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House to Vote on Epstein Files; Trump Knows Epstein Vote is Inevitable; Tara Palmeri is Interviewed about the Epstein Files; Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is Interviewed about the Epstein Files. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 14, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Of moisture that is funneling into these areas. And also, too, up into the higher elevations. You could be looking at snow measured in feet rather than just a few inches.

Now, when we focus in, especially around Los Angeles over the next couple of days, really the next 48 hours, look at all of this rain. You're talking widespread totals of two to four inches. And keep in mind, that total number may not sound like that much, but it's coming in, in a very short period of time for some of these communities. Some of these same communities here where you see these white patches where they've had previous wildfires. So, the concern there is when you get that water that comes in very rapidly, it can lead to mudslides in some of these areas.

But even elsewhere, look at central California, also looking at similar totals of rainfall as well.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Allison Chinchar for us. Man, those maps do not look good. People need to be prepared for that.

Thank you very much.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

New this morning, the House speaker now fast-tracking a vote on releasing all the Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein. Republicans bracing for the possibility of mass defections. One senior White House official says President Trump understands this is an inevitable reality.

Also new this morning, the president briefed on military plans for a possible land strike in South America.

And Morgan Freeman, like you have never seen him before. And by that I mean here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Kate and Sara are out today. I'm John Berman, with Omar Jimenez. And this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. This morning, big new questions as the House prepares to vote on

releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files. Exactly what evidence does the Justice Department have and how long has it had it? Epstein's estate is now pushing back on claims that the estate was concealing documents, including Epstein's private emails that were released this week, the ones that mentioned Donald Trump several times by name. Those emails appear to contradict an interview that Epstein's associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell gave to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche when she said she did not recall the president ever being in Epstein's house. Blanche now says that at the time he conducted that interview law enforcement didn't have the materials Epstein's estate hid for years and only just provided to Congress.

But the estate has responded in a statement saying, "it is inaccurate to assert that the estate has hidden anything. Rather, the estate has always complied with its document production obligations, including in multiple civil lawsuits, in response to third-party subpoenas, and in the current congressional investigation."

The House, Republicans especially, are preparing for mass defections on the vote, which will be next week to release all the Epstein files.

Let's get more on that. CNN's Arlette Saenz is with us this morning.

What are you hearing, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, Republican sources say that they believe a broad cross-section of the GOP conference will be supportive of this vote to release the full files relating to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The question now is exactly how many Republicans might get on board. And House Speaker Mike Johnson has really shown a significant shift in his strategy as he is fast tracking this vote to release the Epstein files, saying it will now be held next week. Initially, supporters of this issue had thought that they would have to go through the full legislative procedural timeline and not have a vote until early December. But Johnson, sources say, really changed his strategy in this when he saw the inevitable, that this would, in fact, come up for a vote at some point. So, he wants to go ahead and hold it next week. Both Johnson and the White House had really resisted and delayed trying to have this vote, but now it will come to the House floor.

Now, there were four Republicans in total who had supported the discharge petition to force a vote on the House floor. That's Congressman Thomas Massie, who led this effort with Democrat Ro Khanna, Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. But there is a belief that there could be a cascade of Republican lawmakers who support this bill. And what Massie has told CNN is that they are hoping to get a veto proof majority. What that means, more than two-thirds of the House voting in favor of this bill. But then, if it does pass the House, it faces a very uncertain fate in the Senate.

And here is how one survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes described this as she is hoping senators will also get on board with this plan. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNIE FARMER, JEFFREY EPSTEIN ACCUSER: Courage is contagious. And I would encourage -- you know, there were Republicans in the House that were willing to stand up with us because they believed what was happening was wrong. And we need answers, as the American people, to have trust in this government. And I would hope that senators would do some research, talk to their constituents. They are with us, and people want transparency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:05:08]

SAENZ: Now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has previously told CNN that he didn't think that there needed to be a vote on releasing the files, saying -- pointing to the fact that the Justice Department has released information. But if this bill does pass over in the House, that could add pressure to the Senate to go against President Donald Trump and vote in favor of this.

BERMAN: Yes, again, the numbers here will be interesting to see, and we'll see if the House numbers puts pressure on the Senate as well.

Arlette Saenz, thank you very much.

Omar.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And a big dynamic of this too is how this is playing out for the White House, where with this fast track vote on releasing the Epstein files next week, the White House is bracing for impact. A senior White House official telling CNN, President Trump was made aware beforehand that the vote would be happening, and now understands that it is a, quote, "inevitable reality."

CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House.

So, can you just tell us more about what the feelings are out of the white House this morning, given this dynamic and given this impending vote?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, look, this is a story, Omar, that they just can't shake despite their best efforts to try and get everyone to move on from this. It is something that continues to haunt this White House.

And part of the reason, look, I mean, in this reporting we have about Johnson giving the White House and the president a heads up, that they thought this vote was going to pass and that he wanted to expedite it. I mean some of the thinking behind that, of course, is that if this is going to happen at all, let's have it happen sooner rather than later, in part because we are all talking about it right now. You know these -- the House Democrats have released that trove of documents from Jeffries -- from Jeffrey Epstein's estate over the last 15 years. Of course, many of them mentioning Donald Trump by name. While it's out there in the conversation, why are they already facing so much political heat over this, let's get that vote done with, right?

And so, in my conversations with people in the building behind me, Omar, there is, of course, this high level of frustration. They do not want to be talking about this. I note something that is very rare that doesn't happen often at this White House is the last two events that the president had since -- the only two events, I should say, since these -- since these emails were released, the president did not take questions. And, you know, he was shouted. I think in one of them you could -- he could clearly hear one of the reporters asking about his response to all of these emails, and he just did not engage. And so, I think that's telling as well.

And look, I think one of the big issues here is, of course, this is an area where his own party is breaking with him and -- or at least many people in the party are breaking with him very publicly on. And that is not something typical of the president's second term. Part of that is because these members, and we're hearing them from our conversations, our great Capitol Hill team having these talks with lawmakers down on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, is that they are getting calls from their constituents who want this White House and want Congress to help make this White House and Trump administration more transparent here.

And one of the most interesting things as well that I think we've heard from House Speaker Mike Johnson on this was this idea that, you know, we already have all these documents from the Oversight Committee. All of that kind of makes this vote moot. His point was essentially saying, we have so much material already. You know, it doesn't really matter anymore.

But if that was true, and I think this is one of the points that is -- makes it so politically problematic for the White House is, then why are they still going through all of this trouble to try and suppress this vote from happening and blocking, you know, the Justice Department from being forced to release them? So, all of that, of course, the White House still grappling with today and will continue to do so at least until that vote. But I think, you know, further on from there as well.

Omar.

JIMENEZ: We will see.

Alayna Treene from the White House. Thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, independent reporter Tara Palmeri, the host of "The Tara Palmeri Show."

Always great to see you.

And, Tara, you've covered politics and White House and everything like that extensively. But also the Jeffrey Epstein case extensively.

I want to ask you first on something Alayna just reported there, the fact that the president has ducked questions at the last two White house events, the types of events where he might have. This is ever since these emails came out. Just what does that tell you when you look at that? Why might he not want to face questions on this in this 24-hour period?

TARA PALMERI, HOST, "THE TARA PALMERI SHOW" PODCAST: It's a very strange thing to see President Trump turn down the opportunity to speak to the press. I don't think I've ever seen that happen before, actually, since I covered him as a White House correspondent during his first term and followed him during this second term as well. It suggests that this is political kryptonite for him. I mean he can't control the story. It is only getting worse. And the stonewalling is just not working. They don't have a -- they don't have this under control. And from the sources that I speak to inside of the White House, they know not to ask about it. They're in the dark. They know nothing. It is just a -- there's no -- there is an omerta, I was told, on Epstein. Don't even ask.

[09:10:00]

They don't know the truth when they're responding to inquiries about Jeffrey Epstein because they can't ask President Trump. Remember they were telling people that he was thrown out of the club, and now you have Epstein saying, I was never a member of the club to begin with. They were that close. He didn't need membership. They were best friends.

BERMAN: So, we have these emails, which we, frankly, didn't have before. And then you have the so-called Epstein files that the Justice Department has had custody of for a long time now.

What's the space between the two, right? What is -- what's in one thing and not in the other? What are the files? What might be in the files that aren't in the emails? Just explain that.

PALMERI: OK. So, these are just email exchanges. We are just putting together pieces of what happened based on Jeffrey Epstein's emails from a period of time in which the criminality in which he was actually, you know, arrested for and tried back in 2008, they're not -- we don't even have emails from that period of time. We're just looking back on that period of time and his associations. So, there is so much more.

