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National Parks Partially Open Due To Shutdown; Supreme Court Justices Return To Bench For Pivotal New Term; Gaza Ceasefire Talks To Begin In Egypt Today. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 06, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:38]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight a judge halting the Trump administration's effort to send National Guard troops to Portland amid ongoing clashes between protesters and law enforcement outside an ICE facility there. The president calling it "anarchy" while local officials say they don't want, nor do they need federal help.

This comes as President Trump continues to push to send National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities including, of course, Chicago. The Illinois governor now pushing back after the White House turned to Texas to deploy.

CNN's Whitney Wild is covering this for us from Chicago with the very latest. What are you learning, Whitney?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well Sara, there are still some questions about exactly what this is going to look like and exactly what the timeline is. But according to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, there could be at least 300 members of the National Guard that are deployed to Chicago. Yesterday, Governor Pritzker said that could include some members of the National Guard from Texas.

But Sara, I think it's important to point out we have been talking about the potential for a National Guard deployment here in Chicago for six weeks and we have not yet seen it. So there continues to be this question about whether or not the plans are actually going to fall into place.

And when you look at places like Oregon and other jurisdictions where this has happened there is -- you know, the judiciary is putting the -- pumping the brakes on some of these efforts to try to send the National Guard to other states. So we will have to see what happens here in Chicago.

Officials are watching what happens in places like Portland and in California very, very closely as they try to figure out what framework they should use when they try to fight this in court.

Governor Pritzker has said repeatedly he has not spoken directly with the Trump administration. Here is a quote. He says, "No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate. We must now start calling this what it is: Trump's invasion. I call on Governor Abbott to immediately withdraw any support for this decision and refuse to coordinate."

Here's more from Governor JB Pritzker over the weekend, Sara.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR JB PRITZKER, (D) ILLINOIS: They are the ones that are making it a warzone. They need to get out of Chicago if they're not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they were going to do. They need to get the heck out. They want mayhem on the ground. They want to create the warzone so that they can send in even more troops. Now they're claiming they need 300 of Illinois' National Guard. Well, they -- we didn't need them before they showed up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: Sara, for several weeks we have seen a pretty vocal protest at an ICE facility in a town called Broadview. This is about 30 minutes west of Chicago. They have been routine. They -- what we've seen frequently is law enforcement detonating non-lethal munitions as protesters attempt to compress on that facility. We know that at least a dozen people or more have been arrested in those incidences.

And then finally, Sara, over the weekend Customs and Border Protection agents actually got into a shooting in the city after they say they were rammed and boxed in by people who had been on their radar. There were at least two people who are now facing charges in that case, Sara.

SIDNER: And they had that big raid on the building that is being investigated by state authorities as well, ordered by the governor. There's a lot going on there in Chicago.

Whitney Wild, I know you're all over it. Thank you so much. Appreciate it -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With us now, Meghan Hays, former White House director of message planning under President Biden, and Malik Abdul, a Republican strategist.

Meghan, let me start with you. You have what's happening in Illinois, but out there in Oregon a judge now has ruled twice against the Trump administration and its efforts to deploy the National Guard there.

My question to you is does losing in court equal losing in public opinion on this issue?

MEGHAN HAYS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION CONSULTANT: I mean, I think that Trump has already lost in public opinion on this. People want to fight crime and want him to fight immigration, but they don't agree with the way he's going about doing it. I think people see his tactics are extremely aggressive and extremely unnecessary, and that they should be handled in the states. And the states are saying they don't need this sort of help.

So I do think he is losing in public opinion on this.

BERMAN: What do you think, Melik, because it keeps on going to the idea of the National Guard in place after place even when there are legal setbacks?

[07:35:00]

MELIK ABDUL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think that Donald Trump -- his goal in this second administration really is to test the authority -- test the limits of executive power.

And I think the interesting thing that you're seeing about Portland and even the response in Chicago, it's very different than what you saw here in Washington, D.C. National Guard troops were here in Washington, D.C. and they're still here now. They weren't involved in any of the skirmishes that you see.

