Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Vance Says Bolton Search Not Motivated by Trump Revenge; GOP Governors Send National Guard Troops To Help Trump In D.C.; Trump Threatens Emergency Declaration To Keep Troops In D.C.; Gaza Suffering "Man-Made" Famine, Says Un-Backed Group; Trump: Concerns About TikTok Are "Highly Overrated"; House Dems Accuse DOJ Of "Stonewalling" On Epstein Files; Lyle Menendez Denied Parole A Day After Erik's Bid Was Rejected. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 23, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:36]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in Los Angeles.

Vice President J.D. Vance is saying the FBI's search of John Bolton's home was "not at all" driven by Trump seeking revenge for Bolton's frequent criticisms. His comment came in an interview with NBC News shortly after federal agents appeared at Bolton's Maryland home and his Washington, D.C., office. Sources say the searches were tied to Bolton's handling of classified documents.

Bolton served as National Security adviser for 17 months during President Trump's first term in office. He has since become an outspoken critic of the President. Mr. Bolton has appeared many times on this program, and we've talked through all kinds of issues with him.

Julia Benbrook is at the White House.

Julia, take us behind-the-scenes at The White House. What more do we know about these searches and what motivated them.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, the FBI carried out a court authorized search of John Bolton's Bethesda home, as well as his D.C. office on Friday, and at the center of the Justice Department's reopened probe is the question of whether President Donald Trump's former National Security adviser and now staunch critic broke the law when he shared what the Trump administration officials believe was classified information with people not authorized to have it.

But the probe originally opened in 2020, was closed and a related lawsuit was dropped in 2021 when the Department was under then President Joe Biden. Now, the public nature of this search has led some to question if it could be a form of political retribution. Many top administration officials were posting about the search as it happened and just drawing more attention to it.

In that interview with NBC, Vice President J.D. Vance ruled out the possibility of this search being politically motivated and instead characterized it as a part of an evidence gathering operation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are investigating Ambassador Bolton, but if they ultimately bring a case, it will be because they determined that he has broken the law. We are going to be careful about that. We are going to be deliberate about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, Trump was asked several times to comment on the search on Friday, he said that he knew nothing about it and that he didn't want to be involved in it, but he also took the opportunity to criticize Bolton.

Important background information here, Trump did fire Bolton in 2019. The two have really been at odds since and then during his first term, Trump even threatened to jail Bolton after, in his book, the one that is in question here, that Bolton claimed that Trump was woefully under informed when it comes to foreign policy and that he was obsessed with shaping his media legacy -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Julia Benbrook at The White House with the latest. Thank you so much.

And we are joined now by Andrew McCabe, senior CNN law enforcement analyst and former Deputy Director of the FBI.

Andy, thanks for being here so much.

I want to start first with, based on what we know about this investigation, if you believe there is a credible concern here.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, there are a couple of things I think that point to possibly a credible concern and that's specifically the fact that we know that the enforcement operations yesterday, that's the search warrant at Bolton's residence and a separate search warrant at Bolton's residence being in Maryland, office being in Washington. D.C., in both instances, the FBI agents who conducted the searches had to have a search warrant, which means, they had to go before a Federal Magistrate judge and present evidence to convince that judge that there is probable cause to believe that there is evidence of a crime in both of those locations.

Now, because those are different jurisdictions, they had to make those presentations to two separate judges, so both judges decided that DOJ and the FBI had met that expectation, met that threshold. So there is something to these searches.

Now, I should say we don't know what the what the FBI recovered, if anything. We certainly don't know if John Bolton will ever be charged with a crime, that's not happened yet, and even if he is charged with a crime, I am sure Mr. Bolton will have all kinds of defenses. [18:05:08]

So we can't get ahead of ourselves here, but the action that we saw yesterday was authorized by a court, so there is something to that.

DEAN: Okay, so knowing that, help people understand what kind of information would the FBI need to get those search warrants? What kind of information are they presenting to get a judge to sign off on that?

MCCABE: Sure. Great question. So the potential offense here we know is the unlawful retention or distribution of classified material, so essentially taking classified material and giving it to someone who is not authorized to have it. So the evidence that you're looking for there is some sort of proof that there is likely classified material in those locations.

