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Quest Means Business
Hunt for Motive as New Details Emerge; British-Iranian Man Arrested After RAF Fairford Incident; Tennessee Death Row Inmate Survives Two Doses of Lethal Drug. Satellite Imagery Helps Monitor Russian Activities; Trump's Son-in-Law Has Major Stake in Firm Linked to Israeli Military; Paramount- Warner Bros. Merger to Take Effect October 6th; Aston Martin Aims to Create "Quiet Luxury" in Its Cars; Heat Waves, Drought Take a Toll on Europe's Potato Harvest. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 01, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:12]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Today's markets are kicking off a new trading month in the green by a little. Those are the markets and these are the main
events.
Israel's Prime Minister says the pilot who apparently tried to crash a FlyDubai plane, had been radicalized. We will hear from the hero passenger
who helped stop it.
A lawyer for a death row inmate says she is now receiving life-saving care after a botched execution.
And Aston Martin's new CEO tells us how he plans to get the carmaker back on track after a bumpy few years.
Live from Washington, it is Thursday, October 1st. I am Jim Sciutto, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Good evening.
Tonight investigators are hunting for a motive behind the apparent hijacking attempt of a FlyDubai flight en route to Tel Aviv, Wednesday,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the copilot who attacked the flight's captain underwent, "Islamic radical indoctrination" and that he
was clearly suicidal in the cockpit.
Earlier today, the Prime Minister met again with passengers who were on board, including a man who says he managed to get inside the cockpit to
help subdue the hijacker.
I spoke with the Prime Minister yesterday, in the hours just after the attack. Here is how he described the heroism on board that flight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This guy who is a plumber, you know, I met him at the airport, he was drenched with blood of the Indian
pilot. He took off his shoes, and they were drenched with the blood of this brave Indian pilot.
But he showed this. I asked him, "What do you do for a living?" He said, "Well, I am a plumber, and I unclog sewage clogs." And I said, "You really
unclogged a big one today." And he did something that not only saved 174 passengers, but I think he just stiffened the spine of everyone to see that
you can fight this horrific violence and come out winning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv, and the Prime Minister said two things today. One, this copilot underwent some sort of radicalization, but
also that he appeared suicidal in the cockpit, saying, "Kill him, kill him." Can you say how definitive their profile is of this right now, or is
it still developing? And what kind of radicalization?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: I think it is clear that authorities, including the Israeli authorities, are still trying to learn a
lot about exactly who this suspect was, what drove him to try and hijack this plane, and also some of, you know, piecing together exactly what
happened on board.
We see this often in the beginning. There can be conflicting reports. Some officials choose to go with information that hasn't been fully vetted.
Sometimes that information then gets pulled back.
I can tell you that today I spoke with Zvika Menes, one of the three men who subdued this would-be hijacker. He told me that he did not hear this
copilot who attacked his pilot say anything during the time when they were subduing him. So, no words that he heard there, no motivation that he could
hear from the copilot. But to him, he told me that it was clear that this was a terrorist attack in his eyes.
It was interesting to speak with him, Jim, not only because of his heroic actions, but also because his wife is actually the one who alerted not only
Zvika, but also other members of the crew to the fact that something was going on in the cockpit.
She was taking their six year old daughter to the bathroom at the front of the plane. Zvika was sitting just a few feet away, and suddenly Zvika hears
his wife screaming. This is what he described to me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZVIKA MENES, FLYDUBAI PASSENGER: I heard my wife screamed -- screaming, and I heard my daughter screaming, "We don't want to die! Father, we don't want
to die!" And this, you know, this is -- and I am getting emotional right now as well.
When you hear that your daughters are crying for help, you do whatever you can to help them. That's the trigger that pushed me.
DIAMOND: Do you describe it as instinct?
MENES: It's absolutely instinct. Absolutely instinct! And then what you can do, you can sit and pray that something will happen or we can try to be
active and make the change and this is what we did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:05:07]
DIAMOND: And Zvika and those two other Israeli passengers who brought him to the ground, ultimately, they used headphones, airplane headphones to
cuff his hands behind his back and they basically used their bodies to keep him on the ground for nearly an hour until they made that landing in Saudi
Arabia.
We now understand that that copilot, the attacker in this case, that he has now been extradited effectively to the United Arab Emirates from Saudi
Arabia, where he underwent initial investigation by Saudi authorities. So that case now seemingly being handed over to the UAE, which also means that
Israel will likely be more involved in the investigation because those two countries, unlike Israel and Saudi Arabia, do have relations -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: That's right. And the Israeli Prime Minister told us last night that the UAE government had invited Israel to cooperate in the
investigation.
One question before you go. The fact that the pilot was Omani on an Israel- bound flight, of course, no country arguably is more conscious of security, particularly on aircraft coming in, than Israel. How unusual is that? And
is that being looked at here?
