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Trump Authorizes CIA Action in Venezuela, Threatens Land Strikes; Judge Halts Trump's Mass Federal Layoffs During Shutdown; Netanyahu Says, We are Committed to Bringing All Hostages Home. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 16, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New, this morning, President Trump defending his decision to authorize covert CIA action inside Venezuela, and now threatening possible military strikes against land targets thereafter taking up lethal action against alleged drug trafficking boats.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a divide in the Democratic Party unfolding on a stage at a CNN town hall. Alexander Ocasio-Cortez taking the party to task over the New York mayoral candidate, Zorahn Mamdani.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I do worry about the example it sets when our leaders do not support the party nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Running for their lives, the dramatic moment a grain bin collapses.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: New this morning, first by sea, now by land. On the heels of this, the fifth known U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat off the coast of Venezuela. President Trump saying he's considering a major escalation, land strikes against the cartels there. And in the Oval Office, he confirmed that he had secretly authorized covert CIA action inside Venezuela. The reasons he cited, clamping down on the illegal flow of migrants and drugs from the South American nation. But the president declined to say whether the CIA has given the authority to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro slammed President Trump's comments, calling them, quote, discriminatory and xenophobic.

Those U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats have killed some 27 people. And we should note, the White House has yet to provide any evidence that those vessels were involved in drug trafficking.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House with us. This is quite a revelation when Donald Trump said, look, yes, we are using some covert, or I have authorized covert CIA action. What more you know about that?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. So, those comments, Sara, very striking, but they come after we know that the Trump administration had secretly authorized the CIA to carry out these covert missions and lethal targeting with -- or on the side of, or on the Venezuelan coast, off the Venezuelan coast. And, really, this is the latest part of his pressure campaign to really try and oust the authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro.

Now, what we know as well is that for weeks that the U.S. military has been authorizing these different strikes, like I said, off the coast of Venezuela, they argue that they are targeted toward boats carrying drugs and other, you know, potentially weapons into the United States. They say this is all about stemming the flow of drugs into the U.S. But those strikes have killed at least 27 people.

Now, the president himself acknowledged that he had authorized the CIA to be doing this when he was talking to reporters yesterday. Listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I authorized for two reasons, really. Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America.

We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs coming through the sea, so you get to see that. But we're going to stop them by land also.

I think Venezuela is feeling heat, but I think a lot of other countries are feeling heat too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, one thing that is still unclear that the president did not and kind of stopped short of saying in those remarks is whether or not he believes that the CIA has the authority to try and remove Maduro from power, though we know from our conversations with people inside the White House that that is one of the goals that the president has here.

Now, I should note that the president had updated the CIA authorization after we know, and around the same time that he has signed a secret directive ordering the military to begin striking Latin American drug cartels earlier this summer. And that's according to our sources familiar with some of the decisions on some of this.

And, look, I think a key question, of course, is, and we're seeing this now from so many people in Congress, not just Democrats, but also some Republicans, is whether or not this is legal. The idea that the CIA is now being able to carry out this type of lethal targeting not only with these boats, but now we heard the president say, as you heard in those comments, that he wants to start targeting some of these cartels and other drug members on land.

[07:05:06]

And so this has a very -- you know, it could very much escalate very quickly. And we know that the president only wants to ramp up these efforts.

It comes as we are hearing from Venezuelan leaders, including Maduro, arguing that this is not legal and that it violates international law. So, a lot more to come on this, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes. Alayna Treene, thank you so much for your reporting there from the White House for us this morning. John?

BERMAN: This morning, the president's plan to utilize the government shutdown to lay off thousands of federal workers is now on hold. A federal judge called it unlawful in part because she found the planned layoffs to be politically motivated. The ruling comes after the White House budget director said more than 10,000 federal workers will be laid off.

With us now is Defense Attorney and former Federal Prosecutor Shan Wu. Shan, talk to me about the immediate impact of this. What happens to the people who've already been laid off?

SHAN WU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the immediate impact is it's full stop. I mean, it's the idea of the temporary restraining order is they have to stop these layoffs. As to the practical question of what happens to people already laid off, that is a real open question because one of the reasons the judge was so critical of the government is what she called the very hasty, arbitrary, and capricious actions, and actually points out some of these employees don't even know that they've been laid off because they don't have access to the government email, and that's how they were being informed about the layoff. So, how do you put them back on, how do you let them know, very unclear to me.

