Sources: Qatari, Egyptian Officials Shared WH Plan With Hamas

22:32We don't know who placed it. I think that I want to make sure that I'm noting that this is not suggesting that Trump had anything to do with it. But the idea that this person came from the left, this might undermine that, given the fact that there has been so much political violence, including from the left in recent weeks and months. I assume all of this is what, you know, is among what the FBI is looking at when they try to determine the motive.

23:02Jake Tapper:Yes, absolutely. The FBI will be looking at everything. things that seem maybe innocuous, like a yard sign that could have been for another family member or placed there, but it could have been relevant to motive. But more importantly is going to be things like his Internet search history. Back when I was studying the motivations and radicalizations of mass shooters and homegrown violent extremists in the FBI, that was something that really was difficult to do, to really get radicalized on the Internet. You had to really search it out, even taking out library books. Today, I mean, even with the advent of Chad GPT and other AI technology, this can happen remarkably quickly.

23:46Jake Tapper:So fast that sometimes people that know that person don't even know how extreme they've gone, you know, radicalization wise until it's really too late. Today, when the FBI special agent in charge of the investigation in Michigan was asked whom he believed the target was, take a listen to what he said. As this is an ongoing investigation, what I would say is when I say targeted violence, I mean targeted within our state and within our community. How significant is that the FBI has taken the lead in this investigation? And can you explain what this designation of targeted violence means? Right. Well, it's interesting that what wasn't said was that it was targeted at a religious group, and there could be a variety of reasons why that was not specifically stated.

24:30Jake Tapper:Maybe they are waiting for official confirmation of motive. But typically, if there appears to be targeted violence specifically towards a religious group, that now invokes different federal offenses such as a hate crime. That means that enhanced penalties. So this wouldn't just be considered a violent offense. A lot of people don't know that just because there is a horrific crime like a mass shooting, it doesn't automatically put it under the FBI's jurisdiction. That would still be a state violation unless and sometimes this does happen. The state will choose to invite the FBI to help with the investigation, but it still will not be prosecuted federally.

25:10Jake Tapper:However, if there is a federal hate crime that occurred and that would be investigated by the FBI, then they could charge that person federally. All right, Brianna Fox, thanks so much. Appreciate your time. Coming up next, the front runner in the New York City race for mayor. What he's telling CNN just one day after the current mayor, Eric Adams, dropped his bid for reelection.

25:36in our politics lead a brand new cnn interview with zohran momdani the self-proclaimed democratic socialist who is the democratic nominee for the mayor of new york city and as of today he seems to have a much better shot at winning with the current mayor eric adams and independence suspending his campaign cnn's aaron burnett spoke with momdani just a few minutes ago and aaron you You asked him, Mamdani, about Trump's criticism, his attacks on him. What did he have to say? Yeah, you know, Trump has obviously made this race a national race and tried to make Zoran Mamdani the face of Democrats or, as Trump would say, the face of communism.

26:09There are many in the donor groups of New York and outside New York, as Jake, as you know, who are playing in this race. Adams was struggling to raise money. Andrew Cuomo, who Trump clearly prefers, has a lot of money waiting on the sidelines that now may rush in. And that's the big question, what this means for Mamdani. But Trump has made this about Trump, and he has made it not about Zoran Mamdani as the Democratic nominee or a Democratic socialist, but as a communist. And I asked Mamdani about that. Here's that exchange, Jake. So the New York Times reported that Trump spoke with Cuomo on the phone, actually last month, about the mayoral race.

26:45Now, Cuomo has denied this conversation took place, but this is the New York Times reporting. And as I pointed out a few moments ago, Trump has been very clear on who he backs. But it actually goes farther than that, right? He has attacked you personally and publicly like this.

27:23over New York City, I think that's a gift to the Republican Party. Last time you were on this program, you were unequivocal in saying you do not like capitalism. But Trump, just in those remarks there, I counted, called you a communist eight times. Are you? No, I'm a democratic socialist. I've said that time and again. And I think it reflects the fact that whereas those critiques, whereas that identity would have been enough for Donald Trump in the past, now he doesn't even want to use that because Because he knows that the message of my politics is one that is connecting with New Yorkers across the five boroughs.

27:57It's a message of dignity in each and every person's life. And what we're seeing in these clips and what we're seeing in what Donald Trump says is he's going through the many stages of grief. First it's denial that this could ever take place. Now it's acceptance. And still through it all, he is looking to use every tool at his disposal to help Andrew Cuomo become the next mayor of the city. And Jake, you know, it's going to be fascinating to see what happens. Because as I was indicating, there is a lot of money that has been sitting on the sidelines that did not want to go big money. You know, some of the big hedge fund people, Bill Ackman, others, right?

28:28They don't want Zoran Mamdani for a variety of reasons, whether it be his economic policies, whether it be his policies on Gaza. They don't want him. So they've been waiting for Adams to come out because they didn't see Cuomo as viable. Now, all of a sudden, this money is going to flow in. And it's really going to be important to watch because it is a national race. Barack Obama had a conversation with Zoran Mamdani about a month ago. New York Times reported on it saying Obama said how you run the greatest, the biggest city in this country is really going to matter. People are going to be looking to find anything wrong in what a democratic socialist is.

29:03But obviously, Trump, we'll see what he said today, already weighing in, saying he thinks this is good for Andrew Cuomo. He'll have a lot more to say. All right, Erin Burnett, thanks so much. Can't wait to see the whole interview. It's right after this show, right after the lead. On Aaron Burnett, coming up at 7 o 'clock Eastern, right after this show. Let's bring in the panel. I'm sorry I sneezed. It's so cold at this right section of the studio. Am I wrong? It is this Arctic frost. Anyway, back to the story. Today, President Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from New York City if Mamdani wins.

