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Prominent Role Of Pentagon Chief's Wife Draws Scrutiny; White House Appears Open To Negotiations With Harvard; Opening Statements Begin In Harvey Weinstein Retrial; Sen. Ron Johnson Wants Senate Hearings On 9/11 Conspiracies. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 23, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:51]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Today, CNN has new reporting on the prominent role that defense secretary Pete Hegseth wife, Jennifer Hegseth, is occupying at the Pentagon and the growing scrutiny surrounding it.

The attention to Jennifer Hegseth's involvement was recently increased after her husband reportedly included her, along with others in his inner circle, in that second Signal group chat where the secretary, again, shared sensitive details about a military strike in Yemen.

It's unclear if Jennifer Hegseth has a security clearance, though, we're told she did submit paperwork to receive one.

Multiple sources also tell CNN the defense secretary has grown increasingly paranoid about potential leaks to the media and has started to lean on a small circle of advisers for counsel, including his wife.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is with us now from the Pentagon.

You broke this story, Natasha. What are you learning?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Secretary Hegseth, he is remaining defiant in the face of all of this criticism that he has received over the last week.

Firstly, for firing three senior officials here at the Pentagon who he accused of leaking information, something that they all deny.

And secondly, of course, because of that second Signal group chat, which, as you just said, involved his wife as well as his brother and his personal lawyer, in which Secretary Hegseth disclosed information about sensitive military operations.

Now, the White House has been watching all of this as well. And while President Trump is for now standing behind Hegseth, he has also been soliciting feedback from senior officials about Secretary Hegseth and whether he is up for the job. For now, everyone seems to be aligned with the idea that he should stay in the role. But they are also watching this all play out, this turmoil here at the Pentagon, and thinking that Texas should make changes to how he deals with his front office. It's a distraction, and it is not welcome, of course, at this moment.

But Secretary Hegseth spoke a little bit this morning about the kinds of things that he views as a distraction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: America is back! At the Defense Department, that means no more distractions, no more social engineering, no more climate change worship, no more electric tanks, no more gender confusion, no more pronouns, no more excuses, no more quotas, no more Woke (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: So it's a lot of the culture-war issues that President Trump has also been very big on. And this is the kind of rhetoric and the kind of things that Hegseth has been doing here at the Pentagon that really do resonate with President Trump and his inner circle.

So for now, again, they are standing behind him, but they do not want to see any more of this kind of chaos leak out into the open, particularly when his own former senior officials have begun speaking out publicly against him.

As you recall, his former top press secretary just said in an op-ed earlier this week that it is Hegseth who is fomenting chaos at the Pentagon, where there has been a, quote, "complete meltdown" over the last month -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Natasha Bertrand, great reporting. Thank you.

Boris?

[13:34:59]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The Trump administration appears open to negotiating with Harvard, even after the university sued the federal government over a funding freeze on billions of dollars in federal grants and contracts.

The nation's oldest university has become a symbol of resistance against the Trump administration, putting up a fight against what it calls a pressure campaign from the White House to change its policies.

CNN's Kara Scannell joins us now live in New York with more.

So, Kara, what are you hearing from sources?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, sources tell us that, last week, the Trump administration had reached out to Harvard at least three times to try to restart negotiations. And Harvard's message back was that they were not interested in negotiating.

Then Harvard sued on Monday to try to get a judge to block the administration from freezing the $2 billion in assets that they did put on hold last week.

Now, we're also learning from a White House official that Trump is open to making a deal, that he is a deal maker, and he would ultimately like to get that done.

This White House official told our colleague, Betsy Klein, "The president is always willing to meet with leaders from across the nation on issues he is focused on. No meeting is under consideration at this time."

But it comes as there is already this tension between Harvard and the administration. As the "New York Times" was reporting, some of the big donors to Harvard have been pushing Harvard to try to cut a deal with the administration, trying to get this to wrap up so it doesn't drag on.

Because, of course, there are certain impacts to Harvard's bottom line here, both on their funding, of how that funding that could be frozen, as well as other possible changes after Trump threatened to revoke their tax exempt status.

Certainly, a lot of threats there. They have seen some small-dollar donors contribute money, but the big donors here are pretty critical in this conversation.

But it does appear that at least the Trump administration is projecting that they are open to negotiating, even after Harvard filed the lawsuit on Monday -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Kara Scannell, thank you so much for the update there.

So opening statements are underway in Harvey Weinsteins retrial on sexual assault charges. We have much more on what could happen to the former movie mogul ahead.

