Return to Transcripts main page

Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Appeals Court Rules Many Trump Tariffs Illegal; Trump Administration Plans Big Immigration Enforcement Operation In Chicago; Upheaval At CDC Has Health Professionals Worried; Bookie At Center Of $17M Ohtani Interpreter Scandal Speaks Out; Remembering Hurricane Katrina; Celebrating The Music Of New Orleans. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired August 29, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wouldn't you love to be, Erin, a fly on the wall when they're behind closed doors having conversations about Donald Trump, who they've all met individually, you know? What pressure points does he respond to? What's he going to do next?

I don't think they even know what Trump's going to do next. I'm not sure that Trump himself knows. And so, that unpredictability almost certainly is going to be a topic of discussion behind-the-scenes as they all prepare to stand together remarkably on the very same stage for the first time -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: I mean it's remarkable that it's for the first time. I hadn't realized that. It's truly incredible just to imagine what would it be like to be there and to hear that.

All right, thank you so much, Will, and thanks so much to all of you. AC360 starts now.

[20:00:43]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360, the President said he had the emergency power to impose tariffs by executive order. But now a federal appeals court says no. And tonight, what the CDC chief's firing and RFK, Jr.'s oversight mean for the agency and, crucially, the health of every American.

And later, a New Orleans guitarist remembers Katrina and the healing power music had then and now, 20 years later.

Good evening. Anderson is off tonight. I'm Boris Sanchez.

First up for us, the Judicial Branch pushing back on Presidential power. Tonight, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the federal district affirmed a lower court, finding that President Trump exceeded his authority under an emergency statute when he imposed sweeping tariffs by executive order. This now heads to the Supreme Court. Another example of the President sometimes invoking emergency powers and sometimes not, but steadily increasing his reach and his claim to what the office is entitled.

Tonight, for example, we are learning that scenes like this may soon be coming to Chicago. Multiple sources telling CNN that the administration is preparing to conduct a major immigration enforcement operation in the Windy City. Those preparations, two sources tell us, will include sending armored vehicles in the coming days and surging federal agents by next Friday, when those sources say the operation is expected to begin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, DEPUTY CHIEF-OF-STAFF FOR POLICY AND HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: Without going into specifics and reviewing any operational details, the President has been clear repeatedly that we're going to be prioritizing enforcement in the sanctuary jurisdictions as a matter of public safety and National Security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And that invites the question, would those federal agents be followed by National Guard troops? In a San Francisco federal court yesterday, the administration argued that federalizing the California Guard in Los Angeles, was justified to protect federal agents there. And when asked about Chicago earlier this week, the President said that he would prefer if Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker invited him in. But then he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Not that I don't have the right to do anything I want to do. I'm the President of the United States. If I think our country is in danger and it is in danger in these cities, I can do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: "I have the right to do anything," he says. Lately, his actions suggest that he believes it. In recent days and weeks, he's fired a member of the Federal Reserve's board of governors in an effort to install another acolyte in what is supposed to be the independent regulation of the country's money supply. He's ordered the D.C. National Guard, reinforced by units from a number of red states onto the streets of the district, unarmed at first, but now carrying sidearms and rifles.

Federal agents also searched the home and office of his former National Security advisor turned critic, prompting the conservative "Wall Street Journal" editorial board to opine, "The real offender here is a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas."

The President also seems eager to run the Smithsonian. He expressed it first by executive order, then by letter seeking, in the words of the executive order, to "remove improper ideology from such properties."

He's also overseeing a purge of the board at the Kennedy Center, one of the nation's foremost institutions dedicated to the arts. And he's even wanting to impose his vision on what federal facades look like. Yesterday, he signed an Executive Order mandating that federal

buildings in Washington maintain a classical style, requiring that any proposed deviations be reported to him. So there's all that, and then there's this.

One of several dozen clips from this week's Cabinet meetings as top officials shower him with praise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: And there's only one thing I wish for that, that noble committee finally gets its act together and realizes that you are the single finest candidate since the Noble Peace -- this Noble Award was ever talked about to receive that award, beyond your success is game changing out in the world today, and I hope everybody one day wakes up and realizes that.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:05:11]

SANCHEZ: For more on all of this, starting with the tariff ruling, let's go to CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene.

