Justice Dept Issues Subpoenas for Nevada Voter Data

25:18And we make sure that the communities around data centers are secured, too. And so we need to have a comprehensive solution needs to be at every level of government to not just Congress. You're also on the House Oversight Committee. Eddie, I want to ask you about this Wall Street Journal report that former Department of Homeland Security aide Corey Lewandowski, who worked under Kristi Noem in a variety of positions, that he acted as a shadow secretary, influencing major contracts as well as approaching senior officials from places like Qatar or the UAE, encouraging them to hire him on the side to assist them with issues that are under the purview of DHS.

25:57Now, we should note Lewandowski calls the report politically driven, says the facts will speak for themselves. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general is investigating Lewandowski. What is your reaction to this report as a member of the House Oversight Committee? Well, first, I don't trust any internal investigation in the Trump administration. This is also a pattern of the Trump administration of officials who are appointed, who are overstepping their bounds, who are corrupt, who are self-dealing. And so I want to make sure that there's a real investigation and the Oversight Committee should do it.

26:31And if we're in the majority next year, Democrats, then we're going to make sure that he comes before our committee and answers the hard questions. Today on X, Oversight Democrats vowed to hold Lewandowski accountable. You're a member of the committee, but you guys are in the minority. How can you hold him accountable? That's a great question. In the end, we're not going to wait until next year. So we're going to launch our own investigations to the extent we can. We don't have subpoena power, but we can put pressure on the majority to do that. And we can also do our own investigations among Democrats, too.

27:03And part of that also means not just stopping at what has been reported, but looking deeper as well. I serve on the Ethics Committee, too. And what we see sometimes is you see one allegation and you look deeper into it, you start to see five or six other things that happened as well. So I think that's true of this administration. Even the things that are being reported, I think, are just the surface of it. We need to go deeper. Congressman Suha Subramaniam, a Democrat of Virginia, thank you so much. Good to see you as always. Coming up next to a small town in Colorado, just outside Denver, how the actions of President Trump could impact a vulnerable House Republican there.

27:35He's trying to hold onto his seat in Congress. Stay with us.

27:44I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. Last week, there was this important report that dropped that I think got a lot of attention. It's about football, and there was this new study in the British Medical Journal, which estimates that of all the NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021, about 878 players, at least 25 % of them had confirmed CTE. That is the disease that is caused by repetitive hits to the brain. So CNN's resident NFL veteran, Coy Weyer, he called me, we called fellow CNN sports anchor, Andy Scholz, and we were talking about it. I know as a former player, anytime I forget my keys, if I get a slight headache, it pops in my head.

28:29I'm thinking like, man, I hope this is just... Andy, do you forget your keys? Rarely. Oh, you're supposed to say yes all the time, Quay. Make me feel better. Sorry. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

28:46We're back with the election. Music and our politics lead. It's only 56 days until the midterm elections. And CNN's John King is revisiting Colorado's 8th congressional district in his great All Over the Map series. This midterm battleground is happening in a 40 % Latino district in Colorado where both candidates are Latino. Republican incumbent Congressman Gabe Evans versus former progressive state representative Manny Rutanel will test President Trump's 2024 gain of Latino voters. Will those Latino voters stick with Republicans or will this swing toward Democrats? Here's John King.

29:32Platteville, Colorado. Population 3 ,000. A frontier outpost back when the railroad spread west. Now a quiet ranching town with a giant say in the country's direction. Mikko Rios took charge of the Silva Spur when his mother died last year. He is a registered Democrat and a 2024 Trump voter. But the charisma caught my attention. I felt like we were a little stagnant for a while and I wanted some change. Secret recipe just like the colonel. Exactly. The margins are down and costs keep going up for everything, including flour for the homemade bread. keep going up despite Trump's 2024 promise they would come down quickly.

30:11I don't believe it has changed. The economy, I feel like right now, is hard for small businesses, and that's what our supplies, our insurance, our cost of living has gone up so much. Platteville is in Colorado's 8th Congressional District. Republican Gabe Evans is the first-term incumbent, and the race is a toss-up. Has Congress done anything in his first term to help you? Not that I can feel. Nothing comes to mind. And yet registered Democrat Rios is undecided. Would you prefer a more moderate candidate, personally? I would. Manny Routinal is the Democratic candidate, a progressive who beat a moderate in the Democratic primary.

30:48Adams County is the blue southern end of Colorado 8, suburban neighborhoods within sight of the Denver skyline. Trump ran stronger among Latinos here in 2024, and that helped Congressman Evans. Manny Tejada and his wife Alexandra are active in Hispanic community organizations. He is a Republican, but knows a lot of longtime Democrats who voted for Trump in 2024 because of inflation and because of Biden immigration policies. When they opened the borders that inflated, you know, like millions of migrants that you will see, you know, on the streets. So Hispanics have been here for decades. They saw that and they didn't like that.

31:31Yeah, so the cost of the aluminum, I want to say three, four years, it's double or more. Now, costs are still going up, and Tejada says it is Trump's immigration policy and tone driving the conversation. You think it's going to swing back to the Democrats this time? I think so. I think so. And the reasons why? People disappointed in Trump or disappointed in Evans? You know what? Mainly Trump were hardworking people, were people of faith. So when you start attacking our community, then everybody comes together and says, hey, this is no right. It's a fascinating district, literally one of a handful of 50-50 districts across the country, a true bellwether battleground.

32:12We were there about the 100-day mark of the Trump presidency back in 2025. There is no question among the Latino voters and in the community you feel a swing to the Democrats. It was wait and see at 100 days. Now the tone on ice, the tone on immigration, the continued high costs are working against Trump. But Manny Rootnell, the Democrat, has not closed the deal. He's a newcomer to the race. He's in the state legislature. But this district was first a Democrat, 1 ,600 votes, then a Republican, 2 ,400 votes. Look for another close vote. Interesting. John, stick around. We have some breaking news on our Law and Justice League.

