Return to Transcripts main page
The Lead with Jake Tapper
President Trump Deploying National Guard On Democratic-led Cities, States Suing The Administration; Trump Administration Firing Immigration Judges; Supreme Court Rejects Appeal Of Ghislaine Maxwell; Jared Kushner Joins Gaza Peace Talks In Egypt; State Authorities: No Evidence To Indicate Fire At Judge's Home Was Intentionally Set; HHS Deputy Chief Calls For Splitting MMR Vaccine Schedule For Children Despite No Evidence Of Benefit; Trump Touts Accomplishments, Attacks Rivals At Navy Event. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired October 06, 2025 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00]
JASON MIYARES, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA: That is my mindset. A wise marine and a dear friend once shared with me, (inaudible). If you go to Arlington National Cemetery and you see those crosses and those Star of David's, there's not and R or D on any one's tomb. In other words, somebody who disagrees with you politically has given their last full measure of devotion to this amazing country.
KASIE HUNT, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT & HOST: Yeah.
MIYARES: Let's not forget that. Yeah, it's politics, we're going to have big debates but we have a lot more that unites us than divides us and I think --
HUNT: We do have a lot that unites us, sir.
MIYARES: -- this is really about the decency of what we want.
HUNT: And I do apologize. We're hitting the top of the hour, but I really want to thank you very much --
MIYARES: No problem.
HUNT: -- for your time, Attorney General Jason Miyares. And we do want to know, we extended an invitation to Jay Jones to come here on this program at any point. We've not yet heard back, but he is always welcome. Jake Tapper is standing by for "The Lead." Hi, Jake.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Hey, Kasie. If Jay Jones says yes, you have to do it in your show hour or not my hour. We'll see about --
HUNT: Hey, 19 seconds.
TAPPER: We'll see --
HUNT: See you later.
TAPPER: Go ahead, 21, 22, see you back in "The Arena" tomorrow. HUNT: Bye.
TAPPER: How long can the law block Trump and the National Guard? "The Lead" starts right now. Lawsuits flying left and right as the President tries to send in the National Guard into two major U.S. cities. How far will this legal showdown go? As Democratic leaders in these cities say the deployments are intentional to create chaos with troops used as political pawns.
Plus, a judge's waterfront mansion engulfed in flames, people inside fleeing for their lives. Ahead, the new details on the cause of this fire just in from investigators.
And, the rescue right now on Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain, after a dangerous blizzard stranded hundreds of hikers.
Welcome to "The Lead," I am Jake Tapper. We're going to start with breaking news in our "National Lead." Legal battles erupting over the White House's moves to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops into two Democratic-led cities, Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois. CNN has correspondents on the ground in both of these cities and we're going to go there in a moment.
The Trump administration says National Guard deployments there are meant to quell anti-ICE protests outside immigration detention facilities. And to protect federal law enforcement. Democrats, however, are calling this an abuse of power and an invasion of National Guard troops. Now, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago are suing the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, over the weekend in Oregon, a federal judge appointed by Trump temporarily blocked his troop deployment to Portland from anywhere in the country and the White House is today pushing back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: With all due respect to that judge, I think her opinion is untethered in reality and in the law. We are appealing that decision. As you know, we expect a hearing on it pretty quickly and we're very confident in the president's legal authority to do this and we're very confident we will win on the merits of the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Amid the legal showdowns, extremely high tensions over the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration last night in Portland, ongoing protests outside an immigration detention facility turned violent. Video shows protesters and federal agents clashing as demonstrators cursed at and yelled at the officers. And the backdrop of all this, is an ICE raid at an apartment in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood.
