Trump Goes From Acceptance to Denial With Unfounded Rigged Election Claims

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1:03Breaking news on two fronts tonight and a reversal of the five stages of grief, namely denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Ever since election night, the president's been doing it backwards, it seems. He started on acceptance and today dove deep into denial. And while he was doing that, the outgoing Republican-controlled Congress moves closer to impeaching his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Good evening. Thanks for joining us. The president voiced the election denial out loud for the first time this evening at a hastily called press conference, but he first raised it this morning most directly in a social media post.

1:35Does anybody really believe that this election was honest, he wrote. How could the polls be so wrong? Some early voting dumps were so large that it was impossible to win no matter how many people went to vote. It's all about the machines, which are far more important than the voter. Well, seven hours later, he weighed in again, though it's harder to make out exactly what he was trying to say. He was asked whether he was surprised by his party's midterm wipeout last week. And after a long digression on the stock market and the economy, he came around to this. And your 401 s have gone way down because of the ridiculous result.

2:14It's not even a result. It's almost hard to believe. Now, I wasn't on the ballot. I shouldn't take anything personally. But I will tell you, I thought it was ridiculous. By the way, he said, act like you're on the ballot dozens of times. Again, he was much clearer online when he outright blamed rigged machines for his party's massive defeat. Now, keeping them honest, other than a voting machine foul up in New York's Westchester County, which the losing Republican congressman said had no bearing at all on his defeat, the 2026 midterms were notable for how smoothly they went. Even the president, as early as election night, was telling The New York Times that he was, quote, absolutely willing, unquote, to accept the results.

2:54A day later, though, he'd begun moving into the bargaining stage. I mean, if I were on the ballot, we would have won. You saw the people. There were thousands and thousands of people at every rally. And if I was on the ballot, we would have won. But they just, you couldn't transfer that love. There was such love at those rallies. It was incredible. We weren't able to transfer the love to candidates. Well, he repeated words to that effect in the days that followed. In addition to denial today in his press conference, he also showed plenty of stage two anger directed at reporters, of course, and outgoing Republican Congressman Thomas Massey for introducing articles of impeachment today, which are expected to pass against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

3:38MSNOW gets the worst ratings in their history. Used to be MSDNC. It's one of the worst. You're a fake network. MS, now what a jerk you are. Massey's a loser, just like you're a loser at CNN, just like your ratings are a loser. Massey is a loser, stone-cold loser. We won two wars, and we've made the world a lot safer place, and then we're supposed to impeach. Why haven't we gone after all these other people that ran wars that lost? What about this? What about good old Lloyd? Why didn't we go after him? Why didn't we go after the people that disappeared? They're in charge of the military and they disappeared from nobody knew, had any idea that nothing happened to him.

4:27What about all these people that lost wars? You don't have to. All I can say is this. We have the highest recruit, the recruitment numbers of, you know, when I came in, when I was campaigning, We had the worst recruitment people wanting to join the military in the history of our country. We couldn't fill any of the spots. It was a disaster. Now we have the best numbers we've ever had. So there's a lot of rambling there. He said he would stand by Pete Hegseth and keep him as defense secretary, even if he's impeached. More on all this now from CNN chief White House correspondent and anchor of the source, Caitlin Collins.

5:04So is the president's support for Hegseth conditional? Is he planning to stick with him? Do we know? Well, I mean, that's why I asked that question, Anderson, because it was an open, you know, unanswered question before that of what the White House's plan is. Should Pete Hegseth actually get impeached by the House? And that is a very real prospect that the White House and the defense secretary are both staring down right now. And the president in public, as you just heard him there in that very hastily called press conference that they had at the White House today, he is defending Pete Hegseth.

5:34He told me that he will stand by him even if he is impeached by the House. But inside the White House, people have been talking about what to do here and what the next step of this is going to look like. Because their fear is, given how many Republicans lost their elections last week, that a lot of them aren't showing up here in Washington back for this session of Congress the last few weeks that they have. Or they understand how angry voters are about the Iran war. And so they might actually be willing to vote for this. And Thomas Massey, the Republican congressman who's also outgoing, might actually be able to get enough votes here.

