Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump Holding Cabinet Meeting at the White House; Fed Governor Lisa Cook Plans to Sue Over Trump's Attempted Firing; Trump Says He Wants to Rebrands "Big Beautiful" Domestic Policy Law; National Guard Prepares Specialized Units Under Trump Order; Trump Repeats Threat to Send Federal Troops to Other U.S. Cities. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 26, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:29]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Fed fight, President Donald Trump insisting that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is fired, though she says she's not going anywhere. We have all the details on this new consequential legal battle.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Chicago pushes back. The governor of Illinois warns the president not to deploy the National Guard there, saying his anti-crime crackdown isn't wanted or needed in the city. And it's all happening, the news that millions have been waiting for to quote the Instagram post, "your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married." Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged. We are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

SANCHEZ: We are continuing to monitor President Trump right now who is in a meeting with his cabinet, as we speak. Cameras rolling, as he and his top administration officials are sounding off on several key issues. The president so far spending the majority of his time talking about his controversial crime initiatives in the nation's capitol. But looming large over this cabinet meeting is the recent attempt by Trump to fire a Federal Reserve Governor, Lisa Cook. Cook's lawyer just before the meeting started, telling CNN that she plans to file a lawsuit to challenge the dismissal.

Let's go straight to the White House now with CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who's been watching all of this for us. Jeff, has the subject of Cook's dismissal come up at the cabinet meeting?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, just a few moments ago, the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent thanked the president for, in his words, restoring confidence in the Federal Reserve but did not specifically mention the attempted firing of Lisa Cook. There's no doubt that is going to be litigated in the, courts here, likely the Supreme Court, testing the independence of the Federal Reserve. Of course, it has been, one of the subjects of the president's criticism really for several months now.

But as this cabinet meeting lingers on, it was scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. It was about an hour late in starting, at least the public portion of it. And it is still -- it's still ongoing. The president talked for an extraordinarily long time at the beginning. Now, cabinet secretaries are going one by one. But one thing that we noticed, Boris, certainly an interesting rebranding exercise here. One of the president's biggest legislative accomplishments, of course, is one that he talked about repeatedly, is the one Big Beautiful Bill Act. For the president though, he said it's time to call it something different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Bill that, I'm not going to use the term great, big, beautiful. That was good for getting it approved, but it's not good for explaining to people what it's all about. It's a massive tax cut for the middle class. It's a massive tax cut for jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So this of course, is coming as many Republican legislators have been out across the country during the month of August recess, hearing from constituents, and there are some alarm bells going up about the popularity of this sprawling piece of legislation that the president signed into law. And of course, it is far more than a tax cut. It's also about cutting Medicaid. It's also about cutting food stamp benefits and so much more.

But the President, he likes his branding. He likes his slogans, but signifying now that he does not want to call it that. Heading into the midterm elections, he wants to call it a working class tax cut. But Boris, it'll be interesting to see if that bell can be unrung because, of course, he's called it for so long that one Big Beautiful Bill. But apparently in his eyes, it is no more. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yeah. The timing of that quite interesting. Jeff Zeleny, please keep an eye on the cabinet meeting and keep us updated with what's going on there.

ZELENY: Sure.

SANCHEZ: Brianna?

KEILAR: That cabinet meeting is taking place against the backdrop of an escalating battle between the President and the Fed. We learned a short time ago that Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve Governor, who President Trump says he fired, is now planning to sue. She says the president has no authority to terminate her. CNN's Matt Egan is with us on this now. Matt, this is unprecedented. Tell us about the details here.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, Brianna, we have a standoff here. The president of the United States says that he has fired Fed Governor Lisa Cook, the first such firing in the 111-year history of the Federal Reserve. But Lisa Cook, she's making it clear that she's not going anywhere.

[14:05:00]

A statement from her lawyer, Abbe Lowell says that Cook plans to file a lawsuit to fight what her lawyer described as, "an illegal action." In the statement, Abbe Lowell said President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, his attempt to fire her based solely on a referral letter lacks any factual or legal basis.

Now, just to remind everyone, Cook was nominated by President Biden back in 2022. She is the first black woman to serve on the Fed's powerful Board of Governors where she gets to vote on interest rates and regulation. Now, she's been accused by Trump officials of mortgage fraud.

