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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Teases Really Big News For Thursday Primetime Address; Officials Say, Tractor Trailer Hits And Kills Person Fleeing Federal Immigration Agents In Florida; Ambassador Huckabee Calls Rep. Ro Khanna's (D-CA) Detention a Stunt; Questions Remain After Two Deadly ICE Shootings In Maine & Texas; A.I. Is Transforming Patient Care At Mayo Clinic. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 14, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

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

This hour, the president teasing a really big speech Thursday night that could be a barn burner and also a lot of lies. He says it's going to be on election security. Why? Is he laying the groundwork for chaos? Is he laying the groundwork to do something about the midterms? Is any Republican willing to call out the election lies that are already on the record?

[18:00:03]

Plus, breaking news, another person killed after an encounter with ICE, the latest in St. Augustine, Florida. New details are coming in on this one.

Also, Congressman Ro Khanna is going to join us here on The Lead, days after Israeli settlers he says ambushed him in the West Bank. We're going to get his response to the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who called the incident a stunt.

And new video today of water drained from the National Mall Reflecting Pool revealing absolutely no signs of the 300-yard slashes the president claimed were there.

The Lead tonight, growing concern over what exactly President Donald Trump intends to say when he addresses the nation in primetime Thursday night. One might have initially assumed that he'll speak about the Iran war, given that the ceasefire is over and the United States is involved in this war, kind of a big deal. But the president has skirted around the details, only alluding to the fact that his speech will be about what he calls election security. Here he was earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's really big news. It's really, really big news. And our country has to shape up. But it's what we're going to be talking about Thursday is it doesn't get bigger, because without free and fair elections, you don't have a country.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: Last night, when the president was asked to preview his speech, he offered up this little tidbit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our elections are crooked, and we've got to straighten them out. We got to have voter I.D., we got to have proof of citizenship, and we have to do something about the mail-in ballots, which are just corrupt, crooked, and should not be allowed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It was six years ago this summer that we started covering the president's lies about the 2020 election, and there has never been any credible evidence provided by him or anyone on his team to show any serious malfeasance that changed the inescapable fact that he lost to Joe Biden fair and square.

There have been so many individuals who are conservative Republicans who work for Donald Trump who have debunked all of these lies, and yet he does not listen. The lies have caused death. The lies have prompted law enforcement injuries. The lies have called -- prompted law enforcement suicides. The lies have undermined the faith millions of Americans have in elections.

The lies are being applauded by China and Russia, all because Donald Trump is not man enough to accept the fact that he lost six years ago. So, what does he now have in store for us?

Let's bring in our panel, starting with CNN's fact-checking machine, Daniel Dale. Daniel, we don't know exactly what Trump's going to say in his Thursday speech, but lately he seems to have been laying the groundwork for a rehashing of the 2020 election, which, again, he lost.

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Which he lost, and yet, as you said, we're approaching six years of him lying that he won. Recently, he's begun saying that so much proof has already emerged of his claims that the election was rigged and that he was the real winner. No such proof has emerged. He's even started saying that he is in his third term as president, so inventing an imaginary and unconstitutional victory.

And then there's an entire cinematic universe dozens of additional lies, frankly too many to go through, claims that he won the popular vote in all three of his presidential elections. In fact, he only won it in 2024. Wild conspiracies about China, Italy, other countries using voting machines to flip votes simply did not happen.

And then other claims about mail-in ballots, you heard one there that they're crooked, they're corrupt. They simply are not, although the fraud rates are slightly elevated compared to in-person voting, and mail-in ballots have been good enough for legitimate voters, including one Donald J. Trump, who's voted by mail himself.

He's also claimed recently that the U.S. is the only country that continues to use mail-in ballots. Again, simply not true. Dozens of countries continue to do so, and they include, Jake, major democracies, like Canada, the U.K., Germany, Australia, and Switzerland.

TAPPER: Yes. And we should note, obviously, that Republicans control the House and the Senate and the White House. But Trump has been focusing a lot about California elections, where Democrats have been more successful. Tell us more about that.

DALE: He's been lying about California elections since 2016, so even before his 2020 lies began, claims that he would have won California all three times if California had Jesus Christ as the votes counter, an honest vote counter. California's votes are counted honestly and accurately, though famously slowly, and the honest, accurate results show that he lost by millions of votes each time. He's claimed that California does not even give voters the option of voting in person. In fact, each and every California voter does have that option, although they're also sent a mail-in ballot.

