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FDA Approves New Painkiller; Pam Bondi Sworn in as Attorney General; U.S. Begins Deporting Migrants to Guantanamo Bay; Interview With Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY). Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 05, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): And I want to make sure that we focus back in on what the American people really want, what they need and how we also continue to contain who we are and what our values as human beings are and how we do respect others, other than just ourselves.

[11:30:06]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: And certainly, on this show, we have been focusing on what matters to Americans, what's happening here in the country. That is for sure.

And there are serious questions about, what is Trump doing with his pledge on the campaign trail to lower prices for Americans, particularly at a time when egg prices are shooting up?

What is your view of the cease-fire deal and whether it will hold, and whether phase two will actually happen, given these remarks?

MEEKS: Well, I'm concerned. I'm very concerned. And that's where I think that the focus should be.

That's what the conversation between the prime minister and the president should be about. We have heard the prime minister hint that he may not go through with phase two. I'm concerned about that. I'm pleased that phase one has been successful. I'm pleased the fact that we see that hostages are being returned.

I'm pleased with the fact that we see that there's dialogue and conversation that's going on with all of our Gulf state allies, and we're talking about working collectively together, so that, when you're talking about really doing something in regards to Gaza, it should include Saudi Arabia. It should include Qatar.

It should include Jordan and Egypt, and working collectively together to make sure that Hamas is not there, but the Palestinians have a place that they can call home, living in a peaceful state alongside Israel and working collectively together. That's what should be -- we should be focused on and talking about today.

There's a lot of hard work that needs to be taking place, and we can't do it alone. We have got to do it working with individuals in the region also if we're serious about making something happen.

BROWN: All right, Congressman Gregory Meeks, thank you so much.

And still ahead this hour: As part of its radical crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration has begun deporting migrants to Guantanamo Bay. What we know about this plan and its legality -- up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:36:25]

BROWN: The Trump administration has begun deporting migrants to Guantanamo Bay as part of its crackdown on immigration.

The first military flight arrived there yesterday from El Paso carrying 10 migrants with criminal records, according to DHS officials. But questions remain about how legal these unprecedented steps are. And I want to note the plane used to fly them was a C-17 Globemaster right here, which the Trump administration has signaled would be used for deportations.

These planes have a payload of more than 170,000 pounds and can hold more than 100 troops. They're used to transport equipment as big as tanks. And it's costing an estimated $28,000 an hour to operate them. In this case, they brought 10 people to Guantanamo Bay.

For more on this, Priscilla Alvarez joins us.

So what do we know about this facility and the legality of any of this?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the legality was something that was assessed by the united Department of Homeland Security attorneys and Pentagon attorneys.

That's what I have been told, because what they're doing is unprecedented. The reason is because they are taking people from the United States who are on U.S. soil and taking them to Guantanamo Bay. Now, to remind viewers, there is what is known as a migrant operation center that already exists there.

But it has been used for those interdicted at sea. Therefore, they have never touched U.S. soil. They are taken there and then repatriated to their origin country. This is a whole new step by plucking people out of the United States and taking them there before they are repatriated, which has raised a lot of questions among legal experts as to how exactly this could work within the confines of immigration law.

But all the same, as you just mentioned, they did exactly this yesterday using a military plane to send them to Guantanamo. It is certainly part of the plans moving forward, of course, all of this stemming from the president's announcement last week that he wanted to expand the facility there for 30,000 people.

Sources telling me that there are tents that are already going up adjacent to this migrant operation center to hold tens of thousands of migrants with a lot of questions unanswered. Are there going to be legal service providers that have access to the population there? How long will they be held there?

The homeland security secretary saying that they will not be held there indefinitely, but sometimes countries take a while to take back those who are repatriated or they say no. So there are a lot of logistical questions, but the planning is very much under way. And what we saw last -- yesterday with the arrival last night, but also with the picking up and taking them there on a military plane, that is expected to continue to happen moving forward.

BROWN: And we're also learning about unprecedented military deportation flights to India, right? What do we know about that?

ALVAREZ: So the key here is the mode of transportation, because we have done, and we, the United States, has done deportation flights to India before, but they're using a military aircraft to do that.

We have already seen them do this with Ecuador. We saw it with Guatemala, but this is an additional step now, taking it even further to India. So this is the longest military aircraft deportation flight that we have seen so far, all of this part of the broader strategy by the Trump administration to use Pentagon assets, use them often to carry out these deportations on this cadence, because there are already -- there are limited resources when it comes to ICE flights.

