WH: Quick Hostage Release Will Create Momentum On Rest Of Deal

25:38And he said he is calling directly on vaccine manufacturers to develop, quote, safe monovalent vaccines to replace the combined MMR, measles, mumps, rubella, and, quote, break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots. Now, he was quoting there from a post from President Trump late last month, and that followed President Trump calling for the MMR shot to be broken up in his press conference on autism and Tylenol. Take a listen to this. The MMR, I think, should be taken separately. This is based on what I feel, the mumps, measles, and the three should be taken separately. And it seems to be that when you mix them, there could be a problem.

26:27So there's no downside in taking them separately. Now, the president's saying that it's based on what he feels. We reached out to HHS to see what data they're using to back up this suggestion. They suggest that standalone vaccines can potentially reduce the risk of side effects without citing data specifically on the MMR shot that would say so. They also say this could maximize parental choice. Jake, it's important to note that experts say there has been no benefit shown to breaking up the MMR vaccine. No safety risks of that shown versus taking them by themselves. And of course, you're getting kids to have to get six shots instead of two.

27:06Yeah, I mean, no offense to the president, but who cares what he feels? He's not a doctor. He has no training in any of this. Experts don't think that that's right. Are vaccine manufacturers likely to go along with this? Well, we've reached out to them. There are two manufacturers of the combined MMR vaccine, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline. Neither seems particularly inclined right now to start making single virus focused shots. Merck says, quote, there is no published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots. Their vaccine, their combination MMR, has been on the market since 1971.

27:41GSK's, which was approved more recently, also notes that there's decades of research supporting the safety and efficacy of this combination. Jake? Strange days. Meg Terrell, thank you so much. Coming up, some of the eye-raising claims from President Trump when he went, as per usual, off script at an event this weekend in Virginia in front of a bunch of sailors. Should somebody in his circle be calling this stuff out? We're gonna let you know what he said next.

28:12In our politics lead yesterday, President Trump celebrated the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy and Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia. Not only did he brag about some of his own accomplishments, he also went after his political opponents, such as his predecessor, President Joe Biden. The chances of him walking down those stairs successfully were not good. And I have to be careful because one day I'm going to probably fall. I don't have to bop down. This is walk nice and slowly. Again, this is in front of service members, sailors, this political speech. The president's also reminded the thousands of naval officers gathered what the former White House doctor, now Texas MAGA congressman, Ronnie Jackson, said about President Trump's fitness compared to the fitness of Presidents Barack Obama and George W.

29:02Bush. And at a press conference, they asked him, who's in the best shape? Who's the healthiest? Who's the strongest? Who's the best physical specimen of the three? He said, that's easy. President Donald Trump. And I said, I love this guy. Okay. And the president also took credit for warning about Osama bin Laden a year before the 9-11 attacks. In the book, I wrote whatever the hell the title, I can't tell you, but I can tell you there's a page in there devoted to the fact that I saw somebody named Osama bin Laden and I didn't like it and you got to take care of him. They didn't do it. A year later, he blew up the World Trade Center.

29:47Okay, that's not true. Let's talk about this and more with the panel. Let's start with this bin Laden thing. The book, by the way, Mr. President, it's called The America We Deserve. And while this isn't the first time the president has made this claim, CNN's resident fact checker Daniel Dale writes, quote, Trump's claim is false. His 2000 book contained no warning at all about bin Laden. It's understandable if Trump doesn't remember precisely what was in the book. It was released 25 years ago and was ghostwritten by someone else. But that doesn't excuse a decade of boasting about how the book supposedly includes something.

30:18It actually does not. Ashley? I mean I guess I wish I could say I'm surprised but I'm not like this is a normal Donald Trump speech and this was the thing that so many of us were trying to warn against and I was actually sitting here I don't have the answer to it but shaming the current president into thinking that this speech is unacceptable doesn't work for him and it doesn't work for a significant part of the Republican Party and not to make it political I don't think he should have given that speech there. But if we want to, as Democrats, figure out a path for it so that we don't have a Donald Trump 3.0, we've got to figure out how to make people care about more than just these crazy speeches.

31:01It's not the thing we want to be able to be able to say, but it didn't take them out. And so why would we think we get anything different right now? So California Governor Gavin Newsom's office had this response to the clip on Twitter or X. They wrote, does Trump even know what year it is? Former Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry, There are a lot of Democrats out there who see these rambling speeches and think, is something going on upstairs? So, well, you've written a book about the last president on all these questions that my Democratic friends didn't want to raise about the last president.

31:35But that's not going to help Gavin Newsom in the next election. In fact, this is exactly what Ashley just said, which is coming up with a message that counters this. The fact is that the president has this riff. We all know he has this riff. If you watch Saturday Night Live's current impression of President Trump, pretty spot on. And actually funny. The president gets up to the mic and he has Democrats breathless that he's going to destroy the republic with a series of jokes. When most of America thinks it's a series of jokes. The setting here, I don't think as a traditionalist here, I don't think the military should be used for a prop like that.

32:14CBS News is a brand new editor-in-chief starring today, Barry Weiss, the co-founder and CEO of the Free Press, which will now operate under Paramount, which also owns CBS News. Here's some of what Weiss said about her new role on social media today. We would not be doing this if we didn't believe in David Ellison and the entire leadership team who took over Paramount this summer. They are doubling down because they believe in news, because they have courage, because they love this country and because they understand, as we do, that America cannot thrive without common facts, common truths and a common reality.

