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Epstein Survivors Call for Release of All Files in New PSA; North Carolina Governor on Border Patrol Operation, This is Not Making Us Safer; Trump Says Venezuela Would Like to Talk Amid Rising Tensions. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 17, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, talk about whiplash. The president now wants house Republicans to vote and to support the release of the Epstein files, yes, just after he held Situation Room meetings to try and stop this from happening. So, what now ahead of tomorrow's expected vote.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The largest aircraft carrier in the U.S. fleet moves towards South America. Now, breaking overnight, President Trump claims there might be a new chance at diplomacy.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And a volcano erupts, sending ash nearly three miles into the sky canceling flights and leaving locals wondering what might happen next.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: So, the breaking news, add this to the file, Donald Trump is saying the exact opposite of what he said days ago, a major reversal on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation files. The president is now telling house Republicans to vote in support of forcing DOJ to release all of the files in the case, something that he has worked overtime for months to avoid. The president now says that he has nothing to hide this coming out on a Truth Social post.

But to be clear, the release of the files does not require a vote by Congress. DOJ could release them, as Pam Bondi said months ago that she was starting to do. The only reason the House is set to vote tomorrow to force this release is because the president and the Justice Department have refused to act.

The reason for Trump's 180 now, possibly the reality that House Republicans are expecting mass defections on this vote. If, when it passes the House, it still needs to pass the Senate. And this morning there is no guarantee there.

So, ahead of the House vote, several women who survived Jeffrey Epstein's abuse have joined forces and put out a powerful public service announcement, essentially a plea to Congress to finally focus on the victims. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was 14 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was 16 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was 16.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 17.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 14 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I met Jeffrey Epstein.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is me when I met Jeffrey Epstein.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time to bring the secrets out of the shadows. It's time to shine a light into the darkness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House for us this morning. It is a very, very powerful message coming from the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. And now we have this reversal from President Trump on this, something he's fought so hard against to have this vote, and now to say House Republican should support it. What are you hearing about this, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think the big thing behind this, Kate, is that the White House recognizes that there's going to be a deluge of Republicans expected to join this effort in the House to force the Justice Department to release these files.

And so the president last night took to social media essentially saying and encouraging Republicans to vote for this and saying they all needed to move on from what he continues to label a Democratic hoax. Of course, you just shared that video, that powerful message from these women, they argued this is not a hoax, this is was our lived reality.

But I want to read for you some of what the president said. He said last night, quote, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide and it's time to move on from this Democratic hoax. The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they're legally entitled to. I don't care. All I do care about is that Republicans get back on point.

Now, getting back to this idea of how many Republicans are going to vote for this, we did hear from Republican Thomas Massie. He is the Republican in the House who had been leading this effort alongside his Democratic colleague, Ro Khanna. He said yesterday that he believes a hundred or more Republicans were going to vote to release these files, something that, of course, is a major problem for this administration if they are trying to -- when they were, I should say, actively trying to stop this vote from happening.

I'd remind you just last week, the president had one of the Republicans who's initially signed on to that discharge position to the White House, and not only to the White House, but in the Situation Room, because they were worried about that discharge petition getting enough signatures to force this vote.

And so, look, I think big picture here, the president who also previously said Republicans were weak and foolish for falling for all of this, he doesn't want to continue talking about this. There's a lot of frustration, Kate, in that building behind me about all of the attention on Epstein.

[07:05:02]

And so this is his way, at least, I think, of trying to get ahead of it, to get ahead of the vote that isn't necessarily going to go their way.

BOLDUAN: Also, Jeffrey Epstein is in the files, is kind of at the center of this very public political breakup between him and Marjorie Taylor Greene. What's the latest on this?

TREENE: Absolutely. I mean, it was -- if you asked me a year ago if we would see Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump on opposing ends, attacking each other openly, I wouldn't believe you. You know, like they are both -- Marjorie Taylor Greene has long been the fiercest supporter of President Donald Trump. But this is an issue where the two have really parted ways.

It also comes, I should note, after she has been kind of publicly speaking out about some of the other things the president was doing. I'd remind you she was arguing that he's too focused on foreign affairs and not domestic issues.

So, this has been building, but the Epstein files was the latest straw. The president continued this weekend to call Marjorie Taylor Greene, a traitor to the country because she had signed her name on that discharge petition. All to say, as you pointed out, Kate, these messages aren't necessarily lining up with each other, if she's calling Greene a traitor, while also encouraging other Republicans to now get behind this vote. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's a big rift in two of the strongest people in the MAGA movement.

BOLDUAN: That's a great point and well said. Alayna Treene at the White House, thank you so much, Alayna.

