Trump Goes Off On Dems Who Told Troops To Disobey Illegal Orders

25:49They walked unopposed, armed, in stolen uniforms, straight into this mosque in Masimba's coastal fishing community to deliver a manifesto. The crowd didn't flee, but instead filmed. When ISIS arrived, asked for the keys and walked in wearing their boots, the imam had presumed they were soldiers. What did you think on that night when these guys came in?

26:29It is extraordinary after all these years of ices have spread across the Middle East to stand in, startling to stand in a place where they had freedom of movement just a couple of days ago. 93 ,000 people around this area fled in just six weeks after ISIS's attacks began on September the 7th. Rafael takes us directly to the home of his brother-in-law, now abandoned. They were not rich and also took US aid.

27:18I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

27:29Eight men killed by ISIS. Seven of them beheaded, some in front of their families. and you just, for looking around, I mean there's nobody here. It's startling. This used to be a vibrant area, Christian area. The money USAID spent here urgently tried to curb the spread of ISIS. They gave$50 ,000 here to help motorcycle taxi drivers vulnerable to recruitment by ISIS improve their working conditions with paperwork, vests and helmets. Their anger about that help suddenly disappearing and then us asking questions clear. Emotions are incredibly high here. I mean, it's all about people's livelihoods, really, and a lot of anger.

28:18The man who ran the project describes how it is the only way to stop ISIS.

28:31I've been doing so many times, not me personally. I've recruited so many people who have been in society. I think President Trump has to have a heart. Fishermen, the main workforce here, but also a source of ISIS recruits. We visit a USAID project aimed too at giving them a better livelihood, now shut. 10 ,000 new arrivals in this camp alone were met with a steep drop in food aid.

29:20But Mozambique could be rich. Around the town of Parma, shielded by these fortifications, it's clear that while the Trump administration is stripping away aid here, It's also investing fast and hard, a$4.7 billion loan in March, in vast liquid natural gas facilities. A contradiction where wealth is held up by a wave of ISIS savagery, which surged after the U.S. aid meant to calm it vanished. Nick Payton-Walsh, CNN, Masimba Dupraya, Mozambique. Asked for comment, the U.S. State Department told CNN, that it still provided life-saving food aid to Mozambique this year and reviewed global aid constantly to, quote, ensure it meets the needs of the receiving country and the priorities of the United States, unquote.

30:11The State Department did not answer our questions about the resurgence of ISIS in Mozambique after USAID shut down. But they did say the US was, quote, the most generous nation in the world and was enhancing the, quote, efficiency and strategic impact of its aid, calling on other nations to do more. Former Vice President Dick Cheney once called President Trump a coward and said he did not want him at his funeral. Cheney got the last word. Our panel weighs in with some thoughts of their own.

30:45You did not know Dick Cheney unless you understood his greatest concerns and ambitions were for his country. Though he was inspired to service by President Kennedy, Dick Cheney became a Republican. For him, a choice between defense of the Constitution and defense of your political party was no choice at all. Today, the nation paid respects to the 46th Vice President Dick Cheney, who died earlier this month at the age of 84. Former President George W. Bush and his daughter there, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, gathered along with former President Joe Biden and all four living former vice presidents, Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore, and Dan Quayle, to honor Cheney's life of public service.

31:29Here now to discuss CNN's John King, former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, and CNN political commentator Karen Finney. And John, you were at the funeral this morning. Two very notable figures were not there, President Trump and Vice President Vance. Pretty striking. It was striking. It was, I was saying, it was like being in a time machine or having time travel to be in a place where mostly Republicans, but also Democrats, were kind of saying, oh, remember when Washington was like this, where we could disagree, but do it agreeably? Think about Dick Cheney's life. Gerald Ford's chief of staff, then a loyal Reagan revolution foot soldier in the Congress.

32:06George H.W. Bush's defense secretary, George W. Bush's vice president, rode the wave of so many transitions in the Republican Party, successfully thrived in those changes. Trump was a bridge too far. You're sitting there today thinking that this proud, principled conservative, his last vote for president, Jake, was for a Democrat. Yeah. She was sitting there. So both Cheney and Liz Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris over Trump in the last election. In a 2022 campaign ad for his daughter Liz's failed re-election bid in Wyoming, Vice President Cheney made it very clear what he thought of President Trump.

32:39Take a listen. There has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost his election and he lost big. I know it, he knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know it. Congressman Kinzinger, you were at the cathedral today as well for the service. President Trump has a lock on the Republican Party. Liz Cheney lost her re-election bid because she stood up to Trump. Vice President Vance made a disparaging comment about Vice President Cheney just the other day, after he died. It's Trump's party.

33:20Yeah, it is. It's not a surprise. I mean, just the classlessness you see come out of the White House is constant. For me, it was amazing to be in there, to see people on the left, on the right, in the center, people you'd never expect to see at a Dick Cheney thing, right? All there together, celebrating the fact that this man was honorable. And then I come out and read the story about, you know, calling for the execution of Congress people. And to me, it was just such a different, such a contrast. And so to know J.D. Vance said, no Trump would say that they own the Republican Party. My hope is in five or 10 years, we have a party that looks more like it used to, but I'm not holding my breath, to be honest with you.

