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Trump, Netanyahu Hold a Joint Press Conference After Meeting on Gaza Ceasefire Proposal. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 29, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- from President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the two leaders will be facing reporters after holding talks at the White House on a Gaza ceasefire proposal. We're going to bring you their remarks live.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Plus, investigators are searching for a motive after a deadly church shooting and arson attack in Michigan. Ahead, we'll tell you what more we're learning about the gunman. And on the West Coast, pushback in Portland. Officials in Oregon are taking legal action after the president says he will send troops to Portland. Ahead, we're going to talk to a city council member who also happens to be a member of the Oregon National Guard. We are following all of these major developing stories and more coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Any moment now, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are set to begin this joint press conference at the White House that we're waiting for as President Trump has been pushing a 21- point peace plan to end the war in Gaza while at the White House, multiple sources tell CNN that Netanyahu spoke with Qatar's prime minister on the phone from the White House and apologized for that Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar.

JIMENEZ: Let's get right to CNN's Kristen Holmes, who's at the White House for us. So Kristen, what more do we know about this call, but also where things stand at the moment?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Omar and Brianna, they did just release a read-out of this call. The reason that's so interesting is that this White House has really stopped issuing these kind of formal readouts when it comes to world leader calls. President Trump usually just does it himself on Truth Social. But this was an incredibly formal write-up of what that call, they called it a trilateral call, looked like. And again, it was the same as what we had heard from our sources, essentially, that they were saying that Netanyahu had apologized for that attack and assured that it wouldn't happen again. And that both sides want to move together, work together to move forward.

But in terms of what we actually expect to hear from these two leaders, right now, we really don't know. There are a lot of questions. We know what the White House would like to be able to come out and say, which is of course, that they have agreed to this 21- point plan to a ceasefire, one of the things that President Trump has really been working for, for months to try and have happen. But it's still unclear where the prime minister of Israel lands on that and whether or not this call that they had with Qatar plays into this at all or into these negotiations. We know, again, that we've heard optimism from the White House. We've heard optimism from President Trump.

But as recently as this weekend, Netanyahu himself said that they were still reviewing the plan, that nothing had been agreed to yet. We also know that Netanyahu sat down with Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff, as well as Jared Kushner yesterday for hours to go over this negotiation, to talk about what exactly this would look like. But whether or not they actually got to an agreement point, that's the big question. And one of the things we're watching with is even just the timing here, we know that press conference was supposed to happen roughly an hour ago.

Still no word on when exactly it's going to begin, what it will look like. Is this going to be what we saw in Alaska with Vladimir Putin and President Trump, where they come out and they say, we've agreed to some things but not other things. Or are they actually going to have an announcement about a potential ceasefire, about a potential return of hostages, something that President Trump has been again, pushing for as well as Steve Witkoff? Any moment now though, we do expect to see them and perhaps even have them take questions on next steps in the Middle East.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be looking for that. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much, live for us at the White House. We're joined now by CNN Global Affairs Analyst, Brett McGurk and Brett talk about the possibility of where things will go with this proposed peace deal. But first, this apology?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yeah.

KEILAR: What's being characterized as an apology or an expression of deep regret --

MCGURK: Yeah.

KEILAR: -- by Netanyahu to Qatar. What do you think about this?

MCGURK: I'm -- this is, I have to say, I would discount any prediction of progress in Gaza. This is really hard, but what's happening here is quite significant. And I think this is a very good use of presidential capital in the Oval Office. You're there with Bibi Netanyahu. You're going to call the Prime Minister of Qatar. We're going to put this behind us, so we can get on with trying to end the Gaza War. I think that's very smart.

I think Mark Twain said, history doesn't repeat but rhymes. Bibi Netanyahu in 1997, tried to assassinate his government who was prime minister, then tried to assassinate a Hamas leader in Jordan. It failed. He traveled to apologize to then King Hussein of Jordan. So this is like, it's interesting. But I think it's hugely important, it allows Qatar now to really squeeze Hamas. The formula here is President Trump says, I'm going to deliver Israel and Bibi Netanyahu, and Qatar, you, Turkey, others, but really Qatar, you're going to deliver Hamas. That's the deal to try to end this awful war. That's what this is about. What's being talked about today, 21 points, it's a framework.

