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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump Met with OMB Director Today Saying They'd Determine which of the Many Democrat Agencies they Plan to Cut; Interview with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD); Interview with Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) . Rep. Madeleine Dean To Speaker Johnson: "The President Is Unhinged, He is Unwell"; Rise Of ICE Impersonations Causing Fear; At Least Two Killed In "Terrorist Incident" At U.K. Synagogue; Prince William Opens Up. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired October 02, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: ... it could take anywhere from about a month, 30 days for the NTSB, typically, to come forward with some sort of preliminary findings. So, that's what we're looking forward in this situation, about 30 days.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Wow, well, I mean, look, you just look at that as you were laying out with that graphic, even just miraculous, the speeds were low. You think what it could have been if it had happened just a few seconds later.

All right, Jason, thank you very much. Appreciate that.

And thanks so much of course as always to all of you for being with us for our program. AC360 begins right now.

[20:00:35]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360, shutdown hardball, the President admits his budget chief's mission is cutting politically blue priorities and not red ink with announcements of program cuts and job cuts coming as soon as tomorrow.

Also tonight, House Speaker Mike Johnson's surprising answer when a Democratic Congresswoman calls the President unwell and unhinged. That congresswoman joins us.

And later, this is not an ICE agent, and he's not the only one. CNN investigates ICE impersonators and how to protect yourself from them.

Good evening everyone. I'm John Berman in for Anderson.

With the government shutdown almost certainly headed into next week, Democratic lawmakers are continuing to make restoring health care programs and insurance subsidies their price for ending it. And if they are sticking to their position, the President, seemingly with great gusto, is actively moving against programs he believes they hold dear. Here's what he posted this morning:

"I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent."

Now, Russell Vought is the White House Budget Director. Project 2025 is the report he coauthored at the Heritage Foundation think tank, which essentially served as a roadmap for a lot of what we have seen unfold from The White House starting on day one.

Project 2025 was also a lightning rod during the campaign, so much so that then candidate Trump posted this online. "I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who was behind it." He continues, "I disagree with some of the things they're saying," calling them "absolutely ridiculous and abysmal" and adding, "I wish them luck but have nothing to do with them." That was July of last year. He also said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I have no idea what Project 2025 is. I've never read it and I never will.

So many different stories they made up about Project 25, they've been told officially, legally, in every way that we have nothing to do with Project 25.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So whether or not he was telling the truth there, he has made much of its agenda his agenda, made one of the authors his Budget Director, and is now lauding the fame of the project he claimed to know nothing about. He did that and gave marching orders to fashion his cuts, apparently to already authorized and appropriated funding so as to hurt the political opposition.

What's more, and we'll show you that post from this morning again here, the President is saying it out loud, both online and on camera. This was taped yesterday but aired this evening on OAN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There could be firings and that's their fault. And it could also be other things. I mean, we could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they'd be permanently cut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Earlier today, House Speaker Mike Johnson also weighed in, saying this about the man and his mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Russ does this reluctantly. He takes no pleasure in this because Russ has to sit down and decide because he's in charge of that office, which policies, personnel and which programs are essential and which are not. That is not a fun task and he is not enjoying that responsibility. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, you can decide for yourself what to make of the Speaker's portrayal of Vought as a reluctant player in all this. Republican Senator Mike Lee certainly has and the word reluctant does not cross his lips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): Russ Vought, the OMB director, has been dreaming about this moment, preparing this moment since puberty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, whether or not that's so, The White House says the cuts could be announced as soon as tomorrow. Asked about it today, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in so many words, that's nothing new.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): The Trump administration has been firing thousands of federal employees outside of the context of a government shutdown since January 20th, literally, they've been engaging in mass firings the Trump administration, since January 20th. This is extraordinary stuff. This is what they've been doing prior to this shutdown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Meantime, in The White House briefing room, racist A.I. meme video showing Leader Jeffries and other Democrats in sombreros are playing on monitors. Something Speaker Johnson today told Congressman Jeffries to ignore.

And late today, The White House, on its official account, posted this: A sombrero with the words "Almost Friday." Also, just moments ago, they posted another sombrero video.

Again, tonight it's a lot, starting with CNN chief White House correspondent and anchor of "The Source," Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, what is the mood in The White House tonight?

