Top U.S. Counterterrorism Official Resigns Over Iran War

24:13There are so many things. It generally affects everything, almost 100 % of life. There is no electricity, no food, no oil, no fuel. And private businesses have high prices because everything is going up now, since they have to move their goods by truck and transport. All of this is really very bad. Frustration is spilling into the streets. with protests over food shortages and constant outages. And into this crisis, controversial comments from Donald Trump. You know, all my life I've been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it? I do believe I'll be the honor of having the honor of taking Cuba.

25:00That'd be good. That's a big honor. Cuban officials firing back, blaming Washington for deepening this crisis through sanctions and what they call an oil blockade. President Miguel Diaz-Canel says the country has not received oil shipments in months, calling the impact tremendous. Diaz-Canel also saying the government will not tolerate acts of, quote, vandalism, referring to a violent protest where demonstrators on Saturday attempted to burn down the Communist Party headquarters in a small town. At least five people were arrested, the government said. Despite power coming back online, much of Cuba remains in the dark, caught between a collapsing energy system and rising tensions with the United States.

25:48And Jake, even though power is coming back on slowly, it's likely just to come back on for a couple hours. The underlying problems have brought down this power grid. The fact that it is so old and has been so underfunded over the years and now is starved of oil from abroad remains. So Cubans are preparing themselves for the worst. Officials here are hoping the U.S. throws them a lifeline. But you just heard Marco Rubio a little while ago saying this island needs new leadership. That appears to be the policy of the Trump administration that Cuba's leaders need to have a shakeup at the very top.

26:21All right, Patrick Oppmann, live for us in Havana, Cuba. Thank you so much, as always. Coming up, the Republican divide over Trump's war with Iran further illustrated today when a top Trump official resigned over the war. Will the pushback get the president's attention? We're going to talk about the split next.

26:40The relationship between the FBI director and the president has always been complicated. Unravel the complex dynamic in the CNN original series, Standoff, the FBI, Power and Paranoia, premieres Sunday, March 22nd on CNN and next day on the CNN app. And our politics lead, President Trump responding now to a scathing resignation letter from Joe Kent, his now former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Kent said he could not in good conscience serve any longer because he did not support the war with Iran because Iran, in his view, quote, posed no imminent threat to the United States.

27:16Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security. I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy. But when I read a statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out, because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was. Odd, he said, I always thought he was weak on security about the guy who nominated to be head of the National Counterterrorism Center. But be that as it may, Kent also worked for the director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

27:55She posted on X a short while ago, quote, after carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion, unquote. The post does not ever say that Trump was right to attack Iran or that Tulsi Gabbard agreed with the decision, but perhaps that's not surprising from someone who once tweeted this six years ago, no war with Iran or someone who once said on the House floor this. President Trump has committed an illegal and unconstitutional act of war, pushing our nation headlong into a war with Iran without any authorization from Congress.

28:35A war that would be so costly and devastating, it would make our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan look like a picnic. Just to be clear, that was after Tulsi, after Donald Trump rather, had ordered the assassination of an Iranian general in Iraq. That was not after he had not taken any military action in Iran itself. By the way, Tulsi Gabbard, you're seeing right there when she ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, she sold these no war with Iran T-shirts. Let's discuss. Terry, Kent is the only Trump official to resign over this war. But they're generally speaking, Republicans are very supportive of the effort, regardless of Tucker Carlson or Megyn Kelly or Joe Kent.

29:15A recent Q poll, 85 percent of Republicans support the military action. Washington Post poll, 75 % Republicans. Given that strong support among the MAGA base, is this significant? To an extent. Events will decide the political fate of the president on this war, how the war goes, what the price of gas is. And this dissent may find followers if things head south. But to me, this is an astonishment. This is maybe Donald Trump's greatest achievement. He took a party that was 85 % against wars, foreign wars, especially against Iran. and on a dime they turned and now it's 85 % for the war. It's amazing.

29:54And Mike, Trump ran on a platform of no new wars. Right. Obviously we're in the middle of a new war. He's called it a war. A continuation of a conflict that's lasted for 47 years, but sure, a new war. Do you think that this will actually cause any sort of serious rift with the voters? Obviously we don't know what Tulsi Gabbard really thinks. We don't know what J.D. Vance really thinks. Obviously, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, they're making their voices heard. Joe Kent did today. Is there actually any sign that this will cause dissent within the GOP? No, look, I don't think I don't I think this is a fairly low impact event in the general scheme of things.

30:33I also think, though, that Tulsi Gabbard comment was more of a hostage statement that it was a statement. Her tweet today. Her tweet today. Yes. I mean, but what it does expose and what I think the debate really is that we could have is what where is where is the administration think this is going and how much support is the president internally going to be able to keep everyone together? Because you're right, the 85 percent going back and forth, except the folks inside the White House. Look, when you're on a team, you got to all be pulling together. And this is, you know, one person leaving is not that big of a deal.

31:11but I'm very curious to see how the rest of the administration reacts to this. So earlier in the show, somebody said that if Joe Kent's letter had just ended with Iran post no imminent threat, then this would be a much bigger deal. But it went on to read almost as if he was going to invoke the protocol of the elders of Zion. Like all of a sudden it was like blaming Israel for this war, for Iraq, for going after ISIS in Syria. And for that reason, it might not have the impact that it would have. Well, the imminent threat piece of this is, and it caught my eye, for the reason that, and Tulsi Gabbard also said that her language was very much like, and every administration official does this, where they say he won the vast majority of American support by an overwhelming amount.

