Trump: A.I. Industry Will “Self-Police” as Rogue Agents Persist

25:44Jane Doe hid under the covers of the bed. And then Jane Doe had difficulty remembering parts of what happened next. She remembered mail number seven said something very rude and mean to her. Mail number seven apologized and quote, grabbed her face and started kissing her. Jane Doe quickly backed away to stop mail number seven from kissing her unquote and on and on and on. According to the district attorney, Mr. Van Houten, this was not enough to prompt any further investigation. We are not going to reach out to her and say, hey, what you said didn't allege a crime. Can you give us more so we can charge somebody?

26:21That's not ethical. She's in this room. There are seven people in there. She only wanted to be with two of the guys. The text chain, none of that made you think, I should interview this woman. I should interview people at the fraternity that night. We do not independently investigate crimes in the district attorney's office. So you never talk to police and say, I'd like to find out more about what happened here. My team did not do that. Jane Doe's attorney told me yesterday that he is surprised investigators didn't contact or follow up with her and that at this point she just wants some accountability.

27:02Her life has been destroyed and she's not even in college anymore. She is barely hanging on. She wants these people to be held accountable. CNN's Jason Carroll is live in Ithaca, New York, where students are reacting as this investigation unfolds. Jason, what are you hearing from the college community at Cornell? Well, Jake, we've been out here all day and there's been talking to students and there's been a real sense of frustration from those that we've spoken to. Frustration really directed at the administration here. You know, we spoke to some students who were actually old enough, some seniors who were old enough.

27:40If they were here two years ago, they remember when those allegations first surfaced. And we spoke to some younger students. And both of these students, you know, all of them that we spoke to have the same thing in common. All of them are asking for more transparency on behalf of the Cornell administration. Take a listen to a small sampling of some of those that we spoke to earlier today. I think from the undergrad perspective, there's a lot of anger, a lot of sadness. I wouldn't say disappointment because I think a lot of people already have this understanding that the university has disappointed them time and again.

28:16I think the feeling on campus is pretty grim. There's also a lot of frustration. I feel a lot of students are talking about it. Cornell's administration failed us this time, and I'm sure that it's happened in the past, and it just hasn't gotten reported.

28:32Now, from Cornell's point of view, Jake, they say they are being transparent. And in fact, we're hearing from the representatives from Cornell. They're saying that they are going to be releasing some sort of a statement sometime early this evening. We're still waiting for that. Cornell has already released a statement saying that they've already conducted their own investigation. And as a result of that investigation, the Chi-Fi fraternity was banned on campus. Some of the students in question were either suspended or expelled. And so from their point of view, they are taking action. But there's a clear disconnect between what the administration says it's doing and what is being perceived here from students here on the ground.

29:16Jake. All right. Jason Carroll in Ithaca, New York. Thank you so much. Joining us now to discuss is the former president of Brandeis University, Frederick Lawrence. Thank you so much for joining us, Fred. Today, New York Governor Kathy Hochul with you called for an outside counsel to conduct a review, quote, to determine whether Cornell met every obligation to protect its students and pursue justice, unquote. Now, Cornell never notified Ithaca police of Jane Doe's report to Cornell police. Based on what we know as of now, what do you make of how Cornell handled this in 2024? This thing seems to have broken down in lots of different ways, Jake.

29:56From the time that the allegations were made in 2024, the university has to do two things. The first thing, under its own procedures, its own disciplinary rules, it has to decide whether an investigation is warranted and to take care of that part of the process. But it also has to decide whether there are certain circumstances in which this is just more than the university can do. Universities are not particularly good at investigating and adjudicating. We have to do some of that, but that's not what we're best at. What we're best at is educating and counseling. So when you've got a case that appears to have criminal ramifications, then you've got to bring in the law enforcement authorities.

30:35You've got to turn to the local police. You've got to turn to the Tompkins County DA. So all of that should have been done back in 2024. Then we'd be in a different situation today. We should note that the Cornell administration says that they support reopening the rape investigation. But the school continues to leave many questions unanswered, at least according to students. and also according to reporters, today CNN asked Cornell University for a specific breakdown of the discipline imposed on the fraternity members and Cornell's response remained the same as their initial statement from Monday saying quote, federal privacy law prohibits Cornell from disclosing specific information regarding individual students and we therefore are unable to make a public statement on any other disciplinary response unquote.

31:21In 1998, Congress created an exception to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, the law Cornell is referring to. And the exception allows colleges to disclose the final results of disciplinary proceedings when a student is found responsible for a violent crime or a sexual crime. The exception allows the information to be released. It does not require it, but it allows it. So do you think Cornell's explanation is valid, or is the university hiding behind privacy laws to avoid answering tougher questions. Yeah, I don't think they're hiding behind FERPA, the term we use for that statute.

31:58They're concerned about those reports being made public. But in this case, the better part of valor would be to make more of that clear in order to deal with the whole atmosphere on campus. You know, part of this too is that we get into this habit of thinking how many people were punished, how many were expelled, how many were suspended. And that is an important part of this, but it's not the entire piece of this. A very important piece of this is the educative piece of this. This is an opportunity to educate the Cornell campus about what's going on. Wholly separate from this case, 2025, a survey on that campus, 35 % of the women students reported some kind of non-consensual, inappropriate, unwanted sexual contact that they experienced.

