Critics Warn Trump Speech Laid Groundwork to Challenge Midterms

27:28In our Money Lead, have you ever heard the name Kenneth Keyes? Kenneth Keyes was a seasoned top Treasury Department official. You probably never heard of him, but you should know his name because he's been forced out of his job because he warned White House officials they risked breaking the law in their attempts to meddle in IRS audits. The Wall Street Journal exclusively reported this. And when reaching out to the White House and Treasury Department, they were told, quote, several administration officials and Trump allies reached out to privately criticize Kenneth Keyes, arguing he was difficult to work with and didn't do enough to advance the president's agenda.

28:05To advance the president's agenda, Wall Street Journal reporter Richard Rubin, who broke the story, joins us now. Thanks so much for joining us. So you know Keyes was a Trump nominee, confirmed along party lines a year ago. He also had decades of experience. So do you get the sense that the president and the Trump administration thought he would be more of a yes man and just willing to do whatever the president wanted? It's hard to know what they thought. I think one important thing to remember is he did do a lot of things the president wanted. The big responsibility in this job was implementing the tax law that the Republican Congress and Trump passed last year.

28:37The regulations on the overtime deduction, the tips deduction, the Trump accounts, all those things were under his anthem. All the stuff the president should be talking about instead of elections, but keep going. Yeah, so all that was under keys, right? So he had that job of pushing out all these regulations. he was also acting IRS chief counsel. And in that job, your job is basically the nation's chief tax lawyer, and you're responsible for making sure the IRS and the government is following the tax law. And I think that's where some of the conflict happened here. So as a fun Friday treat, explain what Section 7217 of the IRS code is and why 7217 matters to the story.

29:15Yeah. So Congress created Section 7217 in 1998, a couple of years after some of the Nixon recordings had come out. So it's like it's a post-Watergate thing, but it was delayed until after the we all heard that audio of him essentially ordering up audits. Ordering audits of his enemies. And so what it says is, sort of lists the president, the vice president, White House staff, and then a bunch of senior agency heads are prohibited from directly or indirectly requesting that the IRS start or cease any audit or investigation of any particular taxpayer. And so it's there to kind of create a bit of a firewall between political officials and the IRS.

29:52And it's punishable with prison time and fines. And it's something that IRS officials take very seriously. They're actually required to report to the inspector general if they get improper requests. And so 7217 is really there as that kind of bulwark between political officials and the tax law, which is supposed to be handled impartially. Yeah. Yeah. So your story goes on to say that Keyes was at odds with White House officials over several issues during his tenure, including taxation of income from fantasy sports. He cited IRS rules about audits when asked questions about policies, even when officials weren't asking about particular companies or audits.

30:31So it does sound like he rubbed some people the wrong way for other reasons, not just his standing by 72-17 in the letter of the law. Yeah. And so what we reported is he raised this issue in a recent White House meeting. And shortly after that, he was forced out. He's still in the job. He's leaving in a couple of weeks. So you don't necessarily know who exactly pushed him out. We don't know what the particular matter was that came up that he warned them about. And you don't know what all of the causes are for someone being pushed out of any particular job. We just know that this came up and shortly afterward he's gone.

31:06So Congressman Don Beyer, Democrat, Virginia, says this is major. End quote. This warning brings to mind Trump's attempts to direct IRS investigations of his enemies during his first term and his recent license to steal agreement with Justice Department to permanently exempt himself from audits. As a tax reporter, what's your sense of Trump's overall influence at the IRS? It's hard to tell. I mean, this is the taxpayer information is protected. So officials at the IRS aren't able to talk about particular taxpayers. So we're always kind of looking around corners and shadows and trying to figure out what's happening.

31:42He's obviously, like with any president, has installed his officials over the IRS. Frank Pistignato, who's the CEO of the IRS, is a Trump appointee. Scott Besson, the Treasury Secretary, oversees him. So there's always this tension where the president, any president, is in charge of enforcement directives and can guide what the agency is doing. President Biden pushed all sorts of resources into the IRS to try and get him to go after high income people much more than they've been doing in the past. So what we don't have a great sense of is whether some of these red lines about 7217 have been crossed, whether the president has actually successfully said, go after this person, stop going after this person.

32:24That's like, we don't know that, but it wouldn't be out of character, though, based on what we know. It's hard. We know that others have reported that in the first term he talked about doing things like that in meetings. It's unclear whether it ever filtered further than that. Richard Rubin, thanks so much. Really appreciate your reporting. And coming up, the major questions for a Republican senator who basically accused some of his Democratic colleagues of not being in the Senate legally. Plus, President Trump's grand new plans for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

32:59You ever have somebody offer to come home with you from the hardware store? I am giving away a room makeover. Where's the catch? Three days to complete this renovation. You have no say in the design and we start today. Oh wow. You're not just gonna steal everything. Surprise! Ready to get your house cracked? For real. A little dated. It's time to turn this over to us. You guys gotta get outta here. Gotta get outta here. Crashers, all new Monday at 10 on HGTV. And our politics lead a rather astonishing claim from Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville just before President Trump's speech last night on election security.

33:41We probably have four or five senators that didn't legally win. They shouldn't be up here. And it's just unfortunate that that's happened. Per Uge, Senator Tuberville did not back up that wild claim with any evidence. But it comes a day after his Republican colleague, Senator Cynthia Loomis of Wyoming, said she didn't know if Georgia's Democratic senators, John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, were legitimately elected in 2020. Here's our panel. Ashley, first to you. I mean, this is the problem with conspiracy theories, is that people just regurgitate them, even if there's no evidence. I mean, there was a rumor Trump was going to say this about Asif and Warnock.

