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Dem-led Cities, States Fight Trump's Efforts to Deploy National Guard; Fire Engulfs Home of South Carolina Judge and Former Senator; Ex-NFL QB Mark Sanchez Stabbed, Facing Felony After Altercation; Supreme Court Declines to Hear Ghislaine Maxwell's Appeal. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired October 06, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:33:25]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We are tracking the Trump administration's deployment of National Guard troops across the country and their latest target is Portland, Oregon. The administration's efforts prompting a federal judge to temporarily block the deployment of any National Guard troops there. Meantime, Chicago and the state of Illinois are suing the administration over its move to deploy the guard to the windy city.

We're going to hear from Governor J.B. Pritzker on later this afternoon. Joining us now to discuss the administration's tactics here is retired Major General Randy Manner. General, thank you so much for being with us. Just on the case of Illinois, the president authorizing 300 members of the state's National Guard to, they say, protect federal officers and assets in Chicago. The White House claims that there are ongoing violent riots. Has anything you've seen amount to open rebellion that would necessitate the guard going in?

MAJ. GEN. RANDY MANNER, U.S. ARMY (RET.): The administration's words are actually inflammatory. They're lies. They do not pass the test whatsoever in terms of any kind of insurrection whatsoever. Having a bunch of protesters there is not an insurrection. So it's the total inappropriate use of the military and the Guard, and it's something where he is trying to normalize the intimidation of our citizens using our military.

SANCHEZ: So, you're essentially saying that the administration is actively trying to provoke more protests by sending in the Guard?

[13:35:00]

MANNER: I'm not saying that's the intent, but anytime you mix gasoline in a flame, it's going to potentially be very explosive. So what the administration is doing is escalating tensions, not de- escalating tensions. Those videos over the weekend outside of Illinois with that mob, and by the way, the mob I'm referring to is not the protesters. The mob was Trump's Gestapo. In other words, the ICE agents, they were not disciplined. They had masks on. They were not identifiable. They were moving around lollygagging. These were not National Guard troops as somebody was first alleging because Guard troops are disciplined and they follow orders that are lawful. This is not what we need to do. We need to be de-escalating tensions, not escalating them.

SANCHEZ: To your view of these ICE agents, the administration argues that these are federal agents acting within the law to enact immigration policy. You clearly don't see it that way. What's your response to the administration?

MANNER: So, there's a difference between the idea of the execution and implementation of the law, using appropriate means that I fully support. So the president has the right to be able to exercise immigration control, should we say. What is wrong is the way that those ICE agents and other federal agents are manhandling protesters. They're pushing them to the ground. We've seen video after video after video where their respect and honor, quite frankly, is non-existent. They are nothing more than thugs in most cases, and that is not the kind of law enforcement that we want in our communities. And that's not the kind of law enforcement that we want to see.

We want people to be presumed innocent until they are proven guilty, not dug out of their beds in the middle of the night the way they were doing it many nights ago.

SANCHEZ: General, I'm also curious about getting your thoughts to what Governor J.B. Pritzker described as an ultimatum. He says that he got a call from the administration's Department of War saying, call up your troops or we will. What's your reaction to that reported ultimatum?

MANNER: That's no more than frat boy bullyism. That is them just trying to intimidate the governor. He will not be intimidated. The president does not have the right to tell the president -- the president does not have any right legally to order a governor to call out his or her Guard. That is just trying to say, you better do it or else. So it's again, being the playground bully. And I applaud the governor for standing up and saying, "Hell no, I'm not going to do it." And in fact, the president cannot make him do it.

SANCHEZ: Retired Major General Randy Manner. Thank you so much for the time. Erica?

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": (Inaudible) caught up on some of the other headlines we are watching this hour. Authorities are investigating a fire at the home of South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein and her husband Arnold, who's a former state Senator. Video shows the beach front home engulfed in flames on Saturday. Look at those images. Three people were taken to the hospital. It is unclear though who was injured. We are going to bring a live report on this developing story in the next hour.

Former NFL Quarterback and current Fox Sports Analyst, Mark Sanchez, is now in stable condition and facing a felony battery charge for his alleged role in a late-night altercation over a parking space. A truck driver telling the police in Indianapolis that Sanchez reeked of alcohol when he approached the truck, tried to climb into the cab despite the driver's warnings to stay away. The 69-year-old driver says he then pepper sprayed and stabbed Sanchez several times in self- defense. CNN has reached out to Fox Sports for comment. The Supreme Court today declining to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal after she asked the court to throw out her conviction of sex trafficking a minor to financier Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell claims she was also covered by a deal that Epstein had made, which shielded him from prosecution. She's currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in a years-long scheme with Epstein grooming and abusing underage girls.