32:41That's a problem. Most of those cases are not criminal cases. Some of those cases might not even be disciplinary cases. It doesn't mean it's not a problem that the university has to be thinking about. And this is not just a Cornell story. Universities have got to think about the role that they play, not just in educating in terms of the classes people take, but training students to be citizens, training them to be members of their communities, training them to be decent, fine people. Cornell itself talks about training students to make good judgment. this is the time to learn how to make good judgments in their professional lives, but also their personal lives.

33:17Yeah. For everybody in high schools and colleges across the country. Fred Lawrence, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Absolutely. America, we're now exactly, exactly five weeks out from midterm election day. And this week, CNN's All Over the Map series is headed to Georgia. Hear exactly why the race for Senate and Georgia governor have so many voters undecided.

34:02We'll be right back.

34:11New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. My name is David Chang, and I've been a chef for over 25 years. Before algorithms, finding something good to eat, been getting out in the world and looking for it. So I'm picking up my friends, hitting the road, and seeing what's out there. The Detour with David Chang on CNN. Now streaming with an all-access subscription. And we're back in our politics lead. Cue that election music, please. Today marks five weeks until midterm election day. in the key battleground of Georgia, the Peachtree State.

34:43Absentee ballots start going out next week. In-person early voting begins the week after. Georgia's U.S. Senate race will help determine which party comes out on top in the battle for control of the U.S. Senate. CNN's John King takes the pulse of the Peach State in his latest All Over the Map report.

35:03Early to work at Rebel Tea House. Christine Wynn first opened these doors four years ago. Six employees then, 18 now. A success story, but plenty of stress. Cost has risen 18 % across the board for us. It has been a struggle for a lot of people to get out there and to sort of purchase goods, so we're grateful that we do have such a good local community that will show up for the small businesses. This is Decatur in DeKalb County, the Atlanta suburbs. Decision time as Georgia picks a new governor and decides whether to send Democrat John Ossoff back to the Senate. So the cakey at the bottom is the sugar?

35:42Yeah, the cakey at the bottom is the sugar. Likely Ossoff for win. She likes how he mixes it up on social media and sees Democrats in Congress as more likely to help with a major business goal. Right now, for us to afford health care, it's not like I can work any harder to get it. it has to be something that comes from, you know, a bigger policy change. Quinn tends to vote blue, but is less certain in the governor's race. Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is the Democrat. Healthcare executive Rick Jackson, the Republican. Data centers is a big issue. Energy costs have already gone up. Being able to differentiate between whether or not it ties in with the data centers would be nice to know.

36:25But the biggest thing is how it affects the community and the people living in those areas. So this is Marietta campus. Kerry Foulkes lives in Atlanta, sees the change every drive to his graduate school studies in Marietta. Suburban Cobb County was solid red 15 years ago, solid blue now. A lot of the programs were found. But Foulkes still sees a lot of conservative Bible Belt outside of the suburbs. And he worries some younger students don't share his zeal for voting. Gen Z is just apathetic toward all of it. They don't see any sort of feasibility in voting because it's all just going to be terrible anyway.

37:05Why are we a part of this? The port of Savannah is all the way east, Chatham County. All aboard. Lifelong Republican Randy Powell lists immigration and taxes as his top issues, and he says it is unfair to blame just Trump and Republicans for high prices and high mortgage rates. I put the blame on both parties because they're not talking. No longer than 400 days. A flashback from 2009. I met Powell here 17 years ago, a Savannah police officer who, at the age of 50, was called back to military service and sent to Iraq. The soldier always does what he's told. That war was unpopular and brought big political change.

37:45The current war is unpopular, too, with a big election just ahead. I feel he did the right thing. President Trump loves America. He loves the people. And, you know, granted, there's this is short term pain. Jake, if you go back to the beginning of the cycle, Georgia was one of those places where Republicans thought maybe we can pick up a seat there. Like Michigan's also still a target. Republicans hoping to find a place they can flip a seat to offset what they expect to be midterm losses elsewhere. But privately, most Republicans would tell you they think Ossoff has a comfortable lead. There's still some Republican money going into the Georgia Senate race, but not as much as say Texas or Michigan or other places.

38:23The biggest question in Georgia seems to be at the moment, even though five weeks to go, can Ossoff's momentum somehow continue over and help the governor's race? All right, John King in Washington, D.C., thanks so much. Tomorrow, all eyes on another big contest, California's race for governor. This is why I'm in Los Angeles right now. Los Angeles is the site of CNN's debate. I'm going to moderate along with CNN's Dana Bash. That's tomorrow at 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific, live on CNN and on the CNN All Access app. Coming up next, today's major decision from the U.S. Supreme Court about a controversial deportation program.

38:57Plus, how in the world children, some just two years old, are in court alone fighting to stay in the United States. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is next. Up with that.

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39:41Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. We have some breaking news for you in our national lead today. the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to restart the program that removes migrants from the U.S., taking them to countries other than their home countries, without the opportunity to raise human rights concerns about where they're going. The court's three liberal justices dissented from the 6-3 decision. The court said it would hear arguments in the case later this year. Meanwhile, a CNN exclusive inside a Texas immigration court where dozens of children, some as young as two, are fighting to stay in the United States with their families.

40:18Let's bring in CNN's Priscilla Alvarez. And Priscilla, some of these children are there without lawyers or representation. How is that even possible? A lot of them are, Jake. And this is something that is playing out nationwide. And we got a glimpse of it at a Texas immigration court where our colleague Norma Galeana, along with a sketch artist, attended the hearings yesterday with 25 children. You're seeing some of those sketches there. Of course, there's no cameras allowed in the courtroom. So this is really a first look at what is happening behind closed doors. And that is, Jake, children who are appealing to an immigration judge to stay in the United States.