[20:05:20]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: You know, John, this is a mood that they've had for about 24 hours now and it's not clear if they're right or if this is going to bear out. But they feel pretty confident about the way this shutdown is being handled and certainly how it's being messaged. Obviously, that's why you're seeing all of those videos and memes playing on repeat inside The White House press briefing room. You know, for people who have never been in there, there are speakers above the seats as well. So, there's audio with this. It's kind of playing on a loop nonstop inside the White House. And it's kind of this odd atmosphere because there's not a ton of people present at The White House. They're affected by the shutdown as well. Obviously, key senior staff is there, but a lot of the staffers, it's kind of described as a ghost town, not just inside the West Wing, but also in the building next door where, as you know, a lot of the administrative staff works. And so, there is this certainly environment, though. But The White House has been treating this as if it's going to be over in a matter of days.

That's what I heard from White House officials who feel confident that Democratic senators who have not so far voted yes, that they are going to start to break next week. And a reminder, they only need five of them to cross over and vote yes.

Now, the indication and why they're getting that, it's not totally clear. You know, we heard from Hakeem Jeffries today during that press conference saying that he can't get a call back from The White House or from Republican Congressional leaders and hasn't spoken to them since Monday.

So, for people who are sitting at home and saying, oh, well, they're arguing about this, they'll come to an agreement. Right now, the sense seems to be that there is no discussion happening between the people who would decide to end this shutdown.

And so it's unclear why The White House is so confident in that but they are and that has been the understanding we've gotten from White House officials all day and certainly why they've been playing things like that on loop inside The Briefing room.

Now, they are making contingency plans behind-the-scenes. If this does continue to drag out and the Budget Director Russ Vought has been bragging about the energy projects that are being canceled coming out of the Energy Department. And so, the question remains to be seen, how many people could get laid off as a result of this? Or what further projects they could try to cut to try to pressure Democrats to come to the table here?

BERMAN: Yes, we will certainly wait and see if any of this changes over the next several days.

Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much. And were going to see you at the top of the hour for "The Source" and your interview with Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

The White House pressure campaign seems to be extending to some unusual corners of the federal government. Multiple Department of Education workers said that out of office messages blaming Democrats for the shutdown were automatically sent from their e-mail accounts without their consent. That, according to sources at the department. Now, those sources characterized the move as disturbing and violating.

CNN White House Washington correspondent Sunlen Serfaty tracking this for us. So, Sunlen, what are these out-of-office messages say? And how are the workers reacting? SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, workers are very confused and really worried about these e-mails. They do find them very disturbing because they did not give consent for these emails to be sent from their own e-mail account.

Now, these workers at the department, they were originally instructed by the department to send out something of a generic e-mail that would be sent automatically while they were on furlough during the shutdown. It was very typical, a worker told me of many past e-mails that were sent out during the shutdown.

But what is actually being sent here is important. What is actually being sent from their e-mail address is something entirely different from what these workers set up on their own e-mail accounts. And I'll show you just a bit of what this message says. In part, it is the very partisan message that calls out and blames Senate Democrats for the shutdown, saying, "... the House of Representatives passed a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate, which has led to a lapse in appropriations."

Now, we've seen this language come from other agencies during the shutdown, suggesting to their workers to send similar out-of-office e- mails. But what's different here at the Department of Education, John, is that employees did not give their consent and that this was done without their knowledge. And I had one employee tell me today that they actually went back into their e-mail, changed their out-of-office message twice, and it was reverted back and overridden by this actual partisan messages. So it's very concerning.

The Department of Education also, and notably not denying that this is happening. They tell me, "The e-mail reminds those who reach out to the Department of Education employees that we cannot respond because Senate Democrats are refusing to vote for a clean C.R. and fund the government," adding, "Where's the lie?" Some federal workers raising real concerns about potential violations of the Hatch Act, which of course states that federal employees are required to perform their duties in a nonpartisan manner -- John.

BERMAN: All right, pretty interesting there. Sunlen Serfaty always great to see you. Thank you very much.

My next guest is a Republican with a reputation for working across the aisle. He's also on the all-important Appropriations Committee, Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota joins me now. Senator, great to see you. Where do negotiations stand right now, as far as you can tell between Republicans and Democrats tonight.

