Sen. Scott to Trump: Voting Bill Does Not Have Enough Support

24:35Over roughly two years with administration officials, campaign aides, donors, friends, business associates and others close to Trump, they even sat for an hour in the Oval Office to interview the president himself. The book describes fascinating, colorful, disturbing anecdotes and stories, including Epstein crisis meetings inside the sit room, details of frank conversations about the war in Iran, plus some odd details about Trump's eating habits and organizational oddities, He's essentially how Trump lives his life in the White House, completely unrestrained, completely untethered. More than that, the book reveals what changed when Trump returned to power without any of the constraints that existed during his first term.

25:15Namely, Trump's second term operates in a more insular, more loyal, less dissenting decision-making structure than his first term by far. Let's discuss the book with the people who know it best. Aberman and Swan join us now. Great to have you guys. Fantastic book. For a 400-plus page book, it's a very easy read. I did it in a day and change. Jonathan, let me start with this anecdote from the book. It says one of Trump's aides, Natalie Harp, quote, wrote Trump adoring letters that she left in his personal spaces, including one that read, you are all that matters to me, unquote. This is next-level sycophancy.

25:53And in some ways, the entire spirit of you are all that matters to me is repeated throughout the book. to Trump by cabinet officials, tech leaders, over and over. Yeah, the Natalie Harp letters were very odd. I mean, we obtained them and they were left in some of his personal spaces. They were adoring, intimate. You know, you describe all that matters to me. And so much so that the Secret Service during the campaign were alarmed about these letters and there was much discussion about them. But it's a broader dynamic. There is a feeling, I think, among his staff that didn't really exist in the first term, which is not just I like this person, I want them to succeed, but almost a mystical belief in his judgment and his gut instincts.

26:49And I think it helps explain how he made some of these decisions, like going to war in Iran, which flew in the face of the assessments from the intelligence community. Let's discuss one of the most widely reported stories in your book, which you serialized a week or so ago in the New York Times, for which you both work. Senior administration officials without President Trump holding multiple meetings in the sit room to manage fallout related to renewed scrutiny of Trump's past association with dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It's not often that Trump finds himself unable to fight off scandal. So his team was very divided on how to handle it.

27:26we've discussed this on the show, like I said, because you guys brought this out a couple weeks ago. But Maggie, what's so striking is completely absent from the conversation, as you two describe it, are any expressions of any concern for the survivors or any desire to see that justice is served. So they are that singularly focused on protecting President Trump just 100 percent? it's not so black and white jake there there there these there are a number of situation room meetings beyond the ones that we focused on uh in this book the ones that we focused on were almost exclusively about dealing with the the fury uh among uh the the maga faithful about the fact that the administration was not releasing files and what pam bondy had in in what most of the administration considered to be a huge blunder indicated was the existence of a client list, which never a Jeffrey Epstein client list, which obviously there has not been one produced and officials have said there isn't one.

28:32There were officials who were concerned about the victims. There were officials who wanted to make sure that victims did not face any further victimization by having their identities released. Pam Bondi actually testified about that in the House recently in a closed-door setting, and that comports with our understanding of what she was saying at the time. There were others who were concerned as well. But in these meetings, these were officials we're dealing with, and there's four meetings that we wrote about here, really three and a half, one was very small, about they were dealing with what's the path forward when you have a president who doesn't even want to talk about this, that every time everyone approached him, he would just snap at them.

29:09So how do you grapple with that? Even before the Epstein crisis meeting, something else explosive happened on July 7th last year when the FBI and Justice Department released this joint memo on the Epstein files that basically said nothing to see here. And about that, you write, quote, the deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino, showed up to a daily Justice Department meeting with the FBI staff and the attorney general. As soon as he entered the room, he erupted at Attorney General Bondi shouting at her, you fuck this thing up from the start. Bongino yelled the way you've been talking about this, that dumb fucking charade with the Epstein files.

29:38the they're on my desk nonsense, all the promises to the folks out there. FBI Director Cash Patel and Bongino both told the White House official the Bondi needed to resign, unquote. So then Suzy staff, Suzy Wiles, tries to rein in Bongino. He wanted to quit. He told aides he only stayed on longer to avoid damaging the president. He ultimately did leave, though. So Jonathan, how does Trump manage to elicit this kind of loyalty where Dan Bongino is part of something that he completely loathes, completely hates, and doesn't say anything about it, and stays in the administration for as long as he did after that?

30:16Well, it's sort of an unanswerable question that would require going inside D 'Ambongino's psychology, but it was pretty remarkable. I mean, we have another scene in the book where he's in the White House Situation Room, and he explodes at Susie Wiles and then storms out of the Situation Room and essentially says, I'm done, gets into Kash Patel's armored SUV and directs it back to the FBI. But the situation with Bongino and Patel, who remains the FBI director, was particularly acute because they, in their previous life, had been podcasters. And they had spent considerable time when they were just podcasters, you know, leading up to the 2024 campaign, telling their audience that there was something going on with Epstein, that the people in charge were participating in a cover-up and they were essentially accusing the ruling class of protecting this cabal of pedophiles, but then they become the ruling class and suddenly they're in charge of whether to be transparent or not.

31:16And for both of them, I think it was quite a jarring experience because they had been heroes to the MAGA base and now the fury of MAGA was turning against them. And what we've learned in reporting for the book is trump himself was intensely frustrated because he's so used to telling the base here's what you should think here's where you should go here's what you should do whatever epstein was sort of the most profound issue we've seen where the base just didn't listen to him they refused to go along with his marching orders and we obtained some secret memos that um that trump's key pollster tony fabrizio had put together that showed that even even this year the Epstein issue was weighing them down politically very substantially.

