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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump on Timeline to End War, Don't Rush Me; Sources Say, U.S. Special Forces Soldier Arrested After Allegedly Winning $400,000 Bet on Maduro Raid; Wildfires Across Georgia Destroy Homes and Force Evacuations. NYT Says FBI Investigated Reporter Who Ran Story On Kash Patel's Girlfriend; Acting AG Eases Rules On State-Licensed Medical Marijuana. NYT Says FBI Investigated Reporter Who Ran Story On Kash Patel's Girlfriend; Acting AG Eases Rules On State-Licensed Medical Marijuana. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired April 23, 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.
This hour, time is not on their side. That is the warning from President Trump about the Iranians tonight, as he also orders the U.S. Navy to shoot and kill any Iranian in boats placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz. So, what does all of this mean for any potential negotiations? Well, we're going to go live to the region and the White House in just moments.
Plus, authorities say they have foiled a mass shooting plot set to target a festival in New Orleans Jazz Fest. The man in custody is a former police officer himself, allegedly arrested this morning with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. What we're learning about how investigators were tipped off.
Also, hundreds of Georgia residents have been forced to evacuate their homes fleeing the worst fires the state has seen in decades. Tens of thousands of acres already turned to ash and concerns tonight the winds could make it even harder for crews to contain.
And the NFL draft kicks off tonight in Pittsburgh, but the player widely expected to be the number one selection will not be there. So, CNN is live in Miami tonight, where Quarterback Fernando Mendoza is celebrating with his family and friends as he takes this next step in his career.
The Lead tonight, President Trump defiantly claiming he's in no rush for a deal with Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I want to make the best deal.
I could make a deal right now.
Do you know who's under time pressure? They are. Because if they don't get their oil moving, their whole oil infrastructure is going to explode.
I'm not under any pressure whatsoever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: This coming hours after Trump's post on Truth Social ordering the U.S. Navy to shoot and kill any Iranian boats placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins is at the White House, CNN's Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem.
Kaitlan, to you at first. At what point does Trump's strategic patience on Iran become a political liability, if not already?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he didn't sound too worried about that, Jake, earlier when he was asked about high gas prices remaining, so for the next foreseeable future, as this war is continuing to go on.
[18:05:05]
Because the president said, yes, they may be up for a little bit, but he said in exchange for that, in exchange for what Americans are paying at the pump, they're getting an Iran that cannot have a nuclear weapon, as he phrased it earlier. Of course, whether voters feel the same way about that remains to be seen, Jake.
But in terms of the timeline here and what this looks like, you know, the president initially said four to six weeks. It was a timeline that he repeated many times, so did Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, and so did other top aides. As the president said, that is the foreseeable future for what this war looks like.
But now, Jake, of course, we have stretched into the seventh week, fifth day, by my count, since this war started. And when the president was asked multiple times about the timeline here earlier when he was inside the Oval Office, one of his quotes was, don't rush me. He then talked about how long Vietnam was, how long other wars that the United States has been in lasted in comparison he said to the six weeks as he described it, of course, it's much longer than that. We're now about to hit the eighth week of this war, Jake.
But another thing that he was talking about in terms of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz is money that he believes Iran is losing because the strait is closed, as he put it this way earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They came to us and they said, we will agree to open the strait. And all my people were happy. Everybody was happy except me. I said, wait a minute, if we open the strait, that means they're going to make $500 million a day. I don't want them to make $500 million a day until they settle this thing. So, I'm the one that kept it closed. We have total control of it. And it'll open when they make a deal or something else happens that's very positive. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The president was arguing that the United States has total control of the Strait of Hormuz. Obviously, it doesn't, Jake, because it is still closed. Iran is still able to hit ships. That's why so many of them have not wanted to go through there, even though the president was saying last week and touting in events on the road that the Strait of Hormuz had been opened, citing Iranian officials. That is obviously still something that is an issue.
And, Jake, obviously this comes after CNN had reported this earlier, but the Pentagon made it official to Congress this week, that even if this war ended tomorrow, for example, it could take six months to clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines to make shipping safe and to make these companies feel safe and comfortable going through the strait.
TAPPER: Kailan Collins at the White House, thanks. We're going to see you on The Source tonight.
Meanwhile, Oren, a short time ago, President Trump announced this ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon at its extending three weeks. Tell us more.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: This was the major expectation coming out of these talks held at the diplomat level between Israel and Lebanon, under the auspices of the United States. And you saw Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking part in this as well. This is President Donald Trump trying to keep this ceasefire in place.
The first one was a temporary ten-day ceasefire. We have seen both Israel and Iranian proxy Hezbollah accuse each other of violating the ceasefire. We have seen strikes and attacks, rockets and drone launches from Lebanon, from Hezbollah, into Northern Israel, and that Israeli troops occupying Southern Lebanon. So, it was a question of whether this fragile ceasefire can hold.
Trump has the leverage here. He has the ability to make that so, and he announced that it would be extended by three weeks. Now, that gives a month total for diplomatic talks here.
But this is an incredibly complex, difficult situation that may require a lot of time to get through the diplomacy required to create diplomatic relations, and certainly a broader peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon, which haven't had relations in decades.
