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The Lead with Jake Tapper

DHS Chases Voter Fraud After Trump Speech Revives Election Claims; U.S. Begins Fresh Strikes as Iran Threatens Full-Scale Offensive; Andy Burnham Becomes Labour Leader, Set to be Prime Minister; Democrat Hopefuls Criticize ICE In Effort To Replace Platner; Argentina Versus Spain: World Cup Final Showdown. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 17, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, just how strict are states when it comes to keeping non- citizens from voting in U.S. elections? In minutes, I'm going to talk to one top election official defending his state laws after strong accusations today from the Trump administration, even threatening prison time if states don't crack down.

Plus, all that smoke making it so hard for so many of you to breathe today.

[18:00:00]

President Trump has a threat for that, how he says Canada should be held responsible.

Also, the countdown to Sunday's World Cup final, what a woman soccer star will be watching for after once helping Team USA clinch a championship title.

The Lead tonight, President Trump wielding even more of his administration's power to boost his false claims that American elections are in grave danger. Today, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin echoed the president's message from his primetime speech about election security, directly addressing the claim that more than 250,000 non-citizens are registered to vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: If you're illegal and attempted to vote or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you, and we will charge you. Illegal voter registration and illegal voting both carry penalties up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Taking that one step further when speaking towards any state election officials who do not comply with his now mandated election security rules, which he described as scrubbing voter lists and securing machines. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MULLIN: If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, to be clear, the facts involving undocumented citizens voting in state and federal elections suggest that experts left, right, and center believe that this is a minuscule happenstance. It happens very, very rarely. But those threats from the Homeland Security secretary to reshape American elections come as the president's false claims about election security continue to cast doubt on the system ahead of November's midterms.

Let's bring in CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Jake, obviously in hindsight of the speech last night, there have been a lot of conversations. I've been talking to a lot of Republican allies of this White House, a lot of White House officials themselves about the speech, and we had been told earlier in this week that the president wants to start doing more of these primetime addresses.

It's not clear that they will always have the same topic as last night did, something that the White House obviously really tried to hype up before it, saying that it is going to shock Americans with the findings that the president was going to lay out. Suffice it to say that for election officials and experts, it did not shock them in what they heard from the president's remarks last night.

I do think what you heard from the secretary today, Secretary Mullin, in terms of threatening prison time for local officials if they do not comply with the recommendations on securing elections is something that people found shocking.

And I think, really, what it all leads up to is two questions, which is what the White House is planning ahead of the midterm elections this fall, which are very clearly on the president's mind, as he was talking about last night, and whether or not that speech changed anyone's mind on Capitol Hill about passing the SAVE Act, this election overhaul bill that the president is pushing each day with more and more fervor.

And right now, I mean, based on what we heard today, there are a few allies of the president's who were echoing his speech and highlighting it, but a lot of them were relatively muted about it, Jake, and Lisa Murkowski was saying that she didn't think it actually changed her view on whether or not she should vote for that bill.

And so it's not clear that the White House accomplished what it wanted to, except for maybe laying out a rationale ahead of November in terms of what that's going to look like, and if the polling bears out and the president's party doesn't do so well.

TAPPER: CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins, as always, thank you so much.

Kaitlan's going to have much more tonight on her show. It's called The Source with Kaitlan Collins. It's an excellent show. You should watch it. Her guest tonight, Gabriel Sterling, Republican candidate for Georgia secretary of state. You might remember him in December 2020 warning everybody that the lies have to stop. Someone's going to get killed. And, sadly, he was proven prophetic. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

Earlier today, Secretary Mullin says he sent letters to four secretaries of state in Nevada, California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to request a review of their voting rolls for non-citizens. Here with me is the Democratic secretary of state for Nevada, Cisco Aguilar.

Mr. Secretary, what was your reaction to the letter from Secretary Mullin?

CISCO AGUILAR (D), NEVADA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, again, I think it's part of the whole mantra of what this administration is trying to do from an intimidation and threat perspective. You know, we continue to call them the love letters of the administration. Today's came from the DHS.

And that letter contained information that we were first made aware of in the letter. First, it's speculative. There is no real information in that letter. There is no data set that came with that letter, but yet they want us to act, and that's not how we're going to operate. Secretaries on the frontline of these elections in '26, we're going to be on the front line in '28, and they know that.

