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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Congress Returns To Renewed Fight Over Epstein Files; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, (D-FL), Is Interviewed About Courtney Wild Reinforcing Crime Victims' Rights Act, Epstein Files, Epstein Victims, Alex Acosta; Tomorrow: GOP Rep. Massie, Dem Rep. Khanna To Hold News Conference With Epstein Victims; Trump On Sending National Guard To Chicago: "We're Going In"; Rep. Carlos Gimenez, (R-FL), Is Interviewed About National Guard For Domestic Law Enforcement, Drug Vessel. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired September 02, 2025 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- saying, well, I'm hoping we wake up one day and the President of the United States has died. Crazy. Absolutely crazy.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. Well, we are up against the clock. It's been a packed show today, and our Jake Tapper is standing by for "The Lead." Jake is very much alive. We've both survived Labor Day weekend. It's great to see you, Jake. Take it away.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Thank you so much, Kasie. We'll see you back in "The Arena" tomorrow.
HUNT: Have a great one.
[17:00:27]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Congress is back and picking up right where it left off. The Lead starts right now. The Epstein files are back, front and center as House Republicans invite survivors of the dead pedophile up to Capitol Hill. One victim will be here on The Lead any minute after she says prosecutors denied her rights when they gave Epstein a sweetheart deal and didn't tell her about it. And as the school year starts, the new required lesson in one state about guns, marking a rather sad sign of the times.
Plus, when weather is at the extreme, how big cities are to make big changes to keep with the growing force of Mother Nature.
Welcome to the lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We're going to begin with our politics lead. The U.S. House and Senate have returned from August recess and have a long list of to do items to tackle, including avoiding a government shutdown, passing 10 appropriations bills all the way through the House and Senate and getting it to the president and debating legislation that would slap big tariffs on some of Russia's trading partners. But before any of that can happen, one Republican and one Democrat are forcing an issue that House Speaker Mike Johnson tried to avoid, that is the release of all of the Epstein files. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are right now speaking after talking to some of Epstein's victims. Let's listen in.
REP. YASSAMIN ANSARI (D-AZ), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Protect the most powerful people, not only in our country, but who knows, from across the world. So today served, I think, as a reaffirming of our commitment, our profound commitment to making sure that we get justice and we get accountability. There were many themes that we heard today from the brave women who spoke to us. First and foremost, it is an absolute atrocity that the Trump administration allowed and sent over the president's former defense attorney to speak with a monster and to then publicize that interview and provide this monster with a platform to perpetuate her lies. The Trump administration needs to be held accountable for that.
We need to demand that Ghislaine Maxwell never get a pardon from the United States government and actually serve out the time that she was given and that she deserves for the crimes that she committed.
House Oversight Democrats, and I'm so grateful to our leadership. We are incredibly lucky to have the leadership of Representative Garcia and of course, Congresswoman Lee, who initiated the subpoena, but this is just the beginning. I think today made very clear that even those of us here who've been working on this and fighting for this, there is so much to this story that nobody knows. There are decades worth of stories and information and a cover up of this capacity to have allowed for the abuse of over a thousand women over the course of decades. And then stories that demonstrate that Epstein and others were able to perpetuate the abuse beyond even after the public knew.
We know there's a lot more to this. And I think that this is the most corrupt administration in American history. And this story shows it more than anything. So we will keep fighting in honor of the survivors who are brave enough to put themselves out there for truth and justice. And we will not back down until there is full accountability and prevention from this ever happening again.
And with that, I will hand it over to my colleague, Congressman Lynch. Thank you so much.
REP. STEPHEN LYNCH (D-MA), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Thank you. Thank you, Yassamin.
