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Laura Coates Live

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Leaves MAGA Tent; From Foe To Best Friends; President Trump's 28-Point Plan To End War. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired November 21, 2025 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Breaking tonight, a shock resignation. Marjorie Taylor Greene is calling it quits. Just days after President Trump branded her a traitor. Is MAGA about to get messy?

Plus, the reboot of The Odd Couple starring Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani. The stunning meeting today that had the president get this, praising the mayor he has called a communist. Mamdani's former Republican challenger, Curtis Sliwa will be my guest for his first interview since that meeting.

All tonight on Laura Coates Live.

All right. Can we talk about this breaking news tonight. Because who could have predicted that the week would start with the Marjorie Taylor Greene apology and end with a Marjorie Taylor Greene resignation? Yes, you heard correctly this evening.

One of the biggest names in MAGA world is officially throwing in the towel. It was a short time ago she announced that she will resign from Congress in January. She dropped the nearly 11-minute video on her social media and said the reason for calling it quits boils down to her public feud with President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Standing up for American women who were raped at 14 years old, trafficked and used by rich powerful men should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the president of the United States whom I fought for.

I have too much self-respect and dignity. I love my family way too much and I do not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president that we all fought for. Only to fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms and in turn be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Wow. Now that is a stunning move, especially for a woman who just eight months ago wore a red hat that said Trump was right about everything while on the floor of a joint session of Congress. Well, she now seems to think he's getting it all wrong. She blamed him for abandoning the America First agenda, spending more time on foreign policy than domestic issues, and she dug into him for blocking the release of the Epstein files.

She was one of the four GOP lawmakers who originally signed off on that discharge petition to force a vote on even releasing them. Going against, as you well know, Trump's wishes back then, she described her bills as collecting dust while waiting for a speaker who wouldn't bring them to the floor, a shutdown that further alienated her from her party, and also wanting term limits for Congress to avoid being what she described as an assisted living facility.

But it was her full-throated support of the release of those Epstein files that made the president turn his back against a woman that he once said he would hate to have as an enemy and branded her now a traitor. And speaking of support, he said he would give it to a primary challenge against her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Marjorie traitor Greene, I don't think her life is in danger. Frankly, I don't think anybody cares about her.

I don't know what happened to Marjorie. She's a nice woman, but I don't know what happened. She's lost her way, I think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Greene complained that she was getting a wave of death threats once Trump started publicly attacking her. A source close to her says that she'd been contemplating resigning for over a week. We're told she currently has no plans to run for any office, and according to her, she intends to now live her, quote, "best life."

My lead-off guest is somebody who knows what she is going through. The former Alabama Republican Congressman Mo Brooks. Donald Trump once endorsed him for Senate in 2022, only to pull it back after Brooks said that it was time to move on from Trump's 2020 election claims.

Congressman, welcome. You are in a unique position to maybe get into the mindset of one who makes his choice. Do you -- are you surprised that she has decided to resign?

[23:04:56]

FMR. REP. MO BROOKS (R-LA): I was surprised because Marjorie Taylor Greene is known to be a fighter, but apparently for a lot of different reasons, and I'll refer to her judgment, but I respect her judgment for what she's done. She's decided to not just not run for reelection but to resign from the United States Congress come January the 5th. That she would not stay for the second four year of her two-year term. That's mostly unfortunate, and it also puts at risk legislation that the Republicans might have otherwise been able to passed but for another congressman that is no longer there.

COATES: Because that very slim margin that Republicans even have because of the majority. But on this point the primary. It wasn't as if she was saying she thought she was going to lose that primary. She thought that she'd win the primary, but the idea of having to then come back, she believed the Republicans losing the midterms, and then have to defend a president who had poured millions into trying to destroy it through a primary. I mean, she continued this particular thread. Did you understand why she said that?

BROOKS: I did. I think I prefer not to comment on her motivations for using the words that she used. But I would like to remind your audience that a Republican although it's difficult you can win despite an endorsement of an opponent by Donald Trump. Thomas Massie in Kentucky, one of our very, very few freedom liberty-oriented Republican congressman, he's been down this road before and he's beat Donald Trump before.

