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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Ukraine Blows Up Part Of Russia's Bridge To Crimea; Elon Musk Slams Trump's Bill As Disgusting Abomination; National Debate Over Trans Athletics Reignited; "King Of The Hill" Actor Jonathan Joss Shot And Killed In Texas; Video Shows Escaped Inmate Asking Trump For Help. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 03, 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, what led to the deadly shooting that killed actor Jonathan Joss, perhaps best known for his roles in the T.V. shows, King of the Hill and Parks and Recreation? Police are calling it a neighborhood dispute that the actor's husband says this murder was a hate crime. What he says led to shots fired ahead.

Plus, a home raided where authorities believe an escaped inmate recorded a video pleading his case after 18 days on the run and on the lam.

[18:00:07]

Are officials any closer to tracking these last two inmates down?

Also, what exactly is in Trump's big, beautiful bill? Do House Republicans who help push it forward even know? According to Marjorie Taylor Greene, congresswoman from Georgia, she didn't know.

But, first, another surprise attack by Ukraine this, time bombing a bridge from underwater.

The Lead Tonight, you're looking at Ukraine's latest successful surprise attack on Russia. Earlier today, Ukraine claimed credit for blowing a part of a bridge that connects Russia with the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Back in the United States, White House press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the mounting bipartisan pressure for President Trump to slap additional sanctions on Russia. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He's willing to use sanctions if he needs them in the Senate and in the Capitol Hill. Understand that the president is the commander-in-chief and he's leading United States foreign policy, as he should.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Nic Robertson brings us now this report on Ukraine's latest attempt to blindside Russia.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Ukraine's latest spectacular attack, targeting the Crimea Bridge, vital to Russia's war in Ukraine, 1,100 kilograms of explosives hidden underwater, a months-long operation, according to Ukraine's Security Service.

It's not the first time Ukraine has tried to take out the 12-mile rail and road bridge that links mainland Russia to Annex Crimea. In 2022, Ukraine blew up the roadway, briefly disrupting Russia's flow of warfighting material.

In 2023, Ukraine again tried to take out the bridge, pioneering new technology, a so-called Sea Baby or water drone hitting the bridge at water level. But the bridge held.

The estimated $3.7 billion link was opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, four years after he illegally annexed Crimea during Russia's first invasion of Ukraine. Roughly the size of Maryland, Crimea is hugely important to Putin, home to Russia's strategic Black Sea fleet, and a key hub in attacking Ukraine.

Since his 2022 Ukraine land grab, Putin has also secured a land link to the island-like peninsula. Ukraine has vowed never to give it up.

Ukraine's Crimea bridge attack comes days after another spectacular strategic strike, hitting Russia's long range bombers at air bases, thousands of kilometers from Ukraine. But on the grinding battle front, Ukraine is incrementally losing ground, nowhere faster right now than around the northern city of Sumy.

Russian artillery now so close, they are striking the city center. At least 4 civilians killed, about 20 injured Tuesday, according to city officials.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (on camera): With peace talks effectively, deadlocked Ukraine's, strategic moonshots are definitely a boost for morale and a strong hint they have hidden cards to play. But that's as Vladimir Putin continues, it seems, to ignore President Trump's calls for a ceasefire in favor, Putin going the route of a war of attrition. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Joining us now to discuss, CNN National Security Analyst Beth Sanner and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel, Russia's been embracing this grinding war of attrition for years now, literally for years. But given these showy surprise attacks by Ukraine this week and Russia's recent advance near the key northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, do you think Russia's shifting its strategy?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, so far no, Jake, because they think that they can use that war of attrition to actually make progress. And basically, in their view, all they need to do is move forward as much as they possibly can, force the Ukrainians off of their land, especially in the Sumy region, but also in the eastern part of Ukraine and the parts of the Donbas that the Russians have not occupied yet.

So, what the Russians are trying to do is they're basically trying to continue with their war of attrition, but those spectacular attacks, the one on the Kerch Bridge and the one affecting the air bases, they send messages. They make headlines, and they really have an impact basically on the morale.