34:19He didn't. But it's out there now. And now, you know, these wild allegations. Yeah, I don't like that at all. And also, I think for Cynthia Lemus, listen, she's leaving, so it's not going to really matter anymore. And then for Tuberville, I was just thinking, I actually hadn't heard that. But for him, that probably plays at home. And that's probably what he was thinking about as he runs for governor. But to your point, I don't think it's a good thing for election integrity. I have to say, and I was saying this to Chuck earlier, I actually had a little sigh of relief last night because I thought it was going to go much further than it did.

34:50I still am tired of the election issues since even 2016 when it started with Russia. So and I think the rest of the country is as well. So I'm hoping this is like it. But then today with Mark Wayne coming, Secretary Mullen coming out and talking about prosecuting some of these people, it's going to continue. So, Chuck, I know that John Ossoff, who's running for re-election, he kind of likes this because this reminds Georgians. He raises a lot of money off it, but it reminds Georgians as to what they don't like about President Trump because they know that their elections were legit in 2020 and 2024, for that matter.

35:30How does this play in a place like Texas, where you're advising Tallarico, the Democrat, running for Senate there? Is this just good red meat, but it doesn't really do anything in terms of voters? We talked about the primary in Texas, the Republican primary, and I think that's a good distinguishing factor in the Republican Party there. You have this longstanding, me and Ashley talk about it, John Cornyn, who is like the prototypical Republican senator from Texas. And then you had Ken Paxton. There's a whole lot of folks who voted for Cornyn, who I don't know at the end of the day will run over to vote for James Tallarico, and I'm not saying that.

36:03But there's a lot of them that are disgusted with what they're seeing with their own party, who just want low taxes and the government to stay out of their life. And I think we'll skip that on the ballot. I think that's the biggest effect it's going to have on the elections. Do you agree? Do you think it actually could cause, you know, not voter suppression, but depression? I don't know. First of all, I don't know how many people were paying attention yesterday about this, to be honest with you. I mean, it's summer vacation, and who knows? but I actually think I'm not convinced. First of all, I think Tallarica is a good candidate, and I think Paxton's a bad candidate, but I'm not convinced that people leave it blank.

36:35I just think people don't vote for anybody. And does the governor's race really bring enough people out on the Republican side? And Tallarica's fundraising numbers, sorry, were astronomical this quarter. Him and Ossoff and others have captured that energy that's out there in the grassroots fundraising, and lots of folks who can't vote every day can give$5 every week, and that's what you're seeing. So one time Trump ally, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie went, he went on the podcast of Gavin Newsom, who is a governor and also a podcaster. He said this about a conversation he had with Trump after the 2020 election.

37:07Take a listen. And he called me and he said to me, yeah, I'm probably not going to win this thing. Like, what do you think I should do? And I said, there's really no nothing else to do, Mr. President. I said, you need to call Biden, congratulate him. and we have not spoken since. What was your reaction to that? First of all, it's interesting that the president privately is telling Chris Christie that he knew he lost, even though he has not said that publicly. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I do think that Chris's job right now is to criticize the president at every turn and I'm a huge Chris Christie fan.

37:42But listen, I don't know why this is such a big deal to him, but I think that it hurts. I even know several Republicans that like the president's policies. but just have always said, why can't he get over this? I think it's time to turn the page. However, I do want to say that I've heard a lot of Democrats on TV and reading today that if there is more money, people need more money in the states to upgrade their systems in regards to voney machines and everything else. The Save America Act doesn't give money for that, ironically. But I think that there is a general consensus that there does need to be a modernization of elections, but it's not.

38:20We can't talk about 2020 still. There's also what you said when you started, Ashley, is like setting a new bar. Is that where we are, where you were like, well, I was kind of relieved because good and crazy didn't happen. We just had crazy. My word's not yours. So I think that that's where folks are like, is this really the realignment of those that are paying attention? I get your point. On the subject of crazy, after the speech on election security, President Trump turned back to, again, to the issue of primary concern among the American people, and that's the renovation of the reflecting pool.

38:48He continues to blame vandals, despite photos that don't show any signs of a 300-foot rip. Trump posted this morning, quote, We're looking for a vandal-proof material, but such a thing should not have been necessary. The scum in court will hopefully be prosecuted to the max. Now, obviously, election security is theoretically important, and the reflecting pool, I don't know. Again, he's making claims that aren't backed by facts, and also he's making claims that are not why he was re-elected. Right. And again, when I saw this kind of coming up again today, I was like, oh, my God, this is the gift that kind of keeps giving because he concentrates on it, which I don't understand.

39:27However, people are getting angry. If you see some of the polls that came out today about how people are still concerned about the economy, he needs to pivot to that if we're going to have a shot. The percentage of people who strongly support the president is shrinking. Right. And as we're heading to a midterm election, Jake, you've done this enough to know that in a midterm election, there's a smaller electorate because it's just the people who really, really care. So it becomes a motivational game. I'm working in congressional races all around the country. And it is, what's the message that will really move them off the couch?

39:57Because folks are feeling anxiety on both sides of like gas costs too much, ground beef has doubled. Like people are really angry. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. This programming note, next week CNN's going to host a Democratic Senate debate in the great state of Maine. Guess what? I'm going to get to moderate that alongside CNN's amazing Dana Bash, as well as Michael Shepard from the Banger Daily News. That's coming up next Thursday night, July 23rd, 8 p.m. Eastern. Watch it live here on CNN or CNN.com. Or if you have the streaming CNN app, you can watch it there, too. As the Trump administration threatens prison time if states don't comply with its efforts on quote-unquote election security, I'm going to talk with a top election official who's been accused by the president of having non-U.S.

