Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
Trump Meeting with China's Xi Jinping Ends Over High Stakes Trade Talks; Jamaica Faces Long Recovery After Deadly Hurricane Melissa; Arnold Schwarzenegger on Second Chances for Former Prisoners. California, 20+ States Sue Trump Administration Over SNAP Benefits; Trump Meets with China's Xi for High-Stakes Trade Talks; Arrested Suspects Admit Involvement in Crown Jewel Heist. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired October 30, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
COATES: -- sense of when we might know the deliverables?
HOLMES: It is likely that we are going to hear while they're on the plane on the way home. President Trump has to get back to the White House. He has promised the first lady he will be there for Halloween, meaning they have to take off rather quickly. So likely in the air, a very long flight, is when we're going to learn details of what came out of that meeting.
COATES: So much important information.
Kristen Holmes, got to keep us posted as you always do. Thank you so much for being there.
And thank you all so much for watching. Up next, "THE STORY WITH ELEX MICHAELSON" is coming up now.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson.
Our top story is breaking news. The first meeting in six years between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It just wrapped up seconds ago. The two shaking hands, exchanging pleasantries. We still have big questions about a trade deal. This just seconds ago. This is President Trump, President Xi, walking out of their meeting, looking relatively friendly.
The meeting ending on time, a rarity for one of meetings with President Trump. Not that rare when it comes to President Xi. We see the handshake right there. And the two of them going on and about their way. Still lots of questions about what exactly comes next after all of this, where do we go from here.
Kristen Holmes is CNN's chief White House correspondent. She is in the region traveling with the president, and she joins us now to continue our coverage.
Kristen, welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time. A whole lot of news happening right now. Take us inside that room, from what we have seen and what we haven't seen.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Elex, and I just want to say welcome to CNN. We're all really happy that you're here, and I'm thrilled to be on the show with you, especially in this early week.
MICHAELSON: Thank you.
HOLMES: So, but going to what exactly we know. Look, everyone wants to know what exactly the deliverables were coming out of this meeting. There are a lot of questions. We have heard a lot of different ideas floating around in terms of a potential trade deal. None of this has been confirmed, and we haven't seen any paperwork. That means nothing has actually been put down in writing as of now.
So some of the things that were on the table, China buying a substantial amount of soybeans from American farmers, which of course would be critical to those American farmers. Another part of this would be China deferring their export controls over rare minerals. Rare minerals, as we've been talking about almost nonstop now for the last several months, basically are found in every technology that we have.
And China has a dominance over them in the marketplace. They were planning on making those export controls stricter, which would raise the price for the United States, something President Trump was clearly against because he retaliated with 100 percent tariffs. That is likely both off the table. We believe that those critical minerals restrictions are going to be deferred at least a year. That's one of the things that they have been talking about. And any incoming tariffs of 100 percent are off the table.
The other part of this that is outside of a trade deal is the idea of TikTok, the finalized deal transferring ownership over to the United States. Was that done? We were told by sources that it was pretty much a done deal, that they had it all written up. All it needed was the signatures of these two leaders. But of course, when it comes to President Trump and President Xi, anything could happen.
Now, one thing I want to note is how they walked out, because, as you noted, this was actually a fairly quick meeting. Just to give you some sense of this, when President Trump sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin, they were tracking 30 minutes to an hour for that meeting. It ended up being roughly four hours. This obviously was substantially shorter, but you didn't seem to see any tension when the two men walked out.
It wasn't as though one of them appeared to be storming out in any way. They still shook hands. They still went to their respective cars. So unclear what that means in terms of a deal. But we are tracking this very closely. We know one thing, President Trump needed to get on that plane and get back to the White House. He had promised the first lady he would be there for this Halloween celebration.
So we are likely to hear the trickle out from these sources while they are on the plane, on Air Force One, on the way back while they craft the narrative around whatever it was, if anything, they agreed to. But those are what we're really going to be looking at. What does this mean for tariffs with China? What does this mean for the relationship with China? What does this mean for the future of TikTok?
And one thing to be clear that there's been a lot of questions about. We have seen nothing but an escalation between these two countries since President Trump was sworn in. An ongoing or rolling trade war. There are a lot of experts who want to know whatever deal, if anything, is made today, does that just bring us back to the drawing board when it comes to China, or does that actually advance the narrative?
Does that actually advance trade relations? Does it actually advance the relationship between the two countries? And that we're just not going to know.
[00:05:01]
We might not even know once we get the information. It's going to be something that we're going to have to really parse through the information on both sides to figure out.
MICHAELSON: And what we were just looking at before this was a live picture of President Trump getting on to Air Force One relatively quickly. It will be interesting to see, does he do some sort of press gaggle on the plane as he sometimes does on these long trips, to give some of that information himself?