[14:05:00]

So I don't think you're going to have a ceasefire like tomorrow, but it is the framework. It's the package. These are all the issues we've been working on. It builds on a foundation. I mean, we were working on this last year. We had hoped earlier this year, Brianna. We had a ceasefire in place, three phases. Second phase of that ceasefire was supposed to be this kind of package deal. How do you actually end the war, get Hamas out of power in Gaza? That's now where being -- is being discussed. So that ceasefire broke down. Unfortunately, we've had a tragic six months in Gaza. It's been awful, but you're now getting back to it. And I really -- I give the White House credit for what he's doing, and let's hope something good could come out of this. We'll see very soon.

JIMENEZ: And you know, obviously we're watching for President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu. But, a big part of this too is if Hamas will --

MCGURK: Absolutely.

JIMENEZ: -- agree to whatever comes out of --

MCGURK: Yeah.

JIMENEZ: -- their meeting. And I wonder if you see, one, that apology or expressed a deep regret towards Qatari officials who have, of course, been mediating these talks and holding Hamas officials in their country, as connected to any form of perhaps beginning of a peace negotiation or olive branch toward some of the --

MCGURK: Yeah.

JIMENEZ: -- Hamas officials. How do you -- how do you see it in that context?

MCGURK: Yeah, I spent a lot of time in Doha doing this. So I'm sure Hamas was saying, hey, we're not even going to talk about this. OK? They just launched a missile and tried to kill us in your capital. ,Now this allows the Qataris to say enough, let's get on with it. But look, I also have some flashbacks here. On May 27th, President Biden laid out that three-phase ceasefire deal unanimously endorsed by the U.N. Security Council. Israel agreed to it and Hamas did not even answer until July 2nd, six weeks later.

Happened again last year on August 16th, we had a deal, prime minister of Qatar, President Sisi of Egypt, and the president of the United States presented the deal. Israel agreed. Hamas never answered. So Hamas is a (inaudible) here. First step, let's get Israel bought in, and then you put all the pressure on Hamas. I think what happened today is a big step towards that and we'll learn more here shortly.

KEILAR: Yeah, we certainly will. As we're watching, Brett, if you can stand by for us, let's go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who is also standing by in Jerusalem for us. This is, Jeremy, Netanyahu's fourth visit to the White House since January. There has been a lot of shuttle diplomacy going on. How is he, how are his allies viewing this meeting?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli prime minister is already facing backlash from some of his right-wing political allies, including members of his own government for this apology, this very public apology to the Qatari government for having carried out that strike. Members like Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, comparing this to a capitulation in World War II, making very clear that they see this as a moment of weakness by the Israeli prime minister.

Some other right-wing, members of the Israeli government saying, questioning why Qatar hasn't apologized for October 7th. That comparison also being made. But I think it's really just important to underscore that the fact that the Israeli prime minister chose to move forward with that apology, knowing that the reaction from his right- wing allies would be exactly what we're seeing play out right now, shows you just how much is at stake right now.

And also, it shows you that President Trump seems to finally be willing to bring some real pressure to bear on the Israeli prime minister. How much further he's willing to bring that pressure to bear and whether it's enough to actually get Israel fully on board with his 21-point plan remains to be seen. But the fact that Netanyahu has chosen to apologize to the Qataris, has also, according to the White House, vowed not to carry out any future strikes on Qatari soil is hugely significant.

Over the course of the last nearly three weeks since that strike took place, Netanyahu doubled down on that notion. He defended the fact that he's going to go after Hamas leaders wherever they are. Members of his government said that they would continue to strike Hamas officials wherever they may be, even after this failed strike. And so, it really suggests that there is a lot at stake. But I think overall, it's important to note, as Brett was just saying there, once Israel agrees to this 21-point plan, if indeed President Trump can get Netanyahu there today, there is still this whole other side of the equation.

And I just came back from Doha where I interviewed a senior Hamas official, Ghazi Hamad, late last week and he made quite clear that many of Hamas' red lines have really not budged. And so, a lot of work will need to be done by the Qataris on that front as well.

JIMENEZ: And Jeremy, I just want to ask you a little bit more about your interview there because, yes, you spoke with that senior leader. How -- not only how is Hamas viewing a potential deal, but did you get a sense for this iteration of the proposal that we -- that seems to be under consideration, that would deny Hamas any future role in the governance of Gaza? How did that leader view what the future of governance there would be?

