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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Milton Could Unleash Record Storm Surge In Tampa Area; Category Five Hurricane Milton Closes In On Florida; Harris Says Not Much She'd Have Done Differently From Biden; Sen. Romney Citizens Trump For Spreading Disinformation; Trump Suggest Migrants Who Commit Murder Have "Bad Genes"; One-On-One With Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson; CNN On The Ground In Iran As Tensions Escalate With Israel, West; Elon Musk Joins Trump For Rally In Pennsylvania. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 08, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:39]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're going to start this hour with the breaking news. Moments ago, we had an update on Hurricane Milton, which, once again is, I'm not happy to tell you, has strengthened to a Category 5 storm. It was Category 4. Now it's back to five. It has 165 mile an hour sustained winds.

It is expected to double in size before making landfall in Florida. Nearly 20 million people in the United States are currently in the path of Hurricane Milton. Its effects are already being felt parts of the Tampa Bay area are going to lose access to running water starting today. Gas stations are running out of fuel as evacuees fill up their cars and try to flee. Those riding out the storm are stocking up to power their generators.

Let's get straight to CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers on hurricane headquarters.

Chad, it doesn't sound like this new forecast is what we wanted.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is not. It is we saw all day, and I talked to you about this at 4:00 this afternoon, that the last plane left about three hours ago at 155. There hadn't been a new plane in it yet, but now the satellite presentation is even better than it was at 155 so the hurricane center went to 165. There is a plane on the way, should arrive, probably within the hour, but still, it doesn't matter, 165 here and still very close.

I heard you say double in size. That doesn't mean double in speed. It means double in size of how big this thing is. So when it does get to Florida, it's going to impact a larger area. So still, likely a Category 3 making landfall, losing some steam here for a while as it makes its way and probably somewhere around 35, 36 hours from now is when this thing actually makes landfall.

And people ask all day, where's it going to hit? It's going to hit everywhere. Look at -- this is the size of the Category 3 or higher wind speeds all the way from well north of Tampa, all the way south of Fort Myers. And then the rest of the state gets hurricane force. There's your hurricane force ball all the way across to the east side.

So, Daytona, Orlando, you're all going to see power outages. You're all going to see wind gusts, likely between 90 and 100 miles per hour. But then the surge, this is what all the mayors are talking about. Get away from this surge. The surge from Helene was six feet, seven feet.

This is going to be 15 so if you got wet at all in Helene, you're going to get over topped in this storm, and then it's going to rain. And there are going to be places across the Florida peninsula that could get 10 inches of rainfall and make flash flooding when it comes to the rain event, the fresh water flooding, not the salt water flooding. So here it comes. It is going to come right into the Tampa Bay area. Now, the latest advisory, the latest forecast, has nudged a little bit farther to the south than it was, but all the way from Port Richey, all the way down to basically almost Naples, you're still very close to the cone. You cannot take your eyes off this, because they do wobble, and when they wobble, they catch people by surprise.

Please do not be caught by surprise. We got this rapid intensification two days before it's going to hit. Please pay attention, because when they rapidly intensify six hours before they hit, that's when you get really caught off guard. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Chad Myers, thank you so much.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is in Tampa, directly in the path of a hurricane.

Isabel, this storm surge from this hurricane could smash the record, which was set by Helene less than two weeks ago. How is the city preparing?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: By being extremely blunt. When we heard Tampa's Mayor Jane Castor telling people, if you decide to stay in an evacuation zone, that's a mandatory evacuation zone, against what we're asking you to do, you're going to die. I worked here. I lived here for several years in the Tampa Bay area, I have never heard such blunt language from Tampa's mayor ever before, and I've covered many storms. They're telling people to get out.

Please heat our warnings. Debris, that's also a huge concern, getting it out of the neighborhoods. You're looking at gusts up to 150 miles per hour here in Tampa, those are become flying projectiles, extremely dangerous.

But then you have Tampa General Hospital, where I'm at right now, Davis Islands, that's a neighborhood of Tampa. This is the region's only level one trauma center, they cannot evacuate. They're too big, to specialize. The patients that they have are too sick. So what do they do?

