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President Putin Dismisses U.S. Sanctions on Russian Oil; Trade Negotiations with Canada Cancelled; President Trump Set to Meet with President Xi and New Japan Prime Minister; No Declaration of War Needed to Pursue Drug Cartels; Secretary Rubio in Israel to Ensure Ceasefire Agreement; Tropical Storm Melissa Threatens the Caribbean; Trump's Ballroom Project Has Raised $350M, East Wing Destroyed; NBA Star, Coach Arrested In Mafia-Linked Gambling Schemes; King Charles and Pope Leo Worship Together. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired October 24, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST: Welcome to all of you watching us around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom." The Russian president tries to downplay new sanctions from the United States as the U.S. tries again to get Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.

An abrupt end. In a social media post, President Trump calls off trade negotiations with Canada to look at what led to the decision.

And scandal rocks the world of professional basketball, implicating players, current and former.

Vladimir Putin is brushing off new U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies. White House announced the sanctions on Wednesday urging Moscow to accept an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, but President Putin says the sanctions won't hurt Russia's economy. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translation): They will have certain consequences, but they will not significantly affect our economic well-being. What we are talking about is, of course, an attempt to put pressure on Russia. But no self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever make decisions under pressure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And Putin also said there will be, quote, "serious, if not overwhelming responses if U.S. Tomahawk missiles ever strike Russia." Meanwhile, Ukraine's president mentioned the new sanctions when he was asked to assess the results of his recent meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. A reporter also asked him about getting Tomahawk missiles from the U.S. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: So, the result of this meeting, we have sanctions on Russian energy. We don't have meeting in Hungary without Ukraine. And we have not yet Tomahawks. That's it. This is the result. I think not bad. We will see. I don't know really. Each day brings something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Germany is hoping to dodge the impact from the new U.S. sanctions on Russia. Germany controls Russian oil company Rosneft's operations in Germany, but Russia owns the company. Now because of that split, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he assumes Rosneft's German operations won't be sanctioned. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translation): Yes, first of all, this exemption was briefly discussed. The question, however, is whether it even needs to be an exemption since the U.S. government has made it clear that it has to be at least 50 percent. It is 50 percent, so we will discuss this with the Americans. I assume that a corresponding exemption will also be granted for Rosneft.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The former U.S. Secretary of State says the new sanctions won't have enough teeth unless the White House also goes after China. Mike Pompeo, who served under President Trump during his first term, spoke with CNN's Becky Anderson on Thursday. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: To actually make the energy sanctions important, you have to go after Chinese banks who are underwriting a good chunk of this war by getting discounted gas and oil from Russia, providing an enormous lifeline. So we often in the press, they'll talk about India. In the end, you have to go after the Chinese financial institutions that are keeping the economy of Russia afloat to the extent it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's president says Thursday's killing of two journalists was part of Moscow's strategy against the media. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a Russian drone struck the journalist's vehicle in eastern Ukraine. A third journalist was wounded. They all worked for the Freedom Television channel. Zelenskyy says Russia has killed more than 130 journalists since invading Ukraine. He says Russia is trying to silence reports of its war crimes.

And Moscow is denying that two of its military jets violated Lithuanian airspace. NATO officials say two Spanish fighter jets taking part in a NATO mission scrambled in response to the incident on Thursday. Lithuania says the Russian planes crossed into its airspace for about 18 seconds before flying back. Russia says the planes were on a training mission and didn't deviate from their flight plan. Just last month, Estonia said Russian warplanes violated its airspace and Russian drones flew into Poland and Romania.

[02:04:56]

President Trump says he's ending all trade negotiations with Canada because of a TV commercial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: When someone says, let's impose tariffs on foreign imports, it looks like they're doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works, but only for a short time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The ad, which Trump calls fake, features former President Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs. The president says the ad from the province of Ontario is egregious behavior. Now, the decision to end trade talks comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to double exports to countries outside the U.S. because of the threat posed by Trump's tariffs.

We are watching financial markets for reaction. The Dow is up nearly two-tenths of one percent. The S&P 500 is up about a quarter of one percent and the NASDAQ is up about four-tenths of one percent.

