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One World with Zain Asher
Multiple NBA Players, Coaches Arrested in Gambling Probe; FBI: "Historic Arrests" Connected to Years of Sports Betting; Outcry after Trump Demolishes East Wing for Ballroom; New Video Shows Thieves Escaping Via Truck-Mounted Lift; NFL Sticking with Bad Bunny Halftime Performance. Aired 11a-11:30p ET
Aired October 23, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello everyone, live from New York. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching "One World".
GOLODRYGA: We do begin with breaking news, a major scandal today, rocking the NBA world surrounding gambling.
ASHER: Yeah, just minutes ago, federal prosecutors announced the arrest of multiple NBA players and coaches in a probe into rigging games and illegal
gambling. They connected all of this to some of New York's most notorious organized crime families. Among those arrested was NBA Star Terry Rozier,
who has made well over $100 million in his NBA career.
Rozier is accused of faking an injury in a 2023 game when he was playing with the Charlotte Hornets, the injury that actually allowed betters to win
on bets connected to statistics Rozier would accumulate in the game.
GOLODRYGA: And Hall of Fame in Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups also arrested. He is accused of being part of an illegal poker game
that included suspected members of the New York mafia. The FBI Director says the fraud committed was huge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: And the fraud is mind boggling. It's not hundreds of dollars, it's not thousands of dollars, it's not tens of thousands of
dollars. It's not even millions of dollars. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Let's bring in David Weinstein. He is a Former State and Federal Prosecutor and a Partner at the Law Firm Jones Walker. David, thank you so
much for being with us. I mean, this news is huge. I do want to start with, just explaining these two indictments to our audiences.
You have one indictment essentially focusing on insider trading, this idea of manipulating bets tied to court performance. This is the one that Terry
Rozier is allegedly involved in, because you ended up having sports books flagging suspicious activity.
And then the other indictment actually involves the coach Chauncey Billups, who is accused of working with mafia families in illegal poker operations.
Just explain to us these two different indictments here.
DAVID WEINSTEIN, FORMER STATE & FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, Zain, these are both, to me, come straight out of Hollywood. I mean, in the poker and
gambling case talking about technology that allows these games to be rigged, where the people running the games were going to win at all costs,
where they used players, former players, current players, to lure unsuspecting victims in and have them wager.
And again, not small amounts of money like you would think at a poker game edge kitchen table, but literally, five figure numbers that ballooned up
potentially to six figure numbers, and it was widespread. And then in the other indictment, it's something that we've all been looking at and
probably waiting to happen once online gaming became so popular in the country.
Someone was going to find a way to take advantage of it. Somebody always does. And in that instance, the FBI has now alleged that someone did, and
those people alleged include former and current players who are giving insider trips, much like you would in insider trading and security. So,
this is really big on both fronts, and the number of people involved is really enormous.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, it's like the sopranos meets the NBA. You have over 40 people here, 40 defendants, including major NBA players, former players,
coaches as well, and mafia associates. We heard from the FBI Director calling this historic in scale and deceit.
Just talk about the significance of this investigation, these charges, and what it means potentially for the NBA going forward now?
WEINSTEIN: I think not only does it mean something for the NBA, but it means something for every professional and semiprofessional league out
there. They all were reluctant at first, to jump in on online gaming and betting and wagering, they all have now embraced it.
Have we seen some of this in other leagues where the same type of insider betting has been involved? If I was a gambler, I'd be leery about putting
any money down. Who knows who has inside information. And again, as you mentioned, the breadth of this, it is not just a small number of people
involved in the indictment.
And the FBI and the Department of Justice have now alleged ties to organized crime, and that's what was involved before online gambling became
legitimate. That's how you used to place a bet. It's come full circle. Many thought that it would disappear, but apparently it hasn't, at least
according to these allegations.
ASHER: When you think about the possible defense, I mean, obviously the defense lawyers are going to be coming up with their strategies. One of
them could be, you know, lack of knowledge, duress, possibly lack of intent. When it comes to the issue of intent, how do prosecutors go about
proving intent here?
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WEINSTEIN: We prove intent by either people's own words or by evidence that you receive from now cooperating former co-conspirators, from recorded
conversations, from statements that people made, either to get people to participate in this or statements or text messages, even where the insider
information was being relayed, that's how they're going to prove intent.
As far as duress goes, we heard allegations regarding one of the indictments that there was some violence that was alleged to get somebody
to participate, violence involved in obtaining a rigged card counting machine. And so, the intent aspect, again, is going to come from
corroboration of cooperating witnesses, text messages, emails, bank deposits.
Actions that were taken on the part of the individuals involved, statements they made to people they didn't think were listening.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, to Zain's question, Rozier's lawyer has insisted that this was what he called a photo op arrest. And says that his client was never a
target and was already cleared by the NBA, but it's obviously clear how intensive and extensive this investigation has been, and authorities say
it's still ongoing as well.
