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Trump Calls Somali "Garbage" As ICE Plans New Targeted Operation; White House And Hegseth Shift Responsibility For Double-Tap Strike; Soon: Testimony Resumes In Brian Walshe's Murder Trial. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired December 03, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It comes, as well, as the White House is ramping up these attacks -- specifically, again on Somalis in both Minneapolis but also St. Paul -- with the president and his allies, Sara, pointing to a $300 million fraud case.

Now this case, just to get into where this is all coming from -- it centers around a nonprofit organization designed to feed hungry children as well as a program for COVID-related services. And prosecutors had found that 37 people, they said -- the defendants had set up a network of shell companies to kind of exploit those programs and instead use the money to buy luxury cars and real estate.

But the president has really ramped up this rhetoric this week and used again this issue to try and paint a broad stroke with Somalis in America and argue that he doesn't want them in his country. And yesterday during that cabinet meeting he went so far as to say that they are "garbage" -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want them in our country, I'll be honest with you, OK? Somebody will say oh, that's not politically correct. I don't care. I don't want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks. We're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Well, the come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch. We don't want them in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: I mean, just incredibly striking language, Sara, from the president there.

And I think we should note the context here. The overwhelming majority of foreign-born Somalis in Minnesota are naturalized U.S. citizens, so -- that is according to the Census Bureau. So just keep that in mind as we see these ICE raids that are expected to really come out in full force this week as the president is pointing to this.

And also just to give you a sense of where a lot of this is coming from as well, this comes after the president is really turning his attention on his immigration crackdown ever since those two National Guard members were shot last week allegedly by an Afghan national, though not someone from Somalia.

The Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz has argued that this entire thing is a P.R. stunt, so we'll have to see where this leads.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. He was asked about the connection there. He said there is no connection but then went on to say those very disturbing words about the entire Somali population.

Thank you so much. Alayna Treene for you, reporting there from the White House for us. Now over to you, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

Breaking overnight, CNN projecting a Republican win in the special election in Tennessee for an open House seat. So why are Democrats smiling? Republican Matt Van Epps beat Democrat Aftyn Behn, but this is a very, very red district that President Trump won by 22 points just last year. Overnight, the Republican won by nine points.

With us now is CNN political commentator and Tennessee native Brad Todd. Also, Democratic strategist Matt Bennett.

So Brad, I just want to put up the list of special elections there have been in the House over the last year or so. You know, Florida-01, a 17-point swing toward the Democrats. Florida-06, a 19-point swing toward the Democrats. Virginia-11, a 16-point swing. Arizona-07, a 12- point swing. And Tennessee, last night, a 13-point swing.

If you're seeing, you know, 12 to 19-point swings in these House races what might that mean for 2026?

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, you know, in 2009, I was working on House Republicans' efforts to take over the U.S. congress. We lost every single special election in 2009 and then we won the majority in 2010. So I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were Democrats.

This seat actually is not as red as that Trump number might imply. Marsha Blackburn only won this seat by half a point when she won her Senate seat in 2018. So there are -- is layers of Democrat strength in the district.

The lesson for Democrats to take away is Aftyn Behn is a left-wing lunatic. She said she was uncomfortable with prayer. She said she was trying to bully police and ICE. She said she hated country music. She was exactly the wrong candidate. They had two better candidates, and they picked the nut job. And I think Democrats are going to do that in House races all over the country.

BERMAN: Well, let me just, very quickly, because I want to get Matt in on this. If they picked what you consider to be the worst candidate and they still swung 13 points blue, that can't be a good omen. TODD: That's off the Trump number, though. This is a special election. In the new alignment, Republican voters are low-propensity voters much more than Democrats. We're always going to have these special elections be a little closer.

BERMAN: So Matt, what about the point because it has come up that -- I'm not sure that anyone realistically thought that a Democrat was going to win this district and a 13-point swing is pretty good. But could a Democratic candidate have done even better had they been someone more in the middle?

MATT BENNETT, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND CO- FOUNDER, THIRD WAY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY ASSISTANT, CLINTON ADMINISTRATION (via Webex by Cisco): Oh, without a doubt. I mean, this is the thing that we have got to avoid doing again as we head into the midterms. We cannot nominate people who are too far left in districts that are red like this one or purple where we have a chance of winning. This one was really tough. It's not clear anybody could have won this as a Democrat. But it is absolutely clear that a more moderate Democrat could have done better.

