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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Sources Say, Deputy FBI Director Bongino Has Told People He Is Considering Resigning Amid Epstein Files Fallout; Trump Meets With Families In Flood-Affected Areas; Zelenskyy Says, U.S. Military Deliveries Have Been Restored; Tomorrow: American Amanda Anisimova Versus Polish Star Iga Swiatek. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 11, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, well, there's got to be bad blood, I'd sing it for you, but I'm going to spare you on this Friday, bad blood among top Trump administration officials. The deputy FBI director is now telling people that he's considering resigning amid a major clash between the FBI and the Justice Department over the refusal to release the troves of information related to the Jeffrey Epstein trial, this convicted pedophile and sex trafficker with powerful friends.

Also today, President Trump gets a firsthand look at the devastation in Central Texas one week after deadly pledged ravaged communities and killed more than 120 people, including dozens of children. Tonight, CNN is digging into some of the still unanswered questions.

Plus, the incredible story of a brave doctor in Ukraine who drove to deliver a heart transplant to a 12-year-old girl, all while Kyiv was under a massive drone attack from Putin's Russia.

We begin with breaking news in our Politics Lead and drama at the highest levels of the Trump administration, this time in the Justice Department. The deputy director of the FBI, Dan Bongino, has told people he's considering resigning. This comes amid MAGA world outrage over this week's unsigned statement by the Justice Department about sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

After months of touting the impending release of new blockbuster information on Epstein, the client list, flight logs, more and more, Attorney General Pam Bondi's Justice Department, put out a memo this week effectively saying nothing to see here, move along folks. They said there was no evidence of the existence of an Epstein client list. They said he was not murdered in his jail cell in 2019, he committed suicide.

But beyond that, there remains this trove of information about Epstein that the government has refused to release to the public, witness and victim testimonies and much, much more. Now, the Trump administration has this information and they are refusing to release it despite years of promises by the likes of Attorney General Bondi and Dan Bongino that they would release this information. We're going to start today with Chief White Correspondent and Anchor Kaitlan Collins. And, Kaitlan, you're part of this reporting team that broke the news on Dan Bongino considering resigning over this.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. And what our team has learned basically is that Dan Bongino was so frustrated as the fallout really just continued to escalate this week from within the MAGA world.

I mean, you saw the president on Tuesday expressing surprise that anyone cared about Jeffrey Epstein, but, certainly, his base does and some of his most loyal supporters outside the White House who were very upset and frustrated with what the top officials at the DOJ and FBI said before getting these jobs, once they got these jobs, and then now coming out very quietly on a holiday weekend, as they did last Sunday, and putting out this unsigned memo, saying no more information was going to be coming out about Jeffrey Epstein and what you just noted there, that he was not murdered and that he did not have this high-profile client list that so many of these people themselves had speculated about, including people like the FBI director, Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, the vice president of the United States.

And basically what has happened now internally, Jake, as people have been, you know, talking to people and having closed conversations is this huge rift has erupted between the Justice Department and the FBI over how this was handled. And a lot of it is Dan Bongino, the deputy director at the FBI, blaming the DOJ, as Laura Loomer, who is certainly extremely close with President Trump, but also with people inside the administration was saying this morning that he did not show up for work today. And we confirmed that is accurate.

And not only that, Jake, that he has told his colleagues and allies he is considering resigning from his job because of so much fallout that came as a result of how they handled this. It's caused a rift between him and Pam Bondi, who feels like she is unfairly getting a lot of the blame as they work together on what the end result here was going to be, knowing that they were not going to have any revelations to share publicly for months now. And the question tonight is whether or not Dan Bongino remains in the job in the days to come. It's still far from certain despite the fact that he has threatened to quit, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. And don't miss Kaitlan on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. That's tonight and every weeknight at 9:00 P.M. only on CNN.

Let's discuss, let's start with Evan Perez, who's also been working this story just hours before the news broke of Dan Bongino telling people he's threatening -- he's thinking about leaving over this.

The deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, posted on social media in response to some of the MAGA world folks saying basically what's happening, that Bongino is really mad at Bondi. Todd Blanche said, any -- reports of any daylight between Trump officials was, quote, patently false, but that doesn't seem to be true.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. So, there's some complications in what Todd Blanche posted on Twitter. It is true that -- and he's right -- that that statement that was issued on Monday was signed on by Kash Patel and by Dan Bongino. All of them agreed that this was the only course that they could go, right?

