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Trump Administration Federal Crime Crackdown Underway in Memphis; Government Shuts Down as GOP, Dems Deadlock on Spending; White House Budget Chief Warns Permanent Layoffs Could Start in Next One to Two Days if Shutdown Continues; Hundreds of Thousands of Government Workers Must Go Without Pay Until Lawmakers Resolve Shutdown; Authorities Clash With Protesters Outside Portland ICE Facility; Journalist Shoved by ICE Agents Outside NY Immigration Court. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 01, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICKEY JAMISON, MEMPHIS RESIDENT: -- anytime you can watch the news and see somebody stealing someone's car pointing a gun to their door, and I know a guy -- a person that got shot coming out, because he heard something. But, he -- you got a gun pointed to his door, in case he comes out, you're stealing his car. Yeah, we need the task force. Absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Boris, the Secretary of War and this, obviously, the AG are headed to Memphis. We have ongoing operations. We're going to go to that staging area in the next half hour or so. But this is an active ongoing operation where they've already made more than a dozen arrests at this point, and we're told more could be happening. There are some people in the community who want a little less, but at the same time, they've been dealing with so much crime. They want more federal resources to be surged in this area, and it's already happening.

Of course, we'll continue to track and we'll be back a little later on to show you the buildup that we've been seeing on the ground.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And you can look forward to that this afternoon. Ryan Young live for us in Memphis. Thank you so much. The next hour of "News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Closed for business and no solution in sight. The government has been shut down for 14 hours. Neither side, Republicans or Democrats, willing to budge at this point. We're waiting to hear from House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, who will be speaking soon.

As federal workers find themselves going without a paycheck, anyone looking for a new job may be out of luck. Why a new report could be a problem for anyone who's looking for work. And a WNBA star goes scorched earth on the league's commissioner saying, "We have the worst leadership in the world." How did it get to this point? And what's next for players? We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Right now, hundreds of thousands of federal employees are waiting to see how long the government will stay shut down, how long they're going to go without getting paid, and how long we'll have to endure the blame game on Capitol Hill that is getting uglier by the minute. Democrats are digging in on their healthcare demands while the White House keeps pushing false claims. This was Vice President J.D. Vance just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: : It's a lie told by the Democrats that they're not trying to give healthcare benefits to illegal aliens. It's a lie that is obviously untrue if you just look at the text that they gave us. And all you have to do is understand that this is about who benefits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Alayna Treene is live outside of the White House. Alayna, do they feel that they have the upper hand here on messaging?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Absolutely, at least from my conversations with people in the White House. Now, whether or not that's actually true, of course, is to be seen. And I should note that recent polling has shown that voters really blame both parties for this. But I know that the White House and you can see that they're trying to make this argument publicly. They just spent roughly the last hour between the vice president and the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, to try and make their case.

And their case really is what they're trying to argue is this idea that they are willing to negotiate. You heard Vance just say this now that he is willing to sit down, the president is willing to sit down with Democrats to talk about healthcare, to find some sort of solution, and they're arguing they will only do that once the government is reopened.

And Brianna, I do think one really important point though, through all of this and what we're hearing in our conversations as well with people behind closed doors, is what we've heard from this administration about kind of using the shutdown as the pretext for mass layoffs and other major changes to the government. This is something we heard Vance touch on, but something we also know is kind of a key goal of Russ Vought. He is the White House's Budget Chief.

He's someone who has personally been saying as well that we could see mass layoffs as a result of this. Really an opportunity to kind of push the bounds of the exec -- of the president's executive power even further, and also look at potentially cutting other benefits programs. But listen to how Vance framed it, because I think it's very interesting to compare that to what we've heard from the president himself on this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: Because we are in a government shutdown, we are going to have to lay some people off if the shutdown continues. We don't like that. We don't necessarily want to do it, but we're going to do what we have to keep the American people's essential services continuing to run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So a quick thing I just want to point out here, one is that he's not denying that they're likely going to have mass layoffs. Vance is framing is that he doesn't want to do that, but it'll be targeted toward ensuring that essential workers remain on the job. That is different, I should note, from what we've heard from the president. Just yesterday, he told reporters that Democrats would bear the brunt of those impacts and he essentially said they're Democrats. They're going to be Democrats who see the majority of these layoffs. So we'll have to see how this actually plays out, but they're definitely planning to move forward with that.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be watching. Alayna Treene, live for at the White House. Boris?

