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Trump: Trade Talks with Canada "Terminated"; Trump to Talk Trade with China; Government Shutdown Enters Day 24; Navy Tapped to Help with Migrant Detention Center Construction; Cuomo Stokes Fears of Mamdani's Faith. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 24, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Avenue.

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

FOREMAN (voice-over): Based on models, Trump's ballroom at 90,000 square feet will be mammoth compared to the White House, four times bigger than the Mar-a-Lago ballroom. It will be directly attached to the White House complex despite previous claims to the contrary. And although Trump insist he and his donors will pay for it all, his cost estimates have been wildly inconsistent.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's about $200 million.

It's going to be a couple hundred million dollars at least.

I think it'll cost $250 million.

It's about $300 million.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Trump's fixation with the White House ballroom goes back to at least President Barack Obama's terms when Trump called a top Obama adviser to say he was bothered by large formal events spilling into temporary structures.

TRUMP: I called David Axelrod, I said, David, I see you have all the heads of state and all the biggest people from China, and you're in a crummy tent.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Trump offered to build a ballroom then. Axelrod says Trump was turned down with reason.

DAVID AXELROD, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: He misunderstands why people were so eager to come. It's because of what America represented, not because of the gold that we had around us.

FOREMAN (voice-over): But now Trump is in charge, the gold rush is coming, and his ballroom blitz is finally on. TRUMP: This is the excavation of the White House grounds for what will be one of the best, most beautiful ballrooms in the world.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. Trump says he's cutting off trade talks with Canada. The tipping point, an ad from Ontario's government that uses a speech from Ronald Reagan to make the case against tariffs. We're standing by to see how Canada will respond.

And this morning, New York attorney general is the defendant in court, soon appearing in a Virginia courtroom for the DOJ's mortgage fraud case against her. Her legal team pushing to get it thrown out because of Trump's hand-picked U.S. attorney that's leading that prosecution.

And caught on camera, a man's close encounter with death after mudslides sent a giant boulder barreling towards him.

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, just in this morning, new comments from President Trump after his surprise announcement overnight that he is terminating all trade talks with America's neighbor to the north. And he says it all has to do with an ad released by the Ontario government. It uses the words of Ronald Reagan from a 1987 address. You see a video of it there. He's criticizing tariffs. The Reagan Foundation says the ad misrepresents the late president's speech, though it is not clear how exactly. Here's part of the ad now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Throughout the world, there's a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition. America's jobs and growth are at stake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And then, within the last hour, the president is up and posting this, Canada cheated and got caught, he writes, they fraudulently took a big buy ad, a big buy -- a big ad buy, I'm assuming. No, he wrote big buy ad. Saying that Ronald Reagan did not like tariffs when actually he loved tariffs for our country and its national security.

And this is all just before the Trump administration is about to kick off likely the most important trade talks of them all with China, the world's second largest economy. President Trump is set to depart for Asia tonight, where he's expected to hold high-stakes talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy of Illinois to talk much more about this. So, Canada, trade talks over once again. Should the president be mad over the leader of Ontario putting out an ad, quoting Ronald Reagan from 1987, talking about tariffs?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE AND SELECT COMMITTEE ON CHINA: No, and I think that pushing away Canada is exactly the wrong move when we're trying to isolate the Chinese Communist Party and trying to curb their aggression.

I think that the president has important leverage with regard to China, and that includes restrictions on export controls, restrictions on exports of semiconductors, market access in the U.S., as well as our partnerships with our friends, partners, and allies like Canada. But when he pushes away Canada, imposes tariffs on them, he ends up hurting our bargaining position with the Chinese, and he hurts Americans, including farmers in Illinois who are paying much higher costs for inputs that they buy from Canada and other places.

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BOLDUAN: And I do want to ask you about that, because how strong the bargaining position of the United States is against -- when it comes to China, is up for debate right now. Because what can't and shouldn't be lost with this latest slurp with Canada China is the trade talks that matter most is with China.

You've got the treasury secretary set to meet today with the top Chinese officials start the talking trade. And then you have Trump and Xi supposedly still set to meet next week. One big topic, Beijing's curb on exports of rare earths. Also, though, soybeans which is very big in your state. How bad are those tariffs coming from China hitting your farmers right now?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Pretty horrible. Basically, our farmers are basically in the crosshairs of the Chinese right now. Just to give you a sense. Last year they bought $1.4 billion of soybeans from Illinois, which is the largest soybean producing state in the country. And this year it's down to zero.

