Melania Trump Calls on Congress to Hold Hearing for Epstein Victims

24:48You mentioned the backing of many in Congress. In February, Republican Senator Mike Lee, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, we were just talking about him. On antitrust issues, he is one of the ones who's always on the front foot to the extent anybody is in Washington most days. Submitted a letter to the Justice Department requesting a review of the antitrust exemption for the league. It read in part, to watch every NFL game during this past season, football fans spent almost$1 ,000 on cable and streaming subscriptions. That's Washington's view. The NFL released a statement that says, in part, the NFL's media distribution model is the most fan and broadcaster friendly in the entire sports entertainment industry, with over 87 % of our games on free broadcast television, including 100 % of games in the markets of competing teams.

25:31If you can find Peacock, depending on the day. Who's right here? I don't know about the league here. I really do think the senator is on to something because the Federal Trade Commission has found it's not just$1 ,000. It's$1 ,500. When the NFL can negotiate directly with streaming services, ultimately consumers are in a position of having to either not watch their team or just subscribe to Amazon. The person who's pinched the most is somebody who doesn't live in the city that their team's broadcast. You are a San Francisco 49ers fan. You live on the East Coast. you could be in a position where, yes, your game might be broadcast on local San Francisco television, but to watch it here, you'd have to subscribe to some streaming service.

26:15Now, aggregate that over an entire season, and that's where they get that$1 ,000 figure. So, there is some negotiating that has to happen here between the league, between the streamers, but also Congress and or the Federal Trade Commission. How does this end? I think they come to some deal. Now, I don't think you can lift the antitrust exemption altogether, because the last thing you want are the 49ers or the Eagles or the New England Patriots, boo. But you don't want big market teams negotiating directly with Apple and Amazon or whatever else, right? Because then that pinches Jacksonville or Phoenix, smaller market cities.

26:47So they will work something out, whether it's new legislation that carves out some kind of exemption or requires more local broadcast or something like that. But there will be a deal that will be worked out. This is not going to go to trial. There is no such thing as smooth as you were just inserting the unilateral boo for Boston's good American. I'm a good American. And we just look Boston. Come on. We just. We're both Yankees fans. We're both Yankees fans. It's got to be done. He likes Boston. John Berman somewhere is punching the wall. Ellie Williams. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. Well, next, a woman missing up the coast of the Bahamas.

27:19Did she fall overboard? Or is her husband to blame? What we're learning about an investigation into that very question, up next.

27:31This week on The Assignment, with me, Audie Cornish. I'm talking with Jessica Gross. What do you consider the Manosphere? It is a loose collective of podcasters, streamers, social media personalities who tend to espouse conservative views on gender roles. And there's a broad range of people that you could categorize as part of the Manosphere. I don't think any of them self-identify that way. I was about to say, because there's some progressive dudes that I consider part of the manosphere, because my definition is so poor. My definition is like, do you have a podcast? Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app.

28:21See a nation's enduring love for baseball when Shohei Otani and Japan's biggest Major League stars return home to play in front of their fans for the first time. Homecoming, the Tokyo series, now streaming on the CNN app. In our world lead, the husband of an American woman missing in the Bahamas is now under arrest. Brian Hooker claims his wife, Lynette, fell overboard Saturday when they were boating in choppy waters. CNN's Diane Gallagher has the latest. It's been hard. I go through texts and I start crying. Carly Ailsworth is struggling to cope with her new reality. Her mother, 55-year-old Lynette Hooker, missing at sea since Saturday night.

29:04Her stepfather, Brian Hooker, now under arrest just days after reporting his wife fell overboard from their dinghy in rough water in the Bahamas. I just hope this was a freak accident, but I don't want it to just be swept under the rug. So I would like to just know, and I don't want anything bad to happen to him. I don't want anything bad to happen to my mom, but I just want, you know, answers. He was taken into custody Wednesday night, and police say he's being questioned. His attorney, saying in part Brian, categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing. He has been cooperating with the relevant authorities as part of an ongoing investigation.

29:46We're finally leaving Kima. An avid swimmer and sailor, Lynette loved to share their sailing adventures on social media under the playful username The Sailing Hookers. According to police, her husband told investigators the couple left in an 8-foot hard-bottom dinghy around 7.30 Saturday night for Elbow Key, trying to reach their yacht soulmate. He reported her missing around 4 a.m. Sunday when he says he washed up miles away in Marsh Harbor. He said Lynette, not wearing a life jacket, bounced off the boat during a rough current and was carried away. She was wearing the keys, causing the dinghy to lose power, so he drifted through the night.

30:25Carly says her stepfather did not inform her Lynette was missing until Sunday night. He left her this voicemail Tuesday. Hello, honey. I just got a call from Hopetown Search and Rescue, and they have found a flotation device that I threw to mom when she fell overboard. and so they haven't found her yet, but they can now focus all of their efforts in a smaller area. So I just wanted to update you and let you know. I love you. I'll talk to you later. Bye-bye. Carly told CNN the couple, married around 25 years, had passed marital disputes. She was skeptical of Brian's story about the night of the incident.

31:07Why wouldn't he drop anchor and look for her? Why did he paddle the other way? If my significant other fell into the water, I'd be freaking out and going after him. Now, Brian Hooker's attorney says that he denies any allegations from Lynette's daughter. And it's important for us to point out that Brian Hooker hasn't been charged with anything at this point. And we don't know what led Bahamian authorities to take him into custody. The U.S. Coast Guard also has an active criminal investigation into Lynette's disappearance. And Phil, her daughter tells me that she's still kind of hoping that maybe they'll find her mom who's been stranded on the island on the other side or something.

