Trump: “A Lot Of Good” Can Come From A Shutdown

23:14You messed with my family. My son was born in Lejeune and he was hurting. I wish I had let him die when we're in the delivery room and the doctors were telling me we have to give him another blood transfusion. David lived, suffered until he was eight. I figured it was an act of God. I figured it was for something in my life that I'd done bad and I'm getting paid back. And how does it make you feel when you know that it was probably the water at the camp? You know, that, that drives me crazy. Congress finally passed a bill in 2022 allowing Marines like Norm Stites and their kin to file civil claims over birth defects, cancer and more that they say were caused by contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

24:06Remember all those injury lawyer commercials. You may be eligible for significant financial compensation. Please give us a call. Just over 400 ,000 claims have been filed, says the Navy. Just over 1 ,000 settled. And justice delayed can be, and in this case is starting to be, justice denied. Because people have died.

24:29Jake Tapper:Because people have died. Norm Stites has filed a claim for his son and himself. They found cancer in my thyroid. I had another cancer removed from my bladder. Citing pending litigation, the DOJ declined to comment. They are stalling off, period. They don't want to pay the money? The only thing that myself and most of the people feel is, yes, it's the money. Here's the history. From 1953 through 1987, water at Lejeune was contaminated by an off-base dry cleaner, leaky storage tanks and chemical dumping. as many as a million people were potentially exposed. Our clothes were washed in the water.

25:10We bathed in the water. We drank the water. Tests in 1980, 81 and 85 found the contamination, but the worst wells weren't closed until 1987. And the first major warning and outreach we can find wasn't until 1999, recruiting participants for a study into potential health problems. Norm Stites now spends many nights here drumming in the wee hours. If I'm having bad days, this is stakes that are all the way. I had a daughter that died too. One month old. Finding my daughter dead in that crib in the morning was worse than Vietnam. Now there's another bill before Congress that would expand a number of judges who can handle these cases from just four to many more and reduce some of the demands for evidence.

26:01Jake Tapper:A lot of the fight that the DOJ has put forward has been based on, give us a sample of that water in the 1970s, show us what was in it. Well, the water samples don't exist. One of the other provisions here is to cap your fee. If a cap on my fees allows these senators and these representatives to pass this bill, I welcome that. Are you now at least optimistic that... No. Really? I don't really know. It's just stall, stall, stall, stall until you die. Now, in an email, the Navy tells me that some of the claims don't have supporting documents. Some are for injuries that aren't covered. And they tell me that the time taken to settle a claim is, quote, entirely dependent on timely receipt of relevant supporting documents.

26:48Now, Norm Stites, who we just heard from, he has bladder cancer, which is number one on the list of injuries on the form. And he filed in December of 2022. So coming up on three years, he is still waiting and Jake losing hope. All right, Nick Watt, thank you so much for staying on top of the story. Let's bring in Republican Congressman Greg Murphy of North Carolina. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. As we have reported before, Camp Lejeune's in your district and you have been very aggressive trying to help these survivors. We spoke two months ago about this and a bill called the Ensuring Justice for Camp Lejeune Victims Act.

27:23Are you any close closer to getting that passed now than you were a few months ago? Well, obviously, with the looming shutdown, we're not doing anything about that right at present time. But this is now in the Judiciary Committee. All the members really have been briefed very heavily on this and what the changes are. We're strengthening the bill by clearing evidentiary standards, capping the attorney's fees, which was an issue, making sure that people have a jurisdiction really that's going to be able to handle the claims that have been heretofore just in one particular district. And they're really trying to strengthen up the bill.

27:59And so I think it's in a good place. Yeah, getting anything through Congress of this magnitude is very, very difficult. Why the Biden DOJ would not allow jury trials still is beyond me. I don't know why, how that got passed, but I'm a physician, not an attorney. So we've been working very, very hard on this to try to bring the people of Camp Lejeune justice. You know, as you point out, 400 ,000 claims and very, very few adjudicated comparatively. You know, as a physician, I want to see people healed, but I also want to have some closure to this also. So hopefully sooner than later. I'm sure you've heard many, many stories like the one we just aired.

28:36Can you promise that these veterans and their families ultimately will get the justice they deserve? Well, Jake, I can't promise anything when I'm one vote in 435 plus you add another hundred. I can just promise them that I'm working very, very hard on this. You know, this has become, I inherited this from our former congressman who had worked on it for a very long time. I was happy that it was the Camp Legere and Justice Act was included in the PAC Act. But sometimes we have to go back and refine things for the Navy or whoever it is really to stand up and push forward. We're doing the very, very best we can.

29:08But, you know, I personally can't promise anybody anything. That wouldn't be fair. I appreciate your honesty. Can I just say that I just constantly find it amazing how and I'm not talking about you, but how many ways we as a country figure out to screw our veterans. It just never it never stops amazingly. me? Well, I'd love to know who the point person who allowed all this, who knew this first at the beginning, why the delay occurred, why were people still exposed to this, and why it's not gotten hastened. That said, that's not helping the people today. That's more of an academic pursuit. I'd like to get this adjudicated.

29:45I'd like to get this put forward. I'd like to put this in the books and give these people closure. And that's what I'm working very hard, ardently on. Well, Well, stay in touch with our show. We'll keep covering it until this is actually passed. I appreciate it. Congressman Greg Murphy of the great state of North Carolina. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. A mayor just outside Chicago said today that the Trump administration is running a disinformation campaign and making war on her community. That sentiment likely propelled even more today by the president's own words. We'll get into that next.

