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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Death Toll In Iran Surpasses 1,000 As Israel-U.S. Strikes Continue; New Imagery Suggests U.S. Responsible For Iran School Strike; CNN Enters Iran As Conflict With U.S. And Israel Widens; Russia Is Sharing Intelligence With Iran; House Votes To Subpoena AG Pam Bondi To Testify; Gas Prices Spike To Highest Level In A Year Amid War In Iran; Columbia University Report: 12 Million Girls Under 18 Forced Into Marriage Every Year. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 06, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My God. The namesake Jesse L. Jackson. Well, we going to keep it moving with everybody's favorite auntie. She's here. She's been sitting here patiently just waiting her turn. Can y'all give it up for Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the nation's aunty?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So you have been listening to former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of civil rights icon the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Thousands gathering there in Chicago for the people's celebration, a memorial for Reverend Jesse Jackson, who died last month at the age of 84.

Throughout the service, speakers repeated two of Jackson's most well- known slogans or mottos. Quote, I am somebody and keep hope alive. Jackson was often referred to as an influential civil rights leader known for his activism, his oratory prowess, for opening doors for generations after him. I'm Jake Tapper. Welcome to The Lead.

Let's turn now to our World Lead as we near the end of the first full week of the U. S.-Israeli war against Iran, a war that has already seen the deaths of six U.S. service members, 10 Israeli civilians, and at least 1,200 Iranians, including dozens of grade school girls. We're going to have more on that shortly.

Rather than entirely focusedly treating this war and the resulting casualties and the mounting economic costs from it with the seriousness that a war deserves, rather than acknowledging that those factors make the decision to go to war the most consequential decision that any president can make.

Well, the last day or so, the White House has been in at least one way treating going to war like a game, frivolously releasing what we will charitably call hype videos about their war. Here's the latest video from the White House released just a few hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shit, here we go again. Oh, shit, here we go again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Are you not amused? That's one of the Grand Theft Auto video games placed in between footages of U.S. strikes. In a video posted on Wednesday, the White House used a clip from Call of Duty video game along with more bombing footage.

White House communications director Steven Cheung responded to the criticism over this bonkers video. Writing on X or Twitter, quote, W's in the chat, boys. For those of you unfamiliar, that's gamer slang for celebrating a win. A W.

Now, the White House followed that up last night with a video putting together clips from Hollywood movies and TV shows such as "Iron Man," Star Wars," "Breaking Bad," "Better Call Saul,"

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNDIENTIFIED MALE: Wake up, daddy Saul.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome home, son. Strength and honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Strength and honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will you do without freedom?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mavericks in balance,

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't conceive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It is perhaps worth noting that many of the folks, the characters the White House is lionizing in those clips are actually bad guys, those works of fiction. Walter White from "Breaking Bad." He's a sick drug dealer who, spoiler alert, poisoned a child and killed innocent people. Saul Goodman from "Better Call Saul," twisted criminal enabler who blows up his entire life and gets at least one innocent person killed. Kylo Ren from the "Star Wars" movies. He embraced the dark side, guys. Spoiler alert. He killed his dad. The beloved character Han Solo.

Does the White House even care who the good guys and bad guys are these days? Moments ago, actor Ben Stiller posted this on X. Hey, White House, please remove the "Tropic Thunder" clip. We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine.

As one veteran put it on X about this attitude, quote, sorry to be Debbie Downer. War isn't a video game. The consequences of war are final. I wish we didn't treat it with such a cavalier of course, part of acknowledging the seriousness of taking a country into war is recognizing the immense importance of telling the truth to the American people.

But instead, we are seeing this administration lob baseless smears and accusations against anyone who dares to question them. CNN's Fred Pleitgen along with his photojournalist Claudio Otto are bravely reporting from inside Iran.

[17:05:05]

We're going to hear from them soon and about how they're able to report from there. CNN is the first U.S. network reporting from inside the country since the start of the war. These are two incredibly courageous, honest journalists taking a big risk to bring the world reports from inside a war zone to show the world what it looks like. They're not advocating for the Iranian government. They're just showing the world what Iran looks like.