Trump also said that he hoped to soon host both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House. He's made clear that's one of his goals to bring these two together for direct talks. But Aoun had declined to take a call with Netanyahu in recent days and said, coming out of a cabinet meeting in Lebanon this morning, or a government meeting, that talks with Netanyahu were not part of the deal here. So, arranging that meeting and trying to move this forward still remains a very tall order. Jake?
TAPPER: All right. Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem, thanks so much. We're following some breaking news now. A U.S. Special Forces soldier who was involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has just been arrested. He's accused of placing bets on that operation, bets that won him $400,000.
I want to bring in CNN's Kara Scannell and CNN's John Miller. And, Kara, you were first to report last month that this trade was under investigation. What do we know about this arrest?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This member was arrested today. What we know from the indictment is that he is an active military member. He was involved in the planning and execution of the capture of Nicolas Maduro. And according to authorities, he traded based on classified information that he knew about the raid.
And here's what we know about the timing of these trades. He made these trades on Polymarket, one of those prediction markets, where he placed a bet that Maduro would be out of Venezuela by the end of January. These bets he started placing on December 27th, and he made them up until January 2nd. That U.S. capture happened in the early morning of January 3rd.
[18:10:01]
So, that paid out huge. His initial bets totaled about $32,000. He made more than $400,000 in profits.
Now, this is the first criminal case that has been brought involving prediction markets. It involves these allegations of insider trading in misuse of government information for one's personal gain. He's facing five charges. According to authorities, he will be presented before a judge in North Carolina where he is based. And then he will come to New York to ultimately face these charges.
We don't know who his lawyer is and he's in custody, so we haven't been able to reach him for comment. But prosecutors say that after he made these trades and he cashed out big, he sent the money overseas to a foreign crypto wallet and then ultimately cashed that out to an online brokerage account and then asked Polymarket to take it down once it had attracted so much attention. Jake?
TAPPER: John Miller, walk us through the investigative process when something like this gets on the radar of law enforcement.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, this is one of these things where, first, you see the suspicious activity, then you focus on Polymarket. As Kara said, you sit down with them, you issue federal grand jury subpoenas, and you trace that trade and that payment back to its origin.
You know, Jake, we've been talking about insider trading and inside information since the days of Ivan Boesky and Mike Milken. This is an entire new wrinkle when it's not just inside information but it's inside classified information from an operator from U.S. Special Forces. Now, the Maduro raid was carried out by JSOC, the Joint Special Operations Command. The principal actors there were Delta Force, which is the elite U.S. Army equivalent to the Navy SEALS, and they were accompanied by FBI agents. But this is not just a question of the law as he's going to find out in a prosecution, this becomes a question of the safety of his team by divulging classified information and a question of honor.
TAPPER: All right. John Miller, Kara Scannell, thanks to both of you.
CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig is back with us. And, Elie, last hour, we were talking about possible insider trading around the Iran war, and here is possible insider trading regarding the Maduro seizure.
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So, let's take the principles we just discussed last hour, right, the three-part test. Is the information material? Does it matter? Well, if he's on the strike team and he knows we are about to take out Maduro, you bet that's material. Is it non-public? Of course. As John Miller just said, it's not just confidential, it's highly classified. And then, finally, does he have a fiduciary duty? Does he have some duty to protect this? Of course he does. He's a soldier. The indictment actually specifies that he signed paperwork saying, I will not disclose classified or sensitive information.
So, you can see, I think the lesson here is insider trading charges are not necessarily just for Wall Street brokers and CEOs. They can be applied to anyone who has that type of sense of information and then trades on it.
TAPPER: Well, exactly, especially these days when you can bet on literally anything.
HONIG: Yes.
TAPPER: So, what do we know about who's going to handle the prosecution, if anything? So, this -- as Kara said, he got arrested, so he'll initially appear in federal court in North Carolina. He'll quickly be brought up to the Southern District of New York, my old office, which has made its bones over the years. It's famous for doing these insider trading cases. The office is a few blocks away from Wall Street.
But, again, it will apply here. The case has been assigned to a district court judge named Margaret Garnett. She was a colleague of mine as a prosecutor at the SDNY. She was actually in charge of the gangs and violent crimes unit, very tough judge, very fair judge. I'm not sure I'd want to appear in front of her if I was a defendant. This individual is looking at a max of 20 years. He's not going to get anything like 20 years if he's convicted.
Also there's the question of bail. You know, Kara raised that. Typically, someone arrested with no priors on an insider trading case like this would get released on bail. So, I don't expect him to be held before trial, but this is an insider trading case like any other you might see out of the SDNY.
TAPPER: All right. Elie Honig, thanks so much for the update. I appreciate it.
Today, police arrested a former cop who they say was planning a mass shooting, hoping to carry it out at a festival in New Orleans. We're going to dig into the allegations ahead.
Plus, the head of the Oversight Committee in the House says some of his members are in favor of a pardon for Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, because that's the only way she will testify. I'm going to get a reaction from a Democrat on that committee, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:15:00]
TAPPER: We're back with our World Lead and more on the breaking news of that U.S. soldier involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was arrested after allegedly betting big on that very operation.