40:53It is ultimately that judge who will decide if they remain in the U.S. or if they're deported. There you have some children sitting on the bench. You'll notice in some of these sketches there is an adult present. That adult is a caseworker or shelter staff. They are not someone who are representing them in their case. There is another. You see that small head over the seat. That is another child who is not represented in immigration court. Something that happened yesterday, a 13-year-old was ordered removed from the United States when the immigration judge told him that he burst into tears. He did not have an attorney and he said, quote, I have no one, I have nothing, referring to Honduras.

41:36There was also a three-year-old who did have an attorney beaming in remotely and he was just playing with the mic, not really knowing how consequential this hearing was. And these are, Jake, unaccompanied migrant children. They are children who arrived to the U.S.-Mexico border alone or whose family members were detained by ICE and they are now in the custody of the U.S. government. Now, again, the reason for this is that there was a contract that lapsed over the summer for legal service providers. Now, there were hundreds of attorneys who were working through those contracts. The Trump administration has since signed another contract.

42:14However, I'm told that that organization just doesn't have enough staff, which means that the hundreds of children who remain detained, many of them are showing up to court without representation. Now, I did ask the Department of Health and Human Services about this, and a spokesperson told me the following, quote, Under the Trump administration, ORR remains committed to ensuring that every unaccompanied illegal alien child has legal representation in immigration court. However, Jake, the multiple sources that I spoke with about this, and even just sitting in that immigration courtroom yesterday in Texas, it made clear that there are still so many children who are not getting representation and who are facing an immigration judge who are essentially ordering them removed.

42:59Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. Still ahead, some of the fireworks as senators once again summoned former Special Prosecutor Jack Smith to Capitol Hill to testify about his investigations into President Trump. Plus, the embarrassing moment for one senator who tried to catch Smith in a lie. Stay with us.

43:22Welcome to The Lead, I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, the Atlanta Hawks, the Iowa Hawkeyes, how confusion over the two led a Republican senator to jump to some really wrong conclusions and accuse former special counsel Jack Smith of perjury. I'm going to speak with a senator who was in the room for today's heated testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Plus, a major announcement from Six Flags Amusement Park shutting down its famous X2 roller coaster after a CNN investigation. New reaction from people who say they were directly affected, including one woman with a life-changing brain injury.

43:55Also exactly five weeks away from midterm election day and the fight to control Congress, the state that has become a money pit for Republicans. $166 million spent on campaign ads. Voters, we feel your pain. And calling all Philly fans, you just got to see the special guest who joined me in the office and caused quite a commotion.

44:21Elite Tonight, a heated showdown between Senate Republicans and former Special Counsel Jack Smith. During today's Senate Judiciary hearing, Republicans made their disdain for special counsel Smith clear as they accused Smith of targeting Republicans when he prosecuted President Trump. You make me want to throw up in my mouth. You will go down as a total dirtbag. Javert from Les Mis would look at you with astonishment. Your conduct represents the most egregious abuse of power in the history of the Department of Justice. Several Republicans also criticized Smith for secretly subpoenaing lawmakers' phone and other records.

45:04Smith testified that the nondisclosures were in order to protect against Trump's potential obstruction of justice efforts. Donald Trump, in our case, in the elections case, later suggested that a witness, General Mark Milley, should be put to death. He said, if you come after me, I'm coming after you. We had an absolute basis to seek protection of our investigation from that sort of obstruction. Our securing these subpoenas and nondisclosure orders was consistent with the law. The toll records. It was explicitly contrary to federal statute. It was explicitly contrary to the federal constitution.

45:45Do you really believe that Lindsay was going to destroy evidence that was not even in his possession? No, I believe your brother was a patriotic public servant. He was not a target of our investigation. And in fact, he likely would have been a witness in our case. There was also this rather viral moment when Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri put some questions to Mr. Smith. The Missouri Republican suggested that in February 2024, Smith went to an NBA game in Atlanta between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks so that he could secretly meet with Fonnie Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, who was also trying to prosecute President Trump.

46:30I definitely did not go to a Hawks game. I'm sure of that. Did you ever meet Nathan Wade or Fannie Willis in your time at special counsel? No. What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in Atlanta at a Warrior Hawks game on February 3rd, 2024, the day after Willis and Wade announced their affair?

46:57I don't think you know that we have this stuff So I'll give you a second to process it so you don't you know perjure yourself You just took it down really quick if I could look at that again We need a copy of the actual text Can you give the witness the courtesy of giving him a copy of that? I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where Caitlin Clark was playing. Could it then be that University of Iowa is the Hawkeyes? Could that be it? And maybe before we show this kind of thing. But it's not your time. You are calling a witness a dirtbag. I presented him with text messages about him wanting to meet with people that could have obviously been related to the prosecution that was coordinated with his office in Atlanta.

47:46Yikes. There was indeed a women's college basketball game in Maryland between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Maryland Terrapins on that date, February 3rd, 2024. The Hawkeyes won, for what it's worth. Now to someone who was in the room for today's hearing, I want to bring in Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator, what was your takeaway from former special counsel Jack Smith's testimony today? He was very direct, factual, low key, as you could tell from those answers that you played. He was going through the facts, the evidence, the law that led him to indict Donald Trump for obstruction of justice and for inciting the riot on January 6th that caused more than 140 Capitol Police officers to be assaulted and almost the counting of the vote to be stopped, the peaceful transition of power to be halted.