[20:10:27]

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): I think we're still at the point of trying to convince our Democratic colleagues that the first thing that has to happen is that the shutdown has to be shut down. and that we've got to get back to doing the work that the Senate had been doing and doing successfully this year. Senator Leader John Thune has made it clear that he wants regular order and that we would do the Appropriations Bill. We've got three of them out already. They've been in conference with the House. We've got three more ready to come to the floor of the Senate. But we can't do that under a government shutdown. We've got to get the shutdown out of the way.

So what we've asked them to do is, look, if you want to move forward on this stuff, the first thing that we do is open government back up. Once we get that done, there's a lot of us that want to work really hard to get the rest of the appropriations completed. That's good for Republicans and it's good for Democrats.

BERMAN: So as I said, you know, you are a Republican with reputation of working across the aisle, and you were kind of engaged in some of the informal bipartisan talks in the senate floor last night. Democratic Senator Chris Coons was as well, I did speak to him last night, and this is what he told me about a potential path that he sees. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): There is agreement that we should be willing to negotiate an extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies and a reform to them. Republicans want to reform them. Democrats want to extend them and they're insisting as of now, that we all vote to reopen the government, and then we'll start negotiating. I'm encouraging them to be serious and concrete about who will negotiate, how, over what and with what deadline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Do you feel like that's opening the door a little bit? What about giving some specifics here to Democrats so they have some promises about what happens next?

ROUNDS: Chris is not only a colleague, he's a good friend. And I think part of what he said there, there would be no disagreement on in that. Number one, we're going to have to stop the shutdown. But second of all, there are a number of us on both sides of the aisle that really do want to do all of the appropriation bills and to do them in a timely fashion. And in doing so, in the Senate in traditional fashion, that means that you have lots of amendments and lots of different ways to address different issues.

We have never ruled out trying to work out the differences and put modifications and corrections in place into what is the Affordable Care Act and the subsidies on it, but we will not debate that. We will not discuss that. When you're holding government funding hostage.

And so, our message has been, you're going to run out of time between now and the time that those subsidies have to be clearly identified for the state. And so, rather than wasting time keeping government shutdown, which nobody should want to do, let's get government open and then lets enter that very sincere discussion of getting all of the appropriation bills out in a timely fashion. And with that comes the ability to modify, amend and discuss lots of different issues, including the ACA.

BERMAN: Let me quickly ask you about what seems to be happening inside the White House budget office, which is the government canceling billions or suspending an infrastructure in green energy projects specifically for blue states? Is there any way to read this as punitive?

ROADS: I think what you're finding out is, is that when you don't do the appropriations process and we are operating under a Continuing Resolution that started in the Biden administration, it is very broadly written. And if we really want to stop that, if Democrats want to stop it, take the appropriations process, look at what we are actually putting into the law, which is pretty clear and puts limitations on what the Executive Branch can do and where they can spend the money. The sooner we get that done, the better off we are in terms of the Congress having a say in it again.

BERMAN: Do you like the President doing this?

ROADS: Look, it's his authority to be able to do so. He has that authority. And so, it's not a matter of whether or not I like it. It's a matter of he has that authority and he has the right to exercise it. And he's going to exercise it. If Democrats don't like that, let's not continue with this shutdown.

The sooner that shutdown gets eliminated, as soon as Senator Schumer decides he doesn't want the shutdown anymore, or a group of about ten of them decide that they'll bypass the shutdown, we can get back to work again in a bipartisan fashion. Do the appropriations process.

Remember in the Senate, it takes Republicans and Democrats alike to agree on those bills. There's lots of opportunities for modifications in order to find those areas where we have consensus. We want to get that done. We do not want the shutdown.

I've shared with my Democrat colleagues, look, this is not working in your favor. This is not going to help you get the things that you want to get accomplished to have them happen. Let's get past it, let's get the shutdown out of the way, let's go back to work again.

BERMAN: Senator Mike Rounds, appreciate your time tonight.

ROUNDS: Thank you.

[20:15:27]

BERMAN: Perspective now from chief political analyst and former senior adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod, also CNN anchor and chief domestic correspondent Phil Mattingly, who spent years covering Capitol Hill and including down all kinds of shutdowns up there.

David, I do want to start with you, and Phil, I'm glad I have your full attention now, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But given what we just heard from Republican Senator Rounds --

DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: yes. BERMAN: Given what we just heard from Senator Rounds there and what we've heard from Democrats, you know, what kind of a pathway do you see to ending the shutdown?