DIAMOND: Yes, that's absolutely one of the issues being looked at here in Israel. In fact, we've heard from officials that there should have likely
been some kind of vetting of any pilots coming from the United Arab Emirates and flying to Israel, both on the Emirati side as well as on the
Israeli side with the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence service being the organization that would be responsible for doing that. So you can
bet that that will also be a question that authorities look into as they try and understand not only the motivations of this would-be attacker, but
also any potential security procedure failings that could avert this kind of situation in the future.
SCIUTTO: Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, thanks so much.
Well, British Police say a dual U.K.-Iranian national has now been arrested in connection with a suspected plot against an air base in the U.K. Prime
Minister Andy Burnham says there are strong indications Iran was involved in the plot against RAF Fairford.
Police say the dual national was arrested in Westminster on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts. Five others were arrested on Sunday, you may
remember, then released on bail.
Joining us now, Colin Clarke, executive director of the Soufan Center, also author of "After The Caliphate: The Islamic State and the Future of the
Terrorist Diaspora."
Colin, good to have you. Thanks so much for joining.
COLIN CLARKE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SOUFAN CENTER, AUTHOR OF "AFTER THE CALIPHATE": Thanks, Jim. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: So this has been odd from the beginning, right? I mean, first of all, you have the arrests, you have the alarm, and then they were released.
British Police say they are still investigating.
But you also have this odd detail that one of the alleged plotters called police in the midst of the plot. What does that tell you? Does it look like
a clumsy plot? Does it look like one that was falling apart? What have you gleaned from the investigation so far?
CLARKE: Yes, it certainly looks to be clumsy and amateurish, which, if you look at the wave of Iranian-backed attacks that took place in Europe,
specifically following the beginning of the U.S. and Israeli backed war against Iran in late February, they have been perpetrated and orchestrated
by the shadowy network Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia or HAYI, which is essentially run by the Iranians. But they are using disposable agents to
carry out these plots, which is why they often look the way they do. People that aren't trained, that don't have much experience, and the Iranians are
really just hoping that they get lucky.
SCIUTTO: Disposable agents, and you say that Russia does something similar using a kind of gig economy for attacks that we are seeing around Europe.
Do the agents know who they are working for and what they are doing?
CLARKE: In some cases, they do; in other cases they don't. But this is kind of pay for play, which also explains why you're seeing poor results for the
terrorists, which is good for us. But there is not that kind of ideological zeal or commitment that you'd see in the case of someone inspired by the
Islamic State or somebody inspired by an al-Qaeda affiliate.
These are often kind of losers, cellar dwellers, the dregs of society that the Russians and the Iranians are reaching out to, often via Telegram, and
kind of have to push them into this and explain it to them. It has got a very kind of "Four Lions" if you've ever seen the satire/comedy feel to it
in many ways.
SCIUTTO: So why -- there is a suggestion of Iran connection to this plot in the U.K., but you certainly have Russia carrying out a whole host of these
attacks in hybrid war attacks around Europe -- why the reliance on freelancers, as it were? Is that because they can't get their own people in
there, or are there other advantages, plausible deniability among them?
[16:10:10]
CLARKE: There is a lot of advantages, plausible deniability being one, return on investment being another. These are really cheap. And even if
they don't succeed, it helps Iran extend the battlefield. It ties up the bandwidth of the security services. It is often embarrassing when you have
a series of plots, when you have a kind of high operational tempo.
And often, you know, the details are scant, and so that turns the knife a little bit within domestic societies, right? Is the government being
transparent? Are they telling us everything? It causes a lot of havoc even when the plot fails, as they often have.
But it also keeps communities, particularly the Jewish community in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe on edge and waiting for the next part, which
is, you know, a big part of terrorism is psychological.
SCIUTTO: Yes, I mean, you make that point that why we use this term hybrid, which sounds relatively sterile, you know, these are terror attacks and
terror attacks, of course, are designed to terrorize.
If I could ask you about the FlyDubai attack, because this is different, right? First of all, you know, if what we are hearing early on is true, a
radicalized person from Oman manages to become copilot on a flight carrying Israelis over Saudi Arabia, you know, this is -- that is much more
sophisticated.
Can you tell us what you're gleaning from the early indications of this investigation so far?
CLARKE: Sure. Yes, well, I've been, you know, thinking about this, talking to a lot of other experts in the field. My first question was, if this
person did radicalize as Netanyahu suggests, was this self-radicalization or was this somebody that has been in touch with an actual designated
foreign terrorist organization? Because if it I the latter, that's got all sorts of implications -- who are they? If it was the Iranians, some kind of
a state actor? Was this individual deliberately recruited and then placed into that job?
I think authorities have to be combing through all of his devices, his cell phones, laptops, all the digital breadcrumbs that might lead us to find
more answers.
