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Trump Sees Thailand, Cambodia Sign Ceasefire Deal; Government Shutdown On Track To Enter Its Fifth Week; Bernie Sanders, AOC Campaign For NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani; Hurricane Melissa Forecast To Become Rare Cat 5 Tonight; Hundreds Of Former National Park Employees Implore Interior Secretary To Close Parks; Two Arrested In Louvre Museum Jewel Heist. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 26, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00]
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 150 percent on Chinese goods, that is effectively now off the table, and that he's expecting that China will withdraw export controls on its rare earth monopolies, which had initially angered Trump. So there seems to be a compromise on both sides in that area.
Also, discussion of the possibility that China may resume purchasing things like soybeans. The freeze on soybean purchases have been -- has been hurting American farmers and Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said it's actually been hurting him, too. He says he is a soybean farmer, and it looks like he may own up to $25 million worth of farm fields in North Dakota that produce soybeans and corn. So he signaled that it has been a perfect storm for American agriculture.
Other areas of discussion appear to have been the potential sale of TikTok, the social media platform, to American investors and other areas that have to do with shipping as well. But the proof will be in the pudding, and it will be whether or not President Trump and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping can take this initial framework and come to an agreement when they are expected to meet face to face in Korea in a few days' time -- Jessica.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And Ivan, as we look ahead to that, the president already doing a lot on this trip. Tell us more.
WATSON: Right. He has signed trade agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia, and he also oversaw the signing of a peace deal of sorts between Thailand and Cambodia. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON (voice-over): A declaration of peace between the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia, and a diplomatic accomplishment for President Donald Trump. For several days in July these two kingdoms in Southeast Asia engaged in deadly fighting. The Thai and Cambodian militaries battled each other across stretches of their long contested border, killing dozens and displacing some 200,000 people.
Cambodia fired rockets, while Thai F-16s carried out air strikes. It was the worst violence between these two countries in generations. In late July, a lull in the fighting after Trump declared, amid threats of imposing high tariffs, that Cambodia and Thailand agreed to immediately meet and quickly work out a ceasefire and ultimately peace. The next day, with the help of U.S. mediation, Cambodia's prime minister met his Thai counterpart in Malaysia to agree to a temporary ceasefire.
Sunday's signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur builds on those initial peace gains and marks a diplomatic victory for Trump and his often stated commitment to conflict resolution.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON (on-camera): There's a lot of work still to be done. Cambodia and Thailand there's a lot of bad blood still. Part of this joint declaration, it's not a peace treaty, as President Trump several times referred to it. It's a joint declaration, an extension of the ceasefire. It calls for the creation of a team of observers to make sure that both sides follow through on commitments to withdraw heavy weapons from the border, to begin the process of demining.
And the Thai government has been clear if it doesn't see progress on this, it will not begin the release of 18 Cambodian soldiers who have been held as prisoners of war since the days of deadly fighting in July. Just a sign of how complicated it can be to try to truly bring about peace when one of these spasms of deadly violence erupts in a place like Southeast Asia.
DEAN: Yes, certainly. Ivan Watson, thank you so much for your reporting.
We are joined now by David Urban and Lulu Garcia-Navarro. David is a CNN senior political commentator, a Republican strategist, and former Trump campaign adviser. Lulu is a CNN contributor, "New York Times" journalist and podcast host.
Great to have you both. I just want to start with this short clip of the president landing in Malaysia. It's been making the rounds today.
So, Lulu, the president landing in Malaysia, clearly really enjoying his moment on the global stage. He has had some real foreign policy wins lately. Back at home, we are in day 26 of this government shutdown. We're coming in on November 1st where even more programs are going to lose funding. Federal workers aren't getting paid. They're still concerned about inflation. How do you kind of take all of this together for this moment in time?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean, nice dance moves, first of all. I think that's why he's gone a little viral whenever he sort of starts shimmying. You know, the internet takes notice.
DEAN: Yes.
[19:05:01]
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Listen, it is very important that this government get a deal with China. I think it is one of the most important deals that they can make. You know, if you talk to anyone who understands the economy, they will tell you that it is sort of mutual annihilation if this continues because ultimately the American economy and the Chinese economy are very interdependent in a lot of key ways.