Now, that proof could take all kinds of different forms. Maybe somebody was in those locations and saw a document or something on a computer and then told the authorities about it, or it is possible that they have used you know, grand jury subpoenas or other process to look at Mr. Bolton's e-mail history and in that e-mail history, they may have seen him sending documents that they think might be classified.

So all of the -- I just cite, we don't know what evidence they had, but those are just two examples of different kinds of proof that you could use to take before a judge and say, look, judge, we see him. We have a record here from the service provider. He sent an e-mail on this date. We know there is a document attached to it. The title of the document is something classified. We think that classified document might be at the house. That's the sort of argument that you would make.

DEAN: Yes. Okay. That's very interesting.

Okay, so at the same time, these FBI agents were conducting their search, the Bureau's Director Kash Patel sent out a tweet reading: "No one is above the law. FBI agents on a mission."

Is there a -- you know, does that risk making this political? Is that an appropriate tweet to be sending out at that moment?

MCCABE: Yes. So here is where we see what happened yesterday, really kind of go off the rails. You know, agents going before a judge getting a search warrant, going to a residence, this is the kind of thing that the FBI does all the time. This is what they do.

What they don't do, FBI directors typically would never do is draw public attention to a search warrant that's being executed while that execution is in place. This is the kind of work that you want to do very quietly. You want to minimize the level of embarrassment and attention to the person who lives at the residence.

You also don't want to attract the public and the media out to a place where agents are working, that can create all sorts of risks. So I think those texts that we saw from Kash Patel and Pam Bondi and Dan Bongino yesterday were inappropriate, potentially dangerous, and it really a concerning departure from what has long time been considered protocol by every FBI Director and Attorney General, not just Republican or Democrat specific.

DEAN: Yes, and then you had the President himself making very disparaging comments about Bolton publicly, you know, after this had happened, but also previously as well. No love lost there. How does that factor into all of this?

MCCABE: Yes, so if Mr. Bolton is charged and this case goes forward to a prosecution, he is going to have, I am sure a lot of defenses in fighting those charges. Certainly, one of them might be he may claim that this was all political, that this was vindictive. There is a motion to make for vindictive prosecution or selective prosecution.

And if he does, he will be pointing to all of those statements, statements that people like President Trump made yesterday. President Trump, in one hand, in the same comment, said that he would be getting briefed on the case yesterday, but then said but I tell people I don't want to know anything about it. So that's kind of impossible to get a brief and not know anything about it.

But every time he or one of his people speaks about this now ongoing criminal inquiry, they raise that specter of political influence and, you know, improper use of resources to take advantage of or, you know, achieve some sort of, vindication against political rivals, and that is not good for the process. It is not good for the prosecution.

I would say even J.D. Vance's comments about the case yesterday were too much. Typically, presidents and vice presidents don't comment on ongoing criminal cases for exactly this reason. If asked about them, the only really acceptable response is to defer questions to the Justice Department and not engage, but that's not how this administration conducts themselves.

DEAN: Yes. All right, Andrew McCabe, thanks so much for your time. I appreciate it.

MCCABE: Thanks.

[18:10:01]

DEAN: And John Bolton became an intense critic of the President after he was fired back in 2019 and President Trump has since called him many names.

CNN's Tom Foreman shows you their complicated history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He is like a very quiet person, except on television where he could say something bad Trump.

Not a smart guy, but he could be a very unpatriotic. I mean, we are going to find out. TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): President Donald Trump's beef with John Bolton has been stewing for years, especially after Bolton's 2020 book described Trump as stunningly uninformed, obsessed with his image and bumbling through relations with North Korea, China, Russia and more.

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: He doesn't operate on the basis of grand strategy or even policy. He operates on the basis of what's good for Donald Trump.

FOREMAN (voice over): With the 2020 election looming, Trump immediately attacked.

TRUMP: He released massive amounts of classified and confidential, but classified information. That's illegal and you go to jail for that.

FOREMAN (voice over): It wasn't always that way. Back when Trump first took The White House, Bolton who had worked for every Republican president since Ronald Reagan, cheered the incoming commander-in-chief in particular for building up the military.

Trump eventually tapped Bolton to be his National Security adviser.

