Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Report: Hamas Seeks Clarity On Gaza Ceasefire Plan; UNICEF: Oxygen Masks Being Rotated Among Newborn Babies; Texas National Guard Troops Arrive At Facility Near Chicago; Trump, Carney Director Negotiators to Quickly Land Deals; Study Shows Plastics Pose Grave, Growing Danger to Humans; Typhoon Matmo Unleashes Devastating Flooding in Vietnam; Tropical Storm Jerry to Strengthen Into Hurricane. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired October 08, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:31]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, key negotiators are set to arrive in Egypt with hopes that real progress can be made in cease fire talks more than two years into the conflict.

Newborns sharing ventilators, just hoping to get a chance at life, hour by hour. We will talk to a doctor volunteering in Gaza.

National Guard troops arrive in Illinois, despite objections from the state's leaders. Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Who knows what kind of fume exposure I'm get on a daily basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Bill Weir, along with reporters across three continents with an eye-opening report on the toxic chemicals we're exposed to every single day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM WITH ROSEMARY CHURCH.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us.

And we begin in Egypt, where key negotiators from the U.S., Israel, and Qatar, are expected to arrive in the coming hours to join the Gaza cease fire talks. Among them, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner. Ron Dermer, a key ally of the Israeli prime minister is also expected to join.

But Israel's bombardment of Gaza continues as a source tells CNN, Israel and Hamas delegations have made progress in the discussions.

And on the second anniversary of the attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to secure the eternity of Israel, calling it a "war for our very existence and our future."

Well, meanwhile, state affiliated Egyptian media is reporting that Hamas is seeking clarity on how the 20-point Gaza plan will be implemented.

CNN's Nic Robertson has details from Cairo.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: What is, what appears to be happening is, according to a source with knowledge of the situation and knowledge of the talks, that there is progress being made in the talks between Hamas and Israel, the proximity talks.

We understand from Egyptian state media that the Hamas are looking for guarantees from President Trump. Guarantees that Israel won't return to war if they give up all the hostages and meet with the conditions that are expected of them. That's what they are looking for.

They are also talking, according to Egyptian state media, Hamas also wants to note more details about the implementation of this agreement. Egyptian state media also saying that the conversations within the talks have been getting into the detail of the lists of Palestinian prisoners who would be released in exchange for the hostages.

So, that also sort of sets the scene for a narrative of potential progress. And, as you say, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, coming into the talks here.

Ron Dermer, the chief negotiator, lead negotiator from Israel, is also expected to be at the talks, as well as the Qatari prime minister going into -- going into the talks on Wednesday.

So, the scene does seem to be set for the potential for more progress. Although, what we heard from the Qatari -- Qataris earlier in the day was, you know, they can't say for sure what the outcome is going to be. But the fact you have senior players coming in now is indicative of potentially being in the end stretch here, and perhaps, a reflection of what President Trump has been saying, that there is a positivity about all of this.

CHURCH: A closer look now at the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza. Two years into the war, more than 66,000 people have been killed, according to the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency. More than 150 children are included in the nearly 500 deaths related to malnutrition, a sign the youngest often suffer the most.

UNICEF says the newborns lucky enough to receive care still have to share oxygen masks

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES ELDER, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: In one of the pediatric rooms, there were three babies, three babies and three moms on a single bed. One source of oxygen, and they -- the mothers would rotate the oxygen 20 minutes to each child.

[02:05:05]

This is the level of desperation moms have now got.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, places of healing are often being targeted. According to the U.N., nearly 800 attacks have been recorded against health care workers, patients, hospitals, and other medical facilities.

Dr. Michael Lintner-Rivera is a pediatric critical care doctor volunteering in Gaza. He is with the Palestinian American Medical Association. Thank you, doctor, for talking with us.

DR. MICHAEL LINTNER-RIVERA, PEDIATRIC CRITICAL CARE DOCTOR VOLUNTEERING IN GAZA: Thank you. It's a pleasure.

