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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.

Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.

On the Next Episode of The Lead

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buried lead

May 13th, 2014
06:35 PM ET

Letters reveal private thoughts of young Jackie Kennedy

Washington (CNN) - She wrote of being in love, falling out of love, fearing a marriage to a skirt-chaser and then loving that marriage, and believing in God to hold on to the hope of reuniting with her assassinated husband.

Letters that a young Jacqueline Bouvier, and later a married Jackie Kennedy, wrote to a Catholic priest in Ireland offer a rare and revealing glimpse of the private thoughts of one of America's most admired first ladies.

An icon of style and elegance, she came to symbolize an administration nicknamed Camelot that ended with the violent death of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.

Over a period from when she first met the Rev. Joseph Leonard on a trip to Ireland in 1950 until he died in 1964, she wrote him more than two dozen letters.

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politics lead

May 13th, 2014
06:01 PM ET

Rove walks back accusations on Clinton's health

(CNN) – Karl Rove's suggestion that Hillary Clinton suffers from a brain injury is coming under attack.

Rove, the mastermind behind George W. Bush's two presidential election victories, appeared at a conference last Thursday, where he discussed a 2012 incident that sent the then-secretary of state to the hospital, according to the New York Post's Page Six, the newspaper's well-known gossip column.

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sports lead

May 13th, 2014
05:56 PM ET

Magic Johnson in CNN exclusive: I won't hold a grudge against Donald Sterling

Watch Anderson Cooper's interview with Magic Johnson today at 8 p.m. ET

(CNN) – NBA legend Magic Johnson said Tuesday he is going to pray for Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who slammed him in an interview with CNN a day earlier for not doing enough for minorities.

"My whole life is devoted to urban America. So, you know I just wish he knew the facts when he's talking," Johnson told CNN's Anderson Cooper exclusively Tuesday. "But he's a man who's upset and he's reaching. He's reaching. He's trying to find something that he can grab on to help him save his team. And it's not going to happen. ... I'm a God-fearing man and I'm going to pray for him and hope things work out for him."

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world lead

May 13th, 2014
05:51 PM ET

Has Putin already won?

(CNN) – Some European analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin does not need to invade Ukraine; he has control of Crimea, and because of separatist actions, he now controls parts of eastern Ukraine, making the country ungovernable.

But U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt says Putin has not won.

"Over the long term we're convinced ... that Russia should want to have a stable relationship with a prosperous and politically stable Ukriane," said Pyatt.

Moreover, the sanctions against Russia are "taking a toll," says Pyatt, and if "these actions continue there will be additional costs."

For more from U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, check out the video above.

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sports lead

May 13th, 2014
05:40 PM ET

PR expert turned down meeting with Sterling because 'he's beyond salvation'

(CNN) – There were times when Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling expressed contrition, and even teared up during his exclusive interview CNN's Anderson Cooper. Though whether it was for his racial comments, or misjudging his alleged mistress, that's hard to say.
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