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Day 22 Of Second-Longest Shutdown In U.S. History; Trump: "Could Be: Seeking $230 Million From Justice Department; Widespread Russian Air Attacks Kill Six, Including A Baby; Vance Meets Netanyahu Amid Gaza Ceasefire Concerns. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired October 22, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:24]

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

It is Wednesday, October 22nd, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The government shutdown is on the verge of becoming the longest in history.

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Real damage touching the lives of regular Americans. And we all lose.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: President Trump demanding that the Justice Department pay him close to $230 million.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And give it to charity or something. Any money.

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Virginia Giuffre, a key accuser in the Jeffrey Epstein case has released a posthumous memoir revealing harrowing details.

NARRATOR: We would never get a confession, of course. That's what settlements are designed to avoid. But we were trying for the next best thing, a general acknowledgment of what I'd been through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

ABEL: Still a few hours until sunrise here in Washington, D.C., as the city and the country enter day 22 of the second longest government shutdown in U.S. history. There's been little movement on Capitol Hill with lawmakers still refusing to negotiate until their demands are met. U.S. President Donald Trump, however, is willing to meet with

Democrats to discuss changes to health care policy, but there are strings attached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I would like to meet with both of them, but, I set one little caveat I will only meet if they let the country open. They have to let the country open. The people want to go back to work. They want to be served. They want to. They need the services of some people. And a lot of people need the money, the payroll. So I'll do it as soon as they open up the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Notably, the top two longest government shutdowns have both happened during President Trump's time in the White House.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is requesting the president sit down with leaders before a scheduled trip to Asia later this week, saying its not about politics, it's about the American people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: The president should meet with us. It's not me, him or anything political. It's that the people are in crisis. Every day, they're getting these bills. These notifications of how much they're going to pay and they're just -- people are just struck of the difficulty they will be in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: At some point, either Democrats or Republicans will have to sacrifice their demands to reopen the government. But until then, it's an embarrassing loop of the same events, according to Senate Democrat John Fetterman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Groundhog Day, you know, and I'm just saying, and it's not entertaining. That's a great movie. But this is (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and now, it's like, now real damage is going to are now touching the lives of regular Americans. And we all lose. And it's embarrassing to our -- to our allies and to our enemies abroad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: On Tuesday, Republican senators met with the president for lunch at the White House. They shared burgers, and at one point, the president personally signed MAGA hats for some lawmakers.

All of this, while a line of federal workers stretched down the road in Hyattsville, Maryland, waiting for groceries from a food pantry, roughly 1.4 million government workers have been furloughed or are working without pay, some unsure of how they'll afford rent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, with my rent due next week, I could take anything I can get. At this point, I haven't gotten a paycheck this month. So the free groceries is very important, very helpful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been furloughed before. I've never seen it like this where, you know, people actually had to go to a food bank. Normally, it's a -- maybe a week or two, a day or two or whatever for furlough, but not like this, where they're just -- there's nothing coming in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: President Trump says he could be seeking $230 million from the U.S. Justice Department. He claims that sum would be compensation and damages for past investigations into his actions. According to "The New York Times", he submitted complaints each of the past two years before he was reelected, and his own former defense attorneys now hold Justice Department jobs and could be involved in approving any such payouts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not looking for money. I'd give it to charity or something. I would give it to charity, any money. But look, what they did, they rigged the election. Now with the country, it's interesting because I'm the one that makes the decision, right?

[05:05:02]

And, you know, that decision would have to go across my desk, and it's awfully strange to make a decision where I'm paying myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: And of course, it is the taxpayers who would be footing the bill.

A former lawyer in the Trump White House weighed in earlier on the presidents claim that he gets to decide how much to pay himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: I don't think he has any difficulty doing that. He took a $400 million plane from Qatar. You know, he's got real estate deals going on around the world. He's shaking down law firms and shaking down universities. This guy doesn't have any difficulty trying to, you know, absorb financial wealth.