BERMAN: She also criticized the layoffs as political, which is a word that was used here. And, definitionally, President Trump has said he is targeting Democratic programs. That's how he phrases it. So, it's hard to argue that it's not political. The question is, will this stand up on appeal?

WU: Right. It seems the height of being political because, frankly, it's very hard to identify which programs that were passed by Congress laws are only Democrat versus Republican. That's the politics and how you pass it, not whether the law itself can be attributed to one side or the other.

On appeal, I think the real question is if it gets up to the Supreme Court, and, no doubt, the administration will try to get there because the high court has been much more focused on the aspect of harm. When you're looking at these, we've got the likelihood of success of the merits and the irreparable harm. High court keeps looking at the harm that's more important to it, being harmed to the executive branch's authority rather than the human being. So, I think ultimately that's going to be the test on the ultimate appeal. The Court of Appeals, I think, is going to look at the law, look at the facts that the trial court ascertained, I think, has a pretty good chance of surviving at the next level appeal. I think the big question is, what happens when it gets to the high court?

BERMAN: How much is this a decision between whether the president has the power to lay people off versus whether his justification for doing it in this case is within bounds?

WU: I think it's very much the justification, John. And the justification here is the process that they're using. I mean, they're supposed to go by the law. And, honestly, the position that the government's taken seems to be that because there's no funding right now, not only is there no funding, there's no law. I mean, they're saying basically, all bets are off because there's a lack of funding. And that doesn't make sense.

And quite surprisingly -- well, maybe not surprisingly these days -- the Justice Department in court trying to defend it actually said to the judge they were not prepared to address the merits of the case, which was really hard to understand.

BERMAN: All right. Shan Wu, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much. Obviously, we'll watch this as it went its way through the courts. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Still to come, is change coming to the Senate? The question that AOC just keeps getting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: But are you saying that Senator Schumer should not be worried about a primary challenge from you?

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I mean, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: More on the prescriptions, though, the congresswoman and Senator Bernie Sanders say are needed and will save the Democratic Party now.

Plus, they say the government is not listening. So, some federal workers are turning to TikTok to tell their stories now 16 days into this government shutdown.

And the moment a grain silo just collapses in Illinois. Everyone below narrowly escaped.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: New this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will bring back the remains of all of the hostages as a fragile ceasefire in Gaza holds for now. Netanyahu speaking at a ceremony, he was honoring soldiers that were killed in the Gaza War, said this, and I'll read the quote. We are committed to bringing them all home, every last one of them. We will achieve all of the objectives of the war.

Hamas, however, says that it has handed over all of the hostage bodies that it can access right now. And the way that they put it is that significant efforts and special equipment are needed to recover the remaining bodies of the hostages in Gaza.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is tracking this one for us this morning. Salma, and so far, Hamas has returned, what, 9 of the 28 deceased hostages. What is the very latest?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And already rights groups are accusing Israel of using food in medicine and basic supplies as a bargaining chip in this dispute over the slow release of hostages.

[07:15:09]

As you mentioned, Hamas now saying it has done everything it can to retrieve those bodies and that it essentially needs more help and more equipment on the ground to retrieve the 19 remaining dead that are still believed to be in the Gaza Strip.

We've also heard from U.S. officials who say they do not believe that Hamas is violating the ceasefire agreement and that they've been given, the U.S. government has been given every assurance through third party mediators that Hamas is doing the best it can to retrieve those bodies.

But we're hearing from Israeli sources just in the last couple of hours who are just disputing Hamas' account. They say that they believe that Hamas does have the knowledge to retrieve at least six more bodies. That's according to one source, but also another source admitting that 5 of those 19 may be completely lost to this war and unable to be pulled out of the ruins of this conflict.

Regardless, we're already seeing the consequences on the ground in the Gaza Strip of this. You're seeing those Red Cross vehicles that were moving in the middle of the night to retrieve more bodies. Meanwhile, of course, U.N. and Israel saying aid was cut in half yesterday to just 300 trucks going inside, aid group saying, that means that we will see more preventable deaths. So, what can be done to resolve all of this?

Well, actually, the ceasefire agreement did include a mechanism which should have put a task force in place to help support the retrieval of those deceased hostages. That mechanism would've included experts and knowledge and potentially equipment from countries like Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States, but that has yet to be put in place, and there is every effort to make that happen.

