Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Puts Pressure On Republicans After Election Losses; TSA Agents Struggle To Make Ends Meet Amid Shutdown; U.S. Supreme Court Casts Doubt On Legality Of Trump's Global Tariffs; At least 12 killed After UPS Plane Crashes Near Louisville Airport; Typhoon Kalmaegi Heads To Vietnam, Landfall In Coming Hours; Israel Identifies Hostage Remains As Joshua Loitu Mollel. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 06, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:00:26]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Brian Abel. It is Thursday, November 6, 4:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C. and straight ahead on Early Start.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Historically, the economic damage from shutdowns quickly resolves itself. But a number of factors will certainly make this shutdown one of the most damaging.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I kind of feel a little bit lost, to be honest. It breaks my heart that it's come to this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in Gaza City's Shujaiya neighborhood, or at least what's left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our troops are extremely careful. There's warnings in real time. One does not get lost into idea fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Imagine living in a country where the government appears to ask your neighbor to spy on you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way Nicolas Naduro announced this is definitely unwellian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: The longest U.S. government shutdown is now in its 37th day, and lawmakers are worried the longer it goes on, the more it will harm the American people. A bipartisan group of lawmakers are attempting to push a new deal that could potentially reopen the government, funding it temporarily through January. But there are still multiple hurdles to overcome before presenting it to Congress. Until that happens, federal employees will continue to go unpaid,

meaning potentially larger staffing shortages like in the airline industry. And families dependent on government assistance for food will live in anxious uncertainty.

President Trump continues to push the idea that ending the Senate filibuster could solve all of the problems. It would allow Republicans to pass any measure with a simple majority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: If we got rid of the filibuster, we would approve so many good things, common sense things, wonderful things, that it would be hard to beat us. If we don't, it's always going to be a slog.

Do I want to lose my relationship with those Republicans that have been very good to me for a long period of time? Do you ever have people that are wrong, but you can't convince them? So do you destroy your whole relationship with them or not? I'd be close to losing it, but probably not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: But not everybody supports the president's plan. CNN's Kevin Liptak has the details from Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It is becoming clearer and clearer as the government shutdown now reaches record length that President Trump used this as a major liability for Republicans. And this in a lot of ways is a change in mindset. The President has for a long time appeared confident that Democrats would catch the blame for the shutdown.

But now, after major losses for Republicans in Tuesday's off year elections, the President is encouraging members of his party to adopt a new tack. And that was pretty evident when he gathered them at the White House in the state dining room for a breakfast on Wednesday morning, really kind of encouraging them to take new steps, in particular to eliminate the Senate filibuster, that 60-vote threshold that is required to pass most legislation in the Senate.

What the President told them was that if they ever wanted to pass legislation going forward, that they would need to take this step. It's called the nuclear option of eliminating the filibuster. And you know, the room was really kind of sullen. There was not a lot of reception for the President's encouragements there.

And I think it was evident even after the President continued pressing his case in private, that he hadn't necessarily moved a lot of these senators off their positions. And in fact, the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, as he was returning to the Capitol, acknowledged that there just isn't the votes at this point to do away with the filibuster. And so how the President moves forward here, I think remains an open

question. And as he was speaking here in Miami, the President really didn't dwell on the election results this week. There was one election that he was focused on, and it was the one year ago when he won the presidential election. He seemed far more enthusiastic about that victory than he was about kind of dwelling on the losses.

He did roll out some new lines of attack against Democrats, and in particular, the mayoral victor in New York City, Zohran Mamdani, he called him a communist. In fact, he used the word communism or communist 13 times in his speech. And he said that this choice would be in front of Americans, one of communism or common sense.

[04:05:04]

And it seems almost inevitable that becomes the line of attack going forward. You know, this was meant to be a broad economic speech. And the president did tick through the accomplishments of the last year in office. And he tried to encourage Republicans to focus more on them in their own public messaging, saying that, quote, we have the greatest economy right now, but that a lot of people don't see that.

He said, if people don't talk about it, then we won't do well in election. You know this is something of a familiar sentiment for presidents. I think every president that I've covered has encouraged members of their party to talk more about their accomplishments.