Today we had the opportunity to hear from six courageous women who are all victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Even though there are only six of them in the room today, they spoke on behalf of over a thousand other victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. And you could see that they were -- they were crushed in a way at the news that Ghislaine Maxwell had received favorable treatment from President Trump and his personal attorney being relocated to a less secure facility. But we cautioned them, we cautioned the witnesses today to tell them that even though there was bipartisan support in that room for them, it was far from unanimous. And there are people at the very highest levels of this government today that are not happy that on the first day of our return, Congress is taking up this issue and defending the women, all the women who were victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. [17:05:30]
And it's only through the leadership of Ms. Summer and Mr. Garcia in spearheading this effort and making sure that this issue is treated fully and fairly on behalf of the victims that were here today. But today, the work really begins. Thank you.
And I want to introduce my friend, the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Subramanyam.
REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Thank you. I want to thank my colleagues --
TAPPER: All right. As we continue to monitor this, some news just in. The House Oversight Committee said that they will move to release Epstein documents as soon as this evening. So as our elected officials meet with some of Epstein's victims, it's important to remember that for the most part, these survivors never saw justice fully served to Jeffrey Epstein or the others involved in his notorious sex trafficking ring.
In 2008, federal prosecutors in Florida cut Epstein a now infamous sweetheart deal, which prevented prosecutors in South Florida from bringing any federal charges against Epstein. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider claims from Epstein victim Courtney Wild, who argued that those federal prosecutors violated the Federal Crime Victims' Rights Act when they failed to tell Epstein's accusers about the sweetheart deal.
Courtney Wild joins us now along with Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who introduced a bipartisan bill to ban sweetheart deals like the one Epstein got and make sure that the victims would be notified at the very least.
Let me start with you, Courtney. So you're going to be part of this news conference with Congressman Massie and Congressman Khanna tomorrow. Until now, have any members of Congress, any of the many politicians who have been talking about Jeffrey Epstein for years and calling for transparency, although some of them are a little quiet today, have any of them reached out to you to find out what you went through and what you want?
COURTNEY WILD, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Nobody's reached out to me, surprisingly.
TAPPER: And what would you want? I mean, Jeffrey Epstein obviously is dealing with a different kind of justice right now in hell or wherever he is, but what do you think needs to happen?
WILD: At this point for the survivors, for myself, seeing Epstein's face every day, it really just -- it stops my healing journey and kind of puts me back into survival mode. So I understand the trance. I try to be transparent with this whole situation. I understand why everybody talks about this. There was such an injustice with our government and everybody involved. We all want answers. I just want -- just release the names, you know, and be done with it. You know, it's like glamorizing this mysterious pedophile for what? There's no new answers, no new information. It's just the same thing over and over again.
TAPPER: Yes. So get the information out --
WILD: Yes.
TAPPER: -- so there can be some sort of justice.
Congresswoman, tell us about the legislation you introduced, what's in it and where does it stand?
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Well, it's an honor to be able to introduce a piece of legislation in Courtney's name, the Courtney Wild Reinforcing Crime Victims' Rights Act. Because these survivors, as we need to make sure that we underscore that they are, they never got a day in court that federal law required them to get because the sweetheart deal, as you referred to it, allowed him to -- Jeffrey Epstein to cop to a state misdemeanor. He was able to be on house arrest and actually go to work in his fancy office building every day. And in addition to getting off and the victims, the crime victims and survivors, never being told in advance his accomplices who were complicit in the sex trafficking were also shielded from any accountability. And that's why this legislation needs to become law so that can never happen again. That no matter what kind of a plea deal there is, that survivors, victims of this kind of crime would be able to go to court and be told in advance what the proposed plea deal is and have their day in court and get a measure of justice.
TAPPER: And in fact, Ghislaine Maxwell, one of the conspirators here who's in prison right now in Texas, her lawyers argue she shouldn't be there because of this plea agreement which said that, you know, unnamed conspirators wouldn't face any justice either.
[17:10:02]
If lawmakers ask you, I know this is so painful, and we do appreciate your being here to put a face to this, if lawmakers asked you to testify, would you?
WILD: Yes.
TAPPER: And do you support the efforts of Massie and Khanna to force this bill onto the floor for a vote which would release anything that the Justice Department has or the FBI or the U.S. attorney's office having to do with Maxwell, having to do with Epstein, having to do with NDAs, having to do with any financial arrangements or anything, internal communications, get it all out, is that what you want?
