Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Shutdown Puts Some Veteran Services in the Crossfire; FBI Busts Sprawling Gambling Schemes Tied to Mafia, NBA Players; Senate GOP Bill to Pay Essential Workers Does Not Pass; Democrats Plan a Bill to Pay All Federal Workers in Shutdown; Day 23 With No Clear End in Sight to Federal Closure; New Images Show Extent of East Wing Demolition. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 23, 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]

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We did. We saw him at that event yesterday and we asked him about our reporting quickly. Our reporting details how some veterans hospitals have stepped up the enforcement of a previous policy that was put in place in previous administrations that limits the number of long-term mental health therapy sessions for some veterans. That's according to half dozen VA mental health care providers and patients who we spoke to, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Patients essentially get a certain number of one-on-one therapy sessions, which can vary between four and 24 sessions. But the VA is now pressing providers to stop these one-on-one sessions at the end of the allotted series, and this is again for some veterans, not all of them. Before this, it was really up to the veteran and their provider to decide when to end these more open-ended sessions. The VA denies that this is occurring. This is what Secretary Collins said to me yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG COLLINS, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: Nobody is missing anything. Nothing has been taken away from them. And what really bothers me the most, Brian, is I appreciate anybody writing an article, but be honest in it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: But we do have to say again that we have been told by some veterans and by mental health care providers that they have been told that some of these one-on-one sessions do need to be curtailed. They're offering them, in some cases, Brianna, group therapy which a lot of veterans do not want to do. Or they're saying you can reapply for one-on-one therapy, but you're not guaranteed to get your trusted therapist back. And a lot of them, for a lot of them that's important to get their -- to keep going with their trusted therapists. And as you and I have discussed, a lot of these veterans have severe conditions like PTSD, suicidal ideation. They may need this care for the rest of their lives. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": All right, Brian, great reporting and that you asked the secretary about it. It is really important for veterans. Thank you so much.

TODD: Thank you.

KEILAR: And you can find help if you are listening to this story, the Veterans Crisis Hotline is 9-8-8. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": An NBA coach and player are arrested in a sports rigging and gambling probe, focused on illegal sports betting and underground poker games. And prosecutors say that second investigation involves the mafia. Gone but not forgotten, the East Wing of the White House appears to be totally demolished. Those are the images that we're going to bring you. Oh, it's over this shoulder. There we go. Right there, East Wing demolished despite President Trump originally saying his new ballroom wouldn't impact the current White House.

And the family of a man who survived one of the U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean speaks with CNN. He's accused of being a drug runner. His family, however, says he's no terrorist. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

We have Breaking News in the federal gambling schemes involving several NBA stars and the mafia. Prosecutors just moments ago, releasing some new details about the historic charges that are absolutely rocking the League and sports fans right now. At the center of the scandals, Miami Heat Guard, Terry Rozier, who notably sat on the bench last night at his season opening game and Head Coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and five-time NBA All Star, Chauncey Billups, whose lifetime career earnings exceeded $100 million. That has surprised so many people.

And former Cleveland Cavaliers player and Assistant Coach, Damon Jones. Rozier and Billups are charged in two separate cases. But Jones was indicted in both. Officials say Jones leaked information at one point about an injury involving LeBron James to benefit sports bettors. Jones also allegedly participated in rigged illegal poker games.

FBI Director, Kash Patel saying the games cheated victims out of tens of millions of dollars. Rozier and Billups are expected to appear in federal court today. CNN's Coy Wire is with us now. Coy, this story. I mean, my goodness, what are you learning?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a wild story. Good to see you, Brianna. We'll start with the current player for the Miami Heat, Terry Rozier charged in a scheme where he allegedly rigged games in connection with sports bettors. Officials say Rozier allegedly shared information with betters about rosters for games and who would be on the bench. Also allegedly faking an injury nine minutes into a game to benefit the betting ring. In a separate alleged scheme, officials say Hall of Famer, current Trail Blazers Head Coach, Chauncey Billups participated in an illegal poker game, took place in Manhattan, Miami, Las Vegas, and the Hamptons. According to officials, the poker game allegedly invoked members of four of New York's mafia families. Officials also say that Billups, along with former NBA player Damon Jones, were paid for participating, including one instance where Jones allegedly asked for partial prepayment of $2,500 before attending one of these games. Here's what the Assistant Director in Charge of FBI New York had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER RAIA, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE, FBI NEW YORK: Victims were attracted to play alongside well-known professional athletes and coaches like Chauncey Billups, only to be unknowingly deceived through rigged shuffling machines fixing the odds in their favor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:05:00]

