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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump, Mamdani Have Friendly Oval Office Meeting; Trump Says It Was A Great Honor To Meet Mamdani; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She Is Resigning; Trump Gives Ukraine Thursday Deadline To Accept Plan To End War; CNN Speaks With Woman Shot By Border Patrol Five Times; One-On-One With Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired November 21, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Brianna, thank you so much for all of this, just crucial reporting, thank you. And thanks so much to all of you for joining us on this Friday night. Check us out on X at "Out Front" CNN and Instagram and TikTok at Erin Burnett Out Front, you could Out Front extras and key moments that you could missed from the show tonight or any night and we're also streaming every night on CNN All Access. "AC360" with John King starts now.
[20:00:35]
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360, call it Mamdani in the lion's den. New York's Mayor-elect visits the man who calls him a communist and he has called a fascist and guess what -- smiles all around. The question, of course, is why?
Also, tonight from Chicago, a 360 exclusive. The woman shot by border patrol and labeled domestic terrorist, talks about the case against her falling apart and the scars she carries away from it.
And later, the President names a new attack at Jimmy Kimmel. What Kimmel said this time to set Trump off.
Good evening everyone, John King in for Anderson tonight. Starting us off, an Oval Office meeting that could easily have turned nasty yet instead overflowed with nice. President Trump welcoming the mayor elect of New York, Zohran Mamdani. President Trump stepping in to keep things from going off the rails.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?
ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR-ELECT: I've spoken about it.
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You can just say, okay, okay, it's easier than explaining it, I don't mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Fascist, just one harsh Mamdani campaign label for Trump and the son of Queens, now turned President, happily returned those insults. Remember calling Mamdani a communist, a disaster and threatening to withhold billions in federal aid from the city? But this very, very different day included the President sounding as if he'd be happy to move back too soon to be Mamdani's New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Would you feel comfortable living in New York City under a Mamdani administration?
TRUMP: Yes, I would. I really -- especially after the meeting. Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, we all know from experience it did not have to go the way it did. More than a few others with those who have clashed with the President, those meetings will have not gone well. Just ask Ukraine's President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave, but you're either going to make a deal or we're out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Many thought this also might be a slugfest, especially given what each has already said about the other.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's going to be hard for me, as the President to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there.
MAMDANI: We have won because New Yorkers have stood up for a city they can afford, where the mayor will use their power to reject Donald Trump's fascism.
TRUMP: This guy is a communist at the highest level, and he wants to destroy New York.
MAMDANI: I will not be intimidated by this President. I will not be intimidated by anyone, because my job here is here is to serve the people of this city.
TRUMP: This communist from New York someday gets elected. I can't believe that's happening. That's a terrible thing for our country, by the way.
MAMDANI: So hear me, President Trump, when I say this, to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Yes, all that happened in the end, though, for reasons we'll
talk about with about with our very New York accented political panel tonight, the two men appear to have decided that, at least for now, it is better for their constituents and themselves to be seen as the kind of unlikely pair, maybe that only a city like New York can produce. That said, some of the moments today were truly remarkable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We agree on a lot more than I would have thought.
MAMDANI: I am really looking forward to delivering for New Yorkers in partnership with the President, on the affordability agenda.
TRUMP: So, we're going to work together.
MAMDANI: I've spoken about --
TRUMP: That's okay, you can just say, yes.
MAMDANI: Okay, sir.
TRUMP: Its easier than explaining it. I don't mind. We're going to help him, but I really think he has a chance to do a great job. I'll be cheering for him.
I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually. And some very liberal people, I think. I met with a -- I met with a man who's a very rational person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And now even more evidence, this love fest has a shelf life. Take a look, these are new photos of the visit the President just posted them on his social network with the words, "It was a great honor meeting Zohran Mamdani the new Mayor of New York City".
Wow, perspective now from the executive committee, chair of the New York State Democratic Committee and the President and CEO of WIN, Christine Quinn, former senior advisor to President Obama and our CNN chief political analyst, David Axelrod and Republican strategist and CNN political commentator, Shermichael Singleton.
David Axelrod, to you first, you've been in some awkward and some interesting and some fascinating Oval Office meetings. I had this morning, my bet was that this would go actually pretty well, because it's in the interest of both men to delay any fighting for until the mayor's actually in office. But I did not have on my bingo card Donald Trump saying, oh, yes, sure, hey, call me a fascist. I don't care, why? Why did this play out the way it did?
