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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Lawmaker: Maxwell Getting Special Treatment In Prison; Trump Floats Idea Of $2,000 Tariff Rebates For Americans; 42 Million People Relying On SNAP Benefits Caught In Limbo. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired November 11, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
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MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): According to a whistleblower who is now making new accusations, Maxwell is currently working on filing an application for a commutation.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): She's basically being treated like an honored guest at a Trump hotel rather than a federal prisoner.
LEE (voiceover): Congressman Jamie Raskin, the House Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, says the whistleblower also claims that Maxwell is receiving preferential treatment at the prison camp in Bryan, Texas where she's currently serving out her 20-year sentence.
The favorable concierge-style treatment is set to include private meetings with visitors, including snacks and refreshments for her guests, Maxwell's guests being allowed to bring in computers during their visits, and the camp's warden personally helping to send emails on Maxwell's behalf.
Maxwell's lawyer and the Justice Department did not comment.
TODD BLANCHE, U.S. DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Did you ever observe President Trump receive a massage?
GHISLAINE MAXWELL, CONVICTED CHILD SEX OFFENDER: Never.
LEE (voiceover): These new revelations coming less than four months after Trump's deputy attorney general and former personal lawyer Todd Blanche met in person with Maxwell at her previous prison in Florida.
MAXWELL: I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.
LEE (voiceover): During the course of days of interviews Maxwell telling Blanche that she had never seen Trump behave inappropriately. Trump, who was friends with Epstein decades ago, has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein.
DAVID OSCAR MARKUS, ATTORNEY FOR GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Ghislaine answered every single question asked of her over the last day and a half. Ms. Maxwell would welcome any relief.
LEE (voiceover): Just days after Blanche's unusual July meeting with Maxwell the convicted felon was transferred out of a low security federal prison in Tallahassee to a minimum security facility in Texas. The move drew the ire of critics -- Democrats and Epstein survivors alike.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were horrified to learn that she had been transferred to a prison camp.
ANOUSKA DE GEORGIOU, EPSTEIN ABUSE SURVIVOR: It's one of my worst nightmares that she not only be transferred but the possibility that's very much going around that she might be pardoned.
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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to review the E. Jean Carroll sex abuse and defamation verdict against him. In 2023, a jury found him liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her by denying her story. The jury ordered Trump to pay $5 million. Trump has denied all wrongdoing.
It is unclear if the court will take up the case, but it likely won't be the last time the justices are asked to review litigation involving Carroll.
And President Trump is trying to make himself popular on one of his most unpopular issues. His solution -- sending checks to Americans stretched thin by his tariffs.
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[05:37:30]
ABEL: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.
Trading gets underway on Wall Street in just a few hours and markets will have a chance to react to the Senate vote to end the government shutdown. Here is where U.S. futures stand at this hour. The Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq all starting the day in the red.
All right -- checking some of today's business headlines.
Another sign Tesla is struggling in international markets. Sales in China have fallen to a three-year low. The automaker sold just 26,000 vehicles in October in the world's largest auto market. Overall car sales were down in China as well. Tesla's poor performance following dismal sales last month in European countries, including Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Warren Buffett says he's going quiet, sort of. The 95-year-old Berkshire Hathaway CEO delivered his last annual message to shareholders before he steps down at the end of the year. Although Buffett won't write the message for the company's annual report anymore, he is expected to deliver the company's annual Thanksgiving message. Visa and Mastercard are close to striking a deal that would lower fees
for merchants. The two credit card giants have been locked in a legal battle with retailers over those fees for the last 20 years. Experts say they could lead to lower prices but fewer credit card rewards for consumers.
U.S. President Donald Trump is defending his tariff policies. He claims that people who don't support them are "fools." President Trump's tariffs are unpopular with many Americans, but he says he has come up with a way to offset the pain the tariffs are causing.
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich explains.
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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump has an idea to solve Americans' growing affordability problem -- send them a check. Not just any check -- a $2,000 check using the money his administration has collected from tariffs. The idea is similar to the stimulus checks that many Americans may have received during COVID.
Is it possible? Not without Congress. Financially, not yet.
The Trump administration has collected $220 billion in tariff revenue, according to the Treasury Department, but more than 163 million Americans filed tax returns in 2024, so handing out checks to all those Americans would cost $326 billion. But President Trump said high income earners would not be included, and he believes there would be money left over to pay down the national debt.
[05:40:05]
And while $2,000 is a lot of money, Americans have historically used stimulus checks to pay down debt or make a big purchase, so it doesn't solve the ongoing affordability crisis and concerns. And all that spending all at once could actually fuel inflation, making things more unaffordable.
