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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Epstein Scandal Hangs Over Trump Trump's Scotland Trip; Vance Deflects Epstein Files Blame To Obama, Biden, Bush; Israel Announces Pause In Parts Of Gaza To Allow Limited Aid; Centenarian Credits Community Service For Long Life; Musical Satirist Tom Lehrer Dies At 97. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 28, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

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

This hour, even overseas, President Trump cannot escape reporters asking annoying questions about the Jeffrey Epstein drama continuing to unfold here at home.

[18:00:05]

What he said today when, once again, pressed about a possible pardon for Epstein Accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell as she takes her case all the way to the Supreme Court.

Plus, as starving crowds rush to grab aid deliveries airdropped into Gaza, Israel is blaming the United Nations for failing to collect and distribute food in that territory. We're going to get a reality check from a U.N. worker on the ground in Central Gaza.

Also, it's still the summer of 2025, but both parties are gearing up not just for next year's midterms, but for the presidential race in 2028. Hear who a top member of the Trump administration thinks should lead the Republican ticket moving forward.

And I had the honor of meeting a pillar of her community this weekend as she prepared to turn 109 years old. This is somebody who's been a longtime member of the VFW Auxiliary, and you're going to want to hear what this woman told me about her keys to a long and happy life.

The Lead tonight, President Trump trying to distance himself from Jeff Jeffrey Epstein as questions around the Epstein files have followed Trump on his trip to Scotland.

Let's go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. Obviously, these are still questions that the president has been facing as he's negotiating trade deals, saying he'd rather be talking about that, but still leaving open the possibility of a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, as he did with reporters today, and also Jake offering something that we have not heard from the president before, which is kind of offering an explanation, a new explanation for why he had the fallout Jeffrey Epstein, who, of course, as we know decades ago, was a member at the Mar-a-Lago Club. We knew his membership had been terminated. And the president today, as he was fielding questions from reporters while sitting next to the British prime minister, had this to say about his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: For years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn't talk because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help and I said, don't ever do that again. He stole people that work for me. I said, don't ever do that again. He did it again and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata.

And, by the way, I never went to the island and Bill Clinton went there supposedly 28 times.

I never had the privilege of going to his island. And I did turn it down, but a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: There, Jake, the president, listing off other people he claims that went to Jeffrey Epstein's Island. But when it comes to that, Jake, it was new that he was saying that that is why they had a falling out because Jeffrey Epstein was trying to hire his staff away. We had not heard that previously just had been reported that they had a falling out, something the president himself has alluded to.

But Jake also something the president said today was saying that he does have the right to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, which, of course, we know he does, but leaving open that possibility, though he did tell reporters, no one has approached him about a pardon for her. He said it would be inappropriate to talk about it at this time.

But, obviously, Jake, comes as the deputy attorney general, Trump's former personnel attorney, just met with Ghislaine Maxwell for about nine to ten hours last week. It's not clear what came as a result of that. They said maybe they would release more information at the appropriate time, but we haven't learned more. But we do know that Maxwell is obviously seeking a part in, Jake. I mean, you read any of the statements from her attorney and it's making quite clear that is what they believe is on the table, or at least maybe a reduction in her sentence as well.

And, of course, this comes as right now the Trump-led Justice Department is fighting her appeal for her conviction to the Supreme Court. We just had a brief today from her attorney where they were making a direct appeal to him, Jake, and saying, quote, we are appealing not only to the Supreme Court, but to the president himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Maxwell for Epstein's crime. So, of course, Jake, she was convicted for her crimes by a jury and is serving that 20-year sentence, it's a question of whether or not the president steps in there.

TAPPER: And just as a factual matter, Kaitlan, I'm not sure President Clinton, that it's been confirmed that he's visited Jeffrey Epstein's Island once much less, 28 times. Certainly, people visited Epstein's Island and certainly Bill Clinton as well as Donald Trump used Jeffrey Epstein's plane. But is there any proof of any of what he just said?

COLLINS: No, and I should note also that Bill Clinton, similarly to Donald Trump, has denied any knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's crime, saying that he did not know about any of that in the decades leading up to it, because there were, of course, questions about this as we were talking about that birthday book where there was a birthday greeting from Donald Trump, which he's suing The Wall Street Journal over for reporting on and is denied actually authoring it.

