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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump And Netanyahu Urge Hamas To Accept Gaza Peace Plan; Democrats Stay Defiant On Health Care Demands As Shutdown Looms; Trump Plans To Attend Gathering Of Top Military Officials Tomorrow; YouTube To Pay $24.5 Million To Settle Trump Lawsuit; Trump Directs Troops To Portland Amid ICE Facility Protests; Team Europe Wins Ryder Cup Amid Hostile Ground. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 29, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

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

This hour, details on President Trump's two big meetings, one with Capitol Hill leaders, as the government now has just about 30 hours left to avoid a partial shutdown, the other with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said he supports the White House plan to end this war in Gaza.

Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court justices held a private meeting today. They're deciding which cases to take up in the next court term one. One of the possibilities, an appeal by convicted Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. What might that mean for the Epstein file saga if the court takes her case?

Also, the president shared then deleted an artificially created video of himself in a fake news story promoting magical cure-all beds that do not exist. Coming up, we're going to put the medbed conspiracy theory to bed.

And what got into golf fans in New York this weekend. We're going to tee up a conversation on how the Ryder Cup got rough and off the course.

The Lead tonight, two high-stakes meetings on Pennsylvania Avenue, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu this afternoon urging Hamas to accept a proposed Gaza peace plan, plus Democrats still holding the line against Republicans on healthcare in a bitter government funding battle after a meeting this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Their bill has not won iota of Democratic input. That is never how we've done this before.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): We are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill.

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think we're headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won't do the right thing. REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The consequences are on them, and I think it's absolutely tragic.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): This is purely and simply hostage taking on behalf of the Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's get right to CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. I mean, both leaders you see coming out of that meeting, both from the Democratic side and the Republican side, basically, where they started going into this meeting here at the White House with President Trump, with no agreement in sight to avoid a government shutdown, which is set to happen at midnight tomorrow, should they not come to an agreement.

And as you could hear from them there, the Democrats were saying that they had this meeting with President Trump making clear they did not reach a conclusion. And then just to kind of lay out, you know, where this was and how they felt about how that meeting went, the vice president joined House Speaker Mike Johnson and the majority leader over in the Senate, John Thune, with the budget director, Russ Vought, when they came out here to the White House to talk about this, where J.D. Vance was basically putting this back on Democrats, saying that they're holding the government hostage and that he does believe a government shutdown is now likely because of this.

And I asked him, Jake, the reporters, we were all gathered there listening to them, I asked the vice president about this claim that had just been made a few moments before by Senator Schumer, where he basically was implying that during this meeting, they talked to the president about the ramification of some of those healthcare subsidies expiring and what it would mean if they did in addition to federal funding for rural hospitals. And this is what the vice president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Can you respond to what Senator Schumer said that there were aspects about healthcare ending for certain people that the president was learning about for the first time in that meeting? And was the president open to a deal on the ACA subsidies?

VANCE: Well, I'm highly skeptical that the president was learning about it for the first time, thanks to Chuck Schumer. But what I will say is, look, we have put a $50 billion rural hospital fund into the actual -- the big, beautiful bill that we passed a few months ago, because we know that under Biden administration's policies, there are a lot of small town hospitals, a lot of rural healthcare that was getting shut down and that was struggling. We're trying to fix that problem.

In fact, we're happy to work with Democrats to fix that problem. We want to work across the aisle to make sure that people have access to good healthcare. We are not going to let Democrats shut down the government, take it hostage unless we give them everything that they want. That's not how the people's government has ever worked. That's certainly not how it's going to work under the Trump administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: I mean, Jake, the biggest takeaway from that is that they are not close to any kind of an agreement from what we heard from them there.

TAPPER: Kaitlan, what details do we have about this Gaza peace plan that Trump and Netanyahu discussed today that, again, Hamas still has yet to agree to?

COLLINS: Well, Hamas, we think, just saw it, Jake, because that plan was changing throughout the day. It was 21 points when it was circulating in recent days.