40:39citizens registered in his state. He's going to respond to the allegation next.

40:50Welcome to the lead. I'm Dick Tapper. This hour, just how strict are states when it comes to keeping non-citizens from voting in U.S. elections? In minutes, I'm going to talk to one top election official defending his state laws after strong accusations today from the Trump administration, even threatening prison time if states don't crack down. Plus, all that smoke making it so hard for so many of you to breathe today. President Trump has a threat for that, how he says Canada should be held responsible. Also, the countdown to Sunday's World Cup final. What a woman soccer star will be watching for after once helping Team USA clinch a championship title.

41:33The lead tonight, President Trump wielding even more of his administration's power to boost his false claims that American elections are in grave danger. Today, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen echoed the president's message from his primetime speech about election security, directly addressing the claim that more than 250 ,000 non-citizens are registered to vote. If you're illegal and attempted to vote or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you and we will charge you. Illegal voter registration and illegal voting both carry penalties up to five years in prison and up to$250 ,000 in fines.

42:19Taking that one step further when speaking towards any state election officials who do not comply with his now mandated election security rules, which he described as scrubbing voter lists and securing machines. If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time. Now, to be clear, the facts involving undocumented citizens voting in state and federal elections suggest that experts left, right, and Center believe that this is a minuscule happenstance.

43:05It happens very, very rarely. But those threats from the Homeland Security Secretary to reshape American elections come as the president's false claims about election security continue to cast doubt on the system ahead of November's midterms. Let's bring in CNN's chief White House correspondent, Kaitlin Collins. Kaitlin? I mean, Jake, obviously, in hindsight of this speech last night, there have been a lot of conversations. I've been talking to a lot of Republican allies of this White House, a lot of White House officials themselves about the speech. And we had been told earlier in this week that the president wants to start doing more of these, more of these primetime addresses.

43:39It's not clear that they will always have the same topic as last night did, something that the White House obviously really tried to hype up before, saying that it is going to shock Americans with the findings that the president was going to lay out. Suffice it to say that for election officials and experts, it did not shock them in what they heard from the president's remarks last night. I do think what you heard from the secretary today, Secretary Mullen, in terms of threatening prison time for local officials if they do not comply with the recommendations on securing elections is something that people found shocking.

44:11And I think really what it all leads up to is two questions, which is what the White House is planning ahead of the midterm elections this fall, which are very clearly on the president's mind, as he was talking about last night, and whether or not that speech changed anyone's mind on Capitol Hill about passing the SAVE Act, this election overhaul bill that the president is pushing each day with more and more fervor. And right now, I mean, based on what we heard today, there are a few allies of the president's who were echoing his speech and highlighting it. But a lot of them were relatively muted about it, Jake.

44:43And Lisa Murkowski was saying that she didn't think it actually changed her view on whether or not she should vote for that bill. And so it's not clear that the White House accomplished what it wanted to, except for maybe laying out a rationale ahead of November in terms of what that's going to look like and if the polling bears out and the president's party doesn't do so well. CNN's Chief White House Correspondent, Caitlin Collins, as always, thank you so much. Caitlin's gonna have much more tonight on her show. It's called The Source with Caitlin Collins. It's an excellent show, you should watch it.

45:10Her guest tonight, Gabriel Sterling, Republican candidate for Georgia Secretary of State. You might remember him in December 2020 warning everybody that the lies have to stop. Someone's gonna get killed. And sadly, he was proven prophetic. That's tonight at nine Eastern, only on CNN. Earlier today, Secretary Mullen says he sent letters to four secretaries of state in Nevada, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to request a review of their voting rolls for non-citizens. Here with me is the Democratic Secretary of State for Nevada, Cisco Aguilar. Mr. Secretary, what was your reaction to the letter from Secretary Mullen?

45:45Well, again, I think it's part of the whole mantra of what this administration is trying to do from an intimidation and threat perspective. You know, we continue to call them the love letters of the administration. Today's came from the DHS. And that letter contained information that we were first made aware of in the letter. First, it's speculative. There is no real information in that letter. There is no data set that came with that letter. But yet they want us to act. And that's not how we're going to operate. secretary's on the front line of these elections in 26. We're going to be on the front line in 28.

46:16And they know that. They want to force us into compliance through threats and intimidation. Mullins says it's states that don't comply with the mandatory security enhancements to federal elections, which he described as secure machines and scrubbed voter lists. Your states won't be funded to run federal elections. What kind of a blow would that be to the election system in Nevada? Well, I think they haven't funded us for a while. I've said this before. It feels like a UFC chokehold from a funding perspective. What they're doing is forcing us to step up and take responsibility for our own elections, which is fine.

46:53We know the Constitution is very clear that states have a responsibility to run their elections, and we will not be federalized. whatever the threat is, whatever the threat of funding is, whatever the threat of jail time is, we'll continue to follow the law. We are following the law. Secretaries have a unique responsibility. It is not our opportunity to determine when we're going to follow the law. It's our job to call balls and strikes consistently. We have to be consistent in our job. Voters depend on us. Voters know that we're doing what's right in our states. Again, this idea of massive fraud just doesn't exist.

