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Official: Detained South Korean Workers To Be Sent Back To South Korea; Chicago Braces For Trump To Send National Guard Troops To The City; Pope Leo Declares Carlo Acutis The First Millennial Saint. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 07, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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[15:01:02]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, right now we are learning a deal has been reached to return the more than 300 South Korean workers detained in that Georgia ICE raid, going back to South Korea. The raid was the Trump administration's largest immigration crackdown to date.

CNN's Rafael Romo is joining me right now.

Rafael, you've been covering this story from the very beginning. We understand a South Korean chartered jet would be picking them up. What else do we know?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They are finishing just a few minor details, administrative details, before that charter flight goes back to South Korea with the detained workers.

And Fred, one of the questions that has surfaced since Thursday's massive immigration raid here in Georgia is whether more of this type of job site operations can be expected, based on comments made earlier today on CNN by White House border czar, Tom Homan, that appears to be the case.

The raid mainly targeted citizens from South Korea, a country that is one of the top trade partners with the United States. South Korean officials say they have moved swiftly to protect their citizens while trying to avoid damaging their country's crucial relationship with The White House.

Officials from the South Korean Embassy in Washington and the Consulate General in Atlanta negotiated with U.S. officials to secure the release of the more than 300 detained workers who will be returning home to South Korea on a chartered flight. They were among 475 people detained in the raid. A top South Korean official also said that some administrative procedures remain.

In an interview with CNN earlier today, White House Border Czar Tom Homan said job site enforcement operations will continue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS HOMAN, U.S. BORDER CZAR: The short answer is yes. we are going -- we are going to do more worksite enforcement operations because, number one, it is a crime to enter this country illegally. Number two, it is a crime to knowingly hire an illegal alien and these companies are hiring illegal aliens. They undercut the competition that paying U.S. citizen salaries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: The South Korean Presidential chief-of-staff said earlier in Seoul that his government will implement measures, so this kind of incident doesn't happen again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANG HUN-SIK, SOUTH KOREAN'S PRESIDENTIAL CHIEF-OF-STAFF (through translator): To prevent a similar incident in the future, we will work with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and related companies to review and improve the residency status and visa system for travelers on U.S. related projects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: While it is important to speak about the context of all this, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung visited The White House less than two weeks ago, and President Donald Trump is planning a South Korea trip next month, according to three Trump administration officials. South Korea is the U.S.' sixth largest trading partner. Bilateral trade last year totaled $242 billion, and that's the thing, Fred, how is this operation targeting this plant is going to affect the trade between the two countries, not to mention the importance of that manufacturing plant for the State of Georgia.

WHITFIELD: Right. Because a lot of arrangements were made ahead of opening the plant.

ROMO: Right.

WHITFIELD: And then you've got to get it underway, and of course, the promises made of employment. And now without that, I mean, there are, I guess, some real barriers that have been crossed.

ROMO: Yes, and the interesting thing is that this is happening in a Republican-led state, and this project was touted as the greatest investment in Georgia's history by the Republican Governor, Brian Kemp.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right, Rafael Romo, keep us posted because it is not over yet, is it?

ROMO: Right.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. All right, we are also learning that a new ICE operation is underway in Boston. The Department of Homeland Security announced the launch of what they are calling operation Patriot 2.0. CNN correspondent, Leigh Waldman is following these developments.

Leigh, what are you learning?

[15:05:07]

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, the federal immigration crackdown that is happening in Boston and Massachusetts at large right now is coming just a few weeks after the Trump administration started talking about major operations happening in Boston City itself.

In a statement to CNN, a DHS spokesperson said, "ICE launched Patriot 2.0 to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens living in the state of Massachusetts following the success of Operation Patriot in May.

Now Operation Patriot had over nearly 1,500 arrests happen across the state of Massachusetts. But this morning, the Governor of Massachusetts started pushing back on this and saying, these arrests are not targeting people who are criminals at all. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MAURA HEALEY (D-MA): My message, really, to the administration, but to the country right now is, it is not right.