TRUMP: I have other people that are a little more dovish than him, and ultimately I make the decision. No, I get -- I like John, I get very good advice from John.

FOREMAN (voice over): But soon, the two were clashing over North Korea, Afghanistan and the general chaos of Trump's orbit, in which Bolton wrote "work was like executing policy inside a pinball machine."

Trump would come to see Bolton as too hawkish.

TRUMP: I'd be with foreign leaders, and I didn't even have to act tough because they said, look, that moron, John Bolton, he is crazy.

FOREMAN (voice over): A bitter split followed with Trump's Justice Department launching an investigation into Bolton, which was dropped by the Biden administration and revived in this new Trump term.

Bolton has become a media fixture, relentlessly calling out his old boss even just days ago, after the administration touted its Ukraine Summit in Alaska.

BOLTON: I think Trump did not lose, but Putin clearly won.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (on camera): Of course there are disputes about whether or not this book was ever officially approved to be published in the first place, and whether or not there are any secrets involved, but there are also disputes about what is actually happening here.

People on the right, in some cases are saying, yes, maybe they are going to find something, maybe Bolton did do something wrong and he should be pursued legally. And then there are people on the other side of the political equation who say, no, this is really about Donald Trump getting more retribution and sending a message to anyone who dares to cross him -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Tom Foreman, thanks so much.

Still to come, we are going to talk with a former top official about the National Guard and President Trump sending federal troops into the nation's capital and threatening to do the same thing to other cities. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:17:49]

DEAN: President Trump is getting help from other states with his D.C. takeover. Several Republican governors are deploying National Guard troops to the nation's capital to assist with what Trump says is a crackdown on crime, but some of those states have their own challenges with crime at home and CNN's Marshall Cohen has the latest on this -- Marshall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: There is a lot of talk, there is a lot of spin on this topic, but the numbers don't lie. So we took a very close look at the FBI violent crime statistics for last year.

So we are coming to you from Washington, D.C., where there are 2,000 National Guard troops in this city right now. About half of them are from the D.C. Guard, the other half come from these six states that have Republican governors and are sending troops here, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana.

When we looked at the data, we found that there are actually ten cities in these states that have a higher crime rate than D.C. Look at this, Cleveland, Toledo, Memphis, Tennessee. They were number one in the country last year Nashville, Charleston, the capital of West Virginia, and then two more down in Louisiana, Shreveport and Lafayette. By the way, Shreveport is the home district of House Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in Congress.

If this wasn't bad, it actually gets worse. Look at the murder rate. I want to compare the murder rate in Washington, D.C. to Jackson, Mississippi. Last year in D.C., 27 homicides per 100,000 residents. That's not good, but it is better than this, 77 last year in Jackson, Mississippi. They were number one in the country.

And its stats like these, which is why social justice groups, criminal justice reform groups, Democratic lawmakers and Trump critics have argued that this whole deployment in D.C. is just a show. It is a pretext, it is not based on the data.

If you really want to crack down on the most violent cities, you need to be looking elsewhere. That's the criticism. But here is the pushback. We reached out to all of the governors' offices, and they defended their actions. Ohio, they told us that, look, the President asked for our help. When the President asks, we heed the call, and they pointed out that they have sent troops from their Ohio National Guard when Democratic governors and Democratic mayors and Democratic presidents have also asked for their assistance.

And then down in Mississippi, the Governor's Office told us that they thought it was ridiculous to suggest that they can't do two things at the same time. They said they can help out President Trump here in D.C. while also tackling crime at home, and they would point out that they believe the stats in Jackson, Mississippi by the way are looking a lot better this year than last year.

Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:20:34]

DEAN: Marshall, thank you.

And President Trump now threatening to expand his mission to other cities, suggesting Chicago could be next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: After we do this, we will go to another location and we will make it safe also. We are going to make our country very safe. We are going to make our cities very, very safe.

Chicago is a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent. And we will straighten that one out probably next. That will be our next one after this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Chicago's mayor responded, calling Trump's approach, "uncoordinated and uncalled for." He added it has the potential to inflame tensions.

We are joined now by retired U.S. Army Major General Randy Manner. He served as acting Vice Chief of the U.S. National Guard Bureau.

