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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Sailor Went Overboard Amid Reports of Poor Ship Conditions; Top Medical Analyst Raises Questions About Trump's Health; A.G. Blanche Promises to Lead DOJ With Integrity. Rep. Miller Sued By Ex-Wife Over Release Of Nude Image Of Daughter; Palestinian Families Under Settler Siege In The West Bank. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired August 13, 2026 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the lead of Jake Tapper.
This hour, U.S. lawmakers are demanding answers about reports of awful conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is housing more than 5,000 U.S. service members deployed in the Iran war. Those reports include shortages of basic supplies and plumbing issues, contaminated water, all leading to deteriorating mental health among sailors, including some apparently trying to jump overboard. I'm going to get a reaction from a Navy veteran now serving in Congress.
Plus, breaking news in Washington, D.C., where the World War II Memorial has been vandalized. U.S. Park Police are on the scene right now, where neon graffiti has been painted on the monument and usually clear fountains are now overflowing with soapy bubbles. Does law enforcement know who desecrated this tribute to American heroes?
And disturbing new evidence in the trial of a Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children. Today, we saw images from inside the house hours after the killings, and writings that could shed light on her state of mind. Those details ahead.
The Lead tonight, a lack of supplies, food shortages, water contamination. These conditions founded not in some disaster zone after a hurricane, but aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, with more than 5,000 U.S. Marines and sailors aboard for their Iran war deployments. One sailor went overboard this month and was quickly rescued, according to a U.S. official. Other outlets paint a picture of despair. Stars and Stripes and the Navy Times report this week that there have been multiple attempts by crew members to jump overboard, citing interviews with sailors and families of those on board.
The average deployment for a U.S. naval ship is six to nine months, and the USS Abraham Lincoln is around the nine-month mark now. But what's unusual is that compared to other deployments, this crew has had very few port calls to speak of, a chance to get off the ship and onto land.
Another carrier group is now on its way to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was previously planned. They should get there in about a week. But lawmakers are right now demanding answers about how things deteriorated for the very people who are risking their lives and sacrificing so much for their country. Is their country doing the same for them?
CNN's Brian Todd is here. Brian, tell us more about ship conditions, and what, if anything, is being done to improve them at this hour.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very disturbing set of reports by us and some other outlets, Jake. New reporting now from our colleagues, Pamela Brown and Ross Atkins, they cite three U.S. officials saying a sailor on board the aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, went overboard earlier this month. Two of those officials tell CNN the sailor was quickly rescued, was medically evaluated, treated, then transferred off the ship for follow-on care. One official said the sailor went overboard wearing a life vest and was not injured. The official added that the Navy considered the incident a mental health episode.
Now, this incident, which has not been previously reported, adds to growing concerns about the crew of the USS Lincoln. The news outlets Stars and Stripes and the Navy Times reported this week that there had been multiple attempts by crew members on the Lincoln to jump overboard. Those outlets cited interviews with sailors and families of those on board, who describe the impacts of a very lengthy deployment that Jake just mentioned.
According to Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, the Lincoln has not made a port call in more than 200 days. That's about six and a half months. In a statement to CNN, the Navy said, quote, we have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship. We take every service member's wellbeing seriously and have religious, medical, and mental health professionals available to assess and address concerns as they arise, end quote.
One U.S. official told CNN the Navy's internal tracking of reports of suicidal ideation on the ship had actually gone down in recent months, Jake, but these are very, very disturbing reports.
TAPPER: And Brian, speaking of U.S. service members, you have some new reporting about Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.
TODD: That's right. This is new reporting by myself and our colleague, Adam Cancryn. We have information that the V.A. secretary has angered White House officials and senior Republicans in Congress over his handling of an important veterans' health bill that's been a priority for the White House and Congressional Republicans. It's called the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, and it would expand benefits for many veterans and their families.
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Now, it's not without controversy, but we have multiple sources who were involved in the crafting of the legislation who told us that Doug Collins had initially indicated to Republican leadership on Capitol Hill that he supported the measure, but then he started to work subtly against the measure.
They said he would signal to some lawmakers that he was not entirely behind the bill, telling some GOP members that he shared their concerns about it. Then some Republican members began to waver on the legislation, and the bill had to be abruptly pulled from the House floor last month. Senior Republicans at the White House and in Congress were furious with that, and now, as a result, Doug Collins and his team at the V.A. have been excluded from recent meetings on Capitol Hill aimed at getting this bill back on track.
