Soon: Senate Vote On Ending Government Shutdown

22:35Let's bring in CNN's aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean. And Pete, moving to what travelers can expect, are things going to get better this week, assuming the shutdown ends Wednesday or Thursday? Well, there's some hope that that will happen, at least from the White House, although we need to reality check that. Today, not really looking all that good. First, though, got to talk about the president's post on True Social. It's not really landing with the head of the union of controllers. He underscores that controllers are not calling out sick in protest, but rather for legitimate reasons, like due to the added financial stress of working without pay for six weeks.

23:13Controllers get another zero dollar paycheck tomorrow. So it's no real surprise here that the list of spots that are short on controllers continues to grow. Today alone, you mentioned 36 air traffic control facilities have reported staffing problems. That includes the towers at Chicago O 'Hare, Dallas, Fort Worth, Phoenix Sky Harbor, huge hubs for American Airlines. You can also have the towers at San Francisco and LAX to the list. This is all on the heels of the worst weekend for air traffic control staffing since the shutdown began. The FAA reported roughly 150 shortages at 50 different air traffic control facilities, everywhere from Anchorage to San Juan.

23:49That pushed the list of cancellations up and up. 1 ,500 Saturday, then nearly double that on Sunday. It was the fourth worst day for flight cancellations since the start of last year. Today not looking great either. There are more than 2 ,100 cancellations, 7 ,000 delays for all reasons, not just staffing. Some of it's weather. I want you to listen now to the director of the National Economic Council who just said on Fox News, there is light at the end of the tunnel, that air travel chaos is nearly behind us. Listen. And so now that the government looks like it's going to open, I have high confidence that by the Thanksgiving weekend, that Secretary Duffy is going to be able to get it almost back to normal.

24:28Tomorrow, the Trump administration is ramping up its mandate for airlines to cancel flights. It calls for airlines to cancel about 6 percent of flights at 40 busy airports starting tomorrow. Remember, this is a Trump administration mandate. That number jumps to 10 percent Friday if the shutdown continues. Yesterday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told you, Jake, that controllers are quitting at a faster clip due to the shutdown. and the agency remains more than a thousand controllers short, maybe two thousand. Meaning even when this shutdown ends, the staffing issues at air traffic control facilities will still persist.

25:03So we are not nearly out of the woods yet. Pete Muntean, thanks so much. Coming up, California Governor Gavin Newsom, who's become something of an online troller in chief of President Trump. Hear what he told me about his reasoning for all the mockery and why he calls it effective communication.

25:23I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. Nelson Dallas is a six-time U.S. memory champion who not only trained his brain to work better, but he also wrote about it for his new book called Everyday Genius. You know, the message is, is that everybody, no matter where you are in life, what you think your memory currently is capable of, we all can transform our brain. The mind and memory is just like any other skill that you can learn. and it's not a fixed thing. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

26:00In our politics lead, California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, a possible 2028 presidential candidate, came out today against the Democratic compromise with Republicans to reopen the government. He is embracing his role as leading the resistance to Trump. He spent the weekend rallying Democrats in Texas and trolling President Trump on social media after securing a resounding victory to temporarily gerrymander his state's congressional maps to make them more favorable to Democrats in response to a similar move for Republicans by Texas. I traveled to Texas over the weekend to speak with Governor Newsom.

26:34There, I asked him about his strategy of mocking Trump's social media style. When you talk about President Trump, you're gravely serious. When you and your staff tweet about President Trump, it's a little different. You've taken on a real mockery of the president, mimicking his style of writing, using AI images. I'm not sitting here tutting you. Let me just go through what you've done in case people don't know. It takes a lot to offend me. Marie Antoinette imagery calling him a beta. All those, and all those tweets. And there's been some very interesting response by the president's favorite network where they seem very shocked, very upset by the tone in your tweets.

27:28Yeah. Stop it with the Twitter thing. I don't know where his wife is. If he wants an even bigger job, he has to be a little bit more serious. I don't know what he's trying to do, but it comes across as childish. A new, performative, confrontational style. Maybe it wins you points with the loony radical base in your party, but America is not going to vote for that record. No, they said, where's his wife? You know, they want to wash my mouth out with soap. Without any situational awareness, that they've said not a word about Donald Trump dressing up as the pope, Donald Trump putting his picture up on Mount Rushmore, Donald Trump sending insane all-cap tweets, that are just madness.

28:09And so we wanted to put a mirror up to all of this. And we want to do with a sense of humor, but also a sense of sobriety, that this is the president of the United States. What's been interesting about this approach is it's also clarifying because we pulled the curtain back from the wizard and we've exposed him. Weakness masquerading as strength. That's the origin story of Proposition 50. Whilst you say you're entitled to five seats, why do you do midterm redistricting to ask Greg Abbott for something because you know you're going to lose the midterms. And he is underwater. I mean, you guys, you run the polls.

28:45Every single category, this guy is historically underwater. He is struggling right now. And the outcome of this election has really exposed him in a way. But we certainly want to keep that mirror up on Trump because I do believe this kind of humor and clarity, I think, is effective communication. You told the group upstairs, your store, you told the Democrats that you were rallying with, you have a store, you sell Trump knee pads. Trump knee pads for - Signature series. Who? Signature series. Yeah, sold out at the moment. Sold out. Yeah, well, because people have sold out and because universities have been selling out, because law firms have been selling out, because corporate leaders have been selling out.

29:27People are selling out this country. I mean, we're seeing foreign leaders. I mean, that was, what an embarrassment. Poor guy over in South Korea handing out this crown. It's embarrassing, genuflecting. So this is unbecoming from a global perspective, certainly from the prism which we see the world more domestically. And look, the Patriot side's up there for a reason, on the lines of why so much is online for a reason, to expose this president, to expose the network, to expose those that are complicit all around him at this moment. You have warned that if Americans don't stand up to Trump, quote, we'll lose this republic, we'll lose this democracy.

