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The Lead with Jake Tapper

The New York Times Reports Reveals Trump Admin Connections To Gas Station Drug; Experts Testify About Current Integrity Of U.S. Elections; Star-Studded Tuesday With Global Icons On World Cup Center Stage. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 16, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:05:17]

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Thanks to my panel. Really appreciate you all being here. Thanks to you at home for watching as well. Don't go anywhere. Jake Tapper is standing by for The Lead.

Hi, Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Hey, Kasie. We'll see you tomorrow.

HUNT: See you tomorrow.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: A thankfully foiled terrorist plot targeting the White House. The Lead starts right now.

Five men are in custody tonight after the FBI says it foiled a plot to attack the UFC Fight Night event at the White House Sunday. The plan allegedly included using a drone to drop explosives and snipers to hit high value targets in the ensuing panic. What we're learning tonight about who tipped off the police and whom police are still looking for.

Plus, President Trump says the Strait of Hormuz will be completely open by Friday. But new CNN reporting reveals U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Iran can effectively shut the strait back down at any point whenever they want. So what is the plan, Trump's plan to make sure that doesn't happen?

And some of the biggest names in soccer take the pitch tonight in the United States, including one of the greatest players of all time, Lionel Messi. CNN is live at the stadium in heartland America where Messi's team, Argentina, is preparing for its very first match.

Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. And we begin with our National Lead. Disturbing new details this afternoon about an alleged plot to attack UFC Fight Night on the lawn of the White House where about 100,000 people including President Trump gathered on Sunday. This plot thankfully was thwarted after the U.S. Secret Service and FBI uncovered messages discussing the plan. But the investigation is active and ongoing because there are still suspects at large we are told. As of now five people throughout America, West Virginia, California, Nebraska, Ohio, they're facing charges including conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. Federal charging documents just released claim that the suspects plotted to kill government officials and others.

One document reads, quote, "The co-conspirators discussed using drones to drop explosives on the north side of the White House to create panic and funnel event attendees toward locations where the co- conspirators would have snipers prepared to kill certain high value targets. The co-conspirators murder plot appears to have been motivated by their anti-government ideology."

As for specifics on that anti-government ideology, court documents indicate that some of the group, quote, "may share some Christian based," unquote, ultra-religious ideology. One of the suspects allegedly said he wanted to target a U.S. senator because that senator had, quote, taken money from the Israel, pro-Israel lobby and supports them.

CNN's Brian Todd has the latest on the investigation plus more of the concerning details of this plot.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An energetic crowded UFC event at the White House with President Trump in attendance, members of Congress and VIPs all potential targets of an alleged planned attack using drones and snipers. And according to the Secret Service, there are still suspects on the loose. According to a federal law enforcement official and criminal complaints obtained by CNN, a group of alleged online extremists planned and coordinated an attack at Sunday night's UFC fight on the White House lawn in order to, quote, "jumpstart a revolution in the United States." But they were thwarted.

MATTHEW QUINN, U.S. SECRET SERVICE DEPUTY DIRECTOR: It was a serious threat. It was an active plot and it's ongoing.

TODD (voice-over): According to a criminal complaint, the plan was to, quote, "stage a demonstration on the north side of the White House," then detonate drones over the arena, forcing the attending crowd to evacuate, where the group would act as snipers to conduct shootings of the members of the crowd and HVTs, high value targets, including, quote, "both wealthy people and politicians." Retired FBI agent Richard Kolko says it's not likely the alleged attackers could have enacted their plot in full, but they could still have informed inflicted some significant damage.

RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: If they had brought firearms, brought explosives, come to the area, found out where the perimeter was and gone forward and carried out some sort of attack. People could have died, people could have been hurt and it could have been very, very serious. TODD (voice-over): According to court documents, the online group were ex-military, Christian based and anti-government with anti-Israel and anti-Jewish views. The Justice Department has charged five people across California, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio in the alleged plot. The investigation began when the mother of a 19-year-old in custody, Tycen Proper, alerted authorities that she was concerned about her son who she says was communicating with radical people online and amassing an arsenal of weapons, including according to Proper's father, an AR style rifle and several boxes of ammunition.

[17:05:09]

KOLKO: This mom did exactly the right thing. She knew something was up with her son, something was wrong, and she picked up the phone, made the call and probably saved lives.

