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Trump Says, Trade Talks With Canada Terminated; Soon, New York Attorney General Letitia James in Court for Mortgage Fraud Case; Melissa Expected to Become a Major Category 4 Hurricane This Weekend. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 24, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, President Trump is not happy and now declaring all trade talks with Canada terminated. What Ronald Reagan has to do with it, and this morning, we're standing by to see how Canada responds.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: In just hours, New York Attorney General Letitia James appearing in court for the first time after being indicted by President Trump's handpicked prosecutor. Her attorney's already making a move to try and get the case thrown out.

Also in China, a mind blowing show in the skies, the world record breaking magic brought to you by drones.

I'm Sarah Sidner with Kate Bolduan. John Berman is out today. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: Right to the breaking news this morning, trade talks terminated. President Trump has announced that he is ending negotiations with Canada all over an advertisement put out by Ontario's government. The ad uses the words from President Ronald Reagan in a 1987 address, there's video right there, where he criticizes tariffs.

The Reagan Foundation, though, yesterday put out a statement saying that the ad misrepresents the late president's speech. What's not clear is how they believe that Reagan really was misrepresented. Here's a part.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: When someone says, let's impose tariffs on foreign imports, it looks like they're doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works, but only for a short time. But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American workers and consumers.

High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industry shut down and millions of people lose their jobs. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Canada has yet to respond to the president now cutting off trade talks. All of this comes against an important backdrop just hours before, really, President Trump is set to head to Asia for what could be the most important trade talks of all, not with Canada, but with the world's second largest economy, China. The president still, at least is right now, expected to sit down and talk trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House. But, first, Alayn,a Canada, what's happening?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, look, the president, Kate, is threatening once again to upend the crucial economic relationship between the United States and its second biggest trading partner. Now, you said this, but overnight the president had said essentially that he is canceling trade talks with Canada over that ad that you played. And what's unclear is if the president had actually contacted or spoke with the prime minister, Mark Carney, or anyone in the Canadian government. I will say we've reached out to them. We're waiting to hear what the Canadians have in response to this message from the president.

But, essentially, in this post on Truth Social, he said that he believes that the ad was fake, that the message was fake, that the Canadian government was playing with this ad, and he also argued that it was designed to interfere in the U.S. Supreme Court. Essentially, the Supreme Court is currently considering a legal challenge to many of the president's tariffs.

I'm going to read for you some of this post. He said, quote, they only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts. Tariffs are very important to the national security and economy of the USA. Based on their egregious behavior, all trade negotiations with Canada are thereby terminated.

Now, the ad -- you mentioned some of this, Kate, but while the ad was edited, it did lack context. It is unclear what was misrepresented. Because if you look at that speech it, it was a radio dress that Reagan gave in 1987. He gave it from Camp David. It is very much a full-throated defense of fair and open trade. And the timing of this as well, I think, it's important to point out the context of this speech from Reagan. It was when he was placing higher tariffs on various Japanese products to try and stem the damage of imports of cheap Japanese semiconductors, the damage that that was doing to the U.S. economy.

But, look, to take a step back and just reexamine the relationship between the United States and Canada, it had always been rocky.

[07:05:00]

The president had previously threatened very high tariffs. He also, you know, has been kind of joking about having Canada become the 51st state. Talks were very bad when the former prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was still in office. After he resigned and Carney came into office, it did appear like things were becoming warmer. Relationships between the United States and Canada were getting better. Unclear now, though, where this leaves that.

BOLDUAN: Unclear is definitely how we are starting this Friday. Alayna, thank you so much, much more to come from the White House this morning, my dear Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you. I am also unclear on this Friday, okay, clear that I'm glad it's Friday.

BOLDUAN: Let's just set that tone for the next three hours. We are unclear.

SIDNER: Okay, thanks, Kate.

Today in her first court appearance since being indicted, New York Attorney General Letitia James is expected to ask for the indictment to be dismissed. In their court filing, James legal team cites the unlawful appointment of President Trump's handpicked prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan. James was indicted on two felony charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, which she obviously denies.

CNN's Kara Canal is outside federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, for us. What are you learning this morning, Kara?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Sara. Yes, this will be New York Attorney General Letitia James' first court appearance since she was indicted on those charges, one count of bank fraud, one count of making false statements to a financial institution. As you said, she has denied any wrongdoing, has called these charges baseless, and all released to a mortgage that she took out on a house not far from here that prosecutors say she had used as a rental property, which she has denied.

