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Judge Effectively Shuts Down Florida Detention Center; Madison Mills is Interviewed about Jerome Powell's Speech Today. Aired 9:30- 10a ET

Aired August 22, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: To the administration when you've worked in the security realm before a book is published. And I think that John Bolton had to.

So, you know, it may have been the Trump administration that -- or elements of the Trump administration that greenlighted this book. And I think that should be -- that should be looked at. But the fact that this has been investigated once, that it has been dismissed, and that it shows up now in, you know, at a time when he's very critical, yes, I think you would have to be willfully ignorant to look away from this. You'd want to not have to ask those questions. And maybe they'll be resolved in these legal actions, or maybe it will be as -- as -- as John's questions to Scott reflect, just a way to harass a guy who's been an outspoken critic. We don't know. We will find out.

But certainly the president and his acolytes who respond to him have become masters at diversion. And the Epstein files may be part of it. The - the fact that the Russian foreign minister said today that Putin has no intention of meeting with Zelenskyy anytime soon may be a part of it. The fact that the economy is not going in the direction that the president suggests it is, and that, you know, costs are going up and the economy is slowing, that could be part of it. There are a lot of reasons why lighting a fire somewhere else could be helpful to him. I'm not saying that's what's being done. But again, given the pattern of behavior of this administration, these are reasonable questions to ask.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: David Axelrod, Scott Jennings, thanks, guys, for jumping on. I really appreciate it.

So, we are going to continue tracking and bringing you the developments in this breaking news this morning. The FBI conducting a court authorized search of former national security adviser -- Trump's former National Security Advisor John Bolton's home. FBI agents also seen outside the office building of John Bolton.

Stay with us.

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[09:36:33] BOLDUAN: New this morning, a federal judge has made a major ruling against the controversial ICE detention center in Florida, marketed by the Trump administration as Alligator Alcatraz. The judge issuing an injunction that effectively shuts down the facility for now.

CNN's Isabel Rosales joins us now. She's got all the details on this.

And what is the judge saying, Isabel?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, good morning to you.

Alligator. Alcatraz was set up in just eight days back in July, and now it looks like it may be shut down before Halloween.

Now, so long as this judge's order holds up on appeal, this marks a significant blow to the DeSantis and Trump administrations that have touted how quickly this facility was put up and encourage other states to model after it.

Now, you mentioned that this is a preliminary injunction. It is a rather significant one. But this still is not the end of the story when it comes to this lawsuit. The plaintiffs here, these environmental groups that have sued claiming that environmental laws were not followed in setting up this so-called Alligator Alcatraz, they will still need to argue and present evidence going to the merits of this case.

Now, let's dig in a little deeper into this ruling from Judge Kathleen Williams. Three major things came out of this 82-page order from the judge ordering, mandating that Florida must stop bringing in new detainees into this facility, that there be no additional construction or expansion of the site. And then also this part, this major part that in no later than 60 days, lighting, fencing, gas, sewage generators, electricity to the facility, all of that must be removed. And she said this critical part in her order, "the court is relying on programmatic attrition of the camps population within the next 60 days."

So, effectively, shutting the site down. She's conceding that in the order. An attorney to one of the environmental groups that's a part of this lawsuit described it to me over the phone as essentially a shutdown by attrition.

Now, I want to get to her comment, this attorney. She says, "we are so relieved. We feel we presented voluminous evidence that is presented in her order, showing that this was the right decision to protect the environment and the interests of Americans in the Everglades."

We reached out to the office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. His communications director, in a response to CNN's request for comment said just this, this one sentence, "the deportations will continue until morale improves."

Now, DeSantis and the Trump administration, they have said that this facility is not a bad thing for the environment considering there was already an airstrip there before they ever built the site. But clearly the judge did not buy that, Kate, in this 82-page ruling saying, no, this is deeply impactful to the environment.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's see what happens now.

Isabel, thank you very much.

So, we are continuing to track the breaking news this morning. The FBI searching the home of Donald Trump's former national security adviser turned chief critic, John Bolton.

We'll be right back.

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[09:44:09]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, markets opened just a short time ago. Investors waiting on a major speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at their annual summit in Jackson Hole. This one is a huge deal because of the timing, because of when it comes, in the midst of President Trump imposing new tariffs. People waiting to see what the Fed is going to do with interest rates. And, of course, it comes at a time when the administration continues to attack Jerome Powell in person, and also other personnel at the Fed as well.

With us, Madison Mills, senior markets reporter for "Axios."

People always watch when Jerome Powell speaks. But this speech today is hugely significant because of sort of a framework he may lay out for the long term that has direct implications in the near term.

MADISON MILLS, SENIOR MARKETS REPORTER, "AXIOS": That is exactly right. Of course, investors really foaming at the mouth for any clues about interest rate cuts to come as soon as September.

[09:45:06]

So, that is a key focus on Wall Street. But also, as you smartly pointed out, every five years the Federal Reserve chair lays out this framework. It really gives us clues about how the Fed is going to be thinking about interest rate levels going forward. And today we have reporting from "The Wall Street Journal" indicating that the Fed could be more focused on inflation than unemployment going forward, which could mean higher for longer interest rates.

BERMAN: And the reason there's a shift there is because five years ago they basically said, you know, unemployment, most of our concern here is unemployment. It's pandemic related. We're going to do whatever we can to keep unemployment low. And they just weren't concerned about inflation.