General Manner, thank you for being here with us. Let's start first with this idea that this could expand to other cities, knowing that Washington, D.C. is kind of its own ecosystem because of how the government is set up.

But if this were to expand to a city like Chicago that does have a state and local government, what does that mean?

MAJOR GENERAL RANDY MANNER (RET), U.S. ARMY: I think the President is -- we need to listen to what he says. It is very likely. In fact, I would say it is a hundred percent certain that he will expand these operations into other cities where in the same way that he did with Los Angeles, he will take those forces from the Governor and put them on duty under his control.

These are unfortunately legal issues, legal orders. The challenge is, is that is it appropriate? In my 36 years of military service, this would never, ever have passed any consideration by the National Guard Bureau, let alone the Secretary of Defense or the President in my career.

DEAN: And tell people, what does the National Guard Bureau do?

MANNER: The National Guard Bureau is responsible for ensuring that the nation's National Guards are properly manned, equipped and ready to go for combat operations overseas as our nation's defense, as our nation's strategic reserve and is there to ensure that those forces are ready for the governors to be able to use their assets for disaster recovery, like hurricanes, forest fires, floods and other natural disasters.

DEAN: And so what role is it playing in this ongoing situation where the President is using National Guard troops in these situations?

MANNER: The National Guard Bureau is responsible for essentially sourcing all of these elements and coordinating the efforts among the states, as well as ensuring that the funding is there. This is one of those situations where this is, at most, a law enforcement operation. We have to remember that National Guardsmen are not trained whatsoever on these -- in terms of perhaps a few hours of training compared to months of training that police officers receive in law enforcement activities.

And also, we have to remember, there is no money for this. Essentially, the National Guard Bureau is struggling right now to pull back money from the states, from their National Guards to be able to pay for these soldiers, to the point that they're not even sure if all soldiers in the National Guard will be able to be paid in the month of September for their normal training activities.

So this is something where, again, is it legal? Yes. Is it appropriate? Absolutely not.

DEAN: And so to that end, the President has said he could issue this National Emergency Declaration to keep those troops in D.C. as you're talking about these potential longer term consequences. What might those long-term consequences be for the National Guard if such a move was taken?

MANNER: The number one impact is that it reduces our readiness of our National Guard to be able to respond to both emergencies that are overseas, to defend our nation as a strategic reserve, as well as it reduces the governors' ability to react to natural disasters. So those are the two most important things.

On the other side of the coin, the impact on the individual soldiers, airmen and their families and the employers is substantial. You have to remember that all these young men and women, the average privates and corporals and specialists that are on the street, many of them are going to college. They were pulled out of college to be able to do this. Those that perhaps have families, they're dealing with -- if it was a two-parent household, obviously, August, kids go back to school. So now there is one less parent to be able to help deal with all those issues, and if it is a single-parent household, then those children are obviously very adversely impacted.

[18:25:07]

And we have to think about the employers, whenever 9/11 happened, the employer spoke up a lot to be able to support our soldiers. In this particular case, those people who are self-employed get no reimbursement for the for their -- the difference between their lower guard pay and their regular pay, so this is being done on the backs of our young men and women in uniform and their families. And quite frankly, employers across our country.

It is actually just absurd and its very disheartening.

DEAN: And a Defense official is telling CNN that Secretary Pete Hegseth is ordering National Guard troops in D.C. to start carrying weapons. Is that needed right now?

MANNER: There is -- first of all, I've heard nothing about what the risk assessment is, where it would require our Guardsmen to be carrying weapons. That is something that is logically tied to if it is a high threat situation where there the Guardsmen are in danger for some reason, well, then that might be justifiable.

But here is the point, again, these requirements are not real, and I have to emphasize that. There is no logical reason to have Guardsmen armed with ammunition on the streets of the District of Columbia. Our soldiers are trained to close with and destroy the enemy. Last time I checked, that is not happening in D.C.

It is not Afghanistan, it is not Iran, but it sure is starting to look like it and it bothers me a lot about what is happening.

DEAN: All right, Major General Randy Manner, thank you for that context. Really important stuff. Thank you so much.