And even from the perspective of the federal agents, the federal agents -- you weren't seeing them do some of the things that you're seeing them do in both Portland and Chicago. But I think that's in part because there was a local leadership here and, of course, in D.C. by necessity. But there was a local leadership willing to work with the administration, and so you didn't see all of these types of skirmishes.

Brandon Johnson, in Chicago, Pritzker -- and even in Oregon you see opposition to what the president is doing. And I do believe that is something that is contributing to the response -- the very -- like, very negative response from the public.

BERMAN: I want to ask about the government shutdown now in day six because we're starting to get our first polling after several days here.

CBS-YouGov did polls over the weekend here. "Do you approve of how they're handling the government shutdown," it asks on President Trump, congressional Republicans, and congressional Democrats.

And Meghan, what jumps out to you here -- me here, I should say -- as you look at this -- I mean, I suppose you could micro analyze here and say President Trump has a higher approval than congressional Democrats here. But basically, everyone has high disapproval here and low approval.

So what do you see in that?

HAYS: I think that the American people send their members of Congress to work for them, and part of working for them is to keep the government open.

It is unconscionable that Speaker Johnson is giving his Republicans and telling people not to come back. They don't need another week of vacation. They've had, what, 15 days just since August, not including holidays that they've had down. These members need to be in Washington. They need to be talking and

negotiating with each other and get this government back open.

BERMAN: And Melik, another way of asking this question: "Are their positions worth a government shutdown?" And again, we can put those numbers up here. And I suppose, again, if you really dig in you can see that Democrats maybe are better positioned here in "Are their positions with a government shutdown?" But basically, it's the public saying no to any of it.

So who wins in a disapproval tie?

ABDUL: I don't think anyone wins when you have a government shutdown because I will co-sign Meghan. We do send these members of -- they get paid almost $180,000 a year. And we get to this point every single year. At the end of the day it is the American people who lose during a government shutdown.

And I understand people say well, it's the federal government employees -- they'll get retroactive pay -- and they do this collective shrug. But guess what? Those American -- those federal government workers are Americans. They are voters.

And we should be concerned because I don't very many people who are fortunate enough, whether you work for the federal government, contract with the federal government, or otherwise, to miss a paycheck. I don't think there is ever, ever a reason for the government shut -- to shut down simply because Congress can't do its job.

BERMAN: Do you think Speaker Johnson -- do you approve, Melik, of that fact that Speaker Johnson has the House out for another week? They're not even there to vote.

ABDUL: I never approve. Whether it's a Republican or Democrat, I never think that there is a reason that Congress should be given a reason not to do its job. They're now talking about some of these things with maybe you're going to fire people here and there.

I think it is absolutely ridiculous, and I blame both Republicans and Democrats for not being able to work together to do the basic things that we have to do all the time -- balance our budget, pay our bills on time. Congress never does it. October 1 comes every single year.

BERMAN: And Meghan, finally, what the Republicans are focusing on is the Senate. You have three Democrats -- two Democrats and one Independent who voted with Republicans so far.

Any sign -- are you seeing anything that might shake more Democrats loose there?

HAYS: I think if there are some actual guarantees and actual promises of getting these health care subsidies fixed and getting health care to be more affordable for the American people, I think that more Democrats will peel off. But I do think that Democrats need some actual guarantees from Republicans. They don't trust the Republicans to play in good faith right now. So they will eventually peel off if there are some actual guarantees. Health care is of huge importance to our economy, and it needs to be affordable for all Americans.

BERMAN: You can see what the path is out of the shutdown if either side were willing to make that compromise. Just neither side is willing at this point.

Meghan Hays, Melik Abdul, thanks to both of you. Great to see you this morning -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Just ahead, as fall begins showing some of its colors at national parks nationwide, parkgoers are finding closed entrances -- barricades. Of course, it's because of the government shutdown. America's national parks are only partially open, and amenities and staffing are limited. More than 9,000 National Park Service employees have been furloughed.

CNN's Brian Todd joins us now. You went out to some of the national parks in recent days and I say lucky you for that. I love our national parks. But what did you experience once you went out there?

