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States Orders to Stop Issuing Full SNAP Benefits; Laurie Cardoza-Moore is Interviewed about the Heritage Foundation; Cleveland Guardians Pitchers Indicted. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 10, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:55]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It's half past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.

Today, the president will meet with Syria's new president. Ahmed al- Sharaa is already in D.C. playing basketball with top U.S. generals ahead of his meeting. It will mark the first time a Syrian head of state has visited the White House. Sharaa, a former jihadist who overthrew the Assad regime and is now seeking to end the country's diplomatic isolation with these kinds of high-profile meetings.

And the baby formula ByHeart has been linked to botulism. An outbreak in California. Preliminary tests show the formula contained a bacteria that produces the toxin. At least 13 infants in ten states have gotten sick since the outbreak began in August. The California Department of Public Health is urging parents to stop using the product immediately. And the company has recalled some of its other products.

And two top leaders at the BBC resign over a scandal involving a misleadingly edited speech by President Trump.

[06:35:03]

This was in a BBC documentary. And it comes after a leaked internal memo revealed the broadcast had doctored a speech, making it seem like President Trump encouraged rioters on January 6, 2021.

And the mission to Mars hits a small setback. Today, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will try again to launch its New Glenn rocket. The mission was scrubbed yesterday due to weather. If all goes to plan, the rocket will send twin satellites to the red planet. The spacecraft should arrive in 2027.

And as senators eye a deal that could end the shutdown, there's been a dizzying back and forth for people who use SNAP for groceries. Over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered states to stop issuing full food stamp benefits for November. But that's after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP benefits for the month. Meanwhile, food bank lines getting longer. People running them say there's more demand than resources.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Constantly busy. There's no downtime. From the moment we start, to the moment we end, they can just come in and start getting out the food. And all the line just keeps growing and growing. And now it's just even more. It goes out to the parking lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, dozens of states have increased food bank funds since the shutdown began. A handful plus the District of Columbia have actually provided direct financial aid to SNAP recipients, which the Trump administration is warning against.

The group chat is back.

I wanted to share with you guys a statement from this USDA memo where it says, "to the extent states sent full SNAP payment files for November, this was unauthorized. Accordingly, states must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025."

I want to translate this because it sounds on paper like it's saying, hey states who tried to help people out, stop.

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": That --

CORNISH: Is that incorrect? Help? Someone here, help?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: And that's correct. I mean that's part of what I think is so striking about the shutdown deal coming when it did is that it's been over a week since these SNAP benefits were put on hold. And this has been going back and forth in the courts. And the Trump administration has been fighting over and over, and going to the Supreme Court, saying, we don't want to pay this money. And that that was --

CORNISH: Yes, or -- is the plan to shut off the exit ramps.

DOVERE: Yes.

CORNISH: Like basically to say, no, no, the problem is Democrats won't appeal, and therefore we're going to cut off any outlets here to blow off the steam.

RODRIGUEZ: I mean, politically, that's what it appears to be. Politically it's like, let's create a pressure cooker so that Democrats will have to come to the table and agree to the conditions that Republicans want. That is, I mean, if you talk to any political pundit in Washington, D.C., that's the conversation.

It also, though, is really difficult to explain given that SNAP benefits is something that one in eight Americans receive in this country and that that would insinuate and -- not insinuate, that would directly show that they're OK with people struggling and going hungry. So, there's been sort of this disconnect between, yes, it's a

political tool. But at the same time, this political tool is literally 42 million people not having the funds to be able to get food this month.

CORNISH: And it allowed for this kind of exchange. This was Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat. He actually was asked to respond about this warning over the funding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. WES MOORE (D-MD): We've now received guidance saying the states are going to be punished for fronting the money. There is a chaos, and it is an intentional chaos, that we are seeing from this administration. And where they have money for everything. They have that money to fight wars. They've got money for ballrooms. They got money for everything. But when it comes to supporting the American people, that's now when they are crying, well, we're broke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "BLOOMBERG NEWS": This is the complaint you're hearing from critics. And -- and to be clear, Democrats and Republicans have expressed concerns about the SNAP benefits, whether people in their states will get food assistance. And I think -- but I do think this has built pressure over the last week and is one of the reasons that you see a potential deal coming.

