Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA), Wife Of U.S. Service Member Aboard USS Lincoln Speaks Out, Trump: USS Lincoln Deployment Was "Not Nearly Long Enough"; Luigi Mangione Admits Killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson; Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Is Interviewed About Kenney Center Board Votes To Put Trump's Name On Building; Third Week Of Testimony Ends In Lindsay Clancy Trial; WAPO: CIA Program Behind Mysterious Strikes On Fishing Boats; "Crushable Cement" Preventing Planes From Skidding Off Runways. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 14, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: "The Lead with Jake Tapper" starts right now.

[17:00:17]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. And we begin with breaking news in our World Lead and the growing criticism of the Trump administration as the nation continues to learn more details about reports of terrible living conditions and worsening mental health for U.S. service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. In moments, I'm going to talk to the wife of a service member on that vessel right now. The vessel has been deployed in the Middle East for more than 250 days.

There's been reports of lack of supplies, shortages and rationing of food, contaminated water. Earlier today, President Trump was asked about the concerns being raised by family members of those serving aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Family members of U.S. service members are concerned about the positions on board the USS Lincoln.

DONALD TRUMMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, no, that ship is moving. No, they're not. That ship is moving right now or very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has the deployment gone on too long? Are you worried that the mental health concerns --

TRUMP: No, no, no. Not nearly long enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: A different carrier group is on its way to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln. A U.S. official noting that swap had been previously planned. All of this as we're also learning of a second sailor who went overboard. A second -- a separate ship in that same strike group, the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group. This incident happened back in April, about four months before another sailor went overboard.

And joining me now on the phone is the wife of a service member who is currently aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. We're not going to use her name or his to protect their identities. Thank you so much for joining us. What is your husband saying about conditions on the ship?

USS LINCOLN SERVICE MEMBER'S WIFE: My husband is appalled at the conditions on this ship. This is not his first appointment. This is not his first time being out there. And he is saying that it is the worst deployment that he's ever been on. And he's also says that his shipmates say the same.

The food is appalling, but the food's been appalling the whole time. I think that the food on these ships are always pretty bad, but it's more -- it's not just the quality, it's the quantity, it's the rationing. The portions are awful. So it's really -- it's really not good.

TAPPER: And then my understanding is that morale is really bad for any number of reasons, not just in terms of people not being chipper, but just the workload nonstop. No real effort to understand morale. There hasn't been a port call in more than 200 days. So they've been at sea the entire time. And this might explain why some of the sailors have been jumping overboard.

USS LINCOLN SERVICE MEMBER'S WIFE: Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. My husband is a very leave it at work type of person. He gets his job done, he comes home and he's -- he lets it go at work.

He does his best. He works very hard for United States military. And he's even said that he finds himself changing. He feels himself being angrier and a little bit more and more frustrated, and that's just very unlike him. So it's very hard to hear that as his wife, when I can't do anything about it, I can't help him.

The only thing that I'm able to do is send him care packages and try to give him some positives, send him pictures from back home of our kids to try to boost his morale and keep him strong. Because when you're stuck in a floating metal prison, essentially in the middle of the water, eating prison like food, with the same people in the same bunk beds in the same small quarters for 200 days, 250 days, you start to go a little insane working 12 hours, getting four or five hours of sleep, and I truly just can't imagine, and it hurts my heart as his wife to know that he's going through that.

TAPPER: And what was your -- what was your reaction today?

USS LINCOLN SERVICE MEMBER'S WIFE: It's (inaudible) sailor.

TAPPER: What was your reaction today to President Trump saying that, in fact, he didn't think the USS Lincoln's deployment has been, quote, "long enough?" USS LINCOLN SERVICE MEMBER'S WIFE: Oh, my God. I don't think the man thinks before he talks. And I'm just -- I -- I'm really hope -- I was really hoping that at some point there would be a redemption. Try to redeem yourself at least a little bit with everything that you do and everything that you say, and try to redeem yourself. Have some sympathy, some empathy, take some accountability for what's going on with your military, your ships in your war, in your war.

