Return to Transcripts main page
One World with Zain Asher
U.S. Attorney General: Gunman Acted Alone; U.S. and Iran to Attend Next Round of Talks in Rome on Friday; Fallout from Deadly DC Shooting; Two Israeli Embassy Staffers Fatally Shot Near, Jewish Museum; One World Talks to Authors of Book on Biden's Decline; Bombshell Book on Biden's Health Rattles Democrats. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 22, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: All right, investigators are searching for answers after two Israeli Embassy Staffers were gunned down.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: "One World" starts right now. We'll have new details about the young couple killed in this attack.
ASHER: Plus, Iran and the Trump Administration are saying they will send a team to Rome for nuclear talks on Friday. We'll take you live to Tehran for
the very latest.
GOLODRYGA: And a new book details growing concern from Democrats donors and even some of President Biden's closest advisers about his decline in the
final year of his presidency. The Authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson will join us to discuss their new book, "Original Sin". Hello, everyone.
Live from New York. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. You are watching "One World". He acted alone that is the latest from the Attorney General as authorities continue to investigate
the killing of two Israeli Embassy Staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., last night. Just moments ago, Pam Bondi also
said the suspect will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Everything we know now this is an ongoing investigation, but whether you're Jewish or not, be vigilant. You know,
this is the last thing these two young people, they were at a religious event right around the corner from where we're standing, a religious event
with friends and with coworkers.
They walked outside to go home and were gunned down. That cannot happen in our community, and this is the day where we all need to come together, no
matter what religion we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: According to police, Israeli Embassy Staffers, Yaron Lischinsky & Sarah Milgrim, were leaving an event there when the gunman approached
them and opened fire. Witnesses tell CNN that after the -- after the event, the suspect Elias Rodriguez, turned himself in, and he made him motive
known.
ASHER: Another witness describes talking to Rodriguez when he entered the museum pretending to be a bystander.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAIGE SIEGEL, WITNESS AT THE SCENE: I say, do you know where you are? He doesn't say anything. And I say, you're at like a Jewish Museum.
Immediately, he takes a few steps back, and he starts yelling, I did it. I did it, talking about shooting and killing the innocent people outside who
had just attended the event, who had just left. And he screaming I did it. I did it. I did it for Gaza. I did it for Palestine. Free Palestine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., says, Yaron Lischinsky had purchased an engagement ring and actually was planning to propose to his
girlfriend Sarah Milgrim next week in Jerusalem. He adds that they were a beautiful couple.
GOLODRYGA: Just a horrific story. CNN's Alex Marquardt is following this and filed a report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shock and outrage after two staff members at Israel's Embassy in Washington D.C. were shot and killed
on Wednesday evening. 30-year-old Yaron Lischinsky and 26-year-old Sarah Milgrim were an Israeli couple.
They were exiting an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when a person opened fire. Eyewitnesses say that he later pretended to be a witness.
PAMELA A. SMITH, WASHINGTON METEROPOLITAN POLICE CHIEF: We believe the shooting was committed by a single suspect who is now in custody. Prior to
the shooting, the suspect was observed pacing back and forth outside of the museum.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Eyewitness video obtained by CNN appears to show the suspect as he is taken into custody. Police have identified him as 30-
year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, who they say, turned himself in and shouted, free, free, Palestine while being handcuffed, as seen in this
video.
The FBI and D.C. Police have launched their investigation. The Israeli Embassy is assisting. The NGO Israel Aid, whose members were keynote
speakers at the event, said the gathering was focused on humanitarian aid, including for Gaza.
YONI RIVER KALIN, EYEWITNESS: I'm still in a bit of state of shock, but you know what started off as a night of humanity and love and connection turned
into this kind of horrific, atrocious nightmare.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Another eyewitness told CNN that the gunman went into the museum after the attack and then turned himself in, saying, I did
it for Gaza. Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., said the young couple who was killed was about to be engaged.
[11:05:00]
YECHIEL LEITER, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week
in Jerusalem. They were a beautiful couple who came to enjoy an evening in Washington's Cultural Center.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): President Donald Trump expressed his condolences to the victims' families, posting on social media quote these horrible D.C.
killings based obviously on anti-Semitism must end now. Hatred and radicalism have no place in the USA.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also condemned the killings, saying we are witnessing the terrible cost of anti-Semitism and the wild
incitement against the State of Israel. Netanyahu added that he has ordered reinforced security at Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide following the
killings. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Well, let's bring in CNN's Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, John Miller. So, John, we know that he acted alone. We know what
the motive was, but just walk us through where the investigation actually goes from here, because there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, what they're going to be do is -- doing is walking backwards through the life of
Elias Rodriguez. You know, as we saw from our Whitney Wild up in Chicago, FBI, agents are locking down his house executing a search warrant.