31:56And therefore, he can basically do anything that he wants. And that's the language that comes after. When it comes to an imminent threat, they said Donald Trump decided that there was an imminent threat. Nowhere has anyone said that career national security experts, the FBI, you know, and your top levels in national security have said that this is an imminent threat. Imminent threat does not mean state of mind. Donald Trump doesn't wake up one day and say, I believe Iran's an imminent threat. It is not a state of mind. It is a legal term and a justification that Department of Justice and the FBI use in order to start a conflict and use the force both domestically and internationally.

32:33So I found it very interesting that Tulsi Gabbard did not back the imminent threat piece. But it's now clear that there are people that were in Trump's circle that they did not believe we were under an imminent threat, which is the language he's been using to get Republicans over to his side. Certainly doesn't sound like a CIA director saying it's a slam dunk. While this is going on, President Trump doesn't like the war coverage. He's made that very clear. Pete Hagseth doesn't like the war coverage. Terry, I want to bring up a graphic that he posted. He posted over the weekend celebrating his efforts at, quote, reshaping the media.

33:09Talks about defunding NPR and PBS. Talks about new ownership for CNN. And it talks about individuals leaving prominent news organizations. Chuck Todd, you can look in there. Colbert leaving CBS, John Dickerson, Lester Holt, Joy Reid, and our own Terry Moran. What did you make when you saw that? Well, I'm in good company, but it's not about me. What this is about is the president advertising and declaring, along with his FCC commissioner, the willingness to use the power of the government to silence or to punish speech in the press that they don't like. This is an open threat to anyone that he doesn't like what they have to say.

33:53I'm happy to be on there. I'm happy, you know, with a good company. But I'm much more worried about what this says about potential abuses of power, especially in wartime. Wartime has always been a time of censorship. And this guy's game. Yeah. Look, I'm a dissenting voice on this. All of these companies, CNN included, are for-profit corporations. They have to react to the marketplace. I think what the president was pointing out there is a reaction to the marketplace. As a longtime Republican, it really doesn't bother me so much. But is it reacting to the marketplace or is it reacting to oligarchs who control media organizations doing what they think President Trump wants them to do?

34:35Well, exactly. It is CNN and every network and every media outlet's responsibility to cover the war. And in this instance, it is whenever he doesn't like something, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is the media's responsibility to lift up the war You know, it is absolutely not. And the Republican Party has been very clear. They claim they're the free speech party. And there have been instances where you have seen cracks within MAGA whenever Trump goes towards sort of free speech and tries to sort of get involved. And so I am very surprised there is not more outrage from MAGA to try to control the media and to control the narrative and shut it down.

35:15I am actually. Where's Ted Cruz? Ted Cruz has been very vocal when it comes to free speech. President goes after Fox News root and branch on the same basis. All right. Thanks to all of you for being here. Coming up, why the guidance is changing for cholesterol tests, why you might want to consider treatment as a young adult and still have waiting until your later years. We're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta for this one next.

35:44In our healthly new medical guidance, says some people might want to think about treating high cholesterol much earlier in life. In fact, treatment in your 30s could reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke. Here for our Paging Dr. Gupta series is CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, what should we take away from these new recommendations? I think the biggest thing is this. The conventional wisdom is, you know, around age 40, you start thinking about this, you get screened, and what they were looking at was your 10-year risk. What are things going to be like in the next 10 years for you? Everything is sort of frame-shifted as a result of these 123-page guidelines, Jake, which I went through last night.

36:23It basically moves things back 10 years, as you say, to age 30 and says, what does the next 30 years look like for you or what does even your lifetime look for you? And that's where the recommendations are getting based. Let me show you something I think is interesting. When you look at lipid disorders, cholesterol problems, triglyceride problems, of adults, about 25 % have abnormalities in the United States. 20 % of adolescents, Jake, as well, people between the ages of 10 and 19. And I think that's part of what's sort of guiding these new recommendations as well. A lot of lipid problems pretty early in life.

36:57And so if you do the math and you say, well, how many people in the United States are between the ages of 30 and 40? Somewhere between 60 and 70 million people. So that's been a population of people, a large population of people, which have not been targeted in the past. These guidelines sort of aim to change that. So how does someone know whether they should start treatment? What does that even entail? I think that the biggest first thing is to actually get tested, and the testing is remarkably young. I think this may surprise a lot of people, but they say between 9 and 11 years old is the first time you should have a comprehensive sort of cholesterol lipid screening, 9 to 11 years old.

37:33And then at 19 years old, that's right after adolescence, you should start getting screened every five years for cholesterol. So again, there's lots of different risk factors, but the headlines for me in terms of when people should actually potentially get screened, they're going to look at your weight, they're going to look at your cholesterol numbers, kidney function. But if your LDL, which is the bad cholesterol, is over 160, if you have a strong family history of premature heart disease, Jake, you and I have talked about the fact that my dad had heart problems in his late 40s, for example.

38:04And then when they do the calculator, this prevent calculator it's called, You can get it online for free. If you have a high 30-year risk, that's probably when they're going to recommend taking drugs like statins. And again, that could start as early as 30 years old. Are there any of these recommendations that we should be cautious about? Yeah, I think a lot. I mean, just philosophically, we're talking about adding millions of more people on medications, many of them for the rest of their lives. So if you're 30 years old, you could be taking these for, you know, 40, 50 years, maybe even longer.

