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Trump Pardons Dozens Accused Of Trying To Overturn 2020 Election; Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) On Senate Deal To End Government Shutdown After 41 Days; Mother Of Missing 9-Year-Old Girl Arrested On Unrelated Charges. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 10, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:23]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking this morning President Trump rewarding the loyalty of some of his staunchest allies by pardoning them for their alleged efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 president election.

The Justice Department's pardon attorney posted the long list of names overnight, which includes Trump lawyers Rudy Guiliani and Sidney Powell, and the president's former chief of staff Mark Meadows.

CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig is with us this morning, finally. I'm complaining. I haven't seen you in too long.

But for now, some of these people that he's pardoning have faced state charges, not federal charges.

What is that practical implication of all this?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Right, Sara. So this is a presidential pardon, so it only impacts federal criminal cases. So as you said, several of these people are currently being prosecuted at the state level relating to the fake electors' scheme in Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona, so the pardons have no impact on those state prosecutions.

Now it's worth noting those state prosecutions are largely in the process of collapsing or have collapsed in their own right but the pardon has no impact. Also, the pardon has no impact on any civil lawsuit.

So, for example, Rudy Guiliani has been found liable for millions of dollars in defamation for statements that he made against Georgia election workers. That verdict -- that liability is completely unimpacted -- no impact by this pardon.

The only thing it could impact is federal criminal cases. None of these people have been charged federally with any crimes. It's, I think, very unlikely they would have been charged during the rest of Pam Bondi's term as attorney general. And even if they were to be charged by a hypothetical next DOJ, that would be in 2029, way beyond the statute of limitations. So in that respect, Sara, I think they are largely symbolic.

SIDNER: Yeah. At least one person was trying to get their case moved to federal courts but that didn't happen. So that's good information, Elie.

Can you talk about the larger trend that seems to be happening here when it comes to the DOJ and what happened on January 6.

HONIG: Well, I think there's an unmistakable trend here to rewrite and sanitize January 6. It's been going on since day one of the Trump administration.

First, let's remember we had pardons of 1,500-plus people who were at the riot of January 6. Then we had firings of dozens of career prosecutors and law enforcement agents who were simply doing their job in prosecuting those cases. Then a week or two ago we saw two veteran DOJ prosecutors suspended because they happened to reference January 6 as a mob and as a riot. And now we have this.

And if you look at the preamble to this pardon it specifically says essentially this is intended to make people think differently and look differently back at January 6. So I don't think there's any way to ignore that trend.

SIDNER: Yeah, and you can certainly see the video for yourself as to what happened.

Elie Honig, it is a pleasure. Thank you so much for being here this morning. I do appreciate you -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So the breaking news this morning, the Senate has a deal to reopen the government as the record-long shutdown reaches day 41.

Eight Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to advance the deal -- a deal that does not include a concrete extension of the Obamacare subsidies at the heart of the Democrats' monthslong fight here. Instead, they do get a commitment from Republicans to hold a vote on those subsidies by mid-December. If the Senate gives its final approval on the deal, it does still need to be voted on and approved in the House.

[07:35:00]

Let's talk about this. Joining me right now is Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York. He sits on House Financial Services. It's good to see you, Congressman. Thanks for being here.

OK, so the Senate has this key test vote last night. Do you see this as a good deal?

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): Yes, because the government is reopening after 40-plus days, something that never should have happened. And I think, frankly, even some Democrats recognize that this has been an unmitigated disaster. They've really never had an off-ramp or a plan on how to get where they wanted to go.

And so I think you had obviously eight Democrats yesterday break ranks. We will at some point over the next 24-48 hours have a vote in the Senate and then the House will be back to pass the legislation as well.

Look, I'm a member of Problem Solvers. It's the only bipartisan caucus in Congress. And all of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, in Problem Solvers should vote to pass this C.R., which includes a mini bus -- you know, three bills: MilCon-VA, Ag, and the Leg Branch for full-year appropriations. And it gives us until January 30 to negotiate the rest of the appropriations and finish our job.