And then recently, he's begun spreading a wild, just blatantly false conspiracy theories about California's recent primary. So, listen to something he said this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When I look at how rigged our elections are, look at Spencer Pratt, Spencer Pratt was an easy number two and maybe number one, but certainly number two.

[18:05:00]

And all of a sudden, they had the mail-in ballots pour in and Spencer Pratt was gone. That was in Los Angeles. Spencer Pratt was gone. That was in Los Angeles. Spencer Pratt was gone. And that was easy. And who beat him? A no name who was all of a sudden, you know, so great that she got practically 100 percent of the votes from the mail-in ballots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DALE: Nothing weird happened, nothing shady happened. All that happened in the L.A. mayoral election was that legitimate votes were legitimately counted. They showed that Spencer Pratt did not qualify for the top two place he needed to make the runoff. In the gubernatorial race, conversely, legitimate votes were legitimately counted. They did show that a Republican candidate, Steve Hilton, made the runoff.

President Trump has claimed that he is responsible for stopping some sort of rigging in progress in that gubernatorial race. Simply did not happen. And, notably, Jake, even Hilton himself has never endorsed those Trump claims about his own race at all.

TAPPER: Let's bring in Geoff Duncan, who was Georgia's Republican lieutenant governor during the 2020 election, recently ran for office as a Democrat. Geoff, Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia, he is running for re-election. He's reacting to this unverified report from a Republican operative who is now pretending to be a reporter. It claims that Trump plans to declare both Ossoff and Senator Raphael Warnock illegitimate because of election fraud.

We don't know if that's actually what Trump's going to say. We have no idea what Trump's going to say. But take a listen as to what Ossoff, Senator Ossoff said about this claim to CNN's Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): He calls Georgia's senators illegitimate. He is calling Georgia's voters illegitimate.

He fears defeat in the midterms, and that explains his spiral into conspiracy theories, conspiracy theories that put Georgia Republicans in a terrible bind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Regardless of whether Trump plans to say this, it's interesting Geoff, that Ossoff is jumping on this, I mean, because it's not good for his opponent, it's not good for Congressman Mike Collins to bring this issue back because it insults Georgians.

FMR. LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): Yes, I can assure you most Republicans, especially those that are on the ballot not only in Georgia but across the country, do not want Donald Trump rehashing the 2020 election. He's had six-plus years to produce some facts or some information that actually leads a normal-brained person to see it as rigged.

But, look, since the early hours after that 2020 election, Donald Trump and his disciples have been trying to create solutions in search of a problem. But the reality is, and I think we're going to watch this play out Thursday night in his speech, his facts are always a mile wide and an inch deep. You know, when you're selling snake oil every minute of every day, then you've got to continue to play out the narrative and continue to lie.

I think there's a tug-of-war going on inside the administration. I think you got some of them wanting to create a shiny object to get them away from the obvious downtrodden issues around the war. But you also have the pride police inside the White House that are trying to make sure they protect his pride and never have to make him say, sorry, I got that wrong. I think there's a battle, and, ultimately, we're going to watch this play out. But, once again, the facts show there was nothing rigged, whether you wanted hand counts, recounts, certifications.

And ironically enough, last thing here it's only the elections that Donald Trump loses or the people that he supports loses that he says that there's fraud. We've been using the same machines, the same process, and I would assume a majority of the same poll workers for years in Georgia in elections that he's won and lost.

TAPPER: Yes. Alyssa Farah Griffin, you're the former Trump White House communications director. Do you think Trump's Thursday address is going to introduce some wild new claim, new action? We saw in the Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan book that there was talk of Nicolas Maduro saying, hey, I'll give you some evidence, quote/unquote, evidence, of hacking of the 2020 election. What are you expecting?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It could go one of two ways, Jake. Listen, there's a world in which this is just rehashing the greatest hits, I'll call it, of the election was stolen, it was rigged, mail-in ballots are fraudulent, things he's repeated many times. But what I'm going to be curious to see is what new information he may introduce into this.

The Maduro factor is fascinating. I saw that reporting, too. Obviously, now Maduro's in American custody and is incentivized to say and do whatever he can to ingratiate himself to this administration. It's also at a moment where we have a new director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, who's been put into the role, somebody with very, very scant resume for that kind of a significant intelligence role. So, is there something that materializes from his corridor of the Trump universe? That's what I'll be watching for.

Also, are there any policy announcements? Donald Trump has often, when he can't get things through Congress, tries to really push the limits of what you can do through an executive order. So, he's been harping on the SAVE Act. Is there something from the SAVE America Act that he tries to do through an E.O. and announces that? That's another thing I'll be watching for.