SCIUTTO: No question. And then I suppose you can have degrees, right? Ranging from self-radicalization to direct training and direction and
somewhere in between -- I feel like we've seen that pattern in different degrees with ISIS attacks, for instance, lone wolf or other kind of
homegrown terrorist attacks in the West.
CLARKE: Lone wolf, remote controlled or trained and deployed. The closer you get to the source of the terrorist group, often the more lethal these
attacks become as we saw with the Bataclan in Paris in November 2015 and Brussels, March 2016.
SCIUTTO: Yes, no question, I was there after the Bataclan. Awful!
Colin Clarke, great to have you on. Thanks so much.
CLARKE: Thanks, Jim. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: When we return, a woman in Tennessee survives a state execution attempt. What went wrong? How she is doing, and now where do things go from
here?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:15:46]
SCIUTTO: A death row inmate is still alive and now receiving life-saving medical care, that's right, a death row inmate, according to one of her
attorneys, after a failed execution attempt by the U.S. State of Tennessee.
Christa Pike was set to be the first woman executed in the state in 200 years, but after authorities gave her two doses of a lethal drug, she was
still snoring loudly according to witnesses. She was then taken to hospital for treatment.
It is just the latest blunder by a state that has pushed ahead with executions despite years of troubles.
Earlier, Pike's attorney criticized the state, called for her death sentence to be commuted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY SPIVEY, ATTORNEY FOR CHRISTA PIKE: The state of Tennessee has shown us again that they are not capable of carrying out an execution consistent
with basic human dignity. Last night was not just inefficient, it was cruel, and it was torturous. It was also predictable.
Christa's legal team told the state of Tennessee and the court that her medical conditions would cause her to suffer an agonizing death. The state
and the court dismissed Christa's concerns.
The governor's call for an independent review does not go far enough. After having endured solitary confinement for more than 20 years and a full
attempt to kill her by lethal injection, Christa has endured punishment greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Ryan Young joins me now.
Ryan, when you read the accounts of the witnesses who saw this play out, I mean, beyond the snoring, I mean, talking through it. I mean it clearly
wasn't working as planned. What do we know?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, first of all, this sounds so disturbing. You can be -- and there are a lot of people who are
for the execution of Christa Pike because of the way she brutally killed someone back in 1995. That part of it is okay, but from what people
described that happened inside this room, they said they've never seen anything like it, and let's take this one other step.
Not only did Christa Pike say herself that she was okay with being executed, she just didn't want to be executed this way. She apparently has
small veins, and she was even trying to tell them where to find her veins on her arm during her own execution, and they still weren't able to find
it.
Listen to one of her attorneys talk about the idea of what was going on in that room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPIVEY: Last night, the execution team attempted to establish an I.V. line for an hour. I counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone,
one of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her arm after an unsuccessful attempt.
The state continued its efforts despite the very complications that we had warned about in court months earlier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Jim, I've been looking down at my notes on this, and it was a full 40 minutes after the first dose that that second dose was administered.
We've covered other death penalty cases together before, and this one really stands out.
There is a state investigation. But look, don't only just take my word for it. In the United States, of course and you know this, witnesses are
allowed to watch what is going on. Some of those members are members of the media and just listen to this one witness describe what she witnessed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHERINE SWEENEY, MEDIA WITNESS: She said that there was a spot that was burning and hurting, and asked if that was normal, none of it was normal. I
covered all the executions last year, and most of the ones this year, we haven't seen anything like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Now, we've been making phone calls since this very moment to try to figure out what is next. What we know is Christa Pike is in critical
condition right now. We don't believe her lawyers have had the chance to actually see her. How does this move forward? We know the governor has
suspended executions for the rest of the year. This is not the first time they've had issues. Just a few months ago, there was another issue here.
And so what people are calling for now is an open report to see how this moves forward, but so many questions now. And of course what happens to
Christa Pike, does she ever come out of this coma? We've been talking to the attorneys even since this news conference to see what they plan to do
next, but they are going to be fighting to see if maybe she can just do life in prison at this point.
So it is a lot of things that are still moving at this point.
SCIUTTO: Ryan Young, thanks so much.
[16:20:10]
Well, joining us now, Deborah Denno, she is a law professor as well as the Founding Director of the Neuroscience and Law Center at Fordham Law School.
Deborah, good to have you on. Thanks so much.
DEBORAH DENNO, PROFESSOR, FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE NEUROSCIENCE AND LAW CENTER, FORDHAM LAW SCHOOL: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: So first of all, you heard her lawyer there. Describe this as cruel and torturous punishment. Do you agree based on what you know of the
circumstances and if so, what is the recourse?
DENNO: I absolutely agree. I mean, it just sounds horrifying what Christa Pike went through.
