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House Expected to Vote on Releasing Epstein Files Tomorrow; Trump Flips, Urges Republicans to Vote to Release Epstein Files; Just Weeks Until Obamacare Premiums Soar as Enhanced Subsidies Expire; Gynecologist Accused of Sexual Misconduct at Fort Hood Medical Center. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 17, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:25]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Before President Trump decided to back the release, the full release of the Epstein files, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie predicted a hundred or more Republicans in the House would vote for their release. So now that the president has reversed his position and is on board, how many more Republicans might say yes, we'll see tomorrow when the vote is expected to happen.

Let's discuss with newly sworn-in Democratic Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva. She was the critical 218th signature on the discharge petition that forced tomorrow's vote. Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. First, I just want to get your reaction to this reversal from President Trump. Did you see this coming?

REP. ADELITA GRIJALVA, (D-AZ) NEWLY SWORN-IN: No, I didn't. And honestly, President Trump could have released these files whenever he wanted to. There is a subpoena; he could have done that. It's interesting, I think, that Trump is now understanding that it is a -- this is going to happen inevitably, that he's hearing from his own party that people that he thought maybe would support him in trying to obstruct these files from getting out are now joining in and saying, I have to vote this way, my constituents are demanding it.

SANCHEZ: I also wonder, given that critics argued that Speaker Johnson was actively trying to prevent the discharge petition from getting 218 votes by keeping you from getting sworn-in for almost two months. Do you think that if Trump had backed this discharge petition earlier on, you would've been a Congresswoman back in September?

GRIJALVA: I believe so, yes. I think waiting seven weeks and trying to, I mean, even to the last moment, trying to get a representative -- Republican representative to take their name off of the discharge petition, there was a full court press of pressure to do that. And so I do believe very strongly that if Trump would've come out before, I would've been sworn-in September 29th.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. So during your swearing-in ceremony, there were two Epstein survivors there, Liz Stein and Jessica Michaels. And last week, Stein said on our show, "I think that we need to remember that this case has been ongoing for more than five administrations of both political parties. And so to see it politicized in the way that it's being politicized right now is really an insult to us." Given the backdrop here and how long this has been going on, I wonder if you were satisfied with how Democrats specifically approach the issue so far. Should more information have been released during the Biden administration as some of your colleagues have suggested?

GRIJALVA: Well, part of the issue though is that there was an active investigation.

[13:35:00]

And so during an active investigation, you don't put information out there, which is why I am a little concerned that Trump has asked that certain Democrats be investigated because perhaps that might be another stalling tactic to delaying the complete release of the Epstein files.

SANCHEZ: I do wonder if you have a message for your colleagues that perhaps could have spoken up about this sooner. Obviously, you were not in office, but it does seem like this has garnered renewed interest since President Trump has returned to the White House.

GRIJALVA: Well, colleagues on the Republican side, I wish they would've held Trump to his promises that he ran on during his election to say on day one, I'm going to release the files, Democrats united and signed the discharge petition.

SANCHEZ: I do wonder what you are hoping to glean from the full release of these files. Is there any in particular information that you're going to be looking for?

GRIJALVA: Honestly, it really does have to do with justice for the survivors. I mean, they have been questioned, their credibility has been questioned, trying, they're having to justify every move they make. And I would hope that finally, people are going to overwhelmingly look at them and say, I believe you. I hear you. And now you deserve justice. And anyone who committed a crime against you when you were a child, as a young woman, deserves to have all the legal persecution that we can muster.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman, I do want to pivot to the debate over the extension of these healthcare subsidies, these ACA tax credits that were the crux of the government shutdown and why many Senate Democrats voted to shut the government down. There is a bipartisan group that is pushing forward a one-year extension to these subsidies. Leader Jeffries has said that he wants a minimum of a three-year extension. What would you like to see happen? Would you support some sort of reform to the ACA in order to get these subsidies across the finish line?

GRIJALVA: Well, part of my frustration is that Republicans have had 15 years since the ACA was introduced to work on an effort, if they have a concern, if they have a question, if they have a criticism of the process. And now, we're waiting until possibly December to start talking about it. If we extended another year, there has to be some like earnest commitment to work on this, work on whatever the concerns are. Democrats are not the ones bringing forward the concerns.

I believe Universal Healthcare across the board is the solution, but if people are not ready for that, then let's work towards something that is going to protect the American people and keep more and more people on getting healthcare and preventative care because otherwise, if we don't do something, those rural hospitals and all of our systems that are already incredibly stretched thin are going to start to close. And the impacts are going to be devastating, especially to people -- our working families.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, CNN is out with a new piece over the weekend and the headline is, "Republicans Have Lost Ground With Latino voters After Trump's 2024 Gains." Those were historic gains and what we found is that economic angst is a major driver among the demographic. This obviously represents an opportunity for your party. What lessons would you take from what we saw in 2024 that might help your party moving forward?