WIRE: For some more perspective on the defendant, so Chauncey Billups, he's been coaching Portland since 2021 following a legendary playing career. He was inducted into The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last year. As a player, he famously led the Detroit Pistons to the 2004 title over Kobe, Shaq and the Lakers. He was named finals MVP. The team retired his jersey. After six years in Detroit, Billups went to the Nuggets where he made a formidable duo with Carmelo Anthony. In all, he was a five-time All Star.

And after retiring just over a decade ago, that's when he took up coaching in 2020, first as an assistant for the Clippers before taking the head job there with the Blazers. As for the 31-year-old Rozier, he was drafted in 2015 by the Celtics, 16th overall in the first round out of the University of Louisville. He was a role player in four seasons with Boston, then took a step up with Charlotte. He was traded there and averaged more than 20 points per game three times.

Rozier has been with Miami since January of last year. He was in uniform as the Heat played the magic in Orlando last night. Though as Brianna mentioned, he did not play it was said due to a coach's decision there. According to the AP, he was taken into custody in Orlando early this morning. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yeah. Very interesting to note his absence off the bench. Coy, thank you so much for the very latest. We will continue to follow this story. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Well, this is just in. A Republican bill to pay "essential federal workers" during the shutdown just failed in the Senate. We are now in Day 23 of the standoff on Capitol Hill. I want to bring in Democratic Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Senator, thank you for taking the time. I know it's a busy one today. I want to just ask you --

SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER, (D-DE): Thank you.

JIMENEZ: -- at the heart of this, Senator Josh Hawley says that he is pushing for Congress to address expiring enhanced healthcare subsidies. And he's criticizing Democrats for tying it to the government shutdown. I'm going to guess that your trust in the Republicans to negotiate in good faith outside of this government shutdown has not changed. But what is your response to Senator Hawley's push?

BLUNT ROCHESTER: I think we, as Democrats, have been very clear about two things. We want to open the government and we want to restore people's healthcare. And so, while many of us are having conversations, the reality is this requires leadership and the leadership of our House Democratic Caucus, Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Schumer here in the Senate requested even a meeting with the president, which was denied. And he instead is going to another country.

And so for us, it's important, we can work on things here in the Senate, but we need a House that is actually in session, which they have been missing in action for over a month. And we need the president here to really make sure that there's a deal. Again, we been very clear and we are going to continue to try to have an open -- we're at the table, we just need them to come to the table.

JIMENEZ: Well, and Senator, the Senate voted today to take up the bill to pay "essential government workers" during the shutdown. If I'm reading correctly, you voted against that measure. Why did you vote against that measure?

BLUNT ROCHESTER: Sure. So just to be clear, that bill was one that would pick winners or losers. It would have -- instead of Elon Musk picking the winners and losers, it's Russ Vought from OMB, picking the winners and losers. And for us, we put forward two bills, two proposals that would not just have some, but let all of our incredible federal employees who are making sure that our airports are safe, making sure that our food is safe, and that we have vaccine, make sure that they could come back to work.

They rejected that. But again, part of this is coming to the table. And so, if I had one message for everyone, and I've said this, I don't know if the president is being kept away from the fact that people are hurting, whether it's their cost in housing, whether it's their cost in energy, food. And we are literally on the precipice of healthcare cost, premiums doubling for most Americans and primarily in red states. And so, we as Democrats are supporting people no matter where you are across the country and saying, we want to open the government and restore your healthcare.

