Return to Transcripts main page
The Source with Kaitlan Collins
RFK Jr.: Food That Americans Eat Is "Poisoned"; Trump Hosts Dinner For Top Holders Of Personalized Crypto Coin; DOJ Investigating Murders Of Israeli Embassy Staffers In D.C. As Hate Crime And Terrorism. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired May 22, 2025 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: --so she's expected to be the next witness on the stand, when court resumes on Tuesday.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: So, it's all trying to build out on this racketeering idea?
SCANNELL: Yes, we've heard a lot about the sex trafficking charge, all the testimony to kind of backup that. Now, this is trying to bring the jury's mind into the racketeering charge. There are a number of different elements. One of them is arson, and that is what this is really focused on.
COOPER: All right. Kara Scannell, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
That's it for us. The news continues. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: And straight from THE SOURCE tonight.
Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., painting a bleak picture of America's kids, labeling them, the sickest generation in U.S. history. What he says is the solution, in our revealing conversation at the White House tonight.
Also, they put big money into a Trump business venture, and now they were wined and dined with direct access to the President of the United States. One Democratic senator calls tonight's dinner a Mount Everest of corruption, though.
And also tonight, the Trump administration just blocked Harvard from enrolling foreign students in its school, is threatening -- as they are threatening to go even further than that.
I'm Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
Tonight, the Trump administration is painting a pretty grim picture of what it's like to be a kid in America today. A group of top Trump officials, led by the HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claimed to have figured out why they say so many kids are overweight, why so many of them are sick, and why they say kids don't behave. They make their case in a new report, out today, called The MAHA Report, Make Our Children Healthy Again. It points to things like ultra-processed food and environmental chemicals, and it warns about what it says is the over-prescription of medications, while calling for a new look at vaccines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There's something wrong, and we will not stop until we defeat the chronic disease epidemic in America. We're going to get it done.
For the first time ever, this report examines some of the root causes that many believe are making our children sicker and our population sicker, I guess. It just doesn't stop with the children. It's our population also. Such as the ultra-processed foods, over- medicalization, and over-prescription, and widespread exposure to potentially toxic chemicals.
When you hear 10,000, it was one in 10,000, and now it's one in 31 for autism, I think, that's just a terrible thing. It has to be something on the outside. It has to be artificially-induced. It has to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That was President Trump promoting the findings, earlier, at the White House, and the report that reads a lot -- like a lot of reflection of what RFK has been saying for years now, as he is planning to overhaul government policy to Make America Healthy Again, as they pledged on the campaign trail.
I sat down with the Health Secretary, this afternoon, at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And I'm joined now by the HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
It's great to have you here.
You've just unveiled this new report, and a lot of it focuses on chronic disease in children, which, in part, when you read into this, essentially says that you believe a lot of that has to do with ultra- processed foods, chemical exposures, lack of physical activity, stress, and excessive use of prescription drugs.
If people are reading this and say, OK, but what are the solutions to fix that? What would you say?
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: Well, this exercise was really a diagnostic exercise. And it's important, because this has never happened in the federal government, where you have all the agencies recognizing, we have a chronic disease crisis. And President Biden did his HHS directives. The word, Chronic disease, was never mentioned. And so gathering -- and my uncle tried to do this in 1962, after Rachel Carson's book came out. And unfortunately, he was killed before that. For 60 years, we've been waiting for the government to recognize that there's a crisis, and chemical exposures, and the increase in chronic disease. This was important for that, but this was just the diagnostics.
60 days from now, we put out the prescription. So, we will put out a series of policies to address this issue, and to eliminate the chronic disease epidemic.
COLLINS: Yes, but I'm sure you've been thinking about this. I mean, a lot of these are things that you've been saying for years now.
KENNEDY JR.: Yes, and we're already doing it. I mean, we were already getting rid of the food dyes. We're changing the SNAP program, so that we now are handling a tsunami of applications by the states to give them SNAP waivers, so to get sodas and candies off of SNAP.
We're reviewing the dietary guidelines, and we're going to have those out by August. And the dietary guidelines under President Biden were 453 pages, and they were basically a product of the same kind of industrial impulses that put Froot Loops at the top of the food pyramid.
COLLINS: But you're saying, in 60 days, people should expect to see concrete solutions to how these things can be solved?
[21:05:00]
KENNEDY JR.: Yes, for that we're -- we have -- we're already reviewing the GRAS standards, the Generally Recognized as Safe standards.