They're going to want to find computers, hard drives, thumb drives, phones, anything that will reveal not just whether he's been communicating with
anybody about this, also what kind of material he's been consuming, whether it's radical websites or terrorist groups that use the internet to call for
specific acts of violence?
They're really going to have to do a deep dive going backwards to A, ensure he was working alone and B, try and get a sharper picture of where this
motive comes from. What they knew was he was part of the Chicago protest community that protested Israeli action in Gaza, but no violence associated
with him, no arrests from the Chicago Police, no contact with the police in Washington prior to this, so he emerged from the shadows.
GOLODRYGA: And as we heard from witnesses there, he had said he did this for Gaza. John, I know that a manifesto has been found, believed to be
belonging to the suspect. You have been combing through it. What does it include?
MILLER: It's long. It is articulate, but essentially, he says that he was encouraged by the size and force of the protest movement against Israeli
actions in Gaza, but that over time, he grew frustrated and hopeless because ceasefires went away. Body counts continued to climb, and he did
not feel that protest alone, legitimate, legal, First Amendment protected protest was moving the needle.
So, he essentially said, you know, I know this may sound funny, but this thing isn't crazy. It was the only right thing to do, in essence, trying to
justify this terrible, violent, tragic murders.
ASHER: John Miller, live for us there. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Well, the event the couple attended was put on by the American Jewish Committee, and later in the show, we'll talk to the Head of that
Organization, Ted Deutch. That's in about 20 minutes time.
ASHER: All right, the massive tax and spending bill that central Donald Trump's second term agenda now head to the Senate after clearing a major
hurdle on Capitol Hill.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, it was all hugs and high fives for Republican lawmakers on the House floor earlier after the vote passed mainly along party lines.
Legislation includes measures that would deeply cut into Medicaid and food stamp programs, and it was -- it would extend trillions of dollars in tax
breaks from 2017 and add some new ones.
Critics say the bill will lead to exploding federal deficits. Here's how the top House Democrat described it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): This is one big, ugly bill that House Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people,
under the cover of darkness. This legislation will not make life better for the American people. The GOP tax scam represents an assault on the economy,
an assault on health care, an assault on nutritional assistance, an assault on tax fairness and an assault on fiscal responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The House vote marks a major victory for the U.S. President who has signed more than 150 executive orders, but only few pieces of legislation
since January.
[11:10:00]
CNN's Manu Raju joins us live now on Capitol Hill. So major victory for the president. A lot of people underestimated Speaker Johnson. They proved
everybody wrong. They managed to get this through. Obviously, it now heads to the Senate. Take us through what's happened here?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, there's each step is getting successively harder in order to get this to the president's
desk, in big part because they had the narrowest of majorities in the United States House. Narrow majority in the Senate, too, but particularly
in the House.
Speaker currently affords to lose three Republican votes along straight party lines. Yesterday, he lost three Republican votes. Two of them voted
no. One of them voted present because that person voted president. Voted present, that Congressman that allowed them to pass this by just one vote.
And this is the result of intense negotiations for days and weeks and months and culminating, ultimately, in cutting deals with different
factions of his conference. Some of the more moderate members were concerned about how different tax issues were dealt with, and also
concerned about the push by some of the hard-line members for deeper spending cuts.
Ultimately, the leadership decided to agree with the more moderate members pushed back against some of those cuts by some of the more hard-line
members. And then the president came in late to try to convince those conservatives to fall in line. And ultimately the president won out and
getting some of those members to fall in line with some but not as many concessions as they would like.
But now it has the United States Senate. That's where things will get dicey, because Senators have their own ideas. Many of them are -- plan to
at least push to change those cuts that those hard-line members had pushed for, and some of them, including Senator Lindsey Graham, issued this
warning to me earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Some of the Freedom Caucus Members are warning you guys not to water down any of their cuts. What do you say to them?
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): You had your chance that -- there's some of these cuts are not real. And we're talking about over a decade. You know,
if you do a trading and a half, that's like a percent and a half. So, let's don't get higher on a horse here that we've somehow made some major
advancement of reducing spending, because we did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And that's going to be the real question here is, what can actually get through the United States Senate? How much will be changed in terms of
the spending cuts and the overall structure of this bill? And then can they get the votes in the Senate which is broken down, 53, 47 a Republican
advantage, meaning they can lose three Republican votes in the Senate side.
And already there are more than three Republicans are voicing significant concerns over different aspects of the bill. So, something will have to
change here. What can change? What can get big pass? And what ultimately will pass muster with the United States House, because the House wants to
get final approval again, all huge questions in the weeks ahead, guys.
