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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Rep. Glenn Ivey, (D-MD), Is Interviewed About Trump Shares Racist Video, Removes It Amid Backlash; Rep. Kevin Kiley, (R-CA), Is Interviewed About Trump Shares Racist Video, Removes It Amid Backlash, W.H. Downplayed Racist Video Trump Shared, Then Blamed Staffer, Save Act; Uber Found Liable In Rape By Driver, Ordered To Pay $8.5M; Food, Fuel, Electricity Running Low As U.S. Raises Pressure; Trump Declines To Pick Possible 2028 Successor. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired February 06, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right, thanks to my panel. Really appreciate you all being here. Thanks to you at home for watching as well. Don't forget, you can catch more of The Arena tomorrow. The Arena Saturday airs at noon Eastern right here on CNN.

Please do join us. But don't go anywhere right now because Jake Tapper is standing by for "The Lead."

Jake, Super Bowl weekend.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Not excited. Thanks, Kasie. Appreciate it. We'll look for more next week in "The Arena."

[17:00:40]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And of all the times to post that, Black History Month. The Lead starts right now.

What many are calling a new low for President Trump, and those are the Republicans posting a video that includes racist imagery of the Obamas as apes. Ahead, the ridiculous ways the White House tried to spin this not once but twice. Plus, the FBI surging teams to Tucson, Arizona in the search for Nancy Guthrie, beloved mother of "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie. CNN is also on the ground with the very latest. And the $8.5 million lawsuit that holds Uber accountable for the actions of one of its drivers.

How this case could open the floodgates for others.

Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We begin in our politics lead, President Trump facing bipartisan

outrage over racist imagery he posted of the Obamas as apes. A video one might normally hope is confined to just the accounts of trolls in the darkest corners of the Internet. Yet it was shared on Truth Social by the president of these United States to his millions of followers. We don't want to dignify the racist meme itself by giving the video more time than it deserves. We're only going to show it so you can see for yourself. It's a still image from the video depicting former President Barack Obama and former first Lady Michelle Obama as apes, an age old, blatantly racist trope. The song that plays in the background is "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." The post has now been deleted after remaining online for roughly 12 hours. Neither the president nor the White House has apologized for its posting. Initially, the White House not only downplayed it, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement seemed outraged that people were even asking about it.

She said, quote, "This is from an Internet meme video depicting President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from "The Lion King." Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public," unquote. Translation, I guess, hakuna matata, no worries? But first of all, reposting a racist meme is not an excuse for posting something racist. The fact that it was a meme.

Second, he only posted the part of that meme video that featured the Obamas, not any other part of it. Third, one does have to wonder about the worldview of the meme maker given that there are no apes in "The Lion King." For those wondering Rafiki is a mandrill.

The White House found out pretty quickly that the so called accusation that all of those voicing legitimate outrage were actually sharing fake outrage was actually very real. Beyond an outcry from Democrats and Independents, there were Republicans such as Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican senator and a staunch Trump ally who tweeted, "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it," unquote. His prayers were not answered because it was not fake. And Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York also condemned the post, called on Trump to apologize. More Republican senators followed.

And given how often Congressional Republicans claim to have not seen an offensive tweet or they try to change the subject or they pretend to be on their phones, all of that blowback suggested that the initial White House excuse was just not cutting it. So lo and behold, the White House response changed, as it often does. Just before noon, the White House released a new statement saying, quote, "A White House staffer erroneously made the post it has been taken down," unquote. The White House did not answer my question as to which staffer it was. Is the staffer in the room with you right now?

So the president, who takes pride in his late night Truth Social posting and reposting sprees, just happened to have a staffer pinching -- pinch hitting for him last night in that posting spree and it just happened to contain a racist video. Now some of us are old enough to remember when President Trump took ownership for his late night posts on Truth Social or Truths to the point that he was distinguishing between what he truthed and what he retruthed. When I say some of us are old enough to remember that it was two days ago.

[17:05:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM LLAMAS, NBC BEWS ANCHOR: But you tweeted out some theories about Italians and satellites. I mean, do you believe that stuff?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, no, no. No. I -- no, I didn't -- I sometimes will retruth.