29:39He wrote on Truth Social, quote, he is going to have problems with Washington like no mayor in the history of her once great city. Remember, he needs the money from me as president in order to fulfill all of his fake communist promises. He won't be getting any of it. So what's the point of voting for him? I wonder if you think, Ashley, that this actually might help Momdani. The Yorkers don't like to be told. What to do.

30:01Jake Tapper:And especially the Democrats, especially Momdani's Democrats are going to really come out because of that. And listen, there's two things that I'm watching here. One, if he wins, the person that's going to benefit the most from that is Elise Stefanik. She's going to announce her governor right after the race for governor. And I think that if there are bad policies that New Yorkers do not like, that's going to help her at the end of the day. Second is you have people like John Castamigas, who is one of the biggest Republican operatives in New York, who came out today. He's been for the president asked him to like kind of broker the steel to get everyone out of the race.

30:38Jake Tapper:And including the Republican. No, that's what I was going to say. Today, what he said was to Curtis and he's been friends with Curtis for a long time. And he said, listen, if Curtis doesn't think he's going to win in a week or two, he should probably get out. And that was the first time that he's ever said something, you know, that. And by the way, I there was a dinner I had the other week that with governor, with the current mayor, excuse me, and he was not going to get out. So this was a fast track. Interesting. Yeah. Interesting. So you and I just to go back a couple of weeks before Adams ended his bid, a CNN poll, a recent poll showed Mamdani a clear lead, 45 percent.

31:17Then with Andrew Cuomo running as an independent with 26 percent. Sliwa, he's the Republican, 15. Eric Adams says 9%. I think you and I talked about this, right? We assumed that everybody who wasn't Cuomo or Mondani would just split those voters. But it actually turned out, no, they all went to Mondani.

31:38Jake Tapper:They all go to Mondani, which I find fascinating in this. And I think this is Mondani's race to lose. I think he will ultimately pull it out. I think what Cuomo will try to do is, as Aaron said, he will try to raise a bunch of money from the anti-Mandani movement. And then he will also try to go after black voters. He's always thought that he has a strength with black voters. I don't know if they will go to Cuomo, but he will ultimately try. The fascinating part of all of this is that Trump wants Cuomo to win. And what I think is interesting about it is, yes, they've had a relationship in the past, but Trump's own Justice Department, which has been very political lately, has started investigating Cuomo, and they announced that earlier this summer.

32:17Jake Tapper:And so I find it interesting that while Trump is kind of pulling for Cuomo, he has Pam Bondi also investigating him for what he was doing with around covid when he was governor, an investigation that Trump has started back in the day when he was president. There was no there there and they have reopened it. So I just find it interesting that this is all playing out when Trump at the same time is trying to put his thumb on the scale. I think you think it's the lesser of two evils. But yeah, I actually think Trump loses on this one. But also, this is like the movement that Trump has. The MomDommy movement is just really like, we don't like what government's doing, we don't like the establishment's doing.

32:58Jake Tapper:This is what Trump ran on. Exactly. And I actually think MomDommy just has... Listen, he's been brilliant at his messaging. He's been brilliant. Whether you like him or not, it doesn't matter. He's just been... Same thing with Trump. They're brilliant at their messaging. He knows how to play Trump's game. And the other thing that's interesting is the democratic socialism. There's certainly plenty that people might criticize about it. But what he presents as democratic socialism and free bus rides, grocery stores that the city runs in food deserts, it doesn't really sound like, you know, what we think of when we think of socialism.

33:31Right. I mean, like, but I guess we'll see what Cuomo does with that.

33:34Jake Tapper:yeah i just i mean listen cuomo hasn't been great with being accessible to people and you're right i mean he is you didn't say this i'm saying he is an unlikable candidate as well um and so really this is against the groundswell of people that are sick of government against rich yeah new yorkers yeah all right thanks to both you appreciate it coming up a courageous judge who lost her son almost lost her husband when her family was targeted Next, her words of wisdom as the nation tries to calm political rhetoric.

34:32Jake Tapper:This is your world, your story, your moment. Because Azeroth is home, and home is always worth fighting for. Pre-purchase now at worldofwarcraft.com. Let's have I got news for your ears, the podcast. I am your host, Michael Ian Black. If you look at the favorability ratings in 20 years, Trump will be lower than Gacy. Because Trump destroyed so many more lives than Gacy. What's Gacy's body count? 60? Yeah, something, maybe. I mean, Trump blows up that many in a boat on the weekend. That's right. That's what he's doing. Everything's so hard to keep track of. That's why shows like Have I Got News For You exists.

35:11That's right.

35:11Jake Tapper:Oh, write to camera. Have I Got News For Your Ears releases new episodes every Wednesday. Don't miss an episode. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts. Now we're back with our national lead with the rise in political violence in the United States. Judges are on the front lines, increasingly facing death threats. The U.S. Marshals Service already tracked more than 540 threats against all federal judges this year, surpassing all 12 months of the previous year. Threats against state judges aren't even tracked. A father involved in a custody case, for example, sent this graphic simulated attack video depicting a murder with an ax of a Florida judge.

35:51He's now behind bars for 15 years. He was convicted of making several threats. We're joined by U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, who was physically targeted in a deadly attack at her house that tragically killed her son Daniel and seriously wounded her husband. She's brave enough to join us today as a guest. Thank you so much, Judge Salas. Judge, what do we need to do as a society to tone down the dehumanizing rhetoric? You know, I think that the Utah governor, Governor Cox, has said it best. We have to learn to disagree better. We have to have our political leaders from the top down begin to be responsible with the language they use to describe judges, their rulings, and the justice system.