AXELROD: It's really hard to say because these things are always hard to start, are always easy to get on, they're hard to get off. And particularly if there's not an interest on the part of the President and the administration to do that. And if what Kaitlan says is true, they seem fine to settle in and do what they're doing.

But here's the problem. I mean, I listened to both Senator Coons and Senator Rounds and, you know, fundamentally, there is a lack of trust and there is a lack of -- there's no assumption of good faith. The process has been so thoroughly partisan-ized beyond where it normally is by the President. And not just this process, but how he's handled Congressional appropriations generally, that to say, just get back, we will pass this and then well resolve these other issues in good faith. That's very hard to sell. Not just to Democratic Senators and members of Congress, but also to voters, Democratic Voters and Americans who care about issues like the Affordable Care Act, like Medicaid.

So, I don't know how you solve the problem of bad faith. I think they'll come to the table when the President decides that this is not working to his advantage.

BERMAN: Phil, one of the great phrases in journalism is that deeply reported Phil Mattingly story and you have a great one right now on the President's Office of Management and Budget Director, Russ Vought. And the headline is Trump's shutdown architect: Russ Vought's plan to deconstruct the government was years in the making. What did you learn about Vought's worldview, and how much does it explain what we're seeing right now?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I think the biggest takeaway was the degree to which we knew that Russ Vought was one of the top policy advisors inside this administration. He was the OMB Director in the last year plus of the first term, longtime congressional aide on budget issues, he is known as kind of a technocratic whiz on some level, an ability to utilize and on some level, weaponize for his benefit the bureaucracy in ways that Republican staffers often are not, given their general disdain ideologically for government.

I think what was striking to me over the course of reporting this out over a series of months was not just the level of preparation that came into this moment for the administration, the speed with which they were operating and how that sequence, and the almost rhythm with which they were really launching unprecedented attacks on the bureaucracy, but also in an effort to reshape the federal government wasn't just purely -- hey, this is something I want to do because I dislike government.

The scale to which it attacks areas where there is ambiguity and statute and what I mean by that is for 40 or 50 years, Washington operated on the idea that guardrails existed as it relates to Congressional spending, right? The Constitution literally says power of the purse goes to Congress.

They are finding places where they feel like there are openings in the statute, gray areas in the statute, and they're running right through them. They're basically asking for challenges. What they have been able to get in the midst of those challenges is a series of court victories, both on the reduction in force, issues that are underway, but also on those spending questions. They're in a good position right now.

BERMAN: Yes, carefully planned, as you said, testing what's been assumed and what's actually hard and true law.

David, very quickly here, these videos that Kaitlan keeps saying are playing on a loop inside the White House briefing room of the sombreros and whatnot. What does it tell you about the White House mentality, and how do you think Democrats should handle that?

AXELROD: I think they should stick to the to the main issues. But listen, I think this reflects the kind of mentality that we've seen. They view Democrats as enemies. They view the government as something to be deconstructed. And there really are no boundaries. And if you view people as enemies and ridiculing them in the most vile ways is fun, it's really unhealthy in terms of trying to govern but it obviously amuses people in the White House.

[20:20:20]

BERMAN: David Axelrod, Phil Mattingly. Thank you.

Everyone should go check out all the reporting that Phil has done on this. It is really worth the read, to understand what's happening right now.

Next, the Congresswoman who confronted House Speaker Johnson about the President's behavior lately and what the Speaker said, all of it was caught on a hot mic. And later, Britain's future king very much on the record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EUGENE LEVY, ACTOR COMEDIAN: Do you miss your grandmother?

PRINCE WILLIAM (Prince of Wales): I do, actually. I do miss my grandmother and my grandfather. There has been quite a change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:25:11]

BERMAN: A hot mic moment is making the rounds today and aired last night on MSNBC. And it happened Tuesday after the President's address to military commanders.

Pennsylvania Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean confronted House Speaker Mike Johnson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): The President is unhinged. He is unwell, what are you doing --

JOHNSON: Folks on your side are too, I don't control --

DEAN: Oh, my God, please, that performance in front of the generals that is so dangerous.

JOHNSON: I didn't see it.

