Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Israel: Flydubai Stabbing Was "Attempted Terrorist Attack"; British PM: "strong Indication" Iran Was Involved In Incident At Air Base Housing U.S. Forces; WCBS: Jane Doe Told Cornell Police In 2024 That She Was Raped; FTC Opens Probe Into A.I. Giants Over Rogue Agents; NYT: Paxton Privately Says "Trumpapalooza" Hurt Poll Numbers; Game-Changing Pancreatic Cancer Drug Extends Lives. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 30, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:41]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. And we start with breaking news on several fronts today, including new details about that -- about suspected terror plot uncovered Sunday possibly targeting a U.K. air base that houses U.S. forces. That suspected plot resulted in five suspects arrested. And now U.K. authorities say there are strong indications that Iran was involved in that plot.

We're going to tell you more about that.

Also today in the alleged rape investigation at Cornell University, CNN has now obtained the six page signed statement from the woman known publicly as Jane Doe laying out exactly what she told Cornell University police back in 2024. Why her statement is prompting new questions about the district attorney and why he did not file any charges two years ago or even launch any investigation.

Also this hour, new fallout over AI models going rogue. The Federal Trade Commission, the FTC is now launching an investigation into the entire industry to include OpenAI anthropic, other tech giants. This announcement one day after President Trump's AI summit at the White House. One of the CEOs who attended that meeting will be here on the lead. But we are going to start with breaking news in our World Lead.

Panicked passengers on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel this morning experienced a sudden 17,000 foot drop during a dramatic and bloody attempted hijacking, according to people on the flight and Israeli officials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the plane's co-pilot stabbed the captain during the attempted terrorist attack. The injured captain, Smit Machchhar, fought back. He opened the cockpit door. He enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker. According to the prime minister, the captain and the attacker are now both in the hospital. The rest of the passengers now back in Israel. CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Tel Aviv.

And Jeremy, heroes on the flight are being credited with saving 174 lives. What are you hearing from passengers on the plane?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, without a doubt, Jake. I just returned from Ben Gurion Airport where those passengers were returning to scenes of celebration in Israel. But many of them who I spoke to were still grappling with what they experienced, the near death experience that so many of them described to me, the moments when that plane started not only to plummet, but also to spin out of control. It was the quick action not only of that captain who managed to keep the cockpit door open enough, and -- but also the actions of several Israeli passengers aboard that flight who rushed in, one of whom put the co-pilot, the assailant in this case, in a chokehold, and others who came in and managed to subdue him at the same time.

I also spoke, Jake, with a dentist who was aboard the flight. He was, you know, the only physician on board, Dr. Shota Musaev. And he was the one who actually treated both the assailant as well as the pilot, the captain of this plane, who he told me was in serious condition. Here's what he described.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SHOTA MUSAEV, DENTIST WHO WAS ABOARD THE FLIGHT (through translator): Cut. He was covered in cuts. His head, his hands, they were practically sliced open, almost severed in two.

DIAMOND (through translator): In critical condition?

MUSAEV (through translator): He was in serious condition. Not critical perhaps, but serious due to the massive blood loss. We also tied up the terrorist. He didn't scream at all. He just sat down quietly and went along with it.

We used the cord from the headphones and later they brought us plastic zip ties, which we used as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And Jake, he told me that he was terrified that they were actually going to lose that pilot during the flight. He said had they waited a few more moments before landing the plane, he believes they would have lost him. He said his blood pressure was dropping. He lost consciousness as they were going down for that rerouted landing in Saudi Arabia. That pilot is now in the hospital tonight, as was the co-pilot, the assailant, who has been arrested by Saudi authorities.

So many questions still remain about the motives behind what was an apparent attempted hijacking. We know that Israeli authorities are investigating a potential terror motivation behind this attack, but so far nothing conclusive has emerged about the motives of this co-pilot in this incident. What is clear though is that tragedy was absolutely averted by the actions of a very few number of passengers, with the rest of the passengers extraordinarily grateful for their actions, including one young woman who I spoke to today who said that she went up afterwards after the flight to thank those heroes who, you know, went into that cockpit. She told me that they all saved her life and the lives of their other passengers. Jake.

[17:05:42]

TAPPER: All right, Jeremy Diamond in Israel with that story. Thank you so much.

Joining us now to discuss CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller.

