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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Illinois Gov. To Trump: Do Not Come To Chicago; Trump Threatens Baltimore Bridge Funding In Feud With Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD); FEMA Employees Send Letter To Congress, Say Trump Cuts Could Risk Lives And Property; Israel Kills At Least 20, Including Five Journalists, In Gaza Strike; Trump Honors Service Members Killed In Abbey Gate Bombing. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 25, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, unconstitutional and un-American, that is how Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is pushing back this afternoon, calling President Trump's suggestion of sending National Guard troops to Chicago a, quote, political stunt. We're going to go live to Chicago in moments. Plus, we're going to break down whether Trump's actions would even be legal.

[18:00:01]

Also just days after Hurricane Erin skirted the Eastern United States, more than 180 current and former FEMA employees are warning about Trump's sweeping cuts to the disaster response agency. The changes they say are needed immediately to avoid another Hurricane Katrina- like catastrophe.

And Israel is now admitting a, quote, tragic mishap, unquote, after five journalists and multiple healthcare workers were killed by Israeli strikes on a Gaza hospital. We're going to lay out the new investigation into what went so horribly wrong.

We start today on our National Lead in the escalating feud between Democratic governors and mayors and President Trump. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker this afternoon pushing back on President Trump's efforts to expand his federal policing efforts by sending National Guard beyond the nation's capital into other Democrat-led cities such as Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, California and New York City.

Governor Pritzker of Illinois, not alone. The Democratic Governor of Maryland Wes Moore also firing back, posting on X or Twitter, quote, deploying the National Guard for municipal policing purposes is not sustainable, scalable, constitutional, or respectful, unquote.

But not everyone in Chicago is against President Trump's plan, as CNN's Whitney Wild now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Illinois top leaders firing back at President Donald Trump's plan to send the National Guard to Chicago, Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson.

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON (D-CHICAGO, IL): We are being targeted because of what and who we represent.

WILD: Are people scared?

ANDRE VASQUEZ, CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL: They're concerned, right? I don't know -- traumatized is probably the best way I could describe it.

WILD: Andre Vasquez serves on Chicago City Council and heads the committee on immigrant and refugee rights. He calls the president's plan pure bluster.

Is the National Guard coming to Chicago a realistic crime reduction measure?

VASQUEZ: I don't even think they believe that. I think that they just want to make it look as if they're doing something.

WILD: How do you think the city's going to react if they see National Guard troops rolling down Michigan Avenue?

VASQUEZ: Well, I think there's different reactions, right? I think folks are prepared because there have been neighbor led rapid response teams if ICE is showing up.

WILD: Vasquez points out there are residents who may welcome the National Guard. City data shows double digit drops in several major crime categories, including carjackings and robberies, but the city still struggles with violence. So far this year, 262 people have been murdered and more than 1,200 have been shot.

Amina Haq (ph) a lifelong Chicagoan told us she supports the president's strategy because too often here she says crime is normalized.

The residents deserve more. They deserve to feel safe, that crimes should not take over the city, that crimes should not make residents feel like they can't live everyday life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILD (on camera): Jake, what the Illinois leaders here have said multiple times is that they have heard nothing from the federal government. And they say that lack of coordination is proof that this is not a sincere effort. And I asked J.B. Pritzker, the Illinois Democratic governor, if his office has reached out to the White House, have they made any overture to the White House? And he said, they have no reason to do so. What is very clear, Jake, is that no one in Illinois, no one at the federal government, there's no line of communication at this point between those two parties, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Whitney Wild in Chicago thanks so much.

Here now is Tom Dupree. He is a former deputy assistant U.S. attorney general during the George W. Bush administration.

Tom, you just heard Governor Pritzker slammed the president, the mayor of Chicago also pushing back on President Trump's plan, posting it would, quote, be the most flagrant violation of our Constitution in the 21st century. What legal authority does President Trump have here, especially if the state's governor and the mayor are against the deployment of the National Guard in their state?