Alayna, what is The White House saying this federal appeals court ruling?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I don't think it's any surprise, Boris, that we're hearing from the President, but also his White House communications team arguing that he was well within his legal authority to do this.

But you saw the President post on Truth Social shortly after this decision came out. And one thing that he said as well was that he wants to take this all the way to the Supreme Court. And he emphasized also that the tariffs are still in effect. That's partly because this court ruled that he didn't have the right or the authority that he used to impose some of the tariffs he put into effect earlier this year, but they're keeping them in place for now, letting a lower court decide whether or not to try and pause them in the immediate term.

All to say, we know that this Trump administration has faced many legal challenges on other things. But of course, these tariffs as well, and there's no question that they are going to fight this in the courts.

Again, with the President saying we could take it all the way to the Supreme Court and I'd want to argue as well. I think what's really interesting about this, this decision from the appeals court is that it focuses specifically on the President's use of emergency powers. And I know this is something that might raise some alarm bells within the Trump administration, because we've seen him take a number of actions. Now, you mentioned some of them, but this crime wave in D.C., I mean, he's used a lot of different things that he's been trying to tackle.

He's been calling National Emergencies for, in this case, with the tariffs, it was a National Emergency on National Security. They argued that he was imposing or needed to impose these tariffs because of the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. The court said that's not really the right authority that you have to impose these tariffs with. But the reason I think the White House is so concerned about it is if they're challenging him on this, they could challenge him in a lot of these other areas where he's used emergency powers. And so, I think one thing to keep an eye on, I know it's something my sources here are definitely discussing behind closed doors -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: And overall, how would you say that White House officials are viewing his effort to consolidate and expand his power?

TREENE: You know, this is a question and this is actually a subject I talk with them about all the time because we've seen the President through his executive orders, through a lot of the different, you know, policies that he's enacting from crime to what you just mentioned with this ousting and the attempt to fire the Fed Governor, Lisa Cook.

A lot of times this, of course, comes up and what they always say, it always comes back to the same issue, is that the President believes that he had a mandate when he was elected. He believes, because he was elected to the presidency in November, that it gives him sweeping power to do what he wants. Even when, of course, he is pushing against the bounds of his authority and it's really this maximalist approach we've seen him take, and he's emboldened by a lot of the people around him.

I mean, if you compare it with his first term, Boris, during his first administration, he had a lot of people around him who told him no, particularly on the issues that they believed were the most concerning.

You know, they wanted to keep him from putting his hand on the hottest part of the oven. He doesn't have that now. People like Stephen Miller, a lot of the legal people around him, they are not telling him he can't do things, and that's why we're seeing him really push the bounds of this. All to say, they want to see him ramp up and not rein in, I'll just talk about crime again. They want to see him try to find a way to get to Chicago and take that model in D.C. to Chicago, all to say. It's not something they're going to be pulling back on anytime soon.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, live for us at The White House. Thank you so much.

Let's get some perspective now from former federal prosecutor and senior writer for POLITICO magazine, Ankush Khardori. Also with us, Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and former Republican Congressman, Charlie Dent. Thank you all for being with us.

Ankush, how big of a loss is this ruling for the administration? ANKUSH KHARDORI, SENIOR WRITER FOR POLITICO MAGAZINE: I mean, it's a

pretty major repudiation of their whole policy. I mean, I have to say that the legality of this has been extremely questionable from the start. There were strong arguments that these tariffs were illegal across the sort of jurisprudential ideological spectrum, if you will, even for conservatives, there were very strong arguments that these tariffs were illegal. And yet the administration chose to move forward nonetheless.

So, the ruling today is not really surprising, but it is a major, major brushback.

SANCHEZ: The court, we should point out, ruled that the President exceeded his authority in making the emergency declaration, but it didn't actually block the tariffs outright, and it punted the issue back to a lower court. So, how do you expect this to play out?

KHARDORI: Yes, so, it punted that issue to the lower court to consider whether or not an injunction should be universal in nature. And it is now, we have also -- they gave them room to go to the Supreme Court in mid-October. So, this is going to end up at the Supreme Court. I think what will happen at the lower court on this question of the injunction? I think it will end up being resolved in favor of the plaintiffs and the states in particular, will be able to argue, I think, that a universal injunction makes sense here, because they will not be able to get complete relief without an injunction that applies across the whole 50 states.