They put millions of dollars in tools like this. This is the Aqua fence that they have bolted down to the ground. It can withstand storm surge in different parts, different heights, up to 15 feet high. We're anticipating 10 to 15 feet here in the Tampa Bay.

[17:05:14]

But look at this. This is why it's so serious. They're on an manmade island. Look at this. I could throw a rock right over to the Hillsborough Bay.

This is the first time this season, by Helene, that the Aqua fence has been tested and waters did reach right up there. It withstood. It kept the hospital dry. It kept their patients, their staff, safe. They're hoping, if it comes to this, that it will do it again.

Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Isabel Rosales, thank you. Please stay safe.

Let's bring in the mayor of Kenneth City, Florida, Megan Zemaitis.

Madam Mayor, for our viewers who are not familiar, Kenneth City is just outside St. Pete. It's in the Tampa Bay area. We're showing a map of it right now. How is your city preparing for the storm?

MAYOR MEGAN ZEMAITIS, KENNETH CITY, FLORIDA: Hey, Jake, thanks for having me on our town has been working diligently with our department of, you know, public works. We've had the street sweeper coming through last week. All this week, we've been maintaining the roads, clearing up all the brush. Our DPW has been out with the wood chipper, just making sure all debris is picked up from our community, because, as I heard previously, you know, they are going to turn into projectiles. So ultimately, we just want to protect, you know, our homes and our residents.

So we did our the best we could, cleaning up all the debris, emptying the baskets from our storm drains, and we've provided over 2,000 sandbags to our residents and for our small town, that's a new record for us.

TAPPER: So the mayor of Tampa has made it pretty clear, if you don't leave the evacuation zone, you're likely going to be killed. What is your message to the residents of your town?

ZEMAITIS: Absolutely, I agree with Mayor Castor. If you do live in an evacuation zone, I cannot urge you enough to get out. Luckily for our community, we only have a few homes in evacuation zone C. So the majority of Kenneth City is safe. You know, we're inland.

We don't have to worry about the surge so much. But a lot of my primary concerns are, you know about the debris, the projectiles, fallen trees, you know, ripped off roofs and, you know, damaged houses. So ultimately, we're just preparing our equipment, our personnel, our police department is ready for rescues if need be. Hopefully, it doesn't come to that, though, because if you are an evacuation zone, I cannot urge you enough to get out and just protect yourself and your property.

TAPPER: How are you handling the residents of your town who are in the evacuation zone who are not evacuating? What are you doing?

ZEMAITIS: I know we cannot urge them enough. Unfortunately, we know we can't go in there and remove them, but our police department is being diligent, you know, driving around, checking these areas, and speaking to our residents and just communicating, you know, the urgency behind this, and just making sure they, you know, they're aware that, you know, if you need help during the hurricane, chances are we won't be able to get to you. You know, it's only going to be like a rescue operation after it passes, so it's just something else for them to consider that, hey, if you need help and you are an evacuation zone, you know the odds are not in your favor. So you need to leave to protect you and your family.

TAPPER: Is there anything that you need that you're not getting? Anything that President Biden or Governor DeSantis should know.

ZEMAITIS: No honestly, Governor DeSantis, this morning, demanded that our dump be open so all of that debris can be picked up and actually have somewhere to go. I know our neighboring community, the city of Saint Pete, they hired over 100 dump trucks from personal companies just to help clean up the community and help get this done. Luckily, we didn't need to outsource anything. Our own, you know, Department of Public Works was able to handle it. Yes.

TAPPER: All right, Mayor Zemaitis, thank you. Stay safe.

Milton will be the second major hurricane to hit Florida in just two weeks. The race is on today to clean up the debris left behind by Hurricane Helene, as you just heard from the mayor, debris that could be thrown around by hurricane winds and become dangerous projectiles. An update on those efforts next, plus a live update from the National Hurricane Center as Hurricane Milton now a Category 5 approaches Florida.

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[17:13:23]

TAPPER: Breaking news this hour, Hurricane Milton has regained strength. It is now, again, a deadly Category 5 hurricane. As communities in Florida prepare, crews are racing to clean up potentially dangerous debris left over from Hurricane Helene two weeks ago. Here's CNN's Bill Weir.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Both physically and emotionally, they were already picking up the pieces on Florida's Gulf Coast like

BETH CALDWELL, EVACUATING FOR SECOND TIME: It's like hysterical. You can't sleep, you can't eat a minute and then climb (ph) with nets. Then when you're like, it is what it is you got to keep moving.

