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V.P. Vance Joins White House Briefing Amid Government Shutdown; Vance Says We Are Going to Have to Lay Some People Off if Shutdown Continues; Trump Administration Federal Crime Crackdown Underway in Memphis. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 01, 2025 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: About a number of things, but you can't disagree about the obvious fact that Republicans voted to open the government. The president stands ready to sign that opening of the government. We just need a few more Democrats to join us in that effort to open the government.

Your final question, about illegal alien benefits -- look, the text is very clear. And I even saw -- I think it was George Stephanopoulos in an interview of Mike Johnson, did a fact check that was totally rooted in baseless claims. It was basically Democrat propaganda. If you look at the legislative text that they gave us, they tried to turn on two separate provisions that would give healthcare benefits to illegal aliens.

Number one, if you're an American citizen, you've been to a hospital in the last few years, you probably noticed that wait times are especially large and very often, somebody who's there in the emergency room waiting is an illegal alien, very often a person who can't even speak English. Why do those people get healthcare benefits at hospitals paid for by American citizens? The answer is a decision made by the Biden administration that the Trump administration working with Congressional Republicans undid. We turned off that money spigot to healthcare funding for illegal aliens. The Democrats in their legislative text want to turn it back on. That's one thing.

The second thing, Matt, is we all know that there are various ways in which the Biden administration waived away illegal immigration status. They gave parolees, they gave asylum claims to people who weren't really claiming asylum. And when they waived the magic wand of amnesty, giving millions of people legal status even though they were in the country illegally, they also gave those people access to healthcare benefits. So what the Democrats are engaging in is a slide of hand. They're saying, no, no, no. Those weren't illegal aliens who were getting healthcare benefits, even though everybody knows they were in the country illegally.

It's a lie told by the Democrats that they're not trying to give healthcare benefits to illegal aliens. It's a lie that is obviously untrue if you just look at the text that they gave us. And all you have to do is understand that this is about who benefits. We think the American people's government ought to benefit American citizens. The Democrats are willing to shut it down to benefit illegal aliens. The contrast couldn't be more clear. Peter?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Vice President Vance. The big holdup is, of course, that you guys say illegal immigrants are getting taxpayer-funded healthcare. Democrats say you're lying. That makes it feel like it could be a really long shutdown. Is this going to be a long shutdown?

VANCE: I don't know. I can't predict what Congressional Democrats are going to do, Peter, but I actually don't think it's going to be that long of a shutdown. This is a pure guess from the vice president of the United States because I think you already saw some evidence that moderate Democrats are cracking a little bit. They understand the fundamental illogic of this. Look, for years, every single one of us, we can -- we can remember Barack Obama on the White House lawn, we can remember Chuck Schumer, we can remember Nancy Pelosi for years -- in Chuck Schumer's case, for literally decades. We've heard them say you don't shut the government down over policy disagreement. OK?

Republicans think this thing about healthcare or that thing about healthcare. Democrats think this thing about immigration, Republicans disagree. Whatever those disagreements are, you don't shut down the government over it. For the first time since the Democrats have been in politics, they're now saying that unless we get every policy item that we demand, we're going to shut down the people's government. They're trying to take a hostage and we're not going to let them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the administration announced today that $18 billion bound for New York transportation projects, it's going to be frozen, so it can't go to DEI programs there. But the timing of this, does announcing that today mean that you guys are going to squeeze Chuck Schumer's home state until he blinks?

VANCE: Look, I haven't talked to Russ about this, this morning, but look, I'm sure that Russ is heartbroken about the fact that he's unable to give certain things to certain constituencies. We want to do everything that we can to help the American people, but when the Democrats shut down the government, we have to actually do a little triage to make sure the most critical and most essential services are provided. The government does a lot of things. Of course, Republicans think that the federal government probably does too much, but there are a lot of critical things the federal government does that absolutely all of us would agree, need to do.

Our troops need to get paid. Our air traffic controllers need to make sure that people are flying safely and on time. We need low-income people to be able to access the food services that are provided by the federal government. There are critical things that need to be saved. We're going to do everything that we can, over the coming weeks if the shutdown lasts that long, to ensure that people get the essential services that they need despite the fact that Chuck Schumer has shut down the federal government.

It's not going to be perfect because we are in a government shutdown. We are going to have to lay some people off if the shutdown continues. We don't like that. We don't necessarily want to do it, but we're going to do what we have to, to keep the American people's essential services continuing to run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

VANCE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you for being here. Yesterday, President Trump said, as a result of the shutdown, we'll be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected and the Democrats, they are going to be Democrats. Has the administration asked agencies to target federal workers who they believe to be Democrats in these reductions of forces -- workforce?

[13:35:00]

VANCE: We're not targeting federal agencies based on politics, we are targeting the people's government so that as much of possible of the essential services can continue to function. That is the question the president has asked. The entire government is fundamentally, OK, we're in a shutdown that causes some problems. The troops aren't getting paid. There's nothing that we can do about that while the government is shut down. But there are essential services that we want to make sure as much as possible, they still continue to function. That is the principle that's driving us forward during this shutdown.

It's going to be -- continue to be the principle that drives us forward. But let's be honest, if this thing drags on for another few days, or God forbid another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off. We're going to have to save money in some places, so that essential services don't get turned off in other places. That is the reality of the government shutdown that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have foisted upon the administration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what did you mean by they are going to Democrats? He said, they are going to be Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've laid out a lot of the pain and problems that would come with a Democratic shutdown. And yet, in the Oval Office, yesterday, the president said that a lot of good could come from a shutdown. So square that circle is, which is it, a Democratic caused crisis or a Republican opportunity for reform?

VANCE: Well, I think all the president is saying, Phil, is that he wants to make sure the American people's government functions as well as it can despite the fact that we're in a shutdown. We're going to have to make things work and that means that we're going to have to triage some certain things. That means certain people are going to have to get laid off, and we're going to try to make sure that the American people suffer as little as possible from the shutdown. That's what the president is saying is that, yes, this is a bad thing. Obviously, the President is trying to reopen the government, but we're going to make things work as well as we possibly can given the constraints that we have. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then on those policy differences for the discussion and the negotiations to come later, during the Biden administration, Democrats twice voted to expand these Affordable Care Act tax credits. But those were supposed to be temporary and they were slated to expire at the end of the year. As you sort of cracked the door open to negotiation at a later date, would the party that ran on defunding Obamacare really negotiate about potentially expanding Obamacare?

VANCE: Well, Phil, what we've said to the Democrats is that we're willing to have a conversation about how to ensure that Americans continue to have access to healthcare, and frankly, they should have access to better healthcare at a lower cost. We inherited a mess of a healthcare system from the Biden administration. It's why the president has worked so hard on the Most Favored Nation status for prescription drugs. It's why we care so much about lowering the cost of prescriptions and why we're doing everything else.

We're willing to have that conversation, but I think it's important to bracket the healthcare policy conversation because it's separate from the government shutdown. We think that we can open the government and then have the conversation about what best healthcare policy to fit the needs of the American people. That's all we're trying to do. That's all we're trying to accomplish. We've got to reopen the government first.

Now, Karoline, I don't know how you do this, how you actually choose people? Because I don't know 90 percent of the names in here. Is it just who is the best dressed?

(LAUGH)

OK, I really like your shirt. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. You are president of the Senate. Can you talk about what you're doing, what the administration is doing to try to get other Senate Democrats to vote to open the government?

VANCE: Yeah, we're talking to a number of our colleagues, Democratic and Republican in the Senate. I talked to a number of them last night. The president, of course, is talking to them as well. I think there really are two categories of demands that I've seen privately from Congressional Democrats. I think on the one hand, those who are negotiating in good faith are saying, look, we just want to make sure that we're able to have a conversation with the administration about some of the critical needs that we see that need to get fixed over the next few months.

We recognize it's kind of absurd, and a lot of them will admit in private that it's kind of absurd to shut down the people's government over these disagreements, but just agree to negotiate with us in good faith on these issues. And of course, we're having that conversation with them.

Then there's another category, people who say give us everything we want or we're going to keep the government shut down. We just write those people off because they're not negotiating in good faith. And frankly, we don't need them. We've already got three more Democrats last night than I thought we would get. And I think it's because they recognize the illogic of the position of taking the entire American economy hostage because they don't get their policy priorities. So three moderate Democrats joined 52 Republicans last night. We need five more in order to reopen the government, and that's really where we're going to focus, is how to get those five additional Democrats.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks Mr. Vice President. First, two questions. Are there plans to meet Democratic leaders again in the coming days? Or are you planning on plucking off Senators one by one?

VANCE: So, that's the whole question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I got a second part.

VANCE: OK. Go ahead and ask the second question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, the president's been posting some images of Leader Jeffries and Senator Schumer.