And so, I just visited a farm in western Illinois where basically they are complaining that the price of soybeans has dropped like a rock. And at the same time their input costs have increased dramatically such as fertilizer from Canada. And so, you know, it's very hard to break even. On top of that USAID has closed its programs for buying crops from farmers which they then use to distribute overseas. And so, everything is falling apart in the farm economy in Illinois.

BOLDUAN: And there's a big question of even if China drops those retaliatory tariff rate, they've already moved on to start buying soybeans elsewhere. Do they even start buying back up? And does it -- What's the impact? I mean, is the damage done is a big question.

But I do want to ask you as we are on day never ending of the government shutdown. I want to play for you something that Republican Congresswoman Lisa McClain which she talked about on the show yesterday and she's very angry about coming from the Democrats. Listen to her reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. LISA MCCLAIN (R-MI): One party that's using the American people as leverage in the American people's suffering as leverage, and then you have Republican that are actually trying to serve the American people. Are you kidding me?

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BOLDUAN: She's talking about leverage. And what she's responding to is this from Democratic Congresswoman Katherine Clark speaking to Fox News. Let me play this.

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REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA), MINORITY WHIP: I mean shutdowns are terrible. And of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have.

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BOLDUAN: Leverage times we have. Republicans are accusing Katherine Clark of saying the quiet part out loud. What do you say?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, I think I think what Katherine and others are basically expressing is that right now the president controls all branches of government. He wants to come to Democrats to get some votes because he doesn't have enough to pass legislation to do what he wants with the government right now. But the status quo is not working as, you know, basically health care costs are set to explode as Affordable Care Act tax credits are about to expire and notices are going out to families next week about that.

And so, basically what we're saying is take that issue off the table. Help families avoid these exploding health care costs right now. Republicans say, well, let's reopen the government and then let's talk about Obamacare. But what we know is we can't trust them on that --

BOLDUAN: But do you -- do you wish Katherine Clark would have said differently rather than talking about it being a leverage point?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Look, I think that Katherine was basically expressing in her own words the notion that our leverage right now are our votes. We can either give in and basically, in that case, allow the status quo to continue which is unacceptable or demand a concession from the president which is simply let the American people have their health care. And that's what we should be doing right now.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you for coming in. Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Coming up the betting scandal that has rocked the NBA. The details read like a sci-fi movie, a Hall of Famer and a current player both facing potential prison time. How prosecutors say they were involved in fixed NBA bets and rigged underground poker games.

Also, the White House looks to tap the Navy to help accelerate its plans to build migrant detention centers. More on that.

Plus, the great crab migration is upon us. Millions of large crabs are now emerging from the forest and marching their way across Australia. These pictures are incredible to make their way to the ocean. We'll have more on that coming up.

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SIDNER: New this morning, the Trump administration is recruiting the Navy to help with its immigration crackdown efforts. According to sources and federal contracting documents CNN has reviewed, the Navy is getting $10 billion from DHS to help speed up construction of migrant detention centers around the United States. And one source says construction could start as soon as next month. Let's go to CNN reporter Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla, what are you learning about all this?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has $45 billion to use, this after the funding that they got from Congress. And what the Department of Homeland Security has been trying to figure out is how to use these funds and start striking contracts expeditiously to grow out their immigrant detention facilities, which are important as they try to ramp up the immigration arrests.

So, in this case, what we have found through these documents is that they're leaning on the Navy's contracting arm. Now, sources have described this to me as unprecedented between the Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department.

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Now, the Defense Department has vast experience with contracting. And so, that is what the Department of Homeland Security is trying to do here is leaning on that expertise and leaning on very specific contracting mechanisms so that they can more quickly set up these detention centers.

Now, part of that is lessening or rather narrowing the pool of eligible contractors and also lessening competition, because typically the Department of Homeland Security and other types of contracting has dealt with a lot of headaches with competition, with the delays that come with going through these contractors, and by doing it this way through the Defense Department, it allows them to work with people who they believe already have the experience to set up these facilities.

Now, as you mentioned, a source who spoke with our colleague, Natasha Bertrand, mentioned that the construction of these facilities is expected to start as soon as next month, though the contracting process is still underway. And the goal is for each of these to be 10,000 people and span across multiple states. So, certainly gives us a preview into the way that they are trying to build out these sprawling facilities.

