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Family of Boulder Attack Suspect in ICE Custody; House GOP Leaders Speak After Musk Comments; Trump Frustrated with President Xi. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 04, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, a lot of Republicans have voiced concerns with CBO scoring practices in the past. You also have Senate Finance Committee Chairman Crapo making clear that he believes that a clean extension of the 2017 tax bill shouldn't be scored as increasing the deficit at all.

But those are some of the factors that are going to go into Republicans as they weigh this very, very precarious moment right now as they're trying to figure out what to do in the Senate, how much to change this bill, what to do in this bill. So, it's really an interesting moment given the fact that the CBO score coming now almost two weeks after the House passed their piece of legislation two weeks ago.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Lauren Fox, thanks so much. Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And also happening right now, the family of the suspect in the Boulder attack is an ICE custody. The wife and five children of Mohamed Soliman could be transferred soon to a detention facility in Texas. The White House says the wife and five children of Mohamed Soliman, who's an Egyptian national, are in the custody of ICE facing what it calls, quote, "expedited removal," which allows immigration authorities to remove an individual without a hearing before an immigration judge.

Joining us now to discuss this anymore, Colorado's Democratic governor, Jared Polis. Governor, thank you so much for joining us. Our hearts go out to all the folks in Boulder and indeed throughout the country right now who are in pain as a result of what happened in Boulder.

It's unclear, Governor, as you know, when this actual transfer of the wife and five kids will take place or even where the family will be deported to. But do you think this is the right move to deport the suspect's wife and five children?

GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): Well, I sure hope they're interrogated first. This is an ongoing criminal investigation. What I want to know, I think most Americans want to know, is did they know this ahead of time? Did they know what he was planning? Were they part of the plan? Are there other information they can provide about others that might have been part of a plan? So, you know, I hope this is fully investigated. If they committed any crimes, they should be held accountable. And of course, if they're here illegally, they should be deported.

BLITZER: The suspect as you know, told officials, he, quote, "never talked to his wife or family about his plans," end quote. This is what the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said in regards to this attack. He said this, he said all terrorists, their family members and terrorists, sympathizers were on a visa -- who are here on a visa will be deported. Do you agree with Secretary Rubio?

POLIS: Well, I don't think you can take him at his words saying he didn't discuss it with his wife and family. That's why I sure hope, and I haven't had the visibility into this, I hope they're being thoroughly interrogated to see what they did know if they had any suspicions or if they, in fact, were part of a criminal terrorist conspiracy.

BLITZER: It's now been, what, three days since this brutal attack. How is the Boulder community handling all of this, Governor, and what are you hearing directly from the residents and officials who are on the scene?

POLIS: You know, it's tough, Wolf. I mean, first of all, these are elderly members of the Jewish community that were attacked by these anti-Semitic terrorist actions here in the Pearl Street Mall, really just a few blocks from where I'm doing this interview. It's really the centerpiece of Boulder. Anybody who goes through Pearl Street Mall on a Saturday or Sunday sees many different free speech, examples, people with signs for this cause or that cause. Frankly, it's part of the charm of Boulder.

And to have that ripped apart, to have a number of individuals who are severely burned, several hospitalized, including a Holocaust survivor, it is really tough to face. And I think Boulder is still coming to terms with this. The Jewish community is still coming to terms with this. I think one sign of hope is I've seen broad condemnation from the left, from the right, from Muslim, Christian, Jewish community saying there is no place for violence, for anti-Jewish, for anti- Semitic activities. And this is not appropriate at all in Colorado or anywhere else in the United States.

BLITZER: As you know, Governor, right now, many Jewish Americans across the country, in fact, are on edge. The ADL says anti-Semitic incidents in the United States are up 344 percent over the past five years. What do you think is driving this rise in anti-Jewish hate?

POLIS: Well, look, I think those of us who use social media regularly see the outrageous lies and whether they're coming from propaganda bots, or whether they're coming from real people who are diluted, I think there's -- and it's been documented that there's been an enormous uptick in that. And when people who might not be of a sound mind or might be prone to violence see that kind of vitriol in their daily feed, tragically, it can inspire them to action.

I'm not saying I know for sure that's what happened here. Details will emerge. But it shouldn't be any surprise when the amount of anti- Semitic vitriol is increased across all platforms of social media that sadly some people are taking terrorist action based on that.

[10:35:00]

BLITZER: One of your fellow Democratic governors, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, recently faced an arson attack on his home that was clearly motivated by antisemitism. It occurred as Governor Shapiro and his family were enjoying a Passover Seder. As you know, you're Jewish, like Governor Shapiro is. Are you concerned, Governor Polis, about your safety and the safety of your family?

POLIS: Well, I think every Jewish American is really looking in the mirror and saying, is there anything I'm doing that we could be safer? Should I be avoiding certain areas? And frankly, we appreciate the response from law enforcement, whether it's Boulder Police Department or State Trooper Organization, the FBI, taking these threats very seriously and making sure that they're fully investigated.