[18:05:01]

It was 20 points when it was officially released by the White House today. They took out a provision about Israel committing to not striking Qatar again after the Israeli prime minister was on the phone with the prime minister of Qatar earlier and apologized for that strike inside Doha.

But as far as this plan, Jake, I mean, the president came out, projected a lot of optimism about it, said Israel had agreed to it, and then Netanyahu said that Israel supported the president's plan. It's not just to end the Warren Gaza, but it's about what's going to happen next In addition to getting the hostages, both dead and alive, back home to Israel and releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for that.

But, Jake, the really unanswered question is whether or not Hamas is going to agree to it, and what happens if they don't. Because the president said that Israel would have the United States full support to eliminate Hamas and to continue going after them should they not agree to this.

And so obviously there are parts of this, Jake, though, where we didn't really get to follow up on in terms of what the prime minister of Israel and whether or not he supports it because it mentions and references things like Palestinian statehood, something that Netanyahu just said he was opposed to when he was at the United Nations last week. It also talks about a role for the Palestinian Authority, something that they would've to undergo reforms before they could have any power in Gaza, but something Netanyahu has very clearly been opposed to.

But, Jake, in a remarkable moment, they did not take questions from reporters. And there's only one instance where I can remember a press conference with a world leader being set up and the president declining to take questions, and that was with Putin in Alaska. He did the same with Netanyahu today where they said they wanted to wait to have this finalized before speaking to reporters about it.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much.

And, Kaitlan, of course, is going to have much more on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. It's tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern, only on CNN.

Joining us now to discuss New Jersey Democratic Senator Andy Kim Senator. Good to see you.

So, going into this meeting, the Republican plans seem to be trying to strong arm Democrats into backing down. Sources tell CNN that your leadership plans to continue to insist that they get some concessions, but right now, Republicans are already threatening to fire federal workers. Any -- you know, ones that are deemed non-essential will not come back ever. I mean, how far are Democrats willing to take this?

SEN. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): Well look this federal government, the executive branch, the Trump administration is already firing hundreds of thousands of federal workers, their bill, their budget bill that they're trying to ram through in a partisan way, it would also threaten the jobs of hundreds of thousands of federal workers. So, this is just business as usual for them, and that's exactly the problem, is that they are not actually trying to address the needs of the American people.

I'm about 15 steps right now from the door of the House chamber. It's completely empty here in the House of Representatives because Speaker Johnson sent them home, told them to take a vacation. So, when we're talking about them trying to fire federal workers, the House of Republicans don't even bother showing up to work. You know, this is what we see, and I hope the American people see that. We're 30 hours away from a shutdown and the House Republicans, the Congressional Republicans can't even bother to show up to do their jobs.

TAPPER: So, Democratic Leader Schumer didn't say if Republicans committing to negotiate on extending these Obamacare subsidies separately would be good enough for him to sign and vote for the House-passed version of the funding Bill. Leader Jeffries said, however, in no uncertain terms that it would not be good enough for him. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFRIES: Enough with the games that Republicans have been playing connected to the healthcare of the American people, and no one can trust their word on healthcare. Are you kidding me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: There's a shutdown on the line here. There are federal jobs on the line here. Do you think Leader Schumer should agree that negotiating on these Obamacare subsidies once government funding is passed, is good enough?

KIM: In about 30 hours, millions of Americans are going to realize that their healthcare bills are skyrocketing. I mean, New Jersey, we're talking about upwards of 75,000 Americans could very well lose their healthcare. I mean, this is a crisis. And this is why we have to take it on now, not wait until Thanksgiving to try to take it on. So, yes, the American people are demanding that we take this step seriously.

The challenge is, Jake, you just had Speaker Johnson on your show yesterday. He talked about how they're trying to negotiate in good faith that is absolutely deceptive to the American way. It's a flat out lie to them. Right now, I mean, we see the Trump administration moving forward with a $5 billion rescission package trying to cut funding that Congress has already approved. Speaker Johnson is doing nothing with it. How can we trust him? How can we trust President Trump on a deal?

So, yes, we need to have assurances that what we agree to is actually going to follow through. But how do you make a deal with someone when they're not even telling you if they're going to live up to their end of it?

