Mississippi Senate Race Comes Down to Final Ballots

0:01Happening now, all eyes on Mississippi. We are live as outstanding ballots will be counted in a place central to a very tight Senate race. Could Hines County be the key that determines the outcome of this nail biter? Plus, proposed changes to SNAP benefits that could leave more than six million Americans without food stamp benefits. What you need to know. And a U.S.

0:24Pamela Brown: Army soldier arrested, yes, arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia. Now the Kremlin is responding. And marking Veterans Day, the President and the Vice President head to Arlington National Cemetery to honor those who have bravely served our country. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in the Situation Room.

0:58Pamela Brown: Happening now, close count. Officials in Mississippi say today will be a, quote, very pivotal day as one of the state's most populous county continues to count votes. One hour from now, officials in Heinz County will begin running affidavit ballots through voting machines. And we could soon, perhaps this hour, know the outcome of the state's important Senate race. And right now, Democrat Scott Colombe is leading incumbent GOP Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by nearly 3 ,000 votes. Let's go live right now to CNN senior reporter Annie Greyer. She's in Jackson, Mississippi for us. Annie, how soon could we start getting a projected winner?

1:41Well, Wolf, it could be very soon. This is a big moment here in Hyde County, one of the biggest in the state of Mississippi. And behind me, what's about to happen is the supervisors who've been going through the provisional ballots, known here in the state of Mississippi as affidavit ballots, are going to present their findings. They're going to share how many affidavits have been accepted or rejected. This is a moment that we're all going to be able to witness publicly. It's also a moment where any challenges may arise from either campaign. But Democrat Scott Colombe says he's not prepared to make any challenges.

2:12And then from here, we're going to move into another room where we're actually going to get to see those accepted affidavit ballots be counted. They're also going to count the remaining absentee ballots because the absentee ballots in the state of Mississippi could be accepted until November 10th, as long as they were postmarked Election Day. And this is truly a huge moment that we have been waiting for. Democrat Scott Colombe says that he expects his lead only to grow as more ballots are counted. Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith says she wants to see every ballot count. Take a listen to what both candidates have been saying recently.

2:48Mississippi is such a red state. It is so deep. Nobody expected that it would be this close. How did it get to this point? A lot of money poured in.

2:58Pamela Brown: I did over 60 town halls. I went to the housing projects. I went to the music festivals. I listened to the voters of Mississippi and I learned their needs. And I'm ready to fight for them. Our junior senator did the exact opposite. In six years, she did not one town hall. She did almost no interviews. She did almost no campaigning. And the reality is most of her money came from outside the state of Mississippi. She got hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporate PACs, from lobbyists, from Florida, from APAC. And so she doesn't have anything to complain about.

3:32Now, Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has 50 lawyers deployed across the state. Democrats also have an army of lawyers ready in case a legal challenge happens or is necessary. But this is truly an unprecedented situation that over a week after the election day, the state of Mississippi still has a Senate race too close to call. This is a state that went for President Trump by 23 points just two years ago, hasn't sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in nearly four decades. And here we are in one of the largest counties in the state, finally about to get more results in this race that has still been too close to call.

4:02Wolf.

4:03Pamela Brown: All right, Annie Greer, we'll stay in very close touch with you. Thank you very much, Pamela. We'll see if we learn during the show. All right, happening now, there are new questions swirling about NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wong and his relationship with a suspected Chinese spy. A source familiar with the matter tells CNN that Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed President Trump on that intelligence as they traveled to China aboard Air Force One. That was back in May. But on Monday, the president publicly denied knowing about the allegations at the time. CNN's Elena Treen is live at the White House.

4:34What are you learning this morning, Elena? I mean, Wolf and Pam, I cannot overstate just how wild this story is and how much I think we are still to learn about all of this. And I'd keep in mind part of the reason this is such an important story as it relates to national security, not just around, you know, I think a lot of people focusing on the scandal that Jensen Huang, the CEO of one of the world's largest companies, NVIDIA, had an affair with a Chinese spy, had potentially, you know, worked with her to help or was influenced by her to send chips to China. But his relationship with the president is what has a lot of people in this town and in that building behind me trying to piece together what exactly happened here.

5:18And to give you a sense of what you just walked through, a source familiar with the matter had told us that the Secretary of State Marco Rubio had learned when he learned that Jensen Huang would be traveling with the president in May to China. It was when Huang was going to meet the president during his layover in Alaska, then travel on to Beijing with President Trump. That is when he intervened and briefed the president on everything that we are learning about this relationship between Huang and these Chinese spies. Now, the source from the matter said this was discussed specifically in Alaska before Huang joined the president on the leg to Beijing.

5:54I will note, this is different from what we heard from President Trump on Monday when he talked to reporters. He said specifically that he wasn't aware of concerns when he brought Huang to China with him. He also argued that he still doesn't know much about all of this. And I think that's what a lot of people are focusing on. Who knew what, when? When did the president know about all of these different concerns? And how has that impacted the decision-making process on artificial intelligence, on chips, and what they are sending to China? much more, I think, to be unveiled as we follow this through.

6:28And Elena, House Republicans managed to close ranks yesterday and block that impeachment effort for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. What happens now? I mean, look, I don't think this is the end of it. I would note that there were 11 Democrats who did not show up to that vote. Seven Republicans, I should note, were absent as well. But we've heard from Republicans, including the expected incoming House Speaker, Hakeem Jeffries, that this isn't the end of the road for some of their focus on Pete Hegseth. I can tell you, though, from my conversations with people at the White House, the president, his new White House chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who was very close to Hegseth, they are relieved about this because their plan has so far been to staunchly defend him, to have his back.

7:08And they reassured Hegseth of that. So they were bringing a sigh of relief yesterday when we saw this effort to impeach him fail. But this is just going to be the start of many different investigations, Wolf and Pamela, including those about Hegseth. I do want to quickly read for you just what we heard from Trump directly on this. He had posted in the aftermath of this vote, quote, the Democrats attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably failed. The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States of America, he wrote. I will add as well that this was something that the president, he wanted to win on this specifically.

7:40But again, potentially short lived because Democrats haven't fully taken back the majority yet that until they're really sworn in in January. So everyone, I think, is still holding their breath. All right, Elena Train, thanks so much. Wolf.

7:54Pamela Brown: All right, stand by. It's more than a week after the election, but we have a CNN projection right now.

8:03Pamela Brown: CNN cannot project that South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson has won re-election. He beat Zayan Khalifa in South Carolina's District 2 race. Republicans will hold on to that seat. The balance of power as of right now, Democrats 256 seats, Republicans 169 seats. And still ahead, growing calls for a new leader in the U.S. Senate. The Democrats speaking out against Chuck Schumer as majority leader. And then later, at least three people are dead after an SUV slams into street vendors in Los Angeles. The latest on the investigation. You're in the Situation Room and we'll be right back.

8:49Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. On my podcast, All There Is, we explore grief and loss in all its complexities. My guest is Lil Jon. He's a rapper, DJ, and producer known for hits like Get Low and Turn Down for What. In February 2026, his 27-year-old son, Nathan, went missing near Nathan's home in Georgia. Three days later, his body was found in a pond nearby. eye. Lil Jon has a memoir that just came out called I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me.

9:18Pamela Brown: It takes time to heal and I kept myself busy that I didn't let myself mourn. I needed to laugh again. I needed to be silly and interact with people and feel other people's energy and make people happy too. We have to share so other people can see that they can get through it too. 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. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. You may have noticed gambling doesn't require a casino anymore. You can just open up your phone. It's designed to keep us coming back or maybe never even leaving in the first place.

