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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
U.S. Peace Plan For Gaza Proposes End To War, Return Of Hostages; Inside The Cartel Networks Recruiting Young Americans; Prosecutors Want Sean "Diddy" Combs To Get More Than 11 Years In Prison; McDonald's Is Bringing Back Monopoly After A Decade. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired September 30, 2025 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, hello and welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson coming to you live from Abu Dhabi, where we are following the latest on what is our top story this hour.
The U.S. proposed peace plan to end the war in Gaza. U.S. President Donald Trump says he believes a ceasefire is now closer than ever after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the 20- point plan, the question now is, will Hamas accept it?
Netanyahu has warned that if Hamas rejects the plan, then Israel will finish the job by itself, end quote. Well, the peace plan is being welcomed by European leaders and foreign ministers from eight Muslim nations. Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt. But the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad calls Trump's plan a recipe for regional explosion. And no response as yet from Hamas.
Joining me now to discuss all of this is Hasan Alhasan, Senior Fellow for Middle East policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Good to have you, Hasan. Thank you.
Trump's Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff praising the widespread support from Muslim, Arab and European states. Have a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You feel this one is different?
STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: I do. Because we have so much widespread support from all of the Gulf Coast Arab countries. We have widespread support from the Europeans. I just left a meeting with the British, talked to the French today. So we have a lot of support for the plan, a lot of buy in.
Do we have some details to work out? Yes. But you know, President Trump as well as I do with that indomitable spirit of his. Everyone's going to be pushed by him. And I think we're going to get to the finish line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's first focus in on Qatar and Egypt because they have been mediating efforts for a cease fire and hostage release over the past two years. In the first instance, how much leverage do you believe they have to convince Hamas to sign on to this proposed plan?
HASAN ALHASAN, SENIOR FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICE, IISS: Hi, Becky, always good to be with you. I think the short and short answer is very little leverage because clearly this is a plan that is designed to be rejected by Hamas. It essentially imposes a time bound commitment on Hamas to hand over the hostages immediately, which are Hamas's only source of leverage, and disarm and give up their weapons essentially in exchange for very little.
[04:35:03]
There is essentially no guarantee that Israel would comprehensively cease military operations or withdraw fully from the Gaza Strip. So I think that the American-Israeli plan, which is, I think what it really is, has been designed, I think, specifically to be rejected by Hamas.
I think if we take a step back, I mean, the best way to think of this plan is that it is essentially a poisoned chalice on the face of it. The plan seems to offer the hope of bringing about a ceasefire, putting an end to the immense misery and suffering in Gaza and securing a surge in humanitarian aid and an Israeli pledge not to annex the West Bank.
But in reality, what this plan does is essentially offer Israel a blank check to obtain immediate release of its hostages and then continue waging a forever war in Gaza with U.S. and regional approval.
Once you start looking at the provisions of this deal, clearly there are no time bound commitments on Israel. It's very fluid on the question of Israel's security presence in Gaza. It essentially allows for an open ended Israeli security presence of Gaza and it offers no guarantee that of a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire or stop to Israeli military operations.
And clearly this fluidity has already created a degree of confusion. If you read the Arab and Muslim statement that has come out over the past few hours, it, for example, talks about a full Israeli withdrawal. Now, clearly that's not what Trump and Netanyahu have in mind.
Netanyahu spoke about Israel maintaining security responsibility for Gaza and essentially not withdrawing. And Trump talked about allowing Israel and providing it with full support to disarm Hamas if Hamas doesn't do that on its own.
So I think the real risk here is that the plan is designed to allow Israel to interpret it in a way that allows it to obtain the immediate release of hostages, but then carry on waging a forever war, a forever genocide in Gaza while still claiming to be acting in conformity with the plan.
ANDERSON: Well understood, that notwithstanding, I mean, I think, and Stephen Collinson, one of my colleagues, wrote this earlier, this is in defense of it, if you will, at least the Trump administration's most substantive, thoughtful and broadly supported effort to end the war as of yet. And he goes on to say, any hope for ending agonizing human misery should be eagerly grasped.
And I think we'd all agree with that. But to your point, and I want to concentrate on these eight Muslim countries who put out a statement on behalf of their foreign ministers committed to work with the U.S. on the, quote, comprehensive deal that Trump has laid out, that, quote, creates a path for a just peace on the basis of a two-state solution, although the U.S. did not promise that two state solution in its proposal.
Do you see this leading to Trump's vision of comprehensive peace in the Middle East through expanding the Abraham Accords? I mean, that certainly feels as if sort of the long tail on this sort of ignores the kind of short term complexities and perhaps is, as you have laid out, inadequacies of this plan.