TAPPER: Before you go, a few days ago, Assata Shakur died in Cuba. She was a fugitive with a $2 million FBI reward on her head, convicted for her role in a shootout in 1973 that killed a New Jersey state trooper.

[18:10:05]

But as CNN's Patrick Oppmann writes, quote, for some in black America, she was revolutionary royalty, the godmother and step-aunt of rapper, Tupac Shakur. She herself became a symbol of resistance to law enforcement abuses during an era when the FBI committed widespread illegal surveillance of leftist groups, unquote.

How do you view the legacy of Assata Shakur as a lawmaker today in New Jersey?

KIM: Yes, representing my home state. I mean, look, you know, she's someone who was convicted for murdering a New Jersey State trooper. I mean, I think that that says it all in terms of just the concerns that people in my state have with honoring and raising up her legacy in that way, especially at a time when you were just having this conversation earlier about violence and, in fact, talking to someone from New Jersey who saw their own family targeted by violence in Judge Esther Salas. We have to stand up against these types of violence and be able to stand up for each other, and that's what we hope to be able to push for.

TAPPER: Democratic Senator Andy Kim from New Jersey, the Garden State, thank you, sir. Good to see you, as always tomorrow.

President Trump and top military brass are heading to Quantico, Virginia, but the meeting has nothing to do with the specific national security issue, as far as we know. Why some sources have concerns.

Plus, what we're learning after a new court appearance from the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, President Trump says he plans to attend a gathering of top generals and admirals tomorrow at Quantico in Virginia. It's being described as a pep rally of sorts for top military brass organized by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. As of now, it does not appear that Hegseth plans to make any major national security related announcements.

Retired Army General Wesley Clark joins us now. And, General, White House official tells CNN that the event is meant to be a show of force of what the military now looks like under Trump, and Hegseth and Trump will reportedly play up the warrior ethos. Is this out of the ordinary? Has anything like this ever happened before with other administrations?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), U.S. ARMY: It's never happened before, at least not in my years of service and experience, no. And we have a very effective warrior culture in the Armed Forces. We've been talking about it since the 1990s, really, after the Cold War. We really started emphasizing individual troop capabilities, special operating forces.

We certainly put that to work in Afghanistan and Iraq. We've done a wonderful job, in my view, of lethality and warrior ethos, at least in the Army and Marine Corps. The Navy and the Air Force, they have a different set of standards and it's appropriate. So, it'll be very interesting to hear what he says.

TAPPER: Several sources told CNN that they're concerned about the price tag here, the cost of getting hundreds of top military brass to Quantico, Virginia, on short notice, saying plane tickets alone could end up costing millions. Others are not sure why they need to be there in person given the fact that Hegseth's remarks will be live streamed. Do you think this event is a misuse of funds?

CLARK: Hard to say that, though, Jake. I don't know, but it does seem excessive. Normally, a secretary of defense comes in, he's older, he has a lot of experience, people respect him. There's no issue in this case, so it's probable that the secretary of war feels a little insecure about this. He's younger than almost every general and admiral out there. He has less experience on the battlefield than any of them have in terms of wartime experiences. They're all more experienced. And so he may feel the need to just stand up in front of him and show himself and give a pep talk.

He may also want to look them in the eye. He may want to see who's overweight, who doesn't meet standards, who doesn't sort of reflect his approach to the Pentagon. And so I think we just don't know what's going to happen here. There have been a lot of concerns expressed by people as to why you would have to do this in person. Is there going to be a non-disclosure agreement signed? Is there going to be something like a re-pledging the loyalty to the Constitution or something? We just don't know what it is.

And that's why people are a little concerned because, normally, something like this, you have a new national security strategy. You brief through the chain of command. And for most of the people, it doesn't really affect what they're doing. They're still going to, you know, do airlift, they're still going to do fighter training, they're still going to do tank gunnery regardless of what the national security strategy says, because that's their basic competence.

And so it's a little of concern why this meeting was set up. It's certainly expensive. It's extraordinary. It does take people off their jobs. It is disruptive. I hope it's worth it for the country.

