers in China, they have to raise the prices on the -- on the goods that we supply.

So, when that gets -- gets increased at the end of the day, we, we have two choices. We either have to absorb the cost or pass it on to the consumer. So --

TAPPER: Yeah, I mean, I personally think that ice cream is a necessity, but I understand what you're saying.

Have you had to raise prices? Have you -- have you had -- have you made that decision yet about raising prices, or are you just you're waiting to -- waiting to see.

RAMIREZ: Oh, no, no, no, Jake. Yeah. We did raise our prices on our quality items or our premium items, but we keep the same one single scoop price for the past five years because we're a community ice cream shop, we want to make sure that the least the families are -- families in the community have is to afford an ice cream because we're not only selling ice cream, we also sell an experience.

And for most of our customers, it's a bonding experience. So, we don't want to take away something away from them.

TAPPER: Yeah, and I know you employ a lot of young people 14, 15, 16 years old. My first job was at Baskin-Robbins when I was 15. And, you know, you're providing jobs for people in your community.

If you could speak to your lawmakers about this issue to Senator Tammy Baldwin, senator, Senator Ron Johnson, your member of Congress, what do you want them to know? What would you ask for specific support? Would you -- what would your message be to them?

RAMIREZ: Well, our message would be pretty simple. Just be in our shoes for a day. We're not asking for handouts. I like to work. I'm pretty proud in what I do, and we just want a fair playground. That's all we're asking. When they do this laws. And they take it into place. What we want is something that doesn't affect us directly into the -- to the consumer directly.

TAPPER: Yeah. We've heard a lot about consumer confidence and people worried about all of this and not spending as much. McDonalds had their earnings report when they talked about they anticipated fewer customers because of all this.

Frio Mexican treats is the name of the shop. It's in Appleton, Wisconsin. The owner, Hugo Ramirez, is here. If you're near Appleton or in Appleton, please stop by. Thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

RAMIREZ: Yeah. Thank you, Jake. Thank you for having me. And thank you for giving us this opportunity. Nice meeting you.

TAPPER: Of course. Tourists are sent running after a volcano erupts in Italy. See more of the stunning video with ash and smoke filling the sky. That's ahead.

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[18:52:22]

TAPPER: Topping our world today. Another round of deadly chaos near an aid distribution center in the besieged Gaza strip Sunday.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Israel.

Jeremy, what is the Israeli military have to say about what happened?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, eyewitnesses, doctors at local hospitals and the Palestinian ministry of health say that Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of thousands of Palestinians who were on their way to a humanitarian aid distribution site in southern Gaza. At least 31 people were killed. Nearly 200 injured, according to the ministry of health, in an attack that happened in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning.

The Israeli military, for its part, says that it, quote, did not fire at civilians while they were near or within this aid site. But interestingly, an Israeli military source acknowledged that the that Israeli troops did open fire on Palestinians about one kilometer away from that aid site, describing those shots as warning shots.

And one kilometer is roughly the distance between the al-Alam roundabout and this aid site. The al-Alam roundabout is where eyewitnesses told us that people were gunned down as they were on their way to this humanitarian aid distribution site, and we've gotten pretty disturbing reports from this scene with eyewitnesses telling us that there were drones overhead, telling people to turn around and go away from the distribution site but that gun fire was happening all around them at the exact same time, and so people were either pinned as they tried to flee. According to multiple eyewitnesses.

And it's important to keep in mind that the whole reason why all of these people are there is because they are on their way to this aid distribution site. And this is exactly the kind of scenario that humanitarian aid officials have been opposed to this U.S. and Israeli backed new aid delivery mechanism run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It's exactly what they have been warning about.

And so, once again, we are hearing from humanitarian aid officials who say that having just a few sites, mostly in southern Gaza, making people walk several miles in some cases to get there, going through active combat zones and Israeli military lines is posing dangers. We're hearing from Philippe Lazzarini, the executive director of UNWRA, for example, who says that aid distribution in Gaza has become a, quote, death trap. He, like others, are calling for Israel aid into Gaza -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. (AUDIO GAP) for us.

[18:55:00]

Thank you so much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Our last leads take us to Sicily, where a massive eruption at Mount Etna this morning sent tourists fleeing tower of ash, an explosions that could be heard as far as 30 miles away. The volcano began spewing hot lava, collapsing part of Etna's crater. About a dozen tour operators work on Etna at any given time.

Officials are working to ensure everyone is accounted for.

In our money last lead, C may be for cookie, but is it also for copycat. The maker of popular cookies Oreo and Chips Ahoy are suing grocery chain Aldi, alleging that Aldi's store brand snack packaging blatantly copies its own. In the lawsuit, snack giant Mondelez says Aldi's cookie and cracker packaging was likely to deceive and confuse customers. Mondelez is seeking monetary damages, as well as a court order to prevent Aldi from selling these cookie lookalikes.

That is rather fishy. Look at that. Look at those images.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X and on TikTok @jaketapper. You can follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.