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Israel Receives Remains Of Three Hostages From Hamas; Trump: "Not Really Considering" Sending Tomahawks To Ukraine; Trump Sits Down For Interview With "60 MINUTES." Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired November 03, 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]
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Brian, the remains of the three hostages that have now been returned to Israel and positively ID'd are three soldiers who were fighting against Hamas on October 7. All three of them were fighting in the Kibbutz along the border with Gaza. They were all killed and their remains taken into Gaza.
Now, we have heard from the IDF chief of staff saying that the mission is not over until all of the hostages have been released -- until the remains are all back in Israel. We've also been hearing from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticizing Hamas. There is a belief among some within the cabinet that they know the location of more hostages than they are admitting to.
But what we have seen over the last few days -- last Thursday there were the remains of two more hostages that were brought back to Israel, and on the weekend a number which were not positively identified as hostages themselves.
So at this point we understand that eight remaining hostages are in Gaza. We do know that Israel has allowed an Egyptian team in with heavy equipment. They are specialized in trying to locate remains amidst rubble and under the ground, so there is a hope that more will be found.
Now we have also heard over the weekend from the U.S. President Donald Trump. He spoke to CBS News about the hostages and about the Gaza ceasefire, which he believes is still intact. And he was asked by CBS whether or not he was going to try and push Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, for acknowledgment of a Palestinian state. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yeah, he's fine. He's fine. Look, he's a wartime prime minister. I worked very well with him. Yeah -- I mean, I had to push him a little bit one way or the other. I think I did a great job in pushing. He's a very talented guy. He's a guy that he's never been pushed before, actually. That's the kind of person you needed in Israel at the time. It was very important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: Now I do know that President Trump had been frustrated at certain times because of Netanyahu's actions in Gaza, in Syrian, and also in Qatar -- Brian.
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Paula Hancocks live for us in Abu Dhabi. Paula, thank you.
President Trump says he is not really considering sending U.S. Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. Those comments follow repeated attempts by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to secure the long-range weapons and expand Kyiv's striking distance into Russia. The U.S. president told reporters on Sunday there was no final straw for Russia's Vladimir Putin that would signal he's not ready to end the conflict. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There's no final straw. Sometimes you have to let it fight it out. They're fighting -- they're fighting it out and it's been a tough war for both because there was a lot soldiers -- maybe a million. That's a lot of soldiers. And it's been tough for Ukraine. It's been tough for both. Sometimes you have to let it, you know, just get fought out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Let's go to CNN's Clare Sebastian joining us live from London with the latest on the conflict and the president's comments -- Clare.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Good morning, Brian.
I think, look, the evidence is that Ukraine was not imminently expecting Tomahawks. We know that when Zelenskyy left his meeting a couple of weeks ago in Washington, D.C. with President Trump he said he was "realistic" about this. And, of course, we see certainly over the weekend and overnight into this morning Ukraine continues with its own long-range strikes into Russian territory, targeting energy and military infrastructure.
I think on the comment "let them get it fought out" that is perhaps more unnerving for Ukraine. It echoes rhetoric that we heard from President Trump after that ill-fated meeting between him and Zelenskyy in February and it sort of smacks of perhaps walking away from the whole issue. Washing his hands of the whole attempt to bring peace to Ukraine, which would be very bad news for Ukraine. They have been fighting to keep the U.S. engaged, particularly when it comes to the issue of post-war security guarantees.
And I think, you know, letting them fight it out we're seeing elements of that play out in Ukraine right now. Russia is concentrating its efforts around the strategic town of Pokrovsk and Donetsk on the eastern front.
President Zelenskyy says that Russia has amassed a force of some 170,000 troops in the area. Just for context that is almost three times the pre-war population of Pokrovsk. It's about 2 1/2 times the size of the British regular army, so it is an enormous force. For context they have been trying to take this town, which sits on some key roads leading towards other fortress towns in Donetsk. They've been trying to take it for over a year and they still haven't. So Ukraine acknowledges the situation there is increasingly difficult.
So I think -- look, fighting it out could take years and that's why for Ukraine, U.S. support is so critical. Technology like the Tomahawks is so critical not only because of what it is and its range and its power, but because it could shift the calculation in Moscow as to how long they, themselves, can drag out this war, Brian.
[05:35:07]
ABEL: And they continue to analyze basically the president's every single word about the conflict.
Clare Sebastian for us. Clare, thank you.