At the same token, obviously, the issue of health care is front and center. I've been a co-lead on a bill to extend the ACA subsidies by a year since the beginning of September.

And as you'll recall, I asked leader Jeffries just about a month ago to sign onto that bill and join me in passing a one-year extension. At the time, he opposed it. This weekend he said he was in favor of it. We could have saved a whole month if leader Jeffries stopped playing politics and just did his job.

And the same for Chuck Schumer. The fact that Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, the two senators from New York, voted no last night. For the 15th time they voted to defund SNAP and WIC and not pay our troops, border patrol agents and air traffic controllers all because of politics. It's fundamentally wrong.

And so I will vote yes when this bill comes to the House floor.

BOLDUAN: OK.

Senator Thune has made a commitment to allow a vote in December on extending the expiring health insurance tax credits for a year. Should Mike Johnson make that commitment to holding that vote as well?

LAWLER: There should be a vote, absolutely. I will fight tooth and nail to get an extension passed. I know many of my colleagues want to see certain reforms, including lowering the income threshold. Somebody making $600,000 --

BOLDUAN: Some of your colleagues want to see it expire, yeah.

LAWLER: -- should not be subsidized by the American taxpayer. But I want to make sure that this extension is passed because we don't want to see health care premiums spike for Americans.

At the same token, this requires a much longer-term discussion about how we actually make health care affordable in this country because Obamacare has not done that. Since it took effect in 2010, health care premiums have risen by over 60 percent nationwide.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

LAWLER: That's unacceptable. And all of us should be working to figure out a way to fix this so that Americans are not seeing health care premium spikes year over year over year.

BOLDUAN: Another --

LAWLER: The way to make it affordable can't just be to subsidize it. So that's what we have to focus on long-term.

BOLDUAN: The operative word there is long-term, right? I mean --

So the Trump administration is now ordering states that they must immediately undo any steps that were taken to provide full SNAP benefits to low-income Americans. They're actually threatening financial penalties against states that don't comply.

I was looking at Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. She calls this directive that came in over the weekend "shocking" if it applies to states like hers that use their own money to prop up the program. She says the states should not face a penalty over this.

Do you think they should face a penalty for trying to fill the gap and fund SNAP?

LAWLER: No, absolutely not. There are Americans suffering because of the Schumer shutdown.

I can tell you in my own state of New York the state has had to put funds forward to help backfill SNAP. Our local communities have had to do that. Our nonprofits have been struggling to find food.

Nobody should be penalized because of the Schumer shutdown. So from my vantage point we need to get the government reopened. We need to fully fund SNAP and WIC and make sure that Americans who rely on these critical programs have it and that this doesn't happen again.

[07:40:05]

That is why I support --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

LAWLER: -- legislation to make sure that we never have a shutdown again. That anytime Congress doesn't not pass an appropriations by the deadline there is an automatic continuing appropriations at the current levels so that no American goes through this situation where they're being used as a political pawn -- in this case by Democrats -- in a negotiation. It was unnecessary.

And so no, nobody should be penalized for it.

BOLDUAN: Real quick, Elise Stefanik announced her candidacy to run for governor of New York on Friday. Your name has long been discussed and floated as possibly being

interested in it. I know that a while back you dismissed the idea, but are you open to it, or do you want to close that chapter right here?

LAWLER: (Laughing)

I announced back in July that I'd be running for re-election to the House --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

LAWLER: -- and so that's what I'm doing.

Elise has announced as of last Friday and is already garnering support. I know Bruce Blakeman is also looking at it -- the Long Island Nassau County executive.

So we're going to have a strong candidate come out of the process and we'll have a unified party to take on Kathy Hochul, the worst governor in America who has embraced socialism with her endorsement of Zohran Mamdani. You know, when you look at Kathy Hochul it's like an endless episode of "Deep" -- one disaster after the next. She -- New York leads the nation in outmigration because of her disastrous tax and spend policies and pro-criminal policies that have been embraced by New York Democrats.