32:00I don't think it's helped with the Iran issue too, as the MAGA base has been kind of not supportive in many ways as well. Maggie, one of Trump's vanity projects currently in the works in DC is this arch. You write, quote, as the president showed off his models to a visitor one day in October, he puzzled over the details, including whether the arch should include a platform to take in the view. Privately, he had also been asking confidants what he should have on top of the arch. Should it be, he mused, a large replica of his fight, fight, fight fist. So you guys both, Maggie, you both note in the book that the president uses a lot of artificial intelligence or AI slop.

32:37That's something that you mentioned in the book. In that honor, we asked AI slop to depict the image of the arch as he envisioned it in your book, courtesy of AI. I just wanted to offer this as a gift to you guys. Is that what you imagined when you reported that, Maggie? From what you showed me before, I can't see what's on screen right now. It's the same thing. So let me take your word for what you sent us. Yeah, yeah. It's the same thing. Yes, it looks, you know, I can't speak to the size of the fist, which I think what you sent us was quite large, but given that he tends to emphasize big, yes, I think that's about what he was using.

33:16And by the way - It's very moving that you would do that for us. Well, I love you guys. You know that. The other thing that I want to note is that I did not ask. I did not mention the word gold in my prompt. The AI just did it on its own, just so you know. That's that would be a very expensive fist. You both also wrote about the health of the 80 year old president. I want to talk about that next. But I'm going to squeeze in a quick break. Maggie and Jonathan, stick around.

33:48And we're back with our Politics League deep diving into the brand new book, Regime Change Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump. The author is Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, back with me. You write about President Trump's health at several points in the book, saying, quote, in 2024, aides saw that he was going almost to the brink of physical collapse in the campaign. He finished the campaign with a sprint of rallies that left him briefly falling asleep on his feet backstage at one of his last events. And then later in the book, you write, he was also having trouble hearing, asking people to repeat questions they had just asked him.

34:18Whatever thin verbal filter he had in the past was gone. He was saying whatever he wanted, when he wanted. And obviously, there's a bruising of the hands, a swollen ankles, falling asleep, et cetera, et cetera. Do you have any idea, Maggie, whether these are just like normal health issues, largely just typical of any 80 year old? Or is there something deeper, more profound going on that we're not seeing and they're not telling us about this administration is no more. Well, I'll just say they're not as transparent as they could be. Maggie. Look, Jake, we would like to know as much as anybody what is going on with Trump's health.

34:56And to say that the administration is not transparent about it is an understatement, which is not to say the previous administrations were always up front either. But this administration is not answering questions about why the president has gone for, I think, three annual checkups, in their words. It's been annual. I think it became semi-annual eventually. They say that he was seen by 22 specialists at Walter Reed recently. I can't even think of how many specialties that would be. but they haven't answered questions about what that would have been for or what types of specialists. They never released what kind of imaging they said he had at Walter Reed.

35:32Last fall, they haven't released calcium scores, if he's even taking such tests. And they released numbers that don't entirely comport with our sense of his past medical history. Also, Jake, He had COVID in a very, very intense way in 2020, and he was having significant breathing issues at the time, which we all reported. They were not upfront about that. I don't know whether there's lingering effects there. So his health is a particular black box in this administration, and it's one we're continuing to report on. But beyond what you see, and we can all see, which is that he's an 80-year-old man with some issues, we don't know what else there is.

36:13Jonathan, one chapter in the book delves into the Trump administration's efforts to influence the Smithsonian. You got inside the Smithsonian board meetings where an aide to Vice President Vance was taking direct aim at an Amy Sheridan painting of a trans model and performance artist. And this aide to Vance said, this is not what Americans want to see. You really got in the room. I mean, the Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is in that room hearing these lectures. Tell us more about Trump's pressure campaign to change what Americans are allowed to see in our own museums? Well, it's a pretty sort of extraordinary and somewhat underreported element of the Trump presidency, and we really want to dig into it.

36:55They have been very focused on changing the culture. They've done it in many different ways, obviously trying to eradicate DEI. But the Smithsonian effort was trying to change what was shown in American museums and art galleries. And they went basically on this pressure campaign against Lonnie Bunch, the head of the Smithsonian, and the regents to try to change the artworks that are shown in the Smithsonian museums. And what you just referenced was an astonishing moment. They're sitting there in one of these regent meetings and the vice president is in there. He leaves the room and he leaves one of his aides in the room and the aide holds up an iPad and it's a painting by the celebrated American artist Amy Sherald called Transforming Liberty.

37:41She cancelled her show because of interference and he just says this is not what Americans want to see. We thought it was very significant because there's a long history of authoritarian leaders trying to shape culture and reshape culture and to determine what can be shown and what versions of history can be shown. So we think it's a really underexplored element of the Trump presidency is something we tried to shed some light on in the book reporting. I could interview you guys for five hours about everything in this book. There's so many good stories. One that really fascinated me, Maggie, is this September phone call that President Trump had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the president was trying to get a peace deal in Gaza and was finding Netanyahu uncooperative, to say the least.

38:27And let me just read from this. Once again, I'm going to curse because this is these are quotes from conversations. Quote, Trump told Netanyahu he was sick of his antics. I've done everything to protect you. You better fucking go along with this. Everybody's sick of you, Bibi, Trump said. All the Jews are sick of you. Even the two Jews on this call are sick of you, Trump added, referring to Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. You can't back out of this. Trump ticked through the list of controversial decisions he had made supporting Israel through both of his presidencies and on and on. This is a stunning conversation.

