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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Netanyahu, Zelenskyy Converge In D.C. For Graham Funeral; 6.8 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Southern Japan; Senate Votes On Jay Clayton's Nomination For DNI; U.S.: Iran Launched Missiles In "Surprise Attack" On U.S. Forces; Lawmakers, World Leaders Honor Sen. Lindsey Graham. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired July 28, 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 HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.
And tonight, two White House meetings, no cameras rolling in either of them, just a few snapped photos, what we know about President Trump's conversations behind closed doors with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Plus, breaking on Capitol Hill, a man who did not want to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election could become the next director of National Intelligence later this hour. We're going to be watching that vote.
Plus, why Thursday's vote for Todd Blanche's nomination to get the permanent gig as attorney general might be in jeopardy.
After a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, people trapped in a shopping mall collapsed. What the race to find survivors looks like there tonight after this day of horror.
And of all the changes in D.C. these days, there is another. See the brand new national monument dedicated to those who served.
The Lead tonight, a major convergence of wartime leaders at the White House today, President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and separately with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Top of mind for Netanyahu, the Iran war.
Before the meeting, President Trump said Netanyahu wants him to, quote, stay involved in the war. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the leaders had, quote, excellent chemistry, while Netanyahu called it, quote, one of the best conversations they'd ever had, this despite major differences between the two leaders, including over Trump's desire to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
Meanwhile -- to manufacture U.S. Patriot missile systems, a huge, if not far off, win for Ukraine. Zelenskyy also paid his respects to Senator Lindsey Graham, whom he called a true friend of Ukraine. Graham's funeral service is the reason both wartime leaders are in town right now, sharing a handshake and quick conversation before the services began. Lindsey Graham notably stood by Ukraine since the beginning of the war when Russia invaded, even when the Republican Party support began to ebb, and as former Vice President Mike Pence put it to my colleague, Dana Bash, earlier, Graham also spoke consistently and with, quote, moral clarity about threats from Iran.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins joins us now. And, Kaitlan, the official readouts from Trump and Netanyahu's conversations with Trump are both very positive.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. And one thing that stands out here, though, is what we did not see today, and that was either of these world leaders actually meeting inside the Oval Office with President Trump.
Typically, pretty much any world leader who comes in the Oval Office with the president, he calls reporters in, and that's where they -- both of them from the press that are gathered in the room. And so it stood out today that not one, but two world leaders were in the West Wing, and yet the cameras did not see them actually inside those meetings.
We only saw the world leaders coming in, President Zelenskyy first, and then, truly, moments after he departed from West Exec, right outside the West Wing. Then we saw the motorcade for the Israeli prime minister showing up at the White House.
And, Jake, when you look at these two meetings, obviously, both of these are two wars that the president is dealing with right now that he has not yet been able to solve, one that was obviously underway well before he got into office, and the Iran war, though, that has started, since of course, earlier this year, and one that has gone on much longer than the president initially told Americans that it would go on for.
And I thought it was pretty interesting in terms of the roles of these two leaders. The president has typically had a very warm meeting or a warm relationship with the Israeli prime minister. But, Jake, just a couple of hours before Netanyahu showed up in the West Wing today, despite those positive descriptions of that meeting, he was asked about some intelligence that Netanyahu had said he planned to discuss with the president about a site in Iran, and the president dismissed it on Fox, saying that he did not need Prime Minister Netanyahu to tell him that intelligence, that he already knew it, and basically sounding frustration that Netanyahu had been talking about it publicly and not simply discussing it with him privately.
Obviously, that's a role reversal because, typically, about a year ago, it was Zelenskyy that he was frustrated with and not Netanyahu, and it seems like that relationship has changed over the course of time and over the course of this war in Iran.
TAPPER: So, meanwhile, I can only read into why they didn't allow reporters to come in and ask questions, but, obviously, you know, that meeting where Trump and Zelenskyy got in almost like a shouting match, with J.D. Vance involved too, last February, comes to mind in terms of maybe they just didn't want any issues of contention or disagreement brought up between either Trump and Zelenskyy or Trump and Netanyahu.
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COLLINS: But Trump and Zelenskyy have had such a warmer relationship in recent weeks and recent months, especially obviously Lindsey Graham as you look at the moment today with his funeral happening here in Washington today. Ukraine was one of the last places he visited. He had just gotten back from Washington -- or from Ukraine before he passed, and had been talking about that meeting with President Trump.
And, obviously, the other thing that stands out, Jake, in addition to the fact that they did not bring reporters into the Oval Office for these meetings that are typically status symbols for these world leaders, because they get to show that they have a seat next to the president of the United States, both of them have visited the White House several times, Netanyahu way more than Zelenskyy, was that the White House has not put out an official readout or their version of events of that meeting either.
