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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Senate GOP Furious Over Trump's Anti-Weaponization Fund; Taiwan Says It Has Not Been Told by U.S. of Arms Sales Pause; AAA Says, 45 Million People Expected To Travel For Holiday; Kevin Warsh Sworn In As Fed Chair At Pivotal Moment For Economy; Poll: 30 Percent Think Attempt To Assassinate Trump Was Staged. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 22, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

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

This hour, a new report claims that a White House official tried to ban voting machines used in more than half of the states in the United States. Reuters detailing how this was part of a larger discussion about ways that the federal government could take control of elections away from the states. I'm going to get reaction from a Republican lawmaker in just moments.

Also, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. firing the leaders of a key health task force that decided which preventative services, such as mammograms or colonoscopies, Americans could get at no cost.

[18:00:11]

One of those fired doctors joins us live to explain what this could mean for your family's healthcare and why the group hadn't met in so long.

And we're ending our week with a heartwarming update to a story we brought you yesterday about that homeless veteran named Tom, who left his dog, Jake, at a fire station, and the crew embraced Jake, begging the crew to take care of Jake while Tom got the help he needs. And now the community is rallying around Tom. Wait until you hear how they're stepping up to help this veteran rebuild his life.

The Lead tonight, Republican lawmakers reaching a breaking point, Senate Republicans openly revolting against President Trump's $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund. The issue becoming so toxic for Senate Republicans, they didn't even vote on Trump's priority immigration package over fears they couldn't get enough votes to pass it.

And now the Senate has gone for their Memorial Day recess, leaving Trump fuming, and the fractures within the Republican Party do not necessarily stop there. Because after realizing they lacked the votes to stop a measure limiting Trump's war powers in Iran, largely because of absences, House Republican leaders abruptly canceled that vote, just barely shielding the president from yet another public defeat on Capitol Hill.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House. And, Kevin, how are Trump officials handling this growing backlash to President Trump's fund?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. It really seems as if they're still trying to get their arms around it. You know, officials I've talked to really seemed taken aback by this revolt among Republicans in the Senate, in part because this is not a place they are accustomed to being in. You know, we really haven't seen this kind of open rebellion in the Republican Party since really President Trump became the standard bearer of the GOP.

And I think, you know, Todd Blanche's appearance before the Republicans yesterday really just underscored that they were not anticipating a lot of this blowback. He went up there without any answers to the questions they had about exactly how this fund would work, and it essentially backfired spectacularly.

Now, when it comes to the fund, what officials are saying is that they don't expect to make any changes imminently, although the White House did say that they, quote, look forward to having additional conversations as needed. President Trump himself is offering, you know, quite a defensive stance on it, saying that he is helping others who are so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden administration receive, at long last, justice.

Now, obviously, the fund is just one issue that is dividing the White House and Republicans at the moment. You mentioned Iran. Obviously, that issue increasingly unpopular with the president's own party. You also have the ballroom that the president is asking a billion dollars for security after saying that there would be no taxpayer dollars that goes to its construction.

At the end of the day, this is kind of a numbers game. There are 53 Republicans in the Senate. The more Republicans that the president criticizes or endorses their challenger, the fewer Republicans who are going to feel obliged to feel loyal to him in any way or vote for some of these very, very critical priorities. So, clearly, a very toxic dynamic that is emerging that the White House still at this point I don't think has figured out how to solve.

TAPPER: All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House for us, thanks so much.

Republican Congressman Mike Flood of Nebraska joins us now. Congressman, I know you're not happy with the Senate leaving town before voting on Trump's broader immigration enforcement package. Senate Republicans clearly felt they didn't have enough votes to get it passed because of concerns about this so-called anti-weaponization fund. Especially concerning to so many of them is the idea that January 6th defendants who beat up cops could potentially get some of this money.

What are your thoughts about the fund?

REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): Well, first of all, you know, for the last couple of years, I've heard a lot of concerns from my constituents about the weaponization of the DOJ against pro-life activists, against people who stood up and were holding school boards accountable. So, I understand the sentiment is among, you know, a lot of Americans, especially pro-life Americans.