10:02We're going to talk to Dr. Timothy Fong, co-director of UCLA's Gambling Studies program. you're going to learn what your brain is really chasing when you place a bet, and also importantly, how to keep the game from playing you. Gambling addiction, gambling disorder is the hidden addiction. You can't smell it, you can't taste it, you can't see it, you can't have a urine drug test. Who are we talking about here, Professor? Who's the most likely demographic to be affected by this? Literally any single human on earth. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts. Happening now, as Democrats prepare to take the reins on Capitol Hill, Senator Chuck Schumer's future as Democratic leader appears in jeopardy.

10:42While several Senate Democrats say they're interested in hearing how Schumer plans to lead the caucus, some lawmakers have ruled out supporting him completely. I personally have known Chuck Schumer for over 30 years, And I like Chuck. Nobody who works harder than Chuck Schumer. But in my view, the time is now for change. And I will not be supporting Chuck to be reelected as the Democratic leader. Has Chris Van Hollen told you if he's running? We've had a lot of conversations. I told him I just think he'd be a refreshing choice. And I don't want to take anything away from Senator Schumer. He's put a lot of effort into helping to architect the majority that we are going to enjoy in the next two years.

11:29And obviously has just a wealth of knowledge and capacity. But I do think that this moment calls for a different kind of leadership. All right, let's go live now to CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. So, Manu, what are lawmakers wanting to see from the next majority leader? Well, a lot of them are simply noncommittal. I would say that Chuck Schumer, though, is the heavy favorite to win another term as Democratic leader because he does have a significant amount of relations. This is a relationship contest at the end of the day. What have you done for me lately? What can you do for me in the future?

12:03and the amount of effort, fundraising that's gone in through the Democratic victories here is going to give him a significant edge against any sort of rival who does emerge. Senator Chris Van Hollen is someone who is putting his foot in the water, is weighing whether to challenge Chuck Schumer, but Van Hollen would very much be the underdog. But still, a lot of Democratic senators who I spoke with are not yet willing to commit to Schumer until they hear more about what the Democratic agenda will look like in the years ahead. Why the hesitation over Schumer? I don't think there's hesitation at all.

12:37I think that there's a process about to happen. We have 11 new people who are coming to lunch today. We will have a conversation. I think we're at an inflection point in our country. The voters are demanding that we stand up and fight for them.

12:52Pamela Brown: And so any member of my caucus that feels like they should lead in this moment. I am supporting Chuck Schumer. Do you worry that a leadership fight could be a distraction after you guys have these huge ventures. I think debate is healthy. Have you decided that if you're going to vote for Schumer? Again, that's a discussion we will all have today, but right now I have other things I'm focusing on. So some don't want to say, Pamela, that they will back Chuck Schumer or if they will, in large part because this is a secret ballot election and members are not, oftentimes, won't say how they'll vote or maybe they'll say how they'll vote and they'll vote a totally different way.

13:30There's really no way of knowing. But because of Chuck Schumer is working behind the scenes to try to lock down those commitments and because he doesn't have a challenger yet and because of all those relationships he's built over the years, he is expected to win reelection. That will happen early in December. But nevertheless, this internal feuding is going to continue over the next few weeks before this leadership election takes place. Despite those big victories, still a lot of concerns and among the left flank of the party about what they've done in the last couple of years and what they'll do in the two years ahead.

14:02All right. Manu Raju, thanks so much. Wolf.

14:05Pamela Brown: Republican Congressman Thomas Massey is turning his focus to another war powers resolution after his effort to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hexeth, was killed in the House, at least temporarily. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not rule out the possibility of trying again in the next Congress. We're joined now by Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. He serves on the House Intelligence and the House Financial Services Committees. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Wolf. Thank you. I know you have voted to pass these War Powers resolutions involving Iran in the past.

14:40Pamela Brown: Do you believe pursuing this now can actually have an impact on the war? A War Powers resolution or the Hegsat vote? No, the House resolution. Oh, so I think at the end of the day, two things need to happen, Wolf. and I've been saying this now for months on this show. We need to get some clear direction of the strategy of this administration in Iran. You know, this is something we've been asking for since the beginning of the conflict. Understand what's the strategy, what's the timeline, how do we find our way through this. Clearly, Iran, the government there, is our enemy. They are the leading state sponsor of terror in the world, supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestine, Islamic Jihad, and many people who have one banner, which is death to America.

15:24So the idea here is to understand how we actually overcome that and how we find a way out in the long run. And we have not gotten that direction.

15:35Pamela Brown: I know it's very disturbing to a lot of your colleagues that 11, 11 of your Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives actually missed a key vote on the effort to impeach the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. Some were unable to get there because of a traffic incident. The former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in San Francisco. Was this a missed opportunity yesterday? I mean, listen, things happen, right? Traffic happens. That's just the reality of everyone's experienced that and missed something. But at the end of the day, what Leader Jeffrey said and future speakers Jeffrey said is my guess is we will have this vote come up when we are in the majority come January if someone doesn't introduce it before here.

16:16And so, you know, I think this vote will happen. eventually. And the key here is making sure, again, that we hold the administration accountable and understand what the strategy is in Iran and where we're going, what their objectives are, what the timeline is.

16:33Pamela Brown: Yesterday, Congressman, my co-anchor, Pamela Brown, interviewed your colleague, the New Jersey Congressman-elect, Adam Hamawi, about the war with Iran. I want to play for you what he said and get your reaction on the other side. Listen to this. Do you see Iran as the adversary and Israel as an ally to the US? Well, now what I see is that we were pushed into this war by Israel. It's not helping Americans. Americans didn't ask for it. It's illegal. It's immoral. And at this point, I think the United States and the Iranis want this war to end. Do you see Iran as the adversary? I see we pushed them into a fight.

17:12And so I think we both have to step back and say, is this helping either one of us? Are they the adversary? We're making adversaries when we should be making friends. They've been saying death to America for decades. We've been saying death to Iran for decades as well. And so what we need to do is use diplomacy. They've killed a lot of Americans. And we've killed a lot of them as well. So you don't see Iran as an adversary. I see that we are pushing Iran into a fight when we have the leverage to kind of bring them to the table.

17:44Pamela Brown: So Congressman Gottheimer, what do you make of that exchange? Well, first, I urge Dr. Hamway to, when he gets into Congress, to actually get a proper briefing on Iran and see what I've seen on the Intelligence Committee and what history has clearly demonstrated, which is that the government of Iran is an enemy of the United States of America. As your reporter said, they've killed our service members. They've attacked our country. They've attacked our bases. They fly under the banner of death to America. They're against our freedom. They're against our democracy. They've tried to kill our leaders.

18:18They have attacked our allies viciously. These are not our friends. So there's no confusion about that. And you can read a history book, read the news, or get a classified briefing, and you'll see what I know. And he'll see what I know, I hope. And I hope he changes his mind on that. But there's no question here. And I was really confounded by his answers there.

18:41Pamela Brown: Yeah, a lot of people were. Republicans on another sensitive issue have chosen Congressman Jim Jordan. as their next House leader. What does that selection indicate to you about their approach to this incoming Democratic majority in the House? Well, you heard what Jim said, that he's ready to fight every day. And I'm hoping, and I know Jim well, and I see him in the gym every morning. My hope is that we can sit down and work together to get stuff done for the American people and for Jersey, where I live. I mean, to me, as you know, Wolf, if it means progress, It means getting costs down. It means protecting our country.

19:17I'll sit down with anyone if it's productive. And I'm hopeful. And that includes future minority leader Jim Jordan. And again, I think, Wolf, we've got to focus on what this election showed us is we've got to focus on getting costs down, health care costs, food prices, getting rid of these tariff taxes, what people are struggling with every single day, gas prices, you name it, people are hurting. That was the message out of last week's election. and it was an overwhelming message that the American people said enough's enough. You've got to help us. You've got to get our backs and we're going to get.

19:51And the Democrats are going to be there and get their backs. I'm hoping we can all work together and put the country first and make a lot of progress.