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So it then, you know, comes down to the idea of how much momentum the Russians can sustain and whether or not these attacks are actually going to affect the Russian strategy. So far, it hasn't affected it, but they might affect it in the future.

TAPPER: So, Beth, George Beebe, a former director of Russia analysis at the CIA, was interviewed by Foreign Policy Magazine about the Ukrainian drone attacks at the Russian airfields. And he said, quote, unless Putin has a strong assurance from Trump that this attack is something that the United States opposes and the Russians are going to be more likely to respond quite forcefully, that there is no question that it increases the likelihood of a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia unless the Trump administration takes active steps to diffuse this. Do you agree with this analysis?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Not really. I think that is something that certainly Russia wants us to believe, and it's certainly something that the MAGA base wants us to believe. But, you know, I think that Putin's last interest here is to have a direct confrontation with the United States and to have a direct war with NATO. That is not in his interest, especially because, as Cedric says, he does believe that, ultimately, Russia will prevail.

And so, you know, right now this is a war about narratives as much as it is about this incremental progress on the ground. I'm still of the mind that things are not significant enough to actually change the strategic position of either side.

TAPPER: Colonel Leighton, you compared Ukraine's attack to the U.S. bombing of Tokyo during World War II, which was Operation Doolittle. Do you think Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb will be remembered as pivotal not just in this particular war, but in 21st century warfare in general?

LEIGHTON: It definitely has the potential of getting to that level, Jake. And one of the key aspects of this is what is the follow-through going to be? What are the Ukrainians going to be capable of doing? You know, when we attacked Tokyo, you know, with the Doolittle raiders, we had a follow-on effort that after several years actually ended up with the capitulation of Japan. That won't be the case when it comes to Ukraine versus Russia. Russia will not capitulate in that same way.

But what can happen is that the Ukrainians can use this not only to gain momentum, but also, as Beth said, this is part of a P.R. war. And if they get the P.R. on their side, if they get the support or continue to get the support from the west, whether it's Western Europe or the United States, or preferably for Ukraine, both, then they have a chance of at least protecting their sovereignty. And that's really what their goal is at this point.

TAPPER: And, Beth, Ukraine hit Russian planes on Sunday, planes that are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. It's worth remembering at the end of last year, Russia updated its nuclear doctrine to lower the bar, lower the threshold for potential use of nuclear weapons.

We know that Putin loves to rattle that nuclear saber, but are you concerned at all that these surprise attacks, successful aggressive attacks might push Putin closer in that direction of using nukes?

SANNER: This is always a risk, right, that is there. It's not going to be zero. I think though we have to get to a point where Putin actually feels, you know, a more existential threat or a threat of a line collapsing, which is what we had seen, you know, several years ago when we got -- you know, where the intelligence community was saying it was fairly 50-50, you know, by some estimates of whether they would go that route.

I don't think we're there right now at all. So, you know -- but we can't dismiss it, but I think we shouldn't by deter (ph).

TAPPER: Colonel Leighton, Beth Sanner, thanks to both of you.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, for the third consecutive day, civilians in Gaza came under fire on their way to an aid distribution site. Health officials there controlled by the Palestinian government say that 27 people were killed and dozens wounded. We are waiting for independent verification of those claims.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Israel. Jeremy, what's our best understanding as of now as to what happened today?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, it's important to note first that unlike on Sunday, the Israeli military today has actually acknowledged that they did indeed opened fire on a group of individuals who were on their way to this aid distribution site.

Now, the military claims that they fired warning shots first and then opened fire on, quote, several suspects who were moving towards the troops in what they describe as a suspicious manner. What we know the aftermath was of this is at least 27 people were killed and dozens injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the director of the Al-Nasser Hospital.

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Among them, we also know that there were civilians, including a mother of eight children who was trying to get to this aid site in order to be able to feed her family.