These files, if -- the full expanse of amount of files should date all the way back to 1996 when Maria Farmer made that first complaint to the FBI saying that she and her sister Annie Farmer were molested by Jeffrey Epstein. So, if these are the full files, it will go back that far. If there are 1,000 victims, there will be a trove of evidence. I know from speaking to Virginia Giuffre, who was brought into the FBI headquarters to look at some of their evidence to try to identify her body among pictures that they had, they have photographic evidence of young girls with men, and she couldn't find herself in those pictures just based on identifying body parts.

You know, they have thousands and thousands of gigabytes. We've -- you can go to the FBI vault right now. I mean it's all redacted, but there are thousands and thousands of pages. And we've only seen maybe 1 percent of them.

So, when you have that many victims, you've got depositions, you've got evidence, police reports, you have so much. And then they started a money laundering investigation on him back in 2008. You have to assume there's more there. I mean, it would reveal, if these documents are unredacted, the names of his associates, other men who were involved that victims say they were trafficked to. I mean, this is -- we haven't even seen the start of it.

BERMAN: Yes.

PALMERI: If you actually listen to the stories of the victims, there is just so much more. And it can be revealed in these files.

BERMAN: That's a -- thank you for putting that in perspective there just so people know what's still possibly out there.

From your perch this morning, where does this put the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, who, you know, who flew down to then Florida to speak to Ghislaine Maxwell, dramatic fashion, asked her two days of questions, where do you think he is now in this story after all these emails were released?

PALMERI: He is the number two law enforcement official in this country. He sat down with a woman who was charged with perjury. He offered her softball questions. No follow-ups. She was able to speak about the president of the United States, said she -- he never saw her do anything -- saw him do anything appropriate. Said he never saw him in Jeffrey Epstein's house, which would actually contradict what the victims themselves have said. And even Trump himself. I mean, Trump told Brad Edwards, according to my interview with him, that Trump had been to Epstein's house before. He said he thought it was weird that the girls, in his telling to Brad, that there were so many girls hanging around the pool, that they were so young, and that Epstein told him it was a Big Brother, Big Sister program. There are so many inconsistencies.

And Blanche, who is a lawyer, an attorney by training, did not try to poke any holes in this story. Just took it and said, OK, case closed. We'll move on from that question. The president's been cleared. And then Ghislaine Maxwell, knowing that she is speaking to an audience of one, moves on to a prison camp in Texas where they allow -- they allow prisoners to have a support animal. I mean she should be nowhere near (INAUDIBLE). Sex offenders are supposed to be in high max security prisons. They often never leave. And now she's asking for commutation.

And she's not just some random woman asking for commutation. She's known Trump since she was in her 20s. Almost four decades now since -- through her relationship with her father, the media mogul Robert Maxwell, who was a friend of Donald Trump when he owned "The Daily News," had him on his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine (ph), on the Hudson River.

[09:15:05]

They are long-time pals. And so, he's going to get a request from his friend to get out of prison. We'll see what he does.

BERMAN: Tara Palmieri, a lot to chew on there. Thanks so much.

Omar.

JIMENEZ: Well, a lot going on, on Capitol Hill this week. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joins us live next. Stay tuned for that.

Also, two of the biggest names in tech are teaming up to put protections in place around A.I. technology.

And the most Canadian story ever. A man stole a city bus, taking it on a very civil joyride.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't follow the scheduled route, but he was making the scheduled stops. While there was no -- not a ding on the bus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[09:20:21]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, Jeffrey Epstein's estate is hitting back after the Justice Department accused it of concealing documents, including multiple private emails from Epstein released this week that mentioned Donald Trump by name.

Overnight, Epstein's estate said, quote, "it is inaccurate to assert that the estate has hidden anything, rather, the estate has always complied with its document production obligations, including in multiple civil lawsuits, in response to third-party subpoenas, and in the current congressional investigation."

Now, all of this comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson is preparing to fast track a vote now on the Epstein files, bracing for potential mass Republican defections, which would be in defiance of the president.

With us now is the House minority leader, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

So, it does look like this vote will be next week. What do you think it will tell us? Where are the numbers right now?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, good morning. Great to be with you.

It's my expectation that the legislation will pass, potentially pass decisively. Democrats in the House, of course, will strongly support it. We believe in transparency. We believe it's been far too long that this information has been hidden from the American people. And it's extraordinary that rather than focus on trying to actually extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, drive down the high cost of living, or make life better for the American people, Donald Trump and his folks have spent this week pressuring Republicans not to back the effort to release these Jeffrey Epstein files to the American people.

BERMAN: Now, this week, Republican Congressman Tim Burchett, once it was clear that the discharge petition would get enough votes, Tim Burchett tried to actually get a vote on the House floor this week. And through House procedures, apparently it would have required leadership on both sides to sign on. House Speaker Mike Johnson says you wouldn't sign on to having a vote this week. Why not?