[18:05:03]

And I think what that social media post was about was a warning to Dan Bongino that if he continues out there sort of trying to show some distance, that there are -- that there's receipts, as the kids say, right? That there are emails and there is other things that will show that he was on board with what they did on Monday.

However, you are right that they are not on the same page. They've been certainly at odds over the last few months, and it mostly is because Bongino and Patel believed that they were being made to own something that they didn't really have anything to do with, which is, you know, Bondi is the one that organized that event at the White House back in February, where they brought the social media influencers, the MAGA influencers, gave them these binders with documents supposedly with new bombshells, which really had nothing new. It was all stuff that was years ago. And so that's where all of this comes from, all of this disagreement comes from.

TAPPER: But there is new information out there --

PEREZ: In those files.

TAPPER: It just hasn't been released.

PEREZ: It just has not been released, right.

TAPPER: There's witness statements, there's victim statements, there's information with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Florida, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Southern District of New York. There are flight logs. There's the autopsy report there. I'm not part of the president's base, but I am so -- or any base, but I am certainly one who wants this information released, as long as you scrub the names of the victims. Why won't the Trump administration released that and is Pam Bondi right, that she is being made a patsy for this, the fall guy or fall girl, when Trump is one actually in charge of all this?

PEREZ: Right. I mean, Trump does not want this out there, and that's part of the story as well, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. So, Joseph, you are a former federal prosecutor with the DOJ. It's not uncommon that there are disagreements between the FBI and the Justice Department, but it is uncommon that we hear about it like this.

JOSEPH MORENO, FORMER GOP STRATEGIST: Well, we shouldn't be hearing about it. I mean, this sort of thing should be behind closed doors and not on X. As a prosecutor, one premise I would say is that if you are trying to keep something secret, you don't bring it to court, because an incredible amount of information comes out in discovery, in witness testimony. And, remember, the first Trump administration brought the charges against Jeffrey Epstein, and then after he killed himself, the first Trump administration charged Ghislaine Maxwell. So, you had a trial there. Then you had Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report about Epstein's suicide, and a tremendous amount of information was released there. Then you had the defamation lawsuit in New York by one of Epstein's victims, and a tremendous amount of information was released there.

So, I am more skeptical that there's this great treasure trove of information that's still being sat on. I think that the bad will here is that the promise of all this information was made and now people are angry because it doesn't exist, or it exists in a fashion that's really not that meaningful. So, I think it was the promise of something much more than the reality that it exists.

TAPPER: But it wasn't just the promise of people running for president or helping Donald Trump run for president. It was the promise of people who had taken office. Here's Attorney General Pam Bondi back in February on the only place that she goes, which is Fox.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: What you're going to see hopefully tomorrow is a lot of flight logs, a lot of names, a lot of information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The truth is out there. No. So, couple of things about this. Just from a communications perspective, the fact that we're still talking about this tells you how badly they've been handling it. Starting back with that initial briefing that you were talking about, Evan, they should have realized then that they have a problem on their hands. You know, whether there exists a list or not, or how much information there is. You know, this is an article of faith for his base. They believe that there is some -- there, there.

Dan Bongino and Kash Patel have partially built their careers right on talking about this.

TAPPER: Yes.

FINNEY: And so the fact that they're now being put in the position of saying nothing to see here, which is ironically how Trump treats Democrats, he's now treating his own base to say, why are you still talking about this? The problem is they believe it's real and they allow them to believe it's real.

And so instead of trying to create some sense of transparency and say, here's the new information that we are able to provide, they're trying to just say nothing to see here. That doesn't work. This is -- and part of what makes this a crisis is anything that comes between, you know, I would say this to elected officials, you and your base in terms of their ability to trust you is a real problem. And this is -- the problem here is they now don't -- they're putting it on Pam Bondi, but the truth is it's Donald Trump. If he wanted this to come out, it would be out and they know that.

PEREZ: One thing I think we should note is that, you know, the FBI spent a lot of time going through these documents. What they ended up finding is that a lot of the documents, if you were to release them, would be full of redactions, black ink.