38:36So that's something I think just to keep in mind. And we don't know the overall benefits 40 to 50 years down the road. But in terms of more immediate side effects, sometimes these statin medications can cause muscle pain, muscle weakness, liver damage. They make your insulin not work as well, and therefore your blood sugar can increase also. So there are significant side effects. Nothing in the guidelines says you should or even make recommendations. They say this is a shared decision between patient and physician. Again, based on 123 pages of new guidelines, Jake. All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

39:11And Sanjay is going to take your questions on this topic. You can scan the QR code on your screen right now to submit a question. And Sanjay, we will be back tomorrow to answer some of your viewer questions. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, after days of aggressively trying to convince allies to get on board, President Trump now says the U.S. doesn't need any allies. We don't need any help at all, he says, when it comes to securing the straightforward moves. But with Iran shutting down that key waterway and blocking the key shipping lane for oil, does the White House have a plan for going it alone?

39:46Plus, never-ending lines and wait times of more than two hours, as TSA agents call out or even quit because of the ongoing Senate dysfunction and the DHS shutdown. That means they're not getting paid. Some workers are even sleeping at the airport now because they can't afford gas. I'm going to talk to the man in charge of the United States' busiest airport. Also today, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee officially subpoenaed the Republican U.S. Attorney General. But will Pam Bondi actually go under oath? Will she actually take questions about the Justice Department's handling or mishandling of the Epstein investigation?

40:23And it is, yet again, election night in America. Voters are heading to the polls in Illinois, where a very expensive U.S. Senate race will test the direction of the Democratic Party. Polls are closing soon. Our panel's here to weigh in.

40:40The lead tonight, we're monitoring President Trump's ongoing remarks right now at the White House alongside the Irish prime minister for St. Paddy's Day, highlighting the U.S. and Ireland relationship even as President Trump spent the day dissing the U.S.'s position in the NATO alliance after the president said the other nations are not offering to help with the U.S. war in Iran. I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake. And I've long said that, you know, I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So this is a this was a great test because we don't need them, but they should have been there.

41:17Trump has been publicly calling on allies for help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway for oil transportation currently under Iran's control. Trump is now predicting it will be it will reopen soon, but he's offering no timeline and officials are providing new details. I want to bring in CNN's Caitlin Collins. Caitlin? Yeah, Jake, obviously those are still key questions for the White House when it comes to if any U.S. allies have committed to helping the United States try to carry that out and do that on the timeline that the president offered today, as vague as it was. They have not said specifically when they think that will happen.

41:51And obviously that's been a key question that the president has been facing as he is simultaneously lashing out at U.S. allies for not helping the U.S. do so, while also arguing that the United States doesn't need them to do so. And, Jake, obviously the other huge topic here at the White House today has been the first high-profile exit we've seen from this administration since this war started in protest over this war that the president is carrying out with Iran. And that comes in the form of Joe Kent, who is a senior intelligence official who works underneath Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence and went public with his resignation letter today explaining why he believes he cannot in good faith continue working in his job and disagreeing with the president and top officials who have said that there was an imminent threat facing the United States from Iran.

42:37Joe Kent says that is not the case in his letter. That is why he cannot continue in his job as the director of counterterrorism. And when the president was asked about this earlier, he commented on this and on Kent specifically, Jake. Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security. I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy. But when I read his statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was.

43:18Now, officials I've spoken with today, Jake, have said that they do agree with that, that if someone doesn't support the president's views, then obviously they shouldn't be working to carry them out. But obviously this has raised questions. One, that's not what the president said about Joe Kent 13 months ago when he nominated him for this job. Instead, he praised him, noted that he's a former Green Beret, said he had hunted down terrorists and criminals all across the globe. And now with his exit, Jake, though, it only raises more questions about Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, who belongs in that same kind of anti-interventionist coalition that exists here in a broad form inside the administration.

43:54She commented on Kent's exit today as well. And Jake, obviously, when she is testifying on Capitol Hill tomorrow, as she and other top intelligence chiefs are slated to do in front of Congress under oath, this is going to likely be brought up by lawmakers across both sides of the aisle. And so her questions, obviously, and her answers will be very telling on that front, Jake. All right, CNN's Caitlin Collins at the White House. Thanks so much. Don't miss Caitlin on her show, The Source with Caitlin Collins. Her guests tonight include Democratic Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey. That's tonight at 9 Eastern, only on CNN.

44:24Let's bring in Congressman Michael McCaul, Republican from Texas, former chair of both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee. Congressman, good to see you. So President Trump was not pleased with NATO countries today because they don't want to assist the U.S. with the Iran war when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz. He wrote on Truth Social this morning that the U.S. no longer needs or desires NATO's assistance. Quote, we never did. We do not need the help of anyone. Unquote. What's your take on that? Do you think the U.S. really doesn't ever need the help of any allies?

44:51Well, it's always better to work with our allies. Do we need them to get the job done? No, I think our military is well equipped to clear the Straits of Hormuz along with Israel. However, I do think it's incumbent upon our NATO allies to help in this venture. If anything, 50 % of European energy comes from outside of Europe. The United States is a net gain producer. And what that means is we produce enough oil to sustain ourselves. However, Europe is very dependent on the Straits of Hormuz. So it's in their best interest to work with us. Now, the president's right. We can do it alone. But I always think it's always better to work with our NATO partners.