30:20And our politics lead, President Trump, earlier today announced a new plan for what he calls America's dangerous cities. In our inner cities, which we're going to be talking about, because it's a big part of war now, it's a big part of war. We're under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don't wear uniforms. At least when they're wearing a uniform, you can take them out. These people don't have uniforms. But we are under invasion from within. And I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but military.

31:03I'm here with my panel. So Jonah Goldberg, first of all, he wasn't very unspecific about who he was talking about. It's not like he was talking about undocumented criminals was MS-13. He's not talking about Antifa. It was just like, from within this menace, he wants to turn cities like Chicago into military training grounds. What's your response? What might that even look like? Yeah, so I think that's appalling in its own right for a whole bunch of different reasons. Just a fact check. It is very different than a wartime situation in all sorts of important ways, constitutionally, morally, legally, factually, all that kind of stuff.

31:39The biggest disconnect for me was that you had Pete Hegseth, who said some things I think are perfectly defensible and all that kind of stuff, but one of his major focuses was lethality, lethality, lethality. Like, our military is going to be lethal. We're going to be, we kill people to defend our country. And then the top of the card comes on stage, the commander-in-chief, and says, yeah, we're going to train our lethal military in American cities. That's weird stuff. Yeah. I mean, I have written this a few times in my columns over the past few months. I think the crime issue obviously can be a beneficial thing for Republicans.

32:16Sure. You see the polling. Typically, voters trust Republicans over Democrats. And crime is bad, without question. And they need more cops in all the cities, of course. Absolutely. But, you know, there's a way to talk about this and a way not to talk about it. You know, it reminded me back just a few weeks ago when Trump was tweeting about, what did he call Chicago, a war zone or something? I can't remember. It's called Portland War Rap. I think we were actually on together for a panel about that. But it's... Today he said D.C. is more dangerous than Afghanistan. Talk about protecting what you want to do to protect Americans, what you want to do to try to eradicate crime.

32:50And I mean, look, they have a number of things they can point to. I mean, I'm thinking about Irena Zaruska's murder in that video. Sure. That was so gut-wrenching and horrible. And it was a repeat offender situation. This is something that a lot of even Democrats are uncomfortable with. It's an easy sort of topic for Republicans to sort of pivot to say, this is a problem. We want to change it. But they're not doing it that way. They're talking about it, as you said, like, you know, we're going to train the military, our lethal military in Chicago. It's just there's a way to resonate with people and there's a way not.

33:22And that's the way not to. And it's a great point that you're making because there is a vulnerability that Democrats have when it comes to permissive structures that allow repeat offenders, violent repeat offenders out on the streets. when it comes to there not being enough police because there was this like vogue era of defund the police, et cetera, et cetera. But sending our troops after they've been, after they become the manliest, deadliest troops ever to downtown Chicago to do what? Who is the enemy from within he's talking about? Yeah, I think he likes to keep it vague. And some of it, you can drive yourself a little crazy trying to overthink what his personal motivations are on these things.

34:04But I think the White House messaging on this is in part to freak people out and get them to overreact and say, see how unreasonable they are. All we're really talking about is having the National Guard protect some immigration, you know, federal buildings in downtown Portland. And you're the ones who are screaming fascist, right? And so you get this sort of race to the bottom of hysterical language that triggers more hysterical responses. and you get a place where it puts everybody on edge, and that's actually beneficial with Trump. So the president also teased that there are more changes to come.

34:43Once we'll be making even more historic announcements to fully embrace the identity of the Department of War. I love the name. I think it's so great. I think it stops wars. The Department of War is going to stop wars. Can we just take one second to talk about his presentation? He seems to be slurring, like he has some dentifrice issues going on. I hadn't even noticed it. Yeah. Or Jonah had, sorry. Yeah, he sounds slurry to me. It could be that it's just very early in the morning to get up. It could have been the mic. But he sounded a little bit slurry later in the day, too. Anyway, back to the substance.

35:21Yeah, sure. What are these more historic announcements? Do we have any idea what he's talking about? I'm not sure at this point what it's going to be. But I mean, look, he's trying to project the United States' strong man image. And, you know, it's interesting to me because he's already done this. I mean, like, we already see a bunch of our allies are concerned. You know, the whole world is worried about tariffs. You know, what is the U.S. going to do on this and that? But look, he's trying to double down on that and try to, you know, project this tough man image. It's part of the changing of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

35:52But there is a weird binary thing about this talk today. He went, again, hard saying, you stupid idiots, why aren't you giving me a Nobel Peace Prize, right, about all these wars he stopped and all that kind of stuff. But then when you start talking about, you know, how you're going to use your troops on American cities, that's the kind of thing that makes the sort of squishy people in the Nobel Peace Prize committee kind of nervous. And I don't think he understands that the messaging for domestic consumption is also messaging for foreign consumption. Yeah. The Democratic mayor of Broadview, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago, spoke today about the ICE raids impact on her community.

36:28Take a listen. Our Hispanic residents, our African-American residents, our Asian-American residents, our white residents are all begging for relief from ICE siege of our neighborhood and our community. The Department of Homeland Security is running a disinformation campaign that will make even Russian blush. And they are making war on my community. Do you think Democrats in D.C. are hearing Democrats like her? That seems like a very different message than what Democrats in D.C. are talking about. I mean, I don't know. I feel like I expected more Democrats to say, look, let's put the whole concern about National Guard constitutionality aside and reemphasize the need to do something about crime, the need for more cops, etc.

