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Army Doctor Accused in Huge Sexual Misconduct Scandal; Trump Meets with New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired November 21, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: ... after a big changeover in the military's medical record keeping system, but it's certainly something that is developing and that investigators are continuing to look into.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And so what is the army saying about this and how are these accusers seeing the role of the army in this?

BRITZKY: So the army has said that they're very committed to supporting the patients who could have been affected by this. They're sending letters combined with the Fort Hood hospital and a triple army medical center in Hawaii, nearly 3,000 letters to people who could have been impacted. So they are saying that they're swiftly establishing a call center where people can reach back out if they feel that they've been a victim.

But sources largely feel that the army has not been taking this seriously. And I think it's important to call back five years ago at Fort Hood with the murder of Vanessa Guillen and the subsequent investigations that came of that. And it really exposed a broken system and reporting and handling sexual assault and harassment within the military or within the army, but the military more broadly as well.

KEILAR: We also have a video and a photograph that we have obtained that shows the phone in the doctor's pocket in a clinical setting so that people can get an idea as he administers an ultrasound in this case, what these accusers are talking about, a phone being in his sort of shirt breast pocket. And some of them thought that was sort of normal. Certainly as we understood it from sources we spoke to, the husband did not.

And that's ultimately what led to this. But what are these accusers saying about how this has affected them?

BRITZKY: I mean, I think it's -- you know, these are some of the most intimate exams that you can be getting and it's at a very vulnerable time. And so we've spoke to women who just, you know, felt completely their trust was broken with their medical provider. One woman who this impacted the day she had her child, her water broke during one of these exams, saying that it makes it difficult for her to even think back on that day, which should have been so full of excitement and joy of having her son. So this is a really impactful personal thing. And they're waiting to see how the army handles this and how investigators handle this. And separately, what comes at this civil lawsuit as more allegers come forward.

KEILAR: Yes, that's a beautiful memory to be tainted by something like this. Haley, great reporting. And thank you so much for coming on to talk about it.

BRITZKY: Thank you Brianna.

KEILAR: Really appreciate it.

Coming up weeks after being disrespected and walking out in protest, Miss Mexico becomes the new Miss Universe. You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

[14:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Boy, this year's Miss Universe pageant has been drama filled and it's come to a dramatic end after Miss Mexico, Fatima Bosch was crowned the winner. She became a fan favorite earlier this year -- or rather earlier this month for how she responded to this public scolding from a pageant official. That's when a now viral live stream showed Bosch walking out of a meeting with several of her competitors following behind her after the official chastised her for not posting enough online.

At one point, appearing to call her a quote, dumbhead. The official denies using that language.

KEILAR: But now a judge who abruptly stepped down just days before the finale claims the competition was rigged, adding even more drama to this. He says an impromptu panel of judges was created to preselect finalists. The organization denies the accusation, saying in part quote, "The Miss Universe organization firmly clarifies that no impromptu jury has been created, that no external group has been authorized to evaluate delegates or select finalists, and that all competition evaluations continue to follow the established, transparent and supervised MUO protocols.

Pageant Queen Nia Sanchez joins us now. She's a former Miss USA. She represented the country in Miss Universe in 2014. I mean, wow, what do you make of all of this and Bosch's win in this scandal surrounding the pageant this year?

NIA SANCHEZ, MISS USA 2014: It's just so unfortunate that there is a scandal around her win because when you win, you want to have it be a fully happy experience. And I also feel for all the other competitors because everyone puts in so much time behind the scenes to get ready for the competition. And when it comes to the organization, they mentioned transparency. So I really hope that there is some type of releasing of the scores or something along those lines that makes it feel more transparent for the audience because you want to feel like you're watching a fair competition.

SANCHEZ: No doubt. So sorry, we have to interrupt you. But President Trump is speaking at the White House right now.

I believe he's in the Oval Office alongside New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. There they are. Let's listen in.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, thank you very much. We've just had a great meeting, a really good, very productive meeting. We have one thing in common.

We want this city of ours that we love to do very well. And I wanted to congratulate the mayor. He really ran an incredible race against, you know, a lot of smart people, starting with the early primaries against some very tough people, very smart people.

And he beat him and he beat him easily. And I congratulated him. And we talked about some things in very strong common, like housing and getting housing built and food and prices.

And the price of oil is coming way down. Anything I do is going to be good for New York.