34:00You know, that was something I was thinking, watching it, that that's actually what normal is supposed to look like. What we're every single day into the Trump presidency, I feel like we have to keep reminding ourselves. No, that's not normal. It's not normal for a president to say things like that or to post things like that on social media. It should be that when someone passes, people can come together, honor their service to this country, whether you agreed with them or not. Obviously, there's a lot of things I did not agree with Dick Cheney about. I thought his grandchildren were just lovely and it was heartwarming.

34:31And you feel for a family when something like that happens. And yet, I was actually surprised we didn't hear something horrible from Donald Trump about him today. But yet, there's still a few more hours left in the day. So, I mean, the other thing is that, look, I mean, we shouldn't gloss over. I mean, they were bitter partisan vites during the Bush years when he was vice president. And the stakes were big. War and peace, you know, Social Security, tax cuts, a lot of things. But at the end of the day, there was this understanding, even if you really went after your, I mean, like we shouldn't gloss over the fact that these were, this was, it was a bitter and divided time.

35:11It's just, you still could see the humanity in the other person. Dick Cheney was very soft spoken, spoken a quiet voice, but it was always clear what he was trying to tell you. If he had a point to make, he would make it. And I think that, you know, give the Iraq war, the Iraq war divided this country, especially the execution of it. You know, should we have gone to war was one big debate, but then the execution of it was clearly troublesome. And that made Barack Obama president. It completely changed our politics. However, even the people who disagree with Cheney profoundly talk about the respect, and they understood, they disagreed with him, but his commitment to service, his commitment to country was just irrefutable.

35:48So that respect is what's missing and lost. former Vice President Mike Pence, another notable Republican who's at odds with Donald Trump. He was asked by CNN's Jeff Zeleny about this bitter divide right now and if we can overcome it. Here's what he had to say. Oh, I'm confident it can. Look, our politics are more divided than any time in my lifetime. But I'm not convinced the American people are as divided as our politics. What do you think? I agree that it can. And actually, long, I'm very optimistic on kind of America. That we can overcome it. Yeah, long. In the short and medium term, it's really difficult.

36:31I mean, look, the incentive structure is to the extremes, right? If you're a Republican, you cannot win a primary without being crazier than the other person you're running against. But I do think through this kind of last Trump term over the next three years, my hope and expectation is that's going to start to get fatiguing to people. The question is what replaces it? Does kind of old school Republicanism come back? I wish I could say I was optimistic. Or is it somebody else that tries to pick up the Trump mantle, even though Trump is uniquely capable of doing what he does? What do you think, Karen?

36:59Well, I think it's one of the things, again, why it's important to say this is not normal, because I do think about young politicians who are seeing and learning from Trump and thinking, oh, that's how it's done. And no, actually, that's not how it should be done. What we saw today is more like, and again, you're right, bitter fights. Democrats call them Darth Vader. I don't want to gloss over that either. But at the end of the day, I certainly still thought that the Bush education department thought it was important that kids learn how to read. I don't know what Donald Trump believes, if that's important or not.

37:29And like the Bush administration, you know, basically solves, in essence, HIV in Africa. That's right. This administration destroys that for no reason. While the guy that's going to be the first trillionaire in the country runs around with a chainsaw and giggles because he cuts USAID. Karen Finney and Adam Kinzinger, thanks so much to both you. John King, stay right here. John's going to come right back with his visit to one of the most competitive districts in the nation in my home, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Hear what voters there in the Lehigh Valley told him about affordability and President Trump next.

38:05And we're back in our politics lead, a new destination for John King's great series all over the map. He went to a critical swing district in Pennsylvania. Here's how affordability is impacting voters there.

38:21Bethlehem is blue collar full of people living paycheck to paycheck full of people who come to Janique Jones for help my business assists people in repairing their credit managing their finances and basically being financially organized so if you're busy times are tough absolutely completely And you're busy right now? Super busy. What kind of stories are you hearing? My husband lost all of his overtime. My kids' daycare went up. Can't afford the cost of food. Using credit cards for everyday expenses. No money left after their bills are paid. Pretty much just a whole bunch of financial mess. We changed presidents at the beginning of the year.

39:04We did. And the guy who moved into the White House said that he was going to fix it. Several times he said it would be easy. Absolutely. Has he fixed it? Absolutely not. I'm definitely waiting for him to fix it. Jones is a three-time Trump voter, but, she says, he has simply failed to keep his promise to lower the cost of living. I'm very let down by that. Very, very let down because I feel like it's only gotten worse. This is Gentleman's Barbershop. Customers gripe a lot about rising costs. Ashley Ruiz tries to help. I'll tell the client, hey, if you get it cut a little shorter, the haircut will have a longer lifeline.

39:41because I want them to feel like they're getting a service that will last longer so their money goes further. She gets it because she does the tough math at home. Rent, food, child care. They are a lot higher. So I try to make wiser decisions in hope that things will get better. Owner Ronald Corrales is another three-time Trump voter. When clients or co-workers grumble about costs, Corrales urges patience. Well, hopefully soon, you know, like it. But it hasn't happened yet. Not really. We don't really see it at the moment. Like I said, I think we have to give him some time. You hear there, give him some more time from a three-time Trump voter.

