Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

New Prosecutor Appointed in Georgia Election Case; Trump Backing Off on Some Tariffs?; Trump Slams Republicans Over Epstein Files Vote; Protests at ICE Facility Near Chicago. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 14, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Yes, it's so important.

This is it, "Don't Feed the Lion." Go get it. It is just a masterpiece. And it is the book that, as you said, Bianna, we were all missing. Certainly, I was missing it for my son, who's just out of middle school now, but he has it in his room, thanks to you.

(LAUGHTER)

BASH: Thanks to you both.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thanks so much, Dana.

YONIT LEVI, CO-AUTHOR, "DON'T FEED THE LION": Thank you so much.

BASH: Thanks for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

Please join me on "STATE OF THE UNION" this Sunday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. Among my guests is Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Lashing out. President Trump criticizes -- quote -- "weak Republicans' for siding with Democrats on the push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, and now he's ordering the Justice Department to investigate several high-profile figures over their alleged ties to Epstein.

Plus: new face, same case. The Georgia election interference case against President Trump and several of his allies will carry on for now with a new prosecutor to replace Fani Willis. Ahead, what this signals for the case moving forward.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: and a big blow tucked inside the government funding deal or new restrictions that could dismantle a multibillion- dollar industry.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. But, first, we are following a tense situation outside the Broadview

ICE facility near Chicago. Protesters have been clashing with law enforcement there. At least 21 people have been arrested.

CNN's Whitney Wild is on the scene there in Illinois.

Whitney, tell us more what you're seeing.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, we see now is around 50 protesters. This is very calm. Let me just show you the police line here. It's actually moved backs several feet since we got here.

This is a mix of law enforcement agencies, mostly the Cook County Sheriff's Office. But, again, there's around 50 protesters here. Occasionally, we hear chanting. Sometimes, people take to the bullhorn to express their frustration. Always, that frustration is directed towards ICE and ICE actions.

This area here, Broadview, Illinois, the ICE facility here in Broadview, has really been the flash point of these clashes between protesters and federal law enforcement. That resulted in a federal lawsuit that we have covered extensively where.

There was a preliminary injunction issued on DHS that was meant to curtail their use of force against protesters. Again, that was because of many clashes that happened here. Now we don't see any federal law enforcement presence outside the building. This is all local law enforcement here.

These clashes that happened today, as you mentioned, there were 21 protesters who were arrested. And what we have learned from our affiliates who were on the ground is that happened when protesters went outside of these boundaries here.

So you can see there's these plastic barriers here. There's these concrete barriers here. Broadview police and the city of Broadview has tried very hard to balance First Amendment rights to protest, but also protect the rights of the people who live and work here.

This is a busy area. There are a lot of houses here. There are a lot of businesses here. So their solution was to set up designated protest zones. And so what we saw was protesters go outside that designated protest zones. Law enforcement jumped on that pretty quickly. And, as we know, 21 people were arrested -- back to you.

DEAN: All right, Whitney Wild for us, thank you so much.

KEILAR: The Epstein fallout is right now getting messier by the hour as President Trump is taking aim at Republicans again for siding with Democrats ahead of next week's House vote on the Epstein files.

The president posting -- quote -- "Some weak Republicans have fallen into their clutches because they are soft and foolish," adding: "Epstein was a Democrat and he is the Democrats' problem, not the Republicans' problem." That message could apply to a lot of Republicans. House GOP leaders are anticipating several members of their caucus will defy the president and vote to release the files. But the president didn't stop there. He's also calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch new Epstein-related investigations.

We have seen CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez with us.

Evan, the president with some more orders, it appears, or some strong suggestions for Pam Bondi.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, he says he's going to ask the Justice Department to do this investigation. It's not clear that he's actually made that direction.

But it's enough for him to put it on his social media platform. Of course, we have seen him in the past where he has posted things on social media and then, of course, the Justice Department goes and prosecutes his political enemies. So we will see where this goes.

But, Brianna, just to put this in context, you know the Justice Department, of course, is at the center of all of this. They are the ones, Pam Bondi, the attorney general, was the one who had that extraordinary event at the White House where they presented what were supposed to be Epstein files that had been made public years ago, but which MAGA influencers believed were going to be new data, new information that had been promised to them.

[13:05:20]

And then they realized that there was nothing new really in those. So this has been a controversy that's really been created partly by the Justice Department and has -- they have been having a hard time getting out from under it.

And here you have the president essentially laying it at their feet. Let's just put this -- another thing in context here. The Justice Department, before this summer, before they said nothing to see here, there were no more files coming out, they did look at these files. They reviewed and they found that there was no additional crimes that they could try to prosecute.

