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Suspicious Package Sickens People at Joint Base Andrews; Trump Hosts Viktor Orban; No End in Sight For Government Shutdown; Trump Administration Orders Mandatory Flight Cuts. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 07, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JENAN MOHAJIR, VICE PRESIDENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, INTERFAITH AMERICA: From that aspect of his faith tradition.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: What did you say the word is, sadaqah?

MOHAJIR: Sadaqah, yes, which is very similar to the Hebrew word, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Hebrew is tzedakah. So, boy, there are a lot of similarities. I wish we could continue to focus on that. And you know what? We're going to.

Thank you so much. Really appreciate you being here. Sorry we had a short time. We will have you back, for sure.

Thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

Tune in to "STATE OF THE UNION" this Sunday. California Governor Gavin Newsom is on the show. That's 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Travel fears and frustration,flights for thousands of passengers across the country canceled after the FAA orders airlines to reduce air traffic as a direct result of a government shutdown now in its 38th day.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Plus, a suspicious package sickens multiple people at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, a hazmat team called to the scene, investigators now examining what was inside.

And Supreme Court justices meet today to consider whether to hear arguments challenging the right to same-sex marriage. We will look at whether this long shot case is a real threat to marriage equality.

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

HILL: Right now, all across the country, anxious, frustrated travelers are feeling the impacts of those mandatory flight cuts,as the government shutdown hits a record 38th day. The FAA's decision triggering hundreds of delays and cancellations

this afternoon after staffing issues forced the agency to issue an emergency order. Today, 4 percent of flights at these 40 major U.S. airports have been scrubbed. But unless the government reopens, those reductions will only continue to grow, ultimately hitting 10 percent by next Friday.

In the meantime, Washington is showing few signs of reaching a deal to end the shutdown. And officials warn it may already be too late to get air travel back to normal before the busy Thanksgiving travel season kicks off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: There's a higher level of fatigue with the controllers because they have been doing this for a long time, as we have tried to mitigate the impact of the shutdown. If the government opens on day one, will I see an immediate response from controllers?

No, the union is telling me it's going to take time to get them all back in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN's Pete Muntean is at Reagan National Airport.

So what are you hearing from travelers there, Pete?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, I heard from travelers that things are moving relatively smoothly because at least the airlines were able to preemptively cancel these flights, as if they would during a massive snowstorm.

So we're not seeing massive amount of people stranded here in the airport. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy insists he is doing these massive cancellations because air traffic controllers are in crisis, but it's created chaos for airlines, airports, and passengers nationwide.

The total number of preemptive cancellations done by airlines to fit in line with this 15-page emergency order handed down late last night by the Federal Aviation Administration is about 800, a couple hundred here and there from each of the major airlines.

And this ramps up as time goes on. Today, the FAA is calling for airlines to cancel about 4 percent of their flights nationwide. That number jumps to 6 percent on Tuesday, 8 percent on Thursday, then 10 percent on Wednesday. So the pain only gets worse as time goes on.

But the big thesis here is that this has not abated the staffing- related shortages we have seen at air traffic control facilities across the country since the government shutdown began. There is a huge list of staffing shortages and delays today.

I'm just going to read for you here because it's changing all the time, Ontario, California, Boston Center, Philly, Newark Approach Control, also the control tower here at Reagan National Airport. The list goes on and on. There are staffing shortages nationwide today, about 2,300 delays in total in the U.S.

So it's shaping up to be a bad day, not just for delays, but also the cancellations that airlines have had to make because of this Trump administration mandate.

Want you to listen now, though, to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. He spoke here at Reagan National Airport earlier, and he is sticking to his guns, saying that this was the right move. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID RILEY, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Whether I'm talking to 50 planes in an hour or I'm talking to 45 planes in an hour, it's not much of a difference. Reducing it by 10 percent, it's a joke, like I said. It's just something that's being used by the administration to make the flying public feel the pain. Controllers are just being used as a pawn in this whole game of the shutdown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:05:05]

MUNTEAN: That was obviously not Transportation Secretary Duffy. That was Dave Riley, a retired air traffic controller from the Denver area. I have spoken to him before, and he's very outspoken on the fact that this is something that the administration is doing for political gain, which is making travel pain for travelers.

There is so much consternation about this, and really passengers are the ones paying for this move. We will see how popular this is in the long run.

HILL: Yes, my guess is not very, if you ask the passengers themselves.

But, Pete, when we look at this, so this is -- as you pointed out, this is 4 percent today. Airlines had time to plan for it. Could ultimately hit that 10 percent on Friday. All of this though, I think it's tough to wrap your head around sometimes when we talk about how it directly impacts or benefits the air traffic controllers.

Is it really lessening their workload?