31:50But she recognizes that's probably not going to be the case. Bahamian authorities say that this is now a recovery operation. Diane Gallagher with the latest. Thanks very much. Well, up ahead on the lead, the eerie, alarming thoughts of one teenage girl. I had over a 40-plus hit list of just people I hated and people I wanted gone. What's even more disturbing, she's not alone. Next, a must-see report revealing a dark online community consuming true crime and why the behavior is so dangerous. www.mintmobile .com

33:06In our national lead, a new investigation links a disturbing online community to recent school shootings in the U.S. In this dark corner of the Internet, teenagers and young adults obsess over shooters, often romanticizing them. CNN's Mina Durson spoke with a teen who plotted a school attack. Now, she's working to keep others from joining the group. Warning, this report contains disturbing content.

33:34This is your old school? Yes, my old school.

33:40I had over a 40-plus hit list of just people I hated and people I wanted gone. I could just picture myself in those moments walking through those doors and, you know, just opening fire. You really felt like that? Yeah, in those times I absolutely did. Just two years ago, Liliana Dianef was writing a manifesto about the attack she wanted to commit at her high school. It's very eerie to hear you describe it. Does it give you the chills to think about that? It does, definitely. I can sometimes just look in the mirror and I see that version of myself. It's like I don't recognize myself. It's like that girl isn't me.

34:18But I have to acknowledge that that was who I was at one time. Liliana was part of an online community known as the TCC, the true crime community, a dark corner of social media that glorifies mass killers. Unsettling as this community is, understanding it could be the key to keeping kids safer. We started with some of the only people who've been monitoring and analyzing this space for years and say for a fringe community, they found the TCC has an unusual gender balance. If you were to pick out your stereotypical TCC member, it's probably a younger teenage girl. They're seeking that relationship.

34:51And that often tips into a romantic or a sexual obsession. Since January 2024, Cody Zoschak and his team at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue have linked the TCC to at least 23 attacks or disrupted plots, almost entirely targeting schools. How do we bring attention to this in a way that doesn't make the problem worse? I think it needs to be balanced. Awareness needs to be coupled with alternatives. Hi, Liliana. Liliana, who's now 18, says after nearly 10 years in the community, she's not in the TCC anymore and wants to spread the word about how dangerous it can be. Her room still holds traces of her obsession with mass killers, like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the teenagers who committed the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School.

35:40This is a shirt that Dylan Klebold wore during a shooting. She says she first stumbled on the TCC at the age of nine through a video romanticizing Klebold. I was like, wow, he's kind of cute. One of the Columbine killers. Yeah. At the time, I was a very isolated kid, and I felt like I resonated with their isolation and their being bullied because I was a very severely bullied child. In reporting this story, I talked or exchanged messages with more than a dozen people who'd either been formerly or were currently active in the TCC. It's important to note that most people in this community will not go on to commit violent attacks.

36:15Many people were teenage girls who said they'd found the community because they were bullied or isolated or depressed. And they said that this was one of the only places that they felt they belonged. Other people described to me that they were attracted to the research or the psychology aspect. They all said that they do not condone violence. Almost none of them would talk on camera because they don't want the people in their real lives to know that they're a part of this community. Most of them said their parents have no idea what they're doing online. Jamie Seitz was one of those parents. Want to make a bracelet?

36:48My daughter loved to make friendship bracelets. She had them all up and down on her arms all the time. She didn't understand that her 13-year-old daughter, Audrey Hine, had gotten into the TCC until it was too late. On the night of December 2, 2024, Audrey took her own life. I told everybody it was an accident because I truly believed that. They took this notebook and the detective just shoved it across. I had no idea any of these drawings existed. Dylan Klebold. Why do you think it was appealing to her? Because she was unaccepted at her school. She was bullied. Do I constantly question myself of what did I do wrong?

37:36What could have I done? What did I miss? Of course, I think of that daily. Even when parents do find out about their kids' involvement in the TCC, it can be hard to know what to do. As Liliana quietly fell further and further into the TCC, her mom, Heather, watched her health deteriorate. You know, there's a little bit of sadness in those eyes. I just could never understand why are they bullying my child. I don't see an ounce of evil in her when I look at these. In 2024, Liliana told her therapist she had a plan to attack her school, triggering an emergency hospitalization. Even after that, she remained active in the TCC on and off for the next six months, until in 2025, she says the FBI showed up.

38:20My mom pulled me aside. She was like, the FBI came to our old house and I was like, I was like, oh. Heather says an FBI agent told her Liliana had exchanged brief messages with a 15-year-old school shooter. He showed me the text that she had a conversation with a girl that was involved in a shooting. I was like in shock. Did you know that she was engaging in these online spaces where people were obsessed with school shooters? I thought, well, maybe they're just connecting and they're discussing. I was happy that she had a group to connect with because I've seen her struggle all through her life to make and keep friends.

38:59There's a couple times I wanted to bust in there and say, hey, you know, I think you should get off the computer. But I didn't. Why didn't you? Because I trusted her. That was the thing. I trusted my child. Heather says she told the FBI her daughter was not a threat and the FBI had no further contact with their family. The FBI declined our requests for any comment on the TCC or any of the incidents described in this story. Seeing that the online world she'd been a part of could spill out into real life and cause real harm was enough for Liliana to finally leave the TCC and speak out about it. My heart was in my stomach.

