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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Matt Gaetz Withdraws As Trump's Attorney General Pick; Police Report Details Sex Assault Claims Against Pete Hegseth; Sen. Rand Paul: Military Shouldn't Be Used For Deportations; Multiple Trump Cabinet Picks Face Legal, Ethical Scrutiny; Jussie Smollett Conviction For Staging Attack On Himself Overturned; International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Netanyahu; NFL Warns Organized Crime Groups Targeting Athletes' Homes. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 21, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:50]

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

This hour, conviction overturned for Jussie Smollett, the actor from the T.V. drama "Empire." An Illinois Supreme Court vacated his conviction on charges that he staged a bogus racist and homophobic attack against himself in Chicago in 2019 and lied to police. So what does this mean? We'll explain coming up.

Plus, an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as his former defense minister and a senior official from the terrorist group Hamas, accusing them all of war crimes during and after the October 7 attacks on Israel last year.

And leading this hour, a stunning withdrawal. As of right now, Matt Gaetz is out of two jobs, one, as President-elect Donald Trump's pick for U.S. Attorney general, the other, his job as a Florida congressman. Gaetz resigns. But could he now get that job back? Let's go straight to CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who's covering the Trump transition in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Kaitlan, President-elect Trump was dealt this early blow in his attempt to put a loyal ally in charge of the Justice Department. So what's the conversation among members of Trump's transition team right now?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Jake, they're back to the drawing board. The question now is who is going to replace him as their pick for attorney general? Because this is a very big question that Trump was struggling with last week. We reported that last Tuesday night that Trump had not really found any attorney general candidates that he had liked. He had looked at the short list. He had interviewed a couple people. But he really just wasn't gelling with anyone that he felt not only was he compatible with, but also that they were going to do the job that he wants this person to do in this position. He's made quite clear what he would like the top of the Justice Department to look like in the next term when he regains power in January, and just how unhappy he was with the attorney general's -- attorneys general that he picked in his first term, Jake.

So they're really back to the drawing board. They had not been making plans this week for this moment to come. I think there were questions of whether or not this was ultimately something that they would deal with, whether or not they believed that Gaetz could actually get confirmed. But really they've been focused on the Treasury pick and the FBI candidate replacement this week, Jake. So now they're back to this and there's a few questions about some of the names that Trump looked at and spoke with last week. That includes the Missouri attorney general, Andrew Bailey, Robert Giuffra, another big attorney that Trump had been considering. And then some names have been pushing for.

Jake, there is another question, though, right now from some people in Trump's orbit that I've been speaking to about whether or not Todd Blanche, his personal attorney that he said he is going to nominate to be the deputy attorney general, if that is suddenly someone that he considers. I think initially if he had put Todd Blanche up for AG, we might have heard some pushback from skeptical Republicans on Capitol Hill that he was nominating his personal attorney to this role. But after he said that he was putting him there for deputy attorney general, we heard good feedback from some people. Some Trump critics, people like Rod Rosenstein, were tweeting about what Todd Blanche as DAG would look like. So that's an open question right now too, Jake.

But this was a struggle for Trump last week in deciding who to pick. And so now he's back to making big choices. Still Treasury to come, still FBI director to come, and now a new attorney general that he is going to be searching for, Jake.

TAPPER: Are there concerns about any of the other nominees? A lot of controversy with Hegseth and Gabbard and Kennedy. I can't spend the whole show going through the list, but you get the point.

COLLINS: There's kind of two schools of thought on this, Jake. One is that Gaetz removing his name and therefore all of the focus on his nomination is going to put more attention on people like Pete Hegseth, who you saw today coming out asking -- being asked questions about that police report that was released overnight about the accusation of sexual assault that he denies and instead says was a consensual encounter. Though I should note, there is a paid agreement between Pete Hegseth and this woman who accused him of sexual assault. But there's another line of thinking, Jake, from people that I was talking to today in terms of just Trump has shifted the standard so much, whether on purpose or not, by picking people like Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth for DoD. That may be the, you know, capacity of what Republican senators are willing to consider on Capitol Hill has changed and shifted enough.