One person familiar with the dynamics of all of this says of Doug Collins, quote, his relationship with the Hill directly is garbage at this point, end quote. The V.A. denies that Doug Collins worked against the bill, telling us that he broadly supports it, but it could benefit from some amendments. The White House officially saying Collins is doing, quote, a great job.
Our sources say President Trump is not likely to fire Collins, at least for now, but his handling of this has prompted speculation that he might leave on his own accord at some point, Jake, maybe after the midterms.
TAPPER: All right, Brian Todd, thanks so much.
Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania. He is a U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Iraq War. He's also a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman, so what's your reaction to the reports of these conditions on the U.S.S Abraham Lincoln? Have you heard from any of the sailors or their family members?
REP. CHRIS DELUZIO (D-PA): Not directly, Jake, but I'm pretty mad, as you can imagine. The, the reports coming out of the meeting that the family had in particular in San Diego, the families, I should say, pretty tough stuff, reports of folks jumping overboard. These sailors have been at sea for a long time. And let me tell you, going at sea a month is a long time. They've been at sea without a port visit now for 200 or so days by the reporting. That is the longest in modern history, and they're being put in tough conditions. They supported combat operations with aircraft launching off that carrier. It is intense, it is grueling, and it is to me exactly what you'd expect from a president and defense secretary who did not plan for the war they started.
How would you replace this carrier? Where would you have backups? What would you do with morale and the rest when you knew you didn't have any plan in place to replace these thousands of sailors and Marines who are in really difficult conditions?
TAPPER: So, I mean, it sounds awful, it sounds rough, but can you provide some insight to our viewers? What is it like to be at sea for more than 260 days without a port call? What is it like to be on a ship for even a month, much less nine?
DELUZIO: Well, Jake, I'll tell you, these sailors and Marines are the first Americans in modern history to have been at sea without a port call for that long, just to put it in perspective. Life at sea is grueling. There is no stopping from watch shifts, which run 24/7 on the bridge in combat otherwise. And when you've got aircraft launching, that is one of the most stressful things, those pilots, the crew on the flight deck, and so many others could deal with, especially in combat operations as they've been put in.
These are tough times in general. When you layer in they're going into the ninth month of deployment, six-plus months without going to port, it's brutal. And, again, these are things you would have known had you planned effectively. Had you come to the Congress, guys like me would have asked these exact questions of what are you going to do about which carrier strike group? How long have they been at sea? What's the plan to replace them? These are the basic things you should have thought through before you start a war, and, clearly, Pete Hegseth and this president did not do it.
TAPPER: So, physically and physiologically, what is different about being at sea for nine months as opposed to being, you know, stationed at a small COP in Afghanistan for nine months? Like what does it do? Is it just because the quarters are so confined? Is it difficult being on the ocean for that long? Tell me -- tell us more.
DELUZIO: Well, it could be a combination of all the things. I mean, the fact is because life at sea requires 24-hour watch on so many different stations, assuming you're someone who's standing watch, like most sailors are, that means your duty cycle is constant. There is not a day off for American sailors at sea deployed. Certainly, when you're conducting flight operations, the aviators, the flight deck crew, the folks on the bridge, they're all on, and they're on as long as those flight operations are running 24/7. That is stressful work in any environment.
And when you layer in, again, that these folks have been at sea without a day off in port for more than six months, that is brutal. That is more brutal than, as I can tell or as I've learned, any American sailor or marine in modern history. And, again, these are under not just peacetime environment crossing the Pacific, for instance. They are in harm's way supporting combat operations.
I come back to this, Jake. These are brave and patriotic Americans doing their duty.
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They should expect and demand that our government, our Congress, gets to the bottom of what's going on in their conditions, and I have no confidence in this Pentagon and its leadership that they are telling us the truth.
TAPPER: Beyond the duration of the deployment, are these reports of really, really bad conditions in terms of toilets that don't work, plumbing that doesn't work, rationing food. Who is ultimately responsible for the basic conditions aboard a ship in any deployment?
Did we lose him? It seems like we lost him. Okay. All right, well, in any case, Democratic Congressman Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, thank you, and wherever you are, thanks for your service.