CORNISH: But does it allow -- instead of waking up this morning and saying Republicans -- like, look, Republicans got everyone to the table, Democrats folded. You kind of created a scenario where Democrats can say, this was on purpose. This is mean-spirited. And this is my evidence to that.

DOVERE: And I think, strikingly, Governor Moore was -- has not said anything about this deal yet. Is not in support of it. A lot of Democratic governors, who are the ones who have been dealing with trying to figure out what to do with SNAP benefits, are against it very publicly and saying that this was not the right thing for Democrats to do. You do see --

CORNISH: Yes, I think Gavin Newsom has a tweet that just says "pathetic."

DOVERE: Yes, but also J.B. Pritzker is against it.

CORNISH: Yes.

DOVERE: Lots of governors have been against it. And, again, they're the ones who've been dealing with it, right?

CORNISH: Maybe because they thought they could front the money and get it back.

DOVER: Maybe. But what is true is that the SNAP situation was going on for over a week. It does seem like what the immediate prompt was for the senators may have been this chaos over the flight delays.

[06:40:00]

And look, I had a flight that was canceled over the weekend myself. It was a pain. But the question that the Democrats are facing here about the shutdown deal is whether they were responding to the pressure that the Trump administration was putting on them and folding under it, or whether they had an opportunity to try to get Americans to stay on their side if they kept pressing with it.

CORNISH: OK, you guys, stay with me. I want to talk about something else for a second, because we're still following the fallout at one of the top conservative groups in the nation over its support of Tucker Carlson following his interview with a Holocaust denier. Some supporters of the Heritage Foundation called for the think tank to sever ties with Carlson over his friendly interview with Nick Fuentes last month. Heritage President Kevin Roberts instead issued a statement in support of Carlson, causing a mini revolt inside the group. Roberts then addressed the staff late last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN ROBERTS, PRESIDENT, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: I didn't know much about this Fuentes guy. I still don't. Which underscores the mistake. I can tell you with a clear conscience, and not making any excuses, that those were my intentions, to fix all of that. And obviously I didn't. I made them worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: But for pro-Israel Republican members of Congress, the apology does not go far enough.

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REP. RANDY FINE (R-FL): We ended our relationship with Heritage. We're working with many Jewish groups that have ended their relationship with Heritage. And really I have to do is talk to my colleagues, because the biggest issue we have with Tucker Carlson is people remember the Tucker Carlson of five years ago. That's what makes him so dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now to discuss, Laurie Cardoza-Moore, who actually resigned from the Heritage Foundation's anti-Semitism board over this whole thing.

Laurie, thank you so much for being here.

LAURIE CARDOZA-MOORE, RESIGNED FROM HERITAGE FOUNDATION OVER TUCKER CARLSON: Audie, thank you so much for bringing attention to this. This is critically important for the future of the United States, and for the state of Israel, our ally in the Middle East.

CORNISH: I want to talk about this because, you know, you were on this board, this national task force to combat anti-Semitism, what's known as Project Esther. And it feels as though, in the aftermath of the Gaza war, when there was so much conversation of what was happening on the left, that Republicans were, quote/unquote, stepping up in support of Israel and stepping up specifically around anti-Semitism.

How has all this undermined that?

CARDOZA-MOORE: Well, I'll tell you, it's interesting. During the town hall meeting with Kevin Roberts, one of his staff said, and I quote, "those are not the actions of a man who knows what time it is. They are not the actions of a man who knows how to tell time."

The fact that he is supporting a neo-Nazi supporting individual, Tucker Carlson, that tells me, completely, this man is not -- he's not suitable for this position. We have watched Tucker Carlson falsely accused Israel, or the IDF specifically, of killing Christians in Gaza. This is a lie. And for him to repeat this. We have listened to even Kevin make the comment about heretics, that -- or that Tucker is supporting heretics -- or, I'm sorry --

CORNISH: Yes.

