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CNN This Morning
Today: House to Vote on Bill to Release Epstein Files; MTV to Close Five Channels by End of Year. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired November 18, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:04]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington. CNN THIS MORNING, with Audie Cornish, starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Jeffrey Epstein accusers demand the release of the files. Today, Congress has a chance to do just that. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time to bring the secrets out of the shadows.
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CORNISH: So, will more Republicans vote in favor, now that President Trump has signaled his support?
And the White House rolling out the red carpet for the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, his first visit since he was accused of killing an American journalist.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't rule out anything. We just have to take care of Venezuela.
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CORNISH: U.S. troops in Venezuela, military strikes in other countries. The president not ruling anything out. Is there a path for diplomacy?
And he said, you get a check and you get a check. But can President Trump really afford to give refund checks to every American?
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SETH MEYERS, HOST, NBC'S "LATE-NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": You guys, they said my name on TV. Not often.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Stephen Colbert was fired. Jimmy Kimmel was suspended. And now President Trump's got another late-night target: Seth Meyers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NINA BLACKWOOD, FORMER MTV VEEJAY: The world's first video music channel: all day, all night, in stereo.
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CORNISH: Video killed the radio star. But did YouTube put the nail in the coffin for MTV?
It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. This is a gorgeous sunrise over New York City. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for being here.
It's Tuesday, November 18. I'm Audie Cornish, and here is where we begin.
In just a matter of hours, the House is taking up a bill which could lead to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files. A vote which suddenly has the backing of the man who once stood in the way: President Trump.
The vote in the House today caps four months of political fighting on Capitol Hill. But Epstein's accusers say their fight for justice has been going on for years. They just aired this PSA, calling for the full release of the files.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was 14 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was 16 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was 16 --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- 17.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- 14 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I met Jeffrey Epstein.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is me when I met Jeffrey Epstein.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time to bring the secrets out of the shadows.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time to shine a light into the darkness. GRAPHIC: Five administrations, and we're still in the dark.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, the survivors also reminding people this isn't just a political battle. Epstein changed the lives of real people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNIE FARMER, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: It's very frustrating for many of us that it does so often get politicized. But I think, finally, the stories are breaking through, and people are recognizing that. And we're feeling such a groundswell of support because of that.
Those of us who have been involved in this for some time recognize there have been a lot of betrayals. So, I think what we really want to see is follow-through.
We know there is still a longer road ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK. Today in the group chat, Garrett Graff is back. He's a journalist and author of "The Devil Reached Toward the Sky." Rob Bluey, president and executive editor of "The Daily Signal"; and Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist.
I want to start with you, Garrett, because now this is finally happening. We wanted to start with the victims, because something in that ad interested me, saying, five administrations, right? Like, they're not trying to come down on a side politically here.
But is there anything significant about this moment to you?
GARRETT GRAFF, AUTHOR, "THE DEVIL REACHED TOWARD THE SKY": Yes. I think that this is an important moment to remember that there are real people behind this sort of political scandal, and that, as much as we sort of look at this as, like, is this good for Trump or bad for Trump, that there is a criminal case underlying this that involves an enormous number, still sort of yet to be defined --
CORNISH: Right.
GRAFF: -- of both victims and people who sort of knew about and encouraged and enabled this behavior by Jeffrey Epstein for years.
And as we've seen over the last couple of days, with the controversy around the appearance and role and friendship of Larry Summers, former treasury secretary, with -- with Jeffrey Epstein you know, him announcing overnight that he's going to take a big step back from his --
[06:05:05]
CORNISH: Yes. He's going to step back. Because he was communicating with Epstein. GRAFF: -- public life. That, you know, this is not just a story about
Donald Trump.
CORNISH: Yes.
GRAFF: This is a story about sort of some of the most powerful people in America on a whole bunch of different fronts.
CORNISH: OK. We're just showing there the statement from Larry Summers, former treasury secretary, saying he was deeply ashamed of his actions.
Now, Senator Elizabeth Warren calling on Harvard to sever ties with him altogether.
You know, one person who's been leading the charge on this in the House, of course, Thomas Massie, Republican. And here was his reaction to this shift by the president, who went from actively lobbying against this discharge petition to saying, OK, fine, I'd sign it if it came to my desk.