32:41The U.S. Supreme Court just weighed in on the state of Missouri's request to be able to use its new redistricted congressional map that theoretically would benefit Republicans in the midterm elections. Let's get straight to CNN's Tom Foreman. And Tom, how did the U.S. Supreme Court decide? Are they allowing this new redistricting, more pro-Republican map to take effect? No, they are not. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency cases from that part of the Midwest, stepped up and with no comment simply said, no, we're not going to allow this to go forward. There were no dissents from anyone else on the court.

33:16This had previously been supported by the Missouri State Supreme Court, which unanimously said this had been handled improperly. The story in simple order is this. The president put out this appeal for states with strong Republican leadership to step up and redistrict. In Missouri, the redistricting plan they came up with would have likely changed the vote there from being six Republican-held congressional seats and two Democratic to seven Republican seats and one Democratic through this redistricting effort. However, there were activists in the state who collected 300 ,000 signatures and said, we believe this should be put up to a vote of the people, that it shouldn't be just up to the legislature.

33:58The Secretary of State there waited until the last possible day to say, no, no, no, we won't allow that. We're going to go forward with our plan. The appeal went to the state Supreme Court, which said this was a perfectly valid appeal, and it should be put up to the people, and now the Supreme Court has weighed in the same. So that's one seat that the Republicans do not seem to be able to grab through this redistricting effort, even though, of course, it still had to be up to the voters. But it's a it's a setback for the Trump administration. That's for sure. All right, Tom Foreman. Thanks so much.

34:28Coming up next, President Trump's wild new 9-11 related claims. What he claims to remember 25 years later about some sort of big strong guys who he is now saying rescued him from rubble.

34:51Back in our politics lead earlier today, President Trump, in his way, remembered victims and honored 9-11 first responders on the South Lawn of the White House. And as the nation prepares to commemorate 25 years since those horrible terrorist attacks, the president made this claim. This United States steel building was creaking, really creaking. And we thought it was going to fall down. We thought it was coming down on top of us. And two firemen, big, strong guys. And I'm not the smallest guy in the world. They grabbed me under the arms and said, got to get out of here. And they literally lifted me up.

35:29This is not easy to do. I'm big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, fellas, I can run myself. As CNN's fact checker Daniel Dale pointed out, Trump was nowhere near the World Trade Center when it was hit. Trump was in Trump Tower near One Liberty Plaza. One Liberty Plaza was formerly known as the U.S. Steel Building. Authorities deemed that building structurally sound in the days following the 9-11 attacks. Our panel joins us now. John King, we should note that Daniel Dale also noted that in 2016, President Trump said that this alleged incident happened a couple days after 9-11.

36:05He claimed the creaky building was not so far from us. Trump's also repeatedly claimed he and his workers were at Ground Zero, helping in the recovery aftermath of 9-11. Take a listen. Well, I have over 100 men working here, and we have another 100 coming in a little while. So I'm just spurring them on a little bit. I just got out. I just came from, as you call it, Ground Zero. It's terrible. That's President Trump two days after 9-11. But we should know, people at Ground Zero have said they never saw President Trump or any Trump organized crew on the side. He also back in the day said something about seeing Muslims celebrating back in those days.

36:40American Muslims, yeah. No one could back up those claims as well. As you know, this is not breaking news. The president has a history of exaggerating and saying things and injecting himself into big major events when there's no evidence that he had any place in the big major events. The 25th anniversary of 9-11 in a very contentious midterm election year. If I were a political advisor, I'm not. I would say not smart, not helpful. On a number of fronts, you hear Republicans questioning the president's focus and his words. Why is he saying things and why is he doing things that a smart Republican would tell you are counterproductive to an already very difficult midterm election year?

37:19Mike Dunkey, President Trump also said this during an interview on Fox. It aired on Sunday. Take a listen. And I went down. I was building a building in New York and I had a lot of construction workers. And I went down there very shortly thereafter the following day. You couldn't go down the same day. But like the following day, very, very quickly afterwards. And we worked long and hard, but it was just so terrible and so hopeless. We also remember President Trump, I think on 9-11, called in to, I believe it was CNN, but it might have been a different channel, talking about how with the Twin Towers down, now he had the tallest building in New York, which wasn't actually true, but also kind of not the point.

38:00What's your take on it all? My take is you have a storyteller trying to connect with his audience today. He was at an event commemorating 25 years after the fact and talking and giving an award to first responders in the memory of the heroics of that day. So to John's point, he sometimes gets ahead of himself, away from himself, and that's, as I sit here today with you, Jake, is probably the best spin I can put on it. Maria, what do you think? It's Trump being Trump. He cannot help himself to, again, John's point, putting himself in the middle of everything, putting himself in the middle of this commemoration.

38:44Not the families, not the first responders. He mentioned them, but everything, all of the exaggeration, all of the lies were about him and how he had to be carried out there. Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani, who was hailed as a hero of sorts after 9-11, he was Time Magazine Man of the Year for how he responded as the outgoing mayor. He has now said that he doesn't think the current mayor, Zoran Mamdani, should be at the commemoration. There are some, not all, not even necessarily most, but some 9-11 families feeling that way as well. Here was Mayor Mamdani's response. I'm proud to be the mayor of the city.

39:27I love this city. I love this country. And what I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th. And a focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers. Now, we should note, I mean, some of the objections that people have to Mayor Mamdani there are not rooted in only anti-Muslim bigotry. I mean, he did campaign with Hassan Piker, who said that America deserved 9-11. There are actually associations that people don't like.

