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New Orleans launches Portal to Report Abuse by Federal Agents; Eugene Green is Interviewed about Federal Agents in New Orleans; Americans on the Job Market; Variety's Interview Series to Stream on CNN. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired December 04, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That we've seen. Now, they did get some good clues out of the videos. For instance, they identified early on the brand and model of shoes that he was wearing. They determined there were only about 25,000 pairs of those out there in the world at that time. And so I'm sure that, you know, FBI agents spent many, many hours reviewing purchase records for Nike sneakers.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and probably looking at tapes from January 6th itself, seeing if anyone was wearing those same sneakers.

As we said, an arrest made. We do not know the identity. All of this will be developing throughout the day.

Andrew McCabe, great to see you. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, also new this morning, as the federal immigration crackdown hits New Orleans, the city council is taking a stand, now launching an online portal asking residents to report allegations of abuse or misconduct by federal agents. The city council says people can upload the videos. The mayor-elect saying the portal ensures due process for everyone. And operations are picking up there. Yesterday, two men working on a home in a suburb of New Orleans appeared to wait out Border Patrol agents by standing on the home's roof. When the agents left, the men ended up getting down and they, too, left.

CNN's Ryan Young is in New Orleans with us with the very latest.

You have been there for the start of this. It continues this morning. What are you learning?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does. Look, and the fear continues as well. We know from talking to folks in neighborhoods that people are avoiding going to school, they're avoiding going to work because they're scared of being picked up. But the operations here have been met with some people sort of happy about the fact that they've seen some arrests being made. Last night we actually saw some residents coming together to talk

about how they could fight back against ICE. You talk about the portal that's been set up. People are definitely recording.

But let's show you this video of Bovino moving through the streets. There were some people who were excited to see him as he was moving through the streets of New Orleans. But, obviously, there's a lot of opposition to this. Showing you videos from outside of Home Depot and Lowe's. We know they were out there trying to arrest people. At one car wash we heard of an arrest and we were there and talking to people afterwards. They said they were surprised to see how fast they moved in. They were able to grab people off the street. This operation's goal is to get at least 5,000 people. That's a large number of arrests they want to make in the next few days.

It's not just New Orleans. It's all the way to Baton Rouge that this operation will be ongoing. It's something that we'll continue to watch over the next few days, Sara.

Today, though, there will be a city council meeting. We'll be there in the next hour or so.

SIDNER: All right, Ryan Young, good reporting for you there in New Orleans as you watch this all unfold. I do appreciate you.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get an update also from on the ground from local officials. Joining us right now is New Orleans City Councilman Eugene Green.

Thank you so much for being here.

From your perspective, what has happened so far with this operation? Do you know how many people have been picked up? What are you hearing from the community yourself?

EUGENE GREEN (D), NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCILMEMBER: We don't have numbers. The operation has been announced. But it's important to recognize that even in my district, operations have taken place prior to now. For example, at the Mirabeau Water Gardens there was an immigration action that resulted in 15 detainments. And that was weeks ago.

So, the bottom line is that operations have been going on for a while. I guess the official operation has started. And so, at the end of the day, we as a -- as residents of our city, as people elected by the citizens to ensure the public safety, have created this website, Know Your Rights website, so that people can get information and share information.

We are coming off of a consent decree where our police department was overseen by the federal government for a long period of time. And there are a lot of mechanisms that were put into place that helped to create an atmosphere that is safer for our citizens and visitors. I just want to encourage federal authorities to recognize that if you

want to do a certain job, the best way to do it is to cooperate with the folks who are on the ground. The people who are trained in de- escalating situations. The New Orleans Police Department has done an outstanding job over the past few years in ensuring constitutional rights relative to investigations, arrests and the like. And I just encourage our federal officials to recognize that we, as a city of New Orleans, can handle this matter, working with them.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you about this portal. Let me ask you about this this portal, this online portal that you were just describing, because what are you planning to do with reports of allegations of misconduct that do come in? How do you investigate them?

GREEN: Well, it's important to recognize that we have an investigatory mechanism here. It's certainly local law enforcement. We have an office of homeland security, if you will. We will investigate because it's our job to uncover instances where there have been violations. Certainly we'll share this information with the federal authorities that are in place to make sure that rights are not violated.