Let's bring in Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, who sits on the House Foreign Appearance Committee. Congresswoman, what is your reaction to this news?
REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): It's appalling, it's staggering. And maybe in this climate it should not be surprising. But think about it. This is insider trading of a whole another level. This is classified information. This is operational information. This is within days of the actual strike by Special Forces to get Maduro. It is staggering, obviously, clearly unregulated, clearly dishonorable, I hope, criminal.
But I worry that we're in a climate where folks see the grift at the top, the special betting on outcomes at the very top of this administration. And they think, I want a piece of it. It's so dishonorable. If it is, as alleged -- let's be clear, this is alleged.
TAPPER: Right.
DEAN: It is so incredibly dishonorable. But you saw, we had lutnick in front of us today in the Appropriation Subcommittee hearing. And it appears his own sons are betting and buying up refunds for tariffs, for pennies on the dollar, in order to collect those tariffs because they bet that they would be found illegal.
TAPPER: Yes. On the --
DEAN: It's happening grotesquely in this administration.
TAPPER: Yes. On the subject of Lutnick, I also wanted to ask you about Lutnick's past ties to Jeffrey Epstein. And specifically you referenced an interview he did last year with The New York Post, where he claims he cut off ties with Epstein in 2005, but then with the release of the Epstein files, it was proven that that was not true. [18:20:09]
I want to play part of today's exchange between you two.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Why did you lie about your relationship with Epstein?
HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: The House Oversight Committee and I have agreed we will spend the time --
DEAN: Reclaiming my time. I do not accept that answer.
Why did you lie to the Post?
LUTNICK: I have voluntarily agreed to spend the time and talk about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So, we should note, of course, that Lutnick is not accused of any criminal wrongdoing, but he is going to testify before the House of Oversight Committee. We're told that that's going to happen on May 6th. What were you hoping to learn from him about his past ties to Epstein and his obvious lie about the fact that he had previously claimed he had nothing to do with him after 2005 when he had lunch with him after that?
DEAN: I think it just goes to his credibility, his veracity. He is the sitting commerce secretary. So, he was in front of us, the Appropriations Committee, for us to consider that, which the department is asking for in its budget. And take a look at what he did. What he did there was to act as though he was being magnanimous. He's going to go before the Oversight Committee.
It's not testimony. Let's be very, very clear. It's not testimony, it's not under oath. It is not in public. It is not subject to subpoena. It's basically a closed door conversation.
Why wouldn't he, if he wanted to make sure everybody in America knew he had nothing to do with this guy, Mr. Epstein, whom he called disgusting from 2005, I think it was, when he and his wife first set foot in the next door neighbor's house, Mr. Epstein's house, why wouldn't he want to say to us, you know what, I am so looking forward to telling you right now how I had nothing to do with this gentleman.
But he can't, because he dramatically, in that podcast, talked about how they were so disgusted, never to see him again, and only to find that the Epstein files, which I have gone through myself in the Department of Justice, how absurd is this, that members of Congress have to do this, have found his name and his relationship? With Mr. Epstein goes on for years and years and years, to the point of visiting the island with his wife, children, and nannies, and to the point of five days after that visit, entering into signing a business deal alongside Mr. Epstein.
He can't be trusted. He's not telling the truth. He was, at a minimum, an Epstein enabler.
TAPPER: Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, Democrat of Pennsylvania, thanks so much, I appreciate it.
Dozens of homes and businesses destroyed as wildfires spread across Georgia. We're going to go live to one of the hardest hit areas, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:25:00]
TAPPER: In our National Lead, a drought-ridden Georgia is facing several rapidly expanding wildfires in the southeast. The Highway 82 Fire has grown more than 5,000 acres, burning at least 54 structures in Brantley County, Georgia, including this wedding chapel we're showing you.
CNN's Derek Van Dam is on the ground in Georgia with more on the wildfires' devastation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My house is gone.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice over): It's among the worst wildfires in Georgia in decades, leaving behind swaths of devastation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what's left. A sad day here.
VAN DAM: So far, officials say 87 homes have been destroyed in what's called the Highway 82 Fire in Southeast Georgia, and many more are considered at risk.
The state of emergency declared in more than half of the state's counties, a region facing unprecedented drought conditions.
JOEY CASON, BRANTLEY COUNTY MANAGER: Be aware this situation is continuing to be fluid. It's not a really good situation for the folks that are in front of this fire.
VAN DAM: Two of the biggest fires have already burned more than 30,000 acres, now nothing more than ash and debris.
Like a scene out of a movie, flames surrounding properties, sparing some and destroying others, almost like the indiscriminate nature of a tornado.
Now, when these residents left their home, they left this sprinkler going, hoping to keep any additional flames at bay.
Hundreds of residents forced to evacuate as the fires quickly spread.
DRAKE SMITH, BRANTLEY COUNTY RESIDENT: It wasn't panic until we see -- well, until we've seen the fire over the tree line.
VAN DAM: Drake Smith and his young family among those who left their home quickly as flames threatened the nearby community.