32:52And actually, we should note that you are a media magnate on your own. You just purchased The Root, a prominent black media outlet. What's your response to Barry Wise taking over there? I know a lot of progressives are upset. I know her and I think highly of her, but that's my personal experience. What do you think? Well, aside from her political views, which I'm not completely aligned with, I think that we are seeing a signal, people like myself, people like Barry, who we're in a new era of media. The Root is a digital platform. It was started in 2008 because people are consuming their news in different ways.

33:28And so we need to be able to meet people where they are. I agree with her that we need to use facts. We need to use truth. We can have opinions, but we have to root things and ground things in science and data. And so we're committed to doing that at The Root. I think that progressives are concerned that CBS is playing a little more to Trump and MAGA right now with that appointment. And time will tell and see how their coverage goes. What do you think? How are conservatives taking this news? Great news, fantastic news, impressive news to see that CBS has made such a shift here to recognize they have a problem.

34:01They had to respond to it. But the Barry Weiss story is an absolutely fascinating one. She was fired, and that was in the midst of wokeism, cancel culture, and, well, she resigned. She resigned, yeah. Because of the kerfuffle around Tom Cotton's editorial in the New York Times. But it was in the midst of this cancel culture, wokeism, and everything writ large. What you're now seeing in that is firmly behind us. And this is a new day for media in America and a recognition that this is a far more complex media landscape than ever before. Now, what I think Barry Weiss's supporters would say would be she's not conservative, she's a centrist, but she is willing to take on some liberal causes that haven't proven to age well, such as, for example, let's just say all the COVID restrictions or whatever.

34:52What do you think? Well, I think as an owner of a media property, it's really important to have lines between the editorial work and the business side of the work. Because when you are running a media business and you're trying to make money, it can sometimes compromise who you take money from, what type of reporting you do, not to upset your advertisers. I think in this moment, what we need to, in journalism and in news writ large, We need to make sure that there's an editorial line where we can tell the truth, whether or not it's a popular truth, and it can be separated from the business. And this is, I think, what people are curious to see if she'll be able to do.

35:28The Nobel Peace Prize is going to be announced on Friday. Today, families of the hostages held in Gaza asked the committee to award President Trump with the honor. They wrote in a letter, quote, in this past year, no leader or organization has contributed more to peace around the world than President Trump. He has not merely spoken a piece. He has delivered it. What do you think? So this President 47 is different than President 45. You see the unwillingness to deploy troops around the globe, this real willingness to engage in the peace process wherever it may be across the globe. This is the type of presidential ambition that should open up America and say, that's what we want out of our president, to seek peace wherever it may be and to actually help people in harm's way.

36:10This should be a welcome thing for everyone. What do you think? I think the hostage families have been through so much that they are more than deserving to have their own opinion. Doesn't mean I have to agree with them. Yeah, I think it's a little premature right now in terms of the big wars, Gaza and Ukraine. But, I mean, there are efforts being made. Maybe we see where we are next year. But did you imagine this was going to be President Trump's white whale for a second term, that he would seek the Nobel Peace Prize as the prize for a second term? I think that's in and of itself a different outcome than what everyone expected in the last election.

36:46Fair enough. Aside from the hostage family's request, I think that a lot of people are thinking, but what are you doing in Chicago right now? What are you doing in Portland right now? Are you even trying to have peace in your own country? That's the question I have. Interesting stuff. Thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it. Congrats again on The Root. Thank you. That rescue happening on Mount Everest right now after a blizzard stranded hundreds of hikers. Stay with us.

37:11let's have i got news for your ears the podcast i am your host michael ian black i have nothing to hide i've been exonerated totally exonerated on epstein yeah the exonerated thing like he just the word he learned and i don't think he even knows what it means come on he knows what exonerated means he's been on trial enough times he's been exonerated a number of times to me it's the 1980s ran for president and won. Why isn't the music more interesting? YMCA. Gloria. I'm going to say that Gloria blew his mind. Michael Crawford receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Have I Got News for Your Ears releases new episodes every Wednesday.

37:54Don't miss an episode. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back with our world lead and survival stories from near Mount Everest after hundreds of hikers were trapped by a sudden blizzard, they had to be rescued from the weekend storm, the same system which caused deadly floods and mudslides in Nepal. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is going to take a look for us at how the weather close to the world's tallest peak can change so dramatically and dangerously.

38:25Yaks clearing a path for hundreds of hikers stranded on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest. Firefighters carrying some hikers to safety. After a heavy snowstorm pummeled the Himalayas, leaving experienced mountaineers trapped in knee-deep snow. I think this was a big surprise that caught a lot of people off guard. October is a favored month for trekkers to visit Mount Everest because of its typical dry and stable weather patterns. But that wasn't the case this weekend as a tropical-infused area of low pressure moved across the region. And the Himalayas effectively acted as a wet sponge being pushed against a wall, wringing out all the available moisture in the form of heavy snow.

39:06It's critical to have a station here on the glacier. The lack of weather information on Earth's highest mountain has always been a challenge. We know more about the weather on Mars than we do on the highest peaks of the Himalaya here on our planet. it. That's why Dr. Baker Perry and a team of scientists installed weather stations on Mount Everest in 2019 to gain more insight. He says this is the biggest storm observed since they installed the instruments and these snowfall rates are similar to some of the highest we see in the western U.S. The blizzard leaving some still waiting for rescue. The same storm system hit Nepal.