TOM DUPREE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Sure. President Trump has the authority to deploy the National Guard for certain reasons. He can deploy the National Guard to protect federal officials, to protect federal property. He also can deploy the National Guard in the case of an insurrection, under the Insurrection Act, if he invokes his authority there.

Beyond that, though, Jake, it's a bit ambiguous how far the power extends. It's fair to say that the federal government, traditionally, has not deployed the National Guard for just ordinary, local, or municipal policing purposes. I think in this case, if Trump does deploy the National Guard and ask them to take on what appears to be a fairly robust effort at policing, I strongly suspect we are going to see Pritzker or the mayor of Chicago file a lawsuit to try to stop it. But it's also an open question whether or not a federal judge would step in to enjoin the administration from implementing a policy that, at least in the view of some Chicagoans, is going to help public safety.

TAPPER: In June, the Trump administration sent nearly 5,000 federal troops to Los Angeles.

[18:05:00]

There was unrest there because of ICE raids and protests against the ICE raids, some of the protests, they're turning violent. He did that against the objections of the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. There's a legal challenge currently in federal court over that deployment. Will that court challenge be important in establishing a precedent here?

DUPREE: I think it is that, as you note, is another example where the National Guard was sent in over the objections, at least to some of the local political leaders. And so however that case comes out, I think, would be a good guidepost to how far Trump can go in deploying the National Guard.

That said, I think there are some differences. In other words, in Los Angeles, Trump was responding to an act of protest. Arguably, at least in the view of the White House, there was an emergency situation in Los Angeles that required immediate attention. You don't quite have the same situation in Chicago. You obviously do have terrible crime numbers. You have a clear need for additional law enforcement there, but it's not quite the same emergency situation that you saw in Los Angeles. So, while I think that case is certainly relevant, you know, there are some differences in Chicago.

TAPPER: President Trump also wants to end cashless bail. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Any street all over the country, cashless bail, we're ending it, but we're starting by ending it in D.C., and that we have the right to do through federalization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, the executive ordered the president signed directs the Trump administration to withhold federal funds to any cities that don't end cashless bail policies. Is there evidence -- there are obviously anecdotal evidence, but is there a broader evidence that cashless bail policies foster increased crime rates?

DUPREE: Well, I think there is a connection. Look, I mean, I don't want to overstate it. If you're talking about, you know, justice reform, I don't know if people would necessarily put cashless bail at the very top of the list, but I do think it's an important issue. What we're seeing here is we're seeing an effort by the administration to leverage the power of federal funding. They're doing this in all sorts of different contexts where they're basically finding local policies that they don't like and they want to change. And they're using federal grant money or federal funding as a lever to affect those state policy changes. We'll see how it plays out in the cashless bail context.

But I think as a practical matter, a lot of jurisdictions have already been scaling back the use of cashless bail, and certainly in cases of violent crime, it would be very rare to allow cashless bail. I don't want to say it never happens, but it's rare.

TAPPER: Tom Dupree, thanks so much.

Let's talk about this now with the Democratic attorney general for the state of Illinois, Kwame Raoul. Attorney General Raoul, thanks for being here.

Governor Pritzker and President Trump are trading insults. Moments ago, Governor Pritzker said the president was, quote, continuing to slip in his mental faculties. He called him a, quote, arrogant little man. And take a listen to what President Trump said about your governor in the Oval Office earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have some slob like Pritzker criticizing us before we even go there. I made the statement that next should be Chicago. Because, as you all know, Chicago's a killing field right now and they don't acknowledge it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What's your reaction to all this?

KWAME RAOUL (D), ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, I don't I'm not going to engage in the name calling back and forth. What I will say is that the president has frequently exceeded his authority. He hasn't even acknowledged when he was asked on national T.V. whether he has to follow the Constitution of the United States of America. So, he doesn't have a high regard for our Constitution or our federal law. And the notion of him sending the National Guard to the streets against American citizens is another example of such.

