Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Interview with Rep. Dave Min (D-CA): Trump Seeks DOJ Probe into Epstein's Ties to High-Profile Figures; Trump Briefed on Military Options for Venezuela; Shocking Border Patrol Arrest united Chicago Suburb. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 14, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: As we get nearer to the Epstein vote on -- the House vote on the Epstein files being released, President Trump is lashing out. He slammed Republicans backing the release, in his words, as weak, soft, and foolish, and he's now calling for the DOJ to investigate some high-profile figures and their ties to the late convicted sex offender. The president posted quote, "I will be asking AG Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots of the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, JPMorgan Chase, and many other people and institutions to determine what was going on with them and him."

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CNN has reached out to Clinton, Summers, and Hoffman. A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase says the bank ended its relationship with Epstein years before his arrest on sex trafficking charges.

Joining us now is Congressman Dave Min. He's a Democrat representing California. Congressman, what do you think Trump is signaling in this post?

REP. DAVE MIN (D-CA), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Well, first, thanks so much for having me, Brianna. And what we need to avoid having is the implication that this is a politically motivated investigation, and the problem with having Pam Bondi and the DOJ and Cash Patel go after people that Donald Trump is identifying is the same problem we're seeing right now with FHFA and them going after key critics of Donald Trump.

I used to be an SEC enforcement attorney. I was a law professor. Now I'm a member of the House Oversight Committee.

I've spent my career fighting for the rule of law, and I know this. We cannot have a rule of law that applies to some people but not others, that applies to supporters of a president but not critics of the president. We need a rule of law that applies equally to everybody.

And that is why Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, we have fought so hard to ensure the release of the Epstein files in their entirety, because what we need is answers. We need to know how big this went, who was involved, and look, if Bill Clinton and Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman were involved, they should pay the consequences of that, but if Donald Trump or folks in his orbit were involved, they also -- we need to know that. We need to confirm that for ourselves, and the problem right now is that nobody trusts this Department of Justice to not be a partisan tool of Donald Trump.

KEILAR: So in 2023, JPMorgan Chase did pay almost $300 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by Epstein survivors who alleged that the bank turned a blind eye to unusual cash transactions that they say enabled his scheme. There was no admission or denial of wrongdoing, but as you mentioned, you're a former SEC enforcement attorney. Could you get behind looking at a bank or financial institution like that, when you look at a settlement like that?

MIN: Yes. Absolutely, and that is something that we on the Oversight Committee have been pushing for. I had the opportunity earlier this year in the summer to speak with a number of the survivors of Epstein's child sex trafficking ring and some of their attorneys, and the one thing that they just reiterated over and over, this thing was much bigger than many of us realize, and that we should be following the money. So I 100 percent support efforts to go into bank records.

[14:35:00]

The thing is, a lot of these already exist, and we have been pushing for these for months now to try to get financial records from banks like JPMorgan Chase. The problem right now is that when Donald Trump authorizes Pam Bondi, directs her to go after his political critics, it looks like a partisan witch hunt, not a fair investigation.

So we're going to keep pushing ahead as House Oversight, particularly the Democrats, to try to get all the answers, to get the full release of the Epstein files, because we believe that a lot of answers are contained in them. We've seen some of the e-mails come out. There are many, many thousands, maybe millions of pages of documents that we're still looking for right now.

But the ones we've seen so far are pretty damning about the scale and scope of what happened, the powerful people that were involved in this. And so we need those answers. I'm personally not going to trust Pam Bondi to conduct a fair investigation.

So we on the House Oversight Committee will keep pushing for that.

KEILAR: OK, I mean, if you don't trust Pam Bondi, it's not as if it just became known recently how massive this this was, how prolific of an offender he was, right? Maxwell -- Ghislaine Maxwell, has been in prison for years. Jeffrey Epstein has been dead for years.

The instances in question happened years ago. He first became on the radar in the state of Florida. They started investigating him in 2005.

