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Trump Heads Back To Washington As Shutdown Hits Day 30; Would Speaker Johnson Accept A Deal For A Partial Govt. Reopening? Will Johnson Give Grijalva A Birthday Present And Swear Her In? Day 30: Few Signs Of Progress As Govt. Stays Closed; Teacher Shot By Her 6-Year- Old Student Takes The Stand In Civil Trial Against Ex-Assistant Principal. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired October 30, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:10]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to Inside Politics. Right now, President Trump is on his way back to Washington after a wool whirlwind three country tour of Asia. And he's bringing home a trade deal between the world's largest economic superpowers. We're going to break down whether that trade truce is a benefit or a buzz for the American consumer.

But while the president was very busy with red carpets and golden gifts and getting those trade deals there, here in the United States, are tens of millions of Americans worrying about putting food on the table. One man said, quote, do we eat or do we pay rent? Since Congress still can't reach a deal to fund the government, one in every eight people in this country would lose much needed food assistance this weekend.

Joining me now to discuss that is House Speaker Mike Johnson. Mr. Speaker, thank you so much for being. Here I do want to get to the shutdown in just a second. But I also want to quickly talk about something that the president said, pretty remarkable, actually, that he said, he said that he instructed the Pentagon to begin testing nuclear weapons again for the first time in more than 30 years. It hasn't happened since 1992. Have you been briefed about this? Are you OK with this move?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I haven't spoken to the president in about 48 hours, so I did not know he was going to say that, but I think it is an important thing for him to have said. Why? Because we have demonstrated, even in recent days, that the only way to maintain peace is to show strength. It's peace through strength. That's one of our principles that we try to advance here every day.

We learned that during the Cold War. We know it's certainly true. Now America is the last great superpower in the world. We do not have a peer-to-peer adversary. China is trying to become that. But in this dynamic that we have now on the world stage, America has to show strength. And I think it is an obvious and logical thing to ensure that our weapons systems work as they're designed.

I have a big air force base in my district, Barksdale Air Force Base, is the home of the global strike command, two thirds of nuclear triad commanded there, and our airmen and all of those involved in our nuclear arsenal need to be well practiced and they certainly are. They're ready and prepared, but we need to make sure that we know that we know that we can maintain our strength. And I think that's an obvious and logical thing to do.

BASH: OK. Let's turn now to the -- now 30-day government shutdown. We are learning some new details about a series of negotiations that are underway across the Capitol from where you are in the Senate. And one of the options that they're discussing is reopening a significant part of the government, including the Department of Agriculture, through next year.

Now that would alleviate the pain of tens of millions of Americans who are about to feel a lot of pain and hunger because the SNAP benefits are going to expire in just two days on Saturday. Would you accept a partial government funding deal?

JOHNSON: Well, there are a handful of moderate centrist Democrats left in the U.S. Senate, and they are in panic mode right now because they recognize that their votes have been the reason that all this pain and hardship is being experienced by the American people. We're on day 30, as you said. They have voted now 14 times to impose this hardship and pain. They're doing it for political purposes.

As I've explained in my press conference, every single morning, they're worried about the radical left base that is rising in the Democrat Party, and some of the leading politicians here, including the two New Yorkers who run both chambers, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, are afraid they're going to get a challenge from a Mamdani like candidate.

And so, they have to show a fight. And that's what this is about. It is senseless. It is unprecedented. This is the first time in U.S. history that any party has had the audacity to close down the government for a simple CR, a clean, non-partisan measure. So, here's the answer.

We cannot deviate from the number one job and responsibility of U.S. Congress, and that is to keep the government in operation for the people. And the simplest way to fix this is to reopen all of the government, not just parts of it, so they can alleviate a little bit of the pain that they themselves are causing. Let's alleviate all the pain and get that done. They have no logical argument. Why they would not do that? And that's why we're so angry and frustrated about this.

[12:05:00]

BASH: So, that's a no. You would not support what the moderates in Republicans and Democrats are talking to one another in the Senate to at least partially reopen like the Department of Agriculture, which would make sure that tens of millions of people would be able to eat, those people who rely on government funding.

