Im back tomorrow. The lead with jake tapper starts after a short break. Donald trump heading to the scene of the january 6th crimes. The lead starts right now. Sources tell cnn that the former president wants to go to capitol hill, where he wants to add his two cents on the debate over who should be the next speaker of the house. Do republican lawmakers want him there . Ill talk to a republican who has been in touch with him this week. Plus, one of the deadliest strikes in ukraine since the beginning of russias invasion. A horrific scene of putins war. More than 50 civilians killed after a Missile Strike Hit a grocery store. But first, for years, donald trump said build the wall. Now its President Biden picking up on the new construction. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. Im going to start today with our world lead. A number of developments happening right now, including the Immigration Crisis and the chaos at the u. S. Southern border. In moments, were going hear from top Biden Cabinet officials who are down in mexico for meetings about the surge in might grants entering the United States, along with the flow of fentanyl and Gun Trafficking. This comes hours after the Biden White House announced it is waiving dozens of federal laws in order to build more Border Barriers. Its a move President Biden tried to defend this afternoon after a number of critics pointed out that he promised not to build one additional foot of wall while he was running for president. Also today, a Federal Court heard arguments over the state of texass decision to install buoys on the Rio Grande River after the Biden Administration sued the Lone Star State trying to get them to remove them. Texas official claims that the buoys are meant to deter migrants from crossing the river, which can be deadly. All of this as governors and mayors across the u. S. Are sounding the alarm about the increase in migrant arrivals in the u. S. , depleting the state and cities already scarce resources. Republicans and democrats begging the white house and the federal government for more help. Cnns m. J. Lee starts off our Coverage Today with a closer look at the new barriers coming closer to the Southern Border, and why President Biden says he was forced to make this move. Reporter the contentious political issue of the border wall build the wall, build the wall dont worry, were going build the back. Reporter back in the spotlight. The Biden Administration announcing that it is waiving 26 federal laws in order to green light the construction of a border wall in south texas. The wall will be built using previously appropriated funds specifically earmarked for this purpose under the trump administration. But the building of the wall clashing with this explicit promise that biden made as a president ial candidate. There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration. Reporter his then opponent donald trump made construction of a border wall a major rallying cry in his reelection campaign. And we are now building that beautiful wall. [ cheering ] and this powerful voter wall is going up at record speed. Reporter the administrations decision coming amid a surge of migrants a the u. S. Southern border. The u. S. Administration facing intense pressure, including from some democratic lawmakers to get the situation under control. I am from a border state, and, you know, its been a crisis on the border on and off for decades. We spent a lot of money on it. But we could always use more resource, money for border patrol. Reporter President Biden himself defending the move on thursday. Saying he was powerless to stop the use of the funds. The Border Wall Money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate, to redirect the money. They didnt. They wouldnt. In the meantime, there is nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it is appropriated for. I cant stop that. Reporter but biden also bluntly rejects the efficacy of a border wall. Do you believe a Border Wall Works . No. Reporter and jake, just one issue with that last answer we just heard from President Biden that he doesnt believe that a border wall is effective is that that appears to put him directly at odds with his own dhs secretary, Secretary Mayorkas wrote that there is an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers to prevent unlawful entries into the United States. I think all of this is just one more reminder of what an intractable problem the border situation has been for this white house as they have really tried to show that they are trying to take a humane approach when it comes to dealing with migrants, but at the same time, they are just trying to get a better handle on the situation at the border. Jake . So mayorkas thinks that the barriers work, but President Biden does not. Interesting. Mj lee, thank you so much. Lets bring in Alex Marquardt and priscilla alvarez. What is the tone and message that these highranking biden officials are trying to deliver . It doesnt seem like theyre on the same page necessarily. There is a lot of agreement, but there is also a lot of tension and some disagreements. Theyre certainly trying to convey the message that