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House to Vote on Bill to Release Epstein Files; Trump Reverses Course on Epstein Files After Facing GOP Revolt; Judge Slams Disturbing Pattern of Missteps in Comey Case; Trump Claims America is Experiencing a Golden Age. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 18, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Take a look at this showing the aftermath of a submarine firing a torpedo sinking a decommissioned ship. This was carried out during a joint military exercise to demonstrate the power of the weapon and the sub.

Yes, you heard what you heard and you saw what you saw. Officials in Japan are testing out new drones to help with the rising problem they really have been struggling with -- bear attacks. As you heard, the drone has speakers that are playing sounds like barking dogs. It also is equipped with firecrackers. The drones are now being rolled out and used, as officials say. The numbers are pretty astonishing. A record 220 people have been injured by bears in these bear attacks since April, 13 people have died.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

Today is the day the House votes on the Epstein files, and the president just said he'll approve the measure if it comes to his desk. Epstein survivors are set to speak in the next hour. We will take you there.

On the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, President Trump is also rolling out the red carpet for the Saudi Crown Prince. Why this meeting could have huge impact on the balance of military power in the Middle East and beyond.

And in the moss, police find their man, an escaped inmate who, as you can see, went to extraordinary lengths to try and evade capture.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, after months of resistance from the president and the House Speaker, it is happening. The House is set to vote today on a bill to force the Justice Department to release all its files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, and it is expected to pass with overwhelming support. There are even some speculating this could be a unanimous vote now that all of a sudden it has the support of President Trump. Now, just days ago, he was calling Republicans who wanted this weak,

soft and foolish, but now, now he says he will sign the bill to release the files if that bill reaches his desk. Sources say this reversal is political calculus after realizing he could not stop the vote and was risking a potentially embarrassing defeat. Of course, the president could make the files public anytime he wants, with or without Congress. He could have done that all along. He could do it right now.

We're also standing by on Capitol Hill, where shortly we will hear from several survivors of Epstein's abuse. They will deliver a closing message to lawmakers ahead of today's House vote.

With us now, Bryan Lanza, a senior advisor for the Trump 2024 campaign, and CNN political commentator Kate Bedingfield. Kate, this is Politico's take on it in the playbook this morning on this vote that is scheduled to happen at some point today. They say, "Take a step back. What a debacle this has been for the president. Four months of defensive plays that divided his core supporters, wasted precious political capital, and offered an open goal to his opponents, and still didn't prevent the files from being dragged out into the open."

What do you see as the significance of this vote happening today and the overwhelming results expected?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, well, I would say that's a pretty accurate assessment of what the president and the White House have endured over the last four months around this, and entirely of their own making. So I think the long-lasting implications of this vote, one, we've seen the cracks in the MAGA foundation. Obviously, his base, Trump's base, has been a source of unwavering support for him, really, since he stormed back to the White House.

And we've seen over this issue, you've seen MAGA start to really attack each other. You've seen Republicans stand up and defy Trump, which is really not something you've seen on any other issue since he came back to the White House. So I think the exposure of cracks here and the fact that the president is starting slowly to move into what was traditionally a period of of lame -- of lame duck power.

And I think what Congress is seeing and what the Republicans in Congress are seeing around this issue is -- are some cracks of light on that. And and are seeing that if they stand up to the president, they can actually assert their will as was intended by the founders when they created them as a co-equal branch of government.

So I think beyond the actual outcome of whether the files are ultimately released, this moment has had a lot of political significance and will carry forward. And I think that, you know, we'll be in the back of the White House's mind as they're making political calculations on other issues moving forward.

BERMAN: So, Bryan, cracks, I think Kate used the word four times, maybe five. I lost count.

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: I certainly understand the talking point, but this stuff happens all the time.

[08:05:00]

I think we forget in Trump one, we had the Freedom Caucus, that was nothing but a headache to President Trump's agenda. And then finally, when Trump made peace with him, we all forgot about it. I suspect when this goes forward, the only damage you'll see is damage to the Democratic Party because their officials are being thrown out of Harvard, they're resigning, they're being shamed.

And it's not a lot of Trump action that we see. It's almost backfired on the Democrats with the first response, with Summers being the first casualty. There's going to be others.

But at the end of the day, from the Republican base, I don't see the cracks there. They're relieved that it's happening. They're turning the page, and they're going to focus on affordability. That's what they want to talk about.

BERMAN: Let me just -- you cover Larry Summers for a second, who was the president of Harvard University, teaches there, now former Treasury Secretary. How many tears, Kate, are Democrats crying for Larry Summers this morning, who announced overnight he's taking a step back from public commitments?

BEDINGFIELD: I'm not seeing any tears and nor should there be. I mean, I think that if people like Larry Summers and others who may be exposed as this material continues to come to light, they should be held accountable for their behavior. And I think Democrats across the board agree with that and have said so from the start.

You know, I think there has been an attempt at a Republican talking point, which Bryan gamely just tried to lay out there, that this is somehow going to be a bigger problem for the Democrats. I think that is simply not true. That flies in the face of where we are politically.