JOHNSON: There is a very important point that everyone needs to understand. Republicans have voted 14 times to provide SNAP benefits, military pay, veterans' health services, nutrition assistance for young women, we -- the disabled the elderly. We've done it 14 times. The Democrats have voted 14 times to block all of that.

We need to do all of those things simultaneously. You have to pay the troops, you have to pay Border Patrol, TSA agents and air traffic controllers and everybody else. All of these things need to be done, not just part of them. The White House has bent over backwards to try to mitigate, reduce the pain as much as possible. We've gotten troops paid for part of October. Those funds are running out.

We got WIC funding, Women, Infants, and Children nutrition programs funded. Thanks to the president, but that money is running out as well. This is very real. The pain is very serious, and Democrats are playing games with this.

BASH: Well, and by the way, no one is disputing what you just said, that you have voted or the Senate has voted after you passed a clean CR. But the reality is that this has been a stalemate for 30 days, and it's not just Democrats. You also have one of the most conservative Republican senators, Josh Hawley, who says, at least please move money around to feed people. Why not consider that?

JOHNSON: Because if you deviate from the goal of reopening the entire government, Chuck Schumer and the radicals over there will continue to play games with people's paychecks, their livelihoods, and if you do just part of this, it will reduce the pressure for them to do all of it, to do their basic job, and that is, reopen the government. This is very real and very serious, and they can end it today.

They can do it right now. That all they have to do is, we just need five more Democrats in the Senate to help us reach the 60-vote threshold. We don't have enough Republicans to do the right thing on our own. We need them to do the right thing.

BASH: Does it give you some hope that regardless of the reason they're doing it, that there are Republicans and Democrats talking to one another right now about finding some way out of this.

JOHNSON: Sure. I think they're responding to the public pressure, and we need more of that. If you're listening to this interview, you need to call Democrat senators and tell them to do the right thing. Also, the unions, the largest unions of federal employees, over 800,000 have come out and said, please Democrats, stop the nonsense and vote for the clean, non-partisan CR.

It's so important to remember, we don't have any Republican or conservative priorities on the CR. These are Biden level policies and spending that we're just asking them to extend for several more weeks, so we can finish the work of Congress in the appropriations process. That's it. It's all a game. So, they can show a fight against Republicans. That's clearly what's going on and they can end it immediately.

BASH: So, just to put a pin in it, all or nothing. Full government funding for the entire government, or you're not going to bring anything up on the House floor, even if the Senate finds some sort of compromise?

JOHNSON: Yeah, because they're trying to play games and we are not interested in doing that. That's the position of the leadership, Republican leadership in the Senate and the House and the White House as well. We have to do well and right by all the American people. Yeah, we need to do it now.

BASH: Can I just ask you because you mentioned it that you all have found ways to pay members of the military, which you know, people understand, and WIC, which people also understand. But why are you drawing the line now on 40 million Americans who literally will not be able to eat without government assistance? Why not help them in the short term? And why are they -- why are they -- yeah.

JOHNSON: Wait a minute? Wait. I reject the premise of the question. I'm not drawing the line. The Democrats are drawing the line. If we had a contingency fund that we could use, that would be done that the White House has demonstrated over and over, the executive branch. All the cabinet secretaries are doing everything they can to mitigate and reduce the pain. But that ability is not available for SNAP because the contingency fund had to be prior authorized by Congress.

BASH: Well, they say that that's not what the law shows.

JOHNSON: No, that's ridiculous.

BASH: And certainly, the administration has shown they are very happy -- money around without Congress saying, yes.

JOHNSON: No, Dana. They're just simply not true. It's already been adjudicated. When they tried to do that in the first Trump administration, the GAO, for example, determined it was illegal. Though, in the Democrats, when they voted against the clean CR, they voted down that possibility, so it is not legally available to do that. Believe me.