DEAN: You know, I serve on Foreign Affairs and Appropriations. This is a collision of those two things. Our allies are looking elsewhere. Our enemies are laughing. You have a President who is unwell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This is what some of what she was talking about and what the speaker claims not to have seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm a very esthetic person and I don't like some of the ships you're doing esthetically. They say, oh, it's stealth, they say it's not stealth. An ugly ship is not necessary in order to say you're stealth.

I think we should maybe start thinking about battleships by the way. I used to watch "Victory at Sea" I love "Victory at Sea." Look at these admirals, it's got to be your all-time favorite black and white. And I look at those ships they came with the Destroyers alongside of him, and nothing was going to stop them.

There were 20 deep, and they were in a straight line and there was nothing going to stop them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And Congresswoman Dean joins us now. Thanks for being with us. Can you just walk us through what led to that sort of exchange with Speaker Johnson?

DEAN: I guess what led to it was a shutdown, a government shutdown that was so avoidable. It was me just saying in an honest conversation with him a couple of things, and I give him credit, he stood there and we had an exchange. We didn't agree on much of anything, but I told him how deeply concerned I am that the President is unhinged and unwell, and our allies are noticing it, and they're looking elsewhere for support, and our enemies are enjoying it, and they are emboldened by it. I also pleaded with him to lead.

He has an extraordinary opportunity and responsibility to lead, and I respect that. But I think he's failing to lead when he is not telling the truth. I asked him to please tell the truth. This is no such thing as a clean C.R., and I told him my constituents don't care what a C.R. is. They want the government to function. They don't want a Band-Aid approach after Band-Aid approach. That is really let's be very clear, this ineptitude in getting a full year's budget is really a disguise for getting people off health care, cutting them off, cutting people off SNAP and supplemental nutrition, hurting their pocketbooks.

So, I begged him to leave. I begged him to call out to the President the inappropriateness of the sombrero meme or tweet or whatever the heck it was. I said it was racist and the Speaker said, was it racist? He pretended to think he didn't know if that was racist.

BERMAN: You just called the President unwell again. What do you mean by that?

DEAN: Well, he's aging, aren't we all? I think we can very much notice that. He's a different man than he was in his first term. He's slower, he's a little more lethargic. But much more important to me is what he is saying before the world.

That meeting with the generals, number one, allowing the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to call in more than 800 military leaders from around the globe was an extraordinarily dangerous, reckless vain thing to do on both of their parts, pulling them out from the theaters where they are working and leading, and then to stand before them rambling about how he walks on stairs, what wars he solved, that he doesn't like the design of battleships? Does he want them to be gold or something? Just bizarre comments that meandered.

I noted that one of the generals, I'm somebody who takes a lot of notes whenever I'm in some meetings. And apparently some of the generals were trying to take notes, and they just abandoned their notes because it was incoherent. And very dangerous. Sending a message to other world leaders, that what you thought was the United States as the indispensable nation as Madeleine Albright used to talk about maybe is very much less so.

I am gravely worried for the leadership of the United States. I want this President to succeed. But it is clear to me that he is unwell and I think the people around him have to recognize that and go to him and admit it to him.

BERMAN: Well, can I can I play you something that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said about that? Listen to this.

DEAN: Certainly.

BERMAN: Oh, we don't have it. Let me let me read you what it said. He said, it appears that that Donald Trump not only has dementia set in, but that he's copying tactics from Vladimir Putin. He went on to say there's something genuinely wrong with this man and the 25th Amendment ought to be invoked. What do you think about that?

DEAN: I think he's recognizing some things I'm recognizing I have not made the comparison to Putin with the except that he likes utter authority. He doesn't want to be questioned by anybody. But what I'm a former professor of writing, so I like coherent arguments that build on themselves. What we see with this President is anything but coherent.

[20:30:53]

And sadly, what we see is utter incompetence that is around him. And then the final thing is what we see is the cruelty, how real people are being hurt.

Let me tell you one other thing that I did say to the speaker. I urged him to lead. He has the opportunity to lead. It was a failure for him to have sent his members home. We -- Democrats, you know, we're in full force all week down at the Capitol, ready to do our job.

Following the meeting, finally, a meeting in the Oval Office with Republican, Democratic leaders. But the speaker, because of the pressure of the President, sent all his people home. And I said to him, in effect, you walked into a shutdown. You wanted the shutdown.

BERMAN: Congresswoman Madeleine Dean from Pennsylvania, we do appreciate you being with us tonight. Thank you.

