Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Army Doctor Accused In Possibly Largest Sexual Misconduct Scandal In U.S. Military History; DOJ Says More Criminal Charges Possible Against John Bolton; Senior Citizens To Pay Nearly 10 Percent More For Medicare In 2026; Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell Joins California Governor's Race; Bald Eagle Drops Cat Through Woman's Windshield; Thousands Of Air Traffic Controllers Won't Receive Extra $10,000. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 21, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:32:03]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Now, a CNN Exclusive on what could be one of, if not the, largest sexual misconduct scandal in U.S. military history. It's a case centered around Dr. Blaine McGraw, an army major, an OBGYN at Fort Hood, Texas, described in a lawsuit as a predator in uniform. We discovered the army investigated him at least twice before in 2022 and 2024 in Texas and Hawaii due to patient complaints and nothing came of it. And that many patients had complained in some fashion over the course of years.

I spoke to multiple sources and learned what prompted this investigation was actually a husband raising hell. It was the husband of a female army officer who was a patient of Dr. McGraw's. He's a combat veteran, former infantryman who served in Afghanistan, a job where you keep your head on a swivel and constantly take inventory of your surroundings. And that's what he was doing at his wife's appointment that he'd accompanied her to last month, when this gynecologist began a transvaginal ultrasound. He saw the doctor recording his wife in this very vulnerable situation, according to a source familiar with what the husband later told Army investigators.

The couple tried and tried to report it to the hospital, to base leadership at Fort Hood. It was a very frustrating process we learned from sources. And at one point, the husband apparently boiling over screams in the hospital lobby. I just caught a doctor recording my wife's vagina in front of staff and patients. An army-led criminal investigation ensues from their sources telling us that investigators find visual evidence on Dr. McGraw's phone. They start alerting women in those images. They start sending out letters to the approximately 3,000 patients that he'd seen at Fort Hood and in previous years, at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii.

One alleged victim filed a civil suit last week accusing Major McGraw of recording her pelvic and breast exam. We spoke with alleged victims and sources who were in touch with many others who say McGraw frequently had a phone in his shirt, pocket, just like he does here in this video that CNN obtained showing McGraw administering an ultrasound, and also in a photo where he is delivering a baby. That photo also obtained by CNN. I spoke with one alleged victim who said that in 2021, McGraw gave her a forceful, unscheduled pelvic exam that resulted in breaking her water days before her scheduled date to be induced, and then took steps to hide that he had done the exam.

The army has suspended this doctor. He checked into a civilian inpatient care facility according to court records, and we've learned from sources that he was scheduled to leave that facility yesterday. So far, at least 65 women, including at the Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, are accusing McGraw of sexual misconduct. I'm joined now by Attorney Christine Dunn. She represents several of Dr. Blaine McGraw's accusers.

[13:35:00]

Christine, thank you so much for joining us.

CHRISTINE DUNN, ATTORNEY FOR SEVERAL ACCUSERS OF FORMER FT. HOOD DOCTOR: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: And tell us what your clients are alleging. Tell us about your clients and what they're saying.

DUNN: So my law firm, Sanford Heisler represents six of Dr. McGraw's patients. And honestly, I keep getting phone calls, so I think that number is going to keep going up. They all say that it felt very different, the examination with Dr. McGraw than any other medical exam they'd ever had. Some from the very beginning said it felt more like sexual touching than medical touching. For some of my clients, he did unnecessary exams, unnecessary breast exams. One of my clients, he did four pelvic exams in a month. And then of course, I have several clients who have been notified that they were videotaped by him in their most intimate parts. And it was without their consent and without their knowledge. And all of them are really reeling.

KEILAR: I'm sure. And following the new allegations that have come out since the lawsuit was filed last week, Major McGraw's lawyer has given me a statement saying in part, beyond the allegations themselves, we've seen no records to support that patients were touched in a way that was not medically indicated. We believe that the Army previously resolved at least one of the allegations because of an eyewitness account by another provider present. We'll continue to cooperate. We remain disappointed at Army law enforcement's handling of the investigation. What's your reaction to that?

DUNN: I think it's really interesting that he's complaining that there is no records documenting this. What did they expect? That Dr. McGraw was going to document that he sexually abused his patients or that he did unnecessary exams. It's not the kind of thing where you would expect records to confirm the behavior. And here you have dozens of women who are giving very similar accounts. That's pretty compelling evidence.

KEILAR: The Army says they're committed to supporting patients affected by these allegations. We have swiftly established a call center, assigned a special victim's counsel, and are actively notifying patients. Additionally, we have created a patient support line to offer access to resources and assistance. We encourage anyone with information related to the investigation to contact the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division. How do you -- how do the accusers see the Army's role in all of this?

DUNN: They think that the Army needs to be held accountable. The Army was negligent here. They failed these patients. This many women could not be abused if the Army was doing its job. They failed to properly supervise him. They failed to properly monitor him, and they didn't take the red flags seriously. So, these women all tell me I want the Army held accountable too, so that this doesn't happen to anyone else in the future.

KEILAR: What does that look like, that accountability?

