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Trump to Lay Wreath at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; Lawmakers Heads Back to Washington to End Government Shutdown; Rep. Jeffries to CNN as House Weighs Deal to End Shutdown; Texas Families File Lawsuits Against Camp Mystic. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 11, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. You are taking a live look here at Arlington National Cemetery on this Veterans Day. We are expecting President Trump to arrive there within the next 30 minutes or so. He will make some remarks. Of course, we'll be monitoring that. Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We'll have live coverage of that coming up. That's going to be coming up soon. In the meantime, happening now, lawmakers are heading back to Washington for a vote aimed at ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The House Speaker Mike Johnson says he wants the House back in session tomorrow. It will be their first meeting, by the way, in some 54 days.

I'm joined now by the House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries, thanks so much for joining us. What are you hearing about when the House will vote on this bill to reopen the federal government?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: Well, good morning. Great to be with you, Wolf. Great to be with you, Pamela. Great to be back on the Situation Room. Let me first just say we express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all of our veterans, our men and women who have worn the uniform. Thankful for their service, their sacrifice, and continuing to give us the freedom that we cherish here in this country.

It's our expectation that the House will vote at some point tomorrow, and House Democrats will strongly oppose any legislation that does not decisively address the Republican health care crisis. We want to reopen the government. We'll continue to stand by our hardworking federal employees and civil servants, but we have a responsibility to make sure that we extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that tens of millions of Americans don't experience dramatically increased health care costs that's going to prevent them from being able to see a doctor when they need one.

[10:35:00]

BLITZER: As you know, the bill that will be out on the House floor would fund the federal government until the end of January, some key agencies through the end of next year. What do you see happening on January 30th?

JEFFRIES: Well, I think what's going to be important over the next few weeks, once this issue is resolved relative to this particular piece of legislation, is that on December 31st, the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire. And dozens of House Republicans have been claiming over the last few weeks that they know that is something that needs to be addressed. And now, we're going to have to see some action, or whether it was just talk from these House Republicans, because Democrats are going to continue to stay in the arena as it relates to dealing with the health care crisis that Republicans have visited on the American people.

Understand that this year Republicans have enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. This is after Donald Trump promised in late January to love and cherish Medicaid. And we know that hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health centers are closing all across the country. And now, because of the Republican refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, there's a risk over the next few weeks that tens of millions of Americans will not be able to afford their health care. We're talking about working-class Americans, middle-class Americans, and everyday Americans. That's why Democrats are continuing to fight hard on their behalf.

BLITZER: But as you know, in the Senate, seven Democrats and one Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, they actually broke ranks to advance the funding bill, a 60-to-40 vote. They needed 60 votes, they got the 60 votes. The Republicans, with one exception, all voted for it. We spoke with one of those Democrats who caucused with one of those Democrats, Angus King, about why he decided to accept the Republican plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): A lot of collateral damage was happening. People's lives were being hurt. If the tactic isn't working and there were no prospects that it was going to work, then let's move on, not make a lot of other people suffer in order to get a goal that wasn't attainable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Angus King of Maine, he's an Independent, as you know, Leader Jeffries, but he caucuses with the Democrats. What's your response to his comment and his vote?

JEFFRIES: Well, the suffering that has been visited upon the American people over the last several weeks is very consistent with, unfortunately, the suffering that Donald Trump and Republicans have visited upon the American people since day one of his presidency, where we've seen these Republicans unleash extreme levels of aggressive behavior that does not make life better for these Americans. It makes life worse.

And we've seen it, an all-out assault on the economy, an all-out assault on health care, an all-out assault on nutritional assistance, an all-out assault by these Republicans on veterans and farmers and law-abiding immigrant families and the American way of life and, of course, democracy itself.

And so, our fight, obviously, is going to continue through whatever happens this week because, as House Democrats, we're committed to driving down the high cost of living, to fixing our broken health care system and, at the same period of time, cleaning up the corruption that exists in Washington, D.C., in the Congress, at the Supreme Court and, of course, with the Trump administration, the most corrupt administration in American history, so we can actually deliver a country of the people, by the people and for the people.

BLITZER: I just want to be precise. You say the Supreme Court has been corrupt? Is that what you're saying?

JEFFRIES: Yes, what I'm saying is that the outrageous behavior by individual justices like Clarence Thomas and Justice Alito and the failure to have an ethical code of conduct is corrupt. These are the only people in the country who can operate above the law.

