The Lead with Jake Tapper

Police in Bend, Oregon provide an update on Thursday’s deadly mass shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School. So many questions remain unanswered as the Bend community grapples with such a horrific act of violence.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With 19 days until midterm elections, CNN is tracking the key races that could shift control of congress to Democrats. Plus, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Robert Garcia joins to discuss potential investigations into Trump and his administration.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Only 20 days left until polls close in the 2026 midterm elections and President Trump is headlining a campaign rally in the swing state of Arizona. Plus, CNN is live in Texas ahead of tonight’s townhall with Senate candidate James Talarico.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Vatican has confirmed Pope Leo XIV had a cancerous growth in his lung. CNN brings the latest updates on his health condition. Plus, CNN’s John King visits North Carolina to ask what issues are at the top of voters’ priority list.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An early morning raid on the DC home of Rep. Ilhan Omar. Plus, a brand new investigation at the State Department into Kimberly Guilfoyle.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A brand new forecast for Hurricane Isaias. The National Hurricane Center warns conditions are rapidly deteriorating along the northern Gulf Coast. In just a few hours, Hurricane Isaias is expected to make landfall around the Florida panhandle as a Category 3 hurricane.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With 26 days left until the midterm elections, CNN looks at three key races for Senate and what voters are revealing about the candidates in two of those races. Plus, oil companies along the Gulf Coast are bracing for Hurricane Isaias. Could this result in even higher gas prices?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump says he has a call with Vladimir Putin about the plague after a lab worker’s death. Should the public be worried? Plus, CNN is on board the troubled aircraft carrier that spent more than 10 months at sea with very little time at port. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The nation is four weeks away from midterm Election Day. Plus, a new audio recording surfaces in the alleged gang rape case at Cornell University. Also, unprecedented student protests rise across France.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world wants to know what happened inside the Russian research laboratory. Plus, breaking news at Cornell University, a new audio recording emerges of the suspects involved in an alleged gang rape.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The alleged gang rape at Cornell University is now in the hands of a special prosecutor as we learn of a ketamine overdose and a drug-related arrest just one day before the alleged attack at that very same fraternity house.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alabama reaches a landmark deal with TikTok over claims the app harmed children and teens. Plus, a public hearing in Ithaca, New York, home to Cornell University, where many are voicing their outrage over the university’s handling of an alleged 2024 fraternity gang rape.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CNN has now obtained the six page signed statement from the woman known publicly as Jane Doe laying out exactly what she told university police back in 2024. Plus, new fallout over AI models going rogue.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How text messages about a basketball game lead to an embarrassing moment from one senator on Capitol Hill as he tried to accuse former special counsel Jack Smith of perjury. Plus, President Trump met this afternoon at the White House with top leaders of the artificial intelligence industry.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

36 days left until the midterm elections. A look at what CNN is learning about Trump’s aggressive campaign strategy as more candidates appear to be slipping away from the president’s support. Plus, an explosive lawsuit against Cornell University that could potentially soon lead to criminal charges.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With just 39 days until midterm Election Day, a new ruling from the Supreme Court allows the Trump administration expanded access to review who is and who is not eligible to vote. Plus, did anything substantial come from the three day visit from Chinese leader Xi Jinping?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Press access at the White House is tested after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to temporarily reinstate press badges for the news outlets.  A judge lays out next steps.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A judge’s ruling could come at any moment after a hearing this afternoon over the White House’s media ban against CNN, Politico, and MS NOW. Plus, Chinese leader Xi Jinping just landed in Washington and CNN breaks down what’s at stake in his upcoming talks with Trump.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kamala Harris is back on the campaign trail in Michigan. Can she help Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the race for Senate? Plus, one of Trump’s former foreign policy advisers joins to discuss Trump’s speech today at the United Nations.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Trump administration is facing a new lawsuit after the president bans CNN and other media outlets from the White House. Plus, no flights in or out at some of the busiest airports in the country. How a construction mishap is to blame.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump this afternoon in a social media post announced that he is going to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House as “a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Does the president really think the Kennedy Center needs to be demolished if his name is not put on the building? Plus, OpenAI revealed six new instances of its bots going rogue.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump is on his way to a campaign rally on the heels of some bad economic news. Today, the Federal Reserve ignored Trump’s demands and raised interest rates for the first time in years. Plus, mounting pressure on singer Ed Sheeran after he kicked one performer off his tour and the other opening acts quit in solidarity.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adch...

President Trump called into a Kennedy Center board meeting and yelled about his name not appearing on the side of the building. Plus, Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department will comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling to block President Trump’s effort to restrict mail-in voting.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump dismissed all the artificial intelligence doomsday warnings even though many of the warnings are coming from folks inside the AI industry themselves.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices