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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Four Years After Capitol Riot, VP Harris Certifies Trump Victory; Deadly Winter Storm Blasts Midwest And Mid-Atlantic; Elon Musk Lashes Out At U.K. Prime Minister; Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau Resigns As Party Leader; Pentagon Could Restore Benefits To LGBTQ+ Veterans. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 06, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:05]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As President-elect Trump returns to the White House, a critic will assume an important post nearby. Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy as the new archbishop of Washington, D.C. He'd been a staunch defender of refugees, the environment and Catholics in the LGBTQ movement. The move comes as President Biden prepares to meet Pope Francis on Friday.

Thanks so much for sharing your afternoon with us.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: January 6, 2025, a slightly different vibe today than four years ago.

THE LEAD starts right now.

An election win officially certified today. President-elect Donald Trump one step closer to taking office again. January 6th today nothing like January 6, 2021 when Trump protesters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol, disrupting what should have been a peaceful process. Ahead, we're going to mark four years after such a dark day in American history as a new era attempts to take over American politics.

Plus, Trump's new right-hand man Elon Musk on the attack, now going after top European leaders, including UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer. The child sex abuse scandal that Musk says deserves to be called out. Also, the notorious bigot who Musk is standing by and the strong rebuke Musk's accusations are getting today.

And a deadly winter storm hitting the mid-Atlantic of the United States, 62 million people under the threat where the storm is breaking records and paralyzing parts of the U.S.

(MUSIC)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

It's official. Congress has now certified Donald Trump's 2024 presidential election victory. The democratic process, multi- democratic process today playing out as the Founding Fathers intended, rather uneventfully.

Vice President Kamala Harris fulfilling her constitutional duty, presiding over the counting of the Electoral College votes that certified her own election loss to Trump.

Just a short time ago after the ceremony, she spoke about that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, I did what I've done my entire career, which is take seriously the oath that I have taken many times to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Even the winter storm pulverizing our nation's Capitol did not stop the certification. The Capitol grounds are covered in snow. The last time America certified a presidential election, the capitol grounds were covered with an angry mob, One that soon turned violent.

On this day four years ago, election lies by Mr. Trump fueled many of his supporters to storm the Capitol, viciously assaulting police officers while trying to stop the election certification and overturn Trump's legitimate loss.

I don't have to tell you every detail of what happened. You probably watched some of this live as it unfolded, and maybe you even remember this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I want people out there to remember how they feel right now as they watch these images live because there is going to be an attempt by the people who were part of this effort. President Trump, House Minority Leader McCarthy, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Hawley, et cetera, there is going to be an attempt to whitewash what's going on right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, you might recall in the immediate aftermath of the attack, Republican leaders, including Kevin McCarthy, condemned it. McCarthy took to the floor of the house to say Trump bears responsibility. Now, of course, Mr. Trump, the president-elect, calls January 6th a day of love.

Even today brand-new alternate histories, alternate realities are emerging about what happened that day. Today, Republican Congressman Mike Collins of Georgia posted on social media, quote, on this day in history in 2021, thousands of peaceful grandmothers gathered in Washington, D.C., to take a self- guided, albeit unauthorized tour of the U.S. Capitol building. Earlier that day, President Trump held a rally where supporters walked peacefully to witness the certification of the 2020 election. During this time, some individuals entered the Capitol, took photos and explored the building before leaving, unquote.

That is not an accurate description of what happened here, at least here on Planet Earth on that day. Of course, there were some Trump supporters peacefully protesting and many did not enter the Capitol, but no one is taking issue with them. The issue with the people doing this to this policeman.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

TAPPER: That cry of pain by that law enforcement officer, that not backing of the blue, that is the reality of January 6, 2021. More than 600 people have been charged with assaulting or obstructing police in that effort, to undermine the free and fair election of 2020.

Now, in two weeks Donald Trump, the president- elect, will return to the White House and he has promised to grant presidential pardons to Capitol rioters.

[16:05:04]

We do not know which ones he is talking about.

Let's bring in the team. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in West Palm Beach, Florida, covering Donald Trump. Evan Perez is here in the studio with me in D.C. M.J. Lee is at the White House. Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill.

Manu, start with you.

Today's certification process, a stark contrast to what played out four years ago. What did you hear today from lawmakers?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Republicans, Jake, are very willing and eager to turn the page past January 6, 2021. In fact, very few even wanted to discuss what happened that day. They certainly didn't want to defend what happened but they also didn't want to take issue with what Donald Trump has said, even if they have taken issue in the past.