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TODD (on camera): The charges include conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. Now as for the one defendant, Tycen Proper, the criminal complaint does not say that he purchased any drones, but it says he did purchase multiple firearms and ammunition. Tycen Proper has not yet entered a plea. CNN has reached out to a public defender listed for him. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Brian Todd, thanks so much. Let's discuss with CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller and former CIA counterterrorism official Phil Mudd.

John, this was not a lone wolf attack plan. This appears to be highly coordinated, even including these messages where snipers which should, where they should be placed, where the drone should be launched. How concerning is this and how close do you think they were to pulling it off?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, extraordinarily concerning. And ironically, you know, I speak of all the things I learned from Phil Mudd when we were working at the FBI at the same time, which is how do you measure these plots when they come in, there's people in the chat room, they're talking big about taking action. What you measure is intent versus capability. So you get a lot of intent in these very specific chat rooms where they're talking about operationalizing this multi-level attack. But where do you see the capability?

You see the capability, as Brian Todd just reminded us, where multiple members of this group purchased thousands of dollars' worth of equipment each, pooled money to get more equipment, plotted escape routes, thousands of rounds of ammunition, multiple high powered weapons. And this wasn't a suicide mission necessarily because they also purchased body armor and plate carriers that could withstand military grade ammunition. So the clock was ticking when all of this started around the 10th or the 11th with the first tip, because this event occurred on Sunday the 14th. It was very close and there are more people that they are still trying to identify and find. TAPPER: Can I just ask you on that, John? Why did they announce all this if there were still more people to find? Wouldn't they normally wait until they've caught everybody? They don't want to tip anybody off.

MILLER: That's true. But I think some of the reality of this is once they started filing these court documents in a public way and once the chat group, you know, learned of arrests being made, it was kind of out there. But I think what they did focus on was the five people who were most committed as leaders here. But, you know, you do make a point everybody is likely to go to ground, but they'll get them because they always do.

TAPPER: Phil, court documents say that inside suspect Bryan Omar Roa's vehicle, the FBI found firearms, a tactical belt and radios. The mother of suspect Tycen Proper said she was concerned about his recent firearm purchases and physical training. The wife of suspect Daniel Eskridge said her husband had purchased a large amount of tactical equipment over the past few months. Does it sound to you like the Justice Department is building a pretty solid case?

PHIL MUDD, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: Yes, I think the case is solid. I would go back to what John said. You wouldn't typically, as you suggested, Jake, want to let this case roll out. You want to get the entire spider web before you take down any pieces of it. And the reason, as you point out, is we see a lot of capability here.

People who are thinking about this, people who may be in contact with others who have acquired maybe automatic weapons and ammunition. So when I look at this plot and sophistication, as you're saying, it looks pretty serious in terms of the potential capability. I'm not saying it's the most sophisticated thing I've ever seen. But they had to move when they had to move because I think the story started to leak out. But, man, that number of weapons, that's a lot.

TAPPER: And John, it appears that these suspects are right wing extremists. And yet in one of the court documents, Special Agents Agent Mercedes Smith says an interesting message from one of the suspects, Abraham Alvarez, who went by the online username Shepherd, quote, "Shepherd sent the following messages. Targets confirmed. One, 2. VP 3. N 4. Musk. Based on my training and experience, I believe this to mean one was likely identifiable with President Donald Trump, two, was likely referring to Vice President J.D. Vance. Three, N was likely referencing the screenshot referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

And four, Musk likely referred to Elon Musk." What do you make of that?

MILLER: Well, this is a very special brand of extremists. This is from a category that we in the intelligence community referred to as accelerationists. They're not just against blacks. They are. They're not just against Jews.

They definitely are. Some of them are against women. Altogether, they're against government. And that's the key. They want to topple the government.

The word accelerationist means to accelerate the fall of society. They want to topple the government.

[17:10:00]

They believe in their doctrine that that will cause a race war across the country and that they'll use all of these heavy arms and ammunition and so on to battle that on the part of white people. They don't like immigrants, they don't like migrants.

And I'll remind you because we went through this together, Jake, recently we had that attack by two very young accelerationists, another 19 and 18-year-old at the San Diego Islamic Center where they had their 70 page manifesto and so on. So what we were seeing is the kind of high profile event that they thought would cause the government to react, for society to react, and that this could have been a catalyst.