We're already doing -- we've done more in a 100 days than my predecessors have done in decades, in terms of redressing the causes of this problem, so. And we're going to keep doing that. There's not -- we're not waiting for this to come out.
But we are going to do comprehensive diagnostics, across the entire government, of what each of these agencies need to be doing to end the epidemic.
COLLINS: Well, and you're talking about working with other agency heads. The EPA is also on your commission, and is part of this. Lee Zeldin was there in the room.
Your report says that kids are exposed to harmful environmental toxins and microplastics. I wonder how you square that with some moves that we've seen the EPA take, to roll back, or to weaken rules, that limit forever chemicals in drinking water, which obviously would be one of those issues.
KENNEDY JR.: We're working very hard on PFAS. A lot of what you read about EPA's regulations, rolling back regulations on PFAS, is not true. PFAS is something I've been working on for years. I was part of the trial team-- COLLINS: But they're rolling back some of them, right?
KENNEDY JR.: --in the first case against PFAS. And it is a priority for my agency. It's also a priority for Brooke Rollins at USDA, because the PFAS is now on farm crops. And we're going to -- we're going to do everything in our power to limit the proliferation of PFAS in the environment, and limit its uses in manufacturing -- in manufacturing.
COLLINS: So, it sounds like you don't think that those rules should be weakened, or rolled back, or postponed, as some of the instances have shown?
KENNEDY JR.: I can't talk to the details of what's come out, out of EPA on that issue. I know that Lee -- I've asked Lee about it two days ago, and he said, everything that we've been reading about it is wrong, that he's committed to regulating PFAS and PFOAs.
COLLINS: Yes, I haven't seen them say otherwise publicly. But I think it would just raise questions of, you know, the EPA is promising this huge environmental rollback. How does that coincide with what you'd like to see happen here? People may say, is the left hand talking to the right hand on achieving these goals?
KENNEDY JR.: Well, the rollbacks that Lee is trying to -- is orchestrating there, are designed to restart industrial policy, and he recognizes many people do in this government, that economic prosperity in our country is also a social determinant of health. We found that out during the pandemic, when we put people out of work, and our chronic disease exploded.
So, we need a strong economy. We need a balance, where there's a strong economy, but also those constituents and ingredients and residues that are hurting American health--
COLLINS: Yes.
KENNEDY JR.: --and we get rid of them. And that is what the report will do in 60 days.
COLLINS: On ultra-processed foods, and getting into that here.
You were born into a privileged background, obviously not something you can control. But I wonder what you would say to maybe a single mom of two kids, who's reading this report, about how harmful these cheap but very accessible foods are, for her family, and saying, Well, sometimes that's the best we could do, and that's why that's what's on the food, or at the table, at the end of the day, or that's what's in their lunch box.
KENNEDY JR.: It's an illusion to think that processed food is cheap, because you end up paying for it with diabetes. You end up paying for it with autoimmune dysregulation, with mitochondrial dysfunction, with inflammation, and you end up paying much higher costs in the long run.
COLLINS: But they're not paying for food at the grocery store, I mean. KENNEDY JR.: Now, there are food deserts in this country--
COLLINS: Yes.
KENNEDY JR.: --where people, at this point, have a hard time getting access. There are -- I met with the technology -- health technology companies, this week. It was an extraordinary meeting. And one of the statements they made is that there's no place in this country, in the lower 48, where you can't get access to good foods.
It's not easy access, it has had been -- in the past, and that's been part of the economic drivers, and also the fact that people don't understand that these processed foods are poisoned.
COLLINS: But they're right in saying it's cheaper than a soda at McDonald's--
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY JR.: There are more and more, and you're watching -- you're watching companies now, that are changing their ingredients because of this movement, that are making good food more available to Americans, because they're demanding it. There was no demand for it before.
This report is about getting every American to demand the accessibility to good whole food in their neighborhoods. And that, you know, it's going to be a process, but it's already happening. You see these big fast-food conglomerates that are switching from seed oils to beef tallow fat. You see them reducing the ingredients. You see Chobani Yogurt changing its ingredients because of the demand that has happened because of the MAHA movement.
[21:10:00]
We are going to make sure they have apps, that mothers who go into the grocery store have an app that they can show on the -- flash on the barcode of every product, and get a green light, red light or yellow light. That will allow the--
COLLINS: HHS is creating that?
