Trump Defends Association With Conspiracy Theorist | The Lead with Jake Tapper

voters 50 and over have the power to decide elections so candidates who want to win need to talk about the issues they care about learn more from our latest polling in Georgia at aarp.org gaping well Donald Trump took questions but his answers only raised more the lead starts right now from his close ties to a farri fire brand to his repeated racist debunk conspiracy theories about migrants Donald Trump was pressed on it all but his responses likely won't silence his critics plus a stunner from the pope weighing in on the presidential election sharing his opinion on both Trump and Harris but will this take will this change any minds and CNN's rare interview today with Supreme Court Justice katangi Brown Jackson what she says the high court is really concerned about behind the scenes welcome to the lead I'm Pamela Brown in for Jake Tapper 53 days until the 2024 presidential election in the campaign Trail today is Lively former president Donald Trump just about an hour ago wrapping up a Q&A with reporters in California and he continued to reference Haitian migrants in Springfield Ohio vowing in a second term to enact large deportations starting in that town a reminder for you they are there legally he claimed that 94% of his Republican allies said he won the debate a number one can only assume was made up right on the spot given many Trump allies including Senator Lindsey Graham and Robert F Kennedy Jr have gone on record saying Trump's performance left something to be desired and CNN's Kristen Holmes also asked the former president about the controversy surrounding farri activist Laura lumer who often travels with Trump and has made racist posts that have been disavowed this week by Trump allies including congresswoman Marjorie Taylor green what would you say to your Republican colleagues or your allies who are concerned about your close relationship with Laura lumer well I don't know what they would say I Laura's been a supporter of mine just like a lot of people are supporters and she's been a supporter of mine she speaks very uh positively of the campaign I'm not sure why you asked that question but Laura is a supporter uh I don't control Laura Laura has to say what she wants she's your allies expressed concern well I don't know I mean look I can't tell Laura what to do let's go straight to CNN's Kristen Holmes in California it's interesting he said I'm not sure why you asked that question um surely it wasn't a surprise to him Kristen yeah I Pam we know that it's not just the Republican allies that we've heard on the record saying publicly that they are concerned about Laura lumer like Marjorie Taylor green like Lindsey Graham but we also know that there have been private phone calls from Republican allies to Donald Trump to Donald Trump's heads of the campaign expressing concern that when she's traveling with Donald Trump we saw the people get off the plane with him at the debate it was a very close-knit group of advisers his top advisers his campaign managers and the people who had helped him with the debate and Laura lomer this is a coveted seat on the plane and this was not an answer that really got to the heart of why it is that she's traveling with him or what he would respond to people who have called her remarks recently racist and he was asked specifically if he would disavow after I spoke to him if he would disavow some of her comments and he said he didn't know what the comments were but he'd take a look at them again we have spoken to allies who have talked to him who have talked to heads of the campaign about her recent comments not just recent but over the last several years and told him their concern so this idea that this is all new to him seems pretty far-fetched all right Kristen Holmes thanks so much the panel is here to discuss let's start with Aaron Pini eron what movable voter is Trump winning by having people like Laura lomer around him and do you think he really doesn't know the kinds of things she said about 911 and other topics there is not a persuadable voter that is going to see Laura lomer coming around Donald Trump and think that that's going to persuade them to now break for Donald Trump it's not as much about winning voters as it is having people around him that that support him that he likes that he wants to hear from that's why she's around him I don't think that that that's a good choice I think that pedalling in racist tropes and in islamophobia and in the hateful rhetoric that she has launched not only at countless people across the country but at people like myself and my colleagues and my friends because we worked for somebody else in the primary there's no room for that in the Republican party we used to be able to be disagreeable and disagree at the same time we could disagree without being disagreeable we didn't have to make it personal and be this overly heated rhetoric it doesn't help the campaign and I'm a little surprised that Susie and Chris are putting her on the plane as much as they are to travel with the president she was on the plane the day of his debate and some of his allies were concerned that perhaps he didn't do as well in the debate as he had hope because she was in his ear what do you say well and this is the challenge that you have when it's such a big personality and for so long the management of that personality has really been to cater to what Donald Trump wants and his wishes rather than a set of logic or systems that you know help you execute a plan rather than just con ceps of a plan Lura lommer I mean she's a provocator and those exist on both sides of the aisle but there just seems to be this desire for Trump to get the attention of somebody who is provocative