[14:40:00]

If I can get prices down, it's good for New York. And we've got them down way down from from last year. We have, as you know, I've been saying to a lot of people, Walmart said that Thanksgiving this year is exactly 25 percent less than last year. So that's good for New York. Good for everybody.

But I just want to congratulate. I think you're going to have hopefully a really great mayor. The better he does, the happier I am.

I will say there's no difference in party. There's no difference in anything. And we're going to be helping him to make everybody's dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.

And congratulations, Mr. Mayor.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK MAYOR-ELECT: Thank you, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Thank you.

MAMDANI: I appreciate it.

TRUMP: Please.

MAMDANI: I appreciated the meeting with the president. And as he said, it was a productive meeting focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City and the need to deliver affordability to New Yorkers, the eight and a half million people who call our city their home, who are struggling to afford life in the most expensive city in the United States of America.

We spoke about rent. We spoke about groceries. We spoke about utilities. We spoke about the different ways in which people are being pushed out.

And I appreciated the time with the president. I appreciated the conversation. I look forward to working together to deliver that affordability for New Yorkers.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

Any questions?

STEVEN NELSON, THE NEW YORK POST WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: President Trump, Stephen Nelson from the New York Post. I got a question for you and then also one for Mayor-Elect.

TRUMP: Sure.

NELSON: For you, you refer to Mr. Mamdani as a communist. Can you describe why you feel that way? And also, will you do anything to stop him from arresting Prime Minister Netanyahu if he visits New York?

TRUMP: Well, we didn't discuss your second part of the question. And on your first part, I mean, he's got views that are a little out there, but who knows? I mean, we're going to see what works or -- he's going to change also.

We all change. I change a lot. Change a lot from when I first came to office.

It's now quite a while ago. It's quite a while. My first term was great.

We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We're doing even better now. We're doing much better now than we did even in the first term.

And I can tell you some of my views have changed. And we had discussions on some things. I'm not going to discuss what they were, but that I feel very confident that he can do a very good job.

I think he's going to be -- I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually, and some very liberal people. He won't surprise them because they already like him.

NELSON: And Mr. Trump, it sounds like you've had a productive discussion, but just days ago, you referred to President Trump as a despot who betrayed the country. You said you'd be his worst nightmare and accused him of having a fascist agenda. Are you planning to retract any of his remarks in order to improve your relationship?

MAMDANI: I think both President Trump and I, we are very clear about our positions and our views. And what I really appreciate about the president is the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers. And frankly, that is something that could transform the lives of the eight and a half million people who are currently struggling under a cost of living crisis with one in four living in poverty.

And the meeting came back again and again to what it could look like to lift those New Yorkers out of struggle and start to deliver them a city that they could do more than just struggle to afford it but actually start to live in it.

TRUMP: And I've been called much worse than a despot, so it's not that insulting. I think he'll change his mind after we get to working together.

Yes, please.

GIVEN YOUR ASSESSMENT, WHAT DO YOU SAY FOR THE LEBANESE TODAY?

ITS THE STATE IN LEBANON. AND WHAT IS YOUR NEXT MOVE TO PUSH

TOWARD DISARMAMENT?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to ask you a question about the Middle East. You said that Hezbollah in Lebanon is not in a good position, and Lebanon now is the final unresolved after Gaza and Syria. Given your assessment, like what do you say for the Lebanese today?

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the state in Lebanon. And what is your next move to push toward disarmament?

TRUMP: Sure. Well, we are pushing for total disarmament of Hamas and frankly, everybody else. And we actually have peace in the Middle East. As you know, the king of Saudi Arabia just left yesterday.

We had some great meetings and he's made a contribution toward the United States of more than a trillion dollars. We have now over $20 trillion coming in. No country has ever had anything like that, not even close.

If you go to 2 trillion or 1 trillion, it's a lot. We have $20 or $21 trillion. I think that Hezbollah has been a problem and Lebanon, big problem.

We're working with Lebanon. We're working with everybody in the Middle East. That's another thing I think we have in common.

We want to see peace in the Middle East. And we actually have now for the first time peace in the Middle East after 3,000 years. And now we're going to refine it.

And I think you're going to see some very positive things happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: Oh, sure. Oh, I would I would do that.

