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Putin Issues New Warning; Government Shutdown Continues; No Federal Troops in San Francisco?; Gambling Bust. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 23, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Foul play. The FBI busts an alleged gambling ring involving an NBA Hall of Famer and a current player. And prosecutors say they were involved in a scheme with ties to the mob.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Back down on a crackdown. The White House is now telling San Francisco that it will not be sending federal agents into the city. We will have the details on that.

And vote for pay. The Senate is considering a bill to pay essential workers during the shutdown, a day before more than a million federal workers missed their first full paycheck.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Breaking news in the federal gambling arrest shocking the sports world today, the FBI charging 34 people across two sprawling indictments involving the mafia and three well-known NBA figures, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach and five-time NBA all-star Chauncey Billups and former player and assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers Damon Jones.

These current and former players now part of an operation that covers two separate cases, one involving sports betting and accusations of rigging games, the other centering on rigged illegal poker games.

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KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: The fraud is mind-boggling. It's not hundreds of dollars. It's not thousands of dollars. It's not tens of thousands of dollars. It's not even millions of dollars. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multiyear investigation.

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KEILAR: Rozier and Billups are expected to appear in federal court today. And worth noting, the NBA's new season just tipped off two days ago.

CNN sports reporter Dana O'Neil is leading us off now.

And, Dana, first, can you just walk us through what each NBA star is accused of?

DANA O'NEIL, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Yes, right.

So, as you said, there are two separate cases, starting with Chauncey Billups, the current Portland Trail Blazers head coach. He's involved in a very elaborate scheme of essentially rigging poker games that involve members of the mafia in New York, where essentially Billups was the lure.

He was the person that players were intrigued to come play poker with, and then they were brought into games that were rigged using fake poker trades, using card-shuffling devices, so that they had no chance to win. And players -- and people brought into these schemes lost millions of dollars. One person in particular was alleged to have lost $1.8 million by himself.

Terry Rozier, meantime, was involved in a more traditional, if you will, game-fixing situation where he used his own insider information about his ability to play in games, relayed that to bettors who placed bets up to $200,000. And then when the prop bets came in and he did not reach his statistical numbers based on the under, they profited.

Damon Jones, the third person involved in all of this, is kind of alleged to be involved in both. He was part of the lure in the Chauncey Billups scheme. He also was involved in the game-fixing with Terry Rozier. So it's a lot going on and some guys in some serious trouble.

KEILAR: And what's the NBA saying here?

O'NEIL: Well, there's they have said that they're looking into this, taking this seriously, and neither Billups nor Rozier right now will be available, are suspended.

So this is something Adam Silver mentioned the other day about his concerns especially involving prop bets, but this is certainly a stain right now in the NBA's reputation as they try to figure out the details in all of this.

KEILAR: And so, I mean, going forward -- and today we're just sort of soaking in being stunned by all of this -- but what are you watching for as this moves forward?

O'NEIL: Yes, there's a lot of tentacles to this, I believe.

I mean, one of the things is kind of ironic is, just yesterday, the NCAA changed its longtime roles for college athletes. In the past, college athletes were not allowed to bet on anything pro-college related. Now they're allowing college athletes to bet on professional sports, which maybe doesn't sound like a big deal. But, remember, a lot of the guys who are in the NBA and in the NFL were on college rosters just as much as a year ago. So these guys communicate. And when you're looking at insider information like Terry Rozier is alleged to have shared, it's not a stretch to think that college athletes, maybe even unwittingly, could get themselves into some trouble.

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So I just -- I think this is just a tip of a very messy iceberg for college athletics and all of athletics really, because these betting schemes are out there. We know the gamblers are very involved in sports or bothering guys on social media. So it's the beginning I think of what could be a very, very long tail.

KEILAR: Yes, you're raising a lot of really important questions on this.

Dana O'Neil, thank you very much for the report -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: As all that goes on, we're also waiting on the results of a Senate vote on a Republican bill to pay -- quote -- "essential" federal workers during the government shutdown. We are now in day 23 of the standoff on Capitol Hill with seemingly no end in sight.

CNN's Annie Grayer is there live with the latest.