But, again, he will not focus on the election he won. He was elected in 2024, bring down costs, deal with the border crisis, deal with migration.

[18:10:03]

Instead, he wants to retread the election six years ago that he didn't win. It boggles the mind heading into the midterms.

TAPPER: David Becker, the executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, what are you going to be listening for in Trump's speech Thursday night?

DAVID BECKER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ELECTION INNOVATION AND RESEARCH: Well, as you pointed out at the beginning, it's been six years, almost six years since that election. Since that time, dozens and dozens of courts have looked for evidence of fraud, have found nothing. There have been defamation cases that totaled a billion dollars in claims against those who lied about the election, who did not put any evidence forward.

And now we're 18 months into this administration. We're through one attorney general, one secretary of DHS, and one director of National Intelligence. And during that 18 months, they have found nothing, despite turning over every rock, looking for evidence of election fraud, looking for evidence of a crime that was never committed.

And so I think what I'm -- what we're expecting is to hear some rehashed claims about election fraud, perhaps about machine vulnerability, even though those machines are tested, they're not connected to the internet. Everyone votes on paper in the United States, and that paper is recounted and audited to make sure that the machines counted correctly.

I think what I'm really expecting is perhaps the same reaction I had when the Fulton County warrant was served. When the Fulton County warrant was served, a lot of us wondered, oh, wow, is there something behind them that the administration found that we didn't know about? And then it turned out when we saw the affidavit that supported the warrant a week later, there was nothing new. It was just rehashed conspiracy theories that had been debunked long ago by Republicans and Democrats in the courts. I think we're likely to hear that on Thursday night.

TAPPER: All right, a disturbing moment for our country. Thanks so much to all of you.

The breaking news in Florida tonight, another person killed after an encounter with ICE. We're also hearing from Trump's border czar asking him why agents are not wearing body cameras. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: We have breaking news for you in our National Lead. Yet another person has been killed after an encounter with federal immigration agents. This latest incident was in St. Augustine, Florida, southeast of Jacksonville. The Florida Highway Patrol says the person was trying to get away from agents and was hit by a tractor trailer. This comes after two deadly shootings at the hands of ICE agents.

Let's bring in CNN's Priscilla Alvarez and Kaitlan Collins at the White House. Priscilla, what more do we know about what happened in Florida?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're still learning details from the Florida Highway Patrol about what happened, but this did occur early this morning. And what they described was that during an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, these occupants had run out of the vehicle. One of those ran onto the highway and was killed.

We do not know the status of the individual, their immigration status that is, but we know that this has happened in the past. There were incidents that occurred like this last year where individuals running away from an immigration raid or an immigration encounter were struck by a vehicle. This also, for example, happened in California last year.

Now, of course, Jake, we're still collecting more information about all of the circumstances, but it does come on a day where Immigration and Customs Enforcement provided new guidance to its agents to mostly stop traffic stops.

So, that is something we have been seeing consistently over the last few months, and if not the last year. And now these agents are being told to stop most of them with some exceptions, like, for example, if they're executing a criminal warrant. But even in those cases, they are being asked to coordinate with partner agencies.

This is significant, Jake, because this is a critical tool that immigration agents have been relying on to ramp up their immigration numbers when they're trying to meet unprecedented quotas from the administration, currently about 2,000 arrests a day. So, even though this is a temporary pause, according to the administration, it is a pause that is likely to affect them moving forward as they are trying to increase their numbers and reach that mass deportation pledge that the president talked about during the campaign.

TAPPER: Kaitlan, this death in Florida follows the deadly shootings in Houston and in Maine. You just heard from Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, about why ICE agents in those cases are still not wearing any body cameras. How did he explain that?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Jake, obviously, this was a huge issue that came up after what happened in Minneapolis, was a key question about what it is from the perspective of these ICE agents and the need to have these body cameras, something that when it was then Secretary Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security said that they would get them deployed to everyone in Minneapolis and work on getting them distributed throughout the nation.

Congress subsequently passed $20 million in funding for those body cameras for these ICE agents to be wearing for moments like what has happened in Maine and in Houston, where there's so many questions about what happened in the moments leading up to that encounter. And so I asked Tom Homan why they weren't wearing body cameras.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

K. COLLINS: Why were the ICE agents not wearing body cameras in Houston or in Maine during these two incidents?

TOM HOMAN, BORDER POLICY ADVISER: You know, when the Democrats shut down the Department of Homeland Security, I was up on the Hill as part of the negotiating team to reopen the government, and they wanted body cameras. There was $120 million in the budget they're holding up to buy those body cameras.