LLAMAS: Yes.

TRUMP: I'll retruth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So the White House, after they initially defended the post and said the outrage was fake, is now blaming some nameless, faceless staffer. If this person exists, who was supposedly truthing on the president's account just before midnight last night. They continue the same approach on another front. The FBI seizure of 2020 ballots from the elections office in Fulton County, Georgia. Remember, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was there at that search, despite questions over whether it's appropriate for her job as Director of National Intelligence. So why was she there?

In a letter to Congress, Gabbard initially said she was there at the request of the President. Then the president claimed he had no idea why she was there. Then the president later said she was there because the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, told her to be. And today, Bondi weighed in by not answering the question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: DNI Gabbard and I are inseparable. I'm not going to talk about any other details of that matter right now because Georgia's a very important issue to us. She was there. We're inseparable. That's all I'll say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I've never actually seen them together for what it's worth. The Trump administration communication cycle, or what you might call a circle of life, is this. The president puts out something wild, if not offensive. He creates confusion. Then they cast doubt, they point fingers until the American people give up and move on.

But the president typically tells on himself. Just listen to his words and look at what he posts.

Let's get some reaction. With me now, Democratic Congressman Glenn Ivey of Maryland.

Congressman, what was your reaction when you saw what the president posted?

REP. GLENN IVEY (D-MD): Well, I mean, it is racist, it's shocking, it's sickening, you know, and we should all be disgusted by it. But I think we also need to make sure we're not distracted by it as well. I mean, the president's had a very bad series of weeks here and, you know, some of the things you just pointed out, but also, you know, losing that Texas Senate race, the beating they took on the healthcare piece and continue to take because they've allowed the healthcare tax credits to expire with respect to ICE and the killings that have taken place and the detentions and how that's flipped the issue on him, they're now way underwater. I think the 65 to 70 percent of Americans disapprove of the way he's handling that situation. And there are others like that, too.

You know, the economy. He's failing to focus on bringing down the high cost and increasing costs of things like rent and groceries and utilities. And the American people are like, wait a second, we voted for you to try and address those issues. You're dealing with everything else but that. We don't even have to bring up the Epstein files, right?

So, you know, there's a lot going on that's bad for the Trump White House, you know, and frequently these types of things pop up when things are, you know, at a low. But I think he's going to continue to go low, and I think they're going to continue to get worse for him. I think -- I think the public's tiring of this. Even the MAGA die hard I think losing some patience for all this kind of nonsense.

TAPPER: What was your reaction when you heard the White House first try to act as though this was no big deal and the outrage was fake, and then they took it down and blamed a nameless, faceless staffer? What was your response to that?

IVEY: I mean, the parallels are pretty striking. If you look back on the ICE killings of Good and Pretti, for example, the first things that came out of Noem's mouth or Stephen Miller, you know, they're terrorists or, you know, and, you know, they were there to kill ICE agents and everything. And then the videos came out. And so it was clear that what they were saying was either just a lie or, you know, they hadn't checked the facts before they made the statements. Then they backed away from that.

Then Trump marginalized her and the effort to try and bring home and in and the like. Same kind of stuff that we're seeing right here. They know they've kind of stepped in it, so to speak. They want to try and move on from it. But, you know, Trump can never take responsibility for mistakes that he's made so they try and blame it on other people.

But, you know, everybody's starting to see through it now at this point.

TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Glenn Ivey, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it.

Let's get reaction now from a Republican. California Congressman Kevin Kiley is with me.

Congressman, do you think President Trump, they've now taken down that truth or whatever. Do you think the president needs to apologize to the Obamas that the fact that either he posted this or a staffer did?

REP. KEVIN KILEY (R-CA): Yes, that's what I do. I mean, this is, you know, extremely offensive, extremely inappropriate imagery, has absolutely no place in our country, goes 100 percent contrary to values that all of us here share.

[17:10:08]

TAPPER: The White House initially blamed -- well, just -- the White House initially said this was no big deal. It's just a meme. The outrage is fake. And then Republicans started expressing outrage, Republican members of Congress. And then they said, oh, they took it down and said, oh, it was a staffer. Do you buy that? KILEY: I don't know. I mean, I looked at the video and it seemed to

come in just for a second at the end of some totally unrelated video. So I don't have any idea how it actually ended up getting there, but however it did, I'm very glad that it's been taken down. And that sort of thing has absolutely no place in our public discourse.