A critical food assistance program used by millions of mothers and young children is running out of money because of the government shutdown. What that means for the families who rely on it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:44:09]

SANCHEZ: A critical food assistance program for families may have just days before money for it runs out. The WIC program serves nearly 7 million pregnant women, new mothers, and young kids. And you can blame the shutdown for the current crisis. CNN's Rene Marsh joins us now with more. So, Rene, why is the WIC program so crucial for families?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, as you mentioned, I mean, these are mothers, these are infants and children, and they rely on this federal food assistance program to help them purchase things like eggs, bread, fruits, and vegetables. And it is such a critical program, especially now that inflation has really drove up grocery prices. But just last week, the USDA telling CNN in a statement, and I'm quoting that "Nutrition programs will operate based on state choice and the length of the shutdown.

[13:45:00]

The agency added, if Democrats do not fund the government, WIC, which is the name of this program, we'll run out of funding and states will have to make a choice. Now during previous shutdowns, states have stepped in to fill the gap when the federal funds have frozen due to a government shutdown. But that may not be the case again this year. I mean, many of these states are feeling their own financial pinch on the state level, and participation in this program has certainly increased. Again, prices are a lot higher. And this shutdown is particularly challenging for this program because it's happening at the beginning of the fiscal year. So they have not received a cent of the grant money.

But Boris, really as the clock is ticking and this shutdown continues to drag on, many of these families who rely on this program, they say they're now sort of planning for the worst. They are stretching out the food that they have now in hopes that it will last them long enough for things to be resolved here in Washington, D.C.

SANCHEZ: An important angle of the story to keep an eye on. Rene Marsh, thanks so much for doing that.

MARSH: Sure. SANCHEZ: Erica?

HILL: Well, among the essential workers still on the job during a shutdown are air traffic controllers. We know how stressful their jobs are on a daily basis, but add to that the uncertainty of not knowing when they'll see their next full paycheck, that is definitely going to add to your stress. CNN's Pete Muntean is tracking the shutdown's impact when it comes to this area. There's been so much concern about this, also so much focus on them because of what happened in the last shutdown and how helpful they were to ending it, quite frankly.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: And airlines are already warning that there could be flight delays as a result of air traffic controller shortages because of the shutdown. It's important to remember the context here. During that 35-day shutdown back in 2019, controllers began calling out sick and that led to an end to that shutdown. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy just said the FAA only six days into this shutdown is seeing a slight uptick in controller absences in some of more than 300 facilities nationwide.

Remember, 14,000 air traffic controllers are required to work in this shutdown without pay. They got their last full paycheck last Tuesday. They'll get one more paycheck, a partial paycheck come next Tuesday, October 14th, also working on our FAA incident teams and the FAA Air Traffic Controller Academy. But Secretary Duffy says some of their support staff will also be furloughed soon, which could really hamper the Trump administration's air traffic controller hiring goals. Duffy just said he talked with the controllers who were worried about putting food on the table and said they should not be caught up in partisan politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This is having great impact, great concern, great stress on our system at a time when we're trying to reduce the stress. We're trying to improve the efficiencies. We're trying to increase controllers. We're trying to modernize our airspace, all things that the American people care about. And this shutdown, again, that Chuck Schumer wants to have because he wants to fund illegal's' healthcare makes no sense to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Duffy said it's not political, though he did get a little political there. Not much the Trump administration can do from keeping controllers from calling out sick. Right now, the Union of Air traffic Controllers is pleading with them not to act. The National Association of Air Traffic Controllers says in a new message, we cannot stress enough that it is essential to avoid any actions that could reflect poorly on you, our union, or our professionals.

The backdrop here for this event was Newark Liberty International Airport. It's been plagued by systems outages and controller shortages. But even still, Erica, the transportation secretary insists that flying right now is safe. But remember, we're only six days into the shutdown. HILL: Yeah.

MUNTEAN: And they say they will maintain that safety by implementing these ground stops and delays if there is, for some reason, a sick out or shortage of controllers.

HILL: All right. And we know you'll stay on top of it for us.

MUNTEAN: No doubt.

HILL: Pete, good to see you. Thank you. Well, trying to scale Mount Everest on a clear day is dangerous enough, but add in an unexpected snowstorm and you have the potential now for a mass casualty situation. We have a very latest view on the race to save hundreds of trekkers stranded on the world's tallest mountain. That's next.

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[13:54:01]

HILL: Climbing Mount Everest can be life-threatening in normal conditions, but what happened over the weekend was anything but. And right now, hundreds of trekkers are stranded after a blizzard hit the area. This is a radar image. Just look at the size of this storm. This is the system that pummeled the Himalayas over the weekend, dumping heavy snow and rain.