Instead, these world leaders who are putting out their version of it in terms of what they're describing in details. We just heard in vague details from the press secretary earlier today saying both meetings were positive and constructive, but not really getting many more details than that. Jake?
TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much.
And don't miss Kaitlan tonight on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. Her guests, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who we just discussed, he's a Democrat calling on Republican Senator Mitch McConnell to explain his medical absence or to resign. Look for that tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern only here on CNN.
Thanks again, Kaitlan.
Joining us now, former ambassador to Turkey and former Republican senator from Arizona Jeff Flake. So many things I want to ask you about. You know a lot about a lot of these topics. You recently said -- let's turn to, start with Iran.
FMR. SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-AZ): Yes.
TAPPER: You recently told CNN that President Trump, in your view, doesn't really have any cards when it comes to negotiating with the Iranians to open the Strait of Hormuz, borrowing a phrase from when Trump told Zelenskyy he didn't have any cards. Do you think right now the U.S. is worse off than before the war started five months ago today?
FLAKE: Oh, immeasurably, yes. I think, you know, before the war started, there were a lot of economic levers that could be pulled which were really damaging Iran. They were really damaged by the tough sanctions that were imposed.
So, I think the president, if he really wants to, you know, turn their nuclear clock back, you can do that economically. And we were doing that, frankly. So, yes, I think we're measurably, because they've discovered this trump card, if you will, the Strait of Hormuz, and that's very difficult to deal with.
But I was so glad to see the president not make those meetings public or not discuss in public what he had talked to Netanyahu and Zelenskyy about. We're a lot better off if we, you know, deal with -- or let our diplomats actually deal with this stuff.
TAPPER: He has been more publicly critical or willing to criticize Netanyahu than any Republican president, maybe even any Democratic president in recent memory.
FLAKE: Yes. And, frankly, he has the gravitas to do that because he's been so close to Netanyahu. So, it means more when he does that. So, yes, I think a lot of us who have been out there, particularly in the Muslim world, have been glad to see some more pushback at least.
TAPPER: Yes. I want to ask you about Turkey in a second, but before I do, Ukraine's foreign minister said he called his Iranian counterpart and urged de-escalation. This comes as Iranian officials are threatening Kyiv after a recent attack by Ukraine on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea. It's tough to keep track of all this, but the Ukrainians attacked an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea.
So, can Ukraine afford to engage in another war with Iran?
FLAKE: It's difficult. We're certainly learning a lot from Ukraine. They're teaching us a lot about drone warfare and --
TAPPER: Yes, the Shahed drones.
FLAKE: You bet.
TAPPER: Yes.
FLAKE: So, that's extremely useful. I'd be surprised if Ukraine gets really involved in the Iranian conflict. That seems a bit far field.
TAPPER: So, you were the U.S. ambassador to Turkey during the Biden administration, so you know this F-35 jet issue better than anybody in this building combined. President Trump wants to sell these F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. Turkey wants them. Netanyahu doesn't want them to have them.
FLAKE: Right.
TAPPER: I want you to take a listen to what President Trump said yesterday about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Turkey's been a great ally to me. You know, I think he's done a very good job, did a good job with Syria. He's a friend of mine. And nobody tells me what we should be selling. And Turkey's been a tremendous ally for me. If it was up to, Turkey would -- Turkey's not a big fan of Israel, you know that, right, and not a big fan of Bibi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Okay, so before we get into the jets, it is remarkable how personal the president's message is on all of this stuff.
[18:10:03]
Turkey has been a great ally, not to the United States, to me, he says. He's done a very good job. He's a friend of mine.
FLAKE: Yes.
TAPPER: And nobody tells me what we should be selling him. I mean, that's really interesting.
FLAKE: Well, I mean, in truth, Turkey has been a good ally to the U.S., not just Trump.
TAPPER: I know, but I'm just saying that's not how he said it.
FLAKE: Yes.
TAPPER: But beyond that, what do you think? I mean, I presume you think that Turkey should have these jets.
FLAKE: Well, it pays to back up a little here. Turkey was part of the F-35 program. In fact, hundreds of parts of the F-35 were initially made by Turkey. Turkey owns six F-35s that we are storing for them right now, but they were kicked out of the program when they bought a Russian weapons system in 2019.
Now, they should've been kicked out of the program. You can't have a NATO member have a Russian weapons system that could gain information on the F-35 if they were to have those as well. So, we did the right thing. But Turkey has --
TAPPER: And they're getting rid of that defense system?
