tv Anderson Cooper 360 CNN November 13, 2024 9:00pm-10:00pm PST
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alien technology . listen to this. >> has the government conducted uap programs? >> yes. >> weather designed to identify and reverse engineer alien craft, yes or no? >> yes. >> he went on to say that some of those uap's you mentioned are, put, monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe. you are leaning in now, aren't you. thanks for watching. anderson cooper 360 is next . tonight on 360, the president elect names matt gates to be his attorney general. he is already known . what so many of the nominees have been common, namely with ties to fox news.
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what happened to the husband and father reported missing while kayaking at a wisconsin lake in august? a sheriff says he may have staged his disappearance and is urging the missing man to come forward. we begin with the remarkable fact that the next attorney general of the u.s. if trump has his way with someone until tonight facing a ethics probe. florida congressman matt gates and the word was applies because in the last hour gates has resigned from congress which ends a house ethics investigation looking into him and the allegations that he may have engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, dispensed improper favors two individuals and sought to obstruct government
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investigations into his conduct. he was also investigated by the justice department concerning sex crimes allegations which he also denies. the doj also decided not to pursue criminal charges against him. this is the president-elect is about to see to federal cases against him go away. here is some of the reactions at least from one democratic senator. >> that gates is dangerously unqualified. this will be a red alert moment for american democracy. matt gates is being nominated for one reason, he will implement trump's transition of the department of justice from the agency that stands up for all of us to a agency that is a arm of the white house designed to persecute trumps political enemies. >> republicans were not of one voice on the appointment. >> i do not know yet. i have to think about that.
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>> that was lindsey graham a ranking member of the senate judiciary committee. a former member chuck had no answer when asked about gates by reporters. john a former judge said i am still trying to absorb all of this. senator john kennedy when asked said happy thanksgiving. senator lisa from alaska said gates is a unserious candidate, adding if i want to make a joke i would say i am waiting for george santos to be named. other congressman who publicly clashed with gates over the years was more sanguine. >> i completely trust trumps decision-making on this one but at the same time he needs to come to congress and sell himself. there are a lot of questions that will be out there and hopefully he is able
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to answer the questions right. >> that is senator mark wayne of oklahoma today. the same senator that once said this about congressman gates. >> he was accused of sleeping with the underage girl and there is a reason why nobody in the conference came to defend him because we all saw the videos he was showing on the house floor of the girls he slept with. he would brag about crushing ed medicine and chase it with a energy drink so he could go all night. >> let's just show what he said now about gates. >> i completely trust president trump's decision-making on this one but at the same time he needs to come to congress and sell himself. there are a lot of questions that will be out there and he needs to answer those questions and hopefully he is able to answer them correctly. >> now the president elects for
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attorney general , allegations were not, it may be moot because republican senators will simply bend to the new president who helped them regain control of the chamber whether president-elect may try to skip the confirmation process altogether and name him a acting official if you can figure out a way he can do that. something he has talked about. >> it is easier to make moves. >> summer doing a fantastic job. i like acting , i can move quickly. it gives me more flexibility. >> that was him talking about acting heads of departments and 2019. confirmed or a not if the president elects wants to make met gates attorney general he likely can. or elon musk said today social media the hammer of justice is coming. trump also told to gabbert to be the head of national intelligence, she has in the past expressed
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views sympathetic to russia and syria. it is only wednesday. kayla has been talking to her sources tonight. >> four more years. >> short-term horizons. how much of a surprise is met gates? >> in a world where people are used to being surprised by their boss and trump and everybody in his orbit operates that on a daily basis. certainly those that have been around him for eight years, this one with a huge surprise to people working on the transition. i had been in palm beach and covering it closely and talking to a lot of people. this is not a name that came up for almost anyone. in any discussions interviews were talks about who was going to head the justice department.
