Trump Disputes Netanyahu’s Claim Of No Starvation In Gaza

26:40Because obviously, you know, discomfort is part of life it's part of education for sure um and and and where i don't just don't know how you draw the line between discomfort and not feeling safe yeah so i mean harassment jurisprudence is pretty straightforward it's severe or pervasive so um if you've got an employer that's uh refusing to enforce its policies it's failing to allow people to complain uh it's deterring people from being able to push back against that harassment it's allowing crimes on campus uh it's allowing people to have extremely disruptive protests, right? You don't have an absolute right to say whatever you want whenever you want it.

27:17You have to follow policies like you're not going to be able to protest inside of a campus building. You're not going to be able to protest during someone's work period of time or in their classroom, right? Campuses, they could have done this better. They knew how to handle this. There's a lot of hand-wringing about this, but it's actually not very complicated. Well, let me ask you a question. So the chant from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Some people say that's just a chant for liberation and freedom. Other people interpret that as wipe Israel off the face of the earth and kill all the Jews in Israel.

27:51Is there any room for the first interpretation of this when it comes to making a decision about whether or not the protests are creating a hostile work environment or an unsafe work environment? Again, it's going to be fact, depending on what someone experienced. And the main thing here is we're not investigating this anymore. We've settled, right? We've resolved it. They've agreed that they had a problem. I think that's clear. They didn't admit liability, but you've got Claire Shipman, you've got others, the former president admitting that they had a hostile environment on campus. That's a direct quote from the former president of Columbia.

28:23Is this just the first to come? I mean, are there other campuses where we as viewers have seen scenes that probably make a lot of people feel uncomfortable? Is this just the first of many settlements? Well, I'm not tired of winning yet. I'll say that. I don't think anyone in the administration is tired of combating anti-Semitism aggressively, unlike the prior administration. The EOC is bound by really tight confidentiality provisions. The cabinet agencies can talk about their investigations. We are silent up until the point in which we make a resolution or we file a lawsuit. So I think the takeaway for your viewers is that just because the EOC has been quiet doesn't mean that we haven't been working hard.

29:00But I can't say more than that because we have to keep what we're specifically working on confidential until we land the deal. Last question, which is just, are you worried at all about infringing on the free speech rights of students? Again, I'm not talking about direct threats, physical assaults, blocking people from entering a place. But if people are passionate about ending a war, where do you draw the line so people know that they can have free speech rights? I know the conservative movement talks a lot about free speech rights. and oppression of that by the left in their view, how do you make sure that this isn't oppression of free speech rights by the right?

29:39That's something I cared about and thought a lot about when filing a commissioner's charge. But I think the key is you just stay on the bright lines of harassment jurisprudence. You can have free speech, but you don't have free speech to say it whenever you want, however you want. You don't have a free speech right to break the law or to violate longstanding civil rights laws. And when that happens, you get what happened here, you know, a 60-year historic settlement for anti-Semitism. No, it's big. It's why you're here. The acting chair of the EEOC, Andrea Lucas, thanks for being here. Thank you.

30:13Taking your questions. We really appreciate it. Coming up, the new trade deal between the U.S. and the European Union that looked next to impossible just a few weeks ago. What this means for shipments coming in from the EU and the future prices. You'll be paying. That's next.

30:28And I'm mainly the U.S. and the European Union managing to dodge an all-out trade war with Sunday's agreement, which sets a 15 % tariff on most European goods entering the U.S., such as wine or perfume, pharmaceuticals, cars. But with some details of the deal still murky, economists are not sure whether to be cheering just yet. Joining us now, KPMG's chief economist, Diane Swank. Diane, always great to have you here. Having a deal, of course, I assume is better than not having one. But a 15 percent tariff is higher than the 10 percent baseline that Trump placed on the EU back in April, April 2nd.

31:03Who is this deal a win for? Well, I think it is a win for the administration in terms of our clients and what we're dealing with. They wanted to see some clarity and we're starting to see an endgame emerge, even though we're not to the end yet. In terms of what will tariffs be? How do we deal with our supply chains? How do we adjust to this new environment? And that is the next phase of this. And part of the reason everyone keeps saying, you know, well, when are tariffs going to affect us? Well, they have. We've had the mother of all front running tariffs that we've ever seen in terms of buying and stockpiling up and mitigating the effects of tariffs before they came in.

31:43But what's important is we're talking about moving the effective tariff rate in the United States from below 3 % at the beginning of the year to what looks like will easily be double its current rate, which is around 9 % to 10 % that people are starting to see sift its way into some of the consumer prices that we see out there and into employment. So the bulk of the effects are still ahead of us. It takes six to 18 months for these things to show up. We're not a full six months in all the way, but at least we're starting to see some clarity on where the end game likely will be, even though we don't have all those details even for next for this Friday, which is this Friday coming up in terms of what all the details are.