[14:05:00]

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective with the National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, Randy Erwin. Randy, thanks so much for joining us, especially in person. Just to start, how many of your members are affected by the shutdown and, if you could tell us in, in which sectors?

RANDY ERWIN, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES: Sure. Well, we have 110,000 federal employees that we represent nationwide. All of them are going to be affected because they're all going to have their pay shut off. It's hard to know exactly how many people are going to be furloughed and how many are going to be forced to work without pay until the shutdown ends. Last shutdown we had, it was pretty close to a 50/50 split in government. It remains to be seen this time, but it's going to be a -- it depends on how long it goes. The longer it goes, it becomes exponentially bad for both workers and the American people. It remains to be seen how long it's going to go this time.

SANCHEZ: As you hear the White House say that layoffs to the federal workforce are imminent, what goes through your mind? What's your message to your members?

ERWIN: I'm appalled by that for the main reason -- for the -- because of the Anti-Deficiency Act, the executive branch, the agencies and the White House can't spend money that Congress hasn't appropriated. And so, in any reduction in force or federal layoff, you have to spend money in -- to -- in order to do that. What that means is they don't have the right to do what they're saying they're going to do. And so, that means one of two things, or a combination of it. It means either they plan to do something that's illegal, and when -- the president has an obligation to faithfully execute the laws of this country. When they violate the law willfully, it's an unconstitutional act. And we've seen this president willing to do that.

This would be another occurrence of him violating the law and sorting it out later. The other thing that they could be doing is just intimidating and grading our dedicated federal employees in this country. Neither of those things are acceptable and everybody in America should be appalled by that.

SANCHEZ: I do have some questions for you about impoundment and the argument from some in Congress that they should control the purse strings and not the executive, but I do want to get to a broader point, which is that the last time, I remember seeing you here in studio was around the beginning of the year during massive cuts to the federal workforce by DOGE. Given that, and given that a few months later, we have this looming threat of further layoffs by OMB, what does that do to people who've decided that they want to dedicate themselves to serving the American people in the federal government? I mean, does it dissuade folks from service? Does it harm the care that the American people get?

ERWIN: Without question. It's devastating to morale within the federal government. It makes it near impossible to recruit and retain the talent that we need in the federal government to provide these services. It's hard enough in the federal government as it is because federal employees make 25 percent less on average than people in the private sector doing the same jobs. So they're at a disadvantage. One of the advantages used to be having job security.

SANCHEZ: Right.

ERWIN: Well, how much job security do people feel right now? So, we're doing decades and decades of damage to our ability to have a highly functioning federal government that the American people deserves because of the actions of this administration.

SANCHEZ: Randy, please stand by. Let's go ahead and listen to Leader Jeffries, who is speaking to reporters right now.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D) MINORITY LEADER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I'm ready to sit down with anyone at any time and at any place in order now to reopen the government, to enact a spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people, and to address the devastating Republican healthcare crisis that has caused extraordinary harm on people all across the country in rural America, working-class America, urban America, small town America, the heartland of America, and black and brown communities throughout America.

The Republican healthcare crisis is devastating, the likes of which no one has ever seen. Largest cut to Medicaid in American history. A possible $536 billion cut to Medicare because of the One Big Ugly Bill. If Congress doesn't act by the end of the year, tens of millions of Americans are about to experience dramatically increased premium, co-pays and deductibles because of the Republican unwillingness to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

[14:10:00] Hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based health clinics are closing all across the country, including in rural America because of what Republicans have done and the healthcare crisis they have triggered through their cruel actions throughout this year. Republicans have even canceled medical research in the United States of America, even as it relates to children who are battling cancer.

The Republican healthcare crisis is immoral in nature and Democrats are fighting hard to reverse it. Cancel the cuts, lower the costs, save healthcare on behalf of the American people. It's now my honor to yield to the WHIP, Katherine Clark.

KATHERINE CLARK, DEMOCRATIC WHIP: Thank you, Mr. Leader. We are so grateful for all that you have done and putting the American people's voice into this debate. And I've had one question from my Republican House colleagues this week, where the heck are you?