So, Annie, Democrats are saying at this point that they have their own bill to try to bring essential workers to the table, but there also seems to be worry over what essential workers actually are. Can you just bring us into the debate right now over what some might think is an easy vote?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, the Senate is voting right now, Omar, on this Republican bill to pay essential workers. And this just to start is a bit of a strategy shift from Republicans who at the start of the shutdown had been adamant that they were not going to put any bills related to this shutdown on the floor other than the overarching bill to fund the entire federal government.

But now they were putting this bill on the floor that will pay just essential workers. So those are people who work for the federal government who are currently still showing up to work without pay. That includes military troops, TSA agents, Border Patrol agents.

Democrats say that bill does not go far enough. They also want to pay all federal workers. So that includes furloughed workers, people who work for the federal government, but aren't showing up to work right now. This is all coming as federal workers are about to miss a huge paycheck tomorrow.

And Democrats say the other issue here is they have deep concerns with how the Trump administration has been handling this shutdown. They are frustrated that the admin has used shutdowns as an opportunity to fire federal workers and reallocate federal funding to reflect the administration's priorities. I want to play for you some sound from the transportation secretary,

who was on Capitol Hill today talking about the impact that this ongoing shutdown is having on his agents.

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SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: If you have a controller that's working six days a week, but has to think about how am I going to pay the mortgage, how am I going to make the car payment, how am I going to put food on my kids' table, they have to make choices.

And the choices they're making is to take a second job. Well, I don't my air traffic controllers take a second job. I want them to do one job. I don't want them delivering for DoorDash. I don't want them driving Uber. I want them coming to their facilities and controlling the airspace. I can't guarantee you that your flight is going to be on time.

I can't guarantee you that your flight is not going to be canceled. It's going to depend on are air traffic controllers coming in to work every single day?

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GRAYER: So that is what federal workers are facing right now. We just learned that Democratic Senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania has joined with Republicans on this vote to pay essential workers. He's so far the only Democrat to do so.

This vote is ongoing. We're going to continue to track it. Fetterman has been voting with Republicans to keep the government open this entire time. So this vote isn't necessarily surprising. Probably won't be enough to get it over the finish line. More Democrats will need to join him, but just a significant development there as this vote is continuing to stay open.

JIMENEZ: And one -- just one thing to watch in this wider push to see if there's any way to move forward with what has been now our 23rd day of a government shutdown.

Annie Grayer, appreciate the reporting, as always.

We have got a whole lot more news we are following. Still to come: Vladimir Putin just issued a new warning about the possible consequences of allowing missile strikes within Russia's borders. We will explain.

Plus: a real life Gilligan's Island, an incredible rescue off the coast of Cape Cod after a boat fire leaves a family stranded on an island for days.

But, first, breaking news we are following, the mayor of San Francisco says President Trump has called off a planned immigration crackdown in the city, but not before protests outside a Coast Guard base there this morning.

That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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JIMENEZ: All right, we want to get you to some breaking news we're following.

The mayor of San Francisco says President Trump has called off plans for a federal troop deployment in that city. Protesters were already gathered outside a U.S. Coast Guard base in the Bay Area ahead of the expected arrival of federal agents.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here with more on this.

So, Priscilla, I mean, it seemed like a little bit of a back-and- forth. California's attorney general was here yesterday saying -- or on our area yesterday saying that he was hearing indications this might happen. And now we're hearing this isn't happening. What are you learning?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can understand the confusion because the president himself over the weekend had threatened that there would be a deployment to San Francisco and San Francisco does fall under the category of cities that they are trying to target for immigration enforcement operations, because, for example, of its sanctuary policies.

However, only moments ago, we did get a post on X, a lengthy one, from the mayor of San Francisco, who said that he had received a phone call from the president last night. He went on to say that the conversation included the rise that San Francisco is on, the ongoing partnership with federal agencies on the ground, and the reiterating by the mayor that the military and militarized immigration enforcement in the city would -- quote -- "hinder our recovery."

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Now, in addition to this conversation, the mayor says he also spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this morning about this. Meanwhile, just before we went on air, the president posted on TRUTH Social saying much of the same, that he had a nice conversation with the mayor of San Francisco.