40:25We met many Trump voters who say, let's try to be patient, but they all also say costs have not gone down, as the president promised. And, Jake, you know this area well. A freshman Republican won that district. Because Trump carried Pennsylvania last time, carried Northampton County where Bethlehem is. He pulled along the new freshman Republican. Democrats think the same reason that happened, affordability, will be their calling card next year when they try to take that seat back. And he barely won, like 4 ,000 votes or something like that. John King, thanks so much. And welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

40:57For this hour, how can the U.S. have a stronger-than-expected jobs report, and yet the unemployment rate went up? This mixed bag is creating a flood of economic uncertainty and your own retirement accounts may be a reflection of all the whiplash. Plus, the Justice Department opening yet another mortgage fraud investigation. This one involving Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California. Also a CNN exclusive. CNN spoke with a man accusing Sean Diddy Combs of sexual assault. He filed a lawsuit and now law enforcement is picking up the case. And is there really non-human life on Earth? What a film director learned about layers of secrecy at the highest levels of the U.S.

41:38government. Our lead tonight, the newest jobs report has Wall Street, economists, and Americans scratching their heads. The big headline, the U.S. adding 119 ,000 jobs. More than expected, but unemployment is on the rise, with data revisions to prior months making the picture for the whole year even murkier. The market's tumbling today. Dow, Nasdaq, S &P 500 all closing in the red, even after yesterday's rally sparked by an AI giant promising forecast. CNN's Vanessa Yarkiewicz is here to help us all make sense of this. Vanessa? Yeah, Jake, the long-awaited September jobs report did come in better than expected.

42:20Analysts were expecting 50 ,000 jobs added in the month of September. what we got was 119 ,000 jobs. That was better than expected. But if you look at the monthly job gains averaged out over the entire year, we're looking at the weakest jobs growth this year since the pandemic and then again since the Great Recession. And that's really led by weaker job growth that we saw over the summer than we had initially seen in those earlier reports, particularly the month of July and August were both revised down. And we actually now see job losses in the month of August. If you look at this bar chart, you can see on your screen that there are now two months of jobs losses, June and the month of August.

43:07And we were just looking at some of those sectors where we saw gains in the month of September. 87 % of job gains were seen in health care and leisure and hospitality. So if you were looking for jobs in those sectors, you had a better chance than in others like manufacturing and transportation and warehousing, which lost jobs. Also, the unemployment rate, as you mentioned, Jake, analysts were expecting it to hold steady at 4.3 percent. It ticked up to 4.4 percent. But that's also because of labor force participation, more people entering the workforce looking for jobs. The market really had a tough time digesting this jobs report.

43:47You saw the Dow earlier today up 700 points and then the Dow finishing the day down almost 400 points. So that is a large, more than 1 ,000 point swing. In terms of where investors are right now, where their heads are right now, they believe maybe that this jobs report indicated a better chance of the Federal Reserve cutting rates at their next meeting in December, but not by much, Jake. 40 percent of investors now believe that a rate cut is coming, versus 30 % yesterday. So most believe that the Federal Reserve is going to hold steady on rates because, Jake, this is the last piece of data that the Federal Reserve has to look at before they have to make their decision.

44:28And we've heard from Federal Reserve officials, Jake, that they really want more data before they start to make significant decisions on further rate cuts, Jake. All right, Vanessa Gerkevich, thanks so much. Meanwhile, Vice President Vance appeared with a new message for Americans who have economic worries, speaking at a Breitbart event earlier today. I guess my message to the American people who are still feeling like things are unaffordable, who are still feeling like things are rough out there is, look, we get it and we hear you. Even though we've made incredible progress, we understand that there's a lot more work to do.

45:01And the thing that I'd ask for the American people is a little bit of patience. This is at the same time as a new Fox News poll, which has just 4 % of the American people saying that economic conditions are excellent. 42 % say conditions are poor. 62 % of voters say the responsibility for these conditions lie with President Trump, not with Joe Biden. Let's get to CNN's Kaitlin Collins at the White House. Kaitlin, how are officials feeling about this jobs report? Well, Jake, obviously they're looking at this, and publicly they've been touting what they believe are the good parts of this and what they say are good economic indicators.

45:39But obviously, they're also looking at the numbers that you just showed there and seeing that it is not being reflected by the American people, by and large. It's not just one outlier poll. It's multiple polls that have shown this, Jake. And the numbers that you just showed there, there's also a number, another number in that Fox News poll. And the question was specifically if people felt that they had been helped or hurt by the Trump administration's economic policies. And look at these numbers. Helped only 15 percent said that they believed that it was actually helping them. you see those much larger numbers.

46:0846 % say that they have been hurt by it, and almost 40 % say that they really felt no difference. And of course, for a president who campaigned almost every single day on the campaign trail, Jake, on the campaign trail to bring down prices and to work on affordability for voters when it comes to their energy bills and everything, that is obviously a pretty damning number there for them, given how long they've been in office. And so that is something, the messaging in terms of what you just heard from the vice president is kind of what we've been hearing from officials more and more that instead of denying that this is this is the way that American people are feeling they're trying to say that they are working on it and are trying to get there.

46:44And Caitlin at the end of the briefing today you tried to call out Caroline Levitt the press secretary for misquoting the video of the democratic lawmakers that has Trump so mad and having him saying such inappropriate things about executing these six democratic lawmakers. Yeah because Jake obviously some Some people don't like this video. There's been a ton of furious backlash, not just from here at the White House, but also on Capitol Hill as well. But instead of just saying they don't like the video or believed it was inappropriate, the president obviously went further and was arguing it was punishable by death and saying that it was seditious in describing what these lawmakers are saying in this video.

