Nation’s Busiest Airports Brace For Imminent Cuts

25:28That fight cementing her legacy as a congressional leader that could push her caucus to accomplish big things. Because of the incredible leadership of Nancy and Harry. We got the ACA across the finish line. But it was during her second speakership, under President Donald Trump, when Pelosi became an icon for many Democrats. Standing up to Trump as one of his chief antagonists. You should not have a Trump shutdown. You have a Mr. White House to come shut down. Pelosi repeatedly battled Donald Trump, going so far as to rip up a printed copy of his State of the Union address in 2020. She later made Trump the only president to ever be impeached twice, the last impeachment of which occurred after rioters stormed the Capitol on January 6th, breaking into and desecrating her office.

26:14Pelosi's political successes made her a target. In 2022, her husband Paul Pelosi was viciously beaten in the head with a hammer during a home invasion at their San Francisco residence by a man looking for the congresswoman, leaving Paul Pelosi with a fractured skull. Pelosi's decision to step away comes as calls grow louder for older lawmakers to make way for a younger generation to take office. The 85-year-old Pelosi was a key player behind the push to get Joe Biden to end his ill-fated re-election campaign in 2024. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.

26:53Those comments, which ignored Biden's repeated insistence that he had already made that decision and was running, infuriated the Biden White House. But today, President Biden adopted a conciliatory tone, praising Pelosi as the, quote, best speaker of the House in American history. The first woman speaker in our history, the gentlelady from California, Nancy Pelosi.

27:17Strategists from both major political parties are here with me. And Arshi, you know Pelosi very well. You were a senior policy advisor and counsel during Pelosi's tenure as Speaker of the House. How influential will she be in retirement, do you think? Will she still be something of a kingmaker? Will she still come out and make comments? Or do you think this is it, she's going quietly into the good night? I think Nancy Pelosi is always going to be a force. And we saw that actually even as recently as this redistricting fight in California. Her fingerprints were all over that. She really was a supportive team player for Gavin Newsom in getting that over the finish line in California.

27:51So I think we'll continue to see that. And there was that open question when she stepped down. So I think when you look at her legislative career and what she's been able to accomplish, she's always going to be a resource on how to get things done. So former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan posted, quote, While we rarely agreed on policy, I have a deep admiration for Speaker Pelosi's lifetime of public service. For decades, she advocated for her beliefs, blazed a trail for female lawmakers and protected the House as an institution. Congratulations to Nancy on a storied career, unquote. It's almost like a statement from another world where people say nice things about the other party.

28:24I remember that era. Doug, you worked very hard to unseat then Speaker Pelosi when you were comms director for the RNC. What did you learn while working in opposition to her about her? Yeah, well, I actually brought a relic from the fire Pelosi bus tour. This is my last bit of swag from the RNC. And I worked in the California delegation for six years and then House leadership. I've seen her up close for years. And why we launched the fire Pelosi tour that took Michael Steele through all lower 48 states was because of how formidable she was. We launched it the day after the Obama bill or the night the Obamacare bill passed because she got that through.

29:01No other Democratic leader was going to be able to do that. And time and time again, and I say this with nothing but respect for her, she always got what she wanted and she raised a ton of cash. Hold up that cup. We didn't see it. The people at home didn't see it. Nothing but respect for Nancy Pelosi and the job she did. And that's what Paul Ryan essentially speaks to. She is a winner. And I would tell friends who would ask from college or high school and talk about her being a San Francisco liberal. I said, you got that somewhat wrong. She's Nancy D 'Alessandro and she's a street fighter from Baltimore.

29:29Yeah, she's incredibly effective. Like it does. Whatever you think about her policies and her politics, she did not bring a vote to the floor if she didn't have the votes. She was just really good at it. Let me just ask you about this other issue. Since Biden helped lead his party to defeat in 2024, there's been a generational debate among Democrats. Pelosi was interviewed here on CNN this week ahead of the passage of Prop 50. And she said this about her career. My only reason I'm in Congress this term is to win the House for the Democrats, to protect us from the poison of the Trump administration.

30:09In 2022, Democrats did an amazing thing in the House. They all, the leaders, Pelosi, Hoyer, and Clyburn, all voluntarily stepped away from power and led the way for a new generation. And a lot of Democrats think if only the president had taken that cue as well. What do you think? Is it time for a new generation? Is this a cue for other House members in their 70s and 80s to check out the porch? I think we're already seeing that. And I think you also see what we're seeing on the ground. in terms of this urgency for real change and for affordability and just reinvigorating the American dream and reimagining the American dream.

30:47So I think we're going to see more of that as time passes. And I just wanted to make a point on the Affordable Care Act. I think what's interesting about Pelosi and the way she functioned is, you know, in the January before it passed in May, there was a real push to just step back and really filter it down and just take a small incremental step. To make it, yeah, like just focus on children, right? Exactly. And she made a call and she knew it was going to cost her her speakership. She knew that. And the leadership knew it. And the Democratic caucus knew it because we were going into an election where it was a different vibe.

31:18And this long term investment in affordability and health care was not the right political move. But she put policy over politics. And I think you see that throughout her career. Do you think that she was I mean, she was a lightning rod. How effective a lightning rod she was, I don't know. But she was a lightning rod. Republicans tried to use her as a bad guy. Who replaces her, Mamdani, you think, in New York? Mamdani is obviously the flavor of the day, but look, we have to see how he governs. What does Mamdani do when he has to sit down with the construction industry and the design industries and all these things that you have to do in a very transactional town like New York?

31:52Republicans are going to try and obviously use him, but there's nobody who's been quite effective for Republicans and obviously for Democrats as Nancy Pelosi. Again, she's one of a kind. She told me this really interesting story once. I'll just end it on this, which is before she became Speaker, She and I think Harry Reid maybe, but she and someone else went and they met with Steve Jobs. And they became focused on numbers and data in a way that no Democrat had ever been before in Congress. And that is one of the reasons why she was effective as she was. Thank you so much. Some breaking news. American Airlines has now canceled about 220 flights per day starting tomorrow through Monday.

