Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Video Shows Agents Violently Arresting Mexican Brothers; Six States Send Hundreds Of National Guard Troops To D.C.; California Governor Mimics President's Social Media Style. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired August 21, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:33:00]
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: New video from the U.S. state of Connecticut shows federal immigration agents violently arresting two undocumented brothers from Mexico.
CNN's Maria Santana has this report. I do want to warn you though a number of these images you're about to see are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEONEL CHAVEZ, ARRESTED BY FEDERAL AGENTS: You can't do that! You can't do that!
MARIA SANTANA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): This was the chaotic scene in Norwalk, Connecticut Friday as federal agents surrounded a red truck and arrested two brothers from Mexico.
LEONEL CHAVEZ: What are you looking for? What are you looking for?
SANTANA (voiceover): Forty-two-year-old Leonel Chavez, who was in the driver's seat, took this video and can be heard pleading for answers.
FEDERAL AGENT: Get out of the car.
LEONEL CHAVEZ: Why?
FEDERAL AGENT: What's your name?
LEONEL CHAVEZ: Why?
FEDERAL AGENT: What's your name?
LEONEL CHAVEZ: Leonel.
FEDERAL AGENT: Get out of the car.
LEONEL CHAVEZ: What are you looking for?
FEDERAL AGENT: You're under arrest. SANTANA (voiceover): In a second video taken by a witness an agent with a taser chases after his brother Ricardo after he appears to take off while also being taken into custody. Richard Chavez falls to the ground and is tased several times before the officer gets him up and into handcuffs.
Leonel can be heard shouting in the background and is seen in handcuffs against the red truck.
LEONEL CHAVEZ: I want to see the warrant. I want to see the warrant.
SANTANA (voiceover): For the Chavez family these graphic images are hard to watch.
LEONELA CHAVEZ, FATHER AND UNCLE ARRESTED BY U.S. FEDERAL AGENTS: It made me feel just very angry and very disappointed in my country and this is how we're treating people. We're treating them like they're nobodies.
SANTANA (voiceover): Twenty-one-year-old Leonela Chavez said her family rushed to the scene after getting a frantic call from her father Leonel.
LEONEL CHAVEZ: My wife is coming.
SANTANA (voiceover): When they arrived all they found was his truck.
LEONELA CHAVEZ: My dad's truck was just left right in the middle of the road, windows smashed, glass on the floor.
SANTANA (voiceover): She says her father has lived in the United States since he was a teenager and is a father of three American-born children who works as a stonemason owning his own business. Her uncle came to the U.S. in 2008. Both are undocumented.
[05:35:10]
LEONELA CHAVEZ: I would just described him as a hardworking family man. He was paying taxes and, you know, it was a very small company, but he was working on ways to grow it.
SANTANA (voiceover): Leonela says her father and uncle are now being held in a Massachusetts detention center.
In a statement to CNN the Department of Homeland Security said that "ICE agents were operating in Norwalk last week" but they did not specify whether it was ICE officers who arrested the Chavez brothers.
CNN has not found any criminal record for Ricardo Chavez in Connecticut. Court documents show Leonel Chavez has several misdemeanor convictions but information on each offense isn't detailed in public records.
Leonela now fears her father could be deported leaving behind the life he has built for his family. LEONELA CHAVEZ: He always told me that he wanted me to be someone amazing in life. He wanted me to amount to so much more than he ever could in life, and I always held that so close to my heart.
SANTANA (voiceover): Maria Santana, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: The Menendez brothers will soon learn whether a California parole board will agree to their release from prison. Erik Menendez -- he is on the left there -- is said to have his hearing today. His brother Lyle's is scheduled for tomorrow.
Now regardless of the parole board's decision the ruling itself will then be reviewed. That process could take months. The final decision is up to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
The brothers were originally sentenced to life without parole for the murder of their parents in 1989. They became eligible for parole after their resentencing in May. The brothers claim they were sexually abused by their father for years. Prosecutors allege they killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
New fallout from the deadly flooding in Central Texas last month. The state Senate committee heard emotional testimony on Wednesday from parents whose young daughters died in the catastrophic flash flooding at Camp Mystic on July 4. At least 27 children and counselors were killed when floodwaters ravaged the camp, which sits in a flood prone area.