32:23They're starting to get a sense of, OK, this is what we can deal with. And at least if we know that, that reduces some of this paralysis from the uncertainty that we've been seeing since the beginning of the year on this. So, as you noted, this Friday, August 1st, is the deadline for the countries that have not yet struck deals for tariffs. Trump floated a potential for the blanket tariff rate this morning. Take a listen. I just want to be nice. I would say in the range of 15 to 20 percent. What do you expect Friday will bring and will countries getting a 15 to 20 percent tariff consider that to be nice?

33:01I don't think countries will consider it nice, but also a lot of our own consumers and many of our own firms in the United States won't consider it nice. But that's not the point, right? They want tariff revenues. They see tariff revenues in the Treasury right now. And as a result, those are to help offset other tax cuts. They're a tax hike just like other taxes. That's what tariffs are. And they will push up consumer prices to some extent. And the Fed will this week have, I think, as many as two dissents of people who are more worried about how weak the economy already is rather than the effect of inflation.

33:37They're looking at the dissents that we're likely to see by the Fed. They're going to dissent because they're afraid of the impact this will have on employment, not on prices, that it could be greater unemployment than prices. And the bottom line is we just don't know yet and we won't know till we get there. And that's the hard part. All right, Diane Swank, always great to have you. Thank you so much. Coming up next, the investigation into the Oklahoma school superintendent. He's known for wanting to put Trump Bibles in public schools. But now he's been accused of having images of naked women on a TV monitor while he was conducting official business.

34:10Excuse me? This story's next.

34:21Our National League now Oklahoma State School Superintendent Ryan Walters, who you might know because he in the past mandated Bibles in every classroom and directed all school teachers to play a video of him praying for Donald Trump, allegedly had images of naked women on a TV monitor that was visible to some members of the Board of Education during a meeting last week. Superintendent Walters denied responsibility, is calling the allegations false on a political attack, quote, from a desperate, failing establishment, unquote. Joining us to discuss is education reporter for the Oklahoman, Murray Evans.

35:01Murray, in your article, you say that two members of the State Board of Education came to you to tell you about these claims. What exactly they tell you they saw? Well, good afternoon, Jake. What they saw kind of stretches the bounds of imagination. They told me that the first one, Ryan Detheridge, told me that he saw images of naked women on this TV screen out of the corner of his eye and didn't really know what to do or say. And sitting right next to him was another board member named Becky Carson. And then she also saw it. And Miss Carson is a 62 year old grandmother and in her best grandmother and former teacher voice loudly requested that the TV set be turned off.

35:54Both those two board members and two other board members told me that Superintendent Walters appeared flustered, got up and fumbled with the remote a little bit, did manage to turn off the television set. But then continue with the meeting like nothing had happened. This is a meeting on Zoom, I presume? Oh, this was during an executive session, so a closed session of the Oklahoma State Board of Education. Every month, the board meets. These meetings are, they can be loud and raucous sometimes, heavily covered by the media. But during every meeting, there is a closed session. And during these sessions, they discussed such sensitive things as teacher licensing, student appeals of transfers among schools was on the agenda this time.

36:48So very personal and private things that should be kept out of the public eye. So this is all in his they're all sitting in his office and behind him. He has a TV with these images. Now, we know the state is investigating these claims. What does the process look like? what happens if the allegations are proven true? I mean, is there any reason why these two Board of Education people would make this up? It's quite a thing to make up. It is quite a thing to make up. Where it goes from now, so this morning, the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office received word from the State Office of Management and Enterprise Services, And OMES is kind of an umbrella agency for for all executive state agencies.

37:40OMES asked the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office if they would conduct an investigation. Literally this morning, the sheriff's office agreed. And so they're just in the very early stages of this. They have not talked to any board members yet, for example. As I understood it, they will want to talk to all the board members who were in the room. I would imagine the two attorneys who were in the room, one for the Oklahoma State Department of Education and one for the Oklahoma State Board of Education. There was also an executive secretary in the room. I would imagine they'll want to talk to all of them.

38:21And we have no idea how long this process is going to take. I'm told if anything criminal in nature is found, then they will loop in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which is another law enforcement agency that's separate from the sheriff's office. And then they can then the OSBI, a lot of acronyms, can can help with the sheriff's office in the investigation. It's way too early to speculate what might happen. Bizarre story. Murray Evans of the Oklahoma, and thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you, Jake. Today, President Trump is revealing new details about his past dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, plus what Vice President J.D.

39:04Vance said today about the Epstein files, which differs just a bit from what he said just before the 2024 election.

39:13Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. That is an important thing.

39:24Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, even overseas, President Trump cannot escape reporters asking annoying questions about the Jeffrey Epstein drama continuing to unfold here at home. What he said today, when once again pressed about a possible pardon for Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell as she takes her case all the way to the Supreme Court. Plus, as starving crowds rush to grab aid deliveries, airdropped into Gaza, Israel is blaming the United Nations for failing to collect and distribute food in that territory. We're going to get a reality check from a U.N. worker on the ground in central Gaza.