GRIJALVA: Democrats has to focus on policies that are going to help working people. We have to focus on the economy. We have to make it easier for people. Right now, people are buying their homes and it's five times where -- like they could comfortably dedicate funds to that. Rent is astronomical. Food is out of control. There are working families that are working full time that cannot put food on the table on a consistent basis.

Look at the number of people that have jobs that are eligible for SNAP. We have to make those businesses pay their fair share in taxes and then continue to provide opportunities for people to move up. Trump and the Republicans focus more on like the cost of eggs. Now, I believe that we see, and now we're in the 11th month of this administration, and people are feeling like they have buyer's remorse. They're looking at what they were promised and realizing that none of those promises were kept. And this administration's cruelty is what is really devastating our immigrant communities.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, we have to leave the conversation there. We very much appreciate your time.

GRIJALVA: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much. So, an Army OBGYN is accused of secretly taking videos of patients during exams, an explosive story, next.

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[13:44:19]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A new lawsuit is exposing allegations of sexual misconduct committed by a gynecologist at the Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, Texas. And we should warn you, some of these allegations are disturbing. According to the lawsuit, Army investigators recovered thousands of photographs and videos from his phone taken over the course of multiple years depicting scores of female patients, many of whom remain unidentified. It also claims McGraw induced labor against the wishes of at least one patient and made sexual advances on women while examining them.

The lawsuit also alleges that Army leadership had received complaints about Dr. McGraw for years and did nothing. CNN reached out to McGraw's defense attorney who provided a statement saying, Dr. McGraw is fully cooperative with the investigation.

[13:45:00]

We have reason to believe, however, that Army Special Agents are providing members of the public with inaccurate and exaggerated information. We can think of no other reason for inaccurate leaks than to influence the outcome of the case. We nonetheless remain cooperative. Fort Hood officials announced last month that the doctor had been suspended from his position at the Darnall Army Medical Center. The Medical Center releasing a statement saying, Fort Hood recognizes the great trust and responsibility inherent in caring for our soldiers, families and beneficiaries, and will continue to care for everyone involved throughout this process.

The matters remain under ongoing investigation and the accused in this case is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. Andrew Kobos is an attorney representing many of Dr. McGraw's accusers and he joins us now. Andrew, first off, can you just respond to that statement from Major McGraw's attorney there? He's saying there's a lot of inaccurate information out there.

ANDREW KOBOS, REPRESENTING SEVERAL ACCUSERS OF FORMER FT. HOOD DOCTOR: The information that we've received from the victims, we represent 55 victims in this case, confirms that all of the allegations are spot on. And it's something that we are going to prosecute civilly against Dr. McGraw, that he improperly touched some of the victims while he was conducting his exams, that he improperly videotaped and photographed them, and that a lot of the procedures that he did were non-consensual. And so, these are absolutely the words of the victims that fortunately I'm able to communicate to you. And that's what this lawsuit is about, and that's what we're going to prosecute.

KEILAR: So you represent, you say 55 victims. How many alleged victims do you think may be out there?

KOBOS: There are potentially hundreds of victims. What we know is that this conduct was going on not just at Fort Hood, but also at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. And so, I know that the Army has reached out to about 1,400 of those victims. They sent a formal letter to them, but I don't know that that accounts for all the various victims that Dr. McGraw has serviced during his time as an OBGYN. I think the number is much higher, and I think that the potential number of victims is far higher than what the Army is willing to acknowledge at this point.

KEILAR: What was it about what's alleged to have happened one month ago today, on October 17th that finally prompted a wide-ranging investigation here? KOBOS: Well, at that point, one of the -- the husband of a woman who was in Dr. McGraw's care noticed that he was videotaping his wife during the examination. He reached out to CID and CID is the one that started the investigation into Dr. McGraw. My understanding is that they confiscated his phone and on his phone, they found thousands of videos and photographs of his patients as he was conducting the care and the treatment of those patients. And that's wrong.

That's an invasion of privacy. The non-disclosure is a violation of patient's rights and quite frankly, it doesn't live to -- live up to one of the single seven Army values. And that's wrong. And that's not only a civil offense, it's a criminal offense. And Dr. McGraw deserves to be prosecuted.

KEILAR: And there are many accounts from victims out there. I've spoken with a number of victims, including some of your clients. They make a number of allegations about McGraw, including that he pressured them to have unnecessary exams, not just that he is alleged to have videoed or taken photos of them. One alleging that he was groping her while she was sedated; one alleging that she was induced into labor against her wishes. When you're talking about the scope of these allegations and what this doctor is alleged to have done and for years, how does a person get away with something like that for so long?

KOBOS: I think that's one of the incredible things about this case is that question exactly. What we know are that there are allegations of reports having been made to the Army that Dr. McGraw was engaged in improper and inappropriate behavior. We have received emails from witnesses who have said that in Hawaii, Dr. McGraw was suspected of having videotaped and photographed his victims. And that's something that the Army should investigate.