30:14Become unrecognizable. I believe that. How are we going to lose democracy? I don't think he believes in free and fair elections. Why did send the DOJ into my home state? He had no business, no basis on a statewide ballot. Why is he sending mass men to the kickoff of the Prop 50 campaign? Why did he then bring out the BORTAC units on election day in LA, if not to intimidate? Why did he federalize the National Guard and now is going to have these quick response teams in all 50 states in a matter of weeks. He doesn't believe in mail-in balloting. He gets his cues. He said this item from Putin himself.

30:55The outcome of that election, competitive authoritarianism, was 87.4 % to 4.3%. That's what Donald Trump is looking to achieve. I said it upstairs. It's not about the rule of law. It's about the rule of dawn. It's the law of the jungle. I don't believe those are hyperbolic words, but I think it's pretty damn chilling, those words, as it was chilling when Donald Trump called Greg Abbott to say he's entitled to five seats. This is not normal times. The rules have changed, and we need to change. It's been five years since that infamous four seasons total landscaping appearance by Rudy Giuliani, and President Trump is trying to re-landscape that 2020 election.

31:42He's issued pardons for Rudy Giuliani and others who plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. But despite the president's efforts, why those on the list could still potentially face charges. That's next.

31:59Another major story in our politics lead today, President Trump is pardoning a number of his allies involved in those plans to overturn the 2020 presidential election and steal it from you, the American voter. Figures such as former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell and the president's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and dozens more are on the list. The pardons only apply to federal crimes, which no one on the list is currently charged with. Those state charges remain pending against several of them. Former Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who's on the January 6th committee, and former Trump White House Communications Director Elissa Farah Griffin are joining us now to discuss.

32:39So here are a few of the other notable names, guys, of folks who received pardons. Ken Chesbrough, John Eastman, those are the two pro-Trump attorneys who were the architects of the scheme to overturn the election with the fake electors. There's Jenna Ellis and Boris Epstein, two of the Trump campaign lawyers, the former chair of Arizona's Republican Party and her husband. As anti-Trump conservative Sarah Longwell posted on Twitter earlier today, anyone who helps me try to steal an election gets a pardon is perhaps the most corrupt thing to happen in American history. Congressman Kinzinger, your reaction.

33:14Yeah, I fully agree with what she said. I mean, look, I think corruption, by the way, is a very effective line for Democrats to use in terms of running for election,$400 million jet from Qatar, and then making it clear that if you're a friend of mine, I'm going to let you basically get a free pass. And this is sending a message since they haven't been charged with corruption federally. It's sending a message to exactly that. I've got you preemptively. I've got your back. And it's a very dangerous message. What's amazing to me, Jake, and I always try to remember mentioning this, is when I was on the January 6th committee, all the Republicans that I worked with would come up to me and be like, you know, I appreciate what you're doing, but man, it's just time to look forward.

33:57We have to put January 6th behind us. It's time to look forward. This guy, this president is obsessed with January 6th. He's obsessed with rewriting history. And thankfully, history is not going to reflect his rewrite, but kind of at the moment, it seems to be succeeding a little bit. Alyssa, between this and those pardons for the January 6th rioters, the criminals, including the folks in those militias, what do you think this step means for Trump's efforts to, as Congressman Kinzinger puts it, rewrite the 2020 election. That's what it is. It's a complete whitewashing of the history of that day.

34:35But what's remarkable is actually how effective it's been. And I use this stat all the time because I find it so stunning. So in January 2021, right after the Capitol riot, 51 percent of Republicans strongly disapproved of the events of that day, which I would argue is actually a fairly low number, only about half strongly disapproved. Four years later, that was down to 30 percent. So a 20 point drop in Republicans who strongly disapproved of attempts to steal an election. So that speaks to having Republican leadership, a president and also a media ecosystem that supported these sort of fake narratives around what actually happened that day.

35:14And I think it should be instructive for us because I think that there's this thought of, well, it couldn't happen again. You know, we made some tweaks to the laws on the books, but that's really not the case. And this is kind of just icing on the cake to suggest to any future bad actors. If you do something like this, don't worry, I'll be looking out for my guys. So the pardons on this list do not do anything for those facing state charges, and a number of them potentially are. Sources say President Trump is being pressured to intervene in the case of Tina Peters. That is the former Republican Colorado clerk who was found guilty on state charges of participating in a scheme attempting to prove mass voter fraud in 2020, mass voter fraud that did not exist.

35:54Now, Ed Martin, Trump's pardon attorney, he's one of the people behind this push. Alyssa, what are your thoughts on that effort? Listen, I mean, it's this, to your point, is symbolic in nature. But I think that this is, Ed Martin said, no MAGA left behind. And I think that that's the attitude that they want to stir up, is they want to suggest that anyone who even has state charges, there may be, you know, efforts at least to help. There's a limit to what can be done. That's all done at the state level. The federal government has a very limited capacity to weigh in there. But I do think public pressure can affect cases of that nature.

36:28And listen, each of these should be resolved based on the merits of the specific cases against individuals. But I think it is about publicly trying to create some kind of pressure as some of these individuals start to come up for those cases in different states. And Congressman Kinzinger, it strikes me, this idea of no MAGA left behind, I mean, that's a play on words of what service members in battle say about each other. Patriots, no man left behind, we're not going to leave any soldiers or service members behind. I mean, as an Air Force veteran, when you hear no MAGA left behind, how does that hit you?

