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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Declares "The War In Gaza Is Over"; IDF: Families Notified After 4 Deceased Hostages Identified; Trump Ally Reshapes Key U.S. Attorney's Office In Virginia; Families Of Blast Victims Demand Accountability. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired October 14, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the United States and all around the world. Thank you for being with us.

I'm Brian Abel. Rahel Solomon is off. It's Tuesday, October 14th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDETT: President Trump spent the day celebrating this phase one completion of this peace deal.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Together, we've achieved what everybody said was impossible. At long last, we have peace in the Middle East.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: The standoff over how to reopen the government is now in its third week.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Former President Barack Obama, criticizing the policies of the Trump administration.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: That's -- that's not who we are. That's not -- that's not -- that's not our idea of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ABEL: The U.S. President Donald Trump is declaring an end to the war in Gaza and a new beginning for the Middle East after signing the Gaza ceasefire deal during a summit in Egypt. The president returned to the U.S. just hours ago after this whirlwind trip to the region, which coincided with the first phase of the agreement that saw the release of all living Israeli hostages.

Those releases leading to these powerful scenes of emotional reunions as families were finally reunited with their loved ones after more than two years in Hamas captivity. Celebrations as well in Gaza and the West Bank. After hundreds of Palestinian detainees and prisoners were released as part of the ceasefire deal.

President Trump traveled to Egypt after stopping in Israel to meet with the families of hostages and to deliver an address to parliament. In Sharm el-Sheikh, he co-hosted a Gaza summit attended by more than 20 nations. The U.S. president declined to directly address whether he supports recognizing a Palestinian state, as he and other leaders took part in a signing ceremony for the Gaza ceasefire deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: After years of suffering and bloodshed, the war in Gaza is over.

This will be maybe the greatest deal of them all, period. And I want to thank all of you and all of these great nations and this region for what it's gone through, and all of the fights it's had on life over death, and hope over strife, and harmony over hatred.

That's what we want. We want it to be that way because together, we're going to forge a magnificent, great and enduring peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following all of these developments for us and joins us from London now.

And, Salma, help us get a better understanding of the outline that was signed, of this plan and its potential hurdles.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, before we get to that, Brian, I just got some breaking news from our desk just in the last few moments, and I want to be able to give that news to you.

We do understand now, according to Israeli officials, that two of those four deceased hostages have been identified, and reading from the statement here saying that IDF representatives, that's the Israeli military, of course, informed the families of Guy Illouz, Bipin Joshi and two additional deceased hostages whose names have not yet been cleared for publication by their families, that their loved ones have been brought back for burial.

So, an indication there that they are naming two of those four deceased hostages, that the other two have been identified as well. So that makes all four of those deceased hostages that were yesterday received by Israel, now identified in their families, informed and indicating there, of course, that they will be finally laid to rest.

But of course, the saga continues on this, Brian, because there are more than 20 deceased hostages that are still believed to be inside Gaza, that Hamas has yet to hand over as part, of course, of this ceasefire deal.

Now, the Israeli government had said that it would be difficult to identify all of those hostages in time, those deceased bodies, rather in time for this deadline. So that process continues and it gives you an understanding of just how complex this is, because as you hear here, once the bodies are handed over to Israel, that's not when it ends. The bodies are then identified on Israeli soil before their families are given that final information.

But to your question, of course, about that ceasefire deal, as we've moved past that phase one, most of that phase one, of course, the deceased hostages still being identified. Theres serious questions now about how that peace can be sustained, how Hamas can continue to play a role if it plays a role in how Israel will respond to that in this post, post war plan.

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There was hope, of course, that President Trump would have clarity once he was on the ground in Egypt. But we got very little of that. There are only questions now, Brian, will Hamas lay down arms? How will Israel respond if it doesn't? How do you maintain the peace otherwise that continue to plague this peace process as many hope that it lasts?

ABEL: All right. Salma Abdelaziz for us in London -- Salma, thank you.