John, there's still a lot we don't officially know about this story. We obviously all know what it looks like. I mean, it looks like somebody who wanted to kill the pilot and crash the plane, but who knows if that's actually what the co-pilot intended. But we don't know how the co-pilot got the weapon on the plane and what his stated intentions were. What more do you know?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, what we're looking at is what are the steps that can be taken right away to help answer those questions. And you know, when you have a plane crash, usually there is a serious delay in getting to things like the black box, like the cockpit voice recorder. Like a prime suspect. In this case, all of those things will emerge very quickly. The cockpit voice recorder will already be in the hands of investigators.

The black box will tell them a lot about what happened to the plane, under whose control, under which station. But there are other things which is the search of the suspect's residence, what's in his computer, what's on his phones, did he leave something like a martyrdom video, a communique, a suicide note? There is history to this. I mean, we look at this because of the tension in the region and logically so that has a high potential to be a terrorist or attempted terrorist attack. But we've also seen Egypt Air Flight 990 where the co-pilot crashed the plane, a German commuter flight that was crashed into the Alps by a pilot who was depressed and about to lose his license.

So you know, you have to -- you have to walk through the beginning of this and not run. But I think the evidence is going to be easy to find more quickly.

TAPPER: And also obviously beyond the black box, we're hearing a lot of first-hand accounts from passengers and there's probably quite a bit of physical evidence on the plane itself. How are investigators going to try to begin to even piece this all together?

MILLER: Well, I mean, you know, with the Israelis, it all works in layers. Before that plane ever took off, they had run a full dossier. And you know this. You've traveled in the region, you've been interviewed by Shin Bet. All of that goes into a database where they scan those passengers.

Is anybody a threat? Has anybody been a threat in the past? Is anybody -- somebody who should not be on the plane? That includes the crew. You know, so that was the first step.

But they'll also be looking to Mossad and their American and regional partners to say, did anybody have any tipping and cueing that there was a plot afoot? And by the way, what were the contours of the plot, if there was one? Meaning, Jake, was it just to take over the plane and crash it, as we saw in those two other cases, or was this something that was supposed to fall between October 7 and 9/11, whereas the plane was flying over Israel, that it would be crashed into a target, a military base, a skyscraper, the Knesset, a building? A lot of questions to answer that they don't have the answers to yet.

TAPPER: Turning to another story involving potential terrorism overseas, the U.K. Prime Minister, Andy Burnham today said that there are strong indications that Iran was involved in that alleged plot targeting a U.K. air base which is used by the U.S. military over the weekend. Five British men were arrested, then quickly released on bail after police did not find explosives in their vans that were parked close to the base. What do you make of these developments?

MILLER: Well, it's fascinating, Jake, because as you study the Iranian target, when they look towards attack, they look towards their Ministry of Intelligence, MOIs, they look towards IRGC, their special forces, but then they immediately go to proxies like Hezbollah or the Houthis, particularly Hezbollah, because they have external operations that they can operate in other countries. But the new trend, Jake, is something the intelligence community is calling disposable agents. These are people that they recruit online, they vet them, they assess them, they bring them into a more encrypted space where there's less likely to be surveillance, and then they offer them money to carry out a plot.

[17:10:00]

If you think about it, if they're captured, they can't give up much against the intelligence service. And if they're not captured or they succeed, it's a bargain for the Iranians because they get to attack their target and they get some deniability. So that's something that is certainly being looked at here.

One other report, the British media is reporting that one of the plotters actually called the police just ahead of their arrest to say this plot was afoot. I have polled all of my sources on both sides of the pond and nobody is waving me off that report.

TAPPER: Fascinating. John Miller, thank you so much.

In New York State today and that alleged gang rape at Cornell University in 2024, CNN obtained a six page statement from the woman, the accuser known publicly as Jane Doe that she gave two years ago. What she told investigators then that is raising a host of new questions today. And a new recording captured Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. What he said privately about President Trump hosting that GOP midterm convention in his state and how it may have hurt him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:03]

TAPPER: Our Law and Justice Lead now, new questions emerging about the alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University's Chi Phi Fraternity house. A former student identified only as Jane Doe is suing the university, seven members of that fraternity and others. A warning, some of the report we're about to bring you is disturbing.

Jane Doe alleged -- alleges that several of the men drugged and sexually assaulted her and says the school did not do enough to protect her. The woman reported the alleged assault to Cornell University Police in 2024 and gave a six page sworn statement which was forwarded to the Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten. And based on that statement, Mr. Van Houten, the DA, decided to not file criminal charges or even to push police for more of an investigation.