[17:05:13]

That is something that, of course, remains to be seen when it comes to confirmation hearing time, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. And Kaitlan, of course, is front and center for all the Trump transition news there in West Palm Beach, Florida. Look out for more of her excellent reporting tonight on her show, "The Source." That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

Now let's go to CNN's Lauren Fox who's live for us on Capitol Hill. And Lauren, just 24 hours ago, Matt Gaetz was making the rounds with Republican senators to build support for his nomination. I was told by a Senate source, a Republican Senate source, that he left the Hill yesterday feeling pretty good, Matt Gaetz. How are lawmakers reacting today to the decision to withdraw and also to the new reporting from CNN that 17-year-old girl alleges there was more than one sexual encounter that would constitute statutory rape, which Gaetz, we should note, denies?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. Given the fact that there has been a barrage of new information that has come out over the course of the last week, senators are largely relieved, especially Republicans who are going to have to face this really tough decision of whether or not they were going to cross Donald Trump and vote against Matt Gaetz or whether they were going to vote for him, despite many of them having a lot of concerns about him being the top law enforcement agent for the United States.

Now, I am told that meetings yesterday that happened, a lot of Republicans were trying to impress upon Gaetz just how difficult this confirmation process was going to be for him, that this is not just a rubber stamp moment for him. Instead, senators were going to deliberate, they were going to investigate, they were going to ask questions, and he was going to go before a public hearing. In fact, I'm told by one source in one of those meetings that a senator actually asked him how much support he thought he actually had and then went through the list of Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans and one by one was trying to get an answer on whether or not Gaetz had the support of those individual members. What this person said is there were at least five people who had not fully committed to Gaetz but had given them some kind of answer along the lines of we wish you well. So that just shows you what an uphill climb this was going to be on Capitol Hill.

TAPPER: All right, Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

Back now to discuss is our panel Shermichael, let me start with you. Moments ago, Speaker Johnson posted on Twitter or X quote, "Donald Trump is exactly right. Matt Gaetz has a bright future ahead of him. I've worked closely with Matt for eight years. He's an American -- America first fighter dedicated to ending the weaponization of the Department of Justice after the abuses of Biden-Harris." Do you think he's opening the door possibly for Gaetz to come back to Congress, given the fact that there is this kind of wiggle room about he resigned from the last term in Congress, but he also was reelected, so he could theoretically start in the next term.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, sure, he could theoretically return, but I mean, does he really want to? I mean, the ethics report could come out. Apparently they will still have jurisdiction if he returns to Congress. If I'm advising Matt, I'm saying, Matt, I wouldn't want to be bothered with this. Let's see if the President-elect wants to give him a position within the White House. I think he has other opportunities potentially down the road in politics, in Florida, statewide. I think that's probably the better path for him.

TAPPER: So relationships are important in all lines of work. They are especially important in politics. And Matt Gaetz made a lot of enemies, maybe even more enemies in the Republican Party than in the Democratic Party. Former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel was asked how much of a role that played in what happened. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONNA MCDANIEL, FORMER REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR: You know, he trolled them, he went after them. He wasn't going to win a congeniality contest. And then suddenly he's in a position where he's saying, I need your support and I need your vote. But he found himself in a position where he couldn't get the votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you think?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Listen, I don't put it past anyone, especially here in Washington, to be petty, but I think that there were larger issues at work here. Senate Republicans evidently recognize the seriousness of this job and I think that they would bear some public responsibility to the extent that the former president completely destabilizes the country. You know, we are talking about the world's largest law office in the Department of Justice, tens of thousands of employees, attorneys. And so ultimately, it is not only the assault allegations or, I'm sorry, the allegations that he slept with a minor, it is the fact that he's never been a prosecutor and that he doesn't have the experience for this type of role. I think that was a factor in play as well.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: And on top of all of that, we're reminded that he single handedly was in charge of making McCarthy have to go through what he went through to become the speaker on top of everything else we've reported today and made the whole Republican Party look foolish at the beginning of the last Congress, which is, I think that people that are still there, senators that are still there, it just -- he can't get along with this (inaudible).