39:58Also, it's still the summer of 2025, but both parties are gearing up not just for next year's midterms, but for the presidential race in 2028. Here who a top member of the Trump administration thinks should lead the Republican ticket moving forward. And I had the honor of meeting a pillar of her community this weekend as she prepared to turn 109 years old. This is somebody who's been a longtime member of the VFW Auxiliary. And you're going to want to hear what this woman told me about her keys to a long and happy life.

40:37The lead tonight, President Trump trying to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein. His questions around the Epstein files have followed Trump on his trip to Scotland. Let's go to CNN's Caitlin Collins. Caitlin? Yeah, Jake, obviously these are still questions that the president has been facing as he's negotiating trade deals, saying he'd rather be talking about that, but still leaving open the possibility of a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, as he did with reporters today. And also, Jake, offering something that we have not heard from the president before, which is kind of offering an explanation, a new explanation for why he had the fallout with Jeffrey Epstein, who, of course, as we know, decades ago was a member at the Mar-a-Lago Club.

41:15We knew his membership had been terminated. And the president today, as he was fielding questions from reporters while sitting next to the British prime minister, had this to say about his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein. For years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn't talk because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help. And I said, don't ever do that again. He stole people that work for me. I said, don't ever do that again. He did it again. And I threw him out of the place. Persona non grata. And by the way, I never went to the island. And Bill Clinton went there supposedly 28 times.

41:53I never had the privilege of going to his island. And I did turn it down. but a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island. There, Jake, the president listing off other people he claims that went to Jeffrey Epstein's island. But when it comes to that, Jake, it was new that he was saying that that is why they had a falling out, because Jeffrey Epstein was trying to hire his staff away. We had not heard that previously. It just had been reported that they had a falling out, something the president himself has alluded to. But, Jake, also something the president said today was saying that he does have the right to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, which, of course, we know he does.

42:28But leaving open that possibility, though he did tell reporters no one has approached him about a pardon for her, he said it would be inappropriate to talk about it at this time. But obviously, Jake, it comes as the deputy attorney general, Trump's former personal attorney, just met with Ghislaine Maxwell for about nine to ten hours last week. It's not clear what came as a result of that. They said maybe they would release more information at the appropriate time, but we haven't learned more. But we do know that Maxwell is obviously seeking a pardon, Jake. I mean, you read any of the statements from her attorney, and it's making quite clear that is what they believe is on the table, or at least maybe a reduction in her sentence as well.

43:02And of course, this comes as right now the Trump-led Justice Department is fighting her appeal for her conviction to the Supreme Court. We just had a brief today from her attorney where they were making a direct appeal to him, Jake, and saying, quote, we are appealing not only to the Supreme Court, but to the president himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Maxwell for Epstein's crimes. So, of course, Jake, she was convicted for her crimes by a jury and is serving that 20-year sentence. It's a question of whether or not the president steps in there. And just as a factual manner, Kaylin, I'm not sure President Clinton, that it's been confirmed that he's visited Jeffrey Epstein's island once, much less 28 times.

43:39Certainly people visited Epstein's island and certainly Bill Clinton, as well as Donald Trump, used Jeffrey Epstein's plane. But is there any proof of any of what he just said? No. And I should note also that Bill Clinton, similarly to Donald Trump, has denied any knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's crime, saying that he did not know about any of that in the decades leading up to it, because there were, of course, questions about this. As we were talking about that birthday book where there was a birthday greeting from Donald Trump, which he's suing the Wall Street Journal for reporting on and is denied actually authoring it, there are a lot of other names of powerful people, Republicans and Democrats alike, who have appeared in that.

44:15All of them have denied, though, knowing about Epstein's crimes. Well, somebody knew. Caitlin Collins, thanks so much. And please do not miss Caitlin on her show, The Source with Caitlin Collins. That's tonight and every weeknight at 9 Eastern, only on CNN. Let's discuss all this with Preet Bharara, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. Preet, good to see you. So President Trump, again, did not rule out pardoning Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, saying he had the power to do so, which, of course, he does. She sat for two interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last week.

44:46Blanche, of course, Donald Trump's former personal attorney. Is there any sort of information that Ghislaine Maxwell could provide that in any way could possibly justify her getting a pardon? I can't think of any. Look, she, like every other defendant in the federal and state system, and certainly in the Southern District of New York, always has an opportunity to cooperate and get leniency from the outset. If that person is credible if that person accepts responsibility for their actions and if that person has real substantial information to provide substantial assistance to prosecutors to hold other people accountable generally and preferably up the food chain.

45:28All of those opportunities were available to her at the start of her prosecution at some point in the investigation of her. And, you know, serious professional credible people at the Southern District of New York didn't find that to be in the offing. So on the one hand, given the crimes for which she's been convicted, which are very, very serious, she conspired with and aided and abetted what I think the administration itself has called the greatest pedophile in American history. So on the one hand, it wouldn't make any sense to give leniency to such a person. On the other hand, not to be overly cynical, it seems that the president wants to have some measure of exoneration and he's not gotten that from anyone else.