So several things: I mean, first of all, as the attorney is doing, she could spend the rest of her life in prison and not have another execution
because we've never had something like this.
There have been eight -- she is the eighth execution where an inmate has survived a lethal injection, but nobody has been in a coma or had to go to
the hospital or been in this level of urgency. So, the fact that she would get life in prison makes a lot of sense. I mean, that seems to be the most
obvious recourse.
SCIUTTO: To your point, it is not the first time we've seen awful circumstances with lethal injection. Is the method fundamentally flawed as
it is applied today in this state and perhaps more broadly in the country?
DENNO: It is absolutely, fundamentally flawed and it always has been. I've been looking at executions and particularly lethal injection executions for
over 30 years, starting in 1982 with the very first lethal injection execution was flawed.
So this has been a continuing saga, but it has also gotten worse, and I think that's something to stress here. Until 2009, we never had inmates
surviving a lethal injection execution. It just goes to show that Department of corrections, particularly a department like Tennessee, is
simply not prepared to carry out this method, number one. And number two, that it is unclear that there was any level of training or what was going
on to cause this kind of result.
SCIUTTO: What happens now for her legal team? And you heard our reporter discussing the possibility of commuting to a life sentence. I mean, is that
possible? And if so, who would make that decision and over what time frame?
DENNO: Well, perhaps the governor could make that kind of decision and maybe a decision that would go up to the United States Supreme Court,
that's number one.
Number two, of course, if Christa Pike is in a coma or suffers from some pretty severe brain injury, she would not be able to comprehend the kind of
punishment that she is receiving. So, you know, the United States Supreme Court has made sure and made very clear that if somebody can't comprehend
the level of punishment they are receiving, that they can't be executed.
So I think, you know, these are the kinds of decisions that need to be made. We certainly have seen a couple of instances of an inmate who has
survived to be executed, finally again, but that's highly problematic and I can't imagine that happening in this kind of situation.
SCIUTTO: The courts in this country, at least under conservative judges, have and under conservative lawmakers, become more open to the death
penalty and kind of, you know, digging their heels in, even in the face of opposition. A few years ago, you had those cases of where companies weren't
making the lethal injection material, right, and there were shortages of that.
Where is the larger application of this in this country? Are you still seeing more of it? Are you seeing some states move away from it and some
move towards it?
DENNO: Well, generally there has been a decline in states implementing the death penalty. We've seen a bump up this year because Florida has led the
way in an unprecedented number of executions. But generally, there has been a steep decline. I also don't think this as being a, you know, conservative
versus legal -- versus liberal issue. For example, even if somebody is for the death penalty and thinks certain people should deserve it -- what
happened to Christa Pike was never supposed to take place.
Errors were made and there wasn't training or whatever, took place here and even somebody who is pro-death penalty would not want this to happen.
SCIUTTO: Deborah Denno, thanks so much for walking us through it all.
DENNO: Okay. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Still to come on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, NATO allies in Europe are turning to a commercial satellite company to help gather intelligence on
Russian threats. I will speak to the CEO of that company, Planet Labs, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:28:20]
SCIUTTO: Hello, I am Jim Sciutto. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment when we will hear from the CEO of a company who says his satellite
technology can help monitor Russian threats for NATO allies.
And it has been a rocky road for Aston Martin. The company CEO spoke to CNN about how he plans to get the carmaker back on track.
Before that, the headlines this hour.
Investigators are still looking into the motive, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is giving new details about the suspect in an apparent
hijacking attempt of a FlyDubai flight. He says the copilot who attacked his fellow pilot en route to Tel Aviv had undergone Islamist radical
indoctrination. The Prime Minister also described the pilot as suicidal, wanting to bring the plane down.
A British-Iranian dual national has been arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts, this, in connection with an alleged plot
targeting a U.K. air base used by U.S. jets which attacked Iran. The 27- year-old man was arrested in Westminster, London. This comes a day after the British prime minister, Andy Burnham, said there are "strong
indications" Iran was involved in that plot.
British counterterrorism police said a second man, a 26-year-old British national was questioned under caution.
Attorneys for U.S. death row inmate, Christa Pike say she is now receiving life-saving medical care after a failed execution. Pike survived after
receiving what were supposed to be two lethal injections. The governor of Tennessee has now called off the states other planned execution this year.
Pike's attorney is demanding her death sentence now be commuted.
[16:30:00]
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warns that his country will face more hybrid attacks by Russia. Even so, Merz said that Berlin will continue to
support Ukraine through what is expected to be a very difficult winter. German authorities accused Russia of carrying out a campaign of drone and
cyber and other sabotage attacks in Europe. They say Moscow was behind an attempted drone attack at Leipzig Airport in August.