TAPPER: You just heard, if you were listening to the show or a few minutes ago, a lifelong Chicago resident telling our CNN's telling -- CNN's Whitney Wild that she supports what the president is talking about doing because crime has become, quote, normalized in Chicago. I also want to play something that Vice President Vance said earlier today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Why are Democrat governors angrier about federal law enforcement helping clean up their streets than they are about the fact that those streets need to be cleaned up to begin with.

Why are Democratic governors doing everything in their power to make crime easier to do in their cities?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What's your response to that, sir?

RAOUL: Well, what's being suggested is not federal law enforcement. It's the federal military. We -- ever since I became attorney general, which was during President Trump's first administration, we have collaborated with federal law enforcement, the FBI, the DEA, ATF, Secret Service, HSI, and other agencies. And we've had great collaborations on gun trafficking, internet crimes against children, organized retail crime, and other violent crimes.

A state police director who I talked to moments ago talked about a recent case of collaboration with the FBI. But the military is not trained to do local law enforcement.

[18:10:01]

And so if the president wants to enhance the help from the federal law enforcement agencies that are trained in law enforcement, we'd welcome it.

TAPPER: If President Trump orders National Guard troops to Chicago to police the streets, as he's doing here in Washington, D.C., is there anything you can do as Illinois attorney general to stop that?

RAOUL: Yes, certainly. There's federal law that dictates when the president should federalize a National Guard. We don't have a foreign invasion. We don't have an insurrection and he is not alleging to do so to advance a federal law. And so, the Posse Comitatus Act sort of sets the framework for the federalizing, the National Guard. But we have no emergency that dictates that it would be appropriate to send the National Guard into our streets as law enforcement officers.

TAPPER: President Trump might say you have a crime emergency, even if some crime rates, some statistics are dropping, there's too much violent crime in Chicago. What would you say to that?

RAOUL: I would say stop redirecting FBI agents to review Epstein files or to do immigration enforcement. Allow ATF and DEA agents and FBI agents to continue collaborating with our great law enforcement leaders. We've got a great superintendent in the city of Chicago. We've got a great director of state police who have collaborated with federal law enforcement, enhance that collaboration with those who are trained to deal with crime.

I don't mind that. I don't mind more resources to deal with crime. He has cut community violence interruption resources. Just last week, we sued the Department of Justice because they want to condition funding to help victims of crime. That's inconsistent with an administration that really cares about crime and victims of crime.

TAPPER: The Democratic Illinois attorney general, Kwame Raoul, thank you, sir. I appreciate your time.

RAOUL: Thank you.

TAPPER: The federal government promised tens of millions of dollars to help Baltimore after the catastrophic bridge collapsed last year. So, why is President Trump now threatening to withhold that money? Our panel weighs in next.

Plus, he's accused of working with El Chapo to smuggle drugs into the United States, and now he's changing his plea to guilty. Those details are ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, President Trump is now threatening to reconsider funding to fix the collapsed Baltimore Bridge over a feud with Maryland's Democratic Governor Wes Moore. Governor Moore called for Trump to visit Baltimore after Trump criticized its rising crime. Trump responded on social media saying, Moore should quote, clean up the crime disaster, unquote, before he takes a walk, and that he gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge and will now rethink that decision. The money, of course, was appropriated by Congress and signed into law by President Biden.

But that being said, let's bring in my panel, Alyssa Farah Griffin and David Urban. And, Alyssa, the feud doesn't stop there because Trump also made a comment in the Oval Office today about meeting with Governor Moore. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I met him at the Army-Navy game. They said, oh, there's Governor Moore. He'd love to see you. He came over to me, he hugged me, shook my hand. You were there. He said, sir, you're the greatest president of my lifetime. I said, it's really nice that you say that. I'd love you to say it publicly, but I don't think you can do that, so it's okay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Alyssa, your response.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, we should ask Urban because he may have been with President Trump there.