38:56And combined with the reporting you have, Maggie, about how fed up Jared Kushner was with Netanyahu and the current Israeli government. I have never seen that kind of conversation really from any president with Netanyahu, including ones that were publicly much less supportive, like Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Barack Obama. Yeah, Jake, it was, you know, again, another extraordinary moment in our reporting was hearing about this. And obviously there have been other tense phone calls that the two men have had, Netanyahu and Trump, since then. And we have seen some of those. But this really sets some of the table for what you're seeing in their relationship now.

39:40The president was just unloading on Netanyahu. And there was enormous frustration on the part of the White House, on the part of Jared Kushner, on the part of Steve Witkoff, that there had been this strike on Qatar by Israel while the U.S. was in the middle of trying to negotiate some kind of a ceasefire and a hostage exchange. This was a turning point moment, at least in the minds of a lot of Trump officials. Now, Netanyahu went along with this plan. Some people around Netanyahu believed that he was more willing than perhaps Trump administration officials thought to engage in this ceasefire. But it was quite a moment between the two.

40:21Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, fantastic book, highly recommended. I read it like in a day and a half, even though it's more than 400 pages. Congratulations. Congratulations on all the accolades. And I hope you sell a billion of them. Thanks for joining us. Thanks so much, Jay. Thank you, Jay. Appreciate it. Then there's President Trump today refusing to sign a bipartisan housing bill, then getting into a shouting match with Republicans in the Senate over Iran, even calling one senator a lunatic. Up next, just in, hear what that senator is saying publicly about that moment.

40:59This is CNN Breaking News. Welcome to The Lead on Jake Tapper. And we are following breaking news tonight as a meeting between President Trump and Republican senators turned into something of a screaming match on Capitol Hill. The confrontations about the Iran war as the president expressed his exasperation that any Republicans would vote for the World War Powers Act. Here's how Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana described his dispute with President Trump. The president didn't want to hear my question, interrupted me. I didn't care to be interrupted. I felt like I was trying to get answers for the American people.

41:35And I'm not going to be bullied when I'm trying to get answers for the American people. And so escalated from there. At some point, it de-escalated. The questions were about how long the war with Iran was going to last, Cassidy said. Today's meeting with Republican senators came after President Trump had already been feeling blindsided by his own party this morning. He announced at the last minute that he would not sign a bipartisan deal to make housing more affordable. Instead, he's demanding a vote on election legislation, election security legislation. That legislation, what President Trump calls the Save America Act, simply does not have the votes in the Senate to pass.

42:15Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, a strong supporter of the president, told CNN that he bluntly relayed that to the president today. Quote, I said, this is where we are today. I'm a business guy. You have to live in reality. They don't have the votes. Senator Scott is going to join us live in moments just to share more about today's developments. But we're going to start today with CNN's Caitlin Collins at the White House. Caitlin, tell us more. Well, Jake, I think a lot of those Republican senators thought that the president was coming in there today to give them an earful about the Save America Act, which obviously he has been pushing on.

42:44That is why he said earlier that he would cancel the signing of that housing bill. But actually, according to a senator that I spoke with who was inside the room for that lunch, once they were all in there, the president was much angrier about the War Powers vote that passed last night. And even though the White House last night to us was downplaying the resolution, saying that it's not binding, that it's not enforceable, it's not really going to change the president's actual war plans when it comes to what's happening in Iran. The president was perturbed by the fact that Republicans had crossed the aisle more in number as those votes had continued, led by Senator Tim Kaine, and rebuked him, essentially, by voting for that.

43:20And so he spent the majority of that lunch, according to this Republican that I spoke with, focusing on the war powers vote, getting into that shouting match with Senator Cassidy about this, obviously, as he noted there and as Manu has reported as well with our Hill team. And so that was really the focus of his anger, which I think surprised a lot of the Republicans who were there in the room. But, Jake, when it comes to the SAVE Act, the president does also obviously want that passed, even though it literally does not have the votes right now to get passed. And the Republicans have made that clear to him.

43:50But just to drive home for you how much he's still focused on this, he was meeting with the NATO Secretary General in the Oval Office just a few moments ago, and this is what he said about whether or not he's going to sign that housing bill. I said I'm not signing the housing bill. I want to see what happens. We said, look, the housing bill is housing. I made billions of dollars with housing. I know housing better than anybody, maybe anywhere. It's all about the interest rate. Lower the interest rates. The president there was talking about really the key to a more affordable housing is lowering interest rates.

44:24Obviously, he's got his new pick in at the Federal Reserve, but seeming to dismiss this housing bill that, Jake, 24 hours ago, the White House official accounts were championing that bill and setting up this high profile ceremony that the president scuttled today. And, and, uh, Kalen, not long ago, the president called the legislation minor legislation. And Punchbowl is reporting that earlier this week, President Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson, quote, no one gives a shit about housing, unquote. That's not true, obviously. affordability and housing affordability are big, big issues for voters.

44:58Is the president not aware that the midterm elections are coming up? You know, Jake, this has happened more and more in our interactions with the president where we've asked him about polling on a certain issue or where voters stand on the Iran war, on things like affordable housing and affordability in general. And he's really dismissed those numbers. I mean, just today he was claiming he has the highest poll numbers that he's ever had. And we've actually seen Republicans who are not happy and disconcerted with the president's war. And obviously on affordable housing, this seemed like the easiest win in the world for the White House, which is why they worked so hard to get this bill passed.

45:30It was highly bipartisan, which is something, as you know, Jake, we rarely see in Washington these days. They set up this high-profile signing that was going to happen on Capitol Hill. They wanted the president to get credit for helping with affordability, an election midterm message, obviously, that he could run on. and the president himself was so angry about the War Powers vote and about not getting the Save America Act passed that he said he's not signing it. And right now, Jake, it's not clear if he actually intends to ever have that signing ceremony. Kaitlin Collins, thanks so much. And don't miss Kaitlin on her show, The Source with Kaitlin Collins.