KENNEDY JR.: We are working with the industry to do it, and they're already doing it. Mark Hyman's company has done it. Patrick Soon- Shiong's company has done it. Many, many apps out there that -- I use one called Yuka, that is very -- my wife and I consider it invaluable. You can go into any grocery store, flash it at any product, and you can get a go or a no on it.
And as that happens, the market -- we're not trying to create an anti- state here. We're trying to create -- and drive -- market forces that will drive change in the kind of food--
COLLINS: Yes.
KENNEDY JR.: --Americans get.
COLLINS: In anticipation--
KENNEDY JR.: Good information and good science.
COLLINS: In anticipation of this report, there was a lot of pushback from farmers, agriculture groups. I know, you heard from some Republican senators, up on Capitol Hill, who were worried about what it would mean for pesticides, ones that have been approved already by the EPA.
I want to get your response to what one Illinois farmer, who is also the National Corn Growers Association president, Kenneth Hartman, Jr. He told The Wall Street Journal, If the administration's goal is to bring more efficiency to government, then why is the MAHA Commission duplicating efforts by raising questions about pesticides that have been answered repeatedly through research and reviews by the EPA?
KENNEDY JR.: There's nothing in this report that will worry the American farmer. The person who made that statement had never seen the report. So--
COLLINS: So, you won't reverse anything the EPA has approved?
KENNEDY JR.: If we consider -- and I said this during the two and a half years that I was running for president, there is no -- farmers in this country are in trouble, you know? And I met with farmers in Texas, and the Midwest, this week, and they consistently told me, Seven out of every 10 years, we are losing money.
If we lose the farmers, the MAHA agenda is bankrupt. We need the farmers as partners. We need to keep them in business. We don't want to put a single farmer out of business. What we want to do is create incentives and innovation to allow them to innovate themselves, to use less chemical-intensive. But we're not in any state, we're not going to coerce people, we're not going to tell them what to do. We're going to give them the opportunity.
And we found in the farm community that there are -- that the majority of farmers, they are the original environmentalists. They want to produce healthy food, and we need to give them the ability to do that, and the economic incentives and the technology to -- we already have healthy food. We need to produce. We need to produce the best food that we can possibly, and continue to do that.
COLLINS: You mentioned your presidential run. And some farmers may look at that and be skeptical of what you're saying, because you made comments like saying that you would -- you could weaponize the other agencies against chemical agriculture by doing good science on the chemicals that, you say, are poisoning us, high fructose corn syrup, and its link to the obesity epidemic.
KENNEDY JR.: That's--
COLLINS: So, if they're worried you're going to weaponize other agencies against them.
KENNEDY JR.: And that's, processed food. And we -- I think we've all agreed that processed food is not a good thing for human health, and that we're driving a diabetes epidemic.
Kaitlan, when I was a kid, my uncle was President. The average pediatrician at that time saw one case of juvenile diabetes in his lifetime, over a 40-, 50-year career. Today, 38 percent of teens are diabetic or pre-diabetic. And one out of every three kids who walks to his office door has that, and it's costing us a trillion dollars a year, just for that kind of mitochondrial dysfunction. Bankrupting our country, it's making it -- 75 percent of American kids can't qualify for military service.
COLLINS: Let me ask you about something you said, when you were on Capitol Hill, this week. You were asked about the lead crisis in Milwaukee schools. You told Congress, quote, We have a team on the ground in Milwaukee.
The City said that's not true, and that they are still not getting the help that they want from the CDC.
Do you know who is on the ground? Who were--
KENNEDY JR.: The CDC--
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: --on the ground.
KENNEDY JR.: --is giving them assistance with their lab, their analytics and advice.
COLLINS: They just said, one technician was on the ground.
KENNEDY JR.: I can't tell you how many are on the ground in the City of Milwaukee. But I can tell you, we are there.
COLLINS: But you don't know how many?
KENNEDY JR.: I can't tell you how many right now.
COLLINS: So, I mean, this is from the Milwaukee Health Commissioner and Senator Tammy Baldwin.
KENNEDY JR.: We have 82,000 -- we have 62,000 employees.
COLLINS: Yes.
KENNEDY JR.: And I -- well, you could hear me read my other exchanges with Tammy Baldwin, and you know. Anyway, I'm not necessarily believing what Senator Baldwin says.
COLLINS: So you're disputing and saying that there are more than one CDC employees on the ground?
