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Comey to be Arraigned Today; Nachmanoff Presiding Over Comey Case; Katrina Thompson is Interviewed about Troops to Illinois. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 08, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Quote/unquote, on the hostages that they hold. That now is the time that they can get the maximum, and now is the time that they need it more than ever. So, I think that there's been a shift in Hamas' interest and in the interest of the other Palestinian factions that now they understand that releasing the hostages is much more in their interest than keeping them.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And what about that? Because we have reporting that Hamas, they've exchanged a list of hostages and prisoners to be released as part of a deal. And Hamas is demanding, as part of the deal, that Marwan Barghouti, a prominent figure in the Palestinian national movement, who's facing, what is it, five -- several life sentences in Israel, be released as part of this deal. Is this a nonstarter -- is this viable? Is this a nonstarter for Israel? What do you see in that?

RAVID: So, I don't know about, you know, specifics like whether, you know, him or somebody else. What I do know is that in this deal, as in previous deals, the names are being determined in the last minutes. In the last minutes of the negotiation. And each side has its veto power. And on the one hand, if it's the Israelis to say this ones -- we, like, never. And Hamas, on the other hand, has its ability to say, those, like, 10 or 20 is a must. So, I think we're still not at that point because that's -- that's going to be the last minutes of the negotiation, where each side will say, this is our 10 or 20 vetoes, and this is our 10 or 20 musts, and this is when the deal will be closed.

And, obviously, Hamas would want to release Barghouti and other Palestinian prisoners who serve numerous life sentences. Just to give you an example, one of the names that they want is a person called Abbas as-Sayyed, who's serving, I think, more than 30 life sentences in Israeli prison for being in charge of launching suicide attacks. The most violent, terrible suicide attacks in Israel's history. And those are the kind of people that are right -- that will be in the last minutes of the negotiations, that it will be determined whether they stay in prison or they're released.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it -- a big day today. It doesn't seem they are yet at that last mile, but important nonetheless. Barak, thank you.

RAVID: But I think we're very close. I think we're very, very, very close.

BOLDUAN: Your reporting has been -- has been amazing throughout. I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we are standing by for former FBI Director James Comey to appear in federal court. Some of his family arriving just a short time ago. Of course, Comey was indicted after pressure from President Trump.

This morning, an increasing number of air traffic controllers calling out sick, sparking a growing number of flight delays across the country. You better check your flight status now.

And a student pilot and his flight instructor crash in the middle of the alligator infested Florida Everglades. That sounds suboptimal.

I'm John Berman, with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Very soon we will see something we've never seen in history, a former FBI director going into federal criminal court on a case that is against him. James Comey will make his first court appearance after being indicted by a federal grand jury. Just a short time ago we saw Comey's family arrive outside the courthouse in Virginia. Comey is expected to be arraigned on two criminal charges, making a false statement to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. Both stemming from testimony he gave in 2020. Comey says he's innocent and is expected to plead not guilty.

The indictment came after last month when President Trump publicly demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi pursue charges against Comey and others that he perceives as political enemies. The president's handpicked U.S. attorney, Lindsey Halligan, who had no prior experience as a prosecutor, brought the case to the grand jury. She has now tapped two federal prosecutors from North Carolina to help.

CNN's Evan Perez is outside the court this morning.

I know you are watching and waiting. What are you seeing at the court now as we get very close to when this case is supposed to get underway.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara.

And, look, I'm -- I'm turning around because it appears there's a -- there's an SUV just pulled up. We're waiting for the former FBI director to -- to -- to show up here. We expect him to come in through the front door. He's hard to miss. He's a pretty tall guy.

[09:05:02] So, we are waiting for him to -- to arrive.

But as you pointed out, look, there's -- Donald Trump and James Comey keep making history. Back in 2017, where Trump fired the FBI director, that made history. And, of course, just over -- just under two weeks ago where you had that grand jury here in the Eastern District of Virginia return felony indictments against the former FBI director, first time ever that has ever -- that has happened. He's facing these two felony charges. And as you pointed out, we expect that he's going to enter his first plea, which is not guilty according to -- to statements he has made already.

This, of course, is not a normal case for many reasons, including the role of the president of the United States, who leaned on the Justice Department, we saw that tweet or that -- that social media post on the weekend there before the charges were brought. There was a lot of resistance inside this office of the U.S. attorney against bringing the case because there were concerns that it is a weak case, that there's not enough evidence to support the false statements and obstruction charges that are -- that he is facing. And that's why we have Lindsey Halligan, who is the new acting U.S. attorney who is going to be here today. She's also added a couple of other prosecutors, brought in from North Carolina, to join this team, presumably to try to bring this case to trial.