And indeed this is the third day in a row that we have seen incidents like this take place as these masses of thousands of people have been on their way to this aid distribution site, and a lot of this speaks to the concerns that humanitarian aid officials have been raising in the weeks before this GHF, this Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, became operational. This notion that you would have people, you know, traveling through these dangerous combat zones, miles sometimes, to get to these sites, rather than having the aid distributed closer to where they live.

TAPPER: Jeremy, you've been reporting on this U.S.-backed aid organization, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is in charge of that particular aid site. Now, we are hearing they're going to shut down this site tomorrow?

DIAMOND: That's right. They've just announced that. They also announced it on their Facebook page where they try and notify Palestinians and Gaza about their operations. And this is the first time since they became operational, you know, a little over a week ago that they are actually closing down entirely for a day. They say that they're closing for, quote, logistical preparations, and also because they say the Israeli military will be making preparations on access routes.

Those logistical preparations are intended, they say, to allow them to accommodate a larger number of people at these sites. And, frankly, that's the closest that Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has come to acknowledging that they've had some serious issues in recent days.

They're obviously not directly linking that to the deaths that we've seen in recent days, but we know from the images that we've seen of the, you know, enormous numbers of people who are arriving at this site that things are obviously not going, to put it lightly, as smoothly as GHF has indicated. And this is perhaps their first admission that that may be the case. Jake?

TAPPER: Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

In our Politics Lead, what really was on its face an astonishing post on Twitter or X today from Elon Musk about the so-called big, beautiful bill, the world's richest man saying, quote, this massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting, abomination, unquote. Musk went on to say, quote, shame on those who voted for it. You know you did wrong. You know it, unquote. That is 215 House Republicans he's talking to. Might that message from Musk inspire a new tone from Senate Republicans as they ponder changes to this massive legislation? We'll talk about that next.

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TAPPER: Back with our Politics Lead, and Elon Musk, the former first buddy, putting President Trump's big, beautiful bill on blast. The Tesla CEO and former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, told just last week, posted on Twitter or X, quote, I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.

Shame on those who voted for it. You know you did wrong. You know it, unquote. That's 215 House Republicans he's talking about. The White House says the president already knew where Musk stood on the bill, and this doesn't change his opinion of it or push for it.

Let's bring in our panel. Van Jones, does Elon Musk have a point here? Does this bill undermine his cost cutting efforts?

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it doesn't undermine his protection for his A.I. companies, which are all in there. And part of what you're seeing now is Americans don't get too happy, if you're anti-Trump, you're happy. He wants to do more damage. Musk wants to do more damage to Americans.

He thinks $715 billion Medicaid cuts, not enough. $500 billion Medicare cuts, not enough. He wants to do more damage to Americans, and he's not saying I care so much about this budget deficit, I want to pay more taxes. I want to give more to my country. He's saying I care so much, I want to take more from poor people.

So, yes, there is a black hat MAGA and there's a red hat MAGA. Red hat MAGA, bottom up, wants to -- you know, it's more the working class, but the black hat folks, they are the billionaire, the ultra elite, and there's not enough pain and suffering they can inflict on the American people that would make them happy and there's not enough protection for their own companies that they could get that would make them happy, and that's what's going on.

TAPPER: David Urban, President Trump has been attacking Republican senators who opposed the bill. He specifically singled out Kentucky Senator Rand Paul on Truth Social saying, quote, Rand Paul has very little understanding of the big, beautiful bill, especially the tremendous growth that is coming. He loves voting no on everything. He thinks it's good politics, but it's not, unquote.

Senator Paul, like Elon Musk, says he's opposed to this $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling that the bill includes, according to some projection. What is Trump's strategy here going after Rand Paul?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not sure what it's going to have for Rand Paul, but I think he's going to have to corral a lot of Republican senators. And you got to get -- I mean, this is -- you only need 51 here and it's still tough to get 51 because the numbers are pretty tough. There's a lot going on in this bill.