When I have high school students being ripped off the streets in Massachusetts on their way to volleyball practice by ICE agents, something is wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: The immigration enforcement efforts happening there in Boston come just days after the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit, not only against the city of Boston, its police department, but also against its mayor, Michelle Wu. The Attorney General Pam Bondi, said that Wu and the city of Boston were among the worst sanctuary offenders in the country.

Now, in response to this lawsuit that was filed, Michelle Wu issued her own statement that read in part: "This is our city and we will vigorously defend our laws and the constitutional rights of cities, which have been repeatedly upheld in courts across the country. We will not yield."

Now, in an updated statement that we just got in to CNN now, she is telling people that local resources will not be used in this operation and federal government actions, "Do not make our communities any safer."

And Fred, all of this is happening as a mayoral race is going on and voters are heading to those primary election votes on Tuesday. So this is something that is going to be top of mind for many people there in Boston.

WHITFIELD: Indeed. All right, Leigh Waldman in New York, thanks so much.

All right, joining me right now to talk more about the Trump administration' expanding immigration crackdown is Jorge Gavilanes. He is an immigration attorney.

Jorge, great to see you.

You know, first, you have been contacted by some of the workers who were detained or arrested from that Georgia plant just outside of Savannah. Some are South Korean, some are Japanese. What are they telling you?

JORGE GAVILANES, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Well, so this is moving really fast, right? This just happened on Thursday. We were contacted -- our office was contacted on Friday, and one of the other attorneys in our office has been in contact to try to secure the release.

Now, depending on their immigration status, then what those next steps will look like will vary. Right? We've got to take a look at what status they're in. If it is an overstay or if it is someone who has entered without being inspected at the border, and then what nationality as well.

And then, of course, looking at the news today of that arrangement that has been found to send some of these South Korean nationals back through this private charter.

WHITFIELD: And what do you read into that? An arrangement made, some 300 of the 475 that were detained were South Korean. The country, South Korea has worked out something with the U.S. to say, okay, we are going to send this charter plane in, we will retrieve them, let them go back home.

What does that tell you about what their immigration status was? Their right to work at that plant? I mean, what are among the details that you might have about why they were in the States? What deals were made for them to be in the States to work and what are the violations?

GAVILANES: So based on that press conference that we heard, where they announced who the individuals that were detained and some of their status, they mentioned this Visa Waiver Program. And the Visa Waiver Program is an arrangement that the Department of State at the U.S. has with certain countries where individuals, nationals of that country can enter the U.S. without having to seek a special visa or apply for a visa simply using their passport, just like we use when we travel to Europe or some other countries, right?

There is an application process that is done aside from an actual visa, and that allows individuals to come into the U.S. to visit or related to business, negotiating, conferences, going to a plant and just seeing what is happening in their investment. But that does not allow them to work where a company is paying them directly for work being done here in the U.S. So some of these individuals may have overstayed their status, may have gone past the authorized time period that they could have remained in the U.S.

WHITFIELD: Do you see that the plant itself might be subject to any violations?

GAVILANES: Well of course. So employers are subject to violations. That is something that's going to go back to other companies as well. We are being contacted by other corporations and employers throughout the state of Georgia who are concerned that this might be something that is coming to them.

WHITFIELD: Okay. And now, more broadly, The White House is saying in its crime crackdown, crackdown on immigration efforts, they are now going to be targeting certain cities. Chicago is among the cities that The White House wants to target next, even its, you know Homeland Security czar says, you know, Chicago is one of the next places but won't specify on what will happen specifically.

[15:10:06]

So what would be your advice? What do you say to people there whether it is immigrants or whether it is people in vulnerable communities that already don't have a good relationship with law enforcement, how should people, you know conduct themselves if they see people who are in uniform or masked or under the auspices of ICE or immigration?

GAVILANES: Right. Well, and this raid was different from what we've seen in other cases, right. Here, they actually had a judicial warrant, and that point was made very clear during the press conference where typically ICE or HIS will operate under an administrative warrant that is not signed by a judge, is not presented with probable cause that allows them to enter by force or to detain individuals by force. They are simply signed by the agency themselves, usually, so this is different.

