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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Soon, Polls Close In New Hampshire For Senate Seat Primary; Washington Post Reports, Trump Admin Strips Confederate Criticism at Former Memorial; SEC Sets Thursday Meeting To Discuss Booting LSU from Conference; Report: Netanyahu Was Warned Of Hamas Attack Before Oct. 7; High Beef Prices & Tariffs Squeeze Margins For West Virginia Meat Processor. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 08, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:00]

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

This hour, it is election night in America, and we are just about two hours from polls closing in New Hampshire, where all eyes are on the primaries for an open U.S. Senate seat. Republicans are hoping they can flip it on their way to keeping control of the Senate chamber. Democrats really need to win it if they want to return to power. So, who has the momentum?

Plus, Hurricane Lowell batters parts of Hawaii, damaging homes and knocking out power to tens of thousands, and the threat is not over yet. Hawaii Governor Josh Green will be here with a storm update and to discuss how they're preparing for a more active than normal Pacific hurricane season.

And some serious drama to kick off college football season. Today, the SEC threatened to kick LSU out of the conference entirely as they fight over whether former professional football players can return to college. And after a controversial last second finish, literally last second, the Mid-American Conference wants Michigan's Hail Mary victory Saturday night to be vacated. We're following all of the details this evening.

The Lead tonight, cue the election music, the midterm sprint is officially on. Polls close -- there it is, thank you. Polls close in just under two hours in New Hampshire in the primary race for the open U.S. Senate seat there. To put it plainly, it's a must-win race for Democrats, and it's shaping up to be one of the best pickup opportunities for Republicans this fall.

It'll likely be a race between Democratic Congressman Chris Pappas and former Republican Senator John Sununu, who's been endorsed by President Trump. On Friday, Pappas put a fundraising email he hoped would grab attention and donations. It said, quote, we are losing, unquote, referring to polls, in which Sununu is winning.

First, of course, Pappas is going to have to defeat Democratic Socialist Karishma Manzur tonight. There's also the other major Senate seat Republicans are hoping to flip, and that's in Michigan. Republican nominee for Senate Mike Rogers, former congressman, pulling no punches against his opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, with a new ad just before the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Here's part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN SENATE NOMINEE: I worked for years to help bring Osama bin Laden to justice. Abdul El-Sayed runs around with a terrorist sympathizer who said America deserved 9/11. Abdul is too extreme for Michigan. I'm Mike Rogers, and I approve this message because I'll fight to keep America safe, always.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN asked the El-Sayed campaign for comment. A campaign spokesperson told us, quote, Abdul has always unequivocally condemned terrorism and the September 11th attacks. Mike Rogers' attempt to misrepresent Abdul's beliefs are bad faith lies meant to mislead Michiganders, unquote.

We're closely following both of these races this evening. CNN's Arlette Saenz is on the campaign trail in Michigan just outside Detroit. We have with us in studio Jessica Taylor from the Cook Political Report, who's following all the races, but also especially perhaps the race in New Hampshire.

Jessica, so polls close in less than two hours in New Hampshire. What are you watching for tonight in New Hampshire?

JESSICA TAYLOR, SENATE AND GOVERNORS EDITOR, COOK POLITICAL REPORTER: I'm watching that margin in the Democratic primary because Manzur is a Democratic Socialist. We saw an upset a couple of weeks ago in Florida where Democrats expected Alexander Vindman to win, but he was upset by another Democratic Socialist candidate there, Angie -- anyway, he was upset by another Democratic --

TAPPER: Angie Dixon or Nixon, I think it was?

TAYLOR: Nixon, sorry.

TAPPER: Yes.

TAYLOR: Yes. Thank you.

And so it was a bit of a surprise with that, and that was a race they had hoped to put in play, but this would really -- as you mentioned, this is a must win for Democrats, and so if a Democratic Socialist were to win in a swing state like New Hampshire, this would just completely mess up Democrats' math.

TAPPER: Interesting. Arlette, you're on the campaign trail. You spoke with Abdul El-Sayed. How is he feeling about his chances in this Senate race in Michigan? ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, Abdul El-Sayed is feeling pretty confident that they will be able to keep this Senate seat in the blue column in what is one of the most closely watched races this cycle.