But the Trump administration apparently finds they're reporting something to be attacked. Dylan Johnson, who's, I suppose an assistant secretary for the State Department, he wrote on X, quote, CNN, appears to now be doing straight up pro-Iran regime propaganda because someone gave this guy a coffee. Let's play the clip that the State Department is using to make this claim of pro-Iran propaganda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Taking a quick break for a coffee. Along the way, we've been driving for several hours. There's a couple of things that we've noticed. Number one is that first of all the shops are open. All the shops are really well stocked, even with fresh things like for instance, fruits and vegetables. Coffee obviously also available as well.

And then also the gas stations. There's no long lines as gas stations. Fuel seems readily available and you just don't see any sort of degree of panic anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We've seen this movie before, haven't we? As long as we're in a film motif, a reporter says what they're seeing on the ground, noting the availability of goods in this one journalism and accused of being pro Iran, pro enemy for just bringing journalism to the public.

We also saw this week White House press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lash out at CNN's Karoline Collins for -- Kaitlan Collins, rather for asking about a rather notable statement from the secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, about the deaths of six American service members that the media was covering. Hegseth said, quote, when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it's front page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad, unquote.

Of course, the media for decades has covered prominently the death of service members in war. Kaitlin asked the White House about it. Here's some of that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We expect you to cover that as you should, Kaitlan. But you and your network know that you take every single thing this administration says and tries to use it to make the president look bad. That is an objectable fact. KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I

don't think covering troop deaths is trying to make --

LEAVITT: If you're trying to --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Attacking the press for asking questions about why the U.S. is involved in a war in the Middle East. We've seen it before. Trump, by the way, got elected in 2016 in no small part by telling voters that he'd always been a critic of the Iraq war, which is questionable. But in any case, we did see more than 20 years ago what it's like when too many people in the news media cower in the face of White House intimidation and refrain from asking questions. How'd that work out?

One of those questions that demands answers, of course, is why the Trump administration is easing sanctions on Russia at the same time that sources with U.S. intelligence tell CNN that Russia is providing Iran with information about the locations and movements of our service members and of our assets in the region.

We're going to have more on that in a few minutes. The decision to go to war is the most serious one that any president can make. Lives of innocents are already being lost. Lives of service members are being lost. Even if you think the mission is completely righteous, it is gravely serious business. It is not a video game.

And on the deadliest scenes of war, CNN is among news outlets reporting that it may have been a strike from the United States that hit an elementary school in southern Iran, killing some 168 grade school students and 14 teachers. The investigation is ongoing. CNN's Isobel Yeung has an early CNN analysis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly a week after a strike killed scores of students in Iran's Minab, it seems more and more likely that was responsible. A new satellite image shows an Iranian Revolutionary Guards base and an elementary school in southern Iran.

Here you see craters in several of the buildings, including the school. They were hit in their exact centers, suggesting precision strikes. Experts say a wall separates the school and the base. Satellite images from December show dozens of people in what appears to be a handball court at the school.

Reuters now reports that U.S. military investigators believe U.S. forces were responsible, though they haven't yet reached a final conclusion.

N.R. JENZEN-JONES, DIRECTOR, ARMAMENT RESEARCH SERVICES: It paints a picture of multiple simultaneous or near simultaneous strikes. And it looks like these were delivered with explosive munitions, probably air delivered. I think the most likely scenario in this case is that it's a U.S. or Israeli airstrike gone awry. It's probably a targeting failure somewhere in the targeting cycle, an intelligence failure.

YEUNG (voice-over): The Israeli military say they weren't operating in the area.

[17:10:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To date, we've hit over 2,000 targets.

YEUNG (voice-over): American military officials say they carried out extensive strikes in this area and released this map showing strikes in southern Iran. The base and the school in Minab are located here.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we're taking a look at investigating that.

JENZEN-JONES: The damage we've seen is quite significant. It's unlikely it was something like an air defense missile fired by the Iranians, for example.

YEUNG: When we try to assess who is responsible for airstrikes, we typically try to examine the weaponry fragments left behind. But in this instance, there's an Internet blackout in Iran. It's been really difficult to obtain that. And so this investigation is still not conclusive. Isobel Yeung, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Isobel Yeung for that report. In response to CNN's findings, a U.S. Pentagon spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment given the incident is under investigation. As Isobel noted, with communication in the region so Spati (ph), learning what's going on inside Iran is not easy.