ASHER: Right, David Weinstein, thank you.
WEINSTEIN: You're welcome.
ASHER: The secretary of state is in Israel trying to keep up the momentum for the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.
GOLODRYGA: Marco Rubio joins a parade of top officials descending on the region in an intense diplomatic effort to shape the Israel-Hamas peace deal
into reality. Rubio is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming hours.
ASHER: Yeah, just hours earlier, the American Vice President wrapped up his visit to Israel. J.D. Vance says that the U.S. intends to stay engaged
every single day to make sure the Israel-Hamas peace deal takes hold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The whole purpose of this trip was really to try to understand how to make the peace
stick, how to move on to phase two successfully? And a big part of that is just understanding what would be necessary to police and secure Gaza? So
that, on the one hand, we can provide stability and hopefully some humanitarian assistance to the Gazans, but on the other hand, ensure that
Hamas is unable to threaten Israel.
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GOLODRYGA: CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Jerusalem. Jeremy, over the past few days, we have seen more of the deceased Israeli hostages'
bodies returned to Israel. I believe there are some 12 or 13 that have yet to be returned this as the secretary of state is meeting with the prime
minister. What are we expecting, if anything notable, out of this meeting?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, just the fact that the secretary of state is here and meeting with the Israeli Prime
Minister after so many other U.S. officials have been over the course of just this week is remarkable in and of itself.
I mean, recall that this week began with Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff sitting down with the Israeli Prime Minister. Then you had
the Vice President J.D. Vance, and now, just hours after J.D. Vance has left the country, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, has landed and has
his own meeting set with the Israeli Prime Minister, as well as with other Israeli officials.
And what this really signals to us is how much political capital the United States is investing in making sure that the ceasefire actually sticks. And
it also speaks to some worries that U.S. officials have had about Israel's commitment to ensuring that this ceasefire actually results in the enduring
end to the war in Gaza that the United States wants it to represent.
Now there is also some practical matters that are being discussed here. We heard the vice president as he was leaving, talk about, you know, some of
the work that they've been doing on setting up this international stabilization force, talking about the role that the U.S. military would
have in coordinating and overseeing that force, although not having boots on the ground in Gaza.
And he said that Marco Rubio would be picking up some of that work while he's in Israel. Interestingly, today we also got the first kind of timeline
on a potential rebuilding of parts of Gaza from the vice president, who said that within, you know, he expected that over the next two to three
years, potentially Rafah, that southern city in the Gaza Strip could be rebuilt.
And you could have up to half a million people living in safety and comfort in a totally rebuilt city of Rafah, which has been obliterated by the
Israeli military over the course of this war. But he said that even within the next few months, potentially, you could be seeing thousands of
Palestinians start to be moved to areas that are not controlled by Hamas, but would instead be controlled by this international stabilization force
and rebuilding would get underway there.
Now, as it relates to the bodies of deceased hostages, we've heard clearly from Vice President Vance and other U.S. officials that look this is going
to take some time. There are 13 bodies of hostages that are still inside of Gaza, some of them still deep under the rubble, others their location
really unknown.
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And so that's part of also why we've been hearing U.S. officials setting expectations here to make clear that, you know, they don't expect all of
those bodies, at least, to be recovered in the immediate future, but that Israel should still move forward with the next phases of this agreement.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, two of those 13 bodies, we should note, are Israeli- American citizens. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much. We've just heard from Ukraine's President who has been speaking after meeting with European
leaders who adopted a 19th package of sanctions against Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his position that peace should start with a ceasefire. This comes after the U.S. hit Russia with significant sanctions
demanding an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. Washington is targeting two of Russia's largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, and almost three dozen
subsidiaries.
ASHER: Now the Kremlin's Foreign Ministry called the sanctions quote, entirely counterproductive as oil prices jumped 5 percent.
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MARIA ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: We view this move as entirely counterproductive, including in terms of signaling support for
achieving meaningful negotiated solutions to the Ukrainian conflict. If the current U.S. Administration follows the example of its predecessors who
attempted to coerce or force Russia to compromise its national interests through unlawful sanctions.
The result will be exactly the same, failing from a domestic political perspective, and detrimental to the stability of the peacetime economy.
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ASHER: Right, joining us now from London is CNN's Clare Sebastian. So, Clare from Donald Trump's perspective, he believes he's exhausted all other
options in terms of bringing Putin to the negotiating table now, slapping sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies.