So, you know, I'm not going to underestimate how important it is that this deal gets done. By the same time, it is a bit of a split screen, right? He's off dancing. And here in the United States, what we're seeing are people, you know, waiting in line to just be able to feed their families because of the government shutdown. It doesn't only affect a million federal workers, it's actually having a wider impact on the U.S. economy.
And so, you know, he can boogie. But at the end of the day, what Americans are feeling isn't very sort of dance worthy.
DEAN: David, what do you think?
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, listen. I agree with Lulu to a certain extent. Listen, I 100 percent agree that that Chinese deal is incredibly important to kind of get back into some sort of normal cadence with the Chinese on trade. As far as the shutdown goes, unlike the Chinese deal, where both sides have a great deal to lose, Republicans and Democrats seem not to have a great deal to lose. Otherwise we'd, you know, had the government open weeks ago.
So each party feels like they have nothing to lose at this point, I think. The American people have a great deal to lose. I think, you know, people who are SNAP beneficiaries and others have a great deal to lose. So I think it's incumbent upon both Democrats and Republicans -- if I were, you saw John Fetterman, my new favorite Democrat-slash- Republican, come to, you know, on many networks and many outlets saying, listen, Democrats, when we put this new, this bounce in there for health care, we knew it was going to expire. So let's open the government and negotiate on these health care premiums.
I think Republicans are open to that. They just don't want to be held hostage to it. If the Democrats did really want a path forward, they'd say, OK, open it. I think Democrats lack faith in Republicans' ability to do that, but somebody is going to have to jump first in this.
DEAN: And I guess, David, that's my question. My follow-up question to this is like, at what point do you have to jump? Is it -- is it when you see people in line trying to feed their families, is it when, you know, SNAP benefits expire? Is it when people can't afford to just like pay their mortgage even though they have a job? When do you think this becomes pressing for the president? And then in turn, the House speaker?
URBAN: Listen, Jess, I don't really have an answer to that. Right? I think when the American people, when there's a hue and cry amongst the American people, which it has not, we've not reached that point yet. You know, normally the military doesn't get paid or veterans benefits don't get paid or Social Security doesn't get paid. But this administration has been able to figure out ways around most of those things, at least for the short term, to kind of avert some of that pain.
Although a lot of people aren't getting paid the direct, you know, pressure points that usually are there, aren't there in this instance. So, you know, I don't know, could we see this go to the end of the year, perhaps? You know, somebody needs to blink and I'm not quite sure who it's going to be.
DEAN: Yes. Lulu, what do you think it is? I mean, because, again, I keep going back to November 1st because that's when we see kind of, I would argue, kind of another layer of this begin to pile on because those SNAP benefits expire. And again, people have to pay rent or a mortgage on November 1st. Where do you see a potential, you know, breaking point?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're going to hear the sweet sound of me agreeing again with David Urban. You know, there is just not --
DEAN: What a beautiful show.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Much --
URBAN: I love it, love it, Lulu.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, there's just -- there really is no incentive at the moment on either side. You know, Democrats feel like they've been backed into a corner. This is an issue that is a good one for them, which is, you know, sort of health care. It's a weak one for Republicans. They know that at some point, Republicans are going to have to come to the table on this issue, because it's really going to hurt their constituencies in red states if these subsidies go away. And so, you know, there is a real sense that at some point someone is going to have to negotiate.
I mean, where I disagree with David is that I ultimately think this is the president, right? You know, the president of the United States is the one who typically steps in when this -- when these things happen and says enough is enough. I'm going to convene everybody and we're going to hash out a deal. He is a dealmaker, but he is pointing his deal-making at places outside of the United States instead of actually trying to figure this out here.
You know, if President Trump wanted to sit down with Democrats and sort of figure this out, I think, you know, Democrats at this point would probably do it. And I think Republicans would definitely do it if the president said it was OK. So I think this really does rest in President Trump's hands for the moment, because, you know, Democrats certainly, the longer this goes on, I think the less incentive they have to really figure this out, because at the end of the day, they're not the ones who are in control of the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
DEAN: David, does it lie in the president's hands?
URBAN: No. Listen, there have been how many votes now, at 14, 15 votes in the Senate? The House has already passed a clean C.R. The Senate could vote for that clean C.R., get the government reopen and negotiate on these health care subsidies. That's the quickest way forward. Democrats have had an opportunity to do it day in and day out. If they came back tomorrow and took the -- they decided Chuck Schumer freed up everyone and said, you're free to vote yes, I think the government would reopen. And within the next, you know, few hours, and they could get they could get back to the business of helping people.