VANCE: I saw them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- recently. And you've said that you're interested in good faith negotiations with these leaders, but what message does that send? Is it helpful just to post pictures of leader Jeffries in a sombrero, if you're trying to have good faith talks with him?

[13:40:00]

VANCE: Oh, I think it's funny. The president is joking and we're having a good time. You can negotiate in good faith while also poking a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats positions and even poking some fun at the absurdity of the Democrats themselves. I mean, I'll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make this solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop. And I've talked to the president of the United States about that.

Now, to your first question, are we negotiating one-on-one? Are we negotiating in groups? Look, I will go to the U.S. Capitol right now and meet with Chuck Schumer or any Senate Democrat if it helps us reopen the government. Most of the conversations, in my experience at least, have been one-off. We're also, of course, relying on some of our Senate Republican colleagues who have good relationships across the aisle. We're going to do whatever we have to do is the answer. And I think it's tough to predict what shape this negotiation is going to take over the next few months.

But I feel good about the fact that Democrats already realize privately the fundamental irrationality of their position. I hope that they're going to publicly acknowledge it and reopen the government. The guy in the back, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. You responded to a post on X and Chuck Schumer on the House floor back in 1996 railing against illegal immigrants receiving taxpayer funded benefits. Right. You said Chuck Schumer once recognized that it was disastrous to give illegal aliens rewards for breaking the law. Now, he wants to shut down the government unless we reward illegal aliens for breaking the law. Why has Chuck Schumer changed his stance?

VANCE: That's a good question. That's a -- actually, it's a very tough question. Asking me to get in the head of Chuck Schumer is not a place I particularly want to be, but my basic read on it is that the entire Democratic Party, the political leadership, not every Democrat nationwide, but the political leadership of their party has got it into their heads that the only way to be compassionate is to be compassionate to illegal aliens rather than American citizens.

If you go back to what Bill Clinton was saying, even Barack Obama, in some cases, what he was saying about illegal immigration 10, 15, 20 years ago, you would put them on the MAGA right base purely on their rhetoric around illegal immigration. So I don't know why they've gone so far to the left. I think it's bad for the country. I think it's bad for them politically. But our principle, all I can do is speak for the president that I serve and the country, the administration that I serve right now. We believe that the American people's government exists for the American people.

That means the people who have the legal right to be here. And that's why we're fighting to reopen the government. And unfortunately, the Democrats are fighting to shut it down for the benefit of illegal aliens. And I'll take a couple more and then I'll let Karoline -- I'll go back to my day job, so Karoline can go back to hers. All right. Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Just going back to the sombrero, you said that the president is joking, but Hakeem Jeffrey says that these memes were racist. What's your response to that? And just, if I may briefly go off-topic, Secretary Hegseth yesterday, made an edict about no more beardos in the military. Just wondered what --

(LAUGH)

VANCE: Sorry, what did, what did he say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more beardos.

VANCE: Beard?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beardos. Sorry, that's my accent. Just wondered your response to that.

VANCE: I didn't see that particular comment. I thought Pete gave a hell of a speech and a speech that really is just oriented around returning the American military to the very high standards that it has had for virtually its entire history until Joe Biden came along and decided to lower standards. I think it was bad for our military and it was bad for our troops. When I was a young United States Marine, I did not have a beard. I am now the vice president, so I get to do what I want to do. But, I think Pete's trying to re-implement high standards and that's a very good thing.

On the sombrero thing, I mean, Hakeem Jeffries said it was racist and I know that he said that, and I honestly don't even know what that means. Like, is he a Mexican American that is offended by having a sombrero meme? I mean, I saw one of the major TV stations put the meme up and then say this is A.I.-generated. And he had like the curly animated mustache too. It's like, do the American people -- do you really not realize -- the American people recognize that he did not actually come to the White House wearing a sombrero and a black curly animation mustache, like give the country a little bit of credit.

We're all trying to do a very important job for the American people. The president of the United States likes to have a little bit of fun when he is doing it, and I think that's OK. I'll take one more question.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Vice President, in every previous shutdown, workers have been furloughed, not laid off. So, why does the president want to fire some workers and not just furlough them? Why is this shut down any different?

VANCE: Well, first of all, we haven't made any final decisions about what we're going to do with certain workers. What we're saying is that we might have to take extraordinary steps, especially the longer this goes on. We're going to have to take extraordinary measures to ensure the people's government operates. Again, not perfectly because it's not going to operate perfectly in the midst of a shutdown, but operate as well as it possibly can.