[07:40:00]

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Right, Sara. You know, I went to three national parks in the D.C. region in recent days -- Great Falls Park and Manassas National Battlefield Park. Those are in northern Virginia. I also went to Greenbelt Park in Maryland. And I saw a few situations which illustrate the dangers for parkgoers during the shutdown and the concerns among park advocates about the safety for parkgoers.

At Great Falls Park, you see the picture that I took there of the closed entrance. There were people who could not -- who drove up to these barricades. There were barricades along the main road leading to Great Falls National Park.

But people parked illegally on a very narrow road and then walked past or over the barricades and walked into the park. That is one of the things that the National Parks Conservation Association is really concerned about regarding the potential danger for people going into the national parks. I'm told this morning that road has since been shut down and they're starting to two cars who are parked illegally.

Now we should stress it is not illegal to go into these parks on foot. But again, when you're accessing these parks in certain ways other than the main entrances it could be very dangerous.

Ed Stierli, from the National Parks Conservation Association, told me particularly at the place where I was, Great Falls, in recent days -- that is an exceptionally dangerous area. Because he's concerned that without park rangers there to monitor parkgoers they could put themselves in danger by climbing on top of these rock formations that are on the tops of cliffs that hover right over a very dangerous part of the Potomac River where there are rapids there at Great Falls National Park. Now for this reason the National Parks Conservation Association believes that all national parks should be completely closed during the shutdown, but here is the reality. You see the graphic there. Parks are not going to be shut down. They will stay partially open. Park roads, trails, open-air memorials will be generally accessible. Most visitors' centers will be closed and so you won't have those amenities. I went and checked out even the bathrooms accessible to the outside. They're locked up.

More than 9,000 National Parks Service employees are going to be furloughed so you won't have the park rangers at those national parks to help people with their safety.

Also, there's concern, Sara, over potential damage to the parks and vandalism. During the last shutdown, in 2018 -- late 2018-early 2019, this is what Theresa Pierno, the president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association told us about that last shutdown.

"Parks were left open without enough staff. Landmarks were graffitied, artifacts stolen, Joshua Trees destroyed, fragile landscapes damaged by illegal off-roading, wildlife poached, and trash and human waste overflowed."

Now we reached out to the National Park Service to get their response to all of these concerns, and we have not heard back.

But Sara, you know, you guys had great weather there in New York over the weekend. We had great weather here in D.C. and that's going to continue. It's very enticing, especially this time of year, to go out to these national parks, but you've got to be careful. And without the park rangers there, especially in places like Great Falls, Yosemite, Yellowstone with some very dangerous areas, it's going to be pretty dangerous for people to kind of venture out on their own.

SIDNER: Yeah, and it sounds like the wildlife is in just as much danger from the people without the park rangers there to make sure that everyone, including the wildlife, is in a safe place.

Brian Todd, thank you so much for that report -- John.

BERMAN: All right. We've got a new report out this morning on housing affordability, and this is one you might like.

Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan for the latest on this. What's going on here, Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well John, look, the American dream of homeownership -- it remains way, way too expensive. But when it comes to this affordability crisis there are some glimmers of hope.

So this new report out from Intercontinental Exchange finds that on average, monthly payments on homes have fallen to about $2,100. As a share of income it's now at 30 percent. That's still above long-term averages and what would be considered healthy, but it's a step in the right direction. This was at 32 percent over the summer, and it peaked at 35 percent late in 2023. In fact, this is the most affordable it's been for housing in 2 1/2 years.

Now this is happening because of falling borrowing rates, right? The mortgage rate was around seven percent at the start of the year, but it has come down a bit to about 6.3 percent. And the lower it goes, the lower interest payments are and the smaller those monthly payments are.

Now when it comes to housing affordability, not surprisingly, it's all about location. The good news is that in about a dozen markets the affordability has actually gotten below that national average. It's around the long-term averages. Good signs in Minneapolis, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Oklahoma City.

But yes, on the coast, not shockingly, it's still a major problem, right? You're talking about more than a third of income in Miami. More than a third in Seattle. Around half in New York City. And almost two- thirds of income in Los Angeles being spent on housing.