[18:05:03]

They want to force us into compliance through threats and intimidation.

TAPPER: Mullin says that states that don't comply with the mandatory security enhancements to federal elections, which he described as secure machines and scrubbed voter lists, your states won't be funded to run federal elections. What kind of a blow would that be to the election system in Nevada?

AGUILAR: Well, I think they haven't funded us for a while. I've said this before, it feels like a UFC chokehold from a funding perspective. What they're doing is forcing us to step up and take responsibility for our own elections, which is fine. We know the Constitution is very clear that states have a responsibility to run their elections, and we will not be federalized. Whatever the threat is, whatever the threat of funding is, whatever the threat of jail time is, we'll continue to follow the law. We are following the law.

Secretaries have a unique responsibility. It is not our opportunity to determine when we're going to follow the law, it's our job to call balls and strikes consistently, and we have to be consistent in our job. Voters depend on us. Voters know that we're doing what's right in our states.

Again, this idea of massive fraud just doesn't exist. And the fact that they keep talking about non-citizens is really detrimental to the overall voting process, especially in Nevada, when you have 30 percent of your eligible voting base is Latino. Latinos are a big part of the State of Nevada. They drive our economy. They make sure we have what we need. And to threaten them on a consistent basis is only going to drive them away from the polls, and that is extremely dangerous.

TAPPER: Well, he's not only threatening them, he's threatening you, right? I mean, Mullin laid out the stakes for election officials who don't comply with this policy, threatening jail time, hefty fines. I mean, he's talking about you going to jail. Are you --

AGUILAR: I know.

TAPPER: Are you worried?

AGUILAR: No, because I know that we are following the law. Look, we just won three major lawsuits within the last couple weeks. We won the lawsuit against the first executive order. We won a lawsuit against the second executive order. We won at the Supreme Court to protect our mail ballots, which are important in Nevada. We're going to continue to follow the law. I am following the law. I know that every decision I make has to be based on law, because if it isn't, I'm going to be challenged in court. And I don't want to lose in court. I want to make sure we're doing what's in the best interest.

They can threaten all they want, but I'm going to follow the law and I'm not going to comply with their illegal acts or their attempts to skirt the law.

TAPPER: Are you talking to the Nevada attorney general about legal pathways to challenge that threat of jail time or fines for you and any other election official in Nevada that doesn't do what Markwayne Mullin tells you to do?

AGUILAR: Yes. You know, sometimes I say I'm a secretary, but sometimes I feel like I'm a managing partner of a law firm with as much legal counsel as we have had to incur over the last couple years. Don't forget, in the '24 election, I think we faced about 30 lawsuits in Nevada over the election, but we're continuing to win those, and we're going to continue to push forward.

There's no level of threat or intimidation that's going to drive me in fear away from this job or doing what's in the best interest of Nevadans as a whole. Nevadans deserve leadership. What this administration is providing is not leadership. It's just chaos, it's intimidation, it's threats, and we need to step up and be the leaders.

And that's why people need to understand why secretaries are critical to our election process, and why secretaries need to be supported not only in this election cycle, but in future election cycles. TAPPER: I'm sure you agree people who aren't citizens shouldn't be voting in our elections. How confident are you that only citizens are voting in your elections? And are you regularly scrubbing to make sure only citizens are voting?

AGUILAR: First of all, it's against the law for a non-citizen to vote in Nevada. We have stringent processes during the voter registration process to verify that every voter is who they say they are. But if you don't, you're going to be held accountable.

When it comes to actual voting, non-citizens are not voting at the levels that they think they are. There may be one or two. The Heritage Foundation did an analysis of Nevada's voting. They looked at a ten- year period. They found minimal number of folks who participate in the process that shouldn't have.

Again, when you actually look at the number of votes that occurred over a ten-year period, that's millions and millions of votes, and maybe 0.0001 percent actually participated in Nevada's elections who shouldn't have. I think we run some of the safest, most secure, but accessible elections in the country.

We do not have to sacrifice accessibility for safety and security. There are checks and balances in the process that occurs at the state level, but also occurs at the local county level. Our elections are run at the local level. These individuals live in our communities, they live in our neighborhoods. They know their voters.

TAPPER: All right. Nevada's Democratic Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

We have some breaking news for you now.

[18:10:00]

Seven nights in a row, the U.S. has launched strikes on Iran. We're going to take a closer look at the key sites targeted and what it may say about strategy, should one exist.