There are a lot of other names of powerful people, Republicans and Democrats alike, who have appeared in that. All of them have denied though knowing about Epstein's crimes.

TAPPER: Well, somebody knew. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. And please do not miss Kaitlan on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. That's tonight and every week at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

Let's discuss all this with Preet Bharara, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017.

[18:05:04]

Preet, good to see you.

So, President Trump again did not rule out pardoning Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine, Maxwell, saying he had the power to do so, which of course he does. She sat for two interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last week, Blanche, of course, Donald Trump's former personal attorney. Is there any sort of information that Ghislaine Maxwell could provide that, in any way, could possibly justify her getting a pardon?

PREET BHARARA, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: I can't think of any. Look, she, like every other defendant in the federal and state system, and certainly in the southern district of New York, always has an opportunity to cooperate and get leniency from the outset. If that person is credible, if that person accepts responsibility for their actions, and if that person has real, substantial information to provide substantial assistance to prosecutors to hold other people accountable, generally, and preferably up the food chain, All of those opportunities were available to her at the start of her prosecution at some point in the investigation of her. And, you know, serious, professional, credible people at the Southern District of New York didn't find that to be in the offing.

So, on the one hand, given the crimes for which she's been convicted, which are very, very serious, she conspired with and aided and abetted what I think the administration itself has called the greatest pedophile in American history. So, on the one hand, it wouldn't make any sense to give leniency to such a person. On the other hand, not to be overly cynical, it seems that the president wants to have some measure of exoneration, and he is not gotten that from anyone else. And it's so if she is able to say hypothetically that Donald Trump didn't do anything untoward and all sorts of other people that they'll put on a list, given the absence of a list from Pam Bondi's desk, or his political rivals, they did, that's a good bargain for him probably in his political thinking.

TAPPER: You know Todd Blanche. He used to be a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. What do you think he's looking for in these Ghislaine Maxwell interviews? And what sort of pressure might he be under from President Trump?

BHARARA: I don't know what he is looking for. I mean, part of the problem with all of this, and I know him and I like him and he's a good lawyer, is there's not been transparency on a whole variety of issues. We don't know exactly why he went there. We don't know what was said when he was there. We don't know, for example, procedurally, this is important to prosecutors and agents alike, if he brought FBI agents, who are third parties, who are neutral and objective and taking notes so that we can trust the reports that come back out of the sessions.

Probably under an enormous amount of pressure for the reasons I mentioned a couple of minutes ago that Donald Trump is looking for an out. He's looking for something that he can wave around, I believe, and call an exoneration. He's done that on multiple occasions before, even when there are documents and conclusions that don't exonerate him. I hope he resists the pressure.

TAPPER: Yes. Today, Maxwell urges Supreme Court to take up her appeal and overturn her sex trafficking conviction. She says that she should have been shielded from prosecution by that sweetheart plea deal Epstein made with federal prosecutors in Florida back in 2008. It's an argument that worked for Bill Cosby with, I believe, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the idea that like, just because a new prosecutor comes in that doesn't void the deal made by the old prosecutor. How likely is it that the U.S. Supreme Court might overturn her conviction?

BHARARA: I think it's unlikely. I don't remember the details of the Bill Cosby case. It's been a few years. But as long as you show, as I believe the Southern District of New York subsequent case did, that there was different conduct, there were different victims, there were different schemes being charged, that wasn't covered. All other conduct, I don't believe, on the terms of the agreement in Florida, even things that were not brought to the attention of the prosecutors there, I don't believe all that was covered. You never know with this particular Supreme Court. I've been surprised on a number of occasions about rulings the past two or three years, but I think it's an uphill battle for her.

TAPPER: You were U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 until 2017, as I noted. This is after the sweetheart plea deal with Epstein was made by then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta during the George W. Bush administration. But the plea deal was unsealed in 2009 and he probably committed crimes in New York. He had a Manhattan townhouse there that he used. Did any accusations or any case against Epstein ever come across your desk?