They can negotiate these subsidies, which everybody wants to see renegotiated. SNAP beneficiaries can start benefiting again. And look, the world could be right again. All it takes is Chuck Schumer to wave the magic wand, not Donald Trump.
DEAN: All right.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I think the -- I think the problem, of course, is that, you know, at the end of the day, the power is with Republicans at this point. And, you know, when I've talked to Democrats, they say they just don't trust Republicans, to, you know, do what's right. This is their only leverage, they feel. And so this is the problem that we're facing where nobody has an incentive to kind of figure this out and come together.
DEAN: Right, to break the logjam.
OK. I want both of you to stay with us. We have another hot topic of the New York City mayor's race to talk about on the other side because we're going to take everyone live to New York, where mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is rallying with a pair of very famous progressive lawmakers, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
We'll take you there when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:16:27]
DEAN: Any moment now, Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are due to take the stage at a rally for New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who is leading the race for city hall with just nine days now until election day. Early voting turnout so far has been huge. Look at the difference between this and four years ago. The board of elections says it's seen more than five times as many voters in the first weekend of early voting as it did in 2021.
Let's go now to CNN's Gloria Pazmino, who's at the event.
Gloria, you also interviewed Mamdani earlier tonight. Tell us more.
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, let me tell you what we have been hearing here tonight as we wait for Senator Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the congresswoman here from New York, to take the stage. They'll be making a closing argument on behalf of Zohran Mamdani, who will also be speaking to his supporters tonight.
So far, we are hearing from three religious leaders right now, a reverend, a rabbi and an imam are currently on stage, and it's significant because in the last few days of this campaign, we have seen the rhetoric significantly heat up, particularly after comments made by the former governor, Andrew Cuomo, just a week ago, where he appeared to laugh along when a radio host suggested that Zohran Mamdani would cheer a 9/11 terror type of attack on New York City.
They are on stage right now talking about those comments, condemning those comments, and calling for unity, and that's significant because the issue of Israel and Gaza has been a huge flashpoint in this race, even though the mayor of the city of New York has no power over that conflict. But of course, New York City is home to the largest Jewish population outside of the state of Israel. Also, a large Muslim population, Arab population here in the city.
So this has been a major issue of contention, but we are trying to -- we've heard here tonight how they are trying to talk about unity. Now Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez making the case for Zohran Mamdani here tonight. You know, it was only a few years ago that Zohran Mamdani was outside this very same stadium, trying to get signatures on his ballot so that he could get on the ballot to run for New York state assembly.
That was back in 2019, and it was Bernie Sanders who was holding a rally right in this same place. He will be headlining tonight for Mamdani. So we're really seeing a lot of support, a lot of enthusiasm. But he told me earlier today that he is not taking anything for granted and plans to continue campaigning a lot in the next nine days -- Jessica.
DEAN: And Gloria, I know, as you noted, you did speak with him. What were his thoughts nine days away?
PAZMINO: Yes. You know, I think one thing that's very significant about going into this evening is that the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, is also going to be here tonight. And I think he is trying to show that he's got the support of the Democratic establishment behind him, and he's going to need them to be able to enact his agenda. But I also talked to him about President Donald Trump, right?
Trump has called Zohran Mamdani a communist. He has threatened to take federal funding from the city of New York if Mamdani is elected. So I talked to him about exactly how he plans to fight back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: What you can stop is a culture of collaboration between city hall and Washington, D.C.
[19:20:06]
Donald Trump right now has a mayor that he probably would have created in a lab because we have seen the Mayor Eric Adams who's been willing to sacrifice so much of what the city stands for in order to secure his personal freedom. Andrew Cuomo is offering much of the same.
It continues to be the rallying cry for working class people across this country. And for us, it's that New York City is not for sale, and we say that because we have the same billionaires who funded Donald Trump's campaign funding Andrew Cuomo's.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAZMINO: Now, Jessica, Governor Kathy Hochul actually just took the stage as she is standing with the state assembly speaker, Carl Heastie, and the Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, talking about this agenda. This is the first time that we are seeing the governor campaign on behalf of Mamdani. And at one point, you know, a few months ago, it was in question whether or not she was going to give him her endorsement, but she did so several weeks ago.