FLAKE: We hope.
TAPPER: Yes.
FLAKE: And that's the kicker there. And I was with some of my former colleagues today at Lindsey Graham's funeral and talking about this.
Obviously, this is a Congressional issue. In the NDAA, there's language that says that Turkey cannot possess the S-400 and get F-35s. So, Turkey has to get rid of the F-35 somehow. And during my time there, we worked on a lot of issues as to how Turkey could do this. We just never got them across the finish line.
And so, yes, Turkey deserves to be part of the F-35 program again if it disposes of the S-400.
TAPPER: Former Ambassador Jeff Flake, always great to have you here. Thank you so much, Senator.
So much for a four to six-week conflict, today marks five months since President Trump launched his war against Iran, and five months since that strike on the Iranian elementary school that killed nearly 200 people, most of them children, according to Iranian state media.
Coming up next, stories from victims that you have not heard as we wait and wait and wait for any semblance of accountability from the Trump administration and the Pentagon.
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TAPPER: In our World Lead, five months ago today when the Iran war began, a U.S. Tomahawk missile struck an Iranian elementary school, preliminary reports suggesting it was unintentional. We are marking this day, as we have every month since it happened because after all this time, five months, there has been no accountability from U.S. leaders for the mistakes that ultimately cost nearly 200 people their lives that day, according to Iranian state media.
And one can hate the Iranian regime and love the Iranian people because these were mostly children, children you see here. We want to show you some of their faces. We want to tell you some of their names because the Pentagon and the president and the Trump administration, they won't even acknowledge this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER (voice over): This is Atena Shamali Nejad (ph) singing a Persian children's poem, smiling and making faces at the camera while her mother fixes her hair. Her family shared these videos to remember her. Atena was killed on February 28th, 1 of 168 children, according to Iranian state media, who lost their lives when a U.S. Tomahawk missile struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran on the very first day of the war, five months ago today.
In Iran, the parents, the families, and the city of Minab still grieve for those who were killed. They call them the martyrs.
This is Madis Nazari (ph). Madis' body and one of her classmates were found in the embrace of their teacher beneath the rubble of school, according to the head of public relations from the Iranian Ministry of Health. He wrote that the teacher held Madis and her classmate, quote, tightly in her arms, as if she had tried with her own fragile body to become a shield against the onslaught of stone and iron.
14 adults were also killed that day, according to Iranian state media.
Faramarz Pighah (ph) lost both his daughter, Adrina (ph), and his wife. He describes how it felt to receive both of their bodies, calling his wife his pillar and his daughter his hope and aspiration. Adrina and her mother were together on the stairs of the school when they were killed, her teacher, who survived the strike, told the BBC. In addition to what we gleaned from other news media, our own information sources are limited to the families whose social media posts we found through anti-regime human rights activists and Iranian media. That's because the Trump administration and the Pentagon have revealed nothing about the lives they took, apparently by accident.
Critical and costly mistakes happen in war. This tragedy happened five months ago to the day. But today, the U.S. military and its top leaders and the commander-in-chief have yet to even acknowledge the errors that led to the deaths of nearly 200 children and adults in Iran on day one of this war.
CNN's Zach Cohen reported earlier this month that, according to three sources, senior U.S. military commanders bypassed warnings in critical databases that intelligence about potential targets in Iran was severely out of date, and approved some strikes, including the one that hit the school in Minab.
Two of the sources said the decision by senior commanders to ignore the warnings was made for expediency in a rush to provide targets to start the war.
Messages indicated the targets for the strike list were based on intelligence that was more than ten years old. Three sources now tell CNN's Cohen that the investigation into this strike still sits with military command. The first two stages of the review focused on answering basic questions, including whether the strike hit and damaged the intended target had been completed, indicating that the U.S. was responsible for striking the Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab, the sources said.
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The third stage, a more holistic review of what took place and its impact on the overall mission, was not ordered. That review would almost always be conducted in the immediate aftermath of a noteworthy strike, they said, but it had not begun as of early July.
We reached out to the Pentagon today with questions about the status of the review. An official told us the investigation is ongoing and there are no updates at this time.
Meanwhile, President Trump's own downright refusal to acknowledge the U.S.'s responsibility for the strike continues to evolve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are images from this site that show fragments that appear to be from U.S. Tomahawk missiles. Is it possible that old intelligence or a mistake during a very active time in the war led to this event?
TRUMP: It is, but it's also possible that those images that you have are A.I.-generated because a lot of what they do is A.I.-generated. They're actually very good at it. So, I don't think that anybody -- you know, I know we're waiting for a conclusive report. I don't think there can be a conclusive report. There are missiles --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you release the report when it is finished?
