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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Iconic Actor James Earl Jones, Dead at 93; Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan Running for the Senate; Trump to Imprison Election Officials if He Wins; Governor Huckabee Criticizes Liz Cheney for Supporting VP Harris. Russia Ramps Up Fake Election Stories As Election Day Nears; Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Is Interviewed About Former NY Gov. To Testify About Nursing Home COVID Advisory; Witness Describes Shooting Of American Woman In West Bank. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 09, 2024 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:59:56]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to "The lead." I'm Jake Tapper. We're following so many stories this hour, but we're going to start with breaking news in our "Pop Culture Lead." Breaking news that hits rather close to home here at CNN. James Earl Jones, the legendary actor of the stage and screen has died at the age of 93.

He was known for larger than life roles, including in "Field of Dreams." He was the voice of "Star Wars" villain Darth Vader. And of course, in his signature baritone with gravitas, he lent his voice to this network delivering the iconic tagline, this is CNN. CNN's Richard Roth has a look now at the incredible life of James Earl Jones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): James Earl Jones was a physically imposing actor.

JAMES EARL JONES, ACTOR: I take it back, you're not in trouble. You're dead where you stand.

Join me.

ROTH (voice-over): But it will be Jones' voice that audiences will long remember. Luke Skywalker learned that in the "Star Wars" series.

JONES: No, I am you father.

It became a big mystery, who is that? Who is that inside the mask?

ROTH (voice-over): A different actor played Vader, but director George Lucas realized he needed a villain with a more sinister voice.

JONES: He called me, so you want to do this work? And I said, yeah.

LARRY KING, TV HOST: A day's work?

JONES: Two and a half hours, yeah. KING: That's all, all the Darth Vader languages in two and a half

hours?

JONES: Yeah, a few thousand dollars, and I went home.

A city destroyed.

The key to Darth Vader is a narrow band of expression, no inflections, he's not human.

Father and son.

ROTH (voice-over): Jones returned to the role of the imperial villain throughout his career, even at age 91 in the Disney Plus series "Obi- Wan Kenobi."

JONES: You will suffer.

ROTH (voice-over): In another memorable voice only role, Jones said just three words.

JONES: This is CNN.

What happened was that I did the Goodwill Games and they said, well now can we do a CNN logo? And I came back from a separate session. It was so short, I mean it took five minutes, right? And I forgot it.

ROTH (voice-over): What is unforgettable is that this powerful actor with a deep, authoritative voice had a speaking disability.

JONES: Stuttering was so embarrassing and really painful. I went mute from the age of eight to 14.

ROTH (voice-over): Jones said a great teacher in high school who loved poetry helped him. He discovered I wrote poetry and he got me to read my poetry in front of the class and when I did, it didn't stutter.

ROTH (voice-over): As a teenager, Jones wanted to be a military officer. He eventually ended up in an American nuclear bomber in his first movie role. The instructions? Attack the Soviet Union in "Dr. Strangelove."

JONES: Bomb door circuits, negative function.

ROTH (voice-over): A long list of screen roles would follow including "Roots" --

JONES: I'll follow you, Kunta Kinte!

UNKNOWN: The guests are waiting, Your Majesty.

JONES: Let them wait!

ROTH (voice-over): "Coming to America" --

JONES: Little bees if they'd dip themselves in magic waters.

ROTH (voice-over): "Field of Dreams," "The Hunt for Red October" --

JONES: Mother of God.

We know he's escaped.

ROTH (voice-over): "Patriot Games" --

JONES: The sun will set on my time here.

ROTH (voice-over): -- and "The Lion King." The stage, though, was his first love. Jones won a Tony Award in 1969 for "The Great White Hope."

JONES: This is your wish coming true, huh?

UNKNOWN: Never this, never this, Jones!

ROTH (voice-over): Nominated two for an Oscar in the movie version. Jones was part of an elite acting group. He won an Oscar, a Grammy, three Emmys, and three Tony's, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. Had he done it all in life?