[18:10:04]

And inside the Justice Department, they realized that this might make things worse, right? And so that's partly why you see this decision has been reached.

TAPPER: So, let me just ask this basic question.

PEREZ: Yes.

TAPPER: I'm just a humble cave man. I'm not an attorney, but --

PEREZ: From the Commonwealth of --

TAPPER: From the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. But let me just say this. Jeffrey Epstein went to prison and died in prison. However you think he died, you know, all credible sources say he killed himself, but whatever. And then, obviously, Ghislaine Maxwell, part of his criminal conspiracy, is in prison as well. They were trafficking someone for someone other -- they were trafficking victims for someone other than just them, right? I mean, there were other people involved.

PEREZ: That's the allegation, right.

TAPPER: That's the allegation. So, Ghislaine Maxwell isn't -- I mean, there were actual crimes that were committed, for whom? Who are these guys? We know all these powerful people, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has talked about how he flew on his plane a couple times. We know there are people that went to Epstein's Island in St. Thomas. Like who are those people? That's what I want to know. And the fact that they are rich, powerful men and we don't know their names, that's what makes people like me want more information. Is that crazy?

PEREZ: No, it's not crazy, and I think you're right. One of the other things that I think you can probably address too is that in the Justice Department, if you've not been accused of a crime, you've not been charged with a crime, you know, there are privacy protections against your name being put out there. And so that is the thing, is that some of these people have not been accused credibly of actually committing crimes. Some of them were just clients of Epstein in his financial business.

TAPPER: Yes.

PEREZ: And so the question is it fair to put those people's names out there if they are not being charged with anything. FINNEY: But the bigger political problem is his base believes there's some there, there. And it's interesting because Democrats who've been looking for -- let's talk about Medicaid, let's talk about -- this, actually, in many ways is more problematic because, again, it matters to the people who are his base.

TAPPER: All right. Thanks one and all. I appreciate it. Have a great weekend, everybody.

Coming up, President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump toured the Texas flood devastation zone and met with families in affected areas while also avoiding any criticism about the response from the state. At the same time, there are many unanswered questions about what went wrong in Texas and how it could have been avoided. We're going to take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: Our National Lead tonight, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump got a firsthand look at the devastation left by the Texas Hill Country floods. They toured the area by helicopter. They visited with first responders, state and local officials, as well as members of some of the victim's families.

President Trump turned aside any questions about failures by the state of Texas or local officials, including complaints from some families that flood alerts did not go out in time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I just have admiration for the job that everybody did. There was just admiration. The only bad person would ask a question like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Only a bad person would seek accountability to make sure that this kind of horrible disaster never happens again.

Despite the way the president feels a week after the floods washed away lives and hopes, many questions remain unanswered, questions about preparedness for emergencies, questions about why the flood caught so many people by surprise, questions about what should have been learned after previous disasters, such as a different flood of the Guadalupe River that killed ten campers in 1987.

CNN's Josh Campbell who grew up where these floods occurred has more on the questions and why it is so important for folks to ask them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Who's to blame? Know this. That's the word choice of losers. JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Officials in Texas are growing increasingly testy, facing mounting questions about accountability.

LT. COL. BEN BAKER, TEXAS GAME WARDENS: All those questions will be answered, but the priority right now is bringing people home.

CAMPBELL: It's been one week since the usual serene waters of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas, transformed into a torrent of devastation, killing more than 120 people with at least 160 still missing.

In an ominous warning at 1:14 A.M. on July 4th, the National Weather Service sounded the alarm over life-threatening flash flooding. Did that warning prompt local officials to send text alerts ordering evacuations? Officials haven't said.

SHERIFF LARRY LEITHA, KERR COUNTY, TEXAS: Sir, it's not that easy that you just push a button, okay? There's a lot more to that.

CAMPBELL: The first warning of impending disaster, some Texas Hill Country residents received came in the form of rushing water, strange noises from passing debris and the screams of victims.

The deadly Texas flood is not the first time. State government officials have faced scrutiny over their job performance following warnings from the National Weather Service. Before the deadly Los Angeles fires this year, the National Weather Service issued a dire windstorm warning, but local officials were faulted by some for not pre-positioning firefighting resources or ordering evacuations.