I was knee-deep in housing legislation last week, so I'm not fully read into this, but I can tell you one thing. Not one penny of any fund should go to anybody that was inside that Capitol fighting and violently attacking our police. That is a bridge too far. I don't know that that's even something that could happen. If it is going to happen, it needs to be stopped.

I disagreed with the pardons of J6 insurrectionists at the time. I said that. And I want to be very much on the record, none of those insurrectionists should have anything to do with that fund. In no way were they victims. They should have paid a price for that. And, you know, that's where I think a lot of people in the House are as well.

TAPPER: Yesterday, House Republican leaders abruptly canceled this vote that would limit Trump's war powers in Iran just as Republicans appear to be on the verge of losing the vote because of absences.

[18:05:06]

I want you to take a listen to Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts on the House floor right around the time that the vote was pulled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM MCGOVERN (D-MA): Are we not voting on it because the American people are sick and tired of this illegal war that is costing tens of billions of dollars? Gas prices are through the roof. People can't afford -- people can't afford their groceries. Is that why you're pulling it? You guys don't have the guts or the balls to do this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The House will be in order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, I know Congressman McGovern wouldn't win an election if he ran against you in your conservative Nebraska district, but you're going to have a town hall soon, and I'm sure you're going to be hearing about high prices and the Iran war and not because people are happy about either one of them.

FLOOD: Well, prices are too high. I mean, the gas price is too high. Grocery prices are high. I don't like any of that, and I want to be straight up and acknowledge that. I also don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don't want them to have a dirty bomb. I don't want it to get into our country on our soil or be used against our allies.

And so, you know, we did see prices come down substantially last year. President Trump and we all celebrated the reduction in gas prices. We've been investing in energy independence. We've been making the kinds of decisions that will long-term put us in a good position. But you and I both know this is connected to the conflict in Iran, the strait, and everything that's happening there. I want that solved as soon as possible. And, you know, the other thing that comes with that, let's say it does get solved next week. It's still going to take another month or two just to get all that traffic moving in that important corridor. So, this is not over right away, but I do see light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm hopeful that we can land the plane and finish this operation in Iran.

TAPPER: You know, I've talked to experts on the war in Iran who have said, you know, the issue as to why previous presidents didn't give the orders to go to war in Iran the way that President Trump did starting on February 28th this year isn't because President Trump is courageous and they were weak. It's because every time there was a war game about such a military conflict, it ended in a morass that the United States could not extricate itself from. I mean, you must have heard the same thing as well.

Are you not concerned at all that the president doesn't know how to end this?

FLOOD: For the first time in 50 years, we have a U.S. president that is not putting up with their -- call it whatever it is. We're not putting up with it anymore. Instead of sending them a plane full of cash to let Iran continue to invest in terrorism, look at what this president has accomplished together with Israel against Hezbollah, against Hamas. Think about the conversations we were having 24 months ago after that brutal attack in Israel. We have made substantial progress.

This country has been funding it. They have to be held accountable. We have made some great strides. And, listen, nothing happens overnight, certainly. We would like the same situation of Venezuela to repeat itself in the Middle East. That isn't happening right now, but it's going to happen. We will be fine long-term, and the prices will come down.

Americans are paying more at the pump, and we have to be very seriously combating that. And I do think the president cares quite a bit about that, but he's also not going to cut and run. I mean, look at what we did in Afghanistan.

Now, these are two very different situations, but nobody I talk to -- and I just got a haircut earlier this afternoon. My barber said, listen, we've got to finish the job. We're there. We've got to finish the job with this country that has vowed death to America, and the prices will come down. So, I do think, especially older voters that have been dealing with this their entire adult life, they want this handled and they want to move on.

TAPPER: Reuters is reporting that last year, Trump's election security czar, Kurt Olson, tried to ban Dominion voting system machines by asking whether the Department of Commerce could declare their components national security risks. Reuters said that the plan ultimately collapsed, but that this official was trying to invalidate these voting machines ahead of November's midterms. What's your reaction? FLOOD: Well, I think states should run their own elections. I don't -- under Joe Biden, I didn't want the federal government telling us how to run elections, and it doesn't matter who's in the White House. This is something that's reserved to the states. I live in a state where I have a high degree of confidence that our elections are safe and fair.

