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Interview with Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX); White House Blasts Democrats Over Jeffrey Epstein Hoax; More Students Lack Basic Academic Skills in Reading, Math; Trump Suggests A Little Fight at Home Shouldn't Count as a Crime. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 09, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The White House is firing back as Democrats launch new attacks in the wake of a document drop in the Jeffrey Epstein case. The House Oversight Committee released thousands of new documents on Tuesday, including this one that shows an allegedly Trump-penned birthday letter to Epstein back in 2003. Here's more on this from Karoline Leavitt moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Republicans in the Trump Department of Justice have done more in terms of transparency when it comes to the Epstein case than any prior administration. And why are the Democrats all of a sudden caring about this? It's because they are desperately trying to concoct a hoax to smear the president of the United States. We have seen this time and time again. Ro Khanna and all of these other Democrats, they could have cared about those victims four years ago when Joe Biden was in office. They could have pushed for transparency then. Unfortunately, the Democrats are using victims as political pawns to try to smear and to push a hoax against the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We're joined now by a member of the House Oversight Committee, Democratic Congressman Greg Casar. Congressman, what's your reaction there to what the White House press secretary said, basically echoing what we've heard from Vice President J.D. Vance.

REP. GREG CASAR (D-TX), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Well look, we say where there's smoke there's fire and when it comes to Trump and Epstein there's more smoke than at a Texas barbecue. I mean Trump campaigned on releasing the Epstein files. Then his attorney general seemingly reminded him that he's probably all up in these files and so now Trump and his spokespeople are trying to cover it up. But we are going to make sure that there's transparency in this case.

I just recently along with other Republican and Democratic members met with nearly a dozen of the survivors in this case. And these crimes are horrific. And we need to make sure that everyone is held accountable because no president, no head of a bank or a financial institution, no powerful person should be able to get away with these kinds of crimes held unaccountable.

KEILAR: We should note, it's important to, there has been -- we've seen no sign of wrongdoing on Trump's part. I do want to ask you, can you speak to the point where Karoline Leavitt, the vice president, they're saying that you were silent about this for years. Can you talk about what Democrats are doing as they're choosing what they want to release, for instance? Is this about the victims? Is this about things that are politically problematic for Trump? How are you doing that?

CASAR: We need to stay focused on justice for these survivors who have asked for transparency and accountability for these horrific crimes that have been committed against them. And we need to make sure that we're able to look at this case and make sure that we stop any other and all other sex trafficking rings of this kind in the United States. If we look at maybe the bank records and the financial transactions that occurred during this sex trafficking ring, we can identify where this is happening in other parts of the country. We need to be clearly focused on the right thing here, which is protecting people from being victimized in this sort of way.

KEILAR: Can you talk about that? Was there any information about financial transactions that Epstein made? Anything, any thread there that you are able to pull?

CASAR: We are pulling hard at those threats. As you know, on my oversight committee, there was a subcommittee that issued a valid subpoena, and Trump's Department of Justice and the Trump administration so far have refused to release all of the files that it is that they have. That's why we now have a bipartisan bill where we have a discharge petition to force a vote on this and force the Trump administration to give us what they've got, because we know that Trump is lying about this. And the clearest example is with this notorious and creepy birthday book. Trump went on the record saying that his birthday note didn't exist, didn't exist, didn't exist. That's how you kind of knew it probably did exist. And just yesterday, we released that birthday note from Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein that we received under subpoena from Jeffrey Epstein's own estate.

KEILAR: What's your reaction, then, when you hear the White House press secretary as you release that, a signature that does bear resemblance to his signature. And she said, as I have said all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw this picture and he did not sign it. President Trump's legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation.

CASAR: Well, look, when Donald Trump said first this didn't exist, And then we found it. And now he's saying he didn't sign it. His signature just looks just like his own signature. It's like the bank robber who's caught with a bag full of cash and says, I'm not the one who robbed the bank.

[14:35:00]

I mean, everyday Americans just aren't going to keep on buying these sorts of excuses, and we're going to keep investigating this case, not just to have transparency around the president, but transparency around any powerful person in this country who turned a blind eye or was complicit in these horrible crimes. Because we know that there are other women that are being trafficked and abused in this sort of way in this country right now. And we need to make sure that we're standing up for all survivors, these survivors and all other survivors in the country right now. And a president or a powerful politician saying nothing to see here, that's a sign that you've got to go look where they're telling you there's nothing to see here.

KEILAR: Congressman Greg Casar, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

CASAR: Thank you.

KEILAR: And still to come, American students are still falling behind. The results of The Nation's Report Card, next.