37:17And yes, we need to address illegal immigration. But then we haven't really heard that. And I feel like we have heard more from the other side, which you just heard here, which is like, we don't want any of this right now. And I wonder if that's how that politically will play for Democrats. Like, I feel like perhaps there's a better messaging campaign for them than to just say, look, we don't want these ICE people coming in and they're going to just ruin our communities, rather than acknowledging that there actually is a problem that needs to be addressed in a very different way, perhaps. You mentioned, Jonah, that President Trump talked about deploying agents to war-ravaged Portland.

37:54the police chief there, in addition to the governor and the mayor, say, we don't want or need your federal agents. Yeah, look, and there are real constitutional problems with sending them anyway. At the same time, just to get to Rachel's point, there's a problem. The Democrats have their comfort zone, rhetorically, was back with the defund the police stuff and all that. And they realized that was politically disastrous. It was also a whole bunch of stuff about immigration that no longer works for them. and they haven't figured out how to talk about this stuff now. Portland is not a beautiful, vibrant city the way a lot of Democrats are saying right now.

38:30It is a really messed up city that is starting to get better, but it's also not Fallujah. And so you have these people talking on these scripts that are just not reflective of reality. It's okay. When he talked about how D.C. is more dangerous than Afghanistan. I've been to Afghanistan a couple of times. During the war, you have to wear a helmet and a vest everywhere you go. You have to drive in an MRAP because it's so insane. Yes, there are parts of D.C. I would never want to go to late at night. But, oh, my God, it's not the same thing. Rachel, Jonah, thanks for being here. Some new video just in from North Carolina's Outer Banks.

39:07Five homes have now collapsed in the ocean, the likely result of dangerous waves being kicked up by not one but two hurricanes just off the East Coast. We're going to get new storm tracks in next. And breaking news on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Lawmakers are voting on the first of two proposals to fund the government. They are expected to fail. We're going to monitor this. More to come.

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40:17Jake Tapper:Well, Jake, first, I want to show you what this looks like on satellite. And this is a remarkable sight to be seen. This is the visible satellite. This is as close as you're going to get to being in space, looking down at Earth at these two hurricanes. Not only are there two tropical systems very close to each other, but these are two tropical systems that are hurricanes close to each other and close to the United States. Now, when it's all said and done after everything becomes official, this may end up being the first time two Atlantic hurricanes have been this close to each other since we've been tracking these storms from space.

40:52Jake Tapper:With the latest update, this is an 85 mile per hour category one hurricane Imelda. It is expected to strengthen as it gets closer and passes across, possibly right over Bermuda. And Jake, as these storms continue to move away from the U.S., they're still generating a lot of rough surf and dangerous rip currents along the East Coast. Thanks so much. This is CNN Breaking News. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We begin tonight with breaking news. You are looking live at the floor of the U.S. Senate. Where voting is underway on a Democratic proposal to fund the government. Next, the senators will vote on a Republican House-passed version of this package to fund the government for seven more weeks.

41:40Both bills are expected to fail. Both are not expected to reach 60 votes, which is needed. And that would bring Washington, D.C., and indeed the United States of America, even closer towards a partial federal government shutdown in just under six hours. That would seal the fate for hundreds of thousands of federal workers and their agencies. Yet another self-inflicted wound in this struggling democracy that seems all too unable to govern itself at times like this. President Trump today standing by White House threats to lay off federal workers for good and make massive government cuts unless Democrats back off their demands on extending Obamacare subsidies past December 31st.

42:26We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like. Senate Minority Leader Democrat Chuck Schumer accused Trump of using federal workers for his own purpose. He is admitting that he is doing the firing of people, if God forbid it happens. He's using Americans as pawns, as I said. Democrats do not want a shutdown. We stand ready to work with Republicans to find a bipartisan compromise, and the ball's in their court. Let's get right to CNN's Caitlin Collins, who's at the White House.

43:10Caitlin, what's the latest? Yeah, Jake, I mean, you heard from the president there in the Oval Office now multiple times today in his conversations with reporters suggesting that a government shutdown could be advantageous for this White House Because what he is arguing there, Jake, is that it would undermine Democratic policies or things that Democrats want to keep, including when it comes to potentially firing federal workers, something that several Democrats have downplayed today, saying that was already happening under Doge and Elon Musk and the efforts underway here since Trump took office back in January.

43:52to trim the budget in ways that they would not be able to do so, as the president articulated it, Jake, if there was not a government shutdown. And he even went further in a moment just now in the Oval Office with reporters describing a government shutdown in positive terms like this. A lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want. Now, he didn't say exactly what good things he meant there, Jake, or what programs we could see the White House try to cut. should there be a shutdown, as it appears there is going to be in just a couple of hours from now.

44:26But that is something you should watch for in terms of the White House trying to use this moment. As much as they have said that this is not on them, they are arguing this is on Democrats, as we heard from the vice president, J.D. Vance, yesterday. And, Jake, just to give you an indication of what is going to come, if this shutdown is going to stretch more than past just tonight and into the days to come, right now in the briefing room, the White House is playing basically a giant mashup of quotes from Democratic senators in the past warning about the damage of a government shutdown and the federal workers it would impact, Americans it would impact.

44:59They are using quotes from people like Senator Cory Booker, Senator Chuck Schumer, and many others, Jake. It's basically just playing on a loop inside the briefing room right now. Expect that message to continue from the White House for the days to come. All right, Kaitlin Collins at the White House. Thanks so much. As the shutdown nears, Kaitlin is going to speak with House Speaker Mike Johnson on her show, The Source with Caitlin Collins. That's tonight at 9 Eastern, only on CNN. Republican Senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson, joins us now to discuss. Senator, good to see you. So you told The Wall Street Journal that fiscal conservatives such as yourself are trying to stop reckless government spending that, quote, mortgages are children's future.