He had a plea deal before 2010. I mean, I hear what you're saying, that this should avoid being -- having the appearance of being politically motivated. But how is that possible when it's not like it's just now coming to everyone's attention that something was going on here? MIN: I think a lot of folks that I talked to are not aware of how broad this thing went, right? So when I talked to my constituents, they know that there was this horrible sex trafficking ring. But when you start mentioning some of the types of people involved, I'll just give you one quick example.

When we were talking to the attorneys, they told us that when they had interviewed some people close to Jeffrey Epstein, that they had learned that supposedly whenever Jeffrey Epstein was called by senior government officials from the governments of Saudi Arabia, Russia or Israel, he would drop everything and go and meet with those officials. That at one point, a bodyguard for Jeffrey Epstein went out to Virginia to meet with someone who was very high up in the CIA to bring a note back to deliver to Jeffrey Epstein personally, when he was under house arrest. That gives you a sense of like how powerful some of the people were that were involved with this.

What we've seen over the last seven weeks is Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, one of the most powerful people in the country, refusing to seat Adelita Grijalva, so that maybe presumably she wouldn't be the 218th signature on this discharge petition. And then we heard and you guys reported on this and I wonder --

KEILAR: Can I stop you there? I mean, couldn't the previous DOJ have looked into that? Like what you're talking about?

MIN: Yes. Yes, I don't know how high this goes up. Yes, everybody.

KEILAR: But the previous DOJ and I listen, I think anyone who digs into this is going to be baffled at how previous DOJ's previous state officials, previous federal officials for multiple administrations didn't take a closer look at this. But this wasn't the first opportunity. I mean, can you admit that? This was not the first opportunity --

(CROSSTALK)

-- Democratic or Republican opportunity.

MIN: Yes, no, I will say I think this is from what I can see, and I don't want to speak without having evidence, but it appears that there are people in both parties involved, that this went very high up. But there's a cover up happening right now. And so we saw efforts last week when it looked like we were about to get the 218th signature on that discharge petition forcing this thing to vote, that you guys reported that they brought Lauren Boebert into the Situation Room, a place that is reserved for high-level national security crises, to try to make the case to her to withdraw her signature.

There have been serious efforts to stymie this, and those efforts go back in the past. I talked with Alex Acosta, the U.S. attorney. We interviewed him on the Oversight Committee, and he was the one who authorized that sweetheart deal and clearly he, just interacting with him, he was lying to us in ways that were very obvious. There's a big cover-up happening, and we need to get to the answer. So I wasn't around in the DOJ. I wasn't an elected official when this happened.

I just got elected to Congress and took office this year. And my job as someone who cares about the rule of law is that we need to get answers. We need to find justice for the survivors.

We need transparency for the American people. And I honestly don't care if Democrats or Republicans are implicated, but we need a full and transparent investigation. And my concern is that we're not going to get that.

[14:40:00]

And that is why the House is continuing to push forward with our efforts for a full release of the Epstein files.

KEILAR: I do want to mention something. There is some news here. Attorney General Pam Bondi is saying that prosecutors in New York will lead a federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's ties to high- profile figures.

That's an announcement coming just hours after this social media post from the president instructing her to do so. Your reaction to this quick move by Bondi.

MIN: Not surprising. I think when Pam Bondi is told by Donald Trump, jump, she will always say how high. So that's very clearly not surprising.

What would be surprising if this investigation was viewed, actually viewed legitimately as nonpartisan, and it went beyond just a handful of Democratic figures that Donald Trump called to be investigated. Donald Trump's name himself is in a lot of those Epstein files, as we've seen in a lot of those e-mails. The question is, will Donald Trump be investigated as part of this?

Or is there going to be one set of rules for Donald Trump's friends and supporters and another set for his critics?

KEILAR: Congressman Dave Min, thank you very much for being with us.

MIN: Thank you so much for having me, Brianna. Have a great day.

KEILAR: You too.

And still to come, America's most advanced aircraft carrier now in Caribbean waters, as President Trump considers his options for military operations inside of Venezuela.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: New developments in the Caribbean where the U.S. is ramping up its campaign against drug trafficking. Sources now telling CNN President Trump was briefed on potential military options inside of Venezuela. Options reportedly include airstrikes on military or government facilities and drug trafficking routes, or a more direct attempt to take out Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro.