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[13:41:32]

SANCHEZ: Right now, opening statements are underway in the retrial of disgraced movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein, in New York. He's accused of sexually assaulting three women.

Weinstein is being retried after his 2020 conviction was tossed out last year, after an appeals court ruled that Weinstein got an unfair trial after the judge allowed testimony from women who were not part of that case.

Joining us now is CNN correspondent, Jean Casarez, who's been tracking this for us.

So, Jean, what's happening in court. JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Opening statements today. And this is

a retrial, but this is a brand new trial. There are three accusers. Two of them were in the first trial, Mimi Haleyi, Jessica Mann. That is criminal sexual act in the first degree.

And these were the convictions that were overturned. He got 20 years for that overturned. Jessica Mann, got three years for that overturned.

Now there is a brand new accuser. So there's three, altogether. We have not known her name. We've not known anything about her. So this is brand-new information.

The prosecutor presenting in court in the opening statement. Her name is Sokola. And I've got to give you background that came into court today.

In 2006 -- 2002, she was 16 years old. She thought that Weinstein was going to help her with her career. He took her to a hotel. She alleged that she was sexually assaulted.

She civilly sued under the Child Victim Act, got $5 million, 2002, then got 500,000 more with Weinstein's company in a civil suit.

Now, four years later, 2006, she was 19 years old. She contacted Weinstein herself, asking him to go out to lunch with her because, according to prosecutors, she wanted to impress her sister.

Once she was with him again, she is alleging he took her to a room to help her with some movie scripts and began to sexually assault her again.

She is going to testify, according to the prosecution, that she repeatedly said, please don't do this. She didn't physically fight back, but she just sort of let it happen because she -- she couldn't stop it.

Now, Weinstein's attorneys are saying that this was a mutually beneficial relationship and this was consensual at that point.

The prosecutor told the jury in their opening statement, don't look at that frail man in the wheelchair and think that he is not responsible for this, that he carried on a way to take young people that had dreams and he was manipulating to them to sexually assault them.

But this is the new accuser right here. It's criminal sexual act in the first degree, 20 years.

But obviously, the defense here is going to, I think, cross her on some of these -- these -- the money that she got and then recontacting him four years later.

SANCHEZ: Jean Casarez, we know you'll track that for us. Thank you so much.

[13:44:33] When we come back, Senator Ron Johnson telling a right-wing podcaster he wants hearings on September 11th conspiracy theories. We're going to talk to a first responder about that when we come back.

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KEILAR: Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, embracing a long- debunked conspiracy theory about 9/11. He went on a far-right podcast suggesting Congress should hold new hearings and specifically addressing Building 7 at the World Trade Center.

It is that bronze looking-office building that you can see there on your screen on the left. It collapsed hours after terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers.

And Senator Johnson promoted the conspiracy theory that it wasn't the attack that caused Building 7 to collapse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:50:00]

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-): Well, start with Building 7. Again, I don't know that you can find structural engineers, other than the ones that had the corrupt investigation inside NIST, that would say that that thing didn't come down in any other way than a controlled demolition.

I mean, you just -- you just look at that. You talk about molten steel. Where's all the documentation from the NIST investigation?

No, there are a host of questions that I want, and I will be asking, quite honestly, now that my eyes have been opened up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The report that Johnson is referring to there was by the National Institute of Standards and Technology that looked at how debris from the collapse of the North Tower of the World Trade Center hit Building 7 and set it on fire.

It was an extensive three-year scientific and technical building and fire safety investigation that found uncontrolled fires on multiple floors of Building 7 caused a critical support column to fail and that building to collapse.

With us now is 9/11 first responder, John Feal.

John, thanks for joining us.

And I do want to note that Johnson could call a hearing. He does chair the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. What's your reaction to his comments?

JOHN FEAL, 9/11 FIRST RESPONDER: Well, thank you for having me, Brianna. Ron Johnson's a silly man. And right now, there's no legislation being

done. There's no governing. And they're distracting their base and the American people with nonsense.

On the surface, this is silly and pathetic. If Ron Johnson really wants to know what happened on 9/11, I can meet with him, which we will be meeting with his office on Tuesday of next week when we're in D.C.

I'll let him know that innocent lives were lost on 9/11. Heroes died racing towards those innocent lives. And subsequently, 137,000 people are now sick because of the aftermath of 9/11.

Ron Johnson's priorities are backwards. If he truly, really wants to know, he would put your humanity first. And with this administration, with the cuts to NIOSH, that administrate the World Trade Center Health Program, this just gets worse and worse for those who are sick and dying.