[20:05:15]
DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, did you have on your bingo card that the week would begin with him calling Marjorie Taylor Greene a traitor and would end with him embracing Zohran Mamdani? It's been a --
KING: There's a disruption in the --
AXELROD: -- for a week, yes. It's been quite a week. Look, I think you were right. I do think it was in both their interest. I think Mamdani made the right move by asking for the meeting. And then he made another good move by showing up and really searching for areas of agreement on which they could work together. He can be a very charming guy, that New Yorkers discovered that, and I think he brought that with him. But he also, you know, I thought brilliantly, for example, focusing on dealing with over-burdensome housing regulations in New York so that you could build housing more quickly.
That was going to be an idea that Donald Trump would embrace. Saying, yes, we do want to get violent people out of our city and there are 170 laws that on which we can work together with you on these immigration issues, but we don't want innocent people being harassed. I mean, he came with a strategy, and he understood Trump's psychology. And the combination of deference and understanding that psychology produced the result you saw.
KING: So, Christine, how do you build on it -- the challenge for the new mayor? He needs help from the governor and the legislature, the assembly here in New York. But he also does need help from the President. The President had said if Mamdani wanted to withhold billions to build the tunnel, for example, a tunnel New York needs, how do you take all these good words, the tapping, the backslapping, and what would your strategy be? What is your advice to the mayor elect be to say, now turn it into substance. Turn it into money, turn it into support and cooperation, not fighting.
CHRISTINE QUINN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMUNITY: Well, look, he needs to continue to reach out to President Trump. President Trump likes when people call him for advice. He likes to get phone calls from people. He needs to use him as a sounding board, someone he seems to be getting advice from. And look, I'm not at all surprised that this meeting went well at all. Donald Trump is a New Yorker and it is in his interest to see the city that helped him make his fortunes succeed.
He also is always very impressed by people who do well, who can command a moment, and certainly Mamdani has done that beyond anybody's expectations of what he could do. He's a political outsider. Trump was a political outsider. I think he has a lot of respect for that. And I think today's meeting was handled by both of them brilliantly, and it really creates a foundation where the mayor elect can go back to the President and say, hey, when we talked about housing, I need this.
When we talked about the price of groceries, I need this. When we talked about X, I need Y. And I think Mamdani who is amazingly charming, is going to be smart and strategic and continue to call on the President.
KING: While for the City of New York and its challenges, if they can actually have a productive relationship. But Shermichael watching those pictures and listening to the President's words, and then he adds more tonight on Truth Social about rational guy, liked it, happy to meet him, proud to meet him. What happened to the Republican strategy of this guy is a socialist? The entire Democratic Party is socialist. Don't vote for the socialist in 2026. Did Donald Trump just blow that up?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I look at this a little differently, John. I have to be honest. Look, it's going to make things more complicated for Elise Stefanik, who's running for governor in the State of New York. But what I think strategically, the President has just done, he just disrupted, I would argue, Democrats overall messaging strategy next year on affordability and the price in the cost of living.
I think the President can make the case that Republicans can work with progressive Democrats, who, by the way, don't typically get along with their Democratic establishment friends and say, hey, if they can't work with you, Republicans will where we can on affordability. Let's cut that red tape. Let's decrease the level of restrictions in New York to make housing more accessible. And by the way, let's also employ more native New Yorkers, young men, to build those houses.
So, the strategy doesn't go away. The strategy changes, John. And that two-and-a-half weeks ago, we got our butts kicked by Democrats at the local level. We lost two states. Mamdani got elected. The American people made it clear we elected Republicans on the guys that you would deliver on affordability and the cost of living. We haven't necessarily delivered. So what did the President do smartly and wisely, in my opinion, he's adjusting, he's pivoting. And the entire Republican Party should get behind the President to tackle the demands for the American people.
If we do so, I think we can maintain that very unique coalition that gave us that majority last November.
KING: We'll see if you're right, but a whole lot of ads planned by Republican ad makers just hit the cutting room floor.
QUINN: For sure.
KING: David, Shermichael mentioned Elise Stefanik, she is running for governor here in New York. And Trump was asked about her criticisms of the mayor-elect today. Take a listen.
[20:10:26]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. President, Republican Elise Stefanik has campaigned multiple times by calling Zohran Mamdani a Jihadist. Do you think you're standing next to a Jihadist right now in the Oval Office?
TRUMP: No, I don't, but she's out there campaigning and, you know, you say things sometimes in a campaign.
