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John Bolton Arrives at Federal Court One Day After Indictment; Trump to Meet With Russian President Putin Within Two Weeks or So; Trump Threatens to Go in and Kill Hamas as Violence Increases. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 17, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, John Bolton arrives at federal court just a day after being indicted on 18 charges. We are live right outside the courthouse.

Plus, flashpoint Venezuela, new strikes overnight as a bipartisan group of senators today trying to force a vote blocking an unauthorized war.

And women leaving the workplace in droves, what economists say is a concerning trend emerging in the job market.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Also happening now, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is preparing for yet another meeting with President Trump over at the White House. New reporting on the game-changing weapon Ukraine is hoping for in its fight against Russia.

Plus, mayoral mudslinging in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW CUOMO (I), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: On his resume, it says he interned for his mother.

CURTIS SLIWA (R), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: You're no Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their death?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The biggest takeaways from the first New York City mayoral debate, who won the night.

And rising tensions, new video just into The Situation Room outside of Chicago ICE facility, we have a reporter on the ground bringing us all the latest developments. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news. The former national security adviser, Ambassador John Bolton, has just arrived at a federal courthouse in Maryland. He's there for his initial appearance after being indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday. This is video, by the way, from when FBI searched Bolton's home in Bethesda, Maryland, back in August.

Prosecutors alleged Bolton kept and shared classified information. He's now facing eight counts of transmission of national defense information and ten counts of retention of national defense information. If convicted, he could face up to 180 years in prison if he's convicted on all 18 counts. Bolton is the third high-profile Trump political opponent to be indicted in less than a month.

Let's go live to see CNN's Katelyn Polantz. She's outside that federal courthouse outside of Washington in Maryland for us right now. Katelyn update our viewers on the latest.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf and Pam, we're now in a moment of hurry up and wait. John Bolton, prosecutors, his defense team, they all got here to the federal courthouse in Maryland about two hours ago, and now we're just waiting to see when he will go before a judge for his very first appearance in court after being indicted by a grand jury here yesterday.

Now, Wolf and Pam, this is a midi case, 18 charges that John Bolton is facing, each of them corresponding to documents or information that would be classified national security, national defense information prosecutors said he had, should not have had in an insecured way and potentially even transmitted to his family members over his AOL account, and then also had them as printouts in his house that were just found in a search about two months ago.

Some of that information, according to the indictment, prosecutors say he had foreign attack plans, even intelligence on foreign leaders, covert operations that he was making his own notes of and then keeping for what he called his diary or diaries, essentially an archive John Bolton is alleged to have been keeping after he left the Trump administration as national security adviser.

Prosecutors say you can't do that, and John Bolton, as a former national security official, longtime government official, he should have known better. But today, this would be the formal beginning of a court case, and, Wolf and Pam, we are waiting for John Bolton to come into court and give a not guilty pleading to the judge if the judge wants to do that today.

Bolton didn't speak when he came into court, but he did say in a statement yesterday that he believes these charges are not about his focus on him or his diaries, but on Donald Trump's intensive effort to intimidate his opponents to ensure that Trump alone determines what is said about his conduct. He said, dissent and disagreement are foundational to American's constitutional system and vitally important to our freedom.

[10:05:03]

And Bolton concluded by saying in his statement, I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his, Trump's abuse of power. Back to you.

BLITZER: All right. Katelyn Polantz outside the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., thanks very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Let's bring in CNN Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor Elliot Williams. So, Elliot, what stands out to you about these charges in this case?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely. The level of detail that prosecutors put into the indictment, Pam, is quite striking. They walked through one John Bolton's own statements. The nature of the kinds of things he was allegedly sending over this email account showing, again, it's just from prosecutors, it's a one-sided document, but showing what appears to be a staggering level of I just think poor judgment exercised by someone who they make clear ought to have known better.

BROWN: And it talks about potential hack, that this could have been accessed by foreign actors.

WILLIAMS: Yes. And the whole point, the hack is not insignificant because the reason why these rules exist around turning your documents in, turning your notes back in when you leave government, is to avoid against the risk of documents or information getting into the hands of foreign or malicious actors against the United States.