So, you can do it but it's a challenge, and unfortunately in the kind of environment that we're in, I agree with lot of other pundits and with Marjorie Taylor Greene. When Donald Trump does what he did, that does increase the danger to yourself and your family.

COATES: Which is why many would wonder why more Republicans or Democrats or any member of Congress is not calling it out more full- throatedly because it seems as though the either or here is either you sign off completely or you on Donald Trump or you risk the very political climate that Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's contributed to and also now fears for violence reasons.

BROOKS: Well, I want to emphasize something to about President Trump. When he demands loyalty, when he calls you a traitor, he's not talking about loyalty to United States or betraying the United States. He's talking about loyalty to him and his agenda regardless of whether that's in the best interest of the United States of America.

And I personally agree with what precipitated all this with Marjorie Taylor Greene on the Epstein documents. Taxpayers paid for that investigation. By golly, it's their documentary evidence and they ought to be able to see it without it being scrubbed. Ans so, I agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene, with Nancy Mace out of South Carolina, with Lauren Boebert out of Colorado and Thomas Massie out of Kentucky.

This is something that people campaigned on, they kept their promises and then Donald Trump has turned on. That's wrong.

COATES: She didn't just point out the president, she also pointed the finger at Congress as the paralysis, she complained that nothing is actually getting done. She listed in that 11-minute video practically all the things that she was hoping to do, including taxes about the sale of one's primary residence, the idea of issues surrounding safety, her concerns about A.I. and beyond.

She's describing all this kind of getting dust because the speaker would not bring things forward. So, what are we seeing here? Is there a part of the MAGA base that agrees with her and the frustrations on government and Congress more broadly and if that's the case what does that mean for the midterms?

BROOKS: Well, absolutely that is one of the problems of United States Congress. Marjorie Taylor Greene on that point is spot on and I would emphasize though that the problem is not the House. The problem is United States Senate. They have a majority of the votes that has been bestowed upon them by the people of the United States of America and they have refused to use the power of the majority to pass a lot of legislation that we believe in.

And, as a consequence, House Speaker Mike Johnson is probably a bit hesitant to bring up bills are going to absolutely nowhere in United States Senate because the Senate Republicans refuse to use the power of the majority to pass the values that we believe in and said that we would act on when they ran for public office.

Now, 2026 midterms, look, I don't know if you remember Donald Trump promising that we're all going to get tired of winning. Well, I'd like to see the first time that we have won where President Donald Trump was on the ticket. He's 0 for four. We lost in 2017 when he was our party leader.

[23:10:02]

We lost in 2018 and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of House. We lost the House of Representatives again, then the Senate and the White House in 2020. And then in 2025, we have lost the number of different elections in New Jersey, Virginia, ballot measures elsewhere.

So, he's 0 for 4, and he promised us championships. You know, in college football, he'd have been fired if he was the coach. But this isn't college football and he's elected for four years, so I hope he will make the kind of changes that are necessary for Republicans to be able to avoid a bloodbath in 2026. But knowing Donald Trump's disposition it's going to be really hard for him to change his spots.

COATES: Is he a lame duck?

BROOKS: Pardon?

COATES: Is he now a lame duck?

BROOKS: Well, certainly by definition. He's not on the ballot anymore. He's been a lame duck ever since he was inaugurated earlier this year, by definition. Is his power being reduced? Yes, it is. Is his influence going downhill? Not only with elected officials, but also with the public. Yes, it is.

And probably the two best indicators of that are one which I've already touched on, the election debacle that we just went through where Donald Trump put his name out there and voters reacted adversely to it. But two, if you go to Real Clear Politics where they average the polls, they've been over 30 polls in a row now over the last month by over a dozen different pollsters and every single one of them shows a greater dissatisfaction with Donald Trump's job performance than satisfaction. And I think if you average out the most recent dozen or so polls, he's

underwater by about 12 points. That's almost a 20-point decline, catastrophic decline over the last what, 10 months now from when he was plus seven in January to being down minus 12 today.

COATES: And still three more years of this term at least.

Mo Brooks, thank you so much.

BROOKS: My pleasure. Thank you.

COATES: There's something else totally unexpected that happened today and that it went down the Oval Office. A place represents a lot of things, especially to the President of United States. I mean, it's gold. It's a lot of gold. It's power. It can be a place to be dressed down or sized up.

