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The Situation Room

Medicare Covering Weight Loss Drugs?; Interview With Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA); Trump Making Billions During Presidency. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 01, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES ROBINSON, U.S. WORLD CUP PLAYER: He brings that intensity and that, like, courage with him in every step of the way. And I think, yes, he's great for this group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Wolf and Pamela, the best coaches don't just draw up plays and fill out lineups. They unlock potential and fill players with belief.

Pochettino has given this team an identity, a swagger, and the confidence to dream big. The U.S. has not beaten a European opponent since 2021. And wouldn't you know it? The last one they beat was Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The butterflies are almost done stretching. It's almost time to spread those wings and fly. This place will be rocking.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: It sure will be. Go, USA.

Coy Wire, thank you so much.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And I will double that. Go, USA, indeed. We will be watching.

And the next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM starts right now.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Happening now: President Trump about to touch down in North Dakota for the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Library. He's also breaking in a new Air Force One. The refurbished Boeing 747 jet gifted to the United States by Qatar is making its maiden flight as a presidential plane.

BROWN: And all of this comes as we learn the president has made billions of dollars in his first year back in office. His latest annual financial disclosure was released Tuesday, and it shows Trump made big profits on his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump Watches, custom Bibles, sneakers, and fragrances, and his biggest windfall, cryptocurrency sales.

Let's go live now to CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak.

So, Kevin, what more does this financial disclosure tell us and how is the White House responding?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes.

And when you pore through this document -- and it's massive, it's almost 1,000 pages' long -- I think a couple things become very clear. One is that being president has been very good for President Trump's bottom line. No president in history has made so much money while in office. His revenues last year jumped to $2.2 billion, which is a multifold increase from last year.

The other thing that becomes clear is that President Trump is no longer just in the property business. That is where he made his name, his reputation. The bulk of his profits now come from crypto. And it is just, I think, remarkable to see just how much money he's making off of these ventures, one, the company World Liberty Financial, which he made more than $500 million.

He also made more than $600 million off of a meme coin. These have benefited from a rollback in regulations that the administration put in place very early on, shortly after President Trump came into office.

Now, he did address this question of conflicts of interest, of profiting off of the presidency when he was taking off from Joint Base Andrews a little bit ago. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: To critics to say you're profiting off the presidency, Mr. Trump?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you know why I'm profiting, because the stock market's going up. Everybody's profiting. If you have -- do you have a 401(k)? How's your 401(k) done? It's about up 85 percent.

Thank you, President Trump. So we're all profiting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So the president claiming there that this massive windfall came from rising stock markets.

And it is true that the president has been pretty active in buying stocks over the last year. That's part of the reason why this report is so long, is because he lists every single one of them.

In reality, though, the bulk of his revenues, more than a billion dollars, came from those crypto ventures. World Liberty Financial, it was partly bought by the United Arab Emirates. That's reflected in the document. The meme coin, it's more than $600 million coming in from that.

Now, the president also saying today that he doesn't talk to the people who are managing his portfolio, and that may be true of the stock trades, but when it comes to crypto and World Liberty Financial, that firm is partly managed by his sons Eric and Don Jr. And, certainly, he talks to them.

Don Jr. was standing on the tarmac at Andrews as the president was leaving today. Now, when it comes to the other areas of the president's portfolio, you also have, for example, Mar-a-Lago, the president making $77 million off of that club last year. That is up almost 50 percent from a year earlier, Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Kevin Liptak, thanks for bringing us the latest there from the White House -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Pamela, as we mentioned just a few moments ago, President Trump is taking his first flight aboard the new Air Force One. That's the Boeing 747 jet gifted by Qatar.

CNN's Brian Todd is here with us in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Brian, this plane has drawn a lot of scrutiny, and for a number of reasons.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Pamela, a lot of scrutiny for legal concerns, ethical concerns, and, maybe even more importantly, security concerns regarding the president's use of this plane donated by Qatar.

[11:05:07]

But we're going to get to those concerns in just a minute. First, President Trump was just purely excited this morning at the thought of using this plane donated by Qatar for the first time on his trip to North Dakota today. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The head of Boeing said this is considered the best 747 they have ever built. And I went to Qatar and said I'd like to use it for a period of time because the other ones, as you know, are under construction. They will be here in two years, and because the plane is 35 years old. So I said I'd like to use it.

