Copyright go
A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, November 9, 2025 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) ANNOUNCER: "THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS" starts right now. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: Washington not working. MAJORITY LEADER SEN. JOHN THUNE: I am tired of political games. MINORITY LEADER SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER: This is a reasonable offer that re-opens the government. STEPHANOPOULOS: The government shutdown now the longest in history. Our economy paying the price. LEAD TSA OFFICER MAGGIE SABATINO: We're not pawns on a chessboard. We're people. STEPHANOPOULOS: Thousands of flights canceled. More widespread disruptions expected as critical food benefits remain frozen for millions of Americans. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are in a food crisis. STEPHANOPOULOS: Growing pressure on the White House after Democrats sweep Tuesday's elections. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, (D) VIRGINIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: Tonight, we sent a message. ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NEW YORK CITY MAYOR-ELECT: New York City, breathe this moment in. MIKIE SHERRILL (D), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR-ELECT: With this vote, you guys just screamed from the rooftops. STEPHANOPOULOS: This morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff join us live. Plus, analysis from our powerhouse roundtable. And stunning atrocities. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cannot hear the screams, but as we sit here today, the horror is continuing. STEPHANOPOULOS: Sudan's two-year civil war deepens. Reports of mass murder and ethnic violence from Darfur. We'll speak with David Miliband of the International Rescue Committee. (END VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: From ABC News it's "THIS WEEK." Here now, George Stephanopoulos. STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to "THIS WEEK." The only constant is change. That phrase was probably first coined in ancient Greece. It's now an iron law of modern American politics. Last year, voters angry about the cost of living handed Donald Trump the White House. This year, they handed him a message, delivering wins to Democrats across the country. And those victories, for now, have deepened the divide that is paralyzing Washington. The government shutdown now the longest in American history. And it's bearing down on average Americans. Federal workers furloughed or working without pay. Food stamp recipients wondering how they're going to pay for their next meal. Travelers confounded by flight cancellations that may soon cascade across the system. Congressional correspondent Jay O'Brien starts us off. Good morning, Jay. JAY O'BRIEN, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, George, good morning. Day 40 now of this government shutdown. And as the shutdown drags on, those big wins for Democrats on Tuesday night appear to have changed the political calculus on Capitol Hill. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) O’BRIEN (voice over): After a dismal 2024 election, Democrats roaring back to life this week. ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NEW YORK CITY MAYOR-ELECT: Hope is alive. O’BRIEN (voice over): Notching blowout victories in off-year governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, with campaigns laser-focused on the economy. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, (D) VIRGINIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: The chaos coming out of Washington is killing Virginia jobs. REP. MIKIE SHERRILL (D), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR-ELECT: I'm going to declare a state of emergency on day one to drive down your utility costs! O’BRIEN (voice over): In New York City, 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani winning 50 percent of the vote with a campaign centered on making the city more affordable. MAMDANI: We will make this city one that working people can love and live in again. O’BRIEN (voice over): And Californians approving Governor Gavin Newsom's redistricting plan, another major win for Democrats. GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, (D) CALIFORNIA: Tonight, after poking the bear, this bear roared. O’BRIEN (voice over): Those results coming as the longest government shutdown in American history drags on. The president acknowledging the gridlock may have hurt Republicans. DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the shutdown was a big factor, negative, for the Republicans. O’BRIEN (voice over): But this week, Democrats scaling back their demands to reach a deal. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offering votes to reopen the government in exchange for a one-year extension of health care subsidies rather than making them permanent. MINORITY LEADER SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER: Democrats are ready to clear the way to quickly pass a government funding bill that includes health care affordability. We need Republicans to just say "yes." O’BRIEN (voice over): But Republicans refusing to budge. MAJORITY LEADER SEN. JOHN THUNE: The Democrat leader's proposal is a non-starter. O’BRIEN: Do you have a sense that there is any way that Republicans would entertain negotiating on these tax credits prior to the government reopening? SEN. MIKE ROUNDS, (R) SOUTH DAKOTA: We can't. We simply can't. O’BRIEN (voice over): The impacts of the shutdown getting worse by the day. The FAA announcing a 10 percent reduction in flights at 40 of the country's busiest airports this week due to staffing shortages. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SEAN DUFFY: If the shutdown continues and have controllers that continue to not get paychecks, one of the issues is, is that I’m going to see less controllers coming to work. O’BRIEN (voice over): Maggie Sabatino is a lead TSA officer at the Philadelphia International Airport who last got paid on October 11th. LEAD TSA OFFICER MAGGIE SABATINO: We're not pawns on a chess board. We're people. We get up every day just like we do, but they're getting a paycheck, and we're not. O'BRIEN (voice over): Maggie, for the first time, is considering applying for SNAP federal food assistance to help feed her family, but that critical program now caught up in a legal battle. This week a judge ordering the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP for November. The White House appealing that decision. And late Friday, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily halting the lower court's order, leaving 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP in limbo. One of them, Symone Wilkes, a working single mom in Detroit who we first met last week. SYMONE WILKES, SNAP RECIPIENT: It has been days where the kids will eat and I'll just survive off water. O’BRIEN (voice over): We checked back in with Symone earlier this week, asking how much money she has left for food. WILKES: $23. O’BRIEN: You have $23? WILKES: Yes. I do not know what I'm going to do. (END VIDEOTAPE) O’BRIEN (on camera): And, George, the Senate in town this weekend for a rare session. We do know that there are ongoing informal bipartisan negotiations between rank-and-file senators. Meantime, President Trump ramping up his pressure on Senate Republicans to get rid of the filibuster and be able to pass government funding and any other legislation with just Republican votes. So far, GOP leaders have rejected the president's demands, George. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: OK, Jay, thanks very much. Let's get more on the travel situation now from our transportation correspondent Geo Benitez. Geo, thanks for coming in this morning. What do we know right now? GIO BENITEZ, ABC NEWS TRANSPORTATION CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Right now we're looking at a thousand cancellations today, a thousand cancellations yesterday, and we're looking at 4,000 delays yesterday. So, these numbers just keep going up and up and up and up. Now, this is actually the calm before the storm, that's what a former TSA official said, because it's only going to get worse. In fact, Sean Duffy, the Transportation secretary, said that at some point, maybe by the holidays, we may see one in five flights canceled. That is a lot. We're talking up to 20 percent. If we get there, we just don't know, because we don’t’ know how long the shutdown -- STEPHANOPOULOS: Get through -- with 20 percent by Thanksgiving, can people get through that weekend? BENITEZ: They can get through that weekend, but it's going to be tough. It's going to be really tough. Because, hopefully, what they're going to do is, they’re going to say, you know what, we're canceling this flight, we’re canceling that flight, and people can make other plans. But it’s going to get tough to get around. Now, the FAA hopes that by having these cancellations in place in advance, they can actually allow people to make these plans and get on flights that actually will take off. They'll be able to sort of slow down the air traffic in the air. But that's also important for safety, right? Because that's what we're so concerned about. We've seen these issues. We saw that UPS flight, obviously had nothing to do with this, but safety is such a critical issue. It's on everybody's minds. And that's what they're looking at here. STEPHANOPOULOS: So, what should someone do if their flight is canceled? BENITEZ: So, what I like to do is I usually go on the very first flight. That's -- that’s the very first flight. I want to plan that out. I want to have that airline app on my phone ready to go. But customer service is jammed right now. People are calling customer service all the time. You can make these changes for free on your own faster than customer service on the app. I also use a website called flightaware.com. And so I use that. Let's say I'm going from, you know, Chicago to Atlanta and my flight was canceled. I can put that same route in FlightAware, and I can see the other flights that are scheduled to go and still get to my destination. And a lot of the airlines are now allowing these refunds because of that. They want people to be able to make these changes. STEPHANOPOULOS: Gio Benitez, thanks very much. BENITEZ: Thank you, George. STEPHANOPOULOS: And we’re joined now by the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent. Mr. Bessent, thank you for joining us this morning. We've just heard about all these impacts from the shutdown -- government shutdown right now. Are we starting to see -- see a permanent impact on the economy? TREASURY SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Sure, George. And good to be with you. And we've seen an impact on the economy from day one, but it's getting worse and worse. We had a fantastic economy under President Trump the past two quarters. And now there are estimates that the economy, economic growth for this quarter, could be cut by as much as half if the shutdown continues. And what your correspondent didn't talk about there, George, was there's, of course, the human cost, and we're going to have the busiest travel day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving. And, you know, Americans should look to five Democratic senators to come across the aisle to open that. But on the other side, there's also, cargo is being slowed down. So, you know, we could end up with shortages, whether it's in our supply chains, whether it's for the holidays. So, you know, cargo and people are both being slowed down here. And that's for safety's sake, George. STEPHANOPOULOS: The president continues to post about ending the filibuster. Is that -- is that the best way to end the shutdown right now? Is that what the administration's position is? BESSENT: No, George, the best -- the best way to do it -- and look, you were involved in a lot of these in the '90s. And, you know, you basically called the Republicans terrorists and, you know, you said that it is not the responsible party that keeps the government closed. And so, what we need is five brave, moderate Democratic senators to cross the aisle because right now it is 52 to three, 52 to three, five Democrats can cross the aisle and reopen the government. That's the best way to do it, George. STEPHANOPOULOS: I can disagree with you about the history there, but we don't do history lesson right now. BESSENT: No, George -- (CROSSTALK) STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk -- let’s talk about -- let’s talk about -- BESSENT: No, no, no. George, George, George -- (CROSSTALK) STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk -- sir, let's talk about what's happening right now. I asked you a question -- BESSENT: If you want, I've got all your quotes here. I got all your quotes here, George. STEPHANOPOULOS: I am sure -- I am -- I'm sure you do. But let’s talk about the situation right now -- (CROSSTALK) BESSENT: And I went back and read your book. So, you got one -- one purchase on Amazon this week. And that's very much what you said. STEPHANOPOULOS: That's -- it's a mis -- mischaracterization of history. But I do want to talk about right now, is the best way to end the -- to end the shutdown right now to end the filibuster? BESSENT: The best way is for five Democratic senators to come across the aisle. The -- what are we on? Vote 13, 14, 15. Mike Johnson got the reopening out of the House very quickly. And you know what -- what's changed since the spring, George, is -- you know, is Chuck Schumer's poll numbers. He had a clean continuing resolution in the spring. And why are Democrats doing this now, George? Again, you've been involved with this. The -- you know, explain what's changed. You know, Senator Chris Murphy gave the game away this week when he said, "Well, you know, now it's to our advantage to keep the government closed." They have turned the American people into pawns. STEPHANOPOULOS: The president has also come forward with a new proposal overnight saying it's time instead to do away with Obamacare, instead to have the money go directly to the people. Do you have a formal proposal to do that? BESSENT: We don't have a formal proposal, but you know, what I have noticed over time is that the Democrats give all these bills the Orwellian names, the Affordable Care Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and we end up with just the opposite. You know, the Affordable Care Act has become unaffordable, and the Inflation Reduction Act set off the greatest inflation in 50 years. STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, I'm a little confused because the president been posting about that overnight and into this morning, but you're not proposing that to the Senate right now? BESSENT: We're not proposing it to the Senate right now. No. STEPHANOPOULOS: Then why is the president posting about it? BESSENT: George, you know, the president's posting about it, but again, we have got to get the government reopen before, you know, we do this. We are not going to negotiate with the Democrats until they reopen the government. It's very simple. Reopen the government, then we can have a discussion. STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about affordability and inflation. That was one of the key concerns that voters said was on their minds as they were voting this Tuesday. It appeared to be the driving force in the elections. But President Trump is still insisting that prices are way down even though last month's report showed inflation stuck at about 3 percent. Are Americans worried about inflation just wrong? BESSENT: Well, George, I can tell you, the -- what we're not going to do is what happened the -- under the Biden administration where, you know, the administration and the media gaslit everyone and said, "Oh, you know, there's a vibe session. You don't understand how good you had -- had it." And what happened then was we had the worst inflation, 40 or 50 years -- you know, 22, 23 percent, but the basket of goods and services for working Americans was up more than 30 percent. And what we're seeing is we had to stop the increase first. Now we are starting to see prices level off, come down. You know, gasoline is down, interest rates are down, so mortgages are down. And I think we are making substantial progress on that. And I think over the coming months and the next year, prices are going to come down. STEPHANOPOULOS: The president says though, he just had posted this morning that there's almost no inflation. The consumer price index is higher than it was in the beginning of the year. Electricity rates are rising, so are prices for coffee, beef, vegetables, televisions. And it's not just me. It's not just economists are saying that. Your own Republican members of Congress are saying that, including Marjorie Taylor Greene. Let's look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I go to the grocery store myself. Grocery prices remain high. Energy prices are high. My electricity bills are higher here in Washington, D.C., at my apartment, and they're also higher at my house in Rome, Georgia. Higher than they were a year ago. So -- so, affordability is a problem. (END VIDEO CLIP) STEPHANOPOULOS: How do you respond to Congresswoman Greene? BESSENT: Well, George, what I -- what I would respond to is electricity prices are a state problem. And you know, I was very interested to see in the earlier clip where the governor -- the governor-elect of New Jersey said, "Well, I'm going to bring down energy prices." Well, it was her predecessor, Phil Murphy, who took them up. So, you know, look, there are things that the federal government can control. Local electricity prices are not one of them. But, you know, energy prices, gasoline prices, are way down. And, you know, we -- we are doing what we can every day. I think we're on a very good path to bringing prices down. STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about tariffs and the Supreme Court. The president is also posting about tariffs this morning. He's saying, “people that are against tariffs are fools. We're taking in trillions of dollars.” Is that true? BESSENT: We have taken -- over the course of the next few years, we could take in trillions of dollars, George. But the real -- the real goal of the tariffs is to re-balance trade and make it more fair. You know, over time, the president's goal is to bring back manufacturing to the U.S. You know, for the past two, three, four decades we have seen our manufacturing sector gutted. So, what would happen over time is we would take insubstantial money, as factories come back to the U.S., as we're seeing now. I was just down in South Carolina at a rare earth magnet plant and a Boeing plant on Friday. And, you know, that's the, I believe, 1,500 total new jobs. Tariff income will be substantial, but then that will rebalance. The goal here, George, is to re-balance trade. So, tariff income will be substantial at the beginning. It will come down. And then domestic tax revenues will climb as corporate taxes go up and all of these high-paying jobs are created. STEPHANOPOULOS: The president's main argument, though, seems to be that we’re -- it's about taking in the revenue. And he also promised this morning a dividend -- BESSENT: No, no, no, George. Stop right -- no. STEPHANOPOULOS: A dividend of at least $2,000 a person, not including high-income people. How is he going to pay that dividend of $2,000 a person? BESSENT: Yes, George, it’s not about taking in the revenue, it's about re-balancing. And the revenue occurs early on. And then as we rebalance and the jobs come home, then it becomes domestic tax revenue. STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you