And so, you know, it's not just empty government rules that these exist, that, you know, these are for the protection of Americans. And I think that's what went wrong here.

BROWN: But the FBI had this case back in 2021. Why now?

WILLIAMS: Hard to say. You know, now, obviously, as we know well from these years of talking about legal cases, that certainly it can be the case that takes a long time to bring cases. Now, it's no secret, if you read the news, I know you do very well, Pam, that the president has been quite vocal about wanting to move certain cases along.

Now, we ought to trust prosecutors and it seems that there were career prosecutors that put this case together, and we can hope that they acted in good faith in bringing the case. But, again, the news is out there.

BROWN: Do you see this as different from the other prosecutions against Trump's perceived enemies, James Comey and Letitia James?

WILLIAMS: I see what's on paper as different in the level of detail and analysis that seemed to go into to the indictment, laying out, you know, background about what John Bolton should have known. They talk about his past career, statements he'd made and so on, suggesting a knowledge of wrongdoing.

The other indictments were just quite thin. Jim Comey's indictment was two pages, really didn't have any background information in it. And, quite frankly, the president specifically named those folks and the desire to see them prosecuted.

So, it's slightly different, but let's not let the president off the hook here. The president has been quite explicit about wanting to push prosecutions along and naming John Bolton as repeatedly as he has is not good for the case.

BROWN: And John Bolton, for his part, says, look, he did nothing wrong. He says that this is retribution, you know, referring to what you just said, how Trump is openly talked about targeting him. How might Trump's own comments against Bolton impact this case?

WILLIAMS: Right. I don't believe the president has explicitly said, I want John Bolton to be prosecuted. Pam Bondi, Madam Attorney General, please prosecute him. However, in light of all of the president's comments about the other folks who immediately got indicted thereafter, and his own statements about John Bolton and the fact that John Bolton then got prosecuted, certainly, Bolton can move to dismiss the indictment on the basis that he was singled out.

Now, the problem is the evidence is quite strong, at least as far as indictments go. And so he has an uphill fight on that, but he certainly can move to get rid of the indictment.

BROWN: All right. Elliot Williams, as always, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: He knows this stuff, there's no doubt about that.

And still ahead, in just hours, the Ukrainian president, Zelenskyy, who's already here in Washington, will head over to the White House just as President Trump agreed to once again meet face-to-face with Russia's Vladimir Putin. We have new information.

And there's new CNN reporting on this, the admiral in charge of U.S. forces in the Caribbean is retiring as the U.S. carries out a new strike on a suspected drug boat.

Stay with us, lots going on right here in The Situation Room.

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[10:10:00]

BROWN: Happening now, President Trump is preparing to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House. Today, the leader of the war-torn nation is hoping to lock down a pledge for U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missiles that can strike targets deep inside Russia. Zelenskyy has said that Tomahawks could pressure Russia into peace talks.

President Trump says he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin within two weeks or so in Budapest, Hungary. The two leaders spoke by phone yesterday for around two and a half hours. The president says he joked with the Russian leader about sending the long-range missiles to Ukraine.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I did actually say, would you mind if I gave a couple of thousand Tomahawks to your opposition? I did say that to him. I said it just that way. He didn't like the idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We are following all the angles here. CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House for us, and Jim Sciutto is here in The Situation Room. But, Kevin, let's kick it off with you. What are you learning about today's meeting with President Zelenskyy, especially following that long phone call with Putin just yesterday?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And what officials say is that this question of those long-range Tomahawk missiles will be at the center of the discussion today. You know, the president in public, but also in private, had appeared to be warming to the idea of providing Ukraine with this new capability.

And so it was interesting yesterday, the president seemed that somewhat less receptive to that notion.

[10:15:00]

He said that the U.S. needed these weapons and that we can't deplete our country. And so I think for Zelenskyy, he's coming into this meeting hoping to persuade the president, one, that this is a capability that Ukraine will need to turn the momentum around on the battlefield, but, two, to provide the president a little more clarity about how exactly he planned to use them.

And, you know, this is Zelenskyy's third time at the White House since President Trump returned to office in January. It's their sixth face- to-face meeting overall. And I think the dynamic here will be somewhat familiar to Zelenskyy. You know, over and over again, the president has appeared willing to either put on sanctions or to provide these new capabilities for Ukraine only to back off somewhat once he talks to Putin and once he puts these new meetings on the schedule.

