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The Situation Room

New Video Emerges of Mark Sanchez Incident; Republican Unity Faltering on Shutdown?; James Comey Pleads Not Guilty. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 08, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now: President Trump's former FBI Director James Comey pleads not guilty to federal charges coming after a very public pressure campaign by the president.

Plus, Trump is now calling for Chicago's mayor to be put in jail, accusing him of not protecting ICE agents in the city. We're going to get reaction from Mayor Brandon Johnson as the administration prepares to deploy federal troops in Chicago.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And the alarming results from three CNN reporters based around the world using state-of-the-art technology to see how many toxins we're exposed to every day.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we begin this hour with the breaking news. Just minutes ago, former FBI Director James Comey ended after -- he entered a not guilty plea in federal court.

This trial is now scheduled less than three months from now, January 5. Comey was indicted, Pamela, last month.

BROWN: That's right. Eight days after President Trump publicly called on the Justice Department to prosecute him and other political enemies, Comey is charged with lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. It was related to the FBI's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz was inside the courthouse for this arraignment.

So, walk us through the proceeding, Katelyn.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Pam and Wolf, there was one moment here where the defense team, they summed it all up. It was defense counsel Pat Fitzgerald representing Jim Comey.

He's standing at the podium talking to Judge Michael Nachmanoff. And he said: "Our view is the prosecution was brought at the direction of President Trump." And then he told the court: "This is how we're going to roll on the defense side."

The plan for the defense is to challenge every way they can how this prosecution has been brought, how the indictment was brought and the work of Lindsey Halligan, the U.S. attorney put into place by Donald Trump just days before she presented this case to a grand jury, got their approval.

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She too was in court sitting on the government's counsel table, something you never see. You rarely see U.S. attorneys in court, and you often never see them inside the well of the courtroom. But Halligan was there sitting next to two other more practiced line attorneys representing the federal government.

Now, the defense team, what is going to happen over the next couple of weeks, even months, but not many months, is that they're going to challenge Halligan's appointment. That is one major motion that they're going to be filing with the judge. And another judge will be brought in to hear if Lindsey Halligan is appropriately shepherding this prosecution, this case through the system.

So they're going to try and get her tossed off. That's a way to toss the case. They're also going to challenge the case on a couple other grounds, vindictive and selective prosecution. Was Comey retaliated against unfairly by the government and should be the case should the case be tossed in that way?

And then a few others, they're going to allege grand jury abuse. They're going to allege outrageous government conduct. But, Pam and Wolf, there was another thing that came out in this hearing. The government side, the prosecutors, the Justice Department, they're not ready. They don't have all of the evidence gathered and have their hands around it at this time.

That was what one of the prosecutors told the judge today. And they're still working on declassifying information that they say may need to be meet needed in this case. But the judge made clear that he doesn't think this is complicated and this should move very fast. January 5 is the trial date, less than three months from today.

BLITZER: All right, Katelyn Polantz outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: And joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM is CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig.

You're a former federal prosecutor. I'm wondering what stands out to you from everything Katelyn just laid out there.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So, a few things. First of all, just how fast we're going to get the trial here. Under

three months, I'm sure it's happened in the history of the federal courts, but it's virtually unheard of. I don't know if I have ever in my experience seen a case get to trial that fast. It shows me the defendant's really the one who controls that. Jim Comey wants to go to trial. He wants to do it quickly.

The fact that the trial is only going to be two or three days shows me that this is a very narrow issue. This all has to do with whether Jim Comey lied in that one bit of testimony that we saw from 2020 when he essentially said to Ted Cruz that he never authorized anyone to leak at the FBI. This is not going to be a sprawling, weeks-long case.

And then, finally, following up on Katelyn Polantz's reporting just there, Comey's going to bring the kitchen sink approach to motions. He's going to bring every possible motion. You don't always see that. Sometimes, defendants are a little more restrictive in what they want to bring. He's going to argue vindictive prosecution, selective prosecution, that the U.S. attorney was illegally appointed.

So they're going to make every effort to get this case thrown out before it gets to trial. This is going to move really fast, really quickly, and really intensely over the next several weeks.

BROWN: Yes, and Katelyn talked about the fact that the U.S. attorney, Lindsey Halligan, who hasn't been in the job very long, was actually there in how unusual that is?

HONIG: Thirteen days on the job, and Katelyn's exactly right. I don't know that I ever saw my U.S. attorney who I happened to be -- whoever I was working under at the time, appear, make an appearance on the record in a court case. That's just not the job.