45:36Moments ago, you voted no on the Democratic funding proposal. How are you going to vote on the Republican funding proposal that already passed the House that continues spending at its current level? I'll vote yes. Again, I don't like government shutdowns. This is pretty simple for Democrats. If they don't want government shutdowns, they'll vote for the House bill. They could have voted last night to eliminate shutdowns for all time. That was my Eliminate Shutdowns Act. Just would establish 14-day rolling, continuing appropriations until Congress gets its act together and starts passing appropriation bills.

46:09So again, there are two different ways we could have avoided this shutdown. Democrats rejected both of them. But as a fiscal hawk who wants to cut government spending, do you not see what President Trump clearly seems to be relishing an opportunity, in his view, during the shutdown to lay off federal employees forever, to fire them, and also to make spending cuts forever? Would that not be what your long-term, would that not serve your long-term goal of reducing federal spending? Well, in the private sector, when a company is bankrupt, and let's face it, our nation is bankrupt, you know, in private sector, employees are laid off and they have to go find jobs elsewhere, which quite honestly shouldn't be that difficult if federal workers lose some jobs.

46:56I mean, in Wisconsin, you can't find enough workers, so there are plenty of jobs out there. That's what happens in the private sector. I don't see why public sector employees ought to be immune from that exact same process. In May, you came on State of the Union and you told me emphatically, quote, we have to reduce the deficit. What have you done since then to address the deficit in the last four months? Have you worked on anything with Democrats? Have you worked on anything with House members? Have you worked on any legislation? Where is, I know that you're very passionate about this. What's the latest?

47:25Well, I fought very hard in the one big, beautiful bill to do a lot more in terms of returning to a reasonable pre-pandemic level spending. I was not nearly as successful as I wanted to be, but in the end, nobody, including Democrats, by the way, who could have increased taxes when they had total control. Nobody wanted a tax increase. That was the main reason why I voted for that bill, to avoid a massive automatic tax increase. But bottom line is we were able to reduce government spending to a certain extent. Not enough. Hopefully have another bite of the apple to do that. A New York Times-Siena poll asked Americans whom they will blame if a shutdown happens.

47:59Who they'll blame the most? 26 % said Trump and Republicans in Congress. 19 % say Democrats in Congress. 33 % say a pox on both their houses. 21 % say they haven't heard enough to offer their opinion. So clearly, at least according to this poll and this sample of Americans, the idea that this shutdown will be the fault of the Democrats, it's not a universally held truth. Well, let's face it. Legacy media will always blame Republicans and prop up Democrats. That's just sort of the basic lay of the land. But in this case, it's pretty clear cut. The House has already passed a bill. They're not coming back.

48:34So if Democrats want to avoid a shutdown, they've got to support the clean CR by the Republicans. By the way, I'm not that nuts about that one. I don't like these CRs that expire right before a holiday, which create pressure to just pass a massive 2 ,000-page on of a spending bill. That's basically the well-homed process of the unit party, the big spenders. I'm not that nuts about it, but I'm going to vote for it to avoid a shutdown. President Trump posted an AI-generated depiction of minority leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero and mustache. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader, responded saying, bigotry will get you nowhere.

49:12What was your response to this if you saw it? Are you comfortable with your party leader posting things like this? I honestly haven't seen it. Don't know what you're talking about. Okay. Republican Senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson, thank you, sir. Good to see you. Have a great night. President Trump just announced a website where Americans can buy prescription drugs at discounted prices. What that could mean for medicine that you buy? That's next. Plus, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth today told a room full of hundreds of top generals and admirals that if they do not agree with his views against diversity efforts in the military, they should just resign.

49:48We're going to talk to a retired major general and discuss how he thinks that message went over.

49:58And our health lead, President Trump today unveiled TrumpRx. It's a website where Americans can buy their medication at a discounted price. The president also announced a major deal with Pfizer that he says will lower the pharma giant's drug prices. CNN's health correspondent Meg Terrell joins us now. So Meg, the president has been after drug makers for months to lower their prices. So just how discounted will medications be under this new plan? Well, it's not entirely clear, Jake. This was a bit light on specifics. And remember, this is just one drug company, Pfizer. And there are kind of two aspects to this plan.

50:32One is a an idea known as the most favored nation rule, where essentially you take a list of other wealthy countries, look at where where they price their medicines. And you don't pay more in the United States than the lowest price in those comparator countries. Trump has been focused on this since his first term. And here in this deal with Pfizer, they're going to apply that pricing strategy to Medicaid drugs. So specifically, and only for the start anyway, to patients who are enrolled on Medicaid. Also, new drugs that Pfizer introduces, it's pledging not to introduce at a much higher price in the U.S.

51:05than the most favored nation price. But that could mean they're going to raise prices in those other wealthy countries, and we don't know what discount Americans are going to get. Also, as part of this, Jake, is this idea called TrumpRx. This is a website, essentially, where they say that they're going to help facilitate consumers buying drugs directly from manufacturers. Well, they're saying that the discounts there could be 40 to 85 percent on a bucket of four drugs they provided examples of. One of those is Pfizer's Zelgens for rheumatoid arthritis. But Jake, that drug costs more than six thousand dollars a month on its list price before any discounts or insurance.

51:40And if you're taking a 40 percent discount off that, that only gets you down to about thirty six hundred dollars per month that you're paying directly to Pfizer to buy its drugs. So a lot of experts are sort of scratching their heads about how that is a real significant discount for patients on their medicines. And how did Big Pharma, how did these pharmaceutical companies react to the president's news today? They were pleased, Jake. And they had been warning before this that putting price controls into place would be bad for their business and bad for innovation. Pfizer's stock, if you want to look at it from that perspective, ended the day almost 7 percent higher, adding almost$10 billion in market value to that one company alone.

