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Trump Adviser Turned Adversary John Bolton Could Surrender Today; Trump Says He Asked Putin About U.S. Giving Tomahawks to Ukraine; Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa Spar in First New York City Mayoral Debate. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 17, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the Trump administration filing charges against his former national security adviser, Trump adviser turned Trump critic John Bolton expected to turn himself in today indicted for allegedly mishandling classified and sensitive information.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And also happening today, President Zelenskyy at the White House in just hours to meet with President Trump, just as President Trump also says he now has a new face-to-face on the books with Vladimir Putin.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A dramatic rescue caught on camera. Police rushed to save a driver trapped inside a burning car.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: All right. We are following developments after the indictment of John Bolton. The former Trump national security adviser turned Trump critic is expected to voluntarily turn himself in as early as today after he was indicted on 18 counts over his handling of classified material.

The FBI raided Bolton's home and office back in August. The indictment accuses him of sharing more than a thousand pages of diary-like entries with two people, some of which contained information up to the top level of security. Sources telling CNN those two people are Bolton's wife and daughter.

Bolton slammed the indictment accusing President Trumpet of an abuse of power. Bolton is the third perceived political enemy of the presidents to be indicted in less than a month after former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Those though are key differences in cases compared to Bolton's case, which sources say has a support of career prosecutors.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz live outside the federal court in Maryland. What more do you know about this case? And the significant difference here is that career prosecutors are in support of this indictment. KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: And they're the ones that brought it in court and signed off on the search warrants and took it through the grand jury yesterday. Sara, this is a years-long investigation, culminating in 18 counts against the former national security adviser to Donald Trump, John Bolton, a long time government official.

Those 18 counts, they correspond essentially to pieces of information that he was keeping or transmitting, that's what the prosecutors say in an unsecured way. The arc of this though is very much captured in many, many pages of description of what John Bolton was doing at the time he was national security adviser. That's in 2018 and 2019 in the Trump administration.

Basically, he was at work in the White House, in other places traveling around the globe, and he was taking handwritten notes on yellow notepads. Then he was transcribing those notes into Word documents, at times emailing them to himself on an AOL account, on other unsecured platforms, and then also sending them to his family members, often telling them it was for his diary, essentially his personal archives. And whenever that search did take place about a month, maybe two months ago in Maryland, prosecutors, investigators went into his home and found, printed out copies of many of these pieces of paper, these pieces of paper with allegedly classified information in them, things about military strikes, things about foreign leaders. That is all in the indictment.

We haven't yet seen John Bolton in court. Proceedings are very likely to kick off today. We have been told that he is expected to come to this courthouse at some point to get things started, but he did have something to say yesterday. John Bolton, in a statement, said, these charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, he's talking about Donald Trump, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct. Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America's constitutional system and vitally important to our freedom. I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his, Trump's abuse of power.

[07:05:04]

So, John Bolton framing himself as one of the victims of weaponization of the Justice Department.

Here's a little bit more from Donald Trump speaking in the White House yesterday after the indictment was unveiled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: John Bolton was just indicted by a grand jury in Maryland. Do you have a reaction to that?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I didn't know that. You tell me for the first time. But I think he's, you know, a bad person. I think he's a bad guy. Yes, he's a bad guy. It's too bad.

REPORTER: Have you reviewed the case against him?

TRUMP: No, I haven't. I haven't. But I just think he's a bad person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: And a reminder that the U.S. attorney in Maryland at this time, Kelly Hayes, she has long been a career prosecutor in this district. And the people working on this case have quite a bit of experience over many years in the Justice Department in national security cases. Back to you.

SIDNER: All right. Katelyn Polantz, thank you for breaking that all down for us there from Greenbelt, Maryland. John?

BERMAN: All right. We are standing by to see Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House there to push President Trump for American-made Tomahawks. These are longer range missiles that would give Ukraine the ability to hit deep inside of Russia. You can see the range there. It would hit -- really, it would give them the capability to go way past Moscow into other areas.

There have been some signs the president was supportive of that request, but all of a sudden this has been thrown into doubt after a two-and-a-half-hour phone call with Vladimir Putin that came at the request of the Kremlin. Now the president says he will meet with Putin within weeks. He did say the Tomahawks came up in the phone call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I did actually say, would you mind if I gave a couple of thousand Tomahawks to your opposition? I did say that to him. I said it just that way. He didn't like the idea. He really didn't like the idea. No, I said it that way. You have to be a little bit lighthearted sometimes, Adam.

REPORTER: Did he specifically ask you not to provide Tomahawks?