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one of trumps biggest priorities, when he has been thinking about for months before he was reelected. he was thinking about who he would put in this position so this was a shock to all of them. that is the big question tonight. it was 24 hours ago that i heard from sources that trump was unhappy with everyone that had been brought to him as a potential candidate for attorney general. one of the interviews was described was disastrous. essentially he was which casting about who he wanted to put in the bus situation and the two qualifications you wanted, somebody fiercely loyal to him and somebody that would be compliant with what he wants to happen at the justice department and that is what he got with florida congressman matt gates. with all of the decisions he made about the cabinet, christine no was made quickly to the surprise to many people, this one had half that timeline. >> there were questions about kristi gnomes qualifications. now in the sunlight of the
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nomination of met gates, that seems like a rational choice. do we know if the president-elect is concerned about getting matt gates confirmed? >> it is not clear. i was asking people about this. this is a 53 seat republican majority, it should be easy for anyone trump picks to get confirmed in that environment. it is not the same kind of republican-led senate it was in 2016. this is a senate in his making. a lot of these are hand-picked people by him who will now be voting on these cabinet nominees. that is really the question tonight, there are still voices out there people like lisa or bill cassidy who seem to have a lot of skepticism not just when asked about this pick but also pete to run the department of defense. that is going to be the question. essentially as the republican senator isn't viable to rebook the republican
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president on his pick and if you are triaging which one to break with him on, which one do they pick ? that is a real question facing senate republicans sooner rather than later. also you saw the senate leadership fight that happened today with john coming out on top. it is quite a day to be john you are now the senate republican majority leader that will be dealing with and advising her members on all of these questions. >> joining us now is richard, expected to run point on the confirmation hearing for matt gates if there is one. senator, what is your reaction to the prospect of matt gates becoming attorney general? >> the only reason for matt gates nomination is he is a trump puppet. his loyalty to trump is the only credible reason he has been proposed. he will weaponized the department
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of justice for retribution. trumps words. he is highly dangerous as a potential national security risk. remember the department of justice is in charge of prosecuting espionage, terrorism, sabotage, all kinds of national security threats and i am hopeful that republicans will take this major test of their integrity, their devotion to country above politics and stand up to trump. i am very clear eyed, based on their very on reassuring history that they will cave to trump's will. >> so you think he can pass senate confirmation? >> he could pass if republicans fail to vote the way many of them are saying. their consciousness would dictate. there is a lot of wringing of
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hands but we have seen this movie before and we have been through it with the mueller investigation. with the impeachment. two of them. and republicans have failed to live up to their conscious and conviction and put devotion of country ahead of politics. >> the president-elect already said he wants senate allies to push through nominees even if necessary through a recessed the appointment. they would essentially bypass the confirmation process. what if anything can democrats do about that given you will be in the minority? >> i think if we begin the confirmation process we have tools to expose his shortcomings, a senate hearing will happen. we will not rely just on the fbi vetting, we will do our own actual investigation. we will try to elevate this issue to the american public so they can see that the security risk and the
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potential retribution is on donald trump and republican colleagues to stop. >> this is the american public that voted trump into office and he was talking about all of this stuff in the election, it is not as if -- it is a surprising choice and it is zany but it is not particularly surprising given all of the things he has said during the actual campaign. nobody should be surprised that he wants retribution or would set up the department of justice for that i would think . >> that is a important point. nobody should be surprised by his defiance of the rule of law and the norms of our democracy. it is one thing for him to talk about during the campaign, it is another for it to happen in real life. republicans have a
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majority now. it is on them to stop this degradation, the potential danger to the country and we will fight hard to bring this issue to the american people and show that this nonserious candidate could have serious consequences in terms of going after political enemies and silencing protests and all kinds of national security threats that we need to be very careful to avoid in our democracy. >> thank you very much. richard carlson and jeffrey and political commentator and scott jennings and bentivegna congressman charlie, onetime chairman of the house ethics committee. jeff, surprising or not surprising? >> it is surprising but what i am reminded of today is eight years ago when president elect
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trump picked jeff sessions to be the attorney general, very conservative, very distinguished, he had been a senator for a long time. he committed one sin that was unforgivable. he recused himself from the russia investigation which was absolutely the proper thing to do, the for the case to his deputy rosenstein who appointed robert mueller and that investigation was a affliction for trump. he wants a attorney general who will under no circumstances ever turned over anything to a special prosecutor and do his bidding and protect trump who is engagement with the legal system has been a constant of his life. >> to your point this is what he ran on. i thought he would have gone with a more subtle name, somebody not quite as
