Return to Transcripts main page
The Lead with Jake Tapper
DOJ: Hunter Biden To Plead Guilty To 2 Federal Charges; Trial Date In Trump Documents Case Set For Mid-August; CNN Poll: Trump Remains GOP Frontrunner Even As Post-Indictment Support Appears To Soften; Urgent Search For Missing Submersible With 5 On Board; CNN Visits Ukrainian Pilot Desperate For F-16s; Israel: 4 Israelis Killed in West Bank Shooting. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired June 20, 2023 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:11]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Not the head butts. The dancing, that happens as well.
THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: The president's son will plead guilty to federal criminal charges.
THE LEAD starts right now.
Hunter Biden strikes a deal on a felony charge and agrees to plead guilty on two misdemeanors, the criminal prosecution the president's son now avoids, as the Republicans blast the deal calling it a slap on the wrist.
Plus, a trial for Donald Trump set to begin in less than two months as the former president argues his own defense of sorts on national TV.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things, golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes. There were many things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Many things.
And that urgent underwater rescue mission running out of time as the Coast Guard estimated only 40 hours left of breathable air for the crew on board the missing Titanic sub.
(MUSIC)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
And we start today with our law and justice lead. Hunter Biden has struck a deal with federal prosecutors one that his legal teams hopes will keep the president's son out of prison. The Justice Department says Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanors for failing to pay his taxes on time, as part of that plea agreement, prosecutor are expected to recommend probation. Separately, CNN has also learned that Hunter Biden reached the deal with the Department of Justice to avoid prosecution on a gun felony charge.
These developments come after years of investigation by a Trump appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, whom President Biden did not replace when he took office because of Weiss's investigation into his son.
Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Weiss wrote to House Republicans that he alone had, quote, been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution.
But none of that stopped Donald Trump or his staunch allies on Capitol Hill from immediately attacking the plea agreement and calling the agreement, among other things, a, quote, slap on the wrist and a, quote, sweetheart deal. The Biden White House has remained mostly silent putting out a short statement that says, quote, the president and first lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life, unquote, an echo of what President Biden told me during an interview last October.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a kid who got -- not a kid. He's a grown man. He got hooked on, like many families have had happen, hooked on drugs. He's overcome that. He's established a new life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: President Biden also said in that interview that prosecutors only knew that Hunter had lied about not using drugs when he filled out his gun application because he admitted it in his memoir.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Turns out when he made application to purchase a gun, what happened was he stayed -- I guess you get -- I don't guess you get asked the question, are you on drugs or you use drugs? He said no. And he wrote about saying no in his book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: CNN's Paula Reid starts off our coverage today with a look at what will happen next before this deal is final.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden's son, Hunter, reaches an agreement with the Justice Department to resolve a long-running criminal investigation. According to a letter filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors, Hunter will plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and struck a deal to resolve a separate felony gun charge if he complies with his end of the plea agreement.
According to court documents, Biden owed at least $100,000 in federal taxes for 2017, and at least $100,000 for 2018, but did not pay the IRS by the deadline. His lawyers say he eventually paid the tax bill, along with fees and penalties.
As part of this deal, the Justice Department has agreed to recommend a sentence of probation for the tax charges, according to sources. But the final punishment will be up to the judge.
On the gun charge, prosecutors allege he possessed a gun despite his addiction in violation of federal law. Biden's lawyers met with the Justice Department in April and sources tell CNN that negotiations to resolve the case have ramped up in recent weeks. The deal comes after a broad, years-long investigation that also looked at Hunter Biden's foreign deals and possible money laundering.
[16:05:08]
On Capitol Hill, Republicans have been focused on the president's son and his foreign business dealings but prosecutors haven't charged him on those claims.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy criticized Hunter Biden's deal.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It continues to show the two tier system in America. If you are the president's leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to put you in jail and give you prison time. If you are the president's son, you get a sweetheart deal.
REID: Former President Trump posting on truth social this morning wow the corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere traffic system. Our system is broken.
The Hunter Biden investigation has been overseen by Trump appointed U.S. attorney David Weiss. President Biden has repeatedly defended his son amid the ongoing investigation.