DUNN: So, a lawsuit against the Army is under something called the Federal Tort Claims Act. So the first step in that is that you file an administrative complaint with the Army, so that's what I am doing for my clients right now. I am filing their administrative complaints and that's the very first step in ultimately, filing a lawsuit against the Army. I believe that you have to hold institutions accountable. It's the only way to create real change.

KEILAR: We should note, this is Fort Hood, right?

DUNN: Correct.

KEILAR: Which is supposed to have reckoned with taking sexual harassment and sexual assault reports more seriously after the 2020 murder of Vanessa Guillen who had reports that she had -- she'd made reports about sexual harassment. They had not been looked at; they'd not been followed up or sent up the chain of command. And the Army is certainly no stranger to this idea of a medical practitioner abusing their station of trust. Right?

You represent dozens of plaintiffs. In another case they filed a -- you filed a civil suit on their behalf, against an army doctor, Major Michael Stockin, who is serving over 13 years for carrying out sexual misconduct under the guise of medical treatment. What does it take to make sure that these kinds of things don't happen?

DUNN: Well, again, you really have to hold the institutions accountable. Until these institutions are called to the mat, they aren't going to change. They can give lip service to, we are making changes, but unless they are really consistent in enforcing strong protocols and policies to protect patients, nothing is going to change.

KEILAR: Talking to victims, one of the things that struck me was their memories that are supposed to be so beautiful, right? I spoke with one victim who said, something that amounted to, one day, my son is going to want to talk about when he was born and I don't want to talk about it. It makes me want to throw up, she said. And she feels that that's something that she says Dr. McGraw took from her. What are you hearing from clients?

DUNN: Honestly, I've heard almost that exact same story from one of my clients.

[13:40:00]

I think there are a lot of women out there who have that same experience. But I'm also hearing that they're terrified to ever go to the doctor again. They're afraid they're going to be victimized again. They've told me, I'm afraid to have another child because I'll have to go to another OBGYN. And he has really robbed their sense of security and safety. He has robbed their sense of confidence in the medical profession and in the Army.

KEILAR: And just to be clear, these are service members and military spouses we're talking about?

DUNN: Correct.

KEILAR: Christine Dunn, thank you very much for being with us. We appreciate it.

DUNN: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: And this just in, the Justice Department says it could bring more charges against President Trump's former national security adviser. We'll have that story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:20]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Breaking News to CNN. The Justice Department could soon bring more charges against former National Security Adviser, John Bolton in his classified documents case. Federal prosecutors suggesting that could happen during the pretrial hearing in Maryland. Joining us now with CNN, Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz. Katelyn, walk us through what happened this morning.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was the first substantive hearing before the judge overseeing this, Ted Swang. Before the prosecutors and defense were able to talk to the judge, and he really wanted to figure out how much classified information is actually in this case. And the prosecutors, in short, it was more than an hour of a hearing, said there's so much classified information and so much we haven't even been able to go through yet, that there could be more charges to come at a later date.

That's a pretty significant statement because this is already a very substantive case. What the prosecutors also said is that there are these 18 counts against John Bolton. They boiled down in a lot of ways right now to 10 documents, 10 charges about retaining information that the prosecutors say was illegally kept and recorded by Bolton. Essentially, his diaries sent to himself, sent over emails, sent over electronic other messaging systems, maybe even printed out and kept in his house, that all amounts to about a thousand pages.

And we know from the indictment, that's really allegedly sensitive stuff that the intelligence community still has to work through, that the prosecutors will still have to look at, that the court will have to monitor to make sure it doesn't get out, and that the defense will get to look at as well, potentially as they prepare for trials. Stuff like attacks about foreign adversaries, foreign leaders, things about U.S. forces, facilities abroad, a lot of the sort of thing that only someone like the national security adviser may have access to.

SANCHEZ: So where are we in the process of this getting to trial? Do we have a date yet?

POLANTZ: Boris, I wish we had a date. Right now, we have a lot of dates set up in this case and it all is just working through the amount of classified information here, the sheer volume of it. There's a lot of court procedures that have to take place to protect that information for use in court.

SANCHEZ: Right.

POLANTZ: And so we have a series of dates in January, that's sort of the next round of things, where they'll be talking about that and what they still have to work through. There will be also the sort of discussion and legal arguments in court you see with any case, motions from the defense team to try and get rid of evidence.

SANCHEZ: To dismiss.

POLANTZ: Yeah. Get rid of the case itself or charges. Those will all come essentially over the spring, we believe, as far as what they said in the hearing today. But a trial date, it does not look very likely until the back half of next year at least.

SANCHEZ: Whenever it comes, we know you'll keep us up to date, Katelyn Polantz.

POLANTZ: I would like to be there. Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour, senior citizens on Medicare can expect steep increases in their health insurance premiums for 2026. That's according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B will jump almost $18 next year to just over $200. That's nearly a 10 percent increase from 2025 and the largest dollar hike in the last four years. It'll also take a big chunk out of the $56 monthly social security cost of living adjustment that retirees will receive next year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC SWALWELL, (D-CA): I came here tonight, Jimmy, to tell you and your audience that I'm running to be the next governor of California.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell throwing his hat in the ring in the race for California's top office. The seven-term House member joining an already crowded field of Democratic contenders seeking Governor Gavin Newsom's job, who can't run again because of term limits. Former Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa and former HHS Secretary, Xavier Becerra are among those also in the running. Swalwell became an outspoken critic of President Trump during his first term and briefly ran for president in 2019.