Senate majority leader, John Thune, the new Republican leader, he had expressed his concerns in the aftermath of January 6, 2021, said it was inexcusable, called some actions thuggery. I asked him just moments ago in the aftermath of today's vote to certify Trump's election victory, if he believes what Donald Trump has said, it is a day of love. But he wouldn't say that but he's also indicated he's willing to move on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Trump calls it a day of love. How do you remember it? Do you remember it that way?

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: You know, I said this before, I was here and I said what I had to say about that day, and I'm now looking forward.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I would suggest the president, if he asked my opinion, is to review them one by one by one.

RAJU: Rather than doing everything at once.

KENNEDY: Huh?

RAJU: Rather than doing one blanket pardon.

KENNEDY: Right, every case -- every case is different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And that last comment referring to Donald Trump's promise to pardon the January 6th prisoners on his first day in office. Trump has not indicated exactly how he would proceed, whether who he would actually pardon, whether it'd be a blanket pardon of such. But you heard there from one senator there, John Kennedy who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, does not believe this should be done in a blanket pardon. It should be done individually. So, if he does go that route, Jake, he might face some concerns by Republicans.

But don't expect a lot of pushback on the issue of January 6th from the GOP. Very much ready to move on, turn the page and focus instead on their agenda, Jake.

TAPPER: Jeff Zeleny, President-elect Trump has been vocal on his social media site, Truth Social, but has he addressed today's certification?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, only briefly. President-elect Trump began the day on truth social posting a picture from four years ago, a crowd of his supporters on the National Mall looking out from the ellipse, of course, where he gave his speech shortly before the mob moved to the Capitol.

Then he spent the variety of the day -- the lions share of the day talking about President Biden in a negative term, saying he's made the transition more difficult, talking about Justin Trudeau in Canada. But just a short time ago, he did note the certification in all capital letters as saying this: Congress certifies our great election victory today. A big moment in history. MAGA!

But the reality is this is a moment, I'm told, the president-elect was watching from here in Mar-a-Lago as he continues to establish his government. He's been moving very quickly to set up the appointees to the cabinet. They'll be facing confirmation hearings. He's been working on his agenda for the first 100 days.

But I'm told by one adviser that the president-elect viewed this as a peer of vindication. Of course, that is the really remarkable -- four years ago, this was a major political liability. No one could imagine, including him and people around him, that he would come back.

So this, of course, through the whitewashing of history, as you said, is exactly what has happened. He has emerged stronger in this four- year remarkable term. But now, of course, the burden will be on him and his fellow Republicans to actually try and govern, Jake. TAPPER: Yeah, it's a fascinating point. I mean, Donald Trump has run

for president three times. It wasn't until after January 6th that he actually won the popular vote and had a clear and decisive win.

We've now seen this part of a peaceful transfer of power play out four years after that horrendous in Capitol insurrection. Remind us how active the Justice Department is today in prosecuting people who broke the law that day.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we still have 300 active cases, Jake. We have 1,500 people who have either pleaded guilty or been convicted. As you mentioned, about 600 of those were actual violent rioters.

And so, the question is, how does the new president -- the incoming president, how does he approach all of those cases? As you can tell, there are a lot of people who support him and also support police who are very concerned about the message sent about how he handles the idea of pardons.

And keep in mind, I mean, the Justice Department, you know, has been pursuing -- you know, the idea was that you go after everyone involved, including Donald Trump. That hasn't worked out so well on the Donald Trump part.

[16:10:03]

But certainly for those people, those people have been paying the price for what happened that day.

TAPPER: Yeah, of course, we should also remind people that Donald Trump won the endorsement of many, many police unions --

PEREZ: Correct.

TAPPER: -- after that attack, after that attack.

PEREZ: Right, right.

And, look, you know, four years later we can look -- we can reassess what happened in that case. I think we have a sound from Attorney General Merrick Garland talking about making sure everyone paid the -- was accountable for it. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last. The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators at any level accountable under law, whether they were present that day or criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: At any level. It turned out, obviously for the people who went into the building that day that did apply to them, but not to Donald Trump. So, if you're at the Justice Department, I think everybody is looking at what went wrong four years later, Jake, because they ran out of time in being able to do those prosecutions.