We did get some news from him on Truth Social. Some surprising news considering nuclear weapons. I want to put this up on the screen. This is the president's post right before this meeting. One part of what he said was, "Because of other countries' testing programs," he's talking about China and Russia here. "I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately."
The president was asked about that by one of Kristen's colleagues in the pool. Watch how he reacted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, why did you change your nuclear plans? Why are you going to be doing more nuclear testing?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much, everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, press.
TRUMP: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: We know that the president loves to engage when he wants to engage. What do you make of that post and his choice not to engage on it? HOLMES: Yes, I mean, it was striking. President Trump loves to take
questions. He loves to engage with the reporters. And he certainly didn't in that moment. Now, I will note that he often recently has been taking cues from the world leaders that he's up there with. This is the same thing we saw when he's alongside the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, early on. Same kind of situation in which people were shouting questions, Putin did not answer, and neither did President Trump. So it could just be that.
But when it comes to this post, there are still a lot of questions. What does he mean by the fact that he's instructed the Department of Defense to begin testing nuclear weapons? Are you talking about blowing up nuclear weapons in a desert in Nevada? Are you talking about testing nuclear capabilities? There are still so much that we don't know about this post that came just moments before he sat down with the Chinese president.
One of the things to keep in mind here, the U.S. has not actually tested nuclear weapons in 33 years. So since 1992. So this would be a change in posture for the United States. But the other thing to keep in mind here, you mentioned the two other super nuclear powers, Russia and China. Russia recently, Vladimir Putin specifically, touted the fact that they had had a nuclear missile test that was successful, as well as a successful nuclear torpedo test.
That is not lost on President Trump. We also know when it comes to China's president, he has been overseeing one of the largest and most rapid growing nuclear stockpiles that we've ever seen. So these are things President Trump knows and might be using as leverage going into that meeting with the Chinese president.
MICHAELSON: Kristen Holmes, it is great to have you as part of our coverage. We've got the A-team out here for the big coverage tonight. Thank you so much.
HOLMES: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Let's discuss this further with Josh Rogin, the lead global security analyst at the "Washington Post Intelligence." He literally wrote the book on this relationship. You see it right there called "Chaos Under Heaven: Trump-Xi and the Battle for the 21st Century."
Josh, welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time. Really excited to have you aboard. So President Xi, not exactly known for being Mr. warm and fuzzy. What do you make of the relatively cordial tone and body language that we've seen?
JOSH ROGIN, LEAD GLOBAL SECURITY ANALYST, WASHINGTON POST INTELLIGENCE: Well, Elex, congrats on the show. Thanks for having me on.
MICHAELSON: Thank you.
ROGIN: You know, when I interviewed President Trump about his relationship with President Xi, it was clear President Trump thinks that they're very good friends. And he thinks that if he and President Xi can just get in a room, they could probably solve all of these issues and avoid a new Cold War. And the U.S. and China can be very chummy.
Now, the problem with that is that President Xi uses that knowledge that President Trump really likes him to get what he wants, to negotiate things that are good for China and bad for the United States. And, you know, it also goes counter to a lot of the people in President Trump's administration who want to play hardball with China on things like trade and tariffs and technology, not to mention human rights and Taiwan and all the rest.
So, you know, I think it makes perfect sense that President Xi is going to act like him and Trump are best friends, because that's what Trump thinks, and that's what Xi likes Trump to think.
MICHAELSON: So if President Trump thinks that they're good friends, what does President Xi think of President Trump?
ROGIN: Well, best we can tell, he thinks that Trump is someone he can play, someone he can manipulate to get what he wants. And you know, the details of this deal, we don't know. But it's going to involve something about chips. What China wants is A.I. chips. All of those things that Kristen mentioned are absolutely correct. And there's one more. You have Nvidia. They produce some of the best chips in the world.
Right now they're restricted from being sold to China for really simple reason is that we want to win the A.I. race, not the Chinese, and American companies need those chips. And, you know, if we give them to Chinese companies and American companies can't get them. But, I think President Trump, from what I understand, is about to lift those restrictions and allow Nvidia to sell some of the most advanced semiconductors in A.I. chips to China.
[00:10:07]
That's great for China, it's great for Xi, it's great for Nvidia. They're going to make a bunch of money, but not really good for U.S. national security. So I think that this dynamic where Trump thinks they're friends and Xi likes Trump thinking they're friends is something that Xi is very good at using and is used in the first term and is using again right now.
MICHAELSON: What do you make of President Trump bringing up the nuclear testing issue at a Truth Social post right before walking into a meeting with Xi?
