The Lead with Jake Tapper
CNN's lead DC anchor and chief Washington correspondent, Jake Tapper, hosts this two-hour long weekday afternoon program, with headlines from around the country and the world, the top stories in national and international news, politics, health, money, the environment, sports and popular culture. The Lead also concentrates on bringing stories that aren't found on front pages—buried leads—to the forefront.
Episodes
August 1, 2025 • 84 mins
President Trump announces a slew of new tariffs. Also, President Trump deploys two nuclear submarines after what he calls provocative statements by Russia’s former leader. Plus, a look at what CNN is learning about the transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a prison in Texas.
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July 31, 2025 • 78 mins
President Trump is pushing ahead with a slew of new tariffs but will his biggest deals yet come down to the 11th hour? Plus, an attorney behind the case challenging if Trump’s tariffs are even legal joins to discuss. Also, an Israeli human rights organization that is saying Israel is committing genocide in Gaza joins to discuss.
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July 30, 2025 • 87 mins
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi each join to discuss the Epstein files, Medicaid cuts, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and more. Plus, Canada plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September.
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July 29, 2025 • 85 mins
The investigation into the deadly New York City office building. With new details about the gunman's weapon, his suicide note, and how surviving employees hid from the killer.
An audacious demand from Ghislaine Maxwell, the woman serving 20 years in prison for grooming young teen girls for Jeffrey Epstein and friends.
Texas residents get a say in Republican efforts to redraw the maps. One Democratic congresswoman who could very...
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July 28, 2025 • 87 mins
With images of emaciated, dying children and Palestinians fighting for food, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu falsely stated there is no starvation in Gaza. What will President Trump do, if anything, to pressure Israel to alleviate this manmade humanitarian crisis?
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July 25, 2025 • 87 mins
Tens of thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv, calling on the Netanyahu government to end the mass starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza as new images illustrate the dire hunger crisis, man made in the region.
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July 24, 2025 • 87 mins
As Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein problem keeps growing, today he dispatched his deputy attorney general to Florida to meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend who groomed underage girls for Epstein. She is currently serving a 20 year sentence. Plus, Trump’s visit to the Federal Reserve headquarters was born from his continuing anger at Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s unwillingness, so far, to lower interest rates.
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July 23, 2025 • 87 mins
A slew of new details emerge in the Jeffrey Epstein case just as a judge declines to release some grand jury documents from the criminal investigation. CNN has confirmed that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump back in May that his name was one of many in the Epstein files.
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July 22, 2025 • 87 mins
The Justice Department today says they want to speak with Ghislaine Maxwell, the once girlfriend and associate of pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Will she comply and would she tell the truth?
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July 21, 2025 • 86 mins
Trump shows fake clips of President Obama in handcuffs and calls for the Washington Commanders to change their name back to the Redskins or else. Is operation change the subject underway? Trump drums up controversy while avoiding discussing his own connections to pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and the scandal around it.
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July 18, 2025 • 88 mins
Attorney General Pam Bondi, at the direction of President Trump, asked a federal judge to unseal grand jury testimony related to the prosecution of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
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July 17, 2025 • 87 mins
Senate Republicans shut down debate over controversial judicial nominee Emil Bove leading Democrats on that panel to walk out. The walkout left Democrats unable to question Bove on a range of issues including his involvement, if any, in decisions to keep the Epstein files out of the public eye.
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July 16, 2025 • 87 mins
President Trump is frustrated by supporters’ continued demand to see the files on pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Today he called those supporters weaklings and suggested they take a hike. Plus, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is accused in a new lawsuit by a former police commissioner of running the NYPD as a criminal enterprise.
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July 15, 2025 • 87 mins
President Trump is attempting a course correction on the controversy relating the DOJ’s Jeffrey Epstein memo by sharing conspiracy theories. House Speaker Mike Johnson now says the Justice Department should release everything they have on Epstein.
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July 14, 2025 • 88 mins
President Trump is picking sides after a heated blowup over the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile case. What is going on at the DOJ? Plus, a look at President Trump’s pressure campaign on Vladimir Putin.
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July 11, 2025 • 87 mins
The number two at the FBI is telling people that he might resign over the Epstein scandal. Plus, moments ago President Trump was on the ground in central Texas one week after the catastrophic flooding. CNN is digging into some of the still unanswered questions.
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July 10, 2025 • 87 mins
Federal judges on the district level can no longer issue nationwide injunctions for the Supreme Court but they can certify class action lawsuits against the Trump administration. Plus, MAGA world remains outraged over the Trump Justice Department’s efforts to seemly try to close the case on Jeffrey Epstein and those who were his clients.
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July 9, 2025 • 88 mins
A look at the desperate search into the Texas floods as CNN learns new information about officials coordinating the emergency response. Plus, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) joins to discuss not seeking reelection and voting against Trump’s recent domestic policy bill.
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July 8, 2025 • 84 mins
The death toll in Texas is rising as well as the number of missing persons after deadly flooding. We bring you the latest from the ground in Texas as officials provide updates. Plus, Trump and Netanyahu meet to discuss a potential ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war.
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July 7, 2025 • 87 mins
Texas is bracing for even more rain as rescuers are desperately searching for survivors after catastrophic flash floods in central Texas that began Friday morning and have killed at least 90 people including 27 children at a summer camp.
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