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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Sen. Peter Welch, (D-VT), Is Interviewed About Trump: "I Don't Know About" Report That U.S. Was Responsible For Deadly Strike On Iranian School, Key Oil Passage In Crosshairs Of war As Iran Attacks Ships, Democrats Probe Companies Awarded $220M Ad Contract For Ties To Noem; Race To Replace Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green Goes To Runoff. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired March 11, 2026 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. Thank you so much for being with us today. Don't go anywhere. "The Lead" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN BREAKING news.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.
We begin with the breaking news on our world lead. Happening right now is it has become large -- it has begun large scale strikes in the Beirut suburbs. This after the terrorist group Hezbollah and Iran proxy launched what the Israeli military said were dozens of rockets at Israel. We're going to take you there live in just moments.
Meanwhile, we're monitoring another dangerous escalation in the U.S. war on Iran. Projectiles hit four commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. That's of course, the key waterway where global oil traffic has been brought to a standstill by Iran, which claimed responsibility for attacking at least two of those commercial ships, including a Liberian flagged vessel and a Thai flagged bulk carrier. Three of those crew members remain missing.
The other two vessels, according to the U.K. Maritime Organization, were a Japan flagged ship and a Marshall Islands flagged ship. These attacks just days after President Trump, concerned about rising oil prices because of the war in Iran, said that captains and crews of commercial vessels should, quote, "show some guts," unquote, and sail through the strait even with the Iranian threat. Despite the attacks by Iran, President Trump is still encouraging oil tankers to go through the strait, insisting that it is safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think they should. I think they should use the strait. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened in the strait? How do you respond?
TRUMP: Look, we took out just about all of their mine ships in one night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Yesterday, the U.S. military destroyed several of Iran's mine laying boats near the crucial waterway. Sources told CNN that Tehran had begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, though President Trump said today he does not believe Iran has laid any mines in the straits. So as global oil prices continue to rise, member countries of the International Energy Agency are not taking any chances. They have unanimously decided to launch the largest ever release of emergency oil stocks in the agency's history. That's 400 million barrels of oil.
Gas prices in the United States have risen to the highest average price in more than 21 months. That's to $3.58 a gallon. Iran knows this issue puts tremendous political pressure on President Trump who continues to put out vague and sometimes contradictory statements on when this war is going to end. This afternoon the president said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have hit them harder than virtually any country in history has been hit. And we're not finished yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Just a few hours earlier, the President had told Barak Ravid of Axios that the war with Iran will end, quote, "soon," claiming that there's little left to target in the U.S. -- for the U.S. and saying, quote, "Little this and that. Anytime I want it to end, it will end," unquote. All of this as we're learning more about one of the deadliest strikes in the war. That missile that hit the girls school in Iran on the first day of the U.S. attack on Iran, Iran said that attack killed about 192 people, mostly school age girls. Two sources briefed on the preliminary findings of an ongoing U.S. military investigation tell CNN that the report shows that the U.S. accidentally struck that school and killed all those innocent civilians, likely due to outdated information about a nearby naval base.
Earlier, President Trump was asked about these preliminary findings first reported by the New York Times. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the strike on the school in Iran, a military -- a new report says the military investigation has found it was the United States that struck the school.
TRUMP: I don't know about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's go live to Beirut, Lebanon, where CNN's Isobel Yeung is standing by. Isobel, Israel says it has begun large scale -- large scale retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah there. Tell us what you're seeing.
ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, it's a heavy night of bombardment here in Lebanon as Hezbollah has sent a barrage of rockets towards Israeli territory. And Israel has been hitting back hard with an initial wave of strikes towards Lebanon. The IDF have warned residents to evacuate areas like Dahya (ph) in the southern suburbs and warned them not to return anytime soon.
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Last night, in fact, we were woken up around 5:00 a.m. with a heavy airstrike that landed just a few blocks away from the hotel where we're staying in an apartment block here in central Beirut. And so, you know, while the IDF is saying that they are targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, obviously the impact on civilians is also enormous. I mean, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced over the last couple of weeks or the last week or so. You know, were speaking to families today who, you know, had to bring their families, bring their children, everyone in complete disarray. Really half of the city has been turned into a campsite.
We were speaking to a pregnant woman today who said that, you know, she had -- was in utter disbelief that this was happening to her. And she was left in the shelter now, not knowing what future -- what her future holds for herself and her family. Jake.
TAPPER: Let's go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Isobel, thank you so much.
So, Jeremy, two sources tell CNN that Israel is preparing for a potential significant expansion of attacks from Iran and Hezbollah this evening. What are you learning? JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Jake.
We reported that a few hours before what we saw tonight in northern Israel, which was a tremendous barrage of rockets being fired by Hezbollah simultaneously in coordination with Iran. And we have some video of what was, I'm told, according to a military official, was more than 100 rockets being fired by Hezbollah almost simultaneously towards cities in northern Israel. You can see some of those rockets streaking across the skyline there in the north of the country, and Iran also firing missiles at the same time. But we may still be seeing more of the same tonight as Israeli military officials have told us to brace for this potential expansion of Iranian attacks against Israel.
Another possibility, that the Houthis, those militants based in Yemen who are funded in part by Iran, that they could also step off of the sidelines where they've been over the course of this war so far, and also join in firing against Israel. That would be a significant development in this conflict given the Houthis ballistic missile capabilities. But earlier tonight, the Israeli prime minister did sit down with his security team to consult on the matter of this potential expansion. We'll see whether it's just a show of strength by Iran tonight or whether this marks a new phase in this war. TAPPER: And, Jeremy, Iran is increasingly using cluster munitions in its attacks. And you saw some of the damage from cluster munitions firsthand.
DIAMOND: Yes, that's right, Jake. Night after night, we have been watching these cluster munitions streaking across the sky. It looks almost like fireworks, but each of those little orange specks of light are one of these small bombs that are outfitted to the tops of these ballistic missiles and then spread indiscriminately all over residential areas in Israel. I visited the site of one of those impacts, and here's what just one of those small bomblets can do.
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DIAMOND: One of those small bombs struck the roof of this residential building, and you can see the hole is only a few inches wide. And yet this is the kind of destruction that just one of those small bombs can cause. One of multiple impact points and from a single missile.
DIAMOND (voice-over): We confirmed nine separate impacts from that one missile. They include this strike on a Tel Aviv car wash that severely wounded one man and another in a neighboring suburb. The impacts are spread out across seven miles of mostly residential neighborhoods, illustrating why using these munitions in populated areas violates international law.
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DIAMOND: And, Jake, beyond the indiscriminate nature of these weapons, I've spoken with missile and other weapons experts who say that this could be an attempt by Iran to try and pierce through Israel's air defense systems and also to force Israel to expend some of its costly and ultimately finite supply of interceptor missiles. Because even when the ballistic missile is struck that's carrying these smaller bombs, those smaller bombs can still disperse. And then you've got 24 targets, in some cases for the Iron Dome system to try and take down. Much smaller targets, much more difficult to intercept, and obviously posing a new challenge here to Israel's air defense. Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, thanks so much.
And joining us now, Democratic Senator Peter Welch of Vermont.
Senator, what is your response to the findings, the preliminary findings about the strike on the Iranian school? And what would you like to hear from the Trump administration on that subject?
SEN. PETER WELCH (D-VT): Well, first of all, full transparency. I mean, that clearly would be a gross -- a real error. And the military folks themselves have a tradition of wanting to be upfront to make certain that their targeting mistakes are corrected and they don't do that again. So when the president is denying it or not coming forward to be explicit, to take responsibility, to make certain that if this happened and it was an accident because of faulty intelligence, it doesn't happen again and there's accountability. That's what I'd like to see instead of the denialism we got from Hegseth and that don't know what's going on from President Trump.