Now, I do want to stress that she's not been formally charged with any wrongdoing related to any of her mortgages, and what's notable here is that investors over on Wall Street, they seem largely unfazed by all of this drama between the White House and the Federal Reserve. U.S. stocks barely budging at all today. Perhaps that's because the president is firing Lisa Cook and not Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The other thing though is I think investors realize this is not a done deal at all. I was surprised to see that on the prediction platform, Polymarket, there's only a 30 percent chance priced in that Lisa Cook is out as a Fed Governor by year end, 30 percent, even though the president says that she's already out. So Brianna, clearly, this is something that's going to take some time to play out and it's going to play out through the court system.

KEILAR: This ultimately could be a kitchen table issue. Why could this really matter to people's bottom line?

EGAN: Yeah, Brianna, look, economists, former Fed officials, they tell me that the president's really playing with fire by having this relentless and unprecedented pressure campaign against the Federal Reserve. Now, President Trump is hardly the first politician to try to get lower interest rates. Of course, a president wants to make it cheaper to get a mortgage or a car loan or pay off credit card debt. Right? That's going to be a hit with voters.

And he is not the first president who wants to run the economy hot because that could mean blockbuster GDP and a stock market boom. But here's the problem. The Fed is designed to be independent from politics, right? And that's no accident. Economists warn that the risk here is that if the Fed keeps interest rates too low, artificially low, that could cause the economy to overheat and make inflation worse. And of course, we know that the cost of living is the number one economic issue right now. So, look, Brianna, there is so much at stake as this battle continues to play out.

KEILAR: Yeah, so much. Matt Egan, thank you for the report. Boris?

SANCHEZ: So, the National Guard is preparing what President Trump has called specialized units to extend his federal crackdown beyond Washington. D.C. The Administration is pushing forward despite backlash from Democratic governors and local leaders. The president says that Chicago could be next, despite critics who say the crackdown is authoritarian. Today, the president responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So the line is that I'm a dictator, but I stop crime. So a lot of people say, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator, but I'm not a dictator. I just know how to stop crime. And you would think that Illinois would have such a problem with crime, such a bad governor. He should be calling me. And he should be saying, could you send over the troops, please? It's out of control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN Military Analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton is here with us for some perspective. Colonel Leighton, these specialized units, what could they look like and legally, what could they be allowed to do?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah. So this gets into some really interesting questions, Boris, because under various U.S. laws, especially the Posse Comitatus Act, it's really impossible, with a few exceptions, for the National Guard and any militarized force to get into law enforcement roles if they are in a federal capacity. So in other words, if the president federalizes the Guard and deploys them into a city under current law, it's really difficult, except for a few exceptions, it's really difficult for them to be actual law enforcement officers.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

LEIGHTON: That, if they become a protective force against, say they're protecting federal installations or federal personnel, that's possible to do that. But as a force that arrests people, that's not really what they can do at this point.

SANCHEZ: Well, it's interesting because the executive order that Trump signed to create these specialized units, it specifically mentions these guardsmen being specifically trained.

LEIGHTON: Yes.

SANCHEZ: What could they be trained to do? And what could that look -- how long could that take? What could that look like?

LEIGHTON: Yeah. So training would -- could potentially take at least several months, depending on the exact specialties that they would be trained for. The other question is, if they're being trained for certain law enforcement roles, are they going to take the kind of role that we see in other countries?

[14:10:00]

For example, you have riot police in different countries, such -- that are parts of a national police force, such as in France. You have the Gendarmerie; in Spain, you have the Guardia Civil. Those kinds of police forces do exist, but we do not have the tradition of a national police force. More ominously, the Russian riot police, the OMON, are part of the Russian National Guard.

And you -- when you look at the organizational structure of the OMON, which are used by Putin to crack down on dissidents, you see certain parallels to what Trump seems to be proposing at this particular point in time. And if we have an OMON-like force, that is going to be a very different look and a very dangerous look for the country and for democracy.

SANCHEZ: Well, it leads to the question of what would precipitate their use, what level of unrest? Because the argument in L.A. is that things were completely out of control, even though it was contained to a very specific area. And it was largely protests over Trump's immigration policy. So if it's just protests generally, that would engender that kind of response, it could be ominous as you described it.

