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Trump Signs Bill Directing DOJ to Release Epstein Files; Texas Hill Country Braces for Storms Near Site of Deadly July Floods; Kris Boyd Post Says, Starting to Breathe on My Own Now. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 20, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, the president signs the bill calling on the Justice Department to release the Epstein files, but does he mean it? New reporting on the rising doubts about meeting the deadline.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, a former Capitol Hill staffer now being charged accused of staging a political attack on herself. Prosecutors say she even hired a scar artist to make it all look real.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And a pint made for the pope called De Pope. Of course, Illinois' governor at the Vatican to meet with the Chicago-born pontiff with a Chicago brew in hand.

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

BERMAN: All right. Breaking in the dark of night with no cameras, no T.V. lights, President Trump signed the bill ordering the Justice Department to release all of its files on Jeffrey Epstein. Now, given that this president held a major media event just to tweak physical fitness standards, the way he did this in itself last night, raise his questions about how committed he might be to the release which he fought against for months. In a social media post of nearly 2,500 words, the president said, this latest hoax will backfire on the Democrats just as all the rest have.

By law now, the department has 30 days to release the Epstein files, putting the deadline just a few days before Christmas. But there are loopholes and we are standing by to see if DOJ claims it cannot release certain information that is part of ongoing investigations. And remember, the president and attorney general could have released the information all along without any action from Congress.

For her part, Attorney General Pam Bondi says she will continue to follow a law and encourage maximum transparency.

Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House where there was a signing last night with no one looking. So, what happens now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, no cameras. That's very unusual as you pointed out John for this president. Instead, he took to Truth Social to announce this.

And I do want to read you a little bit more of what he wrote, because it gets into the mindset of how the president views all of this. He wrote, quote, Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged by the Trump Justice Department in 2019, not the Democrats, with an exclamation point, was a lifelong Democrat, donated thousands of dollars to Democrat politicians and was deeply associated with many well-known Democratic figures.

The president went on to write, perhaps the truth about these Democrats and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein will soon be revealed, because I have just signed the bill to release the Epstein file.

So, clearly, from that part of this lengthy post that I read, a lot of the attention he's trying to put on right now is on Democratic ties to this. Again, seeing what he kind of did last week with trying to deflect the blame to many of the high-profile figures. I mean, he's right. There's many people in the Democratic Party who also have ties, notable ties, to Jeffrey Epstein. And that's part of why so many Americans on both sides of the aisle, John, have been so eager to get these files.

So, now, I'm going to walk you through what we could expect you. You pointed this out, that the Justice Department has 30 days to release these files. They also are legally required by this legislation that the president signed to redact the victim's names and their identities.

One hiccup though is that they also have what -- you know, they can choose, if there's ongoing legal investigations or criminal investigations that the Justice Department is doing, they can choose to withhold some of the files because of that.

Now, we do know, of course, just a couple days ago, President Trump directed the Justice Department to open an investigation into some Democratic figures, like the former president, Bill Clinton, the former treasury secretary, Larry Summers.

So, what we can expect, essentially, is that they are going to be forced to release these. Congress made that possible. But, you know, we're going to see a lot of these files, probably most of these files, but likely not all of them either.

And just to get into what's in them, when we go through what we know about these, there's 300-plus gigabytes of data, paper, video, photos, audio, this is what we know, is within the Justice Department's boxes of these materials. There are memos on investigation, potential targets, search locations, and records to subpoena. There's also documents showing witnesses, victims, suspects, what suspects told investigators.

So, look, there's a lot of material that people have long been wanting.

[07:05:01] And, again, they have 30 days to release these. The question, of course, is going to be how much do they release? They likely will have to release most of what they have. But we'll be watching very closely for what they hold back as well.

BERMAN: Yes, we will have to see. I mean, the proof is in the pudding here.

Alayna Treeme at the White House, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. For more on this, I'm joined by former FBI deputy Director and CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe. Thank you for being here this morning.

Attorney Bondi is saying, look, we'll continue to follow the law and encourage maximum transparency, but there is a loophole here. How big of a loophole is it that there could be some of these files kept back from being released?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. We'll have to see, Sara. It's a potentially a very, very large loophole.

I think the attorney general's comments that will follow the law are actually pretty vague. We don't know that with that comment, she's referring specifically and only to the law that was passed last night when the president signed this bill. There are other laws that are involved here, for instance, laws around grand jury secrecy, which is, of course, encoded in court rule 6E. That would prevent the release of any information that was obtained with the help of a grand jury subpoena. There are laws, like the Privacy Act, that limit what information the government has in its records about private citizens it can release.

So, there are a lot of laws here that the Justice Department could point to, to say, well, no, we can't release this. The largest of those, of course, being the essentially it's an exception to FOIA to be able to say we're not going to turn over records of an ongoing criminal investigation. We know that there is an ongoing criminal investigation now, the one that was ordered by the president to investigate Bill Clinton and Larry Summers.