TRUMP: I guess so. I mean, I have to ask the military people. There might be a reason why they can't.
TAPPER: In a statement to The Lead this afternoon, the White House said, this investigation is ongoing. As we have said, the United States does not target civilians.
For the families of Atena, Madis, Adrina, and the nearly 200 others, most of them children, who were killed five months ago, images from before February 28th are now what they rely upon to keep their memories alive.
A photo of Atena and Madis holding hands hangs here on a banner outdoors. It reads in Persian, heavenly angels, may your martyrdom be honored. As of now, the Pentagon and the Trump administration have not come even close to honoring the memories of the 168 children and 14 adults that, by all credible accounts, were accidentally killed by the Trump administration five months ago today.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: Joining us to discuss is Democratic Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari from Arizona. She is the first Iranian-American Democrat in Congress.
Congresswoman, it's been five months, no investigation from the Pentagon, no details from the Trump administration about these innocent people that were killed in Minab from the strike.
I said it before, I'll say it again. You can hate the Iranian regime and still feel like the United States needs to own up to this. What's your reaction to it all?
REP. YASSAMIN ANSARI (D-AZ): This is a national shame. We're five months past this horrific war crime. I believe it's a war crime. Credible human rights organizations, like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, believe this could be a war crime and needs to be investigated.
This happened during the first few hours of a war that the United States started under Donald Trump's leadership, that he still has not been able to articulate to us what it was even about, what the purpose of the war was, what the strategy has been. Months have gone by. I'm not surprised that there's been no accountability for this, but the more reporting that comes out about this war crime in Iran, the more devastating it gets.
We know, thanks to CNN's reporting, that the Department of Defense under Pete Hegseth's leadership has been instructed to move quickly, and that they've never -- you know, they're working at an extraordinary pace. We know that artificial intelligence was used to look at, you know, vast amounts of intelligence data, and then human beings are moving quickly and not doing thorough due diligence.
And so the United States government used outdated intelligence and targeted a school not knowing that it was a school or not looking at the right intelligence because all of this was done in such a rushed manner so recklessly, and as a result count -- you know, hundred-some -- 170-some civilians were killed in this instance, children, but thousands of other Iranian civilians have been killed.
I just think it's the most devastating story, and truly a shame, truly a disgrace, truly something that this country will not be able to move past very quickly and that the international community will look down upon us for.
I wrote to Secretary Hegseth very shortly afterward, led a delegation of some 120 Democratic members asking for accountability and for an investigation. They responded shortly after to us saying that they'd be happy to brief us in a classified briefing. Then when we tried to schedule that briefing, they said we'd have to wait until the results of the investigation were finalized. It's been five months. It's long overdue. They need to be transparent and apologize and take accountability for what happened.
TAPPER: Today, you're talking to us from Texas. You're visiting Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the only family detention center left in the country. You signed on to a letter urging the Homeland Security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, to shut it down, detailing the conditions, quote, parents describe horrendous conditions at Dilley, leading to severe depression, homelessness, hopelessness and suicidal ideation amongst their children.
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Children have reported that their food is often contaminated with worms and mold, and that they feel sick after drinking tap water, unquote. What are you hoping to learn by being down there today? Did they let you in?
ANSARI: Yes, we just wrapped up the visit a couple of hours ago. I actually got to speak with a 16-year-old girl who was on her way to church when she was detained by ICE. Her and her father have asylum status. They actually were -- had legal status until 2028. She told us that she was detained by ICE, and then ICE called her father and said that if they don't come pick her up right then, she would get sent to another state. And then -- and they promised, they assured the family that they would be let go. Then the father came to pick her up, and they were both detained.
I can't tell you how heartbreaking it is to talk to a 16-year-old and her dad. Her dad was shaken. You could see how distressed he was, knowing that there was not really anything he could do to get his daughter out of there. They don't know when they're going to be able to leave. They don't know. They don't have a lawyer. They don't know anything about their case. We are traumatizing children. We are traumatizing families. We already know we're traumatizing entire communities and cities when ICE has murdered people on the streets.
At the bare minimum, children should not be detained using your tax dollars. It's really that simple. I don't believe we should have for- profit detention centers anywhere, but at the bare minimum, children should not be detained, families should not be separated like this.
So, we're going to continue to push this. I think there is a lot of support around this from Americans from all walks of life because these are not American values at all.
TAPPER: Democratic Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari from Arizona, joining us from Texas today, thank you so much. I appreciate your time.