And also this is a court that -- the Court of International Trade is sort of different from the other courts that have been issuing rulings against Trump in other cases because the Court of International Trade is a specialized court that was specifically designed to address issues like this. So the argument in favor of a universal injunction would be considerably stronger, even following the Supreme Court's decision this summer.

[20:10:41]

SANCHEZ: Yes, interesting how that decision affects so much of what the administration is attempting to accomplish right now. Congressman, Alayna alluded to the President leaning on emergency declarations to justify so many aspects of his agenda. And in a sense, the question of what legally defines an emergency has been tested more than I think ever. What could that mean for executive power going forward?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think Congress needs to reclaim its authority and rather than having the courts make all these decisions. How about having Congress vote on these taxes, these tariffs? They should be voting on this. This is their authority. Can you imagine, Boris, if a Democratic President declared a climate emergency and then imposed a carbon tax without a vote of the U.S. Congress, Republicans would justifiably go ballistic.

They should be going ballistic right now because this emergency -- by the way, I think the court got it right. These taxes are illegal. The President just can't declare an emergency willy-nilly. And then take over Congress' power of the purse authority, because that's essentially what's happening here. Or could you imagine if a Democratic President declared a health emergency because reproductive rights and abortion access are being impeded in many states, Republicans would go ballistic.

So, the precedent being set by this President, I think, this bodes terribly for the future and for executive power and usurpation of Congressional authority.

SANCHEZ: Maria, I think I heard you agree with the early part of the Congressman's statement. What do you think of the overall effort here from the administration to test executive power? And how far do you think Trump is willing to go?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he's willing to go as far as he can, but I think people need to remind Donald Trump that he won the presidency, he was not crowned king. But we all know that ultimately, Donald Trump and the people around him now are huge believers in the massive powers of the executive. Donald Trump wants to be an imperial President. Donald Trump wants absolute power. And so, he will push this envelope.

And I agree with Charlie that it should be Congress, the ones that are going to put a stop to this because he is stealing the power of Congress. But guess what, Republicans control both houses of Congress, and the only thing they do day after day is bend the knee and genuflect at the altar of Donald Trump.

That is not doing this country any good. And I think that you're going to also see political fallout, Boris. We're seeing Donald Trump's numbers tank, his approval numbers are in the toilet with a lot of the voters that gave him a chance, including Latino voters, including young people. And one of the reasons I believe that Trump and Republicans are trying to steal Congressional seats in mid-decade is because they see the writing on the wall and the shellacking they're going to get from Democrats in the midterm elections.

SANCHEZ: Ankush, to the question of Congressional authority, the President also says he's going to cancel nearly five billion dollars in congressionally approved foreign aid, as has been noted, Congress holds the power of the purse. Lawmakers from both parties have blasted the move as illegal. Is it?

KHARDORI: It is certainly inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution and appropriations laws, whether they can come up with some contrived theory. I don't know what the legal sort of future on that front looks like. However, this is an effort to jam through what I think is fairly -- I think it's fair to say, a contravention of the American people's will, right.

We elect Congress to make these sorts of decisions. The Constitution entrusts spending decisions to Congress for a reason, because they are far more democratically responsive to the American public than the President is.

And so, for the President and his administration to come in, come in now and say, we're just going to ignore these appropriations laws that the American people's representatives passed, I think is a remarkable thing, to be honest. And I think it is really part of a unsettling pattern, I have to say, of particularly the Republican majority in both Houses of Congress ceding so much authority to Trump over the course of the last months. And he is just taking every -- the administration is taking every inch it can get, and pushing further and further and further.

And the question, I think, politically speaking, really, of this administration to date and going forward is, will there be some point at which the Republicans in Congress either speak up on some of these issues or there's a turnover in the composition of Congress in the 2026 midterms?

[20:15:27]

SANCHEZ: Congressman, is it more likely that we'll see incumbents deciding not to run again like we saw today with Senator Joni Ernst in Iowa or some of these lawmakers trying to form some kind of aligned resistance to some of these moves by Trump.

DENT: Well, I hope there is an aligned resistance, although there's likely to be a rush for the exits, too, as you're hearing from Joni Ernst. But let me just say this about this whole idea of a pocket rescission. It is unlawful. It's under the Impoundment Act of 1974. It's illegal. Also, it's kind of like a line item veto, which we don't have the authority at the federal level to do so. The Supreme Court has ruled on this.