Michigan, of course, is central to Democrats' key path back to the Senate majority as they have to hold onto the seat and win in a bunch of other red states. But we spent some time with El-Sayed on the campaign trail yesterday as he bopped between Labor Day union rallies and smaller gatherings with black voters, and he talked about some of the frustration that he's heard from Michigan voters about President Donald Trump and his handling of the last year-and-a-half in office.

[18:05:01]

Take a listen to what he had to tell me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE NOMINEE: Everywhere I go, I talk to folks who say, I voted for Donald Trump two or three times, and I'm voting for you. And I ask them why. They say, well, I think you're really America first. You don't want to send my tax dollars to a foreign government. You want to keep them here.

SAENZ: Do you think Democrats can win the majority without winning Michigan?

EL-SAYED: No, but we're going to win Michigan. We're going to win the majority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now Trump won here in Michigan back in 2024, but El-Sayed's opponent, Mike Rogers, who also ran then, he was unsuccessful in that bid. But that is something Rogers will have to contend with going forward, is some of that frustration with Trump while also trying to turn out those base Trump voters.

There's also questions about whether El-Sayed, a progressive Democrat, can win statewide in a general election, something voters will answer here in the next eight weeks. Jake?

TAPPER: And, Jessica, do you think that it's possible Republicans could actually win New Hampshire and Michigan?

TAYLOR: If they do, it tells us that candidates matter more than the environment. Because I do think that in Michigan, El-Sayed is the weaker candidate, when you look at candidate quality for Democrats, than Haley Stevens would have been. And if they are voting on candidate quality, then I think that, you know, the name of the game for Democrats should be addition and not subtraction.

So, this -- they lose these two seats that are in their column already, they've got to flip six seats then total. And they have the possibility to do so in Texas and in Iowa, races that are coming on the board that we recently moved into the toss-up column, but you don't want to be losing seats that you already have in your possession.

So, this -- it would be a major win for Republicans were they to flip these two Senate seats. But what's interesting to me is these are better pick-up opportunities than Georgia right now. That's one that's falling off the board. But I think that in New Hampshire, Chris -- John E. Sununu he's a member, of course, the most famous family there in New Hampshire. I think he has a real reputation as a moderate, but is that enough to overcome the drag that President Trump has in New Hampshire? And he's underwater by, you know, I've seen as much as 20 points in Michigan as well.

TAPPER: Interesting stuff. And, Arlette, El-Sayed has also faced criticism from Jewish community leaders in Michigan. You asked him about that. What did he tell you?

SAENZ: Yes, Jake. Israel has really played out during that Democratic primary, and the fractures within the party around that is reverberating in this general election fight. El-Sayed, in recent weeks, has done some work trying to repair some of those relationships, as there are many Jewish Democrats who are uneasy with some of his past comments, including around that attack at Temple Israel.

But here's what he had to say when I asked him about his outreach to Jewish voters yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EL-SAYED: So, look, I've had great conversations with my Jewish sisters and brothers, and they understand that my commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. I know what it's like to be discriminated against because of how I pray, and I don't want that for anybody. And we have an opportunity to come together around all that unites us.

I'm looking forward to serving toward a Michigan that brings us together, and I'm so grateful for the support of my colleague, Elissa Slotkin, right? Who better to represent Michigan than a Jewish woman and a Muslim man?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, Rogers and his campaign have been trying to reach out to some of those Jewish Democrats who are uneasy with some of El-Sayed's past comments. But this is clearly an issue that will play out over the coming weeks. El-Sayed acknowledging he still has some work to do, trying to meet with Jewish leaders to ease some of those concerns.

The Jewish Democratic community within Michigan is quite small compared to the larger electorate, but here in a razor-thin race, in very many Senate races and presidential races, every vote will matter.

TAPPER: All right. Arlette Saenz and Jessica Taylor, thanks to both of you. Tomorrow, President Trump's midterm convection -- convention spectacle kicks off in Dallas. He's hoping that this first-of-a-kind midterm election rally, a two-days gathering, will motivate voters even without him on the ballot. The president actually wants to be on the ballot in a way. But some Republicans are privately and some publicly worrying about Trump's dismal approval ratings with the war in Iran and the faltering economy. They think it could put a damper on the fanfare.