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TAPPER: What is your biggest concern right now as we see the attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and then, of course, questions about when this war will end and what the exit strategy is?
WELCH: Well, the biggest question is what is President Trump's goal? And the other is what is Prime Minister Netanyahu's goal? And they seem to be in conflict. President Trump has said that the nuclear program is obliterated. He said that the missile program is largely destroyed.
So the question is it on to regime change? His own intelligence tells him that you might get a different ayatollah, but you're not going to get a regime change. Also, that gets you to the point where to follow through, it really does introduce boots on the ground. The second thing is that the Netanyahu approach here seems to be with respect to Iran, that he wants a failed state. We do not want a failed state.
The president may want regime change, but it'll be more ala Venezuela, where it's not total chaos and regime change. So there is what I see to be emerging conflict between the Netanyahu warnings in Iran versus what makes any sense for the United States, where a failed state would be absolutely terrible.
TAPPER: What are you hearing from your constituents in Vermont about gas prices creeping up? Are there any steps that the Senate can take to help average Americans with this increased prices at the pump?
WELCH: Yes, stop the war. I mean, people are freaked out about it. They're really struggling to pay bills. This affordability issue is really a big deal. There is not support going into this war.
This is the most unpopular war that we've had in decades. The president hasn't taken the time to explain to Americans why it's in our national interest to do this. And people see that we're spending billions and billions of dollars on this war, and we just let the premium tax credits allow people to maintain health care to expire. So people are really, really upset about this.
TAPPER: I want to turn to another subject. You and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut are now investigating the three businesses that received that $220 million ad contract. The ad featuring outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. You're asking whether Noem or her senior adviser, Corey Lewandowski, or any other DHS employee financially benefited in any way from the agreements. What have you learned so far?
What is the status of this investigation?
WELCH: You know, the letters are out, but here's what you know. This company that got $143 million wasn't in existence seven days before they got the check. So it's not even in a position to cash the check, let alone do the work. And of course, it was affiliated with Corey Lewandowski, the special advisor to Kristi Noem. So it's very suspicious.
And then another contract went to the husband of her closest confidant in the department -- in the department itself. So there's a lot of smoke there and we suspect there's fire. So she's gone, thankfully, long overdue, but the accountability trail we are going to pursue.
TAPPER: Democratic Senator Peter Welsh of Vermont, thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
Coming up next, we've got exclusive CNN reporting about exactly how Russia is continuing to help Iran hit U.S. targets in the Middle East. Plus, one of the Iranian soccer players who was granted asylum in Australia has now apparently changed her mind. And that act forced officials to scramble to move the other players after she reportedly gave away their secret location to the Iranian embassy. That story's ahead.
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TAPPER: Continuing with our world lead, we have exclusive new reporting on the extent to which the Russians are helping Iran hit back at the U.S. and Israel. This comes despite the chest thumping we keep hearing from Trump administrations such as this from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on CBS's "60 Minutes."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our commanders are aware of everything. We have the best intelligence in the world. We're aware of who's talking to who, why they're talking to him, how accurate that information might be, how we factor that into our battle plans.
MAJOR GARRETT, CBS HOST: Does this put U.S. personnel in any more danger than they otherwise would be? HEGSETH: Well --
GARRETT: The Russian involvement?
HEGSETH: -- no one's putting us in danger. We're putting the other guys in danger. That's our job. So we're not concerned about that. We mitigate it as we need to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: OK. Be that as it may. According to a Western intelligence official, Russia continues to help Iran with advanced drone tactics that it's learned from the war in Ukraine. This reporting comes from CNN Chief International Security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who joins us now live from Jordan.
