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The Situation Room

Georgia Election Case Against Trump, Allies to Continue With New Prosecutor; New Jersey Officials Say, Notorious Mafia Family Ran College Sports Betting Ring; Trump Briefed on Options for Military Operations Inside Venezuela. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 14, 2025 - 10:00   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 ANCHOR: Happening now, called out by the Epstein estate. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche claims the estate hid documents from law enforcement, but attorneys say, not so fast. The new questions being raised about Blanche's interview with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

Plus, another multimillion dollar mafia betting ring busted, this time involving college athletes. We're going to speak to the attorney general of New Jersey.

And then later another Trump critic accused of mortgage fraud, what Congressman Eric Swalwell is saying about potentially dealing with the Justice Department.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announcing a new mission aimed at, quote, narco-terrorists. We're taking a closer look at what's now being called Operation Southern Spear, and what this means for rising tensions with Venezuela.

Plus, deadly Russian strikes pound Kiev overnight, the Russians claiming that Ukraine was planning to assassinate a high ranking Kremlin official. We will be joined by the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States.

And landmark mission tomorrow, the feat Blue Origin just accomplished, and the message it's sending to rival SpaceX.

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.

There's breaking news just coming into The Situation Room right now, the Georgia election interference case against President Trump and others in their effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results will continue but with a new prosecutor. This comes after Fulton County Attorney Fani Willis was previously removed from the case.

Let's go live right now to CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz. She's got all the breaking details. Katelyn? KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a criminal case against President Donald Trump is alive again with a new prosecutor. This is the case in this State of Georgia in Fulton County around the 2020 election, Donald Trump's efforts there and an alleged conspiracy that he led or is alleged to have led with top officials, including Rudy Giuliani, advisers on his campaign, as well as many people in that state who acted as fake electors.

This is a case that had been charged two years ago and had been essentially on ice, in limbo. It was not moving forward because the prosecutor, Fani Willis, she had been removed from it earlier by a state court. However, there was a deadline given by a judge to find another prosecutor, and indeed one has shown up. It is the person that was charged with trying to figure out who was going to prosecute this case.

I want to read a little about that prosecutor now what he's thinking. His name is Peter Skandalakis. He says the decision to assume responsibility for this matter was reached only after careful and deliberate consideration, while it would've been simple to allow the prior judge's deadline to lapse or to inform the court that no conflict prosecutor could be secured, thereby allowing the case to be dismissed for want of prosecution. I did not believe that to be the right course of action. The public has a legitimate interest in the outcome of this case. Accordingly, it is important that someone make an informed and transparent determination about how best to proceed. I made the decision to assign the case to myself.

So, Peter Skandalakis saying he's going to decide what to do with this indictment of Donald Trump and others in the state of Georgia, whether to push it forward. He says already he's looked at many of the documents in this case, witness statements, banker's boxes worth of evidence that had already been collected by prosecutors, and he is going to determine what else to do here and what proceedings might be going forward.

However, Wolf, Donald Trump's attorney in this case, the defense counsel, Steven Sadow, he says, this politically charged prosecution has to come to an end. We remain confident that a fair and impartial review will lead to a dismissal of the case against President Trump.

[10:05:00]

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Katelyn Polantz with the breaking news, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: All right. Joining us now is CNN Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor Elliot Williams. How significant is this?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It is significant in that, you know, we just put our hats back on to a couple years ago. Remember, there were a series of prosecutions against then-former president, now current President Trump, both at the state and federal level. One of them was in Georgia, and as Katelan had talked about the prosecutor, Fani Willis, had been removed from the case. Well, the judge had said the case or the appeals court had said the case can be revived if a new prosecutor comes on. That case is now revived. And so, once again, we are in the world of some percolating prosecution being brought against President Trump.

BLITZER: And, Elliot, reminder of viewers why Fani Willis is no longer prosecuting this case.

WILLIAMS: Right. She was prosecuting the case because of a relationship she had had with a lead investigator or prosecutor on the case. Now, the trial judge who'd looked at the matter had said that while the relationship itself was not improper, there was at least an appearance of let's call it impartiality or impropriety, that at least cast enough doubt on the case. It could still proceed, but look, there's a cloud over it.