TRUMP: So, wouldn't anybody? I mean, it's been in the news. Who wouldn't do that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House with the expectations for today's meeting and this possible, probable meeting with Vladimir Putin.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I think the Russians knew exactly what they were doing when they tried to intervene, John, less than 24 hours before this meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy today at the White House. They knew exactly what was likely to be discussed in this meeting between, of course, the president, President Donald Trump, and Zelenskyy. And, really, the goal I think of that call was to try and make sure Tomahawks are off the table.

Now, it doesn't appear that it is off the table, but I can tell you, John, that I know from my conversations with people at the White House that the president had largely seen the possibility and kind of this floating publicly, this idea of providing Kyiv with these long-range American missiles as a threat to try and force the Russians back to the table. Obviously, we saw that phone call take place yesterday. And just on that lengthy phone call, things quickly progressed enough to have the president and President Putin vow to meet in just a couple weeks in Budapest to continue the negotiations.

Now, I should say, that call with the with the Russian president came after weeks of the president, president Donald Trump, being, of course, very frustrated with Putin. He was not living up to some of the commitments that the president and other Trump administration officials believe that he had made in that summit just weeks ago in Alaska.

But to turn to today's meeting, we do know that, of course, asking for more weapons is going to be on the agenda of the Ukrainians. And, really, this meeting comes at a point where we've heard the president and many of his closest advisers here in the White House argue that it might be time to take a more offensive posture toward Russia.

Now, did that change because now they're going to be having this summit with Putin? We'll see. I think it's likely to probably expect that they don't want to rock the boat too much as these negotiations are happening. And so we'll have to see what happens today. We'll have to see what the Zelenskyy asks, of course, and what Trump is willing to provide.

But just to go back to the Tomahawks, I think it's important to note what exactly they do, because they would provide Ukraine with the ability to strike targets inside Russia at a long range, something that the Ukrainians haven't been able to do. But part of the reason they're so controversial is because they're American-made and largely would likely have to be American-operated. And that's exactly what Putin had brought up in his call with Trump yesterday.

So, a lot to watch for today as we expect Zelenskyy to arrive later this morning.

BERMAN: Yes. It's possible Vladimir Putin bought himself another couple weeks, at least by floating the idea of these face-to-face meetings.

Alayna Treene at the White House today, we're going to have to watch very, very closely. Thank you. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, a stark warning for Hamas from President Trump, stop killing people in Gaza, or, here's the quote, we will have no choice but to go in and kill you.

[07:10:03]

Also, fertility meds could soon be more affordable, details on that coming up on new pricing deal that was just announced by the White House.

And saved at sea, Good Samaritans jumping in, stepping in to help a turtle tangled in a fishing trip.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So, with under three weeks to go until election day, the candidates running for mayor of New York City took to the debate stage and immediately took it to each other, personal attacks, sparring of every point was a point of contention, from Israel-Hamas war to how they would handle President Trump. Just take a look at some of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW CUOMO (I), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: This is not a job for a first timer. Any day, you could have a hurricane. You have, God forbid, a 9/11, a health pandemic. If you don't know what you're doing, people could die.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Mamdani, if you want to respond?

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: And if we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their death in nursing homes?

[07:15:05]

That's the kind of experience that's on offer here today. What I don't have an experience, I make up for in integrity. And if you don't have an integrity, you could never make up for an experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Gloria Pazmino watching it all, has been tracking this race from the very beginning. And where is this race now today?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kate, I think with these debates so often what we think about is whether or not the debate is going to have a moment where it can significantly change the conversation or the trajectory of the race, no matter what the race is. Especially now that we're three weeks out, I think there are a lot of people who are starting to close -- to pay very close attention finally. And I think this was a debate that we saw candidates sort of retreating to their usual argument. And by the two hours -- by the time we were done with the two-hour debate, I don't think it necessarily shifted the conversation significantly.

This was a moment for Andrew Cuomo to be able to connect with the audience and say, I have the experience, I have the resume to do this job. It's the same argument he made in the primary. And we saw it not really work. We saw Mamdani talk about how he is sort of a break from the status quo here in New York City, talk about his experience, which is something that his critics often bring up. And then we saw the Republican, Curtis Sliwa, surprisingly in the middle of Cuomo and Mamdani, really increased his attacks against Cuomo.

There were a lot of moments where it got even a little bit personal, and the subject of President Trump loomed very large, how these candidates would stand up against him or maybe even try to work with him. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAMDANI: The difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in D.C.

CUOMO: Donald Trump would go through Mr. Mamdani like a hot knife through butter. He's been in government 27 minutes. He passed three bills. That's all he's done. He has no experience with Washington, no experience in New York City. He would be Trump's delight.

CURTIS SLIWA (R), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: You lost your own primary, right? You were rejected by your Democrats.

You're not going to stand up to Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So, that's what's we're going to continue to see a lot more of, I think, in these upcoming three weeks.