[14:10:00]

DIAMOND: Well, look, he said that Hamas is part of the fabric of Palestinian society, that Hamas can never fully be gone from the Palestinian equation. But he did say, as Hamas officials have said before, that they are willing to give up power in Gaza as part of some transitional authority, some kind of a technocratic government. They prefer the Egyptian proposal that's been on the table for some time now. But they are open to giving up power in Gaza.

What they are still not open to, it seems, is the idea of disarming, of laying down their weapons, of the Gaza Strip being demilitarized outside of the context of the establishment of a Palestinian state. And that will be a major sticking point here because the Israelis have been adamant that Hamas must be disarmed, Gaza must be demilitarized in order to agree to an end of the war. And so, Hamas still hasn't moved on that front. Israel still hasn't moved from its demands either.

So that will be one of the key circles to square here, as these negotiations move forward. And beyond that, Hamas officials have also been indicating, as recently as last night, that they still haven't been fully briefed on this 21-point plan. And so it seems very much like the intention from the United States as it has been many times in the past, is to get Israel on board with a plan and then kind of try and force it on Hamas, try and get Hamas to agree to that plan, corner them on it. And in this case, clearly using the Qataris, but also now interestingly, many other members of the Arab League, to kind of get on board in putting more pressure on Hamas to say, listen, this is the best offer you're going to get. It's time to wrap things up here.

Again, I didn't see many signs of capitulation from Hamas when I spoke with them late last week. But of course, that was in the context of an interview. Behind the scenes, things could change very rapidly. But I do think there's a lot more work that's going to need to be done, even if, and that's a big if, even if the Israeli prime minister gets on board with this plan today.

KEILAR: Yeah, there -- he did not give much in that interview with you. Jeremy, if you could stand by for us, I want to bring Brett back in here. It was really interesting to watch Jeremy's interview with Hamad, just how he was unapologetic about the price that Gazans are paying in Gaza, how many people have been lost.

MCGURK: Yeah.

KEILAR: Unapologetic, just sort of undeterred by everything that has happened here in the last couple of years. Give us a sense of how do you see Hamas really wanting to come to the table? How do you see Netanyahu?

MCGURK: Jeremy's interview with Gazi Hamad is, I think everybody who follows this awful war should watch it because that is Hamas' position. They will not give up. They'll give up -- they'll accept a political umbrella atop Gaza, but they have all the guns. That has been their demand from October 8th. We will remain the security provider for the population of Gaza, meaning they are in charge. And Israel will never accept that. This has been the crux of this. It's why we did these phased deals to get hostages out, ceasefire, continue negotiations. That's the crux of it.

What's important about what the president's doing here though, is it says very clearly, Hamas has to disarm. Hamas can no longer be that security provider. We'll have an interim alternative security force. And now, the Arabs and Muslim-majority states, Indonesia, Turkey, others have signed on to that. That is huge because then, all pressure comes out on Hamas and they actually do respond to that international pressure.

What that interview, what Gazi said to Jeremy, he said it, you heard it, this is Hamas' position. Hey, yeah, Gazans are dying in the tens of thousands, but that's a worthy sacrifice because ultimately, we want the end of Israel. That is how Hamas sees this. They see the Gazan population as totally expendable for this Messianic aim that they're pursuing. It is really sick.

And -- but that's why this has been so difficult. And then on the Israeli side, you have Netanyahu's right wing, super right-wing cabinet members like Smotrich, which Jeremy just mentioned, who refuses any deal at all, wants to reoccupy Gaza, resettle Gaza. So look, president has to corner Bibi and say, you're going to stand up to those guys in your coalition, get on board with this deal. And Qatar and the Arabs and Turkey and others have to do the same with Hamas. That is how we get to the end of this.

I think what is being put together now has the shape to do that. And I am really hopeful that we hear today, Israel is behind this plan and then it comes down, Hamas sign on, let's get the ceasefire, hostages out, and start to restore the livelihoods for Gazans because this is just -- this has to end. It's awful.