JONES: I'm not sure if I want to do it all, because you know, death is okay. It is something that happens to all of us. And that's kind of glorious, isn't it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's bring in CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister in Los Angeles. Now Elizabeth, a huge loss obviously. James Earl Jones really established himself in so many ways, but especially he was really a rather pioneering actor in terms of being a black actor.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. A huge loss for the Hollywood community, but what an incredible life lived, Jake. We have confirmed with his agent that he did pass away at home at the age of 93. No cause of death given, but again, such a long, wonderful, accomplished life. And to your point, Jake, really pioneering, a trailblazer for black performers everywhere.

He will have such a legacy that will go on for decades and decades. And something that I want to point out is that over his storied career, he's really touched so many generations with iconic roles, whether it is voicing Mufasa in "Lion King" or of course, Darth Vader. Just so many accomplishments and touched so many lives. I've been looking and scouring online, reaching out to different reps.

[17:04:56]

So far, not a ton of tributes coming in because this news is breaking and such sad breaking news, but I anticipate that we will see a huge outpouring of love from Hollywood to exactly your point, Jake, which is that James Earl Jones was a pioneering actor, particularly as a black performer. TAPPER: So many iconic roles that he's gonna be remembered for

obviously Admiral Greer in the Jack Ryan films also. He also is well known for his activism.

WAGMEISTER: Absolutely. He is well known for his activism. And you know, he is well known for so much in his life, Jake, because it's not just his roles on stage and screen or being an activist for certain causes that were important to him, but also really being the first of so many things. As we heard there in that tribute package to him, he was in EGOT, which means he was in that rare club of having an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. So, this is really a presence in Hollywood that we truly, I don't think we'll ever see someone like James Earl Jones again.

Now I want to read something to you, Jake. Back in 2014, so just a decade ago, he was asked about his long career and what was the secret to it. And he was so humble. This is what he said, Jake, quote, "The secret is never forgetting that you're a journeyman actor and that nothing is your final thing." Nothing is your greatest thing. Nothing is your worst thing. I still consider myself a novice."

So you see there at the age of around 83 already with so many awards, so decorated, so many roles. By the way, Jake, he had 80 film roles and over 70 television roles that even then he was still pinching himself with the career that he had.

TAPPER: James Earl Jones once told the "Toronto Star" that "Field of Dreams" was one of his top five of favorite roles. Elizabeth, and the idea that his impact on baseball, his love of Americana, was such an important part of that role.

WAGMEISTER: Absolutely. I'm sorry I pause there. I thought we were maybe going to a clip to watch one of his greatest moments. So sorry that I misinterpreted that there, but yes, that is certainly one of his most iconic on screen roles. And as you said, you know the impact that he had there on baseball. That will live as one of his most famous roles, but Jake, he also revisited some of his other famous roles in very recent years.

Just back in 2021, he was in a sequel to "Coming to America 2." Of course, he continued to voice Darth Vader over the years in various "Star Wars" films. And a fun fact, in 1977, Jake, when he first voiced Darth Vader, he was paid just $7,000 for that role when he began, which is really incredible when you think of it, because without that voice, I don't know if Darth Vader would be the Darth Vader. And that, of course, is attributed to James Earl Jones.

TAPPER: And of course, he also like could joke about it. Like, I mean, he was -- in "Coming to America," he was his normal persona, this regal baron, but it was for laughs.

WAGMEISTER: Absolutely, absolutely. And that really just, again, shows his range, you know, over 80 movie roles, 70 television roles, highly decorated actor. There was no one role that he could play. He had such range, whether it was a serious role that, you know, brought tears and emotion to your eyes or whether it was something that made you laugh or whether it was that haunting voice or it could be a charming voice.

And also Jake, I love that we get a little bit of CNN history here because long before my time here and before your time, he was the voice of CNN in our famous slogan saying, this is CNN. And I don't know if a lot of people watching know that was the voice of James Earl Jones. So he really was also a part of our family here at CNN.

TAPPER: All right, Elizabeth Wagmeister, thanks so much. Stay with us as we continue to follow this sad breaking news this afternoon, the death of legendary actor James Earl Jones. As we go to break, we want to leave you with his timeless contribution to our network.

JONES: This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:10:00]

TAPPER: In our "2024 Lead," we're just hours away from the very first debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. And even ahead of her performance, Democrats seem to think having Harris at the top of their ticket gives them a better chance to hold on to the U.S. Senate. But in one deep blue state, a very popular Republican is hoping to throw a wrench into those plans.