46:10And so if she is able to say, hypothetically, that Donald Trump didn't do anything untoward and all sorts of other people that they'll put on a list, given the absence of a list from Pam Bondi's desk, or his political rivals, they did. That's a good bargain for him, probably, in his political thinking. You know Todd Blanche. He used to be a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. What do you think he's looking for in these Ghislaine Maxwell interviews? and what sort of pressure might he be under from President Trump? I don't know what he's looking for. I mean, part of the problem with all of this, and I know him and I like him and he's a good lawyer, is there's not been transparency on a whole variety of issues.

46:51We don't know exactly why he went there. We don't know what was said when he was there. We don't know, for example, procedurally, and this is important to prosecutors and agents alike, if he brought FBI agents who were third parties, who were neutral and objective, and taking notes so that we can trust the reports that come back out of the sessions, probably under an enormous amount of pressure for the reasons I mentioned a couple of minutes ago, that Donald Trump is looking for an out. He's looking for something that he can wave around, I believe, and call an exoneration. He's done that on multiple occasions before, even when there are documents and conclusions that don't exonerate him.

47:27I hope he resists the pressure. Yeah. Today, Maxwell urged the Supreme Court to take up her appeal and overturn her sex trafficking conviction. She says that she should have been shielded from prosecution by that sweetheart plea deal Epstein made with federal prosecutors in Florida back in 2008. It's an argument that worked for Bill Cosby with, I believe, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the idea that just because a new prosecutor comes in, that doesn't void the deal made by the old prosecutor. How likely is it that the U.S. Supreme Court might overturn her conviction? I think it's unlikely. I don't remember the details of the Bill Cosby case, it's been a few years.

48:04But as long as you show, as I believe the Southern District of New York subsequent case did, that there was different conduct, there were different victims, there were different schemes being charged, that wasn't covered. All other conduct I don't believe on the terms of the agreement in Florida, even things that were not brought to the attention of the prosecutors there, I don't believe all that was covered. You never know with this particular Supreme Court. I've been surprised on a number of occasions about rulings the past two or three years. But I think it's an uphill battle for her. You were U.S.

48:37attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 until 2017, as I noted. This is after the sweetheart plea deal with Epstein was made by then U.S. attorney Alex Acosta during the George W. Bush administration. But the plea deal was unsealed in 2009, and he probably committed crimes in New York. He had a Manhattan townhouse there that he used. Did any accusations or any case against Epstein ever come across your desk? Not across my desk, no. I think a person who deserves a lot of credit for reviving this is someone in your profession, Jake, a profession that I respect very much and am partly in myself now.

49:15And that's the journalist Julie Brown. Julie Brown's great, of course, yeah. who sometimes people will talk to journalists before they will talk to prosecutors and investigators. And she exposed how much of a corrupt deal it was in Florida. She talked to other victims and brought forward people. And her reporting gave courage and inspiration to a number of other victims who came forward. And then the case was able to be made. By the way, the other thing we don't have transparency about, relatedly, that I meant to mention earlier, is why on earth Maureen Comey, who is one of the people in this whole long, drawn-out saga, who actually had something to do with affirmatively bringing Jeffrey Epstein to justice, why she was fired, other than the president says he has a right to under Article 2.

49:55So there's a lot still to learn. Yeah. There's also this madness, this accusation like, oh, there might be that people who are Trump haters might have put stuff in the Epstein documents that, you know, to make it look bad for him. This is one of the most bizarre conspiracy theories I've ever heard. The idea they would do this and then just walk away instead of... Not act on it. Yeah, like do it in 2016 or do it in 2020 or 2024 where they're trying to defeat Donald Trump, but then just put it there and hope somebody finds it as opposed to... Anyway, Preet Bharara, thanks so much. Really good to have you.

50:33Joining us now, Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson of South Dakota. He is that state's one and only congressional representative. Congressman, so you held a telephone town hall with constituents this week. the Dakota Scout reports when several callers pressed you about the release of Epstein documents, you said, quote, anything that could be legally released should be legally released, unquote. What do you think the administration should release right now? And why do you think there's been this reluctance to do so? I get the grand jury transcripts are sealed and a judge in Florida has said they're not going to unseal them.

51:06But there's just thousands of documents at the FBI, SDNY, Southern District of Florida, Department of Treasury. There's so much that could just be released right now if the Trump administration wanted to. Yeah, I would tell you it was a big telephone town hall, Jake, 6 ,300 folks. And overwhelmingly, of course, I asked him, I asked him to do some answer some survey questions on the call. And three quarters of them wanted the Epstein documents released. For me, I think we need to treat this case like we would any other, which is, yes, of course, we have processes in place to protect the innocent.

51:42But let's go through every single document. And let's say, can this be released? And if it can be illegally released, it should be legally released. Maybe there needs to be some redaction. Maybe there needs to be an explanation of why these seven files can't be released. And explain to people, we can't release these files. We've never released these files. and 250 years of jurisprudence. That's just something we avoid doing. I think additional explanation and transparency and as much of a release as we can get are gonna help people feel better about the situation. So you're from a red state. After listening to your constituents, and these are people who like Donald Trump, who support Donald Trump, they want him to succeed.

