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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Death Toll Soars In Venezuela; 900 Plus Dead, Thousands Missing; Small Plane Crashes Into Beijing's Tallest Building; California To Vote On Controversial Billionaire Tax; U.S. Strikes Iran In Response To A Drone Attack On A Ship; FIFA Clashes With Iran, Egypt Over Pride Flags At Match; Haitians In U.S. Fearful After Supreme Court Ruling. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 26, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:14]

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. Thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate you. Thanks to you for watching as well. Don't forget you can watch much more of The Arena tomorrow.

The Arena Saturday airs at noon and again at 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Would love to have you join us. But don't go anywhere. Jake Tapper is standing by for The Lead.

Hi, Jake. Happy Friday.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Happy Friday to you. I have a new show name idea for your Saturday show, Kasie and the Sunshine Panel. Think about it.

HUNT: OK.

TAPPER: Think about it.

HUNT: Probably at the flagpole.

TAPPER: We'll look for more next week in "The Arena" and tomorrow.

HUNT: Thanks, Jake. See you soon.

TAPPER: A dramatic jump in the death toll in Venezuela now closer to a thousand dead. The Lead starts right now.

The devastation getting worse two days after powerful earthquakes in Venezuela and more than 300 aftershocks. Help is on the way. But can it arrive fast enough in a window closing in to find people alive? Plus, breaking news the U.S. responds hitting inside Iran after Iran's strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Is this a temporary escalation or something longer term?

And in the Epstein investigation, a dramatic move by Congress trying to get a billionaire investor to talk and reveal what he knows about the dead pedophile and non-disclosure agreements and women who reportedly signed them.

Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We're going to start with breaking news in our World Lead. A staggering jump in the death toll in Venezuela as we come up on 48 hours since Wednesday's devastating earthquakes. Authorities are now reporting more than 900 lives lost and hundreds of others remain missing.

New video today helps explain why. This is from a drone over the state of La Guerra right along Venezuela's northern coast, about 15 miles north of Caracas and some 200 miles from the epicenter. It's a tourist town to some, home to so many others. Rescuers believe people could be buried alive under those huge piles of rubble where many tall buildings once stood.

Also, since Wednesday's back to back quakes, experts say there have been more than 300 aftershocks. That's, of course, only complicated any search and rescue efforts. Crews are calling this period the golden window. Within 48 hours, they have a greater chance of finding people alive. Tomorrow at this same time, the chances of them being alive still dramatically plunge.

On top of the desperation, there's also growing frustration. Residents are calling on anyone and everyone to help find survivors who might be trapped. And that help is on the way. That help is on the way. More than 800 rescuers are coming from around the world.

The U.S. alone sending more than 300 people. But getting in for some can be difficult. Some airports in Venezuela were also badly damaged, including the very tarmacs pilots need to make a safe landing. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon starts us off with new video showing the impact of this mounting disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Panic on board as passengers braced through powerful tremors just one glimpse of the chaos unleashed after two massive earthquakes struck Venezuela. This image from the public broadcaster TeleSUR shows large cracks splitting the tarmac at Caracas International Airport, underscoring the damage to critical infrastructure. Tens of thousands are still reported missing.

Emergency teams are racing against time to dig through shattered concrete, listening for any sign of life. In the Caracas district of Chacao, rescuers pull survivors from a collapsed apartment building while others remain trapped inside.

GUSTAVO DUQUE, CHACAO MAYOR: We have rescued three people and there are three more alive inside the structure. God willing, they will be rescued very soon.

POZZEBON (voice-over): As Venezuela struggles to cope with the scale of the disaster, international help is finally trickling in. But the logistical challenges to mobilize the aid remain. These relief convoys loaded with food and water are heading toward the hardest hit communities as officials work to support tens of thousands of displaced families. While the priority remains to rescue survivors before time runs out.

Stefano Pozzebon, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Stefano Pozzebon for that report. Let's bring in Nicole Kast. She's with the International Rescue Committee or IRC, coordinating emergency efforts across the Venezuelan border in Colombia. Thanks for joining us.

