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CNN This Morning
DOJ Wraps Up Two Days Of Meetings With Ghislaine Maxwell; President Trump Visits Scotland To Talk Tariffs, Play Golf; California Farm Workers Face Tough Choice Amid Ongoing ICE Raids; Community Rallies For Beloved Pastor Facing Deportation. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired July 26, 2025 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:01:03]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome. Welcome to CNN this morning. It is Saturday, July 26th. I'm Victor Blackwell.
Here is what's happening this morning. President Trump is in Scotland this morning. He is temporarily leaving behind the fallout from the Epstein case, but he is expected to be met with widespread protests there. We're going to take you there live.
Also, Ghislaine Maxwell was granted limited immunity with her interview with the justice department on Friday. A lawyer says that she answered every single question, but there is one question still out there. Will she get a pardon from President Trump?
Also, extreme heat. It is baking parts in the Northeast. It feels like temperatures soaring into the triple digits. The toll of all that hot air that is having on our bodies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if I'd be here if I wouldn't have heeded his warning.
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BLACKWELL: A man in Georgia says his two-legged chihuahua may have saved his life. How? Well, we'll explain. That's coming up.
We're starting with the Department of Justice, saying that it's now done with its meetings with Ghislaine Maxwell, and a lawyer says that she held nothing back. Maxwell was convicted of being Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator to sexually abuse minors. Her lawyer appears to suggest that she wants a pardon. But President Donald Trump said he is not committing to that.
Lawmakers, though, on both sides of the aisle, are demanding transparency and investigation. CNN's Marybel Gonzalez explains what we've learned from those two days of meetings with Maxwell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN NEWSOURCE BILINGUAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus, spoke outside a Tallahassee courthouse on Friday, after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, questioned her for a second day.
DAVID OSCAR MARKUS, ATTORNEY TO GHISLAINE MAXWELL: The truth will come out about what happened with Mr. Epstein, and she is the person who is answering those questions.
GONZALEZ (voice over): Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in federal prison for carrying out a years' long scheme with accused sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls.
She has continued to appeal her conviction. Now, officials want to find out if Epstein's former associate and ex-girlfriend has information about anyone else who has committed crimes against the victims, according to Maxwell's attorney.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We want full transparency. We want everybody who is involved in any way with the Epstein evils. Let's call it what it was to be brought to justice.
GONZALEZ (voice over): The Trump administration is facing public backlash over a perceived lack of transparency, and as sources say, Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Trump, his name appears in the so-called Epstein files. Above the courthouse, a banner being towed by a plane read, Trump and Bondi are protecting predators.
On Thursday, Senator Chuck Schumer called for an all Senate briefing on the Epstein files.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): General Bondi lied to the American people. She told us we'd see the report. She told us it's on her desk. Then, we're told there is no report. So, you can understand the deep skepticism Americans have.
GONZALEZ (voice over): When asked if the president would consider a pardon for Maxwell --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's something I haven't thought about. It's really something --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- recommended --
TRUMP: It's -- I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about.
GONZALEZ: I'm Marybel Gonzalez, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Marybel, thank you. President Trump is in the U.K. He is visiting Scotland. Now, he is expected to spend most of his time playing golf at two Trump resorts. The White House says this is a working visit, though. He is set to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the head of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen. They are expected to discuss trade negotiations and tariffs.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny is with us now from Scotland.
Jeff, the president, out of Washington, away from the Epstein fallout, but I see behind you facing some protests.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: He does, Victor.
President Trump has spoken very fondly of Scotland, of course, it is the ancestral homeland of his mother. But as you can see behind me, the people of Scotland do not feel as fondly for President Trump. If you walk with me for a second here, we are at protests in Edinburgh.
[07:05:00]
We're about two hours from where President Trump is playing golf today in a Turnberry. But this is a several dozen, perhaps, a couple of hundred protesters have come out here to Edinburgh. There are protesters around the country also speaking out for President Trump, just being here, for coming to play golf here. You can see the sign, stop Trump, stop the far-right, stop Trump Scotland.
So, this is one of the sentiments here we are seeing throughout the weekend. Victor, President Trump is largely doing a working vacation playing golf today and tomorrow, but he'll also be holding trade talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The president had this to say about those talks yesterday.