Now, since the big, beautiful bill passed, now the reconciliation bill, the body cameras have been ordered. There's a deployment schedule on the books, and right now they're just train to train. So, officers in each field office can train their officers on the use of the body cams.

K. COLLINS: But don't you see that to be extremely urgent given right now we do not have video of these situations beyond witnesses?

HOMAN: As soon as they had funding, they bought them. But Democrats --

K. COLLINS: But it's been two months since April.

HOMAN: It would've been a lot quicker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

K. COLLINS: Obviously, Jake, that shutdown happened. Democrats did lead it, but it was because they were upset with how ICE was operating in Minneapolis and, you know, what this mass deportation campaign looked like as it was being executed by the White House. And so that was a key question there.

He said that the cameras had been ordered. He did not say when exactly they expect them to be distributed nationwide. But given Priscilla's reporting about stopping these -- the traffic stops, that is obviously a key factor in all of this. Jake?

[18:20:00]

TAPPER: Yes. I mean, I think we've seen the administration act with urgency when it wants to, like Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.

Kaitlan Collins and Priscilla Alvarez, thanks to both of you, I appreciate it.

Kaitlan's going to have much more tonight on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. Her guests will include the mayor of Biddeford, Maine, Liam LaFountain. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

Coming up next on The Lead, a brand-new bill getting overwhelming bipartisan support. Senators say it is to punish Russian leader Vladimir Putin and to honor the late Senator Lindsey Graham. But what does it actually accomplish? I'm going to bring in the senator who just introduced it.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Our World Lead now, clear bipartisan support on Capitol Hill today for one of Senator Lindsey Graham's last legislative priorities, a Russian sanctions package backed by President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I know that Lindsey wanted it very badly.

There's a good chance that it gets done, but they'd like to add Iran and they'd like to add Hezbollah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:25:03]

TAPPER: Joining us now, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen from the great state of New Hampshire. She is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator the U.S. has sanctioned Russia before. The war continues unabated. How is this legislation different? How will it actually have an impact? SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): Well, this is legislation that Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal have been working on for over a year- and-a-half. We've made a number of changes to revise the bill to make the tariff authority much more targeted, to focus on the five countries that are buying most of Russia's oil. So, it's got sanctions provisions that allow us to go after oligarchs in Russia, and banks, and those who are helping to fuel Russia's war, but it also allows us to go after those countries that are paying for Russian oil and gas in a way that continues to fund the war for Russia. It also has provisions that allow us to go after the fleet, the shadow fleet that is selling this oil and gas and taking it around the world.

So, we think this is a one-two punch that's really going to put pressure on Putin, and it comes at a time when there's real momentum on behalf of Ukraine. Russia's losing over 30,000 casualties a month in Ukraine. Their economy's been affected. They've lost territory in the last months. And so this is an opportunity for us, coming up after the G7 conference, after the NATO summit, when additional funds were put towards helping Ukraine, this is a real opportunity to get Putin to the table.

TAPPER: You just heard the president say there are those who want to add sanctions against both Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon to the bill. Will that happen?

SHAHEEN: I think this is language that has been negotiated over a long period of time very carefully with the trade ambassador, with members of the White House, and with Lindsey Graham. This is an opportunity for us to pay tribute to all of the work on foreign policy that Senator Graham did for so many years, and I think if there are ideas to address sanctions against Hezbollah and other groups, we can put that in a separate piece of legislation.

TAPPER: Speaking of Iran, the U.S. and Iran are exchanging fresh strikes tonight. This is what Republican senator Mike Rounds said about the war earlier today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): I suspect it's either going to have to be regime change or the regime is going to have to recognize that their future is at risk and they come to the table for the first time in 40 years.

But if you put boots on the ground, you get in, you clean the mess up, and you get out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Democrats clearly want this war to stop, blocked the must-pass defense policy bill today to show your objections. What do you make of Senator Rounds saying what he just said?

SHAHEEN: Well, it's not just Democrats who want this war to end. It's the American people overwhelmingly think that we should not be in a war with Iran. And they don't want to see the increased cost in energy and gasoline prices. It's affecting the cost of living that everybody is paying in the United States. And it's important for us to get back to the negotiating table with Iran to get the ceasefire back on the table and to get negotiations started.