6:07And so it's a real question of what that looks like. I've talked to people inside the West Wing. They think that Pete Hegseth's standing is a little bit firmer now inside the White House because Stephen Miller has been elevated to chief of staff and the two of them are close. Susie Wiles, who, of course, you know, announced her last day on Friday. She was someone who had not been as confident in Pete Hegseth's leadership at the Pentagon. on. And I was actually told that their relationship had gotten pretty shaky in the last couple of weeks and months. And so it remains to be seen what actually happens here and if the president stands by that, or if they do try to find an exit route for Pete Hexeth as they're facing so much anger over the war.

6:46It's entirely possible he could be impeached by the House, acquitted by the Senate, in which case that would probably make it easier for the president to keep them. Yeah, but we actually, I mean, yes, but we don't know really. I was talking to Bill Cassidy last week, Anderson. He's that outgoing Republican senator in Louisiana. And I asked him, should Pete Hexeth be impeached? What do you intend to do in the Senate? Would you, are you against that? Where do you stand on that? And he told me he would listen to the testimony, that he would be willing to hear what they said, because there is such growing discomfort among Republicans with the way the Iran war has been carried out.

7:22And so Pete Hegseth is holding a press conference tomorrow at the Pentagon. That is something that we haven't seen in several months. And so obviously we'll see what they say. But a source inside the White House was texting me last week about Pete Hegseth putting out that six-minute video defending himself, saying, you know, ignore the impeachment stuff, telling the troops to keep their heads down. They said they believed that was a sign that he actually is concerned about this, that he felt the need to put that video out. So it remains to be seen what happens here. Yeah, Kaitlin Collins, thanks very much.

7:49Appreciate it. joined Caitlin at 9. Her guest is going to be Congressman Massey. More now on the impeachment effort itself. Congressman Massey introduced eight articles against Hegseth today, accusing him of abusing the power of his office and giving unlawful orders in his execution of the Iran war. A lot of people are saying, well, I think Peter Hegseth's effective. He's good at his job. And so I don't want to vote for these articles of impeachment. Well, the reality is we're not Indicting him for being bad at his job. In fact, he was very effective at killing school children in Iran. He was very effective at extrajudicial killings.

8:29There's no argument in these impeachment articles that he's ineffective. The argument here is that he's broken laws and he's violated the Constitution. As we mentioned earlier, President Trump vowed to stand by his defense secretary, even if he's impeached. At today's press conference, the president vigorously defended Hegseth and his handling of the Iran war. Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Chris Deluzio, who's a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and an Iraq war veteran. Congressman, thanks for being here. Are you surprised that President Trump is so admirably standing by Hegseth and yet has also booted Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, as this impeachment vote fast approaches?

9:05Anderson, I'm not surprised. This is just more reckless decision making from the president. But what's disappointing is this secretary, Pete Hegseth, has so clearly failed. And our troops, their families need much better leadership atop the Pentagon. I've said for a long time, Donald Trump should fire him as defense secretary. If he won't, the Congress should do it for him. What do you think he why do you think he is so bad? Well, I can't answer what's going on in his heart of hearts. I know what his record is. The charges laid out in the articles of impeachment are pretty damning. Number one, ignoring the Constitution and the rule that we, the American people, and the Congress have in deciding whether to go to war.

9:45The American people, the Congress, never voted or authorized the war on Iran. In fact, a war powers resolution directed its end, and yet this secretary ignored it. He sought to punish Senator Mark Kelly. He was in a video with me and others stating the law. The secretary used his power at the Pentagon, again, to try to punish a senator for speech. There's so much more in it, but let's also think about his ineptitude. the years-long likely impact on maintenance for aircraft carriers, the way our troops and their families were abandoned at bases like Bahrain, the damage to that base and others, the inadequate protection for our troops in places like Kuwait.

10:20His record has been disastrous. Again, Donald Trump should fire him, but if he won't, the Congress should fire Pete Exeth. If all House Democrats support the resolution to impeach him, there would still need to be a few Republican votes needed to pass it. Do you think there would be enough Republicans? I do. And I think the fact that Mike Johnson, as speaker, one of the weakest speakers in American history, saw the writing on the wall and canceled votes in September because he was afraid to lose Republican votes on impeaching Pete Hexeth then. And what's happened since? A landslide election where the American people made clear several things, including the fact they want this Iran war to end.

