The Lead

On Tuesday, CNN and MSNBC minimized their coverage of a Pennsylvania jury convicting Democratic Congressman Chaka Fattah on 23 federal charges related to a scheme to repay campaign debt from an aborted 2007 bid to become mayor of Philadelphia. Jake Tapper stood out as the only CNN anchor, as of noon on Wednesday, to mention that Fattah was "found guilty on all 23 charges he faced — including…

Jake Tapper, host of a Cable News Network afternoon program, took part in a raucous debate on Tuesday in which the anchor of The Lead asserted that it would be easier to make a case for the media to be tough on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump if that same standard was applied to his Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton. “Would the argument of reporters,” he asked, “not be…

CNN’s The Lead host Jake Tapper devoted a segment for the second time in a week to blasting the State Department’s persistent issues with transparency on Monday as this one dealt with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request concerning Hillary Clinton that won’t be fulfilled until after the November presidential election. 

In a statement released Friday afternoon, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell commended CNN's Jake Tapper for running "the risk of ruining" his career to demand "accountability from the State Department" in light of "four separate lies told by the State Department" concerning the Iran nuclear deal and subsequent scrubbing of video from a press briefing.

During his “Buried Lead” segment on Thursday’s The Lead, CNN host Jake Tapper presented an incredibly thorough takedown of the State Department for not only aspects of the Iran nuclear deal but also their lies concerning intentional editing of press briefing videos dating back to 2013 concerning the deal. 

Late Tuesday afternoon, CNN and MSNBC were both granted interviews with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and while both had to nearly identical run times (seven minutes and 44 seconds on CNN versus seven minutes and 47 seconds on MSNBC), the two differed on a variety of issues ranging from Clinton’s e-mail scandal to her refusal to hold a press conference to the VA scandal.

On Monday afternoon, news broke that Virginia’s Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe was being investigated by the FBI for illegal campaign contributions. “We know that this investigation dates back at least into last year and this is looking into donations to McAuliffe's 2013 campaign for governor,” reported CNN’s Evan Perez on The Lead with Jake Tapper. It’s not every day that a sitting state…

On Friday's The Lead, CNN's Tom Foreman hyped how Hillary Clinton had a "bumpy ride" and a "rough start," as she "opened the door for a lot of first ladies to do a lot of different things." Foreman only vaguely referenced the Whitewater scandal and Vince Foster's suicide as he noted that her role in Bill Clinton's win in 1992 "spurred scrutiny uncommon for a president's spouse — over her ties to…

Should a devout Christian, Orthodox Jew, or Muslim marriage counselor be sued in a state court because he or she declined to take a gay or lesbian married couple as clients? It seems patently ridiculous, right? After all, these religious traditions all reject same-sex marriage as immoral and sinful. But for liberals in the media, a proposed law in Tennessee to protect the religious freedom of…

An irritated Jake Tapper on Tuesday unloaded on Barack Obama, attacking the President for “lecturing” journalists about how to do their job. Highlighting a speech from Monday, in which the Democrat called for reporters to “dig” and “demand more,” Tapper quipped, “His message was a good one. But was President Obama the right messenger?” 

Following former Cruz adviser Amanda Carpenter’s emotional interview Tuesday afternoon denying smears being perpetuated about her being involved with her former boss, The Lead host Jake Tapper grew visibly frustrated as Trump senior adviser and Mike Huckabee’s daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeatedly denied any role the campaign had to the point that Tapper unsuccessfully asked if she’s “…

With a phone and a pen. That is the answer as to how President Obama can transfer Guantanamo detainees to prisons on the U.S. mainland despite the fact that Congress expressly prohibited this. However, kudos to Jake Tapper on The Lead today for questioning the legality of such a transfer during an interview with an equally skeptical CNN Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr.

During CNN’s live coverage on Wednesday of the tragic shooting in San Bernardino, California, CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes surmised with “no information” to back himself up that it was likely “an anti-government domestic militia group” that carried out the attack. Just over 20 minutes later, however, former FBI Special Agent and Navy SEAL Jonathan Gilliam denounced Fuentes for jumping…

On Tuesday's The Lead, CNN's Jake Tapper zeroed in on University of Missouri Professor Melissa Click's attack on a student journalist, after he tried to cover anti-racism protests on campus. Tapper bluntly stated, "I have to say that I found this video shocking — not just this mob of students trying to intimidate this student journalist — but they had faculty help!" The anchor later asked…