Tenants said it appears everyone in the building was detained, including U.S. citizens. The Department of Homeland Security says they arrested 37 undocumented immigrants and targeted this building in particular because it was, quote, "frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates," unquote. I asked Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker about this yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JB. PRITZKER, GOERNOR OF ILLISNOIS: They were going after a few gang members, and instead they broke windows, they broke down doors, they ransacked the place and there were people that were held, I mean, elderly people and children zip-tied. Elderly people held for three hours at a time. They are the ones that are making it a war zone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's go to CNN's Omar Jimenez in Chicago and CNN's Shimon Prokupecz in Portland. Omar, to you first, in addition to the lawsuit, what else are officials in Chicago doing to push back against what the Trump administration is attempting?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. So as you mentioned, there is that lawsuit where essentially, they not only want National Guard troops not deployed to Illinois, but for the federalization of the National Guard to be declared unlawful at the city level. We were with Mayor Brandon Johnson today who essentially, well, he did sign an executive order barring ICE and other federal immigration officials from using city property to help with any operations that could include staging operations that they're going to be putting up signs essentially in places all across the city to really make that known.
Now, I asked the mayor what form of enforcement does that actually look like? Like, would Chicago police actually be arresting federal officers, for example?
[17:04:58]
He didn't go that far, but what he did say is that it would provide a legal avenue to take action that way if they find folks in violation of that. The Chicago police superintendent also said they would not be arresting federal agents. And then at the local level, you know, you mentioned one of the incidents that has been very high profile here at the raid on that South Shore apartments, but also over the weekend there was an incident where a woman allegedly rammed a Customs and Border Protection officer.
They got out, one officer fired up this woman multiple times. She was shot. And protests grew in this neighborhood where I'm standing right now. And there's a mix of Chicago police responding but also federal officials on scene. And I want you to listen to the Chicago police superintendent on what he said about federal agents today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY SNELLING, SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: They deployed chemical agents while our officers were there. Those who will tell you that our officers weren't there, say that to the 27 officers who were affected by the chemical agents that were deployed by federal agents. (END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: And by chemical agents, he means there was tear gas deployed at certain points that affected 27 officers. And he said that there were officers in and around the scene is early as 11:00 a.m. that morning, which was about an hour and a half before calls for additional officers came.
And then additional police officers did come but I play that because the police superintendent said that he's been having to have conversations with federal leadership about how to balance a situation where someone is shot on city -- on the grounds of the city and -- which would normally require the police department to respond while also trying to balance what federal officials are trying to do. They don't want to repeat what they saw this weekend, Jake.
TAPPER: And Shimon there in Portland, Oregon, what are officials saying about last night's clash between federal agents and protesters?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Look, for perspective Jake, I think it's important to note here this is a very small area. I mean, where I'm standing is where all of the activity has been outside this ICE facility here and along the street. I want to show you, Dave, come over here. This is sort of the kind of the grounds here. This is government property. So this is everything that the United States government and the federal law enforcement that's been out here, this is the point of their protection. All of this right here.
All of this out here is city property and almost on a nightly basis there have been protesters out here. There are some protesters out here now, Jake, I want to show you, that are just standing here. It's probably about 20 people or so out here. It's been no problems. We've been out here now for about an hour. I've just got here. I was struck by just how small of an area this is and the location of this. And this argument that there's this widespread chaos here or violence, that just doesn't seem right now from everything I can tell accurate.
Certainly, there have been clashes at night, small groups of protesters clashing with federal officers. But the other thing, Jake, I want to show you is, so this is a residential area. People live here. There are balconies. You can see there are things outside of people's balconies. There are flowers. There are other things that people come through this street. You have more protesters that have been essentially, Jake, camping out here to voice their concern, to voice their protests.
And so that's what it's been here for the last several days, last several weeks. I was speaking to a woman who was out here last night. She was out here till about 7:00 and then she left and said it was mostly peaceful to that point. There were some clashes as you showed here last night. And one of the other protesters was telling me that at night there are these small groups, these small clashes that occur. The federal officers will come out. They'll throw tear gas. They'll tell people to disperse. And then if they don't arrests are made. TAPPER: All right, Shimon Prokupecz in Portland, Oregon, Omar Jimenez in Chicago, Illinois, thanks to both of you. Let's bring in CNN's Priscilla Alvarez. And Priscilla, all this is happening is the Trump administration is firing immigration judges despite the fact that there's a backlog of more than three million cases?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right. This is all related though, Jake. We have to think about it that way. And this part of it though is playing out quietly behind the scenes. A 139 immigration judges have been fired, taken an early out offer, or been involuntarily transferred since President Trump took office. There are about 600 immigration judges total across 72 immigration courts across the country. So that is a big number when we're thinking about the total here when there is a massive backlog.
