Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Supreme Court Hears Case That Could Expand Presidential Power; Trump Slams Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene After First Interview Since Resignation Announcement; Tsunami Warnings In Japan After 7.6- Magnitude Earthquake. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired December 08, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: -- football playoff is set. Top four seeds are Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia and Texas Tech earning first round.

[11:00:05]

But drama though with the last four spots. Alabama keeps their ninth seed despite getting blasted by Georgia in the SEC title game. Miami getting the final at-large bid. Conference champs Tulane and James Madison are in while ACC champs Duke are out. And a huge buzz Wolf and Pamela. Notre Dame being left out. And how Notre Dame responded, they said they will not play in a bowl game. A devastating blow for the bowl system. But no fighting Irish in the bowl season this year. December 19th, we will have that kickoff of the first round of the playoffs.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And we'll be watching. Coy, thank you very, very much.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Coy.

The next hour of Situation Room starts right now.

Happening now, presidential power. Right now, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case that could expand the amount of power presidents have, including over who they can fire in the government.

BLITZER: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

BROWN: And we begin this hour with a major test of presidential power as the Supreme Court is set to consider just how much authority President Trump has over independent federal agencies.

BLITZER: Right now, justices are hearing arguments in the closely watched case of a former Trump-appointed member of the Federal Trade Commission who was fired by President Trump after he said she didn't align with his agenda. I want to bring in CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig right now. He's been listening closely to all these arguments. What have you heard so far, Elie? ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Wolf, it's going very well for the Trump administration so far. So the arguments are still ongoing. But the battle lines here have been drawn very clearly. The court's six conservative justices clearly seem to agree with the Trump administration's position that the President is the head of the executive branch and therefore can fire agency heads for any reason he wants.

However, the three liberal justices strongly oppose that. They've been essentially arguing through their questions that Congress passed a law saying the President can only fire those agency heads for good cause, for poor performance on the job or other bad conduct.

However, the numbers are the numbers here. And it seems the conservatives are making a strong case here that the President should have the power, notwithstanding a longstanding precedent that the President should have the power to choose to remove those agency heads from the FTC and other similar agencies, really for any reason he wants.

BLITZER: What will a decision, Elie, in this case say about the scope of the executive power?

HONIG: Yes, well, so there is a fundamental recalibration of executive power happening in this country right now. So the argument that the Trump administration's lawyer, the Solicitor General John Sauer, is making is essentially something that's been called for a long time the unitary executive theory, meaning the President is the duly elected head of the executive branch and he can do whatever he pleases within the executive branch. And it violates separation of powers for Congress to try to come in and limit that.

Now, for a long time, Wolf, for decades, that's been a theory, but it hasn't really caught hold. Now, however, that you have the Trump administration in power, that you have six conservative justices on the Supreme Court, this unitary executive theory is really reaching its pinnacle and it is becoming the law of the land. And again, the liberals were pushing back.

At one point, Justice Sotomayor said, don't we risk making the President a king? Essentially, she said, even kings cannot remove whoever they want for whatever reason they want. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Justice Kagan voiced similar concerns about giving the President too much power. But the response from John Sauer, essentially, we're not saying the President can do whatever he wants throughout all of government. We are saying the President controls the executive branch and has complete power within that executive branch.

BLITZER: Next month, Elie, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider another case involving the President's firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Is this case the same as that one we've just been talking about?

HONIG: So, good question. This has actually come up in the arguments today. It is clear that whatever the ruling is today with respect to the FTC will impact most of the other two dozen or so independent agencies in the executive branch, the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and on and on.

However, justices from both sides, including Justice Kavanaugh, have made a point of asking the Trump administration's lawyer, but isn't the Fed different? And the Trump administration's lawyer said, yes, it is. So the Fed seems to stand separate and apart from these other agencies. And while the Trump administration seems very likely to win this argument about the FTC, it's clear that the Fed is going to raise different issues and that the President may not have such broad power to remove Fed chairs.

BLITZER: When do you think we'll hear a ruling?

[11:05:04]

HONIG: Well, Wolf, ordinarily, we get the big, important rulings from the Supreme Court at the very end of their term, which usually means May and into June. However, the Supreme Court expedited the briefing and oral argument in this case, I think in recognition of the fact that the stakes here are so high. So it would not at all surprise me if we get a ruling from the Supreme Court sometime in the early part of 2026.