Essentially, the goal here is to curtail and limit Russia's ability to fund this war in Ukraine. Walk us through -- what the impact has been, or is
going to be continuously, on global sort of oil prices, and whether or not this will actually be enough to bring Vladimir Putin to the table, because
Russia's economy has proven so resilient to these sorts of sanctions.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, Zain, I think we have no evidence at this point that it's going to spark an immediate turnaround
from Vladimir Putin. So, the question then becomes, how quickly can a measure like this degrade Russia's war machine, reduce its ability to pay
for its war essentially.
And I think on the face of it, while this is definitely not a half measure from the Trump Administration. These are the two largest oil companies in
Russia, the Biden Administration even stopped short of sanctioning them because of concerns about supply and price disruption globally.
So, it is a big deal. But on the face of it, the experts that I've certainly been speaking to today have said that they believe that Russia
will find workarounds, that this oil will still make its way somehow onto the markets, albeit with some kind of temporary disruption.
And then going forward, the real measure of this will be whether the U.S. has the appetite to keep enforcing the sanctions, tackle all those
workarounds as they arrive. And secondly, I think the wild card for many people here is India, because India, of course, is engaged in trade talks
with the U.S.
They're under a lot of pressure to completely cut back on Russian oil imports. And we are seeing signs today, India's largest import of Russian
oil Reliance Industries suggesting, according to sources speaking to Reuters, that they may curtail or stop completely importing oil from
Russia.
So that would be a major deal. If that happens, that could lead to Russian supply coming off the markets. But it's a challenge, right? Because then,
if the prices go up globally, that could be a potential windfall for Russia. So, this is something that the Trump Administration will have to
balance. So, I think, yes, it's a big step, but the follow through on this will be critical, Zain.
ASHER: Right, Clare Sebastian live for us from London. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, tomorrow, millions of federal workers in the U.S. will miss their paychecks as the U.S. government shutdown drags on.
ASHER: That's right, Senate Republicans are trying a new tactic today to put pressure on Democrats. They will have a vote on a bill that would pay
essential workers like military service members during the shutdown. Democrats are countering with a measure that would pay all furloughed
government workers.
Neither bill is expected to get the 60 votes needed to pass. And there is a growing outcry that Donald Trump is quite literally tearing the White House
apart. Trump now plans to demolish the entire East Wing of the White House as part of his plans to build a grand ballroom.
He had initially promised to avoid raising the East Wing, but officials now say it's cheaper and more structurally sound to take it down rather than
just tacking the ballroom onto the side of it.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, Trump's ballroom, which is being paid for by donors. It is expected to be bigger than originally planned as well, and will cost around
$300 million. Kevin Liptak is at the White House for us. And Kevin, like with so many of these stories, yet another first here, a breaking of the
norms for this administration and President Trump, the size and scale of this project.
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The president said it was going to be around $200 or $250 million. Now it's budgeted for around $300 million and 90,000 square feet. I mean that the
living quarters of the White House are just about 55,000 square feet. So, this will dwarf that. Walk us through some of the additional details.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and that was the concern that these preservationists have been raising, which is that if
you're building a structure that's almost twice the size of the actual executive mansion, it's just going to overwhelm this historic structure.
And so, you know, there is a lot of concern, but there is absolutely no evidence that it's being received inside the White House with any
particular degree of concern. You know, they are plowing ahead with this full steam ahead. And even today, you can hear the sounds of the excavator
sort of wafting over the entire campus.
And every so often you catch a glimpse of the excavator claw, with the chunk of the East Wing sort of peeking around from the North Portico. You
know, the president was pretty clear yesterday that this was essentially the plan all along, that this building is something that he's been thinking
about for quite a long time.
Really, 15 years, he's been offering to build a ballroom on the White House grounds. The concern that preservationists have is that it didn't
necessarily go through some of the approval processes that are in place, in particular at the National Capital Planning Commission, which is this 12-
person body that oversees changes to federal buildings.
What the White House has argued is that this body has no jurisdiction over demolition. They only have jurisdiction over vertical construction, and
they say they will eventually bring their plans to the commission when the time is right. But I talked to a former chairman of that commission who
said, in his almost decade on that panel.
They never sort of separated out the demo from the construction, that this is all part of one project, and that ordinarily it would have gone before
the board, but the president clearly unconcerned by those arguments. And it was interesting to see him in the Oval Office yesterday with the NATO
Chief, Mark Rutte and the plans and the models right in front of him.
He had the rendering sort of at close hand on the side table. When you look at the interior of the building, it looks almost exactly like the one at
Mar-a-Lago with the coffered ceilings and the gold and white chandeliers, the president clearly plowing full steam ahead.
You know, we talked to some White House officials yesterday who acknowledged that even among the president's own staff, when he was first
sort of musing about this over the summer, not everyone thought that this was a great idea. You know, this is a massive undertaking.
