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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Defends Vivek Ramaswamy's Attack Ad: "If That Ad Were About My Mother, You'd Love It"; Sources: Justice Dept. Investigating GOP Operative Corey Lewandowski Over Alleged Contract Misconduct At DHS; Photojournalist Attacked By Israeli Settlers Speaks To CNN; One- On-One With NY-17 Democratic Candidate Cait Conley. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 22, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right, thanks very much, my panel. Really appreciate all of you being here today. Thank you so much to you at home for watching as well. We always appreciate you. And of course, as always, don't go anywhere because Jake Tapper is standing by with a great show coming up on "The Lead."

Hi, Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Kasie, the Sixers are one and O. I don't know how much you're following, but the Sixers --

HUNT: LeBron is so Philly.

TAPPER: He's so good.

HUNT: It's so great.

TAPPER: It's so great.

HUNT: I love it so much.

TAPPER: He's infected.

Kasie, we'll look for tomorrow -- more tomorrow in "The Arena."

HUNT: See you tomorrow.

[17:00:43]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. And as you can tell from the CNN election music, we're going to start in our Politics Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

We only have 12 days until midterm Election Day. President Trump has just departed for the next stop on his red state Republican rescue mission tour, Iowa, a deep ruby red state Trump won by double digits in 2024. Tonight, he's rallying for Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson as a CNN poll of polls indicates a razor thin race there. Farmers in Iowa hit hard by soaring diesel and fertilizers -- fertilizer prices at least partly caused by Trump's war in Iran, not to mention his tariff policies.

The president hoping that a red state a day plan will keep the blue wave away. His rally locations indicate Republicans are pretty much playing defense in order to hold on to control of Congress. Today brings yet another reason Republicans remain on defense.

Before the president took off for Iowa today, he dropped a long truth social post and then spoke to reporters, reaffirming that the closing argument of the Republican party in the 2026 midterms is in the neighborhood of we stand by those who stand by child rapists. I am referring, of course, to the shocking political ad from Vivek Ramaswamy, Ohio's Republican candidate for governor, an ad condemned by a swath of Republicans, including the current Republican governor of Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): The ad, on its face, is deeply, deeply troubling. I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down. It's just -- it's just -- it's just wrong.

Family members have always historically been off limits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It's not really entirely just about family members, though. Before we show you what president Trump said to reporters on his way to Iowa, here's some important context that the governor was referring to.

The Ramaswamy ad against Democrat Amy Acton, who's also running for governor, features a woman named Donna Arthur. Donna Arthur is the estranged mother of Amy Acton, the Democrat. Now, Arthur on camera, accuses her own daughter of lying about her past. Here's some of the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNA ARTHUR, AMY ACTON'S ESTRANGED MOTHER: It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, you need to understand what she is accusing her daughter of lying about. Court documents show that that woman's husband, Acton's stepfather, was arrested when Amy Acton was only 12 years old for raping Amy Acton. And that woman on that ad lost custody of her daughter and son, and she sided with the husband accused of rape.

The Ohio Capital Journal writes of Acton's stepfather, quote, "After pleading not guilty to this crime, he posted bond and fled, becoming a fugitive of the state until his death in 2004. Police tried to find him for numerous years. Documents state he and Acton's mother moved to Pennsylvania, according to public records," unquote.

Now, Ohio Republicans are worried not only that this ad is going to backfire on Ramaswamy because it's so gross, but that it could even hurt other Republicans on the ballot in Ohio. Last night, Ohio State Representative Brian Lorenz wrote, quote, "Using someone's childhood trauma as a political attack is inappropriate and should have no place in our public debate. There are serious issues affecting Ohio families that deserve our attention. We can debate our differences while maintaining basic decency and respect. That is the standard I believe we should uphold regardless of party," unquote.

But that sentiment, upholding decency and standards, not a sentiment clearly -- shared by President Trump. He moments ago said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I know nothing about it. All I know is the mother said very bad things about Acton.