And later, the man just days away from becoming the U.K.'s new prime minister, and the signs he's coming in with a tense relationship already with President Trump.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Breaking news in our World Lead, the United States has begun a seventh straight day of attacks on Iran as Iran's military threatens a, quote, full-scale offensive if U.S. strikes continue. Overnight, Iran claims the U.S. struck key bridges, railways, and power lines. War analysts think this could be the precursor to the U.S. trying to seize back the Strait of Hormuz. The White House maintains the U.S. does not strike civilian infrastructure, which would, of course, be illegal under international law, unless it was also used by the Iranian military. Joining us now, retired U.S Air Force Colonel and CNN Military Analyst Cedric Leighton. Colonel Leighton, walk us through these targets.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: All right, Jake. Well, basically what you've got here is a whole bunch of areas, especially down south. So, you have the Bandar -- we'll call them the collective Bandars, Bandar Khamir, Bandar Lengeh, Bandar Abbas.

[18:15:01]

These are all major port facilities, and they have significant in- military installations as well as things like SAM emplacements, all the different drone emplacements. All of that is right in these areas.

Now, the other thing to keep in mind is that some of the targets are actually in the western and southwestern part of Iran, so Lorestan Province, Hamedan County, and Ahvaz and Bushehr have also been struck.

So, what this looks like is basically a concerted effort to go after targets in all of these areas where there's a concentration of Iranian military power, plus some of their industrial base, as well as some of their missiles and other facilities that they have that they can use to attack not only U.S. vessels here, but also the Gulf states, the Arab Gulf states in the region.

TAPPER: So, when you talk about the military, you're also referring to the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, CENTCOM said it hit an IRGC surveillance tower. What does the video show us?

LEIGHTON: So, what this what this basically shows us is this tower was right in this particular area, and the video shows us the tower actually being struck by CENTCOM's forces. This is the third time that CENTCOM has actually targeted this particular tower.

But what's really important about this, and when you see this go up here, is this particular tower was really responsible for controlling the shipping traffic right in this area. Basically, we're talking the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. And this means that Iran cannot be talking to all of its small boats out here. They can't be controlling all of the different elements in terms of extracting tolls from all the commercial ships. So, this really does weaken Iran's ability to go after their toll effort and to really control this part of the Strait of Hormuz in the Arabian Sea.

TAPPER: One of the things that Iran does to get back at the U.S. and Israel for striking them is to attack not just U.S. bases in the region and Israel, but also other Gulf partners of the U.S. Iran is a Shiite Muslim country, and these other countries, with the exception of Syria, are Sunni, and Iraq, are Sunni countries. How have they been doing when striking American allies, these Gulf states?

LEIGHTON: So one of the things they, they've done is they have used drone swarms, for example, in Kuwait, which is right here. They've used drone swarms to go after targets in Kuwait. They've done similar things in other Gulf areas. In Bahrain, for example, they have used drones like the Shahed 136, famous from the Ukraine war, but also famous from the Iran war, and then another drone called the Karrar drone.

These are just examples of some of the drones that the Iranians have used. But when you look at all of the different areas that they strike, they are really going after economic targets as well as military targets in all of these regions.

In essence, what they're trying to do, Jake, is they're trying to really stop the flow of oil and gas from these countries, and the other thing that they're trying to do is they're trying to force these countries to abandon their relationship with the U.S. It's not working, but that's one of the things that they really want to do.

TAPPER: All right. Colonel Leighton, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

He sells himself as a man of the people, and he's about to become the new prime minister of the U.K., but will he also be the newest political foe of President Trump?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

TAPPER: Our World Lead, in just a few days, our friends across the pond in the U.K. are going to have a brand-new prime minister, their seventh in just ten years. And as Keir Starmer heads for the exit, Keir, we hardly knew ye, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, widely known as King of the North, is on his way to 10 Downing Street.

CNN's Nic Robertson filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEIR STARMER, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is the end of my political journey.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Keir Starmer's last moments in Parliament.

STARMER: I will give my wholehearted support to my successor.

ROBERTSON: A rather British end to a bruising battle to hold on to his job.

STARMER: To my wife and children, I love you. Goodbye.

ROBERTSON: The irony, he rarely got as much applause as prime minister.