There's a lot of good things in this bill, but there's a lot of tough things for people to swallow, primarily is the growth in the deficit and the debt. And Republicans used to care about that. And they do to a certain extent, but, you know, how they're going to juggle this all and, you know, have no tax on tips and give the SALT cap a lift and all these things that want to happen without cutting, you know, big programs, as Van is talking about, it's a balancing act. And so I think, you know, what some of the things that Van is talking about, you know, maybe, you know, they're talking about kicking, you know, folks who are illegal immigrants off of SNAP and some of these some of these entitlement programs, but they're big and they're huge programs. And I'm not quite sure how you get there.

And then, Jake, there's going to be a problem because let's say the Senate does pass it, they change it a bit, it's got to go back to the House. And you got to pass it in the house. If you can do that before July 4th, like the president's asking, that's a magic trick I'd like to see done.

I think the X date that -- Scott Bessent's going to set the X date for raising that ceiling somewhere closer to August. The August resets, pushing everybody into, you know, real work mode and finding some compromise.

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And that's how the sausage gets made, right? Nobody wants to see it. But at the end of the day, everybody's going to compromise because the largest tax increase in history is going to happen if this bill doesn't get passed. I think Donald Trump's going to use that to shoehorn this in and it's going to get passed.

TAPPER: Van, you alluded to this in your previous answer about the A.I. provisions that were in legislation. So, we know now that Congressman Mike Flood and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene say that they voted for that bill and didn't know about every provision, and that Marjorie Taylor Greene took to Twitter or X and said, full transparency, I did not know about this section that strips states of the right to make laws or regulate A.I. for ten years.

I'm adamantly opposed to this and it's a violation of state rights, and I would've voted no if I'd known this was in there. She got blasted by Democrats saying that that's literally your only job is to read the legislation. But do you think this is an opportunity for Democrats to kill this bill, which they want to do?

JONES: Look, this is terrible. This is not a little bit bad. This is terrible. This idea that the A.I. companies who are, you know, in this mad race against each other to unleash ungodly capabilities out into the wild that they're just going to be able to not have to deal with a California that knows a lot about this, Massachusetts knows a lot about this.

You have red states that have a lot of concerns. Everybody gets thrown out the door and it's just going to be a federal government. They can very easily lobby with their billions of dollars to get whatever they want done.

And you're knocking out a big chunk of American democracy. No elected official, except for 535 in the states, in the capital of America will have any say at all, whatsoever, about the biggest transformational technology in the history of the world. It's nuts. It's crazy. It's dangerous. It's Looney Tunes. And if Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to get a pass or a cookie for pointing out on Twitter that she voted for something that's terrible, maybe she gets half a cookie? I don't get it.

TAPPER: David, final word.

URBAN: Yes. The only thing that's worse than what Vance's talking about is 50 states, 50 states try to pass each individual little state bill regulating A.I. Do you think the Chinese have a jump on us now? Wait until California reconciles with New York and Vermont and New Hampshire, we'll be all speaking Mandarin because the Chinese will run the world because we'll be so far behind in A.I. We might as well just fold up the House if we got to have 50 states regulating A.I., impossible.

JONES: Smarter way to get there, and what you've seen already so far, is that the federal government is already a completely captive of the A.I. industry and it's only going to get worse.

TAPPER: All right. Van Jones, David Urban, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

We're moving next to the debate rocking high school athletics, trans athletes in girls and women's sports, the new pressure that the Trump administration is putting on the state of California on that issue.

Stay with us.

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TAPPER: Our Sports Lead now, at least three high school transgender athletes competed in their girls' state track and field championships over the weekend, one in Washington State, one in Oregon, one in California. Two won first place in their events. The California Trans Athlete is in the national spotlight and partly why President Trump says he wants large scale fines imposed on the state of California.

CNN's Nick Watt reports now on the pressure on the state of California as the debate over trans athletes reignites.

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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: High school track meet got President Trump so upset, he says he's going to fine the most popular state in the nation. Why? Because A.B. Hernandez, who is transgender, won gold in the girls' high jump and triple jump and silver in the long jump.

JOE GAROFOLI, SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER/COLUMNIST, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: This is an outsized reaction by the leader of the free world to like high school sports in California. Dude, you have a lot of other problems. Work on those.