SIDNER: And tell us about some of your new reporting on this big push to recruit more deportation officers.

ALVAREZ: Yes. Sara, if you look at social media, if you even look at the airwaves, there has been a public aggressive push by the Department of Homeland Security to hire as many people as possible for ICE to serve as deportation officers. But behind the scenes, sources tell me that it has been far more complicated and challenging because the agency was just ill-prepared to deal with the influx of applications.

And so, there have been hiccups in onboarding, be it confusing guidance, but also people who have slipped through the cracks. And also, some sources tell me some cut corners. So, for example, they're having people show up to their academy, who maybe didn't even check into their field office yet, which is typically the first step, or people showing up who are just not physically prepared to meet the requirements of, for example, a mile and a -- or one and a half mile in 14 minutes and 25 seconds.

So, they are struggling with what is happening on the back end here, as they are publicly pushing for people to join Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

SIDNER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you for your reporting on this this morning.

And ahead, tensions flare in the final stretch of New York's mayoral race, as former Governor Andrew Cuomo facing backlash over comments he made about the frontrunner, Zohran Mamdani's Muslim faith.

And a new -- a National Guard aircraft crashes in an Oklahoma field, the latest that we know about what happened here and the investigation.

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BOLDUAN: New this morning, Andrew Cuomo facing new backlash as early voting begins tomorrow in the race for New York City Mayor. It's over comments that he made in a radio interview yesterday about his rival, Democratic front-runner, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, who's Muslim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: People's lives are at stake. God forbid another 9/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in this seat?

ROSENBERG: Yes, you know, I could. He'd be cheering.

CUOMO: That's another problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now, seen as Gloria Pazmino, who's been following this race from the very beginning. They had their last debate and now they've got this. How's Mamdani responding?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Kate, you know, I do want to mention that a few hours after this radio interview, the former governor was asked about his comments and he sort of shifted the blame to the host who you hear there suggesting that Mamdani would cheer if there was another terror attack similar to 9/11 to take place. And you hear the former governor kind of just laughing along. And that reaction is why he's getting so much criticism this morning from both sides, even people who are not necessarily huge fans of Mamdani have said, it cannot come to this.

You know, Mamdani grew up in New York City. He was nine years old when 9/11 happened. He has spoken about how that experience shaped him, not just as a New Yorker, but as a Muslim man who grew up in this city. He also spoke about the comments yesterday. He was asked if he believed that this was Islamophobic. Take a listen to what he said.

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ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: We're speaking about a former governor who, in his final moments in public life, is engaging in rhetoric that is not only Islamophobic, not only racist, it's also disgusting, and is his final closing argument with less than two weeks before election day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, Kate, this is not an isolated incident. We've been doing a lot of reporting in the last few weeks about the ways in which Cuomo has been trying to campaign differently as he tries to shore up his support. And part of what he has been doing is campaigning in South Asian communities. He has been going out to mosques. And he has been trying to pick at parts of Mamdani's platform, specifically this discussion around the decriminalization of sex work, to suggest that his support of that makes him a bad Muslim. He said so on the debate stage just a few nights ago.

And so, this has been really upsetting for the Mamdani campaign that he has tried to use this as a wedge issue in the last few days of the campaign, particularly after the fact that when Andrew Cuomo was in office for 10 years, he never actually visited a mosque. So, Mamdani has basically said, you are only doing this because you're losing the race and because you're now trying to reach out to this community that is supporting me.

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So, a lot of controversy over those radio comments for the former governor and Mamdani responding.

BOLDUAN: Early voting starts tomorrow, election day is days away, quite a way that this is rounding out.

PAZMINO: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, Gloria. Still ahead for us, we're going to give you a look at this morning's market futures. Investors are standing by for a critical inflation report to be released in a matter of moments. We'll have that and what it means.

And x-ray tables, rigged card shufflers, glasses that can read straight through poker playing cards. The latest details on that mob- related gambling sting operation that has shell-shocked the NBA and beyond.

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BOLDUAN: This morning, new reaction to the explosive NBA gambling scandal as two of the teams connected to the case are hitting the court tonight. More than 30 people were arrested in this investigation. The prosecutors say it involved rigged poker.

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