It's over 39,000 people right now in the World Trade Center Health Program with a certified cancer. Many of them will die because of the cuts that were made.

We're in D.C. to get legislation passed. Ron Johnson can start by co- sponsoring. S.-739, and then I'll have a serious conversation with him.

But we're going to meet with his office on Tuesday, and I'm going to let them know that their boss is silly, that their boss is putting conspiracy theories before human life.

You know, after -- if you go back in history, after an historic event, two things happened, conspiracy theories or advocacy. That's what separates me and Ron Johnson. I chose advocacy.

KEILAR: You are quite the advocate. You have advocated for people who were exposed to toxic substances and folks who are going to pay, as you said, with their lives for that.

I wonder when you -- you know, you've heard about this. You've heard about people flocking to these conspiracy theories. Why do you think they do?

And what is the effect on -- you know, it could be family members of victims, survivors. You can certainly speak to first responders. What's the effect on all those folks?

FEAL: Well, listen, there are a lot of people at home who just stay in front of a computer all day, and they Google and they search all of these conspiracy theories.

And if something catches their eye -- and I'm not a trained expert in psychology and everything. But he's pandering to his base and he's pandering to those who believe in conspiracy theories as it is.

I mean, look where the -- the forum that he was doing -- what he was saying. It was a right-wing conspiracy Internet thing.

So you know, it seems like each member of Congress or each member of the Senate says, hold my beer and let me say something ridiculous because it's they're just showing their true ignorance, mixed with their arrogance.

And they're deflecting because they're, they're taking to X, Twitter, Instagram. And they're distracting everybody to show that they truly are incompetent of doing their jobs.

And the American people -- Wisconsin deserves better. There's 60 people in the World Trade Center Health Program from Wisconsin. I don't think they care at all what happened on 9/11.

They want to know why they're sick and are they still going to get health care, and they're going to be able to file the claims to get compensated for their illnesses.

Ron Johnson's priorities are backwards, and he's a silly man. And again, I'm going to say it on Tuesday. And if there's a camera in my face, I might be a little more colorful. But since it's daytime and kids watch CNN, too, I'm going to keep it calm.

I'm disgusted. I'm repulsed. And this is just -- this is just the silliest thing I've ever heard. And I've been on CNN now about 40 times --

KEILAR: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

FEAL: -- and I just want to come on this show -- go ahead.

KEILAR: Yes. No, I'm -- and I'm glad that you're here to talk about it.

[13:55:00]

John, I do -- I do want to talk about something else that you mentioned, which is these cuts to government have affected -- and a lot of people, you know, they're only learning what some federal workers do by them getting laid off.

And I spoke actually to one of the people working in the World Trade Center programs, doing data analysis to look at what all of the folks who need those services, get those services, what they need and what they are going to need in the future.

They were looking at what kids, who were affected by Ground Zero from that area, might be needing in the future. And there's a question about how that's going to continue.

What do you want Americans to know about cuts to these programs and the questions that you wish they would ask their members of Congress?

FEAL: Yes. See you just you just said it. America, the -- every state, 434 out of 435 congressional districts were represented at the cleanup that took 10 months at Ground Zero.

There's somebody from every state and congressional district that are being helped in the World Trade Center Health Program.

But here's what's happened. The 16 people that were fired from NIOSH and overseas, the World Trade Center Health Program, those are people that were responsible for enrollment and certifying illnesses.

Now, Brianna, if you go into the World Trade Center Health Program to get enrolled, good luck. What's usually a two- or three-month wait because of a backlog might take a year.

If you get in and you need to get your cancer or your COPD or your pulmonary fibrosis certified, there's nobody to certify it. We have come to a screeching halt.

This administration, members of the Senate, HHS, they're going to be responsible for people dying. America First? Americans are suffering.

This doesn't -- this isn't a Republican or Democratic thing. This is about humanity. This is about common sense.

So anybody who's watching this across the country, they should be contacting their members of Congress or the Senate and say, support H.R.-1410 or S-739, because somebody from every state is in the World Trade Center Health Program.

This is -- I -- again, I'm having this conversation with you on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon when I want to come on the show and say, you know what, Brianna, we got a bill passed.

And I'm really happy for the people that are suffering because they're going to continue to get the help they need. This is -- this is -- this -

KEILAR: Well, John, we will --

FEAL: -- this is silly.

KEILAR: We will look at those bills as you hope they move through. And you are always a tireless advocate in the face of any political party.

We appreciate you being with us, John Feal. Thank you.

FEAL: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, why President Trump shifted his tone on the Fed chair and tariffs on China. Stay with us.

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