MUNTEAN: Well, you heard from Dave Riley there. He says it's a pretty de minimis, marginal difference when you talk about the difference of a few percent, one to the other.

And so even air traffic controllers are not buying this safety argument. I have so many of them in my Rolodex nationwide, and I have been talking to them since this whole idea was trotted out by the Trump administration on Wednesday. There was a lot of confusion among their ranks about how this would take place and if it would really have all that big of an impact. So we will see as time goes on, but even air traffic controllers are

pouring cold water on this. And, like I said, airlines really aren't buying the safety argument either. Perhaps one of the few big voices who has come out to say that this is the right move is NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy.

She says, the fact that controllers are already so stressed, working mandatory six-day weeks of 10-hour shifts, and the administration making this move now is the right thing to do.

HILL: All right, Pete, appreciate it, as always. Thank you -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Well, turning now from Pete Muntean's expansive Rolodex to the effort to actually end the shutdown he's been covering, negotiations in the Senate, which were making progress, seemed to be making progress earlier this week, they appear to have stalled, we think.

Senate Democrats are signaling they will vote against a newly drafted bill to reopen the government, that is, unless they get firm commitments from Republicans to address expiring Obamacare subsidies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): There is no reason that we should have a separate vote on extending the health care tax credits. It ought to be part of whatever government funding agreement there is. And settling for some kind of vague promise about a vote in the future on some indeterminate bill without any definite inclusion in the law, I think, is a mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: CNN's Arlette Saenz joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

Arlette, any movement? What do we know right now?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Phil, right now the situation still remains incredibly fluent. The Senate has not set a vote for this afternoon just quite yet.

But, a moment ago, Senate Majority Leader John Thune did tell reporters that he anticipates holding a vote either today or tomorrow on a stopgap funding bill beyond that initial November 21 deadline and also a plan that would pass approved appropriation bills for an entire year.

This was one of the components of the emerging deal Republicans were trying to push through, in addition to giving Democrats a date certain to vote on extending those Obamacare subsidies. But, right now, Senate Democrats still appear to be digging in, as they want to seek more commitments from Senate leadership, from House leadership that any vote on the Affordable Care Act subsidies would actually pass and be signed into law.

One thing that we have heard from Senate Democrats, like you did from Senator Blumenthal right there, is that many are feeling emboldened after Tuesday's elections, when Democrats swept races across the country. They feel that their voters are saying they still want them to put up a fight in this government shutdown standoff.

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune took to the Senate floor just a short while ago to criticize Democrats for their holdouts. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): And as for the claim that Democrats got some kind of mandate from the American people on Tuesday to continue jeopardizing food stamps for 40 million Americans in need, give me a break.

Democrats performed well in three states where Democrats often perform well. Congratulations. I really don't think that means that the American people have all signed up to be Democratic socialists. And it sure as heck doesn't provide a good reason for making 40 million Americans go hungry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, I will know at the end there he was talking about the food stamp program, which is currently in limbo for 42 million Americans who rely on it.

[13:10:05]

The Trump administration is actually appealing a ruling from a federal judge from yesterday that said that they need to pay those food stamp benefits in full for the month of November. We heard from Vice President J.D. Vance, who said that they shouldn't have to follow a court order on, that they should be allowed to address that issue in the way that they see fit.

Previously, the administration had said that they would only partially fund those food stamp benefits. So that's one of the pain points in this shutdown. I will note Thune also said that he does expect that to bring up a vote on a bill from Senator Ron Johnson to pay federal workers during this government shutdown.

But, right now, it's unclear even if that would pass, as these two sides really are deadlocked in this shutdown standoff.

MATTINGLY: Yes, the pain points certainly piling up for real people. Also, weekend work being threatened for senators, that is the ultimate pain point.

Arlette Saenz for us on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

Well, still to come, much more on those impacts of the government, as hundreds of flights are canceled, even more are delayed.

Plus, we're live at the White House, where President Trump is hosting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Today's meeting comes just weeks after plans to hold a second Trump-Putin summit in Hungary were scrapped.

And, later, what was in a suspicious package that's sickened multiple people at a U.S. military base?

That and so much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:46]

HILL: President Trump at this hour is hosting Viktor Orban, the strongman prime minister of Hungary. One of the items on the table, discussing a future meeting with Vladimir Putin over ending his invasion of Ukraine and the war there.

A little more than two weeks ago, of course, Trump canceled his meeting with the Russian president that was set to take place in Budapest, Hungary.

CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene is covering the developments for us so far.

So, what have we heard from these two leaders today, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, look, I think it was largely expected, Erica, that this meeting today was going to be a meeting of mutual admiration.

Both President Donald Trump and the prime minister, Viktor Orban, have a very close relationship. They refer to each other as friends. The president has been talking warmly about him ever since his first term. But a key question today has been whether or not Orban can convince, really, the president to grant Hungary an exception on recent U.S. sanctions on Russia's two largest energy companies.