36:37We need to start agreeing to disagree. And it really starts at the top on down, Mr. Tapper. We need to really cut down this inflammatory rhetoric when we're talking about judges, because it can lead to people believing that they need to take matters into their own hands. And, you know, we can see the devastating impact that, you know, people are now doing all across this country in resorting to violence to address some, you know, anger they have. I think we all have to be impeccable with our word. That's what we need to start doing. Yeah, and it's from all sides. it's right and left and center and people that don't have any political ideology behind their their insanity.

37:27It's so upsetting for me to have to describe this, but your fellow judges received pizza deliveries with your son's name on the order. And whoever ordered the pizza was undoubtedly trying to terrify your colleagues by telling them essentially, we know where you live and invoking his his name. Have they been able to track down those individuals? You know, unfortunately, Mr. Tapper, I don't have a lot of information to share with you. I mean, we started seeing a rise in these threats to judges by the way of pizza deliveries that when you hear it, it sort of does sounds non-threatening. But these are pizzas that are going to judges' houses at odd hours of the night.

38:07And in 20 instances, they bared the delivery bore my son's name, Daniel Anderle, on it. Those judges are being told, we know where you live. We, you know, some of these pizzas were going to their children's homes. And now, you know, 20 of them had Daniel's name on it. What does that say? Those are acts of intimidation. Those are threats. And by the way, pizzas are being delivered to state court judges too, Mr. Tapper. The problem is we don't know how many threats state judges are getting because there's no central repository for this information. That's why Speak Up for Justice, a group that I'm, a nonpartisan group that I'm part of, we're trying to call, shed light, not heat on the issues facing state and federal judges all throughout this country.

38:56You just had a middle school named after you in Union City, New Jersey. Tell us about how that helps you continue the legacy of your son, Daniel. Well, I'm so proud of that moment. In Union City, the Estrasalus Academy had opened its doors to close to 800 students, 7th, 8th and 9th graders. And there judges will hopefully visit and teach the children about civics, teach the children about why we need to respect the three branches of government, co-equal branches of government. We'll tell the children there that without an independent judiciary, there is no rule of law. And we have to start telling the children and we have to teach civics because right now there's so much misinformation that our justice system isn't working, that judges are rogue, that we're out of control.

39:50Our justice system is working and judges indeed are following their oaths. And it starts with us beginning to teach students about the rule of law, about the Constitution, and about democracy. And so we hope to continue the civics lessons all across this country so that we all can start understanding why judges are, why it's so important and critical for us to have an independent judiciary. But I really do hope Senator Coons and Cornyn's law that they've proposed now, the countering threats and attacks on judges is indeed looked at. And there was bipartisan support for the Anderle Act that protects federal judges.

40:35I pray there can be bipartisan support to protect state judges, over 30 ,000 of them, Mr. Tapper, that need protecting now more than ever. Judge Esther Salas, thank you so much. May your son's name be a blessing. Thank you so much, and thank you for covering this story. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour details on President Trump's two big meetings, one with Capitol Hill leaders, as the government now has just about 30 hours left to avoid a partial shutdown. The other with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he supports the White House plan to end this war in Gaza.

41:13Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court justices held a private meeting today. They're deciding which cases to take up in the next court term. One of the possibilities, an appeal by convicted Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. What might that mean for the Epstein file saga if the court takes her case? Also, the president shared, then deleted, an artificially created video of himself in a fake news story promoting magical cure-all beds that do not exist. Coming up, we're going to put the med bed conspiracy theory to bed. And what got into golf fans in New York this weekend? We're going to tee up a conversation on how the Ryder Cup got rough and off the course.

41:59The lead tonight, two high stakes meetings on Pennsylvania Avenue. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu this afternoon urging Hamas to accept a proposed Gaza peace plan. Plus, Democrats still holding the line against Republicans on health care in a bitter government funding battle after a meeting this afternoon. Their bill has not one iota of Democratic input. That is never how we've done this before. We are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill. I think we're headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won't do the right thing. The consequences are on them, and I think it's absolutely tragic.

42:37This is purely and simply hostage-taking on behalf of the Democrats. Let's get right to CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Caitlin Collins. Caitlin?

42:47Jake Tapper:Yeah, Jake, I mean, both leaders you see coming out of that meeting, both from the Democratic side and the Republican side, basically where they started going into this meeting here at the White House with President Trump, with no agreement in sight to avoid a government shutdown, which is set to happen at midnight tomorrow, should they not come to an agreement. And as you could hear from them there, The Democrats were saying that they had this meeting with President Trump, making clear they did not reach a conclusion. And then just to kind of lay out, you know, where this was and how they felt about how that meeting went, the vice president joined House Speaker Mike Johnson and the majority leader over in the Senate, John Thune, with the budget director, Russ Vogt, when they came out here to the White House to talk about this, where J.D.

43:25Jake Tapper:Vance was basically putting this back on Democrats, saying that they are holding the government hostage and that he does believe a government shutdown is now likely because of this. And I asked him, Jake, the reporters, we were all gathered there listening to them. I asked the vice president about this claim that had just been made a few moments before by Senator Schumer, where he basically was implying that during this meeting, they talked to the president about the ramification of some of those health care subsidies expiring and what it would mean if they did in addition to federal funding for rural hospitals.

43:55Jake Tapper:And this is what the vice president had to say. Can you respond to what Senator Schumer said, that there were aspects about health care ending for certain people that the president was learning about for the first time in that meeting? And was the president open to a deal on the ACA subsidies? Well, I'm highly skeptical that the president was learning about it for the first time, thanks to Chuck Schumer. But what I will say is, look, we have put a$50 billion rural hospital fund into the actual, the big, beautiful bill that we passed a few months ago, because we know that under Biden administration's policies, there are a lot of small town hospitals, a lot of rural health care that was getting shut down and that was struggling.