[17:05:00]

Look, if what the mother said about the daughter is half right, she has no right even running for the governor of Ohio. All I know is Amy Acton's mother said horrible things about Amy Acton, calling her a liar and other things and unreliable, a lot of very bad things. And I say that she's fair game. And I know one thing, if it were my mother, I'd be fair game. And you know that and you know that well.

You're trying to help Amy Acton get elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, fair game. I mean, what was fair game? Was Amy Acton, when she was a child, was fair game for that woman's husband who was raping her, allegedly? That's the fair game we're talking about. And President Trump sticking with the woman who stuck by the accused child rapist.

Earlier today, President Trump wrote on Truth Social, quote, "I only wish the mothers of my opponents would be so brave as to come forward and explain that their son or daughter is a liar and much worse. That took a lot of courage to do but, essentially, what she was really doing was saving Ohio from making a truly horrible choice." He also called Governor DeWine a rhino, Republican in name only for condemning the ad.

Yesterday, the vice president, JD Vance, endorsed the ad. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've watched the Democrats throw every dirty trick in the political book at Vivek. And now the media and the Democrats in the state of Ohio are obsessed because guess what, Vivek Ramaswamy had the audacity to run a T.V. commercial which calls it out like it is and calls Amy Acton a liar. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Calls it out like it is. Calls it out the worldview of a child rapist and the -- and the woman who stuck with the child rapist. It's a very curious approach from the same vice president who is said to have pushed behind the scenes for the Trump administration to have maximum transparency regarding a different dead pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

Now, here's the other thing. This becomes even more troubling when you dig even deeper into past public statements from Amy Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, whom Amy Acton hasn't seen since she was 12 years old, by the way, since the state took her away and her brother away from Donna Arthur after charging her husband with child rape. Yesterday, Amy Acton spoke with CNN's Lauren Fox, our reporter in Ohio, covering this race, about an interview that her mom did back in 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY ACTON, (D) OHIO GOV. CANDIDATE: When I was working alongside Governor Mike DeWine during the pandemic, she did an audio piece and there was a picture of her and the way my mother sounded none of the media even covered it because it was so clear that she wasn't well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now that's a reference to a shocking audio interview given to the extremist anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. The interview conducted by Cheryl Sullinger, convicted federal felon who was sentenced to two years in prison for conspiring to bomb an abortion clinic in 1987. But I digress, the article written showing only Donna Arthur's point of view. The attached audio is incomplete, presented only in short clips.

But I want to play one of these clips for you because in it, Amy Acton's estranged mother acknowledges that her daughter is not the first relative child that her husband had been accused of raping. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARTHUR: Him and his wife were divorced and his oldest daughter lived with him. And he was -- he always made her do her homework, do this and that, and she wanted to run around. She had accused him of rape, and -- but that was dropped too because it never hap --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Never happened, presumably, is what she says. The audio drops out there at the end of the Operation Rescue interview. CNN has reached out to Arthur for comment on the audio. She has not responded.

So I just want to summarize what we have here. Amy Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, was told by her daughter, age 12, that her husband, Amy Acton's stepfather, had raped her. But Donna Arthur already knew that her husband's daughter from a previous marriage had also said that this man raped her. And instead of Donna Arthur concluding her husband is a pedophile rapist, she instead concluded that both girls were lying. That is very sad.

And it's a good thing that the state took Amy Acton and her brother away from that woman, the same woman with whom Ramaswamy and Vice President Vance and President Trump are standing by, are embracing. This is the closing argument. Fascinating.

[17:10:00]

CNN's Lauren Fox is in Cleveland, Ohio.

And Lauren, you've been talking to voters about this ad and this whole horrible story. What are they telling you?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've been in the suburbs of Cleveland all day having conversations with voters and not a single person that I talked to, Jake, didn't know about this ad either because they had seen a digital video of it somewhere on social media or because now they are actually starting to see this ad air on their television screens in this race in the closing days of this election. And I will tell you that voter after voter that I talked to, some Democrats, some Independents, made clear that this is an ad that went too far. So many people that I talked to today said they wish these candidates would stop attacking each other. They wish these candidates would be talking about gas prices, grocery prices, how they're going to lower the cost of life for Ohioans here. And instead they are arguing that this ad could backfire for Ramaswamy in this race where he has been trailing, according to CNN polling, Amy Acton, his Democratic competitor.

