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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Russian Plague Lab Worker Died Of An Unknown Infection; Trump Stumps In Nebraska In Red-State Blitz; Protests At Cornell University; ABC Obtains 2024 Phone Call With Jane Doe And Fraternity Member After Alleged Assault; Al Qaeda Images Posted On Suspect's Social Media; New Dem Ad Features Family Of Epstein Victim Virginia Giuffre. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 05, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

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KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right, thanks to my panel. Really appreciate all of you for being here. Thanks to you at home for joining us as well. We always appreciate it. Don't forget, you can stream "The Arena" live. You catch up whenever you want. It's all in the CNN app. Just scan the Q.R. code below. You can also catch up by listening to "The Arena" podcast. You can follow us at X and Instagram. We are @thearenacnn. Don't go anywhere. "The Lead with Jake Tapper" starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN LEAD WASHINGTON ANCHOR: A worker at a Russian plague lab just died of an unknown infection. "The Lead" starts right now.

So, what happened inside that Russian research lab? The world wants to know what the Trump administration is saying today about this mysterious case, which has uncomfortable echoes of a different lab worker death in China some years ago.

Plus, breaking news at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. An uproar over that alleged gang rape as students protest the school's handling of the case. Today, a new audio recording capturing the suspects involved in the case.

And 29 days left until the midterm election day. Right now, President Trump headed to Nebraska, ready to defend more home turf that should theoretically be an easy win for Republicans.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is "CNN Breaking News."

TAPPER: Welcome to "The Lead." I'm Jake Tapper. And we're going to start with breaking news in our "World Lead." A concerning incident at a bio lab in Russia, a place where scientists study the plague, and where dozens of people are now in isolation. As you might imagine, it's not necessarily easy to get facts out of Russia, where there is no free press, but here is what we know at this hour.

A 28-year-old researcher named Daria Shipilova was working at an institute dedicated to studying the plague and other infectious diseases, this lab located in Siberia. Now, she died after being diagnosed with a pneumonia of unknown origin, according to the Russian agency that handles infectious disease.

One Russian official said that Shipilova died -- quote -- "possibly" from the plague, likely the pneumonic plague, which is a rare, deadly lung infection. Particles lodge into the lungs and can trigger severe pneumonia, making just breathing difficult. Symptoms can begin within 24 hours, and without quick antibiotic treatment, it's nearly always deadly. The last major pneumonic plague outbreak was 2017 in Madagascar, where nearly 1,900 cases were reported.

Now, this has all prompted a major response from Russian officials, a -- quote -- "comprehensive set of anti-epidemic measures " -- unquote, including a quarantine at the hospital where the worker was treated, and nearby hospitals are closed. This is all according to local media. All of Shipilova's recent contacts are being tested and examined, and some reports say nearly 200 people are under observation.

Russian officials say there have been no reported cases of infectious diseases among her lab colleagues over the past 10 days. The World Health Organization says, at the moment, at least based on unofficial information available, the risk to the general population appears to be low.

But this is all understandably causing alarm among some current and former officials. Former Trump secretary of state and CIA director, Mike Pompeo, just tweeted -- quote -- "The news of a suspected plague outbreak from Russia should be treated with the utmost seriousness, especially considering the source. COVID showed us how the lies and obstruction of authoritarian governments seeking to cover their tracks can turn a containable outbreak into a global pandemic."

Now, today, Trump's current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the U.S. is monitoring this situation closely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: There's concern that that, you know, could have spread, at least internally, so you've seen them do quarantines and events of that nature. There's very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia, obviously. But like anything else, something like that gets out, it could quickly spread. So, we're watching and monitoring it closely. I don't think it's cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on, and we're doing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's get to CNN's Fred Pleitgen who's in Berlin, Germany for us. Fred, what more do we know about these quarantines? What is the Kremlin saying and doing about this?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Jake. Well, first of all, we've been in touch with some of the people in that town of Shelekhov, which indeed is in Siberia, near the border with Mongolia. They say that they're absolutely concerned about the situation, especially with the quarantines in some of the hospitals in that area.

