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Ghislaine Maxwell's Lawyer Says Prison Employees Have Been Fired For Sharing Privileged Emails Between Attorney And Maxwell; Border Patrol Sets Sights On Charlotte After Chicago; Government Funding Deal Threatens Multi-billion Dollar Hemp Industry; California Revokes 17,000 Commercial Driver's Licenses For Immigrants; Bryan Kohberger Ordered To Reimburse Two Victim's Families For Urns; Man Rushes, Grabs Ariana Grande At Film Premiere In Singapore; First Known Case Of Meat Allergy Death Triggered By Tick Bites; Bezos Scores Big Win With Successful Blue Origin Rocket Launch; Chinese Crew Back Home After Suspected Debris Strike Delays Return. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 14, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: 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 whistleblower that detailed some of what the whistleblower said were special privileges that were being given to Maxwell while she is in this Texas prison.

And in addition to that, the whistleblower said that she is currently working on a commutation application while she's in prison. And that one of the privileges that she is getting, is help from the prison's warden in filling out this application, like copying documents, printing documents, sending emails. And one of those emails was actually shared, that was written between Maxwell and her lawyer. So basically, the lawyer is alleging this was a violation of attorney- client p privilege.

Now, according to the Committee, they're kind of rejecting this notion. This is what they're saying, according to a spokesperson, the House Judiciary Committee minorities letter was based on a range of documents and information shared with committee staff by a whistleblower. None of the documents shared with the committee from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Trulincs System, this is the system that they use, was subject to the attorney-client privilege.

Now, the argument basically is that whenever an inmate uses this email system, they actually have to agree to a disclaimer. And that disclaimer says essentially, your emails are going to be monitored, including if you're corresponding with your lawyers, your attorneys. Now, again, I just want to emphasize this idea that prison officials were fired. That at this point is only coming from Maxwell's lawyers. We've reached out to the Brian (ph) camp; we've reached out to the BOP and DOJ. We've not heard back so far.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": What is interesting and important to remind everyone is regardless, Ghislaine Maxwell, as your reporting indicates, is getting special treatment in prison. Why is she being given the special treatment? Who's signing off on this?

LEE: Yeah, I mean, first of all, we never got a clear explanation for why she was moved to this minimum security --

DEAN: Right.

LEE: -- prison in Texas in the first place. And our extensive reporting on some of these accommodations that have been made for Maxwell while she's in prison, the official explanation from BOP has been, this is for her safety. She's a very high-profile person. One official told me that there have actually been death threats that have been made against her. And so keeping her sort of isolated, making sure that she's protected from any threats that are being made against her, that is why she's getting these kinds of accommodations.

There are a lot of questions though, Jessica. And if it is true that prison officials have now paid a price and have been terminated because, perhaps they were the whistleblowers that gave this information to the Congressmen, that would be significant. But just to emphasize, we do not know and have not reported on the identity of the whistleblower or whistleblowers.

DEAN: Right. That's more information potentially to come. All right. MJ Lee, thanks for the latest reporting.

Still ahead here, hemp takes a hit. How a provision tucked into the government funding bill could decimate the hugely popular industries behind THC products, those details are next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:39]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": The Trump administration's immigration crackdown could be just hours away from targeting a new Democratic-led city. Sources tell CNN Gregory Bovino, Trump's top border official, whose aggressive tactics came under heavy scrutiny in Chicago, has left that city with his agents and is now headed to Charlotte, North Carolina. The Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office telling CNN, they've been told Border Patrol Agents will be arriving in the Charlotte area as soon as tomorrow. But, it says federal officials have not shared any other details of their plans.

I'm joined now by Victoria Watlington. She's a Charlotte City Council Member at Large. Council Member, thank you for being with us. What are you expecting? Have you been told anything?

VICTORIA WATLINGTON, (D) CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AT LARGE: We haven't been told anything. And so it's hard to really know what to expect.

KEILAR: So, the County Sheriff's Office said they have not been asked to assist with any enforcement actions. Charlotte Mecklenburg police at this point are not involved in planning federal operations, and the city police department doesn't participate in federal immigration operations. How should local law enforcement handle the presence of federal law enforcement in the area?