[17:05:16]

It's infuriating. I mean, we heard what Hegseth said yesterday, what the president is saying today. It's infuriating, saying -- essentially saying that families are lying and service members are lying, even though the proof is right here on my phone, it is not fabricated. Nobody is lying. Everybody is -- it's infuriating that they're not taking accountability and not having any sort of sympathy for our service members, that they claim to scream and shout that they support when it's politically, you know, sound for them to use support our troops, support our troops until our troops need support.

And now suddenly everyone's lying and it's a fabrication and it's a misrepresentation? It's infuriating. And I so badly would love to plaster my face and blow the whistle so loud on social media with my name and be like, this is real. We are real people. Those are real people on that ship.

This is actually happening. But unfortunately, I have to protect my husband's career. And you know, he's making a career out of this, or he was. I'm not sure he -- I'm not sure what he's going to do when he gets back or what his plan is going to be after this.

TAPPER: Thank you so much for your time and for your family's sacrifice and of course, for your husband's service.

USS LINCOLN SERVICE MEMBER'S WIFE: Thank you.

TAPPER: Joining us now, one of several lawmakers demanding answers about what's going on aboard the US's Abraham Lincoln. Democratic Congressman Mike Levin of California, whose district includes North County, San Diego, which is part of a huge, huge military community, a huge naval community.

Congressman, what is your reaction after hearing from the wife of a service member aboard -- whose husband is aboard the USS Lincoln right now?

REP. MIKE LEVIN (D-CA): First of all, Jake, I commend the courage of that spouse, that brave military spouse who deserves better than this. And her comments are consistent with what I've heard from other family members. I was speaking to a mom of one of those aboard yesterday who is furious at this president and at this administration, particularly after the president's comments today. And, you know, they want answers on the conditions.

I think nobody expects for our aircraft carriers to be the Holiday Inn, Jake. That's not what we're talking about, but basic habitability. We're talking about running water and enough to eat. That just gets to readiness, that gets to security. But beyond the conditions, they want to know what's the end game here.

What's the plan? What's the actual mission here? Our military families, Jake, want to support the mission. Right now, they don't know what that mission is. You got the president saying a dozen times that we've won the war.

If we've won the war, send them home. And if we haven't, then tell us the truth. But you can't have it both ways.

TAPPER: She mentioned food rationing aboard the Lincoln. Food rationing. We know that's happened in the past. Is it still happening, do you know?

LEVIN: Well, my understanding and, you know, this is where if Hegseth actually would level with the Congress and with the American people, we could get some answers. But the normal port call that would occur, the normal resupply of food and the ordinary course that would have happened when Iran struck some of our, you know, infrastructure in the region, there was no plan B. There was no good plan B to restock. That's my understanding.

And, you know, we need a full investigation and full transparency. Unfortunately, in the minority, as we know, Jake, this administration has just engaged in a propaganda campaign rather than leveling with the American people. They've disregarded Congress from the start. We're almost six months into this thing, so I don't expect any clear answers to any of the letters we're sending or the senators are sending. But it's just poor planning.

It's incompetence. I think we've seen it time and again. And again, our service members and their families deserve better.

TAPPER: What's your response to the Trump administration denying reports about deteriorating conditions on the USS Lincoln? Hegseth saying that all of this is blown out of proportion, and Trump saying today that he didn't think the deployment was long enough.

LEVIN: Yes, that was a horrible thing that the president said. You know, even for him, that was a shocking thing to have said. I'll tell you this, that the Navy secretary actually had a meeting over a week ago here in San Diego with the families, and the families articulated then what was happening and their concerns. So apparently the Navy secretary did not communicate to the President of the United States or, you know, Hegseth did not convey those concerns adequately to the president of United States. If, in fact, the president doesn't actually believe these things, he's either not being told the truth or he won't accept the truth, or maybe both.