WEIR (voice-over): Now, Beth Caldwell must cut short her search for her mother's wedding ring to evacuate for the second time in as many weeks.

WEIR: You're saying you're really worried about folks who made it through this one, but may not.

CALDWELL: Well, yes, because the amount of debris on the street and the winds, even if it slows down.

WEIR: Governor DeSantis said this morning that even with 24/7 debris removal, they wouldn't have all of Helene's damage cleaned up in time for Milton to make landfall. And this is why there is one front loader over here waiting to fill up a line of empty dump trucks that's approximately two miles long.

And this beach was covered in millions of dollars of fresh sand to try to protect this community which just got washed away.

SUSAN GLICKMAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLICY AND PARTNERSHIPS, JEN CLEO: That's right.

WEIR: What does that tell you about how we prepare and how we have to adjust to this new earth?

GLICKMAN: The fact is, is you cannot adapt your way out of the climate crisis.

WEIR (voice-over): Susan Glickman grew up around this bungalow where her husband and a dear 90-year-old friend called nanny survived Helene, but ironically, she's also a community climate organizer in Florida desperately trying to convince officials and neighbors that this is what scientists have been warning about for generations.

[17:15:17]

GLICKMAN: It is beyond criminal if we do not dramatically address the root cause of the problem immediately. But if we keep putting climate pollution and burning fossil fuels, we're just going to make a lot of this planet, in general, just unlivable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR (on camera): We're at the municipal marina here in St Petersburg. A lot of boats there. Obviously folks didn't have the means or the time to get them out, whereas the St Petersburg Yacht Club, all those boats are gone.

Jake, here's the water line from Helene less than two weeks ago, that scars mark on the side. The predictions now are twice as high as that. So a lot of the businesses, hotels, residents here worried about that storm surge, also worried about the construction cranes. Are so many of them in this booming community. Officials say today they worry the winds could bring those down, they'll be so strong, but it's too late to try to disassemble them before Milton arrives.

Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Bill Weir in St Petersburg, please stay safe. Joining us now, Michael Brennan, he's the director of the National Hurricane Center.

Michael, what is your biggest takeaway as the storm moves in?

MICHAEL BRENNAN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: That there are going to be multiple life threatening hazards that are going to start playing out across much of Florida tomorrow. Jake, first we're going to start with that life threatening storm surge inundation. Everywhere you see in this dark purple here, much of the west coast of Florida, from south of Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral, up through Charlotte Harbor, Tampa, up to near Cedar Key under a storm surge warning, meaning the life threatening inundation is coming associated with Milton as its center approaches the coast of Florida tomorrow night in the early morning hours on Thursday. And we're especially concerned about this area here from just north of Tampa, say, Pinellas County, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, this purple area here, someone in here is going to see 10 to 15 feet of inundation above ground level, likely near and just to the right of wherever the center of Milton crosses the coast. But Milton's Winfield is going to be so big that even farther south, hundreds of miles south, down to Naples, there's going to be the potential for life threatening inundation from surge.

And then we're going to have the wind field from Milton extend across much of the central portion of the Florida peninsula, bringing hurricane force conditions to places like Orlando, Melbourne, Tampa, up to even closer to Jacksonville.

TAPPER: And as Milton approaches, it's going to double in size, having a impacting a larger area?

BRENNAN: Yes, we're expecting to see the tropical storm and hurricane force wind field of Milton basically double in size from what it is now. And you can see this huge red area, we have hurricane warnings in effect all the way from Cape Coral, Port St. Lucie, up through Melbourne, Orlando, almost to Gainesville, St Augustine, everywhere in here is at risk of seeing those hurricane conditions, widespread power outages, structural damage, tree damage, with the expectation of a major hurricane landfall somewhere here on the West Central Florida coast, bringing devastating impacts from wind to that region.

TAPPER: This looks as though it will be the worst storm to hit Tampa in a century. Just how catastrophic might this hurricane be?