And as far as this criminal priority, I don't believe they are really meeting that priority in this case. Individuals who are working at a plant like Hyundai, they are probably specialized knowledge, specialized skill engineers or other types of workers who may not necessarily have a background or could fail a background check or have a criminal history.

So there is no real priority on a target. Here, they will be filling their beds, filling their quotas with individuals that are being detained, but if we are speaking of trying to reduce the number of criminal individuals here in the United States, I don't believe this is a tactic that's going to accomplish that.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Yesterday, I spoke with an educator who had her concerns about, you know, how this is making families and students feel the kind of apprehension that they have about this whole plan and the confusion that it is now promoting. This is part of what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVELIA PITTMAN, CHICAGO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER: I don't even have any words for what the President -- that statement that he has made that -- we are not trying to go to war. We are a people that want to be peaceful, but the most thing -- mostly what we want is we are looking for funding that will be able to help our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And she was largely responding to the President putting out his, you know, social media posting saying, you know, Chicago is about to find out why it is called the Department of War, talking about his Executive Order by renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

GAVILANES: Pretty interesting.

As far as the immigrant community, of course, they've been -- this whole -- since the beginning of this administration, right, we've seen a different approach. We see ICE officers at the immigration courts, right? As soon as those elevator doors open, they are standing there in the hallways waiting for individuals who are showing up for their hearings as an effort to scare individuals from showing up.

And what the people working at the courts tell me is, they have seen a number of individuals who no longer show up because of that fear. The same in the communities, right? I hear from clients who are afraid to go out to pick up their kids from school, take them to the doctor, go shopping for their needs because they're afraid that any kind of encounter might lead to an arrest or detention, especially if they have children that they are caring for.

WHITFIELD: Do you see this as making American cities safer?

GAVILANES: No. Again, because there are no priorities.

In past administrations, we've seen, ICE comes with a priority system where they're targeting individuals who have a criminal history, and then they push their efforts into detaining those individuals. They have gotten an influx of funding now, with the new bill passed this summer, and that will allow them to hire more officers, allowing them to expand their resources, but they are focusing on anyone and everyone, regardless of who that individual may be. It could be a family member who has been here for over ten, fifteen years without a single criminal history in all that time and they are being picked up only because they came across them.

Wherein the past, past administrations have used this as an effort to go after individuals who have been convicted of criminal offenses, felonies or other type of activity.

WHITFIELD: Jorge Gavilanes, thank you so much. Glad to see you.

GAVILANES: Pleasure.

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, the legality of the Trump administration's deployment of troops onto the streets of D.C. could soon be decided in court.

And a celebration at the Vatican, as thousands of millennials gather to celebrate a saint of their own, a teenager nicknamed "God's Influencer."

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[15:18:54]

WHITFIELD: Thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square this morning as Pope Leo canonized Carlo Acutis, nicknamed "God's Influencer" to become the first millennial saint. The Italian teenager was canonized alongside another young Italian man who died in 1925.

CNN's Christopher Lamb has more on Acutis' path to sainthood and the day's events.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carlo Acutis has just been declared the first millennial saint in the history of the Catholic Church.

Carlo Acutis died in 2006 at the age of 15 of leukemia. During his life, he was something of a computer whiz kid, and he used his computer skills to set up a website to document Eucharistic miracles and awareness of the Catholic faith. He is seen as something of a Patron Saint of the Internet to guide young people through the digital world, and since he died in 2006, a huge following has grown up to Carlo Acutis to his memory and to what he stood for.

[15:20:11]

And there was huge numbers here in St. Peter's Square for the moment when Pope Leo declared him a saint. A spontaneous eruption of applause broke out in the Square when that happened.

Now people from across the globe are here for this event, and I spoke to some of those from Pennsylvania, where there is a shrine to Carlo Acutis. There is a big following to this new saint in the United States. Here is what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt like he related to me because he found a way to use technology and love God at the same time, and use them in a way, and I feel like I kind of need to do that and this generation needs to learn how to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He used the internet for positive things. He used the internet to share his information on the Eucharist with other children, with adults. He has touched my life as an older man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAMB: Now, Carlo Acutis was declared a Saint after a long investigation into his life and after two miracles were attributed to his intercession, which is a necessary requirement normally for saints to be declared in the Catholic Church.