BHARARA: Not across my desk, no. I think a person who deserves a lot of credit for reviving this is someone in your profession, Jake, a profession that I respect very much, and I'm partly in myself now, and that's the journalist, Julie Brown from the Herald. TAPPER: Julie Brown's great. Of course, yes.

BHARARA: Who sometimes people will talk to journalists before they'll talk to prosecutors and investigators, and she exposed how much of a corrupt deal it was in Florida. She talked to other victims and brought forward people.

[18:10:00]

And her reporting gave courage and inspiration to a number of other victims who came forward, and then the case was able to be made.

By the way, the other thing we don't have transparency about relatedly that I meant to mention earlier is why on earth Maurene Comey, who is one of the people in this whole long drawn out saga, who actually had something to do with affirmatively bringing Jeffrey Epstein to justice, why she was fired, other than the president says he has a right to under Article 2. So, there's a lot still to learn.

TAPPER: Yes. There's also this madness, this accusation, like, oh, there might be that people who are Trump haters might have put stuff in the Epstein documents that to, you know, to make it look bad for him. This is the one of the most bizarre conspiracies theories I've ever heard, the idea they would do this and then just walk away instead of --

BHARARA: Not act on it.

TAPPER: Yes. Like do it in 2016, or do it in 2020 when they're trying to -- or 2024 when they're trying to defeat Donald Trump, but then just put it there and hope somebody finds it as opposed to.

Anyway, Preet Bharara, thanks so much, really good to have you.

Joining us now, Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, he is that state's one and only Congressional representative. Congressman, so you held the telephone town hall with constituents this week the Dakota Scout reports when several callers pressed you about the release of Epstein documents, you said, quote, anything that could be legally released, should be legally released, unquote. What do you think the administration should release right now and why do you think there's been this reluctance to do so?

I get the grand jury transcripts are sealed and a judge in Florida has said they're not going to unseal them, but there's just thousands of documents that the FBI, SDNY, Southern District of Florida, Department of Treasury, there's so much that could just be released right now if the Trump administration wanted to.

REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): Yes, I would tell you it was a big telephone town hall, Jake, 6,300 folks. And overwhelmingly, of course, I asked him to do some answer some survey questions on the call, and three quarters of them wanted the Epstein documents released.

For me, I think we need to treat this case like we would any other, which is, yes, of course, we have we have processes in place to protect the innocent, but let's go through every single document and, let's say, can this be released? And if it can be legally released, it should be legally released. Maybe there needs to be some redaction. Maybe there needs to be an explanation of why these seven files can't be released, but -- and explain to people we can't release these files. We've never released these files in 250 years of jurisprudence. That's just something we avoid doing.

I think additional explanation and transparency and as much of a release as we can get are going to help people feel better about the situation.

TAPPER: So, you're from a red state. After listening to your constituents, and these are people who like Donald Trump, who support Donald Trump, they want him to succeed, but do you think that this issue is hurting him politically?

JOHNSON: I don't think in a material sense. There -- this issue comes up periodically, but I've been in South Dakota the last four or five days, and I'm probably asked about once a day about this. It's not in the top five. It was a top, it wasn't a topic on the telephone town hall, but 12 of the questions were about the reconciliation bill and concerns or excitement about that. There's only one question about Epstein. So, I wouldn't want to overstate the political impact of this either.

I think we need to do the right thing because we should do the right thing. I don't think it's a political threat that should drive our desire to do the appropriate actions here.

TAPPER: What concerns do people have about the reconciliation bill? Are they worried about Medicaid cons? Are they worried about food stamps? What were the concerns?

JOHNSON: A number of the calls were people who've got loved ones in their lives. You know, my mother is 87 years old and she's in a nursing home, and what does the reconciliation bill mean for her?

So, part of it's just walking through. Listen, none of these work requirements affect seniors, people who are pregnant, folks with young children at home, people with disabilities, people who live in areas without sufficient jobs. Once you explain to people that, really, the policy construct around work requirements has been bipartisan and empathetic since 1996 and the one big, beautiful bill carried a lot of those forward into Medicaid, then they have a little more comfort.