And I'm joined now by former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, the Republican candidate for the Senate in the state of Maryland. Thanks so much for being here.

LARRY HOGAN, REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE, MARYLAND: Thanks for having me.

TAPPER: We really appreciate it. So the first presidential debate between Trump and Harris, Kamala Harris, set to kick off tomorrow night. There's going to be a lot of spotlight on her, a lot of spotlight on him. What do you think we're gonna see?

HOGAN: I'm not sure what I think we're gonna see, but what I'm hoping that will see is act an actual debate of the issues. I mean, what not -- I'm out there on the campaign trail everyday there are things that people are really concerned about, affordability and the economy, about crime, about you know, securing the border and fixing our broken immigration system.

On the campaign trail, we haven't heard a lot of substance, frankly, from either one of them. And I'm just hoping that we have a real discussion of the issues and not just more of the kind of angry fighting we see all day on television and on the campaign trail.

TAPPER: Yeah. I want to talk about former President Trump's comments about January 6th in recent weeks.

[17:14:59]

You've actually been running ads on the fact that you took actions to protect the Capitol on January 6th. Here's a clip from one of your ads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: And on January 6th, as we watched in horror, Hogan didn't just talk about defending democracy, he did something. Sending in the Maryland National Guard to protect the Capitol. That's the same Larry Hogan, tough, independent, never backs down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So this comes as over the weekend, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social about people that he accuses falsely of cheating in the 2020 election. He says in part quote, "When I win, those people that cheated will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law which will include long prison sentences so that this depravity of justice does not happen." Again, that must bother you. That's kind of contrary to your message.

HOGAN: Well, not just contrary to my message but to everything I believe in. And, you know, obviously I've been one of the most outspoken critics since the moment that Donald Trump came down the escalator as the commercial set, if one of the only Republicans who never caved. But I mean, I was disgusted by the talk about the stolen election and disgusted by what happened on January 6th.

And, you know, the leaders of Congress were reaching out to me, desperately asking for help. We sent the Maryland State Police and Maryland National Guard and, you know, the next day I call on President Trump to resign and let Mike Pence finish out a peaceful transition of power.

TAPPER: Do you worry at all that Trump might come after you if he wins because you are -- I mean, you were on the side of election integrity and law and order and all the things that he's --

HOGAN: Well, it doesn't --

TAPPER: -- against in this context.

HOGAN: I'm not afraid of it that's for sure. You know, I've always been willing to stand up and he's lashed out of me a few times, but look, I've -- you know, I've battled a life-threatening cancer. A few mean tweets from Donald Trump are going to bother me.

TAPPER: How is your health by the way?

HOGAN: I'm doing great. I've never been healthier.

TAPPER: Last week I spoke with your Democratic Senate opponent, Angela Alsobrooks from Prince George's County. Her message to Democrats in the state of Maryland where there are more Democrats and Republicans is that even though you're not a MAGA Republican you are in fact still a Republican. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANGELA ALSOBROOKS, DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE, MARYLAND: He was recruited to run in this race by Mitch McConnell. He just two years ago vetoed abortion care legislation in the state of Maryland. He refused to sign legislation that would have banned ghost guns. He vetoed legislation that would have given sensible waiting period for long guns. And so we know that many of the policies of this Republican Party are ones that Larry Hogan as governor favored those policies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE, MARYLAND: Your response?

HOGAN: Well, sadly, my opponent's entire campaign is based on lies. So Mitch McConnell had nothing to do with recruiting me into the race. I know he tried to convince me two years ago to run for a different race, but I didn't choose to do it. My position on abortion has been very clear. I've been opposed to a national abortion ban for more than 30 years. So I'm on record since 1992.

When I ran for governor, I promised to uphold access to abortion and I delivered on that promise. I've promised to sponsor a bill, to codify Roe and to sponsor a bill on IVF. She continues to lie and say I'm against abortion.

TAPPER: What is she referring to when she says you vetoed abortion care legislation?

HOGAN: Well there was a bill that I think was all about women's safety which I still strongly disagree with and you can have a difference of opinion but this bill was to lower the standards of care, to allow for non-licensed professionals to provide abortions rather than doctors, nurses and physicians' assistance and I thought it was a mistake in rolling back the clock and putting women in danger.

