Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20180514 : vi

Nancy reagan had a mastectomy in 1987. We have a team of reporters kate bannon broke the story. And dr. Sanjay gupta is on hand before the procedure and Kaitlin Collins is at the white house. I want to start with kate bennett. Was this planned or emergency procedure, what can you tell us . Reporter i dont believe it was an emergency procedure. I would imagine that this is planned, of course the white house has not said that but all indications point this to not being an emergency. Im going to read the statement from the First Lady Office so were all on the same page. This morning First Lady Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure to treat a benign kidney condition. The procedure was successful and there were no complications. Mrs. Trump is at Walter Reed National military Medical Center and will likely remain there for the duration of the week. The first lady looks forward to a full recovery so they can continue her work on behalf of children everywhere. Speaking of that, it was just last week we saw her in the rose garden delivering her information about be best her new initiative and the formal platform and the president in the front row. The week before that at the state dinner, hosting and that white hat moment that we all saw. So certainly shes been more public. More visible and weve seen her a lot lately. Clearly todays news is quite shocking to most people. And kate, tell us about President Trump we know hes been at the white house all day. Obviously he participated and was watching the ceremony in jerusalem with the opening of the u. S. Embassy there. He also had some important meetings, not at the hospital while his wife was going through this, that was her decision, you say. Well i think knowing the first lady, and covering her, shes very private. She doesnt like a lot of attention drawn to herself. I would imagine that if the president does go anywhere, if he leaves the premises of the white house, it involves more security and a bigger motorcade and a media press pool that needs to go with him. Just understanding how the first lady operates, it is very it is very different operation in the east wing than the west wing and the fact they pulled off an entire surgery for a first lady without any leaks coming out of that tells you just how differently they operate. I would imagine that they wanted to keep this very close to the vest and therefore the president was not going to be present during the operation but certainly her Communications Director Stephanie Gresham told me hes expected to visit shortly. Are her parents her parents live in the area. Are her parents with her at the hospital. That is unclear. I dont know the answer to that. Just learning these things. Kaitlin collins at the white house, this news broke moments after the White House Briefing and they left the announcement to the First Lady Office. But what is the white house the west wing, what are they saying about this now . Reporter no comment yet except for the statement from the first ladys Communications Director, the west wing has been quite silent. As kate noted, the president is expected to go and visit the first lady at walter reed. We have no indication that hes done so yet today. Of course hes been at the white house this morning, several meetings and a lunch with the Vice President. And of course when he does make a Movement Like that, a trail of reporters goes with him anywhere. And that is not happened today. But it does seem like the indication is that he is going to go. We would assume somewhere shortly in the next short while which is why the white house likely isnt going to comment until that movement actually takes place. But we do know the president has not gone yet but it does seem he will go here in the next short little bit. Let me bring in dr. Sanjay gupta to try to understand what exactly is going on here. Sanjay, the First Lady Office described the surgery as an embolization procedure for a benign kidney issue. What does that mean . What is going only here . Well, there are a bunch of terms being thrown around. First of all, it is unclear whether the first lady in fact had surgery, an open operation, or just this embolization procedure, not to minimize it, but it is different. It involves putting catheters into the blood vessels and then threading those catheters to an area close to the kidney, to basically try and inject some glue or something in the blood vessels to stop blood flow to to a particular area and in this case a particular area of kidney. Why is that done . Typically it is done because youve seen something that youre worried about and in terms of the potentially being able to cause bleeding or to start bleeding. And that is why it is typically done it could be a cancerous mass but in the statement as you point out, they are very clear, this is a benign mass. It is a benign lesion they are saying. So they are not saying it is cancer. But they doesnt mean it is something you might not be worried about that could potentially bleed. But again, was it surgery or the embolization procedure alone. Shell be in the hospital for several days, sort of speaks to the significance of this in terms of her recovery. What exactly was it that required the treatment, those are things we dont know, jake. And sanjay, you mentioned the fact shes expected to say in the hospital all week. We live in a in a medical world where shun could get a tumor removed as an outpatient procedure and go home that night. This sounds pretty serious if she has to stay in the hospital all week. I agree. It is certainly worth learning more about, why that decision was made. This is the first lady, is this more out of an abundance of caution in this regard, after these embolization procedures because you stopped blood flow to a particular area in this case the kidney. There could be pain associated with that and people could be at risk of infection because of that. You want to make sure that the procedure worked, there is no longer blood flowing to this lesion or mass or whatever it is as well. So those are all important followups, but oftentimes they take place as an outpatient. In this case theyve said that she is going to stay in the hospital for a few days and think that does speak to the significance of this. And you noted, the term they used is a denni a benign kidney and were used to hearing the word benign in association with cancer. Is it possible that it is being used with a different association or only used with regards to cancer . No, i think it could be used in different conditions as well. In fact, if i heard benign kidney condition, the first thing would you think of is maybe a cyst or Something Like that. Those are more common certainly than a type of mass. There is that could warrant this type of treatment. Cysts are something that people develop as they get older. Certainly given that she had an embolization procedure, that wont be used to treat a cyst. That would be used to treat Something Else. And we dont know what that is. There are certain masses that are benign, one of them has a a big word, it is angio myolip oma, a type of benign mass that has blood vessels and one of the concerns about Something Like that is that it could bleed. So an embolization would be done in that case. But did she have surgery and what was treated, and why why do they think she needs to be in the hospital for several days. The statement is wanting, i would say, in terms of what exactly is going on. Obviously our thoughts and our best wishes are with the first lady. Were just trying to get to the bottom as to what is going on. That is right. Sanjay, the procedure that you just described that might meet the criteria of what were getting from the first ladys office, why would you want to stop blood vessels from going to that area and what then would you do as a physician . The embolization procedure is done again to stop the blood flow and the reason you want that done to a particular area is because there is something there that you worried could bleed. It could be a mass for example, that has a lot of blood vessels in it, and you know that the history of those types of