I think the issue for president is that he himself has not been particularly laser focused on the economy. And just in this, quote, economic speech here in Miami, he went on a number of tangents. Whether it was talking about transgender bodybuilders or renaming Mount McKinley or his malfunctioning teleprompter at the United Nations or removing Africa from the G20, there were a lot of topics that he focused on that were not the economy.

And so I think it was still a notable acknowledgment from the president and an indication that there are signs that the economy is going to be an issue for him and for Republicans about a year out from next year's critical midterm elections. Kevin Liptak, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: The Trump administration is planning to reduce the number of flights in 40 different U.S. airports if the government shutdown doesn't end by Friday. U.S. transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced 10 percent of traffic would be cut, though it's still unknown which airports will be targeted. He says the decision was made to, quote, keep the airspace safe amid those staffing shortages that we mentioned earlier. CNN's Whitney Wild has details on how the shutdown is impacting those federal workers in the airline industry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this church basement, an assembly line of volunteers prepares plates destined for the airport. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're going to work every day. At least this is one thing we can help them out with.

DARELL ENGLISH, PRESIDENT, AFGE LOCAL 777: And we're going to load these up.

WILD (voice-over): Darell English is the regional president of the National Union representing Transportation Security Administration officers.

ENGLISH: You're awesome back here.

WILD (voice-over): On a crisp Monday morning, he and other union reps load up coolers, then drive an hour to deliver free meals to TSA officers at Chicago Midway International Airport.

ENGLISH: We know that it's been a month now. Officers are struggling. So anything that we can do to help them out, they're going through a lot of personal and emotional stress right now, they're on top of their jobs.

WILD (voice-over): Amid the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, these TSA officers are in a holding pattern. They're essential employees, so they have to work, but they aren't being paid.

In Houston this week, a major jam at security lines lasted up to three hours as some TSA employees called out sick. Top leaders in Washington blame each other.

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: As every day goes by, I think the problem is going to only get worse, not better. I hope that Democrats come to their senses and end this shutdown.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), U.S. HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: This is day 35 of the Trump-Republicans shutdown. Donald Trump and the Republicans cannot govern.

WILD: Whose fault is this? Does it even matter?

ENGLISH: Well, at this point, it doesn't matter because at the end of the day, it's about who's going to help us get fed. So we're not trying to point fingers at it. We're just trying to bring people together.

ROXY KNIGHTLY, FORMER TSA OFFICER: I felt like I was pushed into a corner.

WILD (voice-over): Roxy Knightly was a TSA officer until Friday when she says she resigned.

KNIGHTLY: I tried to push through for as long as I could, but my lease is literally about to end within the next two weeks. And if landlords require two pay stubs, I do not have two recent pay stubs.

WILD (voice-over): Now Roxy is moving out of state to live with a friend. KNIGHTLY: I kind of feel a little bit lost, to be honest with you, because I did, you know, intend to continue working as a transportation security officer. It definitely was not an easy decision for me to have to make. It breaks my heart that it's come to this.

WILD: English's big concern here is that we're starting to push into that really busy travel season between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And he's worried that if TSA officers continue to not be paid, we are going to see more sick outs, more people who simply say they cannot come into work because they can't afford it to come to work, or more people quitting. And he said that could make for chaos at the airport. Making what we saw in Houston this week only the beginning. Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.

Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: A major test of presidential power is underway at the Supreme Court. The justices are weighing whether Donald Trump overstepped his authority in imposing sweeping global tariffs. And even the conservatives appear skeptical about the Trump administration's arguments.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES: The vehicle is imposition of taxes on Americans, and that has always been the core power of Congress.

[04:10:03]

If a tariff is imposed on automobiles, who pays them?

AMY CONEY BARRETT, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: Can you point to any other place in the code or any other time in history where that phrase together regulate importation has been used to confer tariff imposing authority?

NEIL GORSUCH, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: Congress is a practical matter can't get this power back once it's handed it over the president. It's a one way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch and away from the people's elected representatives.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ABEL: If the court breaks with the president, it would mark the first time they've done so in a major case since his return to power. President Trump says heard the case went well on Wednesday and warned that reversing his tariffs would trigger a worldwide depression and hurt the U.S. economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: It would be devastating for our country if we lost that. Devastating. I think it's one of the most important, maybe the most, but one of the most important cases in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: And the tariff case was brought forth by a group of small and medium sized businesses and a key question is whether they would be entitled to refunds if the court rules against the Trump administration.