The two miracles of Carlo Acutis, one, a young Brazilian boy who had a birth defect and was reportedly cured of that after prayers were said to Carlo Acutis and a young Costa Rican woman, 21 year old, who had a bicycle accident in Florence, and her mother reportedly prayed to Carlo Acutis and she was cured, too.

So it was after that investigation into his life, the declaration of the miracles that Pope Leo today was able to declare him a saint.

Also of note is the fact that Carlo Acutis' family were here in St. Peter's to witness this moment. His mother and father and his brother and sister. They were mentioned by Pope Leo in his remarks during the canonization ceremony.

So, a historic moment here in St. Peter's with the declaration of the first millennial saint in the history of the church.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, and the embattled Prime Minister of Japan, announced today that he is stepping down, plunging the key U.S. ally into political uncertainty.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery is in Tokyo with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Japanese Prime Minister has resigned, and the timing of his decision, he said, has to do with the United States.

For months, Japan and the United States have been locked in trade talks after the U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on Japanese goods, a shocking blow to a key ally.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called the tariffs a "national crisis." But last week, the two countries finally inked a deal. Japan pledged to invest $550 billion in America and in return, Washington agreed to cut the tariff rate to 15 percent.

Ishiba also said he was stepping down to take responsibility for his party's bruising defeat in July's parliamentary elections. The Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority in the Upper House of Parliament, meaning a party that has dominated Japanese politics for nearly seven decades now finds itself in the minority in both chambers.

That loss crippled the LDP's ability to pass legislation and shattered its once iron grip on power. So Ishiba's exit was expected. Pressure had been mounting inside his own party, and just this week, lawmakers were preparing to test support for replacing him. Now, in terms of what is next for Japan, the LDP will hold a leadership race soon, which Ishiba said he would not run in, but with the party in turmoil and no clear successor in sight, Japan is entering one of its most turbulent political chapters in decades.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, new CNN reporting on President Trump's efforts to get one of his most vocal Republican critics, Congressman Thomas Massie, ousted in the next election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:37]

WHITFIELD: President Trump and his top political advisers are plotting an aggressive push against one of his most persistent Republican adversaries, Congressman Thomas Massie, and House GOP leaders will not stand in Trump's way.

Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team are sending their clearest signal yet that their conservative colleague will have to fend for himself in an upcoming reelection bid.

CNN chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, for years, Thomas Massie has been one of the biggest thorns in Donald Trump's side, but it has really intensified this year as Massie became a vocal Republican critic of Trump's signature domestic policy achievement, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Massie, criticizing the debts and deficits that could increase, is projected to increase as a result of that law.

But he has also led the charge to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Of course, he had that high-profile news conference last week with Epstein victims. He also has been trying to push to force a floor vote on a bill to call for the release -- demand the release of all the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump wants that bill gone. He wants the Republicans to block that effort from going forward. But in defiance of Trump, Massie is pressing ahead.

Now this all comes as, of course, next year is an election year. Massie is up for reelection like every other member of the House and Donald Trump behind-the-scenes is trying to plot his ouster.

[15:30:08]

He met earlier this summer with a potential Massie primary foe, a Super PAC aligned with him that has been staffed by some of his former top campaign officials, is planning to dump millions into his district and already spending seven figures on the air attacking Massie. And now we have new reporting about how Republican leaders themselves are making very clear that unlike in other races where they may defend their incumbents, this time, they will not intervene and Speaker Mike Johnson said this to me about the race last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Mr. Speaker, do you think that Thomas Massie deserves to be reelected?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Thomas Massie has made that decision himself. I mean, you know, he is actively working against his team almost daily now, and he seems to enjoy that role. So he is, you know, deciding his own fate.