Now, it's unclear how exactly this lab worker contracted that form of pneumonia, which they said is of unknown origin, whether or not, and this is also in some Russian media reports, maybe a vial was dropped that this worker was working on.

[17:04:57]

However, the Russian agency that's in charge, that's tasked with fighting infectious diseases, they came out with a statement. I want to read it to you because they're trying to downplay this incident. They say -- quote -- "No microorganisms associated with the employee's professional duties were detected in samples taken from the patient." However, the head of that same agency then almost immediately went down to that area and is obviously helping with the response to this.

You mentioned, Jake, that the governor of the neighboring province said that this was indeed possibly the plague. We've talked about some of the measures that have been put in place, some of those quarantine measures with pretty much everybody that this person was in contact with now also being isolated and some hospitals being closed.

The Kremlin was actually asked about this on a call with journalists earlier today. They said they would not comment directly, but they warned against what they call believing rumors and speculation, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Fred Pleitgen in Berlin for us, thanks so much.

Let's talk about this all with our panel. We have with us Alex Plitsas. He's director of the Atlantic Council's Counterterrorism Project. Also with us, infectious disease expert Dr. Celine Gounder and Annie Jacobsen, author of "Biological War: A Scenario," a book that explores potential consequences of a large-scale biological attack or accidental release of an engineered pathogen.

Dr. Gounder, let me start with a question on everybody's minds. What is the pneumonic plague? How easily does it spread? How worried should we be, do you think?

CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, EDITOR-AT-LARGE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AT KFF HEALTH NEWS: Yes. Even before answering all of that, I want to be very clear. Plague can actually mean two different things. You have the bacterial infection Yersinia pestis that can cause plague. So, this is what caused the Black Death in medieval Europe, killing tens of millions of people.

But plague can also mean any dangerous infectious disease. The Anti- Plague Institute's name reflects that broader meaning in plague. It doesn't just study Yersinia pestis. It also works on other infectious diseases like tularemia, brucellosis, cholera, hantavirus. People might remember hantavirus from earlier this year.

And so, that distinction matters here because we don't actually know if this laboratory worker was definitively working with Yersinia pestis plague or some other infectious disease. That has implications for how best to respond to this situation. Now, Yersinia pestis plague is a bacterial infection. If it is untreated, the pneumonia form of it, it's almost universally deadly. But there's a big difference between now and the Middle Ages called modern medicine and antibiotics. We have very common antibiotics, things like gentamicin, levofloxacin, that work if given promptly. So, presumably, the 200 or so contacts here would be undergoing monitoring, testing, and would be presumptively treated with those antibiotics.

TAPPER: And Alex, Russia obviously has a concerning history of covering up disasters to save public face at the expense of human lives. Chernobyl comes to mind, but there's many, many more examples. Russia so far is saying this is contained. How can the United States actually verify that?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, SENIOR NON-RESIDENT FELLOW AND DIRECTOR OF COUNTER-TERRORISM PROJECT AT ATLANTIC COUNCIL, FORMER DEFENSE DEPARTMENT AND PENTAGON OFFICIAL: So, the U.S. would be using intelligence assets available to them and obviously trying to work with the Russian government because, you're right, things don't make sense.

And to the doctor's point, what we know now, a lot of it is based on some reporting that came out from agencies or news agencies with some affiliations with the security services in Russia, people walking back statements. But on whole, it doesn't quite make sense.

So, just a little bit of context. The particular facility that's in question here was one of six that at least, according to a high-level Soviet defector who had previously been the head of the bioweapons program, was at least a dual-use facility in the sense that it had received funding from the government to study at least potential weaponization, and this is back in the Soviet era. Largely suspected of potentially still being involved in that type of program although there's no information to indicate that this is a weaponized strain yet.

But it's the Russians' constant way of managing these things that causes more problems than anything else. Well, the Kremlin is saying to don't give in to speculation. The vial theory, for example, if this is a worker trained to handle plague, the bacteria the doctor just mentioned, and it broke, they would have known to immediately have been in decontamination, go into isolation, would have prophylactically been given these antibiotics, and wouldn't have stumbled in the hospital four days later, at least. That's sort of what's coming out now or something along those timelines.

