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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Vance Scolds Europe; E.U. Leaders Concerned Over Trump's Putin- Friendly Comments; Seventh Prosecutor Quits Over DOJ Order To Drop Mayor Adams Case; WSJ: Trumps Rake In Millions After Presidential Win; NTSB: "Bad Data" About Altitude, Night Goggles, And Missed Calls May Have Contributed To Crash; American-Israeli Among Three Hostages To Be Released Tomorrow. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 14, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: But I feel like my dad would do that to me.

[16:00:03]

He'd be like, yeah, this is an adventure, son.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Grab the boat, son. Maybe he meant grab the boat.

SANCHEZ: Hopefully.

KEILAR: But I love how the whales like, huh? No, thanks.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

KEILAR: No. Uh-uh.

SANCHEZ: Have you ever tried raft before?

KEILAR: Maybe a bigger kayak. We're going to need a bigger boat, as someone once said.

SANCHEZ: Indeed. Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon.

KEILAR: "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: J.D. Vance with some tough talk for European leaders.

THE LEAD starts right now.

Vice President J.D. Vance with a speech that few saw coming, almost berating longtime U.S. allies, accusing them of suppressing free speech and losing control of immigration, and refusing to work with those on the hard right. Vance's critics say what the vice president did not offer was clarity on Ukraine and Russia, and where the Trump administration stands. We're going to try to read between the lines of what's being said.

Plus, a seventh prosecutor now on the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams just called it quits. Another protest resignation against the Justice Department, which made yet another push to get the case against the New York Democrat, dropped. Why?

And frightening accusations about an Indiana teen and an obsession with the Parkland School shooting. Did police stop a repeat tragedy that could have happened today?

(MUSIC)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Whiplash and confusion among leaders in Munich topping our world lead, as President Trump and his cabinet espouse what critics say are something closer to the Kremlin's talking points on Russia's three- year onslaught against Ukraine. European leaders today were hoping for reassurance that President Trump understood how they view the Russian threat. And after the president said this week, Ukraine, quote, may be Russian someday, unquote, said that he trusted Russian leader Vladimir Putin when it comes to Ukraine and even blamed Russia's invasion of Ukraine on former President Biden, discussing whether Ukraine could someday join NATO.

That just happened yesterday with European allies concerned that those comments resemble Putin's views of the conflict. European leaders had hoped that they were maybe missing something. And then today they heard a speech by Vice President J.D. Vance at the Munich Security Conference, in which the vice president rebuked U.S. allies in Europe and signaled support for Europe's far right parties.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China. It's not any other external actor.

And what I worry about is the threat from within. If you're running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you. Speaking up and expressing opinions isn't election interference -- even when people express views outside your own country, and even when those people are very influential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We'll have more on the Trump's double standard on freedom of speech later in the show.

But moments ago, President Trump called Vance's speech, quote, brilliant. A far different take than, quote, a total humiliation -- humiliation and, quote, unacceptable. One star reviews coming from various European leaders.

Vance's speech is being received more favorably in Russia. One Kremlin spokesperson characterized it as, quote, realism. Amid this whiplash Republican criticism on Ukraine and Russia, comments by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth's nomination was strongly supported by the chairman of the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi. But Wicker today had some harsh words for Hegseth. Hegseth had announced what critics said amounted to giving up leverage before peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia even began. Hegseth said that Ukraine can't join NATO and can't go back to its 2014 borders. Wicker called that a, quote, rookie mistake by Secretary Hegseth and added this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROGER WICKER (R-MS): Everybody knows and you know, and people in the administration know -- you don't say before your first meeting what you will agree to and what you won't agree to.

MODERATOR: Yeah, I was puzzled by that, too.

WICKER: I was puzzled, too. And I was disturbed. I was disturbed by it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: For his part, wartime Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he's, quote, thankful for American support, adding this week -- adding this about his call with President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Enough conversation to talk about some details, not enough to make a plan, definitely not enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Amidst the chaos and confusion and drama and explosion at Chernobyl today, Ukraine says that Russia committed a war crime when it launched a drone strike that hit the containment shield over reactor at the defunct site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, Chernobyl in Ukraine.