19:57Pamela Brown: And the Democrats will have a huge, huge majority in the House when it convenes in January. Congressman Josh Godheimer of New Jersey, thanks very much for joining us. Thanks so much, Wolf. All right, Wolf. Coming up, millions of Americans could be at risk of losing their SNAP benefits. why the Trump administration is pushing the changes. We'll be back.

20:23Happening now, nearly one in five food stamp recipients could lose their benefits under a new Trump administration proposal. And if the proposal is finalized, 1.8 million children would no longer be automatically eligible for free school meals. Let's go live now to CNN senior writer Tammy Luby. Tammy, this move would have a massive ripple effect across other key nutrition assistance programs. Tell us more. Yes, Pam. The proposed rule would make it harder for many low-income Americans to be approved for food stamps. So right now, states have the flexibility to approve applicants for food stamps if they're already receiving other public aid.

21:06But the USDA is proposing to end this policy known as broad-based categorical eligibility. The USDA says that the policy has bloated the welfare rolls for decades and has allowed states to approve people who have incomes higher than the federal limit for food stamps. Now, this would have a big impact. As you said, roughly 6.3 million Americans, that's about one in five people who are on food stamps now. would no longer qualify for the program. Plus, 1.8 million children would no longer be automatically eligible for free school meals. Now, the USDA says that nearly all of them would still be eligible, but they have to apply.

21:53And we know that many families just don't fill out those forms. Now, this proposed rule would also affect WIC, which provides nutrition assistance to pregnant women, mothers, infants, and young children. An estimated 5 ,500 people would no longer be eligible for WIC, and another 16 ,500 would have to reapply. So it would affect many, many low-income Americans. And it's also coming at a time when formula, baby formula, is higher, the price is higher because of inflation. Tammy, what are the biggest concerns about this proposal? Well, as you just said, baby formula, groceries in general, just we know that food prices have shot up and they've remained high.

22:43So people, a lot of advocates say that programs like food stamps, free school meals, WIC are more important than ever. But basically, the advocates have several concerns. The proposed rule would increase the paperwork burden on both the enrollees, but also the state agencies. And that could ensnare some participants and lead them to losing benefits. But remember, all of this is coming at a time when food stamp enrollment is down by more than 5 million people, including an estimated 2 million children, after President Trump signed the big, beautiful bill in July of 2025. Now, that package included historic and sweeping cuts to the food stamps program.

23:27So as one advocate told me, instead of helping families, the administration is making life harder for them. All right, Tammy, thank you for bringing us this important reporting. Wolf.

23:39Pamela Brown: Very important indeed. Coming up, a U.S. Army soldier arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia. What FBI Director Kash Patel is now saying about the accusations. We'll be right back.

23:56Pamela Brown: happening now. California police have arrested the man suspected of driving an SUV into a group of Los Angeles street vendors last night. At least three people were killed with two others hurt. Police say the 61-year-old driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. They're now working to determine whether the crash was accidental or intentional. And the head of the CDC says the agency will not change its measles response if the U.S. loses its elimination status. Global health experts will determine in the coming few days whether the United States has lost its official measles-free status, a hard-won public health achievement it's held since the year 2000.

24:40Pamela Brown: CDC director Dr. Erica Schwartz told Reuters in an interview that her agency will continue to work closely with states and promote the importance of the vaccination. And credit card debt hits a record high here in the U.S. According to new data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans collectively owe a record, get this,$1.29 trillion, trillion dollars on their cards with the average credit card balance per standing, per person, I should say, standing at just below$6 ,700. That's up 2.4 % over the past year. Researchers say high inflation and rising borrowing costs are contributing to debt balances.

25:25Pamela Brown: Pamela Morty. All right, Wolf, happening now. U.S. national security interests hit on several fronts. Officials say a U.S. Army soldier who was part of a British-led NATO unit has been arrested in the UK on suspicion of spying for Russia. The Kremlin says it has no connection to this whatsoever. Meanwhile, U.S. prosecutors are indicting the commander of an Iranian-backed militia already jailed in New York. He's accused of helping to direct a plot to attack a key U.K. air force base used by the U.S. in its strikes against Iran. Tehran denies any involvement in the plot. So let's go live now to CNN's Nada Bashir and London.

26:03Nada, going back to this U.S. soldier arrested in the UK. What more have you learned? Well, we've heard from London's Metropolitan Police confirming that arrest by Britain's counter-terror policing took place on Tuesday near Gloucester in England. As you mentioned, a 41-year-old US soldier who is believed to have been based and assigned to a British-led NATO corps here in the United Kingdom was arrested on two sections of the National Security Act pertaining to both the handling of protected information and assisting a foreign intelligence service. It is understood the soldier was arrested in relation to allegations of espionage in relation to supporting Russia.

26:47Now, that is the information we've been provided by London's Metropolitan Police. It is understood that this operation and investigation has been carried out with support from U.S. authorities, including the U.S. military, as well as the FBI and again London's Metropolitan Police, confirming that the country or foreign country in question is believed to be Russia. However, we have heard from the Kremlin spokesperson speaking to reporters this morning saying the arrest has nothing to do with us and we do not know what it relates to. But of course, we have also heard from the FBI director, Kash Patel, who has said that the FBI has no tolerance for anyone who breaks their oath to the United States and whose actions endanger our national security and that of our partners.

27:30Of course, this investigation is ongoing. The soldier in question remains in custody here in the United Kingdom. Pamela. All right, Nada Bashir, thank you so much. Let's dive further into these threats to national security and bring in Robin Drake. He's a former FBI counterintelligence agent. So you just heard about these various national security concerns put in the U.S. on high alert. What do you make of them? Yeah, they're pretty typical, believe it or not. And as Kash Patel was saying, we see these national security threats for a long time. And they happen at different levels, too. You're targeting CEOs of organizations, you're targeting lower level people that actually can get access to this very specific technology and things that they are looking for, because all these nation states are trying to save money, time and research to steal it from us.

28:19And so the threat's real. It's been there forever and always will be. An official says the U.S. soldier was, quote, entrusted with sensitive information. How much intelligence could have been given to Russia and how much damage might have been caused to the West? Yeah, a soldier at a lower level is not going to have a whole lot of really tangible things that are going to benefit nation states at that level. But what they might be also hoping for is develop someone at a lower level for looking for him to get promoted later on, maybe be part of a double agent operation where they can get more access to classified or sensitive information.

28:56And so develop him over a longer period of time. So it'd be less transactional in the long term and hopefully develop it so it could go further for them. All right. I want to turn to that plot against a key U.K. base used by the U.S. and it strikes against Iran. A commander of an Iranian terrorist proxy group is accused of using coded messages and calls to his family to give instructions to two other people who attempted to help carry out an attack on that base. What kind of counterintelligence efforts can lead to unveil that kind of plot? Yeah, the efforts they're going to look for is, number one is you're looking for sources.

29:29You're looking for information from both technology side and human being side, most notably, that can actually give some leakage and see what's deviating from the norm from people's lives. And that's the normal traffic that they're typically seeing via the Internet, via text messaging or emails. And then they're also looking for interpersonal relationships, what's deviating from the norm. And so if someone has access to information that could be compromising to methods, techniques, and procedures for keeping a base safe, these individuals would be more highly targeted. And they could give that leakage, that could give that adversary the ability to penetrate.

30:05I want to ask you about what The New York Times is reporting, that Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, who is leading an economic pressure campaign against Iran, is the latest Trump official to leave his home over security concerns. He was taken onto a military base after Iranian threats against his life, according to a source. So what is your take on this? And is this move more than just out of an abundance of caution, in your view, as a real threat here? yeah that was a really interesting move wasn't it i mean we typically don't see someone at a level like his being moved to a military base unless it's a very very tangible threat and a real threat that they got through a sensitive source most likely so i'd say it's precautionary but at the same time it's it's noteworthy because they should be taking a lot of caution and doing a lot deeper dive on traffic in the area about who other might be targeted for such horrendous tactics, really.