So, the facts just don't really add up right now, and that's the problem, there's more questions than there are answers.

TAPPER: Annie, you've been on the forefront of sounding the alarm over this incident. Your book explores what could happen theoretically in a similar scenario. What is your read on the situation right now, and what's the best way for Russia and other governments to help prevent this from becoming a larger crisis? ANNIE JACOBSEN, AUTHOR: I mean, first of all, I don't think you can really take seriously anything that the Russian government says about any of this. You know, they have really sort of vested interest in covering up what might actually be going on in that lab. We don't know. It's behind a six-foot wall. There's Concertina wire on top of that. It's a controlled entry facility.

[17:09:58]

But I agree with the other guest who said that the test tube breaking is a bit wonky. It doesn't really add up. If you are a researcher working with plague, you're aware of what you're working with.

Pneumonic plague, if that was, you know, a slurry of Yersinia pestis in that test tube, that would have had to splash up on her face and go in her eyes or her mouth. She would immediately know the consequences and would have, you know, followed protocols to be in some kind of a quarantine situation directly adjacent to that lab.

The most important issue here, I think, when you follow the logic of the reporters, the local people on the ground who were writing about this last Friday, FSB shows up. That's Russia's federal armed law enforcement agency. They're escorting people to quarantine, which is not voluntary. This was a very big situation, and it was sort of the kibosh was put on it by Russia very quickly.

TAPPER: Alex, quickly, is the U.S. viewing this as a national security issue despite the reassurances we're getting from them publicly?

PLITSAS: I think the U.S. will continue to view this as a national security incident until it's disproven otherwise, particularly in light of what was just said. None of this makes sense. The Russians have a history of covering it up. And until they come forward with something that makes sense in terms of a story supported by facts, we will have no choice but to treat it any other way despite the Kremlin saying not to give in to speculation.

TAPPER: Thank you all for all your expertise. Really appreciate it.

In our "Politics Lead," the new money offer from President Trump just weeks after he promised $5,000 per American adult if they help Republicans keep control of the House and Senate. And later, how the man once known as Prince Andrew is taking U.K. authorities to court over their investigation into his ties to dead pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

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TAPPER: Let's cue the CNN election music for the "Politics Lead" today. Right now, President Trump is on his way to Nebraska. Now, usually, Nebraska is a reliably red state, but the president has headed there to campaign for Republican Senator Pete Ricketts who is facing off against independent candidate Dan Osborn. The race is an uphill climb for Osborn. Still, Senate Republicans feel they need to do everything they can to shore up support for Ricketts with just 29 days left until midterm election day as the House looks even more likely to flip blue. There is a swing district in Nebraska, right around Omaha.

Joining us now, Republican Senator Rick Scott from the state of Florida. Senator, thanks for joining us. So, you're not up for re- election but your colleague, Republican Senator Ashley Moody, is. In fact, here's Vice President Vance last week in Lakeland, Florida campaigning for her in her race against the Democratic Senate nominee, Angie Nixon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, I think the right response is to say, then get the hell out of here, you don't belong in America if those are your views.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Get the hell out of here, you don't belong in America, if those are your views? Is that the right way to speak about somebody you disagree with these days?

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Well, I think the point is, you know, the Democrats have all become socialists. They're antisemitic, they're anti-police, they want open borders, they want bigger and bigger government, they hate fossil fuels. So, you know, it's not where -- it's not where I tell you where Floridians are.

That's not -- you know, that's not how I won my races. I talked about balancing the budget and reducing regulation and focus on jobs, and that's what -- that's how we're going to win in November. I'm still optimistic. Jake, I'm optimistic. We're going to win. We have great candidates. We've raised money. So, as long as they get their message out, we're going to win.

TAPPER: You think Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is antisemitic?

SCOTT: I can tell you that Mamdani is, and they're all -- a bunch of them have campaigned with Hasan Piker who is antisemitic.

TAPPER: I get it, but you just said Democrats.

SCOTT: Not one Democrat has called him out for that. Pardon?

TAPPER: Not one Democrat has called who? Called out who? Mamdani?