39:36I could have stopped this little girl. Like, I'm older than her. I should have, like, took what she said and I should, like, report it to the FBI. Is there a world in which you can just shut this down? Can the TCC just get shut down? If you pulled the plug on the internet, maybe. You can't. It's a fandom. you can't. What can be done? It needs to come from individuals within the lives of these young people, showing them that community comes in a myriad of forms. You can find it in many, many places, and that this one in particular doesn't end well. Jamie Seitz has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, Discord, TikTok, and ByteDance, alleging Audrey's encounters with the TCC on these online platforms led to her death, stating Audrey was pushed to suicide by an online community dedicated to glorifying violence and emulating notorious mass shooters, a community that can thrive and prey upon young children like Audrey.

40:33These platforms declined to comment on the lawsuit, which is still in its early stages, but each pointed to their safety protocols, noting this content violates their policies and they have teams dedicated to removing it. Tumblr, which used to be a home base for the TCC, has removed most of this content in the past few months and said it works with a variety of partners to help prevent online rhetoric from spilling over into real-world violence. You can hate me, call me, whatever you want, but I am here to talk about my experience and I hope my experience can help children realize that this isn't what life is.

41:08Mina Derson, CNN, New York. If you feel you're in crisis or know someone who may need help, there is help. Contact National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, you can dial or text 988. And if you know of someone planning violence, report it at tips.fbi.gov. Well, the breaking news here in Washington, First Lady Melania Trump giving a rare public statement. The topic, dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a survivor of Epstein's abuse, joins us to react next.

41:46Hey, marketers, listen up. Before this, there was this. Our voice. It's how we shared knowledge, built communities. Well, guess what? Voice is back. That's why Spotify Advertising has published a new report, The Sound On Era, because audio moves culture forward. And if your brand wants to be heard, you need a Sound On strategy. Go to ads.spotify.com to download the SoundOnEra and turn up the volume on your business.

42:18Welcome to Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper. This hour, the Artemis II astronauts are preparing for one of the most dangerous parts of their mission, reentering the Earth's atmosphere. The spacecraft will travel up to 25 ,000 miles per hour and experience temperatures half as hot as the sun. What are the risks and how is NASA prepared? We'll discuss with a former astronaut. Plus, a surprise statement from First Lady Melania Trump today, going in front of the cameras to slam what she calls lies, linking her to dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. This is Trump also calling on Congress to hold a hearing where Epstein survivors can testify.

42:55I'll get a reaction from an ex-Epstein survivor in just moments. Also, the summer travel season is quickly approaching. No one with kids knows this. And that family trip could cost you a lot more this year. From rising ticket prices and baggage fees, we're digging into how airlines are trying to offset the higher fuel prices through the war with Iran. And it's time to say farewell to one of the funniest shows on TV. The final season of Hacks premieres tonight. And the show's dynamic duo is sitting down with CNN ahead of their curtain call to share what you can expect and what they will miss most about the show.

43:35The lead tonight, Artemis II is gearing up for its risky return to Earth. You're looking at live images from inside the Orion spacecraft. In nearly 24 hours, it will take on extreme heat as it travels up to 25 ,000 miles per hour. Their safe return largely depends on the heat shield located at the bottom of the spacecraft. The concern? The heat shield has a flaw, and NASA is aware. An identically designed heat shield on the 2022 uncrewed test, flight called Artemis 1, returned damage, pockmarked with divots and cracks. But NASA is confident it has the problem under control. We start off with CNN's Ed Lavendera, who is live at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where mission control is located.

44:20Ed, just walk people through, what's NASA expecting as we kind of head into this final critical stage? Well, we are 24 hours, almost 24 hours away from the Artemis 2 crew returning back to Earth and obviously all of the teams here on the ground at Johnson Space Center. And you can see the view from the Orion capsule, the outside looking back toward the moon as it continues to get smaller and smaller. That capsule gaining speed as it's coming toward the Earth's atmosphere. Take a live look inside the capsule and you really get a sense of what the crew is really undergoing right now. And they are going through the final preparations, getting everything ready to get back into Earth's atmosphere in the coming day.

45:02Over the course of the next day, they'll reconfigure the inside of that cabin so that their seats and their suits are all on properly. But there is a great deal of concern about this heat shield. There has been a small group of heat shield experts led by a former astronaut who voiced concern about this. But NASA officials insist they've done all the analysis. They've done all the testing. The astronauts themselves have signed off on this plan before they launched and they feel confident it will go well. But there are still nerves here at Johnson Space Center. It's 13 minutes of things that have to go right is the way I think about it.

45:39I have a whole checklist in my head that we're going through of all the things that have to happen. You know, the forward bay cover has to come off. The drogues have to come out. The main chutes have to deploy. The reefing systems have to cut. and we have to get the touchdown angle alignment correct and then hit the water correctly. It's impossible to say you don't have irrational fears left, right? But I would tell you I don't have any rational fears about what's going to happen. We've done the work we need to, and we have full confidence in the team, the recovery team, the flight control team, analysis of the work we did.

46:17Phil, if you take a look at the picture from Artemis I and what that heat shield looked like after it went through the Earth's atmosphere. You can see just the strain and the test that these capsules are put under as they go through these extreme conditions. So this will be a very tense moment, 13 minutes. There will be six minutes, Phil, where that crew is in blackout, so you can imagine the intensity in that mission control. And we know that family members will be in the viewing area behind mission control watching this moment unfold, waiting to hear their voices come back on the communication system once they come through the Earth's atmosphere.

46:53So this is happening just a little over 24 hours from now. Phil? The entire country will be watching and waiting as well. At Lavendera at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, thanks so much. Well, coming home from the moon means extreme speed and that blistering heat. CNN's Tom Foreman is here to walk us through exactly how the heat shield works. Tom? Well, as Orion comes back into Earth's atmospheres, there may be no other part of this that is more important than the heat shield on the bottom of the space capsule here. Why is that so important? Because this is coming in at 25 ,000 miles per hour.