Listen, while I think that's unlikely, I've interviewed governor Wes Moore, I think this is 2028 playing out a little bit early, frankly. Wes Moore is somebody who's seen as a frontrunner to run for president. President Trump is also kind of in a spat with J.B. Pritzker right now. He's going after liberal cities. It's a win for him. With his base, there is a perception and a belief, whether it's Chicago, whether it's Baltimore or even Washington, D.C., many feel like crime is really bad.

Even if the macro stats don't necessarily bear that out, there's plenty of footage that you can find that validates people's concerns and feelings that crime is out of control there. But he also knows it's good politics to be starting fights with prominent Democrats, whether it's for his own benefit or whoever may run next, Newsom, Pritzker, Wes Moore. These are people he's choosing for a reason to be engaging with.

TAPPER: David, you are a graduate of West Point. I don't know if -- I assume you're at the Army-Navy game. Did you witness this event?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I did not. Listen, I may think that Donald Trump is the greatest president in my lifetime, but I am fairly certain that Wes Moore does not hold those same beliefs, whether Donald Trump says so or not.

Listen, I agree with Alyssa. I think that Donald Trump is in there mixing it up early on. This is ahead of the midterms, right? We're going to -- it's going to be over shortly. School's going to start. And you know what starts right after school? The '26 midterms. And so Donald Trump's picking one of those 80-20 issues on crime, whether the statistics beared out or not, it's a feeling when you go downtown to D.C. to buy you know, buy some Right Guard or toothpaste, you feel like you're trying to buy a Rolex. You have to have people, you know, open the showcase to give you the toothpaste or deodorant.

And so I think people sense that, just like, you know, people say, well, crime's not that bad, just like Joe Biden was cognizant, right? And everything else the American people know are true. They see their own eyes. And so Democrats, governors, mayors, et cetera, could say, oh, our cities are safe. People don't feel that way. Trump's tapping into that nerve early on and it's going to continue on from '26 through '28. TAPPER: Trump has been busy on Truth Social. He posted several times last night about NBC and ABC in this particular post claiming that NBC News and ABC news give him 97 percent bad stories, which is, I can't believe that's statistic at all and should, quote, have their licenses revoked by the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission.

So, obviously, David, President Trump's anger with the mainstream media is not a new grudge, but does this feel different at all, this kind of threat given the fact that he has Brendan Carr at the FCC, you know, doing a lot of things that Trump is happy about, not to mention getting settlements from the parent companies of CBS News and ABC news in recent months, tens of millions of dollars from Paramount and Disney?

URBAN: Yes. Listen, Jake, I think this is -- you know, you pointed out, this is more of the same. Donald Trump feels that the mainstream media does not characterize or cover him fairly. That, you know, since the '16 campaign, that it's kind of been downhill since then, and, you know, the same with the Republican Party writ large.

And so, again, he's going to continue to bang on this theme through '26 through '28. So, when bad stories do show up, he's going to blame it on the media. He's going to blame it on these liberal news outlets, right? You've seen, you know, MSNBC is no longer MSNBC. It is now MSNow. You know, people are losing faith in those institutions, and I think Donald Trump's just calling that into question even more.

TAPPER: But I think, Alyssa, the question here and the thematic question is President Trump, it's not just expressing a grievance, it's -- and it's an explicit threat to use the power of the purse, the power of the presidency, to go after anybody who dares criticize him. We just heard him do that with Wes Moore. We just heard him do it with NBC and CBS. President Trump -- or, I'm sorry, NBC and ABC. President Trump also threatened to reopen investigations into former ally, now critic New Jersey Governor Chris Christie over the bridge gate scandal from when he was governor. He was watching Chris Christie being interviewed on ABC's this week yesterday. Here's a little taste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ): Donald Trump sees himself as the person who gets to decide everything. And he doesn't care about any separation. In fact, he absolutely rejects the idea that there should be separation between criminal investigations and the politically elected leader of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: and, Alyssa, quite tellingly, this was what Christie was talking about, the search of John Bolton's property, another Trump friend turned Trump critic. And I wonder how concerned you are that there might actually be somebody in the Justice Department right now trying to drum out some criminal charges or an FBI raid on Chris Christie's house.