10:59And if if the House impeaches him and a supermajority of senators, you know, don't vote to convict him and he stays, would the symbolism still be worth it? Look, I think we have an obligation of the American people to our Constitution. We have an obligation to stand up for our troops and their families. And again, Pete Hegseth has been reckless and disastrous atop the Pentagon. It's not just Democrats who see that. Republicans see it, too. And I'm not just talking about politicians. The people who voted last week spoke pretty clearly. They want this war to end. The chaos and corruption of the Defense Department under Pete Hegseth is indefensible.

11:34And I'll close with where I started. Donald Trump should just fire the guy and spare the American people the spectacle of having him impeached. What do you want to see happen regarding the war with Iran? I think we need a responsible end to it. I think the Congress has to take back the reins. We can't unscramble the egg that Donald Trump has left us with in starting this war without consultation with the American people, without much of a plan, without thinking about the impacts on our munitions supplies, aircraft carrier readiness, the protection of our troops and their families in the Middle East, now destruction of bases.

12:07But more than all of those things, he has shown weakness across the globe. He's shown our allies that we can't be relied on under Donald Trump as commander in chief. He's shown the Iranians that they can shut down the Strait of Hormuz and exert leverage over global energy markets and across the world. It's disastrous. The Congress has to do what we can, whether it's the appropriations power or war powers resolutions to put a stop to this war. Are you concerned about some of the firings that Pete Hegseth has undertaken of some very experienced generals? I am at least one of those. And Admiral Nancy LaCour is now going to be a member of Congress.

12:44And there's reporting, I think in the last day that Pete Hegseth used allegedly illegal criteria to fire these members of these flag and general officers, including whether they attended events they were ordered to attend around COVID vaccinations, personnel actions that would violate the law. And those are recent allegations today. So those aren't even in the articles of impeachment that Thomas Massey has put forth. They're serious charges that we in the Armed Services Committee, where I sit, should investigate no matter what happens. Congressman DeLuzio, I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you.

13:19Coming up next, more on the political dimensions, not just of the Hegseth story, but all the other political fallout and possible staff shakeups in the wake of the midterm blowout that is still growing as more votes are counted. Later in NVIDIA's Jensen Huang admitted extramarital affair, what we know about the woman who is alleged to be a spy for China, how it could affect U.S. national security, and what the president knew about the relationship.

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14:4130 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at$49.99 a month. Visit simplisafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information. With the House at most two days away from voting on whether to make Pete Hegseth the third cabinet secretary ever to be impeached, Secretary Hegseth is saying he is not worried about his boss standing by him. He won the war. He was in charge. He won the war in Venezuela. As I said, 48 minutes. It was flawless. Nobody killed. And he certainly, I think he's won the war in Iran, but he's certainly winning the war. Again, the votes appear to be there to impeach in the House, likely not to convict him in the Senate.

15:23Still, the fact that this has gotten so far says a lot about the current political climate. here to talk about a former Trump White House communications director, Alyssa Farr Griffin, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Dispatch, Jenna Goldberg, and former South Carolina State Representative Bakari Sellers. Alyssa, are you surprised that Hegseth has held on at this point, that the president is standing by him? After last week's midterms results, I am, but I think the fact that Stephen Miller has come on as chief of staff has been instrumental in protecting Hegseth. They're very close. They've signaled that they're on the same team.

15:52Hegseth has even put out imagery of Stephen Miller from the DOD social media channels. So I think for now his job is safe in terms of not being fired by Donald Trump. But what's interesting about the House impeachment vote is this, is if he ends up being impeached this Congress, it really doesn't matter because they're not going to convict in the Senate under this current Congress. But pay attention to the numbers. There's about to be a lot more Democrats in the House of Representatives and a lot more Democrats in the Senate, as well as Senate Republicans who are deeply unhappy with Hank So he may hang on, but it may just be till January or February, honestly.

16:24Jonah, so far the only administration official to take the fall for the midterms is Susie Wiles. Is the Iran war more her fault than Pete Hegseth? No, she actually exempted herself almost entirely from the deliberations for the Iran war. I mean, she's essentially a scapegoat. I mean, it's pretty astounding. I got to say, I think I have a problem. I have no dog in this fight. I'm sort of in a Henry Kissinger, Iran-Iraq war situation. I think it's a shame only one side could lose in this conversation, because I'm not a fan of Thomas Massey's, and I am not a fan of Pete Hexetz. But part of the problem with these articles of impeachment is that the logic of them really is about impeaching the president of the United States, because it is Hexetz's defense that he is following the orders of the president of the United States.

