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USDA Revises SNAP Reduction Plan to Give More Partial Benefits; White Nationalist Nick Fuentes Ignites Bitter Feud Within GOP; Tesla Shareholder to Vote on $1 Trillion Pay Deal for Elon Musk; Japan Deploys Troops After Deadly Bear Attacks. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired November 06, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A limited lifeline is coming for millions of Americans who rely on government food assistance. This might be a degree of cold comfort though. The USDA now says SNAP recipients will receive a partial payment that's worth 35 percent less than their typical monthly stipend.

That's a little better than the 50 percent less in payments that the USDA originally announced. But yes, it's still a lot less, isn't it? The government shutdown is causing this reduction in benefits.

And the longer this drags on, the more uncertainty for families desperately trying to put food on the table. That drags on as well.

So let's talk about it now with Joel Berg. He is the CEO of Hunger Free America. All right, Joel, does that change in November SNAP benefits? Still significantly below the normal monthly amount that families would get.

How big of a difference is that going to make for folks who are waiting on the funds?

JOEL BERG, CEO, HUNGER FREE AMERICA: It will help a little, but the most important thing is the delay. The other day, USDA said this could take weeks or months or months to get people the food. I know no one in the Trump administration, frankly, has had to wait an hour in their life to get food when they were hungry, saying that 42 million Americans, most of whom are working people, children, seniors, people with disabilities, active duty military and veterans, have to wait weeks or months is just so unacceptable.

Food delayed is food denied. You can't eat an IOU. Our hunger hotline, we've seen calls double over the last week.

We are on the edge of the greatest hunger crisis since the Great Depression. They don't need to act in weeks or months. They need to do it today.

KEILAR: Such a good point. Your organization runs the National Hunger Hotline, and you get these calls, you refer Americans to places where they can find free food. Tell us about what you're hearing from people who are calling in. BERG: I should say the hotline is 1-866-3-HUNGRY. It is free. And we will not only refer you to soup kitchens and food pantries and food banks, but there are still some government programs that are still operational.

The WIC program for pregnant women and children under five, school lunches. A lot of people know about it, but many parents don't know their schools have school breakfast for their kids. So we're hearing from people, they're panicked. They're rightfully panicked.

[15:35:00]

Propel, a private company that helps people access their SNAP accounts, they just did a survey of SNAP participants nationwide, and they found that 71 percent, 71 percent already don't have enough food or money to meet their basic expenses. So we're in a crisis, and groups like ours can do more to help and connect people with resources, and we hope that people who can afford to do so go to hungerfreeamerica.org and donate. But you can also find out on our website how you can access that food. And also, we think most importantly, advocate to get, frankly, the president and Republicans in Congress to end this shutdown.

Because even if we temporarily get people November benefits, unless we fix this soon, people will be denied December benefits. And there's no question contingency funds don't exist to make those December benefits.

KEILAR: And I know you look at the president and Republicans, and polls show that a lot of Americans blame them for this shutdown, too. But when we talk to SNAP recipients, they're oftentimes not discriminating between the two parties. I mean, you said they can't eat an IOU.

They also can't really eat political blame, right? And so I do wonder, Democrats, they do have a say in this, right? They're at the table.

They're having discussions. How should they be?

BERG: They're not at the table.

KEILAR: Well, there are discussions going on in the House and Senate, bipartisan discussions as we understand it. So we're trying to see if that's going to go somewhere.

But how should they be thinking about SNAP benefits and the posture of Republicans and the president and how they're approaching that?

BERG: Well, there may be some back-channel discussions, but the fact of the matter is Majority Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries have asked for a meeting with the White House, and the president's refused. He's spending more time having Great Gatsby-like parties at, you know, at Mar-a-Lago. And the fact of the matter is the House of Representatives, due to the Republican majority, isn't even in session. And a lot of low-income people, Americans, depend on SNAP, don't understand that this fight is also about health care. The tens of millions of Americans face possibly thousands of dollars or tens of thousands of dollars more in health care premiums if this issue isn't fixed. And if you have to spend that much more on health care, you're going to have that much money less for food.

So the health care fight is a hunger fight. And certainly we need to keep the pressure on to end this immediately. Any responsible party that's in charge negotiates in the Senate to get the 60 votes they need.

They've had a year to know this crisis was happening, and they haven't acted. The president even boasted the other day, threatened to defy two federal court orders. So it's pretty clear which side's responsible for this.

And low-income Americans need to understand. I think a lot of them do. A lot of them, frankly, voted based on their understanding on Tuesday that one side was responsible for this.

Now, Hunger Free America is a nonpartisan organization. We don't take sides. We criticize Democrats when we don't think they're doing the right thing.

But I think it's pretty clear the way to end the shutdown is for the Republicans to actually have a true negotiating table with the president and the congressional leadership at the table and ending this, and also complying with the federal court orders, regardless of whether the shutdown's ended, to get complete SNAP benefits to the 42 million Americans nationwide. And it's not just people. It's 260,000 retailers, big box stores, corner stores, bodegas, farmers markets.

