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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Outrage Grows Among Dems After Eight Side With GOP On Shutdown; Senate Moves Toward Final Vote On Deal To End Shutdown; Now: Growing Flight Delays Amid FAA Staffing Shortages; Trump Hosts Syria's Jihadist-Turned-President At White House. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired November 10, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Come on, come on, come on. Maple bacon.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: This is wild, though. Unbelievable pictures.
"THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT" starts right now.
(MUSIC)
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. Welcome to THE ARENA. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Monday.
As we come on the air, the Democratic Party is all but spiraling out over a deal that the Senate approved to reopen the government. Eight Democratic senators broke with the rest of their party over the weekend to cut a deal with Republicans, arguing it was time to lay down their arms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN . TIM KAINE (D-VA): This was the reality. SNAP recipients suffering, nothing happening on ACA. So, from suffering and no path, we've now got robust benefits in the path.
SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): Staying in a shutdown mode was not getting us anywhere.
SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): If the battle plan isn't working, you change the battle plan. You try another tactic, especially if what's happening is danger to your troops.
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): It's like, take the win. You know, we had an election and it went well on Tuesday. You're over -- you want to overplay your hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: But those Democrats, those eight Democrats are standing alone, at least in public.
The party's presidential hopefuls, potential primary challengers, progressive members and even the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives appear to be apoplectic over giving up the fight against Donald Trump.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, he called the deal pathetic. New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill described it as malpractice. Congressman Ro Khanna saying that Chuck Schumer should lose his job as senate minority leader. Schumer himself opposed the deal.
Perhaps most eyebrow-raising, possible Schumer primary challenger, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said this, quote, "Working people want leaders whose words mean something," end quote.
Oh, you want more? There's more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): There's no way to defend this. And you are right to be angry about it. I'm angry about it.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: Now with respect to the senators on the other side of the Capitol, they're going to have to explain themselves.
SEN. JOHN HICKENLOOPER (D-CO): I voted no just because -- not because I'm so pissed off. I'm just frustrated.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You have confidence in Schumer.
SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): Hey, again, this is -- you know, this -- I've been here four and a half years now. And you know, he's been the been the leader. And I understand why. You know people look at this and say, well this was kind of a rough, you know, period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The question was, do you have confidence in Schumer? The answer could easily have been yes. And yet it was not.
Let's get off the sidelines, head into THE ARENA. My panel is here and we're going to start with CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju, one of the hardest working men in television over the weekend and into today.
Manu, what are you hearing?
RAJU: Yeah, look, the question right now is when the Senate will actually vote to pass a bill to reopen the government. It requires all 100 senators to reach a time agreement. Any one senator can object and drag it out and try to negotiate behind the scenes to resolve some concerns.
There is some expectation that this bill could pass, potentially late tonight, maybe tomorrow morning. Then the House would come back into session within 36 hours. Remember, the House has been out of session since September 19th because of the speakers decision to keep the chamber out, try to pressure Democrats in the Senate to vote for the bill to reopen the government. Now, this deal that was cut was a Senate deal that not only would reopen the government until January 30th, it includes as part of that Affordable Care Act subsidy discussion, a separate vote that would occur no later than the second week of December on an ACA bill.
It is unclear what that bill is. Democrats would draft that bill. Then it would come to the floor. But because there's a separate vote and not tied to government funding, that means there is no assurance at all that this will become law, much less pass the Senate or pass the Republican-led House.
And that is what's causing so much frustration in the angst. Senator Mark Kelly told me moments ago that he was disappointed with this deal that was cut, but he also contended that this will be another issue come December. Another chance for the two sides to make their voices known about health care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Are you frustrated with your colleagues for cutting this deal?
KELLY: Well, this is -- this is a challenging situation for everybody. And -- but the Republicans are going to have another opportunity here in December to show the American people where they are on this. You know, they're going to be presented with an option to do something on these premiums.
RAJU: Yeah.
KELLY: And they'll have to provide the votes. If this is -- if the American people is going to get some relief.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Now, I talked to several of those Democratic senators who did cut this deal, and I asked them about the concerns among some on the left flank that this amounted to a capitulation of sorts over health care. And they said, look, there was really no opportunity, no chance of getting a better deal at this point.
There was some hope. They believe that Trump could get behind an extension of those subsidies that are expiring at years end because of the concern that people's health care premiums are set to increase and are already increasing because of the expectation that they would expire. They thought that perhaps Trump could get behind this, particularly after the Tuesday -- last Tuesday's election losses.