But, you know, Zohran Mamdani really trying to bring it to Cuomo, his past scandals, what he called a lack of integrity. But Cuomo trying to say, you don't have the experience or the resume to run a place like the city of New York.

And I think that's been a central argument throughout this entire campaign, whether or not someone who's only held office in state assembly for about four years versus someone who led the whole state of New York for nearly a decade, 12 years, in fact, and the choice between those two.

It was interesting for me to see the Republican, Curtis Sliwa, attacks so much -- focuses attacks so much on Andrew Cuomo, because Andrew Cuomo has been trying to appeal to Republicans. So, Andrew Cuomo needs every Republican who will be willing to vote for him. And who might think to themselves, well, Curtis Sliwa is not a real candidate. He's also never had a public office here in New York City. But Sliwa really focused on him a lot throughout the night, and maybe he is going to be able to keep those Republicans that he's going after.

BOLDUAN: One thing is for sure is that while this is a race to mayor of New York City, it is being watched so closely by Democrats, Republicans. I mean House Speaker Mike Johnson just talked about Zohran Mamdani from the podium on Capitol Hill in the last couple of days being watched by both parties much further than New York City, and that's why it's getting a lot of attention.

PAZMINO: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, Gloria. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, thank you.

What caused the Wall Street slump and is it a sign of things to come looking at futures this morning already down.

And ahead, I'm not happy. I'm really not happy. Those are words from an Illinois judge over whether federal law enforcement agents are following her orders on handling immigration protests. How tensions in Chicago now putting schools on edge.

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[07:20:00]

SIDNER: Don't be mad. The Los Angeles Dodgers on fire, just one win away from a second straight World Series. Can they close it out today?

CNN's Amanda Davies joining us live from London. That is the big question, but there was a lot of celebrations last night as well. What a game.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, there were, Sara. And I mean, you have to be asking the question now, can the Dodgers actually ever be beaten? They are on such a steamrolling run, aren't they, with victory on Thursday night, putting them just one win away from a clean sweep over the Milwaukee Brewers, and, of course, that place in the World Series once again.

They took a 3-0 lead in the NLCS with their 3-1 victory. The game tied in the bottom of the six when Tommy Edman lofted a single to center, just enough for Will Smith to score the game's go-ahead run from second base.

The history books very much in the Dodgers' favor. Teams taking a 3-0 lead in any best of seven postseason series have gone on to win it 40 out of 41 times. That is 97.6 percent. So, it means they're poised to become the first defending champions to reach the World Series in 16 years. That, of course, would be a massive step in that quest to become the first back-to-back champs since the Yankees in 2000.

[07:25:05]

In the ALCS, a very different story where the Toronto Blue Jays fighting back to square their series against the Mariners at two a piece, 8-2, they took game four, 41-year-old Max Scherzer putting in a great performance on the mound for Toronto in his first start this postseason.

In the fifth, his manager came out, visited him on the mound after giving up the single, presumably to put in a reliever, but Mad Max was fired up. Look at that. He was going nowhere, yelling, I am good. Let's go. He stayed in and he made it count. He struck out the next batter. And then Vladimir Guerrero notching, a seventh inning homer to give Toronto some insurance, his fifth home run of this postseason, giving him a new record for a Blue Jays player.

So, all square in that one heading into game five in Toronto later as Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh says, now it is a best of three.

And in the big Thursday night NFL game that gives us golden oldies over the age of 40, some hope or, I don't know, a sense of shame, whichever way you look at it, it was Joe Flacco that came out on (INAUDIBLE) over old adversary Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers. There's so much had been made about the age of these two 40-something quarterbacks going head-to-head, but they both showed they've still got it, putting up the points in this one.

Bengal's Receiver Ja'Marr Chase had a monster night, hauling in 16 catches for 161 yards and 1 touchdown, but the Steelers took the lead with just over two minutes left. After this 68 yard pass to Tight End Pat Freiermuth, so just nine days after his trade to the Bengals. It was up to Flacco to lead his team down the field. He hit Wide Receiver T. Higgins for a 28-yard completion down the left sideline to set up an Evan McPherson field goal from 36 yards. The Bengals win it 33-31. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Amanda Davies, thank you so much.

And John is over here grumbling by the way about what team could possibly lose after winning the first three baseball games?

BERMAN: Well, I would say no baseball team has ever coughed up a 3-0 lead in a championship series. It can't possibly happen, right?

SIDNER: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. By the way, both quarterback said they take several breaks to go to the bathroom last night in the Steelers- Bengals game.

SIDNER: Good times.

BERMAN: So, why the cost of common fertility drugs could soon go down.

And testing the limits of finders keepers, what happened after a guy found more than $7,000 just scattered across the road.

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[07:30:00]