ASHER: Yeah, major victory, though, as he pointed out, for the president the speaker, especially because they managed to get Chip Roy, who a lot of
people thought were -- was a hard no. Manu Raju live for us there.
GOLODRYGA: So, razor thin one vote difference. All right, still ahead, a fifth round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over its nuclear
program is set to begin in Rome this week, we'll have a live report from Tehran.
ASHER: Also, aid is finally beginning to trickle into Gaza for the first time since early March. But is it enough to forestall the worsening
humanitarian crisis there? We will have a live report for you from the region as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:15:00]
ASHER: All right, Iran and the USA, they'll attend nuclear talks in Rome tomorrow.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, the fifth round of talks is aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. In March, President Trump
set a 60-day deadline for talks to succeed. Now, a source tells CNN Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will be among those heading to Rome for the talks.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now live from Tehran. What are officials in Iran saying ahead of the fifth round of talks now, Fred?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, they certainly are a little bit angry at the Trump Administration, and
specifically at the Trump Administration's negotiator, Steve Witkoff, one of the things that the Iranians have been saying is they feel they've been
getting some mixed messaging from the Trump Administration.
But then also some of the public statements they say is not something that they feel is necessary or something that benefits the negotiations. Of
course, we have heard from President Trump, who simply kept saying that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, as he put it.
But then Steve Witkoff coming out this weekend, saying that Iran is not allowed to have, as far as the U.S. is concerned, any nuclear enrichment at
all. And that, of course, the Iranians have said is a red line for them. They say that they have a right to nuclear enrichment. They say that it's
something that they've built up over the years, that it's important for them. They keep saying also that their nuclear program is purely civilian
in nature.
And as you can imagine, on the streets of Tehran, these are such high stakes negotiations that are going on. Many people are talking about this
and following this very closely. We went on the streets today and spoke to some folks. Here's what they told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be a situation. They're going to put Iran into a corner, and they're going to be so much demand that Iran cannot give
and it's going to fail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Iran, the economic situation is not good for people, and we are in impression, and I hope, I think, most of the people,
we hope that maybe it's possible.
PLEITGEN: Do you think there's a chance of success still?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so, because our decision is clear that we should have our nuclear power not for using it for -- I don't know weapons
for -- I don't know killing people. We just need it for our power. I don't know for our energy, just for that. And he says we have to stop that. Why
we should do that? He says that we are going to sell you that energy from another country. Why we should do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: So, as you can see here, some people very hopeful that the negotiations could come to some sort of successful conclusion. Other people
quite skeptical. Of course, a lot of the folks that we were speaking to, they went through ups and downs as far as the relationship between the
United States and Iran is concerned.
Of course, they know that in the past, there has already been a nuclear agreement that a Trump Administration left that nuclear agreement. So
certainly, a lot of people very cautious, very careful about how they talk about all this. But I can tell you from having been in the city today that
is on many, many people's minds those negotiations that are happening tomorrow in Rome.
GOLODRYGA: All right, Fred Pleitgen, for us. Thank you so much. Well, humanitarian aid is finally beginning to trickle into Gaza for the first
time in weeks, but Senior UN Officials are warning that the supply is not enough.
ASHER: Yeah, trucks loaded with food and other life-saving supplies entered Gaza on Wednesday for the first time since Israel imposed a complete
blockade beginning March 2nd.
GOLODRYGA: We're learning that Israel's Prime Minister has called back its negotiating team from Qatar. This as Benjamin Netanyahu says the country
will not stop its military operation in Gaza. He vowed Wednesday that all of Gaza would be under Israeli control in his first press conference in
months.
ASHER: Yeah, the prime minister also says that Israel has probably killed Mohammed Sinwar, the de facto leader of Hamas, and has eliminated tens of
thousands of terrorists. This video provided by the IDF is said to show Sinwar in one of Gaza's tunnels. CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us live now
from Tel Aviv, Israel.
[11:20:00]
So, Jeremy, just in terms of getting this aid into Gaza, we know that aid has actually entered Gaza for the first time in about 11 weeks or so. What
do we know about whether it's actually getting into the hands of Palestinians as of yet?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right Zain. The first trucks of aid started to cross via the Kerem Shalom, crossing into
Gaza on Monday evening. But it wasn't until late last night that any trucks actually started to be driving through the Gaza Strip to distribution
points, including to bakeries.
But that has now indeed happened with more than 90 trucks of aid, mostly food, including flour, as well as baby food and nutritional supplements,
being brought to distribution points in Gaza late last night. Bakeries in central and southern Gaza immediately got to work baking bread overnight
and into today to try and meet the enormous need that currently exists in Gaza for just basic food at this point.