BIDEN: He's established a new life. I'm confident that what he says and does are consistent with what happens. For example, he wrote a book about his problems and was straightforward about it. I'm proud of him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID (on camera): Moments ago, Biden's lawyer weighed in on the investigation, calling it dogged but fair.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTOPHER CLARK, HUNTER BIDEN'S ATTORNEY: This was a five-year very diligent investigation pursued by incredibly professional prosecutors, some of whom have been career prosecutors one at least was appointed by President Trump. They were very diligent, very dogged. This was -- you know, it took five years and it was five years of work they put in. And even throughout working out the ultimate resolution, I think they were always driving for what they thought was fair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: We're still waiting for a hearing date to be set for Hunter Biden to be arraigned and plead guilty. We expect that will happen in the coming weeks -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Paula Reid, thanks so much.
Let's bring in CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig.
Elie, I'm not a lawyer. I have no idea if this plea agreement comports with what would happen for the normal person or as Republicans are today insinuating this is a sweetheart deal. You're a former federal prosecutor. Tell us, is this what anybody would get in a similar circumstance or is this a sweetheart deal?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Jake, I think first of all, nobody is in position to know that because we don't know the entirety what the whole universe was of what DOJ had, if they had evidence of more serious crimes and they failed to follow-up or they gave Hunter Biden substantially lesser charges, then, yes, it's a sweetheart deal. But if this was all they had federally criminally chargeable, then it's not a sweetheart deal.
Now, just to give you one example, a lot of this is perspective. If we look at the gun charge, it is exceedingly rare for somebody to be charged with a federal gun crime and given pretrial diversion as Hunter Biden has been given he doesn't have to plead guilty as long as he behaves himself, the charge will go away. On the other hand, the vast majority of federal gun crimes involve somebody who either used the gun in some sort of violent crime, or somebody who's a prior convicted felon.
So it's rare to see someone prosecuted at all under the law that Hunter Biden was prosecuted, which is possession of a gun by an addict. So it's largely a perspective here.
TAPPER: The lawyer for Hunter Biden said the case is now, quote, resolved.
But the U.S. Attorney David Weiss, appointed by Trump, says it's ongoing.
So, clear that up for us. How does that make sense?
HONIG: In the any plea deal, it is absolutely the understanding between both parties that this is it. That there will not be further charges based on what DOJ knows now. I suspect when we see the paperwork it will say something to that effect.
So, why is DOJ saying it's going? Because DOJ always says that until the jury comes back, until the appeal is over because you never know if something new could pop up. That's sort of general, very commonplace DOJ language. I do not expect there to be additional charges.
TAPPER: All right. I'm just asking this question. There's no evidence that he intends to do this. But could President Biden, if he wanted to, pardon Hunter, and is there any precedent for such an action?
HONIG: So, absolutely, the president, Joe Biden, has the authority to pardon Hunter Biden or anyone else really. Of course, I don't expect that that's likely to happen, certainly before the election.
There is precedence for this, actually, Jake. Bill Clinton famously or infamously pardoned his half brother Roger Clinton on his final day in office. Roger Clinton, years before, had been convicted of a drug offense. And depending on how broadly you want to define family, Donald Trump on his last day in officer pardoned Charles Kushner, who is the father of Donald Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner.
[16:10:05]
So, there is precedent for presidents to pardon family members, or sort of more distant family members.
TAPPER: Yeah, and the U.S. attorney who went after Charles Kushner, Chris Christie, as you know.
Elie Honig, thank you so much.
Let's get the latest from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue now. CNN's Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is at the White House.
Manu, you just caught up with some senior members of the Republican Party, what did they have to say?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. House Oversight Chairman James Comer just told me moments ago that is a question he has is, what does it mean when the Justice Department's investigation is ongoing? Because he's trying to seek a number of records in this case.
Now, he also is indicating that House Republicans plan to call the U.S. attorney in this case, David Weiss, for some discussion ongoing about bringing him in to testify. And he also downplayed the notion that this was, in fact, a Trump-backed attorney who was held over into the Biden administration that led this effort into Hunter Biden.
Now, when I spoke -- caught up with Speaker McCarthy earlier today, he tried to compare the Hunter Biden case with the case involving former President Donald Trump. Even though the cases are much different and the facts are different as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: David Weiss is the Trump appointed attorney, do you not have confidence in him?