47:20And obviously, Jake, anyone who has seen this video, who has watched it, these are former veterans, former people in the intelligence community, including Senator Alyssa Slotkin. they are directly quoted as saying that people and military service members do not have to follow illegal orders, that they have to abide by the Constitution, that they should not follow illegal orders in that. And so obviously the White House can criticize it and dispute it, but they were misquoting it inside the briefing room earlier. That is not what the Democrats in that video said, which is what led to those wild statements by the president this morning saying that they are punishable by death.

47:55Yeah, really entirely inappropriate. Kaitlyn Collins at the White House, thanks so much. And tonight's Kaitlyn's going to have one of those six Democrats on her show, Senator Mark Kelly. That's on The Source with Kaitlyn Collins tonight at 9 Eastern, only on CNN. Turning to our Law and Justice lead, the Justice Department is investigating possible issues with the mortgage fraud investigation into California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, which is run by two Trump administration political appointees. Let's bring in CNN's Kaitlyn Polans. Kaitlyn, walk us through what's happening here. Well, Jake, this is an investigation now around whether people associated with the Trump administration have others that are impersonating federal agents or whether there are people that are out there impersonating federal agents or holding themselves out as federal agents when they are not.

48:44What we've learned about this so far largely comes from a witness who had received a subpoena from prosecutors in Maryland and who had went to the courthouse today in Maryland, spoke to prosecutors and agents saying that she had been contacted by someone over the summer who had said he was working with some of these top Trump appointees who had been leading probes of mortgage fraud that Donald Trump has really wanted. Where this goes, we just don't know yet, Jake. This is one witness who is speaking publicly on the record saying that she is talking about her past interactions with someone she believed was a federal agent.

49:23But this is a really interesting twist in this ongoing saga of these investigations Donald Trump wants, including the one out of Maryland around Adam Schiff. whether it could be undermined by this situation and how far there is a connection to the people in the Trump administration, like Ed Martin, like Bill Pulte, the federal housing finance director, whether there's some sort of connection there or these people that are saying they were federal agents being connected to those people. It is a big question right now that there's something that the Justice Department is still looking into. All right, Caitlin Poliance, thanks so much.

50:02All eyes will be on a major meeting at the White House tomorrow, President Trump and New York City's new mayor-elect, Zoran Mamdani. Will this be a protective sit-down or more about theatrics? We're going to try to gauge it. But first, the attention President Trump is not putting on actions to release the Epstein files. I'm going to talk about the release with an Epstein survivor. That's next.

50:27In our Law and Justice League, President Trump signed the Epstein bill into law last night, Letting everyone know through a lengthy truth social post, but there were no cameras, no fanfare, no one to witness a moment that Epstein survivors have fought tirelessly for for decades. And one of the survivors, Danielle Benski, joins me now. Danny, first, given this week and how momentous it was and how emotional it was, I can't even imagine the roller coaster that it's been like. How are you doing? Thank you for asking. Yeah, it is a roller coaster is right. It was I came in on Sunday. We've done a lot of media and that day at the Capitol was amazing.

51:11But it was also we were literally running from one meeting to the next after the press conference, straight into the lunch with the Democratic Women's Caucus and then basically straight into the vigil where we got that information. And so there was, you know, the emotional highs and lows is something that we don't see often because a lot of these meetings are happening behind closed doors. But survivors are telling their stories over and over again to be able to really have everybody understand that these are human stories. We've said that so many times that it's not political. It's not about politics.

51:45Right. Absolutely. But the only way that I think we can really get that point across is by having these really hard conversations. So we're being asked to share, you know, in these very small meetings. And yeah, tell me about the worst thing that ever happened to you, right? I mean, like, that's what it is. It's like you're the last thing you want to talk about. You are being called upon to talk about and hear everyone else's stories, too. I remember just this week when we were at the Capitol, we had one meeting where we were there with the Roberts, with Virginia Giuffre's family. and you're really listening to her story.

52:21And it's just such a cry for accountability. And so to sit there and really listen to what the family has endured after what she had endured is just, yeah, it's heavy. It's also heartbreaking. So last week the House Oversight Committee released about 20 ,000 emails and such from the Epstein estate that they had subpoenaed. And the Justice Department, now that President Trump has signed this into law, has 30 days to release its Epstein files. And if there's stuff that they redact, they have to, other than the survivors' names, which we all want it redacted, they have to explain it. If it's a national security reason, explain.

53:00If somebody's a perpetrator or whatever, and you're not giving his name, you have to explain why, et cetera, et cetera. How concerned are you that we're still not going to get what you guys deserve, which as the names of the perpetrators so that they at the very least they can be shamed if not prosecuted. I think we've all been sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop instead of this like huge, joyous, momentous moment last night. We were all kind of like this feels too easy because of the whiplash we've already experienced where a week ago we were a hoax and now he's signing this. And so I think a lot of us have a lot of fear around this topic, right?

53:39And I think that we're worried about it getting tangled up in litigation. We're worried about certain materials going missing. We're not really sure what to expect at this point, but at least if the files are released we can sit and move through them with our lawyers and we know what we know, right? We know our memories and we have each other now and I think that that is something that was really born out of this experience that really holds a lot of weight and it's something that I know that the president came out with this rant yesterday about this being a Democratic hoax, and we've been so painfully honest about this being so personal, and to still have this be politicized, I think first it's a really big missed opportunity on his part where he could have displayed some empathy, and he could have said, like, you know, a great day for the survivors, or any sort of recognition, and instead completely decides to keep this divisive.

