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House To Vote On Bill To Release Epstein Files; Trump Reverses Course On Epstein Files After Facing GOP Revolt; Johnson: What Changes To Bill By Senate To Protect Epstein Victims. Aired 7:00-7:30p ET

Aired November 18, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Figure out who's sitting where because that's a big deal. Which table? Brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles are sitting.

AUDI CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Congratulations to her. Thank you all for waking up with us. The news headlines are next.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by for the House to vote on releasing the Epstein files, a vote that could possibly be unanimous even after the president worked for months to stop it. And shortly, we will hear from Epstein survivors delivering a final message to lawmakers new this morning.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Raleigh on guard. Sources tell CNN Border Patrol officials plan to target yet another North Carolina city today, creating so much fear that entire communities are closing down.

KATE BOLDUAN: And capturing the moment of a massive explosion. A building housing fireworks reduced to rubble in a matter of seconds. And drivers and a whole lot more caught right in the middle. I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: All right. Happening today, a moment months, some might say years in the making. The House will finally vote on calling for the release of all the files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The bill is expected to pass with overwhelming support, perhaps even unanimous, after President Trump made a huge reversal and urged Republicans to vote forward. Now, this is a major step, but just the first one. The Senate would still have to pass it, too. The president now says he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Sources tell CNN he only decided to make a 180 on the house vote after it became clear he could not stop the momentum and was at risk of suffering an embarrassing political defeat. This is what he told reporters in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm all for it. You know, we've already given 50,000 pages. You do know that. They can do whatever they want. We'll give them everything. Sure, I would. Lt the Senate look at it, let anybody look at it. But don't talk about it too much because honestly, I don't want to take it away from us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Just to be clear, the president does not need Congress to do anything to release the files. He could order the Justice Department to do so at any time. He could have done that for months. He could do it right now.

Also, this morning, we are expecting to hear from survivors of Epstein's abuse. They're holding a news conference at the Capitol to deliver a closing message to lawmakers ahead of today's vote. Let's get to seeing as Alayna Treene live at the White House this morning. I'm sure officials will be watching this and hoping it gets over quickly. Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Oh, absolutely, John. You can almost hear in that clip you played of the president speak with reporters yesterday in the Oval Office, a sense of being resigned to the fact that this is where this is going. And I would say after the president's dramatic U turn on Sunday, even more Republicans are expected to vote for this. They are expecting House Republicans to come out en masse to support this bill.

And the president, from that clip you played, yes. He said that if it reached his desk, he would sign it. That is important to note that he would get behind that. I think at the same time, they recognize politically he kind of has to do that at this point if he's going to get behind this vote at all and encourage Republicans to do it.

But the other line is what I continue to hear repeatedly about the private frustrations that the president and a lot of members of his team have, John. And that's this point of they are so frustrated that it's distracting from what they want to be talking about. Things like affordability, trying to message better on the economy.

His meeting today, for example, with the Saudi crown prince. The president does not want to be talking about this, except this, of course, has been consuming his administration for months now. And so that's part of the decision behind, you know, this idea of if they could just get through these votes, move on from it, that would better. I find that highly unlikely because even if this vote goes through the House and the Senate, it's still pretty likely that the Justice Department will hold on to certain documents.

You know, whether it's because it's a part of investigation. I'd remind you that the president last week said that if he was having them open an investigation into the Democrats who have ties to Epstein, people like the former President Bill Clinton or the former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. So this could still continue to be messy. But this is a huge moment and one, as you mentioned, they have been building to for months, if not years now.

Now, I do want to get into some of the logistics of this just so our viewers know when to expect this vote. It's expected to happen at any point between 2:15 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. tonight. It's going to require a two thirds majority of the House to pass. That's not typical. But because of some rules and some, you know, some of the fine print

on how they're working through this, it's going to need a lot of people. But despite that, they're still expected to pass this with huge numbers. One of the key questions now, of course, is what could happen in the Senate, because everyone until Sunday had really anticipated that's where this bill would die. But the President's 180 telling and encouraging Republicans to vote for this has completely changed the calculus.

[07:05:13]

And so even though people will be watching this vote closely, I think the bigger thing to be watching is once this happens, all eyes on the Senate and then seeing what the President does at that point.

BERMAN: That's right. Of course, he could do it right now if he wanted to. At any moment, he could decide to release all the Epstein files. Doesn't need a vote. Never has needed a vote on this. Alayna Treene at the White House. Thank you very much. Kate.

BOLDUAN: And this morning, the President Trump's reversal also marked a U turn of sorts for Mike Johnson. You're going to recall the House speaker kept the House out of session for nearly two months during the shutdown. That intentionally or not, also kept this discharge petition from making its, from moving forward and making its way to the House floor.

Now, the House speaker says that he may vote yes on the measure as long as the Senate makes changes to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: I have real concerns about the discharge and how it's drafted, as I've been saying for many months. But I do have some comfort that I think when it's processed in the Senate that they'll be able to correct some of those concerns that we have. The protection of victims and whistleblowers and all the rest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is Stef Kight, political reporter for Axios. For much more on this, what is Johnson getting at? What changes does he want to see make? What's going on here?