SCOTT: Well, Hasan Piker wants me and every capitalist murdered. Not one Democrat I know of has said that's wrong. I mean, look at what Mamdani has done. I mean, look at the antisemitism that's going on in New York now. I mean, the Democrats aren't calling Mamdani out for that.

TAPPER: OK. My point is just I think you're painting with a rather broad brush in terms of Democrats are all socialists and antisemitic, but let's move on. President Trump has announced he is sending a one- time payment of $90 to senior citizens to help them with Medicare premiums. It won't apply to every Medicare recipient, and it is worth noting that the standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B is around $200. Will this do enough to address the health care affordability crisis?

SCOTT: All right, I think until we balance the budget and reduce the regulatory environment, no. Until inflation -- we go back. I mean, people are frustrated. You know, under Biden, inflation went up 23 percent. It's still not down to two percent. I mean, there's a lot of work to do. A lot of it is because of wasteful government spending.

So, I think everything helps, but we've got to get the cost of living down in this country. If you look in my lifetime how much things have gone up in price, it's staggering how people -- it's so hard for people to get ahead right now.

TAPPER: The inflation was three percent when President Trump took office in 2025. It's, I think, 3.4 percent. Now, a lot of economists say that the prices are high because of A, tariffs from President Trump, and B, the war in Iran.

SCOTT: Well, clearly, the war in Iran has caused gas and diesel prices to go up as we try to make sure they don't kill us with a nuclear weapon. So, I'm proud of what the president has done. I wouldn't want my family or your family killed by a nuclear weapon. Nobody likes war, nobody likes high gas prices, but we don't want to be killed. So, we've got our work to do. I mean, we're still running almost $2 trillion deficits.

[17:20:00]

Inflation is not going to get under control until we balance the budget. I did as governor of Florida. The federal government, Republicans, and Democrats are spenders. We've got to stop doing this if we want inflation under control.

This president has done what he can. He has reduced the size of the federal workforce. He has done a rescission package. He's doing things to reduce spending. He's trying to get more oil drilling in this country and having relationships with Venezuela. So, he's trying to get prices down. You know, Biden caused a lot of problems. This spending that still is going on is causing the problem.

TAPPER: Back to the Medicare checks. The payments come from this $2.2 billion Medicare Improvement Fund which, as you know, the Congressional Budget Office says is supposed to be used to make improvements to Medicare's hospital and medical insurance programs. Do you have any concerns about using the funds the way that President Trump is suggesting?

SCOTT: Well, I'm sure it's going to have to be used the right way or they're not going to be able to do it. Somebody will stop them. But, look, we've got to figure out how to get health care costs down. Health care shouldn't cost what it costs. We've got to -- you know, more government involvement in health care has always caused everything to go up.

Remember, Obama promised we were going to save $2,500 a family if we did Obamacare. The opposite has happened. So, we've got to figure out how to get this down. Most of it is get government out of the way. And if we're going to help somebody, give them the cash like we do with food stamps and let them choose their own health care.

TAPPER: Today is the last day to register to vote in the state of Florida. President Trump is now encouraging people to get out and vote early or by mail, he's now saying, despite obviously his crusade against mail-in voting. Do you worry at all about mixed messages to Republican voters?

SCOTT: No. I mean, we now have a big Republican advantage in Florida. We like people to vote by mail. You can vote early in Florida. We have very safe elections. You know, every year, we try to improve our election system. You know, we announce our elections because we know, you know, we can test if you're the right person that's voting by mail or if you come in and vote early or if you vote on election day. We get our elections out by, you know, within hours. You know, usually half hour after the election.

TAPPER: It's county by county in Florida. Some of those counties are controlled by Democrats. President Trump talks about all the fraud by vote by mail. Have you seen examples of that?

SCOTT: Well, look, at my election back in 2018, they counted 95,000 ballots illegally after election night. They can't find them in cars and trucks. Yes, it goes on. It's frustrating.

I went through three recounts. I'm the first person to beat Marc Elias in a recount. We had a thousand lawyers who have to fight this, all this stuff the Democrats were trying to do. Marc Elias came down and says, who cares what the votes are? We're going to win through the courts.

Yes, this stuff goes on. And it's frustrating. You bust your butt to get your message out, and then you see people try to take advantage of the election system.