32:31This is as the FAA is ordering mandatory flight reductions due to air traffic controller shortages. as the government shutdown is the longest in the history of the United States. We're going to have much more on this government shutdown. Major impact on air travel ahead.

32:49In our national lead, a federal judge says the top Border Patrol official in Chicago, a man named Gregory Bovino, admitted that he lied about being hit in the head prior to deploying tear gas. The judge today issuing a preliminary ruling to restrict the use of force by federal agents in Chicago after finding the Trump administration's evidence, quote, not credible in its portrayal of Chicago's protests. This as the immigration crackdown in the city continues. Local leaders now condemning ICE's arrest Wednesday of a daycare teacher while she was inside a child care center. Joining us now, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Senator.

33:26Congressman Mike Quigley said the daycare incident showed a complete lack of humanity by ICE. A statement from a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson states, quote, officers attempted to pull over a vehicle, which was registered to a female illegal alien with sirens and emergency lights, but the male driver refused to pull the vehicle over. Law enforcement pursued the vehicle before the assailant sped into a shopping plaza where he and the female passenger fled the vehicle. They ran into a daycare and attempted to barricade themselves inside the daycare, recklessly endangering the children inside, unquote.

33:59Now, the post from DHS says the woman was arrested in the vestibule of the daycare center, not inside. What do you make of this event? What's your understanding of what actually happened? Well, what we know is ICE lies. And there's video of them actually, they were actually in the classroom, going from classroom to classroom. They don't have they did not have a warrant to enter the daycare center. It's a private daycare center, by the way, Jake. And so it was private property. This is exactly what ICE has been doing in Chicago, which is they lie repeatedly about what they are doing. Luckily, we have one of the things we've done in Chicago is that we have told the public be peaceful in your protests, but record everything.

34:43And it's why ICE now is doing everything they can to kidnap people off the streets who are recording them, even to the extent that they even also picked up two staffers of one of our aldermen, whose only crime was to record them as they attempted some of these very egregious actions. It's horrifying what they did at this daycare center, and they terrified those children. In fact, I talked to a mom, one of whose sons is one of the students of this particular teacher, and her kids are traumatized by this incident. So let's shift to the government shutdown. Civilian Defense Department employees are among the federal workers furloughed or working without pay right now.

35:21Many of them spoke with CNN. They're military family members or veterans like yourself who are now having to take out loans or find other jobs to support themselves. The Trump administration found some funds to pay active duty service members. Do you think that they should be actively working to pay more of the Defense Department employees? Well, I think they should be paying their employees, but I got to tell you, they also need to be funding SNAP benefits. They have a six million, six billion dollar contingency fund for that. And, you know, the way we solve this is President Trump would just come talk to Democrats and reopen government.

35:55But he hasn't sat down with us not even once since before the shutdown happened. We haven't even had a formal sit down with Republican leaders and the House of Representatives isn't even in office. So they could end this shutdown just by sitting down with us and talking to Democrats, but they're choosing to inflict pain on the American people and on our great federal workers in order to do what? Score some sort of crazy political points. Sources tell CNN that Senate leaders are nearing a potential deal. Republicans sitting down with Democrats and theoretically this could bring an end to the shutdown would include an agreement for a date for a vote to extend the Obamacare subsidies.

36:30Would that be enough for you to vote to reopen the government, a promise that there will be on such and such date a vote to extend those subsidies? I don't have much trust in Republican promises. They've broken a lot of them so far this year. And as I said, we know that the Trump administration lies on a regular basis. So, you know, it's about let's sit down and have negotiations. That's the first step. Let's sit down with us. We'll talk with you. I've talked to my Republican colleagues informally because they've not been empowered by President Trump to enter into formal negotiations, but I've talked to several of my Republican colleagues.

37:04I think we can find a way out of this. But again, first step is sit down and let's talk. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, thank you so much, appreciate it. The sports world shocked today by the death of Dallas Cowboys player Marshawn Neeland. At the age of 24, their tributes are pouring in. We'll discuss next. And our sports lead, Marshawn Neeland, a defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys, died today at the age of 24. The Cowboys honoring Neeland as a, quote, beloved teammate and member of our organization. According to Texas police, Neeland crashed his car in the Dallas Parkway after evading troopers during a police pursuit.

37:39While searching the scene, police say they found Neeland with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They're now investigating the incident as a suicide. Joining us now is former NFL wide receiver Dante Stallworth. Dante, Neyland was in the middle of his second season with the Cowboys. He just scored his first career touchdown three days ago. Officers had been informed that he had expressed suicidal ideations. What mental health resources does the NFL provide to make sure all their players are okay? The NFL provides pretty good resources, actually. I think they've gotten a lot better over the years.

38:12And obviously, with a lot of the brain traumatic injuries, These things have really picked up with the way that they respond to mental health issues and things of that nature. So not only does the NFL, which their own every NFL team has their own person or has their people that players can reach out to, that the teams are constantly reaching out to, to really try to make sure that guys are OK. But a lot of these things are, you know, they're tough because I show up to practice and, you know, you never know what someone's really going through. I played with Junior Seau, who unfortunately committed suicide as well.

38:44and he was always smiling in the locker room and playing his guitar. And, you know, you just never know what's really going on with guys beneath the surface, unfortunately. Yeah, it's really tragic. Several shooting incidents involving football players have been linked to CTE, as you note. It's a brain disease caused by repetitive head trauma. In 2021, NFL quarterback Phillip Adams shot and killed six people and then himself in an autopsy revealed. He had stage two CTE. And then we all remember July of this year, a gunman, not a professional football player. He killed four people and himself at the NFL headquarters in New York, and he was found in the autopsy to have low stage CTE.

