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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
GOP Leaders Bracing for Mass Defections on Epstein Files Vote; Interview with Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY); Sources: Epstein Accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell Gets Special Privileges in Prison; CA Dem Congressman Eric Swalwell, A Vocal Trump Critic, Referred To DOJ For Investigation; CNN Exclusive: "No More Unjust Wars," Says Pres. Maduro To U.S.; Trump Briefed This Week On Options For Military Operations In Venezuela; How Suburban Moms Are Standing Up To Border Patrol With Whistles And Phones; JFK's Grandson Announces Campaign For U.S. House; Russia's First Humanoid Robot, Powered By AI, Falls During Debut. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired November 13, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: ... majority of that sentence, she has yet to serve. And so, the revelation this week that she has been working on a commutation application inside prison is all the more significant in that context and according to a whistleblower, the prison's warden has been helping her with the application by copying, sending e-mails. So, if that's not special privilege, I don't know what is.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Yes, it's absolutely incredible. M.J., thank you so much for that reporting and thanks so much as always to all of you for being with us. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:32]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER": Tonight on 360, did the relationship continue? More e-mails raise questions about the President's claim he broke ties with Jeffrey Epstein two decades ago, and with House Republican leaders bracing for the possibility of mass defections, Republicans voting for a bill making all the Epstein files public.
Also tonight, only on CNN, exclusive reporting on the special treatment, Ghislaine Maxwell is getting in her club fed confinement and the inmates being punished for speaking out about it.
And more breaking news as well with 20 alleged drug boats now hit and a carrier task force in the Caribbean, CNN has learned that the President's top advisers have briefed him on options for military operations inside Venezuela.
Good evening, thanks for joining us. Tonight, with more Epstein e-mail revelations emerging and more Republican lawmakers breaking away from the party line toward full disclosure, House GOP leaders are changing course sharply. CNN has learned that instead of trying to delay what they now see as the unstoppable, they are moving for an early vote on bipartisan legislation calling on the Justice Department to release the full Epstein files.
House Speaker Johnson, sources say, is scheduling a vote for next week with a senior White House official saying President Trump was made aware of that fact and that he and Speaker Johnson had spoken about it.
As for what the President is saying publicly right now, he's not posted on his social network about anything at all. Since yesterday afternoon and said nothing about Epstein at the White House today.
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REPORTER: Sir, any response to the Epstein e-mails that mention your name?
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COOPER: About those e-mails and messages, some 20,000 of them. When we left you last night, we'd only begun going through a handful of them, including one from 2011, in which Epstein told accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that their victim, Virginia Giuffre, spent hours with Trump at his house. What certainly cast the answer that Maxwell gave Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche this summer about the Trump-Epstein relationship in a different light.
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GHISLAINE MAXWELL, BRITISH FORMER SOCIALITE AND CONVICTED CHILD SEX OFFENDER: I think they were friendly like people are in social settings. I don't -- I don't think they were close friends or I certainly never witnessed the President in any of -- I don't recall ever seeing him in his house, for instance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, Republicans point out correctly that Miss Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, never alleged any wrongdoing on then citizen Trump's part and she herself wrote warmly of him in her memoir, saying Trump couldn't have been friendlier.
Now, at a minimum, that 2011 e-mail Epstein was telling the truth and it seems to reveal an encounter between the two that we did not know about before. Other messages suggest that Trump-Epstein relationship may have continued well after the break, the President said he made with Epstein in the mid-2000s.
In this exchange, just days after the 2016 election, a woman named Linda Stone writes to Epstein, "You still in Paris?" Epstein replies with a two word answer, "Trump Tower." Now, we have no independent confirmation that he actually was there, or who he saw or didn't see if he was. In a Thanksgiving 2017 e-mail after learning that Epstein was spending that holiday with someone named Eva, a woman named Faith Kates writes, "Who else is down there?" Epstein replies, "David Fizel, Hansen, Trump." She answers back, "Have fun."
The President was in Mar-a-Lago that Thanksgiving. Epstein lived close by. We asked the White House about it, a spokesman replied about this and other e-mails saying they, "Prove literally nothing. Liberal outlets are desperately trying to use this Democrat distraction to talk about anything other than Democrats getting utterly defeated by President Trump in the shutdown fight."
Now, that may be part of what is motivating some Democrats, but the e- mails are the e-mails. And for years, Republicans, some of whom are now in power and in a position to do something about it, have been calling for the full release of all information related to Epstein.
Now, whatever the relationship actually was or wasn't, many more e- mails and messages show that Epstein's desire continuing until 2019, when he died by suicide, was to be seen as a kind of authority on Donald Trump or even serve as an agent of his downfall.