And so, everybody in Congress knows that the executive cannot rescind spending that was enacted into law by Congress without a vote of the Congress. This is very basic. It's very simple. The President cannot unilaterally rescind spending that's been authorized into law. You know, shutting down departments and agencies, that's where we are in this country. And, you know, and I think Congress, it's long past time they stand up for their constitutional prerogatives. They are Article I for a reason, and they should not be subordinating themselves to Article II, the President or Article III to courts.

SANCHEZ: Maria, a quick last word to you.

CARDONA: But that would mean that members of Congress, especially those who have the power, Republicans, that they would have a backbone, that they would actually mean something when they have the power to go up against Donald Trump. But as of now, they have no backbone. They're complete cowards. They do everything this President tells them to do, which is why you're seeing Joni Ernst saying, well, I either have to go up against Donald Trump, which I don't want to do, or I'm scared to do, or I'm going to lose this election or I cannot run again.

And you're seeing the fallout already, a Democrat won in Iowa, a state Senate seat that Trump won by ten points, Boris, this is turning, the tide is turning and Republicans, you know, to Charlie's point, they should stand up to Donald Trump and it might save them politically next year. But I don't think they have the pantalones to do that. SANCHEZ: Everyone, thank you so much, appreciate the conversation.

Up next, we have more on the administration's plans in Chicago and what sources say about planned ICE raids.

Plus, the bookmaker in a multimillion dollar baseball gambling scandal is sentenced and talks to CNN about one of the games legendary "Pitchers and Sluggers."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first time I saw the wire with Shohei Ohtani, It was a holy (bleep) moment for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:22:27]

SANCHEZ: We're talking tonight about a President who has already put troops on the streets of two major cities in the final stages of planning to send federal law enforcement agents into a third, with potentially troops to follow. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now with more.

Priscilla, how soon is this immigration crackdown in Chicago expected to begin, and what cities could be next?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, this is likely to mark a major escalation with Chicago, which has been the target for the Trump administration, one of the first cities where they had those immigration enforcement actions. What my sources are telling me about what is to come is that next week, that is the expectation of when this immigration crackdown in the city of Chicago is expected, including more specifically next Friday.

Now, of course, planning is still underway and those discussions are still happening among administration officials. But that has been the thinking over the course of this week. Now, what does that mean in terms of preparations? Well, I'm told that armored vehicles are being sent to the city. They are searching federal personnel to arrive just before next Friday. And they've also been in discussions about using a Naval Base as a hub for federal personnel.

Now, of course, Chicago is a city that did contend with an influx of migrant arrivals back during the Biden administration. But this action that we are anticipating in Chicago is one that will be focused on immigration enforcement and is likely to look a lot like Los Angeles.

That is what my sources have been telling me, that that enforcement was the blueprint for Chicago, that, remember, Boris was U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, ICE -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as well, which was there to quell immigration protests, but then also assumed the role of sort of serving as a protection for the CBP and ICE agents as they were carrying out immigration enforcement.

So, we are told that those troops are being prepared to be deployed if necessary, though for now, what is -- what we have been told is expected is those CBP and ICE agents doing these major immigration sweeps.

SANCHEZ: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for the reporting.

We're joined now by former Obama White House chief of staff and U.S. Ambassador to Japan during the Biden administration, Rahm Emanuel. He's also a former mayor of Chicago, where the Trump administration is planning that large immigration enforcement operation as soon as next week.

Ambassador, thanks so much for being with us. Why do you think Chicago is being singled out?

[20:25:02]

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, Chicago, Los Angeles or Boston, it's singled out because it's part of both the distraction and the division politics that the President has said.

You know, I went and looked at this, Donald Trump put up a big tower in 2008, in the City of Chicago, claimed it a great building, great city. Back then, crime was significantly higher, back in 2008, and the cities make up ethnically and culturally and the immigrants that came to the city, just like my grandfather.

It was the same city, but it didn't serve the purpose of the real estate developer Donald Trump then to play down or tear down a city, or to offer up a dystopian view. Now, because of the politics of division and distraction, he's decided that's the politics he wants to play.

And I'll make one other kind of reference, you're not going to find the answer to immigration or the challenge of immigration on the streets of Chicago or the streets of Los Angeles or Boston. You're going to find it in the halls of Congress.