37:09Well, it's disgusting. I mean, look, the term no man left behind, as you mentioned, has really deep roots, really serious roots have cost people lives to go. As a country, we send people in many cases to their death to save one person. And so it just sends a terrible message. And what it's also saying is, you know, we always had this idea that Lady Justice had a blindfold because she was blind and she took into account nothing like your political views or your race or anything into justice. And we've tried to fight those areas where there have been shortcomings. But what Donald Trump is making clear and MAGA is making clear is, you know, there is justice for thee, but not for our side.

37:48And it sends a message to local prosecutors of intimidation. Boy, you don't want to charge somebody on the borderline because Donald Trump may come after you. What does that do? And look at what he's done in Brazil, you know, threatening, putting sanctions on, cutting off aid or any help to Brazil because Bolsonaro was indicted and convicted by his own country, by their own judicial system. What can he do to states? Anything. This guy is unhinged. And look, I just think to anybody that's defending him right now, understand that three years in office goes by really quickly. Three years ago, it was 2022, which feels like yesterday.

38:26this is not going to be looked upon kindly in the history books. Adam Kinzinger, Alyssa Farah Griffin, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. Coming up next, sending the record straight about an online post from President Trump and a false claim about former President Barack Obama.

38:48We're launching a new series called Today at the White House, getting at exactly that now, what happens daily at the White House. And today we're asking questions about a truth social post from the president. He posted, or truthed, a fake story about former President Obama getting paid royalties for Obamacare. There is no truth to that. The claim, if you can call it that, originated on a website called the Dunning-Kruger Times, which notes on its About section, quote, everything on this website is fiction, unquote. Everything. As for the Dunning-Kruger Times followers, well, the website calls those folks taters, quote, or conservative fans of America's last line of defense, which is the spinoff network.

39:35Dunning-Kruger Times describes taters as fragile, frightened, mostly older Caucasian Americans who believe nearly anything, unquote. As for that flagship, America's last line of defense, it describes itself as a, quote, network of trollery and propaganda for cash. And yet, President Trump posted something from that site on Truth Social as if it were a true and factual news story from a legitimate source. President Trump even wrote in all caps, wow. Wow, indeed. America's last line of defense says that the Obamacare royalties headline is one of its most popular. It's an original first published in 2017 and, of course, completely false.

40:20On the name, the Dunning-Kruger Times, by the way, a bit of a backstory for you. That stems from the Dunning-Kruger effect. It's a sociological study after a bank robbery in 1995 outside Pittsburgh. the bank robbers had no masks, no disguise, no sunglasses, no mustaches. Yet they were stunned when they were caught when surveillance cameras picked them up. You see the headline from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette here, quote, arrest and bank robbery, suspects TV picture spurs tips. So why were they surprised? Well, they, for some reason, believed that if they put lemon juice on their faces, they would become invisible.

41:05A Cornell professor of psychology, David Dunning, heard that news story and was stunned. He wanted to find out more with his study co-author, Justin Kruger. Their research was titled, quote, unskilled and unaware of it, how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence leads to inflated self-assessments, unquote. The study suggests that the less somebody knows about a subject, the more they think that they are an expert on that subject. In other words, stupid people don't know how stupid they are because they are so stupid. That's what the Dunning-Kruger effect is. And that's why it's called the Dunning-Kruger Times.

41:48We asked the White House for comment about why the president reposted this story from the Dunning-Kruger Times. The statement that they sent back from in the White House that didn't address why the president shared that false headline.

42:04Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper, live on Capitol Hill. This hour, the U.S. Senate could vote any minute to reopen the federal government, bringing the 41-day saga closer to an end. Eight Democratic senators crossed the aisle to join Republicans on a deal, but House Democrats, they're not happy. They're still vowing to fight against the bill's passage. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who voted no, will join us live in moments. Plus, new allegations that Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is getting special cushy treatment in prison and working on an application to have her 20-year sentence commuted and become free.

42:44I'll get a reaction from an attorney who represented multiple Epstein survivors, victims, ahead. Also, could you soon get a$2 ,000 check in the mail? President Trump suggests sending what he calls tariff rebates to most Americans. So ignoring the relevant Supreme Court's matter of the tariffs, how soon might those checks be put in the mail? Are there limits on how you can spend the money? Does the president really have the power to start cutting checks? And parts of the The U.S. dealing with more than a foot of snow on the ground today as a dangerous cold snap moves across the country. CNN meteorologists are tracking the latest forecasts as the record-setting cold starts to set in.

43:32I'm Jake Tapper, live on Capitol Hill with the breaking news. The lead tonight, the fast-moving developments on the government shutdown now in its 41st day. You're looking at the floor of the U.S. Senate, where lawmakers are voting right this minute, inching closer to the final Senate passage of this government shutdown bill to open the government. It's expected tonight after eight Senate Democrats broke with the rest of their party last night, voting to extend government funding until January 30th to fund SNAP benefits through 2026 and to reverse President Trump's layoffs of federal workers. No deal yet on Democrats' major concern, the skyrocketing cost of Obamacare.

44:12Now some congressional Democrats are furious, even calling for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from that post. CNN's Manu Raju is also on Capitol Hill for us. Manu, you just spoke with the House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. What did he have to say? Yeah, he's very critical of this deal, Jake. And I asked him directly about the eight Democrats in the Senate who have voted to advance this deal and are expected to vote on final passage for this bill tonight, giving it approval by the narrowest of margins in the United States Senate. Remember, it takes 60 votes in the Senate to clear a filibuster attempt.

44:51It's expected to get 60 votes exactly with eight Democrats and 52 Republicans. Jeffries would not directly criticize those members, say they'll have to answer that for themselves. He did defend Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, because Schumer himself is opposed to this plan. And they're opposed to it because it does not guarantee that health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act would be extended. It only gives an assurance of a vote by the second week of December in the United States Senate. That doesn't mean it's going to pass. It probably won't pass the Senate. And it's almost certainly not going to pass the Republican-led House.

