The Lead with Jake Tapper

Biden implements vaccine mandate to blunt COVID surge; Republicans reject Biden’s vaccine mandate as “overreach”; GOP Govs promise legal action over Biden’s vaccine order; Appeals court sides with FL Gov, allows ban of school mask mandates; 21 U.S. citizens & 11 permanent residents onboard flight leaving Kabul; State Dept: at least 100 Americans still in Afghanistan; Jan 6 committee: “majority” of...

Fauci: Case rate needs to be 15 times lower than current rate to suppress virus; L.A. County to vote on vaccine requirement for eligible students; WH to require all federal workers be vaccinated, no testing option; Microsoft & AMEX postpone U.S. return to work plans; Army vet helps evacuate Americans out of Kabul; Source: More flights expected once Kabul airport is operational; Forensic examiner:...

Study: unvaccinated adults 17 times more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated adults; 13 Miami-Dade school staffers die of Covid since mid-August; Florida judge allows mask mandates to continue in schools; Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will return with in-person viewing; CNN: Biden’s Covid-19 speech tomorrow will include announcements on mandates and testing; Progressive Dems: no infrastruct...

Biden speaks after touring storm damage in NY, NJ; Biden: storm damage shows need for infrastructure deal; NJ Gov,: no commitment from Biden admin to expand disaster declaration; Biden: climate change a “code red” for the world, hurricane Ida is the latest example; 5 found dead in New Orleans senior apartments declared unfit for occupancy after hurricane; Power company says 50% of electricity rest...

Hospitals face tough choices about who gets ICU beds; Fauci predicts three doses of COVID vaccine may be best; Fauci: Moderna booster may come later than Pfizer; Average of new daily cases is up 800% since Memorial Day; Israeli officials to brief FDA on booster shot data next week; Labor Day travel slows from summer highs amid COID surge & CDC warning to the unvaccinated; 1.63M travelers passed th...

800K+ homes, businesses still without power in Louisiana; Louisiana grappling with power outages, fuel shortages; 2/3 of gas stations in New Orleans & Baton Rouge out of fuel; Heat index tops 100° in Louisiana as 800K+ are without power; Four nursing home patients die after being evacuated; LA gov pledges investigation into nursing home residents deaths; At least 50 killed in the northeast due to...

Homes underwater, transit shut down as Ida hits Northeast; Rescues ongoing as rivers burst at banks, spill into towns; NYC suburb: 200+ stranded cars block major parkways; County Exec: At least 3 dead in Westchester County, NY; Philadelphia's Schuylkill river swell 16 feet above flood level; Officials estimate thousands rescued from NE floodwaters; More than 900k still without power across Louisia...

Officials: WH plans to shift focus away from Afghanistan; Social media video appears to show Taliban parading military vehicles taken from retreating Afghan forces; Top U.S. general says he feels “pain and anger” over Afghanistan; Book reveals Dick Cheney was nearly assassinated by Taliban; FEMA: $5m+ in assistance now approved for hard-hit households; Nearly 50% of gas stations in New Orleans and...

Biden: Will get remaining Americans out "if they so choose"; Biden: "I take responsibility for the decision" to withdraw; Biden: Couldn't stay in Afghanistan indefinitely because "everything had changed" after Trump's deal with Taliban; Biden: "To those asking for a third decade of war, I ask: 'What was our vital national interest?'"; Biden: "I was not going to extend this forever war"; Biden: Cho...

U.S. races to complete evacuation as deadline looms; Parts of Louisiana unreachable, extent of Ida’s damage unclear; Energy company: 2k+ miles of transmission lines out of services, 1m+ customers have no power; Pentagon: every single U.S. service member is out of Afghanistan    To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podc...

WH: Working with the Taliban is a “necessity” for evacuations; Biden: “There may have been” list of evacuee names provided to Taliban; ISIS-K claims attack that killed 13 U.S. troops, 170+ Afghans; Surge in Covid cases puts strain on hospitals across U.S.; Judge rules against FL governor’s ban on school mask mandates; School mask rules challenged in Florida, Missouri, Texas; CDC report: unvaccinat...

Journalist in Kabul feel another explosion; Centcom Commander: “Very, very real” specific threats of more attacks; Defense Sept. “Continuing” mission to evacuate Americans & Afghans; Centcom commander: “We expect attacks to continue”; Pentagon: Two suicide bombers, ISIS gunmen attacked airport & hotel To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about you...

U.S. Defense official: “very specific threat stream” on ISIS-K attacks planned against crowds outside Kabul airport; U.S. concerned about possible ISIS-K attacks on Kabul airport crowds; Pentagon: 19,000 evacuated from Afghanistan in the past day; Pelosi & other lawmakers criticize unauthorized Afghanistan trip by two members of Congress; Blinken: U.S. in contact with 500 Americans who want to get...