CHURCH: So, as we wait to see if these high stakes talks in Egypt can deliver a cease fire and end this two-year war, tens of thousands of people, of course, have died, and those deaths continue. How would you describe the situation in Gaza right now when it comes to the humanitarian crisis?

LINTNER-RIVERA: Catastrophic. I guess, it's pretty gruesome. The, you know, we are seeing mass casualties come in, still. Coming in with blast injuries, shrapnel injuries, and there is this also very, very limited resources right --

CHURCH: Wait. Your audio is breaking up a little bit. But we'll continue, and hopefully that will stabilize.

But what are the conditions that you and your staff work under every single day as you try to care for many children suffering from malnutrition, of course, the devastation of war.

LINTNER-RIVERA: Yes. So, sorry, my audio is cutting out. What I was saying is that there is mass casualties coming in with severe injuries. Also, there is very, very limited supplies, and those limitations also cause, you know, patients from -- to die from just conditions such as sepsis, just because we are unable to treat things.

CHURCH: And what are the major challenges that your hospital faces, and what do the children that you care for need the most right now?

LINTNER-RIVERA: So, I think healthcare workers here in Palestine are just facing severe shortages. There is extreme overcrowding of hospitals. I'm at Al-Aqsa Hospital, and it was designed for 200 patients. There are well over 700 patients right now in the hospital. So, you can imagine it's leading to severe overcrowding.

Healthcare workers here in Palestine are exhausted. It's been two years of just non-stop war, violence, and think they are just wanting peace. Main thing, they just want everything that --

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: And, of course, you know, we mentioned that these high stakes talks are underway in Egypt with this hope of delivering an end to the war. How likely is it, do you think? What's your sense there on the ground?

LINTNER-RIVERA: That's above my pay grade. I don't know. I think people here want to be optimistic. I think, history may not be on, you know, the Palestinian side right now, but they are hopeful. They are very, very, very hopeful. Everybody is praying for peace.

CHURCH: Yes. And, you know, the main -- the main thing here, of course, is because you work so directly with children. I mean, that is the heartbreaking part of this story, isn't it? What these children are enduring? Because, as we've mentioned, it's the children. It's the young -- the young people who are really suffering the most here, because they are caught in the crossfire. What is your message to the world here, as you try to look after these young children?

LINTNER-RIVERA: You know, we have been all surprised, I think, as outsiders coming in, to see the amount of children that are injured, to see the really severe injuries that these children are suffering from when they get, you know, the very unfortunate consequences of the attacks. And I think the message to the world is to continue to advocate, to continue to push for peace.

When I talk to the Palestinian healthcare workers here, they just want the outside world to know what is happening that is a humanitarian crisis.

[02:10:00]

There are children who are being -- who are dying from these injuries, suffering because of this war. Not to mention the families --

There are just needs to be -- everybody in the world that needs to advocate for peace.

CHURCH: Let's hope that end to the war comes very soon. Dr. Michael Lintner-Rivera, thank you so much for joining us and for the incredible work you are doing there. Appreciate it.

Texas National Guard troops have arrived in Illinois. What we know about their potential role in helping to keep protesters in check? We'll take a closer look at that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:15:13]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

Well, the effects of the U.S. government shutdown are starting to show with Republican and Democratic lawmakers still no closer to a deal, now, a week into their standoff. Major airports across the country are experiencing delays due to staffing issues and shortages of air traffic controllers. Officials say they are seeing more sick outs and have had to close some control towers due to the shortages.

Another hot button issue is whether furloughed federal employees will be paid for time they did not work during the shutdown.

Axios reports a White House draft memo suggests there have been conversations about employees not receiving back pay.

CNN has not reviewed that memo, and it's not clear how seriously the idea was being considered. President Trump says most of those employees will be taken care of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For the most part, we are going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don't deserve to be taken care of, and we'll take care of them in a different way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Chicago's mayor is lashing out at the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Illinois. Brandon Johnson says Governor Greg Abbott should focus on Texas and stay out of Illinois' business.