[07:35:05]

I mean, Aftyn Behn was saying things, like she hated Nashville and she hated country music. And she was talking terrible things about police. And she called herself a radical -- a clip that was used over and over and over in the ads against her.

So we can't nominate radicals in moderate places. We've got to nominate people that match the district. And if we do, we can win.

Just one data point on this. In the Trump era, in the last 10 years, the groups on the far left have flipped zero seats from red to blue while the new Democrats and moderates in the House have flipped 99. So that tells you what we've got to do.

BERMAN: I want to ask you about what the messaging might be going forward and how a comment from President Trump on it -- on affordability may factor in -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There's this fake narrative that the Democrats talk about -- affordability. They just say the word. It doesn't mean anything to anybody -- they just say it -- affordability. I inherited the worst inflation in history. There was no affordability. Nobody could afford anything. The word "affordability" is a con job by the Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right Matt, how many ads is that going in?

BENNETT: All of them. I mean, listen, you and I have talked about this a million times during the Biden era. I came on said well, you know, the macroeconomic numbers are pretty good. But you can't do that. When you're the president you cannot pretend that people's economic pain isn't real. We tried it last year. It was a disaster.

Trump's trying it now. It's going to be a disaster for him and what I think is part of the reason you're seeing this kind of disgusting, barbaric language around immigration and the Somali community. It's just trying to distract attention from the thing that's really hurting him, which is affordability.

BERMAN: Brad, when you heard affordability -- it's a con job -- level of blood pressure increase at that moment?

TODD: Well, I think the middle part of that sound bite was right when President Trump said I inherited the worst inflation ever from Joe Biden, and we're working on it. I think the public will give him rope on that, but he can't tell them that -- not to believe their lying eyes. He can't tell them to say prices are good enough. But they will accept this was bad when I got here and we're working on it.

BERMAN: All right. I do want to ask about something that also came out of this meeting, which was President Trump, a couple of times, appearing to nod off a little bit. Getting a little sleepy. I do morning television. I nap all the time, so like I'm pro-nap, right?

But I guess my question to you Brad as a communications strategy, at what point does maybe the White House not put him in situations where he's got to sit for three-hour meetings and listen to people drone on.

TODD: Well, if you watched the whole meeting he was very engaged throughout the whole meeting.

BERMAN: Except when he was nodding off.

TODD: Except that he was -- but he was -- he keeps a very vigorous schedule. I think that's driven by him, not by the staff. I think he's in a hurry. He knows he's got a short amount of time in office. I think it's driven -- his schedule is driven by him. And yes, naps are good.

BERMAN: Matt, optics?

BENNETT: Uh, sounds familiar, you know. We heard a lot about how Joe Biden had a very tough schedule; he was flying around the world. Maybe he was going to nod off because of that.

But look, he's 78 years old. It's not surprising but it is important and presidents need to be alert during cabinet meetings, and he was not.

BERMAN: And you have to laugh at all of Marco Rubio's jokes. If he's going to have multiple jobs at least you can laugh at his jokes.

Brad Todd, Matt Bennett, great to see you both.

TODD: Thanks.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

TODD: Bye-bye.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I co-sign on the pro-nap. Co-sign on the pro-nap.

Also new this morning, sources tell CNN lawmakers on Capitol Hill have now received the final classified version of the Pentagon watchdog's report into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and him using Signal to talk about highly-sensitive military operations. That intel leak, you'll remember, dates back to March when the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was accidentally added to a Signal chat where Hegseth was discussing imminent U.S. military strikes in Yemen.

The timing of this report release, a busy one for the Defense Secretary Hegseth as he is facing serious scrutiny also for the double-tap strike on a suspected Venezuela drug boat. Hegseth now says that he didn't learn of the second hit until hours later, blaming the "fog of war for any confusion after the first hit."

At the same time, he's shifting responsibility to Admiral Mitch Bradley, who he said made the call on the second strike, though the secretary and president are defending the admiral.

Republican Congressman Don Bacon -- he's not having it. He says responsibility, no matter what, lies at the top.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You think that he should go if this -- he's involved here?

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): The secretary? Yeah, absolutely. I felt that way under "Signalgate." He should have taken responsibility then and he didn't.

RAJU: You have no confidence in him?

BACON: I'm not saying I disagree with him across the board, but I've seen enough that I don't think he's the right leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is retired Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson, and CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh for much more on all of this.