TAPPER: You should also note that the counterterrorism strategy put together by President Trump and Sebastian Gorka didn't really emphasize right wing extremism at all. And here is yet another example of right wing extremism.

Phil, if intelligence agencies know these types of extremists are out there, what's the way, what's the best way to ensure that they stop as many of these plots before they can carry them out? What kinds of operations are happening behind the scenes?

MUDD: What you said is really critical because it starts at the top. The message to the workforce has to be all your resources have to go against the target, in this case, right wing extremists. And so those resources, that sounds really boring, that sounds Washington belly, but that means people and money. So if you're in Topeka, if you're in Los Angeles, if you're in Miami, if you're in Chicago, the message from the top says in this case, as you mentioned, Sebastian Gorka, we don't pay much attention to that people. That means the field offices aren't spending people in money.

The way to go against these people, Jake, is you got to spend a lot of resources looking at them online. You got to develop informants, you got to talk to tip lines. That's a lot of people. So the message from the top has to be you can spend those people. It's OK. I'm not sure that's the message that field officers are getting, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Phil Mudd and John Miller, thanks to both of you.

As President Trump lauds his memorandum of understanding with Iran, new CNN reporting reveals that U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Iran can shut down the Strait of Hormuz again whenever it wants from now on. So what is the Trump plan to make sure that doesn't happen? That's next.

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[17:16:21] TAPPER: In our World Lead, U.S. intelligence agencies have recently assessed that Iran can now effectively shut down access to the Strait of Hormuz whenever the regime wants, meaning that Iran's murderous regime has acquired a powerful new ability to hurt the global economy as a result of this war, according to three sources familiar with the findings. Just yesterday, I asked Vice President J.D. Vance about this very possibility.

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TAPPER: If Iran was able to essentially hold the world hostage in some ways by closing the Strait of Hormuz even after the U.S. and Israel decimated Iran militarily, why should we not expect that they will do the same thing again when they are allowed to reconstitute their military?

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the reasons why they made this agreement is because they recognize they're losing that leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Zach Cohen is here.

And Zach, you're hearing from U.S. officials that Iran is not losing leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: In the short term, potentially. But they're using this moment and their current control over the strait, which they had never really followed through on until Donald Trump launched those combat operations, using it to get the best terms possible and to potentially string out the negotiations with the U.S. for as long as possible. And we've seen and heard this from U.S. officials repeatedly over the last several weeks that Iran is aware now that they can exploit the Strait of Hormuz and weaponize it essentially.

TAPPER: It was always a theory before but they know it.

COHEN: It was. Exactly. They threatened for years, including in the lead up to Midnight Hammer last year. They had threatened to close down the strait, but had never done it. It was only when they believed that Donald Trump's objective was regime change in this most recent operation that they did take that next step, escalating, I'm told, very deliberately in that way.

But now that now that they've done that and demonstrated they can do it, U.S. intelligence agencies believe that they are going to be more willing to pull that lever in the future. Now, there's some debate internally within the intelligence community about where the news threshold is, what would prompt Iran to once again try to close that strait. And it varies from agency to agency, but ultimately it's much lower than an existential threat like what prompted them to do it the first time.

And still one source saying, quote, "We have now handed Iran de facto control over the strait, a weapon more powerful than any nuke," sort of stressing how in and of itself, control of the Strait of Hormuz and the way that Iran was able to assert control over it with very minimal military capabilities is another form of deterrence and perhaps one even more powerful than achieving a nuclear weapon.

TAPPER: What do we know about Iran's current military abilities?

COHEN: Well, they clearly, and this goes into the assessments, they have enough missiles and drones and mines to reclose the strait, even if they agree under a framework agreement to reopen it. If they want to close it after the fact, they can. And they have enough missiles and capabilities to do that. We also know they're reconstituting much faster than the U.S. Intelligence community initially anticipated they would be able to, which really speaks to this feeling among some people in the military that Donald Trump paused combat operations a little bit too early, prematurely, in his pursuit of a negotiated resolution, rather than allowing them to, quote, "finish the job," as one military official could have to be.

TAPPER: All right, Zach Cohen, thanks.