31:00All right, I got to ask you about another story that's been getting a lot of attention for good reason. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wang admitted to this extramarital affair in an email to employees on Sunday. Around the same time, NVIDIA's board announced it was investigating whether Wang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. Sources tell CNN that President Trump was warned at least twice about Wong's affair with this suspected Chinese spy. You've helped catch foreign spies operating on American soil. Walk us through that process and what's at stake here with this situation? Yeah, this was definitely not what we call recruitment operation because recruitment operation is when you're going for someone who you're actually very wittingly bringing on board from their perspective.

31:43This was a soft influence campaign. They target executives like Wong because of their access, because of their influence with policymakers, decision makers, and also for the direction their companies are taking. And so that gives the adversaries like China in this case, vectors in which to attack other areas and ways to really focus their efforts on. And so it's a soft influence campaign, very targeted. It wasn't a typical what you think of honeypots when you're seeing movies, where it's a really transactional type relationship where you get money for access or something more nefarious than that.

32:18It's actually just that soft influence to get leakage from him over time about what the company is working on, what they're doing, and also their access to the president and other people as well. And Wong has repeatedly pushed Washington to allow NVIDIA to sell AI chips to China. Does this revelation about his affair raise more questions about his stance on those chip sales? Do you have to question some of his stances now? A hundred percent. And that's what they're going to be doing in partisan investigation. They're going to be looking at his behavior before the relationship started compared to the behavior he has after the relationship started.

32:54They're going to look for motivations and intent on what he was actually doing. And I will say on his behalf, you know, anytime we're doing a counterintelligence investigation, one of the key things I did as a behaviorist is I'm looking at the arc of his behavior over time in the companies. He has run this company for a very long time, and he relied on really fierce, open and honest communication and transparency inside that company. So he's got a pattern of doing that. So let's hope that he's going to have that same pattern with the board, with investigators, so he can actually self-disclose everything that he did and everything he shared unwittingly, because he was I believe he was manipulated exceptionally well by the Chinese and that we're recruiting him for the self-influence campaign.

33:35Robin Drake, thank you so much. Wolf. Very interesting.

33:39Pamela Brown: Thank you very much. Coming up, quote, fighting like hell. Former President Biden opening up about his stage four prostate cancer battle in a brand new interview. We'll have details. That's next.

33:57All right.

33:58Pamela Brown: Stand by for another CNN projection.

34:05Pamela Brown: CNN can now project that Democrat Raymond Smith will win election in North Carolina's third district, this part of the Outer Banks area, and it involves Camp Lejeune as well. He defeats Republican incumbent Greg Murphy, who's held that seat since 2019. So his seat has now flipped to Democrats. The House balance of power is now 257 for Democrats in the new House, 169 for Republicans. A huge win for the Democrats. Also happening now, multiple lawmakers say they are not committed to supporting Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer's bid for majority leader. Yesterday, Senators Alyssa Slotkin and Bernie Sanders both said they did not plan to back Schumer.

34:50Pamela Brown: Still, the New York senator says he's confident he will win next month's leadership election vote. Right now, there are no official challengers to lead Senate Democrats, but Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen has not ruled out a run, saying he is actively calling colleagues as he considers running against Schumer. Joining us now here in the Situation Room is Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha and CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Sir Michael Singleton. Chuck, let's start with you. Should Schumer be worried right now? I don't think he should be yet, but there's a lot of runway. When you have this much runway, there's a reason why the Republicans have their leadership elections immediately.

35:27So folks can't at home get any pressure. People forget, though, we won a lot of Senate seats. And Chuck Schumer almost personally went out and raised all the money. All the money that went into Texas, big state. We won Tallerico. I worked for Tallerico. He raised a lot of money and helped a lot of Democrats win. They should keep that in mind when they want to kick him out. Yeah, I was going to say, because he did flip several Senate seats, right? Nobody thought in Kansas and other places we're probably going to win Mississippi. Like, that should be actually talked about. Mississippi, Alaska, I mean, nine Senate seats that we certainly didn't expect on our side.

35:56Look, I understand the argument that Senator Sanders made of wanting to go younger, someone who thinks outside of the box. But I think it's smart to have that institutional knowledge. I mean, when you look at the House side, Chuck, you guys have a number of new members, new staffers. You're losing a significant amount of institutional knowledge. So if I were Democrats in the Senate, I'd say keep Chuck around a little longer. Let me add to this. Chuck Schumer is up for reelection in 28. There's rumors that AOC may run against him. I don't think he seeks reelection. I think he wants to do this as his swan song be done.

36:29And then we can elect a new leader if we happen to have the majority in 28.

36:32Pamela Brown: That sounds like an incredible development indeed. Sure, Michael. House Republicans, as you know, have chosen Congressman Jim Jordan as the new House minority leader. He's a hardline conservative. He's a very close ally to President Trump. Voters largely rejected Trump this election cycle. Do you think this is the right move? Oh, I think so. I mean, Jim Jordan started with the Freedom Caucus, or the Tea Party movement, then the Freedom Caucus. He's chaired the Oversight Committee. He's chaired the Judiciary Committee. So this is someone who understands the nuances and the power of both of those committees, which Democrats will certainly use to investigate the president and multiple members of his cabinet.

37:08And so if you're Trump, you want someone who can sort of block and tackle a lot of these investigations that you perceive are incoming once the new Congress is sworn in. I think if Republicans would have lost by a smaller margin, then you would have gone with someone like a Steve Scalise, more of an institutionalist, a great fundraiser, might I add. But considering just how significant the losses were, I understand why many of the Republican members decided to go in that direction. And also keep in mind, we lost a lot of our conventional and moderate Republicans. So a lot of those who remain come January will be very, very conservative, hardline supporters of the president.

37:43So it doesn't surprise me again that the caucus decided to go with Jordan. There are a lot of new moderate Democrats, right, that you have in the House. And I wonder what your thoughts are given the new landscape for Democrats and the majority in the House. You had the impeachment effort against Texas killed by House Republicans, right, even though it was brought by Thomas Massey, a Republican himself. Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader, says this is not the end of the efforts to impeach Hegseth. Is this something that you want to see Democrats prioritize when they take control of Congress, when it comes to these impeachment efforts and these investigations?

38:17And how do you think that could impact those more moderate Democrats? My firm worked for 25 of these congressional races that flipped. We were in the middle of all these elections, and there was something we heard from the American electorate from California to New York. Two things. One was the cost of living, and the second was corruption. I think Democrats have to be both of those. That does not mean Democrats, listen to me, that you've got to go right out and try to impeach Donald Trump. But it does mean you should drag people before Congress and say, how are you getting rich? Where is our money being spent?

38:43And why is there a no-bid contract? Or for Pete Sessions, are you at Pete Sessions? That's a long time ago. Or Pete Hankseth, are you the reason that we're at war? Because the war was the other thing that was super unpopular. A lot of these Democrats that got elected are just regular folks. And I love this part of our democracy. There are folks that got elected that had to look up how much a congressman made. And I think that's good for democracy when you can elect some regular folks, and those regular folks are going to be accountable to the regular folks back home. Yeah, but I think you run the risk, though, of those hearings and investigations overshadowing what Democrats might argue is their focus and prioritization of cost of living and affordability issue.

39:19You guys, I think two or three segments ago, talked about the credit card debt,$1.2 trillion, with the average being about$6 ,000 per American. How are they going to immediately address those things? If I were Democrats, that would be my priority, and I would be weary of investigations and hearings overshadowing what the priorities are for most people. They can't afford things.