But you're right that there are still a number of questions about -- you know whether or not this aid is going to be enough? Whether it is going to
continue? And whether it is actually going to reach Palestinians in need in Gaza? So far that aid has only made it to southern and central Gaza, and in
quite limited quantities.
The question now is whether the Israelis will ultimately authorize these U.N. trucks to drive up to Northern Gaza to be able to distribute the aid
to hundreds of thousands of people who are currently there. That will be complicated by the fact that the Israeli military is issuing one evacuation
order after the next as its military advances on the ground in Northern Gaza.
So, keep an eye on that. Yesterday, an additional 100 trucks, according to the Israeli authorities, were cleared through the Kerem Shalom crossing. We
will see today whether, once again, that coordination between the U.N. and Israeli authorities allows those trucks to pass through and actually be
distributed in Gaza.
But at the end of the day, Israeli authorities have made quite clear that they will only allow for limited the very basic amount of humanitarian aid
that is needed inside of Gaza, which so far, humanitarian aid officials have described as a drop in the ocean of the enormous need that exists. So,
we are certainly seeing a ray of hope in Gaza, but the hunger crisis that exists there has yet to actually be solved.
GOLODRYGA: And Jeremy, how are Israeli officials responding to the murder of two Israeli Embassy Staffers last night in Washington, D.C.?
DIAMOND: Well, we have heard from a number of Israeli politicians, as well as from -- you know just average Israelis here who have been shocked and
horrified by the murder of these two Israeli Embassy Staffers outside of this Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
Israelis have already been quite wary of traveling abroad due to threats against Israelis abroad and rising global anti-Semitism. But this obviously
makes those fears much more real. The Israeli Prime Minister has -- you know blamed this on rising anti-Semitism. He has also -- you know tied it
to what he describes as blood libels against the State of Israel, and he vowed that Israel will continue to fight relentlessly against perceived
attacks against the State of Israel.
We are also seeing some political backbiting in Israel between the right and the left. Yair Golan, for example, the leader of a Left-Wing Party, has
said that he believes that it is the Netanyahu right wing government and its policies, in particular in Gaza, that are driving that rising anti-
Semitism around the world and making every corner of the globe, he said, a danger to Jews everywhere.
He was attacked by the Right-Wing Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as well as others who said that, yet Yair Golan's previous comments earlier this week
about the Israeli military's conduct in Gaza are responsible for this kind of attack and others like it.
So, we are seeing some of that kind of devolve into political back and forth here, but the Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, urging Israeli
politicians to not make this a political issue, to unite in the face of this clearly anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic attack that took place in the
American capital Bianna and Zain.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, one of those staffers, an American citizen. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much. And still ahead this hour, we'll speak to a
leader of the Jewish Community in Washington, D.C., after two people, those two people we were just talking about, were gunned down outside the Capital
Jewish Museum.
ASHER: Plus, forecasters out with a gloomy outlook for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:25:00]
ASHER: Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. Here some international headlines we're watching today. U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and
spending bill now heads to the Senate after clearing the House. The measure cuts deeply into Medicaid and food stamp programs while making permanent
the trillions of dollars in tax breaks passed during Trump's first term.
ASHER: Sean Combs' sex trafficking trial resumed earlier with testimony from the Music Mogul's Former Assistant George Kaplan testified he
witnessed Combs being violent with Girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a 2015 incident. Now Rapper Kid Cudi is on the stand testify about his brief
relationship with Ventura as well.
GOLODRYGA: A small plane crashed into the middle of a San Diego neighborhood early Thursday morning, setting cars and homes on fire. The
jet went down during foggy weather. Authorities say multiple people aboard the aircraft died in the crash.
ASHER: The U.S. Attorney General says a suspected gunman in a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. acted alone. Yaron
Lischinsky & Sarah Milgrim, a young couple about to be engaged, had just left an event at the Museum when they were gunned down Wednesday night.
GOLODRYGA: That event was hosted by the American Jewish Committee, and we're joined now by its CEO, Former Congressman, Ted Deutch. Thank you so
much for taking the time. I know it's been a very sad and busy morning for you, Ted.
You know, upon hearing news of these murders, I was gutted, heartbroken, devastated, obviously, for these two victims and their families. But if I
were to be honest with you, I wasn't that shocked or surprised. And we have been talking about the rise in anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic attacks over the
course of the last 10 years or so. But especially in light of the October 7th attacks and the subsequent war after that.