KENNEDY JR.: I -- like I said, we have 62,000 employees. I'm not sure how many we have deployed to Milwaukee. I'm happy to check and give you that information. COLLINS: And are you committed to helping with the schools there? Because obviously, they're having a real issue with this, and say it's really affecting the students.
[21:15:00]
KENNEDY JR.: Of course. I've been working on lead in the schools for, including in Milwaukee, for 40 years. It is a crisis in our country. 44 percent of black youth in our municipalities have dangerous levels of lead in their blood, and that is crippling them for a lifetime, potentially. So, it's an issue that is foremost on my mind. It's a high priority, and it's something we'll continue to be involved with.
COLLINS: OK. And we're talking about your -- the big release of this report today. The next report that you've said that you'll produce is in September, when you want to determine the cause of autism. Do you still plan to--
KENNEDY JR.: Well that now the--
COLLINS: --to know the cause of the autism problem?
KENNEDY JR.: --the dietary guidelines come out in August, and the second stage of this report also comes out in August.
COLLINS: OK. So that's in August, so. But this would be in September, when you said that you would be able to determine what the cause of autism is. Is that still the timeline that you are sticking with?
KENNEDY JR.: We will -- we will have some studies completed by September, and those studies will mainly be replication studies of studies that have already been done. We're also deploying new teams of scientists, 15 groups of scientists. We're going to send those grants out to bid within three weeks.
COLLINS: Why would you replicate studies that have been done?
KENNEDY JR.: Because the only way you can get good science is through replication. If you don't have replication, you don't know whether other scientists looking at the same data will arrive at the same conclusion.
Good science always includes replication. In fact, we're changing the procedures at NIH, so that up to 20 percent of the funding at NIH is for replication. If you don't have replication, you have incentives to cheat, and there's a lot of cheating that goes on in science.
COLLINS: OK, but some people -- well, some people might dispute that.
But looking at your April 10th comments, when you were inside the Cabinet meeting, you said, By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic, and we'll be able to eliminate those exposures.
KENNEDY JR.: Well, we'll have some of the information to get -- the most solid information, it will probably take us another six months.
COLLINS: OK. So, parents should not expect to know what causes autism by September anymore?
KENNEDY JR.: Well, we'll see. We're going to -- as I said, we're going to replicate some of the studies that have already been done that look like sound studies, and we'll know a lot from those, and then we'll know a lot more afterwards.
COLLINS: But not the definitive answer by September?
KENNEDY JR.: It depends.
COLLINS: Just to be clear, because it matters.
KENNEDY JR.: It depends what those replicable studies show.
COLLINS: OK. And then what do you expect to happen six months after that? You mentioned something, after next six months.
KENNEDY JR.: I expect we will know the answers of the etiology of autism.
COLLINS: OK. So that timeline is moving from September to six months after September?
KENNEDY JR.: As I said, we're going to begin to have a lot of information by September. We're not going to stop the studies in September. We're going to be definitive. And the more definitive you are, the more it drives public policy.
COLLINS: OK. So that would put us at what, March next year, you say, you'll know the cause of it?
KENNEDY JR.: As I said, it's about six months after September, a lot of these studies will begin coming back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: A notable answer there.
We have more of my exclusive interview with HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., on whether or not you should take medical advice from him. You might want to hear his answer to that, coming up next.
And later tonight, there's a new escalation in the White House's fight with Harvard, directly impacting students.
[21:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: More now from my interview with the nation's top health official, where I asked HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., about a specific comment, last week, he made, about taking his advice when it comes to medical decisions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COLLINS: You also said something recently, when you were on Capitol Hill, and you were being asked about vaccines, and whether or not you would recommend them for people out in the United States. And you said that people should not take medical advice from you.
You are the HHS Secretary, though, and your job is to create guidance, and to talk about vaccines and medical testing. Why should people not take medical advice from you?
KENNEDY JR.: Well, they probably shouldn't take medical advice from any HHS Secretary. Very few of the HHS secretaries, historically, I think, maybe 10 or 20 percent, 15 percent, have been doctors.
Oh, for people who were asking me, I was responding to a question about my personal health choices, and I said, That's not relevant, because I -- people should not make their decisions based upon my personal health choices.
We have an infrastructure. We have an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that makes recommendations. It's a group of scientists that looks at reams of data, and that's where our recommendations come from, not from an individual. It's time, you know, what--
COLLINS: But you're leading all of these agencies.
KENNEDY JR.: One of the big mistakes that you and many other of your media colleagues made during COVID, is to try to convince the American people that they should trust the experts.