Now, one thing that remains clear here is a lot of voters were scratching their heads as to why the decision to dig in here. Take a listen to this one Democratic voter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: Can you just talk about like what your reaction was when you first saw that ad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like why? Why? And I don't know what his angle was. Like, did -- who -- is that speaking to anyone, is like that resonating with anyone? I mean that's horrific what happened to her. And yes, I don't see the positive angle on it.

FOX: Were you familiar with her backstory before that ad came out?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, no. So it just makes me support her even more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And Jake, I also talked to one independent voter who has not made up his mind yet in this race. And he said after this ad he certainly was leaning toward voting for Amy Acton. He said he still wants to gather more information. But that just shows you for so many people who are on the fence right now, they are watching this ad and they may make their decision based on what they're seeing here. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Lauren Fox, thanks so much.

Was it a calculated decision for the president to weigh in on this controversy on the side of the woman who stood with a child rapist? We're going to talk to a former Trump White House communications director and get into how the Democrat in this race is navigating this moment.

Also ahead, why sources say the Justice Department is now investigating Corey Lewandowski, the once right hand man to Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security. Plus a powerful Democrat in Virginia federally indicted today and surrendering to authorities. This is another big case for the Justice Department. We're going to get into everything coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:16:41]

TAPPER: And we're back with the Politics Lead. Brand new early voting numbers show just over 11 million ballots have been cast by mail so far in this 2026 midterm election. Seven point nine million more were at in person early voting polling locations overall. Now 19.6 million people total have already cast their ballots.

Still 12 days to go until November 3rd Election Day. A lot of time for scandals such as the Ohio ad controversy to weigh in on undecided voters. President Trump late today siding with the Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and the estranged mother of Amy Acton, defending the controversial ad that features the estranged mom of the Democratic opponent Amy Acton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: That if that ad were about my mother, you would love it. You would love every inch of it. And what's happened is the press has teamed up because he's a Republican. And they tried to make it like it's a horrible thing.

This is a mother saying very bad things about her daughter. And I don't know why that should be shielded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So let me just say, as a member of the press, that if President Trump's mom, estranged mom, which this is not a reality situation, but if the estranged mom had been accused of siding with a stepdad who had raped President Trump when he was 12, no, I would not love it. I would think it was an absolutely disgusting ad.

Let's talk about this with the panel.

Dubke, I assume -- MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes.

TAPPER: Well, I know you and I know -- I already know what you think about this ad because I know you and you're a decent person. So why don't you just tell us what --

DUBKE: Well, I've also been on your network saying this since Tuesday morning or in -- or Tuesday afternoon when this ad first came out and before the Ramaswamy campaign claimed credit for it.

TAPPER: Right.

DUBKE: Remember, this started --

TAPPER: You were -- you were hoping that they had nothing to do with that.

DUBKE: Well, I read --

TAPPER: We all were.

DUBKE: Well --

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

DUBKE: -- I -- actually, when I read their statement, I go, oh, they had something to do with this.

TAPPER: Yes.

DUBKE: Because what you do as a campaign is you immediately come out and condemn it and say, you know, it may be true, I don't know, but we had nothing to do with it. When they didn't say that there was some there, there.

Here's the problem with it. There's multiple problems with the ad. But from a political standpoint, the real problem in Ohio is we've got a very competitive Senate race. There are at least three Republicans who are in toss up districts. And this is going to dominate Ohio politics and the conversation for the rest of the 12 days of this campaign.

And so what Ramaswamy has really done is he's derailed every, almost every campaign in the state. And it's going to be very difficult for anyone to make traction with this there besides the fact that this ad is just beyond the pale.

TAPPER: Yes. What do you think of it all?

FINNEY: Yes. You know, I obviously agree, but there's one part of this we haven't talked a lot about, which is kudos and praise for Amy Acton. Because, you know, this is how a leader handles something like this. She has been transparent. She has been honest and forthright.