BROWN: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, as always, thank you so much.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:43]

BROWN: Let's go to the swearing-in of Pam Bondi for attorney general in the Oval Office. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... in your biggest ballroom. You know what that is.

And they were getting a nice smattering of applause. They were very important people. And then I introduced Justice Clarence Thomas. The place went crazy. And it was then that I realized that you are a very popular guy and respected guy. So thank you for being here. It's an honor and a great honor for Pam. Thank you very much.

Pam was a career prosecutor for nearly 20 years and was one of the toughest and smartest and best and most successful attorney generals in the history of Florida. And I think -- I put it out this morning. I think she's going to end up going down as the most successful or certainly one of the most successful attorney generals that this country has ever had.

I really believe that. I know her well. A lot of people in Florida -- if you're in Florida, you know her well. And it was all good. It was never a problem, no problem.

As a prosecutor, she locked up drug dealers and gang members and human traffickers and was waging war all the time on the pill mills, they call them, that fuel the deadly opioid crisis. And she did better than anybody else. There was nobody like her in the country.

She also won over $50 billion in lawsuits for the victims of financial fraud and devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which was brutal. And she was the leader of that whole deal, getting the people taken care of.

As attorney general of the United States, Pam has a historic and urgently needed task ahead of her, and probably there's never been a time, Clarence, that's more important than right now. We went through four years of not such good -- not such good work in many ways, not just -- not just with the president, at other levels also, with the president, obviously.

She's going to restore fair, equal and impartial justice and restore the constitutional rule of law in America. She will lead the Democrats, you know where they're going to -- she's going to lead them right down. But I think she's going to be as impartial as you can possibly be.

I know I'm supposed to say she's going to be totally impartial with respect to Democrats. And I think she will be as impartial as a person can be. I'm not sure if there's a possibility of totally, but she's going to be as total as you can get, Gianni (ph), right?

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: But she's going to be fair and she will lead the Department of Justice in crushing violent crime, demolishing the gangs, which are all over the place.

If you look at New York, if you look at Chicago, if you look at Los Angeles, which is half burned down, unfortunately, because they didn't have the water, and they didn't have what they were supposed to have, destroying the terrorist cartels is going to be a very big priority for Pam. And that leads to crime and it leads to a lot of drugs. So she's going to take care of it.

And she will stop the invasion of our country and get fentanyl off our streets. And we're going to be working with her very closely. Kristi Noem and Tom Homan and all of the people are going to be working very closely with Pam. She's going to end the weaponization of federal law enforcement and restore honesty and integrity at the DOJ and the FBI.

And she is going to be working with Kash, and she's going to be working with a lot of other people that you have been reading about, writing about over the last few weeks. The role of attorney general comes with immense responsibility, but I have absolute confidence that Pam will fulfill her duties with honor and courage and strength and fairness.

She's going to be fair, going to be very fair. And now I'd like to invite Justice Thomas to administer the oath of office. And thank you all for being here. It's a great, very important day. I believe, in our country's history.

Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

BROWN: There you saw Pam Bondi being sworn in. You heard remarks there by President Trump.

Let's go to CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House and CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid.

Jeff, first to you.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, this is certainly an extraordinary a move here, because Pam Bondi as the new attorney general will be one of the most important people in this government.

Of course, she was confirmed yesterday by just a 54-to-46 vote. Just one Democrat, Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, supported her. The rest of the vote was a party line.

[11:45:04]

And there is no doubt, hearing the president right there saying she will be as impartial as a person can be. Of course, she pledged her impartiality. And she said that politics would not sort of affect her role at the Justice Department.

But that is her biggest challenge, because there is no one who got in the president's crosshairs more in his first administration than Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator who recused himself in the early days of that Russia investigation, and certainly led to his downfall.

So, Pam Bondi, of course, is well supported by this president, there's no doubt. But she faces many, many challenges staying in his good graces and also upholding that pledge that she made to the Senate.

BROWN: Yes, it is no doubt one of the most challenging jobs in any administration, particularly a Trump administration, given that history, as you pointed out.

And she has a lot before her on day one, Paula Reid.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no doubt.