worried that the president's focus on revenue, though, which is what he’s been focusing on in his public statements, is going to hurt your argument in the Supreme Court? BESSENT: Not at all. It's completely consistent that the revenues come in at the beginning, then, as we rebalance, which is the goal of this, bring back high-paid manufacturing jobs to the U.S., then it will then morph into domestic tax revenues. You know, President Trump has consistently fought for the American worker, and we are seeing trillions of investments in the U.S. that would not have occurred without the tariffs. The other thing, too, is, you know, the authority that he uses is called IEEPA. It is an emergency authority. And he used that emergency authority. He got the Chinese to the table to negotiate on stopping the precursors for fentanyl drugs. You know, fentanyl, hundreds of thousands of Americans dying every year is not an emergency, what is? On October 8th, Chinese threatened to put export controls on rare earth materials. He was able to threaten 100 percent tariffs, and we were able to negotiate that away. And then, finally, in terms of the general tariffs, we are doing these trial deals that would not be possible. We were at a tipping point in terms of the economy, in terms of our trade balance, and we are re-balancing successfully. STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you have a proposal, a formal proposal, to give a $2,000 dividend to every American? BESSENT: I haven't spoken to the president about this yet, but, you know, it could -- the $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms, in lots of ways, George. You know, it could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president's agenda. You know, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. Deductibility of auto loans. So, you know, those are substantial deductions that, you know, are being financed in the tax bill. STEPHANOPOULOS: Secretary, thanks for your time this morning. California Senator Adam Schiff is up next. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN BOEHNER (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE; It's now privilege to present the gavel of the United States House of Representatives to the first woman speaker in our history, the gentle lady from California, Nancy Pelosi. REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We have made history. Now let us make progress for the American people. (END VIDEO CLIP) STEPHANOPOULOS: As Speaker Emeritus Pelosi announced her retirement from Congress this week, we're joined now by one of her proteges, the California Senator Adam Schiff. Adam, thank you for joining us this morning. Thank you, Senator, for coming in this morning. I do want to talk about this government shutdown. You saw the interview there with Secretary Bessent. President Trump has called for an end to the filibuster. He says that's not the administration's position. He's also called for this direct subsidies to the American people for -- to pay for health care, but he says that's not the official position of the government, of the administration either. He says, it's just up to Democratic senators to turn around. Is that going to happen? SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): No. I certainly hope it isn't going to happen, if millions of people are going to retain their health coverage and not have to pay these exorbitant premium increases. George, I'm hearing from people all over California, people with pre-existing conditions, people who tell me their premiums are going to go up $1,000 a month, that they're going to have to drop their coverage. They know that's really bad for them and their families. And we can easily estimate the millions of people that are going to lose access to quality care, and the tens of thousands of lives that will be lost. So we need to end this, we propose something I think very reasonable. It was a compromise, certainly wasn't everything I want, which is a permanent extension of the tax credits. We said, let's extend existing law for a year, give us more time to work on this, and re-open the government. And the result from the Republicans was -- from the Senate Republicans, no, from the House Republicans, we're staying on vacation. And for the president, I'm going out to play golf. And that's where we are, while people are hurting. And one thing that is just so shocking to me, George, in the midst of all of this, they're appealing to the Supreme Court for the right to cut off food from people. Who does that? Who works so hard? Who goes all the way through the court system to cut food from people who need it right now? But that's where they're coming from. The cruelty is part of the policy. STEPHANOPOULOS: How do you respond to the argument that the secretary made that, you know, Senator Schumer was for a clean C.R. earlier this year? He's turned around for political reasons. SCHIFF: Well, we have a health care crisis that has intensified since then, and you've got people on the precipice right now who are getting those notices of losing their health insurance and what's more we have the president telling us now, Republicans telling us now, they're not going to honor any agreement we reach with them. They're telling us, we'll put money in, whatever money we agree on for a continuing resolution to fund the government, but we're telling you in advance, we are going to rescind the funding you want. We're going to cut the funding you want. We're going to cut what he calls -- the president calls Democrat programs like food for people. So they're telling us they're going to cheat on an agreement. And we need, in whatever agreement we reach, to have some really solid guarantees in that legislation that they simply can't go and renege after it's done. STEPHANOPOULOS: There have been -- there have been some talks in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats, trying to forge a possible compromise. Is Democratic unity crumbling on this? SCHIFF: No, I think what we're seeing is a lot of cracks within Republicans. As you see now, over a dozen Republicans in the House, for example, say they want to fix the Affordable Care Act problems. That -- those are the cracks I'm seeing. You see cracks, I think, even within the White House, as the president acknowledges that their lack of focus on bringing down cost, the shutdown and all of its economic impacts are affecting him. They're dragging him down. So, I think what we're seeing from the Republicans is a recognition that they have a responsibility to govern. They control the White House, the House, and the