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The Situation Room

Democrats Make Gains in Tennessee; Ukraine Talks in Moscow; Interview With New Orleans, Louisiana, City Councilmember Lesli Harris; President Trump Pardons Democratic Congressman. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired December 03, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We begin this hour with breaking news.

President Trump says he's pardoning Congressman Henry Cuellar. The Democrat and his wife both face federal charges on a bribery and conspiracy indictment. Both have denied wrongdoing.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Let's go straight to the White House and our Alayna Treene.

Alayna, why is Trump moving to pardon a Democrat here?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, look, we're just learning this now from the president posting about it on TRUTH Social.

And he's arguing that this is just the latest kind of pardon that he's issuing because he's arguing that the Biden administration went too far. In this case, he said that the Biden administration was targeting his political opponents by ousting, in the president's words, the former Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar.

Now, I'm going to read for you just some of what the president said. He said: "I am hereby announcing my full and unconditional pardon of beloved Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar and, Imelda Cuellar, his wife."

He said: "I don't know you, but you can sleep well tonight. Your nightmare is finally over."

Now, in part of that lengthy post you're seeing, the president also was arguing that the Biden administration -- quote -- "weaponized the justice system against their political opponents and anyone who disagreed with them."

The president is basically arguing here, Wolf and Pamela, that Henry Cuellar was one of the Democrats who was critical at times of the Biden administration's approach to immigration and the southern border. So that was some of the defense that the president used with this pardon.

But I want to be very clear on the crime that Henry Cuellar and his wife were indicted on and convicted on. So, this is back in May in 2024. Both Cuellar and his wife were charged with accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities. That's according to the indictment in a federal court in Texas.

So we will have to see where this comes from. One of my key questions is in my conversations with people at the White House, I hadn't been hearing talk -- we hear talk of pardons all the time. I hadn't been hearing talk of this specific pardon for Cuellar.

So the question is, who got in his ear about this? Why is this on the president's mind? But I would argue as well that, if you just look at some of the pardons and commutations we have seen the president issue in recent months, a lot of them have been what the Trump administration has argued is geared toward righting, they argue, of a too heavily enforced Biden administration Justice Department.

That has been the line we have heard repeatedly from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, from the president himself, arguing that Biden went too far, that his Justice Department was politicized. And so that's the argument that President Trump is using here to defend this pardon.

We're waiting on more details, as well for a reaction from Cuellar and what we might see a potential reelection run for him as well. We will see what happens from here.

BROWN: Yes, he was still facing those charges as he is getting this pardon from President Trump. Thank you so much, Alayna. We appreciate it.

BLITZER: And now to President Trump's increasing crackdown on immigration.

Today, federal authorities are launching a new operation in New Orleans with the goal of arresting thousands of the city's undocumented migrants.

BROWN: It is the latest action in a series of sweeping immigration policy changes made by the White House after two National Guard members were allegedly shot by an Afghan national.

Well, so far, the administration has taken steps to radically curtail immigration, including pausing all asylum decisions, reexamining certain green card holders and indefinitely halting immigration applications from more than a dozen countries.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has been following all of these changes.

What is the latest here? PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela and Wolf, we

should look at today as a clear picture of everything that the administration is doing across the U.S. immigration system that is very disruptive for illegal immigrants, as well as legal immigrants.

So let's start with New Orleans. That operation is starting today, the Department of Homeland Security announcing it. Of course, it is one that we anticipated for some time now. The expectation here or their goal at least is that they want to reach 5,000 arrests.

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That is a very hard number to reach, one that they have not reached in the other cities that they have been in. And the person that is helming this is going to be top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino. Of course, we have seen him in Chicago and Charlotte and Los Angeles. We know that he has heavy-handed and aggressive tactics that are often controversial.

And that is exactly what the city of New Orleans is bracing for. I'm also told by a federal law enforcement official that this won't just cover New Orleans. It actually going to extend all the way up to Baton Rouge. So this is going to be a pretty broad operation, as, again, they look for these targets and arrest anyone else.

This is an administration that also does arrest collateral. That's what they call them if they're targeting someone and get other people in the process. So we will see how this plays out,because, while this is a blue city, it's happening in a red state. And that, we haven't seen yet.

Now, the Louisiana governor has welcomed this, but how exactly all of this unfolds in the days to come is going to be very interesting.