She's walking into a firestorm at the Justice Department over the recent firings of agents and prosecutors who worked on cases related to President Trump and the January 6 Capitol riot. One of her first tasks, if she wants to, is to try to fix the morale issue that they are facing right now and the messaging about whether they do indeed intend to fire thousands of additional workers at the Justice Department. I am told that is not the plan. But, again, you have top acting

officials over there sending out memos asking for information about those who worked on those investigations with the subject line -- quote -- "Terminations."

Now, in addition to that firestorm, she also has the day-to-day challenge of implementing President Trump's agenda, defending his executive orders in court, which so far they have not been successful. They have lost every challenge that they have tried to defend. Tomorrow is a big hearing on birthright citizenship.

As you heard President Trump there also say, she is going to have a big role in enforcing immigration laws. And that's in addition to the day-to-day work that the Justice Department handles around violent crime and terrorism. So this is one of the most difficult jobs in government. She comes to it with decades of experience in law enforcement, but nothing can truly prepare you for this.

BROWN: Certainly.

Paula Reid, Jeff Zeleny, thank you.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:57]

BROWN: The FDA has approved the first new painkiller in more than 20 years. The drug will be used to treat pain without the use of opioids.

We asked our viewers to send in your questions about this new painkiller.

And CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now to answer them.

Hi, Sanjay. Great to see you, as always.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela.

BROWN: So, so much curiosity about this drug.

GUPTA: Yes.

BROWN: Connie tells us that she suffers from chronic pain syndrome and wants to know if this drug will treat long-term chronic pain.

GUPTA: This is the big question right now.

So the approval is for acute pain. So, think postoperative pain, a broken bone, that sort of pain. That's where it seems to provide the most benefit, and that's where it seems to be potentially a good alternative to opioids.

Connie, I think, in that question also mentioned taking medications like antidepressants, for example. This could potentially provide relief for those sorts of pains. Chronic pain is still a little bit of an open question. They did this trial where they actually looked at the use of this medication called suzetrigine for sciatica.

That's back pain with pain that's radiating down the leg, and they found that it did improve pain scores about two points. So if you had a pain level of six, for example, it may have gone to four, so not a home run, at least so far, when it comes to chronic pain, but the company says it's going to continue to study that. So, Connie, stay tuned.

BROWN: All right, let's go to Stephanie from Minnesota, asking: "How is this new drug any different from other prescription pain medications?"

GUPTA: Yes, it is a very different sort of class of drugs.

I mean, when you think about pain medications, first of all, you typically think of anti-inflammatories, you think of opioids, you may think of antidepressants like we were just talking about. When it comes to opioids, the way that opioids really work is by really affecting the brain more than anything else.

The brain is the place where all pain is processed. If the brain doesn't think it's pain, then it's not pain. But it can also be sedating or it can cause euphoria, and that can lead to addiction from opioids. With this medication, Pamela, it's really about targeting the site of the pain and preventing some of those pain signals from actually getting to the brain.

So you don't get the euphoria, you don't get sort of the sedation that you might get with opioids. That could be one of the big benefits here.

BROWN: Yes, and one of the reasons why it's not addictive, right?

GUPTA: That's right.

BROWN: Love when you bring out the brain prop, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Don't leave home without it.

BROWN: So let's go to...

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: So let's go to Ali from California, who is asking; "Will it make you loopy like the other meds? I can't take any pain meds because I feel like I'm on another planet."

And it turns out a lot of you wanted to know more about the side effects of the drug.

GUPTA: Yes, I got to tell you, I totally know what Ali's talking about, having taken opioids in the past after an operation. You feel loopy. You feel like you're on another planet. And I think that's part of the appeal, potentially, of these new

medications. There are side effects. I mean, any medication has side effects, but they are more itching, muscle spasms, rash, side effects like that, again, for the reasons we just mentioned, because it's working in a very different way.

[11:55:00]

You should not get sort of brain side effects from this. It's not sort of sedating the brain or sort of numbing you to the pain as much as it is sort of targeting those specific areas that are responsible for transmitting pain.

So we will see. These are trial results. It's pretty exciting. As more and more people start to take these medications around the world, we may see what else emerges in terms of concerns. But, right now, Pamela, it seems like a good alternative to opioids in particular.

BROWN: Very promising.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Got it. Thank you.

BROWN: And thank you all for joining us. I'm Pamela Brown. You can follow me on Instagram, TikTok and X @PamelaBrownCNN. We'd love to hear from you.

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" starts after a short break.