And the emir, Tamim, who's a great gentleman, he said, no, no, I'd like to make a contribution to the country. So it was very nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: But, as we have been saying, there are a lot of concerns regarding the president's use of this plane donated by Qatar, first, ethical concerns. Was it proper for the president to accept this plane as a gift from the government of Qatar?

A lot of people believe it was not ethically proper for him to do that. Security-wise, maybe the most serious questions there, because there are questions over whether the Qataris may have maybe planning bugs on the plane, listening devices, things like that, that -- did they go over the plane with a fine-tooth comb and make sure that those bugs were not there?

Also, security concerns, was this a rush job to get this Qatari plane ready? Did they maybe skip through some of the features that are common on Air Force One, like anti-missile capability? Is this plane really properly equipped security-wise? Questions over that.

We can tell you a little bit more about the specifications of this plane. This is a Boeing 747-800 luxury jet, of course, donated by the government of Qatar. The Air Force spent about $400 million modifying this plane for use.

This plane and two other planes are going to serve as kind of placeholders until two other new Air Force One planes are ready. And some historical characteristics of Air Force One that we can tell you, it's made from heavily modified Boeing planes.

The current planes that are -- that have been in use until today have been in service since 1990, when George H.W. Bush first flew on them. The new Air Force planes have been delayed. The new Air Force One planes, excuse me, have been delayed. They may not be ready until 2028 or maybe even 2029.

Some features of this Qatari plane that we can tell you, it's got leather seats that recline flat. The seat belts are equipped with the presidential seal. The walls and carpets are tan. The light fixtures, shockingly, are gold. The plan was to donate this Qatari plane to the Trump Presidential Library after President Trump leaves office.

But, guys, a lot of questions about this Qatari plane. And another big characteristic there, you can see it in these pictures. That's what a lot of people actually notice for the first time. The colors are different. He's going away from that traditional light blue of Air Force One to this darker blue.

The president likes this because it resembles the American flag more. And that's one of those features that you can see, of course, with the plain eye, but some of the other features are a little bit more subtle there.

BLITZER: Yes, I spent seven years as a White House correspondent. I was aboard Air Force One on many, many occasions. It's a great plane, the older ones. And I'm sure this new one is great as well.

TODD: Yes, but, again, the security concerns with this plane, I don't think a lot of those questions have been answered. Are there bugs on the plane? Did they really have it to the specifications that an Air Force One jet has to have? So, those questions not necessarily answered at this point.

BLITZER: As far as listening devices, I'm sure the Secret Service and the FBI...

TODD: Sure.

BLITZER: ... they can go through that whole plane and determine if there are any devices on that.

TODD: Hopefully, they have.

BLITZER: I'm sure they have.

All right, thanks very much, Brian Todd, reporting. Appreciate it.

BROWN: All right, still ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM: another Democratic socialist win, this time in Colorado. We're going to ask Democratic Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez about it when she joins us in THE SITUATION ROOM.

BLITZER: And, later: New York is still riding high after the Knicks' NBA championship, but now a different celebration is about to take over in the Big Apple.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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[11:13:37]

BROWN: Happening now: a House in disarray.

Speaker Mike Johnson has sent lawmakers home early amid an escalating war within his own party over President Trump's SAVE America Act. Some of the most conservative members of the House tried to force action on the controversial voting bill by banding together to block a rule that would have allowed debate and votes.

Democratic Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington joins us now.

Thank you so much for being here with us.

So, the speaker says he's going to let these Republican members regroup. I'm wondering what the conversations have been like for you with Republicans across the aisle. And just what is your sense here? Is the House able to get back on track?

REP. MARIE GLUESENKAMP PEREZ (D-WA): This is a deeply dysfunctional body. I will say, coming into Congress, I did not have high expectations. It is reaching new levels of dysfunction every day.

And I would say people have worked really hard on legislation. Like, people run for office for a reason, and to work on these big issues and try to be useful to your community. And then have the rug pulled out of you -- from underneath you and all of that work is deeply frustrating to all of us.

BROWN: Yes. There's not many legislative days left for the summer.

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: No. No. BROWN: So, I wanted to turn also, in terms of politics, to the primaries, because you had Democratic socialists striking another blow against the Democratic establishment, this time in Colorado. A 29- year-old is projected to win the state's district primary.

