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Soon: NY AG Letitia James In Court For Mortgage Fraud Case; Trump: War Declaration Not Needed For Strikes On Alleged Drug Boats; DHS: ACLU Claims On Pregnant Immigrants "Unsubstantiated." Aired 7:30- 8a ET

Aired October 24, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And 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 with us, former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, Michael Moore.

Michael, to you first. James has just said she plans to follow Comey's lead in asking for her indictment to be dismissed, arguing that Lindsey Halligan, Trump's handpicked U.S. attorney who brought the case, was simply appointed unlawfully.

How likely is this argument to succeed?

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA, PARTNER, MOORE HALL: Well, good morning. I'm glad -- I'm glad to be with all of you.

I think that she's got a very strong motion and there's no reason to think that she'll do anything different than Jim Comey is doing, or his lawyers are doing. And I'm not surprised to see that she would try to even sort of hitch her wagon to him as they go through.

She's essentially asking the court to consolidate for consideration the two motions to dismiss as they do challenge Ms. Halligan's appointment under federal law and the Constitution.

The motion is strong because the federal law couldn't be much clearer. I mean, section 546 says, you know, that an appointed U.S. attorney in this matter can serve 120 days and no longer, but after that the court could step in and appoint somebody. Not that the president gets to continue to have successive appointments of his people time after time after time.

Although you might see I think about every 119th day we see a new U.S. attorney, so they'd be lining up around the block I guess, in Virginia, to take the job if that's -- if Trump's reading is correct -- and it's just not correct.

So there have been some appeals courts that have considered it, one very recently. They seem very skeptical of this -- people both appointed by Democrats and Republicans.

So I think you're seeing really an acknowledgement that the shenanigans to place loyalists in these positions is maybe coming to an end, though maybe slower than we'd like.

SIDNER: Yeah. The career prosecutors wouldn't put the case forward but his handpicked prosecutor did, who had no experience until she was picked for this job.

MOORE: Right.

SIDNER: Miles, to you. The DOJ is looking into Sen. Adam Schiff over the same thing -- alleged mortgage fraud issues. But sources are telling us that prosecutors from the Maryland U.S. attorney's office have been hesitant to proceed with the charges -- however, that the investigation remains ongoing.

As you both know, like, Adam Schiff is the latest of the three people, including Letitia James and James Comey, that Trump publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate in this post that he made. You know, Trump's always said that the cases against him were a witch hunt.

Do you see this as him doing precisely the same thing to his perceived political enemies or is there another way to view this?

MILES TAYLOR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO DHS SECRETARY KIRSTJEN NIELSEN (via Webex by Cisco): I don't think there's another way to view it, Sara. And each of these cases we are starting to see are built on toothpicks, and tongue depressors, and stick glue. I mean, they seem to be starting to fall apart in real time and that's because the underlying foundation is broken.

I mean, look at the -- both of these two cases, James and Schiff. How did these cases originate? They originated with the federal housing finance agency sending referral letters to DOJ. Why did Donald Trump's handpicked appointee at a backwater housing agency suddenly come into office and have evidence of housing crimes? At what point was he directed to go through his agency's files? And did he have a list of the president's enemies?

I mean, it's suspicious from the start. It stinks from the start.

But the bigger picture, of course, Sara, when you look at whether or not these are going to get dismissed or even brought -- in the case of Adam Schiff, there are three glaring hypocrisies I think that will prevent a lot of these cases from going forward.

One, of course, is the fact that there's so much leaking coming out of DOJ. That Letitia James' lawyers filed that in their motions yesterday and said that they basically tainted the case because they're leaking about it. This is hypocritical because the Trump administration blasted the last administration for leaks about its cases.

But then if you note, Sara, the cases are so obviously selective. And ProPublica has reported about how a number of people in Trump's own cabinet did similar things with their housing arrangements that Letitia James and Adam Schiff are alleged to have done. So there's going to be a lot of evidence for selectivity.

But then finally, the big point is, of course, that it is vindictive. The weaponization Trump complained about appears to be exactly what he is doing in each of these cases.

SIDNER: Miles Taylor and Michael Moore, thank you both for that analysis -- appreciate it. Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is ramping up the pressure on Venezuela after several deadly U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats off the country's coast. And the president now suggests that he does not need permission from Congress to carry out any of those attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We're going to kill them, you know. They're going to be, like, dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:35:00]

BOLDUAN: The president did say that he would notify Congress before expanding operations and strikes to land but also said he didn't think lawmakers would "have any problem with it."