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polarizing as met gates but the question now is does the senate and senate republicans truly believe in its constitutional advice and consent role? i can think of for republican senators that could potentially stand up to this. susan collins, bill cassidy, todd young. i don't think there is a actual republican senator that this is a good choice. the question is, is the political will there? do they want to cross trump this early? my only real run-in with matt gates was in the outer oval office when trump was his president, he was about to walk in and meet with him and i said what is in that folder so i could see what he was about to give to the president, it was kim's conspiracy theories about joe scarborough murdering his intern and he presented it to trump who didn't tweeted about it causing the rest to the family of this woman who died tragically. that is the character and judgment of this individual. house republicans know it, senator republicans
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know it. to make it is chilling at that guy is the guy that will be running the department of justice. to make the stunning lack of judgment character and integrity. >> i do know met gates because i worked with him my bipartisan legislation but i think the biggest story today is senator john doing is the senate majority leader and why is that important? because rick scott is not. that would have been all wheels off the rails so now that responsibility is on senator thune to lead the troops into making good decisions. up against recess appointments. trump earlier this week said to all three candidates who wanted to be senate majority leader, will you agree to do recess appointments and they all said yes. so will senator boone now backtracked on that with pete up for the fence were met gates up for attorney general? the other interesting thing, the house ethics committee two days
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away from releasing a report on met gates, then he resigns so the question in my mind is will the ethics committee give that report to the senate for the confirmation? to make the point about recess appointments, if that is the way it proceeds there is no confirmation hearing. the possible embarrassment of these nominees who do not really know a lot about the subject will not have to be subject to questioning. >> scott i saw you on cnn earlier moments after the news broke. do you think this is a smart choice? >> interesting question, based on what i have heard tonight met gates starts out at a deficit in the senate that would be difficult to overcome. it does not mean a confirmation hearing could not change minds but it strikes me as a uphill climb to get confirmed which puts you into the recess appointment idea which candidly will be difficult for him to do. meaning the president elect. everything he has
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announced, which i do not have a problem with anything he announced, matt gates seat to be the most problematic if you look at it at a political and slate of affairs matter so i am shocked by it. one question i have is i read met gates resigned from the congress today but he resigned from this congress. he just got elected to the next congress and i do not know how that works exactly. i assume because he still got elected he is entitled to show up and be sworn in in january. i called a couple of people to find out how that would work. it is very unique because he resigned from the current congress having gotten elected to the next one. >> yet again trump makes history. >> absolutely. there is a lot of questions swirling. my view is of the people that have been deemed controversial, i think pete and tulsa gabbard have more than a fighting chance of being confirmed, matt gates is
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the one i think who starts under the line and will have a more problematic path if it advances that far. >> congressman do you share scott's belief that this may be too far for enough senators? >> goodness yes. this is a gob smacking lee bad nomination. i would be less surprised if my face were stapled to the floor in the words of chevy chase. it is a bad nomination and i could not imagine any circumstance under which matt gates would be confirmed. i suspect that trump will have to withdraw this nomination and by the way to answer scott's question, if met gates resigned today and decided to be sworn in in the new year, the ethics committee could still release the report. they have the report. by the way i am sure that is the reason why he resigned. these
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reports are pretty ugly. >> because he resigned they would not release the report anyway? >> the house loses jurisdiction over any member once the member is no longer serving. i am curious to see if the ethics committee may release it anyway. i say that because this investigation was unusual and the ethics committee several months ago announced what specifically they were investigating and not investigating about met gates. they never talk about a ongoing investigation because he antagonized them. i am curious to see if they might release it anyway. i do not think it has ever been done before but this is unprecedented. >> one thing about this appointment and some of the others, trump is feeling powerful. he does not feel like he owes anybody anything. he does not feel like he needs to negotiate any of these things. even with the senate that has to confirm them. this is a guy
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feeling fully powerful as the president elect and certainly within the republican party. if it is a attempt to provoke a showdown who will actually run the party and will you let me do it, it sets up a very interesting showdown over a controversial subject matter. again we will see how this plays out. i have the feeling that something else is afoot here. that to me, trump is signaling to dc i am not running again, i am beholden to nobody, i am not beholden to congress or the republican party so i will do what i want to do and i am not negotiating my positions with anybody. >> we will take a short break and continue with this conversation because this is pretty big. later a former trump friend geraldo joins us.