In this 2018 text message, someone says apparently about Democrats, "They're really just trying to take down Trump and doing whatever they can to do that." To which Epstein replies, "It's wild because I am the one able to take him down."
Another, shortly before the 2018, Trump-Putin summit has him telling a former Norwegian prime minister that he could provide insight to the Russians on negotiating with the President. And finally, there's this from 2019, the year he hanged himself in a New York jail cell. He's writing to Steve Bannon about a recent state visit the President made to the U.K., during which he shook hands with then Prince Andrew, who had been totally undone by the Epstein scandal.
He tells Bannon, "Prince Andrew and Trump today, too funny, recall Prince Andrew's accuser came out of Mar-a-Lago". Bannon writes back, "Can't believe nobody is making you the connective tissue".
More now from CNN's senior White House correspondent, Kristen Holmes. So, is the White House concerned about how this is kind of unrolling?
[20:05:27]
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's not necessarily just concerned, but they are still trying to wrap around how they're going to respond to this. One of the things that we have seen over and over again is that the White House is continually on the defense, they are not on the offense. They are essentially waiting for these various documents or e-mails to be released and then responding to them.
But what the White House is concerned about or maybe not concerned, but kind of resigned to, is this idea that this bill that's being brought to the floor in the House is going to pass? They understand now that Republicans are likely to go against the wishes of the administration to release the Epstein files. So, they're watching this incredibly closely with the understanding that this is likely to move on to the Senate. The big question being, how are they going to handle this in the Senate?
We saw they pulled out all the stops to try to stop this bill from hitting the floor of the house, that obviously was unsuccessful. As you mentioned, Johnson and Trump spoke about the fact that Johnson was going to schedule this vote. And I was told that Trump was essentially told not just by Johnson, but by advisers. Expect this to pass. Expect this to move forward, at this point, this is the inevitable. There is literally nothing left we can do other than just let this happen.
Now, the question is, what's the strategy when it comes to the Senate? Do they try and whip votes or do they just let this happen and let it end up on President Trump's desk. And right now, I'm being told the White House hasn't come up with an official strategy.
COOPER: All right, Kristen Holmes, thanks very much.
Joining me now is New York Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman. He's a member of the House Judiciary, Homeland Security Committee. He's a former federal prosecutor. So, Congressman, the White House says these e-mails prove nothing, clearly they raise questions. Do you think they do prove anything?
REP. DAN GOLDMAN (D-NY): They absolutely prove something, which is that Donald Trump knew about Jeffrey Epstein's underage sex trafficking ring. And I say that because I point to the 2011 e-mail with Ghislaine Maxwell, where Jeffrey Epstein wrote to Ghislaine about the dog that hasn't barked, Donald Trump and that he spent hours with Virginia Giuffre in his house and Ghislaine Maxwell says, I have been thinking about that.
Now, the reason why that to me stands out is that these are two coconspirators discussing something that would be detrimental to their own case. It would be admissible in court because of that and its in 2011, before Donald Trump was running for President, or you could claim that Jeffrey Epstein was trying to get him back.
And so, that just confirms what we have suspected from the 2002 50th birthday letter and the 2003 quote of Donald Trump, where he said that he knows Jeffrey Epstein likes girls on the younger side.
And it further confirms that those DOJ Epstein files are going to be full of references to Donald Trump. Maybe its benign, maybe it's his knowledge of it. Maybe it's more, but there is no question that what we have seen over the last six months is a massive cover up effort by Donald Trump to prevent the release of the DOJ's Epstein files as opposed to these files from the estate.
COOPER: Do you believe that, that is why, you know, Kash Patel looked like a deer in headlights, soon after becoming the FBI director when after for months he'd been on podcasts before having any actual power talking about, you know, really getting those files have got to be released. It's all up to the FBI director, to the people in power who are keeping it. And then as soon as he's in power, suddenly he's singing a different tune along with Dan Bongino.
GOLDMAN: Absolutely, you hit the nail on the head, Anderson. Kash Patel and Dan Bongino spent all of 2024 harping on a conspiracy theory about the Epstein files and how they need to be released right away.
Pam Bondi then pretends or says that she's releasing the Epstein files in February, and then when called out and said, no, you're not releasing anything new. She made a big hullabaloo about how Kash Patel had not given her anything, and she wants it on her desk in the next day. And a memo about what happened and the FBI agents spent thousands of hours going through it to try to redact it and then all of a sudden, dead silence, absolutely nothing, crickets.
And the reason is that they went through it and realized that Donald Trump is all over it. And then Bondi went and told Donald Trump that he's in it, and they have gone into a massive, massive cover up scheme to try to keep the DOJ files from being released.
