Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump Orders Troops to Chicago, Threatens to Use Insurrection Act; Sources Say, Classified DOJ Legal Opinion Justifies Strikes on Cartel; Jaguars Stun Chiefs, Earn First Win vs. K.C. in 16 Years. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 07, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, the Texas National Guard takes a step on the way to Chicago, the court battle raging to keep them out of the city.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And a new scam that's targeting companies, hackers creating deep fakes of top executives tricking people to share sensitive information. The cost enormous, at least one company already losing $25 million.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And it dropped from the sky into the middle of a major California highway this morning. What happened to those inside the mangled remnants of this helicopter and the unsuspecting drivers?

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, new moves and new threats by President Trump to send the National Guard into blue states over the objections of governors, even if it takes emergency powers to do it. The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, posted a picture showing National Guard troops from his state boarding a military aircraft. We're told the president has activated Texas troops to deploy to the Chicago area where protesters have been clashing with ICE agents. Flight records appear to show the troops landed in neighboring Indiana overnight as they await what comes next.

Now, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has called the mobilization an unconstitutional invasion. The city and state have sued over it, but a federal judge declined so far to immediately block the troop deployment in Chicago and has given the Trump administration until Wednesday night to respond to the suit. And if officials or courts stand in the president's way, the president says he could get around them by invoking the more than 200-year-old Insurrection Act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: So far, it hasn't been necessary, but we have an Insurrection Act for a reason. If I had to enact it, I'd do that. If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure I'd do that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get the scene as Whitney Wild Live in Chicago this morning. A lot of twists and turns and developments overnight, Whitney.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: John, so much is left to be seen. It is not clear if these National Guard troops will actually move into the city. Our understanding based on, you know, limited information, mostly coming from the Illinois Governor's Office, is that hundreds of troops from the Illinois National Guard have been called up to move throughout the state.

As you mentioned, the governor is also saying that Texas National Guard troops have been called up. As you said, they have they appear to have arrived at least in the area. We do not know any timing on a potential deployment. It is not clear if they're going to wait until the courts weigh in or if they are going to move in before DOJ actually files their response to the Illinois lawsuit.

DHS and Illinois Law Enforcement and local officials here look at this situation completely differently. Obviously, the Department of Homeland Security looks at the protests that have blown at the Broadview ICE facility, which is an area about 30 minutes west of Chicago, where we have seen for weeks protests that have resulted in clashes with federal law enforcement. Multiple people have been charged with assaulting federal agents there.

Further, DHS is pointing to a shooting that happened over the weekend with their agents after they say they were boxed in by ten people. They were vehicle-rammed. They you open fire on a woman who was eventually hospitalized and then was released from the hospital. There are two people who are now facing charges in that case. That is the DHS position.

Meanwhile, here in Illinois, local leaders say this is all the result of DHS overstepping. You heard the governor's own words. He calls this an invasion. He says, any of these interactions, any of these blowups are solely the result of DHS's egregious actions. Here's more from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITKZER (D-IL): Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation's cities.

Since the beginning of this invasion, families have been snatched up off the streets or removed from their homes, zip tied and detained for hours, especially U.S. citizens and legal residents of our state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:05:13]

WILD: The governor says that they're going to use every lever at their disposal to try to fight this. Again, they've already gone to court. They're hoping for a temporary restraining order.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, signed another executive order. This is the last in a series of executive orders that we've seen. This latest one creates ICE-free zones, John, where he says ICE is not able to conduct any kind of operation, cannot stage, cannot process any detainees. And this extends not only from city- owned property, but also extends to private businesses if they do not want ICE on their premises, this executive order bars ICE from operating there. John?

BERMAN: Got it. Whitney Wild, again, we're watching the courts, we're watching the ground, we're watching Washington, a lot going on this morning. Thank you very much for all that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely right.

And joining us right now is CNN Senior Legal Analyst, former Federal and State Prosecutor Elie Honig. So, Elie, where are we with -- we've got Illinois filing suit, we have Oregon, has filed suit. Where are we with these cases right now?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So, the law that Donald Trump is using so far is an emergency law, but it's not the Insurrection Act, important to keep those things different. The current emergency law that he's using says that the president can deploy National Guard even if the governor doesn't want it, if there's a rebellion, an invasion, let's put those aside. What he's using is a broader category, if necessary, to enforce federal laws.

Now, do the conditions on the street meet that? That's going to be up to each individual judge. Thus far in Oregon, in Portland, the federal judge there has temporarily blocked Trump's deployment. She, that judge, has said, does not meet the definition of necessary to enforce federal law.

In Illinois, I want to make this point that judge has not necessarily said, come on, bring the National Guard in. For the moment, the judge has said, I'm not going to block it now, but I need more information and I need it quickly. I need it by Thursday. And if you look at the transcript, it looks like that judge is leaning towards blocking it.