The south grounds are going to be under construction, you know, basically for the remainder of his entire term, as they put this up eventually, I
think when it became clear that the president was very intent on doing this, everyone sort of fell in line, and now obviously full speed ahead as
the demolition continues.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, it's one thing to have each administration bring in their own curtains and rugs -- the Oval Office, but yes, twice the size of the
White House itself. All right. Kevin Liptak, thank you so much.
ASHER: All right, a jewel heist unfolds. CNN has obtained new video of the Louvre robbery, showing how the thieves made their getaway -- next.
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ASHER: Right, just days after a gang of thieves carried out a stunning heist at the Louvre Museum. New video appears to show how they made their
getaway.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, the video seemingly taken from inside the museum, shows the suspected thieves escaping using a mechanical truck mounted lift. A
getaway vehicle had been parked nearby on the bank of the River Seine. The museum's director said the balcony where the thieves broke in was not
covered by security cameras. They reportedly made off with more than $100 million in stolen jewels.
ASHER: Our Melissa Bell is following all of this. She's actually outside the Louvre. So, Melissa, when you look at this, mean it's not the getaway
that you would expect, right? They are leisurely, in no hurry at all, lowering themselves to the ground. Just explain to us what we're seeing in
this video and how they made their getaway after that, also how this video is going to help with the investigation, Melissa?
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is the very latest piece of evidence to emerge. It does appear to have been
shot from inside the Louvre looking outwards to the road on which the robbers made their getaway so dramatically on Sunday morning.
Now, just to remind our viewers, it was at 09:30 that a member of the public had alerted the police the fact that that truck was parked outside
and somewhat appeared to be breaking in. Within seven minutes, the alarms had been sounded after they'd gotten into that Apollo gallery inside the
Louvre to get to the jewels that they made out with.
So, what you see on the video is after that. So now it is 09:38 they'll get back onto their ladder, which that mechanical ladder that takes them back
down to street level. What we know is that from that truck, they then got on scooters and made their getaway with eight pieces of France's Crown
Jewels, the tiaras, necklaces, earrings worn by the Queens of France in the 19th century.
Now that another element that will be poured over by investigators as they try to figure out what happened, because the fact is that this Wednesday
afternoon, there has been no huge breakthrough. I mean, they say the investigators, and there are 100 people working on this day and night, ever
since it happened.
They're combing through not just the tools, the truck, the angled grinder that was used, all the tools that were used in the robbery and left behind
by the robbers, but also a few other elements that they managed to get their hands on. For instance, one of the scooters that was used in the
getaway, a glove that was left behind, a motorcycle helmet.
All of this they believe will help them make progress in this case. And of course, crucially, that truck, which we now know, had been stolen just a
couple of weeks before the robbery, was recognized by the man who had it stolen on TV when he saw it that morning in the pictures from outside the
museum of the heist.
Here outside, looking up at that window, you can now see it has been replaced. They put the glass back into the window pane there where the
break in happened. But here we are, all these days after, and really, as far as the public goes, not a great deal closer to knowing who may have
been behind this, nor, indeed, crucially, where the jewels are now, Zain and Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: Just the images of that, like turtle paste robbery, you know, as they're slowly coming down, it is all just --
ASHER: Embarrassing.
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
ASHER: Melissa Bell live for us. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, ballerina Misty Copeland is retiring from the American Ballet Theater after an incredible, trailblazing career. And her final
appearance on Wednesday, Copeland performed excerpts from Romeo and Juliet and Sinatra Suite.
ASHER: Yeah. Along with her performance, Copeland was honored at star studded -- the star-studded gala. She joined the company at age 18 in 2001,
and in 2015 she became the first black female principal dancer, the highest company ranking. Right, despite a backlash, the National Football League is
standing by its decision to have the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny headline the Super Bowl 60s halftime show.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Wednesday that he's, quote, confident, it's going to be a great show, and that it will be uniting moment.
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ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: He's one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world. That's what we try to achieve. It's an important
stage for us. It's important element to the entertainment value. It's carefully thought through. I would say that I'm not sure we've ever
selected an artist where we didn't have some blowback or criticism.
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GOLODRYGA: Bad Bunny, real name, Benito Ocasio has criticized Trump immigration policies and has promoted LGBTQ policies. Some critics in the
U.S. have painted him as a Trump hater and anti-American, even though he is an American citizen. Super Bowl 60 takes place on Sunday, February 8th.
ASHER: And before we love and leave you a quick programming show note for you. CNN has a brand-new show, "CNN Creators", where Bijan, Antoinette,
Matias and Ivana dive into the biggest trends, viral moments and stories lighting up your feed, all in a bold, fresh, new way.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, that airs next right here on CNN. But don't worry, there is more "One World" in about 30 minutes time. Don't go anywhere. Stay
tuned. The premiere of "CNN Creators", however, is up next.
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