And so I think it will be the imperative for Zelenskyy today to really try and reinforce why he thinks these tomahawks are necessary and what he thinks Ukraine can do going forward to help turn the momentum around on the battlefield.

And so a very critical meeting, you know, Zelenskyy and Trump after that very infamous Oval Office blow up back in February have seemed to be getting along quite well. The president seems as if he's aware of many of the dynamics that are going on on the ground. And I think, clearlym for Zelenskyy, the wager is that the more often that he's in front of President Trump, the more successful he will be in getting what he wants. BROWN: All right. Kevin Liptak, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Lots going on. I want to continue this conversation. Our Chief National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto is here with us in The Situation Room. Jim, Ukraine's president would like President Trump to commit to sending these Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. Is that likely to happen?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the president to Kevin's point in recent days, seemed closer to taking two steps to increase pressure on Russia, one, send those Tomahawk missiles, allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with more effect. And, two, also to backing this long anticipated bipartisan piece of legislation to impose further economic sanctions on Russia.

But yesterday, after speaking to President Putin, President Trump changed his tune to some degree on both those points. Now he's saying, well, maybe we need those Tomahawks, which is a position he's taken before when he is hesitated to send new weapons to Ukraine on other weapons systems. And also now on the sanctions bill, he said yesterday, well, maybe now was not the right time.

So, what did Putin say to him in that phone call that got the president to at least think there's an opportunity here to pull back, an opportunity to discuss further, we don't know. So, we'll see today. But based on his comments yesterday, it doesn't look like he's going to order them now.

BLITZER: Because the Tomahawk cruise missiles, and I used to be a Pentagon correspondent, they are extremely powerful and with a very long range, about 1,500 miles or so. They could hit targets, not just in Moscow, but all over Russia.

SCIUTTO: No question. And Ukraine has already proven ability to do so. You remember that pretty remarkable drone attack that Ukraine arranged and hit targets well all the way out to Siberia. And they have drones as well that have struck deep. But this would be, to your point, longer range and more capable to strike those targets.

And to be clear, while Putin and Russia say that this would be an escalation, Putin has been firing quite similar missiles at Ukraine countless times since the start of its full scale invasion, including its civilian target. So, in terms of missile-to-missile capability, it would really put Ukraine on more equal footing with Russia as opposed to give them a leg up.

BLITZER: I thought it was a very, very sensitive and serious when Trump is now saying, the problem is that the U.S. needs these Tomahawk cruise missiles and he doesn't want to do anything to deplete the U.S. stockpile. That's sending a message to Putin not to worry.

SCIUTTO: It is. And the truth is, there's some truth to that, right? There's been great concern that with the pace of war, particularly if the U.S. were to get into conflict with China, no one's wishing for that but that China has greater capacity and that you use these things with such speed that the U.S. industrial capacity wouldn't be able to survive beyond a few days or weeks of war. So, there's some truth to that.

But the point is the president wasn't talking about that 48 hours ago. There's nothing new about that. And he's used the same point prior when he was hesitating about sending more air defense missiles to Ukraine, you may remember saying, well, you know, Patriot missiles, we don't have a lot of them, et cetera. So, he raises that point, one might even say conveniently, when he is hesitating to make the next move.

BLITZER: And what do you make of this decision to have this summit with Putin in Hungary, of all places?

SCIUTTO: Well, I mean, to have a summit at all, right? I mean, we're only two months removed from what was clearly a failed summit in Alaska, because the president sent his own standards for success for that summit, which was a ceasefire. It didn't happen. And Zach Cohen and I had new reporting yesterday which made quite clear that even the Trump administration viewed it as a failure because after the summit, the Trump administration began sharing with Ukraine greater intelligence for Ukraine to strike targets further inside Ukraine. So, you know, that being a demonstration that he didn't get what he wanted and he wanted to apply more pressure on Russia via support for those attacks inside.