45:34I wish they would reconsider that. Trump was asked if he's rethinking the U.S.'s position in NATO. He said it was, quote, something to think about. And he equated this war to the U.S. stepping in to help when Russia invaded Ukraine. What do you make of that? Well, we have come to the assistance of Ukraine working with NATO. I know the presidents had always a little bit of a rub with NATO. I think that was primarily burden sharing that they need to pay their fair share of the cost of defending the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization. And that is primarily Europe from the threat from the Soviet Union at that time.

46:14That's why it was formed. So, you know, look, what I disagree with is lifting sanctions on Russia, who is providing active military intelligence to Iran to target military targets and kill Americans. I think that that is an unwise choice to bring down the price of gas and energy. I hope that is those sanctions are snapped back relatively soon. The director of National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, resigned today. He says Iran posts no imminent threat to the United States. He blamed the war and also the war in Iraq and also the U.S. war against ISIS in Syria. He blamed all of it on pressure from Israel and the pro-Israel lobby.

46:59He wrote in his resignation letter that he cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives. Let's take this in two points, in two different sections here, my question for you. One, what do you make of him saying that Iran posed no imminent threat? I'm going to get to the Israel anti-Semitic stuff in a second. But just on the disagreement within the administration, Kent, maybe Gabbard, maybe J.D. Vance, there are people that seem not enthusiastic about this war in the administration. Well, I think you posed two questions.

47:37One, was there an imminent threat? I think Iran, in my judgment, has been an imminent threat since 1979. killing our Marines in Beirut. Everything they've done in the Middle East in terms of terror operations have been an imminent threat. Now they do have ballistic missiles. They do have enriched uranium that could create a dirty bomb effect in the region and a threat to the region. I think the deeper issue of what you're touching on here is this, Mr. Kent seems to philosophically disagree with the president's decision to take action in Iran. And that's another, and you do have a wing in the Republican Party that tend to be more isolationist that do disagree with the invasion in Iran, which I believe what the president's doing is taking care of a matter that should have been taken care of the last 50 years.

48:34He's finally getting this done. Finally, I think it's gonna be interesting to see Tulsi Gabbards testify tomorrow because, as you know, she campaigned for president on the issue that Trump would invade Iran. Right. She sold no war in Iran T-shirts on her website in 2020. Let me ask you in the minute we have left, obviously disagreeing with the president on the war in Iran, totally legitimate. Joe Kent's letter also, first of all, before he was confirmed as director of the NCTC, He faced Senate opposition because of ties to white supremacists and anti-Semites. His letter blames Israel and absolves Trump, blames Israel for the war in Iran, blames Israel for the war in Iraq, blames Israel and its supporters for ISIS, for the war on ISIS in Syria.

49:28And I think there are a lot of people today wondering, how did somebody like this get a position like this in government, given his anti-Semitic views? Legitimate question. I'm personally glad he's gone. NCTC is a very important operation that connects the dots to protect the American people, particularly right now in a high state of terror alert. This anti-Semitism that we've traditionally seen on the left, we're now seeing it a little bit on the right side here. He's not the type of individual I personally would want to appoint to that position, given his anti-Israel views and his anti, quite frankly, president views now on his actions in Iran.

50:13So I think it's quite frankly good riddance. And I hope the president puts a better qualified, someone who's more philosophically in line with the president on Iran and Israel next in that position. Republican Congressman Michael McCall from Texas, thank you, sir. Good to have you. Thank you. As Iran confirms that two more of its top officials have been killed, What comes next for the country? I'm going to be joined live in studio by an expert on the region next. Plus, more than half of all TSA workers have called out from work at Houston's airports, according to the Department of Homeland Security, as the shutdown means they're not getting paid because of the Senate dysfunction.

50:50How long could this go on? How bad could travel get? Stick with us.

51:00Sticking with our world lead now and President Trump's assessment of how the war in Iran is going, Here is what he said today at the Friends of Ireland luncheon at the White House. I just do want to say that the war is proceeding very, very strongly. We're doing very, very well. And we've had a very big day today. We knocked out things that nobody thought were possible to knock out. Today was a very big day. We're way ahead of schedule. Nobody would have thought, somebody, a great war historian told me today, Nobody would have thought you could do that much damage in that little time. Two weeks.

51:36Okay. Let's compare notes with CNN Global Affairs analyst Karim Sajipour. Karim, is the war going this well for the U.S.? I think there are two wars, Jake. There's the military aspect of it, which has been very successful and significantly degrading the Islamic Republic of Iran. But the political aspect of it is important. And there, we haven't seen any changes and any positive changes in Iran's leadership and the character of the regime. I don't think it was President Trump's intention to simply replace an 86-year-old dictator with his 56-year-old son, but that's where we are right now in Iran.

52:13How would the U.S. or its allies even change the political situation on the ground? Well, I think concurrently with a military strategy, you do need a political strategy to think about, okay, how do you create fissures within the regime? What is effective strategic communications? Is there a way of supporting the opponents of the regime, which I would argue are probably 80 % of the country? I don't think any of that political strategy was really thought about deeply, certainly by the president. Is there anybody alive who could be a more moderate leader of Iran from either within the government or from within the country?