Every president going back decades post Ronald Reagan, has tried to figure out a solution to the immigration challenge. We're a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, and you're going to have to do something that respects both of those.

SANCHEZ: So, the White House is saying that this operation will not resemble the federal takeover and National Guard deployment currently happening in Washington at the very least, the legal justification, because D.C. doesn't have a governor, for example, has to be different. Do you buy that it's a different kind of operation.

EMANUEL: No, look, he's trying to get the goods through customs. That's what he's trying to do. Originally, he was going to be about crime, was out of control, and we're going to have to deal with that. But it was always an attempt to try to do immigration enforcement and do it in a way that he had the resources, because, one, he isn't doing what President Obama did when -- although President Obama was being protested as "Deporter in Chief," he was hitting bigger numbers then.

And also, he was doing DACA, which was about dreamers. He was a kind of a different -- it was an attempt to deal with a broken system. Look, we have a broken system. We haven't reformed it in 50 years. Every president has tried with bubble gum, rubber, you know, rubber bands and string and glue to try to fix this. And the best way to do this is to respect the fact that the country is a nation of laws, and you have to respect the laws and if you break them, we're going to deal with you.

And also, a nation of immigrants, and that means legal immigration reform. And rather than do that, which is hard work, he's decided this performative effort rather than trying to make real progress on the problem.

It's a challenge, there's no doubt about it. The country spoke to that on the election. But as always with Donald Trump, his analysis of the problem and his solution -- the solution is far worse than the problem itself that he's trying to solve for.

SANCHEZ: As a former Mayor of Chicago, do you think the current mayor has any legal recourse to resist the White House?

EMANUEL: Well, I think there's obviously the governor and the mayor together, but like calling out originally, and I think the reason they backed up is they didn't have the legal standing on the issue of, "calling out the National Guard for crime." There's no doubt about it.

And again, in fighting crime, it's about putting more police on the street, doing community policing and investing in getting kids, guns and gangs off the street. The President can be a partner in every one of those and see the progress. While not done, double down on the progress, just speed it up. He hasn't chosen that route. He hasn't said, how can I help? How can we make this better? How can we be stronger again?

Real estate Donald Trump invested in the city of Chicago right on that riverfront when crime and the immigration or the immigrant populace of Chicago was far bigger, extensive, clearly on crime it was far worse. Today, it is safer than it was when the real estate Donald Trump invested in this city.

So again, this is all a smokescreen. It's not really about solving the problem, it's about a show and a performance. If you wanted to make progress on how to deal with illegal immigration, there's a lot of ways to do it and cities and states will partner with you. You want to fight crime, cities and states will welcome you in to be a partner on putting police permanently, not as a flash in the pan on the street and deal with this in a real way.

Deal with giving kids after school programs right now in schools, back in prosecuting gun crimes and violent crimes, putting gangs, gang members behind bars. But he hasn't chosen to do that. And he knew he had no legal standing on that. So this is now an immigration enforcement.

SANCHEZ: Rahm Emanuel, we have to leave the conversation there. Thanks so much for the time.

EMANUEL: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Still to come, the upheaval at the CDC has some health professionals worried, even as the White House is singing the praises of RFK, Jr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: Secretary Kennedy, one of the world's foremost voices, advocates and experts on public health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Plus, the bookie at the center of the Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal tells his story to CNN. Stay with us.

[20:30:13]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:34:53]

SANCHEZ: It's been a week of upheaval at the CDC with the future of the agency's leadership up in the air. Susan Monarez was forced out after just a few weeks on the job and that prompted other senior CDC officials to resign. Lawyers for Monarez said that she refused to rubber stamp unscientific, reckless directives.

Meantime, the new Acting Director, Dr. Jim O'Neill, posted on X today that under the Biden administration, quote, "CDC lost public trust by manipulating health data to support a political narrative." He went on to write, "We are helping the agency earn back the trust it squandered."

Joining me now for more is Dr. Craig Spencer, he's a public health professor and emergency medicine physician at Brown University. Doctor, thanks for being with us. With the exception of the pandemic, I don't think most Americans historically have focused on the leadership at the CDC. Does this shake up in your mind though help bolster or deteriorate trust in the agency?