The latest member of the Kennedy clan to run for public office is making an odd new claim in a new interview. Hear what Jack Schlossberg, JFK's grandson, says about seeing his cousin, RFK Jr. in his dreams. That's next.

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[17:24:15]

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have our deal done with Iran and it should be successful. It goes to a second stage which I think will be actually easier.

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TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, President Trump there saying that the next round of Iran talks will be easier than the initial negotiations that produce this new memorandum of understanding. We should note that this second round is the one that will address all the incredibly contentious and difficult issues that in the past it's taken months -- taken months if not years to address. The president is currently in France for the G7 Summit where talks of a U.S.-Iran agreement are taking center stage. Mr. Trump says he's going to release the text in a couple days. World leaders, however, are demanding clarity and transparency.

Let's discuss all this with POLITICO's White House Bureau chief, Dasha Burns.

[17:25:01]

So Dasha, Megyn Kelly pressed Vice President Vance today on what's the reasoning behind the secrecy not revel -- not releasing the text of this page and a half MOU. Here is what Vance had to say.

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VANCE: The reason why we haven't released it yet is there are some delicate diplomatic things going on where the Iranians, and not just the Iranians, but some of our mediators, the Pakistanis and the Qataris, have asked us to sequence this in the right way, frankly, fully understand it. But there are sensitivities that exist in the Arab and Muslim world that we're trying to be responsive to.

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TAPPER: He doesn't seem to fully understand it. What do you make of that?

DASHA BURNS, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: Doing a delicate diplomatic thing in that interview there. I mean, look, the president is vowing to put this out. He said he's going to read the full text, which actually should be possible given it's only about a page and a half.

Listen, Jake, from everything that I'm hearing, this is going to be a pretty vague memorandum of understanding. Anyone that's looking for clarity from this one and a half pager, it's probably not going to get it because what this does is likely open up the Strait of Hormuz. But as you talked about in your previous segment, Iran at this point knows the levers that they have so they could potentially shut it down again in the future. And all of the most difficult parts of the negotiation that are about the thing that they went into Iran for in the first place, which is their nuclear program, that's all being pushed down the line. And that the 60 days of negotiations on that, remember, it took a lot longer than that for Obama to get the JCPOA.

Listen, there are a lot of Republicans that, both privately, to me and even publicly, if you watch Fox News, will say that getting a deal with Iran is you're not going to get something good for the United States. And there are a lot of those people in the president's ear. But as you know, he talks to everybody, but he mostly listens to the people that are saying what he wants to hear. And he's been pushing for a deal this entire time. He has been so reticent to go back into actual conflict.

He's been calling it a cease fire, even though when it's -- even though it's felt many times like far from it.

TAPPER: Yes, the fire hasn't ceased.

BURNS: Absolutely. And so he is pushing really hard for this deal, along with Witkoff, Kushner and Vance, who have been proponents of the diplomatic path forward.

TAPPER: You sat down with Jack Schlossberg as the race to replace retiring Congressman Jerry Nadler heats up in New York's 12th congressional district. The primary is coming up a week from today. Is that right?

BURNS: Yes, that's right.

TAPPER: The full interview is going to drop Friday at 5:00 a.m. at POLITICO. I want to dive into a little teaser you released. Take a look.

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BURNS: When is the last time you and RFK Jr. spoke?

JACK SCHLOSSBERG, (D) NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I had a dream about him the other night, but before that it was --

BURNS: I don't know if that counts.

SCHLOSSBERG: -- when I was about 16.

BURNS: What was the dream about?

SCHLOSSBERG: He was saying, good job, you're going to win. And everyone's really freaked out about it up here.

BURNS: Really?

SCHLOSSBERG: Oh yes.

BURNS: Any psychoanalysis you want to do of that right now?

SCHLOSSBERG: Well, when I -- right before I passed the bar exam, I had a dream where he told me I was going to pass the bar exam. So it's all good. He tells me the future.

BURNS: It's kind of like a good news prophet for you.

SCHLOSSBERG: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Oh boy. Anyway --

BURNS: Not the answer I was expecting --

TAPPER: No.

BURNS: -- when I asked that question.

TAPPER: Well, he did say the last time he talked to him he was 16.

BURNS: He was 16.

TAPPER: And then he told us about his dream, which is always a topic that everybody wants to hear about his dreams. Tell us more about the conversation in general.