WATT: Trump posted this just before 1:00 this morning. A biological male competed in California State Finals, winning big. As Governor Gavin Newscum fully understands, large-scale fines will be imposed.

On Monday, the Department of Justice informed every school district in the state they might be breaking federal law.

This was a campaign issue for Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We will keep men out of women's sports.

WATT: Then enshrined in an executive order that reads, in part, allowing men to compete in women's sports is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls.

This is yet another bout in the battle between the President and Gavin Newsom, governor of a big blue state.

GAROFOLI: This is personal and it's business, political business.

WATT: And listen to Newsom on his own podcast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you say no men in female sports?

GOV. GABIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. So, it's deeply unfair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you speak --

WATT: Today, Newsom's office told CNN that a 2013 state law allows athletes to compete against the gender they identify with. And among nearly 6 million public school kids in the state, only a handful are active trans athletes.

Last week, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding if Hernandez was even allowed to compete. The state's Interscholastic Federation compromised anyone bumped from qualification by a transgender athlete could compete, and Hernandez, if she won, would share the podium with whoever placed right behind her.

There were still some protesters at the meet.

PATTY CABADA, PROTESTER: This is for women, this is for girls. He is a biological boy. He can go play with boys.

WATT: But Brooke White, who finished just behind Hernandez in the long jump, was not among them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It made me really emotional seeing how people could be so hateful to a 16-year-old girl.

[18:30:00]

Overall, I just want to help foster peace and community and acceptance.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WATT (on camera): So, Jake, political commentators out here are asking these questions. Is this just a distraction from the tax bill in Washington? Will Trump even follow through? If it's a fine, how exactly would that work?

But, listen, if the president were to withhold federal funds from California, that would be a big deal, particularly since those devastating wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year. So, we're just going to have to see how this plays out. Is this the real deal or is this just more political posturing? Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Nick Watt in Los Angeles, thanks so much.

Let's bring in former Congresswoman and current Democratic Candidate for California Governor Katie Porter. Thanks so much for being here.

FMR. REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): Nice to be here.

TAPPER: Really, here, you saw the piece the Department of Justice says. California public schools allowing trans athletes to compete in women and girls sports is simply a violation of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits sex discrimination. In addition to being a politician, you're a law professor. What's your view of this?

PORTER: Well, first, as a practical matter, Donald Trump should be focusing on all of the problems that he's creating for our economy and for Californians. This is a longstanding California law. And I think what we saw with this situation was our own governing sports federation here in California coming up with a solution, solution that allowed female athletes to compete and to share the podium. And I think this was a job for athletic bodies to do the work.

Donald Trump is pretty clearly not an elite athlete and, by the way, neither am I. The job of sports bodies is to figure out how to solve these situations, and that's exactly what they did. Donald Trump trying to fine California, throwing down, making school children worried about whether we're going to have funding for our schools, it's wholly inappropriate.

TAPPER: So, he's a pretty good golfer, I'll say, but moving on because this --

PORTER: I wouldn't want to see him in the high jump though.

TAPPER: No. But let me ask you, Gavin Newsom, Governor Newsom has made the argument that there is a question of fairness here. And you're a feminist, you're a woman, you have daughters, I believe, right? So, without wanting to demonize trans athletes, can you understand why some people, why some parents might be like, I want that trans athlete to be able to have a wonderful life but it's not fair?

PORTER: No. I think this is exactly what the conversation was, and we solved it right here in California with our sports body. So, as you saw, the trans athlete competed and she shared the podium so that the identifying female athlete, the traditionally girl athlete, she was able to get second place, as was the trans athlete, for example. They shared the podium and actually had some really lovely things to say about each other and about the chance to compete against each other.

So, there are issues of fairness here. I think the question is, whose job is this to fix? Do we think the leader of the free world, Donald Trump, should be weighing in repeatedly and aggressively threatening to find the largest state in the country, the fourth largest economy in the world, interfering with everybody in California, threatening our educational system, upsetting parents because he doesn't trust a sporting body to solve the problem?