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TRUMP: I like your prime minister. He is slightly more liberal than I am, as you've probably heard. But he is a good man. We got a trade deal done. And you know, they've been working on this deal for 12 years. He got it done. It's a good deal. It's a good deal for the U.K.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: So, trade deal is definitely are hanging over this trip, there's no doubt about it. But again, as you can see, the protesters who have come out here to the U.S. Consulate office in Edinburgh are speaking out against President Trump. They believe that he should not be using the taxpayer dollars of Scotland to protect him. It's the largest security force that is set out in Scotland since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.
Of course, this is the second time that President Trump has come to Scotland. He did during his first term as well. There were larger protesters at that time. But as you can also hear, Gaza, and Palestine a central issue to this trip as well, which will come up during his visit on Monday with the British prime minister. Victor?
BLACKWELL: Yes, certainly, as those talks have fallen aside, and the humanitarian situation is getting worse.
Jeff Zeleny for us there in Edinburgh. Thank you.
New this morning, a federal judge had dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that tried to block Chicago's sanctuary city laws. A lawsuit claimed the city was getting in the way of federal immigration enforcement, but the judge sided with Chicago and said the city has the right to limit how local police work with immigration agents.
Mayor Brandon Johnson praised the ruling and said that it keeps officers focused on helping the people of Chicago. Governor J.B. Pritzker also welcomed the ruling and said that Illinois just beat the Trump administration in federal court.
This morning, local and federal agencies are searching for an inmate who was mistakenly released from the Orleans Paris jail. Khalil Brian was facing violent charges, including assault with firearm, and deputies let him go by accident. Sheriff's office says it was a case of improper I.D. verification.
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SUSAN HUTSON, SHERIFF, ORLEANS PARISH SHERIFF'S OFFICE: What's public should know, this should not have happened. It was a failure of internal processes, and the public has every right to expect better. OPSO is conducting a full investigation and disciplinary action will be forthcoming. This isn't about blame. This is about accountability and action, and we are taking both.
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BLACKWELL: Now, this happened just 10 weeks after 10 inmates escaped that same jail. Nine have been caught and pleaded not guilty. One, Derrick Groves is still missing.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff says a grenade is missing from the scene of an explosion earlier this month that killed three of his deputies. This happened at the sheriff's department training center. Deputies were trying to deactivate two grenades, authorities had seized. According to the ATF, one grenade detonated, the other has not been found despite a thorough search.
States will soon get billions of dollars of funding for public schools that were previously withheld by the Trump administration. The department of education says the more than $5 billion in funding will be returned to states starting next week.
Last month, the administration announced it was withholding funds so the White House could conduct a review. Well, the funds had already been approved by Congress.
An internal U.S. government analysis has concluded that there was no widespread theft by Hamas of U.S. humanitarian aid for Gaza. Now, that contradicts the state department's justification for authorizing a controversial private group to take over aid distribution.
The USAID review seen by CNN, also found less than one percent of Gaza aid was affected by theft, loss, fraud, or waste. As despite the Trump administration's claim that Hamas is behind widespread theft of aid, a warning, some of the images that you're about to see, even the ones you're seeing now, they are disturbing.
According to the United Nations, the Israeli military has killed more than 1,000 people while they were trying to access aid. The state department says evidence of Hamas theft is widely available on social media, and says Hamas is weaponizing aid, despite the report, I just told you about.
New this morning, Israel is reporting that a projectile was fired from Gaza into Israel.
[07:10:01]
Rare rocket attack from Gaza comes as cease fire negotiations have broken down, and President Trump told Israel to get rid of Hamas. Trump already pulled negotiators from cease fire talks earlier in the week. And Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said that they will now look at other options to bring the hostages home.
Let's turn now to CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson in Jerusalem. Put these latest developments into context for us, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, that missile that was fired by Gaza fell in open areas. No one was injured. They've been perhaps half a dozen such missiles fired from by Hamas from inside of Gaza over the past couple of weeks. It does, perhaps, indicate a frustration on their part that the talks are breaking down, it appears. It's not a hundred percent clear that they've entirely broken down.
Hamas yesterday criticized the U.S. and Israeli position, saying it didn't represent how much progress they felt had been made at the current round of talks, and even put forward a couple of their latest positions on the contentious issues of how many Palestinian prisoners should be released for how many hostages released, and the issue of how wide the border buffer area between Israel along the border of Gaza, and the communities inside of Gaza.