The job is running the office, managing personnel, dealing with the media, overseeing cases. But rarely, if ever, will you see the U.S. attorney, which is what Lindsey Halligan is right now, the acting U.S. attorney, actually in court, especially at an arraignment, which is a -- the first appearance.

So, yes, that's very unusual here too.

BROWN: And just that comes against a backdrop of she's on the job for only 13 days because of what happened around this case, right?

HONIG: Yes.

BROWN: Yes.

HONIG: Let's remember why she's so new to this job. This is a very important point.

The U.S. attorney who had been in place, put there by Trump, by the way, was a guy named Erik Siebert, longtime DOJ veteran, conservative- leaning, favored Donald Trump. And Erik Siebert took a look at this case, the Jim Comey case, and concluded, there's not an indictment there. There's not a charge there. Then we all remember Donald Trump's social media post essentially

saying, nothing's happening, and when are we going to indict these people? Paraphrasing. Erik Siebert was then pushed out, and days later, we had Lindsey Halligan, whose background is as an insurance lawyer, and she worked for Donald Trump in a personal capacity, doing legal work for him.

And then, really, her biggest involvement with the current administration is Donald Trump put her in charge of the Smithsonian review committee. Remember how they were reviewing the exhibits at the Smithsonian to make sure that they're ideologically correct, as the White House put it.

So that is a -- that is not a typical resume for somebody who becomes not just a federal prosecutor, but the U.S. attorney for a major district like this one.

BROWN: OK, very quickly, mug shot of Comey, do you expect that? I know people are asking.

HONIG: Well, so in the federal system, mug shots are not public. They are not supposed to get out to the public unless they are leaked. And if you're wondering, well, how about Trump? Why did we see that mug shot of him? That came out of the Georgia state level case.

So we should not see a mug shot of Comey, if there even is one.

BROWN: All right, Elie Honig, as always, thank you so much.

HONIG: Thanks, guys.

BLITZER: He knows his stuff.

BROWN: He certainly does.

HONIG: Thank you.

BLITZER: And just ahead, we're going to talk live with Chicago's mayor, as President Trump is now calling for him to be jailed, accusing him of failing to protect ICE officers.

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BROWN: And she's been one of President Trump's most loyal supporters on Capitol Hill for years, but now Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is making a habit of bucking the party line.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: We are now in the eighth day of the government shutdown, and there's no deal in sight to reopen the federal government.

Last hour, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, took a direct swipe at Democrats' messaging during this stalemate. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): There's one sad and inescapable fact that no one can forget here. This shutdown is nothing more than political cover for Chuck Schumer and the Democrats. They are worried about the Marxist flanks in the Democrat Party.

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The Marxists are about to elect a mayor in New York City. That's Chuck Schumer's state. And he's terrified that he's going to get a challenge from his far left. I have noted that Chuck Schumer is a very far left politician, but he's not far enough left for the communists, and they're coming for him.

And so he has to put up his dukes and show a fight. So they picked a fight on something that's not even related at all to the shutdown and the funding that we should have gotten done by the end of September. We just need a stopgap measure to give us a little more time to get the job of Congress done. They refuse to do it because they're playing politics, and real Americans are paying the price for it.

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BROWN: And one week into the government shutdown, cracks are starting to emerge in Republicans' unity.

GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is ripping her party for its stance on health care, making her the most prominent Republican to come out in support of Democrats' calls to extend Obamacare subsidies.

Here's how she described the issue during an interview with NewsNation last night.

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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): But insurance premiums are unbelievably high.

QUESTION: Up and to the right.

GREENE: Yes. And they're looking to go up, not only people on the ACA, but people that have private plans as well. This is the number one issue I hear about in my district. I work for Georgia's 14th District, and so I'm willing to take off team jersey, so to speak, right now and call it literally like it is. This is a crisis in America, and I really want to work on it.

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BROWN: All right, I want to go live now to CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

This is a bit of a surprise, right, from a conservative hard-liner in lake Marjorie Taylor Greene, although we have seen her break from the party on other issues recently as well, Manu. MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she's been

carving out her own lane, whether it's about the Epstein files. She has signed onto that discharge petition that actually would circumvent Republican leadership to force a vote on the full House floor to call for the release of those Jeffrey Epstein files, one of three Republicans just to do that, and then -- four Republicans just to do that.

But, also, she has also been outspoken on issues such as Ukraine, on Israel, breaking with more traditional Republicans. But on this issue in particular, coming at a difficult time for the -- both for the country and as Republican Party is trying to maintain a level of unity here, saying that there was no negotiations whatsoever until the Democrats agree to reopen the government, that is the position of Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader, John Thune, and most rank-and-file members.