WILD: Yes, I do. As long as they redact the victim's names, then just let all the information out. Why not? Everybody wants to know. I want to know.
TAPPER: Before Epstein's 2019 arrest on federal charges, Congresswoman, you called on the Justice Department to be more transparent. When it came to the role of Alex Acosta, the former Trump Labor Secretary, who long before he teamed up with Trump was the U.S. attorney in Southern Florida for the Bush administration who handled the sweetheart deal, the House Oversight Committee announced last week that they are going to question Acosta. What are some of the questions you would want them to ask?
SCHULTZ: Well, I'd like to know how it is that for a crime as vile and comprehensive and vast as this that literally trafficked young teenage girls, how is it that he thought, yes, that's just fine, let's slap him on the wrist, give him a state misdemeanor, not even imprison him, and let him go to work every day. I mean, the -- that plea deal was breathtakingly inadequate. It was revictimized the survivors all over again. And now they're engaged in a government wide cover up. Why?
Because they -- for the same reason likely, that Alex Acosta agreed to that sweetheart deal because they are protecting really powerful people, people who paid a lot of money to be protected, who don't want their names revealed, and it's an outrage. I mean, we have to make sure that these survivors are able to get at least some measure of justice now --
TAPPER: Yes.
SCHULTZ: -- whether it's through the passage of my bill, but on top of that, to make sure that all the information is out in the open, because sunlight is what will help prevent this from ever happening again.
TAPPER: And this is decades of injustice and decades of cover-up. Do you agree with the Congresswoman's estimation that this is -- this has been covered up because there are so many powerful men that got away with it?
WILD: I do. I do agree. I think that there's people that run the whole world involved.
TAPPER: All right. Let's get the sunlight disinfecting as soon as possible.
SCHULTZ: Possible.
WILD: Yes.
TAPPER: Thank you so much Courtney Wild --
SCHULTZ: Thank you.
TAPPER: -- and Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz. Really appreciate it.
SCHULTZ: Thank you.
TAPPER: And especially really appreciate --
SCHULTZ: Yes.
WILD: Thank you.
TAPPER: -- your courage today. I know it's not easy --
SCHULTZ: Absolutely.
TAPPER: -- to do such a thing.
WILD: Thank you.
TAPPER: Thanks so much.
Today, our first look at the 11-year-old boy who was killed in a ding- dong ditch prank. Ahead, the court appearance today for the man now charged with shooting and killing that little boy. Plus the response just moments ago from Illinois's Democratic Governor JB Pritzker as president Trump vows to send the National Guard into Chicago. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:17:05]
TAPPER: We're back with our national lead and quote, "we're going in," unquote. That's what President Trump answered this afternoon when asked whether he was going to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. President Trump did not offer any specific timeline, but went on to make a request of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If the governor of Illinois would call up -- call me up, I would love to do it now. We're going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it because I have an obligation to protect this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: A short time later, Governor Pritzker responded to President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JB PRITZKER, (D) ILLINOIS: I'm aware that the president of the United States likes to go on television and beg me to call and ask him for troops. I find this extraordinarily strange as Chicago does not want troops on our streets. I also have experience asking the president for assistance just to have the rug pulled out from underneath me when execution meets reality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: The fight over the National Guard deployment comes as a federal judge ruled today that President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth violated a federal law that prohibits the use of troops for domestic law enforcement. When the Guard was called up and around Los Angeles earlier this summer, the judge paused part of his ruling until next Friday to give the Trump administration time to appeal his ruling.
Joining us now to discuss Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida congressman.
Congressman, the ruling from the judge blocks the administration from using the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, but only in California. How do you feel about the National Guard being deployed in other states and cities when state and local leaders actually don't want it?
REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): Well, I guess I'm caught between a rock and a hard place here. Look, I used to be a mayor, the mayor of Miami Dade County, and I certainly would, you know, wanted to protect my town. But if my town had gotten out of control like it is in Chicago. Look, it's the equivalent of a mass murder going in every single weekend, shooting 60 people and killing close to 10 every single weekend in Chicago.