48:41And on the other hand, as you also saw from some of the name-calling there, it was kind of a new low in demagoguery and incivility, recalling some of the great moments in that very room, senators earning the respect and dignity that is accorded the United States Senate. This kind of hearing was very much in contrast. And I will just say one more thing, Jake. That room was the place where we sought refuge on January 6. there was a kind of supreme irony to this hearing because we were taken there. It was our undisclosed location as we hustled, in fact, ran to safety, hearing the shouts and seeing the weaponry and then on TV, all of the pictures which now are so familiar to Americans.

49:37And so I really think that we have to recall what happened on January 6th and the conclusion of those grand juries that Jack Smith impaneled, that Donald Trump was responsible, the person most responsible, that he incited the riot, that he foresaw the results, and then he exploited the results of that mob action. What was the deal with Senator Schmidt and the basketball game? Did he ever explain what happened? Was his staff mixing up text message that said Hawks and Hawkeyes? I can't really make sense of what happened. He simply got it wrong, whether it was his staff or himself, the Hawkeyes and the Hawks.

50:25Maybe it's an understandable confusion, but to imply that someone is guilty of perjury and calling him a dirtbag when the senator was the one confused, I think shows you if you're going to try a Perry Mason moment, you better have your facts straight. I'm a former federal prosecutor, U.S. attorney for Connecticut, as well as state attorney general, and cross-examination depends on reliable facts. But I will say that this kind of incivility is, I think, repugnant to the American people. And they ought to be focused on what happened on January 6th, the felonies that occurred and the need to prevent it from happening again.

51:11Several Republicans blasted Smith for secretly subpoenaing lawmakers' phone records during his investigation into Trump. The phone companies were not able to notify lawmakers due to judicial nondisclosure orders. And it wasn't the content of the conversation, but it was just about who called who. Now there's a bipartisan bill from Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware that would make it harder for the federal government to access someone's private electronic data. Would you support that bill? I would support a bill that protects privacy. But let's be clear about what actually happened here.

51:47The subpoenas were to the phone company and to the National Archives and Records Administration for Donald Trump's records, not for congressional information. The texts that were produced as a result involved Donald Trump. The phone records that were produced, and you're absolutely right, none of them concerned content. It was simply the fact of the call. The texts, by the way, were from both Democrats and Republicans who were in communication with Trump during that period, June 4th to June 7th. And the phone calls were as a result of either contacts, calls made by the members of Congress to Donald Trump or vice versa.

52:32And, you know, as I said to some of my colleagues, if you phone a mob boss and the mob boss records are subpoenaed, your name is going to show up. And that's what happened here. After the hearing, Republican Senator Tom Tillis in North Carolina argued that both Republican and Democratic administrations have weaponized the Justice Department. Take a Listen. Everybody wants to pick the one side that they don't happen to have that jersey on to indict them. And if everybody's intellectually honest, every year almost said a bad word, every doggone one of them are equally guilty. They're silent. What's your response?

53:10Well, there is no question that the Trump administration weaponized the Department of Justice in a way that is unprecedented and unparalleled in American history. and by their own admission, the leaders of this Department of Justice say, in effect, they're Donald Trump's lawyers. They should be the people's lawyers. Jack Smith was very clear. He was not told by anyone to investigate anything in particular. Obviously, he was investigating a crime. He found that a crime had been committed. He found beyond a reasonable doubt that the evidence and facts and law showed that Donald Trump committed serious crimes that imperiled our democracy, but it was never a political figure telling him what to do or politics that involved this investigation and prosecution.

54:06Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, thank you so much. Appreciate it. In Massachusetts today, a major shift in defense from Lindsay Clancy, that mother accused of deliberately killing her three children, what her attorney is now calling for weeks after the case ended in a mistrial. Plus, a lot more oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. Could that motivate Trump to end the war against Iran?

54:35In our world lead with considerable help from the United States Navy, Gulf oil producers are managing to get a lot more oil through the Strait of Hormuz. Marine data trackers say oil and petroleum product has averaged 13.1 million barrels per day. That's just under 80 percent of the 17.1 million barrels that travel through the Strait every day before the war. Meanwhile, Washington and Tehran are signaling they could return to talks this week. Joining us now, CNN National Security Analyst Alex Plitzes. Alex, the U.S. has successfully suppressed Iran's ability to disrupt shipping and is providing enough security to bring oil flows close to pre-war levels.

55:11What does this mean for Iran and how long can the U.S. Navy be required to do this?

55:19So the U.S. Navy could be required to do this for as long as this operation takes, but there is a wear and tear that comes with that. And we've seen some of the longest deployments in carrier history in the United States over the last couple of rotations. And so what that means on the back end is those carriers are going to be in dry dock for quite some time on repair. So the implications for the Navy will take place over the next several years where those carriers will be in sustained maintenance, which means they won't be available to go back out to sea. For the Iranians, that is the reason that they had their militias in Iraq attack the east-west pipeline about a week ago in which the Saudi pipeline that moved a lot of oil across the desert to the port of Yenbo on the Red Sea out of commission.