And now there are conflicting accounts of what information university police shared with the DA's office during the initial 2024 investigation. Today, WCBS reportedly obtained a transcript of Jane Doe's two-day 2024 police interview in which she clearly says she was raped. To be clear, that transcript is separate from the six page statement that the district attorney received and that CNN has now obtained.

Now the district attorney says his office never received that transcript, but Cornell insists that it shared all investigatory information with the district attorney's office, including this screenshot from that damning Snapchat group that Jane Doe says the men used to invite others to join the alleged assault, referring to the situation as free pussy in one room.

On Monday, I pressed the District Attorney Van Houten on when his office received any of those Snapchat screenshots. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW VAN HOUTEN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, TOMPKINS COUNTY, NY: -- which is --

TAPPER: But when did you get them?

VAN HOUTEN: -- the linchpin of -- we did not see them initially. They were not part of our initial analysis. But I understand that Cornell had them and they sent them to our team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: According to a document that Cornell put out today on the incident, university police sent the Screenshot to the DA's office in November 2024. So what information was shared? What wasn't shared? CNN's Jason Carroll reports for us now from Ithaca, New York on these conflict the initial investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More details emerging surrounding what Jane Doe alleges happened to her at the Chi Phi Fraternity house in 2024. CNN obtained the six page statement she gave to Cornell police two years ago saying it got to the point where she, quote, "had become extremely uncomfortable with how this night was turning out. So my thought was if I do ketamine again, maybe I will pass out. My thought was that if I passed out and these men had sex with me, then they could be charged with rape."

In the six page statement, she said, two Chi Phi members were asking me to have sex so many times that I finally gave in. To me, that felt like coercion. Also telling Cornell police, "I remember being totally disgusted at the situation and I felt tired and intoxicated. I would say it was the most intoxicated I have ever been in my life. I felt like I was unable to make any decisions because of how intoxicated I was."

This month, Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit against Cornell University and seven members of the Chi Phi Fraternity. That lawsuit also included a screenshot of Snapchat messages between the fraternity members allegedly inviting others to join in. The district attorney's office, facing criticism by some on campus who questioned why charges were not filed in 2024. Despite the disturbing details, the Tompkins County DA says he is bound by New York law.

VAN HOUTEN: The voluntary intoxication of someone is not a basis to claim or to prove that they are incapacitated to the point that they cannot consent to sexual contact. So as much as I'm emotionally repulsed and morally repulsed by the events, I can't prosecute cases based on emotion or based upon moral standards or moral repulsion.

CARROLL (voice-over): The DA later pointed out while he did receive Jane Doe's six page statement, he says his office did not receive a separate transcript of Jane Doe's interview with campus police. Quote, "We never received it and still don't have it. It was not part of what Cornell provided to us. We got the six page statement and nothing more except for the Snapchat video."

In that transcript, exclusively obtained by WCBS, the young woman told police, "I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped." That comment does not appear in her six page statement to Cornell police.

CARROLL: Well, a spokesperson for the university tells CNN that Cornell police shared a, quote, "lengthy investigative report" with the DA's office and if there are any further questions about that report that needs to be addressed with the DA.

[17:20:12]

CARROLL (voice-over): Many on and off campus have called for more transparency in the investigation, though it is not required. Ithaca's mayor says campus police should still have alerted Ithaca police about their initial investigation. MAYOR ROBERT CANTELMO (D), ITHACA: Our officers are specially trained to respond to the level of trauma informed care that is often required when dealing with a survivor. Why not work with the municipal police department to try and help find justice?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (on camera): And Jake, the mayor told us that he has reached out to the university as recently as today asking the university to consider an agreement that going forward anytime that there is any sort of incident on campus involving -- violence involving a sexual assault or worse, that they loop in the Ithaca Police Department. He says he is still waiting for some sort of a reply. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Jason Carroll in Ithaca, New York, thank you so much.

Later on The Lead, I'm going to talk with the mayor of Ithaca. But joining us now is the former district attorney for Westchester County, New York, Mimi Rocah.

Mimi, questions are swirling around this initial 2024 investigation. As we reported, WCVS claims to have a transcript of Jane Doe's 2024 police interview in which she says, I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped. This transcript is separate from the statement that we've reported on. The district attorney says he never received that transcript and he's out there saying that she said at the time that everything was consensual. Cornell says it shared everything.