45:27The Speaker there not even giving a guarantee it will come onto the floor of the U.S. House. So I asked Jeffries whether or not this fight, this damaging shutdown that impacted so many Americans and ultimately did not yield an outcome that they wanted, whether the fight was worth it. Was the shutdown worth it? We have waged a battle on behalf of the American people. First of all, Donald Trump and Republicans are the ones who shut the government down. They have the House, the Senate and the presidency. And the American people know it. And that's been the case for seven consecutive weeks. But at the end of the day, you can get what you want.

46:07So was it worth waging this fight? At the end of the day, the fight lives on. But at the end of the day, the Democrats who did vote for this say that this negotiation really was not going to go anywhere over an agreement to extend the health care subsidies now because President Trump has come out flatly opposed, rejecting any calls to extend these health care subsidies. And the Democrats said that, look, if we waited a week, we waited two weeks, we weren't going to get a better deal. Meantime, the consequences were piling up for the American public, whether it was travel delays, whether it was furloughed workers not getting their paychecks, federal food assistance drying up, and say this is the best deal they could take, get on the table right now.

46:51But that is the minority of the minority view among Democrats here on Capitol Hill, and the ones who are very upset are sharply criticizing this deal. But at the end of the day, they don't have the votes to stop it, Jake. It's expected to pass the Senate tonight, and then by Wednesday, expected to pass the House, likely by a very narrow margin as well. Jake. All right, Manu Raju with the latest. Thank you so much. CNN's Kaitlin Collins is at the White House right now. Kaitlin, President Trump was playing hardball with Democrats and with the public in many ways when it came to fighting to prevent SNAP benefits.

47:25from being paid and on and on. How is President Trump feeling about this deal? Well, also with Republicans, Jake, I mean, he was posting nonstop over the weekend about getting rid of the filibuster, regardless of what happens here. And so when we went to the Oval Office earlier today, I asked the president whether or not this deal that is making its way on Capitol Hill right now through the Senate, as Manu just noted there, whether or not it has his backing. And this is what he told us. Mr. President, do you personally approve of the deal that's happening right now in Capital Mill to end the election?

47:58Well, it depends what deal we're talking about. But if it's a deal I heard about, that's certainly, you know, they want to change the deal a little bit. But I would say so. I think based on everything I'm hearing, they haven't changed anything. And we have support from enough Democrats. And we're going to be opening up our country. It's too bad it was closed, but we'll be opening up our country very quickly. Now, obviously, Jake, for the government to be fully reopened, it's got to make its way through the Senate, then go over to the House, which has not voted in nearly two months before it comes over here for President Trump's signature there.

48:30But he was signaling that, yes, they do have the Democrats on board for this. And, Jake, as Manu noted, the Democrats are not getting their chief demand here, which is an extension of those ACA subsidies. And the president mentioned that and referenced that in the Oval Office earlier because there were three Republican senators standing there by the resolute desk, Senator Katie Britt, Jim Risch and Lindsey Graham. And he said that Republican senators are going to be working on a health care resolution here. He said working very hard on that in a short order. But, Jake, obviously there's huge questions of what that's going to look like, what any Republican plan here when it came to addressing these health care costs that have been rising, what that's going to look like.

49:07And this has obviously been something that has been, you know, a longtime saga ever since Donald Trump's first term in office. And so whether or not there is any solution in sight, given what the House Speaker Mike Johnson told you and what we've been hearing from Republicans still remains to be seen as that deadline at the end of December of when these extensions and these of these subsidies expire. What's going to look like after that is anyone's guess right now. Kaitlin Collins, thanks so much. And don't miss Kaitlin on her show, The Source, with Kaitlin Collins. Tonight she's sitting down with Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the head Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

49:41That's tonight at 9 Eastern on CNN. Joining us now here live on Capitol Hill, independent Senator Bernie Sanders. He voted no on last night's deal. Thank you for being here, Senator Sanders. I was noting that you should have those famous mittens that you have from the inaugural meme. You're about to go cast your vote on the floor of the Senate. You're going to vote no. You and Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin are going to try to force a vote to extend the Obamacare subsidies. How would that happen? Very simple. Do you need 60 votes or 51? We're going to need, on this one, 60 votes.

50:1560 votes. All right. And it is absolutely common sense. I think no sane person wants to see 20-plus million people see a doubling in their health care premiums and paved the way for 15 million Americans to lose their health care through massive cuts in Medicaid. So all that we're doing is saying, all right, Trump is saying, after four years of being president before, after four years out of office, after a year as president, he's now beginning to think about the health care crisis facing America. Very, very good. All right, why don't we just simply extend the Affordable Care Act for another year and take that year to decide what way forward for America.

51:00As you know, Jake, we are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people, despite spending twice as much per person as any other country. I happen to believe that the solution is Medicare for all, expanding Medicare to cover every man, woman, and child. It's the cost-effective way to do it. Republicans have another idea. Let's debate it, but let's address the crisis in health care. So there are 48 Democrats. Do I have that number right? 47. 47 Democrats. I mean, you'll need 13 Republicans. Right. Do I think we're going to get it? No. But I think we're going to put them on the record, going on record and saying, look, we are voting now to force 20 million Americans to see a doubling in their health care premiums.

51:44If they want to cast that vote, that's their business. So I had the Speaker of the House on not long ago, I mean, just minutes ago, and he said that Schumer didn't get anything out of the deal. Do you agree? Basically. Well, it wasn't Schuma. I mean, you had eight Democrats who, for a variety of reasons, decided not to continue the fight. And needless to say, I think that was a terrible, terrible mistake. I think what Tuesday's election showed is the American people are sick and tired of Trumpism. The idea that we have a president now who is prepared to literally starve children and illegally cut back, refuse to expend SNAP money is outrageous.