That is something that has been contentious, and Hamas said they put forward a position that represented, you know, a change in their stance.
But Israel, as has been saying that Hamas is being unrealistic. And that's the sort of framing that we're getting for some of the language that we've heard from Steve Witkoff, speaking about Hamas, saying that they are not committed to getting peace at the moment, behind the -- behind, perhaps, what President Trump is saying that the job should be finished, that Israel, in essence, should go into Gaza with the IDF continue what it's doing. The job needs to be finished, which seems to hint that talks are underway at all. But the framing we're getting behind, the scenes is that this is these comments are a way to jolt Hamas into getting into a more realistic position, and perhaps, that's the reason why the mediators, the Egyptian and Qatari mediators, say that they are continuing to talk and that they are continuing to have discussions.
But for sure, the Israeli delegation has been pulled back here for consultations, and President Trump's last words on it were implying that Israel should go ahead and finish the military mission in Gaza. So, it isn't quite clear where things stand.
On the malnutrition front, Palestinian health officials in Gaza saying another five people died of malnutrition yesterday in Gaza. That brings a total to 127. 85 of those are children, and the pictures we continue to see each day and the deaths each day, harrowing all of them.
BLACKWELL: 127 people, 85 children, starving to death. Nic Robertson, thank you.
Still to come. ICE raids on California farms have left migrant workers fearful and frustrated. We take a look at the impact on the multi- billion-dollar industry.
Plus, extreme is not only -- extreme weather is not only uncomfortable, it's dangerous. We'll take a look at what the impact of this heat is on the body.
Plus, the NFL says more than 100 players and club employees sold their Super Bowl tickets, and they did it above face value. That's a violation of league rules.
We'll tell you the punishment they are facing.
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BLACKWELL: Deportation flights have begun leaving Alligator Alcatraz. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made that announcement yesterday. The first flight held 100 detainees. It's unclear where they are going.
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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDATE: Those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz, by DHS, have begun. The cadence is increasing. We've already had a number of flights in the last few days. We've had hundreds of illegals have been removed from here.
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BLACKWELL: Now, the reminder, the facility is in the middle of the Florida Everglades, surrounded by dangerous wildlife, and for those not flown out, conditions at the detention camp are poor. Detainees have told CNN, more than 30 people are held in a cell made of chain- link fencing and few bathrooms are available.
Coming up next hour on "FIRST OF ALL, we'll take you inside alligator Alcatraz, that controversial facility. There, you -- we will hear from people who are being held, in their own words. They will tell us what the conditions are like. It's a perspective and a 3D walk through that you've never seen before. That's next hour on "FIRST OF ALL".
Also, ICE raids across California's farm belt are causing fear among undocumented farm workers, and frustration for their employers during peak harvest season.
[07:20:04]
A lot of these workers are forced to choose between going to work and risking arrest or staying home and losing their livelihood.
CNN's Julia Vargas Jones spoke to farmer workers and farm owners about the impact.
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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On their hands and knees for hours at a time, these California farm workers brave the elements daily to put food on America's tables. Now, many are forced to choose between going to work and risk arrest or stay home and lose their livelihood.
Ventura County fields were among the many locations targeted by immigration agents in early June raids that rattled California. And in July, a farm worker died after falling off a roof during another ICE raid in Camarillo.
The chilling effects of those raids are hitting hard a state that is the top producer of agricultural products in the country.
VARGAS JONES: California's agriculture is a $60 billion industry. More than one-third of all vegetables and two-thirds of fruits and nuts in the United States are grown right here.
VARGAS JONES (voice over): 34-year-old Marisol (PH), says she came to the U.S. from the Mexican state of Guerrero 12 years ago looking to make an honest living in a safe place.
VARGAS JONES: You've been paying your taxes this whole time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Si.
VARGAS JONES (voice over): And now, grappling with the fear of being deported each day she goes to work.
Many of us are scared to go do our jobs, she says. But then, we have to pay our rent and bills, and we have no option but to go to work and pray nothing happens to us. But we are scared.
She and her husband are both farm workers. Her main concern, if they were arrested by ICE, she says, is their 4-year-old daughter.
I don't have anyone that could take my daughter, she says. Except for her daycare teacher. Even those in less precarious situations are afraid here.