For the first time in a second term, President Trump will meet China's President Xi Jinping. Trump leaves for a trip to Asia on Friday. He will visit Malaysia and Japan before attending the APEC summit in South Korea where he'll meet President Xi. Now, the meeting comes amid growing trade tensions between the U.S. and China. American and Chinese officials are holding trade talks in Malaysia on Friday that continue through the weekend.

I want to get more on this now from John Nilsson-Wright. He's the head of the Japan and Korea's program at the Center for Geopolitics at Cambridge University and joins me now from Stockholm, Sweden. Thank you so much for being here with us. I really appreciate it. So we don't have a lot of information about President Trump's itinerary. He is going without the typical large team of advisors. Just to start off, what do you think about the way the administration is approaching what could be a really important trip?

JOHN NILSSON-WRIGHT, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY: Well, I mean, I think it's very much characteristic of Donald Trump that he makes these commitments, makes a commitment to visit the region. Superficially, one might see that as an indication of the United States maintaining its regional presence, attending the ASEAN meeting in Malaysia, and meeting with allies such as Japan and South Korea, and of course, those critical negotiations with Xi Jinping.

However, it has to be said, I think Donald Trump, of course, sees himself as a dealmaker. His visit to Malaysia is prompted, I think, by his desire to associate himself with the Cambodia-Thailand peace deal that has been negotiated by the Malaysian prime minister. And then on his visits to both Japan and South Korea, he's looking to focus, I think, on economic results, extracting concessions from both the Japanese and the Koreans.

And, of course, that's very much true of his planned meeting with Xi Jinping at the summit in or the meeting, the APEC meeting in Seoul, in Gyeongju rather. This, I think, is in a way, it's emblematic of the challenges that Trump faces in using a more coercive approach. And Xi Jinping himself, of course, has been pushing back by introducing new global measures to restrict the export of rare earth minerals.

If you like, both these leaders, both Trump and Xi are playing the tit for tat game of coercive economic policy. Not quite clear at this stage who's going to win.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, exactly. Well, with that meeting, I mean, Trump keeps saying he has a great relationship with Xi, but that trade war just keeps flaring up. So, what do you expect to come out of that meeting here and how much of those interpersonal relationships actually affect the outcome?

NILSSON-WRIGHT: I think we shouldn't put too much emphasis on the interpersonal connections. I mean, it's very much Trump's desire to see himself as being able to make a lot out of those personal ties. But Xi knows that his much more combative approach is playing well at home with the Chinese domestic audience. China knows that in a way, it's got a lot of leverage. Those rare earth minerals, for example, are critically important to the United States defense industry.

Banning, for example, the purchase of American soybean exports is also hurting American farmers. I think what's most likely is that we will see some sort of negotiated pause to some of these economic pressures, if you like, which will then be hailed by Donald Trump as a great breakthrough. But I think it would be wrong to exaggerate the likelihood of a major deal coming out of this agreement, this meeting.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. I mean, you say we shouldn't make too much of personal relationships. If that's true of China, is that also true of Japan? I mean, remember during President Trump's first term, Shinzo Abe was a master at managing that relationship and they really seemed to connect personally. Now Japan has its first female prime minister, Abe's protege. I mean, can she fill those shoes and become Trump's sort of go-to leader in Asia?

[02:09:59]

NILSSON-WRIGHT: I think there is a possibility. Takaichi-san, the new Japanese prime minister, is of course, the protege of former prime minister, late Prime Minister Abe. She's more conservative, more hardline on a range of issues that might appeal to Donald Trump, particularly on the question of defense spending. She's made a commitment in the last few days that she's going to try and double Japan's defense budget this year, not by 2027, as was the original plan.