52:17Other pharmaceutical companies also went up, where essentially this was seen as favorable to the drug companies with an uncertain benefit to American patients. Curious. Meg Terrell, thanks so much. Apple TV has postponed the debut of a highly anticipated TV show about domestic extremism starring Jessica Chastain. What happened? Why aren't they airing it? The timing has many questioning whether this is all politics. Stay with us.

52:51In our pop culture lead, if you go to Apple TV right now, you will not find one big show that was slated for release on Friday. It's called The Savant, and Apple postponed its release, offering no explanation other than saying that the company looked forward to releasing the series at a future date. The move came just days after the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk, which I only bring up because in the show Jessica Chastain plays an investigator infiltrating online hate organizations in the hopes of thwarting domestic terrorism and Chastain on Instagram denounced all acts of political violence and then said she and Apple are quote not aligned on the decision to pause the release of the savant let's discuss this with Aramideh Tanubu who who is the TV critic for Variety, who brought this to my attention in her column.

53:46Aramide, thanks for joining us. So you have seen the series. Did it contain anything potentially offensive about Charlie Kirk or anything potentially problematic or overtly political, do you think? It is not an overtly political series at all. I've seen all eight episodes of the series and had actually slated to have my review released in timing with the previous release date. So what happens is this is really based on a real-life woman who goes into messaging chats and looks for sort of inflamed speech and tries to determine if this inflamed hate speech is going to turn into domestic terror attacks.

54:25So that's her whole job, and that's the role that Jessica Chastain plays in the show. Is there any risk, do you think, that releasing the show might offend Erica Kirk or any fans of Charlie Kirk? Or is it just maybe that Apple was just concerned that the moment in this country is really fraught with all the political violence? There is no connection at all to the Kirks or the Kirk family whatsoever. It really essentially illustrates a problem that we have in America, which is violence, which is gun violence. And there have been many, many acts of violence and gun violence, specifically this year alone, outside of Charlie Kirk's death.

55:02And it's something that sort of illustrates where we are in a moment in America. Things are very fraught. Things are very tense. And perhaps Apple didn't want to fan the flames there. But this is an American story. It's a real based on a real life story. And I think they've really done themselves a disservice by pulling it just due to one person's assassination, which is horrible and horrific. But he is not this event that happened to him. It's happened to so many people across this nation. So you wrote in your column that you think Apple TV might be cowering to a presidential administration, unquote.

55:34And you compared Apple to Disney pulling Jimmy Kimmel off the airwaves and then reinstating him after a blowback. Is that what's happening? Have you heard from anybody at Apple? Is that are you just hypothesizing? Obviously, it's a very fraught time in American media right now. but you hate to think that Apple TV would pull a show. And you said you liked it, right? You liked the show? I did like the show very much. I thought it was really well done. I thought it had amazing nuances. Not only do you hear from Jessica Chastain's character, but you hear from the people who are talking on these message boards with this speech.

56:13Like you hear from their perspective as well. It's not a one-sided show by any means. So I think Apple is perhaps cowering to this administration. They haven't said as much. They're just saying that they're not releasing it at this time and full stop there. But you can only imagine like this is coming off the heels of Disney snatching Kimmel down. And it's really concerning because part of being an American and part of the way that our entertainment system and our new system is set up is we're supposed to hear different voices and opposing voices. And no one voice should stand over the others.

56:44And that's what's really concerning to me about a move like this. If Apple TV was nervous enough to postpone this particular series, do you think that they might start imposing more cautious approaches for other series like the newsroom or other shows that deal with current events? I certainly would hope not. I think that it's very important for us, especially now when so much is happening in our nation, to put forth the type of work that we all want to see, to put forth the type of work that people have worked hard. this was something that was made over the course of five years. It was not just done willy-nilly.

57:18And we see that from other aspects. We see that from more conservative-leaning shows and more conservative-leaning podcasters and things like that. So I think for now what we have to really think about is like why are we doing these things? Why are we taking down things that mean that mean a lot to to our country and to say a lot about where our country is in the moment? I think it's really disheartening to see something like that. Aramideh Tanubu, thank you so much. Really appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for having me. Some big name comedians, including Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr, are performing at a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia.

57:54And for other star comics, that might not be a laughing matter. Stay with us.

58:06There's a Riyadh Saudi Arabia Comedy Festival. I mean, how do you even promote that? You know, like, from the folks that brought you 9-11.

58:19Jake Tapper:Now, there's a lot of drips, killjoys, and dweebozoids who are saying, oh, they shouldn't do comedy over there because it's whitewashing a regime that just in June killed a journalist and killed Jamal Khashoggi and played a big role in 9-11. Shut up. That's Zach Woods. He's joking. He's not being serious there. and our pop culture lead. More than 50 comedy A-listers are set to take the stage this week for the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. But those performers, superstars like Louis C.K. and Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart and Pete Davidson and Aziz Ansari and others, are taking some backlash from the rest of the comedy world for participating in what many critics are saying is the country's latest tourism grab and whitewashing, despite the country's long history of what Human Rights Watch calls pervasive human rights violations.

59:09Joining us now to discuss, comedian and host of the Downside podcast, John Marco Seresi. John Marco, thanks for joining us. What do you think of your fellow comedians, at least according to those who say they turn down slots at the festival, taking big, big checks directly from the Saudi royal family to perform in Riyadh?