Now, the immigration courts are different than federal courts. They're actually housed under the executive branch. That means that the Justice Department can wield immense influence over who is hired and who is fired and what we're seeing right now is that they are dismissing multiple judges on a near daily basis without any justification.
[17:09:58]
In fact, I spoke to one immigration judge who was fired in September, the month with the highest terminations, 24 people dismissed. She told me that she was in the middle of proceedings. She was presiding over an asylum case, a case that took multiple years to get before her. When she's taking notes at her laptop, she sees a notification come through on her e-mail that says, notice of termination.
She opened the e-mail, she stepped out of the courtroom to try to gather her thoughts as to what was happening, came back into the courtroom, adjourned the hearing. There was no decision in the case. She went to her office and packed it up. Her story is more common than I even realized when I started reporting this. Immigration judges are being repeatedly fired in the middle of proceedings without any justification and they are legally challenging those dismissals. Then we asked the Justice Department for comment. They didn't get back to us.
TAPPER: You also have some reporting about the Trump administration preparing to offer money to unaccompanied migrant teenagers to incentivize them voluntarily leaving the U.S.
ALVAREZ: But the administration has had a keen focus on unaccompanied migrant children. Kids who came to the United States alone, they crossed the U.S. southern border by themselves. Now, this particular effort is one that would give them $2,500 to reintegrate into their home country. So essentially, for those who want to voluntarily leave, and that does happen, there are cases where kids say, I don't want to be in government custody anymore. I would like to go back home.
They have to go before an immigration judge who would give it the stamp of approval. And then they would be taken back, deported back to their home country. And that is where they would receive the $2,500. Now this is for kids 14 and up. They're gonna start with 17 year-olds. But this is still striking for many who have been in this space for a long time because we haven't offered financial incentives before, we, the United States.
Now, the administration is doing that with adults and their self- deportation efforts, but this is the first time that we're seeing them do it for those teens who want to voluntarily leave the United States.
TAPPER: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. Right now in Egypt, a critical meeting that could potentially lead to a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. What CNN is learning about what's happening behind closed doors.
Plus, President Trump's comments just moments ago, when asked about Ghislaine Maxwell, that longtime associate of the dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down Maxwell's request to get out of prison.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:15:00]
TAPPER: In our "Law and Justice Lead" today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal, meaning that the former girlfriend and associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will have to stay in prison. Maxwell's attorneys argued that she never should have been convicted while Epstein was covered -- because Epstein was covered by a non-prosecution agreement.
Part of Epstein's now infamous 2007-2008 sweetheart deal with Florida prosecutors was that there would not be prosecution of other associates of his. Moments ago, CCN's Kaitlan Collins asked President Trump about the news, the Supreme Court rejection and the possibility of him perhaps pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMJP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STAES OF AMERICA: You know, I haven't heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I'd have to take a look at it. I have a lot of people who've asked me for pardons. I call him Puff Daddy. He's asked me for a pardon.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT & ANCHOR: But she was convicted of child sex trafficking.
TRUMP: Yeah. I mean, I'm gonna have to take a look at it. I'd have to ask DOJ. I didn't know they rejected it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Interesting. CNN's legal analyst Elliot Williams joins us now. What's your reaction? I mean, that was a pretty open door.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. All right. He's got every right to pardon whoever he wants. The Constitution confers that power on him. Quite, frankly, Jake, it's gotten out of hand across presidential administrations of both parties. It is a very open door. It remains to be seen. If he does pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, he owns it, the president does. It becomes a political question not a legal one.
TAPPER: In 2008, Florida prosecutors did agree, I mean, I'd think it's more super weird in aberrance, right? But they did agree that they wouldn't bring anymore criminal charges against Epstein related to sex trafficking and that they wouldn't charge any of his co-conspirator.
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
TAPPER: So, I don't like it, but it reminds me of why Bill Cosby is a free man today.
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
TAPPER: You know, the government didn't keep its end of the deal.
