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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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politics lead
Roundtable: How could Obama not know about the troubled website?
So what's worst: The president "fumbling the ball," or being left in the dark about the potential problems?
"I was not informed directly that the website wasn't working. If I did, I wouldn't go out saying, 'Oh this is great.' I'm not stupid enough to say it's like shopping online on Amazon or Travelocity," President Barack Obama said Thursday.
"It's a great unanswered question, who knew, what did they know and when did they know it and why didn't it get communicated up to the top of the chain of command?" said White House Press Secretary for the Clinton administration Dee Dee Myers.
"It is a chief executive's job to fight the isolation that surrounds every chief executive. It is the chief executive's job to make sure that they are informed," said former CEO of Hewlett Packard Carly Fiorina.
For more analysis from our political panel, check out the video above.
national lead
Why John F. Kennedy's legacy endures
It has been 50 years since President John F. Kennedy's assassination, and he still looms in the public consciousness.
"If we hadn't had a world of photography and film, I'm not sure the memory would be as strong as it is right now, because he did only have three years in the presidency," said historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of "The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga."
At the time, America was feeling optimistic about the world, says Goodwin.
"There was a sense of a mood of destiny in that generation, and when it was cut short, I think there will always be a romantic feeling about it," said Goodwin.
FULL POST
buried lead
Listen to newly found Air Force One tapes of day JFK was assassinated
"Give me all available information on president, over."
As history was unfolding at Dealey Plaza, radio and telephone communications squawked between the Air Force command center, the White House, and Air Force One.
"Wayside, this is Situation Room. I read from the AP bulletin. Kennedy apparently shot in head, he fell face down in the backseat of his car. Blood was on his head. Mrs. Kennedy cried "Oh no," and tried to hold up his head."
Earlier this year, these rare audio recordings were discovered in the personal effects of Gen. Chester Clifton, Jr., a military aide to President John F. Kennedy.
FULL POST
pop lead
Andy Kaufman's brother: This is a hoax
Reports that Andy Kaufman may have faked his 1984 death spread like wildfire on the Internet Thursday, fueled by suggestions from Kaufman's younger brother.
But now, Michael Kaufman has doubts.
"I'm questioning things as much as you and everybody else is," Michael said in an interview with "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
Michael told an audience at a New York comedy club Monday night that he received a letter from his brother 15 years after his death. He then introduced a woman he said was his brother's daughter born in 1989.
"Now that it's Thursday, not Monday anymore, I believe I am part of the hoax," said Michael Kaufman. "I don't believe that she's acting on her own, though."
FULL POST
politics lead
Manchin on Obamacare: Problems go beyond the roll out
(CNN) - Americans may be able to keep their individual insurance plans for one more year, under a fix offered by President Barack Obama on Thursday to address a controversial provision of the Affordable Care Act.
But Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, signed on to a bill that would allow Americans to keep those plans permanently, not just one year.
"There are more problems, and we are all acknowledging and seeing them, than just the roll out," said Manchin, referring the technological glitches that plagued the federal health exchange website, HealthCare.gov.
FULL POST
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