[17:10:07]

TAPPER: And then he led the church to remove him.

ROCHA: Right. Right, right. And I think that in, like you said, there's no -- there's a lot of pettiness in Washington, D.C. But there's also a lot of people, I run campaigns for a living, I get these folks elected, a lot of them are very full of themselves and they don't like people like Matt Gaetz getting in the way of that.

TAPPER: What do you think?

SINGLETON: I mean, that's a good point. People haven't forgotten, I like McCarthy raised some money for him and D.C. is a good guy. There are a lot of people who respected him in part because he could raise a ton of money for Republicans. I mean, he was a prolific fundraiser. And we still were able to win the House again and maintain our majority despite of. But that does make it challenging, you know, not having those great relationships with your colleagues.

TAPPER: Yes.

SINGLETON: But nevertheless, Jake, I think there is still an opportunity for Trump to give him something if he wants to. And there were some rumors a couple months back that the former congressman was interested in running for governor in Florida.

ROCHA: That's what I think --

SINGLETON: I mean, that's a possibility as well.

TAPPER: There's also the nomination of Pete Hegseth, former Fox News weekend cohost, army veteran, decorated veteran, and he's facing sexual misconduct allegations. He denies them. He addressed this issue on the Hill earlier today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, TRUMP'S PICK FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY: As far as the media is concerned, I'll keep this very simple, the matter was fully investigated and I was completely clear. And that's where I'm going to leave it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I mean, being completely cleared, I mean, that's, I guess this is parsing. But charges not being filed is not necessarily evidence of no wrongdoing. It just means that a prosecutor has decided he can't bring charges. That said, there has been no charges against him.

SINGLETON: There have not been. I called Tim Parlatore before coming back on, and Tim raised two points to me. He said, number one, there --

TAPPER: This is Hegseth's attorney.

SINGLETON: Correct. There are contradictory statements from witnesses from what they saw. And also police officers have the ability via probable cause to arrest him. Now, granted, the alleged victim filed days later, I'm assuming Pete would have left the state at that point, but they still could have issued an arrest warrant if they believed the veracity of the claims. For whatever reason, they did not. And I think that those matters and details are incredibly important in this, Jake. Pete has the opportunity and the right to defend himself. I think he'll ultimately get confirmed and I think we're going to learn more about this in the upcoming days.

TAPPER: So listen to Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican, very conservative Trump ally from North Dakota, talking about Pete Hegseth and these allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): It's a pretty big problem given that we have, you know, we have a sexual assault problem in our military that a number of us and certainly the champions being Kirsten Gillibrand and Joni Ernst. But I've been on board with them and in support of the legislation to deal with it since the chain of command was not. I'm not going to prejudge him. But yes, it's a pretty concerning accusation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Yes, I'm surprised that he raised this, but it shows you that they are being thoughtful about this process. I don't know if it ultimately tanks his nomination, but it's clearly something that they are considering. And like Congressman Gaetz, there is an experience gap here and those questions will come into play.

TAPPER: Deportation, you've noted, is one of the reasons or immigration in the border --

ROCHA: Sure.

TAPPER: -- is one of the reasons that Democrats did poorly because of the Republican messaging on this. I just want to play this. This is interesting, something that Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said earlier this week about President-elect Trump's plan to use the U.S. Military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. This comment hasn't gotten that much attention. Let's roll it now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): I'm not in favor of sending the army in uniforms into our cities to collect people. I think it's a terrible image and that's not what we use our military for we never have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROCHA: I totally agree. You don't want 19 year old boys with AKs in the middle of whatever protests are going on because no matter what happens, you're going to see a protest from whether and you put a U.S. Army person or a young man or a young woman in an impossible situation and it could only end badly.

MCKEND: He's a libertarian and so this is sort of true to his ideology that this would seem off putting to him to have military out in the streets engaging with, you know, residents of this country documented or undocumented. So I'm not surprised he said this. And then also in 2016, he did push back against the former president in some instances when it came to the level of spending.

TAPPER: All right, thanks to one and all. Appreciate it.