[07:40:00]

General, I want to start with kind of the forward-looking news when it comes to the situation with Venezuela.

The statement from President Trump during his cabinet meeting was as follows. "We're going to start doing those strikes on land too. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live, and we're going to start that very soon." General, if he means it this time, this escalation means what in terms of how much things are about to change?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.) (via Webex by Cisco): Well Kate, this would be an act of war. I mean, this would be a violation of Venezuelan national sovereignty. A violation of the War Powers Act that says that you're supposed to get congressional approval to do such a thing. I mean, this would be so wrong it's off the chart.

I mean, the actions thus far against Venezuela are pretty much illegal, immoral, un-American, and they've been ineffective. And if you really want to take out bad guys and stop drug cartels you try to interdict those ships in the first place. And you try to use the Coast Guard, as they've done thousands of times, to interdict and to disable vehicles, to fire warning shots, et cetera. Do all the things you do in order to capture and get intelligence that you could use to derive against the bad guys and the cartels.

And then the second thing you want to do is you want to train your military. You want to whip them. You want to train them just like we did in Colombia. We were very successful in Colombia in stopping the cocaine traffic.

And so that's the kind of thing that we need to in Venezuela. We do not need to be committing acts of war against their sovereign territory.

BOLDUAN: And Sabrina, I want to play for you what the top Democrat on Senate Armed Services just said, clearly losing patience in getting answers about that second -- that second strike that we're focused so much on in September.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JACK REED (D-RI): I'm very suspicious that they've never shared that tape with us and that they are consciously trying to cover up what took place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Sabrina, you worked at the Pentagon. Does this video exist? Is it hard to release it if it does exist?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR, FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: So I think Jack Reed is right that there is more of what we're seeing as a coverup here. There is always video of strikes that occur on these ships. And what you are seeing in some of the videos that Hegseth has released are from overhead aircraft taking video to make sure that essentially the strike was successful.

So the video that was shared on Hegseth's social media platform was probably the first strike. And then, of course, as we know now that there was a second strike with survivors, that video and all of -- whether it's the audio, whether there were any written commands given to Admiral Bradley or others -- all of that is what's going to be comprised in this investigation that is hopefully going to be bipartisan-led.

And that's what Jack Reed and other senators and House members are asking for. They want to see all of the video, and that is something that certainly exists at the Pentagon. But also what exists here are how -- who are the people in the room? I think everyone -- of course, Admiral Bradley is now getting the finger pointed at him by Secretary Hegseth who has changed his story multiple times and tries to distance himself from this strike. But at the end of the day there were other people in the room, and who was giving the legal advice?

When I was in the Biden administration, we always had the lawyers in the loop for any single strike, especially if there was a follow-on strike. So who were the lawyers in the room also giving that advice?

All of those components and people will be part of that -- hopefully, the classified testimony to different committees on the Hill.

BOLDUAN: General, double question for you.

Do you think the White House and Hegseth are scapegoating Admiral Bradley? He's meeting with the top R&D on Senate Intel tomorrow to answer questions. And what questions could he answer that could clear this up?

ANDERSON: Well absolutely, they are scapegoating him. They're throwing him under the bus, as many people have said. I mean, good leaders accept blame, and they pass credit to their subordinates, and Hegseth has it completely backwards.

You know, he's famously said on day one that accountability starts now when he took over as the Secretary of Defense. And yet, we've seen in the Signalgate episode, and we see now he is more interested in macho grandstanding and lethality and talking about fat troops and beards and whatnot than he really is on national security.

In regards to your second question, I mean, obviously, the questions are going to be who, what, when, and where, and why? Why did you -- what kind of guidance did you get from the Secretary of Defense and from the president? What was discussed? What were the rules of engagement? What planning -- and I can assure you there was extensive planning that went into this mission. What was the planning specific to a second strike if there are survivors? That kind of thing.

I mean, obviously, lots of questions to ask of Admiral Bradley, but he is a good American -- a good patriot and he has been thrown under the bus. The Secretary of Defense needs to cover for him; not throw him, like they've done shamelessly, under the bus and making him the scapegoat in this whole incident.

[07:45:05]

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

It's great to see you both. I really appreciate the time -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. New this morning, Costco is taking on President Trump over tariffs, but they're not alone. The retail giant is now the biggest company to sue the Trump administration for a refund if the Supreme Court declares the sweeping new tariffs illegal. Costco is joining other companies that have made some similar arguments, including Bumble Bee Foods and Revlon.