47:31That means there's going to be a tremendous buildup of heat on the bottom of the craft, about 5 ,000 degrees, half the temperature of the surface of the sun. Now this is an ablative shield. What does that mean? That means it is supposed to erode off against all of that intense heat. But in the Artemis I mission, one of the things they noticed was that it was not eroding so evenly. That's it right over there. And that raised some safety concerns. So what they did was reconfigure the exact way that they're going to bring this back, thinking that that might avoid that problem again, or at least mitigate it, and allow the craft to slow down, slowly pop its 11 different parachutes, and doing so, get to a speed where it can safely splash down in the ocean with the four astronauts aboard.

48:22Tom Foreman, thanks so much. I want to bring in former NASA astronaut, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Terry Hurts. Terry, really appreciate your time. You know, NASA says the Artemis II reentry trajectory has been modified with the goal of avoiding the conditions that we've been talking about, the ones that caused Artemis I's heat shield to crack. Despite that, do you have concerns about the unknown risks here related to the heat shield? You know, there's always a concern when you're landing, but I feel confident in this. I have a friend who, a fellow astronaut who was part of that investigation team.

48:56He dove into the details. He's a highly trained engineer, and he looked at it and he was comfortable with it. So on the first unmanned test a few years ago, the capsule came back at a very low angle and it kind of skipped off the atmosphere. And it spent a long time in that high speed, high heat period. And what they're doing now is they're coming back steeper. So it'll be a quicker descent into the Earth's atmosphere. The heating will actually get a little bit hotter, but it'll last for less amount of time. And they think that shorter time will be better for the heat shield. And then in the future, for future heat shields, they're going to redesign it.

49:34But, you know, I'll tell a quick story. When I came back on the Soyuz, my crewmate, Scott Kelly, he had done it before. And the only time I had landed was on a space shuttle. And he said, hey, you're going to think you're going to die because it's such a crazy ride. But don't worry, you're not. And I'm glad he told me that because we were tumbling and it was such a crazy ride when we hit the atmosphere. And I remember thinking, I'm glad Scott told me that or I would have thought. So these guys are in for quite an amazing return to Earth tomorrow, and I'm excited about it. It'll be great to hear their stories first person as the whole world's been watching them in that small capsule for the last 10 days.

50:08Can I follow up on that? Just because, you know, there's so much, there are so many things that a normal person just can't understand about what folks like yourself have done. And I am very self-aware of that fact. But the experience that you're describing with the warning you were given, what is that? You feel like you're going to die. That seems a little stressful and intense. Try and explain that to people. So there was a couple of things. First of all, when the Soyuz comes back, the way the parachutes came out, it felt like the capsule was tumbling for several minutes. It tumbled a lot. And no one's ever ridden in an Orion capsule.

50:47So these guys will literally be the first ones to say what it's like to experience that. But it was the amount of tumbling and the length of time that I was not in the space shuttle. It didn't tumble. It was kind of a gentle, smooth, you know, one and a half G reentry. The other thing about the Soyuz, when you're in space, you look back at Earth, you can see it moving. But it's it's so far away, even though you're going we were going 17000 miles an hour. These guys will be going 25000. And it doesn't feel like you're going that fast because it's so far away. But as we came back in the Soyuz, we were pretty close to Earth over Africa.

51:23And I looked out the window and I finally, for the first time, saw what 17 ,000 miles an hour looked at. So it was a sense of tumbling in the capsule when the drogue parachute started to come out and also looking out the window and going, man, we are moving really fast. I'm not sure if the Orion capsule will be in the right orientation that they'll be able to look out the window. But if they do, they're going to see what 25 ,000 miles an hour looks like, which will be pretty cool. The heat, I mean, a lot of people are almost half as hot as the sun. Do they feel that? Did you feel that? So on my first flight, I was the space shuttle pilot.

51:59And it was like the shuttle cockpit is like an airliner cockpit. So I had some big windows. So I actually took my glove off. As you're coming back, you see this orange and pink fireball. It was basically exploding over the wind. It was like being in the club with a strobe light going off inside the cockpit. It was nighttime. It was very surreal. And so I actually put my finger up and felt the window. I was curious if I could feel this multi-thousand degree heat. And I couldn't. Now, there's not just one thin pane of glass. There's several panes of glass. But I actually took my hand, put it on the window, and I couldn't feel anything.

52:35So I don't know. The capsule might get warm inside. We'll see how that is. I know the space shuttle did not and the Soyuz did not. So we'll see what their experience is like. It's remarkable technology. It's like the most terrifying nightclub I could ever think of being inside of. Terry Burns, I'm so grateful for you sharing your perspective. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me on. Well, aside from overseeing Artemis II's safe return to Earth, NASA is also eager to continue learning how space impacts the crew's health. I want to bring in CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, from a health standpoint, what is NASA most worried about right now?

53:16Well, since it's NASA, let me give it to you in acronym form, Phil. The acronym being RIDGE. And these are sort of the big buckets of things that they're going to be most concerned about. RIDGE, radiation, isolation, distance from earth, gravity, and environment. And there's lots of things you can get pretty granule about in each of those buckets. But, you know, just talking about gravity for a second, from a health standpoint, when you're in a low or microgravity sort of environment, all sorts of things happen. It can affect your bone mass. It can affect your muscle mass. And you can have changes there very quickly, Phil.