So the presidential transition so far, it's been peaceful, yes. Drama free? No. My next guest had a close working relationship with President-elect Trump what she makes of the process up to this point. Plus, the warning from the NFL to its athletes that an organized crime ring might be targeting their homes.

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[17:18:52]

TAPPER: In our politics lead, one of President-elect Trump's top cabinet picks already took himself out of the running before any senator could even cast a vote. And it looks as though it's anything but smooth sailing for several others with a fire host of new revelations and allegations and lawsuits. Joining us now to discuss the former White House communications director during Trump's first term, Alyssa Farah Griffin.

Alyssa, obviously just in disclosures, the name of disclosure, you're not a particular fan of Mr. Trump anymore, but you do know him and you know Matt Gaetz. You've been in a room with them together. Trump posted after Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration, saying Matt has a wonderful future. What do you think is actually happening behind the scenes in Trump world today?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I think that it was clear to Donald Trump that the votes simply weren't there for Matt Gaetz. And I had actually predicted that his nomination would likely be pulled. Trump's always been a fan of Gaetz. He sees him as a loyalist who's good at defending him on T.V., but he's not one of those core guys that he's really going to go out on a limb too far to protect and defend. This was a last minute nomination.

It was somebody that was kind of cooked up on the plane according to some reporting that I'd seen. So I think that once he was realizing senators weren't going to budge, Donald Trump's very aware of time. He feels like his first administration just did not get off the ground running because there was so much to learn. It was a messy transition. He didn't know how the federal government worked.

[17:20:15]

But now he realizes he basically has two years before the midterms that he's got all houses of Congress and can actually get his agenda done. So I think he's interested in not wasting time. And I think that was why the nomination was pulled. It seems very clear that this was Trump saying, Matt, you're not going to get there.

TAPPER: So Gaetz aside, today CNN has reported on some other damning new revelations on three other possible cabinet picks. Just a few of the headlines. One, police report reveals new details from sexual assault allegation against Trump's defense secretary nominee. Two, Linda McMahon, Trump's education pick, was sued for allegedly enabling sexual abuse of children. Three, RFK Jr compared Trump to Hitler and praised descriptions of his supporters as Nazis.

Do you think any of these are getting under Trump's skin?

GRIFFIN: Let's go one by one. So honestly, his own vice president had used similar language to RFK. I don't think that's going to be an issue as long as RFK is willing to praise him now and say that he was wrong about him. Linda McMahon, I actually worked with when she was a small business administrator. She'd served in the previous Trump administration. And I think she'll be prepared to defend against these allegations. That's something that's come up in previous confirmations.

But Pete Hegseth, I think now that Matt Gaetz is out of the running, all of the Senate's eyes are focused on this gentleman. I've only met him a handful of times. I've been with him when he interviewed Donald Trump. Trump has genuine affection for him. This is his handpicked choice. But the sexual allegations aside, he's deeply unqualified for this role.

And Republican senators, especially those on Senate Armed services in the Intel committees, take the National Security post extremely seriously. So even with those issues aside, I think there's going to be real questions about how a man who, yes, did serve our country in uniform but hasn't managed large numbers of people, is going to run the biggest organization which within the American government, with 3 million people service members reporting to him, their families and dependents, overseeing troops in 160 countries, and being one of two people on the planet who could deploy U.S. military assets. I think the questions around his qualifications to be secretary of defense are really going to be front and center with Gaetz kind of out of the limelight now. And Hegseth's got a real uphill battle to confirmation.

TAPPER: What about all the stuff from his personal life?

GRIFFIN: That just muddies it even further, honestly. And I would say it frankly gives the Trump transition an off ramp if they want to go a different direction. Here's what's so interesting is I was actually so happy about some of the first folks that were named Rubio, Mike Waltz, Elise Stefanik, John Ratcliffe. These are people who are credible for the roles that they're being appointed to. And then it went a little bit off the rails with some of these others.

There's an elegant offer up here for Donald Trump to pick somebody beloved like Joni Ernst, somebody who would be a historic choice to lead the Department of Defense, a woman who served in combat. There's a number of qualified people for this post who are loyal to Trump and also capable of doing the job. So, I think there's going to be a lot more pressure around Hegseth. These are pretty damning allegations.