If you are concerned first about inflation, what's the possible implication there about how you might treat the economy now.

MILLS: Yes, and this is what's so difficult for the Federal Reserve and why there is a lot of debate amongst economists about where interest rates should be because the symptom of unemployment and the symptom of inflation require opposite cures. If unemployment starts to tick up, you want to lower interest rates to stimulate the economy. If inflation ticks up, you got to hike interest rates to push down spending. And that's the difficulty of the Fed's dual mandate right now. If they're more focused on inflation, they're probably going to have a higher for longer or what we would call a hawkish stance going forward, which is certainly not what Wall Street is hoping for, and, of course, not what the White House is looking for.

BERMAN: So, talk to me more about that. What are the types of things that Powell could say today that the market wants to hear? And what could Powell say today where the market's like, uh-oh?

MILLS: Yes, well, if he talks about cracks in the labor market, if he talks about concern about the path forward for the labor market, that last jobs report that we got was really difficult and showed some challenges in -- in the labor force and unemployment right now. Powell hasn't seen the August unemployment numbers just yet, though. So, what my sources tell me are that he's not necessarily going to be extremely clear one way or the other because he doesn't want to back himself into a corner before he even sees that data.

So, unfortunately, we might be in a place where we're all, like, really excited for this speech today, and then we don't actually hear anything that definitive because he has to be careful to not get Wall Street excited about rate cuts if he can't deliver on that after seeing those jobs numbers.

BERMAN: Look, if he sneezes the wrong way, I think the markets will get nervous.

MILLS: Yes.

BERMAN: They're going to be looking for any sign.

Madison Mills, great to see you. Thank you very much.

MILLS: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news, the FBI searching the home of former National Security Adviser John Bolton. We are learning it is part of a reopened investigation into the possible disclosure of classified information in a book he wrote years ago. We're getting new information in.

Stay with us.

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[09:52:19]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, inside sports betting. Some gamblers now rely on strategies that look a lot more like Wall Street than Vegas.

CNN's Nick Watt takes us inside the world of a 24-year-old pro gambler whose winning formula is built on discipline and data, not chance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Isaac is in New York prepping with his data and modeling guru Kanzi Yi (ph) before the Australian Open tennis starts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got 450 on Caesars, plus 625 on DraftKings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Set aside an amount you're comfortable losing. I would suggest, you know, having multiple apps or sports books at your disposal.

WATT: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you want to ultimately get the best price.

WATT (voice over): Compare the odds offered by different books and look for mistakes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're saying the odds should be five to one and they're giving us six to one.

Vanesca (ph), this is his first major tournament. He's been playing very well. So, potentially even more likely that he's going to start off hot and then fizzle as the match goes on.

WATT (voice over): Fast forward, the tournament has started.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Australian Open is pretty tough because is in the middle of the night. So, we're up all night, every night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a weirdly tight game.

WATT (voice over): With his buddy Jared, who works in finance by day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Markets are markets, right? Like they all function in relatively similar ways, whether it's sports or stocks or real estate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, and Nick Watt joins us now.

Nick, I, full disclosure, this hits me right in the sweet spot here. I'm obsessed with this. It is an unbelievable world once you scratch the surface of it, which you now have.

What stood out to you most about this strategy?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, we were given this assignment. And it's very easy on an assignment like this to find the people who've been damaged by sports betting. I wanted to find somebody who is very good at it, who makes a success of it, because, frankly, pretty much every male I know is involved in this. So, that's why we hung out with Isaac. And his strategy, well, the fact that it's so mathematical, the vocabulary, a lot of it I just didn't understand. Also, it's interesting, he's not going for, like, the big win. Like the -- the -- the -- the -- the hail Mary. He's betting about 100 grand a day and he expects to make three to five percent on that. That's how he's paying his rent.

And interestingly, the biggest challenge he says he has is not figuring out what to bet on, it's managing to place the bets. Because he's so good, a lot of the sports books cut him off. Or let's say you or I would be allowed to bet ten grand on something. They let Isaac bet a fraction of that because he's good. So that's his big challenge, figuring out what to bet on and then figuring out who's actually going to take his bet.

[09:55:05]

BOLDUAN: So, Berman -- Berman does it. You probably do it, Nick. And every male you know does it. I mean, how big is this becoming?

WATT: I mean, I actually don't gamble, which is why this assignment is not one of my many vices, which is why this assignment was so great. We get to get paid to dive into this, you know, weird world that we have -- know nothing about and find out about it, and then bring it to you guys. So, that's great.

Listen, it is massive. Since 2018, Supreme Court legalized it. Now 39 states, 150 billion a year legally. It is just huge. And you know what? The thing that I think struck me most was, because I'm not a gambler, I don't really understand it. And I thought that what people were after was that big win. It's not. The excitement, a lot of people say, is the anticipation, the dopamine of putting in the bet and waiting to see what happens.

So -- but, John, word of advice. Isaac says, don't bet with your heart, bet with your head. So, don't bet on the Red Sox. Bet on some good team.

BERMAN: A, they did win last night. B, fine. I'll take that advice. You know, c, again, it's really -- whatever you bet on, the house always wins. Remember that.

Nick Watt, I can't wait for this.

BOLDUAN: Great work, Nick.

BERMAN: This all-new episode of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" "Sports Betting: America's Big Gamble," Sunday night, 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on CNN.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much for joining us. So much breaking news this morning, which will continue now on "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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