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Congress To Send Epstein Files Bill To Trump Today; NATO Scrambles Fighter Jets After Russian Strikes On Western Ukraine; LeBron Has Double-Double In Return As Lakers Drop Jazz. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 19, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:46]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning the Epstein files are one signature away from going public. At least they should be. The bill expected to land on President Trump's desk today, but there are new questions about what happens once it's actually signed.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, NATO scrambles fighter jets after a Russian drone is detected over a NATO nation's airspace on the way to a devastating attack in Ukraine.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, you're going to meet a brave little boy from Ohio who not only defended his mother during an assault but helped police hunt down her attacker.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is "CNN News Central."

SIDNER: Breaking news this morning, it first looked like a long shot. Now the bill to force the Justice Department to release all files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation is headed to President Trump's desk. And he said he'll sign it. What we don't know is exactly when.

The bill won support from all but one Republican across both the House and the Senate. It's a stunning reversal for the party and the president who had tried to block the release for months.

Sources have told CNN the president flipped his stance after it became clear he couldn't stop the momentum.

For survivors of Epstein's abuse, it's an enormous victory after many fought years for justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA PHILLIPS, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I started speaking out just because I wanted to stand up for other survivors that have gone through the same pain that we have but couldn't find their voice.

So I was trying to have the courage and the bravery to stand up there to have that voice for them. And just like Wendy said, it's just feeling validated, feeling seen, feeling heard. That's what we really wanted.

You know, it was to stand up there and say, you know, this happened to us, but what are we going to do now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now the president could sign the bill today once he does, though, what happens then? Could the Justice Department refuse to comply?

CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House this morning. What do we know about the plans for this signing and when it might happen?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, we've been told, Sara, that it could happen as early as today. And I'd remind you that the president, ever since he changed his posture and had that reversal over the weekend, encouraging Republicans to actually support this bill from my conversations with White House officials, they're saying essentially they want to try to get this over with and move on from it as fast as possible.

And the president kind of acknowledged that last night in the midst of all of the voting that was happening. The president said, he didn't care when the Senate signed this bill. He said whether it's tonight or at some point, or excuse me, when the Senate passed the bill, whether it's at tonight or at some point in the future. I just don't want Republicans to take their eyes off of the victories that they've had. So that's really the posture of the president.

But to your point, I mean, this was a moment that so many survivors had thought may not even happen. The bill that they had fought for, for months, now passing the House.

Again, you mentioned it only one Republican, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, did not support it. And then it swiftly passed the Senate. That was not something that people in Washington were anticipating to happen so quickly. And so we've really seen this kind of momentum behind this bill.

And to your point, the key question now is, when will Americans actually start to see what is in these files? And that is now really a question that is up to the Justice Department, which has all of these.

And one thing that could complicate this, a potential hiccup, is whether or not they have any investigations essentially regarding some of these files that will prevent them from releasing these.

And that's something that Thomas Massie, he's the Republican in the House that led this effort alongside Democrat, Ro Khanna. He discussed this last night on Kaitlan Collins' show "The Source." Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): Even if they do these, what seemed to be partisan investigations, that's another thing that bothers me about the announcement the president made is he -- he named Democrats and things that he was going to investigate. These survivors are not partisan.

They're not -- they don't belong to one party. And the perpetrators aren't either. And so this shouldn't be about political divides. So I hope that that was sort of a bluff. And I hope that -- that the DOJ will release all the files.

But even if they start investigations, there's -- they don't have enough investigators to block all the Epstein files.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:05:09]

TREENE: That line at the end there from Massie, they don't have enough investigators to block all of these, I think, was pretty notable.

But look, if you look into what he was saying as well, I'd remind you that the president, just on Friday, just a couple days ago, had directed the Justice Department to open a new investigation into Democrats including people like the former president Bill Clinton and their ties to Epstein. And so that is again a complicating factor that we could see in this process.

And just if you look into the bill, you know, the legislation only gives the executive branch 30 days to produce these files. And if they do want to redact anything, they have to do that quickly and make sure they explain what those are.

And so stay tuned for all of that, but this is really the Justice Department's hands now, Sara.

SIDNER: Alayna Treene, thank you so much for reporting there from the White House for us this morning. John.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, NATO scrambled fighter jets over Polish and Romanian airspace as Russia carried out a deadly attack -- deadly attacks really across Ukraine, at least 19 people were killed. And the majority of the country left without power.

These attacks involve 470 drones, 48 missiles, mostly focused on Western areas in Ukraine close to the Polish border.

There were strikes that also took place in the eastern region near Kharkiv leaving dozens injured there.