52:25But do you think that this issue is hurting him politically? I don't think in a material sense. This issue comes up periodically, but I've been in South Dakota the last four or five days, and I'm probably asked about once a day about this. It's not in the top five. It was a topic on the telephone town hall, but 12 of the questions were about the reconciliation bill and concerns or excitement about that. There's only one question about Epstein. So I wouldn't want to overstate the political impact of this either. I think we need to do the right thing because we should do the right thing. I don't think it's a political threat that should drive our desire to do the appropriate actions here.

53:11What concerns do people have about the reconciliation bill? Are they worried about Medicaid cots? Are they worried about food stamps? What were the concerns? A number of the calls were people who've got loved ones in their lives. You know, my mother is 87 years old and she's in a nursing home. And what does the reconciliation bill mean for her? So part of it's just walking through. Listen, none of these work requirements affect seniors, people who are pregnant, folks with young children at home, people with disabilities, people who live in areas without sufficient jobs. Once you explain to people that really the policy construct around work requirements has been bipartisan and empathetic since 1996, and the one big beautiful bill carried a lot of those forward into Medicaid, then they have a little more comfort.

54:02You recently announced that you're running to become the governor of South Dakota in 2026. Some Republicans have accused you of not supporting Trump 100 % of the time, in part because you voted to certify the 2020 election results for President Biden, because you stuck to the facts, presumably. Are you worried at all about that? Have you sought President Trump's endorsement in the race? President Trump and I, we worked together. He's certainly been a great partner with House Republicans. And I've worked with him to make sure that we got the one big, beautiful bill done. My oath of office ultimately is to the Constitution of the United States.

54:42And so Donald Trump and I agree on almost everything, but no two people agree on everything. And we've got a great working relationship. And I have every expectation that that will continue to be the case. Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson of South Dakota. Thanks so much, sir. Always good to see you. Thank you. He once ran for president against Donald Trump. So who does Secretary of State Marco Rubio think should top the ticket in 2028? We'll tell you next. Plus, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo back on the campaign trail, despite a humiliating loss for the Democratic nomination for New York City's mayor.

55:17Hear what he told CNN about how he's changing up his strategy as he mounts an independent bid for the job.

55:29We're back with our politics lead, Vice President J.D. Vance, deflecting any blame for the fallout around the Epstein files today. Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency. and somehow that's a criticism of Donald J. Trump and not Barack Obama and George W. Bush. If you want to criticize the people who aren't showing full transparency, you ought to go after the administrations that went easy on Jeffrey Epstein. Okay, my panel's here, former Trump White House Communications Director Mike Dubke. And for the first time, we're joined by Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abu Ghazale.

56:05She's 26, running for Congress in the Democratic Party in Illinois' 9th congressional district. Thanks so much for joining us. So, lots to talk about today. Politico today details how behind the scenes Vance has tried to take on the peacemaker role between MAGA and the White House. Let me read from this article. Quote, he is one over high-level MAGA influencers, is on a tax chain with Charlie Kirk, and has maintained close ties to Tucker Carlson, according to two people familiar with the relationship. J.D. is doing a masterful job of having the president's back and explaining that to the base, Kirk told Playbook.

56:37Yet he has tried to stay out of the Epstein mess until this point. What do you think of the vice president spending so much time courting these MAGA influencers? It feels a lot like he's kind of over explaining here a bit. There's a really easy way to solve this and that's by being transparent about the world's most famous pedophile and sex trafficker. I was just endorsed by Ro Khanna today who has been effectively targeting Republicans on this. Like they have options here. They could be transparent about these files which their base wants to see, which pretty much every American wants to see, but they would rather shut down Congress instead.

57:13And it's kind of weird. What do you mean shut down Congress? Oh, because they adjourn. Yes, exactly. Like this is they don't want to vote on whether to release these files or not. And it's like, why? What is there to hide? It's not a bad question. We should know that that's actually not unlike what J.D. Vance used to sound like on this in 2021. This was his position on Jeffrey Epstein on writing on Twitter, quote, if you're a journalist and you're not asking questions about this case, you should should be ashamed of yourself. I mean, I, you know, I resemble that remark. I agree. I agree. So why the change?

57:47Well, I don't know that there's a change in the administration's posture over the last three weeks. I've been asking the same thing. I mean, unfortunately, I think this is one of the areas where we've had this administration not be able to clearly articulate a position that they took during the campaign and prior to it. And I'm just surprised by that as we get to here. But J.D.'s comment, the vice president's comment at an event on the one big beautiful bill today, he was asked the question by an AP reporter, and he's doing what a vice president does. He toes the line of the administration. And I think that's fair.

58:25And I was going to say back to your original question. I mean, this is the position for him if he wants to run in 2028. This is what he needs to do. But he's saying Donald J. Trump is asking the Department of Justice to show full transparency. But that's not true. They're not. They asked for grand jury transcripts to be released. They did. And the judge said no, which was expected. But there's thousands of pages of documents. They don't have to ask anybody's permission to release. Well, they need to be careful with what they release from all of the legal position. Yeah, yeah. And also the protection of the victims and all of that.