It is significant, considering that so many parts of his platform hinge on whether or not he can get the support that he needs in state government. Kathy Hochul has made it clear that she does not want to raise taxes on millionaires, but she has said that she is embracing parts of his proposals and has signaled that she is open to finding the funding to pay for his programs, including his proposal for universal child care here in New York City -- Jessica.
DEAN: All right. Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for that.
Our panel of David Urban and Lulu Garcia-Navarro is back with us.
Lulu, I want to start with you. I've covered politics a long time like you have. David has been in politics for a long time. It has been a while since I've seen a candidate like Zohran Mamdani that has elicited such strong reactions from all sides. What? Why? What? Help people understand this phenomenon?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: You know, I think the lesson of Zohran Mamdani is one that both Republicans and Democrats can take and sort of practice, which is he had a laser focus on the issue of affordability. Affordability is the number one, you know, crisis in this country. And that is true in New York City. And that is true in Ohio. And that is true, you know, in the south, in Texas. People are really suffering. And he was able to talk about it. Have proposals for it. And, and sort of rally people who had never really been rallied before.
In that way he's similar to Donald Trump. He activated voters, as you're hearing there with sort of record numbers of people coming out to vote that haven't been activated before. So that's on the positive. On the negative, he's a divisive figure. You know, he's a Democratic socialist. You know, his policies. If you are a critic of his seem -- you know, that they're really not going to be able to actually be implemented in a way that can be sustainable.
And, you know, obviously, the Jewish community, many parts of it, in New York city are very worried about some of his positions regarding, you know, Israel and the Palestinians. And so, you know, he is a very interesting figure, and it has, you know, they've come to him late in the Democratic establishment, but come to him they have. And so we'll see what happens.
DEAN: Yes. I mean, Hakeem Jeffries, of course, the House Democratic leader, endorsing him just a few days ago. Interesting, too, to see Kathy Hochul, who endorsed him a while ago relative to Hakeem Jeffries, but still to see her on stage when there was a question of if she would actually endorse him or not.
Again, David, with him being a Democratic socialist, there are questions for the Democratic Party. He's had incredible success and ran an incredible campaign against Andrew Cuomo, a former governor of New York who is now running as an independent at the same time, to Lulu's point, there, you know, the negatives and the positives for Democrats here, it seems Republicans are chomping at the bit to make him the poster child for the Democratic Party.
URBAN: Listen, Jess, Zohran Mamdani is going to be the death knell for the Democratic Party. He is campaigning on free stuff for everybody, right? Except the notion of free stuff for everybody means somebody is paying. There is no such thing as free stuff, right? Free busses, government owned grocery stores, 32 hour workweeks. You know, Medicare-for-all, Universal Child Care, all these things cost money. And he widely advocates taxing the wealthy.
He is, you know anti-Zionist at least, let's say that, it may not be antisemitic, but anti-Zionist. If the thing that he doesn't understand is the people who he is waging war against, all can move, they can all leave the city and leave the city. They will under his mayoral.
[19:25:02]
He will -- he will drive out more people from New York than any other mayor in history. And you can't keep taxing your way to prosperity. It's not something that's going to happen yet. That seems to be his only plan. Democrats are very well aware of this, and they are terrified because Zohran Mamdani is not going to be able to deliver a pizza. He can't do any of these things because he doesn't have the money.
Kathy Hochul doesn't have the money. You say, hear him saying he doesn't want to cooperate with Washington? What's he going to do, go to war with Washington? It just impractical. It's nonsensical. You can tell people what they want to hear and get them all ginned up. But then the next day, when he gets the keys to Gracie Mansion, he's going to have to run that city and he's going to run it into the ground. Thats the only place he's going to go.
DEAN: Well, but, Lulu, I mean, first of all, some of these policies, there have been kind of pilot programs for some of these things that he's trying to do. There is a question to David's point of if they're feasible or not, he's going to have to figure that out obviously, once he gets into office. But what are your -- what do you think about what David just said?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes, I think, you know, one of the biggest tests for the progressive left is going to be what Zoran Mamdani does. This will be, you know, not only for the Democratic Party writ large, but certainly for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, a real test case. This is high profile. And it is not just someone like Bernie Sanders or AOC who are in congress. This is someone who actually has to run a city.
And as mayors and governors know, you know, language only goes so much. Promises only go so much. You have to deliver to the people. And so I think there are definitely questions as to whether or not he can do it, but he has excited people in New York. He has excited them. And this is a moment. And you just see this across the political spectrum where people are just very, very willing to take a risk on someone that excites them, even if they're unorthodox, queue our president, Donald Trump.
DEAN: Yes, I would say that is --
URBAN: Listen, Jess, Jess.
DEAN: Yes.
URBAN: I think Lulu has agreed with me like 80 percent of the time so far tonight, I'm pretty -- I'm amazed.
DEAN: Well, it's good --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He has to show -- he has to show what he can't.
DEAN: What he can do, yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: You know, what he can do. Whether or not, you know, I'm not taking a position on him taxing the wealthy or on his other policies. But at the end of the day, you know like anyone who gets elected, you know, at the day you celebrate, and then the next day you go to work and so we'll see.
DEAN: Yes, being an executive it is different than the legislative branch.
David Ervin and Lulu Garcia-Navarro, thanks to both of you. We really appreciate it. Good to see you.
URBAN: Thank you.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes. People across Jamaica are being warned to seek shelter from Hurricane Melissa tonight as the slow moving category four storm begins to slam that island.
CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is there in Kingston, Jamaica, right now -- Derek.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Jessica. Jamaica has never experienced a category five hurricane. That looks like it's likely to change in the coming days. Not only will this test the infrastructure, but it will also test the will of the people. I'll have a complete report coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:43] DEAN: And we are back with the latest on the rapidly intensifying
hurricane headed straight to Jamaica. Hurricane Melissa is forecast to strengthen into a rare Category 5 storm as early as tonight, and the National Hurricane Center warns life threatening flooding could wash out roads and strand people there for days.
Let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who is live in Kingston.
When we talked to you about an hour ago, we were just seeing those first bands of rain, Derek, what are you seeing now?
VAN DAM: Yes, it's definitely calmed down since then, but that doesn't mean the storm isn't coming. We're facing still the prospects of the strongest storm to make landfall in Jamaica's history. That's really saying something.
It's really going to test the modern infrastructure here. There are a lot of concerns going forward. But this intensification process that's happened over the past 24 hours is known as Extreme Rapid Intensification, 70 mile per hour increase in winds in a 24-hour period means that doubles that criteria of what we call Rapid Intensification, that's why the word "extreme" is added at the beginning of it as well.
I want to show you this satellite that I'm just, like, completely gob smacked by it. I keep looking at it and showing my producers and my photojournalist here with me. I mean, this is just an incredible display of nature. If we take the potential destruction and devastation that it will bring.
I mean, it is a perfectly concentric eyewall, perfect radial outflow. I mean, this eye shows how powerful this storm has become, and it's not done yet. And we anticipate this thing to continue to take advantage of the environment around it, not only above the ocean, but below the ocean, because this is some of the warmest waters in the entire Atlantic basin. So, that's like jet fuel for developing and strengthening hurricanes. =
So, National Hurricane Center explicitly calling for a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane landfall. They're using some very dire language, some of the strongest language that the National Hurricane Center tends to use, talking about communities being isolated for days, long durations of power, and communication outages. And then when we talk about this long duration storm, what it's going to do is its going to dump prolific amounts of rain and it's all because of the mountains that surround this area.
[19:35:08]
Jamaica is a very mountainous region. So, just to use an analogy, if you had a wet sponge and you pushed it against the wall, it's going to kind of take out all the available water in that sponge, right? Same thing happening in the atmosphere. Storm approaches these mountains. It pushes out all the water from the clouds. It drops in the form of heavy rainfall. It funnels down these mountains and unfortunately, it will come into the valleys and the communities that live below these mountains, up to 40 inches of rain.
We've got so many examples of how devastating that amount of rain could be. I think about Hurricane Harvey. I was in Houston for that. But there's another aspect of this, too, because of its unique angle of approach to the Southern Coastline of Jamaica, Hurricane Melissa is going to push up the seawater of the Caribbean Ocean.
So, not only will we have that inland flood threat that meets the coastal storm surge. What happens when that takes place? The water has nowhere to go but up, so the low lying susceptible areas, Kingston into some of the smaller communities to the west have the potential for catastrophic storm surge.