And, you know, the, the absurdity of the claims that he has filed you know, in connection with the Russian investigation and more importantly, in connection with the classified documents case where, whatever he did was far worse and more dangerous than anything Bolton is charged with in terms of classified information.

So, it's just crazy that he's demanded the money in the first place. But he fully expects that Todd blanche or Pam Bondi will do his bidding and write him a check.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Russia has launched a widespread air attack on Ukraine using drones, missiles and fighter jets to attack civilian infrastructure and energy facilities. Ukrainian officials say at least six people have been killed, including a six-month-old baby. Power outages are reported across most of the country right now.

And CNN's Nic Robertson is joining me now from London with the latest on this attack --- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, what President Zelenskyy has said in the past 24 hours is that Vladimir Putin seems less interested in diplomacy. Subsequent his meeting, Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump last week, where it was decided that the U.S. wasn't going to supply Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.

This intensification, Russian intensification on Ukraine's energy facilities, perhaps began this winter season, if you like, about a month ago. But it is impacting severely, as we've heard from energy officials inside Ukraine. There are some parts of the country in the north that have been without power for two weeks. The Ukrainians have been very efficient in getting energy supplies back up and running as much as they can.

But this does seem to be part of Russia's overall maximum offensive. Using more drones, more missiles, because they're manufacturing more to better penetrate Ukraine's air defenses. President Zelensky, over the last few weeks, said they have about 200 key facilities in the country that need to be defended and his implication was very clear. They lack the aerial defense systems to do that from missiles, from drones as well.

If you look at the statistics over recent days, Ukraine has been taking down about 20 to -- has been managing to interdict all but 20 to 30 percent of Russian missiles.

Now that statistic is actually down on what Ukraine was able to interdict perhaps six months ago. And part of that is because Russia, quite simply swarms more missiles by night, by day as well into Ukraine. And the casualties today, the fatalities today, a woman, her 12 year -- 12-year-old, a 12 year 12-year-old girl and a six month old baby killed in a fire as a result of one of those drone attacks in in that same area, ten other people had to be rescued, including an 83- year-old woman in another strike and another location.

Again, Ukraine intercepting Russia's missile -- Russia's missiles. But two people killed in that area of Kyiv and on top of that, 10 people, also injured. And we're just learning as well in the east of Ukraine, more strikes right now.

Russia definitively targeting Ukraine's ability to keep its lights on to heat its population and give it some, you know, some comfort during winter. This is the direction of Russia's sort of attack on the civilian population right now. ABEL: All right. Nic Robertson for us in London -- Nic, thank you.

North Korea has launched its first ballistic missile test in five months, days before U.S. president Donald Trump and other leaders are set to meet in South Korea. Military officials in Seoul say they detected several short range ballistic missiles fired from an area south of Pyongyang. The projectiles reportedly flew about 350 kilometers, or 220 miles.

Japan's new prime minister told reporters that Tokyo was closely communicating with Washington and Seoul, including by sharing real time missile warning data.

A U.S. delegation is in Israel trying to shore up the ceasefire deal in Gaza following Sunday's deadly violence.

[05:10:05]

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Vance is downplaying concerns about the fragility of the Gaza ceasefire. Sources tell CNN some Trump administration officials are privately worried the deal could fall apart, and his presence in the region is meant, at least in part, to ensure Prime Minister Netanyahu remains committed to the ceasefire.

Meantime, Israel has identified the remains of two more hostages handed over by Hamas, the Israeli military has identified them as Tamir Adar and Arye Zalmanovich. They were both from kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel. Eighty-five-year-old Zalmanovich was the oldest hostage taken, according to the Missing Families Forum.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live in Abu Dhabi with the very latest on the Gaza situation -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brian, the remains of those two Israeli hostages that you just mentioned there brings the number that have been brought back to Israel now to 15. It does mean, though, that there are 13 remains still being held in Gaza. We've heard from Hamas that they need significant equipment to be able to find those remains. And we have been hearing from the U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance speaking, saying that he also believes that it may be very difficult to find the remains of those remaining people who were taken. He said that it is difficult. It is not going to happen overnight, and some remains may be buried under some of the rubble.