52:59Within the government, I don't think anyone who has ambitions of staying in power, staying in the system, is someone who can appear to be moderate at all. And I think there's an almost irreconcilable gap between the regime and the people. Inside Iran, it's a brutal dictatorship. And so they're very effective at identifying people who are capable of leadership and either killing, exiling, imprisoning them. Outside the country, a lot of people have coalesced around the person of the former Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi. His challenge is that he hasn't lived in Iran for five decades, but certainly inside the country, there are some who would support him.

53:43Iran, not long ago, just confirmed what the Israelis announced earlier today, which is that two big assassinations by Israel, one, the country's security chief, and the other, the head of a group that enforces Islamic morality among the public. Will these two assassinations have some sort of impact? The first assassination of Ali Ladijani is quite impactful, and I think it's probably deeply demoralizing for the regime. Ali Ladijani was probably one of the most important people in that system. He was one of the few people who had decades of not only domestic foreign policy, domestic policy experience, but also foreign policy experience.

54:22He was a brutal guy. He was implicated in the massacres of last January, but he had decades of institutional memory and not someone whom they can easily replace. Iraqi security officials are now telling CNN that two drones were fired at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad overnight. At least one landed in the vicinity of the embassy, damaged an exterior yard. No group has claimed responsibility. But on Monday, an Iran-backed militia threatened to target the embassy. It seems like these Iran proxies, whether Hamas or Hezbollah or the Houthis or all these different groups in Iraq and Syria, they can do damage.

55:01They've been significantly degraded since October 7, 2023, after the Hamas invasion attack on Israel and then Israel's significant response throughout the region. But you're absolutely right, Jake. They can do damage. And one thing I always emphasize is that it takes decades to build things. It takes weeks to destroy them. And this Iranian regime and its proxies are in the business of destruction. And they can do that on the cheap, as we've seen with$20 ,000 drones. President Trump is frustrated that NATO allies aren't helping him push back against the Iranians. And they're basically their seizure of the state of Hormuz.

55:39They're mining of it and there are attacks on ships that have tried to go through it. What is the best way to degrade the Iranian military's ability to continue to lay siege on the strait? The challenge there is that it's a war of economic asymmetry. So, as I said, you have these$20 ,000 drones that are harassing$100 million tankers, carrying hundreds of millions of dollars of cargo, whether that's oil, natural gas, or fertilizer. I think the president's instincts to want to internationalize the solution is important, because that oil and gas and fertilizer is primarily bound for Asia, not the United States.

56:20And I think, Jake, that President Trump has put himself in this situation in which this wasn't a war of necessity. It was a war of choice. But I think it's now almost morphed into a war of necessity because you can't let this pariah government hold the global economy hostage. Unfortunately, the president's having difficulty getting allies to participate. Kareem Sajjapur, thank you so much. Today, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee officially subpoenaed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Will she show up to answer questions about the Epstein investigation? That's next.

56:57In our Law and Justice League, today the Republican-led House Oversight Committee formally subpoenaed the current U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have criticized Attorney General Bondi and the Justice Department, saying that they believe the Epstein files were overly redacted, demanding greater transparency. A Justice Department spokesperson called the subpoena completely unnecessary, but did not say whether Bondi will comply with it. Joining us to discuss, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Tomagelli. What questions do you think the committee should ask Pam Bondi?

57:31Well, Jake, first and foremost, is there or is there not any ongoing criminal investigation at DOJ of anybody relating to Jeffrey Epstein? Pam Bondi and her top surrogates have been asked that many times and have given inconsistent and at times contradictory answers to that very simple yes or no question. She can't provide details, but she should be able to say yes, there is or no, there is not. With respect to the files themselves, there are questions about, first of all, why were some of the victims names revealed? Who's responsible for that? What accountability is there? Why were other names that should have been revealed redacted?

58:05And finally, are you done with this production or will there be more? And Jake, I found it really interesting. As you noted, DOJ's initial reaction was to call this subpoena quote, completely unnecessary. That's an unusual posture. So we'll see if she fights this or whether she goes in and testifies as required. Bank of America settled a lawsuit yesterday filed by an Epstein victim who accused the bank of failing to flag suspicious activity and transactions related to Epstein to law enforcement. In previous public statements and court filings, the bank had denied any wrongdoing. Bank of America declined to comment on the story.

58:37How might this settlement, whatever it is, play into Bondi, the questioning of Bondi? Well, this is one of the remaining outstanding questions around the whole Jeffrey Epstein mess. What happened with all this money? How were they able to move millions of dollars through various bank accounts? And I expect Pam Bondi to be questioned about that. What has DOJ done? What is DOJ doing now to track that money? Have there been accounts frozen? Have there been assets seized? What's being done with that money? So I think that's another avenue of inquiry for the attorney general. The man charged with planning pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC headquarters the night before the 2021 Capitol riot is asking a federal judge to dismiss the case.

59:18We talked about this before, I think. The lawyer for the accused is arguing that the president's pardon of January 6 rioters applies to his client as well. Now, a White House official is disputing the argument saying, quote, the pipe bombs were placed on January 5th. The pardon pertained to events at or near the Capitol on January 6th and clearly does not cover this scenario, unquote. What do you think about the suspect's lawyer's argument? Is it legit? Is it valid? It's not crazy, Jake. You and I did anticipate they would make this argument. If you look at that pardon, it says it relates broadly to all events at or near the Capitol on January 6th.