Several of the girls' parents are calling for accountability, urging state lawmakers to pass a law that would require stronger safety standards at camps across the state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CECE WILLIAMS STEWARD, MOTHER OF CILE STEWARD: Obvious common-sense safety measures were absent. Protocols that should have been in place were ignored. As a result my daughter was stolen from us. Cile's life ended not because of an unavoidable act of nature but because of preventable failures.
CLARK BAKER, FATHER OF MARY GRACE BAKER: My daughter should still be here. Her death was 100 percent preventable. Complacency, among other things, led to the deaths of 27 amazing, innocent, beautiful girls. We can't let complacency claim the life of another child. We simply ask for mandatory, common-sense, state-regulated safety protocols for camps.
CARRIE HANNA, MOTHER OF HADLEY HANNA: I promised her she would be safe and OK. I told her camp was the safest place she could be, and she would make new friends and learn new things. I lied to her. She not only wasn't safe, she died.
MICHAEL MCCOWN, FATHER OF LINNIE MCCOWN: We did not send Linnie to a war zone. We sent her to camp. We trusted she would be safe. No parent should ever again face what we are living through now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: In a statement to CNN, Camp Mystic said it does support legislative efforts that will make camps along the Guadalupe River safer.
The U.S. vice president booed along with other key members of the Trump administration. We'll tell you where and why this happened, plus their response.
And trolling Trump. California Governor Gavin Newsom taking a new approach to taking on President Trump using a page from the president's own social media playbook.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:43:40]
HILL: Welcome back. I'm Erica Hill. Here are some of the stories we're watching today.
Hurricane Erin is churning up along the U.S. East Coast at this hour. The category 2 storm is not forecast to make landfall but as you can see by the size of it there it's probably no surprise it's causing strong winds, heavy rains, and flooding. At least six states have now restricted swimming on their beaches due to the storm. Erin is set to swing further out to sea later this week.
Israel is calling up another 60,000 reservists for its planned takeover of Gaza City and also extending the service of another 20,000 troops. A new survey shows morale among the Israeli military is down with some 40 percent of soldiers slightly or significantly less motivated to serve.
Ukraine's president says he is ready to make some compromise on whether a ceasefire must happen before any talks with Vladimir Putin. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long maintained a ceasefire is a necessary precondition for talks but is now indicating he's willing to be flexible on that point, although he has made clear he does want to see some security guarantees established first.
In Washington prominent members of the Trump administration publicly heckled on Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROTESTERS: Booing Vice President J.D. Vance and members of the Trump administration during appearance at Union Station with National Guard members.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:45:00]
HILL: Those boos aimed at Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller as they met with National Guard members. This was at Union Station. Vance and Miller lashing out at the protesters. Miller calling them "crazy communists" and "elderly white hippies who need to go home and take a nap."
All of this coming as six Republican-led states deployed National Guard members to the U.S. capital.
Here is CNN's Brian Todd with those details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hey, guys, at ease.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): While Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited National Guard units deployed to D.C. --
VANCE: You guys bust your ass all day and we give you a hamburger. Not a fair trade but we're grateful for everything you guys do.
TODD (voiceover): -- and shared lunch at a local shake shack.
VANCE: You can actually bring law and order to communities. You've just got to have the political willpower to do it.
TODD (voiceover): Around the same time Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was holding a news conference.
MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER, (D) WASHINGTON, D.C.: My plan is to represent the district and navigate us out of this emergency -- the president's emergency.
TODD (voiceover): Bowser also addressing the Justice Department investigation into whether the D.C. police department manipulated data to make crime numbers appear lower.
BOWSER: We know that crime has gone down in our city, and it has gone down precipitously over the last two years because of a lot of hard work. And we know that those facts don't comport to what some people are saying, but those are the facts.
TODD (voiceover): While the mayor has criticized President Trump's takeover of the D.C. police, she and D.C. police chief Pamela Smith met with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and DEA Administrator Terry Cole Tuesday.
We pressed the mayor on whether any new agreements were made or if they discussed coordination between agencies, but she only said this.
BOWSER: We discussed shared priorities.