You know, the governor of Illinois needs to do something about it. He has the right to send the National Guard in to restore order. Obviously, Chicago is completely, you know, is completely out of order. And so I would hope that they would swallow their pride a little bit and say, yes, we need additional resources here. And as the governor of Illinois, I'm going to be sending the National Guard to Chicago to bring order back to the people, back to that city and let the people of Chicago live in peace and have some safety.
I mean, my God, you're afraid to go out in your own neighborhood because you're going -- you're going to get shot, you know, a drive by or a stray bullet. You know, it happens way too much in Chicago.
TAPPER: So what the mayor and the governor have said on this topic, since they're not here to defend themselves, is that the crime statistics are down, that crime is still too high, but it is down, and that there has been too much funding cut by the Trump administration for programs that work in Chicago to bring gun violence and other kinds of violence down.
[17:20:14]
GIMENEZ: Look, gun violence in Chicago may be down from a really, really super high, but it's still way too high. I mean, what, last weekend they had what, 58 people shot, nine people died just this last weekend? So, that's just -- that's just baloney, man. Look, you've got -- it's out of control, these programs that you want. What do you want to bring social workers and stuff like that in order to respond to shootings?
No, you need to bring law and order. You're -- it's out of control. Bring National Guard troops into your town. Look what's happened here in Washington, D.C. you know, we haven't had a murder. At least the last time I heard, for a couple of weeks, two or three weeks, carjackings are down by 87 percent.
So it actually works. You know, do something that works and protect your citizens. That's your duty as a mayor. That's your duty as a governor. And frankly, that's also the duty of the president of the United States to protect the citizens of the United States.
And obviously, the mayor and the governor aren't doing anything to protect the people of Chicago.
TAPPER: So I'm sure they would take issue with that, but I want to ask you another --
GIMENEZ: Oh, I'm sure they will.
TAPPER: -- about another topic. The president --
GIMENEZ: OK.
TAPPER: -- this afternoon also announced that the U.S. military conducted a strike in the southern Caribbean against an alleged drug vessel that left from Venezuela and was being operated by what Secretary of State Marco Rubio says is a designated narco terrorist organization. What can you tell us about this?
GIMENEZ: I can only tell you what I've heard, just like you, that there was a ship that had left Venezuela, probably operated by the Cartel de los Soles, which has had been designated a terrorist narco trafficking, you know, organization cartel. And then the head of that cartel is Nicolas Maduro, who we just put $50 million, you know, bounty on his head. And so things are escalating there.
Look, the President of the United States is trying to, again, protect American citizens. Thousands of Americans have died with overdoses with drugs supplied by that cartel and other cartels. And so this is not just action that's going to be taken about -- against the Cartel de los Soles, but other cartels operating in that region. And so I believe this is like the first action that they've taken where an actual ship has been sunk by the U.S. military.
TAPPER: Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida, thank you so much, sir. Good to see you.
GIMENEZ: It's my pleasure.
TAPPER: Coming up next, here from prosecutors charging a man with murder in the shooting death of an 11-year-old who rang his -- rang his doorbell then ran away in a Saturday night prank that turned deadly. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:27:09]
TAPPER: In our national lead, a first court appearance today for the Texas man charged with shooting and killing an 11-year-old boy in Houston after a ding-dong ditch doorbell prank on Saturday night. Let's bring in CNN's Ed Lavandera.
Ed, what are prosecutors saying about the charges in this case?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just spoke with the district attorney in Harris County in Houston there and he tells us that 42-year old Gonzalo Leon Jr., the 42 year old suspect in this case is not cooperating with investigators. But over the course of the last few days he says their office has been able to piece together what they clearly believe is a murder case against this 42- year-old suspect. The DA says that Saturday night around 11:00, 11 year old Julian Guzman and his cousin were ding-dong ditching in the neighborhood several streets away from where they live, they knocked on the door of the suspect and were running away. The DA says that the suspect fired twice at the two boys. One of those shots hit the 11- year-old boy in the back from more than 20 feet away.