GRIFFIN: Listen, I think with the public, some of this criticism is baked in. You expect Queens guy Donald Trump to go after New Jersey guy Chris Christie, and them to fire back and forth insults. It's something we've seen for many years. I would note Chris Christie worked for Donald Trump on the transition after bridge gate. They had a good relationship for many years after that. So, that was an odd thing to bring up.

I don't know that that's something I see as very concerning or outside of the norm with Donald Trump. I think the John Bolton episode is very different. I think it's incredibly chilling. I personally worked with him when he was national security adviser. He was someone who was the height of professionalism. I would be stunned if he, in any way, mishandled classified information. That's something I think the investigation will bear out. But I think The Wall Street Journal had it right to say that feels like a bridge much, much further when you're engaging in actual investigation rather than Trump just kind of spouting off on social media.

And what I'd remind you is that's not way people elected him. People don't want the retribution. They don't want his per personal grievances. They want him to deal with the cost of living, to Urban's point, deal with crime, deal with immigration. That's where Donald Trump always wins.

TAPPER: All right. Alyssa Farah Griffin and David Urban, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

The new warning today for more than 180 current and former FEMA employees as hurricane season begins to ramp up and wildfires scorch part of the Western United States. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

TAPPER: In our National Lead, you are looking at bright orange flames fill the horizon in Central Oregon as the Flat Fire threatens nearly 4,000 homes with only 15 percent containment, according to local firefighters. Local officials warn 90 degree weather and thunderstorms could complicate firefighting efforts. Extreme heat is also fueling dangerous fires further south.

In Northern California, Napa County officials issued evacuation orders and declared a local emergency as crews race to contain what's called the Picket Fire, threatening hundreds of wineries. Cal Fire says it's charged through ten square miles as of now.

Also on our National Lead, this week will mark 20 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall, and along with the failure of the New Orleans levies devastated the southern coast of the United States, killing nearly 1,400 people. A natural disaster made significantly worse by the federal government's self-admitted failures to respond.

Today, more than 180 FEMA employees, former and present, sent a letter called the Katrina Declaration to Congress, an open letter warning that cuts and policies by the Trump administration could result, in their view, in another potentially even worse disaster. Former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell joins me now. Thanks for joining us. So, the letter reads, in part, quote, our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office, and our mission of helping people before, during, and after disasters, compel us to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of decisions made by the current administration, unquote. Do you agree with that? Is that alarmism? What's going on here?

DEANNE CRISWELL, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: I think the biggest thing out of that letter, Jake, is it really demonstrates the passion and the commitment that the FEMA workforce has to truly help people before, during, and after disasters.

[18:30:06]

When I was there, so many people had been there for 10, 15, 20, even 30 years. And I would ask them, why do you stay? And they would all tell me the same thing, because of the mission. We believe in the mission. There's not a lot of federal agencies that truly help people. And I do have concerns and I share their concerns in that letter about forgetting the lessons that we learned from Katrina in negating all of the progress that has been made over the last 20 years.

TAPPER: Well, what specifically has President Trump or his administration done that you worry as of now, as of this hurricane season that is kicking off right now, could have an impact, a deleterious impact in our FEMA response?

CRISWELL: I think there's a couple of things. The first one is the fact that you don't have an emergency manager. You don't have the FEMA administrator with emergency management experience. That was one of the key lessons out of Katrina, is having somebody that had executive experience in emergency management, so they know how to anticipate and they can build relationships with our state and local partners.

I think the second piece that's really glaring to me is the additional administrative burdens that have been put in place by the Department of Homeland Security. Again, one of the things that we learned during Katrina was you need a federal government that can be agile and respond quickly and not wait for requests, but also not have to wait for bureaucratic processes to approve different deployments of personnel or resources or commodities.

And so those two things we've already seen show how they impact a response. I'm concerned that the staff know what they need to do, but they're not going to be given the flexibility and the autonomy to do what they know has to happen to start supporting these communities even before for a hurricane makes landfall.

