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Inside Politics
Trump Demolishes East Wing Of White House To Build New Ballroom; Cost Of Trump's Ballroom Balloons To $300 Million; FBI Busts Massive Gambling Schemes Tied To Mafia, NBA Players; Trump Pardons Convicted Founder Of Crypto Exchange Binance. Aired 12-12:30p ET
Aired October 23, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, executive overhaul. President Trump is bulldozing past critics and some preservationists to build an even bigger White House ballroom than originally planned. We have new details on the renovations, raising concerns even, we're told among some close aides.
Plus, breaking news on a historic gambling scheme, involving 11 states. Tens of millions of dollars, as well as a current NBA player and a coach who's in the Hall of Fame. And, quote, it's a shit show. That's how an administration official is describing the push to hire thousands of ICE agents. It's part of brand-new reporting on the president's immigration crackdown that you will only see right here.
I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.
You are looking at the East Wing of the White House or what's left of it. Demolition crews continue to tear down large parts of a historic section of the White House to make way for President Trump's massive new ballroom. It turns out that the developer in chief's plans for the project have evolved, evolved in size, in scope and in cost just over the past few months.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It won't interfere with the current building. I won't be -- it'll be near it, but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of. It's my favorite -- it's my favorite place. I love it. I'll do it, and we'll probably have some donors or whatever. But it's about 200 million. It's going to be a couple of $100 million, at least. I think it will cost $250 million. It's about $300 million.
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BASH: And today we're learning more about the donors who will help President Trump cover that ballooning price tag. It includes really big companies, Google, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, major crypto firms like Coinbase and Tether. All of whom have pretty big reasons to be in the president's good graces.
I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters today, including the author of exploring the White House, Kate Andersen Brower. Thank you all for being here. Shane Goldmacher, I'm going to start with you and just kind of give us the big picture of where we are now. What you're learning from your sources about how this has evolved and about kind of the concerns that I know our reporters who cover the White House are hearing from people around there, despite the fact that the president is absolutely very gung-ho on this project?
SHANE GOLDMACHER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I mean, I think that this project really is symbolic and symbolic of the changes that Donald Trump's second term is bringing. He's not just proposing ideas. He's changing the building. He's changing the government in ways they're going too far outlast his presidency, right? He has repaved over the Rose Garden and put in a patio. This is Donald Trump changing the White House and the government forever.
And I really do think it's a symbol. And yes, you know, I've been at the White House. A lot of those rooms are small. I don't think that he's incorrect that presidents would like to have a larger event space. That said the way he's going about it, raising private money, doing it while the government is shutdown, and demolishing historic parts of the complex, really to surprise people with the demolition beginning very much symbolizes how he's approaching the second term.
BASH: Yeah. And there's so many ways to look at this, important aspects of what's going on, and you mentioned several of them. Kate, I want to bring you in just on the sort of the history here and what is being demolished, the East Wing of the White House. It is where the first lady's office is. It is where the social secretary is.
As somebody reminded me today, it's kind of the front facing part of the White House. And it is certainly a wing of the White House that needed a lot of renovation. It was in bad shape.
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But the question is now, just as it has been in other past renovations of the White House and other places. Would it have been better to spend the money, renovate that for historic purposes and then extend the ballroom, which the president says is needed on a separate part of the White House complex?
KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, AUTHOR, " EXPLORING THE WHITE HOUSE": I think so. I think that it's jarring to people to see the demolition take place like this, especially when we were told that it wouldn't happen quite this way, that the entire East Wing wouldn't be knocked down. And as you said, that is also knocking down the public entrance of the White House. And if you just think of the history there, I mean Martin Luther King visiting Johnson during the civil rights bill, FDR, handling World War II.
I mean, anybody who's worked in the White House knows that you're standing in this hallowed ground and it was never meant to be a palace. And I think that's something that is especially concerning about this is just the size of it. I mean, almost two football fields long. It's really unusual.
The White House was always meant to be more modest. It's not a European palace. It's not presidential, you know, palace, it's the people's house. And I think that's what's concerning people right now. And also, you know, not having the first lady and her aides in the White House itself sends a message about what that role has become.
BASH: Yeah. And it took a long time, and you've written about this, for a first lady to get a White House office in the first place. That was, I think it was Rosalynn Carter who did that. You reminded me, as we were coming on in the Netflix series, The Residence, which is based on your book.
There's a whole scene because they're having a state dinner about the first gentleman, in this case, complaining about the fact that the East Room of the White House, the State Room of the White House, which is where balls and big events usually are, were too small to handle the size of the people that they were inviting. And that I know is always a problem.
So there certainly is a bipartisan, OK, we get it to have a big ballroom, but as you said, it's a question of size. I think we have some mock-ups here, just to give you a sense of the scope of what is planned for this ballroom. And if you look at the entire complex there, you see. Just to give you a sense, you see the Treasury Department over there but just look to the left at the White House complex.