40:03But what's your take on this? I think he should attend. He is the rightful elected mayor of New York. And unlike Trump, everything that he has said thus far about the commemoration has been about the families, has been about the first responders. Today he announced money or a study that talked about how the city had lied to first responders and the families about how it was so dangerous. Yeah, the air quality. Yeah, the air quality. And he commemorated the day as a day of remembrance. So everything that he has done thus far has been about the families. They even asked him about Rudy Giuliani's comment about him.

40:43And he could have gone political because Rudy Giuliani has absolutely no credibility to talk about what's best for anyone in this country, given what he has done since then. But he refused to do that. He said, you know what? I'm not going to say anything about that. My focus is on the families. What do you think? I think one of the best memories, if you can even put it that way, of the aftermath of 9-11 25 years ago was the country coming together and people putting away their differences. And so to the current mayor of New York commemorating 25 years ago this horrific act of terror and stating such as he did, I think is a fine act for him to be there on that day.

41:28I can understand some people may be a little uneasy because of other things that he has said in the years in between. But I think the current mayor should be there and commemorating the heroics of the aftermath of that day. What do you make of it all? I agree with your point that anyone who associates with people who espouse hate or espouse conspiracy theories, if you're in elected office, guess what? You're going to be asked about that the entire time you're in elected office and you ran for office. You have to answer the question. Yeah. whether you're the mayor of New York, Senate candidate in Michigan, and so on and so forth.

42:01I think if there is any slice of Islamophobia here, I would remind people covering the White House in those days, you remember what George W. Bush said after, which I thought was a very presidential thing to say, is that the terrorists had corrupted, had bastardized a great faith and a faith of peace. And he wished that people would focus on the terrorists, not Islam. Yeah. And Mike, earlier, I just want to ask you about the piece that John did about Colorado's 8th congressional district, Republican incumbent congressman Gabe Evans versus former progressive state representative Manny Routenel, both Latino.

42:34The district is 40 % Latino. How worried are Republicans about losing the considerable gains that they made with Republicans, especially, I mean, with Latinos, especially Latino men in 2024? Look, I think that Republicans need to be worried about it in the sense that that is part of the coalition that elected both the president in 24 and secured both houses of Congress for the Republicans. But I think what's very interesting, and this is the point I really want to make about the Latino vote, I do think that there are inroads Republicans can make not pandering to the Latino vote. And I think sometimes Democrats, and this is where I'm waiting for you to jump in.

43:19Sometimes Democrats can take to pandering to minority groups in a way that Republicans can take advantage of. I think in terms of being socially conservative with some of the male Latino voters, that they should continue to go after that cohort. But right now, we are in a very critical moment where we've seen Donald Trump's numbers crater with the general public, but with Latino voters, they are doing that and more. And in fact, it is such a swing that Latino voters are looking at Trump and they're saying, we gave you a chance on the economy and on immigration. You betrayed us. And they are now looking at Democrats as the ones who can deliver on these.

44:04And so we're going to have to demonstrate that we can do that. But right now we're in a very good position with Latinos. Thanks to all. A big programming announcement. CNN is hosting a debate in the race for California governor. Dana Bash and I are going to moderate that. Look for this to happen. It's going to be on Wednesday, September 30th. Wednesday, September 30th at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern. We're going to carry it live on CNN and CNN International and CNN Español and the streaming CNN app. This is a busy day for politics, also an election day for an open Senate seat in New Hampshire.

44:39And then in Texas, that first ever Republican midterm convention kicks off tomorrow. Do you know what I'm talking about? Well, we're going to talk about it all next.

44:55Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, it is election night in America, and we are just about two hours from polls closing in New Hampshire, where all eyes are on the primaries for an open U.S. Senate seat. Republicans are hoping they can flip it on their way to keep in control of the Senate chamber. Democrats really need to win it if they want to return to power. So who has the momentum? Plus, Hurricane Lowell batters parts of Hawaii, damaging homes and knocking out power to tens of thousands. And the threat is not over yet. Hawaii Governor Josh Green will be here with a storm update and to discuss how they're preparing for a more active than normal Pacific hurricane season.

45:34And some serious drama to kick off college football season. Today, the SEC threatened to kick LSU out of the conference entirely as they fight over whether former professional football players can return to college. And after a controversial last second finish, literally last second, the Mid-American Conference wants Michigan's Hail Mary victory Saturday night to be vacated. We're following all of the details this evening.

46:06The lead tonight, cue the election music. The midterm sprint is officially on. Polls closed. There it is. Thank you. Polls closed in just under two hours in New Hampshire in the primary race for the open U.S. Senate seat there. To put it plainly, it's a must-win race for Democrats, and it's shaping up to be one of the best pickup opportunities for Republicans this fall. It'll likely be a race between Democratic Congressman Chris Pappas and former Republican Senator John Sununu, who's been endorsed by President Trump. On Friday, Pappas put a fundraising email he hoped would grab attention and donations and said, quote, we are losing, unquote, referring to polls in which Sununu is winning.

46:44First, of course, Pappas is going to have to defeat Democratic Socialist Karishma Mansoor tonight. There's also the other major Senate seat Republicans are hoping to flip, and that's in Michigan. Republican nominee for Senate Mike Rogers, former congressman, pulling no punches against his opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, with a new ad just before the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. Here's part of it. I worked for years to help bring Osama bin Laden to justice. Abdul El-Sayed runs around with a terrorist sympathizer who said America deserved 9-11. Abdul is too extreme for Michigan. I'm Mike Rogers, and I approve this message because I'll fight to keep America safe Always.