What do you make of this latest development?

MIMI ROCAH, FORMER DISTRICT ATTORNEY, WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY: Jake, I make of it pretty much what you asked him in your initial excellent interview of him the other day, which is why didn't they follow up? Why didn't they do more? I mean, this is going to continue to evolve. We're going to continue to get drips and drabs of things that the DA had or didn't have or is in his office. But we know this, he said this in his statement, he has said it publicly that he based his decision not to go to the grand jury, right, not to even try to get charges on that six page written statement.

That's it. There was no other investigation done. They didn't listen to the interview, which we now know about. They didn't review forensic evidence. They didn't review cell phones.

They didn't try to get other witnesses, surveillance video. There is so many -- so many avenues in a case like this. And it is a case that clearly just on the face of her statement is so complex and so nuanced. I mean, the rape laws, the consent law, the voluntary intoxication loophole that we're talking about, these are things that prosecutors and investigators can sit and analyze and debate for hours. If you're an investigator trying to get at the truth, as this DA office should have been, they should have sought more information, period.

It's as simple as that. I mean, I don't think that anyone right now can say whether a crime should or should not have been charged. I actually would not make that conclusion right now. I would say there should have been a full and fair investigation that was not done. And I frankly don't see how this DA now can be the person to conduct that investigation.

TAPPER: One of the things I wonder --

ROCAH: In other words, how can the public -- go ahead.

TAPPER: Well, go ahead and finish your thought. I'm sorry.

ROCAH: I don't believe that at this point, given everything that's happened, that the victim could have faith in whatever decision he renders, that the defendants, the people charged, if they are charged with a crime, could have faith in the decision he renders or that the public will. It is a case where everyone's doubting his motives at this point, and that's frankly understandable, right? He's reopened the case, which is an admirable move. But then he goes ahead and tries to essentially, in his interview with you and elsewhere, blame her for not having said the right words at the time to cause him to go to the grand jury.

TAPPER: Yes. Although in that initial police interview, she says I was raped. And that somehow doesn't end up, as far as we know, in that six page statement that the police officer typed up, which is very, very bizarre. She alleges a crime that doesn't make it into the six page summary. I don't understand that.

[17:25:01]

Mimi Rocca, thank you so much for your time today.

Given the gravity and nature of this story, we want to remind folks trying to navigate any similar crisis, there are people who can help at the RAINN Network, for example. That's short for Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network. You can reach them anytime at rainn.org, that has two Ns, R-A-I-N-N.org or call 1-800-656-Hope.

My next guest was one of the many tech execs at the White House yesterday talking about AI. We're going to get his take on today's breaking news. The FTC investigating OpenAI and Anthropic and others after troubling instances of Cyber intrusions by AI models.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

TAPPER: Breaking news today in our series, A.I.: Friend or Foe, the Federal Trade Commission is launching a probe into Anthropic, OpenAI and other A.I. labs as reports surge about A.I. models running rogue and amok, sparking fears about public safety. This all comes after top tech leaders and President Trump met yesterday and they signed a pledge that companies will self-regulate their developing technology, including four starting principles and a notable misspelling we should note below the President's signature, unless of course he's also changed the name of the country to the United States. Brandon Daniels is the CEO of supply chain A.I. company Exiger and was at his White House, at the White House summit yesterday for the tech executive meeting, he joins us now. Brandon, thanks for joining us. So your quick thoughts on this FTC probe, do you think this is necessary?

BRANDON DANIELS, CEO, EXIGER: Jake, I think it's important for us to understand the circumstances in which these agents can go rogue. I've had agents go rogue in testing before and so what I do is I set up the three C's, if they start using more costs, start using more compute or start using more cyber surface than I intended, then there's a circuit breaker, there's something that stops them and in these cases they didn't have that happen.

TAPPER: So you tell our team that the other executives, yourself included, verbally agreed to this morally binding, what's what Trump called it, morally binding list of accords, implementing robust internal controls, which it sounds like you have done, empowering an internal team for monitoring, partnering with an independent external auditor and designating an independent committee to receive reports on the controls. Do you think it's enough now to self-police as this technology continues to evolve at rapid speed when we've already seen so many incidents get out of hand and that's just what we know about?