And I think that the Democrats, if they're so worried about the effect this is having on the American people, and they should be, what they should do is reopen the government, not complain about how we respond to the fact that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have shut down the government in the first place. Thank you, all. Karoline? Thank you. See you guys.

(CROSSTALK)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: All right, guys.

[13:45:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We've been listening to Vice President J.D. Vance from the podium and the press room. We will continue to monitor today's press briefing. Let's get straight to CNN's Manu Raju, who has been tracking the latest on the shutdown from Capitol Hill. A lot of what we heard there from the vice president, Manu, centered on this disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over exactly what this shutdown is about and who Democrats are trying to restore access to ACA subsidies to. The administration says that they're trying to give these subsidies to undocumented immigrants. Democrats make the argument that these are folks who have a lawful presence in this country and they should continue getting these benefits. What did you make from the vice president there?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, the truth is always a little bit more complicated because what the Democrats are calling for, it's essentially reverse the cuts, the Medicaid cuts that were included as part of President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. And as part of that law, it narrows the eligibility for people who to receive those Medicaid benefits. It goes and prohibits explicitly undocumented immigrants from accessing those benefits. And by pushing to reverse that language to expand the eligibility of sorts, Republicans are arguing while they're trying to open the door for undocumented immigrants to get these benefits, where Democrats say it's already prohibited currently under federal law that undocumented immigrants can get these benefits.

Republicans say this additional -- these restrictions are necessary to ensure that there's no fraud or abuse of the program but therein lies part of the debate. The Democrats are also pushing for this extension of federal subsidies to the Obamacare program, which is expiring at the end of the year for individuals who are getting that health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. But what you heard from the vice president right there is what we are hearing on Capitol Hill from Republican leaders, that they do not plan to have any negotiations over those issues until the government is reopened.

They say, reopen the government now over the next seven weeks, and then we can talk over those issues. Democrats on the other hand, are saying we need to have the negotiation now before we agree to move ahead. And what we just saw on the Senate floor just moments ago was the fact that Democrats right now are sticking by their position. They just voted down for the third time the Republican plan to reopen the government. The vote was 55/45, three Democratic Senators, the same three Democratic Senators who voted for the plan yesterday, voted for the plan today.

There have not been any additional Republican -- Democratic deflections, but that is the big question here, guys. As the pressure builds, particularly on some of those members who represent federal workers and who are more moderate or swing state Senators, will they buckle? Will they join Republicans to vote for this plan? That's the calculation of Republican leaders. Put the bill on the floor, force Democrats to cave. But for now, they're holding the line and the government is still shut down.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah, it'll get tougher as time goes on. Daniel Dale, fact check what you heard.

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: (Inaudible) continues to attempt to justify the claim that Democrats are pushing for free healthcare for illegal aliens, illegal immigrants by citing the fact that you can encounter undocumented people in hotel -- in, sorry, hospital emergency rooms. And he keeps suggesting that this was some decision of the Biden administration to provide these emergency services to undocumented people.

In fact, that is not the case. This has been a government -- a policy of the U.S. federal government for decades, that hospitals are required to provide emergency care to whoever turns up there, regardless of immigration status, regardless of their insurance status. Now, the Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill reduced the federal funding match for hospitals associated with this care, so reduced federal reimbursement to hospitals, did not do anything to reduce money given to undocumented people themselves because they are not given the money, they're given those services.

Now, the Democrat's proposal is to reverse this reduction in the hospital funding match, but it also would not put money in the pocket of undocumented people. So the suggestion that President Biden decided to give emergency hospital care to undocumented people and Democrats are now trying to create or continue such a situation that Trump ended it, all of that is not true. This is longstanding policy. Trump reduced the hospital match. Democrats are trying to restore the hospital match. This is not money in illegal immigrants' pockets.

SANCHEZ: Let's go to Ron Brownstein now, who has been patiently awaiting a question since before the vice president started speaking. Ron, specifically on J.D. Vance making the claim that the administration can't help but fire federal workers rather than furlough them, I mean, Republicans are arguing that by forcing the shutdown, Chuck Schumer's handing the keys and the pocketbook of the country to OMB and to the president.

[13:50:00]

RONALD BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. Well, look, this was the argument that persuaded Schumer in the spring not to shut down the government, that Trump would do things that we haven't seen from other presidents in terms of trying to use this to fire large numbers of people or shutter programs. But Democrats, I think in general, are in a stronger position here than on many other issues.