Senate. The American people recognize that, and they need to solve this. And frankly, George, it's not going to happen until the president gets off the golf course, gets out of his ballroom planning, and sits down and negotiates. Otherwise, I think this is going to go on because Senate Republicans aren't going to do anything without the president's agreement and approval. And House Republicans are just con -- you know, content to stay away while people suffer. STEPHANOPOULOS: The president did make this other proposal overnight giving the money that goes to the subsidies directly to the American people. Can that work? Will Democrats support it? SCHIFF: Yeah -- we have no idea what the president means by that except it sounds like what he means is the same, old, tired proposal of repealing the Affordable Care Act, giving people a benefit in the form of a health savings account, but allowing insurance companies once again to cancel policies and refuse to write policies for people who have pre-existing health conditions. So, the same insurance companies he's railing against in those tweets, he is saying, "I'm going to give you more power to cancel people's policies and not cover them if they have a pre-existing condition." That was one of the main problems the ACA helped address. So, no, I think what the president is revealing once again, you know, more than eight years after he came down that golden escalator, they still don't have a health care plan. They're still back to what Trump once called concept of a plan. And in the middle of a shutdown when people are really hurting, we need more than concepts of a plan. Let's just extend the ACA for a year, reopen the government, and then we can negotiate a more permanent fix to this crisis in healthcare in this country. STEPHANOPOULOS: When you were running for Senate, you came out against the filibuster. If that comes to the Senate floor, will you vote for it? SCHIFF: I have continued to oppose the filibuster and would be happy to do away with a filibuster. But the question is, do away with it for what reason? I would do away with it so that we can expand and protect people's freedoms and their rights. The Republicans and the president right now are talking about doing away with a filibuster so they can raise people's healthcare costs. That is the wrong reason to do away with a filibuster. And ultimately, what's going to protect the American people, frankly, are not Senate Republicans who give in to this president all the time. Not House Republicans who are not even on the job. Not the president, certainly not the Supreme Court, that is his biggest rubber stamp. But what we saw on Tuesday, and that is the voters coming out and rejecting Republicans, rejecting healthcare increased costs, rejecting a president who's more focused on his personal enrichment than he is on trying to help people who are hungry and working to try to keep their families afloat right now. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Schiff, thanks for your time this morning. SCHIFF: Thanks, George. STEPHANOPOULOS: Roundtable's up next. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DICK CHENEY, (R) FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost his election and he lost big. I know it; he knows it. And deep down, I think most Republicans know it. (END VIDEO CLIP) STEPHANOPOULOS: After serving four Republican presidents, a top House Republican under Ronald Reagan, Dick Cheney's final political act of warning for his party. He died this week at the age of 84. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, (D) VIRGINIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: We're going to lower healthcare costs. We're going to crack down on predatory pharmaceutical practices and surprise billing. ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D) NEW YORK CITY MAYOR-ELECT: If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. REP. MIKIE SHERRILL, (D) NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR-ELECT: Here in New Jersey, we know that this nation has not ever been, nor will it ever be, ruled by kings. (CROWD CHEERING) (END VIDEO CLIP) STEPHANOPOULOS: Follow up from this week's elections, let's talk about it on our roundtable joined by former New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie; former DNC Chair, Donna Brazile, and Sarah Isgur, Director of Public Affairs of the Justice Department during President Trump's first term, now the Editor of SCOTUSBlog. Chris, let me begin with you. You saw Mikie Sherrill's win right there. Were you surprised by the margin of victory? CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: A little bit surprised, George, but not horribly surprised. Look, this is a combination of two factors in New Jersey. Factor number one was a bad campaign by the Republican nominee. This is a guy who spent more time talking about her record at the Naval Academy, Taylor Ham versus Pork Roll, and who lived in New Jersey longer than he did about the fact that over the last eight years, Democrats have increased spending in New Jersey by 72 percent. In eight years, had raised every tax but the sales tax to do it. She supported all of it. And he never -- he never hit that in the way he needed to. So, bad campaign by the Republican. And then Donald Trump is just an absolute millstone around any New Jersey Republican’s neck. Take my word for it. And the fact is that, you talk about a lot of exit poll stats, but this is the one that struck me the most about how much of a factor Trump was. Among people who say they were unfavorable about both parties, they don't like Democrats and they don't like Republicans, she beat the Republican nominee 83-17 among those voters. They're saying, look, we don't like either party, but you know what we really don't like? We really don't like Donald Trump. And among people who were unfavorable to Trump, she won those voters 93-7. STEPHANOPOULOS: Not surprising that's not the message the president took away from this election. How is it going to impact Republicans going forward? SARAH ISGUR, EDITOR AT SCOTUSBLOG & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think you’re seeing it right now in the shutdown, for instance. Donald Trump wants them to get rid of the filibuster so that they only need 50 votes to move forward. But you have a lot of Republicans thinking, my gosh, if this is how 2025 went, this is a real sign of how 2026 is going to go, how 2028 potentially is going to go. Because when Donald Trump has not been on the ballot, Republicans have faced incredibly high headwinds right now. Now, look, the