She's revising a series of important defense agreements. But at the same time, of course, and the economic pressure that Trump has imposed on her as a result of his transactional approach to trade is generating a lot of concern on the part of Japanese voters. They remain, I think, very concerned about the bullying tactics, if you like, of the United States. So, Takaichi will have to use a lot of calm as well as some of these defense announcements to try and placate Donald Trump.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, you speak of this transactional approach, which as you say, some call bullying. We're countries like Japan promising some $550 billion in U.S. investments while South Korea at least so far seems to be resisting Trump demands for a similar fund. Are we likely to see a lot of pressure by Trump on allies to essentially pony up money or face more tariffs?

NILSSON-WRIGHT: Absolutely, and there have been unresolved back and forth negotiations between South Korean negotiators and their American counterparts to try and figure a way through this complicated set of planned agreements. The $350 billion commitment by South Korea to invest in the U.S. market is seen as financially unsustainable by the South Korean government. They want a pause. They want this to be stretched out over a longer period of time.

They want some commitment by the United States that Korean firms will have more control over where those investments go and that they get a, if you like, financial reward from making those commitments. Much will depend, again, I think, on the personal ties. President Lee had a very successful White House meeting with Donald Trump back in August. He will be trying to use his charm, much in the way that other European and Asian leaders have used charm and blandishments and flattery to try and persuade -- to persuade Donald Trump to ease up on some of those pressures. It will depend, however, on the chemistry between the two men.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll be watching. I really appreciate your thoughts on all of this. John Nilsson-Wright, thank you so much.

NILSSON-WRIGHT: Pleasure.

BRUNHUBER: And the U.S. president says he will keep ordering strikes against suspected drug traffickers without first asking Congress to pass a declaration of war. He's insisting that we're going to, quote, "kill people that are bringing drugs into our country." Now, the U.S. has recently carried out at least nine known strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and most recently the Eastern Pacific.

This appears to mark an expansion in the military campaign. Officials say at least 37 people have been killed. Trump has also suggested that his administration would start going after alleged cartel members within countries like Venezuela, adding that he would notify Congress before beginning any operations on land, but that he doesn't expect any real opposition.

President Trump went on to deny that the U.S. sent a B-1 bomber like this one to fly near the coast of Venezuela on Thursday. Flight trackers clocked it about 50 miles or 80 kilometers from the mainland. It's not clear if the aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace. But the show force and soaring tensions have Venezuelans on edge. Its government has been launching military drills as President Nicolas Maduro announced this message in English. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS MADURO, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA: Not war, not war, not war. Just peace, just peace, just peace. Forever, forever, forever. Peace forever. Not crazy war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The deadly U.S. strikes in international waters have unnerved many given how little evidence has been released about the targets. We get more now from CNN's Kristen Holmes.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump again on Thursday reiterating that the administration might start to strike inside of countries like Venezuela targeting these alleged cartel members. He also reiterated that he didn't believe that he needed to go to Congress for a declaration of war to continue the strikes abroad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, okay. We're going to kill them. You know, they're going to be like dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, President Trump did say they would go to Congress before they launch any of these strikes on land, but noted that he would likely not have any pushback. And of course, given what we've seen since President Trump has took office or taken office, it certainly appears that Republican lawmakers on the Hill will be unlikely to push back on him now.

[02:14:56]

We also heard from the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who insisted that every boat that they had struck or every vessel that they had struck, they had confirmed through the military were carrying narcotics, but no details further than that. Kristen Holmes, CNN, The White House.

BRUNHUBER: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Israel at this hour. He says reaching the next phase of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza remains a top priority for President Trump. Rubio landed in Israel just hours after Vice President J.D. Vance wrapped up his trip to the country. Here's what Rubio told reporters while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Now we have more work ahead of us, but we feel very positive about it. We're making good progress. It's amazing that in just seven or eight days, the kinds of things and systems that have been set up. No one's under any illusions. This is -- we've already done the impossible once and we intend to keep doing that if we can. We have good partners that we're working on, but we feel confident and positive about the progress that's being made.