My way is to reach out an olive branch to everybody and try to be a peacemaker, and some people make that very difficult for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But Massie himself is shrugging off the attacks coming from Trump and from Speaker Johnson, and I asked him about Johnson's comments, and he responded this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): The Speaker's position depends on him rubber stamping, not just rubber stamping, but reinforcing anything Donald Trump wants even if Donald Trump is wrong.

So the Speaker is in a tough spot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Ultimately, though, Massie is still two signatures -- Republican signatures short of forcing a vote on the Epstein bill because of that heavy lobbying campaign from Donald Trump and from Speaker Johnson and a lot of Republicans who do support releasing the files don't want to defy the President, and they don't want to see what Trump is doing to Massie happen to them, which is targeting them in their primary.

But Massie is still confident that in his district, a very expensive district to run, that he can come out on top, but it could be a little closer, he acknowledges, as a result of the money and attacks coming his way -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Manu Raju, thanks so much.

All right, coming up, a rare presidential appearance at the U.S. Open right now and it came with an unusual request from the tournament organizers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:07] WHITFIELD: All right, the opioid epidemic has taken hundreds of thousands of lives in the U.S. over the last 20 years and during the worst years of the crisis, doctors routinely used opioids for just about any kind of pain, meaning prescribing them, from a dislocated hips to toothaches and opioid prescriptions are common as well in emergency rooms.

CNN chief medical correspondent and author of the new book, "It Doesn't Have to Hurt," Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently spent time in the emergency room of Brooklyn's largest hospital to see what they are doing differently, to try to change all of that.

Here is a preview of his new documentary that looks at innovative and unexpected ways to treat and manage pain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Is opioids still sort of the therapy of choice?

DR. LUKE WEBER, ER SHIFT LEADER, MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER: Opioids is one of our therapies, but we take a lot of pride here in offering a wide variety of pain modalities.

DR. GUPTA (voice over): It's called opioid optimization, and it is pioneering work designed by this man.

DR. SERGEY MOTOV, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN, MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER: Did you fall at all?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

DR. GUPTA (voice over): Dr. Sergey Motov, an emergency medicine physician and Research Director at Maimonides.

DR. MOTOV: We decided to use non-opioid analgesic as a primary, analgetic of choice, obviously after patient's agreement and resort to opioids only as a rescue.

DR. GUPTA (voice over): That's right, opioids as the last resort for pain instead of the first. It's standard operating procedure here now, and they have found most of their patients are quite satisfied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA (on camera): So, Fred, you may watch that and think, so what are they doing in these emergency rooms if they are not using opioids, again, so used to using opioids for just about everything, well, they use things like nerve blocks for example. I saw a 76-year-old gentleman who had a hip fracture, came in got a nerve block, took about 10 minutes and he had absolutely no pain and no need for opioids, to using things like ketamine as well. They are using even virtual reality goggles, which may sound a little silly when you're comparing it to using opioids, but I can tell you, the data that they are collecting show that these things work. I think what is remarkable is that, doctors are increasingly getting on board with using these other treatment methods, methods that existed for a long time that have not really found their way into the Emergency Room and I think really important patients were satisfied.

Fred, I think for a long time, people thought, look, if you're not giving your patients opioids, they are not going to be satisfied and that was part of the reason they were being prescribed as much as they were. They found with these other modalities, patients were getting a lot of relief from their pain and they were very satisfied as well -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow! That is all so fascinating, and be sure to tune in to "Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: It Doesn't Have to Hurt." That airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

All right, straight ahead, Donald Trump's signature tariffs may turn into a refund. How a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week could reverse the President's signature economic policy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:44:51]

WHITFIELD: The Men's Final is underway after a delayed start over enhanced security measures at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York and that's because President Trump is in the crowd there today.

His arrival was met by boos with some cheering from the audience there at the U.S. Open. Trump is attending for the first time since doing so as a presidential candidate back in 2015.

CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter is with us right now.

So, Brian, it is not so unusual for a sitting President to attend a big event, especially a sporting event. In fact, this President has already attended about a half a dozen sporting events in his short time in office this go round. But what is unusual, right, is that the U.S. Open made a request to broadcast outlets to be careful about what they are showing upon his arrival.