39:48Heavy rains triggered landslides and flooded farms, killing at least 44 people, with some still missing. Derek Van Dam, CNN, Atlanta. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, a legal showdown over the Trump administration's efforts to deploy National Guard troops to Democrat-led cities. Illinois and Chicago are now suing the Trump administration, while a federal judge temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. But some federal law enforcement officers are already in Oregon and clashed with protesters last night. We're going to have Democratic lawmakers from Oregon and Illinois join us in just a moment.

40:28Plus, fall out for some shocking text messages sent by Jay Jones, Virginia's Democratic candidate for attorney general, in which Jones suggested just three years ago that a Republican colleague should be shot and his children killed. Jones has issued an apology, and he's not dropping out of the ranks and no Democratic officials have called for him to step down. Plus, Fox Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez now facing a felony charge for his role in an altercation that landed him in the hospital with stab wounds. Prosecutors say loads of video evidence could even lead to more charges down the line.

41:05What on earth happened?

41:10Our lead tonight, protests on the ground and push back in the courts as two Democratic-led cities, Chicago and Portland, become new epicenters for President Trump's crackdown on crime, as he says. Today, Illinois and Chicago are both suing the Trump administration over its move to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, even as protests at ICE facilities have ramped up in recent weeks, protesters saying they've been met with physical force and tear gas. Protests are also ongoing outside an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon. On Sunday, a Trump-appointed judge temporarily blocked the administration's efforts to send in National Guard troops from other states.

41:47The Trump administration now appealing that decision with confidence. The president has the right to call up the National Guard in cases where he deems it's appropriate. We're very confident in the president's legal authority to do this, and we're very confident we will win on the merits of the law. Joining us now, Oregon's Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley. Senator, thanks for joining us. So the White House says they're confident in their ability to win this appeal. They're citing part of the U.S. code that says the president can call in the National Guard to repel an invasion, suppress a rebellion, or execute laws of the United States.

42:21Do you think they have any legal argument here? How do you see this shaking your head? Well, they certainly failed the test that there is no rebellion. There is no invasion. There's a longstanding understanding you don't deploy the military against peacefully protesting Americans. And you don't bring them in unless there's a rebellion. And, of course, the district judge said there's nothing that approaches that. There have been a few scuffles, mostly instigated by the folks, the federal agents that Trump has sent out there. It's shocking to watch a member of the Trump team walk up to a woman who's totally obeying instructions and just spraying her straight in the face with pepper spray, watching them march protesters three blocks away.

43:02Protesters are peaceful, but they have videographers behind them, and then they start throwing down pepper balls and tear gas to film it to try to create the impression of chaos where there wasn't chaos. It's Trump creating the chaos because he wants violence and chaos to justify more authoritarian power. This is an incredibly perilous moment for our nation. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller described the situation in Portland to CNN's Boris Sanchez like this earlier today. Take a listen. And ICE officers have been subjected to over 100 nights of terrorist assault, doxing, murder threats, violent attack, and every other means imaginable to try to overturn the results of the last election through violence.

43:46The mayor and governor in Portland and Oregon have refused to render aid, leaving ICE officers to street fight every single night against these terrorists. Have you been to that ICE facility? What is your view on what's going on? Yes, I have. I was there several times last weekend, the weekend before. What you saw were three women holding up like flowers. I mean, what its only point it becomes confrontational is when the federal agents are starting the confrontation. And what he's describing is just a fiction, complete fiction. You know, Trump said maybe he was watching the wrong tapes. Well, maybe he was watching the tapes from 2020, but that's not now.

44:26Now, Portland, among the biggest cities, has had the largest reduction in murders. It's had the largest, well, I don't know if it's the largest, but it's had a 20 % reduction in violent crime. Portland's been on the rise, but Trump is looking for a fight. And my message to folks in Portland is don't take the bait. And so far, the protesters have been very restrained, and I hope they continue to be, because we do not want to give justification that allows Trump to have a win in court, saying now there really is a sizable disturbance the police can't handle. What's going on there now, police are occasional confrontations they can handle like any other occasional confrontation.

45:09If he would just get his folks out of there, Portland could return to being peaceful. The monthly statistics you cite from the Portland Police Bureau do show the crime overalls on the decline in the city, but the most recent month-to-month comparison we have, August of this year compared to August 2024, 2023, violent crime has gone up, just comparing month to month. A significant portion of this increase is from simple assault reports. Do you accept the statement, the idea that Portland does need some help addressing a rise in crime, even if you disagree strongly with how the Trump administration is doing this?

45:46Well, cherry picking that one month takes away the overall vision of the year, where it's down 20 percent from the previous year. And so it's not acceptable to cherry pick a particular week or a particular set of weeks in that fashion to depict what's going on there. But realize the police have been really working hard to build this set of relationships that have, again, reduced the murder rate in half in a single year, the best of the largest 65 cities in America. I think Trump should be giving them an award for that. Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it.

46:19Let's go to Chicago now. Joining us now, Congressman Brad Schneider, a Democrat from Illinois. Congressman, your district makes a part in Chicago. What are you seeing and hearing about what's happening on the ground there right now? We're seeing similar to what Senator Merkley was talking about. Fact of the matter is that Chicago, our crime rates are down. I think it's a 60-year low in Chicago. The communities, these are communities where people live, they work, their kids go to school, and they're being terrorized by the administration, by President Trump, by Secretary Noem, by ICE and CPB who are using military tactics to come in and rough people up, to scare and terrorize young people.