The White House has already demonstrated over and over. They would use it if it was available. It's not. The Democrats have put the American people in this crisis, and they are the ones that have the power to end it. They could do it today, if they feel enough pressure to do so.

BASH: The president is on Air Force One right now. He's headed home. You and other Republican leaders, I think it's fair to say, have been, you know, OK with him not getting very involved. But is it now time for him to sit down with you and other leaders and try to work this out? Will there be a meeting -- forgive me, in the next few days now that he's going to be back?

[12:10:00]

JOHNSON: Well, let me correct that question as well. The president was deeply involved. Remember, he brought in the Democrat leaders and to meet with us in the White House, in the Oval Office, before all this began. And he urged Schumer and Hakeem to keep the government open, and they rejected it. The president has been involved, and he has told them that he will talk about any issue under the sun as soon as they do the obvious thing to reopen the government first. That is our job here. We're going to resonate all these policy questions.

BASH: You know, he could -- he could make a deal on this in five minutes.

JOHNSON: He can't. There's no deal to be made. Remember, the CR does not have Trump or Republican priorities on it at all. There's nothing we can pull off of that to make it more palatable for the Democrats. I would have done that a long time ago. But we operated in good faith from day one back in September, on September 19, we voted for a clean, non-partisan CR. It's only 24 pages in length.

It just says, keep everything at status quo, so we can all finish our jobs here. The Democrats rejected it for the first time in their lives. They did the same type of CR voted for it, 13 times during the Biden administration. The only reason they did it right now is because they're afraid of the rise of the far-left Marxist in their party and they have to show them that they're going to fight.

And real people are hurting during this political game, this showmanship. Chuck Schumer is trying to save his own political hide in New York, and he's willing to put the American people through this great hardship for that reason alone. And it is -- it is shocking to us.

BASH: I want to ask about something that has been going on for a long time, or maybe not been going on for a long time in the House of Representatives, and that is Congresswoman elect Adelita Grijalva has not yet been sworn in. Today's her birthday.

She was elected on September 23. She's now the longest elected member of Congress who has -- she's waited the longest to be sworn in of anybody. You say you're going to swear her in when the government reopens, but you know, you've sworn in Republicans during proforma sessions before. We'll not do this.

JOHNSON: Different -- times different circumstances, no. Rep. Grijalva -- Rep.-elect Grijalva is also a victim of the Democrats political games. As soon as we return to regular legislative session, we will do that. I'm following the Pelosi precedent, as I've explained on CNN many times.

With similar circumstances, I can name you the members of Congress who were elected in special elections. And she waited like, for example, when two were elected during an August recess, she waited until Congress came back into regular session to administer the oath. That's a logical thing to do. We will do the same thing.

We haven't had floor business now, as long as the government has been shut down. As soon as we return to the regular legislative session, we, of course, will give her the oath. And in the meantime, by the way, she has every ability to do everything that every other member is doing. She has keys to her office. She has 16 employees. She has an ID badge to get into the building. She can work on constituent services. She can do all those things.

There's no reason for her not to, and if she isn't, she's the one who has to answer for that, not us. I'm going to do exactly the right and traditional thing, and we're going to give her the oath as soon as we get back to session. That can happen tomorrow, if the Democrats will get busy.

BASH: Just to put a button on this. If she were a Republican, she would be in the same position. You would not be swearing her in.

JOHNSON: Absolutely, absolutely, because we're not here in session. That's the whole point. This has happened to Republicans and Democrats under Nancy Pelosi, and now under speaker Johnson. This is the way the institution works.

BASH: House Speaker, Mike Johnson, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

BASH: And coming up. We're going to go live to the Virginia courtroom where a first-grade teacher who was shot by a six-year-old student is on the stand in a $40 million civil trial. Stay with us.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: Breaking news out of Virginia. A first-grade teacher who was shot in her classroom by a six-year-old student is on the stand right now on Newport News. The teacher, Abby Zwerner, brought a $40 million lawsuit against the school's assistant principal, who she says failed to act after reports the student brought a gun to school in 2023.