TAPPER: I want you to listen to what President Trump himself has said, his plan for FEMA is. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level. A little bit like education, we're moving it back to the states so the governors can handle. That's why their governors now. If they can't handle it, they shouldn't be governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Is that feasible, do you think?

CRISWELL: Well, I don't think it's accurate. Jake, state and local emergency managers have always had the responsibility to manage their disasters. I was a local emergency manager. It was my job to manage that. But when it exceeded my capability, then I would reach out to the federal government for assistance.

The federal government isn't there to supplant what the states and the locals are doing. It's there to support them. And it's always been locally led, state managed and federally supported. And so every state has different capabilities. Not every state's going to have the same capacity. When you take away that piece of support that they have come to depend upon to help protect their communities, then you're really putting these communities in a much more vulnerable situation.

TAPPER: We're in the middle of hurricane season or at the beginning, really. As things currently stand, do you think FEMA's ready and able to help in the case of a natural disaster right now?

CRISWELL: I think that the men and women of FEMA are going to do everything they can, but they're limited. They have less staff, less institutional knowledge and more requirements that slow down their response. And so I think it's going to be harder for them to do the job that they know that they need to do it.

TAPPER: It is hard, just empirically, to imagine that there isn't a federal government agency that doesn't have some bloat. Not to pick on FEMA, but just of all agencies, just the way that these things happen, are there things that realistically FEMA could do without while still maintaining a robust system of preparedness and response?

CRISWELL: FEMA, Jake, is actually a pretty small agency, 22,000 employees-ish, you know, give or take a day. And the majority of them are the intermittent employees, the reservists who only come to help support a disaster or help support communities when a disaster happens.

You know, about a third of those employees are the full-time employees, and another third are the full-time disaster employees, and then you have the reservists. Sure there's areas where you can reduce some of the workload or some of the programs that are out there, but it has to still be done in a thoughtful manner with the stakeholders at the table with you, so you can understand what they need, what they don't need, and where their frustration lies.

When you're making decisions without that level of input, then you're going to create change just for change's sake, and it's not going to be informed.

TAPPER: Former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, thanks so much.

The investigation launched today after Israeli leaders admitted to a, quote, tragic mishap that killed 20 people, including five journalists at a Gaza hospital.

[18:35:01]

The details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: And we're back with our Business Leaders series. That's where we hear from small business owners from coast-to-coast about President Trump's tariffs. Some people like them, some people do not. Fontana Forni USA is a business that imports high-end outdoor pizza ovens directly from the family-owned manufacturer in Italy. It's been in operation since 1978. The U.S. distributor works in close collaboration with the Fontana family to bring their designs exclusively to North America.

And CEO Jeremy Lande joins me now. Jeremy, thanks for joining us. So, your business relies on an imported product that you can only get from Italy. How have the tariffs changed things for you?

JEREMY LANDE, CEO, FONTANA FORNI USA: Yes. Hi, Jake. Thanks for having me on. The tariffs have impacted us in a couple of different ways. The first one is just being able to figure out how to navigate them. What most people don't understand is there's actually two tariffs on our products. The first one's just the standard 15 percent E.U. tariff, but then we have a second tariff, which is the steel tariff, which is 50 percent of the cost of the steel.

[18:40:05]

So, to give some perspective, in June, I had two ocean containers come in. And they were taxed at over 80 percent. And so we paid our 80 percent tariff on these ocean containers that came in and later found out that that isn't exactly what the situation is. Working with our customs brokers, they're not even exactly sure what the procedures are. So, not only does it tie up cash, it's just -- it's hard to plan and it constantly has us rethinking inventory levels.

80 percent tax or tariff is a lot. How are you weathering the costs? Do you have to raise prices?

LANDE: So, it looks as if, because the landscape is only always changing that we're not going to have an 80 percent tariff at this point in time, but, honestly, we're not exactly sure where it's going to land. But, yes, we've had to raise prices.