TAPPER: You recently announced that you're running to become the governor of South Dakota in 2026. Some Republicans have accused you of not supporting Trump 100 percent of the time, in part because you voted to certify the 2020 election results for President Biden, because you stuck to the facts, presumably. Are you worried at all about that? Have you sought President Trump's endorsement in the race?

JOHNSON: President Trump and I, we worked together.

[18:15:00] He's certainly been a great partner with House Republicans and I've worked with him to make sure that we got the one big, beautiful bill done. My oath of office ultimately is to.

Work together. He's certainly been a great partner with House Republicans and I've worked with him to make sure that we got the one big beautiful bill done. My oath of office ultimately is to the Constitution of the United States. And so, Donald Trump and I agree on almost everything, but no two people agree on everything. And we've got a great working relationship and I have every expectation that that will continue to be the case.

TAPPER: Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, thanks so much, sir, always good to see you.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

TAPPER: He once ran for president against Donald Trump. So, who does Secretary of State Marco Rubio think should top the ticket in 2028? We'll tell you next.

Plus, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo back on the campaign trail despite a humiliating loss for the Democratic nomination for New York City's mayor. Hear what he told CNN about how he's changing up his strategy as he mounts an independent bid for the job.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

TAPPER: We're back with our Politics Lead. Vice President J.D. Vance deflecting any blame for the fallout around the Epstein files today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency, and somehow that's a criticism of Donald J. Trump and not Barack Obama and George W. Bush. If you want to criticize the people who aren't showing full transparency, you ought to go after the administrations that went easy on Jeffrey Epstein.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Okay. My panel's here, former Trump White House Communications Director Mike Dubke, and for the first time, we're joined by Democratic Congressional Candidate Kat Abughazaleh. She's 26 running for Congress and the Democratic Party in Illinois' Ninth Congressional District. Thanks so much for joining us.

So, a lot to talk about today. Politico today details how behind the scenes Vance has tried to take on the peacemaker role between MAGA and the White House. Let me read from this article.Quote, he has won over high level MAGA influencers, is on a text chain with Charlie Kirk and has maintained close ties to Tucker Carlson, according to two people familiar with the relationship. J.D. is doing a masterful job of having the president's back and explaining that to the base, Kirk told Playbook, yet he has tried to stay out of the Epstein mess until this point.

What do you think of the vice president spending so much time courting these MAGA influencers?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH (D), ILLINOIS CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: It feels a lot like he's kind of overexplaining here a bit. There's a really easy way to solve this, and that's by being transparent about the world's most famous pedophile and sex trafficker. I was just endorsed by Ro Khanna today, who has been effectively targeting Republicans on this, like they have options here. They could be transparent about these files, which their base wants to see, which pretty much every American wants to see, but they would rather shut down Congress instead.

And I -- it's kind of weird --

TAPPER: What do you mean, shut down Congress? Oh, because they adjourned.

ABUGHAZALEH: Yes, exactly. Like this is -- they don't want to vote on whether to release these files or not. And it's like, why? What is there to hide?

TAPPER: It's not a bad question. We should know that that's actually not unlike what J.D. Vance used to sound like on this. In 2021, this was his position on Jeffrey Epstein writing on Twitter, quote, if you're a journalist and you're not asking questions about this case, you should be ashamed of yourself. I mean, you know, I resemble that remark. I agree. I agree. So, why the change?

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I don't know that there's a change in the administration's posture over the last three weeks. I've been asking the same thing. I mean, unfortunately I think this is one of the areas where we've had this administration not be able to clearly articulate a position that they took during the campaign and prior to it. And I'm just surprised by that as we get to here.

But J.D.'s comment, the vice president's comment at an event on the one big beautiful bill today, he was asked the question by an A.P. reporter, and he's doing what a vice president does. He toes the line of the administration. I think that's fair, and I was going to say back to your original question, I mean, this is the position for him, if he wants to run in 2028, this is what he needs to do.

TAPPER: But he's saying Donald J. Trump is asking the Department of Justice to show full transparency. But that's not true. They're not. They asked for grand jury transcripts to be released.

DUBKE: They did.

TAPPER: And the judge said no, which was expected, but there's thousands of pages of documents.

DUBKE: Exactly. TAPPER: They don't have to ask anybody's permission to release.