[09:35:01]

But we can also do investigations on a local level to make sure that we make -- we get in touch with those who might have violated rights and let them know what we've seen.

BOLDUAN: The target that we've heard from DHS is to arrest 5,000 people. A DHS spokesperson was on our show yesterday. I want to play for you what she told John.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN, DHS ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS: We're, first and foremost, really focusing on those worst of the worst criminals.

So, we're talking about child pedophiles who are on our list of targets, burglars, gang members, rapists. Those individuals we are targeting. And we will continue, whether it be 5,000 arrests or beyond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What does 5,000 people arrested, what is that going to mean for your city?

GREEN: Well, keep in mind that DHS, they've talked about statewide. I mean we have operations going on as far away as Baton Rouge. And I understand beyond that. So, I don't see that there are going to be 5,000 persons arrested just in the city of New Orleans or even our metropolitan area. But certainly -- certainly it would put significant pressures on the justice system. Certainly pressures on those who are patrolling our streets at the end of the day. But that number has just been thrown out as if 5,000 is just a round number that we can just throw out, and that will end the discussion. We are looking at the facts on the ground. We're concerned with every detainment. We're concerned with every arrest that may take place.

So, 5,000. We know that some have taken place right now. Hopefully everything will be able to be worked out in as safe a manner as possible. But I'm not focusing on the number 5,000 because I haven't seen any information, including written information, saying that this is a goal of the federal government.

BOLDUAN: Yes, the --

GREEN: We just want everybody to be safe and for constitutional rights to be upheld.

BOLDUAN: Yes. I mean the opacity, the opaque nature of the operation is something that we've heard over and over again as immigration officials have moved in and challenge for local officials.

New Orleans City Councilman, thank you so much for coming in.

GREEN: And we just ask for -- we just ask for cooperation.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

GREEN: I just want to emphasize, we ask for cooperation. At the end of the day, the city of New Orleans wants the rule of law to be followed. But we want constitutional rights to be paramount in terms of what is going on in our city, our state and the region.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, sir. Thanks for coming in.

John.

BERMAN: All right, CNN and "Variety" are teaming up for "Actors on Actors." A first look at some of the interviews from this award- winning series.

And a fugitive ordered an Uber while on the run. So, how did it all come to an end, and how many stars did he get as a passenger?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:42:05]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, data from payroll giant ADP shows small businesses are starting to crack amid a weakening economy and rising costs and fickle consumers. Thirty-two thousand jobs were lost last month. That's the largest monthly drop in two and a half years. Private employers have shed jobs in four of the past six months.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten is here with us now.

So, we're talking about jobs. How do people feel right now about the jobs market overall?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: It's rough out there. That's how folks feel about it. It is rough, rough, rough. I mean just take a look here. Good time to find a quality job among

U.S. employees. You go back three and a half years ago, look at this, it was the clear majority, 70 percent. Remember, there was all that talk about quiet quitting. Oh, I'm going to leave my job. I'll find another one. No longer do we feel that's the case.

Look at this. That is a drop of more than half, down to just 33 percent in the latest reading of Gallup back in -- in August of 2025. The bottom line is, three years ago, we were dealing with what Americans thought was a good job market. Now they think it is a terrible job market for those who are trying to get out and potentially get a job.

BERMAN: Yes, that's just a big drop.

ENTEN: It's huge.

BERMAN: And people didn't like the economy then. And it's still a huge drop.

All right, how do people think the president is doing when it comes to jobs?

ENTEN: Yes, if you see this drop of more than half, this slide wont surprise you. I mean Trump's net approval rating on jobs and employment, in January he was at plus nine points. Hey, hey, hey, pretty gosh darn good. Well above water.

But look at this now. Look at this now. That is a drop of nearly 30 points. And over the course of his presidency, the minus 19 points. And then my little nugget down here, he's at minus 35 points on the net approval rating there -- we'll zoom right in -- with independents. That's some great camerawork right there.