And because of that the DA believes this is not a case of self-defense and clearly a murder. He described it as a cold blooded murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN TEARE, HARRIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: There's nothing to suggest that he was taking anything. He was running away. He was doing what 11-year-old boys do. He was playing pranks on the neighbors and it cost him his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Jake, the 42-year-old suspect made a brief court appearance this morning. He's expected back in court tomorrow morning. The DA says they are going to ask for a million dollar bond. And he also went on to say that as this case goes before a grand jury, they think this murder charge could be escalated to a capital murder charge because of the victim's age, which would make the suspect eligible for the death penalty. Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Ed Lavandera, thanks so much.
Coming up, new information about the Trump administration's decision to phase out funding for research when it comes to pediatric brain cancer. Two mothers, all too well versed in this subject are going to join us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: And we're back with our Health Lead and the Trump administration cutting off funding for a network that conducts clinical trials for children with brain cancer. The Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium is made up of about 15 or so academic centers and hospitals across North America, the U.S. and Canada. It's been around since 1999.
But now the National Institutes of Health or NIH says that after March of 2026, about seven months away, this network can no longer apply for any new funding. Why not? And what happens to children already in the midst of these clinical trials? Let's ask two moms who sadly know far too much about this topic. We have with us Nancy Goodman, the executive director of kidsvcancer.org. She lost her 10-year-old son, Jacob, to brain cancer. We've had her on the show several times to talk about this issue. Also with us, a familiar face, CNN correspondent, Rene Marsh, whose son, Blake, died just shy of his second birthday also of a pediatric brain cancer.
First of all, Jacob and Blake, I mean, I'm thinking about them right now. You are too, all the time. And let's -- let's try to make some good of this madness by shining a spotlight. First to you, why? Do you know why the Trump administration is cutting funding for this network that does such important work? We have covered, you, me and Nancy, we have covered the underfunding of pediatric brain cancer research.
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it -- it comes down to one word and a word that we've heard a lot since this administration took over, and it's efficiency. The National Cancer Institute has said that, you know, it's the best use of their resources to roll these clinical trials happening currently under the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, which is this network of highly regarded hospitals facilitating these clinical trials for pediatric brain cancer patients, rolling that into a larger network that oversees a variety of different types of pediatric cancers.
[17:35:25]
I spoke to several researchers, some of which their clinical trials are on pause because of this move, and their concern is that by rolling something that is so specialized and focused on the deadliest form of pediatric cancer, which is brain cancer, into this larger bucket of this variety of other cancers, there will be a loss in focus, expertise, prioritization for pediatric brain cancer.
Again, brain cancer, as we know now, unfortunately through our own personal journeys, is underfunded. Really not many scientific advances have occurred in this space for decades. And --
TAPPER: But what happens to the kids that are enrolled in these clinical trials right now?
MARSH: So right now, if you're on one of these trials that's paused, you will remain -- you will continue to get treatment through March of 2026, that is when this consortium dissolves. Then the researchers are going to work with these families to try to find a way to continue. But for the other patients who are either on the waiting list or trying to get enrolled, they will not be able to enroll.
TAPPER: You were here about five months ago when similar funding was cut -- cut from the government funding bill. We're about to have another debate about another government funding bill. Is it simply that HHS is forced to make decisions and hope that commercial institutions are going to pick up the slack? Like, what's the thinking here?
NANCY GOODMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KIDSVCANCER.ORG: It's unclear what the thinking is. You know, in the case of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, several very important trials are now on hold, and there's no other funding for them. You know, NIH, National Institute of Health, is the only funding source.
When -- when they announced that PBTC's program would be terminated, there's -- there was no public commitment to funding these important studies somewhere else. There is a discussion that maybe the studies will be transferred, but, you know, the kids are waiting and there's no commitment.