BRENNAN: Well, it certainly has that potential. It's all going to come down to exactly where the center crosses the coast. If we have the center across the coast near or just north of the Tampa Bay region, that's where we're going to see that 10 to 15 feet of storm surge pushing all the way up into Tampa Bay. They haven't experienced anything like that in anyone's living memory. If the track is a little farther south, that highest storm surge may be shifted south down to places like Manatee County or Sarasota, or even closer to Port Charlotte.

So we don't know, and we're not going to be able to know, within just a few hours of landfall, exactly where those worst conditions are going to occur. That's why we're painting that broad risk, and that's why people are getting out across that region.

TAPPER: All right. Michael Brennan, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

As we keep an eye on hurricane Milton, we're also following major stories in our 2024 lead today, including questionable answer from Vice President Harris when she was asked if she would have done anything differently than President Biden over the last four years. Stay with us.

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[17:23:46]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I mean, he just makes it up. And -- so he is able to spew enough disinformation that, you know, that the Chinese must be smiling. When it comes to a holiday from the truth he's taken the longest vacation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah earlier today criticizing Trump for spreading disinformation about the hurricane. In this case, Romney also cited Trump's recently disparaging comments about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio and FEMA. Let's bring in my panel and talk more.

Jasmine, let me start with you, because I want to talk to you. You've been covering Kamala Harris for a long time. She's on this media blitz right now --

JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS POLITICS REPORTER: Right.

TAPPER: -- generally, not quote, unquote, news outfits, but "Late Night," "The View," Howard Stern, et cetera, this key moment on "The View" really looked like a missed opportunity for Harris. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUNNY HOSTIN, "THE VIEW" CO-HOST: Would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of, and I've been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you think?

WRIGHT: I don't think that was a great response, Jake, particularly, because I think one of the largest answers that both her and the former president have to answer this campaign is whether or not you're going to be a change agent, whether or not you're going to make my life better than it has been the last four years. And I don't think her saying I wouldn't change anything answers that. In fact, I think it works for the Republicans.

[17:25:16]

Now, to be fair, she came back later on and she said one thing I would do differently than Biden is I would put a Republican in my cabinet. And she said that she's not too prideful to do the things that are best in the country. I think you can argue whether or not that was kind of a dig at Biden. But still, I don't think that the question is whether or not she can out Republican Biden. It's whether or not she can create a winning message that tells enough Americans that she is not going to put them in the same position that they've been in, regardless of whether or not the facts are there that Americans are potentially doing better with this economy than maybe they feel.

And so I think that that wasn't a great answer. But I also kind of blame the prep, because why haven't they given her one interesting thing to say that maybe doesn't critique the current president, but says, hey, this is what I would do differently, or, hey, I'm not the same person as Joe Biden.

TAPPER: Yes. And Kevin, look, obviously she doesn't want to insult President -- disloyal -- and say something like, look, knowing, then what we know now, you know, perhaps would have done this differently on Afghanistan or this differently on emission or this differently on inflation. I mean, it's kind of just a missed opportunity.

KEVIN WALLING, DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: Yes, Jake. And of course, as you rightly point out, the vice president came back towards the end of that interview on "The View" and mentioned that conversation about having a Republican in her cabinet. I think she's actively, you know, threading this needle in terms of not necessarily separating yourself too much from the incumbent president, obviously, who has a big draw to white working class folks in some of those key battleground states, while also threading the needle as this candidate of change.

And one of the interesting takeaways from this new "New York Times" Seina poll was that back just last month, Donald Trump by double digits led in the question of who represents a change in this battle, and that has now flipped. Now the Vice President, by a 46 percent to 44 percent margin is that agent of change in voters' minds, which is a key kind of component heading into the last four weeks of this campaign.

TAPPER: Kristin, how would you have advised Kamala Harris to have answered that question or prepared her for?

KRISTIN DAVISON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Sure. I think you made a great point that you could say what we know now that's such a great gives her some grace on being able to say what she would do differently. Such a missed opportunity for her. She finally, as Kevin mentioned, took back that change agent really owned that, that mantra that you know across the board. I think it was like 49 percent of independence in that poll said that she represents change. And then dig further, the questions were, who will personally help me? She's winning on that issue right now in that poll, she's also winning on who cares more about me.