59:31Jake Tapper:I think those comedians that performed, next time they get asked who their favorite comedian is, they should stop saying George Carlin because I think comedy has written off the name of speaking truth to power. And these comedians are allowing their images and their reputation and frankly, the brand of American stand-up comedy to be exploited for propaganda. It's embarrassing how many of these comedians that, many of which are incredible joke writers, are willing to agree to the requirements for this festival, who are willing to slap their face onto the flyer. And it's embarrassing for the art form.

1:00:20And we're looking at a picture of Louis C.K. and Hannibal Buress. Hannibal Buress is the guy that brought the Cosby scandal to the attention of popular culture. We should point out David Cross, a comedic actor known for Arrested Development and Mr. Show and much more. He wrote a scathing piece about the festival. He writes, I am disgusted and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing that people I admire with an arguable talent would condone this totalitarian fiefdom for what? A fourth house? A boat? More sneakers? He said he can't believe that he got guff for being in the Garfield movie. It's not like this is a festival for new undiscovered comics who need a big break.

1:00:56Does that make it worse, do you think?

1:01:00Jake Tapper:yeah i think it's i think it's worse because you know i think there's lines listen if you have if you have some kids you're trying to put through school maybe a little bit less but some of these comics they got nothing to support at home they're they got brand deals they're making millions they don't need to do this maybe they're in it for the adventure and i say if you're in it for the adventure why don't you produce a local show there without the requirements i think it's embarrassing to go on stage and tell jokes that if some of the audience members tweeted from their own personal accounts could lead to them being executed.

1:01:33Jake Tapper:I think that's embarrassing. And I think we need to bring back some shame. What are the requirements you're talking about? Because I haven't seen any of the contracts or anything. Sure. Atsuko Okatsuka, a phenomenal comedian who turned down the festival, posted them. I can read them for you. They're quite long, so feel free to cut me off. Well, just give me the highlights. Artists shall not prepare or perform any... Sure. You shall not bring into disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule A, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including its leadership, public figures, culture, or people.

1:02:07Jake Tapper:B, the Saudi royal family, legal system, or government. And C, any religion, religious tradition, figure, or religious practice. Wow. That's a long list. That's a pretty big list for a regime that kills gay people and kills journalists. and I mean we all know what they did with Jamal Khashoggi who was an American resident and Washington Post columnist. At least one comedian set to perform has since withdrawn from the festival, Nimesh Patel. Here's what he said this week. No, I'm not attending. I just figured, you know what, I'll just do 40 shows that I had not planned on doing here in the perfectly clean, moral, above everyone else, United States of America.

1:02:51I'm tired just thinking about it to make up for the lost bag. So there is a point there that, you know, the United States, we have our own fair share of moral atrocities. But I don't know that you really can compare us to the Saudis. What do you think?

1:03:07Jake Tapper:Well, well, however you want to compare it, it depends on who's paying you. I would be critical if the Trump inauguration featured Mr. Bean. I would say, well, why are you taking money directly from a government figure? I think that changes it. Of course, no country has zero blood on their hands, but taking money from a politician enters you into the realm of propaganda. And I think to be used in the way that all these comedians are is a different moral thing. I was in Buffalo this past weekend. The taxpayers in America did not pay for me to go to Buffalo. Now, if they did, if Trump had sent me to Buffalo, I do think if I were to participate and take that money, I would at least have responsibility towards comedy to criticize the Trump administration or Israel or really speak my mind on things that I think deserve criticism.

1:04:00So Marcos Recy's debut special, Thief of Joy, is out now on YouTube. Thanks so much. It's good to have you on. Thank you, Jake. Let's bring in my panel, also expert comedians. and well we all we all know what we think is funny we should note not every comedian who's been offered the gig has accepted not just mr patel but shane gillis turned the job down uh and here is what happened when he sent his no message to saudi arabia they were offering him a big a big amount of money which is called in comedy apparently a bag so here's what happened

1:04:36Jake Tapper:They doubled the bag, the princes? It was a significant bag. What? Yeah, but I'd already said no. You know, I took a principled stand. I mean, we're talking about potentially hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars here. No, absolutely. And I mean, I think to sort of push back on what the previous guest said, I mean, we're seeing right here in our own country, there are consequences for speaking truth to power. Let us not forget about Jimmy Kimmel. This was just, what, last week or week before last. I mean, so it says a lot when people have to travel outside of the United States, go to Saudi Arabia to exercise their First Amendment right.

1:05:14Well, not really. You heard the requirements don't make fun of anybody related to Saudi Arabia. I mean, I'm willing to bet that that was no comedian on that list's intention at all. In fact, I want to believe they're going to Saudi Arabia and they're going to make fun of our sitting president. So, I mean, I'm interested to see what they're going to say outside of the United States, reflecting back to us what the world is seeing. What do you think of this all? So I'm actually shockingly conflicted about it. I think the key point that the previous guy made that I think is right is if you're going to call yourself like George Carlin, if you're going to call yourself that your heroes are Lenny Bruce, and you're going to say that you're this figure who speaks truth to power, right, and that kind of thing, then taking blood money from Saudi Arabia is not great, right?

1:05:59At the same time, there are a lot of people, and it's not just comedians, it's actors and singers and so forth, who want to do this thing, this sort of Jon Stewart thing of go back and forth over the line from being political commentators to just being funny people. And if you're going to do that, you're going to get yourself into trouble and you're going to get these kinds of problems. I wouldn't have anything to do with China. I mean, China is essentially an apartheid state. If you're not Han Chinese, you're a second-class citizen there. No one ever talks about it. They're doing cultural and ethnic cleansing in various places.