[15:45:40]

STELTER: Right, to refrain from showing protests or disruptions relating to the President's attendance.

Now, so far, there have not been any drawn out protests that we are aware of, but as you mentioned, there have been some boos. There was a mix of cheers and boos when Trump first walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium, a little bit later, when he was shown on the jumbotron, it was more noticeable the amount of booing and that is not surprising given the audience there in Queens at this tennis tournament.

Of course, Queens is the President's hometown borough, but he is back in deep blue New York City, where the vast majority of residents voted against him and tennis attracts the kind of audience that might be a little more liberal than, let's say, the people that go to the UFC matches that Trump likes to attend.

As you mentioned, he has been to the Super Bowl this year, he has been to the FIFA World Cup Final, the Club Match Final in New Jersey. He has been to UFC matches. He continues to make appearances at sporting events, including NASCAR as well, and in some cases is met by big cheers, but certainly on a day like today in front of tennis fans, a lot more booing.

And there was concern from the U.S. Tennis Association that that would distract from the on-court action. There were some headlines yesterday on some websites about the U.S. Tennis Association asking networks to censor or telling networks to censor any apparent booing. I think those were overstatements, but it created a concern that networks might try to be, you know, falling in line or capitulating, as we've seen in some cases earlier this year.

Bottom line, though, ABC, ESPN have been able -- they have chosen to show that the President is there. You could hear a mix of cheers and boos. And I think what is going on here, whether you're a broadcaster or the Tennis Association, you want to keep the action on the court. You want to keep the focus on the athletes and not on who is in the stands.

WHITFIELD: Okay, and so he is there, play is underway. Do we know who has accompanied the President?

STELTER: Well, I think that is probably the more important part of the Trump attendance at the U.S. Open. He has been photographed there with the CEO of Rolex, and he is in the Rolex suite. In fact, the tennis tournament trophy is put up in the suite and is right next to the President.

So it is notable that the President accepted a corporate client's invitation, apparently in this case, Rolex, the Swiss watchmaker just a few weeks after the Trump administration imposed a 39 percent tariff on products from Switzerland.

We don't know what the discussions are like in that suite, in that box, but you can imagine that the executives at Rolex have a lot to say to President Trump about the tariffs.

So amid the sport celebration, amid the U.S. Open, I think it is worth asking if the President is having his ear bent by the executives at Rolex about the tariffs.

He is also there with Attorney General Pam Bondi, a number of other Trump administration officials this afternoon -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it is also worth asking, will he get a Rolex? Will he be gifted while he is in that box?

Stranger things have happened.

All right, Brian Stelter. STELTER: Right!

WHITFIELD: Yes. Thank you so much.

STELTER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, this week, the Supreme Court could decide whether it will hear a request by President Trump to decide whether some of his tariffs are legal. The White House has asked justices to quickly intervene, marking a last ditch effort by the administration to salvage Trump's trade policy after a federal court ruled against it.

Today, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave new details about what would happen to the billions of dollars in tariff revenue the U.S. has collected if the court rules against Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: So we would have to give a refund on about half the tariffs, which would be terrible for the Treasury.

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS: You're prepared to give those refunds?

BESSENT: Well, I mean, there is no be prepared if the court says that we have to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining us right now to discuss, defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Shan Wu.

Shan, great to see you. It has been too long.

SHAN WU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so, two federal courts, 10 federal judges have decided Trump's tariff policy is not legal. So you heard Bessent there talking about it would be terrible to have to give back refund, about half of the intake. What do you see potentially happening? Would that be the goal as a result of this ruling?

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WU: Well, it is a terribly. Complicated problem, really unprecedented. I mean, the size of the amount that has been deemed to be illegal at this point is just enormous, and I think the logistics are just impossibly complicated here and it is fine for Secretary Bessent to say, you know, no question about being prepared, we've just got to do it. But there is a question, how are you going to prepare for that? I mean, how are you going to calculate these?

