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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump To Deliver State Of The Union Address Tonight; DOJ May Have Withheld FBI Interviews With Trump Accusers; Epstein Survivors To Attend Trump's State Of The Union; Guthrie Family Offers $1 million Reward For Info About Mother; Newsom Criticized For Test Score And Reading Remarks In Atlanta. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired February 24, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:00:30]

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Thanks very much to my panel and to all of you at home for watching. A reminder CNN special coverage of the State of the Union address starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time tonight. And The Lead with Jake Tapper starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead up. Jake Tapper. This hour, a huge night here in Washington, D.C. and for the nation. President Trump heads to the Capitol for his State of the Union address. What will he say about his plans for the economy and for Iran? Well, a bunch of us just got a preview from the president himself and I'll tell you some of what he said.

Plus, an emotional plea in the search for Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie, her daughter, announcing a $1 million reward for information leading to her return. We'll bring you all the latest on the search.

Also, new questions from the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. Congressman Robert Garcia of California says the Department of Justice withheld documents referencing President Trump from the Epstein files.

What evidence is he pointing to? And what is the Justice Department saying about it?

Good evening, America. During a lunch at the White House with TV news anchors, including me, the president said that tonight's pitch will be that, quote, the country is about to have the best three years economically in the nation's history, and it's already started, unquote.

Now, while much of the lunch was off the record, this much we can say, the president talked about his plans to advocate for new tax cuts or forms of tax cuts and other economic advancements, including a deal with a bunch of AI and tech firms to pay for their own electricity for the data centers they're building throughout the country. Now on the massive military buildup in tensions with Iran. President

Trump said that Iran wants to make a deal to avoid a U.S. military strike even more than he does. But so far, Iran has been unwilling to say explicitly what the president referred to as a sacred phrase, that it will not build nuclear weapons.

Now, on paper, this should be a friendly audience in this joint session of Congress with Republican majorities in the House and Senate and a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, one-third of which President Trump himself appointed. Yet to hear him describe some of the folks who are going to be speaking tonight, you'd think maybe he was walking to a den of vipers.

Dozens of Democrats are boycotting the event, and I'm not even talking about them, but there are Republicans in the audience who are top of mind for the President, who have expressed opposition to his tariffs and who have pushed for the release of the Epstein files.

And up for reelection, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to remove Trump from office after his 2021 impeachment, as did Republican Senators Collins and Murkowski. But now the President's enemies list has grown with the justices striking down his signature economic policy, his sweeping tariff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Now, I'm ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what's right for our country. They also are a frankly disgrace to our nation. I think it's an embarrassment to their families. You want to know the truth? The two of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Talking right there about two of his appointees who voted to get rid of the president's tariffs. Now, 16 years ago, back in 2010, President Obama's criticism of just a court ruling during his State of the Union led Chief Justice Roberts to question why justices even attend. It remains to be seen how many justices are going to be sitting in their traditional front row seats tonight. But behind them, of course, will be the Democrats who show up. Some by now are probably used to this type of attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Adam Schiff is one of the lowest forms of scum I've ever dealt with in politics. He's a horrible human being, very dishonest person.

Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage.

I think she's terrible. I think she should be impeached. I think she's terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: President scorn, of course, is not just reserved for one side of the room. Margins so tight, of course he cannot afford to lose any Republican votes. And yet this is how he talks about some members of his own party.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: I didn't like a certain Republican and you know, we like this guy Massie. He's going to be taken out. He's no good.

He's guy named Thomas Massie. There's something wrong with him.

He's a very bad person. He's a very bad Republican. Bad American.

Rand Paul, always. I don't know why he votes no, but he just, I guess he thinks it's good politics.

I had a very nasty vote from a couple of people. I guess Collins, I guess Lisa Murkowski.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:05:07]

TAPPER: Even if the president looks to the balcony where other guests will be sitting, he is likely to see some Epstein survivors, each one a living reminder of a story that is not going away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's a hoax. The whole thing is a hoax. I know that no matter what you do, it's going to keep going.