On top of that, the president is now denying new reports that American B-1 bombers flew very close to Venezuela's coast just yesterday. Flight data appeared to show at least one in the area.

And joining me right now is retired Admiral James Stavridis, a CNN senior military analyst and former NATO supreme allied commander. It's good to see you again.

So let's start with that bomber. The details and the reporting is really interesting. It's an American B-1 Lancer bomber.

And according to flight tracking data, the aircraft first appeared on flight tracking dashboards southwest of Dallas -- the Dallas area -- around 4:30 yesterday morning and at its closest point was a little more than 50 miles from the Venezuelan mainland. Nine hours later, according to flight data, the bomber reappears around 15 -- around 15 minutes within Venezuela's kind of region where they are in charge of air traffic control.

Add this all up and it means what to you?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER (via Webex by Cisco): I hear echoes of two wars going on in the big picture, Kate. One is the war in Vietnam. If you kind of remember how that started there was the so-called Gulf of Tonkin incident. There were American boats who were supposedly attacked. Upon examination a lot of that fell apart.

You feel a kind of a provocative activity going on and, of course, it's not just the B-1. That's a tiny part of this naval flotilla that's operating off the coast -- 5,000-6,000 marines and sailors, half a dozen warships, perhaps a nuclear submarine. There are F-35 Lightnings up in Puerto Rico.

So this is a big load of combat power and certainly you don't need that to blow up a few drug boats. So clearly, it's a lot of provocation. That's the Vietnam War piece.

And then secondly, it feels a lot like something more people can remember and that's the global war on terror. The way in which we simply declared every terror risk a combatant enemy and killed them.

So these are the two foundational pieces you're seeing unfold and it just keeps kind of ramping up.

Final thought. The obvious next step here is strikes on land. I think there is a better than even chance President Trump is going to order those pretty soon.

BOLDUAN: That is really quite a remarkable thing when you -- when you think -- when you think about it. And you -- and as you describe how big the contingent of military power and might is down there right now for taking -- for doing strikes on fishing boats or what could be -- or what looked like fishing boats --

STAVRIDIS: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- even if they are carrying drugs. You see what I mean?

So then you also have -- and you were getting to this -- the president's declaration he doesn't think he needs congressional approval to continue striking boats at sea. He says he would notify Congress if he would take operations to land.

And this week the Venezuelan president publicly claims that his country has 5,000 Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles in "key air defense positions."

I mean, how dangerous is this situation right now?

STAVRIDIS: Uh, it is potentially quite explosive.

And back to your comment Kate about the size of the naval flotilla. I don't think we've seen this many combat units operating together at sea in the Gulf -- in the Caribbean Sea in -- going back to the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s.

And yes, Venezuela has a lot of combat capability. They have medium- level jets. They bought these during Hugo Chavez -- the heyday, the high oil prices -- going back almost 20 years.

But a lot of the equipment -- and here is the good news from a U.S. perspective. A lot of the equipment is old. I'm not certain the Venezuelan military is competent to really use it effectively. But this is not taking on a nation without combat capabilities. The Venezuelans will fight back if we start trying land strikes, so buckle up.

BOLDUAN: Admiral, it's good to see you. Thanks for coming in -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

New this morning Target announcing a big round of layoffs just ahead of the holiday shopping season. The company says it plans to lay off 1,000 corporate employees mainly at its Minneapolis headquarters. Target is also closing about 800 previously posted positions.

The retailer's sales simply falling for three straight quarters. Target has been dealing with backlash from its decisions to ditch DEI programs, economic conditions. And competition from Walmart, Costco, and Amazon have also taken a toll.

[07:40:00]

All right. New this morning gas prices in at least 30 states are below three bucks per gallon. The question is, is that going to last?

This week President Trump slapped Russian oil companies with sanctions, urging Moscow to accept an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. The news prompting a surge in oil prices yesterday by about five percent.

CNN's Matt Egan is here with us. What are you seeing -- sort of the fallout from this?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. Well, Sara, let's -- these sanctions from the president --

SIDNER: Yeah.

EGAN: -- it really shocked the oil market but thankfully, things have settled down. Take a look at live oil prices. They are up but they're not dramatically higher at the moment.