TAPPER: Also today, President Trump reversed his decision to impose this 20 percent fee on any cargo moving through the Strait of Hormuz to cover the cost of U.S.-provided security. Now, Trump says it's going to be replaced by Gulf state investments in the U.S. I don't know even know if that's a real thing. Have you heard anything about how these investments will work? Do you think the U.S. ultimately is going to end up footing the bill for enforcing this blockade?

SHAHEEN: Well, I've met with a number of officials from the Gulf region in the last week, and I haven't heard anybody who's talking about those kinds of investments. And the president, I think got ahead of other members of his administration who had pointed out that putting on fees or tolls on open waterways is a violation of international law.

TAPPER: Yes. Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire, thanks so much. I appreciate your time.

SHAHEEN: Thank you.

TAPPER: Congressman Ro Khanna's coming up next on The Lead days after Israeli settlers, he says, ambushed him in the West Bank. His response after the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called the incident a stunt.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: In our World Lead, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is forcefully pushing back on California Congressman and possible 2028 Democratic Presidential Candidate Ro Khanna, and his account of what happened last week in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Congressman Khanna says he was detained by armed Israeli settlers and soldiers during his visit. Here's what the ambassador told NewsNation last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: We had no idea, nor did the Israeli government have any idea, that he was coming into the country and that he was going to go to an area where he was not supposed to go without coordinating that with the Israeli government. The whole thing was a stunt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Here now to respond, Congressman Ro Khanna. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Thanks so much for joining us, Congressman. I'm glad you're okay. It's not just Huckabee, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Leiter, is also disputing your account. He posted on X or Twitter, quote, the moment details of the congressman's identity were cleared, he was free to go. At no point was the congressman or any member of his party threatened by the soldiers or civilians bearing arms, unquote. So, what's your response to that and to what Ambassador Huckabee said?

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Well, the Israeli ambassador's right that the settlers didn't hold us up at gunpoint, but here's what happened. We were viewing the Zanuta village, and these settlers came brandishing M4s, and they parked their vehicle right in front of our van and blocked our exit.

[18:35:02]

And they started wiping our windows. They started videotaping us. They kicked the tires, cursed at us, and then when the IDF came, the IDF further blocked us from leaving.

Now they're saying, well, it's not detention. Most people think that if there's a one road and you have a van and you have people with arms surrounding you, and they block your exit of leaving that road, called false imprisonment or detention, it should be condemned.

And, you know, it's not my account. The New York Times interviewed The New York Times photographer that was there, interviewed the security guard that was there, interviewed two American -- Jewish Americans who were there and wrote a detailed account. And The Jerusalem Post has written accounts saying the IDF made a mistake, and The Times of Israel has written an account. So, it's not just my account, it's journalists who have documented this.

TAPPER: Were you afraid?

KHANNA: I was afraid, but, look, I don't want to exaggerate this. They never pointed a gun at us. I didn't think they were going to shoot. But what I was afraid of is someone says the wrong word or says something incorrectly and that it could escalate.

And what I was just shocked about is that the IDF came and didn't immediately just disperse the settlers, and then that Israel wouldn't just come out and say, yes, we've got a problem with settler violence. We're sorry this happened to the congressman. We disagree with his political views, but this shouldn't happen to any American passport holder, and we're going to hold the settlers accountable. I mean, why aren't they prosecuting? These people are all over the social media, their pictures, who did this. They should be prosecuted, and the IDF officers should be questioned.

I want to be clear, I don't think the Israeli government had some plot to do this. As soon as the American embassy, David Brownstein, called the Israeli government, they sent the police and they solved the situation. But they've got rogue settlers and rogue IDF officers who should be disciplined, and there should be an investigation. TAPPER: What's your response to those who say that you should've -- I mean, Ambassador Huckabee, for one, who said you should've just told the Israelis what you were doing instead of going there on your own?

KHANNA: Well, this is the philosophical difference, Jake. We did tell the Israeli embassy we were going. You know, they helped facilitate me through the airport. In fact, it was hilarious in Jerusalem Airport, one person was saying, why are you taking Congressman Khanna? He's negative on what Israel's done in Gaza, and you're taking him through security. So, they obviously knew that I was there, and the American embassy obviously knew I was there. How would we be on the phone with David Brownstein who got us out?

But what they're upset about is that I did a West Bank Palestinian-led itinerary, and I didn't go to Israel this time. I went to the occupied West Bank. I've been to Israel three times with the Armed Services Committee, with Speaker Pelosi. I met with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I met with Prime Minister Bennett. I wanted to see a Palestinian perspective. And so we did not coordinate the itinerary with the Israeli government. And we had a Palestinian-led tour. But I think more members should do that just to get their -- that perspective.