So it's going to be a hard-fought campaign over the next year but one of those candidates will emerge and we will be unified behind them.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Mike Lawler, thanks for coming in -- Sara.

SIDNER: I just have to say the Congressman, in your answer to your question, was like not today, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Not this round.

SIDNER: Not today. You're not going to get me today.

BOLDUAN: He's running for re-election or he's not. He's not running -- he's not running -- not running for governor --

SIDNER: You can't do that laugh.

BOLDUAN: -- this time.

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. They're always a no until they're a yes. That's the way of politics.

SIDNER: That's right. It's a question that must be asked.

Thank you so much, Kate.

All right. This morning flight delays and cancellations are growing with more than 1,500 cancellations so far today. Major airlines reducing flights as part of the FAA's mandate to help ease air traffic control staffing programs. All of this falling on weary travelers with just a few weeks until Thanksgiving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEPHDALI ROMAN JR., FATHER'S FLIGHT DELAYED: The main thing is not really the wait time, it's just getting home safe.

MARY MACHUCA, PASSENGER: I'm a little nervous about that. I know my mind just starts saying OK, whatever you do. What's plan B?

JIMMY MO, QUESTIONING THANKSGIVING TRIP: It's a 35-hour drive so unfortunately, this is our only option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining us now is David Riley. He was an air traffic controller for years. He has now retired.

I think there are only one other group of people that are more tired of this than the travelers and that is the air traffic controllers. They are having to work under extremely difficult conditions and high stress conditions without being paid.

You called that mandatory scheduling cutback of 10 percent, which was announced by the Trump administration, of flights kind of ludicrous. Why is that?

DAVID RILEY, RETIRED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. Good morning, Sara. I appreciate you having me on. And I want to give a big shoutout to my fellow Marines because today is the 250th birthday of the Marine Corps. So happy birthday, Marines.

Yeah, the flight reduction is completely arbitrary. I don't think it's necessary. The FAA has plans and procedures to have -- to handle sectors that are heavier towers, that are heavier thru-traffic management initiatives to reduce the amount of traffic that's going into one particular airport or a sector in the enroute environment -- that kind of thing.

So just to arbitrarily come out with a number -- of saying you have to reduce your flights by 10 percent or 15 percent by Friday, or 20, or we're going to shut the whole thing down by Thanksgiving I think is completely ludicrous in the fact that the FAA has mechanisms to do that. To keep the safe skies in those sectors that need it.

SIDNER: Can you just give us a sense of what the stress is like as a controller, and add onto that the fact that they are not being paid and there are fewer and fewer people that are -- that are doing the job?

RILEY: Yeah. Prior to the shutdown, the controllers that have been working post-pandemic are under a lot of overtime. They've been working tons of overtime. They're extremely overworked and underpaid. And now you throw that -- the shutdown fact that they're not getting paid at all, it creates a huge distraction. And when you show up for work as an air traffic controller you have to

be on your 'A' game not only mentally but physically to handle that type of stress and the work that you -- that you have to do day in and day out. And if you are distracted by trying to figure out how to pay your bills at home because you're not getting paid and yet being forced to work, that adds a whole nother level to it.

[07:45:15]

And it needs to be addressed going forward on how this is handled in future situations like this.

SIDNER: Yeah. I mean, do you -- do you get the sense that the controllers -- people say oh, they're calling in sick, but they have bills to pay as well. Are you hearing that controllers are doing -- having to do other jobs while they're also doing their main job at the same time and what that means to the controllers and the job that they're having to do to try to make sure that flights come in and go out safely?

RILEY: Yeah. Many are doing exactly that, picking up quick and easy jobs. Rideshare drivers, food delivery, security guard jobs -- something simple that they can bounce in and bounce out of. Obviously, they don't have time to forge a second career while working another career and not getting paid.