I'm also curious about the order that commands Defense Secretary Hegseth to "designate an appropriate number of each state's trained National Guard members to be reasonably available for rapid mobilization." The National Guard sort of has a rapid mobilization capability already.

LEIGHTON: Yes.

SANCHEZ: So what is different about this and how many guardsmen do you think might get wrapped up in that?

LEIGHTON: Yeah, that's a really interesting question. So there, it depends on the role that the Guard has. Normally, the Guard is under the command and control of the state's governor.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

LEIGHTON: So as a -- if the state governor is the commander in chief of his or her state's National Guard, they have control over that Guard for the purpose of providing support during natural disasters, for the purpose of providing support during a riot or some kind of an insurrection. They can do that at the state level. The difference here is that the Secretary of Defense has now been directed to reach into what is a state militia to actually control that aspect of that state militia.

So we're probably talking a few thousand people, somewhere between 4,000 to perhaps 10,000, 12,000, that could be used in a nation -- initially at least, in a nationwide setting. But, when you start developing forces like that, they have a tendency to grow. And when you look at the way in which they're deploying ICE to use for the purposes that this Administration has envisioned, that those forces are growing incrementally, and that can be something that could look even larger than a small police force.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Colonel, I feel like we need to leave this conversation on a much lighter note. Any thoughts on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting engaged?

(LAUGH) LEIGHTON: I'm very happy for them. I think it is one of those things where, clearly, from a national perspective that I think has taken our attention to a different level. It has definitely given us a way to watch both football and entertainment through Taylor Swift and through Kelce. And I think that's a pretty neat aspect to it.

SANCHEZ: Excellent analysis as always, a palate cleanser. Col. Leighton, always appreciate the time. Thank you so much.

LEIGHTON: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Still plenty more news to come this afternoon, including chaos on college campuses. These frantic moments are being blamed though on swatters what's being done to shut down false reports. And a new policy from Southwest Airlines that could force some overweight passengers to buy an extra seat or even miss their flights. That and much more coming your way in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:30]

KEILAR: Moments ago, President Trump dug in on his threat to send National Guard troops to other Democratic-run cities as part of his federal crackdown on crime. Specifically, he's singling out Chicago and Baltimore. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm willing to go to Chicago, which is a big trouble. But we have a governor that refuses to admit he has problems, huge problems. Baltimore, Wes Moore was telling me he wants -- I want to walk with the president. Well, I said, I want to walk with you too someday. But first, you got to clean up your crime because I'm not walking --

(LAUGH)

TRUMP: -- I'm not walking in Baltimore right now. Baltimore is a hellhole.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: With us now is Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland. He is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Sir, thank you so much for being with us. You told my colleague, Pamela Brown yesterday that you thought this military invasion, as you called it, is backfiring on Trump. How so? Because he certainly does not think it is backfiring. He clearly thinks it's working for him.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN, (R-MD) RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well, it cuts against the deepest principles of the country. I mean, we were founded in opposition to a standing army, with a fear of a standing army, and the military is not supposed to be used for ordinary law enforcement purposes. In D.C., he was talking about cleaning up the graffiti and dealing with the blight of homelessness, which are obviously local, not federal issues. And he's trying to militarize our society, intimidate his political opponents. The whole idea of picking cities based on their partisan leadership, he's trying to militarize our society, intimidate its political opponents.

[14:20:00]

The whole idea of picking cities based on their partisan leadership is absurd. I mean, there are lots of Republican cities and towns struggling with crime. Everybody is across the country, always -- crime has always been part of our history. And yet crime is down, in D.C., for example, it's at a 30-year low. It's down in Baltimore. It's down in Chicago. But the point is that in our system of federalism, the different branches of government and the different departments of government are supposed to work together.

If Donald Trump thinks he's got some great ideas for Chicago or Miami or Houston, Texas or whatever, he should call a summit for the White House and say, Hey, here's some ideas where the Feds can work together with states and localities, not have a series of rolling National guard invasions of people's cities.

KEILAR: And a lot of what you said may be true, and certainly there was a lot of suspicion of a standing army when the country was founded. That is a tradition in America. But at the same time, our White House Reporter, Alayna Treene is reporting that Trump is looking at what's happening in D.C. for instance, especially now that the Guard is armed. They're walking around with their weapons and he's reveling in these pictures. Again, he does not see this as backfiring. He is reveling in these images.