Next, in dozens of cases across the country, people pretend to be ICE officers taking advantage of people's fear of deportation to rob or torment them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:36:35]

BERMAN: As the Trump administration continues to boost immigration enforcement, ICE agents are becoming common sightings in cities nationwide. Activists, Democratic lawmakers, and some in the immigrant community have criticized ICE's tactics, including wearing masks to obscure their identities and wearing plain clothes.

So how are people supposed to know if ICE agents really are ICE agents? As Kyung Lah reports in this exclusive investigation, that question may be tough to answer with the rise in people impersonating ICE agents across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He asked me for ID. He definitely -- he's like, I need to see some ID. I'm ICE.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All across the country, victims confused and terrorized by people posing as ICE officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where you from, Mexico? You from Mexico?

LAH (voice-over): CNN found a jump in cases this year. Philadelphia, police say an auto shop worker was zip tied and robbed by a man in tactical gear, pretending to be ICE. Houston, Texas, police arrested a man for impersonating an ICE officer, accused of stealing $1,800 from a Guatemalan man during a fake traffic stop. New York, police say this man claimed to be ICE and accused him of assaulting, robbing and attempting to rape a woman.

CNN found two dozen reports of people posing as ICE officers in Trump's second term. That's more than the last 16 years combined. While CNN found some of the reported cases are violent, others are meant to torment.

OLENA RAY, MANAGER, EMISH MARKET: The ICE letters, three ICE letters were huge.

LAH (voice-over): Outside Seattle, Washington, this SUV pulled up to Emish Market, a store that caters to the Ukrainian community.

RAY: He was going back and forth in the car, back and forth.

LAH (voice-over): Olena Ray is the store manager.

RAY: This is our main area where people -- it's our cafe. The majority of the time, employees speak in Ukrainian. It's a place where they can feel like home. The people were scared because they did not know if it's a real ICE or not and what to expect if it's a real ICE.

LAH (voice-over): The store security guard seen here called police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They barricaded the front so nobody could get in or out of the lot. Then I went over and I'm like, yo, what the -- are you guys doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you find it?

LAH (voice-over): Law enforcement found the driver of the ICE-labeled SUV. He wasn't ICE at all. His name is Ilya Kukhar. Police say they got numerous tips about his social media, like this video of a fake ICE arrest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, what are you doing?

LAH (voice-over): Kukhar explained to police his motivation.

ILYA KUKHAR, ICE IMPERSONATOR: It was literally a prank. It's literally a prank video.

LAH (voice-over): A video to generate likes on his social media account.

KUKHAR: What's up, guys? Today we're going to be going around today and delivering ice to everyone and seeing their reactions.

ICE: When you found out that this was a joke, what was your reaction?

RAY: Mine was like, who would do that? Who would play with, you know, people's problems like that and try to scare people like that?

LAH (voice-over): These are real ICE officers, captured on video, masked, often in plain clothes, many in unmarked cars, detaining people they suspect of being undocumented immigrants across the country in Trump's second term. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you can't do that. You can't do that. Why -- what are you looking for?

[20:40:04]

LAH (voice-over): Without showing their faces, it's not hard to understand why that may inspire ICE impersonators and why that's terrifying residents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, are you ICE or a cop?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call 911.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, please, call 911.

MIGUEL ARIAS, FRESNO CITY COUNCILMEMBER: When ICE officers began to mask themselves, they gave the green light for these impersonators to do the same thing.

LAH (voice-over): Fresno, California, saw the impact. Councilman Miguel Arias says two men wearing these vests pulled people over in fake traffic stops. Police say they then went into 11 businesses saying they were ICE. Police say, again, this stunt was for social media fame.

LAH: Were they masked?

ARIAS: They were masked. For the general public, they believed that they were being pulled over by law enforcement and ICE officials giving their bulletproof vests with ICE lettering and police lettering on it.

LAH (voice-over): Making it all worse now, Councilman Arias says the real ICE doesn't tell the city who they're targeting and when.

ARIAS: So we have no way of knowing whether these are folks impersonating ICE or actual ICE engaging in legitimate enforcement activities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going back to Mexico.