A shopping mall explosion, then the building collapsed. That's only a splinter of destruction authorities in Japan have been dealing with all day after a 6.8 earthquake. A new damage report coming up next.
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TAPPER: Some breaking news in our World Lead. You're looking right now at a partially collapsed shopping mall in Southern Japan, where rescue efforts continue after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake there. Two are confirmed dead. Dozens are injured or missing.
For years, CNN's Will Ripley was based in Japan and covered quake- prone areas extensively. He joins us now from Taiwan.
Will, we've received reports that a 400-bed hospital near the epicenter is already at capacity. Are officials prepared to handle this influx of patients?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're trying to handle them. Obviously, you have the hospital closest to where the most damage is that's really struggling right now. Getting patients to other hospitals in the region is proving to be a challenge because they have expressways that are shut down. There's a huge damage to the infrastructure, even parts of a bridge were collapsed, as you've seen from all of these dramatic videos.
So, even transportation, the Kumamoto Airport closed. Airlifting in relief efforts very much a challenge at this stage given the extent of this damage and the severity of this quake in a country like Japan, which is used to dealing with a lot of earthquakes. They have earthquakes every single day. In fact, many earthquakes every single day. Usually, people just look at their watch and then keep on going. But that obviously was not possible with shaking that was reported to be so severe because this quake was so shallow. People had a hard time standing up in some cases.
We know that more than 50 people, as you said, are confirmed injured. There are people who are missing. The casualty number is expected to rise. You have that shopping mall collapse, of course, but you also have house collapses, some of which haven't even been gotten to by emergency responders yet. And you also have fires that are burning, which is creating this kind of ongoing rescue demand that's been continuing through the overnight hours here in Asia ever since that earthquake happened.
Local authorities and emergency services are triaging patients, and they're saying that the aftershocks are also complicating those operations, Jake, because it's really difficult to get in and rescue people and then treat them when you have potential debris falling all around you.
TAPPER: And how does this compare to recent earthquakes in Japan and what does the recovery timeline look like for a country that is -- has been battered by earthquakes in the past?
RIPLEY: So, this quake was a magnitude 6.8. It struck Kumamoto. Initially, they thought it was a 7.1. But people who experienced the earthquake would say that it felt a lot stronger than what a 6.8 earthquake usually feels like in Japan. That's partially because it was such a shallow quake.
And this brings back memories for people in Kumamoto, of course, of the 2016 earthquake that caused most notably pretty severe damage to the Kumamoto Castle, which I visited after that earthquake in 2016. And I'm not sure if we have the video, but you can actually see a piece of this 400-year-old historic fortress' walls that were collapsing. This is a fortress that has survived many, many earthquakes over the centuries, and yet in this quake, you had a huge amount of damage to that castle that they were still in the process of repairing from the last earthquake a decade ago.
So, obviously, this is going to be a very, very long process. The immediate needs, of course, of the people are to make sure that they have food, they have medical care, they have clean water, they have shelter for those who are displaced. But then there's this really long-term recovery, and that's going to take a very long time.
The good news is that Japan has a lot of experts in how to recover from earthquakes. They've been dealing with this for centuries, and they know how to get people in and get people the help that they need, Jake, and that will be happening in the coming hours and days and months ahead.
TAPPER: All right. Will Ripley, thanks so much.
We have some breaking news on Capitol Hill. A Senate vote is right now underway to confirm Jay Clayton as the next director of National Intelligence. Why this vote has surprisingly become quite controversial.
Plus, what could now stall the votes set Thursday to promote the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, to the permanent role.
Stay with us.
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TAPPER: Breaking news in our Politics Lead, the U.S. Senate is right now voting on the nomination of U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to be director of National Intelligence. This coming the same day as the acting director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, announced a fifth and near final round of firings of staff at the top spy agency.
CNN's Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill for us. Manu?
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. This nomination of Jay Clayton's was supposed to sail through about a month ago or so because of the Democrats and Republicans are concerned about Bill Pulte holding that role as interim director of National Intelligence, despite not having a national security background and acting as a political attack dog of sorts for President Trump.
But President Trump pulled back on the Clayton nomination as leverage to try to force the Senate to pass what is known as the SAVE America Act, a legislation to restrict voting laws in this country. That did not happen. The Senate still moved ahead with that Jay Clayton nomination.
Then at his confirmation hearing about two weeks ago, he refused to answer whether or not he believed that Joe Biden actually won the 2020 election, and that caused Democrats to revolt, which is why we're seeing a party line vote in the United States Senate.
We do expect him to get confirmed here in just a matter of minutes, but the big question here, Jake, is that whether that this will lead to a renewal of expired surveillance authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that has been expired for more than a month over this issue, over the fight over Bill Pulte.