47:25And the fact that they keep talking about non-citizens is really detrimental to the overall voting process, especially in Nevada when you have 30 percent of your eligible voting base is Latino. Latinos are a big part of the state of Nevada. They drive our economy. They make sure we have what we need. And to threaten them on a consistent basis is only going to drive them away from the polls. And that is extremely dangerous. Well, he's not only threatening them, he's threatening you, right? I mean, Mullen laid out the stakes for election officials who don't comply with this policy, threatening jail time, hefty fines.

47:57I mean, he's talking about you going to jail. Are you worried? No, because I know that we are following the law. Look, we just won three major lawsuits within the last couple of weeks. We won the lawsuit against the first executive order. We won a lawsuit against the second executive order. We wanted the Supreme Court to protect our mail ballots, which are important in Nevada. We're going to continue to follow the law. I am following the law. I know that every decision I make has to be based on law because if it isn't, I'm going to be challenged in court. And I don't want to lose in court. I want to make sure we're doing what's in the best interest.

48:34They can threaten all they want, but I'm going to follow the law and I'm not going to comply with their illegal acts or their attempts to skirt the law. Are you talking to the Nevada Attorney General about legal pathways to challenge that threat of jail time or fines for you and any other election official in Nevada that doesn't do what Mark Wayne Mullen tells you to do? Yeah, you know, sometimes I say I'm a secretary, but sometimes I feel like I'm a managing partner of a law firm with as much legal counsel as we've had to incur over the last couple of years. Don't forget, in the 24 election, I think we faced about 30 lawsuits in Nevada over the election.

49:09But we're continuing to win those, and we're going to continue to push forward. There's no level of threat or intimidation that's going to drive me in fear away from this job or doing what's in the best interest of the Nevadans as a whole. Nevadans deserve leadership. What this administration is providing is not leadership. It's just chaos. It's intimidation. It's threats. And we need to step up and be the leaders. And that's why people need to understand why secretaries are critical to our election process and why secretaries need to be supported not only in this election cycle, but in future election cycles.

49:41I'm sure you agree. People who aren't citizens shouldn't be voting in our elections. How confident are you that only citizens are voting in your elections? And are you regularly scrubbing to make sure only citizens are voting? First of all, it's against the law for a non-citizen to vote in Nevada. We have stringent processes during the voter registration process to verify that every voter is who they say they are. But if you don't, you're going to be held accountable. When it comes to actual voting, non-citizens are not voting at the levels that they think they are. There may be one or two. The Heritage Foundation did an analysis of Nevada's voting.

50:23They looked at a 10-year period. They found minimal number of folks who participate in the process that shouldn't have. Again, when you actually look at the number of votes that occurred over a 10-year period, that's millions and millions of votes. And maybe 0.0001 % actually participated in Nevada's elections who shouldn't have. I think we run some of the safest, most secure, but accessible elections in the country. We do not have to sacrifice accessibility for safety and security. There are checks and balances in the process that occurs at the state level, but also occurs at the local county level.

51:01Our elections are run at the local level. These individuals live in our communities. They live in our neighborhoods. They know their voters. All right. Nevada's Democratic Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar, thank you so much. Appreciate it. We have some breaking news for you now. Seven nights in a row, the U.S. has launched strikes on Iran. We're going to take a closer look at the key sites targeted and what it may say about strategy, should one exist. And later, the man just days away from becoming the UK's new prime minister and the signs he's coming in with a tense relationship already with President Trump.

51:30Stay with us.

51:41Breaking news in our world, the United States has begun a seventh straight day of attacks on Iran as Iran's military threatens a, quote, full-scale offensive if U.S. strikes continue. Overnight, Iran claims the U.S. struck key bridges, railways, and power lines. War analysts think this could be the precursor to the U.S. trying to seize back the Strait of Hormuz. The White House maintains the U.S. does not strike civilian infrastructure, which would, of course, be illegal under international law, unless it was also used by the Iranian military. Joining us now, retired U.S. Air Force colonel and CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton.

52:17Colonel Leighton, walk us through these targets. All right, Jake. Well, basically what you've got here is a whole bunch of areas, especially down south. So you have the Bandar, we'll call them the collective Bandars, Bandar Khmer, Bandar Lige, Bandar Abbas. These are all major port facilities, and they have significant military installations as well as things like SAM emplacements, all the different drone emplacements, all of that is right in these areas. Now, the other thing to keep in mind is that some of the targets are actually in the western and southwestern part of Iran. So Loristan province, Hamidyei county, and Ahwaz and Bushir have also been struck.

52:57So what this looks like is basically a concerted effort to go after targets in all of these areas where there's a concentration of Iranian military power, plus some of their industrial base, as well as some of their missiles and other facilities that they have that they can use to attack not only U.S. vessels here, but also the Gulf states, the Arab Gulf states in the region. So when you talk about the military, you're also referring to the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. CENTCOM said it hit an IRGC surveillance tower. What does the video show us? So what this basically shows us is this tower was right in this particular area.

53:34And the video shows us the tower actually being struck by CENTCOM's forces. This is the third time that CENTCOM has actually targeted this particular tower. But what's really important about this, and when you see this go up here, is this particular tower was really responsible for controlling the shipping traffic right in this area. Basically, we're talking the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. And this means that Iran cannot be talking to all of its small boats out here. They can't be controlling all of the different elements in terms of extracting tolls from all the commercial ships. So this really does weaken Iran's ability to go after their toll effort and to really control this part of the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea.

