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U.S. Justice Department Indicts New York Attorney General; NBA Returns To China After Six-Year Absence; Duffy Threatens To Fire Absent Air Traffic Controllers. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 10, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:34:15]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: After months of pressure from President Donald Trump the U.S. Justice Department indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James on bank fraud and false statement charges in Virginia. The indictment comes as Mr. Trump continues to call for his political opponents to be prosecuted.
James' charges -- they stem from a mortgage she took out in Virginia in 2023. Prosecutors say she falsely claimed on paperwork that the Virginia home would be her primary residence, securing her favorable loan terms. Now last month CNN reported that Justice Department officials did not believe they had enough evidence to build a case against the New York Democrat.
Meanwhile, James says the president is weaponizing the legal system.
[05:35:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETITIA JAMES, (D) NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: These charges are baseless, and the president's own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. I'm a proud woman of faith and I know that faith and fear cannot share the same space. And so today I'm not fearful, I'm fearless. And as my faith teaches me, no weapon formed against me shall prosper.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: James is the second person to be indicted as the president pressures the Justice Department to go after his political enemies. The first was former FBI director James Comey who is being prosecuted for lying to Congress. He has pleaded not guilty.
The mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois are celebrating a district court ruling that will keep President Trump from deploying National Guard troops in their state for at least a few weeks. The judge said she found no credible evidence that there has been a rebellion in the state that would justify sending in soldiers. The order came just hours after members of the Texas National Guard were seen entering an ICE building near Chicago.
President Trump says the National Guard is needed in these cities to protect federal agents and property.
The restraining order -- it expires in two weeks. At that point the judge will decide whether to extend it for another 14 days.
A judge's decision on the legality of sending National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon is still pending.
The U.S. Treasury puts the final touches on a $20 billion plan to prop up Argentina's faltering economy. Details and a look ahead at Friday trading coming up on CNN.
Plus, after a six-year absence, the NBA is returning to its most important overseas market. What to expect at this year's NBA preseason games in China, next.
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[05:41:30]
ABEL: Welcome back to EARLY START, and we're going to give you a look at the U.S. futures ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. You can see the Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq all starting the day up.
Let's check some of today's other business headlines.
The White House has finalized plans for a $20 billion lifeline to Argentina. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the move includes a currency swap and that the U.S. has already purchased some Argentine pesos in hopes of helping Argentina stabilize its financial markets. The peso has significantly fallen in value since Argentina's president, an ally of President Trump, suffered major defeats in local elections.
Spot silver prices have surged 75 percent this year, reaching a record high of $51 a troy ounce. This is the first time the precious metal has surpassed that $50.00 threshold since 1980. Fueling the silver frenzy is traders who are investing in hard assets like silver and gold as means of protecting against market instability. Gold prices have also risen as central banks are relying less on the U.S. dollar as its reserve currency.
And we could see new data on U.S. inflation despite the government shutdown. A Trump administration official says the Bureau of Labor Statistics is calling some staff back to work to prepare the Consumer Price Index report. That report was scheduled to go public on Wednesday, but the shutdown caused delays. The official now expects the data to be released before November 1. They note the report is essential for calculating 2026 Social Security payments.
Well, after a six-year hiatus the NBA is returning to China for two games between the Phoenix Suns and the Brooklyn Nets. The preseason games are being played today and Sunday in Macao at the Venetian Hotel. Basketball and the NBA extremely popular in China, drawing large crowds from all over, really. One person paid almost $1,000 for a ticket. That's a sum equivalent to an NBA final matchup.
The games come at an increasingly tense time between the U.S. and China, providing a rare moment for the two geopolitical powers.
And CNN's Ivan Watson is joining us now from Macao. And Ivan, what are you seeing there and what can we expect from these games at this pretty tense moment?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brian, you know, I've lived in Hong Kong for 10 years. I'm in nearby Macao. I've never seen people this enthusiastic about -- it's just -- it's a remarkable scene.
The NBA is back in China, and they have pulled out all the stops here at this massive casino in Macao with this huge pavilion of activities. And people look kind of giddy to me. They're here with their families. They're wearing the jerseys of their favorite teams and gathering. And this is hours ahead of the sold-out preseason game that will be played here between the Phoenix Suns and the Brooklyn Nets.
And I talked with a father who brought his son here. They spent thousands of dollars on their tickets. And they agreed that people in China are crazy about the NBA. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, more than baseball, soccer, and also --
WATSON: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- American football.
WATSON: Yeah, yeah. What do you think it is? What's so special? Is it the speed, the -- what is it that you love that makes you crazy for basketball?
[05:45:00]
CHILD: It's the kind of, like, swish when you're, like -- whenever you shoot the ball and you, like, hear the swish every time from the net. That's what makes me happy about it.