BROWN: And there could be some more immigration activity in Minnesota, right?

ALVAREZ: Of course, yes.

So the president also talking about Somali undocumented immigrants. We're anticipating another aggressive operation happening in Minnesota. That might look a little different. This is Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They take a very targeted and strategic approach when they're doing these types of arrests, as they have done also in other parts of the country.

But what it speaks to is the fact that, while we may visually see these immigration crackdowns happening in various cities, behind the scenes, there is also these incremental and very important changes that are happening.

One of the biggest in some time now yesterday was the administration saying that they're going to halt immigration applications for nationals of those 19 countries of concern. That's important because that includes green cards. That includes naturalization. So these are people who are legally in the U.S. who have gone through the process who the administration is saying, actually, wait, we're going to put your applications on hold.

And it is those types of moves that can be so disruptive to the immigrant population in the United States, in addition to, for example, the changes to work visas, to student visas, to the halting of refugee admissions, except for those from South Africa and the ending of statuses like temporary protected status, which is -- actually, the administration ended for Somalis earlier this year.

So, certainly, when you take this all together, it gives us this very clear indication of the administration cracking down across the U.S. immigration system.

BROWN: And you are tracking it all. Thank you so much, Priscilla Alvarez. We appreciate it.

BLITZER: She always does.

BROWN: As you say, Wolf, she knows her stuff.

BLITZER: She knows her stuff, yes.

BROWN: All right, and we have some breaking news just coming in. Homeland Security says it is launching the latest law enforcement action. We were just talking about this with Priscilla.

And I want to talk with this, the city's council member, about all the fear that's going on and anxiety gripping the community.

And then, later, we're going to ask Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about Trump's immigration crackdown, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's future and the growing political fight over affordability.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BROWN: Happening now: The Trump administration is launching a new immigration operation in New Orleans. You just heard me talking about it with Priscilla.

And it's aimed at arresting migrants they're calling the worst of the worst.

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TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN, ASSISTANT U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We're first and foremost really focusing on those worst of the worst criminals, those criminals who have previously been locked up by local authorities, but then, because New Orleans functions as a sanctuary city, those individuals were not released to ICE they were instead released back onto New Orleans' streets.

So we're talking about child pedophiles who are on our list of targets, burglars, gang members, rapists. Those individuals, we are highly targeting.

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BROWN: And joining us now to discuss is New Orleans City Councilmember Lesli Harris.

Councilmember Harris, thank you so much for being here with us.

So what is your reaction to what you just heard from the homeland security spokesperson?

LESLI HARRIS (D), NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, CITY COUNCILMEMBER: Well, I think what they're talking about is not realistic, especially since they're rounding up 5,000 people, that is their target, between here in New Orleans to Baton Rouge.

And so I don't think that there are 5,000 worst of the worst out there. What we're learning is that they are targeting people who are here legally who have been deported, who are mothers of children, high school students.

So New Orleans right now is in a place of fear and anxiety over this planned Catahoula Crunch,as they're calling it.

BROWN: One of your colleagues on the City Council, Matthew Willard, said this campaign from the administration is causing -- quote -- "mass chaos and confusion" in the city.

What are you hearing from the residents that you represent?

HARRIS: I think that's absolutely right.

What we're hearing is a lot of people who are staying home from work, who are keeping their kids out of school because they are concerned about these ICE raids that have -- that are coming, that have already been happening here in New Orleans.

And so I think everybody is on high alert right now. We are a close- knit society in New Orleans. We just had a protest of over 100 people who were protesting in the rain about these ICE raids coming. And so I think we're just in that state of high anxiety right now.

BROWN: You heard the DHS spokesperson say that they're looking to target criminals like pedophiles. Do you see the upside and getting people like that off the streets?

HARRIS: We already have NOPD here, as well as Troop NOLA, which are the state troopers.

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So our NOPD is doing their job in getting criminals off the street. In fact, we're at the lowest amount of crime since the 1970s because of the efforts of our NOPD, assisted by the State Police. And so I don't think we need additional law enforcement here in order to round up people. BROWN: Well, as you heard, she argues that, because of the sanctuary

city laws that are in effect, that those who are undocumented here illegally that commit a crime, they're then released onto the streets, and that's really who they're targeting here.