She has taken questions, she has taken -- she's done interviews. She's -- I mean, there's all sorts of material that is already public. She did not shrink from the conversation. And she also seems to understand that hopefully telling her own story helps other survivors.

And so I want to make sure we give her credit, because it does give Ohio to say, gee, do we want a leader who survived something so horrendous, then became a doctor, now running for governor, or do we want the guy who thought this was appropriate?

[17:20:11]

TAPPER: So it's interesting you say that. So I was talking to a Republican officeholder, elected official in Ohio, who was in Ohio, and this officeholder said, A, this was all anybody was talking about. This is Tuesday, I think, it's all anybody was talking about. And B, the reaction was, Ramaswamy does not hold my values that he would do this.

And also that this had given Amy Acton, in this Republican's view, a level of stature that she did not have before.

DUBKE: Absolutely. Total backfire on this ad. Total backfire. We're just -- I was involved in a campaign in 2014 that was very similar. We were on the other side of it, that the Democrat put out this disgusting ad, the family asked for this ad to be taken down.

He refused to do it. He was leading at that point. And he ended up losing the election, I think in main part because he had made a disastrous decision to push the envelope here way beyond what the public wanted and way beyond what any family member wants in this, you know, similar instance.

FINNEY: It's interest -- you know, we've been talking about, do debates really matter? Do ads really matter? Yes.

DUBKE: Yes.

FINNEY: They really can.

DUBKE: Yes.

FINNEY: Something like, you can absolutely step in it and misfire. Does a successful ad always do what you want to do? Hard, because it's hard to break through, but --

DUBKE: Right.

FINNEY: -- this year broke through and not in the way --

DUBKE: Right.

FINNEY: -- you would have wanted.

DUBKE: Right. Exactly.

TAPPER: And not only that, but you've seen other Republicans like Governor Chris Christie, like Governor Nikki Haley, Ambassador Haley, reacting on social media about -- I think Haley said something like, Ramaswamy is a bad guy, and Chris Christie -- FINNEY: Yes.

TAPPER: -- not only taking issue with the ad, but taking issue with Vice President Vance standing by the ad. So it is having repercussions beyond that. Take a listen to Ohio's Republican Governor Mike DeWine, asked whether he thinks that the ad could actually deter other victims of child sex abuse and rape from coming forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEWINE: I mean, I think we all have an obligation to speak out in, you know, for our -- the victims. It's one of the reasons I'm doing this today. We need to speak out. We need to send the message to children that we are here to protect them and that there are people who will, in fact, protect them. And we just have to make sure we always try to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Did you hear, by the way, the clip that we ran in the previous segment where Amy Acton's mom was talking about how like, well, my husband's previous daughter also accused him of rape. And --

FINNEY: Yes.

TAPPER: -- and it's just like --

FINNEY: Not --

TAPPER: And she thought that was like proof as to like, oh, Amy's lying. Amy was lying, too.

FINNEY: Right.

TAPPER: And not, oh man, I married a pedophile.

FINNEY: And --

DUBKE: Maybe there's a pattern here.

TAPPER: Yes.

FINNEY: But remember, we're also -- I mean, it's Amy, her brother, her brother came forward --

TAPPER: Right.

FINNEY: -- and said, she protected me. I would have gotten it worse had it not been for her. And you know, we all can imagine what horror that means. So now we're saying and there's another? I mean, most mothers I would hope would -- mine certainly would have run away from something like that and kicked the guy out and made sure he went to jail.

DUBKE: But again, I mean, look what we're talking about. Look what the conversation and how the conversation has turned. I mean, this is just a --

FINNEY: Yes.

DUBKE: -- ridiculous thing. I was thinking at the -- at the beginning, like, if you are going to drop an October surprise, which this by definition, I guess could have been an October surprise --

TAPPER: Yes.

DUBKE: -- you generally would do it like the weekend before the election. But your early voting numbers are really telling. Now when we run elections, you've got to take into account and I'm sure that's why they dropped this ad when they did because they were trying to get ahead of all that early vote.

TAPPER: I have to say also I've seen -- it's -- you see Republicans coming out like Nancy -- Congresswoman Nancy Mace --

FINNEY: Yes.