We're clear-eyed about the challenges too, but the President has made this a top priority. I think it's evidenced by the fact that both Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were here for much of the week and I spent time with them and the Vice President just left. We crossed on the way and then I'm here now today because this is a priority. It's a very important achievement. but there's more work to be done and bigger achievements that lie ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is following the latest from Jerusalem.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yet another senior U.S. official touching down in Israel to meet with the Israeli prime minister and senior members of his government. This time it's the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is the latest in a parade of senior U.S. officials who visited Israel just this past week. A week that began with Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arriving in Israel. And then you saw the U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance doing the same, and now we're up to the Secretary of State.

It's all part of an effort that one U.S. official termed as Bibi- sitting, a play on the Israeli Prime Minister's nickname, Bibi Netanyahu. And that's because U.S. officials, you know, have been concerned that the Israeli Prime Minister is simply not as committed to this ceasefire agreement as the United States is, not as committed to ensuring that this ceasefire agreement not only holds, but actually results in that enduring end to the war in Gaza that President Trump has described.

We have seen that Vance and Rubio have already talked about, you know, the efforts necessary to ensure that this ceasefire actually sticks as the U.S. is expending really significant diplomatic and political capital here in Israel in order to not just monitor this ceasefire but actually mediate potential disputes that may arise standing up to this new civilian military coordination center, about a dozen miles away from the Gaza border where you have U.S. military officials and others monitoring the ceasefire, ensuring the entry of humanitarian aid and starting to prepare for the next phases of this ceasefire.

And we heard the vice president, J.D. Vance, on Thursday talk about some of those efforts, standing up this international stabilization force that will go into Gaza and take over parts of the strip from both Hamas and from the Israeli military. We also heard for the first time from the Vice President a timeline for the potential rebuilding of parts of Gaza, including the southern city of Rafah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think that we could actually have tens of thousands of Gazans moving into southern Gaza, where again you have the Hamas free zone in the next couple of months. and then tens of thousands beyond that. I think the hope is to rebuild Rafah over the next two to three years. And theoretically, you could have half a million people live in a rebuilt Rafah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: The vice president also addressed the vote that happened in Israel's parliament while he was in Israel. This was a vote to advance a bill that would see Israel annex large swaths of the West Bank. J.D. Vance, the vice president, saying that he was not only insulted by this vote, calling it a stupid political stunt, but also reiterating that the U.S. would not allow Israel to do so.

The Israeli prime minister, for his part, his office blaming Israel's opposition, even though most of the votes in favor of this bill came from his own governing coalition. But he did say that without his party's support, the Likud, this vote would not go anywhere. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

BRUNHUBER: Tropical Storm Melissa has camped out over the Caribbean and it's forecast to become a major hurricane. Coming up, we'll tell you what's ahead as the storm ramps up and what's driving the intensity. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: At least 20 people have been killed after a bus collided with a motorcycle in India, according to Reuters, which cites local media. The collision caused a huge fire that engulfed both vehicles. An official told news agency ANI that 21 people were rescued from the bus. The accident took place on the route between India's southern tech hubs of Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Tropical Storm Melissa is hovering over the Caribbean and it's forecast to get stronger over the weekend. It could create a dangerous situation for islands in the storm's path, including Jamaica. Right now, the Dominican Republic is getting soaked with rain. Streets in Santo Domingo have been turned into rivers. CNN's Jessica Hasbun is in the Dominican Republic with more on the storm's dangerous path.

JESSICA HASBUN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Tropical Storm Melissa continues its slow crawl across central Caribbean and according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, it is forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane by late this weekend or early next week. [02:24:59]

Its sluggish pace is worrying authorities because it raises the threat of prolonged impacts, several days of heavy rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening flooding.

Here in the Dominican Republic, Melissa is already having serious impact. Several regions are under alert due to the risk of flash flooding, overflowing rivers and line slides. Rainfall has been concentrated in the south where some communities are already affected. Here in the capital, the rain has been steady and that's a concern for officials because the soil is saturated and that's causing major flooding in different parts of the country.

The National Water Institute reports that more than half a million people are now without access to drinking water. At sea, low visibility, small and medium-sized vessels are banned from leaving port in the Caribbean because of these dangerous waves and the thunderstorms and that poor visibility I just mentioned. In neighboring Haiti, particularly along the Tiburon Peninsula, strong winds could persist for more than a day according to the Hurricane Center.