ANDY BURNHAM, LABOUR PARTY LEADER: I see this as a last chance to change, particularly for the Labor Party.

ROBERTSON: His replacement, the charismatic Northerner, former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, arrives pumped from electoral success. His mayor to prime minister metamorphosis is a work in progress.

BURNHAM: I am going to do things differently.

ROBERTSON: Still wearing the T-shirt he calls his Manchester uniform.

Yet in the months since his local election victory allowing him to oust Starmer, he's offered little detail on his plans, other than opening a Number 10 office in Manchester and pushing power from London to regional mayors.

BURNHAM: Place first, not party first. Problem-solving, not point- scoring. Long-term, not short-term.

ROBERTSON: Before any of that, though, the problem his party expects him to fix, the rise of populist right wing Reform under Nigel Farage.

Burnham rolled back Reform's gains in his recent victory, but Farage, facing allegations he denies of failing to disclose financial donations, seems to be laying a trap for Burnham, another test of popularity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions. This will be a people versus the establishment by election.

ROBERTSON: All parties are treating Farage's re-election as a political stunt. Only the satirical candidate, Count Binface, will run against him.

[18:25:00]

On foreign policy, where the U.K. faces the most consequential challenges, Burnham has offered only a few clues, significantly saying he's not afraid to disagree with President Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They'll just meet him where he's at. It's about respecting the office, the relationship, the U.K.-U.S. relationship. But, you know, where you disagree, do it, but do it in a way that is kind of meeting him where he's at.

ROBERTSON: On the Mideast too, hinting at diverging from U.S. alignment.

BURNHAM: I know many people feel that at the start of Israel's military action in Gaza, my party didn't get it right, and I am sorry about that.

ROBERTSON: With wars impacting allies in the Mideast and Europe and the U.K.'s defense budget facing a more than $6.3 billion hole, Burnham's domestic agenda of change will struggle for his undivided attention.

In his last days in office, Starmer still trying to make that balance work, his third overseas trip in nine days, NATO in Ankara, Paris, for the coalition of the willing, and his last one as prime minister to Kyiv, a farewell to President Zelenskyy and the problems of high office.

Nic Robertson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Our thanks to Nic Robertson for that report.

To China now and a terrifying landslide that turned deadly. The dash cam video showing right now the moment a hillside suddenly gave way, sending residents running for their lives as dirt, rocks, and debris crashed down onto the homes and businesses below. According to Chinese state media, more than ten buildings were damaged.

As of tonight, the official death toll has climbed to eight. Dozens are still missing. Rescue crews continue to search for survivors.

Also, in our World Lead, we're going to take you to Ukraine, specifically a small town in the Donbas region that Russia has been slowly occupying and falsely claiming is Russian property.

As CNN's Nick Paton Walsh explains for us now this false claim, along with the slow pace of the Kremlin's advance, is raising questions about the fate of Vladimir Putin's war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Huge losses, tiny gains, and lies. That's the reality of Russia's war on Ukraine. It's plain to see in the strategic town of Kostiantynivka, where last week Russia planted a flag in its center claiming its capture, but that's not true. Ukraine still holds lots of it. Yet its fate over the past year lays bare the crisis at the heart of Russia's war.

Kostiantynivka sits right on what's known as the fortress belt of heavily defended towns in the Donbas, the capture of which is a key Putin goal. Take it and the other two remaining towns of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are well within reach.

But wind back a year, take a look at reliable battlefield maps, and you see a story about Moscow's persistence, but also how much tiny gains cost.

Last year, we saw the road in was lined with fishing nets protecting from drones, but the town was under Ukrainian control and safe enough. But by November, it was being hit hard here in the southwest with another drone video showing an airstrike just a few streets away.

Ukraine still had troops casually in the city center, and Russia was still really on the contested southwestern outskirts. It's in the first week of the year that the map records a big leap forwards for Moscow.

But remember, their casualties across the whole front are estimated by the west at about 35,000 a month now, dead and injured. The Ukrainians are at this time still posting from the central railway station, but by February, white phosphorus is being used to horrific effect in the southwest, even though the Ukrainians are still very much central.

Jump forward to April and the damage done is horrific. Drone images right where we saw the Ukrainians in November as the Russians have slowly crept in.

We saw how perilous it was to get in and out ourselves. The netting we saw ten months earlier, now a graveyard for so many.

