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DHS Announces Launch of Ice Operation in Chicago; Ukrainian Refugee Stabbed to Death on Charlotte Transit Train; Suspect in Charlotte Stabbing Charged With First-degree Murder; Epstein Estate to Give More Documents to House Oversight Committee. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 08, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:45]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Fueling a political firestorm, how a video of a deadly stabbing in Charlotte has turned into a flashpoint as the administration pushes its crime crackdown. Plus, a man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump represents himself in court. Ahead, we'll bring you the latest on jury selection and the bizarre requests already submitted by the defendant in this case.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And cue the Royal rumor mill, Prince Harry returns to the U.K. stoking questions about whether a reconciliation with his father, King Charles is on the agenda. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

FREEMAN: Well, it now appears President Trump's promised immigration crackdown has begun in Chicago. The Department of Homeland Security just a short time ago announcing it is launching Operation Midway Blitz, an ICE effort they say will target undocumented immigrants who have criminal records. Now, earlier today, CNN was learning new details about the Los Angeles playbook the administration is now planning to use in America's third largest city. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more. Priscilla, you've been doing all this reporting all day. What more is the administration saying?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Danny, the way to think about this is that there have been immigration arrests that have been happening in Chicago as well as Boston, for example, where they similarly announced an operation. But what is happening in the days to come, including today, is a stepped-up enforcement action. That means more federal presence trickling into the city to target undocumented immigrants, in this case, part of Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, which would be targeting those with criminal records.

Though what we've learned in cities like Chicago, Boston, and in Los Angeles, others also get picked up in these enforcements who may not have those criminal records. Now, part of this is the pressure that the president and his administration has been placing on these cities because they limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities and the president in a post on Truth Social saying, "I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them." Going on to say only the criminals will be hurt.

Where this can be confusing, Danny, is that people think of what's happening in Washington, D.C. and the National Guard coming in for that crackdown. The reason that my sources keep pointing me to Los Angeles is because what happened there is that it began as an immigration mission. In other words, they had more federal agencies helping arrest undocumented immigrants in that city and then began the immigration protests and National Guard being deployed to quell those protests.

And so, they can see internally how this could escalate to become more like Los Angeles, including putting the man in charge in Los Angeles, the Homeland Security official in charge of these operations in Chicago. So we'll see though how all of that unfolds. It's too early to tell. And of course, there's still litigation ongoing in the way the administration leaned on National Guard in Los Angeles.

But what it does tell us, Danny, is that they want to escalate their presence in these Democratic-led cities. They did -- they said they were doing that in Boston over the weekend. They plan on doing that in Chicago and in other cities in the future.

[14:05:00]

This is something White House Border Czar Tom Homan has talked about repeatedly, in addition to other types of enforcement like work site enforcement, going into these work site areas and arresting hundreds of undocumented immigrants. So, this escalating rhetoric that we're seeing is mirroring the planning happening behind the scenes with administration officials as they go into these cities.

FREEMAN: Well, and you're reporting and context is so important that we don't know what will happen exactly. But L.A. for now may be the model. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much, as always. Appreciate it. All right, let's talk more about this with immigration attorney Raul Reyes. Raul, thank you so much for being here to discuss this important subject. Let's start here.

Border Czar Tom Homan says Trump will take action in most sanctuary cities this week. Local officials and community groups in Chicago, for example, though they've been making a lot of noise opposing this. But is there really anything they or other cities can do if the administration decides they're going in?

RAUL REYES, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: At this point, that is an open question in terms of how much communities, not just communities, but even state and local leaders can push back against the federal government. We saw that in Los Angeles where the governor of California, the mayor of Los Angeles, they were against this increased federal presence, but all they could do was file lawsuits. That process, as you know, takes a great deal of time. What is troubling to me is that, as we look to these looming enforcement actions in Chicago, we don't really see the -- a legal basis, from the Trump administration for doing so.

The federal government does have exclusive jurisdiction over immigration enforcement, yes. But when President Trump is talking about sending in the National Guard, that brings up issues around the 10th Amendment, state's rights, executive overreach. And as Priscilla mentioned, a federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that the sending of the National Guard into L.A. was illegal and improper. So there's a lot of legal uncertainty surrounding this move.

We do know that it's not popular with -- obviously, with people in Chicago. 69 percent of Chicago residents do not want these actions from the federal government taking place in their city.

FREEMAN: Well, Raul, let's talk a little bit more about that because I think your point is well taken. Homan is saying that using the National Guard always on the table, calling the Guard units a force multiplier. But as we noted, and we've been talking about, in L.A., Guard members and Marines, they were providing protection to federal agents during that aggressive immigration crackdown. That's how we saw it. But can you put a finer point on what exactly the courts have said about that so far, and how that might impact what may come in Chicago?

REYES: What courts have said at the federal level so far is that when the National Guard is sent in alongside immigration enforcement officers, they can assist them. For example, they can provide logistical support as drivers. They can handle some tactical support with securing perimeters. They cannot directly engage in an immigration arrest or detain someone on their own. That's what the courts have said.