[16:05:13]

"Reuters" quotes the plant's chief engineer as saying the barrier, which was supposed to prevent the spread of radioactive substances, has ceased to function according to its original design. The Kremlin, as is its want, denies responsibility and its spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, suggests that Russia was framed.

Let's kick all of this off with CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House.

And, Jeff, today, Vice President Vance also said he wanted to, quote, preserve the optionality for those working to negotiate an end to the war after a meeting with Zelenskyy and Vance noted that NATO remains, quote, very important.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, it was a week of conflicting messages, no doubt. But one thing is clear here. As we end the fourth week of this Trump administration, something that the U.S. has been saying for the last few weeks, the world is now seeing this is a very different administration, obviously, from the Biden administration.

And the Trump administration not only wants to reset relations with the U.S. and Russia, it wants to allow Russia to take the lead in many respects on this front. The vice president, introduction to the world in Munich, they're talking about the enemy from within. The president was asked a short time ago about that.

As you said, he praised the speech. He gave it to very high marks. He had less to say a reaction to Senator Wicker's comments that the new defense secretary made a rookie mistake. The president demurred when asked about that. He said he didn't see that necessarily.

But the bottom line is here, as these negotiations to end the war begin, the president has not acknowledged who started the war. Of course, Vladimir Putin, he's assigned no blame to him, only blaming the Biden administration and many others. But one thing is clear, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is no longer hailed as a hero here in Washington, certainly in this administration.

And, Jake, that changes everything.

TAPPER: All right. CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House for us, thanks so much.

CNN's chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour, is in Munich, and she spent the day speaking with world leaders.

Christiane, good to see you.

What are world leaders telling you about how they viewed Vice President Vance's speech?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, honestly, it was a stunned silence to a lot of it, quite a lot of shock in the room. There were a lot of senior delegates there. Afterwards, the German defense minister basically said his words were, quote, unacceptable. A Spanish delegate said it was indecent.

But on the other hand, they did like the fact that he did say NATO was here to stay, that the United States viewed it as a very strong, you know, transatlantic alliance. And they took that good part of his speech, so to speak. But it was meant to be, they thought, going to be about mostly Ukraine and how to implement the, you know, the Trump potential peace plan with Putin, but instead it was a speech, really, that amounted to diving deep into the cultural, political and ideological wars.

I spoke to the NATO secretary general, who apparently has a pretty good relationship with President Trump. He's the former Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and he wouldn't be drawn on exact negotiations with Vladimir Putin, saying, you know, we don't want to let Vladimir Putin sit back in his armchair in the Kremlin and know what we're going to do.

So I kind of pressed him on that. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: You will admit that already President Trump has telegraphed to him as he sits in his Kremlin armchair, that he agrees with Putin's position on Ukraine never joining NATO. This is something that NATO promised Ukraine. At your last summit in Washington, that its future was in NATO. Is that off the table?

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: President Trump, when he was campaigning, also had some clear statements on the same issue. So you cannot be too surprised. And as you said, indeed, today, there was a clear statement from the White House and others that all options are on the table. And I am just pleading for a situation where we try to really make that part of the negotiations, whatever will happen.

And then the key issue is how to make sure that he will not try again, that you will not have a repeat of what happened as you have covered in 2014, 2015, which was a total failure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So security guarantees are the big, big issue. And that is what is unclear, absolutely unclear from -- from Hegseth, from Vance, from Trump, from anybody. Nobody quite knows what these vital security guarantees are to prevent Putin from trying again, because we've seen his appetite in the past.

Now I'm going to be speaking to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on stage here at the Munich security conference tomorrow, and we'll report back after that, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Excellent work. Thank you so much, Christiane Amanpour. That should be an interesting interview.