ROGIN: Yes. I mean, on one side of, you know, Trump's brain probably thinks he's acting tough and that by testing nuclear weapons, he's showing American strength. And to be sure, there's been a lot of support for a resumption of nuclear testing in the Republican Party for a long time. And there are fair reasons to argue for why we should test. On the other hand, you know, the U.S. did signed a treaty to promise not to test nuclear weapons, and this would violate that, or at least abrogate that. And you know, testing nuclear weapons has its own risks. Once we start
testing, a lot of other people are going to start testing. And, you know, I don't really know how much real scientific benefit you get from testing these weapons. We've had these weapons a long time. We know what they can do. We can test -- we can know that they're good without blowing them up in the desert or something like that. But, you know, from Trump's perspective, I'm sure it means he thinks that, you know, this is a real tough thing to do to really show the world that we're not afraid to test our weapons. Maybe we're not afraid to use them, and that kind of thing.
MICHAELSON: In some ways, this is -- this is the human drama of two really interesting characters, Trump and Xi. But impacts all the rest of us around the world. Why does this relationship matter?
ROGIN: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON: How does as we look at a live picture of Air Force One about to take off right now from South Korea? Why does this relationship matter for all the rest of us around the world?
ROGIN: Right. Well, it's not just the two superpowers. And the two world's largest two economies. What I think is that the U.S. and China represent two different systems, two different ways of governing and really living. You know, we have our free and open democratic societies that mostly based on free market principles. And, you know, the human rights of human beings and all that kind of good stuff that America is supposed to be about.
Then you have the Chinese system, which is about state control, totalitarianism. Not believing in what we would consider human rights and a system that whereby the Chinese rule-making and sort of power projection rules Asia and then eventually the world. So, you know, first of all, for Asia, it matters a lot for all these other countries that Trump visited this week. And second of all, every country in the world probably thinks of America as its most important diplomatic partner and China as its most important trading partner.
So there's a lot of good reasons for the U.S. in trying to figure out -- try to figure out how to live together. I'm for that. I think we need to live together in this world. We need to figure out how to avoid conflict. At the same time, the problem with the Trump administration's policy is that it's split between competing with China and engaging with China. And sure, you could do some of both. But to the extent that we're going to give them our chips and back down on trade and, you know, ignore human rights and maybe even ignore some stuff on Taiwan, I think that's playing to China's advantage. And I hope that's not what comes out of this meeting.
MICHAELSON: When you hear about nuclear weapons again, it's a reminder of why we do need to figure out a way to get along as well.
Josh Rogin, thanks for staying up late with us. We really appreciate it. Following this breaking news in real time.
If President Trump talks on Air Force One, we will bring that to you live. Right now, though, we want to talk about Hurricane Melissa, which has regained some strength. It is now back to a category two as it makes its way out of the Bahamas and now heading towards Bermuda. It has already left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean, hammering Jamaica, Cuba, other islands with torrential rain, flash flooding, dangerous storm surge and fierce winds.
Flooding remains the biggest concern in Cuba hours after the storm slammed into the island on Wednesday. Look at those dramatic pictures there. Officials in Jamaica say that catastrophic isn't even a strong enough word to describe the type of devastation they're seeing in the hardest hit areas. More than 70 percent of that country has no electricity. Heavy equipment is now needed to reach some areas that are completely cut off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yesterday was horrible, horrific, terrifying. The worst day of my entire life. It was terrifying for me and my child. The water level reached me to my waist. I was stuck in my house. They had to break into my home to save me.
DANA MORRIS DIXON, JAMAICA MINISTER OF INFORMATION: There are many communities in western Jamaica, Saint Elizabeth and Montego Bay. I know a lot of American tourists come and see beautiful Montego Bay. That has taken a big hit, and so we need to get to those marooned communities.
[00:15:05]
And so having heavy equipment, having crews that can come in and assist us in getting to those areas is really very important. We also need to get food to these areas because a lot of these people are cut off and do need food supplies flown into them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: So international aid is on the way to Jamaica as the airports there reopen.
CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam reports from Jamaica, where there is a long road to recovery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Widespread devastation after the deadly category five Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, whipped through Jamaica Tuesday, leaving behind a path of destruction. Most of the island without power. On the ground, a muddy mess as people come out to survey the damage for the first time. Crumbling infrastructure, flooded roads, downed trees, causing major disruption and making getting aid to those most in need a very difficult task.
We are literally on the front lines of the Jamaica Defense Force ambulances, local NGOs, police, volunteers trying to clear the roadway leading into Black River. Some of the what we believe is the hardest hit areas from Hurricane Melissa. It's a monumental effort to try and get aid through to this area, including medical provisions. We've seen ambulances and people coming together to push those ambulances through debris and thick mud. This effort trying to get aid and people and the help that is desperately needed into portions of Western Jamaica.