Just in to our National Lead, the Trump administration is investigating yet another case of vandalism on the National Mall. This time it looks like it's actual vandalism. You're looking at live pictures of graffiti on the World War II Memorial reading, clean hands, dirty money, first spotted this afternoon. The vandals also apparently poured soap into the fountain, creating an overflow bubbly mess. And now there's a heavy law enforcement presence in the area, and the secretary of the interior, or rather the Interior Department, told CNN in a statement that the vandalism is, quote, utter disgrace.
Coming up, President Trump not looking well according to one former White House doctor. What that doctor is demanding the public should know, that's next.
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TAPPER: In Our Health Lead, just how healthy is President Trump? It's a question we've been asking now for years, especially since his second term started. He's the oldest U.S. president ever elected. He turned 80 in June. After an unprecedented medical evaluation in May that involved 22 different specialists, I didn't even know there were that many specialists, the White House said that the president, quote, remains in excellent health, unquote, but there's the bruising on his hands and the swelling of his ankles and moments where he appears to struggle to stay awake in the Oval Office during events.
Those have all raised new questions about his health and the White House's transparency or lack thereof. In a New York Times op-ed, former White House physician, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, puts it this way, quote, Trump has not looked well, and we should know why, unquote.
Dr. Reiner joins me now. So, thanks so much for joining us. You've been on top of this with the previous president, with the current president. We've been talking about this now for some time. The White House is getting no more transparent than they've been. The White House, in response to your op-ed, called President Trump, quote, the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history, which is -- that's the kind of thing they say, but they also attacked you. They called you a, quote, ass-hat engaging in armchair diagnosis for political purposes and a disgrace to the medical profession. You are neither of those, if I may say so.
You also were pretty critical of President Biden and the lack of transparency there. You note that this same White House gave you an outstanding achievement award last year. So, what's your response?
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I view myself more as an asset to the White House Medical Unit than an ass-hat. I've been a consultant to the White House Medical Unit for every administration since the first George W. Bush administration. It's an honor and a privilege and the docs who I've worked with there are, you know, among the best anywhere.
But, you know, this president is perhaps the most photographed, videoed president in the United States history. He has so many press availabilities, he has to be. There are so many images of him. And because there's so many images of him, it's easy to see some of the things that are afflicting him now. You know, his hands are chronically bruised, both hands. And the initial argument or explanation that he shakes a lot of hands doesn't really apply when he has a big bruise on his left hand. And then he had the, you know, really massive swelling in his legs that they call chronic venous insufficiency, but just three months earlier, his doctor documented that he had no swelling.
And then he had the mysterious scans at an unusual time for no really good reason.
TAPPER: We never know why or what they were looking for.
REINER: That has never really been disclosed. But to take a president of the United States to scan him at an off hour is extraordinarily unusual, unprecedented.
TAPPER: What about the nodding off in the White House events? I mean --
REINER: Well, that really is the most extraordinary thing now. The president is a well-known night owl. I mean, he -- and that's not new. But what's new is that over the last several months, he has a very hard time staying awake when he's surrounded by people, often when he's surrounded by people talking to him. And it happens very quickly, and it's so unusual. We've never seen a president of the United States fall asleep in the Oval Office as people are talking to him, or in the Cabinet Room --
TAPPER: Yes.
REINER: -- you know, or in other meetings. But it's been normalized, and that's a serious medical issue.
And in the president's last comprehensive physical exam, there was no mention of that. There was no mention of the fact that the president has trouble staying awake during the day.
TAPPER: Well, that -- and that's the thing, and you and I have talked about this but you did these medical reports that the White House puts out, they can be unreliable.
REINER: Right.
TAPPER: They don't list every test the president has had. This is not just Trump specific. They don't list every test the president has had. They don't list every result. They don't list every medication. And you think that the solution to getting that is -- should lie in the hands of Congress.
REINER: Right. So, most people know about the 25th Amendment, which was enacted in the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination because of concern what would have happened if the president had survived but had been really incapacitated.
TAPPER: Which has happened. It happened to President Wilson, for example.
REINER: That's right. And for 17 months, the last 17 months of his presidency, the White House just hid his infirmity.
So, the 25th Amendment provides for the removal or the replacement of a president should he or she be killed, but has really been very uncertain prior to the 25th Amendment about what to do if the president is impaired.