But it had nothing to do with getting between a woman and her doctor or -- and nothing to do with providing abortions in the state which have, you know, we have protected women's rights and no one should get between a woman and her doctor, but this wasn't about doctors who is non-licensed professionals.

TAPPER: What about the legislation she talks to -- talks about in terms of ghost guns and long guns?

HOGAN: Well, there was a battle over some of the details on that but what I -- look I'm for universal background checks. I signed a red flag law. I signed a bill on bump stocks and I'm pushing for more common sense solutions on this issue, but we have the toughest gun laws in America, and yet we still have people being murdered on the streets nearly every other day, including in Prince George's County, where murders are up 100 percent.

TAPPER: Yeah, and there was that shooting at that high school last week, really awful.

HOGAN: I reached out to the sheriff and talked with them, and it's -- look, I put in, after a school shooting at Great Mills High School in St. Mary's County, I pushed through the legislature, a requirement to have armed school resource officers in every single high school and provided all the funding to the local governments. My opponent is withdrawing school safety out of Prince George's County where people are being shot.

TAPPER: In March you said that you were not going vote for President Biden for re-election although you're not also -- you also said you're not voting for Trump. What about Kamala Harris?

HOGAN: Yeah. My position is really the same. I mean, quite frankly, I have serious policy differences and obviously my concerns about Donald Trump are well known. Neither one of them has earned my vote. It's not going to be much of a the impact in the election because, you know, Kamala Harris is winning Maryland by 32 points and it's not going to impact those electoral votes in Maryland.

[17:20:03]

TAPPER: You have said you have not sought Donald Trump's endorsement in the race. Would you appear with them if he came to Maryland to campaign?

HOGAN: No, I actually rejected his endorsement. He want to try to endorse me and I'm not supporting him and no, I wouldn't be campaigning with him.

TAPPER: All right. Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

HOGAN: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: A lot to discuss from that interview and the major political headlines of the day. My panel is standing by to react. We'll be right with them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: And we're back with our "2024 Lead" as Donald Trump threatens to prosecute his political enemies if he wins back the Oval Office. He's also lodging baseless accusations against elections officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The moment we win, we will rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized by the Harris regime and I will sign their pardons on day one.

[17:24:57]

With your vote, this election, they're lying, cheating, thieving, hoaxing, and plotting will come to an end. We got to stop the cheating. If we stop that cheating, if we don't let them cheat, I don't even have to campaign anymore. We're going to win by so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: My panel joins me now and Mark, it is important once again to remind people that Donald Trump lost the election fair and square. His own attorney general said there was not enough fraud that would have affected the election. And the only people right now being prosecuted over the quote, unquote "cheating" are people who tried to cheat for Mr. Trump.

MARC LOTTER, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: Well, I think what he's saying in that is more of a warning. If there's going to be anything, and don't do it because if he wins, they're going to investigate it. And so as opposed to looking backwards, I think this was more of a proactive to say that the RNC, everyone, they have monitors. They're going to have much more diligence in terms of election integrity. And if anyone tries to get away with anything, they'll get found out.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, former President Trump the whole last year has been basically complaining, and his allies have been complaining that the Biden administration has been politicizing the Justice Department and been using lawfare against him. And now he's pledging to go into president and then do the exact same thing that he is now complaining about.

And the fact of the matter is that I can tell you, having talked to some people on the Harris campaign, there's sort of an existential fear now that what happens to them if Trump wins, not just on what happens to the country, but on a personal level in terms of they expect they're going to be wrapped up in DOJ investigations for the next year.

TAPPER: Let's talk about the fact that despite these election lies and threats of political revenge, there's a new poll from the "New York Times" showing that voters think Trump is more centrist than Kamala Harris and Nate Silver analyzed the poll and said, the mistakes of 2019 could cost Harris the election.

In other words, he's suggesting, Nate Silver, that Harris is running the last election running to the left too much instead of running to the center. I don't know that the Harris campaign would agree with that but that's what Nate Silver said.

AMESHIA CROSS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, two things can't be true at the same time where you have people who are further to the left who don't consider Kamala to be a part of their camp and then you have people on the right and say everybody's far too left. They said it about Barack Obama. They said it about Joe Biden when he ran. There are very few people who they don't see as far left.