VARGAS JONES: You have authorization to work in this country?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Si.
VARGAS JONES (voice over): Yes, I am scared, Patricia says. She's heard of American citizens and legal temporary workers getting detained by ICE agents. She says, they just come and sometimes even hit you before asking if you have authorization to work or not. For growers like Guillermo Jimenez, who depend on this workforce daily, it's more than a nuisance, especially in summer, when produce is ready to pick.
We are also fearful. He says, because we've sowed the seeds, but we can't harvest without people.
VARGAS JONES: Would you be able to find American hands to work here? No, you're not (INAUDIBLE).
VARGAS JONES (voice over): The day after the Camarillo raids, 14 workers didn't show. It takes 18 people to harvest one field.
Jimenez says if that pattern continues, he will have to scale down.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to CNN's request for comment.
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Ventura County, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All right. Julia, thank you for that report.
Temperatures are soaring across the East this weekend. It's hot out there. In New York, blistering heat beat down on Times Square. Look at that thermometer. 107 at one point yesterday.
Now, this heat wave comes as a new study finds that extreme heat makes you age more quickly. CNN's Jacqueline Howard explains how. Jacqueline?
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: People might not even realize that this is happening in their bodies, but a new study finds that being in extreme heat for extended periods of time can age our cells. The study, it included more than 3,600 adults older than age 56. And it found that people who experienced at least 140 days of extreme heat each year aged up to 14 months faster than those living in places with fewer than 10 extreme heat days a year.
And extreme heat was measured as greater than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. So, that's more than about 32 degrees Celsius. These soaring temperatures can cause a deterioration in our cells and tissues, and that's how it appears to be linked to increased biological aging.
Now, your chronological age refers to how long you've been alive, based on your birthday. But your biological age, that measures how well your cells and tissue's function. So, the difference between the two explains why sometimes someone's age doesn't always match their health and their vitality.
So, for people living in areas with extreme heat, there are things you can do, be mindful of spending too much time outdoors in the high heat. Try to stay in air conditioning or keep your windows open for a nice breeze.
[07:25:01]
Avoid exercising outdoors during the hottest parts of the day. Save your workouts for the cooler parts of the day. And for people with certain chronic diseases, you may be already taking medications that could help slow aging, like Metformin, that's prescribed for diabetes or GLP, one medications. And then, for all of us, it's important to exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, don't smoke, limit alcohol. These are all important steps we can all take to stay in good health as we age.
BLACKWELL: All right, Jacqueline, thank you very much.
OK. So, airport security, they confiscate a lot of stuff: liquids, lotions, sometimes weapons. This time, turtles.
The Transportation Safety Authority says that in April, a woman tried to smuggled two turtles through security at the Miami Airport. Agents found them wrapped up and tucked in her bra. One of the turtles did not survive. The other was confiscated and turned over to wildlife officials.
I just wonder, if you got the turtles in there, isn't you afraid they're going to, you know, get a little restless, like snap or something? Anyway, a post from the TSA read, "stop hiding animals in weird places on your body." That's good advice. Thank you, TSA.
Still ahead, Ghislaine Maxwell spent two days talking to the Justice Department about Jeffrey Epstein. She did it under limited immunity. What might have investigators learned and could she be angling for a pardon? That's next.
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[07:31:13]
BLACKWELL: Bipartisan pressure is mounting on the Trump administration for more information about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The DOJ just wrapped up two days of questioning his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, but what could that yield? Let's bring in CNN legal analyst Michael Moore. Good to have you here.
MICHAEL MOORE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Glad to be with you.
BLACKWELL: OK. So, first, how much do you think we'll ever learn about what was discussed for those two days? MOORE: I think, probably not a lot. I think you're only going to hear sort of the version that the administration wants to push out. You have to think about how odd it is to have the deputy attorney general go down and personally do this interview. Do it in secret. It's probably not transcribed, not going to be publicly available.
You know, he -- his job is to oversee about 120,000 DOJ employees, give or take, I mean --
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Right.
MOORE: And you just don't see this kind of interference by high-level administration officials, especially, to talk to somebody who has been convicted of the sexual and grievous offenses that she has been at the same time, is appealing, has denied involvement. So, suddenly, now, we've got the top people in the government now begging her, apparently, for information.