[17:10:10]

TAPPER: Yesterday, you and three other California Democrats sent a letter to Hegseth and the acting secretary of the Navy, Hung Cao, demanding answers about what's going on aboard the USS Lincoln. A short while ago on X or Twitter, Secretary Cao posted this, quote, "A small number of mental health cases were treated with no loss of life. Meal plans were adjusted when fresh resupply was unavailable without a single meal being missed. Calls home were limited when the operational threat was too high. There is no question our young men and women have been pushed to their limits, but they have never broken," unquote.

What's your response?

LEVIN: Sounds like the Secretary trying to cover his backside, Jake. The reality is this is without precedent, 200 days plus without a port call, not enough to eat, backed up plumbing. You know, this is really below anything that you'd ever expect from the finest military in the world.

And I'm on the Appropriations Committee, Jake. And we're asked every year for a trillion dollars plus for our military. So if they need more resources, they need to let us know. And if it's not a resource gap, then it's a competence gap, then it means they didn't think through the steps that they were taking.

And it just -- I think is another indication that the president shooting from the hip with this war with no end in sight and no clear answers for these families. These families want to know when their husbands and wives, sons and daughters are coming home. There are reports that the Washington may, you know, eventually get folks from the Lincoln home, but we don't know when that's going to be. And they just want clarity, clarity of mission. And we have none of that clarity right now.

TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Mike Levin of California, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it.

LEVIN: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: And if you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, please call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. You can text at 988. There is help for you. There is love for you.

Today, Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to stalking charges and the killing of the United Healthcare CEO. Mangione saying in court, quote, "I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died," unquote. What else Mangione said in federal court today and what this means for the state charges he faces? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:16:20]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, Luigi Mangione today pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges in the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione saying in court, quote, "I shot Mr. Thompson and he died. I knew what I was doing was illegal," unquote.

Speaking in front of Thompson's emotional family, Mangione said he endured years of debilitating pain after a broken back and struggled to navigate the health insurance system, believing that the system had destroyed his life. Mangione's guilty plea today was an attempt to get state murder and weapons charges against him dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. Legal experts predict his sentencing from this federal case will be long, possibly even a life sentence. A reminder that earlier this year, the federal judge tossed murder and firearms charges from the original indictment and took the death penalty off the table.

Let's discuss this all with Stacy Schneider. She's a New York City criminal defense attorney.

So Stacy, Mangione's lawyers filed this motion to dismiss his state murder and weapons charges on double jeopardy grounds because the federal charges are there. Explain their reasoning and do you think they have a reasonable shot at getting those charges dismissed?

STACY SCHNEIDER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: OK, they have a calculated good shot at getting into dismiss, but not a slam dunk. So this is what they did. They had him take pleas to two federal counts of stalking with the result of murder. And that was crossing state lines. That's why it was a federal charge because he crossed state lines from Georgia into New York to do this killing.

And they had him say those words on the record for a purposeful reason. They want to invoke the New York state double jeopardy law, which is a broad law and says not only can you not prosecute someone for the same crime twice, but you can't prosecute them for the same act or criminal transaction even though it's two different offenses. What's strange here is that he's got now a murder plea, a guilty plea in the federal court. I'm sorry, I take that back.

He's got a stalking plea in the federal court. He's facing murder two in the state court. And the prosecutors are going to argue that the act of stalking was a prelude to the murder. It was crossing state lines to -- with the intention to cause harm or death and the intention to place the victim in fear. It's not the same as actually pulling the trigger. And that's going to be the argument that these are not precluded by double jeopardy.

