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News Outlets Slam New Pentagon Rules; Trump Administration Continues Destroying Boats in Caribbean; Israel to Slow Aid Into Gaza?; Woman Accused of Ramming Federal Agents Pleads Not Guilty: Government Shutdown Fight Continues. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 15, 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: On day 15 of the government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune says there are bipartisan conversations happening to end the stalemate, but says the Democrats aren't serious. The Democrats will have a chance to respond tonight in a CNN town hall at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And frustration growing inside Israel at the slow pace of Hamas returning the remains of deceased hostages. Meantime, in Gaza, fear is growing as Israel retaliates by withholding desperately needed aid. What this could mean for the cease-fire deal.

Plus, a car chase ending in a crash and tear gas. Details on what led to a clash between federal law enforcement officers and residents of Chicago.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

We are now officially in week three of the government shutdown and the next vote to potentially end the standoff is about an hour away. So far, though, neither Democrats nor Republicans are budging from their demands. Democrats have voted eight times now to block Republicans' stopgap bill, even as President Trump is vowing to exact even deeper cuts to federal programs that he says Democrats care about.

KEILAR: Despite the stalemate, some families are getting a lifeline.

The Pentagon says active-duty military will be paid today after identifying $8 billion in unused funds. Also, the WIC program, food assistance, which serves pregnant women, new mothers and young children, will continue to operate for at least a few more weeks. That is thanks to an infusion of money from tariff revenue.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is on Capitol Hill.

And, Arlette, this vote in the next hour, what are we expecting?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, it's unlikely that this vote to reopen the government will move forward, as Democrats and Republicans continue to dig in on their position.

In fact, both sides are basically preparing for a prolonged shutdown with no resolution in sight. The Senate is expected to vote in the next hour, but, so far, Democrats have not signaled that they are ready to shift to that GOP-backed plan. They continue to want these negotiations on health care.

This morning, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that there have been some bipartisan talks among rank-and-file members, but none of those conversations have elevated to the leader level, as we still have not seen Democratic and Republican leaders or President Donald Trump come together to try to find an end to this standoff.

But, as you noted, there's a lot of impacts that are being felt across the country with federal workers and people who rely on federal programs. Military members and their families did get a bit of a reprieve from President Trump when he found about $8 billion in Pentagon funds to repurpose for paychecks for those military members that were set to go out today.

But there's big questions about how long that money will last and if they could miss paychecks in the future if the shutdown continues. But, right now, both sides are holding firm in their position and there does not appear to be any clear end in sight in the near future for the shutdown.

SANCHEZ: And, Arlette, Arizona Congresswoman-Elect Adelita Grijalva still has not been sworn in. She won that special election on September 23. Speaker Johnson hasn't allowed her to take the oath of office. There's reporting out there that she tried to go into her office, but there's nothing there. There's no infrastructure for her to actually take on the job.

Why is Speaker Johnson not allowing her to become a congresswoman?

SAENZ: Well, Boris, tensions have really flared up here on the Hill as Democrats have tried to keep the pressure on Speaker Johnson to swear in Congresswoman-Elect Adelita Grijalva.

Now, it's been three weeks since she was elected. And last night -- or, yesterday, the Arizona secretary of state certified her election. The speaker has said that he is not swearing her in because she deserves the pomp and circumstance and ceremony of that swearing-in moment.

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But, earlier today, when she spoke to reporters, she said she doesn't need all that. Take a listen.

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ADELITA GRIJALVA (D), ARIZONA CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT: Now is the time for Speaker Johnson to perform his duty and swear me in without further delay. I don't need bells and whistles. I don't need pomp and circumstance. I

just need to get to work for Southern Arizona. This is really unprecedented to have a speaker that is obstructing the swearing-in of a member of Congress. So this is unprecedented area. So we're looking at every possible legal option that we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: The speaker says that he can't swear her in while they are in recess, though there has been precedent for swearing-in other members during pro forma sessions.

But, for now, what we are seeing from Grijalva is this real pressure campaign on Johnson and we will see whether she decides to take any legal action against him.

KEILAR: Yes, we will be looking for that.