And when did you know that it was time to leave?
BRASWELL SMITH, BRANTLEY COUNTY RESIDENT: When the flames got closed to us.
VAN DAM: Making the decision to leave everything behind other than a change of clothes.
D. SMITH: A lot of stuff we had to leave, like all the toys and everything. And most of our life was just in the trailer.
VAN DAM: Their home in hard-hit Brantley County spared this day, but the threat is far from over and their future uncertain.
D. SMITH: If we do have to leave and we'll just -- we'll have to be in the cars because we really don't have a plan.
VAN DAM: Smoke from the fires in southeast Georgia have reached the skies over Atlanta, hundreds of miles away. The air quality deemed unhealthy. So far, there have been no reports of serious injuries or fatalities, but erratic winds and no rain in sight could make bad conditions worse.
CASON: Literally, within the last hour, we went from no evacuation need to a crisis evacuation need. It's just a constantly changing situation with the wind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAN DAM (on camera): Jake, during a press briefing just a few moments ago, the media watched as the Highway 82 Fire escalated in size. It actually created a pyro cumulus cloud, we can see directly behind me with the smoke and the winds fueling the flames once again. We have seen large air tankers and Chinook helicopters dropping fire retardant and trying to suppress the fire.
[18:30:04]
It is going to be a long and excruciating night for firefighters and authorities on the ground here in Brantley County. Jake?
TAPPER: All right, Derek. Thanks so much. I appreciate your reporting.
The House Ethics Committee's investigating allegations against Republican Congressman Cory Mills of Florida. We're going to dig into exactly what he's accused of and his response to the charges, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In the House of Representatives, there was a growing group of members talking about a resolution to remove four House members from the body. This is about a week or two ago. The four members were two Democrats and two Republicans. And over the last week-and-a-half, three of those members resigned before Congress could kick them out. The only one left from that list is Congressman Cory Mills, Republican of Florida.
So, what is it that Mills is alleged to have done? It all seems to have really started in February 2025 when the Metropolitan Police Department here in Washington, D.C., was dispatched to investigate a report of an assault on a woman. This is at 4:30 in the morning, according to The Washington Post. The woman, CNN has learned, was Sarah Raviani.
[18:35:01]
She was then 27. She posted this picture of her and Congressman Mills to her X account in 2023. She's a co-founder of Iranians for Trump.
She was initially accusing mills of some offenses. The Washington Post obtained the body camera footage. This is a still from the video that the Post published. The Post did not identify Raviani as the woman involved in this incident, but CNN has. And the Post writes that she showed the police officer, quote, bruises on her arms and marks on her face. Tearful, she told the officer that Mills had harmed her during an argument and forcibly removed her from his Southwest Washington penthouse apartment, saying, quote, I just wanted to make record of this because I don't want it to happen to anyone else, unquote.
But Congressman Mills denied it, and Raviani soon changed her story and said it didn't happen after all. Mills' office said the police, quote, asked to resolve a private matter, but the congressman vehemently denies any wrongdoing, whatsoever, and is confident any investigation will clear this matter quickly. There was not an investigation though because she recanted her initial accusation.
However, apparently, the news of that situation in February 2025 caused more chaos, because after that story broke, a separate woman, Ms. United States Lindsey Langston, who says she had been dating Congressman Mills since 2021, since before he was a congressman, she then broke up with him. And in the ensuing breakup, she ended up filing a police report in July 2025 against Congressman Mills. This is with the Columbia County, Florida Sheriff's Office, this is July 2025, saying that Congressman Mills threatened to release intimate images of her, what is commonly called revenge porn.
Now, Congressman Mills in a statement said, these claims are false and misrepresent the nature of my interactions. I have always conducted myself with integrity, both personally and in service to Florida's Seventh Congressional District.
Now, Langston ended up seeking a protective order against Mills. And in court she told the judge, quote, he's powerful, he's well connected, he's wealthy. She claimed the congressman threatened to harm any man with whom she became involved. Quote, I'm scared, I thought I could handle it by myself. Please help me, she said to the judge.
Now, according to text messages that she later provided to a court, Congressman Mills seemed to threaten to release videos of her. Lake County Florida Commissioner Anthony Sabatini released copies on X of what appears to be those threatening text messages, quote, Mills says, I'm sorry to see this is how you treat things. Good luck to you. Thanks again for the videos. She says, haven't you hurt me enough?
On June 12th, she says to him, please leave me alone. He says, okay, Linds, get me his number and I can send him videos. Take care, apparently referring to her new boyfriend.
Another time, he says, quote, I can send him a few videos of you as well. Oh, I still have them. In October, a judge granted her request for a restraining order banning Congressman Mills from contacting her or even mentioning her on social media.
Now, these allegations have even some Republicans in Congress, women notably, leaving the door open for the ouster of Congressman Cory Mills.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): Yes. I mean, you're beating women. I don't think that you should be a representative in Congress.
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He denied the allegations. Do you not believe him?
BOEBERT: I mean, who hasn't denied allegations? Everybody does. So, I mean, you have temporary restraining orders, you have body cam footage of stories changing.