[11:30:00]
And our friend of the show, Amir Tibon, I think, put it really well in a piece that he wrote today. And he says calls to globalize the Intifada and
the glorification of Hamas, not in spite of but because of its atrocities on October 7th, has made an attack like this a matter of when and where?
And I'm wondering how you react to that Ted? What your initial thoughts were upon hearing this news? And how alarmed the Jewish Community should
be?
TED DEUTCH, CEO, AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: Well, thanks for having me. And I think your reaction was the same that so many of us had. That first and
foremost, we have to recall the memory of the lives lost this beautiful, sweet couple that I knew personally, that were so committed to the work
they do.
They love the -- they love the work they do. They were so committed that last night at our event, which was really focused on humanitarian
diplomacy, a night that was supposed to be so hopeful, it turned so tragic. They -- we have to remember them.
And then we have to acknowledge everything that you just said, which is when you allow people to -- and by allow, I mean when the world turns the
other way when people march down the street in support of Hamas, when they wear the garb of terrorists, when they chant the language of terrorists,
when they support the massacre of Jews.
There is little wonder that those words ultimately were going to have consequences. We knew it. We've been saying it, everyone's been saying it,
and yet there was this unwillingness for everyone to come together and to roundly condemn it and reject it.
And to understand that it's never just the Jewish Community that's harmed when there's anti-Semitism. It's our democracy, it's the values that we
cherish. That's what last night showed us. And this is the moment when all of the beautiful expressions of support that I and our community has
received from allies and friends in every corner of the world for which we are immensely grateful, where we take those words of support and we turn
them into action to fight against this millennial old hatred, once and for all.
ASHER: I echo your sentiments and Bianna's sentiments 100 percent. I imagine, for the Jewish Community, there is just so many mixed emotions
right now. There's the anger, right? There's the sadness. There's the -- there's this sort of question of, why -- you know? There's the
helplessness, because you can't reason with hate, right?
Hate, by its very nature, is irrational. And so -- you know when I first heard about this couple, and I looked into that backstory, being engaged or
about to be engaged, is literally supposed to be the happiest time in your life. There's this feeling of, obviously, she hadn't proposed yet, but he
apparently was about to.
There's this feeling of excitement, of potential, of possibility. You're -- you know filled with so much excitement about your future. And then, of
course, this happens. What do you say Ted to their family members? What would you say to their family members on a day like this?
DEUTCH: Well, my heart aches for their -- for their families, for the community. You're right. There's no -- there's just no way to understand
this. There's no -- there's no rationale for this kind of evil. What happened yesterday was the realization of the worst fears of the Jewish
Community.
And yes, we continue to come together. And importantly, yes, and even in the face of the concerns and the fear and the fact that this Shabbat, this
Saturday in synagogues around the world, there will be even a larger armed presence than there already is. The fact that we have to worry when we
gather together as Jews, that we become a target is bad enough.
But in the face of all of that, will be resilient and the community will stand and act boldly and proudly as Jews. That's throughout the entire
history of the Jewish people. That's what we've done. But now is the time to also realize that this doesn't just happen. It shouldn't just be the
Jews who are standing with our community.
We need everyone to understand that calls to globalize the Intifada are calls for violence. We've said it over and over, no one wanted to be proven
right. But here we are at this moment. My sympathy for these families and for the loss, the profound loss that they will feel for the rest of their
lives, has to be matched by a commitment within our community to honor their memories by standing strong and firm in support of ourselves, our
values.
[11:35:00]
The Jewish State of Israel, everything that we believe. That's how we go forward from this moment. And we look forward to having so many friends and
allies stand with us and rejecting the kind of vile anti-Semitism that we've seen grow and unchecked in so many parts of the world.
GOLODRYGA: To hear Sarah Milgrim's father say that they actually were concerned about her safety, upon hearing she was traveling to Israel. I
believe, just this weekend, and that was where this engagement was supposed to happen. That her parents were concerned about her safety there, as
opposed to here, speaks volumes.
And we talk about the rise in anti-Semitism, how pervasive it has been way beyond and way before October 7th? It was chilling that in 2017 as a
student in Kansas -- were graffitied on her public high school in Prairie Village, and she was a senior at the time, and she told a local television
station, quote, I worry about going to my synagogue, and now I have to worry about safety at my school, and that shouldn't be a thing.
And Ted that has become a natural thing, sadly, that we've had to accept as Jews in America and around the world just knowing that you go to services
and there's a police presence there. What can -- what can people do? What can, as you said, Jews are sadly prepared for this? What can ally and those
who want to support Jewish Communities and other marginalized groups that are susceptible to these types of attacks? What should they be doing?