JIMENEZ: And as we've been speaking, we just showed the room a few moments ago where we are continuing to wait for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to appear with President Trump. So we'll bring you that as it comes live. That's obviously the exterior, but we are showing the interior of the room as well.

Brett, I wanted to ask you about, you talked about sort of this political umbrella and then perhaps Hamas won't give up the weapons themselves. One of the names that has been thrown around is the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank.

[14:15:00]

And some have said, well, could the Palestinian Authority come in, still connected Palestinians and help initiate or lead some form of political rule, even if Hamas may not give up its weaponry.

MCGURK: Yeah.

JIMENEZ: How do you see that possibility? Israel has obviously called that a non-starter to this point, but is there some version of that that you believe Israel might agree to, or could work in a different way than just having Hamas?

MCGURK: Yeah, it's a big -- in the near term.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

MCGURK: I think the Palestinian Authority has no capacity to go in and control Gaza. And we have to remember, in 2007, there was a Palestinian Civil War in Gaza in which Hamas basically threw members of the Palestinian Authority of Fatah off roofs and killed them. So, you have to have a deal and you have to reform the Palestinian Authority. You have to train up the Palestinian security forces who actually are pretty good and like they do work with the Israelis in the West Bank. There's something to build from there. But you need it in a bridge.

The PA, Palestinian Authority cannot commit to Gaza and do the job now, that's impossible. So what you're discussing here is an interim process, an interim security force. I understand and I've worked on this. I know it's so hard to build that force, hard to build a coalition military force. You now do have some countries saying, at least telling the United States we're ready to contribute troops. The United States military would not be in Gaza, but we can kind of play a role from the outside. So the pieces here are coming together for that interim security structure, so that, again, Hamas, when you have a ceasefire, like we saw earlier this year, we finally got a ceasefire in place. What happened?

When the hostages were released, Hamas came out of the tunnels in full military uniform, full military gear, and basically said, we're still in charge. That is not going to fly. And but to your question, the Palestinian Authority ultimately down the road, but right now, they're not ready to take on that job.

KEILAR: And let's go now to the White House where Kaitlan Collins is there ahead of this press conference. Really some interesting developments already today as we await what could be an extraordinary question-and-answer session, Kaitlan, as Benjamin Netanyahu from the White House apologized to Qatar for that strike on Hamas in Qatar.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Yeah, that was quite a striking development. And we had had that by reporting from officials who had said that that had happened during that trilateral call that happened here earlier at the White House. But now, the White House has confirmed in a readout of that call that the Israeli prime minister did apologize for that strike inside Doha and vowed not to take action to do so again.

Now, of course, that is the White House's version of what happened during that call. Obviously, everyone will want to know what the Israeli side has to say about that. And I should note, Brianna, that as we're waiting to hear from these two leaders directly themselves on how this meeting went, the Israeli delegation has gathered here inside the state dining room. We have not seen the U.S. delegation yet. I know about 20 minutes ago, the meeting was still ongoing. So it remains to be seen if the president is conferring with his top officials before coming out here. But I will say the one thing the White House just did, which may give us an indication of what we are going to hear from these leaders when they come out, is they sent out the 20-point peace plan that the president and the White House had been circulating to other nations last week and in the last few days. It was 21 points. I'll note, initially, based on what we had seen, the copies of it that had been viewed by other officials or other world leaders, it is now 20 points.

And I was just looking through it on my phone because the White House released it, it now makes no mention of not striking Qatar. That was initially an agreement or a principle that had been put in there that Israel would agree not to strike Qatar again. That is no longer inside this 20-point agreement that the White House just sent out, as I was just reading through it here. So, we will see what these tweaks mean and these changes, and if that is something that was a part of deliberations happening inside the meeting as this was going on.

And the other change that we noticed is that previously, it said if Israel and Hamas agreed to this plan, that within 48 hours of that agreement, that they would return those living and dead hostages from Gaza to Israel in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners that are being held inside Israel. Now that timeline, when you look at this 20-point document, says 72 hours for that to happen. Of course, whether or not any of that happens still remains to be seen and also remains to be seen if Hamas agrees to this.

JIMENEZ: And Kaitlan, we're going to stay close to you as we await this press conference that is expected to get started at any moment. We're going to try and squeeze in a quick break, but we're going to bring you this live the minute it begins. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:24:07]

KEILAR: We're keeping our eye there on the White House as this press conference is about to get underway between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We just saw Vice President J.D. Vance entering the room, along with a lot of other top officials.