46:04Her guests tonight include Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren from the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That's tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on CNN. Joining us now for a bipartisan interview, Republican Senator from Florida, Rick Scott, Democratic Senator from New Hampshire, Maggie Hassan. I know you two want to talk about legislation you're working on, and I will get there, I promise. But I do want to ask you, Senator Scott, you told CNN, you told Trump the votes aren't there for the SAVE Act. You added, quote, I'm a business guy, you have to live in reality. It doesn't sound like President Trump is living in reality from your description.

46:35That's not exactly what I said. Well, I told him, here's the path. There's basically three paths to get the SAVE America Act passed. Right now, there's not enough Republican senators that want to get rid of the filibuster, so that's not going to happen. What we can do, the filibuster is to stop debate. What we can do is put the bill on the floor, have debate, finish debate, and vote. At that point, it's a 51-vote threshold. We can also break it up into different pieces. We can also see what we can do through the reconciliation process. So there's different paths to secure election. We've got a secure election.

47:07I think we all want to have secure elections. Look at California. They're still counting ballots from the June 2nd mayor's race. In contrast, in the country of Columbia, they had a president's race and they called the election and count all the ballots within three hours. So there's a way to do it right and there's a way not to do it. Is this what you want President Trump to be focused on, this close to a midterm election? And it doesn't it isn't it bad for your party that he is not signing this housing affordability bill and instead talking about this election bill and his anger about the War Powers Act vote?

47:43Well, I've been up here seven years. Probably the most popular bill I've ever heard about is the Save America Act. Republicans, Democrats, independents all across the country won it. So and I agree with the president. I didn't support the housing bill because I didn't see how it was going to reduce the cost of starter homes. We need to do what the president said, reduce interest rates, which is the only way you do that is balance the budget. Then our local governments need to work on driving down the cost for starter homes. Senator Hassan, the Postmaster General David Steiner, testified in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee today.

48:14He seemed to defend this Trump plan that requires states to provide the federal government with lists of voters who receive mail-in ballots. Steiner said he would enforce the rule unless a court ruled he shouldn't. You said that the rule is un-American. Why do you think that? Look, what we saw today is President Trump saying that he doesn't really think housing is a problem and he doesn't want to reduce costs for Americans, but he does want to take away their right to vote. Look, this is an unconstitutional power grab, this plan to use the post office to do something that the Constitution doesn't say it should do.

48:53It says states and local state governments should run the time and manner of elections. And our state of New Hampshire does that really well. States across the country do that really well. We know in New Hampshire that things like the SAVE Act really make it much harder for certain groups of people to vote, like women. And look, what the postmaster general was saying is that he would allow the president to use the post office to coerce states that have state laws that say they can't share voter rolls, all that information about voters with the federal government, that he wants to use the Postal Service to coerce that.

49:29That's not right. That's un-American. We have safe and secure elections. We all can work on those together. But the SAVE Act really rolls us back and takes away the right to vote for a lot of people. All right. Let's talk now about what you guys are working together on. You have this new legislation. Senator Scott, you're chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, and you and Senator Hassam introduced legislation to create a central hub so that people can report, call, and text scams, something that is a real nuisance and hazard for everybody, but especially seniors upon whom a lot of these scammers prey.

50:04Why not punish the phone companies for allowing these scammers to prey on vulnerable Americans? I thought that these kind of scam calls aren't allowed anyway, right? Well, first off, there's 13 federal agencies that deal with this. So what we're doing is having a centralized platform so somebody actually knows where to report something. You go to reportscams.gov is what we're working on. And that's, you know, there's all these scams, especially for people over 60, voice scams, grandparent scams, romance scams, investment scams. It's over$5 billion a year. So what we're trying to do is there are a lot of laws.

50:43And what we need to do is have a place where people can report them. And then all these federal agencies that have authority to do these things, then they have the information to go after them. Yeah, I'd just add, Jake, look, our email inboxes, our phone text chains, our phone calls are filled with scams. Scams now are costing the global economy, illicit scams run by transnational criminal organizations, more than the illicit drug trade does. And when you talk to victims, they tell you that sometimes they don't report just because it's just very confusing about where to report. We had a hearing in the Joint Economic Committee on this with multiple federal agencies in front of us.

51:22They couldn't even define their jurisdictions well. We need a centralized place. And then one of the other things our bill does is says that if you're a victim, you report into that centralized Web page. Then you get information that allows you to follow up on your own case. which agency is investigating it, and it gives cross-agency visibility into scam patterns that will allow our law enforcement to shut them down more quickly. I will add that the Joint Economic Committee continues to investigate and work with various platforms, telecoms, other kinds of social media platforms, to get them working better to prevent these scams.

52:06And we're pushing them really hard to come up with mechanisms to do that, as well as to follow laws that are already in place. So let me just follow that up, Senator Hassan, because somebody tried to scam me like a week ago. And I mean, I knew it was a scam and, you know, all that. I didn't do anything about it. I didn't report it to the phone company. I didn't report it to the government because I just I'm sorry, but I don't think anybody's going to do anything about it. And I'm sure that my skepticism is not, I'm not alone. What do you want accountability to look like? Well, look, let's be clear.

52:44You recognized a scam and it would be good for you to report it so we could see the pattern of the scam. I have constituents who lose tens of thousands of dollars in these scams. They need the money back. They need accountability. So that's where reporting to law enforcement, sometimes, you know, some people go to local or state law enforcement. but reporting it to a centralized location then gives our law enforcement at the federal level the information they need to go after the scammers and hopefully recover damages, recover money for the person who was scammed, shut down the scams, and prosecute.

