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The Situation Room

President Trump Visits Arlington National Cemetery; Interview With Kentucky Senatorial Candidate Lt. Col. Amy McGrath; U.K. Suspends Some Intelligence Sharing With United States. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired November 11, 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: honoring our veterans. President Trump is expected to speak this hour at Arlington National Cemetery. And, of course, we will bring you his remarks live.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We want to welcome 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.

And we begin this hour honoring the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country. You're taking a look at live pictures right near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier over at Arlington National Cemetery. Any moment now, President Trump is expected to take part in the national Veterans Day observance.

BROWN: Let's go to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House.

Alayna, today's observance comes on day 42 of this government shutdown that's impacted millions, including members of the military and their families. Obviously, a deal, as we have been reporting, to reopen the government is one step closer. But what is the president saying?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes.

And, look, I think what we're seeing today with this memorial service highlights that actually how to pay members of the military was one of the key pressure points that also added to a lot of the stress that these lawmakers were looking at in trying to reopen the government.

But, look, I think more broadly, the White House is claiming victory in some sense as it relates to the shutdown. This was what they thought would happen all along. Their argument was that if they waited out the Democrats, that ultimately they would be forced to reopen the government.

And part of that was, we saw them inflict certain pain points with SNAP benefits and food stamps, the questions over that, withholding money in other areas. But, of course, one of the key questions is going to be how does this play politically, particularly as the issue of health care and specifically those Affordable Care Act subsidies, if those do not get -- if they expire and they don't get a pass to continue, how will that result for Republicans politically?

And we have seen over the past several days now, and in polls have shown this, particularly when you look back to the elections last week, that Republicans have largely taken a lot of the blame for this shutdown. And there are questions now about how they can message this moving forward.

And there's been a key focus here at the White House on this issue of affordability. You have heard the president talk about that repeatedly and try to really argue that the economy is doing better than ever. But last night, Wolf and Pamela, he was asked directly by FOX News' Laura Ingraham why then do Americans say that they have all this economic anxiety? Why are they so anxious about the economy?

Listen to how he responded.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know that they are saying, I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we have ever had -- we will have over $20 trillion come into our economy. And it's largely because of my election, but it's also largely because of tariffs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, Wolf and Pam, you hear the president really there just arguing that polls -- he argued the polls were fake and that he thinks the economy is doing great, kind of going down the same path we know that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, had taken, trying to argue to Americans that the economy is better, even though they are feeling the weight of that on their wallets and in their paychecks.

Now, I will also say that the president is seeming to kind of recognize this issue of affordability. And you saw him kind of publicly talk about certain areas where he thinks he could message better in recent days.

One of those issues is sending rebates checks with tariff money to Americans, so they can help pay for health care. You have talked to him -- you have heard him talk about 50-year mortgages, which in theory could help lower costs per month, all of that as the White House recognizes that they have a lot of work to do as they look to next year's elections and messaging off of the shutdown, but also the economy overall.

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BLITZER: Alayna Treene with the latest from the White House, thanks very, very much.

And, Pamela, for both of us, honoring U.S. military veterans is so personal. For me, my mom and dad were saved by U.S. military troops who -- they were Holocaust survivors who came to the United States thanks to what the U.S. military was doing. And, for you, you're married to a veteran. BROWN: I'm married to a veteran. He was a Navy SEAL. And I know he

would be really embarrassed for me to even be talking about him, but I did thank him for a service this morning...

BLITZER: We honor him too.

BROWN: ... and all the other veterans out there for all of their service.

BLITZER: Yes. It's a beautiful holiday honoring the men and women of the U.S. military. And we're always, always so excited to do it every year. I get very emotional just thinking about -- and whenever I drive by Arlington National Cemetery right outside of Washington, D.C., it really moves me, because I remember what these troops did to save my family's life.

They were Polish Jews who were taken by the Nazis. And they survived, came to America, started a new life because of the U.S. military.

BROWN: Amazing.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: Just the risks and the sacrifice they did that impacted your life, countless other lives. And it is emotional driving by there.

We're looking here at the Arlington National Cemetery, where, again, we are expecting President Trump to speak momentarily. So we will await his remarks there.

BLITZER: And we will be anxious to hear what he has to say. This is a really important day in our history. And I'm glad we do it every single year.

BROWN: As we should.

BLITZER: Yes.

All right, there's more breaking news we're following right now, including exclusive breaking news just into THE SITUATION ROOM. The United Kingdom is suspending some intelligence sharing with the United States because of the Trump administration's strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

BROWN: CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand joins us with her exclusive reporting.

So this is so significant, Natasha, because the U.K. is arguably the closest ally to the United States when it comes to intelligence sharing. And now on this issue, at least, it's pulling back, right?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: hat's exactly right, Pam.