TAPPER: All right. General Wesley Clark, thank you so much, sir. I appreciate it.

Confessions, DNA and a rifle, this is some of the evidence so far against the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk. What we learned today in the shooter's second court appearance, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

TAPPER: In our National Lead, the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk had his second court appearance today. 22-year-old Tyler Robinson's charges include aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. Prosecutors say they intend to seek the death penalty.

Let's bring in CNNs Nick Watt. Nick, what happened in court today?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, it was a very short hearing, just about ten minutes. Now, we had expected to see Tyler Robinson in person in the courtroom, but his new legal team put in a request over the weekend to ask that he not appear in court, so he was not there. We also did not see him. There was no video link and we did not hear him. At one point, the judge said, good morning to Robinson and did not receive a reply.

So, his new legal team, though, was in court, public defender. He falls below that threshold of income. So, his defense is being paid for by the state. So, basically, short hearing, but what we discovered is this going to -- is going to be a very long process, Jake. Both the prosecution and the defense said that the evidence here is voluminous and it is going to take them a long time to sift through it. Remember, 2,000 or 3000 people were at that event when Tyler Robinson allegedly assassinated Charlie Kirk.

[18:25:05]

Imagine how many phone videos, eyewitness testimonies. This is going to be a lot of discovery. So, basically, what they did today is they scheduled a meeting October 30th, at which time both sets of lawyers will give the judge an update on how things are going. Now, the judge is very interesting here, just appointed in May, and he seems very, very keen for this. He knows the spotlights on him. He seems very keen for this to go off without a hitch. He talked about integrity, civility, dignity today. He didn't allow anybody in the public gallery to wear a pin or a button or a T-shirt supporting either person.

So, as I say, October 30th is the next hearing, and we do expect Tyler Robinson will be in the courtroom that day. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Nick Watt, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

The U.S. Supreme Court today meant to discuss what cases to take up next term. What would happen if they take up the appeal of Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's convicted accomplice? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead today, the U.S. Supreme Court justices held a private meeting to decide which appeals to take up in their next term. Possibly on the docket, an appeal from convicted Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. She's seeking to overturn her criminal convictions. This comes after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee last Friday released some of the documents that had been turned over by Epstein's estate that reveal names of prominent figures, such as billionaire Elon Musk, who appears in a record dated at December 6th, 2014, quote, reminder, Elon Musk to island, December 6, is this still happening, question mark. On Friday, Musk posted on X, quote, this is false.

Just one day before that, Epstein was scheduled to meet with Microsoft's Bill Gates, quote, TBD, tentative breakfast party with Bill Gates. Other references include a meeting with entrepreneur Peter Thiel, former White House Adviser to President Trump Steve Bannon. We should note that none of these documents link any of these men to any criminal or untoward activity that we can discern at all.

Here now are Epstein Survivor Lisa Phillips and James Marsh, who's an attorney representing other Epstein victims. Thanks for both of you for being here.

Lisa, I'll start with you. We've talked before about survivors releasing an unofficial client list, or at least forming one amongst yourselves. What's your reaction to some of the names released in this latest patch of records? And, again, we should note no evidence connecting them to any of Epstein's crimes. But what was your response?

LISA PHILLIPS, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: The latest response is not a surprise to us survivors. We've been compiling our list for the last few years just working together. And, I mean, we're not surprised at all the names that are being released.

TAPPER: Democrats on the committee also posted flight records with former President Clinton and Ghislaine Maxwell, along with four Secret Service agents, that they say these records were already public. Republicans on the Oversight Committee posted, quote, it's sad how Democrats are conveniently withholding documents that contain the names of Democratic officials. Once again, they are putting politics over victims, unquote.

Personally, I don't care what party anybody is in terms of anybody who might have engaged in criminality. I just want to know who did it. James, what was your response to all that?

JAMES MARSH, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING EPSTEIN VICTIMS: I think the efforts to pass this bill is what it's going to take to get full transparency. All politics aside, once we get this law passed, the Epstein Transparency Act, get all the records released out in public without regard to politics or personalities. I think that will be a real key to getting full transparency and accountability in this case.