MARK DOUGLAS, ALTADENA RESIDENT: We felt heat and fire and that trumped any alert. So, a lot of us gave up on the alert system at that point.

CAMPBELL: After the recent devastating fires on Maui in 2023, investigators concluded officials didn't do enough to prepare after the National Weather Service, warned of extreme winds. As fire chewed through the island, all 80 emergency sirens in Maui County remained silent.

And in Texas in 2021, an approaching storm prompted the National Weather Service to declare a winter storm warning for every county in the state. Amid the deadly deep freeze, the state's electric grid crashed.

ABBOTT: Texans deserve answers about why these shortfalls occurred.

CAMPBELL: Calls for accountability then, but now --

ABBOTT: my focus isn't on trying to say, oh, you did wrong, or you should have done better there. My job is to bring Texas and Texans together.

CAMPBELL: As local residents in the Hill Country continue to post tough questions to their elected officials, many are defending the forecasters.

RICK SPINRAD, FORMER NOAA ADMINISTRATOR: The weather service did their job, the watches and warnings went out. Those warnings were not received.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:20:00]

CAMPBELL (on camera): Now, Jake, as those heroic search and rescue efforts continue, no one is saying that any local official could have stopped this wall of water coming down the river, but there are questions about alerts. To that end, the Kerr County commissioners will hold their next meeting on Monday where they could hear directly from residents continue to have these questions, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Josh Campbell, thanks so much.

The Texas State Legislature will convene a week from this coming Monday, July 21st. Republican Governor Greg Abbott says this will help communities affected by the floods that will be at the top of the agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBOTT: We are going to work on alerts, we're going to work on every single solution to make sure things like this don't happen again, not just in this community, but in other river basins across the state also. So, we will work to get it right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining us now is State Representative Gene Wu. He's a Democrat, the minority leader of the Texas State House. He represents parts of Houston. Representative Wu, thanks for joining us.

What do you anticipate this special session will accomplish?

STATE REP. GENE WU (D-TX): Look, Jake, my heart just breaks for all the families that are out there. This is my personal worst nightmare because I have two boys who are in Scout, and just watching this disaster unfold has been just really difficult.

And, you know, we hope that this special session is focused on doing all the things that are necessary, all the things that people left behind and didn't do during a regular session on dealing of flooding, dealing of disasters. But, unfortunately, this special session is mostly filled with red meat partisan issues for the governor.

TAPPER: So, at the same news conference. Governor Abbott called questions about blame, the quote word choice of losers. What was your reaction when you heard that?

WU: Well, I mean, this is -- even as a parent, just watching this from the outside, like it's painful to watch this. And I cannot even imagine what it's like for those families who are going through this. And I know it's early, I know it's still time to grieve, it's time to bury a loved ones, but to tell parents who are asking tough questions, why did this happen? This was known as flashflood alley. There's been numerous flashfloods here. Other campers have died before. They knew that this was a problem. This local area had asked for warning systems for eight years from the state.

TAPPER: Yes.

WU: I know there is a future time to have questions answered, but to call parents who are asking these tough questions losers, that is -- it just compounds the pain that the governor is causing.

TAPPER: So, The New York Times reported this year the Texas legislature funded only a very small portion of this backlog of flood management projects totaling some $54 billion. Because as you note, these floods are not new, this is the worst of them. But the idea of flooding in this area and other parts of Texas is a constant threat to lives. So, this $54 billion went largely unfunded, but the legislature did pass $51 billion of property tax cuts. What was your take on that?

WU: So, this was one of the things that we've been railing against. Democrats in this House, whether this session or previous session, continuously offer bills to help prepare for disasters. Rep. Martinez had a bill this time that would help us locate victims faster. Rep. Anchia had a bill to say, let's have preparedness studies for these extreme storms. Rep, Reynolds had a bill that say, let's push money into damaged communities faster.

Every single one of these bills and a dozen other bills were all killed by Republicans and for no reason at all. Every single time Democrats try to bring up that it's not just a hundred year storms, it's the 200 year storms, it's the 500-year storms that keep hitting every single year, and we're saying there's something wrong with that. You are not supposed to have 500 year events every single year. And every time Democrats offer up legislation, amendments that say, let's do something about this, let's save lives, let's prepare, it's uniformly rejected on party lines by Republicans.