Now, where the Trump campaign can completely pounce on this is within an hour of that they should have taken that clip and overlaid it with the economic numbers, with the Afghanistan withdrawal --

TAPPER: Yes.

DAVISON: -- with every single blunder of the Biden administration, and have that over and over and over again and hammer it to those independents, to those swing voters in these, you know, suburbs, that are going to decide this election.

TAPPER: So something else that we should bring up is Trump is still using rather dehumanizing language when talking about migrants. This is what Trump said on Hugh Hewitt's radio show yesterday when attacking Harris's record on border security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How about allowing people to come to an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers, many of them murdered far more than one person, and they are now happily living in the United States. You know now a murderer, I believe this, it's in their genes, and we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: There's so much to unpack there. First of all, that 13,000 number is not accurate. That is over years and years, decades, really. And they are not living happily in the United States. Many of them are actually in prison. They're just not in the -- in ICE custody right now.

But then this idea of genes, the campaign went on to say, oh, no, he's referring to murderers having bad genes. But this is something that -- this is a trope, you know, poisoning our blood. He's taught, if you Google it, and you'll see all the crazy stuff he said about genetics that really feeds into some ugly history in this country.

WRIGHT: Yes. And I think this is a place that the former president is known to be willing and actually in some ways excited to dabble into. Obviously, this feeds back into the whole controversy of Haitians eating pets in Ohio. This is something that he continues to bring back to the American apparatus, really both as red meat to his base, signaling that these are the kind of tropes that he wants to play in, and these are the things that they also believe and could help, you know, garnish their support come November. But I also think it really plays into the vice president's hand.

Continuously, I think when you look at this media blitz, no, it's not hard capital in news, but it is also revealing more about herself.

TAPPER: Sure. [17:30:00]

WRIGHT: And more importantly, I think it's getting her to react in real time to these kind of news events and these things that former President Trump says that she wasn't really willing to just a month ago. And so I think that those comments, yes, they plan to kind of raise those ugly troves that people don't like to talk about in this country but they also give a lot of fodder to the Vice President.

TAPPER: What do you think?

DAVISON: Well this just shows really that this election is turning into a base selection both -- both campaigns. I mean you don't go on Call Her Daddy Podcast if you're trying to reach an undecided middle of the road voter. You're playing to your base.

TAPPER: Well, you're trying to get them out of -- you're trying to get those young women to vote.

DAVISON: Sure.

TAPPER: It's not a question --

DAVISON: Well, they're probably already voting.

TAPPER: Well, I -- I think it's -- I think it's --

WRIGHT: Well, I think a lot of her base is actually in the south, people that are not necessarily Kamala Harris voters. So I don't think this is just her base. But I think that the --

DAVISON: Yes.

WRIGHT: -- that the -- the topics that they talk about are within her realm.

TAPPER: Yes.

DAVISON: This election is going to come down to six precincts in Bethlehem and North Hampton, Pennsylvania.

TAPPER: Right.

DAVISON: A win for Trump, win for Biden. Whoever's going to talk convince those six precincts, blue -- blue collar county, have some more, you know, that's a Trump union but some new younger Democrats movement. That's what's going to decide this election. And so both campaigns need to figure out how to reach that voter.

TAPPER: Fascinating stuff, thanks so much. He recently led one of America's closest allies and now former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is "Unleashed." That's the title of his new book. He's sharing what he really thinks about Trump and Harris and Biden and more. He'll join me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:35:29]

TAPPER: In our World Lead, new insights from Bob Woodward today. And to what President Biden really thinks about his enemies and allies from behind-the-scenes conversations. In the United Kingdom, we're also learning what a former prime minister thinks about his political rivals, this time is the -- this time the revelations are coming directly from the source. And former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is not holding back in his new memoir called "Unleashed."

And joining me now from London former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Prime Minister Johnson thanks so much for being here and congratulations on your new book. Before we get to that, I do want to ask you about some breaking news here in the U.S. There's some new reporting on Bob Woodward's new book revealing some very -- very candid behind the scenes conversations between world leaders.