17:17The President of the United States, in the clip you just played, referred to two operations as wars. Their legal position is they're not wars. If there are wars, they were launched unconstitutionally and without approval from Congress. One of them is still ongoing at this moment. We have a naval blockade of Iran. That is an act of war under international law and American law. And therefore, this is an unauthorized military operation. Hegseth deserves to be fired. He deserves to be impeached. I think he's probably the worst secretary of defense in American history. But part of what he's doing, whether it's the judicial killings in the Caribbean and all the rest, is following through on what the president is ordering.

17:57And that's, I think, the trap of this. If you go through with this to impeach Hegseth, the actual argument is that you're impeaching him for doing what the president asked and what the president asked is unconstitutional or unlawful or impeachment. working. Bakari, I'm wondering what you make of Jonah's argument, and maybe is that why the president is sticking by him, because essentially the president is reading this as an attack on him. Yeah, I think the president is sticking by him until he's not, right? I think that everybody knows that Donald Trump doesn't have any permanent friends, no permanent enemies.

18:33He just has permanent interests. I think Pete Hegseth is going to find himself on the opposite end of this. I will stick by you very, very soon. I am most concerned about the extrajudicial killings taking out under the leadership of Pete Hexeth. And I understand Jonah's argument, particularly when it comes to war. However, I do believe that there were calls. I do believe that there were acts. I do believe that there were actions taken by Pete Hexeth of his own volition, particularly when you're talking about fishermen who were murdered because they were apparently drug runners, but There were no drugs found in the Caribbean.

19:06Those type of incidents happen under his watch often. And so I think that is where the rubber's going to meet the road. For a lot of Democrats here, Thomas Massey's doing us a favor because when you go into this new Congress, you don't want to be impeached Donald Trump. You don't want to be impeached, impeached, impeached, impeached. But you do want to have accountability. And so there are a lot of Democrats who are able to join this argument of accountability and affordability while Thomas Massey leads the way. Alyssa, you know, we've seen kind of the president kind of going from acceptance early on to now kind of flirting with denial.

19:42Is he workshopping that? What do you think he is telegraphing about what the next few months are going to be like? I think the president's kind of going through the stages of grief, just candidly. At first, there was this weird degree of acceptance. He was on TV saying he might even work with the Democrats. And now he's sort of teasing that he might challenge the election results or suggesting it's rigged. It's a complete reverse. It's a complete reversal. And then the doubling down, the hiring of Stephen Miller, who I worked with. Stephen Miller is an ideologue. He is the architect of the most draconian immigration policies that we've seen carried out, which were wholly rejected last Tuesday in the midterm results.

20:15This signals he wants a pit bull who's going to fight for him. He's going to be on TV. He's going to be OK being the bad guy. Stephen Miller is OK with that. But that he's doubling down on the policies that he lost on. And I think he's just in denial about the reality. If you watch the 60 Minutes interview, I mean, he's living on a different planet about his approval ratings, about the state of the American economy. And I think he's probably even more insular now without even having Susie Wiles there to maybe give him some reality checks. Jonah, I mean, it's going to be fascinating to see how Republicans, those who are coming into the House and the Senate, I mean, where this goes over the next two years, how they deal, handle him, because he's no, I mean, he's a lame duck.

20:54And yet he certainly doesn't probably feel like one. No, he clearly doesn't feel like one. And I think one of the reasons, I mean, like, you know, Stephen Miller is like the perfect Tolkien-esque worm tongue, right? He's fantastic at praising and manipulating Trump and appealing to his ego. But the problem is, for the Republicans going back to Congress, Trump still has his main superpower politically, which is he can still screw Republicans for their primary chances by attacking them. And he controls, it's shrinking by the day, but he still controls enough voters in a lot of red states and red districts that he can still push around a lot of Republicans, certainly House members who are going to be up or Senate members who are going to be up in 2028.

21:47And that's going to create the dynamic that we've seen for the last 10 years as a half-life. It's accelerating, but it's not going away yet. Yeah, I mean, Bakari, he's a lame duck. I just got a bunch of ducks at my farm and they crap all over the place and cause a lot of mess. I mean, a lot can be done in two years.

