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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Greenland Stages Largest-Ever Military Drills; Trump Surges Federal Officers, National Guard Troops To Memphis; U.K. Police; Stabbing Reported At Synagogue In Manchester. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 02, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): But they're still training hard to repulse any would-be attackers.
COMMANDER SOREN ANDERSEN, DANISH JOINT ARCTIC COMMAND: We are here to protect Greenland. And in order to protect Greenland we have to train and -- because if you're not up here and conduct training you're not able to defend Greenland. So that's what we're doing.
CHANCE: And what are the security threats to Greenland? Who are you protecting it from?
ANDERSEN: Yeah, against Russia. That is the main threat for Greenland. There's not a threat now but there's a future threat. So we are looking into a threat when the -- when the war in Ukraine is over.
CHANCE (voiceover): But such a remote danger begs the question why Denmark is ramping up military spending right now to the tune of billions of dollars and pouring its limited resources into the Arctic.
CHANCE: Well, Greenland has become a highly contested territory seen as strategically important. And Denmark has deployed its air force, its navy, and its land assets here to show that it is in charge very much and is increasing its presence.
Now, the purpose of this exercise is to deter countries like Russia and China, we're told by Danish military officials, which are increasingly active in the Arctic region. But the real message -- the real target audience for all of this is in Washington and President Trump.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we're working with everybody involved to try and get it.
CHANCE (voiceover): That ambition appears to have dropped off the White House agenda, at least for now.
TRUMP: One way or the other we're going to get it. CHANCE (voiceover): But in the icy fjords of Greenland with naval
exercises underway too, it's still seen as the most pressing diplomatic challenge -- although Denmark's top general, who CNN met onboard a Danish frigate, was careful not to admit it in public.
CHANCE: Is the real reason for these maneuvers the remarks by President Trump about the sovereignty of Greenland? Is it -- is it intended to send a message to Washington?
MICHAEL HYLDGAARD, DANISH CHIEF OF DEFENSE: This is a military exercise. It is to demonstrate our ability to protect Greenland and that's the military side of it.
CHANCE: And it's not meant as a message to Washington --
HYLDGAARD: Uh --
CHANCE: -- that Greenland can protect their -- that Denmark can protect Greenland?
HYLDGAARD: Yeah. I'm not a politician. So I have a military task.
CHANCE (voiceover): But as we flew out of Greenland it was clear that military task carries a key Danish political goal not just to deter Moscow and Beijing from ever invading this vast arctic expanse but also to convince Washington there's no need to take Greenland as its own.
Matthew Chance, CNN, in Greenland.
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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Matthew, thank you for that report.
Still to come for us, the U.S. government starts to bite as federal workers are laid off. We'll tell you the departments and services at risk.
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[05:37:55]
ABEL: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.
The U.S. financial markets are looking to keep their momentum after hitting record highs despite the first day of the government shutdown. You see here the Dow is down while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq -- they are up to start the day.
Let's check in now on some of today's other business headlines.
The U.S. economy losing 32,000 private sector jobs in September, according to ADP. The payroll company's estimates often don't match the government's monthly jobs report but can be a good indicator of the labor market's trajectory, especially since we are unlikely to get an official jobs report now on Friday because of this government shutdown.
Tech company Meta will soon start using what people tell its artificial intelligence chatbot to target them with even more personalized ads. The company will also use data from Meta AI to help decide what kinds of content users see on its site. The change will start on December 16 on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the Meta AI app.
Nike's efforts to turn around its sluggish business is gaining traction. It reported an unexpected rise in first-quarter revenue despite weakness in China and the impact of President Trump's trade war. It says tariffs could cost it $1.5 billion this year. But Nike says a full recovery is still a ways off with revenue expected to fall again in the second quarter.
White House officials have told Republican lawmakers lay offs of federal workers are set to happen over the next two days, sources tell CNN. They didn't give any details about how many workers would face the axe or in what departments. But as CNN's Rene Marsh reports, cuts are already starting to happen.
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RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Anthony Lee leads the D.C. union chapter for FDA employees. He worked in the FDA's Human Food Program that oversees food safety and foodborne illness prevention -- at least he did until today.
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ANTHONY LEE, FURLOUGHED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE: The majority of employees under HFP doing food safety work have been furloughed.
MARSH: So ultimately, what does this mean for food safety?