But over the last several days, Trump has dug in, criticizing the Affordable Care Act, contending that he would not agree with the extensions of the Democrats are calling for injecting his own ideas into the mix. And there was an ultimate calculation by these members that this is the best deal they could get on this issue. Nothing really would change in their view if they held out another week or two weeks. Meantime, Americans were feeling the consequences. Increasingly, day after day, whether its federal food aid, furloughs, not getting paychecks, travel problems and the like, and that this was a deal that had to be cut in order to move ahead here. But as you can see, as you noted, Kasie, this party deeply divided
over this deal, even though its poised to pass Congress in just a matter of days.
HUNT: Indeed.
All right, Manu Raju, thanks very much. I'm sure well be following your reporting throughout the hour.
And joining us now in THE ARENA, Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, Seth Moulton. He's also running for Senate in Massachusetts in 2026. He is primarying a fellow Democrat.
Congressman, it's great to see you. Thanks for being here.
REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Good to see you, too.
HUNT: Do you think that Chuck Schumer is in control of the Senate Democratic Caucus?
MOULTON: No. No, he's not. I mean, he's got eight Democrats going rogue here. He himself voted against them. And that's not leadership. You know, that's not leadership at a time when we desperately need leadership to stand up to Donald Trump.
And it's certainly not leadership when Trump is -- Trump and the Republicans are close to caving here. He has them over a barrel. I mean, Trump just a few days ago, you know, said that the election losses last Tuesday were in large part because of the government shutdown. That's pretty obvious to a lot of Americans.
We've got Marjorie Taylor Greene has conservatives, as you can come as a Republican saying that her own family can't afford health care unless Republicans agree to what Democrats want.
So, I don't know why you would give in now.
HUNT: Do you think that Chuck Schumer should step aside now and let someone else lead Democrats in the Senate?
MOULTON: I think it would be better. I think it would be better than the status quo. And I hear this from Democrats all across Massachusetts. Everywhere I go, people say there's a leadership vacuum right now in the Democratic Party. We need new leadership. Weve got to stop protecting this establishment status quo. That's gotten us a second term of Donald Trump. And he's hurting a lot of people, a lot of Americans all across this country, a lot of people right here in Massachusetts are being hurt by this administration.
I mean, the guy literally went to the Supreme Court this past weekend and pleaded with them to allow him to let Americans starve. What kind of precedent is this? And now we're going to give in to him. It doesn't make sense.
HUNT: Is Senator Markey part of the problem? MOULTON: Well, he is, as long as he supports Senator Schumer. I mean,
I don't think people look at Senator Markey and Senator Schumer and say, those are the leaders that are going to take us forward as Democrats.
You know who they look at. They look at people like Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, two great veterans I helped get to the House in 2018. I supported their campaigns to serve America. They helped flip seats all across the country when we needed to win back seats for the midterms and keep Trump accountable in his first term.
And now, they're governors. Now they're winning races. Now they're showing real leadership. That's the next generation of leadership that we need to pass the torch to in the Democratic Party.
HUNT: Congressman, the president just weighed in on what happened in the Senate over the weekend and what's next for the shutdown. Let's watch what he said. We'll talk about it. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Depends what deal we're talking about. But if it's a deal I heard about, that's certainly, you know, they want to change the deal a little bit. But I would say so I think based on everything I'm hearing, they haven't changed anything. And we have support from enough Democrats and we're going to be opening up our country. It's too bad it was closed, but we'll be opening up our country very quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: It seems like a relatively positive tone from the president. Your reaction?
MOULTON: He is, of course, he's positive because Democrats just gave in. We just gave in to Donald Trump. We just gave in to a guy who's trying to let American families starve, who doesn't care if they're American kids waiting in breadlines.
We should not give in to him. A few months down the road, those same American families that are starving right now because he's trying to prevent them from getting food, are not going to be able to afford health care. We're the only ones standing between the American people and Donald Trump's vicious, hateful agenda. We've got to stand tall. We've got to beat Donald Trump, not give in to him.
HUNT: I know Democrats were supposed to talk amongst themselves just about an hour ago in the House.
[16:10:01]
Can you give us a sense of how your colleagues in the Democratic -- House Democratic Caucus are feeling right now?
MOULTON: Very frustrated with Schumer and the -- and the -- and the Republicans. And the reality is that most of this -- HUNT: Did Schumer talk to Jeffries about this at all?
MOULTON: I don't know. But I do know that what I heard from most of my colleagues is that we in the House want to stand strong and stand together and support Americans' right to afford health care, which should be a human right. And so, we're kind of flabbergasted at what's going on in the Senate right now.
HUNT: In terms of what's next in the house, do you think it's possible that this may not pass the House as it is?
MOULTON: Well, it's an interesting question because most Democrats are going to vote against it. I mean, the House seems pretty -- the House Democratic caucus seems pretty united against this deal. And, you know, there may be some Republicans who are against it as well. I mean, look, we heard from Marjorie Taylor Greene that she can't afford health care.