22:11Yeah, I was wondering where exactly you were going with that, Anderson. But yes, there are a lot of different ways that this can go. I think that Donald Trump has firm control over the MAGA movement. It's non-transferable. And I think he's going to pose a great deal of risk to a Senate map, which is going to be more favorable for Democrats in 2028 than it even was in 2026. Furthermore, I mean, you just think about doubling down with Stephen Miller and the work that John Ossoff or Westmore or even Kamala Harris are going to be able to do in terms of just making him political fodder and reminding the American people of where we are today.

22:52I think that that Donald Trump is an out of trust around the neck of many of many Republicans. And we're going to see that play out even more. And the decision to make Stephen Miller your chief of staff for me is one that represents a great deal of tone deafness. After you get just mollywhopped on Tuesday, you expect people to have a certain level of reflection. You expect them to have some manner of maybe I should do something different. And that is not the Donald Trump that we know. And I think that that is going to cost them for elections to come. Do you think the president has a vision for the next two years or do you think he's kind of riffing?

23:36I think he's riffing, but I think that he also recognizes he's going to be subject to oversight for the first time since his first administration. And I would say buckle up. I think it's going to be very different. I think he's going to challenge the power of the executive branch. I think he's going to advise cabinet secretaries and other officials to defy subpoenas. And that's going to be a question for Congress. How hard do they push if this administration in no way cooperates with oversight? I mean, they're co-equal branches of government. And I hope that Democrats coming into oversight roles are really preparing for that, because I could see him across the board telling advisors just don't even comply at all.

24:10Alyssa, thanks very much. Jenna Goldberg, Bakari Sellers as well. Thank you. Coming up next, the Senate race in Mississippi that is still too close to call, could come down to mail-in ballots. I'll talk to Scott Colombe, the Democrat who is currently ahead in the vote. And later, Jensen Huang, the chief executive behind the world's top AI chip company, NVIDIA, admits to an extramarital affair, but doesn't mention the person he was involved with is now alleged to be a Chinese spy. Details on that ahead.

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25:23The other Dan Sullivan, middle initial J, has 3 ,651 votes. President Trump, who just this morning started questioning the legitimacy of the midterm election, as we mentioned in a social media post, did so again later in front of reporters, specifically mentioning the Alaska race. Do you believe the midterms were real? Well, I think the numbers were terrible in terms of those early votes. You look at all those early votes. And look at another one. I'm watching Alaska. So you have a guy named Dan Sullivan and another guy named Dan Sullivan runs. And one's a J and one's an S. So anybody that voted for that second Dan Sullivan, the fake Dan Sullivan, was supposed to be a vote for the real Dan Sullivan.

26:05So they stole it. And that election should be called right now. The other Senate race yet to be called is in Mississippi. Democrat Scott Colombe currently leads Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2 ,536 votes. And Scott Colombe joins me now. Appreciate you being here. What's the latest you know about how many votes are outstanding? And I know in the last couple of days I've heard you say, you know, you know where the votes are and the districts are coming from. And you feel good that they are going to be favoring you. Where do you think things stand now? Well, we're really just waiting for Hines County to finish during that county.

26:48And my understanding is they're going to be finished by Wednesday morning, and then it's going to all be over. Because, as I said, the Wednesday morning after the election, I followed Mississippi politics. It always, the affidavit and the affidavit ballots always treated Democratic. I knew that there were a lot of ballots out in Hines County. And if you look at what happened on Election Day, a lot of those ballots were going to be for me. and it's time to start focusing on the people of Mississippi. I'm ready to serve as their next United States Senator. What is it you think you were able to do that no one else has done for a very, very long time in Mississippi?

27:26Well, one, I went out in their campaign. I did over 60 town halls. I went to the music festivals. I went to the housing projects. And that motivated people to actually take action on their sales. You know, there was a great Washington Post story about a woman in Holmes County, Mississippi, that got so excited about this campaign that she started canvassing and doing voter registration and getting young people to vote. I never talked to that young lady. She did that all on her own. And so when I tell people that this is something the people of Mississippi did, those are the examples. We were tired of the betrayals.