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): Cory Mills embodies many of the things that I believe are corrupt, that are predatory toward women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Joining us now to discuss among other issues, Democratic Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari of Arizona.
What is your reaction to all these allegations about Congressman Mills?
REP. YASSAMIN ANSARI (D-AZ): I mean, the allegations are incredibly disturbing. When I first heard about them, I was, you know, devastated to hear that and thought that action should be taken immediately. It has taken a little bit longer than necessary to get to the point where now there is an investigation within the Ethics Committee, and there are several colleagues of mine, you know, it's a bipartisan committee, so Democrats and Republicans are investigating the allegations against Congressman Mills. And I think that, you know, if they are to be found true, I think there should be very serious repercussions. And I think expulsion should certainly be on the table.
TAPPER: And we should note if Congressman Mills is out there and he wants to come on the show to talk about this open invitation, please come on.
Let's turn to some other disturbing reports. We learned today that the Justice Department's internal watchdog, the inspector general, is launching an investigation into the Justice Department's production of files and documents related to the Epstein case, specifically some of the redaction issues where there were allegedly overredactions of men and underredactions of victims or survivors. How much faith do you have that this inspector general will be able to bring some accountability here?
ANSARI: I think it's an important step. The role that inspector general's play for, you know, in our government is really important. That's why the gutting of some of these inspector general offices last year by DOGE and the Trump administration were very disturbing.
[18:40:07]
So, it's a great first step.
I have no doubt that under Pam Bondi's leadership, the former attorney general, there has been a massive cover-up under this White House at the direction of Donald Trump. That's why, you know, as part of the Oversight Committee, as you know, there was a bipartisan subpoena to have Pam Bondi come forward. And they have displayed just outright defiance of the law in this lawful subpoena.
Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche came before us and tried to have this fake hearing with the Oversight Committee, closed doors, no media, no C- Span, you know, nothing was transcribed. And when we realized what a sham the whole thing was, and this was their attempt to get out of the, you know, actual hearing, an actual deposition, we all walked out.
And, you know, our ranking member, Robert Garcia, and all of us as Democrats have said that we will hold Pam Bondi in contempt if she does not come forward. The hearing was supposed to be on the 14th of April and she is clearly trying to defy the law here.
TAPPER: The chairman of your committee, James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, he says that there's a split in the committee over whether or not Ghislaine Maxwell, the Epstein accomplice who's in prison, should be pardoned by the president in exchange for her testimony. Who on the committee wants her to be pardoned?
ANSARI: I have not heard the specific names, but that is enraging, if that is true. I mean, Comer has said that he does not believe that. I know he said that he was misquoted. But, I mean, to be honest with you, Jake, there's only a handful of people on that committee who are genuine on the Republican side about getting accountability at some of the women that you just showed, you know, who have been consistent in, you know, working with Democrats on subpoenas to have people come forward. The rest of the crew does not care, and, in fact, they would love nothing more than for this to go away. That is unbelievable.
Let's remind the American public that Ghislaine Maxwell is an absolute monster. I mean, she is just in line with Jeffrey Epstein, she's committed vast crimes and was critical in this child sex trafficking ring. She should not be pardoned at all. She should not be in the cushy prison that she's in.
TAPPER: Yes.
ANSARI: And she should be testifying under oath without any sort of incentives provided to her. It's absurd.
TAPPER: You are the only Iranian American Democrat in the House of Representatives, and you co-signed a letter today requesting that the Trump administration immediately institute protections for Iranian nationals who are currently in the United States who can't go home because of the war. Tell us about that.
ANSARI: So, under this administration's policies, USCIS has put a pause on all processing of immigration benefits, and actually there's now no legal pathway. So, think about people like students. There's 12,000 Iranian students everywhere from Arizona State University to Stanford to MIT studying and, you know, potential future contributors to our economy. There's people lawfully here on work visas. All of those people are in limbo.
So, let's say they're graduating in May, they will be forced to return to Iran where the regime in Iran just massacred thousands and thousands of people. And now we have a heightened situation with the ongoing U.S. war on Iran.
And so what Senator Markey and I are asking for is to protect those individuals to have processes for them, and then I will be introducing legislation in short order to grant those individuals temporary protected status because that they would qualify. I mean, when you look at the designation of what TPS means, it's for a country that is having civil unrest, you know, has a repressive regime, is in a war, and all of that applies here. People being sent back to Iran right now would be facing persecution and potentially even worse.
TAPPER: Yes. Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, Democrat of Arizona, thank you. Don't be a stranger.
ANSARI: Thank you.
TAPPER: Come back here soon.
The New York Times says the FBI investigated one of its reporters after she wrote a story about director Kash Patel's girlfriend. Hear what Patel said when asked if that story was true. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:47:50]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Our politics lead now, "The New York Times" is slamming the FBI for an investigation of one of its reporters, "The Times" says, after that journalist reported this story in February about the use of FBI personnel to protect the FBI director's girlfriend.