And one of the things we're looking for today from the federal judge who's overseeing this case is he's going to set a schedule. We could have a trial happen in as little as seven or eight months, which is very, very fast. This court is known for moving very, very quickly.

And he's also expected to ask the defense and the prosecution what kind of motions that he can expect to see from them. And, of course, that's one of the things that we'll see -- we'll be watching for Comey's team to take aim at the president's very big role in this case. We expect that they're going to ask for these -- for this case to be tossed out because it's a case -- it's a case that is the result of vindictive prosecution. That is normally a thing that doesn't really work in these cases. But we don't know in this case.

And there's also the question of whether Halligan is legally appointed as U.S. attorney. That's something that has been an issue in other offices in New Jersey, for instance. She's the only signature on this indictment. So, that's a big deal if the judge actually takes a listen to that. Again, we're waiting to see what the defense brings up later today.

We're waiting again for Comey to show up here. We saw his family show up. And this -- this hearing will get underway in the next hour.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes. All right, Evan Perez, I know you're watching and waiting, and we'll come back to you if you've got more as we await Comey's arrival. Appreciate it.

Kate. BOLDUAN: At the same time, another person that is about to be forced

into the spotlight, considering the president's penchant for targeting judges, is the federal judge assigned to this case, District Judge Michael Nachmanoff.

CNN's Jamie Gangel has much more on this.

It's good to see you, Jamie. What are you learning about the judge?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Kate, legal sources who know and have worked with Judge Nachmanoff describe him as an unflappable jurist who's going to be particularly well equipped to handle the Comey case and the attention, as you say, it will bring to his courtroom. He's known to run a tight court. He is known to be always prepared, thoughtful, not political, by the book. And look, he knows every word is going to be scrutinized because this is such a high-profile case. And, of course, because of one person who's not going to be in the courtroom, President Trump.

In fact, Nachmanoff, who was randomly assigned to the case but was appointed in 2021 by President Biden, has already been attacked by President Trump on day one. The president blasted him on Truth Social, calling him, quote, "a crooked Joe Biden appointed judge," and saying that the former FBI director, James Comey, was off to a very good start because of the judge.

Kate, in response, conservative former federal appeals court judge Michael Luttig, who is a fierce critic of Trump, defended Nachmanoff that same day, saying that the judge is, quote, "beyond all reproach" and that "he will be impervious to Trump's attacks."

In addition, if you sort of want to know what to expect about Nachmanoff, the legal sources we talked to say it's his ability to listen, to be well prepared and to be able to make a prompt decision. As Evan just said, expect this case to move quickly. He was once quoted as saying, "ultimately, judging is about fairness and respect." So, you can expect that demeanor in his courtroom.

[09:10:04]

And last but not least, on a lighter note, on a personal note, I spoke to people who know him. They describe him as a renaissance man. He plays the bass in a local band. And last but not least, he has a fourth-degree black belt in karate, which may come in handy in this case.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: I was going to say, may he never need to use that in the courtroom when it comes to this case. But back to the, you know, less fun, but also important, fairness and respect. It would be wonderful if that -- that being his judging style. It would be wonderful if that could be pervasive throughout all of these legal proceedings.

It's great to see you, Jamie. Thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams and Tom Dupree, former deputy assistant attorney general.

Elliot, I just want to start with you here because Evan was talking about the fact that there may be motions today from Comey's team. What do you expect them to lean into as soon as this morning?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, even if the motions aren't filed, John, we may get a sense as to what motions Comey is thinking about filing. The first one would be one to dismiss the indictment for, in effect, singling Jim Comey out. And the biggest evidence they will point to are probably the president's own statements himself. The president has made any number of statements on social media calling Jim Comey a crooked cop. There's the social media post we've talked about on air several times directing, or at least mentioning Pam Bondi, the attorney general, by name, saying that we have to act now to bring prosecutions like those against Jim Comey to happen. Those are the kinds of things a defendant could easily point to as saying that he was singled out for prosecution in a way that was vindictive or malicious or outside the bounds of the law. Expect that right away.

Now, Jim Comey can also just look at the substance of his indictment as well and say, look, this is just so thin, your honor, this ought to be thrown out. So, he has a number of ways and I think we can expect that we'll see them.

BERMAN: Tom, one of the things that -- that Jamie Gangel was just reporting is that Judge Nachmanoff is someone who likes to maybe rule quickly. How quickly do you think we could get a sense of where he will stand on these issues?