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The problem is that the commonly understood mechanism for replacing the president, which involves the ascent of the vice president and majority of the cabinet in practicality will never be used unless --
TAPPER: Yes, the president would have to be in a coma for that to happen.
REINER: Exactly, he'd have to be on a ventilator. But the next line in the 25th Amendment says, or such body as Congress may provide. So, the 25th Amendment allows Congress to provide basically an independent body to assess the capacity of the president of the United States.
And it needs really to be enacted. It needs to be put together, not just for, you know, for President Trump, but for every president. And, look, one would have wanted the input of that body, you know, during the last administration. So, I think it's important going forward in the United States that we have an independent group of people who establish that the president of the United States is fit for duty.
The president's pilot, the president's Secret Service agents, the people who drive our school buses, all every year have to document that they are fit for duty. Every active duty military personnel has to document that they are fit for duty, but why not the president of the United States? Shouldn't the president -- shouldn't the people of this country have confidence that the president of the United States is fit?
And the deterioration of our current president is concerning to me. And, you know, the piece that I wrote for The New York Times isn't based on any kind of secret access to data. I've never examined the president.
TAPPER: Right.
REINER: I've never met the president. It's just from what has been made publicly available and what I and any person in this country can see.
TAPPER: Yes, your lying eyes. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thanks so much. Disturbing new evidence in the trial of a Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children. Today, we saw images from inside the house after the killings, and we heard writings that could shed light on her state of mind at the time. Those details next.
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TODD BLANCHE, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I promise you that I will lead this department with integrity. I promise you that I will focus on our core mission, which is to uphold the rule of law fairly and impartially. It's a promise that, that we're going to uphold the law without fear or favor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Earlier today, the Justice Department hearing from the brand new U.S. attorney general, Todd Blanche, their second new boss within two years. Blanche steps into the role as his workforce has been bruised by firings, reprimands from federal judges, accusations of political dealings on President Trump's behalf, and much more.
Joining us to discuss, former Federal Prosecutor Elliot Williams, and Tom Dupree, former deputy assistant attorney general during the Bush administration.
Tom, I want to reiterate what Blanche just said, quote, We're going to uphold the law without fear or favor, lead it with integrity fairly impartially. You know, I wouldn't react to that normally, but we've seen how he has been deputy attorney general.
TOM DUPREE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: That's true, but I will say this. He hit all the right notes in that speech. That is the message that I'm confident many Justice Department employees wanted to hear. The attorney general said it in the Great Hall from a stage with assembled DOJ people in front of him, and, of course, it will depend how it plays out. He can talk the talk, but he has to walk the walk.
But for purposes of sending kind of an inaugural message to all the people at DOJ, this script was like a vision from the past. It was a return to traditional DOJ values of enforcing the law without fear or favor, non-weaponization, non-politicization, and, of course, time will bear out whether or not he follows through on it.
But for purposes of today's speech, I liked what I heard, and I give him credit for that.
TAPPER: Elliot?
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, I was there, Jake, for both Alberto Gonzales, I was there for Loretta Lynch for that very speech. They all come in and give a speech on their first day. And a lot of times the words are interchangeable, the kinds of things about the rule of law and fear or favor and in running the department with impartially, the problem is his history up until this point, and it's telling. You know, you said this is his second time or whatever.
I will note, Todd Blanche is the tenth attorney general, or acting attorney general, that has served under Donald Trump since the beginning because they all get fired because they can't seem to serve the president in the way he wants them to serve.
I hope, like Tom Dupree here, I don't know why I called you Tom Dupree, but, no, but I hope that he serves in the way that he talked about today. That would be wonderful. But look at the track record that we've seen thus far, and he's shown no distance from the president, no willingness to create a separation there.
TAPPER: Yesterday, Attorney General Blanche reiterated the Justice Department's nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is dead. He also said this. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLANCHE: Yes, the president feels very strongly, as do I, that there were people who were victims of a Department of Justice that was absolutely weaponized, and he feels very strongly that he would want to make them whole, as do I. But it will not be through the anti- weaponization fund.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So, two things, Tom. One, among the people that President Trump thought were unfairly prosecuted were Proud Boys and people who beat up cops. He pardoned them all on his first day. But on the subject of the fund, how dead do you think it really is?