And sports bodies set all kinds of rules. Is it fair for people to use certain kinds of equipment? What do we do about athletes with disabilities? They have to solve these problems all the time. And they're going to solve them differently, by the way, depending on the age of the children and depending on the level of competition and depending on the nature of the sport.

TAPPER: What do you make of some Democrats and some progressive commentators, liberal commentators, who think that this issue was one of those that hurt Democrats, Kamala Harris, others in elections last November?

PORTER: Well, I think Democrats had a lot of issues going on. I think the biggest one was that we didn't have a strong message on the economy. It's a big reason why I'm running for governor in California. I am a strong messenger on the economy. I know what it's like to push a shopping cart.

I know what it's like to worry about college tuition or about how you're going to pay for childcare. I think that was the driving issue. I do think that Republicans have, over the history of their party, pushed different so-called cultural issues. We saw them with abortion 20 or 30 years ago. That was a big issue again.

So, I do think Democrats need to figure out though, fundamentally, what do we have to offer people? What do we have to say about the cost of housing? What are we going to do about the unaffordability of childcare? How are we going to do with A.I. and what that means for our government? We need to be able to answer those big questions.

TAPPER: Your former colleague, Seth Moulton. I was on a California T.V. show, Real Time with Bill Maher, on Friday and he said something interesting. He said he thought Democrats need to acknowledge we were wrong on inflation, we were wrong on the border and we were wrong about President Biden's ability to do the job, his acuity. And it is odd to think that your party was out there saying a year ago that Joe Biden could be president until January 2029. I mean, do you think he could be president until --

PORTER: Well, as you know, our party isn't a monolith and we've had people who have taken different positions on things.

[18:35:02]

I mean, recall that one of my colleagues, Dean Phillips that I was elected with in 2018, ran against President Biden as a Democrat.

And so, look, I think there's a different group of people who had that kind of day-to-day knowledge of what the president was doing and how he was doing. The vast majority of Democrats in statehouses, activists and parties, people in Congress, we didn't have that kind of window. And so --

TAPPER: Kamala Harris did and your other -- and you're running there is a field of people running for governor. Villaraigosa has talked about how Becerra and Harris have something to answer to when it comes to questions about President Biden's acuities and abilities. Do you agree with Villaraigosa?

PORTER: I think that everyone has the right to ask questions about what people knew, what they did in difficult leadership situations. So, I just don't have the answer to the question because I wasn't there, I wasn't able to observe President Biden in a way that they maybe were able to.

TAPPER: All right. Democratic candidate for California Governor Katie Porter, former Congresswoman, thanks so much for being here.

PORTER: Thank you.

TAPPER: Our series on local business leaders is next. We're headed to Wisconsin where a shop owner has a sweet tooth but has soured on tariffs.

Stay with us.

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[18:45:00]

TAPPER: It is time for Business Leaders, our series listening to small business owners from coast-to-coast about President Trump's tariffs. Some are happy with them, many are not.

Let's go to Chocolate Chisel. It's an artisan chocolate and ice cream shop located in Port Washington, Wisconsin. It's committed to serving up handmade local treats. Owner Elizabeth MacCrimmon joins us now. Elizabeth, thanks so much for joining us.

So, your business relies on a key good that the U.S does not manufacture, chocolate. So, how have your sales been impacted since the tariffs went into effect?

ELIZABETH MACCRIMMON, OWNER, CHOCOLATE CHISEL: Well, first of all, Jake, we've been affected by tariff anxiety from our customers.

TAPPER: So, you mean like because customers are worried about how much spending money they have because of all the economic uncertainty, they are less likely to just buy chocolate? We've heard this from an ice cream store owner in Appleton, Wisconsin, I think, yesterday. Is that what you mean?

MACCRIMMON: Right, exactly. And then on top of it, our chocolate company just announced a 35 percent increase on our chocolate alone.

TAPPER: Wow.

MACCRIMMON: After chocolate has already doubled and tripled in price --

TAPPER: So, have you had to raise prices for your customers?

MACCRIMMON: -- due to climate change?