Over the last few months, U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific have hit 21 boats, killing at least 80 people. And the U.S. has sent thousands of military personnel to the Caribbean, as well as more than a dozen warships, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford.

Joining us now, CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. It's good to see you, Cedric. Walk us through what your sense is of what these options for direct strikes inside Venezuela might look like.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Yes, Jessica, it's great to be with you. There are certain things that they can do. So if it's just concentrating on the drug trafficking world, it'll be basically what you're talking about, which would be supply routes, the labs, you know, where they put together the different chemical precursors for making drugs, the kinds of things that you would probably see along the Venezuelan-Colombian border, where there's a lot of activity of the various narco-traffickers.

That would be something that could actually work in that particular case. The other aspect, of course, if it's more than the drug trafficking aspect, then you get into a whole different set of targets. So if we're talking about going after governmental institutions in Venezuela, that could involve attacking things like air bases.

There are two major air bases that are on the north shore of Venezuela. Those could be potential targets. Then you would also have the possibility of going after installations in and around Caracas itself, the capital city.

That would mean, you know, possibly the government buildings. It could involve special operations forces going into Venezuela, and that would be one of the things that, you know, could be part of it if the mission expands.

DEAN: And if you were advising the president, what would you be trying to tell him about the pros and cons of these various potential operations?

LEIGHTON: So one of the key aspects here is define the mission. You know, right now the mission, you know, at least publicly seems to be a narco-trafficking mission, a counter drug mission. But the fact is that the types of forces that we have put in place here tell another story.

There's something else going on besides just the drug trafficking mission. So I would say define the mission number one. Make it public as much as you possibly can.

If it is regime change, then we have to sell that to the American people. From a military perspective, I would definitely concentrate the forces that would be needed to go in, because with Operation Southern Sphere, you need something that actually completes the mission. One of the things that they are going to do in Venezuela is they're going to go in and they're going to provide a kind of a guerrilla warfare template to their forces.

And it's going to be one of those situations where if we attack military installations, they're going to melt into the countryside. They'll expect American forces to come in, and that's when the things will be very difficult for U.S. forces. And I think we should avoid that kind of a scenario if at all possible.

DEAN: All right, Colonel Cedric Leighton, as always, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And still to come here, new CNN reporting as thousands of parents and guardians of migrant children arrested as part of the immigration crackdown. What it means for these families. That's next.

[14:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: People living in one suburban Chicago neighborhood are organizing patrols and protests against Border Patrol officers who they say are targeting immigrants with no criminal past. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): David Brooks captured this Border Patrol arrest on Halloween. Then came the real horror.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, she is a citizen of the United States of America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to what? You're going to shoot me? All right tough guy. All right. You. You're going f***ing to shoot me? All right, tough guy.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Look again from another angle. Border Patrol had just been involved in a crash. Cell phone video shows them taking a woman out of a red car and pinning her to the ground. As a crowd gathered, Brooks filmed as people were detained, then stared down the barrel of an agent's gun.

PROKUPECZ: What was that like?

DAVID BROOKS, EVANSTON RESIDENT: Frightening, surprising shock. Nobody was threatening violence. There was a lot of yelling, a lot of screaming. I think it was a charged situation.

[14:55:00]

But I don't -- I don't think it was anything that would warrant trying to control a crowd using a gun. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't put your hands on people.

PROKUPECZ: Here's how the Department of Homeland Security says things unfolded. That their Border Patrol agents were in an SUV and that they were coming up this street. They were trying to make a U-turn here. And that's when the red car stops, slammed into the back of the SUV.

However, witnesses here say that's not how things unfolded.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): They say the SUV driven by those Border Patrol agents purposely slammed on its brakes, causing the crash. DHS says its vehicle was being aggressively fouled by the red car and called those who rushed to the scene agitated.

PROKUPECZ: Their argument as well. Go mind your business.

D. BROOKS: The crowd was annoying. And you don't beat people up because they're annoying you.

AMANDA BROOKS, DAVID BROOKS' WIFE: We have a legal right to protest. We do not have a right to break the law, but we have a legal right to protest.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): From Border Patrol caravans through the streets to spot checks of landscapers, here top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino walks the streets wearing a long gun. It's perceived intimidation. These families say they're fighting.

