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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Patel Announces "Insider Trading Saga" In NBA Betting; Trump Pardons Binance Crypto Exchange Founder Changpeng Zhao; Trump Says He "Saved" Ranchers As Cattle Farmers Raise Alarm Over His Plan To Buy Beef From Argentina. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired October 23, 2025 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: --well, Anderson, it seemed that King Charles really wanted to be at the Vatican today, and meet with Pope Leo. He is a man of deep personal faith, and has really wanted to engage with the Catholic Church.
Of course, probably he's not the only Pope that King Charles has met this year. He saw Francis, just a few days before the Pope died in April. He had to postpone what would have been a longer trip because Francis was sick.
Clearly, though that being in the Vatican, taking part in these historic events meant something very important to King Charles, personally. That's what came across today during this historic visit.
Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Christopher Lamb, thanks so much.
That's it for us. The news continues. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now. I'll see you, tomorrow.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: NBA gambling schemes and mafia crime families. What the stunning accusations being made by the FBI tell us tonight.
I'm Kaitlan Collins, live on Capitol Hill. And this is THE SOURCE.
In a news conference that rocked the sports world today, the Department of Justice and the FBI revealed a multi-year investigation that spanned a 11 states, and led to the arrest of 34 people, ranging from an NBA head coach, a current player, as well as the members of four major American crime families.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Not only did we crack into the fraud that these perpetrators committed on the grand stage of the NBA. But we also entered and executed a system of justice against La Casa Nostra, to include the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, while the FBI announced these two cases together, they are two very different alleged schemes. One, the Feds dubbed Nothing But Bet. The other, Royal Flush. The former is about betting on NBA games, underscoring how much legalized gambling is intertwined with sports culture today. And the latter harkens back to schemes run by mafia crime families, for decades, but with modern technological twist.
In Operation Nothing But Bet, Miami's Terry Rozier, who was until now, on the Heat's roster, and Damon Jones, who used to play and coach in the league, are among six people who are now accused of passing insider information to people betting on games. Players are accused of faking injuries and underperforming on purpose.
And there's even text messages giving gamblers insider tips on other players, including LeBron James.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATEL: This is the insider trading saga for the NBA. That's what this is. That's why we are going to take heat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, prosecutors say the sports betting case led to bogus bets worth thousands -- worth a few hundred thousand dollars.
Operation Royal Flush, on the other hand, reportedly defrauded people out of millions of dollars. That one centers on rigged poker games, and 31 people have been indicted in that scheme. It comes with heavy connections to mafia crime families. The FBI details in this today, high-tech cheating technology, including special contact lenses, X-ray devices that could see through face down cards.
Damon Jones is one of the three people charged in both schemes with Portland Trail Blazers head coach, and Basketball Hall of Famer, Chauncey Billups charged in the poker case, but not the other one. The organizers of the poker games allegedly enlisted these NBA stars, like Billups, to sit at the table and use their clout to make the games appear legitimate to the victims.
The U.S. Attorney said the cases together send the same message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH NOCELLA JR., U.S. ATTORNEY: Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out. Violating the law is a losing proposition, and you can bet on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: My lead sources tonight include:
ESPN senior NBA insider who broke the story this morning, Shams Charania.
And the host of the "Naked Sports" podcast, Cari Champion.
Also, former FBI Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe.
And the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Tom Dupree.
Shams, you were the first to report the story. You've broken a lot of news in your career. But obviously, this has really rocked the sports world today. I can only imagine how much your phone has been blowing up over the last few hours.
SHAMS CHARANIA, ESPN SENIOR NBA INSIDER: Yes, I mean, I first got wave of this last night.
And obviously, the arrests happened at 06:00 in the morning, for both Chauncey Billups, in Portland, and then Terry Rozier, in Orlando. So, they were literally at games. Chauncey Billups was head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, last night in their home opener. And then hours later, he's arrested. Same with Terry Rozier in Orlando.
[21:05:00]
Where this stands right now, though Kaitlan, is that both attorneys and people close to Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier have made it clear to me that they will fight the FBI's charges. Chauncey Billups has a court date in New York City, scheduled in late November. Terry Rozier's will be in early December. And both sides believe this will be about a six- to 12-month process, at the very least, as they fight the FBI's charges.
But listen, make no mistake, around the NBA, there's been seismic reverberations around the league level, players, coaches, executives all across the league.
With Chauncey Billups specifically, you have a sitting NBA head coach, a Hall of Fame player, that is being arrested for illegal, essentially poker fixing. But there was also an allegation of Chauncey Billups potentially giving a heads-up to co-conspirators and betters about his team, in March 2023, deciding to tank and sit players before it was made public. That, again, was not something Chauncey Billups was charged with. He was charged with the poker fixing allegation.