In reality, there is documented evidence in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. of members of the National Guard actually participating in immigration stops -- in immigration arrests and so on, which is a contradiction of what the courts have said is legally permissible. The broader contradiction that, that we're seeing is that the President, Thomas Homan, multiple administration officials keep returning to this idea of going after the worst of the worst to help make cities safer.

But the reality is, right now, according to University of Syracuse, 70 percent plus of the people in immigration detention have no prior criminal record. Of those that do have some criminal record, they are misdemeanors and traffic offenses. So the administration is not necessarily targeting, say, drug dealers or violent gang members. They're just casting a very wide drag net that sweeps up all types of ordinary people who may be undocumented and sometimes even American citizens.

And from my point of view, if the federal government really wanted to help certain cities like Chicago or Boston with their policing, they would cooperate and coordinate with these leaders. They -- the federal government would say to the mayors, how can we help you? What resources do you need? But that's not what we're seeing from the Trump administration.

Instead, what we're seeing is unilateral moves, threats. This talk of even war and apocalypse now from the president, that seems much more designed to threaten and intimidate people in these cities along with the Democratic -- Democrat leaders in these cities, in these blue states.

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So that, for me, is a huge red flag that the rhetoric from the government is not matching the reality that we see on the ground.

FREEMAN: All eyes on Chicago as this immigration enforcement picks up. Raul Reyes, appreciate your time. Thank you. Brianna?

KEILAR: President Trump is also condemning a sickening crime that was captured on video and citing the senseless murder as another reason to get tough on crime. I do want to warn you, the video is disturbing and graphic. This is surveillance video from moments before a man stabbed a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee to death aboard a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina last month.

She boards the train and sits in front of the suspect. And after a few moments, in a seemingly random act of violence, the suspect pulls out a knife and attacks her.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I just give my love and hope to the family of the young woman who was stabbed this morning or last night in Charlotte by a madman, a lunatic, just got up and started. It's right on the tape, not really watchable because it's so horrible, but just viciously stabbed. She's just sitting there. So they're evil people. We have to be able to handle that. If we don't handle that, we don't have a country.

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KEILAR: We're joined now by John Miller, CNN's Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, and Brian Stelter, CNN's Chief Media Analyst. John, what do we know about this horrible attack and also the alleged assailant here?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, Brianna, it is, as the President described it, completely unprovoked. This is a 20-minute videotape where for most of it, everybody on the train is like many trains engaged in their phones, except the suspect who seems to be restless sitting by himself. And he rides for quite a while, at which point Iryna Zarutska comes onboard the train, is sitting there, and he suddenly gets up, unfolds the knife, stabs her in the neck, attacks her very violently. And you literally, on the video, can see her almost die in front of your eyes.

She goes unconscious very quickly. And when you go into the background of this offender, he's got 14 arrests. He's just in a five-year bit in prison for an armed robbery. And he is someone who has a mental health history who says to his family members, who CNN's Jeff Winter spoke to on the phone today, spoke to his mother, who said he just got out of the hospital. He was receiving other treatment. But he is one of these offenders who clearly fell between the cracks in terms of the kind of treatment he was getting and this terrible, terrible crime. KEILAR: And this is an attack that has set off a political firestorm about crime in Democratic-led cities now to the highest level, as you heard the president there. John, what can you tell us about the crime situation just broadly in Charlotte?

MILLER: I mean, Charlotte is a place with a very effective police department, very effective leadership. Murder is down 29 percent, aggravated assault down 25 percent. There's property crime in terms of burglary, shoplifting showing small increases. But basically, Charlotte has done with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department a pretty effective job on crime. The idea that this individual was coming out of jail on parole after five years in prison for an armed robbery and was involved in some kind of treatment shows some degree of follow-up.

But one of the things we're seeing here with these cases involving people suffering from mental illness who have violent tendencies, is those are the programs that have been cut the most and where treatment is hard to come by in North Carolina, literally ranks last among states in the U.S. for having the availability of that kind of mental healthcare.

KEILAR: Brian, I think that what the president said kind of got to this. He was talking about something that had just happened. This actually happened last month. It only gained national news attention here in the past couple of days. Why is that?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, most murders in the U.S. never become national news. This one has garnered attention for a couple of reasons. Number one, first and foremost, the recent release of that gruesome video. Second, the energy from pro-Trump activists. They picked up on this video from local news and ran with it. It's a little bit like the times when civil rights groups have raised attention about police involved shootings. In this case, it is Trump aligned influencers who are posting up a storm about this case on social media.

Really, over the weekend, Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, other Trump aligned figures succeeded in making this senseless death a symbol of big city crime.