39:20I think he played in high school, not for the NFL. Do you think the NFL is taking CTE seriously enough? You know what, Jake, if you asked me that five years ago, 10 years ago, I would have said definitely not. But I do think since since the players lawsuit, I do think that the way that these brain injuries are repeatedly coming to the surface, coming up, you know, every single day in some kind of capacity. The NFL really can't ignore it. And I think they internally, at least I think they've done a good job with trying to make sure that the players, current and former, actually have all of the resources that they can.

39:57and not just the NFL, like I said, the clubs and also the players union as well has really done a good job of having available resources for current and former players. You talked about how you don't really know what anybody's going through. And I assume in the NFL, which is a fairly macho environment, it might be, there might be a stigma about talking about needing help or seeking help. What do you think? I mean, is that stigma still there, still strong? Yeah, it's still strong. It's a macho sport. It's a, you know, we're the Spartans. We're the new gladiators, right? That's the way people portray us.

40:39But mental health really doesn't respect status or success. And we've seen that time and time again, not just professional athletes, but other quote-unquote celebrities. I think these invisible injuries, they can really be under the surface. But one of the things that we know is that, you know, when players are going through these things, you know, they're not at least NFL players I can speak to. They're not really open to speaking out. But I think today in today's society and today's game, it's much different than it was five, 10 years ago. The response is much different and players are definitely more open to speaking out, but it's still tough.

41:17Dante Stallworth, we appreciate you so much. Thanks so much. Thanks, Jake. And if you or anyone you know is struggling, you can always call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It's at 988. That's 988. There is help for you. There is love for you.

41:34Welcome to the lead of Jake Tapper. This hour, a brand new chapter in the fight over SNAP or food stamp benefits. This afternoon, a federal judge ordering the White House to pay full benefits for the month of November after the Trump administration said, after different judges ordered them to, that they were only going to pay part payments. Moments ago, Trump's team officially appealed the ruling. So what happens next? What about the 42 million Americans who rely on these benefits to eat? Plus, you could soon pay significantly less for certain weight loss drugs thanks to a new deal announced by the White House earlier today.

42:07But how soon and which drugs? How accessible will they be? We'll talk to a former FDA commissioner in moments. And the flight cancellations are rolling in by the hundreds ahead of the Trump administration's plan to start cutting air traffic tomorrow. We're live at one of the airports that will be affected and I'll be joined by the head of the flight attendance union with details you need to know

42:33And we have breaking news to start of this hour of the lead a federal judge ordering the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP or food stamp benefits for the 42 million Americans who rely on the food assistance program in the month of November amid what is now the longest government shutdown in the history of these United States. The administration has announced that they're going to appeal the ruling. The Trump administration is currently only partially funding the program through November from the nearly$5 billion emergency reserve it has been required to dip into. Let's go to CNN's Caitlin Collins at the White House.

43:06Caitlin? Yeah, Jake, this is quite a ruling from this judge ordering the federal government to make these payments in full when it comes to these SNAP benefits for 42 million Americans who have kind of been left in the middle and the lurch of all of this as there's been this dispute playing out inside the courtroom from groups that are suing the administration over not paying these benefits during this government shutdown. And something that stood out to me, Jake, is something the judge referenced in this decision today, in this ruling, saying that they must make these SNAP payments by Friday, by tomorrow, where he essentially pointed to something that the president said on Truth Social earlier this week after the administration was ordered to pay about half of the snap payments, what they had from that contingency fund that they had.

43:49That had created a lot of questions here during the White House briefing, Jake, where Caroline Levitt was acknowledging the president's post, but essentially saying that they were still complying with the court order. Those were actually talking points that were sent up to Republicans on Capitol Hill. The judge took it very differently and saw it as basically a rebuke of his order to pay those those snap payments and he's warning here that if this does not happen there are millions of Americans elderly and disabled who could go hungry without these benefits being paid off in full and so that's the question here of what the administration is going to do next Jake because we are told that they are going to appeal this decision that came down from Judge McConnell today but we haven't yet heard from the White House or from the Office of Management and Budget on this matter and certainly it is something that is becoming a crisis point for so many Americans in this moment and in this government shutdown, that, Jake, right now, as we are here tonight, yes, there's a lot of conversations happening on Capitol Hill, but right now, still no end in sight to that government shutdown.

44:50All right, Caitlin Collins at the White House with all the latest news. Thank you so much. And don't miss Caitlin on her show, The Source with Caitlin Collins. Tonight, she's going to be joined by Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. That's tonight at 9 Eastern, only on CNN. Let's bring in Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas. Senator, so what do you make of the decision by the Trump administration to appeal this judge's ruling, the judge ordering the administration to fully fund SNAP benefits this month and the Trump administration fighting that? Well, look, Republicans want to get the SNAP benefits, and we've given the Democrats 13 times to vote to do just that.

45:25And even tomorrow, they're telling us they're going to vote against SNAP benefits once again. So I think that the Trump organization, the Trump administration, was going to use these$5 billion of emergency funds that were meant for disasters. The judge told them to use those, so they will. But beyond that, then who do we choose? There's only a certain amount of money left. Do we not pay the troops? Do we not buy infant formula? Do we not pay for school lunches? What the real issue is here, my friends across the aisle need to come on back and fund the government again. The president talks about the cost of living a lot.

45:57This is what he said on Fox just yesterday in reference to Tuesday's elections. We've done so much. Energy is way down. Look at energy. We're going to have$2 gas a little that did that. That brings everything else down. Groceries are way down other than beef. Now, beef is going to come down. You know, we have to do that. The fact is we have prices way down. We have prices down. Our country is doing well. So inflation, just as a factual matter, it's at its highest rate since January when President Trump took office. Groceries are up across all product categories, not just beef, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

46:30Apparently, Americans are paying close to$200 more for the same goods and services this year as they were last year. Are you concerned at all that President Trump is out of touch with how Americans are actually experiencing this economy? Well, Jake, I certainly think we can do better. I think that we inherited a tough situation, four years of cumulative inflation of about 25%. The best news is that wages are outpacing inflation. Food inflation is around 3 % right now compared to, again, that 25 % in inflation. We want to do better. He's absolutely right that the price of gasoline is down from over four and a half dollars a gallon to two and a half dollars a gallon.

