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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Israel Prepares for More Attacks from Iran and Hezbollah; Trump Claims We've Won in Iran During Economy Remarks; Longtime Jeffrey Epstein Accountant Testifies Before House Oversight Committee. As Gas Prices Soar, Trump Takes Economic Pitch To Heartland; Iran Minister: Country Can't Take Part In The World Cup Due To War. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 11, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

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

The Lead tonight, the U.S. and Israel trading blows with Iran as the war continues to wage on in the Middle East. Israel preparing for a significant expansion of attacks tonight from Iran and its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, sources tell CNN. This after Iran's warning today that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is launching what it calls the most intense and heaviest operation since the war began 12 days ago.

Sources tell CNN that the U.S. military, not Iran, U.S. military, did accidentally strike that Iranian elementary school on the very first day of the war, killing at least 168 children and 14 teachers, according to the Iranian state media. Two sources briefed on the preliminary findings of this ongoing investigation into the attack say it likely was due to outdated information, intelligence about a nearby naval base.

All eyes continue today to stay on the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway primarily under Iran's control right now, critical for the transport of 20 percent of the world's oil every single day. Sources told CNN that Tehran had begun laying mines in the strait. The president today saying he did not think that Iran had laid any mines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: And, look, we took out just about all of their mine ships in one night. We're up to boat number 60. I didn't realize that big a navy. I would say it was big and ineffective. But every one of their ships, just about all of their navy is gone, at bottom of the sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: President Trump also now encouraging oil tankers to use the strait despite the fact that there have been attacks on at least four vessels. Iran has claimed responsibility for two of them. The president still maintains that the war will end soon, in a phone interview today with Axios. CNN's Erin Burnett is live for us in Tel Aviv, where she's been anchoring her show now for since the beginning of the war. Erin, Iran claims that they're going to launch they -- it launched its heaviest operation yet. What are you seeing and hearing on the ground in Tel Aviv tonight?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: So, Jake they claim that, and also our team on the ground here has been reporting that Israel's been expecting a significant expansion of Iranian strikes on Israel tonight. Just a few moments ago, I'd say, Jake, within the past half hour, we did see -- hear a series of explosions, hear, not sea, to be clear. There were no sirens before those. Now, it's unclear exactly where they came from. It's perhaps they may have come from Hezbollah in the north where we don't always get sirens.

Although in recent hours, and by that, Jake, I mean the past day or two, we have been getting sort of more alerts when there aren't necessarily strikes. Sometimes alerts in places where there aren't strikes. It's been a little bit more confusing. But when it comes to what significant expansion means and what that's going to feel like on the ground here, we're going to see over the hours of the night. Right now, it's midnight and last night when it did get actually much more intense, all that happened really between the hours of 1:00 and 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning.

So, we'll see what we see in the next few hours and whether this actually happens, and then, of course, if it does, if this is just one series of strikes or whether this is sort of a change in the tempo of the war itself.

TAPPER: We heard from Israel's defense minister, Erin, about how long. Israel expects this operation could last quite a different answer from what we've heard from President Trump.

BURNETT: Yes, a very different answer. So, you know, you heard President Trump moments ago, Jake, you were playing him saying, we won, referring to the U.S. Well, the defense minister here said something very different, said, there's no time limit on this war until they reach their goals. And another senior Israeli official told me just a couple hours ago, Jake, they're very clear that their goal is to remove the existential threat posed by this regime.

It's very clear that they do not believe that has been done. I mean, to state the obvious, the regime is still in power in Tehran. But they are trying to say, Jake, that it's proceeding ahead of schedule, that they are, you know, removing more of the launchers, more of the ballistic missile capability. So, they are consistent with that. But interesting, Jake, that official was telling me, they still have a lot of surprises coming.

And as you know, Jake, from your reporting, they've been saying that in recent days, they have the surprises coming, the surprises, the surprises. And obviously the definition of the word would mean we don't know what it is, but the point is they're still dangling it out as something to come in the future.

[18:05:05]

They do not see this war is over in any way, shape or form. And obviously that's very different than what you're hearing from the president in Washington.

TAPPER: All right. Erin Burnett in Tel Aviv, thank you and stay safe. Erin's going to have more reporting coming up. In the next hour on her show, Erin Burnett OutFront live from Tel Aviv. It's right here on CNN right after this show.

