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Sky and Amanda Roberts are Interviewed about Ghislane Maxwell; Supreme Court to Hear Mail-in Ballot Case; Democrats on Chuck Schumer; U.S. Military Campaign Against Drug Boats; Chinese Astronauts Delayed in Space. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 11, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:26]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, Congressman Jamie Raskin says a whistleblower has come forward claiming that Jeffrey Epstein's convicted coconspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, is preparing to ask President Trump to commute her 20-year prison sentence. The whistleblower also claims that Maxwell is getting special treatment in prison, including customized meals, a puppy to play with, and after hour gym time. CNN has not been able to independently verify the whistleblower's claims.

But in a scathing letter to President Trump, Raskin is demanding that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche appear publicly before the House Judiciary Committee to, quote, "answer for this corrupt misuse of law enforcement resources and potential exchange of favors for false testimony exonerating you and other Epstein accomplices." Raskin adding, the documents and information received over the last several days indicate that under the warden, law enforcement staff have been, quote, "waiting on Miss Maxwell hand and foot."

Here is Congressman Raskin last night speaking with our Kaitlan Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): She gets essentially room service behind bars. She can use the shower. She can use the gym whenever she wants to.

She's actually getting messages sent through the warden to the people that she wants to communicate with. And the warden is actually offering her the opportunity to communicate on legal matters with people outside of the prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining me now, family members of one of Epstein's victims, Virginia Giuffre. Before her death in April, she wrote a book documenting what she endured and had dedicated herself to helping abuse survivors. Sky Roberts is Virginia Giuffre's brother, and Amanda Roberts is her

sister-in-law.

Thank you both for being here.

I just have to get your thoughts on what you are hearing from Jamie Raskin about this whistleblower, who is saying that she is receiving all kinds of special treatment now in the facility that she's in.

AMANDA ROBERTS, SISTER-IN-LAW OF VIRGINIA GIUFFRE: I think it makes us angry. I do want to praise Raskin and the whistleblower for coming forward and exposing what's really happening. I think we have to remember, as constituents, this is what our tax dollars is funding. We are funding a child sex trafficker to be in a prison that she does not belong in. She belongs in a maximum security prison. Our tax dollars are waiting on her hand and foot. And it's quite shameful. It makes us angry. It's a slap in the face to every single survivor who came forward.

And why is this happening? Why is this happening? We still don't understand why she's there. We were never given any answers as to why she was moved, what happened during those conversations with her. It just all still seems like an extreme cover-up. And it's scary to think that she may be on the doorsteps to freedom.

SIDNER: Sky, I'm curious what you think of the fact that the initial fury over the Epstein files not being released somehow resulted in Ghislaine Maxwell being moved to a more comfortable setting. Why do you think that is?

[08:35:01]

SKY ROBERTS, BROTHER OF VIRGINIA GIUFFRE: I think we really have to start questioning. That's an amazing question, because that's exactly what we need to be questioning is why is she being moved to a minimum- security prison after giving testimony in front of Todd Blanche? He should be summoned. He should be held to account to answer for those questions.

It's simple. I think that we've prioritized putting power and money over survivors. And, you know, when is the government going to start helping them out? I mean my sister would say it often, like, hey, you know, guys, we could use a little bit of a hand here, you know. We're carrying a lot of weight in terms of the names and the burden to come forward publicly and continue to talk about this. Like, help us out. You've only released 1 percent of the documents.

So, I think it's quite shameful. I mean, she doesn't deserve to be playing with puppies in prison and getting chef meals basically prepared for her and sent to her dorm. That's not what we should be doing to a convicted sex trafficking offender, I can tell you that. She was an active participant and physically abused many of these survivors, including my sister.

SIDNER: Yes. I mean a jury said so, and she is now supposed to be paying for her crimes. President Trump was asked whether he is thinking about pardoning

Ghislaine Maxwell. I know you've heard this a while ago. He did not rule it out. What is your message to him this morning?