August 1st was our first price increase in years, and it's something that we absolutely don't take lightly. We absorb the cost for as long as we could, and we've even absorbed some of the cost to not pass it all onto the customer. But August 1st, we did have a 10 percent increase in prices.

TAPPER: So, this is --

LADNE: And, hopefully, we don't have to have another one. TAPPER: This is brand new analysis that President Trump is touting. It's from the Congressional Budget Office. And it projects that Trump's tariffs over the course of ten years are going to reduce the federal deficit by more than $4 trillion over the next decade or about $400 billion a year.

I assume that your perspective is that the people paying for that are you and your customers.

LANDE: Yes, it's going to be -- the tariff burden comes on to us, and it's a matter of how much of that we want to pass on to our customers. We're, you know, a relatively small business and we already have the absolute best of terms with Fontana Forni. And there's really not much to be done on their end either. So, we're forced to raise prices in order to keep the quality and keep the highest level product we can out there.

TAPPER: If President Trump were watching right now, what would you want to say to him about the tariffs?

LANDE: Yes. It's just that, sure, we understand the tariffs, but, really, there needs to be transparency. There needs to be predictability. The sudden changes really disrupt our business. And if there was just clear guidance, it would really, really help us out.

TAPPER: And you can shop for Fontana -- go ahead. Finish your thought.

LANDE: I was just going to say, every day we're listening to you, we're checking the news, we're trying to figure out you know, how the tariffs are changing and how they're going to impact us, and it's a lot to navigate.

TAPPER: It's a lot to navigate, indeed. And you at home, if you want one of these beautiful pizza ovens, you can shop for Fontana Forni, that's F-O-R-N-I, USA. Fontana Forni USA pizza Ovens. You can find them online.

Jeremy Lande, thanks for joining us. I appreciate it.

LANDE: Yes. Thanks for having me. Have a good one.

TAPPER: What President Trump said today about ending Israel's war against Hamas after yet another bloody strike by the IDF in Gaza. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:47:15]

TAPPER: In our world, lead, this afternoon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel, quote, deeply regrets the tragic mishap, unquote, that killed five journalists in southern Gaza today, including a cameraman for Al Jazeera, and contractors for "Reuters" and "The Associated Press". At least 20 people total were killed in the strike, along with several aid workers, according to the hospital that was struck. Here's President Trump when asked about the strike earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that whole nightmare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Paula Hancocks reports now on the deadly attack for us, one the president of the Committee to Protect Journalists says could be classified as a war crime. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rush towards Gaza's Nasser hospital after an Israeli strike Monday morning. Emergency response crews, health workers and journalists can be seen on live television on a damaged staircase. A television camera is held up, "Reuters" says a photojournalist working for them is killed. A white body bag is carried away and then a second Israeli strike.

We are not showing the moment of impact. Smoke hides the staircase from view. When the dust settles, five journalists and four health workers are among more than 20 killed. Palestinian journalists who formed the backbone of international coverage of this war, working with "AP", "Reuters:" and Al Jazeera, among others. Israel does not allow international media to enter Gaza beyond restrictive embedding with its military.

A double strike just minutes apart. The second impact killing workers rushing to help casualties from the first.

JODIE GINSBERG, CEO, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS: Just to be clear, if it is a double tap that is considered to be a war crime.

HANCOCKS: Israel's military says it carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital, but does not target journalists or civilians. The chief of staff has ordered an inquiry into the attacks, the IDF adding it, quote, acts to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals while maintaining the safety of IDF troops.

An Israeli security official with knowledge of an initial inquiry says forces identified a camera on the roof of the hospital they claim Hamas was using to monitor Israeli forces authorized to strike the camera with a drone. The IDF instead fired two tank shells, the source says. The first at the camera, the second at rescue forces.

Mariam Abu Dagga, 33 years old, worked for "AP" and other outlets throughout the war, most recently highlighting the impact of famine in Gaza.

[18:50:00]

In this recent video, she says, "I can't describe how tired people are, how sad, or how hungry they are. It's been two years of this war on Gaza. They can't handle any more." She spoke to CNN last year about her concerns for her safety, saying when a journalist is targeted, all other media question when it will be their turn.