NATO allies in Europe now want more satellite imagery to help monitor Russian threats and reduce their reliance on U.S. intelligence. This,
according to Planet CEO Will Marshall. He says they have seen how Ukraine has successfully used satellite technology and that demand has increased to
use his company's fleet of imaging satellites.
Planet CEO Will Marshall joins me now from San Francisco.
Will, good to have you on. Thanks so much.
WILL MARSHALL, CEO, PLANET: Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
SCIUTTO: You have said that Europe, quote, "needs its own eyes." My question is, does commercial satellite imagery compete with the kind of
imagery, that imagery that you would get from, for instance, U.S. surveillance satellites, monitoring satellites? Is it the same quality, the
same accuracy, et cetera?
MARSHALL: It's different, but it's also beneficial. But let me step back a second first, because it's an exciting day for us here at Planet. We just
had a rocket launch with 20 more satellites going to space. The first satellite for a mission with Google to put the first TPUs in space called
Suncatcher, the second one of our Tanager spacecraft, and 18 of our SuperDove spacecraft, which do this unique thing of imaging the entire
earth every day.
And you just mentioned Ukraine, and that's exactly the kind of thing that we can help. We help Ukraine monitor threats. We help NATO monitor threats.
For example, you were just mentioning hybrid warfare activities. We help monitor the Russian vessel activities in the Baltics. You ask about the
difference between what we're doing and what national systems can do. Look, what the U.S. spy satellites have is incredible, exquisite resolution.
So if you know where to look, they can show with incredible precision. But what they can't do is image all of Russia every day or all of the Baltics
every day. Commercial systems can do all of that. And if you like, give early warning and help point those systems at other places, but give early
warning.
SCIUTTO: Understood.
MARSHALL: All of this stuff is also really tied up with the -- not just the geopolitical fragmentation of the planet, but also with A.I., because A.I.
is only as good as its training data set. We're offering all this new training data set to help A.I. know things about the real world. So
basically, for both security and A.I., satellite data is very relevant and additional to what national systems can do.
SCIUTTO: Sure, I understand. So if you're imaging every day, for instance, you could see that, I don't know, a warship has left harbor, right, or a
plane has taken off, et cetera. I just wonder how much of this demand from countries in Europe, for instance, results from declining trust in the U.S.
as an intelligence partner? Are they looking to you in part because they're hedging their bets?
MARSHALL: Well, definitely at some level, they are trying to get their own systems to sense the planet, that they can control and ensure there when
they need them. And they also, when they go to Ukraine and see what has happened there, they have realized that satellites and drones and A.I. are
playing a critical role to information advantage. So Ukraine has less tanks and troops and ships and planes than Russia. But if they have an
information advantage, they can use what they have more effectively.
Europe is trying to say, hey, let's learn the lessons of that. If we are smart, if we get the right information, and satellites are critical to
that, and not just critical to security things, but let me just say one more specific aspect of that. NATO has been trying to track Russian hybrid
activities in the Baltics. This is where they're cutting cables or doing other illicit things.
SCIUTTO: Sure.
MARSHALL: We give them precise locations of where the Russian vessels are, commercial Russian vessels, docking with other vessels, other commercial
vessels, and doing illicit things. And we give them hundreds of alerts per week of where these things are happening so that NATO vessels could go and
interdict those ships. So it's important for stopping that Russian hybrid activity there.
SCIUTTO: Sure. Understood, there could be some sort of sharing of resources in that sense.
[16:35:03]
You mentioned A.I., and of course, you know, A.I. is in everything these days. I just wonder, because how, how exactly do you use it? And by the
way, A.I. gets things wrong. I mean, we saw that, for instance, in one of the early strikes in the Iran war by U.S. forces hitting that school. I
mean, there was a collection of issues there. How does it help and how do you make sure it's not just A.I. that you're relying on?
MARSHALL: Yes, it's a great question. I mean, basically A.I. mostly today is trained on the text of the internet. So if you use ChatGPT or Gemini or
Anthropic, Claude, they're very good at answering questions about the text of the internet, but they're almost blind to the real world because they
don't really have real world sensors.
So if you imagine we are taking all of that knowledge caught up in these large language models and adding earth data, 3,000 images for every point
on the earth's land mass that we have been imaging for the last 10 years, every day for 10 years, and then what that enables is the A.I. to answer
real world questions, like, where are ships bunkering in the in the Baltics or where is the unusual activity that we may want to find for risks.
But not just, of course, on the security front. Let me tell you another example where we're using A.I.. We use A.I. to track and find illegal
deforestation across the whole Brazilian Amazon every day, eight million kilometers or three times the size of Europe every day to find illegal
deforestation. There's no way humans with their eyes could look at all of that imagery, of all of Russia for Ukraine, or all of Brazilian Amazon for
the Brazilian government.