BURNS: Well, look, Schlossberg has made a name for himself through his social media presence, through knowing how to really get attention, which I think that clip indicates whether or not he's really dreaming about RFK Jr. or not. He knows the way to go viral, how to get people to talk about whatever he is talking about and he thinks that Democrats should be doing a lot more than that. He does not have the traditional resume for a congressman. He's well aware of that. But he's pretty defensive when people pry there because he thinks it is his nontraditional path, his nontraditional experience that is going to get him there and that Democrats need more of.

He kind of -- his theory of the case of political power is that ability to get attention and to get people talking about you. And you know what? He points to people like President Trump and by the way --

TAPPER: Yes.

BURNS: -- his cousin RFK Jr that have been able to use those tools to get into power.

TAPPER: Dasha Burns, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

[17:29:18]

A new report claims Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin invested in a psychoactive herb company and urged the FDA to scale back its warnings about the health risks. The response from DHS next.

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TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, an unregulated psychoactive herb frequently sold at gas stations called Kratom has powerful support from inside the Trump administration, according to a New York Times investigation. The investigation shows Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin invested as much as a million dollars in a popular Kratom company and again, according to the New York Times, privately urged the FDA to tamp down its warnings about the health risks of Kratom.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security tells the New York Times that Mullin follows all ethics and conflict of interest standards and has not lobbied for any individual or company.

New York Times reporter Kenneth Vogel joins us now. And Kenneth, in July last year, Mullin pushed for some federal restrictions on a synthetic form of Kratom called 7-OH. Take a listen.

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MARKWAYNE MULIN, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: It's legal, but it's an addiction that's ruining lives. It's an addiction that's truly killing people because it leads them down a road that sometimes they'll never recover from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Explain the difference to our viewers between the synthetic version of Kratom and what Mullin seems to be endorsing.

[17:35:05]

KENNETH VOGEL, REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yes, the synthetic version, commonly called 7-OH, is basically derived from the natural version, but essentially contains, like, elevated amounts or percentages of the psychoactive component. Essentially the stuff that makes you feel either, you know, high, for lack of a better word, or grants you pain relief or in some cases, acts as a sedative, depending on how much you take.

And so what the Kratom industry has done, including the company in which he is an investor, which has been a leading player in this influence campaign, is to try to shift attention away from what they deem like natural leaf Kratom, which comes in everything from these little shots that this company makes to gummies and extracts, and shift that attention to 7-OH, and essentially say, like, don't look at us. Don't regulate natural leaf Kratom. The real bad guys are the folks who make the 7-OH.

Now, it's interesting that Mullin is raising concerns about addiction because public health experts actually have concerns about the addictive qualities of both the synthetic stuff and the natural Kratom, like the stuff that the company that he's an investor in sells.

TAPPER: How does Kratom fit into the broader MAHA movement, the Make America Healthy Again agenda?

VOGEL: Yes, I mean, it's been embraced by, you know, folks who see mainstream medicine as somehow flawed or very corporate and the interest. And that is, you know, the basis of the MAHA movement in a lot of ways. Now, what's interesting about this is some of the folks in Kratom say, and this is sort of rhetoric that echoes with, you know, what you hear from RFK Jr., that big, like Big Pharma has clamped. Has used its ties to the government to clamp down on Kratom and sort of like, demonize Kratom.

And the interesting thing is the folks in the Kratom industry are now doing something very similar, using their connections to government to try to get it to clamp down on a rival drug, this 7-OH, which would be good for the Kratom industry because they compete with the 7-OH makers for shelf space and market share.

TAPPER: Meanwhile, the FDA on its website has a section titled what can happen if a person uses Kratom. And it says, quote, FDA has warned consumers not to use Kratom because of the risk of serious adverse events, including liver toxicity, seizures, and substance use disorder.

You report the lobbyists have been trying to have that removed from the FDA website that warning.

VOGEL: Yes, that's right. Including the guy who is the founder of the company that Markwayne Mullin has invested in even more than that. We found out that Markwayne Mullin, both as a senator and now as the Secretary of Homeland Security, has actually urged the FDA to dial back its warnings about the health risk of Kratom.