And the prosecution is going to try to move forward and keep this September 8th murder trial on the table. But the defense is very crafty. They went ahead as soon as he took those guilty pleas in the federal court and they filed over a 30 page motion to dismiss almost every single count against Mangione, except for a minor count for having a false ID to try to get an end run around this very damaging federal state trial that's going to come up soon. So now the state court judge has to decide if he's going to grant this motion and dismiss the charges or force Luigi Mangione's hand and make him go to trial on the actual charge of pulling the trigger, not just following and stalking the victim.

TAPPER: OK. It's -- I'm not a lawyer, so I find it a little confusing. Explain this to me. What do -- what do Luigi Mangione -- what is -- for the Luigi Mangione's attorneys, what is the best thing that they will get out of what they are trying? Like what is their goal here?

[17:20:00]

SCHNEIDER: So their goal is if they get the murder two charge dismissed at the state level, then they are remaining with this plea, this guilty plea to the two counts of federal stalking in the federal court. Now, Mangione is facing life in prison on those two counts because of his plea. It's really interesting to note that he pled guilty voluntarily with no plea deal on the table. Typically, if somebody pleads guilty before a trial, it's because the prosecution is offering them reduced time and they're offering them a deal. But he did this plea voluntarily so he could avoid those state charges if he wins his double jeopardy motion.

So what else is going on, and it is super complicated and there are a lot of nuances, is the statements he made during his plea that I have back issues and I pulled the trigger and I killed him, I shot him, it's all purposeful to get the federal charges to be the equivalent of the state murder charges in action, indeed. So that the statute will mandate that the state charges get dismissed. So what he's facing, getting back to your question, because this is really convoluted. He is facing life in prison, but he has the opportunity in federal court to argue for mitigation, which is for the judge to reduce the sentence because there are underlying factors. And you can be rest assured that he is going to bring up his pain from his back injury and some kind of mental distress --

TAPPER: Yes.

SCHNEIDER: -- caused by his physical ailments as part of his attempt to reduce the sentence that he's facing.

TAPPER: All right, Stacy Schneider, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

It appears President Trump has found yet another possible workaround for his apparently important desire, his need, his yearning to get his name on the Kennedy Center building. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:26:21]

TAPPER: In our politics lead, it seems President Trump's name will be added back to the Kennedy Center. Sources say the Kennedy Center board, which was handpicked by President Trump, he's the chairman of it, in fact, voted on Thursday to add an inscription honoring Trump below the venue sign. It will read, quote, "Restored and renovated by President Donald J. Trump," unquote. Now, you might remember the president's name was first added to the Center last December when his board attempted to rename the Center the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. But Trump was removed in June from that after a judge ruled that renaming the federal memorial required congressional approval, which the president still does not have.

Joining us now is Congresswoman Joyce Beatty. She serves as an ex officio trustee of the Kennedy Center Board.

So, Congresswoman, what is your reaction to this attempt to get around the ruling and put the president's name up on the building anyway?

REP. JOYCE BEATTY (D-OH), EX OFFICIO MEMBER, KENNEDY CENTER BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Well, thank you, Jake. And just as you said, this is just another vain attempt by Donald Trump to evade what the court has already ruled in our favor of. Again, it's unlawful for him to do what he's doing. He is using the $257 million that the Congress allocated for the renovations.

Now, let's just say that he did lobby and he was responsible for telling Speaker Johnson that they had to put those dollars in his bill, Jake, it's still taxpayers money. It is not Donald Trump's money to do that. And there are statutes about what you can and cannot do even if there is a donation and you're trying to put an inscription, a plaque, and once again, it's unlawful.

We have gone to court, we've been victorious. He can't accept that. So he has had his hand-picked board members decide on loyal to him -- loyalty to him versus adhering to what the court has already said.

So we'll continue battling this. We've been successful in federal court, in the D.C. Circuit Court. And so if we have to go back to court again because it's unlawful, we will do just that.

TAPPER: Your fellow ex officio board member Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, told MS NOW that President Trump phoned into yesterday's meeting of the Kennedy Center board and spoke for several minutes and then texted his vote to add his own name to the wall of the venue. Were you in the meeting? Did you know this was coming?