REPORTER: Isn't that -- TRUMP: She's a very capable person. But you really have to ask her
about that. But I don't particularly -- I think I met with -- I met with a man who's a very rational person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Stefanik responding tonight, David, on social media, in part saying well have to agree to disagree on this one, and again, calling the mayor elect a Jihadist. Again, did the President of the United States just pulled the rug out from under her?
AXELROD: Yes, no, I think it makes it more complicated, for sure and especially if this relationship continues. But I love the observation that, you know, you say things when you're campaigning. Boy, do you ever you look at these two guys. You know, I remember -- you remember Mario Cuomo used to say you campaign in poetry and govern in prose, but really, these days. Apparently, you campaign in battery and govern in prose. They beat the hell out of each other but they both have an incentive, as you said at the beginning, to work together. And I just want to second what, Christine said.
You could see Donald Trump looking at Mamdani as he did and saying, the guys got moves. The guy is good. And, you know, he's always been sort of the producer in chief, not just the commander in chief. He is the casting director, and he always comments on how people do on T.V. and how people perform.
Well, Mamdani is a good performer, and as Christine said, another guy who came from the outside and humbled the establishment. And I think Trump respects that.
KING: Well, it's given the many issues and there are different perspectives on them. I'm skeptical this love fest can last, but it is a fascinating start to it. Christine Quinn, David Axelrod Shermichael Singleton, we'll continue this conversation in the weeks and months and maybe longer ahead.
Up next for us, though, the peace deal the President now wants to impose on Ukraine. A peace deal that one Republican lawmaker, who is a retired Air Force General, calls the worst case of appeasement since 1938.
And later, Anderson's conversation with the retiring House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi on the Washington she's leaving and her hope that the politics she once knew might one day return.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Do you think things will ever return to kind of an era where people do kind of work across the aisles?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Yes, I think so. I think so. That's what it was before, and we have an obligation to try.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:17:35]
KING: Some breaking political news tonight and it is big breaking political news. Just moments ago, the Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on her X account the announcement -- she's resigning next month, her last day, she says January 5th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I'll be resigning from office with my last day being January 5th, 2026, and I look forward to seeing many of you again sometime in the future. May God bless you all and may God bless America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Back with us now, David Axelrod and Shermichael Singleton. Shermichael, to you first, as the Republican in the conversation, President Trump recently said he wanted her primaried. She recently said he was wrong. She stood up to him on the Epstein files, and she won. What do we make of this?
SINGLETON: I mean, I'm a bit surprised. I mean, Thomas Massie is also up for reelection, and he's been able to in a very unique way, pivot despite the President's attacks. I was actually just talking to a friend who's very close to the congressman a couple days ago, and he was telling me that the congressman has actually seen his fundraising numbers increase by focusing on H-1B visas and focusing on prioritizing work for Americans.
And so, I would have argued, if I were advising her, hey, you might be able to get through this brief moment in time, but perhaps she thought otherwise. Maybe she's looking at future plans. But this is a big shocker, John.
KING: Her people, David, have said she could survive that. She's been raising money and that she thinks she's safe in her district. To Shermichael's point, she did say, I'll see you again. What do you make of that?
AXELROD: Yes, I think that was the key. That was the key takeaway to me. I think she would have won in her district. I don't think this is her assessment of her chances in this election. I think she surveyed, first of all, what it meant to come back to a house where the President was unhappy with her. She has a bad relationship with the Speaker of the House, probably in the minority. And she decided that there might be greener pastures.
Remember John, she wanted to run statewide this year. She wanted to run for the Senate, I believe. And that was turned thumbs down by the White House and the powers that be in the party. I think that may be part of what her estrangement has been about. Not, you know, questioning her sincerity on this Epstein issue. But I think she's got her eye on bigger things here. As she said, I
expect -- I hope to see you down the line. And I think that is a precursor, because what we know is she is formidable.
She's one of the most formidable fundraisers in the Republican Party. She knows how to get attention, and she has made this transformation here that is interesting. Still a MAGA person but much broader in her reach. So, you know, I think this is not the end of the story here, not the end of the story.
[20:20:34]
KING: The question is, what's the next chapter, Shermichael? Is it -- does she reconsider about running statewide next year, there's a Senate race in Georgia or we have this conversation all the time. We just saw it in the elections in Virginia and in New Jersey, where Republican candidates try to be like Trump and forgive my language, but they get smoked because Trump is a unique phenomenon.
She actually is like Trump. She actually is in touch with a lot of his base. Do you think she has national ambitions? Is she thinking, J.D. Vance, I'll see you in Iowa?