Joining us now from Munich, Republican Congressman Mike Turner from Ohio. He's on the House Armed Services Committee, was the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, and he's heading up the U.S. House delegation at the Munich Security Conference.

Congressman, good to see you.

You met with Zelenskyy today. What did he have to say?

REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): Good evening, Jake.

Well, Jake, he was very upbeat. In fact, not only was he just upbeat, he's well on the elements of what could go in a deal. And I was very taken aback by the fact that people's reactions to J.D. Vance's speech. I couldn't have imagined that anybody expected J.D. Vance was going to take the stage and outline the principles of a deal. You don't negotiate a deal at Munich.

Munich is where you coalesce. You bring people together beyond, you know, together around, you know, principles. And those principles are we're supporting Ukraine. We're going to bring peace. We're going to bring Putin to the table.

That deal is going to have to be negotiated between Zelenskyy, the United States, and, and Putin. And there's a lot of work to yet to be done.

TAPPER: "The Washington Post" is reporting, Josh Rogin, that your delegation presented President Zelenskyy with a piece of paper for him to sign that would have granted the U.S. rights to 50 percent of Ukraine's future mineral reserves. Rogan reports, quote, Zelenskyy politely declined to sign it, unquote. Is that correct?

TURNER: No, our delegation did not. So our delegation includes 17 senators, 15 members of the House of which I lead. We did discuss that issue with President Zelenskyy.

He's very eager to get U.S. investment for both the mineral and other, you know, energy resources that are in Ukraine. He sees it as a way to both bring in future security guarantees, but also future investment into Ukraine. He is in discussions with the White House about those resources and what they mean, really, for the future of the economy and for the relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine.

I think they're very important for Ukraine's future. But of course, that means there has to be peace in order for people to be able to make an investment, in order for those resources to be extracted, in order for them to have economic impact, you have to have peace.

TAPPER: So no one in the delegation presented him with a piece of paper to sign?

TURNER: We did not, no.

TAPPER: Senator Roger Wicker, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview with "Politico" that Pete Hegseth saying up front, before any peace negotiations have started that Ukraine can't be a member of NATO, that Ukraine can't go back to 2014 borders. He said that that was a rookie mistake. He said the comments were disturbing.

What did you think of what Secretary Hegseth said?

TURNER: Well, I think it's certainly premature for anyone to put down any elements of a deal. And I think certainly everything needs to be on the table. That's how you get a deal. You know, certainly the issues of NATO and the future of NATO for Ukraine needs to be open. Similarly, where those boundaries lie need to be open. Those are part of the negotiations. President Trump himself have left them open, and they need to certainly we don't need to members of the cabinet, of President Trump's cabinet to be defining those in the public. That's what's going to be part of the negotiations.

President Zelenskyy's, you know, discussions with us today was that, you know, all of those need to be -- be part of the negotiations. And certainly they relate to really the future of Ukraine and its viability and its sovereignty and its security.

TAPPER: We also heard some European leaders expressing displeasure with Vice President Vance signaling some support for far right political parties in Europe. Take a listen to this excerpt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: But what German democracy, what no democracy, American, German or European will survive is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief, are invalid or unworthy of even being considered. Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There is no room for firewalls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Vice President Vance also urged the Europeans to end their opposition to anti-immigration parties, such as Germany's far right AFD party, which has been characterized by the German government as a suspected extremist party. Now we know Vice President Vance met with the leader of AFD today.

What do you make of all this?

TURNER: Well, I think these are just, you know, continuing themes that that Vance has -- has advanced, I think, within certainly the Republican Party. But I think, you know, as we look to European political parties, they're going to have to work these issues out themselves.

TAPPER: All right. Congressman Mike Turner, always good to see you. Enjoy yourself in Munich. It must be a pretty cool experience. Really appreciate your time here.

[16:15:00]

TURNER: Look -- a lot a lot of work to do here, Jake. Thank you.

TAPPER: Thank you, sir.