Democratic Party still has their fundamental problems of who their voters are and the voters that they've lost. But Republicans, I think, already see themselves potentially in the minority in two years, and they're not going to be quick to give up some of those minority powers, like the filibuster. STEPHANOPOULOS: One thing that was pretty clear, Donna Brazile, the thing that unites Democrats right now is the issue of affordability. DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC CHAIR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. Look, across the board, whether you're in red states or blue states, Democrats had one focus, and that was the cost of living. The cost of paying your utility bills. The cost of going to the grocery store. Chris, I know you don't want me to show you the Safeway where I shop, but it is true, Democrats had a laser focus on the economy. They had a laser focus on how they can help ordinary Americans. Not only did they beat some of the numbers that we saw in 2024, in New Jersey and in Virginia, but Democratic -- the Democrats exceeded expectations in states that I never thought Democrats were competing in, like in Mississippi. I mean when you defeat Republicans in Mississippi and in Georgia, this wasn't just a blue state -- a blue city victory, it was across the country, in 30 states, where Democrats over-perform versus what happened in 2024. STEPHANOPOULOS: Chris, it does seem that the election results have locked in both sides on Capitol Hill. We don't seem any closer to any kind of re-opening of the government. CHRISTIE: No, we don't. Look, I think only thing that's going to end the shutdown is what you see happening with the FAA. As we get closer to Thanksgiving, George, these men and women, in both parties, are going to have to think about the fact that if people can't travel to go see their families on Thanksgiving, they're going to have problems that may be impossible to repair. And for my party, since they're the ones in charge, and Donald Trump is the president, it could be even worse. I still think that the shutdown has predominantly hurt both parties equally. I think it has started now with this FAA business, to edge more towards hurting the Republicans more. And one other thing about Georgia. That's going to be a key state next year. A really key state. You’ve got a Senate race there that's going to be very important for Republicans. And you have Brian Kemp term limited. So, there's going to be a new race for an open seat for governor. They’ve lost statewide races for public service commissioner in Georgia by double digits to Democrats. So, I think that's what Sarah’s is talking about. STEPHANOPOULOS: But, Sarah, do you see the -- this pressure bearing down on Republicans in a way that's going to change the fundamental position? ISGUR: Donald Trump can't give up his position right now. He has to come out of this with a win of some kind. Otherwise, I mean, remember, Donald Trump doesn’t -- he’s not invested in the future of the Republican Party here, he's invested in Donald Trump and Donald Trump's legacy. So, he's going to have come up with a win for Donald Trump. STEPHANOPOULOS: What does that look like, though? I can't see one. ISGUR: I know. And at this point, I think you're talking about some sort of temporary, let's do this for two months and deal with health care, for instance, in January. Just kick the can down the road at some point because you can't get to Thanksgiving, I think Chris is exactly right. This will be on the Republicans if people can't eat their turkey. BRAZILE: Well, the president, last night, George, I know the Treasury secretary didn't want to address it, but the president put in big caps, I'll -- I'll just send people the money. Well, you've got to just send -- you got to send people who are losing their health care, rising premiums, but you've also got to bail out ranchers, you’ve got to bail out farmers, soybean farmers. Trump has so many people he has to bail out, he better be careful when he says, I'm going to send you the money, because it’s a hell of a lot of money the American people now need to help make ends meet. STEPHANOPOULOS: Chris, this does -- this is something that we often paper over, but there does seem to be a pretty serious disconnect between the president and his administration. He calls for ending the filibuster. His Treasury secretary says, that's not really our position. He calls for giving $2,000 to every American. The treasury secretary says, “We don't have a proposal for that.” He says that the idea of tariffs is to raise trillions of dollars in revenue. Treasury secretary says, “That's not our position.” Is this becoming an issue for the administration? CHRISTIE: Not yet, George. But look, this is the way it's always been. And now, it's maybe starker now because -- STEPHANOPOULOS: “Always” under President Trump. CHRISTIE: Under President Trump, yes. Because what you're having now is administration officials who so rarely disagree with him, that when they do, even just part from him a little bit, as secretary of Treasury just did in your interview, it looks like an explosion, right? Because usually they're sitting there, “Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.” The problem is that Donald Trump knows -- he's a good instinctive politician -- and he recognizes instinctively that what happened on Tuesday night is a problem. And now, he's trying to scramble to find a way to get out of it. So, he's throwing things up on social media to see if something will stick. And here's the -- his treasury secretary saying, "Nah, that won't work." So, they communicate to each other amazingly through social media. He throws something up to them. They come on a Sunday show and say yes or no to it. It's an extraordinary way of running a railroad. STEPHANOPOULOS: It's now in the lap of Republican senators. ISGUR: I think that's right. And we've seen the Republican senators have no interest in getting rid of the filibuster and no interest in really adopting a lot of Donald Trump's proposals. At the same time, though, they do not have the political capital vis-a-vis Trump to actually make the deal that they need to make to stop this. BRAZILE: They have the -- they have the power to do it, George. And they should come back. The House should come back and get off their vacation and provide the oversight the American people need, not just in what's happening in the Caribbean, but also what's happening to the American people during this shutdown. STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask each of you before we go. How