But with government permission, CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is in Iran along with producer Claudia Otto, sharing what they can. Today they reported from a rally where thousands of Iranian hardliners showed up to mourn the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a hospital damaged by an airstrike. Here's Fred's report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: Iran's leadership has gathered thousands of people here to Tehran after Friday prayers to voice their anger about the U.S. and Israel's bombing campaign across the country, but of course, also to mourn Iran's late supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And thousands of people have indeed turned out here.

At the same time we have to keep in mind this is just a small snapshot of Iran's society. And the people who come to Friday prayers here in Tehran usually are political conservatives and religious hardliners.

At the same time, it does show that the government here is still able to mobilize masses.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We believe that if we are killed, we are martyrs, meaning that whether we stand by the revolution or become martyrs, both are a victory for us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The blood of our martyr leader has been shed, but his path can continues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With these killings and these martyrdoms, they will not achieve greatness and they will not be able to take even the smallest piece of our land.

PLEITGEN: All this is happening, of course, as the U.S. and Israel continue their massive bombing campaign, not just here in Tehran in the vicinity, but indeed in the entire country. The U.S. says that it's hitting military positions and trying to hit Iran's religious and also political leadership, while the Iranians say at this point in time they are not willing to negotiate with the United States. And they also say that they have a missile supply and drones to carry on military operations for an extended period of time.

So this is the Gandhi Hospital here in Tehran, which was pretty badly damaged after an airstrike. It seems as though a different building was struck in the vicinity. But then this building also was damaged very badly. I spoke to the head of Iran's Red Crescent about this. Here's what he had to say.

PIR HOSSEIN KOLIVAND, PRESIDENT, IRANIAN RED CRESCENT (through translator): Can you imagine if you were hospitalized in one of the wards here while it was attacked, how would you feel?

PLEITGEN: The people on the ground who feel these airstrikes, who hear these airstrikes, hear the jets overhead, but for them, it's a really difficult time to go through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much for that report. CNN is learning extremely concerning news about the safety of American service members in the Middle East right now. Sources with U.S. intelligence reporting that tell CNN that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence about the locations and movements of American troops, ships and aircraft.

Fox asked White House press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about this earlier today. Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: Whether or not this happened, frankly, it does not really matter because President Trump and the United States military are absolutely decimating the rogue Iranian terrorist regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It does matter. Trump White House. Iranian missiles killed six American service members in this war. They're trying to kill many more. Let's bring in Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, what's your response to Karoline Leavitt saying that it

doesn't matter if the Russians are sharing intelligence about the whereabouts of U.S. service members and assets in Iran fighting this?

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): Well, number one, to her point about decimating Iran's military and their ballistic missiles capabilities, that is happening. However, ensuring the safety and well-being of our troops is paramount. And if Russia is in fact doing that, there needs to be severe consequences.

From my vantage point, this unholy alliance that has, you know, permeated the global stage between China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba.

[17:15:00]

This has been going on for far too long and you are seeing the dismantling of it before our very eyes.

TAPPER: What kind of consequences?

LAWLER: And I think Russia - I'm sorry?

TAPPER: What kind of consequences do you think Russia should face?

LAWLER: Well, from my standpoint, I've been advocating for severe crippling sanctions against Russia for years. You know, during the Biden administration, the secondary sanctions should have been put in place. I've been advocating for that during the Trump administration.

I think, you know, the Europeans in particular need to stop purchasing Russian gas. I understand in this immediate moment, there is efforts to ease some of the sanctions from the standpoint of India and others purchasing Russian gas to try and stabilize the global oil trade.

But the fact is Russia and Iran have been in cahoots for far too long. Russia has relied on Iranian drones in their war against Ukraine. And so from my vantage point, as you see what is happening, we are decimating Iran's military capabilities. You've seen very quickly in seven days, their ability to fire off ballistic missiles has declined precipitously.

We are going after their production sites. We are going after their launchers. Their naval fleet has been obliterated. We need to continue that pressure. President Trump is right to go after that and to ensure ultimately that not only do they not have the military capabilities moving forward, but they can never again pursue a nuclear weapon.

TAPPER: So it sounds as though you agree with Karoline Leavitt when she was asked to clarify what she said. And she said, it clearly is not making a difference with respect to the military operations in Iran because we are completely decimating them. So, as she said,

LAWLER: I wouldn't put -- Jake, I wouldn't put words in my mouth. What I said was, she is right that we are decimating their capabilities. I also said, if Russia is, in fact providing intelligence to Iran, which one would surmise they are, given the relationship and their reliance on Iranian drones during their war in Ukraine, if in fact, that is happening, there does need to be consequences to that.