MCCARTHY: No. The question I have. You want equal justice in America. It seems to me, if you are the leading opponent of the president, you're going to get jail time. But if you're the son of the president, you don't get any jail time.
RAJU: There's two separate cases. Why conflate that?
MCCARTHY: I'm not conflating them.
RAJU: He lied to investigators, that's the issue here.
MCCARTHY: Well, did -- did Hunter Biden lie about his taxes? Did Hunter Biden lie about the gun?
RAJU: I don't know, he pleaded guilty to the situation -- that situation.
MCCARTHY: Well, there's no -- there's no time for him to serve, remember. He served no prison time. But they're trying to put President Trump in prison. That's when you're talking about --
RAJU: They're different cases, different facts.
MCCARTHY: -- when you talk about but equal -- equal justice here. And that's the problem most Americans have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Speaker McCarthy also said today that he believes the result of this plea deal will, quote, enhance the House GOP investigation into Hunter Biden and to Joe Biden, trying to link the two, trying to link business deals that happened overseas with the White House directly and with Joe Biden's actions as vice president.
The question will be, what will happen if the Justice Department does not provide those records that they are now going to be seeking in the aftermath of this plea deal. Comer indicating to me moments ago he has not made a decision whether to subpoena for those records but they do plan to at least potentially call for that U.S. attorney to come testify before one of the House committees, Jake.
TAPPER: The U.S. attorney appointed by Donald Trump and Joe Biden kept him in office because of the obvious conflict of interest because he was investigating his son. I saw Speaker McCarthy didn't address that part of your question there, Manu.
Jeremy, the short statement from the White House today is really emblematic of how President Biden has handled the controversy around Hunter.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Jake. President Biden really hasn't sough to distance himself from his son publicly at all. In fact, he's done quite the opposite, really embracing him.
We have seen Hunter Biden at the president's side at public events repeatedly, most notably perhaps in April when Hunter Biden joined the president on the trip to Ireland. He was a near constant presence at the president's side. And so, it's no surprise when we see the statement from the White House focusing on the fact that the president and first lady love their son, and ultimately saying that other than that, they have no further comment.
We know that the president and first lady in talking about this previously as the president did to you, Jake, talking about the fact they're proud of their son for overcoming his struggles with addiction. The president recently said in an interview that he didn't believe that his son has done anything wrong. Of course, Hunter Biden in this guilty plea is indeed admitting to wrongdoing.
But, look, this is not something that ultimately came as a surprise to the White House. And that's because I'm told that the White House and the president's personal attorney, Bob Bauer, they have kept an open line of communication with Hunter Biden's attorneys throughout this process. And that that is a line of communication that's been open on both ends. That being said, a senior Biden advisor told me that, look, they are not directing or advising Hunter Biden's legal team. They were not doing that throughout this process.
President Biden for his part, he is currently on the West Coast in California. He's about to start a meeting with A.I. experts. This will be the first opportunity for reporters to try and shout questions at the president. We will see if he decides to answer any of those -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Jeremy Diamond and Manu Raju, thanks to both of you
Coming up next, waning support for Donald Trump. A new CNN poll taken after his federal indictment takes a look at how the president stacks up against his Republican presidential primary rivals.
And the underwater experience to see Titanic. I'm going to talk to a man who took the same trip last year well before this submersible vanished.
Plus, CNN on the ground in Ukraine. The life or death plea that Ukrainian pilots are making as they fight on the front lines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:18:56]
TAPPER: In our law and justice lead, an initial trial date has been set in the federal criminal trial of Donald John Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents. Judge Cannon putting the case on a speedy track with trial date set for mid-August as of now. That's right before the first Republican presidential debate.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump's campaign for president continues unabated and as CNN's Jessica Schneider reports, his constant comments about the case could very well be used by the prosecution.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The former president answering questions in his first TV interview since he was indicted on 37 federal charges including conspiracy and retaining national defense information.
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: Why did you have this very sensitive national security defense documents?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: In my case, I took it out pretty much in a hurry, but people packed it up and we left. And I had clothing in there. I had all sorts of personal items in there, much, much stuff. I have every right to have those boxes. This is purely a Presidential Records Act.
[16:20:01]
This is not a criminal thing.