SINGLETON: I mean, I can't imagine that, John. I don't think she would be very successful if I'm being blunt and candid as a Republican strategist. I do, however, beg the question, can she actually even be successful in a statewide race in Georgia?
Remember, Georgia elected Kemp twice. He certainly isn't someone that I would say is in the vein of a Donald Trump and has actually had various infighting in the state.
KING: That's precisely, forgive me for interrupting. Forgive me for interrupting. That's precisely the reason I say. And I know you say, you know, I can't see her going up against J.D. Vance. But, you know, David Axelrod is in this conversation. Nobody could see Barack Obama beating Hillary Clinton.
You know, Donald Trump is President of the United States for a second time. Nobody could see him winning the Republican nomination or the White House the first time. And a lot of people said he could never win the White House again after January 6th. That is why I say we live in the age of improbable success stories.
SINGLETON: Yes, but John, I don't think she's a Barack Obama or even a Donald Trump. And if she's thinking about a statewide race and I would imagine David would agree with me here, what is the constituency to propel Marjorie Taylor Greene statewide? She wouldn't get Donald Trump's support, and I doubt that she would get the support of the current governor, Kemp. So, then what would be that path to Marjorie Taylor Greene, success to the U.S. Senate? I just don't see it.
KING: David, hang on with your thought. I just want to bring to the conversation.
AXELROD: Yes, but listen -- KING: Hang on, hang on, David, just one second. I want to bring in to
our conversation with some new reporting. Our senior White House correspondent, Kristen Holmes. Again, Kristen, this is very dramatic coming at the end of a week where Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene, once very close allies, have had a very public and very nasty breakup.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes and one of the most remarkable things about this is I have talked to a number of people who are close to Marjorie Taylor Greene, who described the last several days as painful for her. I mean, you got to remember, there are a number of different kinds of Trump supporters in Washington.
There are the supporters of convenience, and there are the true believers. And I do tend to think that overall, the true believers are further, fewer and farther between. And she was a true believer when it came to Donald Trump. And I think that part of her never thought it would get this bad with the President. And even when she was speaking out against him, I don't think she thought that he would personally attack her. And, of course, as we know with President Trump, almost always, loyalty is a one way street. And she learned this the very hard way as a true believer, who then essentially got excoriated by him online.
And I will tell you, I was talking to people who were close to her, who were telling me that she was getting threats nonstop. I know she posted about this. And then you had President Trump, even with that, saying that she was playing herself or portraying herself as a victim.
It seems to me, and look -- what her next role is. I think that's obviously a huge question, but I do have to agree with Shermichael that there's not a clear path here. I think that her path is kind of the Donald Trump woman version of Donald Trump has obviously run its course. And so, what she decides to do next will obviously have to wait and see. But I do think it's pretty remarkable that he has now, you know, most of the people that we've seen stand up to him and then decide that they're going to resign or retire. Are people who are all already kind of in the middle, people who we were surprised to see them supporting Donald Trump in full anyway.
That is just not the case with Marjorie Taylor Greene. And so, this is one of the first cases of somebody who was full on supported the President and then he turned on her, and now she's leaving office.
KING: And so, Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. David Axelrod, I want to bring you back into the conversation to follow up on those excellent points, Kristen just made.
Number one, she is someone who sparred with Trump who is stepping aside. But number two, she's somebody who I know a lot of people out there watching this conversation disagree vehemently with her politics. However, you know, she has a skill set. She is a communicator.
She is a fundraiser. We don't know what she's going to do next. I would say she's dangerous to the President in this regard, in that she just said he's wrong on the Epstein files and she won. She said he has been tone deaf on these affordability issues, that when she goes back home to her district in Georgia, she's hearing people are still struggling.
The challenge in the midterm campaign is to motivate your base. If she for any reason decides she wants to continue to speak in ways that are counter to Trump, if you will, dissonance with Trump that could affect the Republican Party in the midterm year, could it not?
[20:25:29]
AXELROD: Yes, it could. I think, John more likely, if she's not doing anything this year, that she might be looking at 28, you know, I know that right now, J.D. Vance is way ahead in the Republican primaries in polling, but that's not really worth very much. And there is a likelihood that there'll be other people in that race. And so, you know, maybe she is looking at that and if she's looking at that, are full frontal assaults on Trump for the next year, that might damage the Republican Party helpful to her.
Who knows, maybe she's looking to a career in media, John. You know, I mean, anything is possible here, but. But I think she has proven herself. And, look, I'm deeply critical of many things that she's said and done. But you have to acknowledge that she has made herself a formidable character in our public life. And it seems unlikely that she's going to just fade away.