TAPPER: So let's turn to President Trump's recent calls for Republicans to take over elections in 15 Democrat or battleground areas. The White House and Speaker Johnson have repeatedly tried to defend the president's call, which would obviously be unconstitutional, by saying that actually the president is just referring to the SAVE Act, which strengthens requirements on voter ID for elections. That is not what he said. He didn't even mention the SAVE Act when Kaitlan Collins asked him about it. He said Republicans should take over the voting in places he lost.

But I know that you support the SAVE Act. I want to ask you a question in a second about what it does, but is that related? Do you see how this is related? KILEY: Well, I would think so, because, I mean, I know that he has

been championing the SAVE Act for quite some time, and we've already passed it in the House of Representatives. And the principal at the heart of the SAVE Act, voter id is something he's spoken about a lot. And frankly, is something that I think makes a lot of sense. You look around the world, upwards of 90 percent of democracies require voter idea. The idea that you wouldn't have it would probably seem bizarre to most people living in democracies around the world.

Most states have it as well. And this is something that falls within Congress's authority under the Elections Clause when it comes to federal elections. You know, similarly, I'm sponsoring a bill to reform redistricting so we don't have gerrymandering anymore in congressional elections. That is another example of something that falls under Congress's authority with the Elections Clause.

TAPPER: So on the SAVE Act, there are concerns, I mean, I hear what you're saying, and I know that polls suggest that most Americans, including most Democrats, support voter id, but there are concerns from critics that it could make it harder for some legitimate groups of people to vote, U.S. citizens, people who don't have driver's licenses, anyone whose current legal name differs from their birth certificate, people who don't have the money to travel internationally so they don't have passports. Is there anything in your legislation that could help those individuals so they are able to vote?

KILEY: Yes. So I think that whatever cross section of the American electorate you look at, any of those groups that you just mentioned, I think that polling shows they all do support voter ID. But to answer your question directly, you know, there are provisions saying, for example, that if you're voting by mail and you're in a state that has basically cross checked its voter rolls against the federal database, then you don't necessarily need to provide proof of citizenship directly when you cast your ballot. But I will say this is just a common sense solution. And, and there are documented cases where things don't go as they should.

In California, you know, recently someone was arrested because their dog voted in several elections. Then the dog died and kept getting a ballot. So, these are just kind of basic weaknesses that shouldn't exist in a well-functioning democracy that don't exist in other democracies around the world. And I think it's time to pass this as well as, by the way, pass redistricting reform so we don't have gerrymandering. I think those two things together could form a viable bipartisan deal that would assure fair elections in this country.

TAPPER: Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley of California, thanks so much, sir. Appreciate it.

Coming up, what could be a new trouble sign for Republicans in the Senate as they look to hold majority control. But first, we have some breaking news in that tragic disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie. The FBI is investigating a new note allegedly from the kidnappers. We're going to get the latest on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:18:00]

TAPPER: Breaking news in the national lead and the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie. The FBI and Pima County Sheriff's department in Arizona say they're aware of a new message about Nancy Guthrie. CNN's Ed Lavandera is outside the Guthrie home in Pima County, Arizona.

Ed, what are you learning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. Well, Jake, this is all starting to unfold, but CNN affiliate KOLD here in Tucson is reporting that it has received a second message that has been forwarded to investigators. And then shortly after that, officials here in Tucson releasing this statement which I'll just read to you. It says the FBI and Pima County Sheriff's Department are aware of a new message regarding Nancy Guthrie. Investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity.

While this one new piece of information, the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's department are still asking anyone with tips to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. The FBI continues to offer a 50 -- $50,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie. This clearly incredibly significant at this moment because it comes almost 24 hours after that 5:00 p.m. deadline that FBI investigators had said was established in one of the first communications from these ransom notes. And it also comes almost 24 hours after Cameron Guthrie, Nancy Guthrie's son and the brother of Savannah Guthrie, released the latest statement at that deadline, which was released right at 5:00, saying please reach out to us, that they want to establish proof of life. They want confirmation that Nancy Guthrie is indeed still alive.