In the book, according to a Trump aid, there have been multiple phone calls between former President Trump and Vladimir Putin, maybe as many as seven since Trump left the White House in 2021. What's your reaction to that?

BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Well, I -- I don't know -- know if that's true. I -- and I certainly not privy to the contents of -- of those sort of conversations. What I can tell our -- our viewers is when I had dealings with President Trump over Russia like when the -- the Russians poisoned people in the U.K., it -- it was actually the Trump Administration that -- that really, you know, over exceeded expectations.

They expelled 60 Russian spies. It was the Trump Administration that actually gave Ukrainians lethal weaponry, the javelin missiles to use against -- against Putin's troops. So, you know, people take their pick about this. I -- I -- I'd be interested to know what those conversations contained if indeed they took place.

TAPPER: Let's turn to your book. Of course you have some -- you take aim at some of your political rivals with colorful name calling. You call some of the ministers you appointed to your cabinet, quote, homicidal maniacs. You call your predecessor Theresa May, quote, old grumpy knickers. You describe your most recent successor Keir Starmer as having a face that is, quote, like a bullock, having a thermometer unexpectedly shoved in its rectum, unquote. What do you say to a critic who might say isn't that kind of language better left behind the scenes as much as readers might enjoy it?

JOHNSON: The -- the -- the -- for someone like me in fact, Jake, for someone in -- in my position this is -- this -- this is a story really. "Unleashed" is a story of belief, abridgment. It really covers a 15-year period in -- in world politics. It's some pretty tough, it is some big issues that I try to expand for -- for readers whether it's -- it's Brexit or the Middle East or -- or Ukraine or whatever. I try to -- I try to really take people into the -- into the room. And look, I make no apology for trying to make it readable.

TAPPER: What -- what do you make of some of the reviews which have -- have been not particularly nice including, quote, how not to write a political memoirs, memoirs of a clown, memoirs that's twisted sour and full of yet more lies, quote, he's a gossipy bitch. I'm just quoting here, what was your reaction. I mean obviously you've spent some time on this memoir. That's got to -- that's got to hurt.

JOHNSON: Thank you Jake. Well, thanks. I've got to tell you that before this interview I'm sadly neglected to read those reviews. I've read some quite nice ones myself and there are plenty of people who seem to be buying the -- the book and we're -- we're doing very well. I think it is overall a -- a gentle optimistic and uplifting book which also gives an account of some -- some very difficult times for the West. It's about believing in Britain, believing in British Independence, believing in the Trans-Atlantic Alliance with America and try to be candid about what happened.

TAPPER: On former President Trump, you wrote about watching the 2016 election results. And you write, quote, some part of me, maybe just the lizard part really wanted Trump to win. We're just a few week -- weeks away from our presidential election, the third one in a row that Donald Trump is running. Does that same lizard part of you want him to win?

JOHNSON: Well, I think -- I think I also said that the mammalian cortex of my brain appeared to failing or whatever, I can't -- you -- you'd have to -- I urge readers to go to -- to "Unleashed." Well, I think I would say about the -- the current Presidential contest is, you know, I -- I met -- I think, what, I met Kamala Harris once and I shared a -- a good meeting with her.

[17:40:07]

But I -- I -- and I said this many times and I think I've said it to -- to you before. I think when it comes to some of the foreign policy questions which I really used to deal with. It was Trump who surprised on the upside by giving the Ukrainians the shoulder launch javelin anti-tank weaponry. It's not for U -- a U.K. prime minister -- former prime minister to get involved in U.S. domestic politics. But I think that those points should be heard because I think some of the -- the stereotype about Donald Trump is not right.

TAPPER: Fair enough. But he's also talking about wanting to end the war in Ukraine and he says he can end it in a day. And he seems to not be particularly supportive of the Ukrainian fight and it -- that must concern you because I know you feel that freedom and -- and -- and liberty is on the line. And that if Russia takes any part of Ukraine, that will be bad for the West.

JOHNSON: We've discussed that before and, you know, again, I -- I really think that what -- see what he does, see what he does, because were he to get elected because I, you know, I -- I don't know how he would propose to fix it with a -- with -- in -- in a day. I -- I don't know what the -- the plan might be.