[18:40:06]
Democrats tonight, Jake, are telling me that this confirmation does not mean that this could be resolved before the August recess. So, that key surveillance authority could continue to be expired as Congress goes on to recess and returns sometime in September. Jake?
TAPPER: And there's a second major confirmation vote scheduled this week, Todd Blanche, the acting U.S. attorney general, to be permanent U.S. attorney general. But now sources are telling you that could possibly be postponed?
RAJU: Yes. There's a Thursday vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance this nomination, send it to the full United States Senate. At the moment, Senate Republicans plan to push ahead for that Thursday vote, but just one Republican defection would be enough to scuttle this nomination, derail it altogether on the committee.
And we are looking at two Republicans in particular, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. Both of them want assurances, actually language written to effectively kill that 1.8 anti-weaponization fund that the Justice Department is pushing, that Donald Trump has pushed, and that it had concerns among lots of members here that actually January 6th rioters could have access to taxpayer money through that fund.
Now, John Cornyn today said that the talks that have been going on with the Justice Department over this issue have yet to bear any fruit and warned that he could vote against this nomination on Thursday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): -- for the last 24 hours.
REPORTER: So, would you --
CORNYN: I think my staff is talking to them, but we're not -- they know what they need to do. They just don't want to do it.
REPORTER: Would you recommend that it be postponed if it's going this way?
CORNYN: That's being discussed. That's being discussed. But hopefully it won't be necessary
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Now, Jake, I just caught up with the other key swing vote on the committee, Thom Tillis, and he told me, he sounded actually more optimistic than John Cornyn. He said, quote, that things are going pretty well. He went on to say, hopefully, we can get the White House to execute.
But then I said, well, what happens if there is no deal on this issue to kill the weaponization fund, written language that both sides could agree upon? He said, I think me and Cornyn are of the mind that this has to be done.
So, expect these talks to intensify, and if they're not to the satisfaction of either member, either one of those Republicans could derail Todd Blanche's nomination to be attorney general.
TAPPER: All right. Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.
We've got this Clayton vote happening right now on Capitol Hill, plus this just in, CENTCOM saying moments ago Iran is launching new strikes on U.S. forces in the Middle East. Busy evening is getting even busier.
Stay with us, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:46:27]
TAPPER: Breaking news in our world lead. The U.S. military says that Iran just launched multiple missiles in a surprise attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East. The CENTCOM announcement adds, quote, "All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted. U.S. forces remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness."
The U.S. and Iran had seemed to have been in a momentary pause in fighting since Friday, but apparently no longer.
Joining us now on the breaking news, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel Leighton, what do you make of the timing of this?
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, it's really unfortunate, but it does coincide with Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit here in Washington, and that, of course, is, I think, significant. So, in my view, the Iranians are sending a message that the war, as far as they are concerned, is still on. Negotiations are basically off, and they are basically flexing their muscles.
Now, it doesn't seem a particularly wise decision on their part to do this, But they are clearly pointing out that they have the weapons that they need in order to impact targets in Jordan and other parts of the Middle East.
TAPPER: CNN analyst and "Axios" contributor Barak Ravid is reporting from a U.S. official who tells him the ballistic missiles were launched toward a base in Jordan. What kind of U.S. presence is in Jordan?
LEIGHTON: So one of the bases that we use is called Muffawaq al-Salti. It is a base that we actually had three service members killed recently, and it is a base that has F-35s at it. F-18s, F-16s have been there as well. There's also a presence of aerial refuelers sometimes at these bases. And of course, there are reconnaissance assets that includes drones that the U.S. uses to launch against targets in Iran.
TAPPER: Based on the very little information we have, what type of missiles do you think were likely fired by Iran? And when the US says that they were intercepted, how can they do that?
LEIGHTON: Yes. So, there are several possible missiles that the Iranians use, Jake. Some of them like the Khorram Shah missiles are medium to long-range missiles. What we basically do is we use missiles like the Patriot to go in -- Patriot missile batteries to take out incoming missiles. So, this is what you're seeing is basically a response from a Patriot battery or similar installation either operated by the U.S. or by Jordan that probably took those missiles out.
TAPPER: This comes after both Israel and the White House said that President Trump's meeting with Netanyahu went well.
Do you think that maybe could have contributed to Iran resuming strikes, the idea that there was diplomatically at least a show of success and support?
LEIGHTON: Yeah, I think so. If the U.S. and Israel are seen to be working more closely together once again, the Iranians are probably going to use that as an excuse to say if these two countries are working together, then we need to preemptively strike, at least against the U.S.