TODD (voiceover): Meanwhile, some in D.C. have taken to the streets in protest, with roughly eight in 10 residents opposing Trump's federal takeover, a new Washington Post-Schar School poll finds. With protesters even at times drowning out Vance's remarks on Wednesday.
VANCE: And I think you hear these guys outside here screaming at us. Of course, these are a bunch of crazy protesters.
TODD (voiceover): And while President Trump has claimed D.C. restaurants are booming --
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the restaurants the last two days were busier than they've been in a long time.
TODD (voiceover): -- we found that restaurants are feeling impacts from Trump's federal surge. OpenTable tracks reservation data for the city and says that while the annual summer restaurant week is bringing more business this week, dining was down seven percent last week from the week before.
Some establishments along the 14th Street corridor told us there was a huge drop in weekday business during the law enforcement surge -- low even for a typically slow August -- with residents there saying the increased police presence is causing new issues.
MARA LASKO, WASHINGTON, D.C. RESIDENT: I don't think that they're actually doing anything productive to make our city a safer place.
TODD (voiceover): The general manager of nearby restaurant Ted's Bulletin told us that while he hasn't noticed a huge change in diners there have been some positive changes.
GIOVANNI BALBUENA, GENERAL MANAGER, TED'S BULLETIN: I do see less homeless people walking into my business.
TODD: During her news conference, Mayor Bowser and Police Chief Pamela Smith were asked about criticism from some members of the public of the fact that some federal law enforcement agents have been seen wearing masks during operations in D.C. during this surge.
Chief Smith said she hasn't received any guidance on why these law enforcement agents are wearing masks. And then the mayor jumped in and said emphatically that she does not believe that in this urban environment there is any reason for a law enforcement agent to wear a mask.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Texas is another step closer now to changing its voter maps in an effort to help Republicans pick up as many as five congressional seats in next year's midterm elections. The Texas House easily passed a redistricting bill on Wednesday. That vote 88-52. The Trump-backed measure will now go on to the State Senate where it is also expected to pass.
This, of course, coming just days after Democratic lawmakers ended their two-week standoff to keep the bill from advancing. They have vowed though to continue their fight. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLE COLLIER, TEXAS HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Today is not the end.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.
COLLIER: It is the start of a new beginning of a new Democratic Party --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes!
COLLIER: -- where we won't back down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes!
COLLIER: We won't put up with their (bleep). And we will push and push and push until we take over this country.
(Cheers)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: California Governor Gavin Newsom, meantime, says his state is responding to that move in Texas by looking to redraw congressional lines that could give Democrats five seats in California. Newsom has also been grabbing attention in recent days with his social media posts.
Here is CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): "The strongest wall Trump ever built is his bronzer line. He's low energy. The best friend of Vladimir Putin."
From cracks about Trump's stumbling to digs about the Texas redistricting plan, California Governor Gavin Newsom is imitating the toxic social media game Trump pioneered in politics and he's hammering the president and his party in the process.
[05:50:05]
GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSON, (D) CALIFORNIA: Right now, with all due respect, we're walking down a different path. We're fighting fire with fire, and we're going to punch these sons of bitches in the mouth.
TRUMP: Little Marco. Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren. I call her "Crooked Hillary."
FOREMAN (voiceover): Trump built his political brand on schoolyard taunts and now Newsom's social media feed is full of references to Press Secretary "Karolyin' Leavitt," "Vice President J.D. 'Just Dance' Vance," "House Speaker 'Little Man' Johnson," while calling Trump "Little Hands," "Donnie J.," "The Criminal President," and "Donald 'Taco' Trump for Trump always chickens out.
He's even taken Trump's all-caps style and catchphrase "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS, "THE FIVE": Stop it with the Twitter thing.
FOREMAN (voiceover): Conservative media, which has long cheered Trump tolling the left, is coming unspooled over Newsom ridiculing the right.
PERINO: If I were his wife I would say "You are making a fool of yourself. Stop it. Do not -- do not let your staff tweet. And if you're doing it yourself, put the phone away and start over."
FOREMAN (voiceover): Newsom's response, "They still don't get it."