So, it's not quite right to say that that judge is allowing National Guard. That's the practical effect for now, but stay tuned, I think we may see a different outcome there.

BOLDUAN: And stay tuned kind of quickly, potentially.

HONIG: Yes.

BOLDUAN: But kind of this gets to the broader point of like, people may have a hard time when you're looking at the legal arguments here of just following all of this. Because you have multiple cases in multiple different jurisdictions and locate and multiple different places, some on holds, some not. How do, and how should people make sense of this? HONIG: So, we're not, at least for the immediate future, going to get one overarching resolution on all these. Each of these is a separate case. I mean, the conditions on the ground may be different. You may have conditions that meet the emergency. For example, a few months ago in Los Angeles, the judge -- an appeals court said, this does meet the definition given the protest, given that there's some violence involved. But you're going to have different situations in Portland and in Chicago.

And so think of each of these as just separate. They all have different judges in different federal districts, different facts. And so it's going to be a while before they filter up through the appeals courts and before we get some uniformity.

BOLDUAN: And let's then talk about separately we played that clip of the president talking about how he's open to invoking the Insurrection Act now. How would that be different?

HONIG: Okay. So, the Insurrection Act is a different law. The important difference is between the Insurrection Act and the current regular Emergency Act or this, first of all, the Insurrection Act involves all military, so that could be Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, not just National Guard. The other thing is there is a Supreme Court case, it goes way back 1820s, where the Supreme Court said the president can invoke the Insurrection Act and the courts cannot even review it.

However, since then, there have been other decisions that undermine that, that say, well, in extreme circumstance if the president uses it in bad faith, we might be able to review it. But the insurrection Act is broader. It gives the president even more broad powers. And that's why Trump seems to be talking about it as a potential bigger stick to bring out.

BOLDUAN: Also sounds like another area where like the legal boundaries have yet to be tested and that we could be heading in that direction.

HONIG: Hasn't been used since 1992 and that time was at the request of the governor of California. So, we didn't have a legal dispute then. So, yes, a lot that we'll learn.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you, Elie.

HONIG: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

HONIG: See you a bit.

BOLDUAN: Sara?

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate. A new CNN exclusive, the DOJ secretly authorizing deadly strikes on a list of alleged drug cartels, but are their actions legal? Plus, what the shutdown is doing to air travel and airport tower in a major city suddenly closing because of an air traffic controller shortage. What we're learning about delays nationwide.

And new lessons on how to propose marriage, listen up, Tommy. Extra details on how Travis Kelce did it. Fellows, get out your notepads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to say, because I'm getting blinded, congratulations on your engagement.

TAYLOR SWIFT, ARTIST: Oh, thanks. Thanks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

SWIFT: Yes, it's --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I see?

SWIFT: Yes, of course.

[07:10:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my Lord. Can we look just (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: A CNN exclusive for you this morning, sources telling CNN a classified Justice Department legal opinion is being used to justify lethal strikes on suspected drug cartel boats. The most recent strike happened on Friday killing four people aboard. It comes as multiple military lawyers say the strikes do not appear to be lawful.

[07:15:01]

This morning, Attorney General Pam Bondi expecting to face questions about the legal justification among other things during a Senate hearing.

CNN's Zach Cohen joining us now. Zach, what did you learn about this memo?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Sara. We're told that this legal opinion produced by the Justice Department effectively argues that the president has the authority to authorize military strikes on a broad range of drug trafficking groups, saying that they pose an imminent threat to Americans.

Now, we're also told that this list of potential targets that would be encapsulated as part of this opinion goes well beyond the groups that the Trump administration has already publicly designated as foreign terrorist organizations. And this is significant because it does seem to justify an open-ended war against these groups, not just in the Caribbean, where we've seen these strikes takes place so far, but potentially across the Western Hemisphere, and that's something we know top Trump officials have talked about publicly as something that they intend to do going forward.

And, look, this also does give the president, it would appear based on our source of description, the power to designate these drug smugglers, suspected drug smugglers as enemy combatants, and allowing them to conduct lethal strikes against them without any sort of due process. That is a shift in how the U.S. has traditionally treated suspected drug traffickers, usually using a law enforcement type process putting them on trial and arresting them rather than just moving to blowing them up.

So this is a legal opinion. There's not a consensus within the Pentagon as far, as we're told. Multiple JAG lawyers, military lawyers have voiced concerns about these military strikes and their legality. We talked to one former DOD lawyer named Sarah Harrison who said, this opinion would mean DOJ has interpreted the president to have such extraordinary powers that he alone can decide to prosecute a war for far broader than what Congress authorized after the attacks on 9/11, several current lawyers inside the Pentagon telling us that they have similar concerns about what this legal opinion from the Justice Department says. But, ultimately, they can't do anything about it because the DOJ is the preeminent interpretation of the law for the executive branch.