Retiring Republican from Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon joins us now. Congressman, several Republican candidates are not attending the convention. You're not going either. You actually have official business. It's not on the same night as the first two games of the -- I'm sorry, it is on the same nights as the first two games of the NFL season, this rally. And one Republican donor tells CNN, quote, I don't understand the programming still. It seems to be just five hours of speeches.

How worried are you that this could be an embarrassment for Republicans, actually hurting your colleagues?

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): Well, it's going to be a mixed bag, I believe for this two-day or the rally down in Dallas. You know, the president, as you mentioned, his RCP average is about 39 percent. That is very hard if you're a swing district Republican that you have to overcome. And the danger is that people perceive us as being rubber stamps to the president.

[18:10:03]

That's the downside. But what the president wants to do is galvanize the voters that came out in 2024 that may not come out in 2026, get them out to vote, also use this as a fundraising opportunity.

My perspective, coming from a swing district and having five tough general election cycles in a district that Trump lost against Harris and then Joe Biden in 2020, you got to stand on your own two feet. You got to be your own person. You got to be able to say, I supported Trump here. I supported Trump there. I disagreed with him here. I voted against this, and I've taken positions. The voters in your district want to know that you're not a rubber stamp, because what they're looking for is some checks and balances right now.

I'm talking about the swing voters. They want someone that will stand up against the president when needed, and I think that will drive the final results in a lot of our districts that are the so-called swing districts.

TAPPER: So, Congressman Bacon, let's talk about beef, because both Republican and Democratic candidates for governor in South Carolina -- South Dakota, rather, criticized President Trump at the state fair over the weekend, specifically over his decision to import more foreign beef to bring prices down.

The Republican governor, Larry Rhoden, has been endorsed by Trump, but he called the president, quote, wrong-headed and impulsive. These tariffs seem particularly hard on Republicans running in states that rely on the agriculture industry. How much is that going to hurt, do you think, when it comes to competitive races in, let's say, Iowa?

BACON: I believe the farmers and ranchers are still going to go Republican, but you're not going to see the same difference or the leads that they had in 2024 coming out of Nebraska and Iowa. Tariffs have hurt us. Tariffs are not popular in the Midwest. I've told the president that personally. It is a tax on the consumer. Our farmers are paying more for pesticides, herbicides. They have to buy tractors. Even though it may be put together in the United States, some of the subcomponents come from overseas, so everything is higher now.

And what infuriates the ranchers is they're paying tariffs, but now the president's lifting tariffs on imports that would protect the ranchers. So, if you ask a rancher, but we're paying all these other tariffs, but the area that protects us has been lifted, it really doesn't make any sense. Really, the president is acknowledging that tariffs raise costs. That's why he's lifting the tariffs on hamburger, because it's making hamburger more expensive.

I'm of the old school Republican, the Republicanism that dates back to World War II, that says tariffs are a tax on the American consumer. Global tariffs hurt our economy. And I would prefer to push back on all the tariffs except for those targeted against individual countries that are being unfair towards us. Global tariffs hurt us.

And I think that this is going to be a factor in the Midwest. I hate to say it, but that's why I've opposed it, and I forced votes on the floor. And we've actually passed out of the House with much of my participation and leadership taking away the tariffs on Canada, and I would support those same measures on other tariffs throughout the world.

TAPPER: Republican Congressman Don Bacon from Nebraska, thank you, and as always, thank you for your service, sir.

BACON: Thank you.

TAPPER: We really appreciate it.

A memorial removed for sanitizing slavery and mythologizing the Confederacy is now going to be restored by the Trump administration. Why Secretary Hegseth says the memorial should never have been removed.

Plus, we're standing by for an update on the investigation into the deadly plane crash in Miami. Officials are set to share new details in minutes.

Stick with us.

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[18:15:00]

TAPPER: In our National Lead, a rewriting, a whitewashing of one of the most shameful chapters in American history. The Trump administration is restoring a memorial to fallen Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. It had been removed following a recommendation from a Congressionally mandated naming commission.