I would argue that for Kamala Harris, what she has to do is rise above the fray when it comes to pointing her as a West Coast liberal. We know that she is someone who was a progressive prosecutor before progressive prosecution was even a term that was used broadly. We also know that she's someone who stood for civil rights and equity. I don't consider that extremely far left. I consider that right in the same way that it was right when people like MLK stood for civil rights and justice.

With that being said, I think that for Kamala Harris, it is also showcasing how she's expanded the tent. There are people on the right who have stood by in support of Kamala Harris, not because they're all of a sudden becoming Democrats, but because they understand what's at stake with our democracy should Donald Trump get elected again.

TAPPER: Yeah, you're talking about, for instance, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney and her dad, former VICE PRESIDENT Dick Cheney, both of whom have said that they are voting for Kamala Harris. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas went after Liz Cheney over the weekend after Cheney said that she was going to vote for Harris. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: It should come as no shock that Liz Cheney is not supporting the president, but what should come as a shock is that she is trying to call herself a conservative Republican or either one of those two words while supporting somebody who so clearly does not represent conservative principles.

LIZ CHENEY, FORE U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: I can't understand her position on this in any kind of a principled way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The argument, Alex, is that Donald Trump is such an existential threat to democracy because of what he did after January 6, or on and before and after January 6, that it is principled conservatism to not support him. I don't think Cheney's saying that Kamala Harris is some great conservative figure.

THOMPSON: No, not at all. And also, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is saying the inverse of that, which is that what makes you a conservative Republican is if you support Donald Trump. Like the issues, except for that, are really ancillary.

TAPPER: Yeah, I mean, Mike Pence is a conservative Republican. He's not supporting Donald Trump.

LOTTER: Right, but he's also not supporting Kamala Harris. I mean, I have an issue with any somebody who calls themselves or did call themselves a conservative who turns your back on someone who believes in strong national defense, lower taxes, smaller government, a secured border. Kamala Harris believes in the exact opposite of all of that. She's anti-life. I don't see how anyone can call yourself a conservative and support her.

CROSS: So if you have somebody who voted 95-96 percent in lockstep with Donald Trump, which we did see from Cheney while she was in office, we saw that from several members who have now stepped out and have said that they are in support of Kamala Harris. I don't think that you can question their conservatism.

What they saw on January 6th is something they don't ever want to see again, which I would argue is something no American should want to see again.

TAPPER: So, let's leave it there. Thanks all. Move over childless cat ladies, Republican V.P. nominee J.D. Vance is pushing a new bizarre theory about what might happen to your pets if Donald Trump loses the election. It's not one based in reality necessarily. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Also today, in our 2024 Lead, less than two months out from Election Day, the U.S. Justice Department is revealing just how far Russia is going to try to influence the outcome, that includes the Kremlin using some of America's right wing social media stars to be unwittingly or not mouthpieces of Russian propaganda.

With us now, Scott Galloway, professor at NYU Stern School of Business, and host of The Prof G Pod and Pivot Podcast. Scott, good to see you as always. Do you think this is going to have a big impact, either this specific disinformation campaign that the FBI unveiled, or just the general campaign?

[17:35:00]

SCOTT GALLOWAY, PROFESSOR OF MARKETING, NYU STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: I don't think this campaign specifically will be of -- will be shown to have that much impact, but I think it shows, though, is a -- is a need for legislation that sort of trues up the standards we hold networks like this one. The Federal Elections Commission, if you run an ad on CNN or a local broadcast station, you have to disclose who it's paid by, and there has to be a sense like, who's behind this.

Whereas online, in the influencer world and on these platforms, it really is the Wild West. And I think it's -- it's a continuation of a trend that if you're trafficking arms or money or people or money laundering, there's just a different standard for traditional media and the analog versus digital media and these platforms. And I think people are shocked, not that Russia would engage in this, but just how easy we made it for them.

TAPPER: It's also interesting when you think about what they did in 2016 those, you know, bogus news sites that they would create, "The Denver Chronicle," or the Denver news "Picayune," or whatever, like with stories about Hillary Clinton as a cannibal that, you know, at the time in 2016 people's grandmas and aunties didn't understand that it's fake. And here we are in 2024 we've all evolved a little bit. And so have their tactics.

