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Trump Reportedly Demands $230 Million From DOJ for Investigating Him; Federal Workers Form Line Down the block for Food Pantry; OpenAI Launches Its Own Web Browser. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 22, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: ... A U.S. Marshal and a popular TikTok streamer were injured when an agent opened fire. CNN's Veronica Miracle has the details for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A U.S. Marshal and a suspect are both in the hospital after gunfire erupted during a chaotic immigration enforcement operation in South Los Angeles. That's according to authorities. The Department of Homeland Security says that they were going after an undocumented individual and, in an attempt to flee, that person started ramming law enforcement officer vehicles.

Now, in an attempt to try and grab that suspect and to stop that person, they smashed the window. Defensive shots were also fired by officers. And during this chaotic scene, the suspect was shot, as well as a deputy U.S. Marshal.

According to the DHS, in a statement, they say, quote, "The illegal alien was shot in the elbow and one law enforcement officer was shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet. Both are in the hospital."

Sources tell CNN the FBI is now investigating this incident.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: All right, President Trump reportedly requesting nearly a quarter of a billion taxpayer dollars in compensation for the DOJ for the cases they launched against him. It's sparking huge ethical questions this morning, even the president acknowledging it's awfully strange.

And the human cost of the federal shutdown, federal workers lining up down the block to receive food as they go without paychecks. So far, 1.4 million Americans have been furloughed or are working for the federal government without pay.

And when in doubt, listen to your mother. It might just save your life. A mom in Minnesota being hailed a hero after preventing tragedy when her daughter's school bus caught fire.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So this morning, $230 million, not a small amount and paid for by the American taxpayer. That is now what President Trump says that he could be asking as a payout. President peering and saying that to confirm a New York Times report that he's seeking damages for from his own Justice Department over past investigations into him.

We're talking about Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and the probe into Donald Trump's mishandling of classified documents. Here's the president in the Oval Office just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Because the New York Times is reporting that your legal team is seeking $230 million from your own Justice Department now in response to the investigations into you. Is that something you want your legal team to do?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know what the numbers are. I don't even talk to them about it. All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money, but I don't I'm not looking for money to give it to charity or something. I would give it to charity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The president also admitted that the situation with the Justice Department was, in his words, strange because, as he said, he would be paying my -- I would be paying myself more precisely. Again, taxpayers would foot that bill.

CNN's Alayna Treene live at the White House to start us off this hour. What are you learning about this at this point? How real is this claim?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Oh, it's very real. I mean, the president essentially confirmed it yesterday, Kate, in the Oval Office. A couple of things to run through with you, though, is, of course, this was -- these cases were brought the president filed for these payments and made these claims when he was out of office.

Of course, he is in office now. So that changes this entire scenario. And that's really what raises these enormous, massive conflict of interest and ethical questions.

And to be clear, Todd Blanche, who is currently the deputy attorney general, he was the president's former personal attorney. He represented him in one of the cases here that the president is seeking damages for. He would be one of the key decision makers in all of this.

Another person, Stanley Woodward, the attorney who represented one of the co-defendants in the classified documents case, also referenced in what the president is seeking damages for. He would be another key decision maker. And that's really why this is such an enormously big deal and raises so many ethical questions.

Now, I think the question is, since the president is now in office, does that change what they are looking to do? You heard the president say it's strange. I mean, of course, it's strange that he is in this position.

The question will be whether they try to table this potentially until he is out of office. If they do move forward with this, I mean, it's hard to see how people, particularly if taxpayers are the ones footing the bill for some of these damages, you know, how that is going to play within the general public.

[08:05:00]

Especially when you consider, I mean, right now, so much another other story, the viral photos going around of the excavators, you know, damaging and kind of tearing into part of the East Wing. That's a project that's supposed to cost roughly $230 million.

All of this happening and playing out while the government is currently shut down. A lot of federal workers, you know, struggling to make ends meet. So there's a lot of political ramifications for this as well.

We're going to be asking the White House all of these questions.

BOLDUAN: And a lot of questions to be asked. It's great to see you, Alayna. Thank you so much -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, Michael Moore, the former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. I want to get to the ethical questions in a second here.

But first, just very quickly in a vacuum, Michael, citizens can make these claims, can file things like this. But what are the merits of the president's case here?

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: Yes, I'm glad to be with you. Citizens can file this, and this would be a normal procedure. For instance, if you had a claim, a tort claim against the government, you give them notice of your claim. And then if they deny it or don't move on it, you can actually bring a lawsuit.