[17:05:03]

Let's start with the effort to just get into Venezuela. We've seen the damage to airport tarmacs and surrounding areas. How do teams work around that and get in there?

NICOLE KAST, VENEZUELA COUNTRY DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: Thank you so much. Yes, it is an extreme challenge to get into Venezuela at this time because as you've seen in these images that you just shared, the airport suffered significant damage and is not really available for humanitarian workers. So we're looking at the option of entering via other airports in other areas of the country that have been open for international flights recently and have opened additional routes and also by land. Although there are also significant challenges with that, you know, Venezuela still has a context of significant access restraints in which humanitarian workers have difficulty, often crossing by land.

TAPPER: Doctors are warning of chronic underfunding in Venezuela, which has left hospitals unequipped to treat this surge of patients because of longstanding problems in that country. Do you see that complicating the rescue part of these operations?

KAST: Absolutely. We have to remember that Caracas is the center of the country, the capital, and also the place where all higher level or specialist health facilities are located. And so many of these facilities, including pediatric facilities and others, suffered significant damage, had to be evacuated completely. And that means that all of those patients are now looking for another place for support and help. And so the need in terms of health is significant.

And this is one of the areas that the International Rescue Committee is considering in our response.

TAPPER: What do people in Venezuela right need be -- right now need beyond those under the rubble who need rescuing, and how can people help?

KAST: Well, of course, in these first 72 hours, the priority is search and rescue operations. But as those finish up, our priority, and those are the larger humanitarian communities really supporting people who survived. And we're going to focus on basic needs. Initially, many people are displaced from their homes. Significant part of the affected area has suffered from structural damage.

And so families are living, sleeping on the streets. And our own team, the International Rescue Committee's team on the ground, also is sleeping on the street these last few nights. And that means that shelters are filling up. And so people in those shelters need basic supplies. This includes supply -- hygiene supplies and also supplies for specific populations, children, women. And so that's going to be the priority in the next few days.

And then in the coming weeks, I'm sure we'll see some increased needs in food, food security, as many supermarkets and other places that provided food supplies also suffer damage. So we'll see an increase in hunger, which was already a challenge in Venezuela, a country that's suffering from malnutrition and also additional health needs we -- and wash. We see that water and sanitation systems have been heavily affected also by this -- by this incident.

TAPPER: Nicole Kast, thank you so much.

Many of you watch all this and you feel compelled to try to help those impacted by these earthquakes. CNN has just launched a webpage that lists resources available to do just that. You can look for that at cnn.com/impact. Again, cnn.com/impact.

We have more breaking news in our World Lead. The U.S. military says it just conducted strikes against Iran in response to Iran attacking a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. Let's get straight to CNN National Security Reporter Haley Britzky.

Haley, what are we learning about these U.S. strikes?

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN SENIOR SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Jake. So just moments ago, we heard that the U.S. military carried out strikes along the Strait of Hormuz. This is on Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites the military says in response to this attack that the president spoke about this morning saying that Iran fired drones on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, obviously what he called a foolish violation of the ceasefire agreement that the U.S. has come to with Iran. The president saying that one of those drones hit a cargo ship that was transiting the strait.

And so it's something obviously a significant step after we've had this back and forth with the U.S. and Iran on the ceasefire and what that would look like. And the president sort of insinuating that there could be more issues ahead, saying today that there's still a fight ahead of us, that Iran still has some capability. And this is after, of course, months of conflict between the U.S. and Iran where the U.S. has repeatedly said, including President Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and others, that Iran's military was totally obliterated. And now we're seeing, obviously that is not entirely true as they're still able to able to fire these drones at ships in the strait, Jake.

TAPPER: Haley, Britzky, thanks so much.

Ahead tonight here on The Lead, California's Republican candidate for governor, Steve Hilton will be here. I'm going to ask him about the current governor Gavin Newsom proposing a national tax on billionaires. Plus, terrifying moments in Beijing today when a small plane hit the city's tallest building. What we're learning about how this happened, CNN live on the ground there.