We do not know clearly at this moment what the contents the of that letter are or whether or not investigators here in the coming hours or days might be willing to share what is in those letters. And I know that some of the news media outlets that have received them have been very careful to exactly what parts of the letters they decide to share. So all of this beginning to unfold. And this is where we're at right now trying to process this latest information. Jake.

[17:20:15]

TAPPER: Ed, is the search for Nancy Guthrie extending into Mexico Considering the U.S. Mexico border is about 60, 65 hours away from Tucson? LAVANDERA: Yes, that has been asked of the sheriff several times this

week. And they've been kind of careful around it. They said they don't have any indication that is indeed what has happened. And they've also been very quick, I think in a lot of times when they're asked questions like this about what the range of possibilities or explanations might be for her abduction, very careful to kind of leave all of the options open. They say they don't want to rule any possibility out, that they continue to investigate anything and everything that might explain where Nancy Guthrie might be.

TAPPER: All right, Ed Lavandera in Arizona, thank you so much.

If you have any information you think might help crack this case, no matter how big or small you think this information might be, please call the Pima County Sheriff's Department at 520-351-4900. That's 520- 351-4900. Or contact the FBI, 1-800-CALL-FBI or you can reach the agency online at tips.fbi.gov.

Ahead here on The Lead, the $8.5 million lawsuit that holds the rideshare company Uber responsible for the actions of one of its drivers. Does this case set a new precedent?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:41]

TAPPER: In our law and justice lead, in a federal case that may well serve as a bellwether, a jury ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to Jaylynn Dean. Jaylynn Dean sued the company successfully because she says her Uber driver raped her in 2023 during a ride from her boyfriend's house to her hotel in Tempe, Arizona.

Now, the ride sharing giant Uber has long maintained that it is not liable for any misconduct of any of its drivers. They say they are independent contractors, not employees. But the jury rejected that defense, and that sets the stage for potentially thousands of similar cases.

Joining us now is Jaylynn Dean and her attorney, Rachel Abrams. And, Jaylynn, let me start by saying I know it's not fun to talk about, like the worst thing that ever happened to you, and I'm sorry for that. But it is significant and it is important and potentially it will allow others to get the accountability that you may feel you got. Do you feel the settlement has brought in any positive sense to you? Obviously, closure is not the right word, but vindication or an ability to hold the company accountable.

JAYLYNN DEAN, PLAINTIFF: I am just feeling a lot of emotions. It has definitely been a journey, but I think the biggest thing is that it just feels great to know that a jury heard me and that they believe me. I know closure isn't the right word, but I do feel somewhat of a sense of closure from it.

TAPPER: Rachel, your team was seeking $144 million in damages. A spokesperson for Uber said, quote, "This verdict affirms that Uber acted responsibly and has invested meaningfully in rider safety" because it was 8.5 million, not 144 million. Why do you think the jury awarded what's still a sizable fee and also the fact that they made them pay anything is significant? But why do you think it was 8.5 million, not 144 million?

RACHEL ABRAMS, JAYLYNN DEAN'S ATTORNEY: Well, of course, were seeking punitive damages, which was a large portion of that amount for the conduct of Uber, but that was not awarded. But we do feel like justice was served for Jaylynn Dean and they found Uber liable for the parent agency claim and for allowing a driver to assault Jaylynn that evening. And they found them liable and she was awarded compensation for that.

TAPPER: And Jaylynn, when you took the stand, you said, quote, "I'm doing this for other women who thought the same thing I did, that they were making the safe and smart choice, but that, you know, there are risks of being assaulted," unquote. You were making the safe choice because you had -- you'd been drinking that night and so you wanted to get home safely and legally. The same Uber spokesperson said, quote, "We will continue to put safety at the heart of everything we do," unquote. Do you believe that spokesperson? And do you think women or girls should be afraid of taking Ubers by themselves?

DEAN: I think with me, I thought that I was making the smart choice that night. I think the biggest Uber just needs to make people aware of these. I wasn't aware of those (inaudible). I think said the main thing is I didn't just do this for myself, I was doing this for other women. Yes.