But in order to get over the hurdle, the claims that Trump is making, he has to say that the government's actions in the case against him were vexatious. That's the term in the statute in federal law.

That means that there was no probable cause, no nothing to support the claim. It's much more than just a bad case. It means basically that there was just nothing there to do it.

The problem he's got is that he was indicted, which is a finding of probable cause, certainly the documents case. In the Russia case, I think there's enough probably in the report from Mueller saying we were going to move forward on some things, but we have this policy with, you know, DOJ. So he's got an uphill battle.

The problem is you may never get to the legal merits of the claim because, you know, it's up to the department if they want to sign off and approve the claims as opposed to asking a judge to look at it to decide if in fact he should go forward.

BERMAN: It's up to the department. And the people who may be making this decision in the department were some of the very lawyers representing then-citizen Donald Trump and others involved in this. We're talking about Todd Blanche, Deputy Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who's also a Justice Department official.

And this is a quote directly from The New York Times, I believe, "Asked if either Mr. Blanch or Mr. Woodward were recused or have been recused from overseeing the possible settlement with Mr. Trump. A Justice Department spokesman, Chad Gilmartin, said, in any circumstance, all officials at the justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials."

That's not a yes, they will be recused here. How appropriate would a recusal be?

MOORE: It's unquestionably the right thing to do. I mean, this stinks like a bad skunk. I mean, there's nothing here that complies with the ethical rules of the department.

I mean, as soon as this came to light, Todd Blanche and other people who have been involved in the Trump case, frankly, anybody who had been appointed by Trump, I believe, should have filed some type of recusal or removal from any decision-making process here. The problem is even if they send it to an outside lawyer, they say, OK, we're going to back away, but we're going to ask John Smith to do it. Does anybody actually think that John Smith is going to be just some neutral person out there that they pick because it's the best lawyer in the country?

No. It's going to be somebody who either has some tie or is beholden to the administration or is looking for a job, or maybe they want their daughter to be a federal judge, or they're going to approve this, whatever it may be. So again, let me pause and sort of give at least one bit of comfort here.

The Justice Department doesn't just have a big checkbook laying around that they can just write a check out of for a quarter of a billion dollars. I mean, it's not money. Everything that happens is taxpayer money.

You know, so at some point, if this thing starts to move forward, that check, if they approve it, has to be funded, and that's where you may see some roadblock. You may have people who at least are beginning to develop some backbone in Congress who say, look, we're not appropriating those funds for the resolution of this case. And that's how courts might get involved in to review what's happened. So it's not a done deal just because Ms. Bondi or Mr. Blanche, somebody signs a piece of paper, but there could be other ramifications and procedures to go through that might put a stop to it.

BERMAN: Michael Moore, Counselor, always great to see you. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John. You are taking now a live look at the Senate floor where Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley is now nearing his 14th hour speaking to protest what he calls President Trump's grave threats to democracy.

He's been speaking since last night at around 6 p.m. all night long. And we're keeping an eye on that.

Plus, hundreds of federal workers lining up for food assistance as the government shutdown continues and many are set to miss their first full paycheck.

Also, violent protests breaking out overnight in Ireland, demonstrators attacking police and setting a car ablaze. The details on what's happening there, ahead.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, top Democrats are pushing to sit down with President Trump before he leaves for Asia on Friday as the government shutdown grinds on. We're now in day 22. And federal workers are bearing the brunt of all this.

More than a million of them going unpaid while Democrats and Republicans in Congress argue over funding federal agencies. Yesterday, look at these pictures. Hundreds of government workers lined up for food donations at an event in Maryland.

They told CNN they have no paycheck, but still have, of course, bills to pay. And they're welcoming any help they can get.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:15:00]

SUMMER KERKSICK, FEDERAL WORKER: You know, with my rent due next week, I could take anything I can get. At this point, I haven't gotten a paycheck this month. So the free groceries is very important, very helpful.

ROLANDA WILLIAMS, FEDERAL WORKER: I've been furloughed before. I've never seen it like this where, you know, people actually had to go to a food bank. Normally it's maybe a week or two or a day or two or whatever for a furlough, but not like this, where there just -- there's nothing coming in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN's Rene Marsh has been doing great reporting on this. Rene, what are you hearing from people? We just hear the pain and worry in people's voices in that line.