Trusting the experts is not a feature of science. It's not a feature of democracy. It's a feature of religion and totalitarianism. What we should do is trust the science. And we are going to do the science, and the science is going to be replicatable, and it's going to be gold standard, so that parents can make their own choices about what they -- what is best for their family and their health.
COLLINS: But I think people -- you know, the message was to trust the science, and what studies were finding, and what the course is (ph).
KENNEDY JR.: During COVID, that was a bad message. Trust -- no, it was trust the experts. That's what they -- that's what you kept telling us. Trust the experts.
COLLINS: I don't know that I ever said that.
KENNEDY JR.: Well you--
COLLINS: I mean, we talked to the officials. Actually during COVID--
KENNEDY JR.: Your network was saying it every day.
COLLINS: --we took the briefings live, every day, with all of the experts that President Trump--
KENNEDY JR.: Those are the experts. COLLINS: Those were President Trump's doctors.
KENNEDY JR.: But you weren't looking at the science.
COLLINS: But those were President -- the people President Trump brought out to the briefings.
[21:25:00]
KENNEDY JR.: Well President Trump brought -- and I can -- I can--
COLLINS: He brought Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx.
KENNEDY JR.: If you want to go chapter and verse, I can tell you what President Trump did right, and what President Biden did wrong. What I'm saying to you--
COLLINS: But I want to get back to what your comment was, about, that you said that people should not take your medical advice.
KENNEDY JR.: Yes, people should not be--
COLLINS: Is that -- that's your position?
KENNEDY JR.: Yes, absolutely, people should not be taking medical advice. I'm somebody who is not a physician. But they should -- and they should also be skeptical about any medical advice. They need to do their own research. You're a mom -- if you're a mom, you do your own research on your baby carriage, on your baby bottles, on your baby formula.
COLLINS: But they don't have medical degrees, obviously, if you're a mom and you're looking at what science has been tested. They do -- they trust their doctors, and their pediatricians, and--
KENNEDY JR.: One -- you know, one of the responsibilities of living in a democracy--
COLLINS: --OB-GYNs.
KENNEDY JR.: --where physicians and every sort of expert are subject to all kinds of biases. One of the responsibilities of living in a democracy is to do your own research, and to make up your own mind.
COLLINS: So that's your message to moms, or to anyone, is, Do your own research?
KENNEDY JR.: No, I would say that -- I would say, Be skeptical of authority. My father told me that when I was a young kid. People in authority lie. And we've seen a lot of that in our country.
And people in the media lie. And people need to make their own judgments, and be skeptical, and maintain their capacity for critical thinking. And that was shut down during COVID, and the media was complicit in that.
COLLINS: Disagree on that last part.
Secretary Kennedy, thank you for your time.
KENNEDY JR.: Good to meet you, Kaitlan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Coming up in a few moments, we're going to get analysis of that interview from our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Also coming up tonight. The President just got back to White House, after black ties, billionaires and a lot of ethics questions. He hosted an exclusive dinner party for his top crypto buyers.
A top Democratic senator is going to weigh in tonight on that new venture.
[21:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Moments ago, you heard from the nation's top Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., telling me, he doesn't advise people to take his medical advice, not just from him, or even from health experts, he said, as well.
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins me now.
And it's so great to have you here.
I wonder, was it surprising to hear you say -- hear the HHS Secretary double down on saying that people should not listen to his medical advice.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't surprising, because he has said this before.
And he's right that most Secretaries have not been physicians. But at the same time, as you sort of alluded to, during the interview, he is essentially the CEO of the largest health enterprise in the world. So, his words definitely matter.
And he is out there, making recommendations on, all sorts of different things, from infectious diseases, to food, to food dyes, all these sorts of things. So, he's got a lot of policy power. Unlike the Surgeon General, who's sort of the Nation's Doctor, he has policy mandate power. So it's surprising, in that regard. I think he's trying to disentangle his own personal health choices versus his role as the Secretary of Health.
COLLINS: Well, and in that role, as Secretary of Health, back in April, he said that a new effort that they were going to carry out would, he said, find the cause of autism, the autism epidemic, as he called it, by September.
Now, he seems to be saying that that is slipping, and he thinks that they would know more definitively by March of next year.
Do you think that that is possible? What do you make of that timeline changing?
GUPTA: I -- certainly it wasn't realistic by September, and it's still not realistic by March.