I think it's really time for the country to get onto something else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Kristen Holmes is live for us at the White House. So, Kristen, what are you learning about the president's final preps before his big speech tonight?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake over told the president had spent some of today going through final edits. He's been looking at it all throughout the weekend, making those tweaks in addition to talking to allies and advisers on the phone ahead of that speech.

Now, we also know that he had that lengthy lunch that you mentioned off the record with anchors to talk about the speech. And then he hosted the U.S. Hockey Team, the winning team, in the Oval Office. We think it's possible they're still there. They've been there for quite some time. They showed off their medals.

But for all intents and purposes, White House officials tell me that he is taking this seriously, that he wants to stay on message. He wants to deliver a message, particularly on the economy. But of course, there's always the question of whether or not President Trump can stay on message despite what he wants to do. TAPPER: The president has been facing immense resistance from some of

the people he's going to see in the House chamber tonight, including at least six of the nine Supreme Court justices. I'm not sure how many are actually going to be there. What will that look like? And are his aides worried that he might see a Thomas Massie or Elisa Murkowski or John Roberts or whomever, Neil Gorsuch, and say something that distracts from the message he wants to convey.

HOLMES: Well, Republicans and allies that I spoke to all day today are certainly worried about that. They are worried that the format itself could lend itself to an airing of grievances which President Trump is want to do, whether it is with justices, whether it is with Democrats.

Now, we do know that President Trump feeds off the crowd. He always has, whether it be at a rally or in a setting like this. And we also know the Democrats have been warned or instructed by Democratic leadership not to engage in some kind of protest while in the audience, not to essentially act out and give him something to feed off of.

But President Trump, he has been angry. He has been increasingly frustrated, rated over the last several weeks, particularly because he thinks his message and his administration is not being well received, that they're not selling themselves enough.

And if he does see some of those familiar faces that he has such disdain for in the crowd, it is certainly likely that will send him off into, once again, an airing of grievances.

TAPPER: All right, Kristen Holmes at the White House. Thanks so much. I want to get some perspective now from a Senate Republican, Roger Marshall of the great state of Kansas. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

So I guess one of the big challenges for President Trump tonight is according to polls, a majority of the public say the State of our Union is not strong. 61 percent think the president's policies are moving the U.S. in the wrong direction.

Now, I'm sure you disagree because you approve and you support many of those policies, if not all of them. What do you think the president needs to say tonight to turn some of those numbers around?

SEN. ROGER MARSHALL (R-KS): Jake, I think number one is that I do acknowledge that we're in a deep hole, that four years under the previous administration, we had inflation that dug us a deep hole, 50 percent inflation for things like health care, for housing, for childcare. So it is a deep hole.

There is a certain group of people, a significant number of people. Typically they're younger age folks that didn't buy a house four or five years ago and they're struggling to start that marriage off, some of those types of things. So I hope that he addresses that we do have a cost of living issue.

And then he lays out his plan how Republicans are going to take on the cost of housing, the cost of health care, the cost of childcare, and help bring everybody up to where America is truly a great again for everybody.

But it's also, you know, tonight we need to celebrate, too. We need to celebrate our accomplishments, that our borders are secure, that the military has done an incredible job, record number of military accomplishments. And at the same time emphasize that income has gone up. Wages have gone up some $1,400 this year over inflation. So wages up $1,400.

This it's income tax time. People are going to get an extra fifteen hundred dollars back. So we need to remind the people of some of the good things that are happening.

TAPPER: So, you know, this has long been a topic when it comes to presidents. It's not focused just on President Trump, but a president's ability to convey to the American people that he understands that they are feeling economic pain.

There was the joke about George H.W. Bush when he read the teleprompter notes of the notes or a message, I care. Bill Clinton, you know, I feel your pain. Talk about Joe Biden and how he was so convinced that the economy was doing well, he started a tour for Bidenomics, which didn't go over very well.

Do you think President Trump has it in him to, like, I know he feels like the economy's kicking and like, things are great and they're only going to get better.