DUPREE: I think the fund, as it was constituted a month or two ago when this, in my judgment, very bad idea was first surfaced, I think that fund is dead. However, we know very well that the president, in his heart, wants to get these people compensation. And what we have seen over time is that when President Trump wants something from his attorney general, from the Justice Department, they find a way to get it.
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So, my bet is that there will be some mechanism to attempt to compensate at least some of the people who are going to be compensated, but the form of this will not take the form of this fund that the attorney general has said is dead.
WILLIAMS: And I'll say really quickly, yes, when the president wants something, he gets it, and when he doesn't get it, the attorney general ends up firing -- getting fired or resigning. It's happened so many times, and it's only so many times you can have the case of the attorney general and the football like Charlie Brown that we just have to stop and think, wait a second, this is a pattern.
TAPPER: Pam Bondi didn't get fired because she wasn't trying to do everything Trump asked her to do. She got fired because --
WILLIAMS: She tried and was not competent at it. It's just, you know, at a certain --
TAPPER: At prosecuting people that there wasn't a case against.
WILLIAMS: At prosecuting people that there wasn't a case against. And it's only so many times you can keep losing in the courts before you got to make a change at the top too. It's just this is not a position that people should be doing on-the-job training for, Jake, and I just think it's happening again.
TAPPER: So, meanwhile, a significant blow for the Trump administration in its effort to take on higher ed. A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit that allege that the Harvard failed to protect Jewish students. The judge noted that he's not diminishing any concern about the harassment of Jewish students faced in the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas attacks, but that the Trump administration misconstrued the legal boundaries of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. How so?
WILLIAMS: Absolutely. In order to prevail in Title VI in the Civil Rights Act, the plaintiff, this would be the White House, would need to establish an ongoing violation, something that was so pervasive, so hostile, and that the university was so indifferent as to be complicit in the bad treatment.
Now, certainly, as the judge said there, he did not want to diminish the severity of what happened to any of the students in 2023, but the administration did not allege ongoing conduct. And if anything, they acknowledged that Harvard had put in place any number of measures to try to make life better for Jewish and Israeli students on campus.
Look, they did not fix anti--Semitism. They will not. However, in order to win under Title VI, you got to make a really, really big showing about the pervasiveness and hostility that the administration simply was not able to do.
TAPPER: Is this another instance of the Trump administration just not having the competent attorneys in place to bring something like this forward?
DUPREE: In this case, I would actually point just to the absence of evidence that the Trump administration had here, and that's what the judge focused on, not so much on, you know --
TAPPER: Well, that's part of it.
DUPREE: -- bad lawyering. But the judge basically said -- to Elliot's point, right, he basically said that, Look, the government has a high burden in these types of cases. It really needs to prove kind of an ongoing, significant number of these types of incidents that Harvard failed to correct. And Harvard's lawyers, and Harvard has great lawyers, very ably showed the judge that even if you accept everything in the administration's complaint is true, it still wouldn't prove Harvard violated the law. The judge said that the allegations were simply too isolated. They were attenuated. It wasn't sufficient as a matter of law.
WILLIAMS: I mean, Harvard -- real quick -- just real quick, Harvard says, you literally cited to the task force report that we put together in response to all these allegations.
TAPPER: Tom Dupree, Elliot Williams, thanks to both you.
Embattled Republican Congressman Max Miller is now facing a new lawsuit from his ex-wife. We're going to talk to our political panel next as the allegations pile up.
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TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, the trial continues for Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy, who's accused of killing her three children. Clancy's defense says that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis when she fatally strangled her children at their home in 2023.
Today, jurors saw images taken inside the Clancy home hours after the killings. Prosecutors highlighted a large bloody knife on a bedside table, blood stains outside the home believed to be from wounds Clancy inflicted on her wrists and neck before jumping from a second-storey window.
CNN's Jean Casarez has been following the case. And, Jean, entries from Clancy's phone were also shown to jurors?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, her writings, her state of mind. It was a forensic examiner from the Massachusetts State Police, and he did an analysis on Lindsay Clancy's cellphone. And amongst that, in the section of notes, he saw so many writings that she made the end of October, beginning of November of 2022, so a couple of months before she killed her children.
Let's listen to a little bit of the testimony from that forensic examiner.
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TIMOTHY CHIAPPINI, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE: I was feeling so depressed last evening when Cora and Dawson came home from school. I know it runs off on them, so we had a pretty rough evening. I want to feel love and connection with all my kids.