TOM DUPREE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think we'll get a bit of a sense of that today. One of the things that judges often do in these arrangements is basically set a trial schedule up to and including an actual date that trial could begin.

And look, I think this judge is fairly typical for the Eastern District of Virginia, which is a jurisdiction that is known for its rocket docket, for moving cases along very quickly, very efficiently. This is not a particularly complex case, at least as far as criminal cases go. So, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see the judge basically saying, look, here we are. We're beginning today. Here's what the schedule is going to look like. Let's get it on.

BERMAN: It's not a very complicated case yet it's a case that a lot of different, very high-profile prosecutors have looked at, Elliot. And I'm a little obsessed with the idea of discovery here. So, if you are Patrick Fitzgerald, who, by the way, was a special counsel himself not terribly long ago, what will he try to access here in terms of the Durham investigation, which decided not to prosecute James Comey, or the former U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, who decided not to prosecute James Comey here? What's available in discovery?

WILLIAMS: Right. Well, and a lot of it's already publicly available in the form of records that these special counsels and prosecutors that you're identifying put out into the world. So, expect to see those.

Now, to be clear, John, the prosecution by law has to provide the defense with the evidence that they will be calling at trial. So, certainly the public will see a lot of it well in advance of the trial. And so don't, you know, there won't be a lot of surprises at this point. And I think a lot of this is already out there. I think one could make the argument that it's in Jim Comey's interest to put as much out there because there's certainly a lot of public interest in this case.

BERMAN: And, Tom, just remind us what the government needs to prove here in order to convict James Comey.

DUPREE: Sure. Well, the government needs to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the highest standard known in American law. And they are going to have to show, number one, that Jim Comey not only told -- made false statements when he testified before Congress, but that they were intentionally false. And that's why these types of false statements, perjury claims, can be surprisingly difficult to prove because you have to show that the defendant didn't just misspeak or had a failure to recollect something. Instead, you have to show that this was a deliberate course of conduct, setting out to deceive, setting out to obstruct, setting out to mislead Congress. So, it's a high burden.

And look, as Elliot said, this is land that has been plowed before.

[09:15:00]

There's a lot of evidence concerning the underlying facts here. There's a lot of evidence already in the government's possession they're going to have to turn over to the defendant, particularly any evidence that would tend to exculpate Jim Comey. So, I think this is actually a surprisingly or could be a surprisingly difficult case for the prosecution ultimately to prove and obtain a conviction.

BERMAN: And just very quickly, Elliot, take, you know, one giant step back here. My friend Josh Gerstein, who writes for "Politico," and is one of the great legal writers of our time, says, whatever you think about this case, it is fundamentally different. This is a different moment in U.S. history here where you have the prosecution of the political opponent of the sitting president at the direction of whether -- whether or not, you know, they're going to say this is vindictive prosecution here, the president really said to the attorney general, go do this.

WILLIAMS: Yes, John, to a point you -- you made earlier, this is a painfully simple case in terms of what the prosecution needs to try to prove. It's -- you know, there's like two things they have to prove, was there a statement, and did he know he was making it? But it's got profound social and political consequences when you're talking about the kinds of statements we're talking about from a sitting president of the United States to a sitting attorney general of the United States about political opponents of the United States. Like Trump or not, this is a moment that is profound, you know, and this -- this -- this relatively straightforward litigation is really a crucible for so much that we're going to be talking about for a generation.

BERMAN: Great discussion this morning. Elliot Williams, Tom Dupree, thank you both so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, coming up, new surveillance video showing perhaps why prosecutors ended up charging former New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez now with felonies.

Plus, CNN's Bill Weir, along with two other reporters from across the globe, use state of the art technology to track just how many chemicals they're exposed to every single day. The alarming report.

And they were trying to install a new hot tub into the backyard, but now need a new roof. How this crane made things pretty bad for this family. Good grief.

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[09:21:45]

BOLDUAN: This morning, more troops are on the ground in American cities. And moments ago, President Trump weighed in again and is trying to ratchet things up rather than calm things down, again sending out this message. We'll show you. "Chicago's mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers. Governor Pritzker also."

It comes as the Trump administration and Trump administration officials have been traveling to different parts of the country for firsthand looks at ICE operations. The DHS secretary was in Portland, Oregon, just yesterday. A source telling CNN, she met with the city's chief of police and others who oppose the military deployment there.

And the FBI director, Kash Patel, was just in Chicago, where National Guard troops from Texas just arrived. They are doing training and awaiting specific assignments, possibly deploying as early as today.

And at the center of much of the protests and clashes has been about 12 miles west of Chicago, actually, at an ICE facility in the town of Broadview. And the mayor of Broadview, Katrina Thompson, joins us right now.

