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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Iran May Be Linked To Recent Anti-Semitic Attacks In Europe; Trump And Xi Expected To Discuss War In Iran, Trade, Tech, And Taiwan. Aired 5:30-6p ET

Aired May 11, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Appreciate you guys being here. Thanks to all of you at home for watching as well. Don't forget, you can now stream "The Arena" live. You can catch up whenever you want to in the CNN app. You just scan the Q.R. code below on your screen. You can also catch up by listening to the "The Arena" podcast. You can also follow along on X and Instagram. We are @thearenacnn. Don't go anywhere because Jake Tapper is standing by for "The Lead." Hi, Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN LEAD WASHINGTON ANCHOR: Hey, Kasie. Happy belated Mother's Day.

HUNT: Thank you so much.

TAPPER: We'll look for more tomorrow in "The Arena."

HUNT: See you tomorrow.

TAPPER: A top health official says he expects to see more hantavirus cases. "The Lead" starts right now.

Eighteen passengers on that cruise ship with the hantavirus outbreak now back home here in the United States, including one person experiencing symptoms. The extra precautions being taken to make sure this virus that does not easily spread doesn't do exactly that. I'm going to talk to a doctor at a biocontainment unit in Nebraska where the passengers are under close observation.

Plus, President Trump says his ceasefire attempts with Iran are on massive life support, called the latest Iranian counterproposal -- quote -- "garbage." My guest ahead argues that the U.S. may have already strategically lost this war. And just days after the fall of Spirit Airlines, the pressure now on other low-cost carriers. The CEO of Breeze Airways will be here on "The Lead."

Welcome to "The Lead." I'm Jake Tapper. We're going to start with breaking news in our "health lead." Eighteen passengers from the cruise ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak are now back here in the United States and being monitored at medical units. Sixteen of those people, including at least one who tested positive, are in Nebraska. They are all asymptomatic and range in age from roughly 20 to 80 years old, 15 Americans and one U.K. dual national. Now, two other passengers from that ship, an American couple, they've been transferred to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia because one of them is experiencing symptoms, according to health officials.

So, what happens next? This is not considered a quarantine, but a brief visit to monitor health. Passengers, including someone with mild symptoms who has not yet tested positive, will then head to one of more than a dozen specialized pathogen treatment centers. And after that, they may get to go home where they will face daily home-based monitoring for 42 days. That's the incubation period of the hantavirus.

Now, the CDC says it has plans to make sure that they can isolate in their home, these individuals, should they develop any symptoms. We should note there are some health experts who think this particular protocol is not aggressive enough.

That includes Dr. Ashish Jha who served as the White House COVID-19 response coordinator from 2022 to 2023. Dr. Jha posting -- quote -- "There is growing evidence from the ship that you probably don't need prolonged close contact to spread the virus. And the implications here are pretty clear. If we are serious about ending this outbreak, all the passengers should undergo a full quarantine away from others" -- unquote.

Now, it is also important to be clear that hantavirus, which is contracted through contact with rodent droppings, is not spread from person to person as easily as, say, COVID-19. We should also note there is no specific cure and hantavirus does have a high mortality rate, up to 50 percent in the Americas, according to the World Health Organization, whose director-general today said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: The incubation for hantavirus or Andes virus ranges six to eight weeks. So, we expect more cases to come actually, but I hope they will be as small as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Already today, one quarantined Spanish passenger has tested positive for hantavirus after a preliminary test. Today, President Trump and his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said that the U.S. is prepared to control this disease.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: All I can do is everything that a president can do, which is somewhat -- which is actually somewhat limited. But it seems like it is not easy to spread. In fact, it's in certain ways very hard to spread.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We have this under control, and we're not worried about it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining us now, Dr. Angela Hewlett, medical director of the University of Nebraska's Biocontainment Unit. That's where 16 of these 18 passengers are currently being monitored. Doctor, thanks so much for joining us. First off, what can you tell us about the status of the patients in your unit as of now? Are they still all asymptomatic? Are they still all doing OK? And when do you expect they might get to go home?

[17:05:00]

DR. ANGELA HEWLETT, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA BIOCONTAINMENT UNIT: Thank you for having me. Yes. I mean, there's actually a pretty big distinction in our world between patient and a person. And so, in our -- in Nebraska, we actually have the National Quarantine Unit, which is the only unit of its kind in the United States. And it's really designed to monitor well individuals who have been exposed to high consequence pathogens.