(Voice-over): People banded together. Some did whatever they could to survive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had to climb over a house, a wall, just to get shelter in another person's home just so that I didn't drown to death with my child.
VAN DAM (voice-over): Jamaicans also can't get a break from the heat. The humidity from Melissa shot the heat index over 100 degrees, making conditions to clean up even harder.
ANDREW HOLNESS, JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER: Black River is what you would describe as ground zero. The people are still coming to grips with the destruction but from what I've seen and the interaction, the people here are strong, resilient and positive in outlook.
VAN DAM (voice-over): Melissa also hit Cuba, flooding streets of Santiago and cutting off road access.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There was a lot of wind, a lot of rain. This area was flooded. Where you see now, the water reached almost knee high.
VAN DAM (voice-over): In Haiti, Melissa's outer bands brought deadly flooding. Back in Jamaica, the road to recovery is long, but some are staying strong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jamaica, a disaster right now, so we just have to pray for the best and the good. Help each one when we can help. And that's it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAN DAM (on-camera): This is one of the many heavy equipments being used to clear the roadway to get a direct path to Black River. According to the prime minister, that is ground zero for some of the most devastating impacts of Hurricane Melissa. We rode along a convoy within this very road trying to traverse very challenging conditions rocks, mud, debris, trees, electrical lines. They were toppling this entire roadway and it is very difficult to get to those areas.
But the effort here with the heavy machinery is to clear it so they can get the necessary aid into the hardest hit communities. It will be a gargantuan task and a very challenging night tonight.
I'm CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam in Santa Cruz.
Elex, back to you.
MICHAELSON: Derek, thank you. Hope you and your crew are able to stay safe. If you want to help those impacted by Hurricane Melissa, go to
CNN.com/impact.
To sports now the Blue Jays have seized a one game lead in the best of seven World Series. Toronto trounced L.A. six to one at Dodger Stadium. The Blue Jays' bats were buzzing with back-to-back solo homers in the first inning that left L.A. fans stunned. And rookie pitcher Trey Savage making a real name for himself despite being in the majors for a month. He held the Dodgers, one of the best teams ever, to just one run and racked up a dozen strikeouts including five strikeouts in a row. The series now heads back to Toronto for game six on Friday.
The Blue Jays could win it all then. Just one win away. First title in 32 years. The Dodgers would have to win both game six and game seven on the road if they want to repeat as champions.
California is once again suing the Trump administration, this time over plans to suspend federal food aid during the government shutdown. Our panel will dig into that and more coming up.
[00:20:03]
But up next, we're with Arnold Schwarzenegger at West Coast Customs as he gives former inmates a second chance. Extraordinary story. You'll see only right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: For the second time this year, the U.S. Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates. The Fed voting for another quarter point rate cut on Wednesday, putting the lending rate between 3.75 percent and 4 percent, the lowest level in three years.
Meanwhile, YouTube will offer voluntary buyouts to its employees in the U.S. who wish to leave as part of a restructuring plan. It's part of a broader reshuffle to focus the company on A.I.
[00:25:05]
Well, it has been more than 40 years since Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered that iconic line, "I'll be back" in "The Terminator." Well, now he is helping real life people get their lives back and invited us to check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, ACTOR, FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: When you said, I'll be back, you meant it.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Arnold Schwarzenegger is celebrating the crew that turned his car from this to this.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Thanks very much. Thank you.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Many here served time behind bars before this life-changing opportunity at West Coast Customs.
SCHWARZENEGGER: They get a second chance.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Leidy Dominguez got involved with gangs and drugs at just 11 years old. She spent a decade behind bars before starting this job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a reason why I wake up every morning that isn't negative.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): She's also now a full-time college student.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like I'm a good person today because I have a job.
RYAN FRIEDLINGHAUS, FOUNDER AND CEO, WEST COAST CUSTOMS: I feel like I found my purpose. It's give back.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Ryan Friedlinghaus founded West Coast Customs in 1993.
JUSTIN BIEBER, SINGER: How many cars have we got?
FRIEDLINGHAUS: We've got eight.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): His work customizing cars featured on all these TV shows, including MTVs "Pimp My Ride." His clients include Shaquille O'Neal, Justin Bieber, Bad Bunny and Paris Hilton.
FRIEDLINGHAUS: We build everything and anything people dream of.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Growing up with dyslexia, Ryan says he was good with his hands, but not with his textbooks. He started West Coast Customs Academy about three years ago for people like him.
