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Trump Speaking to Republican Senators; Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) is Interviewed about the Election; Michael Moore is Interviewed about Supreme Court Case on Tariffs; Shutdown Could Damage Economy; Mayor David Holt is Interviewed about SNAP. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 05, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, I want to thank you for that. I'm sure you'll get back to your normal ways soon. But -- but we did a great job over in China. And we've done a great job in turning off wars. We stopped eight wars. Eight wars. And we have one to go, as you probably know, and that will get stopped also. But we've done a great job. So, it's really -- it's really been an honor to do it. And I did it with many of the people in this room.

Every one of you I know and every one of you I like. I like our leaders. I like everybody. But I thought we'd have a discussion after the press leaves about what last night represented and what we should do about it, and also about the shutdown and how that relates to last night. I think if you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans. And that was a big factor. And they say that I wasn't on the ballot was the biggest factor. But I don't know about that. But I was honored that they said that.

And I just want to thank everybody for being here. And a very special thanks to Vice President J.D. Vance, who's doing a terrific job.

J.D., thank you.

As well as the Senate leadership team that has been working very hard and working really, I will tell you, nobody's working any harder representing the American people, including Senator John Thune.

John, thank you. Great job.

Senator John Barrasso.

John, thank you very much.

Senator Tom Cotton, wherever you may be.

Tom, thank you. Thank you, Tom. Thank you.

So, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who's been very involved.

Thank you so much.

Senator James Lankford, from one of my favorite states, 77 out of 77. That was 77 out of 77. Reagan was 56. That was the record. We got seven -- we got every one of them.

Thank you. James.

And a fantastic friend of mine, and an incredible advocate during the election a year ago, Tim Scott.

Thank you, Tim.

So, as you know, we are in the midst of a disastrous Democrat created government shutdown. And it is Democrat created. But I don't think they're getting really the blame that they should. That's now officially the longest shutdown in American history.

The Democrat radicals in the Senate have shown zero interest in reopening the government. And I don't think they'll act so soon. A lot of people disagree. I've been saying for the last 30 days, we've had four or five different points. Yes, sir, they're going to get it right now. We should have it done in a day. I've heard that about four times. I heard it after kings. You know, they said I was a king. And I heard it after kings. I heard it after a couple of other moments in time. And I said, no, I don't believe so.

And now I heard it's after the election. I don't believe so. I think they will -- I think they're kamikaze pilots. I just got back from Japan. I talked about the kamikaze pilots. I think these guys are kamikaze. They'll take down the country if they have to. So, I don't think so.

Millions of Americans are going to be without SNAP benefits. And I will say about SNAP benefits. So, when I was president, we had $7 billion worth. And now they have many times that because these benefits were given to anybody that asked, and they're up to, I hear, many -- just many times, $47 billion. So, it wasn't the purpose of SNAP. It was -- that was for people that really had problems. Down and out. People that really had problems. But during Biden, they gave it to anybody that wanted it. I think it's something you have to talk about because the numbers are incredible.

But countless public servants are now not being paid. And the air traffic control system is under increasing strain. We must get the government back open soon and really immediately. We have to get it open. We have the hottest economy we've ever had and it's affecting the stock market now a little bit. But the stock market as of Friday has hit many record highs during the last nine months. Many. And it will again. This is just the beginning because when these plants that are being built right now start opening up, we've never had anything like this. There's a boom. There's a construction boom right now, but that's going to be bigger than that. That's going to be an economic boom as soon as they open up, and it's going to be something special.

We have car companies coming in. When I was in Japan, Toyota, Mr. Toyota, I said, what's your name? Toyota. I said, oh, you're rich. I said, how much of the company do you own? 92.1 percent. I said, I'm glad you said the one (INAUDIBLE) I said, you're a rich guy. And he said, I'm investing $10 billion in the U.S. And you know who I'm talking about, right? You introduce me, Mr. Senator. [08:35:04]

You introduced me originally when you were the ambassador to Japan. He's still good. He's still strong, but he had no interest in investing in this country. Now he's investing $10 billion as of one week ago in building new plants. We have auto plants coming in incredibly, but we have A.I. and all of them.