And for Jamaica, the island is bracing for the storm. Conditions could be as early Friday or Saturday with strong winds, flooding, landslides and coastal surges, all are possible according to authorities who are urging people to act quickly to protect life and property. And in Cuba, officials are also closely monitoring Melissa's trajectory while calling all residents to stay alert to the latest advisories.

Melissa could intensify rapidly. As you can see, the winds are pretty strong right now and it's expected to intensify rapidly in the coming hours. CNN will continue to track its path and its impact across the Caribbean. That's all for now. Jessica Hasbun, CNN, Santo Domingo.

BRUNHUBER: Coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," more than 50 years after the bloody Sunday killings in Northern Ireland, a verdict is finally in. We'll have that story up next.

Plus, as Americans digest images of the rubble that was the East Wing of the White House, President Trump says he has enough money now to pay for his new huge ballroom. Stay with CNN.

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[02:31:53]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: A court in Northern Ireland has found a former British soldier not guilty of murder in the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings in Londonderry. At the time, 13 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers were killed by British soldiers. The soldier, whose identity is only known as Soldier F, was accused of killing two men and attempting to kill five others. The British government apologized in 2010 for the deaths. All efforts to prosecute soldiers have failed.

All right. I want to give you a live look now at the White House, where President Trump says there's more than enough money to build the massive ballroom where the East Wing once stood. The president said he's raised $350 million from private donors to pay for the construction. The entire East Wing has now been demolished.

So have a look at this before and after satellite image of the White House. It shows just how much Trump has dramatically altered the historic structure. Piles of debris have temporarily replaced the building, which traditionally served as the office of the first lady.

A new video has emerged that appears to show the suspects escaping the Louvre Museum in Paris after carrying out a stunning heist on Sunday. The video, apparently taken from inside the museum, shows two people making their getaway by descending on a mechanical lift mounted on a truck. Louvre security agent told CNN the video corresponds to information they have about the heist. The stolen jewels are estimated to be worth more than $100 million.

Federal prosecutors have announced the indictments of a Hall of Fame NBA coach and a current and former player. They say Portland coach Chauncey Billups lured people into rigged poker games that featured hidden cameras, X-ray tables and marked cards. More than 30 others have also been indicted in the schemes, which authorities say are linked to mafia crime families. The Miami Heat's Terry Rozier and former player Damon Jones are accused of fixing basketball games, so bettors could profit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA TISCH, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: They placed wagers on unders on players to score less, rebound less, assist less. Using information that was not yet public. In some instances, players altered their performance or took themselves out of games to make sure that those bets paid out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: For the first time in five centuries, a British king worshiped alongside a Catholic pope. Coming up, we'll give you an update on a visit that hasn't happened since Henry VIII was on the throne.

Stay with us.

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[02:39:07]

BRUNHUBER: The leaders of the world's Roman Catholics and the Church of England worshiped together at the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. A similar scene wouldn't have happened since King Henry VIII broke with Rome more than 500 years ago. King Charles and Queen Camilla are on a state visit to the Vatican. They met with Pope Leo for the first time on Thursday. Both leaders are working to deepen bonds between Catholics and Anglicans.

A painting by Pablo Picasso, hidden from public sight for eight decades, is heading to a Paris auction block in the coming hours. Bust of a woman in a flowery hat was painted in 1943 and shows the painters then lover and muse, photographer Dora Maar. The portrait has been in a private collection since 1944, and remains in its original state, having never been lacquered, restored or framed. The only previous proof of its existence was in black and white photos. It's expected to sell for around $10 million.

[02:40:03]

Hundreds of people and their pets in south Florida took over the streets of Key West. In the spirit of Halloween, from a horse with wings inspired from the popular film "How to Train a Dragon" to a pair of pugs dressed as Samson and Delilah riding puff the magic dragon. This year's pet masquerade theme was bedtime stories and magical monsters. Proceeds from the annual event go to support local rescue and adopted animals.

All right. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

"WORLD SPORT" is next. I'll be back with more news at the top of the hour.

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