54:24One of the things that Iran does to get back at the U.S. and Israel for striking them is to attack not just U.S. bases in the region and Israel, but also other Gulf partners of the U.S. Iran is a Shiite Muslim country, and these other countries, with the exception of Syria, are Sunni and Iraq, are Sunni countries. How have they been doing when striking American allies, these Gulf states? So one of the things they've done is they have used drone swarms, for example, in Kuwait, which is right here. They've used drone swarms to go after targets in Kuwait. They've done similar things in other Gulf areas.

55:02In Bahrain, for example, they have used drones like the Shahed 136, famous from the Ukraine war, but also famous from the Iran war. And then another drone called the Karar drone. These are just examples of some of the drones that the Iranians have used. But when you look at all of the different areas that they strike, they are really going after economic targets as well as military targets in all of these regions. In essence what they're trying to do, Jake, is they're trying to really stop the flow of oil and gas from these countries. And the other thing that they're trying to do is they're trying to force these countries to abandon their relationship with the U.S.

55:36It's not working, but that's one of the things that they really want to do. All right, Colonel Layton, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. He sells himself as a man of the people and he's about to become the new prime minister of the U.K., but will he also be the newest political foe of President Trump? Stay with us.

55:57Our world lead in just a few days. Our friends across the pond in the UK are going to have a brand new prime minister. They're seventh in just 10 years. And as Keir Starmer heads for the exit, Keir, we hardly knew ye, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, widely known as King of the North, is on his way to 10 Downing Street. CNN's Nick Robertson filed this report. This is the end of my political journey. Keir Starmer's last moments in Parliament. I will give my wholehearted support to my successor. A rather British end to a bruising battle to hold on to his job. To my wife and children, I love you.

56:39Goodbye. The irony, he rarely got as much applause as Prime Minister. I see this as a last chance to change. particularly for the Labour Party. His replacement, the charismatic Northerner, former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, arrives pumped from electoral success. His Mayor to Prime Minister metamorphosis is a work in progress. I am going to do things differently. Still wearing the T-shirt, he calls his Manchester uniform. Yet in the months since his local election victory, allowing him to oust Starmer, is offered little detail on his plans other than opening a number 10 office in Manchester and pushing power from London to regional mayors.

57:30Place first, not party first. Problem solving, not point scoring. Long term, not short term. Before any of that, though, the problem his party expects him to fix. The rise of populist right-wing reform under Nigel Farage. Burnham Rollback reforms gains in his recent victory, but Farage, facing allegations he denies of failing to disclose financial donations, seems to be laying a trap for Burnham. Another test of popularity. I've decided that the people of Clapton should be the judges of my actions. This will be a people versus the establishment by-election. All parties are treating Farage's re-election as a political stunt.

58:21Only the satirical candidate, Count Binface, will run against him. On foreign policy, where the UK faces the most consequential challenges, Burnham has offered only a few clues, significantly saying he's not afraid to disagree with President Trump. I'll just meet him where he's at. It's about respecting the office, the relationship, the UK-US relationship. But, you know, where you disagree, do it, but do it in a way that is kind of meeting him where he's at. On the Mideast too, hinting at diverging from US alignment. I know many people feel that at the start of Israel's military action in Gaza, my party didn't get it right.

59:09And I am sorry about that. With wars impacting allies in the Mideastern Europe and the UK's defence budget facing a more than$6.3 billion hole, Burnham's domestic agenda of change will struggle for his undivided attention. In his last days in office, Starmer still trying to make that balance work. His third overseas trip in nine days. NATO in Ankara, Paris for the coalition of the willing, and his last one as prime minister to Kiev. A farewell to President Zelensky and the problems of high office. Nick Robertson, CNN. Our thanks to Nick Robertson for that report. To China now, in a terrifying landslide that turned deadly, the dashcam video showing right now the moment a hillside suddenly gave way, sending residents running for their lives as dirt, rocks and debris crashed down onto the homes and businesses below.

1:00:12According to Chinese state media, more than 10 buildings were damaged. As of tonight, the official death toll has climbed to eight. Dozens are still missing. Rescue crews continue to search for survivors. Also in our world leader, we're going to take you to Ukraine, specifically a small town in the Donbass region that Russia has been slowly occupying and falsely claiming is Russian property. As CNN's Nick Payton Walsh explains for us now, Now, this false claim, along with the slow pace of the Kremlin's advances, raising questions about the fate of Vladimir Putin's war. Huge losses, tiny gains and lies.

1:00:45That's the reality of Russia's war on Ukraine. It's plain to see in the strategic town of Konstantinivka, where last week Russia planted a flag in its center, claiming its capture. But that's not true. Ukraine still holds lots of it. Yet its fate over the past year lays bare the crisis at the heart of Russia's war. Konstantinivka sits right on what's known as the fortress belt of heavily defended towns in the Donbass, the capture of which is a key Putin goal. Take it and the other two remaining towns of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk are well within reach. But wind back a year, take a look at reliable battlefield maps, and you see a story about Moscow's persistence, but also how much tiny gains cost.

1:01:29Last year we saw the road inn was lined with fishing nets protecting from drones. but the town was under Ukrainian control and safe enough. But by November, it was being hit hard here in the southwest, with another drone video showing an airstrike just a few streets away. Ukraine still had troops casually in the city center, and Russia was still really on the contested southwestern outskirts. It's in the first week of the year that the map records a big leap forwards for Moscow. But remember, their casualties across the whole front are estimated by the west at about 35 000 a month now dead and injured the ukrainians are at this time still posting from the central railway station but by february white phosphorus is being used to horrific effect in the southwest even though the ukrainians are still very much central jump forward to april and the damage done is horrific drone images right where we saw the Ukrainians in November as the Russians have slowly crept in.