And then, of course, Terry Rozier, who has been under investigation by both the league and the federal level since 2023. The NBA, didn't have enough. But the FBI, clearly, with more power, more jurisdiction, was able to find enough to charge Terry Rozier today.
COLLINS: Yes. Can you walk me through how that happened? Because, with the Terry Rozier stuff, the NBA looking into this, it seemed to -- according to his attorney, who also happens to be a former personal attorney for President Trump, which kind of brings this whole thing full circle for us, as we've been covering this from Washington. He was investigated by the NBA. I mean, do we know why they were not able to take this, where the FBI did today? CHARANIA: So, Terry Rozier was able to give his phone to the NBA, from my understanding, and they were able to investigate that phone, go through the data in that phone. But they were not able to find the evidence necessary to be able to discipline Terry Rozier in their investigation.
Now, what they don't have at their disposal is subpoena power to other potential co-conspirators, doing a truly law-enforced investigation. Obviously, the FBI was able to find co-conspirators.
And this, Kaitlan, really started the -- the originator of all this, the origin story of this was the Jontay Porter situation. He was a two-way player on the Toronto Raptors. He was charged and convicted over the last two years, and he also had three, four co-conspirators, a handful of people.
And those in that case led to what we're seeing today, with over 30 arrested individuals. And so, now we're at well over 30, when you combine both of these situations. And I think if you're the FBI, where does this lead to you now? Like, how many of these people are cooperating with federal authorities to bring even more people? Because that's clearly what the FBI wants.
COLLINS: Yes, I think that's a good question here.
Andy McCabe, you were the former Deputy Director of the FBI.
One thing that I would love for you to clear up is basically what they were touting today was that this was a major blow against organized crime, these two different schemes. Considering the size of the sums of money involved, the connection that they were drawing here between the mafia and the NBA, can you -- did that make sense to you, as the former Deputy Director? Can you just walk us through that?
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY FBI DIRECTOR: Sure. So, there are -- there are a number of defendants who are identified in the indictment, regarding the poker games, as members or associates of specific organized crime families. There are four families that are mentioned. Bonanno, Lucchese, Genovese and Gambino families.
Now, anytime you're arresting members of a family, that's a good thing for -- that's a good thing for the city, that's a good thing for the country, that's a good thing for the fight against organized crime.
I don't know that the indictment reads as a massive blow against the infrastructure of organized crime, writ large. The people who are included, who have charged so far appear to be operatives, essentially, people who would go out and collect debts, people who would show up on your doorstep and threaten you if you didn't pay your gambling debts, people who engaged, allegedly, in a gun -- a robbery at gunpoint to steal one of these modified shuffling machines.
So, these are not the heads of the families. They're not kind of senior leadership type in the families. But definitely, significant organized crime targets and allegedly a part of these conspiracies. COLLINS: OK.
[21:10:00]
And so, Tom Dupree, we heard from -- I mentioned Jim Trusty here. He will be familiar to our audience, because we've had him on to talk about Trump's criminal cases before. He's now representing -- or he's been representing Terry Rozier. He seemed to be caught off guard by this today, or at least they did, by this arrest that, as Shams was noting there, happened around 06:00 a.m.
Listen to what Jim Trusty said outside of court today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM TRUSTY, TERRY ROZIER'S ATTORNEY: All they had to do, they could have called me at 6 o'clock this morning and said, Come to New York, and I would have made that happen. Instead, they wanted to have a little arrest, a little perp walk, a little support of their press conference up in New York, and it was completely avoidable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Do you think that's true, that they wanted to have a high- profile NBA athlete getting arrested for, you know, for those purposes?
TOM DUPREE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: It wouldn't surprise me, if that were the case, Kaitlan.
And look, I think what's going on here is pretty clear. Jim Trusty has been retained both because he's an incredible defense lawyer, but arguably equal importance, he also has street credibility within the world of Donald Trump and the Justice Department.
And particularly, if this is the case, as I suspect it will? That may go on for some time. There could be possible negotiations for an early resolution. There could be efforts to compromise. Who knows what twists and turns this case could take.
But if you have at the helm of your defense team, someone who is going to start with a certain reservoir of credibility within the prosecutor's offices, within the Trump department, in the White House? That can only help your client. And so I strongly suspect that's why they have Jim Trusty out there. And there is not a little bit of irony in him criticizing the way the Justice Department is currently operating against his clients.