Next week, it seems like we are going to vote on having those files released and we'll see what the Senate does, whether they want to engage in Donald Trump's cover up just to protect himself, or whether they are going to listen to the American people and the victims and their survivors who are asking for those files to be released.
[20:10:37]
COOPER: Congressman Goldman, thanks very much.
Coming up next, Ghislaine Maxwell's VIP treatment at her cushy club fed prison camp from meal deliveries to visitation privileges to extra goodies to other inmates, pay for.
Also, late word from another lawmaker who investigated the President, Congressman Eric Swalwell, could soon be targeted for criminal investigation. Later, another CNN exclusive.
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(ICE operations being conducted.)
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COOPER: These are families, mostly moms using their phones to keep tabs on ICE operations and document allege abuses when they see it.
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[20:15:41]
COOPER: Looking there live at the Capitol where tonight's breaking news is the momentum building among House Republicans in support of bipartisan legislation to compel the Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein case files.
So much so, that sources tell us now that House Speaker Johnson is abandoning his delaying tactics and will instead try to expedite a vote.
Meantime, CNN has learned more about the special treatment that Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell is receiving the so-called club fed prison, the camp she was recently transferred to. Even as she pushes for the President to commute her sentence, something he has not ruled out. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Would you consider a pardon or a commutation for Ghislaine Maxwell if it's --
TRUMP: Oh, it's something I haven't thought about, it's really something, it's something I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about.
Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody's approached me with it. Nobody's asked me about it.
I'll take a look at it. I'll speak to -- I will speak to the DOJ. I wouldn't consider it or not consider. I don't know anything about it.
REPORTER: But she was convicted of child sex trafficking.
TRUMP: Yes I mean, I'm going to have to take a look at it. I'd have to ask DOJ.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, as she waits in the camp, she was transferred, to after praising the President to his former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, who is now the deputy attorney general. We've been learning about her life there. Safe to say it's a better life than her fellow inmates.
CNN's M.J. Lee broke the story. She joins us now. So, it was already questionable that she got moved to this minimum security prison camp earlier this year, convicted sex offenders, that normally doesn't happen. Tell us what you've learned about her life since getting there
M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question, Anderson, that she is being given accommodations that would not be typically given to the average inmate. And this photo, actually, that were looking at on the screen was taken on September 20th at this Bryan, Texas, minimum security prison facility, according to the photographer, that day.
She was seen during the lunch break carrying folders, a clear backpack and headphones. But just in terms of the details that we learned about her life, the big thing is that she is largely isolated and she's being afforded a level of privacy that inmates typically don't get.
For example, her roommates at some point were moved out of her room. They're typically four roommates that share a room at this prison facility. When she didn't like at one point that inmates were able to look into her cell, sitting at tables that were close to the entrance. The tables were then moved.
We also have an example of her using the chaplain's office at the chapel at the prison for visitations outside of regular visitation hours. A couple other details, meals and mail were at one point being brought to her. We're also learning that she has unlimited access to toilet paper, typically, just for context, each inmate gets two rolls per week. Anything over that, you have to go to the commissary and buy a roll at $2.25 a pop.
So, remember the important context and the timing of this is really important too, because there was this whistleblower that came out earlier this week and talked about some of these details and some additional details as well, including the fact that Maxwell apparently is working on a commutation application and the prison's warden has been giving her help as she has been working on that.
COOPER: And some of Maxwell's fellow inmates are apparently upset about her being there. Are they are they speaking out?
LEE: Yes, you know, there was a lot of shock and I think outrage for many of the inmates inside this prison because as you noted, when you are a convicted child sex trafficker, and you also have the vast majority of that sentence still to serve, you don't just end up at a minimum security prison. And I'm told that the warden at one point actually had a town hall meeting with all of the inmates after Maxwell arrived, and she basically said, do not talk about her to anybody.
And she also said, look, she's going to be treated like any other inmate, but there's an example of one fellow inmate, at Bryan, her name is Julie Howell, and she actually ended up giving a comment to a reporter. She actually had a daughter who was the victim of sex trafficking. So you can imagine why the presence of Maxwell in her prison would have been especially troubling for her and really offensive, I think, in her view. And after she gave this comment to a reporter, she was summoned to the lieutenant's office.
She was scolded and then she eventually was transferred out of Bryan to a higher security prison in Houston and what's interesting, Anderson, is that we have learned that apparently this has happened to several other inmates as well, who have expressed concern about Maxwell being there.
COOPER: And has anyone offered any explanation as to why Maxwell is being given special treatment?
LEE: Yes, I mean, first of all, we don't have actually a good answer as to why she was transferred to this Texas prison in the first place. So, that's question number one.