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
TAPPER: Why didn't the U.S. Supreme Court agree?
WILLIAMS: There's a reason why it was called a sweetheart deal because of how favorable to Jeffrey Epstein it was. Now the wrinkle was prosecutors interpreted it and courts agreed with the idea that it was just intended to bind prosecutors in Florida. Prosecutors elsewhere, in New York, were still free to proceed with the case. Now, the court could have gone another way and actually said, but wait a second. It says the words United States. That should apply to the whole country.
TAPPER: Yeah. And it was a U.S. attorney.
WILLIAMS: It was a U.S. attorney, however, the government or the United States sometimes means the prosecutor's office and the jurisdiction which it happened. That's how -- you know, that's certainly how prosecutors interpreted it. We don't know what was behind the Supreme Court's decision because they didn't provide any guidance today as to how they rolled away they did.
TAPPER: Lots of questions for Alex Acosta, the former U.S. attorney.
WILLIAMS: Lots.
TAPPER: Lots of questions. The Supreme Court also declined to take up the case of far-right conspiracy theorist, unhinged MAGA star Laura Loomer. She was trying to sue X, formerly Twitter and Facebook parent company Meta for banning her accounts when she ran for congress in 2020 and 2022. What does their rejection of her case suggest about how they view their role when it comes to these social media companies?
WILLIAMS: Well, they're staying out of it and they are letting social media companies do their thing without, you know, getting in there. We should also be very clear, Jake, that the Supreme Court gets something like 8,000 petitions a year and only takes 80 or so of them. That's a one in a hundred rate.
[17:19:57]
The fact that they turned down this relatively fringe case from Laura Loomer, it was not grounded in much reality, shouldn't really shock anybody. You know, case in point, both Meta and Twitter declined the ability to even weigh in to provide filings with the court because it was such a dumb case.
Now, at the end of the day, the Supreme Court could weigh in much more on content moderation but they're really deciding to stay out of it and leave the tech companies alone.
TAPPER: All right, Elliot Williams, thanks so much.
WILLIAMS: Thanks, Jake.
TAPPER: The president calling in special backup as the U.S. tries to broker some kind of ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. He dispatched his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has lots of money tied up in that region. Kushner's role in negotiations, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:25:05]
TAPPER: Topping our "World Lead," quote, "complete obliteration." That was President Trump's two-word response to a text I sent him this weekend, asking what happens if Hamas insists on staying in power in Gaza, a very real possibility. Today the White House insisted that the President wants a quick hostage release to create momentum for the rest of the President's 20-point ceasefire plan to be implemented.
This, as negotiators, hashed out details in southern Egypt one day before October 7th, which will mark two years since the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel. And that was, of course, followed by this war. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Cairo. Jeremy Diamonds in Tel Aviv.
Jeremy, I also asked the President in a text, when will you know if Hamas is truly committed or just stringing the world along and is Netanyahu on board with ending the bombing as you called for, and Trump said yes on Bibi. Over the weekend some Gaza residents told CNN they did notice a decrease in Israeli strikes. What have Israeli officials told you?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well Israeli officials have told me that they are shifting to a defensive posture inside the Gaza Strip. And there's a big difference though between a defensive posture in Gaza and ending the bombing altogether, as President Trump had called for in that Friday night social media post. And as the President later confirmed to you, he believed the Israeli Prime Minister was following through on that.
What we've seen over the weekend has been a continuation of bombings that killed 24 people yesterday, 12 people today according to local hospitals in the Gaza Strip. That is nonetheless a significant decrease from the kind of daily death tolls of dozens of people that we typically see inside of Gaza. So, a notable shift nonetheless and an indication that Israel
understands that President Trump is serious about these talks, wants them to succeed and understands that part of that success requires Israel to step down its bombing campaign in Gaza, partly to allow Hamas to begin to locate and prepare for the possibility of releasing those hostages should they reach an agreement.
