About the Show
Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
On the Next Episode of The Lead
We've moved! Come join us at our new show page.
national lead
Protests in Ferguson heat up
(CNN) – It has been one month since a white officer shot and killed unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Protesters near Ferguson, Missouri, planned to block and shut down an interstate highway Wednesday, and are calling for the arrest of the officer involved, among other demands.
Last night, residents disrupted a city council meeting and called on members to resign. Perhaps ironically, that meeting was meant to address their concerns and implement judicial reforms.
Despite talk of healing, Ferguson is still a tinderbox.
CNN's Ted Rowlands reports.
world lead
Sen. Klobuchar: Obama should seek congressional approval if mission is beyond airstrikes, training
(CNN) – President Obama will lay out his plan for taking on ISIS Wednesday night.
What will that plan look like? Could this spiral into a new war for America? And will Congress, and the American people, stand behind the President's strategy?
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota tackles those questions, and more, in the video above.
money lead
Apple's Tim Cook out from Steve Jobs' shadow?
(CNN) – After the unveiling of new iPhones, Apple Pay, and especially the Apple Watch, The New York Times' technology reporter went bullish, declaring the company is back, and better ever.
"The big question about Tim Cook's Apple was whether it could make something completely new, and whether whatever it made would be kind of as ground breaking as the stuff that Apple produced when Steve Jobs was CEO. And I think basically they answered that question yesterday," reporter Farhad Manjoo said in an interview with CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
FULL POST
world lead
Fact checking Sen. Cruz’s claim of potential ban on SNL sketches
(CNN) – Imagine an America where a presidential impersonation on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" would suddenly become illegal.
In what brave new Orwellian world would "SNL" comedians become brazen outlaws just for mocking the oval office?
FULL POST
politics lead
Roundtable: Challenges for Obama in ISIS speech
(CNN) – Just 32% of Americans approve of the President's handling of foreign policy, a new NBC/WSJ poll shows – an all-time low. Obama is torn between two imperatives: wanting to stop heinous terrorists, but avoiding the war fever that grips capitol hill every few years.
What should Obama tell the nation tonight when he lays out his strategy to defeat ISIS?
Former national security spokesman Tommy Vietor, CNN "Crossfire" co-host S.E. Cupp, and CNN's Jim Sciutto discuss.