And second, in terms of just the different accommodations that are being made, BOP official basically said that they have a duty to make sure that any inmate, regardless of who they are, they have to be kept safe. And an official said that basically there have been death threats that were being made to her and so all of these accommodations were really important to try to keep her safe.
[20:20:58]
COOPER: All right M.J. Lee, thanks very much.
I want to get perspective now from former Trump campaign adviser David Urban and former Democratic South Carolina state representative Bakari Sellers. David, at this point, I mean, the steady drip of Epstein news cannot possibly be beneficial to the White House. Why do you think the President's top officials have been fighting this effort to release the files?
DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Anderson, I have no idea. I, like many others in the party, I think would just like to see it be dumped a long time ago. Get everything out there, that is out there -- let the cards fall away. Let's, you know, let's put this behind us. I think what -- I've repeatedly said, Anderson, I think the most important thing, I'm sure these files are interesting. I don't think they're going to be damaging for the President.
I think there was anything in there that it would have been leaked out by the past administration over the four years that they were in there. But I always keep saying like, why don't we just call them the prosecutors who did this case. The federal prosecutors and Southern District of Miami, the U.S. attorney. And let's ask them why they gave Jeffrey Epstein a sweetheart deal.
That's, I think, the most important question here. Why did he get a sweetheart deal? What were the causes behind that? Not so much what's in these files at this point? I mean, I think everything is there, it's going to be out, it is out at this point, but just dump it, get it out. I mean, the President ran on it, I think people want to know Republicans, Democrats and it is not getting better. It might go away after the House has this vote.
The Senate's not going to take it up. The President surely won't sign it. So, it will become a moot point at some point soon. But they're -- a big part of the MAGA verse and others that want to see transparency.
COOPER: Bakari, I mean, it's interesting because David was talking about the prosecutors down in Florida. One of them had reportedly been prepared to have a multi-count. I mean, dozens of count indictments, but that was not taken up by the lead attorney, obviously, who has appeared before Congress. Do you see any alternative strategy the White House could adopt besides releasing the files? Obviously, I mean, if the President -- if they did pass the Senate and it got as far as the President's desk, which, as David said, is highly unlikely. Do you think the ramifications of him not saying not releasing them would be great?
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So there is an alternative strategy. I think you just laid it out, which is just to kind of let time heal all. The problem is this is a bed that Donald Trump has made. I mean, he's been talking about the Epstein files since 2015. And I think that that it becomes a little bit more complicated than what my good friend, David Urban said, when you're talking about just how the prosecutor who gave him the sweetheart deal come and testify in front of Congress.
Because now we have evidence that Ghislaine Maxwell is getting a sweetheart deal currently as she's sitting in federal prison. And she's in accommodations that are not necessarily deemed for those who are child sex offenders or child sex traffickers. And so, it becomes a little bit more complicated than that. And we also know that she sat down with Todd Blanche for, I believe, nine hours and we know that the comments she gave to Deputy Attorney General Blanche are diametrically opposed to the e-mails that came out.
And so, yes, I think that the only thing that you can do, people always say that sunshine is the best disinfectant.
Right now, there is a great deal of hesitancy, not just from the MAGA base, but everyone. And then you have other politics at play. I mean, you have people like Nancy Mace who signed on to the discharge petition, and she's running for governor of the State of South Carolina. Does that mean that somebody else, for example, gets that endorsement?
So, there's so many politics at play, but at the end of the day one of the things that we know to be a fact is that Donald Trump palled around with the most notorious sex offender we have in the country, and he is reticent to giving the American public the full context of that relationship and Jeffrey Epstein's relationships with others.
COOPER: David, why wouldn't the President just, I mean, he's been asked multiple times about commuting Ghislaine Maxwell's sentence. Why wouldn't he just say, yeah, no, she's a convicted sex offender. It's not something I would. I mean, he's talked about -- Oh, I'll talk to the Justice Department. I don't know anything about it which is what he often says.
[20:25:02]
URBAN: Anderson, I don't have an answer for you. I don't know, you know, I dispute with what Bakari says. Listen at the end of the day, when all this gets out there, I don't think Donald Trump's going to have any fingerprints anywhere on this, on these documents.
Obviously, I can't be certain, I've not reviewed 30,000 plus pages or whatever there is left remaining. But again, I would suspect that during the four years of the Biden administration, if there were some, you know, Anderson, you and I and Bakari, we sat and watched Donald Trump be led into courtroom after courtroom by Democrats in power trying to take the guy down.
If there was a kernel of something in there that could take Donald Trump down, it would have been leaked already many, many years ago. So, I think they should dump it, get over it, move past it quickly, move on to things that people care about in America. Like pocketbook issues, you know, inflation and jobs and I think this administration would do well to get to that point and start talking about the things they're doing to make people's lives better.
COOPER: David Urban, Bakari Sellers, thank you.