52:24And the idea that you have a president now who wants the double premiums for 20 million Americans is equally outrageous. We had the American people on our side. We should have continued that fight. I think the Republicans would have yielded. Schumer voted no or is going to vote no along with you. He did last night. He's going to do it again. But a lot of Democrats are blaming him because he is the leader of the Democrats in the Senate. And some of your allies, like Congressman Ro Khanna of California and others, are saying Schumer should step down from his position as Democratic leader in the Senate.

52:52Do you still have confidence in him as leader of the Senate? Schumer and I have very fundamental disagreements about where the Democratic Party should be. And I am strongly supporting candidates for the Senate who are not part of the Democratic establishment or believe in Medicare for all, who are prepared to take on the big money interest and fight for working people. All right. I have a very different vision of where the Democratic Party should go. If Schumer steps down, who is going to take his place? The truth is, progressives in the Senate right now are a, I think there are about eight or nine of us.

53:23We are pretty much of a minority. I want you to take a listen to the Senate highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin, who's retiring next year. He voted yes on the deal. Take a listen to what he had to say. I've served in the Senate for 29 years, and I've never seen that kind of offer from a Senate majority. During the historic roll call last night, I walked across the aisle and met with Senator John Thune, the Republican leader. I told him that I was counting on him to keep his word on this agreement. He assured me he would. So this is part of the deal that there will be a vote in the Senate on extending the Obamacare subsidies, as you and Tammy Baldwin are introducing again earlier, I mean, tonight, and they're going to, if it fails, it will come up again.

54:14Do you believe Thune is going to keep his word and have this vote in the... Yeah, I suspect that he will, but it's more or less a meaningless gesture because you could pass it here in the Senate, but as you well know, you've got to get past the House. You've got to get it signed by the president of the United States. Do you think the president of the United States is going to sign that bill? I don't. As you know, premiums are going up, not just in Obamacare, They're going up for everybody. That's right. And one of the reasons that we've been told is because people are having trouble, healthy people are having trouble affording it.

54:45They're dropping out of the insurance market. And so the unhealthy people who are in the market, their premiums are going even more exponentially up than they would have. Absolutely. I mean, that is the good. Look, that is what happens when you don't have a universal health care system. What we as the wealthiest nation on earth should be doing is guaranteeing health care to every man, woman, child, and then you don't run into that problem. You're insuring healthy people, you're insuring people with cancer, etc. The truth of the matter is right now the function of the current health care system is to make huge profits for the insurance companies and the drug companies.

55:23It is a wildly inefficient bureaucratic system that is driving doctors and patients and everybody else crazy. It is unaffordable. We need to get rid of it. In my view, move to a Medicare for All single-payer program. Your fellow independent from New England, Senator Angus King, was asked this morning to respond to your criticisms of the Democrats who voted yes last night. He said, his response was, what's your strategy, man? And, quote, standing up to Donald Trump didn't work. Well, maybe Angus didn't notice the elections on Tuesday. I thought that they worked pretty well. So maybe Angus is not noticing the polling, which shows that correctly people understand that Republicans control the White House, the Senate and the House.

56:10They are holding Republicans accountable. And you've got to stand firm. This is tough stuff. And Angus is right. A lot of people are hurting. Nobody feels good about this. Nobody feels good about federal employees not getting a paycheck. But we are winning, in my view. I think the Republicans are on the defensive. and in my view, it was the vote that Angus Kass was the wrong vote. All right, Senator Bernie Sanders, independent from the great state of Vermont. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. We appreciate it. In the Oval Office this afternoon, President Trump once again floated this idea of sending Americans$2 ,000 tariff rebate checks.

56:44How would that work? Would it work? That's next. Plus, the new announcement from HHS Secretary RFK Jr. today that could affect millions of women across the United States. Stay with us.

57:01And our money lead, President Trump, today, once again, floated this idea of sending Americans$2 ,000 checks that he calls tariff rebate checks. We're going to issue a dividend to our middle-income people and lower-income people of about$2 ,000, and we're going to use the remaining tariffs to lower our debt. JOHN YANG, President of the United States, Trump's own Treasury Secretary was noncommittal about the proposal. Let's check in with CNN's Vanessa Yurkiewicz. Vanessa, first of all, just to reiterate, the tariffs are paid by American consumers and American companies. But more importantly, how would this even work?

57:45Jake, President Donald Trump has an idea to solve Americans' growing affordability problem. Send them a check. Not just any check, though. A$2 ,000 check using the money his administration has collected from tariffs. The idea is similar to the stimulus checks that many Americans may have received during COVID. Is it possible? Not without Congress.

58:13Treasury Department, but more than 163 million Americans filed tax returns in 2024. So handing out checks to all those Americans would cost$326 billion. But President Trump said high-income earners would not be included, and he believes that there would be money left over to pay down the national debt. And while$2 ,000 is a lot of money, Americans have historically used stimulus checks to pay down debt or make a big purchase so it doesn't solve the ongoing affordability crisis and concerns. And all that spending all at once could fuel more inflation, making things more unaffordable. And then, Jake, of course, there is the Supreme Court of this all.

58:56If they rule against President Trump's tariffs, the administration may have to return that money, about$100 billion to date, to the U.S. businesses and importers that paid them, leaving much less for checks for Americans. Jake. All right, Vanessa Yurkiewicz, thank you so much. Some breaking news from Dulles International Airport which is outside Washington. Authorities say eight people were injured when a mobile people mover crashed into a docking area as it was pulling up to the concourse. These people mover vehicles at Dulles are used to take passengers between airport concourses. Investigators are now on the scene trying to figure out what went wrong.