TAPPER: Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

SCOTT: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: There is a lot happening in Ithaca, New York, at Cornell University, right now. A student protests against the school's handling of an alleged 2024 gang rape in the Chi Phi fraternity, then vandalism on campus in recent days, and now new audio from the days after the alleged gang rape. We're live in Ithaca, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:25:00]

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TAPPER: We have some breaking news for you in our "Law and Justice Lead." Student groups in Ithaca, New York are rallying at Cornell University right now. They are demanding action by the Cornell University administration.

These protests follow overnight vandalism at Day Hall where activists smashed a glass door and painted messages in red, reading among other things, smashed the patriarchy, and at Cornell, rapists are protected, protesters are expelled. That damage has since been fixed. Cornell says it is investigating the incident.

The vandalism marks a turbulent start to a new week of protests over the school's handling or mishandling of an alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity house. The accuser, identified only as Jane Doe in court filings, is suing members of the fraternity and Cornell, among others. She accuses some of the men of raping her and Cornell of failing to protect her.

CNN learned Cornell police drafted letters in 2024 asking Verizon and T-Mobile to preserve phone records for the investigation. It is unclear whether those requests were ever sent.

There's also new audio obtained by ABC News of a 2024 phone call that Jane Doe secretly recorded with the fraternity member, she says, who invited her to the fraternity to begin with. The conversation took place three weeks after the alleged rape, according to ABC, but Jane Doe's lawyer says the recordings never made it to the district attorney's office. And a separate 2024 video, also obtained by ABC News, shows Cornell police telling one of the Cornell students who was suspended that he was in fact barred from campus.

These developments come as an attorney for one of the accused men calls on New York Attorney General Letitia James to recuse herself as the special prosecutor on the case.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino reports for us from Ithaca, New York on the latest twists and turns in the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another bombshell in the investigation of an alleged sexual assault at a Cornell University fraternity house two years ago.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Want me to give my recollection of the entire night?

PAZMINO (voice-over): New audio obtained by ABC News reveals a phone call between Jane Doe and the fraternity member that she says invited her to the house the night of her alleged assault three weeks earlier. ABC reports that Doe secretly recorded the call in which she asked the other student for details of the night. If I just know what happened, then I can feel a little bit better and move on and maybe be able to stay at this school, she tells him, according to a recording of the call.

[17:29:59]

UNKNOWN (voice-over): So you, you, you come in, say hi. We start dancing for like maybe three to five minutes and then I pop the question. You say yes, then I remember like we didn't know who else to bring so I go up to -- who was on the dance floor too, and I pop the question, and he's like, yo, and then we go upstairs.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jane Doe's lawyer has said that she was blacked out during portions of the alleged assault. According to ABC, she asked on the call how she ended up in a threesome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did tell me you were sober by the way. You did. You said you hadn't been anywhere.

PAZMINO (voice-over): ABC does not use Jane Doe's voice in the clips it has released but says she responded, that is not true. I never would have said that. Documents reviewed by CNN show Cornell University campus police drafted letters seeking records from Verizon and T-Mobile just one week after Jane Doe reported her assault. It's unclear if investigators sent the request and whether the Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten was aware of them.

THOMAS GIUFFRA, JANE DOE'S ATTORNEY: If this was a normal investigation that was done in New York City for example, they would have gotten search warrants. They would have grabbed every single one of these phones of these guys. There were videos and you know where I think those photos and videos are now? I think they're in the bottom of Lake Cuyahoga because once they knew there was a problem they cleared everything out and they got rid of it and the fact is that the investigators let that happen.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Doe's attorney has said two of the men named in the lawsuit were expelled from the school. ABC is also reporting this Cornell University Police Department body cam footage from November 2024 when police told one of the suspended students that he was no longer welcome on campus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a look at that per the temporary suspension he is barred from any of the grounds owned, operated or maintained by Cornell University.

LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: The governor has entrusted my office with this investigation.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Today an attorney representing one of the students is calling on New York State Attorney General Letitia James to recuse herself as special prosecutor based on a social media post from days earlier where James expressed support for the alleged victim.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAZMINO: And Jake, we are here on the campus of Cornell University where thousands of faculty members, students, community members here on the campus of Cornell just gathered for a protest. I'm going to step out and just give you an idea of the crowd that is here. Easily thousands of people and for the past hour we have been listening from the students calling on the university to increase accountability. They have demands.

Some of them have called for the resignation of university president. They say they want accountability. They say that they want the university to change its procedures when it comes to reports of sexual harassment. And I think what we are witnessing right now is certainly the first community faculty and student response publicly that we are seeing to what was revealed both in the lawsuit and everything we have learned over the past week about this incident.

The students here today making it very clear it's not just about Jane Doe but the Jane Does that came before her and the ones they want to make sure do not come after her. Students here today are wearing purple ribbons in solidarity with Jane Doe and also many of them wearing name tags with the name Jane Doe again in solidarity with the victim and asking the university to take action. Jake?

TAPPER: Gloria Pazmino in Ithaca, New York. Thank you so much.

[17:33:47]

Disturbing new details today about the pilot accused of trying to hijack that Flydubai plane last week. Next, what sources are telling CNN about the attacker's likely target if he did gain control of the plane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our World Lead, new details tonight about the Omani Flydubai pilot who allegedly attacked his co-pilot with an axe last week. Sources tell CNN that the suspect likely wanted to crash the plane with more than 170 passengers into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, the country's main international hub, with an untold thousands of commuters on the ground. We're also learning that Flydubai failed to reach out to the pilot's previous employer before hiring him. CNN senior investigative reporter Tamara Qiblawi analyzed the suspect's social media to find extremist and sexist views.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER/WRITER (voice-over): CNN has exclusive video that may give us insight into the mindset of the co-pilot who, sources say, allegedly tried to down a Flydubai plane en route to Israel. Hamam al-Hammami, whose views were so extreme, two sources said, that he was removed from a position with Oman Air before joining Flydubai. Hammami appeared to have posted two videos to his now-deleted LinkedIn and Instagram pages on the day he allegedly attacked the captain with an axe. The first post is a compilation of videos showing multiple planes belonging to El Al, Israel's national carrier, both on the tarmac and in the sky. We geolocated one to Dubai. It was filmed in 2023 from inside the cockpit of an Oman Air flight from Dubai to Muscat. You can see here that date and flight number tracks with Hammami's time at Oman Air. The video ends with a tribute to al-Qaeda's former leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's successor, as well as to a suicide bomber who killed nine people at a CIA outpost in Afghanistan in 2009.

[17:40:15]

The second video he posted is A.I.-generated, showing Islam's three holiest sites from the sky. The videos appeared on LinkedIn and Instagram nearly nine hours after the incident, well after Hammami was detained. We don't know if the posts were scheduled in advance or if they were published by someone else. CNN has reached out to LinkedIn and Meta for comment.

We looked at earlier posts, more than 3,000 tweets from a deleted account bearing his name. They were published between 2021 and 2022. These portray a murkier mindset, one obsessed with women. Nearly half the posts reference women, including this one. The post brags about putting women through "slut tests." In other posts, he refers to them as "banging machines."

QIBLAWI: Now it's still too early to tell what the possible motives were, but the findings raise many questions. Namely, how did Hamam al- Hammami pass his security checks, and how did he end up flying a plane on one of the world's most sensitive routes?

QIBLAWI (voice-over): These are questions security officials in the region will be asking, as they try to understand what happened.

Tamara Qiblawi, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Tamara Qiblawi, thank you so much for that report.

Coming up, you've heard it, President Trump in the past railing against voting by mail. He's even gone to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to stop voting by mail in various ways. But Saturday morning, well, he was pushing something completely new, with Republicans on the verge of a thumping on Election Day. We're going to talk about it, next.

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[17:46:03]

TAPPER: In the Politics Lead, the House Democratic campaign arm turning heads with a new ad in Colorado. It features the family of the late Virginia Giuffre, one of the most outspoken victims of dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SKY ROBERTS, VIRGINIA GIUFFRE'S BROTHER: My sister, Virginia, was one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims. She spent her life trying to expose the truth. After she died, we promised to carry on her fight.