TAPPER: Have you had to raise prices?

MACCRIMMON: We managed to buy a bunch of chocolate before the terrace took effect, but once that's gone, we will be having to raise our prices.

TAPPER: Where do you buy your chocolate from?

MACCRIMMON: We buy -- well, our supplier has a proprietary blend of chocolate. It comes from different countries and different types of chocolate beans. There's three types of chocolate beans that they do a blend for us to have the perfect taste that our customers like.

But the problem is the tariffs that have been applied to the countries that are producing in the cocoa belt, which is 10 percent above and below the equator, in the tropics where cocoa grows, have -- the tariffs have been 45 percent on Madagascar, 45 percent on Vietnam, 21 percent on Cote d'Ivoire, 10 percent on all the other countries that produce chocolate. So, the total percentage that our company is adding is combined from all those countries. And it's 35 percent on top -- it's on top of everything else. It's just a tariff. It's a tax.

TAPPER: Yes. What do you and other small businesses need your lawmakers to know? Do you need support? Do you need the tariffs reduced or eliminated? Do you need help from the government? What should Senators Baldwin and Ron Johnson know about what you're going through?

MACCRIMMON: Well, they could listen to Senator Markey from Massachusetts. He's introduced a bill for Small Business Liberation Act to liberate us from tariffs between the top prices that a small business pays because we can't take advantage of bulk pricing like a large national company. It's -- I would want them to support that bill.

TAPPER: Okay. The business is Chocolate Chisel. It's located in Port Washington, Wisconsin, just outside Milwaukee. Check it out if you're in the neighborhood. Elizabeth MacCrimmon, thank you so much for talking to us today. I appreciate it.

Coming up, the actor, Jonathan Joss, from the popular T.V. show, Parks and Recreation, was shot and killed. His husband says it was a targeted attack. What police are saying about the murder is next.

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[18:48:38]

TAPPER: Some tragic news in our pop culture lead. Actor Jonathan Joss, best known for his roles in "King of the Hill", as well as the TV sitcom "Parks and Recreation", was shot and killed in a dispute in San Antonio, Texas, this weekend.

In a social media post, the actor's husband says that the couple was repeatedly harassed because they were gay. A statement by the San Antonio police, however, says that so far they have not found any evidence, quote, Mr. Josh's murder was related to a sexual orientation, unquote.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher has this update on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARTOON CHARACTER: Hey, John Redcorn.

CARTOON CHARACTER: Hello, Hank. Dale. Bill. Boomhauer.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Actor Jonathan Joss whose voice brought "King of the Hill's" John Redcorn to life for more than ten seasons was shot and killed outside his former home in San Antonio, Texas, Sunday night.

Police say neighbor Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez is charged with the actor's murder. According to the incident report, after being detained, Ceja told the officers, I shot him.

In a post on Joss's Facebook page, his husband, Kristan Kern de Gonzales, wrote that the couple had regularly faced, quote, openly homophobic harassment and said on Sunday, they went to check the mail at their former home, which burned down in January, killing three of their dogs. There, he wrote, they found the skull of one of their dogs placed in clear view and as they were grieving, a man approached them, quote, yelling violent, homophobic slurs and then fired a gun.

[18:50:05]

Kern de Gonzalez says that just saved his life by pushing him out of the way.

A longtime friend of the actor says that Joss and Ceja had argued for years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homophobic neighbor yelling homophobic slurs to them.

GALLAGHER: But San Antonio police say, quote, currently, the investigation has found no evidence to indicate that Mr. Joss's murder was related to his sexual orientation. Police records obtained by CNN show dozens of calls to addresses for both Joss and Ceja over the past year, including multiple dispatches for disturbances involving a neighbor, shots fired, threats and welfare checks. Sometimes more than one call a day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GALLAGHER (on camera): Now, Ceja has posted bond, according to court records. But we just spoke with the sheriff, who tells us that it is unlikely he will get out of jail today because of release procedures. We have tried to reach him unsuccessfully at this point. According to the incident report, Joss was killed with a rifle.