44:31We're trying to fix that problem. In fact, we're happy to work with Democrats to fix that problem. We want to work across the aisle to make sure that people have access to good health care. We are not going to let Democrats shut down the government, take a hostage unless we give them everything that they want. That's not how the people's government has ever worked. That's certainly not how it's going to work under the Trump administration.

44:51Jake Tapper:I mean, Jake, the biggest takeaway from that is that they are not close to to any kind of an agreement from what we heard from them there. Kaitlin, what details do we have about this Gaza peace plan that Trump and Netanyahu discussed today that, again, Hamas still has yet to agree to? Well, Hamas, we think, just saw it, Jake, because that plan was changing throughout the day. It was 21 points when it was circulating in recent days. It was 20 points when it was officially released by the White House today. They took out a provision about Israel committing to not striking Qatar again after the Israeli prime minister was on the phone with the prime minister of Qatar earlier and apologized for that strike inside Doha.

45:29Jake Tapper:But as far as this plan, Jake, I mean, the president came out, projected a lot of optimism about it, said Israel had agreed to it, and then Netanyahu said that Israel supported the president's plan. It's not just to end the war in Gaza, but it's about what's going to happen next in addition to getting the hostages both dead and alive back home to Israel and releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for that. But, Jake, the really unanswered question is whether or not Hamas is going to agree to it and what happens if they don't, because the president said that Israel would have the United States full support to eliminate Hamas and to continue going after them should they not agree to this.

46:04Jake Tapper:And so, obviously, there are parts of this, Jake, though, where we didn't really get to follow up on in terms of what the prime minister of Israel and whether or not he supports it, because it mentions and references things like Palestinian statehood, something that Netanyahu just said he was opposed to when he was at the United Nations last week. It also talks about a role for the Palestinian Authority, something that they would have to undergo reforms before they could have any power in Gaza, but something Netanyahu has very clearly been opposed to. But, Jake, in a remarkable moment, they did not take questions from reporters.

46:33Jake Tapper:And there's only one instance where I can remember a press conference with a world leader being set up and the president declining to take questions, and that was with Putin in Alaska. He did the same with Netanyahu today, where they said they wanted to wait to have this finalized before speaking to reporters about it. All right, Caitlin Collins at the White House. Thanks so much. And Caitlin, of course, is going to have much more on our show. The Source with Caitlin Collins. It's tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN. Joining us now to discuss New Jersey Democratic Senator Andy Kim. Senator, good to see you.

46:59So going into this meeting, the Republican plan seemed to be trying to strong arm Democrats into backing down. Sources tell CNN that your leadership plans to continue to insist that they get some concessions. But right now, Republicans are already threatening to fire federal workers. Any, you know, ones that are deemed non-essential will not come back ever. I mean, how far are Democrats willing to take this? Well, look, this federal government, the executive branch, the Trump administration is already firing hundreds of thousands of federal workers. Their bill, their budget bill that they're trying to ram through in a partisan way, it would also threaten the jobs of hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

47:41So this is just business as usual for them. And that's exactly the problem is that they are not actually trying to address the needs of the American people. I'm about 15 steps right now from the door of the House chamber. It's completely empty here in the House of Representatives because Speaker Johnson sent them home, told them to take a vacation. So when we're talking about them trying to fire federal workers, the House Republicans don't even bother showing up to work. You know, this is what we see. I hope the American people see that. We're 30 hours away from a shutdown and the House Republicans, the congressional Republicans can't even bother to show up to do their jobs.

48:18So Democratic Leader Schumer didn't say if Republicans committing to negotiate on extending these Obamacare subsidies separately would be good enough for him to sign and vote for the House passed version of the funding bill. Leader Jeffrey said, however, in no uncertain terms, that it would not be good enough for him. Take a listen. Enough with the games that Republicans have been playing connected to the health care of the American people. and no one can trust their word on health care. Are you kidding me? There's a shutdown on the line here. There are federal jobs on the line here. Do you think Leader Schumer should agree that negotiating on these Obamacare subsidies once government funding is passed is good enough?

49:05In about 30 hours, millions of Americans are going to realize that their health care bills are skyrocketing. I mean, New Jersey, we're talking about upwards of 75 ,000 Americans could very well lose their health care. I mean, this is a crisis. And this is why we have to take it on now, not wait till Thanksgiving to try to take it on. So yes, the American people are demanding that we take this step seriously. The challenge is, Jake, you just had Speaker Johnson on your show yesterday. He talked about how they're trying to negotiate in good faith. That is absolutely deceptive to the American. It's a flat out lie to them.

49:41Right now, I mean, we see the Trump administration moving forward with a$5 billion rescission package, trying to cut funding that Congress has already approved. Speaker Johnson is doing nothing with it. How can we trust him? How can we trust President Trump on a deal? So, yes, we need to have assurances that what we agree to is actually going to follow through. But how do you make a deal with someone when they're not even telling you if they're going to live up to their end of it? Before you go, a few days ago, Asada Shakur died in Cuba. She was a fugitive with a$2 million FBI reward on her head, convicted for her role in a shootout in 1973 that killed a New Jersey state trooper.

50:19But as CNN's Patrick Oppmann writes, quote, for some in black America, she was revolutionary royalty, the godmother and step aunt of rapper Tupac Shakur. She herself became a symbol of resistance to law enforcement abuses during an era when the FBI committed widespread illegal surveillance of leftist groups, unquote. How do you view the legacy of Asada Shakur as a lawmaker today in New Jersey? Yeah, representing my home state. I mean, look, she is someone who was convicted for murdering a New Jersey state trooper. I mean, I think that that says it all in terms of just the concerns that people in my state have with honoring and raising up her legacy in that way.