NPW, Tell us more about what the Russians are up to here.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, we've known for a number of days that U.S. officials have been concerned that the Russians have been supplying sort of general information about where U.S. assets are, even satellite imagery to the Russians to -- sorry, to the Iranians to assist in their attacks. What has one Western intelligence official concerned, increasingly concerned, is that they've gone from that general assistance to something that is referred to as targeting strategies that have been employed by Russia in Ukraine that is being given to Iran. Now, the official I spoke to wouldn't detail exactly what we're talking about here, but it can only really mean one thing, and that is the Russians passing the experience of what they've learned gets through Ukraine's constantly evolving air defenses and giving that to the Iran. This is a night by night learning exercise that Ukrainians go through.
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I've seen, you know, hundreds of drones launched. They appear to be going one way in a group and then they suddenly divert, go in circles to evade Ukrainian air defenses. And sometimes Ukraine's subjected to a thousand of those a night. It's clear that in the Gulf and around the region what has been getting through the often expensive and sophisticated air defenses have been these cheap Shahed Iranian designed but, you know, the Russians are building their own now particular one way attack drones.
We also know from Ukraine's president that he believes Russia is giving missiles to the Iranians and drones as well. And he's also sent some of his experts who are familiar with the know how and even potentially bringing some of the cheap interceptors the Ukrainians be mass producing. They cost about $2,000 to take down the $30,000 Shahed. So clearly even a place like Jordan there is an urgent desire to see these drones combated. But I think this is a sign of Russia's desire to that immediate real time know how something that evolves day by day.
They talk about a six week innovation cycle on the Ukrainian front lines. That's when a new idea comes into fruition. They're constantly evolving what they have to do either side. And the idea I think that the Russians take that up to the minute real time know how and give it to Iran to use against the U.S. and the Gulf nations who simply don't have the night by night experience Ukraine does in taking these drones down. Well that's a clear battlefield advantage.
I think that's a moment of significant concern certainly to the official I spoke to. Jake.
TAPPER: All right, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in Amman, Jordan, thanks so much.
We've got much more out of the Middle East coming up. But here in the United States, there were nearly 20 people on the ballot to replace congresswoman -- former Congresswoman Margaret Taylor Greene. But now only two remain. One of them is going to join us live next.
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TAPPER: In our politics lead, let's cue that election music if we can, por flavor. CNN election Jam. The race to fill Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's Georgia congressional seat is far from over. Two candidates emerged from a crowded field last night in Georgia's red 14th congressional district. Nobody got more than 50 percent of the vote plus one, so those two will now face each other in a runoff.
Democrat Shawn Harris is a retired army brigadier general. He's going to face the Trump backed Republican and former district Attorney Clay Fuller on April 7. That leaves Greene's seat open for yet another month as House Republicans try to navigate a historically narrow majority and Taylor Greene does not do the job she was elected to do.
Joining us now is the Democratic candidate who got a plurality of the vote last night, Shawn Harris.
General Harris, thanks so much for joining us. You won about 37 percent of the vote last night. The big question of course for you is that the ceiling for a Democrat in this pretty red district.
SHAWN HARRIS, (D) GEORGIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: But Jake, it's good to see you. And no, that is not the ceiling. The reality of it is last night I think it was about 17 of us in the race and that the numbers are being split all kind of ways. So the reality of it is we wanted to go into this race knowing that we probably couldn't get to that 50 plus one, but we did want to get the most votes of all the candidates. We did that.
We had the momentum and now we're moving into this runoff. With that being said, I am getting Democrats, Independents and yes, I'm also getting Republicans this time.
TAPPER: So I think the big question I have for Clayton Fuller is, and he's not here and he's obviously welcome to come on the show, we'd love to have him, he was the Trump backed candidate. Why was that not enough to get him over that hump and 50 percent of the vote plus one? Why do you think?
HARRIS: Well, I tell you, it's very clear. I know Clayton, you know, northwest Georgia, small area, he's weak. And the reality of it is we get -- that's going to be shown as we go head to head. The reality of it is that when President Trump came down here two weeks ago, two Thursdays ago, nothing changed in this race. All the Republicans stayed in it.