59:36A major medical announcement today as the FDA says it's going to remove the black box warning on many hormone therapy treatments for menopause. A leading OBGYN is going to join me next to explain exactly what this means for women. Stay with us.

59:53And our health lead, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced earlier today that the FDA will begin the removal of black box warning labels on many hormone replacement products used to treat the symptoms of menopause. These warning labels flag serious or life-threatening risks that may be associated with the product. I want to bring in board-certified OB-GYN Dr. D 'Alessio-Bell. Dr. Bell, the warning label was added after a 2002 study saying that the risks increased for taking it after menopause. One of the biggest hiccups in that study seems to be that most of the participants were over 60, whereas most women begin menopause between 45 and 55.

1:00:32Do you think hormone replacement therapy is safe for those women between 45 and 55?

1:00:41Yes, absolutely. As you mentioned, the study that was released in 2002, the Women's Health Initiative study, 68 % of those women were between the ages of 60 to 79. And so some of the conclusions that have been drawn are probably more so related to their age. And after doing a secondary analysis, we know that younger women actually do benefit from hormones. They are safe. And I have to say that black box warning has been such a barrier for women being able to get the treatment that they need. Because of that study, many women steered away from using these medications. What does the removal of the black box warning mean for women dealing with the symptoms of menopause?

1:01:26I think that for women, it will allow them to feel more comfortable with taking hormones. I know for my patients that are suffering from symptoms related to menopause, that even sometimes when I go through the study and I break it down and explain that actually for women that were between the ages of 50 to 59, that they saw not an increased risk of the things that are on in the black box warning, they still have a lot of hesitation. So I think by removing that, that gives them more confidence that the hormones are safe. I want to play something that RFK Jr. said earlier today. Take a listen. For more than two decades, the American medical establishment turns its back on women.

1:02:10Millions of women were told to fear the very therapy that could have given them strength, peace, and dignity. through one of life's most difficult transitions, menopause. Despite the lack of evidence, this administration has repeatedly linked autism to acetaminophen, the only over-the-counter medicine pregnant women can use to treat fevers. We do know that if left untreated, fevers can be dangerous for both the baby and the pregnant person. Do you think this administration is repeating the same mistake by scaring women into not using something that could possibly help them, the same way that RFK Jr.

1:02:51was faulting the American medical establishment for how they treated hormone therapy prior to today? I think it's a mistake to fault the medical society. In fact, different societies like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have actually advocated for removing that black box warning for a very long time. So I don't know that it's necessarily the medical establishment. Again, the study was released and the FDA is the one that placed the black box warning on the medications because of some of the findings in the study. So I think to point fingers at physicians, providers, the medical establishment is not necessarily the best way to go.

1:03:35So as always, we want patients to talk to their providers. And so we need to establish and instill our patients that they can have trust with their providers. Dr. Veronica Gillespie-Bell, thanks so much. Always good having you on. Is Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell getting special treatment in prison? A Democratic member of Congress says that's what he's heard from a whistleblower. Those details are next.

1:04:05And our Law and Justice lead new questions today about whether Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, whether Maxwell is getting favorable treatment in this minimum security prison. Maxwell had been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022 for taking part in that years long scheme with Epstein to groom and sexually abuse and traffic underage girls. She was transferred to a minimum security prison camp in Texas earlier this year, shortly after she spent two days being interviewed by the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. But now Maryland Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is writing a letter, has written a letter to President Trump saying that he has been told by a whistleblower that Ghislaine Maxwell's meals have been customized and delivered to her and that she's been awarded special privileges, including visits from guests who bring with them personal computers, and that she's been given a service dog in training to play with.

1:05:03The Justice Department has not replied to our request for comment. With us now is Jennifer Freeman. She's an attorney who represents some of the survivors of Epstein and Maxwell. First of all, we should note CNN has not been able to independently confirm or deny the allegations, but Jennifer, what is your reaction to what Congressman Raskin is saying? I've heard similar reports. I've also heard, and these are just, I can't confirm them either, reports that someone did complain about this preferential treatment and was promptly transferred to a higher security prison. I don't know if that's true, but that is what's being reported.

1:05:47Raskin's letter also alleges that Maxwell is working on a commutation application to get out of prison. She would apply. She would send this to Trump, presumably. Its exact contents and whether it's been submitted, that was not immediately clear. What's your message to President Trump about about such a commutation application if he was being asked to commute her sentence? And how would your clients react if such a thing were to happen?

1:06:16that would be very distressing disgraceful and upsetting if there's any effort to move forward with the suggestion of pardon or commutation and it also doesn't make sense jake because the grounds for commutation are typically things like wrongful conviction well that's not going to apply here. A jury of her peers held, she was a sex trafficker. Another example would be rehabilitation. That is also not going to be possible since she has not expressed any remorse. Another example would be that it's a nonviolent crime, and that doesn't seem to apply either. In fact, I took a look at the particular form that you'd have to fill out, she or her attorney have to fill out.

1:07:06And one of the questions on the form was, what was your role in the offense? And do not omit facts or minimize your role. And do you accept responsibility for your criminal conduct? So she's going to have to, if she goes forward with this, she's going to have to address those issues. Jamie Raskin, Congressman Raskin's letter also demands that President Trump make Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who before he was in government, he was a former personal attorney for Trump, available for a public hearing. Would you like to see that? Would you like Todd Blanche to sit for a public hearing?

1:07:47I think that would be appropriate, given that he did interview her with very little knowledge, prior knowledge about the case. I think that would be fully appropriate to do that. I'm not sure that's going to happen, but I think it would be a good move. What do your clients think is going on here? I mean, with Todd Blanche meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, and then she gets transferred to a minimum security prison where there are all these accounts that she's treated unusually well, and anybody who complains about it is punished. Now she's talking about her sentence being commuted. What do the survivors think?