The troops are part of the Trump administration's effort to protect federal immigration agents amid growing protests. Mayor Johnson says the deployment is illegal and dangerous, and he's suing to stop it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON JOHNSON, MAYOR OF CHICAGO: The National Guard, they have no policing authority or any policing powers. It's not what they are trained to do.

And so, you know, the Intel that we have received, obviously, is that this president is determined to federalize the National Guard and to occupy our cities with the military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: President Trump is once again suggesting he may invoke the Insurrection Act to bypass the courts and move forward with National Guard deployments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's been invoked before, as you know.

If you look at Chicago, Chicago is a great city where there is a lot of crime. And if the governor can't do the job, we'll do the job. It's all very simple.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Border Patrol official in charge of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement crackdown in Chicago says National Guard troops will focus on protecting federal facilities and agents. And he denies that racial profiling factors into arrests made by federal officers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY BOVINO, COMMANDER, BORDER PATROL: Perhaps you look panicked when you see a Border Patrol agent. Perhaps, you look scared. Perhaps, your demeanor changes. Perhaps, you're gripping the steering wheel so tightly that I can see the whites of your knuckles. There is a myriad of factors that we will -- that we would look at to develop articulable facts for reasonable suspicion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: I want to bring in CNN senior political analyst and Bloomberg opinion columnist Ron Brownstein. Appreciate you joining us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, President Trump seems determined to send in the National Guard to blue states and cities, previously ordering troops to Los Angeles, now to Chicago, and trying to send them to Portland too, as the president prepares the military to fight what he calls the enemy within.

Critics suggest Trump is at war with his own people. Is that what we are seeing?

BROWNSTEIN: We are seeing an unprecedented effort to use and deploy the military domestically, specifically, in places that he views as kind of hotbeds of opposition to his administration.

What's happening in Chicago is an ominous escalation of what is already an ominous and explosive situation, because you have the governor of Texas, voluntarily providing the national -- providing additional National Guard troops.

I mean, this has to be the first time in modern memory that the National Guard of one state has moved into another unwelcome, you know.

We have seen it when governors have welcomed it for a disaster aid or even in some cases at the border. But this is, in effect, an invasion of one state by and another on behalf of the administration. And what is really striking is that the president, yesterday, in a gaggle with reporters, said that every Republican governor has offered him their National Guard to use as he wishes.

In effect, you know, what we're seeing is Trump's -- the pressure of this Trump administration, hardening the divide between the states in a way that we really have not seen, arguably, since our own civil war in the '18 -- in 1861.

CHURCH: So, with that in mind, Ron, what do you think the motivation is behind sending National Guard troops to blue states and cities, specifically, some of which have lower crime rates than red states and cities.

(CROSSTALK)

[02:20:07]

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

CHURCH: With President Trump, again, suggesting that he may invoke the Insurrection Act to bypass the courts to continue to do that.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, I think it's important for viewers to understand that even before he gets to the Insurrection Act, the legal argument they are making in court, including in the Oregon proceedings that are underway now, is that the federal courts cannot review his decisions on whether to federalize the National Guard of a state.

President can federalize the National Guard of a state only if specific conditions are met, such as insurrection, rebellion, invasion, inability to execute federal laws.

He is arguing, as Stephen Miller did yesterday on CNN, in effect that his decisions are plenary in those -- in those instances, and courts cannot review them. So, even before he gets to the Insurrection Act itself, he is arguing that courts cannot stop this.

I think the motivation here has been clear from the beginning. The motivation is to numb Americans to the sites of the military on the streets, of cities, particularly cities that they -- you know, as I said, that they view as hotbeds of opposition. I mean, this is a site that is obviously far more common in authoritarian countries than in democracies, but it is one that Trump appears determined to proliferate.