This was first reported by The Washington Post. The Pentagon also took down a plaque that had explained why the monument was taken down, and that plaque had said that the memorial offered a, quote, nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery, unquote.

But that context is now gone, poof, and the memorial is set to return next year to those hallowed burial grounds, a memorial to the traitors of the Confederacy.

Let's discuss this with Stephen West. He's an associate professor of history at The Catholic University of America here in Washington, D.C., who was the first one who noticed that the plaque had been removed, and you told The Washington Post about it.

So, we should just note, this memorial was not put up right after the Civil War. This was put up decades later in 1914. What are some of the most controversial parts of the memorial that made it so offensive to people?

STEPHEN WEST, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA: Well, you mentioned the text that used to be on the signage, and it gets it exactly right. It's a nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, and it's a sanitized version of slavery. The thing for people to know is that it's a Confederate memorial. It's got the seal of the Confederacy. It's got an allegorical figure representing the South. It's got Confederate soldiers. It's got a Latin inscription that refers to the Lost Cause, which was the term the white Southerners themselves used for this mythologized picture of the Confederacy.

So, it's very much a Confederate monument, and it offers, you know, as the sign used to say, a sanitized depiction of slavery.

TAPPER: Yes, it had a mammy-type figure, a black slave woman holding the son of a white guy about -- white Confederate soldier about to run off to battle. Even the -- pushing for this, I think, apocryphal idea that there were black Confederate soldiers who sought to fight to preserve slavery.

WEST: Yes. Yes. And the explanation that people gave at the time was that the second black figure on the monument wasn't a Confederate soldier because he's not carrying a gun, but that he was the personal servant. He was the enslaved servant of a white man, of a white soldier who's depicted there.

And so the story this tells us is, what?

[18:20:01]

It tells us a story that African Americans were content with their enslavement. It tells us that they loyally supported a war waged to keep them enslaved.

TAPPER: We asked the Pentagon for comment. We have not yet heard back. Secretary Hegseth did tweet about this, to bring, the decision to bring the memorial back, and said, it should never have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the left, we don't believe in erasing American history. We honor it.

We should note that he posts that as they erased the plaque that had been there. You can't even find the naming recommendation reports that were up on the Pentagon website. They've taken those down as well. They're erasing history too and preserving this bullshit Confederate view of the war and slavery.

WEST: Yes. Yes. And I think there used to be also more explanatory text on the Arlington National Cemetery website, which explains some of this context. It mentioned that the female black figure on the monument is kind of the stereotypical mammy figure. It explains the context of the Lost Cause, and all of that's now gone.

TAPPER: We should just note the context of this also is just like the Trump administration declaring war on history and insisting on their version. We've done numerous reports on what's going on at the president's house in Philadelphia, where they've changed it to make it seem as though George Washington was super nice and gracious to his slaves. And then we just heard that the head of the Smithsonian, Lonnie Bunch, is stepping down as the Trump administration has been pushing and criticized him. Trump calls the Smithsonian woke, accused it of having inaccurate information.

I mean, look, people can have honest disagreements about history and whether some things are unfair to non-progressive points of view, but there's something else going on here.

WEST: Yes, I think that's absolutely right. And I think, you know, what's happened at Arlington is kind of disturbing in its own right. But then you put it in that larger pattern, as you say, right, taking down of, changing of signs at National Park Service sites around the country. There's been web pages taken down that describe the contributions of African Americans to the U.S. military. You see the pressure on the Smithsonian. So, it's clearly kind of part of a wider effort to censor and slant the telling of American history.

TAPPER: One of the things that just I always think of is like it is not only a confident man but a confident country that can acknowledge its mistakes. And I think that's a problem that both the president and the Secretary of Defense have personally and with their understanding of what a great nation is able to do.

WEST: Yes. And I think that's what the naming commission tried to emphasize in its report, tried to make the case that we need to reckon with this legacy as it appears at federal military installations, in the names of bases, in the memorial at Arlington Cemetery. And the conclusion that they came to was that we as a nation don't, in the 21st century, want to present this pro-Confederate view and, you know, mistaken understanding of slavery, and I think they got it right. TAPPER: And not only that, some of those generals were bad that the forts were named after. I think Braxton Bragg was supposedly a horrible general.