53:52And within a couple of days, you can have decreases in both bone and muscle mass, but also the fluids in your body, they start to migrate. So fluids that are usually lower in your body start to migrate up. So if you've seen some of these images, Phil, of the astronauts, and you're looking at them compared to the images you saw on Earth, you'll see more puffiness, for example, on the right of the screen, more puffiness in the face. That is that fluid migration. But there's more specifics to that. The eyes will actually change. So, for example, when they look outside and see the bright moon, and then they look back inside, they may have a hard time acclimating, again, as a result of those gravitational changes and the fluid shifts.

54:30And even their taste buds change as a result of this. So it's really interesting, Phil. They send up five different hot sauces because they want to make sure the astronauts are eating because many of them just lose their taste for food. And obviously not eating would be a problem. So there's all these things that they get really, really specific about. They exercise up in space, as you may know. They have what's called the Artemis flywheel, which is designed to sort of counteract many of the things I just talked about, including trying to get some of those fluids sort of recalibrated in the body, Phil.

55:01Can you dig in a little bit more? like the specific questions NASA is trying to answer here, what would they be? Yeah, there's a lot of questions. And obviously, you know, this is a particular mission, but they want to sort of extrapolate what would it feel like to go even longer mission and further away. But there's several questions. One that's pretty interesting is that the immune system in these astronauts seems to be affected when they go into space, when they're in this microgravity environment. So they're going to be doing these simple experiments where they take these filter papers and they're just collecting saliva samples and they're basically looking for these biomarkers of immunity.

55:39They come back to earth, those things will be tested. But they have found, Phil, like on the International Space Station, a microgravity environment can actually reactivate old viral DNA. So you're fine, you had a viral infection in the past, you're not sick at all, you go into a microgravity environment, and all of a sudden that viral DNA gets reactivated, you could become sick, you could potentially pass on a virus to somebody else, your immune system is compromised. So, you know, that could be a serious problem, something they really want to look at. And also radiation, the first letter in that acronym, RIDGE, just how significant is that radiation?

56:18What does that do to your cardiovascular system, your bone marrow? These are the sort of questions they're going to be asking. And also, what can the astronauts do to shield themselves, especially maybe in the wake of a significant solar flare or something like that? Yeah, it'll be fascinating to watch play out. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, I am a stand-up guy, so I would be remiss if I did not mention congratulations to your Wolverines on their national title. I'll never admit to saying this in public. Sanjay Gupta, appreciate you, my friend. Thanks so much. Of course, Sanjay has taken your questions on this topic, you can scan the QR code on your screen to submit a question.

56:54Sanjay will be back tomorrow to answer some of those viewer questions. CNN, of course, will have special coverage as the crew of Artemis II makes that splashdown tomorrow evening. Look for that tomorrow at 7 p.m. Eastern, right after the lead, or watch it on the CNN app. Well, today, the First Lady called on Congress to hold public hearings for Epstein survivors to testify on Capitol Hill. I'll ask an Epstein survivor about these comments and whether she would want to testify. That's next.

57:29In the world lead, the two-week ceasefire in the Iran war remains intact, but in a somewhat tenuous way, with a U.S. delegation preparing to head to Pakistan for further peace talks on Saturday. Tonight, Israel launching fresh strikes against Hezbollah, even as yesterday's deadly attacks threatened the status of the ceasefire and as Israel opened up negotiations with Lebanon at what sources say was the encouragement of President Trump. We'll get straight to CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, where sirens just went off. Jeremy, walk people through what's happening right now and what you've seen today.

58:05Yeah, that's right. Phil, the sirens just went off here in Tel Aviv, indicating incoming rocket fire, very likely from Hezbollah. In fact, the Israeli military earlier tonight had warned Israelis that they were anticipating a night of heavy rocket fire from Hezbollah following a day after Israel carried out the deadliest airstrikes that we have seen in Lebanon over the course of this war, killing more than 200 people, some of those civilians, as Israel carried out strikes in the densely populated areas of the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Tonight, what we have seen is continued defiance from the Israeli Prime Minister in terms of whether or not Lebanon is included in this ceasefire with Iran.

58:50He is insisting that there is no ceasefire with Iran, and indeed, as Hezbollah is striking here, we've also seen Israeli strikes in Lebanon, and we're hearing the booms right now from some of that rocket fire that is coming in towards the central part of Israel. But what the Israeli prime minister did do today was say that he's willing to negotiate with Lebanon over establishing peaceful relations and talking about the disarmament of Hezbollah. Sources telling me that that's because President Trump requested that directly from the Israeli prime minister. The president also asked Israel to scale back its strikes in Lebanon, and sources are telling us that that is the plan.

59:27But what that actually looks like on the ground is very difficult to see at this moment. And it's also not clear that that will be enough for Iran, which has insisted on Israel ceasing fire in Lebanon in order to open the Strait of Hormuz. And also the Lebanese government, Lebanese officials indicating to us that they will not negotiate under fire with Israel. So big questions about whether those negotiations will actually end up taking place. Jeremy, real quick, the Strait of Hormuz, the president posted a Truth Social just a short while ago saying if tolling was actually happening, he would be opposed to it.

1:00:00It is happening right now. Do you have any sense right now of where that stands? I mean, look, it seems like there are very, very few ships going through the Strait of Hormuz. Our team today tracked four oil tankers that went through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. That is a tiny, tiny fraction of the more than 120 ships that normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz on a daily basis before this war began. So the Strait is not open. It's certainly not in the way that it's supposed to be under the terms of this ceasefire. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that Iran is insisting that the Lebanese front should be included in this ceasefire.