59:02But you don't, he hasn't asked for a call. Look, you can ask me this question over and over and over again, and I don't know the answer to it. I do. Because I think, no, no, it's not a simple answer of just release it all. It is a, I don't know the, what I was saying is, I don't know the reason why this administration that has so effectively communicated in the first six months of its administration, why this one's tripping them up. That's the question. What do you think is the reason, Kat? I can guess, and I think it's because there are names in there that this administration doesn't want people to see.

59:34I mean, the president of the United States, there was a letter that he is suing the Wall Street Journal over of the president's signature as pubic hair on a poem about ageless enigmas. Like, this isn't rocket science here. That's a detail about that picture I didn't know. Well, he's denying that it is his drawing and it's his letter. And he's also, you know, from the start of this, if there were, was that information in there, I firmly believe the Biden administration, Merrick Garland would have, some of this would have leaked out at this point. I don't, this is what really puzzles me. I don't really know it's not in there or is in there.

1:00:10And this seems to be a misstep that repeats itself over and over again. And we're on what, week three, four? Something like that. So let me let me change it, change the topic. Something everybody wants to know about Vance in 2028 is, is he going to be the nominee or is he going to run? Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, had a pretty quick answer when interviewed, interviewed, quote unquote, by the president's daughter-in-law. You are talked about quite frequently as a possible contender in 2028. Do you have your sights set outside of the State Department? Well, I think J.D. Vance would be a great nominee.

1:00:48It's a pretty good political answer, but what do you think? Whether Marco Rubio will run or J.D. Vance will run, I think they should focus more on helping this country right now as people are struggling instead of focusing on their own political ambitions. I mean, I thought Trump was supposed to run for a third term, according to these guys, so it's kind of interesting to see how weirdly focused they are on this. I think that was trolling? What did you think of it? A little bit of tongue-in-cheek on that. Yeah. In New York City, former Governor Andrew Cuomo is continuing his mayoral campaign as an independent.

1:01:16He sat down with CNN's Gloria Pasmino to discuss young voters' excitement for the Democratic nominee Zoran Mamdani. Take a listen. People get turned off because somebody runs for office and says, you know, I have a magic wand. I'm going to make everything more affordable. I'm going to make buses run fast. I'm going to wave a wand and all of that is going to happen. and then nothing happens. You, like Mondani, are a young progressive candidate taking on the establishment. Do you think that Governor Cuomo has the diagnosis right about that's why people get turned off because somebody runs for office and makes a lot of promises?

1:01:55I think the fact that they make a lot of promises is something that turns people off. But the fact of the matter is, is that Zoran Mondani in his election, he's providing solutions. He had a bus program that's helping provide free fares across the city. A lot of progressive candidates and what I frankly think are common sense candidates have solutions that other politicians just don't want to implement because they don't want to upset donors or upset corporations or upset people with a lot of power. And for instance, you can check out my comprehensive platform at cat4illinois.com. These are things that we have.

1:02:30We know what solves homelessness. It's building more housing. We know what solves medical debt. It's universal It's not complicated, and it's not waving a magic wand either. It takes work. Building things is hard, but it's much better than letting people suffer. Mike, what were you doing at 26? Oh, 26. I was here in Washington, D.C., toiling away, but not in a congressional office. I don't have you there. Not running for Congress? No, not at all. All right, Mike Dubke, Katabugazale. Sorry. Damn it. I almost made... He nailed it, like, 20 times backstage. It's Kat for Illinois. So it's Cat for Illinois?

1:03:05Cat for Illinois dot com. Cat with a K. Okay, there we go. Thanks so much for both of you for being here. Coming up next, we're going to bring you to Gaza, where an aid worker on the ground tells us that she is shocked by how much worse the starvation crisis has become since she was just there a couple weeks ago. Stay with us.

1:03:28And our world lead president, Donald Trump, today is reducing the 50-day deadline he had given to Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine. I'm going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today. There's no reason in waiting. There's no reason in waiting. It's 50 days. I want to be generous, but we just don't see any progress being made. This apparently did not go over well with Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev, who tweeted about Trump, quote, each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war, not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.

1:04:11Putin is within reach of his goal of taking the Donetsk region of Ukraine. But President Trump could hinder that goal if he follows through on his new deadline and imposes secondary sanctions on India and China, punishing them for buying Russian oil and gas. That move could have major global impacts, including on U.S. markets. Also in our world lead, Israel's daily pause in military activity in three parts of the Gaza Strip is, according to Israel's military, meant to, quote, refute the false claim of deliberate starvation. But whether the starvation is deliberate or something else, it is happening, and aid organizations such as the United Nations are struggling still to get food to hundreds of thousands of hungry Gazans.

1:04:53Joining us now is Olga Cherevko, the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who is in Gaza. Olga, as you know, the Israeli government is blaming the United Nations for failing to collect and distribute the aid that reaches the territory. You're actually in Deir al-Bala right now, a city in central Gaza. What's the reality on the ground there?