WEST: Yes, yes.

TAPPER: Yes.

WEST: Hood as well.

TAPPER: Yes, Hood as well.

Stephen West, thanks so much. I appreciate you being here.

A new escalation today in the fight over whether former professional football players can return to college sports. Those details next.

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[18:25:00]

TAPPER: Some serious college football drama is in our Sports Lead today. The SEC is now threatening to kick LSU out of their conference just as the football season gets underway.

This all stems from LSU's desire to keep two players on its roster, two players who spent time in NFL training camps over the summer. The SEC says it's against conference rules to have former pro players on university teams, and it's all been caught up in court battles up to this point.

CNN sports writer Dana O'Neil's here to explain. So, Dana, the SEC is set to meet on Thursday. Do you really think that LSU will get kicked out of the conference?

DANA O'NEIL, CNN SPORTS WRITER: No. I don't. I mean, if you think about it, the last time a conference member was actually kicked out was back in 2004 when the Big East was still playing football, and that member was Temple, and they were evicted because their football wasn't very good.

You know, LSU is a founding member of the SEC. This is a team that vies for national championships, not just in football, but in other sports. They have a legit chance at a national title here, right, this season. So, it would take an awfully big daring move from Greg Sankey and the other university presidents to actually kick LSU out. This is sort of a threat to get LSU to simmer down, I think.

TAPPER: Let's turn to something even more controversial. I know it's -- this is a fracas that's dividing members of the Tapper family, the big game on Saturday night, the big Michigan game. The Mid-American Conference is now appealing the University of Michigan's win Saturday night against Western Michigan. This was after this controversial move to give Michigan another second, and then they threw a Hail Mary pass and scored, giving Michigan the win. What do you think about this, the conference appealing it? O'NEIL: Well, I think I understand why they're doing it. They've kind of found sort of a technicality, for lack of a better word. They're basically saying that the clock that was used to add the second wasn't the right clock to use in a review. Why there are two clocks? We could spend another hour and a half talking about the fact that there are two non-synchronized clocks. But that's what they're arguing, that, you know, they used the replay clock, not the in-game clock, and therefore they're appealing to the College Football Oversight Committee and the College Football Playoff to say, hey, we know you never change the results of a game, but we'd like you con, to consider it.

Again, kind of like the LSU situation, I think it would be quite the upset for them to change the final score in a football game.

[18:30:00]

But, you know, I will say a few years ago, I was standing on a track, and I thought they would never take a Kentucky Derby winner down, and they did. So, you never know.

TAPPER: It might be good to have one clock, though, right? Do you agree with that?

O'NEIL: It might be good. I'd say one clock that everyone relies on and maybe has like tenths of seconds involved. I mean, college basketball has a lot more stoppages unorchestrated than college football, and they seem to kind of get it right. I think it shouldn't be that hard in this day and age to find one clock that suits everybody.

TAPPER: Well, you know college football. They're very poor. They don't have the money for such things.

CNN's Dana O'Neil, thank you so much.

O'NEIL: Maybe a stopwatch will.

TAPPER: I appreciate it.

New photos show roads in Hawaii covered in mud because of flooding from Hurricane Lowell, tens of thousands of people still without power in the state tonight. Hawaii Governor Josh Green is going to join us for an update next.

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TAPPER: This just in to our Law and Justice Lead. For the very first time, we are hearing from jurors in Lindsay Clancy's triple murder trial, which, of course, ended in a mistrial last week because of a hung jury. The jury spent more than 38 hours trying to reach a unanimous verdict in a highly divisive case.

[18:35:00]

In an interview with NBC 10 Boston, the jury foreperson said that it was a single male juror who prevented the panel from acquitting the Massachusetts mother, even though that juror had admitted he had reasonable doubt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He admitted he had reasonable doubt after we watched that video of the interview. I think that's when it was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He admitted he had reasonable doubt, and I started filling out the forms. I was so excited. I actually -- there were three forms I had to fill out, and I started filling them out. I wrote my signature on each one, and then he said, but I'm still not going to say that she's not guilty by reason of insanity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Turning to our National Lead, the core of powerful Hurricane Lowell made its closest approach to Hawaii this morning, passing just west of the main islands. We're seeing images of mud and downed trees and debris scattered across roads. Most of Kauai County lost power. Periods of heavy rainfall are forecast to continue through Wednesday, and up to two feet of rain may fall by the end of the storm, which could bring more flooding and mudslides.