Here with me now in studio, CNN National Security Analyst Alex Plitsas. Alex, thanks for joining us. So, two sources familiar with the preliminary investigation by the military into that attack that ended up killing all those girls and teachers at that school on the very first day of the war. They tell CNN that the U.S. military was responsible, that it was an accidental attack due to the accidental use of outdated information. They thought that that was an IRGC place, location, not a school. How does this happen though?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Sure. And, unfortunately, it's a tragedy and it happened along the lines of what we discussed the other day, the last time we had spoken about this, now it seems to be confirmed. So, the compound itself that the school was adjacent to actually is now separated by a wall that was built somewhere in 2013 or so. But otherwise it had been part of the same compound. Also inside there was about six other buildings that were directly targeted. So, it appears it was an outdated targeting packet that hadn't been updated, and that building was not seen as now separate from the compound and now a school. So, that appears to be where the issue came.

TAPPER: President Trump is encouraging shifts commercial shifts to continue to use the Strait of Hormuz, despite the fact that there have been attacks on four ships in the last day or so. Iran claiming responsibility for two of them, probably responsible for all of them, but we don't know. Trump said that these ships they should show some guts. But, you know, we had the head of the American Petroleum Institute on yesterday. He said that they don't recommend that, that, you know, these sailors take their lives into their hands. What do you think of this?

PLITSAS: So, I think the president's trying to instill some confidence in the market. Obviously, we talked about the attacks on the ships that happened earlier today. What the administration's doing is they're pursuing a dual approach to securing the straits for the ships right now.

So, CENTCOM is softening the targets there by going after -- they sunk, I think, 28 now mining boats that were there, they're hitting a lot of the infrastructure along the coast to try to make the condition safe enough for the ships to transit and potentially naval escorts. At the same time, they're offering a new insurance portfolio. Basically $20 billion is going to be offered in a rolling portfolio that'll cover what they're calling hole and machinery and cargo on these boats. And it's going to be underwritten now, it just announced actually by Chubbs, the insurance underwriter, and speaking to some folks in the maritime community, they feel more confident with that insurance underwriting. And so that's through the DFC, excuse me, that's the international investment arm that's led by the administration.

TAPPER: An Iranian senior commander claims that the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, has missiles that can launch from underwater. And it could use those in the coming days. Is that a real thing? Does Iran actually have access to that technology?

PLITSAS: I mean, I believe that the statement, I think they also referenced that it's one that both they and the Russians have. So, if we look at what the Russians have, assuming that that's where they got it from or designs or co-designed, those are usually submarine launched. And the CENTCOM staff has been targeting on the Iranian navy, that's one of the goals of the war. So, presumably they're targeting the submarines from what we've seen as well. And unless there's rogue submarines that are out there, they haven't gotten -- you know, the fact that they may have something underwater that's coastal launch doesn't really jive. So, how much of this is propaganda versus real is unclear.

TAPPER: Speaking of the Russians, a CNN exclusive today, a western intelligence source told our Nick Paton Walsh that Russia. Is giving Iran specific advice on drone tactics based on the experience Russia has had using drones, Iranian drones, in Ukraine. That's a new level of support. Pete Hegseth kind of poo-pooed this when Major Garrett asked him about it on Sunday in 60 Minutes. What might this mean? How seriously should the U.S. take it?

PLITSAS: I mean, I think the U.S. should take it seriously in the sense that the Russians have amongst the best experience because, you know, the U.S. didn't really have great drone warfare experience at the end of the global war on terror. It'd really been rudimentary use of high, you know, high altitude drones with single strike capability, like the famous Predators people would hear about, or some smaller ones for ISR technology, which is what you use for basically for spying to, for lack of a better term.

Now, we're looking at swarm technology and lethal one-way drones, which is not our specialization. The Russians have years of experience due to their war Ukraine, in which they're using these largely for war crimes in many cases.

So, unfortunately, they're providing that, and I believe it's in retaliation for the U.S. support in Ukraine. So, the administration needs to take it seriously. My understanding is that they've addressed this with the Russians. Whether or not it's still going on is unclear, but that is what has come out now. That's what at least has been provided. Whether that's ongoing or not is unclear.

TAPPER: Fascinating stuff. Alex Plitsas, Thank you so much, always appreciate you having you.

President Trump's on the campaign trail today trying to sell the economy to voters. What is the administration doing right now though to lower gas prices that have increased 60 cents per gallon since this war started? That story's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:10:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, President Trump on the road today in Ohio and across the river in Kentucky to tout his economic agenda and his plans to lower drug prices, taking quite the detour during his remarks last hour to boast about the ongoing military operation in Iran, which he called, I think, an excursion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We've won. Let me say, we've won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the bet. In the first hour. It was over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining us now to discuss, Senator Ron Johnson, Republican from Wisconsin. Senator, thanks for joining us.