But he said that that is one of the main priorities when it comes to the days ahead. Now he has been meeting, in fact is meeting right now with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. We understand there will be a smaller meeting and then a wider meeting with the U.S. delegation, including Steve Witkoff, we know, and the son in law of the U.S. president, Jared Kushner, who have been very present and integral to the mediation of this this ceasefire proposal.

And what we are expecting is some kind of confirmation, some kind of really saying that this is going to happen. This is why we believe that the U.S. vice president is in Israel to show his support, to show the fact that that President Trump has staked his credibility on this ceasefire proposal, that they are all in, that they want to make sure that this does not falter. Of course, it comes just a couple of days after we saw an exchange of fire between Hamas and Israel. There was loss of life on both sides over the weekend. And so, there is concern that that there is a fragility to this ceasefire proposal. Excuse me, ceasefire deal, I should say.

Now, we also know on top of this that the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to an official, is going to head to Israel as well, on Thursday, which really does underscore the political capital that the United States has put towards this this ceasefire deal.

Now, we also saw yesterday the J.D. Vance was speaking at the coordination center, which was staffed by U.S. military personnel, Israeli and also others from around the world that will be part of this effort to transform Gaza and to push this deal forward.

And he really spoke of his optimism, that he believed that this was going to work, this effort to put this international force together to try and keep the peace in Gaza. He wouldn't be pushed on a timeline, though, when he was asked when the hostages needed to be -- to be returned to Israel by. Initially, it was 72 hours. That obviously has been pushed back now.

And he also wouldn't give a timeline as to when exactly Hamas needed to disarm. This, again, is another key point of that ceasefire deal, which Israel says absolutely needs to happen for this to move forward -- Brian.

ABEL: All right. Paula Hancocks for us in Abu Dhabi -- Paula, thank you.

President Trump's nominee to lead the top federal watchdog office backs out just days before his confirmation hearing. Coming up, the racial allegations behind his sudden exit.

Plus, it's been almost a month since Arizona's Democratic House Representative was elected and the Republican House Speaker is refusing to swear her in. The latest efforts to get Mike Johnson to respond, next.

And new claims in the posthumous memoir of one of the most prominent victims of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring.

[05:15:01]

We'll tell you what's in Virginia Giuffre's book, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABEL: A New York man who was convicted of charges in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill U.S. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. Police say an anonymous source alerted the FBI about the suspect, Christopher Moynihan. He had faced nearly two years in prison for January 6th offenses, but was among those pardoned by President Trump earlier this year.

Jeffries thanked law enforcement for catching Moynihan and criticized Trump's blanket pardon of January 6th defendants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I think the reckless and irresponsible pardons of hundreds of violent felons on January 6th has consequences.

[05:20:08]

There are consequences when these extremists, who are part of the Trump administration, label the entirety of the Democratic Party as terrorists or criminals. There are consequences to that beyond us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel is withdrawing, following reports he sent racist text messages. According to "Politico", Paul Ingrassia allegedly told a Republican group chat that he has a Nazi streak and that Martin Luther King Jr. Day should be tossed into the seventh circle of hell.

Ingrassia said online that he was withdrawing because he didn't have enough Republican votes. At least one Republican senator had planned to vote against him, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Monday he hoped the White House would pull his nomination.

Meanwhile, Democratic House member Adelita Grijalva says she is trying to schedule a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson. The Arizona representative-elect says she hasn't spoken to him in the 28 days since she won her election, and says the lack of response is not good. The speaker has refused to swear Grijalva into office.

Arizona's attorney general is now suing the U.S. House of Representatives over it.