masses may be to bleed. So you want to prevent that from happening. It could be that it maybe already had some bleeding in the past and caused some pain and that is what sort of warranted the whole investigation and workup. But that is typically there is also things, jake, people have heard the terms like aneurysm, which is a weakening of the blood vessels, and those could bleed. You could treat those with embolization as well. We dont know. All we know is that she had a embolization procedure and we dont know if she had Something Else done or did not have Something Else done. And we dont know what was specifically em bollized. And while we are on air discussing this, it is my understanding that President Trump has tweeted something about this Chinese Telecom company Kaitlin Collins, President Trump raised eyebrows by talking about how he wanted to help this Chinese Company, zte. What has he tweeted and have we do we have any understanding as to why hes trying to help this Chinese Company. Hes raised eyebrows about this and this comes i should note as the president has not visited the first lady yet at walter reed. Of course we reported that she did go in this morning for the surgery. The president remained back here at the white house. And now the president tweeting again about this chinese phone company that was under a ban for seve for seven years buying any american products, something a point of contention after the president tweeted he would help bring this company back after it was penalized by the United States and the trump administration. For selling technology to north korea and iran. Now the president tweeting again saying the large chinese phone company buys a big percentage of individual parts from companies and this is reflective of the larger trade deal were negotiating with china and my personal relationship with president xi after there is bipartisan pushback to the president s tweet on sunday about helping this company out and something people said flew in the face of his America First campaign promise. Now people are raising questions about it does appear the president is tweeting once again about this phone company. It is still unclear into f hes on the way to walter reed or remains here back at the white house. And a lot of people in the National Security community pushing back on this, concerned about Chinese Technology being used for espionage if it comes to this country. Well talk about that and more later in the show. But were going to stick with breaking news right now. First Lady Melania Trump in the hospital after undergoing surgery for a kidney condition and will be there for the week. Well go live to walter reed Medical Center next. Stay with us. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to liberty mutual, you could save 782 on auto and home insurance. And still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782 when liberty stands with you. Liberty mutual insurance. If these packs have the same number of bladder leak pads, i bet you think bigger is better. Actually, its bulkier. Always discreet quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection thats a lot less bulky. Always discreet. Ftheres flonase sensimist. Tchy and watery near pollen. It relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. 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Stop taking victoza® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck or symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing, or swallowing. Serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. So stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area. Tell your doctor your medical history. Gallbladder problems have happened in some people. Tell your doctor right away if you get symptoms. Taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, and constipation. Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Change the course of your treatment. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Back with breaking news. First Lady Lady Melania is in the hospital where she had surgery for a benign kidney condition at walter reed. We know that President Trump plans to visit her there. Hopefully were told soon, if that happens well bring that to you. Cnn joe johns is outside of walter reed. What do we expect to see as the president arrives . Reporter depends on how he gets here of course. There are multiple gates leading into and out of walter reed as you know. There is also daunting washington rush hour traffic to consider. So certainly a possibility that the president might travel by helicopter and simply fly over all of the traffic. Now discussion on the air about how closely secret this was and how closely guarded it was. I can tell you earlier today, i did reach out to someone who absolutely would be in the know about a notable persons who come in and out of walter reed and in this situation, reaching out to that person earlier today, absolutely no clue that the first lady of the United States was headed here to walter reed. So theyve kept it very quiet and put it out in a statement publicly earlier today. Back to you. Joe johnson in bethesda, maryland outside of walter reed. Joining me now historian Douglas Brinkley and Anita Mcbride, chief of staff to laura bush. Anita, ill start with you. First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the first lady and her family at this time. I do wonder as a communication issue, we know she had this procedure this morning. Are you surprised that the white house waited until hours later to reveal it and the fact that the statement is so sparing of details, although were told shell be there for the week, which suggests a fairly serious procedure. Is that a surprise to you . Well i can completely understand their need and desire to keep this as private as possible at the end of the day youre right, all of us do wish her well and a speedy recovery and that should be first and foremost. Notwithstanding any medical expertise of anyone that may give an opinion on the condition of her health. But when laura bush had neck surgery in 2007 and she went to the hospital with g. W. And we did not release any information on that until after it was over and that she was going home. And in fact, george w. Bush was in australia for the apec summit and part of it is difficulty in scheduling Something Like this. If there is if it is not an emergency, there is a lot on the first ladys schedule and they have to pick and choose the best possible time when things are not the schedule is not so terribly impacted and obviously this seemed to be the best time. And what was beyond the scheduling issue, because you have firsthand experience with a situation like this, the First Lady Laura Bush getting surgery and not informing the public or press until after it was over and that is different than one would treat it were it being the president , the commanderinchief. Of course. Was it about privacy, was it about she didnt want the stress, shes about to have surgery and doesnt want to deal with the stress of cameras and security as she goes to the hospital, why make that decision . Well it is a combination of those things. And also the fact is with the president of the United States, he is the elected official and it is important that the country know and there is a right to know and a need to know. That is not really the case with the first lady. At the same level that it is for the president. That is fair enough. And douglas, you just heard Anita Mcbride talk about the right to know and the need to know is not the same as with the first lady and that is true but the desire to know might be just as strong. Lady melania is the first to undergo such a procedure when mrs. Reagan had a mastectomy. That is pretty significant i think. It is significant. Since she may be recovering for a week. It is great news shes handling this well. Walter reed hospital is the best doctors in the country. So shes in great care. But it is odd in some ways that a white house that leaks things all of the time didnt have this leak out in in way. It is a matter of personal privacy. What usually happens is the first lady in a couple of weeks will probably talk about this to somebody. Betty fo