DEUTCH: Well, I appreciate it. It starts -- it starts with zero tolerance. This isn't something and this is -- and recognizing that everyone has a
role to play. This fighting anti-Semitism and fighting hatred is not something that can be left to others. It's not something that we should
expect the government can solve on its own.
It's not something that we should expect religious officials should be able to solve on their own. It's something that requires all of us. When anti-
Semitism is normalized, when people turn away, when they turn away in the United States, to the kinds of rhetoric that we knew could lead to
violence, when they turn away, when someone in a bar in Philadelphia has a sign that says, F the Jews and others laugh?
When they -- when they just accept hatred of any kind as normal, that's when -- that's when we find ourselves in a moment like this. What can they
do? Zero Tolerance, no matter who you are, think about your friends, your neighbors who are Jewish. People that you know, that you work with.
Talk to them, help make them understand that you know this is a moment that is tough for them, but it's tough for you, also that it's tough for all of
us, that we cannot accept this. And that we won't accept this. And when you hear someone say something that's anti-Semitic, you should call it out.
And you should go -- you should go to ajc.org and look at translate hate to better educate yourself on what anti-Semitism is, and the fact that it's
not something that's sprung up on October 7th, it's something that we've sadly been dealing with for millennia.
With education and with a commitment to act, we can stand together to push the anti-Semitism that we've seen back to the margins, under the rocks,
where it rightfully belongs. That's what we need our friends and allies to do with us.
GOLODRYGA: Amen. And may Sarah and your own memories be a blessing. Ted Deutch, thank you so much.
ASHER: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: All right, well, the U.S. is bracing for another active hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
releasing its Atlantic hurricane outlook a short time ago.
ASHER: Now the agency is forecasting up to 10 hurricanes. Is up to five of them reaching major hurricane status. It's especially troubling forecast as
agencies like FEMA and NOAA are struggling amid massive cuts from the Trump Administration. CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us live now with
more. Derek, this is alarming to say the least.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, it's troubling. We're getting these new numbers, kind of dissecting the information here. First, let's start
with what is the average, the benchmark for an average season, and that would be 14 named storms. Look at what NOAA just released, somewhere
between 13 to 19 named storms. That's tropical storms or greater.
That is a named storm 39 miles per hour, roughly 68, kilometers per hour or greater. 6 to 10 of those should become a hurricane, with three of five --
three to five of them becoming major hurricane status. Now this doesn't indicate whether or not there will be impacts with land.
Of course, that's yet to be determined, but they're looking at a whole host of factors, and what they've seen here is a vast majority of their
information is telling them that it favors an above normal season.
[11:40:00]
This shading of green on this pie graph actually shows that chance of a below average season only at 10 percent. So, it highly favors this above
average season, and that is concerning considering the recent cuts that have impacted NOAA and the greater federal agencies.
So, let's look at the reasons why behind their decisions. So, we've got this, what is known as the ENSO, the El Nino Southern Oscillation. It has
to do with the water temperatures over the Central and Eastern Pacific Ocean. This influences weather patterns across the Atlantic hurricane
basin.
That's where we particularly care about here in North America, at least in the United States, and the Caribbean. The water temperatures there if
they're warm, it's known as an El Nino Season that suppresses hurricane activity. If they're cold, that's the cool season La Nina that actually
enhances Atlantic hurricane season.
Well, what they've noticed is that there's going to be kind of a neutral baseline in terms of these ENSO water temperatures across the Central
Pacific. And so, what are they seeing here that calls for an above average season? Well, it has to do with the water temperatures across the Gulf of
Mexico and this main development range.
They're running two to four degrees Fahrenheit, roughly 1 to 1.5 Degrees Celsius above average. So that's like jet fuel for hurricanes and tropical
cyclone development. So, talk about the month of June. June 1st, the official start of the hurricane season. This is the typical areas we would
see hurricanes or tropical systems develop.
Look at how the likelihood increases as we get into the months of July, August, September, of course, being the peak. And it all comes down to low
wind shear, the factors I talked about a few moments ago. And of course, the water temperatures, it's everything right.
Bianna, Zain here's a quick look at these names. I see Andrea, that's the first name, but I want to point out Dexter. Well, remember the show, don't
like to see that on this hurricane list of names this year.
GOLODRYGA: I don't see Zain on there.
(CROSSTALK)
DAM: Yeah. Let's see Zain that's a good thing.
ASHER: I would be a mild hurricane. I'd be very loving and --
(CROSSTALK)
DAM: -- great.
ASHER: It's been most houses, you know.
DAM: Come in slowly, right?
ASHER: Yes.
GOLODRYGA: All right, Derek Van Dam, thank you.