Now, she will be in court today. This is expected to be an arraignment. We expect her to enter a plea of not guilty, but her legal team is already teeing up a couple of issues. They want to try to get this case dismissed by challenging the appointment of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan. She was Trump's self-selected U.S. attorney. She took the job after the previous U.S. attorney, who was a longtime prosecutor, had resigned after he did not believe that there was enough evidence to bring this case, as well as the case against James Comey, the former FBI director.

And Tish James' legal team has already teeing up this challenge that they intend to make, and they're saying that they want to challenge the validity of her appointment, just like Comey has, and they're asking the judge if perhaps they could move as swiftly and join Comey's arguments, which are already scheduled for the middle of next month, so try to speed up this process.

They're also asking the judge to prohibit Halligan from making any comments about the case outside of the courtroom. That all relates to a conversation that she had with a journalist that became public. And they're saying that that was improper. In a motion to the judge, they wrote, as the prosecutor who is handling the case against Attorney General James and purporting to be the U.S. attorney, Ms. Halligan is supposed to be the standard bearer of the professional responsibility rules rather than the district's violator in chief.

And we understand, according to a source, that Halligan will be in court today. She's the only attorney who signed that indictment. So, it'll be the first time that they are facing off in what is expected to be a fairly contentious in investigation. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, Kara Scannell, thank you so much, live for us there in Norfolk, Virginia.

Ahead, Tropical Storm Melissa is set to become a Category 4 hurricane this weekend. It's already caused deadly flooding and landslides and parts of the Caribbean. Where the threat is headed next.

And X-ray poker tables, rigged card shufflers, even glasses and contacts that can see through playing cards. A look at the allegations in the gambling sting operation that led to the arrest of an NBA star and coach and how they're responding this morning.

Also, a stunning change, before and after satellite image showing the demolition of the East Wing of the White House and how big it actually is, as we're getting a bigger picture of President Trump's years-long fascination with ballrooms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I am very good at building ballrooms. I built beautiful ballrooms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: So, this morning, Jamaica is bracing for impact and what could be a catastrophic days-long storm ahead. Tropical Storm Melissa is what we're talking about. It's already killed three people in Haiti and could become a category 4 hurricane this weekend.

CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking this one for us. Where -- what are you seeing right now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Seeing that it's pretty much in the same spot it was yesterday. And if you remember the last couple of days, it's really only been moving, say, about two to three miles per hour. You could walk as a human faster than that. We, on average, walk about three to four miles an hour. Right now, though it's just stationary. There really just is no forward movement and the sustained winds about 45 miles per hour. But we do anticipate that it is going to start to begin to shift towards the west here in the coming hours. And as it does, so it's going to enter a much more favorable environment, meaning it's going to be able to intensify not just to a hurricane, but a major hurricane, perhaps as high as a high end category 4 storm before finally making that turn back off to the north and taking aim then at Cuba. So, you've got a lot of entities here that are very concerned about where exactly this track goes.

The thing is, the models are still not quite in agreement with exactly when it makes that northern turn. Some have it doing it relatively quickly. Others may be going a little bit farther west before then, and then a few others that take it well out into the Caribbean Sea before finally making that turn to the north. The thing is the farther west it can go before it turns, the warmer the sea surface temperatures are, meaning it's fuel for storms like these, and it will allow the storm to get even stronger.

Another concern is going to be the wind shear. Right now, it's not necessarily in a very favorable environment. That's why you're not seeing it do all that much. But once it moves to the west, there's less sheer, the storm will be able to get its act together and really start to intensify very quickly, actually.

One of the biggest concerns we have with this storm is the prolonged period of time of dropping rain, because since it's not moving, all of these areas are just getting rain after rain shower after rain shower. So, you're looking at significant totals of rain.

[07:15:01]

Look at all of the pink color you see here. Pretty much all of Jamaica is covered in bare minimum of the red, but mostly the pink indicating at least ten inches of rain. But you've got several pockets of white here, same thing for Southern Cuba and even portions of Western Haiti.

Now, you're talking in excess of 20 inches of rain total. And, again, it all comes back to that incredibly slow movement, but also a lot of it has to do with the topography. So, you've got that uplifting from a lot of those wind gusts that are also going to be sliding in, and that's going to contribute to the excessively high amounts of rain.

BOLDUAN: 20 inches of rain in parts, like they need to prepare. We're going to be tracking this obviously with you for days now.

Thank you so much, Allison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll be able to look right through that filter and see exactly what that card is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Tens of millions of dollars stolen in an illegal gambling ring. An NBA coach, an NBA player, now wrapped up in it, arrested in a federal sting, and a card cheating expert, explains how they pulled it all off.