Now, you never count on her for a vote. She could change her mind at the last minute. But it'll be interesting to see what happens. I think the Republicans are certainly going to try to jam this through, because they just basically do whatever Donald Trump wants. But there's a lot of dissension here, and there's a lot of -- frankly, was more room to negotiate than Senate Democrats took advantage of in my opinion.
HUNT: Before I let you go, Congressman, you clearly and this interview, I think, underscores that you're looking at the base of your party. You're in a primary you recently committed to support and lead legislation like the transgender bill of rights. And this was after you told "The New York Times" that Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone, rather than being brutally honest about the challenges America has faced. And you referenced your daughters and said you don't want them to be run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.
But as a Democrat, I'm supposed to be afraid to say that.
Do you want to revise and extend those remarks here based on this new statement?
MOULTON: My voting record on transgender rights is 100 percent. I'm the one who carried a lot of the water in the House Armed Services Committee on making sure that transgender troops can continue serving. When Trump was trying to discriminate against them. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to have a debate about this issue, because when we refuse to do that, we just totally cede the ground to -- grounds to Republicans who are going to advance a singularly hateful agenda.
So, my point is, Democrats need to take on these tough issues. We need to have debates. You know, the Olympics has restrictions on sports. We should be able to debate that ourselves and not, you know, and not refuse to take that on because we're too afraid of the backlash. Because if we don't take on these issues, then the people who get hurt at the end of the day are transgender Americans. But we know that Donald Trump and the Republicans are trying to take
advantage of this, and we can't let them do that.
HUNT: All right. Congressman Seth Moulton, always grateful to have you on the show. Thanks for coming. I appreciate it.
MOULTON: Great to see you.
HUNT: All right. My panel is here in THE ARENA.
CNN contributor, "New York Times" journalist and podcast host, Lulu Garcia-Navarro; the host of "The Chuck Toddcast," Chuck Todd, CNN political commentator, former Biden White House communications director Kate Bedingfield, and senior adviser to the Trump 2024 campaign, Bryan Lanza.
Welcome to all of you. Thanks for being here.
Kate, I'll give you a brief reprieve and start with Chuck over here with what's going on here. You know, Chuck, I actually -- I want to -- I want to play something for you that that Chuck Schumer said back in March, okay. Because Democrats faced this dilemma in March, right? Their base was pushing them to shut down the government. Schumer kind of led the charge and saying no, and he explained it somewhat this way when he appeared on "The View". Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: I should be the leader. And let me just say this, one of the things I am known to be very good at is how to win Senate seats. In other words, I'm a strategist in terms of recruiting candidates, helping the candidates run campaigns, and winning. Look, winning in 2026, in the House and Senate, which could stop Trump once and for all, is vitally important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: It may be vitally important, but does he still know how to do that in this current environment?
CHUCK TODD, HOST OF CHUCK TODDCAST: Look, I don't think so. I sort of equate him to Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick, two guys that have won Super Bowls and they were really good 10 years ago. And I think this is a case where he's a bit out of touch.
Look, a better leader could sell this deal. This is not capitulation. This is a pause. You could make -- easily make the case, we're not going to let him take SNAP benefits away. And we're not going to let Sean Duffy, you know, screw up the air traffic -- air traffic system in this country during the important holidays.
So, we're going to be the adults in the room here. We're going to pause this. And we've got a vote in January. And if they refuse to do this, we'll shut this government down again until they do this.
But the problem is Chuck Schumer doesn't have credibility with the left, and he doesn't now have credibility with the pragmatic wing because he somehow got these people. I mean, he is the one that I think is making this look worse.
I mean, somehow Democrats are going to defeat from the jaws of victory here.
[16:15:02]
They've won. They've gotten more out of this shutdown than I expected them to get. They've got health care front and center. They've got their party fired up.
HUNT: They've just won.
TODD: They got Donald Trump making ridiculous -- I mean, going to court to stop SNAP benefits seem to be bad politics. Okay. We can discuss the -- you can have a longer term issue about that just seem to be bad short-term politics and the risk, this is like you're -- I'm going to do another metaphor. You're at the blackjack table. Things are going great. You can keep going and think, I'm going to keep getting good cards.
And if there's one air traffic accident, all of a sudden, all the goodwill that you think you've been winning here goes away. It's easy to be on the coast and think you're winning. Go be a real American having to deal with this.
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, and some of it, I mean, I agree broadly with your assessment here, Chuck. And I think some of it is that Schumer is actually kind of a similar problem that he had back in March. He didn't seed the ground at all. He didn't till the ground at all that any of this was coming.
I think there are absolutely -- it is absolutely the truth that over the course of this shutdown, Democrats have driven health care front and center. They -- if you look at both the polling, if you look at Trump's numbers, but also numbers, but also if you look at the results from a week ago. You see people were tagging Trump with the shutdown. They were blaming Republicans.