55:57And then we saw the Houthis push through to the coast and potentially put the Bab al-Mendab at risk. Both of those were meant to counter these gains that the U.S. has made in moving oil out through the Arabian Gulf to about 80 percent of pre-war levels, as you've meant, because part of Iran's four-point strategy is to increase the price of oil and gas and goods to try to put pressure on the United States. So not good for Iran. The blockade is on, their back is in the corner, and we've seen them lash out previously. So how much longer this lasts without Iran lashing out is yet to be seen. What has Iran's strategy been as they continue to try to control as much of the strait as possible?

56:32And how much power do they still have? So they certainly still have power left. I mean, because one of the things that they learned through this past conflict is they don't need to actually shut down the Strait of Hormuz with mines. They actually don't need a nuclear program to hold people at risk from a deterrent perspective. A few drones and a few missiles hitting ships is sufficient to keep most of the major shipping carriers from transiting the strait. However, the U.S. has now learned that they're able to successfully help navigate and use smaller ships to move oil and gas out of the strait.

57:02So it's kind of a move, counter-move situation that we found ourselves in. Their strategy to date has been a four-pillar one. So one has been to increase or maximize U.S. casualties to the extent possible. The second is to increase the price of oil and gas. The third is to put pressure on the GCC states, the Gulf allies, by firing rockets and missiles at them and getting them to pressure the U.S. And finally, the fourth is to divide the president's base going into midterm elections because the Iranians believe that the midterms are what President Trump cares about. They're mistaken in that sense and they continue to look at this the wrong way.

57:34But they're continuing to push pressure on the United States, hoping that that's going to get the president to capitulate within the next 40 days before the midterm elections. Do these potential talks between Washington and Tehran that are being discussed now, are they different from previous rounds in any meaningful way? the previous rounds that either fell apart or never ended up coming to fruition?

57:59Not particularly, unfortunately. I was hoping for better news. But the seven-day plan that was discussed actually is not an Iranian plan. It's one that was devised by the Gulf states. And they were hoping to get Iran and Oman to come together on an agreement of how ships could transit the straits about two weeks ago. But Iran issued a statement that was maximalist in its demands. You know, we're going to control the waterway. It's a future state, you know, bargaining chip and the Gulf states looked at it and said, forget it, this is ridiculous, we're not going to allow this meeting to take place, and they canceled it.

58:27And they've continued to try to push Iran to come to an agreement with Oman. That, by the way, is 0.5 out of the 14-point plan that's a page and a half long that the U.S. had come to an agreement with Iran on. So the hope was that if we could get them to come to an agreement on that point of how the Strait of Hormuz would function, they could go back to a negotiating stance. And what that was was seven days of no hostilities in the strait, Iran doesn't fire. The U.S. lifts the blockade. There's some humanitarian aid that goes and it facilitates discussions. What ended up happening in response, though, is after the Gulf states talked to Iran about that, they presented the U.S., well, if you lift all of the sanctions, if you unfreeze all of our assets and basically give us everything that we want, then maybe we'll lift everything and we can negotiate afterwards.

59:08The U.S. rejected it, and that's where we're at at the moment. All right, Alex Plitzis, thank you so much. Appreciate it. A big decision from Six Flags Amusement Parks today to shut down its world-famous X2 roller coaster after a CNN investigation exposed years of injuries and even deaths. Reaction to that announcement next.

59:34One month after an investigation first on CNN, Six Flags Amusement Parks is now permanently shutting down its famous X2 roller coaster at Magic Mountain in Los Angeles County. They say more than 100 people have come forward blaming the ride for brain injuries they suffered just in the last two years. Attorneys also cite deaths linked to the ride. Let's bring in CNN senior investigative correspondent Kyung La, who's been all over this story. Kyung, what reason is Six Flags giving for shutting down this ride? Well, broadly, Jake, the company is citing guest confidence being affected. But let's walk through the facts here before I get to their full statement.

1:00:12About a month ago, with reporting colleagues Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, our CNN investigation exposed a history of severe brain injuries and deaths linked to the X2 roller coaster. Our investigation documented allegations of injured riders, some of those allegations dating back more than a decade. All of this was largely kept under wraps until two women ended up in the same emergency room right after they got off the X2 ride. They had both been on the ride the same week in July, both underwent emergency brain surgery. Their surgeons said that they believe their traumatic brain injuries were caused by the X2 ride.

1:00:50Pamela Gillen and the parents of Naomi Greer Wilkinson spoke to us. And after we shared their stories on CNN, 100 additional victims reached out to their lawyer, all 100 of those victims claiming to be injured from the ride in the last two years, according to their attorney. Now that brings us to today's announcement. Six Flags Magic Mountain says that X2 will permanently shut down. The company's president wrote, quote, while X2 consistently passed a multitude of safety tests, we have decided to close the ride because we believe it's the right thing to do. Ride safety is a cornerstone of our business.

1:01:28And when we see guest confidence affected, we take it seriously. Jake. You heard from some of the families suing Six Flags about this now shuttered ride. What are they telling you? The two women I just mentioned, we did hear from their families today. Pam Gillen, who was released from the hospital, but she is still suffering from brain damage. You can see how severe her injury was. She said, quote, I'm relieved that X2 is closing for good. I never should have been hurt and neither should have the others who were. And we also heard from the parents of Naomi Greer Wilkinson. They tell us, quote, this is long overdue.

1:02:07This should have happened long before Naomi's brain injury. And we're happy to hear that now, finally, no one else's daughter or sister will ever be able to be hurt on this ride again. We do need to point out that Naomi still is in the hospital, Jake, and she is still in a coma. Jake. Kyung-La, thank you so much. A big interview coming up on The Lead. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will be here. What he's revealing now about his 2023 arrest in Russia on trumped up espionage charges and spending 16 months behind bars in a Russian prison. Plus, the ever so close Senate race going down in Texas.