[17:10:03]

But what does he need to say, do you think, to convey to the Americans out there who are worried about grocery bills, et cetera, beyond Biden was a disaster. What more does he need to say?

MARSHALL: Yes, I think so. First of all, I agree with President Trump. The economy is doing great at the macro level. You know, we're seeing 4 or 5 percent GDP growth, wages are going up. Like, like I mentioned, the rent has come down six months in a row now at a four-year low. So there are great things happening in the economy.

But this hole is so deep. I didn't realize how deep it is. But I have young kids that are struggling as well with young kids at home. So I think we need to acknowledge that some people are struggling, that after four years of inflation, it was a very deep hole. We're climbing to get out of it. So I think that President Trump needs to communicate that we're right there with you. Help is on its way.

Look, we got the prices of gas down, utilities are coming down, interest rates are coming down. Things are starting to happen. Hang in there with us. Good job. Numbers are out there, wages growing faster than inflation.

So, you know, just like that, coach needs to get in there and say, look, you know, March Madness is around the corner. We throw the previous record away. We got a good team here. Let's keep moving forward.

But better remember, this country was founded on hard work and sacrifice.

TAPPER: Yes.

MARSHALL: I think we've told the younger generation there shouldn't be any hard work or sacrifice. So we all have work to do.

TAPPER: So Moody's says that your home state of Kansas is actually in a recession. What to what do you attribute that? Is that because of the tariffs? Why do you think that's going on?

MARSHALL: Well, I don't -- I would disagree with that. I don't see at all that we're in a recession. I mean, I just finished a four corner, 50-county tour and I don't see that recession. I see a group of people that are struggling and again, I think that they just struggled for four years. Wages did not keep up with inflation.

But I see it flipping around. I see manufacturing jobs coming home because of the tariffs. I see that record trade agreements going out. China just doubled up on a purchase of soybeans. The working families' tax cuts gave us a 45Z tax credit. It's going to help us turn corn into jet fuel. So we're pretty bullish in Kansas.

TAPPER: Let Me ask you about Iran. Back in June, you said, quote, we do not want American troops involved in a foreign war. But the president is talking about more military strikes on Iran.

MARSHALL: Yes, you know, I think it's a tough situation right now. I think the ball is in Iran's court. We cannot tolerate them having nuclear weapons. I sure don't want to have any type of boots on the ground, so to speak. If we have to have another military strike, I hope we can do it with our Air Force. It's, look, this is a decision for the president.

TAPPER: Of course, you know, the Air Force dropping bombs, the Air Force being involved in a military operation, that has risks, too. Two weeks ago, President Trump said this about the action in Venezuela.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They were hit pretty bad in the legs. You know, they're landing a big chopper and they're being shot at from close range by a machine gun. So it is not a comfortable feeling. They landed it perfectly and they got out of there perfectly. And they're just brave guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Boots on the ground. But we have some very seriously wounded pilots. Helicopter pilots.

MARSHALL: Yes. You know, so I'm a physician. I have to give recommendations to a patient. You want chemotherapy, you need chemotherapy. Do the benefits outweigh the risk? And I think the president weighed those benefits and risk. Fortunately, no one was killed. There was a couple serious injuries.

And I think whenever we go into war, but we have to go in there with this peace through strength attitude. That was a saying that President Eisenhower started back in the 1950s, by the way.

So I think we have to sit there and weigh the benefits of the risk. Certainly we don't want Iran with nuclear weapons. And if that's the case, I think the benefits of some type of a military action is justified.

TAPPER: All right, Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas. Thanks so much for being here, sir. Really appreciate it. Good to see you.

Coming up, a potentially big development in the Epstein files. The Justice Department is now responding to allegations from Democrats that they withheld some documents linked to President Trump.

And in a new emotional, heartbreaking video, Savannah Guthrie is offering up to $1 million from her family for any credible information that leads to the return of her mother. Stay with us.

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[17:18:18]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead today, the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee is accusing the U.S. Justice Department of withholding FBI interviews with survivors from its release of the Epstein files.

California Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia says one of those interviews includes an unverified sexual assault allegation against President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): There is a series of documents that are actually missing from the DOJ's archive that we have access to. And so why those documents are missing, especially when we know that this survivor made very serious allegations against the president about abuse, is incredibly serious, points to a possible cover up. And it's something that is just developing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: President Trump, of course, has long denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein or any allegation of sexual misconduct. He has never been accused of any crime. Relatedly, the DOJ tells CNN it has, quote, not deleted anything and that it produced all the documents acquired under the law unless they were, quote, duplicates, privileged or part of an ongoing federal investigation, unquote.

A number of Jeffrey Epstein survivors are going to be in the audience for President Trump's State of the Union address this evening. One of them is Liz Stein, who we've had on the show before, and she joins us now from Capitol Hill. Liz is going to be a guest of Democratic Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez of New Mexico.

Liz, tell us why it was important for you and other Epstein survivors to come to the State of the Union address and be in the room.

LIZ STEIN, ESPTEIN SURVIVOR ATTENDING STATE OF THE UNION: I think that for us, for so long we have watched this Department of Justice fail us over and over again.

[17:20:02]

This haphazard release of the files where we're seeing potential perpetrators being protected and names and personal information of survivors being identified really felt like an intentional attempt to try to silence us. And that is the opposite of what the effect was on us. If anything, it made us more energized to go forward in our pursuit of justice.

And so it's really important for us to be here today and to, you know, make ourselves seen and make ourselves heard because it is just so important for us to finally get accountability by whatever means we need to do that.

TAPPER: Do you want President Trump to acknowledge you and your fellow survivors when he speaks this evening?

STEIN: I think that it will be interesting to see what happens. You know, just a week ago, we were surprised that were not acknowledged by AG Bondi. So I really -- it's hard to predict what's going to happen tonight. But we're watching. And not only are we watching, but the American public is watching.

And, you know, I think it's hard sometimes for us to accept apologies from people who have just over and over denied us, denied our validity, denied our experience and denied us justice. So, you know, your guess is as good as mine. We'll see what happens.

TAPPER: What are you hoping to hear from the President tonight? Do you hope that he does bring up the Epstein files?

STEIN: I think that if he does bring them up, it will be interesting to see how he brings them up and what he addresses about the files. I don't know if he's going to give this any error during the State of the Union, but it's going to be interesting to see if he does and in what context he brings it up.

TAPPER: A year ago this Friday, the Trump White House handed over what it called the first file phase of the Epstein files, giving them to right-wing influencers. A lot of those, if not all of them, had already been released.

And from the start, this was part of a promise from the Trump administration to be transparent on Epstein. Obviously there are questions as to how transparent they've been. What do you -- what do you make of that? Did they live up to this promise of transparency at all? STEIN: Absolutely not. And I think that, you know, American people are

seeing that very plainly and very clearly now. I say all of the time that this is not about politics. This is about the crime of sex trafficking. None of us could allow this to happen in our communities. So why are we letting this happen, you know, as a nation and we really have a moment here in history to stand on the right side of this issue and despite our politics, just to stand for what's right and what's just and what we believe in as Americans.

TAPPER: We've seen some high profile arrests in the U.K., former Prince Andrew, ex-business secretary and Ambassador Peter Mandelson. We have not seen any criminal charges in the U.S. or even developments about investigations opening or whatever. Do you think that we are going to see that kind of accountability here in the US?

STEIN: We certainly hope so. And that's what we're fighting for. It is an embarrassment that European countries are taking the lead on this. And I really hope that someone in the Justice Department really sees the bigger picture here and understands that it's time to be on the right side of the issue, no matter what the cost.

TAPPER: Liz Stein, thank you so much. Always good to have you on. And as always, we appreciate your courage in speaking out. Thank you so much.

STEIN: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Coming up, a new plea for help and a big new reward. Savannah Guthrie, the NBC News anchor offering $1 million for information that leads to the return of her mother. This is from an emotional new video. Stay with us.

