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ICE Begins Operations in Charlotte, N.C., Over Objections of Locals; Bird Flu & Inflation: Thanksgiving Costs Soar. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired November 17, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:19]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Release the Epstein files. President Trump changing his tune just days before a House vote. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
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REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): You will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don't vote to release these files.
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CORNISH: So, what's behind the president's flip-flop?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are abusing people. They are kidnaping people in front of children.
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CORNISH: Caught in Charlotte's Web. ICE arrives in North Carolina and wastes no time.
And the world's largest warship, now in the Caribbean. And President Trump's mind is made up. What will he do with Venezuela?
Not so fast. That $2,000 check from the White House won't hit your bank account anytime soon.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, basically, mostly be eating sides and stuff.
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CORNISH: Is this Thanksgiving going to be all about the sides? We're talking turkey and what your menu tells us about the state of our economy.
It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. This is a live look at Capitol Hill.
Good morning, everybody. It is Monday, November 17th. I want to thank you for waking up with me. I'm Audie Cornish, and here's where we begin: with a change of heart.
New this morning, President Trump now wants his Republicans to vote for a release of the Epstein -- the Epstein files. He wrote on Truth Social Sunday, "There's nothing to hide, and it's time to move on."
A vote is scheduled for tomorrow. So far, only four House Republicans have signaled that they would vote that way.
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MASSIE: I think we could have a deluge of Republicans. There could be 100 or more. I'm hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote.
And, you know, the president's been saying this is a hoax. He's been saying that for months. Well, he's just now decided to investigate a hoax, if it's a hoax.
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CORNISH: President Trump also asking his DOJ to look into Jeffrey Epstein's ties to high-profile Democratic Party figures like former President Bill Clinton.
Now on to Operation Charlotte's Web. That's the Trump administration's latest immigration crackdown.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yo! Yo! Yo, what the (EXPLETIVE DELETED)?
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CORNISH: Border Patrol agents arrested 81 people in about five hours. This was in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
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CORNISH: Federal agents were caught on camera here, smashing the car window of a Honduran immigrant who is in the country legally. He was later released.
And Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino was spotted in Pineville, North Carolina, even though federal officials insisted he would be staying in Chicago.
Here's what he had said on Friday about the operation.
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GREGORY BOVINO, BORDER PATROL COMMANDER: I can question anyone anywhere in the United States as to their citizenship. Priscilla, what's your citizenship? See, I just did it now, and I can do that anywhere in the United States.
We need reasonable suspicion to make an immigration arrest. You notice I did not say probable cause, nor did I say I need a warrant.
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CORNISH: Local leaders in Charlotte are condemning the operation. Residents say they're terrified.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They should not be here. They should not be here, period. They are abusing people. They are kidnaping people in front of children. I experienced another day, yesterday, where they came into a church, took this wife's -- this lady's husband, and her kids were there crying. This is not OK. This is not OK. This needs to go. Like, they got to go. They need to fix this. They got to go.
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CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat: Sara Fischer, senior media reporter at Axios and CNN -- CNN senior media analyst; Garrett Graff, journalist and historian; and Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent for "USA Today."
Francesca, before we get into the politics of it, I don't -- this wasn't exactly a surprise, because they've been talking a lot about the various places they wanted to go. But it's not Memphis. It's North Carolina. Do we know anything about why?
FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "USA TODAY": Well, it was unannounced beforehand, but at the same time, to your point, local leaders, as well as the governor even, knew that this could be on the horizon.
Josh Stein, the Democratic governor of North Carolina, sent out a statement on Friday afternoon about this, saying that, of course, you should go after, you know, criminals and the most violent people and that there should be immigration enforcement.
[06:05:03]
But where he really pushed back on was the idea that a lot of the people who are being caught up in these are not the most violent, the worst of the worst, as the Trump administration has been saying, and that he said the vast majority of these -- these people were not in that category.
CORNISH: Yes. And I want to play for you also, the mayor pro tem, Dante Anderson. They were asked about whether or not the city wants the help of ICE. Here's what they had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANTE ANDERSON, MAYOR PRO TEM, CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: So, here's the thing about Charlotte. Charlotte is a lawful city. Our crime is low and has decreased year over year. Our Charlotte Police Department just recently released their Q3 numbers, and we can see that crime across the board is down. We know that violent crime, year over year, is down.
And so, we don't need any assistance as it relates to crime or public safety.
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CORNISH: The reason why I wanted to play this is because there has been this probably purposeful merging of the public safety issue and the immigration issue, because the White House talks about immigrant crimes.