Absolutely. And if the mayor would like to be here for that meeting, because I know he feels very strongly. I think you feel very, very strongly about peace in the Middle East.

MAMDANI: We desperately want it.

[14:45:00]

And that's something that I shared with the president that when I spoke to New Yorkers who had voted for the president last November on Hillside Avenue and Fordham Road, I asked them why I heard again and again, two major reasons.

One was that they wanted an end to forever wars. They wanted an end to the taxpayer dollars. We had funding violations of human rights. And they wanted to address the cost of living crisis.

And I appreciated the chance to discuss both of those things.

TRUMP: You said a lot of my voters actually voted for him. And I'm OK with that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: I'll do that. I'll sign it. Give it to me. I'll sign it in a minute.

That's that's pretty good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you threatened to send federal troops to New York City. You both have differences when it comes to ICE agents in New York City.

TRUMP: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Mamdani, you called ICE a rogue government entity. I wonder how you reconcile your differences on both of those issues.

TRUMP: Well, I think we're going to work them out. And I think that if we have known murderers and known drug dealers and some very bad people, you know, we want to get them out. And the mayor wants to have peace.

We discussed this at great length, actually, maybe more than anything else. He wants to have a safe New York. Ultimately, a safe New York is going to be a great New York.

If it's not safe, no matter how well we do with pricing and with anything else, we can talk about anything you want. If you don't have safe streets, it's not going to be a success. So we're going to work together. We're going to make sure that if there are horrible people there, we want to get them out. I think he wants to get them out maybe more than I do. So we'll work together.

We discussed it at great length.

Yes, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two questions, if I may. One for you, Mr. President, from the BBC, and a second, but first of all, for the Mayor-Elect. You're both from different parts of the political spectrum.

You're both populist, though, and I just wondered to what extent the President's campaign style, his techniques, his social media, inspired any parts of your campaign?

MAMDANI: Well, I actually told the President that, you know, so much of the focus of our campaign has been on the cost-of-living crisis. And when we asked those New Yorkers who had voted for the President, when we saw an increase in his numbers in New York City, that came back to the same issue, cost of living, cost of living, cost of living. And they spoke about the cost of groceries, the cost of rent, the cost of ConEd, the cost of childcare.

And too often, politicians are looking to lecture to New Yorkers what they should care about as opposed to listen. And when we spoke to those voters who voted for President Trump, we heard them speak about cost of living. We focused on that same cost of living.

And that's where I am really looking forward to delivering for New Yorkers in partnership with the President on the affordability agenda.

TRUMP: And I think we have to work a little bit. We talked about Con Edison. We have to work a little bit on getting the prices because, you know, we've gotten fuel prices way down, but it hasn't shown up in Con Edison.

And we're going to have to talk to them. You know, if we're saying sending them fuel at a much lower price than it was a year ago, which is true, we have to get Con Edison to start lowering the rates.

MAMDANI: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last week he told me you were pushing ahead with your plans to sue the

BBC for up to $5 billion. You speak to Prime Minister Starmer as well. Is there any progress or any updates on those issues?

TRUMP: Well, we get along very well with the Prime Minister. We made a deal with U.K. I like him.

He's a fine person. And, you know, I think they have some big energy problems. You know, they've got windmills all over the place.

They're going to have to start using other methods because their energy is out of control. Talking about in the U.K. It's out of control. And he's got that problem.

He's got a big immigration problem, as you know, and he's got a big energy problem. And we talk about it. He's a good man. Prime Minister is a good man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) speak this week?

TRUMP: I haven't spoken this week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, have you spoken to President Zelenskyy about your plan? Did you speak with him?

TRUMP: I've spoken with their people. We have a plan. It's horrible what's happening.

It's a war that should have never happened. It would have never happened if I was president. And it's a shame.

And I thought they should have acted quicker. But it's a cold winter and a lot of the, a lot of the -- you talk about utilities. But a lot of the big energy producing plants have been under attack, to put it mildly, to put it nicely.

Yes, we have a way of getting peace, or we think we have a way of getting peace. He's going to have to approve it. Just so sad.

So many people -- you know, last month, they lost 25,000 soldiers. This is something -- we haven't seen anything like this since the Second World War. They're averaging six or seven thousand a week between the two of them, dead soldiers.

And it goes on and on. And I think they're getting reasonably close. But it's -- I don't want to predict.