1:08:24Not about how awful it is, because I know they think that, but why this is happening. They are deeply concerned that this is more of the cover-up of the Epstein files, which have not been released. Hopefully we're getting closer to that, but that's another aspect of the cover-up. I did ask some clients today if you'd like to hear their comments on this development or possible development of the commutation. I'd like to read a few of them, if that's okay. Sure. Here's Annie Farmer, who testified at the trial, at Maxwell's trial. Maxwell is a convicted sex trafficker and felon who's been accused of lying under oath.

1:09:12Her latest attempt to escape accountability makes it clear she has no remorse for her crimes. Any special legal treatment for her could not only be profoundly insulting, it would be downright dangerous for survivors. Liz Stein, who I know you've interviewed, said, as survivors, justice is the one measure of truth we have left. Ghislaine Maxwell was tried, convicted, and sentenced for a court of law, and her sentence should be upheld like anyone else's. So not happy. They're not happy, and they're very concerned that while the trajectory that they see developing in the public eye, where there's a movement towards the release of the file, there was a press conference to discuss that, the actual step.

1:10:03Yeah. To them whatsoever. Okay. Jennifer Freeman, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Coming up next, more from my exclusive interview with California Governor Gavin Newsom on an An issue that could be one of the main topics of conversation if he decides to run for president in 2028. Stay with us.

1:10:24In our politics lead, the stagnant US economy and the growing cost of living were top of mind for voters in Tuesday's elections. So what solutions does the governor of one of the most expensive states in the United States, what does he have to say to address the affordability crisis? Here's more of my interview with California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. One of the messages from Tuesday, from election night, was affordability and how worried people are about just being able to get by. It was obviously the focus of the mayor-elect of New York, but it also was what the new governors of Virginia and New Jersey talk about.

1:11:06California is, I don't need to tell you, one of the most expensive states to live in. Housing, a persistent problem, as you just mentioned. Last year, nearly one in five Californians was living in poverty. This is an issue for your citizens, for your voters. That's why we did$11 insulin. That's why we just did$60 billion package to lower utility costs, which are up 5.1%. Just electric costs so far this year, likely to go up over 10%. That's why we did 129 ,000 subsidized child care slots, why we created a brand new grade pre-K for all and fully implemented to reduce costs by tens of thousands to the most significant housing reforms in state history.

1:11:46And did something that we haven't done in two decades is we actually changed the curve, bending that curve on homelessness, where we saw a 0.45 % increase, which was lower than 44 other states as a nation saw a surge in homelessness. this. So we're finally starting to turn the corner. You have more homeless than any other state. We had for decades. It's a disgrace. It's a horrible situation. Horrible. And you're seeing the benefits of these investments in cities like San Francisco. You're seeing these cities begin to recover. You've seen a renaissance. And we also are starting to address those issues in a different way.

1:12:20Back to affordability, it's also about wages. $25 minimum wage we did for health care workers. $20 for fast food workers. That's part of the equation as well. So I'm really proud of what California's done from free community college to universal health care fully implemented 6.4 % among the nation's lowest uninsured rate. We're here at 16.4 to put it in perspective in Texas. So those are all efforts to substantively address those issues. A lot of people in California think of you there's I mean they're the people that are experiencing homelessness but then they're also the people who are worried about their neighborhoods being ruined by encampments.

1:13:02And they don't want to be cast as cold-hearted because they want to be able to walk to and from school with their kids without being harassed by somebody who is mentally ill or addicted to drugs or I mean which is a lot of the people, not all, but a lot of the people in the homeless community. A lot of people self-medicating or drug or alcohol addictions with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, paranoia, and that's why I went forward as a Democrat supporting Republican-backed effort at the United States Supreme Court and did an amicus brief that would allow us to clean up encampments more effectively.

1:13:36That's why we created for the first time in state history. By the way, when I got here, there was no statewide homeless plan, no strategy. It was all outsourced to the cities and counties. That's completely changed in the last few years. And we also created a$1 ,750 ,000 ,000 ,000 to be exact, billion-dollar home encampment resolution grant program that has been a game-changer. That's why cities like San Francisco and others that have taken advantage of it have finally seen the street population, the street numbers go down, the unsheltered numbers start to go down, and address those quality-of-life issues, which are absolutely legit.

1:14:09And there's no compassion stepping over people in the streets and sidewalks. There's no compassion allowing people to live in those conditions and the encampments and tents. and we had a permissive attitude for years and years, decades now, in California, and we're shifting that. I have a new housing accountability unit that now includes a homeless accountability unit requiring plans. We actually have bonuses for those that are producing the best results and outcomes, and we flooded the zone with the most significant mental health reforms, and we could spend an hour just on this, in the nation.

1:14:40One of the most exciting packages of fundamental behavioral health reforms that's going to produce results, not just for people out in the streets, but for our kids and those that are struggling. I want to turn out of my panel. We have with us in the really frigid weather here, I should note, just in case they look, their teeth start chattering. We have with us Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw, former Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, both of them from the great Commonwealth of Virginia. Any thoughts on Governor Newsom and how Democrats are taking on this issue of affordability?

1:15:15Well, I think what he's saying is going to resonate with a lot of people. We had a similar approach in Fairfax County. You know, my view is if someone is homeless, unhoused, get them access to the services that they need, get them access to shelter. But we can't allow large encampments. Doesn't help anyone, doesn't keep anyone safe. So that's the right approach. I think Democrats can embrace that across the country. What do you think about how Republicans are talking about affordability? Well, really, since Donald Trump came in this year, we've heard about, you know, golden bathrooms, golden, you know, his new ballroom.