Republicans are on their back heels on health care. So, I think there absolutely is a way for Democrats to have said and for Schumer to have, you know, forecast, we're going to -- we're going to take a responsible step here and were going to do it in a way that's going to make sure that people get their SNAP benefits and that we continue driving on health care.
This is not the end of the fight. And that's to me, it's not the substance of what's happened here, although I do -- it is interesting if you look at the eight senators who voted for it, none of them are facing reelection in 2026.
TODD: You know what that means. And there's more than eight senators, Democratic senators that wanted this.
BEDINGFIELD: Absolutely. TODD: And these guys fell on their sword.
BEDINGFIELD: Absolutely. And it means, I think, that Schumer absolutely had a hand in working toward this and where he's -- where he's missed the mark is by not telegraphing it. And that's why he looks so weak.
BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: Listen, I think Schumer could have spent six months telegraphing it. The Democratic Party wants to fight. That's what they want. That's the first base. That's second base, third base. And that's a home run.
Whether it's immigration, whether it's the budget, whether it's anything they want, somebody who's willing to stand up and fight. And this was a fight that a week ago felt good for the Democratic Party and me on this table, Wednesday didn't feel so great. It feels good today on Monday.
But the reality is -- the reality is, is, you know, whether we have this debate now or whether we have this debate in January, Trump's made the decision what he wants to do with Obamacare. He's not going to -- he's not going to prop it up anymore. I think it's now have to receive subsidy after subsidy. I just don't see it happening. I've been in that cave --
TODD: -- Bryan.
LANZA: We'll see. I mean, I'm a gambling man. You're a gambling.
TODD: Yeah, I would bet. I would bet I don't think he knows who his voters are.
HUNT: Lulu? You talked to Schumer at length, by the way, it's worth noting in march. And you pushed him on this very this question of fighting.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I did, I think Schumer's toast. I don't --
(LAUGHTER)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, I think --
TODD: He's a burnt toast? What kind of toast?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I think it's -- I think it's burnt toast, actually. I think he's toast. I think the minute that the airplanes weren't flying anymore, this was a foregone conclusion. I think it is predictable that the Democrats are deciding to stab each other instead of trying to aim at Republicans.
And I think that going forward, what is going to happen is that they will live to fight another day. And none of this is resolved. And I don't think that this is good for Republicans either. And I think everyone comes out of this, as I've always said, quite wounded. HUNT: The bottom line is that this was pretty bad for America. This
was not a great day for the United States of America any way you look at it.
All right. Coming up in THE ARENA, President Trump's new demand/threat to air traffic controllers as staffing shortages reach new heights across the country. And airlines preparing for even more cancellations tomorrow to comply with federally mandated cuts because of the shutdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK DANIELS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION: The true issue is people not getting paid. That's the issue. And the only solution to it is ending the shutdown and ensuring that they receive the compensation and pay that they rightfully deserve. That there is no world that exists where you can't pay people and run the system the same. Issues --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:23:47]
HUNT: All right. With the Senate now a step closer to ending the government shutdown, there still remains the issue of air travel. Almost 2,000 flights have been canceled today. There are more than 6,000 delays. Some are from weather, but many of them are air traffic control, staffing problems. The FAA still plans to further reduce the number of flights this week.
Last Friday, they started a 4 percent reduction, which goes up to 6 percent tomorrow and possibly to 10 percent on Friday.
This morning, President Trump called, it's a nice way to put it, for all air traffic controllers to get back to work now, he put that in all caps, three exclamation points, and he says that those who don't go back to work will be, quote, substantially docked. We should underscore that there is legislation that says federal employees will get paid in the event of a shutdown.
I want to bring in CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean.
Pete, it's always great to see you. Although your beat has been -- there's been a lot of misery lately. What have travelers been experiencing today?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, today has been another tough day. And the head of the union of air traffic controllers didn't mince words about that and the president's post on truth social. He underscores that controllers are not calling out sick in protest, but rather for legitimate reasons, like due to the added financial stress of working without pay for six weeks.
[16:25:06] A controller just got another zero dollar paycheck. In fact, it comes in tomorrow, so not really a surprise that the list of spots short on controllers continues to grow. Today alone, we've seen about 36 air traffic control facilities, having reported staffing problems. That includes the control towers at Chicago O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, also Phoenix Sky Harbor. Those are major hubs for American airlines. You can also add the towers at San Francisco and LAX to the list.
This is all on the heels of the worst weekend for air traffic control staffing shortages since the shutdown began. The FAA reported roughly 150 shortages at 50 different FAA facilities, all the way from anchorage to San Juan, and that pushed the list of cancellations up and up, 1,500 Saturday, then nearly double that on Sunday, making that the fourth worst day for flight cancellations since the start of last year.