1:02:31We saw how perilous it was to get in and out ourselves. The netting we saw 10 months earlier now a graveyard for so many.

1:02:46Russian flags central this week even if the maps show they're far from controlling the town. One year of tiny, tiny steps and doubtless thousands of Russian dead for a town that is relatively tiny itself. Russia's real weak spot in this war. Nick Payton Walsh, CNN, London. And our thanks to Nick Payton Walsh for that report. Ahead, the major change of plans for a high-profile lawyer who was set to testify next Monday about his ties to dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

1:03:21New today on our Law and Justice lead, Alan Dershowitz is not expected to attend his scheduled voluntary interview Monday with the House Oversight Committee for their Epstein probe, the committee tells CNN. The panel is in touch with his attorney to reschedule it. This as the fallout continues after the meeting yesterday between Trump's Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche and Epstein survivors and their families. It's a meeting that Blanche told CNN wasn't all cordial. Skye and Amanda Roberts, the family of Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim who took her own life last year, they told us about it yesterday.

1:03:56There were no real admissions. There were no real commitments being made. I didn't leave that meeting feeling, and I don't think anybody did, feeling like we walked away with anything more than what we went in there with. Joining us now, Eric Fidali, who represents a number of Epstein survivors. Eric, none of your clients were at the meeting, But what is your reaction to what you heard from the survivors and the loved ones of survivors who were at the meeting and from what you heard from Blanche in his confirmation hearing when he was asked about the Epstein case? Unfortunately, I'm not surprised about the disappointment the survivors and the representatives felt yesterday, because that is nothing new from this Department of Justice.

1:04:36This Department of Justice and this administration has done absolutely nothing but show a complete disregard for the well-being of the victims and the survivors. Everything this Department of Justice has done, everything this administration has done has been almost a slap in the face to these survivors, whether it's releasing names unredacted of victims or meticulously making sure that names of potential perpetrators redacted. So this is nothing new. Unfortunately, it's sort of par for the course for this Department of Justice and the way they've handled things. Blanche said there are no closed investigations.

1:05:10He said he wanted the survivors to contact the Justice Department and the FBI with any evidence and testimony. Are you and your clients going to be contacting him? We've been contacting them. We've been trying to contact the Department of Justice. And we've been contacted by other states, such as New Mexico, who actually seem to be conducting real criminal investigations of what's going on there. Everything I can hear from the Department of Justice and every correspondence I've heard from them doesn't seem like they have any real interest in following any leads or doing any real investigations or criminal prosecutions, or even really unredacting the names of all these potential perpetrators who are in these documents.

1:05:48So we're trying to contact them. We're trying to work with them. But similar to yesterday's meeting and the way sort of that hearing went, it's been sort of like talking to a brick wall. It doesn't appear as if they have any real interest in doing anything but just the bare minimum so they can let this story go away. Blanche's nomination for attorney general is still on the line here. What do you what do your clients want the senators, especially Senator Tom Tillis of North Carolina and Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who are Republicans and wavering on the Blanche nomination? What do you want those senators to know?

1:06:22Well, we'd like to let them know that, first of all, none of this, you know, Todd Blanche finally met with the survivors yesterday after months and months and months of which he could have met with them. He almost pretended during the hearing yesterday as if, oh, well, you know, now that you're forcing me to, I guess I'll meet with these survivors, right, as if he couldn't before. It's similar to what happened with the Epstein files and this administration. Those files could have been released months, months, months, years ago, but it took a law passing to get them to release them. So I'd like these Republican members of Congress to know that this was Todd Blanche's hand was forced.

1:06:55The only reason he met with these survivors is because he was told he had to. And he didn't even do the bare minimum. He didn't even look him in the eye and apologize. He showed no remorse. He showed no empathy. It was so clear that he was just doing this for votes. And I almost wish those Republican senators could have been in the room watching this, because I think had they observed and witnessed the way Todd Blanche sort of showed zero empathy, Zero care was similar to the way Pam Bondi did it when she had her temper tantrums months back and couldn't even look at them in the eye. So I'd like these senators to know that Todd Blanch has done nothing but obstruct.

1:07:28His Department of Justice has done absolutely nothing but, you know, at first I thought it was negligence. The way, you know, one of my clients was her name was revealed 538 times unredacted, despite the fact that we gave them their name. You know, I thought this was just pure incompetence for the Department of Justice. But the more and more I learn, it appears more like it's almost an intentional effort to obstruct the release of these files. Eric Fidali, thanks so much for joining us. There is no question all that smoke making it so hard to breathe in the Midwestern and East Coast of the United States is coming from Canadian wildfires.

1:08:02Up next, how President Trump says Canada should pay for the pollution.

1:08:16Quite a view to show you this hour. These are live images from Detroit and the great city of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. and Milwaukee. You see this haze? It's blanketing the entire Midwestern United States and the East Coast of the United States. These are from massive wildfires in Canada. Today, President Trump said he wants to hold our neighbor to the north accountable. He wrote, quote, We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their forests and brush therein. and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous and totally unacceptable.

1:08:51Another invasion. He's also suggesting Canada should compensate the United States by, well, tariffs. Back in studio with our panel. And Ashley, Trump's not the only Republican looking to hold Canada financially responsible. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio, he posted this yesterday, quote, I'll be introducing a bill next week to sanction Canada and the responsible Canadian government officials for this atrocity. I mean, do you agree Canada should pay a price? The U.S. has had its fair share of wildfires in the West. I mean, I don't know that we want to set this precedent. No, but I'm sitting here thinking, I do a lot of work in Canada, and I'm thinking this is definitely putting USMCA, the trade deal, further and further and further away from actually happening.