So, previously, the U.K. had been a very important intelligence sharing partner for the U.S. in the Caribbean, because, of course, the U.K. has a number of territories in the Caribbean. They have an interest in helping to stop the flow of drugs to the United States and to elsewhere in the Caribbean.

And so they would often share intelligence, given the intelligence assets that they have down there, with the U.S. to help the U.S. Coast Guard interdict and arrest drug smugglers and also to seize all of the narcotics on board.

But that changed when the U.S. military started actually blowing up these boats, using lethal force against these vessels. The U.K. was deeply uncomfortable with that, felt that it violated international law. And for that reason it suspended that intelligent sharing with the U.S. just over a month ago, we're told, because it did not want its intelligence and its information being used by the U.S. military to carry out these kinds of lethal attacks.

Now, this comes amid a lot of skepticism broadly from legal experts, as well as now we're seeing from the international community, about the legality of this U.S. military campaign in the Caribbean. We have reported previously that the U.S. Southern Command commander offered to resign last month because he had been raising questions about the legality of these strikes.

And he is set to retire early next month just one year into his tenure as the Southern Command chief. And so there have been a lot of questions here about whether the U.S. military campaign is legal. And now we are actually seeing that play out in practice, with the U.K. saying, we don't believe that these strikes are in keeping with international law, we believe that they're illegal, and we don't want to be complicit in them.

That is really the key here. They don't want their information being used to target individuals on vessels that are then going to be killed who are in the U.K.'s mind civilians. Of course, the U.S. has argued that they are enemy combatants. And they don't want that to be on their hands.

And so now we are seeing the suspension of intelligence sharing. Unclear how long this actually going to last, but there's a lot of ambivalence here about the U.S. military's operations both in the Caribbean and increasingly in the Eastern Pacific.

BROWN: Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much.

We were just talking about, Wolf, we don't know of another time that something like this has happened with the U.K.

BLITZER: I don't remember a time when the U.K. has not only suspended intelligence cooperation on a specific issue with the U.S., but is also accusing the U.S. of violating international law by engaging in these operations in the Caribbean, going after these boats.

BROWN: Yes, it is very significant.

Still ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM: allegations of -- against women in the military. Exclusive new CNN reporting reveals that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's policies could be pushing some qualified women out of the service. I'm going to speak to a retired Marine combat fighter pilot about that.

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BLITZER: And law enforcement officials -- quote -- "waiting on Ms. Maxwell hand and foot," the shocking new claims that Ghislaine Maxwell is receiving special treatment in prison.

We have details. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: Take a look at this. Showing our viewers live pictures over at Arlington National Cemetery. The president of the United States and the vice president, they're walking in for this wreath-laying ceremony. The president will be making remarks. We will have live coverage coming up on this, Veterans Day here in the United States.

We're watching all of this very, very closely. We want to watch and see what they do first as they arrive at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River right in the Washington, D.C., area. Let's just watch for a moment and listen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Present!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Present!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arms!

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Order!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arms!

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Present!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Present!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arms!

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Order!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arms!

[11:20:20] BLITZER: All right, so we're going to continue to monitor this. The president and the vice president will be delivering remarks. We will have coverage of that.

That's coming up, Pamela.

BROWN: Very somber, somber day there at Arlington National Cemetery, as we honor the veterans who have served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice, and also honoring the veterans who continue to serve and are being honored on this Veterans Day.

I want to bring in retired Marine combat fighter pilot Lieutenant Colonel Amy McGrath.

Thank you for your service as well, I should note, on this Veterans Day. I also want to note you're running as a Democrat to become the next senator for my home state of Kentucky. So thank you for your time today.

I want to ask you about this new CNN exclusive reporting about a female Navy officer. Bear with me, because I got to lay it out here. But she became the first woman to serve with SEAL Team Six in the role of troop commander. This is the most elite SEAL leaders selected her for the new command.

But her command was abruptly canceled with little explanation, and some sources are telling CNN that her command may have been pulled due to her gender and Secretary Hegseth's views on women in the military.

A Pentagon official familiar with the situation said the command was pulled because the Navy captain wasn't herself a SEAL and that Hegseth was not involved in this. But her story encapsulates what many in the military now fear as a culture of misogyny permeating the U.S. armed forces under Hegseth.

Our team has spoken to several sources who have relayed that. What is your reaction?

LT. COL. AMY MCGRATH (RET.), KENTUCKY SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it doesn't surprise me, right?

This is a secretary of defense, secretary of war, whatever you want to call it now, who wrote an entire book or had an entire few chapters on how insecure he was with serving with women in the military. So it's not surprising. They have fired lots of qualified men and women without any justification.