In addition, you know, if -- if it really is a concern about efficiency, if we're really concerned about every last dollar, and this is, by the way, a drop in the bucket. This is such a tiny budget. You know, the bills we were working on, there were -- there were a bank of bills, pediatric cancer bills, in the December budget, and as you may recall, they were in the budget. A bill I'm working on, the Give Kids a Chance Act, was in the budget. And then three hours before a vote, Elon Musk started tweeting, unnerved many Republican members of Congress, and the whole deal fell apart.
And so we're still -- we're still waiting for passage of our bill, which doesn't cost anything. So what is the efficiency argument for not passing bills that don't cost anything? In our case, the Give Kids a Chance Act is now one of the 10 most co-sponsored bills in Congress out of 5,000 bills, but it hasn't passed yet and it doesn't cost anything, so it's confusing, isn't it?
TAPPER: Is it going to be -- are there going to be people trying to put it into the next government funding bill? You're hoping.
GOODMAN: I'm hoping, but, you know, I don't know what's going to be happening at the end of September, right, when -- when Congress comes and decides what to do with this funding bill.
TAPPER: All right, Nancy Goodman and Rene Marsh, members of a club that nobody wants to be a member of, thank you so much. Really appreciate your being here, and again, thinking of Jacob and thinking of Blake today.
[17:38:45]
Coming up next, a sad sign of the times, lessons of reading, writing, arithmetic, and gun safety as students go back to school this year.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Our National Lead now, with so much recent attention on school shootings, it did catch our attention. The Tennessee public and charter school students must now take firearm -- firearm safety lessons this year in an effort to protect children from gun violence. Joining us now is Mary Joyce. Her daughter lost three of her third grade classmates in 2023 when a former student opened fire at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. Thank you for joining us.
According to the Tennessee Department of Education, this new curriculum includes, quote, safe storage of firearms, school safety relating to firearms, how to avoid injury if the student finds a firearm, to never touch a found firearm and to immediately notify an adult in the location of a found firearm.
The curriculum also instructs teachers to remain, quote, viewpoint neutral on political topics such as gun rights, gun violence and the Second Amendment, unquote. What do you make of this? Do you think this is going to keep your daughter and other children in Tennessee safe?
MARY JOYCE, COVENANT SCHOOL PARENT: I think that we need to do more than this. My initial reaction to this curriculum is I would like there to be a parent choice. I know what my daughter experienced on March 27th, and she looked at her executor in her face. And luckily, she walked away, but three of her friends did not. But what her and her classmates experienced was horrific.
And so a parent -- a parent should have a choice of what else their child is exposed to, especially around firearms and knowing what she went through and what that could trigger in her by talking about guns yet again in school.
TAPPER: And -- and you said it's -- it's not enough. What -- what -- what more do you want? What would you say to lawmakers if they were here right now in terms of what you think should be done to protect kids, children like your daughter?
[17:44:55]
JOYCE: Well, I think it is interesting to try to, again, put the burden of gun safety on a child who is still learning how to tie their shoes. I think it's important to teach kids safety protocol for all kinds of things, but to not have the choice to know what lessons are being taught to your children in school around such a life-threatening machine, I think is really sad. So I would like to see safe storage pushed in our state and a law around that. You can get a free gun lock in the state of Tennessee if you are a firearm carrier, and I would like to see that implemented from our lawmakers.
TAPPER: All right, Mary Joyce. Thank you so much. Really appreciate your time.
JOYCE: Thank you.
TAPPER: Let's talk about this with our August panel. So Republican Tennessee State Representative Chris Todd, who introduced the bill requiring school firearm safety lessons, told "The Washington Post," these inanimate metal objects are not the problem. It's basic common- sense things that many of them probably aren't taught in their homes. What -- what do you make of this session?
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that the interview that you just did there says it all. She says the burden should not be put on the child. You should allow and provide the child with any sort of drills or anything like that, but to really examine and do exams on sort of like how to pull a trigger and teach them how a gun should be stored. Kindergarteners should not be learning that.
And I do agree that there needs to be some sort of parent choice. And I think these are important conversations that are happening in our country. But we should -- we need another option besides putting this on our kindergartners and first graders and second graders and small children who should be learning their ABCs and how to count, not necessarily how to pull a trigger.