The whole thing is, I'm told, about 99,000 square feet. The new ballroom itself is going to be 90,000 square feet. That just gives you a sense of how huge it's going to be when it's done, Kate?
ANDERSEN BROWER: It's going to look a little strange, I mean, and we have to remember when George Washington decided to have Washington be the capital and to build the White House here. The idea was always that it was going to be modest, it was not going to be a palace, and this is going to look out of sync with the rest of the house.
I mean, Washington and Jefferson turning down the architect (inaudible) demand that was making it a call, five times bigger than what it is. And so, yeah, it just will look odd, I think.
BASH: OK. Seung Min, let's also, since we're talking about a historic place. Let's talk about some of the history of the renovations that have happened in the White House. There's always criticism of those renovations. Roosevelt, he was sort of attacked for wasteful spending when he put on the second story of the East Room. Truman, when he built the Truman Balcony and did other renovations, was accused of misappropriating the White House for personal indulgence.
When Jackie Kennedy put in the Rose Garden. She was called elitist. And then Nixon was told that he was sacrificing history for convenience, when he put in the press room over the pool, which those of us who cover the White House use every single day. Seung Min?
SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP: Right, right. And I actually just came back over from the White House, where there was definitely the sounds of demolition and drilling that we could hear very loudly. But what I have found information from the White House Historical Association very instructive in kind of, learning and absorbing the information about this, and not only all those examples that you just cited, Dana.
But Thomas Jefferson, who himself was an architect. When he built the east and west colonies to kind of connect the different parts of the White House complex, he was criticized as taking on a renovation that was too costly and too extravagant, which sounds very familiar to what we're going through right now. But another part of this is just the process by which the White House is undertaking these renovations.
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What I found really interesting is the very obscure commissions, called the national planning -- National Capital Planning Commission is this commission that basically vets federal buildings. Now the head of that commission now is the current White House staff secretary appointed by the president himself.
BASH: That's right.
KIM: And he has said that on this part of the -- of this part of the renovations, when it deals with the demolition, it can go ahead without the approval of this commission, which is why, precisely why they're going ahead right now as to whether the other parts of this renovation, the reconstruction, the rebuilding, whether that will go through this process, it's remains to be seen.
BASH: Real quick before we go to break. Shane, I do want to play a moment from April 30, 2011, the White House Correspondents' dinner, that infamous speech, roast that President Obama then gave with Donald Trump in the audience.
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BARACK OBAMA, 44TH U.S. PRESIDENT: Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House. See what we've got up there.
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BASH: We actually have to take a break, but obviously the White House doesn't look like that, but we all know our modern history, and that is some of the ribbing that Donald Trump got at that event. It was a big part of why he decided to run himself.
All right, everybody. Thank you so much. Don't go anywhere. Up next, mind-boggling fraud. The FBI arrests dozens, including an NBA star and an NBA coach, accused of taking part in a sports betting and poker rigging scheme, linked to the mob. Stay with us.
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JOSEPH NOCELLA JR. U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: But my message to the defendants who've been rounded up today is this. Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out. Violating the law is a losing proposition, and you can bet on that.
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BASH: It's the story everyone is talking about today. An NBA star and NBA head coach were among at least 30 arrested today in two different gambling rings busted by the FEDs. Chauncey Billups, the head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers arrested for allegedly participating in rigged poker games run by four Italian crime families.
And Miami Heat star Terry Rozier was allegedly part of an illegal gambling scheme where gamblers made millions on prop bets. They're accused of using inside information to bet that players would, for example, score and rebound less than anticipated. The FBI director called the scale of this mind boggling.
So, to tell us more, I want to go now to Mike Vorkunov, who reports on the business side of basketball for The Athletic. I see you are outside. For our viewers, you're outside because you're just outside the courthouse. You were at that press conference.
I think what's important here is that prosecutors don't just claim that players made bets. Based on insider information, it is that at least two of the players allegedly they left the games early, they faked injuries to ensure that these prop bets hit. What does that mean? And more importantly, what does that mean for the NBA?
MIKE VORKUNOV, NATIONAL NBA BASKETBALL BUSINESS REPORTER, THE ATHLETIC: Yeah, the implications are obviously far reaching, you know, the main things that play here that two players. Terry Rozier, who's a player for the Hornets, now guard for the Miami Heat. Jontay Porter, who played for the Raptors. Basically, manipulated their performance, their availability, so that their co-conspirators could win -- waiters on them can win bets on them.
And you know, this happened over the course of seven games, according to the federal government's indictment. And honestly, it kind of eats at the core of the credibility of NBA games, right? That's the most important thing for the league, for any professional sport, is that the games are unproduced, that you don't know what's going to happen, that they're played fairly and honestly. And investigations and accusations like this obviously will make fans who are already conspiratorial, some of them, at least, you know, believe into that a little more.