TAPPER: Alyssa Farah Griffin, good to see you. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Just moments ago, new comments from the lawyers for Jussie Smollett, the actor who was on the T.V. drama "Empire" and then had a drama of his own. What they just said about major court decision today to overturn his conviction on allegations that he staged that racist and homophobic attack on himself in 2019. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:28:06]

TAPPER: In our law and justice lead, a new twist to a case that has already played out with multiple dramatic turns. Actor Jussie Smollett, as you might recall, was convicted in 2021 on five counts for staging a fake attack on himself, paying two men who he knew from the show "Empire" to assault him while they shouted racist and homophobic slurs on Chicago Street. Today, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned Smollett's conviction. The ruling was not on the merits of the case, but on who tried it. The state's attorney originally dropped the charges after Smollett paid a fine and performed some community service.

And then a special prosecutor was appointed and that special prosecutor landed the conviction. Here to help us understand all of this is CNN's Legal Analyst Laura Coates, who of course also anchors "Laura Coates Live," which airs at 11:00 p.m. only here on CNN. She gives fascinating insights and all sorts of things, especially on big cases like this one when they're grabbing headlines.

Laura, so good to have you back.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Thank you for being here. So, this was a five nothing opinion. The Illinois Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be holding -- a holding from this court that the state was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally rely. So this was more about procedure.

COATES: It was about a contract, essentially. This all comes down to whether a deal really is a deal. Remember, initially they chose not to prosecute him. They had a Latin term, nolle prosequi, which eventually means not wanting to prosecute as part of that $10,000 forfeit of his bond, hours of community service, and that was the only punishment. That word's important later.

Based on that, he relied, he fulfilled those obligations. And then they said, you know what, nevermind, we're now going to still prosecute you.

TAPPER: Double jeopardy.

COATES: It's double jeopardy. It's due process violation, which is what the court actually held. And they said, listen, how is the prosecutor's office to have credibility if no one can rely on what you say is the deal. And more importantly, he's already fulfilled the obligations. Imagine, if you will, you and I had a contract, I did everything on my end, then you said, well that's great. Never mind. They applied the same principles of a kind of contract law to this case. It's the right decision, irrespective of the underlying facts everyone points to. Because it reminds you a lot of what contract law is about. A deal is a deal. The benefit of the bargain, I upheld my end

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So, it's completely different case, but it's not unlike what happened with Bill Cosby in the sense that the prosecutor agreed to something. And then they changed their mind and decided to punish him anyway. And maybe they should -- maybe they shouldn't have entered into that first deal. Who knows? But --

COATES: Yes.

TAPPER: -- you got to stand by your word, especially if you're the state.

COATES: It's such an appropriate analogy. The court even looks at it as well. And even more so, it's the reason why you'd go against your word. You remember, there was so much chatter. There was outrage from Donald Trump to then Mayor Rahm Emanuel and everyone in between who had a real problem with this particular deal. They thought it was a sweetheart celebrity deal. They would say no one, no average person would actually have this. Kim Fox, who I'll have on tonight on my show at 11:00.

TAPPER: Kim Foxx, she was the DA.

COATES: She was the DA. We'll talk to her tonight about what she thinks about this decision as well. They were very angry that this would be the deal given, just like the sounding of the alarms that happened when the Bill Cosby case, albeit under very different circumstances.

TAPPER: Yes, completely different case. But --

COATES: But this is the same concept. A deal is a deal. And if you're the prosecutors in this case, you know, we are a fungible asset as each prosecutor. The government is who you are. So if the government cannot be trusted to make a deal, imagine what happens with people who are supposed to be cooperators, people who say, OK, I'll take this plea. You're not going to recommend a sentence or not the maximum sentence.

And then they just say, never mind, because there is public perception and public outrage. You cannot rely on that. And frankly, prosecutors' offices would fail on their ultimate ability to secure a lot of deals if no one believed them.