JIMENEZ: And Senator, I know you have to get to a vote, but I think a lot of Americans --

BLUNT ROCHESTER: Yes.

JIMENEZ: -- might be watching 23 days in. And yes, there are priorities on a lot of sides, but some are looking at this and saying, this is also a whole lot of politics. How long are you prepared to hold out here?

BLUNT ROCHESTER: Just to be clear, even for me, when I came into politics, I came into the House, I had never run for anything in my life and I ran because I saw a dad and three kids in front of me in the supermarket put back grapes.

[14:10:00]

During that time, we were fighting to strengthen healthcare and we continue to do that. So for me, it's not about politics at all. It is literally about the people. You had a story about the VA. My best friend works at the VA. For many of those employees, since January --

JIMENEZ: But how long are you willing to hold out, Senator? Just before we go.

BLUNT ROCHESTER: -- since January. The question isn't how long am I willing to hold out? The question is, when will Republicans and the House and the president come to the table on behalf of the American people? I'm ready, willing and able.

JIMENEZ: Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, appreciate the time. I know you got to get some votes. Thanks for being here.

BLUNT ROCHESTER: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right. Still to come, some growing outrage over President Trump's White House makeover. His press secretary, though now responding to the criticism over the demolition of the East Wing. We'll bring you what she's saying. Plus, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio is in Israel working to safeguard the delicate ceasefire deal in Gaza. What he says needs to happen to ensure peace in the region. And the families of Ecuadorian fishermen speak to CNN about the U.S. crackdown on drug cartels and why they feel their loved ones are caught in the middle. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:57]

KEILAR: President Trump's renovation plan for the East Wing just entered a new phase. New images appear to show the entire building is gone. It's been demolished. Backlash growing over the cost and the scope of this $300 million project. When asked whether the president has the power to knock down the East Wing, here's how the White House responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can the president tear down anything he wants without oversight? Could he demolish this building or say the Jefferson Memorial? KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So, it's not the president who came up with that legal opinion himself. That's a legal opinion that's been held by the NCPC for many years. It's written, so we can get you that background and that research if you wish to include it in your reporting because it is very important. They have ruled consistently, their general counsel has said when it comes to Phase I of this project, the tearing down of the current East Wing structure, a submission is not required legally for that. Only for vertical construction will a submission be required and that's a legal opinion from them, and we are following that legal opinion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's go to Alayna Treene at the White House. Alayna, I wonder if the White House anticipated this level of blowback, and what they're saying.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I think it's clear. I'll answer your first question first. I'm not sure if they anticipated this level of blowback from my conversations with people at the White House and just the way that these talks have been going before, kind of these viral images began to really dominate the public conversation. I don't think they exactly anticipated this.

And it is clear that they recognize some of the optics of this and the politics of this. I think that's why you're seeing them spend so much time defending what is happening. And I think there's no question, just to get to that point Karoline was making in that clip that you played, is the president has bypassed a lot of preservationists and a lot of the concerns. He's kind of gone through with these moves with enormous latitude. And the key thing that the White House keeps pointing back to is the fact that this is not going to be taxpayer dollars. This is going to be paid for by private donors and by the president himself.

But of course, I think seeing these images, are raising a lot of concerns from people across the political spectrum. And just to get into some of this, I mean you mentioned it, but as of today, if you look at these images, they show the entire East Wing is essentially gone now. The president had said that basically after talking with some of the architects, they decided that the best way to do this was by knocking it all over. And just so you get a sense of what was in the East Wing, that is typically where the First Lady's offices have been held.

Leavitt did say today that the First Lady's offices will be moved back to the East Wing once construction is finished. But that's also where you see some of the colonnade that connects -- or that connected the East Wing to, what we call, the White House residence, the main structure in the middle of the building. A lot of that is gone as well. There's a lot of history, of course, that was as part of the East Wing for example. There was a movie theater, some other things that were there. So major changes that are, of course, raising a lot of questions.

KEILAR: And tell us more about the donors who are helping foot the bill for the ballroom.