I still don't want Cal to be our last, but I have a lot of figuring out to do before I have another. I'm on the fence about starting a new medication for anxiety/depression. I just want to feel happy. I want to be able to relax and take care of my kids. And then -- when -- and when they go to bed at night, I want to deeply relax.
I'm terrified of something happening to my kids or doing something wrong to mess up their development.
For the last five years, I've just filled my mind with all things parenting, and it's just unhealthy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: And that, those writings showed how much she cared about her children, how insightful she was, not wanting them to come across harm in their life.
Another aspect, and you just touched on it in your introduction, was the second-floor bedroom. Law enforcement showed video to the jury today of that upstairs area, where Lindsay Clancy, after killing her children, went to the second floor, had gotten a kitchen knife, and started to slash her wrists and her neck.
And you see there's the knife right there. That's a nightstand next to the bed. There's a children's cup next to that. One point the prosecution made with the forensic examiner is that the blood was not blood spatter that was on the walls. That could become significant because the prosecution does believe she tried to commit suicide, but they're also calling them superficial wounds of her wrists and her neck.
TAPPER: All right. Jean Casarez, thank you so much.
Just over one month after dropping out of the main Senate race, Graham Platner appears to be planning a return to politics.
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We'll explain next.
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TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, former Maine Democratic Senate Nominee Graham Platner, who suspended his scandal-plagued campaign in June right after we did a couple big interviews with victims of his, Platner plans to headline a political event in Maine next month. He's slated to speak at a Labor Day rally on September 5th.
My panel joins me now. Carine you covered this race a lot. You used to be a reporter in Boston, and you were up in Maine reporting on Platner's campaign and its eventual demise. I just -- I can't help but think that this is bad for Democrats, like his return and helping Susan Collins.
CARINE HAIJAR, MEMBER, WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL BOARD: Yes, I mean, absolutely. And, look, this is -- it's also disrespectful to the working-class voters that these types of events are geared towards. And, obviously, Democrats are really struggling to attract working- class voters, bring them back into the fold.
TAPPER: Working-class white voters, they have trouble.
HAIJAR: Exactly, and -- TAPPER: I mean, they don't have a problem with working-class Latinos and blacks. But anyway, keep going, sorry.
HAIJAR: Yes. And, you know, bringing Graham Platner out, is this really the best headliner you can get to talk about labor and the power of organizing? Surely, there have to be other Democrats of repute that can talk about these issues.
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But you have these radical, very far left candidates who are coming in and really creating a headache for the party. So, I think that's what we're going to see happen here.
TAPPER: What do you think? You're somebody that wants Susan Collins to lose. Does this help you?
DAVID HOGG, CO-FOUNDER, LEADERS WE DESERVE: No, it doesn't. And Graham should not be going on any form of comeback tour if that's what he's trying to make, because he needs to go on an apology tour, if anything. He needs to apologize to the victims of his behavior, and he needs to apologize to those people that he's clearly lied to.
And it's really unfortunate because there are a lot of people that clearly believed in the campaign and have been massively, you know, let down, obviously, by his behavior. And I'm glad that he dropped out, obviously. But this is not what he should be doing.
TAPPER: Yeah. I mean, to give him his due -- remarkably charismatic and great speaker on working class values from -- the from the -- you know, from the progressive DSA perspective, but --
HOGG: It does not justify.
TAPPER: No, no, no, no. And you --
HAJJAR: And also, his working class credentials are up for debate.
TAPPER: Well, fair enough. You pulled your support when the accusations surfaced, David, you called them horrific. Full stop.
I spoke, as you might recall, with one of his accusers, Jenny Racicot. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Did Graham Platner rape you?
JENNY RACICOT, PLATNER ACCUSER: By definition, yes, absolutely.
TAPPER: Because he had non-consensual sex with you, forced himself on you --
RACICOT: Uh-huh.
TAPPER: -- after you had told him no and fought him off. RACICOT: He violated multiple layers of consent that night by coming
into my home, when I asked him not to, and by advancing on me when I told him not to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Jenny and a different Platner accuser, Lyndsey Fifield, issued a statement today on this news, which reads in part, quote, "While Graham's behavior is disappointing, it's hardly surprising. What is surprising is that there are still people who are still willing to give him a platform, despite his refusal to take any accountability for his actions. It's a slap in the face not just to us, but to survivors everywhere."