[10:20:04]

So, again, what did Putin say in that call to justify another face-to- face meeting, which we should note, just like the Alaska summit, is a gift to Putin? It puts him on the world stage. It puts him on equal footing with the U.S. president. It gives him an audience, in effect, with the U.S. president. It's certainly not clear on the ground because that war has only expanded since the Alaska summit. It's an open question.

BLITZER: And the symbolism of having that meeting in Budapest, Hungary, with Viktor Orban, who's the leader there.

BLITZER: To your point, NATO member country, but one who has hesitated as NATO has supported Ukraine. It's often been the solo protest vote. It's had to be pushed and coddled along the way to join NATO and its support for Ukraine, close relationship with Putin. I mean, you can say it's neutral ground to some degree for a talk like this, but it shouldn't be, right, because it's a member of NATO. But Orban has close relationships with both. If I were Ukraine right now, I might think that may be neutral ground for them, but it's not neutral ground for me.

BLITZER: Good point. All right, Jim Sciutto, as usual, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Thank you.

All right, coming up here in The Situation Room tension's rising right now in the Chicago area, new video into The Situation Room of protesters clashing with law enforcement, we have the very latest developments from the ground just ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, President Trump has a grim new warning to Hamas as violence increases in Gaza. In a post on social media, President Trump is threatening to, quote, go in and kill members of the group as they try to reassert control over the territory. The president says he wouldn't send U.S. troops into Gaza.

Let's go live right now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's joining us from Tel Aviv. Jeremy, we've seen a wave of violence in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect, including a public killing. But, first, we're learning this morning that a controversial foundation in Gaza is actually suspending aid deliveries. What more can you tell us?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The Israeli and American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has now temporarily suspended its operations inside of Gaza, according to an Israeli official. This official telling us that this is in line with the ceasefire agreement, which made clear that humanitarian aid would be flowing into Gaza via the traditional humanitarian channels, primarily involving United Nations and other nonprofit organizations.

GHF, for its part, had said yesterday that it was making, quote, tactical adjustments, but said it would not affect their long-term planning. But there seems to be no place for GHF really in this ceasefire future at this point, particularly in light of the fact that thousands of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces as they made their way to these GHF sites.

Now, meanwhile, a tenuous ceasefire in Gaza is indeed holding, but it has seen some violence, particularly at the hands of Hamas, inside of the areas that it controls, as Hamas tries to reassert its power.

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DIAMOND (voice over): In the middle of a public square in Gaza City, eight bound and blindfolded men are dragged out and forced to kneel. One-by-one, armed Hamas militants take up their positions behind them, aiming rifles at their heads before opening fire. All eight men fall to the ground, executed.

This is part of the grim reality of post ceasefire Gaza, as Hamas forces say they are carrying out a, quote, comprehensive security operation to root out those they accuse of collaborating with Israel. With these bodies, Hamas also re-establishing the element of fear it has used to rule Gaza for years as it looks to reassert its dominance over a decimated Gaza Strip.

Amid its ceasefire with Israel, Hamas is now putting on a show of force in Gaza streets, attacking other armed groups from gangs backed by Israel to powerful clans that have a history of clashing with Hamas. The Doghmush clan, which denies collaborating with Israel, has accused Hamas of killing nearly 30 members of its family in the last week. U.S. Central Command, which is monitoring the ceasefire, urging Hamas to immediately suspend violence and shooting at innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

TRUMP: It's going to hold up.

DIAMOND: The violence is a reminder of unresolved issues at the heart of President Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza. Hamas' handover of power, the establishment of an international security force and Hamas' disarmament all still being negotiated.

TRUMP: Well, they're going to disarm and because they said they were going to disarm. And if they don't disarm, we will disarm them.

REPORTER: How will you do that?

TRUMP: I don't have to explain that to you. But if they don't disarm, we will disarm them.

DIAMOND: The ceasefire deal already proving fragile. Hamas has only returned the remains of 9 of 28 deceased hostages so far. And Israel says one body Hamas handed over was not that of a hostage. Hamas says Gaza's destruction is complicating matters.

Israel has continued killing Palestinians, at least 15 since the ceasefire went into effect, according to the U.N.'s human rights office. The Israeli military says it has fired on Palestinians who approached Israeli lines in Gaza, in the ruins of Gaza, an uncertain future and a long road ahead.

[10:30:03]

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.