The appeals court then looked at it and said, no, just to restore and maintain faith in the system. She should not prosecute this case. But, again, it can proceed if someone else takes the case on. And that's where we are today.

BROWN: But the bottom line is, and just to take a step back, you have the president of the United States as a criminal defendant in this case.

WILLIAMS: Yes. Now, and there's a really important thing here, which is that this is an investigation or prosecution at state level. All the stuff that people have heard about pardons for people connected with January 6th or Supreme Court rulings with respect to the president may not apply at the state level.

I say may. That is a very important word because anytime you are talking about the investigation or prosecution of the president of the United States, it's an uncharted world and we just don't know quite what will happen. But, again, state prosecutions aren't touched by federal pardons, and that's sort of what we're seeing here.

BLITZER: Do we know anything about this new prosecutor taking over for Willis?

WILLIAMS: You know, I do not, and this is all breaking very quickly. And I haven't looked a ton into his background other than the fact he's a Georgia prosecutor.

BLITZER: That's all we know.

BROWN: How do you expect the Trump administration, sorry, Wolf, to proceed now?

WILLIAMS: Yes. I would think they would still revive the arguments that came up over the course of the last several years, which is that he is the president of the United States. Presidents, as the Supreme Court has said, are immune from prosecution for a host of conduct related to their work in office, even when sometimes that conduct is personal. I would think, make the argument that, look, this is once again reviving another investigation into the president of the United States and his conduct before that might that -- you know, that should not proceed. Also, the fact that he's a sitting president now being prosecuted, they would say, look, maybe you could make an argument for prosecuting him in 2029, but there's no reason why a president should be sitting for interviews and depositions and providing evidence while he's trying to run the country. That's their argument. I'm not weighing in on it. That's just what I think they'll say.

BLITZER: So on that point, realistically, will the Trump administration or the president himself for that matter view any prosecutor as fair and impartial in this case?

WILLIAMS: I don't think so. Not in this case when he is being prosecuted. And, again, a lot of this comes out of the Constitution. The president is the one role in the United States that only one person can hold at a time. It's not like, a Supreme -- even the Supreme Court where if you take somebody out, there's still eight of them that can still do it. The argument will be that no president can ever sit for investigation or prosecution because he has a unique job, that you're going to hear that again probably very soon when they move to either dismiss or take some actions with respect to this case.

BROWN: All right. Elliot, stay with us. You'll join us next hour as well on this breaking news.

BLITZER: And still ahead, the Defense Department launching a new operation aimed at targeting, quote, narco-terrorists. We're going to bring you all the latest details.

BROWN: And then next, we're going to speak to the New Jersey attorney general after he announces a major mafia linking sports betting bust, this time involving college athletes.

You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: There's more breaking news coming into The Situation Room right now. Officials in New Jersey, they say they have dismantled a multimillion dollar online sports betting ring that allegedly involved both the mafia and college students. 14 people have been charged, including a member of the Lucchese crime family.

55-year-old Joseph Little Joe Perna was the alleged mastermind. He's on the top left of your screen. Other members of his family also face charges, including his son, along with two former Rutgers University wrestlers.

The New Jersey attorney general, Matthew Platkin, is joining us right now. Matthew Platon, thanks so much for joining us. What can you tell us, first of all, about the alleged ring and the suspects?

MATTHEW J. PLATKIN (D), NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, as we laid out in the complaint, this alleged ring involves 14 people, a number as you noted, of younger students and former students and student athletes, a member of the organized crime family, the Lucchese family, and essentially recruiting young people to bet illegally millions of dollars being exchanged.

So, at a time when we've legalized sports betting, when we've made it regulated, or we care about responsible gaming, here are the organized crime families, the mob, are continuing to find new ways to try to profit off of illegal activities involving our younger residents.

BROWN: It is striking how young the people are who are allegedly involved in this.