That's significant and would be a big win for the Kratom industry because a lot of the states where some of the regulation is happening as a result of the inaction at the federal level look to the FDA for direction. And so if the FDA is saying Kratom is bad, you can expect that there are going to be state regulators who are going to take their cues from the FDA and try to clamp down on Kratom.

TAPPER: I often find myself needing to explain to people how statements from the government have loopholes or lines that you can drive a truck through. In this one from the DHS, it says that Secretary Mullin, quote, follows all ethics and conflict of interest standards and has not lobbied for any individual or company.

But Kratom is not an individual. And Kratom is not just one company. Right. I mean this is -- this is -- it's a natural herb or whatever.

VOGEL: Yes. And it's sort of a burgeoning industry and it exploded, you know, when the government was trying. Regulators are trying to clamp down on opioids as a result of the addiction crisis that there. Because people who were either hooked on opioids or no longer could get access to them turned to Kratom because they thought it had some of the same effects even as the industry has promoted it as natural.

So, yes, there are a number of companies that do this. And so the statement about, from DHS about Mullin not lobbying for any particular company, he is, you know, advocating behind the scenes, whether you want to call it lobbying or not, for things that would benefit the Kratom industry, including the company that --

TAPPER: Exactly. It doesn't say he hasn't lobbied for any industry.

VOGEL: Right.

TAPPER: That's -- that's the thing. Kenneth Vogel, thank you so much. And another little translation of English to Washingtonese, Washingtonese to English. Thanks, Kenneth.

As millions of Americans head to the polls today, there was a new push on Capitol Hill to ensure the midterms are secure and fair. Someone who testified in that hearing is going to join us live coming up.

Plus, breaking news about a shooting at a hospital in Delaware. New details is coming in. That's next.

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[17:44:04]

TAPPER: And we're back with breaking news. Delaware police say a Wilmington hospital is on lockdown after two people were shot. Law enforcement responded to the shooting, which is about 30 miles southwest of Philadelphia. We're going to monitor and bring you updates as we get them.

Until then, though, let's turn to our Politics Lead. Today on Capitol Hill, the integrity of America's election system was in full focus at a Senate Democratic forum as we race towards the midterms. Lawmakers questioned experts on a host of issues, including the role federal officials have played in dismantling election cybersecurity.

My panel joins me now. And David Becker, you were inside that room. You testified. Take us inside. Tell us about the hearing.

DAVID BECKER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ELECTION NNOVATION AND RESEARCH: Well, there were several senators, only Democrats. It was. There were no Republicans in the room. And there was testimony about the fact that the Trump administration has dismantled the cybersecurity around elections infrastructure that -- it actually was responsible for building back during the first Trump administration and the Biden administration continued.

[17:45:00]

And this gave incredible resources and information to state and local election officials all over the country, particularly as foreign adversaries sought to spread disinformation and perhaps attack election infrastructure. That's gone now, and our elections are still secure in the United States. We have things like paper ballots and audits to ensure that. But the job has gotten a lot harder because that infrastructure is completely gone.

As we also see things like disinformation being spread sometimes by the administration itself and DOJ lawsuits against the states, et cetera.

TAPPER: And it wasn't just about those who are trying to tear down the protections that are there. It was also about the resilience of the election officials that are holding everything together right now. Tell us about that.

BECKER: Right, so we're seeing this in the primaries, right? We're seeing very high turnout in all of the primaries. California had a really high turnout. You and I talked about this before. California took a look longer than what we expect in terms of how they -- how long it takes them to count all those mail ballots that come in. I think they're going to work to try to get that better.

But one of the stats I just got was that California actually counted over 5 million ballots in their first -- in the first few hours after the election, reported those out. That's more ballots that have been counted ever in about 40 states. So they just have a huge volume.

But we were talking about how election officials, despite the disinformation, despite the lawsuits coming from the federal government, despite the fact that our foreign adversaries might be emboldened by the fact that we've somewhat unilaterally disarmed and the cybersecurity wars in this area are still doing a really good job. Their infrastructure is still strong. They're working with each other across party lines in most cases to get -- make sure that their elections are secure. And we're seeing that again in the primaries as people are even voting here today.

TAPPER: Are you guys worried about the election? Are you worried about any attempts to subvert the will of the people?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. I'm more concerned. I'm most concerned and I do a lot of work with the civil rights and voting rights community. There is grave concern about the security, for example, of our poll workers, because as we know, they face a lot of challenges that they threats to their lives, which they should not.