And we can't be extorted to give $1.5 trillion to people that came into the country illegally, many from prisons, many drug dealers. A lot of people came in from mental institutions. They want to give a lot of money to the people that came in illegally. We have to get them out. We can't -- no country can sustain that. That's like an attack on our country. And no country -- these are not going to be productive people. These are going to be anti-productive people. And we can be -- all have big hearts, I have a bigger heart than anybody, but we can't let that happen.

It's time for Republicans to do what they have to do, and that's terminate the filibuster. It's the only way you can do it. And if you don't terminate the filibuster, you'll be in bad shape. We won't pass any legislation. There'll be no legislation passed for three and a quarter -- we have three and a quarter years left. So, that's a long time. But when they can't do an extension.

And, John, I think they've done an extension every single time they've ever been asked forever. This is the first time they haven't done an extension. Extensions are supposed to be easy. But if they won't do an extension, they won't do any bill, even a simple bill. And we should do our own bills. We should get out. We should do our own bills. We should open up. We should start tonight with the country's open. Congratulations. Then we should pass voter I.D. We should pass no mail in voting. We should pass all the things that we want to pass to make our elections secure and safe because California's a disaster. Many of the states are disasters.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the president speaking to Republicans at the White House, Republican senators. He said that last night was not a good night for Republicans. He says he doesn't think it was a good night for anybody. And he thinks one of the causes of the huge losses for elections of Republicans across the country, the government shutdown.

With us now is Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Senator, what do you think of the president's assessment? We'll get to what he wants to do about it in a second. But the idea that the shutdown was partially to blame for Republican losses across the country.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): John, I think Donald Trump's shutdown was a factor. And in Virginia, we've seen it more than virtually anybody. And for many Virginians, the shutdown started the day Donald Trump was inaugurated. Mass waves of firings, cancellation of economic development projects, claw backs of public health monies. The DOGE cuts led into this shutdown, and President Trump has not done what every president does to avoid shutdowns or get out of them, meaningfully engage with the full congressional leadership to find a path forward.

He's only held one meeting with Democrats where it was an unserious meeting. He posted videos of them wearing fake sombreros and speaking in A.I.-generated fake voices. And he's willing to meet with anyone, John. He meets with the Argentine president and gives him $20 of American tax dollars. He's having a meeting at the White House now to, you know -- you know, cry crocodile tears over last night. But he won't meet with Democrats. And that's what has to happen. We got to reopen government. If the president will engage, like other presidents do, we'll have this thing solved in a matter of hours.

BERMAN: So, the president says this is a Democratic shutdown, and it is Democrats who right now are holding it up in the Senate funding bill over health care, over extending the Obamacare subsidies. The president wants to get past this by getting rid of the filibuster. I'm just going to accept the fact that you're against that. And I want to talk about then, what might happen next, because there is all kinds of reporting that over the last 24 hours there have been discussions among groups of bipartisan senators about a possible way forward.

Do you see a path that you could get behind that would be different than holding a vote on extending Obamacare subsidies before reopening the government?

KAINE: Yes, John. And let me just say, I'm speaking for me. A path forward that would involve a guaranteed vote to extend those subsidies. And it's insulting when President Trump says the subsidy issue is about unproductive and illegal people. None of these tax subsidies go to folks who are not legally in the United States. This is about the health care premiums of everyday people that are spiking dramatically because of Donald Trump and his policies.

So, we want to vote to fix that. But I would be willing, once we have that established, a path to fix it. And the other thing I want, which is a very reasonable request, I want Donald Trump to agree that a deal is a deal. If we do a deal and shake hands on it, whatever the period of that deal, probably 30 to 45 days, in that period Donald Trump won't fire more people, tear up more departments, shutter, more agencies, cancel more economic development projects.

[08:40:03]

Let's call a deal a deal. Virginians understand that. But Donald Trump thus far has not been willing to agree. And that makes it really hard to do a deal when the president basically is crossing his fingers behind his back, and you know that he'll tear it up as soon as the ink is dry.