I think the biggest thing is that they shouldn't be marketing themselves (inaudible) and that instead of just, you know, saying that it's safe for women, I think you need to act on it. And I think that accountability and transparency matter. And I don't think they -- either of those things.

TAPPER: And Rachel, there are more than 3,000 pending sexual assault and misconduct lawsuits that accuse Uber of systemic safety failures. Not that it's just like a one off here or there, but that it's a systemic problem. How do you see this playing out for Uber and other companies such as Airbnb or Lyft that are also part of this product sharing experience?

ABRAMS: Yes, well, I can speak to the rideshare industry and how I see it playing out, which is we need change there. There have been problems. The start of these rideshare companies, including with regards to how they handle safety and prevention of these assaults from happening. And I believe that this Jaylynn Dean, as courageous as she's been throughout this whole experience, including litigation, has set the stage for other survivors to come forward and tell their stories and be brave enough to litigate.

[17:30:12]

And, yes, there's probably over 400,000 -- 4,000 total, including in the multi district litigation in California, as well as state courts around the country that are being litigated right now. And that's probably a tip of the iceberg, if you want to know, because sexual assault survivors don't typically come forward right away with their assaults.

So I think we're going to see a lot more people coming forward. And I think this problem, unfortunately, is growing instead of decreasing Intel, Uber and other ride share companies make the changes too.

TAPPER: Thank you both for being here today. Thank you both for trying to make the world safer for my wife and daughter. Appreciate it.

ABRAMS: Thank you.

TAPPER: Ahead, where you have to make an appointment online and wait about four weeks just for a fill up at the gas station, four weeks. And that's not the only shortage we're going to take you there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:35:18]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, it's a case of justice delayed but no longer denied. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced today that the FBI has arrested a man she calls a key participant behind the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans died in that attack.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens and State Department employee Sean Smith, as well as former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, who were serving as security guards. The man accused in this case, Zubayr Al-Bakoush, was picked up overseas. Attorney General Bondi wouldn't say where and taken to the U.S. earlier today. He's charged with murder, attempted murder, terrorism and arson.

Also in our Law and Justice Lead, a Maryland man has been charged with attempting to murder Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought at his home, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The suspect, Colin Demarco, was arrested last month in connection with the incident, which happened in August 2025. The spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget tells CNN that Vought's family is grateful for the work of law enforcement in keeping the OMB director and his family safe.

Turning to our World Lead, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum today announced that her country will join the U.S. in sending humanitarian aid, including food to Cuba. Not only is food, oil and gasoline running low there, Cuban citizens are caught in the middle of a diplomatic squeeze between its government and the United States.

CNN's Havana bureau chief, Patrick Oppmann looks at why and how ordinary Cubans are trying to cope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the U.S. attack on Venezuela to capture Nicolas Maduro, over 100 people were killed, among them 32 Cuban soldiers operating there in secret.

Now Cuba's closest ally and more importantly its biggest oil supplier appears to be under de facto American control. And this is sending a chill through Cuban society about what may be next.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Cuba is really a nation that's very close to failure.

OPPMANN (voice-over): It is a prediction many U.S. presidents have made. But the revolution founded by Fidel Castro has endured.

I've been a foreign correspondent in Cuba for 14 years. And I want to find out what the operation in Caracas means for the future of 9 million Cubans who live in this island nation.

The Cuban government received the remains of their fallen soldiers from Venezuela with a hero's welcome after decades of denying their presence there. Thousands of people lined the streets that day and waited hours to pay their respects.

OPPMANN: This direct confrontation between the U.S. and Cuban soldiers, that's not something we've seen for decades. And it's left many people here wondering, you know, the loss of their ally in Venezuela, how is that going to impact them?

OPPMANN (voice-over): Outside in the line, I meet Iliana Medrano.

OPPMANN: What would happen if there was an invasion of Cuba by U.S. troops?

ILIANA MEDRANO, CUBA RESIDENT (through translator): We would confront whatever comes. We don't know what will happen, but we are willing to die.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Cubans are no strangers to economic hardship. Since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, they have weathered America's embargo and their own government's disastrous economic missteps. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Venezuela emerged as Havana's lifeline.