And look, this is going to be a balancing act because on the one hand the president is trying to really break the Russian war machine, but he's got to do that without causing significant pain for American consumers at the gas pump. And that's not going to be easy because Russia is the second-biggest oil producer on the planet.

Look at this. Every day Russia is producing almost 10 million barrels of oil. That's more than Canada, more than Saudi Arabia, second only to the United States.

And this is why the Biden administration and up until the last few days the Trump administration kind of tiptoed around Russia sanctions on their oil companies. Because everyone remembers that $5.00 gas experience of 3 1/2 years ago -- I mean, that was a nightmare for consumers. It was also, of course, a nightmare for the Biden White House when it comes to politically. SIDNER: Yeah.

EGAN: But look, despite the spike that we saw in oil prices yesterday, crude does remain relatively low -- $62 a barrel. Some context -- that's 12 percent cheaper than last year and it is miles away from the $120 oil after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

And you mentioned gas prices. I mean, that's really been one of the biggest bright spots in the Trump economy. Thirty U.S. states averaging below $3.00 a gallon, including Georgia and Iowa, Wisconsin, and those two states that have big elections coming up less than two weeks, Virginia and my home state of New Jersey.

And I talked to Patrick De Haan over at GasBuddy and he said gas prices after these sanctions -- they're probably going to go a little bit higher, but he said not dramatically higher. Going from maybe $3.07 nationally to around $3.15, so not an earthshattering increase here.

Bob McNally, who is a veteran energy analyst --

SIDNER: Yeah.

EGAN: -- he told me that he thinks the Trump administration is going to try to thread the needle here, right? They're going to try to make it harder to get Russian oil, but not impossible. So it'll drive down the value of Russian barrels, hurting their revenue, but not send gas prices skyrocketing.

But like I said, Sara. It's not going to be easy.

SIDNER: Yeah. We will have to wait and see. Threading the needle is usually very --

EGAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- difficult.

Matt Egan, thank you so much.

EGAN: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, by definition. I've never been able to do it. I literally cannot thread a needle to save my life.

EGAN: Not yet.

BOLDUAN: Not yet. Thank you.

SIDNER: It's so optimistic on threading a needle.

BOLDUAN: Look at this today. Speaking --

SIDNER: Speaking of optimism, the Dodgers -- anyway.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Sara. The Dodgers facing the Blue Jays in game one of the World Series in Toronto tonight.

Andy Scholes is live in Toronto. What is going to happen?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, we will wait and see, Kate. But I'll tell you what, a lot -- a lot of people picking the Dodgers in this series and for good reason.

And one of those reasons is Shohei Ohtani. He has just been incredible. I mean, what he did in that closeout game -- game four against the Brewers in the National League Championship series -- stuff of a legend, you know. No one in baseball history had three home runs and 10 strikeouts on the mound in their career in the postseason. Ohtani -- he did it all in one game.

Now, the Japanese superstar just continues to just leave everyone in awe of what he can do on a baseball field. I mean, he hits balls out of stadiums. He throws 100 miles per hour. I mean, he saves cats that are stuck high up in trees. He just does it all.

And I asked Ohtani's teammates yesterday if they could just put into words how amazing he is at the game of baseball.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX MUNCY, THIRD BASEMAN, L.A. DODGERS: He's expected to hit these monster home runs and do these incredible performances on the mound, and very rarely does he disappoint in that -- in that sense. And when you're able to accomplish that in a game that's based on failure, that's truly incredible.

FREDDIE FREEMAN, FIRST BASEMAN, L.A. DODGERS: I just don't understand. Sometimes you're just like make sure it's not a machine under there sometimes. He's special and I'm just -- I'm just glad that I'm alive and in this -- in this generation that I get to see Shohei Ohtani play baseball.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah. So Ohtani will lead off tonight. He's likely going to be starting on the mound in game four of this series.

Now, the Dodgers -- they are the favorite. They're trying to become the first team to win back-to-back titles here in the World Series since the Yankees won three in a row back in 2000.

Now the Mariners -- or the Blue Jays, meanwhile, they're back in the World Series for the first time since 1993. They had to show amazing grit to get to this point. They were down to the Mariners 2-0 in the ALCS, then they were down 3-2. Then they were down two runs in game seven but every single they battled back.

[07:45:00]

So are they a team of destiny? Well, I asked them what it would mean to bring a World Series title back here to Toronto.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR., FIRST BASEMAN, ALCS MVP, TORONTO BLUE JAYS: I was not even born when they won in the World Series, you know?