We also have the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit. And those are patients in that unit because that is a patient care unit that is designed to care for patients with a spectrum of different diseases, so everything from, you know, relatively mild symptoms, you know, escalating up to critical care, including critical care interventions like mechanical ventilation, dialysis, and other things.

And so, the individuals that we have with us, we do have 16 total and we have 15 that are passengers and are currently in the National Quarantine Unit. We have one individual that did have a kind of presumptive preliminary test that was positive done in a different country prior to leaving the ship, and that individual is in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit and being retested.

And so, again, a pretty big distinction between these passengers or people who are in the quarantine unit and being monitored and the individual that is receiving care in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit.

TAPPER: The World Health Organization expects hantavirus cases to rise and the CDC's acting director of the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology says he can't promise it will not spread some more. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BRENDAN JACKSON, ACTING DIRECTOR OF HIGH-CONSEQUENCE PATHOGENS AND PATHOLOGY, CDC: There are no guarantees in life. We're putting as many measures in place as possible to ensure that people are safe and healthy, and we keep the community safe and healthy as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Why not have the passengers who are now here in the U.S. undergo a full quarantine for 42 days? Wouldn't that lower the risk of the virus spreading? HEWLETT: Well, it certainly would, but kind of depends on the circumstances. You know, we here in the National Quarantine Unit and the Biocontainment Unit are absolutely prepared to monitor these individuals for that entire quarantine period should our federal partners and the individuals being monitored choose to do so.

So, we are certainly offering that as an option, and I would encourage that for several reasons, main one being is that we have the capability of caring for patients, you know, close by right across the street and providing that spectrum of care should the individual become ill.

That is not going to be the case necessarily should they go back to their home jurisdictions where, you know, they may not have a hospital close by that can provide that type of care.

We also do have testing capability here on our campus, which is unusual. And so, that's another asset that would -- you know, we would highly encourage individuals to stay here for a prolonged period of time because of those two options that really can't be offered in the majority of other places.

TAPPER: We keep hearing from health officials that this is not another COVID for any number of reasons, perhaps most importantly, because it doesn't spread nearly as easily as COVID does. So, what would a concerning outbreak of hantavirus look like in terms of case numbers?

HEWLETT: Well, so, this virus is actually not a new virus. So, that distinguishes it from COVID-19 and that that was a very new scenario that we experienced in early 2020. This virus has been around for a while, and we've really not seen sustained human-to-human transmission, large outbreaks of the Andes virus previously.

And again, this is not a new virus. And so, that is encouraging. I do think that this virus can be spread person-to-person. I think we've seen -- you know, we've seen evidence of that thus far. But what I'm still hoping is that this virus is relatively hard to spread between people.

And that's really not what we saw with COVID-19. We saw a fairly easy transmission in between -- in between individuals and without up close and personal contact. Whereas with this virus, it does still seem that individuals that are transmitting do -- they tend to have that up close and personal contact that would allow for that viral transmission.

TAPPER: All right. Dr. Angela Hewlett, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time today. My next guest says the U.S. may have already strategically lost the war with Iran. We're going to let him make his case after President Trump today called the latest peace proposal from Iran -- quote -- "garbage."

And by this time tomorrow, Air Force One should be en route to China from war to trade to technology. We're breaking down why this trip for President Trump is so important for him and for the world. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:10:00]

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TAPPER: Our "World Lead" now, after receiving and rejecting Iran's latest response for negotiating an end to the war, President Trump does not seem to be holding out much hope for any ceasefire. According to Iranian media, the offer from Iran demanded that the U.S. recognize Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, that the U.S. compensate Iran for war damage, and that the U.S. unfreeze Iranian financial assets. The response from the Iranians also said nothing at all about Iran's nuclear weapons program. Here's the president's reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us, I didn't even finish reading it, I said, I'm not going to waste my time reading it. I would say it's one of the weakest. Right now, it's on life support. I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support where the doctor walks in and says, sir, your loved one has approximately a one percent chance of living.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, despite the president's tough talk, there was a lot of criticism of the war. "The Atlantic" magazine just published an article arguing that a U.S. defeat in the Iran war -- quote -- "is not only possible but likely" -- unquote. The article's author, Robert Kagan, joins us now. Mr. Kagan, thanks for joining us. Explain why you think that's the case.