Back here in the U.S. today, yet another resignation from a prosecutor on the corruption case against Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams. This makes seven -- seven who have resigned in protest. See what this prosecutor wrote to the Justice Department, as the Justice Department is pushing to get the case against the Democratic mayor dismissed.

And later, Israel's war against Hamas ahead, a compelling look at the sheer scope of the terrorist group and why this conflict may be nowhere near coming to an end.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Law and justice lead, new resignation just dropped. It's a seventh top Trump administration Justice Department attorney quitting in response to the Justice Department's directive that prosecutors should dismiss the corruption case against New York City's Democratic mayor, Eric Adams.

They seem to be doing so for purely political reasons, admittedly. The latest to resign, Hagan Scotten, he's an Iraq war veteran. He has two Bronze Stars. He's a Harvard law graduate, and he's a former clerk for chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, as well as Justice Brett Kavanaugh, back when he was a judge.

An assistant U.S. attorney, Scotten said he would not file a motion to dismiss the charges against Mayor Adams.

[16:20:06]

He wrote to Trump's acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, quote, I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion, but it was never going to be me, unquote.

Remember, Emil Bove, Trump's former defense attorney, wanted to dismiss this case not because of a lack of merit when it comes to the case against Adams. Instead, Bove is arguing that the investigation will prevent Mayor Adams from cooperating with Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

Let's go to CNN's Kara Scannell.

Kara, how is Emil Bove responding to these fiery resignations from impressive -- prosecutors with impressive conservative credentials?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake. So sources tell us that this morning, Bove met with the remaining members of the public integrity section in Washington, D.C. Remember, five of them resigned yesterday when they refused to sign a motion to dismiss these corruption charges. So he met with them this morning, and he told them that he needed just one of them to agree to sign the papers.

Now, after that meeting, the team, these remaining prosecutors met again. And while there was no explicit threat during the meeting with Bove. Sources say that people were aware of what it could mean. Those prosecutors in New York who wouldn't sign it if they didn't resign, they were placed on administrative leave.

Now, during this meeting with the prosecutors, they agreed -- well, they thought at one point they might do a mass resignation, but then they agreed it would be better to have one of them agree to sign their name and to end this crisis. Now, we haven't seen the papers yet, although the attorney general, Pam Bondi, was on Fox earlier, she said she did expect the motion to dismiss to be filed today. Again, we have not seen it yet. That will be the next step and then it will be in the judges hands for him to decide how he wants to handle this.

Does he call a hearing -- bring everyone in to discuss what has been playing out publicly before he makes this ultimate decision? He does not have that many options, but he could definitely make this uncomfortable for the Justice Department -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Kara Scannell, thanks so much. Let's discuss this now with Anna Cominsky, director of the Criminal

Defense Clinic at New York Law School. Also with us in studio, CNN legal analyst Carrie Cordero.

Anna, let me start with you.

So, Emil Bove, the deputy acting deputy attorney general today, tells the Justice Department, tells Justice Department prosecutors, find one career lawyer to file the official dismissal case against Mayor Adams, again a Democratic mayor accused of corruption. Those prosecutors discussed a mass resignation, but in the end, most of the lawyers coalesced around picking one person to file the dismissal. I mean, what -- what would you have recommended they do in this situation?

ANNA COMINSKY, PROFESSOR OF LAW, NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL: Well, you know, this is a really difficult situation. It's very tricky.

What -- what I think is really significant here is the fact that, as, was highlighted before, in the memo from Bove to the prosecutors, he says, and I quote, I actually have it in front of me, that the Justice Department has reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence or legal theories. And so the problem is prosecutors, when they make a motion before the court, in particular when they make a motion to dismiss, they have to provide a basis for that dismissal.

And as an officer of the court, both defense attorneys and prosecutors are required to represent to the court in good faith whatever it is that they're asking for. And so this meeting with all these prosecutors, where they're sitting around, it sounds like based on what we know right now, they're all sitting around saying, we don't have that basis. And that's a real problem.