And I fundamentally believe Vladimir Putin is a vile dictator and thug and needs to be held to account for his war crimes that he has committed in Ukraine. I've been very clear on that for years.

TAPPER: As you mentioned, the U.S. eased its sanctions on Russian oil. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. is temporarily allowing India to buy Russian oil. Do you have issues with that? I mean, don't you think that Russia should not be allowed to profit right now as it is helping the Iranians target Americans?

LAWLER: The biggest issue right now with the oil trade is obviously the Straits of Hormuz and getting the flow of oil out, which is part of the reason we are going after the naval fleet of Iran. I have been one of the biggest proponents of sanctioning both Iranian petroleum. It's why I passed the Ship Act with Secretary Rubio when he was in the Senate. It's why when we come back from break next week, I will have another Iran sanctions bill coming forward with respect to gas and oil.

And I fundamentally believe Russia's oil needs to be sanctioned as well. Obviously, in the immediacy, you're dealing with volatility in the oil markets. I think the objective is to try and stabilize that in the short term.

But from my vantage point, again, when you look at what is happening around the globe, when you look at the illicit activity between China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, this is what is being dismantled before our very eyes. And I think Iran is in a very, very weakened state in the moment.

TAPPER: Can you just give me like a yes or no answer? Do you support the temporary easing of sanctions on Russia selling oil to India?

LAWLER: I do not, but I understand why the administration is doing it in this immediate moment given the situation in the Straits of Hormuz.

TAPPER: Got it. Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York, thank you so much. We always appreciate it. Up next, I'm going to talk to a retired colonel who knew four of the six U.S. service members killed in the early hours of this conflict.

And later in the show, the impact of this war on your wallet, at least right now, from retirement accounts wrapped up on Wall Street to the price hikes at the gas pump, Will relief come anytime soon?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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TAPPER: In our World Lead, President Trump is expected to attend the dignified transfer ceremony tomorrow of the six U.S. service members killed Sunday in Kuwait, the Iranian strike on a makeshift U.S. Operations center were killed. Their names, Captain Cody Khork, Sergeant First Class Noah Tietjens, Sergeant First Class Nicole Amor and Sergeant Declan Coady. We've covered them and their losses already.

The Pentagon later released the identity of the two other soldiers killed. 45 year old Major Jeffrey O'Brien of Waukee, Iowa and 54-year old Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan of Sacramento, California.

Joining us now is retired U.S. army Colonel Josef Sujet. He served as Chief of staff to the 103rd Sustainment Command with many of those six service members. Colonel Sujet, I'm sorry for the loss of these soldiers. Your time with some of them dates back years. Let's just start with how are you doing? This is a horrible loss.

COL. JOE SUJET (RET.) SERVED WITH FALLEN U.S. TROOPS IN KUWAIT: Well, it is horrible. And we've served with these soldiers since 2019, or at least four of the six. So it was very devastating to hear about the loss of their lives.

TAPPER: What do you want the world to know about your fallen brothers and sister?

[17:25:00]

SUJET: Well, I think one thing that's important is that four of these six soldiers that I personally knew deployed with us in 2019 and 2020, and that would be Sergeant Tietjens, Sergeant Aor, Chief Marzan, and then Captain O'Brien. And it's not often that you see this many soldiers that served in a combat area or in this case Kuwait, but that would actually go on a deployment, which is obviously difficult on the soldiers and their families, and then decide to actually come back to another deployment five or six years later.

And they did. In my 33 years, I've never seen this many soldiers do that. So it really goes to speak to the camaraderie of the unit, we had a very tight knit unit at that time. And it's really sad because I knew fairly well for these six soldiers.

TAPPER: And these are Iowa National Guards troops, meaning that they are not full time professional soldiers. Right?

SUJET: Well, they're not full time soldiers, but they're Army Reserve, not National Guard.

TAPPER: Okay, sorry.

SUJET: There's a difference.

TAPPER: Yes.

SUJET: Tokay. You've got the point correct.

TAPPER: I want to --

SUJET: Which makes that point all the more important.