At her funeral Monday, her family mourns a death they had feared for the 22 months of this war.

Mariam has a son. Her cousin says he went abroad with his father at the start of the war. She was waiting for the war to end so she could see him again.

A 22-month war which has been the deadliest ever for journalists.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Paula Hancocks for that report.

Let's bring in CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid, who also reports for "Axios".

Barak, despite international alarm, President -- I'm sorry, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cabinet are vowing to press ahead in Gaza City. Palestinians want to see this war end. So many Israelis want to see the hostages come home and also want to see this war end.

How much do support -- how much support does Netanyahu have within Israel and in the international community to continue this war?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Jake, I think this is definitely. A controversial issue in Israel right now, in Israeli society, also within the Israeli government and definitely between the political echelon in Israel and the military high command.

This is not the operation that Netanyahu wants to push for right now, this new offensive to occupy Gaza City. It is not an issue that is within a consensus, not in the country, and not in the defense establishment. And I think this is what is so different than any other phase in this almost two-year war that for a long time, the continuation of the war was in. Consensus within Israel. It is not the case anymore.

TAPPER: And tell us where the military leadership is on this versus Netanyahu and his, more right wing members of his -- of his cabinet like Smotrich and, and the other one.

RAVID: I think that, you know, if you look at the IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, he told Netanyahu and the cabinet in every way possible that he does not believe that an operation to take over to occupy Gaza City is a good idea. And I'm saying it very mildly.

I think the IDF high command, wants or thinks that the way to go right now is to go for a hostage deal, even if it is not a full deal that all the hostages come back. But some kind of a deal that brings some of the hostages back in return for a ceasefire and then maybe move on to, you know, further deals for the rest of the hostages and a permanent end to the war.

I think the IDF high command thinks that the continuation of the war is not in Israel's interest at the moment.

TAPPER: And you also have this new reporting in Axios on President Trump's efforts to push diplomatic breakthroughs. Between Israel, Syria, Lebanon, with Lebanon. He wants the government to disarm the terrorist group Hezbollah and normalize relationships with relations with Israel. That could be rather sizable if that actually is successful.

RAVID: Yeah. Jake, I think that this is -- and it's very interesting to look at it and see how on the one hand, when it comes to Lebanon and Syria, Trump is making slow, steady progress towards real diplomatic breakthroughs that have the potential to be historic. And Trump got the Lebanese government to vote for a plan for drafting a plan to disarm Hezbollah. This is an unprecedented thing.

Trump managed to get Israeli and Syrian officials twice to sit down in Paris and talk about a security agreement a new security agreement on the border, which has the potential of going forward to be a normalization agreement. Those are big things. They sort of happen under the radar. They don't get a lot of coverage here in America, unfortunately.

But those are really big things. And when you look at what he's doing in Lebanon and Syria, and then you're looking at Gaza, you just don't understand how on the one hand, he's making those real advances there. But on Gaza, Trump is getting stuck in this war. He's getting dragged into the war that can last for another year and hijacked his entire regional agenda.

[18:55:08]

TAPPER: Barak Ravid, thank you so much for your reporting.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Our last leads now, we're going to start in our politics lead.

President Trump signed a proclamation today marking the fourth anniversary of the 2021 tragic attack at Abbey Gate, the suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, where more than 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans were killed by a terrorist group. The president was joined by family members of those killed in the attack. The anniversary is tomorrow.

A massive explosion flattened homes in a St. Louis suburban neighborhood tonight. Police say three people were transported from the scene with injuries. And there is, quote, widespread damage to nearby homes. A bomb squad and arson team were called to the scene to investigate the cause of the blast. In our law and justice lead, former Mexican cartel drug lord Ismael

"El Mayo" Zambada pleaded guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges today. Prosecutors say under his leadership, the Sinaloa cartel became one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the entire world. He will be sentenced to life in prison next year.

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