LAH (voice-over): It's impostors and moments like these blurring the lines between who has real authority, who is an official agent, and who is looking to take advantage of people's genuine fears.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LAH (on-camera): We reached out to ICE and a spokesperson tells us, "ICE officers and agents always have credentials visible and clearly announce who they are. ICE strongly condemns the impersonation of its law enforcement officers or agents. This action is not only dangerous but illegal. Assaults on ICE officers are up more than 1,000 percent since this time last year. The brave men and women of ICE choose to wear masks for safety, not secrecy." And earlier this week, Ilya Kukhar, the defendant you saw in the Ukrainian market case, was in court. He and prosecutors agreed that the charge against him will be dismissed in two years if he doesn't violate any criminal laws and apologizes to Emish Market.

His attorney also tells us this began as a joke. He's a good kid who did something very politically charged and regrets how it got interpreted. John?

BERMAN: Yes, the idea that this is a joke, the cruelty there.

Kyung Lah, thank you very much.

Next on 360, the latest on today's deadly attack at a British synagogue on the holiest day of the year for Jewish worshipers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:47:09]

BERMAN: Police in the United Kingdom are investigating a deadly car ramming and stabbing today at a synagogue in a suburb of Manchester. It happened on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Authorities are calling it a terrorist incident. At least two people are dead, three others in the hospital with serious injuries.

Details now, and we should warn you, some are graphic from CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody else, get back!

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): As the injured lay in the street, armed police shout at the alleged attacker, whom they identify as Jihad al-Shami, a British citizen of Syrian descent whom they say was wearing what appeared to be an explosive device.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has a phone (ph)!

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Then shoot as he refuses to comply. The deadly events unfolding early Thursday morning outside a synagogue in the northern city Manchester on the holiest day of the year for the Jewish community, Yom Kippur. Gary Wernick was inside the synagogue.

GARY WERNICK, SURVIVOR OF SYNAGOGUE ATTACK: I saw somebody, somebody I knew, sitting in a chair or being put in a chair, covered with blood. I realized that was not a place for me to be. I went back. At that point I knew it was a serious incident.

ROBERTSON: And what do you think can happen at that moment?

WERNICK: I can get killed.

ROBERTSON: You thought that could happen to you? WERNICK: Yes. Yes.

ROBERTSON: You might die?

WERNICK: Yes.

LAURENCE TAYLOR, HEAD, UNITED KINGDOM COUNTER TERRORISM POLICE: Two people have died. The attacker has been shot dead by the police. Based on what we know, counter-terrorism policing has declared this as a terrorist incident.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): In this exclusive CNN video, shot in a residential street barely a quarter mile from the synagogue, two 30- year-old men were arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation, and instigation of acts of terrorism and taken away. Police say a 60- year-old woman arrested on the same charges too.

ROBERTSON: Do you feel safe living in the U.K. now?

WERNICK: Britain, I think, has always been unsafe.

ROBERTSON: Is this a safe place to bring your girls up?

WERNICK: No.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Police also praising the public for their quick actions, preventing even more bloodshed.

CHIEF CONSTABLE SIR STEPHEN WATSON, GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE: There were a large number of worshippers attending the synagogue at the time of this attack. But thanks to the immediate bravery of security staff and the worshippers inside, as well as the fast response of the police, the attacker was prevented from gaining access.

ROBERTSON: The attack so serious, the British Prime Minister cut short a trip to Denmark, returning in a hurry to the U.K. to chair a meeting of his top security officials.

[20:50:05]

KEIR STARMER, PRIME MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: I'm already able to say that additional police assets are being deployed to synagogues across the country, and we will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): For some, it will feel too little too late. Across the U.K., anti-Semitic attacks have been on the rise. So too the fear that something like this could happen.

VICKY, LIVES NEAR SYNAGOGUE: We do have Orthodox people on this road. They're probably not safe now. And they have lots of children. For somebody to know today's Yom Kippur, I just feel this has been definitely planned.

(END VIDEO TAPE) ROBERTSON (on-camera): And after his security cabinet meeting, the British Prime Minister saying that this was an attack on Jews because they are Jews. Around here, people feel that this is one of the worst anti-Semitic attacks in the U.K.

It is a collective trauma that will be felt way beyond the victim's family and friends. John?

BERMAN: All right, Nic Robertson for us. Thank you very much.