SCHNEIDER: Trump's claims are untrue and he's charged criminally with Florida Federal Judge Aileen Cannon setting a tentative but swift schedule, asking for pre-trial motions to be submitted by the end of next month, with a trial date in Fort Pierce, Florida, set for August 14th.
That date, though, will likely change with Judge Cannon noting the parties could push back the trial start date because of the complexity of the case and issues related to the classified information.
BAIER: The Iran attack plan, you remember that?
TRUMP: Ready?
BAIER: You were recorded.
TRUMP: It wasn't a document.
SCHNEIDER: Trump denying news report that he flaunted documents he knew were classified related to Iran in the summer of 2021 at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, even though according to the indictment he was captured in an audio reporting admitting that the material was, quote, highly confidential and that it was still classified. Now, he's insisting all he ever had were newspaper clippings.
TRUMP: These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things, golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes, there were many things. I would say much, much more --
BAIER: Iran war plans?
TRUMP: Not that I know. There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things. And it may have been held or may not but that was not a document. I didn't have a document per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.
SCHNEIDER: All of these statements from Trump post-indictment could be admissible during his upcoming trial but Trump continues to brush off the broad implications of his criminal charges.
BAIER: You're not worried about this case?
TRUMP: Based on the law -- zero, zero.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER (on camera): And Trump is taking fire from many of his former allies, including former Attorney General Bill Barr who just wrote in an op-ed that if the facts in the indictment are true, Trump's actions amount to as Bill Barr says, quote, brazen criminal conduct that cannot be justified in any way.
Of course, Jake, Barr has denounced Trump's actions before and Bill Barr did end up resigning as attorney general in late 2020, just weeks before January 6th -- Jake.
TAPPER: Jessica Schneider, thanks so much.
Let's bring in CNN's Abby Phillip and CNN political director David Chalian to talk about this.
So, Abby, Trump may claim to have zero concerns about this case but his 2024 Chris Christie says that Trump's lawyers are no doubt having a different reaction after watching that interview on Fox. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It appears to me last night, as a former prosecutor, that he admitted obstruction of justice on the air last night to Bret Baier. I can tell you this: his lawyers this morning are jumping out of whatever window they're near.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: It may not be that they're jumping out of windows, but it is -- it is true that he did seem to admit obstruction, didn't he, Abby?
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And not for the first time. I mean, this is not the first time that he has seemingly admitted publicly various elements of the accusations against him. You would have to think if you sign up to be an attorney for former President Trump, that this is what you know you're going to get yourself into -- a defendant, a client, who simply wants to be his own lawyer, wants to be his own communications director is out there talking about a case that is very much active.
And these charges that he's facing, I mean, carries actual jail time penalties. But Trump still treats it like it's simply a matter of him spinning it to his supporters when what he's really going to be dealing with is a court of law. And in this case, I also think it shows that Trump, he is acknowledging the obstruction part of this but you hear in what he is saying the sense that these rules or laws that he is accused of simply do not matter all that much. So he could have done whatever he wanted to do.
Unfortunately, that is not going to stack up in a court of law and his attorneys are going to have to deal with did real realities of what a criminal case like this looks like when it goes to trial.
TAPPER: So, David, take a look at the new CNN poll, which shows that Trump support might be softening just a touch following the second indictment. Sixty-seven percent of Republican voters say they have a favorable opinion of Trump now. That's still very, very high. But it's also down from 77 percent last month.
Do you think that this is a potential warning sign for the Trump campaign?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah, you noticed that his unfavorables are up 9 points since May as well from 18 to 27 percent. Jake, this is one warning sign in the poll. There's also the fact that we've seen an uptick in the number of Republican and Republican- leaning independents who say they won't consider Trump as an option. That's nearly a quarter of Republican and Republican leaders now.
That was only at 16 percent in may and the horse race itself we've seen his support tick down just a bit.
[16:25:03]
Again, I think he's still clearly the substantial front runner in this race for the nomination. But there are some bits of softening that we're seeing, whether or not this is the beginning of a trend or just a moment in time immediately following the indictment, only future polling will tell us that.
TAPPER: Abby, we also -- CNN also asked Republican voters for their current choice, their first choice preference for president. Trump still dominating the pack, 47 percent, DeSantis has 26 percent, but if you look at the numbers, Trump is down 6 points while DeSantis is steady, and Pence has gone up a few points. Everybody else is still in single digits.