COLLINS: Yes. I mean, I think that's a good point, in terms of Jim Trusty's connections with the Justice Department, what that could look like.
Cari Champion, I have to bring you in on all this.
Just what are your thoughts, in terms of seeing how this has played out. Obviously, people are deeply familiar with sports betting. You see ads anywhere when you're watching a game on TV. What do you make of what you heard today?
CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, HOST, "NAKED SPORTS" PODCAST, SPORTS BROADCASTER: Well, I think it was earth-shattering. I think that obviously the theater of it all really paid off.
I think earlier, Shams talked about Chauncey Billups and the reverberations of what happens with someone who is so well-established in the NBA. And I've covered him for years, and know him personally. And I can tell you, making calls, people can't believe it. This was just shocking.
And the fact that it was someone who had so much to lose? And we're saying it's alleged, we don't know where we are right now. But I feel as if I will do what the NBA PA has asked. Let justice have its due process. Let us say that you're innocent until proven guilty.
As far as the idea of gambling in the NBA, it's such a very tricky slope. Since gambling was made legal, sports gambling made legal in 2018, some 30-plus states now allow you to do sports betting. And so, the NBA is in partnership with DraftKings and other entities. And so, it's this tricky dance.
What I do know though, is that this case will be arguably, this story will arguably be the biggest story of the year, and, more importantly, the effects that it will have, lasting effects on the NBA and sports in general, we'll see. Now you can't hide. It's very clear.
COLLINS: Yes, I think that's a good point in terms of just how it's rocked the league.
And Shams, just, I want to give people an example of what some of this says.
Damon Jones, he's the former player and coach that I was talking about, and the indictment accuses him of telling a friend in a text message, Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out.
The information being referenced there was that LeBron James would not be playing that evening.
And I just think, reading a message like that, as someone who covers this, as extensively and closely as you do, what you're hearing from folks about it.
CHARANIA: There are certainly gaps with -- within our organizations, within player camps, as far as how information is disseminated, right? And from media perspective, it's reporting the job.
But I think it does raise some level of an alarm, now, giving to the league's players currently, that you give information to a friend, you give information to someone that you might trust, that you don't -- you maybe don't know what they might do with that information, or what's going on. Like, I think it does raise that level of attention to the whole thing. Because, again, Terry Rozier was on a $97 million current contract. This season, he's making $26 million. There was, you know, in the indictment, it said that the co-conspirators brought money to his house. This is someone that's made a ton of money over his NBA career, hundreds of millions of dollars.
Chauncey Billups made tons -- tens of millions of dollars as a coach, as a player.
And so, if these players and coaches can potentially put themselves on the line, allegedly, I think it does raise alarms around the league.
COLLINS: Yes, especially given those massive contracts.
Obviously, we'll continue to follow this closely.
Shams, it's great to have you.
Andrew McCabe. Tom Dupree. Cari Champion. Thank you all for being here tonight.
[21:15:00]
Up next. We got to show you these new images coming out of Washington tonight. The entire East Wing of the White House is gone, this evening, right up to the walls of the Executive Residence. Critics are not happy. They say this is not what they thought the White House was going to be doing.
Plus, what the President told me today when I asked him why he pardoned that crypto titan who has ties to the Trump family business when it comes to crypto.
My source tonight is going to be the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman Jamie Raskin is here.
Also, you got to see what Zohran Mamdani just said about Andrew Cuomo. The comments he made about 9/11 in New York's mayoral race today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: This is disgusting. This is Andrew Cuomo's final moments in public life, and he's choosing to spend them, making racist attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:20:00]
COLLINS: Tonight, at the White House, President Trump defended his decision to pardon the founder of Binance, who goes by the nickname CZ, running the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange that also happens to host the Trump family's crypto firm.
I asked the President about this decision, earlier at the White House today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Today, you pardoned the founder of Binance. Can you explain why you chose to pardon him, and did it have anything to do with his involvement in your family's--
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Which one? Who's that?
COLLINS: The founder of Binance. He has involvement in your own family's crypto business.
D. TRUMP: The recent one? That's the -- I believe we're talking about the same person, because--
COLLINS: CZ.
D. TRUMP: --I do pardon a lot of people. I don't know. He was recommended by a lot of people. A lot of people say that -- are you talking about the crypto person?
COLLINS: Yes.
D. TRUMP: A lot of people say that he wasn't guilty of anything. He served four months in jail. And they say that he was not guilty of anything that what he did--
COLLINS: He admitted to his crimes.
D. TRUMP: Well, you don't know much about crypto. You know nothing about -- you know nothing about nothing, you fake news.