Russian flags central this week, even if the maps show they're far from controlling the town. One year of tiny, tiny steps and doubtless thousands of Russian dead for a town that is relatively tiny itself, Russia's real weak spot in this war.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Nick Paton Walsh for that report.

Ahead, the major change of plans for a high-profile lawyer who was set to testify next Monday about his ties to dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: New today in our Law and Justice Lead, Alan Dershowitz is not expected to attend his scheduled voluntary interview Monday with the House Oversight Committee for their Epstein probe, the committee tells CNN. The panel is in touch with his attorney to reschedule it. This as the fallout continues after the meeting yesterday between Trump's attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche, and Epstein survivors and their families. It's a meeting that Blanche told CNN wasn't all cordial.

Sky and Amanda Roberts, the family of Virginia Giuffre, a Epstein victim who took her own life last year, they told us about it yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA ROBERTS, SISTER-IN-LAW OF VIRGINIA GIUFFRE: There were no real admissions. There were no real commitments being made.

SKY ROBERTS, BROTHER OF VIRGINIA GIUFFRE: I didn't leave that meeting feeling -- and I don't think anybody did, feeling like we walked away with anything more than what we went in there with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining us now, Arick Fudali, who represents a number of Epstein survivors. Arick, none of your clients were at the meeting, but what is your reaction to what you heard from the survivors and the loved ones of survivors who were at the meeting, and from what you heard from Blanche in his confirmation hearing when he was asked about the Epstein case?

ARICK FUDALI, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING EPSTEIN VICTIMS: Yes. Unfortunately, I'm not surprised about the disappointment the survivors and their representatives felt yesterday, because that is nothing new from this Department of Justice. This Department of Justice and this administration has done absolutely nothing but show a complete disregard for the wellbeing of the victims and the survivors.

[18:35:08]

Everything this Department of Justice has done, everything this administration has done, has been almost a slap in the face to these survivors, whether it's releasing names unredacted of victims, or meticulously making sure that names of potential perpetrators redacted. So, this is nothing new. Unfortunately, it's sort of par for the course for this Department of Justice and the way they've handled things.

TAPPER: Blanche said there are no closed investigations. He said he wanted the survivors to contact the Justice Department and the FBI with any evidence and testimony. Are you and your clients going to be contacting him?

FUDALI: We've been contacting them. We've been trying to contact the Department of Justice, and we've been contacted by other states, such as New Mexico, who are actually seem to be conducting real criminal investigations of what's went on there. Everything I could hear from the Department of Justice and every correspondence I've heard from them doesn't seem like they have any real interest in following any leads or doing any real investigations or criminal prosecutions, or even really unredacting the names of all these potential perpetrators who are in these documents.

So, we're trying to contact them. We're trying to work with them. But similar to yesterday's meeting and the way sort of that hearing went, it's been sort of like talking to a brick wall. It doesn't appear as if they have any real interest in doing anything but just the bare minimum so they can let this story go away.

TAPPER: Blanche's nomination for attorney general is still on the line here. What do your clients want the senators, especially Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who are Republicans and wavering on the Blanche nomination, what do you want those senators to know?

FUDALI: Well, we'd like to let them know that, first of all, none of this -- you know, Todd Blanche finally met with the survivors yesterday after months and months and months of which he could have met with them. You know, he almost pretended during the hearing yesterday as if, oh, well, you know, now that you're forcing me to, I guess I'll meet with these survivors, right, as if he couldn't before. It's similar to what happened with the Epstein files and this administration. Those files could have been released months, years ago, but it took a law passing to get them to release them.

So, I'd like these Republican members of Congress to know that this was -- Todd Blanche's hand was forced. The only reason he met with these survivors is because he was told he'd have to, and he didn't even do the bare minimum. He didn't even look them in the eye and apologize. He showed no remorse. He showed no empathy. It was so clear that he was just doing this for votes.

And I almost wish those Republican senators could have been in the room watching this because I think had they observed and witnessed the way Todd Blanche sort of showed zero empathy, you know, zero care, was similar to the way Pam Bondi did it when she had her temper tantrums months back and couldn't even look at them in the eye.

So, I'd like these senators to know that Todd Blanche has done nothing but obstruct. His Department of Justice has done absolutely nothing but -- you know, first, I thought it was negligence. The way, you know, one of my clients was -- her name was revealed 538 times unredacted, despite the fact that we gave them their name.