BERMAN: All right, so there were elections across the country, including in the Commonwealth of Virginia. One of the biggest races in the country. Abigail Spanberger with a bigger victory than any gubernatorial candidate in some time, like decades and decades in Virginia, including yourself. KAINE: Yes.

BERMAN: What do you think --

KAINE: That's very true.

BERMAN: What do you think the lessons learned? What are the lessons learned for Democrats in this victory and in New Jersey?

KAINE: Sure. Yep. Well, first, it was a referendum on Donald Trump's policies, the disastrous firings and the tariff madness that's hurting the economy. Virginia has felt that since Inauguration Day.

But I'll give a lot of credit to Abigail. She ran a really disciplined campaign on three pillars, affordability, talking about her plans to lower the cost of housing, energy and health care, contrasting with the other side jacking everybody's prices up, jobs, focusing upon job creation in all parts of the state as Donald Trump has, you know, using a wrecking ball against jobs in Virginia. And then finally, education, high quality education. The Trump team is dismantling the Department of Education. Abigail is saying, we want to have the best schools in the nation. And she has concrete plans to do that. And that's also about the economy, because it's obviously about workforce.

So, she ran a campaign that was focused on the thing that matters the most to the most people, the economy. All three of those issues, affordability, jobs, education, are about the economy. Her opponent ran a campaign on offbeat cultural issues that people just don't care about. And that's why her margin of victory was so sizable.

BERMAN: And is this a roadmap? To what extent is this a roadmap for Democrats heading into the midterms next year? Do you want to see the campaign run on affordability?

KAINE: I do. And it's interesting that, you know, in very different races, in very different electorates, in New Jersey and New York, affordability was a key in all of these candidates. But particularly in Virginia, Virginia is very similar to the bellwether states where you have to win, say, for example, to win a House or Senate majority. States like North Carolina and Georgia or Ohio and Pennsylvania and Michigan. Virginia is a pretty good match for those states. And talking about the bread and butter, the economic issues, affordability, jobs, education, that is a great place for Democrats to go. And Donald Trump keeps doubling down on things like tariffs that are wrecking the economy. He's given us a lot of room to make the economic argument and to win it.

BERMAN: Senator Tim Kaine, from Virginia, good to see you this morning. Thanks so much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also talking about a major showdown this morning at the Supreme Court. The justices are set to hear oral arguments over President Trump's sweeping tariffs on America's trading partners all around the world. It is the most high-stakes, important economic case to reach the high court in years. And it's a big test of this president's power and all presidential power. The way President Trump puts the stakes, he calls this case literally life and death for the country.

Joining me right now is Michael Moore, the former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.

It's good to see you, Michael. Thank you for being here.

You heard from the president. I mean he called it life or death for the country. How significant and how big is the impact of the outcome of this case?

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: Yes. Well, I'm glad to be with you.

This is an important case, but I wouldn't stake that on what the president says. I mean he has a tendency to speak in sort of exaggeration and hyperbole. I mean, if you think about it, everything that happens is an emergency, and anybody who disagrees with him is a criminal. So, I just, I think he's -- he's sort of stretching there. But it's a big case because the Supreme Court's going to go -- not just have to be thinking about this president, but the next president coming. And so how much is the court willing to expand or give executive authority to a president? And that's the test. It's not simply about this case, though, frankly, this is going to be the line of, we'll see whether or not the conservative justices actually want to stand by the language in the Constitution, or whether or not they're going to try to find a loophole to sort of support their side of the team.

BOLDUAN: I was reading that you note that something to look out for today and focus on today during oral arguments is to listen for how a tariff is defined. Explain why -- talk to me more about that.

MOORE: Right. So, the case really is just about, can a president go out under some emergency power and say, I'm going to now regulate trade by imposing these tariffs? And so the other side has said, look, wait a minute, a tariff is actually a tax because the American citizens end up absorbing that cost. You're basically taxing us. You're not putting a penalty on the producing country or the shipping country. You're actually taxing me by raising the price of goods. And everybody's seeing that in every store they go in throughout the country.

[08:45:01]

And so the question will be whether or not the tariff will be seen as a tax or not.