59:57And what the pipe bomb or the defendant's legal team is arguing is, OK, he set the bombs certainly near the Capitol. The RNC and DNC are just a few hundred yards away. The evening of January 5th, a few hours before January 6th, and most importantly, united by the same purpose, which is to dispute the 2020 election results. Now, DOJ is going to argue, yes, but it was not on January 6th, but this is the Pandora's box that one opens, a president opens, when he issues a broad sweeping blanket pardon like this one. He has given rise to this defense argument. The Justice Department will no longer require prosecutors to have one year of experience before being hired at DOJ.

1:00:35This comes as DOJ is struggling to find replacements following mass departures and firings, getting rid of experienced people. What's your reaction to this lowering of qualifications. It's a sad testament to where the Justice Department is right now, Jake. You know, for the last 50, 100 years, it's been the gold ring for any lawyer to get hired at DOJ. I would have crawled over broken glass to get hired. I got rejected twice before I finally got admitted into DOJ because the standards were so high and it was so competitive to get in. Now we see DOJ has bled out, we don't know the exact number, but hundreds and possibly thousands of experienced prosecutors.

1:01:14And so what do they do? They eliminate the most minimal job requirement that you have to have been a practicing lawyer for just one year. So they're lowering the bar. It's a sad moment for DOJ. It tells us how far they've fallen and how far they're willing to go to get people in the door now. Ellie Honig, thanks so much. Thanks, Jake. As passengers are forced to wait in line for hours and TSA agents are forced to work without pay, some experts predict that the Travel chaos is going to continue to get worse as this partial government shutdown caused by Senate dysfunction drags on. Coming up next, I'm going to talk to the man in charge of the busiest airport in the United States.

1:01:49Stick around.

1:01:58We're fully stretched. If this continues, it's not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if call-out rates go up. That warning coming from the acting deputy TSA administrator earlier today as several airports are struggling with TSA staffing issues amid the ongoing partial government shutdown. It's caused by Senate Democrats refusing to fund DHS until serious changes are made to ICE and customs amidst immigration policy, and Republicans refusing to vote to fund TSA discreetly amid this dysfunction. The Department of Homeland Security says at least 366 TSA agents have quit so far.

1:02:35And long security lines continue to wreak havoc for travelers, including in Atlanta. Let's bring in somebody who's been managing these long lines, Ricky Smith. He's the general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Ricky, thanks so much for joining us. So some travelers at your airport waited more than two hours in security lines earlier today. One of them told CNN that the airport was not prepared for this. I want you to take a listen to what else they told my colleague Ryan Young. I've been online for 45 minutes and apparently it's another hour. This is crazy. Have you ever seen the line here this long?

1:03:15No, I haven't. I had delays yesterday for like three hours and I'm thinking I'm going to rebook my wait on travel until this settles down. Now, look, obviously the fault for this lies on Capitol Hill, where the Senate has not been able to fund TSA. All right. I don't want there to be any confusion about that. What do you say to travelers who have to deal with these lines? Should they start booking out of other airports? Do they need to show up four hours ahead of time? What do you tell them? Well, we're about 30 minutes into this federal government shutdown. and we're experiencing about 30%, 36 % call out for TSA employees here, and we're very happy to have those that continue to come to work every day and show their commitment to the public and their dedication to the public.

1:04:05You know, the lines are longer than normal. They're longer than usual, and we expect that. We don't find that acceptable. And so, you know, the airport, partnering with our airlines, TSA, and other stakeholders at the airport, we're doing everything we can to try to make a bad experience the best experience possible for our traveling public. And I'll say quite frankly, I want to applaud the traveling public because they've been very tolerant and patient, all things considered. But more than that, I want to commend our TSA employees who continue to come to work without getting paid. They, too, have been very tolerant and patient.

1:04:40And so I think all around, you know, this is not an acceptable situation, but the passengers and TSA would be intolerant and they're coming to the situation with the best attitude. You said that we're about 30 minutes into it. I think you meant 30 days into it. But speaking of minutes. Yeah, about 30 days into it. How far ahead of a flight should passengers come if they're going to your airport? so we're encouraging passengers to come about three hours ahead of their their scheduled flight yeah but in addition to that you know check with your airline and you know go on to atl.com if you're flying out of hartsfield jackson but we want to make sure that you know that the status of your flight before you come to the airport so call your airline in advance i can imagine most tsa workers that are there and you're saying about 30 percent are not showing up so the 70 percent that are there, they're under a lot of stress.

1:05:37They're working without pay. They're overwhelmed by the job. How is your airport helping them get by? How is your airport preventing them from quitting or from calling in sick? Well, our TSA employees went through this just back in October, 43 days, the longest shutdown in the history of the country. And again, we're now, you know, 30 days into this one, of course they're feeling some level of uncertainty and anxiety, and we understand that they're not getting paid. What we're trying to do as an airport is ease some of that anxiety. You know, we're giving them food vouchers. We have our concessionaire partners that are also providing meals to them.

1:06:19We're providing free parking. MARTA, which is the local transit organization, is providing free parking. And we have a number of organizations that have just decided to show up to provide canned goods and a number of other products, just again, to try to show that we support them, that we appreciate their commitment to the public and to try to ease their pain a little bit. Ricky Smith, thank you so much. Thank you. Let's turn out a Democratic Congresswoman Maggie Goodlender of New Hampshire. Congresswoman, this shutdown is because of the Senate, not the House. So there's so much I want to blame you for this, but as a theoretical construct, should members of Congress even be getting paid if TSA agents aren't?