long do you think this shutdown is going to go on? When does it end? CHRISTIE: I think it probably ends sometime the weekend or the Monday before Thanksgiving so that people can wind up getting on airplanes and flying around the country to have Thanksgiving with their families. If they don't do that, George, then people are really going to get angry. BRAZILE: I think it's going to end sooner rather than later because I think the American people are sending a strong message to Washington, get back to work and reopen this government. ISGUR: This is the problem with the shutdowns. This is why we keep having them. There isn't that forcing mechanism anymore because we haven't had a real budget process in 30 years, where Congress has gone through all the steps. I agree with Chris. It's going to be right before Thanksgiving when there's actually a forcing mechanism. STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks. Thank you all for your time this morning. Up next, CEO of the International Rescue Committee on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) STEPHANOPOULOS: 20 years after a devastating war in Sudan sparked global outcry, the region of Darfur is once again engulfed in bloody conflict with hundreds of thousands killed, millions facing famine. Chief Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell has the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) IAN PANNELL, ABC NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This week, harrowing images emerging from the Darfur region of Sudan, painting a horrific picture of the escalation in the nation's ongoing civil war. Gut-wrenching footage showing the death, horror and anguish of alleged massacres in the City of Al-Fasher. SHASHWAT SARAF, COUNTRY DIRECTOR - SUDAN, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: The violence is a horror show. It's very difficult to even describe what we hear, in our own words. PANNELL (voice-over): The city has been under siege for 18 months before these brutal attacks carried out by the rebel group known as RSF, the powerful paramilitary outfit engaged in a devastating war with the Sudanese Military. These satellite images from late October appearing to show bodies in the streets and bloodstains on the ground, gruesome signs of the atrocities visible from space. NATHANIEL RAYMOND, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, YALE HUMANITARIAN RESEARCH LAB: The city, in under three days, has become covered in objects consistent with the average length of a human body. In many of the cases, we see discoloration when there is groups by the burn (ph), which we believe is consistent with people bleeding out. PANNELL (voice-over): Days later, the Yale Humanitarian Lab say they identified additional images showing clusters of objects which appear to be mass graves. Aid agencies believe over a hundred thousand people remain trapped in Al-Fasher, one of two areas where famine conditions have been declared by the U.N. in Sudan. MATHILDE VU, ADVOCACY MANAGER, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: Some of them are hiding in holes on the ground in order to protect themselves from shelling, they fear execution. PANNELL (voice-over): And while a fraction have been able to flee, the risks of doing so are enormous. SARAF: Every single person who's arrived has talked about violence, about dead bodies, about people being killed, about people being kidnapped, about people being kept hostage. PANNELL (voice-over): Those who have managed to escape have sought refuge in a camp in Tawila, a town some 40 miles away, already home to 600,000 displaced people. Two decades ago, similar scenes unfolded in the very same region, sparking global outrage. CROWD: Stop the killing now. PANNELL (voice-over): The original conflict never fully ended. And two years ago, Sudan descended once again into full blown civil war. The RSF, which evolved from the same militias, is now accused of trying to finish what they began. RAYMOND: This is the final battle of the Darfur genocide that began 20 years ago. PANNELL (voice-over): Both the RSF and the Sudanese Military are suspected of committing genocide, according to the International Criminal Court. The Trump administration now pushing for a ceasefire, but previous attempts have ultimately failed. For "This Week," Ian Pannell, ABC News, London. (END VIDEOTAPE) STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you, Ian. We're joined now by the CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband. David, thank you for coming in this morning. How much access have your teams had to Darfur? What are they seeing and hearing? DAVID MILIBAND, PRESIDENT AND CEO, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: Well, we have hundreds of aid workers on the ground in Darfur, dealing with the people who fled from Al-Fasher. That's the capital of North Darfur that was besieged for 500 days. No one can get into Al-Fasher itself. And what we are saying is that all the estimates are there's at least 200,000 people still stuck inside that city. The people who've made it out are telling us horror stories of mass killings, of rape and pillage of women and families. And what they're saying is that this is the new face of war. It is brutality, impunity, and lawlessness on an absolutely epic scale. And the powers in the region are actually not the U.S. or China. The big powers, the hope for any progress in Darfur runs through Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, through Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates, Cairo, the capital of Egypt. And that's where the diplomatic gridlock is costing so many people their lives. STEPHANOPOULOS: Do Western countries, including the United States, have any leverage there? MILIBAND: Yes, they do. And the Trump administration has revived something called the Quad. That's the U.S., United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. They are the key players who need to bring diplomatic pressure. And of course, the U.S. has very close relations with all those countries. The activism that we need needs to go to a whole new level, though, if lives are to be saved, because for us to hear reports that from satellites in the air, you can see the blood on the ground, because so many people have been killed, that needs to be a real wake-up call for the international system. STEPHANOPOULOS: We're talking about absolute genocide here. MILIBAND: Well, we're talking about killing of minorities, non-Arab minorities who were the subject of the conflict 20 years ago. In 2019, there was a civilian government in Sudan. The