TAPPER: Take a listen to what Israeli Ambassador Leiter said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL LEITER, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: We reached out to him when we heard he was going to Israel. We suggested he visit with survivors of the October 7th massacre, that he visit the borders so he understands the issues that we have on our borders and so on. He ignored that, and he decided to coordinate his trip not with Israel, but with Palestinian activists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Your response, and have you met with survivors of October 7th?

KHANNA: I have. I met with Rachel and Jon Polin. I did my very, very little part to advocate for their beloved son, Hersh, who was killed. I have met with other survivors or family members of October 7th. I've said October 7th was a terrorist attack. I've said Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Like I said, I've been to Israel three times. One is with AJC and Project Interchange before I was in Congress, one with Speaker Pelosi and one with the Armed Services Committee. But this trip, I wanted to hear the Palestinian perspective.

But, look, the ambassador has said he wants to meet. I would be happy to meet, and what I would ask him for is a prosecution of Yanon Levy, who is the extremist settler who destroyed this village, and a prosecution of the settlers who detained us.

I just -- whether you agree with me or not, there are people who will think that I'm too critical of Israel, fine, but everyone, even if you are completely pro-Israel, should be appalled at the extreme settler violence, and that can be an area where we agree on to try to work towards peace.

TAPPER: Congressman Ro Khanna, thanks so much and thanks for coming here and taking our questions. I appreciate it.

KHANNA: I appreciate it. Thank you.

TAPPER: There's a lot going on right now. President Trump just said U.S. strikes on Iran will continue until he says, enough.

In the National Lead, his administration's facing growing questions about two men shot and killed by ICE agents in the last week, one in Houston, the other in Maine. We're going to talk about the political implications of it all next.

[18:45:01]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, more from Border Czar Tom Homan on the Department of Homeland Security halting most ICE traffic stops after agents shot and killed two drivers in less than a week. Here's what Homan just said on Fox moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOMAN: It's not a policy change. It's a temporary pause.

I think at the end of this review, which should be a short review, ICE should be right back to doing what they do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's jump right in with the panel. Mike, so Border Czar Homan there says the ICE pause in traffic stop, it's going to be brief. It shouldn't impact the number of ICE arrests. Here's what both of Maine's U.S. senators, independent Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, and Republican Susan Collins, had to say today about all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): I want a full, fair, open, transparent investigation of this, not strictly run by the feds. Unfortunately, the feds don't have the credibility today.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): This incident shows how imperative it is that we have a mandate for body-worn cameras that not only protects the law enforcement officer, but also those with whom he or she is interacting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:45:07] TAPPER: So beyond the tragedy, obviously, there is the politics of this. I mean, Trump had at one point good approval ratings when it came to how he handled immigration. The border is essentially closed, et cetera.

But then after the deaths of Renee Goode and Alex Pretti six months ago in Minnesota, those numbers have sunk. How do you see this potentially impacting the Senate race?

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I think it's -- well, a couple of things. And we didn't talk about Texas, which there was another incident in Texas with involving an automobile. And I think at some point, you know, this is where I disagree with Homan. At some point, when you look at Minnesota, and you look at Houston, you look at Maine, they're all involving traffic incidences.

We had -- I live in Alexandria, Virginia. There was an incident several years ago that involved a traffic incident. It is -- it is when they're put into that situation these agents that we seem to have this tragedy and these incidences and I think at some point they need to recognize that.

TAPPER: So, Alex Pretti wasn't traffic though. Alex Pretti was standing by the side of the road.

DUBKE: Okay. I stand corrected on that -- on that particular one. In terms of the Senate --

TAPPER: The larger point still holds, yeah.

DUBKE: Well -- and in terms of the Senate race in Maine, I think this is going to directly affect depending on who the Democrats -- the 600 Democrats that are self-selected to choose whoever is going to be the new nominee. Democrats have such a grand history with choosing A nominee and running that person in general election. But it will affect it.

I mean, I think the citizens of Maine will pay attention to what Susan Collins says here.

TAPPER: So, Xochitl, shots were fired.

DUBKE: Sorry. It was a drive-by.

TAPPER: I don't think -- I don't think she disagrees with you, but Democrats are in the process of replacing Platner --

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, as to be the nominee. Oh, you didn't -- you don't think -- you don't think he was a good candidate?

