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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
U.S. Government Shutdown Nightmare; Pushing Back On Pentagon Press Rules; Trump Warning: Hamas Must Disarm. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 15, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:23]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the United States and all around the world. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.
It's Brian. I'm Brian Abel. It's Wednesday, October 15th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C., and straight ahead on EARLY START.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is no end in sight to the federal government shutdown.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): There has to be a willingness amongst Republicans to actually have a conversation.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're not playing games. They're playing a game. We're not.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has stopped holding regular Pentagon briefings, and now they're going even further.
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're trying to make sure national security is respected, and we're proud of the policy.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump posted on Truth Social that the second phase of the peace process and those negotiations has begun.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I spoke to Hamas and I said, "You're going to disarm, right?" "Yes, sir, we're going to disarm."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
ABEL: The U.S. government shutdown now in its third week and is the fourth longest shutdown in more than 40 years. Frustration on Capitol Hill is growing after yet another failed attempt at passing the Republican-backed bill to temporarily fund the government, they needed at least 11 more votes this time around to push the bill through. After so many failed attempts, Senate Majority Leader John Thune warns
that the Senate could leave early this week due to the lack of progress. That means no voting, which would mean the shutdown would be guaranteed to extend into next week. And comments from top officials make it seem like that's inevitable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: At one point, for the good of the country, do you need to change your strategy to negotiate a deal with them?
JOHNSON: It's a great question. Manu asks, why don't I change my strategy? I don't have any strategy, Manu. I'm doing the right thing. The clearly obvious thing, the traditional thing. Thats exactly what Chuck Schumer voted for in March of this year and gave impassioned speeches, was the right and only thing. I don't have anything to negotiate. I'm not playing his game, Manu. I cannot go in and say, oh, gee, Chuck, what can I offer you.
JEFFRIES: There has to be a willingness amongst Republicans to actually have a conversation. And since the white house meeting over two weeks ago, Republicans have gone radio silent. Donald Trump has spent more time on the golf course than talking to Democrats on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Meanwhile, new court filings reveal that hundreds of federal workers were mistakenly sent layoff notices, some of which have been rescinded. Now it comes amid threats from the president that government job cuts, even targeted ones, will continue as the shutdown drags on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Democrats are getting killed on the shutdown because we're closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we were opposed to. So, we're being and they're never going to come back in many cases. So, we're being able to do things that we were unable to do before. So, we're closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we wanted to close up or that we never wanted to happen. And now, we're closing them up and we're not going to let them come back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: The Trump administration, meanwhile, is facing new questions today about its $20 billion lifeline for Argentina. The country's president was at the White House Tuesday, where President Trump said the currency swap is contingent on Javier Milei staying in power.
The bailout, as some call it, comes in the middle of the government shutdown and budget cuts from the Trump administration. And critics say the plan is hurting American farmers as China is buying soybeans from Argentina, not the U.S.
Here's how President Trump explained his decision. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's really meant to help a good financial philosophy where Argentina can, after 20 years of disaster, because it was very successful at one point. And it can be again, like Venezuela, Venezuela was very, very successful and now, it's a dictatorship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: More on this now from CNN's Kevin Liptak at the White House.
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KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: If President Trump is concerned about any political blowback to the $20 billion infusion of American dollars into Argentina's economy, he did not betray that as he was meeting with Argentina's President Javier Milei, the two men getting off to quite a warm welcome, discussing over lunch their mutual affection for MAGA style politics.
[05:05:03]
And the president making clear that that $20 billion swap of U.S. dollars for Argentine pesos would not go forward if Milei's party loses in upcoming midterm elections.
Listen to what he said.
TRUMP: I'm with this man because his philosophy is correct, and he may win and he may not win. But I think he's going to win. And if he wins, we're staying with him. And if he doesn't win, we're gone.
LIPTAK: Now, Trump has found something of a kindred spirit in Milei. He has identified government waste as a top priority for his administration. He's something of a darling in the global conservative movement, and the president has sort of acknowledged that he's one of his top global allies.
But this bailout, although that's not what administration officials call it, has generated some degree of controversy, particularly as the U.S. government remains shut down and as federal workers continue to go without pay.
You also hear, even from some Republicans who question why the U.S. is sending $20 billion to Argentina at a moment when prices are rising in the United States, when hiring seems to be slowing.
You also hear concern from American farmers. Argentina has lifted some of its export duties on soybeans and is selling them to China at a moment when China is not buying any soybeans from the United States. And so, this is something of a political predicament for President Trump. But at least listening to him, he's casting this as a necessity to try and prop up an economy that seems to be on the brink.
And, you know, Milei has had some success in taming inflation in Argentina. But there has been sort of a concern that if he loses these elections coming up, that he won't be able to pursue some of the free market reforms that he's been engaged with in his first year or so in office.
And so, President Trump making this out to be quite an important necessity, but also making explicit that it will not go forward if Milei's party doesn't remain in power.
Kevin Liptak, CNN, the White House.
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ABEL: Thanks to Kevin for that.
President Trump is endorsing his defense secretary's new restrictions on press access to the Pentagon. Pete says the new rules require Pentagon beat reporters to sign a pledge not to obtain or use any unauthorized material, even if the information is unclassified. So basically, nothing could be reported unless it's pre-approved by the Pentagon.
Almost every news outlet has refused so far, opting instead to surrender their press credentials in protest. President Trump attacked the media as he defended the reporting restrictions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Press is very dishonest. It bothers me to have soldiers and even, you know, high ranking generals walking around with you guys on their sleeve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: CNN's Brian Stelter has more on the new Pentagon press rules.
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BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST (voice-over): Sights like this --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon, everybody.
STELTER (voice-over): -- are almost never seen at the Pentagon anymore.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's team has stopped holding regular Pentagon briefings, and they've started posting video on social media instead.
KINGSLEY WILSON, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I'm Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson, and welcome to the DOW's weekly situation report.
STELTER (voice-over): Hegseth seems to want reporters to toe the same line and repeat the same talking points.
This year, his press office has expelled many news outlets from longtime Pentagon workspaces and barred reporters from many parts of the building without an escort. And now, they're going even further.
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're trying to make sure national security is respected, and we're proud of the policy.
STELTER (voice-over): What Hegseth calls common sense press advocates call an unprecedented attack.
Hegseth is championing new rules for press passes that, quote, appear to violate the First Amendment, according to the association for Pentagon reporters.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: This is about as packed a news conference as I've ever seen here at the Pentagon.
STELTER (voice-over): Those reporters have been working from inside the U.S. military headquarters for decades.
BARBARA STARR, FORMER CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The Pentagon also made it very clear earlier today what their exact goal was, making absolutely no bones about it. It is to get the current regime out of power.
STELTER (voice-over): Asking questions on behalf of the public.
REPORTER: Do you commit to making that review public?
STELTER (voice-over): And holding officials accountable.
LLOYD AUSTIN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I want to be crystal clear. We did not handle this right.
STELTER (voice-over): But Hegseth, bedeviled by leaks, is trying to stop reporters from talking to sources.
HEGSETH: Time and time again, classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad.
STELTER (voice-over): Media lawyers say the new rules for accessing the pentagon would criminalize journalism. So today, in a rare show of solidarity, the country's five biggest TV networks said no. CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, even Fox News all saying, quote, "The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections."
[05:10:03]
Dozens of other outlets also refusing to sign the papers, which means they'll lose access this week. Hegseth waving goodbye with these emojis on social media.
But as the networks all said today, quote, "We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press."
Brian Stelter, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ABEL: And Leon Panetta, he served as a CIA director, but he also served as U.S. defense secretary, just like Pete Hegseth. He says the new Pentagon press restrictions violate the Constitution and court precedent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: I think this is a clear violation of the Constitution. Would I recommend the secretary take a look at is Hugo Black's decision in the Pentagon Papers?
And let me just read a few lines from that. And I quote, "No branch of government can abridge the people's freedom of the press," unquote. Another quote, "The press must be left free to publish the news, whatever the source," unquote. And finally, "Only a free press can expose deception in the government," unquote.
What he's trying to do is clearly restrict the freedom of the press here to be able to report on the news. The Pentagon is the largest department in the federal government. Almost 300 million people, as you pointed out, its almost $1 trillion -- over $1 trillion now, of taxpayer money is involved.
The people have a right to know what's going on at the Department of Defense. So I'm glad the press has taken a strong stand on this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Still ahead, tensions erupt in Chicago. Federal agents using tear gas on a crowd after a car chase takes a turn for the worse.
And he was one of Donald Trump's closest advisers during his first term in office. Now, investigators are looking at detailed notes John Bolton took during that time and whether they were handled properly. The details ahead.
Plus, an uncertain path forward for Gaza. Donald Trump says the next phase of the ceasefire deal begins now and warns Hamas it must disarm. The latest in a live report ahead.
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[05:16:59]
ABEL: Fencing outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Chicago is no longer up. Crews removing it just a short time before a court-imposed deadline. ICE agents put the fencing up after weeks of protests around the facility. That became worse after President Trump's deployment of the National Guard.
Earlier in the day. U.S. Border Patrol agents were involved in a car crash, car chase that resulted in multiple crashes and growing outrage, as well as a result. Agents were trying to detain someone the Department of Homeland Security said, was in the country illegally and had tried to flee after ramming a Border Patrol vehicle. Two people were eventually arrested. And police say the crowd began throwing objects at agents, who then deployed tear gas. DHS says crowd control measures were used after the situation became, quote, "hostile".
A Justice Department investigation into Trump critic John Bolton is said to be focusing largely on his email. Sources are telling CNN prosecutors are looking at diary-like notes Bolton made in an AOL account when he served as Donald Trump's national security advisor. U.S. intelligence agencies believe Bolton's emails were hacked several years ago by a foreign adversary, providing access to sensitive or classified information.
That's one reason federal investigators searched Bolton's home and office back in August. Bolton has not been charged with any crime yet. His attorney says the longtime government official had nothing inappropriate in his home or office after his federal service ended.
Former special counsel Jack Smith, speaking out for the first time since his federal cases against Donald Trump were upended by the 2024 election. Before the election, Smith had filed charges in two separate investigations of Trump. One for the -- for his alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and then another for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Now both cases ended when Trump was reelected president last November.
And Republicans have long accused the Biden Justice Department and Smith in particular, of weaponizing the DOJ and deliberately targeting Trump. In an interview last week, Smith said those claims are pure nonsense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK SMITH, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL: The idea that politics would play a role in big cases like this, it's absolutely ludicrous and it's totally contrary to my experience as a prosecutor from the time I was a junior prosecutor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: U.S. President Donald Trump says phase two of the cease fire deal between Israel and Hamas is now beginning, even as major questions remain about the path forward in Gaza. An Israeli source says negotiations on critical next stages in the agreement are still ongoing in Egypt. In a social media post, the U.S. president said the job from phase one is not done as Hamas is yet to release all the deceased hostages.
[05:20:03]
When asked if Hamas is holding up its end of the deal, President Trump said "we'll find out" and issued this warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If they don't disarm, we will disarm them, and it will happen quickly. And perhaps violently. But they will disarm. Do you understand me?
REPORTER: Yes.
TRUMP: Because you always everyone says, oh, well, they won't disarm. They will disarm.
And I spoke to Hamas, and I said, "You're going to disarm, right?" "Yes, sir. We're going to disarm." That's what they told me. They will disarm, or we will disarm them. Got it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following these developments for us and joins us live now from London.
And, Salma, you have new information about the latest transfer of bodies?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDNT: Yes, absolutely. And this will be deeply concerning and troubling information for the families. So, I want to begin with that morning, we now have information from the Israeli military that says that one of those four bodies that was handed over by Hamas overnight does not belong to an Israeli hostage. Sources saying that they believe it is the body of a Palestinian individual. And a second source saying that it may have been in the fog of war, that this was not intentional, intentionally a violation of the agreement by Hamas, but potentially just a mistake.
Now, we did have a very similar incident to this in February of 2025. Brian, if you remember, it was the body of Shira Bibas, the mother of two had been kidnaped during October 7th. The body that had been handed over by Hamas initially was actually the body of a Palestinian woman. A day later, Hamas did hand over the body of Shira Bibas.
So, there is hope, of course, that this could be resolved, that this is potentially a mistake. But it is unclear at this stage. And for those families, of course, it adds to that anguish. It adds to that pain. We know that there are 28 deceased hostages. That was what was in the agreement that were supposed to be returned within 72 hours of that deal. So far, now that this one body is identified as not being that of a hostage, seven have been returned.
More than 20 remain in the Gaza strip. Speaking more broadly here, Brian, there's absolutely a sense across Israeli society that the job is not done, since all of these deceased hostages have yet to come home. But also, it is very important to note that for months now, Israeli intelligence assessments have viewed it as nearly impossible for Hamas to bring back all those bodies, because it would be difficult for them to retrieve all of the deceased hostages.
To explain why that is, you have to understand just the fog of war, the devastation of the conflict, the bodies that may have been lost in that, but also one of those 28 hostages, one of those 28 deceased is a lieutenant from the Israeli military who had been killed over a decade ago. So, you can begin to see the challenges. Still, you have the Red Cross, which rushed its vehicles into Gaza in
the middle of the night to retrieve those four bodies, three of now, three of which now have been identified as those of hostages. That anger, that frustration from Israeli society continues, and you've heard the consequences will already those consequences are playing out on the ground.
The U.N. says the number of aid trucks that will be entering Gaza today has been halved. Only 300 aid trucks. And already Israeli officials are considering the possibility of shutting off the Rafah border crossing, completely, shutting off aid completely and even redeploying Israeli troops to parts of Gaza that they had just pulled back from.
So, this is an absolutely serious issue that may resume in some ways, parts of the conflict, if not resolved in time -- Brian.
ABEL: We are seeing the cracks right now and how fragile this ceasefire agreement is. We'll see if any of this has worked out here in the coming hours.
Salma Abdelaziz for us in London -- Salma, thank you.
President Trump awards the nation's highest civilian honor to Charlie Kirk weeks after the conservative activist's murder in Utah. While Kirk's wife said as she accepted the tribute ahead.
Plus, new surveillance video of the attack on the Pennsylvania governor's house shown in court and the latest on the suspect's plea deal. That's after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:28:41]
ABEL: Donald Trump has posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. is given to people who have made an especially meritorious contribution to national interests, world peace or other significant endeavors. The administration said it was honoring Kirk as a martyr for truth and freedom.
Kirk's widow, Erika, accepting the award on her husband's behalf at the Rose Garden ceremony on what would have been his 32nd birthday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIKA KIRK, CHARLIE KIRK'S WIDOW: You know how difficult it is sometimes to buy a gift for someone that you love, because he wasn't a materialistic man. So that also did not help. But now I can say with confidence, Mr. President, that you have given him the best birthday gift he could ever have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Kirk was shot and killed last month while debating students at Utah Valley University.
In a Pennsylvania courtroom, the suspect in the April assassination attempt on Governor Josh Shapiro has pleaded guilty to attempted murder, arson and other charges. Take a look at new video evidence that prosecutors shared of the moment Cody Balmer tossed a makeshift Molotov cocktail inside the governor's mansion. It was one of several Molotovs that were used.
After Balmer was sentenced, the governor talked about the attack that occurred as he and his family slept.
CNN's Danny Freeman brings us Governor Shapiro's reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The attack at Governor Josh Shapiro's home unfolded in.