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[17:28:40]

TAPPER: In our National Lead, after a week of silence, Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie today came out with an emotional new plea as the desperate search for her mother Nancy stretches on for a fourth week. The Guthrie family is now offering up to a million dollars for information leading directly to Nancy Guthrie's return.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NANCY GUTHRIE'S DAUGHTER: We still believe that she can come home. Hope against hope. As my sister says, we are blowing on the embers of hope. We also know that she may be lost. She may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves, but we need to know where she is. We need her to come home.

For that reason, we are offering a family reward of up to $1 million for any information that leads us to her recovery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Ed Lavandera is following all the latest from Tucson, Arizona. Ed, it's just heartbreaking to hear Savannah acknowledge that her mother may already be gone, may have passed.

What are you hearing about why the family is offering this huge reward now?

[17:30:07]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we were told by a source close to the Guthrie family that this was something that the family wanted to do at the very beginning of the investigation, which is now into its fourth week, 24 days ago when this nightmare started for them. But they were cautioned off of that by law enforcement investigators saying that there were already a flood of calls coming in. The story was already generating a great deal of publicity.

They didn't want to overwhelm the infrastructure of the call centers. And we know that in talking to investigators, they've had to beef up and add more people and staffing to these call centers to handle the influx of calls, especially after the videos and the pictures of the suspect were released almost two weeks ago when even a larger flood and avalanche of calls came in because of that. But Jake, we've been told in recent days that that number of calls and tips being called into these call centers has dropped as this investigation has gone on and on.

TAPPER: This also comes as the Pima County Sheriff today addressed various reports that images of the suspect that had been previously released to the public by the FBI a couple of weeks ago, one, in which he's wearing a backpack and one, where he's not wearing a backpack. Did the sheriff offer any clarity? There are reports that these are from different days.

LAVANDERA: Not a lot of clarity, but if you remember, you know, those pictures we were standing here together in Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood when those pictures were released by the FBI. And as we were going through those batch of photos, we both noticed there was that one photo that showed the suspect without the backpack, without the holster gun around his waist, very different from all of the other photos and videos that were released in that moment.

Source tells CNN that it's believed that that photo comes from a different day, suggesting that it was another day that the suspect was here at Nancy Guthrie's front doorstep, which could help explain why investigators have been asking neighbors and residents around here to offer up videos from January 1st to February 2nd, as well as a few other specific days and times in January as well.

But the sheriff in Pima County here told us and released a statement saying that any suggestion that this photo comes from a different day at this point is highly speculative because there is not a timestamp on those videos and pictures.

TAPPER: All right, Ed Lavandera, keep us updated on the search. Thank you so much. And if you out there, if you have any information you think could help this case, please call the Pima County Sheriff's Department at 520-351-4900 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. You can also reach the Bureau online at tips.fbi.gov. You can make any tip anonymously.

Coming up, in just a few hours, the President's going to use a major speech to argue that the country is better off under his leadership. Polls show many Americans do not agree. How is he going to convince them that they're wrong?

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[17:37:25]

TAPPER: We're back with our Politics Lead. In a midterm election year, the State of the Union is typically an opportunity for the President to talk about his accomplishments and lay out the argument as to why his party should control Congress for the rest of his term.

But with flaccid approval ratings, and a government in partial shutdown, and multiple foreign crises, and a recent takedown of his tariff powers by the U.S. Supreme Court, how tough will it be for President Trump to make that sale for the midterms to the American people?

Joining us now, CNN senior political and global affairs commentator Rahm Emanuel, who previously served as chief of staff at the Obama White House, U.S. ambassador to Japan under Biden, and some, I think, political director. Is that what you did for Bill Clinton? Political director?

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I was special advisor on policy and politics.

TAPPER: Anyway, my point is that you know from State of the Union speeches, what is the measure of a good, successful State of the Union address?

EMANUEL: Well, a good measure is that you've given yourself an agenda that actually directs the country, and more importantly, directs the Congress. I think this is going to, unfortunately for him, he's going to make it about himself, not the American people. And he has another audience, which is the members of Congress, who are doubting his leadership and where they stand right now.

