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Strikes On Gaza Hospital Kill 20, Including Five Journalists; South Korean President Visits White House; Illinois Leaders Condemn Possible National Guard Deployment; Russian President Prepares For Trip To China; U.S. Naval Fleet Heads For Venezuela Amid Rising Tensions; Musk's X-AI Sues Apple, OpenAI For Blocking Competition. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired August 26, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: There sure are a lot of dead reporters in Gaza despite Israeli claims they're not being targeted. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the deadliest conflict for journalists that CPJ has ever documented.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Israel accused of a systemic campaign to silence the truth with five journalists among 22 people killed in a double strike on a hospital in southern Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE JAE-MYUNG, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): You can go play golf there. You could play the role of the peacemaker of the century that the world already recognizes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Charm offensive. South Korea's president lays it on thick while meeting with President Trump. But what did he get in return?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The next should be Chicago, because, as you all know, Chicago is a killing field right now.

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VAUSE: Well, the murder there is down by a third, but, you know. Could Chicago be the next major city with National Guard troops on patrol?

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause. VAUSE: Israel is once again at the center of outrage after killing

five more journalists in Gaza. They're among more than 20 people who died in a back-to-back Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital, what was, until Monday, the last major functioning hospital in the Palestinian territory. And in a rare public admission, the Israeli military has confirmed it carried out the attack. Sources tell CNN the first strike came from an Israeli tank hitting the hospital's fourth floor. As volunteers and first responders raced to the scene another tank round was fired.

The target appears to be located near a balcony used by photojournalists for an elevated view of the city of Khan Younis, which, according to the U.N., is currently within an Israeli military zone under evacuation orders. The spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces says an investigation is now underway, while insisting Israel does not target reporters or civilians.

Well, the Israeli prime minister has expressed deep regret for what he described as a tragic mistake -- mishap, rather.

CNN's Oren Liebermann has more now reporting in from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: The first strike on the Nasser Hospital complex on Monday morning hit the fourth floor of the building according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It was at that point that journalists, emergency workers, and hospital staff responded to that initial strike. And minutes later, a second Israeli strike hit the hospital.

At least 20 people were killed, according to the hospital and the Ministry of Health, including five journalists working for international outlets. That list includes Mohammad Salama, a cameraman for Al Jazeera, as well as Hussam Al-Masri who had worked with Reuters, Mariam Abu Dagga who CNN had profiled and who worked with the Associated Press and others, as well as freelance journalist Moath Abu Taha and Ahmed Abu Aziz.

Other journalists were injured. Gaza's civil defense emergency responders say one of their crew members was killed in the strike, and many others wounded as well. The scenes from the hospital itself on these pair of strikes absolutely horrific as the morning unfolded.

The Israeli military issued a pair of statements throughout the day on Monday. They said, "IDF troops carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. We are aware of reports that harm was caused to civilians, including journalists." They say they will thoroughly investigate these strikes and be as transparent as they can about the investigation.

But note the wording here. They only acknowledge one strike and they acknowledge striking near the hospital. Not the direct hits we saw on the hospital itself separated by only a couple of minutes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on Monday evening where he acknowledged the deaths of journalists and emergency responders. He said, "Israel deeply regrets the tragic mishap that occurred today at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza. Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff and all civilians. The military authorities are conducting a thorough investigation."

An Israeli security official familiar with the details of the initial investigation said Israeli troops saw a camera on the hospital and believed it belonged to Hamas. They got authorization for a drone strike but it was then two tank shells that hit the hospital. One targeting the camera. Another targeting first responders who had gone to the scene after the first shell hit the hospital. And in what's called a double tap attack, an attack that appears intentionally targeting the first responders and emergency workers who go to the site of an attack.

And that is why we're seeing international outrage about these.

[00:05:01]

The Committee to Protect Journalists says a total of 192 journalists before Monday's attack had been killed by Israel in Gaza. The head of the CPJ says that both of these attacks, both the first strike and the second, looked like Israel has committed unlawful killings, war crimes, both in the deliberate killing of the Reuters cameraman and in the so-called double tap attack.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said Israel had carried out a, quote, "heinous massacre perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces," and the Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Palestinian territories said it was, quote, "among the deadliest Israeli attacks on journalists working for international media since the Gaza war began."