There were no additional investigations to be done. So they have already done this. The president is now telling them essentially to go back and look, and to look specifically at Democrats as a way to divert, obviously, from all the attention he's receiving.

KEILAR: So he's saying also that the effort to release these files is a waste of time because DOJ has already published 50,000 pages. It hasn't published everything, though.

PEREZ: No, they haven't.

KEILAR: What hasn't DOJ published?

PEREZ: There's a lot of documents that are in the possession of the Justice Department, the FBI. They have already redacted a lot of them, but a lot of them that, the department says, are just -- they would violate federal law on victims' rights, also Privacy Act.

There are people who are in these files who have nothing to do with his crimes and have not been accused of any crimes, and so that's one of the things that they're trying to protect from.

KEILAR: But let's be honest. This is actually -- this is what people who have all these questions want to see.

PEREZ: They do want to see them.

KEILAR: And yet it's legally protected.

PEREZ: And also to remind you that it is Kash Patel, it is people in the president's own -- his supporters who have been driving all of this. They drove this for years, and now they're getting caught by the very conspiracies that they fanned.

KEILAR: And what's the new reporting out today on something that the deputy A.G., Todd Blanche, who, of course, is formerly the president's personal attorney, something he said that the Epstein estate is pushing back on?

PEREZ: Right.

He tweeted yesterday -- he put on Twitter responding to George Conway that he hadn't seen some of these documents that the Democrats released yesterday, and he accused the estate, the Epstein estate, of hiding documents from law enforcement.

The Epstein estate pushed back very strongly, saying that they have never hidden anything, that they have always responded to every request that has been received been made, including from Congress of course.

So the question is, why didn't the Justice Department go back to the estate and get these documents before the attorney general went and did his interview with Ghislaine Maxwell? Why didn't he get all of the universe of documents before he did that extraordinary visit to interview her in prison?

KEILAR: He had the ability.

PEREZ: He could have done it.

KEILAR: All right, Evan Perez, thank you very much.

Still to come: President Trump says he will roll back some of his tariffs amid concerns they're in fact contributing to rising costs.

Plus, the Georgia election case against the president gets a new life. A new prosecutor will now decide whether to move forward with the case against Donald Trump and 18 others accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election.

And then later: how a new ban tucked into the Republican funding bill that reopened the government could wipe out much of the hemp industry.

We will have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:12:51]

KEILAR: Happening now: Stocks are mixed on Wall Street following its worst trading day in more than a month. Investors are bracing for a deluge of delayed economic data after the government shutdown, and that's just one of several factors leading to growing uncertainty over whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month.

In the meantime, the Trump administration announcing a trade deal framework and the easing of tariffs on another country today as it faces backlash from Americans still struggling with high prices.

CNN's Matt Egan is with us now.

Matt, tell us what we're looking at.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Brianna, look, that election last week was really a wake-up call about this affordability crisis and how frustrated Americans remain with high prices.

And now the White House is starting to pull one of the easiest levers it has to pull, which is lowering tariffs, yes, the same tariffs that President Trump raised to historically high levels.

Now, we are just getting some new details in on this trade framework between the United States and Switzerland. And this framework calls for the U.S. lowering tariffs on imports from Switzerland to 15 percent. That is significantly lower than the current rate of 39 percent, although I should note it is well above the pre-2025 level that was around between zero and 2.5 percent on most imports from Switzerland, so still high, but much lower than it was.

What could get cheaper as a result of this trade framework? Well, the United States imports a lot of wristwatches from Switzerland. And that is something that has gotten a lot more expensive, gold as well, although gold was actually excluded from these tariffs, and medical equipment. So these are some of the things that could have some relief when it comes to pressure on prices.

There's a number of other things in this framework that we're just starting to get the details on, including the fact that Switzerland is agreeing to lower its tariffs on some goods that are coming from the United States, including seafood, various agriculture, and spirits as well.

So we're going to have to wait and see how that plays out. And, also, Swiss companies are agreeing to invest about $200 billion into the U.S. economy. And the White House says that those investments are going to create real jobs here in the U.S.

[13:15:09] Now, the president has signaled there could be some more tariff relief on the way. Take a listen to what he said earlier this week in an interview on FOX.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are doing phenomenally well. This is the greatest economy we have ever had. Their talking points, oh, course, the high costs are -- by the way, the only thing is beef.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Coffee.

TRUMP: Beef is a little high because the ranchers are doing great. Coffee. Coffee, we're going to lower some tariffs. We're going to have some coffee come in. We're going to take care of all this stuff very quickly, very easily. It's surgical. It's beautiful to watch. But our costs are way lower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: Now, this does represent a retreat of sorts from the trade war and an admission that the president's favorite weapon here, tariffs, are contributing to higher prices.