ROBERT KAGAN, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Well, the key issue is the control of the Strait of Hormuz. If Iran ends up with the control of the strait as it currently has control, the leverage it's going to have not only in dealing with the United States but with the rest of the world is going to be enormous.

[17:15:04]

If Iran can control who gets through the strait and when, if Iran can charge tolls for ships that want to pass through the strait, it's really an opportunity for Iran to resurrect its power.

And it's just not clear to me what Trump thinks he has in the way of options to prevent them from doing this. It's not like he hasn't already bombed them for 37 days. I'm not sure what another bombing is necessarily going to accomplish.

So, as things stand right now, as I say, if Iran controls the strait, that is a defeat for the United States. It's the end of American hegemony in the region, among other things.

TAPPER: So, I'll get to the broader points you just made in a second. But if Trump were here, if President Trump were here, he might say, look, we took out their ability to make a nuclear weapon, we took out their ability to fire up ballistic missiles, to hit the United States and our allies. Surely you recognize that there have been achievements.

KAGAN: Well, sure, there have been achievements. By the way, the Iranians were not even within maybe decades of being able to hit the United States with a missile. So, I'm not sure what threat has actually been removed by that.

But, again, even with those accomplishments, first of all, the Iran nuclear program is not finished. Otherwise, Trump would not be spending all his time talking about the need to get the uranium out. The Iranians have made it clear they don't even want to talk about their nuclear program right now. And that, too, is reflection of the leverage that they have in this situation.

So -- and ultimately, by the way, the threat that was going to be theoretically posed by an Iran nuclear program is not as effective as control of the strait. Control of strait is a more powerful weapon for Iran to use in dealing with the rest of the world than even having a nuclear weapon, and they were very far from having a nuclear weapon in any case.

TAPPER: How do you think the Iranians could be stopped from asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz?

KAGAN: Well, unfortunately, I think it would take the kind of military action that I don't think Donald Trump wants to undertake and I don't think the American people want to undertake. I think it would require a full-scale invasion of Iran to actually remove the regime. I never believed the regime would be forced out of power simply by aerial attack and bombing.

So, if you really want to take out the regime, which is the one way to make sure that the strait remains open, you would need, I believe, to invade and occupy Iran or you would need to be willing to risk losing warships in a long campaign to try to open up the strait using naval power only. And, you know, I'm not saying these things couldn't theoretically be done, but they seem very implausible.

And Trump looks -- and, by the way, the Iranians can see this, too. Trump looks like he can't wait for this war to end, not like he's ready to do something even bigger, and that would take many months and would be much more expensive, including in terms of U.S. casualties.

TAPPER: You also argue that the current status of the war means that Israel's interests continue to be threatened. I want to play something that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired yesterday regarding the October 7th attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: They were going to annihilate us. I didn't think it was just an attack by Hamas. I saw it as it was, an attack by the Iran axis to try to annihilate us through a noose of death. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Do you think that Israel's interests are threatened by Iran more today than before the war?

KAGAN: Yes. I think, you know, the complicated thing is Iran was more contained by the threat of military action by Israel or by the United States than it turns out to be by the actual use of military action. So, Israel has fired its shots. It took out the whole leadership. It had a very successful operation. The United States joined in and destroyed a lot of Iranian capability. And yet the regime is still in power.

And, again, if Iran ends up in this conflict controlling the strait, it's going to have enormous leverage over Israel. You know, think about any time that Israel wants to launch one of its attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in Gaza. Iran can threaten to close the strait to punish the world for what Israel is doing, which would bring tremendous pressure on Israel.

I think Israel is going come out of this war more isolated in the international system than it was before, not to mention the damage that has been done to support for Israel here in the United States. So, I would have a hard time thinking that the Israelis have come out in a net positive, and I do think this is going to be harmful to their interests in the near term and in the medium term.

[17:20:00]

TAPPER: Robert Kagan, thank you so much for sharing your views with us today. We really appreciate it. Coming up, the only Democrat on the FCC says the Trump administration is using ABC and its parent company, Disney, to try to censor and control the media. She'll be right here on "The Lead" next.