47:02We had a situation where young kids were put in hands strapped behind their back, parents taken away from them, and many of these were American citizens. So we're just seeing the president trying to stoke a violence and using his authority as president to send troops in where they're not wanted, they're not needed. And we have much more pressing concerns that he should be focused on. Illinois and Chicago are now both suing the Trump administration over the effort to deploy the National Guard in the city. The Chicago mayor is taking steps to prohibit ice from using city property. He's declared that there are ice free zones in Chicago.

47:42What do you think so far of the efforts by state and local leaders to push back against what the Trump administration says they're trying to do for law and order? Right. The case was filed, a temporary restraining order, TRO, was filed today. I believe that the administration was given until Wednesday at midnight to respond. We are standing up. And I think that the message that the administration needs to hear is that, A, the troops aren't needed, the president's tactics aren't welcome, and just as important, we're not going to be afraid. We're going to protect our communities, we're going to protect our neighbors, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that the illegal actions of the administration are not allowed.

48:31So here in D.C., where Trump last deployed the National Guard, The numbers do show that violent crime declined. It's down 36 % in the last 30 days compared to last year, down 27 % overall this year compared to last year. And we heard from some D.C. locals and communities that were unhappy with the National Guard presence in the city. But we also heard from some that were happy with it and liked the idea that there was more law enforcement in the street, especially in some of the rougher parts of D.C. is it possible that the federal assistance could be useful to Chicago in some form to help address crime, even if you don't approve of how Trump is doing it?

49:09Is there any way that assistance would be good for Chicago? I'll tell you what would be good and what would be welcome. The president could release the$800 million he's holding for public safety, federal money that was intended by Congress to go to local police departments, local communities to help improve safety in those communities. We should be working hand in glove with our local communities, local police departments to provide the protection and services they need. That's not sending in the military. That's not creating the impression of violence when there is no violence. It's not trying to cause an insurrection to allow the president to extend his dictatorial aspirations.

49:50What's needed is collaboration, cooperation, working together with communities, reinforcing local police departments who know the community, who know what the community needs, and giving them the resources to deliver on those services. Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider from Chicago, Illinois. Thanks so much for breaking news in our Law and Justice League. Some Senate Republicans are right now accusing the FBI under the Biden administration of spying on Republican senators. Let's get right to CNN's Evan Perez with this breaking news. Evan, you're just getting in these allegations. What are you learning?

50:21Yeah, look, I was over at the Capitol for a press conference that was held by Senator Grassley and a number of other Republicans. Grassley's the head Republican on the Judiciary Committee. On the Judiciary Committee, correct. And he said they had gotten some records from the FBI, which showed that the FBI had subpoenaed records related to nine members of Congress, mostly senators. And these were toll records. These are not content of the calls. These are what time call was made, what phone number was called, the duration of the call. That's the kind of thing that the FBI gets in those types of subpoenas.

50:58And that it was for records of calls made from January 4th to January 8th of 2021. So related to the January 6th insurrection. This was the January 6th investigation. Now, Jake, we've known that the FBI and that the special counsel Jack Smith had obtained some call records of members of Congress as part of this investigation. We know that because they had fought a battle in court over the limits of the speech or debate clause and whether they can actually access those records. That went through the courts for a number of months. What we know is that the FBI was interested and the investigators were interested to see who was calling the president.

51:38during that time and whether there was pressure on those people to not certify. And that was part of the investigation. We, of course, read all of that in the indictment, which, of course, ended up being dismissed. And so that appears - After President Trump won. Right, after he had won. Yeah. Exactly. And so what we don't know, obviously, is more detail about this, whether there's anything, any wrongdoing here, which is what the Republicans are saying there was. They're calling it political weaponization. Kash Patel says that these records were obtained for political purposes. It appears that this is part of the normal investigation that was being done at the time.

52:18And again, it was done with court authorization. So it wasn't just the FBI seizing these records. They got a grand jury subpoena to be able to obtain them. But we're going to hear more about this, I suspect. They said that they expected the FBI is going to continue investigating this. And of course, we have the Attorney General Pam Bondi on Capitol Hill tomorrow, where I'm sure this will come up. But obviously, this has angered Republicans because they believe that this is a sign of the weaponization that was targeted against only Republican lawmakers. But of course, who else would have been calling Trump January 4th to January 8th of 2021?

52:58Yeah, I don't think too many Democrats were pushing for the election to be overturned in 2021. Correct. All right, Evan Perez, thanks so much. the Trump administration has been warning since last week that government shutdown related layoffs are imminent. An update from the White House on what we should all expect just ahead, plus a CNN exclusive on how the Trump Justice Department is trying to justify lethal extrajudicial strikes against people in boats that they allege are members of drug cartels. That's next.

53:29Breaking news in the politics lead this moment to go a series of U.S. Senate votes aiming to reopen the federal government just failed. The shutdown is now on day six. Party leaders are still continuing to point blame across the aisle as the White House prepares to carry out a wave of what seemed to be retaliatory federal agency firings this week. CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Caitlin Collins joins us now. Caitlin, President Trump told reporters today the layoffs could come tomorrow if the government did not reopen. You're also learning more about the negotiations. What can you tell us?

53:59Yeah, Jake, well, chief among the Democrats' demands here has been to extend those Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire on December 31st at the end of the year. Something that the Republicans on Capitol Hill have said is something they could negotiate later if they could just reopen the government now and have a consensus between Democrats and Republicans. But when we were just called into the Oval Office a short time ago, President Trump said he was open to potentially making a deal depending on what that would look like when it came to those health care subsidies. Would you make a deal with them on the ACA subsidies?