Now at issue, the FBI director claims that a death threat made against his girlfriend was a result of that "New York Times" story in. A 26- year-old man was later arrested for the alleged threat. According to an FBI affidavit, quote, "The suspect stated that he had read the news article described above and became upset, leading him to send a threatening email." But "The New York Times" reports that the investigation into the journalist who wrote that report raised concern among some Justice Department officials who, quote, "determined there was no legal basis to proceed with the investigation."
The FBI does acknowledge that there was a conversation about whether or not the journalist violated stalking laws, but says there was no serious consideration of an investigation or charges against her.
Here now, our panel, what a time we're in, huh?
So, FBI Director Patel was asked if the FBI was investigating the journalists last night. Here is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Absolutely not. The reality is -- and thanks, Sean -- is that this same reporter delivered a baseless story which caused a direct threat of life to my girlfriend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Jonah?
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I have seen no evidence, that the story was baseless. And the fact that I think it's fair to say we get quite a bit of disturbing email out there because, you know.
TAPPER: Because of the likes of Kash Patel and Donald Trump and the like. Yes.
GOLDBERG: Yeah. I mean, and Kash Patel actually had a list of people in his book that he wanted to have, you know, rounded up when they got back in power. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. My only point is, is that, the fact that someone sent an email that was threatening is not a predicate for launching an FBI investigation into a reporter. It's just a pretextual excuse to make it sound like this was something appropriate. Of course, they're acknowledging the investigation because the whole point is to have a chilling effect, right?
It's the whole point is to say, look at, you know, look at my drinking or look at my girlfriend stuff and all that. And we're going to come after you.
TAPPER: So, the FBI, again, the FBI insists that there was no actual official investigation.
[18:50:01]
There was a conversation or conversations about whether this reporter crossed the line into stalking. But Joseph Kahn, the executive editor of "The New York Times", he doesn't take that pooh poohing well. He says that the effort was done to, quote, "prevent journalists from scrutinizing the FBI's actions. It's alarming. It's unconstitutional, and it's wrong."
You used to work at the Justice Department during the Biden years. XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.
TAPPER: What do you make of the fact that according to "The New York Times", this reporter's name was run through databases?
HINOJOSA: It sounds like it was a preliminary investigation, whether they call it a full on investigation or something they were just looking at internally, the fact that the FBI was looking at it raises, you know, some major problems. I will say that there were policies in place at the Justice Department that we put in while we -- while I was there, that prevented --
TAPPER: That they removed that.
HINOJOSA: They prevent -- yeah, that prevented this kind of thing. And what Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche said at the time is because they were not going to protect journalists that leak information.
Let me just remind you that journalists are not privy to classified information by the federal government. Someone may leak to them, but they are not the leakers of the information. They are the receivers at times when someone illegally leaks to them, they're not the people who should be investigated. The leakers should be investigated.
So, there is a problem with their argument at the beginning. When I left the Justice Department, we were very concerned that this would start happening. And we were right. It not only happened with "The Washington Post", to get more information about sourcing, but now you're hearing the same thing, what the FBI and DOJ are trying to do is not only chill speech, but they're trying to get information -- information from these reporters that exposes who is leaking to them and how they're getting the information.
TAPPER: Yeah.
HINOJOSA: And that is the reason why we put those policies in place. But they rescinded them.
TAPPER: So acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, to move on to another topic, signed an order today reclassifying state licensed medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Posting, quote, "These actions will enable more targeted, rigorous research into marijuana safety and efficacy, expanding patients access to treatments, and empowering doctors to make better informed health care decisions."
What do you -- what do you make of this?
GOLDBERG: You know, I don't know. I do not like our lurch towards sort of completely destigmatizing decriminalizing marijuana and all that.
TAPPER: Why?
GOLDBERG: I think it's gone too far. I think the marijuana we have today is, you know, 10x, 20x more powerful than marijuana.
TAPPER: It's nothing like --
GOLDBERG: The stuff I grew up with.
TAPPER: Right.
GOLDBERG: That's right.
And it's just -- it's gone too fast and society hasn't had time to figure it out. That all said, there are particularly on the medical marijuana side and on the tax law treatment of some of this stuff. They're perfectly colorable, defensible reasons for this kind of policy.
It just feels like a follow the money kind of thing, because this is a massive windfall for the pot industry, the legal pot industry in terms of how they're treated as a tax --
TAPPER: They're spending political money like crazy.
GOLDBERG: And they pour money into all sorts of stuff. So, I would like to look at the lobbying of this and whether this originated in the White House was handed off to Blanche to make it happen.
TAPPER: So -- and just whether you consider -- whether you think this deserves President Trump deserves credit or blame for this, it was started under Biden at the Justice Department.
HINOJOSA: Yeah, I chuckled when this whole happened and this photo op that you just showed with Todd Blanche sitting there signing this piece of paper.
TAPPER: Smoking a doobie.
HINOJOSA: You know, that --
TAPPER: I was joking. He was not smoking a doobie.
HINOJOSA: He would that -- he wouldn't buy --
GOLDBERG: -- a van at fast times. Yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
HINOJOSA: But this is not -- this is not new. The Justice Department and the Biden administration started the process to reclassify it. It takes time. There needs to be a hearing. A judge needs to go ahead and decide, et cetera.