KING: So we will wait now and do a lot of reporting on what that next chapter might be. David Axelrod, Shermichael Singleton, thanks so much, Kristen Holmes as well for hustling on the breaking news. And more on that breaking news ahead. I'm going to talk to one of the Congresswoman's Democratic House colleagues. Jake Auchincloss joins us after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:31:13]
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R), GEORGIA: I'll be resigning from office with my last day being January 5th, 2026. And I look forward to seeing many of you again sometime in the future. May God bless you all, and may God bless America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That just moments ago, the Republican Congresswoman, the MAGA favorite, Marjorie Taylor Greene, dropping that bombshell, saying she is leaving in the middle of her house term and in the middle of a clash with her once MAGA friend and mentor, Donald Trump.
Joining us now, Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss. Congressman, great to see you tonight. We originally booked you for another reason. I'll get to that in a second. But normally, a Democrat hearing -- if we were having this conversation weeks ago or a month ago, a Democrat hearing Marjorie Taylor Greene is leaving Washington and going home, there'd be champagne popping and handstands and the like.
In the last couple weeks or so, she's become kind of an ally on some issues. What do you make of this?
REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No, John, she hasn't. I just heard --
KING: Not on the Epstein --
AUCHINCLOSS: -- David Axelrod describe her -- she's an outrage entrepreneur, and she will --
KING: OK.
AUCHINCLOSS: -- seek out whatever the hot button issue of the day is. And when I hear David Axelrod describe her as, quote, "a formidable character in public life," to me, it says nothing about her. And it says everything about the state of our public life today in America.
We need to reflect as a country about the state of our discourse, about the state of our politics, about how we treat one another, if that is the standard of a formidable character in public life. I mean, David Axelrod worked for Barack Obama, for goodness sake. This is where we're at now.
I just -- housing, health care are taking up 50 percent of the middle class's take-home pay, and we're -- she's consuming time talking about, you know, this, that, and the other, you know, divisive issue of the day. We need plans on affordability, and we need to elevate the conversation.
KING: To the point you're making, I want you to listen. I know you're going to be mad at me again, but I get your outrage, so I'm going to ask you to have some indulgence. Just a little bit more of what she said in that resignation video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREENE: I have too much self-respect and dignity. I love my family way too much, and I do not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the President that we all fought for, only to fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms. And in turn, be expected to defend the President against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me.
It's all so absurd and completely unserious. I refuse to be a battered wife, hoping it all goes away and gets better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: A pretty public discourse there about what -- you do start to see some fraying in the MAGA movement. You do start to see the President, once they had their break -- she was a key Trump ally -- saying, go after her. Is she doing the right thing, I guess? Do you agree with what she said there?
AUCHINCLOSS: I'm not going to give political advice to Marjorie Taylor Greene. What I will say is MAGA is cracking, and they're cracking under the pressure of the President's incompetence on the economy and his increasingly desperate attempts to distract Americans from that incompetence by his abuse of the military, both at home in his illegal deployments of the military to American cities and overseas in his equally illegal saber-rattling and strikes against Venezuela.
And Democrats need to stay on the offensive. We need to continue to call the question towards Republicans on tariffs, on the Epstein files, and the endemic corruption in this administration, on this President's lawlessness, and whether Republicans are going to stand for the rule of law or for the law of the ruler.
[20:35:11]
And we are not going to back down over the course of this next year, heading into the midterms, just because Marjorie Taylor Greene cries uncle.
TRUMP: We asked you here tonight because you're a Marine veteran. As you know, the President essentially threatened or raised the thought of sedition against some of your colleagues because they posted a video saying, hey, look, members of the military, if you get illegal orders, you have every right to ignore them. You're every night not allowed to follow them.
President tried to dial it back a little bit today. Maybe you disagree, saying he didn't mean death, but he still thought it's very, very serious. What does that do? You talked about your outrage with the political climate. You didn't want to give Marjorie Taylor Greene any oxygen because of her at least past role in that.
Did the President take a step forward today, or does he stay right where he was, in your view, which is in an outrageous place?
AUCHINCLOSS: He sounds like Maduro. That's the kind of thing that a tin pot dictator would say as he desperately clings to power. What makes America the greatest nation in the history of the world is that we have planted this beautiful idea of the inherent equality of all people in a soil of respect for the rule of law.