TAPPER: All right. And we extend our invitations to the leaders of the Texas State House and the Texas State Senate from the Republican side, if they're willing to come on the program, we'd love to talk to them about this as well.

Texas State House Minority Leader Gene Wu, thank you so much for your time today.

Ahead, a lifesaving heart donation, the dramatic drive to get it to a 12-year-old girl in Ukraine amid Russian strikes. It's a must-see report. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

TAPPER: In our World Lead, the Hill reports that Republican senators are questioning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after CNN reported that he paused U.S. weapon shipments to Ukraine without informing the White House. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that U.S. military deliveries to Ukraine started back up today.

Overnight, Russia struck a maternity hospital in Kharkiv, Ukraine, part of its intensified aerial assault on Ukraine. One father of a newborn says that hospital windows shattered after the first blast. As the second hit, he rushed his wife and baby to a shelter for safety.

Joining us now is David Shimer. He served on President Biden's National Security Council as the director. for Russia. Thanks so much for being with us, David.

So, CNN crews on the ground in Kyiv have been witnessing this new Russian tactic, Russian drones attacking from all directions, some bypassing the city, circling back to inflict even more damage, bypass air defenses. How can Ukraine correct for this? How can they address this?

DAVID SHIMER, FORMER DIRECTOR FOR RUSSIA AFFAIRS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: So, what Russia is doing is continually evolving its offensive tactics through the use of both missiles and drones to get around defeat Ukrainian air defenses and incur damage upon Ukrainian cities.

[18:30:02]

But in so doing, to demonstrate yet again that they, and by them, I mean, President Putin does not intend to stop this war, that he will not agree to ceasefire, that he thinks he can wear down Ukraine's resolve, its air defenses, and also wait out the west and wait out declining U.S. aid. And so the way to affect that calculus is not only to provide Ukraine with the kit and capability it needs to defeat Russia's drone and missile tactics, but also to provide it with sustained support, more aid, more equipment, such that they're able to defend their cities over time.

TAPPER: How much time does the unpausing of U.S. aid buy Ukraine?

SHIMER: So, unfortunately, the reversal of the pause only releases aid that was authorized under the Biden administration. And so President Biden approved a $1.25 billion a package in December of last year. That was never supposed to last beyond the summer. And so we are now at a point where the question is not whether the pause will be lifted, which is a good thing, but rather whether new aid, new equipment will be approved, which is much more necessary, urgent and timely.

And so I hope and believe that this administration should authorize new assistance for Ukraine through the use of drawdown as well as by allowing European countries to buy from our own stocks.

TAPPER: So, you and John Finer, who was the principal deputy national security adviser under President Biden, wrote an article in Foreign Affairs Magazine about Ukraine's drone revolution. You say in part, quote, most countries in the world, including the United States, are now far behind the Ukrainians in this regard. Neither the U.S. military nor any European military can produce mass quantities of such low cost and adaptable capabilities.

Now, on Thursday, the Secretary of Defense Hegseth announced that he would rescind what he calls restrictive policies that stall production of drones in the United States. He had this highly produced video on the Pentagon's lawn. That was later deleted. Do you think that removing the red tape could help in what you -- it sounds like you and Hegseth agree needs to happen when it comes to the U.S. improving its drone manufacturing?

SHIMER: So, there's a massive opportunity in Ukraine's drone industry, which the U.S. helped over the course of '22, '23 and '24 to stand up and fund, which is now the most innovative drone industry in the world. Ukraine's able to produce millions of autonomous systems per year at low cost adaptively and innovatively. And we should view our partnership with Ukraine in part as an opportunity to learn from their technology, to use it to strengthen our own national security, and in the process both benefit Ukraine, but also benefit ourselves.

TAPPER: President Trump recently has struck a different tone when it comes to Vladimir Putin. Listen to him earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I imagine that you thought, yes, of course. But do you think Trump is ready to take a different tack with him beyond, you know, a curse word at a cabinet meeting? Do you think he's ready to -- I mean, obviously they unpaused the aid. Do you think maybe he's willing to actually realize what the threat is from Putin and the fact that Putin doesn't want peace, he wants Ukraine?