One of those Democrats, Troy Jackson, posted about ICE, quote, "This rogue agency must be abolished. Susan Collins must be held accountable for funding this terror."

Is that the right message, do you think?

HINOJOSA: So I think that the fact that we're talking about Susan Collins and how she has voted to fund ICE, and I don't think that we should abolish ICE or defund ICE or any of those things, but we as Democrats need to have accountability in our elected leaders.

Finally, you're hearing Susan Collins talking about -- well, we need body cameras. Where was Susan Collins when she was approving the ICE budget? Where was she when talking about accountability for ICE officers?

You're also hearing them say they need a full review, full review of what? They should be calling for into a federal civil rights investigation into the officer that was involved in the shooting. That is very different than an actual review of what happened. That is what I call accountability.

And so the fact that Susan Collins is sort of trying to have it both ways, not being specific and trying to, to ensure that people forget her record. That is what candidates in the state should be highlighting. None of this abolished ICE stuff.

People want law -- they -- people want enforcement. What they don't want is people shot on the streets.

TAPPER: The lack of body cameras is just crazy. I mean, I just have to say, long before the government shot down over ICE, I mean, law enforcement shot up body cameras. By the way, it protects officers.

HINOJOSA: Absolutely.

DUBKE: It does.

TAPPER: It protects officers.

DUBKE: Fund for body cameras until April.

TAPPER: Yeah.

DUBKE: So, now, we've got 50 percent of the offices have them. The other 50 don't. They're hoping to have it within 60 days. I mean, it does take time to roll out any government procurement. The government does not move quickly.

TAPPER: I've heard that.

Speaker Johnson was asked this morning if Department of Homeland Security officials should face any accountability for the ICE agents involved in the main shooting, not wearing body cameras. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I don't know anything about this event. Okay, I was a little busy yesterday, so I'm going to reserve judgment. I know that there was a tragic shooting, and I'm not going to comment on it because I don't know. And you guys can mock me for not knowing that. I worked about 22 hours in the last few days, and I did not get the briefing on that yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Mike?

DUBKE: I hate it when politicians say I work real hard. I don't have time to -- look, but I think he's right, not making a comment.

TAPPER: Yeah, you can't fault him for not commenting when he doesn't know.

DUBKE: No, absolutely not. And he should have just said that and moved on to the next question. I mean, if that's what I'm commenting on.

TAPPER: He's very sensitive about being mocked.

DUBKE: Very sensitive.

TAPPER: I'm not mocking him.

DUBKE: He's worked 22 hours.

TAPPER: Well, I know, I know. The rest of us, you know, just lazy bones, everybody.

Another area where Americans aren't happy with President Trump is the economy. Today, the president was asked about a new Labor Department report showing inflation at 3.5 percent in June. That's down. It's good from 4.2 percent in May, in part, that's because of falling gas prices.

Here's what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you for bringing it up. But the report was incredible. Remember that to the midterms, I say to that camera. Remember that because nobody else could do it. Prices are way down. Prices are coming way down, and we're going to bring them much lower yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: OK, so it's 3.5 percent. We should note inflation was three percent when Trump took office, but the Iran war is also flaring back up, and it's likely going to bring gas prices back up and inflation is going to go back up.

Do you think it's a little premature to start celebrating?

DUBKE: No, I don't.

TAPPER: Aha!

DUBKE: But I think he's on the wrong message, though.

TAPPER: Okay.

DUBKE: I think he really needs to be focusing on the tax returns that Americans receive, the no tax on tips, the no tax on overtime. When you look at how much the average American who claimed those deductions gained from that, it shows there's a level of income coming into that area of the of the economy on seniors, seniors got a discount. So this is where, if I was doing messaging in the White House --

TAPPER: You were White House communications director.

DUBKE: If I was White House communications director.

TAPPER: Which for those who don't know, he was.

DUBKE: At one point.

TAPPER: In the first term.

DUBKE: Very short period of time.

I would be focused on that.

TAPPER: But, Xochitl, guess what President Trump's giving a prime time address about on Thursday? Election fraud. Election fraud and how he actually won in 2020.

HINOJOSA: He's not talking about the war. He's not talking about gas prices. He's not talking about prices at the grocery store.

TAPPER: Or all these great things that Mike just talked about?

Hold on, let her talk.

HINOJOSA: What he is talking about is that potentially two senators from Georgia were. illegitimate. He is talking about the 2020 election, which why are we looking back? These are conspiracy theories.