39:39Pamela Brown: Let me follow up with you, sure, Michael. Republican Congressman Thomas Massey, as you know, he now says he plans to focus on another war powers resolution following yesterday's failed impeachment effort. Even Vice President J.D. Vance has said publicly that the Iran war was the reason the Republicans lost this midterm election cycle big time. Is Massey's push something more Republicans should get on board with? I mean, I think the White House did a really good job of whipping the votes on the Republican side. Remember, a day or two before, the expectation was that you would probably see some of the moderate Republicans out of places like New York and other places vote for, vote to effectively remove Hexet from this role.

40:24I think with the 11 Democrats who weren't present yesterday, if they return, you may actually find a scenario where HECS is ultimately impeached, but obviously it will fail in the Senate. The question for the president becomes, though, do you wait to go through this again come January or do you instruct the secretary to resign so that you can try to quickly appoint someone else while Republicans still control the Senate? That is something that I would at a minimum advise the president to consider. All right.

40:54Pamela Brown: Good discussion. We'll continue this down the road to be sure. Sure, Michael Singleton, Chuck Rocha, to both of you. Thank you very, very much. And we'll be right back.

41:09Happening now, counting the votes right now. Commissioners in Mississippi are processing accepted affidavit ballots in this nail-biter of a Senate race. One election official says today could be pivotal.

41:20Pamela Brown: We're watching it closely and honoring veterans. President Trump is about to take part in a Veterans Day ceremony and make remarks. We'll have live coverage of that. That's coming up. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in the Situation Room.

41:47Pamela Brown: Happening now, any minute now, we will see President Trump honor U.S. troops on this Veterans Day. He will also make remarks at Arlington National Cemetery and will bring all of that to you live. Let's go to CNN's Kevin Liptec at the White House to learn a little bit more about what we expect from the president and the vice president today on this Veterans Day. Kevin? Yeah, certainly one of the most solemn customs for the commander in chief on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, traveling there to Arlington National Cemetery to honor Americans who wear the uniform. And, of course, this has been a year that has tested the American military with the war in Iran.

42:27Almost two dozen Americans killed as part of that conflict, hundreds wounded. And so this will be certainly a solemn moment for the president. We'll see him first there lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then travel to the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington Cemetery to deliver remarks. You know, Arlington Cemetery has also been sort of in focus over the last several months as it relates to the president's desire to build that 250-foot triumphal arch just on the outskirts of the burial ground, on that traffic circle along the Potomac River. It's been challenged in court by veterans, by the city of Arlington, by the District of Columbia, by the state of Virginia.

43:09Just yesterday, a new challenge came through from members of the Kennedy family. And all of it relates in some ways to how this arch would correspond with Arlington National Cemetery, how it would affect, for example, the sight lines from the cemetery across the river to the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall. The Kennedys, in their challenge, say that it would potentially cast a shadow over the tomb of John F. Kennedy, the slain president. And so this visit that the president is making today, certainly interesting. in light of all of those challenges to this hallowed ground. And so we'll see if the president brings that up in his remarks.

43:49I don't expect that it would be part of the scripted remarks, but you never know where the president will go in these speeches. And, of course, there you see the First Lady Melania Trump and the Second Lady Usha Vance on hand to watch what is every year annually on this day a solemn moment for the commander-in-chief and certainly a moment that you would expect, always sort of reminds him of the weight of responsibility in his office, the responsibility to send Americans into war and put them into harm's way. And that's something that the president, after a year in which he repeatedly went up to Dover to witness the dignified transfers of Americans who fell as part of the Iran conflict, that weight of responsibility will be especially acute today, I think.

44:36And so you see their members of the first and second family, but also veterans on hand to witness this day as the president prepares to walk in and lay that wreath.

44:48Pamela Brown: And we will watch that as it happens, to be sure. But Kevin, another important story we're following. Yesterday, the House Republican leadership blocked an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. What is the White House saying about all of this? Right. And you saw Pete Hegseth there alongside the first and second ladies. Of course, he is a veteran himself. And so this will be a significant day for him. The White House, I think, defiant after that vote that essentially killed the impeachment articles that were brought by Thomas Massey, the Republican congressman. You know, beforehand, the White House wasn't even sure how many Republicans would vote to allow that to proceed.

45:29Ultimately, no Republicans voted for it. And that was a win for administration officials and President Trump himself saying that every single Republican except Thomas Massey had voted in favor of Pete. And of course, you saw beforehand Hegseth mounting this vehement defense of himself in that press conference and President Trump saying afterwards that he had done an A++ job. And so I think what the question going forward will be is what this means for future potential impeachment proceedings once Democrats take over majorities in the House and Senate. It's almost certain that this impeachment attempt on Hegseth will be revived once Democrats take over.

46:13The future at that point, I think, will potentially be far less certain. And it will be interesting to see how the president and how the administration responds to those various proceedings. Once Democrats are in control, it seems more likely that the impeachment will succeed. And so even though the president for now is standing very much behind his defense secretary and I think was impressed with his performance at the Pentagon briefing room yesterday morning, that's not the end of the road, I think, for all of this. And of course, all wrapped up in that is the Iran war. And that was, I think, at the end of the day, the nucleus of what Massey was trying to point out was that Hegseth had mishandled the conflict and that the Iran war has stretched on so much longer than President Trump or Hegseth had projected at the beginning of all of this.

47:06And of course, President Trump at the moment has not resolved that conflict. And he says that for now, he's happy with the status quo, you know, neither war nor full peace. And so once this comes back up again in the new Congress, those will be questions as well for the president to reckon with.

47:22Pamela Brown: And Kevin, we now see the president and the Vice President J.D. Vance walking in for the presidential wreath-laying ceremony, the introduction of guests, the prayers for veterans, the Pledge of Allegiance, and remarks from various individuals. We're watching all of this, but the presidential wreath-laying ceremony is an annual tradition on this important Veterans Day, and of course we salute and we are so grateful for all the U.S. military veterans who have risked their lives to protect all of us. Let's watch this as it unfolds. Aye. Aye. Aye. Present! Present! All!

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51:13All right. A very somber moment there. You saw with the president, the vice president, J.D. Vance, and the VA secretary, Doug Collins, as they reflect on this Veterans Day and as we mark this really special moment and the presidential re-ceremony as well. There is a lot to come here at Arlington National Cemetery. We will expect to hear from the vice president as well as the president for his Veterans Day address. More when we come back.

51:52Pamela Brown: Happening now, this could potentially could be a big day, a very big day in Mississippi. We finally could learn the winner of its hotly contested Senate race. Almost all of the votes have already been counted, and a razor-thin margin separates incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom. That alone is shocking, given how reliably red that state of Mississippi has been. Right now in Hines County, Mississippi, where the capital city of Jackson is, commissioners are making the final call on provisional ballots. CNN senior reporter Annie Greyer is on the scene for us in Jackson, along with Mississippi Today politics reporter Taylor Vance.

52:35Pamela Brown: Annie, first of all, walk us through what's happening now. We're looking at live pictures. So Wolf, what you're seeing happening now is officials are opening the remaining absentee ballots that are yet to be counted. Because in the state of Mississippi, if you send in your mail-in absentee ballot on election day, as long as it's postmarked by election day, it can be received up until five business days later, which gets you to November 10th. So officials gave folks until November 10th to have their mail-in absentee ballots returned. So what you're seeing happening now is officials opening those mail-in ballots.

53:08Then those mail-in ballots are going to be counted. Right now they're still being processed. What happens after that is officials are going to go through the provisional ballots here in the state of Mississippi known as affidavit ballots. And we just finally got the number of affidavit ballots that are yet to be counted. So the county of Hines County, which is one of the largest in the state, received 2 ,426 affidavit ballots in total. Only 817 of them were accepted and 1 ,609 of them were rejected. So once folks go through those mail-in ballots and count those mail-in ballots, the next step will be to process and count those 817 accepted affidavit ballots.