TAPPER: It's also difficult to prosecute incitement. It's a very difficult charge to bring.

M.J., we know that President Biden wrote an op-ed in "The Washington Post," criticizing those who have attempted to rewrite the history of January 6th. Although I'm sure he has critics out there to say, who is he to talk about gaslight, but Vice President Harris weighed in and her role in this electoral vote certification. Tell us about that.

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, Jake, what happened four years ago is obviously still so fresh for so many people. That includes this president and the current vice president as well. It's really clear talking to their advisers and various aides that it was very important for both of them, goes without saying that they not see a repeat of any aspect of what happened on January 6th of 2021.

Today, the president, of course, has expressed concern about whitewashing of January 6th and what happened that day. He doesn't want history in that sense to be rewritten or actually forgotten about. The vice president, I was told by one senior adviser was actually a bit aghast that questions were even being asked about whether she would go through with today overseeing Congress certifying election results.

It was so clear to her that this was obviously her duty and obligation as vice president. Everything today obviously went really smoothly but multiple people who have spoken with the vice president recently told me she does seem pretty focused on finishing out her obligations as the vice president, wants to make sure that she's even showing some calm to friends and aides that she's interacting with.

But, yeah, the reality is there is nothing really pleasant about what she had to do today accepting her loss in that way. Also in two weeks from now, having to sit through inauguration day as Donald Trump will be sworn in for the second time. As for the vice president's future, we are told, of course those conversations have begun. Of course, she is thinking about it, but those deliberations are not going to begin in earnest until January 20th when she has actually vacated the naval observatory for J.D. Vance to take up residence there.

Formally, until then, I am told those decisions and any decision about her political future really, she is not in any hurry to make them, that she's going to take her time once inauguration has happened.

TAPPER: All right. Thanks to one and all.

From an incoming leader to another on the way out, coming up, the pressure on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Exactly what is behind Mr. Trudeau's intentions to step down? We're going to go live to Ottawa.

But, first, the deadly snowstorm hitting the mid-Atlantic and beyond. Four people killed in traffic crashes as the snow and ice reeking havoc. Why this storm is unlike so many others. That's ahead.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): We have about 24 hours before it gets so cold that the salt is not going to work. So, we need as much time and as much road to do as much work as possible throughout the course of today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Our national lead now, the urgent warning from the governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, there. His state is just one of many hit by a winter storm that has more than 60 million Americans under alert. The snow and freezing cold stretching from the Midwest to the mid- Atlantic, claiming at least four lives as of now.

This dangerous storm system is also having a huge impact on air travel with more than 6,000 flights around the United States canceled or delayed today.

CNN's Gabe Cohen reports from a snow-covered Washington, D.C.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A deadly winter storm creating dangerous conditions tonight for tens of millions of Americans. Snow, sleet and freezing rain blanketing large areas of the country from Kansas to the nations capital.

BESHEAR: The most important thing that people can do today is to stay home and to stay safe.

COHEN: Thick ice and gusty winds toppling trees and power lines, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes. On the road at least four people killed in crashes and hundreds of motorists stranded amid extreme conditions. And misery for fliers with thousands of flights either delayed or canceled.

In D.C., at least 5 inches of snow have already piled up. The most the district has seen in at least three years. And there may be more to come.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're asking people to stay off the streets as much as possible.

COHEN: Many schools across the region are closed and federal government offices shut down in D.C.

But not everyone is staying home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have been telling people, I am going to cross- country ski on the National Mall. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a nice day for a walk. You know, there's no

traffic so it makes it easy to walk around and just enjoy it.

TAPPER: After snow moves out, dangerous cold is moving in. An arctic blast bringing bone-chilling temps to the same areas just starting to dig out from the snow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (on camera): And, Jake, right now, we're seeing the snow picking back up. We are expecting potentially a couple more inches this evening.

[16:20:02]

That snow warning in effect here in D.C. and across this area through the night, which is why were already seeing a lot of school districts across this region getting ahead of things, saying they're going to stay shut down tomorrow as crews continue to clear all of this snow. And then worry about ice and those frigid temperatures -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Gabe Cohen, thanks so much.

I want to bring in CNN meteorologist Chad Myers now.

Chad, what is this storm doing right now? Is more snow going to fall?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. More snow that's in West Virginia right now will come through D.C., Philadelphia, Wilmington, maybe up to a light sprinkle or just a dusting for New York City.