1:06:33Well, that's a great argument for what I was going to then say in defense of these comedians, which is Disney cooperates with the Chinese government. They have a Disney park in China. The Saudis have their hands in everything. They have it in Live Golf. Even in the White House, by the way. They have it in, I mean, Jared Kushner has money with the Saudis and the UAE. They're going to have the World Cup there in 2036. and if I were a comedian, I might think, why do I have to have higher moral standards than the president of the United States, right? No, I mean, I... Not just this president, the previous president, too.

1:07:04All the U.S. presidents get into bed with Saudi Arabia. No, I think you're absolutely right. I mean, again, I think the concern is we're slowly marching toward a dictatorship and not authoritarian government-y or regime. We're seeing now Trump weaponizing the DOJ to go after his political enemies. He's going after private entities, law firms, the media, shaking everybody down to consolidate power. I mean, I would prefer these comedians and those that have objections to put their energy there, to make sure that we don't find ourselves in the same situation as the comedian said that the Saudi folks in Saudi Arabia do.

1:07:45Because, you know, that is the main concern right now. If you followed my writing over the last 25 years, you would not predict that I would have many kind words for Saudi Arabia. But at the same time, you know, David Cross and his big thing, he talked about how you can get, that women can get caned. They banned caning about four years ago as corporal punishment. I have all sorts of problems with MBS and all that kind of stuff. But if you're actually going to talk about the trend line of where Saudi Arabia is going, it's getting better, not worse. And let's talk about our trend line. Oh, our trend line's not going great.

1:08:18Yeah, but we're not becoming, we're not, there's time yet before we're going to become a fascist dictatorship. So let me turn to the breaking news that we have just in. The Democratic proposal to fund the government just failed, as expected. There's just over five hours left to make a deal. Trump, of course, posted this AI rendering of the Democratic leaders, with Leader Jeffries wearing a sombrero with a mustache after that meeting that didn't go well yesterday. CNN's Manuraju captured this exchange about that video up on Capitol Hill in the last hour between Speaker Johnson and House Democrat Madeline Dean of Pennsylvania.

1:08:59is it racist you put a sombrero on a black man who's the leader of the house you don't see that as racist we need you desperately to leave madeline dean there urging uh speaker johnson uh to lead Republicans don't seem to really have an answer for that kind of post by the president. No, what I think is sort of remarkable is I didn't think it was funny. I think it was offensive and stupid and all that kind of stuff. But what you'll hear from a lot of people is, oh, I thought it was kind of funny. It's like, OK, just because you think it's funny, you think it's OK for the president of the United States to do it.

1:09:35There are lots of things. You know, I can do all sorts of pull my finger jokes here on CNN right now. It's inappropriate and it's definitely inappropriate for the president of the United States to do it. And I think that the Republican caucus is so cowed that they don't know how to draw any distinctions about defensible behavior, indefensible behavior, and truly venal, corrupt behavior. So, Ashley, let's elevate it from Mr. Trump's post there. You've been in the room with Speaker Pelosi, for whom you worked, while she was negotiating during prior shutdown disputes. What is likely going on behind closed doors right now, do you think?

1:10:11I mean, I think there's clearly infighting between the two factions, the factions within the Democratic Party. Now you're still Schumer is still sort of under pressure from progressives to shut down the government. My position has always been that they should not shut down the government. They need to flip the script. I mean, this is what Pelosi did so beautifully in that Oval Office meeting. She put Donald Trump on the spot and he accepted responsibility for the shutdown, which gave her the upper hand. So when we were in the midst of the longest shutdown in American history, we were holding our guns and he was falling apart and actually got blamed for it.

1:10:47So here's what I think, though. The difference between Republicans then and Trump then and now is that they're willing to shoot the hostage this time. The hostage being the American people. Donald Trump. Who is they? The Republicans or the Democrats? Absolutely. No, no, no. President Trump and Republicans are willing to shoot the hostage this time. They could care less about prices going up, inflation going up, unemployment going up, health care premiums going up by 75 percent. All the arguments that Democrats are trying to save them from, they could actually care less about it. So my point is, flip the script.

1:11:17Put the blame on Donald Trump. Make the point that we're not going to play his game anymore. If he wants to shoot the hostage to the American people, if he wants them to hurt financially, as they already are, and he wants to continue down this path, the shutdown is a double down on that effort. It's not a process thing. We've been talking about it from the standpoint of a process. They don't want to meet with us. It's not bipartisan. Who cares about that? The point is they're willing to shoot the hostage and they're going to sacrifice the American people. Ashley Etienne and Jonah Goldberg, thanks to both.

1:11:45You appreciated a room full of top military officials. Listen to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth vow to remove all diversity efforts from the military while President Trump then delivered 71 minutes worth of remarks, rambling at times. I'm going to ask a retired general how he interpreted the whole shebang. That's next.

1:12:08International lead. We're going to cover today's rare meeting. Hastily arranged for top military leaders, generals and admirals, all summoned to Quantico, Virginia, where they heard lengthy, at times, rambling remarks from President Trump and less rambling from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Here's some of what Hegseth had to say. The era of politically correct, overly sensitive, don't hurt anyone's feelings. Leadership ends right now. For every designated combat arms position returns to the highest male standard only. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. It's tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation and see fat troops.

1:12:51The words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign. Joining us now to discuss CNN military analyst, retired Army Major General Spider-Marx. General Marx, thanks so much. You have more than 42 years of leadership and experience in the Army. What was your response to what you heard from the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth? I find it, well, frankly, let's be upfront about this. I think he's obviously a very polished public speaker. Oh, absolutely. But the tone of his speech was accusatory, which is unfortunate. I mean, you walk into the room, you've got your secretary of defense, and eventually you're going to have the commander in chief.