54:33If we if we made the right deal, I'd make a deal. So you would be willing to. I mean, you have right now subsidies. That's the problem with Obamacare. The subsidies are so much. It's billions and billions of dollars is being wasted. And we can have a much better health care that we have right now. And we're talking to him. I mean, I'm not saying that's going to happen because this has also been going on not for 3000 years, but it's been going on for a long time. But, yeah, we're talking to the Democrats. The 3 ,000 years there, Jake, was a reference to what's happening in the Middle East and these negotiations between Israel and Hamas that are underway right now that the president had been speaking about.

55:10But in reference to these subsidies, Jake, I mean, it's important that he was saying that he would be potentially willing to make an agreement or make a deal with them and come to an agreement on that. It's not clear exactly what that would look like because Democrats have been pretty clear. They simply want to extend them. Republicans so far have not committed to doing that. And what we've heard from John Thune is that they need to reopen the government before they even have those discussions. The president said he had been negotiating with Democrats. He didn't say which Democrats, but we heard from Chuck Schumer, who said it's not him, Jake.

55:40Kaylin, Trump also gave a curious reaction to the news that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who'd been convicted of child sex trafficking. Yeah, by rejecting her appeal and refusing to even hear that for the chance to overturn her conviction as she has been trying to do, that means, Jake, the only way that she can get out of prison now is a pardon from President Trump. And so I asked him today if that is something that is still on the table in light of that decision by the Supreme Court today. The Supreme Court is back in session. They rejected today an appeal by Ghislaine Maxwell to overturn her conviction.

56:18That means her only chance at getting out of prison is a pardon from you. Is that something you're open to doing? You know, I haven't heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I'd have to take a look at it. I have a lot of people who have asked me for pardons. I call him Puff Daddy who has asked me for a pardon. But she was convicted of child sex trafficking. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to have to take a look at it. I'd have to ask DOJ. That's a notable answer there from the president, Jake, because obviously he is leaving the door wide open to potentially pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, although obviously he certainly didn't commit to it there.

56:51He said he would speak to the Justice Department about potentially doing so. That's sure bizarre. Caitlin Collins at the White House for us. Thank you so much. Don't miss Caitlin on her show later tonight. The source of Caitlin Collins tonight and every weeknight at 9 Eastern on CNN. As the Trump administration argues that the U.S. is in an armed conflict with drug cartels, a CNN exclusive outlines how the Justice Department plans to justify authorizing deadly force against the cartels. That's next.

57:22An exclusive for you now in our Law and Justice lead, after multiple U.S. strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean, sources tell CNN the Justice Department has produced a classified legal opinion outlining why the Trump administration believes that the president can do this, can legally justify an open-ended war against a secret list of groups and then have them killed extrajudicially. CNN's Zach Cohen helped break the story. And Zach, you've been hearing from JAGS, Judge Advocates General, other known as military lawyers. What are the JAGS telling you? Yeah, Jake, there's certainly some military lawyers inside the Pentagon who, including international law experts, who have raised concerns about the legality of these strikes and struck votes in the Caribbean.

58:04We've even heard from multiple who said these These strikes don't appear to be legal and that's obviously the exact opposite conclusion that is described to us in this OLC opinion. The problem here is that Pentagon lawyers can't overrule the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. That's really the preeminent legal interpretation for the executive branch and many sources told us that lawyers inside the Pentagon are effectively resigned to put their head down and eat it, one put it that way. Basically saying that they have to go along with it, not to rock the boat because ultimately they know they can't do anything about it.

58:35And this, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it also gives the CIA a longer leash in dealing with anything going on in Latin America? This opinion really is the backbone of the administration's broader campaign against these drug cartels, drug groups, not just in the Caribbean, but across Latin America and the Western Hemisphere. And this also includes expanded authorities, we're told, for the CIA. Now, the CIA, like the Pentagon, has been told by the administration that they want them to be more involved in this counter-narco mission. That's a top priority for the CIA, and it's something we know they've been reviewing their authorities on how they can be more involved in for the last several months.

59:10Around the same time earlier this summer when Trump signed those authorities for the military to conduct lethal strikes, we're told he also expanded the CIA's authority to conduct lethal operations, covert action. So you not only have the military involved, but also the U.S. intelligence community. So Attorney General Bondi is going to testify on Capitol Hill tomorrow. What is Congress's role in all this? Let me ask it differently. What should be Congress's role in all of this? The current Congress has seemed not really all that willing to do its job, but what should be its role? We've heard from Republicans and Democrats who are very dissatisfied with the explanation that they've gotten from the administration during these closed-door briefings about the legal justification for these strikes.

59:50Now, tomorrow will be an opportunity for them to push Pam Bondi, the attorney general who obviously oversees the Justice Department, which oversees the OLC, push her to explain why they think that these strikes are legally justified. This opinion is classified, and Congress has asked to see it multiple times and has not yet had a chance to. Of course, the irony of all this, Jake, is President Trump ran on a platform effectively of ending wars. This opinion seems to open the door for an open-ended conflict against drug cartels and drug groups. of nondescript kinds. All right, Zach Cohen, thanks so much.

1:00:24Great reporting after a late night altercation this weekend, a former NFL quarterback and a current NFL analyst is now facing a felony charge. An attorney's gonna weigh in on what Mark Sanchez's defense strategy might be. That's next.