But our Gabe Cohen is actually right there. That's the mall and that's where he was. 28 degrees right now on earth cam. Wind chill is still below 20 degrees.

We've got some new numbers in here. Georgetown, Delaware, you're the winner on the East Coast but numbers are coming in and they'll continue to come in throughout the evening. One foot of snow for you.

Foot and a half for Chapman, and even more than that, 20.5 officially, and then the ice, we talked about that, half an inch of ice on tree limbs, power lines. Over 300,000 even right now still without power. Here's the next area of snow.

This is the tail -- this is the head of the low pressure center. This is kind of a dry slot that came through earlier, cut our snow off for D.C. and Philadelphia a little bit earlier. But still, the powdery snow behind it, that light, fluffy snow that's going to blow around. At least you'll be able to get that off of your driveway.

But be careful with the stuff that has melted below. The first batch of snow will have melted, refreeze overnight tonight and then we're going to have snow on top of icy spots that you just can't see. Look at this stretch, though. All the way from really -- I mean, southern New Jersey all the way to western Kansas with six inches to a foot of snow. Still have those winter weather advisories in effect for right now. As

soon as this goes by, this next little tail of snow, that goes by around 11:00 tonight, it's all gone, then things clear out. That's when they get cold. The clear skies will allow it to get very, very cold at night.

Some spots will see single digits. With the wind, we will likely see wind chill factors somewhere between 10 and 20 degrees below zero. Make sure you take care of your pets, your pipes, your people because a lot of people just -- they let their pets outside for too long. With this type of cold weather, the paws aren't ready for it, but now would be a good time for you to just make little shorter trips for the pooch.

TAPPER: Chad, talk about the possibility of other storms that might be coming soon.

MYERS: There is another storm that will really affect Texas. This is Thursday. And it will affect parts of the southeast on Friday into Saturday. Even here in Atlanta, we could get a little bit of ice for the Friday morning commute.

Now, we talk about America models and the European models. Were all going to get cold. But the differences here, will we get snow? The American model is saying a snow bomb for places west of New York City like Delaware, could pick up 3 feet. The European model saying, wait, three inches, not three feet.

So, yes, there's another storm on the horizon, but when they're five or six days away, you can't believe them. Please don't believe social meteorologists because they just look at one model and don't know how to interpret.

TAPPER: All right. Meteorologist Chad Myers, we'll check back in with you in a minute.

Coming up, online attack. The tax abuse scandal that has Elon Musk calling out European leaders, even name-checking a few, including U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Stay with us.

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[16:27:58]

TAPPER: In our world lead, since billionaire Elon Musk decided to more assertively enter the American political discourse, he has not shied away from expressing strong opinions, already skirmishing with U.S. politicians and now he's attacking several European politicians.

Musk's focus for the past few days has been over the U.K., over a scandal that involved thousands of girls raped there for decades by what an independent inquiry identified as gangs of mostly British Pakistani men. Elon Musk is taking aim at staunch U.S. ally, the U.K., that Trump

will need a strong relationship with, faulting among others the British prime minister for not doing more to stop those horrific crimes when he was director of public prosecutions for the U.K.'s crime protective services.

Musk today writing on X, quote, America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government, unquote.

CNN's Nic Robertson has been following this and joins me now from London.

And, Nic, obviously, the government of London is a democracy. It's not a -- it's not a tyranny, but what is their response to these scandals as well as Musk attacking the prime minister?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. I think on one hand, Jake, you have the British prime minister doing what a prosecutor does, which is not get drawn into the other sides arguments and relitigate something that was painful for the country, that the country went through. And that there were inquiries and the -- they came out during the last conservative government, who over the course of eight years didn't do anything about it, but that wasn't mentioned by Elon Musk.

Nevertheless, this is very dangerous stuff for this British government at the moment, despite its massive majority. And it's got some of them worried.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elon Musk!

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Elon Musk is dialing up attacks on European politicians. The barbs aimed at Britain coming thick, fast and painful, using his social media platform X to trash U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer for alleged failings in a child abuse scandal, involving gangs of South Asian men in multiple U.K. cities, grooming the vulnerable young girls.

[16:30:04]

That was when Starmer was the U.K.'s chief prosecutor, more than a decade ago.

Starmer is firing back.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We've seen this playbook many times, whipping up intimidation and threats of violence.