BEATTY: Oh, we did not know that we were going to have this as something to vote on. It was not on the agenda. But yes, I was joined by two other ex officio members and we clearly spoke up and brought it to the board's attention early on that we would not be voting to support something that one was not on the agenda. And secondly, when we discovered that it was adding this inscription that he had renovated the building, the Kennedy Center, we were very clear in our words that we would vote no. And we did.

TAPPER: Sources also tell CNN that the board voted to close the Kennedy Center for this two-year renovation while keeping a part of the complex separate from the main building open for smaller shows. Is that going to preserve some of the jobs? Will it soften the blow?

[17:30:04]

BEATTY: Well, we didn't have enough information. We had two slides that walked us through what they were recommending. So again we did not vote in support of that because we want to make it clear that if we're going to close the main building and use the reach center for some of the programming. We need more time to analyze this and that's a good question.

We didn't even talk about the number of jobs that would be lost, the number of jobs that we would be retaining, what the programmatic dollars would take. We just discussed the two years that it would be closed and then of course it would reopen. I am sure that this is not over as you are probably aware of or will remember. The judge also ruled that there was a deadline to talk about the tarp coming down and coming down and the programming and that it could not close until there was a clear plan.

TAPPER: Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, thank you so much for your time.

BEATTY: Thank you.

TAPPER: Also in our National Lead, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced today the arrest of a woman for allegedly vandalizing the World War II memorial. Melissa Farris has been charged with depredation against property of the United States and destruction of a veteran's memorial. Pirro shared photos appearing to show Farris spray painting the memorial with the message, clean hands dirty money. According to the indictment Farris also recorded a live stream video online in which she allegedly confessed saying, "I was just allowed to deface federal effing property."

It has been an emotional and eventful week in the trial of Lindsay Clancy who is accused of killing her three young children. CNN's Jean Casarez has been following every detail of this case. She joins us next to take a look back at the week and to explain what you need to know before the trial resumes on Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:36:17]

TAPPER: Our Law and Justice Lead now, week three of testimony has ended in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children. Clancy's defense says she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis when she fatally strangled her children at their home in 2023. This week, jurors heard from mental health providers, medical examiners and a police officer who analyzed Lindsay Clancy's cell phone.

During graphic and disturbing testimony about her children's injuries, Clancy sobs, I can't do this, which prompted a recess. On Thursday, jurors saw images from inside the Clancy home hours after the killings of the children. Prosecutors highlighted a bloody knife and bloodstains believed to be from Clancy's self-inflicted wounds before she jumped from the second story window.

Jurors then heard diary entries in which Clancy wrote that she felt, "Sad and depressed," about her ability to parent her youngest child. The case has sparked a wave of coverage and online conspiracy theories and online chat. Many of the conspiracy theories, of course, allege without evidence that her ex-husband, Patrick, is somehow behind the tragedy.

CNN's Jean Casarez is following the case for us as only she can. Jean, what is driving people online to target Patrick Clancy?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is such a good question. He has never been a suspect. He has been the grieving then-husband, grieving father that lost everything. But it is really spiraling on social media. Now, if we look at the facts for the trial, number one, his DNA was on at least one of the exercise bands.

And it was the exercise bands that she used to strangle all of her children. She's admitted that she did it. But his DNA is on at least some of the bands. But he testified that when he went down to the basement and he found the children, that he untied each and every band to get it off of them to try to save them.

Also, Lindsay Clancy went to so many providers, and they all prescribed medication. He worked at home. They were virtual visits. But I think really just one visit, he sat in with the doctor as she is having her appointment. And then on cross-examination, on the stand, Kevin Reddington, the defense attorney, I mean, we need to listen to this, because what is he trying to get at, at pivotal moments when she wasn't doing well? Patrick Clancy, and these are facts that came out as evidence. He was out of town. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: November of 2022 is a month before she was telling you and her mother that she was having thoughts about hurting the children, right?