And then Jake, I would tell you, even though him and I are going into a runoff right now starting today is the primary. And all of the people that he was running against yesterday are also in the primary, so they still going to beating him up as I'm running against him in this -- in this runoff.
TAPPER: It seems to me that one of the things that was interesting about Marjorie Taylor Greene's last six months was that she seemed to take on and this, you can question the sincerity of it and obviously it still comes with a lot of bigotry and other things that I'm not going to excuse, but she seemed to take on something of a populist, anti-establishment point of view. Talking about the Epstein files to the degree that it alienated President Trump, talking about the need for Republicans in Congress to come up with a way for people to vote for health insurance premiums, the help that expired for Obamacare at the end of the year. Is there an opportunity for you in that area to be a little bit more populist and appeal to some of those Republicans that supported Greene?
HARRIS: You know, Jake, it's funny, you know, when I ran against margins the last time as she evolved in that divorce between her and Marjorie -- and Donald Trump, she actually started moving closer to my talking points. Margie Taylor Greene and I agree that the Epstein files need to be released. We also agree that, you know what, the insurance is in health care is completely out of control. But the difference is, she only came around to that when her daughter or son said it costs too much. Where I've been speaking about it to everyday hardworking people here in Northwest Georgia, these are the things that I got to fix.
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So the reality of it is, Marjorie has came to my position. We actually have happening here in the district right now. We have people that are saying enough is enough. I'm not sure if everybody that supports Marjorie is even going to come out and vote. And that's not my issue. That's Fuller's issue.
TAPPER: All right. General Shawn Harris, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it. And appreciate your service.
HARRIS: Thank you very much.
TAPPER: Iran's new supreme leader has not been seen in public since he was given the job. Of course, he's well aware there's a target on his back. CNN is learning what might specifically be behind his absence. Stick with us.
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TAPPER: Back now to our World Lead. Ever since the bomb started falling on Tehran on Saturday, February 28th, President Trump has been telling Iranian citizens to stay indoors, until it's safe, after which they can then take control of their government. But all the signs point to the hardline repressive regime in Iran holding on to power. Let's get a feel for what ordinary Iranians are thinking, from journalist and activist Masih Alinejad.
Masih, how are the people that you're in touch with in Iran, how are they holding up after a week and a half of near-constant bombardment by the Americans and Israelis?
MASIH ALINEJAD, IRANIAN JOURNALIST AND ACTIVIST: It's not easy. It's not easy, Jake. Especially when they put the entire nation in absolutely digital blackout. Can you believe that? In this moment that bombs are falling, my people need to have internet, to have, you know, a regime that at least warn them. Shelter. Nothing. Nothing. So that's another war crime committed by the Islamic Republic. The situation is beyond sad. But at the same time, I have to say that people are actually telling me that they had enough and they want the U.S. government to hear their message that do not leave them with a wounded regime. They are sad. Because it's a war. War is always ugly. It's not clean. And people were not the one that asked for this war.
This war being imposed by the Islamic Republic to Iranian people. Because the U.S. gave them many chances. Negotiating with them. Stop your nuclear activities. A lot of different opportunities for them. They didn't accept that because it's in their DNA. Chaos. Mayhem. War. So that's why the people in Iran are worried, but at the same time they're asking the world to help them to get rid of this regime. Not replacing Ali Khamenei with another Khamenei. That is not going to guarantee global security.
TAPPER: Well, yes, I want to ask you about that. Since we last spoke, Iran's Assembly of Experts, that's an 88-member body of senior clerics, they appointed or anointed Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father as supreme leader. Now, Mojtaba has not appeared in public. A source tells CNN he suffered a broken foot, bruises and cuts from the initial attacks. What do ordinary Iranians think of their new supreme leader?
ALINEJAD: To be honest, nothing. Nothing. Mojtaba is one of the most invisible figures. And I have to say that the most famous slogan in my country is Mojtaba bemiri, rahbari ro nabini. It means that Mojtaba, you better die before seeing a position as a supreme leader. Yes, he is one of the secretive figures in Ali Khamenei's house.