ROBERTSON: Musk's vitriol, sharpest against Jess Phillips, the government official charged with safeguarding children, calling her plain evil and a wicked creature who should be imprisoned for not sanctioning a nationwide inquiry, but a local one instead.

STARMER: When the poison of the far right leads to serious threats to Jess Phillips and others, that in my book, a line has been crossed.

ROBERTSON: Musk's inaccurate and sensationalist accusations are catching UK politicians off guard. And Musk is also attacking a staunch Trump ally, Nigel Farage, saying Farage doesn't have what it takes to lead his upstart reform UK party.

Farage, the British populist, who pushed Brexit, just hours before Musk's putdown, had counted the tech titan a supporter who might finance his fledgling party.

NIGEL FARAGE, LEADER, REFORM PARTY: The fact that he supports me politically and supports reform doesn't mean I have to agree with every single statement he makes on X.

ROBERTSON: Why the falling out? Possible differences over this man, known as Tommy Robinson, a jailed anti-Muslim campaigner, who fanned the flames of racist riots last summer.

Musk praises him. Farage doesn't. U.K. elections are years away, but Musk is now championing some of Europe's more extreme far-right candidates, even over some of the more well-known right-wing voices.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Ten years ago, who would have imagined if we were told the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany.

ROBERTSON: Musk also supporting the hard right AFD, alternative for Germany party, ahead of elections there next month.

But Italy is now rewarding Musk's right wing European tilt. The populist right wing P.M. Georgia Meloni just visited with P[resident- elect Donald Trump, seemingly nudging her $1.6 billion SpaceX deal with Italy closer to the world's richest man.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (on camera): So, I think the question that's being asked by a lot of people, politicians in particular in Europe, is how far right does Musk want to go? Is he picking up the baton of Steve Bannon who joined Trump's last administration as adviser back then? Trying to rally the European far right, make them into a bigger political force? Well, that's kind of happened and Musk seems to be pushing that forward.

How far right does he want to take them? If you take a look at the example in the U.K., that is worryingly, apparently to the right. I think the other question, you know, that ponders the mind of politicians in the U.K. specifically, if he is targeting the labor party that have a massive majority and a four to five years away from another election, this must be a long-term strategy. How long will it last?

TAPPER: Fascinating stuff. Nic Robertson, really appreciate it. Thank you. Turning to another long-time U.S. ally, Canada. Today, the Canadian

prime minister, embattled Justin Trudeau, announced that he is resigning as head of the country's ruling party, meaning he also plans to step down as the Canadian prime minister.

This is a position he's held for more than nine years as Trudeau faces increasing pressure from incoming President Donald Trump, and turmoil from within his government and deep unpopularity among the Canadian people.

CNN's Paula Newton joins us now from Ottawa.

Paula, explain to American viewers, and apologies for a second to our Canadian viewers, explain to our American viewers, why is he so deeply unpopular?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, this will sound familiar to American viewers, Jake, and for that matter, viewers all over the world. Inflation, affordability, housing crisis, immigration that was legal, albeit, but really sent the population to record levels that was putting stress and strain on public services.

I mean, look, at the end of the day, Jake, most people thought, look, you're just not listening to us and our needs anymore. Your government is getting stale. What was the real tipping point, though, was the fact that his own party decided he was not fit to fight the next election, which has to come before the end of the year. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: This country deserves a real choice in the next election. And it has become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:35:12]

NEWTON: You know, we have to say that Chrystia Freeland, his right hand for so many years, resigned as finance minister a few weeks ago saying what he did was political gimmicks. But more to the point, she really felt that Canada needed to be in a stronger fiscal position in order to fight what's coming from Donald J. Trump as he comes into his second term.

I mean, look, Jake, the president-elect did not let up, was not gracious saying good- bye to President Justin Trudeau -- to Prime Minister Trudeau.

He's been calling him the governor of the 51st state and today, posted on Truth Social, many people in Canada love being the 51st state. The United States can no longer suffer the massive trade deficits and subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this and resigned. I mean, look, saying 51st state Governor Trudeau, that actually

stiffens the spines of so many Canadians. I've said it many times. It could actually backfire. But more to the point, you saw a diminished leader today in Justin Trudeau. That is more somber than I have ever seen him.

He says that he's a fighter but knew he could not get in the ring for this one. The point is what comes next, Pierre Poilievre, the conservative leader, has found some currency with MAGA's base. He's popular with them, but, you know, dealing with President-elect Donald Trump maybe something else entirely.