WATLINGTON: Well, you really laid out what the stance is and it is that, as of now, we have not in any capacity been asked to participate. And so, we will continue to do what we are tasked to do from a law enforcement perspective, the city-run CMPD, and we will continue to uphold the law and continue to enforce the law as we would any other time in our city.

KEILAR: And is the city going to take legal actions? We've seen cities across the country do this, Chicago, where Bovino, that border official -- Border Patrol official I mentioned is heading to Chicago, has been. Are you expecting that?

WATLINGTON At this time, again, we are really just waiting to see what happens next as it relates to what's going to occur in the city and what our reaction will be. Certainly, we haven't put together any plans to take legal action as we are learning day by day, even hour by hour, what to expect over the next coming days.

KEILAR: You've seen what's happened in other cities, right? How closely have you been watching that to get an idea of what might happen in Charlotte or what to prepare for?

[13:40:00]

WATLINGTON: Well, day in and day out, our responsibility is to our constituents. And so that's what we're doing, regardless of what's going on in other cities around the nation. Certainly, if you live here in this country, you've seen the news reports, but we also understand that oftentimes what's going on, on the ground may be different than what we see. And so, we don't want to take too much from what we've been seeing around the country.

What we need to do is protect base business and to do what we do every day, and that's provide for public safety and quality of life for our constituents. So that's what we're focused on and that's what we will continue to be focused on each and every day.

KEILAR: Earlier this year, you accused your city council of being immoral and corrupt. And last month, the mayor announced a third-party investigation determined that there is no corruption. I know you accepted the findings of that report, but you did want some more analysis to understand that conclusion. And given your past concerns that you have with some of your colleagues on the council, do you have full confidence in the city's government to be able to handle what could be a confrontation with the Trump administration?

WATLINGTON: So my concerns are a completely separate matter from this that sits in a totally different part of government. The focus in this particular instance is around CMPD, our ability to enforce the law, our ability to protect our citizens, and our ability to execute the will of the people within our community. And that I have full confidence that those who have been entrusted to do that, particularly our incoming Police Chief, Estella Patterson, to be able to do that. We will continue to work day in and day out, at the end of the day. However, we have worked internally, we've got to rise to the occasion and deliver on the mission, which is to serve our constituents. So that's what we're going to do.

KEILAR: I do just want to ask you a follow-up on that though, which is we've seen other cities where local leadership has been very important. It's been very visible. It's been very important to constituents. Does that raise any concerns for you, considering your past concerns, and what may be headed Charlotte's way?

WATLINGTON: Well, when I think about what's important, we do need to be visible. I've seen several of my colleagues already address the public. I've been able to participate in convenings of not only elected leaders, but of local leaders and non-profits who are staging an organized response to make sure that all of our residents have the support that they need. I've worked with my state-level representatives to do the same. And that's what we've got to focus on.

I hope that each and every one of our local elected leaders shows up and provides that confidence to the people that we are on the job, that we understand, that we are compassionate and welcoming as a city, and that we will continue to be exactly who we've said that we are to our residents.

KEILAR: Charlotte City Council Member, Victoria Watlington, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

WATLINGTON: Thank you.

KEILAR: Jessica?

DEAN: The funding deal that reopened the government is now threatening the $28 billion hemp industry. Tucked inside the legislation is a provision to ban the unregulated sales of hemp-based products. Now some exceptions, industrial hemp products like rope and products with extremely low levels of THC, that's the psychoactive compound that produces a high. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable says the ban would outlaw nearly all hemp-derived offerings that includes gummies, drinks, and more.

Senator Mitch McConnell reportedly inserted the hemp restrictions into the spending bill and explained his opposition on the Senate floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY): Unfortunately, companies have exploited a loophole in the 2018 legislation by taking legal amounts of THC from hemp and turning it into intoxicating substances and then marketing it to children in candy-like packaging and selling it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Joining us now is Jonathan Miller, General Counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable. Jonathan, thanks so much for being here with us. What do you expect the economic impact of this to be? JONATHAN MILLER, GENERAL COUNSEL, U.S. HEMP ROUNDTABLE: Well, the hemp industry in the U.S., the hemp extract industry is a greater than $28 billion industry. It carries over 300,000 jobs and state and local taxes exceed $1.5 billion. Probably worst of all, our farmers across the country are really struggling. The tariffs and just the ag economy has been, in some places, in a depression. And this has taken away something that has been a lifeline for them as well. Not to mention all of the consumers who rely on these products for their health and wellness.