1:02:45Hear just how much money Republicans are spending to try to win in this ruby red state.

1:03:06And we're back with our politics lead. The midterm countdown now only 35 days until election day. Republicans face headwinds in many congressional contests, including the Senate race in Ohio, if recent polls are to be believed. Incumbent Republican Senator John Husted, who was appointed to the seat last year to backfill J.D. Vance, who became the vice president, And Husted now faces former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, who lost his seat in 2024 to Bernie Moreno. A new Marist poll shows Brown has an eight point lead over Husted among registered voters, not likely voters, but registered. It's not exactly the margins Republicans want to see in a ruby red state like Ohio as they fight to keep control of the Senate.

1:03:50My panel joins me now. Mike Dubke, The New York Times taking a closer look at Ohio. speaking with voters. Take a look. Here's one quote. I don't know a whole lot about who's dead, said Debbie Granko, 67, a Republican, as she stroked her pony spirit at the Delaware County Fair in central Ohio last week. It's Sherrod Brown in there, right? The Times goes on to quote a Republican strategist who says name recognition isn't everything. But Mike, this can't be reassuring to Republicans who know that Ohio should be a lock. It should be a lock. And I mean, it wasn't that long ago that Ohio was the toss-up state, and now it should be a Republican lock.

1:04:31So this is a bit distressing. I do think when you've got a candidate on the ballot in the former lieutenant governor, now Senator Husted, who hadn't run statewide, has run statewide, but not for a seat like this, on his own in this high profile, we've got a bit of a, you know, name recognition is important here, but you know, I'm hopeful that Ohio comes back and that's, I think you're going to ask about a whole bunch of states and that's going to be my answer, I think, in a number, to a number of these questions. You're heading me off at the pass. Chuck Rocha, how confident are you? Let me just state for the record here, I don't believe any polls.

1:05:12I'm just a poll skeptic. Okay. When it comes to the state by eight or house by house contest. I just, I maybe for national mood or whatever, but not for this kind of thing. Cause you can't predict the voters and you can't, I just don't even know if people know how to poll anymore. That said, what do you think? Well, I'm working in a lot of these races. I'm working in the Senate race in Texas and a number of the other Senate races and 25 congressional races. And I can tell you this, we've talked about this before, Jake, the American public, Democrat, independent, or Republican are pissed. And they're just pissed that they can't catch up.

1:05:46No matter if they get four hours of overtime, eight hours of overtime, pick up a shift on a weekend, they can't get ahead. And the party in power gets blamed and that's Republicans. Guess what? Republicans, we got blamed two years ago. That's how we got Donald Trump. And the other thing you can't do in politics, and Jake, you're right about the polls, is watch where the money and the people go. You can't hide those two things. And Republicans are pouring money into places like Texas, Alaska, Iowa, places we didn't expect them to. That tells you what you need to because money don't lie. Yeah, I do believe in following what the politicians do because their polling is so much more intense and so much more expensive than the public polling.

1:06:25So I should be more precise. I'm talking about like, you know, like us. But let's talk more about the Texas Senate race, because I do believe it is competitive, just like I believe Ohio is competitive. A new CNN analysis found that since the start of this month, September, Republicans have spent$166 million to help boost the campaign of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. $166 million. That's more than Michigan and Maine combined. In fact, a single ad for Paxton aired 258 times during the courtroom show Judge Duty this month alone. Mike Dubke, obviously this is what you get when you put up a candidate like Ken Paxton.

1:07:05You need a lot of money. Could it make the difference? I think part of it's going to make a difference, but Chuck's right. The voters are pissed. Now, if you believe that, and I think Republicans do and they understand that, how do you make them pissed about something other than their pocketbook? And that is going to be the struggle here. And I think in Texas, what you're going to see is there's going to be a lot of conversations about the Democratic standard bearer for Senate. And are you so pissed off that you're going to vote for this guy for the U.S. Senate? So that's part of it. But at the end of the day, this is why candidates matter.

1:07:52And we'll see how Texas fares. Chuck, it's not just Republican spending in the Lone Star State, of course. The Democratic Senate Majority PAC says it's about to invest in Tallarico. I assume you would interpret that as a positive sign because in September, heading into October, they're not going to invest unless they think there's a decent shot. That's a huge, huge sign because there's only so much money to go around. And we're talking about Iowa and Ohio and Michigan and all these places for them to step into Texas shows that the race is where me and you think it is. I know it is because I can see the inside polling, not only there, but in congressional races.

1:08:31But let me put a little more meat on that bone on what you said about that$160 million. That's only really been spent since Labor Day. That's the craziness about this. James Tallarico, through the summer and through the early part of the fall here, has been on TV by himself, building up a reputation of who he is without being unabated by any Republican. That's going to be the real tell. Is all of this late money make a difference when James Tallarico's been out there telling a message to people. And the last point is, is I'm working in all of these Southern congressional races where there's heavy Latinos.

1:09:05And these same Latinos voted for Donald Trump two years ago. Well, they may be the most pissed because they're the most affected by gas and diesel prices. And they happen to be more middle class. So the construction industry and what's happening with ICE is all a perfect storm for this Latino hurricane to hit Republicans in the mouth come the midterms. Mike, there's this other issue on the ballot this midterm season, AI, data centers. CNN poll finds nearly two thirds of registered voters say data centers and AI will be an extremely or very important factor in their vote for Congress. President Trump met with top tech executives at the White House today.