PATRICK CLANCY, LINDSAY CLANCY'S EX-HUSBAND: Right.

REDDINGTON: Where did you travel to?

CLANCY: New York.

REDDINGTON: And how long were you there, sir?

CLANCY: Two nights.

REDDINGTON And who took care of the kids?

CLANCY: Lindsay.

REDDINGTON: A month and a week or so before she killed the children, she was home with the kids for two days. Is that right?

CLANCY: Right.

REDDINGTON: If she wanted to kill the kids, she certainly could have done it that time when you're out, right?

CLANCY: In theory.

REDDINGTON: As opposed to sending you on a three-minute trip to CVS and a nine-minute trip to a restaurant, you were away for two days in November, and on a number of occasions for brunch, as well as skiing, right? You're a pretty active guy.

CLANCY: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CASAREZ: And one other thing shortly after this happened, Lindsay Clancy was in the hospital unable to speak, but she was able to tell a nurse that she wanted to change her health care proxy from her husband to her parents. And, Jake, we have no idea why.

[17:39:55]

TAPPER: So let me just ask you. So the attorney there, the defense attorney, who is beloved on TikTok and Instagram, beloved, seems to be suggesting either that there's something going on with Patrick we don't understand, or he was a bad husband and father because the wife is saying all these things and he's out of town, he's skiing, he's -- but either way, he's not -- the defense attorney isn't saying all this for no reason, right?

CASAREZ: No, there has to be a reason. And if he's trying to show that the husband was negligent, he wasn't there with his wife when he should have been, that goes toward the defense attorney's theory, I think, that Lindsay was trying to survive, trying to get better, trying to do anything she could, and there was virtually no support.

Now, of course, Patrick Clancy would say otherwise. I visited her three times when she went to a mental hospital. But that could be where the defense is going here.

TAPPER: Some online individual sleuths have claimed that the blood seen in the images of the primary bedroom points to a violent struggle between Lindsay and her ex-husband, Patrick. But the evidence has been introduced. What does it actually show?

CASAREZ: Well, what it shows is blood is on the floor, there are droplets, and there's no spatter. Spatter is flying blood, right? So that would show there's an altercation. But, you know, maybe Patrick Clancy inadvertently caused this himself because when he testified, he said that he walked into the main bedroom and he saw blood.

He said it was everywhere. It was like it had been sprayed with a hose. That was his terminology right there. And then he walked out, and that's when he found her, he testified, down on the grass. And there is testimony also that once he went into the basement and he found the children, first responders were there. There was a blood- curdling scream from him. He runs out. They run down. He says, she's killed the kids.

TAPPER: Yes. And just to be clear, neither the prosecution nor the defense dispute that she killed the kids.

CASAREZ: Right.

TAPPER: Defense is leading up to something. We don't know what it is, but we're going to stay on top of it through Jean Casarez and her excellent coverage. As always, thank you.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

TAPPER: A new "Washington Post" report claims that the United States was secretly conducting strikes last year as part of a covert CIA program. Two of the reporters who broke the story join us next to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:46:41]

TAPPER: We're back with our World Lead and our continuing series, Dead in the Water. We're tracking the Trump administration campaign of strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, extrajudicially looking at exactly whom the strikes have killed whether they're even legal strikes.

New video just in to CNN shows a fishing boat off the Galapagos Islands on fire hours after it was allegedly attacked with explosive laden drones. This was in March of this year. New reporting from "The Washington Post" indicates. This was one of three boats targeted as part of a secret CIA program.

All the vessels were Ecuadorian boats near the Galapagos. The strikes appear to be separate from the Pentagon's so-called Southern Spear Operation, which the Pentagon says just ended. Joining us now, two of "The Post" reporters who broke this story about the CIA strikes, Alex Horton and Warren Strobel.