DUBKE: Well, they need to be careful with what they released.

TAPPER: Sure. They should redact --

DUBKE: From all of the --

TAPPER: Redact the names of the victims.

DUBKE: -- legal position, and also the protection of the victims and all of that.

TAPPER: But, you know, he hasn't asked for all of that.

DUBKE: Look, you can ask me this question over and over and over again, and I don't know the answer to it.

TAPPER: Yes.

ABUGHAZALEH: I do.

DUBKE: Because I think --

TAPPER: What?

DUBKE: No, it's not a simple answer of just release it all. It is a -- I don't know -- what I was saying is I don't know the reason why this administration that is so effectively communicated in the first six months of its administration, why this one's tripping them up. That's the question.

TAPPER: What do you think is the reason, Kat?

ABUGHAZALEH: I can guess, and I think it's because there are names in there that this administration doesn't want people to see.

TAPPER: Yes.

ABUGHAZALEH: I mean we, the president of the United States, there was a letter that he is suing the Wall Street Journal over of the president's signature as pubic hair on a poem about ageless enigmas. Like this isn't rocket science here.

DUBKE: Well, he's denied --

TAPPER: That's a detail about that picture. I didn't know.

DUBKE: Well, he's denying that it is his drawing and it's his letter and he is also -- you know, from the start of this, if there were -- was that information in there, I firmly believe the Biden administration, Merrick Garland would have -- some of this would've leaked out at this point.

I don't -- this is what really puzzles me. I don't really know it's not in there or is in there, and this seems to be a misstep that repeats itself over and over again, where I'm, what, week three, four?

TAPPER: Something like that. So, let me change it, change the topic. Something everybody wants to know about Vance in 2028 is, is he going to be the nominee or is he going to run?

[18:25:01]

Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, had a pretty quick answer when interviewed, quote/unquote, by the president's daughter-in-law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are talked about quite frequently as a possible contender in 2028. Do you have your sight set outside of the State Department?

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I think J.D. Vance would be a great nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It's a pretty good political answer, but what do you think?

ABUGHAZALEH: Whether Marco Rubio will run or J.D. Vance will run? I think they should focus more on helping this country right now as people are struggling instead of focusing on their own political ambitions.

I mean, I thought Trump was supposed to run for a third term, according to these guys. So, it's kind of interesting to see how weirdly (INAUDIBLE) on this.

TAPPER: I think that was trolling. What did you think of it?

DUBKE: A little bit of tongue in cheek on that.

TAPPER: Yes. In New York City, former Governor Andrew Cuomo's continuing his mayoral campaign as an independent. He sat down with CNN's Gloria Pazmino discussed young voters' excitement for the Democratic nominees, Zohran Mamdani. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW CUOMO (I), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: People get turned off because somebody runs for office and says, you know, I have a magic wand. I'm going to make everything more affordable. I'm going to make buses run fast. I'm going to wave a wand, and all of that is going to happen, and then nothing happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You, like Momani, are a young, progressive candidate taking on the establishment. Do you think that Governor Cuomo has the diagnosis right about that's why people get turned off because somebody runs for office, makes a lot of promises? ABUGHAZALEH: I think the fact that they make a lot of promises is something that turns people off. But the fact of the matter is that Zohran Mamdani in his election. He's providing solutions. He had a bus program that's helping provide free fares across the city. A lot of progressive candidates and what I frankly think are common sense candidates have solutions that other politicians just don't want to implement because they don't want to upset donors or upset corporations or upset people with a lot of power.

And, for instance, you can check out my comprehensive platform at katforillinois.com. These are things that we have, we know what solves homelessness. It's building more housing. We know what solves medical debt. It's universal healthcare. It's not complicated and it's not waiving a magic wand either. It takes work. Building things is hard, but it's much better than letting people suffer.

TAPPER: Mike, what are you doing at '26?

DUBKE: Oh, '26, I was here in Washington, D.C., toiling away, but not in a Congressional office. I don't have you --

TAPPER: Not running for Congress?

DUBKE: No, not at all.

TAPPER: All right. Mike Dubke. Kat Abughazaleh, sorry -- it's like almost like --

ABUGHAZALEH: You nailed it like 20 times backstage.