SANCHEZ: We will continue monitoring this press availability from House Democrats, especially if Leader Jeffries begins to take questions. So stay tuned for that. Getting back to you, Randy. As you hear these disagreements among Democrats and Republicans, I wonder what your message is to lawmakers more broadly.

ERWIN: Well, I think our message right now is to Congress and the White House as a collective institution. You've got to do the work of the American people. We can't continue time after time, the brinksmanship of a government shutdown. The 2019 shutdown was devastating, costing the economy billions and billions of dollars in waste. Services diminished dramatically. You got to do your job, and that does require compromise. That does mean sitting down with the opposite party. And so, it's time to do that. Get in the room, get the decision makers there, and hammer out a deal to reopen the government for the American people.

SANCHEZ: Last question, Randy. We know that, obviously, the government is shut down right now, but that doesn't necessarily coincide with when some of your members can expect their paychecks --

ERWIN: Sure.

SANCHEZ: -- to come in. they've been promised back pay if they're furloughed and whatnot. But I wonder, when do they start feeling the impacts of this? When do those paychecks stop coming?

ERWIN: I think it's going to be, it usually takes about three weeks to go into effect.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

ERWIN: I don't know have the exact date.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

ERWIN: But it --

(CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: I'm sure it probably varies also.

ERWIN: Oh, it does vary. But important thing to remember is, it's not just federal employees. Thankfully, there was legislation passed in 2019 to guaranty them back pay when these political disputes happen and we have a shutdown, but there's millions of contractors out there that are funded by the federal government the same. And a lot of them will never see a nickel of the time when they're furloughed. And we can't forget about them either. It has a -- when we shut down the government, it has a cascading negative effect on communities across the country.

Don't forget, about one-third of federal employees are veterans. So when they're sticking it to federal employees like that, they're doing it to American veterans. We've already seen over 100,000 veterans lose their jobs because of cuts to the federal to federal workforce, rift (ph) or bullied into a resignation that they didn't want to do. Federal employees are spread throughout the country. 85 percent are not in the Washington area. They're in every community across the country. No matter where you are, these are your friends and neighbors doing important work for the American people that are in the crosshairs of this administration, and it doesn't need to be that way.

SANCHEZ: Randy Erwin, great to get your perspective. We appreciate you joining us.

ERWIN: Thank you for your time.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Stay with CNN. We're going to take a quick break and when we come back, new video shows protesters and authorities clashing outside an ICE facility in Portland amid President Trump's immigration crackdown. We've got the latest there. And a little bit later on this afternoon, a court case that could put the Federal Reserve under the president's thumb, the Supreme Court deciding they will take up Trump's efforts to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, though she can stay on the job in the meantime. Stay with "CNN News Central." We'll be right back.

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[14:19:05]

KEILAR: The blame game ramping up in the nation's capitol over the government shutdown. We're following this. It is a news conference. These are live pictures of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. He's there with House Democratic leadership right now as they're trying to counter some comments just made from the White House by J.D. Vance, the Vice President. So how are Americans feeling about all of this? That's really what it's going to come down to. And CNN's Harry Enten is running the numbers to tell us about that. OK. How do voters feel, Harry?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yeah. Normally, voters want compromise. They don't want a shutdown. All of a sudden, we're seeing quite different numbers this time around. What are we talking about? What Americans wanted pre-shutdown? You go back to 2013, 57 percent said they want a compromise, no shutdown. Just a third of Americans, 33 percent said that the folks in Washington should stand on principle.

Let's jump forward to 2025. What do we find? We find that dead even split.

[14:20:00]

We see 50 percent of Americans who say compromise, no shutdown. But basically right next to it, 49 percent of Americans say that in fact, they want their representatives to stand on principle. So normally, the case is voters don't want to shut down, but now we're seeing about half of Americans saying, you know what, a shutdown, we believe in it as long as the folks are standing on principle.

KEILAR: OK. So who shifted the most in that compromise category compared to where they were before?

ENTEN: Yeah. OK. If we look back historically speaking, Republicans have generally been the ones who wanted folks to stand on principle, not necessarily given in compromise. Now the Democrats are joining them again, what Democrats wanted pre-shutdown back in 2013, just 18 percent, less than a fifth of Democrats said they wanted their representatives to stand on principle. The clear majority, three in four of them, 76 percent said compromise, no shutdown.