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TAPPER: Turning to our "Politics Lead," a government official with an extraordinary warning, saying that the Trump administration is trying to censor and control -- quote -- "a free and independent press and all media" -- unquote. The warning is in a letter written by Anna Gomez, the only Democrat on the board of the Federal Communications Commission or the FCC. Commissioner Gomez joins us now.

[17:25:00]

Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it. So, "The Wall Street Journal" first broke this story and you also posted the letter on Twitter or X. You write this all comes in the wake of the FCC's highly unusual decision earlier this year to open an inquiry into ABC's talk show, "The View," as well as the administration's campaign against late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel on ABC. Tell us how you see what's going on.

ANNA GOMEZ, COMMISSIONER, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION: Well, this is clearly an attempt to intimidate Disney into changing how it covers this administration. If you look at the broader context of everything that has been going on other than the individual enforcement proceedings that they have, it's all meant to silence, to silence any dissent.

And my letter was meant to call this out and to encourage Disney to continue its really courageous pushback because what we've learned from this administration is capitulation doesn't get you protection. Capitulation just has them coming back to demand more and more. I see it as kind of a protection racket where unless you do what this administration wants, they're going to keep coming back and demanding more and more.

TAPPER: Your letter -- in your letter, you warned Walt Disney's relatively new chief executive, Josh D'Amaro, that the ABC network which Disney owns is the victim of a -- quote -- "sustained coordinated campaign of censorship and control carried out by the weaponization of the FCC's authority." This centers around an old FCC requirement for broadcasters to provide equal time as well as an argument against what is called news distortion. Tell us more about that.

GOMEZ: Yes. So, the specific thing that Disney did last week was they filed what's called a petition for declaratory ruling about whether "The View" can be granted a bona fide news interview exemption from the equal opportunity rule. The equal opportunity rule is the rule where if you have a candidate on your program, you normally have to provide any other candidates in the same election, in the same area equal time, and that's the equal opportunity rule. But Congress has an exemption to that. It's called the bona fide news exemption. And people think that's just for news programs, but it's also for newsworthy interviews.

Now, what Disney said to the FCC is, dudes, you gave us such an exemption in 2002 for "The View." So, the commission had already ruled that it was, in fact, a subject to this bona fide news exemption.

The FCC nonetheless said, we don't care what the commission said before, we want you to file a new petition for declaratory ruling. And the reason it's doing that is because it wants to delve into the content so that it can find there's some kind of violation here.

TAPPER: Last week, CNN obtained a letter in which an attorney for Disney argued -- quote -- "the commission's actions threatened to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to 'The View' and more broadly." But before this fight broke out, ABC did pay $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit against "Good Morning America" and "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Now, in your letter, you write -- quote -- "That settlement" -- you just alluded to this a second ago -- "That settlement did not buy you peace. You cannot buy this administration's favor. For the right price, you can only borrow it. And the price always goes up."

So, where do you see this heading? GOMEZ: Well, one of the things that I'm very pleased by is the fact that Disney is, in fact, pushing back. And it's clear that what they are going to do is see this to the end, meaning this is going to end up in court because any action that the commission takes to try to retaliate against Disney for its free speech is legally suspect and it will be reversed in court, and that's why I'm so very pleased to see them choose courage over capitulation in this case.

TAPPER: Stephen Colbert's last show is next week, which is not irrelevant to what you're talking about. Any thoughts on that?

GOMEZ: Well, I was a big fan of Colbert. So, I'm sad to see him go. I'm looking forward to whatever it is he does next.

TAPPER: All right. Anna Gomez, thank you so much. Appreciate it. A firebomb, arson attacks, Jewish sites targeted in Europe, 17 claims of antisemitic attacks in total. And now, we're learning that Iran is behind this and using social media and young people to help carry out this antisemitic attack. The CNN investigation into this is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In our World Lead, the Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, reported this month that 2025 was the third highest year on record for anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in more than 40 years. But the U.S. is certainly not alone when it comes to this phenomenon.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh investigated a recent string of attacks on Jewish people in Europe and the potential links to the Iranian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seventeen claims of attacks targeting mostly Jewish sites in seven weeks. We've been investigating Iran's possible links to these incidents, an investigation that has led us to a stunning discovery of something so sinister that, as we'll show you, is happening right in the open.

KARADSHEH: They're asking me if I have access to Zionist individuals or assets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just a matter of time that one of our communities was going to come under attack.