50:59especially at a time when you were just having this conversation earlier about violence and in fact talking to someone from New Jersey who saw their own family targeted by violence in Judge Esther Salas. We have to stand up against these types of violence and be able to stand up for each other. And that's what we hope to be able to push for. Democratic Senator Andy Kim from New Jersey, the Garden State. Thank you, sir. Good to see you as always. Tomorrow, President Trump and top military brass are heading to Quantico, Virginia. But the meeting has nothing to do with the Pacific national security issue, as far as we know.

51:32Why some sources have concerns. Plus, what we're learning after a new court appearance from the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Stay with us.

51:45In our politics lead, President Trump says he plans to attend a gathering of top generals and admirals tomorrow at Quantico in Virginia. It's being described as a pep rally of sorts for top military brass organized by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. As of now, it does not appear that Hegseth plans to make any major national security-related announcements. Retired Army General Wesley Clark joins us now. A White House official tells CNN that the event is meant to be a show of force of what the military now looks like under Trump. And Hegseth and Trump will reportedly play up the warrior ethos. Is this out of the ordinary?

52:21Has anything like this ever happened before with other administrations? It's never happened before, at least not in my years of service and experience, no. And we have a very effective warrior culture in the armed forces. We've been talking about it since the 1990s, really. After the Cold War, we really started emphasizing individual troop capabilities, special operating forces. We certainly put that to work in Afghanistan and Iraq. We've done a wonderful job, in my view, of lethality and warrior ethos, at least in the Army and Marine Corps. The Navy and the Air Force have a different set of standards as appropriate.

53:05So it'll be very interesting to hear what he says. Several sources told CNN that they're concerned about the price tag here, The cost of getting hundreds of top military brass to Quantico, Virginia, on short notice, saying plane tickets alone could end up costing millions. Others are not sure why they need to be there in person, given the fact that Hegseth's remarks will be live streamed. Do you think this event is a misuse of funds? Hard to say that, Jake. Don't know, but it doesn't. It does seem excessive. Normally, the Secretary of Defense comes in. He's older. He has a lot of experience. People respect him.

53:46There's no issue in this case. It's probable that the Secretary of War feels a little insecure about this. He's younger than almost every general and admiral out there. He has less experience on the battlefield than any of them have in terms of wartime experiences. They're all more experienced. And so he may feel the need to just stand up in front of him and show himself and give a pep talk. He may also want to look them in the eye, may want to see who's overweight, who doesn't meet standards, who doesn't sort of reflect his approach to the Pentagon. And so I think we just don't know what's going to happen here.

54:27There have been a lot of concerns expressed by people as to why you would have to do this in person. Is there going to be a nondisclosure agreement signed? Is there going to be something like a re-pledging the loyalty to the Constitution or something? We just don't know what it is. And that's why people are a little concerned, because normally something like this, you have a new national security strategy. You brief through the chain of command. And for most of the people, it doesn't really affect what they're doing. They're still going to do airlift. They're still going to do fighter training.

55:01they're still going to do tank gunnery, regardless of what the national security strategy says, because that's their basic competence. And so it's a little of concern why this meeting was set up. It's certainly expensive. It's extraordinary. It does take people off their jobs. It is disruptive. I hope it's worth it for the country. All right, General Wesley Clark, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it. Confessions, DNA and a rifle. This is some of the evidence so far against the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk. What we learned today in the shooter's second court appearance, that's next.

55:41In our national league, the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk had his second court appearance today. 22-year-old Tyler Robinson's charges include aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. Prosecutors say they intend to seek the death penalty. Let's bring in CNN's Nick Watt. Nick, what happened in court today? Jake, it was a very short hearing, just about 10 minutes. Now, we had expected to see Tyler Robinson in person in the courtroom, but his new legal team put in a request over the weekend to ask that he not appear in court. So he was not there.

56:14We also did not see him. There was no video link and we did not hear him. At one point, the judge said good morning to Robinson and did not receive a reply. So his new legal team, though, was in court. Public defender. He falls below that threshold of income. So his defense is being paid for by the state. So basically, short hearing. But what we discovered is this is going to be a very long process, Jake. Both the prosecution and the defense said that the evidence here is voluminous and it is going to take them a long time to sift through it. Remember, two or three thousand people were at that event when Tyler Robinson allegedly assassinated Charlie Kirk.

56:56Imagine how many phone videos, eyewitness testimonies. This is going to be a lot of discovery. So basically what they did today is they scheduled a meeting October 30th, at which time both sets of lawyers will give the judge an update on how things are going. Now, the judge is very interesting here, just appointed in May, and he seems very, very keen for this. He knows the spotlights on him. He seems very keen for this to go off without a hitch. He talked about integrity, civility, dignity. Today, he didn't allow anybody in the public gallery to wear a pin or a button or a T-shirt supporting either person.

57:32So, as I say, October 30th is the next hearing, and we do expect Tyler Robinson will be in the courtroom that day. Jake. All right, Nick Watt, thanks so much. Appreciate it. The U.S. Supreme Court today met to discuss what cases to take up next term. What would happen if they take up the appeal of Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's convicted accomplice? That's next.

57:57In our Law and Justice lead today, the U.S. Supreme Court justices held a private meeting to decide which appeals to take up in their next term, possibly on the docket, an appeal from convicted Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. She is seeking to overturn her criminal convictions. This comes after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee last Friday released some of the documents that had been turned over by Epstein's estate that reveal names of prominent figures such as billionaire Elon Musk, who appears in a record dated at December 6, 2014. Quote, reminder, Elon Musk to idlen December 6.