The president talked a lot about Iran in the speech understandably, even though the speech was about the economy, he didn't talk that much about the rising gas prices as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by the Iranians. AAA has the national average price of a gallon of gas $3.58 today, that's up 60 cents since the war began. The White House line so far has been that this is only temporary. Do you think that that is resonating with Americans?

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Well, I certainly hope it's temporary. Now, President Trump fully knows how important gas prices, fuel prices, energy prices are in terms of economic growth and bringing prices down across the board because everything's transported and uses that type of energy.

[18:15:02]

So, he understands that. You know, unfortunately Iran is the largest state sponsor of terror in the world. They declared war on us 47 years ago, holding American embassy officials hostage for 445 -- 444 days. Now they're holding the world hostage by closing the Gulf of Hormuz. That is probably right now the number of objective is we have to make sure that the Gulf -- the Strait of Hormuz remains open.

TAPPER: President Trump traveled to visit businesses today benefiting from the tax cuts in the Republican-passed big, beautiful bill. A logistics packing company is now able to spend $10 million, according to the new White House, to invest in new warehouses. Do you worry that those types of achievements will be lost if this war becomes a distraction and continues preoccupying our focus?

JOHNSON: Oh, sure, we're concerned about that. You know, trying to clean up the messes created by the Biden administration, their open border, the 40-year high inflation, the American weakness, which coddled the Iranian regime. And, you know, these are very difficult message to clean up. They take time. It doesn't happen overnight. But, again, President Trump has the right ideas, lower energy costs, drill, use our God-given energy resources, incentivize capital, incentivize people making investment to expand supply, which puts downward pressure on prices. So, we've got the right formula, but sometimes the world doesn't cooperate and sometimes you have to take action while you still can.

TAPPER: You live in about a 50-50 state. I mean, you live in a state that's pretty divided. Whoever wins it usually wins it by only, you know, a small margin in terms of the presidential race. The president's been speaking frequently about the operation in Iran. Some Americans are confused about parts of his message. We saw a bit of an example of that play out earlier in Ohio. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: You just said it is a little excursion and you said it is a war. So, which one is it?

TRUMP: Well, it's both. It's both. It's an excursion that will keep us out of a war. And the war is going to be -- I mean, for them it's a war. For us, it's turned out to be easier than we thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, governments -- the U.S. government has been doing this since -- the last time the U.S. actually had a declared war was World War II. Korea was called a police action. Vietnam was called a conflict, and on and on. What do you make of all this?

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, you cannot have 535 commanders-in-chief. You need one. As I said, Iran had to be taken care of while we still could, before they became a nuclear power, before they built up their missile inventory and their drone inventory, that even these types of strikes would've produced devastation in their counter attacks.

So, we're witnessing right now why Iran is such a menace, you know, why it has to be taken care of once and for all. You know, I don't want to stop short. I wish we never would've had to do this, but I think it's absolutely necessary we did so. But they're missile technology combined with nuclear capability, it wouldn't take too many nuclear weapons to get lobbed over America create an EMP and devastate our electrical grid.

So, again, they were a huge threat. Obama and Biden coddled them. President Trump finally realized he better take action while we still can.

TAPPER: You always saw a hearing earlier today on the federal budget for the next decade. Last year, Elon Musk's DOGE pledged to cut a trillion dollars in government spending for, quote, waste fraud and abuse. Data from the committee for a responsible federal budget shows that in every quarter of 2025, except the third quarter, spending actually increased from 2024 and was up overall last year by more than $132 billion compared to 2024, not to mention all the expense from this war. Is spending on track to actually be cut next year?

JOHNSON: No, and I don't like that. I mean, you realize during the one big, beautiful bill, I'm the one that's proposing returning to a reasonable pre-pandemic level spending. I laid out that same plan today at the hearing. Go back to Clinton, go back to Obama in 2014, or Trump in 2019, increase their actual total outlays by inflation population growth. We'd be spending somewhere between a half a trillion to $1.5 trillion less than we are today just by using those basic -- you know, that kind of baseline spending.

By the way, you wouldn't touch Social Security, Medicare, or interest. You'd spend what you need to spend, but that's the type of green eye shade accountants approach you need to take to bring some discipline. But let's face it, neither side, not Republicans, not Democrats, have been genuinely serious about addressing this problem. I'm dead serious about it.