real sin is they didn't get the support they need. In 2021, a military coup from two different factions. Now those factions are fighting it out and it's the people who are paying a desperate price. STEPHANOPOULOS: What kind of ripple effects could we see across Sudan and across the region? MILIBAND: Well, that's a great point because this is a country with not just of 50 million people. It's got 500 kilometers of coastline to the Red Sea, and of course, people are fleeing to South Sudan, to Chad, also actually as far as Europe. So the ripple effects of this are real, but it's also setting a terrible standard. There's a new global disorder in which conflict zones are subject to no law at all, in which warring parties ignore the laws of war, and in which civilians, not soldiers, are paying the price. STEPHANOPOULOS: The alarm bell should really be ringing. MILIBAND: Massively. Because this is actually setting a new low compared to 20 years ago. The scale of the need today is even three or four times the level it was 20 years ago. But, the response, 10 percent or 20 percent of what it was 20 years ago. That's the real alarm bell. STEPHANOPOULOS: Boy, that is chilling. David Miliband, thanks very much. MILIBAND: Thank you. STEPHANOPOULOS: Up next, how American manufacturing is being impacted by the Trump administration's deportation agenda. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) STEPHANOPOULOS: They came here to train Americans. Part of a multibillion-dollar project touted by President Trump to create thousands of jobs. Their story now an example of how Trump's immigration crackdown has collided with his economic agenda. Here's Selina Wang. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SELINA WANG, ABC NEWS SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These South Korean workers came to help build America's factories. Instead, they were shackled and arrested. Mr. Kim, who asked that we not use his full name or show his face, is one of hundreds of skilled engineers brought to this nearly 3,000-acre Hyundai LG energy solution battery plant in southeastern Georgia. Walk me through what happened on September 4th. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Around 8:00 a.m. we arrived at the site, and after a whil,e we started hearing murmurs. Then we were told that armed police officers were entering the factory. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're Homeland Security. We have a search warrant for the whole site. WANG (voice-over): Scores of federal agents swarmed the site, detaining more than 500 workers, including more than 300 from South Korea, contractors for Hyundai and LG. STEVEN SCHRANK, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS ATLANTA: This, in fact, was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security Investigations. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): The scene was like something out of amovie -- fully armed officers, drones, and helicopters overhead, rifles in hand. WANG: Did they tell you why you were being arrested? KIM (through translator): Neither before nor after the arrest, or even now, have we ever been told any reason for our detention. WANG (voice-over): Kim says their phones were confiscated. They were loaded onto buses and driven hours away to an ICE Detention Center. He described the facility as cold and unsanitary with moldy mattresses, water that smelled so bad, he drank as little as possible, and toilets with no privacy. WANG: Did you at any point feel that you were being discriminated against? KIM (through translator): While we were detained, the guards' behavior was very negative, making comments about Kim Jong-un, pulling their eyes sideways to mock Asians. WANG (voice-over): The Korean workers were detained for a week until the governments negotiated for them to return home to Korea. Kim is one of nearly 200 detainees who are now preparing to sue ICE. Among the allegations will be unlawful policing, racial profiling, human rights violations, excessive force, and unlawful arrest. KIM (through translator): Because even now, we've received neither an apology nor an explanation, we are filing a lawsuit to correct the record. WANG (voice-over): Kim says he was in the U.S. legally on a B-1 Visa approved after submitting documentation and a consular interview to justify his work. JAMES KIM, CEO, AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN KOREA: It went well very well. WANG (voice-over): The Head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea says there simply are not enough skilled workers in the U.S. to build these factories. J. KIM: These are specialists that are -- that only Korean workers can do. WANG (voice-over): The raid shocking one of America's closest allies coming just weeks after South Korea pledged to invest $350 billion in the U.S. KIM JOON HYUNG, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF SOUTH KOREA MEMBER: They treated our workers even with a residence card and the right visa, they treated like a terrorist. WANG (voice-over): Even Trump now appearing to distance himself from the raid DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Before they get out, I said they could stay. They went, they left and they're going to be coming back. WANG (voice-over): Hyundai tells ABC, the factory is now scheduled to be operational in the first half of 2026. LG Energy Solutions says we immediately suspended all business trips to the U.S. after the raid, but has since resumed construction and travel. Back in Seoul, Kim is continuing the work he did in Georgia, but now providing technical support remotely. He says progress is far slower. WANG: President Trump has since essentially said that this raid was a mistake, that he wanted you and the other workers to stay. And he says that you guys are coming back. KIM (through translator): No one would go voluntarily, of course. After what happened, I can't imagine anyone willingly returning to work in the U.S. (END VIDEOTAPE) WANG: And George, this raid really underscores that tension between President Trump's immigration crackdown and his economic agenda. Economists warn it could worsen labor shortages and discourage skilled foreign talent. South Korea's president says it has traumatized the workers and could significantly delay factory construction. George? STEPHANOPOULOS: Selina Wang, thanks. You can see Selina's full report Monday night on ABC News Prime. That is all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Check out "World News Tonight," and I'll see you tomorrow on GMA. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