TAPPER: Carrie Cordero, could we see Bove's actions face any sort of legal challenge, or is it just Trump and he are in charge?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: No. I think what could potentially happen is if, as Kara was describing, if the judge had a hearing, the judge could call senior leaders of the department to come in and explain the situation.

But I think, you know, more important for the department itself is this is really a matter of just fundamental professional ethics for the department lawyers, for these lawyers in the public integrity -- integrity section and for those who are in the Southern District of New York. You know, I worked for the department a long time ago, but I was career civil service.

And, at the beginning of the Bush administration, I can remember a specific time where we were working on really sensitive national security matters and the senior leaders who were responsible for that particular office specifically gave the lawyers in that office guidance that if they didn't feel, in their professional judgment, not personal bias, not political opinion, but in their professional legal judgment, that they could not sign a particular document that was going before a court that they that was okay. And there would be absolutely no adverse professional consequences to that. [16:25:00]

It's not something that people did lightly.

And so it's not something that any of these attorneys, I think, in the department, do lightly. But they have to put the fact that their client is the American people and the fact that they are -- have -- are sworn members of the bar in which their professional judgment resides.

TAPPER: It's just so weird.

Anna, I want to play some new sound from President Trump, who was just asked about the prosecutors who resigned from the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they had a problem. And these are mostly people from the previous administration, you understand? So they weren't going to be there anyway. They were going to all be gone or dismissed. If not, they know on Tuesday, they're all being dismissed -- you know, the whole country is being because what you do is you come in and you put new people in. So when you say resign, they're going to be gone anyway. But I know nothing about the individual case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I mean, first of all, is that is that true?

COMINSKY: Well, we don't know who's getting fired. We've certainly seen a lot of people leave voluntarily and not voluntarily. So I'm not sure whether -- you know, who's coming and who's going. What's clear to me, though, is that there are some real issues with this because you don't see this kind of resignation, you don't see multiple prosecutors stepping away from a case like that. This -- you don't see a memo like this that that actually says that were ordering you to do something, but its not based on our analysis of the case.

And one other thing, Jake, that I point out to you that I think is really significant is the fact that the memo directs the dismissal to be without prejudice, which means it continues to hang over Adams. It can be brought again. If it was being dismissed with prejudice, it could not be brought again. And therefore that quid pro quo might not be as easy to argue.

TAPPER: All right. Yeah.

CORDERO: Just a fact check that presidential statement so as to a U.S. attorney --

TAPPER: Yeah.

CORDERO: -- yes. Those are individuals that a president can come in and get rid of. But career federal prosecutors who are not politically appointed do not normally come in and out with a different administration.

TAPPER: Yeah. I mean, but the woman, she -- she's another --

CORDERO: She would be an act -- she was the acting

TAPPER: She's acting U.S. attorney or acting deputy U.S. attorney.

CORDERO: Right, so presumably, she was an AUSA in the office. She was the acting, and -- but the other prosecutors who were on the team, if they were just career prosecutors or some of these people in public integrity, they are not necessarily political.

TAPPER: But I think its worth pointing out that the -- that the two we know of are conservatives. They clerked for conservative justice, one clerked for Scalia, one clerked for Roberts and Kavanaugh. These aren't Biden holdovers. These aren't liberals.

CORDERO: Right, there are no U.S., the U.S. attorneys who were appointed by President Biden would not be expected to stay over.

TAPPER: And just to remind people, this is about alleged corruption of a Democratic governor. It's all just so weird and not transparent.

Anna Cominsky, Carrie Cordero, thanks to you.

Coming up next, raking in millions. I'm going to talk to "The Wall Street Journal" reporter who is revealing an incredible amount of money flowing in for President Trump and his family, not chump change. And he's not even a full month into office.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:32:39]

TAPPER: Our money lead now, "The Wall Street Journal" has some new exclusive reporting on the influx of cash going to President Trump and members of his family since his election victory. About $80 million have flown to the president, his family and the Trump presidential library through retail efforts, lawsuit settlements, new business ventures, and more.