Remember, Democrats basically since November 2024 have gone 13 for 13 in every statewide election. And so he has to convince that Congress that he has an agenda that has their interests in mind. Then he has to convince the American people he hears their concerns. And I'm not sure that given where his head is, everything we've seen recently in Georgia, that that's what he's going to do.

TAPPER: So I was part of a group of network anchors that had lunch with the President as a tradition going back decades.

EMANUEL: Yes.

TAPPER: And we're not allowed to talk about the contents of it, except for a couple of things that he said we could say. And one of them is his belief that, and I'm paraphrasing here, but something like the country's about to have the three best years of its economy in American history. And it has already started. I know that a lot of people, Republicans, Democrats alike, are pleading with him, especially the Republicans, please explain that you understand the pain that people are going through. He doesn't see it that way, though.

EMANUEL: I think as a layer is he does not see that. And I think that's going to be a bad place because there's a gulf of expectation between what he is going to say and where the American people are. And the better place to do is acknowledge where they are and tell you, here's how I'm going to get you to a better place. He won't do that because it says what he's done to date is failure.

The second thing I think is a current underneath this. There's anxiety about the economy and there's anxiety about what's happening around the world. And there's an anxiety that we're not taking care of business. When I say around the world, specifically Iran, he went from in the first term, Jake, of being basically gun shy to the second term being trigger happy. And that's what's happening right now.

[17:40:05]

And then you have an economy that is basically a growth period, which is jobless, totally no income growth, except for if you're a tech pro or a financer. And then here you have a President of the United States that wants accolades at what he's done. And the American people said, what have you done for me lately? So I think there is a total mismatch of where he is and where the public is. And there's nothing he's going to say that is going to address any of these anxieties.

TAPPER: So you were chief of staff for Obama in January 2010, right?

EMANUEL: No, I had already left.

TAPPER: You left already after one year?

EMANUEL: No, I left --

TAPPER: 2009.

EMANUEL: Oh, yes, 2008 -- 2010.

TAPPER: 2010, right.

EMANUEL: Yes, yes, yes.

TAPPER: OK, I know your resume better than you do.

EMANUEL: Right. Yes.

TAPPER: So January 2010 President Obama criticizes the Citizens United decision, saying it was like dead wrong or something like that. Huge outcry by Republicans. So inappropriate. Now, President Trump has said much worse about the Supreme Court in the last week since they struck down his tariffs. Not in front of the country, at the State of the Union, but how tough do you think it will be? If you were his chief of staff, you must have -- you would be have spent the last few days saying, please don't insult the Supreme Court.

EMANUEL: I think even before you get to the words, as you know, you walk down the aisle. If you go left, you walk in front of the Supreme Court. That's a tradition. Every president has done it. If you go right, it's your cabinet and the Joint Chiefs. My prediction is that he will go right and totally not even acknowledge them by walking by them.

TAPPER: But that's a slight that the American people won't see. Do you think it's going to be tough for him to resist criticizing, especially Gorsuch and Coney Barrett, who got confirmed that they voted against his tariffs?

EMANUEL: Well, that's where he's most angry. It's not just at the Supreme Court.

TAPPER: No, it's those two.

EMANUEL: It's those two that he thinks are supposed to be loyal to him, not to the Constitution. The other thing is, I mean, I do think in this case is there can be a script. Every president has gone off script. Every president has gone off script. And where that goes, as, you know, as a student of Donald Trump, this can go anywhere. And he may just, the moment just looking at them, watching them not stand, watching them not applaud, which is what they will not do for either case, he just may take off on them. It may not be in the script, but my guess it will be very hard for him in that hour, 60 minutes, to go without saying.

TAPPER: Do you think it's only going to be an hour?

EMANUEL: Well, I'm being generous right now. And also, I rethought in my head as we're talking. I was gone for that. I was already going back to Chicago.

TAPPER: Was that right? You were already? OK.

EMANUEL: Yes.

TAPPER: So we've gone back and forth on this one.

EMANUEL: Yes.

TAPPER: So --

EMANUEL: And it's not that important a fact.