And one of the first things I tell to every individual that I nominate for one of the service academies is that they swear an oath not to a political party, not to a president, but to the Constitution of the United States. And that is the same instruction that my colleagues were given to the service members in that video. And it is a critical element of the United States military and, indeed, of the United States itself.
KING: Congressman Auchincloss, grateful for your time tonight, and you're dealing with the breaking news with us as well. Thank you, sir. We'll continue that conversation as well.
Up next, President Trump's very tight deadline to Ukraine to agree to a peace plan for Kyiv, which reads like it came from Moscow.
And later, a 360 exclusive, the woman shot by federal agents in Chicago, called a domestic terrorist, now vindicated. Her charge is dismissed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:41:13]
KING: Tonight, President Trump putting heavy pressure on Ukraine, giving President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a deadline of Thursday to accept his 28-point plan to end Russia's war on its neighbor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We think we have a way of getting peace. He's going to have to approve it. He'll have to like it. And if he doesn't like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess.
At some point, he's going to have to accept something. You know, he hasn't accepted. You remember right in the Oval Office not so long ago, I said, you don't have the cards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: It is the Trump plan, but it mirrors Putin's longstanding demands. A lot to discuss with CNN Senior Political and Global Affairs Commentator Rahm Emanuel and CNN Global Affairs Analyst Brett McGurk.
Rahm Emanuel, to you first. It makes Ukraine accept very painful land concessions. It says you have to shrink your military. It says you must publicly say you will never join NATO.
Trump has gone back and forth and back and forth on whose side he's on here. This is Putin's side. What do you make of the deadline?
RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, one is, you called it -- in every negotiation I've ever been in, there's concessions. This is not concessions. This is capitulation. I don't think this will stand the test of time because you're asking Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine to do something that's impossible for any elected official to do in Ukraine.
And so I don't think it will stand in that effort. And as I said, you're basically rewarding the aggressor and punishing the victim. And you're undermining the number one rule of international law, which is about you can't change geography by aggression.
So I think the deadline, I find it very interesting just to add that one point, John, I guarantee you they didn't give President Putin a deadline to say yes or no to certain things. Not a chance.
KING: That's an excellent point there. And Brett, we're watching the contentious Oval Office meeting. It was after that meeting that Europe essentially staged an intervention. The NATO allies, other European allies came to the White House.
They did everything they could to switch Trump's mind, to say, we'll provide the weapons. We'll buy them from American manufacturers. We'll take over here. Can there be another one? Or does the President of the United States this time seem like he's made a final decision?
BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: No, John, I don't think this is going to fly. The timing is very weird. I mean, the sanctions that President Trump put on Russia last month go into effect today on Russia's oil and gas industry. And the idea was to put more pressure on Russia. That's now taken off the table.
But let me talk about these land concessions. It is so -- that's why I don't think there's any way Ukraine can accept this. Basically, Ukraine has to concede. It's called the Fortress Belt. It's about 14 percent of the Donbas. Russia, over four years, has not been able to take that area.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense last -- just this month put out a report saying it would take Russia likely four years, maybe another million casualties to take that area. Russia is impaling itself on that territory. There's no way Ukraine can concede that.
And just stepping back from Ukraine, you know, an acronym CRINK, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, they are all working with Russia in this contest. And if a deal like this goes through, I'm very concerned the lessons that Xi Jinping takes from that, what it means for Taiwan.
So this next week is pivotal. I hope this is not the deal and we find a way to buy some more time. I think you're right. The Europeans can play an important role.
KING: And so --
EMANUEL: John --
KING: -- Rahm, as Brett makes that point, the next week is critical. Don Bacon, Republican congressman, centrist, former Air Force general, says this is as equal to or maybe worse than 1938, hasn't seen any appeasement since then. What can you do in that week?
EMANUEL: Well, I think there's a lot that Europe can do to intervene with the President. Look, I wrote about this in the journal. The President of the United States totally has always underestimated the weak hand that President Putin has here.
[20:45:01]
As Brett noted, it's taken him 11 years to move about 11 percent -- about 20 percent or 18 percent. He doesn't have the manpower. His economy is crushing under the sanctions. He wanted to stop NATO. NATO's on, now with Finland, on closer to the Russian border. He's lost sway between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He's lost sway in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
His intelligence was wrong about Kyiv. His intelligence was wrong about Syria. His intelligence was wrong about the Wagner Group. He is, literally, has lost on every aspect. And the only thing saving him from the fatality of his decision to invade all of Ukraine is President Trump.