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[17:13:55]

TAPPER: In our World Lead, a shocking moment in Beijing, China today when a small plane crashed into the city's tallest building. In this dramatic footage, you can see debris falling from the 109 story skyscraper. CNN has yet to receive an official response from Chinese authorities. CNN's Mike Valerio is in Beijing for us.

Mike, this is China's fortified capital, some of the most restricted airspace in the world. The fact that this could happen --

MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

TAPPER: -- in Beijing is astounding.

VALERIO: It was heart stopping, Jake, for so many of us who were on our way to dinner, on the way to the gym on a Friday night. It's now Saturday morning and as we zoom in, you can see just below the 100 level stories, you see that tiny rectangle of black. That's where the small aircraft, the Sunward SA60L Aurora, crashed into the building. This is the Zhongguo Zun, the CITIC Tower just before 7:00 p.m. just before the sun was setting.

And I mean, as soon as we were able to see the cascading amount of debris showering down from the upper heights of this building, setting fire to a portion of the lobby on the street below.

[17:15:08]

You know, I think that people back home in America could envision this like Washington, D.C., you're not supposed to have any aircraft anywhere near where we are. It's about a 20 minute drive from our position here to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. All drones across Beijing are off limits. Heavily restricted.

Commercial aircraft are not supposed to be anywhere here. So if you're watching this at home and thinking, you know, that's just a tiny bit of damage, the point here is that in this heavily fortified capital, to your point, Jake, that the Chinese Communist Party is going to have to look at how in the world a tiny aircraft got into this heavily restricted airspace and crashed into one of the tallest buildings in the world, Jake.

TAPPER: And Mike, it's worth noting those images of the building and the plane debris falling down. Chinese sensors quickly tried to delete those pictures and videos from social media.

VALERIO: That's right. And we got to say, as we were very close to the scene, there are police that would come up to us and come up to normal citizens and say, stop taking pictures of what you're seeing. Delete those photos from your phone. Chinese authorities asked me who I was, looked at my passport, heavily controlled information ecosystem. And a lot of people who we've talked to had no idea that this was happening.

But some people managed to see those images before they were scrubbed for from Xiaohongshu and RedNote, other Chinese social media pages. And they came down, they said, all right, you're CNN, tell us what's going on. Because they couldn't hear it from the Chinese Internet, Jake.

TAPPER: Mike Valerio in Beijing, thank you so much.

Here in the U.S. California Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing a nationwide billionaires tax. He's already getting some pushback. How the Republican nominee who wants Newsom's job as governor, says he'll fight that plan if he becomes governor. That's next.

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[17:21:18]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom today proposed a national tax on billionaires. It's a very early policy proposal as he mulls a 2028 presidential run. This also comes as voters in his home state of California in November are going to decide whether or not to impose a 5 percent billionaires' tax. But Newsom is actually not supporting that one. He and some other liberals are afraid that if California goes that alone, the tax will drive businesses out of California and that the revenue would not be spread around enough.

With me now, Steve Hilton, a Republican running to be California's next governor. He's going to face Xavier Becerra, a Democrat and former Biden administration HHS secretary. So thanks so much for being here. It's good to see you.

STEVE HILTON, (R) CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Great to be with you, Jake.

TAPPER: So both you and Becerra are on record opposing --

HILTON: Yes.

TAPPER: -- the billionaires' tax. There is a scenario where you are elected governor at the same time the measure passes.

HILTON: Yes.

TAPPER: Would you try to undo it? Would you try to subvert the will of California voters?

HILTON: It's an incredibly important decision because this tax has already cost California a huge amount of money. Just the threat of it has sent trillions of dollars by some estimates of wealth leaving the state. That means billions of dollars of tax revenue have already been lost. And I think that is bad for California. We've already got the highest poverty rate in the country. We've got the highest unemployment rate in the country. We can't afford to do things like that. That's why Gavin's against it. Xavier is against it. I'm against it.