Cuba sent thousands of doctors, teachers, sports trainers, as well as military and intelligence officials to Venezuela in return for oil. OPPMANN: Now with Maduro in jail and out of the picture, it's not clear if Venezuela can or will continue the oil shipments that the Trump administration has vowed to block.

OPPMANN (voice-over): To make matters worse, Havana's second largest oil supplier, Mexico, has also reportedly suspended oil shipments. Already we are witnessing the impacts, it can take weeks to get a spot in a gas line using an online system. Gerardo tells me he's waited 29 days.

GERARDO (through translator): I'm glad I was selected today, because I don't know if I will be next time.

OPPMANN (voice-over): As night falls, many here will be left in the dark. And so longer and longer apagones, blackouts, are becoming the new normal.

In many parts of the island, the power is off more hours a day than it is on. The Trump administration vows the pressure will continue on Cuba. For now, the Cuban government is defiant, calling for one of the largest demonstrations outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana in years.

MIGUEL DIAZ-CANEL, CUBAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Cuba does not have to make any political concessions.

OPPMANN (voice-over): For those of us who cover the normalization of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba under the Obama administration, there's a sense of whiplash.

[17:40:06]

OPPMANN: I've even heard from a U.S. Embassy source that diplomats there have been advised to, "have their bags packed" as the Trump administration explores new ways to stabilize the Communist-run government.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Patrick Oppmann for the report. By the way, when CNN -- contacted by CNN, the U.S. State Department said it would not comment on internal meetings, but there were no indications of any embassy drawdown in Havana as of now.

Coming up on The Lead, a CNN exclusive, the secretary of the U.S. Navy has ties to the Epstein files. We'll tell you how.

And what a sighting at the Olympics could foreshadow about the presidential race in 2028.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:45:10]

TAPPER: Look who is front and center at the 2026 Winter Olympics today. That is Vice President J.D. Vance and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Interesting. The pictures might raise the question if they will team up, but not in the slalom. I'm talking about the 2028 Republican presidential ticket. The panel is here.

So this is not me just making it up. President Trump has talked about this. He talked, in fact, about this as the two of them would be an unstoppable ticket. Here's what he said when asked who should top the ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I don't want to get into this. We have three years to go. I don't want to. You know, I have two people that are doing a great job. I would say one is slightly more diplomatic than the other. I think they're both a very high intelligence. I do think this the combination of J.D. and Marco would be very hard to be beaten, I think. But you never know in politics, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That's the most diplomatic I've seen President Trump in years. What do you think?

BRYAN LANZA, FORMER SR. ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: Well, anything is possible. It clearly would be a strong ticket. You know, there are some folks who are part of Team J.D. to think a woman would be good on the ticket because you have a lot of women voters who left because -- Republican women voters who stayed home were left because of Trump's behavior.

I think a woman would help soften that and be a good thing. But listen, I think the good news is, is that we have a bevy of candidates that would be a good vice president nomination to J.D.'s presidential run.

TAPPER: So I know the Democrats also have a bevy.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN COMMENTATOR: Yes.

TAPPER: Is there -- who do you think would be the easiest for Democrats to beat?

FINNEY: Look, honestly, I think any candidate who is not going to make a break with Trump is going to be easier to beat than you might think, particularly given I mean, look at John King's reporting, where we're already hearing about the sort of exhaustion people are feeling about, again, governance by tweet. The whole, you know, what we've been talking about today with this racist tweet from President Trump, his actions around ICE. You're seeing again, people are being reminded.

TAPPER: So let me interrupt.

FINNEY: So, yes.

TAPPER: So which of those two between J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio would have the easier time breaking with Trump, do you think? I mean, they're both very important members of the administration.

FINNEY: Of course. Probably Rubio.

TAPPER: You have the easier time.

FINNEY: Yes, because Vance has so aligned himself and he's been one of the primary people to come out again and again to try to, you know, explain it or say, oh, it's OK, it was a joke when we've every time we've seen, you know, in this iteration of Trump, a gaffe. He seems to, you know, kind of laugh it away or explain it away.