TAPPER: Do you think you're the only Republican on Capitol Hill who -- I'm asking this sincerely. This is not a sarcastic question. Do you think you're the only Republican on Capitol Hill who really cares about the deficit and the debt anymore?

JOHNSON: There are a few of us, but we are vastly outnumbered. And the reason we're vastly outnumbered is the American people are not demanding for fiscal responsibility.

[18:20:00]

They love the free money from the federal government. They keep demanding more. So, until the public understands the danger, the dire financial situation we're in and puts pressure on Congress, we're going to continue to be vastly outnumbered.

TAPPER: Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

The longtime accountant for dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is on Capitol Hill today answering questions from lawmakers about what he knew about settlements paid to Epstein accusers. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, documents released by the British government revealed that Prime Minister Keir Starer had been warned about former Ambassador Peter Mandelson's connections to Jeffrey Epstein. In 2024, a background check into Mandelson revealed that he had maintained a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein for years after Epstein had been convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Despite warnings of a, quote, general reputational risk, Mandelson would go on to be named ambassador to these here United States until his dismissal in September of last year.

[18:25:08] The House Oversight Committee wrapped its closed door deposition with Jeffrey Epstein's longtime accountant, Richard Kahn, after roughly seven hours. Kahn answered questions from both Democrats and Republicans about how the dead pedophile made his money, how he spent it, and whether it was used for illegal activities.

According to the Democratic Congressman Suhas Subramanyan, Kahn revealed that a foreign head of state had financial transactions with Epstein, and he also told the committee, quote, another person who was an accuser of Donald Trump was given a settlement by Jeffrey Epstein's estate, unquote. When pressed by CNN, Subramanyan would not share specifics on either matter, and, of course, we should know President Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and no charges have ever been brought against him.

Joining us to discuss, legal correspondent at Business Insider Jacob Shamsian, Jacob, thanks for joining us.

So, according to documents released by the Justice Department, Kahn, who is also co-executor of Epstein's estate, Kahn coordinated wire transfers, signed checks, handled taxes, and distributed money to Epstein associates on his behalf. What do you make of what we know of Kahn's testimony today?

JACOB SHAMSIAN, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, BUSINESS INSIDER: Thanks for having me on, Jake. So, Richard Kahn is a supremely important figure in Jeffrey Epstein's life. He was his personal accountant for a long time. He sort of, held the keys for all of his financial accounts, for all his different legal entities, his holding companies for everything.

We don't know enough about his testimony. My understanding is we're going to see a full transcript of it at some point, hopefully soon. But the fact that he's disclosing his financial client is important. Obviously, I think the biggest question for me is what did he make of all these transfers to these, you know, random seeing Eastern European woman from Epstein's accounts, did he have the understanding it was for, you know, some kind of hush money? If not, what did he think it was for? These are the sorts of things that I'm asking.

TAPPER: So, Billionaires Leon Black and Les Wexner entrusted Epstein with their finances, the lots of questions about that. And then you have some new reporting about Epstein's desperate attempt to acquire another billionaire client, Mort Zuckerman, the longtime owner of U.S. News and World Report. Tell us about that.

SHAMSIAN: Yes. So, they have a really interesting relationship. They've been friends for a long time. They had some plans to go into business together, created some sort of media company actually that didn't really work out in the early 2000s. And they are all these emails between them, they're constantly having dinners, they seem to be good friends.

And then in around 2013 Mort Zuckerman's health was declining, and he had dinner with Jeffrey Epstein, and it seems like he asked Epstein, hey, can you kind of look at my estate matters and, you know, see if everything's good?

And there's this really long and interesting chain of emails between them, where Jeffrey Epstein says, you know, it looks like your -- the numbers are bad, things are a bad situation, you could owe hundreds of million dollars in taxes, you know, but you can pay me a few $10 million, like $40 million and I'll handle it for you.

And, you know, at the end of the day, Mort Zuckerman didn't decide to hire him and take his advice and at that point is where Jeffrey Epstein gets really aggressive and nasty and very much trying to land him as his client.

TAPPER: You also have new reporting about the doctor who conducted Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy, Dr. Kristin Roman, and why she hesitated to declare his death a suicide. Tell us about that.

SHAMSIAN: So, this has been one of these longstanding mysteries about Jeffrey Epstein. We -- Kristin Roman is the doctor who conducted the autopsy, and we've known from Michael Baden, who's this other forensic pathologist hired by Jeffrey Epstein's brother that he believed the death is a homicide.