TAPPER: Also, in the documents is a record that shows Prince Andrew on a flight with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell from New Jersey to West Palm Beach, Florida, in May 2000. And, Lisa, you've spoken out about Epstein introducing you to Prince Andrew, who, of course, has denied any wrongdoing. What's your reaction to this document?

PHILLIPS: Again, I'm not surprised either, and I'm so thankful that that's being released. I've been saying this for about six years now, you know, of seeing him there and another experience of a friend with him. So, you know, Virginia Giuffre spoke out about him and that was the reason why I initially spoke out. So, I think it's a really good step in the right direction.

TAPPER: The U.S. Supreme Court is considering today whether they're going to take up Ghislaine Maxwell's petition. CNN's Elie Honig wrote in New York Magazine, quote, odds are against Maxwell on the whole, though she's got a substantially better chance at gaining traction in the Supreme Court than the average litigant, unquote.

James, do you agree with that? What happens if the court denies the review?

MARSH: Having been to the Supreme Court about ten years ago where your odds of having your petition heard are less than your odds of getting into Harvard or Yale or both. It would really surprise me if the court took up this case. There's nothing unique or unusual about this case other than the public attention. And given the docket for this coming fall with all of the Trump appeals piling up, I don't think the court's looking for more controversial issues or more controversial, you know, public scrutiny than they've already got. So, this would really surprise me if they took this case.

TAPPER: Lisa, I know you know this already, but there will be the 218th signature to force the Tom Massie bill onto the floor, which would release all the Epstein records. It still has to go to the Senate though. Do you think you and your fellow survivors can keep up the pressure on the U.S. Senate?

PHILLIPS: We've been working on it and we've been in touch and they've -- quite a bit of them have been very supportive. So, we are keeping up hope, yes.

[18:35:00]

TAPPER: All right. Lisa Phillips and James Marsh, thanks to both you, and Lisa, in particular, I know it's not easy to talk about these things.

Public service announcement, medbeds are not going to cure-all that ails you, because medbeds are not a real thing. So, why did President Trump post an A.I. video, a fake news story about him allowing common folk to get into these medbeds? That story's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Continuing in our Politics Lead, President Trump promoted a new cure-all bed for U.S. hospitals this past weekend. It seemed way too good to be true because, of course, it was not true, not anything about it was true.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Donald J. Trump has announced a historic new healthcare system, the launch of America's first medbed hospitals and a national medbed card for every citizen.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Every American will soon receive their own medbed card. With it, you'll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals led by the top doctors in the nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:40:02]

TAPPER: None of that was real. That was all A.I. The Lara Trump was A.I., the Trump was A.I. It's false. Trump did delete the post later. The White House has not commented on it. But the origins of the post and the medbed story remained terrifyingly conspiratorial.

Let's bring in CNN's Daniel Dale. Daniel, I had confessed, I had not known or heard anything about medbeds until you tweeted about it. Tell us about this insane conspiracy theory that Trump helped bring fuel to this weekend.

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: I am happy for you that you only just learned about this. So, medbeds are an entirely fictional product that are the centerpiece of a multi-part conspiracy theory that's popular with QAnon types and other members of the fringe online far right.

So, step one of the conspiracy theory is that these beds exist that will cure whatever you got. So, if you have cancer, it'll make it go away, diabetes, it'll make it go away. If you're missing a limb, it'll make that limb grow back. If you're rapidly aging, you have a receding hairline because you're spending too much time on medbed conspiracy theories, your hair will come back, et cetera, et cetera. Step two is that this amazing technology is being hoarded, secretly used only by some combination of liberal billionaires, the deep state, maybe the military's involved, so not average Americans.

And then step three is that President Trump was going to be elected last year and come back to office and give the amazing beds to everyone.

So, this is funny. It's fun to make jokes about it, but it's easy to find doctors who are encountering, you know, actual people with serious medical issues in the United States who are reluctant to get treatment for them because they think that they're going to get the medbed and be fine without the medicine that will actually cure them. And so by, you know, giving hope to these people, by promoting this video, President Trump has done something, I think, serious in addition to something pretty weird.