TAPPER: Do you agree? I mean, he is -- he's more online, J.D. Vance, than Marco Rubio. That's fair to say.

LANZA: Yes. They have different roles, right? Like the role of the vice president is much different than the role of the secretary of state in the role of vice president to provide tremendous amount of support to the president, you know, in spite of whatever gaffes may take place to push the domestic agenda. And Rubio's is just happens to be a different role.

I think at the end of the day, you know, having seen them interact in the campaign in 2016, to me, it's pretty clear that President Trump has a much closer relationship with J.D. Vance values his opinion beside foreign policy, besides domestic. And I think, you know, as the party as a whole, we're excited about these options. But you're right.

You know, the presidential campaign in 2028, the Republican candidate, who I think is going to be J.D., the question every reporter is going to ask him every morning is, how do you feel about Donald Trump's latest tweet?

TAPPER: Right.

LANZA: And they're also may ask him, how do you feel about Tucker Carlson's latest tweet? That's an off message thing that's going to be very difficult for him to navigate. And we're trying to figure it out now.

FINNEY: But he's also going to get asked, OK, where the place like we saw with Kamala Harris. It's not unfair to say, what would you do differently?

TAPPER: Yes.

FINNEY: How would you do it differently? And that will mean having to distance yourself or not from I mean, if this is where we are in the beginning of 2026, where we're doing, you know, truth socialing.

TAPPER: Yes.

FINNEY: The Obamas as monkeys and apes.

TAPPER: Yes, yes.

FINNEY: I mean, Trump said we got three more years. You know, he's going to have a lot.

TAPPER: Let me ask you, what was your take on that? You wake up and you see this and the President has now -- we should note, he's taken it down, but they gave two explanations first with Karoline Leavitt basically saying this is a fake story. It's fake outrage. Shut up. She didn't say shut up. You know what I mean? And then, oh, no, it's the fault of an aide that did this.

FINNEY: Yes.

TAPPER: What was your response to it all?

FINNEY: There's a little boy who's been on local news. He's been bullied. He's been called the N-word. It's been horrible. And he pushed the person who treated him that way and he got in trouble. But the kids have been bullying him, haven't. And I thought to myself, you know, when the President of the United States is doing that, it makes it a lot harder to keep that kid safe because children are watching and they think, oh, well, that must be OK. It must be OK to do those kinds of things and say those kinds of things.

Most importantly, because you don't he didn't come out and say, you know what, that was wrong. Even if -- I don't believe that it was a staffer, let's just say that. But even if I did, you would want the President of the United States to say that's not right. And he didn't do that.

[17:50:08]

TAPPER: Well, that's not his style. What was your take?

FINNEY: Yes. But that matters.

TAPPER: I'm sure you were not pleased with it.

LANZA: I saw it on my phone. I just threw the phone. It's like, here we go again. We have the opportunity to talk about, you know, domestic issues with these American people care about. And now we're talking about this. So I felt, you know, listen, there are many times in Trump world that you wake up and you look at the phone and you're just like, oh, it's going to be that type of day.

TAPPER: Yes.

LANZA: And I saw that as like, oh, it's going to be that type of --

TAPPER: Goddamn, I'm booked on time.

LANZA: Yes, that was my next response. And I immediately send a message to my friends in the White House like, you know, guys like this is going to be difficult. And they're like, it'll soothe over. I think it's going to soothe over.

TAPPER: So and it doesn't help Republicans who are running for office this November, right? They're annoyed. That's why you saw so many of them relatively distancing themselves, attacking whether it's Tim Scott or some of the others. There is this question now about whether the Senate is actually in play. Private polling has Republicans worried they could lose control of the Senate, which they currently have a 53 to 47 majority.

So Democrats need to take four seats. One Republican who reviewed the polling told Axios, "A year ago, I would have told you we were almost guaranteed to win the Senate. Today, I would have to tell you it's far less certain." And the polling says Republicans aren't just facing tough races in the battlegrounds, but also redlining states, if not solid red states. Alaska, Iowa, Ohio. Obviously, Maine is going to be a race. Do you agree?