And David, that's one of the things that's so weird about this case, and not weird. But beyond his transgressions, beyond the horrible actions he's accused of having done, he never acknowledged it. He -- even the morning after, according to Jenny's story, when she got mad at him and said what happened last night was not okay. According to her, he didn't even say, what did I do? You know? He didn't even say. He showed no curiosity. I was black out drunk last night. What did I do? I'm so sorry. There was none of that.
HOGG: It's horrible. He should not have -- this event should not be happening. Graham should not be on any form of this comeback tour in the first place, and I'm glad -- I think, that there's a lot of credit that needs to be given to the victims here that will never get enough credit.
TAPPER: Jenny and Lyndsey, yeah.
HOGG: The bravery of coming forward, the journalists that did months and months and months of work because understandably, people don't want to talk about some of the worst days of their life.
TAPPER: Yeah.
HOGG: Right? They don't. And the fact that they had the bravery to come forward and do that and stop this man from coming into any position of power is incredibly brave. And it's a huge testament to them for stopping that.
And I think people in Maine, you know, obviously there was huge turnout for Graham and people want to believe in transformative politics, obviously. But we do have to draw the line somewhere. And when those allegations came out, everybody in unison across our party said this is not okay.
TAPPER: Republican Congressman Max Miller, and the Republican Party is not doing this with Max Miller.
HOGG: Exactly.
TAPPER: Yeah, he's already facing abuse allegations from his wife. He's now being sued by his ex-wife, Emily, on behalf of their two- year-old daughter over the, quote/unquote, "accidental release" of a nude image of the child. When he was trying to defend himself, he put out a drop box of documents and photos. His attorney took responsibility for the accidental inclusion of one of their daughter nude.
As you might remember, Congressman Miller was on the show, and I asked him, how could this end up in public? A nude photo of your daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Your attorney apologized.
REP. MAX MILLER (R-OH): And I'm not -- I'm not defending it. It's awful. I don't like it.
TAPPER : You just defended it. You said it was taken out of context.
MILLER: Well, because it is taken out of context in terms of how the articles have been written about it. I didn't do this. My attorney took full responsibility. I believe that it's awful. There was never any intent to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: What do you think?
HAJJAR: I mean, this is the kind of recklessness that should be disqualifying, but Republicans should be learning the same lesson here that Democrats learned from Graham Platner and learned too late, by the way, Democrats knew for months that this guy was problematic post- Nazi tattoo, post-Reddit posts, and waited too long to call him out and were left with a mess.
The same thing is happening with Max Miller here. This is -- these aren't the first. This isn't the first scandal that he's faced. He's faced serious allegations from two other women as well.
And so --
TAPPER: One of them, a former Trump White House communications director and the other high school girl who says that he pushed her down the stairs. And it was one of the most traumatic events of her life.
HAJJAR: Exactly. And so, both of these politicians were talking about Graham Platner, Max Miller. This is the kind of self-obsession that leads somebody to stick to power, crave power so much that they're not only willing to put an election on the line for their party, but this is a disservice to their constituents.
TAPPER: But there's also -- hold on. Let me just say, I -- we should note that Max Miller denies all the allegations, but I want you to weigh in.
[18:50:00]
But I also want you to weigh in on this, because Congressman Miller has given money, campaign contributions to more than a dozen fellow Republicans who are competing in the midterms. One of them is New York Congressman Mike Lawler, from a very competitive swing district outside New York City.
My colleague, Dana Bash asked Congressman Lawler why he won't return the money. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): This is a private family matter that, unfortunately, has spilled out into the public. It should be adjudicated in family court. Max has been accused. Max has also made accusations against his ex-wife. It is tragic.
And obviously I don't condone any level of abuse. But ultimately there has been nothing that has been corroborated here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: David?
HOGG: These people aren't just making this up for no reason. People don't go out and risk their entire family to go out there and say these things, right? The people that go out there and say that, well, you know, both parties are the same. I think this is a clear time where we can show there is a difference.
Donald Trump was calling up people around Max Miller and telling him he needs to stay in the race and doing everything in their power to keep him there. Whereas with Graham Platner, when these allegations did come out in unison, we said, he needs to go. He cannot be our nominee.