[13:45:00]

DEAN: Hemp was legalized as part of the 2018 Farm Bill, 39 state and territory attorneys general sent a letter to congressional leaders before the shutdown was finalized, asking them to clarify the federal definition of hemp. They argue a provision of that 2018 Farm Bill has been wrongly exploited by bad actors to sell this recreational synthetic THC products all across the country. I think that was a little bit of what Mitch McConnell was getting at there. Do you agree with that?

MILLER: Yes. There has been exploitation. There's been bad actors and there are a number of bad products on the marketplace. But the vast majority of products serve the health and wellness of consumers. We have the elderly, seniors using this for aches and pains, veterans who take it for anxiety or for PTSD. And so, the answer is we need to regulate these products. We need to keep them out of the hands of kids. We need to use good manufacturing practices, truth in labeling, ban synthetic products.

We don't need to ban everything, which is what this language does. So we're hopeful that with, since it doesn't take effect for a year, that in the next 364 days that we'll be able to fix this, crack down on the bad actors, but protect the industry and protect all of these consumers and farmers who rely on this very important plant and products.

DEAN: It sounds like what you're asking for is some nuance and to your point, actually regulating this versus a blanket law that would apply across the board. How -- I mean, how do you then go about that? What is the fix? Is it just lobbying these Senator -- these lawmakers? How do you -- how do you do that in the next year?

MILLER: Well, there are two legislators who are about to introduce legislation that would robustly regulate these products as opposed to ban them. The Freedom Caucus member, a very conservative Congressman from Virginia, Morgan Griffith, he chairs the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over these issues. He's putting together a very strong, robust regulatory bill.

On the other side, we've got a liberal Democrat, Ron Wyden, joined by his colleague from Oregon, Jeff Merkley, introducing -- reintroducing a similar effort they introduced last year. This is what we need. It's the way to crack down on the bad actors, make sure these products are kept out of the hands of children, but allow consenting adults to have the choice to take products that many find invaluable for their health and wellness

DEAN: And for some of these lawmakers, I think about Kentucky, obviously it's rural, it has a lot of farming. Does that -- how does it affect those farmers?

MILLER: Yeah, you know, I was involved in getting, hemp legalized in Kentucky. I'm the former state treasurer. I worked closely with the agriculture commissioner back then, who is now House Oversight Chair, Jamie Comer. Across party lines, we worked together and have developed -- since then, the state has developed a very strong regulatory approach that allows farmers to earn a good living selling hemp products, and that regulates hemp beverages and hemp tinctures and hemp edibles.

And what's ironic is that Senator McConnell, who was integral to getting hemp legalized back in 2018, has now taken an effort which would throw the Kentucky program in the trash and would prohibit the sale of these products that have been so important to Kentucky farmers.

DEAN: All right. Jonathan Miller, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

MILLER: Thank you.

DEAN: And still ahead, mission to Mars. Blue Origin launching its towering New Glenn Rocket in a landmark mission that could have huge implications for a future journey to the red planet. Stay With us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:53:54]

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour, California is revoking 17,000 commercial driver's licenses issued to immigrants after discovering the expiration dates went past when the drivers were legally allowed to be in the U.S. The move follows renewed concerns about who should be allowed to obtain a driver's license after a fiery crash that killed three people last month on a California highway. That crash involved a truck driver who was in the country illegally.

The Trump administration has criticized the state, accusing officials there of improperly licensing immigrants. Governor Gavin Newsom's office has pushed back, saying state officials follow guidance from DHS about issuing licenses to non-citizens.

And convicted killer, Bryan Kohberger has been ordered to reimburse the families of two of his victims for the urns used to store their ashes. Prosecutors argued last month that Kohberger owed the families of Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen about $3,000. Kohberger's attorneys claim he can't afford additional restitution beyond what's required in his plea deal. In his ruling, the judge says, Kohberger can raise the money for the urns by working a prison job or through donations.