Nigeria hopes to talk to Donald Trump as he threatens military action in the West African nation. That story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:40:05]
ABEL: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.
U.S. futures are in positive territory at the moment ahead of the opening bell with markets appearing to show some early optimism.
And checking on some of today's business headlines, this week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments over President Trump's sweeping global tariffs, but he says he won't be in attendance despite previously suggesting he may be there. The case will consider whether the president had the legal authority to circumvent Congress to impose tariffs using emergency powers. The White House says President Trump has backup plans prepared in case the court rules against him.
Berkshire Hathaway reporting a rise in profit for the quarter ending in September. It also signaled that it's being cautious about markets by letting cash swell to over $380 billion -- a record for the company. This was the last financial report for Berkshire Hathaway before legendary investor Warren Buffett steps aside as chief executive.
And despite a new trade truce between the U.S. and China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is calling Beijing an "unreliable trade partner." Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met last Thursday and President Trump agreed to lower tariffs on Chinese goods by 10 percent. But Bessent says that while the U.S. doesn't want to decouple from China it does want to derisk.
And Donald Trump is doubling down on his threat of possible military action in Nigeria. In a Truth Social post he said, "Christianity is facing an existential threat in the West African nation." And he's suggested deploying U.S. troops to stop what he calls a mass slaughter of Christians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria. And they have other countries very bad also. You know that. That part of the world -- very bad. They're killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We're not going to allow that to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: But the Nigerian government and President Trump's own adviser on Africa say what's happening there is much more complex.
CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins me now from London to help us dissect that complexity -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, and that's exactly the language -- complexity -- a complex issue is how the former Nigerian finance minister who is now the director general of the WTO explained the situation -- the killings in Nigeria -- when she was speaking with CNN earlier today. She said look, it's complex. It's not just religious. It involves, you know, the resources in the region.
It is ethnic in part. This is what we're hearing from other officials and the data on the ground. It is -- it is -- it is ethnic in part. It is communal in part. It is, in part, as we've seen in other African nations with a changing climate, a fight if you will or confrontations between pastoralists who farm the land and herders who follow herds across the land.
So it's many particular issues.
But President Trump has said on this that if the -- if the government in Nigeria can't do better then he will possibly send in U.S. troops with guns-a-blazing, was what he said on social media. And he's instructed the Department of War to prepare a plan for possibly doing that.
Look, it's also been read with a degree of skepticism or caution, if you will, by seniors within the Nigerian leadership. And adviser to the president in Nigeria has said look, we've heard this sort of language from President Trump before. He says these things, but he doesn't quite mean them. That this is sort of a door opening to perhaps a deeper, broader conversation with the Nigerian government.
And he said after all, what Nigeria needs is actually not the boots on the ground, but the military equipment support to fight these radical Islamists. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL BWALA, ADVISER TO NIGERIAN PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU: For now, we are using Super Tucano. We haven't been given the opportunity to have F-15, F-18, and F-22 and it is hard to get that from America for now. But these are the areas that we need that kind of, you know, cooperation from the American government.
Our soldiers are -- have the capability to do this thing, so we do not require the American soldiers' boots on the ground. What we need is the apparatus -- the equipment, the access to some of these things that would aid our own military force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: So what he went on to say there was, you know, President Trump is a dealmaker. So it seems to be being interpreted at its best at the moment as an opportunity to get the military hardware to do a better job of fighting the Islamists.
[05:45:00]
Nigeria is a country -- a population of more than 230 million people. And I think a lot of, you know, people who scrutinize the data on the killings by the radical Islamists also point to the fact that it is not just Christians that are being killed; there are large numbers of Muslims, particularly in the Muslim majority north of Nigeria where these attacks are happening, that are getting killed as well.
ABEL: Yeah, a complex issue.
Nic Robertson, appreciate you helping us understand it all from London. Nic, thank you.
One year after suing the news program "60 MINUTES" Donald Trump sat down for an interview with the show, and he did not hold back. What he said after the break.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:50:05]
ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.
This week the U.S. government shutdown could become the longest in American history. Senators remain deadlock as they prepare to reconvene later today. President Donald Trump is pressuring Republican senators to scrap the filibuster -- a 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation -- but lawmakers have long been reluctant to do so.
New CNN polling reveals President Trump's approval rating has dropped to 37 percent. That is the worst of his second term. The poll also shows that 68 percent of Americans say things are going badly. Seventy-two percent say the economy is in poor shape.