Twelve people now confirmed dead following that fiery crash of a UPS cargo plane and a warning. You may find the images we are about to air disturbing.

We have this dashboard footage capturing the moment Flight 2976 went down in Louisville, Kentucky. And you can see the fireball that rose from the wreckage as that silver truck hits reverse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Just horrible. Another view and screams of shock. Officials say the death toll is expected to climb since people are still missing. Transportation safety investigators have recovered the so called black boxes, but there is still no word yet on what caused the crash. Flights resumed at Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport on Wednesday, but there is a big backlog. The UPS CEO says the company will work with the National Transportation Safety Board as they investigate.

The deadliest typhoon to hit Asia this year is bearing down on Vietnam and an area already inundated with flooding and landslides. We'll have a live report.

Plus, a CNN crew allowed into Gaza for the first time in years what they saw and didn't see while embedded with the Israeli military.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:17:00]

ABEL: More now on the deadliest typhoon to hit Asia this year. Typhoon Kalmaegi is now the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. It's expected to make landfall in central Vietnam in the coming hours.

In an area still recovering from flooding and landslides caused by weeks of record rainfall. Kalmaegi killed at least 114 people and left more than 100 missing in the Philippines. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared a state of national calamity and promised to continue relief and response operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We have lost everything. We don't have a home. We need help. We have no place to sleep, no food, nothing to use. We only have torn clothes. We just need food, rice, anything to eat, but we have nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: CNN's Mike Valerio is following the storm and joins us live. In this typhoon, Mike, devastated the Philippines as it barrels towards Vietnam.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, Abel, I'd say that is probably the understatement of the evening right here in East Asia. And what makes this incredible, in the worst sense of the word, is that Abel, we're not dealing with one typhoon track. We're dealing with a double typhoon track with a recharged typhoon Kalmaegi, the source of all that devastation you saw in the sound bite, making its way towards Vietnam right now.

But the Philippines, the poor people in the Philippines who have been beset by tragedy, their neighbors to the north, about 500 miles to the north, they are preparing for a second typhoon. So there's the track right there, not quite two parallel tracks. But you see the first typhoon making its way closer to Vietnam, the second typhoon, which will become Fung-Wong, making its way towards Luzon, the northern stretches of the Philippines, by the end of the day on Sunday.

So, you know, Brian, putting this into context, what we're seeing, I know so many of us in the Western hemisphere have been looking at what's happened to Jamaica, but the epicenter of this tragedy of this typhoon, Cebu. Cebu, Brian had just dealt with a magnitude 6.9 earthquake just over a month ago on September 30th. So you have all the poor, you know, people who have been beset by that earthquake, who have moved to temporary shelters, who are now dealing with this storm.

We also had the chance to speak with the head of the Philippine Red Cross, with our own Rosemary Church here at CNN a couple minutes ago. He said, this is what's happening at this hour. The Red Cross is now going out with several water tankers and we have front end loaders to help clear the debris along with the government. They're also helping to clear the debris. But the important thing is to get at the heart of the damage so they can start major distribution of food.

So that's where we're at. We also have reports that we've been able to confirm here at CNN that a military helicopter, the Philippine Air Force, six people aboard on that helicopter, crashed as it was on its way to carry out a humanitarian mission.

[04:20:04]

So a double whammy that this region has had to deal with. Certainly Vietnam holding its breath and people in the northern Philippines waiting for this second typhoon to hit by the end of the day on Sunday. Brian. ABEL: Wow, it's just heartbreaking that time and time again they can't recover because the next thing comes along and then with that helicopter crash just devastating. Mike Valerio for us. Mike, thank you.

Now to the Middle East, where Israel has identified the body of a deceased hostage as a Tanzanian student. The Red Cross transferring the remains from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday. That leaves the bodies of six deceased hostages still in Gaza. Sources say Israel believes it has new information on the longest held remains in Gaza, Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. But the Israel Defense Forces says it has no information, contrary to reports in Israeli media.

Palestinians, meanwhile, returning to their neighborhoods in Gaza City, and they say they are struggling to rebuild their lives in basic necessities are out of reach. Nearly all the city's 2.3 million residents lost their homes to Israeli bombardment. And shelter is scarce as winter approaches.