1:05:19Well, Jake, the reality is grim. Yesterday I was entering Gaza after being away for a couple of weeks and I was really shocked to see how much worse it has become since the last time I was here. And the first thing that you notice is, of course, the vast destruction as soon as you enter Gaza. But then you also notice groups of people visibly hungry or visibly exhausted, very thin. And the first thing they ask you is, when is food coming? And this is the reality that we've been seeing on the ground for months now. And we've been talking about it for months. And now the world is actually seeing these horrific images of babies dying in their mother's arms.

1:06:09And this is this is basically a daily reality for people here. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher says that the United Nations was able to get a bit of food into Gaza yesterday. But, quote, lots of that got looted. Who's doing the looting? And is there any semblance of any order, any government or any sort of force that can make sure that the aid is able to be distributed in any sort of orderly way?

1:06:40So, expectedly, there is, of course, been a severe breakdown in public safety and public order. And when you enter the road with a convoy full of food, which I've been on multiple convoys like this, you are met with thousands and maybe tens of thousands of starving, desperate people who are trying to basically feed their family because the alternative is watching their children starving in front of their eyes. And so, yes, unfortunately, this is what is happening with our convoys because there's been a very unpredictable entry of aid and not enough of aid being entering because we are seeing that the situation just continues to deteriorate.

1:07:29So not enough aid and also a breakdown of civil society, so there is no organization, no organized way to get the food to people. How can the UN, how can the world solve this problem? What needs to happen beyond more aid?

1:07:50Well, really, those are the two things that need to happen. Because if you look at the last ceasefire, in which ample volumes of aid were entering, and we were enabled to deliver that aid quickly and efficiently, we were able to feed almost everyone in the Gaza Strip. We delivered services, we delivered other supplies. And that was happening because over time there was confidence that people had that aid is coming and that aid is coming in sufficient quantities and that they will receive their share when it's their turn. And it's very simple. And we saw it being implemented. We saw it happening because these incidents were not happening of people taking things off the back of the truck as soon as we entered the road.

1:08:39during the ceasefire. And so we can do it again. And that's what we're asking for, is to remove these constraints, these restrictions, and enable us to move safely and deliver aid at scale. You said recently that you don't even recognize your friends in Gaza because they are so emaciated, so thin. How are your fellow aid workers holding up as you attempt to get aid to those who need it most? You know, I think everyone is struggling. I've had colleagues that have fainted at work. I've had colleagues being admitted to the hospital because they're not eating enough. I have colleagues from other organizations telling me they're eating every second or third day.

1:09:21And everyone who is inside Gaza is affected by the same issue because there's just simply no food. Olga Terevko, thank you so much for talking to us and thank you so much for the work you do. Thanks, Jake. Our small business series takes us to New York next, where a woman's golf apparel brand is struggling under the weight of Trump's tariffs. So what is their message to a president who is a huge fan of golf? That's next.

1:10:00About Donald Trump's tariffs. Foray Golf, based in New York City, is a women's golf apparel company with a goal of disrupting a male-dominated sport with fashion-forward clothing. And Megan Lamothe joins me now. Megan, hello. Where do you manufacture your apparel? How are tariffs affecting your bottom line? Well, we have a really interesting supply base. When I first started Foray 10 years ago, we were manufacturing completely domestically, But as the company has grown, we've had to move production to China, to Sri Lanka, to South Korea, to Portugal. So we're really diversified in the supply chain.

1:10:43And in fact, you know, COVID was a great lesson for us kind of on that diversification. So we have kind of our tentacles everywhere. It really depends what we want made. And how are you handling the tariffs? Are you eating the costs? Are you raising prices? What are you doing? Yeah, it's been really tricky because we've had sort of this start and stop. So part of us has been eating it. I think we've sort of seen that most companies are trying to eat it. But a lot of other pieces have had to actually increase in cost. In fact, some of the pieces that we manufacture in America, and we've always manufactured, as I said, in America, our cost of our raw materials have increased somewhere between 10 and 25 percent, actually up to 50 % for the products we source from Brazil.

1:11:26So just the raw materials going into our goods when we're trying to do the right thing, manufacturing in America, have increased our cost. I mean, there are things that you can't find here. I think America, if you wanna talk about American-made raw materials, not factories, only about 3 % of raw materials can be made, or apparel grade materials are made here in America. And mostly they're used for military or medical or other things like that. So very few technical garments are made here. How have you seen, if at all, consumer behavior change as a result of the tariffs? It's been really mixed, if I'm honest.

1:12:02I mean, we do know that we've seen maybe this pull forward in demand. I think the statistics from the National Retail Federation are something like, you know, consumers are expecting to pay more. About 75 percent of them are expecting to pay more. So they're really moving their demand up. So it's a really weird time. We're also in peak golf season. So I think people are doing a lot of stocking up, stocking on basics and expecting that these things are going to carry over to the future. I mean, I can't say from our side, it's tremendously interruptive to our innovation process or design process or sourcing process.