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tonight breaking news, eclipsed a photo op that feels like it happened three decades ago, the president elect returning to the white house for the first time since he left four years ago. his meeting with biden described as cordial, gracious and substance it. i thought she was going to say demure but she did not. ancient history since the president-elect picked matt gates to be the next attorney general and we should note cnn confirmed what we were talking about which is that the house ethics committee was due to meet this week on releasing the report about met gates. back now with the panel. there is another theory which do you want to talk about? >> i do not think gates will be confirmed in the senate. even tommy seems stunned. >> do you think there are senators that would stand up? >> there is a potential that the nomination could be blocked but we are not talking about other controversial picks that may not be as glaring at tulsa gabbard, there is a lot of
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folks in the intelligence committee that are horrified by this. this is imminent that talked about russian propaganda before and tried to whitewash crimes against syrians. that is concerning to a lot of people that she will be overseeing the entire intel apparatus and then pete a veteran a nice guy i have met him, but this is not a person prepared to lead a 3 million person workforce at the pentagon. i would say this, trump does have a mandate. he was elected but if he is trying to ruffle feathers and get change of the pentagon you do not send somebody in who never stepped foot in the pentagon, he will be outmaneuvered by top brass in the joint chiefs will run the place and this is not a qualified person. >> is it possible that the met gates announcement was made to deflect and make the others seem more palatable? >> potentially. i think trump is just going hard-core with his loyalists. going into more
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on pete, he enthusiastically supported and embraced trump's claims about the 20/20 election. he defended the rioters saying he they are just fighting for freedom. he says he will deny women combat roles in the military so i guess we're really going back to the dark ages. even his colleagues at fox seem to be surprised. steve who i used to sit next to on fox and friends before i was booted for doing nothing wrong, he said is this real? i think what would have been more real, trump was going to put him in charge of veterans affairs. which is much smaller and he has done a ton for veterans and he is a decorated veteran. that would have been plausible. >> i have a theory, trump nominated met gates to be attorney general because he wants met gates to be attorney general. he plays these games to win. we will see what the senate does but i do not ink there is any sophisticated
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strategy involving other candidates here. this is his candidate and he will do with the justice department what trump has said he wants done at the justice department and it is as simple as that. >> do you think moderate senate republicans will get on board with some of the foreign policy positions tulsa gabbard has taken? like russia and syria? >> those are hard questions she has to answer in the confirmation hearings and there is a chunk of the senate republican congress that will not have her worldview on a lot of these issues. whether they are able to accept someone with a different worldview and judge them qualified and saved the president deserves his staff and vote to confirm, that is a open question. i do think her hearings will be more difficult, not as difficult as met gates but a rocky ride. on pete i have a different opinion, it is a fine choice. a
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lot of republicans look at the way the pentagon has been run for the last four years and they say are you happy with the results of the last four years given the disastrous afghanistan paul pull out, the spy balloons all over the u.s. and the fact that we participated in building a adp or that cost 300 million and the life of a u.s. soldier? they look at these things and they say maybe it is time for a outsider to come in and put a set of fresh eyes on it. he is a veteran, 20 years, iraq, afghanistan, two bronze stars, princeton, harvard, you can do worse in my opinion than finding someone who has been as dedicated to this country as pete has been. i have a different opinion on him than the rest of the panel but again he also has to show up and talk about his allocations for management. i am telling you the republican party is not interested in doing the same old same old at the pentagon, they want a shakeup. >> congressman on pete, the pentagon is a huge bureaucracy , there is a criticism of the
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size and bloat of it. is he ready for that sort of management and maneuvering in such a organization? >> i appreciate his service to our country. i remember serving with people like bob gates who was a secretary of defense and build colon. these people were very serious and experienced people. the va would have been a better place for pete, the pentagon is not the right place and if i can say one thing about tulsa gabbard's appointment. i surf with her. when i was chairman of the ethics committee january 2017 i just ended my term and she called me because she wanted to go to syria and i had to approve the travel and i couldn't because i was not chairman but they were going to try to use her as a propaganda tool. she went anyway but i would have advised her not to.
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i was surprised she wanted to go given what was going on and i know she also opposed the assassination which was one of trump's big achievements and i think she called it unlawful and unconstitutional. so her worldview is i think not even in agreement with donald trump's view in many cases. >> there is also now the outstanding question of robert f kennedy junior and where he may end up. people scoffed about the idea of him heading hhs. >> if it is true that trump is seriously considering recess appointments where none of these people have to be confirmed that he can put them anywhere he wants. this was a last-minute marriage between kennedy and trump. the issues kennedy talked about especially about food is something trump has no interest in. the
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mcdonald's connoisseur he is. whether he wants to expend political capital on kennedy's behalf is much more open question than the other appointments. >> thank you very much. next, there is one resume builder certain to give you notice by the president-elect, a stint on fox it seems. former fox anger geraldo joins us next.