TAPPER: -- came out and was very strong talking about how disgusting the ad was and how she thought this was going to prevent JD Vance from becoming president. But for the most part, it's pretty quiet about when it comes to Republicans not talking about you, not talking about David Urban --

FINNEY: No.

TAPPER: -- not talking about Scott Jennings. I'm talking about Republican elected officials who are --

DUBKE: You just showed the governor, a Republican governor of Ohio.

TAPPER: He's -- but he -- yes, he's an exception. He's an exception.

DUBKE: Well, I'm not going to talk about Thom Tillis, who you interviewed earlier in the week, but he's another exception.

TAPPER: Sure.

DUBKE: He condemned the ad.

TAPPER: Sure. Of course.

DUBKE: Nikki Haley, Chris, I mean, you named a few Republicans.

FNNEY: It's an interesting point because I was wondering at one point would some Republicans take it as an opportunity to say, I think this is wrong, and they haven't, because it seems like it should be a fairly clear moral line to be -- this should not be hard to say --

TAPPER: So Jon Husted, who is the -- who is running for reelection as senator --

DUBKE: Yes.

TAPPER: -- and his fortunes are tied up with Ramaswamy is one way or the other. He said, I would not have run that ad.

FINNEY: So lame. That's lame.

TAPPER: You don't think that's --

FINNEY: That's the way --

DUBKE: That's hurt (ph) her enough

FINNEY: I mean, I wouldn't have. Come on. No. You have to -- and especially I will give Governor DeWine credit for saying, because you do have to be mindful, there are children out there right now who are being abused. There are women and men in your state who may have suffered the same fate.

[17:25:01]

You got to be think -- that's what a leader does. That's why I bring it back to Amy. A leader understands the consequences and the implications of what they say.

TAPPER: I wish we weren't talking about this.

FINNEY: Me too.

TAPPER: Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

Just moments ago, President Trump weighed in on the Justice Department launching an investigation into his former campaign manager from a thousand years ago, Corey Lewandowski, back in 2016, not a thousand years ago. We're going to play that and get into the allegations next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: We have some breaking news for you now in our Law and Justice Lead. President Trump just reacted to the Justice Department opening a criminal investigation into Republican operative Corey Lewandowski.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I want my people to be honest, and if they're not going to be honest, they have to be prosecuted. People are not honest. They're stealing from me as president. They're not honest. I'll have my DOJ go and do whatever they have to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:29:58]

TAPPER: Sources tell CNN the Justice Department is investigating Corey Lewandowski over allegations of contract misconduct at the Department of Homeland Security. Lewandowski served as an unofficial chief of staff to former Secretary Kristi Noem back in March, serving under her in a variety of positions. Mishandling of DHS contracts was reportedly one of the main reasons Trump fired Noem, most notably that multimillion-dollar ad campaign starring Noem on horseback, an ad funded entirely by U.S. taxpayers that President Trump says he never approved.

Let's talk about this with CNN's Elie Honig and Evan Perez. And Evan, you and your colleagues at CNN here broke the story. Tell us more.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an investigation that follows a DHS Inspector General probe that's been going on for several months, Jake. And the Inspector General was looking at contracting practices at the Homeland Security Department under Kristi Noem's leadership with, of course, Corey Lewandowski, who was essentially a gatekeeper in her office. He was de facto a chief of staff, had a lot of power over firings.

And one of the things that Kristi Noem did was she required that any contract over $100,000 had to come across her desk. She said that it was in order to fight back against waste, fraud, and abuse.

TAPPER: Right.

PEREZ: Right. You've had multiple instances where people have alleged that what this was, was a way for Corey Lewandowski to request kickbacks for some of these things.

Now, he's not been charged with a crime. He has not been accused of anything formally by the Justice Department. This is still an investigation. And as the President said, you know, this is something that is ongoing. We reached out to Corey Lewandowski and we did not get a comment.