A. ROBERTS: I think if King Charles can strip Andrew of the prince title over just affiliations, over leaked emails, why is our president not definitively ruling out a convicted sex trafficker of minors, of children? Why is our president not standing up boldly and saying, I'm sorry, but no, this is the line in the sand. This is not a party issue. This is a human issue that every single person can agree on.

There is no gray area here, and there is nothing that she could offer. There's no truths that she will tell that should allow her any peace for the rest of her life.

SIDNER: She certainly had a chance in court to talk, to tell her truth, as you said. And now she is a convicted felon.

I do want to ask if you have any hope that any of the other people guilty of raping girls who were caught up in Maxwell and Epstein's web will be brought to justice at any point in time, or even exposed.

S. ROBERTS: I think we have to have that hope moving forward. We have to have the hope that our government is going to do the right thing, that President Trump will hold to his promise of releasing all of the Epstein files and the documents. To date, we have 1 percent. He's on track to get 4 percent of them released by the end of his term. It's pretty low statistics in terms of what he ran on.

I want to have hope. I think Andrew was a start. I mean the fact that there was acknowledgment there for survivors to say, you know what we -- King Charles said, we stand with survivors, the, you know, the heinous things that they went through.

I want to see our own government do that. Their safe keeping these documents in this little, I'll call it a Pandora box, that needs to be released. It's shameful that the survivors have to continue to bear this. And we need our government to help us. Please, help us carry this burden forward so that we can hold these people to account.

I have faith. I still have faith that they can do it.

SIDNER: Amanda and Sky Roberts, thank you both. I know it's always hard going through this but thank you for taking the time to talk with me this morning. I do appreciate it.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A potential blockbuster of a case and a move that will have big implications for elections moving forward. The Supreme Court has now agreed to weigh in on a case about whether states can accept mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day.

This case centers around a Mississippi law that was enacted during the Covid pandemic. It allowed for ballots to be received up to five days late, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. The RNC and others sued over the law, and now it has made its way to the high court for the justices to decide. As I mentioned, this could have a real impact. More than a dozen states allow regular mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day to be counted.

Joining us right now is CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck for more on this.

You've got the states that allow for mail-in ballots to arrive late if postmarked by Election Day. You've got 14 other states, Steve, that allow for certain types of ballots to come in late and still matter. I mean there is big potential impact on many fronts here. What is the core issue that the justices are now going to consider?

STEVE VLADECK, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: So, Kate, the core issue is whether the federal statute that fixes Election Day as that first Tuesday in November, thereby preempts, thereby overrides states that allow for the receipt of mail-in ballots, of absentee ballots, of overseas ballots that were cast by Election Day but that weren't received until afterwards.

[08:40:19]

The Fifth Circuit, the federal appeals court in New Orleans, held that the federal law doesn't allow for that. That's what the Supreme Court's going to be taking up.

BOLDUAN: So, the -- it's funny because it's coming down to the meaning of Election Day, which is something that I think a lot of people will kind of, I don't know, you kind of scratch your head at. You're like, of everything, we should have this that we can agree on.

But there you've got the meaning of Election Day that's at question here. And there are also, as I was reading into this, there are other big election related cases that the court is -- that's already on the court's docket. You've got one out of Illinois. Another out of Louisiana.

When you add it all up, Steve, just from your perspective, which is so critical on this stuff, what does it mean in terms of the impact that the justices may soon be having on elections?

VLADECK: Yes, I mean, Kate, it's going to be a big impact. I mean just to come back to the, you know, late arriving mail-in ballots case, I mean, let's be clear on what the difference is. So, when the rule is that your ballot has to be postmarked by Election Day, then the voters can control it. I mean you know when you go to the mailbox. You know when you go to the post office. If the rule is that the ballot has to be received by Election Day, well, all of a sudden we're in, you know, we're inserting (ph) a variable that individual voters won't be able to control. How long will the mail actually take? You know, if I mail it four days before Election Day, will I be safe? If I mail it a week before?