Only with A.I. can you sort through all of that and bring up to the surface the most important things and how you can stop mistakes of the kind that
you're referring to is you always have humans check those alerts, right? And check the ones that you actually want to do something about before you
do something about it. But it's looking across a large area and alerting you for and giving you early warnings and what we call peripheral vision to
what's going on.
Yes, early warnings that should hopefully help countries across Europe and across the world get more advanced warning of threats coming their way,
whether that's security threats or cyclones and other things like that that we're helping with here in the U.S..
SCIUTTO: Well, it's exciting stuff.
Will Marshall, Planet, thanks so much for joining.
MARSHALL: Thanks very much.
SCIUTTO: A new CNN investigation has found that while the U.S. president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has acted as a key Middle East peace negotiator,
his private equity firm held the largest stake in an Israeli company backing businesses tied to Israel's military campaign in Gaza. That
includes its largest arms manufacturer.
CNN's Katie Polglase investigates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, often seen acting as America's
unofficial peace envoy to the Middle East.
JARED KUSHNER, TRUMP'S SON-IN-LAW: Why can't the world be better? Why can't there be peace? Why can't there be more prosperity?
POLGLASE (voice-over): But he's also a billionaire private investor.
KUSHNER: The funds are doing great, and we've got a great team, great portfolio.
POLGLASE (voice-over): And a CNN investigation has now found that his firm, Affinity Partners, is the largest shareholder in an Israeli financial
giant, backing businesses that provide equipment to the Israeli military. Equipment that has been used in Israel's wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
The same wars Trump sent Kushner to resolve.
His Israeli investment is the latest in a series of examples where Kushner has blurred the lines between business and politics. The dual roles have
drawn sharp criticism from some, but Kushner has wholeheartedly embraced it.
KUSHNER: When you get, you know, an Arab and Israeli together and they start talking about a business opportunity, they forget about everything
else.
POLGLASE (voice-over): It all begins back in January 2021. President Trump leaves office. The next day, Kushner sets up a firm that would become
Affinity Partners, with financial backing later coming from the Saudi state and then later Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Fast forward to July
2024, Affinity buys a stake in Israeli financial institution Phoenix Financial.
Then, in January 2025, days before Trump returns to the White House, Affinity doubles its stake in Phoenix, making it the largest shareholder.
By October 2025, Kushner is publicly involved in politics. Standing in Tel Aviv celebrating the release of the hostages after weeks negotiating a
ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
This is perhaps one of the most prominent moments when Kushner is performing both roles as a businessman and a diplomat at the same time.
Here he is negotiating a peace deal for Gaza while also holding an investment in an Israeli company that is backing some of the very
businesses linked to the war in Gaza. And thanks to Israeli transparency laws, we can see what some of those businesses are.
(Voice-over): CNN went through thousands of financial records, and amid the hundreds of companies Phoenix invests in, we identified at least nine
supplying military equipment for Israel.
[16:40:08]
Affinity doesn't directly hold a stake in the nine companies CNN identified, but it does stand to reap rewards when Phoenix makes a profit
from such investments. All nine companies saw their stock market value rise last year, and many said they've seen a material increase in business as a
result of the war in Gaza. Phoenix's shares in these companies are worth more than $456 million. One of the nine companies was Elbit Systems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The IDF also made operational use of the Lava Launcher.
POLGLASE (voice-over): Israel's largest arms manufacturer. We've previously traced Elbit's weapons to multiple Israeli strikes that have killed
civilians. We also found Israel's shipyards on Phoenix's books. They supply warships to the Israeli Navy, ships that have repeatedly fired on Gaza.
Further companies include one making gearboxes for Israeli tanks and another making electronic fuses for shells used in Gaza.
An attorney for Kushner told us Kushner is not involved in Phoenix's decisions on where to invest. He's not on their board, and he's never held
a management role at the company. But we found Kushner's relationship with Phoenix is actually a bit more complicated.
(Voice-over): He told "Forbes" in September last year he had a very active dialog with Phoenix, meeting with their team every few weeks, and an
attorney for Kushner told us this was true at the time, and that Kushner regularly spoke with Phoenix about the company, broader market trends, and
potential strategic opportunities. Here he is talking about how he's encouraged Phoenix to invest in the Gulf.
KUSHNER: Phoenix, which is a monster company, is now looking at investments in Saudi Arabia, investments in UAE.
POLGLASE (voice-over): This encouragement, in fact, goes both ways.
KUSHNER: My investors from the Middle East are now looking at Israel and they're saying, wait a minute, maybe there's a benefit to having these wars
done. And we're seeing a good example there.
POLGLASE (voice-over): Around the same time this podcast published, Kushner was working on Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan. Kushner's attorney told us
that Kushner has significantly reduced his interaction with Phoenix management since becoming substantially more engaged in volunteer public
service and diplomatic efforts. Nevertheless, Kushner's held this Israeli investment amid his diplomacy.