We just saw a very bitter primary in the second Congressional district, and the Democrat who lost and was in second place had the confidence that the votes were accurate and conceded within a couple of days after the election.

So, I have all the confidence in the world that states that take it seriously and you can believe in the results. And I also think we should be giving them extra resources to make sure that election integrity remains a top priority. It doesn't matter what party you're in.

[18:10:00]

It doesn't matter if you're even with a party. Everybody wants election results that you can believe and you can trust.

TAPPER: Republican Congressman Mike Flood of Nebraska, thank you, sir. Good to see you. Hope you have a meaningful Memorial Day weekend.

FLOOD: You too. Have a good weekend.

TAPPER: This week, President Trump said he would speak to the leader of Taiwan in what would be an unprecedented move. U.S. and Taiwanese presidents have not spoken directly since 1979. If you were wondering, I was ten years old. So, will this call happen? I'll ask the Taiwanese ambassador to the United States next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our World Lead, we're going to take you to Taiwan, where leaders say they have heard nothing from the United States regarding the hold on the planned $14 billion of U.S. arms sales to the island democracy. That's despite the fact that America's acting Navy secretary said this just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've not spoken to the Taiwanese. However, we are -- we have done some military -- foreign military sales to them.

[18:15:00]

It's just right now we're doing a pause in order to make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury, which we have plenty, but we're just making sure we have everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining us now to discuss, Taiwan's ambassador to the United States, Alexander Yui. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it.

How shaken is Taiwan's confidence in the U.S. following what you just heard there?

AMB. ALEXANDER YUI, TAIWANESE AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Thank you, Jake, for having me on your program. Well, as you mentioned at the beginning, we haven't heard anything of the sort as, you know --

TAPPER: About the hold or --

YUI: About the hold, no. We haven't heard anything from that yet. So, as far as we know, it's the same as what everybody else has heard, which is President Trump will make a decision on the arms sales fairly soon. And we are obviously expecting and hope that we will get the arms sales because we need the arms sales to maintain a strong defense for Taiwan.

TAPPER: But, I mean, this is pretty unprecedented, the idea that it's even a decision to be made, not to mention the fact that the president said that he discussed this with Xi Jinping when consultation is specifically one of the principles that the U.S. committed to not do with China.

YUI: Well, as far as we know, again the important take from President Trump's visit to Beijing on Taiwan is -- which has been repeated by President Trump himself, by Marco Rubio, and many officials afterwards, including Ambassador Greer, et cetera, Ambassador Waltz in the U.N., that there is no change in U.S. policy on Taiwan. Before, after the trip, there's been the same, and we take their word for that. And we are reassured that there's no change in U.S. policy on Taiwan.

TAPPER: So, Taiwan is not reevaluating its own defensive positioning at all?

YUI: I mean, there's -- it's a -- again, our communications with United States is very fluent, it's concurrent. So, discussions about how to beef up Taiwan security is also in the constant communications. So, it's not that it's once set and it stays, you know, because we're constantly also to update our strategies, our -- you know, how to defend the island with asymmetric warfare, for example, how does a small country defend against a big one such as Ukraine? So, we're all constantly taking different approaches and recommendations. So, it's an ongoing process.

TAPPER: President Trump has now twice suggested that he might be willing to talk to Taiwan's President Lai. Has anyone from the White House reached out at all to arrange that call?

YUI: Well, I think I'll leave it to the United States to make any announcements. I mean, we -- again, the fact that President Trump, President Xi talked about Taiwan, and I think extensively during his two-day stay in Beijing, we are the stakeholders, Taiwan. So, I think it's appropriate and reasonable that also at high level communications be held between Taiwan and United States. TAPPER: Would President Lai be willing to sit down with President Xi of China as Taiwan's opposition leader did recently, if given the opportunity?

YUI: Of course. Our president actually during the last few days have mentioned in his statements that, you know, first of all, we want to keep the status quo in the Taiwan Straits. We're not the aggressors. We're not to change anything. The name of my country is Republic of China. The flag is the one that's flowing behind me, or one that's here in your program. We're not intending to change anything. There's no independence movement per se. You know, everything is as is.