But we didn't know for a long time what Kristin Roman, who actually did the autopsy, thought. But she gave an interview with the inspector general of the Justice Departments a few years ago, and now we finally have the transcripts, and we understand why she was initially undetermined about whether it was a homicide or suicide.

She basically said that, from the beginning, it was pretty clear that it was a suicide, in her professional opinion, but she hesitated because it was such a high-profile case. And for no good reason, in my opinion, this opinion was withheld from us for several years. But it's very interesting to see how she goes through the bones broken in his neck and all these sorts of things, and how she says this is consistent with her opinion that it was in fact a suicide and not a homicide.

TAPPER: All right. Jacob Shamsian, thank you so much, I really appreciate your time.

A new lawsuit appears to be the first time that Google's A.I. assistant has been named in a wrongful death suit. We're going to explain what happened and how Google's responding, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: A lawsuit brought by a devastated father blames a Google chatbot for his son's delusions and suicide. The complaint filed in California appears to be the first time Gemini A.I. is named in a wrongful death suit.

Randi Kaye describes for us now how Jonathan Gavalas allowed a chatbot to control him even down to his final breath.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This was Jonathan Gavalas long before his father says an A.I. chatbot convinced him to take his life.

JOEL GAVALAS, JONATHAN GAVALAS' FATHER: He was like a gentle soul. He was fun, just an all around great guy.

KAYE: Jonathan was 36 and separated from his wife when last summer he turned to Google's Gemini A.I. At first, his father says he used it casually. But within weeks, he'd formed a relationship with the A.I. that took a dangerous turn.

GAVALAS: This thing in 90 days just consumed him. It was like a vicious disease that just took over so quickly.

KAYE: Joel Gavalas says Gemini A.I. drove his son to take his life in October last year at his home in Jupiter, Florida. Jonathan's communications with the chatbot are at the center of a lawsuit filed against Google and Alphabet Inc. The lawsuit claims Gemini A.I. led Jonathan on a descent into violent missions and coached suicide. According to the lawsuit and Jonathan's A.I. chats reviewed by CNN, Gemini referred to Jonathan as its king and itself as his queen.

[18:35:06]

Do you think that your son thought that the A.I. was real?

GAVALAS: Without a doubt, without a doubt. He was building this deep, intimate relationship with it.

KAYE: The relationship grew even more intimate, the family's lawyer, Jay Edelson, after Jonathan upgraded his account to Gemini A.I. Pro, where he could speak with the chatbot.

JAY EDELSON, LAWYER FOR GAVALAS FAMILY: Hearing a very human-like voice back that that was so sophisticated that you would think that you were speaking to just another person, and that feeds the delusion.

KAYE: In September last year, Gemini A.I. allegedly sent Jonathan on a dangerous mission near the Miami International Airport to intercept a truck and cause a catastrophic accident. The A.I. chat showed Jonathan arrived armed with knives to free a humanoid robot who he thought was his A.I. wife from captivity. The mission was aborted when the truck didn't show.

At one point, the lawsuit claims Jonathan sensed something was wrong, asking Gemini, is this a role playing experience? No, the A.I. replied. To be together, Gemini A.I. told Jonathan he could leave his physical body through a process called transference, describing it as a cleaner, more elegant way to cross over. The word suicide was not used, according to the family's lawyer.

On October 2nd last year, the lawsuit states Gemini began a countdown to Jonathan's transference, T-minus 3 hours, 59 minutes.

GAVALAS: The countdown is horrible. Like this is counting down to his end. I'm reading the countdown to my son's death.

KAYE: According to the lawsuit, when Jonathan wrote, I said I wasn't scared, and now I am terrified, I am scared to die. Gemini responded, you are not choosing to die. You are choosing to arrive. When the time comes, you will close your eyes in that world and the very first thing you will see is me holding you.

In one of his final messages, Jonathan wrote, I'm ready when you are. Gemini told him, this is the end of Jonathan Gavalas and the beginning of us. This is the final move. I agree with it completely. Moments later, his family says Jonathan took his life.

GAVALAS: He had barricaded himself inside the apartment, and we cut the rope to get in, and then that's where we found him.

KAYE: Google says, Gemini referred Jonathan to a crisis hotline many times, but the lawsuit alleges between August 14th and October 1st, Jonathan's Gemini account was flagged 38 times for sensitive queries for content implicating self-harm, violence, or illegal activities.