You know, I thought this was just pure incompetence for the Department of Justice, but the more and more that I learned it appears more like it's almost, you know, an intentional effort to obstruct the release of these files.

TAPPER: Arick Fudali, thanks so much for joining us.

There is no question all that smoke making it so hard to breathe in the Midwestern and East Coast of the United States is coming from Canadian wildfires. Up next, how President Trump says Canada should pay for the pollution.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

TAPPER: Quite a view to show you this hour. These are live images from Detroit and the great city of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee. You see this haze? It's blanketing the entire Midwestern United States and the East Coast of the United States. This is from massive wildfires in Canada.

Today, President Trump said he wants to hold our neighbor to the north accountable. He wrote, quote, we are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their forests and brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy polluted and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous and totally unacceptable, another invasion. He's also suggesting Canada should compensate the United States by, well, tariffs.

Back in studio with our panel, and, Ashley, Trump's not the only Republican looking to hold Canada financially responsible. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio, he posted this yesterday, quote, I'll be introducing a bill next week to sanction Canada and the responsible Canadian government officials for this atrocity. I mean, do you agree, Canada should pay a price? The U.S. has had its fair share of wildfires in the west. I mean, I don't know that we want to set this precedent. ASHLEY DAVIS, HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL G.W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION: No, but I'm sitting here thinking, I do a lot of work in Canada, and I'm thinking this is definitely putting USMCA, the trade deal, further and further away from actually happening.

Listen, we've got to make up with Canada in some form or fashion. This fight has been going on from the beginning of this administration, and we have to put some deal in place. I mean, we're hurting like a lot of industries on both sides of the aisle.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: We were in the green room, and we were watching the programming, and I was like, I wonder how many fires are happening in Canada right now. Over 820 fires are actively burning. And this used to be our biggest ally. And I used to work for a union where we made steel, and we worked across the border, and there's the timber industry. Like there's a lot of jobs in America that rely on Canada.

TAPPER: Yes. I will just say, though, I mean, if we start setting precedents for other countries holding countries responsible for pollution and environmental hazards, might that not put the United States in a precarious position?

DAVIS: But do we really -- I just think that this is like another just tweet that's not going to happen.

TAPPER: Another tweet, just another tweet.

DAVIS: Diverting, diverting.

ROCHA: Until you walk outside in Washington, D.C., and can't breathe.

DAVIS: Well, no, that is bad. Yes.

TAPPER: No, it's bad. But the question is --

DAVIS: New York was really bad yesterday. I was in New York.

TAPPER: Let's talk about another form of pollution. Next week, Speaker Johnson's trying to head off the threat of another government shutdown in October. This would be just before the midterms. He's going to bring a short-term funding bill forward next week. It's a tall order considering the House couldn't even agree on passing a veterans' benefits package yesterday.

So, Congressman David Valadao, he's a Republican from California, an Appropriations Committee member, he told Axios, quote, I've heard it talked about, and I think it's a bad idea.

[18:45:08]

Ashley, what do you think of the speaker's strategy, the short-term funding, just to get the next fight about this past the midterms?

DAVIS: Well, first of all, next week is going to be not just that, but we have reconciliation 3.0. We have some banking bills. I mean, he has a huge list.

But from a CR perspective, I think it's smart because he's very nervous we're going to be in the end of September. There's going to be a government shutdown that even if the Democrats, quote, "force it," we're going to be blamed for it because we're holding all the government. Wait, I'm not done.

And then also the I did hear today from my Democrat colleagues that so far, they're OK -- the House Democrats are OK with maybe passing this unless we start adding a bunch of --

ROCHA: First of all, you ain't talking to Democrats. I'm your only Democratic friend. Second, if you talk about Valadao, let's talk about why Valadao is running his mouth, because Valadao is one of these Republicans in a swing seat in the poorest congressional district in America.

It is 80 percent Latino. It's farm country. He doesn't want any of this nowhere around him.

I'm working for Randy Villegas, who's running against him. I will tell you, Valadao is worried to death, just like a lot of Republicans in marginal seats, and you may have another Democratic flip, but I bet I'm the only one.