TAPPER: So Elie, theoretically, if he was, you know, demanding kickbacks for these huge lucrative government contracts, and again, nothing's been proven, nothing's been charged. But what kind of federal crimes could theoretically be in play?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Jake, there is a specific federal criminal law on kickbacks. And essentially it says if somebody within the government who's involved in giving out contracts then takes money from the party that receives the contract, that is a federal crime. As you say, we don't know whether the facts here will amount to a federal crime, but I promise you that's what prosecutors are looking at.

And what's really notable and remarkable to me about this development is this appears to be the first time we've seen this Justice Department look inward and open a serious criminal investigation of somebody who held a position of real power within this administration. Now, that's what DOJ is supposed to do. But I can't think of another example where that's happened.

To the contrary, DOJ seems to have turned a blind eye to other prior instances that would ordinarily get the attention of prosecutors. And it's really interesting to see the President's comments right there because he seems to be supporting this investigation and it will move forward.

PEREZ: In fact, they've shut down investigations into people inside the administration. So Elie is right. This is a remarkable one. And the President's comments there are striking.

TAPPER: I wonder if there are any journalists working on some big expose story that they're trying to get ahead of. But that's cynical. I'm sorry. Evan, Senator Louise Lucas, a powerful Virginia Democrat, was arrested in an alleged drug scheme today. She was indicted on federal charges. How did this come about?

PEREZ: Well, so seven people are charged in this case. And what the Justice Department says is that this is a racketeering conspiracy. She was using her office to try to build these marijuana businesses she got herself, according to the documents today, she got $750,000 payment in order to try to get one of these licenses.

Virginia was going through the process of approving legal marijuana businesses in that state. Some of the efforts began when it was still illegal, which is what the Justice Department points out in this case. But, you know, look, this is an investigation that began under the Biden administration.

It has been charged now. She turned herself in today. And she says that, of course, she was being targeted because obviously she's been at the forefront of a lot of criticism from conservatives, including the role she played in trying to get redistricting in Virginia.

TAPPER: Yes.

PEREZ: And so on, so.

TAPPER: She's a Trump critic, of course.

PEREZ: Right. Of course.

TAPPER: We should note that she's not on the ballot because it's off years in Virginia. Elie, you read the indictment.

PEREZ: Her daughter is.

TAPPER: Her daughter is on the ballot.

PEREZ: Her daughter is on the ballot.

TAPPER: Oh, that's interesting.

PEREZ: For a local race.

TAPPER: Does the Justice Department have a strong case here, Elie?

HONIG: You know, Jake, I looked at the indictment. You can't always tell because DOJ doesn't always list out its evidence. But they do here. And yes, this appears to be a strong case. They have financial records. They appear to have testimony from a cooperating witness. They have some of the drugs. They have some marijuana.

And most importantly, they appear to have either recordings of this person or they have e-mails or texts that she'd sent that are quite damning. In one instance, Ms. Lucas writes, "that we need to legalize marijuana here in Virginia, because when I did it, it was obviously illegal." That's not a good quote from her mouth for the defense here moving forward.

TAPPER: Interesting. All right. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

[17:34:56]

Coming up next, I'm going to talk to "The Washington Post" photojournalist who was attacked by Jewish zealot settlers in the occupied West Bank.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our World Lead, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee praised Israeli police for arresting 10 people on Monday in connection with a surge of violence during the olive harvest in the occupied West Bank. One of the victims of the violence was Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine.

Last Friday, as we reported at the time, Israeli settlers kicked and stabbed the photojournalist for 10 minutes, even though she wore a vest clearly marked press, according to her employer. In this video, you can see her near the end of the attack being helped up as fellow journalists and some Palestinians came to her aid as she was trying to get away from the Jewish zealot settlers, they started attacking again. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[17:40:01]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Run. Run. Run. (Speaking in Foreign Language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to run. You have to run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Run. Run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Heidi Levine ended up in the hospital with multiple broken bones, but she is thankfully well enough to talk to us. Heidi Levine joins us now from Israel. And Heidi, you just got out of the hospital. It's your first day home. I can't imagine the trauma of this and the emotional and physical wear and tear, but you are home. How are you doing?