One of those new business ventures, the sale of Melania Trump's documentary to Amazon. "The Wall Street Journal" reports that the first lady's cut is more than 70 percent. That's quite a cut of $40 million -- $40 million is a lot of money for a streamer that has a reputation for being something of a penny pincher. And yet, Amazon paid nearly three times more than the next highest bidder, with Disney offering just a paltry $14 million.

With me now, one of "The Wall Street Journal" reporters who broke these details, Annie Linskey.

I mean, Annie, this is just stunning stuff.

When you started looking into flow of money toward Trump, what did you find?

ANNIE LINSKEY, REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: I mean, to me, this the amount here and each individual sort of settlement and deal. I mean, we're talking about, you know, generational wealth. I mean, $80 million is, you know, a very wealthy family. And that has come in the door to the Trump family, to various organizations just since the election.

So for me, that, you know, just the numbers alone have just been stunning. I feel like, you know, when you look at various settlements, the ABC settlement, the Meta settlement, the X settlement that just happened, you know, you kind of become immune to the numbers. But I keep, you know, when you add it up to $80 million. And that's really just what we were able to count.

TAPPER: So I talked to somebody at CBS and as, you know, their parent company, Paramount, is considering settling Trump's I don't know what to call it -- his lawsuit against "60 Minutes" that probably would not do very well in court. But Shari Redstone, who wants this, this merger to go through, is talking about settling.

And a CBS News employee said, lets call it what it is, a bribe. And a lot of this money that you're talking about is coming from tech executives. Bezos with the $40 million here, Amazon, Zuckerberg with the $25 million settlement from Meta. Elon Musk for the for the Twitter or X settlement.

LINSKEY: Yeah.

TAPPER: Does anybody care that to some people this really stinks.

LINSKEY: I mean, I have been very curious about that question because if you look at who Trump has gotten the money from, it's from big institutions that are very wealthy and not particularly popular among the American people. I mean, various politicians, including Trump, ran against big tech. And right now, it appears that he's squeezing big tech, and there isn't really a hue and a cry for, oh golly, I'm so upset about the billionaire Jeff Zuckerberg and how he -- he's transferring money to the Trump Organization or to Trump and his library.

TAPPER: Mark Zuckerberg.

LINSKEY: Yes. Excuse me, excuse me.

TAPPER: Jeff Zucker.

LINSKEY: Yes. I'm sorry. I'm conflating Jeff Bezos with Mark Zuckerberg, and I apologize for that. And these are two billionaires that do have something in common, which they have been sort of on the opposite side of Trump. They've been Trump critics. And now they have found a way, sort of an avenue to his favor. And they've used it.

TAPPER: Quite an avenue. And I should note, he's not squeezing them for to improve their product, to help the American people or for free speech or for whatever. I mean, if the squeezing is squeezing is going into his presidential library or his or his back pocket. So, Ty Cobb, who served as the top White House lawyer in Trump's first administration, he is speaking out about this, he said in an interview with "The Journal", quote, everything he does, meaning Trump is either to be vengeful or to accumulate wealth, power and adulation.

All these people want a piece of him. I mean, that's his own former lawyer saying that to you guys.

LINSKEY: Yeah, I know. It is -- it is stunning. And I think that Trump has personally been, particularly when you look at the tech lawsuits, he felt personally hurt by what happened. And he was personally angered by it. It's not something that he got over, you know, being de-platformed.

And in talking to people familiar with that litigation, you know, Trump himself was bringing this up constantly and saying, how are we doing on this? How are we doing on this?

So this is, you know, there is a piece of this where he is getting quite a lot of money, but there is a piece of it, too, that is sort of his own, you know, gratification to be sort of feeling that he's getting a more even shot now.

TAPPER: Yeah. Annie Linskey, great reporting. Thank you so much for being here.

LINSKEY: Thank you.