FRIEDLINGHAUS: The industry is lacking good people to work with their hands.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): They partnered with an L.A. County organization called G-Con to start a free job training program for former prisoners.
You've got all this really expensive stuff around there. Do you trust all these people?
FRIEDLINGHAUS: That's something that that was a challenge for me. So I gave it a chance.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Ryan says he's been blown away by the results. Ryan told his longtime client, Arnold Schwarzenegger, about the academy.
SCHWARZENEGGER: So, Elex, they do everything themselves here.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Schwarzenegger invited us for an exclusive tour of West Coast Customs's 60,000 square foot headquarters in Burbank, California. In 12 weeks, the students here work on interior, fabrication, paint, rap and audio, all in one place. On this day, they're doing the finishing touches on Schwarzenegger's Excalibur, which was first built in the 1970s.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I tell you that as soon as it's totally finished, you and I will be going on a ride through Beverly Hills with a stogie in our hands. Right?
MICHAELSON: Let's do it, baby.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Exactly. Yes.
MICHAELSON: Arnold Schwarzenegger's focus on second chances started long before his first visit here.
(Voice-over): This nearly 50-year-old video from Schwarzenegger's archives shows the former Mr. Olympia hosting a workout for inmates.
SCHWARZENEGGER: What do you guys want to see? Some posing?
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Schwarzenegger says he's visited nearly every jail and prison in California.
What did you learn from the inmates?
SCHWARZENEGGER: You know, how to be tough and how to endure because we don't learn from winning. We learn from mistakes that we make.
MICHAELSON: There are some people that are like, lock people up, throw away the key. Why is it important to go the opposite route?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I mean, it's always easy to say, yes, lock them up and let's be tough on crime. And it all sounds good, but I mean, when someone has served their time and has understood that they made a mistake, you must make sure that they have a chance to come back. That's why I said earlier, you know, they say I'll be back. It's not just the Terminator that says it, you know, people want to come back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Ryan hopes to turn the academy into a national model for second chances.
By the way, Governor, I am ready for that ride through Beverly Hills whenever you are.
Up next, you see our panel standing by. On the left, Areva Martin. On the right, Jennifer Horne. The debate, how do we end this federal shutdown?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): There's one man who's going to end this. I guess he's in Asia now on his -- whatever he's doing. That's Trump. Republicans will listen to Trump.
[00:33:50]
Now, Trump may be crazy, and he may be a pathological liar, but he's not stupid, and he's not a bad politician. He understands where people are at.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): SNAP recipients shouldn't go without food. People should be getting paid in this country. And we've tried to do that 13 times. And you voted no 13 times.
This isn't a political game. These are real people's lives that we're talking about. And you all have just figured out, 29 days in that, oh, there might be some consequences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: The normally laid-back John Thune, who leads the Republicans in the Senate, very passionate there on the floor on this division over how to end the government shutdown.
As the senators fight with each other, tens of millions of lower- income Americans who really don't care anything about the Senate could lose their federal food aid and may not be able to eat. That's why they care.
California is about one of two dozen states now suing the Trump administration over the looming loss of the so-called SNAP benefits.
The states argue that the U.S. Department of Agriculture actually has enough money to keep funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, but is illegally withholding it, essentially to make a political point.
[00:35:09]
Tomorrow, California Attorney General Rob Bonta will join me here in studio to make his case. But right now, let's talk about that and more with our panel.
On the left, Areva Martin is a civil rights attorney. She's a best- selling author and an autism advocate, founder of the Special Needs Network, which does such important work.
On the right is Jennifer Horn, who is the host of "The Morning Answer" on AM 870 here in Los Angeles. She is also a voice-over artist in her spare time. So, maybe you can record some stuff for us before you leave.
Areva, Jennifer, welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time. Great to have both of you here.
JENNIFER HORN, HOST, AM 870'S "THE MORNING ANSWER": Congratulations.
AREVA MARTIN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Good to be here. MICHAELSON: Thank you very much. All right, so Areva, let's start with you as the attorney on the panel. What do you make of this case? I mean, you may agree with -- with the merits of it, but what do you make of this case?
MARTIN: It's an incredibly strong case. It is a case that should be won. There are about 20 states that have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.
And there's precedent for this. There is a 1970 Supreme Court case that essentially says, if you withdraw welfare benefits from recipients, you can't do that without giving them a hearing; that essentially, individuals that receive these benefits have a property right. And you have to give them due process, i.e., this hearing, before you can withdraw those benefits.
We know that hasn't happened in this case. We know that there's about $6 billion in contingency funding that's available. We know that there's a federal statute that says you shall provide these nutritional -- this nutritional aid to recipients.