CNN's Matt Egan is joining me now. To be clear, most companies have not wanted to be seen by Trump to be sort of going after him in any way. Many of them have kowtowed to him. So what are we seeing here?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. Well, Sara, you're right. Big business has been kind of tiptoeing around the Trump White House all year, right?

CEOs of public companies -- they've been very reluctant to battle a president who has not been shy about retaliating even when the president launches policies that are going to hurt their bottom lines, right? The thinking has been yes, tariffs might shrink their profits, but these CEOs also have mergers that they want the administration to bless, and they don't want to invite regulatory investigations.

And so, yes, that's why this Costco lawsuit is so noteworthy. This really is the highest profile company to battle the president on tariffs. They're arguing in this lawsuit that the president exceeded his authority with tariffs. They want full refunds.

And Costco did not hold back in this lawsuit, right? They argued that Congress really has to provide guardrails to a president to apply tariffs, right? And they say that the 1977 law that the president is relying on, IEEPA, provides no such guardrails. And to make their point they effectively said if you don't believe us just look at the mess that we're in.

The lawsuit says the pell-mell manner -- they point to the "pell-mell manner by which these on again-off again IEEPA duties have been threatened, modified, suspended, reimposed, and the markets gyrating in response." If that's not poking the bear I don't know what is.

But look, Sara, Costco -- they can read the room, right?

SIDNER: Yeah.

EGAN: They know that even though the president loves tariffs the public does not, right? Tariff approval has just plummeted.

Last November --

SIDNER: Yeah.

EGAN: -- CBS News had a poll where only 48 percent of adults opposed new tariffs on imported goods. But look at this. As of October, 62 percent oppose. So the more the public sees of tariffs the less they like them. And that means that Costco doesn't necessarily have to worry about alienating that much of their customer base. So now I'm just fascinated to see what happens next. Is the White House going to retaliate against Costco? Is this a one-off or did this lawsuit provide enough political cover to allow other companies to follow in Costco's footsteps? It's going to be fascinating to see how this plays out.

SIDNER: Truly. And these are some of the companies that are already suing the administration --

EGAN: Yes.

SIDNER: -- for a similar thing.

But it is fascinating to see the way Costco is moving. They also did the same thing with DEI where they doubled down when other --

EGAN: Um-hum.

SIDNER: -- companies did not. A battle may be brewing --

EGAN: Yes.

SIDNER: -- definitely.

All right. Thank you so much, Matt Egan.

EGAN: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Appreciate it. Great reporting -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Brand-new details on what happened the day police arrested Luigi Mangione. One of the first officers on the scene takes the stand.

And what is more problematic than a loose raccoon? How about a loose, drunk raccoon in a liquor store that passes out on the bathroom floor? Been there, buddy.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:50]

BOLDUAN: New details now about Luigi Mangione's arrest last year at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania. Police body camera footage was played in court yesterday and it shows officers questioning Mangione for about 20 minutes without reading him his Miranda rights. Mangione's defense team argues that video shows that his constitutional rights were violated.

So this is all part of the pretrial hearing that we've been tracking closely. Prosecutors and Mangione's defense team have been sparring over what evidence can and cannot be used in his upcoming murder trial. He's accused, of course, of gunning down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare on the streets of New York.

Court is set to resume tomorrow. A real-life Grinch, guys, caught on camera stealing holiday gifts right off the porch and barely getting away with it. It did get away with it. This happened in suburban Chicago. Just watch this video. You can see the thief -- he's actually carrying a DoorDash bag posing as a delivery guy -- running away as the family pulled up in the driveway. The guy hopped straight into the getaway car and takes off. The thief took off with about, we're told, $500 worth of items. What a jerk.

A masked bandit caused a heck of a mess after breaking into a Virginia liquor store leaving scotch and whiskey puddles all over the floor. How dare they? Police arrived at the scene to find the crime and also the criminal passed out in the bathroom. Here you go -- trashed panda -- thanks writing team -- AKA a raccoon. Police say it was actually drunk and passed out after his little rampage.

Animal control says that he's doing fine now, likely nursing a wicked hangover, and has been re-released back into the wild. Let's see if he's learned a lesson -- Sara.

SIDNER: Oh, he's doing real fine. He's good. I love a raccoon.

BOLDUAN: Just saying that you add in a bunch of whiskey and scotch -- woof -- see you next week.