But let me just tell you that he was somebody that, as I was told -- I don't know -- I don't believe I have ever met him -- but I've been told -- a lot of support, he had a lot of support. And they said that what he did is not even a crime. It wasn't a crime. That he was persecuted by the Biden administration. And so, I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Despite what the President said there. In 2023, CZ actually pleaded guilty to these crimes, that he failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program for the platform. He agreed to step down as the CEO, and ended up paying a $200 million in fines.
The company itself paid more than $4 billion in penalties, following that years-long investigation, that alleged Binance allowed bad actors to operate on the platform, enabling transactions linked to child sex abuse and narcotics, even failing to report transactions -- transactions for financing terrorist organizations like Hamas and al Qaeda. Basically, they could move money around on the platform.
CZ was ultimately sentenced to four months in prison. But back in May, he made it clear he was pursuing a pardon from the President. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHANGPENG ZHAO, FOUNDER, BINANCE: I certainly wouldn't mind one, so.
But the -- there are legal means to apply, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course I'm sure.
ZHAO: So, I've got lawyers applying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The reason the pardon matters is it means that they can now allow Binance to operate in the United States, again, potentially benefiting a company that has ties to the President's family's crypto firm, which is World Liberty Financial. Binance hosts the Trump family's crypto firm on its platform.
Binance has also helped popularize -- popularize World Liberty Financial's proprietary tokens, the sale of which has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in fees for the Trump family. In fact, one of the biggest sources of income found in the President's financial disclosure report, earlier this year, was a $57 million token sale that was made from World Liberty Financial.
The Wall Street Journal estimated that WLF has added more than $5 billion in paper wealth, to the Trump family fortune, surpassing actually the President's real estate assets.
Just last week, we had Eric Trump here on the program. We asked him about how much of the family's wealth is now intertwined with crypto.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Some people want to know how do you draw the line between what he does as President, and what your family does as business?
ERIC TRUMP, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Well, I think you know me well enough to know that I stay the hell out of Washington, D.C., and I always have.
And listen, again, we found crypto because we were debanked. They tried to take everything away from us, and we found that industry because of that.
COLLINS: I think some people might want to know, how do you determine whether something is a conflict of interest? Who really is doing that, in this position for you?
E. TRUMP: Well, we have -- obviously, we have external ethics advisers. We take that very, very seriously.
COLLINS: So you don't ever talk about crypto with your dad?
E. TRUMP: I really -- I really don't. I really don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Joining me tonight is the Democratic congressman, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who is the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee.
And thank you, sir, for being here.
I just wonder, first, your thoughts on this pardon by the President today.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, of course, it's consistent with pardons he's been giving ever since he was first in office. It started with political loyalists like Roger Stone and Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn. Then, it extended to 1,600 insurrectionists, violent cop beaters, people who participated in coup and plot-making activity against the U.S. government on January 6th, 2021. And it's continued now with people that the Trumps are effectively in business with, and this is a great example.
[21:25:00]
I mean, this guy was involved in very serious money laundering, allowing al Qaeda, Hamas, ISIS, drug traffickers, terrorists from around the world, to launder money, through their crypto scheme. And Trump just pardoned him, pretending for a little bit, not to know anything about it, then apparently knowing a lot about it. But this is a guy who has been able to boost crypto money-making in the Trump family by tens of millions of dollars, and now he gets to reopen shop in the United States of America.
COLLINS: When you're saying, Pretend not to know anything about it, you're saying you don't believe when he says that he doesn't know CZ?
RASKIN: I think he knows exactly who he is, and there was clearly a lobbying campaign to get him out.
The Trump administration, through the Securities and Exchange Commission, has dropped 13 different criminal prosecutions and investigations against people committing crime in crypto. And understand, they're not being prosecuted just because they're involved in crypto. It is a lawful industry. These are people who are thieves and scammers and grifters, who are using crypto in order to make money off of innocent victims.
And yet, they're just nullifying those investigations and prosecutions in order to promote their own business interests in crypto. And the Trump family has made more than $4 billion since January started. They created their own crypto meme coin. He entertained more than 200 guests at the Trump Country Club, and then promised White House tours to other people who were investors in it.
And at this point, it's Laissez les bons temps rouler. I mean, they are completely engaged in crypto, and they've gotten to a point where nobody even asks the question, Why is it that the President and his family are involved in business in such a way that they're collecting millions and millions of dollars from people that they're involved with on a business level?
COLLINS: Yes, well--
RASKIN: And we've seen it with foreign governments, and we've seen it with--
COLLINS: But--
RASKIN: --criminal organizations now.