STEF KIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Well, he's saying he wants to see some changes to the language just to ensure that, you know, there are protections for whistleblowers for some of the victims, probably ensuring that their names and maybe some personal details are not released as files are released, that there are some built in protections there. But it's pretty remarkable that that speaker who for weeks, if not months now has been delaying this vote, is now signaling that he's willing to vote for it. And it shows just how many Republicans are, were actually considering supporting something like this. We're holding back really because of President Trump and Trump's reversal on this. The language over the weekend from him saying he'd be willing to sign this into law has really changed the game when it comes to this measure.

You know, initially there was expected to be enough Republican support that this might pass in the House. Now it's looking like it could be unanimous. At the very least, there's going to be mass support from Republicans to get this through the House. And you're also going to see more Senate Republicans who are willing to vote for this because for quite some time, you know, as I've been talking to Republicans in the Senate, they've been choosing their words very carefully when it comes to the Epstein issue. They have not wanted to get into it, wanting to leave the drama in the House. For the most part, many of them have used language like they want to see more transparency, they would like to see more files. There have been some Republicans in the Senate who have called explicitly for the files to be released.

And so Trump saying that he would sign into law and now having the House speaker potentially voting for the measure is going to give Republicans in the Senate a lot of COVID to go ahead and vote for this thing and move it through.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I am wondering, there's always the chance of just trying to buy more time, maybe with the Johnson move, saying that he might vote for it, he might want to see changes in the Senate to it. I do wonder if there's -- if since you've got all of these victims of Jeffrey Epstein coming out to say vote for this, why he thinks that they need more protections, you think they themselves would understand what kind of protections that they definitely would want. What is the likely scenario in the Senate for this?

KIGHT: You know, when it comes to making changes, you know, the Senate does not always take orders from the House when it comes to fixing legislation. So they're going to take a look at it. There's always a chance that the Senate does go in and make tweaks and, you know, we go back to the House to make sure, you know, that the people pieces of legislation look the same in both chambers to get it through.

We're going to hear from Johnson today. You know, the Senate is just getting back today from their recess. They're going to take a look at it. This is going to be the first thing they're asked about in the halls today for sure. You know, I think we're going to -- we won't really get a clear sense of what the plan is logistically on the Senate floor until after this passes in the House. I think at that point we'll have a clearer understanding from Majority Leader John Thune how they plan to go about it.

Of course, Senate Democrats were planning and are planning to call for unanimous consent to pass this bill, which would be easily blocked, but they would put Republicans on the spot, forcing them to object to this piece of legislation after it comes through the House. It could still go that route where either a Republican or Democrat calls for unanimous agreement to move forward with it, or we could ultimately see this bill voted on separately attached to appropriations bills. There's a lot of ways, logistically, this could move through the Senate. BOLDUAN: Yes, there absolutely is. It does, as you point out, does

seem that the dynamic has definitely shifted once you have the president saying publicly he's ready to sign it. Any hesitation in the Senate, there's going to be a lot of pressure to move that through now that the president said that.

It's great to see you, Stef. Thank you always for your reporting, Sara.

[07:10:00]

SIDNER: All right. Ahead. Rising costs, fewer affordable loans, stressed out workers. America is facing an affordability crisis and Mom and Pop shops say they're hitting a breaking point.

And a state sues a popular gaming platform for children, Roblox, alleging it endangers kids. What the platform says it's now doing for safety.

And monkeys and meth. The wild chase that led to a big drug bust and dozens of monkeys having to be rescued.

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[07:15:07]

SIDNER: New this morning, President Trump is now promising to make America affordable again by lowering tariffs he put in place on things like coffee, beef and fruit. But concerns about affordability still growing. Small business owners are particularly feeling the strain of this economy. CNN's Matt Egan is joining us now.

What are you hearing from Mom and Pop shops, from these small businesses who are trying to weather this?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, well, Sara, the mood on Main Street among small business owners that I'm talking to, it's kind of mixed. There's a lot of optimism last year after President Trump won election. And these small business owners, they're still hopeful about the future. They're actually really excited about how they could use artificial intelligence to boost their bottom lines. But they're also nervous right now.

They're nervous about high costs and about just how financially stressed their workers have become as they try to make ends meet. I talked to the owner of a manufacturer in Massachusetts, Doug Scheffel, and he told me, he said, look, everyone is hunkering down and building up cash. It's never been this bad. He also went on to say most of our employees are distracted right now. He said they're worried about how they're going to put food on the table and buying shoes for their kids.

Now, this manufacturer said that they had to lay off about a quarter of their workforce back in April during the initial chaos around tariffs. And really tariffs, that was one of the biggest complaints that I heard about from small business owners. First, just the level of tariffs has been hard to adjust to because that's raising their import costs. Even though the president just rolled back some agricultural tariffs, we're still looking at almost 17 percent as the average tariff rate from the United States on imports. That's the highest since 1935. But it's not just the level of tariffs. It's the uncertainty over where all this is going to settle out.