47:08Interest rates are down, but we've got work to do. And I look forward to doing just that. We need to impact the cost of health care. Housing are things that I'm concerned as well as that the Biden administration left us with some huge problems in those areas. So I'm looking forward to try to tackling the cost of health care, the cost of housing and others. I don't have to tell somebody from Kansas that the tariffs are having an effect on prices as well. Look, I think that they're overstated. I think that we import less than 20 % of our goods. The average tariff is going to probably impact the price to the people here at home, one or two percent.

47:44It's going to be a one-time hit as well. And at the other hand, we're bringing in more manufacturing jobs as well. So he's used them for good leverage. We shipped our big ships of sorghum today, yesterday with soybeans. So the tariffs, in my opinion, have worked for good leverage and bringing some of those jobs back home here as well. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, a Republican of Georgia, talked with CNN about the president's focus around Tuesday's election. Take a listen. I also blame that on who's advising him in the White House. You know, keeping him on nonstop tours around the world and nonstop meetings with foreign countries leaders is not America first.

48:22It's just not. I think domestic policy should be the most important issue that the president and the Republican-controlled House and Senate are working on, and that showed up in the election on Tuesday. Do you agree? Of course not. I think that that mission that President Trump was on was the most successful trade trip that it's ever taken. Meanwhile, the proof is in the pudding. Our border's secure. The price of gasoline is down. Like we talked about, our one big, beautiful bill, the largest tax cut in American history. There's no tax on tips, overtime, Social Security. We made permanent some of the great things for small business growth as well.

49:00Things like no taxes or there's one-year tax deductions for things like interest rates, those types of things as well. So I think that one bill had more accomplishment in it than my previous four years here as well. So I think there's a time to be abroad. There's a time to be here as well. And the president is accomplishing both of those. It was a huge tax cut, but a lot of it went to wealthy people. A lot of people, economic experts, described the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as the greatest transfer in the history of the United States from the lower class to the upper class. So actually, wealthy people did not get a tax cut.

49:38We kept their taxes the same. But certainly people that were on Social Security, overtime, tips, those people certainly were going to see improvement. But the biggest improvement is going to get by the small business tax benefits, where we were taking care of bonus depreciation, the interest, like I talked about as well, being able to write off research and development. This is a pro-growth bill, and I think that everyone's going to benefit from it. The president posted today about ending the filibuster. That seems to be his solution for ending the shutdown just to get rid of the filibuster. He wrote, quote, the Democrats will terminate the filibuster in the first hour if and when they assume control or power.

50:15Republicans have what their Democrats want. We should do it now and have the greatest three years in history. Would you support getting rid of the filibuster? Look, every day that this shutdown goes on longer, I start leaning that direction. Instead, what I'm going to start pushing for is making the filibuster a constitutional amendment. And if we can get Democrats to support that, that's going to reassure me that they're not going to go nuclear on us next time that they have control of the Senate as well. I think that's the best solution out there. So I'm not there yet to nuke the filibuster, but it certainly has a great place.

50:51It has a great way of protecting the minority. Sometime again, Republicans will be in the minority. It'll protect us. Right now, it's protecting Democrats. but I want it to be enshrined in the Constitution. Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, thank you so much. A White House deal may make certain popular weight loss drugs a whole lot cheaper. I'm gonna ask a former FDA commissioner about this potentially revolutionary moment and the potential risks. Plus, if you're planning to fly anytime from tomorrow through the next few weeks, you need to listen up. We're gonna have a live report from one of the nation's busiest airports, as hundreds of flights are already canceled for tomorrow.

51:30Diabetes, cardiac diseases, we are going to see a decline because of this historic agreement. We're going to see a decline in cost, but also more importantly, in the afflictions themselves. And our health lead in a deal between the Trump administration and drug makers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Certain weight loss drugs will now be significantly cheaper. Prices as high as$1 ,350 $250 a month could now go as low as$149. Trump officials say prices for existing drugs such as Wegovy and ZepBound will start at$350 and trend down to$245. Former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler is the author of Diet, Drugs and Dopamine, the New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight.

52:16He joins us now. So Dr. Kessler, we're going to touch on the risks for taking these drugs in a moment. But first, what do you make of this deal? How revolutionary is it when tackling obesity and the accompanying illnesses in the U.S.? Jake, great to be with you. Obesity is a disease. It's not about willpower. It's about this toxic fact. So making these drugs accessible, very important for public health. These are only one tool, but it's an important tool. The question of the side effects and risk versus reward was brought up. Here's a part of how Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Dr.

52:55Mehmet Oz and the CEO of Eli Lilly responded. Take a listen. There are always going to be side effects. If anything, anything strong enough to help you, strong enough to hurt you. We're confident in the safety, but there's always some precautions we should have. And people's own medical histories matter in that decision. Now, you warned in your book that these weight loss drugs can be dangerous and can lead some people to near starvation. Now even more people are going to have access to them. What are the risks that people should consider? Well, certainly there is, you know, the effect on appetite.

53:33That's how these drugs work. They take you to that edge of nausea. But it does help quiet that food noise. And for millions of Americans, I mean, there are benefits also. And there are, you know, This toxic fat that we're all carrying around with us is causing real harm. There are 98 million Americans who are pre-diabetic, and these drugs have benefits as well as risks, and they need to be balanced. But people should take them under good care. It's not just a panacea. You talk about these toxic fats. If you were king, if you were a wizard and you could snap your fingers and change the diet of the American people or force the food manufacturers to change things, what would you change?