In July this year, Kushner's firm cashed in a quarter of its stake in Phoenix for more than $340 million, a return of more than five times its
original investment. Kushner's firm, Affinity, still remains Phoenix's largest shareholder.
Katie Polglase, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Phoenix Financial declined to answer CNN's questions, but a spokesperson said the firm is, quote, "regulated" and that, quote,
"shareholder value is derived primarily from operating performance rather than investment returns." None of the nine companies CNN identified
commented for this report. The White House said Kushner's personal business activities have nothing to do with his diplomatic engagements.
Still to come, the Paramount-Warner Brothers merger clears the final hurdle. We'll tell you when it takes effect and who's now been named co-CEO
of the combined company.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:45:50]
SCIUTTO: Paramount says its merger with CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, will take effect October 6th. Paramount settlement of an
antitrust lawsuit brought by 16 state attorneys general was approved by a U.S. judge on Wednesday. That then cleared the way for it to create one of
the largest media companies in the world.
The combined company will have two chief executives. Ynon Kreiz, the head of Mattel, has been named co-CEO along with David Ellison. Paramount says
Kreiz will oversee day-to-day operations, while Ellison focuses on long- term strategy, technology and creative vision.
Our chief media analyst Brian Stelter joins me now with more.
Brian, I want to talk to you about big, like corporate stuff and then get into the news stuff. So starting on the -- this sort of odd co-CEO
arrangement, the Mattel CEO, he's known as a cost cutter. What should that mean for the combined company, especially with all this debt they took on
for the purchase?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, Paramount has promised Wall Street $6 billion in synergies. So cost-cutting and layoffs will be a big
part of the job. And it seems to me that David Ellison, whose family is taking control of Warner Bros. Discovery starting next week is aware that
he's going to need help to pull this off, Jim. Ellison is in his 40s, he's been running Paramount for the past year, but he does not have a long track
record of experience running a publicly traded company. Kreiz does.
So he's bringing in someone in his 60s who is an old, steady hand at this in order to do some of that work. And, as you said, do more of the day-to-
day functionality while Ellison focuses on long-term planning, talent, relationships, capital allocation and things like that. Wall Street
analysts have responded to this with optimism, saying it shows that there is a strong plan in place. And in the next few days, Jim, we will hear
about the entire leadership team.
This deal will take effect next Tuesday. So between now and then, we're going to hear more announcements about who will be running all the
companies. They're going to be part of this combined media empire.
SCIUTTO: OK, so to the news questions and there are there are a lot here. Stories now reports that they've asked Mark Thompson, the CEO of our
company, of course, CNN, which is owned by this giant new company here. Do we know for how long and what does that mean about Bari Weiss, who
Paramount brought in to run CBS?
STELTER: Right. Well, I would start with the following fact. It's really important to this conversation. CNN remains highly profitable, and right
now it is highly determined to launch digital businesses, to build digital businesses like that "All Access" subscription product that's already
online to offset the declines of cable and satellite. Those profits matter because Ellison is going to need the cash flow from channels like CNN to
pay down the massive debt load.
So that bodes well for stability at this news network. Today "The Wall Street Journal" and several other outlets reported that CNN CEO Mark
Thompson is in talks with Ellison in order to stay on board and stay in charge for the time being. Thompson, as some viewers know, formerly ran the
BBC, formerly ran "The New York Times," so his continued involvement would be a sign that the new owners are not trying to make major changes, at
least not on day one.
You asked the key question, though, Jim. How long would Thompson be staying on? How long would his new contract before? And that's unknown. But today's
reports indicate that the controversial CBS News boss Bari Weiss would not be involved at CNN, at least not right away. Ellison is still fond of her,
I'm told, but she has a lot to do at CBS News.
So we're describing talks that are currently underway. Ellison, as we speak, is trying to finalize his management team. Nothing has been
confirmed or announced yet, but so far, the signals from Paramount are about stability at CNN, not about a shakeup.
SCIUTTO: I know you'll keep watching. Brian Stelter, thanks so much.
STELTER: Thanks.
SCIUTTO: Now to cars. Aston Martin is venturing into what the carmaker calls quiet luxury. Its new SUV is an example of Aston Martin's attempt to
blend performance, comfort and style. Aston Martin shares are down nearly 50 percent so far this year.
Anna Cooban spoke to the CEO Adrian Hallmark about how the company is navigating U.S. auto tariffs and a rapidly changing global marketplace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIAN HALLMARK, CEO, ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA: America has always been a strong part of Aston Martin's geographical portfolio, but this year it's
around 30 percent of our sales so it's very important to us.
[16:50:10]
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: So if you had a message for Donald Trump about his approach, his attitude towards the
global car market, but towards British carmakers, what would you say to him if he was in the room right now with you?