But what's more significant here in your view? The fact he's up more than 20 points or the fact that his numbers are going in the wrong direction?
PHILLIP: I think at this moment, the trajectory of this for Trump is probably not heading in the right direction. And that's mainly because this is not the end of the story in terms of Trump's legal woes. We really could be looking at, at least one, maybe two other criminal cases that he's going to have to face, not to mention a trial in the New York case.
Potentially given the date that Judge Aileen Cannon put on the table, a trial in this federal case. So the news is not going to get that much better for Trump. On the other hand, you're not seeing huge moves to the other candidates. It's really getting spread around pretty evenly.
But I will say when you look closer at the numbers, you know, Ron DeSantis is pretty steady in those numbers you showed. But in our cross tabs, there's really an indication that a lot of Republican voters are very open to him, his favorable numbers are better than a lot of the other candidates, fewer Republicans say they would never consider him. So, I think if you are Ron DeSantis' team today under these circumstances, you're probably feeling pretty good about where things stand early in the Republican nominating process.
TAPPER: David, the other law and justice lead, Hunter Biden, the president's son, will plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors in this deal struck with a Trump appointed U.S. attorney. Republicans have been railing against Hunter for years. Do you think this deal will impact the 2024 presidential election in any way?
CHALIAN: Well, certainly, in the immediate term, Jake, energizing Republicans. Because this story of the so-called weaponization of justice in America, or two-tiered system and all the Hunter Biden related dealings that's been an animating force inside Republican -- inside the Republican electorate and Republicans are playing to that. So, in the immediate, you saw the reaction from across Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. All these Republicans are on the same page on this, I'm using this as a rallying cry.
In the long term, Jake, I don't think we know the answer. I'll be surprised if a year and a half from now in November of 2024, we're talking about these Hunter Biden plea deals as the thing that the 2024 presidential election hinges on.
TAPPER: Yeah, if they're concerned about a two-tiered system of justice, they should learn a little bit more about the kind of system that poor people in this country get because that's really a two-tier system of justice.
David Chalian, Abby Phillip, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
CNN on the ground in Newfoundland, Canada, where that missing Titanic sub started its journey. The freezing and dark underwater conditions that the crew might be up against as the time to rescue them is s running out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:32:58]
TAPPER: In our world lead now, less than 37 hours of breathable air estimated. That's all the Coast Guard estimates is left for the five people on board a submersible that disappeared on a voyage to visit the Titanic wreckage at the bottom of the North Atlantic. A massive search and rescue effort continues 900 miles east of Cap Cod to find the vessel, which launched on Sunday. On board is Stockton Rush. He's the CEO of Ocean Gate. That's the
expedition company that operates the submersible. Also with him are four other passengers.
CNN's Miguel Marquez has the latest from Newfoundland where the submersible started its journey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAPTAIN JAMIE FREDERICK, U.S. COAST GUARD: This is a complex search.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A complex search now more complicated by time which they're running out of.
FREDERICK: We know there's about 40 hours of breathable air left.
MARQUEZ: Deep water submersibles and gear converging on St. John's Newfoundland from the U.S. and Canada. It's the closest land to the search zone. If a titan can be found, they'll need to bring all resources to bear as quickly as possible.
FREDERICK: You're dealing with a surface search and sub surface search and frankly that makes it an incredibly complex operation.
MARQUEZ: The five-person submersible started its dive around 9:00 a.m. Newfoundland time on Sunday. Its last contact with its mother ship, the Polar Prince, was an hour and 45 minutes into a dive expected to last just over nine hours.
At 6:35 p.m. Newfoundland time on Sunday, the sub was reported missing when it failed to surface at the scheduled time of 6:10 p.m. The vessel has oxygen for five people for about four days, but oxygen is only one critical element.
TIM TAYLOR, UNDERWATER EXPLORER, TIBURON SUBSEA: They're in freezing temperatures, assuming they lost power, it's going to be dark, cold and oxygen is their most precious resource. So, consuming that, staying calm.
MARQUEZ: The vessel and search area extremely isolated and deep, roughly 460 miles south of St. John's Newfoundland and 900 miles east of Boston, and possibly more than two miles below the surface where pressure is nearly 6,000 pounds per square inch.