COLLINS: Yes, but we do actually do ask those questions. We asked Eric Trump about it, last week, given obviously how much money they've made off crypto, and where that line is drawn.
Obviously, people will say, Well, the President has the absolute pardon power. We saw President Biden using it on his -- on his way out of office.
But I do want to ask you, sir, because today, you and the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee launched investigation into something President Trump has been seeking since, before he returned to the Oval Office, and that's some $230 million from the Justice Department that he wants as compensation for the past federal investigations into him. It was reported by The New York Times, this week.
Can you tell me what your investigation is seeking exactly?
RASKIN: Right. So, at a time when millions of people are being thrown off of health care, they are sticking it to farmers, and there are ruinous economic conditions in agriculture, all this stuff is going on? Meantime, he wants to turn around and shake down the U.S. taxpayers for $230 million to put in his pocket.
Why? Because he said he was unfairly treated when they executed a judicial search warrant from a judge at Mar-a-Lago. There are hundreds and thousands of -- hundreds of thousands of search warrants that are executed every year. And he thinks that he should get paid $230 million from the taxpayers.
Moreover, there's no judge involved, there's no jury, there's no court proceeding. He's doing this with a paper claim that he's filed to the Department of Justice, knowing that the person who decides is his own Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche. The same guy that he deputized to go and talk to Ghislaine Maxwell, and he was satisfied with her answers, not implicating Trump, so she got transferred to a pretty camp in Texas, away from her prison sentence.
So, this is the guy who's going to be deciding whether or not to give Donald Trump $230 million. $75 million of that he put in as punitive damages, when punitive damages are not even allowed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which is what he's using.
COLLINS: Yes.
RASKIN: Meantime, the whole thing violates the Constitution, which says that the President is limited to his official salary and cannot receive $1 more from the federal government.
COLLINS: Yes, do you--
RASKIN: He just wants $230 million--
COLLINS: Do you--
RASKIN: --from his own underlings.
COLLINS: Do you think that Trump -- are you saying that you think Todd Blanche needs to recuse himself from that and Pam Bondi as well, for that matter, if they're the two that would be making this decision?
RASKIN: Well, of course, they need to recuse themselves if they're going to go forward with the claim. But the President -- you could have the most honest person in the world deciding that.
The president can't receive any more money beyond his salary. No president has ever attempted to do that before. He's trying to turn the federal government into his own little ATM. It's like a piggy bank for him, and he wants to take out $230 million. Maybe he wants to put it into the White House demolition and Marie Antoinette ballroom project.
[21:30:00]
But regardless of where he wants to put the money, it doesn't make any difference. He can't get anything beyond his official salary. Everybody can look it up. It's Article 2 Section 1 Clause 7 of the Constitution.
COLLINS: You referenced the ballroom. The President has said -- first off, on the $230 million, he told me, if he got it, he'd donate it to charity.
And speaking of that, on the ballroom. They released this donor list for the ballroom today. When you look at it, it includes a lot of big companies, Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Google, Meta, Microsoft.
And the President today was asked about just how much this is going to cost, because we'd heard $200 million. Then we heard $250 million. Now it's $300 million.
Sir, could you listen to what the President had to say today?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Have you raised the full $300 million needed to fund your ballroom?
D. TRUMP: Yes.
REPORTER: And how much specifically are you donating to this construction project?
D. TRUMP: Actually we raised, I think, $350 million. Now it's all -- all donor money, and money that we put up, we've raised -- it's going to be -- it's going to cost right in the neighborhood of $300 million. It's been expanded and made, absolutely -- it'll be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world, I think.
REPORTER: And how much specifically are you donating to it, personally?
D. TRUMP: How much am I donating? I won't be able to tell you until I finish. But I'll donate whatever is needed, I'll tell you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I wonder what your reaction was to that answer, and also this list that the White House put out of who's donating to the ballroom at the White House.
RASKIN: First of all, people can't take bribes and say, I'm going to use the money to give to charity. You've got to give your own money to charity, not money that is illegally taken from some other source, whether it's a foreign government or whether it's from the U.S. taxpayers. So, that's just a useless distraction from understanding what's going on here.
Similarly, thank you to all of these corporations. But the American taxpayers will pay for our own White House. We will pay for our own federal buildings. We don't need corporate sponsors to take over those buildings, and then receive the inevitable quid pro quo trades from the President in the process. That's not how our government is supposed to be working.
And that's why we don't want to have the Exxon Mobil East Wing of the White House. We don't want to have the McDonald's ballroom. I'm just making that up, I have no idea whether those corporations are involved.