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REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): The speaker, the attorney general, the FBI director, the president, and the vice president could have saved us all this time and -- and embarrassment, frankly, for our own party, if they'd just done the right thing four months ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Rob, I wanted to ask you about this, because as much as Democrats have gleefully jumped onto it, he has held firm.
ROB BLUEY, PRESIDENT/EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE DAILY SIGNAL": Yes. He has.
CORNISH: And the four Republicans who said -- who looked Trump's folks in the eye and says, We don't care. We want this vote. It seemed like a sign of weakness on this particular topic.
What's your response to his idea that he's like, look, it didn't even have to go down this way?
BLUEY: I agree, and I think President Trump also realized what a huge distraction it was becoming to the other issues that he wants to focus on right now.
Namely, the fact that he has this massive piece of legislation that passed over the summer, and they haven't really done an effective job of communicating that well to the American people. As you can see in the results of the recent elections.
And so, President Trump, I think, recognizes that he was going to lose this vote. There was pressure building in the Senate for the Senate to take action on it. They obviously need 60 votes there. And so why stand in the way? CORNISH: Yes.
BLUEY: Now, I think it's a move that -- yes, I agree with Massie -- he should have made months ago. He's talked about this administration being the most transparent in history. Having the release of the Epstein files would go -- help him make that claim.
CORNISH: Maria, is this a Pyrrhic victory? I mean, Democrats have the Epstein files but no healthcare subsidies, and they're infighting about the government shutdown.
MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I mean, look, I think the bottom line is that this should be about the survivors. This shouldn't be political.
I completely agree with Garrett and everyone who's been talking about how we can't lose sight of that.
But the problem, it has become political, not because of Democrats. This is not a "Democrat hoax." This has become political, because Republicans made it an issue during their campaign.
During the 2024 campaign, they ran on it. And they said, let's remember, Pam Bondi said, "It's on my desk. I'm about to release it," right?
Now, the reason why I think that Donald Trump's kind of, you know, faking the fact that he wants this out is because he could put it out now if he wanted to. He -- why wait for this vote that will be incredibly embarrassing to him when massive numbers of Republicans are going to vote for it? When we know that this is not something that he wants out there, if he really wanted it out there, he could have done it four months ago.
CORNISH: Right.
CARDONA: And he could do it right now.
CORNISH: It's within his power.
CARDONA: Exactly.
CORNISH: Well, there's still going to be a vote. So, let's look forward to the many speeches to come. You guys stay with me.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, the Trump administration ramping up pressure on Venezuela. So, is there a diplomatic window that's still open?
Plus, lawmakers in South Carolina aiming to do something on abortion that no other state has done.
And the Tar Heel State takeover. A quick immigration blitz in Charlotte leaves communities in fear.
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MANOLO (ph), BAKERY OWNER: And I don't want to blame myself, knowing that maybe a kid lost her father or their mother because it was on his way to buy bread at the bakery.
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CORNISH: It's almost 15 minutes past the hour. And here is your morning roundup.
Today lawmakers in South Carolina will debate what could be the nation's most strict abortion bill. It would allow judges to sentence women who get abortions and would restrict IUDs and IVF.
It also aims to ban all abortions unless the mother's life is at risk.
This is just the latest step in what's expected to be a long legislative path towards approval.
And this morning, the NTSB will host a public meeting on the cause of Baltimore's Key Bridge collapse. Now, that bridge went down last year after a cargo ship crashed into it. Six people died.
We're now learning the plan to rebuild the bridge has gotten more expensive, and it's delayed. The cost doubled and is projected to be more than $5 billion. The reopen date pushed back two years to 2030.
And Seth Meyers asking for clarification from the president. Over the weekend, Trump called for NBC to fire Meyers and said the late-night host was, quote, "viewed in an uncontrollable rage."
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MEYERS: I was viewed? By who? Was it you who viewed me? And did you view me exhibiting an uncontrollable rage, or did viewing me send you into an uncontrollable rage?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, so Meyers is just the latest late-night host Trump wants off the air, including, of course, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.
[06:15:03]
And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, broken financial promises. Was the Trump administration ever poised to keep some of the promises the president made to the voters?
Plus, it's the end of an era. MTV shutting down some music channels.
And good morning, Miami. Another gorgeous sunrise for you.
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(MUSIC: MICHAEL JACKSON, "THRILLER")
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CORNISH: OK, more than 40 years after its debut on MTV, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is back on Billboards top 100.