Some of them may have to start laying off staff because they don't have that income. So this is a great economic crisis and a human crisis. And again, the people we deal with are in a rightful panic.

They're already rationing food. They're already skipping meals. We're the richest country in the history of the world.

And so this is so thoroughly unacceptable.

KEILAR: Yes. And as you draw that connection between health care and food, it is so important. If we learn nothing this week, it is about affordability being on the mind of Americans.

Joel Berg, thank you very much for being with us.

BERG: Thank you.

KEILAR: Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: A fight on the political right is really now in the spotlight. So this all followed a controversial interview with a white nationalist influencer. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson invited Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes onto his podcast. And in that interview, they criticized Israel. They mocked Christians who've made supporting the Jewish state a top priority.

That has someone on the right now condemning Carlson for elevating Fuentes on his platform. CNN's Steve Contorno has been following all of the developments here. So there are people who may not know who Nick Fuentes is.

This is potentially a major issue for Republican, Steve.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, we've really seen the party have a bit of a civil war over the last few days over Tucker Carlson's decision because he is a very popular figure.

[15:40:00]

So for him to have given a platform to someone who is an anti-Semitic white nationalist has really roiled the GOP. And to be clear, this is an individual, Nick Fuentes, who has said that the Holocaust was not as bad as many of the facts that we know about it. He is someone who has said expressed an affinity for Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. He was actually banned from social media for a period because of his past offensive statements.

He was then reinstated to X by Elon Musk and now has a million followers. And many of them are young men who have been very influential in Trump's coalition lately. And so the decision to give him a platform has created widespread disagreement among Republicans.

But it really came to a head when Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation, an influential think tank, put out a statement in support of Tucker Carlson. And that set off a firestorm within his own organization. In fact, one senior staff member telling us, quote, it's an absolute expletive show. He's lost control of the organization. It is open rebellion. It is disgust -- 85 percent are totally disgusted.

Now, I should point out, though, that Fuentes is someone who has welcomed this type of good disagreement within the Republican Party. He believes that this kind of infighting will ultimately help pull the Republican Party toward his worldview.

Look at what he said to his followers on September 9th.

He said, quote, "We want disruption, we want chaos, we want infighting. Yes, the GOP might lose some elections. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Now, we have reached out to Fuentes and Carlson and did not hear back from them. We also reached out to the Heritage Foundation and Kevin Roberts and did not hear back from them either. But Roberts has since come out with a statement apologizing in a way and also saying that he was not fully aware of what Tucker Carlson and Fuentes covered in their conversation -- Erica.

HILL: Interesting to think he may not have been fully aware of all that. Steve, appreciate it. Thank you.

All right. It is a tasty, historic move. These special food astronauts in space will have the chance to dig into for the very first time. Big moment here.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Happening soon. A high stakes vote for Tesla and its billionaire CEO in less than an hour. Investors at the company's annual meeting will decide whether to give Elon Musk a pay package that could be worth a trillion dollars. And he's threatened to leave if he doesn't get it.

With us now, CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy. I always wanted to say it like that. The trillion dollars, Clare. Tell us about this vote, how it could reshape Tesla's future.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, this could have huge implications for Tesla and obviously for Elon Musk, potentially making the world's richest man even richer. As a reminder, Elon Musk is currently worth about $470 billion. But Tesla's board believes that this pay package is necessary to incentivize Elon Musk to focus on leading the carmaker, despite his many other companies and his political involvement.

And as you said, Elon Musk has threatened to leave his post as CEO if this pay package is not approved. Now, this pay package won't necessarily just be Tesla handing Elon Musk $1 trillion. This is going to come in the form of 423 million Tesla shares that will be granted over a period of 10 years if he meets very ambitious financial and operational targets. Including bringing the company's valuation, which currently sits around $1.4 trillion to $8.5 trillion dollars, boosting the company's stock by 466 percent.

And this comes at a time when Tesla's shares have been struggling, sales have been struggling and the company is also facing increasing competition. However, both Elon Musk and Tesla believe that the company's investments in things like robotaxis and humanoid robots will help it reach that very ambitious goal.

However, there are some shareholder groups, prominent shareholder groups who have already indicated that they will vote no on this pay package. They think it's unreasonable and could potentially dilute their stakes in the company too much. So it's going to be really interesting to watch what happens when this meeting kicks off in about 10 minutes here.

KEILAR: Yes, and it's harder to even fathom what a trillion dollars is. Right. Can you put into context just what it would mean for Musk to make a trillion dollars over the next decade?

DUFFY: Yes, it is really massive. This is by far the largest CEO pay package that we've seen. And if Musk reaches these financial and operational milestones, essentially he'd be making here $275 million per day over the next 10 years.

So the numbers here are really, really massive.

KEILAR: Huge. All right, Clare Duffy, thank you so much -- Erica.