And just for an example, you're looking over my left hand shoulder. That is the Kingston International Airport. It's accessible by one road, in and out. Yes, there's a storm wall there, but with 10 to 12 feet of storm surge projected, it is going to be very difficult for residents to get on and off this island. Not to mention the potential for any aid after this hurricane finally exits Jamaica on Wednesday -- Jessica.
DEAN: Derek Van Dam with the very latest from Jamaica. Thank you so much for that. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:41:24]
DEAN: Hundreds of former National Park employees are calling for the Trump administration to close the parks until this government shutdown ends. In a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, they cite reports of damage and examples of dangerous behavior in the last month, including a wildfire which started near an unstaffed campground at Joshua Tree, along with reports of base jumpers in Yosemite. The letter goes on to say, "Our parks don't run themselves. The staff keep them clean, safe and functioning."
We're joined now by the former Director of the National Parks Service, Jonathan Jarvis. He's also one of two former directors who signed on to this letter. Jonathan, thank you for being here with us. Have you gotten any response yet to your letter?
JONATHAN JARVIS, FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL PARKS SERVICE: No, we have not had any formal response. I think the intent is to keep the parks open.
DEAN: And tell people, I think it's kind of counterintuitive because people say, oh well, at least the parks are open that's great. But they don't have the Park Rangers there. Why is that not a good thing?
JARVIS: Well, as the letter states, the parks don't run themselves. The idea of having Park Rangers in the parks is the way parks have been managed for almost a hundred years. The Rangers are there to inform the public of all the potential safety hazards that are in the park to be there if there's a bear jam in Yellowstone or to register climbers in Yosemite to enforce the park regulations, but also to protect the resources and the visitor safety, and without those, both the park resources and the visitors themselves are at risk.
DEAN: Yes, I mean, I grew up going to a lot of National Parks, but Yellowstone chief among them, and I think about just those thermal hot springs that, you know, you can't fall -- You have to be very careful around them, things like that. Buffalo where it is, it can be dangerous.
JARVIS: Absolutely and the proposition that the Park Service, the way it manages is we don't really fence those places off, as you sure you remember in Yellowstone, the boardwalks are open.
DEAN: I think my parents certainly, remember, yes.
JARVIS: There are hot pools there.
DEAN: Yes.
JARVIS: And the idea of having Rangers there to warn you, to educate you so that you can have a safe visit but have an extraordinary experience at the same time. But just leaving them open and letting trash accumulate and toilets overflow and people, you know, try to pet the wildlife. I mean, that's a problem.
And I think the professionals that signed that letter are deeply concerned about the future of our parks during this shutdown.
DEAN: Yes, and then just lastly, what do you hope, like, what would you just say to lawmakers if you could, you know, what is your message to them right now?
JARVIS: Well, the message is, I understand the economic impacts. I mean, I was the director in 2013 when we shut the parks down for 16 days. I closed the parks because I felt that the resources were at risk and the visitors were at risk if we left them open.
And so, the mission of the National Parks Service is to protect these places unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. And so, basically, they're making the decision to put these resources, these irreplaceable resources at risk just for short term politics and I think that's wrong.
DEAN: All right, Jonathan Jarvis, thank you so much for your time, we do appreciate it.
JARVIS: Thank you.
DEAN: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:49:39]
DEAN: Here's a look at five stories we'll be tracking this week as President Trumps Asian trip continues with a high stakes meeting with Chinese Leader Xi on Thursday. Today, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. has reached a
substantial framework with China on a trade deal. This will be Trump and Xi's first face to face meeting since Trump was reelected.
And right now, were seeing t the results of what Bessent said. Stock futures are trading higher after U.S. and Chinese officials agreed on that framework for trade deal. And this is on the heels of a Friday rally that sent U.S. stocks to record highs with the Dow closing out at over 47,000 for the first time ever.
Tomorrow, the Senate will be back in session. The House continues to be out as the government shutdown goes into fifth week. More federal workers among the hundreds of thousands furloughed during the stalemate are set to miss their first full paycheck this week. In less than one week, on Saturday, November 1st, SNAP benefits for millions of Americans across the country expire.
[19:50:33]
A federal judge says she will make her decision no later than tomorrow on whether to allow National Guard troops to be deployed in Portland, Oregon. A recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court said the Trump administration can put National Guard Forces on the streets, but the lower court's restraining order is still technically in place.