Israel has not allowed journalists to report independently in Gaza since the start of the war. At this point, Israel says the military is thoroughly and deeply investigating what happened here. Now it's a function of waiting to see where this investigation unfolds and what it uncovers about accountability and whether there is anyone who is held responsible for the authorization for that strike on the hospital itself, or for the double tap attack that killed journalists, emergency workers and hospital staff.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining me now is CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel, it's good to see you. Thanks for being with us.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You bet. John, good to be with you.

VAUSE: OK, so CNN's reporting on what went wrong during that Israeli strike on the hospital in Khan Younis according to an Israeli security official. "IDF forces identified a camera on the roof of the hospital that they claimed was being used by Hamas to monitor the Israeli military. The forces received authorization to strike the camera with a drone," the source said. "But instead, Israeli forces fired two tank shells, the first at the camera and the second at rescue forces."

So that's the what of what went wrong. It doesn't explain the how. How does a drone strike become two tank rounds with first responders as the target?

LEIGHTON: Yes. That's actually a really good question, John, because when you decide on a particular target set, you have to look at exactly what kinds of weapons you're going to be using, what kind of munitions. All of those things factor into deciding how you're going to, in essence, prosecute the target and eliminate it. So in this particular case, what you have is a different weapon being used from the one that was raised through the chain of command.

And that very fact created a real problem for the Israelis because they're using a munition that was not authorized by the higher echelon, according to these reports. And as a result of that, that may have caused disproportionate damage and it's certainly hit, in essence, the wrong target. To kill all those journalists, that was clearly not the intent of the -- of the first request. And that, of course, creates some major, major issues there.

VAUSE: It's probably a coincidence, but in the past, targeting first responders has been a tactic of terror groups with double suicide bombings. And at the end of 2023, just as part of this, the Israelis stopped using the knock on the roof warning ahead of military strikes. But they still, you know, they order evacuations from a target area and they will advise people what's coming by dropping leaflets. So I guess in so many ways, this is why this strike seems so unusual.

LEIGHTON: Yes, it's certainly unusual. And its reminiscent of the tactics that the Russians used, the double tap tactics that they use against Ukrainians. So this is something that is not usual for the IDF. And it should never be used. It does violate the laws of armed conflict because you never go after the first responders. And you certainly never go after journalists.

So in two phases of this you have some problems with the laws of armed conflict, and really with the way in which the Israeli targeting process is supposed to work. It's very much -- on paper very similar to what the U.S. process is like but in practice, it diverges significantly.

VAUSE: In a video statement, the spokesperson for the IDF first blamed Hamas for using, you know, creating this complicated situation, then also went on to say journalists are at a risky area and they shouldn't be there, and then added this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. EFFIE DEFRIN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: As a professional military committed to international law, we are obligated to investigate our operations thoroughly and professionally. The chief of the general staff has instructed that an inquiry be conducted immediately to understand the circumstances of what happened and how it happened. As always, we will present our findings as transparently as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Over the past 688 days of war, the Israelis have publicly committed to investigating dozens of incidents like this one. I've lost count. Have you seen any final outcome of any of those investigations, let alone any investigation which came back and said, yes, we did it, how bad?

LEIGHTON: No, I have not. And that's significant. One of the key elements here is if you're going to have transparency, there also has to be a degree of punishment if there is a -- someone who's culpable or someone in the chain of command who made a mistake.

[00:10:09]

So that kind of public admonishment of members of the chain of command who authorize something like this is something that we've not seen in these 688 days, and that is a significant shortcoming. They say that they're going to conduct a transparent investigation, but we have never seen the results of such investigations or have anybody that we know of at least punished or court martialed or have anything of that type happen to them.

VAUSE: Cedric Leighton, thank you very much for being with us. We appreciate it, sir. Thank you.

LEIGHTON: You bet. John. Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: Pleasure.