TAPPER: But they haven't stopped bombing though, right Jeremy? I mean, the president clearly said he wanted Netanyahu to stop and they have not stopped. Okay. Nic, it's worth noting who was not there today and who plans on attending, including Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has billions of dollars of business interests with the UAE and the Saudis and others.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, I think the name that stood out who was expected to be there, Ron Dermer, a key advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Minister of Strategic Affairs. Over the weekend, Netanyahu had indicated that Dermer would come, he would lead the delegation. And then that got walked back earlier today. He let others, Gal Hirsch, principal negotiator, for the release of all the hostages from October 7th. Top security officials, ministry representative as well.
But Dermer apparently going to lead the talks remotely from Israel will come if there's progress. And I think also its key not just who's not in the room, but who's been talking to who. And the Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya, who Israel had an airstrike on his residence in Qatar just a few weeks ago now, last month. He had talks with Qatari and Egyptian officials, were told by Hamas at least, to try to narrow the gaps on some of the differences.
Obviously, Hamas is being told, hand over your weapons, you have no political future, existential issues for the group, topics like this, probably in the fray for that narrowing of the gaps.
TAPPER: And Jeremy, how are hostage families preparing to mark two- year grim anniversary of October 7th tomorrow?
DIAMOND: Well, really since this weekend and all through tomorrow there have been a number of different commemoration ceremonies in the different kibbutz's along the Gaza border where many of these hostages were taken by Hamas. Tonight, we saw a number of hostage families whose relatives are still being held in Gaza holding a Sukkot meal. This is a Jewish holiday that begins tonight and lasts a week.
Notably, the holiday during which the Prime Minister said he hoped to be able to say over the course of this week that all of the hostages are coming home. But during this holiday meal, those families said that they will not let up their pressure campaign until every single hostage is home. And I can tell you from speaking with a number of hostage families that on the eve of the two-year anniversary of that horrible massacre of October 7th, two years since all of these hostages were taken into the Gaza Strip, there is perhaps more optimism, more hope than ever before that this war can end.
That the hostages can perhaps come home, but all of these families are also incredibly cautious about that optimism knowing that there have been so many other times where they thought things were close and talks collapsed.
[17:30:04]
So they know that there is a difficult road ahead and they see their part in all of this as continuing to pressure their government and to ensure that the world knows the importance of these negotiations. Jake?
TAPPER: All right, Jeremy Diamond in Israel, Nic Robertson in Egypt. Thanks to both of you.
Coming up, the major vaccine change that the Trump administration is floating today that will impact young children quite a bit.
Plus, new details just in on that massive fire that engulfed the waterfront mansion of a South Carolina judge. What investigators are today saying about the cause of the fire? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In our National Lead, an escalated investigation into this, this massive fire that engulfed the beachfront mansion of a South Carolina Circuit court judge. This was Saturday afternoon in Edisto Beach, just south of Charleston. The fire so intense, people inside were forced to escape by jumping from an elevated first floor. Judge Diane Goodstein owns the home with her husband, Arnold Goodstein, is a former state senator himself.
[17:35:21]
State authorities are investigating the fire. And moments ago, provided some new details. Let's bring in CNN's Dianne Gallagher. Dianne, what are investigators saying about how this fire started?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jake, we just got an update from the chief of the state law enforcement division in South Carolina in the past hour here. They say while the investigation into this house fire is still active and ongoing, at this time, there is no evidence to indicate that it was intentionally set. Three people were injured.
They were taken to the hospital. And look, we still do not know what caused the fire at the Edisto Beach home of Arnold and Diane Goodstein. Arnold Goodstein is a Vietnam veteran. He was a Democrat elected to both the state House and Senate back in the 1970s. Diane Goodstein is a longtime circuit court judge who, in her more than 25 years on the bench, has presided over many high profile cases, including just last month when she temporarily blocked the South Carolina voter database from being handed over to the Department of Justice. The state Supreme Court overturned her ruling just about a week later.
Now, when you look at this fire, even firefighters say that it was very difficult to tackle, in part because of that location there. It's beautiful, but difficult. St. Paul's Fire District said that the people who were inside that beat front home in Edisto Beach, that they had to jump out of the elevated first floor.