He has lied about standards in the military, saying that combat standards were somehow lowered for women. They were never lowered for women. Even in ground combat positions, we always had one standard. And, by the way, that was important for women to make sure that we always had one standard.

And so it's not surprising. And, unfortunately, this is what's happening right now. So, while we honor veterans and we honor our military, and I'm glad to see the president at the -- at Arlington National Cemetery today, the policies they're enacting are very harmful to those men and women in particular who serve.

BROWN: Yes, critics say that some of these policies could discourage women from pursuing leadership roles. I'm curious what you're hearing from service members and advocacy groups.

MCGRATH: Yes.

And I read through your article, and it was interesting. The administration says that lots of women are excited to serve under the strong leadership of Secretary Hegseth.

Look, I know no women in the military who are excited to serve under Pete Hegseth. They know that he's unqualified. And they're going to serve with honor and distinction, but, right now, what's happening, everybody sees it. And it does make a culture of fear within the military, because you're not getting the best people rise to the top.

Now, unfortunately, your gender is -- it can be used against you.

BROWN: And you are right. Our team did reach out to the Pentagon, Brianna Keilar, Haley Britzky, just some of the reporters on this. And the Pentagon said that, yes, the women are excited to serve under the strong leadership of Hegseth.

It pointed to recruitment numbers, say recruitment of women is up, although the experts we spoke to said the numbers right now actually reflect the women who signed up last year, before President Trump took office. So it remains to be seen moving forward what that recruitment picture really looks like under Hegseth.

In your view, have previous administrations ever compromised standards to get more women in the military? Because, as you know -- I know you pointed out it was gender-neutral in terms of the training and everything. But has anything ever been compromised for more women?

MCGRATH: No.

Look, the military is a tough place to be. It's not a rose garden. And it's not a rose garden for a reason. There are -- when I joined, there were about maybe 10 to 13 percent women. Now, at the services academies, there's about 30 percent. And that's because, over time, women rise through the ranks, and other women, young women see that.

And so what you get is, you get the best talent going forward. It's not easy for women. But what we want in our military is the best people, because our military exists to fight win the nation's wars. And we want the best people in those positions.

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In my experience, in 24 years in the military, no standards have ever been lowered for me or for any of my fellow women who served.

BROWN: I have done extensive reporting on sexual harassment and assault in the U.S. Coast Guard and how the U.S. Coast Guard for years covered up their findings around that. And I'm wondering if you have any concerns about this environment and

whether those kinds of allegations perhaps won't be taken as seriously or investigated, I know, in our reporting from the team, that was a big concern from women, because there are -- Pete Hegseth has taken steps to pull back whistle-blower protections and that kind of thing.

MCGRATH: Yes, you're absolutely right.

So what Pete Hegseth has done is, he's cut back on the sexual assault reporting process, making it less likely that someone would come forward with allegations. That is a real problem. He's also done things like terminate the advisory committee on women in the military.

And what that does -- it's called DACOWITS. And what they were doing is simply making life better for women in the military, making it more equitable, making the culture better, because, again, you want to keep the best talent. So I'm very worried about that. I think a lot of women in the military are very worried about that.

But you know what? We're pretty tough. And those women who are in the military are much tougher than Pete Hegseth.

BROWN: There's a lot of tough women in the military. That is for sure.

I also want to ask you before I let you go about this breaking news this morning just to get your reaction. The U.K. is suspending some intelligence sharing with the U.S. over its boat strikes on alleged narco-terrorists. At this point, the administration I believe at last count has killed 76 people. They say they're part of the drug cartels. They have not released the actual evidence to prove that.

What is your reaction to the U.K. pulling back on this intelligence share?

MCGRATH: Yes, the most important thing people need to realize is, this is our closest ally, our closest ally, saying they do not want to be complicit in these actions.

And why? Because they know it's wrong. What we are doing there is wrong. If these folks are criminals, they need to be treated like criminals and given due process in a manner that is of law enforcement. If we are at war, and I have been to war, if we are at war, we need to go to Congress, the president needs to go to Congress and ask for a declaration of war or an authorization to use military force.

That is what we do in the United States of America. And that is why the U.K. is saying, hey, we're not going to be a part of this. I think it's a wakeup call to all Americans to look and see what's happening down there and make sure that we hold our Congress and our president accountable.

BROWN: Retired Lieutenant Colonel and Kentucky Senate candidate Amy McGrath, thank you so much for your time. And, again, happy Veterans Day. Thank you for your service. MCGRATH: Thank you.

BROWN: Wolf.

BLITZER: And up next: A bill to reopen the federal government is headed to the House of Representatives right now, but the future of health care subsidies for millions of Americans still hanging in the balance.

The White House (sic) minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, told us only moments ago about the bill.

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