Today, not looking good either. More than 2,300 cancellations and 6,000 delays for all reasons, not just staffing shortages. Want you to listen now to the chief of the union of controllers, Nick Daniels, responding to President Trump's post, which said that controllers who called out sick should up and quit. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIELS: We'll work with the administration on any issues that are out there. Air traffic controllers have continued to show up during the shutdown. They've endured the longest shutdown in American history, and every single day they absolutely not only deserve their pay, they deserve to be recognized for what's going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: Not good to invite controllers to quit when there's always a major shortage.
Daniels also added that controllers are not pawns, political pawns in this shutdown game. Tomorrow, the Trump administration is ramping up its mandate for airlines to cancel flights preemptively. It's calling for airlines to cancel 6 percent of flights at 40 busy airports starting tomorrow. That number jumps to 10 percent on Friday if this shutdown continues.
Just yesterday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told our Jake Tapper that controllers are quitting at a faster clip due to this shutdown, and that agency remains more than a thousand controllers short, meaning that when this shutdown ends, the staffing issues will still persist, Kasie.
HUNT: Seems like a disaster. Pete Muntean, thank you very much for your reporting, sir. Much appreciated.
All right. Our panel has returned.
So what is it, Kate Bedingfield, that you think pushed Democrats to say uncle, basically like, enough with this shutdown. Is it the flights? Is it something else? BEDINGFIELD: I think if you look at the eight who negotiated, I think
the impact of the shutdown was really tangible in Virginia. I think that was -- that really drove Kaine and Kaine, I think was has been very vocal about that. I think -- I think the increased pressure on SNAP and I think continuing to see I think Democrats looked at this group of Democrats, looked at the Trump White House going to the Supreme Court and saying, we're going to fight to prevent people from getting SNAP.
And instead of taking the lesson that I might argue they maybe should have taken from it, they sort of said, okay, we're looking at actual people across the country, who are going to be hurt. Not saying they shouldn't have taken that lesson that didn't come out quite the right way.
But they used it as a moment to say, okay, this is having a real, tangible impact on people. And that sort of caused them to --
HUNT: Making a distinction between the politics of it.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes. And the actual very, very inarticulately. So thank you for thank you for clarifying that for me. Yes.
But I think that and I think that the flights also had an impact, too. You're starting to look as we roll into the Thanksgiving holiday, you're -- you know, you see people increasingly frustrated. And so, I think the combination of those things. But I also -- I would not say that this was a -- I think Democrats really make a mistake if they define this as caving, crying. Uncle, I do not think that --
HUNT: That's the part I don't understand.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I do not understand. I do not understand for the life of me --
HUNT: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I have seen this on social media. I see it here with all the representatives and senators coming on and just rushing to stab themselves in the face. I find it mystifying.
(CROSSTALK)
TODD: Donald Trump might say it's a loser mentality.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's mystifying, I understand -- listen, what they think they're doing is they're trying to --
HUNT: They're Twitter commentators?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, what they're trying to do is message to their base who are angry and they're trying to say, look, we are still ready to, you know, fight. And we -- this was taken away from us. I just think it's the wrong tactic to take at this point, because at the end of the day, there are real Americans who are not on social media, who are not the ones yammering in their ears who actually wanted this to end. And they can say, hey, we're the ones who are willing to take the fall
for this because we care about you.
LANZA: I think there's a -- there's a, you know, and I know very little about the Democratic Party. So, I'm not going to claim to be. But it feels like as an outside observer, there's a brushfire going on there, and they're getting more and more people thrown in because they're trying to appease the base that doesn't want to be appeased. And they're getting further and further left to try to appease this base that just doesn't want appeased.
Republicans went through this.
[16:30:00]
You know, we went through this for the freedom caucus, supremely disruptive. I was at Citizens United at the time. We helped create the Freedom Caucus that ultimately just created headaches for us. And so, we know that --
HUNT: I appreciate that honesty, Bryan.
TODD: You've seen --
LANZA: It is what it is. I've seen this movie. I'm seeing it replay again. But what you see from that in at least I think a good thing for the Republican Party was reaction that led to Trump to a disruptive figure coming in and sort of shaking apart the party, giving it a backbone, giving it to do something, fight, even if fighting sometimes doesn't make sense. Maybe that's where the Democratics go after -- the Democratic Party goes after this. But I'm just watching as an observer, watching this brush fire spread.
BEDINGFIELD: But I also -- I also think if you look at Tuesday, when you look at Mikie Sherrill, you look at Abigail Spanberger. I mean, these are moderate Democrats who I would argue are the model who will be successful in a lot of these swing districts, purple states in 2026 and beyond as we go into the presidential.