TAPPER: It's also just so strange. Does he not know that was not him? Did he even watch the video before he put it out? Does he think med beds are real and he's opening up a medbed hospital? I know that we are like far beyond through the looking glass here, but it's just super strange.

DALE: I would love to know. We don't know if he posted this himself, if a staffer posted it, as sometimes happens with his video posts. Regardless, it came from his account. And the White House just did not respond when I sent them a kind of what the heck is this email yesterday.

TAPPER: They didn't respond to me either, so don't feel left out.

There's something else that happened. The White House deputy press secretary tweeted something over the weekend. She shared this data from Axios about political violence. Her interpretation in her post on Twitter reads, left wing terrorism climbs to 30-year high. Give us a little breakdown about why maybe she shouldn't have re-tweeted that document.

DALE: Well, she left out something very important, specifically those big gray bars you see in the graph. Those represent right wing terror attacks and plots. So, it is true, there was a study by Washington think tank CSIS that found that left wing terror attacks and plots are on the rise, and that this year, they're on pace for their highest number in three decades. Of course, that's not good. But Ms. Jackson didn't note that the same study found, there's been way more right wing attacks and plots over the past three decades and even over the past one decade in left wing.

So, look at that. Gray bars. Here are the specifics. Victims killed 2016 through the 4th of July of this year, right wing, 112 victims, about ten times as many as the left, left, 13 victims. And then in terms of number of attacks, 152 attributed to the right wing, 35 attributed to the left wing. So, the apparent rise in left wing violence is something to note. It is a problem. But the broader context is that for a large number of years now, right wing attacks have dwarfed them. And so for members of the administration were either suggesting or explicitly saying that this is a one-sided problem on the left, just not true..

TAPPER: Not true. Daniel Dale, our fact checker, thanks so much.

Let's bring in my panel. Chuck, this is not the first time President Trump has shared something bizarre on social media, not even the first time he shared bizarre A.I.-generated video, but this one wasn't like a joke. It wasn't like a funny thing of him, you know, body slamming somebody or whatever, like this appeared to be a news report. This is what everybody's worried about when it comes to A.I., when it comes to fake news. And also one would think that he would remember if he had made an announcement about a medbed hospital.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Or universal healthcare care coverage is what that looked like when it started coming out. As somebody who makes political ads, it scares me too because I'm now thinking about an opponent that I'm running an ad against using A.I. to completely make up something that my candidate, whoever I was supporting, did not do, showing them doing something I didn't want them to do and it being out there before I can ever stop it.

[18:45:03]

Man, we're walking down a really slippery slope here with these things that look very real to people.

TAPPER: Adam, you're a former Republican congressman, former elected officeholder. What are your concerns here, both in terms of President Trump putting this out there before he deleted it? And also just the technology that is now out there?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. Let me just first off say -- so, it's not even it wasn't funny. You made this point. Like if it would have been something funny. Okay. You know, whatever.

But here's where my concern is, is, you know, just as Chuck was saying, we can pretty much make a very realistic video of anybody doing anything. And so, what's going to happen if somebody makes a video of, say, the secretary of defense saying that we've bombed somebody or, you know, a candidate for Congress making lewd remarks or whatever it is, it's created this, this kind of like hodgepodge of you can convince anybody of anything. But it also takes away our ability to know, in many cases, what's true and what isn't. And it's worth noting, by the way, as you this lead up was going to this.

I was just thinking about this like Donald Trump, either tweets or anything he says is always just a lie. Maybe not technically always, but almost always. It's untrue. It's a lie. It's misinformation. And he's the president of the United States. This is destroying people's trust in things. They need to have trust in, frankly, for civic order.

TAPPER: And, Congressman, this just in. YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Trump after he was suspended following the January 6th insurrection. That makes them the last of the three big tech social media companies that Trump sued after Meta and Twitter settled similar cases. I guess -- well, I mean, what's your response?