SHIMER: I hope he is. And I would say that the best way to get to President Trump's objective of a ceasefire is to adjust Putin's calculus to believe that time is not in fact, on his side in this war. And there are three ways to do that, all of which in my view should be done.

The first is to authorize additional weapons flows to Ukraine through the use of drawdown authority, as well as by selling stocks to European allies. The second is to intensify sanctions against Russia's energy sector, which will make it more challenging for Russia and for Putin to sustain his war machine over time.

And the third is that the United States should request of the European governments to actually seize the immobilized sovereign assets, $300 billion of immobilized Russian sovereign assets inside of Europe that can be used to finance support for Ukraine for the long-term, which would send an unmistakable message to Putin that support for Ukraine will not dry up and that he should negotiate in a meaningful way, which to this point, he has been unwilling to do.

TAPPER: David Shimer, thank you so much.

Once again, we extend an invitation to the White House and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio to come on the show and talk about the strategy here.

Now let's go to a harrowing story from Ukraine as Russian strikes exploded around a hospital this week, a 12-year-old waited on an operating table for a new heart. The donor was a four-year-old girl who died of injuries not related to Putin's war on Ukraine.

CNN's Christina Mcfarlane brings us this stunning report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINA MCFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Under the cover of dark and a sky swarming with attack drones, a desperate attempt to save a child is underway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are transporting the heart, transporting the heart.

MCFARLANE: Surgeon Boris Tuterov (ph) of is exposed, racing through the capital, Kyiv, for 15 dangerous minutes to deliver this precious cargo, a tiny heart for a 12-year-old girl.

The transplant happening while Russia unleashed an onslaught, more than 400 missiles and drone attacks on the country overnight Wednesday into Thursday.

[18:35:02]

Amid the terror, some hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have just completed the transplant. The heart is working and the pressure is stable.

MCFARLANE: The donor, a four-year-old girl, whose injuries became too severe, now giving life to another after two days of tireless work by the transplant team.

In the operating rooms here as much as on the frontlines, the battle for Ukraine's heart and soul goes on.

Christina Mcfarlane, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Christina Mcfarlane for that report.

Coming up, President Biden's former doctor is refusing to answer questions from Republican staffers on Capitol Hill over President Biden's mental acuity or any of his medical records. What does another doctor who serves a role with the White House medical team make of this decision of Doc O'Connor to plead the Fifth? We'll talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Our Politics Lead now, Republican staffers on Capitol Hill interviewed behind closed doors President Biden's former aide Ashley Williams. It was part of the House Oversight Committee's probe into former President Biden's mental Fitness and decline. This comes two days after President Biden's former White House physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, repeatedly refused to answer questions.

[18:40:02]

He cited doctor-patient confidentiality.

Joining us now, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who has served as a White House Medical Unit consultant for the last four administrations. Dr. Reiner, thanks so much for joining us.

So, let's listen to Kevin O'Connor testifying earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. KEVIN O'CONNOR, BIDEN'S WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: The advice of counsel I must respectfully decline to answer based on the physician- patient privilege and reliance on my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. I'm not a lawyer and I must follow my lawyer's advice in this matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPTER: So, this wasn't an open hearing. This happened behind closed doors. But the Republican Oversight Committee -- the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee posted the video adding -- asking quote, what are they hiding?

What do you make of his decision to plead the Fifth? I was surprised that they called him just because I would think that doctor-patient confidentiality was -- would be an obvious thing for him to invoke.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Right. So, there are really two issues. One is the doctor patient confidentiality, which is more than just a custom in the United States, or a courtesy. There's also a federal law, the HIPAA law, which was enacted in 1996, you know, provides for penalties for unauthorized disclosure of protected health information without the patient's authority. So, his interactions with the president would be covered under that, you know, physician-patient confidentiality.

The other piece of that is that in June the president, the current president, told the Department of Justice to initiate a review of -- a criminal review potentially of Dr. O'Connor's, you know, role in the care of the president. And my guess, and I'm not a lawyer, but my guess is that that's what prompted the Fifth Amendment refusal to discuss. So, he was really in an untenable position, both from a sort of a potential criminal liability, although I don't know what crime that they were alleged he would have provided, and also from just a doctor, you know, piece. TAPPER: Yes. So, we interviewed you, my co-author, Alex Thompson and I for our book, Original Sin, which dealt with President Biden's decline, its cover-up in his disastrous choice to run. And you said to us in the book, the president and his team physician -- this is about what you think should happen in the future. And this isn't about President Biden or about President Trump. It's about presidents in the future.