TAPPER: Back to our politics lead, Vice President J.D. Vance sounded quite like a free speech advocate in Munich today, especially with this comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: Free speech, I fear, is in retreat and in the interest of comity, my friends, but also in the interest of truth, I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe, but from within my own country, where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Speaking of the interest of truth, that position Vice President Vance is espousing would be a lot easier to stand behind if the Trump White House, the Trump/Vance White House weren't currently waging a battle against free speech, which the Trump White House itself is labeling misinformation. Around the same time that Vance was saying that, the Trump White House announced that it is barring reporters from "The Associated Press", one of the biggest news outlets in the world, from the Oval Office and from Air Force One indefinitely.

The reason for this, "Associated Press" editors are not abiding by the presidents renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The U.S. is the only country calling this body of water the Gulf of America, and the "AP" has read all over the world. So its editors say they're going to use the name Gulf of Mexico, while also acknowledging Trump's renaming.

This move by the White House is questionably -- is questionable legally, it may fall under rules preventing the White House from engaging in, quote, viewpoint discrimination. But beyond that, it's without question this move to ban the "AP" from the Oval and Air Force One, without question, this is contrary to freedom of speech.

This is the most powerful people in the world punishing a legitimate, important news organization for not abiding by its language edicts in the way they want them to.

Vice President Vance, look at the foundation on which you're standing with your free speech proclamations. You are standing on a slippery slope. Be careful.

New details just in from the NTSB as it investigates that deadly plane crash right outside D.C. And why pilots of a Black Hawk helicopter were flying so high.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:46]

TAPPER: In our national lead, the new details we just learned into last months deadly crash over the Potomac River, NTSB investigators believe that the Black Hawk helicopter may not have heard calls from air traffic control before the helicopter collided mid-air with American Airlines Flight 5342.

Let's get right to CNN's Pete Muntean at NTSB headquarters.

Pete, tell us more.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Major new details here, Jake, from this very revealing briefing from the National Transportation Safety Board, the first time it has held a briefing since the week of that January 29th mid-air collision, also, the first time we have gotten a readout of the details from the flight data and voice recorder, the black box on board that Black Hawk helicopter.

The key new findings here from the NTSB, it now believes that the crew of that Black Hawk helicopter was wearing night vision goggles, which is key because that may have actually limited their view in the moments leading up to this crash.

Also, the NTSB is still trying to account for a discrepancy captured by the voice recorder when it comes to altitude. The pilot on board that helicopter said the altitude was 300 feet. At the same time, the voice recorder captured the instructor pilot sitting next to her, saying the altitude was at 400 feet.

[16:45:02] One thing is clear here, according to the NTSB, the radio altimeter on board that helicopter said the altitude at the time of the crash was 278 feet. That's a piece of equipment that bounces a radio beam from the aircraft to the ground, bounces it back to the helicopter, gives a more accurate readout of its height above the ground level.

But NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy told me she still needs to have her investigators account for that altitude discrepancy earlier in the flight, and the crew may have not had a full and accurate picture of their altitude at the time of the crash.

Listen to what she told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: I think that's going to take a significant amount of work I mean we have a very experienced team in the recorders lab. I'm very impressed with their work, but it's going to take some time. They're going to have to work with manufacturers of the equipment, the army and others to really understand what was going on.

MUNTEAN: Is it possible here that the Black Hawk crew did not have the holistic, full picture of what altitude they were actually at?

HOMENDY: It's certainly possible. And that's something we're looking at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: One more major finding here, Jake, that some of the radio transmissions from the controllers in the tower at Reagan National Airport may have not been heard by the crew of that Black Hawk helicopter. The NTSB was able to figure this out by playing back the voice recorder. And they say that the ATC instruction that to pass behind the approaching American Airlines Flight 5342 may have been blocked for 8/10 of a second, blocking that pass behind the flight transmission because the crew of that helicopter was pressing their microphone transmission button at the same time, they called it a blocked transmission.

Just more factors in this investigation. That is only at its very beginning stages, Jake. And the NTSB says it could take a year or more to get to a probable final cause here.

TAPPER: All right. Pete Muntean at NTSB headquarters, thanks so much.