[07:45:00]

And the problem is, of course, John, that even as it has gotten a little bit cheaper to borrow -- home prices -- they're still really high and in some cases, they're still going up.

BERMAN: What can be done about the issue of housing supply? Isn't that one of the big drivers here?

EGAN: It is one of the big drivers. There's just this massive mismatch where there's too much money and too many potential homebuyers chasing after too few homes. You saw home production -- the construction of homes crashed after 2008, and it really never recovered.

Now the president actually posted on Truth Social about this very issue last night and he really put the homebuilding industry on notice comparing them to OPEC in terms of keeping prices artificially high. He described them as his friends, but he also said they need to build more homes. He said they're sitting on two million empty lots. And he's saying that he wants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants, to help finance the construction of new homes.

Now analysts say that for too long the federal government -- they've been focused on incentivizing demand but not incentivizing supply. Goldman Sachs estimates that you need three to four million more homes to address this shortage -- to get at that gap. And they say that could be a gamechanger if they're able to address some regulatory issues. But at lot of it is at the local level so that's not going to be an easy one to fix.

I would just note though that voters -- they say this is a major, major issue. Across the board, 61 percent of Americans in this new Pew Research Center poll say they're very concerned about the cost of housing. That includes 71 percent of Democrats. But look at that -- 52 percent of Republicans or those who lean Republican.

So look, bipartisan concern, and this is going to require some bipartisan reform and action to try to address this. BERMAN: It's one of these things that stands in the way of young people reaching their dreams.

EGAN: It does.

BERMAN: You have families and whatnot.

Matt Egan, great to see you.

EGAN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Thank you very much for that.

All right. Fights over conversion therapy, a key piece of the Voting Rights Act, the president's tariffs all heading to the Supreme Court.

And huge news in the weight loss boom. Ozempic and Wegovy now going on sale at Costco at a discount.

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[07:51:32]

SIDNER: In just a few hours a new Supreme Court term begins. On the docket, the powers of the president, congressional redistricting, voting rights, and whether states can ban so-called conversion therapy for gay and transgender youth.

This follows an unusually contentious summer as the justices were flooded with a record number of emergency appeals from the White House.

CNN's chief Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic joining us now. It is good to see you again this morning. You know your stuff.

What are you expecting this term?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. Good to see you, Sara, on this traditional first Monday in October -- one of my favorite days of the year.

But you're exactly right. They never really eased out of the last term, and it was marked by very deep disagreements among the justices. And they're going to have more challenges to them right away this week as they start hearing cases over culture war issues and then pick up with more Trump controversies.

At 10:00 a.m. Eastern, the nine will take the bench and we'll be able to see a little sense of their mood.

But then right away, tomorrow, we have one of the biggest cases of the session, and that tests whether states can ban licensed professional health care providers from engaging in conversion therapy. And that's the practice of kind of a talk therapy to try to have LGBTQ teens change their sexual orientation or gender identity. That will be tomorrow. And then next week, Sara, we have one that will test where the justices are on the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. You know they've already really curtailed the protections of that act. And this time they're taking up a case that will look at what happens when states have drawn their congressional districts with boundaries that effectively dilute the power of Black and Hispanic voters.

Will states then be required to engage in what are known as majority- minority districts, consolidating racial minorities so they have a greater chance to elect a candidate of their choice, or would that be unconstitutional, violating the equal protection guarantee? So there's a real tension there between the landmark Voting Rights Act and constitutional mandates.

And then we have a series of Trump cases again in November, December, and January.

In November, the justices will be taking up his tariff policy. A lower court had said that Donald Trump exceeded his executive power in his "liberation day" tariffs dating back to April. And the justices will hear that on a fast-track because the Trump administration has said billions of dollars are at stake there.

And then in December, the justices will look at whether -- just how much power Donald Trump has to fire officials at independent agencies. And then a second case along those lines in January. And both of those could go to whether Donald Trump has power over the Federal Reserve, which we know he has been pressuring heavily in terms of interest rates -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yeah, Joan Biskupic. There is so much for the court to go through, and they have sided with Donald Trump more than 20 times. We will see what happens in these cases -- John.