And so far, it has been two days, they announced him as supreme leader, no pictures of him, no videos of him, no statement. All we know about him is a cardboard cutout. That's it. That's it. Nothing, no statement from him. And this is kind of like, he is even scared of showing up or he is dead. This is what the people in Iran say.
He is a hardliner than his father. He is wounded, his father got killed, his sister got killed, his mother got killed, and he is bloodthirsty right now. So believe me, he will be the one actually targeting the United States of America with full war because he is now the bloodthirsty in Iran, being supported by the Revolutionary Guards, by Ghalibaf, by Fada'i, Ta'ib, the head of the Revolutionary Guards. These are the hardliners of my country, and they are the ones supporting Mojtaba Khamenei.
TAPPER: Yes.
ALINEJAD: And believe me, if he is going to be like the leader, if he -- nobody thinks about removing him, trust me, he will come back, rebuild the Revolutionary Guards, to take revenge of its own people --
TAPPER: Yes.
ALINEJAD: -- people in the region, and the United States of America.
TAPPER: Masih, we're running out of time, but I do want to ask you, obviously the Iranian regime is cruel, and the people of Iran deserve a government that better reflects human rights, democracy, and the rest. I wonder how concerned you are about the point at which this war will actually start alienating the Iranian people from the United States and its allies. And I ask because it appears as though the United States was responsible for that missile attack, that accident, apparently, in which all these grade school girls were killed, and teachers of their innocent people.
[17:40:09]
Israel hit that fuel depot on Saturday, I believe. Obviously that caused a lot of air quality issues for the people of Tehran. At what point do you worry about this intervention, this war alienating the Iranian people from the United States and others?
ALINEJAD: I have my family there. I have my beloved mother, my brother, my father, all my beloved friends there, living there. I don't have anyone here. So of course my heart is aching for my family when bombs are falling. And that's why I keep asking the United States of America, the Israeli government, that the people of Iran are your allies. And that's why I strongly believe that the strike should be precise and calculated, only targeting the Revolutionary Guards, the political leaders, the Basij militia, and those who ordered massacre against people.
And my heart is broken when I see that civilians paying huge price. But when I talk to my people inside Iran, maybe nobody believed that. But I ask you to talk to every single mother whose children got killed. You know what they say to me? They say that if the regime kill us, they force us to pay money to get the dead body back from the regime. But if we get killed by the bomb, then at least nobody ask us for money. Nobody put us under pressure to do false confession.
This is the frustrated people of Iran --
TAPPER: Yes.
ALINEJAD: -- who do not want war, but at the same time they believe that they should finish the job and end this barbaric regime that has slaughtered its own people, Jake.
TAPPER: OK, Masih Alinejad, as always, thank you so much.
As the United States is in the middle of this war, the Pentagon is reportedly banning photographers from news conferences about the ongoing conflict. You're going to want to hear the reason why. That's next.
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TAPPER: Our Politics Lead, as a war between the U.S. and Iran rages on. "The Washington Post" is today reporting that the Pentagon has barred press photographers from briefings on the conflict. This happening after "The Washington Post" published photos of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that the Pentagon staff deemed unflattering. The reporter with "The Post" said that the White House declined to respond, but the special assistant to the White House says that's not true.
She posted a screenshot of their correspondence claiming instead that, well, her response was, didn't "The Washington Post" fire all their White House photographers? We should note that last year the Pentagon did lay out strict new rules for journalists requiring them to sign a pledge to only publish information that has been authorized by the Pentagon. My panel joins me now.
Scott, we're in the middle of a war. It does seem like there are things that they should be focused on instead of this.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I don't know. It's a little confusing to me about what's actually going on here. I actually think Hegseth's done a number of press briefings and General Caine and General Campbell and others. I think they've been quite transparent with the press on overall information so far. So I'm not entirely sure what happened with the dispute over the photographs.