ALHASAN: Yes, well, I think, you know, it's not difficult to see where the Arab and Muslim countries are coming from. I think they're clearly motivated by the desire to secure a ceasefire, to put an end to the suffering, ensure the flow of aid to Gaza, and secure an Israeli commitment not to annex the World Bank.
So I think these are all noble motivations. It's not difficult to see why the Arab states are essentially clinging on to what seems to be perhaps the only sort of hope of doing that.
But in reality, I think the risk is that they might be signing on to a blank check for Israel essentially to wage forever war in Gaza while claiming to act in conformity with the plan and essentially under the seal of approval of the United States and the Arab countries.
So I think the real risk with this plan isn't that it's inadequate, it's that it's actually dangerous by way of defusing the international pressure on Israel, which has reached, I think, an unprecedented extent. We've seen the momentum at the U.N. General Assembly of recognizing Palestinian statehood and essentially isolating Israel.
[04:40:00]
And I think this could be a way to diffuse, deflect some of that pressure, create a framework that would allow Israel complete freedom of action in Gaza while maintaining a degree of regional and international support and legitimacy. I think this is the real risk, is that actually the plan doesn't really impose any real commitments on Israel.
So I think the risk is that essentially that the Arab and Muslim states, while acting out of a noble desire to bring an end to the suffering, that they could in fact be signing on to a blank check that Israel can interpret however way it wants. And I think if we look at the broad trajectory of Israel's behavior in
Gaza, it's clearly being, I think, motivated and consistent with the long term extremist project of resolving the Palestinian question once and for all through annexation, expulsion, genocide and starvation.
I think this is the broad trajectory of Israeli behavior. And I think the rest of it, you know, talk of widening the circle of the Abraham Accords and so on, I think all of that is simply a dangerous destruction.
ANDERSON: Hasan, it's good to get your insight and your perspective this morning. Thank you, Hasan Alhasan there in Bahrain. And Brian, then, just to underscore no formal response to this proposed plan from Hamas as of yet, and no formal acceptance of this agreement has to be said yet from the Israeli cabinet and no timeframe for any vote on that as we speak for the time being. Back to you.
BRIAL ABEL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So much to go still and a lot of information to be hashed out before any agreement would be made. Becky Anderson, appreciate you. Thank you.
We are going to turn now to a CNN investigation that's found young Americans are being recruited by cartels to smuggle drugs, weapons and even people into the United States using social media. The cartels, they are offering large amounts of cash to new recruits, but authorities are hot on their trail. CNN's David Culver spoke with law enforcement and even a cartel boss about these dangerous operations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll do another drive by. Westbound.
UNIDENIFIED MALE: Copy. I'm moving it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then we'll do kind of like a felony stop.
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right now we're with several Cochise county deputies in several different units as they're moving in on their targets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys just hunker down where you're at.
UNIDENIFIED MALE: OK, we'll stand.
UNIDENIFIED MALE: Hands up.
CULVER: Some of them you'll notice are undercover. You won't see their faces. You won't hear their names.
UNIDENTFIIED MALE: And is there anyone else in the car with you?
CULVER: And they're fanned out here just north of the U.S. Southern border to dismantle a smuggling network. One arrest at a time. An investigation, mind you, that's been going on for 18 months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not just your everyday criminal. It's definitely taking the bigger fish off the streets.
CULVER: The suspects just handed over his phone, revealing what investigators say are key details about a migrant smuggling operation that's happening right now. It's a coordinated pickup that's all playing out in real time.
And there's several more that you're trying to arrest.
UNIDENRIFIED MALE: 18 in total.
CULVER: 18 in total.
UNIDENRIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Approaching right now. Still alive in the car/
CULVER: Are these Americans we're talking about?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the exception of one, all are U.S. citizens.
CULVER: They're tied to a faction of the cartel. They are a tight knit crew, all working together for the betterment of a larger organization.
CULVER (voice-over): Cochise County spans 83 miles of border. South of this line, an underground network tied to the fractured but powerful Sinaloa cartel. Plaza bosses control each corridor, deciding who and what gets through. With lookouts posted on nearby hills, constantly watching for U.S. patrols to keep undetected migrants and their cartel backed guides often dress in camouflage. Moving through the rocky desert terrain.
They follow a pin drop, often to a road a few miles from the border. Drivers race in for the pickup and cash payout. Many are young Americans recruited online.
For six months, we tracked hundreds of cartel recruitment posts on social media, some aimed at luring teens. Coded language, emojis, and cash offers offering thousands per pickup.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not seeing a juke in the parking lot yet.
CULVER (voice-over): Deputies are going after the drivers. In the past six months, the Justice Department reports 431 people charged with smuggling in Arizona alone. Many recruited online. Attorneys say most of their clients are between 18 and 25.
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After the pickup, drivers head to stash houses on the U.S. side run by cartel syndicates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're looking for a bright orange trailer.