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that goes back to his first term like john bolton serving. joining me now geraldo rivera who worked at fox news for more than two decades. first, what you make of the choice of met gates for attorney general? >> i think it is a horrible choice, i think he is a real creep. i think if he does go through the nomination, the ethics committee should release the report. he is accused credibly of sex trafficking minors, obstruction of justice, i just cannot believe the president picked this guy who gives me the creeps just to look at him. after knowing what he did. ask kevin mccarthy the former house speaker what he thinks of met gates. to have this guy , releasing him in the justice department archives, he is going to dig up his own cases with confidential
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interviews and reported victims. i do not understand why president-elect trump would pick somebody so absolutely obnoxious that it casts a pall over all of his other controversial but i think defensible choices. >> met gates obviously denies all of those allegations against him and the doj decided not to move forward with charges. i was trying to imagine what a lot of attorneys at the department of justice would do if met gates ran the place? i assume there would be a fair amount of resignations but maybe that is something matt gates would like because it would allow them to bring in more people, new people. >> i think this is where the hammer of retribution and revenge will fall. i think it will be in the department of justice. there is such
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resentment within the trump camp for all of these prosecutions against him. jack smith and so forth. i think this is where he will go in there and i disagree there will be resignations, i think people love those jobs, they hang in and prosecuted the cases, they feel righteous about it but i think he will go in there flailing around and i think people will be jumping out of their windows when they see the sky. to your point about him not being charged on these cases, that is why i think the house ethics committee report is so critical. he has now resigned from congress so the ethics committee lost jurisdiction over him. i think that is why he did it. the release of that document was imminent. within days. so now do we not get to see this report that the house ethics committee says is so
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incendiary? this will be the chief law enforcement officer. i remember the old bar was the most important man in washington during trump's first term. i believe he held the entire administration together. it is a vital role. a political and legal role. now you have probably the most controversial member , certainly the most controversial male member of the house of representatives. now he is going to be the attorney general, the president's lawyer. i think this is a really bad move by president-elect trump. he did not get a mandate to go creepy. >> trump said in the past where is roy cohen according to a number of reports. maybe he thinks this guy will be his roy cohen. pete you know from fox he has a long service to the country in the military and has not run the organization of this size or complexity, what you think of him as a choice?
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even if you like him personally, do you think he is capable and will be successful running the organization? >> i have spoken as a war correspondent i have good contacts with the military and i spoke to retired high-ranking officers with deep pentagon and war fighting experience and they voice misgivings about him running this 3 million strong department. so i get that but i know pete, major pete. a two-time awardee of the bronze star. a combat veteran who loves other veterans. who has a wonderful rapport with them and military families. i think it will be a very steep learning curve for major pete but i think if anybody can do it, he can. he is courageous, patriotic, smart, well educated , he cares deeply about it.
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certainly i look at him and i see a kid but he is in his mid-40s. he has done a lot. it was great being opposite of him on the couch, we never agreed on much but i think he can do it. same with tulsa gabbard. i think the congresswoman can do it, another combat veteran. she will also have a tough time learning the the and i stuff with multiple agencies reporting and so forth but i think she is also a sincere person. mike huckabee, the new designated ambassador to israel, mike believes jewish people should get all of the holy land and it should not be a two state solution and i believe he is such a sincere and honest person that i think he will grow into that role as ambassador. tulsa gabbard, huckabee and pete, that is one thing, matt gates is totally
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different. matt gates is someone whose entire life goal seemed to be disruptive, to be wild and crazy. i keep going back to the word creepy and i think that best describes him. i hate to be so dogmatic about it but i do not see a upside at all and i do not know why trump did it. >> i appreciate your time, thank you. coming up another signal today that the president-elect is intended on keeping his campaign promise of mass deportation.
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today trump made official what cnn has been reporting, that stephen miller will join tom hallman on taking the lead on the issue on mass deportations, fulfilling a campaign promise. we have more on what this could mean for hispanic families facing deportations, even those who supported the president-elect. >> how many of you are citizens? how many of you support trump? you are undocumented and you support trump? >> i support trump for the economy. >> two hispanic families with mixed legal status in houston with two different takes on trump's return to the white house. this is their first gathering since trump's victory. >> how many of you fear that deportation could impact your family? >> caesar was a the aca recipient until this summer when he got a green card, his sister and brother-in-law are
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the aca recipients, the rest of the family are u.s. citizens, some who are not present are undocumented. >> you are a green card holder and your wife is a citizen, why are you afraid of deportation? >> i just became a green hard holder of the 33 years, people do not understand the fear. it is a constant shadow hanging over our heads. >> what was your reaction to trump winning? >> i cried a lot. it was emotional. half my family, are they going to be here or not? how do you tell all of our kids? my nephews are also our kids. >> he is a undocumented mechanic that worked in houston for 25 years. he plays in this
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park with his two u.s. citizen children and stands by trump. >> you support trump because of the economy. but you do not support the anti-emigrant rhetoric? do you support his mass deportations? >> no it is not human. >> are you afraid you could be deported in this mass deportation? >> i am not afraid. >> espinosa runs a migrant advocacy group and says many people are afraid and called him in tears. >> i think there is a heightened sense of fear. >> explain why latino men are going to trump? >> he believes some of the latino support of trump was a vote against the prospect of the first black female
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president. >> there is a lot of machismo, besides and a lot of anti-blackness. >> he says he hopes trump find passion for immigrant fathers like him who are not criminals. >> if you get deported will you regret your support to trump? >> he would not regret supporting trump. >> you are not thinking about yourself, you are thinking about your children in the future of your children? >> yes. >> caesar says he feels guilty for bringing so much uncertainty to his family. >> what is it like for you to see your wife go through this in the emotions she is going through? >> i apologize to her a lot. we fell in love right away and got married almost right away because when you know you know. >> we asked the same final question to both.
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>> do you have a plan in case you get deported? >> i will respect the decision and leave the country. >> there is a plan, we talked about it openly. >> it turns out these two hispanic families with two different takes on trump's victory have the same plane. they would go to mexico as a family. >> as for how? organizations across the country are preparing for possible deportations. nationally the aclu is preparing for the legal fight to challenge some of the policies in court and then there is organizations in california that are calling for immigration reform and in new york organizations are switching their mission to focus on the possibility of mass deportation and anderson, i talked to some organizations here in texas who say if the federal government is actually going to the port a lot of migrants in this massive way, they should do so with dignity.
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when you spend $35. head to your neighborhood grocery outlet today because this offer is available only while supplies last. tonight authorities in wisconsin believe a husband and dad reported missing well kayaking is actually alive and likely staged his disappearance and fled overseas. local sheriffs are urging the men to come forward. >> reporter: green lake wisconsin in the middle of august, sheriff's deputies began searching for a missing kayaker, ryan. the husband and father of three had been in on
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a fishing trip a hour north of his home and never returned. they found his capsized kayaker, car and other belongings, keys, wallet, license, even his fishing rod and tackle box but not him. >> we continued our search throughout and it continued through 54 days. >> reporter: keith is a diver for the nonprofit organization, they assist in recovery operations for drowning accidents. >> i had been underwater for 23 days, i had 8-10 days of just reviewing the data. >> reporter: local and state authorities also helped by using high-end sonar equipment, drones and cadaver dogs. his body never turned up. so the green lake county sheriff's department pursued a different theory, he faked his own death and fled the u.s. sheriff mark says a forensic search of his laptop revealed he replaced the hard drive and cleared his browser history on the day of
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the disappearance and investigators found the 44-year-old moved funds to a foreign bank, changed his email, communicated with a woman in uzbekistan, purchased airline cards and took out a $375,000 life insurance policy in january. deputies later discovered canadian officials rain his passport the day after he was reported missing. >> due to the discoveries and the new evidence we are sure that ryan was not in our lake. >> reporter: they say they do not know who the woman in uzbekistan is but they believe he is likely in eastern europe. the department is also investigating if any crimes were committed. no charges have been filed. in the meantime he has a message. >> get a hold of us and let us know you are okay. people forgive but it is important that we get him back here. >> reporter: cnn, chicago. the news continues right here.
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