But -- and he's willing to talk to the mainland Chinese, you know, leader if need be, but has to be on an equal footing of mutual respect. It's not as, you know, you're the breakaway province talking to the central government. That's not acceptable. But talking is good, the same way he's been talking -- Xi Jinping's been talking to leaders of different parties in the Kuomintang Party in Taiwan.

The problem with People's Republic of China is they still think that Taiwan is an outpost a hold of the KMT faction in Taiwan. It's a continuous fight that the CCP Communist Party and KMT engaged 77 years ago. So, somehow, they're unwilling to talk to other political parties because they cannot accept the fact that Taiwan is a democracy.

TAPPER: Right.

YUI: We have elections, and the ruling party right now is called the Democratic Progressive Party, and they refuse to do that because they acknowledge again that it's a KMT holdout, and that's how they treat Taiwan. But, again, they have to realize that we have evolved, and, actually, we've never been subject to each other. We're not subordinate. You know, the Republic of China and Taiwan is not subordinate to the People's Republic of China and vice versa. So, we have to talk, willing to, as equals.

Taiwan's Ambassador to the United States Alexander Yui, thank you so much for being here.

[18:20:00]

I appreciate it.

YUI: Thank you, Jake, for having me on your show.

TAPPER: It's going to be a wet and stormy holiday weekend for millions of Americans. We're going to check in with the CNN Weather Center for the latest forecast, as well as with our team at the United States' busiest airport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In the National Lead, a live look at Springfield, Virginia, just south of D.C. AAA predicts this Memorial Day weekend will set a record for travel with some 45 million people going out of town, and of course, they're paying a lot for it because the national average for gas is at $4.55 a gallon. That's the second-highest average to ever start a Memorial Day weekend.

And hour -- right now, it's this hour is not a good time to start that travel.

[18:25:01]

This evening is thought to be one of the very worst times to get on the road. And given higher airfare this year, airports are also quite busy.

CNN's Ryan Young is giving us the situation from Atlanta's Hartsfield- Jackson International Airport.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we know this is basically the official start of summer. The holiday season is in full swing. Look at the lines behind us here at the airport. This is Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and we've seen the security checkpoint lines. You see them, 3, 1 minute, 16 minutes, different from what we've seen in the past in terms of all the people who crush this airport during that government shutdown.

As we walk this direction, you can see how the lines have sort of filtered their way out here. Also, 39.1 million people expected to hit the roads, so it's not just air travel, but the economy has been impacting people as they decide to hit the roads or hit the airways. We talked to some passengers who are excited about this summer starting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we're all teachers, and we're -- we just got out of school about a couple hours ago. And we're traveling to New York City.

YOUNG: So you weren't afraid of hotel prices? You weren't worried about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. We work hard.

YOUNG: Were you worried at all with prices being up or dealing with holiday travel at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, actually, we're always concerned about that, but it's my niece's graduation, so we had to make it happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, the lines are here, and I can tell you, even the folks that we talked to said they are aware that prices are higher, but they are so excited about hitting the road for summer. Jake, they tell us, what else are they going to spend their money on, because at this point, they want something to look forward to.

TAPPER: All right, our thanks to Ryan Young.

And as for the weather, many of us are going to see a soggy holiday weekend. Let's go to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar for the forecast. Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is going to be a soggy holiday weekend for many folks in the eastern half of the country, widespread rainfall totals of one to three inches, but it's not out of the question to get four, five, or even six inches, especially in some of those areas where you get the thunderstorms that have the downpours.

Now, Saturday, early morning, the focus is really going to be across the northeast and the mid-Atlantic. But by the afternoon and the evening hours, you really start to see more of those showers and thunderstorms firing up in the southeast, specifically closer to the Gulf Coast.

By the time we get into Sunday, you've still got a lot of those widespread showers across the northeast and up and down the eastern seaboard, but, once again, you still have a lot of these showers and thunderstorms right there along the Gulf Coast.

Those same trends will continue into Monday as well. It's the rain showers and the extra cloud cover that are actually going to keep temperatures well below average for places like Atlanta, Raleigh, D.C., New York, Boston, all of them looking at least 10 to 20 degrees below average.

However, out into the west, it's quite a different story, where temperatures are 10 to 15 degrees above average for the holiday weekend.