1:07:02Absolutely not, Jake. You know, this is, to me, one of the most outrageous wrongs in federal law, that right now, members of Congress are being paid when hardworking federal workers who are being forced to work without a paycheck after the longest shutdown in American history. We should right this wrong, and we can do that tomorrow. Once again, six times we have voted in the House and in the Senate to fund the unfunded parts of DHS. Six times. All of them, or just? The unfunded parts of DHS. Now, remember, there are two parts of DHS that aren't funded right now, ICE and Border Patrol. Right now, they are enjoying more federal funding than they have ever had in their history.

1:07:45In fact, ICE has more federal funding because of H.R. 1, the president's so-called Big Beautiful Bill, than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined. So they are fully funded. We're talking about the unfunded parts of DHS. We voted six times to try to fund them. Tomorrow we will be bringing forward a petition on the floor of the House. We need 218 signatures on it. We need four Republicans to join us on it because there is no good reason why we shouldn't be funding every Transportation Security Administration officer in this country. FEMA should be funded. The men and women of the Coast Guard should be getting paid.

1:08:22And this is a problem we should be solving tomorrow. The Speaker and the President have stood in the way of this at every turn. But tomorrow we have a chance to get this done. So it's Democrats insisting on changes to ICE policy and Customs and Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection policy and immigration policy in general before Democrats will agree to fund the whole DHS thing. That's what's holding this up right now. Today, the White House detailed its offer to reopen. This is their counteroffer. Some of their proposals include expanding the use of body cameras by ICE agents, limit the government's ability to conduct operations in sensitive locations such as hospitals or schools, boost oversight at federal detention facilities, require most immigration agents to clearly identify themselves during enforcement actions.

1:09:10Do you think that this is a legitimate counterproposal? I mean, is there room here for Democrats to accept that and reopen payment for TSA agents and the like? Well, just to be clear, to me, these are two separate tracks because ICE and Border Patrol are already funded. Tomorrow, we have a chance to vote again, and I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to fund the unfunded parts of DHS. Right, but Democrats are the ones tying changes to ICE to this unfunded part, like TSA and the Coast Guard. Look, I'm prepared, and I have tried six times to vote in favor of funding the unfunded parts of DHS.

1:09:48At the same time, we're pressing for basic guardrails, reasonable guardrails on this$150 billion blank check that went directly to Kristi Noem that has been used over the course of this year. We've seen American citizens shot dead in broad daylight by masked agents. We need a reasonable use of force policy in this country to govern ICE in the same way that I see my local police departments operating with reasonable use of force policies with basic guardrails, they don't operate with masks. They operate transparently, professionally, and with accountability. And that is what we need in this country.

1:10:29But do you think that that's the administration's meeting you guys halfway in terms of what you want? Well, I don't see anything about a reasonable use of force policy in the president's letter today. I don't see anything about no masks for agents, standardized uniforms. I don't see anything about judicial warrants. And right now we know ICE is operating with a policy that turns the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution on its head. I don't see anything about returning to state and local authorities the basic oversight responsibilities that they need to keep our communities safe. And that is what we're pressing for, reasonable guardrails to keep our communities safe.

1:11:09All right, Democratic Congresswoman Maggie Goodlender of New Hampshire, thank you so much. It is election night in America. Again, all eyes are on the race that will test the power and influence of a man rumored to be considering a 2028 presidential run. That's next.

1:11:28We're back with a politics lead on a Tuesday. You know what that means. I love the CNN election jam. Let's do it. All righty. It's election day where? In Illinois, a hotly contested open Senate primary race to replace the retiring Senate, Senator Dick Durbin. could give us key insight into the minds of Democratic voters, at least those in the land of Lincoln. It is a three-way contest between Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy, who emerged as an early frontrunner, Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton, who has the backing of powerful Governor J.B. Pritzker, and also Congresswoman Robin Kelly, who's supported by the Congressional Black Caucus.

1:12:05And in this deep blue state, tonight's winner is pretty likely to become the next senator. Let's discuss. Ashley Allison, good to have you here. Good to be here. Thanks for being here. So the race has gotten kind of nasty for a Democratic primary race, although there aren't really particularly strong ideological divisions between all of them. They're all pretty progressive. What are you going to be looking for from tonight's results? Well, first, just leading up to the race, I'm looking at the diversity of the candidates, which I think is significant for Democrats right now. I am curious to see, to your point, ideologically, no, not different.

1:12:39But there are a couple of things that some of them have said, like Stratton is saying, I won't support Chuck Schumer as the majority leader if we take the Senate back. That's pretty bold. And so it is a signal. Illinois is pretty Democratic, but it's a signal of where the party is going to go. Are we going to change in leadership? Will Chicago voters align? Illinois voters align? I just think it's good for Democrats all in all that people are still throwing their hat in the ring. There's some congressional races that are also up. And it's good for the party, because if you were to rewind a year ago, I think people would be like, what are Democrats doing?

1:13:11Who's going to lead us? Who do we want? And these are all fairly new faces, particularly Stratton to the party, that could turn some things up. So it will be a test, in a way, of the power of Governor J.B. Pritzker, who it's no secret is contemplating a presidential run. If his preferred candidate, his lieutenant governor, Stratton, if she loses, does that mean that his power, will that be held against him, do you think? No, I don't think it'll be held against him. She is surging in the polls in the last, you know, a couple of weeks of the campaign. It will show that he wasted$12 million supporting her.