Now, look, Jonathan Joss was a celebrated indigenous actor of Comanche and White Mountain Apache descent. He appeared in award winning films like "The Magnificent Seven", and of course, many popular TV shows, including "Parks and Rec". His costar there, Nick Offerman, telling "People Magazine" the entire cast has been texting back and forth. They are heartbroken over the loss of someone he calls just such a sweet guy -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

The hunt is heating up for two inmates still on the loose from that New Orleans jail. A recorded video may have put authorities hot on the tail of one of the inmates on the lam. An update on this one comes next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:07]

TAPPER: In our national lead, dramatic new developments in the saga of those ten inmates who escaped from that New Orleans jail back in the middle of May. Eight of the ten have been caught. Two remain on the run.

Over the weekend, one of those two turned up in an Instagram post asking for help from, among others, President Trump.

CNN's Ryan Young joins us now.

Ryan, sources tell CNN they think they know where that video might have been shot. And they searched that residence?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely, Jake.

We've been talking to our sources throughout the day, and this pretty much is astounding. And one of the things they focused on was the background of that video that we're going to show you in just a second, as you see the escapees running from that jail. But this photo right here, and you can kind of see in the photo in the background, this is something that stood out that was in that picture. And so, certain parts of this led to people calling in to the tip line.

And they were able to go and serve a search warrant and search the residence where this video was made. That's what they believe right now. Massey was not there.

But to get an idea of how this video plays in the background, lets take a look at this video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTOINE MASSEY, ESCAPED INMATE: You know what I'm saying? When I get back in custody, I'm asking y'all please to come and help me. You know what I'm saying? I'm asking the world.

I'm letting y'all know I'm not a raper, man. I'm not none of that. None of that. I'm a good person.

My name is Antoine Massey. I'm asking for help. I was one of the ones that was let out on (INAUDIBLE) Orleans Parish jail on May The 16th or May the 15, 2025. So please, Meek Mills, Donald Trump, Lil Wayne. Please help me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Now, Massey claims he is in jail for a rape that he did not commit.

And so, you understand in this video, he's trying to get his message out there. But what he also did was he tipped investigators off to sort of a treasure trove of a digital footprint, because for a few days, Groves and Massey have stayed off the digital pipeline and they've been able to track through phone calls, sort of maybe where their whereabouts have been. They're the most elusive, too.

Of course. Derrick Groves is wanted for murder. Massey again for that rape case. But Massey is known as someone who's escaped two other times from two other facilities. So you understand the Marshal Service, HSIS, they've all wanted to put a focus on these two men, because they believe they were going to be the two hardest to find.

That is proven true, but I can tell you right now, Jake, because of that video, because of some of the clues that have been left behind, they are zeroing in and people are calling. And let's not forget something, Jake, $50,000 is a lot of money, and people have been calling in to give tips to police. It's a lot of cold cash for a summertime where a lot of people are hurting right now -- Jake.

TAPPER: Quickly, Ryan, if you could. What about Groves? Derrick Groves. Are there any tips, any leads on him?

YOUNG: Well, that is the big question right now. He, Derrick Groves, was convicted of a double murder when he was originally arrested. They basically called him a bad dude. They think he's very savvy when it comes to the streets.

There are jail recordings in which he says he never wants to go back to jail, so he's motivated to stay away from the limelight. And now the big question is, out of all the states they've been searching, have they been able to get any sort of footprint or maybe someone who has talked to him?

So far, investigators are not sharing that with us. But we do know in the last few hours, the tip line has been buzzing with more phone calls, especially after the video we just showed you -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Ryan Young, thanks so much.

Also in our national lead, the escaped inmate from Arkansas, former police chief Grant Hardin. Authorities just put out this new rendition of what Hardin might look like in the ten days since his escape, possibly with a bit more hair growth, a little skinnier, maybe, since he's likely had limited access to food. Hardin escaped from prison on May 25th, disguised in a law enforcement uniform.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and on TikTok @jaketapper. You can follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN. If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can listen to the show all two hours whence you get your podcasts.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.