TAPPER: Yes. I mean, it means that they give up weekends, they give up weeks to train and to do these missions, but they have lives back in Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, et cetera.

SUJET: Yes, that's very true. And in preparation for these deployments, it's very often that soldiers and units have to prepare for months on end and get called not only for the one year that they're on active duty, but for three to six months in preparation for that and then several months typically afterwards.

So, you know, you've got these soldiers that have civilian lives and it's not that easy to separate from, certainly from your family, but from your civilian life as well.

TAPPER: Colonel Joe Sujet, thank you so much. May the memory of these fallen service members be a blessing. Thank you for spending time with us to talk about them.

SUJET: Thank you for having me, Jake.

TAPPER: Coming up, the documents that mentioned President Trump once missing from the Epstein files. Now back.

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[17:31:47]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, the U.S. Justice Department has released documents involving President Trump that had been missing suspiciously rather for the Epstein -- from the Epstein files. They include FBI memos from three interviews with a woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by then citizen Trump when she was a teenager. The President has consistently denied any wrongdoing. We should note that the inclusion of interviews in the Epstein files is not necessarily evidence of wrongdoing. It is an interview.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed the release of the document, saying in part, "The total baselessness of these accusations is also supported by the obvious fact that Joe Biden's Department of Justice knew about them for four years and did nothing with them because they knew President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong."

As the Trump White House continues to shrug off the scandal, Congress is pushing ahead, voting to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi. The subpoena to testify stems from the House Oversight Committee's investigation into the Epstein files and the federal government's handling of the case against Epstein and his sex trafficking accomplices.

My next guest is a survivor of Epstein, Annie Farmer, joins us now. Annie, let me start off by saying I know asking you about the worst experience of your life is not fun for you. Not really for me either. How are you?

ANNIE FARMER, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Oh, I appreciate that, Jake. I'm doing all right. I'm glad to be with you.

TAPPER: What questions might you have for Attorney General Pam Bondi? FARMER: Oh, I have a lot. You know, I was actually really happy to see

that Pam Bondi has, you know, there was people on both sides of the aisle came together to say that she needs to testify between the House Oversight Committee because I think, you know, when she was in front of the Judiciary Committee, she refused to even acknowledge survivors. The questions that were asked, that there was a lot of, you know, deflection and avoidance.

And so really, you know, we still don't understand how this release of information was so terribly botched when again and again, we see powerful people being protected and information about survivors, you know, not being properly redacted. So I think we have a lot of questions for her.

TAPPER: I'll remind our viewers that when Attorney General Bondi was asked about a matter relating to the Epstein files, she started talking about how the Dow had reached 50,000, and that's what members of Congress should have been focused on.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen across the pond in foreign countries, investigations start, foreign leaders get in trouble, even a former member of the Royals, there has been some accountability for actions related to the case. What does it tell you that the U.S. government is not, at least as far as we know, doing so in terms of investigations and accountability?

FARMER: I think a lot of people are looking at this and wondering why, you know, what is it that's different that's happening here? I mean, we know this was a global conspiracy. So I mean, a global, there were people all over the world involved in this operation. And so I'm glad to see that people are doing things overseas. It makes me hopeful that real investigations could happen. But I do feel frustrated that that's not happening here. I think we need more of that.

[17:35:13]

TAPPER: You were invited to the State of the Union address last week. Tell us about that experience.

FARMER: Yes, I was able to go with Congressman Robert Garcia and, you know, he's been a real champion for this investigation in the House Oversight Committee. So I was glad to be there with him. It was actually pretty challenging, though, to sit through Trump's speech when he -- it seemed like he just had a different vision of the country, that he was presenting a different vision of events.

You know, he of course did not acknowledge any of the survivors that were present and weren't really expecting him to, but were there trying to remind him that we're not going away, that, you know, the United States, I think is very much still interested in getting to the bottom of this and wants answers.

TAPPER: Annie Farmer, thank you so much and best to your sister as well. We appreciate your coming here today and no, it's not easy.

FARMER: Thank you so much for having me. TAPPER: Still ahead, the stunner, many of you are noticing at the gas pump. Gas prices are the highest they've been in nearly a year. We're going to talk to the folks at GasBuddy about what they're seeing, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:33]

TAPPER: A busy day for our Money Lead as markets closed last hour, the Dow posted its worst week in nearly a year. The S&P also had its worst week since October. And the Nasdaq sank about 1.5 percent. This comes after a new jobs report out today showed that the U.S. economy actually lost jobs, 92,000 jobs last month, and unemployment rose to 4.4 percent. Those losses swept across most industries, with deep declines in health care, leisure and hospitality and construction.