[16:35:18]
Those on board, adventurer and British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessmen, father and son, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and CEO and founder Stockton Rush who owns Ocean Gate Expeditions and the missing sub.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (on camera): So I want to give you a sense of what's happening here at St. John's harbor right now. This is the horizon arctic. It's the sister ship to the Polar Prince. We believe this ship may be headed out to the C17 plane from the U.S. That just landed at the airport here. It is going to be gear down here.
A coast guard ship from the Canadian coast guard left the harbor here and is on its way to the search zone as well.
Just a massive effort and a lot of hope this one turns out well -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Miguel Marquez in St. John's Newfoundland, thank you so much.
Let's bring in Mike Reiss. Mr. Reiss took the same voyage on an Ocean Gate vessel to view the wreckage of the Titanic 11 months ago.
Mike, thanks for joining us. We have a photo of you on your own trip to see the wreckage. Can you tell us what your experience was like on the Ocean Gate voyage?
MIKE REISS, TRAVELED WITH OCEANGATE TO THE TITANIC SHIPWRECK: Yeah. It sounds great. It sounded like being a mercury astronaut. It wasn't a vacation, it wasn't tourism, it's exploration.
And you're getting on a ship that's the best it could be but they're learning as they go on. And you get on with a lot of excitement, it's constant trepidation, constantly knowing this could be the end. In fact, I was supposed to go with my wife and she tested positive for COVID right before we got on. So I kissed her good-bye knowing I -- that that might be the last time I'd ever seen her.
So nobody walked into this, you know, thinking it was going to be a pleasure cruise. Especially the experts involved, Stockton Rush, you know, they made it as safe as they could make it. They trusted their own lives to it. But they knew it could end this way.
TAPPER: Uh-huh. You did a podcast about your trip and you described how the ship is controlled by a joy stick from a gaming console much like an Xbox controller. Tell us about the technology and how it works.
REISS: Yeah. As a lot of people have focused on that as if this is some jerry rigged, you know, crazy little jalopy that's been slapped together. But it's one -- reassuring things about the submarine is how very simple it was. It was pressure resistant tube that drops to the bottom of the ocean, and took two and a half hours to go kind of straight down.
I actually fell asleep on the trip down. That's how kind of relaxing and meditative the whole thing is. And once you reach the ground, the ship is piloted by two things that look like a fan you would have on your desk. Very simple and it is controlled by a joy stick from a gaming console so that even I was able to steer and navigate the submarine for a while.
And again, these are all to the good. Simplicity would be having something overly complicated where you're at the mercy of a lot of technology nobody understands.
TAPPER: Yeah. You also talked on your podcast about how you had to sign a waiver that warned you at least twice that you could die. I want to show this clip. CBS News reported on this ocean gate submersible and described another time when the ship got lost.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: There's no GPS under water, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the ship wreck by sending text messages.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Turn 30 degrees right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably 30 degrees.
REPORTER: But on this dive communication somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were lost. We were lost for two and a half hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So this appears to have happened before at least, getting lost and losing communications.
REISS: I have to say, I took four different dives with the company, one to the Titanic and three off of New York City.
[16:40:08]
And communication was lost at least briefly every single time. It just seems baked into the system. I don't blame the submarine as I blame deep water. But you would always lose it and come back. And one thing is just the safety involved of these kind of things, where there was one dive we took as soon as communication went up, we went right back to the surface. We had gone to see a new boat just off the shore of New York.
And we saw -- we saw it for one second and they said we're going back up. We shouldn't be down here. So, you know, they're not hot dogs. They're not daredevils here. They take this very seriously.
TAPPER: Let's hope the story has a happy ending. Mike Reiss, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up the war from above. CNN is with Ukraine's air defense's part of the new counteroffensive. We're going to share the plea we're hearing from Ukrainian pilots. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:45:16] TAPPER: In our world lead today, Russian attacks blanketed Ukraine, targeting major cities in the north and the west of the country, far from the front lines and deep into civilian population centers.
In the capital of Kyiv, Iranian made drones, quote, entered the capital in waves, according to a top Ukrainian official, prompting air-raid alarms to go off for more than three hours.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen speaks with Ukrainian fighter pilots desperate for better air power who say getting American-made F-16s could mean the difference between life or death.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Ukrainian SU-25 attack aircraft given the go to assault Russian positions. Against all odds Ukraine's air force is still very much in the fight, pilot Oleksiy tells me.