KARADSHEH: We saw him taken away by an ambulance.

[17:35:07]

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Days after the war in Iran began, firebomb and arson attacks hit buildings, including synagogues, Jewish centers and schools in Europe. A previously unheard of group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous, claim the attacks in not so sophisticated videos and statements. We found that the claims seem to first appear on these telegram channels that are associated with Iranian backed Iraqi groups.

A source close to Kata'ib Hezbollah, the most powerful of Iraqi Shia paramilitary groups that works closely with the IRGC, confirmed to us its links to Ashab al-Yamin and told us some of its members are Iraqi. Security experts believe the group is just a front for the IRGC. British counterterrorism police are investigating Iran's potential links to the London attacks and whether the regime may be hiring criminal proxies to carry them out, possibly recruiting people online.

KARADSHEH: When you think of online recruitment by foreign intelligence services, you might assume that something happening in the deep dark corners of the Internet. But take a look at what we found.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): This telegram channel in English and Hebrew called VIP Employment says it's recruiting, "high paid agents," it claims for Iranian intelligence. If you're ready to take the next step, it says, hit the start button. Undercover Producer Flo and I started two separate chats, exchanging direct messages over several days with these accounts.

FLORENCE DAVEY-ATTLEE, CNN FIELD PRODUCER: So my conversation begins with someone calling themselves, Sina. They quickly ask me lots of questions about myself, trying to get to know me. And then they assign me a task, two posters, anti-Trump, anti-war posters. They asked me to film myself putting them up on the streets of London and offer me $2 per poster, paid in crypto.

And later on in the conversation, they seem to coach me on how to avoid CCTV cameras. Do it in a place where there are no surveillance cameras, they say. At one point I question, how can I confirm your Islamic Republic intelligence as you say you are? And they say, the work I assigned you is against the policies of the filthy Zionist regime and America.

KARADSHEH: With me, they get straight into it, what are my capabilities? What action can you take against Zionist individuals or assets? Do you have access to specific individuals or information? They ask. I ask what they mean by access to specific individuals or information. People who work in security and military agencies such as the Shin Bet, the army and the Mossad, they say. And I asked them if they're only recruiting people in Israel. They said, no, we can hire anyone who can harm Israeli interests or individuals.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): And with those words, we decided to end the conversation there. But others appear to have taken the bait we found, VIP employment. A channel with the same name is alleged to have been used to recruit Israelis to spy for Iran, referenced in this indictment and other official documents. The Israeli men were given initiation tasks very similar to the one we were given by the Telegram account.

From there, prosecutors say the men were tasked with filming government and military sites in exchange for money. One of them, an IDF reservist, was even offered more than $30,000 to assassinate his commander. We can't confirm any links between VIP Employment and the recent anti-Semitic attacks in Europe, but the one thing they seem to have in common is Iran.

Here in the U.K., the wave of attacks has left the small Jewish community feeling more vulnerable than ever. One of the group's targets in London, the Kenton United Synagogue, attacked, they claim, for being "a center of Zionist influence and its rabbi, a key instrument of Zionism."

RABBI YEHUDA BLACK, KENTON UNITED SYNAGOGUE IN LONDON: Just take you in here.

KARADSHEH: Oh, the smell.

BLACK: Yes, it's quite pungent, isn't it? And you can actually --

KARADSHEH: Still smell the fire days after.

BLACK: Ten days after. And it's still quite pungent, isn't it? They came from the outside, they smashed its window in and they threw a firebomb in here. You can see the damage that's been caused.

KARADSHEH: Wow. I mean, how did you feel when you walked in and you saw this?

BLACK: I was really upset, obviously. I mean, it's only a medical room. I mean, we can replace it, we can redecorate it and everything else, but what could have transpired, that is really power, you know?

KARADSHEH (voice-over): With anti-Semitism at record highs worldwide, Rabbi Black says the attacks were a shock, but not a surprise.

[17:40:03]

BLACK: My biggest concern is that it has to stop. People have to realize that what's happening elsewhere is happening elsewhere, but what's happening over here is plain anti-Semitism.

KARADSHEH: A 17-year-old British national pleaded guilty to arson without endangering life. In a written statement, he apologized. He said he has nothing against the Jewish people and said that he didn't know that this was a synagogue.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Many of the suspects here and elsewhere in Europe are teenagers. Authorities are warning anyone considering getting involved in these attacks for quick cash, they will be "used once and thrown away." But it seems these attacks may have already opened the floodgates, emboldening others to follow.