JIMENEZ: There's Steve Witkoff, the Special Envoy, Jared Kushner, of course, as well, sitting next to Susan Wiles, Chief Staff at the White House. Looks like Marco Rubio and then J.D. Vance seated next to him as well. So the American delegation seems to be sitting on the other side there as well. So at this point, we seem to just be waiting for the president of the United States and the Israeli prime minister as we expect an update on a potential peace plan or at least progress on a framework of a plan to this point.

[14:25:00]

It seems to be -- even prior to this, we've already had updates in regards to negotiating standards. We already heard, just based on the readout of a White House call that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu essentially apologized for striking inside Qatar not too long ago. KEILAR: That's right. Striking Hamas inside of Qatar and doing so from the White House, really speaking to the pull (ph) that President Trump no doubt is trying to exact during this trip. The question is going to be this 21-point plan that President Trump is proposing. Is this something that he can get Prime Minister Netanyahu on board with? We understand from CNN's reporting, there are a number of items in this proposal that Netanyahu has reservations about. But Trump has obviously made it a priority to try to resolve the war in Gaza.

Let's bring in Brett McGurk as we are awaiting the president and we'll jump to the president if we do see him. This is -- I wonder how you would characterize this point in time, Brett, as -- in this war, in the relationship between these two men.

MCGURK: Reading between the lines, I think we're going to hear the Israelis have signed on to the plan. I think the signs that they released the plan before the press conference. I'm seeing some smiles in the front row. I hope that's the case. I've been involved in meetings like this, it's always very high stakes. Look, I think Trump used his capital with Bibi here. He said -- I'm sure he said, I supported you on Iran. I supported you in other areas.

But over the last week in U.N. -- last week, remember Brianna, the president said very clearly, I will not allow Netanyahu to annex the West Bank. That was important for the Arabs, that helped get the Arabs behind this plan. And now, this apology to Qatar, I think keeps the diplomacy on track. So pretty extraordinary. I'm hopeful here, what we'll hear from Netanyahu without any equivocation is that I support the -- now the 20-point plan.

JIMENEZ: And it seems the photographers are all standing up. Everyone is standing up, which typically indicates the entrance of a president or head of state. And we do see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walking in first, followed by President Trump who's going to take that lectern to the right. Let's listen in as we begin this historic press conference.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: So this is a big, big day, a beautiful day, potentially one of the great days ever in civilization. Things that have been going on for hundreds of years and thousands of years. We're going to, at least, we're at a minimum very, very close and I think we'll be on very close. And I want to thank Bibi for really getting in there and doing the job. We've worked well together as we have with many other countries, both of us with many other countries, which is the only way this whole situation gets solved.

And I'm not just talking about Gaza. Gaza is one thing, but we're talking about much beyond Gaza, the whole deal, everything getting solved. It's called peace in the Middle East. So today is a historic day for peace, and Prime Minister Netanyahu and I have just concluded an important meeting on many of vital issues including Iran, trade, the expansion of the Abraham Accords. And most importantly, we discussed how to end the war in Gaza. But it's just a part of the bigger picture, which is peace in the Middle East and let's call it, eternal peace in the Middle East. So, this is far more than anybody expected, but the level of support that I've had from the nations in the Middle East and surrounding Israel and neighbors of Israel has been incredible, incredible. Every single one of them. This afternoon, after extensive consultation with our friends and partners throughout the region, I'm formally releasing our principles for peace, which people have really liked, I must say. And these are done -- not just routinely done. These are done with total and total consideration in working with the nations that we're talking about. All of these nations have made contributions to those suggestions.

I want to thank the leaders of many Arab and Muslim nations for their tremendous support in developing the proposal, along with many of our allies in Europe. Europe has been very much involved. And as I was called by many of the European leaders, most of them saying, is this true? Are you really doing peace in the Middle East? This is the most incredible thing we've heard. Some think it's the biggest thing they've ever heard. They call just to find out was it just a rumor or is it actually done? And then they said, have you spoken to the Arab leaders? Have you spoken to the -- all of the other leaders that we have to get, a lot of people --