I mean, we've seen Trump continue to -- his favorability, continue to erode both over this question of trust. I mean, you see, I think there was a poll this morning that showed 60 percent of Americans think that he knew about Epstein's behavior, so they don't believe him, which is the short way of putting it. On his argument that he didn't have anything -- he didn't know anything about what was going on.

But secondly, there is an opportunity cost for Trump in that he has not focused on affordability. People don't think he's focused on bringing prices down. They see him talking about Epstein. They see him talking about the ballroom. And I think the results of of the election two weeks ago now indicate that people are frustrated and they're holding Trump and the Republicans accountable for the fact that prices are not coming down in the way that Trump promised they would when he was running for president.

BERMAN: And Bryan, if the president -- if you really think this will hurt Democrats more than it hurts the president -- not that it matters if it hurts anybody. The idea is to get to the bottom of what's going on here and to respond to what the survivors are saying. But if politically it's worse for Democrats, why didn't the president call for the files to be released four months ago, three months ago, two months ago, one month ago? Why doesn't he order the release right now, which he has the power to?

LANZA: I think that's a fair question. And I think we put a lot of airtime into trying to figure out why. I certainly don't know a why if we're just going to land here at the end of the day. But the facts remain going forward. Now that we've gotten the why out of the way and we get to see what happens, those files aren't damning to Republicans.

I mean, let's play it a partisan way. The vast majority of the people who showed up on Epstein's islands were Democrats. So I think when you sort of step back and look at the totality of this scandal, it's going to paint the Democratic Party in a very negative light being willing to associate, for being willing to, you know, do anything they can to befriend this guy. And you have some small examples of President Trump, you know, having some type of interactions with this person. And the person is a sick by every measurement.

But I think in the end, you know, and Kate's right, as we benefit, as we sort of shift back into the economy and affordability, we can put Epstein behind with some of these other things and focus on what always been the president's strong strength, and that's been the economy.

BERMAN: Very quickly, Kate, we are going to hear from survivors very shortly. What's been the impact of their words.

BEDINGFIELD: Incredibly powerful. I think the public consciousness around this, around these atrocities that happened has been -- has been raised and that is is almost entirely due to their bravery and their courage and the fact that they endured what they endured and have had the fortitude and again, the courage to speak out in this way, incredibly powerful.

BERMAN: And it hasn't been easy and they've had a lot of people working against them for a very, very long time. We will hear from them a little bit later this morning. Bryan Lanza, Kate Benningfield, great to see both of you this morning. Thanks so much for coming on -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, coming up. An off duty airline pilot who tried to shut engines down mid flight after taking psychedelic mushrooms, here's his fate in court.

And At least eight people rushed to the hospital after a home explodes. What happened here?

Plus, bears are not happy with us. Frightening video showing the moment a black bear chases an 11-year-old boy into a Dollar Store.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SIDNER: New details this morning. A federal judge torched the Justice Department's handling of years old evidence in its case against former FBI director James Comey. Questions over President Trump's handpicked prosecutor in the case, Lindsay Halligan, accusing the government of a quote, disturbing pattern of investigative missteps related to the handling of evidence in this case.

CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz is following all of this from Washington. How do we get to this point? Where are we in this case? Certainly you've got a judge who sees some real problems, apparently, here?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, the reason we're here is because this judge has read the grand jury transcript, especially the part about Lindsay Halligan, the U.S. attorney or interim U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, speaking to the grand jury when that indictment was approved against James Comey. This is the part of the case where the defense gets to collect all the information that they can and challenge either the case itself, the charges, trying to get them thrown out or try to get evidence cut back from what could be used at trial.

What the defense is trying to do is they want access to the grand jury transcripts.

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The judge already looked at them and the judge writing about what he's seen in them says there seem to be some major issues here. Sara, the judge has pointed pointed out that some of the old evidence that the Justice Department collected more than five years ago in a different investigation has now been used to back up this charge or a set of charges against James Comey without a new warrant that was secured through the court system.

Also, the judge has found that the Justice Department, the investigators from the FBI, may have used or potentially accessed private communications attorney-client discussion that they had in that information before a grand jury. You're not supposed to do that without taking it through the proper steps, the proper procedure.

Also, the judge points out that there seemed to be some major issues with what Lindsay Halligan, the U.S. attorney, said to the grand jury in that room on the day that she was asking the grand jurors to approve the indictment of Comey. The judge says that she may have implied Comey needs to testify to win his case at trial. That is not what the law is or what the Constitution says.

And also, that she implied that the Justice Department may have better evidence at trial. We don't see her exact words, but we would like to, and the defense would as well. This is all very likely going to get resolved in the next week or so because there is going to be a little bit more back and forth in court over whether the defense team can access this grand jury information, the transcripts. The Justice Department is fighting it. But this is the type of wording from a judge that you do not want to

see if you're a prosecutor this case. A quote from Judge William Fitzpatrick of the Eastern District of Virginia.

"The record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding. Here, the procedural and substantive irregularities that occurred before the grand jury and the manner in which evidence presented to the grand jury was collected and used may rise to the level of government misconduct resulting in prejudice to Mr. Comey."