And so, what I'm suggesting is that as we focus on delivering a country that actually works for working-class Americans, we've got to make sure that every single branch of government is working in a manner consistent with lifting up the quality of life of everyday Americans and holding themselves to the same standards that working- class Americans are expected to live by, work hard and play by the rules.

BLITZER: The Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer voted against the deal last night, but he's being severely criticized for not having enough control over his caucus to stop those eight from defecting. Your colleague, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California says the time has come for a change. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): He's the leader of the Senate. This deal would never have happened if he had not blessed it. It's time for him to be replaced. He is not meeting the moment. He's out of touch with where the party's base is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:40:00]

BLITZER: What do you think, Leader Jeffries? Do you agree with Ro Khanna? Do you think Schumer should be replaced?

JEFFRIES: Leader Schumer did not bless this agreement. He voted against it. And of course, Senate Democrats who voted no have made that clear. And what we've seen from Senate Democrats over the last seven weeks has been part of a valiant fight that we have waged together to stand up in defense of the health, the safety, and the economic well-being of the American people. And we know Senate Democrats voted down the partisan Republican spending bill that gutted the health care of the American people 15 or 16 different times.

And listen, it's unfortunate that you had eight or so Democrats, seven Democrats, who made the decision to vote in a different way than the overwhelming majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus, and what you'll see from the overwhelming majority of House Democrats when the bill comes over to us. But they're going to have to explain themselves.

This fight continues. And over the last several weeks, we have successfully elevated this health care issue such that the American people are demanding action. And now, it's going to be on Mike Johnson and House Republicans to demonstrate. Are they willing to actually do something for someone other than the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected? And there's an opportunity to do it by making sure that the Affordable Care Act tax credits are extended. Every single Democrat stands behind that proposition in the House. Let's see what the Republicans decide to do tomorrow.

BROWN: Well, let's listen to Speaker Johnson for himself because he was asked about that by our Jake Tapper last night and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: So, you're not committing to bringing up a bill that deals with the Obamacare subsidies before they expire?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm not committing to it or not committing to it. What I'm saying is that we do a deliberative process. That's the way this always works and we have to have time to do that and we will in a bipartisan fashion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, how do you see this playing out?

JEFFRIES: Well, let's understand. This is the same group of people who rushed back to Washington in early July to enact their one big ugly bill. The largest cut to Medicaid in American history, ripping health insurance away from about 14 million Americans. At the same period of time, they enacted a $186 billion cut to nutritional assistance. These people literally ripped food from the mouths of hungry children, seniors and veterans and all of this was done. The attack on healthcare and the attack on SNAP, all of this was done so they could reward their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks that they made permanent. Yet they haven't found the time to even bother considering extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that tens of millions of working-class Americans, middle class Americans and everyday Americans don't experience dramatically increased healthcare costs in an environment where the cost of living is already too high.

Perhaps one of the reasons why they're not dealing with this with any degree of urgency is because their leader, their puppet master Donald Trump apparently believes that the affordability crisis in this country is all made up, and maybe that's why we're not seeing any action from Republicans because they're just taking orders from their boss.

BROWN: Well, we have had Republican Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene on who actually has expressed the concern about affordability in America and the continuation of those ACA subsidies. As you know she has been a fierce defender of President Trump but recently she's run counter to the White House message and her change of tone has not escaped the president's notice. I want to take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREEN (R-GA): I truly believe that's an utter failure and you can't expect people to show up and be passionate about voting for you when you're not even going to work and they're going to work every single day and struggling to pay their bills. I think domestic policy should be the most important issue that the president and the Republican controlled House and Senate are working on and that showed up in the election on Tuesday.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't know what happened to Marjorie. She's a nice woman but I don't know what happened. She's lost her way I think so when somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene who's now catering to the other side, I don't know what -- you know, I guess she's, you know, got some kind of an act going, but I'm surprised at her. But when somebody like Marjorie goes over and starts making statements like that it shows she doesn't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Do you think she's lost her way?

JEFFRIES: I think Marjorie Taylor Greene has correctly indicated that Donald Trump and Republicans have spent more time focused on bailing out their right-wing dictator friend in Argentina. They found $40 billion to bail out Argentina but can't find a dime to make life more affordable for the American people. Yes. that's a problem. It's a problem that in the middle of this government shutdown, the longest Trump Republican shutdown in American history, Donald Trump has spent more time on the golf course than he has actually talking with members of Congress or Democrats on Capitol Hill who represent half the country as part of an effort to do what we've been saying from day one we should be doing, which is lowering the high cost of living.