[15:50:00]

HILL: Turning on to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour and a disturbing story out of Germany where a nurse has been convicted now in the murder of 10 patients using lethal injections. Prosecutors arguing that between December of 2023 and May of 2024, this nurse injected his elderly patients with painkillers or sedatives in an effort to ease his own workload at night.

A spokesperson for the German court said the nurse has a slim chance of being released from prison after 15 years. That verdict, though -- the verdict can be appealed. The nurse was also convicted of the attempted murder of 27 patients.

A jury awarding Abby Zwerner $10 million. The former teacher who was shot by her six year old student had sued Ebony Parker, the ex- assistant principal at that elementary school for failing to act on repeated warnings that the student may have brought a gun to schools. Zwerner was shot in her chest and hand in January of 2023.

The criminal trial against Parker is set to begin next. She is facing eight counts of felony child neglect.

And how about some good news for astronauts? The astronauts were tired of all those freeze dried meals. Well, get this a new hot air oven just installed on China's space station allows the astronauts to grill at zero gravity. Check it out.

You see there they were testing it out. The initial grilling steaks and chicken wings were told they can also bake and roast peanuts now. So there you have it.

Japan sending in troops to deal with a major issue -- bears. That story's after the break.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: You may have known this, but it turns out Japan has a bear problem, a big one. After a record year of deadly encounters, the country is actually now deploying troops to prevent any more bear attacks.

KEILAR: Yes, CNN's Hanako Montgomery explains what the troops are going to do to help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Japan is deploying its self-defense forces to help stop bear attacks after a record year of deadly encounters. At least 13 people have died and hundreds have been injured this year alone. But the troops aren't actually legally allowed to cull wild animals.

Instead, they'll be providing logistical support, like helping lay down traps, transporting local farmers and also transporting bear carcasses. Now, the actual culling will be left to the local hunters, but they say they're having a hard time controlling the bear population because of Japan's demographic crisis. Because the population is aging so rapidly, there just aren't enough hunters to help keep the bear population under control.

TATSUHITO YAMAGISHI, 72-YEAR-OLD BEAR HUNTER (through translator): In a few years' time when we hunters are all over 70-years-old, will there even be anybody left who could teach people how to hunt the bears, even if they wanted to?

MONTGOMERY: Now, experts partially blame climate change for this crisis. They say that because the bears' natural food resources are getting more and more scarce, they're having to go into towns and cities in search for food. We've seen bears at schools, nurseries, even supermarkets in search for food.

In fact, a university in northern Japan had to cancel classes for two days because a bear was spotted on campus. That's how bad this problem is getting. Now, troops are being deployed to a specific part of northern Japan where the problem is especially severe.

But the entire nation is on high alert. In fact, the central government is currently drafting up a list of countermeasures by mid- November, which they hope will help address this issue. But they've yet to propose a solution that actually deals with the problem in the long term, besides simply culling these wild animals.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: All right, Hanako, thank you for that.

And an update to the story that we were telling you about earlier. We're now hearing from Sean Dunn, the man at the center of the sandwich-throwing assault case here in Washington.

HILL: So in the past hour, of course, he was found not guilty of assault after he threw a Subway sandwich at a federal officer. Here's what he had to say outside of court just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUNN: I am so happy that justice prevails in spite of everything happening. And that night, I believe that I was protecting the rights of immigrants. Every life matters, no matter where you came from, no matter how you got here, no matter how you identify.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Dunn was charged with misdemeanor assault for the throw that was seen right there. His case became a cause celeb in Washington.

Goalie Jordan Minnington, in the story that we've been wanting to show you all day, had a front row seat to history in last night's St. Louis Blues game against the Washington Capitals.

HILL: Of course, this probably wasn't a moment of history that he really wanted to be a part of because he was in goal when Washington Capitals legend Alexander Ovechkin scored his history-making 900th goal against Binnington. So history-making because this is also the first time it's ever been done in NHL history, which means the puck was then destined for the Hall of Fame. But first, actually, the referee had to get the puck.

KEILAR: Yes. Where's the puck?

HILL: Where could it go?

KEILAR: So Ovechkin celebrating with his teammates, Binnington -- Binnington apparently deciding --

HILL: There we go!

KEILAR: -- ah, I'll take a souvenir. What's he doing there?

HILL: Not scratching an itch, apparently.

KEILAR: No, he's not. He's taking that souvenir, pocketing the puck in the pants. You have to admit, he was a pretty nonchalant about it, almost missed it if you weren't looking --

HILL: Yes.

KEILAR: -- carefully. He didn't have the replay, but after a quick chat, he gave that purloined puck to the ref.

HILL: Yes, yes, he did. A little something.

[16:00:00]

It's, I don't know, I was just sort of struck by like, maybe it's a goalie thing. I'm not a goalie, so I wouldn't know. But like, yes, I'll just put it here for safe keeping.

I'll just keep it warm.

KEILAR: Yes. The jokes though, kind of write themselves.

HILL: They sure do.

KEILAR: They sure do.

HILL: Yes.

KEILAR: "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END