RASKIN: Well, you can look at his poll numbers, I suppose, if you want some vaguely objective measure of it. And clearly, he's way underwater. But what I'm seeing is that the people who live in these states, who live in these communities are deeply offended by it. I mean, is Donald Trump really more interested in public safety in Chicago or Washington than the people who live in those cities? It's hard to believe.

I mean, that cuts against the whole idea of local government. The reason that we elect mayors and city councils is so they can embody the priorities of the people. Now in D.C., he took away $1 billion in locally raised revenue that the people in D.C. had set aside to do crime fighting and criminal justice and public education. They want their money back. People in Chicago, they've got their own ideas about what should happen, like the mayor and the governor said yesterday, we've got a problem with guns here. Why don't we have a universal violent criminal background check, which more than 90 percent of the American people support?

If you want to get together a national agenda on crime fighting, let's do it. Right? We have the Brady Gun Safety Act and it's working, but there's loopholes in it. People are still able to get guns on the internet or at a gun show extravaganza. There are different ways people are getting it. We should have a violent felony and criminal background check for everybody who's purchasing a gun. That's something the Feds could actually do in cooperation with the states and local governments to make America safer. But that would require cooperation and not the series of staged, theatrical confrontations that Donald Trump is looking for.

KEILAR: Purportedly, the objective is about crime. What do you think his objective is in doing this?

RASKIN: Well, one thing he's clearly doing is changing the subject from a different form of crime, which is child sex trafficking, which Jeffrey Epstein was a mastermind of, that Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of and sentenced to jail for 20 years of, and Donald Trump's name apparently appears throughout the Epstein file. He had run on a platform promising to release the Epstein files. Then he had a thousand FBI agents searching through the files, pouring over them to look for his name, to look for photographs, to look for video glimpses of him.

And then when they came back and reported to him, he said we're not releasing this. And we have a strong bipartisan majority in Congress demanding the release of the Epstein files. So, this is a convenient and irrelevant distraction from that for him. But I think, look, there are significant levels of criminality taking place within his own administration, right? There's a lot of corruption taking place. So all of this --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: But Americans also, they do have concerns about crime. Even if you look at statistics showing --

RASKIN: We all do that.

KEILAR: -- that it's go -- that it's going down.

RASKIN: Nobody more than the mayors and the council people and the police chiefs.

KEILAR: Certainly, no doubt.

RASKIN: Yes.

KEILAR: And people who live in these communities.

RASKIN: Yes.

KEILAR: But he sees opportunity. So, how do Democrats counter that? And why have they not been able to effectively counter that? Even as statistics have gone down, you're seeing people actually worried even more about crime in their communities?

RASKIN: Well, look, I mean, if you're the victim of a crime, you don't care what the general rates are.

KEILAR: Sure.

RASKIN: I mean, crime could be falling, but if your car is carjacked, if your house is robbed, if you're the victim of a scam, then you feel it just as much as if crime were going up. Right? It's the same thing from your perspective. So, let's have a national crime summit with the mayors, with the governors. Let's get everybody in Congress on both sides of the aisle to come together to deal with it.

[14:25:00]

I'm part of a bipartisan anti-scam task force because a lot of my constituents have been scammed by these rip-off artists. And yet, the Trump Administration has been dismantling a lot of the infrastructure that we used to deal with it just like they've been dismantling the infrastructure that fights human trafficking. They've cut funds from the Department of State, from the Department of Justice. And I think, the people out in Chicago were raising this just yesterday, they cut hundreds of millions of dollars from local police departments and victim assistance organizations and crime fighting civil society groups because one DOGE guy just said, we should cut these hundreds of millions of dollars in grants. That was money that was approved by the House, by the Senate, signed into law by the president, and DOGE cut it. And we want those hundreds of millions of dollars restored, just like I know the people in D.C., they want their $1 billion restored. That's locally raised revenue that was taken away from them. So there's a lot we can do if we're going to be serious about it. And it's not just a bunch of photo ops.

KEILAR: Congressman Jamie Raskin, thank you so much for being with us.

RASKIN: You bet.

KEILAR: Really appreciate it. And still to come, they will belong to each other. Just ahead, we're going to speak with a celebrity wedding planner about the daunting tasks ahead for the newly engaged Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)