TAPPER: Yes. And Mary said safe storage would be an answer for her.
HINOJOSA: Safe storage, correct.
TAPPER: And there -- there are efforts in some states to require, if you have a firearm and you have children in the house, you have to store it safely --
HINOJOSA: That's right.
TAPPER: -- whether it's a gun safe or a trigger lock. Bryan, take a listen to what State Senator Jeff Yarbro, a Democrat, says about the new law. He says, quote, there's something absurd about mandating safety classes for children in a state that's expressly abolished safety classes for adults who want to carry concealed weapons. What do you think?
BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: I think they're right. Right. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, this additional course that these kids would have to take, that's not going to stop school shootings. That's not going to stop some sicko, you know, finding the gun, walking into school, looking for the weaknesses and do these things.
But, you know, there is some value to be said. You know, I remember there was growing up, there's academics of, you know, of kids finding guns all over Southern California, certain neighborhoods where guns are. And certainly those kids understanding what to do in those situations is valuable. It's lifesaving. But this -- this proposal is not going to stop school shootings.
TAPPER: While we're talking about safety, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a new op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal." This is after nine former CDC leaders said that the way he's running the agency, the CDC and HHS, is, quote, endangering every American's health. He writes, RFK Jr., quote, Most CDC rank and file staff are honest public servants. Under this renewed mission, they can do their jobs as scientists without bowing to politics.
Yesterday, President Trump posted about COVID vaccines, quote, many people think they are a miracle that saved millions of lives. Others disagree with CDC being ripped apart over this question. I want the answer and I want it now.
Bryan, I have said on the show many times that I think one of the greatest achievements of President Trump was Operation Warp Speed, rushing that vaccine into manufacturer and -- and the Biden administration getting it into arms. That saved millions of lives.
LANZA: Millions, tens of millions.
TAPPER: Millions, tens of millions. And I don't understand why President Trump doesn't embrace that.
LANZA: You know, listen, I think from his standpoint is, you know, with this MAHA movement, they see a concern this MAHA --
TAPPER: Make America Healthier Again.
LANZA: Make America. They see a concern with -- with respect to the CDC. I think by every measurement, the actions, you know, some people would say the actions that took place during CDC during COVID were heavy handed. We're not factual. We're not complete data. We're doing things that actually weren't pushing forward to solving the problem. And that's why they feel they need to reform.
Now, RFK, you know, firing all the scientists or the doctors related to this. You know, I hope that he brings other experts that can do this. But by every measurement, the CDC has very little credibility with half the nation's population. And that's bad for everybody.
TAPPER: So Xochitl, Dr. Richard Besser was one of the nine former CDC leaders to speak out against RFK Jr.'s leadership. Take a listen to what he had to say on The Lead yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER CDC ACTING DIRECTOR: We now have an acting secretary -- an acting head of the CDC, who has absolutely no experience with the agency or in public health response. So, you know, I really worry what the consequences will be if we have a public health crisis in the near future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: What should the role of Democrats be right now, obviously, the minority in the Senate, the minority in the House, what -- what should Democrats be doing?
[17:50:02]
HINOJOSA: Well, first on Operation Warp Speed, I actually think Republicans and Democrats together should have come together and talked about how successful it was. And I think that was a bad part. Not everything Trump does is terrible. There are some terrible things. And I think that was also his administration, that because of the misinformation that they kind of put out there on vaccines and other -- and the COVID pandemic, this is why people distrust the CDC. If you continue to hammer the CDC, distrust is going to, you know, obviously the trust of the CDC is going to fall.
I think Democrats here also need to be very careful when it comes to health. I think they need to continue in their district, especially members of Congress, encourage people to get vaccinated. They should be running sort of their own campaigns locally. What you find often in polling is that your constituents and people in states don't necessarily trust Congress. They don't trust D.C., but they trust their actual elected officials, their own member of Congress, their own state representatives, state House members.