53:57Now, that's a lot of rejected ballots that didn't get counted, aren't going to get counted, over 1 ,600. And ballots can be rejected for a variety of reasons. You don't have the proper identifications, you were removed, you were listed as inactive in the voter rolls, you maybe moved and were in a different precinct. And that's what we've been tracking this whole week, Wolf, is that that's been a big issue where folks have been voting affidavit, an unprecedented number. And that's part of why it's taken so long for officials to get to account here. But finally, we are seeing some action here in Hines County.

54:29Pamela Brown: All right, Annie, stand by. We're going to get back to you. I want to bring in Taylor right now. Taylor, if Scott Cologne wins, he will be Mississippi's first Democrat to be elected to the U.S. Senate in some 40 years. And he would be Mississippi's first black senator since Reconstruction. Did many in your state actually believe that that was even possible? of only a few months ago? Well, I think people were, you know, cautiously optimistic that this could certainly happen. You know, people have been laying the groundwork for something like this to happen for a while. Voting rights advocates have been working for, I mean, a decade or more.

55:11And Scott Colom ran a very competitive campaign. You know, he had great ads. He appeared at a Trump rally to try and talk to voters. But, you know, I think, well, something I would just say personally, as a, I'm at least a fourth generation Mississippian, probably go back even further than that. You know, the Mississippi of my grandparents' generation, my great-grandparents' generation, they voted for U.S. Senators like James Vardaman, Theo Bilbo. Those are people who I would call true villains of Mississippi's past, who did not want someone who looked like Scott Cologne to be able to register to vote, much less to cast a vote in the United States Senate.

56:04And I hope that the Mississippi that I know, the Mississippi that I love, regardless of who they supported on Election Day and who they voted for can come together and recognize and celebrate that the fact that that we may be on the cusp of electing not only just the first black person to the US Senate Reconstruction potentially the first black person since Reconstruction ever elected to any type of statewide office to Mississippi that that the Mississippi of my generation today that that is something that we can certainly celebrate and a signal that we can send to the nation that indeed someone like who looks like Scott Colon does belong in the U.S.

56:49Senate to represent Mississippi.

56:51Pamela Brown: History unfolding in Mississippi. We'll have the actual new numbers coming up soon as well. Taylor Vance, thank you. Annie Greyer, thanks to you as well. Pamela. And what's happening now? House Republicans are looking ahead after their major midterm losses. They've tapped Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan to lead the party in the House. Jordan is chair of the Judiciary Committee and a hardline pro-Trump conservative who's been combative with Democrats in Congress. Jordan's fellow Ohio Congressman Mike Turner is here in the Situation Room. He's on the Armed Services and Oversight Committees. He lost his seat to a Democratic newcomer after 24 years serving in the House.

57:31So good morning to you. Thank you for coming on. I just wonder, as you reflect on your loss in Ohio, you know, Speaker Mike Johnson blamed Republican losses on voters, saying that they made the wrong choice. Where do you place the blame? How are you reflecting on this? Pamela, well, thank you for having me on. And thank you for having me on on Veterans Day, as we thank those who have served and those who are serving. You know, as we were talking, certainly the blue wave and the midterm environment has an impact. You know, in Ohio, it really also has the environment of what we saw in the gubernatorial race.

58:10With the blue wave, the water level certainly had raised. But, you know, not just with me in the surprise of what has occurred at the end, but even those who are discussing it in Ohio. So in the gubernatorial race, that final ad from Vivek really was kind of a lightning strike at the end. And it had an impact up and down the ticket in all the races, the statewide races, my race, in my county, up and down. All even Republican judges had had lost where people saw themselves in protest, voting in protest at the end. And I had many people saying, you know, well, I didn't think you could lose. So an ad like that is certainly at a time in a blue wave where the water level is already high, can have outcomes that are many times unexpected.

58:59So you think you lost because of that ad? I think absolutely that that was the margin at the end. Yeah, absolutely. One of the reasons we also know voters voted against Republicans is because they're unhappy with the Iran war. It's important to focus on that as well on this Veterans Day. And nearly two dozen U.S. service members have been killed. polls show that the majority of Democrats and Republicans want this war ended. As we enter the eighth month with no clear end in sight, do you believe it was a mistake? Well, I think as you know, you and I have discussed this before, this conflict as it has unfolded, it was absolutely important for us to undertake ensuring that Iran does not have a nuclear war and no one a nuclear weapon.

59:48It is absolutely imperative that we do not trade lower gas prices for a nuclear Iran. That was an important undertaking that the president has done. As the conflict has unfolded, the conflicts with the Straits of Hormuz has been complex as Iran has been attacking its neighbors and as the administration has sought to control the efforts of Iran to constrict the flow of, obviously, commerce through that. But as a mistake, I think that five administrations had looked at the issue of Iran marching closer to a nuclear weapon. We have the IEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, separate from the United States, declaring that Iran had amassed enough nuclear material that it was getting close, very close to being capable of producing a nuclear weapon.

1:00:45There is it today if Iran was marching toward nuclear weapon, the the the dynamics shift that that would have occurred both for the United States, our safety, our allies in the region would have been immeasurable. But the bottom line is Iran still has that enriched uranium, right? And Americans want the war to end. So what do you do right now? Well, I think, one, you have to be able to mobilize our allies in the region, our allies in which includes our European and our NATO allies on the issues of opening the straits and of on isolating Iran. What unfortunately we had immediately when it was was over is that and you saw this with France, is we had allies that made moves to try to negotiate on their own relationships of commerce with Iran, which really diminished our ability to conclude the conflict.

1:01:45I think we're going to find an ability to do that now. And Iran also knew that the elections were coming and that that was their bargaining chip to provide additional pressure on this administration. And that pressure, that lever is gone. And so that also provides additional opportunities for the administration to bring this to a close. And Iran is being squeezed economically. It has lost a lot of its military assets and senior leadership, but it does continue to be a formidable force. I had the former NATO Allied Supreme Commander Wesley Clark on yesterday, and he believes Iran will be better off after this ends, and that the best case scenario, he said, is that it'll have some control over the Strait of Hormuz, which it did not have before all of this started.

1:02:31How do you see it? I mean, do you have concerns that Iran could be better off in the end? Currently, every metric that applies to Iran shows that it is worse off and that post this - I'm talking long run, though. No, long run, because this post this election, which they have been using as a lever against this administration. Post this election, every metric shows that they are in a diminished capacity and that they're going to have to come forward in a way to end this conflict. So let me tie it all in together with what's going on with Russia. Russia helped Iran, has helped Iran in the war. We know that.

1:03:09It has also offered to mediate the end of it. Administration envoys Wyckoff and Kushner are heading to Russia to meet with Putin after the talks really didn't lead to anything in Abu Dhabi. Clark said on the show yesterday he's concerned Russia will use the leverage of helping out with Iran to try to end the war to get more concessions on Ukraine. So I just want to play what he said about that. And I think what you're seeing unfolding here is an effort by the administration to trade off Ukraine to Russia in return for Russia squeezing Iran and trying to get a settlement for the conflict. And that's a very dangerous and bad trade.

1:03:52Do you share that concern? Well, I don't share his view that they are tied, but they are irreversibly, of course, connected in that Iran was assisting Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. They were providing them weapons. They are an ally of Iran. So to some extent, all of these parties are going to be involved. But I don't think that one will be a concession for the other. I think the administration... You don't think the administration would lead on Russia to help in the war in Iran? But these are both ongoing conflicts. They are allies of one another. They've been trading weapons in each of these conflicts.