But he also went on to say that he has friends of his, the president's, who live in the area who called him last night to ask him not to go forward with the surge. So there were multiple elements at play here, both the conversation the president had with the mayor, but similarly the conversation that the president appeared to have with his own allies about whether or not to proceed with this.

Now, the president says here that he said he still pushed for the possibility of federal deployment, essentially saying that they could do it faster, essentially the anti-crime operation, but that, for now, he's backing off. So, for all intents and purposes this morning, we thought that federal agents would arrive and this enhanced operation would begin.

Now we are learning that that is off for now.

JIMENEZ: Not quite the same it's gone for places like L.A., Chicago, and otherwise.

ALVAREZ: Correct.

JIMENEZ: I want to ask you about this new reporting you have too, because your reporting is on DHS efforting to try and hire many more folks, deportation officers, essentially, to ramp up those efforts. What are you learning on that front?

ALVAREZ: And you really can't escape the big publicity push that the department has put behind hiring more people and incentivizing them with signing bonuses of up to $50,000.

But what I'm learning, Omar, in talking to my sources is that, behind the scenes, it is far more complicated. The agency has been ill- prepared to take on so many applications, the department saying that they have received some 175,000 applicants.

JIMENEZ: Wow.

ALVAREZ: So what does this mean? I'm told no interviews, minimal background checks, absent or confusing guidance for new hires, physically unfit people to complete the physical requirements at the training academy, which include, for example, a 1.5 mile under 14 minutes and 25 seconds.

And some of this has led to people slipping through the cracks. I'm told that, for example, there was a conditional offer made to an informant for the DEA, and it wasn't until the DEA notified ICE about it that that had to be rescinded.

Now, I'm also learning that more than 200 people have been dismissed from the academy for not meeting the academic or the physical standards. That's a large number when we think about the way that the academy has gone before, which is where they have to go, because typically it's only a few are handful who may be dismissed.

So clearly there has been roadblocks along the way as they are trying to do this. I have heard there has been tension with the White House and senior ICE officials about the this effort. So as they're pushing for this 10,000 people onboarding by January, they're also facing the challenges of hiring them internally.

Now, I did get a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, and they said that -- quote -- "CNN is cherry-picking individual cases out of the more than 175,000 applications of individuals who apply to join ICE law enforcement to help us remove murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles and terrorists."

They go on to say that the vast majority are experienced law enforcement officers and they are maintaining their high fitness and training standards. But, Omar, something that has come up repeatedly and my reporting on this is actually something very similar that happened with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the late 2000s.

They had a massive hiring surge over the span of six years and they hired 10,000 people and there are reports about how poorly that went. They had issues with misconduct, they had issues of infiltration, of corruption and it has taken them years to bounce back from that. So the concern among some officials I'm hearing from is, could this happen again with ICE, who is trying to do 10,000 people in a matter of months?

So we will see where this lands, but certainly it is not as easy behind the scenes as it might appear publicly.

JIMENEZ: And, as you talked about, there is this public effort from the Department of Homeland Security to boost ICE ranks, join our ranks, putting out literal standards for what you need to do.

Priscilla Alvarez, appreciate the reporting, as always.

All right, coming up next: Putin under pressure. The Russian president, though, says he is not caving hours after the U.S. sanctioned Russia's two largest oil companies and Ukraine asked Europe for long-range weapons.

Plus: the getaway video. Yes, new footage captures the moment two suspects in Louvre heist escaped the scene with priceless jewelry. They're still on the run, but we're going to break down this video coming up. Stay with us.

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KEILAR: Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling the Trump administration's punishing new sanctions on Russia's two biggest oil companies unfriendly.

But Putin claims they won't hurt the Russian economy and he says they won't get him to the negotiating table -- quote -- "No self-respecting country ever does anything under pressure.

In the meantime, oil prices are higher now that countries that usually use Russian oil are looking to other sources. New reporting that Russia's biggest oil customer, India, is poised to sharply cut imports of Russian oil to comply with the new sanctions. And India is one of just a relatively few remaining buyers globally of Russian oil.