TREENE: Yeah, so we have a full list of the donors. They include -- I'm just going to name some of them. There's a long list of them. But some of the top ones are Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Google, Coinbase, Comcast, Meta, again, lots of others. There's also some individuals including people in his own administration. People like the SBA administration, or I should say the Small Business Administrator, Kelly Loeffler; Howard Lutnick, his Commerce Secretary, those are individuals also donating to this.

And I would remind you as well, we've seen some of this for some time. The president actually hosted a lot of these donors at a White House dinner last week. He was showing the models. He was asking people in the room, which model do you like better? The bigger one or the smaller one? It does seem like he's going with the bigger one, particularly knowing that the price tag is now up to $300 million.

[14:20:00]

That's above to where they were before, which was estimated around $200 million.

KEILAR: Alayna Treene, live for us at the White House. Thank you for the latest on that story.

Coming up, millions of people in Haiti and Jamaica bracing for life- threatening flooding and mudslides as Tropical Storm Melissa moves through the Caribbean and at a snail's pace. Why warming waters could turn this storm into a slow-moving, devastating hurricane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:00]

JIMENEZ: We're keeping watch on Tropical Storm Melissa in the Caribbean. Forecasters say the storm is moving slowly, slower than most people walk, and that's exactly what makes it so dangerous. Those warm Caribbean waters are fueling the storm and it could intensify into a monster Category 4 Hurricane in the coming days impacting millions of people. I want to bring in CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar who joins us with the forecast. So Allison, what are we seeing here and why should people be concerned?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, so what we're seeing is a whole lot of not very big movement. In fact, the position today is very similar to what it was yesterday and that's because that forward movement, as you mentioned, just about two miles per hour. The average human walks at a pace of about three to four miles per hour. So you could actually walk faster than this storm is moving. The sustained winds right now are about 45 miles per hour.

But that slow movement is also a concern because the slower it moves, the longer it has to dump a tremendous amount of rain over some of these island nations. Here's a look at the forecast track. We do anticipate it's going to continue to slowly make its way off to the north and then begin to push off to the west a little bit. As it does, it's going to enter a much more favorable environment. So you're going to see the storm strengthen, not just into a hurricane, but into a major hurricane, possibly as high as a Category 4 Storm as we wrap up the back half of the weekend.

You've got a lot of the watches and warnings in effect for a lot of these neighboring countries just because in -- it's really more in anticipation of what's expected with this storm. Now, you'll notice the models are kind of all over the place. We know at some point, Melissa is going to make a turn to the north. We just don't know if it's going to be in the next 48 hours. Is it going to be by the end of the weekend? Or is it going to hold off and continue to go west until early next week? But here's why that's important, because the farther west it goes, the more likely it is to enter these much warmer waters here in the Caribbean.

And we all know, very warm water is fuel for tropical systems. So the farther west it can go, the stronger the system is likely going to end up in the coming days. Now, another thing to keep an eye out is what we call wind shear. Wind shear is not good for tropical systems. It kind of rips the storm apart from top to bottom. Right now, it's in kind of a higher shear environment. That's why you don't see it strengthening that much. But as it continues to make its way off to the west, there's not going to be much shear, which will also allow the storm, in addition to those warm sea surface temperatures, it'll allow the storm to strengthen over the weekend and especially into early next week.

Wind gusts are going to be one of the bigger concerns with this storm for a lot of these countries, including Espanola, as well as Jamaica, where you could see winds up around 100, 120, even 130 miles per hour. But rain, this is certainly going to be the biggest concern, and that's because even if it does strengthen, the biggest thing is it's going to not move all that much. Allowing a lot of these areas to see a tremendous amount of rain, some of which could see more than a foot, up to potentially 20 inches of rain.

JIMENEZ: And as you say, it will be moving slower than most people walk. Though you haven't seen the people I try to get around on the sidewalk, there are people that walk slower I'm convinced, but that's a conversation for another time. Allison Chinchar, good to see.

Still ahead, the FBI laying out details, stunning really, on an alleged illegal gambling ring involving an NBA player, a head coach, and the mafia. We're going to break down the charges and who's accused of doing what, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)