On our way back from the synagogue, we noticed a heavy police press.

KARADSHEH: As we were making our way, we heard that people had been stabbed here. And as we approached the police lines, we could see at the time the suspect was still on the ground surrounded by the police.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Two visibly Jewish men were stabbed. From the shadows, Ashab al-Yamin claimed the attack without providing evidence of links to the suspect, who according to police has a history of mental illness and serious violence. Claim confuse, intimidate and inspire. That's all part of their tactics, leaving so many in this community bracing for even darker days ahead.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Jomana Karadsheh for that report.

The Iranian embassy in London denied having any link with or involvement in the London attack, saying in a statement, "Such baseless accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, lack credible evidence and appear to serve narrow political agendas and to mislead public opinion and distract from the real root causes of terrorism and violent extremism."

It has been nearly 10 years since President Trump went to China. Tomorrow he's headed back from the Iran war to a trade war. There is a lot riding on this visit.

Plus, this time some high profile names in technology are going to join him. What my experts are going to be watching for in this trip, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:46:43]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, I have a great relationship with President Xi. We're doing a lot of business, but it's smart business. I respect him a lot and hopefully he respects me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: In our World Lead, Trump leads tomorrow for a very high stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the war with Iran to trade, to Taiwan, the leaders of the world's two biggest superpowers have much to discuss. Here now to discuss here are CNN national security analyst Beth Sanner and CNN political commentator Jonah Goldberg. So Beth, let me start with you. Trump and Xi last met about six months ago to summit in South Korea. So much has changed since then. War in Iran. China reportedly gets about a third of its oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

China also has other interests in Iran. Take a listen to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on "60 Minutes" last night. When asked about China supplying Iran with weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: China gave certain amount of support and particular components of missile manufacturing. But I can't say more than that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that disturb you?

NETANYAHU: Well, I didn't like it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's apparently doing it right now.

NETANYAHU: Could be, could be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Just last month, Trump himself threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff on China if those reports are true, you might be surprised to find out he has not imposed that 50 percent tariff. Do you think he's going to ask China for some clarity on this?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: For sure. I mean, we just actually have had another round of sanctions that came out on Friday from the Treasury Department that actually sanctions several small companies that are export, import companies that probably are part of this components supply. But also one of those companies was a satellite company. And they're accused of providing overhead intelligence to the Iranians, just like the Russians are also accused of.

But the Russians have actually been supplying a lot more. And so, you know, so China has been put on notice, their banks have been put on notice that they could run afoul of secondary sanctions. So the Chinese are not happy about this because it goes beyond kind of these teapot refineries we talked about a couple of months ago, these small independent things. But it's actually now there are two companies that are connected to banks and to the international financial system.

And so the Chinese put on blocking options where they said, no, you companies cannot abide by U.S. sanctions. So there's actually a lot going on behind the scenes here and it will definitely be a source of conversation. But look, we're not holding Russia responsible at all. Zero percent tariffs.

TAPPER: Right. Yes.

SANNER: So I don't get it.

TAPPER: And Jonah, I want to play something that Trump said about China reportedly supplying Iran with weapons. This is last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And I hear news reports about China giving the shoulder missiles, what's called the shoulder missile, anti-aircraft missile. I doubt they would do that because I have a relationship. But if we catch them doing that, they get a 50 percent tariff, which is a staggering, that's a staggering amount.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: To be clear, these threats are not aimed at these little teeny companies that you're talking about. It's a 50 percent tariff on China.

[17:50:03]

SANNER: Right.

TAPPER: But he's not doing it.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. Well, I mean, to me, the tell in that statement and virtually any time he's ever asked about Xi or China or any of that, he talks about what a great relationship he has with him. And that's what Trump does with a lot of these things, is he boils all these things down to these interpersonal relationships. And I think that that's something that, you know, a lot of my China hawk friends are very worried about, is that there's a lot of talk that Xi will come up with some top line headline number, trillion dollar investment in America. Like Trump loves coming home with those kinds of deals that who knows how reliable the actual promise is, but it lets Trump have the headline. And that's what Trump wants.

TAPPER: Right. And who cares what happens to the Taiwanese.

