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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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national lead
Biden calls LaGuardia airport a 'third world country,' but it could be worse
(CNN) – In a speech on infrastructure, Vice President Joe Biden called Hong Kong's airport "modern" and American, but was less kind to a popular domestic airport.
"If I took you, and blindfolded you, and took you to the LaGuardia airport in New York, you must think, 'I must be in some third world country,'" Biden said.
But LaGuardia isn't really that bad. CNN's Tom Foreman takes us around the world and finds that it could be much worse.
politics lead
Obama bundler nominated to be Ambassador to Argentina, has never been to the country
(CNN) – This week the President's nominee to be Ambassador to Argentina, Noah Bryson Mamet – who just happens to have raised a half a million dollars for President Barack Obama and the Democrats – testified before Congress.
And he got tripped up on what should have been an easy question: Have you ever been to Argentina?
"I haven't had the opportunity yet to be there. I've traveled pretty extensively around the world, but I haven't yet had a chance," Mamet told Congress.
FULL POST
politics lead
Roundtable: Rand Paul says Dems are hypocrites for taking money from Bill Clinton
(CNN) - Republican Senator Rand Paul, a man many believe will be running for president in 2016, is digging into the political vaults to once again accuse former President Bill Clinton of being a "sexual predator."
It's at least the second time this year that Paul has publicly made reference to the Monica Lewinsky scandal of the late 1990s. Now, he's telling Democrats: If you took money from Bill Clinton, you ought to give it back.
FULL POST
world lead
Counter-terrorism expert: Terrorists near Sochi have taken planes down before
(CNN) – A passenger announced Friday "that there was a bomb on board" his plane and wanted it diverted to Sochi – the Russian city hosting the Winter Olympics amid terrorism fears – Turkish officials said.
But a former national security adviser says the attempted hijack likely did not stem from an organized group.
"This guy may be deranged, may be trying to get attention," said Juan Zarate, former White House deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism from 2005 to 2009. Zarate is now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
But there is heightened concern about air traffic for good reason.
"These terrorists in particular from the Caucasus have demonstrated an ability to target airplanes in the past, and that's why there's such so much sensitivity. They brought down Russian airlines twice before in 2004," said Zarate.
The Caucasus is just a few hundred miles away from the Sochi Olympics.
For more of our interview with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Juan Zarate, check out the video above.
Much.
buried lead
21 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit
(CNN) – Deon Patrick was 20 when his life was stolen from him. In 1992, he was one of eight men arrested in the deaths of a drug dealer and a prostitute on the north side of Chicago.
Patrick immediately said he was innocent. No physical evidence linked him to the murders. But 30 hours in police custody without a lawyer present can have a way of changing a young man's mind.
At one point his friend, co-defendant Daniel Taylor, was brought into the interview room. He told Patrick to just tell the police “what they wanted to hear, and they could go home.”
So he broke down, signed a confession, and was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Twenty-one years ticked by.
“There are days when you actually start to give up,” Patrick told CNN.
FULL POST