CARDOZA-MOORE: That Christians are heretics because we support the state of Israel.

CORNISH: Can I ask you -- let me jump in here though because it goes way beyond Heritage in the way its spreading. It's very much in the conversation in the aftermath of the death of Charlie Kirk, as people talk about his legacy. So, to give an example, J.D. Vance has been appearing at T.P. USA events. And at one at Ole Miss, there was a student who got up and then like confronted him about U.S. support for Israel.

Can -- I just want to play a bit of that of that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just confused why this idea has come around, considering the fact that not only does their religion not agree with ours, but also openly supports the prosecution of ours.

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, so let me -- let me say things -- a few things about this.

First of all, when the president of United States says America first, that means that he pursues the interests of Americans first.

So, when people say that Israel is somehow manipulating or controlling the president of the United States, they're not controlling this president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: In this moment and others, what should J.D. Vance be saying?

CARDOZA-MOORE: Audie, we -- this country was founded on Judeo- Christian values. That is part of our history. It is part of our heritage. So, for J.D. Vance to not communicate that message to the audience, these kids -- you have to remember this.

[06:45:05]

These kids have been indoctrinated with anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel sentiment in their curriculum in K-12 education. So, although I'm shocked about what the students at Ole Miss are saying, I am not surprised. This is a growing problem throughout our country. We -- America is the strongest ally. We have -- we call the state of Israel a aircraft carrier in the Middle East for the United States of America. The United States benefits in so many different ways, from technology, to medicine, to intelligence.

CORNISH: Yes.

CARDOZA-MOORE: And for J.D. Vance to not clearly articulate this message to these young people who are going to be our up and coming leaders is shameful.

CORNISH: Laurie Cardoza-Moore, I just want to ask one thing. I think a lot of Democrats would be watching this and saying, told you so, right? Like, that for a long time people have looked at Carlson, looked at people on the right, looked at the fact that Fuentes got a visit with Trump at one point, to have dinner with him, and said, this was a problem that's been brewing. Now you have these text messages that come up within the sort of pipeline of young Republicans. At what point is this conversation about a broader problem, not just Tucker Carlson?

CARDOZA-MOORE: It is a broader problem, but people like Tucker Carlson and the leadership at the Heritage Foundation, under Kevin Roberts, are helping to fuel this because they're not clearly articulating what really is happening. When you interview and you allow people like Munther Isaac to falsely accuse Israel of occupying Palestinian land, remember, we're Christians. We're Zionist Christians. And for Tucker Carlson to accuse Zionist Christians of being heretics, it is -- it is shameful. And what's even worse is that Kevin Roberts isn't even articulating that message. And we know the Heritage Foundation is involved in helping to frame curriculum and content that we use to teach our kids in American classrooms.

This -- Kevin Roberts needs to step down. He is not suitable for this position any longer. He did not clearly articulate what is happening with Tucker Carlson with these lies. The fact that he would blow off Nick Fuentes' interview by Tucker Carlson. Are you kidding me? He is one of the biggest anti-Semites who is falsely accusing Israel. He is -- he makes sexist comments.

CORNISH: Yes.

CARDOZA-MOORE: And we can't even -- we can't even get Roberts to clearly articulate that this is not the Heritage Foundation. This is why I stepped down. It is why I will not participate within an organization. As prestigious as the Heritage Foundation is, I think that the Heritage Foundation is -- has lost its mooring. It's lost its way. And it's time for Kevin Roberts to go. And a new -- a new leader needs to step in that knows about American history with Israel, with the Jewish people. George Washington would be rolling in his grave right now.

CORNISH: Laurie Cardoza-Moore is president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations. Thank you for being here.

And if you'd like to hear more of that conversation, any part of the show or recent shows, know that we're a podcast. You just got to scan this QR code now. CNN THIS MORNING available anywhere you get your podcasts.