But what I do think is plausible is his assertion that he'd been in the White House in 2022 it might not have happen. Although the full invasion of Ukraine, the appalling invasion that we saw in February the 24th, 2022, I think it's plausible of him to say that that wouldn't have happened. And I think, you know, big picture, what -- what is my instinct about what a Trump presidency is going to want to -- to do in the first few weeks and -- and months.

Are they going to want to see the West go down in Ukraine? Are they going to want to see NATO go down? Are they going to want to see Putin triumph? You know, I don't think so. And I don't think it's going to be part of a -- a $presidency that wants to make America great again to make the Soviet empire great again.

TAPPER: Lastly sir, you wrote about the Queen that, quote, I had known a year or more that she had a former bone cancer and her doctors were worries that at any time she could enter a sharp decline and -- and one thing I wonder, and this is just an observer from across the pond here. Should they not be more transparent when they have illnesses especially if it's an illness that awareness of it could actually help the public.

JOHNSON: Well, I -- look, I think that anybody is entitled to their -- their confidentiality about their health and the only reason I wrote that about her late majesty, the Queen, was because it -- it was about the -- the particular illness she suffered from was because it was already in the -- in the public domain. But from a -- a -- a royal authority much more expert than -- than me.

And, you know, I -- I -- I was trying -- if you look -- if you read "Unleashed" it was -- I was trying to get over the extraordinary contribution she had to make to our lives over a record breaking 70- year reign and what an -- what -- what an honor it was to talk to her.

TAPPER: Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the memoir "Unleashed" will be released in the U.S. on October 22nd. Best of luck with it sir -- with it sir.

JOHNSON: Thank you sir.

TAPPER: And you can see the entirety of my interview with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on CNN's YouTube channel which we'll post later tonight.

Today, CNN is live on the ground in Iran as fears grow of a widening war in the Middle East. What that country's leader said today about the United States, that's next.

[17:44:09]

Plus our weather team is continuing to track every new update as now category five, Hurricane Milton, closes in on Florida.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which foreign country do you consider to be our greatest adversary? KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I there's an obvious one in mind which is Iran. Iran has American blood on their hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That clip posted online after Vice President Harris's newsy "60 Minutes" interview where she also refused to say if Netanyahu himself was a close ally. Take a listen also to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert -- Olmert speaking to Israel's Channel 4 earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think that Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to draw the United States into a confrontation with Iran?

EHUD OLMERT, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I suspect that he does.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: CNN's Fred Pleitgen is on the ground in Iran's capital, Tehran. And Fred, Iran is at the center of the biggest upheaval in the Middle East in half a century. What is it like there right now?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well -- well, they certainly are. And I think one of the things that we just heard there from Ehud Olmert is actually on the minds of a lot of people here in Iran as well. They don't necessarily fear an Israeli strike that many believe could still happen. What they do fear is that all this could continue to balloon into some sort of wider crisis or armed conflict here in the Middle East that could in the end pit Iran directly against the United States.

That's certainly is something that is on the minds of many people. And one of the things that we've actually been able to do, Jake, is we've actually been able to travel today through substantial part of the country of the northern part of the country.

When you go into the cities there, one of the interesting things that you see is you do see a lot of billboards and posters hanging around professing loyalty to Hezbollah. One of the big things that you see there is flags saying Hezbollah is alive. Obviously playing on the fact that so many of the Hezbollah leaders have been killed but the Iranians saying that Hezbollah is still very much alive.

[17:50:03]

You also have the foreign administer of this country coming out today and warning the Israelis against retaliation saying the Iranians will then conduct a crushing blow as he put it. And the president of this country also ripped into the United States. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Europe and America have placed a barbaric government here. Some people who claim to support human rights defend it. It doesn't observe any human limits. It is -- they bombards, woman, children, elderly and young people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So that's obviously a political statement there from the president of this country. But of course, there are also operational concerns on the part of the Iranians as they do brace for what could be that Israeli strike still coming.

One of the interesting things that we have to point out, Jake, is that the Iranian unit of the Revolutionary Guard that actually conducted that missile strike against Israel is the same unit that is also responsible for the air defenses here in this country. It's the Revolutionary Guard Aerospace Forces. So they are certainly the ones who are right now preparing to see whether or not they could fend off any sort of larger Israeli attack if it does happen, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Fred Pleitgen, in Tehran, Iran, thank you so much.