54:19You know, at that cause of that toxic fat is this ultra-processed food. We're eating 500 calories more. I mean, it's these added fats and sugars. It's these refined starches that are just flooding the marketplace. But for many people, right, they can't shut off that addiction, that food noise. So these drugs are important. But Jake, it's very important, you know, that a lot of the advances today, the discussion today is about reducing prices, but that's the out-of-pocket cost, right? These drugs need to be accessible. Yes, there are risks, but we need to increase the access. But two, three, four thousand dollars a year is still too much.

55:07And there's a trend that's happening right and that is insurance health insurance is no longer insurance i mean much of the discussion today was about out-of-pocket costs and the insurers need to step up to the plate there was one thing that i thought was was terrific today um and it was buried uh in the the uh discussion in the news but medicare cms and i applaud dr oz and i applaud the secretary for the fact that they're going to have a pilot program to make these drugs much cheaper for people who are not only overweight or obese, but who have prediabetes. So understand that toxic fact gives rise to that prediabetes, that gives rise to that cardiovascular disease, that gives rise to that heart failure.

55:50If we can prevent that transition early on, we'd be much healthier as a country. Dr. David Kessler, thank you so much, sir. I really appreciate it. Coming up, a new book reveals how fear, Partisanship and dysfunction severely damaged the Justice Department during and after Donald Trump's first presidency. Authors and Pulitzer Prize winning journalists Carol Lennig and Aaron Davis join us next.

56:17In our Law and Justice lead, today a federal appeals court in New York revived President Trump's request to move his 2024 hush money conviction from state to federal court. This is a case where President Trump was convicted in state court on 34 counts of falsifying business records in an attempt to cover up a payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels about their rendezvous. This is the president's only criminal conviction. Trump's indictments on attempting to overturn the 2020 election results and on mishandling classified documents. Those were ultimately dropped before ever going to trial.

56:49And now a new book uncovers how political pressure and fear and internal dysfunction undermined the Justice Department's independence and effectiveness during and after Trump's presidency. Pulitzer Prize winning journalists and authors of Injustice, How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department. Carol Lennig and Aaron Davis join us now. And here it is, Injustice. First of all, what a cool image on the cover. Did you have a lot of images to pick? There's a little bit of debate. A little bit of debate. I like it. Anyway, so Carol, let's go to the substance of this book. It's getting amazing reviews.

57:28Jeffrey Toobin just glowed about it in the New York Times. The book really shows how the Biden Justice Department, under then U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland, was worried about going after Trump at all. You write, quote, at one point in the summer of 2021, Garland was described as having said, all the Democrats want me to go after Trump. I'm just not going to do that. I can't. To Garland, you write, the investigation had to be built brick by brick. Now, the prosecutors you spoke with, many of whom lean conservative in their political views, how did they sum up the missed opportunities to prosecute President Trump?

58:01Well, Jake, first off, thanks for having us here. Talking about this book now is really rewarding because you can sort of see that what those sources told us years now ago, two years ago, months ago, their worst fears are kind of coming true right in front of your and my and Aaron's eyes. What they said over and over again, even though they were big fans of Attorney General Merrick Garland and respected him a great deal, they feared that the caution, the desire to avoid even the whiff of looking political by Merrick Garland ultimately meant they did not pursue the open source evidence that Donald Trump had tried to block a free and fair election and overturn it.

58:42And that that is not in keeping with the Department of Justice's mantra, pursue the case without fear or favor. Yeah, one of the criticisms of Garland is that he is more judge than prosecutor. And, you know, it's interesting you write about this, and I hadn't really thought about this until you write about it, Aaron, but the idea that the Justice Department was asking Congress, the January 6th committee, to turn over the evidence that they uncovered, it usually is the other way around. It's usually Congress asking the Justice Department, show us your evidence. Right. I mean, it's super unusual in this case because, you know, you want to have prosecutors go in and be the ones who, you know, lay down the first tracks so that they know what could be said if it ever goes to trial.

59:24Here you had an entirely different situation where Congress, Congress had actually hired its own former federal prosecutors to conduct an investigation, and they were often the ones who spoke to everyone around Trump before anybody in DOJ had done so. So DOJ, 15 months, we write in our book, 15 months after January 6th, they really actually begin the investigation of folks around Donald Trump. And then they start trying to contact these folks. And they want to know what they've already said at that point in time to the House Select Committee. And then in the very last instance, just days before Congress turns over into Republican control, they're still asking for copies of these interviews.

1:00:02In fact, they go up and get a hard drive just the night before Republicans take control of the Congress and then actually get to see what's been said behind closed doors. And Carol, one of the grand ironies of this and Merrick Garland in trying to keep the Justice Department as independent and the FBI as independent and apolitical as possible. Right now, we have probably the most political Justice Department, probably the most political FBI we have ever seen. experts are being sidelined or fired just because, in some cases, because they had something to do with any one of these prosecutions, even if they were right.

1:00:41In some cases, because of rumors among MAGA folks, like the firing of Michael Benary, the prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia. Tell me about how people who are still in the Justice Department, the experts and officials who still have integrity and are there, how are they feeling about this moment? Great question. You know, some of those people who also spoke to us for the book, right, we try to protect these sources, but they are kind of holding on with their ends of their fingernails, you know, and they believe that there's going to be a time when the Justice Department can be rebuilt.

1:01:14but they have great fear, like that it's a five-alarm fire inside the department. Some bread-and-butter prosecutions aren't happening. Fear that, like, terrorist plots may not be averted because they've lost some of the best expertise they've ever had in counterterrorism. Right off the bat, January 20th, Donald Trump is removing people who were at the top of some of these investigations of him, especially classified documents, and they were also people who fought terror. So there's a lot of worry about that. The book is Injustice, How Fear, I'm sorry, How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department.

1:01:49It's out now. Carol and Erin, congratulations. The book is getting fantastic reviews. Really appreciate your being here. Thank you. Thank you. We're now just one day away from the FAA cutting air traffic significantly because of this federal government shutdown, the longest in American history. The ripple effect that we'll have, could it have huge effect on flight crews? We're going to talk with the head of a flight attendants group on the lead next.