58:30Is this still happening? Question mark. On Friday, Musk posted on X, quote, this is false. Just one day before that, Epstein was scheduled to meet with Microsoft's Bill Gates. Quote, TBD, tentative breakfast party with Bill Gates. Other references include a meeting with entrepreneur Peter Thiel, former White House advisor to President Trump, Steve Bannon. We should note that none of these documents link any of these men to any criminal or untoward activity that we can discern at all. Here now are Epstein survivor Lisa Phillips and James Marsh, who's an attorney representing other Epstein victims.

59:04Thanks for both of you for being here. Lisa, I'll start with you. We've talked before about survivors releasing an unofficial client list or at least forming one amongst yourselves. What's your reaction to some of the names released in this latest patch of records? And again, we should note no evidence connecting them to any of Epstein's crimes. But what was your response?

59:29Jake Tapper:The latest response is not a surprise to us survivors. We've been compiling our list for the last few years, just working together. And I mean, we're not surprised at all of the names that are being released. Democrats on the committee also posted flight records with former President Clinton and Ghislaine Maxwell, along with four Secret Service agents, that they say these records were already public. Republicans on the oversight committee posted, quote, it's sad how Democrats are conveniently withholding documents that contain the names of Democratic officials. Once again, they are putting politics over victims, unquote.

1:00:04Personally, I don't care what party anybody is in terms of anybody who might have engaged in criminality. I just want to know who did it. James, what was your response to all that? I think the efforts to pass this bill is what it's going to take to get full transparency. All politics aside, once we get this law passed, the Epstein Transparency Act, get all the records released out in public without regard to politics or personalities. I think that will be a real key to getting full transparency and accountability in this case. Also in the documents is a record that shows Prince Andrew on a flight with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell from New Jersey to West Palm Beach, Florida in May 2000.

1:00:49And Lisa, you've spoken out about Epstein introducing you to Prince Andrew, who, of course, has denied any wrongdoing. What's your reaction to this document?

1:01:00Jake Tapper:Again, I'm not surprised either. And I'm so thankful that that's being released. I've been saying this for about six years now, you know, of seeing him there and another experience of a friend with him. So, you know, Virginia G. Frey spoke out about him, and that was the reason why I initially spoke out. So I think it's a really good step in the right direction. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering today whether they're going to take up Ghislaine Maxwell's petition. CNN's Ellie Honig wrote in New York Magazine, quote, odds are against Maxwell on the whole, though she's got a substantially better chance at gaining traction in the Supreme Court than the average litigant, unquote.

1:01:41James, do you agree with that? What happens if the court denies her review? Having been to the Supreme Court about 10 years ago, where your odds of having your petition heard are less than your odds of getting into Harvard or Yale or both, it would really surprise me if the court took up this case. There's nothing unique or unusual about this case other than the public attention. And given the docket for this coming fall, with all of the Trump appeals piling up, I don't think the court's looking for more controversial issues or more controversial, you know, public scrutiny than they've already got.

1:02:18So this would really surprise me if they took this case. Lisa, I know you know this already, but there will be the 218th signature to force the Tom Massey bill onto the floor, which would release all the Epstein records. It still has to go to the Senate, though. Do you think you and your fellow survivors can keep up the pressure on the U.S. Senate?

1:02:38Jake Tapper:We've been working on it and we've been in touch and they've, quite a bit of them have been very supportive. So we are keeping up hope, yes. All right, Lisa Phillips and James Marsh, thanks to both of you and Lisa in particular. I know it's not easy to talk about these things. Public service announcement, med beds are not going to cure all that ails you because med beds are not a real thing. So why did President Trump post an AI video, a fake news story about him allowing common folk to get into these med beds. That story's next.

1:03:23Continuing in our politics, President Trump promoted a new cure-all bed for U.S. hospitals this past weekend. And it seemed way too good to be true because, of course, it was not true. Not anything about it was true.

1:03:40Jake Tapper:President Donald J. Trump has announced a historic new health care system, the launch of America's first medbed hospitals and a national medbed card for every citizen. Every American will soon receive their own medbed card. With it, you'll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals led by the top doctors in the nation. None of that was real. That was all AI. The Laura Trump was AI. The Trump was AI. It's false. Trump did delete the post later. The White House has not commented on it. But the origins of the post and the med bed story remain terrifyingly conspiratorial. Let's bring in CNN's Daniel Dale.

1:04:23Daniel, I confess, I had not known or heard anything about med beds until you tweeted about it. Tell us about this insane conspiracy theory that Trump helped bring fuel to this weekend. I'm happy for you that you only just learned about this. So med beds are an entirely fictional product that are the centerpiece of a multi-part conspiracy theory that's popular with QAnon types and other members of the fringe online far right. So step one of the conspiracy theory is that these beds exist that will cure whatever you got. So if you have cancer, it'll make it go away. Diabetes, it'll make it go away.

1:05:01If you're missing a limb, it'll make that limb grow back. If you're rapidly aging, you have a receding hairline because you're spending too much time on med bed conspiracy theories, your hair will come back, et cetera, et cetera. Step two is that this amazing technology is being hoarded, secretly used only by some combination of liberal billionaires, the deep state, maybe the military is involved, so not average Americans. And then step three is that President Trump is going to be elected last year and come back to office and give the amazing beds to everyone. So this is funny. It's fun to make jokes about it.

1:05:35But it's easy to find doctors who are encountering actual people with serious medical issues in the United States who are reluctant to get treatment for them because they think that they're going to get the med bed and be fine without the medicine that will actually cure them. And so by giving hope to these people, by promoting this video, President Trump has done something, I think, serious in addition to something pretty weird. It's also just so strange. Does he not know that that was not him? Did he even watch the video before he put it out? Does he think med beds are real and he's opening up a med bed hospital?