1:09:35Listen, we've got to make up with Canada in some form or fashion. and this fight has been going on from the beginning of this administration and we have to put some deal in place. I mean, we're hurting like a lot of industries on both sides of the aisle. We were in the green room and we were watching the programming and I was like, I wonder how many fires are happening in Canada right now? Over 820 fires are actively burning. And this used to be our biggest ally. And I used to work for a union where we made steel and we worked across the border and there's the timber industry. But there's a lot of jobs in America that rely on Canada.

1:10:07Yeah, I will just say, though, I mean, if we start setting precedents for other countries holding countries responsible for pollution and environmental hazards, might that not put the United States in a precarious position? I just think that this is like another tweet that's not going to happen. Another tweet? Just another tweet. Diverting, diverting. Until you walk outside in Washington, D.C. and can't breathe. Well, no, that is bad. New York was really bad yesterday. I was in New York. Let's talk about another form of pollution. Next week, Speaker Johnson's trying to head off the threat of another government shutdown in October.

1:10:40This would be just before the midterms. He's going to bring a short-term funding bill forward next week. It's a tall order, considering the House couldn't even agree on passing a veterans benefits package yesterday. So Congressman David Valdeo, he's a Republican from California, an Appropriations Committee member. He told Axios, quote, I've heard it talked about, and I think it's a bad idea. Ashley, what do you think of the Speaker's strategy, the short-term funding bill, just to get the next fight about this past the midterms? Well, first of all, next week is going to be not just that, but we have reconciliation 3.0.

1:11:11We have some banking bills. I mean, he has a huge list. But from a CR perspective, I think it's smart because he's very nervous we're going to be in the end of September. There's going to be a government shutdown that even if the Democrats, quote, force it, we're going to be blamed for it because we're holding all the government. Wait, I'm not done. And then also, I did hear today from my Democrat colleagues that so far they're okay, the House Democrats are okay with maybe passing this, unless we start adding a bunch of policy issues. First of all, you ain't talking to Democrats. I'm your only Democratic friend.

1:11:46Second, if you talk about Valadeo, let's talk about why Valadeo is running his mouth. Because Valadeo is one of these Republicans in a swing seat in the poorest congressional district in America. It is 80 % Latino. It's farm country. He doesn't want any of this nowhere around him. I'm working for Randy Vieques, who's running against him. I will tell you, Valadeo is worried to death, just like a lot of Republicans in marginal seats. And you may have another Democratic friend, but I bet I'm the only one. So, Chuck, Maine Democratic Senate hopefuls faced off last night in a debate to replace Graham Plattner as the Democratic nominee for that Senate race to take on Susan Collins.

1:12:21After this week's fatal shooting by an ICE agent in Maine, here's what some of the candidates had to say about it. It is far beyond time for ICE to go because it has proven itself unable to discharge its mission safely. We must abolish ICE. We need her to step up and meet that moment, to have the courage to stand up and defund ICE, abolish it, prosecute the agents who have committed a murder in our state. I support law enforcement, but ICE is not law enforcement. It's a rogue agency. So you gave the keynote address yesterday, Chuck, at the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. So you're out there talking to a lot of elected officials.

1:13:02What do you think, based on what you heard about this position of just ending ICE, getting rid of ICE? Look, I was with a thousand Latino elected officials, and ICE comes up a lot yesterday, but it's the anxiety of ICE in the neighborhoods, but also the economic reasoning around that. When you talk about defund the police or defund ICE, It's not the best messaging when you talk about swing districts, but in Maine in this Senate race It's probably okay to do that because folks are really really really upset in the streets there and Democrats in Maine I'm not making fun of this are just looking for a good warm body who can just kind of be halfway normal Susan Collins just needs to let them all talk for a little bit and just keep her mouth shut because that's gonna It's gonna be an exciting debate next week.

1:13:43I'm excited. Yeah, I'm excited President Trump just to send attended a FIFA World Cup reception in New York City. Earlier this year, FIFA awarded Trump, of course, the inaugural Peace Prize. How's that peace thing going, by the way? Anyway, moments ago, the FIFA president said this. And I say this because it is the truth. You don't need people to compliment you, Mr. President, but this World Cup would not have been such an incredible success without you. please I have to say the World Cup has been a huge success in the United States I don't know who deserves the credit for it but it has been amazing and it's been so great to see so many people from all over the world come here and be embraced by Americans and Americans be embraced by them I think that he didn't take advantage of this enough because it has been wonderful and he does sports really really well as the guy who played football who likes wrestling who even will do a little MMA from time to time.

1:14:45Like, we as Democrats should embrace more of this. We should be out there culturally talking about sports and FIFA. My gosh, it's everywhere. It's such a good job, Barbara. I agree with you 100 % when everyone just loved being in the country. And you know why? Because we weren't in D.C., New York, and L.A. They were in real parts of the country that people don't usually get to see. But also the security around it. I mean, we have two more matches, I guess. But that was a huge feat that really nothing has happened. Although, I will say, if the United States were in the final game, we would probably be hearing a lot more about President Trump taking issue with that red card.

1:15:23And he did mention that. Take a listen.