PROKUPECZ: The Brooks family is one of many families that is using their phone to keep an eye on where ICE could be here. And one of the things they tell us their concern is the presence of ICE outside schools like this.

MAYOR DANIEL BLISS, (D) EVANSTON, ILLINOIS: So on Halloween, I was communicating with the superintendent. They decided, rightly, to have indoor recess, to not let kids out because it wasn't safe because of armed federal agents attacking people on the streets.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): When they spot immigration officers, like here, outside of Home Depot, they blow whistles to warn others.

SAVANNA ESSIG-FOX, PINK POSTER CLUB: We do three short whistles if we think we see ICE, and that helps to alert your neighbors.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Savanna Essig-Fox and Emily Miller started Pink Poster Club. They hang flyers with information on civil rights and run a grassroots network of residents keeping tabs on ICE. Most are moms. We first met some of them in front of their local school.

A. BROOKS: My son, anytime one of his friends is not at school, he comes home and he says, I'm so afraid they took him away.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): When sirens go off, they check their text messages.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say, there might be a very large park. PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Amanda Brooks runs to protect kids on the playground.

EMILY MILLER, CO-FOUNDER, PINK POSTER CLUB: People all over Chicago and Evanston hear whistle they run to them with their phones, ready to film and to witness.

PROKUPECZ: Why is this an issue for you guys right now?

ESSIG-FOX: We have white skin. You know, were born here. Like we had -- there's a level of privilege we have. We have comfortable lives here in Evanston. Like, there is a safety that we have, and that privilege we can use to do some good.

MILLER: In order for me to be able to enjoy my kids and enjoy my other hobbies that I never do anymore, like reading or knitting or whatever. I can't just pretend something's not happening and go about my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is why. How can you live with yourself?

PROKUPECZ: Can we show your arm? Is that OK? Do you mind?

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Jennifer Moriarty shows us the bruises on her arm, those she says she got while being detained during that confrontation on Halloween.

PROKUPECZ: What was the point of you being at the scene?

JENNIFER MORIARTY, EVANSTON RESIDENT: It just happened in front of me. Just -- I was walking with my phone out like this, about ready to hit record on the video, and then I was dropped on my back.

PROKUPECZ: Did you ever hit anyone?

MORIARTY: No.

PROKUPECZ: Did you ever threaten to?

MORIARTY: No. No.

MORIARTY: What is wrong with you? Why would you do this?

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): She shot this video from inside the car. Her hands coughed in the front. She was able to still keep her cell phone. She was one of the three people detained that day. That's her leaning out of the vehicle as agents pinned down another person.

MORIARTY: They put us in the vehicle. They didn't frisk anybody. They didn't arrest us. They didn't Mirandize us. I had ask to put my phone in the car.

MORIARTY: Help us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help us, please.

MORIARTY: Open the door. MORIARTY: I'm surprised that they hurt the young man like they did, quite frankly.

PROKUPECZ: It was hard to see -- to sit there and see him.

MORIARTY: It's very hard to see. His left eye, it was super black, and it was getting very large. He was very distressed.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): DHS said that man grabbed the groin of one of the agents while being arrested, though that's not evident in the videos. The man who was detained with Moriarty didn't want to talk to CNN, but in that video from inside the car, he said he didn't know what he did wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just trying to help. I didn't even do anything.

MORIARTY: Neither did I.

PROKUPECZ: How long did they hold you guys?

MORIARTY: Five hours. And most of that was driving around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stupid mother (bleep).

MORIARTY: Shut up, dude. You are shameful.

MORIARTY: We were kidnapped. Absolutely. Absolutely. There was no arrest. It was as if to make an example, like, no one is safe.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The local mayor says all three were released without charges.

MORIARTY: I wasn't afraid. There was no fear for me that day. It was anger. But I'm also super enlightened and motivated by the people, the community. I mean, that was a crowd of probably 70 percent women. And these men were out there pulling their guns and trying to mace people. They're afraid of communities who are on alert.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

END