But this is not a football stadium. This is the People's House. And he's completely bypassed the Congress of the United States, the representatives of the people who decide about all federal agencies and departments and all federal buildings.
And so, the people are extremely upset, and I'd say even some Republicans are upset, about what's taking place, in terms of the bulldozing of the historic White House by the President, who said he was not going to do that, then he did it, and then essentially selling off naming rights to different parts of the White House.
COLLINS: Congressman Jamie Raskin, thank you for joining us tonight.
RASKIN: You bet.
COLLINS: Up next. We've been following the New York City mayoral race very closely. Zohran Mamdani is now accusing Andrew Cuomo of making racist attacks. We're going to let you hear it all for yourself, right after this.
[21:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NYC, NY): I want to be clear with you. Andrew Cuomo is a snake and a liar. I am in this race, and I'm the only one that can beat Mamdani.
I'm fighting for the family of New York. That's why I'm here today to endorse Andrew Cuomo to be part of this fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: From September to today, weeks after he lashed out at the former New York Governor, you saw New York Mayor Eric Adams joining Andrew Cuomo's effort to take down the leading candidate in the city's mayoral race. That is the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani.
What might hinder that effort, though, is another appearance by Cuomo today, where he questioned how Mamdani would handle a terrorist attack like 9/11.
Listen to how the former Governor responded when the radio host, Sid Rosenberg, today, said something about 9/11, and then how Mamdani responded to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW CUOMO, (I) NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: People's lives are at stake. God forbid another 9/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?
SID ROSENBERG, AMERICAN RADIO PERSONALITY: Yes, you know, I could. He'd be cheering.
CUOMO: That's another problem.
MAMDANI: This is disgusting. This is Andrew Cuomo's final moments in public life, and he's choosing to spend them, making racist attacks on the person who would be the first Muslim to lead this city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Later, after that appearance, Cuomo said that the other problem that he referred to was Mamdani's association with the left- wing political commentator, Hasan Piker, who once said that America had, quote, Deserved 9/11.
Cuomo claimed Mamdani had not denounced those remarks.
So, he did so during last week's debate, when he said that comment, he believed, was objectionable and reprehensible.
My political sources tonight are:
Karen Finney, who was a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
And Bill Stepien, who is President Trump's former White House political director.
Karen Finney, what did you make of how this all played out today? And do you believe Andrew Cuomo's clarification?
[21:40:00]
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SR. ADVISER, 2016 CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, DNC: Well, I think he knew exactly -- I mean, he's been in politics long enough to know that what you're supposed to do, when someone says something like that, is, you don't laugh and say, Well, that's another problem. You say, No, no. What I'm talking about is can he manage, how would he manage a crisis? Which is what I think he was trying to get at. Who knows? So, he knows better than that. And it was ham-handed.
I think the bigger problem that Cuomo has is he's just not connecting to the voters of New York City. They just aren't really buying what he's selling.
COLLINS: Bill Stepien, I wonder what you made of how this has played out as a longtime Republican operative yourself.
BILL STEPIEN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE POLITICAL DIRECTOR, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I mean, this is what happens when a liberal Democrat is forced to go on conservative talk radio, right, hunting for votes.
He may have been on this station before, when he was looking for the Yankees game. But I'm sure he's never been on this show, or used to be on this kind of show. As a result, he's being forced to hunt for votes, and put in spots that he's not used to being in. And it's -- he's very uncomfortable. He's not used to this, and it shows.
FINNEY: But can I just--
COLLINS: Yes, I mean--
FINNEY: Yes.
COLLINS: Go ahead, Karen. I mean, if you listen to--
FINNEY: Yes -- yes--
COLLINS: --Sid Rosenberg, I don't think that that would be a surprising comment.
FINNEY: No. And like I said, Andrew Cuomo and the Cuomo family, they have been in New York politics long enough. I've worked in New York City politics. I've worked in New York State politics. He knows better. He knew exactly what he was doing. And he's been on other conservative talk shows. I mean, Bill, good -- you know, good talking points there. But Cuomo knows better. COLLINS: Bill, let me take on something else that's been happening here in Washington that has generated a lot of outrage of people who have watched this, but the White House has been maybe caught off guard, but pretty defensive of the demolition that's been happening of the East Wing today. You can see what it looked like before, what it looks like now.
This happened all just within the span of a couple days, which is kind of surprising even to people who work over there at the White House. Obviously, you worked at the White House in Trump term one.
What do you make of what's happening at the White House today, and how the White House is financing all of this, and just everything that's been happening?