Garrett, why do you think maybe North Carolina was next, based on this? Because she started talking about something very specific. She didn't start talking about immigrants.
GARRETT GRAFF, JOURNALIST AND HISTORIAN: Yes. So, I think that there -- again, we know sort of shockingly little, officially, about why Charlotte is on the list. I have sort of two theories.
One, there's been a long-running dispute between immigration authorities and the sheriff in that area, who has refused to participate in some of the ICE detainer programs.
My sort of other theory is, remember, there was a very high-profile crime this fall that made big inroads on the right, in sort of right- wing media ecosystems, where a Ukrainian refugee was stabbed to death on public transit in Charlotte.
CORNISH: Right. Iryna Zarutska.
GRAFF: Exactly. Interestingly, a crime not by an immigrant, but the victim was an immigrant. Which -- but I think that in, I would not be surprised if, in Donald Trump's mind, he has sort of confused this and sort of now pictures, like, immigrant crime. Charlotte as one of -- you know, somewhere in his mind.
CORNISH: So, you know about this, as well.
SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: Yes.
CORNISH: OK. So, just to remind people, this was late August. It was a Ukrainian refugee named Iryna Zarutska. She was fatally stabbed by a man, allegedly, named Decarlos Brown Jr. He was a homeless U.S. citizen with a history of arrests. And she was a refugee.
But I remember this being a story we heard over and over again to symbolize the crime across U.S. cities.
FISCHER: Yes. And in particular, left U.S. cities.
And this was something, as Garrett said, that was seized upon by MAGA media, by voices on the right, as being able to point to, look, how bad the crime is in these places. Police departments aren't doing enough about it.
But to your point, Audie, before about sort of merging this idea of immigration enforcement and crime, we saw this in D.C. when they brought the National Guard in. There was a huge effort to go after crime in D.C., but the National Guard was in places where the crime in D.C. wasn't even really that bad. Places like the National Mall and even Union Station.
And so, I think this conflation has been happening all around the country. And that's why people are so frustrated.
CORNISH: Yes.
FISCHER: Because people actually do want crime to be tackled at the local level. But that does not seem to be what the administration is ultimately always going against.
CORNISH: I also want to show you guys one more thing. We're going to talk about this more this hour.
But in Chicago, with Operation Midway Blitz, they arrested something like 600-plus people. And out of those 614 people, here are the number who had criminal records or were high public safety risks.
We only have this because a judge forced it. Could a judge intervene here? Do you think North Carolina could use the same playbook?
GRAFF: Yes. And I actually think that this is one of the things that we're going to see that's interesting about this; is that I think that there's going to be a nuclear half-life of the effect of these CBP raids on cities. That sort of from Los Angeles to Portland to Chicago.
To me, the interesting thing is, I think the CBP tactics are failing in each city, and that I think what you're seeing is actually the Trump administration sort of surrendering in Chicago, trying to sort of restart this program, staying just a couple of steps ahead of the judicial orders that are sort of blocking them in each of these cities.
CORNISH: OK, were going to -- I'm going to ask more questions about this. This is an interesting thesis. You guys stay with us.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, tensions hit a fever pitch as the U.S. ups the ante in Venezuela.
Plus, the Jets cornerback, shot while out in New York City. What we're learning about that case.
And why Marjorie Taylor Greene is issuing an apology to the American people.
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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): He called me a traitor. And that is -- that is so extremely wrong. And those are the types of words used that can radicalize people against me.
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CORNISH: It's almost 15 minutes past the hour. And here is your morning roundup.
The New York Jets cornerback took a bullet outside a New York City restaurant early Sunday morning. A source tells CNN Kris Boyd was shot in the stomach.
The source went on to say that two cars pulled up to Boyd and his group, and then a gunman fired, and one of the vehicles sped off.
Boyd is now in stable condition.
And if you're counting on that $2,000 tariff check President Trump promised, you're going to have to wait. The treasury secretary says it will need to be approved by Congress first. As for who will get one?
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SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: President Trump has also talked about sending $2,000 refunds to -- and that would be for working families. We'll have an income limit. We will see. We need legislation for that.
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CORNISH: Keep in mind, President Trump has hinted at the checks several times this year, landing on $2,000 just last week.
And the rain isn't letting up in Southern California. Flooding, mudslides, downed trees, all a concern after a wet weekend. And another round of rain is expected today into tomorrow.
This weekend, some parts already saw a month's worth of rain.
And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, releasing the Epstein files. This week, the House will vote on whether that should happen. And President Trump may now be on board.
Plus, how much could this year's bird cost for your Thanksgiving dinner? I'm going to talk to the CEO of Butterball, next.