GALLOWAY: Yes. There, I mean, they -- they claim it's a game of Whac- A-Mole, and we can't stop them. And generally speaking, I sort of feel for the creators, because if you're a creator, I mean, it goes back to the tobacco companies. When you're paid not to understand something, it's easy not to understand it. The scientists that Philip Morris could never figure out the link between tobacco and cancer and a video creator, an influencer that's paid $400,000 a month to create videos that just happen to be very to be very pro Russia doesn't really want to do a ton of diligence around who exactly is funding this. But I think what it calls for is that we need greater regulation and to hold online platforms more responsible. If -- if look what has -- has happened with Telegram, there's this general attempt to inoculate all criminal behavior by conflating speech, or conflating crime with speech. And that if you just call it speech and it happens on an online platform, you don't have any obligation to register with the Foreign Services Act. You don't have any the same obligations.

You know crime is -- does not qualify as speech, and there's just a different set of standards for this kind of new economy, and I think people are getting fed up with it. And this is an example of how those holding companies, to a lesser standard, is starting to infiltrate our elections.

TAPPER: I have to say, though, also one of the groups that I fault are -- are public officials, politicians, who are supposed to have standards themselves, and yet I see politicians disseminating crackpot information, even if they're doing it jokingly, ha-ha, whether it's on the left or on the right. I -- I see people doing it. And I just -- and sometimes I read the Twitter feeds, or whatever they're called now, X feeds of senators. And I think, is this person as senator, or is this just a -- a professional troll?

GALLOWAY: Yes. But I blame us, the voters. We continue to elect people who entertain us and tickle our -- our tribal censors, as opposed to people who have any sort of veracity or fidelity to the truth. And that is the al -- these algorithms that are profit driven -- driven and figured out. We used to think that it was sex, it sells. It's not. It's enragement.

And if you can say something crazy or novel or, quite frankly, outrageous, the algorithms love that. That's more clicks. It's more engagement. It's more Nissan ads. And consumers and voters continue to -- continue to elect officials who aren't interested in legislating, but simply gaming the algorithms, and the more interested in saying something outrageous, even if it's not true because it rises to the top of the TikTok or the Instagram algorithm, which encourages more small dollar donors. So quite frankly, we do need more laws. But I would lay the blame at the feet of voters who are more interested in novelty than the truth.

TAPPER: Olivia Nuzzi in "New York Magazine" wrote about an interview she had with former President Trump. Trump claimed that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke with him following the assassination attempt, and says Zuckerberg told him he could not support a Democrat this election. Matt is now denying this happened. You know, Zuckerberg and his world. What -- what do you make of this all?

GALLOWAY: Look, CEOs are individuals. And they have the right to have their own political views. It's a little different with Meta, though, 3 billion people are on the Meta platforms each day. And this is the individual in charge of the algorithms that essentially where the majority of Americans get their news from. And so the thought that one person is decided to endorse publicly one candidate over the other, and could potentially have tremendous influence over the information consumers see the day before leading up to the election, it just feels something -- it just feels a bit untoward. I don't think that people in this type of position should probably overtly endorse any candidate. It just -- it feels like poor judgment to me, Jake.

TAPPER: Yes. Scott Galloway, always good to have you on. Thank you so much.

[17:40:02]

GALLOWAY: Thank you.

TAPPER: Tomorrow, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is set to face tough questions about his controversial nursing home policy at the start of the COVID outbreak. And the man leading that congressional hearing joins me live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our Health Lead, ahead of his high profile public testimony on Capitol Hill, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, is defending his actions during the COVID pandemic. Tomorrow, Cuomo will be questioned about his controversial nursing home advisory. You may recall back in March 2020, then Governor Cuomo and the New York Department of Health issued an advisory that kept nursing homes from denying patients who either had COVID or who were suspected of having CO -- COVID from being admitted.

Cuomo claimed his administration was following federal guidance, but critics say the policy resulted in thousands of needless deaths. A 2021 investigation by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James found that the New York State Department of Health undercounted COVID deaths among residents of nursing homes by about 50 percent essentially by leaving out deaths of residents who had been transferred to hospitals.