TAPPER: So, Chuck, Maine Democratic Senate hopefuls faced off last night in a debate to replace Graham Plattner as the Democratic nominee for that Senate race to take on Susan Collins. After this week's fatal shooting by an ICE agent in Maine, here's what some of the candidates had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIRAV SHAH (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: It is far beyond time for ICE to go, because it has proven itself unable to discharge its mission safely. We must abolish ICE.

JORDAN WOOD (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: We need her to step up and meet that moment, to have the courage to stand up and defund ICE, abolish it, prosecute the agents who have committed a murder in our state.

TROY JACKSON (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: I support law enforcement, but ICE is not law enforcement. It's a rogue agency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, you gave the keynote address yesterday, Chuck, at the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. So, you're out there talking to a lot of elected officials. What do you think, based on what you heard about this position, of just ending ICE, getting rid of ICE?

ROCHA: Look, I was with 1,000 Latino elected officials and ice comes up a lot yesterday, but it's the anxiety of ICE in the neighborhoods, but also the economic reasoning around that. When you talk about defund the police or defund ICE, it's not the best messaging when you talk about swing districts. But in Maine, in this Senate race, it's probably OK to do that because folks are really, really, really upset in the streets there. And Democrats in Maine, I'm not making fun of this, are just looking for a good warm body who can just kind of be halfway normal.

DAVIS: Susan Collins just needs to let them all talk for a little bit and just keep her mouth shut, because it's going to be an exciting debate next week.

TAPPER: I'm excited.

DAVIS: Yeah.

TAPPER: I'm excited. President Trump just attended a FIFA World Cup reception in New York City. Earlier this year, FIFA awarded Trump, of course, the inaugural Peace Prize. How's that peace thing going, by the way?

Anyway, moments ago, the FIFA president said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIANNI INFANTINO, FIFA PRESIDENT: And I say this because it is the truth. You don't need people to compliment you, Mr. President, but this World Cup would not have been such an incredible success without you.

(APPLAUSE)

INFANTINO: Please --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I have to say. The World Cup has been a huge success in the United States. I don't know who deserves the credit for it, but it has been amazing and it's been so great to see so many people from all over the world come here and be embraced by Americans and Americans be embraced by them.

ROCHA: I think that he didn't take advantage of this enough because it has been wonderful and he does sports really, really well. As the guy who played football, who likes Raskin, who even will do a little MMA from time to time, like we as Democrats should embrace more of this. We should be out there culturally talking about sports and FIFA -- my gosh, it's everywhere. It's such a good job, by the way.

DAVIS: And I just think I agree with you 100 percent when everyone just loved being in the country. And you know why? Because we weren't in D.C., New York and L.A. They were in real parts of the country that people don't usually get to see, but also the security around it. I mean, we have one more match, two more matches, I guess, but that was a huge feat that really nothing has happened.

TAPPER: So I will say if the United States were in the final game, We would probably be hearing a lot more about President Trump taking issue with that red card, and he did mention that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOANLD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Probably the most unforgettable is when they gave that gentleman -- is it a red card? And I was forced to call Gianni and just make a recommendation. I said, Gianni, I'd like to make a recommendation. Let the guy in to give -- no, I didn't say that. I said, I'd like to Wage a complaint.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Why bring that up?

DAVIS: And it would have been, you're right. If we would have won that game, it would have been a much bigger deal.

TAPPER: Yeah, no. And we did not. I wish we had, but we did not.

[18:50:00]

DAVIS: Yes.

TAPPER: But if we had won that game, then I and honestly and if we had gone on like I don't know that we'd be sitting here talking about how great the World Cup has been and we might be talking about how much the world now hates us because the president --

ROCHA: Hates us more.

TAPPER: Because hates us -- well, whatever and like how much they -- because the fix was in right.

ROCHA: And is this taken so serious around the world? Like you think that global affairs and war is serious FIFA and these soccer matches are some of the most serious. By the way, who do you have Argentina or Spain?

DAVIS: Well, I was just going to ask you that. I think Spain just because I feel like Argentina always wins and I really don't know what I'm talking about. But --

TAPPER: I'm Argentina because Priscilla Alvarez is Argentinian and she's really rooting for them and I root for Priscilla Alvarez.

ROCHA: I'm with the colonizers. Go Spain!

TAPPER: All right, the colonizers.

Ashley Davis and Chuck Rocca, thank you so much.