So, the big question is, why must lawsuits be filed in order to ensure that children and elderly people and vulnerable people in this country are allowed to eat?
That is so demoralizing as you think about it. People are scared to death about what's going to happen come Thursday, come Friday. So, I think this lawsuit was the right thing to do. And I feel very confident that we're going to see a preliminary injunction.
MICHAELSON: Yes. If you're watching us from around the world and you maybe don't care about the politics of this, you may care about the fact that people could literally go hungry in this situation.
Jennifer, the Republicans are arguing, Look, I mean, we feel for those people, but we don't have the money.
HORN: I am not a lawyer. And I will tell you, I don't know how the lawsuit is going to turn out, but I will tell you that there is a really easy way to get people to get their SNAP benefits again, and that is to have the Democrats come to the table and open the government.
As John Thune said, 13 times, they have said no. So, this is on the Democrats.
And by the way, new polling is showing just that, that there is more support now. Republican support is ticking up when it comes to the shutdown rather than the Democrats, because the Democrats are owning this.
So, look, I don't want to see anybody in trouble. I don't want to see anybody who is suffering. I don't think any of us on this panel want to see that.
But there are so many questions that need to be asked, including why Gavin Newsom and Rob Bonta want to join a lawsuit instead of maybe, perhaps, figuring out how to make it more affordable to live in California and some of these other blue states, which get 47 percent of the SNAP benefits that we're talking about today.
MARTIN: Well, first of all, John Thune should have that same passion and same commitment to getting the government open.
And you talk about the Democrats owning it. That's not the polls that I've seen, Jennifer. The polls that I've seen is that everybody clearly understands that this is Donald Trump's shutdown, and Donald Trump is finding money to pay benefits to those in the military, to pay salaries for those in law enforcement.
But he can't find the money. He won't use those contingency funds to feed children. The Republicans own this shutdown.
MICHAELSON: But is it -- is it technically -- is it technically Donald Trump's shutdown when the Democrats are refusing to vote for a continuing resolution to just keep the government open?
MARTIN: Well --
MICHAELSON: I mean -- I mean, they have the ability to say, let's punt on this thing, keep the government open.
MARTIN: And the Republicans have the ability to come to the table and -- and make reasonable policies around things like SNAP benefits, health insurance.
People in California today were notified over the last couple of days that their health insurance benefits are going to go up, some by as much as 25 or 30 percent.
MICHAELSON: Right.
MARTIN: That is a Republican issue. Republicans have the ability to come to the table and do what Donald Trump said he was going to do, which is govern for everyday people, for middle-class people, and not take food out of the mouths of children.
MICHAELSON: I mean, the politics on that is tough, though, for the Republicans. Once people start seeing those numbers, right?
HORN: Well, and here's a couple of things just to add to that. Obviously, if we want to get into health care, which is what Democrats are trying to do to hold everyone hostage, including all those people who are going to be suffering this weekend, when they could vote to reopen the government and have reasonable conversation after the government is reopening.
I mean, you've seen senators. Senator Coon [SIC] was out laughing today, basically saying that this was leverage for them.
But what I would say is that there was a failed effort to bring government into health care. During COVID, they had to bring in subsidies to try to make that easily affordable for people. Democrats realize that government in health care is not working, and
that's why they are trying to use everything they have to try to -- to get Republicans to back off on this.
[00:40:08]
Look, there is money for SNAP. There is money for health care. There is money and time for those conversations. But the government needs to be reopened, and that is on Democrats.
And the polling that came out today that I'm referencing is from Marquette. Marquette shows that now, fewer people are blaming Republicans; and more people are starting to blame Democrats, because they see the game is over. The government could be reopened today.
MICHAELSON: But the Democratic base is very happy that the Democrats are doing this --
HORN: Then they own people being hungry on Saturday.
MICHAELSON: -- because they want to see -- they want to see it --
MARTIN: Well, what the Democrats know, and the rest of the country knows, is that a $300 million ballroom is being built. And $20 billion is being given to Argentina from the president that says, "Put America first."
So that doesn't look like America is being put first when you have the government, when you have Donald Trump spending money on something as superfluous as a ballroom and you're --
HORN: It's all privately funded.
MARTIN: Well -- well --
HORN: I mean, I have to ask you. We're friends.
MARTIN: -- well, he says -- wait a minute, Jennifer. He says it's privately funded. But he also says that the American people owe him $230 million from some bogus claims he's made. Some bogus lawsuits, essentially, and that he might use that money.
So, we don't know what --
HORN: Do Democrats hate dancing? I feel like --
MARTIN: -- money is being used by Donald Trump, because he's a pathological liar.