the various topics theyre discussing are of the utmost importance and thats the fact they sent some of the senior most members of the cabinet, and these are issues that need to be addressed immediately. Theyre sending the message also that this is a unique relationship, mexico on our Southern Border, our immediate neighbor, our biggest trading partner. But you have these extraordinary issues, very important issues in the surge in migration, in the fentanyl crisis, in Gun Trafficking that have to be addressed immediately. There is a sense on the american side that mexico could do more when it comes to what the Biden Administration does say is a historic migrant crisis. They do think we also heard from the mexican president earlier today about the new Border Wall Section thats going up. He criticized it, calling It Regression and irresponsible. So there is some disagreement there. And then on the fentanyl crisis, you have u. S. Officials raising the alarm about all the fentanyl thats coming across the Southern Border that they say is made in mexico that kills tens of thousand of americans every year, the biggest killer of American Adults between 18 and 49. The mexican president saying in fact its not made in mexico, that its not the cartels and the gangs, in fact it comes from china. So you have major disagreements there. But these are all issues that they all agree must be addressed. Were not necessarily expecting any kind of major resolution or initiative, but we are going to be listening closely now to this Press Conference to see if they did make any progress, is if there is anything theyre going to be pushing forward. Most of the fentanyl comes through ports of entry, not smuggled by the undocumented immigrants that are crossing the border illegally. A lot of the precursors come from mexico. Priscilla, you have information about deportation flights being restarted . This policy really captures the entire problem for the Biden Administration. We now know from Senior Administration officials that they are going to restart the direct deportation of venezuelans to venezuela. Why does this matter . There are 7. 7 million venezuelans who have fled the country. Many of them have moved north. It is a unique challenge for this administration. In fact, they are dealing with a historic wave, and that has been the issue for the administration. They didnt werent really able to deport them to venezuela. Because we had such a bad relationship. We had frosty relations. So they had to release them in the u. S. As they went through their immigration proceedings. Now we are learning they are actually going to deport them back to venezuela. Were not clear yet why venezuela is accepting them now. It has been years since we have done this. So the why now is still questioned in terms of why venezuela agreed to this. But this is really a moment that sheds light on the issue this administration faces, which is unprecedented Mass Migration of populations that previous administrations didnt necessarily have to grapple with, and hopes that they can start to lower those Border Crossings after, of course, Leaning On Mexico repeatedly to try to stem that flow. All right, priscilla alvarez, Alex Marquardt, thanks to both of you. Joining us Henry Cuellar of texas, he represents the district where the Border Barriers are a being built. Congressman, thanks for joins. You call the Border Barriers a 14th century sluice to a 21st century problem. Why do you think its bad idea . If you look at it, look where they put a fence down here, about a quarter mile away from the river banks. As you know, the middle of the river is actually the International Border itself. So if you have a fence thats a quarter of a mile or a mile away, all you have to do is let people touch the river banks, walk a quarter mile, walk half a mile, and theyre asking for asylum. In fact, maps we sent to you, you will see that most of the people coming across, there is already a fence because the fence is not in the middle of the river. So i want to see more personnel, more technology. But i will ask you to look at 2015 and 2019. Obama and trump. Why did the numbers go down in those years . Thats because we leaned into mexico. We got mexico to do more, and they stopped them before they came over here. And plus, President Obama was doing deportations. This administration is doing some deportations, but that will show them. Theyre afraid to show people going back like President Obama and secretary jeh johnson did. You have to show repercussions, and you got to show video of people going back, and not just streaming across over here. Why do you think theyre afraid to show the repercussions . Why do you think theyre afraid to show people being deported and going back South Of The Border . Ill tell you, i had a conversation with somebody there. And this is what they said. We dont want to get our Immigration Advocates angry at us. Thats it. Thats what somebody told me there. So, again, the Immigration Advocates, with all due respect, thats one stakeholder. What about the Men And Women In Green . What about more importantly the border communities . We here at the border communities, and im in