And controllers have a contractual obligation to call out sick, if you will, or call out fatigued because they're not on their 'A' game. So if they're not getting an adequate number of hours of sleep to be rested when they come back to work, they have an obligation not only contractually but morally to say hey, I'm not 100 percent on my 'A' game today so I probably shouldn't be talking to airplanes. I may be distracted, I may be fatigued, and it could cause a situation that is unfavorable for everybody.

SIDNER: Yeah. Well, I've got family members who are Marines too, so oorah to you, and thank you so much for joining us this morning, David -- appreciate it.

All right. Over to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, dear.

President Trump now promising rebate checks for every American at least -- of at least $2,000 coming from tariff revenue collected by the administration and calling opponents of his tariffs "fools" and writing also this -- that "We are taking in trillions of dollars and will soon begin paying down our enormous debt." And also adding "A dividend of at least $2,000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone."

CNN's Matt Egan is looking into this one and he's here with us now. This idea -- he has pushed this idea before. He has never executed on it though. Tell me what's going on here.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: That's right, Kate. Well look, I mean, it's easy to see how this could be very popular politically, right? I mean, who doesn't like --

BOLDUAN: Oh, for sure.

EGAN: -- free money from the government?

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: And love them or hate them, these tariffs from the president -- I mean, they have generated gobs of money. The federal tariff revenue has skyrocketed since the president took over and this is no coincidence, right? This is -- these are historically high tariffs and that's the way that import taxes --

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: -- work.

And some people have called for returning some of this money to the American people. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley -- over the summer he had proposed a bill that called for a $600 per adult and per child refund check to get sent out. So a family of four could be looking at a $2,400 check.

BOLDUAN: OK.

EGAN: Of course, what the president is now calling for would amount to a far bigger cash infusion of $2,000 per person. And if this included kids then a family of four could be looking at an $8,000 check.

And there's no doubt that people could use this money, including possibly to pay down debt, but here's the problem. If you give people money, they're going to spend it, right?

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

EGAN: And so this would just increase demand. And if you boost demand without increasing supply it's just going to raise prices, and those prices would stay high for even longer than those stimulus checks would actually last. I mean, this would be like trying to put out a fire by dousing it with more gasoline. You're just going to get a bigger fire, of course.

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: And so maybe that's why the president's top economic official over the weekend -- he seemed to kind of tap the brakes on this idea --

BOLDUAN: OK.

EGAN: -- a bit. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked by ABC if he has a formal proposal for a dividend check like this. Take a listen to his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I haven't spoken to the president about this yet but, you know, it could -- the $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms and lots of ways, George. You know, it could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president's agenda. You know, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, and deductibility of auto loans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: So not exactly a ringing endorsement there.

BOLDUAN: Oh. I mean, essentially, that was I have no idea.

EGAN: Yes, yes.

BOLDUAN: That's what that felt like.

EGAN: Look, bottom line, yes, this could be popular politically, but this is the kind of solution that could end up making the cost of living problem even worse.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, which is exactly what he was elected to help with --

EGAN: That's right.

BOLDUAN: -- and what has been a struggle for him to pull off since --

EGAN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- he's gotten into office. And now he's got this.

EGAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: All right. Thanks, buddy.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

[07:50:00]

BOLDUAN: So we have new details on the search for missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard. Detectives now say that her mother used fake license plates and even wigs to avoid being recognized and detected.

And crazy video. A suspension bridge just flailing in the wind as a typhoon makes landfall in the Philippines.

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SIDNER: Wig disguises, a swapped license plate, and a 1,000-mile drive. This morning new details in the search for 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard who has been missing for a month following a cross-country trip with her mother Ashlee in early October.

[07:55:00]

New surveillance video has come out showing them both wearing wigs at a car rental agency in California. Police say they crossed at least six states and traded license plates and disguises as they traveled. Ashlee returned home to California on October 10 without Melodee, who was last seen a day earlier near the Colorado-Utah border.

On Friday, police arrested Ashlee but not for her daughter's disappearance. She's facing a felony charge of false imprisonment. Authorities say this is not connected to Melodee's case, but her mother remains uncooperative with investigators.