1:00:41Our sports lead now, Fox Sports analyst and former New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is recovering from several stab wounds suffered in an altercation Saturday night in Indianapolis, Indiana. But police say that Sanchez is not the victim here. Officials say that the dispute between Sanchez and a 69-year-old truck driver began over a parking space. This was a situation that did not need to occur. The allegations involve a 38-year-old man becoming involved in an altercation with a 69-year-old man who sustained significant and very severe injuries. Let's bring in criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

1:01:19And Joey, Sanchez now faces a felony charge, battery involving serious bodily injury. And he could get one to six years in prison if convicted. How do you anticipate Sanchez's attorney is going to handle this, given Sanchez told a detective he could barely remember anything that happened? Yeah, so a number of ways, Jay. Good to be with you. The first thing is, what does that mean in terms of the serious physical injury? You might note that originally he was simply charged, that is, Mr. Sanchez that we look at there, just with injury itself, which would be a misdemeanor, a misdemeanor punishable by under a year, as you noted at the outset, because that has been now escalated to serious physical injury.

1:01:57It could be up to six years. And that means when you say serious physical injury, it could create the risk, meaning his conduct, not that it did, of death. And so, yes, there is an indication that his memory may not all be together there. Their initial indications also were that in the complaint notes that he was also allegedly publicly intoxicated and that he allegedly entered into a truck where this other person was. But I think that what will end up happening is that a number of videos will surface. If you look at the criminal complaint, it pretty much references the video, which indicates the interaction between Mr.

1:02:28Sanchez and the 69-year-old male that he engaged with. And I think presented from that video will go a long way in terms of what actually happened. Now, just very briefly, in any case, there's an initial aggressor. The initial aggressor is the person who ultimately is engaging at the outset, who's causing the fight to occur. Was Mr. Sanchez the initial aggressor? That question will have to be answered. If he was or if it's alleged to be, what precipitated that? Why did he engage? Did he have a basis to do so? Was he defending himself? Was he in fear of serious bodily injury himself? All of those things will be acted upon.

1:03:04Was he and did his actions, were they proportionate to any threat posed? So there's a lot to unwind here. Obviously, they're investigating. Obviously, there's a complaint which gives a narrative as to what happened. But oftentimes, based on other witnesses and other things that surface like surveillance video, there will be a narrative that could be bought into and that would ultimately explain why it happened, how it happened, and if indeed he's in fault. So Perry Toll, that's the 69-year-old man Sanchez allegedly attacked. Perry Toll fired a lawsuit today against Sanchez and Fox. The lawsuit alleges that Toll suffered, quote, permanent disfigurement, loss of function, other physical injuries.

1:03:41Accuses Fox of not supervising Sanchez's behavior that Fox should have known about his, quote, propensity for drinking and or harmful conduct. Could Fox really be held liable for this? Well, I don't see this in as much as when you talk about a civil case, right? Obviously, there's a different standard. Criminal beyond a reasonable doubt. It goes to liberty. When you talk about civil cases, it's a preponderance. Is it more likely than not? But the critical issue as to whether Fox would be responsible is, was he acting at that time within the scope of his employment? And whether or not Fox knew or had reason to know that he had some proclivity towards violence, et cetera.

1:04:16There are indications from teammates that this was out of character, that he had no aggression within him. And so, wow, did that lawsuit come quick. It just happened yesterday. There's a lot to unravel. But, of course, when you get into whether or not an employer is responsible, it has a lot to do with whether you were furthering the interest of your employer. He might have been there to give commentary. But was he at that time engaged in his employer's business? I don't know that he was. And so it might be a stretch. All right, Joey Jackson. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. resurfaced text messages revealing the disturbing, violent language from a Democratic candidate in Virginia running for attorney general.

1:04:53So how is he still in the race? We're going to discuss next.

1:05:01Our politics lead text messages sent in 2022 are upending Virginia's race for attorney general. Election day is in just 29 days. Early voting has already started. Plenty of Virginians have already voted. According to screenshots obtained by CNN, Democratic Attorney General candidate nominee Jay Jones sent some violent and rather disturbing thoughts about a Republican colleague, Virginia Republican Speaker Todd Gilbert. Those messages read in part, quote, three people, two bullets, Gilbert, Hitler, and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head. Spoiler, put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know, and he received both bullets every time.

1:05:38The delegate who received those texts, a Republican, replied, quote, quote, Jay, please stop. The National Review, which was the first to report on the messages, also reports on a phone call with the same delegate in which Jones, quote, suggested that he wished Gilbert's wife would watch her own child die in her arms so that Gilbert might reconsider his political views, prompting Coiner, that's the other person, to hang up the phone and discuss. In a statement to CNN, Jones writes, quote, I take full responsibility for my actions, and I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family.

1:06:09Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach, unquote. Let's bring in CNN's Eva McKend. Eva, pretty horrifying to say nothing of the fact that he's running for attorney general. Am I right that no Democratic officials have called for him to drop out of the race? No elected Democrat in Virginia or otherwise that I have spoken to has called for Jones to step aside. Now, to be clear, they are not celebrating the contents of the text messages. They are condemning that. Abigail Spanberger saying she was disgusted. Mark Warner saying that this is not characteristic of the person that he knows.

1:06:42Senator Tim Kaine saying that it's indefensible and also not emblematic of the person that he knows in J. Jones. I also spoke to a Democratic state senator, Angelia Williams Graves of Norfolk. That is the community where J. Jones lives. And she told me Republicans get to say whatever they want to say. They get to act like black history doesn't exist. Donald Trump said he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot anybody and still be elected. But because I stand behind somebody I've known all his life, there's something wrong with that. He's the Democratic nominee. There was a process.