WATSON: So this is a big deal -- the NBA coming back to China, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WATSON: Huge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huge. We hope that the NBA can come every year so that we don't have any jet lag.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Right.
So, I mean, Brian, take a look at this. This is an almost disturbingly lifelike statue of Steph Curry that people have been gathering to take photos next to.
The NBA says combined, its team and players have more than 425 million followers on social media in China. That's bigger than the entire population of the U.S. But it also shows what a minefield it is to operate in China because it was basically a tweet in 2019 from a general manager of one of the NBA teams supporting protesters in Hong Kong during the year of a political unrest there that effectively got the NBA banned from China.
This is a multibillion dollar industry here. So what we're seeing is after that divorce or separation, China and the NBA coming back together. There's clearly a lot of enthusiasm from Chinese fans. And the question will be how will professional basketball navigate the minefields -- the political minefields going forward?
And I do have to also say -- you alluded to it in your toss to me. The tensions between the governments are enormous -- the trade tensions and the political tensions -- and you don't even have a hint of that in this sprawling room -- Brian.
ABEL: And we're also seeing right there, though, some of the economic gains that could be had from these two powers coming back together, at least for this particular moment.
CNN's Ivan Watson for us live in Macao. Ivan, appreciate you. Thank you.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is warning air traffic controllers not to call out sick. That story, plus how the shutdown is impacting flights after the break.
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[05:51:33]
ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.
This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado who has waged a long fight for democracy in her country. The Nobel committee hailed her efficacy as "one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times."
Donald Trump's plan to send National Guard troops to Chicago is being put on hold. A judge ruled there is no credible evidence of a potential rebellion in the city and that the move violates the U.S. Constitution. President Trump says troops are needed in the city to protect federal agents and property.
The Israeli military says that a ceasefire is now officially in affect in Gaza as its forces pulled back in accordance with a deal approved by the government overnight. The IDF spokesperson added that troops will continue to be present in various areas of the Gaza Strip. It comes after witnesses reported new airstrikes and artillery shelling in Khan Younis and Gaza City this morning. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning air traffic
controllers that they could be fire if they do not show up for work. They are essential employees who must work during the government shutdown even though they are not paid.
And some airports are experiencing flight delays because of controller shortages.
CNN's Pete Muntean has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: There is no way to tell where flight delays caused by air traffic controller staffing shortages during this government shutdown will crop up next.
On Thursday, Newark was on the list of delays. Also, short-staffing at places like the Boston center air traffic control facility in Nashua, New Hampshire. Also, the control towers in Roanoke, Virginia and at Bradley in Hartford, Connecticut.
On Wednesday, the air traffic control tower here at Reagan National Airport was so short-staffed that the FAA had to delay flights in the name of safety for about six hours on Wednesday night. It led to about a quarter of all flights for the day being delayed here at Reagan National Airport.
The larger issue is the margins are razor-thin. There are so few controllers to begin with in the United States -- a nationwide shortage -- and just a few of them calling out sick in certain areas can lead to an outsized impact.
Remember, 11,000 air traffic controllers in the U.S. essentially working without pay right now. Their last paycheck comes next Tuesday. The Union of Air Traffic Controllers insists there is not some sort of coordinated sickout effort taking place right now.
It has led Southwest Airlines to issue a memo to all of its workers saying they should be ready for these air traffic controller delays anywhere in the U.S.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Pete, thank you.
Drake claims he was defamed by Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning diss track. Still ahead for us what the judge had to say about the hip-hop beef that turned into a courtroom battle.
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[05:59:03]
ABEL: A judge has thrown out Drake's lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar's diss track "Not Like Us." Drake brought the defamation suit against his own record label, Universal Music Group, because a division of the company published and promoted the song. Lamar's lyrics infamously called Drake a "certified pedophile." The judge ruled Drake could not sue for defamation over the line because it was an expression of Lamar's opinion and not an assertion of facts.
"Not Like Us" won multiple Grammys and was featured in Lamar's Super Bowl halftime performance earlier this year.
And pop culture fans gathering in the Big Apple for this year's New York City Comic Con. The annual convention kicking off on Thursday at the Javits Center -- you see it here -- considered the largest pop culture event on the U.S. East Coast. Roughly 250,000 people are expected to attend the four-day festival, including celebrities like Sigourney Weaver, Glenn Powell, and the voice actors from KPop Demon Hunters.
[06:00:05]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG MENDEZ, COMIC CON ATTENDEE: This is actually, like, probably my seventh New York City Comic Con. You've got to love it. It's kind of being like reconnecting with everything geek and just kind of being coming back to my tribe. So I'm here. I'm with my family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: And New York City Comic Con continues through Sunday, October 12. Looks like a lot of fun.
Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.