TAPPER: It's Kat for Illinois?

ABUGHAZALEH: Katforillinois.com, Kat with a K.

TAPPER: Okay, there we go. Thanks so much for both of you for being here.

Coming up next, we're going to bring you to Gaza, where an aid worker on the ground tells us that she is shocked by how much worse the starvation crisis has become since she was just there a couple weeks ago. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: In our World Lead, President Donald Trump today is reducing the 50-day deadline he had given to Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today. There's no reason of waiting. There's no reason of waiting. It's 50 days, I want to be generous, but we just don't see any progress being made. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: This apparently did not go over well with Russia's former president, Dmitry Medvedev, who tweeted about Trump, quote, each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war, not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.

Putin is within reach of his goal of taking the Donetsk region of Ukraine, but President Trump could hinder that goal if he follows through on his new deadline and imposes secondary sanctions on India and China, punishing them for buying Russian oil and gas. That move could have major global impacts, including on U.S. markets.

Also in our World Lead, Israel's daily (INAUDIBLE) military activity in three parts of the Gaza Strip, as according to Israel's military, meant to, quote, refute the false claim of deliberate starvation. But whether the starvation is deliberate or something else, it is happening. And aid organizations, such as the United Nations, are struggling still to get food to hundreds of thousands of hungry Gaza's.

Joining us now is Olga Cherevko, the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs who is in Gaza. Olga, as you know, the Israeli government is blaming the United Nations for failing to collect and distribute the aid that reaches the territory. You're actually in Deri al Balah right now, a city in Central Gaza. What's the reality on the ground there?

OLGA CHEREVKO, SPOKESWOMAN, U.N. OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: Well, Jake, the reality is grim. Yesterday, I was entering Gaza after being away for a couple of weeks, and I was really shocked to see how much worse it has become since the last time I was here. And the first thing that you notice is, of course, the vast destruction as soon as you enter Gaza. But then you also notice groups of people visibly hungry or visibly exhausted, very same (ph). And the first thing they ask you is when is food coming.

AND this is the reality that we've been seeing on the ground for months now, and we've been talking about it for months. And now the world is actually seeing these horrific images of babies dying in their mother's arms. And this is basically a daily reality for people here.

[18:35:02]

TAPPER: United Nations Aid Chief Tom Fletcher says that the United Nations was able to get a bit of food into Gaza yesterday, but, quote, lots of that got looted. Who's doing the looting? And is there any semblance of any order, any government or any sort of force that can make sure that the aid is able to be distributed in any sort of orderly way?

CHEREVKO: So, expectedly, there's of course been a severe breakdown in public safety and public order. And when you enter the road with a convoy full of food, which have been on multiple convoys like this, you are met with thousands and maybe tens of thousands of starving, desperate people who are trying to basically feed their family because the alternative is watching their children starving in front of their eyes.

And so, yes, unfortunately this is what is happening with our convoys because there's been very unpredictable entry of aid and not enough of aid being entering because we are seeing that the situation just continues to deteriorate.

TAPPER: So, not enough aid and also a breakdown of civil society, so there is no organization, no organized way to get the food to people. How can the U.N., how can the world solve this problem? What needs to happen beyond more aid?

CHEREVKO: Well, really, those are the two things that need to happen. Because if you look at the last ceasefire, in which ample volumes of aid were entering, and we were enabled to deliver that aid quickly and efficiently, we were able to feed almost everyone in the Gaza Strip. We delivered services, we delivered other supplies, and that was happening because, over time, there was confidence that people had that that aid is coming and that aid is coming in sufficient quantities, and that they will receive their share when it's their turn.

And it's very simple. And we saw it being implemented. We saw it happening because these incidents were not happening of people taking things off the back of the truck as soon as we entered the road during the ceasefire. And so we can do it again, and that's what we're asking for, is to remove these constraints, these restrictions, and enable us to move safely and deliver aid at scale.

TAPPER: You said recently that you don't even recognize your friends in Gaza because they are so emaciated, so thin. How are your fellow aid workers holding up as you attempt to get aid to those who need it most?