and has a large online following rather than focusing on what would win him this race and we know that Trump doesn't like to uh diss people who are really nice to him and loyal to him as Laura lomer has been and conversely Jeff does Trump risk alienating part of his Base by not embracing people like lummer as you pointed out somebody who has a large following look there's embracing and then there's also inviting someone on your plane on 9/11 I mean it's entirely different he could still be you know sort of friendly to Laura lomer without sort of alienating her without inviting him on his plane I mean she has been in the Inner Circle uh like only a handful of people have so I think it's not about alienating the base I mean we're not um I don't think any of his allies or or staff are suggesting he should go out and like pick a fight with her or trash her but it's it's just the unusual timing and there's obviously something about her that he enjoys um spending time with and that is something on him but uh um exactly what Aaron was saying I'm really surprised I think it's a a sign of something else that really we've not seen yet in this campaign this has been a very disciplined for Donald Trump campaign a much more professionally run campaign than his other two previous ones because of a Chris lasv and a Susie ws and this to me is an indication that he's calling his own shots on a lot of things yeah it's interesting when you point that out we were just looking at the ads from the Trump campaign and they' had more emphasis on the economy over actually immigration and crime um and then you contrast that with what Trump has been pushing this absurd lie continually about Haitian migrants in Springfield Ohio kidnapping pets and eating them um today he cut off a reporter who trying to ask about two straight days of threats in Springfield at schools and City buildings listen why do you still spread Story the real threat is what's happening at our border because you have thousands of people people being killed by illegal migrants coming in and also dying you have women dying as they come up so there's no evidence to support his claims about Springfield but help us better understand Aaron um this cynical strategy frankly do appeal to people's voters fears it's not necessarily the cynical strategy as much as it is that he when people are asking him those questions he's always going to answer it like that he just can't take it and pivot and go back to where the message should be which as a professional political Communicator is what we train each of our candidates to do which is you take the question one you can you can always answer the question you wish wish was asked which sometimes gets you the followup and pushed or you pivot if you get asked about Springfield then you pivot to the fact that the southern border of the United States has been overrun under Biden Harris and the fact that we have seen influxes into communities across the United States where resources are now so limited because of the failure of the Biden Harrison Administration on immigration let's talk about that take the topic and pivot to the strong point don't play into the question anymore about cats and dogs in Ohio talk about what matters to the American people because they're telling you very clearly it's the immigration issue at the southern border when I say cynical strategy I just want to clarify it's not about how he answered that question in particular it's just about overall continuing to bring this up you know this lie up that these Haitian migrants I mean the fear is a key element of the strategy and let's be clear there are other elements of fear in campaigns the the fear of women bleeding out because they needed a medical procedure called an abortion right so the the Democrats are using that as well but Trump returns to that without tying it to a policy he finds something in his limited ecosystem information space and Pops it up to a point where it doesn't matter to him if it's dangerous right he could pivot but he won't he'll still double down on the thing that is causing him problems but is also creating a broader security challenge in the United States I I want to talk about vice president Harris too I mean she was in Pennsylvania again today she's made multiple stops there and I just think just to take a step back it just is a reminder of how razor thin this race is in these swing States you know with these movable voters and there's not that many of them without a doubt I mean she spent a part of seven of the last eight days in Pennsylvania that really tells you all you need to know but look here's why Pennsylvania as we know is the biggest swing state in terms of electoral votes 19 electoral votes but I think more interesting L is where she is today she's in Trump country she's in a county that was plus 37 for uh uh the former president and plus 14 I believe but what she's trying to do is bring down his margins here we'll see the degree to which she's able to do that but I think where she's going is interesting look I mean Pennsylvania is absolutely essential if she wins and keeps the blue wall together and wins that blue dot in Nebraska she wins the presidency if she doesn't win pen pvan then she has a harder route obviously she has to win either North Carolina plus another state so Pennsylvania is still um not all the marbles but most of the marbles that's why she's there again but interesting that she's in a republican part of Pennsylvania it's also the idea that um you can be Republican and not be a trump supporter enthusiasm is a key part in this election which Democrats were lacking on on the front end and now it seems to have picked up in their favor you're ultimately fighting on Election Day to get people off their sofas and