HORN: -- there's been so much --
MARTIN: So, we don't know what money is being used for this ballroom.
HORN: There's been a lot of people upset about this ballroom. Look, I like Cinderella. I like a dance. I don't think anybody would be angry about a ballroom if this were any other president. MARTIN: There are a lot of people.
HORN: But look, this is not government.
MARTIN: No, there a lot of people angry about tearing down the White House without going through any of the procedures and processes.
HORN: Every president has made edits.
MARTIN: No, but they make them with consensus.
MICHAELSON: It's a pretty -- it's a pretty big edit.
HORN: Well --
MARTIN: This is a big edit that has no --
HORN: -- but at least it's not on the taxpayer dime.
MARTIN: -- approval. We don't know that. And I'm not going to concede on that.
HORN: Well --
MARTIN: Because we cannot believe anything Donald Trump has said about this ballroom.
MICHAELSON: Well, meanwhile, President Trump in the air right now. We just saw him within the hour, wrapping up his meeting with President Xi Jinping. A big moment for him on the world stage, not long after making the deal in Gaza.
What do you make of the president's trip?
HORN: I think it was absolutely fantastic. And, you know, we started this segment with Bernie Sanders kind of saying, well, whatever Trump was doing overseas.
President Trump not only saw -- oversaw peace deals. He saw trillions of dollars in investments in our country. He saw incredible gains for our nation's farmers, which have been suffering for far too long.
And he had what looked like a very friendly meeting with President Xi, who even complimented him on his peacemaking ability.
I mean, when have you ever seen Xi so loose and looking very comfortable? The two of them looked comfortable together. We'll hear what came out of that meeting. But I think good things will come.
MICHAELSON: Does he deserve credit for foreign policy?
MARTIN: I think what we have to stay focused on are the cost of goods in this country, what consumers are having to bear as a result of Donald Trump's tariffs.
Ninety percent of all the leading economists in this country say these tariffs are horrible for middle-class people, that it's essentially a tax on the middle class.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MARTIN: You go to the grocery store, you go to the gas station, you go to the department store. Everything is astronomically high.
And this is the president that spent all of his time campaigning, railing against Biden and inflation. And now, the thousands and thousands of people are losing their jobs, can't buy groceries. And those that rely on SNAP benefits won't be able to eat --
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MARTIN: -- probably at all.
HORN: Deflation is half.
MARTIN: So, let's stay focused on that. That's what tariffs are doing. That's what Donald Trump is doing.
So, these trips to China, in some ways, a distraction. Come to the U.S.
MICHAELSON: But the trade negotiation on the tariffs happens in China, right? I mean, with the Chinese president.
MARTIN: Well, why are we -- why are we back to tariffs in the first place?
MICHAELSON: Yes. It was his -- right.
MARTIN: When Donald Trump was in office, in his first administration, we know the deal around tariffs didn't work. The economists have made it clear.
MICHAELSON: Sure.
MARTIN: Manufacturers, maybe there are some temporary gains that happened from these terrorists. But long term, we are not creating more jobs from these tariffs. We are taxing middle-class people and making it harder and harder for everyday people to make a living and survive in this country.
MICHAELSON: All right. Last thing, fun. Dictionary.com has its word of the year.
HORN: Uh-oh.
MICHAELSON: Six seven.
HORN: Oh, no.
MICHAELSON: This weird TikTok trend of this "six seven" thing.
MARTIN: OK, Jennifer's got to educate me.
HORN: Look, I'm not on TikTok until now. Maybe with the deal. But --
MICHAELSON: What -- I don't even know. What do you make of that? Is that the word of the year?
HORN: OK, so I have some very special young people in my life who taught me about six seven. And I don't know exactly what it means. I just know that they annoy their parents and their teachers by going "six seven, six seven." I don't --
MARTIN: I've got to go ask my Gen Z to educate me and you --
HORN: Yes.
MARTIN: -- on the word of the year.
HORN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Yes, yes, that --
MARTIN: Who chose that?
MICHAELSON: What do you think is the word of the year?
MARTIN: Pain from this administration.
MICHAELSON: What's your word of the year?
HORN: Winning. President Trump coming off a successful trip. Come on.
MARTIN: Pain, pain.
MICHAELSON: My word of the year is grateful that my two friends came here --
MARTIN: Well, you got a new job. So, you have --
MICHAELSON: -- on week -- on week one. Yes.
MARTIN: -- reason to be grateful.
MICHAELSON: Thank you so much. Jennifer, Areva, great to see you both.