The richest man in the world goes to leaps and bounds to support Donald Trump and you'll be shocked by what he's laughing about now. Stay with us.

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[17:56:23]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, Elon Musk was jumping around this weekend to show his support for Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Now that Musk owns X formerly known as Twitter, what does his stance on this election mean for the platform and the information or misinformation that has spread there.

CNN's Kara Swisher host of the popular podcast On with Kara Swisher joins us now. Kara thanks for joining us. In addition to Musk showing up at Trump's rally in Butler Pennsylvania this weekend, he had this to say earlier in a conversation with Tucker Carlson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, BILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEUR: I made a joke which I realized I -- I deleted, which is like nobody is even bothering to try to kill Kamala because it's pointless. What do you achieve? Nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. It's totally right.

MUSK: Just buy another puppet.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

TAPPER: So, joking about killing Kamala Harris there.

KARA SWISHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. That's about the level they are as men or boys really or bad boys I don't know. It's -- it's -- it's not it's -- laughable what they're doing in a pathetic kind of way. But, you know, he's popular with some people. He's unfavorables are pretty high and they're growing among a certain set of people. And so, we'll see if he benefits Trump or not. But I think laughing about assassinating someone just sort of gives you an idea of where we are in -- in the story of Elon Musk.

TAPPER: How much more do you think Twitter or X is a platform for falsehoods, for lies, for misinformation now that Elon Musk has taken over?

SWISHER: How much more, completely. It's completely changed drastically. You know, there were complaints about that they were censoring people et cetera, et cetera and now that it's kind of the opposite, they've inundated with vile and toxicity and the -- the numbers show it's declining. I know they're touting that they're bigger than ever but they're not. And they're making less money than ever and so they're repelling users, regular users, they're repelling advertisers and they -- they like to tell dumb jokes at each other and laugh at themselves and that's kind of where we are in this phase of, you know, I always call it a Nazi porn bar and I make that as a joke but it kind of is that's what's happening there right now.

TAPPER: Yes. And Nazis, Hamas, all sorts of --

SWISHER: Yes.

TAPPER: -- all sort of hate.

SWISHER: Yes.

TAPPER: In -- in -- in a post two days after Musk agreed to buy Twitter --

SWISHER: Right.

TAPPER: -- he said, quote, for Twitter to deserve public trust it must be political neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left --

SWISHER: Yes.

TAPPER: -- equally, unquote. What happened to that idea?

SWISHER: Well, it was a lie at the time, you know. I think at the time I said that he was going to go for Trump I think back in March. And, you know, he likes to pretend he's a free speech warrior but it's only speech he likes and speech he wants to say and then he does shut down other people with, you know, he talks about censorship, he does it all over the world just wherever it pleases him and where it doesn't he lets it fly. And so he sort of puts on this mantle that doesn't exist for him at all in any way, it's totally hypocritical.

TAPPER: Yes. Didn't he kick somebody of Twitter for putting up the dossier on J.D. Vance that Iranian hackers --

SWISHER: Yes. TAPPER: -- had stolen from the Trump team?

SWISHER: Yes. He did. He does whatever he wants. It's -- it's a rich man's toxic yacht that's sailing from harbor to harbor spreading cholera I guess, digital cholera so, whatever. It's his money.

TAPPER: Well, it's his money but you don't -- I mean there isn't a better news aggregator than Twitter. I have enjoyed Twitter in the past. It is not -- it is kind of cesspooly now.

SWISHER: Yes. It is. There will be. There will be in the future. And Threads is trying, Mastodon is trying. All kinds of people are trying. We'll see. But it will be replaced by something as everything digitally has been over the course of its history, so we'll see. But as long as he's rich he can keep it going, this kind of part -- toxic party going as long as he wants.

TAPPER: Toxic party.

SWISHER: Yes.

TAPPER: Kara Swisher thank you so much. Appreciate it.

SWISHER: Yes.

[18:00:00]

TAPPER: You can follow me on Facebook, 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 all two hours whence you get your podcast. So the news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer right next door on a place I like to call The Situation Room. I'll see you tomorrow.