SIDNER: Right. And it should be just reiterated that these are suspected drug cartel members. So, you know, there is a lot to be argued here. Thank you so much for that exclusive reporting for us. John?

BERMAN: All right. The mother of all announcement teases, LeBron James hints at a new, big decision, the frenzy of retirement rumors swirling this morning.

And then big river, even bigger education, why a mother is taking seven of her 15 children on a trip down the entire length of the Mississippi River.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. Monday Night Football shocker, I'm not sure the gamblers saw this one coming.

CNN's Coy Wire with me this morning. Jacksonville, huh?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Man, what's going on in Jacksonville? John, good to see you. The Chiefs had a 23-game winning streak when leading by 14 points, but on this night, that streak was snapped. How about that Duval defense? Devin Lloyd intercepting Patrick Mahomes, taking 99 yards for the touchdown and the lead. The Jags defense leads the league in takeaways, John.

Now, Chiefs battle back, regained the lead with just 30 seconds left though. Check out the birthday boy. Look at this. Trevor Lawrence on his 26th birthday gets tripped twice but still finds the zone. Game- winning touchdown, Jags win 31-28, 4-1 for the first time since '07. Chiefs fall to 2-3.

Playoff baseball game two of the NLDS between the Dodgers and Phillies on TNT. L.A. had a monster seven capped off by this base hit to right by Shohei Ohtani. L.A. driving in four runs in the inning, the only runs of the night.

It got hairy or dirty at the end, though. Phillies down 4-3, runner on third, Tommy Edmonds just kind of spikes what would've been a routine toss. But Freddie Freeman luckily saves the day and the Dodgers go up two oh in this series, one win away from returning to the NLCS after a 4-3win.

The other NLDS game two, Cubs and Brewers, Milwaukee pulls off an emphatic comeback, down 3-0 in the first, but Andrew Vaughn says, gone, a three-run shot to left. And then in the fourth Jackson Chourio says, watch me yo. Look at this, a three-run bomb of his own. They go on to score seven unanswered runs, and they too now have a 2-0 series lead over the Cubbies.

L.A. Lakers star LeBron James posted a very cryptic message on the socials yesterday entering his 23rd NBA season at age 40. He posted the decision of all decisions, October 7th, 12:00 P.M. Eastern, hashtag the second decision. It echoes his 2010 announcement, his move to the Miami Heat, all sorts of theories, John. Is it retirement after four titles and all those scoring records or some sort of business venture? Today's Amazon Prime Day, whatever it may be, John, ticket prices for the Lakers' final home game on April 13th. Went soaring $85 all the way up to $445 on secondary markets. I think, John, it has something to do with tacos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, L.A. LAKERS FORWARD: Taco Tuesday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Yep, today's Taco Tuesday and it is also National Taco Day, John. And as we know, and as we can see, LeBron love his tacos. So, only a matter of time before we know what it really may be.

BERMAN: True story, I was actually outside the building during the first decision in Greenwich, Connecticut, when LeBron James announced he was taking his towels to South Beach. We covered it live when I was at ABC. We broadcast the whole thing.

But, Coy, I actually have a special guest here, Elie Honig, who was very concerned about the Phillies-Dodgers games last night, specifically the fact that Phillies had a guy on second with no outs in the night.

HONIG: And what do we do? We bunted. John, I'm not here with my legal capacity, I'm here with my Philly capacity. That is coaching malpractice. That is a white flag. That is a surrender. That is the ultimate loser move. God love him. That manager's got to go. What a terrible way to end. Just giving up like that. Earl Weaver is rolling in his grave.

BERMAN: Again, not here as a lawyer, but he has filed a lawsuit.

[07:25L02]

HONIG: Other than that, no opinions on the matter, yes.

WIRE: John, buy that man a taco. Make everything right in his world, at least until the next game.

BERMAN: That would work. All right, Coy Wire, great to see you, counselor, I'm so sorry for your loss.

BOLDUAN: I'm sorry. Elie's doing sports now?

BERMAN: It's everything.

HONIG: Reaching out.

BOLDUAN: I mean, you don't quit your day job. Love you.

HONIG: Thanks, guys.

BOLDUAN: I take the camera now.

BERMAN: Yes. No one knows where it will turn. I mean, that's like cameras ready now.

BOLDUAN: All right. Coming up for us, I don't know how I'm going to feed my kids. That is what government contractors are now telling CNN as the government shut down stretches on. Hundreds of thousands of workers now facing the harsh reality that Congress may not get its act together and they will be the ones to pay the price. We have new reporting on this.

And a medical helicopter crashes on a highway in California. Just look at that. Three people now in critical condition.

So all you have to do is be together, wonder, because memories matter. It is the final game, folks. This one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]