In addition, the war in Iran is causing gas prices here in the U.S. to spike to the highest level in nearly a year, according to AAA. Gas is up 7 cents a gallon just today. The average price is $3.32 a gallon, a 34 cent per gallon increase since one week ago. Let's bring in the head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, Patrick De Haan.

Patrick, this is the highest we've seen gas prices in 11 months. Before the war, the Trump administration bragged about, understandably, how gas prices were much lower than they had been. But do you think we're going to see the prices get even higher in the coming days? What are you keeping an eye out for?

PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GASBUDDY: Yes, Jake, that's extremely likely. In fact, looking at live GasBuddy data now, we're ticked up to 338, excuse me, to 339 now in the last just moments. So we continue to go up and this is a pretty expeditious pace. In fact, looking at the top 10 single day increases, we're now seeing two days in the last three days that are on the top 10 single day, largest increases that we've ever witnessed.

So, you know, you hearken back to 2022, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the pace of increases is certainly very brisk, with Americans in many states seeing gas prices up 40, 50, even some metro areas up 60 and 70 cents a gallon.

TAPPER: How high do you think they're going to go?

DE HAAN: Well, I think based on where we are now, the national average could rise another 15 to 25 cents. I would hope that it would stop short of $4 a gallon. But the real question is, when will vessels start transiting the Strait of Hormuz? That's really what oil prices and markets are looking most closely at is when will the resumption of 20 million barrels of oil per day continue through this trade. Until then, gas prices likely continue advancing. Oil prices will likely keep climbing until that oil can move again.

TAPPER: This is the highest gas prices have been through both Trump administrations. Here is how the President typically talks about gas prices. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, right here in Corpus Christi, the price of gasoline is down to just less than actually now $2.30.

I was in a beautiful place called Iowa two weeks ago, $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.

Gasoline is less than $2 in many places a gallon, which nobody expected to see, but I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Obviously, that was before the war. This week, the President told Reuters, "I don't have any concern about it," meaning the gas prices, "they'll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit." What do you make of President Trump's assessment of the prices in the pump and kind of the dismissal of the importance of it?

DE HAAN: Well, Jake, I think there's nothing more visible than gas prices, whether you need it or not. We see it on every street corner on our way to school and work. And it's a little frustrating for the President to maybe illustrate that gas prices aren't going up when many of us have seen gas prices going up every single day or even every single time we drive by the gas station.

We've seen gas stations going up three, four, five times in a single day. So, I mean, it's a very rapid pace here as I described. And you know, to your point, now we continue to see gas prices going back further and further. That is gas prices now at their highest since August of 2024. And I expect that it might get worse over the weekend before it gets any better.

TAPPER: Patrick De Haan, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

[17:44:31]

She was a world famous top executive at Facebook. And years later, Sheryl Sandberg is using her platform to get the word out about an issue she feels the whole world needs to be aware of. And she's going to be joined by a first lady affected by it. That's next.

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TAPPER: In our World Lead, a new report from Columbia University estimates that some 12 million girls under the age of 18 are forced into marriage every year. The report is titled Accelerating Efforts to End Child Marriage. It highlights the root causes of child marriage and potential strategies to end it. This is not just a faraway overseas issue entirely. Here in the United States, at least 34 states allow individuals under the age of 18 to marry with parental consent.

I want to bring in two notable members of Columbia's Child Marriage Advisory Council, First Lady Fatima Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and of course, Sheryl Sandberg, who commissioned the report. First Lady Maada Bio, this is something personal to you because you were married at 12.

FATIMA MAADA BIO, FIRST LADY OF SIERRA LEONE: Yes.

TAPPER: So tell us, what kind of impact can child marriage have on the life of a young girl?

MAADA BIO: Well, the important thing for people to understand is that this is not child marriage at all. This is a form of legalizing rape. You know, when we are talking about an issue as important as this and we're talking about a young girl's life, her life, that she had no consent, she cannot make any decision on how her future is supposed to be like. I think it's not just a human rights abuse, but it is also using the system to legalize rape for young girls.