1:04:35So the issues, the weapons, and the alliance between them are unbelievably already connected. But I don't believe that there'll be concessions with respect to each. All right. We'll see how it all shakes out. Congressman Mike Turner, thank you so much. Appreciate you coming on. Thank you for having me. We'll be right back.

1:04:58Pamela Brown: Happening now, the vote board we have been watching since election night. Eight days later, a winner soon could be announced in Mississippi's Senate race. Democrat Scott Cologne leading incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith by a hair. and county commissioners are making the final call on provisional ballots right now. CNN chief data analyst, Harry Enten, is joining us. Harry, so where does this race stand? Yeah, you know, Wolf, this is the race that never ends. It's a story that never ends out of Mississippi. Of course, who the heck thought we'd be talking about Mississippi this late in the season?

1:05:33I want you to note right here that Scott Cologne's lead, even if we can't quite see it, it's a little bit over 3 ,000 votes right now. It's a little bit over 3 ,000 votes. Why is that so important, Wolf? It's so important because Scott Cologne's lead has actually been climbing. It's north of 3 ,000 for the first time. And I will note, since Election Day, what we've essentially seen in Mississippi is we've seen Cologne's lead not just staying steady, but widening a little bit in this late hour as more of those affidavit ballots have come in. They have tended to lean toward Scott Cologne. And that is so important because at this particular hour, Scott Cologne is the one who has the advantage by a little bit, what is that?

1:06:12That's a little bit over 3 ,000 votes, about 0.3 percentage points. Now the name of the game today has been Hines County. Hines County in the great state of Mississippi, it's where Jackson, Mississippi is. And why is Hines County so important? Because it is a county that is heavily, heavily, heavily Democratic. Scott Cologne lit the advantage here. You can see it right here. It's a 60.8 point advantage in Hines County. Any more ballots that come in from Hines probably will be good for him. And I will note that this is a county that Kamala Harris carried back in 2024 by, get this, 46 percentage points.

1:06:50Scott Cologne doing significantly better than Kamala Harris did just two years ago, winning it by what, 61 percentage points. That's a 15-point climb. Now, here's the thing that I will note at this point about Scott Cologne and in Mississippi, which is the vote counts. We're not necessarily sure how many exact votes are still remaining. That is the reason why we are not projecting at this point. But at this point, it is advantage Scott Cologne and the votes that have come in have taken him to his largest lead yet, even though that's just a little bit over 3 ,000 votes, Wolf.

1:07:22Pamela Brown: We should get the official results very, very soon. Harriet, and thank you very, very much. Pamela. All right, Wolf happening now, America's most famous political family. is suing the Trump administration. The Kennedys joined a lawsuit Tuesday to block the president's plan to build a 250-foot arch here in Washington, D.C. The court filing claims the new monument would obstruct views of the family's grave sites in Arlington National Cemetery, as well as memorials of hundreds of thousands of fallen soldiers. CNN's Sutherland Serfati is here in the Situation Room, so tell us more about this lawsuit, Sutherland.

1:07:55Well, Pam, the involvement of the Kennedy family really gives significant and symbolic weight. This lawsuit. This is a pre-existing lawsuit that was first brought by veterans, now DC and Virginia. So they joined this lawsuit, nine members of the Kennedy family now saying they're in opposition to the president's arch being built. And what we see them doing is really arguing from a place of their personal perspective of their family member being buried at Arlington National Cemetery, saying specifically that they go and visit JFK's grave in the early morning and noting that the arch would actually at that hour cast a shadow over his grave also that they specifically picked the spot of his final resting place because of the sight lines that it had set up.

1:08:39They say in the statement, quote, President Donald Trump is attempting to unlawfully erect a massive arch that will permanently cast shadows and damage historically significant sight lines to the existing grave sites and ceremonials established in the Kennedy's honor at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as the remains of hundreds of thousands of fallen American heroes. And the president, of course, had wanted to start construction potentially as early as last week when it went through the final regulatory approvals. But the judge in this case has a 14-day halt on all construction as she oversees the broader case and weighs her final decision there.

1:09:18Notably, I reached out to the White House for a statement on this, and they say It's unfortunate to see that some members of the Kennedy family have joined this lawsuit and went again to blast. That is essentially the they call it an activist district court. Really, the president has lashed out against the judge in this case. And they said the judiciary should not be abused to politicize a structure designed to unite our nation. Yeah, no surprise. Trump's lushing out at the judge there. Someone thanks so much. Appreciate it. Wolf.

1:09:45Pamela Brown: Thanks for me as well. Also new this morning, Joe Biden is speaking out about his battle with cancer and tells People magazine that he would not have continued his last presidential campaign if he knew he was sick. The former president was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer just four months after leaving office. Listen to this. If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would have resigned. I would have not gone forward because I don't think an 80 year old man with cancer should be running for, you know. But that wasn't the case. This week, he and the First Lady made a surprise visit to Ireland to watch son Hunter receive an award at Trinity College, Dublin.

1:10:37Pamela Brown: Here they are with the Irish prime minister and his wife. Biden has a presidential memoir coming out next week. He has said his cancer will limit his ability to promote the book entitled Promise Me, America. All right. Just ahead, one on one with Congressman Jamie Raskin. And he is poised to chair the House Judiciary Committee, and he'll join us live up next.

1:11:04Pamela Brown: Happening now, the White House Council has issued a warning to Democrats saying the Trump administration, quote, will not be extorted. In a letter to Congressman Robert Garcia, who's the incoming House Oversight Committee chairman, The White House counsel writes that Congress can only investigate matters for a legislative purpose and warrants some of the new majority's investigations could cross into criminal behavior. The source tells CNN that Garcia has not received the letter. Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland is joining us right now. He's the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

1:11:40Pamela Brown: He just won his reelection in Maryland's 8th District. Congratulations on the reelection, Congressman. First of all, what's your reaction to this letter from the White House? I mean, it's a bunch of bluster, essentially. And I think they would prefer to talk about that than all of the reasons they just lost a landslide election across the country and suffered an historic repudiation and defeat. Look, Congress has the power of oversight over anything that's going on in the government and anything going on in the economy and the society. It does have to be for a legislative purpose, but that's been very broadly construed repeatedly by the Supreme Court.

1:12:17So I think his efforts to intimidate our colleagues on the Oversight Committee are in vain. We are going to be engaged in aggressive oversight of all of the corruption that we've seen in this administration and the way that it has compromised public policy and made life a lot more expensive for people.

1:12:35Pamela Brown: Having said that, Congressman, what does this letter signal to you about how the White House potentially could respond to your possible investigations? Well, they should be aware of a Supreme Court case called Steffel v. Thompson, which says that the threatening of criminal prosecution of people for exercising their First Amendment rights and, by extension, their First Amendment and speech and debate clause rights is itself legally actionable. So they're skating on very thin ice in what they're doing. You can't use the prosecutorial power of government in order to intimidate people based on their free speech.

1:13:11And I noticed in that letter that they sent to my colleague Robert Garcia, they took a lot of the language that different members of Congress used and somehow insinuated that there was something wrong with that or illegal or unconstitutional about that. And that's ridiculous. These people don't have a First Amendment bone in their body. and they have no program for the country, which is why they spend their time on such minutiae and trivia as this. All they have to do to avoid oversight that will embarrass them is to stop doing embarrassing things. And if they want to avoid oversight that will reveal their criminality and corruption, stop doing corrupt and criminal things.

1:13:52Stop covering up the Epstein files. Release the millions of Epstein files that were commanded by the Congress of the United States in the Epstein Files Transparency Act, for example. Stop covering up all of the corruption going on with respect to government contracting in America and the way the Trump family is making all of that money on that. You stop compromising the antitrust process in the Department of Justice by getting financially and politically involved with different big businesses, which then leads to mergers that drive up prices throughout the economy on everything from the price of cable to the price of concert tickets in America.