SIDNER: The mixture is a problem.

All right. Thank you so much, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Just that -- nothing else about this entire story.

SIDNER: I mean, not that I know anything about it.

All right. Thank you, Kate.

[07:55:00]

All right. This morning testimony set to resume very soon in Brian Walshe's murder trial. Now, the Massachusetts father admits to dismembering his wife Ana's body and dumping her remains in dumpsters but insists he did not kill her. Her body has never been found.

And yesterday, prosecutors showing the jury dozens of grisly internet searches they say they retrieved from Walshe's electronic devices, including searches on how to dispose of a body and clean up blood stains.

Here with me now is CNN's Jean Casarez, and CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

Jean, I'm starting with you. We heard some of the details of the searches before this case, but now?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They were constant.

SIDNER: Whoa! CASAREZ: They were absolutely constant -- January first, second and third. The majority of them on the first. Four fifty-five a.m. was the first search: "How long does it take before a body smells." So she was conceivable dead at that point.

But listen to some of the searches as they were entered into evidence through the digital forensics expert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TROOPER NICHOLAS GUARINO, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE: How to saw a body. Is it possible to clean DNA off a knife? www.murdermurdermurder.com/blood. If you want to get away with murder, use special detergent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: He also searched the name Patrick Kearney. You say who is Patrick Kearney? Well, that investigator was also questionable and then -- so he looked up the name. He was the trash bag killer. The jury heard that. It went before evidence.

The defense said this is taken out of context. You don't know what he's actually looking at when he does this search if it's -- you know, how to -- what to do with a body. Maybe someone is looking for a cemetery.

But he did throw away the trash bags. And yesterday some of the pictures of the contents of those bags of trash, which included a bloody rug but also personal affects of Ana. Let's look at one of those pictures because you can see that those pictures show that they found her boots. They found her jacket. They found her purse. They found many different personal items. But yet, the defense is saying she died in her bed. So there's a question right there. They also showed a thumb of Brian's that was all cut up.

Let's move on from that because then excerpts of the interview were again played for the jury. They heard everything, actually. But one thing they heard was when investigators said, "Did anything happen between you and Ana? Any issues at all? The physical nature?" Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN WALSHE, ON TRIAL FOR MURDER OF HIS WIFE ANA: I never hurt my wife. I mean, uh, I love her. And where would (INAUDIBLE)? I think about my kids, too. She's a wonderful mother, on top of being a wonderful wife. And to take that away from them -- I mean, I just couldn't even imagine something like that. That's not -- I could never do anything to hurt my wife. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with my wife and I still -- I'm still going to."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And on the same day he had taken a trash bag filled with remains from the basement to the -- to the dumpster. But her remains were never found.

Now, prosecutors believe there were two bags that went to the incinerator before they got to them, and they believe that's where her body was.

SIDNER: Wow. I mean, the details of this case just keep getting more crazy.

Joey, I do want to ask you about these searches that Jean just went over. Some of them included, you know, how to saw a body. Can you identify a body with broken teeth?

How does the defense realistically create reasonable doubt in this case with all of these searches that have been put into evidence now?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: So I'll tell you how. The issue here is whether it was a premeditated, planned murder. Now, of course, the prosecution will argue that premeditation could be formed in an instant. However, most people in human experience think that there's planning that goes into that.

And so if your objective as a prosecutor is to show first-degree murder because there was a plan, there was an intention, there was premeditation to kill your wife, why would these searches not come before that? If you're planning to engage in murder, why not have your ducks in a row such that when you confront your wife it's all done?

Yes, these searches are damning but let's not forget he already pled guilty to disposing of the body. We know that. And these just show you how to do that, right?

Now, granted, sawing someone in pieces is not what you want to do at any stretch, but that's not what we're on trial her for. The trial is about to show whether he engaged in premeditated murder and so therefore the defense will argue to the extent that these came after. It is more indicative of a panic. More indicative of an accident. More indicative of potentially heat of passion.

And that doesn't get you first-degree murder; that gets you the ability to have parole after a specific amount of years. Granted, 20 or 25 years but still in all it preserves your life. That's their only play here because this evidence that Jean pointed out is damning to say the least.

SIDNER: Yeah. Just really quickly -- we've got a few seconds -- um, what are we expecting today? More of the same?

CASAREZ: Well today there is going to be more investigators, law enforcement. Things entered into evidence that they found from the home, from the dumpsters.