ASHER: Up next on "One World", the book that has Washington buzzing. What did Democrats know about Joe Biden's mental and physical decline during the
last presidential campaign. We're going to talk to our very own Jake Tapper and "AXIOS" Alex Thompson about their new book, "Original Sin".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
GOLODRYGA: A new book details never before heard moments behind the scenes as President Joe Biden's inner circle took drastic steps to hide his
decline.
ASHER: Yeah, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, it's cover up, and his disastrous choice to run again" was released on Tuesday. The book has
raised serious questions about how much top Democrats knew about the president's condition.
Joining us live now are the Co-Authors rather of that book, we've got our colleague, CNN's Jake Tapper, Host of "The Lead" and AXIOS's National
Political Correspondent, Alex Thompson. Jake, let me start with you. Just talk to us about the timeline, just in terms of writing this book.
Because normally it takes about a year to write a book. Then there's another year. I mean, I'm speaking from personal experience here, another
year in terms of the lead time as to when the book comes out. Obviously, there's a much different timeline for you just talk to us about what you
knew about Biden's decline when you knew it as it pertains to the election, and then the sort of sped up timeline in terms of the release of the book.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, THE LEAD: So, I knew what everybody knew, which was that he was aging, and there were uncomfortable moments that we saw in
front of the camera. But White House officials and top Democrats continued to assure everybody that he was fine. He was fine. He was fine.
I was shocked in person on the debate stage on June 27th, 2024 when he came out and was incoherent and incomprehensible. I was as shocked as anybody
else, not expecting his acuity issues to be that pronounced. I didn't start thinking about a book like this until right before the election once I
started to sense that the election was going to be won by Donald Trump.
And talking to Democrats, many of them blamed Joe Biden. They blamed him for making the choice to run for re-election despite his advanced age and
the acuity issues that were rearing their head in front of the cameras. And then, of course, the hiding of that cover up. That's why they blamed him.
So, a day before the election, I had on Alex on my show. I've long admired his reporting, and started booking him in 2023 he was pretty aggressive on
the Biden White House front. And I said, you know, I'm talking to Democrats. They're blaming Biden for this. I'd love to talk if Harris loses
tomorrow, which I think is going to happen.
We should -- maybe would you be interested in collaborating on a book? I'd seen friends of mine, like Maggie Haberman and John Martin and others,
collaborate with other reporters on books, and they really enjoyed the experience. Alex said, yes, you'd have to ask him how seriously he took it.
But after the election -- after the election, I sent him a proposal of, like, two or three pages. He said he was in and then we got to work, and it
was --
GOLODRYGA: That is a very fast timeline.
TAPPER: It's very fast. It was -- you know, we took time off in that period. I took -- you know Thanksgiving week and Christmas week, and Alex
took some time off also. And it was just all consuming. We interviewed more than 200 people, almost all of them Democrats and Biden supporters.
And almost all the interviews were done after the election, just like one or two exceptions. And that were just people that Alex had reported on in
real time for "AXIOS". Yeah, it was very intense. But one of the things when I was pitching the book to Alex and then to publishers, was we need to
get this out, I think in the spring, because I think that is when Democrats are really going to want to start having this conversation about what the
hell happened.
And we were -- you know interviewing people and writing the book before we had a publisher, and then we got a publisher. And, yeah, January -- I mean,
it was -- it was November, December, January, hand in the first draft, February, March, work on edits and fact checking. But yeah, it was a very
quick turnaround. We had to keep the book to 85,000 words max in order to have that turnaround.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, good luck editing that. And it's just a jaw dropping read. You two clearly work very well together and in terms of the soul searching
within the Democratic Party and the fact that this book coincided, sadly, with the announcement of the president's cancer diagnosis.
I think just asks more and more questions about what his true state was? And who knew what when? And I want to read one of the passages Alex that
stood out to me, one of the many that stood out to me. And it speaks to what people around the president seem to understand rather early on and
also accept.
And here it is, the presidency is about two things, making decisions and communicating those decisions to the American people. One Senior
Administration Official who worked closely with Biden told us that the president's decisions were always solid and deeply considered.
But the second part of that communicating those decisions that was never easy for him throughout his presidency. And in fact, it got worse. And then
someone else, even close to the president, a senior aide, said to you, Alex, that if the president had been interviewed the way he had by Jake
Tapper in 2022 for 15 minutes.
[11:50:00]
The next year, he just wouldn't have been able to do that. And we saw, as journalists, as Americans, before our own eyes, the deterioration of this
president. But what did it tell you Alex? How surprised were you to learn that those closest to him were willing to accept that he wasn't able to
communicate even what he was capable of, perhaps laying out his policy?