And nuts on fire in Georgia, and they could be burning for days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

SIDNER: New this morning, new details and new reaction to the explosive details released in the NBA gambling scandal. More than 30 people have now been arrested in the investigation. Prosecutors say, involved rigged poker games, insider sports betting and mafia ties, among them, Portland Trailblazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat Guard Terry Rozier and former NBA Player Damon Jones.

Now, last night, the host of Inside the NBA discussed why they thought Rozier, who, by the way, makes millions as an NBA player, would allegedly get involved in all this.

CHARLES BARKLEY, CO-HOST, INSIDE THE NBA: This ain't got nothing to do with damn gambling addiction. This ain't got nothing to do with addiction. These dudes are stupid.

Rozier makes $26 million. Him betting, giving people information or taking himself out of games, how much is he going to benefit taking himself out the game to get unders? Like he's making $26 million.

KENNY SMITH, CO-HOST, INSIDE THE NBA: If you're making $26 million to try to win $50,000, like that's illogical. So, that you are proving my point.

BARKLEY: No, that's not addiction. That's stupidity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now, we have to remind you, those are just allegations.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is here. What are you learning about the, these details? They are pretty shocking.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're shocking. I mean, listen, this is going to be a huge headache for Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA. It's already just rocked the NBA. This is the opening week of the season and they're already dealing with this.

Let's go over the two different schemes that federal authorities are alleging here. The first one with Terry Rozier, he's a guard for the Miami, actually picked up in Orlando because they were playing Orlando on Wednesday night and they were picked up on Thursday morning. What authorities are alleging here, essentially, is that he was giving inside information about what was going to happen in these games, who's going to be on the injury report. He himself is -- they're alleged, he took himself out of a game in order to win a bet, and he and along with co-conspirators won a lot of money. We're talking about millions of dollars on these bets in total, and authorities are essentially saying that they laundered that money also to hide this from authorities.

So, this is something that he has been on suspicion of with betting within the NBA. Authorities have looked into him in the past and his lawyer actually also responded to that, saying that they're going to fight these charges and they're just not true.

Now, the second scheme that we can talk about, that involves Chauncey Billups, that breaks my heart because I was a huge of Chauncey Billups, saying that is an NBA legend, of course, now the coach of the Portland Trailblazers, well, not currently right now. I mean, he is the coach, but certainly he's sidelined. But what authorities allege here is, seriously, Sara, straight out of a Hollywood movie, I mean, that links the mafia, the New York City mafia with NBA legends like Chauncey Billups.

And what authorities are saying here is that the mafia kind of got these victims who they would call fish and say, hey, you want to play poker with an NBA legend? Come on, come play. And everybody at that poker table was in on the scheme except for that, quote/unquote, fish. And then they would use these high tech, insanely, I mean, shocking, you know, equipment to basically cheat the game.

Let's listen to someone who kind of explains some of that equipment that we found out in this indictment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

If you actually tell what is that top card, honestly, I can't tell you. But if I put my contact lenses on, or if you are wearing these poker glasses, you'll be able to look right through that filter and see exactly what that card is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: I mean, crazy. So, contact lenses, X-ray machines that could read the cards from underneath the table, I mean, just tons of different equipment that, again, yes, straight out of a Hollywood movie.

And then authorities allege also, they would resort to these sort of mafia old school tactics in order to gain the winning. So, we're talking about extortion, robbery, all these sort of things that they have other, and people who were indicted in these -- charged in these indictments on. So, we'll see where it goes.

Listen, they're both going to be coming to New York, Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones, who we didn't get into, but Terry Rozier, they're all going to be coming to New York to face these charges. But for now, those two guys, Rozier and Billups, they are, you know, on immediately from the NBA and the NBA is, you know, essentially trying to say that they're going to look into this indictment and see where it goes.

SIDNER: Right. And we have heard, and I want to just read just a bit of what Terry Rozier's attorney said because they have been the first to respond, saying that in part they appear to be taking the word of spectacularly incredible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. He went on to say that Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived what he's calling a non-case.

[07:25:03]

Terry's not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight and he looks forward to winning this fight.

So, you are seeing the response here from one of the 30 people who have been indicted here.

Thank you so much, Brynn. It's an interesting story.

All right, ahead, we're tracking gas prices closely this morning. Could we see them rise over new sanctions on Russia?

And it's baseball in October, baby, the David versus Goliath World Series, it begins tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right. In just a matter of hours, New York Attorney General Letitia James will appear in court this time as the defendant in a mortgage fraud case. Today, her legal team is expected to ask the judge to dismiss the indictment, saying the case was presented by unlawfully appointed U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan. James is fighting two felony charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.

Joining us now is Miles Taylor, the former chief of staff to then DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and we should note that Miles is also being represented by the same attorney who is representing Letitia James, and also.