[14:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The Nation's Report Card is in. Doesn't look good. Test scores are showing a troubling and persistent trend. Students in the United States lack basic skills in reading and math. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten joins us now. Harry, walk us through these numbers and what they mean.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, I think you're exactly right. These trends are worrisome. We're going to talk about high school seniors first off, and we'll talk about basic reading. What are we talking about? 12th graders who scored at least basic in reading in 2013, 74 percent, but we're going to go down the slide, 72 percent by 2015, 70 percent by 2019. I know a lot of folks are going to look at these and want to attribute to COVID, but the drop was happening before COVID, and now we're at just 67 percent who have basic levels, basic levels. When we're talking advanced -- get this Boris -- it's just one, two, three, four, 5 percent, just 5 percent score advanced on reading, my goodness gracious.

But it's not just reading Boris, it's mathematics as well. OK, again, 12th graders scored at least basic on math. You go back to 2013, 65 percent, 2015, 62 percent, 59 percent for 2019. And now we're talking about 55 percent, just 55 percent of 12th graders scored at least basic on math. The inverse of that, of course, is -- get this -- just 45 percent, just 45 percent, get that, 45 percent couldn't even score basic they're basically failing they are failing, oh my God. But it is not just 12th graders, right, we've been looking at 12th graders.

They also tested eighth graders let's take a look there and they tested them on science. It's the same trend, Boris Sanchez, it's the same trend. Eighth graders scored at least basic on science 68 percent 2015, 67 percent, 2019, and now just 62 percent. It's no good. And if you can't do reading, you can't do math, you can't do science. What exactly you're going to do? And again, it's not just 12th graders, it's 8th graders as well.

And it was happening before COVID. And now we have just a continuation on the trend. There's just basically no good data in here. I guess the only good news is maybe we can go up from here, but right now our students, both eighth graders and 12th graders, not where we want them to be. And the trend line, I dare say, is quite worrisome.

SANCHEZ: A bleak picture. I'm sure artificial intelligence is just going to fix everything, right?

ENTEN: Yes, yes, yes. Oy vey, that's all I can say.

SANCHEZ: Harry Enten, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Well, the president talks up his crime crackdown in Washington, DC but seems to downplay the severity of domestic violence at the same time, suggesting people against his federal intervention in the nation's capital were trying to undermine his efforts by including those crimes in the city's statistics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Things that take place in the home, they call crime. You know, they'll do anything they can to find something. If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say, this was a crime, see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What the president seemingly shrugged off, a majority of women cannot escape. In the nine seconds it took to play that clip, another woman was beaten. That's according to the CDC and the National Domestic Violence Hotline. They also found one in five homicide victims were killed by an intimate partner. More than three women are killed by their husband or boyfriend daily. And in our lifetimes, one in three women will be raped or assaulted, and many women simply do not involve the police, meaning the stat the president just appeared to downplay was just the tip of the iceberg.

Only 20 percent of rape or sexual assault. are reported. 25 percent of physical assaults and 50 percent of stalking are alerted at best.

Let's talk about this now with legal analyst and trial attorney Mercedes Colwin. Mercedes, this is very personal for you. You lost your beautiful older sister to domestic partner violence. What is your reaction when you hear the president talk about a fight with the wife like that?

MERCEDES COLWIN, LEGAL ANALYST AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: I am beyond furious, Brianna. I'm going to keep it very real during this segment. Anybody, whether you are the most powerful person in the free world or you're mopping floors, if you don't understand how serious domestic violence is, listen up. Those are great statistics to you. By the end of this segment, there will be 96 victims of domestic violence, 96, just in the four minutes that you and I are speaking. There is 10 million victims per year of domestic violence.

Me, personally, it was devastating to my family to lose my sister. It's going on 15 years in a violent relationship. And exactly to your point, Brianna, it wasn't until after her death that we were going through her diary that we saw all of the entries of the extraordinary horrific violence that she was subjected to on a daily basis. She didn't reach out. She reached out to the family only because we saw the bruising, and that's when we start to get involved.

So, it is a silent killer. And women under 44, it is the leading cause of death. It's extraordinary. So anybody who shrugs off domestic violence does not understand how devastating this can be. And it starts off with a shove and it just escalates. So if it's just a little rough and tumble and people can say, oh, well, that's not really a big deal. Guess what? It is a big deal. And if you are subjected to violence. I'm not -- any type of violence. If your partner touches you in any way, in anger, you can bet your life, and sometimes you lose your life, that that will continue to escalate if you don't cry out for help, call your authorities, call your loved ones, call your family, get out of that situation.

KEILAR: When you realized that there was -- that your sister was in danger, you, I mean, you, the most convincing of people, a successful litigator, could not convince your sister not to return to her partner. And so women and men who are trapped in violent relationships have this tendency themselves, right, to minimize the risk of them. Why is it so important that society, that the prominent voices they hear, do not minimize what's happening?

COLWIN: You know, most tragic to Brianna, we buried our brother on October 25th, 2010. And I begged my sister not to return to her violent boyfriend, begged her. I said, Do you want me to just bury her sibling? Because that's what's going to happen. You have to think of your children. You have to think of me. You have to think of your nieces and nephews. You have to think of all the loved ones that need you and need you to stay alive. You need to stay away from him. Three months to the day, she was dead.