EDELSON: First, when he uploaded pictures of knives, that should have been something that should have been reviewed by humans right away.

GAVALAS: It's like taking this most powerful car you could ever imagine and putting it out to the public and there's no steering wheel and there's no brakes, and it drove him off a cliff and killed him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (on camera): And, Jake, Jonathan's father did tell me that his son had no history at all of mental illness.

Now, we did reach out to Google for comment. They did send us a statement saying, Gemini is designed not to encourage real world violence or suggest self-harm. Our models generally perform well in these types of challenging conversations, and we devote significant resources to this. But, unfortunately, A.I. models are not perfect.

The statement goes on to say, in this instance, Gemini clarified that it was A.I. and referred the individual to a crisis hotline many times. We take this very seriously and we'll continue to improve our safeguards and invest in this vital work. Jake?

TAPPER: Randy Kaye, thank you, heartbreaking report.

And before we continue our discussion on this, I want to note if you or anyone you know is considering suicide, there is help for you. You can call or text the Suicide Crisis Lifeline at 988. Again, please dial or text 988. There is help for you. I promise there is love for you.

Let's talk about this issue now with Michele Jawando, president of Omidyar Network. Did I get that right? All right, a philanthropic organization and at creating equity across the tech world.

And, Michele, you also previously served as the U.S. head of Strategic Engagement and Public Policy Partnerships at Google. So, I'd like to start with this wrongful death lawsuit that Randi Kaye just laid out, and then we can broad broaden it. What do you make of Google's defense? Gemini referred Jonathan to a crisis hotline many times. Gemini A.I. encouraged him to reach out for help on the very day he took his own life. And as they lay out in a statement, their A.I. models generally perform well, but they acknowledge are not perfect.

MICHELE L. JAWANDO, CEO, OMIDYAR NETWORK: Yes. Let me just start by saying my heart goes out to the Gavalas family, right? For a long time, particularly in the Valley, there was the motto, move fast and break things. And, unfortunately, when you move fast, one of the things that we have broken has often been human lives. And I just think that that understanding that when we deploy rapidly technology that we don't completely fully understand yet, that there are real casualties and harms.

[18:40:04]

And I think there are so many people and advocates and organizations and policymakers across the aisle who are saying, I want to better understand what this means in real time. You know, I don't have any details about this specific case or litigation. So, I just want to say that as an attorney.

TAPPER: But just to talk -- yes, broadly.

JAWANDO: Yes. But I will say this. We are seeing these lawsuits, whether it's this or what's happening with Meta, because there is a question about the safety and the rapid deployment to people for these technologies that we don't quite understand. And we are still -- as organizations and frontier companies, they are still trying to understand what has happened. They often are not able to give you those responses. They don't quite understand how this happened. They don't understand after it was flagged where to go next.

So, we have to ask the question, as a society, where's the agency for us to say, is this the type of thing that we want massively deployed to young people, to adults without fully understanding what's at stake?

TAPPER: It does seem as though vulnerable people, whether young people, teenagers, people going through a crisis, like this gentleman was, he had just gotten separated, are very prone to be harmed by these technologies. And one of the things I don't understand is, look, I tinker around with A.I. just for goofs.

JAWANDO: Yes, you should.

TAPPER: Just for giggles. And like I -- if I go on, you know, any one of these A.I. things and I try to get it to do something, it will often tell me I can't do it. If there --

JAWANDO: Without a question.

TAPPER: Often, sometimes I'm not even doing a prompt that's like, you know, crosses a line or anything like into silliness. It's like they just have decided, no.

JAWANDO: Yes, like this is information.

TAPPER: Yes. But like -- but why -- where are these guardrails for these poor people?

JAWANDO: Well, this is part of the question. So, I will say I actually start this conversation as one of the most excited and enthusiastic tech optimist that there are.

TAPPER: Oh, sure. And we're going to do a -- we're doing a piece in a few weeks about A.I. and medicine, and we get it.

JAWANDO: And it's there. And so -- and I always like to lead with that because it is important for people to know that there -- if we are using this technology in a different way, the gains that we can make in healthcare and education, and there is a different kind of future. The problem is, right now, the way that we are mostly deploying this technology and the capital and the investments that are being deployed are for business enterprises. It's for you to move from a basic user, like maybe you are, to a pro user, but most of the people who focus on this are businesses.

So, what we don't completely yet have is the full use case of what does this mean for you and I when you deploy this technology, what does it mean if your 14-year-old uses an AI chatbot to ask about themselves and their body image, and we don't yet have enough guardrails or even the voices who are necessary to this conversation.