DANIELS: Yes, Jake, I think this is an important first step. What we agreed in the room is that we all believe there are a set of superseding principles that we must adhere to. I mean, one example is, if I sell you a product, I can't have something dangerous in there, I can't have I.P. that I don't own in there, I have essentially unlimited liability to those principles. And so we agreed that we must own the tooling that sits around this A.I. that creates the capability for the A.I. to be productive, right? And that tooling allows us to implement governance, allows us to implement checks and balances, allows us to implement, like I said, the circuit breaker, the surge protectors that we have inside of the code to stop them from going rogue and stop them from creating harm.

But then the other thing that we all came together on, which is really important, and the President led this, certainly Jensen and Mark were very vocal advocates of it, is that we do need external auditors, we do need third parties, we do need board reporting to show that we're actually executing these. And I think, you know, folks that are on one side of the spectrum, like Dario, and folks that are on the other side of the spectrum, like, you know, Pac-Tan's a great example of someone that's full board going forward with A.I. growth. It's bringing us together and creating a set of principles that we can agree to and we can say, like, let's start self-regulating. Because the thing is, this technology, yes, sorry, please go ahead.

TAPPER: Well, I think one of the concerns that people have is, and I'm not talking about you, but that's a big room full of a lot of people with a lot of power and a lot of wealth. And I think there are a lot of people in the public that think, I don't know that I trust these guys, or at least some of these guys. "The New York Times" reported yesterday that earlier this year, OpenAI ignored their own employees who were warning about security flaws in the training. This is months before the hugging face hack. And yet one of the listed layers here is to empower an internal team to ensure there are no issues. Do you have faith that all of those CEOs are willing to listen to naysayers in their companies, even if it means slowing down and losing money?

DANIELS: We had a robust debate around this, and I think everyone agreed that it's about ensuring that your products have the safeguards and safety constraints that are necessary to make it so that what you're delivering to the public is safe, what you're delivering to the public is scalable and reliable. That doesn't mean that you have to stop innovating, though. This is one of the misnomers here, Jake, is that most people think if you want this to be safe, you have to stop innovating. The fact is, it's actually the deployment and the tooling and the infrastructure that you give to these models that makes them potent, makes them so they can do things, makes them productive.

[17:35:00]

And we can continue to innovate and win and beat the world in terms of artificial intelligence and super intelligence and bring that capability to the United States and create lots of jobs. But the thing is, we have to make sure that before we open up those models to the general public, to hobby developers, to people that might not have, you know, everyone's best interest in mind, that we have these circuit breakers and we have these testing and compliance capabilities that avoid, you know, the infinite loops that can cause major errors or can avoid malicious attacks like we've seen, you know, hacking groups do.

TAPPER: Brandon Daniels, thank you so much. Appreciate your time today. Coming up next, an audio recording capturing part of a private conversation with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. What he said about President Trump hosting that midterm convention earlier this month in his state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:22]

TAPPER: Oh yes, we love that CNN election jam. We're just 34 days out from midterm election day. "The New York Times" obtained an audio recording of Republican Texas Senate nominee, current Attorney General Ken Paxton, talking to conservative donors last week. He didn't sound particularly grateful for President Trump holding that GOP midterm convention earlier this month in Dallas, in his home state. Here is some of that audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you feel like he's a little bit of a drag?

KEN PAXTON, ATTORNEY GENERAL: So, to be honest with you, the numbers, when we did that convention, it dropped our numbers. Everybody's numbers dropped. Right now, yes, not good.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: Everybody's numbers dropped after the convention, Mr. Paxton says. My panelist here, Ron, President Trump was just asked about what Paxton said in "The New York Times." Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I haven't heard that, but I can tell you that the convention was amazing. This was a national convention, a midterm convention, never been done before. And we went directly against the NFL. It was just the timing worked out that way. And we had 107 million versus 25 million views.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: An advisor for Paxton told CNN in a statement, "This is more manipulated nonsense from "The New York Times" to create a story that doesn't exist. Our latest poll from the last week has Ken Paxton leading by three points. And every serious pollster will tell you that our numbers have improved since early September. Ken Paxton is going to win this race. And he looks forward to closing strong alongside President Trump, including when he comes to Texas this week." So, Ron, Trump and Paxton have an event tomorrow in Texas. Trump has been known to make interesting comments about Mr. Paxton. Do you think this might cause some trouble?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, look, I think the fundamental trouble is that Trump has a negative approval rating in Texas. I mean, if you look at the battlefield this year, Jake, virtually every seat in both the House and the Senate that both sides are seriously fighting over voted for Trump in '24. It's Republican- leaning terrain. But today, even in states that he won by double digits, like Texas, Ohio, Iowa, and Alaska, there's persistent polling that his approval is underwater. And it is worth reminding, past performance, no guarantee of future results.