AMANDA ROBERTS, VIRGINIA GIUFFRE'S SISTER-IN-LAW: But our own congressman, Jeff Crank, refused to meet with us.

S. ROBERTS: Jeff Crank covered up Epstein's crimes to protect Donald Trump. He has no business being in Congress.

JESSICA KILLIN (D), COLORADO CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I'm Jessica Killin, and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: My panel's here. Arlette, Congressman Crank's campaign called this ad intentionally vague. What more do we know about how it came about?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've seen Democrats running a lot of ads that address the Epstein issue in the campaign. But this one is particularly poignant because it does specifically feature someone with ties to an Epstein victim. They are saying that he did not meet with them when they had requested a meeting. Ultimately, one of his staff members might have met with him.

But it does come as Democrats have really tried to use this as an issue in the campaign. When I'm out there talking to voters, people aren't bringing up Epstein right away. It's normally the economy. But being able to tie some candidates to this issue at least will remind voters that this was something that President Trump did not follow through on, that many Republican voters had wanted to see. But this one really seems a lot more personal and has the ability to maybe weigh in that race, which is very competitive at this point.

TAPPER: Scott, obviously, the Epstein files is a story we've been covering for years and years. What's your reaction to the ad?

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think it's a pretty powerful ad. This is the making of the Republican congressman himself. I mean, how hard is it to meet with the family or the victims of Epstein? And he wasn't with the Epstein file disclosure right away. Most of the Republicans came along later, and he refused to meet with them later. There was a staffer that met with him. This is a pretty powerful piece in regard to you have family members there.

I'm a former sex crimes prosecutor. I've had those meetings with those victims as witnesses. And the congressman just comes off very insensitive to that whole Epstein episode, especially with this particular family and the fact that their sister, I think, passed away from suicide.

TAPPER: She did. And, you know, Mike, it's interesting because 2024, the people talking about Epstein were Republicans. Trump was going to come in. He was going to release the files. Vance talked about it. Trump talked about it on "Fox," saying he was going to be willing to release the files. So they were kind of backed up, backed off of that a little bit. Now we have Democrats talking.

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: And not just Democrats in Colorado, Democrats across the country. I'm involved with one race up in Alaska in which the Democratic candidate is attacking the Republican for taking $10,000 from Epstein associates.

TAPPER: Which race is this?

DUBKE: This is the Peltola-Sullivan race.

TAPPER: OK.

DUBKE: Problem is, she took $140,000 from Epstein associates. So, I mean, it gets into -- what you see around the country, and that's not the only place where Democrats have used Epstein against Republicans. But they're trying to do exactly what you're talking about. Turn an issue that Republicans had talked about for a while, turn it back on this culture of corruption and bringing Donald Trump into the conversation in the attempt to nationalize the race. So we see it in Alaska. We see it in Colorado. We see it in other places.

TAPPER: So, Arlene, on Saturday, President Trump posted a new push to rally midterm voters on Truth Social. He published this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If your state has early voting, do not wait. Go out and vote. Vote early, vote by mail, or vote in person on Election Day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Vote by mail. But he's been railing against vote by mail literally for years.

SAENZ: Yes, I mean, this is a little bit of a deviation from what he has been saying as he has tried to raise speculation about mail-in voting. You saw him trying to take actions to curb the ability for people to use mail-in voting in this election. But right now, there is this acknowledgement that Republicans need all their voters to turn out, right?

[17:50:11]

Democrats, especially in these Senate races, they are competing in very red states, and there are signs of their momentum really improving there. But they need their -- Republicans need their red base to turn out. That's why you see the President out there on the campaign trail putting himself front and center. That's why you see a message like this. The question is, will he stay on message over the next four weeks or not?

TAPPER: And, Mike, I'm guessing you're happy about this, because I remember, obviously, in 2020, when a lot of people were not going to vote in the polls because of COVID, he was not saying this. And as a result, I mean, that's one of the reasons he lost.

DUBKE: And rural voters. I mean, you've got a number of issues with Republican voters. We should be voting by mail. I mean, this is, again, the tough --

TAPPER: You have a lot of the older voters and a lot of the rural voters.