So, look, the bottom line is this, on jobs and employment it was a plus for Trump coming in. It was one of the reasons they got elected. And now it is a massive, massive negative, in large part because it's just tough to get a job out there according to those who are trying to do so.

BERMAN: But, Harry, my 401(k) is doing so well. The stock market is up for the year.

ENTEN: Yes, your 401(k) is doing pretty gosh darn well. But that's not what Americans look to in terms of judging the economy. I mean, ways to judge the economy is good. Thirty-seven percent say the stock market. That's well less than the majority. The clear majority, 54 percent, say the jobs report, the unemployment numbers. That's the way they judge whether or not the economy is good when it comes to those national metrics.

So, the jobs reports potentially being bad, that is far, far, far more important and far more devastating to the president. He can't just point to the stock market. Because when you have ADP numbers like we had coming out this week, that's a massive negative in the minds of the American public. BERMAN: Yes, this does -- this doesn't explain it away for most people

because they think the jobs is -- is really what's important here. So, how do people think it's going to go when it comes to the jobs market.

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, you know what, we had the ADP, but, of course, we'll be getting in a little bit of time the actual numbers from the U.S. government on this. And the chance November's unemployment rate, according to the prediction market odds, is above the previous 4.4 percent.

[09:45:04]

A 70 percent chance that we have a worse unemployment rate in the next jobs report coming out than what we previously had. That's where people are putting their money where their mouth is, and it's not much of a surprise when you have that ADP number coming out like we did earlier on, because right now it just looks rough out there.

BERMAN: So, the people betting on this think it's going to get worse.

ENTEN: You got it exactly right, Mr. Berman.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, great to see you this morning.

ENTEN: Good to see you.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

A lot of breaking g news this morning. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Leonardo DiCaprio, Julia Roberts, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, those are some of the stars appearing in the new season of "Variety's" award-winning interview series, "Actors on Actors."

[09:50:09]

It all starts tomorrow, and it's premiering exclusively on CNN's streaming app.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARIANA GRANDE, SINGER, SONGWRITER, AND ACTRESS: I've grown up worshiping all of your movies.

ADAM SANDLER, ACTOR, COMEDIAN, FILMMAKER AND SINGER-SONGWRITER: Thank you. Thank you. And I'm going to give you one more back. In the car we crank a lot of Ariana.

GRANDE: Thank you.

SANDLER: I mean -- ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ariana Grande gushing over Adam Sandler, an actor she idolized as a kid. Now, the a-listers seated together in a rare and intimate conversation.

It's all part of "Actors on Actors," "Variety's" long-standing viral series that will be streaming for the first time this year on CNN.

The series, now in its 23rd season, pairs together some of the biggest movie stars in the world as they embark on their Oscar campaign.

RAMIN SETOODEH, CO-PRESIDENT, "VARIETY": For the Oscars, this is really like the Iowa caucus of award season.

WAGMEISTER: You're speaking CNN's language.

SETOODEH: Speaking in your language. This is where you have to come if you really want to win an Oscar. The last eight winners of Oscars for acting have all done "Actors on Actors."

WAGMEISTER (voice over): "Variety's" co-president and editor in chief, Ramin Setoodeh, is responsible for choosing which a-listers will be seated together.

SETOODEH: And I'm just really, really excited that we're partnering with CNN this year. CNN has been the dream home for me for "Actors on Actors" for years.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): Over the years, "Actors on Actors" has brought together stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh, and Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt.

This season, the featured Oscar contenders include Leonardo DiCaprio with Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman and Cynthia Erivo, Julia Roberts with Sean Penn and Sandler with Grande, who is a frontrunner for her role as Glinda in the "Wicked" sequel.

WAGMEISTER: Ariana, you are clearly such a fan of Adams.

GRANDE: I mean, he likes --

SANDLER: Vice versa.

WAGMEISTER: Vice versa.

SANDLER: (INAUDIBLE).

WAGMEISTER: How much fun was this? Just to be able to sit down and have this conversation together?

GRANDE: I've loved his work my whole life, and it was an honor. When they told me that I was paired with him, I almost had a heart attack.

SANDLER: Oh.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): I was on set with all of the stars to catch up behind the scenes after their conversations, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Jacob Elordi.