27:59We were tired of the corruption. And I had the courage to run on Mississippi values and a vision for the people of Mississippi. and that's why we got the momentum to win. You also, I mean, you were very smart and like the commercials you were putting out were really clever. Some of them were really funny. I want to play a campaign video you put out last month on social media, which addressed high grocery prices. So let's take a look. The price of beef continuing to go up. You know, you have so many proteins to choose from. Pick another protein? Shit, I'd rather pick another senator instead. Pick another protein?

28:33She done lost her damn mind. I'd rather pick another senator. Pick another protein? What the? Pick another senator instead. I mean, it's one of the great ads that I've seen. I mean, how much of your strong showing do you think was due to that and kind of other really just, you know, fun, interesting, clever advertising you were doing? A lot of it was because of that. I knew at the very beginning of this campaign that we're going to have to figure out how to get young people's attention and get the attention of people that don't necessarily pay attention to politics, right? You can't really advertise to them.

29:19You know, knocking on their door may be difficult because they move a lot, but, you know, they're on social media and they don't want a normal politician. They want somebody that feels authentic. And so I kept trying different ways to get their attention and we did a lot of cool videos. The other thing I would say that's important for people that want to win tough races like we're about to do is I also rely on a lot of Mississippi talent. You know, my content creator, Ryan Sales, my other content creator, KP, my brother, Andrew. It was a lot of Mississippi people that understood the vibes for our state and how to get people's attention in our state.

29:53And I think that made a difference because everywhere I go now, they all tell me, I'm glad we picked another senator. Well, your lead just keeps growing as we have been waiting and watching. Scott Colombe, appreciate you joining us tonight. Thanks so much. Thank you so much, Anderson. God bless. All right, you take care. Coming up next in NVIDIA is Jensen Huang. He runs the world's biggest AI chipmaker, and the woman he has just admitted to having an extramarital affair with is suspected to have spied for China, the remarkably wide-ranging implications of those two facts ahead. And later, Russell Brand's rape sentence and his long spiral down from a comedian to a conspiracy addict.

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31:23Seven days to love it or return it, Mr. Shaq. Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. So buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com. President Trump ally Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, is ensnared in a scandal that reads like a Cold War spy thriller. Yesterday, he admitted to having an extramarital affair. U.S. officials suspect the woman, believed to be there in the pink dress, was spying for China and reportedly feeding intelligence to Beijing. Huang's company, the world's biggest AI chipmaker, announced it will investigate reports he was, quote, the target of a foreign intelligence effort.

32:02The president, who brought Huang with him on a state visit to Beijing this past May, was repeatedly asked about the story this evening at the White House. Jensen totally denies that. I asked him today, because I did speak to him today, just to see if he's feeling all right, how you doing, and I asked him about that. And he said he had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy. I asked him that question. Did you have any idea that she was a spy? He said, I had no idea that she was a spy and I really believe him. By the way, no one seems to be suggesting the NVIDIA CEO knew she was an alleged spy.

32:39The issue is the national security implications of the relationship. U.S. officials reportedly suspect the alleged spy helped smuggle advanced AI chips into China. Your CNN's Hadass Gold with more. This is the woman in question, Alice Wong, no relation to Jensen, an executive at a Singaporean data center company called Megaspeed, a major NVIDIA customer in Southeast Asia. That's according to reporting last month, The New York Times. The two seen at an event in Taiwan last year, even driving away together in the same car. After the Times story broke, Jensen Wong initially denied anything untoward, telling Bloomberg late last month, our relationship, our interactions have been related to mega speed and it was all completely normal and not unusual.

33:22But on Sunday, Wong wrote to NVIDIA staff, I was unfaithful to my wife. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry. Questions swirling as to what, if any, intel Alice Wong fed back to Beijing. Jensen, we used to end up, what a job. What a job you've done. Huang has split with the Trump administration over China, arguing NVIDIA's most advanced chips shouldn't be subject to strict export controls, and told Anderson Cooper he supported AI cooperation between the U.S. and China. Well, it's going to be really difficult if we vilify them. They're advancing their country's technology as fast as they can.