TAPPER: All right. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

The World Health Organization gave an update on the Ebola outbreak today, calling the situation on the ground deeply worrisome and likely much worse than we know. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: In our Health Lead today, the World Health Organization raised the Ebola threat level to very high in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The disease is spreading rapidly inside Congo with more than 700 suspected cases and at least 177 deaths.

Outside the country, health officials say the global risk remains low, at least as of now. The WHO says there is a possible antiviral treatment that could be used by people who were exposed to Ebola to prevent the disease from developing.

In our Health Lead, the two doctors who led the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force were fired last week by Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. That task force determines what preventive care, such as, for example, mammograms or colonoscopies, what preventive care Americans can receive at no cost. But this task force has not met in more than a year, and half of the 16 seats are, as of now, unfilled. Joining me now is one of the doctors fired by RFK Jr., John Wong. He's a general internist at Tufts Medical who had served as the chair of the task force. Dr. Wong, thanks for coming on.

I want to play what RFK Jr. said last month about the task force when asked by House lawmakers what he was doing about getting federal investments and research to translate into stronger detection and diagnosis of chronic disease. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: That task force has been lackadaisical. It's not been doing its job. If it had been doing its job, we would have early screening for Alzheimer's.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: But in the letter RFK Jr. sent you last week, he said your removal was the result of a review of the governance of the task force, and he added, quote, this action is administrative in nature and is unrelated to your performance or many years of dedicated service to the task force. It is not to be understood as a removal based on your leadership or contributions. To the contrary, the department is taking this step to help protect the task force and preserve confidence in the continuity and durability of its work, unquote.

So, what do you make of that reasoning?

DR. JOHN WONG, FORMER CHAIR, PREVENTIVE SERVICES TASK FORCE: You know, when I was told of our termination, I had a flood of emotions. The first was surprise, the second was disappointment, and then I became confused. I'd been a member of the task force for five years. I'd been part of the leadership chair group and, as you mentioned, had just become chair in March. And it recognized, you know, for me, I'd been volunteering my time with thousands of hours devoted to reviewing evidence and the latest research to make recommendations to help keep people healthy.

And then why was this happening? I then became worried. The task force has always had chairs. Now, there were no chairs, and, historically, the chairs have been on the task force for at least four years.

[18:35:02]

None of the remaining members have had four years of experience. Chairs have historically had deep knowledge.

And I began to become worried and ask, you know, why would they want to create instability for an institution for patients who are cared for by primary care clinicians who rely on our task force recommendations to keep them healthy and --

TAPPER: So, why hasn't the task force met in more than a year?

WONG: Well, our three in-person meetings were postponed and they have not occurred. I can say that we meet weekly virtually. So, we continue to do the work. We did as much work as we possibly could on each of the statements. In fact, we've had a number of recommendation statements that have stalled at various stages.

TAPPER: So, RFK Jr. says he wants to make the, change the makeup of the task force beyond primary care physicians. They want specialists, including anesthesiologists, cardiologists, oncologists, radiologists, obstetricians to consider serving on the task force. Is that a good idea?

WONG: Let me just start by saying, you know, the task force historically has been comprised, as you mentioned, by 16 primary care clinicians. We have experience and expertise in evidence-based medicine and preventive health. The experience we have is in primary care. Our recommendations are for primary care clinicians. We make those recommendations based on evidence that we determine to help people to live longer, healthier lives.

Now, when you think about our recommendations, we have over 80 of them, and they range from babies to older adults. And to be very clear, we always consult specialists who are relevant to our recommendations, and greatly appreciate their expertise.

You mentioned mammography. Breast cancer specialists, for example, are incredibly important for breast cancer mammography, and we want to hear from them. And I will say, we do hear from them. But, for example, when it comes to the makeup of the task force as a whole, what would they say about the recommendations that we do for, say, vision screening in kids, you might ask?

TAPPER: Yes, it makes sense.

WONG: And what might that do going forward?

TAPPER: Dr. John Wong, thank you so much. I appreciate it, sir.

The new chairman of the Federal Reserve was sworn in today as Americans are grappling with inflation, high gas prices, climbing mortgage rates. Will Kevin Warsh bring major changes to the Fed? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, former President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, sat down with conservative podcaster, anti-Semite, and conspiracy theorist Candace Owens. She's obviously known for many wildly insane statements.