HEIDI LEVINE, PHOTOJOURNALIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: It's been a rough day. Just listening to the audio that you just played of that was from the attack and when I was being rescued. It's hard to listen to. I think what hurts me the most is I can now really understand what others have gone through, what Palestinian women, children, men have gone through that I have met after their -- they were attacked. I've covered funerals of young people that have been killed by these Jewish settlers. So it's -- it was always very difficult to meet people, even a man that was sexually abused and tortured in front of his family. So I can't even imagine. And like I'm an American. I work for "The Washington Post." My story is getting a lot of attention around the world. Everyone wants to talk to me, but I can't imagine what it's like for all the victims that have gone through the same ordeal and are living with this, the threat of this violence on a daily basis, like, what it is like for them. I'm in a safe place right now.

You know, all the people I've met, all the victims, are -- they have no place else to go. There's no way to keep their families safe. So it's very, very personal to me. And it's very personal. It actually has strengthened my commitment to continue working to try to make a difference.

TAPPER: Well, you do make a difference. I want to play part of what another journalist who was there, Jasper Nathaniel, told my colleague Jim Sciutto last week. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASPER NATHANIEL, JOURNALIST: At one point, I saw somebody, I thought maybe he was helping her up. He like grabbed her by her vest and pulled her up. And he held her there so another settler could then kick her and knock her back down. And they continued beating her and clubbing her. They stole all of her equipment off of her cameras, her phone, her wallet. And, you know, it was truly horrific. I mean, I was worried that she was going to be killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So walk us through what was going through your mind as this unfolded.

LEVINE: I was thrown to the ground. I -- luckily for me, I was wearing my flak jacket and helmet, even though it's, you know, together with cameras, it adds a lot of weight. But we -- as journalists, we even discussed it first thing in the morning and all decided we have to wear our vest and helmet. And they just kept kicking me and hitting me with sticks. And it just kept going on and on.

And then I actually thought, OK, maybe I'll just play dead and pretend I'm dead, and they'll stop and they'll leave me alone if I don't react. I didn't really react to them. And all of a sudden, I got like I was holding on to my cameras. One camera was actually attached to my flak jacket with a clip so it wouldn't slip off my shoulder. And I had the camera bag, a pouch, and they just like tore my cameras off my shoulders.

They took my camera bag with lenses. They took my pouch of my American passport, my credit cards, my documents, my memory cards, even some work still from Ukraine, which I only just got back from being there for three weeks and everything. And when they stood me up, like, it's absolutely not true what the prime minister said in his comment that it looks like I would appear to be like I was being helped. No.

[17:45:09]

They only stood me up because it was -- they couldn't manage to get everything off my shoulders to rob me, including ripping off my gold necklace that my daughter gave me for my birthday. So like, yes. And then --

TAPPER: Yes.

LEVINE: And then what I remember is Jasper and others and -- trying to rescue me. And then they -- and then we came under attack again. And it was like this biblical battle where the Palestinians men, a group of men went in front of me to protect us, me and my rescuers from being attacked again. And if they didn't do that, like all of us would have been -- they would have been in the same situation as me.

TAPPER: Heidi Levine, thank you so much.

And you can look for more in my conversation with Heidi Levine, a fuller interview on CNN.com. I'm going to tweet out a link to that after the show.

Still ahead, Elon Musk and his Super PAC just dropped out half a million dollars to help Republican Congressman Mike Lawler be reelected in a district that Kamala Harris won. How is the Democrat running supposed to compete with that? Well, she's here and I'll ask her next.

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[17:50:37]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, we're heading to New York. In a competitive U.S. House race, Republican Congressman Mike Lawler is fighting for a third term in the state's 17th congressional district. Now, in 2024, the district voted Lawler back in office, though in the presidential race, voters in that district favored the Democrat Kamala Harris over Donald Trump. One of only three congressional districts have voted for Harris and a Republican for the House.

Now, this time around, Lawler's opponent is Democrat Cait Conley. She believes she can help flip the seat and help Democrats take control of the House. And Cait Conley joins me now. She worked in the White House National Security Council and is a 16-year Army veteran, including in special ops. Cait, the big headline in your district right this minute is Elon Musk and his Super PAC are spending more than $500,000 to boost Lawler and defeat you. What's your response to that?