And we're seeing this in these other cases, too. You know, is the Supreme Court going to say that states can't draw a majority/minority districts, which will invite a number of states in the south to redraw their district maps?

Kate, I think the upside here is that these rulings, which we expect by next summer, could have a real impact on not just how we vote, you know, in the midterm elections next November, but for whom we're voting and when we vote. And I think that's, you know, yet again the Supreme Court really inserting itself into the middle of these historically very politically driven controversies.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And to -- and that's the critical part about this. It's not just down -- long into the future. The way that this will be likely decided by June, which means there's plenty of time for it to have an impact on the midterms.

But here, OK, I'm -- maybe I'm being a dum, dum here, but how elections are administered has always largely been left to the states. On one level, I wonder why the high court would even weigh in on this. Am I -- am I wrong here?

VLADECK: No. I mean, Kate, you're absolutely right. So, the Constitution, Article One, Section Four, says Congress can provide for the time, place and manner of elections of the House, the Senate, the presidency. But, you know, the norm has historically been for Congress to leave this alone. For Congress to let states adopt their own rules. To have, you know, rules that are tailored to the circumstances on the ground in their jurisdictions.

This is why this case is so weird. The federal statute that the federal appeals court, the Fifth Circuit, claimed, created this "received by" date. All it does is it says Election Day is the first Tuesday in November. People vote in lots of contexts before Election Day. And that's been true historically.

So, I think, at least in this case, Kate, the Supreme Court felt impelled to step in because the Fifth Circuit had held that the federal Election Day statute does override these state laws. You know, I think the Supreme Court, one way or the other, wasn't going to let the federal appeals court in New Orleans have that last word.

But there's a broader point here, which is that there are so many folks out there who have become very cynical of this Supreme Court. And I think, you know, when the court finds itself even having to weigh in on these big election related disputes, Kate, it's really leaning into that controversy because there's almost no way for the court to rule in these cases that won't divide Democrats and Republicans, and that won't make the court look, you know, ideological to at least one chunk of the country.

BOLDUAN: So fascinating. You're so great, Steve. Thank you so much for coming in and laying that -- laying that out for us. I really appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, backlash this morning for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as division grows among Democrats over the deal to reopen the government. California Congressman Ro Khanna going so far as calling for Schumer to be replaced, saying he's no longer effective.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten joining us now.

How are Democrats feeling overall about Schumer? We've seen a lot of comments from some House Democrats. But what about overall?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: What about -- what about Democrats nationwide feeling about Chuck Schumer? I think the word of the day is terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible, to quote another Charles, Charles Barkley, when it comes to Chuck Schumer.

Look at this, least popular Dem Senate leader ever. I looked at all of the polls going all the way back since 1985.

[08:45:01]

The one who has the lowest rating among Democrats is, in fact, Chuck Schumer. Look at this. He's under water with Democrats. His own party, he's underwater. He's at minus four points. That makes him the least popular guy for a Dem Senate leader going all the way back since the mid-1980s at least.

SIDNER: Do you have a sense of why?

ENTEN: Why. Why, why, why. It's because Democrats, they want a fighter. They want a fighter. That's why.

Take a look here. Democrats, Dems in Congress do too little to oppose Trump. During the first term, it was just 46 percent in 2017. That's the percentage of Democrats who said that the Dems in Congress are doing too little to oppose Donald Trump.

Look at where we are now, 69 percent. That is an increase of, get this, 23 points. The super, super duper majority of Democrats believe that the Democrats in Congress are not doing enough to oppose Donald Trump. And that, of course, is a big, big, big, huge criticism of Chuck Schumer. And that is why he is underwater.

SIDNER: I knew you were going to do the dip. All right.

ENTEN: I always do the dip. I need my exercise in the morning.

SIDNER: You always do the dip. You do.

