[Jake Tapper, Cnn Anchor:] Any minute now, another prison employee could face a judge for allegedly helping two terrifying killers escape. I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD. The national lead, a prison guard about to face charges accused of helping two dangerous fugitives who have been on the run for 20 days now. Was there anyone watching what was going on inside those walls, or were these inmates running the asylum? The politics lead now, he wears a black robe, but to many liberals, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts wears a cape today. How did a man whom Senator Obama voted against for his quote "overarching politics philosophy" end up saving Obamacare from crumbling yet again? Also in politics
[Donald Trump , Presidential Candidate:] Look, I give up a lot. I give up hundreds of millions of dollars in deals.
[Tapper:] Donald Trump going all in on the presidency and saying it's costing him millions. But is he as serious as that scowl suggests? A sneak peek from my one-on-one interview. Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Some breaking news now on our national lead. The multimillion-dollar manhunt in New York for escaped killers Richard Matt and David Sweat is now on day 20. You're looking right now at live pictures from inside the courtroom where the arraignment of prison guard Gene Palmer, who was arrested yesterday for aiding in the escape of the two fugitives, will take place at any moment now. There's also some new information on how the prison was run, a former maintenance supervisor at the prison telling CNN that the Clinton Correctional Facility used inmates to do plumbing and electrical work if the maintenance department was shorthanded, and if corrections officers were understaffed, inmates doing these jobs were not always supervised. As evidence seems to be mounting that there were lapses in security at the prison, investigators from the New York State Inspector General's Office now at the Clinton Correctional Facility scrutinizing security protocols. And while this is happening, the manhunt for the two men continues. We're learning more from an interview Gene Palmer gave state police. CNN national correspondent Alexandra Field is in Owls Head, New York. Alexandra, what can you tell us?
[Alexandra Field, Cnn Correspondent:] Hey there, Jake. Gene is filling in some of the details about what happened behind bars, telling police though that he didn't intentionally help the inmates and saying that whatever assistance he gave them, he had no idea that it would make their escape easier.
[Field:] We're learning new details on how David Sweat and Richard Matt were aided in their escape. An official close to the investigation tells CNN Gene Palmer, a prison guard, gave at least one of the inmates a screwdriver and needle-nosed pliers, supposedly to help fix electrical breakers in the catwalk area behind their cells, so they could use hot plates in those cells to cook. The tools were later found at Palmer's home after police executed a search warrant. Palmer gave access and supervised Matt and Sweat while they worked on the breakers, taking the tools back at the end of his shift. These are the same catwalks used during the inmates' elaborate escape 20 days ago.
[Andrew Brockway, Attorney For Gene Palmer:] He's a man of integrity. He's fully cooperated with this investigation. He understands that it's a public emergency. He wants these two to be captured.
[Field:] Palmer also accepted paintings from Matt and Sweat, according to court documents. A search of Palmer's house by investigators showed he tried to destroy the paintings by burning some in a fire pit and burying others in the woods. In an NPR radio interview from 15 years ago, Palmer describes life inside the Clinton Correctional Facility as a negative environment. He went on to say that life as a prison guard is as miserable as the lives of the prisoners themselves.
[Gene Palmer, Prison Guard:] With the money that they pay you, you will go bald, and you will have high pressure, you will become an alcoholic, you will divorce, and then you will kill yourself.
[Field:] Palmer bailed himself out of jail, paying the $25,000 bail with a credit card. Joyce Mitchell, the other prison employee charged in connection with the escape, allegedly put hacksaw blades and drill bits into chunks of hamburger meat. She then asked Palmer to take the meat to the inmates' cell. Palmer did not run the meat through a metal detector, a direct violation of prison policy.
[Brockway:] He was conned by Joyce Mitchell. She duped him. And looking back on that, he can't believe that someone would take advantage of him.
[Field:] As convicted killer Richard Matt turns 49 today, hundreds of law enforcement officers are still searching through dense woods around a hunting cabin the fugitives are believed to have burglarized. Boots and a sock were found inside that cabin.
[Unidentified Male:] There's a sock that's been recovered, as listed as white and red, and the red could obviously be blood. I do know that a DNA profile was from one of the socks.
[Field:] It's been five days since authorities discovered that cabin and the evidence inside. They have had no credible leads on the men's whereabouts since then. So, they have upped the law enforcement presence on the ground. Jake, there are now more than 1,100 law enforcement officers spread out between Franklin County and also Clinton County. They have now received some 2,400 tips.