1:09:38He spoke about data centers. Take a listen. So you're going to see data centers are going to be very popular. But even in America, there are so many people that want data centers. You know, the areas with data centers have become very rich. People have become very rich. An NBC News poll released earlier this month found a majority of Americans oppose construction of any AI data center in their community. So I'm not saying that President Trump's wrong, that there aren't people who want it. I mean, 31 percent strongly support it, but it does look like the president is with the 31 percent and not the majority on this issue.

1:10:14Yeah, but sometimes, Jake, you got to lead. And I think that's where the president is on this. Look, people are afraid. I think data centers are part of a larger conversation about AI or SI or whatever we're calling it today. This isn't a branding issue. We're in a change from an information society to an intelligence society, the new way of things getting done, and that is unnerving. So we've got cost of living problems right now, but we've also got this new technology that's come. And I actually give the president some credit here by leading on this and pushing America to basically be a leader in this new endeavor.

1:10:58So it's going to be tight. But I think he's doing the right thing. He's being a leader on this. I want to talk once more about one of the more bizarre moments of the day during the Jack Smith hearing on the Hill in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is a room where there are a lot of cameras can catch a lot of different angles. So there was this awkward moment when Missouri Republican Senator Eric Smith tried to link Jack Smith to some sort of secret meeting with officials in Atlanta. He was citing text messages and he said that Jack Smith was at an Atlanta Hawks game on February 3rd, 2024.

1:11:31That's the day after Fannie Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney, acknowledged she'd been having an affair with a special prosecutor. Jack Smith shut down the theory, said he was not at a Hawks game in Atlanta. he was at a Hawkeyes game, the Iowa Hawkeyes in College Park, Maryland. Now, I want to show you Senator Katie Britt of Alabama. She used to be a staffer on Capitol Hill. That's what you really need to understand about this. She used to be the chief of staffer, Senator Dick Shelby. So I just want you to watch Senator Katie Britt's face while Eric Schmidt was setting himself on fire.

1:12:10I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where Caitlin Clark was playing right around that time. And the Marshal Service was there with me. You could check if that was the exact date. It was Maryland playing Iowa, I think, February of 2024.

1:12:32Chuck, any thoughts on Senator Britt's reaction phase? All I'm going to say is it's ad making season and not only am I going to clip that for an ad, it's Donald Trump saying that data centers are good. It's already been clipped by my team today and we're putting in congressional races tomorrow. I mean, you know, she's a lovely lady and a wonderful senator, I'm sure to her constituents, but that is just a meme waiting to happen. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. Up next, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Grishkovich. He spent 16 long months in a Russian prison on trumped up espionage charges.

1:13:04Despite the misery, He managed to do his job as a reporter. He has this incredible new book out today. He's going to talk about it next year on The Lead.

1:13:20In our world lead today, it's been a little over two years since Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Grishkovich touched down in the United States after spending 16 months in a Russian prison. His brand new book, This Cursed Beautiful Land, a Russian-American Story, is out today. It's a fantastic book, well reported and really well written, and it details his upbringing by his immigrant parents, one from Ukraine, the other from Russia, his first few years reporting in Russia, his arrest on these bogus espionage charges, his time in prison, the sham trial, fascinating details behind the largest ever East-West post-Soviet prisoner swap, and his eventual freedom.

1:14:03The book is candid, includes insights into his conversation with President Biden on the tarmac where Biden told him, quote, if you ever want to speak, not as a reporter and a president, but just as two people, he offered, my doors always open. It is my honor to welcome to the lead, Evan Gershkovich. Thank you so much for joining us. We've been covering you for some time and it's wonderful to meet you and wonderful to read your book. At the beginning of the book, you quote one of the Russian investigators who said you were being charged with espionage. She quoted the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, you can't step in the same river twice.

1:14:43And the full quote goes on to say, because it is not the same river and he is not the same man. And I wonder, how have you changed as a man after stepping into that river? How are you doing? So first off, Jake, thanks so much for having me, but also thank you for all the support while I was on that stint, so to speak. I've been thinking about that a lot in the past few days with the book coming out about where I stand. And interestingly enough, I feel actually like I'm kind of myself again. And I think that's partly to do with the work that I put in after the therapy, the processing, and that's partly writing this book.

1:15:27I think with a traumatic event, you have to force yourself to look at it and think about it and come to terms with it. And that's kind of what a book does. But that could have stayed private. That could have been my own work with a therapist. but I really wanted people to see something beyond just my, you know, just my experience, but the experience of the Russian people. And so I hope that they can, you know, they find a book that's much broader than that. Oh, it is. It's great. Yeah. I mean, it really gets into who your parents are, the immigrant experience, uh, and it's unsparing, uh, and candid, um, your parents, Ella and Mikhail, they came on the show on the 250th day of your imprisonment.

1:16:05They told me they still had hope for you to come home, but they were worried about you. Of course, your mom shared that you told her it was like fighting against a stream just to get through every day. What kept you going on these incredibly brutal days in a Russian prison? You know, I think one thing that's really important to point out is that I think the Russian state is really calculating in how they treat certain prisoners. And so in my case, if it's a cynical setup to take somebody for a swap and eventually swap them, that means that I'm not being treated in the sort of brutal ways that we know how they can treat people.