TAPPER: Well, I just wondered if you had told him, please don't do that.

EMANUEL: And there are other things I did, and he still ignored it.

TAPPER: So right now, you called the President trigger happy. What specifically do you take issue with that he has done militarily? Because I think there are a lot of people out there. Maybe you're not one of them. I'm certainly not expressing an opinion, but think bombing the Iranian nuclear sites was successful. Getting Maduro was successful. What do you take issue with?

EMANUEL: Well, there's Nigeria that's also in there, in that area. What I'm saying is he went from, in a period of time in the first term, where he was gun shy. I don't have a problem with what he's done with Iran. I think right now I have a problem. We can talk about that.

TAPPER: You don't want him to strike Iran now?

EMANUEL: No, I think one of the issues is he has not explained the why and what the goal is and the objectives. The second thing that I think is very important. You want to change what's going on in Iran if we're talking about the government? The only people who can do that are the Iranian people. And I would address them and say, you keep doing what we're doing, you're going to have more impoverishment. You have a choice. Your government makes a different choice. You're going to have improvement. You have a choice to force your government to make the right choice. I've laid that for him.

He has not done it either for the American people or directly there. And second, you're not going to bomb them to submission, whether it's a mini strike or a big strike. Now, on the other hand, he's got himself with more metal in the waters around Iran. And getting out of this without taking action is almost impossible.

TAPPER: All right, Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, thank you so much.

[17:43:50]

Still ahead, inside the false narrative posted about Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom's recent comments. That was picked up by right- wing media and run with. What's the real story?

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TAPPER: Our Politics Lead now, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is taking some heat online over comments he made Sunday night in front of a crowd in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): I'm not trying to impress you. I'm just trying to impress upon you. I'm like you. I'm no better than you. You know, I'm a 960 SAT guy. And I'm not trying to offend anyone, you know, trying to act all there if you got 940. But literally a 960 SAT guy, I cannot -- you've never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech. Maybe the wrong business to be in. You know, my dyslexia -- I haven't overcome dyslexia. I'm living with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Governor Newsom has made similar comments plenty of times before in front of all kinds of audiences. But in this instance, the context of what Newsom said was cut out by a right-wing social media account called End Wokeness. It tells lies and shares disinformation all the time. And it depicted what Newsom said as racist. It described it as Governor Newsom to a black crowd in Georgia. "I am like you. I'm a 960 SAT guy. I can't read." That is not what Newsom said. Still, that post has now been viewed millions of times. And the idea that Governor Newsom made racist comments before a black audience has been repeated by numerous right-wing figures and influencers. Even sitting senators Ted Cruz and Tim Scott amplified it. President Trump himself seemingly weighed in.

[17:50:06]

Writing on Truth Social last night. Wow, Gavin Newscum just dropped out of the presidential race. Now Newsom's office told "The L.A. Times" that the audience he was speaking to was actually mixed race. And if you look at video, it might have been even been a majority white. And he wasn't saying he couldn't read like them. He was saying he has dyslexia. You heard the clip.

The danger is that fake, misleading, mischaracterized quotes go viral far faster than the real story. As was once said, lies spread around the world while the truth is still putting on its boots. With me now to discuss my panel, former DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa, Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton. Shermichael, this is not just a Republican problem. There's disinformation all the time.

But, you know, at this point, it does seem like public figures and people other than anonymous Twitter accounts like End Wokeness should have a responsibility to find out the truth of these things before they weigh in.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Welcome to the world of social media. When I first saw the headlines, I was initially troubled. And then I went to YouTube, found the entire speech, watched it. And I think the point was rather noble, which was you can have a challenge in life and you can overachieve and accomplish those things in spite of that challenge.

The only issue that I had with everything that the governor said was that he omitted that it was a little easier for him coming from an upper middle class family. That is not the case for most people with dyslexia. I looked up the numbers. Most are hardworking, middle class families and below. And so their dads aren't judges. Their dads aren't friends with wealthy families that can make sure that they're connected with the right people and the best doctors.

TAPPER: Right.