But in his first term, Susan Collins in Maine was the only Republican Senate incumbent or challenger who won in a state where the exit poll showed more people disapproved than approved of his job performance. That's what Ken Paxton and everybody else, that's the headwind they are running against in these final weeks.

TAPPER: Peter, other Republicans in tough races have also been breaking with Trump in different ways, more publicly than Paxton there in that audio. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson running for Senate in Iowa, Senator Jon Husted in Ohio, former Congressman Mike Rogers running for Senate in Michigan, they've all publicly called on him to end the war in Iran to bring down prices. Collins in Maine, Sununu in New Hampshire slamming the trade war with Canada, which are obviously border states, border countries, is a border country. Is Paxton just cashing in some way, the way the tide is turning on Trump right now?

PETER HAMBY, HOST, SNAPCHAT'S "GOOD LUCK AMERICA": I think that Paxton, look, I mean, remember at the midterm convention also Donald Trump basically called Ken Paxton ugly. There could be a variety of reasons why, you know, Ken Paxton said their poll numbers have gone down since that convention. But Ron is right that Donald Trump's approval rating is the drag. I went back and looked, Trump's disapproval rating has spiked since the GOP midterm convention. And yes, maybe it was that people were watching Trump and they didn't like the, you know, dividend offer for people to go vote for Republicans.

But it's really, as you said, Jake, prices, gas prices have gone up by almost 50 cents over the last month. That's contributing to Donald Trump's approval ratings going down and why those candidates you just mentioned are trying to break with him. I think Iowa is a very fascinating case because it's not just prices. People talk about diesel a lot lately. Yes, that's important. There's so many inputs to the farm economy in Iowa that go back to tariffs. They export soybeans to China. They need to bring in potash from Canada.

And so, you know, all of these economic pressures, I think, relate to the war. And that's exactly why you're seeing these candidates try to break with Trump, even though they're not actually doing anything about it on Capitol Hill for the ones who are members of Congress.

TAPPER: Yes, and it's not just Ashley Hinson in Iowa. It's two members of the House who are running for re-election, Miller-Meeks and Nunn, also voting against Trump on the war with Iran. Staying in Texas, though, Paxton's Democratic competitor James Talarico is out with a new attack ad against Paxton. Here's a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:45:12]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today on House Hunters, Ken Paxton is looking for a home. Will he choose this $1.5 million McKinney, Texas, abode conveniently located near the courthouse where he was indicted for fraud?

PAXTON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, OK, that was easy. I guess he doesn't want this three-story, 12-bed luxury lodge in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

PAXTON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you want both? All right. There's also this million-dollar Ocean View property in Hawaii.

PAXTON: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ken Paxton owns 15 properties valued at approximately $9 million, even though he makes just $153,000 annually as attorney general.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I mean, Ron, that's kind of a brutal ad when you think about the fact that there are corruption allegations against Paxton. I mean, he's been indicted and then not to mention impeached. And people are struggling with affordability. People don't have 15 homes. BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Yes. Look, in Texas, as a Democrat, even if you turn out Democrats at an elevated rate, which seems likely this year, even if you win independents by a big margin, which seems likely this year, that's still probably not enough to win. You've got to either depress Republican turnout or peel away some Republican voters. And, you know, that Cornyn constituency, the non-MAGA Republicans in Tarrant and Dallas and the suburbs of Dallas and the suburbs of Houston, those are the voters who are having the most trouble getting to Ken Paxton.

And I think this is just another attempt to remind them of why they find him so personally unacceptable. Even if Talarico can't pull many of those people all the way over to voting for him, there is the risk that they either don't vote or simply skip the Senate. And that, you know, can move him a long way as well.

TAPPER: Peter Hamby, Ron Brownstein, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

A big night tonight for politics. CNN is hosting a debate in California's race for governor between Democrat Secretary Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton. I'm here in Los Angeles right now to moderate alongside CNN's Dana Abash. You can look for that tonight at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, only here on CNN.