Jump over to this side of the screen. Look at this, that compromise, no shutdown dropped 24 points to just 52 percent. That stand on principle, up like a rocket. Look at that. We're talking about 47 percent of Democrats say stand on principle, they don't want to compromise. And now, we got those two sides pretty much dead even in that stand on principle up, what is that? That's 29 points compared to the shutdown that we saw just 12 years ago, Brianna.

KEILAR: Are there any history under a Trump presidency to expect a long shutdown?

ENTEN: Yeah. OK. So obviously, we see these numbers, we see the stand on principle go up. We see Republicans, more than half of them say stand on principle. And of course, we have the history from the first Trump term. What are we talking about? The longest shutdown ever back in 2018 to 2019, it was over a month. So you combine that history of the first Trump shutdown going on for a long period of time. You're seeing a historically high proportion of Americans saying, you know what? We should in fact have our representative stand on principle.

And you put those together and you get a mathematical equation that suggests that this shutdown may in fact go on for a while. But you know what? I've given up on trying to predict things. So, we're just going to have to wait and see what happens.

KEILAR: As they say, Harry, time will tell and we'll wait for it.

ENTEN: Time will tell.

(LAUGH) If I had a watch, I'd point to a watch, but instead I'm just going to point to my wrist. But it's a pretty gosh darn, good looking wrist, I dare say.

KEILAR: All right. Yep. Of course, it is. Harry, thank you so much.

So, tensions are rising in cities across the country as ICE is ramping up its deportation efforts. We have a look at the latest incidents in Portland, Chicago, and New York next.

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[14:26:55]

SANCHEZ: Tensions are escalating as ICE ramps up efforts in major cities across the country. And we have new video to show you out of Portland, showing federal agents marching down the street overnight. You can see an agent coming into contact with a person near the sidewalk, unclear who initiated that contact, but several agents quickly tackle that person to the ground.

We're also learning new details about an incident in New York. There's video showing a journalist being taken away on a stretcher following an encounter with masked ICE agents at an immigration court on Tuesday. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now. Priscilla, talk to us about this incident in New York. What happened?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, just big picture here, two things can be true. Critics say that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is increasingly using aggressive tactics against immigrants as well as, as the case we'll just -- we'll talk about here in a moment, journalists. But at the same time, the administration is saying that ICE is also under threat and attack. So, let's start with what happened here in New York.

The immigration court in New York has been in the headlines a lot lately because there has been this aggressive nature in the encounters there. In this case in particular, what occurred is that reporters were getting onto an elevator bank where an immigrant was also getting on. The reporter that was shoved to the ground told our colleagues that this is an elevator where people enter and exit pretty regularly. And there was no expectation that this person was going to be apprehended.

But then they got pulled out of the elevator as Immigration and Customs Enforcement came in to apprehend this immigrant and the journalist was shoved down to the ground. Now, it garnered attention because he had to be hospitalized, but also because it has been increasingly happening in this court. Just last week, for example, an ICE agent also shoved a woman who was calling for her husband.

Now, according to the Department of Homeland Security, who released a statement about the journalist who was shoved, they said the following. "Rioters and sanctuary politicians who encourage individuals to interfere with arrests are actively creating hostile environments that put officers, detainees and the public in harm's way." She went on to say that we are urging the media and politicians to stop fanning the flames of division and stop demonization of law enforcement.

Now, the reporter that was shoved and spoke with our colleague did say that they had no intention of getting in the way of ICE agents, so much as they happened to be in that elevator when all of this happened. And it was a place that people are usually frequently coming in and out of and as a journalist, someone who is trying to document what is happening in this court and has been doing that.

But it speaks to the overall situation in the country right now. Just last week, there was also the incident of the shooting at a Dallas ICE facility.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

ALVAREZ: So, everyone is on high alert and two things can be true in this scenario where there are aggressive tactics being used in areas like this immigration court, but at the same time, ICE is on heightened alert about what they're receiving on their end.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for that reporting. So, it is just day one, really hours into this U.S. government shutdown and both sides are slinging blame on Capitol Hill. We're going to discuss with Democratic Congressman Jason Crow in just moments. Stay with us.

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