So, back in '83, the video was among the hits that turned MTV into a global phenomenon. But at this rate, it looks like it might outlast music television.
[06:20:01]
By the end of the year, Paramount Global is shutting down MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live, which makes sense, given that, for the artists who still put out music videos anyway, it's far easier to post online than win over the programmers of MTV.
And then these, like, nostalgic favorites -- Britney Spears' "Baby, One More Time," The Backstreet Boys' "I Want it That Way," Beyonce's "Halo" -- all enjoying a post-MTV afterlife with more than a billion views on YouTube.
I'm joined now by Tom Freston. He's the former CEO of MTV Networks and the author of "Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu."
Good morning, Tom. Thanks for waking up with us.
TOM FRESTON, FORMER CEO, MTV NETWORK: Good morning. Nice to be here.
CORNISH: Now I feel like pretty soon after MTV came to be, people started complaining about how it didn't play music videos anymore. I feel like that was some sort of like perennial complaint about MTV.
But it did. And can you talk about what it did for the creation of that format?
FRESTON: Well, MTV was -- was -- has been -- was a culture shaper, really. And it started in 1981, as you know, and really introduced the whole music video format to the American audience.
They had been popular in Europe before that. But -- and with the growth of MTV, we saw a boom in the production of music videos, and that sort of really hit the stratosphere with Michael Jackson's "Thriller," which you were playing just a few minutes ago.
But I would say that the channels that are being shut down come as no surprise to me. There really hasn't been much of a business in running back-to-back videos on a linear TV channel, you know, when you can get them on demand in so many places on the Internet.
And I would say that the prior owners of MTV, for the last ten years or so, really haven't put much equity into it as a brand. It's been a repository for, you know, sort of B-list reality shows. And they even sawed the words "music television: off the bottom of the logo.
So, it's ripe for re-imagination in the hands of the new owners. And it'll be interesting to see if that happens and how it happens, if so.
CORNISH: What do you think is the potential there? Because, as you said, maybe people aren't watching back-to-back music videos, but they are watching back-to-back videos. I mean, that's what TikTok is.
FRESTON: Yes.
CORNISH: Like, the format, in a way, hasn't left us. So, what role do you think could a kind of centralized platform have in this age of the algorithm?
FRESTON: Well, in the age of the algorithm and the age of on-demand video, you know, more music videos are being made today than ever. They're really still popular. Artists like them. They're used in all these different places, but on demand, not on these sort of linear channels.
If you've got a linear channel that isn't playing news like CNN or sports, you're really sort of in trouble in the on-demand linear streaming world.
So, they have an opportunity to figure out how to take up a corner of the music space, if you will, with a place that has music conversation, a place that gives context around music videos, and put some money into the brand, rather than just running things back-to- back.
CORNISH: When you talk about context and conversation, it reminds me of the V.J., so to speak. Do you think that there is a world for that kind of role when, right now again, algorithms do it? Like, is there -- do people still want music discovery from other people?
FRESTON: I think so. I mean, I think people are beginning to tire a bit of the algorithmic world, where you just stay in a lane and you get more of the same thing. There's got to be a place for something that's a little more curated, if you will, where you can bump into things that maybe you didn't know about before or that you weren't expecting, that are outside of your zone. It would be more interesting.
More like what even top 40 radio was back in the '60s and '70s, when all kinds of different music could be played in the same place. In the way MTV was in the '80s.
CORNISH: Well, Tom Freston, thank you so much for speaking with us. Tom was the former CEO of MTV Networks. Please check out his book. It's called "Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu."
Thanks so much, Tom.
FRESTON: Thank you.
Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, the controversial crown prince of Saudi Arabia heads to the White House. Does he hold too much power to ignore?
Plus, this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone said that it's going to make it safer. Well, I don't think you can make someplace safer when you are in fear of your life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Job sites, laundromats, landscapers targeted. Now, federal agents are ready to hit another city.
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[06:29:32]
CORNISH: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING. It's half past the hour, and here's what's happening right now.
The House expected to vote this afternoon on a resolution to compel the federal government to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. It would need a two-thirds majority to pass, and it's expected to get more Republican support, now that President Trump has given his blessing.
Even Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated he may vote in favor.
And Border Patrol agents plan to move from Charlotte into Raleigh today. Two state lawmakers tell that to CNN.
On Monday, federal agents targeted laundromats.