And as the governor Pritzker and Governor Newsom and others who have been most critical of this, argue, he clearly seems to also be setting the predicate for deploying the guard around the 2026 election on the grounds on the argument of protecting this, you know, avoiding voter fraud and protecting the vote, and perhaps, using them to intimidate voters in democratic leading areas.

CHURCH: That, in fact, was my next question, because this is the thing. If people do get used to these prolonged military presence of the National Guard in these blue states, specifically, what impact do you think that might have on the midterm voting? In the sense of some people, perhaps, being fearful of coming out to vote? Is that behind some of this?

BROWNSTEIN: We don't know, but it is a genuine risk, right? I mean, and you know, this is -- this is dangerous and distinctive enough on its own terms, without even getting to that. I mean, you are seeing, in effect, kind of a two-step procession here, where the administration is targeting democratic-run cities with aggressive ICE enforcement that is extremely provocative, inevitably draws protests from the local population, which the administration then cites as the pretext or justification for escalating by sending in the National Guard, or even the active duty military, the Marines, as they did in Los Angeles.

And look, this is a template, clearly, they want to apply elsewhere. I mean, they have implied that they are going to New York at some point. And, you know, it seems only a matter of time until there is something even more tragic than what we have seen so far, a moment like we had in the U.S. at Kent State in 1970, when the National Guard killed student demonstrators.

I mean, you are putting heavily armed military forces on the streets of cities to deal with situations for which they have not been trained. And, you know, that is just playing with fire. We don't know what will happen, but it's hard to imagine that if you keep holding the lid down, you know, and increasing the pressure in this way, that we are not going to see something truly tragic and where that leads, no one can say.

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, appreciate you joining us and sharing your political analysis. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Well, still to come, plastics and their effect on our health. CNN reporters spent five days tracking their exposure to chemicals from plastics, and were surprised at the results.

[02:24:04]

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: After months of back and forth, the U.S. and Canada appear to be making progress toward a trade deal. President Trump hosted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House on Tuesday. One Canadian minister said the meeting was positive, substantive, and more detailed than previous talks, and added that both leaders had directed their negotiators to quickly land deals, particularly, regarding steel, aluminum, and energy.

President Trump suggested next year's review of the trade deal between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, might resolve in separate bilateral deals with each country, rather than the multi country arrangement now in place.

While the Canadian prime minister did not comment on that, he did sound optimistic about finding common ground.

[02:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: There are areas where we compete, and it is in those areas where we have to come to an agreement that works. But there are more areas where we are stronger together and that is what we're focused on and we're going to get the right deal. Right deal for America. Right deal, obviously from my perspective, for Canada.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Canada is the only G7 country that has yet to secure a trade deal with the U.S. to avoid steep tariffs under President Trump.

Scientists are warning about the harm that plastics and chemicals cause to the climate and to our bodies. A recent report by the medical journal, "The Lancet" says plastics pose a grave growing danger, causing disease and death at every stage of life from infancy to old age. And it's harder than ever to get away from them. CNN's Bill Weir shows us what kind of exposure we face every day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA PADDISON, CNN SENIOR CLIMATE REPORTER: Just cycling to the local grocery store.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is our colleague Laura in London.

PADDISON: It's a cold Wednesday morning.

JESSIE YEUNG, CNN SENIOR NEWS DESK REPORTER: It is hot, it's humid.

WEIR (voice-over): This is Jessie in Hong Kong.

YEUNG: It is a very busy Monday morning here in Hong Kong.

WEIR (voice-over): And that's me, Bill, on my New York City commute.

WEIR: Who knows what kind of fume exposure I'm getting on a daily basis.

WEIR (voice-over): Together --

PADDISON: The wristbands finally arrived.

WEIR (voice-over): -- we are guinea pigs on three continents.

YEUNG: Here's the wristband.

WEIR (voice-over): And with the help of these special wristbands and an international team of pollution experts.