Taliban: Afghans will not be allowed to leave the country; Taliban: airport roads closed to afghans, open for foreigners; State Dept: thousands of Americans waiting to be evacuated; Defense officials: first U.S. troops have started leaving Afghanistan; U.S. has evacuated 4,000 American passport holders & their families; Biden won’t extend Aug. 31 deadline to leave Afghanistan; Fauci: U.S. could ha...

Biden encourages hesitant Americans to get their shot today; Pentagon to make vaccines mandatory for troops after FDA approval of Pfizer; Florida records most deaths in a week, COVID cases top 3 million; Miami-Dade begins classes with mask mandate, defies FL governor; As hospitalization rates soar, FDA approves Pfizer vaccine; Pfizer working on plans to advertise its approved vaccine; NYC mandates...

Pentagon: U.S. flights resume in Kabul after pause for 8+ hours;  Afghans enduring brutal conditions outside Kabul airport; Secy. Austin to House members: some Americans beaten by Taliban; Pentagon: baby hoisted over wall was treated & reunited to dad; Riot control agent deployed on Afghans outside Kabul airport; New Pentagon images show humanitarian effort of U.S. Marines; Biden: don’t know how m...

CNN: Only a small number of Afghans are making it into Kabul airport due to Taliban checkpoints; Biden suggests U.S. troops could stay in Afghanistan past withdrawal deadline to evacuate all Americans; State Dept.: 20 flights expected to depart Kabul tonight; Taliban using violence to stop Afghans from reaching airport; Biden defends chaotic U.S. troops withdrawal from Afghanistan; Sources: State...

Gen. Milley: no indication Afghanistan would fall in 11 days; Milley on Afghan allies: “we’re not going to leave them behind;” Taliban block access to Kabul airport with gunfire, violence; Biden admin recommends third shot eight months after second; Biden: plan for booster 8 months after receiving your 2nd shot To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more...

WH estimates 11,000 U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan; Afghan women fear for their futures under Taliban rule; Burqa prices surge as Taliban impose new rules for women; Taliban pledge “no violence against women” but say the world needs to respect their “core values” on women; Top generals hope to speed up evacuations within the next day; Pentagon: up to 4,000 troops in Kabul by end of today; Pen...

Biden: I stand by my decision to withdraw from Afghanistan; I will not repeat the mistakes of the past; This did unfold more quickly than we anticipated; Scenes in Afghanistan are gut-wrenching; There was never a good time to withdraw from Afghanistan; Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to be nation building; Our current mission is getting U.S. citizens and allies out of Afghanistan; Bi...

Covid hospitalizations near 80k, most since winter surge; Unvaccinated covid patient: “Get the vaccine”; (0% or more ICU beds full five states: AL, TX, GA, FL, MS; FEMA: More than $1B given to families of covid victims for funerals; CNN gains access to Taliban at old U.S. military base it seized; Taliban commander tells CNN: We believe one day we’ll have Islamic law “All over the world… we are not...

Official: Biden approved order to send troops this morning; U.S. may move embassy to Kabul airport as Taliban gain ground; Fauci: “Inevitably” everyone could need booster shot; Debate rages over school mask mandates; Schools in MS, IN, GA return to virtual learning after outbreaks; U.S. averaging 122,000+ new cases a day with 75k+ hospitalized; Hospitals across the south running out of ICU beds; S...

Biden critics balk at massive $3.5T budget blueprint; Manchin raises “serious concerns” about $3.5 trillion budget; White House faces delicate balancing act to advance Biden’s priorities; L breaks hospitalization record, gets hundreds of ventilators; Judge grants temporary restraining order again Texas governor’s ban on mask mandates; Oregon institutes indoor mask mandate after record new cases; S...

Gov. Cuomo resigns following damning A.G. report on sexual harassment allegations; Biden: “I respect” Cuomo’s decision to resign; Biden on Cuomo: “he’s done a helluva job” as governor; Gov. Cuomo resigns but maintains innocence, says allegations are “politically motivated”; Cuomo replaced by first female governor in NY history; As school districts battle GOP govs over masks, cases skyrocket & hosp...

Hospitals in southern states running out of space and staff; Right-wing conspiracy theorist spreading COVID misinformation; Florida schools reopen as COVID positivity rate rises among children; CDC vaccine advisers meet on Friday to discuss vaccine boosters; FL church loses six unvaccinated members to COVID amid Delta surge; Full FDA approval on Pfizer vaccine expected in coming weeks; U.S. averag...