The president and his team physician caring for a unique patient like the president may have declined to do the kind of cognitive testing and imaging that could have established a former diagnosis, that's way there wouldn't be data to be reported. If there's no diagnosis, there's nothing to disclose. That's about Biden. But you also said to us that you thought that future White House physicians should have to disclose everything under penalty of perjury. Do you think that's the way forward in this issue?

REINER: I think there's a real need for the public to know and the rest of the government to know that our top leaders are mentally and physically, you know, fit for a very demanding job. And there is no requirement for the White House or the president's physician to release medical information. It's become accustomed over the last, you know, basically 30 years.

TAPPER: But with Trump and Biden, you say that there's stuff that they leave out.

REINER: There is -- well, I'm not -- I don't know what has been left out from President Biden. We've certainly seen President Trump in his first administration go to Walter Reed on a Saturday and just not disclose any data, and even if you look at the attempted assassination, very unusual not to allow any of the treating physicians at the hospital in Pennsylvania to make a statement to the press. So, there's been this great o opaqueness.

So, I think Congress should look into a requirement for at least yearly the president's physician to release a comprehensive statement summarizing the president's current health, all the medications that he or she is currently taking under the penalty of perjury.

TAPPER: Yes. But meanwhile on the Biden subject, you do have questions of a physician about why cognitive testing wasn't done to President Biden and what people saw behind closed doors, because, obviously, his decline, we saw some of it, we saw a lot of it the night of the debate and, honestly, the idea that he could be president until 2029 is insane.

REINER: Right. I think the most glaring issue with the former president's health was not so much whether or not he was capable of making decisions in the months, you know, leading up to the election, but the sort of very just glaringly obvious idea that it really would be unreasonable to expect that President Biden could be functioning as a vigorous leader of this country four years from now. It just seemed to be so obviously unreasonable to believe that.

TAPPER: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you so much. I appreciate your candor and your expertise.

Coming up, how President Trump's trade war could strain science and research labs.

[18:45:01]

We're going to talk to one supplier next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Back now with our regular small "Business Leaders" series where we talk to small business owners about the impact President Trump's tariffs are having on them, Specialty Glass near Houston, manufacturers, scientific and glass and lab glassware.

Their CEO, Paula Dayal, joins me now.

Paula, how has your business been affected by tariffs?

PAULA DAYAL, CEO, SPECIALTY GLASS: Hi, Jake. Thank you for having me on the show. And I also want to thank you for giving small businesses a voice.

Now, before we jump into the tariffs, I would like to acknowledge President Trump's visit to Kerr County today. You know, our hearts go out to the families that have been affected by the floods.

TAPPER: Absolutely.

DAYAL: Now back to the -- now back to the tariffs. You know, we are a small custom shop out in Rosharon, Texas. We custom fabricate and repair scientific glassware. You know, everything is handcrafted from high grade borosilicate glass. We work with various blue chip clients, primarily in the energy and chemical sectors, as well as other verticals.

You know, with respect to the tariffs, January through month -- through March we're solid months for us. I think people were feeling hopeful and optimistic with the new administration in place.

[18:50:04]

And then the tariffs were announced in April, and our business dropped by 50 percent almost overnight, not because of any price increases, but because our customers literally hit the pause button. And, you know, for a small business like ours, that kind of unpredictability can be more disruptive than the policy itself. And now, we're still recovering. But what's slightly encouraging is that we are starting to get inquiries from potential customers who are looking for U.S.-based suppliers.

So, we see this shift as a potential growth opportunity for us. I think right now people are just weighing their options, you know, to see what's available until there's a decision on the tariffs.

TAPPER: Is there anything that you import or buy from somebody who imports it from a country affected by these tariffs?

DAYAL: You know, we rely on our -- since we're such a specialized small manufacturer, we rely on our raw materials to come from U.S. distributors who get it from the Czech Republic and Germany. It's really what we do with those materials is what creates value for our customers.