1:14:36So they should get back to work and let Congress do its job because we are, as James Madison said, the predominant branch of government. We're the lawmaking branch of government. Their job is just to take care that the laws are faithfully executed and not frustrated and thwarted.

1:14:53Pamela Brown: And you speak with a lot of authority as a former constitutional law professor at the American University here in Washington. I know you're preparing for your own investigations as the presumptive new chairman of the Judiciary Committee. What is your first priority? Well, understand that these are legislative investigations that have been going on for the last two years, Wolf. So we're not starting new things. We are in the process of investigating a whole lot of corruption, insider deals, conflicts of interest, and so on. But we have to start with the way that the Department of Justice itself has been compromised and corrupted.

1:15:32Because if the Department of Justice is not going to enforce the law and defend the Constitution, there's very little hope that any of the other parts of their administration will do that. They began by sacking hundreds of experienced senior career prosecutors simply because they had worked on the January 6th case. Then they proceeded to say they wanted to create a$1.76 billion political slush fund for President Trump to hand out to the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys and violent insurrectionists and so on. We've been able so far to shut that down, but we are going to legislate to make sure that that goes away forever and also that they stop taking money out of the Treasury, out of our Judgment Fund, which the taxpayers have paid for and it belongs to the people.

1:16:20stop taking money out of that to pay off people like Carter Page or Trump's disgraced former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, who got$1.25 million there. So that's something that's very fresh on my mind because they've promised those people a million dollars apiece. And we want to make sure that doesn't happen. And I've got legislation called the January 6th Heroes Fund, which is money for the families of the police officers who are actually wounded and injured by the violent mob that Donald Trump incited on January 6th. So if they're going to be obsessed with that day, we should be on the side of the police heroes and their families.

1:16:59I mean, a lot of these officers were driven out of police work and were permanently disabled by virtue of the fact that they were beaten up and given concussions and traumatic brain injuries and strokes and heart attacks and so on. So we're going to stop what they're doing and we're going to put America back on the side of democracy, freedom, the rule of law and law and order.

1:17:21Pamela Brown: An effort, as you know, Congressman, led by Republican Congressman Thomas Massey to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was actually killed yesterday by House Republican leaders. Eleven Democrats, though, missed the vote for various reasons. Was that a missed opportunity? Because if they had voted and voted the way almost all the other Democrats voted, this would have gone forward. Yes, it was definitely a missed opportunity. It's not a last opportunity by a long shot. And different people apparently were caught up in some kind of traffic jam and arrived a moment or two too late to cast their votes.

1:17:58But look, there are very serious things in there. If I had written those articles, they would have gone much further. There were a lot of things that weren't in there, including the purge, the political purge of generals and other military personnel, many of them on the basis of race and gender. That's not part of his impeachment articles. But I do think that he gets right to the heart of it when he talks about the extrajudicial killings that were ordered by Secretary Hegseth in the so-called drug boat explosions and firings. Of course, Congress never declared war on drug boats or boats in the Caribbean.

1:18:33And that was not a legitimate law enforcement effort because we don't just kill people who are accused of being drug traffickers. We arrest them. We prosecute them. They have the ability to have due process. And there may have been, and it looks quite certain, there were a lot of people in those boats who were not drug dealers at all. And many of them were not even headed to the United States. And they were just blown up out of the water. And I respect Thomas Massey, who's leaving Congress a lot, for raising this as a fundamental constitutional problem.

1:19:03Pamela Brown: Congressman, I interrupt. I want to listen to President Trump now on this Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Thank you very much. We come today to these Howell grounds, and they are indeed very special. Rolling hills and hold the names of our great heroes etched in stone to honor 250 years of service, valor, and sacrifice unsurpassed in all of the ages. On Veterans Day, we reaffirm our undying gratitude to every patriot who has answered the call of duty. We pay tribute to all of those who have won the wars and worn the uniform, who faced the enemy, who have beaten the enemy at every turn, who have borne the burdens of fate and destiny to stand as our protection in battle.

1:19:56You are indeed our protection in battle. And we thank Almighty God for the noble warriors of the United States military who have always step forward so that America might always stay free. To every veteran here at Arlington and across the nation, today we render you the highest salute. We offer you our deepest respect and love, and we pledge to you our utmost loyalty and devotion. Please join me in thanking every American veteran of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marine Corps. And we want to thank you very much.

1:20:49As we salute our veterans, let us also express our profound love and appreciation for our military families, past and present. They are amazing. Thank you very much.

1:21:07And they are really among the very best of our nation. We're honored to be joined as well by the First Lady of the United States. Thank you very much.

1:21:23Thank you.

1:21:28The Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.

1:21:39I had a feeling that was going to happen. He's done a fantastic job, and he loves you, and he protects you. He's all about you. Secretary of Veterans Affairs with a 92 % approval rating, the job he's doing. That's pretty good. Maybe we'll get it up to 100 pretty soon, Doug. Doug Collins, thank you, Doug. What a job.

1:22:05It's about 50 points higher than his predecessor, I must tell you, that's a big difference. Many members of my cabinet, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Kane, who's fantastic. Thank you very much, General. Thank you.

1:22:23and representatives of our amazing veteran service organizations and the countless members of the United States Armed Forces who are with us today. Thank you all. We really respect and appreciate you. Thank you all.

1:22:42To inherit a free nation is among the rarest blessings that any people in history have ever known, to defend that freedom is among the hardest and highest obligations, one of the most difficult tasks imaginable. Across every generation, American liberty has been preserved by legions of selfless patriots who have raised their right hands and sworn an oath of flesh and blood for a cause whose full cost could not be measured in advance. There was no way it was doable, they thought. In every era, they've stood, watch, they've held a line, they've hold a charge bravely into the fray that few people would have wanted to do or could have done.

1:23:33It's something that lies between order and chaos, freedom and tyranny, civilization and barbarism and good and evil, exact opposite ends of the spectrum. Time and time again for 250 years, the American warrior has returned victorious. Our republic has triumphed, and today our country is stronger than it has ever been before. A nation without heroes is like a sky without stars or a heaven without angels, but in America, we've never known that darkness because we have the men and women of America's armed forces, our guiding lights, our greatest heroes, and our guardian angels. At 19 years old, Jack Myers kissed his young bride and newborn son goodbye and went to serve as a gunner in the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion in World War II.

1:24:37Brave people all. In the frostbitten winter of 1944, Corporal Myers found himself in the largest battle in American history, the Battle of the Bulge.

1:24:58For weeks, he and his unit fought in one of the most intense crucibles in the history of war to turn the enemy's final advance into an unbelievable and somewhat unexpected defeat. We thought it would have to go on much longer than that. It was an incredible moment in military history. Months later, Jack Spitalia was among the first to liberate the Dachau concentration camp, coming face to face with the evil he risked his life to destroy. Today, Jack is a great-great-grandfather and is here to receive our nation's gratitude at 103 years old. Jack.

1:25:57Thank you.

1:26:20It's engagement party. It is engagement party. And we get to talk about what we're obsessed with, what we're engaged with, what we need to process with a friend. Her name is Amy O'Dell. She is a fashion writer blogger. But the thing is, she's a journalist who's written about the sacred cows of fashion. And yes, I mean, Gwyneth Paltrow and Anna Wintour. She has done biographies of both. And she is also the sort of rare fashion writer who, at this point, kind of outside the system. And so the question that we're going to try to tackle is... Is fashion terrible now? Well, no, I mean, I would phrase it as how do you develop a personal style in the age of AI slop?

1:26:56You know, on social media, like creators have to try a whole bunch of different things and see what catches and then they make it over and over and over again. The same thing happens with clothing. So they're sort of seeding the market, seeding the Internet with all of these different ideas. And then they can see what sells and then they can just make them really fast. Follow Engagement Party. Wherever you get your podcasts.