[Tapper:] And, Alexandra, we're expecting at any moment the second prison employee to face charges. This is prison guard Gene Palmer. We're expecting either him or his lawyer or both to show up in this courtroom that viewers are seeing live on the right side of the screen. What can we expect there? What's going to happen?
[Field:] We expect that he or his lawyer will enter a plea of not guilty. We're really learning a lot more about what Gene Palmer has been able to contribute to this investigation though from that interview with state police, those details just coming in today. He is telling police a little bit more about the culture of the relationship between himself and the two inmates, both Richard Matt and David Sweat. He said that what he was getting included elaborate paintings and also details about the potentially illegal activity of other inmates. And he said that in exchange for that, he was offering assistance, the assistance which he said he didn't anticipate would make an escape any easier. But he said he would provide things like paint, paint brushes, the hamburger meat, which is of course key to this case, and also the access to that electrical box. But, again, he was underscoring the point to investigators that he believed that they needed access to that electrical box in order to repair a breaker, so that they could cook in their cells. We know that cooking was one of the privileges on the honor block, Jake.
[Tapper:] Interesting. Alexandra Field in Owls Head, New York, thank you so much. I'm joined now by Craig Caine. He's a retired U.S. Marshal of the New York and New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force. And in Sacramento, we have Robert Ayers. He's a former warden at San Quentin State Prison in California. Welcome to both of you. We will just for our viewers, when the arraignment begins, we will bring that to you live. You can see that on the right side of the screen. But, in the meantime, let's talk about what's going on. Craig, you're an expert obviously on catching fugitives. How likely do you think it is that Matt and Sweat or anyone who makes it three weeks without being caught is getting some sort of help on the outside?
[Craig Caine, Retired U.s. Marshal:] Well, I have been saying this all along, Jake. What's troubling to me right now is the DNA evidence that they found in the cabin. Law enforcement got that tip, I believe it was Saturday morning sometime. By the time they arrived and set up a perimeter, so to speak, a couple hours could have passed. But what I haven't heard is that canine did not pick up any scent. Now, I'm not privy to every bit of information that's going on up there. So, if this was an elaborate conspiracy and there are other staff members involved or outside people, could that have been a ploy, a ruse? Could one of their cohorts have brought dirty underwear and a sock and a peanut butter jar and left it in the cabin and somebody says, oh, yes, I seen somebody running from there, when, in fact, they were never even there and they're somewhere in Idaho right now?
[Tapper:] Interesting. Robert, the investigation is uncovering obviously some major lapses from inside the prison, prisoner-employee sex, smuggling of power tools, what seem like very lax rules when it comes to prisoner movement. As a former prison warden, have you ever seen anything like this?
[Robert Ayers, Former Prison Warden:] I don't know that I have seen it to this extent. And I think I the first thing I want to say is that the vast majority of people who work in our prisons are hardworking, honest, dedicated people. And it's most of them, as well as the prison administrators are always on guard and concerned about the occasional employee who crosses the line. I think this is just a stark example of the worst or what can happen when employees do cross the line. I also think it points to the fact that you can build the most secure facility on earth. I was also the warden at Pelican Bay, and which is a supermax prison and we always have to keep in mind that it's the employees that are the strongest factor in prison security, but they can also be the weakest link.
[Tapper:] Indeed. Craig, you seem to sound a little skeptical of the hunt going on right now. Is there anything specifically that you think law enforcement should be doing that they're not or things that they could be doing better?
[Caine:] No, not at all, Jake. They're experts at what they're doing out there. The public has to understand that, you know, we're not magicians out there. We don't have a magic wand we can wave, that this ain't like TV or a motion picture. This is real life, people spending a lot of hours combing through woods, dense terrain, bugs, what have you, that they have to exhaust every lead, and they have to feel comfortable that they searched that so-called perimeter to the extent where they have to scale back at some point in time. But that's only when they exhaust every possible lead.
[Tapper:] Robert, if the prison suspected a close relationship between Joyce Mitchell and one or more prisoners, why was she still working there? Wouldn't that be enough to dismiss her?
[Ayers:] Well, that's actually a fairly can be a fairly complicated situation. But, normally, when we have an employee that we suspect is involved with an inmate, the first thing you would want to do is take the inmate or inmates and get them out of the situation. And normally what in our state, we would lock them up in administrative segregation, pending that investigation, and then you can re we would reassign the employee usually to an area that doesn't have inmate contact.
[Tapper:] All right, Craig Caine and Robert Ayers, if you would please stand by, stay with us. We're going to take a very quick break when we come back, more on the manhunt and, of course, much other news, including a major victory for President Obama when it comes to his signature health care law. Stay with us. We will be right back.