And a North Carolina woman has a major catastrophe while driving. Listened to the 9-1-1 call that she made to highway patrol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You may not believe me, but I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield and it absolutely shattered my windshield.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do believe you honestly.

(LAUGH)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, I had a witness. He's like, that is the craziest thing I've ever seen. I'm like, really?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The incident left a huge cat-size hole in the woman's windshield. Thankfully, she was not injured. The cat not so lucky. I feel like my team is trolling me because I have a cat. That's why they made me read that story.

[13:50:00]

Anyways, next, a union representing air traffic controllers says thousands of its members are not getting their promised $10,000 bonus checks despite working through the government shutdown.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: A big bonus coming for nearly 800 air traffic controllers and technicians who didn't miss a single day of work during the government shutdown.

[13:55:00]

They're set to receive some $10,000 for perfect attendance according to the FAA. A spokesperson for the union representing air traffic controllers though is voicing concern that thousands are being left out after showing up consistently not knowing when they would be receiving a paycheck. We should note a number of controllers called out during the 44-day shutdown to take side jobs to help make ends meet. Let's discuss with a retired FAA air traffic controller, Dave Riley. Dave, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. What is your reaction to these bonuses? DAVE RILEY, RETIRED FAA AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Thanks, Boris. Yeah, as we predicted, this was going to be a bad situation on how they're determining who to give these bonuses to. And a lot of controllers today are waking up and feeling very disrespected and are furious about how this all went down. Because as you mentioned, nearly 800 people are getting these bonuses, most of them are technicians. Only 311 air traffic controllers of the 10,800 -- oh, I'm sorry. Secretary Duffy said 600 quit during the shutdown. So 10,200 controllers are eligible to get this, but only 311 are actually getting the bonus.

They've -- you've got situations in the FAA where air traffic controllers are showing up during the shutdown, doing their job as they're told, and as they're scheduled, yet they're not getting this bonus. For example, I heard of one situation where an air traffic controller is in the National Guard and he's being deployed to fulfill other missions of the administration, yet because he wasn't at work as an air traffic controller, he's being called unpatriotic. Go figure that one out.

And the public needs to know that air traffic controllers, when they bid their schedules, you have to bid your off time, your vacation time a year in advance in most cases. So if your vacation time happened to fall during the shutdown, you're already working overtime, excessive amounts of overtime, only getting four days off a month, and your vacation time comes along, you're supposed to cancel that so you could potentially get some sort of bonus? It's crazy. That's the only time off that you're getting to spend with your family on -- away from the facility maybe taking a vacation.

So, the controllers are not happy about this situation and it's going to take years for this to get sorted out. Just like the last shutdown in 2018 and 2019, I heard stories that some controllers just recently, as a couple months ago, finally got the back pay they deserved from the last shutdown in 2018 and 2019.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

RILEY: Controllers need to get a pay raise because they are being used as political pawns in this game of shutdowns, and it needs to end. You do not need controllers fatigued and distracted by using them as pawns and not paying them during these shutdowns. That raise needs to come and the union needs to advocate for that.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. To that point, Dave, I wonder what you would want to see happen, so that somehow these air traffic controllers are protected when there is potentially another government shutdown.

RILEY: Yeah, there is legislation out there to help protect them in future shutdowns. It needs to get pushed through. After the last shutdown, there was legislation passed to get them back pay, but they need not be toyed with. You do not need the American people relying on air traffic controllers that are fatigued and distracted by not getting paid. So they need to pass legislation that will take the air traffic control system out of the equation when it comes to these shutdowns. Pay those people, I mean, the impacts to the aviation system, $20 billion for the 43-day shutdown, I mean, that's -- it's ludicrous to continue to do that madness and cause the harm not only to the American people, but to our economy, to the GDP.

SANCHEZ: Do you think that there's also harm done to the profession, to people that may have considered being an air traffic controller as a career?

RILEY: Absolutely. Secretary Duffy came out and said that he's trying to attract new people to the career field. And all this is doing is giving them a look to say, there's just no way I'm going to go into a field where it's unpredictable whether I'm going to get paid or not. And I don't blame them as well as the controllers that are retiring and resigning. I'm hearing about controllers, resigning and going to Australia and working over there for a change of scenery.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

RILEY: And some more reliability on getting a paycheck for the job too.

SANCHEZ: As you were speaking, Dave, I got an alert that the FAA has announced that this upcoming week, this Thanksgiving holiday is going to be the busiest for air travel in 15 years. We hope for the air traffic controllers out there and obviously for travelers that it is less of a headache than it has been over the last month or so. Dave Riley, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your perspective.

RILEY: Thanks, Boris. Great day.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Stay with "CNN News Central." A new hour starts right now.

KEILAR: Meeting with Mamdani.