[17:44:59]

Joining us now to discuss the chairman of this Select Subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic, Republican Congressman Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, who is a doctor. Congressman, thanks for joining us. So the subcommittee is out today with your findings after looking into the nursing home advisory and -- and you're accusing Cuomo and his administration of editing health documents and hiding the nursing home mortality rate. What evidence do you have to back that up?

REP. BRAD WENSTRUP (R-OH), CHAIRMAN, SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: Well, I think we've done a myriad of transcribed interviews. And we've gone through 500,000 or so documents in the process. And so there's a lot of evidence there. And we put out the full transcript, so you can pee with -- see what people said to us in this whole process.

But look, let's just start, you know, as a doctor and with so many people dying, you know, I look at this directive, and that's an important thing to remember, that this was a directive from the Department of Health with Andrew Cuomo's name at the top of the directive. And it has the authority of law. When they say they adhere to CDC guidelines they did not. And even the CDC and CMS have said that, that that what -- those were not the guidelines. And those were guidelines.

What -- what Governor Cuomo and Department of Health put out was a directive. And I don't know one physician who's looked at this that doesn't think that this is some form of malpractice. When you want to take people that are contagious and infectious, and put them with the most vulnerable people via a directive that says, you know, you shall not deny people from being admitted or readmitted. That's a problem.

And even more puzzling in the directive, Jake, was it, it said you're prohibited from testing. What in the world that goes against all medical doctrine. And so there is so much behind this. And we see a lot of deflection now coming from the governor. He didn't know about it. When he did know about it, he didn't change it. He thinks it was right. He blamed people that worked in nursing homes. Our caregivers that put their lives on the line to go in to take care of people.

And one of the interesting things that we do see from the data from the Department of Health is people in nursing homes that didn't have readmissions or new admissions, their number of deaths were much, much lower. And I think that's an important fact. And also with the data, they did not want to talk about those that died in the hospital.

It's important as a medical factoring a pandemic, especially, to figure out who got infected, how they got infected, where they got infected, and how do we try to prevent it in the future. So if you ignore those deaths that took place in the hospital from people that were in a nursing home, got infected, then went to the hospital, you're -- you're denying science the opportunity to try to figure this out.

TAPPER: Let me -- so let me ask you, because Governor Cuomo trying to get ahead of this, wrote an op-ed for "The New York Daily News," and he wrote, in part, quote, once again, it is an election year, and once again, MAGA Republicans are looking to blame everyone else for the COVID debacle, unquote. His larger argument in this op-ed is that Donald Trump mishandled COVID. And your Subcommittee, your Select Committee, doesn't look in -- into what Mr. Trump did.

WENSTRUP: Well, I will tell you that, as chair of this Subcommittee, I have not and neither has my staff mentioned political party one time. But what we are doing is an after action review of everything that took place. Look, there's things that we passed in Congress that I voted for, that in retrospect, when I look back, I would have wanted to change or maybe not have voted for it. That's what this is.

And after action review, lessons learned, what was done, what worked, what didn't work. But you have to take responsibility for things. And you can't just make up and say, well, they should have followed the guidelines of the CDC. No, those were guidelines. Those weren't the law. Your directive was law. We'll be focusing on this directive. I know he's going to try and go in a lot of different directions. And these are all directions of things we're looking at from -- from both administrations and across states and their administrations. We have to learn from this and try and do better. But you have to take responsibility for what you did. And he says he knew nothing about this order. And you can see from the transcript the deflection on all of this. I don't know who's in charge in New York or who was in charge in New York when he was governor.

Apparently no one, because he's passed this along to a lot of other people. And the very fact that you would blame the people in the nursing homes, your directive did not mention CDC or CMS guidelines one time in any way, shape or form, and yet he's saying they should have used those guidelines and superseded what I put out. His had the authority of law. The other did not.

TAPPER: All right, Congressman Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, thank you so much, and good luck at the hearing tomorrow. And an open invitation, as always, to Governor Cuomo to come on The Lead to answer our questions about that and other issues.

[17:49:51]

Coming up, the controversial death of an American Overseas killed by the IDF, according to witnesses, one of those witnesses is going to join us live.