But most of all, it's unconstitutional. The strikes -- it's one of the reasons they're all against it. The structure of this tax is completely against anything we've seen before. It's basically a seizure of assets.

TAPPER: So what would you do if that were to happen? Which is not --

HILTON: It's legal (ph). I'm sure there'll be legal challenges.

TAPPER: Yes.

HILTON: And I would fully support them because it would be a disaster for California.

TAPPER: So here is the counter argument and you tell me what your -- what your response is. There are more billionaires in California than in any other state. There are roughly 200. And now the world has its first trillionaire --

HILTON: Yes.

TAPPER: -- Elon Musk, although he's not in California. And this is all at the same time that a lot of Americans are, more than 200 are struggling to pay their bills. Seven hundred thousand kids, we just learned, are being denied food stamps because of cuts to the SNAP program. So what do you say to residents struggling in their day to day lives who say billionaires are not paying their fair share and we can hardly get by?

HILTON: Well, we've got to deal with the reasons that life is so tough for regular people in California. Why do we have the highest poverty rate in the country in California tied with Louisiana? It's not because billionaires are paying a certain level of tax. It's because everything's so expensive in California because of the policies that have given us the highest gas prices in the country. Electric bills which are more than double the national average.

Housing costs are the highest in the country. That's all driven by other policies, regulations that are weighing beyond what is reasonable. Agreements with unions that drive up the cost of construction. Environmental policies that are extreme and just make everything too expensive. That's what we need to deal with.

That's why my campaign is all about reducing those costs. Three dollar gas, cut your electric bills in half, your first 150 grand tax free. That's the tax policy that I'm focused on. How do we help people who are really struggling? The best way to put more money in people's pockets is for the government to take less out.

TAPPER: So President Trump has claimed that California's slow vote count, which is very slow --

HILTON: Very slow.

TAPPER: -- is evidence of voter fraud. There is no evidence that it is evidence of voter fraud. You even downplayed the notion of voter fraud during your campaign. I want you to take a listen to what President Trump has said about the fact that you advance to the final round.

[17:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I called up the very powerful, very good U.S. attorney in California and I said, do me a favor, take a look. They're trying to steal that election too. About an hour after the call, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Hilton has won. So had I not made that call, Steve Hilton would right now be looking -- watching the election from home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I mean, that's nonsense, right? He said it again today, by the way. That's not. I mean, he might have called, but you won --

HILTON: Right. I don't know.

TAPPER: You won because you won. It had nothing to do with him calling the U.S. attorney.

HILTON: Honestly, I have no idea about any of those conversations. I haven't spoken to the president or the U.S. attorney. The point I would make about this, there's clearly something we need to fix about the system that means that it's so slow. The New York Times, they had a really powerful editorial on this which I strongly agree with. We can make the system faster while retaining people's confidence in it and keeping the accessibility of voting, which is incredibly important.

That's all true, but we were very concerned to make sure for our supporters that, you know, their hard work wasn't in any way compromised by a process that couldn't be trusted. So we had teams looking at everything and we didn't see anything that would give us cause for concern. I don't know whether the resources of the Justice Department will turn anything up, but we don't see anything that was a problem.

TAPPER: All right, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, thanks so much for joining us. And a reminder to Xavier Becerra, you are invited to come on the show anytime.

HILTON: And to debate me anytime.

TAPPER: Especially on the show, on this very show.

This breaking news now. President Trump yet to weigh in on new a new U.S. strike on Iran in response to Iran targeting a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. We're going to get reaction to this move and to the larger effort to bring peace to the region. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:10]

TAPPER: Let's get back now to that breaking news in our World Lead for the top of the show, the U.S. Military just conducted strikes against Iran in response to Iran attacking a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz yesterday.