So, there is still a fair amount of discretion here on the part of the Department of Justice and how liberally they decide to lean into that discretion. We'll have to see with the coming releases.

SIDNER: For the files that can be released, what happens now at the Justice Department? They have just 30 days, right, to get these documents out.

MCCABE: Yes. So, that's a very aggressive timeline. Especially with an investigation that is large, one that covers as many years and different aspects, as this one does.

Typically, what the bureau would do, they have a large records processing facility in kind of Western Virginia. And if folks out there who do this every day, they do it on mostly responding to FOIA requests from citizens, but it's the same sort of process. They would take all that material and sort through it. They'd go through to pull out those things that could and should legally be released, and then they would redact that material to hold back the things, like victims' names and people's personally identifying data, things like that.

So, we know that the bureau has already gone through a lot of this in the last few months. There was that notorious FBI review of the file to determine what they could release and then they, of course, determined they didn't want to release anything, that was done several months ago.

So, hopefully, some of that work has gotten them, you know, part of the way to the goal line here, but I expect that there will probably be some delay beyond 30 days just to get their hands around exactly what they're putting out into the public.

SIDNER: Yes. There are a lot of questions here about exactly what the public will finally be able to see when it comes to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew McCabe, thank you so much. I do appreciate you coming on. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, a dangerous situation is developing in Texas this morning, severe storms bringing torrential rain in the same areas that were hit with those devastating floods this summer.

And today is jobs day, but it's not just any jobs day. There's new data on the economy set to be released from September, quite delayed, all due to the government shutdown.

And murder, money laundering and drug trafficking. New charges for a former Olympic snowboarder known as El Jefe, now accused of being a drug kingpin on the FBI's ten most wanted list.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: So, right now, Texas is on high alert, really facing down a serious flood threat in the Texas Hill Country. Overnight, they've already seen several inches of rain just upstream from the same areas devastated by those horrible flashfloods in July. Remember, more than a hundred people, many of them children at summer camp, died in those July 4th floods.

Today, more than 75,000 people in the Hill Country are in the threat zone for another five or so inches of rain.

CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is watching this one for us. And, Allison, it seems there's a lot of people that need to be on alert today. What are they facing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, more rain, and, unfortunately, it's going to be several rounds of rain. So, even after you get through the first one, it's not necessarily going to be over. So, this is where the target point is for today all of the green shaded area you see here is under the flood watch for the remainder of the day today. And here, you can see just north of Dallas, we have a flashflood warning just because of the amount of incredibly heavy rain that has fallen there in just the last two hours.

There, you can see that cluster of storms, lots of lightning, very deep red on the screen, indicating very heavy rainfall rates, but also San Angelo. Several other parts of the state have been looking at very heavy rain. This is now going to start to slide to the east. So, even though Dallas is getting a little bit of a break right now, you've got that next line that's going to continue to slide off to the north and east.

Really, anywhere in this target area you see here has the potential for excessive rainfall today and thus the potential for flooding. But the target point is really going to be down here across South Central Texas, Del Rio up through Austin, but even Dallas, Oklahoma City, Little Rock. A lot of these areas are still expecting to get some very heavy rain.

This morning, the focus is going to be in a lot of the same places that we saw earlier, but the second round that we talked about, that's going to be going through Kerrville and Dallas, unfortunately, at the evening rush hour timeline tonight. Then it continues to slide East Wichita, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, hitting that area and St. Louis by the time we get to early Friday morning.

[07:15:05]

And we know a lot of folks, maybe you've got the whole week next week off, want to get a head start on some Thanksgiving holiday travel tomorrow evening, if that's when you plan to do it, you're going to be looking at some pretty heavy rain showers across a few areas as well, including Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, Kentucky, those areas are likely going to see some of that heavy rain. Even down across the south, it's kind of got a split focus here, so portions of Alabama, Tennessee, and even into Georgia are likely going to see some of that heavy rain late tomorrow if you plan to get a head start.

Overall, keep in mind, most of these areas are looking at an extra one to three inches of rain. That may not sound like all that much, Kate, but it's on top of what they've already had the last 24 hours. That's what makes this a big concern.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And round after round of it is not what anybody needs.

Allison, thank you so much. She's going to be watching this very closely for us. John?

BERMAN: All right. A former Congressional staffer found cut up, scarred and bound in what seemed like a violent political attack. But now, she's charged with staging it all.

And does this go down as a steal on the stat sheet, a Knicks player eats a fan's M&Ms.

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BOLDUAN: So, Kris Boyd of the New York Jets now breathing on his own. That is the latest update after he was shot in New York City, early Sunday morning.

[07:20:01]

CNN's Andy Scholes is here with me with an update. And how is he doing? What's the latest?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Good. But you know, it's -- the positive updates we keep getting is always good in these kind of situations. And we got another one from Kris Boyd himself.