1:07:15And she went on to tell me she doesn't condone political violence and that she thinks that both sides need to turn down the rhetoric. But she isn't ready to abandon Jay Jones. They're scolding, not abandoning. Even we can stay right there. Let's bring in the panel on this. So Axios is reporting that the Republican candidate for attorney general is spending$1.5 million on this TV ad that's going to start running today. Here's a part of it. Jay Jones sent texts that imagined shooting the Republican Speaker of the House. Jay Jones wished the Speaker's wife could watch her own child die in her arms.

1:07:51It's so disgusting. It's hard to believe, but it's true. Now, I don't know how much it matters. These texts were obviously sent in 2022, long before Charlie Kirk was murdered. But we are in this era of people being aware and horrified by political violence. Do you think he should drop out? Yeah, sure. I mean, I don't have a dog in this fight. It seems to me you can make the case it's unfair to him, right, that these are private texts that they were totally inappropriate and gross and all that kind of stuff. But what does fairness have to do with it as far as I'm concerned? Like, at the very least, I don't see there's anything wrong with Democrats calling for him to drop out, to sort of distance themselves from him.

1:08:31And I have no problem with people pointing out the hypocrisy of the crazy things that Republicans say all the time on Twitter. I mean, Twitter's full of posts that are the equivalent of these texts. Yeah. But, you know, there are supposed to be consequences for a public official. And the fact that this guy kind of seemed more obsessed than just, like, running off his mouth on text with the calls and sort of doubling and tripling down on it, I see no reason not to throw him under the bus, you know, in a sort of a sister soldier kind of way. President Trump weighed in, not surprisingly. He posted, quote, Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor, that's the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, is weak and ineffective and refuses to acknowledge what this lunatic has done.

1:09:10Even Democrats are saying it is resignation from campaign territory. Democrat Jay Jones should drop out of the race immediately. Now, it's not true that Spanberger hasn't acknowledged this. She has condemned it. She said she was disgusted by it. But she didn't call for him to drop out. What do you make of the fact that no Democrats have called for him to drop out? Well, I think, frankly, Jake, I'm a little surprised more Democrats have not called on him to drop out. Maybe they're waiting to see what more comes out or what more he has to say. This just happened a couple of days ago. But look, I think what you just highlighted here is the big story, which is Donald Trump is going to, and the MAGA Republicans are going to do everything they can to try to tie every single candidate, not only Democratic candidates in Virginia, but Democratic candidates in New Jersey, anyone else who's on the ballot, they will try to tie those candidates to this individual.

1:09:59They did it very effectively in 2024. And mark my words, next time in 2026, during the election in 2026, in midterms, they will find some random comment that somebody says. Maybe it's somebody running for city council in America that has something to do with supporting transgender or maybe said something just as horrible and divisive as this, and they will try to tie all the Democrats to that, which is why it's so critically important that Democrats fight back and that we make it clear that we, number one, don't support these words or this rhetoric. Number two, that we don't support violence in campaigns.

1:10:29And number three, you know, that we don't let the MAGA extremists take over, you know, tie all the Democrats to this kind of divisive rhetoric because we've seen it happen before. They're going to try to do it again. But we're living in a moment where, like, the Trump administration is saying Democrats are, I think, totally responsible, saying Democrats are a domestic terrorist network and that they want to— Yeah, Stephen Miller said that. Yeah, they want all these people dead and all that kind of stuff. And this is manna from heaven for Republicans to say, you thought we were making it up? This is what this guy says in private.

1:11:00And if that's the case, I see no reason why the Democrats shouldn't just cauterize the wound as best they can. Well, Eva, you've been talking to Democrats, and you say that they're like, why do we have to be the only ones who have anything to ever apologize for? I can't say I'm surprised by the response, frankly. I think this is a time where Democrats are really angry. You drive across northern Virginia and you see signs outside of churches that say, love your neighbor, don't kidnap them. I mean, all of the momentum and the energy is on the Democratic side and they feel as though they have to fight back.

1:11:37I think the conditions that President Trump has created in his own rhetoric and some of the policy decisions that we have seen over the past several months have only intensified the pushback. And so there doesn't seem to be a desire to abandon Jones, even if there is deep disagreement with the rhetoric. I want to turn to another big mayor's race, another big race, the mayor's race in New York. Today, a former governor, disgraced governor, resigned. Andrew Cuomo was on The View. He was asked why he's losing to the Democratic nominee Zoran Mamdani. Here's part of what he had to say to our own Alyssa Farah Griffin.

1:12:16What's really happening is there's a civil war within the Democratic Party going on. And the Democratic Party is looking for its identity. And there are two factions. You have the Democratic Socialists, and then you have the Democrats, right? I'm a Democrat. My father was a Democrat. I worked for Bill Clinton. He is a Democratic Socialist. He is not a Democrat. Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist, but I'm not sure that he's diagnosing the problem with his campaign correctly. What do you think? That is correct. I mean, first of all, I'm not sure that we should really be taking a lot. We Democrats should be taking a lot of advice from Andrew Cuomo for a litany of reasons.