Because everybody, regardless of their religion, their race, should feel safe in public places. That's really what this country is all about, freedom of expression, whatever your opinion is on any topic, you should be able to feel safe expressing that.

BLITZER: Have you strengthened your security as a result of what's been going on?

POLIS: I'm not aware of any specific threats, but that's the danger in this. A lot of this, neither were the protestors over the weekend in Boulder, there were not any specific threats that they were aware of This perpetrator planned in silence. And, you know, again, whether there was a conspiracy, whether there was family knew, I have no idea. This was not something where you'd phoned in threats or anything like that. I've seen no evidence of that.

So, it's really -- you're always worried about what you don't know rather than what you know. But no, we're not aware of any specific threats. But obviously, the environment is very challenging for all civic leaders, of course, for Jewish Americans in particular.

BLITZER: All right. Governor Jared Polish, stay safe. Thank you very much for joining us.

POLIS: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Right now, Wolf, House Speaker Mike Johnson is speaking. Let's listen.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: -- on these rescissions to claw back these abuses, because it happened without Congress's knowledge. And that's a really important thing to point to. And look, you give credit where credit is due. And I credit Elon and the DOGE effort for doing that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn't that undercut -- I mean, if that was --

JOHNSON: No, no, Chad. What it --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand. I understand the uniqueness of this situation.

JOHNSON: Yes. But what it's going to do, the lasting legacy of this and the reason it's so important and the reason they deserve accolades is because they have done a reset in Washington. Now, everybody knows what the abuse is. Not just Congress, but the American people. And we'll be able to demand ensure greater accountability going forward. And that is a huge innovation back. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elon Musk is sort of making -- alluding to electoral corrects (ph) against Republicans who voted for the big, beautiful bill. I mean, he spent $290 million on (INAUDIBLE). How much of a threat is this to keeping the majority?

JOHNSON: Look, let me just address the Elon controversy and tell you that I consider Elon a friend. He's obviously brilliant. I just gave told you we credit him with all the big changes with DOGE and everything else. It's curious to me what happened this week. And I just -- I mean, full disclosure, Elon and I had a great conversation about a half hour long talk on Monday this week. Monday morning. And we talked about the big, beautiful bill. Because he made he -- I think he was trying to make a joke a couple days earlier. It can't be big and beautiful. And I started the conversation, oh, yes, it can, my friend. It's very beautiful.

So, we talked about all the record level of savings. My friends, no government in the history of mankind has ever cut $1.6 trillion in a piece of legislation. We're doing that here. I mean, the extraordinary level of savings and the historic level of tax cuts at the same time and all these great policy prescriptions, and I talked to Elon through all that and explained to him what we're doing and that this is just the beginning of a long process of making government more efficient and effective, of cutting wasteful spending, fraud, and abuse. And that you can't do it all in one bill. It took Congress decades to get to the situation. It's going to take us a little while to get out of it.

But we have a very specific plan to do that, and Elon was encouraged by that conversation. We had a great -- it was a very friendly, very fruitful conversation together and he and I talked about the midterm elections. And he said, I'm going to help. We got to make sure that the Republicans keep the House majority. We can't have the president impeached, which is what the Democrats would do on day one, as we all well know. And we've got to continue this. The Trump administration needs four years to do all this reform, not two years.

The Biden administration -- Biden-Harris made such a disaster of every metric of public policy it's going to take us more than one bill to fix it all. Elon and I left on a great note. We were texting one another, you know, happy text. You know, Monday And then and then yesterday, you know, 24 hours later, he does a 180 and he comes out and opposed the bill. And I -- it surprised me, frankly. And I don't take it personal. We don't take it personal. You know, he's -- policy differences are not personal. I think he's flat wrong. I think he's way off on this and I've told him as much and I've said it publicly and privately. I'm very consistent in that. But am I concerned about the effectiveness on the midterms? I'm not. Let me tell you why, because when the big, beautiful bill is done and signed into law, every single American who's going to do better.

This bill is geared for middle- and working-class Americans and they are going to feel the effects of it and they're going to feel it before the midterm election. So, I have no concern --

[10:40:00]

BROWN: All right. You're hearing House Speaker Mike Johnson talk about what President Trump has dubbed the big, beautiful bill and responding to Elon Musk, saying it is a disgusting abomination. You heard their Speaker Johnson say that just on Monday morning he talked to Elon Musk. They had about a half hour conversation and that it ended on a positive note and they were texting back and forth after. And then he says, 24 hours later, that's when he put out that tweet on X. He says it is flat wrong and he's surprised by it and he's still confident it will pass. And we'll be right back.

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[10:45:00]

BROWN: Well, due this morning, President Trump is expressing frustration with his Chinese counterpart just weeks after the two agreed to de-escalate trade tensions. Trump admitting this morning that he is having a hard time making a deal with Xi Jinping.