GOLDBERG: And who cares what happens to the Taiwanese? Who cares what happens to Jimmy Lai? I mean, it would be great. There are more important things for American national security than Jimmy Lai, but it would be a wonderful thing, Jimmy Lai out of there.

TAPPER: Yes.

GOLDBERG: And he says he might.

TAPPER: So we'll get to that in a sec. But let's talk about the trade war, because at this time last year, Trump was imposing a 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports. So he is willing to pull the trigger when he wants to. It's long gone, of course. Last week, a federal court struck down President Trump's across the board, 10 percent tariffs. When it comes to negotiating on trade, does China just have the upper hand here given the fact that Trump keeps being limited by courts?

SANNER: Well, absolutely. And because the reason we don't have 150 percent tariffs on China right now is because they actually played this huge card, which was they said, oh, you know, those rare earth and critical minerals that you all need for everything from your cell phones to your weapon systems. Sorry, we're going to be putting export controls on those. So maybe not a good idea. So he had to back off.

And then now we have, you know, the legislation the Supreme Court ruled against these major sanctions, this kind of blanket sanctions. Trump does not want to be in a trade war right now with Beijing. Beijing does not want to be in a trade war with us. Both sides, I think, want some semblance of stability because Trump has too much going on, you know, and President Xi does not -- he wants more stability.

But look, President Xi believes going into this that he has the cards, that he has the upper hand and that President Trump is coming to this, given the Iran war rather weak. And so to Jonah's point, we should expect them to be pushing on things that are our red lines. Like, you know what, you know about those arms sales that you do for Taiwan, like, we don't want you to be doing that. And President Trump said today out loud, I'm going to be discussing that with President Xi.

And since Reagan, we have literally said we will not written down, we will not talk to Beijing about arms sales. That's off the table. We don't talk to you about that. So he's already given that away.

TAPPER: Yes. So Trump's also bringing quite a tech delegation with him. More than a dozen business leaders, including Tim Cook of Apple, Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X. How important is the technology piece of this all?

GOLDBERG: I think, look, it's hugely important. We are in a race about A.I., I think we're slightly ahead of the Chinese, but not very far ahead. And, you know, the -- at the end of the day, I would say one of the biggest differences between the first Trump administration and the second Trump administration is that in the first Trump administration, Trump administration actually talked about China being an adversary.

And in this one, they're much more of a trading partner, strategic partner kind of thing when it comes to trade, when it comes to technology. They reverse themselves on TikTok and all of that. And it's very difficult to sort of predict. I don't know what the ideological through line in this administration is when it comes to China. I think it is much more like if he could -- I think Xi is going into this thinking, if I can do what Mohammed bin Salman did in Saudi Arabia and work out some big splashy deal where Trump gets his ego stroke and comes home with some stuff, some wins that will make Trump happy. Because I don't see a real national security strategy vis-a-vis China in the second Trump term.

TAPPER: Jonah, you talked about Jimmy Lai. He's a journalist from Hong Kong serving a 20-year prison sentence, accused of publishing seditious materials, colluding with foreign forces. Here is what President Trump said about that today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's like saying to me, if Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out? That's -- it might be a hard one for me. Jimmy Lai, he caused lots of turmoil for China. He tried to do the right thing. He wasn't successful, went to jail and people would like him out. And I'd like to see him get out too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I mean, what do you make of that, Jonah?

GOLDBERG: Well, the Comey thing I think is shameful on so many different fronts. Jimmy Lai's a hero. He was fighting for freedom, he was fighting for freedom of speech, he was fighting for democracy, he was fighting to save Hong Kong. And he's already -- he's an old man who's already been in solitary confinement for almost six years. It would be a great win for Trump to bring him home and figure out how to do it.

[17:55:10]

TAPPER: All right. Thanks to both you. Appreciate it.

Just minutes ago, I spoke with the director of the biocontainment unit in Nebraska, where 16 of 18 U.S. passengers are now from that cruise ship with the Hantavirus outbreak. She said the passengers are not required to stay at that hospital, but she's highly encouraging them to do so. Coming up, I'm going to talk with the Hantavirus expert. What needs to happen to contain this deadly virus, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:59:56]

TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, 18 passengers from that Hantavirus stricken cruise ship are back in the United States and at least one has tested positive for the virus. Another is experiencing --