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Trump Sets Deadline For Gaza Peace Plan; Trump Addresses Military Leaders; Interview With Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE); Will Government Shut Down?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 30, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Putting their stamp on the military, President Trump and the secretary of defense laying out their vision for the armed forces. The first target may be diversity efforts.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, barring a last-second miracle, the government will shut down at midnight Eastern time, roughly 11 hours from now. We're going to speak to a Republican lawmaker about whether the two parties can reach a deal before it's too late.

And lowering drug prices, the White House launching a new site for discounted drugs after a deal with Pfizer, TrumpRx. Dr. Oz is going to join us live from the White House to discuss as we follow these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: President Trump before hundreds of senior military officials suggesting some American cities be used as military training grounds, just one of the extraordinary moments at Quantico today, as the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summon top American generals and admirals from their posts around the world.

Hegseth was first to take the stage. He declared the Defense Department -- quote -- he declared that the Defense Department became the woke department, but not anymore.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris.

As I have said before, and will say again, we are done with that (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Hegseth going on to say the military will require those in combat jobs to meet the highest male standard only and said drill sergeants could put their hands on recruits to motivate them.

President Trump took the stage then for 71 minutes, ultimately saying he's thinking about making America's military larger.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is joining us now from outside of Quantico.

And, Natasha, walk us through more of what was said and also reactions to what was said.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that it was very unclear what President Trump was going to say and some of the comments that he made were pretty remarkable, especially because he made them in front of hundreds of generals and admirals who flew in from all over the world to be here in Virginia today to hear these remarks.

One of the more striking things he said, as you alluded to, was that the use of the military in American cities -- quote -- "is going to be a big thing for the people in the room," alluding to the generals and admirals sitting there, and, he said, because it's the enemy within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won't get out of control once you get involved.

So, obviously speaking directly to those senior military officials there, suggesting that they were going to be involved in deploying the U.S. military on U.S. soil, something that President Trump has done repeatedly in recent months. Of course, he did it in L.A., D.C. He's set to do it in Portland, Memphis and perhaps even Chicago.

But then when it came to Secretary of Defense Hegseth, Hegseth's speech, that was largely focused on military standards and things like grooming and fitness. He laid out a number of reforms that he wants to make inside the Pentagon, and they had to do with things like standards for combat arms positions that he now says are going to return to the highest male standard, which, of course, could affect some women in these roles.

He said there's going to be a new combat field test for all active service members and every member of the joint force is going to be required to meet height and weight requirements twice a year. He's also banning beards, except for in special forces.

But he also indicated -- and this is significant as well -- that there is going to be an overhaul of the kind of accountability structure within the U.S. military. He said that it's his way of removing the -- quote -- "debris" from previous administrations, but it's also potentially removing some of the guardrails within the military that have existed for quite some time that prevent against toxic leadership and inappropriate behavior by troops.

He also described some rules of engagement governing troops' conduct on the battlefield as -- quote -- "stupid." Here's a little bit of what he said.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our war fighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: Now, he also said that he is going to be overhauling the Pentagon inspector general process, which was notable because, of course, Secretary Hegseth himself has been under investigation by the inspector general for his use of Signal earlier this year to discuss classified and sensitive U.S. military information -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Natasha Bertrand live for us from Quantico, thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: A lot to get through.

Fortunately, we have some perspective with CNN military analyst retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, among everything we just heard from Secretary Hegseth, there was one thing that stood out amongst all the rest -- quote -- "If the words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign."

Are you anticipating resignations?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Boris, I think this is going to be the $64,000 question for a lot of the people in uniform and those who -- especially those who were in the room at Quantico today.

A lot of them are looking at this and they have fought in wars, they have had a lot of combat experience, they have had a lot of military experience serving for 30-plus years in their various services. So this is something where they're going to have to make some really clear decisions because a lot of what both the president and the secretary said really means that there's a big change in the role of the military if it actually comes to fruition.

For example, using the military in urban settings in the United States, going after certain groups like potentially Antifa or something like that, that is not the military's role. The law would have to be changed in order to make that legal. And it is something where we have had a long tradition since the 1870s of not having the military play that kind of a role.

So that is one thing where there are going to be some I think interesting decisions having to be made, but I think it's very clear that most of the military members, most of the senior officers that were in the room are probably going to stay and they're going to try to mitigate some of the effects of this address, these addresses that they heard today. SANCHEZ: What about the so-called stupid rules of engagement? Do you

think that the U.S. military is being held back by these rules of engagement?

LEIGHTON: It depends on the situation, but, generally speaking, no.

The rules of engagement in a combat situation are usually set up for very specific purposes. They are set up to take into account the type of terrain that you're dealing with, the type of enemy that you're dealing with, what kinds of things you're going to encounter on the battlefield and then make it also -- they are also part of the major part where you're looking at mitigating damage to civilian structures and minimizing civilian casualties.