[10:45:00]

Donald Trump in fact promised on day one to lower the high cost of living. But in America costs aren't going down, costs are going up. House bills housing costs under Republican policies through the roof, grocery prices through the roof, electricity costs through the roof, and now tens of millions of people facing these unprecedented dramatic increases in health insurance costs, and Republicans don't give a damn about it.

BLITZER: The Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries, always good to have you in the Situation Room. Thanks very much for joining us.

BROWN: Thank you.

JEFFRIES: Thank you. BROWN: Coming up here in the Situation Room, their lives were forever changed last July, and up next, we're going to speak to the parents of a nine-year-old little girl killed in the devastating flood at Camp Mystic in Texas, as they join other parents suing the camp.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, the families of nine Texas flooding victims have filed three separate lawsuits against an all-girls Christian camp in Texas and its owners. They accused Camp Mystic of negligence and gross negligence after 25 campers and two counselors and the camp's director were killed in the devastating flooding on July 4th, claiming it ignored flood risks and prior warnings, delayed evacuations, and put profit over campers' safety. Each lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in damages.

And joining us now to discuss are Jennifer and Douglas Getten, who lost their nine-year-old little girl, Ellen, in the flood. Ellen was in the bubble inn. That's the cabin where all the girls and their counselors died. Their lawyer, Kyle Findley, also joins us. Thank you for your time. I know you have been going through so much.

[10:50:00]

But first off, Jennifer and Douglas, I want to ask you about your grieving process, how you have been. I know Ellen had a big sister. Tell us about that.

DOUGLAS GETTEN, FATHER OF ELLEN ELIZABETH GETTEN: You want to speak first? You want to --

JENNIFER GETTEN, MOTHER OF ELLEN ELIZABETH GETTEN: Oh, yes. The last four months have been worse than you could ever imagine. Parent's nightmare. Ellen was amazing. She was so excited to go to camp with her big sister. She was so excited. She drew a different tribe than her sister. They were very best friends. So, this has been a huge loss for our family. And her big sister, Gwen, is devastated. You know, she never wanted to be an only child. And Ellen was her best friend.

BROWN: And, Doug, the lawsuit references the mental anguish that Jennifer just talked about throughout these last four months. I want to read part of the filing. It says, the undeniable pain, fear, desperation, horror, and distress Ellen undoubtedly experienced in the hours and minutes before her death were foreseeable and preventable had defendants acted with reasonable care for her safety. These terrifying last moments were approximately caused by negligence and gross negligence of the defendants.

You say the camp should have been on high alert ahead of the storm. Did you have any idea about the weather history and the potential risks here?

D. GETTEN: We would never have sent either of our children to that camp if we were aware. I have never heard the term Flash Flood Alley until post-July 4th. So, no, we were not aware. I'm not aware of any literature from the camp that provided any warning of the weather patterns. Obviously, after we lost our daughter, then we learned the stories about the various floods, which is in their history quiz about the horrible flood in the 30s, the fact that one of the directors had to be airlifted out to give birth to a child, the other various flooding. So, it's heartbreaking to then learn these things after this loss that has completely broken us.

BROWN: Kyle, I want to ask you about this because I had Camp Mystic's attorney on recently, Mikal Watts, and I asked him about the cabin's location, specifically the bubble inn, where actually I stayed as a child, and its location by the Guadalupe River, and also the camp's evacuation efforts. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKAL WATTS, ATTORNEY FOR CAMP MYSTIC: Early on, the water wasn't as high, and there's this classic mentality that you can get more people out in a car than walking them out one by one. And obviously, his instinct was to go closest to the river and work backwards, and he was successful with respect to 166 girls. The girls that passed away, the Heaven's 27, were in cabins far off the river, far above the 100-year floodplain, I would argue above the 500-year floodplain. But the bottom line is that this was an unprecedented once-in-a-thousand-year event that nobody thought was even possible. It's never happened before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And we also heard from Jeff Ray, legal counsel for the camp, who said this in a statement yesterday after these lawsuits were filed, we empathize with the families of the campers and counselors and all families in the Hill Country who lost loved ones. We disagree with several accusations and misinformation in the legal filings regarding the actions of Camp Mystic and Dick Eastland, who lost his life as well. Kyle, what is your response?