1:00:41We will see if those negotiations proceed in Islamabad tomorrow and how this issue of the Strait of Hormuz is addressed and whether this very fragile ceasefire continues to survive. Phil. Jeremy Diamond, great reporting as always, my friend from Tel Aviv. Thanks so much. Well, let's turn to our money lead and how the Iran war is impacting your wallet and likely your upcoming travel plans. Airlines raising ticket prices, cutting flight options, hiking baggage fees, all to offset higher jet fuel prices and other economic impacts from the war. Brian Kelly, the points guy, is here to help you make sure you're still getting all the best deals.

1:01:17Brian, always appreciate your time. Just in terms of airfare prices for this summer, how much higher do we expect them to be at this point compared to last year? Yeah, well, we already know they're up about 15 percent domestically, internationally about 20 percent. But there are certain routes that we're seeing Asia, India, you know, all the routes that are avoiding the Middle East now are up to 100 percent more expensive as a huge population of people wants to avoid the Middle East. And yeah, it's not just fares, though. United and Delta increasing baggage fees 30 % this week. And by the way, when jet fuel eventually hopefully does come down, those fees don't.

1:01:59And I would just like to also point out, this isn't just economy fares. Business class. United announced last week that they're going to be making certain business class passengers pay for seating assignments and all sorts of other new fees. So yeah, it's not looking great. So this is actually, you always have great tips and great kind of ways to work around or circumvent certain things. I'm not totally sure how you could possibly have some given the scale of what's in how fulsome it's been. But I assume you do. What should people know about when, where, how to book trips to make sure they're getting the best possible deals at this point?

1:02:37Well, first of all, there's always a deal right before this. I just booked flights to Europe this summer. one of the best ways to hedge your bets is use frequent flyer miles. Most frequent flyer programs let you book tickets and you can cancel them the day of up until departure for free. So if flight prices come down, you get a good deal elsewhere. I always like having award tickets booked. So use credit card points, transfer to airline programs. Air France, the Flying Blue program has tons of seats for 60 ,000 miles in business class this summer. So don't have a defeatist attitude. The deals are still out there, but you just need to be a little bit flexible.

1:03:11And August this year is much lower. The increases in August are not as bad as in years past. So, you know, just being a little flexible with your dates, use Google flights to even switching your dates a day or two can save you dramatically. So you just got to be a little bit savvy, but the deals are there. Positive news. I very much appreciate that. My question is, is there anywhere in the world where it's actually cheaper for people to travel right now? Maybe somewhere we should all consider checking out or just the people watching so everybody else doesn't. Yeah, you know, Latin America is usually a great value.

1:03:45Plus, you also have to factor in the U.S. dollar is still really strong in a lot of places. So there are still deals out there. You know, summer in the Caribbean, it's a little bit hot, but, you know, it's hot everywhere these days. So, you know, typically the Caribbean, you We see really low pricing in Mexico in the summer. So, yeah, the deals are still there. And actually, I will say cruising, too. Cruising can still be a great value. You can lock in the price. But just note, the cruise lines and all their contracts state that they can actually add on after the fact fuel surcharges. So we haven't heard any major cruise line doing that yet.

1:04:18But even if you buy a cruise itinerary today, you should be prepared down the line. They can still ding you with fuel surcharges. Brian Kelly, always come away from talking to you with like a glass half full perspective, which I very much appreciate. Thank you very much, my friend. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Well, the First Lady distanced herself from Jeffrey Epstein and called on Congress to allow Epstein survivors to testify. I'll ask an Epstein survivor what she thinks of all of this. Coming up next.

1:04:52In our Law and Justice lead, First Lady Melania Trump today with a rare on-camera statement, this time distancing herself from dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and also calling on Congress to hold public hearings allowing his victims to testify on Capitol Hill. I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with the public hearing specifically centered around the survivors. Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony. Joining me now is Lisa Phillips. She is an Epstein survivor. And Lisa, this really kind of came out of the blue today.

1:05:39And so I guess I would just start with how are you doing with this all of a sudden being thrust right back into the center stage? Yeah, I mean, once you think that it's over, then a couple months later we're thrown back into it. And this is out of left field, wasn't expecting it. What was your reaction to the actual message itself? I think I had a pretty different reaction than most people, even my survivor sisters. I think it's because I also come from Europe and the modeling world and so does Melania. And so I feel like I have a little deeper understanding of maybe where she's coming from. I see it as two separate things.

1:06:24First of all, she's coming forward saying, look, I'm fed up of how people are viewing me in the media. This is not true. I'm not on any victim statements. No one's legally accused me of anything. I'm not on the flight log. There's no nefarious emails about me. There are any real pictures of her friendly with Elaine or Jeffrey. So I see that she's trying to say, this isn't me. And no matter what my husband or the president is doing, this is not me. So I get that side of it. But what I liked about her is that she didn't just turn around and walk away and leave the whole statement about herself. And I don't know what the power play is here or if there is even one, except for the fact that she's fed up all around and fed up by the way you're treating me and the media and the public is, is, is, is, is horrible the way they treat her.

1:07:17Um, everybody can say that, but also it's horrible how you're treating these victims. She said that she would like to have, um, a public hearing for survivors. Obviously we've already had that several times over the last year, but she said that she'd like the opportunity to have the survivors testify under oath. No one's ever given us that. No one's ever said that before. Whether that's possible or not, we're not quite sure because a lot of survivors are scared and have NDAs and these are powerful people. But it would be sworn into testimony. What she also said was that the testimony would be sworn into congressional record.

1:07:55I think that's huge because what we're saying has to be taken seriously if it's sworn into congressional record. So I actually think there's really good things coming of, you know, coming out of what she's saying. What's the, first off, one of your points I think is really important here is for all the public officials who haven't focused on the victims here, there's no question that the First Lady today made that one of the centerpieces of her statement. And it's a lot of, regardless of anyone's views of the politics here, there are people who have been other survivors, I think you mentioned this, other survivors that are skeptical or reticent of the idea of publicly testifying in front of Congress.