BLACKWELL: This limited immunity that Maxwell's attorney says that she's received that typical or is anything suspicious there?
MOORE: You know, limited immunity really just gives you a chance to have an open interview, and you expect to do that for somebody who you have decided wants to be truthful. Again, the problem is, in the past, the DOJ has already said she is not truthful.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Convicted a perjury.
MOORE: She can't -- right. She can't be believed. So, now, we're going down there as if -- it's almost like, you know, asking Al Capone to, you know, turn over some tax evaders or something like that.
I mean, it just is not. This really doesn't have much credibility. They are fishing for a name, they are fishing for some clearance. They are probably fishing, at this point, just to get her to say, or at least to tell us, that she said, you know, something. I thought about it, and Trump had nothing to do with this.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MOORE: And I think that's going to put all this to risk. And I think it's really -- it's not, it's likely just to, you know, to continue to stir the ant bed a little bit.
BLACKWELL: Mr. Markus, her attorney, also said that she discussed 100 names. For people who were hoping for maybe future prosecutions, is that plausible out of this, probable?
MOORE: It strikes me at this point, because she is been convicted, she had the chance to do this before her case went to trial.
BLACKWELL: Yes. MOORE: She would have had the chance to try to help herself. There is an entire sentencing process that goes on where you could give information to try to help the government, she would have given these names already. It just -- it sort of defies credulity to suggest that suddenly she remembers 100 names, or suddenly she has got something that's going to help her.
This may also be a way the administration is trying to navigate around the court orders, denying them the right or the ability to release the grand jury transcripts. You know the judges have said, look, you haven't told us about any pending investigations, this could have help her. Otherwise, as you would typically do in a -- in a motion like that, and they really just might be fishing and trying to sort of build out their case again, taking the -- taking the word of somebody they have already have told the court and the public, that they have deemed uncredible.
BLACKWELL: And their case is a defense and to separate the president from this scandal.
MOORE: And I think that's what makes the fact that the deputy attorney general himself went down to do this, and that is to sort of start building the wall, if you will, between Trump and the Epstein case.
And it looks to me like he's probably trying to use the Ghislaine Maxwell to do that.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about pardons. The president was asked about a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney also asked, let's play what they said.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you consider a pardon or a commutation for Ghislaine Maxwell?
[07:35:01]
TRUMP: It's something I haven't thought about, it's really something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- recommended (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: It's some -- I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about.
A lot of people are asking me about pardons. Obviously, this is no time to be talking about pardons.
MARKUS: We haven't spoken to the president or anybody about a pardon just yet. And, you know, listen, the president this morning said he had the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: If you were a defense attorney, would you get this far into the process without having a conversation? Or do you even need to?
MOORE: No, you wouldn't have gotten this far in. I don't think you would have unpacked that box out of the car and had her come in to even give any information until you had already had a deal, sort of generally on the table, or at least some expectations. You just wouldn't have subjected her to that, and you wouldn't have laid all this information out.
You know, the simple answer that question just would have been, no, I'm not going to give her a pardon. And he -- and to suggest that somehow, he hadn't thought about it, or this hadn't been discussed at the high levels, I think again. I mean, that's, that's just silliness at this point. Whether or not he does it, whether or not he has the political stomach to do it, that's the question. Legally, he has a right to pardon people. I mean, that's the president does, in fact, have a right to do it, whether he chooses to exercise that power on somebody with this conviction, with, you know, with this history, with this outrage over the cases that went on with the victims out there who continue to suffer because of, you know, being victimized by Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Maxwell.
You know, this is -- this is something that I just don't know that it's going to pass muster, and I don't think his base necessarily will accept it.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MOORE: But he is a one term, or he may decide, I'll try to use her to put the fire of the story out, and then I'll promise her something in the end.
BLACKWELL: And we'll see what that means for Republicans on the Hill.
MOORE: Right.
BLACKWELL: If the president does that, he is a one term, but they don't want to be.
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: Right, who's got the stomach for it?
BLACKWELL: Yes. That's going to be the question.
All right. Michael Moore, thank you.
MOORE: Glad to be with you.
BLACKWELL: All right. Still to come. A pastor in Maryland, in the country, illegally for decades, has been detained by ICE. I'll speak with one of his family friends after the break.