What we also know is that the reporting procedures that the Army has in place are completely insufficient and ineffective. I've talked to clients who tried to make reports to the Army, they went to the front desk, one lady saying that she was in tears for at least 10 minutes as she's making a report. And the desk sergeant didn't write anything down, didn't report it up the chain of command, gave her a telephone number, said call somebody and give a report.

[13:50:00]

She tried eight times and she could not get through. The Army approached this with deaf ears. They did not want to hear those complaints. They turned a blind eye. And that's what we're ultimately dealing with now, is hundreds of potential victims due to the Army's unwillingness to investigate this at the time that the situation arose.

KEILAR: That sort of bureaucratic nightmare that you're describing that so many alleged victims describe and also just kind of the logistics of receiving medical care from one's employer, which I think is different than a lot of Americans identify with, are there more victims, more people who identify as victims than the Army has contacted or are aware of, especially considering those kind of limitations?

KOBOS: Absolutely. And I think that this goes into how we define a victim of Dr. McGraw. What the Army has acknowledged is that Dr. McGraw is under investigation. OK? What we believe happened and we believe has been confirmed, is that there were improper videos and photographs that were being taken. But the definition of victimhood in this situation goes much beyond that. That McGraw was improperly conducting procedures without the consent of women, and that he was advancing, making sexual advances onto many of these women. And so, the potential magnitude of this harm is, to my knowledge, unprecedented in Army history.

It spans two major military installations, two different chains of commands, thousands of military spouses and soldiers who fell under his care. And so, the magnitude of the harm is not classified to one category of victims. It is expansive. And this deals with all kinds of different conduct by McGraw. And that is really how expansive the investigation needs to be. It needs to encompass everything and not just one single alleged act.

KEILAR: Andrew, thank you so much for speaking with us. Andrew Kobos, we appreciate it.

KOBOS: Thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. New York Jets cornerback, Kris Boyd is said to be in critical but stable condition at a Manhattan Hospital after he was shot in the stomach outside a New York City restaurant early on Sunday. The NYPD is releasing these images of a man they call a person of interest and asking the public for help in identifying him. A police source tells CNN that two cars responded on surveillance video pulling over near Boyd. Moments later, a gunman opened fire on the player, then left the scene in one of the vehicles. The investigation remains ongoing.

Also, an alleged drug lord from Ecuador accused of faking his own death has been arrested in Spain. Officials say Wilmer Chavarria, a.k.a. Pipo, continued to run the Los Lobos drug gang while hiding in Europe. Ecuador's defense minister says the alleged kingpin is responsible for at least 400 deaths. He's accused of orchestrating assassinations, controlling illegal mining operations and trafficking narcotics in collaboration with a cartel in Mexico.

And Germany has now canceled an auction of Holocaust artifacts after complaints from Holocaust survivors. The collection titled "The System of Terror" included letters written by prisoners to their loved ones and other documents that identify many people by name. A spokesperson for a survivor's group said the auction exploited the suffering of those murdered by the Nazis. The auction house did not immediately respond to calls from CNN, but that listing is no longer listed on their website.

Breaking News to CNN, the head of FEMA has just turned in his resignation. We have those details in just a few moments. Stay with us.

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[13:58:28]

SANCHEZ: Breaking News to CNN, the embattled Acting Chief of FEMA, David Richardson will step down in about two weeks, at the end of hurricane season. CNN's Gabe Cohen has new reporting for us. And Gabe, you're learning that resignation or not, Richardson was on the way out.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the administration has been working on this for weeks, if not months at this point. They didn't want the optics of getting rid of Richardson in the middle of hurricane season, but frankly, they wanted him out after a series of public gaffes, embarrassments as many sources I've spoken with put it. You might remember back in June, just after he was put in this position leading FEMA, he said to FEMA staff that he was unaware that the United States even had a hurricane season.

There was major public backlash back when that happened. DHS insisted that was just a joke. A lot of folks though in the agency were not laughing, as you can imagine. And then we saw during the Texas floods, those deadly floods, his leadership was really put to the test and he was unreachable to a lot of FEMA staff for hours. And then he was publicly silent for about a week until he showed up in Texas in a straw hat and cowboy boots. And there was a big backlash to that as well.

And so, we have heard from folks inside DHS and FEMA who said they were really disappointed, that he couldn't publicly communicate the reforms that they've wanted to put in place amid this overhaul that we're seeing at the Disaster Relief Agency. And the timing here, Boris, is critical because we know the new FEMA Review Council is going to be putting forward a long list of reforms. At least we're expecting that in the coming weeks, right after hurricane season ends. We're going to see DHS and Kristi Noem potentially make a lot of changes. This one might just be the first.

We know that a woman named Karen Evans, the current FEMA Chief of Staff, who is a longtime ally of the Trump admin --