You know, my suppliers have not raised prices yet. Neither have we. You know, when I -- I knew when the tariffs were going to be announced, I actually ordered a lot of material to carry us through the end of the year. I actually let all our clients know that we wouldn't be affected by the tariffs, not any time soon.

But I think that once my suppliers, you know, once their stock is depleted, then, you know, we may start to see some price increases. And if that does happen, then we will have to absorb some of those costs. But you know, we're a very small business. Our margins are between 5 (INAUDIBLE). So we don't -- we really don't have --

TAPPER: Paula, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time today. We'll be right back.

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TAPPER: In our sports lead, American Amanda Anisimova is a grand slam finalist for the very first time in her career. She pulled off a stunning upset against number one ranked Aryna Sabalenka. Her victory comes after her extended break to focus on her mental health.

Now, she will face five-time grand slam champion Poland's, Iga Swiatek in tomorrow's Wimbledon final.

Let's discuss this with ESPN analyst and former Wimbledon, Australian Open and U.S. Open doubles champion Rennae Stubbs.

Rennae, so great to see you.

After beating the number one ranked player, Anisimova talked about her break from tennis. She said people told her she would never make it to the top again.

What does this moment mean for her and for other athletes who feel the need to prioritize their mental health?

RENNAE STUBBS, ESPN TENNIS ANALYST: Yeah, I think it's an amazing display of when you feel a certain way about your sport or your life and you feel like it's a little bit overwhelming. It's good to take a step back, especially for someone like Amanda, who's so young when she did that, and she was having such a spectacular career up until that moment, but she knew that her love wasn't there anymore. She'd had a lot of issues in her own family. Her death of her father.

So, I think it was one of the most incredible moments to step away and do that. And also, Ash Barty, former world number one, did the same thing. So it's really been great for a lot of women to see this over the last few years. And the success that these players have had coming back after those breaks.

TAPPER: Yeah, to say nothing of Simone Biles. Theres also the men's -- well, let me ask you before we get to the men's, what does it need to do early in her match tomorrow.

STUBBS: She has to hold serve, Jake. She has to really come out and start very, very well. There's no question about that. It's the biggest match of her career. She has never been to a Wimbledon final either, but she's won many, many grand slams, so she's a lot more experienced.

So, Amanda has once she gets into the match, she has a real chance to win a Wimbledon title.

TAPPER: There's also the men's final on Sunday that I -- that I was just talking about a rematch from the French Open about four weeks ago. Jannik Sinner versus Carlos Alcaraz. Do you think Alcaraz can pull off a third straight Wimbledon title?

STUBBS: It'll be absolutely unbelievable. I don't believe anyone's ever done it where they've won three French Opens and three Wimbledons in a row, because going back to back on grass and clay is so incredibly hard, and only the best of the greatest have done it.

And so Carlos is probably the favorite. He knows how to beat Jannik Sinner in these big matches, but Jannik Sinner display against Novak Djokovic, wow, to beat the seven-time champion in straight sets shows you that he's ready for this final as well. He's never been to the Wimbledon final.

If it's anything like, Jake, the French Open Final, we're going to have one of the best, best finals at Wimbledon ever.

TAPPER: All right, Rennae, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Coming up Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION", Border Czar Tom Homan, Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California, and Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales of Texas. That's Sunday morning at 9:00 Eastern and again at noon on here -- at noon here on CNN.

Finally, from us today, sadly, we have learned that David Gergen has passed away. You maybe knew him as a regular here on CNN. He was a senior political analyst, a lovely gentleman, very insightful, very smart.

He was so much more, of course, than just a CNN commentator. He was an adviser to four different U.S. presidents, Republicans Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, and then Democrat Bill Clinton. Just one of the ways he made a difference in U.S. politics. Before the 1980 Carter-Reagan presidential debate, it was David Gergen who suggested that Ronald Reagan asked viewers this simple, iconic, now iconic question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Are you better off than you were four years ago?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Brilliant advice and the stuff of legend.

David Gergen. He was 83. He died Thursday of Lewy body dementia. Our love and our prayers to his family and his close friends to may his memory be a blessing.

David, it was an honor knowing you. It was an honor talking to you on this program.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.