STEPIEN: I mean, he didn't do anything illegal. He didn't do anything he wasn't allowed to do. I mean, every previous president asked permission of historical commissions and government agencies, because they chose to follow that precedent and that tradition. I think, because they had to. Like, do we really think Donald Trump was going to bow down and say Pretty please, to some planning commission, when he doesn't have to?
FINNEY: Oh, come on. This is the People's House. This is -- you know, this is emblematic of how Donald Trump has approached the presidency. I mean, he is shredding our Constitution the same way those -- by the way, Volvo, I hope they were made in America, bulldozers just bulldozed through the East Wing.
I mean, he believes he is unaccountable. He believes -- I believe the press secretary essentially said they believe they have -- she didn't answer the question. Trump just believes he has the right to tear it down, recognizing that actually you are then supposed to work with historians in terms of the building it up. I mean, it's just ridiculous. It's the--
STEPIEN: Karen? Karen?
FINNEY: Yes.
STEPIEN: Here's -- here's the deal. He's winning. There's a job -- there's are report due tomorrow. It's not going to be good--
FINNEY: No, he's not. Are you kidding me, huh?
STEPIEN: It's not going to be good for inflation, right? The job market has slowed.
FINNEY: Yes.
STEPIEN: Government's still shut down. And Democrats aren't talking about any of that.
FINNEY: And you think that's winning?
STEPIEN: But they're talking about a construction project. FINNEY: You think when 7--
STEPIEN: They're making his job easy.
FINNEY: You--
STEPIEN: This is why he is winning.
FINNEY: You think when 7 million Americans take to the streets to protest against him, to make their voices heard, or you think when a third of Republicans and over 60 percent of Democrats and Independents are dissatisfied with the President's handling of the economy, and the direction of the country, that's winning? Oh my.
COLLINS: Wait, Bill, can I -- can I ask you--
STEPIEN: This is why the Democrat Party image is at an all-time low, because they unite over to--
COLLINS: But Bill--
STEPIEN: --oppose a construction project.
COLLINS: Can I ask you, Bill--
FINNEY: No, it's not about--
COLLINS: Bill Stepien, are you saying that Democrats should be focusing on how high inflation still is, grocery prices, things like that, in terms of the argument they're making against Trump overall?
STEPIEN: Yes. There's ammunition. They're ignoring it.
FINNEY: But--
STEPIEN: They're not using it. The government's still shut down. Republicans are in control.
FINNEY: Well--
STEPIEN: They're talking about construction projects.
FINNEY: --I've said on this show, here with Kaitlan--
STEPIEN: This is why they're losing.
FINNEY: --this is grotesque.
STEPIEN: This is why they're losing.
FINNEY: I think we've heard many Democrats point out that at a time when inflation is high, costs are still high, the President is more focused on building a ballroom. It seems like they will do anything, also to avoid talking about Epstein, but -- and also the funding of this is as grotesque as the way he's handling it. COLLINS: But Karen, does Bill have a point there? Because I am interested in that, in terms of even Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is a massive ally of President Trump's, has been coming out and saying, Republicans don't have a plan when it comes to the health care subsidies, grocery prices are still way too high.
FINNEY: Yes.
[21:45:00]
COLLINS: Is that something that Democrats should be focused on more than the East Room -- or the East Wing of the White House being demolished?
FINNEY: Well, I think they have been. I mean, I've heard Democrats, all day, talking about, again, the split-screen between -- and you -- you also heard Jamie Raskin talking about concerns about the way this is being financed, and this corruption that we're seeing with Trump, and just raising the specter of conflicts of interest. I mean, that is also important, because we're seeing this grift from the President across the spectrum.
And Democrats have been -- I mean, we are now at the point where Republicans realize they are in trouble on health care, and recognize they have to come to the table with something.
COLLINS: Yes. We'll see.
Interesting points made by both of you. Karen. Bill. Great to have you both, and thanks for joining us tonight.
FINNEY: Thanks.
COLLINS: Up next here. When speaking of something that Republicans are unhappy with the White House about, we're seeing a growing number complain about the President's plan to buy more beef from Argentina. It is being seared by U.S. cattle ranchers. We're going to speak to one of them, about how they believe it will affect farmers who are already struggling with rising costs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:50:00]
COLLINS: We're back from Capitol Hill tonight, where on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House is insisting President Trump's plan to import more beef from Argentina will help bring down the cost of meat for Americans here at home.
But there's growing opposition to the President's move, including from his own allies here on Capitol Hill. A number of Republican lawmakers are pleading with the White House to reconsider this move, saying that a shift to more foreign beef could hurt the livelihoods of ranchers in the states that they represent.