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[07:41:52]
BLACKWELL: In Maryland, a community is shaken after their longtime pastor was detained by ICE. Daniel Fuentes Espinal left Honduras in 2001 to escape poverty and violence. But now, he is facing deportation for overstaying the visa he received 24 years ago.
Friends and followers say the pastor was well-known for his volunteer ministry and his community outreach. Now, two of Maryland's congressional representatives are condemning the pastor's arrest and are calling on the White House to release him.
Joining me now is a close family friend to Espinal, Len Foxwell. Len, thank you for being with us. First, can we just get kind of the basic facts of what happened here, how he was detained, where this happened? What do you know?
LEN FOXWELL, FAMILY FRIEND OF DETAINED PASTOR: Thank you so much for having me. So, Pastor Fuentes Espinal was arrested on the morning of Monday, the 21st of July. He was literally going to a job site. He provide -- he provides for his family by serving as a home improvement and home repair contractor. He had been to -- he got his usual morning breakfast at McDonald's, stopped at Lowe's to pick up his building supplies for the job ahead. Was heading out to the job site when he got pulled over, was arrested. He was transported to an immigrant detention facility in Salisbury, Maryland, on east -- on Maryland's eastern shore, and then, he was quickly transported from there to the ICE detention facility in Baltimore. And then, on Thursday, he was taken to a facility in Louisiana.
I will just say, Victor, that the conditions under which he was detained in Baltimore were not just substandard, they were really sub human. He was sleeping on a bench, couldn't brush his teeth. Was -- and I don't mean to be graphic, but he would -- he only had a bucket to use to -- use the bathroom. I mean, this is a man who has lived for 24 years in the United States, has never been charged with a crime. Is a model leader of our community, and they are treating him like something less than human.
It is heartbreaking to his family. It is devastating to a community who depends upon him so much, not only for spiritual sustenance, but also as someone who provides food, shelter, and clothing to those who are the most vulnerable.
BLACKWELL: Yes, pastor in that community, and you've -- I've read, talked about how he has been -- was so supportive with your family, especially about your son. Tell me, when did his family realize that he had been detained? Because I also read that initially, they didn't know where he was.
FOXWELL: That's correct. They were ready to file a missing person's report, Victor. And it wasn't until he called them several hours after his detainment from a cell phone in Salisbury that they knew that he had been picked up and arrested by ICE.
[07:45:03]
So, they didn't know anything. No one bothered to call the family to let them know where he was and then, he was OK.\
Victor, let's just call this for what it was. It was a government- sponsored kidnapping.
BLACKWELL: A government-sponsored kidnapping. How is this impacting the congregation? And the community? Because if he is just standing outside about to go to a job site, I'd imagine people are moving differently. But tell me about the impact since Monday.
FOXWELL: It had chilling effect on everybody, and particularly, within the immigrant community in the town of Easton. I think the prevailing sentiment is that if something this heinous can happen to someone of his stature, someone who is universally recognized and beloved as a community leader, then, it can really happen to anybody. And just like you said in your earlier segment, people are now having to make this choice between going to work and risking arrest and detention or forfeiting their livelihoods and being unable to provide the basics for their families.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
FOXWELL: It is a terrible, terrible situation.
BLACKWELL: And also, this is, I believe, I said it earlier, if I haven't. Let me repeat it. This is a man without a criminal record, and the administration said that they would be focused on the most violent. They said the worst of the worst. This pastor has been in this community for several decades. Doesn't seem to fit that description.
Len Foxwell, joining us. Thank you so much for sharing your friend's story.
All right. CNN's Andy Scholes joins me now. What's coming up in sports?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Victor, we saw some history in baseball last night. Not too often you get to say we saw history in baseball, but the A's Nick Kurtz was just on an absolute heater against the Astros. Coming up, we'll take a look at his performance for the A's.
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[07:51:25]
BLACKWELL: In a new episode of the CNN Original Series "BILLIONAIRE BOYS CLUB", Joe Hunt's plan for revenge on former investor Ron Levin goes awry and careless mistakes expose him. Here is a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once Joe had decided that he was going to dispatch Ron Levin, he made a list of ingredients, let's say, things to do. Joe left the list at the crime scene. It's like O.J. leaving the Heisman. You know, you don't want to leave the Heisman there. They got to know it to you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certain things on it were very, very disturbing. At Levin's to do reads at the top, close the blinds, scan for tape recorder, tape the mouth, handcuff, explain the situation, use a corporate seal, Have Levin sign agreements and fill in blanks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: New episode of the CNN, Original Series, "BILLIONAIRE BOYS CLUB", air Sunday at 10:00 p.m. on CNN.