Let's get right to CNN's Clare Sebastian with the latest on all this. Good morning, Clare.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, John.

Look, obviously this fits a pattern to some extent. We do see Russia ramping up attacks on critical infrastructure particularly brutally now going into the fourth winter of this war. Temperatures already dipping below zero in parts of Ukraine. And we're hearing, as you said, about widespread power outages. But I think this one was unusual because it particularly targeted the western part of Ukraine, not immune but broadly seen as one of the safer parts of the country and the deadliest incident you're seeing, which is a bit there happened in Ternopil which is a town about 120 or so miles from the Polish border.

So I think underscoring there, number one that nowhere in Ukraine is safe. And number two, given its proximity to NATO countries, that there are increasing risks as the scale of these attacks go up of this war.

The risks of this war spreading beyond Ukraine's borders. And that's why we see, you know, NATO jets being scrambled over Polish and Romanian airspace. The Romanian defense ministry said that a drone actually strayed into its airspace.

And then a similar report came out after that from Moldova which said that a drone entered its airspace and it will summon the Russian ambassador as a result.

So clearly, a very tense situation and a deadly -- deadly night for Ukraine. And all of this happening as President Zelenskyy is in Turkey today, his fourth leg of his European tour. He says to try and reinvigorate negotiations looking potentially at more prisoner swaps, but I think underscoring the bleak outlook for peace talks Russia which has participated three times in talks in Turkey this year is not having any part of it, John.

So a huge task ahead for the Ukrainian president.

BERMAN: Yes. Look, and it comes as there are reports this morning from the White House, we'll talk about a little bit later, but perhaps a renewed push at diplomacy particularly meetings with Russia.

All right. Clare Sebastian for us this morning. Thank you very much. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Rallies in Raleigh against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown as agents are moving further into North Carolina.

There's also new reporting today on which U.S. city could be the next target.

And four reasons you will probably not ever see that $2,000 tariff rebate check promised by President Trump and one unsettling reason that you might.

And we're going to show you, we're going to take a look right here. This is the most expensive piece of modern art sold at auction ever. How high the price reached and what happened during this wild 20- minute bidding war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:28] BOLDUAN: There are new details coming in on what city might be next, actually, the next target for ICE and Border Patrol and the president's immigration crackdown.

Sources now tell CNN that the Trump administration's top border official is expected in New Orleans early next month. Raids in North Carolina have been ongoing. More than 200 people have been arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina over the last three days.

And it's not just Charlotte, federal agents who also have also been seen in Wake and Durham Counties.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Charlotte, tracking all of this for us. What is the latest that you're picking up, Dianne?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kate, we are in East Charlotte where many immigrant-owned businesses and immigrants in the city tend to live. And if I am quiet for just a moment, you hear nothing. It is dead out here.

The businesses are closed. There are not people walking on the streets. We didn't see kids waiting at the bus stop. And that's kind of how you can describe the city of Charlotte right now.

We're on day five of this, quote, Operation Charlotte's Web from Customs and Border Protection. And you can see the chilling effect across the city. Citizens, undocumented people who all say that they just feel uncomfortable right now being in their city.

Now you mentioned that the -- the operation has sort of moved beyond Charlotte's city limits. We're talking about two and a half, three hours north there in Wake County and Cary and Durham and Raleigh, but also in the neighboring cities of Charlotte right now.

The Huntersville mayor saying there's been activity in her city right now.

We are looking at what the effect has been here. The school system saying that, again, on Monday, more than 30,000 students were absent. That is nearly triple the average number of kids. So they are seeing this effect.

[07:15:17]

DHS says, so far, they feel like they're having quite a fruitful operation here, talking about those more than 200 arrests. People in the community though say they are going to continue fighting back.

At the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners last night, they passed a resolution saying they supported their immigrant neighbors here in the city of Charlotte and people spoke out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Violence for political purposes is terrorism.

(APPLAUSE)

What is -- what is happening in the streets of Mecklenburg County is not public safety, it's not security, it's meant to instill fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, CNN sources have indicated that Gregory Bovino and these 250 officers will head to New Orleans that first week of December.

But the governor of North Carolina says, he's not exactly sure when the operation here in Charlotte will end.

Josh Stein says that though he is contacted the White House, no one has responded to his reach out, that he has not been in contact with CBP about the operation and has no idea when they will actually leave the clean city.

BOLDUAN: That seems to be -- that seems to be a consistent through line with all of these operations, is that absolute no coordination with local officials as is traditional.

Dianne, thank you so much for that reporting. Much more to come from there. John.

BERMAN: All right. A shocking guilty plea. A father of three admits to dumping his wife's body, but not killing her.