1:08:37Is that something you would want to do? And do you understand why other people may be skeptical of it? Well, I mean, from everything that I've read, everybody's skeptical of it. And they have the right to be because we've been, you know, misled for the last year, you know, since Pam Bondi had of the files on her desk. I mean, this is, this has been, um, peeling the onion back and peeling and peeling and it's getting crazier and crazier. But the thing about it is, yeah, nobody believes it because the survivor sisters in the public will say it's the DOJ's job. It's this person's job. Why didn't this person do it?

1:09:12But nobody's doing anything. Nobody has done anything. So I look at things very differently. I say, okay, this is the first powerful woman and she has a lot of power, coming forward and saying, I'm going to do something. This is what should happen. What I say is, okay, let's call your bluff. What can you do? You say that you can get us to this public hearing. Let's go. Let's meet with you. Let's testify of whoever wants to. Let's have whatever we say permanently in the record of Congress. I think that's the next step that hasn't happened over the last year. And everything everyone's upset about and saying, you know, pointing fingers at this person, this person's supposed to do something.

1:09:58They're not doing anything. And Pam Bonney didn't do anything. And Todd Blanch, we know, will never do anything. He's already said, oh, there's nothing to see here. But in Melania's speech, she said, I know there's other people involved. So she actually countered what Todd Blanch said. So I think that we need to read between the lines here and moved with what Melania is actually stepping forth and saying, I can make happen for these women. It's a very important point. I'm very grateful for both your time and sharing your perspective. Lisa Phillips, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you.

1:10:35Well, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries today celebrating the ouster of Kristi Noem as DHS secretary and predicting which cabinet member President Trump will fire next. Be with us. Proud to be a cash-carrying member of the National Action Network. The preeminent... In our world lead, Polish prosecutors say a man has been arrested in connection with the alleged rape of an, quote, unknowing victim that was recorded and shared online. The arrest follows an undercover investigation by CNN journalist Saskia Van Dorn and Nev Kennedy into a hidden network of men teaching each other how to drug and rape their partners.

1:11:14Saskia has more on what we're learning. In a major development, a Polish man has been charged with rape following a months-long CNN investigation into online rape networks. While the prosecutor wouldn't confirm his identity, Polish media have identified him as Piotr, the pseudonym we gave to the man at the center of our probe into a telegram group where men from all over the world are exchanging tips on drugging and raping their partners. Last year, we began investigating a porn site that gets over 60 million visits a month, focusing on the thousands of videos featuring women who appear unconscious during sex acts.

1:11:57Most of its users are based in the US. It's home to so-called sleep content with hundreds of thousands of views. One popular hashtag is iCheck, a way of proving a woman is asleep. We created a fake name and soon got into a private telegram group dedicated to sharing sleep content with almost a thousand members. One day, a man in the group we're calling Pyotr, not his real name, DM'd me.

1:12:29Pyotr admitted to me that he had been crushing pills into his wife's drink to rape her in her sleep. Without encouraging him, I tried to find out how he was managing to do this. Who was he? Where was he? It's made me even more determined to try and meet him, to get him in person. So I'm going to send him a message now and I'm going to see if he would meet with us. By now, we'd worked out he was in Poland and we knew roughly where he lived, but he refused to meet. And then, a tip. He let slip that he was planning to attend a party. I doubt him. I recognize him. So we're inside the restaurant, and I've just seen him dancing with her.

1:13:18And at the start of this investigation, all of these men were faceless. And so seeing him tonight has just really brought home the fact that this is happening in real life. OK. The man who had been messaging me, day and night, was only a few feet away, oblivious. I'd come to see if he was real, and there he was with his wife, the same people I saw in the videos. We couldn't approach Piotr's wife without potentially putting her in danger, so we reached out to police about our findings. The Polish police really acted very quickly. The prosecutor's office said the man had, quote, admitted to the charges brought against him.

1:14:03He's now been placed in custody for three months and charged with rape under Poland's criminal code. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison. Phil? Saskia van Dorn, thank you. Remarkable and important reporting. Well, the warning to Republicans from a Texas state leader on why a GOP majority in the Lone Star State is in jeopardy. That's next.

1:14:35When ICE officers and special agents are demonized, called Nazis, you know, hated this violence against them, we do it for these individuals, these families who are no longer with their loved ones because they didn't get the justice they deserved. And that's the main reason why ICE and our law enforcement partners are out there. And our politics leads surrounded by angel families with some activist groups called those who've lost a family member due to violence by undocumented immigrants. Acting ICE director Todd Lyons pushed back at critics who he says are demonizing immigration enforcement agents.

1:15:11Here in the studio is the panel. I want to talk about this. And TW, I want to start with you because, look, ICE's job approval is not great. You can go kind of in any poll and look at one. I think UMass poll published just last week found among U.S. adults only 18 percent approved, 15 percent somewhat approved, 10 percent somewhat disapproved, 49 percent strongly disapprove of the way ICE is doing its job. You heard what the acting director was saying. They're kind of trying to reframe the mission or at least the public perception of the mission. What more does ICE need to do for its public image right now, given the fact that this is they're doing what the administration has set out to do?

1:15:49and promised they would do on a policy front. Yeah, and I think there's no doubt that ISIS has taken a big branding hit over the last several months, especially after the shooting of the two folks in Minnesota. The Democrats continually sort of holding them up as the exemplar of everything bad with Donald Trump's policies. But at the core for the middle of this country, people do want to see immigration laws enforced, but they don't want to see people dragged off the streets. They want the border, you know, secured, But they don't like some of the heavy-handed actions that ICE has taken. Now, under the new leadership of Tom Homan, we've seen things go back to normal.