I mean, Kaitlan, there have been studies that have been decades-long studies, following kids who have been vaccinated, following kids who have not been vaccinated, and really looking into the potential causes of autism. These are international studies.
First thing he said to you in that interview was that the existing studies, many of which have been done, again, over decades, need to be replicated. I'm not exactly sure what he means by that. If he means, look at the data and have someone else analyze the data? Or if he really means what he said, which is that the studies need to be replicated? That would take a long time.
I think what you're starting to hear from him, but also, I think, importantly, from the head of the NIH is that maybe by September, they might have a framework in place to actually start to talk about what kind of studies need to be done. So, we'll see.
But I think anybody that you've talked to, that has studied this for a long time, thinks that these, these timeframes that are being put out there are really unrealistic, even with the additional six months.
COLLINS: The other thing he said that stood out was what's happening in Milwaukee, right now. As the City there, and officials there--
GUPTA: Yes.
COLLINS: --are disputing that there are people from the CDC, a team of people, helping with lead contamination in schools.
I know you've done reporting on this, Sanjay. What is -- what is happening? What is the reality?
GUPTA: Well, look, you know -- and I covered Flint as well, so we had a good idea of, sort of, what happens if you call the Feds, when something like that's unfolding in your city, what happens.
At that point, they sent in these deployment teams into Flint. They created testing centers. They had epidemiologists on the ground. They were doing all that stuff. They still have a registry in Flint to continue to track lead poisoning.
[21:35:00]
That was the same sort of teamwork that they expected in Milwaukee. And I spoke to the Health Commissioner there, who said, Look, we first called in March about getting help. April 3rd, we basically heard that that department no longer existed.
I was there a couple of weeks ago to ask again, what was going on at that point? Again, same answer. The world's best and brightest lead experts from the CDC were no longer available. They weren't even answering the phone.
And then, in response to just the last couple of days, we checked back in, again with Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee Health Department, and this what they said. I don't know if we have the statement. But I can read it to you. They basically said that, Secretary Kennedy's statement is inaccurate. The City of Milwaukee Health Department is not receiving any federal epidemiological or analytical support related to this -- to this lead crisis, essentially.
So, I don't know exactly what he's referring to. There was one person on the ground there. That was a person who was scheduled to be on the ground already, even before this lead crisis sort of really took off, to help with analytics overall. But this is not at all the deployment teams that you're used to seeing, the disease detective, the epidemiologists, the people who specialize in testing, who typically show up in situations like this.
So, on one hand, Secretary Kennedy, and I think honestly, is saying he cares deeply about things like lead and heavy metals, because he has a track record of talking about these things. But that's not happening right now, in Milwaukee. They're not getting federal support. And that's been validated and confirmed by talking to people on the ground there.
COLLINS: Yes, clearly a lot of tension between him and Senator Tammy Baldwin, as well.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as always, great to have you. Thank you.
GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.
COLLINS: And just a few moments ago, we saw President Trump getting back to the White House, after a dinner that he described as unforgettable, and the most exclusive invitation in the world. He was only at the dinner for about an hour and eight minutes, based on our timing of when he was coming and going.
And ethics experts, and Democrats alike, are assailing this dinner, and every second of it, as corrupt, and unprecedented for a sitting president. It was hosted at his golf club, just outside of Washington. And of the more than 200 investors, who were in attendance in his crypto coin, we knew almost none of their names, which in part seems to be by design.
An analysis by Bloomberg News finds that almost all of the top 25 TRUMP coin holders purchased them on foreign exchanges that are off limits to anyone living here in the United States, and that for more than half of the top 220 investors likely used similar offshore methods.
Tonight's guests dumped an estimated $148 million into the President's meme coin. And when asked about their identities today, and if the White House was willing to release the names of the people the President was having dinner with, the press secretary said this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This question has been raised with the President. I have also addressed the dinner tonight. The President is attending it in his personal time. It is not a White House dinner. It's not taking place here at the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: My source tonight is Democratic senator, Richard Blumenthal.
And it's great to have you here, Senator.
Do you believe that people deserve to know who the President was having dinner with tonight?
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): They absolutely deserve to know.
Thanks for having me, Kaitlan.
There is no such thing as a president luring investors and exploiting his office on his personal time. He essentially put the White House up for sale, and he deserves his own Mount Rushmore of corruption.
Those 220 investors bought his meme coin. And by the way, meme coins have no tie to any real assets. It is simply a vehicle to funnel money into his family and his pockets. And the American public deserves to know who bought into this, selling the White House and selling access to the President.