Are you helping the ground forces now a lot in the south with the counteroffensive?
OLEKSIY, UKRAINE AIR FORCE: Yep, yep.
PLEITGEN: The mission's extremely dangerous, especially for front line attack aircraft. Ukraine's aces trying to keep Russian air defenses off balance.
OLEKSIY: We lost many young pilots from our brigade. This taught us to change something. And day by day, we try to fly not the same as yesterday.
PLEITGEN: While Kyiv says its counter offensive is progressing, the battles are tough and gains hard to come by.
The biggest threat, Ukraine says, Russian air power. This video purporting to show a Russian helicopter taking out a Ukrainian vehicle. The Ukrainians say Russian interceptor aircraft like the advanced SU-35 often stop their old MiG-29 jets from operating near the front lines.
This MiG-29 pilot, who asked us to hide his face and use only his call sign "Juice", tells me.
"JUICE", UKRAINE AIR FORCE: You can be like a maverick but without the proper hardware, you can't win.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There goes one.
PLEITGEN: The Ukrainians say they need F-16s from the U.S. and its allies to level the playing field and to fully utilize the air launched missiles the U.S. has already given them.
In between the taxing wartime missions, pilots are already learning the basics of the F-16, hoping they'll be able to fly them in the future. JUICE: We're trying to improve our English skills. We're flying
simulators. So, at the moment, we have like improvised simulators of the F-16 from old bases.
PLEITGEN: The pilots say for them, it's a matter of life and death. The attrition rate among combat aviators is extremely high. Both Oleksiy's squadron leader and his wing man killed in combat he says.
OLEKSIY: When you see explosion of your colleague by eyes in real time, it's -- it's a shock to -- it's a -- it's a shocking picture. And to really big -- difficult in this situation, it's how to -- how to sit in aircraft again and again and again.
PLEITGEN: But when the call comes, they say they will be ready and back in the seat taking the fight to the Russians.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (on camera): So as you can see there, Jake, Ukraine's pilots like so many in the armed forces paying a huge price with massive losses that they are suffering. However, the pilots that we spoke to say they're extremely motivated especially now that Ukraine's counteroffensive is rolling and they want to make it a success, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Fred Pleitgen, in Kyiv, thank you so much.
Next, the worst stretch of deadly violence against Israelis in the West Bank in months.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:53:35]
TAPPER: Sticking with our world lead, now we go to Israel where far right Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is calling on Israelis to arm themselves after an outbreak of deadly violence in the West Bank.
Today, four Israelis were killed in a settlement of Eli, according to Israeli authorities. This is the day after six Palestinians were killed in a raid by Israeli forces. They say more than 90 Palestinians were injured in that attack.
CNN's Elliott Gotkine in Jerusalem.
Elliott, tell us more about who might be behind the attack today.
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: Jake, it is the deadliest attack on Israelis since January. According to the IDF, Palestinian gunmen first struck a restaurant near the West Bank settlement of Eli. They opened fire killing three civilians before killing a fourth at a nearby gas station.
Four Israelis were injured in the attack which was claimed by the militant group Hamas. An armed civilian shot and killed one and the other stole a car and fled. Israeli security forces set up road blocks eventually located the assailant in the village of Tubas, in the northern West Bank. The IDF says that he was killed as he attempted to escape.
It also says that it recovered two weapons presumed to have been used in the attack. In a video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said all options were open and we'll continue to fight terrorism with full force and we will defeat it, he said -- Jake.
BURNETT: And our thanks to Elliott Gotkine in Jerusalem for that report.
[16:55:01]
Also in our world lead, a suspected corruption probe involving the Paris 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee. That probe is underway in France right now. Today, its offices, along with the company responsible for building the infrastructure for the 2024 games were raided by French police.
According to France's financial prosecutors' office, this is part of two investigations which include illegal conflict of interest, embezzlement of public funds and favoritism and concealment related to several contracts. The Paris 2024 committee insists it is cooperating with investigators.
In the U.S. today, the plea deal Hunter Biden struck with federal prosecutors for tax and begun charges, but what about the prior allegations of, worse, money laundering and foreign lobbying and investigation into Biden family business dealings?
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