1:13:48I mean, I think the two big things. Pocket change. Right. It's pocket change for Pritzker. But the two big things in this race really are is the influence of the outside money. We're seeing a lot of outside money in a party primary that you don't normally see. $12 million from Pritzker. a pro-crypto group has put in$10 million. For who? For... For Christian Murthy? Yes. Okay. Yes. Well, in support of him. And I think you're... So you're seeing that money in the race. And then you're seeing also in the Democratic Party, you've got the city versus the suburbs, progressives versus the moderates, the governors versus the crypto bros.

1:14:27I feel like Stefan from SNL giving you the... It's got everything in this race. But I mean, that's what you're what you're seeing here. And it's going to be a battle to the to the end. And it's close. Yeah, I know it is. It is reductive and wrong to say that the two black women candidates are going to split the black vote. But, you know, elections are voting blocks of different people. And there is always the possibility that that if that happens, Krishnamoorthy could could win. Perhaps, but I think in order to win, you have to have a winning coalition without just black voters. So I think that Kelly will be able to do that.

1:15:05Stratton will be able to do that. And maybe Roger would be able to do that. But it is important that if you want to run for elected office, you don't have to resign yourself out because somebody of the same race is also running for office. And that often happens for black women. That often happens for black candidates, sometimes for Latino candidates. The candidates that usually doesn't happen for are white men. And so those candidates have just as much ability to win that race just because there are two black women. I think one of them probably will pull it out. Interesting, though, that there isn't a white candidate.

1:15:35You know, I mean, yeah. So let's turn to another important race. I don't know how I feel about it. Let's turn to another. Don't worry. There are plenty of white men. I think you're safe. Another big Senate race. Democrats think that they have an opportunity to pick up a seat in Maine where Susan Collins is running for reelection. And the primary, the Democratic primary pits the current governor, Janet Mills, against Graham Plattner, who's this progressive firebrand with controversial tattoos and the like. Here is an ad from Janet Mills attacking Graham Plattner. Take a look. Did you know Graham Plattner wrote that women worried about rape need to quote, Not get so f***ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to.

1:16:20It's disgusting. Plattner wrote to avoid rape, women should quote, Act like an adult for f*** sake. Graham Plattner, seriously. We blame the victim. That's a horrible thing to say. Disqualifying. What do you make of that ad? Well, first of all, were they using AI to make it? I think it was, I believe it's AI for his voice, but stuff he wrote on like Reddit or something, yeah. Well, my line on this election, it's the Nazi versus the 90-year-old. So that's what the Democrats have focused on. That's rough. That is rough. Sorry. Yeah. Was this a... No, no, no. Go ahead. Safe space? No, no, no. We're not safe here.

1:16:59But also, you know, back to what I was saying about Illinois, this is, you've got the majority, you've got Schumer and the establishment of the Democrats really versus the progressives, Bernie Sanders that are backing the other candidates. She's not 90, just for the record. No, but you didn't say anything about him being not a Nazi, I noticed. He's not a Nazi either. Okay, thank you. She's 78. So once again. This is off the rails. This is really off the rails. Well, he said the Nazi versus the 90-year-old. I had to fact check it. Keep going. I'm done. I'm done. I'm sorry. I'm done. It really is another sign of the fight within the Democratic Party.

1:17:36That's what I was trying to get. Yeah, yeah, no, I hear you. It's a long-winded one. Yeah. That ad is aimed at you. It is aimed at Democratic women. Yeah. That is who that ad is named, is after. How did it impact you as a Democratic woman? I mean, that's tough to listen to, I will say. And I think it's probably also tough for Democratic fathers to listen to and Democratic brothers and sons and husbands. It's troubling language. But I agree with you that this is we are in a moment this year will be a determining factor of where we go ahead of 2028. And I don't I think we're probably going to be a 50 50 split of like moderate Democrats and left more left leaning.

1:18:18Fiery progressives, yeah. Yeah, in terms of where we want to go. And as the party, we're going to have to decide how do we win and then how do we govern together? Because the one thing that I think both of them will still do is say, and Donald Trump is bad. Yeah, we know it, but what do you stand for? And if the language in that ad is what folks stand for, I don't know how well that bodes for him. Yeah, I mean, I think if Graham Plattner were here, he would say that stuff he wrote a long time ago. And also his supporters will say he talks like a real person. He's not a politician. That's part of his appeal.

1:18:49Ashley and Mike, thanks so much for being here. The rare sight spotted over the skies in parts of the U.S. today. That's next.

1:19:01Our last leads now. It starts in our law and justice lead. An employee at a Georgia Veterans Affairs Clinic was airlifted to the hospital today after being shot at work. Police in Jasper, Georgia, about an hour outside Atlanta, shot and killed the suspected shooter. Officials say they're trying to figure out if the suspect had any connection to the Veterans Clinic. Our sports lead tonight in Miami, Team USA and Team Venezuela are set to meet in the final of the World Baseball Classic. Team USA is chock full of Major League stars, as is Team Venezuela. This is Venezuela's first time making it to the championship game.

1:19:34So far, their fans, including many Venezuelan expats, have been loud and in party mode. And the out-of-this-world lead, come look at this rare sight today over the United States. It's a rare meteor or a space rock burning up in Earth's atmosphere. People spotted it around 9 this morning over several states, including Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The experts note that daytime meteor sites are pretty rare. This fireball moved so fast it broke the sound barrier and triggered a sonic boom. 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.

1:20:12You should download the CNN app. Aaron Burnett out front starts now.

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