willing potentially to go out in bad weather to vote for you so if she's able to create enough doubt in Trump country to suppress the numbers there those margins matter the other thing she did in the debate that I thought was very key was taking a foreign policy issue and making it very directly applicable to Americans right now connected Ukraine Trump support for Putin to what would happen to Poland next if Trump's plan to negotiate or give parts of Ukraine Poland would be next there are tens upon thousands of polish Americans in Philadelphia in parts of Pennsylvania in Wisconsin these are key constituencies that she's figured out how to connect with on an issue very key to them what do you say Erin I think that that was probably one of the missed opportunities by Trump there especially on the geopolitical front because when it comes to the war in Ukraine it was very clear that Donald Trump put on very aggressive sanctions against Russia against the nordstream 2 Pipeline and when uh Biden capitulated to Putin on the pipeline we saw that they were able to circumvent Ukraine and send natural gas to Germany so they didn't need him anymore they could get like there is a winning geopolitical argument there for Donald Trump that he stopped Russia from invading Ukraine that didn't happen that did not happen under Donald Trump it did under Joe Biden he missed the opportunity to make that argument right there all right everyone stick around more to discuss today an extremely rare sitdown with one of the nation's most important decision makers CNN goes one-on-one with Justice ganji Brown Jackson but first I have two congressmen on opposite sides of the aisle standing by who swear to ensure a peaceful transition of power why they needed to make that promise and how worried they really are about a repeat January 6th you don't have an honest voting system if I ran with an honest vote counter in California I would win California that was Trump in California today again pushing the lie that the country's elections aren't fair to him a reminder he lost the 2020 election despite his claims reaction now from Republican Congressman Mike Lawler and Democrat Congressman Jared moscowitz uh great to see you both you both signed this letter along with 30 other house members promising to make a peaceful transfer of power happen after this year's election quote after this election America will have the rule of the mob unless the common sense majority stands up so I want to start with there I I want to get to the fact gentlemen that that there are still concerns over this and what could happen after the election I want to start with you um Congressman lawyer and get your reaction to What GOP Senator Mark Wayne Mullen told me yesterday on this show back in 2021 he was in the house and he voted against certifying the election results and I asked him about that yesterday here's what he said if Trump loses and every state certifies as the results of their elections will you accept a peaceful transfer of power you it's it's hard to say what you're going to do and what you're not it doesn't matter if the Republicans win or the Democrats win both parties are probably going to cry cry foul what is your reaction to that and would you encourage your fellow Republican across the aisle and others to to sign on to this letter look obviously this is a letter that I was proud to sign on to and support the peaceful transfer of power is Paramount uh to our government uh it's what sets the United States apart from uh many countries around the globe uh and I think uh for me uh you know I leave it up to the voters the voters will decide the outcome of this election there is so much at stake from the affordability crisis plaguing our country to the crisis at our Southern border to the international crises that uh we're dealing with but ultimately it's a decision that the voters will make uh and it's our job as members of Congress to accept that uh and to certify the results of the election and so I absolutely commit to doing that uh I think what happened on January 6th uh 20201 was wrong it never should have happened uh Joe Biden won the election the election should have been certified uh in the same way that in 2017 you know when people like Jaimie Rasin voted against certification it was wrong uh we should be uh leaving it up to the voters to decide the outcome of our elections uh The Ballot Box uh and so I am fully committed to doing that and ensuring the peaceful transfer of power regardless of who wins on November 5th just to follow up with you and again as I spoke to the senator yesterday you know it is a false equivalence looking at what happened in 2020 years past when you look at the overall picture of President Trump in power saying the election was stolen trying to get his own vice president to not certify the results companied with you know members of Congress doing his bidding going against the the election results and so I wonder when you have um those who did that in in 2020 voting against the results not committing to a peaceful transfer of power even in this upcoming election what do you say to that I mean are How concerned are you Congressman La Lawler about that about members of your own party who won't commit to it and I'll get to you next uh uh representative MTZ look anytime uh we have elections uh people have every right to uh go to court raise concerns raise issues but once the court adjudicate Ates those concerns uh and the election is certified uh you have to accept the results uh and I think for all of my colleagues uh regardless of their belief or who they support uh the reality is for our system of government to work you have to accept the will of the people uh and you and you have to uh move forward and allow our government uh