There has been talks of a challenge to Schumer. What are you seeing on that front? Who looks like they're in place to do it?

ENTEN: OK. So, you know, you see this opening slide here and you see, of course, that Chuck Schumer is underwater with Democrats nationally. But, of course, the ultimate way to get Chuck Schumer out of office is to beat him in New York state.

So, how do New York state Democrats feel about Chuck Schumer? And take a look here. The net favorable among New York Democrats, Chuck Schumer is above water with the Democrats in his home state, but just by 16 points. Look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez running way ahead. If she decides to challenge Chuck Schumer come 2028, she's got a real leg up on the competition. I dare say, at this point, she would be the favorite to beat him, which would be something that would just blow my mind, even just a few years ago given that Chuck Schumer, of course, is a New York born and bred type of guy.

SIDNER: Yes, those are incredible numbers there.

ENTEN: Look at that, 30 points ahead. My goodness gracious.

SIDNER: That's a lot.

All right, Harry Enten, you're always 100 percent ahead of the curve. I do appreciate you this morning.

ENTEN: Thank you.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, good Samaritans jumping in to help a driver trapped inside a burning car. How that driver is doing this morning.

Also, astronauts stuck in space yet again. This time rogue space junk is being blamed. More details on that.

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[08:51:53]

SIDNER: New this morning, new details on the U.S. military campaign against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Sources telling CNN the operation has used a variety of drones, gunships and fighter jets to do what you're seeing there, which is blow these boats up. Most of the attacks have been carried out by MQ-9 Reaper drones, remotely piloted aircraft that are typically armed with Hellfire missiles. Since September, the U.S. military reports killing 76 people with at least 20 boats being destroyed. The Trump administration has told Congress the U.S. is now in an armed conflict against drug cartels, but so far it hasn't released public evidence showing drugs on those boats or linking any of the people on those boats to cartels.

Joining me now, CNN political and global affairs commentator, Sabrina Singh.

I'm just curious what you think about the new reporting, about some of the things that are being used to take out these boats that the administration says have to do with trafficking drugs to the United States.

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes, when these strikes started, it wasn't a surprise that they were using the MQ-9s. I think that was all something that we thought about.

But to give you some context, I mean, these MQ-9 Reaper drones that carry these very powerful Hellfire missiles is something that we used in our campaign against the Houthis during the Biden administration. And I think it's important to note that the Houthis had capabilities that could literally sink commercial ships and could hit our destroyers that were transiting the Red Sea. And so, their capabilities are incredibly different from using a multimillion-dollar platform and a missile that's going to cost upward of $100,000 to target essentially a small speedboat.

I think the question that needs to be asked is, is that a good use of resources? And I think the answer that we're all coming to is, no. There's no question that these cartels need to be stopped and drugs need to stop coming into our country. But we have other resources to do that. And using these multimillion-dollar platforms to blow up these small speedboats with, we don't even know who's on these speedboats, is not a good use of taxpayer dollars, frankly.

SIDNER: Do you think this is just for show? I mean, because, you know, they keep releasing the videos every time there is a strike.

SINGH: Yes, I think this is pretty performative. I think the secretary -- I mean Secretary Hegseth has not shied away from not only releasing these videos in the manner that he does, but, you know, showing and using words like, this is U.S. military lethality at its finest. And it's not to say that the U.S. military is not doing its job, but I think it is pretty performative in releasing these -- these videos.

One, it's probably to send a message to the region. But, two, I think it's frankly something that Hegseth really enjoys. And at the end of the day, you know, I think members of Congress on both sides of the aisles are raising questions and concerns because they're not getting the answers that they need from this administration. And that secretary, frankly, has not provided to Congress as well.

SIDNER: I got to ask you about some new CNN reporting that's exclusive about female Navy officers.