The government of Israel insists that Hamas will be defeated, but over and over, the terrorist group is sending a quite different message. What does it show of force mean for this war coming up on 500 days?

We'll have a report from the region, next.

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[16:51:39] TAPPER: Our world lead now. We are hours away from the scheduled next hostage release by the terrorist group Hamas. Those set to be freed tomorrow are American, Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, whose family we've had on the show many times. Alexandre Troufanov and Iair Horn. All three kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7th terrorist attacks, October 7th, 2023, held in captivity, now for 497 days.

The deal was close to falling apart. Among the many reasons Israel's concern about Hamas continued activity in Gaza after more than a year of having its bases and leaders bombed as the terrorists hid amongst the population of Gaza. Hamas seems no closer to being eliminated.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond filed this report.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Week after week, Hamas has turned the spotlight of hostage releases into a choreographed show of force.

Weapons brandished to the world, these militants delivering one clear message. We are undefeated.

For 15 months, Israel has unleashed the full weight of its military might in Gaza, deploying tens of thousands of ground troops while dropping millions of pounds of explosives from the air. And yet, amid the rubble, Hamas still standing, flaunting machine guns and rocket propelled grenades.

They said they defeated the resistance. Here is the resistance. The resistance doesn't die and is always in the field and present, even if a far greater war comes towards us, we are ready, this man says.

All these young children are ready. Give this child a rifle and he's ready to fight. At the funeral of one of Hamas's top military commanders, hundreds of militants parade through the streets, raising serious questions about Israel's strategy in this war.

What does it say that after 15 months of war, these are still the pictures that we're seeing?

AMI AYALON, FORMER DIRECTOR, SHIN BET: What it means is very, very simple. We refuse to understand it. We refuse to accept it and we refuse to understand that we are fighting a different type of war.

DIAMOND: Ami Ayalon is the former director of the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service. What you are saying is that these images of Hamas in Gaza should be a flashing red light for the Israeli government to change strategy.

AYALON: It is.

DIAMOND: Absolute victory over Hamas has been central to the Israeli prime minister's strategy since day one.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We will fight until we achieve victory, total victory. There is no substitute for it.

DIAMOND: And he is showing no signs of changing course. Still reluctant to discuss a day after plan for Gaza or to allow a Palestinian alternative to Hamas to govern the strip.

AYALON: It's the wrong strategy. In order to win Hamas, you have to create a reality in which Palestinians will not support Hamas and Palestinians will not support Hamas only when they will see a better future without Hamas.

DIAMOND: While some hold up Hamas's show of force as proof of Israel's strategic failure, others are calling on the prime minister to double down.

BEN GVIR, FORMER ISRAEL NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER: It's time for a massive war. It's time to stop their fuel, stop their humanitarian aid, stop the aid trucks.

[16:55:01]

It's time to destroy Hamas.

DIAMOND: But there is mounting evidence that Israel's assault on Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of civilians, is backfiring, driving more Palestinians to take up arms.

ANTONY BLINKEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost. That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.

DIAMOND: Hamas has faced some anger in Gaza from a population drained by more than a year of war. The group, now looking to build up its popularity amid the ceasefire.

We would like to salute the Palestinian people, our resilient people persevered under the fire of the Zionist cowardly enemy, this militant says. Thank God for everyone's safety.

At a checkpoint until recently manned by Israeli soldiers, Hamas militants now stand guard. Police officers from the Hamas-run government are now back on the streets, as Hamas officials seek to reestablish municipal services and show they can still govern Gaza.

But amid these shows of force, there is also a message to Palestinians in Gaza who would think to challenge Hamas, which has long silenced political dissent, with a brute force.

To them and the rest of the world. Hamas, making clear it remains in power and will not surrender.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Jeremy Diamond for that report. In just a few minutes, the former White House chief of staff will join

me with his take on the messages coming from the Trump administration when it comes to Russia's war in Ukraine and where the U.S. stands.

Stay with us.

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