KINZINGER: Well, first off, I always like to remind people like six seconds ago, the GOP was the party that was against suing everybody. I mean, that was actually one of our big tenets is getting rid of frivolous lawsuits. We were going to do this in medicine and everything else. And now, the president is a connoisseur of this.

And so, this is exactly what the others have been, which is these are companies that are very eager 24 million to them is not much. They're very eager to please the president or get them off their back. And he's using these lawsuits as in essence, a tool of war, a tool of control. And the people, the very institutions that should be standing up against him, law firms, universities, big media companies, they're the ones that are capitulating and its leaving everybody else to stand and have to fight without the backing that that people should have.

It's disgusting. And to any corporation, I think, you know, that is looking to preemptively just settle because they're scared of the president. I mean, I think scorn will be heaped upon them. And as it rightly should be.

TAPPER: And look, the argument why the social media companies kicked him off. And I'm not saying I support it. I tend to be pretty out there when it comes to free speech, but the argument was we have a private company, and this person -- meaning the president. At that point, the outgoing president is posting misinformation, and it just caused a catastrophe on Capitol Hill.

That was their justification. I'm not -- again, I'm not saying I agree with it, but they have an argument to make in court.

ROCHA: Absolutely. And if you look at where the money is going to go, they have to write a check to somebody. And I was looking at the research before I came on, and it's going to the nonprofit that controls a lot of things on the hill and on the national mall that will actually be in charge of building the ballroom at the White House. Like, this is really getting absurd that folks that are mad about the ballroom and now this money is going to that.

And let me say one other thing is, I was thinking about YouTube and again, as an ad maker, there's more money that will go to YouTube from Republicans and Democrats than even network, ABC, NBC, you name your big -- YouTube now is the king of all media that I buy on every day because people's eyeballs are there. So they're taking that money now and it's going to this cause.

TAPPER: Yeah, I mean, I give the money to because that's how you watch football.

ROCHA: That's right.

TAPPER: All right. President Trump this weekend directed troops to Portland, Oregon. He described the city as war ravaged, Adam. Portland is obviously a sanctuary city. It has seen nearly constant

protests and an ICE facility throughout the summer, mostly peaceful, though occasionally they've ended with tear gas deployed. The people of Portland are pushing back at any assertion they need federal intervention and continuing to protest.

I want to play this sound. It's one city counselor in an Instagram video she posted on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COUNCILOR ANGELITA MORILLO, PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 3: The streets are looking beautiful. People are at the Saturday market having negronis. And yet the federal government is sending the military in anyways. And Trump is just making up stories about what's going on in our city that are completely false.

So, it's hard to imagine that there is anything that we can do to appease a tyrant who is completely unreasonable, illogical, and willing to spread misinformation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:50:03]

TAPPER: So, Adam, how do you see this playing out?

KINZINGER: Well, I want to remind people again, everybody that says, I changed and I left the party. I still believe what I used to believe, which was local control and the federal government shouldn't be stepping in. This is used to desensitize because now it's just another city that troops are being sent to.

And Trump has set himself up for a win-win. If he goes there and there's no violence, he can say, look, federal troops equals no violence. If he goes there and violence is provoked, he can say, look, we have to crack down on what's going on over here.

We cannot -- Jake, we cannot grow numb to this. These are not guard troops. They are federal troops. When the president federalizes them, it's the same as the 82nd Airborne in Portland. And this is anathema to the Constitution.

TAPPER: Well, hang in there, Congressman, because when a Democrat gets in the White House again, whether that's in five years or 30 Republicans are going to believe in local control again.

Congressman Kinzinger, Chuck Rocha, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. Sports fans in New York got really unruly this weekend. No, not Mets fans, even though they did watch their team completely collapse and missed the playoffs in embarrassing fashion. We're going to discuss how a golf competition got out of hand.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:23] TAPPER: In our sports lead, the 2026 NFL Super Bowl halftime show performer is locked in. Superstar Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny is going to headline the event in February at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

More in our sports lead now. There was some drama -- ugly drama at the Ryder Cup golf competition in New York this weekend. Some hostile fans of Team USA were directing personal insults and vulgarities at European players, including star Irish golfer Rory McIlroy and at his wife Erica. A drink appeared to be swatted out of a fans hand and it struck her. Europe did get the last laugh, winning despite a huge rally from Team USA.