On Tuesday, a senior Border Patrol commander will appear in court after he was accused of throwing at least one teargas canister into a crowd of protesters in Chicago. Gregory Bovino's alleged actions would violate a judge's order restricting aggressive crowd control measures at anti-ICE protests there in Chicago. In a court filing today, plaintiffs accused DHS of lying on social media by claiming a mob of rioters threw objects at the agents and struck Bovino in the head.
In an extraordinary procedure, a woman living with Parkinson's Disease plays the clarinet while she's having brain surgery. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(PATIENT PLAYS CLARINET WHILE HAVING BRAIN SURGERY.)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: The four-hour procedure, called deep brain stimulation gives surgeons a real time window into the patient. In this case, Denise Bacons brain response. CNN's Fredricka Whitfield caught up with her and her neurosurgeon earlier today to talk about how she's feeling.
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DENISE BACON, PLAYED CLARINET DURING FOUR-HOUR SURGERY: So beforehand. I was, I had got to the point where it was really quite difficult to move. And when I was freezing so I could be in the kitchen trying to cook a meal and standing at the worktop. But if I needed to turn around to get something out of the fridge or go to the other end of the room my feet were stuck to the floor. And since the operation, I can walk normally. I can walk through narrow gaps, which is difficult before and I don't freeze. And I feel so much better.
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DEAN: Wow, Bacon also says she didn't prepare any particular songs, but she did notice her playing got better as the surgery went on.
It was the heist scene around the world. What the people who robbed The Louvre left behind that led French authorities to two of them.
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DEAN: Two people are now in custody after a daring jewel heist at the world famous Louvre Museum in Paris. Thieves stealing tens of millions worth of France's crown jewels last week, in what authorities are calling one of the boldest thefts in recent memory.
CNN's Melissa Bell explains how investigators were able to track down two of those suspects.
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, two men have been arrested here in France in connection with The Louvre robbery of last Sunday morning. The two men we understand from the Paris prosecutor, were arrested on Saturday night, one of them, as he tried to leave the country.
A hundred investigators have been working on this case over the course of the last week. And what we understand, again from the Paris prosecutor is that 150 different traces of DNA were found on the scene of the crime, and that is what has helped them make progress in this case.
For now, they're remaining tight lipped, the Prosecutor's Office, in terms of the rest of the details, as this is an ongoing investigation, but we understand, Jessica, from French press reports that the two men are in their 30s and the one who is attempting to leave France was trying to get to Algeria.
No sign, we understand yet of the jewels themselves. It was more than $100 million worth of jewelry that was stolen in just seven minutes. They managed to get into that Apollo Gallery and steal some of the jewelry of some of the queens of 19th Century France. Since then, the pressure on French authorities to make some kind of progress in this case has been huge.
Those two arrests are significant breakthrough then, in this case -- Jessica.
DEAN: All right, Melissa Bell, thank you so much.
And listen, if you can't get enough of that story, you want to stick around because coming up next hour were going to have a one-hour CNN special exploring that stunning broad daylight heist. And here's a preview of that.
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ERIN THOMPSON, PROFESSOR OF ART CRIME, JOHN JAY COLLEGE: In 1911, an Italian man named Vincenzo Peruggia was working in Paris.
ELAINE SCIOLINO, AUTHOR "ADVENTURES IN THE LOUVRE": He was an Italian nationalist and thought that the Mona Lisa belonged in Italy. On a Monday, when the museum was closed, he donned a worker's smock.
THOMPSON: He removed the Mona Lisa from the wall and walked out of the Museum.
The French Police sprang into action. They even suspected Picasso, who knows what he might be capable of. Thousands of people came to the museum just to stare at the empty spot in the wall where the Mona Lisa had once hung.
SCIOLINO: And it went all over the world as a global story and then two years later in Italy, when he tried to sell it, Peruggia was arrested and then it came back to France.
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DEAN: And now, CNN's new documentary, "The Heist: The Louvre's Stolen Crown Jewels," completed before this weekend's arrest, takes you inside the greatest museum heist of the century.
Thank you so much again for joining me tonight. I'm Jessica Dean, we're going to see you right back here next weekend.
In the meantime, have a wonderful evening.
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