[11:15:02]

She is the third progressive challenger to defeat a sitting House member in eight days. What message do you think voters are sending ahead of the midterms right now?

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: Well, there's the message from voters in highly urban city centers, which I think is not the entire country.

I would say, broadly, people are frustrated with Congress. I mean, congressional approval ratings are at like 9 percent. Hard to match that. So, people are very, very frustrated with the status quo, rightly so, as am I.

But I think it's important that if we want to -- I'm the only member in my caucus who is running in a seat that Trump won the last three times.

BROWN: Yes, red.

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: It's a really red -- and it's rural. And we are -- there's no path to growing our caucus, to gaining durable governing authority if we are not speaking to rural voters and people in the trades and the communities like I represent.

And so there's not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach here. Like, I'm a very big believer in place-based politics, where you come to Congress deeply loyal to your community and your constituents, and you bring that nuance of how will this bill land where I'm from?

And through all of that should shine better federal policy.

BROWN: Why do you think those socialists are picking up steam, particularly in these urban areas? And do you think Republicans will just seize on this for the midterms to try to send a message to some voters like in your district?

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: Yes, well, I don't think anyone is going to confuse me with a progressive from an urban center. Our politics are pretty different.

But I think, yes, there's a lot of dissatisfaction with the lack of progress on issues people care about, of not just living in the same water, having a same shared reality. And I think a lot of these -- a lot of these folks, like, that were defeated, they're not wealthy people. They're not -- they're not inherently, like, part of a problem.

But voters are certainly frustrated with the way the Congress is not working right now. BROWN: I want to go to another issue, this blockbuster week that we

have been seeing at the Supreme Court that also touched on some of the culture wars happening here in the United States.

So one of the big issues was the Supreme Court holding up these bans on trans athletes participating in girls' sports. There's more than two dozen states in America that have these either restrictions or bans. You're on the Congressional Equality Caucus. I wonder what your reaction is to this.

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: Well, I believe that these decisions, really, they are -- you don't get good policy from the feds. These are nuanced issues.

And I also think that the rush to moralize is not necessarily productive. I got a lot of people angry at me when I voted against the bill that would have allowed for a general inspection of student athletes. And at those town halls, what I saw was the people who are most upset, a lot of them had spent the last 12 years driving their girls to sports practice.

And they view their best shot of their student getting a college education as an athletic scholarship. And so when we rush to moralize and be like, this is all about love versus hate, I think we miss some of the nuance that people are seeing in this.

And I think we can put up walls where there don't necessarily need to be them. But I think that local communities are the best positioned to make these decisions.

BROWN: Did it make you rethink your position on it after hearing those perspectives at the town hall?

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: I don't think my position is inconsistent with that. I mean, I have a lot of thoughts on -- I'm a big supporter of the trades. I ran an auto repair and machine shop.

And there's the question of why does everybody need to get into college, the sort of paper ceiling of a degree, but also the question of why has college tuition increased, what, 130 percent since I was in high school. So a lot of those questions that don't need to be necessarily made into like an us-versus-them fight.

BROWN: I want to turn to a matter that's deeply personal for you. You recently disclosed to your House colleagues that you had this traumatic event after experiencing a miscarriage just recently, a couple of weeks ago.

I'd like to play a part of what you said to them.

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GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: After several weeks of bleeding and mourning the loss of our pregnancy, my doctor made clear that future pregnancy could be much more difficult if I didn't take medication to expel the retained miscarriage. When I took the medication this past Sunday, the pain was worse than

the pain I experienced during labor and delivery of my son four years ago. I was not even advised to take this medication when my son was out of the house. He saw and heard things that he should never have had to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: More painful than labor and delivery. I just can't even imagine. Miscarriage is so incredibly difficult. It's also incredibly common.

[11:20:00]

I just wonder, first of all, how are you doing? It's only been a couple of weeks, and it sounds like a really traumatic experience.

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: It was rough. It was really rough. I mean, I'm fortunate that my family and my husband, like, my community's been really supportive.

If there's one silver lining, it was that we passed this amendment to direct the NIH to study pain management improvement strategies for miscarriage. I think it's something like 37 percent of women who've had a miscarriage rank the pain managing that miscarriage as a seven out of 10.