And this is not a novel point. If you think about it and remember that John Roberts, when he was writing the opinion dealing with the Affordable Care Act, when he was -- he was making the point that even the penalty, they called it, he considered that to be a tax because it -- that's how he was able to sustain the Affordable Care Act. So, the definition of tariff, the definition of regulate under the

International Emergency Economic Powers Act that the president is using, those are going to be definitions that I think you'll see some fighting on both sides of the bench as the lawyers make their arguments to the court today.

BOLDUAN: You noted the conservative majority on the court and how they would thread the needle. I mean what -- how do past rulings inform what direction they could be headed, or what does a thread the needle look like here?

MOORE: Well, when we've talked about conservative justices, you know, typically they've held themselves out as being textualists. They read the Constitution. They say that the framers intended to have limited government and checks and balances and those kind of things. But lately you've seen those justices sort of set the idea of checks and balances by co-equal branches of government aside and give great deference to the executive. And so the question will be whether or not they stand by that view of the Constitution or whether or not they now look for the wording in a congressional statute.

The wording they'll be deciding is "regulate," because the only way that Trump is able to even move these tariffs forward is to say, I have powers under a congressional statute that says I can regulate trade in the case of some emergency. Well, the Constitution says, you know, that only Congress can tax. And so, if they decide, in fact, that they're going to give more deference to a term called :regulate: than they are to the terms in the Constitution itself and what those meant at the time and what the subsequent legislation has done to define those powers, you know, that's going to be a different bridge for them. You know, they typically like to come down and say, look, we, just like the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment is sacred. Nobody can do anything to it because it says this even -- no matter what people argue about it. Well, now they want to twist a little bit and say, well, under the Constitution, you know, the power to tax may mean something a little different than we think it meant after all.

So, this will be a needle they'll have to thread. They'll have to come back on some things that they've written in the past and issues that they have -- they've talked about to try to make this opinion make sense, even though it may be divergent from what they've articulated in past opinions.

BOLDUAN: It's going to be very interesting. And today begins those oral arguments.

It's good to see you, Michael. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, ahead, new developments this morning following an avalanche in Nepal. And new video of the aftermath.

Also, a train crashing into a semitruck, sending debris flying all over the tracks. How both drivers are doing this morning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:54]

BERMAN: This morning, the death toll is rising after an avalanche in Nepal. Officials say the avalanche crushed a camp, killing at least seven people. This is video of the aftermath. Five foreign tourists and two guides were killed.

In the Netherlands, a train slammed into a semitruck at a crossing. Just moments before the crash, just as the crossing gate was coming down, video showed the truck driver backing up and then moving forward again. Five people did suffer minor injuries.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, also new this morning, the government shutdown is now the longest in American history. And it could also end up becoming the most damaging economically. Millions of Americans, as we know, are now not getting aid that they are promised in order to help feed their families. Federal employees have not been paid, even as many are expected to still show up to work. And policymakers are operating in the dark as economic data from the federal government has been stalled as this shutdown drags on. All of it adding up now.

CNN's Matt Egan joining me now. He's taking a look at this.

What are you seeing, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kate, look, this is one for the record books, right?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EGAN: This shutdown, it's not only disrupting the lives of millions of everyday Americans, but it's dealing this significant blow to the U.S. economy, likely a bigger blow than any other shutdown in U.S. history.

And that's really happening for two reasons. One, it's the fact that, yes, this has lasted for 36 days longer than anyone before. But it's also because it's just a broader shutdown. Some shutdowns in the past were partial. This is a full shutdown.

And this chart from Goldman Sachs, I think, really demonstrates that. We are that big blue bar all the way to the right, OK. And that shows that this is, again, a longer, in duration, shutdown than anything we've seen before. But it's also a greater percentage of government spending that's been impacted. Nearly 100 percent. Much more than the five --

BOLDUAN: So, that is interesting when you look at -- when just at length, right, we just passed the longest shutdown.

EGAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: But look at that 35 day shutdown. It only impacted, what, 20 percent of the government?

EGAN: Yes. That's -- that's right. It was actually a little less than 20 percent.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).

EGAN: Right. So, that's why this is just such a bigger impact here.