My hope is that it is not covered live on a lot of networks, but it is. It is a joke. I'm sorry that he is trying to sabotage the midterm elections for Republicans. This is not what he should be talking.

TAPPER: Are you saying he's a Democratic operative?

HINOJOSA: I think maybe.

TAPPER: He was once a Democrat. This is a long, long play. That's a long play. That's doesn't make any sense.

DUBKE: Manchurian candidate.

TAPPER: Wow. This is like I know somebody -- somebody call Bud Schulberg.

All right. Xochitl Hinojosa, Mike Dubke, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

Coming up, some of the transformative work by artificial intelligence at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, and a lawsuit raising questions about medical privacy, plus a very personal announcement today from the man who pulled off the miracle on the Hudson, Captain Sully Sullenberger.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:09]

TAPPER: And we're back with the latest in our series, A.I. Friend or Foe. Today, we're taking a closer look at the impact of artificial intelligence in terms of how the technology is helping the Mayo Clinic, one of the world's leading hospitals known for its research in cancer and cardiology, neurology and more. But as A.I. expands, some critics are taking their concerns about it all the way to the courtroom.

CNN's Clare Duffy has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Mary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to see you again.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mayo Clinic is known for treating complex conditions. A new artificial intelligence system is helping doctors get up to speed faster.

DR. ALEXANDRE RYU, PHYSICIAN, MAYO CLINIC: These are the records that patients bring with them from other organizations when they come here for things like second, third, fourth opinions on serious and complex diseases. We receive a huge volume of these records, tens of millions of pages every year.

DUFFY: How much time does this save you preparing for a visit?

RYU: So this could be anywhere from five minutes for sort of a more straightforward case all the way up to, you know, 30-plus minutes for patients who may be sending hundreds of pages of records.

DUFFY (voice-over): The program Mayo created with AI startup Scale to analyze these files is called Record Time, helping clinicians like Dr. Alex Ryu spend less time searching for information and more time with patients.

JASON DROEGE, SCALE A.I. CEO: A.I. can step in and do a lot of sort of the tedious work that very specialized doctors or medical professionals do to speed up that process, get to more accurate diagnoses faster so you can treat more people. And this is an industry where a lot of what doctors are doing and nurses and others is pattern recognition. A.I. is great at pattern recognition.

DUFFY (voice-over): Dr. Matthew Callstrom is a radiologist and medical director for Mayo Clinic's A.I. program. Part of his job is ensuring the A.I. tools are accurate and earning the trust of both patients and doctors.

DR. MATTHEW CALLSTROM, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, MAYO CLINIC'S GENERATIVE A.I. PROGRAM: On health care, we need to be accurate. It can't be close. I call it hill climbing, making sure we can go from, you know, 60 percent accuracy to more than 90 percent accuracy. That's a lot of work. Data labeling and things so that it's that it's correct. Until then, we won't use it.

DUFFY: Do you see this technology potentially reducing the number of medical professionals you have working in the system?

CALLSTROM: One of the themes that you continue to hear is, what about my job? What about my role? And it really is, the roles will change. If you look at our nursing team, they're using ambient tools. And then what it's doing is letting them spend their time talking to patients.

DUFFY (voice-over): After CNN's visit, Mayo Clinic's former director of research operations, Traci Tomiko Ito, sued the hospital, alleging she was retaliated against for raising privacy and oversight concerns around other Mayo A.I. systems.

A Mayo Clinic spokesperson said the hospital doesn't comment on ongoing litigation, but said, quote, "Mayo Clinic is committed to the responsible development and deployment of A.I., with privacy, security, transparency, and compliance embedded throughout our processes. Our research and clinical innovation are conducted in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and we remain steadfast in upholding the trust patients place in us and respecting their privacy."

Clare Duffy, CNN, Rochester, Minnesota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Our thanks to Clare Duffy for that report. We have some sad news for you in our national league. Captain Chelsea "Sully" Sullenberger has revealed that he has Alzheimer's disease. The 75- year-old pilot is best known for landing a passenger plane safely on the Hudson River in 2009 after Birds struck both of the plane's engines. All 155 people on that flight survived.

Today, Sully said he's still in the early stages of Alzheimer's. He wrote on his website, "Courage can be contagious, and it helped everyone band together to get everyone off that airplane successfully. Now we need that courage to battle this disease," unquote.

Our thoughts are with him and his loved ones.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bluesky, and on the TikTok @JakeTapper. You can follow the show on X and Instagram @TheLeadCNN. If you ever miss an episode of the lead, you can watch the show on the

CNN app.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.