YEUNG: I'm just heating up some food. I have a gas stove at home, which is quite common in Hong Kong.

WEIR (voice-over): We'll spend five days measuring our exposure to the dozens of different chemicals. PADDISON: I'm just going to put a little bit of makeup on before work.

WEIR (voice-over): -- that come from living on a planet made of plastic.

BJORN BEELER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL POLLUTANTS ELIMINATION NETWORK: Studies have shown there is over 16,000 chemicals in plastics. Of that, about 25 percent are known to be hazardous chemicals. And the vast majority of other chemicals, there's been not enough scientific data to show if it's safe or not.

Weir: Thanks to my better half, Kelly, we really try to avoid chemicals. All natural cleaning products if we can. We filter our water, drink out a glass. We have an air quality monitor here as well. And for the better part of the last five days, I've either been at home or at the office. I haven't had to get on an airplane, that's rare. So this is somewhat of a controlled environment to just see how clean my immediate surroundings are.

PADDISON: Every time I walked into a cafe or a restaurant or down a really busy road, a grocery store, got on the train to go to work. But perhaps the place that I've most thought about it is when it comes to what I'm actually putting on my body, so perfume or lotions, also cleaning products, what I'm using to clean the house.

YEUNG: I became quite aware when I was going through my daily life and at dinners or just walking around on the street, I'd wonder like, oh, I wonder what around me is potentially putting chemical pollutants in the air, whether that's my gas stove or things from a construction site. It made me realize how many construction sites I pass through on a daily basis.

WEIR: What do we pick up?

BEELER: Yeah, you got a lot of chemical exposure, unfortunately.

WEIR: Really?

BEELER: Everything that we looked for, we found.

WEIR (voice-over): All of our samples included flame retardants and UV stabilizers, and alphabet soup of BPA, BPF, BPS and around two dozen chemicals on each of our bands.

BEELER: And then the most important one I would say that everyone should know is called phthalates.

WEIR: Phthalates?

BEELER: Phthalates.

WEIR: It's spelled with a P-H.

BEELER: It is the worst way to spell it. It's just an alphabetical mess. (LAUGH)

BEELER: But phthalates are super important because when we first looked at them, they're everywhere.

WEIR (voice-over): Phthalates are what makes plastic moldable and flexible. They're more regulated in Europe than Asia, and Jessie's levels are a bit higher than Laura's. But it is so common globally, it's long been known as the 'Everywhere chemical.'

They're also endocrine disruptors, which hack human hormones and cause problems from cradle to grave, from fertility and child behavior to depression, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

BEELER: The studies have shown about a hundred percent of Americans have phthalates in their body and it's so ubiquitous. It's everywhere. If you look around your room and your house, your clothes are made of plastics. Your furniture is made of plastics, everything's getting turned into plastics. But by 2060, like about 35 years from now, we're going to have four times more plastic on the planet than we have today.

WEIR: Wow.

WEIR (voice-over): Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Very unsettling there. All right, so Vietnam is facing its second major flood disaster in less than a week. We will look at the damage done by Typhoon Matmo just ahead. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:39:17]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Typhoon Matmo has drenched Vietnam with heavy rainfall, causing this dam to burst in a northeastern province. Widespread flooding has been reported in several of the country's northern regions. In the capital Hanoi, inner city districts saw roadways completely submerged, forcing people to wade through the water. This is the second major flood disaster to hit Vietnam in less than a week. And meteorologists expect up to three more storm systems to hit the country before the end of the year.

Tropical Storm Jerry has formed in the Central Atlantic and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane in the coming hours.

[02:40:00]

It is the 10th named storm of a late-blooming season that has developed three hurricanes in just over two weeks. It is forecast to skirt the Northern Leeward Islands in the coming days as a Category 1 hurricane, and could grow into a Category 2 by Saturday as it passes near Bermuda. Jerry is not expected to threaten the mainland U.S. I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then, I'll be back at the top of the hour with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:34]

(WORLD SPORT)