CAIT CONLEY (D-NY), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: That the Hudson Valley cannot be bought and the harm that Mike Lawler has caused Hudson Valley families by his votes and loyalty to Donald Trump. He's not going to be able to erase that, nor is Elon Musk, because at the end of the day on Mike Lawler's watch, lives have just gotten worse for families in the Hudson Valley, whether it's the reckless Trump tariffs that have cost the average household $4,200, or if it's the reckless war in Iran, a war of choice, where people are literally paying for it at the gas pump. And we're going to feel it in the winter with heating oil prices.

But just like in 2024, where Elon Musk gave Mike Lawler more money than any other member of the House of Representatives for supporting his campaign, and Mike Lawler paid him back by passing things like the one big ugly bill that had record-breaking tax breaks for billionaires to include nearly $80 billion in data center development tax breaks that guys like Elon Musk get to benefit from. So I am not surprised. It just goes to show who Mike Lawler is and who he's really working for.

TAPPER: So you talk a lot on the campaign trail, as I would, if it were me in my career, about your service in the military. You're a decorated special ops combat veteran, 16 years as an active duty Army officer, deployed six times. I do want to ask you, what do you make of the leadership of Secretary of Defense Hegseth? And if you are elected to Congress, how would you deal with the Pentagon?

CONLEY: It is such an insult to every man and woman in uniform to have someone that incompetent and reckless in that position. Every single day, Pete Hegseth is there. American national security is made less safe, less secure, and it's wrong. Whether it was his incompetent execution of this reckless war with Iran, we saw this in how service members were treated on USS Lincoln, how we're hearing reports of injured service members not being able to get medical treatment in these forward-deployed locations.

Our service members are the best of us. They are Americans who are so brave that they swear an oath to support and defend our Constitution. They're willing to defend this the cost of their own life. And for that willingness to make that sacrifice, we owe them so much more as the American people. And this administration certainly owes them a hell of a lot more than what they're giving them. And this goes back to Pete Hegseth should never have been confirmed. And now that he's been there, he has done incredible harm to our Department of Defense, to include eliminating some of our top leaders who put country ahead of any person or party.

TAPPER: I want to ask you about Israel. That's a big issue in a lot of races. We just interviewed a "Washington Post" photojournalist who was kicked and stabbed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank last week. I know you're a supporter of Israel, but what is your message to voters and Democrats and independents who oppose Prime Minister Netanyahu and what he's doing in Gaza and the West Bank and feel like the Israeli government is out of control right now?

CONLEY: Jake, as you mentioned, my career has been focused on keeping America safe as a service member. I've deployed to war zones. I've seen war firsthand. And I will tell you, as someone who has been there, the last thing that I ever want to see is another generation of anyone, sons or daughters, have to go through that. The last thing I want to see is another community have to suffer like that. And just like I love America, I'm a proud American.

[17:55:56] I have fought for this country. I'm willing to die for this country. I've lost a lot of friends fighting for this country. I will criticize the Trump administration or any administration when I believe it's doing the wrong thing for America. I support the state of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state and do believe that America has responsibility to help ensure the safety and security of the Israeli people. And as the only democracy in the Middle East, it also is a really important national security ally to America for our own national security interests.

But I will also criticize the Netanyahu administration when I believe it is doing the wrong thing for Israel and America. But let's be very clear about what else is happening, where we are seeing a rise in anti-Semitism on both sides, in both parties, and that I have no tolerance for. Look, I fought for an America where this was a safe place with equality and justice and safety and security for all Americans, regardless of who they pray to, who they love, the color of their skin. And right now we are seeing a rise in hate towards our Jewish community that we have to stand up and confront.

TAPPER: Cait Conley, thank you so much. Have fun out there on the campaign trail.

CONLEY: Thanks for having me.

TAPPER: Tonight, President Trump is headed there to Sioux City, Iowa, hear what voters are saying ahead of the President's arrival.

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