And joining us now is the governor of Hawaii, Democrat Josh Green. Governor, thanks for joining us.

So, what are you hearing from emergency responders about the conditions?

GOV. JOSH GREEN (D-HI): It's pretty devastating. Kauai got hit very hard. 33,000 homes are without power. We've seen an incredible amount of damage near the shore. You're showing a, a good picture of that. It's going to be hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. We lost one loved one on Oahu, actually. That individual was a homeless individual living in a tent, and a tree fell on him.

But right now, we're restoring power to the hospitals. We're doing what we can to recover, but this was a very serious storm. It was a Category 2 storm, a hurricane that came very near to landing and, you know, it's devastating.

TAPPER: Is the state prepared to deal with any possible mudslides or further flooding?

GREEN: We are prepared. We positioned 305 National Guard members across the across the islands. We have an incredible team with the Department of Transportation handling mudslides. We did have some roads taken out. So, when that happens, and I'm a doc by training otherwise, we sometimes bring an ambulance up to one edge and then we carry an individual across the chasm, and then we put them into an ambulance on the other side of the mudslide. So, we sometimes have to do those kind of transfers. We did have an individual who had a house collapse, the roof collapsed, and they had a tragic lung injury, but they lived because the son jumped into, you know, kind of life-saving behavior and got that person to the hospital, and they got them transferred to where we ultimately could deliver care.

So, it's all hands on deck. You're seeing some of the response right there and how we check the weather and the wind. But, you know, we've been hit pretty hard this year. We had in March the Kona lows, which was two trillion gallons of water dropping on our islands, and then we had Hurricane Lala last month and then Hurricane Lowell this month.

But, you know, we recover because people, they love Hawaii, and they help us recover, and they help us heal.

TAPPER: As you noted, this is the third major storm to impact your state in just the past three weeks, all of them tied to the El Nino weather pattern, which brings warmer waters to the Central Pacific. Have you heard from the Trump administration, from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about any possible federal help that could be offered?

GREEN: I have. Actually, I have a very good relationship with Markwayne Mullin, and he and I are in constant communication. We did get support already for Hurricane Lala. We got the emergency declaration from the feds. We're going to get it, we're sure, for this storm, for Hurricane Lowell. We also had an earthquake in the middle there, and we did get also the acknowledgement that we would get support.

So, Hawaii's been in kind of a unique situation. We've remained in a place of detente with the federal government, and they've worked closely. I think it's because people get married and procreate here.

TAPPER: While I have you, and as you noted, you're a doctor, I wanted to ask you about vaccination rates as we begin this current school year. The numbers that we're seeing from the CDC and the Hawaii Health Department show overall exemptions to vaccinations have risen, and the coverage with each of the five required vaccines has fallen to 90 percent or less. That's quite concerning.

GREEN: It's very dangerous because anything under 95 percent means you don't get the kind of global immunity that you need from vaccinations. And so you'll see outbreaks.

You know, I really have to say, though I appreciate the support I've been getting from my state with storms, this is its own kind of storm. You know, we should have a national vaccination initiative, a movement to vaccinate everyone who is willing rather than a misinformation campaign.

[18:40:03]

And I got to tell you Governor Shapiro was right when he spoke up about the need for support for vaccinations. We should never kind of muddy the waters when we have a tragedy. We should always provide the best science and the best data because this country deserves to have vaccinations be apolitical, and that's not what we've seen out of HHS.

And I'm sorry, but Secretary Kennedy has blown this one. He's not doing the president any favors. And we need to change how we approach vaccinations for the better, not go the other direction. In our state, we have a lot of kindergartners now who aren't vaccinated. That means they're going to get the measles. 1 out of 500 will end up dead from measles when they catch it. I've been on the ground where RFK did damage in Samoa. I had to go clean that mess up when I was lieutenant governor. And there were 83 fatalities because they were discouraged from getting vaccinations by Bobby.