1:12:36You know, when we want to come up with something new and better to compete with big guys like Nike, it really completely stymies anything that we have in our, you know, supply chain. There are just certain things that we can't make that we can't do because of cost considerations now. But the consumer's been really, really, really mixed. So if there's one thing I know about Donald Trump, it's that he loves golf. He loves golf. And in fact, you actually sell some of your products at several of his clubs. What do you want him to know about what your company is dealing with right now because of his tariffs?

1:13:14Yeah, I think I think one of the things that he should know is that, you know, there's a lot of talk on both sides of the aisle about the importance of Main Street. Right. Small businesses like ours, you know, we're 98 percent of the economy. We are employing, you know, you know, 43, 45 percent somewhere in there of the people in America. And when we are the people that are disproportionately impacted by the tariffs, you know, I'm not Lululemon, I'm not Nike, I'm not Under Armour. I don't have the ability to fly to my factory in Sri Lanka and ask for a 20 % reduction in cost. Not only is the flight expensive, but I don't have the bargaining power to do it.

1:13:47And at the same time, you have companies like Amazon who are able to negotiate like that, come in with Me Too products, something that's similar, something that's basic at a lower cost because they have the same supply chains and kind of take us completely out of business. So once we disappear, not only does innovation disappear, consumer choice disappears, but you really ruin kind of like the ethos of what golf is. You want more people to play. You want more partners on the course. So I don't know. You know, I'm really lucky to have worked with them. They've been really good partners. I actually have one of the toys that we manufacture them, which is called the Blue Monster, named after the course in Doral.

1:14:24But, you know, things like this may go away. This is manufactured in China for them. He's very cute, but now he's potentially 30 percent or more expensive than that once we see the deal that comes out of Europe this week. All right, Megan Lamothe, the company is called Foray Golf, F-O-R-A-Y Golf Apparel, and it's online. You can find it online. Megan, thank you so much. Great to have you here. Thank you very much. I had the honor to celebrate a milestone this weekend, the 109th birthday of a community icon. Hear from Evangeline Vanjie Paredes about her keys to living a long and healthy life.

1:15:11Back with our National League. This weekend in Washington, D.C., the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, or VFW Auxiliary, celebrated the birthday of their longest-serving member, Evangeline Vanjie Paradis, who turned 109. You heard me. 109. What's your secret? I wish I knew. Evangeline Vanjie Paratus celebrating 109 years of life. Happy birthday. Surrounded by family, friends, and members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary. Vanjie was born in New York in 1916 during World War I. Her family moved to Washington, D.C. when she was only five, her father a member of the U.S. Navy.

1:16:00The veterans have always been in my system because my dad was in the Navy. And the veterans have been good to my family. After 30 years of working in the Pentagon, Vanjie retired with the highest civilian award given to federal employees. But her service did not stop there. After retirement, she volunteered with the AARP. And Vanjie is still an active member of the VFW Auxiliary. Volunteerism, she says. That is what has kept her alive so long. Do what you can for others, and the reflection will be unto you. She is the oldest member in this entire national VFW Auxiliary nation. We're so proud of it, and I'm going to cry because she should be a role model for everybody.

1:16:54The highlight of her birthday celebration Saturday? when her little sister, 102 years old, flew in from Vegas to surprise her. I didn't know this was happening. Make me feel happy. Happy, happy. How do you want to be remembered? For my volunteerism, for the people in need. I don't want to see you know poor people suffering this is a great day for me I thank you all for coming I'm just I'm overwhelmed but you know what what I think I deserve yes you sure do Angie best wishes to you happy birthday what an honor it was to meet you and thank you so much to all her family and friends for hosting us.

1:17:54We'll be right back.

1:18:02And our pop culture lead, long before South Park, long before Weird Al, even long before Saturday Night Live, there was comedian Tom Lehrer who died this weekend. He was making up topical, political, satirical songs that were huge in the world of comedy.

1:18:29Part of the sick humor movement in the 1950s and 60s, Lehrer's albums made fun of everything from the spread of atomic weapons

1:18:46to air and water pollution in the United States.

1:18:55He mocked liberal pieties such as National Brotherhood Week. It's only for a week, so have no fear Be grateful that it doesn't last all year And in what was clearly his most controversial song, he took on the Catholic Church's second Vatican Council reforms. First you get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries, bow your head with great respect and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect. Tom Lehrer was actually a mathematician and gave up performing to teach math, notably at the University of California at Santa Cruz, until he was in his 70s. Lehrer died Saturday at the age of 97. May his music and memory bring you a chuckle and be a blessing, even if, as the Associated Press reports, he was an atheist.

1:19:49Google him. You'll thank me later. Aaron Burnett, Outfront, starts now.

1:20:00Go inside the sports moments that brought us together and made history. From the underdogs to the rivalries and the miracles. It sends chills down your spine. It's what sport was all about. The new CNN original series, Decades in Sports. Now streaming on the CNN app.