But today, it was something else, something very, very unusual. Happy wondering if Mercury was in retrograde. A stage for a political plot twist few saw coming, the love fest between Trump and New York Mayor- elect Zohran Mamdani.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?

MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-NY): I've spoken about that.

TRUMP: That's okay, you can just say yes.

MAMDANI: Okay.

TRUMP: It's easier. It's easier than explaining it. I don't mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: That's just a taste. You had arm pats. You had grody handshakes. You had wide-eyed smiles. You had reporters who did not seem to know what to make of it. Even Mamdani looked taken aback. And the rest of the 30-minute praise parade? It was well, maybe more flowery than a Kim Jong-Un love letter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think you're going to have hopefully a really great mayor. The better he does, the happier I am. I feel very confident that he can do a very good job. I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually. He said a lot of my voters actually voted for him. And I'm okay with that.

MAMDANI: I am really looking forward to delivering for New Yorkers in partnership with the president on the affordability agenda.

TRUMP: I expect to be helping him, not hurting him. A big help. I think this mayor could do some things that are going to be really great.

UNKNOWN: Would you feel comfortable living in New York City under a Mamdani administration?

TRUMP: Yes, I would. I really would. Especially after the meeting. Absolutely.

MAMDANI: I'm looking forward to working together to deliver on that affordability agenda.

TRUMP: If he could be a spectacular success, I'd be very happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: What did they serve at that meeting beforehand? What was the lunch? What was the breakfast? I just want to know. Maybe we can duplicate that, mass produce it in some way. Put it on Capitol Hill. Because it's kind of Twilight Zone type of things.

I don't have to remind you, I mean, the reason everyone is so taken aback, maybe damn near tickled, is because these guys were ripping each other for months. And it wasn't like months ago. It was within this month. I mean, Mamdani made Trump a foil during his campaign and Trump, up until, well, a few hours ago, was trying to make Mamdani political enemy number one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAMDANI: I am Donald Trump's worst nightmare as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in.

TRUMP: This communist from New York someday gets elected. I can't believe that's happening. That's a terrible thing for our country, by the way. He's a communist.

[23:15:00]

MAMDANI: And it's where the mayor will use their power to reject Donald Trump's fascism.

TRUMP: I call him my little communist. He's my little communist mayor.

MAMDANI: So, hear me, President Trump, when I say this. To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.

TRUMP: It's a disaster waiting to happen. We can't have a communist in charge of a great supposedly free enterprise, kind of a representative city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Is Mercury retrograde? I should check that out. If the president planned to use Mamdani's policies as a midterm campaign issue, well, that ship just sailed. At least for now. Because Trump just blew up his own party's attack line. I mean, including ads like this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: A radical left earthquake just hit America. The epicenter? New York. The new socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, built his movement on defunding the police and abolishing ICE. Now the socialists are celebrating. They call it progress. We call it chaos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: It's also going to make it real complicated for Republicans like Elise Stefanik, who is running for governor in New York. She is, of course, one of Trump's biggest allies. It is already saying that she and Trump are going to have to agree to disagree on this one after he shot down her strategy of calling Mamdani a jihadist.

So, what has been the reason for this change is about face? It's perhaps political bromance. I can't tell if it's one-sided or not. The answer is we don't know. But if you listen close to one thing Trump kept coming back to, a little clue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We talked about some things in very strong comment, like housing and getting housing built. And food and prices, you know, the new word is affordability. Another word is just groceries. It's sort of an old-fashioned word, but it's very accurate. And they're coming down, they're coming down. I mean, he wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down, all things that I agree with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: So now imagine that you're Curtis Sliwa, the Republican who tried to defeat Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, the Republican who Trump refused to endorse. The Republican who says that he rejected 10 million bucks to get out of the race. What do think Curtis Sliwa is thinking right now?

Well, you know what? Let's ask him. He's on with me tonight. Next.

[23:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: I thought politics was about the October surprises. Well, here's a November one that is going to make for very interesting conversations around your Thanksgiving dinner tables next week.