I talked to the owner of a water treatment technology company in Florida, and he told me he had to raise prices because of tariffs on China, tariffs on Australia. And he really just rejected the idea that it's foreign companies that are actually absorbing the costs. He said, look, I'm paying it. He said, it's not China, Mexico and Canada. I'm the one paying it. But this is broader than tariffs, right?

There's other issues at play here, including the high cost of health insurance. Look at this. The average cost of single coverage for a small employer, less than 50 employees, has skyrocketed by 120 percent over the past 20 years. It's just so expensive that a lot of small businesses, they're not even offering coverage. But that puts them at a massive disadvantage against the bigger companies when it comes to attracting talent. And the other thing that I really heard a lot about is the cost of

financing just being way too high.

So it's come down a bit since the start of this year, but you're still looking at an average interest rate of nearly 9 percent. It's just so high that a lot of companies say it doesn't make sense to borrow, but that's limiting their growth. So look, bottom line, small businesses, they're the backbone of this U.S. economy, but they're dealing with this affordability crisis, too.

SIDNER: I see it very clearly there. And from the people that you spoke with as well, they're being very blunt about what's happening, especially with tariffs. Matt Eagan, thank you so much.

EGAN: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Appreciate it. John.

BERMAN: All right, construction sites, home improvement stores, supermarkets, immigration rates hit a new city this morning. And torpedo versus warship. Guess who won?

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[07:22:47]

BOLDUAN: It was an emotional night for the Dallas Cowboys playing their first game since the death of defensive end Marshawn Nealon. The players saying that they were determined to honor his memory. CNN's Andy Scholes joining us now. What did it look like?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Certainly, an emotional night, Kate. You know, the Cowboys have been mourning the loss of Marshawn Kneeland for nearly two weeks now. And last night was the first time they played a game since his death. And before the matchup with the Raiders, the team wearing these shirts to honor Kneeland, his jersey was also hanging on the bench for the game. Then they held a moment of silence before kickoff.

And then Dak Prescott on the offense, well, they honored Nealon with a great performance. Receiver CD Lamb and George Pickens, they were actually benched to start this game for disciplinary reasons. But once they entered the game, they were just lights out. They each caught a touchdown as Dak threw four in the game. Cowboys went big, 33 to 16. Here was Dak afterwards playing for Kneeland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAK PRESCOTT, DALLAS QB: Telling the guys early, control the things that you can control in honor. And Marshawn, and that's our effort, our intensity. It was a blessing to be out here. This is where healing happens for me. We love Marshawn. We're going to continue to shine light for him and we're blessed to carry his life for him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES: All right. The NBA, meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons just keep on winning despite tons of injuries. Jalen Duren just dominating the patriots. He was 12 for 13, just dunking all over Indiana all night. He finished with 31 points, 15 rebounds.

Pistons would win 127, 112 for their 10th win in a row. Their longest winning streak since the 0708 season.

Last thing Bucs fans meanwhile wanted to see was this last night. Giannis limping off the court after injuring his groin. He's set for an MRI. And coach Doc Riverset didn't look great. Bucs lost to the CAVS in that one, 118 to 106. And lots of rough injury news yesterday around the league as the spurs also announced that Victor Wembanyama has a shot strained calf. He's now expected to miss a few weeks.

But in better news, LeBron is close to making his season debut. The 40-year-old has missed the Lakers first 14 games with sciatica. And LeBron says it's been no joke.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEBRON JAMES, LAKERS FORWARD: If you had it, then you know what the hell is about. If you ain't never had it and people making jokes about it, I pray you never get it. It's not, it's not fun. That sucks. It definitely sucks. Never in my life since I started playing the game of basketball have I ever not started the season in my life. So, you know, it's been a, it's been a mind test, but, you know, I'm built for it. And it's just been, you know, putting in the work both mentally and physically and just trying to get myself ready to rejoin the team.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:25:23]

SCHOLES: Yes, LeBron. So he's questionable to play tonight against the Jazz at home. If he does make his return tonight, Kate, he's going to be the first player in NBA history to play 20, in a 23 NBA seasons.

But, Kate, have you ever had sciatica? You know, LeBron says, yes, nothing to mess around with.

BOLDUAN: I mean, I've, like, lived half of my adult life with it. I was like, oh, yes, LeBron, you and I feel the same pains when I -- when we play --

SCHOLES: Once you get to 40, I think everyone gets it, right?

BOLDUAN: I mean, let's not bring that up. But I was just thinking it's because I'm such an elite athlete like LeBron that, you know, when you play at this level that, you know, injury comes. Injury comes. Thanks so much, Andy. I mean --

SIDNER: I mean, we do a lot of walking on this show. Come on.

BOLDUAN: Honestly, the standing has helped my back, and I don't --

SIDNER: It's fair.

BOLDUAN: Don't tell the bosses but --

SIDNER: Okay, no chairs for us. That's exactly how our back likes it.

BOLDUAN: No chairs, no limits.

SIDNER: That's right. All right. Still ahead, a homeowner facing charges after shooting and killing a cleaner who accidentally went to the wrong house. A case that is testing the stand your ground laws.

And a deadly blast caught on camera. Why this building suddenly exploded? Look at that. It sent flames and debris flying onto a busy highway.

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