53:19And that's what we need to be able to do, and that's what a centralized location will move us towards. Well, I hope it works. Senator Maggie Hassan and Senator Rick Scott, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time today. Thank you, Jake. New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani took on the Democratic establishment and won. What message should the Democratic Party take from that as Democrats try to flip the House in Senate in November? I'm going to ask Maryland Governor Wes Moore ahead. Plus, a top U.S. general in Europe set to retire, how much of a role did Secretary Hegseth play in kicking him out the door?

53:49Those new details next.

53:56Next. And our politics lead sources tell CNN that a top U.S. general responsible for commanding soldiers in Europe is retiring from his post after some tensions between his command and the secretary of defense Pete Hegseth's office. Four star Army General Christopher Donahue has long been rumored to be a choice for Army chief of staff, the top uniformed position for the U.S. Army. CNN senior national security reporter Haley Britsky has the details. Haley, what are your sources telling you about this big retirement? Yeah, Jake. So General Donahue is relinquishing his command, stepping down from command of U.S.

54:31Army, Europe, and Africa. It's something that sources said he's been considering for the last couple of months and has decided to do that on July 2nd. They said that he's submitted for retirement to leave the Army officially, but that the Army has not officially accepted that retirement. So they say there's still a chance that he might be nominated for another four-star position elsewhere in the military. But it's very unclear at this point where that could be. But ultimately, I mean, this is an officer who has extreme respect from other general officers, from rank-and-file troops as someone who covered the Army and went down to Bragg when he was at 82nd Airborne Division and 18th Airborne Corps.

55:06I mean, this is someone who certainly commanded a room and had the respect of the troops around him. And so a lot of sources saying this would just be a real shame to let an officer like this leave. It does seem as though there are a lot of officers like Donahue who have been pushed out the door or retired earlier or left, not been promoted, etc., etc., under Hegseth's leadership. Is that fair? Yeah, I think that is fair. I mean, there's been at least two dozen senior officers removed with little to no explanation as to why. We've seen several in his tenure of the last year and a half kind of forced to retire.

55:40Obviously, most notably, we saw Army Chief of Staff General Randy George, who was forced to retire early. Also widely respected. Exactly, yes. And General Chris Laniv, who was Secretary Hegseth's senior military assistant, sort of moved into that position. And as you mentioned, I mean, General Donahue was sort of believed to become the next Army Chief of Staff. A lot of people saw him on that track to become the most senior officer in the Army. And so there's a lot of frustration, I think, and confusion among those who've supported him as to why he isn't in that position. So there still is a chance, sources say.

56:12It could still happen, but it's still very unclear at this point. It does seem like they're trying to make the flag officer level loyalists as opposed to independent thinkers, but that's just one man's impression. Haley Britsky, thanks so much. A new analysis finds more than 700 ,000 kids are no longer getting food stamps after Trump's changes and cuts to food stamps. The founder of No Kid Hungry, Billy Shore, and the group's national spokesperson, actor Jeff Bridges, are going to join us live next to explain the real world impact of these cuts to food stamps.

56:49International lead when Congress passed President Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, also known as H.R. 1 last summer, Republicans repeatedly claimed that the most vulnerable would not be impacted by the legislation's revisions to the federal food assistance program SNAP, also called food stamps. But nearly a year after President Trump signed that measure into law, analyses from ProPublica and from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that more than 700 ,000 children, children, are no longer receiving SNAP benefits. This decline comes as millions of kids who rely on free and reduced-price school lunches face what's called the summer hunger gap.

57:33And it's a need often filled by SNAP benefits. A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture told CNN, quote, the number of individuals receiving benefits is constantly changing. For example, multiple states have seen declines far before the enactment of H.R. 1. They went on to say, quote, demanding that work-capable individuals fulfill a 20-hour per week requirement, which can include employment, career, and technical education, or volunteering is not punishment. States should encourage financial independence and contribution to community. Recipients of any welfare program are not victims.

58:02They are capable people who at times need a helping hand, not a government or leftist organization telling them to stay idle and disengaged." Of course, please keep in mind, our question was about 700 ,000 children. Here to discuss is actor and founder of the End Hunger Network, Jeff Bridges, also with us founder and executive chair of Share Our Strength, Billy Shore. Jeff, let me start with you. So according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the states with the biggest This decline in children receiving SNAP benefits are primarily states led by Republican lawmakers who supported the Trump administration's SNAP policy changes.

58:36Nonprofits in states like Arizona, which is a purple state, and Louisiana, a very red state, they say demand for food is rising. ProPublica reports that Arizona's largest food bank has seen a 15 % increase in need this year for about 300 ,000 more visits for people looking for food. What are you hearing from your perch? Yeah, you know, it's really not about what political party you belong to. I think we can all agree that our kids in one of the most wealthy countries in the world shouldn't be struggling with hunger this way. That parents shouldn't have to choose between paying rent and putting groceries in the refrigerator or on the table.

59:20You know, it doesn't make any sense. It's, yeah, last summer with these snap cuts, this program that really prevents kids from going hungry like they're going to be doing this summer. I mean, this summer, kids are really heading for a summer where there's going to be a lot of hunger. It doesn't have to be that way. You know, fortunately, Congress is negotiating the farm bill right now. And it's an opportunity to reverse some of these cuts or delay them anyway. And I'm hoping that everybody that's listening can urge their senators to restore the SNAP benefits for our kids and for our families and for our communities across the country.

1:00:10And Billy, in October, the state share of SNAP administrative costs are going to rise from 50 to 75 percent, just as many agencies are scrambling to meet these new requirements put in place by the Trump administration. In Massachusetts, the share of applicants who couldn't reach a worker jumped from 61 percent in November to nearly 81 percent in just four months. Do you think states are so focused on revisions to the program that access to the programs are suffering? I think access to the programs are suffering quite a bit, and it comes at the worst possible time. You know, there's almost a triple threat right now, Jake.