to function and that's why again uh I've been very clear on this Joe Biden won in 2020 uh and what happened on January 6 was wrong it should not happen again uh if the American people decide to uh support Donald Trump uh I will certify the elections if they decide to support kamla Harris I will certify the election and I think all of us have a responsibility as elected officials to uphold uh that uh the rule of law and uh our election results Congressman moscowitz what if Trump wins will all the Democrats support the election results no thank you thank you for talking about this and I was happy to sign the letter as well uh with my colleague Congressman uh Lawler and many others and the answer is yes if the 50 states which is what the question was to Senator uh uh to the senator uh if the 50 states certify the election will you vote for it the answer for me is yes and the answer for him should have been yes but instead he chose weakness and what I mean by that is he's just playing around with did right because that's the partisan thing to do right it right now is the is the is the time for courage when members should say we if the 50 states certify the election we're nearly there for process we're not there to put our thumb on the scale so every Democrat if the 50 states certify the election should vote if it's Donald Trump and every Republican if certify the election the 50 states do it should vote if it's kamla Harris this idea that all of a sudden we're we're not going to vote to certify the election is is ridiculous uh and so that's why this letter I think was was important it takes no courage uh to do what Mark Wayne Mullen uh said on on that program you know doing the bipartisan thing doing the thing for the country you know that's the thing right now that takes courage uh in politics he's just he's just you know saying what a small group of people want to hear are you I'm wondering how many rejections are you getting are are you going to other members of Congress are you going to people like sander Mullen and asking them to sign on to this letter are you getting rejections um Congressman Lawler well I don't have to ask him to sign him the letter I don't have to ask him to sign him the letter we heard his opinion on television right his television is well maybe if but that you know who knows is it is it going to be on a Tuesday a Thursday I mean what did I have for breakfast I mean there was all sorts of caveats the question was simple if all 50 states certified their election will you vote for it right and so at that point the answer is yes look I agree with with Congressman Lawler Democrats shouldn't do this either right I'm not I'm voting against Donald Trump I don't want Donald Trump to be president but if the C if the states certify that and he wins then my job is there to hold up democracy my job is not to inject partisan politics and go against the will of the voters and go against the will of the 50 states that certified it and no campaign should be advocating by the way like they did in 2020 for an alternative solu of vter of electors right this is just totally dangerous and it's going to take Democrats calling out Democrats and Republicans calling out Republicans to make sure that we don't go down this dangerous path Congressman Lawler very quickly I just want to ask you and I want to hear what you have to say but does it concern you that Donald Trump continues the same Playbook with saying this upcoming election will be rigged if he loses so uh first I can't speak to which members you know signed refused to sign this was born out of uh the problem solvers caucus of which I'm a proud member of and we've worked in a bipartisan way uh to show bipartisan support for certifying the election and showing up on January 20th 2025 for the inauguration whoever wins um with respect to the former president's uh you know continued comments look my advice is focus on the future the American people are dealing with significant challenges the cost of living the cost of groceries energy housing has gone up exponentially under KLA Harris and Joe Biden a crisis at our Southern border over 10 million migrants have come into the US most of them illegally 90% released into the country municipalities like New York City buckling under the weight of it spending billions of dollars to provide free housing clothing Health Care education uh Eric Adams saying it's destroying the city and then one international crises after the next that's what the American people want the election to be about not about past grievances not about what happened in 2020 but to about what the candidates are going to do to address the challenges facing the country now that is what I am focused on it's why I've been successful twice in two to1 Democratic districts one's for the assembly one's for congress because I talk to the the my constituents about the issues that matter regardless of their party and I think that's what Americans are looking for they want people to solve the problems fac ing them all right Democratic Congressman uh Jared moscowitz and Republican Congressman Mike Lawler really important conversation from both of you and I appreciate you coming on the show and discussing it together thank you thank you up next a rare interview with Supreme Court Justice katoni Brown Jackson what she told CNN today about the January 6th case in front of the court earlier this year and her concerns that the court is seen as too political in our law and justice lead a one-on-one interview with the newest member of the US Supreme Court Justice katangi Brown Jackson CNN's Abby Phillips sat down with her today and asked about a high-profile issue the court faced this year involving January 6 riers watch it's also notable when you side with the