TAPPER: What about Prime Minister Gretzky, is that a real thing?

NEWTON: Well, the president-elect suggested that as well. And I think -- I've only met him once, but I can tell you right now, he's not for politics. He said it a million times. Just saying.

TAPPER: Fair enough. Paula Newton, thank you so much.

Coming up next, the historic settlement announced after the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy forced some 30,000 service members out of the military.

Plus, breaking news. Rudy Giuliani held in contempt of court months now after a New York court found him liable for defaming two Georgia election workers.

Stay with us.

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[16:41:22]

TAPPER: And we're back with our national lead, and a significant settlement that could restore benefits to LGBT veterans who were discharged under the U.S. military's former "don't ask, don't tell" policy, a policy signed into law by President Clinton that forced more than 30,000 U.S. service members out of the military.

Let's bring in CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann.

Oren, what does this proposed settlement cover?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The goal here is to do right by all of those service members. The plaintiffs in this class- action lawsuit filed in California say it will affect and help as many as 18,000 of those discharged under "don't ask, don't tell". And in short, it corrects their records.

If they were discharged as other than honorable or uncharacterized discharge, that will be upgraded to honorable. If there is a discriminatory sexual orientation indicator in their record, that, too, can be removed. Instead of doing this on take case-by-case basis or individually, the whole goal here is to make this as simple, quick and efficient as possible for thousands of service members. And it's not just about a name or reputation. This has real world

impacts because the record can affect job hunting and crucially affect benefits for veterans. So, this is an incredibly important step and very much lines up with what the Biden administration and what Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have tried to do over the course of the past few years, doing right by those service members who were discharged under "don't ask, don't tell".

The crucial difference here, this is a much broader effort that aims to make the pathway as simple as possible for as many service members as possible -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon, thanks so much.

Now to our law and justice lead, Rudy Giuliani in contempt. This afternoon, a federal judge held Rudy Giuliani in contempt for failing to turn information over to those two former Georgia election workers he defamed after the 2020 election. They continue to try to collect the $150 million in damages that the court ordered him to pay them.

Let's bring in CNN crime and justice correspondent, Katelyn Polantz, and CNN senior legal analyst, Elie Honig.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rudy Giuliani, he got sanctioned. He got held in contempt of court. What that means is he wasn't following the court's orders and the judge, Louis Seidman, in the federal court in Manhattan, said he was being willfully uncooperative so he gets punished.

The punishment is that he's not going to be able to argue things he wanted to argue at an upcoming trial. All of this is about a condo that he says he's living in now primarily as his residence in Florida, Palm Beach. It's worth about $3.5 million.

Ruby and Shaye Moss want access to that condo. They want to take it from him and sell it. He's trying to convince the judge, he should be able to keep it. So, he's getting dinged on that.

But there's other things. He was on the stand, a person in Manhattan before this judge on Friday, and then again over video conference today, and he was telling the judge, you know, there were things he hasn't handed over to these women still that he has been told he must under a court order. He's just getting them now, the title to his Mercedes-Benz, a classic car convertible that he was driving around on Election Day.

And he's just now finding a watch that his grandfather gave him. He held it up in court on the video conference to show the judge that he finally got it out of the safety deposit box.

TAPPER: Where does the case go from here?

POLANTZ: Well, it does head to trial in ten days, just about -- the Palm Beach condo and four World Series rings from Yankees wins in the '90s and 2000s. So, they're going to talk about the facts on whether he can keep those things. And then Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, they're going to keep trying to

collect all those other items. They're going to try to find the Joe DiMaggio jersey that Giuliani says he can't find that's quite valuable that he owns.

They're going to still try and get access to and sell that $6.5 million New York apartment, the Mercedes-Benz they want to sell off. There are questions here of whether he would face more contempt issues and even outside of this court in Manhattan, he has a hearing on Friday here in D.C. before a different judge, also related to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss who want to hold him in contempt for a different thing.

TAPPER: Elie, do these two women have any chance at collecting any portion at all of the $148 million judgment?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Jake, they surely will recover some portion of it, but sadly, that portion is probably going to be 10 percent or less than the $150 million or so they're owed.

First of all, as Katelyn alluded to, there are a lot of other people who Rudy Giuliani owes money to. Second of all, he just doesn't have enough assets. And even the assets that we're talking about here, the Manhattan home, the Florida home, if you total those up, it's about $10 million, which is less than 10 percent of the total amount that Ruby lost and Shaye Freeman are owed. So, they are pursuing his assets as is their right, but the reality is they're going to never be made whole.