Palestinians crowded in front of a soup kitchen in Khan Younis on Wednesday. The World Food Programme says only half the food needed is coming into the enclave. Israel says it's fulfilling its ceasefire obligations. But residents tell a different story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDEL MAJID AL-ZAITY, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN (through translator): We are living in a very difficult economic situation. Life is difficult for us because we own nothing and we don't have anything to buy food with. There is no work. Without the soup kitchens here, we couldn't have eaten.

HIND HIJAZY, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN (through translator): Every day I come to the soup kitchen here to be able to provide food for my children because as you can see, they say there is a truce, but it is a sham truce because the siege is still in place. Flour is still expensive and things are expensive for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Journalists, including our own Jeremy Diamond, have repeatedly urged Israel to let them into Gaza without restrictions, to independently show the world what's happening. While we are still waiting for that, Israel has allowed Jeremy and other journalists to embed with the IDF and visit a part of northern Gaza. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: So we've just arrived at this Israeli military position along the yellow line inside the Gaza Strip. And you can see all around me. The first thing that catches your eye, obviously, is the enormous extent of destruction here.

We are in Gaza City's Shujaiya neighborhood, or at least what's left of the Shujaiya neighborhood, because you can see that there is almost not a single building that is still standing in this area. This is about as far as we foreign journalists can get into Gaza right now.

The Israeli military, the Israeli government has only allowed us in limited circumstances on these types of military embeds. For more than two years now, Israel has barred foreign journalists from freely entering the Gaza Strip.

We would, of course, like to go further down where there are actually Palestinian civilians, to be able to talk to them directly and cover their experiences. But you can see in this area, there are no Palestinian civilians, just an established Israeli military position and so, so much destruction beyond.

You've taken us on this military embed today, but we as foreign journalists cannot independently access Gaza. We can't cross that yellow line and go and speak with Palestinian civilians. Why not? The war is over.

LT. COL. NADAV SHOSHANI, INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Well, that's a question I think that you should ask people above my pay grade. And I'm in charge of MBIDS. I'm an IDF spokesperson. I'm in charge to bring reporters to see what IDF is doing. Do my best.

DIAMOND: We asked where exactly that yellow line is, and I was just told that it's slightly beyond some of those few remaining buildings that are still standing there. But it's almost impossible for us to distinguish exactly where that yellow line is. And we know that it's also the case for the Palestinians on the ground who have been shot at. Some of them have been killed as they have approached or accidentally crossed that invisible yellow line.

How are Palestinians on the ground supposed to know where that line is?

SHOSHANI: Well, the line was also published publicly, social media, leaflets and so on. But also our troops are extremely careful. There's warnings in real time. One does not get lost into IDF fire. In most cases, the people crossing the yellow line are Hamas. It's not an accident. And when it is civilians, in most cases, they are able to move back.

DIAMOND: But you have -- but the Israeli military has killed civilians who crossed the yellow line accidentally. There was a family that was traveling in a vehicle. They were fired upon by an Israeli military tank shell. Do you need to revise those policies?

SHOSHANI: Well, it's a work in progress.

DIAMOND: As I said, the Israeli military has begun to deploy these yellow concrete blocks in order to distinguish where exactly that yellow line stands.

[04:25:05]

But it's still not covering the entirety of that yellow demarcation line. We have heard talk, of course, of establishing this international stabilization force. There are efforts now at the United Nations Security Council to actually establish a resolution that would send that force into Gaza.

But for now, all of that has yet to actually be implemented on the ground. And you can see behind me the enormity of the challenge that remains.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Jeremy Diamond reporting there. Russia's president is suggesting the Kremlin will follow suit if the U.S. Starts testing its nuclear weapons again. President Vladimir Putin says he'll take, quote, proportionate responsive measures if Washington goes ahead with the plan. But a Kremlin spokesperson says no final decision has been made yet.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to resume nuclear tests on an equal basis with Russia and China. None of the top three major military powers have conducted a test in nearly three decades.

The Trump administration says it will cut air traffic at dozens of airports if the government doesn't reopen. A look at some of the other impacts from the record breaking shutdown just ahead.

Also, a mobile app that was supposed to serve as a helpline for the Venezuelan people now apparently being used for another purpose by their government. Just ahead, why human rights groups are concerned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)