1:15:49We've heard about really everything but affordability. He's told us that everything is costing less, but in fact, it isn't. What are the prices like in northern Virginia when you go to the grocery store? Well, I'm fortunate that my husband does the grocery shopping more for me. But he tells me that the prices are up. And my daughter is in Virginia also. Certainly beef prices are up. And restaurant prices certainly are up. And I know a local restaurant that has been very popular is saying it's hard to keep a family restaurant. It's hard to keep the doors open because prices are so high. So, yes, the prices have continued to go up.

1:16:26Gas prices are not$2, as Trump keeps saying. So affordability was a big winner for Abigail Spamberger, and she was so disciplined on sticking to that. She had a housing plan, affordability. She was talking about that from the beginning. Last spring, she put out a plan. She certainly was talking about affordability in every aspect of the plans that she put forward. and you were just hearing about cultural issues on the other side, which now even Republicans from the top down are critical of, even though those were the exact issues that Trump has been focused on all year. Yeah. Let's talk about the effort to end the government shutdown.

1:17:10There's this deal that's going to go through the Senate. It looks like eight Democrats are going to join with almost all Republicans and it's going to come to you. It's going to come to the House of Representatives. Your colleague in the House Democratic Caucus, Ro Khanna, posted on Twitter last night, quote, Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. Hakeem Jeffries says that he's still effective and shouldn't be replaced. Who do you agree with? Well, I have rock solid confidence in Hakeem Jeffries as the leader of the House Democratic Caucus. I've never met Leader Schumer or had a conversation with him.

1:17:48So I'll trust Leader Jeffries' judgment for the time being on this issue. And look, I think Barbara's right. Affordability is a huge issue. It was in the Virginia elections. And that's why we're so focused on this health care affordability issue. If we don't act, premiums for Virginians will go up on average of$1 ,200 and some a lot more. That's an issue that has to be addressed. I hope it gets addressed this week in the House. If not, we'll take the fight to December. If we don't get it done in December, we'll take the fight to next year, including to the ballot box? Assuming that, I'm going to throw some assumptions, assuming that the bill makes its way through the Senate, passes the House pretty much on a Republican party line vote, Trump signs it, and then it comes up for a vote again in the Senate, the Obamacare subsidies vote, which Thunas has promised.

1:18:38It does not pass. Democrats say this is proof and we're going to use this as a cudgel against Republicans, they are the ones voting to have your premiums go up. Is that going to be effective? Well, I guess I would look at it from the standpoint, you know, I was in a swing district in Virginia as a swing district Republican. I would say, you know, look at Jeff Van Drew, a Republican has said the moral thing to do is to vote for those subsidies. You've heard Marjorie Taylor Greene has been on the war path on these subsidies. I think they're right. I mean, that's certainly one of the things that Abigail Spanberger and Mikey Sherrill were talking about.

1:19:17People are looking at health care costs that are going to go from, say, 500 a month to 2000 a month. That's when a family drops their health care coverage. Now, that's the kind of thing that instead of Donald Trump going down and playing golf all the time, he should have been here working with people. He hasn't had a health care plan for 10 years. He didn't have one the last term when he was here for four years. I mean, the frustrating thing when I was here, I didn't vote to overturn Obamacare when we had the ultimate vote to overturn it because they wouldn't guarantee preexisting conditions. They didn't have a plan and he still hasn't had one.

1:19:54So if they want to, I mean, Democrats are giving them a chance to save themselves. I mean, Jeff Van Drew is right. I usually would not say Marjorie Taylor Greene is right, but she has been right on this one. I think of all people, the speaker has some of the most people who are going to get these subsidies in his very own district. And more people in red districts are going to get these subsidies. And this is the key affordability issue is health care. I don't know if you talked to any of these frontline Republicans who are in these districts that are either Kamala Harris districts or Trump won them, but by under five points.

1:20:35But 19 of them wrote a letter to Speaker Johnson, I think, saying we really want to vote on this. And Johnson, when I interviewed him earlier today, he would not commit to it. Those are Republicans whose seats you guys are going to be fighting for. That's right. And those 19 Republicans should have been interested in that issue all year long. And Democrats have been talking about this. Republicans have blocked bills before over the course of this year to deal with this issue. Now we're at the 18th hour. Like we're at the end of the line. Families are seeing those premium increases skyrocket. And if we don't act now, like this week, that's going to be locked in.

1:21:15So it's too little too late from those 19 House Republicans. Thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it. Next, we're heading to the CNN Weather Center for the latest forecast as a bitter and dangerous cold front moves across the United States. As you don't need to tell me, we're feeling it right now. It's dropping more than a foot of snow in some places. Not yet here, though.

1:21:36In our national lead, more than a foot of snow in the Great Lakes region, marking the beginning of record-breaking cold across the United States. The heavy snow is expected for the next few days in the Northeast. Chicago has already seen a burst of snow 10 inches north of the city. This brutal winter onslaught in the Midwest is being driven by the same Arctic air mass that's crashing across the eastern two-thirds of the country. This is not just a cold front. It is a full-scale polar plunge. States, even as far south as Florida, could see temperatures fall dramatically. Flurries we're seeing in the North Georgia mountains today.

1:22:14And it's cold. I can tell you that right now. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, threads, XBlueSky, and on the TikTok at JigTapper. You can follow the show on X and Instagram at The Lead CNN. If you ever missed an episode of The Lead, you can watch the show on the CNN app. Aaron Burnett out front starts right now. Take it away, Aaron.

1:22:37From the descendants of history makers involved in the Louisiana Purchase to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Discover the untold stories of American expansion in the CNN original series, This Land. Now streaming on the CNN app.