54:37But I think that we're missing out on the survivor voice being, I mean, we have moved through this now for five administrations, right? Three decades. Maria Farmer, 1996, right? And we've been fighting this fight. We've been passing the torch. And we're stronger together now. And that's the coolest part about this, is that it really started with a few people, and then it became more and more, until really it feels like this is an empowering story for American democracy, right? Because it's not just the Epstein-Maxwell case. It became all survivors. And then after it became all survivors, it became even more, right?

55:13Like we ended up doing this call to action. We had the PSA release. And all of a sudden, everybody I knew, everybody our friends knew, everybody started calling their congresspeople and their senators. And it felt like this is so big. Like, you know, and instead of celebrating that right now and really saying, like, we did something that felt impossible. Nobody thought it would go through the House. Nobody thought it would get through the Senate. Certainly nobody thought the president would sign it. That is huge. It's a law. And instead of that being the focus, we're still calling it a Democratic hoax.

55:46And so now it's almost like using the whole piece that we've worked so hard for over five administrations against us. Well, it's not a partisan thing. It's not Democrat or Republican. and it's not a hoax and we're going to continue to cover it and we're going to continue to see every page and demand accountability and I hope you'll be here with us to make that happen. Thank you so much. Dani, it's great having you here. It's really nice to meet you and you should feel proud of what you and your sisters accomplished. Thank you so much for saying that. It is a bunch of previously vulnerable women that society was ignoring and you were heard and you made Congress didn't want to touch this with a 10-foot pole, change their mind, act as though they were with you the whole time.

56:38Some were. Some of them were. I would like to say that we have had some amazing champions from the very beginning. But not 427 of them or whatever the vote was. That's true. All right. Danny Benski, thank you so much. It's good to meet you. It's good to see you. Please come back. Thank you so much. Because we're going to keep covering this. It's not over. It's not over. Coming up next, that's CNN exclusive bombshell claims against Sean Diddy Combs, this time from a man claiming sexual assault. Here are the claims from that music producer himself.

57:08And our pop culture lead in a warning off the top here. The details in this CNN exclusive are disturbing. Elizabeth Wagmeister spoke with the man at the center of a brand new investigation into Sean Diddy Combs. Jonathan Hay is the accuser's name. He claims that Sean Didacombe sexually assaulted him in 2020. He laid out his case in a civil lawsuit, and now the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is investigating. And again, a warning, this interview includes graphic details that may be distressing to some viewers.

57:40Violated me like I've never been violated. Jonathan Hay. In his first TV interview since the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department opened a new investigation into allegations that Sean Diddy Combs forced Hay to perform oral sex on him. Someone is listening and I feel like I'm so close to justice. Finally. Hay, a music publicist and producer, says his first incident with Combs came in 2020 when they collaborated on new music honoring Biggie, the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. This is Hay, modeling Biggie's actual clothes, a photo he says he gave to the police. Taken on the day, he says he found himself alone with combs.

58:23He took a phone call, sat down. I could hear, like, sex noises. He was really, like, masturbating. This goes on for a few minutes. I just, like, want the whole thing, you know, to be over. The next thing you know, he ejaculates into one of Biggie's shirts. So it was a shirt that I mean, it was like, rest in peace, big. Hay, in this police report, says that he kept the incident to himself, but it began to eat at him and eventually told Biggie's son, CJ Wallace, who was collaborating with him on the new music. I finally got that off my chest after almost a year. But Hay told police that the dynamic of the partnership changed.

59:05In March 2021, Hay went for what he thought was an interview for Combs' Revolt TV. Instead, he says he was taken to a house where Combs entered the room. Chaos erupted, and he was screaming at me. He was in a rage, and that's when he violated me. Hay told police Combs stuck his penis inside of his mouth. Hay says he pulled away, but Combs pulled his head back and allegedly did it again, approximately three to four times. What was going through your mind in that moment? shock, like blur. I didn't know if I was going to die at that point. It's the first time in my life where I felt suicidal. Combs' attorneys told CNN, Mr.

59:50Combs categorically denies as false and defamatory all claims that he sexually abused anyone. In July, Hay filed a civil suit against Combs and Wallace, Biggie's son. Wallace is now suing for defamation, claiming Hay became irate at the decision to not release the remainder of the songs that Hay had produced and retaliated. His attorney adding the allegations will be shown to be complete fantasy. CJ knows what's happened. He was there. Combs is now serving four years in federal prison. Hay hopes that his case will add to that. Biggie was like supposedly his best friend. To just do that in his shirt and to attack me like he had.

1:00:31He doesn't need to be out on the streets. Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN, Los Angeles. this. And our thanks to Elizabeth Wagmeister for that important report. A U.S. military veteran who took on the state of Texas and won now finds himself back in court over$2.5 million. It's a story that we have followed for years here on The Lead. The latest chapter is next.

1:01:01In our national lead, a case that we have followed for years here on The Lead landed back in court today. In 2023, a Texas jury awarded veteran and former Texas state trooper Leroy Torres nearly two and a half million dollars because of his claims that he'd essentially been forced out of his job due to health problems he developed after being exposed to burn pits while serving in Iraq. Burn pits, as you may know, were used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan to destroy hazardous chemicals. They caused innumerable health problems for so many service members. Now, Torres claimed that rather than accommodating him because of his service, the Texas Department of Public Safety just suddenly fired him.