What are you seeing?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Sara, that is the human impact of what the stalemate in Washington, D.C. and on Capitol Hill means for these thousands and thousands of federal workers. This was just outside of Washington, D.C., Landover, Maryland. And as you said, these federal workers, they're not being paid.

Many of them stood in line for hours to get this free food at the Capitol Area Food Bank as the shutdown is now in week three. And that line stretched several blocks. Our cameras captured all of these folks looking for some relief, some help.

And this was done in collaboration with the local ministry. They required federal employees to show their work ID in order to receive food. And the event served some 370 households.

We are told that is more than double what they were expecting. We should mention that lawmakers have yet to reach an agreement to pay federal workers. Republican Senator Ron Johnson introduced a bill that would only pay those who are working without pay, but Democrats are pushing for all federal workers to be paid.

But, you know, this is -- we're 22 days into this shutdown. And, again, people told our crews on the scene that they were waiting for two hours on this line. The point is here. There is no end in sight with this shutdown.

So many of these food banks, not just here in Washington, D.C., because federal workers are throughout the nation, are expecting these lines to grow exponentially the longer this shutdown drags on. Take a listen to one of the organizers of this food bank just last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PASTOR OLIVER CARTER, NO LIMITS OUTREACH MINISTRIES: I'm really concerned because I know that with this current administration, our food bank has not received as much food. And now seeing a need today with our current population that we already serve in the community, adding those federal workers on, in my mind, I'm really trying to figure out how we're going to meet the needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: And the thing that we hear a lot from these federal workers is that they always thought that working within the federal government meant stability, Sara. And they find themselves now waiting hours for free food from this food bank.

SIDNER: Yes, it's really hard to watch and also gives you some sense that they don't have a lot of hope that this is going to end anytime soon. Rene Marsh, thank you so much for the great reporting for us this morning -- John.

BERMAN: All right, a huge possible change might be coming to your Internet. Why your searches might never be the same again.

Plus, a mother jumps into action to rescue a bus full of kids after that bus caught on fire. Look at that.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: For decades, Googling something has been, as my daughter says, Google it up, something that has become shorthand for looking something up on the Internet. Is that about to change, though, is becoming a big question, because OpenAI has jumped into the web browser game, launching its own version of a search engine. The company best known for ChatGPT now wants to go head-to-head with the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Apple.

Clare Duffy here with us to explain. What's going on here?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, so OpenAI has launched Atlas, which is this new web browser powered by ChatGPT. It's going to be available to start for Mac users, although other device accessibility will be coming in the future. And basically, this means that ChatGPT will be able to do more for you as you're browsing the web.

If you're looking at a web page, ChatGPT can summarize it. It can answer questions about it. You can also ask ChatGPT about web pages that you've looked at in the past so it can talk to you about what you were working on before.

And this is a big challenge to Google, because what Google did that was so brilliant was it made that address bar in Google Chrome essentially a search bar --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

DUFFY: -- so that anything you type in was a Google search. ChatGPT -- or OpenAI I should say, now wants to do that, but only for ChatGPT searches. And OpenAI isn't the only company that's getting into this AI web browser game.

You've got Microsoft that's added Copilot AI tools --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

DUFFY: -- to its Edge browser. The AI firm Perplexity has launched an AI browser called Comet. And so you're seeing sort of the way that the internet, the core parts of the way that we use the internet, are starting to potentially be disrupted in this AI age.

And, of course, for OpenAI, the benefit here is it could get more people using its technology as it creates this sort of front door to the internet.

BOLDUAN: Helps it learn more, right? I mean, that's part of it, right?

DUFFY: Exactly. Gather more information. Absolutely.

Gather more data. Because the more you get people using ChatGPT, asking it questions about what they're working on, the better its AI models can function.

BOLDUAN: As with everything when you come on to report on AI developments, it is so interesting and raises so many more questions. It's great to see you, Clare. Thank you so much.

Coming up for us, who are Americans blaming for the shutdown? We are running the numbers for you. And you're taking a look at the Senate floor right now.

I will say that's not who you're necessarily blaming. That's Amy Klobuchar.

[08:25:00]

The reason we're looking at the Senate floor right now is there has been a long effort overnight, starting with Senator Jeff Merkley, to take to the floor Democrats talking. Talking and taking on Donald Trump and Republicans. Making a stand on the Senate floor.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, this question. What is happening in Congress?

The answer, not much. And historically so. CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten is here.

How little is happening?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, you know, I'm going to quote the great scholar Billy Preston. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing ...

[08:30:00]