Setting up a possibility, a real possibility down the line that the Justice Department may not even get this case to a trial -- Sara.

SIDNER: That is quite a statement from the judge there and noting that this is the first case that she's ever tried as a prosecutor. She was not a prosecutor before this. Katelyn Polantz, thank you. That was really great information this morning -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Clearly, much more to come on to that one.

Also ahead for us, President Trump vowing to make America affordable again, pointing blame across the aisle for the affordability crisis facing many Americans today. What is his pitch on how to fix it? What is his plan? We've got more on that next.

And how was a passenger able to bring a meat cleaver onto a plane. The latest on TSA's investigation into this security lapse.

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BOLDUAN: President Trump says America is in the middle of a "Golden Age." That is part of his new effort to talk more about the affordability crisis facing many Americans. Taking that pitch now to a gathering of McDonald's franchise owners. During his remarks, the president touted tariffs and blamed Democrats.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to do the word is affordable. And affordable is should be our word, not theirs, because the Democrats got up and took affordability, affordability. And they don't say that they had the worst inflation in history, the highest energy prices in history. Everything was the worst. What they're great at is lying. They say affordability. This stuff was all much more expensive. We have a couple of items like coffee, which is a little high. We're going to get that down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Right now, inflation overall is at 3 percent, which is much lower than the 9.1 percent peak post pandemic during the Biden administration. But Americans are clearly showing in public opinion polls at other places that they are not feeling the "Golden Age" of affordability that the president is speaking of.

A CNN poll this month found 61 percent of Americans said that they thought President Trump's policies have worsened economic conditions in the country. And let's take a look while we're at it at market futures ahead of opening bell. We will get -- there you go. Pointing down slightly right now.

Joining me right now is Madison Mills, senior markets reporter for Axios. Let's talk about this speech and this pitch that the president made. One of the -- one case that he made that things are getting better is the prices at McDonald's. He pointed to. He said your chief executive and your chairman and everyone else they tell me prices at McDonald's are coming down.

You say there's there's more to that, actually. What is it there?

MADISON MILLS, SENIOR MARKETS REPORTER, AXIOS: There is so a couple of weeks ago, McDonald's came out and said, hey, we're actually going to eat some of the cost because not enough people are coming in the door. They wanted to have that $5 value meal and so McDonald's corporate is splitting the cost. They're taking a hit to be able to keep those prices low, and they're willing to do that because their sales have gone down so much.

So it's not necessarily that yay inflation is coming down, it's that the company and its earnings and profits are going to take a hit to be able to make the products more affordable. And that came before this affordability push from the administration.

BOLDUAN: And Madison, is it also just a sign in that decision by McDonald's of the affordability crisis in and of itself? People can't pay more for their food.

MILLS: And this is something that is so clear this earnings season, as we're hearing from companies. We heard from Home Depot this morning.

BOLDUAN: Yes, right.

MILLS: -- and we're sensing this case shaped economy that we talk about a lot, but the low income consumer really struggling. And that's very clear in the story of a McDonald's, right? You're having so much trouble getting people in the door that you're willing to take a profit hit. That's when you know that things are bad.

And this is in part due to some of the tariff policy that's been enacted. The president offering to roll back tariffs on something like beef, which obviously heavily a company like McDonald's. So that is something that could help them shore up their profits going forward. But also the tariffs keep changing so constantly that the company just had to kind of make a decision to take the hit.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's hard to plan ahead as we have learned from so many companies. The president arguing that the economy in the country is in the middle of a Golden Age. And he said, you know, he had a lot to say in this speech. He said prices are coming down and all that stuff.

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I mean, this is -- what we saw from the president going there to speak to franchise owners is clearly part of the White House as we know the refocus focus and shift to get him to message more on affordability. The question is, though, what's the pitch? Is it just what the Biden administration did not do successfully, which was just explaining like no, no, no, it is good. Look at our numbers or is there more to it?

MILLS: Well, it's interesting because we have seen a couple of policy proposals. Things like a 50 year mortgage, which actually doesn't make housing more affordable because it lowers your monthly costs, but your interest payment would go up. He's talked about this idea of a $2,000 stimulus check to low income households off the back of that tariff revenue. Obviously a lot of questions about whether or not that's actually going to happen.

BOLDUAN: Right.

MILLS: Part of the challenge with that is that the stimulus checks coming out of COVID are part of what led to that 9 percent inflation. So that's also a challenge of whether or not that's actually. The question that I hear from a lot of my Wall Street sources is, are these solutions from the administration actually going to attack the inflation problem?

BOLDUAN: That's -- and that question remains right now. It's great to see you, Madison. Thanks so much for coming in -- John.

BERMAN: All right, a meat cleaver. Pretty sure that is on the do not fly with this list. Now, the TSA wants to know how it made it through security and all the way onto the plane.

And then a prisoner escapes, stealing an e-bike, then a vehicle. Now, new video shows the end of the manhunt deep in the swamps where the suspect was hiding.

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