SINGLETON: That's the only critique I would have. Just say, hey, it was easier for me. But I think as governor of California, maybe some soon to be future president, I want to make sure it's easier for everybody, despite what your financial status might be. That's the only critique I would have.

TAPPER: So Xochitl, the other thing that's a problem here is that, again, the lie travels halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its boots. Megyn Kelly said this quote would haunt him forever. Congressman Randy Fine, a Republican from Florida, says Democrats should demand Newsom's resignation. I mean, watch the video. That's -- he didn't tell a black audience, I'm like you. I can't read. That's not what he said.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's right. And we're going to more of this. It's only 2026. He is likely to run in 2028, as are a number we will likely have Democrats on a dozen or so candidates. And it is quick, especially when you are on X, to for something to catch fire and people to just judge based off of what an influencer says. So much so that MAGA influencers have tweeted wrong information and people within the federal government have been fired.

Like, you remember the binary case where they said that he worked for Lisa Monaco and that he was in charge of the Comey matter in the Eastern District --

TAPPER: Oh, the attorney, yes.

HINOJOSA: -- the Eastern District of Virginia. That wasn't true. He never worked on the Comey matter or the James matter. And he was fired immediately because of a right wing influencer and that tweet taking off. And so this has been a problem, not just in our politics, but also in our government. And even our highest government officials take these MAGA influencers for their word. And it ends up leading to firings.

TAPPER: Now, you said you're Shermichael, welcome to social media. And I get it. This has happened to probably you. It's probably happened to you. I know it's happened to me. I know it's happened to President Trump. But at some point, shouldn't there be some effort to stop it? This is getting out of control. And everybody who is in a position of power or authority or influence should agree to like, OK, let's just make sure this is true before we retweet it.

SINGLETON: Well, you want guardrails. And I think it's probably going to become worse with A.I. I mean, think about deep fake videos that essentially clone someone. That worries me not only in terms of our domestic politics, but think about that internationally. If you have some deep fake video of a foreign adversary making a threatening message --

TAPPER: That's happened already.

SINGLETON: -- literally spark a war. So this is --

TAPPER: Something happened to Abigail Spanberger the other day. Like there was a fake A.I. video of her doing something. I forget what it was.

SINGLETON: I didn't even see that.

TAPPER: Yes.

SINGLETON: God. And that goes to show you, though, Jake, just where we're headed, right? And like I get from a national security perspective, you want to be ahead of the Chinese. You want to be ahead of the Russians. And certainly in that context, I think you should allow our Department of Defense to do what's necessary. But we have got to have some level of guardrails and safety measures in place to protect election integrity, et cetera.

TAPPER: You know, it's going to get worse. Did you see the social media video, the A.I. video of this movie that doesn't exist of Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt?

HINOJOSA: Yes.

TAPPER: It looks so real and it is completely invented. They're like fighting about Jeffrey Epstein.

[17:55:02]

HINOJOSA: Yes. And to that point, it is only going to get worse. But the problem is, is that if you complain about it to the social media companies, they don't really do anything about it in this day and age because they don't want to sort of regulate speech or anything like that, even though it is false. We were just texting yesterday. I was tweeting about Kash Patel and Mike Davis called me an anchor baby. I am not an anchor baby. I am a U.S. citizen, right? But this is the world we live in. It is the opportunity to get the clicks. And that's what people care about.

TAPPER: It's just racist.

HINOJOSA: It's racist. That's -- I am a U.S. citizen.

TAPPER: That's like anytime anybody refers to an African-American they don't like as a DEI hire. That's just --

HINOJOSA: Yes.

TAPPER: -- that's just -- there's another letter I'm thinking of and it's not DEI.

HINOJOSA: Yes.

TAPPER: Anyway. Thank you, Xochitl. Thank you, Shermichael. Appreciate it.

Coming up, when President Trump delivers his State of the Union address tonight, you might notice a few empty seats, Democrats boycotting. Up next, I'm going to talk to a Democratic senator who plans to a hand, even though many of her colleagues plan to skip it. Stay with us.

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