So there's no question there's energy in the base of the Democratic Party. They want to see -- they want to see a fight. But I don't know that I would argue that that necessarily means that, you know, from a policy perspective, the party is going to veer hard left.
I actually think the success in the party, you're seeing that -- you're seeing that in in the Spanberger and the Sherrills of the world.
TODD: And I was just going to say, look who overperformed Kamala Harris. Moderates like Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill.
Look who underperformed. Kamala Harris -- a progressive socialist like Zohran Mamdani.
So, the point is, is that the adult in the room voter, right. And Democrats have been campaigning as, hey, were not going to always play pot. You have to live by that if you're actually campaigning for it, that, hey, Democrats are saying he's only looking out for his interests or his governance. Youve got to actually at a moment do -- hey, I'm willing not to listen to my base every once in a while to do this.
I think in the long term, these guys have done the party a favor. But the real problem is they have no leader. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama would be messaging this as a win, not a loss. And Lulu, you're --
BEDINGFIELD: Yeah.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. And the only thing -- the only thing I'll say is that I wish everyone wouldn't mistake moderates for having a lack of ideas and defending the status quo. Unfortunately, I think that that has now become some kind of weird conflation here, where it's like moderates mean, you know, that there are some kind of like Biden clone.
What the Democratic Party needs is people with fresh ideas who push it forward. It doesn't mean that it has to come from the socialist or the far-left wing of the party, but it definitely cannot be, we are defending the status quo. We're going back to what it was before, and I think that that unfortunately, is something that they still haven't learned.
HUNT: All right.
Coming up next here, what happened to the White House today that has never happened before and why we didn't get to see it.
But first, the prison perks that Ghislaine Maxwell is reportedly getting behind bars and what she now wants from President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, HOST, "THE VIEW": Let's talk about these prisons that are sort of country clubs. I don't know anybody who's ever been in any of those. You know, those are those are, you know --
SUNNY HOSTIN, HOST, "THE VIEW": This is a minimum security.
GOLDBERG: If you got money, if you got money, and you got enough juice behind you, this is what you can expect.
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[16:37:28]
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REPORTER: Would you consider a pardon or a commutation for Ghislaine Maxwell if --
TRUMP: It's something I haven't thought about. It's really something -- it's something -- I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about.
I'm allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody's approached me with it. Nobody's asked me about it. We'll take a look at it. I'll speak to -- I will speak to the DOJ. I wouldn't consider it or not consider it.
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HUNT: Jeffrey Epstein's longtime accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, is now preparing, apparently, a commutation application. That's according to a letter that Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin sent to President Trump detailing whistleblower allegations. The whistleblower also alleged Maxwell's receiving extraordinarily preferential treatment in prison. This includes getting time to play with service dog puppies, being escorted to the exercise area after hours and having customized meals delivered to her.
A reminder she was transferred to this minimum security federal prison camp in Texas just days after meeting with the deputy attorney general, Trump's former personal attorney, Todd Blanche.
CNN has not independently verified all of these claims that have been made by the whistleblower.
Now, Lulu, why would Ghislaine Maxwell be being treated this way? What is the possible reason for it?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Indeed, why? That is a -- that is a -- that is the question. I don't -- I mean, the mind sort of wanders to all of the worst case scenarios and I fully don't know, clearly she was put into this minimum security or medium security prison because she cooperated with Todd Blanche.
But this idea that she thinks that she might have be able to have some commutations, I mean, I don't know what does. Does she have something on the president that she thinks that's going to happen? Does she -- does she have embarrassing information that she could leverage? I don't know.
Why else would she think that she has some sort of ability to get this when she is so widely vilified and she has been punished in a court of law? Like this doesn't make any sense to me.
TODD: Here's the other thing. Trump so easily will lie about stuff to his own base and tell them what you're seeing is not true. This is fake news. The fact that he doesn't do that with this is also weird.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's weird, like, I don't know.
TODD: Every way he's handled this, when you see all the other things, it's like it you he is feeding the conspiracy by the way he's behaving.
[16:40:05]
And you're just sitting there going, whether it's that she got something on him or -- GARCIA-NAVARRO: To say, I don't know that. I'm just saying, like the
mind wanders.
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TODD: -- thrown under the bus --
BEDINGFIELD: The mind wanders in the psyche. Theres something in the psyche there.
TODD: Right, what's interesting is his original sort of distancing story was, yeah, he came after one of my employees, and I knew he was kind of a sleaze ball, and I kicked him off. And you thought, okay, you see where he's going here? And that was his story for a while.
And now, he's weirdly almost back, embracing her as --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And rehabilitate her as the other thing.
BEDINGFIELD: Well, another byproduct of the end of the shutdown --
HUNT: Bryan?