Exclusive video from the east slope of Everest shows these long lines, as you can see, of hikers and yaks climbing through knee-deep snow. Rescue teams had to give oxygen to climbers, even carry some people down the mountain on their backs. Reuters says some 300 people have now been guided to safety, but a high number of climbers were in the area when the storm hit because of an eight-day holiday in China.

Survival expert Les Stroud joins me now. So, Les, when we're looking at this, I think anybody thinks about Everest and knows this involves a lot of training. It is extreme, but add to that this unseasonable storm, this blizzard coming through, what are these trekkers facing right now?

[13:55:00]

LES STROUD, SURVIVAL EXPERT: Ooh, everything, pretty much everything. You get asked a lot or I get asked a lot anyway about the most difficult places to survive and what I'd like to point out is it's never about geography or location. I mean, sometimes, it is a little bit, but mostly it's about temperature and weather conditions. And I will always stand by wind being the most difficult. And you combine rough wind, strong wind with either snow or rain, it's the worst possible physical scenario to deal with in the wilderness.

HILL: And this is -- October is actually peak season on Everest, I've learned today. Right? The heavy snowfall though is highly unusual. You're talking about the wind as well. The other concern is that right now, we're looking at the eastern face which is, as I understand it, not as accessible as the northern route. How does all of that add up in terms of the challenge for the rescuers here?

STROUD: Once again, I'd want to try to shy away from hyperbole, but it's about as rough as it can get in any kind of search and rescue situation. Now, this isn't so much search as it is rescue, but you just -- it doesn't take a lot of imagination to get around the concept of being on the side of a blustery mountain with frigid blowing blizzard winds and hundreds of people needing rescue, which means there are hundreds of people doing the rescues and the equipment alone becomes, if not logistical impossibilities, extreme -- extremely difficult to operate all kinds of rescue equipment in conditions like that.

If I need to go on a rescue mission that's on the side of a mountain and it's 75 degrees and it was spring and all the rest of it, there's forgiveness time there. There's literally zero forgiveness time in a rescue like this because of the extreme conditions. There's no chance to relax when you're trying to do this kind of rescue.

HILL: As you point out too, you have the sheer number of people here, which then just increases the number of those on the rescue teams that would be needed. I mean, just walk us through the difficulties for those rescuers, no matter how good their training, no matter how good their gear, what they're facing as well.

STROUD: Boy, that's a long story I could get into, but I'll keep it brief for you. It really starts on the ground in the very beginning. Somewhere there are -- is a large base camp set up for base of operations or possibly several multiple ones where people are scratching their head, discussing things, arguing things, trying to figure out the best, most efficient, safest way to keep all of the rescuers safe, which is vital as well, to be able to get up and affect the rescue. So, it comes right down to equipment and clothing and being able to transport all of these different aspects of a rescue, as I say, might be things such as stretchers or more ropes, warm material because people will be suffering from hypothermia.

It's really a magnanimous effort on the behalf of the people who are undertaking it right now. If anybody can think of any difficulty to do with rescuing somebody in the wilderness, it's this -- this is going on right now on Everest, all of those difficulties,

HILL: You know, we've seen stories in the last couple of years about the increase in the number of people who are attempting to summit Everest and the concerns that that brings in terms of traffic, safety concerns for that. There are also environmental concerns. As you look at the sheer number of people who are stranded in this moment, does that add further fuel to that fire that perhaps this should be more limited?

STROUD: Yeah. Wow, you're really touching on something that is a personal part of mine. It's been a strange thing, hasn't it? Since the pandemic, there was an explosion of people going out into the wilderness and getting onto these adventures. That actually was part of what happened as a result of the pandemic. Now we're past that and what you have are a lot of people who are still keen on all of this adventuring. And what's lacking is education. One of the things, if I remember correctly, for example, that one of the trails in Peru, one of the Incan trails is limited. I know for myself that traveling on the Nahanni River in Canada, it's -- the numbers are limited. Those limitations are absolutely necessary. They are the saving grace to keeping a place wild, natural, unspoiled and safe. At some point, a place becomes so popular that it -- the popularity becomes detrimental to its own self, so to speak. And yes, I personally would think it is vital that places as popular as Mount Everest require some limiting.

HILL: Les, really good to have you with us this hour. Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

STROUD: My pleasure (ph).

HILL: And a new hour of "CNN New Central" starts right now.

SANCHEZ: The president's crime and immigration crack down hitting a roadblock, cities and states suing to stop troops from being deployed to their streets. Will the White House find --