[10:15:00]

What more can you tell us about the student athletes accused of participating in this illegal gambling operation? Can you tell us where they went to school, what they sports played, or how they were involved in this, allegedly involved in this mafia gambling ring?

PLATKIN: Unfortunately, I can't share all those details this time. This remains an ongoing investigation. But as you noted, they recruited specifically student athletes and other college students to bring other kids and young adults into this ring, again, exchanging millions of dollars in the process.

And as we've seen separate and apart from this case, we've seen in cases in New Jersey and across the country, we know that even as sports betting is legal, we're still seeing our younger residents fall into this habit of engaging with people that they shouldn't when they're betting. So, free parental advice. If you're going to bet, do it legally if you're of age. Don't do it through a mob-backed operation, even if your friends or people you admire and student athletes might be involved.

BROWN: Good point. Gambling, as you know, Attorney General, in person, gambling in person has been legal in New Jersey for almost 50 years, but we've also seen a massive rise in the legalization of online gambling, including in your state back in 2013. How has the accessibility of online sports betting and digital tools changed how organized crime runs these sorts of enterprises? And how is your office keeping up?

PLATKIN: Well, my office regulates gambling in New Jersey. We oversee online and in-person gambling, including sports betting and New Jersey has taken more steps than any state in the country to ensure that we can protect people who have challenges with a gambling addiction. We put measures in place to ensure responsible gaming. We partner with the licensed operators, the guys who are trying to follow the law, to ensure that we're looking at data and seeing is somebody gambling too much, are they betting to their last dollar, are they looking at our self-exclusion page and not going it, and we get them help.

So, what the mob is doing is it's trying to fill that void, you know, still that smoke back room, which may look a little different now. It may be on your cell phone, but it's still there. And I want them to know that if they break the law here in New Jersey, we are going to hold them accountable to the fullest extent possible. These individuals are charged with first-degree crimes, which carry penalties of 10 to 20 years in prison, for many of them, half a million dollars or more in financial penalties. This is no joke.

So, I hope people wake up and realize, yes, people can gamble, but they can't do it illegally and you cannot prey on our students.

BROWN: And this is another high-profile case, right, involving the mafia, involving athletes and allegations of illegal gambling rings. Can you just walk us through the mechanics of this case? How do you lay it out for this -- how this was happening?

PLATKIN: Well, this case, as we noted yesterday when we unsealed our complaint originated through our state police who did a great job here at the port, which we now control thanks to the Supreme Court. So, we were able to develop information from port activities, and, yes, the mob remains active and we are continuously combating them and making sure that they cannot get footholds into our industries.

And from there, we didn't just stop at sort of the low level offenders, as you noted, to significant players in the Lucchese crime family. This was a family affair. Little Joe Perna, who's alleged here as the leader, his son was involved, his wife and his ex-wife was allegedly involved in this.

So, the important thing that we do is we build big cases and we hold anyone accountable no matter how big or how powerful you are, again, to the fullest extent of the law.

BROWN: Right. But can you walk us through specifically what they were allegedly doing in this sports betting ring and how they were able to bring in these -- allegedly bring in these athletes?

PLATKIN: Yes, so they were recruiting specifically agents and subagents, bookies, effectively, who were younger and had credibility with other students. And then, essentially, they were acting as old school bookies. They were taking bets either through electronic payments or otherwise, and running a multimillion dollar illegal sports ring using students and student athletes as their agents.

BROWN: The New Jersey attorney general, Matthew Platkin, thanks so much for joining us.

PLATKIN: Thanks so much for having me.

BROWN: All right. Coming up, a CNN exclusive interview, the president of Venezuela's message to President Trump as tensions rise between the two countries.

We'll be back.

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BLITZER: Happening now, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announcing what's called Operation Southern Spear, writing on social media, the mission, quote, removes narco-terrorists from our hemisphere, end quote.

This morning, we know President Trump has been briefed on options for potential military strikes inside Venezuela. And we've also learned of yet another airstrike on an alleged drug boat this week, and that brings the total to 20 and the death toll to 80, that according to the U.S. Defense Department.