And also, once that happened, crews had to use kayaks to reach them in the backyard to get them out and provide medical aid. Now, look, this shook a lot of people up in South Carolina that's happening here. The state Supreme Court chief justice issued a statement on Sunday saying that the judicial branch was in close contact with the state law enforcement division, Jake, and that they were going to have local law enforcement up security while this investigation was ongoing.
TAPPER: Dianne Gallagher, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
And our Health Lead today, the Trump administration is calling for major changes to recommendations of vaccines for young children today. The number two at HHS, Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill, who serves under RFK Jr., called on breaking up the vaccine for MMR or measles, mumps, rubella. Now, critics say there's no scientific reason to do this, and that this potential move is being done in order to undermine confidence in vaccines.
Let's bring in CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell. Meg, what is the suggestion floated today at HHS?
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, so this came out in a post on social media from Jim O'Neill, who, as you noted, is the deputy secretary of HHS, but also is the acting director of the CDC right now. And he said he is calling directly on vaccine manufacturers to develop, "safe monovalent vaccines to replace the combined MMR, measles, mumps, rubella," and, "break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots."
Now, he was quoting there from a post from President Trump late last month. And that followed President Trump calling for the MMR shot to be broken up in his press conference on autism and Tylenol. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The MMR, I think, should be taken separately. This is based on what I feel, the mumps, measles, and -- and the three should be taken separately. And it seems to be that when you mix them, there could be a problem. So there's no downside in taking them separately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TIRRELL: Now, the President saying that's based on what he feels. We reached out to HHS to see what data they're using to back up this suggestion. They suggest that standalone vaccines can potentially reduce the risk of side effects without citing data specifically on the MMR shot that would say so. They also say this could maximize parental choice.
Jake, it's important to know that experts say there has been no benefit shown to breaking up the MMR vaccine, no safety risks of that shown versus taking them by themselves. And of course, you're getting kids to have to get six shots instead of two.
TAPPER: Yes, I mean, no offense to the President, but who cares what he feels? He's not a doctor. He has no training in any of this. Experts don't think that that's right. Are vaccine manufacturers likely to go along with this?
TIRRELL: Well, we've reached out to them. There are two manufacturers of the combined MMR vaccine, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline. Neither seems particularly inclined right now to start making single virus focused shots. Merck says, "there is no published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots."
[17:40:00]
Their vaccine, their combination MMR has been on the market since 1971. GSK, which was approved more recently, also notes that there's decades of research supporting safety and efficacy of this combination. Jake?
TAPPER: Strange days. Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.
Coming up, some of the eye raising claims from President Trump when he went, as per usual, off script at an event this weekend in Virginia in front of a bunch of sailors. Should somebody in his circle be calling this stuff out? We're going to let you know what he said, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In our Politics Lead yesterday, President Trump celebrated the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy and Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia. Not only did he brag about some of his own accomplishments, he also went after his political opponents, such as his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[17:45:12]
TRUMP: The chances of him walking down those stairs successfully were not good. And I have to be careful because one day I'm going to probably fall. I don't have to bop down the stairs, walk nice and slowly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Again, this is in front of service members, sailors, this political speech. The President's also reminded the thousands of naval officers gathered what the former White House doctor, now Texas MAGA congressman, Ronny Jackson, said about President Trump's fitness compared to the fitness of presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And at a press conference, they asked him, who's in the best shape? Who's the healthiest? Who's the strongest? Who's the best physical specimen of the three? He said, that's easy, President Donald Trump. And I said, I love this guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: OK. And the President also took credit for a warning about Osama bin Laden a year before the 9-11 attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: In the book I wrote, whatever the hell the title, I can't tell you, but I can tell you there's a page in there devoted to the fact that I saw somebody named Osama bin Laden and I didn't like it and you got to take care of him. They didn't do it a year later. He blew up the World Trade Center.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: OK. That's not true. Let's talk about this and more with the panel. Let's start with this bin Laden thing. The book, by the way, Mr. President, it's called "The America We Deserve." And while this isn't the first time the President has made this claim, CNN's resident fact checker, Daniel Dale writes, "Trump's claim is false. His 2000 book contained no warning at all about bin Laden. It's understandable if Trump doesn't remember precisely what was in the book. It was released 25 years ago and was ghostwritten by someone else. But that doesn't excuse a decade of boasting about how the book supposedly includes something it actually does not." Ashley, thoughts?