KING: So, Brett, to that point, if Donald Trump's goal is to win the Nobel Peace Prize, if that's what this is about, he's not going to win it for rewarding a dictator and giving him the land in a democracy. So why? I guess the question is, why?
MCGURK: John, I wrote a piece on CNN.com about two months ago, said winter is coming in Ukraine and it's going to be a tough winter. And the play here is to support the Ukrainians through this very difficult winter. Putin always believes winter is on his side. That's when he can break the will of the Ukrainians.
I think if you can get through the winter, you can open up some space for diplomacy in the spring. But right now, this is really rushed. This is dangerous. And I think Zelenskyy is not going to take the deal. And I hope the Europeans here can come in with a counteroffer.
I think that's being -- that's actually is being prepared now in those capitals. So I hope they can come in and get the President's attention, because this is too fast, too rushed and not strategic at all.
KING: Brett McGurk, Rahm Emanuel, grateful --
EMANUEL: John --
KING: Go ahead, quickly.
EMANUEL: Oh, good. Two quick points. One, the foreign ministers of NATO meet right after Thanksgiving. That's a crucial meeting. Second, it's not the weapons from the United States that matter, it's the intelligence that matters. And that's, unfortunately, the leverage I think the President administration can use to force Zelenskyy to make a decision that's against the interests of the Ukrainian people.
KING: Obviously, a consequential six days ahead of us.
Rahm Emanuel, Brett McGurk, gentlemen, thank you so much.
A major development tonight in Chicago, where a federal judge granted the prosecution's request to dismiss charges against Marimar Martinez, who was caught up in the big immigration crack down there. She's the American citizen who was charged with assaulting federal officers last month, accused of ramming an agent's vehicle before he shot her in an exclusive interview.
Martinez tells CNN's Omar Jimenez her story and how the government case fell apart.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIMAR MARTINEZ, SHOT 5 TIMES BY BORDER PATROL: Can I show them?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
MARTINEZ: OK, so I was shot in my arm right here, and then it went through my tricep and then I grazed the side of my chest.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Reminders of what could have been Marimar Martinez's last day. October 4th, the Department of Homeland Security claimed she rammed a Border Patrol agent's vehicle in Chicago with her car before that agent got out and shot her multiple times. She says she was on her way to donate clothes until she saw what appeared to be federal agents already becoming a familiar sight in Chicago's neighborhoods.
MARTINEZ: So I started beeping my horn as a Mexican-American first generation USA citizen. I felt it was my responsibility to let my neighborhood know that ICE agents were near.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): They turned out to be Border Patrol.
MARTINEZ: So I just got next to them and I was like, like, get out of here. And I was just like honking.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): That's when she says they sideswiped her, contradicting Border Patrol's narrative.
MARTINEZ: They immediately stopped. I got to go somewhere safe. I went to my furthest left, make sure that I wasn't going to hit them. As I was passing them, they started shooting at me through the side.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The agent got out of his vehicle and shot Martinez five times.
JIMENEZ: It feels like it's still top of mind for you, right?
MARTINEZ: It's painful. Like, just to like talk about it, it's like, think about it, like just me remembering like what happened that day. It's like traumatic, honestly.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): She was charged with forcibly assaulting and resisting or impeding a border agent and labeled a domestic terrorist by the Department of Homeland Security. And then over a month later, in what became a critical court hearing, the agent who shot her, Charles Exum, testified the collision was more of a hit, not rammed.
Then --
JIMENEZ: These text messages came out where he appeared to be bragging about shooting you. "Read it. Five shots. Seven holes. Put that in your book, boys."
You were sitting right there.
MARTINEZ: What type of agent brags about it? This is what the administration has out in the street.
CHRISTOPHER PARENTE, MARIMAR MARTINEZ ATTORNEY: For 15 years, I was a federal prosecutor. I worked every day with FBI, DEA, DHS. I have never come across an agent like that. And it's something that's embarrassing to me as a former federal prosecutor.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Thursday night, there was suddenly a major shift. The case was dropped and at the request of the prosecution. Despite the case being dismissed, DHS stuck to their original accusations.
[20:50:05]
JIMENEZ: "On October 4th, Border Patrol law enforcement officers were ambushed by domestic terrorists that rammed federal agents with their vehicles. The woman, Marimar Martinez, driving one of the vehicles, was armed with a semi-automatic weapon and has a history of doxing federal agents. We will not allow domestic terrorists to attack our law enforcement."
This was after you were cleared of these charges.