DR. CRAIG SPENCER, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY: Well, look, first, let me start by saying my profound gratitude to the CDC professionals who left this week and on their way out, really raised the alarm about what's going on inside the agency. Let me be clear, whether you're MAHA or MAGA, both, neither, or don't have any political labels, what you just described, this chaos and confusion, this profound uncertainty is going to have short-term and long-term impacts that will affect all Americans.

I want Jim O'Neill or any acting or confirmed director to succeed. We need them to. We need to rebuild trust. There were legitimate concerns about how the agency responded to COVID. But I'm concerned that we're going the exact opposite way.

You know, Susan Monarez was handpicked by this administration to do this job and then cast aside weeks later. Jim O'Neill may be a friend and longtime aide of Kennedy's, but it's not clear where he stands on the same issues that caused Susan to be kicked out of her job and the others to leave.

And there's no reason to believe that if he gets in Kennedy's way, he may be cast aside just as well. Because for decades, Kennedy has made it very clear what his goal is. He wants to pull vaccines off the market. He wants to make it harder for us as Americans to access them.

Nothing is going to stop them. And I fear we may not have yet hit the bottom.

SANCHEZ: CNN is reporting that in the weeks before Susan Monarez was ousted, officials repeatedly pressed her to commit to signing off on potential new vaccine restrictions. And we've learned that Jim O'Neill, the acting chief, was present at those meetings, according to two people familiar with the matter, though it's unclear what role he might've played.

Do you think it's safe to say that he would support Secretary Kennedy's new restrictions? And how big is that a concern?

SPENCER: It's a massive concern because, look, Kennedy has made it very clear that if people don't approve with what he wants, you know, he keeps saying gold standard science. But gold standard science for him seems to be my way or the highway.

And if Jim O'Neill doesn't agree and rubber stamp what RFK Jr. wants to do, there's no reason to think that he won't be cast aside as well. I was initially really concerned about RFK Jr. and what he was going to do with vaccine access.

I came on Anderson's show the day that RFK Jr. went before the committee first confirmation, and I said that I was remarkably concerned. I'm even more concerned today than I was then. And I am absolutely convinced that RFK Jr. is creating confusion around the ability to access vaccines. And coming a year from now, it's going to be that much harder for Americans, kids, adults to access them.

SANCHEZ: I want to play some sound for you from Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy at the White House, Stephen Miller, praising HHS Secretary Kennedy. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MILLER: Secretary Kennedy, one of the world's foremost voices, advocates and experts on public health, is working hard to restore the credibility and the integrity of CDC as a scientific organization committed to the scientific method and getting to the root cross -- causes of the public health epidemic in this country.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

SANCHEZ: I mean, what's your reaction to that description of Kennedy?

SPENCER: Look, I've said this before. I think Kennedy has identified a lot of the right problems about health in this country. Access to, you know, chronic disease management, concerns about nutrition and the quality of food. I agree with those.

The problem is, is I completely disagree with the solutions that he has proposed. And I'm even more concerned listening to the professionals that have left the CDC in the past few days who have said that even as senior professionals, they were not allowed to brief RFK Jr. They were not allowed to present the evidence that he needs to hear to be able to restore trust, to make those decisions that are going to impact the rest of us.

I am concerned that it's not just RFK Jr. I'm concerned that as a country, we have dismantled not only the detection systems that we need for surveillance around the world to pick up things like Ebola and other infectious threats. We have undermined public health authority and resources in this country.

And we have now undermined the expertise that we are going to need the next time we have a severe public health threat in this country. We are effectively rolling the dice and hoping one doesn't happen. But if it does, I am absolutely convinced under RFK Jr.'s leadership,

we are unable to mount a sufficient response.

[20:40:15]

SANCHEZ: Dr. Craig Spencer, appreciate you sharing your perspective. Thanks for being with us.

SPENCER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Up next, the bookie at the center of the Shohei Ohtani betting scandal speaking out.

And later on this day, marking 20 years since Hurricane Katrina, a look back at the healing power that music continues to play in New Orleans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:45:13]

SANCHEZ: Another chapter of the Shohei Ohtani betting scandal was closed today at a courthouse in Santa Ana, California. The interpreter for the L.A. Dodgers star stole nearly $17 million from him to secretly pay off some of his own sports gambling debts. Ohtani was in the dark about the entire operation. The bookie of that interpreter was sentenced today to a year in prison and two years of supervised release.