Tonight, Israel is stepping up its attacks on Gaza as the IDF ramps up for a full takeover of the enclave's biggest city. This, as a group backed by the United Nations, warns a man-made famine in Gaza is likely to get worse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:18]

DEAN: Humanitarian groups around the world are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as a new report from world experts confirms people in Gaza are suffering and dying from famine. CNN's Paula Hancocks gives us a closer look at the devastation inside Gaza. And we do want to warn you, this story contains graphic and disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Confirmation of what

residents of Gaza already knew, this is famine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM FLETCHER, UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: It is a famine. The Gaza famine. It is a famine that we could have prevented if we had been allowed. Yet, food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS (voice over): The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, says famine is confirmed in parts of Gaza, including Gaza City, the site of a major new Israeli offensive. The report says, quote, "malnutrition threatens the lives of 132,000 children under five through June 2026."

The Israeli agency tasked with distributing aid into Gaza rejects the report as, quote, "false and biased," accusing it of relying on data from Hamas.

This family in Gaza City currently lives on the outskirts of a tent city. Confirmation of famine will come as no surprise to them. Ali Salameh Majeed is injured and cannot move easily. He fears the expected evacuation orders from Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI SALAMEH MAJEED, DISPLACED IN GAZA CITY: (Foreign language) --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS (voice over): "Where am I supposed to go," he says. "I don't even have a tent. I'm in the street. My son has to beg for a piece of bread to feed his siblings."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Foreign language) --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS (voice over): "There's nothing to eat," his daughter says. "When we go to the charity kitchen, they tell us the food is only for camp residents. My sisters cry from hunger."

Salam Al-Jiddi says her husband cannot walk without the help of her eldest daughter. They do not want to be forced to move yet again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALAM AL-JIDDI, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN: (Foreign language) --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS (voice over): She says, "It is impossible for things to get worse than this."

The Israeli military is intensifying strikes on Gaza City ahead of its plan takeover. This strike on a school filled with displaced Friday. The head of the emergency services in northern Gaza says at least a dozen were killed, many of them children. We have asked the IDF for comment.

Israel's Prime Minister says Gaza City is one of the last strongholds of Hamas and occupying the city is the fastest way to end this war. But this is one of the areas hundreds of thousands from Gaza City will be forced to move to. An Israeli airstrike hits a displacement camp in Central Gaza just 30 minutes after the military issued an evacuation order.

As emergency crews rush in, people are still packing up, trying to escape. Mohammad Al Kahlout pulls a bag of flour from the debris of where his tent once stood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMAD AL KAHLOUT, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN: (Foreign language) --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS (voice over): "I have to start all over again," he says. "In more than two months, the same will happen. You live somewhere, you think you are safe and you get struck again."

A rare protest in Gaza City called for Israel to abandon its plan takeover. This man called on the U.S. president to intervene.

"We say to Donald Trump," he says, "if you care about the Nobel Peace Prize, you must stop all the wars, starting with the war on Gaza, which has claimed thousands of our lives."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMI ABU SALEM, JOURNALIST: We are, as ordinary people, we are facing civil wars, war of rockets, war of bombs, war of hunger, war of thirst, and war of displacement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:35:02]

HANCOCKS (voice over): A desperate appeal to the world to wake up and break their silence.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Paula, thank you.

President Trump says he's going to keep pushing back for the deadline for TikTok to find a U.S. buyer. And in the meantime, his own White House is joining the platform, one the apparent -- the President apparently has a soft spot for.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:02]

DEAN: President Trump was speaking out this week about the social media app, TikTok, as he repeatedly pushes back the deadline for the app's Chinese parent company to either divest or face a ban in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you no longer concerned about privacy concerns or National Security problems?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm really not. I think it's highly overrated. I'm a fan of TikTok. My kids like TikTok. Young people love TikTok. We can keep it going good and we're going to watch the security concerns and we have buyers, American buyers. We have American buyers. And I haven't spoken to President Xi about it at the right time when we're set, I'll do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter is joining us now.

Brian, good to see you.

There was a time when federal employees ...

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: You, too.

DEAN: ... weren't allowed to have TikTok on their phone, weren't allowed to - you know, no government agencies could be on it. Now the White House has its own account. Is it just that things have changed? Is it just a new administration? The National Security clearance - concerns seem to be the same at this point.