[08:55:01]

Now, even if the shutdown ends next week, Goldman Sachs estimates that it's going to depress GDP in the fourth quarter, the current quarter, by one percentage point.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EGAN: That is a significant impact.

BOLDUAN: Wow.

EGAN: Now, they do expect a complete bounce back the following quarter. But still, there's also all the uncertainty and financial stress that this shutdown has caused when you think about the millions of people who are not getting their SNAP benefits, the federal workers who are not getting paid, the delays in the airport. We can't even fully measure the economic impact because the shutdown has also caused this information vacuum where virtually all major economic reports, including the jobs report that we were supposed to be getting this coming Friday, all of them have been delayed by the shutdown.

Now, the good news, Kate, is the expectation is that just like in other shutdowns, the U.S. economy will fully recover during the first quarter. But that expectation is based on the idea that furloughed works will be repaid. And, Kate, as you know, the White House has sort of cast some doubt on whether or not that's actually going to happen.

BOLDUAN: They have. They have. And the, you know, the impact is real, what we're seeing here now.

EGAN: It is.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Matt. Thank you so much.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, a federal court hearing is set for tomorrow in that legal fight over funding of SNAP food benefits. A court has already ordered the government to use emergency funds to fund it. And just moments ago, the president commented on SNAP and all those who use it.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Millions of Americans are going to be without SNAP benefits. And I will say about SNAP benefits. So, when I was president, we had $7 billion worth. And now they have many times that because these benefits were given to anybody that asked. And they're up to, I hear, many -- just many times, $47 billion.

So, it wasn't the purpose of SNAP. That was -- that was for people that really had problems. Down and out. People that really had problems. But during Biden, they gave it to anybody that wanted it. I think it's something you have to talk about because the numbers are incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The U.S. Conference of Mayors is calling on the need for action from Washington on SNAP benefits. They're saying it's urgent based on the findings of their latest survey.

Here with me now is the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the mayor of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, David Holt.

Thank you so much.

We know that mayors are some of the hardest working folks because you have a direct line to people being able to come and talk to you and tell them your concerns. Your organization, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, has a new study showing 96% of cities are seeing very severe or severe impacts from the lapse in SNAP benefits. What does that look like for you in your city?

MAYOR DAVID HOLT (R), OKLAHOMA CITY: Yes. Well, good morning and thanks for having me on.

And you're absolutely right. I mean we're on the ground. This isn't a political game for us. We're seeing the real effects on the lives of Americans. And so to your question, I mean, it's going to impact -- it is impacting, obviously, our non-profit sector, organizations in Oklahoma City, like the United Way and the regional food bank are having to mobilize. It's significantly impacting city and state budgets. I mean, as an example, here in Oklahoma City, we're going to stop utility cutoffs, right? The state just appropriated $1 million for the next seven weeks, each week, as long as this lasts, to try and supplement local efforts.

And then, of course, the business community. You know, a significant proportion of grocery store sales are utilized through SNAP. And so they're getting hit hard. And so those ripples are just going to, you know, go all across our economy, across our non-profit sector, across our local and state governments, and we can't handle it ultimately. I mean we -- we may be able to fade the heat here for a few more days, but this is -- this is going to cause significant impacts across the country and in people's lives if this goes on for weeks.

SIDNER: I mean, never in the history of shutdowns in our country has an administration allowed the SNAP benefits to stop. Now they are saying, the Trump administration is saying, look, we will partially fund the government food aid program while we were in this shutdown using emergency funds. Is that enough to partially fund it for now?

HOLT: Well, I guess it depends how -- what the percentage is. I mean we would like the full funding. And that's what we sent a letter to the Department of Agriculture as mayors last week asking for that. That is still our ask.

Of course our real ask would be for the government to reopen. You know, I'm the -- I'm the chief executive officer of a government that hasn't closed in 136 years. I don't know why this is so hard. And so we think, first of all, that the government should reopen. But second of all, we want full funding for SNAP. That partial funding is just not going to be enough.

SIDNER: Yes. Well, there is a hearing tomorrow on this. A court has already ordered that the program be funded.

[08:59:58]

I do want to get your thoughts on what we just heard from the president who, in some ways blamed former President Biden, saying there were too many people on SNAP.