Arlette Saenz live for us on the Hill, thank you.

And, tonight, join Kaitlan Collins for a live town hall on the path forward. It's called "Shutdown America: A CNN Town Hall With Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez." That is tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

And a court appearance earlier today for a woman who was shot by a federal agent after she allegedly rammed a law enforcement vehicle in Chicago, Marimar Martinez pleading not guilty to charges of assaulting, resisting and impeding officers.

SANCHEZ: Prosecutors say a Customs and Border Protection agent shot at Martinez in self-defense after she drove into their vehicle. Her attorney, though, says that agents' bodycam footage contradicts that account.

CNN's Omar Jimenez was inside the courtroom for today's arraignment.

So, Omar, walk us through this case and what happened in court.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so to be clear, the defense attorney told us that he has seen the body camera footage, but we have not been able to independently see that footage. It currently remains under seal.

But they are arguing that this was not a ramming incident, that footage shows an agent turn the steering wheel to the left at one point, which is where Martinez's vehicle would have been just before impact. And the way the defense attorney described it to us was that this was nothing more than a minor traffic accident, and that typically you get out and you exchange information, but that, in this case, an agent got out and started shooting.

But that's part of what's at dispute here, as prosecutors have again said that this was someone firing in self-defense and have argued that this deadly weapon or dangerous weapon was the vehicle used in this case. You mentioned she pleaded not guilty. We saw her. She did make an appearance.

Even though she had been shot five times a little bit more than a week ago, she did appear to be walking OK, no visible signs of any damage, though she was wearing a lot of overcoats. Kind of colder here in Chicago today, but, bottom line, just one of what has been many events here in Chicago that has not only drawn scrutiny from the outside in, but sort of has shown clashes between either those in the local community or local and state leadership with some of what federal agents have been doing enforcement-wise here in the city of Chicago.

KEILAR: And, Omar, there was another car crash incident yesterday in Chicago that involved federal agents and quickly escalated. Can you tell us about that one?

JIMENEZ: Yes, so this one began with, as we understand, Customs and Border Protection chasing someone on the southeast side of the city. You can see the end of that pursuit here, where essentially the agents in the white car crashed into, performed a pit maneuver on that red vehicle, and two people got out on foot and started running.

DHS says the two people were in the country illegally. But then, after this happened, a crowd started to grow, and those in the neighborhood, including an eyewitness I spoke to, said that they were not only angry at the presence of federal agents in the neighborhood, but also at how this arrest actually happened.

And things started to get thrown at agents, as you just saw on video. Police responded as well to try and de-escalate the crowd. But then federal agents deployed tear gas, which did also affect Chicago police officers, the second time in as many weeks that that has happened.

But, again, it just sort of shows the tension that is in a lot of these communities, as federal agents have tried to go forward with their immigration enforcement here.

SANCHEZ: Omar Jimenez, thank you so much for the update there.

Still to come this afternoon: Israel says it will cut down on the number of aid trucks entering Gaza unless Hamas releases more of the remains of deceased hostages. We have the latest on the cease-fire.

KEILAR: Plus: News outlets slam Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's new press policy, as journalists turn in the credentials that give them access to the Pentagon.

And later: OpenAI says it's changing ChatGPT to let adults use the A.I. bot to create erotic content.

We will have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: The cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas appears to be holding for now, though it is being tested. Israelis say they are growing frustrated by how long it's taking Hamas to release the remains of hostages.

The country's military actually says that one of the four bodies handed over last night was not of an Israeli hostage. Meantime, in Gaza, Israel is slowing down desperately needed aid. It told the U.N. that aid would be reduced or delayed because of the limited number of hostages' remains returned.

The World Food Program says less than 200 aid trucks a day have gone into Gaza over the past four days. That's less than a third of what Israel agreed to under the cease-fire deal.

We're joined now by Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib. He's an analyst from Gaza who writes extensively on the territory's affairs. He's also a senior fellow and head of the Realign For Palestine project at the Atlantic Council.

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Ahmed, thank you so much for being with us.

You shared with me a moment ago that your brother is currently in the enclave. What has he shared with you about what is happening there, what he is seeing?