And good morning to Miami. A sunrise for you over this -- the city skyline.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At Walmart, shopping for my Thanksgiving dinner. My guess is that it's going to cost around 70 to $80.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An entire Thanksgiving dinner for $36 from Lidl. Who's doing this?
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CORNISH: OK, it's about time to start planning your Thanksgiving menu and your Thanksgiving budget, because this year's turkey might cost you. The 15-pound turkey that cost $0.94 per pound last year will now cost more than $2 per pound.
The price hike is not surprising, but it is concerning.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: High price. Rise of everything going on with inflation. The tariffs are -- dollars are not stretching as much as they need to.
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CORNISH: Right. Inflation isn't the only problem. The bird flu isn't exactly helping. It caused a reduced supply of turkeys. Now wholesale prices are up 40 percent from this time last year.
So. you've got retailers like Kroger, Aldi, Walmart. They're locked into a price war. They're trying to get consumers -- give them the biggest bang for their buck.
Joining me now is Jay Jandrain, president and CEO of Butterball. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. Thanks for being here.
JAY JANDRAIN, PRESIDENT/CEO, BUTTERBALL: Glad to be here. Thank you for having us.
CORNISH: So, we had the president citing the cost of Walmart's Thanksgiving dinner as being cheaper than last year, even as we talked about all of those increases.
Can you talk about, are retailers basically eating the cost, so to speak, of the wholesale price?
JANDRAIN: Well, we're certainly very fortunate that the retailers use the turkeys as a way to get more shoppers in their stores.
So, there really is a very, very good value for those consumers. We're seeing prices very similar to what they were last year and even going back a few years. You've heard some retailers talk about their prices being lower or the same as what they were maybe five years ago. So, we're glad to be a part of that, and fortunate that we can help
pass on a real value to the consumer in such an important meal for the year for them.
CORNISH: I know that some people, we've -- there's some numbers out there about how they're going to deal with Thanksgiving. Twenty-one percent plan to ask guests to bring part of the meal.
Other ways they're thinking of saving: having people -- they're making changes to the side dishes, making changes, having more sort of non- paper items, things like that.
What are the changes you're hearing about? Because the truth is, everyone wants the turkey. It's an emotional purchase, so you've got to rearrange. If you want to make changes, you've got to rearrange everything else around the turkey. What are you hearing?
JANDRAIN: Well, that's right. We talk to consumers every year, particularly prior to the holiday, to try to get a good understanding of what their plans are for Thanksgiving.
And what you've just said is exactly right. They plan on celebrating the holiday. Eighty-nine percent of those that we talked to said they will be celebrating Thanksgiving this year, and 84 percent of those will have turkey at the center of the table. That's consistent with what we've seen year over year.
People don't want to compromise when it comes to what they're actually having on their table, specifically around the turkey. So, certainly great news for Butterball, great news for the turkey industry.
And again, with the prices the way they are, with what the retailer is offering and the consumer, it's an incredible deal. Very economical protein for people to serve. And quite frankly, probably one of the least expensive meals of the year when you consider all that.
So, we're very happy to see the consumers, you know, staunchly behind the holiday. We're expecting about 9 to 10 guests per Thanksgiving meal, which is great. We're seeing numbers up. People are looking for opportunities to get back together, spend time with their friends and families.
CORNISH: Yes.
JANDRAIN: And we're just very happy to get that.
CORNISH: Jay Jandrain, I do want to ask one more question, which is that we've seen farmers, like soybean farmers, agriculture industry, really concerned about tariffs, for example, or loss of supply with the end of USAID, et cetera.
We've talked about these other industries that are struggling because of tariffs. How has the turkey business somehow escaped all that? You don't have any increased prices in terms of feed or caring or anything like that? JANDRAIN: Yes. Fortunately, we -- we actually bring in very few items
from outside of the U.S. Our primary cost components are exactly what you mentioned, the corn and soybeans that we use for our feed programs, and those are domestic.
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So, we're actually able to help out the American farmer in that regard. We consume a lot of what they produce, which is great.
But fortunately, we don't have a lot of impact with regard to materials coming into the country. So, we're one of those industries that has been impacted very, very little because of that, which is great. We can, again, help control our costs and pass it on to consumer.
CORNISH: OK. That's Jay Jandrain of Butterball. Thanks so much for being with us.
JANDRAIN: Thank you for having me.
CORNISH: And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump and one of his biggest supporters now on opposite sides. Why Marjorie Taylor Greene says his comments are putting her life at risk.
Plus, Reverend Jesse Jackson remains hospitalized this morning. An update on his condition.
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