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TAPPER: In our World Lead, Palestinians held a memorial procession in the West Bank today in honor of the Turkish American activist who was killed during a protest in the West Bank last week, 26-year-old Aysenur Eygi was a University of Washington graduate. Witnesses say she was shot in the head by Israeli forces responding to a protest. The IDF admitted to firing into the crowd. They say they are looking into reports that a foreign national was killed.

Joining us now, Jonathan Pollak, he's an Israeli activist who was there when Eygi was killed. Jonathan so she, Eygi, had been participating in a weekly protest against an Israeli settlement expansion near a Palestinian village. You were there demonstrating as well. What did you witness? Why was there fire -- gunfire from the IDF at the protesters?

[17:54:57]

JONATHAN POLLAK, ACTIVIST & HAARETZ COLUMNIST: Well, that's a question I would like to answered as well. At the time Aysenur was killed, it was completely quiet. We wore almost 800-feet from the soldiers who shot her. The soldiers had taken over a rooftop of a house in a controlling position above us on a hilltop. And have simply shot her in the head. A soldier took a kill shot that cannot be justified.

The -- the Israeli version, somewhat confusing is that they shot at a main instigator after soldiers had fear -- feared for their life. Now I reiterate, we're talking about a woman standing in an olive grove almost 800-feet away from the soldiers, when nothing was happening at the time. I -- I was standing maybe 50-feet away from her. I was looking at the soldiers who were at the -- on the rooftop at the time they were shooting.

I saw the soldier training his gun and taking a shot, and I heard two distinct shots of live ammunition. Now I've been doing this for over 20 years now. I can tell you in my sleep the difference in sound between rubber coated bullets, tear gas and live ammunition. These were two distinct shots of live ammunition.

I saw the soldier taking one shot, retreated a little bit backwards into the olive grove, and then heard a second shot. And then heard someone calling my name and ask -- asking for help in -- in English. I ran towards there, and I saw Aysenur lying on the ground under an olive tree, leading to death. I -- I rushed to her, trying to stop the bleeding from her head, which -- which I couldn't. I put head -- hand under her head.

And for safety, I looked up to where the soldiers were on the rooftop. There was a direct line of sight. I tried to take her pulse, but it was very, very weak. And we evacuated her in an ambulance to a hospital in -- in Nablus, where they tried to resuscitate her, could do nothing.

TAPPER: It's so awful.

POLLAK And you -- the -- you ask the -- the -- the right question. The only question that can be asked, why did they shoot her? And the only answer I could possibly come up with to that question, is that this killing is not an isolated incident. It happens in the context of everything else that has -- that is happening in recent months, in recent years, the bullets, the bullet that killed her --

TAPPER: Yes.

POLLAK: -- is the same bullet that killed 17 other protesters in that same village since 2021 when demonstrations there begun, seven of them were minors. The youngest was 13 years old. It is the same bullet that hit American protester, Amado Sison, exactly a month ago. He was shot in the leg with live ammunition as well.

On the same day, a 13-year-old girl was killed only a few kilometers south of there, also by Israeli fire. And Israel enjoys complete impunity and lack of accountability. And there's a com -- there's a system that ensures that soldiers who do this enjoy impunity. And under these circum -- circumstances, the only answer is that they do this because they can, and they do this because no resistance to Israeli occupation is tolerated, whether it is by Palestinians or by solidarity activists who come to stand with them.

And -- and that is the message that Israel sends. And our message to them in return is that no matter how much violence they're going to use, we are going to continue standing with Palestinians for liberation.

TAPPER: Jonathan Pollak, thank you so much for bearing witness and for talking to us today. We appreciate it.

POLLAK: Thank you very much. TAPPER: A programming note, look for The Lead live in Philly tomorrow for CNN special coverage of the presidential debate, the first faceoff between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be later, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And right before that, don't miss out on a big interview here on The Lead tomorrow. I'm going to be joined by House Speaker Mike Johnson just hours ahead of the critical debate. That's right here on The Lead tomorrow from 4:00 to 6:00 Eastern.

[18:00:04]

You can follow me on Facebook, on Instagram, Threads, X, formerly known as Twitter, and on the TikTok at JakeTapper. You can follow the show on X at TheLeadCNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can listen to the show once you get your podcasts. The news continues on CNN, with Wolf Blitzer right next door in a place I like to call The Situation Room. I will see you tomorrow from the great city of Philadelphia.