[14:15:00]

We heard President Trump asked about it yesterday when he was heading home from New York City. He didn't seem to know much about it. He said he would get briefed. And then today, Trump did know of big city crime. We heard President Trump asked about it yesterday when he was, heading home from New York City. He didn't seem to know much about it. He said he would get briefed. And then today, Trump did know all about it. That's exactly what has happened here. This story has trickled up from so from local news to social media and now to the president's attention. And it's being used, as you said Brianna, as a political symbol with MAGA media calling for more forceful punishments and more incarceration. I have to say, some of the replies to Musk, some of the comments around this story are baldly racist, stoking fear of African Americans because this man attacked a white woman. The open racism on sites like X today, it's eye popping. But there are also legitimate questions about this so-called career criminal, someone who had been a repeat offender. And those questions, I hope they're not lost, amid all of the cesspool kind of comments on social media.

KEILAR: Yeah. John Miller, Brian Stelter, thank you so much to both of you. Still to come, members of Congress are set to review more documents from the estate of convicted sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. One of his accusers, will join us live. And a federal Appeals Court ruling on the $83 million jury award against President Trump for defaming magazine writer E. Jean Carroll. Then later, homeless people going into hiding. The extreme measures that some people living on the streets in Washington, D.C. have taken to avoid federal law enforcement sweeps. We'll have that a much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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KEILAR: As the House Oversight Committee prepares to review new documents that are being released today by the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, several of the convicted sex offenders victims are backing the efforts of some lawmakers to force the DOJ to release all the Epstein files in its possession. President Trump has called the push to release the documents a Democrat hoax. One victim implored the president to use his influence and power to bring transparency to the case. Another said releasing the files would be justice for all of Epstein's alleged victims.

Liz Stein is with us now. She's one of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers and an advocate, educator and activist in the National Anti-Trafficking Movement. Liz, thank you for joining us. If you could just tell us first, what's the most important thing that you think lawmakers can learn from these documents that are coming from the Epstein Estate?

LIZ STEIN, EPSTEIN ACCUSER: Certainly. I think that there are some very important things that we'll be able to learn if we receive these documents and receive them in their entirety. I think that we're looking at the details of the non-disclosure agreements. We're looking at the details of the plea agreement. We're looking at the Birthday Book, the infamous Birthday Book, and who might have contributed to that. But I think one of the most important things that we're going to be looking at is the financial transactions. That I feel like will really give us a lot of insight into what happened.

KEILAR: And so, and can I also just ask you before we talk a little more in detail about those details and also the documents from DOJ that I know you would like to see released, how do you handle all of this? Because you've talked before about these document releases re- traumatizing Epstein victims and now, we're seeing a lot of discussion about there are some releases, victims and others want more releases. How do you handle all of that? STEIN: I think that the survivors want substantive information released, and I don't think that we've seen that yet. And of course, it's incredibly difficult for us to consider having the most intimate details of our lives, the moments that we never wanted anyone to know about made public. But I think that we need to remember that this has been going on since 2016 when Maria Farmer first reported. And I think that we are all really just so incredibly frustrated with the lack of transparency and the lack of any accountability for what happened to us, that we are so fed up at this point that we are just willing to release whatever we have to in the interest of seeking justice.

KEILAR: So there was discussion at the press conference where you and other survivors were rallying, of compiling a list amongst yourselves and of course, there are sensitivities about putting a list out publicly. You have even talked about that, that what you'd like to see is a list or commonalities in what happened to victims be a jumping off point for investigators to take that information. Are you getting any indication that investigators, whether that's the DOJ, whether that's House Oversight Committee, that they want to get that information and have a very good faith use of it to track down other potential perpetrators?

STEIN: Well, we would certainly hope so. And I think that it's important to remember when we're talking about releasing a list of names, I don't think that any of us feel like it would be prudent to just go and independently release a list of names.

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I think that what the sentiment is amongst survivors is that we are willing to sit down with each other and see what the common threads are in our stories and who the common people are in our stories. But it's important to remember that this is not the job of the survivors to do. This is the job of the investigators to do. And they have information and they're sitting on the information. And really to put the impetus for us to come up with some kind of list puts us in incredible danger. It opens us to the risk of exposure and I'm just going to reiterate, it's -- that's not our job.

KEILAR: It opens you up to lawsuits too. When you say that it might not be prudent, I mean, is that one of the main concerns here? Because we've seen when there have been allegations that lawsuits follow. That's a lot to bear. Is that one of your concerns?

STEIN: Absolutely, it is. We're talking about some of the most powerful people in the world against a group of survivors who don't have the resources to fight litigation in the way that these high- profile men do. And I think that, that is used frequently to scare us and to silence us. But we are at a point where we just can't be silenced anymore. And so, what are the ways that we can contribute to this conversation where we're being productive and seeking justice, but we're also protecting ourselves.

KEILAR: Liz Stein, thank you so much for speaking with us. We're obviously going to continue to track this story. We appreciate you being here today. STEIN: Thanks so much.

KEILAR: And still to come, jury selection beginning in the trial of Ryan Routh. He is the man accused of trying to kill President Trump. How his decision to represent himself could make for a very interesting and unusual trial. And then later, Prince Harry returns to England to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. But will he visit with his father, King Charles? We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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