47:55races, but also especially perhaps the race in New Hampshire. Jessica, so polls close in less than two hours in New Hampshire. What are you watching for tonight in New Hampshire? I'm watching that margin in the Democratic primary because Manzoor is a Democratic socialist. We saw an upset a couple of weeks ago in Florida where Democrats expected Alexander Vindman to win, but he was upset by another Democratic socialist candidate there. Anyway, he was upset by another Democratic. Dixon or Nixon. Nixon. Sorry. Yes. Thank you. And so it was a bit of a surprise with that. And that was a race they had hoped to put in play.

48:31But this would really, as you mentioned, this is a must win for Democrats. And so if Democratic socialists were to win in a swing state like New Hampshire, this would just completely mess up Democrats' math. Interesting. Or like you're on the campaign trail, you spoke with Abdul El-Sayed. How is he feeling about his chances in this Senate race in Michigan? Well, Jake, Abdul El-Sayed is feeling pretty confident that they will be able to keep this Senate seat in the blue column. And it's one of the most closely watched races this cycle. Michigan, of course, is central to Democrats' key path back to the Senate majority, as they have to hold on to the seat and win in a bunch of other red states.

49:11But we spent some time with El-Sayed on the campaign trail yesterday as he bopped between Labor Day union rallies and smaller gatherings with black voters. and he talked about some of the frustration that he's heard from Michigan voters about President Donald Trump in his handling of the last year and a half in office. Take a listen to what he had to tell me. Everywhere I go, I talk to folks who say, I voted for Donald Trump two or three times, and I'm voting for you. And I ask them why. They say, well, I think you're really America first. You don't want to send my tax dollars to a foreign government.

49:43You want to keep them here. Do you think Democrats can win the majority without winning Michigan? No, but we're going to win Michigan. We're going to win the majority. Now, Trump won here in Michigan back in 2024, but El-Sayed's opponent, Mike Rogers, who also ran then, he was unsuccessful in that bid. But that is something Rogers will have to contend with going forward, is some of that frustration with Trump while also trying to turn out those base Trump voters. There's also questions about whether El-Sayed, a progressive Democrat, can win statewide in a general election, something voters will answer here in the next eight weeks.

50:19Jake. And Jessica, do you think it's possible Republicans could actually win New Hampshire and Michigan? If they do, it tells us that candidates matter more than the environment, because I do think that in Michigan, El-Sayed is the weaker candidate when you look at candidate quality for Democrats than Haley Stevens would have been. And if they are voting on candidate quality, then I think that, you know, the name of the game for Democrats should be addition and not subtraction. So if they lose these two seats that are in their column already, they've got to flip six seats then total. They have the possibility to do so in Texas and in Iowa, races that are coming on the board that we recently moved into the toss-up column.

50:59But you don't want to be losing seats that you already have in your possession. So it would be a major win for Republicans were they to flip these two Senate seats. But what's interesting to me is these are better pickup opportunities than Georgia right now. That's one that's falling off the board. But I think that in New Hampshire, Chris, John E. Sununu, he's a member, of course, the most famous family there in New Hampshire. I think he has a real reputation as a moderate. But is that enough to overcome the drag that President Trump has in New Hampshire? And he's underwater by, you know, I've seen as much as 20 points in Michigan as well.

51:31Interesting stuff. And Arlette, El-Sayed has also faced criticism from Jewish community leaders in Michigan. You asked him about that. What did he tell you? Yeah, Jake, Israel has really played out during that Democratic primary, and the fractures within the party around that is reverberating in this general election fight. El-Sayed, in recent weeks, has done some work trying to repair some of those relationships. There are many Jewish Democrats who are uneasy with some of his past comments, including around that attack at Temple Israel. But here's what he had to say when I asked him about his outreach to Jewish voters yesterday.

52:10So look, I've had great conversations with my Jewish sisters and brothers. They understand that my commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. I know what it's like to be discriminated against because of how I pray, and I don't want that for anybody. And we have an opportunity to come together around all that unites us. I'm looking forward to serving toward a Michigan that brings us together, and I'm so grateful for the support of my colleague Alyssa Slotkin. Who better to represent Michigan than a Jewish woman and a Muslim man?

52:36Now, Rogers and his campaign have been trying to reach out to some of those Jewish Democrats who are uneasy with some of El-Sayed's past comments. But this is clearly an issue that will play out over the coming weeks. El-Sayed acknowledging he still has some work to do trying to meet with Jewish leaders to ease some of those concerns. The Jewish Democratic community within Michigan is quite small compared to the larger electorate. But here in a razor thin race in very many Senate races and presidential races, every vote will matter. All right. Arlette Saenz and Jessica Taylor, thanks to both of you.

53:09Tomorrow, President Trump's midterm convention spectacle kicks off in Dallas. He's hoping that this first of a kind midterm election rally, a two-day gathering, will motivate voters even without him on the ballot. The president actually wants to be on the ballot in a way. But some Republicans are privately and some publicly worrying about Trump's dismal approval ratings with the war in Iran and a faltering economy. They think it could put a damper on the fanfare. Retiring Republican from Nebraska, Congressman Don Bacon joins us now. Congressman, several Republican candidates are not attending the convention.

53:44You're not going either. You actually have official business. It's not on the same night as the first two games of the NFL. I'm sorry, it is on the same nights as the first two games of the NFL season, this rally. And one Republican donor tells CNN, quote, I don't understand the programming still. It seems to be just five hours of speeches. How worried are you that this could be an embarrassment for Republicans, actually hurting your colleagues? Well, it's going to be a mixed bag, I believe, for this two-day or the rally down in Dallas. You know, the president, as you mentioned, his RCP average is about 39 percent.

54:22That is very hard if you're a swing district Republican that you have to overcome. And the danger is that people perceive us as being rubber stamps to the president. That's the downside. But what the president wants to do is galvanize the voters that came out in 2024 that may not come out in 2026, get them out to vote. Also use this as a fundraising opportunity. My perspective, coming from a swing district and having five tough general election cycles, in the district that Trump lost against Harris and then Joe Biden in 2020. You've got to stand on your own two feet. You've got to be your own person.