1:06:12I know that we are far beyond through the looking glass here, but it's just super strange. I would love to know. We don't know if he posted this himself, if a staffer posted it, as sometimes happens with his video posts, regardless it came from his account. And the White House just did not respond when I sent them a kind of what the heck is this email yesterday. They didn't respond to me either, so I don't feel left out. There's something else that happened. White House Deputy Press Secretary tweeted something over the week and she shared this data from Axios about political violence. Her interpretation in her post on Twitter reads, left-wing terrorism climbs to 30-year high.

1:06:53Give us a little breakdown about why maybe she shouldn't have retweeted that document. Well, she left out something very important, specifically those big gray bars you see in the graph. Those represent right-wing terror attacks and plots. So it is true there was a study by Washington think tank, CSIS, that found that left-wing terror attacks and plots are on the rise and that this year they're on pace for their highest number in three decades. Of course, that's not good. But Ms. Jackson didn't note that the same study found there's been way more right-wing attacks and plots over the past three decades and even over the past one decade than left-wing.

1:07:30So look at that gray bars. Here are the specifics. Victims killed 2016 through the 4th of July of this year. Right-wing 112 victims, about 10 times as many as the left, left 13 victims. And then in terms of number of attacks, 152 attributed to the right wing, 35 attributed to the left wing. So the apparent rise in left wing violence is something to note. It is a problem. But the broader context is that for a large number of years now, right wing attacks have dwarfed them. And so for members of the administration who are either suggesting or explicitly saying that this is a one sided problem on the left, just not true.

1:08:08Not true. Daniel Dale, our fact checker. Thanks so much. Let's bring in my panel. Chuck, this is not the first time President Trump has shared something bizarre on social media. Not even the first time he shared bizarre AI-generated video. But this one wasn't like a joke. It wasn't like a funny thing of him, you know, body slamming somebody or whatever. Like, this appeared to be a news report. This is what everybody's worried about when it comes to AI, when it comes to fake news. And also, one would think that he would remember if he had made an announcement about a med bed hospital. Or universal health care coverage is what that looked like when it started coming out.

1:08:47As somebody who makes political ads, it scares me too because I'm now thinking about an opponent that I'm running an ad against using AI to completely make up something that my candidate, whoever I was supporting, did not do, showing them doing something I didn't want them to do and it being out there before I can ever stop it. Man, we're walking down a really slippery slope here with these things that look very real to people. Adam, you're a former Republican congressman, former elected office holder. What are your concerns here, both in terms of President Trump putting this out there before he deleted it, and also just the technology that is now out there?

1:09:25Yeah, let me just first off say, so it's not even, it wasn't funny. You made this point. Like, if it would have been something funny, okay, you know, whatever. But here's where my concern is, is, you know, just as Chuck was saying, we can pretty much make a very realistic video of anybody doing anything. And so what's going to happen if somebody makes a video of, say, the Secretary of Defense saying that we've bombed somebody or, you know, a candidate for Congress making lewd remarks or whatever it is, it's created this, this kind of like hodgepodge of you can convince anybody of anything, but it also takes away our ability to know, in many cases, what's true and what isn't.

1:10:08And it's worth noting, by the way, as this lead up was going to this, I was just thinking about this, like Donald Trump either tweets or anything he says is always just a lie. Maybe not technically always, but almost always. It's untrue. It's a lie. It's misinformation. And he's the president the united states this is destroying people's trust in things they need to have trust in frankly for civic order and congressman this just in youtube has agreed to pay 24.5 million dollars to settle a lawsuit filed by president trump after he was suspended following the january 6 insurrection that makes them the last of the three big tech social media companies that trump sued after Meta and Twitter settled similar cases.

1:10:56I guess, well, I mean, what's your response? Well, first off, I always like to remind people, like six seconds ago, the GOP was the party that was against suing everybody. I mean, that was actually one of our big tenets is getting rid of frivolous lawsuits. We were going to do this in medicine and everything else. And now the president is a connoisseur of this. And so this is exactly what the others have been, which is these are companies that are very eager. Twenty four million to them is not much. They're very eager to please the president or get them off their back. And he's using these lawsuits as, in essence, a tool of war, a tool of control.

1:11:36And the people, the very institutions that should be standing up against him, law firms, universities, big media companies, they're the ones that are capitulating. capitulating and it's leaving everybody else to stand and have to fight without the backing that that people should have it's disgusting and to any corporation i think you know that is looking to preemptively just settle because they're scared of the president i mean i think scorn will be heaped upon them and uh as it rightly should be and and look the the uh the argument why the social media companies kicked him off and i'm not saying i support it um i tend to be pretty out there when it comes to free speech.

1:12:19But the argument was, we have a private company and this person, meaning the president, at that point, the outgoing president, is posting misinformation and it just caused a catastrophe on Capitol Hill. That was their justification. Again, I'm not saying I agree with it, but they have an argument to make in court. Absolutely. And if you look at where the money is going to go, they have to write a check to somebody. And I was looking at the research before I came on and it's going to the nonprofit that controls a lot of things on the hill and on the National Mall that will actually be in charge of building the ballroom at the White House.

1:12:53Like this is really getting absurd that folks that are mad about the ballroom and now this money is going to that. And let me say one other thing, is I was thinking about YouTube and again, as an ad maker, there's more money that will go to YouTube from Republicans and Democrats than even network ABC, NBC, you name your big. YouTube now is the king of all media that I buy on and every day because people's eyeballs are there. So they're taking that money now, and it's going to this cause. Yeah, I mean, I give them money, too, because that's how you watch football. That's right. All right. President Trump this weekend directed troops to Portland, Oregon.

1:13:26He described the city as war-ravaged, Adam. Portland is obviously a sanctuary city. It has seen nearly constant protests in an ice facility throughout the summer, mostly peaceful, though occasionally they've ended with tear gas deployed. The people of Portland are pushing back at any assertion they need federal intervention and continuing to protest. I want to play this sound. It's one city counselor in an Instagram video she posted on Saturday.