Central Command says that U.S. aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites. Earlier today, President Trump said on Truth Social, quote, obviously this is a foolish violation of our ceasefire agreement. It was the first such incident since the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding, or MoU, to open the strait and launch more in depth negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

Joining us now, Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad. Masih, it's great to see you. We have not spoken on the show since the Trump administration and the Iranian regime entered into this MoU.

What do you think of it and do you think it's going to hold given these latest strikes?

MASIH ALINEJAD, IRANIAN JOURNALIST AND ACTIVIST: First of all, let's just talk about MoU, Memorandum of Understanding. To be honest, I was a little bit shocked because President Trump was the one who promised a lot that he was going to support the protesters. Then suddenly the language has changed. And we heard a lot that the regime change happened. And these people are incredible. They are different than they are not.

So basically to millions of us Iranians, it doesn't make sense that one day you call them the greatest sponsor of terrorism and the other day you call them pragmatic leaders, moderates, and you try to legitimize them and negotiate with them. They don't understand this language.

So, and again, when President Trump promised about supporting people, helping them, it was the slogan by President Trump and his administration to make Iran great again. It seems that they're willing to make the Ayatollahs great again. Because I recently heard that was, you know, JD Vance saying that unfrozen fund of Iran will go to buy them, I mean to make them to buy the U.S. agricultural corn and soy from Americans. And he said that is going to make American farmers richer. And then on the other hand, it's going to feed the people of Iran.

First of all, this is not actually diplomacy. This is a clumsy pitch by JD Vance actually to get the votes from American farmers. Second of all, Iranians are fighting for dignity and freedom. They're not fighting to be fed by Americans. And I remember when my people were in the streets, that was the Revolutionary Guards offered them some rice, bags of rice. And you know what they did, Jake? They threw them away. That's the people of Iran.

So let's just make it clear, if America willing to negotiate with the Islamic Republic, where is the help? Where is human rights? I was the one I had hoped with President Obama, don't get me wrong,

because a lot of people in America, they really asked me that, wow, you expect President Trump to care about human rights. I and millions of Iranians, we expected President Obama after the deal to actually help the people of Iran. It was President Obama. He ignored human rights.

Then when my people are trapped in a burning house and President Trump comes and promised them with help. So of course people have hope.

TAPPER: Yes.

ALINEJAD: And now we see that in America it's about the conflict and fight between Republican and Democrats and human rights dignity being absolutely ignored.

[17:35:00]

If President Trump and JD Vance are really serious, to actually help the people of Iran talk about the mass executions, talk about women receiving lashes simply for singing right now.

TAPPER: I want to ask you about your latest tweet regarding the World Cup. Iran wants FIFA to prevent any ceremonies or promotional activities in support of the LGBTQ community at tonight's match in Seattle between Iran and Egypt. Seattle had independently branded it a Pride Match before organizers knew which teams would be competing.

But you think the fact that Iran is saying don't do that says something deeper about the regime.

ALINEJAD: Exactly. Because they found its strength and they believe now they are in the position that they can't even tell the United States of America what to do. Look, this is in the DNA of the Islamic Republic to expand their ideology everywhere. So basically this is the right of the host city to celebrate their own values.

So the Islamists should not dare even to lecture democratic countries to actually stop celebrating their values. So when the Islamic Republic, and not just the Islamic Republic, this is the government from Egypt as well. So authoritarianism, I mean, autocracy always. And Islamists always asking the democratic countries first to respect their culture, which is not culture, being imposed and forced to their own people.

And then they ask democratic countries to allow them to actually, you know, celebrate their own religious ceremonies here in United States. There are 50 mosques here, but they take to the Times Square to pray, public prayers in Times Square. But they're not going to stop there to just ask the United States of America or other democratic countries to respect their values. They even come further and ask the democratic countries now to cancel your own values.

TAPPER: Yes.

ALINEJAD: And this is ridiculous. This is ridiculous. TAPPER: Yes.

ALINEJAD: This is not that because they have fear of rainbow, they have fear of freedom.

TAPPER: Yes.

ALINEJAD: And I think the U.S. and FIFA should, should refuse that.