AHMED FOUAD ALKHATIB, SENIOR FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Well, good to be with you.

He shared the difficulties of still trying to distribute and deliver aid where it is needed most. We're still talking about damaged roads, damaged infrastructure. We're still talking about a massive gap between what's entering and what the need is.

But we're also talking about that what's happening right now is still tactical in nature in terms of this is just a stopgap measure. Gaza's medical infrastructure, the schools, the food, delivery and production networks are all in tatters and damaged.

And what we need is a reconstruction or a pathway toward reconstruction so that Gaza is not sustained by trucks that are entirely dependent on the day-to-day affairs.

SANCHEZ: I wonder what you make of the chief of U.S. Central Command calling on Hamas to immediately suspend violence and shooting at innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza. There's been some violence between factions vying for power challenging Hamas.

ALKHATIB: Certainly.

I was glad to see that, especially after the disturbing remarks yesterday by President Trump, in which he explicitly said how unbothered he was by Hamas summarily executing Palestinians who are suspected of being Israeli collaborators.

And what we have to keep in mind is that you can simply accuse someone of being an Israeli collaborator even if you have a miscellaneous dispute with them. And so this is where we have to put a line in the sand and say, enough, Hamas. You agreed to disarm. You agreed to not be part of Gaza's governance.

And yet here you are asserting your presence -- reasserting rather your presence in the Gaza Strip. The United States, as the guarantor of the deal, has a significant role in sustaining pressure on the terror group to pull back its fighters from these atrocities that are being committed.

SANCHEZ: It's interesting that we heard the president say that while also simultaneously saying that Hamas must disarm and that the U.S. would potentially force them to disarm, though he did not give specifics on what that would look like.

What did you make of those remarks from the president, even saying that it could require violent means to get Hamas to disarm?

ALKHATIB: Well, that was exceptionally puzzling, because what else can the United States do that the Israeli military, with all of its might and firepower over the last two years, hasn't been able to do?

This is especially in the context of reports that we're hearing Steve Witkoff is going to step back from playing a role as a mediator and a negotiator on behalf of President Trump for Gaza. This is in light of the fact that Hamas has said they won't disarm. Hamas is not accepting an international stabilization force. Hamas is not OK with a Board of Peace as declared by President Trump.

And so without sustained pressure on the Turks, on the Qataris to keep Hamas in check and to fulfill the very clauses that it agreed to, we're going to see the cease-fire potentially collapse.

SANCHEZ: So what needs to be in place for those things to happen? I mean, first of all, is there a rival political organization within Gaza that is widely recognized as credible and widely accepted that can take over the power that Hamas would theoretically abdicate?

ALKHATIB: Well, before we even get there, what we need to do is introduce somebody with an executive power, executive force that can create an equilibrium, that can challenge Hamas, that can create a safety net, if you will, other than the Israeli military, for Palestinian dissidents, for the Palestinian Authority when it comes back, for independent technocrats, businessmen, academics, journalists, poets, community leaders and activists, clan members who want to be a part of the new generation that can move away from the resistance narrative toward the nation-building and coexistence narrative.

But, before we get there, we have to have an international stabilization force. We have to have somebody that can stop Hamas when it terrorizes Palestinians in the Strip. I have friends of mine who are terrified, who are horrified because they said things on Facebook, and Hamas is going through people's cell phones and looking at their social media.

So we can't even begin to think of the emergence of an alternative without first neutralizing Hamas' oppressive power. SANCHEZ: I guess the question is, how do we get to that second phase

of the cease-fire deal in a credible way? Because it's very easy -- I should rephrase that.

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It's not easy to secure the kind of cease-fire that we have. A lot of folks had tried for a long time. But now that we're here, that is the small challenge compared to the much broader challenge of ensuring a lasting peace and that this isn't just a temporary solution, right?

So how do we get to completing the ideals of phase two?

ALKHATIB: First, I would say sustained U.S. engagement and President Trump making it clear that, just like the leader of Central Command today said, we cannot allow Hamas to keep on killing innocent civilians.