Many cattle farmers and ag groups have also voiced their opposition to the White House, prompting pushback, at times, from the President himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. TRUMP: I put tariffs on things coming in to the country, including beef, and that gave them a chance to finally have a decent industry.
The ranchers understand that. They're so happy for what I've done for -- I saved them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: My source tonight is Justin Tupper, who is the President of the U.S. Cattlemen's Association.
And it's so great to have you here, sir, because I think it's helpful for a lot of people to just hear from you.
I mean, you hear the President say that he saved ranchers. You talk to ranchers every day. You have your own ranch and manage a livestock auction. People can see that here. Tell me how you feel about this.
JUSTIN TUPPER, PRESIDENT, U.S. CATTLEMEN'S ASSOCIATION (USCA): Yes, we disagree with the bringing in more imports from Argentina. We know that we already do import some beef from there. But we don't think this is the right course.
We also would like to visit with the administration about beef being too high. We don't think that maybe beef is too high at this point. Pound of hamburger's about $6.50. That's what some people pay for their lattes in the morning, or $3 for a candy bar. The nutritional value of beef for the value that you pay is pretty high. So, we just think this is probably not the best course at this time.
COLLINS: So what happens to ranchers, to their cattle, to their farms, if this does go through, if the White House doesn't heed these warnings that they're getting from y'all and from Republicans?
TUPPER: Well, it is very true, we're very happy right now, some of the best prices we've seen in the cattle industry are happening right now. That's very true.
But one of the things that we -- we believe we raise the safest, best protein on the planet, and we got to make sure that we safeguard that. And the only way to do that is with the safeguards that are in place. In the United States, we have a lot of protocols that we have to live by. A lot of these other countries, Argentina, Brazil, they don't have the same safeguards that we do. So, we've got to make sure that we're making this beef safe and the best product we can for the consumer.
COLLINS: The President was asked about one thing the White House is doing. They're bailing out Argentina to the tune of some $20 billion.
And this comes as people who have been watching this know, with soybeans especially, China is not buying soybeans from the U.S., but they are buying discounted ones from Argentina.
And the President said this about farmers, earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: What do you have to say to U.S. farmers who feel that the deal is benefiting Argentina more than it is them, as they are--
D. TRUMP: Look--
(CROSSTALK)
D. TRUMP: Look, Argentina is fighting for its life, young lady. You don't know anything about it. They're fighting for their life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I wonder how farmers who say, Well, maybe I'm fighting for my financial stability here, what they would say to a message like that?
TUPPER: I think farmers and ranchers especially are very happy when the government is not in our business. We like to go about our business in a free market wave. The cattle market especially has worked in a free market system from top to bottom. We count on competition. And we think that all these direct imports from other countries can have a very negative effect on what we produce here.
There's a lot of loopholes in the Product of the USA label. Right now, they can bring in beef from other countries, and repackage it, and call it Product of the USA. And those are things here at U.S. Cattlemen, and the ranchers that I talk to, that we would much like to see worked on.
I don't know anything about what happens in Argentina. But I do know that the American ranchers work really hard to produce a really high- quality product for the consumers, and we want to continue to do that.
COLLINS: Yes.
TUPPER: And so, I think that there's a lot better ways we can work on some of these things.
COLLINS: Yes. Senator Mike Rounds told us he wants them to put basically where the beef comes from, on the labeling, and let consumers decide. We'll see if any of those moves happen.
[21:55:00]
Justin Tupper, it's so great to have you on the show tonight. Thank you for joining us.
TUPPER: Thank you.
COLLINS: And up next here for us. You have got to see this new footage that just came out tonight, that incredible heist that happened at the Louvre, this week. The thieves escaping with it, and how they got away. So far, still not been found. We'll show you this video, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, there's some stunning footage that was recorded by someone inside the Louvre, showing that brazen heist as thieves made their getaway from the museum.
You can see two people here. One is in a construction vest, riding down a mechanical ladder, mounted to a truck that was used to go in and out of one of the most famous, and thought to be, heavily- protected museums in the world, all within the span of four minutes.
[22:00:00]
Lapses in security measures are coming into clear view tonight, as the Louvre's director revealed that no cameras were monitoring the second floor balcony where that break-in happened. The thieves, in broad daylight, made off with some $100 million worth of prized historic jewels and artifacts. Still to be determined who, of course, those thieves were.
A quick programming note for us here tonight before we go. CNN goes behind the scenes of Mardi Gras with the people who keep the traditions there alive. Don't miss the next episode of "New Orleans: Soul of a City." That is going to air Sunday, 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.
Thanks so much for joining us here on Capitol Hill tonight.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" starts now.