ALINEJAD: Masih Alinejad, thank you so much. As always, appreciate your passion.

Your reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ends temporary protection status which had allowed scores of Haitians and Syrians to be here in the US. What we're hearing from some in the communities in the U.S. and the racial undertones spelled out in the ruling.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:58]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead. Some 350,000 Haitians and thousands of Syrians living and working in the U.S. here legally are in limbo after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration. Thursday's 6 to 3 decision removes their Temporary Protected Status or TPS. And now Haitians in Florida and New York are worried about what comes next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My people, they can't go back. It's real. The reality in Haiti is real.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So a lot of people are going to lose their job. I have to suffer no matter what. Any Haitians have to suffer to pay the price for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: A UCLA law professor who argued the Syrian TPS case before the U.S. Supreme Court tells CNN it's the quote, largest de-documentation event of in U.S. history, unquote. While the legal team representing a group of Haitian nationals at the Supreme Court warned the decision would, quote, directly result in thousands of innocent people dying violent, needless deaths, referencing the decades worth of natural disasters and political turmoil and violence that has destabilized the country, which essentially operates under gang control.

Most Haitians on TPS have lived in the U.S. for many years. FWD.us, which is a policy and advocacy organization, estimates that Haitians in the U.S. contributed an estimated $5.9 billion to the U.S. economy, as well as pay $1.6 billion in federal payroll, state and local taxes.

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan didn't let her dissent go unnoticed, noting what she saw as President Trump's clear racial animus towards Haitians driving this case, quote, the statements fairly shout in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the president's resolve to remove Haitians from this country, unquote. And then Kagan cited some of Trump's most egregious comments about Haitians after she described Trump's comments as, quote, so repellent and racially inflected that the majority declines to put them into print. Here were just some of Kagan's examples.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: What's happening in Haiti, a tremendous problem with aids. Many of those people will probably have aids and they're coming into our country. It's like a death wish for our country. They're eating the dogs. The people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets. Why is it we only take people from countries, right? Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion and did not include things that President Trump had said about Haitians in his opinion, acknowledged that the statements Kagan was referring to contained some heated language, but weren't, in his view, quote, overtly racial, unquote.

[17:45:00]

It's unclear exactly when the stripping of protections will start, making TPS beneficiaries vulnerable for removal, though it is expected to unfold over the course of months. For now, a state of deep uncertainty for immigrants in America who are here legally in a country founded by immigrants, right ahead of America's 250th birthday celebration.

Our panel is here now. So that was the Kagan opinion and the Alito opinion and Trump's opinions. And here's another opinion. This is from podcast host Megyn Kelly. We should warn our viewers that she uses some disturbing language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGYN KELLY, HOST, THE MEGYN KELLY SHOW: Go home. Get out. We know our country's better than yours. That's because we filled it with our work ethic and our culture and our values. You being here only dilutes it for us. Go back to fucking Haiti.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Maria.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: She has a heart of gold, doesn't she, Jake? I mean, come on. That, I think, is indicative of exactly the kind of xenophobia, hatred, racism that is at the heart of this administration's decisions, at the heart of the Supreme Court decisions based on what this administration wants them to do. I think it's inhumane, it's indecent, it's unAmerican, and it's dangerous. You went through all of the sort of reasons as to why this, frankly, shouldn't happen. But I think one of the things that we have to underscore is what the woman from Haiti said. Haiti is a failed state. It is not ready to receive their nationals. Syria is not yet proven that it is a sustainable government. They are not ready to receive their nationals.

I used to work at the former INS. TPS when you are ready to revoke it, you work with the country. The State Department works with the country to make sure that there are -- the environment is such that they can receive their national safely and sustainably. That kind of conversation did not happen between DHS and the State Department. It's one of the reasons why the argument against this was underscored.

And so I think this is incredibly dangerous. It's going to be a huge hit on our economy. So many Haitians are the ones that work in the health care industry, Jake. My mom has -- she lives in an assisted facility and her care workers are phenomenal. They're all Haitians. So this is going to be a blow to us.