The A's Nick Kurtz makes history. Becomes the first rookie ever to hit four home runs in a game. Andy Scholes.
What a night for Nick Kurtz there in Houston, Victor. I mean, it was a historic night. And he was about five feet away from becoming the first player ever to hit five home runs in a game. Kurtz hit his first homer of the night, going opposite field to the Crawford Boxes in the second inning at Daikin Park. And in the fourth inning, we'll show you is that bat not a home run. It comes up just short. But had this been a home run, Kurtz would have ended up with five home runs. The A's rookie, he never got out all night long. He home-run again in the six, the eighth, and in the ninth.
Opposition player, Cooper Hummel charges the first rookie ever to hit four homers, and he's 20th to do it in Major League history. The 22- year-old slugger also typed Sean Green's Major League record, with 19 total bases in the game. His parents and godparents were there in Houston to see it. Make it an extra special. Kurtz saying afterwards, this is stuff you don't even dream about, because it doesn't really happen.
The A's won big in that game, 15 to 3. In Boston, meanwhile, Airmac (PH) concession workers -- Aramark concession workers at Fenway Park. They went on strike before the Dodgers game yesterday. Many forms of ticket line outside the stadium telling fans not to fight concessions as they fight for higher wages. Red Sox noted team is not involved in the negotiations. Today, they did have contingencies in place this weekend, so fans would still have a full and uninterrupted ballpark experience.
And hey, all those Red Sox fans, they got to see a pretty awesome double rainbow over Fenway last night during the game.
Look at that. They, however, did not get to see the Red Sox when they lost the Dodgers five to the NFL. Meanwhile, cracking down on players and team personnel that sold their Super Bowl tickets for a profit. So, each NFL player, they can buy two Super Bowl tickets at face value, but you're not allowed to sell them for a profit, and the NFL says they are fining more than 100 players and approximately two dozen team employees for selling their tickets for a profit.
Now, the players that violated the rule are being fined 1-1/2 times the amount of face value of the tickets they sold, while team employees are being fined double. And Victor, the players who got caught also going to lose the right to buy Super Bowl tickets for two years, unless they are playing in the game, then, they will still get a chance to buy tickets for friends and family.
But you know, we saw The Masters cracking down on tickets this year.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Yes.
SCHOLES: Now, the super -- the NFL is cracking down. If they tell you, don't sell the tickets. I think we shouldn't sell the tickets at this point.
BLACKWELL: We're supposed to feel bad for the NFL though. Are they just mad they didn't get that extra, you know, $500,000?
[07:55:03]
SCHOLES: Yes, yes.
BLACKWELL: $500 to a thousand, not 500,000. All right. Andy, thank you.
SCHOLES: All right.
BLACKWELL: So, a two-legged rescue dog named Champ is credited with saving his owner's life. Andrew Kuzyk and Champ have been inseparable since Kuzyk adopted this chihuahua seven years ago.
CNN affiliate WSB reports earlier this year that Kuzyk says he fell asleep on the floor, and all of a sudden, Champ started jumping on him. His wife took him to the hospital where doctors found a major artery was blocked. Kuzyk is convinced that he would not have made it to the hospital if not for Champ. All right, Champ.
Hey, "FIRST OF ALL" is coming up at the top of the hour. Someone who has played a role in the talks for cease fire in Gaza is here. He is also the chair of a group formerly called Arab Americans for Trump. What does he think about the president saying Israel should finish the job against Hamas? As these scenes happen, people starving in Gaza, I'll ask.
Plus, I want you to take a look at this picture. This is of a rehearsal for a dance project about the Uvalde school shooting, 19 children, two teachers killed. Is this an appropriate way to call for change after that massacre?
You're going to hear from the creator of this project and a victim's father. They will be with us together on the show, and a farmer will react to the USDA saying the support for minority farmers is no longer necessary because the past discrimination has been sufficiently handled. Those stories and conversations that you likely won't hear anywhere else after the break on "FIRST OF ALL".
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