Coming up next, we have more breaking news. The 20th deadly boat strike and late word on the briefing the President got on military operations -- potential military operations inside Venezuela by the U.S.. Later, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy announces a bid for Congress. Why he's saying he's running in a closer look at how he's been expressing himself publicly and politically up until now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dear President Putin, every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart.
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[20:31:12]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We have more breaking news tonight. The Justice Department could soon be investigating another vocal critic of President Trump. A referral has been made to DOJ to open a criminal investigation to Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell over alleged mortgage fraud. That step was taken by Bill Pulte, a top federal housing agency official.
He's a key ally, of course, of the President. He's referred other Trump foes for similar criminal probes. In a statement, Swalwell says he's surprised it took so long for the President to go after him.
Sources tell CNN that President Trump has been briefed by his national security team on options for possible military operations inside Venezuela. Now, CNN caught up with Venezuelan Leader Nicolas Maduro at a rally in Caracas.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): President, are you concerned about the possible aggression?
PRES. NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELA (through translation): We're focused on the people, governing with peace, with these young people building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): What is your message to the people of the United States, President?
MADURO (through translation): To unite for the peace of the continent. No more endless wars. No more unjust wars. No more Libya. No more Afghanistan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Do you have a message for President Trump?
MADURO (through translation): My message is, yes, peace. Yes, peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It's kind of amazing to see him being jostled in a crowd like that. Tonight, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on social media that the military action in the Caribbean is now called Operation Southern Sphere. CNN Anchor and Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto is here with more. So what more do you know about this?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So our reporting tonight, along with my colleagues Kevin Liptak and Zachary Cohen, is that the President was briefed this week, on Wednesday, on military options for attacking Venezuela. I'm told that at Southern Command, SOUTHCOM as it's known, that cells have been set up to develop military options for the President.
COOPER: Cells, not cells in the country, just --
SCIUTTO: Planning cells --
COOPER: Planning cells.
SCIUTTO: -- to carry out --
COOPER: Right.
SCIUTTO: -- potential military action up to and including targets inside the country, not just on the coast or on the water, but inside the country. And that those target -- that target list, expands as far as not just drug facilities, but also military facilities.
Now, I should make clear, the President has not decided to take up these options, but that the planning has reached a stage of seriousness that they have developed this target set, as it were, and presented that to the President, as well as to his Defense Secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
COOPER: How much of this is saber-rattling, essentially sending huge carrier groups into the region, talking this up and seeing what the -- where dominoes fall in Venezuela's results?
SCIUTTO: This is the ultimate question, and the President has not decided whether he wants to carry out any of these options. And there clearly is a messaging aspect to the strategy, because Trump administration officials hope, at least that with this enormous show of force, including the most advanced aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy, as we're seeing there, the USS Gerald Ford, that that might pressure or encourage forces inside the company -- inside the country, to abandon loyalty to Maduro and perhaps force him out.
That's a hope. But as we've seen, the administration has been quite happy with carrying out military strikes, deadly ones, outside --
COOPER: Yes.
SCIUTTO: -- off the land and at sea. And the question is, does the President decide to carry those attacks on land as well? He at least has the options. And to be clear, you know, they don't develop these options for nothing. It takes time and effort and intelligence to at least give the President that choice.
COOPER: How -- do we know much about the capabilities of the Venezuelan military?
SCIUTTO: They're not significant, certainly relative to the U.S. military. And, you know, there are questions about corruption inside the military, training, et cetera. And again, to your point, that's part of what this show of force is meant to show, that there is that imbalance.
[20:35:03]
Look at the U.S. Navy, right? Look at U.S. Air Force assets flying around your country, and that that messaging might encourage something inside the country. But, of course, there's no guarantee of that. And to date, it's our understanding that even the President himself is concerned that military action might not get him the result that he wants.
COOPER: And according to sources familiar with the briefing, Trump administration officials, I think, including Rubio and also Hegseth, told Congress over a week ago that the U.S. is not currently planning to launch strikes in Venezuela.
SCIUTTO: Well, they -- and they also said that they don't yet have legal justification to carry out military strikes on land. Now, as you know, we've seen them, convince themselves they have legal justification to do so on the water, though many people question that. People in Congress question that. Some of our very key allies --
COOPER: Right.
SCIUTTO: -- question whether these -- that these are legal operations.
COOPER: And that, it seems like based in the reporting, that's affected even intelligence sharing from some of our key allies.
SCIUTTO: Exactly. And they are penalizing us, a close ally, but they also don't want to be involved because they're concerned about the legal questions. So to date, the administration has its own questions as to whether they have the legal justification to strike on land. They might get there. We don't know. But our most recent information is that they're not there yet legally.