And it's insane to me that Mike Lawler cannot say that he's just going to return the $5,000 or whatever he took.
TAPPER: Ten thousand.
HOGG: Or whatever it is.
TAPPER: But he's sitting on -- he's sitting on more than $4 million.
HOGG: And it reminds me of when I was on when I was on a talk show with Lawler. And I expressed to him my frustration with the fact that there are people like him that are taking money from private prison companies while giving out contracts to the government while they get government contracts from the very same people that are supposed to be regulating them in the first place.
So, I am glad that Graham Platner is obviously not the nominee anymore. I'm glad that people stood up there, but they need to do the same thing here in the Republican Party, and it's disgusting that they're not. This is somebody that, just to remind viewers, put a gun to his wife's head and poured boiling water on her.
TAPPER: Allegedly, and he denies it. And, Carine, and David, thank you so much.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:56:09]
TAPPER: In our world lead, a Palestinian American is among the people under siege inside their own homes in the West Bank, harassed by Israeli settlers. The owners say. Israeli forces and the U.S. embassy have not done enough to he help them. But U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, pushed back, posting a video today of what he says are Israeli police on their way to remove the, quote, "illegal trespassers there to intimidate Palestinian residents," unquote.
But the settlers, they're still there.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond went into the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, connecting with one of the Palestinian homeowners trapped inside his own house.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The view from this Palestinian home is the same from every angle. Israeli settlers everywhere you look. For days now, they've set up camp and surrounded three homes on this hilltop in the occupied West Bank in a bid to force the residents out and take over.
They've cut water and power lines and have tried to stop anyone from approaching. All of this is illegal and yet this is what happened when Palestinian residents first called the Israeli military. The soldiers joined the settlers in prayer.
LOUI RIDI, PALESTINIAN AMERICAN: They start hugging the settlers and they start praying with the settlers and absolutely did nothing to protect my brother and his son.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Loui Ridi owns one of those houses. A Palestinian American, he's watched all of this unfold from Ohio. And this is what he saw on Wednesday, Israeli military trying and ultimately failing to remove the settlers from the area.
Hours later, we drive up the hill to see if anything has changed.
DIAMOND: So these are actually the three homes that have been besieged by these settlers for four days now. We're going to try and climb up this hill and see if we can get past the settlers who are blocking the area.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The settlers are still there and so are two Israeli soldiers who order us to stop and turn off our vehicle.
The soldier tells me this is now a closed military area and that we're interfering with military activity. DIAMOND (translated): Why are we interfering and not them? I don't understand.
SOLDIER (translated): You can contact the military spokesperson. This is a closed military area.
DIAMOND (voice-over): An IDF spokesperson said the order does apply to the settlers but it's clearly not being enforced.
DIAMOND: They're telling us that it's a closed military zone that we're not allowed to be here but at the same time, we're seeing multiple Israeli settlers who are here, who are not being made to leave and who are continuing to block the access to these homes.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Down the hill, we call Loui's brother, Qusai, who's been staying in his home.
DIAMOND: Qusai, this is the closest we're able to get to your home, unfortunately. How are you doing? Do you still have supplies?
DIAMOND (voice-over): "The food I have is going to run out in two to three days. Beyond that, I have no food, nothing," he says. "But at the same time, even if I run out of food, I will not leave the house."
DIAMOND: So do you have any hope that these settlers are actually going to be kicked out of this area?
DIAMOND (voice-over): "Honestly, from what I saw today, the settlers were monstrous," he explains. "They even attacked the Israeli army, forcing them to fire sound grenades and tear gas. They have their eyes set on the house and this hilltop. They want to take it."
The Israeli military says it is stepping up its efforts to rout the settlers, deploying an infantry battalion to the area to, quote, protect the residents and maintain security.
But Qusai's fears aren't abstract. In recent weeks, settlers in this area have set fire to a mosque and besieged this home.
DIAMOND: This right here is why those families are afraid to leave their home. You can see Israeli settlers on the rooftop of this house here. Three weeks ago, Palestinians were living in that house but it's been taken over by Israeli settlers.
DIAMOND (voice-over): With a messianic flag now flying above it, these settlers want their presence known from one hilltop to the next.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Qusra, the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: And our thanks to Jeremy Diamond for that report.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.