conservatives and you've done so just slightly more than your colleagues Justice Elena Kagan or Justice soda mayor most recently in this fiser versus United States case that's the January 6th prosecution case you agreed with the majority that the justice department did improperly use its obstruction statute um the severity of what happened on that day is something that you wrote about in your book was that a hard decision for you to make I wouldn't say it was a hard decision and this is an example I think of the difference U between law and politics I ruled in that case consistent with what I believe the law required um given the statute at issue the uh context in which it was enacted the text of the statute and its uh purposes and that's the way that I look at statutory interpretation regardless of uh you know what the politics might say about the situation and Abby Philip joins us now um I can't wait to watch the this full interview Abby what else did you ask Justice Jackson today yeah Pamela a lot of ground covered in this interview and also in her book uh which is the reason why Justice Jackson the newest Justice on the court is really out here talking to the public uh about her life but also about her jurist prudence and when we talked about that issue uh she has really kind of come out very forcefully as the newest voice on the court but she asks the most questions she writes number of uh either concurring opinions or dissenting opinions on her own to make it clear exactly how she feels about the decisions that the court is making but I did ask her about how the court is perceived by the public which is really the issue that is kind of overshadowing the Supreme Court right now uh and she addressed directly uh this perception that if politics infects the court that could potentially erode public confidence listen do you have concerns about that perception that the public might think that um legal differences are aligning so closely with political differences so you mentioned Justice Brier who is one of my mentors and this is something that he has talked about a lot um and that I think it is a concern for the court uh as an institution because public conf confidence is basically all we have um you know the court does not have the power of the purse it does not have an army uh it can't make people uh enforce or follow its opinions and so it's really important for maintenance of the rule of law that people believe in uh the justices and their rulings uh especially in these very contentious cases uh so you ask me do I have a concern yes but as at a sort of institutional level the entire court um is concerned about that she is keenly aware of course that this issue is not going away anytime soon uh but as she is one of the three justices in the minority I I think that she has in this very conservative Court been more on the side of holding on to president uh unlike some of her colleagues but she says all of that these are legal disagreements these are not political disagreements no matter how they might look to the American public who you know observes this court uh from a lay man's perspective and sees the conservative justices voting one way the Liberals voting another way Pamela so interesting to hear her perspective on that Abby Phillip thank you so much and be sure to catch aby's full interview with Justice Jackson tonight at 10 Eastern right here on CNN well Pope Francis is Wayne in on the upcoming presidential election why he says it's a choice between quote the lesser of two evils on set with from HGTV and Max takes you behind the scenes of the most iconic onscreen worlds with the people who made them real I'm the production designer Director of Photography costume designer set decorator find out how these spaces that live rentree in our minds came to be and provide the perfect backdrop for our favorite TV shows like friends eyes eyes True Detective time is a flat circle and more listen to Onset with on Max or wherever you get your podcasts our faith lead meets our politics lead for this one today Pope Francis was asked about how he thought Catholic voters should choose between Trump and Harris and the pope said the choice was between the lesser of two evils nodding Trump's stance on migrants and Harris's position on abortion access we are back with our panel and CNN's Tom Foreman um really fascinating to hear the pope weigh in on this in this way help us understand Tom the significance of the Catholic pope weighing in on the 2024 election like this the significance is that earlier this year just under half of Catholics in a Pew research poll said that they would support Donald Trump now just over 50% of Catholics say they will support him this is Food For Thought for them this is something that is saying to them you cannot just cast your vote in the Pope's eyes on the abortion issue you must see the migrant issue through the same lens of Christianity and if you want to lock migrants out if you want to treat migrants badly in his eyes that's as big a sin as supporting abortion rights I want to play something Donald Trump said today on that note about immigrants I can say this we will do large deportations from Springfield Ohio large deportations we're going to get these people out and it's worth noting that in 2016 the pope had singled out Trump for his comments about you know he should be building bridges not walls um Trump continues to make comments like that and you have to wonder how the Pope's comments will land among these American Catholics tell us a little bit more about that well this is not what it was the time before obviously Joe Biden a very devout Catholic it was a different atmosphere spere in a way but the truth is as I said he's really given them food for thought he said this cannot be in