GEORGE SPRINGER, OUTFIELDER, TORONTO BLUE JAYS: I don't know if you could put that into words, right? The city, the fans -- you know, the country has been kind of -- you know, they've wanted this for a long time. So for us to be here it's an absolute honor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, the Blue Jays are not only Toronto's team, they're all of Canada's team, and the ticket prices for the World Series certainly reflecting that. The cheapest ticket for a seat for game one tonight here is going for more than $700.

And Kate, while the Blue Jays are underdogs, they have a little bit of history on their side. So this is the fifth time that the World Series is featuring a team that swept an LCS versus a team that had to go seven games to win their LCS. In the previous four instances the team that had to go seven games won each of those World Series. So we will see if history will repeat itself and the Blue Jays can pull of the upset against the Dodgers.

BOLDUAN: I'm still stuck on does Shohei Ohtani really save cats in trees?

SCHOLES: I don't know. Kate, you could ask me any -- could Shohei Ohtani do this, and I would probably answer with yes.

BOLDUAN: Can you fly?

SCHOLES: Yes, I --

BOLDUAN: He can fly. Yeah, the answer is yes.

SCHOLES: He can do anything that a superhero can do.

BOLDUAN: OK, I love you. So fun. So glad you're there. Thanks so much, Andy. We'll talk to you later. So much fun.

All right. So ahead for us a major health scare for Kim Kardashian. How she is doing and why she is blaming her ex, Kanye West.

And the ACLU is accusing ICE of serious mistreatment of pregnant migrants while in custody. Now DHS is pushing back, calling the claims unsubstantiated and unverifiable.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:51:15]

BOLDUAN: So this morning the Department of Homeland Security is responding to a letter that was sent by the ACLU about mistreatment of pregnant migrants in ICE custody.

DHS assistant secretary -- spokesperson for the department, Tricia McLaughlin, calls the claims unsubstantiated and unverifiable, adding this in a statement. "Another day, another disgusting attempt to smear ICE while our law enforcement targets the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens."

It comes after the ACLU sent DHS a letter accusing ICE facilities in Louisiana and Georgia of not providing proper medical care to more than a dozen women -- pregnant women, including some who then miscarried.

That letter shares several specific accounts, including one from Lucia, who requested immediate medical care when she started bleeding in the middle of the night while in custody. And I want to read how her story is described -- like this.

"Medical staff did not give her any food, water, or pain medication for several hours. Much later that evening, after a significant loss of blood, Lucia was transported to an emergency room approximately an hour away, with her arms and legs shackled. At the hospital, Lucia required a blood transfusion because she had lost so much blood. Medical staff at the hospital informed Lucia that she had suffered a miscarriage."

Joining me right now is one of the people who is spearheading this effort, Eunice Cho. She's senior counsel for the ACLU's National Prison Project. Thank you for being here.

I want to get to the DHS response to your letter in a moment, but first to Lucia's story. She is one of more than a dozen pregnant women whose accounts you have of mistreatment while in custody.

How much further beyond them do you think this goes?

EUNICE CHO, SENIOR COUNSEL, ACLU'S NATIONAL PRISON PROJECT (via Webex by Cisco): Well, we think that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

We were able to interview a dozen women who had been pregnant while on ICE detention, but we know that there are many, many more women who are being held there. And we know that because the reason we started to interview these women was because we began hearing of an unusual number of pregnant folks who were being held in detention facilities around the country.

And, of course, ICE has refused to provide basic statistics of how many people are pregnant in detention. But what we know is that ICE is rounding up many more people and detaining folks who would have never been detained in the past, and that is especially true for people who are pregnant.

BOLDUAN: Do you know just how Lucia is doing now?

CHO: Well, we know that Lucia and many of the other women that we have talked to have been incredibly traumatized by the experiences that they've had at ICE. Some of the women have been deported and separated from their families here in the United States after having suffered these incredibly traumatic experiences in detention.

And some of the women have had -- been able to give birth because they have been released from custody. But they also are really grappling with the trauma and the depression of these traumatic experiences, and it has really affected their lives and the way forward.

BOLDUAN: So now after you hear those accounts and you're told these accounts, and following what has happened to them even after that, now to the -- what the Department of Homeland Security says in response to your letter, calling the claims unsubstantiated and unverifiable.