I'd remind you that Hungary relies very heavily on getting its energy from Russia. And so this is really a test, people have argued, of whether Orban can use his foreign policy prowess to really get Trump on board with an exemption.

Now, the president did say that he's open to it. And this is the most we have heard from him actually expressing an openness to it. I'd remind you that last week the president was asked about a potential exception. He said, I haven't granted Hungary one.

But Trump argued, Erica, that, essentially, because Hungary is landlocked geographically, he brought up the fact that they don't have access to the sea or to ports, that it makes it different than other European countries. I'd remind you as well that Hungary is actually part of the European Union.

But he's actually used the opportunity here to argue other European countries are worse if they continue to buy Russian oil. Hungary seems different, in his eyes, because, again, they are landlocked. So we could actually see this being -- depending on how this meeting goes later at the White House, we could see Orban walking away with a huge victory if Trump does ultimately agree to that.

HILL: All right.

So, as we watch for all of that, domestic issues never far from anyone's mind, especially when you have a room full of reporters there. Some questions asked about inflation, about affordability. The president does not seem too keen to discuss those things.

TREENE: No.

And that's kind of been the posture, Erica, that he's been taking all week, or particularly when, of course, it's in reference to the elections on Tuesday night, where really Democrats walked away with major victories. Listen to what the president had to say about the question specifically about affordability, which he has argued is key to those elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Why do you think there's such a disconnect between the economy that you're describing today and the way many Americans say (OFF-MIKE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, they feel better about our country right now, other than the shutdown, obviously, which is caused by the Democrats, could be ended by the Democrats in two minutes. They feel much better. We have more jobs. We just set a record on jobs. You do know that.

We have more investment in our country than any country in history. We're over $18 trillion as of this moment, and we're going to be maybe at $20 trillion or $21 trillion by the time I finish up my first year. And there's been no country, China, no country in the world, that's done anywhere even close to that number.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: All right. So to break that down for you, Erica, to give you a little look inside the president's thinking, is that essentially what he's trying to argue is that he believes Republicans are better on the issue of affordability.

He's talked a lot about what he's been doing for the economy. He's talked a lot about inflation and arguing that actually the previous administration under the former President Joe Biden was way worse on the issue.

And so that's what he was trying to discuss. He's previously argued that Republicans need to do a better job messaging on that. But it's something that he's been struggling with, of course, because he said himself publicly this week that he believes Republicans did not do well on Tuesday night, and that also he doesn't believe they're handling the shutdown strategy perhaps in the way that they should.

HILL: All right, Alayna Treene at the White House for us this hour, thank you. So just what sickened multiple people at a U.S. military base? We are

learning more about the contents of a suspicious package delivered to Joint Base Andrews.

[13:20:02]

Plus, President Trump granting another controversial pardon. Who the recipient is, that's after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: An investigation is under way after a suspicious package sickened several people at Joint Base Andrews.

Now that's the base near Washington, D.C., the president flies in and out of. Sources telling CNN the package contains some sort of white powder, along with political propaganda.

CNN's Zach Cohen has more.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: As you said, an ongoing investigation after at least seven people reported feeling sick at Joint Base Andrews yesterday when the suspicious package was opened, and we're told an unknown white substance, white powder, was found inside.

[13:25:13]

Now, that's going to be something that we know and law enforcement and investigators are trying to confirm exactly what it is, right? And they're also looking into the origins of the package itself, who sent it, and their motivation for doing so.

Now, as of now, those are still relatively unanswered questions. We asked Joint Base Andrews about this suspicious package and what our sources described as that white powder inside.

And they acknowledged the ongoing investigation, saying -- quote -- "As a precaution, the building and connecting building where the package was sent were evacuated. Joint Base Andrews first responders were dispatched to the scene, determined there were no immediate threats and have turned the scene over to the Office of Special Investigations. An investigation is currently ongoing."

Now, an initial review of that white substance, we're told, did not find anything hazardous. Now, that's going to go through multiple additional layers of review before investigators can confirm exactly what it is. We're also told that, inside this package, there was a piece of political propaganda.

That will almost certainly factor in to the investigation as well, especially as investigators try to determine the motive of the person who ultimately sent this package. And I just want to remind folks as well that Joint Base Andrews is not just any U.S. military base. It is known as the home of Air Force One, which is, of course, the plane used by the president of the United States. And President Donald Trump was actually at the base just yesterday -- or just on Wednesday, 24 hours before this incident took place.

MATTINGLY: Zach Cohen with the latest, thanks so much.

Well, as passengers, as thousands of passengers across the U.S. face canceled and delayed flights, the transportation secretary demanding lawmakers negotiate to end the government shutdown.

We're going to talk to one next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)