1:01:43He sued the state of Texas and he won. But this month, the state of Texas appealed that decision. So this year's long legal fight continues. Joining us now is Leroy Torres and his attorney, Brian Lawler. And Leroy, you first brought this case forward in 2017. What's your reaction to this legal battle continuing here in 2025.

1:02:05You know, Jake, thanks again for having me this afternoon. You know, I thought this would be over in 2023. And here we are, fast forward two years later, almost going into year nine with this legal battle. So it's been a difficult journey, not only having to deal with my physical ailments, but having to deal with this moral injury from the state not accommodating me with a position that I had requested. And one thing that has been difficult is that I see the Texas office often, they declare itself the strongest state for veterans. But yet today, the state continues its legal fight against a disabled veteran.

1:02:47And today, it's just not about me, but it's about thousands of citizen soldiers who answer the call to serve in uniform part-time, who are making a difference in the community every day and that this should be a service that is honored and not undermined. Yeah. Dressing yourself in the American flag and saying that you salute veterans doesn't mean anything if this is how you treat veterans. Let me note that we did reach out to the Texas Department of Public Safety for comment. They declined. Brian, what exactly is the state doing now? What are they challenging specifically? Jake, the state is saying that the trial victory, that the unanimous jury verdict that we got back in September of 2023 is wrong on a multitude of levels.

1:03:37First, that we advanced our theory on Leroy's behalf under the wrong part of the statute, under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. They claim that when we gave up one of our claims, but we advanced another one, we gave up the wrong one. So that's the majority of their argument, and that we didn't afford them what's called affirmative defense, where the jury could have said, oh, they had a legitimate reason for doing that. But we did. We offered them that affirmative defense under the correct theory of liability, and that is the state failed to accommodate Leroy's injuries and then re-employ him into a proper position.

1:04:16claiming that we basically just have a discrimination claim, and since we abandoned that and we don't have the failure to accommodate claim, we have no case. They're also challenging that we didn't properly put evidence of our attorney's fees which were awarded, and that even if Leroy were awarded damages, he should have been awarded damages at a much lower paying position that he was performing as a temporary accommodation, but he's actually entitled to a much higher position, and that's what the jury agreed with. Yeah, you know, it just sounds like a lot of technical mumbo, legal mumbo-jumbo just to deny justice.

1:04:53Leroy, if there is a less than favorable outcome in this case, ultimately, how significant do you think the implications will be for veterans and veteran employment protections? Well, Jake, I believe that this is an opportunity for Texas to honor and uphold you, Sarah, and to set a national standard for how employers treat their veterans across the board, you know, who come home with a service-related illness or an injury and make sure that they're accommodated. So instead of dragging this case out, like my state has been doing, it sends a dangerous message that employers can't ignore or can't delay and deny the very protections that veterans earned throughout their service.

1:05:37So that puts every veteran, not only in Texas at risk, not just me, but countless others. Leroy Torres, Brian Lawler, thanks to you. Stay in touch. We want to keep on top of this case and follow it wherever it goes. Hopefully it will land with justice as we thought it had in 2023. Just in the time-lapse video of some wild weather, this is a massive dust storm. It's actually known as a haboob, and it swept over parts of West Texas today. Meanwhile, the political storm that we could see at the White House tomorrow. That's next.

1:06:12And our politics lead New York City Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani is heading to Washington, D.C. tomorrow to meet with President Trump. Trump confirmed the meeting on Truth Social where he falsely called Mamdani a communist. Mamdani is, in fact, a democratic socialist. They are different ideologies. Mamdani has made clear that affordability is top of his agenda tomorrow. My team reached out to the White House to set up this meeting because I will work with anyone to make life more affordable for the more than eight and a half million people who call this city home. Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger is back with me and we're joined by Alex Boris, a Democratic New York State Assemblyman who is now running for Congress in what is the district?

1:06:52New York what? 12th district. New York 12th. So it's Jerry Nadler's district. That's a dogfight that race. It is. We got nine in the race and a good conversation happening. All right. How do you see this meeting going? Entertaining. Mom, Donnie and Trump. It'll be entertaining. By the way, I have to say real quick, because, you know, yes, Mom, Donnie is a Democratic socialist. Donald Trump takes a 10 percent stake in about every company now that exports anything. That's by definition a socialist policy. I'm just going to say that. But this will be an interesting meeting. Donald Trump loves when you're in it.

1:07:22He has to win you over. So I would not be surprised to see just this like joyful meeting right between the two and then I'll probably stab him in the back later It could devolve, but I'm you know I think it's really smart of the mayor like to reach out at least and open a dialogue and see how it goes And then we can all watch and talk about it tomorrow. It's gonna be crazy So Alex the two obviously have been fiercely attacking each other for months. They are foils for each other Here's what they both said after the mayoral election was over Look at the result of yesterday's election in New York where their party installed a communist as the mayor.

1:07:59We're going to see how that works out. So Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you. Turn the volume up.

1:08:16Can I just say something as an old man? What does that mean, turn the volume up? You're a young person. Do you have any idea what that means? You're young-ish. I probably shouldn't be sharing that. We should probably give that to ourselves. That's just a millennial secret code. Obviously, both of them are talking about affordability in very different ways. Do you think there is actually anything that they could come to terms on? Absolutely. You know, in normal times, this wouldn't be news. The new mayor-elect of New York City meeting with the president. but let's remember Zoran launched his campaign with a video interviewing people who had voted for Trump in New York City and what they kept saying in the video was affordability, affordability, affordability.