TAPPER: Yes, you can't do that. I agree. So -- but here's a -- here's a fundamental question. Did he do this? Is he -- has he admitted? Has Jussie Smollett admitted and is it just the -- is it the law of the land or the facts of the case that he is already acknowledged. That he faked this whole thing and it didn't happen the way he originally said it did. COATES: He has always professed his innocence. He has gone through the appellate process as well to suggest that he was not fairly tried in this matter, but they never even reached the merits of this case. That's kind of the -- the, you know, beauty and problem of any appeal.

You're not going to have the satisfaction in the court of public opinion to know the, quote unquote, truth. However, he has maintained his innocence and they have said, you cannot go after him again because the prosecutors in this case made a deal. And based on what they knew in the facts in this matter, they contracted a deal that said he would only be punished a certain way. That did not happen. And that's where we are right now.

Now, whether his legacy or livelihood continues to be impacted by public reception is a very different question. But in terms of this Supreme Court and this United States, they said, look, a deal is a deal, prosecutors. Don't expect other people to get you out of a mess you may have created.

TAPPER: So, he paid the fine, he did the community service, but he has still to this day never admitted that he got those guys to do that. That he paid them to do it. He --

COATES: He has not admitted that this is a hoax, nor does he even state that he has a reason to admit it. He has professed innocence.

TAPPER: All right, Laura Coates, thanks so much. And as Laura notes, she's going to have a big guest tonight on her show, Kim Foxx. That's the Cook County state's attorney who initially dismissed the charges in the Jussie Smollett case. Look for that interview on her show, Laura Coates Live, tonight at 11:00 Eastern only here on CNN. Laura, so good to see you.

COATES: Thank you.

TAPPER: Come back soon.

[17:33:41]

Next here on The Lead, the actions that led to the arrest warrants issued today for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as a senior Hamas official and defense official of Israel. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Back with our World Lead. And a warning to our viewers, the next video may be difficult to watch. It's the aftermath of an Israeli strike in northern Gaza early this morning, where the dead and injured overwhelmed the local medical staff. CNN has reached out for comment from Israel's military on why that area was struck. Israel continues to try to wipe out Hamas, the terrorist group, in response to the October 7th, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, an effort that has led to accusations of war crimes, accusations against both Israeli leaders and those from Hamas.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports from Jerusalem, where U.S. and Israeli officials are expressing outrage after the International Criminal Court's latest high profile arrest warrant.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen here on a visit to Gaza this week, now faces the most serious international challenge to his authority ever, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A result of his leadership leading to the deaths of more than 44,000 Palestinians in Gaza. The ICC says it has reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes, including starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. Netanyahu is accusing the ICC of anti-Semitism.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): This is anti-Semitic measure that has one goal to deter me, to deter us from exercising our natural right to defend ourselves against our enemies who rise up against us, to destroy us.

ROBERTSON (voice over): Israel's former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who opposed some of Netanyahu's tactics in Gaza, is also accused. He is pushing back, saying the ICC is creating a dangerous precedent for self-defense. The ICC's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas' military chief Mohammed Deif, whom the IDF says it killed in July. Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, two other Hamas leaders who had been on the potential arrest list in May, are also now dead.

[17:40:29]

Netanyahu is now in an unenviable club. Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, also wanted by the ICC and unable to travel freely. Any of the 124 countries that are signatory to the Rome Statute will be obliged to arrest him or Gallant and send them to face trial at the ICC in the Netherlands. An obligation the E.U. foreign policy chief says must be upheld.

JOSEP BORRELL, E.U. FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: It is not a political decision. It is a decision of a court, of a court of justice, and international court of justice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (on camera): So this is going to put a lot of the European Union off limits. We've already heard from Italy, from France, from the Netherlands. They all say they'll turn Prime Minister Netanyahu over to the ICC. Although Italy says they disappointed with the decision that's come from the ICC. But they'll follow through with it.

Interestingly, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also said he'll turn over Prime Minister Netanyahu if he shows up on Canadian soil. Says Canada stands for international justice. Where the Prime Minister -- the Israeli Prime Minister will be able to travel is to two of his good allies, the United States and India. Neither of them, of course, signatures to the Rome Statute, Jake. TAPPER: All right, Nic Robertson in Jerusalem for us.