KYLE FINDLEY, LAWYER FOR THE GETTEN FAMILY: Sure. I think some of the things that have been said related to this lawsuit are misleading. Here's what we know. This camp has operated on the Guadalupe River in a Guadalupe River basin, which is a floodplain for years and years and years. Saying that it's never happened before, therefore they couldn't have expected it, isn't accurate at all.

Two days before this event happened, the state was already issuing people to Kerr County for this specific reason, for floods. This camp is located in a river basin, as you can see from the picture there, that has Cypress Creek and the Guadalupe River that converge right at Camp Mystic. And so, the problem with this case is, and the reason why these lawsuits were brought was for this reason, is to prevent this from happening again.

I know my clients, as well as many other clients, there hasn't been the accountability that there should be related to this. Legislation has had to be passed, and as well as families have brought lawsuits to make sure this doesn't happen again. Because the reality is, this is a known floodplain. There was zero action taken after a warning two days before, zero actions taken after a flood watch the day before, and then even after a flood warning that night, zero action taken until it was too late. And had proper preparation been done, had proper planning been put in place this entire event could have been avoided.

[10:55:00]

BROWN: And the camp, as you know, Kyle has argued that they were monitoring and that after that alert came in, that they put together a plan. They -- Mikal Watts told me that he -- they moved equipment in the camp and then they realized how bad it was and started those evacuations of the girls. And obviously, it wasn't enough because we lost 27.

And you know, Jennifer, I know you would do anything to bring sweet Ellen back. She's such a light. I want to put pictures back up of her as we honor her today and her legacy, and her young life. What would accountability look like to you?

J. GETTEN: I mean, just even acknowledge that they passed away. None of the communication we received from the camp has even mentioned our daughter's names in it. Even after this happened two days after July 4th, we got an email. For people to come pick up their trunks and things, and our daughter's body hadn't been found. There's still a missing child out there for (INAUDIBLE), and the camp refuses to acknowledge, you know, that 27 girls passed away and they're focused on opening a new camp and they're focused on revenue and let's, you know, open Cypress Lake and create new memories when, you know, 26 families lost their children and there's still a missing child out there.

We would like for them to acknowledge they made some mistakes and we would like for them to say our daughter's names.

BROWN: Doug what have you heard from the camp after Ellen was killed? And what are your thoughts on this partial reopening this summer for its a hundredth anniversary? How did that sit with you when that announcement was made?

D. GETTEN: It was very upsetting. I remember it was a Monday, we had a friend over for lunch and the email came through and it was just another moment where your gut just drops, another moment when you're thinking, I can't believe this has happened. A reminder of the permanence of our loss, which hurts so badly. The idea of announcing a re reopening of a camp while there's a child still lost is devastating. It's heartbreaking. It's very hard to read and hear people talk about that.

BROWN: Yes.

J. GETTEN: They've also only communicated through a lawyer, received nothing from them.

BROWN: You haven't received anything directly from the camp leaders not from directly from the camp leaders?

JACKSON: Not from -- directly from the camp leaders. We received a grief book and a letter for our daughter with some Bible verses, and that's it.

D. GETTEN: And I think -- I mean, our position on this, by the way, you know, asking why do we need to file the lawsuit now? Why do we even need to file a lawsuit? We think that the camp should not reopen until they've adequately addressed the flooding risk in the area and have come up with adequate safety plans and protocols, including drills and practicing for these girls on what to do.

If there is a likelihood of a flooding event like this occurring, what we don't want to have is anyone else send their kid to a camp, and five days later learn that their child is lost. Two days later be told you're being DNA swabbed, which means that you've really lost your daughter and wait a week to find the body.

And we were supposed to pick our daughter up from camp, both daughters on. July 26th, it said we had a funeral on July 16th. We don't want that to happen to anyone else ever. It's unacceptable.

BROWN: Jennifer, Douglas, Kyle, thank you so much. We really appreciate your time, and I know that you were also help leading the charge with the rest of Heaven's 27 and trying to get that camp safety legislation passed, which did pass. And Camp Mystic says it's implementing those measures. But we really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

D. GETTEN: Thank you very much.

J. GETTEN: Thank you.

FINDLEY: Thank you.

BROWN: And we're going to have more news after a short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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