1:16:25We've heard reporting that Donald Trump was very upset with the heavy-handed comments. You've seen reports of people like Stephen Miller sort of being sidelined more than they had. And I think that's a good thing. And over time, that trust can be rebuilt. But I think Director Lyons is right. Look, we have every single day, even just this month, with many examples of violent illegal immigrants who are getting into violent clashes with police officers. We saw the poor student Loyola. That can't happen in this country. I think the middle of the country agrees with that. I think a broad swath of the country agrees that our immigration law should be enforced.

1:17:00And certainly when Trump was elected, that was a big piece of why he was elected. But I think we can't forget that part of the reason that ICE has taken such a hit in terms of public opinion is a lot of the way that they were executing on Trump's orders, played out in front of the cameras. I mean, this isn't, you know, I hear, I hear, you know, Director Lyons saying, well, people are villainizing them. But for most people, for the average person, you know, they're not on Twitter looking at the criticism that's coming from the far left or the far right. They're, you know, watching their local news at night, and they're seeing footage of ICE behaving in this way.

1:17:32So, you know, I think while the broad, there is certainly, I think, no question, there's public support broadly for strict immigration enforcement, the tactics that ICE used and the way they did it, you know, on camera in front of the world, that's what's created the drop in trust around ICE. It's not people, it's not people criticizing them. It's what the average person saw them doing in terms of violating people's civil liberties. Yeah, I just happen to think that I wish we also gave as much media coverage to the examples of people dying, those Angel families, as much as we did when ICE misbehaves.

1:18:11Both are bad. It's bad when ICE misbehaves. It's bad when violence happens against officers and those trying to execute a warrant for dangerous criminals. I think that deserves just as much coverage, and I think the polling might be different. I think you make an important point. The distinction between border and interior enforcement, the latter of which, when it plays out the way it has played out, people see and they feel, and it's their neighbors, is something that I think maybe the administration did not quite understand would be as impactful as it was. I want to switch to Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House.

1:18:42He was speaking. I want to play some of his comments. Take a listen.

1:18:47Christy Noem is gone. Pam Bondi is gone. And Pete Hegseth is next up.

1:18:59challenging times, haters all around us, but we've got to continue to press our case. DW, I often go to Democratic leadership to figure out who's next out in the cabinet for my report. You think Hegseth's gone next? I think that's very wishful thinking on the part of Hakeem Jeffries. Look, I think in a lot of the reporting we've seen from the New York Times and others about the lead-up to the Iran case. It seems that Hegseth is far more involved than he used to be. He's a stalwart defender on the Iran issue. Lord knows Donald Trump needs help. And everyone rowing in the same direction on Iran right now, especially with some of the backlash in different parts of the party.

1:19:38I think the president's been very happy with Hegseth on that front. So we'll see. But to say he's next up when we're in the midst of a battle with Iran I think is foolish, to say the least. I think Jeffries is throwing out some red meat for the base. I mean, he's at the National Action Network conference. He could be the next speaker. How do you think about his evolution as leader? So I actually think that, especially given the fact that Democrats in reality have so few tools at their disposal. Now, they certainly have the bully pulpit. We could talk about where and how they've been successful and failed in their communication, certainly.

1:20:09But in terms of legislative legislative levers that they have to pull, they have very few. And I think that Jeffries has navigated that actually with quite a lot of finesse. I mean, if you think about how, you know, he played the shutdown and kind of helped force the health care argument, the Obamacare subsidy argument to the fore. He was able to effectively get the discharge petition over the finish line. I mean, that required a lot of legislative muscle. So, you know, I think as Democrats are potentially, we'll see, looking at a very big November. You know, I think Hakeem Jeffries is somebody who has shown that he has the skill, you know, to navigate to navigate the caucus.

1:20:47OK, last one before I let you guys go. The bitter Republican Senate fight in Texas. We literally still have no idea who the president was imminently going to endorse John Cornyn or Ken Paxton. Yesterday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick urged whoever loses that primary runoff to quickly endorse the winner or risk losing total control of the Texas State House. Here's what he said at the Texas Public Policy Foundation's annual conference, quote, get over it and come together as one. We're going to have a tough time holding the Texas State House. I'm sorry, T.W., is the Texas State House in play?

1:21:19And if so, Paybett's trying to be humble about what may happen going forward seems to be way worse. I don't profess to be a Texas expert, so I'm not going to get in the weeds about some obscure House district in Texas right now. But I did have a great conversation with a Democrat who I greatly admire down in Texas who's doing a lot of work in the Senate race. and he'll even admit it's an uphill battle regardless of who wins. So I wouldn't agree with that. I think whoever is the Republican nominee will be the next senator from Texas. Appreciate you guys both, as always. We'll be right back.

1:22:03Just to end to our law and justice lead, a federal judge today ruled the Pentagon is violating a court order to restore access to reporters. Judge Paul Friedman said the Defense Department must comply with an order he issued earlier supporting the New York Times and other news organizations that challenged restrictions put in place last year. Friedman said the Pentagon tried to issue new rules that he deemed even more restrictive. In the National League, a new hurricane forecast. Colorado State University researchers are calling for a slightly below average season with 13 named storms, including tropical storms and hurricanes.

1:22:36They cite El Niño when ocean temperatures in parts of the Pacific run warmer than usual. The Atlantic season starts June 1st and runs through the end of November. 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. Remember that, Out Front starts now.

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