[07:55:00]

BERMAN: All right. We're learning this morning that Costco is selling Ozempic and Wegovy at more than 600 of its pharmacies across the country. The maker of the popular weight loss and diabetes drug set the price at $499 for a four-week supply. That's the same deal it offers on its own website and through CVS and Walmart. Members with insurance may pay less depending on their plans.

This morning rescues underway on Mount Everest. Hundreds of hikers are trapped after unusually heavy snow hit the Tibetan side of the mountain. So far, officials say 350 people have been rescued. Still, 200 more to go. You can see the conditions that they're facing there -- not good at all. One guide said he's never seen snow like this in October.

So, spectators in southern China had to run for cover when a drone show took a terrifying turn. Look at that. That's just drones falling from the sky. Fireballs appearing to rain after several of the drones malfunctioned. The drones -- some of them appeared to have fireworks attached to them, which seems like a pretty bad combination. Luckily, Sara, no one was hurt. SIDNER: Seriously, that is terrifying.

All right. Happening today, negotiators from Hamas, Israel, and the U.S. are set to begin critical talks in Egypt. They will be working towards finalizing a deal based on President Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan.

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Trump told Israel to immediately stop the bombing on Friday. That's according to hospital authorities this morning.

The president, in a message to CNN's Jake Tapper, warned Hamas that they would face "total obliteration" if they don't cede power.

Joining me now is Dan Stroul, former deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East. Thank you so much for being here.

You just heard of -- the president telling our Jake Tapper that they can expect complete obliteration. Gaza is already in ruins. Seventy percent of the buildings are destroyed, and the Palestinian Health Ministry says 67,000 people have been killed.

I mean, a lot of folks looking at this saying isn't that what Netanyahu has already been trying to do? What would it mean -- complete obliteration?

DANA STROUL, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST: It would essentially mean what the Israel Defense Forces are already doing, which is going block-by-block through what remains of Gaza trying to clear out the remnants of Hamas.

And now, nearly -- exactly two years after the beginning of this war, Israel has so significantly degraded Hamas it no longer has a governance stranglehold over the entire strip. We're talking about it's taken out the majority of its top leadership. We're talking about the remnants and mid-level commanders holding onto about 20 living hostages. And the majority of Gaza, as you say, is in ruins.

So what we're looking at, if not this agreement, is just a continuation of what we've already seen.

SIDNER: What are the major sticking points? I know having, for example, Israeli troops inside of Gaza once there's a ceasefire and having Hamas cede its power completely in Gaza. What are some of the things that you think are going to be very hard hurdles to cross over?

STROUL: Well, it's really the same sticking points that we've seen every time we've been on the cusp of a ceasefire negotiation. So the difference with this ceasefire negotiation is that rather than the phases before where you start with hostage release, Palestinian prisoner release, humanitarian aid, then you move to Israel military withdrawal, then you move to governance and a political vision and reconstruction and stabilization.

Trump's point mashes it all together. And what they're negotiating in Cairo today is, again, just that phase one. So exactly to where does the Israeli military withdrawal in Gaza, how many Palestinian prisoners get released, over what period of time. And can Hamas actually deliver all of the remaining hostages, both the living and deceased? And right now what they're apparently saying is they don't know that they can guarantee all those things.

SIDNER: Yeah, and that's going to be a very, very big stumbling block.

Do you have some sense of hope that you will actually a ceasefire in the coming week or two?

STROUL: I'm cautiously optimistic, and here is what's different this time. We've been at this for two years and Trump, himself, said that Prime Minister Netanyahu has gone very far in Gaza. The question now is how much more can Israel achieve militarily versus through a political process and diplomacy?

So what's different this time is Trump aligned all of the Arab leaders, and even Muslim leaders, behind this plan at this moment in time. There's enormous pressure on Hamas and there's also very significant American pressure on Israel.

So I'm optimistic that in Cairo today we at least make progress on getting those hostages out, getting Palestinian prisoners released so that we can get those hostages released, and we get more humanitarian aid into Palestinians in need.

SIDNER: Yeah. We are waiting to hear what happens there in Cairo today, as you mentioned.

Dana Stroul, thank you so much for a great analysis there.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.