GWYNETH PALTROW, ACTRESS: It was fabulous.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): Alexander Skarsgard, who sat down with his father, Stellan Skarsgard.

WAGMEISTER: Well, Stellan, what do you think about Alex's shorts?

STELLAN SKARSGARD, ACTOR: They're too short.

ALEXANDER SKARSGARD, ACTOR: Too short?

S. SKARSGARD: Yes.

A. SKARSGARD: These are the longest shorts I've ever worn.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): "Wicked" star Jonathan Bailey and Superman himself, David Corenswet, who serenaded each other.

JONATHAN BAILEY AND DAVID CORENSWET, ACTORS, (singing): Next July, we collide with Mars.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): And Academy Award winner Brendan Fraser and Dwayne Johnson, who are both in the 2020 Oscar's conversation, nearly 25 years after working together on the 2001 hit "The Mummy Returns."

DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON, ACTOR: He helped launch my career. Brendan was the one -- he doesn't like to take credit, but it's true -- who said, OK, yes, I'll have Dwayne Johnson, who he didn't even know, or "The Rock," he wasn't familiar, but I will have him in the franchise. It was his franchise.

The bill is in the mail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER: Kate, as you see, this is really the most a-list you can get. The highest caliber of star as they head into the Oscar's season. Because, yes, we start talking about the Oscar's months before the Oscar's.

Now, we are so excited that "Actors on Actors" is coming to CNN. It is one of the biggest franchises in entertainment news. And it all kicks off tomorrow. The first episode starting with Ariana Grande and Adam Sandler, who, as you saw right there, were really fangirling over each other on set and having the best time with each other.

BOLDUAN: It's their fascinating conversations inside the people that everyone is fascinated with. And so cool how you were there after the convo to kind of get right in there with them. It was very, very cool set up, Elizabeth. So impressed. Thank you so much for that.

Sara.

WAGMEISTER: Thanks so much, Kate.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you.

Sara.

SIDNER: Well done. We enjoyed it.

All right, police in Georgia have recaptured an inmate who escaped from an Atlanta hospital while in custody after he spent three days on the run. Timothy Shane was found after going around knocking on people's doors just east of Atlanta

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY SHANE, ESCAPED INMATE: Hey, I've been out in the woods hunting. Ended up getting lost for, like, five hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That's one way to put it. Police say Shane went on a bit of a crime spree during the 31 hours he was free, stealing two cars, getting a hold of a cell phone, along with a credit card and taking an Uber.

All right, this holiday it's beautiful to see kindness going viral. A Michigan man will finally be able to retire after being asked by a TikTok influencer why he was still working at 88 years old. Eighty- eight-year-old Ed Bambas worked at a grocery store. He said he had to come out of retirement after General Motors stripped people of their pensions as part of the company's bankruptcy in 2012.

[09:55:04]

He was also trying to support his dying wife, who ended up dying from a long illness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED BAMBAS, INTERNET SENSATION: I try very hard to go to her gravesite every day and say hi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How important is that part of your day for you?

BAMBAS: It helps me get through a day. It does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Oh, that is just heart melter. Thousands have now donated more than $1.5 million to a GoFundMe campaign to help Mr. Bambas retire for good. We hope he enjoys every single minute of it.

Oh, sweet man.

BERMAN: What a sweet, sweet man.

Hey, do you guys know anyone winning an award today?

BOLDUAN: No. SIDNER: No.

BOLDUAN: No one deserving of it.

BERMAN: They are both winning a very, very esteemed award.

SIDNER: And it's all because of you.

BOLDUAN: You know to say that. You have to -- we have the -- we have, like, a really hilarious wind up that you will not even -- you might -- you actually should --

SIDNER: You're going to feature in it, but you won't know about it.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Congratulations to two very deserving recipients of an Impact Award.

And thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. The -- I mean it.

SIDNER: Why I ought to --

BERMAN: "THE SITUATION ROOM" Is up next.

BOLDUAN: I am -- I am speechless because it was actually kind. Like, speechless.

SIDNER: Keep smiling. It's OK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)