1:15:31Probably the most unforgettable is when they gave that gentleman. Is it a red card? And I was forced to call Johnny. and just make a recommendation. I said, Johnny, I'd like to make a recommendation. Let the guy in the game. No, I didn't say that. I said, I'd like to wage a complaint. Why bring that up? He can't get out of his own way. Why bring it up? And it would have been, you're right, if we would have won that game, it would have been a much bigger deal. Yeah, no, and we did not. I wish we had, but we did not. But if we had won that game, then, and honestly, and if we had gone on, And, like, I don't know that we'd be sitting here talking about how great the World Cup has been.

1:16:12And we might be talking about how much the world now hates us because the president. Hates us more. Because hates us. Well, whatever. And, like, how much because the fix was in. Right. And is this taken so serious around the world? Like, you think that global affairs and war is serious. FIFA and these soccer matches are some of the most serious. By the way, who do you have, Argentina or Spain? Well, I was just going to ask you that. I think Spain just because I feel like Argentina always wins. And I really don't know what I'm talking about. But I'm Argentina because Priscilla Alvarez is Argentinian and she's really rooting for them.

1:16:43And I root for Priscilla. I'm with the colonizers. Go Spain. All right. The colonizers. Ashley Davis and Chuck Rocha. Thank you so much. An important event is coming up next week. CNN is hosting a main Democratic Senate debate, giving voters a chance to hear from the candidates before their state party convention. I'm going to moderate the debate alongside the great Dana Bash and the great Michael Shepard from the Banger Daily News. That's Thursday, July 23rd, 8 p.m. Eastern. You can watch it live on CNN or on CNN.com or on the streaming CNN app. The World Cup final is this weekend, and it's up next.

1:17:12One of the most famous goalkeepers who won two Olympic gold medals and has a place in the National Soccer Hall of Fame. She's going to tell us who she thinks has the best shot. That's coming up.

1:17:36And our sports lead, all eyes will be on New Jersey Sunday. Argentina and Spain will face off in the World Cup final. It's the first time the current champions of South America and Europe are playing in the final. Argentina has a chance to become the first men's team to go back-to-back since 1962. Joining us is former U.S. women's national team goalkeeper and 1999 World Cup winner, Brianna Scurri. Brianna, thanks so much for joining us. So you've been in the thick of the World Cup all summer. What have been some of your favorite moments of the tournament so far? There's been several, and this game coming up on Sunday is one of them.

1:18:11You have a great opportunity here. You have Argentina, who just will not quit. They seem to play better every time they're behind. And you have Spain, who has this young phenom on their team, Yamal, who is literally three years old last time Spain was in the World Cup final. And so you have a fantastic opportunity for a clash that is truly a passing of the torch experience versus youth. I love Messi trying to do the double like you mentioned. And then also you have Yamal, who's the next gen player. So I'm just really excited. I think this game is going to be the absolute crown jewel. How do you think hosting the World Cup has grown the game in the United States?

1:18:51Do you like the American edition of the championship rings? I do. I think having a World Cup on our soil is absolutely amazing. You have all these amazing teams literally in your backyard as an American, and you have an opportunity not only to feel the energy of the fan zones and just all these different cultures, but to see the beautiful game up close. I think really it's going to inspire new people who've never watched soccer before. And now I feel like now we have to take this World Cup and move forward and try to get more and more youth involved in the game and more people who aren't normally watching soccer excited about it.

1:19:30What are you expecting from Sunday's final? It's going to be a doozy. I'm expecting an amazing game. You have two goalkeepers, for example, here. You have a goalkeeper on Argentina who has won before, who's experienced, who is going to be able to make that moment when it happens. And you have the other goalkeeper on Spain who has never been here before. So you have a real interesting matchup. And I really feel like it's going to be a coin flip for the winner, but I'm going for Argentina because that team, they don't quit. You suffered a devastating concussion that led to your retirement in 2010, yet you're still very much involved in the sport.

1:20:08Tell us if you can, how did that injury change your life? Oh, Jake, I tell you what, I suffered a concussion in 2010. I'd had suffered several of before, but nothing like this. It really, really like set me back for several years. I struggled with different symptoms. I struggled emotionally as well, but I was able to take that event, that horrible thing that happened to me and make my mess, my message. And now I'm an advocate for concussions. I'm doing speeches all over the country, different organizations about my journey and just really trying to inspire people to know that they can always come back from something.

1:20:45And maybe it may seem bleak at the time, but you can really take that instance and really turn it around. What a powerful message. Lastly, so when I was a kid, there was this concept that soccer was going to take off in the 70s. This is the 1970s. And I really don't know that it did until very recently. How big do you think soccer is going to be going forward in the U.S.? I really think after this World Cup, we have an opportunity to be one of the big four in our country. We have this World Cup and then we have the Women's World Cup in 27 and hopefully Women's World Cup on U.S. soil in 2031. So we have a lot of soccer happening on U.S.

1:21:28soil. And I really feel like that's going to boost the visibility of the game. And I think now with this World Cup about to end, Americans have a better feel for the passion of this game and that this game belongs to everyone, including them. All right, Brianna Scurry, thank you so much. So great to have you on the show. Coming up Sunday on State of the Union, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, Abdul Al-Sayed, and Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. That's Sunday at 9 a.m. at noon Eastern on CNN. I will be hosting. Until then, you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, threads, x, blue sky, and on the TikTok at Jake Tapper.

1:22:03You 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. Aaron Burnett, Out Front starts now. I'll see you Sunday morning.

1:22:22Go inside the sports moments that brought us together and made history from the underdogs to the rivalries and the miracles, the new CNN original series decades in sports watch back-to-back premieres August 2nd on CNN and next day on the CNN app.