And goat on the lam terrorizing a neighborhood forcing one man to leap on top of a car for safety.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:03]

SIDNER: LeBron James just kicked off season number 23, and that puts him in the record books, longest NBA career ever.

Now, the years match the jersey. Well, CNN's Andy Scholes joining us now. This is incredible. I have to say. Wow.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. I mean, Sara, what else you say? I mean LeBron's longevity is just incredible. We'll likely never see something like this ever again.

You know, father time seemed to be coming for him a little bit as he missed the Lakers' first 14 games of the season with sciatica. But LeBron back on the floor last night becoming the first player ever to play in 23 NBA seasons.

The 40-year-old didn't score in the first, but in the second quarter knocked down this three for his first points of the season.

LeBron, it didn't look like he was in mid-season form finding his teammates, fourth quarter to Deandre Ayton on the break.

Then moments later, LeBron in the post and he's going to find Jake LaRavia for a bucket plus a foul.

LeBron finished with 11 points, 12 assists in 30 minutes. Lakers, they beat the Jazz 140 to 126. Here was LeBron afterwards on being back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER: It was just fun to be out there with the guys, man. Like I said, it's been rough like mentally for me. Like it's the first time I started a -- a basketball season and not played since I've started playing basketball like nine years old. I've never missed the beginning of the basketball season.

Keep my head down, you know, with the work and then keep my head up with faith. You know, it's got me to this point today. And this is just great. I had a lot of joy. A lot of praising me, smiling and talking a lot on the court today. Just being out with those guys was so fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. The ladies college football playoff rankings are out. Top three remaining the same. Ohio State still won followed by Indiana and Texas A&M. Georgia jumping up to four after beating Texas and Alabama losing to Oklahoma.

The Crimson Tide hanging on to a playoff spot at number 10. Despite being ranked 24th, Tulane would make playoffs right now as the highest ranked group of five team. We're going to get two more weeks of ranking before the final ones come out December 7th.

All right. Yesterday, we had a wild day for World Cup qualifying with nine teams punching their tickets at the tournament here next year in the U.S.

Scotland had to beat Denmark to clench its spot. In the third minute, Scott McTominay just an incredible bicycle kick there to give them the lead. But this match though would be tied two-two all the way into injury time.

Things were not looking great for Scotland until.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) goal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is looking to go for goal with the halfway line (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: So Scotland, two goals in injury time. All the fans and teams going berserk. They celebrate. They're heading to the World Cup for the first time in 28 years.

Now the small island nation of Curacao, meanwhile, they're going to the World Cup for the first time ever. The nation has just a population of just over 150,000. It's the smallest nation to ever qualify for the World Cup.

Curacao, you know, known for producing great baseball players like Andruw Jones, Ozzie Albies. But right now could not be more excited about their soccer team. I mean, lust look at those celebrations.

And, Sara, you know, if anyone wondering, you know, Curacao, it's just north of Venezuela right over there next to Aruba. Their national language is Papiamento, which is a mixture of Spanish and Dutch. So there's some fun facts for you about Curacao.

SIDNER: We appreciate your fun facts, but the bicycle kick and the -- and the dancing and those --

SCHOLES: Oh, man.

SIDNER: -- last two goals are insane. Insane.

SCHOLES: Yes. What a -- what a day for Scotland. I mean, it couldn't get any better, right? That's an all-timer there --

[07:25:02]

SIDNER: Look at that.

SCHOLES: -- at the box.

SIDNER: Let me just say, I've been warned not to try a bicycle kick myself, but I think we have someone here --

BOLDUAN: What are you saying? What are you talking about?

SIDNER: -- who can do it.

BOLDUAN: Oh, I'm sorry, you mean that -- you mean that -- you mean --

SIDNER: I know you can. Let's see it.

BOLDUAN: I mean, you know I would but --

SIDNER: But you're in a skirt.

BOLDUAN: Yes. It's only because of the fashion that I'm incapable of doing it today. Otherwise, you know, that's what we do to warm up for the show any day.

SIDNER: Obviously.

BOLDUAN: But you said the dancing? The dancing was not good. I mean, let's just be honest. I'm not one to say I'm a good dancer.

SIDNER: Go good dancing. BOLDUAN: I got more than this. I got more than this.

SIDNER: That's all right.

BOLDUAN: Bicycle kicks to come. All right.

A major twist in the case of a murdered mother, Brian Walshe, he remains on trial after now pleading guilty to disposing of his wife's body.

And insane video that is coming in this morning, a fire engulfs an entire neighborhood. We'll be right back. We'll tell you what happened here.

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