1:13:50Jake Tapper:The streets are looking beautiful. People are at the Saturday market having Negronis. And yet the federal government is sending the military in anyways. And Trump is just making up stories about what's going on in our city that are completely false. So it's hard to imagine that there is anything that we can do to appease a tyrant who is completely unreasonable, illogical and willing to spread misinformation. So Adam, how do you see this playing out? Well, I want to remind people again, everybody that says I changed and I left the party, I still believe what I used to believe, which was local control and the federal government shouldn't be stepping in.

1:14:27This is used to desensitize because now it's just another city that troops are being sent to. And Trump has set himself up for a win-win. If he goes there and there's no violence, he can say, look, federal troops equals no violence. If he goes there and violence is provoked, he can say, look, we have to crack down on what's going on over here. We cannot, Jake, we cannot grow numb to this. These are not guard troops. They are federal troops. When the president federalizes them, it's the same as the 82nd Airborne in Portland. And this is anathema to the Constitution. Well, hang in there, Congressman, because when a Democrat gets in the White House again, whether that's in five years or 30, Republicans are going to believe in local control again.

1:15:07Congressman Kinzinger, Chuck Rocha, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. Sports fans in New York got really unruly this weekend. No, not Mets fans, even though they did watch their team completely collapse and miss the playoffs in embarrassing fashion. We're going to discuss how a golf competition got out of hand.

1:15:28In our sports lead, the 2026 NFL Super Bowl halftime show performer is locked in. Superstar Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny is going to headline the event in February at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. More in our sports lead now. There was some drama, ugly drama at the Ryder Cup golf competition in New York this weekend. Some hostile fans of Team USA were directing personal insults and vulgarities at European players, including star Irish golfer Rory McIlroy and at his wife Erica. A drink appeared to be swatted out of a fan's hand and it struck her. Europe did get the last laugh winning despite but a huge rally from Team USA.

1:16:08Let's discuss with ESPN announcer and former tennis pro Patrick McEnroe. Patrick, the Ryder Cup, it's known for getting a little rowdier than other golf events, but it seemed like there were some really obnoxious fans there in New York. I don't want to assume that they were New Yorkers, but anyway, did this go beyond anything you've ever seen before? This was out of hand, Jake, and I'm a New Yorker. I'm a longtime fan of New York sports, and this was just total embarrassment from my standpoint. And I was lucky enough to also wear the stars and stripes as a Davis Cup captain for a decade, representing the USA, which to me was a huge badge of honor.

1:16:44And I took a lot of pride in that. And Americans were seen in a very positive light around the world. And unfortunately, Jake, that appears to be changing because behavior like this, not just at the Ryder Cup, but at all sorts of sporting events, is happening more and more. It's happening, obviously, in our political discourse. It seems like the more volume you have, the more virtue you have. And, you know, this all-capped society we're living in, where the louder you speak, the louder you say your piece. And unfortunately, it appears like the pieces that people are saying are just more and more extreme.

1:17:16And this was an example of that, attacking Rory McIlroy, one of the great golfers in the world. He handled it very well. And as you said, you know, they spoke loud with their clubs and they won this event going away, despite the U.S. making a big run on Sunday. But the first two days, especially Saturday afternoon, it really got out of hand with homophobic slurs sent the way of the European players. One of the players being made fun of by his weight, cheering in the middle of their swings. I mean, it was really, really embarrassing and made us look, as Americans, as New Yorkers, as Long Islanders, pretty bad on this big world stage of golf.

1:17:53Before the tournament, American golfer Colin Morikawa called for chaos and the events master of ceremony stepped down on Sunday after she had led the fans in a chant of F.U. Rory with a live mic. Did the host team play a role in stirring up the aggression? It doesn't sound like it was just, you know, naturally, organically from the fans. Well, I think it was more from the organizers of the event, Jake. And as you said, when I saw that online, the emcee instructing the fans very early in the morning before play started with these chants, I was appalled. Absolutely appalled. I think for the most part, the players handled it OK.

1:18:33They weren't really privy. They weren't part of what the fans were doing. But they've been revving this up, Jake, for months. You know, it's going to be Beth Page. It's going to be the home field advantage for the American team. And it's the New York crowd. And they went there and they were just completely out of line. And again, to see this type of behavior from fans of American sports, to me, as someone who's, you know, for 45 years, Jake, I've been lucky enough to travel the world playing tennis, another sport that's very international. And I took with pride when they said, you know, Patrick McEnroe, USA, Davis Cup captain, Patrick McEnroe.

1:19:07I took those things seriously. I know people think, well, this is just a sport. It's not a big deal. It's a big deal to us, and it's a big deal to those golfers as well. And I thought that the European team handled it well in their press conference as well. And this was just a really, really bad day for American sports fans. Horrendous. What should be done in the future to ward off bad behavior like this? Or might the shaming that's going on right now help ward it off? Well, I think we all need to take a step back and look at who we are. Do we want to be this? What are we becoming? Is this a society where you just yell at people and you just completely inappropriate?

1:19:45I mean, we've even seen some people do that in front of members of Congress, which I don't get. But I think there needs to be a way to control the fan, to control behavior, and maybe stop selling so much alcohol. Amen. Patrick McEnroe, always great to have you, sir. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, ThreadsX, Blue Sky, and on the TikTok at Jake Tapper. You can follow the show on X at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can listen to the show once you get your podcasts. Erin Burnett out front starts right now. She has a new interview with New York mayoral candidate Mamdani, take a listen, sit down, enjoy.

1:20:21I'll see you tomorrow.