To me, the most important information that should be distributed is specifically about the war effort. You know, what are we doing? How many of the enemy's targets have we destroyed? What's happening to U.S. assets? And I feel like they're doing a pretty good job of that right now with regular press interactions.
TAPPER: So, I don't disagree that they're having a number of briefings. You were a press secretary at the Pentagon while Secretary Lloyd Austin ran the Pentagon.
SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
TAPPER: Did he complain a lot about unflattering photographs of him?
SINGH: I did not hear any complaints from Secretary Austin about unflattering photos of him. Look, I think, to your -- to both of your points, I think Pete Hegseth, General Caine, they need to be focused on what's happening in Iran. They have done a number of press conferences outlining the efforts. To be focused on photographs of yourself and unflattering ones at best, I mean, who cares? I think it's more important that we focus on, you know, there are seven service members that have lost their lives.
Over 30 are seriously injured. Over 140 injuries were reported from the attacks. So, I would rather see the Secretary of Defense focus on those items, prioritizing the force rather than himself.
TAPPER: So, one of the big questions, of course, and this is up to President Trump, that's the answer we've gotten from Hegseth and others, is when is this war going to end? What is the exit strategy? I want you to listen to Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley. He said this last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I mean, this has been a total success in whatever it's been, 11 days, and I thought the President's remarks last night that he could declare victory today and it would be a 100 percent victory. I think it's true. I think we ought to say to our heroes, thank you for a job well done. This has been absolutely amazing. It's been astounding. It's been historic. And now it's time to declare victory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Mission accomplished?
JENNINGS: Well, interestingly, I interviewed on my radio show yesterday. Speaker Johnson asked him a similar question and he, too, said, look, I think the President's accomplished most of what he wanted to do over a short period of time. I think you have to be able to say to the American people, no nukes, no ballistic missile program, no aggressive Navy, and no exporting of terrorism. If you can accomplish those objectives in the shortest time possible, you know, irrespective of what happens to the regime in the future, that's a win.
And -- but they shouldn't do that until we can assure the American people, particularly on the nuclear piece, because these fanatics, they want to bring about the end of the world with the nuclear weapons. But if you can assure the American people you've accomplished those four objectives, that's a win. And I think the American people want that done in the shortest time possible. If that all were to happen, this will be a roaring success for the White House.
SINGH: Well, according to Trump, though, there are -- we've eliminated everything and there's no more targets to hit. So I do think it is, how do you define success? And right now we have the military objectives, and I think the military has been incredibly successful in degrading Iran's capabilities, but we still do not -- I do not understand what the political outcome is here, because if it is a regime change, is it the Iranian people to take back their country? How are they going to do that?
[17:50:18]
You know, there are still people on the ground that have the guns, and unless we're putting boots on the ground, which would be very dangerous, they're still an intact regime.
TAPPER: They have talked about this, Scott, you know, about the possibility, President Trump leaving the possibility open of boots on the ground, not for like a full force to invade, but to secure whatever nuclear material there might be. Do you think that would be a mistake?
JENNINGS: I think it would be a mistake to leave any nuclear material in the hands of these fanatics. And we're not the only people in play here. Obviously, Israel is our partner, maybe other countries soon, hopefully, but specifically with Israel. They've already obviously infiltrated Iran at the highest levels of their government. They had agents all over the place, and so I don't know how ultimately or who it would get done, whether you bomb it into oblivion or whether you secure it with human beings, but ending this engagement with any nuclear material still in the hands of these fanatics would not be good, so I think they ought to leave all the possibilities on the table, because you wouldn't want to end this and they come out on the other side and say, well, we told Witkoff we had enough material for 11, and now we have enough material for 9. That would be bad.
TAPPER: That's the thing also. I -- you know, you heard Masih Alinejad, one of the most prominent Iranian dissidents, talking about this.
SINGH: Yes.
TAPPER: Unless there is a new regime, the -- like a Democratic election --
SINGH: Yes.