In the wide-ranging interview, Hunter Biden talked about his drug addiction, and at one point defended Owens for questioning the government's account of Charlie Kirk's assassination. Candace's questioning includes deranged suggestions that there's been something nefarious about the behavior of widow Erika Kirk in all of this.

Here are just a couple of the things Owens has said unsupported by facts in her series, Bride of Charlie, I should note.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDACE OWENS, HOST, CANDACE: Straight to jail, straight to jail.

Look, I have seen enough, ladies and gentlemen. I've seen enough. Erika Kirk should be dragged into a police precinct for questioning.

I have a hunch, a growing hunch that Erika and Jeffrey Epstein may have crossed paths. Something is not sitting right with me about how she just keeps dancing around Jeffrey Epstein in her life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: This is not even the most offensive thing that Candace Owens has said in the last year, but we should note Erika Kirk is not even mentioned in the Epstein files, and, of course, there's no evidence she had anything to do with her husband's assassination.

Remarks about Kirk's assassination have earned Owens a defamation lawsuit from Charlie Kirk's former security chief. But given that that is the context of Candace Owens' comments and questions about Charlie Kirk's death, I want you to take a listen to Hunter Biden's take on Candace's campaign about Charlie Kirk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER BIDEN, JOE BIDEN'S SON: And the criticism of you for asking the questions for someone who was like a brother to you is like what the F are you talking about?

OWENS: Yes. That's the gaslighting.

BIDEN: Like what are you talking about?

OWENS: It's like, how dare you care?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: My panel's here to discuss this and more. I also want you guys to take a listen to Candace Owens and Hunter Biden questioning the assassination attempts against President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OWENS: We're supposed to believe he survived four, what do we have, four assassination attempts, the first president that's ever survived four assassination attempts.

BIDEN: Yes.

OWENS: They quietly, they lie to us about things.

I mean, even the recent White House Correspondents' Dinner, there was so much theater to it after, so much theater. And now it's kind of, okay, Secret Service maybe shot each other, and we're just going to kind of quietly move on, but Trump needs the ballroom.

BIDEN: By the way, it's going to cost a billion dollars now, and, by the way, it's not from donors. And, by the way, we're going to do it. Like it's just like it's just the constant, like talk about gaslighting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Kate?

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, Kate.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. It's terrible. It's terrible. Lifting up these kinds of conspiracy theories is extremely irresponsible. She's somebody who fans the flames of these, you know, dangerous, unfounded conspiracy theories. This is a huge part of the problem. I think the expansion of media into, you know, independent journalists, podcasters, there's a lot of value to it. There's a lot of voices that get lifted up that, you know, haven't previously been lifted up, and I think there's a lot about it that's very good for our democracy.

[18:45:04]

TAPPER: Of course.

BEDINGFIELD: This is not. And she, you know, raising these kinds of things and Hunter using his platform to validate them, it's -- that's troubling. And by the way, we didn't even play some of the, like, hideous antisemitic things that including -- up to and including like elements of Holocaust denialism.

And so, you know, I think just normalizing her -- you know, I hate to see Hunter doing that.

TAPPER: What -- what do you make of this?

GOLDBERG: I -- there are a lot of people who like in the extended tucker universe cinematic universe, right? That I can criticize and I can argue with and all that kind of stuff. I actually think Candace Owens has straight up mental health issues and, and she's one of these people who, you know, she, if you were going to put a poster child for, do your own research, it would be Candace Owens, right? She Googles like, give me famous antisemitic things to repeat. And then she brings out things like the Talmudic Jew and all of this like hateful, like 19th century, 20th century stuff that she rehabilitates.

TAPPER: Yeah, the elders of Zion stuff.

GOLDBERG: Yeah. And so it's -- it's someone who I think has legitimate mental, like bipolar mental health issues, talking to a self-confessed crackhead. And the one thing that brings them, it's sort of the -- it's the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact for morons, right?