What Todd Blanche is clearly doing is he's auditioning for it to keep his job. He was able to go after the Southern Poverty Law Center. He was able to reclassify or show that he is reclassifying marijuana, when the Biden administration already did that, he is --
TAPPER: And just to interrupt for one second, and President Trump at a meeting in the oval office the other day, was expressing irritation that it hadn't yet happened. HINOJOSA: Yes. That's right.
TAPPER: He's like, House approves it. Why are they slow walking it? Why are they slow walking? And then blanche delivers it.
HINOJOSA: And I think one thing to add to the list is I thought it was pretty funny that he had Kash Patel standing there with him at the Southern Poverty Law Center press conference, for the reason that Todd Blanche wasn't going to get the tough questions. And he knew that Kash Patel was going to get the questions about "The Atlantic" story, which provided him some cover and actually made Todd Blanche look quite reasonable next to Kash Patel.
So, I do think there is a full campaign from Todd Blanche to the attorney general, and you're seeing it -- we're seeing it right before us.
GOLDBERG: Very quickly, going back to his CPAC appearance, which was sort of outrageous, when he was -- before he was acting attorney general, he said that Trump's pardons of the January 6th rioters, were proof of his commitment to his base. And he bragged about how every single agent who worked on any of the investigations into Trump had been fired.
[18:55:02]
That is a creepy thing for the deputy attorney general to be talking about.
TAPPER: Not exactly back in the blue either.
Thanks to both of you, I appreciate it. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Our last leads start in our law and justice lead. Police arrested a former cop in Florida today for allegedly planning a mass shooting. According to authorities, Christopher Gillum, who was at one point named Orange County, Florida's officer of the month last -- I'm sorry, Orange County, North Carolina last June, allegedly planned to travel to a festival in New Orleans, carrying out a mass shooting. Then he was to go planning to commit suicide by cop. Gillum's family alerted police that he had expressed interest in harming Black people, according to law enforcement.
Deputies recovered a handgun, about 200 rounds of ammunition from Gillum's hotel room. Good job to those officers.
And our sports lead, we're just about one hour away from the start of the NFL draft, where Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is widely expected to be the number one pick. But when his name is called, Mendoza will not walk across the stage in Pittsburgh.
Like the other picks, Mendoza is watching the draft at home in Miami with his friends and family, including his mom, who lives there with multiple sclerosis. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I will see you tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:47:50]
TAPPER: Our politics lead now, "The New York Times" is slamming the FBI for an investigation of one of its reporters, "The Times" says, after that journalist reported this story in February about the use of FBI personnel to protect the FBI director's girlfriend.
Now at issue, the FBI director claims that a death threat made against his girlfriend was a result of that "New York Times" story in. A 26- year-old man was later arrested for the alleged threat. According to an FBI affidavit, quote, "The suspect stated that he had read the news article described above and became upset, leading him to send a threatening email." But "The New York Times" reports that the investigation into the journalist who wrote that report raised concern among some Justice Department officials who, quote, "determined there was no legal basis to proceed with the investigation."
The FBI does acknowledge that there was a conversation about whether or not the journalist violated stalking laws, but says there was no serious consideration of an investigation or charges against her.
Here now, our panel, what a time we're in, huh?
So, FBI Director Patel was asked if the FBI was investigating the journalists last night. Here is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Absolutely not. The reality is -- and thanks, Sean -- is that this same reporter delivered a baseless story which caused a direct threat of life to my girlfriend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Jonah?
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I have seen no evidence, that the story was baseless. And the fact that I think it's fair to say we get quite a bit of disturbing email out there because, you know.
TAPPER: Because of the likes of Kash Patel and Donald Trump and the like. Yes.
GOLDBERG: Yeah. I mean, and Kash Patel actually had a list of people in his book that he wanted to have, you know, rounded up when they got back in power. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. My only point is, is that, the fact that someone sent an email that was threatening is not a predicate for launching an FBI investigation into a reporter. It's just a pretextual excuse to make it sound like this was something appropriate. Of course, they're acknowledging the investigation because the whole point is to have a chilling effect, right? It's the whole point is to say, look at, you know, look at my drinking
or look at my girlfriend stuff and all that. And we're going to come after you.
TAPPER: So, the FBI, again, the FBI insists that there was no actual official investigation.
[18:50:01]
There was a conversation or conversations about whether this reporter crossed the line into stalking. But Joseph Kahn, the executive editor of "The New York Times", he doesn't take that pooh poohing well. He says that the effort was done to, quote, "prevent journalists from scrutinizing the FBI's actions. It's alarming. It's unconstitutional, and it's wrong."
You used to work at the Justice Department during the Biden years.
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.
TAPPER: What do you make of the fact that according to "The New York Times", this reporter's name was run through databases?
HINOJOSA: It sounds like it was a preliminary investigation, whether they call it a full on investigation or something they were just looking at internally, the fact that the FBI was looking at it raises, you know, some major problems. I will say that there were policies in place at the Justice Department that we put in while we -- while I was there, that prevented --
TAPPER: That they removed that.
HINOJOSA: They prevent -- yeah, that prevented this kind of thing. And what Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche said at the time is because they were not going to protect journalists that leak information.