CHEREVKO: You know, I think everyone is struggling. I've had colleagues that have fainted at work. I've had colleagues being admitted to the hospital because they're not eating enough. I have colleagues from other organizations telling me they're eating every second or third day. And everyone who is inside Gaza is affected by the same issue because there's just simply no food.

TAPPER: Olga Cherevko, thank you so much for talking to us and thank you so much for the work you do.

CHEREVKO: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Our small business series takes us to New York next where a woman's golf apparel brand is struggling under the weight of Trump's tariff. So, what is their message to a president who is a huge fan of golf? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00] TAPPER: -- about Donald Trump's tariffs. Foray Golf based in New York City is a women's golf apparel company with a goal of disrupting a male-dominated sport with fashion-forward clothing. And Megan LaMothe joins me now. Megan. Hello. Where do you manufacture your apparel? How are tariffs affecting your bottom line?

MEGAN LAMOTHE, FOUNDER AND CEO, FORAY GOLF: Well, we have a really interesting supply base. When I first started Foray ten years ago, we were manufacturing completely domestically. But as the company's grown, we've had to move production to China, to Sri Lanka, to South Korea, to Portugal. So, we're really diversified in the supply chain. And, in fact, you know, COVID was a great lesson for us kind of on that diversification. So we have kind of our tentacles everywhere. It really depends what we want made.

TAPPER: And how are you handling the tariffs? Are you eating the costs? Are you raising prices? What are you doing?

LAMOTHE: Yes. It's been really tricky because we've had sort of this start and stop, so part of us has been eating it. I think we've sort of seen that most companies are trying to eat it. But a lot of other pieces have had to actually increase in cost. In fact, some of the pieces that we manufacture in America, and we've always manufactured, as I said, in America, our cost of our raw materials have increased somewhere between 10 and 25 percent, actually up to 50 percent for the products we source from Brazil.

So, just the raw materials going into our goods when we're trying to do the right thing, manufacturing in America have increased our cost. I mean, there are things that you can't find here. I think America, if you want to talk about American made raw materials, not factories, only about 3 percent of raw materials can be made, or, you know, apparel grade materials are made here in America. And mostly they're used for military or medical or other things like that. So, very few technical garments are made here.

TAPPER: How have you seen, if at all, consumer behavior change as a result of the tariffs?

LAMOTHE: It's been really mixed, if I'm honest. I mean, we do know that we've seen maybe this pull forward in demand. I think the statistics from the National Retail Federation are something like, you know, consumers are expecting to pay more. About 75 percent of them, they're expecting to pay more, so really moving their demand up. So, it's a really weird time.

We're also in peak golf season, so I think people are doing a lot of stocking up, stocking on basics, and expecting that these things are going to carry over into the future.

[18:45:07]

I mean, I can say from our side, it's tremendously interruptive to our innovation process or design process or sourcing process. You know, when we want to come up with something new and better to compete with big guys like Nike, it really completely stymies anything that we have in our, you know, supply chain.

There are just certain things that we can't make that we can't do because of cost considerations now. But the consumer has been really, really, really mixed.

TAPPER: So, if there's one thing I know about Donald Trump, it's that he loves golf. He loves golf. And in fact, you actually sell some of your products at several of his clubs.

What do you want him?

LAMOTHE: We do.

TAPPER: What do you want him to know about what your company is dealing with right now because of his tariffs?

LAMOTHE: Yeah, I think I think one of the things that he should know is that, you know, there's a lot of talk on both sides of the aisle about the importance of main street. Right? Small businesses like ours, you know, were 98 percent of the economy. We are employing, you know, 43, 45 percent somewhere in there of the people in America.

And we are the people that are disproportionately impacted by the tariffs. You know, I'm not Lululemon, I'm not Nike. I'm not Under Armour. I don't have the ability to fly to my factory in Sri Lanka and ask for a 20 percent reduction in costs. Not only is the flight expensive, but I don't have the bargaining power to do it.

And at the same time, you have companies like Amazon who are able to negotiate like that, come in with me too products, something that's similar, something that's basic at a lower cost because they have the same supply chains and kind of take us completely out of business.