But Marjorie Taylor Greene taking this different position and putting out a statement on X earlier this week saying that: "I'm not toeing the party line on this or playing loyalty games. I'm a Republican and won't vote for the illegals to have any taxpayer-funded health care or benefits."

She goes on to say: "It is absolutely shameful, disgusting, and traitorous that our laws and policies screwed the government -- American people so much that the American government is shut down right now over basic issues like this."

Now, Mike Johnson also maintained today that he was not going to bring the House back into session until the Senate Democrats agreed to the Republican plan, which is to reopen the government for -- up until November 21. He says at that point they can begin to negotiate, once the Democrats come on board.

That puts pressure on Democrats to decide how to proceed. But just in a matter of moments, we expect Democrats again to vote to block that Republican bill because of their position to reopen the federal government if there are -- is there an extension of these expiring Obamacare subsidies, and, increasingly, we're hearing Democrats point to Marjorie Taylor Greene's position to argue that their side is gaining momentum here.

The question, though, is, do other Republicans agree? Right now, John Thune, the Senate majority leader, was just asked about this as well. He brushed that aside, maintaining the Republican position here. So, despite her position, despite her views, not influencing the top ranks of the Republican leadership, which means more stalemate as the two sides are engaged in this very damaging staring contest -- guys.

BROWN: Yes, certainly. We're in the eighth day of this government shutdown. Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, thank you so much.

And just ahead, on "INSIDE POLITICS," Democratic Congresswoman and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sits down with our Dana Bash. That is today at noon right here on CNN. BLITZER: And up next here in THE SITUATION ROOM: New surveillance

video shows why prosecutors ended up charging former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez with a felony over a fight.

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BLITZER: This morning, there's newly released video capturing the aftermath of an incident that has former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez facing several criminal charges.

CNN's Coy Wire is joining us right now. He's got the latest on this rather bizarre story.

What's the latest, Coy?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Wolf, we are going to take a look at that surveillance video obtained by "The New York Post" showing former NFL quarterback turned FOX sports analyst Mark Sanchez after the fight that led to him being stabbed in Indianapolis.

According to Marion County, Indiana, prosecutor Ryan Mears, Sanchez escalated a dispute with a 69-year-old truck driver over where the man was parked. The video shows moments after the dispute, where Sanchez can be seen clutching his abdominal area and what appears to be a bloody shirt.

Officials say there are multiple surveillance videos of the incident and that Sanchez now faces a charge of felony battery involving serious bodily injury. The prosecutor says the truck driver sustained -- quote -- "very severe injuries."

Here's part of an update on how he's doing from the man's attorney.

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ERIK MAY, ATTORNEY FOR PERRY TOLE: He's back at home with his wife and just recovering at this point. I mean, obviously, there's going to be a lot of medical care that he's going to continue to receive in the coming days and weeks and months.

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WIRE: All right, CNN legal analyst and defense attorney Joey Jackson explained just a bit ago the upgraded charges Sanchez is now facing and what will be critical to the outcome of this case.

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JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There's going to be a lot in dispute. There was an altercation. That much is clear. I think the issues are going to be around the nature of the altercation, who started the altercation, how did it come about, and whether the force used by either party was reasonable or appropriate.

But in terms of the upgrade, initially, as you would recall, they had misdemeanors, public intoxication, the fact that they were alleging he was intoxicated and based on his intoxication was causing public annoyance and alarm. They had the misdemeanor relating to the battery.

What is battery? Battery is when I make contact with someone and it's unlawful because you have not consented to that. So you can't be touching people. If that touch leads to something more aggressive, like here, the risk of death, there's where you get your elevation. And then, of course, there's that other charge with respect to Mark Sanchez allegedly trying to get in the truck without permission and authority.

If you're the initial aggressor, the person who provoked the altercation, you lose the ability to assert the defense of either, hey, look, I was simply defending myself or what I was doing was appropriate. So who was the initial aggressor, who provoked the altercation is going to be critical.

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WIRE: All right, now, that surveillance video, Wolf, that the prosecutor mentioned, which ultimately led to Sanchez being arrested and charged, will also likely be critical in this case.

BLITZER: All right, Coy Wire reporting for us.

Coy, thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, just ahead, Wolf: Chicago's mayor says he is not going anywhere, as President Trump calls for him to be jailed for not cooperating with ICE operations in his city. We will ask him about the threats and Trump's fight to deploy federal troops in his city.

Plus, the president is also pushing for troops in Portland, Oregon, calling that city -- quote -- "war-ravaged" after months of anti-ICE protests. Officials there on the ground disagree. We're going to look at the reality there. What's actually happening?

We're going to explain after the break.

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