That's why I've demanded, through the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, writing to Fight Fight Fight, which is the proprietor over these meme coins on his behalf, asking for the names specifically.
And I've gone to the floor of the Senate, asking for a vote, by my colleagues, on whether this taking of money allow it, from foreign investors, possibly foreign wealth -- sovereign wealth funds, possibly making him beholden to them. It's a matter of national security that the public know who was there that night, tonight.
COLLINS: Yes. And Democrats from not just the Senate, but also the House, we saw, protesting outside of the dinner tonight, you can see the footage here, of when the President was arriving. This is what he saw outside.
Democrats have proposed probably five bills at least, that would block activity, like what we're seeing happening tonight. The question that I think people watching have is, is any of that going to see action, given we have a Republican-controlled Congress?
[21:40:00]
BLUMENTHAL: That's the key question, Kaitlan. And the answer is probably not, because Republicans would need to grow a backbone in order to do it. They are complicit. They are aiding and abetting in this corruption. What the President is doing is taking money, going into his own personal bank account, his own pockets, through his family, through this so-called trust fund that he's established. And Republicans are, in effect, blessing it. They are complicit.
And though the legislation is unlikely to go anywhere, unless the drip, drip, drip of this corruption, the $400 million plane, the private real estate deals, the golf course transactions where he's hosting LIV Golf at his personal golf clubs, the profiting from the White House--
COLLINS: Yes.
BLUMENTHAL: --and putting that For Sale sign on the White House.
COLLINS: And of course, the White House has said, this is a blind trust. That's why it's not the corruption the Democrats have said it is.
But Senator, let me get your take on something else that came out of the White House today, a notably major headline, where they are yanking Harvard University's authorization to enroll foreign students in Harvard. It's obviously a major escalation in the pressure campaign that we have seen playing out.
Secretary Noem, over at the DHS, said, It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help their multibillion-dollar endowments.
What does this mean for Harvard tonight, in your view?
BLUMENTHAL: Very, very serious escalation of pressure on Harvard, of the most pernicious kind, because what they're doing essentially, is using antisemitism as a pretext to crack down on Harvard's academic independence and freedom.
And the Secretary of Homeland Security said very explicitly, This is a fair warning to all universities and colleges. It's a fair warning that they are going to interfere with hiring and with curriculum, with admissions, and that academic independence is at stake here.
And they accused Harvard of fostering violence and antisemitism, and coordinating with the Communist Party of China. Absolutely absurd. But it is in retaliation for Harvard standing up to them, and asserting its independence.
And the kind of retaliation that we're seeing here, and the attack on independence and freedom of expression, extends to law firms. It extends to other institutions of the country that have the temerity--
COLLINS: Yes.
BLUMENTHAL: --to stand up.
COLLINS: But does this have legal viability, in your view or is -- I mean, obviously, it's going to be challenged. Do you think that the administration will ultimately be successful?
BLUMENTHAL: The administration is going to fail in court.
But in the meantime, it's going to do tremendous damage, because it's creating fear and anxiety among those foreign students, a quarter of Harvard's total student body. The foreign students who have visas, and are going to lose them, literally in the middle of their studies, will be deterred from coming back to Harvard or any American university. Tremendous loss for the country.
And the anxiety is going to interfere with what they're doing, and what American universities and colleges are trying to provide, in the way of not only teaching, but also research. These students are essential to research. And the cancelation of research contracts, a major attack on the development and innovation of American medicine and technology.
COLLINS: Senator Richard Blumenthal, thank you for your time tonight.
BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.
COLLINS: Up next here tonight. We're going to cover what happened here in Washington, about 24 hours ago, a possible hate crime, an act of terrorism. Two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed in the streets of Washington, last night. The suspect says, quote, he did it for Gaza.
My source tonight is the Israeli Ambassador to the United States. He's here, next.
[21:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, the man accused of shooting two Israeli embassy staffers, last night, in Washington, has been charged with first degree murder and other charges that carry the potential for the death penalty.
Federal prosecutors are also investigating the murders as a hate crime and an act of terror that could result in more charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANINE PIRRO, INTERIM U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Violence against anyone based on their religion is an act of cowardice. It is not an act of a hero. It is the kind of case that we will vigorously pursue. Antisemitism will not be tolerated, especially in the nation's capital. And we're going to continue to investigate this as a hate crime and a crime of terrorism, and we will add additional charges as the evidence warrants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, that you see here, entered no plea when he appeared in court today. But prosecutors noted, in court documents, that they have surveillance footage of the attack.