So, once we disappear, not only does innovation disappear, consumer choice disappears, but you really ruin kind of like the ethos of what golf is. You want more people to play. You want more partners on the course. So, I don't know. I, you know, I'm really lucky to have worked with them. They've been really good partners.

I actually have one of the toys that we manufacture them, which is called the Blue Monster, named after the course in Doral. But, you know, things like this may go away. This is manufactured in in China for them. He's very cute. But now he's potentially 30 percent or more expensive than that once we see the deal that comes out of Europe this week.

TAPPER: All right. Megan LaMothe, the company is called Foray Golf, F- o-r-a-y Golf apparel. And it's online. You can find it online.

Megan, thank you so much. Great to have you here.

LAMOTHE: Thank you very much.

I had the honor to celebrate a milestone this weekend. The 109th birthday of a community icon. Hear from Evangeline "Vangie" Paredes about her keys to living a long and healthy life. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:29]

TAPPER: Back with our national lead. This weekend in Washington, D.C., the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, or VFW Auxiliary, celebrated the birthday of their longest serving member, Evangeline "Vangie" Paredes, who turned 109. You heard me, 109.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your secret?

EVANGELINE "VANGIE" PAREDES, CELEBRATING 109TH BIRTHDAY: I wish I knew.

TAPPER (voice-over): Evangeline "Vangie" Paredes celebrating 109 years of life.

CROWD (singing): Happy birthday to you!

TAPPER: Surrounded by family, friends and members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary, Vangie was born in New York in 1916, during World War One.

Her family moved to Washington, D.C. when she was only five. Her father, a member of the U.S. Navy.

PAREDES: The veterans of -- have always been in my system because my dad was in the navy and the veterans have been good to my family.

TAPPER: After 30 years of working in the Pentagon, Vangie retired with the highest civilian award given to federal employees. But her service did not stop there. After retirement, she volunteered with the AARP and Vangie is still an active member of the VFW auxiliary.

Volunteerism, she says, that is what has kept her alive so long.

PAREDES: Do what you can for others and the reflection will be onto you.

LERA RICKLING, VFW AUXILIARY PRESIDENT: She is the oldest member in this entire national VFW Auxiliary nation. We're so proud of it. And I'm going to cry because she should be a role model for everybody.

TAPPER: The highlight of her birthday celebration Saturday, when her little sister, 102 years old, flew in from Vegas to surprise her.

PAREDES: Oh, I didn't know -- I didn't know this was happening.

(SINGING)

TAPPER: How do you want to be remembered?

PAREDES: For my volunteerism, for the law -- of the people in need. I don't want to see, you know, poor people suffering. This is a great day for me. I thank you all for coming. I'm just --

I'm overwhelmed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're doing great.

PAREDES: But, you know what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?

PAREDES: I think I deserve.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: You sure do, Vangie. Best wishes to you. Happy birthday. What an honor it was to meet you.

And thank you so much to all her family and friends for hosting us.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:58:36]

TAPPER: And our pop culture lead, long before "South Park", long before Weird Al, even long before "Saturday Night Live", there was comedian Tom Lehrer, who died this weekend. He was making up topical political, satirical songs that were huge in the world of comedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM LEHRER, MUSICAL SATIRIST (singing): All the world seems in tune on a spring afternoon when we're poisoning pigeons in the park.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Part of the sick humor movement in the 1950s and '60s, Lehrer's albums made fun of everything from the spread of atomic weapons --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEHRER: We'll try to stay serene and calm when Alabama gets the bomb.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: To air and water pollution in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEHRER: Turn on your tap and get hot and cold running crud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He mocked liberal pieties such as National Brotherhood Week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEHRER: It's only for a week, so have no fear. Be grateful that it doesn't last all year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And in what was clearly his most controversial song, he took on the Catholic Church's Second Vatican Council reforms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEHRER: First, you get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries, a bow, your head with great respect and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Tom Lehrer was actually a mathematician and gave up performing to teach math, notably at the University of California at Santa Cruz, until he was in his 70s. Lehrer died Saturday at the age of 97.

May his music and memory bring you a chuckle and be a blessing, even if, as the "Associated Press" reports, he was an atheist. Google him. You'll thank me later.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.