1:13:35You'd like to have that as an opportunity to ask some questions. And also, you'd kind of like to get an embrace that says, I know I've asked a lot of you guys, guys and gals, heavy lifting, a lot going on. We're at this period where it may be described as pre-war. I really want your input. I appreciate what you're doing. Thank you every day. But it came across as accusatory. I'm sure he would debate that. Yeah. But the other thing he asked the general officers, he invited them to resign if he didn't like what he was saying. Yeah. The world I grew up in was, if I don't like what you're saying, boss, I'd like to give you some feedback.

1:14:08Right. When the door opens up, I'll be the most loyal guy on the team. But can I talk to you about this? Because I don't think I want to resign. Well, he has a different view of leadership than you do, I guess. Well, and I also want to be on the team. I want to be a warrior. If I'm not aligned, please tell me how I need to get aligned. He also defended changing the culture of the Pentagon by insulting three highly decorated generals. Take a listen.

1:14:39And in with the Stockdales, the Schwarzkopf's and the Patton's. More leadership changes will be made of that uncertain. Not because we want to, but because we must. Once again, this is life and death. Carellis, the McKenzies, and the Millis. Now, look, we know that the Trump administration has an issue with retired Joint Chiefs of Chairman Mark Milley, who served honorably. McKenzie and Carelli? What was your reaction to that? Well, I know Pete Carelli quite deeply, less so McKenzie and Milley, but I'm very much aware of them and very much admire what they accomplished. Pete Corelli is the example of the type of leader you want to lead any organization.

1:15:24You want your children to be under his control. Pete Corelli is a magnificent guy. And it's unprofessional to call somebody out in public. That's uncalled for. So one of the things that's interesting, and I don't know why he called out Pete Corelli, who I admire because he's been so active talking about post-traumatic stress and bringing that into the open. Yeah, his one brain initiative. Yeah. Absolutely phenomenal. But beyond that, like, Corelli was, when he was vice chair, he basically ended the career of a Colonel Steele that Hegseth admired for creating a situation. He didn't call it war crimes, but creating a situation where innocent Iraqis were killed during the Iraq war.

1:16:11Hegseth denigrates those three generals. But when he was at Fox, he convinced President Trump to pardon convicted war criminals. I mean, how do you square that? Well, it's difficult to square that, not intimate with the issues that you described. But the legal system in the military works, and it works exceptionally well. and for someone, and I would even push back on your characterization that Pete Corelli ended Colonel Steele's career. Colonel Steele had a dog in that fight. There was a lot that he did. Right. And decisions were, you know. Oh, I didn't say he didn't deserve it, but. Yeah, but the recommendations came forward to Pete Corelli.

1:16:51He had to make a go, no-go decision. I just mean that was Hegseth's, might have been Hegseth's point of view. Oh, this guy ended my commander's career. That's all. Correct. And Secretary Hegseth at that time was either a lieutenant or possibly a captain. And he's got a very focused view. His view is, how can I close with and destroy the enemy? And by the way, I admire this man. What else is involved in all that? He may or may not have been privy to. Yeah. I want to ask you, President Trump spoke for more than an hour after Hegseth and suggested that the military should use U.S. cities as training grounds.

1:17:28He also said this, and he wasn't specific about who he was talking about. We're under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don't wear uniforms. What's your reaction to all that? Well, first of all, the army, I can speak for the army, has some tremendous capabilities to conduct training for combat in cities, if this is what the president was suggesting. And we also have laws, you know, that would prohibit stuff like that. And having been the senior intel guy during the riots in Los Angeles back in the early 90s, there are very restrictive rules of engagement, as well there should be, primarily in terms of intelligence collection.

1:18:15So the Army can get about that particular task other ways. Yeah. All right. Retired Army Major General Spider-Marx, it's always great to have you here. Thank you, sir. The death toll is rising after a destructive 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Philippines. We'll bring you the latest on damaging casualties next. Our last lead start in our world lead video showing the dramatic moment that a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck central Philippines today. Another video shows contestants running off stage when the earthquake hit during a beauty pageant. According to authorities, the earthquake killed at least 13 people and caused significant damage and power outages around the central Philippines region where many are still recovering from Friday's deadly storm that left 27 people dead.

1:19:02In our national lead you're looking at video of the five houses that collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean earlier today along North Carolina's outer banks. The coastline is currently being battered by surf from hurricanes Umberto and Imelda. The National Weather service is warning of water levels up to three feet higher than usual. An intriguing story, our national leader reported stabbing attack on a Colorado park ranger prompted a multi-agency day-long manhunt in Staunton State Park, but now the prime suspect appears to be the park ranger himself, at least according to local authorities. The ranger radioed a distress call, and a deputy found the ranger with a pocket knife sticking out of his abdomen.

1:19:45This kicked off the intensive of search, but police say the statements just didn't add up. And then the ranger's phone revealed a history of stabbing related searches. He has denied stabbing himself. He's set to appear in court tomorrow. Breaking news. The White House has just sent paperwork to the U.S. Senate to withdraw the nomination of E.J. Antony to head up the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's according to three sources talking to CNN. The withdrawal comes after CNN's K-File reported earlier this month that Antoni operated a since-deleted Twitter account that featured sexually degrading attacks on Kamala Harris, derogatory remarks about gay people, conspiracy theories, and crude insults aimed at critics of Donald Trump.

1:20:28If you ever miss an episode of the lead, you can listen to the show once you get your podcast. Aaron Burnett Out Front starts now. See you tomorrow.