laredo, people tell me we got to do something about the borders. And my district is 80 hispanic, and theyre saying control that border. And now that new york, now that chicago, now that washington, d. C. Are seeing what we have felt for so many years, now this voice about we got to control the border is being magnified because the mayors of new york and the governor of illinois, they have a bigger megaphone than some of us down here at the border. Have you spoken with anyone in the Biden Administration about your opposition to this move to construct more Border Barriers in your Congressional District . Well, yes, i have. And there is two questions to ask here. One is the president is right. He had to do and spend the money. Its the 1974 Empowerment Control Act Fight Between Congress and president nixon at that time. I understand that. They have to do this before september 30th. I understand that. But the question they have not answered to me is why waive the Immigration Laws . There is nothing in the law that i know of that forces them to waive it. And i didnt know about it, and you will see that every president or every secretary that has done that has been all under republican administrations except the current one that just did it yesterday. I dont understand the waiver itself. I understand the empowerment control act, but i just dont understand why they waived the environmental laws. You know me. Im strong on border security, but i want to make sure that we do it right. Have repercussions at the border, have more personnel at the border have, knowledge. I tell you, the mexican cartels have more drones than we do, and they fly them to watch what we do. They watch, they pass a small package over here. We have to give Homeland Security the tools and the equipment and the personnel to fight this problem. House republicans passed their version of a border bill hr2 earlier this year. Every democrat voted against it. Are theres a specks of their bill that you agree with that could possibly turn into Bipartisan Legislation if the senate takes up some sort of border bill, and it could all be hashed out in Conference Committee . Are there parts of it that you could vote for . Yes. And before i answer that question, i also remind my republican friends that the last two Appropriation Bills that we passed, except for two republicans who are still serving, there were nine, but seven are gone. Two republicans are serving in the u. S. House voted in favor to add 2. 4 billion to homeland. Thats a 15 increase. They all voted against supporting 2. 4. So they only see their version. Now, to answer your question about hr2, i looked at it. Some of the things that ive asked for, stone guard, money for local government, local police, getting rid of carrizo cane, river roads, technology, there is a lot of things that we agree on. There is just a few things that they need to sit down, and ill be happy to sit down with them. Because i dont come and visit the border for a few days or a few showers, i should say. I live here. And i talk to the men and women in grown. There are things that we can agree on. I remind them for the last two Appropriation Bills, they voted down except two republicans who are there right now, they voted down 2. 4 billion for cbp monies. What grade would you give President Biden for his handling of the border crisis . There is improvement. And i did talk to the president. I dont want to grade school grade. I dont need needs improvement. A, b, c, d, f . Again, im not going to give you an a, b, c. All i can say is he can do better, and im ready to work with him to make it better. What we have to do is what at what weve done in the past and what works. Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar of texas, good to see you, sir. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you, jake. There are devastating images of ukraine today. A Missile Killing Dozens of innocent civilians, including a small child. Cnn is on the screen. And that vicious strike comes as lawmakers here in Washington Are Fighting Over Whether to keep sending money and armaments to help ukraine. In just a moment ill have a republican congressman here, and well talk to him about all this. Stay with us. Back with our world lead. While the u. S. Government is hobbled currently by its House Republican dysfunction, and future aid for ukraine is up in the air, today president Vladimir Putin announced that russia successfully tested a nuclearpowered Cruise Missile. Putin also falsely claimed that russia didnt start the war, a war that obviously began with his invasion of a sovereign nation. Most horrifically today, Russian Forces fired a Cruise Missile strapped with a one thousand pound warhead at a small eastern Ukrainian Village hitting a cafe and a shop. The missile killed more than 50 civilians, including a child, according to local officials. Cnns Fred Pleitgen takes us to the scene of the carnage. A warning. Some of the scenes were about to show you are disturbing. Reporter utter destruction and chaos after the massive explosion. As night fell, bodies still strewn across the area as Search And Rescue crews scoured the debris. This man weeping in front of