NEWSOM: If you've got issues with what I'm putting out you sure as hell should have concerns about what he's putting out as president. How have we allowed the normalization of his tweets and Truth Social posts over the course of the last many years to go without similar scrutiny and notice?
FOREMAN (voiceover): In the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires the governor and president were briefly civil.
TRUMP: We're going to get it done.
FOREMAN (voiceover): But with the White House having sent troops into California over immigration protests with almost every post Newsom is making it clear the niceties are over.
NEWSOM: It's not about whether we play hardball anymore. It's about how we play hardball.
FOREMAN: Some of his jabs are very sharp. For example, a few years ago, Donald Trump invited the Russians to hack into Hillary Clinton's emails in the name of finding out things Americans might want to know. Well now, Gavin Newsom is saying hey, Russia, if you're looking around, a lot of Americans would like to see the Epstein files that Donald Trump has yet to release.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: A Rhode Island judge is being remembered for his kindness and his empathy in the courtroom. Frank Caprio died on Wednesday after battling pancreatic cancer. That's according to a post on his Instagram page.
He'd acquired a pretty massive online following through clips from his TV show "CAUGHT IN PROVIDENCE," which was filmed in his courtroom. As a judge he would often empathize with those who came before him in court and was known for administering justice with compassion.
The governor of Rhode Island ordered state flags be flowing at half- staff in Judge Caprio's memory.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:57:15]
HILL: Donald Trump is taking aim at another top financial policymaker, pressuring Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to resign. One of the president's allies, FHA Director Bill Pulte, alleges that she committed mortgage fraud. Cook says she's gathering all the information so she can answer questions here but says she will not be bullied into stepping down.
Cook was picked by former President Joe Biden and is the first Black woman appointed to the Fed's Board of Governors.
The U.S. Federal Reserve chair is widely expected to signal long- awaited interest rate cuts at a financial conference today in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. President Trump has been pushing for lower interest rates for months now and attacking, of course, Jerome Powell personally.
Powell has resisted demands to lower rates, citing the possibility of inflation from the Trump tariffs. Experts, however, say a cut is likely when the Fed meets again in September.
The CEO of Target, Brian Cornell, is stepping down after 11 years on the job. Results from the retail chain on Wednesday showed falling sales for a third-straight quarter. Analysts blame a series of strategic missteps as well as intense competition from Walmart, Amazon, and Costco.
This year, Target provoked a customer backlash when it junked its policies on diversity, equity and inclusion -- a move that dealt a new blow to sales. An Atlanta area pastor helped organize a boycott of Target stores and spoke with CNN. He said giving up on DEI was a betrayal for the company's Black customers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. JAMAL H. BRYANT, LED TARGET BOYCOTT OVER DEI POLICIES: This was the most significant boycott of Black people since the Montgomery bus boycott 70 years ago. So I would say it would be a herculean part of what would happen in the downfall. We gave them a blank canvas to reimagine DEI -- none of which have they produced. And so, yes, we're staying away from Target until they step up to the plate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Let's take a quick look for you now at U.S. futures. Of course, just about 3 1/2 hours now to go until the markets open.
No real strong moves for any of the main indices at this hour. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq did drop on Wednesday as a tech sell-off stretched into a second day. One factor there, concern about President Trump's growing desire to have a say in the tech sector. The Trump administration says it is considering acquiring stakes in U.S. chipmakers.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now urging people to throw away 2-pound bags of Great Value brand frozen raw shrimp or return them to Walmart. The FDA is concerned the shrimp may be contaminated with a radioactive isotope. The agency is citing concerns over unsanitary conditions and radioactive contamination found in shipments for a breaded shrimp product from the same Indonesian supplier.
The raw shrimp was distributed and sold in 13 states. An investigation is ongoing.
The world's largest trade far for video and computer games powering up on Wednesday in Cologne, Germany. Gamescom features more than 1,500 exhibitors from some 72 countries. Among them, major publishers and some smaller independent studios.
[06:00:05]
Organizers say one of the big draws will be handheld gaming, such as Nintendo Switch 2. The Switch 2 launched in June.
That event runs through Sunday.
Our run here this hour, though, is over. Thanks for joining me so much on EARLY START on this Thursday. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Stay tuned -- "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.