Well, the Iranian ambassador in Canberra is being expelled after he found that Iran was behind at least two antisemitic attacks. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard was behind an arson attack on a Sydney restaurant and a synagogue in Melbourne. He called it, quote, "extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression."

The Iranian ambassador and other diplomatic staff now have seven days to leave the country. The first time Australia has expelled a foreign ambassador since World War Two.

South Korea's new president was at the White House Monday for his first meeting with Donald Trump. For a leader with little international experience, what many considered his first major foreign policy test since taking office. Sitting bolt upright, President Lee Jae-myung told Trump he was the first U.S. president interested in world peace. He urged him to play the role of world peacemaker, maybe even bring peace between North and South Korea.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has details reporting in from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump met with South Korean Lee president in the Oval Office on Monday. The latest world leader to come pay their respects and meet the American president. But it was clear for at least Mr. Trump's part, he had North Korea on his mind.

TRUMP: I like to have a meeting. I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un in the appropriate future.

ZELENY: Now, during an hour long session in the Oval Office, President Trump repeatedly heaped praise on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who, of course, Trump had a meeting with in 2018 and met with him twice in 2019, trying to forge a partnership, a relationship that did not end up going anywhere. Of course, the president, as he said, North Korea had a major potential, did not once mention the nuclear weapons program that's at the center of, of course, the challenges and controversy that North Korea has and certainly the conflict that they have with their neighbors to the south.

But President Trump, even as he repeatedly praised North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he did also have a warm relationship, he said, with South Korea. He said he wanted to have a good relationship. There were some concerns about whether it be a tense meeting because President Lee is a new leader, of course. He won the presidency in June. Conservatives in South Korea are not thrilled by him by any stretch. And President Trump gave some indication going into the meeting that he was also not seeing President Lee with very warm feelings.

But that all dissipated. So there was some discussions about shipbuilding, some discussions about economic growth. But one thing that hangs over the relationship, of course, between the U.S. and longtime ally South Korea is China. And that was something that was clearly not resolved in the open session at least. But there was a lunch and a closed door session where that was discussed even more.

And President Trump was asked about the decision if he would leave the number of U.S. troops in South Korea. And he did not answer that question. He said it's not appropriate to do so. But clearly the meeting went well on Monday in the Oval Office, even as President Trump seemed to focus slightly more on North Korea than South.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: More threats from President Trump that Russia will face very serious consequences if it does not reach a peace deal with Ukraine in the next two weeks.

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. envoy General Keith Kellogg to discuss a future security architecture for Kyiv. And U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Ukrainian and European foreign ministers, saying the U.S. would be involved in security guarantees but Europe must take the lead.

Still to come here on CNN, from Illinois to the White House, do not come to Chicago. More on the threats from President Trump to deploy the National Guard to restore law and order in that city, a long time bastion of the Democrat Party.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We want to go from here to other places. I made the statement that next should be Chicago because, as you all know, Chicago is a killing field right now. And they don't acknowledge it. This is one of the safest cities right now in the world as crazy as that sounds. And it took seven days. It took really three days. But we're now in our 11th day.

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VAUSE: Kind of sounds like Chicago may be the next city with National Guard troops on patrol. President Trump signed an executive order Monday calling for the creation of specialized National Guard units to be deployed around the country. But the Democrat governor of Illinois has a blunt message for President Trump. Don't come to Chicago. We don't want you or need you.

CNN's Whitney Wild has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. JB PRITZKER (D), ILLINOIS: It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Illinois top leaders firing back at President Donald Trump's plan to send the National Guard to Chicago. Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson.

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON, CHICAGO: We are being targeted because of what and who we represent.

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WILD: Are people scared?

ANDRE VASQUEZ, CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL: They're concerned, right? I don't know, traumatized is probably the best way I can describe it.

WILD (voice-over): Andre Vasquez serves on Chicago City Council and heads the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights. He calls the president's plan pure bluster.

Is the National Guard coming to Chicago a realistic crime reduction measure?

VASQUEZ: I don't even think they believe that. I think that they just want to make it look as if they're doing something.

WILD: How do you think the city is going to react if they see National Guard troops rolling down Michigan Avenue?