Longtime Trump ally turned foe Marjorie Taylor Greene exiting stage left. Neither was the surprising love fest in the Oval Office, one that I had predicted, where President Trump appeared completely charmed by Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani following many months of insults. I've rarely seen a no-hard feelings. Handshake actually work. But stranger things, well, they keep happening.

Here for reaction, Mamdani's former competition, Republican candidate for mayor of New York City, Curtis Sliwa.

Curtis, thank you for being here. What was your reaction to that meeting?

CURTIS SLIWA (R), FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Well, see, I'm the street guy, and as you know, Donald Trump did not support me to become the next mayor. And you're going to find out why. Because we just all got played for eight months. Everyone in the world, everyone in the country, everyone in New York City got played by these two thespians, these actors.

Because remember, eight months ago, we thought it was Godzilla versus King Kong. There was Zohran Mandani calling Donald Trump a fascist. He's not. And then Donald Trump calling Zohran Mamdani a communist. He's not. And then as you mentioned, just recently, the president said, I'm going to withhold $7 billion of badly needed federal funding for New York City if you elect Zohran Mamdani. And then Zohran Mamdani on the night of his victory turns and looks into the television and says, Donald Trump, if you're listening, turn up the volume.

So, they're like antagonizing their followers. And then all of a sudden today we're expected to believe kumbaya, everything is fine, everything moves normally. No, no, no, no, no. I don't get played. I feel that I, like the American people, were turned into suckers to, all of a sudden start adversarially wanting to go at one another when in fact we can see the reaction today which is, oh, you're going to be building.

And you see there's a back story here that a lot of people around the world and throughout the country don't understand. In that second debate, Zohran Mamdani was on the ropes because there was an initiative in referendum part of this election on the back of the ballot, whether you were for the city of yes or no. And the city of yes basically was for developers, for realtors. They could build 40- story apartment buildings, supposedly affordable, throughout the city, and they would make a lot of money. These are billionaires.

And Zohran would not say what his position was. I'm always opposed. I'm in favor of the blue-collar working class. Andrew Cuomo was wined down the pocket line by the developers. Do you know on the night before the election, Zohran Mamdani said yes, to all my Zohranistas, vote yes to build, build, build. And that was a favor to all the builders and billionaires.

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: Well, one second though on that.

SLIWA: And if you notice, that's what Donald Trump was talking about.

COATES: I realize he is a builder and he's talked about that. But I do, I mean, the idea of them being in cahoots, many could be unfathomable, as is maybe this meeting today.

[23:25:05] But he did threaten to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding. education, housing, infrastructure projects, which New Yorkers do rely on. And the idea of walking that back and saying that he wants to work with Mamdani, let's just say he's not being played. Is a good relationship between Mamdani and Trump actually helpful to New Yorkers?

SLIWA: Of course. And that's what I was saying all through the campaign, no matter who was elected mayor. But don't you think these two men who spent eight months attacking one another and engaging their followers to ferment anger towards one another, all the American people and the people of New York City, an apology for doing that, because clearly they didn't mean it.

They went into that meeting today, oh, all is forgiven, all is forgotten. And you know this is the midterm elections. This is about the newly discovered situation of Donald Trump before, you know, affordability costs the living. That was fake news. You know, while he was having his party at Mar-a-Lago, the Great Gatsby in building his $300 million ballroom in the White House, the East Wing, that's not needed.

Now, all of a sudden, he's at an epiphany. Oh, affordability and the cost of living is the road to victory in the midterm elections. That's why you can't ever trust any of these politicians. They sell you wolf tickets. And I'm tired of buying wolf tickets. I'd rather be honest and tell you the truth and maybe hurt some feelings than to do what we witnessed today, which was clearly an Academy Award winning performance by both of them.

COATES: Let's talk about the performance because obviously a Republican was not successful in this. Do you think by making Mamdani the boogie man, it actually hurt Republicans? Should they have not done so and it would have bettered chance of Republicans?

SLIWA: Well, I say to my fellow Republicans, as I said from day one, when nationally they began to attack Zohran Mamdani's religion and culture, it was a major mistake. It mobilized Muslims who started to register to vote, some for the very first time, and they became a force to be reckoned with. That was a major mistake.