CNN spoke with the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, in the middle of a rally in Caracas yesterday, and he had this message for President Trump.

[10:25:00]

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NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT: We're focused on the people governing with peace with these young people building.

Unite for the peace of the continent. No more endless wars. No more unjust wars. No more Libya, no more Afghanistan.

My message is, yes, peace. Yes, peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And this morning, new CNN reporting reveals the Trump administration appears to be reviving the controversial playbook from the Afghanistan war.

CNN Senior National Security Reporter Zachary Cohen is joining us right now. Zachary, so what have you uncovered?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf. Sources telling me and our colleagues, Kevin Liptak and Jim Sciutto, that Donald Trump was briefed on an updated range of military options related to Venezuela, which include strikes inside Venezuela itself.

Now, of course, that any strikes inside Venezuela against land targets would be a significant escalation of an ongoing military campaign that has really been limited to strikes against alleged drug boats in international waters.

Now, while Trump, we're told, has not made a decision as to whether or not he wants to take that next step and escalate in that way, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth making clear that the U.S. military will continue to target alleged drug traffickers in this region going forward, announcing Operation Southern Spear. This is one that he vaguely describes as a mission to defend our homeland from drugs that are killing our people and to eliminate narco-terrorists from the western hemisphere. Of course, as you mentioned, 80 people, 80 individuals have been killed in U.S. strikes in international waters so far as part of this ongoing campaign.

And I'm learning from sources that Pentagon officials behind closed doors in classified settings have really been describing these individuals in ways that almost mirror exactly the terminology that was used during the war on terror, the global war on terror, to describe those terrorists that were killed as part of American airstrikes in Afghanistan and Iraq.

One Source telling me that they were listening to Pentagon briefers use phrases like enemy KIA, or killed in action, to describe some of these alleged drug traffickers. They provided the echoes and ghosts of Afghanistan, really raising some eyebrows among lawmakers who very clearly remember that decades-long war and the legal and strategic missteps that the U.S. took.

BLITZER: All right. Zachary Cohen with the latest information, we appreciate it very much. Thank you very much.

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Let's bring in Major General James Spider Marks to discuss these developments. I want to start with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's announcement of Operation Southern Spear. Where is all of this headed and what does that name convey to you?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES SPIDER MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, giving a name to an operation really means you need to, I mean, there's no obligation, but you need to be able to align policy with behaviors. And I think what the secretary is trying to describe now with the arrival of the carrier strike group, the Ford, and what has been ongoing in terms of the strikes against the drug boats, is he's laid out four objectives, whether we agree or disagree, but one of them is defend the homeland. That makes perfect sense.

His fourth one is to -- you know, he describes this hemisphere as America's hemisphere and the United States will protect it. I think that makes sense. Those two I think are reasonable. And you can measure the effectiveness of those.

The two other ones, which are to prevent drugs coming into the United States and to eliminate narco-trafficking in the hemisphere, my only question about those is how do you measure when you're done and you think you've reached a point where everything's good?

And I think that's what Zachary Cohen was talking about more specifically when you want to go back to what we did in Afghanistan. How do you know when you say, okay, I think we're good to go here, we can start winding down or at least conduct some form of a transition?

BLITZER: With your experience in the war in Iraq, for example, Operation Desert Shield, which was a defensive operation, became Operation Desert Storm, a key word, an offensive operation, what does the use of these terms suggest to you? Also, when they start using words like, enemy killed in action, what does that tell you about the justification for what's going on? Because it sounds like there's going to be major military action by the United States against targets inside Venezuela.

MARKS: Yes. Wolf, I think very specifically what you just described, when we transitioned from Shield to Storm, there was an inflection point, which meant the forces were built up. We had determined that we had overwhelming capabilities, excuse me. We were prepared and the enemy forces were in different array of -- different postures in terms of their preparations as well. But the decision calculus was now's the time to go.

In this particular case, we have seen something that's not dissimilar, but it didn't have the same monikers associated with Shield/Storm, and that as we've been going after -- the United States has been going after drug trafficking over the course of the last month.