That is really important. If we lose that, that is going to be one of the worst things that could happen out of this, because the way in which we conduct our military operations with strict rules of engagement, they are the rules that keep us from being hauled in front of a military tribunal. They are the rules that keep us from potentially dealing with war crimes issues.

So, this is the kind of thing that you want to avoid in combat. Combat is a very difficult environment to be in, but these kinds of situations that require rules of engagement, they need to be addressed in a very clear and coherent fashion. And that's I think really going to be a major factor here, because dispensing with rules of engagement is going to be the biggest mistake that they can make.

SANCHEZ: I mean, it's partly what separates the U.S. military from so many of our adversaries.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Colonel Leighton, thank you so much for that analysis.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead: The clock is ticking right now, Republicans and Democrats at a standstill, which could lead to the government shutting down tonight at midnight. We have the latest on where negotiations stand.

Stay with us.

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KEILAR: We're just about 11th hours from a government shutdown with prospects dimming to bridge that partisan divide to get past that. And Republicans at this point need seven Democratic senators to vote yes on a new spending bill before midnight to avert that shutdown.

But Democratic leaders say they want changes to health care policy before they will vote for the bill. Speaking moments ago at the White House, President Trump said this: (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nothing is inevitable, but I would say it's probably likely because they want to give health care to illegal immigrants, which will destroy health care for everybody else in our country. And I didn't see them bend even a little bit when I said we can't do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining us now is Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: We are looking at the clock. Is the government going to shut down at midnight here?

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): Ninety-five percent odds is yes. I hope it's short-term, though.

I do believe, because we have a clean C.R. that goes seven weeks, and normally you get a shutdown when a majority party tries to put in some political things in the C.R. or poison pills, you could call it. We didn't in this case. So I think the Democrats will come around in a week or so.

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And I also think they don't realize that, when you have a shutdown, you give power to the president, you give power to the executive branch. And I have seen this on the other -- I was standing in the other shoes in the previous four years. And we always knew that Joe Biden would take actions that we wouldn't agree with during a shutdown.

So it always made us resistant about doing a shutdown. But I think this will be a short-term C.R. I sure hope it is. I hope cooler heads prevail. There are some things that we need to negotiate. I think we should do that during the appropriations bill process.

I think many Republicans would like to see some middle ground here on the ACA tax credits. So, I mean, I see fertile ground for us getting together in the appropriations process.

KEILAR: Yes, those tax subsidies, those ACA subsidies that expire at the end of the year that I know a lot of people will be watching because it could really increase their costs.

As you're talking about your concerns about what could happen if the Trump administration obviously does have power here with what it would do in a shutdown, what do you think that looks like?

BACON: Well, we saw this in previous administrations, where the executive branch will take actions that make it more challenging for the minority party that's forcing the shutdown.

And so there will be -- these threats of layoffs or people being RIFed, as we call it, is a real possibility. I think the president's going to -- and his team's going to play hardball here. By the way, he's not the only one who's done this. It's happened previously. And that's why I would warn my Democratic colleagues...

KEILAR: Well, not the RIFs, right, not the threat of RIFs.

BACON: ... when you do a shutdown, you're giving power to the president.

KEILAR: That hasn't been used previously.

BACON: No, no, but there's been other threats that we took personally as a Republican Party.

And I would just think you're handing power over to the president when you do a shutdown. And you could only get his approval to open the government back up. So they're giving him a bigger vote in this process. And this is what I have learned being in the House with a Democrat president, right?

So I think some of my Democrat colleagues haven't been through this. And they're going to see that this is not a very fulfilling situation to be in.

KEILAR: Yes, we certainly do look to the past as we are waiting to see what happens here.

I do want to talk to you about what we saw in Quantico earlier today. You saw Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said telling senior military officials that his job has been to determine which leaders are incapable of embracing the War Department and executive new lawful orders.

He said that: "If the words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign."

You are a retired brigadier general in the Air Force. You're a member of the Armed Services Committee. Do you have any concerns about maybe not just that sentence, but his message today and his bringing all of these general and flag officers together as he did?

BACON: The first thing that I noted was everything he said has been stated already. So I didn't really hear anything new. Since he's been confirmed, it's been his main message.

And I -- most of us applaud the focus on combat, that we're supposed to warriors, that we -- our main goal is to win wars and deter wars. And I think most of us embrace that. But his message has been the same since he's been confirmed. I think a lot of this could have been done virtually. I think most of the generals get this and the admirals.

The one area of concern that I have had is that they seem to have a suspicious mind or a doubting spirit about the flag officers. We're not -- the generals and the admirals are not your enemy. They seem to hold them accountable for decisions that the Biden team made and Secretary Austin made under the previous administration on DEI policies and other policies that they don't like.