MARTINEZ: Where are they getting all this fake information from? I was just shocked, honestly.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): While a gun was found in her car, it was never brought out. It was still inside a holster with the snap closed. She also has her concealed carry license, her attorney says.
PARENTE: They're still putting out these false statements that are disputed by their own people, right? Agent Exum testified that there was no ramming. I mean, he's the driver. He was there.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): For Martinez, she's just happy this chapter is over with. But she can't avoid its reminders.
JIMENEZ: When you look at those, I mean, scars on your body, what do you think about?
MARTINEZ: I'm a survivor.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): And it's not just the physical scars she lives with.
MARTINEZ: I don't want to remember that day. You're laying there at night, and you're just thinking about it, like, what's going to happen? Like, it's really emotional to me. So it's, like, it's hard for me to talk about it, but I'm trying.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ (on-camera): And remember, this is a case that the FBI Director Kash Patel was tweeting about, with the wrong video, by the way, in a tweet that is still up. I asked the FBI about it today, and they didn't have a comment. But remember, this case was also cited by the Trump administration as part of their appeal to the Supreme Court as for why they believed the National Guard needed to be here.
So a case of extreme significance and a major development. Martinez is just ready to move forward with her life, John.
KING: Fantastic interview. Omar Jimenez, thank you so much for that.
Up next for us, Anderson's conversation with the retiring, but certainly never shy, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:56:13]
KING: Anderson was on Capitol Hill this week for an exclusive conversation with the Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. It was her first interview since she announced her retirement. That after 20 terms, seven presidents, and one historic first, the first and so far only female Speaker of the House.
After their interview, Pelosi gave Anderson a tour of the National Statuary Hall in the Capitol and spoke more about the history she's witnessed. She began with January 6th.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: When you walk through here, how much do you think about January 6th?
SPEAKER EMERITA NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, I think about January 6th, but here and also in the rotunda. And that's under the dome that Lincoln built. So this is -- they defecated it on the floor. That's what they did. That these patriots, hostages, they defecated it on the floor. That's what they did here.
COOPER: Do you think history will remember what actually happened here or do you --
PELOSI: No, I think so. I think so. I think there's going to be a lot of, shall we say, rehabilitation. Now, when I became Speaker, I want you to know that I wanted to have more women. So we added two. We have Rosa Parks there.
Rosa Parks said she wanted to be seated in her statue. As if she were on the bus.
COOPER: Oh, really? She said that?
PELOSI: Yes, she did.
COOPER: Will you miss this?
PELOSI: No. I mean, I've been here almost 39 years. No, I mean, I'll still come here, right?
COOPER: Right. In terms of presidents you've worked with, who stands out to you?
PELOSI: Well, Barack Obama, that's for sure. And Joe Biden was a fabulous, fabulous president. But I had good relationships past significant legislation with George W. Bush. I loved his father. We had our moments, but I loved his father. And with George W. Bush, it was a war in Iraq, which I completely opposed.
But we got along. We passed one of the biggest energy bills in the history of our country. It was the energy bill of 2007.
COOPER: Do you think things will ever return to kind of an era where people do kind of work across the aisles?
PELOSI: Yes, I think so. I think so. That's the way it was before. And we have an obligation to try. We just have an obligation to try. To be bipartisan, to be transparent, so people know what's happening, and also to be accountable to the public. I say those three things go together.
The -- some of my good friends that I work with even now on human rights around the world are on the Republican side. So we still have some connections on issues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
PELOSI: So when the kids come here, I always say to them, when you see these statues, and you see them all around Washington, they are to respect and honor those who have gone before. People whose statues they are want us to be looking to the future and working for a better future for our children, for our posterity. These all --
COOPER: The eyes of history are on us. Yes.
PELOSI: Right. There she is, Cleo. Cleo is the god -- the muse of history. And she is writing down everything. I keep saying to members, she's writing down everything she hears you say here.
COOPER: What do you think she's recording about the history of our times right now?
PELOSI: What do you think she was writing on January 6th? Appalled.
COOPER: She was there on January 6th. She saw it all.
PELOSI: Yes, she saw it all. She was there. She was there.
COOPER: Are you optimistic about America?
PELOSI: You have to be optimistic about America. It's America. It's the United States of America. That's -- what did I hear them say yesterday? The American Revolution was the greatest underdog victory of all time because we were -- who we were against the greatest naval power in the world.
And they had that optimism to win the vision of a free country, liberty. It didn't even exist, right, until then. So that's our heritage and they did what they did for themselves and their posterity and that's what we have to do for our posterity, honoring their vision.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
KING: The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