DUBKE: Older voters, rural voters.

TAPPER: Yes.

DUBKE: This is the difficulty we've got. We've got -- Democrats want to nationalize the race. Republicans want to keep it local. And they also need Donald Trump's voters, the low-propensity voters that show up in '16 and '20 and '24 to show up, that didn't show up in '18 or '22 to show up in '26.

TAPPER: Scott, what do you think?

BOLDEN: You've got to give them a reason to show up. And whether it's local or national, he's not giving them a reason to show up. And you look at that video about him urging them to vote, I mean, he said it was corrupt. He said it was massive fraud. And he said, listen, the Democrats are setting this up. It's the height of hypocrisy and the depth of arrogance.

And I think the missed messages to the Republican vote, whether you're MAGA or you're a centralist on the Republican side, is, well, what do I do now? Do you want me to vote by mail or don't you? And so it's quite mixed messages. And we've only got 30 days to go.

TAPPER: Also on Saturday, the President posted a long Truth Social about the effort to change daylight saving time to make it permanent. And he attacked Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who is trying to keep a permanent get rid of daylight saving time. And he actually posted Senator Cotton's cell phone number. Arlette, what's going on?

SAENZ: I mean, I don't think anyone wants their -- I don't want my number either.

TAPPER: That's the first time he did it. He did it to Lindsey Graham. Remember?

SAENZ: Yes, it's just I think this is another side of sometimes the President going off message is that --

TAPPER: Sometimes.

SAENZ: -- it's the majority of the country right now as they're thinking about their votes, thinking about daylight savings. I'm not entirely sure it's the economy and he finds other ways to bring --

DUBKE: It's not a pressing issue. TAPPER: Not particularly. But Senator Cotton, by the way, running for reelection.

DUBKE: Right. And that's the important part of this. This is you know, I just don't understand. It's the short term, short term pain for long term game, I guess. You know, you're trying to hold these guys accountable. This is ridiculous. They're not even in session right now. So I'm not sure what that post was about.

TAPPER: All right. Arlette and Scott and Mike, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, a new legal challenge from the man once known as Prince Andrew over his arrest in the Epstein case. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:57:15]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, or the royal formerly known as Prince Andrew, is taking legal action over his arrest tied to the Epstein files. You might recall the hours after his dramatic arrest back in February, that image of Andrew seemingly stunned, slouched down quite a bit in a car after being charged in suspicion of misconduct in public office. Let's bring in CNN royal correspondent Max Foster. Max, former Prince Andrew is taking issue with search warrants executed on his home in connection with the arrest. What is his exact challenge here?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, when Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested back in February, taken into a police station for questioning on suspicion of misconduct in public office, his homes were also searched. So that is the home he was staying in on the King's Sandringham estate in Norfolk, but also the home he was moving out of in Windsor. What Mountbatten-Windsor is doing here is challenging those search warrants.

And if successful, it might mean that evidence gathered during those searches may have been gathered unlawfully and might not be able to be used against him in any investigations. We know that Thames Valley Police had previously said they were assessing whether or not Mountbatten-Windsor had leaked confidential information to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein whilst Mountbatten-Windsor was a U.K. trade envoy.

I've been speaking to royal sources about this. It's pretty clear that Buckingham Palace has been caught out by this because they've told me that this is very much a matter for him and his lawyers. Buckingham Palace has nothing to do with it, no role in it, they say, and they won't be paying for it either. They say that the King does support Mountbatten-Windsor financially, but it's been made very clear that these monies, as they put it, should not be used to fund a judicial review. So they are very much distancing themselves from this legal process.

Mountbatten Windsor, we should say, has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Jake?

TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, President Trump is hosting a campaign rally tonight in the most Republican part of one of the most reliably Republican states in the entire United States. With less than one month until the midterm elections, why is this the White House strategy and what are the odds it's going to work?

Plus, before he left for campaign events, President Trump confirmed specific threats caused the U.S. military to move all of its Air Force bombers from a base in the United Kingdom back to the United States. That base and those bombers had been used in the war against Iran. But we're learning about that threat tonight.

[18:00:05]

Also today, a new term started for the U.S. Supreme Court.