1:12:51But I think maybe, Jake, what he is trying to say is there is a progressive wing of the party that is becoming, you know, larger and louder. I mean, you cover the 2016 campaign. You were there. There was a time I was on Hillary's campaign where we thought maybe Bernie Sanders would win the primary. We saw this again in 2020 when Jim Clyburn endorsed Joe Biden and all the moderates sort of coalesced around him and dropped out of the race. But there is an insurgent part of our party that is embracing, you know, sort of pragmatic progressivism, for lack of a better term. And I think that we have got to figure out if we want to be the, quote unquote, establishment wing of the Democratic Party, We've got to figure out how to pull those people in, or they're going to continue to win some of these seats.

1:13:33But I do think the New York mayor's race is a little bit different. You can't really cast that as what's happening across the country. It's ranked choice elections. Obviously, as you mentioned, a disgraced former governor who's running, not exactly the person I would put up if I was trying to run the moderate establishment Democrat in that race. What do you think of Governor Cuomo's explanation as to why he's trailing? Well, I think it's punditry. It wasn't bad. There is a civil war in the Democratic Party between the sort of the serious left and the sort of Democratic socialist crowd and the sort of more mainstream Democrats.

1:14:06The problem is, is that it has nothing to do with his problems. His problems are that he's a craptacular candidate who's got. Craptacular? Craptacular. It's a technical word from political science. And he's got an enormous amount of baggage. And he's not, he's a drag to listen to. He's not telegenic. He doesn't get the sort of modern communication stuff. And Mondami does. So you like Cuomo, is what you're saying? Yeah, I'm all in for Cuomo. All right, thanks one and all for being here. I really appreciate it. When legendary actor Bruce Willis was diagnosed with dementia in 2022, his wife Emma says she was left with zero roadmap for how to navigate her new life as a caregiver.

1:14:43So you know what she did? She wrote a roadmap. She joins me next.

1:14:51In our pop culture lead today, Emma Hemming-Willis seemed to have it all. A loving marriage to a Hollywood superstar, Bruce Willis, amazing daughters, a supportive blended family with stepdaughters. But then everything crumbled when she walked out of a doctor's office with her husband, Bruce, who was diagnosed with FTD, known as frontotemporal dementia. Her book is The Unexpected Journey. It's not only a book of amazing and moving reflections of her life with Bruce, but it's also something of a practical guide of how to become a vital caregiver. And Emma joins us. And I should note, Emma, that I did an early review and blurb of your book.

1:15:31And you know that my family has a connection to this horrible disease. I was so impressed with your honesty, your candor. You describe this as the book that you wish a doctor had handed you, along with Bruce's devastating diagnosis. Tell us, first of all, how you define caregiving. Oh, gosh. I mean, I think it's just showing up 24-7. You know, being being present. Caregivers are so unseen. They're so unsupported. And, you know, when I left that doctor's office with Bruce's diagnosis, I mean, we left with nothing, with no support, no hope, no roadmap. So I did write the book that I wish someone would have placed in my hands the day that we got our diagnosis.

1:16:15Yeah, it must feel somewhat satisfying amidst this horror that you have now provided that for people, maybe. Yeah. I mean, I what I realized is that when we were sent on our way with little to no information, you know, I had to dive into the World Wide Web to sort of figure out really what is FTD? What does that look like? So what I started to do over time was surround our family with experts and specialists that I was able to bring into this book. Because what I know is that caregivers don't have the time to try and find this information, sometimes the access or resources or energy. And people don't know that this is a relatively unknown disease.

1:17:0360 Minutes did a piece on it just a couple of years ago or maybe maybe four years ago. Now, I'm thinking about when we were looking for answers when my father in law was diagnosed. And we, you know, watching that old 60 Minutes episode, which was just a year or two old at the time, it was, you know, a newly discussed problem. Before the diagnosis, you described Bruce as as off. What are signs that our viewers might need to pay attention to if they suspect their loved one has some sort of dementia? For Bruce, how it started showing up is that his stutter started to reappear again. And never in my wildest dreams would I think that was a symptom of a young onset Alzheimer's.

1:17:44But for others, if you are noticing your person acting uncharacteristic for themselves, you know, if their just behavior is completely off, you know, that could be a sign that you should probably seek medical attention, see a doctor. The issue is that people are being diagnosed so late or they're being misdiagnosed with bipolar. It could be depression, midlife crisis. And what we would love to see is people being diagnosed sooner so that they can get into the trials that exist and so that families can be supported earlier. We have two young children, and this was a really hard, unfathomable decision, but it was the right one.

1:18:40And now our daughter is in a home that supports their needs 100%, and Bruce is in our second house that supports his needs. And I knew by sharing this information that it would be a hot topic. But I thought that it was important to talk about because, you know, there might come a point in someone's diagnosis or as a caregiver where you have to make this hard decision maybe to place your loved one into a care facility. And I just wanted someone else to feel seen and validated that this is also happening elsewhere. Emma, before you go, how are you and how is Bruce? I'm doing pretty well, all things considering.

1:19:29I feel like I've come sort of a long way in this process, but being able to now connect with other caregivers has been really sort of important for my healing. I think that Bruce is doing as well as he can with a really unkind disease. God bless you Emma. I think your book is so important, so powerful. People will learn and get comfort from what you've done. I've told you this privately, I'll say it publicly. I really admire what you're doing so much. Thank you so much for joining us today. Jake, thank you so much for having me. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram threads, Blue Sky X on the TikTok at Jake Tapper.

1:20:13You can follow the show on X at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, God forbid, you can listen to the show, all two hours of it, once you get your podcasts. Aaron Bernad Upfront starts now. We'll see you back here on The Lead tomorrow.

1:20:43The Union, February 24th at 8 on CNN or watch on the CNN app.