SIDNER: All right. A lot going on there, and also with immigration enforcement. New this morning, immigration raids have begun in America south. The new target, Charlotte, North Carolina. There is palpable fear among the immigrant communities there. It turns out the same Border Patrol commander that headed up the Chicago enforcement, who a judge determined used excessive force there and lied about that threat, is heading up the operation in North Carolina.

Federal officials say about 80 people have been rounded up so far. The governor late last night giving this update.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOSH STEIN (D-NC): We've seen masked heavily armed agents and paramilitary garb, driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color, racially profiling and picking up random people in parking lots and off of our sidewalks, going after landscapers simply decorating a Christmas tree in someone's front yard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Multiple videos have surfaced showing encounters with federal agents, some businesses deciding to close to try and prevent community members from being targeted.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Charlotte for us this morning. There's a lot of fear and trepidation that's going on there. We're looking at some of the video that happened to an American citizen. What are you learning this morning?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara. I'm actually on Central Avenue. This is an area that is usually very vibrant and busy. It is full of businesses that are owned by and cater to immigrants. And since Saturday when that U.S. Customs and Border Protection operation dubbed Charlotte's Web began. It has been a ghost town. I have never seen it like this in East Charlotte.

We're in front of Manolo Columbian Bakery. It's a popular bakery here in Charlotte. They have been closed since Saturday when the owner, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, who now carries his passport everywhere with him, he tells me, showed me security video of two men in green uniforms chasing people through his parking lot. He said at that point he decided that he should shut down for the safety of his customers. Even though people from the community came out and sort of guarded his bakery, he said it was not worth the risk to customers. So, he shut down his bakery for the first time in more than a quarter century.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANOLO BETANCUR, OWNER, MANOLO'S BAKERY: I don't know when I'm going to open back, but I need to protect my customers. I need to protect my people. I need to protect myself and my family.

I don't even know who are approaching me and who's going to throw me to the floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, hundreds of people showed up in Uptown Charlotte on Saturday afternoon to protest the operation. DHS said that in just five hours on that first day, they arrested more than 80 people. Now, videos of people being detained and front yards at Home Depot and Lowe's and parking lots of restaurants quickly went viral around the city. This one here where federal agents smashed a car window in and then detained a man who had a real I.D. and says he is been a U.S. citizen since 2019, he told CNN that he pleaded with the federal agents to check his I.D. He said they eventually did and then dropped him off, letting him go.

Now, in a statement, a Customs and Border Patrol agent said that officers had approached an individual who acted increasingly erratic. The individual escalated the situation and refused to comply to lawful commands by officers.

One of the big concerns today is that this operation started over the weekend and this is the first day that school is back in session. The school district here in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, they said that they're still going to have school as scheduled.

[07:10:03]

And at this point, there's been no notification there is any sort of immigration enforcement on their properties.

SIDNER: Yes. Dianne, we will be talking to a council member and that same owner of the bakery that you spoke with as well later on in the show. Thank you for bringing all of that to us this morning. I do appreciate it. John?

BERMAN: All right. A U.S. strike force moves into place. Could military action in South America be imminent?

Record-setting rains in California. And this morning, major concerns that more could be on the way with fears of dangerous floods.

And with friends like these, the huge backlash against a wearable A.I. companion that might be listening to everything you say.

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BERMAN: This morning, the U.S. Navy now says the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, and its strike group are ready to go in the Caribbean.

[07:15:00]

The assumed target is Venezuela. But overnight, President Trump seemed to float with the idea of some kind of talks or diplomacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We may be having some discussions with Maduro and we'll see how that turns out. If they would like, they would like to talk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The president's remarks come as the U.S. State Department announced it would designate an alleged drug gang cartel, De Los Soles, as a foreign terrorist organization.

With us now is CNN Military Analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, the question is simple here. The Gerald Ford is now in the Caribbean with its strike for some 15,000 U.S. personnel ready to go, for what exactly? Because this is not to target the drug boats, the so-called drug boats that the U.S. has been hitting off the coast.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, John, good morning. It's really a pressure campaign against Venezuela, is what this is shaping up to be. So, what we're seeing is, you know, the first iteration of this was going after the drug boats which we are not 100 percent sure were actually drug boats. And now we have the deployment of a conventional -- major conventional force in the form of the USS Gerald R. Ford.

So, that brings an extra 4,000 troops into 4,000 sailors and Marines into the Caribbean. And this is basically the largest deployment of the U.S. military in decades in that part of the world.

BERMAN: So, huge deployment, and now President Trump says that maybe Nicolas Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, might be willing to talk. But, again, it's a simple question. Talk about what e exactly. The United States and President Trump, you know, do not, in any way, support Maduro, do not think he's a legitimate president, but are they going to talk about him leaving?