TAPPER: Ashley, Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. And we might remember that the eating the dogs and eating the cats lie that was put out there, that was about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio. Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said 10,000 Haitians contributed to the economy in Ohio and that the ruling is a, quote, mistake. What do you think? Is it bad economic policy? That's an argument that DeWine is making.

ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL, GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION: I'm not 100 percent bought in. And it's a bad economic policy that's going to impact our bottom line at this point. But listen, first of all, I don't like the rhetoric that has been talked about and these are human beings and so I do really want to remember that.

But what the Supreme Court ruled on is if the president, whoever it is, has the ability to make this decision of who has this temporary status or not. And that is what they wrote on. And so that take all the emotion out of it and just think about the actual legal aspect of it. And that's what they were rolling on.

However, I do have to say from what I understand from people I've talked to in the State Department as well as DHS, is that they are working with other countries. They're not going to send them back to Syria or Haiti. They're going to send them to work with other countries to send them.

TAPPER: Shocking story from former Transportation secretary and possible 2028 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg who said a politically motivated anonymous tip to police ended in his two twin four-year-old boys being separated from him for a night. Michigan police say they responded to the call. Child Protective Services quote determined the report that they'd received was false. Buttigieg wrote, quote, I cannot describe the mix of rage and sadness that I feel at the idea that someone brought our children into this. They are to forced 4 years old. Four. They do not know or care what a Democrat or Republican is.

Apparently what happened is somebody did a call saying that Buttigieg was putting these kids in danger, his children and social services came and took them away. A form, I guess of swatting, which is when people abuse the police system that's there to protect us, to use it as a weapon. What's your reaction?

CARDONA: It's awful, Jake. When I heard the story and we've ...

DAVIS: Been talking about this.

CARDONA: Exactly. And you as a parent, I mean, how awful is it that you would have to be separated from your kids, especially if they were four years old.

TAPPER: Traumatic. Traumatic.

CARDONA: Completely traumatic for the parent and for these kids --

TAPPER: Yes.

CARDONA: -- especially when they're four years old. What I don't understand is I can't imagine that this would happen from any kind of an anonymous call. If Child Protective Services actually figured out that it was false, which I understand that they did.

[17:50:05]

Why did they make him spend the night away from the kids? Could they -- did they not --

TAPPER: I assume it's just, you know --

CARDONA: Yes, but so then does that happen?

TAPPER: -- standard operating procedure.

CARDONA: So any crazy person can call Child Protective Services and this is going to happen to an elected official or somebody who clearly is on the receiving end of political hatred.

TAPPER: And we know that people on the left are swatting by people on the right. People on the right are swatting by people on the left. This is just the state of our union right now.

DAVIS: Well, absolutely. And he's obviously blaming that this and said it was a political motivated. So he may know something that we don't know in public. But I do actually think, because I don't -- from what I understand, even in Michigan you can't go in and take them away that it was offered for him to put the kids with their grandparents to try to like lower the issue.

But still it's horrible. I mean like at the end of the day these four- year-old kids have to be scared to death. But I mean you -- you've had this personal experience. CARDONA: So the other -- a couple of months ago I was on your show that night. I was slotted. There were eight black SUVs, blinding lights, the sirens going on. They were knocking at our door at 4:00 am. Ma'am, ma'am, is everything OK in there? My husband and I answered, we're like, yes, what's going on? We received an anonymous call that there was violent crime going on, that there were drugs, there were arms going on here. Are you OK? Is there anyone else in your house? Yes, our children are here. We're OK. Where is -- I mean they were lovely, the police officers were lovely.

Then the next day I went to MPD. I reported it. They are monitoring my house. But this is horrendous. And yes, it happens on both sides of the aisle, but this is the kind of stuff that should not be acceptable. And I don't know what you do to actually fix it because if it's anonymous, they don't know how to trace.

DAVIS: Yes, they don't have to trace it.