I mean, I think it is a little bit interesting that he calls it potentially a rebate because a rebate, after all, is just a promotional refund or discount rather here. And here is the problem, what are you discounting off of? Right?

Fred, I mean, if you have a hundred percent increase in this, and say, I am going to give you a 50 percent discount. Yay! Great. But you're setting what the original increase is and the tariff percentages, of course, are all over the place and you have to decide what is the baseline that you're trying to get back to.

So it is a terribly complicated problem and really indicates legally why it would have been better just to stop them from going into effect until the litigation was concluded, probably ultimately at the Supreme Court.

WHITFIELD: Oh, interesting.

So during the Biden administration, conservative justices relied on something called the Major Questions Doctrine to strike down several of his policies. Could Trump also be subject to this if the justices do take up this case further?

WU: It could be. I mean, this Supreme Court very much has at least the conservative majority has proven to be a friend of expanding presidential power. So there is an aspect in which you could say, well, they are a little bit more likely to allow the President to engage in these issues rather than having the courts decide it, rather than the executive.

But on the other hand, a problem for the Trump administration is it is so black and white that the statute they tried to use does not specifically talk about using tariffs to address the emergency that he claims to exist.

So I think it is a hard question for the Supreme Court. I mean, they are definitely a friend to an expanded executive power, but this is also a very black and white legal question, at least I think so.

WHITFIELD: Today, the President's National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, said there are other ways to implement tariffs if the Supreme Court rules against them suggesting something called Section 232 could be used. Walk us through what that is, whether that would be applied potentially to these tariffs that Trump imposed on just about every nation.

WU: Yes, there are other methods they could use to do the tariffs. I mean, they can even use some of the sort of anti-dumping, countervailing duties type of issues, which I think he is alluding to here. The question really always with the Trump administration is, is one of process.

There may be many, many different statutory vehicles that a President can use to accomplish this type of economic leverage, to balance the playing field more favorably for the U.S. or if his real motive is just to negotiate certain things so he economic leverage, that's all possible.

But the process question is always central for the Trump administration and they don't want to use it. So whatever they want to do, Section 232 or something else that they come up with legally, the issue is they have to first get it approved, the best thing for the country is not to just willy-nilly start trying different things that cause this huge ripple cascade of economic effects, and only then do you litigate it later and then try to figure out, how do you put that genie back in the bottle.

WHITFIELD: And then finally, I do want to ask you about, you know, D.C. suing Trump for sending National Guard troops into the city without consent from local leaders. A federal judge recently ruled that Trump broke the law when he sent National Guard troops into Los Angeles. Could it be the same type of challenge here in D.C., which is a federal city?

WU: It will -- it is the same type of challenge. There are some differences. The California one where they prevailed because the Governor had not invited the Guard to come in and because they violated the Posse Comitatus Act established back in the Rutherford presidency, which really was meant to prevent the Union Army, it expands to all Armed Forces now from occupying the confederate states. And that's why it says that you can't have the Armed Forces doing civil law enforcement, because that's for the states and the police.

That's very much exactly the same issue going on here with one important difference, which is D.C., because it is a federal city, as you pointed out, there is no governor equivalent to invite or not invite the Guard in. And President Trump, as any President does, have that kind of control over the Guard.

But the fact that he can order the Guard in that sense, because it is D.C., does not mean that the Guard can do unconstitutional things and that's the subject of the lawsuit, which is to say, you can't use them as police substitutes. First of all, they're not even trained to do that. Terrible idea.

But if you're using them in domestic law enforcement, then you would still be violating the Constitution and the other aspects of the suit are taking on the sort of arbitrary capricious notion which really goes to the sort of questionable statistics that the administration is citing and saying that there is an uptick in crime. It is a pretty strong argument that there is not an uptick in crime.

[15:55:11]

WHITFIELD: All right, Shan Wu, we will leave it there. Thank you so much.

WU: Okay. Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: You as well.

All right, straight ahead, strong reaction from Democrats this weekend over a social media post from the President that say implies the administration is going to war against sanctuary cities.

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