I would have said that would have been one of my early ones. I did eight peace deals of countries, including in India, Pakistan. You could even go -- in fact, they're coming here in a week or two. Go to the Congo and Rwanda. That was one -- 10 million people dead. And we worked something out on that.

[14:50:00]

But so many. And the one I thought would have been for me, because I have a very good relationship with President Putin, I thought that would have been maybe quicker.

But it's it does take two to tango. And now you just see all the death.

And, you know, it doesn't affect us other than the fact that we don't want to see all those people -- that really it's on the other side of the ocean. It's a war that should have never happened. It did happen.

I blame the person also sitting right behind this desk. This is a war that should have never happened, and it wouldn't have happened if I were president. But we're trying to save a lot of lives. We're losing -- they're losing 25 -- think of that, 25,000 lives over the last short period of time.

That's Ukrainian and Russian. And it's a shame.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to ask the mayor elected about a House resolution just passed overwhelmingly to condemn socialism, including 86 Democrats, all of House Dem leadership and the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, despite his endorsement of you. What's your reaction to that?

MAMDANI: I have to be honest with you. I focused very little on resolutions. Frankly, I've been focusing --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Condemned socialism.

I understand. I think the focus is on the work at hand. I can tell you I am someone who is a Democratic Socialist.

I've been very open about that. And I know there might be differences about ideology. But the place of agreement is the work that needs to be done to make New York City affordable.

That's what I look forward to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I want to clarify your answer to Stephen Nelson. He asked about your comment, calling the president a fascist. And your answer was President Trump and I have been clear about our positions and our views.

Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?

MAMDANI: I've spoken about.

TRUMP: That's OK. You can just say, OK, it's easier. It's easier than explaining it. I don't mind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to ask you also about this Ukraine plan.

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Zelenskyy said today that his country would risk either giving up to partner or giving up its dignity. There's been criticism that this deal --

TRUMP: You mean he doesn't like it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's unclear. I think he sort of offended by it.

TRUMP: He'll have to like it. And if he doesn't like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The suggestion that you made, though, was that if he doesn't accept it, that the U.S. would pull back its support for Ukraine. TRUMP: Well, at some point, he's going to have to accept something. You know, and he hasn't accepted. You remember right in the Oval Office not so long ago, I said, you don't have the cards.

Don't forget, I inherited this war. I would have never -- this war never would have happened. I inherited this war.

And I thought he should have made a deal a year ago, two years ago. The ultimate deal would have been if it never started. That would have been a good deal.

That could have been done, too, if you had the right president. But you didn't have the right president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, Mr. President.

Mr. President, the cost of living is something that you and Mr. Mamdani seem to agree on.

TRUMP: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrats have run New York City for a long time, Mr. Mamdani. Do you see Democrat policy specifically as being a problem?

And I'd like that to be a question that both of you could answer in New York City.

MAMDANI: Look, I think that there are many things in our city where we have to own the responsibility of it, things that existed long before the president was the president. And those are also part of the message of our campaign was to take on a broken politics of the past. And I ran against a number of candidates who represented different versions of that past.

And what we found time and again is that working people were left behind in the politics of our city. And what we're looking to do is put those people right back at the heart of our politics so that we don't have a situation where we're in the wealthiest city in the history of the world. And yet one in five can't even afford $2.90 for a Metro card.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --

TRUMP: You know, we had some interesting conversation and some of his ideas really are the same ideas that I have. But a big thing on cost, you know, the new word is affordability. Another word is just groceries.

It's sort of an old fashioned word, but it's it's very accurate. And they're coming down. They're coming down.

They were -- you know, we had both of us. We had the highest inflation in the history of our country the last four years under the Biden administration. And we've got inflation down now to a normal number.

It's going to go even a little bit lower than that. Katie, you have something in the back.

Mr. Mamdani often talks about New York City being covered by international law, that they will follow international law. Doesn't often talk about the U.S. constitution. What is your response to that?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know what you're referring to in terms of it could be covered by international law and local law.

It's covered by a lot of laws, but it's covered by U.S. law. Are you referring to anything in particular?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just said that there are cities that endorses and enforces international law. Is that at odds with.

TRUMP: No, I don't know.

Would you want to -- do you want to respond?