34:00They aspire to be greater. We're trying to be greater. I think we can all agree that a country's aspiration, a people's aspiration, lifts everybody. And it's great. It's great for the world. Alice Wong's company, Megaspeed, had already been suspected of smuggling advanced NVIDIA chips into China, something it and NVIDIA have previously denied. The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday also denying Alice Wong is a spy. The claim of so-called Chinese spies is completely groundless and is nothing but a smear against China. Wall Street and Congress watching closely. We're going to need a full briefing specifically as it relates to the NVIDIA issue so we can all get to the bottom of what has happened and what the implications are in terms of America's national security.

34:51NVIDIA's board now launching an investigation, but say Jensen Wang will continue to lead the company, at least for now. Hadass Gold, CNN, New York. Joining us now is former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Randy Phillips, former CIA Station Chief in Beijing. Andrew, President Trump says he only found out about this recently. The Times reports he was first briefed on it about a year ago. How important is it to get a straight answer on what the president knew and when and what he did or did not do about it? Yeah, I think it's incredibly important, Anderson. I think he also said today that he may have been briefed some time ago, which the time that the New York Times poses is possibly as far far away as a year ago, but that it didn't make much impression on him.

35:37And I think that's really the substance of this issue. The fact that the president continued to associate with an individual who was clearly under an intensive full field investigation, counterintelligence investigation that likely included some degree of electronic surveillance of either him or this alleged spy's communications. This is as serious as it gets in the world of counterintelligence. When someone, either an active agent or someone who has been unwittingly roped into the crosshairs of an agent has access to the absolute highest decision maker in our country. We know that Jensen Wong has spent a lot of time and effort and energy lobbying the president directly on increasing the flow of those crucial Nvidia chips to China.

36:34And so it really poses those sort of policy advocate positions that he's taken in potentially a very different and scary light. Well, Randy, it also raises, I mean, all sorts of alarm bells about what the, you know, these, all these AI companies are run by, or, you know, it's not part of the government. They're run by corporations. They're run by CEOs, all of whom are vulnerable to all sorts of, I would assume, would all be targets of foreign intelligence operations. No, absolutely, Anderson. I think it's one thing to keep in mind is among the very top goals of Chinese intelligence in response to Xi Jinping's highest priorities are things being done in the private sector.

37:22And throughout my entire career in the agency, I saw quite often where the private sector was going after in a way, sometimes even more so than the government sector. And, you know, the people who are there to conduct espionage on China had less attention than what the private sector did. Why? Because those are the companies producing the products that are of highest priority to China. And it's also a less hardened target to go after. That again and again, where the leadership, key technology people of the companies that had the technology of interest were the ones that Chinese intelligence spent the most resources on.

38:02And this, again, here's the person who is leading the company at the forefront of AI, the top priority of the Chinese government. Of course, Chinese intelligence is going to be interested in not only this gentleman, but this company. And how, I mean, how does an operation like this, how would it work? Would they set up a company with a CEO that then tries to make contact with a target? Or is it a pre-existing relationship? How does it work? I mean, it's certainly that is a possibility. I would suggest that that's probably not the way this rolled out, but we'll see. It's more likely that Megaspeed, among other companies, were set up, particularly in Southeast Asia, among a number of Chinese companies in that area to be able to acquire technology that is needed in China.

38:52And along the way, this person developed a relationship or contact with Mr. Huang. And therefore, the Chinese military and civilian intelligence would look at that and say, this is a great opportunity. And to be able to utilize that contact and that relationship to further the relationship. I think what you've touched on there, though, is a key issue that we'll need to see what comes out in the investigation here is, was this something that started from the very beginning as a targeted operation, or was it something that sort of grew into that based on the access available? The other question I have, Andrew, is if U.S.

39:29intelligence knew about this a while ago, and it's only become public now, was, you know, was Hwank informed of this earlier? And, And did they use the fact that they knew about this to give them phony chips? I mean, there could be a reason why this wasn't revealed until now. Yeah, but that's really hard to say at this point from what we know publicly. We don't have perfect clarity on what the predication was. What were the facts that ultimately led to the initiation of this investigation? But let's not forget that a counterintelligence investigation is opened because we are trying to understand if a threat to national security exists.

40:22And if one does, then we want to mitigate that threat. There's a lot of ways to mitigate it. one of them, when you feel absolutely confident that the target is not someone who is a witting, intentional agent of this foreign power, then you sit down with that person and do a defensive briefing. If they haven't done that at this point, that tells you a lot about what the government still thinks Jensen Wang might be capable of. Andrew McCabe, Randy Phillips, appreciate having you on. Thank you very much. Coming up, the staggering downfall of Russell Brand from comedian to left-wing influencer, then right-wing conspiracy theorist and supplement salesman, and now in prison, convicted rapist.