LANZA: Guys, first of all, I've dealt with people who have been convicted of a crime and who are seeking a pardon from the president. They're all optimistic. If I can get in front of the president, I can convince them what took place. I can make the case why this is wrong. This is a different American president. He'll understand.
So I'm not surprised that Ghislaine Maxwell feels that way, but she can join the thousands of others who feel that same way that this president is different. I refer to as --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: But you've seen a concerted effort to try and rehabilitate her on the right. Theres been this discussion for a while that she was a victim of Epstein. Then when that didn't go super well, there were all these other sort of speculations as to where she falls really that bad and what she did. And, it hasn't been until, until a lot of these more sordid stories have come out about her actual participation in the sex acts that that has gone to the wayside.
And I just find it very strange that already this woman is playing with puppies after everything that she did. And now there is this other discussion which hasn't been confirmed, let's be clear, but this is a story that is not going away. And so why is the president just not categorically saying.
BEDINGFIELD: Put out the files. I'm not going to do -- a byproduct of the end of the shutdown, right, is the discharge petition. The discharge petition comes back to life.
TODD: Are we going to see it though? Because --
BEDINGFIELD: When the full -- when the full House is seated? We'll see.
TODD: Well, but then the Senate also has to --
BEDINGFIELD: We'll see. But the conversation will be revived.
TODD: Is there 13 votes? Is there 13 Republican senators that are going to vote with the Democrats on this one?
HUNT: Great question.
We have other breaking news on Capitol Hill. This is about the Senate vote on the government shutdown.
Lo and behold, CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju does, in fact, have an update for us.
I mentioned this not understanding this was going to happen, but what do you know?
RAJU: We expect votes to happen imminently in the United States Senate. We're hearing from the Republican whip's office that this could occur. The vote to pass this bill that would reopen the government could occur in the 5:00 p.m. hour, maybe even sooner. Senators plan to give a final passage to this bill. There will be several amendment votes before that, before they move on to that final -- final vote here and decisive vote.
And then senators are expected to leave town then for Veterans Day recess. It will kick -- the bill will then kicked over to the United States House. We expect a vote then to occur in the United States House, probably by Wednesday.
That is the hope of the speaker of the House to put this bill on the floor by then, which means that the bill could go to the president's desk, potentially even that day Wednesday, government could reopen at that point, ending what has been the longest government shutdown in American history.
Now, this vote timing has not been officially locked down yet. They actually have to go to the floor of the Senate and announce that no one -- ensure that nobody objects to it. One senator can object and deny that vote from happening.
We are not expecting that at this point. The senators see the writing on the wall. There are 60 senators who are supporting this. That is the magic number. The United States Senate to advance this plan, eight Democratic senators have said yes so far.
HUNT: Hey, Manu?
RAJU: Yeah?
HUNT: And can I just underscore on this time agreement -- I mean, any one of these Democrats who is reportedly angry, like Chris Murphy, is talking on social media to his voters, saying, I'm angry, too, like any one of them right now could at least drag this out a little longer, right? RAJU: Yeah, absolutely. They can come down the floor and object if
they wanted to, but we're hearing that there are not any objections. And if you're a senator weighing an objection, you're considering, is it really worth it? Because all you're really doing is dragging out the inevitable, because they're the votes, they have the votes to pass this plan, and that's the calculation, Senators, do they really want to disrupt the entire week? And all the consequences, travel delays that have come with this government shutdown, people not getting paychecks.
And even though they're upset at the deal, they know its going to pass. So why delay the inevitable? That's the ultimate calculation. And frankly, a lot of these members simply want to get home. They've been this is supposed to be a recess week in the United States Senate. It is not a recess week because they're here in session. So, you're expected -
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HUNT: And senators are people, too. They want to take vacations. They want to do their campaigning at home.
All right. Manu Raju, thank you very much for that update. Really appreciate it.
Coming up, just which Republican member of Congress was the president asked about today that prompted him to say this --
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TRUMP: Nice woman, but I don't know what happened. She's lost her way, I think.
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[16:49:21]
HUNT: History today at the White House, President Trump hosting Syria's new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, marking the first visit by a Syrian head of state. This is the video that we have of him arriving at the White House for that meeting. Doesn't look like it often does when a foreign leader visits the White House.
A reminder that al-Sharaa was once a member of al Qaeda and fought U.S. forces in Iraq. At one point, he had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. Now, the Syrian leader is playing basketball with top U.S. military commanders, including the head of CENTCOM. It's a stunning turnaround for the former jihadist turned statesman, as he seeks to repeal U.S. sanctions against his country.