Coming up next, more promising signs of a drug that has been nothing short of a miracle for patients fighting one of the most aggressive forms of cancer. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:42]

TAPPER: In our Health Lead, new hope for pancreatic cancer patients. You might remember my interview with former Senator Ben Sasse a few months ago. Sasse credits a transformational drug for extending his life. But you don't have to be a former senator to access it. CNN's Randi Kaye introduces you to a Florida woman right now whose TikTok video went viral in her fight to prolong her husband's life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yehey.

RUSS REED, PANCREATIC CANCER PATIENT: Got to ring the bell.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In August 2025, Russ Reed celebrated being cancer free. But just four months later, Russ's pancreatic cancer had returned and this time had spread to his liver and intestine.

R. REED: My mutation is so aggressive, it's the most aggressive mutation for pancreatic cancer.

KAYE (voice-over): He tried chemotherapy, but nothing worked. Then came word of a brand new drug called Rasonque, showing promise, but not yet approved by the FDA. KAYE: How frustrating was it for you and your husband to not have access to a drug that was out there?

MARNIE REED, RUSS REED'S WIFE: It was beyond frustrating.

KAYE (voice-over): Marnie Reed's father died of pancreatic cancer at 63, the same age her husband Russ was when he was diagnosed.

M. REED: I was determined this was not going to repeat itself.

KAYE (voice-over): So she took action.

M. REED: My name is Marnie Reed and I'm trying to save my husband's life.

KAYE (voice-over): Marnie posted on social media about her husband's cancer battle and lack of access to the new drug.

M. REED: It went everywhere. The FDA called the house.

KAYE (voice-over): In the end, Russ got the medicine through the FDA's expanded access program. It took 63 days and with pancreatic cancer, every second counts.

KAYE: So this is what you take?

R. REED: This is it. This is the Rasonque. It's two 150 milligram pills. They're pretty large.

KAYE: Oh, wow.

R. REED: I take two of those every morning.

KAYE: What does it feel like to actually have this in your hands? You waited so long.

R. REED: It feels great. You know, it's hope. It's hope in a bottle.

KAYE (voice-over): Within just 12 days of starting the new drug, Russ says his pain was gone.

R. REED: Not even a Tylenol. So it was --

M. REED: Watching his energy come back was amazing.

R. REED: -- it was great.

KAYE: And what about the side effects?

R. REED: The rash we talked about, it's real. It's difficult, especially because you can't put a lot on your scalp. You know, so the scalp is probably the most itchy and broken out, if you will. I think it was it was it's been worse on my face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How's it going?

KAYE (voice-over): The rash is on his face, torso, arms and legs. But he's still grateful for the medicine.

R. REED: I wouldn't be sitting here today, or if I did, I'd be writhing in pain because of the tumors. It's a game changer. It's the best thing that's happened in pancreatic in 40 years.

KAYE (voice-over): A game changer indeed. But as Russ's oncologist told me, Rasonque will not save Russ's life.

DR. JESUS FABREGAS, ONCOLOGIST, MEMORIAL CANCER INSTITUTE: It doubles the survival rate in patients with pancreatic cancer. This is not a cure, unfortunately, but it's a step in the right direction.

R. REED: Not only is it going to give a little bit more quantity, but it's quality as well.

M. REED: He promised me 50 years.

KAYE (voice-over): Rasonque is now approved by the FDA, but only available to patients with stage four pancreatic cancer that has spread.

FABREGAS: I would like to give this medicine to every single patient with pancreatic cancer.

R. REED: I'll take every day that I can get. We've had very difficult conversations about what's to come, and we know that that day is going to come. We just don't know when. I tell people jokingly that the Dolphins need to win the Super Bowl.

[17:55:13]

M. REED: Before he's able.

R. REED: That could be a while.

KAYE (voice-over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Port St. Lucie, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Thanks to Randi Kaye for that report.

Even more reports of disturbing Snapchat messages from 2024 in that Cornell alleged gang rape story. They're all surfacing now. Why is it all coming to light now? Why no charges two years ago? Why no further investigation two years ago? Well, the mayor of Ithaca, New York, is coming up next. He also has questions about this case. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:59:57]

TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, new documents obtained by CNN are raising fresh questions tonight about the investigation, or lack thereof, into an alleged gang rape at Cornell University. And now, Ithaca, New York Mayor --