And the thing that brings them together is this desperate need for attention. And the fact that they get attention for saying this stuff is its own reward. But all of this stuff the Candace Owens says all this stuff about, you know, the assassination of Charlie Kirk. There's -- it used to be in our life, you could have left wing, right wing media and all that kind of stuff. The thing that would drive the conversation about an assassination or assassination attempt would be this thing called a courtroom, where people were obliged to follow the laws, the rules of evidence, and bring facts. There is a trial of the actual assassin going on, but none of this has to do with Israel.

TAPPER: Candace has been harassing Erika Kirk, who's the --

GOLDBERG: Relentlessly.

TAPPER: -- the widow of Charlie Kirk. And it's the most deranged thing. I was just so surprised to see Hunter like.

BEDINGFIELD: And one thing --

TAPPER: Like justifying and supporting her campaign.

BEDINGFIELD: Right. Well, and one thing I would say, you know, you raised these issues with drugs and he has spoken and speaks very movingly about the challenges that he's been through. And so that was part of why it was particularly disappointing to me to see him do it on this platform. I think he's very honest and very candid about the struggle he's been -- struggles that he's been through, and I think that that has probably helped some people.

And I think that he is able to connect in a way that actually, I think is moving and important. I hate him doing this with her in a way that validates the insane, outrageous things that she says.

TAPPER: Also think, Hunter's wife is Jewish, and she's sitting down and posting, offering credibility to one of the modern world's most notorious anti-Semites.

Anyway, lets move on to actual people of importance. Kevin Warsh sworn in as Fed chair as a pivotal moment for the U.S. economy.

Here's President Trump talking about his new Fed chair.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want Kevin to be totally independent. I want him to be independent and just do a great job. Don't look at me. Don't look at anybody. Just do your own thing and do a great job. Thankfully, unlike some of his predecessors, Kevin understands that when the economy is booming, it is -- that's a good thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He wants complete independence.

BEDINGFIELD: Sure. And you see how he is reading. He's not even looking up, right? We're hearing these words because he's looking at the page and he knows he needs to say them. The first time he's asked about this, where he speaks off the cuff, I suspect were going to hear something very different. I mean, don't forget, Jerome Powell was a Trump appointee as well.

TAPPER: Yeah. I mean, Trump would say --

BEDINGFIELD: Trump has been --

TAPPER: He should cut interest rates. He should cut them right now. I mean, I would say --

BEDINGFIELD: That he's been very, very clear about what he wants to see from his fed chair --

GOLDBERG: There's also the problem, which I'm only marginally joking, maybe not even joking at all. I don't think at some level Trump understands how the Federal Reserve works.

TAPPER: Oh, of course not.

GOLDBERG: And the thing is, is that Jerome Powell does not set interest rates. It's a vote. And you need --

TAPPER: The committee.

GOLDBERG: With a committee and like, like, and there's a process to it. And it's only one kind of interest rate. It's just the overnight thing that they deal with. Kevin Warsh could be a total lickspittle. I don't think he is, but he could be a total loyalist lickspittle just following orders, a remote control automaton. He could not by himself change interest rates, particularly not now, when inflation is rising.

And so I think Trump is destined to be really disappointed with Warsh. And Warsh is going to have an unpleasant time.

TAPPER: Quickly. At today's swearing in, Justice Thomas, who administered the oath of office, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, at the same time, the court is considering a case challenging Trump's attempt to fire a different Fed governor, Lisa Cook. Conflict of interest?

BEDINGFIELD: The optics are not great. I mean, no, I think that's not ideal.

TAPPER: Yeah. Thanks to both of you.

We'll be right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:54:13]

TAPPER: Tomorrow marks four weeks since a gunman tried to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents Association dinner here in Washington, D.C. As it turns out, that's enough time for a third of the country to conclude that that isn't really what happened at all.

Of course, it is what happened. But here's CNN's Tom Foreman from the land of conspiracy theories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way. Move!

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Immediately after the attack at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, social media bristled with hundreds of thousands of posts.

"It's obviously staged." "It was all in the script." "Fake."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was not a real assassination attempt.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Now, polls show those doubters are still out in force. They are trending more Democratic and younger.

But some Republicans are also unsure if this really was an attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump.

[18:55:06]

And that's no surprise for Katie Sanders at "PolitiFact".

KATIE SANDERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, POLITIFACT: We've watched misinformation become more mainstream in the last couple of years, and the type of people, the background of people who are embracing disinformation has also changed, too.