TAPPER: They've got to figure out ways to trace it --

CARDONA: Exactly.

TAPPER: -- and we've got to increase the penalties --

CARDONA: Absolutely. Absolutely.

TAPPER: -- the credit for this so that it's not even -- nobody -- nobody even thinks.

DAVIS: And by the way, the police don't want to be doing this as well.

TAPPER: No.

CARDONA: Exactly.

DAVIS: Taking them away.

CARDONA: From real crime.

TAPPER: People have been killed in swatting raids.

DAVIS: Yes. Yes.

TAPPER: People have been killed mistakenly thinking something was going -- police going in there mistakenly thinking something's going on because it's hip and they kill someone. It's horrible. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

CARDONA: Thanks.

TAPPER: Next on The Lead, acclaimed author James Patterson and a special guest joining him for a new summer page turner. We'll be right back.

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[17:56:31]

TAPPER: In our National Lead now, when a terrorist assassinates a presidential candidate on Nantucket Island, a covert, highly classified unit codenamed "Rocket's Red Glare" is called in to confront the chaos. And what begins as a manhunt for a terrorist quickly unravels into a global conspiracy. That's the setup for "Rocket's Red Glare," the new military thriller from James Patterson and retired U.S. army First Sergeant Matt Eversmann. And both authors join me. James Patterson, always great to see you.

This book echoes some real world political and national security fears. How much was the plot shaped by the moment we're in right now?

JAMES PATTERSON, CO-AUTHOR, "ROCKET'S RED GLARE": I don't think it was shaped by it, but it certainly fits. It fits into it. I think at the core of this for Matt and I is that -- and we both believe this, America's military is very good and they're very clear on their job, which is to protect us.

Now the what if in this thing is what if we're attacked inside our borders again?

TAPPER: And Matt, the novel opens with the assassination of a presidential candidate. What does the scenario in the book reveal about your views of the real vulnerabilities of modern democracy?

MATT EVERSMANN, CO-AUTHOR, "ROCKET'S RED GLARE": Well, you know, I would tell you, I don't know necessarily the threat to our democracy. However, you know, this is all based off of real, you know, world battle, you know, from regular warfare to cold warfare to the global war on terror. And, you know, as James said, it all starts with what if? And you look at a place like Nantucket, which right out of the headlines, I mean, it's a really wealthy island with really little security, and it's surrounded by water.

And, I mean, what a great setup for something really nefarious to happen with little reaction other than our hero. So that's kind of the truth being told. We started thinking about this just literally right out of reality, if that makes any sense.

TAPPER: Speaking of out of reality, you as a sergeant, were portrayed in "Black Hawk Down." What was it like teaming up with James to try to bring that level of authenticity to fiction?

EVERSMANN: Well, that's a great question. A better one for Jim to answer. But I can tell you that working with Jim has a lot, you know, really helped bring, just as you said, bring the reality to this fictional world in such a way that it's absolutely believable. It keeps moving forward and hopefully keeps everybody's attention, and it never strays from the truth.

TAPPER: James.

EVERSMANN: That's my best lead in for you.

TAPPER: But, James, I do want to change the subject a bit to the fact that you have this long history writing about true crime. You detailed Epstein's crimes --

PATTERSON: Yes. Yes.

TAPPER: -- in a book called "Filthy Rich."

PATTERSON: Yes.

TAPPER: That's way back in 2016. Then your Netflix doc in 2020 with the same name came, and it seems as though the rest of the world is catching up to what you revealed a decade ago.

PATTERSON: Yes. Yes, that's absolutely true. I mean, the weird thing to me was when I brought the book out, I took it everywhere, and pretty much nobody covered it. The Wall Street Journal did, the Miami Herald did. And I'm going like, how can you not cover this? This story is insane. This billionaire down in Palm Beach and in New York, and he's clearly, you know, had terrible relationships with these young girls.

[18:00:00]

And one of the things that's in the book that I haven't seen anywhere else are police interviews with the young girls, which are devastating. Yes. And the story just will not go away.