An important event is coming up next week. CNN is hosting a Maine Democratic Senate debate, giving voters a chance to hear from the candidates before their state party convention. I'm going to moderate this debate alongside the great Dana Bash and the great Michael Shepard from "The Bangor Daily News". That's Thursday, July 23rd, 8:00 P.M. Eastern. You can watch it live on CNN or on CNN.com or on the streaming CNN app.

The World Cup final is this weekend, and it's up next. One of the most famous goalkeepers who won two Olympic gold medals and has a place in the National Soccer Hall of Fame. She's going to tell us who she thinks has the best shot. That's coming up..

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:38]

TAPPER: In our sports lead, all eyes will be on New Jersey Sunday. Argentina and Spain will face off in the World Cup final. It's the first time the current champions of South America and Europe are playing in the final. Argentina has a chance to become the first men's team to go back-to-back since 1962.

Joining us is former U.S. Woman's national team goalkeeper and 1999 World Cup winner, Briana Scurry.

Thanks so much for joining us.

So, you've been in the thick of the World Cup all summer. What have been some of your favorite moments of the tournament so far?

BRIANA SCURRY, WORLD CUP SOCCER CHAMPION: Oh, there's been several, and this game coming up on Sunday is one of them. You have a great opportunity here. You have Argentina, who just will not quit. They seem to play better every time they're behind. And you have Spain, who has this young phenom on their team, Yamal, who is literally three years old last time Spain was in the World Cup final. And so, you have a fantastic opportunity for a clash that is truly a passing of the torch, experience versus youth.

I love Messi trying to do the double, like you mentioned. And then also, you have Yamal, who's the next-gen player. So, I'm just really excited. I think this game is going to be the absolute crown jewel.

TAPPER: How do you think hosting the World Cup has grown the game in the United States? Do you like the American edition of the championship rings?

SCURRY: I do. I think having a World Cup on our soil is absolutely amazing. You have all these amazing teams literally in your backyard as an American, and you have an opportunity not only to feel the energy of the fan zones and just all these different cultures, but to see the beautiful game up close, I think really it's going to inspire new people who've never watched soccer before.

And now I feel like now we take this World Cup and move forward and try to get more and more youth involved in the game and more people who aren't normally watching soccer excited about it.

TAPPER: What are you expecting from Sunday's final?

SCURRY: Ooh, it's going to be a doozy. I'm expecting an amazing game. You have two goalkeepers, for example, here. You have a goalkeeper on Argentina who has won before, who's experienced, who is going to be able to make that moment when it happens.

And you have the other goalkeeper on Spain who has never been here before. So, you have a real interesting matchup. And I really feel like it's going to be a coin flip for the winner, but I'm going for Argentina because that team, they don't quit.

TAPPER: You suffered a devastating concussion that led to your retirement in 2010, yet you're still very much involved in this sport. Tell us, if you can, how did that injury change your life?

SCURRY: Oh, Jake, I tell you what. I suffered a concussion in 2010. I had suffered several of them before, but nothing like this. It really set me back for several years. I struggled with different symptoms. I struggled emotionally as well.

But I was able to take that event, that horrible thing that happened to me, and make my mess my message. And now, I'm an advocate for concussions. I'm doing speeches all over the country at different organizations about my journey, and just really trying to inspire people to know that they can always come back from something, and maybe it may seem bleak at the time, but you can really take that instance and really turn it around.

TAPPER: What a powerful message.

Lastly, so when I was a kid, there was this, concept that soccer was going to take off in the '70s. This is the 1970s. And I really don't know that it did until very recently. How big do you think soccer is going to be going forward in the U.S.?

SCURRY: I really think after this World Cup, we have an opportunity to be one of the big four in our country. We have this World Cup, then we have the Women's World Cup in '27, and hopefully Women's World Cup on U.S. soil in 2031.

So, we have a lot of soccer happening on U.S. soil, and I really feel like that's going to boost the visibility of the game. And I think now with this World Cup about to end, Americans have a better feel for the passion of this game and that this game belongs to everyone, including them.

TAPPER: All right, Briana Scurry, thank you so much. So great to have you on the show.

Coming up Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION", Democratic U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, and Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. That's Sunday at 9:00 a.m. at noon Eastern on CNN. I will be hosting...

Until then, you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bluesky and on the TikTok @JakeTapper. You can follow the show on X and Instagram @TheLeadCNN.

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"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I'll see you Sunday morning.