1:02:18Breaking in our national lead, several major American airlines have announced hundreds of flight cancellations starting tomorrow. This is the Trump administration says that it will cut air traffic at 40 airports starting tomorrow if the government shutdown does not end. And shutdown related travel delays have already been bad due to staffing shortages. which is one of the hardest-hit airports, Newark Liberty International, which has seen delays nearly every day of the shutdown. CNN's Danny Freeman is there. And, Danny, things are potentially about to get even worse starting tomorrow morning. What are you hearing from travelers?

1:02:51Yeah, that's right, Jake, and that's really one of the most remarkable things because, as you noted, things are already so challenging here with piling up delays and piling up cancellations. So many travelers really, really concerned about it even getting worse tomorrow and through the weekend. And so much of it, of course, specifically, directly and explicitly because of the shutdown and the confusion and frustration really has arrived here. So let's start at that top level, Jake, from where you began. We're expecting over the course of the next several days, hundreds of cancellations of flights across dozens of major airports all across the United States, of course, across a number of airlines as well.

1:03:26But remember, again, that's on top of cancellations and delays that we have seen because of staffing shortages due to air traffic controllers. Just this afternoon here at Newark, Jake, there was an advisory that there would be significant delays because of staffing shortages here. And I'll note they had this ominous note the FAA did about what was going on here, saying simply that times will get worse as the evening would go on. Emotions, Jake, today so high for so many people because it was bizarre. While some people here today were relieved that they were able to actually get on their planes and fly out, others are already thinking ahead to that holiday travel, nervous to book flights.

1:04:05Take a listen. I'm happy that we're leaving today because I knew of the shutdown, but I didn't know this specific aspect. Yeah, leaving today, I'm sure, and avoiding that is a godsend. It is a godsend because I have to be able to get back to work. I work at a hospital and I have to be able to get to work. I think there'll be a lot of other things that are more concerning than getting home for Thanksgiving dinner if the shutdown still continues. There'll be many more dreadful things and perhaps this will make people think again about what's really important. So again, Jake, emotions very high, stress only rising at these airports.

1:04:47And now it's not just for those federal workers, those air traffic controllers, but also for much of the flying public to come. Jake. All right, Danny Freeman at Newark International Airport. Thanks so much. Let's discuss this with Sarah Nelson. She's the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants. And Sarah, unlike air traffic controllers, flight attendants are still getting paid. But explain how this mass reduction in flights could severely impact your members. Well, look, already we are concerned about the safety risks they're introduced here. the safety and security risks.

1:05:18And we're concerned about our federal sector sisters and brothers who are either out of work or forced to come to work without pay. But what that does always is a ripple effect. So as we see these flights cancel, we are going to see less and less of our work. We know what happens when the planes stop. It is not good. People don't get their medicines. They don't get to the hospital. They don't get their packages. The restaurants and grocery stores don't get food. The economy slows down and ultimately stops. And so this has got there's got to be an end to this. And you're right. Our members are starting to feel the economic impact right now.

1:05:49I can't even think about how much your members are going to have to deal with very grumpy, very angry passengers that they're not responsible for creating the situation, but they're going to have to deal with it. Let me ask you at this point in the shutdown, do you think this level of flight reduction by the FAA, by the Trump administration, do you think this is necessary to keep everyone safe? What happens when there is introduced risk that we do slow the system down? When you see the delays, when you see the cancellations, that is typically a product of not having enough staff to safely direct those flights.

1:06:27So that's what's happening already with the air traffic controllers who are stressed and who are not able to continue to safely do their job in some instances. Same with TSA. Some of the TSA workers are not able to come to work. Think about it. They haven't had a paycheck and one and a half paychecks and they're about to miss another. They can't put a tank of gas in their car to get there. So this is what happens. Things get slowed down when you don't have the safety and security experts and when you don't have the intelligence of the people who are on furlough to help back up the work of those safety and security experts to do the job.

1:07:00So things are going to continue to slow down. And the action by the FAA is exactly what we have seen in the past, although it is on a grander scale than one airport at a time, one air traffic controller at a time. And what do flight attendants see in terms of passenger behavior when these types of disruptions happen? Do shutdowns like this and flight disruptions like this and flight cancellations like this lead to more unruly passengers, more safety incidents, more flights have to be delayed because of people that are angry or intoxicated? You know, what's very interesting, Jake, is that normally we see that in a weather meltdown or an operational meltdown because of an IT failure or something like that.

1:07:49What we see during a federal government shutdown is that there is an awareness by the traveling public for the most part that there are people who are coming to work without pay, continuing to make the country run. There are people who say thank you. I saw it all over TSA Today when I was at the TSA line at Dulles Airport. And people are saying thank you. They're yelling out to other passengers, be nice to the TSA agents. We see a different approach actually from passengers during a moment like this, just like we do in a crisis in the wake of 9-11, at the beginning of the crisis of the COVID pandemic, after we see an aircraft accident or crash.

1:08:30And that's what we're seeing right now. Americans want to come together and help. And I would just hope that our representatives in the Capitol would understand that they need to act more like Americans act every single day than they are acting still getting paid while government workers are not. Yeah. And just a reminder for everybody watching, all the TSA agents and air traffic controllers that are not being paid, that are having to take in second jobs, that are having to call in sick to deliver for Uber Eats, they are not being paid. And all the members of Congress, they are still being paid more than 170 ,000 each.

1:09:04Sarah Nelson, thanks so much. appreciate it. Is there really momentum to end what is now the longest ever government shutdown in American history? I'm going to ask a congressman what he's hearing in the halls of the Capitol next.

1:09:19Our politics lead now. We are 37 days into what is now the longest government shutdown in the history of these United States. And tonight House Speaker Mike Johnson's pouring cold water on any whispers of a potential deal that might be in the works. Johnson says he would not guarantee a House vote on extending Obamacare subsidies, even if Senate Republicans commit to one. His comments coming after key senators held negotiations today in hopes of laying out a path forward by tomorrow. Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida joins me now. Congressman, are you still the only Gen Z member of the House?