Attack him on his positions, attack him on his weak law and order policy, because clearly that was his Achilles heel. But every day there was discussion about who should drop out, who should drop out so that we could take down Zohran Mamdani. Remember --

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: By the way, you say you were offered millions of dollars to drop out. Someone tried to -- you say the billionaires tried to buy you out of the race for up to $10 million.

SLIWA: Correct. Correct. And then there were threats against me and my wife. I had to have armed security the rest of the way. But remember there was one point, Laura, in which supporters of Donald Trump, MAGA people, and I know many of them, I'm not MAGA, but they were urging the president to deport Zohran Mamdani. Deport Zohran Mamdani.

And today, it was almost like Kumbaya. That's why I'm saying, people out there in America and around the world, question authority. Don't just be a follower.

When you see situations like this, we're all entitled to an apology for the eight months both these men put us through and we're entitled to the truth. Because I don't think the truth was told and that office today to the world, to America, and to the residents of New York City who were pitted against one another in a vicious way. They were mad dogging one another and now we're just supposed to forgive and forget. I'm sorry. We got played.

COATES: Curtis Sliwa, thank you.

SLIWA: My pleasure. Anytime.

COATES: Well, that was his view. What about the view from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party? Does Nina Turner think that you were all played? Well, she's here and she'll tell us what you think right after this.

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: You've heard from a former Mamdani opponent and what he thinks of the incredibly friendly Trump-Mamdani meeting. I wonder. How are the mayor-elect supporters seeing it tonight?

You know what, my next guest is one of them, Nina Turner, an alum of the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign, also a former state senator in Ohio.

Welcome back. I'm eager to hear what you think about this meeting today.

NINA TURNER, NATIONAL CO-CHAIR, BERNIE SANDERS 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Thanks, Laura. And it's great to be with you always. I mean, President Donald J. Trump likes a winner. Mayor-elect Mamdani won the race. They're both fond of New York and so they had to come together. It's almost as if the jousting back and forth did not happen. I mean, in a way, you kind of feel like you're in a multiverse.

But this, you know, one of every four New Yorker lives below the poverty line. And so, these folks need President Donald J. Trump and Mayor-elect Mamdani to be able to deliver on the populism that they both promoted.

Now, Mayor-elect Mamdani is more willing to deliver on that than President Donald J. Trump has proven to do heretofore even though he ran as a populist so far, he's governing like an elite.

COATES: Talk to me about that transition from being a campaigning politician to one who's now in office and obviously has to represent those who voted for them and who voted against them, and also try to get out of the pigeonhole that their opponents want to put them in. Is this essentially what we're just seeing in that next step to

leadership of you've played a game in campaigning and now you have to actually come to a table and at the head is the president?

[23:35:07]

TURNER: I mean that's absolutely right. You want to get things done. So, if you really want to get things done, then you have to come to the table to talk to people who you otherwise might not always agree with. That's called governing. And a lot of folks who've never been in those kinds of positions or never served elected officials who have been in those positions might see this as a bit stunning.

The proof is going to be in, whether or not these two leaders will be able to deliver the affordability that the voters of New York City voted for. You know, Laura, even in my time in the legislature, Governor John Kasich, who him and I talk on a regular basis, we're close to this very day, we joust it all the time.

COATES: I remember.

TURNER: But when it came down to really delivering, absolutely, I know you do, when it came to really delivering things of substance, then we put aside that jousting, put aside who's a Republican, who's a Democrat to be able to deliver for the people that we serve. And that was not on every issue, but you got to know when it's time to stop playing games.

And so President Donald J. Trump has made it clear today and we're to be able to hold him to account to the things that he said in that meeting and the things he said at the press conference that now all the world knows.

COATES: Why Mamdani and not say leader Jeffries or Schumer? Why is he willing to work with the former, not the latter?

TURNER: Yes, don't get me started on those two. I think that this moment that folks saw between the president and the mayor-elect should be illuminating for Democratic voters who have been let down. You don't -- do not ask the same folks who lost the popular vote -- the popular vote to President Donald J. Trump, hadn't been lost by a Democrat in 20 years until that moment, and lost the Electoral College to be able to get the Democratic faithful, the party itself, out of the mire that it is in right now.

President Donald J. Trump does not have to joust with Mayor-elect Mamdani on a regular basis in the same way that he has to joust with Leader Jeffreys and Senator Schumer. Also, the level of vitriol between, you know, him and Mayor-elect Mamdani are really just getting started. If you put aside all of the rhetoric from the primary they are really getting started and hopefully they don't have to have a love test. Nobody is asking them to marry one another.

What people of New York need is exactly what the people of the United States need. Working class people need some relief. And Leader Jeffries and Senator Schumer, they should be ashamed of themselves. But I'm going to tell you something, Laura, I think Mayor-elect Mamdani got more done in his little bit of time with the president than they've gotten from the first term and even in this term. They are weak leaders and they need to step down. They need to go.

COATES: Somehow the SNL script is writing itself. Nina Turner about this meeting and of course the reaction that so many are having. Thank you so much.

TURNER: Thank you.

COATES: Speaking of conversations with members of Congress and leadership, there is outrage over the president's new peace plan for Ukraine. One that Trump says Zelenskyy needs to agree on in less than a week. Or else, that's it.

Two of the smartest reporters covering this space, David Sanger, Josh Rogin, with me to unpack it all next.

[23:40:00y]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: What's in a deal? Well, it depends on who you ask. Even if it's a peace deal aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine. President Trump wants Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign it by Thanksgiving. That's Thursday. But Zelenskyy will likely find little to be thankful for in the 28-point plan. It calls on Ukraine to cede much of its eastern territories to Russia, shrink its military, abandon plans to join NATO, and hold elections in 100 days, presumably to kick Zelenskyy out of office.

And despite Trump saying the Russian President Vladimir Putin will accept some punishment, there's no sign of that in this deal. So while the deal offers Putin more power, and Trump a path to make good on a campaign promise for Zelenskyy, the deal is a choice between, as he puts it, losing in dignity or key ally. And Trump says Zelenskyy basically has no choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He'll have to like it. And if he doesn't like it, then, you know, they should just keep fighting, I guess, you know?

UNKNOWN: The suggestion that you made, though, was that if he doesn't accept it, that the U.S. would pull back its support for Ukraine.

TRUMP: Well, at some point, he's going to have to accept something. You know, he hasn't accepted. You remember right in the Oval Office not so long ago, I said, you don't have the cards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: We all remember that moment for a lot of reasons. I want to bring in two reporters with impeccable sources in reporting on the war, CNN analyst and White House and national security correspondent for the New York Times, David Sanger, and lead global security analyst for Washington Post intelligence, Josh Rogin.

Let me ask you, Josh, first. I mean, the deal, I just outlined it. It clearly favors Russia. Yet the White House is almost spinning this, and we'll take out the word almost, is spinning it as if it is a deal that Zelenskyy ought to or should accept. Why?

JOSH ROGIN, LEAD GLOBAL SECURITY ANALYST, WASHINGTON POST INTELLIGENCE: Right. Well, it's clear that the president has decided that this is the deal that he wants without consulting the Ukrainians or even the Europeans on the details and that's created a situation where all the pressure is on the Ukrainians and not on the Russians and it places Zelenskyy in an impossible situation because he cannot agree to the deal.

[23:44:53]

He, through the laws and processes that govern Ukraine, he can't do it even if he wanted to and he can't and he doesn't want to. So he's essentially put Zelenskyy in a choice between disobeying him or disobeying the laws of his own country.

So, it's pretty predictable what's going to happen. The Ukrainians are not going to be able to accept the deal. They're going to try their best to play nice with Trump so that they don't get blamed for it. But in the end, the terms are such that the Ukrainians will be forced to reject them. And perhaps Trump and J.D. Vance will use that as a pretext to cut U.S. funding for Ukraine or U.S. support for Ukraine.

And in that situation, yes, the fighting will go on. But no, this won't end in a negotiated solution because they didn't negotiate. They didn't even care that the Ukrainians had a completely different set of interests and laws and values.

And in the end, Ukrainians, if you just talk to them, you know that they don't want to live on their knees. They're not going to sacrifice their right to have a military. They're not going to give up land to Russia that Russia doesn't already control because that's condemning the people that live in those lands to a life of hell. So, it's really predictable and sad that this gambit is going to fail.

COATES: And the deadline of one week, I mean, obviously, people have wonders and questions of why. Is that arbitrary? Is it tied to something? Is it, to his point, seems completely unreasonable.

DAVID SANGER, WHITE HOUSE & NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: It doesn't appear to be tied to anything. Usually the president's deadlines are, we'll know in two weeks. You know, healthcare, Vladimir Putin responding to something. This one was Thanksgiving, even President Trump was backing away from it some today.

But I think the fundamental thing to look for here today, and you saw it in that clip, is that we have now seen the president move from where he was in February with the you don't have the cards moment, to swinging a bit more toward Putin, until the meeting at Anchorage, which was such a disaster that it ended early. Putin left without eating the lunch. And Trump --

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: Trump was critical of him.

SANGER: Trump was very critical of him, threatened sanctions and so forth, told Zelenskyy, oh, I think you could win the entire battle by yourself, just given enough how you're doing so well. Okay. Then, of course, discovering that the sanctions aren't going to actually move Putin. He's now just trying to get a deal, any deal, by the end of the year.

Now, a cynic might say that that is related to the president's desire to check this one off for the Nobel Peace Prize. He has said this has been the hardest one and he was surprised by that. I don't know why he was surprised by that, but Josh had it just right. What this would require Ukraine to do is not only give up territory that the Russians aren't in right now, it would require it to basically give up the functions of an independent state.

COATES: Yes. Talk to me about this phrase because Trump is saying, Josh, that Putin is, quote, "taking punishment." That's the phrase, taking punishment for invading Ukraine. Where is that laid out in this peace plan?

ROGIN: Sure. I mean, I guess what he's referring to is the fact that the Russian side is taking heavy casualties. This is costing the Russian society. It's costing the Russian economy. The Russian people can't be happy about this. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean Putin's going to stop. And, you know, they have a totalitarian dictatorship, so they can force their people to die forever.

Now, that doesn't mean that they're going to win. And the Ukrainians have something that the Russians don't have, which is they have the will to fight to defend their homes and their country and their dignity and their society. And that's a pretty strong thing.

If we look around the world, look at Syria, look at any country that's undergone a struggle against totalitarian dictatorship, they'll fight for a really, really long time, a lot more than three years, with or without our support. And that's where the Trump-Vance theory of the case really breaks down. They think if America withdraws its support for Ukraine, Ukrainians are going to have to surrender. That's not true. They're not going to surrender. They're going to keep fighting. More of them are going to die. They're going to be worse off. The Russians are going to advance.

But people don't like to live on their knees and the Ukrainians are not going to live under Putin's cruel rule whether we help them or not.

COATES: Do you think it's serious a threat that Trump or Vance would support withdrawing support from Ukraine?

SANGER: So, there's no monetary support right now the United States is providing. That's run out after the Biden era.

COATES: Right.

SANGER: President Trump has said he'll sell weapons, but that means the Europeans buy the American weapons. They get built here. They get shipped through Europe to them. The one thing that the U.S. does provide that is absolutely critical for the Ukrainians is intelligence. Without that they can't be doing the targeting and so forth.

They pulled back on it briefly after that disastrous meeting in February just to show --

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: Between Putin and Trump.

SANGER: No, the meeting in February between Zelenskyy and Trump.

COATES: Between Zelenskyy.

SANGER: Just to show Zelenskyy they could turn it on and turn it off. But since that time, it's been back on.

[23:49:58]

One more point to your question to Josh and Josh's answer on the punishment that Putin may be taking. You may remember that both the Justice Department and the State Department had units that were doing nothing but collecting information on war crimes, mostly Russian war crimes.

You remember Bucha, where so many of the civilians were killed and so forth. So, if this war ever did end, there could be an equivalent of the war crimes trials you saw at the end of say World War II and so forth.

This document says there is a full amnesty on both sides that would end any such prosecution. Now the president had already, President Trump had already disbanded, largely disbanded those units in justice and state, but still this basically says there will be no justice.

COATES: Unbelievable. David Sanger, Josh Rogin, not the end of this story at all. Thank you.

SANGER: Thank you.