COOPER: Jim Sciutto, thank you.
SCIUTTO: Thank you.
COOPER: Fascinating.
Up next, how one community uses cell phone cameras and whistles to confront ICE agents and their alleged heavy handed tactics.
And why JFK's grandson says he's running for Congress in a look at his social posting, some offbeat with nothing to do with politics.
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JOHN BOUVIER KENNEDY SCHLOSSBERG: Why do I have this stuffed animal? Why do I have these stuffed animals? Why do I have a collection of snails? Because they make me happy. Because they talk to me and they listen to me.
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COOPER: Some residents of Evanston, Illinois, near Chicago, are sending a message to Border Patrol agents attempting to round up undocumented immigrants, telling them that their tactics are not welcome. They're turning on cell phone cameras, blowing whistles and confronting agents directly.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has more.
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SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): David Brooks captured this Border Patrol arrest on Halloween. Then came the real horror.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, she is a citizen of the United States of America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back or I'm going to shoot you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to what? You're going to (INAUDIBLE) shoot me? Damn! You're going to (INAUDIBLE) shoot me?
All right, tough guy.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Look again from another angle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fuck you, you piece of shit. You piece of shit.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Border Patrol had just been involved in a crash. Cell phone video shows them taking a woman out of a red car and pinning her to the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey! Hey!
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): As a crowd gathered, Brooks filmed as people were detained, then stared down the barrel of an agent's gun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoot me?
PROKUPECZ: What was that like for you?
DAVID BROOKS, EVANSTON RESIDENT: Frightening, surprising, shocking. Nobody was threatening violence. There was a lot of yelling, a lot of screaming.
It was a charged situation, but I don't think it was anything that would warrant trying to control a crowd using a gun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, don't put your hands on people.
PROKUPECZ: Here's how the Department of Homeland Security says things unfolded. That their Border Patrol agents were in an SUV and that they were coming up this street, they were trying to make a U-turn here, and that's when the red car slammed into the back of the SUV. However, witnesses here say that's not how things unfolded.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): They say the SUV, driven by those Border Patrol agents, purposely slammed on its brakes, causing the crash. DHS says its vehicle was being aggressively followed by the red car and called those who rushed to the scene agitated.
PROKUPECZ: Their argument is, well, go mind your business.
BROOKS: The crowd was annoying. And you don't beat people up because they're annoying you. It's a protest.
AMANDA BROOKS, DAVID BROOKS' WIFE: Let's say we have a legal right to protest.
D. BROOKS: Yes.
PROKUPECZ: Yes.
A. BROOKS: We do not have a right to break the law, but we have a legal right to protest.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): From Border Patrol caravans through the streets, to spot checks of landscapers. Here, top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino (ph) walks the streets wearing a long gun. It's perceived intimidation these families say they're fighting.
PROKUPECZ: The Brooks family is one of many families that is using their phone to keep an eye on where ICE could be here. And one of the things they tell us their concern is, is the presence of ICE outside schools like this.
MAYOR DANIEL BISS, (D), EVANSTON, ILLINOIS: So on Halloween, I was communicating with the superintendent. They decided rightly to have indoor recess, to not let kids out because it wasn't safe because of armed federal agents attacking people on the streets.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): When they spot immigration officers like here outside a Home Depot, they blow whistles to warn others.
SAVANNA ESSIG-FOX, CO-FOUNDER, PINK POSTER CLUB: We do three short whistles if we think we see ICE, and that helps to alert your neighbors.
EMILY MILLER, CO-FOUNDER, PINK POSTER CLUB: Yes.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Savanna Essig-Fox and Emily Miller started Pink Poster Club. They hang flyers with information on civil rights, and run a grassroots network of residents keeping tabs on ICE. Most are moms. We first met some of them in front of their local school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son, anytime one of his friends is not at school, he comes home and he says, I'm so afraid they took him away.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): When sirens go off, they check their text messages.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say there might be a suspicious car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very much.
[20:45:03]
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Amanda Brooks runs to protect kids on the playground.
MILLER: People all over Chicago and Evanston hear a whistle, and they run to them --
ESSIG-FOX: Yes.
MILLER: -- with their phones ready to film and to witness.
PROKUPECZ: Why is this an issue for you guys right now?
ESSIG-FOX: We have white skin. You know, we were born here. Like, we -- there's a level of privilege we have. We have comfortable lives here in Evanston. Like, there is a safety that we have, and that privilege we can use to do some good.
MILLER: In order for me to be able to enjoy my kids, and enjoy my other hobbies that I never do anymore, like reading or knitting or whatever. I can't just pretend something's not happening and go about my life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is wrong. How can you live with yourself?