Let's head to Tel Aviv now, where we are joined by Shira Efron, distinguished chair for Israel policy with the research organization, RAND.

Shira, President Trump said, yes, this is the end of the war. When asked after landing in Israel. Yet we know that the thorniest of issues between Israel and Hamas were not dealt with in this first phase of the agreement. And in your opinion piece in "The New York Times" on Sunday, you quote a journalist who said, there's no phase two. Thats clear to everyone, right?

So, I ask you, one, is that the view in Israel? And two, how do we get to phase two? And when?

SHIRA EFRON, DISTINGUISHED CHAIR FOR ISRAEL POLICY, RAND: Hi. So, you know, there are two -- there are two issues here. While Israels wishful thinking is that we never get to phase two. I think there's less likelihood after President Trump's visit here yesterday and making it very clear that he sees this as the end of the war, he sees peace. We're not there yet. But as the end of the war, it will be very difficult for Israel to actually resume the fighting, even though Hamas will provide some pretext for that and vice versa.

How we get to stage two. This is an entirely different question, and its true as you as you pose in your question, out of the 20 points in President Trump's peace plan for war addressed right this the returning the hostages, by the way, not all of them, as you just reported, are still missing the remains of 24 deceased hostages, surge of humanitarian assistance. And, you know, the IDF withdrawal and obviously return of exchange of Palestinian prisoners.

But all the thorny issues about Hamas disarmament, who governs Gaza, questions about reconstruction, question about Palestinian nationalism, connection between Gaza and the West Bank. Have not even been touched upon. Nor addressed. And there's skepticism in the Israeli government and among analysts also, that we will get there. I -- I think in other words, it's just the hard work is just beginning now.

ABEL: The hard work is just beginning. Okay.

There is a lot of -- will this deal hold questions right now, Shira? Even with this first phase, much less talking about the future, what indications are you seeing about the fragility of this and whether both sides have so far held their ends of the bargain?

EFRON: So we are really in the very, very early stages, but from an Israeli perspective, Hamas is already not, held its end of the bargain, right? Because we know there's going to be very difficult for Hamas to find the remains of all deceased hostages. But Israeli intelligence knows for a fact that Hamas knows the location, the exact locations of more than the four that they just provided yesterday.

So, this is already Hamas is using psychological warfare and trying to stretch the boundaries as they've been doing so far. So that in itself, in previous instances of a ceasefire would have provided Israel for a pretext to continue the war.

On the -- on the Hamas side, we know it from previous ceasefires that this idea of 600 humanitarian trucks entering Gaza is really a bit of a facade. There are no 600 available trucks. The U.N. has logistical challenges. And Israeli crossings and the Egyptian crossings have -- they're real hindrances that make this also a possible surge in humanitarian assistance, as expected, which could provide a pretext for Hamas.

Then we have to remember that what we have now in the 141 square miles, 365 square kilometers of the Gaza Strip, we have Hamas. We have armed militias, we have the IDF. All these forces in one territory. And that's before we will have a Palestinian force and a multinational force. If they come this also provides kind of a boiling pot for accidental fire, which can light up, the strip in a second.

However, again, I'm going back to this, I think from an Israeli perspective, President Trump basically vetoed a return to the war. A

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And that's why Israel in the short term, I don't see Israel using one of these pretexts to restart the fire. And it seems that it's not in Hamas interest to do it in the short term either, unless we address the really long term, thorny issues. This unfortunately, you will end up just being another round of fighting between the two sides.

But we'll know more as the United States -- yeah. ABEL: Let me ask you about that. Where does the responsibility lie

for what comes next? And on the question of a Palestinian state, how do you see that playing out?

EFRONT: Before we get to Palestinian state, the real pressing issues is what we are -- know as Hamas disarmament. And decommissioning their arms, you know, history doesn't provide us with many useful precedents or reasons to be optimistic. The IRA in Northern Ireland, it took over 10 years of successive British prime ministers and finally the organization formally decommissioned after over 30 years. So, it takes a long time.