[16:50:08]
His visit is not going over well with some members of the president's Republican Party. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted this, got the wanted poster of the leader, calls him a terrorist. And then she had this message for Trump that he should hit pause on his, quote, nonstop meetings at the White House with foreign leaders and focus on his domestic policy.
This is how the president responded to Greene moments ago.
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TRUMP: I don't know what happened to Marjorie. She's a nice woman, but I don't know what happened. She's lost her way. I think. But I have to view the presidency as a worldwide situation, not locally. When somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who's now catering to the other side, I don't know what -- you know. I guess she's got some kind of an actor on, but I'm surprised at her. But when somebody like Marjorie goes over and starts making statements like that, it shows she doesn't know.
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HUNT: Lulu, you've spent a ton of time in the region. You covered the conflict in Iraq. It just it really is a stunning moment. And, I mean, it's telling the president clearly wanted him to be there, but there was a sense that he should not be seen walking in the front door. What do you make of it?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, what I make of it is that the administration is, I think, actually, quite rightly, waiting to see exactly what is going to happen in Syria. It is far from stable. This, man is now the leader of Syria. It's the best chance for that stability to be sort of moved forward. But they're being cautious.
And I actually think that in this case, they're right to be cautious, but they're also right to meet with him. Because if you want a stable Middle East, it sometimes means dealing with people that you might not like. And the president, the current leader of Syria --
HUNT: Is the White House the right venue? I mean, we were just looking at these pictures. I think it's worth noting that the pictures that were able to see are provided by the Syrians, not the Americans.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right. I mean, is the White House the right venue? I think it sends a signal. I think it's sending a signal to Syria and to the wider Middle East that that the that the administration is really willing to, to talk and do business with him. And it props him up. So, yeah, maybe -- I don't know.
HUNT: What do you think, Chuck?
TODD: Well, he wouldn't be doing this if the gulf states didn't want him doing this, too. And so, look, this is one of those things, this when you're when you take the job of president of United States, you are leader of the free world. And in some ways, if you're going -- you know, if the goal is to get a nation to get off of one side and try to become sort of a member of the of a stable society of nations, then, you know, you give them a chance, right? So I don't think -- I do think what's interesting, though, is the Marjorie Taylor Greene aspect, which is to me, a preview of what's to come I think in the -- in the MAGA world, Donald Trump is having the typical second term presidency stuff of thinking about foreign policy legacies, almost getting a bit caught up in it.
I think Marjorie Taylor Greene is a true sort of, in some ways, more of an America first than Donald Trump ever was. And I do think you do have one wing of the of MAGA that really says enough with the stuff overseas. You ran to sort of disentangle us from this. You're just re- entangling us in it in different ways.
So, I think this split inside the party, we won't really see it until the 2028 Republican primaries show up. But it's going to be interesting to see how J.D. Vance, who I think instinctively is probably more on the side of Marjorie Taylor Greene than a Marco Rubio, who's more on the side of the internationalist wing. I just think it's going to be. But this is going to be a real debate inside of MAGA.
HUNT: Well, I mean, speaking of MAGA, so Laura Loomer has been posting about this when he when he landed in Washington, she, she puts a lengthy thing on X and she calls him she uses a different name for him. Al-Jolani. And she says he's a mass murderer and he'll never stop being a mass murderer. I mean, that is to your point. I mean, she is -- I mean, we've seen Laura Loomer, Bryan, have extraordinary influence with this White House, but I guess not here.
LANZA: Listen, she's had some influence, and she hasn't had others.
At the end of the day, you know, President Trump and his team view it as Syria deserves a chance. You know, it's been -- it's been under dictatorship for over 50 years. Brutal dictatorship. It's a region that's important to the president. This is a president who ultimately wants, you know, less conflicts. And if less conflicts means bringing more partners together into the greater Middle East, I think you'll see that.
But at the end of the day, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene is a little bit right. You know, we need to focus on America first on certain things, specifically when it comes to the economy, no matter what president Trump does as the leader of the free world, we know what wins elections. And that's focused on the economy. And that's where her head is.
I don't think it's in a bad place. She wants to win, and so does President Trump.
BEDINGFIELD: Yeah, I think she I think she put her she put her finger on the bigger political problem for Trump, which is yes, obviously, this debate within MAGA moving forward is going to be fascinating and important.
[16:55:01]
But she actually put her finger on the bigger, most immediate political problem for him, which is that people believe that he is focused on foreign policy. He's focused on the rest of the world. He's not focused on the economy.
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GARCIA-NAVARRO: And this particular visit at this particular time, I will say, is not the best timing for this and is not the best symbol, to send while we're still in the midst of a shutdown and people are suffering.
HUNT: Yeah.
All right. We have to leave it there. We'll be right back.
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HUNT: All right. Thank you all for joining me today. Wonderful to have all of you. Wonderful, wonderful to have you at home as well.
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