Interestingly, though, they have not struck Israeli targets at this point, and that I think is significant as well. TAPPER: We just learned there were no more than four ballistic missiles, according to initial estimates, according to a U.S. official.
What is your current assessment of the Iranian stockpile. How many missiles do they have that they can fire at us or our allies?
LEIGHTON: Yes, so there might be missiles in the stockpile, but not all of them are able to be fired against targets that include U.S. installations.
[18:50:01]
So, they may have somewhere around 2,000 to 3,000 missiles that are still actively listed in their inventory. That's of over 6,000 that are probably in that category before this war started. And as far as the ones that are usable, it might be somewhere around 1,000 to 1,500. But they may be impacted by launch difficulties. They may be impacted by the fact that the U.S. is keeping an eye on where those missiles are being launched from. And that could have really dampened their ability to move those missiles to a launch point.
So, a lot of the missiles that they use are going to be impacted by our reconnaissance efforts in this case. So, let's say 1,000 to 1,500. missiles are at their disposal at any given time.
TAPPER: All right, retired Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much.
My panel joins me now. Let's start by talking about the war, and obviously this is a political panel, not a military panel.
But this is a political liability for President Trump. I have never seen -- usually there is this rally around the flag effect when the U.S. goes to war. We're five months in, and there is 61 percent disapproval of this war, and there appears no end in sight.
Again, it's too early to call it a quagmire, but I don't know how he's going to get out of it.
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think he knows either. I think the political side of it is all downstream of the fact that he thought it was going to be like the Venezuela operation, thought it was going to be over very quickly, it was going to be equally successful, whether or not the Venezuela thing turns out to be successful remains to be seen.
And so, he never built a case in Congress, he never built a case in the public until after the fact. And that is -- so the public didn't have buy-in to the idea. Congress didn't have buy-in to the idea. And that's, I think, one of the reasons why no one feels particularly obliged to sort of defend the thing in a way that they would have in another -- in previous wars.
TAPPER: We also keep hearing conflicting statements about the status of peace negotiations. President Trump just yesterday said Iran was asking nicely for a conversation, and here we -- Iran denied it, and, you know, they're putting their shekels where their mouths are, you know, by that's not nicely firing missiles at U.S. service members in Jordan.
T.W. ARRIGHI. REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yeah, it's unfortunate he's learning the hard way in real time that the Iranians aren't to be trusted. We've known that for a long time, but we need to wrap our brains around the fact that nothing substantially will change in that region, especially with respect to Iran, until that regime is crippled, which brings us to the point of not just the selling it to the American people, but also understanding how much longer are we going to keep pushing them? When he took the foot off the gas in the first negotiations, there were many people saying, why are we stopping now? We're actually applying pressure.
TAPPER: Including your friend Lindsey Graham.
ARRIGHI: Indeed.
TAPPER: Yeah.
ARRIGHI: God rest his soul.
But keep the foot on the gas and keep the pressure on them. Now when you take it back, now they could perhaps resupply. They can do all sorts of things.
But the other missing thing here is, this also needs to come from within. We were told at the outset that the people would rise up, that we'd have some sort of, we'd foment some sort of rebellion. That remains to be seen whether or not that's coming or what that even looks like.
So, look, I think the United States military has acted incredibly bravely and I think they've done tremendous work. But now comes the hard part of the logistics of actually how to figure it out.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But you talked about trust, right? Clearly, the Iranians can't be trusted, but the problem is that the American people don't trust Donald Trump or this administration on anything that they say, including the Iran war, because everything he talks about, everything he says is completely the opposite, you know, five minutes later, 10 minutes later, the next day.
And so, the American people have yet to understand why we went into this war, majority of them didn't want it. of choice by Donald Trump. Meanwhile, they're trying to make ends meet. And so, everything that they see Donald Trump doing is completely the opposite of what he promised in '24 and completely the opposite of what they are looking for him to do.
TAPPER: So, Jeff Flake, former Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, is here. Obviously, he's a Trump critic. He served as ambassador to Turkey to President Biden. I don't think he necessarily has adopted Democratic foreign policy views. He still sounds like a Republican, although critical of Trump. He said, unequivocally, we are in worse shape now, the United States,
than we were on February 27th before the war launched. And he, you know, he was able to tick through a number of things, including the fact that the Iranians now know that they have this leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. And everything is about getting back to February 27th, not even about the nuclear deal.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, I mean, look, I generally agree with that. I'm very much in favor of Iran regime change. I agree with you.
All of this -- none of this is going to change unless that regime goes. The problem is that the cost of trying to get rid of that regime now is higher than Donald Trump's political pain point, and much -- and the Iranians have a much higher tolerance for pain than the United States does.