BLITZER: Elie Honig, as always, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf, happening now, all eyes are back on Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene after the Trump loyalist turned critic spoke out in her first sit down interview since announcing her resignation from Congress. Here's what she said about her colleagues in the GOP and President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I think they're terrified to step out of line and get a nasty Truth Social posts on them. Yes, I watched many of my colleagues go from making fun of him, making fun of how he talks, making fun of me constantly for supporting him to when he won the primary in 2024. They all started, excuse my language, Leslie, kissing his ass and decided to put on a MAGA hat for the first time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, President Trump on Truth Social this morning said the congresswoman is, "not America first or MAGA and her new views are those of a very dumb person." So let's go live now to CNN's Arlette Saenz on Capitol Hill. Arlette, what else did the congresswoman say?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is not holding back and talking about criticism of President Donald Trump and her fractured relationship. It really is a remarkable turn of events when you think about how Taylor Greene was one of the President's most ardent supporters up here on Capitol Hill.

But slowly there has been a dissolving infraction -- with fractured relationship between the President and the Georgia congresswoman. One thing she also spoke about in this interview on "60 Minutes" was the President's frustration with her for being one of four Republicans to sign on to a discharge petition, which forced a vote on the House floor to release the Jeffrey Epstein files in full.

And she talked about in this interview her conversation with President Donald Trump on that issue. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREENE: We did talk about the Epstein files and he was extremely angry at me that I had signed the discharge petition to release the files. I fully believe that those women deserve everything they're asking. They're asking for all of it to come out. They deserve it. And he was furious with me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did he say?

GREENE: He said that it was going to hurt people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, she has also broken with her party on a host of other issues, including on health care and Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to keep the House out of session throughout the government shutdown. Now, Marjorie Taylor Greene surprised many up here on Capitol Hill when she announced she will be resigning from Congress in the coming weeks.

And one thing that she said in this interview is that she has no plans to run for political office going forward after leaving Congress after just a few short years.

BROWN: All right. Arlette Saenz, thank you so much. And we just want to note that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene will be on the show here in The Situation Room with me and Wolf tomorrow.

BLITZER: I'm looking forward to that interview tomorrow with her.

BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: Also, breaking news coming into The Situation Room right now, a new video just out of Japan captures the moments. A very powerful earthquake slammed the country this morning, and you can see the lamps in this person's home swinging wildly. Because of the earthquake, parts of Japan's coast now under what's called tsunami warnings. CNN's Hanako Montgomery is following this very closely from Tokyo right now. So what's the latest right now? What's happening?

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, the Japanese government has issued that tsunami warning, as you mentioned, which means that parts of Japan, especially in northern Japan, which was very close to the epicenter, could see waves up to three meters hitting its coast. So the Japanese government so far has warned residents, especially those living near the coastlines, to evacuate, to get to higher ground, and to wait for any further information.

And, Wolf, I do want to just point out here that this earthquake was very, very powerful. It measured 7.6 in magnitude. And I live in Tokyo, and even I felt it. I was actually just getting ready for bed. I was in my pajamas when this earthquake hit, and my entire apartment began to shake. So you can just imagine how powerful and how frightening this earthquake was for residents who live in the northern parts of the country.

Now, the Japanese prime minister has said that the Japanese government is responding to this disaster. They will be putting their full efforts behind this and will be conducting any search and rescue missions if any are needed. They'll also assess any potential damage from this earthquake and the subsequent tsunamis.

[11:09:56]

But so far, Wolf, even though a tsunami warning has been issued where we could see waves of up to three meters hitting Japan's coast, so far, the tsunami waves haven't been that high yet, some measuring less than a meter, about half a meter. So again, these are updates that we will be monitoring in the coming minutes and hours as Japan continues to respond to this natural disaster. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Hanako Montgomery on the scene for us in Japan. Thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, still ahead here in The Situation Room, the Trump administration says its recent immigration enforcement surges are meant to get criminals off the street. But CNN has some new reporting on just how often that's actually been the case.

BLITZER: Plus this, what we know about the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming visit to Washington, D.C. as he signals it's almost time for the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire to take shape. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:33]

BLITZER: New this morning, some stark new numbers about those being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As these detentions continue in cities like Minneapolis, new data now shows that 220,000 people were detained by ICE from January when President Trump took office for a second term to October of this year.

And of those people, about one-third had no, repeat, no criminal records at all. That according to the Deportation Data Project. I'm joined now here in the Situation Room by CNN's Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla, what do these numbers tell us about this immigration crackdown?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, these numbers really back up what we have been hearing anecdotally from immigration attorneys, advocates, and from the immigrants themselves who were detained by immigration enforcement or by U.S. Border Patrol and had no criminal records. So this is putting some meat on the bones here with nearly 75,000 people being detained without criminal records. Now, that could mean that they still have immigration violations. They are here illegally, but they wouldn't fall in the category of a public safety or a national security threat. And that is a large chunk when you look at it against the 220,000 that have been arrested since President Donald Trump was inaugurated up until mid-October.