54:55You've got to be able to say, I supported Trump here. I supported Trump there. I disagreed with him here. I voted against this, and I've taken positions. The voters in your district want to know that you're not a rubber stamp because what they're looking for is some checks and balances right now. I'm talking about the swing voters. They want someone that will stand up against the president when needed, And I think that will drive the final results in a lot of our districts that are the so-called swing districts. So, Congressman Bacon, let's talk about beef, because both Republican and Democratic candidates for governor in South Carolina, South Dakota, rather, criticized President Trump at the state fair over the weekend, specifically over his decision to import more foreign beef to bring prices down.

55:40The Republican, Governor Larry Roden, has been endorsed by Trump, but he called the president, quote, wrongheaded and impulsive. These tariffs seem particularly hard on Republicans running in states that rely on the agriculture industry. How much is that going to hurt, do you think, when it comes to competitive races in, let's say, Iowa? I believe the farmers and ranchers are still going to go Republican. but you're not going to see the same difference or the leads that they had in 2024 coming out of Nebraska and Iowa. Tariffs have heard us. Tariffs are not popular in the Midwest. I've told the president that personally.

56:19It is a tax on the consumer. Our farmers are paying more for pesticides, herbicides. They have to buy tractors, even though it may be put together in the United States. Some of the subcomponents come from overseas. So everything is higher now. And what infuriates the ranchers is they're paying tariffs, but now the president's lifting tariffs on imports that would protect the ranchers. So if you ask a rancher, but we're paying all these other tariffs, but the area that protects us has been lifted. And it really doesn't make any sense. Really, the president is acknowledging that tariffs raise costs.

56:54That's why he's lifting the tariffs on hamburger, because it's making hamburger more expensive. I'm of the old school Republican, the republicanism that dates back to World War II that says tariffs are a tax on the American consumer. Global tariffs hurt our economy. And I would prefer to push back on all the tariffs, except for those targeted against individual countries that are being unfair towards us. Global tariffs hurt us. I think that this is going to be a factor in the Midwest. I hate to say it, but that's why I've opposed it. And I have forced votes on the floor. And we've actually passed out of the House with much of my participation leadership taking away the tariffs on Canada.

57:34And I would support those same measures on other tariffs throughout the world. Republican Congressman Don Bacon from Nebraska, thank you. And as always, thank you for your service, sir. We really appreciate it. A memorial removed for sanitizing slavery and mythologizing the Confederacy is now going to be restored by the Trump administration. why Secretary Hegseth says the memorial should never have been removed. Plus, we're standing by for an update on the investigation into the deadly plane crash in Miami. Officials are set to share new details in minutes. Stick with us.

58:15International lead, a rewriting, a whitewashing of one of the most shameful chapters in American history. The Trump administration is restoring a memorial to fallen Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. It had been removed following a recommendation from a congressionally mandated naming commission. This was first reported by the Washington Post. The Pentagon also took down a plaque that had explained why the monument was taken down. And that plaque had said that the memorial offered a, quote, nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery, unquote.

58:54But that context is now gone, poof, and the memorial is set to return next year to those hallowed burial grounds, a memorial to the traitors of the Confederacy. Let's discuss this with Stephen West. He's an associate professor of history at the Catholic University of America here in Washington, D.C., who was the first one who noticed that the plaque had been removed, and you told the Washington Post about it. So we should just note, this memorial was not put up right after the Civil War. This was put up decades later in 1914. What are some of the most controversial parts of the memorial that made it so offensive to people?

59:30Well, you mentioned the text that used to be on the signage, and it gets it exactly right. It's a nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, and it's a sanitized version of slavery. The thing for people to know is that it's a Confederate memorial. It's got the seal of the Confederacy. It's got an allegorical figure representing the South. It's got Confederate soldiers. It's got a Latin inscription that refers to the lost cause, which was the term that white Southerners themselves used for this mythologized picture of the Confederacy. So it's very much a Confederate monument. And it offers, you know, as the sign used to say, a sanitized depiction of slavery.

1:00:06Yeah, it had a mammy type figure. Exactly. A black slave woman holding the son of a white guy, a white Confederate soldier about to run off to battle. Even pushing forward this, I think, apocryphal idea that there were black Confederate soldiers who sought to fight to preserve slavery. Yes. Yeah. And the explanation that people gave at the time was that the second black figure on the monument wasn't a Confederate soldier because he's not carrying a gun, but that he was the personal servant. He was the enslaved servant of a white man, of a white soldier who's depicted there. And so the story this tells us is what?

1:00:43It tells us a story that African-Americans were content with their enslavement. It tells us that they loyally supported a war waged to keep them enslaved. We asked the Pentagon for comment. We have not yet heard back. Secretary Hegseth did tweet about this to bring the decision to bring the memorial back and said it should never have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the left, we don't believe in erasing American history. we honor it, we should note that he posts that as they erased the plaque that had been there. You can't even find the naming recommendation reports that were up on the Pentagon website.

1:01:17They've taken those down as well. They're erasing history too and preserving this bullshit Confederate view of the war and slavery. Yes. Yeah. And I think there used to be also more explanatory text on the Arlington National Cemetery website, which explains some of this context. It mentioned that the female black figure on the monument is kind of the stereotypical mammy figure. It explains the context of the lost cause. And all of that's now gone. We should just note the context of this also is just like the Trump administration declaring war on history and insisting on their version. We've done numerous reports on what's going on at the president's house in Philadelphia, where they've changed it to make it seem as though George Washington was super nice and gracious to his slaves.