Let's talk about this with Evelyn Farkas. She served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia. She is also the executive director of the McCain Institute.

Evelyn, great to have you with us. You hear Putin's comments there: No self-respecting country ever does anything under pressure." But they do all the time, and Putin certainly doesn't budge when he's not under pressure. So what's your read on his stance?

[13:25:02] EVELYN FARKAS, FORMER DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Yes, I mean, I agree 100 percent with what you just said, Brianna.

The reality is that Putin felt the pressure of the threat of the United States selling Hawkeye missiles to Ukraine and then called up President Trump and said, let's get together, let's have a meeting. And, of course, that didn't work out as planned because the administration recognized that Russia's position isn't a compromise position.

It's not possible to have a fruitful conversation between the two presidents. So now I think the administration has recognized the reality that Putin needs to be pressured. That's the only way to get him to even consider sitting down to compromise.

KEILAR: And yet, on the pressure, you mentioned those missiles, the longer-range missiles that Ukraine wants, but Trump is not OKing at this point. Putin just said that Russia's response to any potential Tomahawk strike on its territory would be serious, if not overwhelming.

Do you expect that that is true? What would that look like?

FARKAS: I mean, again, this is typical Russian saber-rattling. I'm glad he didn't use the word nuclear, but he implied it.

The reality is that Vladimir Putin can't create a new front and sustain a new front. I mean, he may try to provoke our European allies in order to distract us, frankly, but he cannot make such idle threats, and I don't think he wants to get the United States directly involved.

So, right now, it's bluster. He's trying to scare the United States administration. And the reality is that it's worked for him for years. So I don't blame him for trying.

KEILAR: Do you think it's working? Because Trump said yesterday the Tomahawks have too long of a learning curve to give to Ukraine. And he said -- quote -- "The only way a Tomahawk is going to be shot is if we," meaning the United States, "shot it and we're not going to do that."

Does Trump kill any chance of Tomahawks going to Ukraine with a statement like that?

FARKAS: Yes, Brianna, I actually think that the Tomahawk discussion is -- no offense to you wonderful media folks, but oftentimes there's a fixation on one weapons system. I don't think the Tomahawk weapons system was going to be the solution even before President Trump said what he said, and actually President Trump is reflecting probably what the Department of Defense and Ukrainians are telling him.

So the reality is that they need long-range missiles, the Ukrainians do, because sending drones in isn't going to achieve the same amount of firepower, and you need a lot of firepower to take out, for example, the drone factories in Russia. And even those refineries, sometimes, the drones can't get in.

So, the reality is, it doesn't matter what you call it, whether it's Tomahawk or something else. They do need those weapons because the Ukrainians can't do it with their drones and the weapons they have in their inventory so far.

KEILAR: There's different kinds of firepower and tolerance that Putin may have for it, right? And the economic, the sanctions that we're talking about, that's -- I mean, that could be very effective. You have India already reportedly set to curb Russian oil imports. Do you see that as a good benchmark of these sanctions already working? What are you looking for here?

FARKAS: Yes, absolutely.

I mean, I think countries responding to the sanctions is very heartening. I would also like to see banks respond because some of these Russian companies have been getting financing from foreign banks. And so we need to make sure that that's also discouraged. And in the past, we have seen that work.

So if the Russians don't find a work-around, and, by the way, at the same time, the Ukrainians really implement the new sanctions they have on the shadow fleet, which is this fleet of tankers that is unmarked unrecognized, no transponders, but they're basically shuttling this Russian oil around the world, if that's shut down also, in addition with -- in addition to these sanctions, then it could really cut off the flow of money to the Russian military machinery, to the Russian government and the war that they're fighting.

But, also, it'll cause problems for the military itself in terms of getting access to sufficient oil.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a big weapon in itself, and it's interesting to watch how it's being wielded here.

Evelyn Farkas, it's always great to get your perspective. Thank you.

FARKAS: Thank you.

KEILAR: And coming up: federal investigators announcing arrests in a sports gambling investigation. This is huge. It is one that they say involves the mafia, along with former and current NBA players. And we have new details on this historic bust next.

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