That's not the place he should be working. He should be working on nutrition or pesticides. He should not be working in a place where he can discourage vaccinations.

So, you got these hurricanes which we governors deal with. We have to try to keep our people safe, but we also have public health hurricanes that can come when we get someone that's discouraging our people from prevention.

So, I would implore the president to put someone in place that will support vaccinations and support public health so that's one less thing that our people all have to worry about.

TAPPER: Hawaii Governor Josh Green, thank you so much, sir. I appreciate it, and best of luck to the people of Hawaii.

GREEN: Thank you.

TAPPER: Coming up next, details of a damning investigation into who knew what in the days leading up to the deadly October 7th terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas. A journalist behind the investigation joins us next.

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[18:45:32]

TAPPER: Our world lead now, an eye opening and disturbing new report says that a week and a half before October 7th, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned by the president of the United Arab Emirates that the terrorist group Hamas was preparing a major attack against Israel. And yet, according to the article in the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz", Netanyahu did not pass on the warning to Israels security leaders.

Now, Netanyahu's office calls this report an absolute lie. But the UAE's response is far more nuanced. Before we get into that, some background here. October 7th, 2023 marks the deadliest ever attack on Israel. More than 1,200 people were murdered, 251 Israelis and others were abducted, kidnapped to Gaza, only 166 returned alive. The ensuing war and the Israeli invasion of Gaza targeting Hamas resulted in at least 73,000 deaths and much of Gaza being destroyed, according to local estimates.

Now, this "Haaretz" report is based on findings from a brand-new book, "Hostages" is the name of the book. It just came out in Hebrew. It's by Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, who also wrote the "Haaretz" article.

And Shlomi Eldar joins us now.

And you have your new book, "Hostages", which, which is only in Hebrew as of now. I would like to appeal to an American or English publisher to do an English version of it, because I would love to read it.

As we said, Netanyahu's office calls your investigation the story an absolute lie. What's your reaction?

SHLOMI ELDAR, ISRAELI JOURNALIST, FILMMAKER AND PODCASTER: Yes, but it is true. You know, I have all my sources. It is a confidential sources that I worked for this -- this news -- this report almost a year and a half. So, I got the first report, I think in about last year. And it took to me about one year to get the sources that gave me the confidential for this story.

So I have the document, I have records, I have everything that shows that the president of UAE called Netanyahu a week and a half before October 7th and gave him a warning that Yahya Sinwar is planning a major attack on Israel, but it can be full (ph) because it is starting for a discussion that were between the Israeli Shin Bet and Yahya Sinwar representative, one of them about a talk about the lifting of Gaza blockade and the discussion were took place in summer 2023.

The two representatives of Yahya Sinwar were Dr. Ghazzi Hamad, the Hamas, one of the Hamas political bureau and one name that his nickname is Coal Eyes. He is affiliate to Fatah movement. And the discussion were very intensive.

But in September 1st, one of the senior Shin Bet officer told me that suddenly, Sinwar disappeared. And a week later, he called Coal Eyes and told him, tell the Israelis if they are not going forward with the arrangement that we are talking now, I am making a big surprise. And he said the first the word zilzal in Arabic, it is earthquake.

The man that just went out from Sinwar office where very -- was very afraid. And he called one of his relatives that is advisor of the UAE and told him about the story. I think that after the warning came to the Shin Bet on September 15th to Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet, he called Netanyahu and prevent him and preserve the warning from Gaza.

TAPPER: Yeah.

ELDAR: A week later, the president of the UAE called Netanyahu, and he was afraid that if the bloodshed in Gaza strip would take Gaza strip, all the West Bank in the Middle East will take place. Then it warn the Abraham accord. And it was -- he was very afraid that it will collapse.

[18:50:01]

TAPPER: So, Yahya Sinwar just to remind our viewers, was the leader of Hamas. He has been killed by the Israeli Defense Forces.

ELDAR: Yes.

TAPPER: We should note, something very interesting happened today after your story was published. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the story they posted on social media that they do not comment on media sources -- on media stories, but they added they did not deny the story at all. And then they say, "UAE and Israeli government entities have maintained open and direct lines of communication since the inception of the relationship more than five years ago. When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant entities," unquote.