And next on CNN THIS MORNING, the power of the pardon. President Trump giving a clean slate to some of the people who helped him try to overturn the election.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, come on, you're already a millionaire as an MLB player and then you're going to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Two Cleveland Guardians indicted, accused of rigging pitches. Does the MLB now have a growing betting crisis?

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[06:53:10]

CORNISH: The betting crisis growing across all pro sports leagues. Today's scandal, in baseball, where two pitchers in Cleveland now face federal gambling charges. Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are accused of sharing information on the speed, height, style of pitches for prop bets. The indictment included specific games and images like these. They're accused, for example, of purposely tossing balls in the dirt instead of strikes. Prosecutors say the scheme goes back as far as 2023 with one of the pitchers who's considered to be one of the strongest pitchers in the league.

Now, according to the indictment, Ortiz wasn't involved until this summer. Both allegedly took several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two unnamed gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000.

Joining me now, Randall Williams, U.S. sports business reporter at "Bloomberg."

Randall, I might as well just have a chair for you on set for the weekly scandal, OK. This betting thing is having an effect. Was it the game play or the bets themselves that raised suspicion?

RANDALL WILLIAMS, U.S. SPORTS BUSINESS REPORTER, "BLOOMBERG": I think it was both. Both the fact that they were throwing purposeful balls. I mean when you're throwing balls into the dirt. At one point in this lawsuit, he tried to throw a ball and the -- and the batter swung. And then, ten minutes after the Guardians had won the game, he -- one of them went back into the locker room and texted the person from the Dominican Republic and sent like a sad face. And when you have a, you know, set up that way, it's alarming.

CORNISH: You know, just a few weeks ago, the FBI actually opened a case, of course, into NBA players and coaches playing -- placing bets on games. Now, there's this indictment. Do you get a sense that the league heads are starting to realize that this could be a wider problem? At first it seemed like everyone thought it would be, quote/unquote, a few bad apples.

[06:55:04]

WILLIAMS: Yes, I think that all of them are taking serious consideration into how to stop some of what's been happening and some of these, you know, some of these bad apples in a sense. And it really starts with the prop bets. You said in your opening monologue there, which is that, when there is too much access, then that leads to manipulation. When you can bet on balls and strikes or, you know, the number of points and, you know, rebounds and things like that for the 10th and 11th man on the bench, then, of course, there's going to be risk to manipulation where people can take themselves out of a game to throw purposeful balls. Those things are easily manipulable. And I think that, you know, if things don't change, we could be seeing one of these on a semiannual basis or a year to two year basis.

CORNISH: OK, that's Randall Williams, who will be on that for us. Thank you so much for joining CNN THIS MORNING.

WILLIAMS: Thank you for having me.

CORNISH: All right. I want to talk to you guys about what's in your group chat. We know what is in Randall's apparently, a sad face emoji and a baseball.

Sabrina, for you?

RODRIGUEZ: This is a really nerdy one, I will say -- I will -- I will admit.

CORNISH: Correct. That's why I'm starting with you. What are the business reporters jawbone about?

RODRIGUEZ: But I think seeing the president this weekend talk about how he wants to send Americans $2,000, checks, tariff checks for all the money that's being raised from tariffs.

CORNISH: Of which there's a lot. There is money going into American coffers.

RODRIGUEZ: Of which there is a lot. However, there is not enough to give every American a $2,000 check, especially when you add in that the administration themselves are saying that that money is supposed to reduce the U.S. debt. CORNISH: But do you think it's because if there's a threat to the

tariffs being legal? One of the things we've heard is that you'd have to give back the money.

RODRIGUEZ: Well, I think --

CORNISH: And are the Trump people trying to be like, you're not going to take money out of peoples' pockets if we send it.