Rodriguez is accused of walking past this young couple that you see here, Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, as they were leaving an event for Young Diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum, last night, and firing at them from behind. The suspect continued to fire, even while Lischinsky lay fallen, and as Milgrim was trying to crawl away.
[21:50:00]
Rodriguez initially pretended to be a bystander inside the museum, before eventually being detained. And according to court documents, when he turned himself into police, he said, quote, "I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza."
He was also heard yelling, Free Palestine, as he was being taken into custody.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIAS RODRIGUEZ, SUSPECT IN D.C. SHOOTING: Free, free Palestine.
Free, free Palestine.
Free, free Palestine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Joining me now is the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter.
And it's great to have you here, sir.
And just our condolences to you and to the entire embassy staff. Obviously, this is incredibly tragic. And I just -- how is everyone at the embassy doing, in light of this?
YECHIEL LEITER, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Well, thank you, Kaitlan.
We are in mourning, the state of mourning. Yaron and Sarah were good friends of everyone here in the embassy. Yaron office was just a few doors down from mine. Sarah come in every morning with a smile, with her red hair blazing, and the sun rising. So we miss them very much, and it's real trauma that we're in.
COLLINS: And I know, they were set to be engaged, that he was going to meet her parents, and they were going to go to Jerusalem, next week.
What can you just tell us about what they were like inside the embassy, how you knew them, and how they were.
LEITER: Yaron bought a ring, this week, with the intention of going, next week, together with Sarah, to introduce her to his family, and propose, and put a ring on her finger.
Yaron was an intellectual. He had moved from Germany with his family to Israel, many years ago. He was educated in Israel. Was an intellect, an accomplished academic. And here in the embassy, he served as an adviser and research assistant to one of our senior diplomats.
Sarah came from Kansas City. She worked in Public Diplomacy. And she was just a delight, really. Every time she came in, it was like the sun was shining.
COLLINS: In light of this, I imagine a lot of your team is understandably completely shaken. Do you have to change security protocol? What are you telling their colleagues tonight, who are watching what happened last night, as they were gunned down on the streets of Washington?
LEITER: Kaitlan, we are a people who have shown resilience. This is not something new. Most of our staff here comes from Israel. Just a few moments ago, we had a missile fired from Yemen, and a million people were called to their bomb shelters. We've sustained terrorism ongoing since our inception, since 1948.
So, we're resilient people. We're going to get out ahead of this. We're going to pick up the pieces and move on. We have confidence in the law enforcement authorities, here in Washington, will provide us with the necessary protection, and we will move forward in confidence that we will prevail.
COLLINS: Do you -- are staffers hesitant to go to an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington, or go to a synagogue, in light of what happened?
LEITER: Look, it just happened yesterday. We have a gathering, tomorrow morning, of the entire embassy staff. We have a number of senators, congressmen, White House officials, coming to participate. Very low-key, mostly to hang together, to hug each other, show each other affection and love, and embark on a platform, so that we can rise beyond this and move ahead.
COLLINS: Yes.
Ambassador, again, just our deepest condolences, in the light of this horrific attack. And thank you so much for coming on to talk about it tonight.
LEITER: Thank you, Kaitlan. Good evening.
COLLINS: And we'll be back in just a moment.
[21:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The first lady, Melania Trump, is now bringing in a, quote, "New era in publishing," those are her words, unveiling an audiobook version of her memoir that is narrated entirely using artificial intelligence of her own voice. If, like me, when you read that, you're curious about what that sounds like in a book form, we have an excerpt of the first lady reminiscing about election night 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald had poured his heart and soul into building a movement that could bring about real change. The campaign had grown into a powerful force, driven by his vision, plus the support of the American people. Now, it was up to the American people to decide if they would trust my husband to lead our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:00:00]
COLLINS: Artificial intelligence has actually been a part of the first lady's portfolio, this term, after as Trump took office, on his second term.
Earlier this month, she praised what she said were the great opportunities, but also the great threats and what that carries with it that the technology poses. Of course, a lot of questions about what that means going forward, not just policy from the East Wing, but certainly policy from the West Wing as well. Now, it seems artificial intelligence is a new way for the first lady to share her story.
Joining us on a very busy news night, and for our interview with the HHS Secretary, RFK Jr.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" is up next.