And so if we can get our local leaders to sort of speak out and not necessarily bash Trump, but talk about the importance of vaccination, then I think that that would help a lot in communities. TAPPER: Thanks to both. You appreciate it. A lot has changed since many big cities built elaborate subway systems, including the climate. So how can those cities keep up? We'll show you some of the subtle upgrades that can make a major difference. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:55:27]
TAPPER: In our Earth Matters series, more frequent and intense storms hitting the United States raises the question as to whether major cities can handle them. You've seen it. Floodwaters pouring into subway stations, drenching trains, passengers alike. As CNN's Bill Weir reports for us now, for infrastructure more than 100 years old, this water is more than just an inconvenience.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A 120 years ago, when New York's subway was new, few could have imagined it would give over a billion rides a year. Despite days like this, when air vents become catchment bases and stairs turn into waterfalls. When the London Underground was new, chimneys still had sweeps and England was three degrees cooler. So now when temperatures top 90 for days, 60 percent of tuned cars have no air conditioning.
LILLI MATSON, CHIEF SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT OFFICER, TRANSPORT FOR LONDON: When they were first built, they didn't necessarily have sufficient tunnel ventilation to cope with air conditioning. So we've been using other novel methods such as fans and super fans to reduce the heat.
WEIR (voice-over): And even this new subway in China shows the perils of under engineering on an overheating planet. When eight inches of rain fell in an hour, 14 people died in a subway line less than a decade old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Through climate change, because the warmer and hotter air can hold much more moisture, we're just getting intense rainfall events.
WEIR (voice-over): New York's antique system of pumps removes up to 14 million gallons of water on dry days and many times more during a storm. But while better pumps are part of the MTA's new $700 million improvement plan, keeping water out in the first place means raising hundreds of little sections of the city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd probably miss this if you weren't actually looking out for it. But this is actually about a six inch, five to six inches of an elevation.
WEIR (voice-over): So it's not just a step, it's a flood dam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a flood protection mechanism.
WEIR (voice-over): In one part of Brooklyn, riders take two steps up before heading down. And elevated air vents are spreading, designed to stop those cascading waterfalls so viral on social media.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This little elevation right here prevents that from happening and still allows for fresh air flow to happen with subway vents, just as it would be if -- if they weren't covered.
WEIR (voice-over): But ultimately, a subway is only as resilient as the city around it. So a hotter climate demands working with nature to build shadier, spongier cities.
JOE CHARAP, VP OF HORTICULTURE, THE GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY: Here we have four sections of permeable pavers. And the idea is, as the water is coming downhill and going towards the combined sewer, we're actually capturing it again on site and holding it in place.
WEIR (voice-over): So just instead of this being blacktop asphalt, the water seeps in.
CHARAP: Yes. That's right, between the pavers.
WEIR (voice-over): At nearly 500 acres, Greenwood Cemetery is one of New York's biggest green spaces.
CHARAP: With a weather station attached here, it anticipates the amount of rainfall that we're going to get, releases water to the combined sewer before -- before the storm happens, and then shuts off our access point.
WEIR (voice-over): And with the help of the Nature Conservancy on a few upgrades, can now keep 55 million gallons of stormwater out of streets and sewers.
CHARAP: And if you think about how many acres of New York City alone are held within cemeteries, if they're able to make slight changes to the way they operate, how much stormwater could be captured on those sites. It's just a different way of thinking about private institutions, private green spaces, and trying to say, despite being private, despite having this fence around our perimeter, we are part of this community.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEIR: And meanwhile, while cities, counties, states are trying to adapt, at the federal level, the Trump administration has been systematically dismantling a generation of American climate scientists -- science. So today, over 85 veteran climate scientists put out a scathing rebuttal to the Department of Energy's sort of climate denial memo that went out back in July. They call out errors, misleads, cherry picking. They say it's enough not sound science with no peer review to stand up to a congressional mandate for sound science to back up policymaking. Right now, Jake, just the latest example of very earnest scientists trying to warn the public in the face of outright denial from the Trump administration.
[18:00:01]
TAPPER: All right. Bill Weir, in New York, thanks so much. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We're just hours away from a massive military --