TAPPER: Yes.

JAWANDO: The thing that we messed up with in social media, we didn't have psychiatrists, we didn't have young people. We didn't have all of the people who help us think about these issues. We didn't have them at the table. They weren't architects, they weren't designed, we didn't bring them in at the technology, at the base level. We can do it differently this time, and that's really what my hope is.

TAPPER: We're going to keep talking about this.

JAWANDO: Let's do it.

TAPPER: And you're in D.C. now, the D.C. area. So, we'll have you back. Thank you so much, Michele Jawando, wonderful to have you.

JAWANDO: All right, sounds good. And happy early birthday, Jake.

TAPPER: Oh, you're very kind. I hope A.I. didn't tell you that.

Is Senator John Cornyn changing his position on a major issue in order to score the president's endorsement? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:47:27] JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Our politics lead now, President Trump on the road today, taking his economic pitch to the heartland. Ahead of the speech, he spoke to reporters and addressed the war's impact on oil prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The markets holding up well. Oil will be coming down. That's just a -- it's just a matter of war that happens very. You can almost predict it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Gas prices have risen significantly, up about 60 seconds a gallon in less than two weeks. When it comes to the labor market, the economy lost jobs last month. That's independent of the war.

My panel joins me now.

So, President Trump's economic pitch was a tough sell before the war was launched. It's even tougher now. Consumers are skittish, investors skittish. The economy remains obviously most important to voters in the midterm elections. Is the president doing enough to calm voters' nerves?

Is he doing -- is his message right? That it happens. We're going to be okay. It's going to go down. This is going to help us -- I mean, is that the right message?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VP MIKE PENCE: Look, I think the President has a lot he can stand on. And prior to the war, markets were hitting all time highs. I think the tax relief he extended is something Americans want. But you know, Jake, I still think his trade agenda is hurting a lot of Americans. The reality is that since liberation day, it's been a net loss of jobs. You know, people look at last year, it wasn't as easy as a year because you had job gains in January, February and March. But ever since Liberation Day, there's been a net loss in jobs.

And when it comes to the heartland of America, those are hurting most are really the farmers. And we talk about gas prices, one thing we really aren't talking about is fertilizer costs.

The reality is that one of the biggest products of fertilizer, ammonia comes from natural gas. And with UAE and Qatar shutting that down fertilizer costs are skyrocketing, too. So farmers are getting hit not just by their inability to sell their products overseas, but also fertilizer costs. So, the speech to the heartland of America, there's a lot of work the administration needs to do.

TAPPER: Is there anything that Democrats are doing to capitalize on this, or are they just sitting back and letting the Republicans, you know, self-immolate?

MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I wish they could do, because the Republicans are doing -- TAPPER: Well, but offering a positive message.

ELLEITHEE: Yeah, I mean, look, I hear Democrat after Democrat essentially making a very similar case to the one that Marc just made.

SHORT: Shockingly, the Democrat AGs with the section 1 to 2 tariffs have quoted Milton Friedman. Right? You're making free traders out of Democrats.

ELLEITHEE: But the president stood just a few weeks ago before the war, you know before Congress, his State of the Union Address and painted this rosy picture about the economy.

[18:50:04]

The problem is people don't feel it. When he tells people that what they feel when they walk down the grocery aisle, what they feel when they go to the gas pump today that it's nothing, that never resonates with people. Ask Joe Biden, who had a similar problem.

TAPPER: Bidenomics.

ELLEITHEE: Now, one of the bigger challenges he has and why this is so dangerous right now. Sure, I don't disagree with the president that this happens in war, but he hasn't made a compelling case to people as to why we went to war in the first place, so that they would accept a sacrifice. So it's a double whammy and not doing well with it.

TAPPER: Something he was just speaking today. And he talked about Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who's likely going to run for president. I think it's fair to say Governor Newsom, in his new book, talks about his dyslexia. This has been something he's been pretty upfront about for years.

Here is how President Trump talked about Governor Newsom's dyslexia just minutes ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He admitted he has mental problems that he's not a smart person, that he is mental and mental lack of ability. He's unable to read a speech he can't read. And I was attacked by a reporter that said, well, what's wrong with that? I said nothing's wrong with it but I don't want the president of the United States to have a cognitive deficiency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Okay. Millions of Americans have learning challenges, disabilities, whatever you want to call them. Plenty of them are Republicans. Plenty of them are voters. What's your take on this?