Let's discuss with ESPN announcer and former tennis pro, Patrick McEnroe.

Patrick, the Ryder Cup, it's known for getting a little rowdier than other golf events, but it seemed like there were some really obnoxious fans there in New York. I don't want to assume that they were New Yorkers, but anyway, did this go beyond anything you've ever seen before?

PATRICK MCENROE, ESPN BROADCASTER: This was out of hand, Jake, and I'm a New Yorker. I'm a longtime fan of New York sports, and this was just total embarrassment from my standpoint. And I was lucky enough to also wear the stars and stripes as a Davis Cup captain for a decade, representing the USA, which to me was a huge badge of honor. And I took a lot of pride in that. And Americans were seen in a very positive light around the world.

And unfortunately, Jake, that appears to be changing because behavior like this, not just at the Ryder Cup, but in all sorts of sporting events, is happening more and more. It's happening obviously in our political discourse, it seems like the more volume you have, the more virtue you have.

And you know, this all caps society were living in where the louder you speak, the louder you say your piece. And, and unfortunately, it appears like the pieces that people are saying are just more and more extreme. And this was an example of that attacking Rory McIlroy, one of the great golfers in the world. He handled it very well. And as you said you know, they spoke loud with their clubs, and they won this event going away, despite the U.S. making a big run on Sunday.

But the first two days, especially Saturday afternoon, it really got out of hand with, homophobic slurs sent the way of the European players, one of the players being made fun of by his weight, cheering in the middle of their swings. I mean, it was really, really embarrassing and made us look, as Americans, as New Yorkers, as Long Islanders, pretty bad on this big world stage of golf.

TAPPER: Before the tournament, American golfer Collin Morikawa called for chaos, and the events master of ceremonies stepped down on Sunday after she had led the fans in a chant of "F you, Rory" with a live mic. Did the host team play a role in stirring up the aggression? It

doesn't sound like it was just, you know, naturally, organically from the fans.

MCENROE: Well, I think it was more from the organizers of the event, Jake, and as you said, when I saw that online, the emcee instructing the fans very early in the morning before play started with these chants, I was appalled, absolutely appalled.

I think for the most part, the players handled it okay. They weren't really privy. They weren't part of what the fans were doing, but they've been revving this up, jake, for months. You know it's going to be Bethpage. It's going to be the home field advantage for the American team. And it's the New York crowd.

And they went there and they were just completely out of line. And again, to see this type of, behavior from fans of American sports to me, is someone who's, you know, for 45 years, Jake, been lucky enough to travel the world playing, playing tennis, another sport that's very international. And I took with pride when they said, you know, Patrick McEnroe, USA. Davis Cup captain, Patrick McEnroe.

I took those things too seriously. I know people think -- well, this is just a sport. It's not a big deal. It's a big deal to us and its a big deal to those golfers as well. And I thought that the European team handled it well in their press conference as well. And this was just a really, really bad day for, for American sports fans. Horrendous.

TAPPER: What should it be done in the future to ward off bad behavior like this? Or might or might what? You know, the shaming that's going on right now help ward it off?

MCENROE: Well, I think we all need to take a step back and look at who -- you know, who we are. Do we want to be this? What are we becoming? Is this a society where you just yell at people and you just completely inappropriate? I mean, we've even seen some people do that in front of members of Congress, which I don't get.

So -- but I think there needs to be a way to control the fan, to control the behavior and maybe stop selling so much alcohol.

TAPPER: Amen.

Patrick McEnroe, always great to have you, sir. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram threads, X, Bluesky and on the TikTok @JakeTapper. You can follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN. If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can listen to the show whence you get your podcasts.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now. She has a new interview with New York mayoral candidate Mamdani. Take a listen. Sit down. Enjoy. I'll see you tomorrow.