MAMDANI: Yes, I think what I've shared with the president is our desire to not only follow the laws of our own city laws that protect New Yorkers, but also a desire for consistency in our politics across the board. And that's something that we've talked about and something that I know many New Yorkers want.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

[14:55:00]

MAMDANI: We discussed ICE and New York City and I spoke about how the laws that we have in New York City allow for New York City government to speak to the federal administration for about 170 serious crimes, the concerns that many New Yorkers have are around the enforcement of immigration laws on New Yorkers across the five boroughs, and most recently we're talking about a mother and her two children, how this has very little to do with what that is.

TRUMP: What we did is we discussed crime, more than ICE per se, we discussed crime, and he doesn't want to see crime, and I don't want to see crime, and I have very little doubt that we're not going to get along on that issue. He wants to -- and he said some things that were very interesting, very interesting as to housing construction, and he wants to see houses go up, he wants to see a lot of houses created, a lot of apartments built, etc., and, you know, we actually -- people would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing.

Please, Jack

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, I want to know, one of the policies as well that Mayor-elect Mamdani talked a number of times about on the campaign was shifting the tax burden for property taxes from what he called minority communities to white-based communities and putting more taxes on white people. I also noticed that in your acceptance speech you didn't mention anything about America or Christians or white people in general, and so I didn't know if that was one of the policies that you guys had spoken about. MAMDANI: We focused on affordability. We focused on the cost-of-living crisis. What I will say is that I am very much interested in property tax reform because what we see right now in New York City is a system that is so inequitable that it can't even stand up in court, and the President and I spoke about the importance of not only building more housing but also making sure that regulation of housing is something that is manageable to actually get through and not the cause of yet another weight that we see in our city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But are you clear you're continuing this idea of race-based property taxes?

MAMDANI: No, to be very clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what you said.

MAMDANI: No, to be very clear, the use of the term was a description of neighborhoods, not a description of intent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you intend to tax the whiter neighborhoods more?

MAMDANI: No, we intend to create a fair property tax system because we want a New York City that is not only fair and equitable but also one that every New Yorker can afford.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Mamdani --

TRUMP: Please, go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Mamdani, you can't say Israel protesters just targeted a synagogue in New York. Are you concerned about Jewish New Yorkers feeling welcome and safe in the city? And President Trump, you threatened to call federal funding to New York City.

What policies would prompt you to do that? Would that be city-run grocery stores or would it be something else?

TRUMP: Well, I think if we didn't get along, whether it's cut off or just make it a little bit difficult or not give as much, we want to see -- I use the term, we don't want good money going after bad. We just -- we don't want that to happen. I don't think that's going to happen.

I did say that, you know, subject to what policies are being said. We had a meeting today that actually surprised me. He wants to see no crime.

He wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down, all things that I agree with. Now, we may disagree how we get there, the rent coming down.

I think one of the things I really gleaned very, very much today, he'd like to see them come down ideally by building a lot of additional housing.

MAMDANI: Yes. TRUMP: That's the ultimate way. He agrees with that and so do I. But if I read the newspapers and the stories, I don't hear -- I don't hear that. But I hear -- I heard him say it today, and I think that's a very positive step. No, I don't expect -- I expect to be helping him, not hurting him, a big help, because I want New York City to be great.

Look, I love New York City. It's where I come from. I spent a lot of years there.

Now I'm right here. We took a big setback with a mayor that we had named de Blasio. I thought it was a tremendous setback for the city.

I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, Mr. President.

TRUMP: OK, how about you, you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

TRUMP: Go ahead, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a billionaire. You've got a different address nowadays than you used to. You used to call New York City home. Would you feel comfortable living in New York City under a Mamdani administration?

TRUMP: Yes, I would. I really would. Especially after the meeting. Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What makes you comfortable?

TRUMP: We agree on a lot more than I would have thought. I think he's -- I want him to do a great job and we'll help him do a great job. You know, he may have different views, but in many ways -- you know, we were discussing when Bernie Sanders was out of the race, I picked up a lot of his votes and people had no idea because he was strong on not getting ripped off in trade and lots of the things that I've practiced and have been very successful on, tariffs, a lot of things. Bernie Sanders and I agreed on much more than people thought.

And when he was put out of the race, I think quite unfairly, if you want to know the truth, many of the Bernie Sanders voters voted for me. And I felt very comfortable, frankly, in seeing that and saying that. And you know, it just turned out to be a statistical truth.

But no, I feel very comfortable ...

END