But the generals and admirals, they were following lawful orders. And yet they're holding a lot of these generals and admirals accountable for these decisions that stem from Biden. I personally told Secretary of Defense Hegseth -- I use the old term because none of this has passed the House yet or Congress.

But I personally told him that, you're the new leadership. You have the opportunity to tell them what your expectations are. And the generals and admirals will follow your lawful orders. And they don't have to be suspicious. They don't have to be doubting. And this, honestly, rampant firing of senior leaders, whose really their only fault was following the directions of the previous administration, I find very troublesome.

Some of these guys served 35 years, nearing 40 years. They were patriots. They served in combat. And they want to do well by the military, by our country. And some of these guys were treated, I think, very rudely and unprofessionally in how they were handled.

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And you're talking about 10 four-star generals and some three-star generals here quite a bit.

KEILAR: Yes.

BACON: And none of them were actually given a reason to say, hey, see you, thanks for serving.

KEILAR: Yes.

BACON: That's not how you treat someone who serves their country for 35 years. And you reap what you saw.

And I hope -- so I haven't liked what I have seen when it comes to how we have treated the military leadership. For example, Cyber Command is still vacant.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I want to ask you. I hear your concern about Cyber Command, but I do want to ask you something, because I'm very curious to hear your opinion on this.

Listening to Pete Hegseth today, you could kind of get the impression that women, there's all these women serving in combat roles for which they're unqualified to be serving in. He's evolved since he became defense secretary. He previously said before he had the job that he thought women should not be in combat.

As you're aware, many, many women serve in combat positions. Do you have concerns about the kind of message that some of his rhetoric today sends to women in the armed forces?

BACON: Well, today was a little more nuanced than what I have heard in the past.

But I feel -- I knew the chief of naval operations. She was a great leader, a great lady military professional, and she was fired for no reason, and, again, just back to my original point on this.

One thing he did say today that I find better, there are a lot of jobs that are not -- quote -- "combat," you're not in the SEALs, you're not in Delta Force, you're not search-and-rescue, and that's -- it's all right to have separate standards. That's what I got from his message today.

But if you're going to be in the Delta Force or be a Ranger or be in the SEALs, that there should be a single combat standard, I think most people actually agree with this. But before this, to say that everybody should have the same standard for all MOSes or all kinds of specialties, I think was going too far.

So I heard a little more accurate, nuanced position today. If you're an air traffic controller working in a tower, that's not the same as being a SEAL or Delta Force. And it may be we could have some female standards versus male standards. That's what I grew up with, by the way.

But I have worked with so many great women. And my second boss ever, 1987, she was a lady. And I have had many female bosses. And they have performed wonderfully in the Air Force. I think about Jennifer Short. She's a three-star general that was fired for no reason, again, by this administration, a combat leader. I would have served with her anywhere, any time, any place. She deserved better.

KEILAR: Congressman Don Bacon, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.

And coming up: President Trump says he's giving Hamas three to four days to respond to the administration's peace proposal for Gaza. We will have new details on negotiations from the Middle East ahead.

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SANCHEZ: New developments to share with you in the talks over a deal to end the war in Gaza.

A source telling CNN the U.S. is open to engaging with Hamas on counterproposals, but it will not engage in drawn-out or protected negotiations. President Trump says he's giving Hamas three to four days to respond to his Gaza peace plan. And today Hamas negotiators are meeting with officials from Turkey, Egypt and Qatar to discuss the 20-point peace plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to following a meeting at the White House.

Today, Trump touted the plan to his military leadership at Quantico and warned Hamas of consequences if they don't accept it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But yesterday could be the settlement in the Middle East that hasn't happened for 3,000 years. I said, how long have you been fighting? Three thousand years, sir. That's a long time. But we got it, I think, settled. We will see. Hamas has to agree. And if they don't, it's going to be very tough on them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more on the negotiations and where things stand right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question that a lot of pressure is being brought to bear on Hamas to accept President Trump's new proposal to end the war in Gaza.

But this is going to be a lot more complicated than just a yes or no from the Palestinian militant group. President Trump says that he's giving Hamas three to four days to respond to his new 20-point proposal, which the Israeli prime minister said he is supportive of.

Hamas officials are meeting with top-level officials from Qatar, from Egypt and from Turkey in an effort to get Hamas on board. But what all of my sources are telling me the expectation is that Hamas is going to have some changes that it is demanding to this proposal.

And that's because, when you look at this 20-point plan, there are a number of provisions that either cross Hamas' red lines or that mark a kind of downgrade from Hamas' perspective from previous proposals. First among them, of course, is this question of disarmament. This proposal would require Hamas to be fully disarmed, Gaza to be demilitarized.

Hamas has rejected that notion in the past. There's also questions about the withdrawal lines of Israeli troops and also the number of Palestinian prisoners that would be released in exchange for those 48 Israeli hostages.