BLITZER: All right. Let's go live right now to CNN's Marc Stewart who is joining us in Beijing. Marc, how is China responding to these latest comments from President Trump?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Wolf, the response from China is actually very low key. Right away, let me go to the remarks from President Trump made on Truth Social coming down very early in the morning on Wednesday, your time in Washington, Wednesday afternoon here in Beijing.

In this posting, he said that he likes President Xi of China. Always have, always will. But he's very tough and extremely hard to make a deal with. The response from China during a government briefing today, very simple, saying that China's principles and position toward the United States are consistent.

But here's what's so interesting. Here's what's catching our eye here in China. It was on Tuesday of this week that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with the new U.S. ambassador to China, David Perdue, here in Beijing. There are photos from the Chinese government of the two men shaking hands, having a thoughtful discussion. The government read out very positive, talking about the importance of returning relations to the right track. And then, hours later, we have this posting by President Trump. Wolf and Pamela, there's always been this conversation about possible talk on the phone this week, if it were to happen, one observer was pointing out to me that optics are going to matter. President Xi at least wants to make sure that China does not appear to be weak.

BROWN: That's really important context. Marc Stewart, thank you so much.

BLITZER: Good reporting. And also coming up, the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, will join us live with his reaction to the 50 percent tariffs supposed on steel and aluminum imports now in effect. Stay with us. You're in the Situation Room.

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[10:50:00]

BLITZER: Yesterday we asked you to share your questions about the safety and effectiveness of fluoride. So, we're paging our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta once again for some answers.

BROWN: All right. Sanjay, Paula in West Springfield, Massachusetts asks, in our household, we use filtered water coming out of our refrigerator. Does that eliminate the fluoride in the water?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela and Wolf, we got so many questions like that one, and the short answer is no. Most water filters are not going to filter out fluoride. Fluoride is a dissolved mineral. So, it's actually really hard to filter out.

There are two types of filters that will reduce fluoride. One is something known as reverse osmosis. So, you're actually forcing water through these membranes that can help, you know, get rid of about 80 to 90 percent of fluoride and you can get rid of even more fluoride if you use something known as distillation, which is basically boiling the water and then collecting the water vapor.

But one thing, you know, I should make clear again, a lot of concern about fluoride, but in the United States, the levels of fluoride in most drinking water supplies are going to be about half of the level that is concerning. So, you know, it's not really an issue in the United States. As we talked about yesterday, the dose makes the poison. The dose isn't high enough in most places in the United States.

Two other quick things, if you're worried, you can actually call your water company. You can get a consumer confidence report. They're required to give you that. You can also check out the CDC's website. There's a My Fluoride Water page. Look for your area to see how much fluoride is there.

Let's see if we can get to a couple more questions. This one's from Lucia in New York. If fluoride was removed from drinking water, would brushing with fluoridated toothpaste or rinsing with fluoridated mouthwash be enough to protect the teeth?

Really interesting question, and there's a nuance to this because. on one hand, fluoride in the water is considered this huge public health achievement, but we also know starting in the mid-1970s, around 1975, the benefit of fluoride in the water started to go significantly down because dental care improved, became more widely available, and people started using fluoridated toothpaste.

So, just using fluoridated toothpaste or fluoridated rinses makes a big difference. And you don't need much, and this is often a misconception, but for children under the age of three, just need a rice sized grain -- rice grain sized amount of toothpaste for the teeth. And for adults, just a pea sized amount of toothpaste.

[10:55:00]

And then, let that fluoride toothpaste sit on your teeth for a while. Don't rinse it. In order to get that mineralization effect, you actually want to let it sit on your teeth. Don't rinse. That's how you get the biggest benefit.

Get one more question in, this is from Clarissa in Brooklyn. Does fluoride strengthen bones in the body as well as teeth? This is a really fascinating question because we showed this animation yesterday basically what happens with the cavity is you're demineralizing the teeth fluoride in a way re-mineralizes a teeth. That looks like a good thing, and the question I think that's being asked here is, does the same thing happen then in your bones in your body?

And this is a little counterintuitive. They compare two cities, Toronto, Montreal. Toronto fluoridates water. Montreal does not. What did they find? They did find higher mineral content in people who had fluoridated water, but that did not equate to increased bone strength. In fact, stress fractures were a little bit more common in the more fluoridated bone. That is something known as skeletal fluorosis.

So, you know, you want to get the amount of fluoride right. Having the amounts that are present in most water supplies in the United States works pretty well. But once you start to get beyond that high-levels that we see in other countries around the world, it can actually make the bones a little bit more brittle.

So, Pamela Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we always learn something important from you. Thank you very, very much.

BROWN: And you just inform me about your toothpaste. You don't -- you won't change your toothpaste.

BLITZER: No, because it has fluoride and I like it.

BROWN: And you like the brand?

BLITZER: I use more than a little pea though. I like it. Yes. BROWN: All right. Good to know, Wolf. All right. Coming up, two Chinese researchers charged with smuggling biological pathogens into the U.S. They say it's to study at a university lab, but the government says otherwise. We're going to take a closer look at this up next.

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