BASH: Yeah. And Terry Rozier, you mentioned he is the biggest player facing allegations into this gambling ring investigation. His attorney has denied the allegations, but the NBA looked into him a couple of years ago in 2023 over allegations of betting on NBA games. The question is, given that and given where we are now, what does your reporting tell you about that investigation?
VORKUNOV: Yeah. The NBA, his own investigations did not find anything. They allowed him to continue to play. You know, he played all of last season. He got traded to a different team. He is still in the NBA. So, their investigation did not seem to think that these accusations were credible. Obviously, the federal government disagrees. They have now indicted and arrested him.
And so, it does become a question of what the NBA missed in its investigation, and if it can fix those protocols going forward, because, you know, we've had other players have come up in sports gambling investigations.
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Malik Beasley, who was a guard for the Detroit Pistons. He was also investigated by the federal government too. And I'm sure this won't be the last of these types of scenarios. As you know, sports wagering continues to become more popular and readily accessible across the country, and NBA is also not the only league that's going to have to deal with this.
BASH: And the insider knowledge or trading is probably the wrong way to put it in in this context. But the fact is, and you and I were talking before we came on, about the idea that even for people who are not NBA fans. There are big, big names who are known worldwide, who are caught up in this. And I would even say maybe sort of victims of the way that these players who were allegedly part of this scheme were using what they are seeing and hearing internally.
VORKUNOV: Certainly, I think the biggest thing that comes to mind is that Damon Jones, who is a former NBA player and was hanging around the Los Angeles Lakers for a couple of seasons. Who was a close friend of LeBron James.
According to the federal government, he used what they called non- public information, the knowledge that he wouldn't play in a February 9, 2023, game. And sold that information to better is that James would miss a game -- that LeBron would not be playing. And they made bets on it. And then he did it again last year as well, with a player. Also, one of the top players on the Lakers, according to federal government, for another bet.
So, these are people who are close to top NBA stars, who get information that players might be hurt or might not be playing, and then trade on it, sell on, you know, potentially sell it to professional sports betters, or, you know, could make bets on it themselves.
BASH: Mike Vorkunov, we know you have to go file for your own news organization. Thank you for coming and informing our viewers. Appreciate it. Thanks for being here.
VORKUNOV: Anytime. Thank you. BASH: And coming up -- thank you. The president just pardoned a crypto Titan with ties to Trump family business ventures. We have breaking details after a quick break.
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BASH: Breaking news. President Trump just pardoned one of the most powerful people in the crypto world. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2023. He was sentenced to four months in prison after reaching a deal with the Justice Department.
CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House. Allison Morrow is in New York. Alayna, what are you hearing from your White House sources about how this went down?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm told that the president signed this pardon today, Dana, and it comes after a months' long lobbying campaign from Binance to try and secure this pardon for Zhao who goes by CZ. Now, the president with this pardon today, a lot of people have argued, and I know from some of my conversations with people in the White House that, over the last several months, the president started to become more sympathetic to some of the arguments that Binance was making about CZ, essentially this idea that he was being politically persecuted.
And then there's also a statement that the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, sent to me regarding this story, essentially arguing that they believe the White House that the sentence that was given to CZ under the Biden administration was too harsh. This is what some of her statements said. She said that the president had, quote, exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration in their war on crypto currency.
One thing to note, as well as part of this lobbying campaign, this could potentially pave the way for Binance to continue operating in the United States, something that they weren't able to do ever since that they pleaded guilty to these money laundering charges. So, it's very interesting to see that all coming down today and how we all got here.
BASH: And Allison, tell us about the connection between Binance and the Trump family interests in crypto, if there is one?
ALLISON MORROW, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: Yeah. So as far as we know, there's no formal connection, but it has to be said, Binance is by far the biggest crypto exchange, over 300 million users worldwide. And sort of informally, Binance has been very supportive of the Trump family crypto empire, which has kind of exploded into existence over the last year or so, including through their own exchange, World Liberty Financial, which issues its own coin. And there are some connections between the family and in that coin, in that, Binance has been helping facilitate trades of World Liberty Financial's token, which all helps kind of elevate the profile of the Trump family business, and that business alone has added an estimated $5 billion worth of fortune to the Trump family net worth. BASH: So, Allison, I just want to be clear. There's no formal connection, but this man who was pardoned has helped the Trump family make money. Is that what you're saying?
MORROW: Right. The Wall Street Journal reported that representatives of the Trump family have been in talks with Binance to potentially take a stake in the company, though we have not confirmed those reports.
And there's been some waffling from the White House on that front. So, we don't know about a formal connection, but certainly there are informal connections, and the Trump family has become very important to the crypto world writ large.
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