1:02:07And then we just heard that the head of the Smithsonian, Lonnie Bunch, is stepping down as the Trump administration has been pushing and criticized him. Trump calls the Smithsonian woke, accused it of having inaccurate information. I mean, look, people can have honest disagreements about history and whether some things are unfair to non-progressive points of view, but there's something else going on here. Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. And I think, you know, what's happened at Arlington is kind of disturbing in its own right, but then you put it in that larger pattern, as you say, right, taking down of changing of signs at National Park Service sites around the country.

1:02:41There have been web pages taken down that describe the contributions of African Americans to the U.S. military. You see the pressure on the Smithsonian, so it's clearly kind of part of a wider effort to censor and slant the telling of American history. One of the things that I always think of is, like, it is not only a confident man, but a confident country that can acknowledge its mistakes. And I think that's a problem that both the president and the secretary of defense have personally and with their understanding of what a great nation is able to do. Yeah, and I think that's what the Naming Commission tried to emphasize in its report, tried to make the case that we need to reckon with this legacy as it appears at federal military installations in the names of bases in the memorial at Arlington Cemetery.

1:03:28And the conclusion that they came to was that we as a nation don't, in the 21st century, want to present this pro-Confederate view and this mistaken understanding of slavery. And I think they got it right. And not only that, some of those generals were bad that the forts were named after. I think Braxton Bragg was supposedly a horrible gem. Yes. Yeah. Hood as well. Yeah. Hood as well. Stephen West, thanks so much. Thanks. I appreciate you being here. A new escalation today in the fight over whether former professional football players can return to college sports. Those details next.

1:04:06Some serious college football drama is in our sports lead today. The SEC is now threatening to kick LSU out of their conference just as the football season gets underway. This all stems from LSU's desire to keep two players on its roster, two players who spent time in NFL training camps over the summer. The SEC says it's against conference rules to have former pro players on university teams. And it's all been caught up in court battles up to this point. CNN sports writer Dana O 'Neill is here to explain. So Dana, the SEC is set to meet on Thursday. do you really think that LSU will get kicked out of the conference?

1:04:46No, I don't. I mean, if you think about it, the last time a conference member was actually kicked out was back in 2004 when the Big East was still playing football. And that member was Temple, and they were evicted because their football wasn't very good. You know, LSU is a founding member of the SEC. This is a team that buys for national championships, not just in football, but in other sports. They have a legit chance at a national title here right this season. So it would take an awfully big daring move from Greg Sankey and the other university presidents to actually kick LSU out. This is a this is sort of a threat to get LSU to simmer down, I think.

1:05:25Let's turn to something even more controversial. I know it's this is a this is a fracas that's dividing members of the Tapper family. the big game on Saturday night, the big Michigan game, the Mid-American Conference is now appealing the University of Michigan's win Saturday night against Western Michigan. This was after this controversial move to give Michigan another second, and then they threw a Hail Mary pass and scored, giving Michigan the win. What do you think about this, the conference appealing it? well I think I understand why they're doing it they've kind of found sort of a technicality for lack of a better word they're basically saying that the clock that was used to add the second wasn't the right clock to use in a review why there are two clocks we could spend another hour and a half talking about the fact that there are two non-synchronized clocks but that's what they're arguing that you know they used the replay clock not the in-game clock and therefore they're appealing to the college football oversight committee and the college football playoff to say, hey, we know you never change the results of a game, but we'd like you to consider it.

1:06:33Again, kind of like the LSU situation, I think it would be quite the upset for them to change the final score in a football game. But, you know, I will say a few years ago, I was standing on a track and I thought they would never take a Kentucky Derby winner down and they did. So, you never know. It might be good to have one clock though, right? You agree with that? Might be good. I'd say one clock that everyone relies on and maybe has like tens of seconds involved. I mean, college basketball has a lot more stoppages unorchestrated than college football, and they seem to kind of get it right. I think it shouldn't be that hard in this day and age to find one clock that suits everybody.

1:07:08Well, you know, college football, they're very poor. They don't have the money for such things. CNN's Dane O 'Neill, thank you so much. Maybe you stopped watching. I appreciate it. New photos show roads in Hawaii covered in mud because of flooding from Hurricane Lowell. Tens of thousands of people still without power in the state tonight. Hawaii Governor Josh Josh Green is going to join us for an update next.

1:07:33This just in to our law and justice lead. For the very first time, we are hearing from jurors in Lindsay Clancy's triple murder trial, which of course ended in a mistrial last week because of a hung jury. The jury spent more than 38 hours trying to reach a unanimous verdict in a highly divisive case. In an interview with NBC 10 Boston, the jury foreperson said that it was a single male juror who prevented the panel from acquitting the Massachusetts mother, even though that juror had admitted he had reasonable doubt. He admitted he had reasonable doubt after we watched that video of the interview.

1:08:14I think that's when it was. He admitted he had reasonable doubt. And I started filling out the forms. I was so excited. I actually, there were three forms I had to fill out and I started filling them out. I wrote my signature on each one. And then he said, but I'm still not going to say that she's not guilty by reason of insanity. Turning to our national lead, the core of powerful Hurricane Lowell made its closest approach to Hawaii this morning, passing just west of the main islands. We're seeing images of mud and downed trees and debris scattered across roads. Most of Kauai County lost power.

1:08:56Periods of heavy rainfall are forecast to continue through Wednesday, and up to two feet of rain may fall by the end of the storm, which could bring more flooding and mudslides. And joining us now is the governor of Hawaii, Democrat Josh Green. Governor, thanks for joining us. So what are you hearing from emergency responders about the conditions? it's pretty devastating. Kauai got hit very hard. 33 ,000 homes are without power. We've seen an incredible amount of damage near the shore. You're showing a good picture of that. It's going to be hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. We lost one loved one on Oahu, actually.