[18:55:10]
And they have -- they've convinced themselves, and I think they're right, that having sovereignty over basically a toll booth in the Strait of Hormuz is worth enduring a lot of pain.
One of the things I think we're all missing, my friend Ken Pollack, who's the Middle East Institute, was making this point to me on my podcast this week. One of the things that does not get a lot of coverage or a lot of attention is that the negotiations with the United States are not necessarily the most important negotiations. There are a lot of bilateral negotiations going under the radar between the Gulf states and Iran. Cash is exchanging hands.
And they have a vested interest in proving that the United States cannot protect those ships, and they are doing shakedown deals in the region that are sustaining them.
TAPPER: Oh, give us this amount of money and we'll bomb and we'll attack Jordan instead of country X, Y, or Z.
GOLDBERG: Saudi ships until this Houthi attack had not really been attacked recently in all of this stir up.
TAPPER: We only have a few minutes left, but I know you went to the funeral today of Senator Lindsey Graham, and I wonder if you could bring us inside there and also just talk about what you'll remember about him.
ARRIGHI: Well, I thought it was a great celebration of his life. I thought the words of his niece, even the president, and Sean Hannity, had a lot of really great moments highlighting what made Lindsey Graham, Lindsey Graham.
I don't think people who are overly online or who didn't know him in person get that unless you knew him and knew him well. I don't think you understood the essence of him. The love, the loyalty, the humor, the wit.
Those are all things that I'll take away with me. And there was one, the pastor there from Seneca who was the guest homilist, had a little story about Lindsey checking in on him one Sunday that he didn't make it to church. Just to say, how you doing? Are you good? Is your family good?
And it was a small kindness that I've been on the receiving end of. I remember one time I was supposed to play with him in a foursome. I got booted for this executive from company that shall not be named. And I didn't take offense to it.
There's several more golf rounds to be had. But after I got word of that, he called me. Hey, T.W., I just want you to know I really appreciate you and this has nothing to do with you and I feel really bad about it. How are you doing?
TAPPER: Yeah, it's great for a senator to do, yeah.
ARRIGHI: It's very rare and it's kind, and I'm blessed to have known him and blessed to have been inspired by him and I'm going to miss him.
TAPPER: What do you think, Jonah? What are you thinking about when you think about him?
GOLDBERG: Look, I think he's a very consequential senator. I think that he -- you know, they're uncharitable views about how he wanted to stay in the mix and he needed to stay in the mix and all that.
TAPPER: Which he would admit.
GOLDBERG: Which he would totally admit.
TAPPER: Yeah.
GOLDBERG: And at the same time, those views can be stated with greater or lesser degrees of charity. At the same time, I think he sincerely and honestly wanted to make the world better as he saw it. And as much as he enjoyed being in the mix, it wasn't just to be in the mix, it was to be constructive and productive as a senator.
TAPPER: Yeah, and he did work across the aisle a lot. I mean, he was consequential, not just in terms of his foreign policy views and having real relationships with people like Zelenskyy. but also working with Democrats.
CARDONA: He did. And what I took out of this, not just at the funeral, but from the moment that he passed, is how many Democratic senators came out to say exactly that.
GOLDBERG: Yeah.
CARDONA: That he was somebody that worked across the aisle. He was somebody that they could work with. He was hilarious. He always talked about people's personal lives, asked about their families.
I remember the Gang of Eight, the immigration bill. He was critical in that. You know, we sadly couldn't take it across the finish line, but he was one who always talked about how this is something we needed to get done for the country.
TAPPER: I'll just say that as a cub reporter covering John McCain's first presidential race in 1999-2000 on the Straight Talk Express, there were a few of us that had a permanent birth. And it was when we were in South Carolina and there were these two little children, Congressmen Mark Sanford and Lindsey Graham, there were very few people that endorsed John McCain in '99-2000. George W. Bush had a juggernaut.
But they were the two, and they were a trip -- that was a long time ago. A lot of mileage on the Straight Talk Express since then. But that was absolutely a joy. And you didn't work for him?
ARRIGHI: I did. I was his campaign manager, communications director on his 2020 race. No better place than with Lindsey Graham on a campaign bus, non-stop hilarity.
TAPPER: He is a very funny guy and we were just running clips of him in his last meeting with Zelenskyy and you see he's just the old Southern and his personal story for people who don't know, his parents died when he was young like 19, 20. He raised his sister who now has the Senate seat.
We're sending all our love to the family and friends. Senator Lindsey Graham today.
Thank you so much for watching.
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"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.