But Egypt, one of those mediating nations, now saying that process could take weeks. In the meanwhile, we're, of course, hearing more threats from President Trump who says, Hamas must abide by the ceasefire agreement or face more violence, more conflict in the Gaza Strip. You're seeing this tattering at the seams.

Meanwhile, of course, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are stockpiling food. That is how concerned they are that the conflict could resume.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Holding for now is really, truly the only way to put it.

Thank you so much, Salma. It's very good to see you. John?

BERMAN: All right. Loud speakers hacked the P.A. systems at several airports, taken over what they were broadcasting and who was behind it.

And then yanked from near certain death in just the nick of time, a terrifying moment caught on camera.

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[07:20:00]

SIDNER: Game three of the American League Championship series and the Blue Jays back in the game. They pretty much crushed the Mariners, getting five runs in a single inning alone.

CNN's Coy Wire here to tell us all about the excitement. Blue Jay fans, happy, happy this morning.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. ALCS game three, Mariners had a 2-0 lead going in, just two wins away from their first ever World Series appearance, Sara. They started off with a bang, Julio Rodriguez becoming the first Mariners player to have back-to-back post-season homers in the first inning.

But Toronto did some bang of their own. They erupt, scoring 13 runs on 18 hits, including five home runs in this game, matching the most ever for an A.L. post-season team. And the beast within Vlad Jr. has reawakened, a home run, two doubles and a single. He was 0-7 in this series before last night. Blue Jays win 13-4, Seattle now with just a 2-1 series lead.

In the NFL tonight, the icy hot bowl, AFC North showdown between the Steelers and Bengals will give us just the second time that opposing starting Q.B.s are 40 or older. Pittsburgh's Aaron Rodgers is 41, Cincinnati's Joe Flacco 40. Rodger's teammate, Cam Hayward, called this the icy hot bowl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON RODGERS, PITTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK: Great for all the old guys, you know? I know that when I watch other sports, maybe it's because I'm the older guy, but I tend to pull for the older guys to win, to win championships.

I've known Joe for a long time. He's been great coming to my charity event. He's been a great ambassador for the league. He's had a great career and it's fun that we're both still playing. JOE FLACCO, CINCINNATI BENGALS QUARTERBACK: It's pretty neat. I mean Aaron's been in the league a few years longer than me, but we both started playing in 2008. So, he'd been doing it for a long time, it's pretty cool.

WIRE: Crazy that I retired like 15 years ago, Sara, and I played against Rodgers.

The only other two geriatric starting Q.B.s that tussle was the Saints' Drew Bees and The Buccs' Tom Brady. Like those two legends, Rogers and Flacco both happen to be Super Bowl-winning Q.B.s.

All right, let's go from old dudes to big dudes in London, some of the best things we'll see today, 40 of the world's best sumo wrestlers bringing 1,500 years of tradition to London. The Grand Sumo Tournament, just the second time ever, it's been held outside of Japan. And its stars are going viral. Sara, with their London sightseeing adventures, they visited Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, tested the spokes on some bikes around this city, and, apparently, apparently they're big Harry Potter fans.

They're also doing what they got to do to hit those 10,000 calories a day. Competition already underway, Sara, the final day of competition is Sunday. What a way to start our morning, yes?

SIDNER: You went from icy hot to hotdogs, I love it. Those are such great pictures. We're going to need to rub some of that icy hot though on ourselves, right?

WIRE: Yes, no doubt.

SIDNER: We're getting to that age. All right, thank you so much, Coy.

[07:25:00]

WIRE: You got it.

BOLDUAN: The bike was amazing.

SIDNER: I know. Perfect.

BOLDUAN: Did you see that? They're like, how many can we actually fit? I don't know, guys. We may be testing the limits here. Let's go four.

SIDNER: So good.

BOLDUAN: That would be so fun. Us on a tandem would be hysterical, by the way.

SIDNER: I'd like to see that.

BOLDUAN: Yes, be first and last time.

Okay. Coming up for us, it's day 16 of the shutdown and we have new reporting on the role TikTok is playing for some of the 1 million federal workers who are either furloughed or working without pay right now.

And later why JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon is warning of cockroaches in the U.S. economy.

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