ROGIN: Thank you.

COATES: A quick break ahead. But first, voting is now underway for the 2025 CNN Hero of the Year. You can do so at cnn.com/heroes. And today's hero is providing therapy dogs to comfort and ease the stress of firefighters, police officers, and first responders all across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNKNOWN: To fight the fires in California is like a war zone. It's grueling work, it's smoky, it's hot. It's dangerous. They go for a minimum of two weeks, 24 hours on, 24 hours off. That stress to have it lightened with a therapy dog visit is priceless.

We got Kerith in 2018 and we were training her to become a working guide dog. She was just too friendly to every single person. So I started doing therapy dog work with her.

During the 2020 fire season, going around to fire base camps, she was so good at just making the firefighters feel better. I started posting pictures on her Instagram. Then I was getting messages, can you come to my husband's police department? I'm like, yes, sure.

Now we have hundreds of therapy dog teams across the entire country. We go to fire base camps, fire stations, police departments, 911 dispatch centers. All first responders would benefit.

UNKNOWN: The average adult male lives around 18 years longer than the average adult police officer. And that is often because of chronic stress. And oftentimes as a defense mechanism, we close up.

UNKNOWN: Is this for first responders?

UNKNOWN: Yes.

UNKNOWN: She's so soft.

UNKNOWN: When we are around emotional support animals, you just see that all sort of melt away.

UNKNOWN: Cortisol levels go down. The endorphin levels go up. I can feel that goodness just coming up a leash.

UNKNOWN: Just to have a dog come by and she can't talk, can't ask questions, it can kind of break the ice.

UNKNOWN: Oh, I missed you too.

UNKNOWN: The first time I met Kerith, I had undiagnosed PTSD. She just picked up on it right away. She just went nose to nose with me. And we just had a moment. And it broke me down. This was my wakeup call that I needed to go to therapy. They're man's best friend for a reason.

UNKNOWN: We have helped so many people. I'm grateful to Kerith for showing me the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: It's almost midnight here on this Friday night on the East Coast. Have a talk with our friend Elex Michaelson out in L.A.

Nice to see you. Hey, I have got to get your take on something. The transportation secretary Sean Duffy had to say. Elex, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly. You know, I see people getting on airplanes. You're having a hard time taking their luggage and getting in the oversized or the above bin. Help people out, be nice, be courteous. And so we want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season. Help people out, be in a good mood, dress up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: I don't know that's going to stop the delays that might happen, but I personally don't wear pajamas on the flight. I don't like it, but that's just me. What about you? Are you a helper people outer?

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Of course, I'm a helper people outer.

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: I know you will help me.

MICHAELSON: Got to lift up the bag. And I'm 6'5", so I'm always the person that everybody asks to lift things up. So, I get that role down.

COATES: Well, I'm five-three and a half, and I'm the one asking you to lift this up. Thank you very much.

MICHAELSON: We're all working together.

COATES: Are you a P.J. person? Are you sweatpants on the fly? Are you in a suit and tie? What are you wearing?

MICHAELSON: I'm at least in jeans. But sometimes traveling for work, I'm in the suit and tie. But what about you? I mean, you're so famous going through the airport. Are you the sunglasses and --

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: Oh, yes. No. All that.

MICHAELSON: -- the hoodie and everything just to keep everybody away?

COATES: I put on a Jake Tapper mask and people tend to come up and ask lots of questions and then I answer them how I see fit that day. For some reason it never works out.

MICHAELSON: Sure. You had a lot of feedback.

COATES: A lot of feedback. Just kidding, Jake.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

COATES: Anyway, you spoke to Congressman Eric Swalwell tonight. Tell me what's coming up. A major announcement I think happened.

[00:00:02]

MICHAELSON: Yes, he's running for governor and his first TV news sit down of the campaign is with us on The Story Is. So, first time he's talked about really the substance of his campaign, why he wants to run, a lot of new policy proposals that I've never heard before. He's speaking on for the first time. That's right here on The Story Is.

COATES: Ooh, I can't wait to hear it. All right, well, have a great weekend. In the meantime, The Story Is coming up. Have a great show.

MICHAELSON: You too, Laura. Have a great weekend. And we start The Story Is right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)