Heres' how Mike Johnson is responding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Mr. Speaker, do you have a response to the Arizona attorney general's lawsuit against the House of Representatives?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Yeah, I think it's patently absurd. We run the house. She has no jurisdiction. We're following the precedent. She's looking for national publicity. Apparently, she's gotten some of it. Good luck with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: The lawsuit accuses Johnson of delaying Grijalva swearing in because she would be the deciding vote in the House and releasing the files on Jeffrey Epstein. And new claims in a posthumous memoir by accuser Virginia Giuffre is reigniting controversy around the Epstein case. The book contains harrowing details of the abuse she allegedly suffered with Giuffre at one point writing quote, I believed that I might die a sex slave.

CNN's Max Foster has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Virginia Giuffre, a key accuser in the Jeffrey Epstein case, has released a posthumous memoir revealing harrowing details of her abuse and exploitation. The book, titled "Nobody's Girl", sheds new light on Epstein's sex trafficking ring, published almost six months after her death, Giuffre's memoir details how she was repeatedly exploited and trafficked to wealthy and influential men.

She describes the physical and psychological abuse that she says she endured, including instances of violence.

"NOBODY'S GIRL" NARRATOR: We were on Epstein's island when I was ordered to take this man to a cabana. Immediately, it was clear that this man, whom I've taken pains to describe in legal filings only as a prime minister, wasn't interested in caresses. He wanted violence.

FOSTER (voice-over): Giuffre doesn't name the prime minister or most of the other men involved. Her coauthor, Amy Wallace, says it shouldn't be up to survivors to out their abusers, but instead up to the authorities, which is why she's calling for the so-called Epstein files to be released.

Among those who are named, Prince Andrew, whom Giuffre accuses of sexually abusing her as a teenager, something the British royal vehemently denies. The memoir also reveals new details about the alleged tactics she says Andrew's team used as her story came to light.

"NOBODY'S GIRL" NARRATOR: After casting doubt on my credibility for so long, Prince Andrews team had even gone so far as to hire internet trolls to hassle me. The Duke of York owed me a meaningful apology as well. We would never get a confession, of course. That's what settlements are designed to avoid. But we were trying for the next best thing, a general acknowledgment of what I'd been through.

FOSTER (voice-over): Prince Andrew hasn't responded to the book and denies any wrongdoing in relation to Giuffre. CNN has reached out to him regarding this new allegation.

Despite the denials, the fallout has been significant. Last week, under mounting pressure, Prince Andrew announced he would relinquish his Duke of York title, amongst some others that he's been using.

The memoir does also mention Donald Trump. Giuffre recalls meeting him at his Mar-a-Lago resort whilst working as a locker room attendant. Giuffre makes no allegations of abuse against Trump in this book. "NOBODY'S GIRL" NARRATOR: It couldn't have been more than a few days

before my dad said he wanted to introduce me to Mr. Trump himself. They weren't friends, exactly, but dad worked hard and Trump liked that. I'd seen photos of them posing together, shaking hands.

So, one day my father took me to Trump's office. This is my daughter, dad said, and his voice sounded proud. Trump couldn't have been friendlier, telling me it was fantastic that I was there.

FOSTER (voice-over): The Epstein scandal has already had political and social consequences on both sides of the Atlantic. Giuffre's memoir adds a powerful and tragic voice to the ongoing call for accountability and justice.

[05:25:05]

Max Foster, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Anger on the streets of New York. Still ahead, we'll show you how an ICE raid on street vendors stopped traffic on one busy street in Manhattan.

Plus, U.N. experts weigh in on the U.S. strikes targeting suspected drug vessels off Venezuela. Why they say those actions could amount to unlawful executions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABEL: A chaotic scene on the streets of New York on Tuesday after an ICE operation, immigration officers arresting street vendors on Canal Street in downtown Manhattan, according to a law enforcement official. Some people started running, while others tried to intervene.

This chaos stopped traffic in a crowded area, and it's not clear how --