Mayor, thanks so much for being here. Appreciate your time.

First and foremost, I want to ask you about the troops. You've got the National Guard from Texas arriving in Illinois. It's -- there's a lot of lack of clarity of what happens next. Are you expecting them to come to Broadview? What are you preparing for?

MAYOR KATRINA THOMPSON (I), BROADVIEW, ILLINOIS: Well, good morning. Thank you for having me.

What I am prepared for is just making sure that we are communicating with the residents of Broadview and to protect them, to be safe. We do know that the National Guard is not local law enforcement. They are military. They have no local police training. Having them serve as a local law enforcement is asking them to serve outside of their training.

We didn't ask for them. We don't want them here. And I fear that they will escalate and -- escalate the conflict started by the flame of ICE. So, we just -- try to just manage as best we can.

BOLDUAN: Do you -- do you think it could inflame things further from what you've already been trying to get a handle on and control?

THOMPSON: Oh, absolutely. Our experience with ICE has been terrible. ICE is the one who has been instigating all the problems against our village and against our residents. They did not respect our local laws. They did not respect life safety issues. And they are causing problems and committing crimes. Unprovoked firing of rubber bullets and other projectiles, dispensing tear gas and other chemicals without the regard of the residents across the street who are being harmed.

BOLDUAN: Mayor, the -- I just read what the president just sent out today thinking -- saying that the governor and the mayor of Chicago should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers. As I've -- you've already mentioned, the ICE facility that's kind of been a central focus for weeks now is in your very small town. What is your reaction to the president when he says that?

THOMPSON: Well, you know, he has his right to his opinions. And I severely disagree with that. We have a right to protect our communities. We have a right to protect the state of Illinois. And we didn't ask for the National Guard.

BOLDUAN: I want to play for you something because, as I -- Portland is another prominent city facing something of what you're dealing with in Illinois.

[09:25:00]

My colleague, Shimon Prokupecz, spoke with a congresswoman from Portland who is there and begging protesters at an ICE facility there to leave because what she says is that that outrage is exactly what the administration is looking for.

Let me play for you what this congresswoman says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE DEXTER (D-OR): By going to that facility, people are not being strategic. You know, at this moment in time, being -- protesting in the streets is absolutely important, just don't protest right there, because then you're playing into their story that is not the reality, as you can see looking around here.

You become part of a war zone narrative if they decide that that's the time they're going to go out there and provoke.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Do you agree with her? I mean would you like to see the protesters leave? Because I know that you have signed an executive order to limit the hours that protesters can protest at the facility.

THOMPSON: Oh, absolutely. We know that ICE don't respect local laws. They don't respect First Amendment speech and assembly and the Fourth Amendment unlawful and assembly. So, absolutely. And we want to make sure that the people that visit our town every day, that they're safe and they feel protected. By going out to that facility, it's just going to incite other things that can take place. And we're -- we just want people to be safe, but be able to exercise their freedom of speech.

BOLDUAN: But you'd like to see the protesters leave?

THOMPSON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: You think they're playing into the administration's hands by protesting outside the facility?

THOMPSON: Well, emotions are high right now, right? And so, when we channel that emotion of anger, sometimes we don't think rationally. And so we, as local leaders, have to put protocols in place to keep people safe. It's not to restrain or put a ban on anything, it's in the best interest of them. And sometimes people just don't know what's best for them because of the anger that they are facing or the challenges that they want to see changed from their lens. But I agree with her that, you know, we asking you all to stay away from the facility because it's going to create more problems.

And again, we live here in Broadview, and then we have to deal with the aftermath. When those protesters come to our community, they get to go home. They get to go home trauma free, drama free, sleep well at night. Their families are not impacted. They can get up, go to work, and then we stuck with all of the aftermath stuff in the village of Broadview. And that's just -- you know, we deserve that dignity, that peace and respect that you all get when you go to your respective community to sleep at night.

BOLDUAN: Mayor of Broadview, a very small town, a village, as you said.

Mayor Thompson, thank you for your time. Let's see what happens in these coming days.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Coming up, new this morning, check your flights before you head to the airport because more air traffic control facilities facing staffing shortages earlier this morning. We'll talk all about that.

But first, we're just minutes away now from the opening bell on Wall Street. Market futures looking up a bit today. But the big story is glittery. It's all about gold hitting a record high, trading at $4,000 per ounce. This morning, investors standing by for new commentary from the Federal Reserve, along with the release of the minutes from their September meeting. Will we get a clue as to whether or not we're going to see interest rates come down?

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