HALLMARK: I've never had the pleasure of speaking to the president, but I have spoken to his first line, as it were, on exactly this topic. The
mindset in the U.S. towards us as a small manufacturer could not be better. They very clearly see the unique nature of the full luxury brands that live
and thrive in the U.K.. I won't name all of our competitors, but you can work out who they are.
But those four luxury brands they see as protected and the very reason why the tariff system was given to the U.K. as the first deal that was done,
because our industry is unique compared with any other country around the world.
COOBAN: So going eastwards now, you've said before that demand in China is extremely subdued. So take me through that and how much does that threaten
Aston Martin.
HALLMARK: Aston Martin, we were never more than 10 percent of our sales in the Chinese market. Other competitors we're two and three times that
geographical mix. So when the Chinese luxury sector contracted severely over the past three years, pro-rata we were less impacted than some of our
competition. There's a simple reason for that. The Chinese market is absolutely dominating 90 percent of all the luxury sales are SUVs and
sedans, and sedans are significant.
We don't have a sedan, so we didn't lose any market there. So we did lose the SUV sector, and we lost a little bit of sports cars. So whilst it was
slightly damaging to us, we have taken stock of the Chinese market. We still believe there is a future in China.
COOBAN: So Aston Martin's stock price over the past few years, if you've been tracking it, is really nosedived and there has been rumors about
potential takeover. There's been rumors that Geely, a Chinese EV maker, one of your largest shareholders, may be the company to take you over if that
does happen. Can you tell me, is there any truth to these rumors?
HALLMARK: The share price is what it is, and it has been deflated for a while. That's mainly due to the fact that we've not been generating cash.
We've not been generating profit. And all the expectations were that at some stage that we would. As I mentioned earlier, we are now in that point
of inflection. I can't comment on the intentions of external companies. I do know that our Chinese shareholder is a very supportive partner.
We have a great relationship with them, but our mission, and we have full board support, including all shareholders, to deliver the plan that we have
written down, to deliver that transformation, to deliver these new products and to turn the company around. That's my mission, the team's mission, and
we're on track to do it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Coming up, Europe's heat waves are now over, but some of their effects have yet to be felt. How the extreme weather could affect your
French fries, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:55:53]
SCIUTTO: -- may have a potato problem after this summer's drought and heat waves. Anna Stewart visited a chip shop in London to find out exactly what
that means for your fries or your chips.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's lunchtime at the Fryers Delight, and the Fryers are delightfully busy.
JOAO MAGALHAES, MANAGER, FRYERS DELIGHT: It's heavy.
STEWART: It's really heavy. It's a lot of potatoes. All right. That was my job done. Whoa. Well, that's kind of simple. That's the kind of cooking I
could do.
(Voice-over): The business isn't so simple. Joao has been running this chippy for 36 years, and not for the first time he's feeling under pressure
with costs rising.
MAGALHAES: Just the price of the fish, price of the oil.
STEWART: Price of the oil, price of the fish.
MAGALHAES: Yes. And the potatoes as well.
STEWART: And the potatoes.
(Voice-over): Potatoes will likely get even more expensive.
CRAIG ELLIOTT, MARKET ANALYST, EXPANA: Last year, we had a market that was characterized by pretty heavy oversupply.
STEWART: So too many potatoes last year.
ELLIOTT: Too many potatoes last year, which weighed heavily on prices. Heading into this year, growers reduced their acreage and then we had a
series of heat waves, which has possibly resulted in a pretty massive crop loss.
STEWART: So this is an average potato that I got from downstairs.
ELLIOTT: Yes.
STEWART: Are we less likely to see that as being the sort of normal size?
ELLIOTT: Market sentiment is that we're going to have smaller product this year. Yes.
STEWART: Because this makes a beautiful big chip.
ELLIOTT: Sure does. Yes.
STEWART (voice-over): 3.5 million metric tons of potatoes could be lost this year across Europe and the U.K., according to the Energy and Climate
Intelligence Unit. Joao gets through six sacks of potatoes on a busy day, around 150 KGs, and they all need to be washed, peeled.
Look at that.
(Voice-over): And chopped.
How are you going to feel if the potatoes are getting smaller? How would you feel if your chips are short? You might end up with little tiny chips.
MAGALHAES: Most efficient chips use fish and chips. There's a lot of small chips anyway. I like this one because it's more, you know, it's when you
when you eat them, you can feel the potatoes. Crisp outside, inside soft. Yes? But if you have no alternative, what you can do?
STEWART: Just serve up smaller chips.
(Voice-over): For now, this hardworking chippy is absorbing increased costs. But the spud squeeze is to come as this year's harvest comes to an
end.
The chips aren't just down. They could be getting pricier and on the short side.
(Voice-over): Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: That's it for QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Jim Sciutto. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