LEE: Whether it's a recall or a foodborne illness or outbreak, we need those experts there at the FDA to be able to quickly take calls and give guidance and answers to what should happen to make sure that foodborne illness doesn't spread.
MARSH (voiceover): Workers across federal agencies face two options: furloughed, meaning no work and no pay or working without pay in roles deemed critical. About 750,000 federal employees will be furloughed each day of the shutdown, according to one estimate, amounting to $400 million in pay withheld each day.
At the Department of Education most staffers are being furloughed, although student loans and Title I grants will continue to be processed.
At the FDA, limited work responding to emergencies, but no new drug applications. And some drug monitoring will be impacted.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, tells CNN, "Mission-critical FDA activities will continue." On the other hand, most Homeland Security employees must keep working with no interruption for ICE and immigration enforcement or National Guard deployments to cities like Memphis and Washington, D.C.
Also still working without pay, TSA screeners, Customs and Border Patrol, and air traffic controllers, which could trigger major travel disruptions as it did in the 2018-2019 shutdown when missed paychecks led to a sick-out.
NICK DANIELS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL ASSOCIATION: Add to these difficulties this unnecessary distraction in the mix, it puts the controllers in a very difficult position. It does weaken the national airspace system.
MARSH (voiceover): Social Security and Medicare benefits will continue. Meanwhile, food banks like this one in Kansas City are preparing for a potentially lengthy shutdown that could impact SNAP, the federal food assistance program that serves millions of low-income Americans.
ELIZABETH KEEVER, HARVESTERS FOOD BANK: If a funding decision is not made by mid-October, we do risk those November payments that people would expect to see in their SNAP and WIC benefits being impacted.
MARSH (voiceover): National Parks will generally remain open but operate on skeleton crews.
RECORDED MESSAGE: Due to a lapse in federal appropriations, Joshua Tree National Park will have limited services.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're obviously going to do less business. No people, we're not going to be any business. So it's just really a matter of how long this is going to last.
MARSH: And the impact of this shutdown goes far beyond Washington. In the private sector businesses deciding whether to hire or fire will likely not have the benefit of crucial economic data like inflation and the jobs reports because employees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- they, too, are furloughed as a result of this shutdown.
Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.
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ABEL: The Trump administration sends troops to Tennessee's second- largest city claiming it's an effort to fight crime. But do the facts match the president's claims about Memphis? That's next.
Plus, actress Jane Fonda is leading a new charge to fight for the First Amendment. Why she says it's imperative to do so now. That's also next.
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ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.
Donald Trump is warning that programs popular with Democrats could be cut and more federal workers could be fired because of the U.S. government shutdown. It will last until at least Friday when lawmakers return for more funding votes. But some say the president's threats don't mean much since he's already made massive cuts regardless of congressional action.
The aid flotilla bound for Gaza is still pushing on with its voyage even after more than a dozen vessels were intercepted by the Israeli military. Military personnel boarded the boats, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry says the passengers will be deported. The interception has sparked global outcry and protests in several countries.
And Indonesian authorities have shifted from a rescue to a recovery operation after days of looking for survivors from a boarding school collapse. Crews have found several children alive but at least five people have died and dozens more remain missing.
U.S. authorities are making dozens of arrests in Memphis, Tennessee. It's the latest city run by Democrats to see the deployments of federal officers and National Guard troops on the premise of cracking down on crime.
Several Trump administration officials visited Memphis on Wednesday. Attorney General Pam Bondi said more than 200 officers have been federalized. You see Stephen Miller, the defense secretary, and Bondi there.
CNN's Ryan Young is in Memphis with our report.
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RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. We've really seen the buildup in Memphis throughout the day. If you look behind me here this is one of the staging areas where we've seen a lot of that law enforcement sort of swell into. We've seen everything from a helicopter to extra forces come in -- ATF, FBI, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation -- all trying to make their presence known in the Memphis area.
We actually walked through a neighborhood that experienced a lot of gun violence talking to the neighbors who are very upset about what they've been seeing going on. We know that crime, according to the police department, has dropped in the last year -- maybe down 25 percent. But there are neighbors who are concerned and worried and want to see more happen.
Take a listen to one neighbor that we talked to on the streets of Memphis.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I would want them to help us, you know, get more officers -- to draw more. To make it interesting that officers -- people would want to join the police force, you know. And that's the bottom line.