1:00:50You know, the SNAP benefits have been cut, as you've described. Four million Americans pushed off a SNAP, 700 ,000 of them children. At the same time, the Department of Agriculture today issued error rates, which is a formula for deciding how much the states are going to have to pay back to the federal government instead of using their money for SNAP. And prices, as we know, grocery prices and affordability issues are at a record high. So this comes at the worst possible time. And to take 700 ,000 children who are the most vulnerable, the least responsible for the situation that they're in, to take them off of food assistance is, honestly, it's just kind of madness.

1:01:34But Jeff made a great point. This is a solvable problem. We have food in this country. We have food assistance programs. And we're hoping that Congress will act to defer some of these cuts, just at least until the states can get their act together, be responsive, figure out their budget issues, and maybe be able to mitigate some of this. And Jeff, one of the realities here is that some families are kicked off SNAP and then they reapply and they're told months later that their applications are still pending and they have to keep waiting. For those families waiting on federal assistance, what other resources are available right now?

1:02:14What NGOs or other charitable organizations exist? Billy, that's probably a question you can answer better than me. Go ahead, Billy. Well, sure, Jeff. So, you know, we work with a lot of other organizations that do a great job. Feeding America is a national organization of food banks. Almost every community in this country has food banks and food pantries that are very effective. School lunch and school breakfast are still, in many cases, going on unimpeded. And one of the most important things, I think, to realize, Jake, as you talked about, you know, Republican lawmakers supporting these cuts, that is true.

1:02:52But at the state and local level, we see much more bipartisanship, and we see a lot of Republican governors and Republican mayors who are doing everything they can to help reinstate these benefits. So this administration is out of touch with a lot of its own party at the state and local level. There's a lot of bipartisanship there. And I know you guys have done a lot of work on that. And Jeff, just a final thought for you about the fact that 700 ,000 kids don't have access to these SNAP funds as we're in the summer. Yeah, and it's our 250th birthday of our wonderful nation here. and, you know, it reminds us about what does freedom mean to us, you know?

1:03:33For our kids, freedom to learn and to grow, that depends on being free from hunger. This is something we need to make sure that our kids are free from. We don't need our kids to be hungry like this. We can prevent it. Let's do everything we can to keep the SNAP programs in place. Let's hope the lawmakers hear what you're saying. Jeff Bridges, Billy Shore, thanks to both of you as always. Thanks a lot, Jay. Nice hanging with you, Billy. Maryland Governor Wes Moore is live in studio next, fresh off his election victory last night. What should Democrats take away from the election results, especially when Democratic Socialists won so big in New York City?

1:04:15We'll ask them next.

1:04:21And our politics lead, a hat trick for New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani. All three of the House candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists won their congressional primaries, taking down two incumbent establishment Republican, I'm sorry, Democratic members of Congress in the process and signaling the growing influence of the far left in Democratic politics. Joining us now, fresh off his own primary win last night, Maryland Democratic Governor Wes Moore. Thanks so much for joining us. So, as you know, Mayor Mamdani says his candidates are writing a new chapter in the Democratic Party's history. He said voters are hungry for a new kind of politics.

1:04:56Republicans are pointing to these three candidates in New York, two of whom are Democratic socialists, and saying the Democratic Party is careening to the hard left. What do you think? How do you see it? Well, I mean, I'd say I'd look at the success that we had and the wild success that we had of the candidates that we endorsed. In Maryland. In Maryland. Yeah. Right. I mean, and the thing that we all had in common was that not one of us were supporting or lifting up the status quo or party bosses. is that we're actually up here to offend the status quo. And whether that was the progressive legislator in Montgomery County or whether it was the prosecutor in Baltimore County, they don't share an ideology.

1:05:36But what they share is a focus and understanding that the status quo is not working for people. And so we were really zeroing in on saying, who is going to make sure they're addressing costs? Who actually has the political wills and the political chops to be able to make sure that we can address energy prices and all the other damages that we're seeing from the federal administration, but to know that we have to stop being a party of no and slow and start being a party of yes and now. So you're the governor of Maryland. I mean, aren't you kind of the status quo or at least the Democratic establishment that you say people are voting against?

1:06:05No, because I mean, listen, I think people in my state know that when I first ran for office, I mean, I'd never run for political office before in my life. I ran for governor because I came from a family that was used to suffering the consequences of policies, not from a family that's used to making the policies. And so I was elected as an outsider, and now I have governed the exact same way. And when I thought about who were the people that I wanted next to me, the people who I endorsed yesterday, they did not come from a specific wing of the political party. They did not come with an ideology as their operating function.

1:06:36It came as just simply saying, what are we going to do to disrupt the status quo and actually get things done for the people of Maryland? And I think that's why we had wild success last night. Speaking of disrupting the status quo, But what's the latest on redistricting in Maryland? As you know, Republicans right now in these redistricting wars are ahead. They've gained somewhere from 8 to 15 seats, depending on how you count it. What's the status of Maryland? Well, the status of Maryland is that we are going to have a special session. You are going to do it. We are going to do it. I'm going to call a special session.

1:07:05And what do you want to happen? Well, what I want to happen is for our House of Delegates, which has already actually voted on this and voted in approval, to then get together with the Senate, who was stalling and not moving on it, to get together and say, we need to be able to get something done on this issue. We are watching these elections being robbed in broad daylight, where we literally just had to sue the president of the United States because he was trying to get redacted, you know, unredacted access to our voter logs. We are watching how he is telling Republican states to redistrict and Democratic states to sit on their hands.