This also corroborates what we have been reporting here at CNN, which is looking at the data earlier this year, we saw that less than 10 percent of those detained had serious criminal convictions. So really what we are seeing is the sweeping nature of the immigration crackdown by the President and his officials to detain everyone, regardless of whether they are a public safety or national security threat.

Now, of course, administration officials have said that if they are targeting someone who is a threat and there are others in the vicinity who are undocumented, they will take them too. Now, the White House Border Czar Tom Homan was asked about the operation in Minneapolis right now targeting undocumented Somali immigrants. And this is what he said about that operation this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER "CZAR": We're looking at public safety threats, national security threats and illegal aliens. Nothing's changed, Dana, from day one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: And from the conversations I have with my sources, that's true. They are looking at everyone. Everyone is at risk of deportation. Tom Homan went on to say that they have deported around 600,000 people since the President took office. Now, we reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about this data and they have not returned comment.

But again, this just underscores that the administration, when they talk about this immigration crackdown, they may say public safety, national security threat more often than not. But the reality is that they are also catching people who are just in the United States illegally.

BLITZER: Priscilla Alvarez, as usual, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

[11:18:09]

BROWN: All right. Up next, Israel's prime minister says the country is ready for the next phase of a ceasefire in Gaza as he prepares for another consequential meeting with President Trump. More ahead here in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: New this morning, we're learning that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Trump at the end of this month. At the top of the agenda is likely to be the ceasefire in Gaza. Netanyahu said over the weekend that he expects that crucial negotiations over phase two may prove more difficult. And he also reaffirmed his expectations for the next steps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I think, simultaneous with the advance of the second stage, I think it's important to make sure that Hamas complies not only with the ceasefire, but also with their commitment, which they undertook to disarm and have Gaza demilitarized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to go live right now to CNN Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond. He's joining us from Tel Aviv right now. Jeremy, can you take us through where things stand just ahead of this second phase of the ceasefire agreement?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, there are still the remains of one additional Israeli hostage still being held in Gaza that must be released before that next phase can indeed get underway. But the negotiations and the discussions in order to reach that very complicated second phase are already indeed underway. And they will get underway even more in earnest when the Israeli Prime Minister travels to the United States at the end of this month, scheduled for December 29th, to meet with President Trump. Here's the Israeli Prime Minister talking about what it will take to get to that second phase but it will be complicated because it involves in particular the disarming of Hamas, but also something the Israeli Prime Minister didn't raise, which is the withdrawal of the Israeli military from parts of the Gaza Strip.

[11:25:12]

Hamas, meanwhile, has spoken out this weekend in an interview with the Associated Press, saying that they are open to freezing or storing their weapons. It's not clear that that will meet the bar for what is called for under this 20-point plan, which is Hamas's total disarmament. This second phase also calls for an international security force to come into Gaza to eventually take over security responsibility of the entirety of the Gaza Strip.

But at least in the first stages of the security force entering Gaza, most of the discussion seems to be centering around them taking territory from the Israeli military's controlled part of the Gaza Strip, where reconstruction can then get underway and civilians can begin to move to Hamas-free zones, effectively. But there is so many details here that have yet to be worked out about the exact makeup and composition of that international security force, and also, of course, the makeup of the governance of the Gaza Strip, both the technocratic Palestinian leaders who will run the day-to-day operations of Gaza, the international oversight board that will be chosen from the United States and other Arab countries that are involved in these negotiations.

And all of this was very much underlined over the weekend by the Qatari prime minister, who was a key mediator of this ceasefire agreement, who made clear that this ceasefire remains fragile and that getting to this next step will be critical to it having any kind of long-term potential. Wolf, Pam?

BLITZER: And there was this important meeting with the U.S., Israel and Qatar, right?

DIAMOND: That's right. We understand that last week, the United States, Israel and Qatar held meetings to discuss the next phases of this ceasefire agreement. So all of that, of course, critical to any pathway forward. Qatar will remain central to these negotiations. And, of course, Israel needs to sign off on much of this.

BLITZER: All right, Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. Thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Just ahead, here in the Situation Room, Brian Walshe and his lawyer still insist his wife died suddenly as he stands trial in her murder. Hear what the medical examiner said about that explanation during testimony, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)