Warren, your report starts with a look at the fishing boat called Fiorella, which has been lost at sea since January, along with its eight crew members. How did you figure out that the drone striking these boats were linked to the CIA?

WARREN P. STROBEL, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, I want to start out by giving a shout out to our visual forensics colleagues who are the ones who really linked, found the plane that was flying in the direction of the Fiorella and the other two boats at the time -- at the same time. And that allowed us to hone in and eventually determine that the CIA was involved. This is the overall CIA umbrella here for what's going on, the attack on the Fiorella and the other two boats.

TAPPER: And Alex, your reporting says there were survivors from strikes in March. They told you, "small quadcopter drones either dropped munitions on the vessels or detonated by crashing into them. The men said they were then taken aboard a nearby ship, hooded and cuffed by armed men and transported to El Salvador, only to be returned later without explanation to Ecuador."

As I mentioned, CNN just obtained a video of one of those boats, the La Negra Francisca Duarte II. The survivors told you they were only fishing and I guess they've been released. What else did they tell you about how they were treated and anything else?

ALEX HORTON, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, some of them received injuries during these operations, so they received some medical treatment. Otherwise, you know, they were in the complete dark about who their captors were, why they were being stopped, why they were being detained and then chipped off to El Salvador. They told some of my colleagues that the Americans had called them to come get them and they were transported, you know, hours away to El Salvador, even though they were closer to Ecuador.

And once I got to El Salvador, they were released after questioning and returned to Ecuador without seemingly any charges or any other kind of punishment that would you would think what would happen for suspected job traffickers if that's what they believed.

TAPPER: As expected, Warren, the CIA declined to comment. One former official told you it raises questions about why there's so much secrecy around these strikes and why the CIA is even involved. Why do you think? You have any theories?

STROBEL: I think our story actually, Jake, it provides a little peephole, if you will, into the fact that the CIA is very involved in Trump's counter-narcotics efforts. CIA Director Ratcliffe himself has said that and has bulked up the counter-narcotics division at the CIA.

[17:50:00]

Unlike the Pentagon Southern Spear strikes, which they post on X, the CIA stuff is mostly in the shadows. But now we have a little bit of a window into what's the vision at the CIA. Unlike the Pentagon Southern Spear strikes, which they post on X, the CIA stuff is mostly in the shadows.

But now we have a little bit of a window into what's going on. And I would guess don't know this, but I would guess there's a lot more going on that the CIA is doing that we don't know.

TAPPER: So, Alex, the mothers and relatives of the missing fishermen from the boat, the Fiorella, they recently gathered in Ecuador to demand answers about their disappearance. Do you think these families are ever going to get some sort of comment or closure when it comes to the U.S. government? I mean, if the U.S. government killed them because they think that they were drug dealers, they theoretically should just say so. Or drug traffickers, I should say.

HORTON: Yes, I mean, if you look at, you know, the Pentagon going back years of how, you know, even in strikes that have acknowledged were mistakes where they've killed civilians and they're not going to offer recompense. For example, the civilians killed in the Yemen strikes by the Trump administration last year, and some of the overt strikes that the militaries that are taking in the region.

You know, we don't know anything about them in terms of any evidence that the U.S. has provided that they were trafficking drugs. So, when it comes to some government, whether it's the U.S., Ecuador, El Salvador, or anyone else providing a full account of what's happening and full explanation, we're not even get them from our own government.

And in Ecuador and El Salvador, those two countries are Trump allies in this drug war. So, I would not I would suspect, unfortunately, that they're going to be left with more questions than answers just like us.

TAPPER: Alex Horton, Warren Strobel, thank you so much. Great reporting. We appreciate it.