JEFFRIES: Yes, that's actually inaccurate. It appears to me Mike Johnson didn't reach out. He spent seven weeks stopping Representative Adelita Grijalva from being sworn in. And the reason why they were on vacation, a taxpayer-funded vacation for seven weeks, is because they had no answers for the American people on the health care crisis that Republicans have created, and they were unwilling to swear in Representative Adelita Grijalva because they knew she would be the 218th signature to trigger this up or down vote. So, I have no idea what Mike Johnson is talking about.

BERMAN: It is interesting to me that as we're talking about this, you keep on turning the discussion back to health care and affordability. What risks are there, do you think, for Democrats in spending too much time on Epstein, as opposed to these bread and butter, you know, kitchen table issues for the American people?

JEFFRIES: Well, we have to focus on a variety of different issues that we know are important to the American people. And the American people deserve better than the extremism that has been unleashed on them from day one of this presidency. And it certainly is the case that we're going to continue to focus on driving down the high cost of living in this country. America is far too expensive. The American people all across the country have made that clear repeatedly. Housing costs, too high. Grocery costs, too high. Childcare costs, too high. Electricity bills, through the roof. And, of course, health care premiums about to skyrocket for tens of millions of Americans because of Republican inaction.

But at the same period of time, we've made clear we also need to address the rampant corruption that we see in Washington, D.C., coming out of the Trump administration and enabled repeatedly by Donald Trump's sycophants in the House Republican conference. And as part of that, transparency, sunlight, of course, is the best disinfectant. And we've maintained, from the very beginning, that the American people just deserve the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as it relates to the Epstein files that Donald Trump and his minions made a big deal about for years but now, all of a sudden that they're in office, they're trying to bury this information.

BERMAN: The government, obviously, now open. It had been shut down for some time. Democrats trying to get an extension of the Obamacare subsidies. When this continuing resolution runs out at the end of January, if there is not an extension of the Obamacare subsidies, what do you want Democrats to do? More importantly, what do you want, I suppose, the Senate to do? JEFFRIES: Well, let's take one step at a time. The Affordable Care Act

tax credits are scheduled to lapse on December 31st. And so, we have about 45 days to get this done.

[09:25:01]

House Democrats have introduced legislation to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years, to provide working class Americans, middle class Americans and everyday Americans the certainty that they need that they'll be able to actually go see a doctor when they need to see one for themselves, their families, or their children, in an environment where Republicans have launched an all-out assault on the health care of the American people. The largest cut to Medicaid in American history. Hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health centers are closing all throughout America. Now they refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, John. So, we've got to work on this issue over the next 45 days, and we're going to continue to press the case.

BERMAN: And if you don't succeed?

JEFFRIES: Well, the appropriations process is going to proceed on a separate track. And that's being led, of course, by our appropriators, Rosa DeLauro on the House Democratic side, who's doing a great job, working with our Senate colleagues. And we're going to try to enact bipartisan spending agreements that actually meet the needs of the American people, focused on improving their quality of life and, of course, driving down the high cost of living to deal with the Trump affordability crisis that exists in America right now.

BERMAN: I mean, you know politics. You've been in it for a while. And you know this is the type of question that does get asked after a shutdown like this. Who won the shutdown?

JEFFRIES: Well, the American people lost because Republicans made a decision, made a decision intentionally -- they control the House, the Senate and the presidency -- that they'd rather shut the government down than actually provide affordable health care to everyday Americans all across the country, including in the states that are going to be most affected, which happened to be states like West Virginia, Wyoming, Alaska, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Those are the ten states most affected by the failure to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. And Republicans have been able to do everything else, including finding $40 billion to bail out Argentina, but unwilling to find a dime to actually provide affordable health care to everyday Americans.

And so hopefully they'll adopt a different approach. And we're going to continue to press the case on these core issues of making life better for everyday Americans in a country that is far too expensive, far too many people struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. They can't thrive and can barely survive. This should not be the case in the wealthiest country in the history of the world.

BERMAN: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, we do appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, a bizarre bus ride. A driver denies entry to a passenger looking to board with an expired bus pass, but then carefully drove around several passengers. So, what is the problem? Well, the bus was hijacked. So, we're going to explain what exactly happened there.

And how do you feel about naked snacks? No, not like that. Maybe like that. What's behind the new naked Cheeto and Doritos? You'll find out, coming up. Stay with us.

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