CNN's Nick Watt spoke to him just before sentencing.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shohei Ohtani is among the greatest baseball players of all time. This had the makings of baseball's biggest scandal.

MATHEW BOWYER, FORMER BOOKIE FOR OHTANI INTERPRETER: The first time I saw the wire was Shohei Ohtani. It was a holy moment for me.

WATT (voice-over): Ohtani's name on the wire, his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara's name on that account. Deeply in debt at Matt Bowyer's illegal sportsbook.

BOWYER: Made me think was they're partners in an account, which is common, by the way, or it was Shohei. And I clearly was starting to think it was Shohei. Stealing never really crossed my mind.

WATT: It would be natural to think it was Shohei.

BOWYER: Well, I mean, truthfully, I did, but I wasn't sure. And, you know, sometimes in life you have a question that you really don't want to know the answer, that's where I was.

WATT (voice-over): The interpreter later admitted to stealing and wiring nearly $17 million from Ohtani's account to cover his own astronomical losses. Bowyer pleaded guilty and was sentenced today for money laundering, tax evasion and running an illegal gambling operation.

BOWYER: You do a crime, you got to do it in time. So at the end of the day, I was doing something illegal.

WATT (voice-over): Which helped fund his lovely lifestyle.

BOWYER: This is a movie theater room I put in. We've watched a lot of games here. Big, big money games.

WATT: And betting on it didn't ruin your enjoyment of sports?

BOWYER: No, just added to it.

WATT (voice-over): The bookie business also funded Bowyer's own massive gambling habit.

WATT: What's the most you've won in a single bet?

BOWYER: $4.6 million.

WATT: Just most you've lost in one bet?

BOWYER: Well, on the casino trips, I've lost over $2 million multiple times. But on a particular wager, I lost $2.5 million once.

WATT (voice-over): Casinos gave him a lot of free stuff.

WATT: They would send their jet to pick you up to bring you?

BOWYER: Almost all of them. Like Monte-Carlo, we'd fly first class. They'd pay for our seats, $30,000 tickets.

WATT: You're going from flying first class to Monte-Carlo to taking a drug test and peeing in a cup in a courthouse in Santa Ana.

BOWYER: Yes, it's a wild turn, there's no question. It's definitely been humbling.

WATT (voice-over): And began early one morning in the driveway of his home here in Orange County, California.

BOWYER: I heard FBI freeze and I literally turned this way and there was eight red dots on me and they were in full tactical gear.

WATT (voice-over): Now he's not allowed to take bets or make bets.

BOWYER: Do I miss it? Do I want to gamble? Sure. I love gambling and I will probably until I'm dead.

This is definitely where the action took place.

WATT (voice-over): He says he gambled every day for maybe 35 years and got very used to risk. Bowyer just wrote a book about his life of hustle, selling newspaper subscriptions as a kid, trading commodities and all that gambling.

BOWYER: Morally, I felt 100 times better being an illegal bookmaker than I did as a commodities trader because 95 percent of the people that invested in commodities would lose their money. And it wasn't like we were saying that, disclosing that statement.

When I was a bookmaker, you decide what you bet on. You decide how much money you risk.

WATT (voice-over): Remorse, he has a lot.

BOWYER: I do have remorse. I have remorse for EPA being in prison. I have remorse for anyone that I aided and abetted in their gambling addiction and didn't know I was doing that. So I have remorse for many things. I have remorse for what I put my family through.

WATT (voice-over): And remorse, he says, for bringing America's pastime into a little disrepute and also almost tarnishing one of the goats.

BOWYER: Thank God, he had the best year of his life. 50-50, won the World Series, MVP. I mean, that's --

WATT: Did you win any money on that?

BOWYER: No, because I was out of business.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WATT (on-camera): So he's facing a year in jail. He's lost about $2 million in restitution and the cash that was seized from his home. His income stream has been cut off. But Matt Bowyer is remarkably 100 percent confident that he will bounce back.

This is a guy who is clearly a risk taker. You know, he's a guy who, when he plays golf, says he plays better when he has money on it. So, you know, his brain has been maybe rewired by 35 years of gambling.

So, yes, he's confident. And he is remorseful. Boris?

[20:50:00]

SANCHEZ: Yes. Fascinating character.