LEIGHTON: Well, you know, that's a possibility and that would be one of the key accomplishments if President Trump could actually achieve that because Maduro, by all international observer accounts, actually lost the last presidential election in Venezuela. Of course, he didn't leave office. You know, he is sticking on and, you know, still running the country. But this, you know, could be a pressure point in that regard.

But the other thing to keep in mind is that Venezuela is actually a launching point for Cuban activity in South America. It is a launching point for Russian activity and even Iranian activity in the Western Hemisphere. So, these are the kinds of things that are going on in addition to the strikes against the alleged drug boats.

BERMAN: Colonel Cedric Leighton, always good to see you. Thanks so much for being with us this morning. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Much more on that throughout the show this morning.

Also this, the New York Jets cornerback, Kris Boyd, is in the hospital in critical condition right now, shot in the stomach outside a restaurant early yesterday morning. We have an update on his condition and what they think happened.

And holiday shopping season is basically upon us, whether you like it or not. With President Trump's new reversal on some tariffs, will that reversal actually make life more affordable?

We'll be right back.

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[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: New York Jets Cornerback Kris Boyd is in critical but stable condition this morning. He was shot early yesterday morning outside a restaurant New York City. Police, they're still searching for the gunman.

CNN's Coy Wire is here with us now. Coy, what are you hearing happened? Like what's going on here?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Kate. We are told that New York Jets Cornerback Kris Boyd is recovering in the hospital after being shot in the stomach early Sunday morning. This according to a law enforcement source who also tells us Boyd was shot outside a New York City restaurant after a dispute escalated into gunfire. No arrests have been made. The investigation is ongoing.

The law enforcement source said two cars were spotted on a surveillance camera leaving a parking garage near the restaurant. Both vehicles pulled over. Interacted with Boyd and his group, Boyd, who was already not playing on I.R. due to injury, is reportedly in critical but stable condition.

All right, let's get you some of your highlights from the NFL on Sunday. The defending Super Bowl champion, Eagles, defense only gave up one touchdown to Detroit. This 40-yard catch and run. And check out the koala bear celebration. Kate, do you like this from Jameson Williams? Here we go. Officials didn't like it. They penalized him 15- yards for it. Billy only needed this one tush-push, tudy and a trio of field goals to get their 16-9 win. Defense held Detroit to 0-5 with four downs. Lions lost, push the Chicago Bears alone, at top of the NFC North.

The Chiefs facing the red hot Denver Broncos, lookout Coach Peyton got hit like a pinata at a birthday party. Coach flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct getting in the way there. The Broncos that backed them up to start their ensuing drive didn't matter. Bo Nix hit Franklin for 35 of his 295 yards passing. Jaleel McLaughlin punched it in for the score, 13-6. But a very familiar phrase here, Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce for the touchdown, Kelce moving the top the Chiefs' all-time list with 84 career scores.

So, the game came down to this tied at 19, Wil Lutz from 35 yards out, the Broncos kicker kicking the game-winning score. They are now 9-2 in a magical season. That was their eighth straight win. They're in complete control of the AFC West.

We had five teams, Kate, make the game-winning score on the final play tied for most on the single day in league history.

Josh Allen is a force of nature. The Bills quarterback and reigning league MVP scored six touchdowns against the Buccaneers, first player in NFL history with at least three passing and three rushing touchdowns in multiple career games now. Buffalo wins 44-32. And in short day all around, we had Jacoby Brissett, the Cardinals quarterback, Kate, threw 47 completions in a game, incredible stuff. And we still have the Monday Night Football tonight, Cowboys and Raiders coming up.

BOLDUAN: More football. That's what we need. I mean, the fact that you started me off with a koala hug and a tush-push, I mean, you know how to make my Monday a happy one.

WIRE: That was for you, Kate.

[07:25:00]

That was for you.

BOLDUAN: Well, and, I mean, the koala hug, he got in trouble for it. Like he's not helping his team out, even though -- I loved it. Not going to say I hated it.

All right, thanks, buddy. Koala hug and a tush-push.

SIDNER: I like both of those things. You know what I also like?

BOLDUAN: What do you like?

SIDNER: Something that Coy forgot. The Rams beat the Seahawks. But whatever, just forget about.

BOLDUAN: Nope. Not impressive enough. Not impressive enough for Coy Wire. He is the arbiter of all things good and evil when it comes to the NFL.

SIDNER: No highlights from that game, cool, whatever.

BOLDUAN: The hostility, Coy. Run quickly.

SIDNER: All right. Developing this morning, the FAA now ending its mandatory flight reductions after hundreds of cancellations a day. How long until things get back to normal at the airport?

And take a look at this, a huge volcanic eruption. Ash, oh boy, spewing three miles into the air, causing flight cancellations there in Japan, and new concerns on the ground. Those stories and more ahead.

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[07:30:00]