How do you respond to that?

CHO: Well, this, of course, is what ICE always says when they're trying to blame the victims. But these women have come forward very bravely to share their stories of what happened to them in detention, but they've done so under pseudonym because they have a very real fear of retaliation by ICE against themselves and their families.

[07:55:00]

And so our team of lawyers interviewed these women and, in many cases, even reviewed their medical records to verify the facts and to verify their claims of what happened in detention. And I think what ICE is trying to do is to deflect the blame as to what the treatment is and the trauma that they have been -- you know, calling on these women during their pregnancies in detention.

And again, I just have to underscore some of the facts that these women have reported. They have talked about being shackled and chained as they were actively bleeding and miscarrying. They report begging for things as basic as prenatal vitamins and being denied by detention facilities. They've talked about not having enough food to eat while detained and worrying day -- every day about the viability of their pregnancies, about losing their pregnancies.

And, you know, of course, they are also worrying about the safety of their families at home and being separated and deported.

BOLDUAN: Eunice, just very quickly, you -- it is important to highlight if -- claims of mistreatment full stop, but what do -- are you hoping happens now? What is the ask, the request, the demand?

CHO: Well, you know, ICE's own policies bar the detention of pregnant women in the first place and federal regulations require that pregnant women are released from ICE detention. So what we're asking is that ICE actually just follow its rules and identify and release all of the pregnant women who are in their custody right now and to make sure that they're complying with its own directives that would prohibit the detention of pregnant women except for in extraordinary circumstances.

We want to make sure that while that is happen -- happening is that women who are pregnant in detention are given timely medical care that is consistent with community standards of care. That they're given enough food. That they are not being mistreated while they're detained and trying to get out and be reunited with their families again. BOLDUAN: Eunice Cho of the ACLU. Thank you very much for your time and

thank you for coming in -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, Kim Kardashian revealing her doctors found a brain aneurysm during an MRI on the season premiere of "THE KARDASHIANS." Kim K. blames the diagnosis on stress from the divorce with Kanye West. A brain aneurysm is a bulge of ballooning of a blood vessel in or around the brain. If an aneurysm ruptures it can be deadly.

Also on our radar firefighters in Georgia dealing with a nutty situation. A shed filled with 20 semitrailers packed with peanuts went up in flames Thursday sending out smoke and the smell of roasted peanuts. Now officials say the fire likely started from propane gas, which is used to dry peanuts inside those trailers, but it could take days to fully put out the fire because the peanuts keep reigniting as they burn. No one was hurt in that incident.

And check out this incredible light display. It has now apparently broken the Guinness World Record. The Chinese city of Liuyang used nearly 16,000 drones to pull off this really spectacular display, one of the largest simultaneous launches of drones from a single computer. Look at that. I'm just mesmerized. Nearly 8,000 of these things are up in the air making those incredible pictures. That doubles the previous world record -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Remarkable.

BOLDUAN: Yeah -- unreal.

BOLDUAN: Totally.

Also this morning just after a few -- just after a few days of demolition the 123-year-old East Wing of the White House is now gone. Here is one view of it. We can show you before and after satellite images. You see there on the right side of your screen there, and now just dirt and rubble where the East Wing once stood.

President Trump is moving ahead with his plan to build a 90,000 square foot ballroom there. The price tag has been a moving target, now estimated to cost $300 million -- all despite the backlash that they are facing on the size and scope of the project and that ballooning dollar amount.

CNN's Tom Foreman dives into the president's long fascination with lavish ballrooms.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I'm very good at building ballrooms. I build beautiful ballrooms.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): In and out of office President Donald Trump has long gushed over sprawling, splashy ballrooms --

TRUMP: This is a ballroom -- brand new.

FOREMAN (voiceover): -- claiming a certain expertise through his years in construction and the ballrooms he's added elsewhere -- at the hotel he once owned in D.C., for example, and at his Florida home Mar-a-Lago where he completed at $40 million gold-encrusted space just in time to marry his third wife there, Melania Trump, now first lady.

He told a design magazine, "I modeled the interior after Versailles," which is kind of the problem for some critics watching the demolition at this living shrine to democracy on Pennsylvania Avenue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The White House was always meant to be more modest. It's not a European palace.

FOREMAN (voiceover): Based on models, Trump's ballroom, at 90,000 square feet, will be mammoth compared to the White House.