Nick Watt --

WATT (on-camera): Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- thanks so much for that story.

Up next, we're going to take you live to New Orleans, as the city remembers 20 years since Katrina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: In New Orleans and all along the Gulf, remembrances of Hurricane Katrina's landfall 20 years ago today. In New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, there was music.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOCLIP)

[20:55:12]

SANCHEZ: This is a traditional second line, a celebration of life. Music, of course, is written into the rich history of New Orleans. From the silence after Hurricane Katrina came the rebirth of the music, the people, and their city.

Here's Randi Kaye with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

(MUSIC)

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Music is part of the soul of this city. And when Katrina flooded New Orleans, the music stopped.

MICHAEL HARRIS, MUSICIAN AND NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: It went silent for a minute. It did, it did. Who had money to go to the club or whatever?

KAYE: It wasn't even open.

HARRIS: Really, really, there was no place to go. KAYE (voice-over): Musician Michael Harris grew up in New Orleans in the city's Lower Ninth Ward. He plays bass and acoustic guitar. He was out of the country touring in August 2005, and came home to find his house had been destroyed.

HARRIS: I was like about three or four blocks from where the levee actually broke and that barge came through. And my house wasn't where I left it.

KAYE: Did you find any belongings?

HARRIS: I found one piece of paper, a paper of -- a piece of paper and a license plate from a vehicle that we had.

KAYE (voice-over): Still today, the memories of Katrina remain.

HARRIS: It's still there, still lingers, you know. We're coming up on the 20th anniversary and it's still, those memories are fresh, you know? One of the things I really remember that really shocked me was the smell of death in the air, you know? That, I don't know about the body and the mind or whatever, but it's still there. It's still there.

KAYE: How much did music help you through some of the really the darkest times after Katrina?

HARRIS: That was my therapy. The music was therapeutic because there were so many mixed emotions and everything and that was my release. It helped me to be even more grateful and appreciate music even more.

Music was medicine in a city blessed with such rich history. The sounds of Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, and Louis Prima, to name a few.

So for Michael, there was no doubt music would bring the community together.

HARRIS: I think that the music has helped the city to recover because it's like they're saying psalms in the Bible, you know, make a joyful noise unto the Lord. And that's what they'll making a joyful noise.

KAYE: This is Musician's Village. It's a neighborhood located in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Musicians Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build this and provide housing for musicians who had lost their homes in the storm. The goal was to preserve the city's unique musical culture.

KAYE (voice-over): The first keys were given to homeowners in 2006.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go over to the car.

KAYE (voice-over): Today, Michael Harris lives in Musician's Village.

HARRIS: New Orleans is home. I just knew that for me, in my heart, it was here in New Orleans, in this city. I had to come back. And this is pretty much the story of my life since Katrina.

KAYE (voice-over): As the city continues to bounce back, so has the music.

HARRIS: We are recovering. We're resilient. And this too shall pass.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ: Randi Kaye joins us now in New Orleans outside the Spotted Cat. Randi, what was it like reporting today in New Orleans 20 years later?

KAYE (on-camera): It was really -- it was quite a scene here, Boris. I mean, a lot of people, they feel like Katrina is still everywhere. Everywhere you turn, there's a vacant lot or a story to tell. But it's really about the music here.

New Orleans is all about the music, as you know. So when the music venues like the Spotted Cat reopened after the storm, it was a place for people to go, to bond, to heal. You heard that musician in our story say it was therapy for him. It's a collective therapy, really, here in the community.

And then about a year after the storm, you had Jazz Fest return, which not only brought live music, but it poured a ton of money into the community, which was much needed. And then we had those second line parades, like we saw today, marking the 20th anniversary. So we had jazz on the move. And it was really a way for this community to heal, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Randi Kaye, thank you so much for the reporting from New Orleans.

Last night, Anderson brought you the story of the Bane family, who lost four members to Hurricane Katrina, parents Christina and Edgar, and their sons, Edgar Jr. and Carl. Daughters Laura and Serena were the only ones to survive.

For 20 years, this date, August 29th, has been marked by tragedy and grief for their family. This year, however, is mixed with hope. Serena's granddaughter was born early this morning. Her name is Jayla. She's nine pounds of joy and life and love.

Congratulations to the entire Bane family.

The news continues. The Source starts right now.