VASQUEZ: Well, I think there's different reactions, right? I think folks are prepared because there have been neighbor-led rapid response teams if ICE is showing up.

WILD (voice-over): Vasquez points out there are residents who may welcome the National Guard. City data shows double digit drops in several major crime categories, including carjackings and robberies. But the city still struggles with violence. So far this year, 262 people have been murdered and more than 1200 have been shot.

Ameenah Haqque, a lifelong Chicagoan, told us she supports the president's strategy because too often here, she says, crime is normalized.

AMEENAH HAQQUE, CHICAGO RESIDENT: The residents deserve more. They deserve to feel safe. The crime should not take over the city. The crime should not make residents feel like they can't live everyday life.

WILD: Illinois leaders have stressed over and over that they have heard nothing about this deployment from the federal government, and they say that means that this is not a sincere effort to reduce crime. I asked Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, as if anyone from his staff has reached out to the White House, and he said they have not reached out to the White House. He believes they have no reason to do so, that there's no emergency that would warrant the National Guard. And they simply have no need for the White House's help.

What was abundantly clear today is that there is no communication between Illinois leaders and the White House. Meanwhile, the Illinois attorney general stressed that they plan to fight this in court as soon as they're able.

Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: With U.S. destroyers patrolling international waters off Venezuela's coast, President Nicolas Maduro ramping up his call for volunteers to protect the nation. The latest just ahead.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

Israel says an investigation has been ordered following deadly strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza. At least 20 people were killed, including five journalists and four health workers in back-to-back strikes on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The president of the Committee to Protect Journalists accuses Israel of deliberately targeting a Reuter's camera position. President Trump has announced he's firing Federal Reserve governor

Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations. It's the first termination of its kind in the Fed's 111 year history, marks a significant escalation between the president and the central bank. Cook has not been charged with any crime.

A federal judge has issued an order to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia in the United States. The Trump administration wanted to deport him to Uganda. He is in ICE custody after turning himself in to face human smuggling charges.

This week, more than 20 world leaders, including Russia's Vladimir Putin, are expected to gather in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for the annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. For Putin, this will be his first trip to China since his summit in Alaska with U.S. President Donald Trump. It will also be a chance for him to meet one-on-one with China's President Xi Jinping.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has details reporting in from Moscow.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to travel to Beijing in China at the end of this week, not just for talks with his counterpart, Xi Jinping, but also to take part in a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which of course, also brings other heads of government and heads of state to the Chinese capital.

Now, the Russians understand that their bilateral relations with the Chinese are among the most important in the world. Certainly the personal relations between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have only grown over the past couple of years. And the Russians have acknowledged that. And they've dispatched the speaker of Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, to Beijing already for talks with senior Chinese officials.

Now, one of the missions that Volodin has acknowledged that he has there is to speak about circumventing what the Russians call illegal sanctions against the economies not just of Russia, but, of course, of China as well. Of course, speaking about sanctions levied by the United States and also by those secondary tariffs that have been threatened by the Trump administration against countries that purchase oil from Russia as long as the conflict in Ukraine continues.

That, of course, is a big threat to the Chinese economy. And the Chinese have said that they're happy about the fact that diplomacy is now back on between the U.S. and Russia. Certainly, the Trump administration saying that they believe that a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine could be reached.

Now, the Russians, for their part, also say that that could be the case. And the Russians have said that Russian President Vladimir Putin certainly is willing to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But the Russians are also saying that so far the conditions for that are not set yet. One of the things, for instance, that they've said is Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, has said that the Russians want a say in possible security guarantees for Ukraine ahead of any deal.

So certainly there are still a lot of roadblocks that appear to be in the way while the Russians say that the diplomacy continues.

[00:30:07]

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A former leader of Mexico's infamous Sinaloa cartel, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, entered a guilty plea to U.S. drug trafficking charges on Monday.

His admission includes one count of racketeering conspiracy, one count of running a continuing criminal enterprise.

Prosecutors say Zambada, alongside Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, helped grow the cartel into the largest drug-trafficking organization in the world, with Zambada authorizing and overseeing an array of violent operations.