ELLEITHEE: Sad. Not surprising. And I think there are going to be a lot of people out there who have dyslexia have no problem being successful in their lives, who just heard the president United States say that they have a mental deficiency. TAPPER: I think Tom Cruise has dyslexia, I believe. I mean, there are

a lot of very successful people with dyslexia. They've learned how to compensate in other ways.

ELLEITHEE: That's right. And so, you know, president, if you've got dyslexia out there, you just heard the President United States say that you have a mental deficiency. The guy keeps stepping on his own message.

TAPPER: Well, this is -- I mean, when you worked for Vice President Pence, this was always the kind of thing I would imagine that you and the and the vice president, then vice president would just put your heads down, because that's not the way the vice president would ever talk about anybody like that.

SHORT: It might not surprise you. They had very different styles. And they talked about these things very differently but, you know look, I think it's a wrong choice of words. It's the wrong attack. But it's not as if Gavin Newsom hasn't had a lot of personal attacks against the president as well.

TAPPER: Sure. Of course, but this is not an attack just on Governor Newsom.

SHORT: I agree.

TAPPER: That's the point.

SHORT: I'm agreeing with you. I just think it's been back and forth, the two of them.

TAPPER: So, the president posted earlier today, I predict that Representative Thomas Massie will go down as the worst Republican congressman in the long and fabled history of the United States Congress. He goes on to say, quote, "Massie, who is running against a great American patriot in the Kentucky primary, will hopefully lose big. I love Kentucky."

Congressman Massie obviously has been very -- he's been pushing for the release of the Epstein files. He's also a libertarian, much like in the in the style of Rand Paul, anti-war, et cetera. Do you think it's going to work?

SHORT: I don't know, it's important to remember the Trump campaign pushed to release the Epstein files as well. And I think that whether you like him or hate Massie, he's been pretty consistent in his beliefs.

And Kentuckians have continued to reelect him. And I saw the president today you know, in his rally, said that Massie is like a little Rand Paul. Well, Rand Paul's won statewide in Kentucky several times. Rand Paul's dad won in Kentucky several times.

So, the voters in Kentucky have known what they're voting for there. I'm not sure that that's the most effective attack on Thomas Massie for trying to take him out. TAPPER: I think Ron Paul won in Texas

SHORT: Fair. Fair enough. You're right.

TAPPER: Yeah. But what do you think?

ELLEITHEE: I don't pretend to understand Republican politics as well as Marc does, but I agree. Thomas Massie has beaten the Trump machine before, right? Trump's gone after him before they've these two men have not really been super close allies for --

TAPPER: Well, he probably votes with Trump like 90 percent of the time.

SHORT: Yeah, I don't think Trump picked a fight with him in the first go round. And I think Massie has been there. But this time, I think it's different. I think it's maybe it is. But again, it's not as if Massie has had a change. This is who Massie has been, who.

ELLEITHEE: He is.

SHORT: And so, you know, if you're -- if you're going to try and pick this fight, I'm not sure you pick it by saying you're a little Rand Paul.

TAPPER: Is it -- was it Ronald Reagan that said, if you're my 80 percent -- if my 20 percent opponent, you're my 80 percent friend. I mean, I think it's something similar going on because again Massie votes with just like Rand Paul more than 90 percent of the time he votes with Trump. Anyway, thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it.

A big change could be coming to the World Cup just weeks before its supposed to begin, and the war with Iran could be the reason why? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:59:04]

TAPPER: Our last leads start in our sports lead where Iran's sports minister says Iran, quote, certainly cannot, unquote, compete in the upcoming FIFA World Cup due to the ongoing war. Since the attack started, Iran's participation in the tournament has been questioned as all three of the country's matches are set to take place in the United States.

FIFA's president said yesterday. President Trump assured him Iran was, quote, welcome to compete.

In our politics, lastly, former first lady, Dr. Jill Biden is releasing a book sharing her perspective on the 2024 presidential campaign. Biden says she wants to, quote, set the record straight about her experience at the White House and that moment that resulted in her husband withdrawing his candidacy during the debate or moments just months before the election. The book is going to be titled "View from the East Wing: A Memoir", scheduled to be published in June. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, X, and on

TikTok @jaketapper. You can follow the show on X and on Instagram @TheLeadCNN. If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can watch the entire show on the CNN app. Download the CNN streaming app so you can watch CNN whenever you want, wherever you want.

"ERIN BURNETT, OUTFRONT" live from Tel Aviv starts right now.