And there are a lot of concerns based on what President Trump has been doing in terms of, you know, what we saw in Fulton County, Georgia, Georgia's voting today. In fact, the things that we've seen him suing the states for voter rolls and the control that he has said he wants to have over certain states. It's very concerning.

And there are -- in addition to some of the things that Democrats on the Hill are looking at, there are conversations happening about how to ensure elections are secure and that voters are actually able to get to the polls and unobstructed by National Security, ICE officer or National Guard. I mean, ICE officers. So there are a lot of concerns.

TAPPER: Mike.

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIOSN DIRECTOR: Yes, I'm concerned. But I'm also concerned about several of the things that we talked about -- that you talked about today, especially from foreign actors trying to, not just at the polls, but in terms of the influence that we see online prior to even going to the polls.

So there is concern about that, but I'm also concerned about the speed. California is a perfect example. You talk about 5 million ballots being counted, but I think this lack of speed hurts democracy. And there are other states, such as Florida, that are very large states that can count the mail in ballots and do count them prior to election day so that when election day closes, they can put those ballots out there.

And I think that's -- we need to do a much better -- a much better job of getting the vote out in a timely manner because I think this conversation about how long California takes, it allows this conspiracy theory and these foreign actors and others from speaking and trying to --

FINNEY: But not actually stop hurting the conspiracy theories and say, look, California, it's going to take time.

DUBKE: Even if we're not feeding it, our foreign -- our foreign adversaries are. They're questioning it.

FINNEY: We have --

DUBKE: Speed helps democracy and we should --

FINNEY: Wrong.

DUBKE: We should count fast. BECKER: I think there's the perception of speed and there's speed. Right. I mean, we forget that in 2018, it took weeks to tell us who won the elections in Florida. We think of Florida as being really fast. But Ron DeSantis election was decided by 0.25 percent in 2018. That's not that long ago. Narrow margins mean that.

Also, what happened in California is a lot of mail ballots were dropped off on election day. California does pre-process and validate those mail ballots as soon as they get them, as most states do, but you can't do that on an election on a ballot that was dropped up. But these conversations are important because I think everyone wants fast counts.

I think we want to know what happens. We also want to know those ballots are being properly validated, but we can't have that fueled by conspiracy.

TAPPER: Yes.

BECKER: I mean, just have these discussions.

TAPPER: On that point in 2022, I think it was, it took a long time to count the ballots in California.

DUBKE: Yes.

TAPPER: A lot of this really contested districts ended up going Republican. And Republicans didn't say -- this is during Biden and that Republicans didn't say, oh, my God, it was a grand conspiracy, blah, blah, because, you know, Valdeo and the others won. And I think I'm talking about 2022.

DUBKE: I think you're '24. I think Valdeo lost in '22. I mean, I know you --

TAPPER: Are you taking my point, though?

DUBKE: But that's actually my point, though.

TAPPER: Yes.

DUBKE: I'm thinking of Valdeo because it took three weeks for him to find out that he had lost that election.

[17:50:00] That to me, is an extremely long period of time. Even if you have a high volume of ballots. We're talking one congressional district, which across the country, most of the congressional districts are the same size. Why does it take three weeks in California for something that in most states takes only a few days afterwards, even with the ballots coming in --

BECKER: Really, really remarkably narrow margin there. When you get margins that narrow --

DUBKE: Yes. BECKER: -- I mean, they're unfortunate. You know, we have really closely divided elections right now. So when we're talking about, I think back to Arizona in 2022, there was an Attorney General's race as decided by 200 or so votes statewide. Doesn't matter how fast you count the ballots, you're going to be waiting till the very last military and overseas ballot. And that's going to be.

TAPPER: Yes. I remember the race in Minnesota between Al Franken and Norm Coleman. It took weeks and weeks, all those.

DUBKE: Right. Well, the worst part about that was then they contested the ballots afterwards. I was actually involved in that. And the Republicans played nice. And some of the contested ballots, they just said, OK, we won't -- we won't contest them. And then in other -- in other counties, the Democrats did press.

TAPPER: I want to play this clip. Former Vice President Kamala Harris was one of the speakers of the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative. She was asked about where she is right now when it comes to possibly running for president again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D) FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: What I hear a lot is that people know that at the end of this administration, there will be a lot of debris. I tell them often, I can't guarantee that it won't get worse before it gets better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that make you more likely to run then?