In New York City, affordability is the key issue in Tuesday's election for mayor. Democrat Zohran Mamdani is facing Republican Curtis Sliwa and former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an Independent after losing the primary as a Democrat. Interest in the race is intense. Nearly three-quarters of a million ballots have already been cast in early voting.
Four months after Donald Trump reached a $16 million settlement with CBS News, he was back on the show that sparked the lawsuit in the first place. The U.S. president sat down for a 90-minute interview with "60 MINUTES."
CNN media analyst Brian Stelter breaks down the talking points.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: President Trump does not agree to in-depth interviews very often, and this sit-down with "60 MINUTES" was intriguing for all sorts of reasons.
Among the many headlines from the Sunday night broadcast, Trump called for an end to the Senate filibuster to resolve the government shutdown. He said immigration raids in the U.S. "haven't gone far enough." And he refused to say if the U.S. is preparing for military action on land in Venezuela.
Now about that, here's one of the follow-up questions from interview Norah O'Donnell and Trump's response.
NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: On Venezuela, in particular, are Maduro's days as president numbered?
TRUMP: I would say yeah. I think so, yeah.
O'DONNELL: And this issue of potential land strikes in Venezuela -- is that true?
TRUMP: I don't tell you that. I mean, uh, I'm not saying it's true or untrue, but I'd -- you know, I wouldn't --
O'DONNELL: Why would we do it?
TRUMP: -- be inclined to say that I would do that. But -- because I don't talk to a reporter about whether or not I'm going to strike.
STELTER: Now in another moment from the interview that is ricocheting around social media, Trump claimed not to know anything about Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, whom he pardoned last month. Zhao pled guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money laundering laws.
Watch this part of the exchange.
O'DONNELL: The government, at the time, said that C.Z. had caused significant harm to U.S. national security essentially by allowing terrorist groups --
TRUMP: Um-hum.
O'DONNELL: -- like Hamas, to move millions of dollars around. Why did you pardon him?
TRUMP: OK, are you ready? I don't know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.
STELTER: O'Donnell went on to ask about the connection between Binance and the Trump family's crypto company, and Trump claimed to know nothing about it.
Trump frequently accused Joe Biden of being oblivious about what was being done in his name as president. And many progressive commentators on Sunday night turned that back around on Trump, calling on Congress to investigate if Trump knows who he is pardoning. Now, Trump brought up Biden more than 40 times during the 90-minute interview even though Trump has been back in office for almost a year.
Trump seemingly had very little to say when O'Donnell asked about cost of living challenges and plans to change health care.
CBS aired about a third of the interview overall and published a complete transcript of the interview online. In other words, CBS edited, just like TV networks do all the time. But it's notable in this case because Trump filed a frivolous lawsuit last year over the way "60 MINUTES" edited a pre-election interview with Kamala Harris.
"60 MINUTES" journalists were outraged by the suit but the parent company of CBS, Paramount, decided to settle the case out of court while trying to win Trump administration approval for a pending merger.
Trump brought up this history to O'Donnell, and he praised Paramount's new owners, showing that he cares deeply about media attention and showing that he wants media owners to be on his side. He wants -- or at least he wants them to be perceived to be his friends and his supporters.
Nevertheless, he faced scrutiny from CBS on Sunday night, and his answers and dodges are likely to drive several news cycles on Monday and beyond.
Brian Stelter, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: They came out on top of one of the most exciting World Series of all time on Saturday. Just ahead we'll tell you when Los Angeles gets to celebrate the Dodgers' latest triumph.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:59:05]
ABEL: To the racetrack. There was a dramatic finish in the final race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series -- look at that -- with Kyle Larson edging Denny Hamlin for the title. Sunday's duel at the Phoenix Raceway in Arizona -- it gave Larson his second-ever championship. The 33-year-old from California finishing ahead of three other title contenders, including Hamlin.
After outlasting his rivals over 319 laps, Larson admitted "I'm just speechless." I'm sure he's a little bit tired too, but congratulations.
All right, to Los Angeles where the city is preparing to party again. The city will hold a championship parade for the Dodgers later today. The team won a dramatic World Series on Saturday in a game-seven that was for the ages.
[06:00:00]
They beat the Blue Jays 5-4 in the extra innings thriller at Toronto. That secured a second title in a row for the Dodgers, their third in six seasons. And you can imagine why because they are stacked -- a $350 million payroll for that star-studded roster. With that, there might be more parades in Los Angeles' future. Maybe next year, Tigers.
Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I am Brian Abel in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.