[08:55:03]

One of them became the first woman to serve with SEAL Team Six in the role of troop commander. The most elite SEAL leader selected her for that new command post. But her command was abruptly canceled with little explanation. Some sources telling CNN that her command may have been pulled due to her gender, and that Secretary Hegseth's views on women in the military played a role. A Pentagon official familiar with the situation said the command was pulled because the Navy captain wasn't herself a SEAL, and that Hegseth was not involved.

But her story encapsulates what many in the military now fear is a culture of misogyny that's permeating the U.S. armed forces under Hegseth. What do you make of that reporting?

SINGH: Quite frankly, the reporting is incredibly alarming. While it's not surprising that it's coming from the secretary, who has basically said that he does not want to see women in combat roles, what he is doing is undermining the fabric of the military that makes us the strongest in the world. Getting rid of battle-tested leaders.

That Navy captain, I believe, has over 20 years of service in the military. She was promoted and, you know, clearly accepted by other Navy SEALs in her command. This is someone that would be a top leader and someone that deserves the honor and respect of getting that title. And by weakening our military, by not promoting her to that position, it's, frankly, incredibly alarming.

SIDNER: Sabrina Singh, it is a pleasure to have you this morning. Thank you so much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, three Chinese astronauts appear to be stuck in space after officials say that their spacecraft may have been hit by a piece of space debris. It was a six-month mission. It was supposed to end on November 5th. Their return now, pushed back to an unspecified date. And if this sounds familiar, it is. American astronauts, you'll remember, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, they had to stay in space an extra nine months after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned.

Let me bring in right now CNN's space and defense analyst, Kristin Fisher, who is also the host of "The Endless Void" on YouTube.

It's great to see you again, Kristin.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE ANALYST: Great to see you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: It seems that it's becoming common that astronauts are being forced to get stuck in space. But when it comes to what happened here to these Chinese astronauts, I mean how common is, I don't know, a debris-related malfunction incident and delay?

FISHER: Kate, it's infrequent, but it's becoming increasingly more common as the orbit around earth, low earth orbit, becomes increasingly congested with all of these satellites that companies and countries from all over the world are launching into space. It's something that experts have been sounding the alarm on for some time, that human spaceflight is going to become much more dangerous because there is so much debris in low earth orbit.

Just to put this in perspective, Kate, the International Space Station, which is run by NASA, the Russian space agency and its partners, they have to make orbital debris maneuvers multiple times a year to avoid this very thing happening to them.

In terms of what's happening with these Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, as they're called, all we know -- the Chinese space agency is, of course, notoriously secretive. So, all they've said is that a small piece of debris struck their spacecraft, and now they're worried about whether or not they're going to be able to get them home safely. How they're going to do that, we don't know. Do they send a rescue ship up? China has not said.

But as you were saying, Kate, it certainly harkens back to the saga of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, those two NASA astronauts who were stuck in space due to their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, not debris that time.

BOLDUAN: Not debris that time. It was -- wasn't that such a fascinating thing to follow, that one, when they -- how long they had to be up there, the accommodations, how they figured it out, how they made it work, what it was like when they came back. It was like a remarkable thing to follow. It was -- poor astronauts. They are trained to deal with all of it, though, that's for sure.

But another thing I want to ask you about, there was a weather delay, but now NASA has another mission to Mars set to launch tomorrow. Any mission like this is important, but how critical is this one for NASA's Mars program?

FISHER: This is a big one. Yes, so, this is actually Blue Origin's New Glenn, the second flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket. This is Jeff Bezos' space company, right. And so it's a big deal for a few reasons. One, as you mentioned, it's launching a NASA science mission. Two satellites, which are going to be studying the space weather around Mars. But it's also just a big deal because of this rocket itself, right? Only the second time it's ever flown. And they're going to be trying to do the most difficult thing, or one of the most difficult things that you can possibly do in spaceflight, and that is land the booster back on a ship in the middle of the ocean as it's rocking with waves.

[09:00:07]

You know, we've gotten so used to seeing SpaceX do this.