[17:50:19]

And it is a situation where your dream, you killed your dream. You don't plan for tomorrow, you only plan for the day today. I was lucky. I was lucky not to be part of it 100 percent because we had war in Sierra Leone. So that was the only reason why. I mean, I keep saying to God, you don't want war. But the war is what saved me because if not, I would have been part of that circle. I knew I had been married off completely.

It's just the day they were going to take me to my husband. And from the day I knew about it, I didn't -- I could not plan my life anymore. There was no need to think about school. There was no need to be excited about school. There was no need for me to think about, you know, how my tomorrow is going to be like, all I was thinking about is how am I going to survive this, what I need to do to get out of this.

I mean, if I get out of it, how many people is it going to affect? And I was also worried about my mother's safety because when I make a decision not to be part of the marriage, how is that going to affect my mother in her home because she found herself in a situation where my father was in total control of the decision that she makes. And I have younger brothers and younger sisters that I needed to protect because if I'm not there, my mother is not there. What happened to them?

So it's just one situation where no child should be allowed to go through those things and then have all of that burden to make a decision on issues like this. I think it is wrong. It is a legalized form of rape and it is also a legalized form of slavery. Because it's not only about going there and have sex with somebody you don't want to have sex with, but you're going to be a slave in serving that person, serving their wives, because most of them don't have one wife or two. They have three, four wives.

And then imagine a child coming into a situation like that. You now have to look after the co wives, look after their own children, and you are also a child. What kind of life is that?

TAPPER: Sheryl, this is top of mind in Iran where girls as young as nine can be married off with their father's consent, judicial approval. What are the strategies that could help end this practice?

SHERYL SANDBERG, FOUNDER, LEAN IN AND OPTION B: Yes, I mean, let's talk about how horrific that is. Nine years old. Nine years old. Three things, girls education. Girls need to get all the way through secondary school. When girls are educated, they have economic opportunities outside the home. The second thing is health care, health care access for girls. And the third thing are laws, laws against marriage under 18 and the enforcement of those laws.

The first lady has an incredible example of the laws in Sierra Leone that made it not just legal to get married or to marry your child, but illegal to attend a wedding.

MAADA BIO: Yes. Well, because, you know, the president we have, who is my husband, the current president, Julius Maada Bio, he believes that these are crimes against humanity. And most cases, when we come up with a solution, he implements those solutions. And when we took the bill to Parliament, we did not just take a bill for the perpetrators and the parents that are involved. It's a community thing.

We are talking. They said it takes a community to look after a child. So it take a community also to destroy a child. So everyone who is involved, if you attend the wedding, if you are the DJ at the wedding, if you are the decorator at the wedding, if you are the officiator at the wedding, you are the parent, as long as you are involved in that wedding and you did not ask the age of that child.

And if we find out that child is underage and the child happened to go to the police station, all of you are going to be arrested. And the burden of proof is on you, not on us.

TAPPER: Sheryl, you --

MAADA BIO: Because before you attend those weddings, you should have asked questions.

TAPPER: And Sheryl, your report points out that nearly 315,000 minors in the United States were married between 2000 and 2021. How do you end the practice here in the U.S.?

SANDBERG: Laws. Every state needs a law that's over 18. Everyone in the world needs that law. And the other thing our report does in addition to that is it talks about the economic consequence of this. We estimate with the Center on Global Development that this costs the world $175 billion a year in lost GDP. That's because girls lives are cut short, higher maternal mortality -- higher child mortality, lower workforce participation.

[17:55:06]

And remember, when you marry a 13-year-old, that child often has children of her own and her body is not ready for that. When you think about the health consequences, the moral consequences, this is not an acceptable practice. And in this day of so much polarization of nothing we agree on globally, we all think this is one thing we can all come together on. TAPPER: Sheryl Sandberg --

SANDBERG: Child marriage needs to end.

TAPPER: Sheryl Sandberg and First Lady Fatima Maada Bio, thank you so much. Appreciate your time today.

MAADA BIO: Thank you, Jake.

SANDBERG: Thank you for having us, Jake.

MAADA BIO: Thank you for having us.

TAPPER: Ahead, some tense moments when rockets near the Israeli border with Lebanon flew over the heads of a CNN crew. Jeremy Diamond has his reporting, next.

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[18:00:02]

TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. And we are following breaking news tonight.