ALEX THOMPSON, CO-AUTHOR, "ORIGINAL SIN": Yeah, and the thing is that being a president is not just about making decisions. It's also about
communicating those decisions. And that people inside his administration, even starting in 2023 did not have confidence that he could, which is why
he did so few interviews, because they no longer believed that he was completely capable of doing them.
And they -- you know, they often explained it as, this is a new media strategy. You know, we don't really care. Old media doesn't -- you know
really matter as much. That was sort of their spin at the time. But the truth was, because he was -- he was dwindling.
And that also -- I mean, the sort of like, sort of shocking thing to us was not just that they recognized that he had diminished capacities, but they
were also fine with him serving for another four years till January of 2029 when who knows what his abilities would have been by then.
ASHER: Jake, before we leave you, I do have to ask you one final question. Obviously, as you know, there has been quite a bit of criticism and a
little bit of backlash to this book, just because some people are saying, well -- you know, how much did you know? When did you know it? Should you
have been more forthcoming?
Just given your figure, given what you do for a living, should you have been more forthcoming for the public about what you knew about Biden's
decline? Jake, is that criticism fair? Just give us your take on that.
TAPPER: Well, everything I knew about Biden's condition, I shared in real time. I didn't know anything more than most other reporters in Washington.
I saw Alex doing some aggressive reporting from the White House, and I booked him on my show, and I urged CNN to hire him, and I'm not going to
take all responsibility or credit for him becoming CNN Commentator, but it's some of it I deserve.
But sure, look, I mean -- I, along with most members of the legacy media, did not cover this sufficiently, did not push harder to find out more. And
I own that, and I think a lot of people in the legacy media should be talking about this just the way we did after the Iraq weapons of mass
destruction debacle.
There are times that the media does not step up to the plate, sufficient. He listens one of those times. I will say, all the stuff in this book is
stuff I learned after the election. And I -- if I had known that Donald that -- I'm sorry that Joe Biden didn't recognize George Clooney at that
event in June, at that fundraiser.
And that was why George Clooney -- you know, one of the reasons why he was prompted to write that op-ed calling for Biden to drop out. I would have
reported it at the time. Of course I would have, you guys know me, I'm metapolitically wired that way.
GOLODRYGA: Or he forgot his national security advisor's name.
TAPPER: Yeah, any of these things? Yes, any of these things. We found and look -- the media should take its lumps, and I'm not disputing that. But at
the end of the day, this was a concerted effort by the Biden family and top aides to lie to not only the media but and the American people, but to lie
to cabinet secretaries, to lie to their own White House officials, to lie to Democratic lawmakers.
And there's a reckoning that needs to come from them more, I think, than the news media. I'm not absolving the news media, but I think the liar --
the liars, should own the lies.
GOLODRYGA: Jake, I'm being wrapped for time, but I do want to ask you about that disastrous debate night. Obviously, you were moderating with Dana
Bash, and it was a train wreck for so many to watch in real time. A lot of people viewed it as disqualifying for Joe Biden at the time to run for
office.
You were asked about that night, and you said it was even worse being there in person. Can you just give us one or two examples as to why it felt even
worse in the moment being just feet away from him?
TAPPER: Just because, I mean, I've watched it now on my computer to write this book, and then obviously I experienced it. You should ask Dana too. I
wonder if she feels the same way. But it's just because it was in person. He was just he appeared even more lost, even more unable to have a coherent
thought or follow his own train of thought.
Unable to come up with words. It was -- it was honest. It was shocking. It was -- it was also sad. I mean -- you know, Joe Biden has beat so much, but
you can't out race father time. And, you know, there's a mortality aspect to all of this that I think is one of the reasons why it's so uncomfortable
for reporters to address and why some people in the public don't even want us to be talking about it.
[11:55:00]
But it was just so sad and so stark and so shocking in person.
ASHER: And of course, the Democrats that we interviewed, you and Bianna, literally the next day or the day after, was simply like, what do you --
what are you talking about? He was completely fine.
GOLODRYGA: He had a cold.
ASHER: Yeah. Look, we finally beat Medicaid. What do you mean that that line was a problem you know?
GOLODRYGA: Jake Tapper, thank you for joining us.
ASHER: Alex Thompson.
GOLODRYGA: Thanks for bringing us, Alex as a contributor too really, really great addition to CNN.
TAPPER: My greatest achievement.
ASHER: And I'm so impressed by the timeline with which he wrote that. But I mean, that is anyone who's written a book that is incredible.
TAPPER: Well, I'm glad you appreciate it, because my wife sure didn't.
ASHER: Give her our best.
GOLODRYGA: All right, "Original Sin" must read. Thank you so much. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