HARRIS: Well, no. You started by asking me what I was going to do next. And what I'm going to do next is get a Sachertorte to take home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: A Sachertorte is an Austrian chocolate cake. Karen Finney, if you had to bet, is she going to run for reelection? I mean, election.

FINNEY: Yes.

TAPPER: Is she going to run again, is what I mean?

FINNEY: No, I think she ultimately will come to the position that she can do great service to this country as a stateswoman outside of the political process that were (INAUDIBLE).

TAPPER: Thanks --

DUBKE: Ask me. I hope so. I hope so.

FINNEY: I know.

DUBKE: Ask me. Yes, I do. I think that was a perfect example of why.

TAPPER: Because Sachertorte.

DUBKE: Sachertorte. And the way that --

TAPPER: All right.

DUBKE: -- she presents.

TAPPER: Thanks, everyone. One of the greatest soccer stars, not Sachertortes of all time, Lionel Messi, is set to take the pitch tonight for Argentina's first match of the World Cup. And we're live outside the stadium. Where is it? Kansas City, Missouri. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:56:31]

TAPPER: It is a star studded Tuesday at the World Cup. With the global spotlight fixed on North America as three of the game's biggest stars take the field this afternoon in New Jersey. The French squad led by Kylian Mbappe defeated Senegal 3 to 1. In just a few minutes, Norway returns to the World Cup stage in their first appearance since 1998 with Star Player Erling Haaland.

And later tonight, Lionel Messi and defending champions Argentina open against Algeria, chasing another chapter in what could be Messi's final World Cup run.

This match is being played in Kansas City, Missouri, and that's where we find CNN's Elizabeth Perez. Elizabeth, Kansas City is betting that the world's biggest sporting event can put this Midwestern city on the international soccer map. What is the atmosphere like there?

ELIZABETH PEREZ, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hello Jake. Thank you so much for having me. Well, today it marks the route, the journey of the Albiceleste, the Argentinian National Team to try to defend the title they won in Qatar 2022. The ambience has been crazy, the atmosphere.

Yesterday I visited a park where they celebrated El Banderazo, which is the official ceremony with all the fans celebrating, singing, eating typical food. And of course, here is kind of early for the game, which is going to happen in a couple of hours. But of course, some fans have been coming in and out, and I found this lovely couple here that they are.

He is half Argentinian. You were born in America, but you are American, from Kansas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PEREZ: So how did you guys meet? And how was he able to convince you to wear that jersey?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We actually met on a dating app in 2021. And, yes, I didn't know he was from Argentina when we met. I just thought he was, you know, typical guy from New Jersey. And then we met. I learned the whole backstory, and here I am five years later, Argentina fan. PEREZ: One of the things that I have learned from Argentinians is that you leave soccer with so much passion. We were talking before this live hit, and he was telling me, I'm kind of nervous because even though we won three and a half years ago, I don't know what is going to happen inside. What do you think is going to happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope a win, but even if it's a loss, it's OK because that's part of luck. You know, Kabala (ph), you have to expect the. Even if it's a loss, that's what happened four years ago. And world champion. So it's OK. No matter what it's okay.

PEREZ: They always say no ser mufa, which is not jinxed. No?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

PEREZ: So what can you -- how can you jinx something like this? Like a game, like it happened three and a half years ago with Saudi Arabia?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Expecting too much, not expecting anything from the other team. I think that's a big one.

PEREZ: So you have to respect your rival.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

PEREZ: And what have you learned about Argentina so far?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, so many things. We've gotten to travel there a few times since we've been together. The food, the culture, of course, the football is a big part of it.

PEREZ: Is this bigger than when the Chiefs or the Royals win?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes. I mean, for Kansas City, it might feel the same size, but, like, the world is not watching when the Chiefs win, and the world is watching for this game.

PEREZ: Enjoy the game. Have fun. And back to you, Jake.

TAPPER: The world is not watching when the Chiefs won. Well said. Elizabeth Perez in Kansas City. Appreciate it.

[18:00:00]

Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, world leaders are in France tonight, where sources say there are frank conversations happening about the U.S. Agreement with Iran.