LANZA: Yes. Listen, I think a year ago we felt good about the Senate. I've sat down with many senators in the past couple of months. And they're worried about Ohio. They're worried about Texas. I mean, we could have a problem in Texas if the wrong Republican nominee wins.

TAPPER: Right. If Cornyn loses in the primary.

FINNEY: Yes.

LANZA: If Cornyn loses and if Talarico wins. You know, that's scary in both. Jasmine doesn't have a chance. But --

FINNEY: I don't agree with that.

LANZA: But both races in Michigan or I'm sorry, both races in Ohio and in Texas. Those are half billion dollar races each.

TAPPER: Yes.

FINNEY: Yes.

LANZA: It's a lot of money that we're that we're going to try to just to hold the Republican coalition together. It becomes very expensive fast.

FINNEY: Well, particularly if the economy doesn't turn around pretty dramatically, pretty quickly, because, again, people were willing to see past a lot of things they knew they didn't like about Trump because they thought, oh, well, at least the economy is going to get better. And the data that we're seeing over and over again is actually tariffs are increasing costs and grocery costs are still too high and health care costs are high.

And so unless Republicans have some way to get that under control, I don't see how you're going to be able to convince people that you deserve more power.

TAPPER: So the President had strength when he was elected on to two issues that helped him win the economy and immigration. Obviously, the economy is where it is. Immigration right now, the President has slipped on that issue, even though the border is closed, because the immigration story has become what is CBP and ICE doing in the streets of Minneapolis as opposed to look at all these bad guys that we locked up. There is, of course, a risk for your party. Some would say that you guys go too far and say abolish ICE and do all the stuff that made this a winning issue for Republicans in the first place.

FINNEY: Yes. You know, I think that's why you're seeing Democrats focus on what are the responsible things that we could do to rein ICE in. There will certainly be some candidates who may call for that. But even when we were fighting for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, I didn't work with women Trump voters who said, well, who's not for accountability? Who's not for some of this stuff? So it's going to be really hard, particularly given the images we're seeing, I think, to make a credible argument that a judicial warrant, for example, is an important.

TAPPER: All right. Thanks to both of you. Really good. You got out OK. I'm sorry.

LANZA: There you go. No, it's all right.

TAPPER: And so to me, it's Karoline Leavitt gets mad at us for reporting it. Tell him to stop tweeting it.

LANZA: I wake up. I saw the phone. I was like, come on.

[17:53:46]

TAPPER: We're following breaking news in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Authorities acknowledging now the existence of a new message. This one day after the latest message from the family to the possible abductors. What we're learning ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our National Lead, much of the country needs to brace for a blast of Arctic air this weekend. In parts of the northeastern United States and the mid-Atlantic, it will feel like 21 degrees below zero. Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Jake, there's more than two dozen locations that could end up breaking record temperatures this weekend, but for different reasons. Out to the west, it's for record high temperatures.

In the east, those afternoon temperatures are going to be at record low levels. And for some of these areas, it's going to continue into Sunday. That means any of this moisture that comes in later on this evening or even into Saturday and Sunday is going to be in the form of snow just because of that bitter cold air that is kind of hovering around the Great Lakes, as well as the northeastern region.

But it's also going to be windy. Some of those wind gusts, 20, 30, 40 miles per hour. That's going to take those air temperatures and make them feel even colder. Portions of Michigan, even into the northeast, you're looking at some of those wind chills in the negative teens. Then we go into Sunday and into Monday where those numbers are going to drop back even more for some of those locations. All the warm air that's out to the west, some of these areas are looking at 20 degrees above average. Take Denver, for example. Mid-40s is where they normally would be. They're going to be in the mid-60s. Even Los Angeles looking at temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above normal. But that warm air is going to start to spread eastward as we head into next week, allowing a few more folks, especially the Midwest, Mid Atlantic and Southeast, to finally take advantage of some of that warmer air.

But it's likely going to take until Tuesday or Wednesday before we really start to see those temperatures jump in a few spots, including Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, even Memphis, all getting those temperatures up to the 70s by mid next week.

[17:59:55]

TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour we are following breaking news in the search for NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy, six days after her disappearance from her Tucson, Arizona home. The FBI now says it's aware of a new message regarding the 84-year-old.