1:08:56That's how Zoran chose his theme and launched it. So there's a lot for them to come together on that isn't just campaign talk. It's been core of how he's been running. They are, I mean, I don't want to say that they're similar. They're not, but they are both very media savvy and they're in very different ways and both are very good at communicating with their voters. And they also bring their own voters, right? Donald Trump basically brought his own voters into the GOP and took it over. Mamdani basically brought his voters in. I mean, I remember hearing his name the first time being like, well, he's not gonna get any traction, and he did.

1:09:27And so that's the thing that they share in common is they have their own ideas. They're not really trying to fit into this, like, here's what you have to be to be a Republican or here's what you have to be to be a Democrat. And I honestly think that model is kind of the new currency for getting elected in the future because people can sniff whether or not you're fake or real. They seem real. Donald Trump seems real, and so does Mom Donnie, and I think that's the key. So I know you want to be in the House for some reason. I know Adam was trying to talk you out of it. The House continues to, right now, the trade censures.

1:09:59Recently, there was a censure against Congressman Garcia of Chicago for retiring in a way that guaranteed his chief of staff would be the only one on the ballot. Kind of sleazy. Congresswoman Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina, she's pushing to censure a fellow Republican. Congressman Corey Mills of Florida, accused of all sorts of stuff. The House voted to send the issue to the chamber's ethics committee. Are you ready for this censure palooza that you want to join? Well, I think the easy thing is don't commit ethics violations. You know, I think we should be consistent on being against corruption.

1:10:33We should be consistent on being pro-democracy. say you shouldn't be handing your seat to your handpicked successor, and you probably shouldn't be committing campaign finance violations. There's also this big push to stop members of Congress from trading stocks while they're in Congress because of all the insider information they get where they're able to - explain this to me because you've actually been - is it just real? It's like a legitimate thing? You learn things before the rest of the world does? It depends where you're - I mean, like, I think if you're a speaker, yes, probably because you know what agenda items are coming up, for instance.

1:11:08I don't think you have as much of an insight as probably people out there think. We're kind of pulling the strings. But yeah, I mean, you get some. So I know, for instance, if we're going to pull up a bill to repeal Obamacare, like we did 800 times, then you might want to bet against whatever is affected by that. I think you see some of that. But I don't think, you know what scares me, Jake, is the betting markets. Because you can go and bet. If I was in Congress, I could bet on myself voting yes or no on any bill, and they don't know who I am. So I could vote no if the odds are bad and then put$1 ,000 on it and make$20 ,000 because I know I'm going to vote.

1:11:45That is what's going to be abused, I guarantee you. And that's a story for the future, by the way. And what do you think about that? We're seeing it in the sports markets where it's influencing individual pitches. You saw pitchers now being reprimanded for it. It's way worse when it's votes or it's launching of campaigns. I mean, there was a betting market on my district before I launched and before everyone launched. If you know who's about to announce, there's quick money you can make there. This is something Congress needs to get ahead of. Do you support banning members of Congress from trading stocks?

1:12:13A hundred percent. A hundred percent. You don't need to have that much of a head start to make a bunch of profit on a trade. So even if you're just briefed on the votes of the day before it's announced publicly, that could change the stock market. And now that I'm out, yes. Thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it. We're not alone. If you believe in UFOs or if you wonder whether there is life beyond Earth, a new documentary very assertively declares that the U.S. government has proof of both. We're going to talk to the director of this documentary next.

1:12:47In our out of this world lead, unidentified anomalous phenomenon, what we used to call UFOs, are real. They are spying on and interfering with nuclear and military activity. They have crashed on Earth, and their non-human bodies have been recovered. And the U.S. government has been covering it all up for decades. Those are the arguments featured in The Age of Disclosure, which is a serious contender in the Oscar race for Best Documentary. It debuts this Friday in some theaters and on Amazon Prime. And it features a bipartisan group of 34 senior members of the U.S. government, military, and intelligence communities, all of whom go on the record, claiming to have direct knowledge of UAPs, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.

1:13:32In a clip that is exclusive to the lead we're going to show you right now, then-Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair, now Secretary of State Marco Rubio, explains how deep these layers of secrecy can go. I think there's this assumption that presidents can walk in the Oval Office on day one and say, all right, take me to Roswell, show me the alien bodies. I want to see the video of the autopsy. I want to see the whole thing, open it up. I think that really is a naive understanding of how our government works. Even presidents have often been operating on a need-to-know basis. That's certainly true from a historic standpoint.

1:14:12The rationale, the justification was, the president shouldn't know about these things because that way the president always has deniability. All they need is a nod in this direction or in that direction. But that begins to ramp out of control. Frankly, I don't even know the president would know who to ask. You could go to the director of the CIA, nowadays the director of national intelligence, and ask them. And even that person may not know because those people rotate. But the people, three layers underneath them that are there for 30 years, to them. It's like I've seen these people come and go.

1:14:41I have no obligation to tell them it exists. It just never percolates up. Joining us down to discuss is Dan Farah. He's the director of the Age of Disclosure. So first of all, let me say I saw it last night and it is riveting and fascinating. Congratulations. This is a subject that we've covered on the show, but you really, this is above and beyond. Thank you. The secretary of state, then a senator, goes on the record there to provide a window into how deeply hidden this knowledge really may be. Yeah, that Rubio clip sums up how significant the cover-up is. Every one of the 34 intelligence, military, and government officials I interview told me that not only is the public kept in the dark, but Congress is kept in the dark, and all sitting presidents have been kept in the dark.

