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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Epstein Files Bill Headed To Trump's Desk; Crown Prince Gets Royal Treatment At White House; Iran Sends Message To Trump In CNN Exclusive. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 19, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:22]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Brian Abel. Thank you so much for being with us.

It's Wednesday, November 19th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What to make of this whiplash that everyone is experiencing here in Washington?

REP. KEVIN MASSIE (R-KY): Like 80 percent of Republicans, one of these files released and the other 20 percent just didn't care.

MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, SAUDI CROWN PRINCE: Thank you, Mr. President, for the warm and great welcome that we have today.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They treated this visit like a state visit.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What is your message right now to U.S. President Donald Trump?

KAMAL KHARRAZI, SENIOR POLICY ADVISER TO THE SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN: Refrain from any force against Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

ABEL: A bill compelling the Justice Department to release all the Epstein files is on its way to the U.S. president's desk. After months of infighting within the Republican Party, Donald Trump is expected to sign it later today after it won support from all but one Republican across both the House and the Senate. It's a remarkable turnaround for the president and Republican loyalists who had been attempting to block it.

But the topic, it appears to still be a hot button issue. Here's how the president responded to a question while hosting the Saudi crown prince on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Mr. President, why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it's not the question that I mind. It's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. As far as the Epstein files is, I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: House Speaker Mike Johnson says all Republicans wanted to go on the record to show their support for maximum transparency.

And Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer insists, quote, "the fight continues until the American people see all of the documents".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: This isn't about Democrats versus Republicans or about Congress versus the president. This is about giving the American people the transparency they've been crying for. This is about holding accountable all the people in Jeffrey Epstein's circle who raped, groomed, targeted and enabled the abuse of hundreds of girls for years and years. The American people have waited long enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: CNN's Manu Raju has more from Capitol Hill on the efforts to pass the new legislation.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a blink of an eye, the United States Senate passed a bill that was approved nearly unanimously by the United States House on Tuesday afternoon, 427 to one was the vote to approve the bill to compel the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. This bill, of course, had dogged the speaker of the house and the White House for months, which had fought, both of which had were fighting the bill. Speaker Johnson, not wanting to give a vote on this measure, contending that he -- the provisions would not adequately protect victims and victim's identity, something that the sponsors of the bill and some of the victims themselves had rejected.

And the president had called this matter a hoax and had urged Republicans to try to kill this altogether. In fact, the White House had urged Republicans not to sign on to an effort to force the bill on the House floor. Ultimately, they failed, and they ultimately got on to the bandwagon. The president on Sunday night greenlighting Republicans to support this bill. And then the speaker begrudgingly voting for it as well. The speaker, though, demanded changes to the Senate's bill that is

rejected by the Senate majority leader, John Thune, who previously had thrown cold water about moving ahead on this bill but agreed to allow it to pass very quickly in the United States Senate because of the overwhelming nature of its passage in the House.

Now, the question is, why did it -- what to make of this whiplash that everyone is experiencing here in Washington? I put that question to Congressman Thomas Massie. He's the champion of this bill. One of the three members in the House which forced this bill on the lead sponsors, ultimately forcing this bill on the House floor.

I asked him about the political fallout of this and why he believes that the leadership and the White House changed course.

MASSIE: The president was pitting the GOP conference against our own base, like 80 percent of Republicans wanted these files released, and the other 20 percent just didn't care.

[05:05:00]

There was literally nobody who said not to release these files. And so -- and it was also a campaign promise. I think the calculation ultimately for the speaker and the president was a political calculation. They realized this could jeopardize the majority if they took the side literally, the side of pedophiles and rapists.

RAJU: Now, when this bill becomes law, the Justice Department will have 30 days to release these files. If it does not, it will have to explain why it does not do so, will not do so within 30 days. There are reasons for not releasing the files, including if some of these are being investigated by the Justice Department.