1:09:51Is that still the case? Yep, it's still the case. Hopefully that changes next election, because if you're the youngest member for too long, that's not a good sign. So what's it like experiencing this and seeing all these people in their 80s and 70s and 60s and 50s putting the country through this? You know, it's really troubling, Jake, and especially like when you see what people are going through at home here, when you're going through the airports and you're meeting with TSA workers who are missing paychecks, our own staff are missing paychecks. We know that this has impacts across the country.

1:10:27It's even more troubling to see the administration weaponize the whole thing, deny a snap food nutritional assistance to working families, the announcement that the FAA just made on cutting airport service as well, all this different stuff. And the thing is, no matter where you're at on the policy or the negotiation or the debate, at a minimum, we should at least be in D.C. every single day trying to work through this shutdown. And I just think it's disgraceful that the Speaker of the House has said half of Congress isn't going to go to work until the government opens. But how does the government open if Congress isn't working?

1:11:00And so my hope and our demand really is send us back to work like the entire country is working, like so many federal workers are working right now without a paycheck. So you don't buy that this air traffic slowdown tomorrow is for safety reasons. You don't believe that. I think it could be for safety reasons. I will say that the rollout of it has been very sloppy. My local airport found out through news reports. They didn't even find out directly from the FAA. They've been in the dark as of two hours ago. They still haven't received an actual notification. They learned from an online publication.

1:11:36So, you know, whether or not, I mean, I'm sure it's being done for safety reasons, but you got to do this in the right way. But we shouldn't even be having this conversation. We should be out of the shutdown already. And the fact of the matter is we have not been in session for over a month now. This was a major week for Democrats winning multiple key races across the country from California to New Jersey to Manhattan. Trump is blaming the GOP's poor showing on him not being on the ticket as well as the government shutdown. Speaker Johnson justified the losses this way. Take a listen. I was speaking with the president about it.

1:12:13I reminded him, as I said this morning, this was not a surprise to us. I mean, blue states elected blue leaders. I mean, yeah, so what? What do you make of that? That's what we call copium. That's him trying to cope with the results that he's very scared about and that he doesn't like. Number one, it's not just blue states. Across this entire country, especially in places in the South, we saw Republican supermajorities completely crushed. We saw in Virginia a state that isn't really a solid blue state or a solid red state. It's a swing state and has a Republican governor right now. Abigail Spanberger won that race with flying collars.

1:12:50We saw the same thing in New Jersey. We saw key demographics that in many cases went to Donald Trump, Latino men and folks like that who actually voted for Democrats this time. We saw record turnout in the New York mayoral race as well. So, I mean, you know, for him to just brush it aside, he's brushing aside voters. He's brushing aside many voters who voted for Donald Trump less than a year ago or about a year ago now. And now they are saying we're going to vote for the Democrats because they're seeing the extreme agenda of this administration. I think they're also seeing the shutdown and the fact that Congress has been essentially on vacation for over a month and they're disappointed and they feel lied to.

1:13:26And we're here to tell them, look, I'm not here to shame people for a decision you made a year ago. I'm more concerned about the decision you make next year and the one you make in next elections. And Democrats have a vision for this country. And so I just I think he's just trying to put it aside because at the end of the day, it's Donald Trump, but it's also his leadership, which is the reason why Republicans this election. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced today she's not going to seek reelection. She's 85 years old. I can't help but notice that the three big winners Tuesday night, Mikey Sherrill, Abigail Spanberger, Zoran Mamdani, all of them are younger than me.

1:14:01Do you think more older members of Congress should follow Pelosi's lead and head for the exits? I think it's really important that we have a Congress that looks like the country. And the fact of the matter is, like you mentioned, I'm the only member of Gen Z in Congress. Millennials in Gen Z make up a third of the country. We're nowhere near a third of Congress and a third of really any legislative body across the country. So whether it's the House of Representatives, the Senate, state legislatures, city councils, I think it's important for people to know when it's the right time for them to pass the baton for not just a younger generation, but a new generation of leaders.

1:14:35I think we need younger people in office, but it's not just about young people. It's about folks who know what it's like to become a senior and retire in this system right now, freshly. And I think that's really important, too. So the decision that the former speaker made, I mean, look, she's a legend. And she's the most effective speaker the House has ever seen. And so we thank her for her work and her service. Congressman Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida. Thanks so much. My panel joins me now. Rebecca Katz, you were part of the Mamdani campaign. You were an advisor to Mr. Mamdani. Here's the big question for him.

1:15:15Lots of big promises, and not just saying, we're going to try to do X, we're going to try to do Y. Very affirmative. We are going to do this. How is he going to achieve that? Because for a lot of the things he wants to achieve, he's going to have to raise taxes on the wealthy, and he's going to need the participation of Governor Hochul, who's running for re-election. And who also happened to endorse him. Yes. So I would say that Mayor-elect Mamdani came in. He has a mandate. He has over a million people who voted for him. That's more than New York City has seen since 1969. These people want real action and they want elected officials to go and take action.

1:15:55Now, Governor Hochul, she has a primary coming up. She has to listen to these folks, too. The State Assembly has to listen to them. I remember back with Mayor de Blasio, they said universal pre-K would never happen. How are you going to pay for it? Well, that's happened, and that's a national model. So it's about time we might dream big a little bit. And he wants results, and he's got a crew of people. He had 104 ,000 canvassers. These are people who want real change, and he's going to use the power of the microphone, which is something that Democrats have not done for a while. We haven't had many good messengers, but he's going to go out there.