Let me just remind you that journalists are not privy to classified information by the federal government. Someone may leak to them, but they are not the leakers of the information. They are the receivers at times when someone illegally leaks to them, they're not the people who should be investigated. The leakers should be investigated.
So, there is a problem with their argument at the beginning. When I left the Justice Department, we were very concerned that this would start happening. And we were right. It not only happened with "The Washington Post", to get more information about sourcing, but now you're hearing the same thing, what the FBI and DOJ are trying to do is not only chill speech, but they're trying to get information -- information from these reporters that exposes who is leaking to them and how they're getting the information.
TAPPER: Yeah.
HINOJOSA: And that is the reason why we put those policies in place. But they rescinded them. TAPPER: So acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, to move on to
another topic, signed an order today reclassifying state licensed medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Posting, quote, "These actions will enable more targeted, rigorous research into marijuana safety and efficacy, expanding patients access to treatments, and empowering doctors to make better informed health care decisions."
What do you -- what do you make of this?
GOLDBERG: You know, I don't know. I do not like our lurch towards sort of completely destigmatizing decriminalizing marijuana and all that.
TAPPER: Why?
GOLDBERG: I think it's gone too far. I think the marijuana we have today is, you know, 10x, 20x more powerful than marijuana.
TAPPER: It's nothing like --
GOLDBERG: The stuff I grew up with.
TAPPER: Right.
GOLDBERG: That's right.
And it's just -- it's gone too fast and society hasn't had time to figure it out. That all said, there are particularly on the medical marijuana side and on the tax law treatment of some of this stuff. They're perfectly colorable, defensible reasons for this kind of policy.
It just feels like a follow the money kind of thing, because this is a massive windfall for the pot industry, the legal pot industry in terms of how they're treated as a tax --
TAPPER: They're spending political money like crazy.
GOLDBERG: And they pour money into all sorts of stuff. So, I would like to look at the lobbying of this and whether this originated in the White House was handed off to Blanche to make it happen.
TAPPER: So -- and just whether you consider -- whether you think this deserves President Trump deserves credit or blame for this, it was started under Biden at the Justice Department.
HINOJOSA: Yeah, I chuckled when this whole happened and this photo op that you just showed with Todd Blanche sitting there signing this piece of paper.
TAPPER: Smoking a doobie.
HINOJOSA: You know, that --
TAPPER: I was joking. He was not smoking a doobie.
HINOJOSA: He would that -- he wouldn't buy --
GOLDBERG: -- a van at fast times. Yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
HINOJOSA: But this is not -- this is not new. The Justice Department and the Biden administration started the process to reclassify it. It takes time. There needs to be a hearing. A judge needs to go ahead and decide, et cetera.
What Todd Blanche is clearly doing is he's auditioning for it to keep his job. He was able to go after the Southern Poverty Law Center. He was able to reclassify or show that he is reclassifying marijuana, when the Biden administration already did that, he is --
TAPPER: And just to interrupt for one second, and President Trump at a meeting in the oval office the other day, was expressing irritation that it hadn't yet happened.
HINOJOSA: Yes. That's right.
TAPPER: He's like, House approves it. Why are they slow walking it? Why are they slow walking? And then blanche delivers it.
HINOJOSA: And I think one thing to add to the list is I thought it was pretty funny that he had Kash Patel standing there with him at the Southern Poverty Law Center press conference, for the reason that Todd Blanche wasn't going to get the tough questions. And he knew that Kash Patel was going to get the questions about "The Atlantic" story, which provided him some cover and actually made Todd Blanche look quite reasonable next to Kash Patel.
So, I do think there is a full campaign from Todd Blanche to the attorney general, and you're seeing it -- we're seeing it right before us.
GOLDBERG: Very quickly, going back to his CPAC appearance, which was sort of outrageous, when he was -- before he was acting attorney general, he said that Trump's pardons of the January 6th rioters, were proof of his commitment to his base. And he bragged about how every single agent who worked on any of the investigations into Trump had been fired.
[18:55:02]
That is a creepy thing for the deputy attorney general to be talking about.
TAPPER: Not exactly back in the blue either.
Thanks to both of you, I appreciate it. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Our last leads start in our law and justice lead. Police arrested a former cop in Florida today for allegedly planning a mass shooting. According to authorities, Christopher Gillum, who was at one point named Orange County, Florida's officer of the month last -- I'm sorry, Orange County, North Carolina last June, allegedly planned to travel to a festival in New Orleans, carrying out a mass shooting. Then he was to go planning to commit suicide by cop. Gillum's family alerted police that he had expressed interest in harming Black people, according to law enforcement.
Deputies recovered a handgun, about 200 rounds of ammunition from Gillum's hotel room. Good job to those officers.
And our sports lead, we're just about one hour away from the start of the NFL draft, where Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is widely expected to be the number one pick. But when his name is called, Mendoza will not walk across the stage in Pittsburgh.
Like the other picks, Mendoza is watching the draft at home in Miami with his friends and family, including his mom, who lives there with multiple sclerosis.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I will see you tomorrow.