Will Hamas be ready to give up their arms? What types of arms? They make a distinction, a distinction between offensive and defensive capabilities. And who did they give them to?

Hamas said, we will give our weapons to a Palestinian party, to a Palestinian state. This is where Israel says, well, no. And the sequencing is different. There is a question about the multinational force the United States Central Command is sending general, here to Israel with 200 men, but they're not going to go into Gaza. They're going to recruit a multinational force, multinational force under what mandate? What will be the terms of reference?

You know, in Kosovo, we had 60,000 men. Are going to be 60,000 foreigners that come here to disarm Hamas.

ABEL: Right.

EFRON: Destroy the tunnels, defend Israel. Will Israel agree to this? The key questions.

And then, of course, the final one. What does it mean about a Palestinian state and the connection to the Palestinian Authority? So, lots of open-ended questions.

ABEL: And, Shira, the devil, as they say, is in the details. We will see how this all plays out.

Shira Efron in Tel Aviv for us. Shira, thank you.

EFRON: Thank you.

ABEL: U.S. senators will return to Capitol Hill in the coming hours after a long holiday weekend to try and find a compromise to end the government shutdown. No votes have been held since Thursday, despite the prospects of more layoffs and missed paychecks for federal workers. The longer the stalemate between Republicans and Democrats continues, House Speaker Mike Johnson warns the country could be headed toward a record-breaking shutdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history, unless Democrats drop their partizan demands and pass a clean, no strings attached budget to reopen the government and pay our federal workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Sources tell CNN the Department of Education has now cut nearly all of its staff handling special education, except for top officials, as part of this mass layoff. No word on how many people were affected overall.

Justice Department worked on a potential indictment against former Trump national security advisor John Bolton over the weekend. This past Saturday, federal prosecutors met to finalize the details of potential charges. This comes just weeks after federal agents removed documents and electronics from Bolton's office and his home. The search is related in part to a reopened years-old investigation involving Bolton's book, manuscript. That book -- it deeply angered President Trump for criticizing his handling of foreign policy.

He has since called for Bolton to be punished. If an indictment does come down, he'd be the third Trump foe to face criminal charges in just three weeks, after former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Meanwhile, James has made her first public appearance since her indictment on Monday, she attended a rally for New York city Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Supporters gave her a standing ovation as she took the stage.

The Trump administration accusing James of bank fraud and lying to a financial institution. The case against her is widely viewed as an act of political retribution for James's investigation of Donald Trump's real estate business. She says she will fight the unjust charges.

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LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: I know what it feels like to be attacked for just doing your job. But I also know what it feels like to overcome adversity.

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And so, I stand on solid rock and I will not bow. I will not break. I will not bend. I will not capitulate. I will not give in. I will not give up!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: And now to a shakeup in a powerful U.S. attorney's office. A senior prosecutor has been removed as President Trump's former personal attorney reshapes the office, despite having far less experience.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: There's a deepening split in the Justice Department. In Virginia, the prosecutor's office in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Donald Trump has installed his former personal lawyer, someone with not a lot of trial experience, if at all, a woman named Lindsey Halligan to lead the office there, a split between her and the people who've been in that office for a long time, or who have more experience than her.

The latest, she's removing one of the top prosecutors in the office, a woman named Maggie Cleary. Cleary had been the interim U.S. attorney before Halligan came into that position. By Trump's appointment just three weeks ago, and she had been serving as the first assistant.

So, essentially, the top deputy to Lindsey Halligan, Maggie Cleary. Just three weeks in the office has been removed, and this comes at a time where Halligan has really done a lot to assert her own authority in the eastern district of Virginia.

Remember, this is the prosecutor's office that brought the case against James Comey and also brought the case against Letitia James, the New York attorney general, two people that Donald Trump disliked very much and has publicly said he wanted to see, charged Halligan herself took those indictments through a federal courthouse, through a grand jury to secure them at the resistance of some others in the office.

And so, what Halligan is doing now, it is not just that she's involved in these cases and moving them forward. She's also remaking to this office, to her liking, even though she's an interim or potentially just acting U.S. attorney. Her authority is likely to be challenged by Comey and potentially even James in the coming months, as they face the indictments that she has brought against them. And there is just one fewer person in that office now who has much more trial experience and was looked to as a senior leader in the eastern district of Virginia.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Katelyn Polantz, thank you.

Still to come, an update on SpaceX's latest starship test flight and why its fiery landing is seen as a success. And ahead, in the aftermath of a deadly explosive plant blast in Tennessee. The painstaking search for answers goes on as investigators comb through the potentially still dangerous rubble.

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ABEL: Despite a fiery splashdown in the Indian Ocean, SpaceX is calling its latest Starship test flight a success. The spacecraft appeared to smoothly navigate a series of landing maneuvers before it was engulfed in flames. After hitting the water, you might be able to see it here. Monday's launch marks just the second time a version two prototype has

reached this milestone. Since version two debut in January, Starship has suffered three mid-flight failures and an explosion during routine ground tests. SpaceX is preparing to unveil a new scaled up version of Starship next year.

And authorities in Tennessee are combing through the wreckage of an explosives plant after a deadly blast killed 16 people on Friday. It's a process that can't be hurried as they search for answers and human remains.

CNN's Isabel Rosales has more on the painstaking recovery efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The cause of this explosion remains under investigation, with authorities warning that this process could take weeks, if not months.

Now, in the coming days, investigators will move slowly through this. Approximately half a square mile debris field, foot by foot. And what's really slowing them down here is the presence of live ordnance, which they must either detonate or safely remove. The sheriff of Humphreys County, describing it as moving at a snail's pace.

And understandably, this lack of answers, this slow progress is frustrating. Some families of the workers that were caught up in this explosion, including the family of 26-year-old Latisha Mays. I spoke with her father, Earnest Mays, who told me that once they heard about this explosion, they immediately went to their phones.

The family members tracking one another, and he showed me the GPS that showed Latisha Mays outside of the building and that GPS tracking ended at 7:44 a.m. Friday morning at the time of this explosion. He also relayed to me that despite Latisha only working there for eight months, she had brought up previous concerns about her safety, complained about getting nosebleeds on the job.

So, now, the family is demanding accountability and demanding answers on what the company was doing to make sure that their workers were safe on the job. And he specifically brought up an incident that happened here at this very property back in 2014, where a worker was killed, four others were injured, according to data and to reporting from our local CNN affiliate, WSMV.

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Now, it's important to note that at the time that building was operated by a different company. He also brought up violations and fines that Accurate Energetic System, the current owner, was dealt with at the time related to worker safety.

Now, the company contested those fines and ultimately this ended up in a formal settlement. Listen to what else Earnest Mays had to say.

EARNEST MAYS, FATHER OF BLAST VICTIM: She started school back. You know about to pay her car off. She just she was on the right path, man. I just want to know, like what? What precautions did they take after that explosion right there? Because this is -- this is just massive, and I just -- I'm having a hard time understanding how it this much damage has happened.

ROSALES: Now, I also spoke with Letitia's roommate. CNN has agreed not to name her out of her concerns about privacy, and she echoed a lot of what Letitia's family was saying. She told me how Letitia dreaded coming into work if it meant working in that building that ended up getting blown up, Letitia told her, quote, she wanted out of the building, but the roommate told me that Letitia was focused on paying off her car and saving money to get her family Christmas presents.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Isabel Rosales in Tennessee.

More questions than answers after the U.S. president and world leaders signed a document committing to peace in Gaza, what's next for the enclave? That's ahead.

And Gaza phase one is just the beginning. How the Trump administration intends to use its new diplomatic momentum.

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