CULVER (voice-over): Inside, deputies say they hold people, drugs and weapons, guns sourced in the U.S. head south into Mexico. Migrants and narcotics move north to Tucson, Phoenix, and beyond. Every step closely coordinated.
To understand the impact this cartel crackdown is having, we spend weeks trying to get a senior cartel leader to speak with us. He finally agrees, meeting us in a Phoenix parking lot.
From killing to coordinating smuggling operations, he says he's done it all.
CULVER: Do you help in bringing people drugs, weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People and drugs.
CULVER: Are you a citizen here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.
CULVER: No. And so you're able to still come in and out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CULVER (voice-over): Among those helping with transportation, U.S. citizens.
CULVER: You all are using social media to get to young people, young teens, and recruiting them to be part of it. Some of them, many of them are American citizens, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just (INAUDIBLE).
CULVER: That's life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like that, you know.
CULVER: So even though they may get caught and spend many years in prison, that's their fault, as you see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CULVER: When you see, for example, the impact of violence and everything that is caused from the cartel movements, from essentially your employer, do you feel like you're part of this problem?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you know, because I got kid, I got, you know, family. When they want to kill you want -- you defend.
CULVER: So you see it as defending yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's what I say. I don't like Robert. You have something wrong to me, I do something bad to you.
CULVER (voice-over): A not so subtle threat, and yet he seems to regret some of his own life choices.
CULVER: What is your motivation for wanting to talk?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why I come to here? CULVER: Exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What people listen and I tell them. It's not a life. It's not a good, you know, it's not good. It's not.
CULVER: Have you had to kill people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: YEs. Yes, you have them.
CULVER: And does that not weigh on you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I'm not bad. I'm not bad person.
CULVER: You don't think you're a bad person?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not bad person. I do, but I have to what I have to do.
CULVER: Why do you say you do what you have to do? Couldn't you stop doing this? You can't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: Once you get in, you can't get out. Do you think what President Trump has been doing has been making your job tougher?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, Yes. Yes.
CULVER: Yes.
UNIDENATIFIED MALE: Yes.
CULVER: But it's becoming more difficult, you think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CULVER (voice-over): For now, The cartels are still at it.
CULVER: Where we're at right now, it's a very remote area.
CULVER (voice-over): And so, too are the Cochise County deputy deputies jumping in to help Border Patrol.
CULVER: Camera lost visual shortly after he watched them cross the border.
CULVER (vice-over): They're tracking four people who crossed illegally, either by scaling or cutting open a section of the border wall or by walking through open floodgates like these.
CULVER: This is all being coordinated and they're being guided by the cartel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about a mile that way.
CULVER: It sounded like somebody had eyes because they called them running.
CULVER (voice-over): After a nearly two hour pursuit, agents catch up with the migrants and their suspected cartel backed guide.
CULVER: I think what stands out to us is going back to late last year when were last here. You would have never seen this many Border Patrol focused on four individuals. Most of that was because they simply didn't have the bandwidth.
CULVER (voice-over): With fewer migrants, crossing agents say they can finally focus on enforcement. As for local deputies, they press ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got some pending charges right dude?
CULVER (voice-over): Not so much targeting the migrants, but rather those who they're paying to cross illegally.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to be charged with criminal syndicate.
CULVER (voice-over): A criminal enterprise that they warn is growing increasingly desperate. David Culver, CNN, Cochise County, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Fascinating reporting and access. There is much more ahead. Stay with CNN.
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[04:54:11]
ABEL: Prosecutors have asked a New York judge to send Sean "Diddy" Combs to prison for more than 11 years ahead of his sentencing on Friday. They have called Combs unrepentant and said one of his accusers fears retribution.
The music mogul was convicted of prostitution related charges back in July, but he was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, which could have led to a life sentence. Combs attorneys say he deserves no more than 14 months behind bars and should be released soon.
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban calling it quits. They have separated after nearly 20 years of marriage. CNN has confirmed the Oscar winning actress and Grammy winning musician are no longer living together.
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The couple married in 2006 and have two daughters. They have been based in Nashville, Tennessee, with Kidman calling it home on Instagram just last week. CNN has reached out to representatives for both stars for comment.
Oh, this is one of my favorite things growing up. McDonald's is bringing back a nostalgic fan favorite. First introduced in 1987, Monopoly. This time it's getting a digital makeover.
So no more peeling off properties and pasting them onto a game board. Instead, customers will use the McDonald's app to scan food items for discounts and to win big prizes like a million dollars cash or a new Jeep if they collect all pieces of property. Sometimes you get so close. The promotion starts at U.S. restaurants on Monday.
All right, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, DC. Becky Anderson and I will be right back with another hour of Early Start right after the break.
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