1:07:37We're watching how he's trying to cancel mail-in balloting and how he's talking about nationalizing elections. This is a president who is stopping at nothing to be able to adjust not just 2026, but elections after it. And so our House and our Senate will get together. They will come up with a resolution and bring it to my desk. But the core criteria that I have laid out is doing nothing is not an option. So we will have specials. You're talking about to make new federal congressional maps is what you're talking about. Correct. So right now, Maryland is, unless I'm wrong, it's seven to one Democrat.

1:08:05There's only one Republican, right? Correct. So you're just talking about getting rid of that one Republican seat? No, what we're talking about is making sure that there's maps that actually reflect our values and reflect the will of the people. I think the people's will is important. It's the reason that I called for a governor's redistricting advisory commission where we heard from Marylanders for weeks across the board on this. And what I know is that this map that we have around the country is already so deeply gerrymandered where less than 10 percent of all congressional seats are actually fairer competitive right now.

1:08:35And so what I think what we need to be doing inside of the state of Maryland, we need to have national redistricting reform. I believe in that, and I think it needs to happen. But until we get that done, we cannot let the president of the United States dictate what our democracy is supposed to look like. Marylanders should determine what Maryland's democracy looks like. Yeah, but you're not talking about, I mean, I hear you saying two different things, and they're contradictory kind of. One is that we should have more competitive seats. And then it sounds like you're also saying, but until nationally we have more competitive seats, Democrats need to fight fire with fire.

1:09:09And we need to have eight House seats that lean Democratic. Am I wrong? I actually don't think it's contradictory because, do you know, essentially the most gerrymandered seat that we have in the state of Maryland is the first congressional district, Andy Harris's district. It's the most gerrymandered seat that we have within our state. But you think an 8-0 state map would be more fair? I think having competitive maps would be more fair, and maps that actually reflect the values of our state. I do think that would be more fair. I want to get your reaction to something Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman said last night after losing his primary to Brad Lander, who was endorsed by Momdani.

1:09:48He has a record, Congressman Goldman, of supporting Israel. He's Jewish. Lander is, too. It was a big issue in his race. Take a listen to what he had to say. Jews have given back so much to this country. As history has taught us, anti-Semitic tropes and stereotypes, some of which I heard personally on this campaign, will ultimately be the undoing of our democracy if we all don't lean in and speak out, even if it's not politically expedient. Do you think that your party is doing enough to speak out against the anti-Semitic wing or the voice, anti-Semitic voices that are in the Democratic Party?

1:10:32I can tell you in our state, I've been very clear that hate will find no oxygen in the state of Maryland. That we have now invested over$10 million into hardening homes of worship. That we have been very clear that anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, just hate rhetoric will not only be not tolerated, but we've actually increased penalties for it. that I've had a chance to pray with families in my office, both who lost loved ones and loved ones kidnapped on October 7th. And I've had the chance to pray with Palestinian students inside of my office. I think we all have a moral obligation to snuff this out wherever we see it.

1:11:12We have a moral obligation to make sure that it does not taint our politics. And we have a moral obligation to make sure that our people are safe in their own communities, in their own homes, in their own skin, and also in their homes of worship. When are you going to make a decision about whether or not you're going to run for president in 2028? I've made the decision. I'm very clear. I'm focused on November. I think we have a great story to tell. And I'm looking forward to our people not just hopefully re-electing me, but also sending a message. You've made your decision that you're never going to run for president?

1:11:44You made your decision you're not going to run in 2028. I've made my decision that I'm focused on November. And I need to, you know, we're going to make sure we win in November. OK, that's OK. Well, we'll check back with you after the election when when we talk about a different decision and you can't give that dodge anymore. Maryland Governor Westmore, thank you so much for being here. Good to see you, sir. Today, the Trump administration officially wrapped up its public health response to the Hantavirus outbreak linked to that cruise ship and the Americans who quarantined for 42 days while they're officially home.

1:12:10And one of those travelers who documented his quarantine on social media is going to join us live next to share what life has been like since his release.

1:12:22In our health lead today, the Department of Health and Human Services officially announced the end of its public health response to the hantavirus outbreak. HHS says no Americans developed hantavirus. No one remains under monitoring. That also means the American cruise ship passengers exposed to the virus are finally free after spending 42 days in federal quarantine. And Jake Rosemarin is with me. He documented his time in quarantine on social media. Jake, thanks for joining us. So you're back home now. Has there been a moment during your first day back that felt surprisingly emotional or overwhelming?

1:12:56Tell us about the experience. It's been kind of crazy just going back into normal society. I mean, I went to a store for the first time today and it was a little weird. But just getting home and being with my family has been amazing. And you had a regimented routine. What habits from quarantine do you think you might keep? and what habits will be the ones you throw out the window as quickly as possible? I think I'll definitely be continuing a workout routine. I'm not much of a reader, so I don't know if I'll pick up a book anytime soon again, but it may happen. What was your workout routine? I would usually go on the bike in the beginning, but then they were able to bring me a treadmill.

1:13:44So I was going on the treadmill a lot, and sometimes I would go in between both of them. As a travel creator who's used to, you're used to constantly moving, did being forced to stay in one place change your perspective in any way on how you look at the world and travel? I think I'm surprised with how well I was able to manage being in a room. I think after the experience, it's going to be hard for me to travel again, but I love traveling, so I want to get back out there. Just generally, I appreciate the little things a little more now. You know, getting to go out in the rain the other day was amazing.

1:14:23Oh, that's fun. If you could go back and talk to yourself on day one of quarantine, what would you say to yourself? You're going to make it through this. Did you worry about that at the beginning? Did you think, oh, my God, how am I going to do this? I think I was a little worried. I think I was worried about being exposed to an extremely deadly virus. And I figured that I needed to just be in a good place over six weeks. And I made that happen. What was your day-to-day like in quarantine? What was the experience like? Did you start the day on the bike or the treadmill? Did you have like a schedule from 12 o 'clock to 2 o 'clock, I'm going to watch a movie?