TAPPER: This is just one case around Rudy Giuliani surrounding his conduct having to do with the 2020 election. Have you ever seen anything like what's happening with Rudy and his legal battles?

HONIGH: I really have not, Jake. And he fully has earned it for himself. It is fitting that this is happening on January 6th because as a result of Rudy Giuliani's behavior before, during and after January 6, 2021, he's now been found for defamation in this case and several others. He's under two different criminal indictments. He was named as a co- conspirator in Jack Smith's indictment and he's lost his law license in every jurisdiction where he used to be able to practice.

So, it's been a precipitous fall, Jake, from a man who was once quite respected in legal and prosecutorial circles and now has become, frankly, a bit of a laughingstock and really a tragic figure of his own making.

POLANTZ: And Giuliani in that courthouse where he was having to testify being held in contempt, that's a courthouse when he was at the ribbon-cutting when he was mayor, when they opened that building. There's pictures of him in the lobby.

So, just this fall from grace sitting there in Manhattan at the defendant's table is so astonishing to see in that courtroom. And quite a situation for Judge Lehman to have to grapple with and decide what to do here. TAPPER: Yeah, "Time Magazine" Person of the Year 2001, Rudy Giuliani.

Katelyn Polantz, Elie Honig, thanks so much.

An alarming new study shows that children exposed to higher levels of fluoride could have lower IQs. We're getting the details behind this new research, next.

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TAPPER: In our health lead, two major findings today about what is in America's drinking water and how that could be impacting your brain and your physical health.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell joins us now.

Meg, so you're talking right now about Florida and also what are known as forever chemicals.

Let's start with this new study about the possible impact on fluoride and a child's IQ.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake. So the U.S. government has been looking into this for about nine years. They published these results of this study which was essentially looking at all the available research on the effects of fluoride levels in water and children's IQs.

And they really looked at studies done around the world, and most of them were done in China. None of the studies included here were done in the United States, where about 63 percent of the population has fluoridated water. We've been talking about this because RFK Jr., Trump's pick for health secretary, wants to take fluoride out of the water. That's something public health experts disagree with.

But this is a really important study, and what it found that at higher levels of water fluoride, you do see a negative impact on children's IQ in these studies. If you want to try to quantify that, they looked at -- for some of these studies, the output of fluoride in urine, essentially. What they found for every one milligram increase they found a 1.6 percent decline in children's IQ.

But, Jake, it's really important to note, the recommended level here in the U.S. is 0.7 milligrams per liter of fluoride. These studies looked at levels twice that or even much higher. And so, there were two editorials published alongside this study that had diametrically opposed responses to it, one saying this is enough, we should reassess our public health recommendations. Another one says this says nothing about the recommended levels in the United States. So, that is the current debate.

TAPPER: Let's talk about forever chemicals in drinking water. First of all, what are forever chemicals and how harmful are they? TIRRELL: Yeah. So, forever chemicals are in this group known as PFAS.

And they've been around for decades. They have a lot of really great properties like they make your cookware nonstick, they can be water repellant, all sorts of good things. They've been used in a lot of things.

But then we found out they don't really break down and they can accumulate and they can have health issues, including causing or being associated with some cancer, perhaps decreasing our immune response to vaccines, causing problems in pregnancy. And so, people are very concerned about these. And we already know that they can be found in drinking water. The EPA has started to regulate this in higher -- with more scrutiny.

But this new study that was just published today looked at PFAS, these forever chemicals in wastewater that they say increasingly is being processed and then depended upon for drinking water, increasingly, as we have droughts and climate change, that's something we need to think about even more.

And what they found is that these treatment plants, even with triple filtration sometimes, are not getting the PFAS out of the water and we are seeing these in pretty large concentrations. They say about 23 million Americans could depend on water sources that are contaminated with PFAS at levels higher than the regulators recommend.

TAPPER: All right. Meg Tirrell, thanks so much.

With his election certified and 14 days to go before president- elect Donald Trump is sworn into office, his agenda is already up for discussion. What Republican leaders are saying today about implementing the so- called big, beautiful MAGA bill? That's next.

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TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, snow totals are getting even higher as the second wave of the deadly winter storm picks up the areas keeping watch as nightfall sets in.

Plus, we're following the money.