1:15:27So in the documentary, a number of officials go on the record to reveal a UAP crash retrieval program where technologies and even, quote, non-human biologics have been recovered. Officials say there is a secret war between the US, China, and Russia to try and reverse engineer some of these alien technologies from these crashed UAPs. How big are the national security implications here? They couldn't be bigger. So this race, this secret Cold War race that our nation is in with adversarial nations to reverse engineer technology of non-human origin. The stakes are far, far greater than the atomic race.

1:16:09One of the interview subjects refers to it as the Manhattan Project on steroids. This technology could be used to cause significant destruction, but it could also be used to revolutionize the way we live. So there's a lot of pros and cons to this race. One pretty shocking revelation is how these beings, whatever they are, have allegedly interacted and spied on nuclear and military sites. Here's a quick clip from the documentary. We've had repeated instances of something operating in the airspace over restricted nuclear facilities, and it's not ours. They have both deactivated and activated nuclear weapons with both the United States and Russia.

1:16:51These are otherworldly things that are performing maneuvers that haven't been seen. The UAP activity surrounding nuclear weapons is not a historic issue. It's an ongoing issue. And there are individual testaments from people talking about UAPs that they saw hovering over nuclear missile silos. It's terrifying. There's been reoccurring activity over our nuclear weapon sites in this country and other countries, and over our most classified military bases all over the world. world. And obviously, that's concerning because even if you are someone who can't wrap your head around the fact that this is non-human intelligent life and we don't know what their intentions are, the alternative is it's an adversarial nation penetrating our most secure airspace.

1:17:39Those are your choices. Right. But I mean, as Rubio has said in your documentary and has said publicly as well, the Russians and the Chinese are not centuries ahead of us when it comes to this technology. No. Secretary Rubio makes it clear in the film, as do others, that we do not know where these UAP come from. But there is absolutely no reason to believe they are from the United States or another nation state. So it's called the age of disclosure, because you're basically saying we are at the very beginning now of this new age where this is accepted, no longer mocked, no longer stigmatized. So where are we going to be, do you think, in five years, 10 years, 20 years on this issue?

1:18:22I think that the officials speaking up in this film are kicking off an era where the U.S. government's going to step up and officially make it known that we're not alone in the universe and that the U.S. intends to lead the way on this. I think you're going to see a lot of legislation start to get full support in the House and Senate to drive us towards legal disclosure of what can be shared comfortably with the public. I think we're entering an era of unprecedented transparency and disclosure. And I think it has to happen now, as the film reveals, because the stakes couldn't be higher. We are in a very significant, high-stakes Cold War race with China and Russia, most notably China.

1:19:06and we know their intentions are not great. Yeah. And it's important that we actually win this race and lead in this new era. And you note that Senator Harry Reid, the late Senator Harry Reid, was very visionary, a real trailblazer on this issue in Washington, D.C. And right now, Schumer, the Democrat, and Rounds, the Republican, are pushing for more disclosure and they've been headed off at every turn. The Age of Disclosure, out this Friday, select theaters worldwide on Amazon Prime Video. Dan Farah, congratulations and thanks for being here. Thank you. Thanks for having me. So, as of right now, there are only 24 hours and a minute and a half left before we start closing the eBay celebrity auction that I am co-hosting with George Clooney and Winona Judd.

1:19:51All of the proceeds of this auction, this is our ninth annual auction, it's the ninth one, help to build specially adapted mortgage-free homes for severely wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. And I have seen how these homes change lives. And it's amazing. So you can go right now, ebay.com slash HFOT, Homes for Our Troops. You can bid on Zoom calls with celebrities, lunch dates, premieres to special shows, movies, autographed collectibles. In the events space alone, you can see the premiere of a future Jake Gyllenhaal production. And you get to meet and greet that handsome devil. You can play 18 holes of golf at the Bel Air Country Club.

1:20:34with none other than Jason Bateman and Will Arnett. You could win VIP tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band next summer and get a signed poster from them, too. How about some VIP club tickets to see the San Francisco 49ers versus the Tennessee Titans next month? Or if hockey's your thing, a VIP ticket trip to see the Boston Bruins take on the Detroit Red Wings. It comes with an autographed puck also from 400 goal scorer David Pasternak. It's also NFL tickets to see the Eagles against the commanders in January. Whoopi Goldberg's autographed to the Andrew Pink Heels. Bottom line, there's a lot more than 100 items to bid on.

1:21:12The auction closes tomorrow night at 7. Find out more, ebay.com slash HFOT. Homes for our troops. Aaron Burnett out front starts now.

1:21:26Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. On my podcast, All There Is, we explore grief and loss in all its complexities. Everything that he did and why, I realized how much he had to take on that I just wasn't really aware of. It does make me wish that I could just go back and be a little bit more understanding at that time. Her name is Michaela Schifrin. She's 31 and is considered the greatest alpine skier of all time. Her mom, Eileen, is an integral part of her team, and her dad, Jeff Schifrin, was too. He was an anesthesiologist who first put Michaela on skis when she was three. What was he like? This is maybe kind of weird, but like he was really handsome.

1:22:06Since he passed away, I've actually become him. I've totally become the scheduling person in our family. Talking grief, building community. That's what the podcast is all about. This is all there is. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.