RODRIGUEZ: Well, I think there's an awareness about the tariffs not being popular and the president clearly wanting to do some type of rebrand, trying to get some buy in, especially when they just want, you know, the legality is being questioned in the Supreme Court right now. But, of course, there's a trend of the president liking to talk about giving out checks and that not necessarily coming to fruition, but --

CORNISH: You've got relatives asking about that?

RODRIGUEZ: I'm curious to see where it goes.

CORNISH: That emoji is just a flying catch.

RODRIGUEZ: A group chat flying.

CORNISH: Yes, exactly.

OK, Isaac, you?

DOVERE: One of the stranger rebranding things that I've ever seen, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the great museum in Philadelphia, you know, with the Rocky steps and everything, had a rebrand to try to make it the Philadelphia Art Museum.

CORNISH: So, it is the --

DOVERE: It was the Philadelphia Museum of Art. They tried to make it the Philadelphia Art Museum. Philadelphians, in their unique way, took the p-h-a-r-t and were making something out of that.

CORNISH: A big flag on the field. They were like, not so fast.

DOVERE: It has led to the director, who was behind the rebrand, being shown the door. And I guess they're going to have to figure out whether they can get that "of" back into things again.

CORNISH: My gosh. We call that the Cracker Barrel. Like, if you decide to rebrand in a way that people are not really enjoying it can really --

DOVERE: Yes. But also like confusing, you know.

CORNISH: Yes, I don't know what would have -- why -- I mean sometimes it's like somebody gets a business consultant and then they want to have a new -- I'm trying to help. I'm trying to help you. Philadelphia, OK. I love art. Catherine, what about you?

LUCEY: I'll close with a plug. If you decide to drive and not fly somewhere because of the flying situation, there's a new audio book version of "Harry Potter" that's out where it's a voice cast of actors doing it. And they do sound effects and music. And so it's sort of like a radio play. Listened to a lot of it yesterday with one of my kids, and it is very entertaining.

CORNISH: My kids have actually just gone through the first round of reading "Harry Potter," which I had studiously ignored as the one person in America who had not read these books.

LUCEY: Oh, this is your chance, Audie.

CORNISH: This is -- it better than like a -- why not just listen to a theater version? Was there something about this that was captivating?

LUCEY: Well, maybe -- the previous recordings were like one person reading it, doing voices, which are excellent, but this does feel a little more engaging because you have different voices for all the parts.

CORNISH: Listen, I'm all about kids enjoying old school radio plays.

LUCEY: Yes.

CORNISH: OK.

You guys, I want to thank you so much for being with us because we have so much news happening today. We're going to be watching for that Senate vote and seeing which Democrats sign on, which Democrats do not.

Sabrina, do you have any people who you're, like, watching in particular?

RODRIGUEZ: Oof. I just think how Democrats navigate and like talk this week.

CORNISH: Just how they talk about. Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: Yes. I just think how they all play this because, again, we're back to now the Democrats in disarray and how they navigate this.

CORNISH: Yes. And same thing. Then it'll have to go back to the House. So, people will get to take their shots then as well.

DOVERE: Yes, and the House will come back into session for the first time in over a month and figure out what they do there. But I do think if you watch the potential presidential candidates on the Democratic side and how they're reacting to this, you talked about Newsom and Pritzker, people like Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, others, including in the Senate, Cory Booker, people who are looking at this, looking at being potential future leaders of the party and how they -- CORNISH: But you have to say to the public, I know you're hungry. I know you don't want to be stalled in the airport also. And they should have held on longer.

DOVERE: Right. But and -- and what, going to this question of, what are Democrats about?

[07:00:04]

What do they stand for? And how much are they tapping into that energy, which is very much out there in the country of people saying they want more of a fight? And that's what we saw in last week's election.

CORNISH: Yes, or a fight specifically for these health care subsidies. A girl loves details. I want to see something come out about what exactly they're agreeing too.

LUCEY: Yes, I'm also curious about how President Trump is going to react to this and whether he, you know, throws sort of more fuel on the fire here.

CORNISH: All right, you guys, thanks so much. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish, and the headlines are next.