Joining me now is criminal behavioral analyst and host of the podcast "Criminal Appeal" Casey Jordan. Thank you for being here this morning.

This case has a lot of --

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST AND BEHAVIORAL ANALYST, HOST, "CRIMINAL APPEAL WITH DR. CASEY JORDAN" PODCAST, ATTORNEY: Good morning.

SIDNER: -- sort of unusual elements. You -- we just talked about the wig disguises. You see there the two of them looking quite different with their -- with the different disguises they've been using.

What worries you the most about what you're seeing from this mother, Ashlee Buzzard?

JORDAN: Well, everything you just outlined. You know, this three-day road trip of more than 1,000 miles. You don't usually wear wigs and switch license plates. So they were probably not on a family vacation. And crossing the lines -- you know, Colorado, Nebraska, Utah, California -- I think also New Mexico. I mean she was covering a lot of territory.

The idea of switching the license plates and wearing the wigs suggests that she knew she would be caught on camera and did not want to be detected. Did not want anybody to figure out her route. And license plate readers. You know, there's so much about this that smacks of coverup.

And probably what disturbs me the most is that these photos that we're seeing on the surveillance cameras are the first that her family has seen of her in years. About the only photo we have of her, she has her baby teeth. She was only five or six years old.

So what has been going on in Melodee's life for the past three or four years? The police need to reconstruct that to figure out where she might be.

SIDNER: Yeah. I mean, for you, what profile -- because I know you sort of look at this behavior, what profile is emerging in your mind from the details that you have learned of and that the public has seen about Buzzard and some of the actions that she's taken?

JORDAN: The biggest behavioral indicator I have right now is police are describing her as completely uncooperative. And keep in mind that the arrest is -- it's a secondary offense -- this false imprisonment. We don't even know what that's about.

SIDNER: Right.

JORDAN: Perhaps -- I mean, I'm just conjecturing here -- the school sent officials -- the police sent a social worker for a home health care check or whatever and she let -- refused to let that person leave. That could be the excuse that people -- that the police are using. But now that she's in custody, she is completely uncooperative. She does not have an answer to where her daughter is.

So that behavior really smacks of the recent case of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell whose two children were missing and they -- you know, this went on for months and months and months and we all know how that ended with the remains of their two children found in a fire pit in Idaho.

So I do not have a lot of hope that this story is going to end well.

Her uncooperative attitude right now shows that she is covering up something, that she's hiding something. And we don't know if this little girl was trafficked, if she died accidentally, but the fact that they took wigs from the minute they run to the car shows her intent was not a family vacation. So you can be sure police are leaning on her and using everything they can to try to get answers to where Melodee is.

SIDNER: I am curious what you think police will do now because they do now have these videos and they have some proof of where she's been and potentially where Melodee has been because she was along with her. And she did take the chances of sort of trying to conceal what she and her child looked like. But in all of these videos they have some sense of the -- how Melodee is doing physically.

I mean, how will police go about trying to figure all of this out?

JORDAN: Well, if she's not talking, they are going to try to reconstruct that road trip. They refer to the fact they don't have an accurate outline of what has happened. And that's going to be a huge challenge. One thousand miles -- trying to get the video from every convenience store. You know, every toll booth. Trying to figure out where exactly she went on that circuitous route because somewhere along that route Melodee disappeared and they are going to leave no stone unturned until they find her.

SIDNER: Yeah. If they can figure out that route it seems like they may be able to figure out where Melodee is. And I know her other family members are really scared.

JORDAN: And they need the public's help.

SIDNER: They do.

Casey Jordan --

JORDAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- it is a pleasure. Thank you so much --

JORDAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- for joining us this morning on CNN NEWS CENTRAL -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Wild video came in overnight of a suspension bridge -- just look at this -- just swinging around violently. This happened as a super typhoon made landfall today hammering the Philippines. As of this morning at least two people have already been reported killed.