Thank you so much. Also in our World Lead an urgent warning to tourists in one Asian country over potentially methanol-laced drinks. At least five people, include -- including an American, have died and another is on life support after separate incidents occurring in Vang Vieng. That's a possible -- a popular tourist destination for young backpackers. CNN's Mike Valerio is live for us in Seoul, South Korea. And Mike, the U.S. Embassy in Laos just issued an alert. Tell us.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's an unusual warning, Jake, coming from the embassy. And it says essentially this. And this plays into the why we care factor, why this story is so important. If you have a loved one who is taking a backpacking trip, a journey of a lifetime through our corner of the world, specifically in Laos, the warning says to watch out for any tampered bottles of liquor.

If you have a bottle at a bar, looks like a bootleg printed label, step back, watch out, because there is this spate of methanol poisonings in Vung Vieng, in this idyllic town in Laos, the map showed sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam, again, a beautiful part of Southeast Asia.

So Jake, over the past 48 hours, we've been able to follow the stories of two teenagers from Australia who have fallen into this unfortunate tragedy. We're talking about Holly Bowles, Bianca Jones, both 19 years old on this trip of a lifetime. Bianca Jones has since died after her family says telling our affiliate in Sydney, Bianca Jones on the right hand side of the screen right there, that she and her friend, Holly, were suspected of consuming a drink that was tainted with.

So, what we're talking about when we're looking at methanol poisoning, you know, certainly when we started reporting this story, we thought methanol, like what in the world? Why -- why would that be in a drink? Jake, a small quantity of methanol can make you drunk. It is used by moonshine producers, bootleg producers, to try to make alcohol pretty cheaply and pretty quickly.

So where things stand right now, two people from Denmark, one person from the United States, one person from Australia and one person from Britain who have died in this town. The storyline could certainly get worse, but that is where things stand early on Friday morning here in Asia, Jake.

TAPPER: Horrible story. Mike Valerio in Seoul, South Korea, thank you so much.

[17:44:17]

Coming up next, a new warning from the NFL to its athletes about an organized crime ring. A former NFL player on the CNN payroll will also be here to weigh in. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TAPPER: A new alert tops our Sports Lead. The FBI has joined local law enforcement to investigate burglaries at homes of professional athletes. And just hours ago, the National Football League or NFL, warned that organized crime is specifically targeting players' homes.

A memo obtained by CNN and sent to the NFL states, quote, the homes of professional athletes across multiple sports leagues have become increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups, unquote.

It went on to list ways that players can protect their homes. This comes after police say the homes of Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were burglarized last month.

Joining us now to discuss CNN's Josh Campbell and Coy Wire. First to you, Josh, what information did authorities give the NFL to compel them to issue this warning?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're seeing a lot of the same attributes among these various robberies that have impacted athletes most recently, as you mentioned, the two NFL stars. And if you think about it, these are targets of opportunity. You have high wealth individuals who are often on the road. And so that has often -- caused great concern. We've seen actual incidents of having their homes burglarized.

[17:50:13]

This warning that the NFL sent out, you know, a lot of people obviously are familiar with the NFL. But behind the scenes there's this massive security operation that protects players and fans and venues. And what they're saying, I'll like -- tell you about some of this report that we got was they're essentially saying that burglars have been conducting extensive surveillance on the homes of athletes. They're sometimes posing as delivery drivers or groundskeepers. They say they're also looking at the master bedroom, the closet, sometimes actually scaling to the second floor in order to make entry with these residents.

Now, authorities right now are trying to determine whether these perpetrators were part of some type of international crime syndicate. That is something that has been of great concern to authorities from coast to coast. They've seen an uptick in so called burglary tourism. And what officials tell us is these aren't keystone crooks. These are professional operations.

TAPPER: And -- and what safety -- OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD SPITZER, ORANGE COUNTRY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Instigated. They lay in wait for days at a time in people's backyards. They have WiFi jammers to stop the alarm company from being notified because a lot of people have WiFi systems. And then they have police jammers to jam the signal of the police departments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now let's take a look at what the NFL is recommending players. They're essentially saying that don't check in on social media, as so many people often do, to show that you're away from your home.