Coming up, Prince William opens up in a new interview about his late grandmother, his wife, and what he says was the hardest year of his life.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

PRINCE WILLIAM, PRINCE OF WALES: You know, life is said to test us as well, and definitely it can be challenging at times. I'm, you know, I'm so proud of my wife and my father for how they've handled all of last year. My children have managed brilliantly as well.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:56:11]

BERMAN: Britain's Prince William is making a lot of headlines for a candid new interview he did with actor and comedian Eugene Levy. In it, the future king talks about his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, as well as both his father and his wife battling cancer and the weight of royal history.

Now, the extraordinary opportunity came together for Levy because of his role in the raunchy late-'90s teen comedy "American Pie." Max Foster explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR & ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Windsor Castle, history and ceremony are everywhere. But for the Canadian actor, Eugene Levy, the royal encounter that awaited him was anything but traditional.

EUGENE LEVY, CANADIAN ACTOR: This is your mode of transportation.

WILLIAM: It is right here. Yes.

LEVY: On the grounds?

FOSTER (voice-over): It was meant to be part of a bucket list filmed for his travel series on Apple TV Plus. They were looking for someone to give them a tour. They aimed high and got a yes from the future king, who, it turns out, has seen Levy's classic movie "American Pie." Who knew?

FOSTER: The tone was set, in a way, wasn't it, by Prince William turning up on a scooter but you go on --

LEVY: Yes.

FOSTER: -- this tour and he admits he doesn't really know his way around. And then you go into the history part.

FOSTER (voice-over): And what follows is a vulnerability the prince rarely shows in public.

LEVY: Do you ever get overwhelmed just by the sheer history of the place?

WILLIAM: When you say it like that, it sounds like I should say yes.

LEVY: OK.

WILLIAM: But, no, I wouldn't say history overwhelms me. Other things overwhelm me, but not history, no. Because I think if you're not careful, history can be a real weight and an anchor around you. But also I think if you're too intrinsically attached to history, you can't possibly have any flexibility. And I like a little bit of change.

LEVY: I guess what you're saying is you want to open up some --

WILLIAM: I want to question things more.

LEVY: That's it.

WILLIAM: That's what I'm saying.

LEVY: OK.

Do you miss your grandmother?

WILLIAM: I do, actually. Yes, I do miss my grandmother. And my grandfather.

Yes, it's been quite a bit of change. So you do sort of, you think about them not being here anymore.

LEVY: Yes.

WILLIAM: And particularly being in Windsor, for me, Windsor is her. So she loved it here. She spent most of her time here. Showing you around today is very much the case. I'm trying to make sure I'm doing it the way she'd want you to see it.

FOSTER (voice-over): Inside the nearly 1,000-year-old castle, William spoke of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, his school days and his children racing through its halls. But also the stresses that come with being a father and a husband.

FOSTER: It does take this turn into something -- I'm not sure if you expected to go there, he talks about being overwhelmed by the family stress. And then you go deep, you talk about the princess' cancer diagnosis and how last year was the worst year of his life.

LEVY: Yes.

FOSTER: Do you think he's changed coming out of that?

LEVY: It changes what's kind of truly important. And he seemed to indicate that it did kind of alter his --

FOSTER: Yes.

LEVY: -- way of thinking.

FOSTER (voice-over): We learn the prince and princess juggle their jobs with a daily school run and kids waking up in the night.

The conversation turned more personal still at a Windsor pub, over a pint, talking about learning that his wife, Catherine, and father, King Charles III, both had been diagnosed with cancer.

WILLIAM: I'd say 2004 was the hardest year I've ever had.

LEVY: Are you optimistic?

WILLIAM: I am optimistic. I'm generally a very optimistic person. Especially when I'm with someone like Eugene. You know, life is sent to test us as well and it definitely can be challenging at times. I'm, you know, I'm so proud of my wife and my father for how they've handled all of last year. My children have managed brilliantly as well.

LEVY: Well, I'm hoping every other prince I run into is as nice, open, and human as you.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

FOSTER (on-camera): One of the great attractions of monarchy has always been the mystique. You don't get to see what life is really like behind palace walls. We always want to know a little bit more.

It's obvious that Prince William wants to change things. He wants to make the family more relatable. And this was a remarkably frank and open interview. You get a real sense of the real Prince William. I think that was on purpose, John.

BERMAN: What an unusual combination there.

Max Foster, thank you.

That's all for us. I'm John Berman. I'm going to see you tomorrow morning at 7:00 alongside Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner for CNN News Central.

In the meantime, the news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts right now.