STELTER: Yes, they are the same. And that's why this is, first and foremost, a popularity contest. Right now, TikTok is winning the popularity contest. President Trump recognizes that. He recognizes that many of his voters, many Americans across the political aisle, they want TikTok to remain in place in the U.S., even though a bipartisan consensus in Congress found that there were National Security concerns as well as privacy concerns.

So, what's really striking now, Jessica, is that there's action on the local level, there's action on the state level against TikTok. We saw another state file suit against TikTok again this week, citing privacy concerns and the addictive nature of the app. We've seen states like North Carolina, attorneys generals in various states pursuing cases against TikTok.

But at the federal level, it doesn't seem like there's energy to try to challenge Trump on this issue. Certainly, congressional Republicans are not going to challenge him on this issue, even though many of them voted for this ban to go into effect. And it doesn't seem there's a lot of energy from among Democrats either to try to challenge Trump on this issue, even though it's one of the most dramatic examples of executive overreach because he just keeps delaying enacting this law that he is supposed to be enforcing.

So, we'll probably continue to see these delays take effect now that the official Trump White House TikTok account is up and running. That's the boldest statement yet about Trump's intentions to keep defying the will of Congress on this issue and keep TikTok alive in the U.S.

DEAN: Yes, it's so interesting to think back to January when he was coming into office and it's a will he, won't he, what will he do when this was - had widespread bipartisan support. I also want to ask you about this. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently fired a lieutenant general. His agency's initial assessment of damage to Iranian nuclear sites after the U.S. strikes angered Trump. That was according to sources. Is this another example, thinking back also too to the Labor Bureau statistics? Is this another example of administration - the administration ...

STELTER: Yes, yes.

DEAN: ... firing people who tell the President what he doesn't want to hear?

STELTER: I do see these very much related. Yes, I see these very much related. This is very much a chilling effect or they can have a chilling effect. Quoting the Associated Press, you know, here talking about chilling dissent within the Intel Community, making people more careful about reaching conclusions at odds with Trump's interests. We've seen this at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We are seeing this at the Pentagon. The theme is pretty clear, deny the data, disrupt the data collectors and demand a different result.

That's what we keep seeing from Trump White House officials. And they've lost the benefit of the doubt on this matter because they've been pretty explicit about what the play is. Stephen Miller and other Trump aides have denied the D.C. crime statistics, for example, calling the data fake. President Trump has followed it and said that he doesn't want to hear anymore that crime was actually being controlled and that the crime stats were declining because the police had a good handle on it. He doesn't want to hear it. And the DOJ has launched an investigation of the Metro Police and the crime stats data as a result.

So, we're seeing this throughout the federal government, real skepticism and sometimes utter denial about what the data shows. And in some cases, firings or dismissals as a result. I think it's important to keep track of these, to keep track of this pattern as it goes along, because the big attempt here, the big picture is to declare Trump as the only arbiter of truth. If he doesn't like the jobs numbers, come up with someone else to figure out the numbers and maybe he'll accept it. Maybe he'll believe it.

To see how cynical this is, all we have to do is put the shoes on the other feet, right? If the Biden administration were making these exact same moves, pushing people out of jobs because they don't like the data, then we know what the reaction would be. We know MAGA media would be going 24/7 with these sorts of stories if it were the Biden administration taking these actions.

So, we have seen it at the Labor Bureau, we've seen it at the Pentagon, and we're likely seeing it at other parts of the agencies, other parts of the federal government as well, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Yes, great points.

All right. Brian Stelter, good to see you. Thanks so much.

[18:45:01]

And still to come, Erik and Lyle Menendez will stay in prison for murdering their parents after a parole board denied both of them this week. The key factors keeping the brothers behind bars and why their fight for freedom isn't finished.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:49:53]

DEAN: House Democrats are criticizing what they call a lack of new records in the Jeffrey Epstein files the Justice Department released Friday. Congressman Ro Khanna of California saying only 3 percent of those documents given to the Oversight Committee are new with the remaining 97 percent being paperwork already in the public domain. Khanna accused the DOJ of, in his words, stonewalling and called for the full release of all files related to Epstein. The Justice Department also released audio clips and transcripts of a recent interview between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Ghislaine Maxwell, a close confidant of the late Epstein.

Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. And in her interview, she denied participating in any such activity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I'm not saying that Mr. Epstein did not do those things. I'm not casting those - I'm not going to say - I don't feel comfortable saying that today given what I now know to be true, so I'm not here to defend him. But what I can say is that I did not participate in the activity."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The family of the late Virginia Giuffre who - one of Epstein's most prominent accusers released a statement reacting to that interview They said, we are outraged. During this bizarre interview, Maxwell is never challenged about her court-proven lies, providing her a platform to rewrite history. This travesty of justice entirely invalidates the experiences of the many brave survivors who put their safety, security and lives on the line to ensure her conviction including our sister.

A California parole board has denied parole for Lyle Menendez one day after his brother's request for parole was also rejected. Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of murdering their parents back in 1989. They were sentenced to life in prison without parole. That was later reduced to a charge for - a chance for parole earlier this year. Their fight for release now not over though. Julia Vargas Jones has been following this story.

And Julia, what can you tell us about these developments and what happens from here?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look it was a devastating blow for the brothers. They had been fighting for a year for this release. But yesterday this parole board commissioner telling Lyle that despite him being a model inmate in many ways, there were just some things they could not overlook, Jessica. One of them is their social - anti-social personality traits like lying and breaking the rules, which was something that also came up for Erik in his hearing on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES (voice over): Erik and Lyle Menendez pleading their case in front of a parole board for the first time in more than 30 years. The brothers, now in their 50s, were 18 and 21 years old when they brutally murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home. They claimed they feared for their lives and that their father had physically and sexually abused them for years. Prosecutors maintained they were eyeing their parents fortune instead and they were sentenced to life without parole.

But in May, a judge re-sentenced the brothers with the possibility of parole. The case and its sensational trial captured the attention of the world in the 1990s, and again more recently when a Netflix series and several documentaries were made about the case. A central point of Erik's hearing on Thursday was whether he took responsibility for his crimes. Asked by parole commissioner Robert Barton: "Is there any part of this which you believe was self-defense?" Erik replied, "No."

Still, Erik described their father as cruel and domineering and said the killing scheme after a week of escalating tensions in confrontations with their parents over the abuse. After nearly 10 hours of proceedings and testimony, Erik Menendez was denied parole by a California board that decided he still poses a risk to public safety. Lyle who has a slightly lower number of prison violations faced the board on Friday. Asked whether the killings had been planned, Lyle said, quote, "There was zero planning," and that the decision to buy guns had been, quote, "somewhat impulsive" and for "emotional protection" and also, "the biggest mistake."

Despite the California Parole Board's decisions, it is Gov. Gavin Newsom who will ultimately have the final say on the brothers fates.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JONES: And Jessica, that decision can still go up for internal review for the next 120 days then the Governor has 30 days to decide he if we will or not intervene. That puts us in January and they - both of the brothers will be eligible for parole again in about three years. Lyle could be even sooner because of his better behavior.

DEAN: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much for that reporting.

A new CNN Original Series, New Orleans: Soul of a City, Rebirth of the Superdome explores how the beloved New Orleans Saints football team played a special role bringing people together after Hurricane Katrina. The Superdome temporarily housed people immediately after the storm and in the years following Katrina with New Orleans rebuilding. The Saints' journey toward the Super Bowl brought a lot of hope and unity to a city that had suffered a lot of heartbreak. Here's a preview.

[18:55:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEUCE MCALLISTER, FORMER PLAYER, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: When you talk about football in the South, that's the heart and the heartbeat of that land.

DEVERY HENDERSON, FORMER PLAYER, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: We could be enemies on one day, but on Sundays we all rooting for one team.

MALCOLM JENKINS, FORMER PLAYER, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: There there's no way to talk about New Orleans without the Saints. The Superdome and the team are really right at the center of the city.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After Katrina, football became this narrative of renewal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Be sure to tune in New Orleans: Soul of the City, Rebirth of the Superdome premieres tomorrow at 9 P.M. Eastern only here on CNN.

And tonight, we're standing by for Texas Governor Greg Abbott to sign a bill that could give Republican - the Republican Party five additional seats in Congress. But that push has other states scrambling to make similar changes to their voter bouts. More on this when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)