Thomas Massie, though, did give me issue a warning when I asked him what happens if they don't release the files, he said they may go to the floor of the United States House and read the names of the alleged Epstein clients allowed on the House floor. He said it's something that, quote, "absolutely" prepared to do if they hit a wall on this effort.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Meanwhile, the House killed an effort by Republicans to censure Stacey Plaskett, a Democratic delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands. The non-voting delegate was accused of inappropriately coordinating with Jeffrey Epstein through text messages during a House Oversight Committee meeting back in 2019. The late sex offender instructed her on how to question President Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen.

Some House conservatives accused their own party of cutting a secret deal with Democrats to spare Plaskett from a formal reprimand. A spokesperson for her says she, quote, "welcomes information that helps her get at the truth and took on the GOP that was trying to bury the truth." Russian missile and drone attacks are being blamed for the deaths of at least 10 people overnight in Ukraine. The strikes hit several areas, including a pair of nine story residential buildings in Western Ukraine. Many regions were left without power as the attacks hit energy infrastructure again.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is live for us in London with what more we know about these strikes -- Clare.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brian, it was a very large combined missile and drone attack, which I think is part of a pattern that were seeing now in the fourth winter of this war of Russia, targeting critical infrastructure, energy sites, particularly brutal, as I say now, in this fourth winter. We're seeing reports of power outages across multiple regions. I think this is also part of an escalation on the Russian side. And we're seeing responses on the Ukrainian side as well.

But in terms of the detail of what happened today, as you say, the worst situation was in the western town of Ternopil, where you're seeing this video of Kharkiv. So, it was pretty widespread. But if we can show you video of Ternopil, two nine story buildings targeted 10 people dead as of now, that they are still going through the rubble, and more than three dozen injured. You can see those buildings there, clearly residential buildings.

We're also seeing that Western Ukraine was pretty much the main target today. And as a result of that, NATO had to scramble jets over the airspace of Poland and Romania. So, I think you can see that this is putting NATO on edge as well, part of a string of incidents. Romania even saying that a drone strayed into its airspace, according to their defense ministry.

So, look, this is clearly part of a pattern here. And it comes as Ukraine's general staff said on Tuesday that it had launched U.S.-made ATACMS missiles into Russia's Voronezh region. That's a western region, not quite on the border with Ukraine, but close. They say they hit military targets there were targeting military targets.

Russia claims to have shot them down, but it will clearly view this this very rare admission of the use of U.S.-made ATACMS missiles as an escalation. And of course, this comes as we see Zelenskyy continuing with his European tour, this time heading to Turkey. He's arrived in Turkey this morning.

He's expected, we think, to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, part of an effort, he says, to says, to reinvigorate negotiations. The Ukrainian side is hoping that this could lead to more prisoner swaps. The Russian side is not participating, but certainly this is a critical moment for Zelenskyy, having dealt with the biggest threat to his authority. This massive corruption scandal in Ukraine to rehabilitate his reputation, but also given the level of these attacks and the urgency of this situation, for Ukraine to not let the U.S.-led peace initiative, the U.S.-led peace process that has stalled in recent months to fall completely by the wayside -- Brian. ABEL: Yeah, these attacks just highlight how far we are away from

now. The summits in Alaska with President Trump and Putin, as well as the meetings at the White House with the European leaders. We will see what comes out of that meeting in Turkey.

Clare Sebastian in London for us -- Clare, thank you.

A U.S. Saudi alliance is solidifying after a red carpet welcome at the White House for the Saudi crown prince. Coming up, the latest on what emerged from his meeting with President Trump. Plus, an exclusive interview with a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader.

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What he says Washington must do to resume nuclear talks with Tehran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABEL: The White House rolling out the red carpet to welcome the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. President Trump capped a day of high-level diplomacy with the future king, hosting a star- studded dinner in the East Room. He confirmed the two nations are finalizing a defense treaty and the sale of U.S. F-35 fighter jets.

And before the evening was over, Trump announced a surprise geopolitical move. He had been keeping close to the vest during the day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, which is something that is very important to them. And I'm just telling you now for the first time, because I wanted to keep a little secret for tonight. I just heard him say, oh, that's nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: The crown prince's visit to Washington is his first since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

CNN's Nada Bashir is tracking all of this for us and joins us live now from London.

And Khashoggi's murder, Nada, became a flashpoint in the Oval Office, with the president actually snapping at journalists for even bringing up the topic.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It clearly was a key question on the minds of many during this visit. And of course, we saw that quite stunning scene in the Oval Office. A journalist asking about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the outrage that this has caused for many, seeing that warm reception by the U.S. president for Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. And as you mentioned, Brian, we did see the U.S. president kind of snapping at this reporter saying that she didn't have to embarrass their guest to the U.S.

And of course, he also went on to defend the Saudi crown prince, saying that he knew nothing about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist, and that, of course, contradicts U.S. intelligence. Intelligence, in fact, that was gathered during the president's first term in office, which indicates, according to U.S. intelligence, that the Saudi crown prince orchestrated the killing of the journalist in the Saudi embassy in Turkey.

So, clearly, a very stunning scene there. And this comes as the U.S. president aims to strengthen and revitalize the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. And of course, this comes on the heels of a huge investment boost from Saudi Arabia to the United States raising Saudi investment from $600 billion USD to $1 trillion USD. That was announced yesterday.

And as you mentioned, Brian, we're also seeing that relationship being strengthened on multiple fronts, not just economically, but also, of course, militarily, including the sale of U.S. F-35 jets, as well as now the designation by the United States as Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally. So, we are seeing that strengthening of the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

President Trump, during that meeting in the Oval Office, suggested that that relationship between the U.S. and Saudi had been quite strained under both Obama and Biden, but that that would not be the case under his presidential term. And, of course, they also touched on diplomatic relations with Israel. That is a key issue. Of course, President Trump saying that that was a key point of discussion between the two leaders at the Saudi leader had indicated Saudi Arabia's willingness to be part of the Abraham Accords.

So, clearly, key developments on that front as well. But again, this has raised huge amounts of backlash and concern given Saudi Arabia's human rights track record, given Saudi Arabia's involvement in, of course, foreign affairs that have raised great concern in the United States.

So, clearly, some issues there. But President Trump, making very clear that going forward, the bigger picture, relations between the two nations will be strong.

ABEL: Yeah. And this non-NATO agreement showcasing even though it is not exclusive, there are other countries. So it's not something that's unique, but definitely changing the way that Saudi Arabia stands on the global landscape.

Nada Bashir for us in London -- Nada, thank you.

President Trump has signaled he is open to resuming negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, and a senior Iranian official is echoing that sentiment.

In an exclusive interview with our Fred Pleitgen, the senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader says Tehran's conditions are still the same as they were before the U.S. and Israeli attack in June. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Who do you think needs to make the first move if you want to start talking again? Do you think they need to come to you, or would you be willing to contact them also?

KAMAL KHARRAZI, SENIOR POLICY ADVISER TO THE SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN: They have to make the first move to show that they are ready to engage with us on the conditions that we put.

PLEITGEN: What does that mean as far as Iran's nuclear program is concerned.

KHARRAZI: The nuclear program of Iran is indigenous and cannot be removed simply by force.

PLEITGEN: What are your red lines as far as the enrichment of uranium is concerned?

KHARRAZI: We have to continue our enrichment because we need to produce fuel or power plants as well for our medical activities. Therefore, we cannot just stop enriching uranium. The degree of enrichment is the question of negotiations.

PLEITGEN: And do you think that there could be a common understanding?

KHARRAZI: I think so. If there would be a genuine negotiations between Iran and the United States, there are ways and means how to ensure that Iran can continue its enrichment.

[05:20:09]

But at the same time, assured the others that it's not going to look for nuclear weapons.

PLEITGEN: One of the things that Iran prides itself on, and one of things that's very important to this country's defense, is your ballistic missile program. How are you looking to enhance that program?

KHARRAZI: Well, certainly, we have to defend ourselves whatever we can do in producing our missiles, certainly, we do not neglect. And that's the -- I mean, weapons that we can defend ourselves and safeguard our national security.

PLEITGEN: So Iran is going to continue to expand its ballistic missile program, because I know that some of the ballistic missiles are very sophisticated.

KHARRAZI: No question about that. And it is only nuclear issue that we are ready to engage with the United States and others. We are not going to speak to -- with others or negotiate with others on the other issues, including missile activities.

PLEITGEN: What, as we sit here, what is your message right now to U.S. President Donald Trump?

KHARRAZI: Start with a positive approach with Iran. If it would be positive, certainly it would be reciprocated. But for that, they have to refrain from any force against Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: President Trump's crackdown on immigration has spread to more states across the U.S., from Minnesota to North Carolina, and soon, Louisiana. We'll look at the protests happening against the sweeping federal actions.

Plus, changes are coming to Roblox. We'll tell you about the new rules the platform is rolling out in an effort to keep kids safe.

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[05:26:19]

ABEL: Federal agents confronted by protesters during an ICE operation in Minnesota's second largest city on Tuesday, the mayor's office in St. Paul says the agents used chemical irritants to push back the crowd. It's not clear how many protesters were arrested or injured. Some were seen kicking federal vehicles. This operation took place at a paper supply distributor. One man says his father and uncle were taken into custody after agents entered the business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESUS TREJO, HIS FATHER AND UNCLE TAKEN INTO CUSTODY: My dad worked here for so many years trying to support our family and was a good guy, no criminal, you know. He was -- he lived like any abiding citizen would. Would -- not a criminal, not. You know, he took good care of us.

I mean, I watched the stuff on social media hoping it wouldn't happen here today, but it happened today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: ICE says a search warrant was being served in a federal criminal investigation. Armed agents were wearing ICE, FBI, and you see some here, DEA vest. St. Paul's mayor says the city was not informed about the raid beforehand. And police were not involved.

The U.S. border patrol official overseeing the Trump administrations immigration crackdown will head to New Orleans early next month. The Homeland Security Department is expected to send 250 agents to Louisiana, similar to the number sent to cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte.

CNN's Gustavo Valdes is in North Carolina, where thousands of people turned out to protest across the state on Tuesday against these immigration raids.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Once again, people took to the streets in North Carolina, not only in Charlotte but also in Raleigh, where we got reports that immigration agents made some detentions over Tuesday. According to the authorities, more than 200 people have been detained since this operation started over the weekend, creating panic in the immigrant community across the street.

And not only with the immigrants, because we've heard a growing number of people, citizens or legal permanent residents who tell us that they have been detained for no apparent reason. Some of them have shown up in places where agents are detaining migrants, and they try to get information from the migrants so they can communicate to their relatives.

But I've spoken to a number of U.S. citizens. I spoke with a waitress who works not far from where we are, who told me that twice since this weekend, she has been detained. She is an American. She considers herself a mixed black and white person, born and raised in the United States. And she said that once she got pulled over and handcuffed for 30 minutes while police searched her vehicle, even though they saw that she had proper ID.

We've been in contact with immigration authorities to get some explanation as to why we are listening. We're hearing to so many complaints from U.S. citizens or people who otherwise shouldn't have any worry about being detained by immigration authorities. But this is what we are hearing.

And now the concern is not only in North Carolina, where many of the businesses have seen a sharp decrease in not only customers, but also workers who are afraid to go to work. But now the report is that the same group who has been doing enforcement in North Carolina would be heading to New Orleans.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says that these are not random acts, that they are acting on intelligence and that they are only targeting some migrants. But people here feel like the whole community is under attack.

Gustavo Valdes, CNN, Charlotte.

(END VIDEOTAPE)