terms of your faith as simple as saying this is a pro-choice pro-life vote you have to think beyond that will that sway anyone well everything in this race who knows I mean American Catholic voters are not a monolith the doctrine is the same but the Catholic voters are not a monolith I mean it is based on uh region it's based on age it's based on uh just other beliefs so I think this significance here it's really one more thing in a pattern of this Pope uh who has seen as as much uh a more liberal than some would like here and some seen is exactly right like the Jesuits as we were talking about earlier but uh the uh I think equating the Immigrant language uh with the um with the abortion issue is quite interesting and it's something we don't hear the church here talk about a lot like executions and the death penalty we don't hear that with the same weight as we do the abortion issue of course the numbers are different but I think it is very interesting it'll be interesting to see uh I'm not sure this sways the vote at all in big Catholic States like Wisconsin like Pennsylvania but it certainly is Food For Thought He didn't go ahead this Pope has thumbed his nose in somewhat diplomatic ways at Donald Trump before the encyclical he gave him when Trump came to visit was entirely about environmental stewardship uh and climate change right the idea that you need to be protecting the Earth this to somebody who was effectively has had been a climate denier uh he's also been rather generous given the the uh Church's history when it comes to tolerance of gay and lesbian individuals as well so in that sense the Catholics who wish for a more conservative cath Catholic pope may not be swayed by this but he certainly does speak to that broader sense of Christianity social justice and I think just faith-based social justice that uh the least Among Us taking care of those that is an immediate reference to refugees and immigrants Aaron you went to a Catholic School right growing up through2 one of those so I I'd love your perspective on this and putting as Jeff said putting abortion and immigration on the same level yeah I think for a lot of people they need to remember that the pope is a spiritual leader and not necessarily a political adviser and what he's trying to tell Catholics here today especially American Catholics is when it comes to issues it's not to your point Jee just about being pro-life or about the migrant issue it's about people WR large whether it's about the death penalty or the sanctity of life how we are protecting each other as a larger people and which of those we need to weigh them all in totality and not one more than the other and it is very it's very on brand for this Pope to your point because he is Jesuit that is a more socially Justice focused portion of the Catholic Church than it is the traditional portion and especially being Argentinian that tendine that way as well so those two combined together you put that out there you're going to see more socially Justice focused pushes from this Pope than you would see from others right and it is word noting he didn't tell you know American Catholics how to vote uh he said use your conscience but it fits very much into that Trope of some people saying you know some argue you can't say your pro- lifee if you don't care about the lives when they're here when those people are human beings and living on the planet if you don't care about them you're not pro yeah the Pope's talking in totality every life all the time wom to Tom yeah that's a smart Point all right thank you all really appreciate it well ComEd and Roy Wood Jr has a new show debuting on CNN this weekend what he says you should keep in mind on the sharp takes tomorrow night there is a fun new show starting tomorrow on CNN sure to make you laugh Jake Tapper recorded this look ahead and trust me you want to watch comedian and Emmy nominee roywood Jr will host the anticipated us version of the acclaimed comedy series have I got news for you the show premere is on Saturday September 14th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN and we'll serve up smart silly edgy takes on news of the week you might be familiar with wood of course from his time on The Daily Show and when he hosted the White House Correspondence Dinner last year Mr President I think you left some of your classified documents up here you can get no don't give them to him I'll put him in a safe place he don't know where to keep him I'm I have a trump hating judge with the Trump hating wife and family who who you know go to trial and talk about the judge here to discuss the upcoming Show and The NeverEnding craziness of this news cycle is Roy Ward Jr Roy so good to see you I I should note yeah your dad was a journalist he was a radio Pioneer co-founder of the national black Network so you're a trained journalist as well but you decided to go into a life of Comedy instead how do you think the show is going to intersect these two worlds I think it's very easy most news is worthy of laughing at Jake therefore because I have a degree in broadcast shout out to Florida A&M and all I did was stand up because I was too busy doing stand up to learn broadcast I think this is the perfect time and place to put those two things together I just want to make sure people understand about the show is that we are not out to BS Regal this is a Saturday night show dog we coming on Saturday night at 9:00 after Bill Mah we are here to Kickback and crack jokes we leaving the analysis to people like you people like Abby Phillip people like Laura coats all right and we we just got the jokes fair enough you you have had a lot of success bringing comedy into the political discourse over the last few years especially do you ever find it difficult to do uh