The United States has a role in saying to Hamas, enough. So that's first and foremost is putting Hamas on notice. Number two is by immediately outlining broad parameters for this international stabilization and security force. And it cannot be a useless peacekeeping mission like we see in Southern Lebanon. It has to have teeth.

It has to have -- there needs to be immediate discussions right now in the Security Council while the issue still has this attention. What are the mandates? What's the mandate of this force and what kind of use of force authorization can it obtain from the Security Council? What kind of equipment? What kind of personnel? What does it look like?

Third, we need to actually outline the role of the Palestinian Authority, of the moderate Arab states, other than just Qatar and Turkey. These guys are the supporters, the ideological backers of Hamas. They were critical to get Israeli hostages released. Wonderful. OK, we got over that phase.

But now the broader phase requires Saudi Arabia, the Egyptians, the Emiratis, the Moroccans, the Abraham Accord countries who are moderate, who don't support the Muslim Brotherhood and want to -- and can and want to work with Israel. I think those are immediate steps that the U.S. can take.

And I worry about Steve Witkoff stepping back from his role, as has been reported, because that could signal that maybe President Trump is no longer in -- depending on who he appoints as a replacement, if any, that could signal that he's no longer interested in this issue.

SANCHEZ: Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, we very much appreciate your perspective. Thank you so much for joining us.

ALKHATIB: Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: A pleasure.

Still plenty more news to come this afternoon on NEWS CENTRAL.

Journalists are turning in their press passes at the Pentagon, as virtually every major news outlet refuses to accept Secretary Hegseth's new restrictions on reporters.

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SANCHEZ: We're learning new details about one of the U.S. airstrikes on a boat in the Caribbean. A source is telling CNN that the strike on September 19 targeted Colombian nationals on a boat that had just left Colombia.

KEILAR: CNN's Natasha Bertrand has been following this for us.

What are you learning about this strike, Natasha?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is significant because I think previously people had believed that this campaign in the Caribbean was largely, if not exclusively, targeting boats that were leaving Venezuela, that perhaps had drug traffickers affiliated with Tren de Aragua on board.

But now we're learning that in fact at least one of these U.S. military strikes hit a boat that not only had Colombian nationals on it, but that had actually left Colombia itself. And this is significant because we had previously seen the White House put out a very strong denial of claims by Colombian President Gustavo Petro that some Colombian nationals may have been killed in some of these U.S. military strikes.

And the White House said that they looked forward to him retracting that reprehensible statement. Well, it seems that they may have been quibbling with which strike he was referring to, because we're told that in fact the third U.S. military strike that has at least been publicly announced on September 19, that was in fact carrying Colombian nationals who were killed in that strike.

Now, obviously, we don't know the full extent, right, of who the U.S. military has determined is able to be targeted here, but the White House did send us a statement and say that every strike that the U.S. military has carried out has targeted -- quote -- "designated narco- terrorists."

And they emphasize that those strikes are going to continue. But as we reported, the Justice Department has produced this really sweeping legal opinion, basically allowing and authorizing the president to carry out strikes against a really broad range of cartels on a list that is essentially secret, because that opinion has not been released.

And so the broader public here really has no idea which cartels the administration has determined are able to be targeted by U.S. military action.

SANCHEZ: We will hopefully get that information soon.

Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much for the reporting.

So the deadline has passed and the news media has spoken. Reporters from virtually every major news outlet, including CNN, have turned in their press passes, rejecting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's new rules for covering the Pentagon.

KEILAR: He demanded the reporters promise not to report -- quote -- "unauthorized information," even if it is not classified. Another would have required Pentagon approval of news reports.

Let's get to CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter, who has new reporting out on the fallout of all this.

Brian, what's happened since the deadline passed and how is the Trump administration responding?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Reporters have been showing up at the Pentagon today and handing in their press passes. This is an extraordinary moment, showing that the Pentagon is not changing, not backing away from this drastic radical new policy.

And the news outlets, the reporters, the editors, the media lawyers who said this is unacceptable, they're not changing their tune either. So all the major networks, all the major wire service and newspaper reporters who cover the Pentagon day in, day out are turning in their credentials.

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