Let's go live now to CNN's Jean Casarez, who has been tracking the testimony. Jean?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're on cross examination right now, but on direct examination when she took the stand, it was very difficult for the plaintiff's attorney to actually get her to verbalize what had happened to her. It was like her mind was reliving it. But she did talk about that on that day that the teacher that was next door to her, and at the school, also with the first-grade class, came to her and said, the two of her students had seen that one of her students had a gun in his backpack.

And so, the teacher said, I'm going to go down and tell the vice principal, you just stay with your class but keep your eye on him. So that's what she did. And then they had research. And she, you know, you have over 20 students in your class right here. She kept watching him, observing him.

She didn't realize that other teachers were asking the vice principal, who is the defendant, by the way. Her last name, her name is Ebony Parker, to do something because she was in-charge of crisis management at the school. That's what she was trained for, as the vice principal, as the administrator. She was to handle something like this. So, as you see, Abby kept teaching her class, believing that word was getting to the vice principal and the vice principal would do something. Well, nothing was done.

[12:20:00]

And finally, she testified that she saw that gun and she was shot. She went black. She thought she was dying. She said she saw black. She really believed she was going to heaven, but then she suddenly felt and saw people around her trying to help her and these were school teachers. They were trying to stop the bleeding because paramedics hadn't arrived. And she realized that she was alive.

Now on cross examination, the focus is really to place a responsibility on Abby. Why didn't Abby go down to the vice principal? Why didn't Abby go to the child and ask the child, do you have a gun on you? So, they're really blaming the victim, in a sense, but this is -- she's trying to defend Ebony Parker, trying to defend in this litigation.

And so, how will that fare with the jury? Because she's definitely emotionally disturbed from this. You see it in her eyes and the soul of her eyes, but the defense continues to bring out. Also she went to a Taylor Swift concert. She wrote to Taylor Swift. That's coming out as part of the defense, saying you're really not injured. You don't have all those emotions because you're attending a concert. Her sister had gotten those tickets for them to try to help her.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, so much to unpack there, not the least of which, the most important of which, is that a six-year-old had a gun.

CASAREZ: Yeah.

BASH: At all, never mind in school and never mind shot his teacher. All right, let's thank you for bringing us up to speed. Let's listen into the trial a bit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we can publish this as shown on my screen. All right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you had a chance to look at?

ZWERNER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And did you find a Nevada school for cosmetology and send it to miss list?

ZWERNER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And told her that they had a school in Arlington? Mr. Coleman, can you please show the witness, Exhibit 96-J? Miss. Zwerner is this a text you sent to miss list on October 18, 2022?

ZWERNER: I'm not sure who I sent to, but yeah, it's a text I sent. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. It says to Rosalie (Ph) list. Is that correct?

ZWERNER: I can't tell from here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you see?

ZWERNER: Yes, I did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that's about a year later, correct, the fall before the events that bring us here today?

ZWERNER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any objection?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, she admit it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. All right, as shown on my screen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Miss. Zwerner in the text, you told miss list that you didn't even know if you wanted to teach anymore, but you didn't want to waste all the student, the money that you had spent going to school. Is that correct?

ZWERNER: Yes, I said that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you said that you would love to go to cosmetology school.

ZWERNER: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You went to cosmetology school, correct, about a year after the events that bring us here today?

ZWERNER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Coleman, can you please show the witness only and counsel defense Exhibit 127, page three.

[12:25:00]

BASH: OK. You can keep following this trial on CNN All Access. Please go to cnn.com/watch to keep it up on your browser or on your phone or wherever you're watching us right now. Still ahead here in Inside Politics. The Democrats' Garden State gauntlet. I'm going to speak with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker about the razor close race for governor in his state. It's exposing some real vulnerabilities within the Democratic Party. Stay with us.

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BASH: President Trump is raving about his trade truce with China. He claims Chinese leader Xi Jinping, quote, agreed to almost everything in their meeting in South Korea. Here's what we know about the deal between the world [12:30:00]