[13:55:00]

And some frightening moments at the West Coast Premier for the film, "Wicked for Good." That's a man jumping a crowd barrier, grabbing star Ariana Grande. And his video shows him rushing toward the actress and placing his arm around her. That's co-star, Cynthia Erivo quickly stepping in, helping tear the man away. He's been charged with committing a public nuisance.

Researchers believe a man from New Jersey is the first known person to die from a food allergy triggered by tick bites. The 47-year-old passed away last summer and his autopsy results at the time were inconclusive. But other doctors traced the cause back to a family camping trip weeks before he died. CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard has more.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Tick bites can be dangerous. And sadly, this case puts that in perspective. A 47-year-old father in New Jersey collapsed and died in his home last summer. An initial autopsy report provided no answers, but after a second careful analysis, doctors discovered that his death was due to an anaphylactic allergic reaction to red meat triggered by a tick bite. Now, tick bites can cause alpha-gal syndrome, which is a type of food allergy. It causes allergic reactions to red meats.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 450,000 Americans may have the allergy. And some researchers suggest that as much as five percent of the population may be sensitized to red meat because of tick bites, and they may not even know it.

KEILAR: Wow. Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much. Jessica?

DEAN: A big win for Blue Origin and its CEO Jeff Bezos. The company's towering New Glenn Rocket passed a major test by completing the first stage of a satellite mission to Mars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New Glenn has cleared the tower.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New Glenn has cleared the tower. Go baby, go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Euphoria at mission control and on the ground at Cape Canaveral. The rocket went on to make a clean touchdown on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean and CNN's Tom Foreman is here to walk us through the big accomplishments yesterday. So, take us through what this all means, but also I heard this is big for recycling. Not just travelling to space.

(CROSSTALK)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a way, yes. Let's run some of the logic because this was beautiful. Look at this happening here. This rocket is about as long as a football field. DEAN: Wow.

FOREMAN: So it's a really big monster rocket out there. This mission is also a very interesting mission. What they're trying to do with the ESCAPADE mission is basically, they're going to launch this up into space and ultimately get it to Mars where it's going to release two identical satellites, each about as big as a washing machine, one gold, one blue, colors for UC Berkeley, which is the science lab behind it all.

And what they're going to do is fly around Mars and try to figure out why there's no atmosphere there. They think there was one before and it got destroyed. They're going to look at magnetic fields, they're going to look at solar winds, see what they can find out. But interestingly, this is really worth looking at, if you look at the, this completely incomprehensible graphic, you can --

(LAUGH)

DEAN: What does it mean?

FOREMAN: What it means is that this took off. And what it's going to do is go into an orbit near Earth for about a year. Well near Earth, a million miles away.

DEAN: Yeah.

FOREMAN: And it's in a holding pattern there. And then it will slingshot off to Mars to release these satellites. Important step here, because some people think this could be kind of a staging area for launches to Mars, which really are only optimal about once every two years. This might make that procedure a little bit better.

And of course, you mentioned the landing. Big, big deal here. This is the first stage coming back to land from this giant rocket out here. It's not quite as big as SpaceX's Starship, but it is still a very, very big rocket. This is the first company beyond SpaceX to successfully land a portion of the rocket and make it truly reusable.

DEAN: Reusable.

FOREMAN: So then you have the recycling, and that could be a big deal.

DEAN: That's a really big deal. It's very exciting. There's also, we're hearing more about this eventful state for a trio of Chinese astronauts who are temporarily stuck in space. I feel like people keep getting stuck in space.

(LAUGH)

FOREMAN: They -- well, they do occasionally. What happened to these three Chinese astronauts who did get back about nine days later than they expected from their mission was something hit the spacecraft that was attached to the Tiangong Space Station, the Chinese space station. And so their spacecraft had a tiny crack in a window. Even though they may be quadruple layer of windows, they were like, that's not safe. So they had to take the ship from the other astronauts who had come there and come back on that. So now, there are astronauts on the space station who don't have a way to come back, but they will work that out over time. Important to bear in mind, you think how is it possible that something like this could happen from something hitting the ship out there.