FOREMAN (voice-over): So a lot of people reacted to this comment by the press secretary earlier in the evening.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It will be funny. It will be entertaining. There will be some shots fired tonight in the room.

FOREMAN (voice-over): She was explicitly talking about political shots in the president's upcoming speech, but questions rippled online. What did Karoline Leavitt know?

In the confusion of the moment, some early reports suggested the suspected gunman had been shot, killed or had fired numerous times himself. All of which fed the claims of fakery when none of it proved true, although it is normal in fast breaking news because people make mistakes.

INTERIM CHIEF JEFFERY CARROLL, DC METROPOLITAN POLICE: The suspect in this case, he was not struck by gunfire.

FOREMAN (voice-over): With Trump facing sharp disapproval over the war in Iran, soaring gas, grocery and housing prices, his ballroom and more, the idea of him bearing up bravely against a potential assassin struck some critics as just the kind of distraction the White House might want to fake.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wasn't worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world. FOREMAN (voice-over): After all, conspiracists say the assassination

attempt in Pennsylvania during the 2024 campaign produced one of the most striking political images in years and put Trump in a sympathetic light for many voters, even as he, too, has often pushed unfounded conspiracy theories.

SANDERS: He has helped fuel this storm, where people don't know what to think and don't know what to trust. And now, it's being used against him and people's belief in these narratives about attacks on him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: And when you throw in Trump's tendency to be dramatic and to say things that are patently false -- yeah, it's not surprising that some of the polls are running rampant with people saying there must be something else at work here, even though authorities, to be clear, say this was an authentic attempt on the president's life.

TAPPER: Anyway, speaking of the truth is out there, the Pentagon did release more UFO files today. What do they show? What stands out to you?

FOREMAN: Two weeks ago, we had them again. These are more modern releases now. More modern accounts. A lot of the videos are, dozens of them here seem to address modern things.

For example, one from 2021 from Syria. You see that dot in the middle there? That's the UAP that we're following. And there's a sudden acceleration that they talk about where it just sort of shoots off into nowhere, which they don't seem to be able to explain. We can't explain either because we don't know much about where this came from other than what it says on the video that was released.

Another one was over Lake Huron a few years ago, and the one over Lake Huron shows what appears to be an attack on it, where it gets blown apart here by something fired from a fighter jet up there. But again, we don't know much about it. There seem to be reports later that that might have been a weather balloon, sort of concurrent with that Chinese weather balloon thing out there.

But nonetheless, for people who are prone to be fascinated by this, this is enough to keep them fascinated.

TAPPER: Well, I'm fascinated.

FOREMAN: It keeps going.

TAPPER: CNN's Tom Foreman, thanks so much.

We want to end our week with a positive note, an update to a story we brought you yesterday. We introduced you to Jake the dog. His owner, Tom, a homeless veteran, left him at a fire station in fort worth, Texas, with a note explaining that he was a homeless veteran asking the firefighters to care for Jake while he got the help he needs. Jake quickly settled in at the firehouse, the crew saying he found the perfect recliner to nap in. He patiently waits for them to return from every call.

The community has stepped up to help Tom. The veteran Tom was gifted an RV camper yesterday where he will be able to live. The fire departments homeless outreach team has been helping tom get to his medical appointments and get the RV equipped with the necessities he needs.

The fire department says it's not clear what comes next in the story, but they did pass along this message from Tom. Quote, "Although never once looking for the attention he has gotten, Tom wants to express his overwhelming gratitude for the love and support he has received from not only our community, but from across the country," unquote.

Our thanks to Tom for his service to the firefighters, for everything they do on a daily basis, especially, of course, this deed with Jake and for the community rallying around a veteran in need.

Coming up Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION," I'm going to talk to Republican Senator Thom Tillis, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Democratic Senator Cory Booker. That's Sunday at 9:00 a.m. and noon Eastern on CNN.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and on TikTok @jaketapper. You can follow the show on X and Instagram @TheLeadCNN.

If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can watch the show on the CNN app.

I hope you have a very meaningful Memorial Day weekend. I will see you Sunday morning on "STATE OF THE UNION".

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.