The Lead

NewsBusters has documented some of the initial reaction to Justice Kennedy's retirement, but it continued hours later with CNN legal analysts Laura Coates and Jeffrey Toobin on The Lead. The pair warned that “more progressive-minded notions and ones that, frankly, are in line with our democratic principles” are at stake with Kennedy gone with gay people likely to face discrimination and being…

On Wednesday’s edition of CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin and The Lead with Jake Tapper, CNN Chief Legal Analyst, Jeffrey Toobin expressed his anguish over the likelihood of President Trump nominating another Supreme Court Justice and forecasted the “doom” of Roe v Wade.

CNN’s The Lead spent almost six minutes on Tuesday discussing the Supreme Court’s ruling on President Trump’s travel ban with Minnesota Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison, but host Jake Tapper turned the tables on Ellison by grilling him for the remaining five minutes on his ties to anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and sexist Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. 

During Friday’s edition of The Lead With Jake Tapper, CNN political analyst Paul Begala reacted to President Trump’s meeting with the “angel moms” (and dads) who have lost their children as a result of crimes committed by illegal immigrants. Begala accused President Trump of “politicizing” these tragedies and using their pain to “divide America.”

First Lady Melania Trump caused a stir with the liberal media on Thursday when she wore a questionable jacket with “I really don’t care. Do you?” written on the back. She headed off to visit the children at the border who were separated from their parents. Of course, the gossip-prone media spend a considerable about of time trying to divine the secret meaning of the wardrobe choice and there were…

With the Justice Department's Inspector General rocking Washington, D.C. on Thursday with a damning report exposing the anti-Trump bias of senior FBI investigators, many in the liberal media were desperate to spin the findings to fit their narrative. During CNN's The Lead, host Jake Tapper took one of the greatest leaps and suggested that the consequence of biased FBI members was the election of…

CNN anchor Jake Tapper is demonstrating an affinity for Washington Post columnists bashing the Trump-Pence ticket. On May 10, Tapper helped promote George Will ripping Vice President Pence as “horrifying.” The screen said “CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: PENCE HAS CHOSEN TO BE ‘HORRIFYING.’” On Wednesday, he wanted everyone to see Dana Milbank’s column insisting the president of the United States is a “…

Rarely does a CNN panelist come out swinging in defense of a Trump administration nominee while going after a Democratic Party senator. But on Wednesday, CNN's Philip Mudd, who like most on-air personalities at the network has been harshly critical of the Trump administration and its officials, reacted strongly to harsh questions California Democrat Kamala Harris directed at Trump CIA nominee…

CNN doesn’t usually air clippings of nationally syndicated columnists during the regular news day, but they just had to make an exception on Thursday for Washington Post columnist George Will’s nasty attack on Vice President Pence. In the 3 pm hour, subsitute anchor Brianna Keilar brought on Jake Tapper to savor the "merciless" and "brutal" Will column. 

If CNN's Chief Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin has bad news for former FBI Director James Comey you know it has to be real bad. Toobin delivered his bad news about Comey's leaked memos on Monday's The Lead which was hosted by Jim Sciutto. The news that Toobin presented might be enough for Comey to break out his worry beads: he placed himself in a "pretty vulnerable position" by leaking them. 

During Tuesday's edition of The Lead With Jake Tapper, former State Department spokeswoman and Obama communications director under President Obama Jen Psaki accused President Trump's new nickname for the former President, "Cheatin' Obama" of having racial undertones.

After offering a slew of tweets about the mounting evidence of anti-Semitic and anti-gay comments by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, CNN’s Jake Tapper broke with the rest of his establishment media colleagues on Monday by spending nearly three minutes during The Lead.

In a remarkably oblivious segment during CNN’s The Lead on Thursday, host Jake Tapper and his panel ripped into Congressional Republicans for rushing to use the missing FBI text messages and ‘selective leaks’ to claim conspiracy. The exchange was mind-boggling since CNN conducted its brand of journalism in a similar fashion. It actually allowed them to win three out of their four trophies in…

On Wednesday, Daily Caller Associate Editor Peter Hasson reported that CNN avoided asking any probing questions to New York Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks regarding his recently exposed settlement in a case where he was accused of trying to cover up a sexual assault.