Erica York from the Tax Foundation, she wrote evidence -- that this is evidence that Trump and others understand tariffs are taxes that increase prices for consumers. She said they usually just lie about it.

And, look, coffee is a really good example here, because 99 percent of the coffee that's consumed in the United States, it's made overseas. And the U.S. has double-digit tariffs on all three leading sources of coffee, Colombia, Brazil, and Vietnam.

And look at coffee prices, roasted coffee prices up by 19 percent year over year and 22 percent increase for instant coffee. That is the most since 1995. So, look, bottom line, the fact that we're starting to see some tariff relief shows that the White House is starting to focus on this affordability crisis, even as the president himself kind of downplays some of these concerns.

But, look, this is not going to be a magic wand because it's about more than just wristwatches from Switzerland and coffee from overseas. It's broader than that. And, Brianna, this does raise some questions about why the president relied so much on tariffs at a time when prices were already really high -- back to you.

KEILAR: Yes, such a good point.

1995, back when I was not drinking coffee.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Matt Egan, thank you very much for that.

EGAN: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Next: A new prosecutor is taking over the Georgia election interference case against President Trump. We're going to take a look at what that means for the president and his 18 co-defendants.

Then, later: A father's unexplained death is traced back to tick bites from a camping trip -- how the tiny bugs gave him a deadly allergy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:22:08]

DEAN: New developments today in the sweeping Georgia election interference case against President Trump and some of his top allies.

A new prosecutor is now in charge, replacing Fulton County DA Fani Willis, who launched that investigation, but was later removed after a legal fight over her authority. Trump and 18 others are accused of trying to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election victory in the state of Georgia.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz is here with the details. Katelyn,

this is a story you followed from the very beginning and a lot of twists and turns. Now we have this new prosecutor.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, two years ago when it was indicted, it's been a long time since then. There's what happened today and then there's what's next.

Today, it is the confirmation that there is now a prosecutor that's going to be overseeing this. His name is Peter Skandalakis. He was actually the person in charge of the search committee to find someone to replace Fulton County DA Fani Willis. He said nobody would do it.

And so somebody should. He's the one stepping up to do it. Some of the quotes from his statement today, he says: "The filing of this appointment reflects my inability to secure another conflict prosecutor to assume responsibility for this case." He also says he believes that it is important that someone make an informed and transparent decision about how best to proceed."

So, Skandalakis now in charge. He's got the docket. He's got the evidence. He's got the witness statements. He's got the hard drives. He has to go through all of that and decide legally what to do. That's going to be a big question going forward. Some people will say this case is dead in the water, because why wouldn't it be?

Donald Trump is the president now. You can't prosecute the person in that position. That very well may be, but Peter Skandalakis is going to have to stand up the legality of what his thinking is and go to the judge. There's going to be hearing on December 1.

At that time, the judge wants Skandalakis, the new prosecutor, to advise what to do with Donald Trump as a criminal defendant, as well as the others. Will they keep the case as is? Will they cut it back? Will they change it? Will they pause it until Trump potentially leaves office?

Or will it be dismissed altogether? It's not over until it's over. It is a reminder, though, that this case still exists related to 2020, the only one left.

DEAN: It is the last one, yes.

POLANTZ: It is indeed.

DEAN: All right, Katelyn, I know you will be keeping track of that. Thank you so much for that update.

Still ahead: Border Patrol officials are on their way now to Charlotte, North Carolina, but local officials tell CNN that's news to them. We will speak with a local leader, as the city prepares to become the latest target of President Trump's immigration crackdown.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:29:10]

DEAN: This just in.

We're now learning at least two prison employees working at the prison camp where convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell is serving time have now been fired. Now, of course, this comes after the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee revealed earlier this week that a whistle-blower alleged Maxwell was receiving special treatment behind bars.

We're joined now by CNN's M.J. Lee.

M.J., you have been doing extensive reporting on the special treatment she's been getting. What are you learning about this?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so to be clear, this is information that is coming from one of Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers, Leah Saffian.

And she says in a new statement that employees of the Bureau of Prisons, that's plural -- quote -- "have been terminated for improper unauthorized access to the e-mail system used by the federal Bureau of Prisons to allow inmates to communicate with the outside world."

The context that you just gave there is really important. Earlier this week, Congressman Jamie Raskin, who is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, released information that he said he had gotten from a whistle-blower that detailed some of what the whistle-blower says were special privilege -- privileges that were being given to Maxwell while she is in this Texas prison.