What do you say to that aspect?

HARRIS: Again, I don't think that's correct. I don't think it's backed by the data. I did see the listing of people. I think it was about 10 people that they are naming as people who are the worst of the worst.

But, again, I don't see the data backing the numbers, especially given the 5,000 target that they are targeting right now.

BROWN: New Orleans is a city that relies heavily on tourism. How could this operation affect that?

HARRIS: Well, as I just said, people are staying home from work. A lot of legal immigrants work in the tourism industry. And so, with the lack of personnel who are showing up for work, it will affect our tourist industry.

And, listen, I think that people who are looking from the outside wanting to visit New Orleans, which is a blue city in a red state, might say, hey, I'm not going to go through with those travel plans because of these crackdowns, because of the administration right now.

BROWN: All right, Councilmember Harris, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

HARRIS: Thank you.

BROWN: Wolf.

BLITZER: And up next: The Kremlin is now giving new clues this morning about what happened behind closed doors when Russian President Putin met with President Trump's negotiators in Moscow. They met for five hours.

We have details.

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BLITZER: Now to Tennessee, where Republicans are celebrating a projected win from Matt Van Epps in the special election there.

But Democrat Aftyn Behn came within nine points of her opponent in a ruby-red district that Donald Trump actually won by some 22 points just last year.

CNN's Eva McKend reports from Nashville.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Though this wasn't the outcome that Aftyn Behn wanted, she very much gave an upbeat message to her supporters, saying that she was proud of the campaign that she ran, and that she's essentially not done yet.

She said that her campaign outperformed every metric that they had for themselves. You have to remember, this was not supposed to be a competitive contest here in Tennessee's Seventh Congressional District, where President Donald Trump won by more than 20 points last year in 2024.

But Behn made it so by focusing relentlessly on an affordability message and energizing the Democratic base. Well, Republican Matt Van Epps, he was victorious tonight, and he thanked President Donald Trump for that victory.

Van Epps, with a military background and elevating his America first agenda, Republicans have long maintained that he better fits the character of this district. Take a listen to how Behn and Van Epps addressed their supporters.

AFTYN BEHN (D), TENNESSEE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: This campaign proved that Tennessee is full of people who want to build something better, something that belongs to all of us. So tonight isn't the end. It is the beginning of a next chapter of Tennessee and American politics.

What a possibility, what a power, and what a progress for the people that we love.

MATT VAN EPPS (R), TENNESSEE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Our victory was powered by supporters of President Trump turning out to vote. The president built the largest, most diverse coalition to ever elect a Republican, and we leaned in on that. President Trump was all in with us, and it made the difference.

In Congress, I will be all in with him.

MCKEND: Now, Behn may very well decide to run in the future. This is a special election. She could run again in a Democratic primary, and, if she's victorious, in a general election.

But, for now, Republicans in Washington breathing a sigh of relief because they were able to hold on to this seat in their already fragile majority.

Eva McKend, CNN, Nashville.

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BROWN: All right, our thanks to Eva.

And just ahead, we are talking with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and we're going to ask him about President Trump's decision to pardon a fellow Democrat, Congressman Henry Cuellar.

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BLITZER: Happening now, NATO foreign ministers just wrapped up a critically important meeting in Brussels, with the war on Ukraine clearly topping their agenda.

NATO's secretary-general reiterating the alliance's support for the war-torn country.

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MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Ukraine continues to show incredible resilience. Putin believes he can outlast us. But we are not going anywhere.

Today is yet another clear sign that he is wrong. We are strengthening our support for Ukraine and increasing pressure on Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary-general.

That comes one day after marathon talks in Moscow between Russia's Vladimir Putin and President Trump's negotiators, the U.S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Those negotiations produced no breakthrough on a plan to end the war in Ukraine.

Joining us now to discuss what's going on, the former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker.

Ambassador, thanks so much for joining us.

Patience clearly is growing thin among European foreign ministers, NATO leaders, who say Vladimir Putin is not necessarily even interested in peace right now. Should NATO be at the table for these U.S.-led peace talks? And should Ukraine eventually be able to join NATO?

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR UKRAINE: Well, I'm not sure the peace talks are going to go anywhere, so I wouldn't really press for whether NATO is involved or not, although there should be very close coordination between the United States and our European allies.