given the stakes given how emotional people are about the stakes given the heightened political rhetoric we've seen no I think at the end of the day people have to laugh I think what we have right now I don't think we have backlash to Comedy I just think that people have more Avenues to say what they do and don't like that's out there in the world you know if this was 20 30 years ago if you didn't like a joke you had to write a letter to a newspaper and pray that they printed it now you can just go on Twitter or Tik Tok or whatever and just speak your voice and people can either would or disagree with you but I think the need for laughter does not change simply because there are people that are not in the mood for certain jokes Michael Ian Black and Amber Ruffin are set to be the new team captains on the new show what exactly does that mean team captains what can we expect to see from them uh I think that they're the ones that get to carry a lot of the craziness because the show for the people who don't know it's kind of a quasi game show where you're kind of sort of quizzing the panelists on things that happened this week and it could be something as wild as say the debate that happen happed earlier this week or it could be anything random and silly so Michael and Amber their jobs are to provide some of the comedy and then we have a couple of guests that come on every week I'm hoping that we can get some elected officials I think that's part of what made the UK show so beautiful is that City and elected officials were willing to come on television and seem a little normal and crack a joke New York city mayor Eric Adams I'm talking to you please come on the show Ted Cruz I'm talking to you please come on the show Pete budit please come on Doug mhof come on Doug what are you what are you most looking forward to with the show um I'm looking forward to being able to provide a little bit of levity in what has been a very very crazy election year and you know we're going to rock out way past the election into deeper into November and to me it's just an opportunity I'm excited man I'm excited to be able to just talk silly about the news without having to always touch on the gravity and that's the thing that I always had a love hate about during my time with the daily Daily Show is that the things we're talking about are serious and at The Daily Show we have to honor that because these issues are serious but y'all get to handle that before us and we get to do it on Saturday night and crack a joke and then go home and have a slice of pizza I am I am looking forward to it a lot Roy Wood Jr thank you so much the show have I got news for you Premier Saturday September 14th at 900 PM Eastern only on CNN thank you Roy thank you Jake looks like a lot of fun well a critically important meeting is underway right now at the White House we'll take you there live in just [Music] moments breaking news President Biden is meeting right now with British prime minister Kier starmer at the White House as you see the NATO allies face an incredibly consequential decision about Ukraine let's get right to CNN's MJ Lee at the White House what is the latest MJ yeah Pam this is a meeting that the prime minister's office requested with President Biden he has gotten more settled in to his new job wanting more one-on-one time with the president particularly ahead of the time that we expect them to spend more together at Anga in New York City uh later this month as the president just told reporters he said they are expecting to discuss a number of wide ranging issues on Ukraine the Middle East the indopacific but as you know it is the war in Ukraine and uh specifically the question of the use of longrange missiles that has gotten so much attention you know president Biden earlier this week was asked about that and he kicked off some fresh uh speculation when he told reporters we're working that out right now but immediately after you saw us officials scrambling to clarify that there is no change in US policy that is coming at least any time soon but there is that separate question of whether the president might offer a bit of a thumbs up when it comes to long-range missiles that are provided by other countries including of course those that are provided by the UK sometimes referred to as storm Shadows now the reason that this question has such big ramifications when it comes to the war in Ukraine is imp part because Vladimir Putin the Russian president has said that if they were to be used in that way to be launched deeper into Russian territory he would see this as being akin to Nato Nations going to war with Russia now I should know we are getting uh some of these early images of that spray the president was asked about that threat from Vladimir Putin and this is what he said he said quote I don't think much about Vladimir Putin Pam all right MJ Lee thank you for bringing us the latest there on this high stakes meeting much appreciated then a big interviews Sunday on State of the Union look for Trump's running mate Senator JD Vance plus Democratic governor Josh Shapiro from of course the key battleground of Pennsylvania that is Sunday morning at 9 Eastern and again at noon here on CNN and then on Sunday night donio Sullivan meets former Bernie Brothers whose disillusion disillusionment with politics LED them to embrace far right extremism it is a new episode of the whole story with Anderson Cooper Sunday night at 8 Eastern on CNN well you can follow me on X and Instagram at Pamela Brown CNN follow the show on X at the lead CNN and if you ever miss an episode of the lead you can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts the news continues now on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room have a great weekend everyone