TAPPER: -- there is going to be a group of people, mullahs or whoever, pursuing a nuclear weapons program, reconstituting their navy, reconstituting the ballistic missile program.
SINGH: Right. That's why this is very difficult to do. An air campaign alone is not going to achieve every single objective that the President has laid out. We have done a fantastic job of degrading their facilities, but if you want to get -- if you want to completely eliminate the nuclear program, that is going to mean boots on the ground, and we have no idea how deep and buried these fusion systems are, so not only are you going to have to have boots on the ground, engineers, and then air cover, and even though that they -- we have -- we are dominating their airspace, you know, to quote the secretary, they still retain capabilities, as we are seeing with the drones. So if we are putting boots on the ground, we are also putting our service members lives at risk.
TAPPER: Yes. And I know -- to be continued, thanks so much for being here, really appreciate it.
Tornadoes destroyed homes and businesses across parts of the Midwestern United States last night. The threat is not over yet. CNN is live in the middle of the damage. That's next.
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TAPPER: And we're back with breaking news. Let's listen in on President Trump now, who's speaking in Hebron, Kentucky.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are single largest drop ever recorded, the lowest in 125 years before my father, Fred, was born. Before he was born. And that's despite the fact that we have a lot of people that shouldn't have been allowed in here that are murderers. Inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising, the economy is roaring back, and America is respected again, perhaps respected like never before. Every single day of my administration, with the help of the great people of Kentucky. Yes, I love Kentucky. We will keep on working and we will fight, fight, fight. And we will win, win, win. And together we will --
TAPPER: All right. In our National Lead, at least two people are dead after tornadoes and hail storms wreaked havoc across the central United States last night. The hail, which measured as high as 6 inches in diameter, may have broken state records. CNN's Whitney Wild is in Lake Village, Indiana, where residents are trying to recover while bracing for even more danger.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's violent.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A series of violent and deadly tornadoes wreaked havoc across Indiana, Illinois and Texas Tuesday into Wednesday, leveling some rural communities south of Chicago. Several areas saw a downpour of damaging, possibly record sized hail with some the size of softballs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.
WILD (voice-over): Two people are dead in Lake Village, Indiana. Officials say several others were hospitalized as the town experience, "total devastation."
CHIEF ROB CHURCHILL, LAKE TOWNSHIP VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: There were houses that were collapsed, there were people trapped in houses. There's livestock loose. Pretty much anything you can imagine you've seen before on newscasts, on videos. It -- it's out there.
WILD (voice-over): Residents awoke to blocks of destroyed homes, uprooted trees and downed power lines.
BUD BUSHMAN, RESIDENT, LAKE VILLAGE, INDIANA: It was that quick because it was there. And the wind must have been at least 100 mile an hour that it was gone.
STEVEN TRAVIS, RESIDENT, LAKE VILLAGE, INDIANA: I was looking out front window and I seen a dumpster fly by. That's when I went for cover.
WILD (voice-over): Steve Travis says he hid in his closet when a tornado hit his home. The lifelong resident says he's lost everything.
TRAVIS: And debris was everywhere. I mean, the place is destroyed. Windows blowed out. My front door was wedged into the wall. That's how hard that sucker hit.
WILD (voice-over): Another twister tore through Kankakee, Illinois, damaging homes and buildings in that area. Jim Horchem was emotional when recalling his close encounter with the tornado.
JIM HORCHEM, RESIDENT, KANKAKEE, ILLINOIS: You know, I can't say it was that loud, but I knew it was bad when I seen the water coming underneath the bathroom door. And I said, this is not -- I really thought this is it, we're going to die.
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WILD (voice-over): Officials warn that the danger is not over. Storms will continue through Wednesday with the storm system moving eastward, prompting tornado watches across nine states, potentially impacting 19 million people.
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WILD: Jake, officials here say that 235 buildings were in the direction path of that tornado, 32 of those buildings have been destroyed. Countless others have been affected that were outside that direct path. Jake?