ASHLEY ALLISON, FORMER NATIONAL COALITIONS DIRECTOR FOR BIDEN-HARRIS 2020: I mean, I guess I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not. Like this is a normal Donald Trump speech. And this was the thing that so many of us were trying to warn against. And I was actually sitting here. I don't have the answer to it. But shaming the current president into thinking that this speech is unacceptable doesn't work for him. And it doesn't work for a significant part of the Republican Party.
And not to make it political, I don't think you should have given that speech there. But if we want to, as Democrats, figure out a path forward so that we don't have a Donald Trump 3.0, we've got to figure out how to make people care about more than just these crazy speeches. It's not the thing we want to be able to be able to say, but it didn't take them out. And so why would we think we get anything different right now?
TAPPER: So California Governor Gavin Newsom's office had this response to the clip on Twitter or X. They wrote, "Does Trump even know what year it is?" Former Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry. There are a lot of Democrats out there who see these rambling speeches and think, is something going on upstairs?
PATRICK MCHENRY, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (R-NC): So, well, you've written a book about the last president on all these questions that my Democratic friends didn't want to raise about the last president. But that's not going to help Gavin Newsom in the next election. In fact, this is exactly what Ashley just said, which is coming up with a message that counters this. The fact is the president has this riff. We all know he has this riff. If you watch "Saturday Night Live's" current impression of President Trump --
TAPPER: Pretty good.
MCHENRY: Pretty spot on.
TAPPER: Yes.
MCHENRY: And actually funny. What the President gets up to the mic and he has Democrats breathless that he's going to destroy the republic with a series of jokes when most of America thinks it's a series of jokes.
TAPPER: Yes.
MCHENRY: The setting here, I don't think as a traditionalist here, I don't think the military should be used for a prop like that.
TAPPER: CBS News has a brand new editor in chief starring today, Bari Weiss, the co-founder and CEO of the Free Press, which will now operate under Paramount, which also owns "CBS News." Here's some of what Weiss said about her new role on social media today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARI WEISS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CBS NEWS: We would not be doing this if we didn't believe in David Ellison and the entire leadership team who took over Paramount this summer. They are doubling down because they believe in news, because they have courage, because they love this country and because they understand as we do, that America cannot thrive without common facts, common truths and a common reality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: And Ashley, we should note that you are a media magnate on your own. You just purchased "The Root," a prominent black media outlet. What's your response to Bari Weiss taking over there? I know a lot of progressives are upset. I know her and I think highly of her, but that's my personal experience. What do you think?
ALLISON: Well, aside from her political views, which I'm not completely aligned with, I think that we are seeing a signal, people like myself, people like Bari, who we're in a new era of media. The -- "The Root" is a digital platform. It was started in 2008 because people are consuming their news in different ways.
[17:50:13]
TAPPER: Yes.
ALLISON: And so we need to be able to meet people where they are. I agree with her that we need to use facts. We need to use truth. We -- we can have opinions, but we have to root things and ground things in science and data. And so we're committed to doing that at "The Root." I think that progressives are concerned that "CBS" is playing a little more to Trump and MAGA right now with that appointment. Time will tell and see how their coverage goes.
TAPPER: What do you think? How are conservatives taking this news?
MCHENRY: Great news. Fantastic news. Impressive news to see that "CBS" has made such a -- a shift here to recognize they have a problem. They had to respond to it. But the Bari Weiss story is an absolutely fascinating one. She was fired. And that was in the midst of wokeism, cancel culture. Well, she resigned.
TAPPER: She resigned, yes.
MCHENRY: Because of the kerfuffle around Tom Cotton's editorial in "The New York Times." But it was in the midst of this cancel culture, wokeism, and everything writ large. What you're now seeing, that is firmly behind us. And this is a new day for media in America and a recognition that this is a far more complex media landscape than ever before.