1:16:41Victoria Rochner, a Ukrainian journalist, was taken captive in Russian-occupied Ukraine around the same time, and she came home in a body bag. She was killed, and her body organs were removed, so her parents couldn't figure out what happened with her. And that's not what happened with me. They treated me like this sort of pristine package to be kept and swapped, so my value would stay very high. And that was a kind of known secret from day one. My first night in prison, we have a television on state news. A newscaster like you, except it's for state propaganda, says, it might be cynical, but we've replenished our exchange fund, so to speak, the term the Russians use for the group of people that they take capture to then trade.

1:17:30And so knowing that as a reporter who was working in the country for five and a half years up to that point, had reported on cases like this, that really helped. You know, also having this wide support network from my newsroom to other journalists like yourself, also my family, my friends, my girlfriend who really, you know, rallied around me. So I really wasn't alone. And also my Russian background that you alluded to at the beginning. You know, I spoke the language. I understood the customs. And so I could have conversations with my cellmates, understand what was going on on television and newspapers, but also talk to prison guards and talk to, you know, FSB officials.

1:18:06And as a journalist, it was a sort of unique opportunity kind of, you know, to end up there. When I got to Russia in 2017, it was more open, but it's not like we could waltz in and interview a Kremlin official or let alone an FSB official on any day. And, you know, now that I was there, I understood it's not a situation that I could change. So I really focused on treating it, you know, in a way as a kind of coping mechanism, as a reporting assignment. Yeah. You also write about Putin's turn against media organizations just before the full scale invasion of Ukraine. You say, quote, one outlet was branded undesirable, a coded term used to denote a national security threat after it published a story alleging that Putin had a previously unknown daughter, his third, who had been born out of wedlock in 2003.

1:18:50Now, obviously, we have freedom of speech and freedom of the press in this country. And yet, obviously, freedom of the press has been chilled in this country. And in fact, this national security labeling is not only in Russia. We at CNN and Politico and MSNOW have recently been labeled, although the judge didn't buy it, national security risks. How do you as a symbol of press freedom or the lack of it in Russia, how do you see what's going on in the U.S. right now? I mean, I think, you know, one thing to point out in terms of the differences between the U.S. and Russia at this point is that that undesirable designation for Russian, independent Russian news outlets for that one specifically meant that anybody associated with that outlet would automatically end up in jail for six years.

1:19:37Right. And so those journalists all had to flee the country. And they did. You know, one of them, Roman Vandanyan, who wrote a brilliant book about Putin last year. he's at Stanford. He can't be in the country anymore. So we're at a different, let's call it a different stage. And I personally don't think it's always useful in comparing. I think we can look at what's happening in the States on their own terms. Since I've been home, my newspaper has been sued, reported for a newspaper, was doxed by the president, the vice president, and Musk, who was running Doge at the time. And yeah, exactly what happened, just selecting certain in television stations and excluding them from the pool because you feel like it doesn't seem like the best way to uphold the First Amendment.

1:20:24And I think that on its own isn't exactly great. I think sometimes these comparisons can be a bit too drastic. Since I've been home, I've seen comparisons to Hungary during Viktor Orban's rule on sort of organization, and maybe that's more apt. But I think we can just judge it on its own that it's not the best situation for the press right now back home. Agree. Agree 100 percent. Evan Gershkovich, I have a billion questions for you, but we have to go. And I know you have a lot of interviews to do. I hope you'll come back on The Lead, not just to talk about your experience, but also to talk about your expertise in Russia and Ukraine and everything else.

1:21:03And I'm so glad that your mom and dad have you back. Thanks so much, Jake. Thanks again. The puck drops next as a special guest pays a visit to the lead. You're not going to want to miss it. Stay with us.

1:21:22In our sports lead, the puck drops on a new hockey season. NHL on TNT returns tomorrow night with an epic doubleheader, including the battle for Pennsylvania. My Philadelphia Flyers taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins. But before the faceoff, a special guest stopped by the lead. As a native Philadelphian, I can tell you that whenever fall rolls around, there's one thing we can all count on. The return of beloved oddball Philadelphia Flyers mascot, Gritty. Gritty told me he wanted to get me ready for the season. He may have overdone it. Gritty, what are you doing with my suits? It is nice having one of my good friends from Philly come for a visit.

1:22:09Although some are finding my guests a little distracting. Uh, Jake, is everything okay in here? I'm fine. It's hockey season.

1:22:21Gritty said he wanted to help me prepare for my show.

1:22:31If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. But I didn't really know what he meant by help. And in our national lead, tomorrow the city of Philadelphia will attempt to set a world record for the most people eating a cheesesteak at the same time. And let me tell you, Flyers mascot Gritty is on a truly generational run. Chaotic, iconic, and he is the epitome of peak performance. Who wrote this? Did someone let Gritty into the control room? Anyway, the Orange and Black are back Wednesday night. Let's go Flyers, beat Pittsburgh.

1:23:10Guys, why am I orange?

1:23:17Thanks so much to Gritty, my bestie, for stopping by. Also tomorrow, CNN is hosting a debate in California's race for governor between Democrat Javier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton. I will moderate alongside CNN's Dana Bash. That is tomorrow night at 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific, only on CNN, and we'll carry it on all our platforms, CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, and streaming on the CNN All Access app. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Fred's X, and on the TikTok at JigTapper. 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.

1:23:55Aaron Burnett Out Front starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.

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