You know, he was shot in the abdomen and had to have multiple procedures to have a bullet removed from his right lung, and Boyd posting on Instagram a picture of himself smiling, saying that he was grateful and that he's coming along and starting to breathe on his own. The Jet's cornerback was shot outside of a Manhattan restaurant Sunday morning. Police have identified a suspect, but still no arrests have been made.

All right, week 12 of the NFL season, it's going to kick off tonight with the Texans hosting the Bills. And it's another week, another starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, Shedeur Sanders is set to get his first start of his career. The rookie is going to be the Browns' 42nd starting quarterback since 1999, 42nd, that's a high number. Shedeur, though, he says he's ready for the opportunity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEDEUR SANDERS, CLEVELAND BROWNS QUARTERBACK: I can, you know, to prepare mentally, you know, physically, emotionally to make sure my best self.

I know my development, you know, as a player and everything and mentally and everything has to speed up due to the situation. So, I just like new challenges, so it's going to be fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Browns at the Raiders on Sunday.

In the NHL, meanwhile, Conor McDavid and the Oilers taking on Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals. First period, Ovechkin, he's going to score to make it 2-0, Washington. That was his 904th goal of his career. Then later on, McDavid, he sets up Leon Draisaitl for a one timer in the third. That cut the Capitals' lead to 5-4, but that's as close as they would get. Washington will win that one, 7-4.

All right, in the NBA, Knicks and Mavs playing a nail bite are. Under a minute to go, tie game, Landry Shamet coming through with a clutch three. Then with four seconds left, the Knicks were up by two. Brandon Williams with Mavs gets it. He goes, drives, makes the layup with under a second left. But they call an offensive foul.

BOLDUAN: No.

SCHOLES: Yes. And if you watch the replay, you see Williams really hooks Shamet but it bumped him. I don't know, questionable call maybe. But the Knicks, they hold on to win that one 113 to 111.

Now, earlier in this game, the Knicks' Josh Hart, he was going after the ball, and the ref had to grab him as he fell into the fans sitting court side. And then look at this, a heart. He asked the fan if he could get a peanut M&M. Look at that kid. And then the heart goes out of the court and he is just chomping on peanut M&Ms as he goes to play defense.

BOLDUAN: I love it.

SCHOLES: I brought you a choice.

BOLDUAN: I have to say, why doesn't happen more often? Because there's the -- there's all sort, everyone was sitting courtside, I mean, those are some expensive peanut M&MS, let's just put it that way.

SCHOLES: Well, yes. You know, usually, it happens with popcorn, but the peanut M&Ms are funny.

BOLDUAN: What you got for me?

SCHOLES: I brought you Nerd Clusters or Skittles. I couldn't find M&Ms. What would you choose?

BOLDUAN: I have to go with Nerd Clusters.

SCHOLES: Nerd Clusters.

BOLDUAN: Because that's what my daughters love. Apparently, yes, they're anti-Skittles.

SCHOLSE: Don't eat them now. It's going to get stuck in your teeth while you're trying to anchor.

BOLDUAN: Anchor the show? Oh we're still on air? I'm just kidding. It's great to see you.

SCHOLES: Great to see you too, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara?

SIDNER: Share with the needy. John and I want some of those too.

BOLDUAN: I'll bring them home very soon.

SIDNER: Excellent. Thank you very much. We will have a better show because of it.

All right, ahead, a very unexpected over office visit. President Trump will host New York City's Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Why Mamdani asked for the meeting in the first place.

And President Trump makes a big demand of its treasury secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The rates are too high, Scott. And if you don't get it fixed fast, I'm going to fire your ass, okay?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, this could be something. President Trump has confirmed that he will meet with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House tomorrow. The president posted, communist mayor of New York City, Zorhan Kwame Mamdani, has asked for a meeting. We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office. Of course, Mamdani, not a communist, a Democratic socialist.

With us now, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, Marc Short, and Democratic strategist, and former White House deputy assistant to President Clinton, Matt Bennett.

Matt, this meeting, like who gets more from it and what are the incentives there?

MATT BENNETT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's going to be a banger. Who knows what's going to come out of this. I don't think that Mamdani is going to show up with gold bars to try to bribe Trump the way others have.

I do think that both of them get advantage from the fight. I mean, Mamdani clearly ran against Trump. Trump loves to talk about Mamdani.

I will say Republicans, the polling in the last few days, Republicans, very, very bad. The one bright spot for them is getting to try to turn Democrats into Democratic socialists. That's the thing that we're worried about. And I think bringing Mamdani to the White House gives Trump the opportunity to put him on the big stage that way. And that could be an advantage to Trump and Republicans. But Mamdani's pretty clever and he may slip the noose.

BERMAN: I mean, what's the risk, Marc, for either of them for this to be a mess, frankly, or are they both incentivized to have this be fireworks?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: I think they're both incentivized, John. I think the reality is that there are two, obviously both figures from New York, both populist, one on the left, one more on the right.

[07:30:00] And I agree with Matt. I think that for both of them, they need a political foil. And I think for the president's team, Mamdani serves as a great foil and Mamdani's.