I mean, if you look at the big issues that Americans are concerned about, healthcare is probably the only one in the top tier that in polls, people say they trust Democrats more than Republicans. The specific cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill and the prospect of ending those ACA subsidies are extremely unpopular. And in polling, consistent, including polling done by Tony Fabrizio, who was Trump's principal pollster in '24, and contrary to what the vice president was saying, I mean, the people who are most at risk from in particular the ACA subsidies are in red states. I mean, that's where it has been picked up the most, in places like Texas and Florida and Georgia that did not expand Medicaid.

So if the ACA subsidies are allowed to expire, there are a lot of Republican voters who are going to be in the 4 million to 5 million people losing coverage, 20 million facing higher premiums. So there is real pain and I think in the end, there are enough Republicans in Congress who probably want to find a way to extend those subsidies, that you can imagine a way out of this. The history, Boris, is that shutdowns have not usually worked to force the part -- the White House to accept the demands of the other side.

But in this case, I think there's a lot of commonality of interest in finding a way out because Republicans recognize that what Democrats are demanding, in many ways, would help a lot of their own voters as well.

KEILAR: Yeah. May be popular. And yet, Manu, going back to our youth covering the Hill, if passed his prologue, the shoe is kind of on the other foot here, right? Now, you're hearing the vice president warning of the perils of a government shutdown. Troops will not be paid, disaster funds, when traditionally this has been the move of Republicans and then you have Democrats saying, it's OK now. Right?

For this reason that they are presenting, when the line from them has normally been, it's not OK. I mean, how do voters kind of look at that?

RAJU: Yeah, I mean, look, once people start feeling the impact of this, that is going to be the ultimate question, is how the Senators will respond. Do they start to pressure Democrats to say, look, we can worry about these issues later. We need our government services restored, or we can't be laid off or deal with the ramifications of being furloughed and not getting paid. Those are all big questions.

And the question right now is when those federal layoffs may ultimately occur. We are hearing from the vice president right there that he said that the layoffs will happen. That's what he told him. We're getting word also from the White House Budget Director, that those are the message that he's also conveying to members on Capitol Hill. The question is how some of the Republicans may ultimately deal with that as well.

I put that question to Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota about whether he supports this issue of firing federal workers as the administration is suggesting to move ahead with, and he said that, that could be a problem politically. There could be political backlash and it could also hurt their ability to get Republicans on board to stay with the administration's position as the shutdown drags on. So, this is going to become a complicated calculation for both sides if the administration goes this extra step of firing federal workers, how do Republicans respond up here and what do Democrats say once their constituents are saying, we got to reopen the government. Let's put these other issues aside. Focus on just voting 'Yes' right now. Those are going to be the big questions as this drags on in the days ahead.

SANCHEZ: And as you were speaking, Manu, we got word that there is a bipartisan group of Senators right now, engaged in some informal conversations to try to explore options at ending the shutdown. It involves Republican Senator Mike Rounds and Senator Peter Welch. So, we'll see if that goes anywhere.

Manu Raju, Daniel Dale, Ron Brownstein --

RAJU: And just quickly --

SANCHEZ: Yeah. RAJU: Just very quickly -- and just very quickly on that, that's very early in the negotiations.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

RAJU: In fact, the Republican leader John Thune threw cold water on that. So, we'll see if that actually materializes into something.

SANCHEZ: Well, we'll keep an eye on it. Manu, Daniel Dale, Ron Brownstein, appreciate you all. We are set to hear from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries soon. So stay tuned for that. CNN continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:58:53]

SANCHEZ: We want to go straight to live pictures at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland where the Attorney General Pam Bondi is answering questions for reporters. She's about to get on a plane to head to Memphis, Tennessee where President Donald Trump's federal law enforcement surge is officially underway. CNN's Ryan Young is there for us live. Ryan, what are you seeing there?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Boris, we were actually at one of the staging areas for this operation. Of course, Pam Bondi has been very outspoken about the arrest they've made in the last 24 hours or so. But we wanted to walk communities like this one and talk to people who are directly affected. In this neighborhood where I'm standing, four children were shot in the last 20 days or so. And of course, people are very upset about that.

Listen to this one neighbor talk about the idea that sometimes he feels unsafe walking out his own door.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICKEY JAMISON, MEMPHIS RESIDENT: I welcome it because anytime you can watch the news and see somebody stealing someone's car pointing a gun to their door, and I know a guy -- a person that got shot coming out, because he heard something. But, he -- you got a gun pointed to his door, in case he comes out, you're stealing his car. Yeah, we need the task force. Absolutely. --