You can't -- you can't be satisfied living in a city where you can't go to the gas station. You go to the gas station you may become a statistic. That's real. I tell my wife do not go to the gas station at night. But now sometimes you can't go to it in the daytime.
I don't let this up without looking out the window making sure. And I come out the other day and someone tried to steal my car.
YOUNG: Yeah. We also heard from the Secretary of War. From Pam Bondi, who was saying that they wanted to make sure they support the ongoing efforts here. They plan to be here for long haul to clean up the city.
We also heard the mayor address a town hall. They want to integrate some of these federal forces and resources in with the police department to further the success they have already seen.
So there's a mix because there are some people in neighborhoods who are worried and concerned. They don't want too much federal involvement. But then you also have people like the man here holding the sign behind my back who is welcoming all this federal law enforcement into the area hoping that it makes a difference.
Reporting in Memphis, Ryan Young, CNN.
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ABEL: President Trump posted on social media that National Guard troops are now in place in Oregon. Six people were arrested during a protest outside an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility on Tuesday night. One officer was hospitalized.
In a federal lawsuit this week, state leaders are rejecting the president's claim that anarchy is reigning in Portland. They insist there is no insurrection, no threat to national security, and no need for federal troops.
Portland's police chief said a confrontation that was restricted to one city block did not justify the level of attention it is receiving.
White House officials tell CNN the president views the Portland protests as an opening to pursue his claimed crackdown on crime.
Well, nearly eight decades after Hollywood stood up to McCarthyism with the Committee for the First Amendment, actress Jane Fonda is relaunching the organization.
The move comes after Jimmy Kimmel was briefly pulled from the air amid public pressure from Donald Trump's FCC chair over comments about Charlie Kirk's killer.
Fonda says people need to come together as Americans are being silenced in what she calls the most frightening moment of her life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JANE FONDA, ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST: No president has ever sent troops into the Democratic cities across the country saying full force. No Democrat -- no president, as far as I know, has tried to control the Federal Reserve, the central bank. He is amassing power in a way that will destroy our democracy.
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ABEL: More than 550 Hollywood figures have officially joined Fonda's fight.
The original Committee for the First Amendment was created back in 1947 to defend free speech and government overreach in the McCarthy era.
Well, conservative Jane Goodall is being remembered for her revolutionary work studying chimpanzees. She died Wednesday at the age of 91 from natural causes, according to her institute. Current and former world leaders and top names from the business world are posting their condolences.
Goodall had been fascinated with Africa and its animals long before she traveled to Tanzania in 1960 to study primates. Her field study helped to broaden the world's understanding of animal behavior and emotions. Goodall's work also broke barriers for women and changed the way scientists study animals.
We are following breaking news that just in to CNN. There are reports of a stabbing at a synagogue in Manchester, England. Police say four people have been injured by a vehicle and the stabbings, and a suspect has been shot.
We are working to learn more details. We'll have a live report after this break. We'll be right back.
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[05:58:20]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The building just fell. Oh! Oh!
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ABEL: Incredible video there. Investigators searching for what caused this building in New York's Bronx neighborhood to collapse on Wednesday. Residents say they heard an explosion, smelled gas, and felt what seemed like an earthquake as those pieces of the apartment building collapsed into the street.
No injuries or deaths were reported, according to New York's mayor, but the incident has sparked concerns that a similar accident could happen elsewhere in the city. It's also reignited conversations over safety conditions in buildings under New York's Housing Authority. Pope Leo is challenging countries around the world to listen to the cry of the Earth. At a climate conference near Rome the pontiff delivered his first major speech on the environment since his election in May. He urged world leaders to do more to fight climate change.
And he paid tribute to his predecessor Pope Francis, who said "Responsible stewardship of the environment is a moral imperative for Catholics."
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POPE LEO XIV: Pope Francis emphasized that the most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone but above all from major political decisions on the national and international levels.
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ABEL: And we are following breaking news of a stabbing at a synagogue in Manchester, England. We do know that there are injuries, according to police there. And, of course, this is a fluid situation with the information subject to change.
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But we do want to go to Clare Sebastian who is joining us from London now with what we know at this moment -- Clare.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK.
ABEL: OK. We're still working to get Clare. We will have more information throughout the day with what we learn on this breaking news situation -- a stabbing at a synagogue in Manchester, England.
That's it for EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.