1:09:33That individual was a homeless individual living in a tent, and a tree fell on him. But right now, we're restoring power to the hospitals. We're doing what we can to recover. But this was a very serious storm. It was a Category 2 storm. a hurricane that came very near to landing. And, you know, it's devastating. Is the state prepared to deal with any possible mudslides or further flooding? We are prepared. We positioned 305 National Guard members across the islands. We have an incredible team with the Department of Transportation handling mudslides. We did have some roads taken out. So when that happens, and I'm a doc by training otherwise, we sometimes bring an ambulance up to one edge, and then we carry an individual across the chasm, and then we put them into an ambulance on the other side of the mudslide.

1:10:27So we sometimes have to do those kind of transfers. We did have an individual who had a house collapse, the roof collapsed, and they had a tragic lung injury. But they lived because the sun jumped into, you know, kind of lifesaving behavior and got that person to the hospital. And they got them transferred to where we ultimately could deliver care. So it's all hands on deck. You're seeing some of the response right there and how we check the weather and the wind. But, you know, we've been hit pretty hard this year. We had in March the Kona Lowe's, which was two trillion gallons of water dropping on our islands.

1:10:59And then we had Hurricane Lala last month and then Hurricane Lowell this month. But, you know, we recover because people, they love Hawaii and they help us recover and they help us heal. As you noted, this is the third major storm to impact your state in just the past three weeks, all of them tied to the El Nino weather pattern, which brings warmer waters to the Central Pacific. Have you heard from the Trump administration, from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about any possible federal help that could be offered? I have, actually. I have a very good relationship with Mark Wayne Mullen, and he and I are in constant communication.

1:11:37We did get support already for Hurricane Lala. We got the emergency declaration from the feds. We're going to get it, we're sure, for this storm, for Hurricane Lala. We also had an earthquake in the middle there, and we did get also the acknowledgement that we would get support. So Hawaii has been in kind of a unique situation. We've remained in a place of detente with the federal government, and they've worked closely. I think it's because people get married and procreate here. While I have you, as you noted, you're a doctor, I wanted to ask you about vaccination rates as we begin this current school year.

1:12:10The numbers that we're seeing from the CDC and the Hawaii Health Department show overall exemptions to vaccinations have risen. And the coverage with each of the five required vaccines has fallen to 90 percent or less. That's quite concerning. It's very dangerous because anything under 95 percent means you don't get the kind of global immunity that you need from vaccinations. And so you'll see outbreaks. You know, I really have to say, though, I appreciate the support I've been getting from my state with storms. This is its own kind of storm. You know, we should have a national vaccination initiative, a movement to vaccinate everyone who is willing rather than a misinformation campaign.

1:12:55And I've got to tell you, Governor Shapiro was right when he spoke up about the need for support for vaccinations. We should never kind of muddy the waters when we have a tragedy. We should always provide the best science and the best data because this country deserves to have vaccinations be apolitical. And that's not what we've seen out of HHS. And I'm sorry, but Secretary Kennedy has blown this one. He's not doing the president any favors. And we need to change how we approach vaccinations for the better, not go the other direction. In our state, we have a lot of kindergartners now who aren't vaccinated.

1:13:33That means they're going to get the measles. One out of 500 will end up dead from measles when they catch it. I've been on the ground where RFK did damage in Samoa. I had to go clean that mess up when I was lieutenant governor and there were 83 fatalities because they were discouraged from getting vaccinations by Bobby. That's not the place he should be working. He should be working on nutrition or pesticides. He should not be working in a place where he can discourage vaccination. So you got these hurricanes, which we governors deal with. We have to try to keep our people safe. But we also have public health hurricanes that can come when we get someone that's discouraging our people from prevention.

1:14:11So I would implore the president to put someone in place that will support vaccinations and support public health. So that's one less thing that our people all have to worry about. Hawaii Governor Josh Green, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it. And best of luck to the people of Hawaii. Thank you. Coming up next, details of a damning investigation into who knew what in the days leading up to the deadly October 7th terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas, A journalist behind the investigation joins us next.

1:14:48Our World Lead Now, an eye-opening and disturbing new report says that a week and a half before October 7th, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned by the President of the United Arab Emirates that the terrorist group Hamas was preparing a major attack against Israel. And yet, according to the article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Netanyahu did not pass on the warning to Israel's security leaders. Now, Netanyahu's office calls this report an absolute lie, but the UAE's response is far more nuanced. Before we get into that, some background here. October 7, 2023 marks the deadliest ever attack on Israel.

1:15:29More than 1 ,200 people were murdered. 251 Israelis and others were abducted, kidnapped to Gaza. Only 166 returned to life. The ensuing war and the Israeli invasion of Gaza targeting Hamas resulted in at least 73 ,000 deaths and much of Gaza being destroyed, according to local estimates. Now, this Haaretz report is based on findings from a brand new book. Hostages is the name of the book. It just came out in Hebrew. It's by Israeli journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval, who also wrote the Haaretz article. And Shlomi Eldar joins us now. And you have your new book, Hostages, which is only in Hebrew as of now.

1:16:10I'd like to appeal to an American or English publisher to do an English version of it, because I'd love to read it. As we said, Netanyahu's office calls your investigation and the story an absolute lie. What's your reaction? Yes, but it's true. You know, I have all my sources. it's a confidential sources that I worked for this news this report almost a year and a half so I got the first report I think in about last year and it took me about one year to get the sources that gave me the confidential for this story so I have the document I have records, I have everything that shows that the president of UAE called Netanyahu a week and a half before October 7th and gave him a warning that Yich Yassinwar is planning a major attack on Israel.