They're also saying don't post images of your home, the inside, expensive items. And this just doesn't apply to athletes. That applies -- that's -- that's good for everyone to not advertise because we know that these criminals, according to that NFL bulletin, do a lot of research online to try to social engineer to find out where these people live, their patterns of behavior, all in an attempt to try to rob these very wealthy homes.

TAPPER: Coy, a -- as a former NFL player, you know what it's like being in the spotlight. A lot of good stuff, but also some not so great stuff. What -- what is that part of the -- of the job like?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, I mean, along with the praise and -- and the many positive experiences you have as a -- as a professional athlete come some precarious, sometimes scary situations.

Every NFL team has a security team. And the teams I played on, Jake, in the NFL at the beginning of every season, it was just wild to think about, we had this team meeting where a presentation by the head of security and they would let us know. Look, people will find you. Most -- most of the time it's harmless. But prepare yourselves, prepare your families. Take every precaution. When you're at home, keep the blinds down so people can't photograph you or video you.

when you're not home, keep the lights on. And I -- I had -- I had teammates who had security who essentially lived with them. I know of one player where a half-eaten birthday cake showed up at their house on their doorstep on their birthday with a note. Local law enforcement had to get involved and issue a restraining order.

So these things happen, but it's nothing new to the players, this memo by the NFL is simply a reminder of things they've already been told, things they've already been, you know, trained on how to protect themselves and their families. And this is a scary situation. And this sounds like this is next level, of course. And so the NFL is stepping in to try to protect their players and their families.

TAPPER: All right, Coy, thanks so much. Josh thanks to you as well.

[15:53:21]

Coming up next, the nation's current problem spot that could create a ripple effect of issues for holiday travel. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our National Lead, Triple A predicts nearly 80 -- 8-0 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more for Thanksgiving, which is one week from today. At the airports, the TSA projects a record 18.3 million people will be screened between next Tuesday and Monday, December 2nd. But will the weather cooperate with all of our holiday plans? CNN meteorologist Chad Myers joins us. What's the big trouble spot right now? Is it in the Pacific Northwest?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You bet it is. Absolutely. Northern California, Sonoma County, all the areas -- Mendocino really picking up very heavy rainfall and it's not stopping. It's not stopping tonight or tomorrow. It'll still continue to rain all the way into Saturday. It's that atmospheric river, that bomb cyclone.

Now there's the bomb cyclone. It's still there. But there is another low pressure center that's going to try to do the same thing on the opposite, the bottom side of this system and rotate with more rainfall for the rest of the week. Already a foot of rain, more than a foot of snow. And this really doesn't tell the story. It says 20 inches, but this is

like four to five to one snow. This is snowball, snowman making weather, backbreaking weather. Need to be careful shoveling this. And we're going to double those numbers.

Without a doubt, all the numbers you saw, we're still going to see significant more rain and significantly more snow in the same places because the rain isn't going to move. This atmospheric river is going to continue in the same exact place.

And that's the problem. The snow in the mountains and the rain along the coast, there will be at least another six inches, maybe 10 inches of rain and at least five feet of snow in the highest elevations. Jake?

TAPPER: Beyond the Northwest, are there other trouble spots you see for Thanksgiving?

MYERS: Yes. And the problem is here, so many people travel so many different days, right. I mean, so I -- I -- I'm going to leave town and you're going to leave town on Monday and then Tuesday and then Wednesday. So it's a little bit difficult. But there will be snow in the Northeast. There will be wind likely delays, maybe at some of these airports. But look, I mean, the first real big snow of the Catskills here for

the year.

We'll take it because it'll be pretty. But it may not be very pretty to drive in it when we obviously see all of those winter weather alerts already being posted, Jake. It'll be a wet -- Wednesday and Thursday across parts of the East Coast.

[18:00:06]

TAPPER: All right, Chad Myers, thanks so much.

And you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X formerly known as Twitter, and on the TikTok at Jake Tapper. You can also follow the show on X at the Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can listen to this show all two hours of it whence you get your podcasts.

The news continues on CNN with one Mr. Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. I'll see you tomorrow.