1:15:06Like, did it work like that? I think the schedule differed. but on a general basis, I would do the same things. So a lot of times I would work out in the morning, but if I didn't in the morning, maybe I would do it in the afternoon. I always tried to do one or two craft activities during the day. And then obviously we had our daily temperature checks, which were in the morning and the evenings. What do you want to say to your family, your friends, the support staff, anyone who helped you get through the 42 days of quarantine? Just a huge thank you to them. I mean, especially the staff at the NQU.

1:15:47They were just unbelievable. And the people of Omaha, Nebraska were just so welcoming and so kind and so generous. Jake Rosemar, thank you so much. Congrats, man. Glad you're out. Thanks, Jake. Appreciate it. Come up next, I'm going to be joined by two of the best in Hollywood at what they do. Scott Eastwood, the actor, Rod Lurie, the director, are here as their new war thriller, Lucky Strike, hits theater. Stick with us.

1:16:18Damaris. Yes, sir. You're on me. Ready when you are, sir. Hey, sir, let me go. No, no. I need you to finish this. We'll let you know when we're clear. Ready? Moving. All right. Go. Got you covered, sir. Move, move, move.

1:16:35A scene there from a brand new World War II epic inspired by a true story. It's called Lucky Strike. It drops audiences into the Battle of the Bulge, one of World War II's most brutal turning points. In the movie, Scott Eastwood plays John Castle, a wounded American soldier stranded behind enemy lines, armed only with an SCR 300 radio. He must outwit advancing SS Panzer forces and fight his way back to survival. I just saw it. It's really exciting. It's really riveting. Let's bring in Scott Eastwood, the star and director Rod Lurie. Thanks so much for being here. And I have to say, in the best possible way, Rod, this reminds me of those great war movies from like the 60s.

1:17:17And like it's just good guy stuck behind enemy lines, has to get to safety and really compelling. Congratulations. Thank you. Well, the thing is that war films are basically not meant for entertainment except for World War II films. Right. Because the bad guys are so obvious and the good guys are so obvious and there's no ambiguity whatsoever. And so you can make the guns in Navarone and wear eagles dare and just be entertained and go to the movies. And also, you know, in this case, also learn a little bit about the history of World War II. Battle of the Bulge, the last actual huge battle of the Second World War on the European side.

1:18:01And you just mentioned where Eagles stare, which is obviously of your dad's World War II movies or your dad's war movies, this is the most like that. Sure. Did you take your inspiration from previous films from the 60s, 70s? Did you take your inspiration from the true story? How did you get into the character? Well, you know, I've been lucky enough to do a few World War II films now. The Pacific, I got to do my tour in Europe twice now, thanks to Rod. So it's sort of an amalgamation of all that time spending with veterans, learning about that time period, talking to people, getting to work on the outpost.

1:18:45We should, yeah, we should, for full disclosure, you made my book about Afghanistan, The Outpost, into an amazing, amazing film. Thank you, yeah. Starring you as the amazing Clint Romache. And I saw a lot of other guys from The Outpost film. Did that film inspire this one at all? That was the first time you filmed war stuff, right? Yeah, the first time I did a movie called The Last Castle, which was about soldiers with Robert Redford. But, you know, making The Outpost was sort of a glorious experience. And we really made it very much for the vets of the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war, the international war on terror.

1:19:25But this one was more for history. But also, as we just said, it's more a piece of entertainment, I would think, than The Outpost. Yeah, that was sad, a sad movie. And this is a much more inspiring movie. Scott, I want to play another moment from the great film Lucky Strike. Take a look. I'm sorry. I should have come out faster.

1:19:50I'm sorry. You kicked out for protection, okay? And don't tell anybody about that. No court-martial week. So that's a really sad part of the movie where your character has taken refuge in the house of a French family and the SS comes. Knowing that this was inspired by a true story, did you feel an added sense of responsibility? Always. You know, anytime you do a movie about veterans, people who have sacrificed them in war, it always comes with a heavy weight that you have to carry and you have to do the project justice by doing the best you can do. And tell me about the origin of the story. Your co-writer, your co-screenplay writer, he heard the story?

1:20:36Well, when he was, Mark Friedman, when he was 16 years old, in his high school in France, they invited veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and other, I guess, other battles to be interviewed by the students. And when Mark heard this story, I think he said, this, he comes from a film family. He's a writer. Yeah, he said, this is going to be, this will make a great film. And he carried it around. It was 50 years ago. 50 years ago, yeah. Wow. But he's carried it around. He brought me his screenplay. I added a few scenes. And lo and behold, we had a lucky strike. His parents, his father, was protected, he's Jewish, by a French family.

1:21:17And that family that you see there, they inspired those characters. And for both of you, as America, I'll start with you, Scott. As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, What do you think films like this can teach us? That we can come together. You know, we can come together as a nation and believe in our values, in the values of this country, which make it the best country in the world. What do you think, Ryan? I think that what I want people to walk away from with this is that the one thing that has been consistent, no matter what you say about our military back then and now, the American soldier has always been great.

1:22:00Yeah, I'm under that. Scott Eastwood, Rod Lurie. The film is Lucky Strike. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you, Jake. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, threads, Blue Sky X, and on the TikTok at Jake Tapper. And you can follow the show on X and Instagram at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can watch the show on the CNN app or listen to The Lead podcast. Aaron Burnett out front starts now.

1:22:30From the descendants of history makers involved in the Louisiana Purchase to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, discover the untold stories of American expansion in the CNN original series, This Land. Now streaming on the CNN app.