And then there is, of course, the Supreme Court of this all. If they rule against President Trump's tariffs the administration may have to return that money -- about $100 billion to date -- to the U.S. businesses and importers that paid them, leaving much less for checks for everyday Americans.
Back to you.
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ABEL: Vanessa Yurkevich there. Thank you.
A community in New Jersey is rallying behind a popular local restaurant owner after he was detained by ICE last month. The latest on his predicament still ahead.
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ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is one step closer to ending. The Senate has approved a compromise bill supported by a handful of Democrats to fund the government. A vote in the House is expected Wednesday. President Trump says he supports the measure.
Flight delays and cancellations are expected to get worse across the U.S. today. The FAA has mandated airlines reduce operations by six percent starting today to compensate for staffing shortages. That number will increase to 10 percent by Friday.
Families of nine Texas flooding victims are filing three separate lawsuits against Kerr County's Camp Mystic and its owners. They are accusing Camp Mystic of gross negligence after 25 campers, two counselors, and the camp director were all killed in the devastating flooding there in July. Each lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in damages.
Around 42 million Americans depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, to feed themselves and their families. But the government shutdown, lasting more than 40 days, and weeks of legal wrangling by the Trump administration to keep from paying SNAP benefits are taking their toll.
CNN's Sherrell Hubbard tells us where SNAP recipients stand now.
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SHERRELL HUBBARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Millions of Americans remain in limbo uncertain if or when their SNAP payments or food stamps will arrive.
JOEL BERG, CEO, HUNGER FREE AMERICA: I think in some states people did get 100 percent of what they were entitled to. In some states people have gotten none. Some people -- states people have gotten partial payments.
HUBBARD (voiceover): On average, households receive about $350 a month in benefits. Nearly 42 million people rely on SNAP to feed themselves and their families.
JEANNE NIHART, SNAP RECIPIENT: I'm worried that I might go to the grocery store and try to use my EBT card and in the time that I've gone to the grocery store that something has been reversed.
HUBBARD (voiceover): The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would not use its contingency fund to partially cover food stamp benefits. But two federal judges ordered the USDA to use emergency funds to partially cover November benefits days after the Trump administration said it would only fund half of November's SNAP benefits and then 65 percent. A federal judge stepped in again to order full payment to be made, but
the Trump administration filed an appeal. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily halted that order Friday evening to allow the appeal to play out.
Some states that hastily dispersed full payment were ordered to undo those distributions by the USDA on Saturday.
GOV. TONY EVERS, (D) WISCONSIN: They're saying well, we want that money back. They're not getting it back.
HUBBARD (voiceover): A group of Democratic-led states and a coalition of cities, nonprofits, unions, and small businesses have launched fast-moving legal challenges seeking to restore full benefits.
I'm Sherrill Hubbard reporting.
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ABEL: A spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says someone shot at border patrol agents in Chicago. It happened Saturday as witnesses say agents used pepper spray and flashbang grenades against protesters. Homeland Security officials have framed the incident as part of a series of attacks targeting federal agents. Immigrant advocates and Chicago area politicians argue it is federal agents who are driving violence and chaos.
The Trump administration's mass deportation agenda has stripped a New Jersey community of a popular local chef. Ruperto Marquez, who co-owns Emilio's Kitchen, has been detained since October. Now patrons are rallying behind the restaurant to show their support for his release.
CNN's Maria Santana visited the restaurant to bring us the latest.
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EMILIO VICENS MARQUEZ, RESTAURANT OWNER: He makes all from scratch and he makes all the dressings from his own imagination.
MARIA SANTANA, CNN EN ESPANOL ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Emilio Vicens Marquez says his brother and head chef Ruperto is the heart and soul of Emilio's Kitchen, the popular Atlantic Highlands restaurant they opened four years ago in the tightknit New Jersey coastal town.
MARQUEZ: The first bite you will start asking questions like what is this? You know, this is delicious.
SANTANA (voiceover): The brothers, originally from Puebla, Mexico, have lived in the U.S. for decades and own two restaurants. Both, Emilio says, have valid work authorizations but Ruperto now sits in the Newark detention center, arrested by ICE agents on October 19.
MARQUEZ: That day he was on the way to work, and he never made it.
[05:50:00] SANTANA (voiceover): Home surveillance video provided by a neighbor shows that around 6:30 that morning his car was being followed by two vehicles with flashing lights.
MARQUEZ: For some reason I thought he got kidnapped and I was waiting for a call from the police, or I was about thinking to call the police.
SANTANA (voiceover): Hours later his brother called from detention asking him to call a lawyer.
SANTANA: You also had to call his wife.
MARQUEZ: Correct.
SANTANA: And you had to inform her that her husband, father of her two children, was detained and was not going to come home that night.
MARQUEZ: Yes.
SANTANA: What was that like?
MARQUEZ: Devastating.
SANTANA: So she was thinking what if this happens to me too.
MARQUEZ: Exactly.
SANTANA: What's going to happen to my children?
MARQUEZ: Yes.
SANTANA (voiceover): Ruperto's children, ages four, six, and eight, are all U.S. citizens. The younger ones think their father is on vacation and will be back soon, but the oldest is struggling.
MARQUEZ: She doesn't want to go to school. She is like doing the homework, but she doesn't pay attention in what she's doing. And so she cries a lot.
SANTANA (voiceover): In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that "Ruperto Vicens Marquez is a criminal illegal alien from Mexico with a previous arrest for resisting arrest." And "a final order of removal issued by a judge in July," adding that "work authorization does not give anyone legal status to remain in the U.S."
But Marquez's attorney disputes almost all of that, telling CNN that he does not have an order of removal. In addition to a work permit through 2028 he has a pending relief application to legalize his status. And the charge cited by ICE was dismissed in 2010, says the lawyer.
For now, the grill keeps sizzling and the fresh tortillas rising at Emilio's Kitchen.
MARQUEZ: So when you taste the food, they give you life. SANTANA (voiceover): A family hoping that their chef can soon come home.
Maria Santana, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey.
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ABEL: A series of viral photos taken after the Louvre jewelry heist has had online sleuths playing detective. We'll unravel the mystery of the dapper fedora man after the break.
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[05:56:35]
ABEL: The New York Giants have parted ways with head coach Brian Daboll. Daboll's firing follows Sunday's 24-20 loss to the Chicago Bears. The defeat put New York at two wins, eight losses through its first 10 games of the 2025 NFL season.
The longtime NFL coach enjoyed a pretty promising start with the Giants, being named NFL Coach of the Year back in 2022, but in a statement to the team called the past few seasons nothing short of disappointing. Daboll ends his time as head coach with a 20-40-1 regular season record with the Giants.
Arctic weather in the U.S. made for a pretty chilly Monday night of football at Green Bay's Lambeau Field known for just that. The Philadelphia Eagles edged the Packers 10-7 in freezing conditions. Both defenses held through three quarters before this. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts found DeVonta Smith for a touchdown.
Green Bay scored late but couldn't complete that comeback making this their second consecutive loss. Meanwhile, Philadelphia's win makes it three in a row for the team keeping them on top of the NFC East.
These viral photos that you're about to see here, taken after the Louvre jewelry heist in Paris, have had people on social media playing a bit of detective. Who was the mysterious dapper man in the fedora? A lot of theories have been tossed around, including that he was a modern-day Sherlock Holmes on the hunt for the thieves.
Well, CNN's Saskya Vandoorne took on the case.
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SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF (voiceover): We tracked down the mystery man from that viral AP photo taken as police sealed the Louvre after the jewel heist, and he's not a detective but a stylish 15-year-old schoolboy, Pedro Garzon Delvaux. He lives with his family outside Paris.
PEDRO GARZON DELVAUX, "FEDORA MAN": I'm just a student who is 15 years old and I like to dress classic.
VANDOORNE: Do you wear a fedora kind of every day? DELVAUX: I save it for the weekend. I like to read, like, history books. Like, maybe the movies -- the old movies because, like, the men are dressing like that and I kind of like it.
VANDOORNE: And how do your friends at school react to the way you dress? Do they appreciate your dapper --
DELVAUX: Yeah.
VANDOORNE: -- style?
DELVAUX: Yeah. They think I have a lot of aura. It's very --
VANDOORNE: I would second that.
VANDOORNE (voiceover): So who shaped his style? Not a streaming style but a French resistance icon, Jean Moulin.
DELVAUX: I love that type of angle when you don't see all the face, but you see just a part of the face.
VANDOORNE (voiceover): The waistcoat is Yves Saint Laurent, the jacket is Hackett -- much of it borrowed or inherited, including a vintage watch with a Cold War backstory.
DELVAUX: I do the knot of the tie very fast, like this.
VANDOORNE: There is one question that a lot of people would like to ask you. It is do you know where the jewels are?
DELVAUX: Well, I don't know but I know that we found some suspects.
VANDOORNE: You're not working the case?
DELVAUX: No, I'm not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[06:00:00]
ABEL: Well, some of Bob Ross' happy little trees are branching out to help paint a brighter future for public television. Three original Bob Ross paintings are going up for auction today in Los Angeles, part of the largest release of his work ever offered to the public. The sale is being organized by American Public Television and will raise money for local PBS stations in the wake of federal funding cuts.
Well, that does it for us. Thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.