And they don't offer you anything more than ibuprofen for that. Like, it is the functional equivalent of offering somebody a stick to bite on. Like, we have made progress in so many areas in health care. And women's reproductive health care is -- the pain management is medieval for so many issues.

And it's obviously uncomfortable to talk about. And sort of weighing this, I was like, well, you know what? There aren't that many members of Congress who have gone through this. And it is so common. It's something like one in four women will have a miscarriage.

And we can't keep making collateral damage out of miscarriage and women experiencing it.

BROWN: And so you're pushing for Congress to do more on the pain management front, right?

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: That's right.

There's -- we need to think critically about the pain management here. There's interesting data on alternating different over-the-counter. There's -- many other countries offer stronger pain management. But for many women, it is really painful.

And I think partly because it's often managed at home, it's sort of seen as not an area that's easy to study and improve. But just because it happens at home doesn't mean it's not real.

BROWN: But I also think it's worth mentioning that -- we were talking about this before the break. Like, you don't just bounce right back after a miscarriage. Even if the pain is managed in that moment, it can really take a toll on you physically, mentally, emotionally, right?

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: Oh, yes.

BROWN: I mean, how are you doing now after...

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: Yes, I mean, I was like -- I wish beef wasn't this expensive right now. Like, I need to eat some red meat.

BROWN: Yes.

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: But it's been encouraging to see this progress. Like, that's definitely a silver lining.

But thank you for asking. Like, doing pretty good now.

BROWN: But, I mean, women can't just like take time off after a miscarriage usually. It's not so easy, right?

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: Yes.

BROWN: Would you like to see that change too, like, in terms of...

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: Oh, people need to have more flexibility.

I mean, that is a much broader conversation of tangibly what do pro- family policies look like? Because this is part of it. This is absolutely part of it, being able to take time, the childcare, the issues around rural access.

I live a long ways from an E.R. And while I'm fortunate to have good health insurance now, I know what it's like to not have health insurance and be thinking about like, can I afford the bill to go in if something really goes wrong here?

And so there's a lot -- there's a lot at stake just with the spiraling cost of health care, access to insurance, all of that, absolutely.

BROWN: Yes. And we have a story I'm working on right now on just the rising cost of childcare, especially for people who are in the more rural areas and how tough it can be. So, that will be coming up hopefully soon.

But thank you so much for coming and just sharing your story and putting that out there.

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: Thank you. Thanks.

BROWN: Because it does make a difference.

Congresswoman Gluesenkamp Perez, thank you.

We will be right back.

GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: Thank you so much.

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[11:27:50]

BROWN: Happening now: a major change for Medicare.

Starting today, it covers drugs for weight loss for some people. By law, Medicare has been banned from covering medications for obesity, but some enrollees will be able to get GLP-1 drugs for weight loss through this pilot program, although not everyone will be eligible.

So let's bring in CNN senior writer Tami Luhby to help us better understand who is eligible for these cheaper drugs -- Tami.

TAMI LUHBY, CNN SENIOR WRITER: Yes, Pamela, this is a really big deal for many senior citizens and Medicare enrollees who have been waiting for years for Medicare to treat obesity just any other drug.

Now, one recent estimate from KFF, a health policy research group, says that about 3.8 million people may qualify. But it's unclear. We don't really know how many people will actually opt to sign up for the program.

Now, they have to meet strict criteria. They include people with a BMI of 35 or over. They qualify. But people who have a BMI of 27 to 30 need to have also one other medical condition, such as a previous heart attack or stroke, prediabetes, uncontrolled high blood pressure. It depends.

Now, these folks who do qualify will only pay $50 a month for their prescriptions, which is far lower than the cash-pay price of up to $449. They can receive Wegovy as a tablet or injection. They can receive Foundayo, which is the new Eli Lilly tablet. And they can receive Zepbound Kwikpen only.

BROWN: So how can those enrolled actually get these medications?

LUHBY: Well, they should set up an appointment with their doctor, with their provider, who will then send a prescription to a pharmacy and then send a request for prior approval, for prior authorization.

But what a lot of doctors have told me is that their patients have to have patience as this program is getting set up for the first time.

BROWN: Good advice.

All right, Tami Luhby, thank you so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And just ahead: LeBron James is taking his talents and leaving Los Angeles. The big question, where will King James play next?

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