So I can't emphasize enough, and I don't understand the psychological hold. My heart bleeds, I experienced it watching my sister go through this violence. I don't understand the psychological hold, but it is real. It is a psychological hold, and experts talk about it all the time. We hear, and I've covered true crime, and the victims are found alive, and they talk about staying with their batterers, staying with their intimate partners, staying with their partners, even though their lives were at risk.

There are experts are brought in to talk about that psychological hold, because it's real. And it is something that, honestly, I pray that, at some point in time, we can get an understanding, eradicate it, and help and empower men and women, victims of domestic violence, to get out of those dangerous situations.

KEILAR: Mercedes, I always appreciate that you honor your sister talking about this and reaching out to other people. Thank you so much for being with us.

COLWIN: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

KEILAR: And if you or someone that you know is experiencing domestic violence, there are resources that can help. You can call the domestic violence hotline at 800-799-SAFE or go to thehotline.org. We'll be right back.

[14:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: In our CNN series this week, "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE", we recognize people who are quietly working behind the scenes and finding new ways to make life better for others.

SANCHEZ: Today, CNN anchor and chief political correspondent Dana Bash introduces us to her champion, a woman who makes sure people with mental health issues get the assistance and the homes they need.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN CHAUVIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WOODLEY HOUSE (voice-over): A mental illness can be very isolating because you feel so alone and helpless. Woodley House provides housing and support services to people with mental health disorders. You're surrounded by people who understand what you're going through and treat you with dignity.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Tell me about the history here. Back when it started, it was revolutionary.

CHAUVIN: So in 1958, places like Woodley House did not exist. People were institutionalized. And Joan Doniger, who's working at the city's psychiatric hospital, and she noticed that there were so many people that were well enough to leave, but they had nowhere to go. So this group home was the first of its kind on the East Coast.

BASH (voice-over): Today, Woodley House owns more than 10 properties in Washington, DC that offer varying levels of support. Ann Chauvin worked here early in her career and returned to run the organization nearly eight years ago.

CHAUVIN: It was actually when I worked at Woodley House in the '90s that I saw how critical this work is.

BASH: How did you come into this work?

CHAUVIN: Growing up, my Uncle Jack had a very significant mental illness, and I always connected with him. And so I knew from when I was just a little kid that I needed to work in mental health, and later, he went into a group home and he was so happy. Every person that comes into Woodley House, I think of my Uncle Jack.

CHAUVIN: Wow.

[14:55:00]

BASH (voice-over): Determined to help even more people. Ann is now leading Woodley House into a new era.

CHAUVIN: We had been serving about 300 people per year for decades. We needed to do more. In 2024, we served 497 people.

BASH: Wow.

CHAUVIN: I'll hug you anytime.

CHAUVIN: There's just too many people. who really need the kind of loving environments that we can provide?

BASH: I've been involved with the Woodley House for like 15 years, and I, like so many people, have close family members who have really struggled with mental health challenges. They just need somebody to reach out their hand and say, I gotcha.

Reginald was an engineer at the top of his professional game, and then he fell.

REGINALD BODDIE, WOODLEY HOUSE RESIDENT: I was drinking and driving on a rainy night and lost control of the car. And I was hospitalized for, like, 18 months. I no longer have a career. I went through a great state of depression. I needed more help than I could give myself. And I was introduced to Woodley House.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what about your psych appointment? How did that go?

BODDIE: Went well. Well, I'm still sane. Yes. That's when the support came.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good afternoon, everyone.

BODDIE: At first, I would just observe. And then some of the stories start to sound familiar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ever since the implosion of my life, I'll start to shut down at a certain point.

BODDIE: I could be more open and more truthful. There's always more I could be doing, you know.

They gave me a recipe. I'm doing the cooking, you know.

BASH: I was talking to Ann. One of her big goals has been for people to feel like they are home.

BODDIE: Right.

BASH: Do you feel that way?

BODDIE: I definitely feel that way. I feel like I'm about to leave home, because now I'm going on to the next level, to my independent housing.

CHAUVIN: Well, is it a one-bedroom?

BODDIE: No, this is a one room -- this is known a one-bedroom. CHAUVIN: We were sad. We know we're going to miss him, but mostly just super happy and excited. Our hope for our residents is that they could live happy, productive lives.

BASH: So it's not about surviving, it's thriving.

CHAUVIN: Thriving.

BASH: And you see that?

CHAUVIN: We see it every day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: So touching. Our thanks to Dana Bash for bringing us that champion. Be sure to tune in Saturday at 10 p.m. Eastern for the "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE" one-hour special.

Still to come this afternoon on NEWS CENTRAL, we're following today's major breaking news, an IDF attack inside Qatar, what Israel told the United States ahead of this unilateral operation.

END