The 77-year-old is expected to face life in prison. Sentencing is set for January 13th.

Amid growing tensions with the United States, thousands of Venezuelans have answered a call from President Maduro to volunteer for military service.

This all comes after the U.S. sent a flotilla of warships to patrol international waters just off Venezuela's coast, part of a drug -- drug crackdown.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a small armada of U.S. Navy ships heads towards Venezuela, the most significant escalation of tensions between the two countries in years, embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro says he's preparing for an invasion.

Maduro is activating his national militia and imploring regular citizens to enlist to fight off a potential U.S. attack.

And Maduro is not letting a crisis go to waste, whipping up support in a country exhausted by years of economic decline and political strife.

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am enlisting because I love my homeland. Join with your family. Join with your community. Enlist and join the ranks. Long live Venezuela!

OPPMANN (voice-over): Thousands signed up over the weekend, vowing to keep Maduro in power.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We defend our people and we, one way or another, are going to defend ourselves.

OPPMANN (voice-over): But even as he claims to have more than 4 million soldiers, police and militia members ready to do battle, Maduro may be outgunned.

The Trump administration has sent at least three U.S. Navy destroyers, a submarine attack aircraft, and 4,000 Marines to stem the flow of drugs to the U.S., which they say Maduro is responsible for.

PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The DOJ has seized over $700 million of Maduro-linked assets, including two private jets, nine vehicles and more. Yet Maduro's reign of terror continues. He is one of the largest narcotraffickers in the world and a threat to our national security.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Maduro denies any role in drug trafficking, but he is under federal indictment in New York for allegedly running a shadowy cartel of army officers turned drug lords.

This month, the Trump administration doubled the price of Maduro's head to $50 million. But collecting that reward likely would require U.S. boots on the ground.

Venezuela is roughly one and a half times the size of Texas, with dense jungles and sprawling slums controlled by heavily armed gangs. Occupying the country would be a massive undertaking, and even more complicated if Maduro makes good on his promise to arm citizen militias.

Armed conflict may still be far from certain, but a showdown is brewing off the coast of Venezuela, with neither side appearing to back down.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, it's Elon versus ChatGPT and Apple. In a moment, details of the looming court battle over artificial intelligence.

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VAUSE: Elon Musk is taking Apple and OpenAI, makers of ChatGPT, to court, accusing the two tech giants of collusion and to block competition from his A.I. startup, Grok.

Both are also accused of conspiring to keep X, formerly known as Twitter, and Grok from reaching the top rankings in Apple's app store.

CNN's Clare Duffy has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Musk here following through on a threat he made several weeks ago, accusing Apple and OpenAI of anticompetitive behavior.

DUFFY (voice-over): He's going after a partnership that Apple formed with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT onto iPhones and other Apple products. And Musk is essentially accusing the company of prioritizing ChatGPT over other A.I. platforms, including his X and Grok, part of his company, X-AI.

And in particular, he's going after Apple for what he alleges is not putting X and Grok at the top of the top free apps list on Apple's app store.

Of course, I don't think that this takes into account the fact that other rivals to ChatGPT like Deep Seek and Perplexity have indeed risen the ranks on Apple's top free apps list.

And this is also just the latest in Musk's ongoing legal tussle with OpenAI. He previously sued OpenAI to try to stop its conversion into a for-profit company. OpenAI fired back with its own countersuit, accusing Musk of harassment.

And after Musk made this threat against Apple and OpenAI, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman fired back on X, essentially accusing Musk of being a hypocrite.

He said, "This is a remarkable claim, given what I've heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like."

So, we're --

DUFFY: -- really seeing the A.I. arms race moving into the courtroom.

Clare Duffy, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, from streaming hit to box office sensation, Netflix's "K- Pop Demon Hunters" is winning big.

This animated musical packed theaters for its weekend sing-along release, grossing about $18 million in just two days. And this is Netflix's first box office No. 1, which is a surprise success for a film that's already been streaming online for over a month.

The film's music is topping the charts, as well. One song, "Golden," soaring into the Billboard top ten.

And I have never seen it.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, back with more news at the top of the hour. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT starts, after a short break.

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