I mean, that seems like a confirmation, does it not?

ELDAR: It's a confirmation. I have -- I have one source that understand the bottom line of this message. And he said he -- he knows how to read it in Arabic and he said it's -- it's confirmation because Netanyahu denied it. And all the time say to the Israeli, if the security echelon will wake me up before the six at the night of the October 6th, October 7th, everything was different.

TAPPER: Yeah.

ELDAR: But now we can see that Netanyahu got the messages, got the warning before -- ten days before the war. And I think if he just acts -- anything -- is doing something to prevent this attack, I think that we have more, more people alive today in Israel.

TAPPER: And in Gaza.

Shlomi Eldar, thank you so much.

ELDAR: Yes, in Gaza, of course.

TAPPER: Yeah, a story that is going to no doubt have many implications with the Israeli elections coming up. Thank you so much.

Coming up next, as grocery prices climb, President Trump decided to pause tariffs on imported beef, creating something of a beef with American ranchers and meat processors. We are going to talk to a West Virginia business owner about that, next.

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TAPPER: It's time once again for our "Business Leaders" series, where we check in with small business owners from coast to coast to see how the Trump administrations tariff policies are affecting them. On Friday, as you might know, President Trump signed two executive orders targeting the cattle industry.

In Ripley, West Virginia, Aaron Simon and his wife, Ashley, they own Farm to Fork Meat Processing, where they produce retail cuts of beef, steak, sausage and pork. And he joins me now.

Aaron, thanks so much for joining us. So can you explain the impact that the high cost of animals have had

on your business

AARON SIMON, OWNER, FARM TO FORK MEAT PROCESSING: Yeah, absolutely. With the high cost of livestock cattle specifically, it has, you know, drove up our retail prices as well as our wholesale pricing that we use for restaurants has went up and people are not purchasing as much meat as they once were, as well as they are not bringing in as many animals to have processed due to those rising costs.

TAPPER: So, what have been the consequences for your business other than profit loss? I'm sure profit loss is considerable, but I do not mean to -- you know, belittle it. But I am wondering what you have had to do. Have you had to hike prices? Have you had to lay off people? What -- what has been the practical world impact?

SIMON: Yeah, it's definitely a real issue. We have had to lay off people. We have also had to raise our retail costs. You know, we are selling, for example, burger today significantly more than it was a year ago today.

And we are just trying to keep up with the high input costs, even though we are making less and less on it. And there has to be a happy, a happy margin somewhere where people can still access good local fresh food and fresh meat. And at the same time, farmers and producers being paid fairly and treated square. But these high prices make that very difficult.

TAPPER: In addition to livestock, are the tariffs also hurting you in other ways?

SIMON: Yeah. We saw a big increase over the past year on our packaging materials. So, like our plastic vacuum sealed bags and our seasonings and spices that we use in a variety of products, now cost significantly more than they used to. And there is also surcharges on the shipping, as well as something that might used to be a $500 minimum order is now a $1,000 minimum order, and that is definitely adding a lot to the increased costs.

TAPPER: What's your message to President Trump as he as the administration works on policies that were that will lower the cost of beef

SIMON: I think you need to put boots on the ground and have people meeting with small meat processing facilities and producers like myself, as well as, you know, farmers and ranchers to work together to come up with a plan because you have to know what the issue is and to allow you to build the framework to fix the issue.

TAPPER: Yeah. No, it sounds tough. I would like to get -- when I'm out in Virginia, I like to get my meat from a local farm there, Century Farms. And it's just -- you can't -- you can't beat it. So this must really hurt a lot of -- a lot of your customers.

Farm to Fork Processing, it's based in Ripley, West Virginia.

Aaron Simon, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it.

SIMON: Thank you for having us.

TAPPER: You can follow me on Facebook, on Instagram, on threads, on X, on Bluesky and on TikTok @jaketapper. You can follow the show on X and Instagram @TheLeadCNN.

If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can watch the show on the CNN app, the streaming app. You should have downloaded it by now if you haven't yet.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.