TAPPER: Now, what I think Bari Weiss's supporters would say would be, she's not conservative. She's a centrist. But she is willing to take on some liberal causes that haven't proven to age well, such as, for example, let's just say all the COVID restrictions or whatever. What -- what do you think?
ALLISON: Well, I think as an owner of a media property, it's really important to have lines between the editorial work and the business side of the work. Because when you are running a media business and you're trying to make money, it can sometimes compromise who you take money from, what type of reporting you do, not to upset your advertisers.
I think in this moment, what we need to, in journalism and in news writ large, we need to make sure that there's an editorial line where we can tell the truth, whether or not it's a popular truth, and it can be separated from the business. And this is, I think, what people are curious to see if she'll be able to do.
TAPPER: The Nobel Peace Prize is going to be announced on Friday. Today, families of the hostages held in Gaza asked the committee to award President Trump with the honor they wrote in a letter, "in this past year, no leader or organization has contributed more to peace around the world than President Trump. He has not merely spoken of peace, he has delivered it." What do you think?
MCHENRY: So this President 47 is different than President 45. You see the unwillingness to deploy troops around the globe, this real willingness to engage in the peace process wherever it may be across the globe. This is the type of presidential ambition that should open up America and say, that's what we want out of our President, to seek peace wherever it may be and to actually help people in harm's way. This should be a welcome thing for everyone.
TAPPER: What do you think? ALLISON: I think the hostage families have been through so much that they are more than deserving to have their own opinion. Doesn't mean I have to agree with them.
TAPPER: Yes. I think it's a little premature right now in terms of the big wars, Gaza and Ukraine. But I mean, there are efforts being made. Maybe we see where we are next year.
MCHENRY: But did you imagine this was going to be Trump -- President Trump's white whale for a second term, that he would seek the Nobel Peace Prize as the prize for a second term?
ALLISON: I think that -- I think --
MCHENRY: That's -- that's -- I think that's in and of itself a different outcome than what everyone expected in the last election.
ALLISON: Fair enough. Aside from the hostage families request, I think that a lot of people are thinking, but what are you doing in Chicago right now? What are you doing in Portland right now? Are you even trying to have peace in your own country? That's the question I have.
TAPPER: Interesting stuff. Thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it. Congrats again on "The Root."
ALLISON: Thank you.
[17:53:45]
TAPPER: That rescue happening on Mount Everest right now after a blizzard stranded hundreds of hikers. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: And we're back with our World Lead and survival stories from near Mount Everest, after hundreds of hikers were trapped by a sudden blizzard, they had to be rescued from the weekend storm. The same system which caused deadly floods and mudslides in Nepal. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is going to take a look for us at how the weather close to the world's tallest peak can change so dramatically and dangerously.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Yaks clearing a path for hundreds of hikers stranded on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest. Firefighters carrying some hikers to safety after a heavy snowstorm pummeled the Himalayas, leaving experienced mountaineers trapped in knee-deep snow.
GARRETT MADISON, FOUNDER, MADISON MOUNTAINEERING: I think this was a big surprise that caught a lot of people off guard.
VAN DAM: October is a favored month for trekkers to visit Mount Everest because of its typical dry and stable weather patterns, but that wasn't the case this weekend. But that wasn't the case this weekend as a tropical infused area of low pressure moved across the region and the Himalayas effectively acted as a wet sponge being pushed against a wall, wringing out all the available moisture in the form of heavy snow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's critical to have a station here on the glacier.
VAN DAM (voice-over): The lack of weather information on Earth's highest mountain has always been a challenge.
DR. BAKER PERRY, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER AND NEVADA STATE CLIMATOLOGIST: We know more about the weather on Mars than we do on the highest peaks of the Himalaya here on our planet.
VAN DAM (voice-over): That's why Dr. Baker Perry and a team of scientists installed weather stations on Mount Everest in 2019 to gain more insight. He says this is the biggest storm observed since they installed the instruments. And these snowfall rates are similar to some of the highest we see in the Western U.S., the blizzard leading some still waiting for rescue.
[18:00:02]
The same storm system hit Nepal. Heavy rains triggered landslides and flooded farms, killing at least 44 people with some still missing.
Derek Van Dam, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