1:17:13But it can be four, because it's starting for a discussion that were between the Israeli Shin Bet and Yich Yassinwar representative. One of them about a talk about the lifting of Gaza blockade. And the discussion were placed in summer 2023. The two representatives of Yich Isinwar were Dr. Razi Hamad, one of the Hamas political bureaus, and one name that his nickname is Coil Eyes. He is affiliated to a Fatah movement, and the discussions were very intensive. But in September 1st, one of the senior vatishimbet officers told me that suddenly Sinoir disappeared. And a week later, he called the koelis and told him, tell the Israelis, if they are not going forward with the arrangement that we are talking now, I'm making a big surprise.

1:18:21And he said the word zilzal in Arabic is earthquake. The coal man that just went out from Sinwar's office was very afraid. And he called for one of his relatives, his advisor of the UAE, and told him about the story. I think that after the warning came to the Shin Bet on September 15 to Runenba, the head of the Shin Bet, He called Netanyahu and prevented him and preserved the warning from Gaza. A week later, the president of the UAE called Netanyahu, and he was afraid that if the bloodshed in Gaza Strip or the West Bend in the Middle East will take place, then it won the Abraham Accord, and he was very afraid that it will collapse.

1:19:17So Yahya Senwar, just a reminder, viewers, was the leader of Hamas. He's been killed by the Israeli defense forces. We should know something very interesting happened today after your story was published. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the story. They posted on social media that they don't comment on media sources, on media stories. But they added they didn't deny the story at all. And then they say UAE and Israeli government entities have maintained open and direct lines of communication since the inception of the relationship more than five years ago. When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant entities, unquote.

1:19:57I mean, that seems like a confirmation, does it not? It's a confirmation. Confirmation. I have one source that understands the bottom line of this message, and he said he knows how to read it in Arabic, and he said it's a confirmation because Netanyahu denied it. Netanyahu all the time said to the Israeli, if the security enchilada will wake me up before the night of October 6th, October 7th, everything was different. But now we can see that Netanyahu got the messages, got the warning before 10 days before the war. And I think if he just acts, anything is doing something to prevent this attack.

1:20:47I think that we have more mayor people alive today in Israel. And in Gaza. Shlomi Eldar, thank you so much. Yeah, in Gaza, of course. Yeah, a story that's going to no doubt have many implications with the Israeli elections coming up. Thank you so much. Coming up next, as grocery prices climb, President Trump decided to pause tariffs on imported beef, creating something of a beef with American ranchers and meat processors. We're going to talk to a West Virginia business owner about that next.

1:21:20It's time once again for our Business Leaders series, where we check in with small business owners from coast to coast to see how the Trump administration's tariff policies are affecting them. On Friday, as you might know, President Trump signed two executive orders targeting the cattle industry. In Ripley, West Virginia, Aaron Simon and his wife Ashley, they own farm-to-fork meat processing, where they produce retail cuts of beef, steak, sausage, and pork. And he joins me now. Aaron, thanks so much for joining us. So can you explain the impact that the high cost of animals have had on your business?

1:21:57Yeah, absolutely. With the high cost of livestock, cattle specifically, it has drove up our retail prices as well as our wholesale pricing that we use for restaurants has went up. And people aren't purchasing as much meat as they once were, as well as they're not bringing in as many animals to have processed due to those rising costs. So what have been the consequences for your business other than profit loss? I'm sure profit loss is considerable, but I don't mean to belittle it. But I'm wondering what you've had to do. Have you had to hike prices? Have you had to lay off people? What has been the practical world impact?

1:22:40Yeah, it's definitely a real issue. We've had to lay off people. We've also had to raise our retail costs. We're selling, for example, burger today significantly more than it was a year ago today. And we're just trying to keep up with the high input costs, even though we're making less and less on it. And there has to be a happy margin somewhere where people can still access good local fresh food and fresh meat. And at the same time, farmers and producers being paid fairly and treated square. But these high prices make that very difficult. In addition to livestock, are the tariffs also hurting you in other ways?

1:23:26Yeah, we saw a big increase over the past year on our packaging materials. So like our plastic vacuum seal bags and our seasonings and spices that we use in a variety of products now cost significantly more than they used to. And there's also surcharges on the shipping, as well as something that might used to be a$500 minimum order is now$1 ,000 minimum order. And that's definitely adding a lot to the increased costs. What's your message to President Trump as the administration works on policies that will lower the cost of beef? I think you need to put boots on the ground and have people meeting with small meat processing facilities and producers like myself as well as farmers and ranchers to work together to come up with a plan because you have to know what the issue is and to allow you to build the framework to fix the issue.

1:24:30Yeah, no, it sounds tough. I like to get when I'm out in Virginia, I like to get my meat from a local farm there, Century Farms. And it's just, you can't beat it. So this must really hurt a lot of your customers. Farm to Fork Processing. It's based in Ripley, West Virginia. Aaron Simon, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it. Thank you for having us. You can follow me on Facebook, on Instagram, on Threads, on X, on Blue Sky, and on the TikTok at Jake Tapper. You can follow the show on X and Instagram at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can watch the show on the CNN app, the streaming app.

1:25:12You should have downloaded it by now if you haven't yet. Aaron Burnett out front starts right now.

1:25:22In 2024, a man was killed by the FBI. And to this day, the authorities have refused to say why. He was a father, an ex-husband, and a Russian-born American citizen. He just seemed like a lonely guy, and he needed a friend. And he kind of talked about death, didn't he? He talked about, you just never know when it's your time. I'm CNN investigative reporter Isabel Chapman, host of the new limited series, Civilian or Spy. They noticed that he was communicating with people that were of concern to the FBI. Oh my God, Jesus. Head over to the CNN Presents feed and listen to our three-part series, Civilian or Spy, available wherever you get your podcasts.