You've heard about runway incursions where planes or other vehicles stray onto runways where they should not be. But there is another worry, runway excursions, where your plane goes skidding off the tarmac. And up next, we've got a look at the technology being added to some airports to try to avoid disaster.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:56:07]

TAPPER: In our National Lead, imagine your plane coming in for a landing. It touches down but doesn't stop. It skids past the end of the runway. That nightmare scenario might have a safer ending at an increasing number of airports thanks to something called collapsible concrete. CNN Pete Muntean reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From Virginia --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just had an alert three on the airfield, aircraft accident.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): -- to California --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We literally like, and so we were all like, whoa.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): An airport safety system is saving lives. Called Engineered Materials Arresting System, EMAS, is a bed of lightweight, crushable cement placed at the end of runways to stop an airplane that's about to careen off the end.

NICK SUBBOTIN, FAA AIRPORT RESEARCH SPECIALIST: I like to think of it, it's like a runaway truck stop but for airplanes.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Here at its facility in New Jersey, the Federal Aviation Administration has been testing EMAS, which in the last year has stopped a record four planes from running into highways, hills, even homes.

MUNTEAN: This material is soft enough that a heavy airplane will sink into it, but dense enough that a person can stand on it. I can even jump on it. And that's key in an emergency.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The system is installed at 70 airports across the country, including Roanoke, Virginia, where last September husband and wife Steve Harrison and Debra Tatars' United Express flight skidded off the end of the runway. The National Transportation Safety Board said the plane's approach was too high and the first officer twice told the captain to abort the landing.

STEVE HARRISON, PASSENGER: And I thought, you know, this better stop pretty soon. And then I remembered seeing that device at the end of the runway and thinking like, that's supposed to stop airplanes, and that's when we hit it.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The couple says the plane would have tumbled down an embankment were it not for EMAS.

DEBORAH TATAR, PASSENGER: There were probably other things that should have happened differently before we got to that point. All we know is that that was the last point.

HARRISON: And that's what saved us.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): For Tatar, the incident carried a poignant reminder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening. There was an air disaster today in Boston.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): As a teen, a friend was killed when the flight she was on crashed into a seawall at Boston's Logan International Airport. The airport is about to begin installing more EMAS pads to prevent planes from skidding into Boston Harbor. The more than $100 million project could delay flights for two and a half months. Worth it, says Tatar and Harrison, whose first grandson was born only weeks after their crash.

TATAR: We would not have seen him born.

HARRISON: Yes, yes.

TATAR: There's a very good chance that we would not have survived.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: Airport industry advocates say EMAS has proven its worth, but there is a new problem. Some of the earliest versions of these pads are now 20 or 30 years old, meaning they're nearing the end of their useful life and airports are looking at starting rehabilitation projects. That is an effort one industry executive says will require significant federal money, but also time.

Boston's runway shutdown for its new EMAS installation begins in just about two weeks on August 31st. The airport says the potential for 75 days of flight delays is necessary for what it calls this critical safety upgrade. Jake, this is a piece of EMAS, and you'll be surprised at how light it is.

TAPPER: Oh, yes.

MUNTEAN: Sort of like I would describe it, almost like concrete. And, yes, you're getting some of the chunks there on it. Sorry. Sorry to schmutz. It's almost like concrete combined with styrofoam. It's really quite incredible. And this is what is so strong. It comes in these big blocks, and they lay them out with a big protective layer on it, and it's you -- it uses essentially resistance. Resistive drag is what they call it.

TAPPER: It's like the crust of a pie. MUNTEAN: Yes. That's all -- that's pretty accurate. Yes. That uses sort of this resistive drag to slow an airplane down and stop it pretty efficiently. Pretty amazing stuff.

TAPPER: -- report is I should be avoiding Logan Airport.

MUNTEAN: Just for a little while.

TAPPER: When? Now?

MUNTEAN: August 31st, for 75 days. So essentially until before Thanksgiving, when the Thanksgiving rush really kicks off. They're trying to do this so it's not on the peak of summer travel, which it is right now.

[18:00:05]

TAPPER: All right. Pete Muntean, thanks so much.

MUNTEAN: Anytime.