PROKUPECZ: Can we show your arm? Is that OK? Do you mind?
JENNIFER MORIARTY, EVANSTON RESIDENT: Yes.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Jennifer Moriarty shows us the bruises on her arm, those she says she got while being detained during that confrontation on Halloween.
PROKUPECZ: What was the point of you being at this scene?
MORIARTY: It just happened in front of me. It just -- I was walking with my phone out like this, about ready to hit record on the video, and then I was dropped on my back.
PROKUPECZ: Did you ever hit anyone?
MORIARTY: No.
PROKUPECZ: Did you ever threaten to hit anyone? MORIARTY: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is wrong with you? Why would you do this?
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): She shot this video from inside the car. Her hands coughed in the front. She was able to still keep her cell phone. She was one of the three people detained that day. That's her leaning out of the vehicle as agents pinned down another person.
MORIARTY: They put us in the vehicle. They didn't frisk anybody. They didn't arrest us. They didn't Mirandize us. I had access to my phone in the car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help us!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help us, please!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Open the door!
MORIARTY: I'm surprised that they hurt the young man like they did, quite frankly.
PROKUPECZ: Was it hard to see, to sit there and see him --
MORIARTY: It was very hard to see. His left eye, it was super black, and it was getting very large. He was very distressed.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): DHS said that man grabbed the groin of one of the agents while being arrested, though that's not evident in the videos. The man who was detained with Moriarty didn't want to talk to CNN. But in that video from inside the car, he said he didn't know what he did wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just trying to help. I didn't even do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Neither did I.
PROKUPECZ: How long did they hold you guys?
MORIARTY: Five hours. And most of that was driving around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stupid mother --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shut up, dude. You are shameful.
MORIARTY: We were kidnapped. Absolutely. Absolutely. There was no arrest. It was as if to make an example, like no one is safe.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The local mayor says all three were released without charges.
MORIARTY: I wasn't afraid. There was no fear for me that day. It was anger. But I'm also super enlightened and motivated by the people, the community. I mean, that was a crowd of probably 70 percent women. And these men were out there pulling their guns and trying to mace people. They're afraid of communities who are on alert.
COOPER: And Shimon joins us now. I mean, it's remarkable to see that guy pulling out his gun, it seems like, multiple times.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Yes, at least twice from what was captured on camera.
COOPER: I mean, what kind of training do these --
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): I mean, they get law enforcement training. You know, if this was any other law enforcement agency, a local police department, no doubt there would be -- they would have to answer questions about this --
COOPER: They're driving around for five hours --
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Yes.
COOPER: -- with these two people --
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Yes.
COOPER: -- in the vehicle?
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): There was that -- there was three of them, because it was the man that was detained --
COOPER: I mean --
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): -- there was another woman, and then she -- Jennifer Moriarty told me that there was a Border Patrol agent in the back, too, the four of them. Two were cuffed in the front, she's cuffed in the front.
COOPER: But they're just driving around.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Driving around.
COOPER: There's no Miranda, nothing.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Nothing. And she told me that the guy whose face was all bruised, he asked for medical attention.
COOPER: Yes.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): And that they never gave it to him.
COOPER: And so what did they finally do with them?
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): So eventually they brought them to the FBI. They actually -- Jennifer Moriarty --
COOPER: Against the FBI?
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): To the FBI.
COOPER: What is the FBI going to do?
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): They got released. And so, you know, I don't know if they were hoping that somehow they would be able to charge them with something, but Border Patrol would not be the arresting officer. It would have to ultimately be the FBI.
And, you know, on the gun issue, we went to the Department of Homeland Security three times. I emailed them.
COOPER: Yes.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): You know, what is -- is this OK? What is the --
COOPER: I'm sure they had an answer for you.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Nothing. Ignored me completely. But what are they going to say, right?
COOPER: Right.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): So, look, for this community, I mean, the women in this community are remarkable. These moms that are out there worried about their neighbors, worried about the people that work in that community, and they are out there fighting. For now, Border Patrol --
COOPER: I mean, look, it's annoying to have people yelling at you. I get that. But, like, police have training for that kind of thing.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): That's right.
COOPER: These people, it seems like they're freaked out. They're like --
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Yes.
COOPER: -- that guy's totally hopped up --
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Yes.
COOPER: -- and on adrenaline.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): It's been -- it was a day of probably a lot of stress for them because so many of the moms were showing up at different locations. But then --
COOPER: Moms are showing up.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Yes. With whistles.
COOPER: Wow. Shimon Prokupecz, thank you.
PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Thanks, Anderson.
COOPER: For the first time ever, a descendant of President John F. Kennedy is running for elected office. 32-year-old John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg, who goes by Jack, and is the son of the late President's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, has announced his candidacy for a U.S. House seat in New York City that's being vacated by longtime Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler.