HORN: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Still to come, the U.S. and Chinese presidents meeting for the first time in years to address that global trade war. More on the meeting as President Trump is in the air. We're getting new information. We'll get that to you when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:49:43]
MICHAELSON: Happening now, President Trump is on Air Force One on his way back to America after this high-stakes meeting with the president of China. This is video from within the hour. And we just getting information a
few seconds ago from Air Force One. The president talking with reporters there, saying that he and President Xi Jinping agreed on, quote, "many very important points," among them soybeans.
He said, "We're in agreement on many elements. Large amounts, tremendous amounts of the soybeans and other foreign [SIC] products -- farm products are going to be purchased immediately, starting immediately."
Now, remember, the president's tariffs prompted China to stop buying U.S. soybeans back in May. A lot of farmers are unhappy about that. Billions of dollars in unsold crops.
Based off of what the president is saying, that policy could be changing very soon.
Now, we also just got some word from the president that he will visit China in April.
So, this information just coming in from Air Force One. We hope to have more throughout our broadcast here on "The Story Is."
And speaking of foreign policy, we've learned today that President Trump is set to meet with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, next week. That's according to a White House official.
That comes after the cancellation of President Trump's meeting with his Russian counterpart, which was supposed to happen in Hungary.
Meanwhile, the U.S. will downsize its military footprint in Eastern Europe despite increasing threats from Russia. The U.S. Army says it will withdraw some of its troops from this air base you're looking at right here in Romania, which is located just across from Russian- occupied Crimea.
The State Department says the move does not mean the U.S. Is less committed to NATO and its collective security, but the withdrawal still drawing backlash from two senior congressional Republicans who said it sends a wrong signal to Moscow.
This story is like the craziest story in the world. Two suspects have now admitted that they were involved in that brazen heist to snatch the French crown jewels from the Louvre.
The break-in at the famous museum captured the world's attention, but the jewels still haven't been found.
CNN's Melissa Bell has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Two men have been placed under formal investigation here in France in connection with the heist at the Louvre Museum. BELL (voice-over): The two men, who were taken into custody here in Paris last Saturday. One of them had been trying to flee the country and head to Algeria.
What we understood from the Paris prosecutor, giving us the latest, was that one of the two men was of Algerian nationality. Both were known to police. Both were living on the outskirts of Paris.
And it was thanks to DNA traces that were found on the scene of the crime that police had been able to track them down as quickly as they did.
She also explained that she wouldn't be giving much away about the investigation, since it is ongoing. There are still, she said, at least two suspects at large.
Laure Beccuau, the prosecutor also pointed out, though, that they were not excluding the possibility that others may have been involved, as well.
BELL: And perhaps most importantly, she also explained that for now, the jewels have yet to be found.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: What a wild story, Melissa. Thank you.
Airbnb has a message for anyone planning a Halloween bash at one of its home listings. Take the party elsewhere. We'll tell you how the company is cracking down on rowdy revelers.
And speaking of revelers, here's a live look at the Temple Bar Pub in Ireland, Dublin. Not too much of a party happening there, because it's 4:52 in the morning. But they are already decked out for the holidays before Halloween.
Too soon, too soon for me for Christmas. I don't know how you feel. But I guess it looks pretty. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:58:14]
MICHAELSON: Well, it is pumpkin season. But you won't find many like this.
Joe Adkins, known as Pumpkin Joe, grew and carved this 2,000-pound pumpkin in Illinois. His secret? He carves the surface of his giant pumpkins instead of hollowing them out. So, his creations last longer.
He's now won multiple state prizes for his gargantuan gourds, and he uses his winnings to buy pumpkin seeds and candy bars for all the trick or treaters at Halloween. If you are planning a Halloween party, skip the Airbnb. Once again,
the company says it is rolling out advance anti-party technology to prevent rowdy gatherings at its home listings.
It looks at a number of factors, like whether you're trying to rent near your home or renting a place last-minute, to keep people from booking properties just to party.
Last year, Airbnb said those measures blocked nearly 45,000 bookings in the U.S. and Canada around Halloween.
Well, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, even here in warm California. The state's official Christmas tree has arrived at the capital in Sacramento.
The 60-foot evergreen was harvested in Shasta County. Crews will spend the next few days trimming the tree, with nearly 200 handcrafted ornaments and 10,000 lights.
And at North Carolina's Biltmore Estate, the magic of Christmas is 35 ft high and weighs nearly 2,500 pounds. It took about 40 people to get that massive tree inside Biltmore House and placed in the banquet hall.
Again, a little early, right? Can we not have Halloween, much less Thanksgiving? But -- but I get it. The holidays bringing a whole lot of money for a lot of folks, too.
Thank you so much for watching us. A lot of breaking news happening here on "The Story Is." And the next hour of our coverage starts right now.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi --
