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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Louisiana Redistricting Case That Could Further Undercut 1965 Voting Rights Act; Watch Crypto ATM Scam As It Happens, CNN Confronts Scammer; NATO Ramping Up Measures To Counter Russia. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 16, 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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JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sometimes a long period of time -- decades in some cases -- but they should not be indefinite and should have an endpoint.
Now he was referring to the context of school integration plans and campus affirmative action. But here these kinds of districts when they're created -- majority Black districts -- are responding to a violation of the Voting Rights Act in present time where there's been found to be a vote dilution of Black or Hispanic voters. So he was raising a concern that the liberal justices and the lawyer from the NAACP legal defense fund really tried to push down.
I don't think they're going to curtail all race-based remedies here but where Justice Kavanaugh also had an issue is when lower court judges can actually declare vote dilution and then when a remedy would kick in. So there are a couple of different ways that the justices can go and a couple of different off-ramps.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh was the key vote in an Alabama case two years ago when they allowed the Voting Rights Act to stand in that Alabama case and he might be the person who either tips it over to end it or preserves it in some way this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Joan Biskupic there.
Scammers have found a new way to separate you from your money using crypto ATMs. Our senior investigative correspondent confronts a scammer and shows us how they do it. That's after the break.
Plus, U.S. investigators release their final reports on what caused the deadly Titan submersible disaster in the North Atlantic.
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[05:36:15]
ABEL: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout. Here is where the U.S. futures stand ahead of the opening bell on Wall
Street, and they are looking up despite lingering worries over the U.S. government shutdown and President Trump's trade tensions with China. The Dow, S&P 500, and the Nasdaq all in the green.
And checking some of today's other business headlines, ChatGPT will soon loosen up restrictions to allow for more content, including erotica for verified adult users. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the move is part of an effort to treat adult users like adults. An update expected in the coming weeks will let users choose to make the bot respond in a "very humanlike way." A further easing of restrictions planned for December is set to allow verified users to generate erotica as well.
Smucker's is suing Trader Joe's over its peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, saying the grocery chain's version is too similar to their Uncrustables. In a lawsuit filed Monday Smucker's says both the design of Trader Joe's PB&Js and the packaging violate its trademarks. Smucker's is seeing restitution, and it also wants a judge to require Trader Joe's to deliver all products to Smucker's to be destroyed.
Meta has removed a Facebook page that was being used to track U.S. immigration agents at the request of the U.S. Justice Department. Meta says the page violated its policies against "coordinated harm." But users of the app say it's their First Amendment right to record and share what federal agents are doing in their neighborhoods as a safety tool for residents.
Part two now of a CNN investigation into crypto scams that center on what might look like ordinary ATMs, but they are crypto ATMs. The machines turn cash into cryptocurrency and scammers are convincing more and more Americans to feed their hard-earned money into them and into swindlers' accounts. The trouble often starts with an email or a text falsely claiming that you owe money.
Our senior investigative correspondent Kyung Lah confronted one of the scammers just as he was trying to steal thousands of dollars from her -- watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCAMMER: You need to withdraw $9,500 from your account.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): What am I doing with thousands in cash in a car? You are watching a scam.
SCAMMER: See you are talking to the Geek Squad from the Best Buy.
LAH (voiceover): And this is a scammer trying to steal money from me.
LAH: This is a mistake.
LAH (voiceover): You've probably gotten fake bills or spam texts. We decided to call one. It appeared to be a U.S. phone number on the official looking bill that was emailed by the con artists.
SCAMMER: Can you tell me your refund amount once again?
LAH (voiceover): He promises to help, sending me a form to fill out.
LAH: It says Geek Squad cancellation and refund form -- excellent.
LAH (voiceover): Here is how this scam works. In order to get my refund he says I need to let him remote control my computer, which for the purposes of this scam I let him.
SCAMMER: You are connected. So, like, you need to accept the refund, OK? Once it will ask you for the amount, give a dollar sign then one, zero, zero. That's it, OK?
LAH: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. What happened? That says $10,000.
SCAMMER: Oh my God. I told you please don't make any mistake.
LAH (voiceover): The lie is that this company refunded me too much money, and I must send it back to avoid committing a crime.
SCAMMER: This is an illegal fund. You need to transfer that money back to our company. You need to go to your bank, OK, and you need to withdraw $9,500 from your account. While you're driving you don't have to talk to me, and you don't have to talk to me inside the bank as well.
LAH (voiceover): After I pull out the cash he wants to see proof.
SCAMMER: Take a picture.
LAH: Take a picture of the money?
[05:40:00]
SCAMMER: Yes. Yes, it's good.
LAH (voiceover): Here is the modern twist in the scam. The scammer tells me where to go to find something called a crypto ATM where I can deposit the money.
SCAMMER: There will be a yellow-colored ATM machine.
LAH: A yellow-colored ATM machine.
SCAMMER: Open up the camera. You need to deposit that cash.
LAH (voiceover): A crypto ATM looks like a normal ATM but it's different. Put in cash and it converts it into cryptocurrency in an instant. These machines become the getaway car for the scammers who prey on victims.
But back to our scammer on the phone with me.
LAH: I'm not going to put the money into the machine.
SCAMMER: Why? LAH: Because this is a scam. You know it and I know it.
SCAMMER: Why you think like -- why you think like that?
LAH: You are talking to a reporter from CNN.
SCAMMER: Oh, so you are talk -- I am talking to the reporter?
LAH: From CNN. How much crypto money are you transferring through various electronic wallets?
SCAMMER: Like a couple of million dollars in a month.
LAH: Do you care about these people you're scamming?
SCAMMER: Yes, I do care.
LAH: You do care?
SCAMMER: Yes.
LAH: Because a lot of people are losing their life savings. Elderly people who fall for this.
SCAMMER: Oh, OK. I'm sorry about that.
LAH: Why do you keep doing it?
(Call disconnected)
LAH: Police reports reviewed show that these scammed cash -- the preponderance of it does end up overseas. A lot of that money flows into places like Africa and Southeast Asia. Experts also tell us that the people making the phone calls, like that scammer on the phone -- they're often the victims of human trafficking and are victims there of forced labor.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: NATO members are reaching into their pocketbooks as they work to counter Russia and as the U.S. weighs whether to provide Ukraine with a powerful weapon. That's just ahead.
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[05:46:30]
ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.
U.S. Senate lawmakers are expected to cast another round of votes today on whether to pass a Republican-backed bill to reopen the government. It is unclear what will have changed since Wednesday's failed vote to pass the same measure. The government has been shut down for 16 days now with fears it could go on much longer.
Donald Trump is turning up the pressure on Venezuela. The U.S. president says he has authorized covert CIA operations inside the South American country to stop the flow of migrants and to drugs. But Mr. Trump stopped short of saying the CIA could remove President Nicolas Maduro from power.
The Israeli government is holding state memorial ceremonies today for the victims of Hamas' October 7 attack. Just a short while ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an address during a ceremony commemorating fallen soldiers. He is one of several top officials in attendance.
And Donald Trump says the Ukrainian president will make a case to "go offensive" against Russia when the leaders meet at the White House on Friday. The U.S. president is likely referring to Ukraine's request for American-made Tomahawk missiles capable of striking Moscow, but he has yet to commit to supply such powerful weapons. Meanwhile, NATO defense ministers have been discussing strategies for countering Russia.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the details.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Secretary General Mark Rutte and the U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have praised NATO member states for increasing their defense spending and pledging to do that.
They say that this is important in two major ways. On the one hand, it obviously increases NATO member states' capabilities and then allows them to contribute more to common defense. But Pete Hegseth said it's also important in terms of helping Ukraine and trying to end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
One of the things that he's talking about is the initiative called PURL which essentially has European and other NATO member states buying U.S. weapons and then giving those weapons to Ukraine. Now, Pete Hegseth said that spending also counts against defense spending of NATO member states and he's calling for more of it.
Here's what he had to say.
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: All countries need to translate goals into guns, commitments into capabilities, and pledges into power. That's all that matters -- hard power. It's the only thing belligerents actually respect. Your continued investment and leadership are vital to helping Ukraine defend itself and to bring an end to this conflict. Peace through strength.
PLEITGEN: Now, the NATO secretary general also said that while initially six NATO member states had signed onto the PURL program as of the summit, on Wednesday it was half of NATO member states who had made commitments. Now another topic that was not officially on the agenda but still loomed large was Ukraine possibly receiving U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Trump administration. There is, of course, set to be a meeting between President Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House on Friday where that could be a topic. And asked about this, the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that he couldn't really comment directly because this was a bilateral issue between the United States and Ukraine.
[05:50:07]
Also, the NATO member states, of course, right now dealing with flaring tensions between NATO and Russia after several incursions by Russian aircraft and drones onto NATO territory.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Russia could be on the verge of losing a key source of funding for its war machine. Donald Trump says Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured him that he will halt Russian oil imports, adding that India's oil purchases have allowed Russia to continue with this "ridiculous war."
The U.S. president imposed another 25 percent tariff on India in August as a penalty for its Russian energy purchases.
India has long been reliant on Russia for crude oil to support its booming economy and growing population.
India issued a statement earlier that addressed its energy challenges but did not reveal whether it would stop importing from Russia. It says, "Ensuring stable energy prices and secured supplies have been the twin goals of our energy policy. Where the U.S. is concerned, we have for many years sought to expand our energy procurement. This has steadily progressed in the last decade."
There's more to come on CNN, including a closer look at this haunting image that won the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. That story straight ahead.
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[05:55:50]
ABEL: U.S. transportation investigators are blaming faulty engineering for the deadly Titan submersible implosion in 2023. It was crushed by underwater pressure on a voyage to the Titanic wreckage site, killing all five people on board.
The final report says the vessel was not designed strong enough for such a deep dive and that the Titan's owner, OceanGate, did not test it properly. The company later suspended its operations and went out of business.
The investigators have recommended setting up a panel to study submersibles as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDDIE VAN HALEN, MUSICIAN, VAN HALEN: Singing "Jump."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Well, one of Eddie Van Halen's trademark red and white-striped guitars is headlining an auction at Sotheby's in New York. The late rock and roll legend played that 1982 Kramer electric guitar in live concerts during his band's tours in 1982 and '83. An inscription on the front is addressed to Van Halen's longtime friend and guitar tech. Sotheby's experts think the guitar will fetch between $2 million and $3 million with bids already jumping in.
The Rock & Pop auction will also feature guitars played by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton.
And a picture of a rare hyena in front of an abandoned building in Namibia has won the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Yea award. It beat out more than 60,000 other entries.
CNN's Patrick Cornell has more on the competition, plus what happened when a curious canine in North Carolina bit off more than he could chew.
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PATRICK CORNELL, CNN CONTENT PRODUCER (voiceover): Get a gander at this haunting image of a brown hyena standing in front of an abandoned building in a former diamond mining town in Namibia. The prize-winning pic beat out more than 60,000 entries to claim the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. The annual contest celebrates the world's best nature photography and wildlife photojournalism.
Brown hyenas are so rare organizers say it took the South African photographer a full decade to capture one on camera. The eerie photo shows how wildlife is reclaiming a ghost town after being abandoned by people.
This photo, titled "After the Destruction," took home the title for Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year, open to photographers age 17 and under. It shows a longhorn beetle in central Italy posing in front of abandoned logging machinery.
Award organizers also highlighted this picture of an orphaned giant anteater trailing its caregiver at a rehab center for the Impact award, which recognizes conservation success stories.
All winning photographs will be on exhibit at the Natural History Museum in London.
Here is a wild video of a domesticated animal in a bit of a pickle. The Chapel Hill Fire Department says the dog Colton got ahold of a lithium ion battery and gnawed on the thing until it burst into flames. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He bit into it, and you can see it -- you know,
he's surprised by it. And then he's like uh-oh, what did I do?
CORNELL (voiceover): They posted the video online to highlight the dangers of leaving those batteries unsecured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you're done charging them you have to really pay attention and unplug them. You have to make sure you store them where they can't get broken or cracked or chewed on by a dog.
CORNELL (voiceover): Other than a bit of a scare, Colton is perfectly OK. The house only suffered some smoke damage and a burned rug.
I'm Patrick Cornell.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: And if you can believe it, the homeowner is a firefighter as well.
Well, WNBA star Angel Reese -- she is hoping to inspire girls everywhere to dream big. The 23-year-old -- you see her here -- made the transition from the hard court to the catwalk in New York on Wednesday taking part in the 2025 Victoria's Secret Show. Reese modeled several outfits, including one with a bedazzled pink t-shirt and a pair of silver and white wings.
Victoria's Secret says the new era of sexy is unapologetic and all about confidence. She certainly does not lack in that.
Well, researchers are smelling a rat in one of Chicago's weirdest local attractions. It's become known as the "Rat Hole" and most people assume it was created by an unlucky rat that got trapped in wet cement on a sidewalk.
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The site has become a magnet for tourists. You see what people are doing here. They keep leaving coins and other objects.
Well, now biologists have compared the imprint with features of similar animals in Chicago, and they concluded the rat hole was most likely created by a squirrel of possibly a muskrat. Sorry to disappoint everybody. The researchers say they are proposing renaming the landmark "Windy City Sidewalk Squirrel."
Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.