[20:50:10]
Schlossberg, who wrote about the 2024 election for Vogue, and according to The New York Times, worked briefly at the State Department, is best known for his viral social media presence, which has given him a large online following and raised some questions or eyebrows from some people.
CNN's Tom Foreman has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHLOSSBERG: Our country is at a turning point. It's a crisis at every level.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At 32, Jack Schlossberg thinks he can grab a congressional seat in the heart of New York City. He already knows how to grab headlines.
SCHLOSSBERG: Newsflash, Republicans are lying.
FOREMAN (voice-over): On social media, Schlossberg has spent years weaving a careening, confounding personality that hardly seems to fit his pedigree.
SCHLOSSBERG: Why do I have this stuffed animal?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.
FOREMAN (voice-over): As the only grandson of President John F. Kennedy, Schlossberg grew up in the fabled Kennedy family, where relatives were nationally known figures, his mother was an ambassador for Presidents Obama and Biden, and the traditional Democratic playbook ruled.
SCHLOSSBERG: Who doesn't like the Kennedys, huh? Who?
FOREMAN (voice-over): But that clearly will not be true for him.
SHANE GOLDMACHER, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I think he is going to be a test of the attention economy and how important can it be to get attention, because he's not just famous and has famous lineage, but his whole shtick has been getting attention on the Internet.
SCHLOSSBERG: Hey, JD, it's me.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Online, he can be outspoken and offensive. For example, comparing his family's long-ago first lady and the current second lady with a question. True or false, Usha Vance is way hotter than Jackie O. SCHLOSSBERG: I was a bad, bad boy this weekend.
FOREMAN (voice-over): He has sought a surrogate mother online.
SCHLOSSBERG: I want to make sure that my genetic material is passed down. I am not only athletic and handsome, but I'm smart and funny.
FOREMAN (voice-over): He has offered relationship advice.
SCHLOSSBERG: Anyone who tells you you look thin hates you and is lying to you. They want you to be fat and ugly.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Much of it may be aimed at humor. His attack on his cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign, clearly was not.
SCHLOSSBERG: He's trading in on Camelot, celebrity, conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And now in his role as President Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services.
SCHLOSSBERG: He's spreading misinformation and lies that are leading to deaths around the country.
FOREMAN (voice-over): RFK Jr.'s daughter told the New York Post, "I hope he gets the help he needs," even as the spat goes on.
SCHLOSSBERG: This guy, this guy.
FOREMAN: But most of all, as Schlossberg embraces progressive views about equality and opportunity, trying to break through a crowded democratic field, he is going after Trump himself.
SCHLOSSBERG: He's picking winners and losers from inside the Oval Office. He's stripping citizens of their civil rights and silencing his critics. The worst part is, it doesn't have to be this way. And it wasn't always.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Thinking that might be the key to putting another member of the Kennedy clan into Congress.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Up next, we'll take you to Russia for a look at what you might call robo-flop. I'll tell you what happened ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:58:03]
COOPER: OK, take C-3PO, ply him with Moscow mules, and you get something like this. The grand debut of the first Russian humanoid robot, drumroll, named AIDOL, empowered by artificial intelligence, well, it didn't go so well. It seems it was undone by gravity.
It took a few unsteady steps, raced its arm to wave at the audience, staggered a bit, and then fell flat on its face. Staffers tried a fast pick-me-up, but in the end, had to drag it away with no chaser.
In just about 15 minutes at 9:15 Eastern, I hope you'll join me online for my new streaming show. It's called All There Is Live. It's a companion show to my podcast. And this is the only third one we've done tonight, but it's turning into something really special.
I talk with podcast listeners and others who are living with grief or loss, and it's about what they've learned. And I interact with viewers online as well during the show.
This is a brief part of my interview on last week's show with Marika O'Meara, she's living with metastatic breast cancer, and her husband, Brian, died unexpectedly in July. I asked her if she was scared.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIKA O'MEARA, WITH METASTATIC BREAST CANCER: I don't think I'm scared of dying. I believe -- well, I believe that there's something more for us. I'm not very religious. I wasn't raised in religion, you know, organized religion, but I think I'm spiritual.
And I believe that I'll see Brian again, and my mom and my dad and, you know, all those -- I think maybe we believe that. So we aren't scared, but I'm going to believe it.
COOPER: Yes, me too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: She's amazing.
Join me in 15 minutes at CNN.com/AllThereIs for the latest episode of All There Is Live. We have two guests, actually, on tonight's program. Both have spent their lives, decades, caring for their kids who have special needs, and both of their kids have died. And now they have to figure out life without that daily presence of the children that they love so much. That's in 15 minutes.
The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