41:00Details ahead.

41:06In a London courtroom today, online conspiracy theorist and supplement salesman Russell Brand was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison after a jury found him guilty of raping a young fan and sexually assaulting three other women in separate incidents, which, according to investigators happened between 2004 and 2009. Brand was cleared of two other charges, seeing as Randy Kaye has more on the reckoning of Russell Brand. Sometimes I feel like I'm comfortable in the eye of a storm. Comedian turned Hollywood actor Russell Brand talking with Piers Morgan months before he was convicted of rape.

41:41Where I am now is I feel like I've been on trial my whole life anyway. The whole thing's been a trial. For years, Brand, a self-proclaimed sex addict, was a popular voice in British media, well known for provocative jokes about sex. His big break came in the early 2000s as host of the UK TV show Celebrity Big Brother's Big Mouth. Brand went to rehab in 2002 for drug addiction and says he has remained sober ever since. By 2006, he was hosting the Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio, a program that regularly included X-rated conversations. I'm Aldous Snow. I know who you are. Yeah, you're very, very famous.

42:22Yeah, yeah, I am. I am for my sins. In 2008, Brand became a Hollywood name after starring in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He married singer Katy Perry in 2010, only to file for divorce in 2011. Brand has credited wellness, including yoga and meditation, for helping him deal with addiction to drugs, alcohol and sex. But during the pandemic, his tone changed and he started spouting conspiracy theories on his YouTube channel and podcast. Redacted documents from Pfizer just disappear. When the COVID-19 vaccine became available, he spread false claims about it. I don't trust the government and I don't trust Big Pharma and I don't trust the media.

43:05Brand frequently made false claims about government deception. Do you sometimes feel that social engineering is taking place, that your beliefs are being challenged and eroded, that you're being controlled and told to be something other than you are? He also suggested the U.S. is operating secret biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine. There are biological research facilities, which is entirely different and probably just a place where they'd like work on toothpaste and shampoo and other stuff that's vital that the Russians don't get their hands on. On his podcast, Brand often interviewed and defended conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who had claimed that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax.

43:47Brand suggested the deep state was behind the cancellation of Jones' show. Alex Jones, in my view, is not like a sort of a journalist or an academic. He's like a preacher, an evangelist. If anything, he's a shaman. Brand later became a born-again Christian. When the Lord came to me, I felt like what I'm calling now kinetic psychedelia. I felt like something going in my guts. It was the cross of the Lord. Despite his wild conspiracies, Brand has racked up more than 6.6 million subscribers on social media. But his popularity certainly wasn't enough to keep him out of prison. The judge made that clear as he sentenced Brand to more than 10 years behind bars.

44:30You were clever and, in many people's eyes, funny and charismatic. You had also become a sexual predator. Anne Randicay joins me now. Does he serve the full 10 and a half years? Not exactly. His total sentence would be the 10 years and six months. He's already served a few days, so that will count towards it. And the judge said today that he'll serve two-thirds of his sentence. And then he's released back into the community. He'll have to check in with an officer. It's sort of like parole. But if he violates any of those terms, Anderson, he goes straight back to prison. But what's really interesting and worth noting is that while in prison, the U.K.

45:09bars any prisoners from using any type of social media. So he won't be able to do any podcasts or live streams or or have any contact with his six million plus subscribers. So he'll really be out of touch. He won't be able to spread these conspiracy theories. It's so interesting, the transition he made from, you know, his TV work. And then he, you know, he tried to kind of be like a left wing influencer and then sort of like a shaman guru type person and then really found success as a conspiracy theorist. He found what works, right? Yeah, it's really interesting. You can see how the videos, you know, on all of his posts, how things have changed right now.

45:47Randy Cate, thanks so much. You can stream the show anytime. Watch any CNN program on demand anytime. All you need is an all-access subscription. Just scan the QR code on your screen or go to CNN.com slash CNN.com slash watch to learn more. That's it for us. The Source with Kalen Collins starts now. This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just$15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like All I Want. Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

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