1:16:26He's going to preach, and people are going to come, and we're going to get it done. Hochul's being challenged in her primary by her own lieutenant governor, right? Is that still the case, Anthony Delgado? That is still the case. And is he going to get the support of progressives? I mean, that remains to be seen. So we'll see what happens. Sorry to put you on the spot. I don't see what's going to happen. I don't know. You brought up Hochul, and I was like, oh, that's interesting. Sure, Michael, we keep hearing Republicans downplaying the results of the election. You know who doesn't downplay them?

1:16:54President Trump. But we still hear lots of people saying, I don't know if you heard Congresswoman Lisa McClain on my show yesterday saying Republicans didn't turn out because they're so happy. They're so happy everything's going so great they didn't need to turn out. What do you think? Well, look, I'm looking at a couple of things. Our voters are a bit different because of President Trump. In the past, I think you could rely on Republican voters a lot more than you can now, in part because a sizable percent of our coalition. And non-traditional voters, people who aren't typically used to voting in every single election, whether it's off year or major election.

1:17:27That said, the two groups that I'm primarily focused on are Hispanics and black men. Last year, we got 44 percent, 46 percent of Hispanics, 21 percent of black men. Those groups, I would argue, would have absolutely made it very difficult for Democrats to compete on the federal election level with losing that sizable percent of both of them. They typically get around 98 percent of black men. Prior to this recent election last year, they got around 60 percent of Hispanics. So to have seen those drop offs last November to now see Democrats recover makes me very nervous about midterms next year, because those are two groups that I really believe the Republican Party had an opportunity to really submit.

1:18:06Now, granted, I think that there's still a chance for us. I think some of Mr. Mamdani's pronouncements, while I intellectually understand them, I think populism, economically speaking, the raw emotions of short term economic idealism does not work when you put it into practice. And I don't think that's something that the voters realize yet, but they'll soon find out. Well, I'm sure you disagree with that. I mean, I think first of all, I think New York is obviously different than the rest of the country. there's things that we can do in New York that are possible, like universal pre-K that seem to not seem to be running into roadblocks in other places.

1:18:43I think you have to try, right? And New York City, it's the biggest city in our country. Like, why aren't more people invested in having Mayor-elect Mamadani succeed? And I think when we succeed, we all succeed, right? I don't disagree with the premise, but I think most people want to be successful, but I don't think people recognize this redistributive idealism that mom Don is propagating doesn't work because it makes businesses skittish. Everybody wants local costs. They'll hire less people and you have to have that income to pay for all of this free stuff. Last word for you. Yes. I would just say he ran on affordability.

1:19:24He was laser focused on that. People want things cheaper. The quality of life is hard right now. So I think it's about time for government to step in just a little bit to help out. Socialism isn't the way to do it. All right. Anyway, thanks to both. I don't think we're going to resolve this. If you grew up in a time before the internet, you're going to love our next move. The toys and games just inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. We've got some throwbacks for you. That's coming up next.

1:19:54G2. G2. It's a hit. That's nice. Sorry, guys, for playing Battleship here in our pop culture league. Three new toys have taken their place in the National Toy Hall of Fame. And CNN's Tom Foreman's here trying to cheat at Battleship. Tom, what else? What other toys? Here, by the way, just so you know, you missed everything. But this is what I had. What other toys made the list at the National Toy Hall of Fame? Well, this one is one. There are only three, right? This one is the first one, and it's a big deal because Battleship has been around for a long time. This was actually originally played with paper and pencil.

1:20:28Oh, is that right? In fact, for a long time ago, and then slowly it came along. This came along, sold 100 million of these. Wow. So very, very popular, and became one of the first electronic games. Here's another one. Look at this. Slime. Inducted this year. Slime. Now, this is post-our childhoods. Oh, yeah. This is relatively recent. This is like Congressman Max Frost played with this. Yeah, when I was a child. Oh, my, we had to make slime out of cow's milk and wheat. It was very different. Disgusting. It is disgusting. But actually, a lot of people make slime. So slime got in, even though slime is sort of a general, well, I'm going to be incapable of going forward at this point.

1:21:02Yeah, that's really awful. But slime will be, yeah, we're going to have a problem here. Slime is made by a lot of people. So this is a general toy that got in, the concept of slime. It's like interviewing some members of Congress. Famous on a TV show. What else? There's a third one that made it. And the third one that made the lift. The third one is a big one in the Tapper household growing up. Right there. Trivial pursuit. Trivial pursuit. People forget. If you're old enough, you forget that, or if you're young enough, you forget that Trivial Pursuit came along before the internet was a widespread thing.

1:21:30So your ability to do this was great. And now we're going to play it. Pick a category. One of the categories. Entertainment. Entertainment. And the category of entertainment. In the 1975 film Jaws, which brand of beer can does Captain Quint famously crush? Oh, Jesus. No, not that brand. Miller. No, Narragansett Lager. Narragansett Lager. I never would. Do you want to try a different, do you want to do one other category real quick? Yeah, okay. Take another category. Science of nature, sports and leisure, art and literature. History. History. In what year did the Treaty of Paris officially end the American Revolutionary War?

1:22:09The Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War in 1789. Oh, so close but wrong. 1783. 1783. 1783. All right, thanks, Tom. Really appreciate it. That was great. Great segment. Tom Foreman, thanks. Aaron Benat out front starts right now.

1:22:30This is CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam, thrilled to introduce the new CNN weather app. Be prepared for anything with comprehensive coverage from real experts like me. Download the CNN weather app on iOS today. Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. On my podcast, All There Is, we explore grief and loss in all its complexities. Wherever you are in the world and in your grief, I'm glad you're here. My guest is actress, writer, artist Sharon Stone. When you think of grief, what do you think of? I think of the way that I've dealt with it in my life, losing so many members of my immediate family. I think of it with a very open heart.

1:23:13You came very close to dying. Yeah. Yeah, in fact, some would say I did die and was defibrillated and brought back. I had that white light experience, which has stayed upon my shoulder and made me feel quite safe in this continued existence. Talking grief, building community. That's what the podcast is all about. This is all there is. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.