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Trump Dismisses No Kings Protests as a Joke; 7 Million Participate in No Kings Protests Across U.S.; Epstein Accuser Giuffre Thought She Might Die a Sex Slave; Prince Andrew Agrees to Give Up Remaining Royal Titles; Trump-Zelenskyy Meeting Turned Acrimonious Over Demands for Territorial Concessions. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 20, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The FBI is investigating what's described as a suspicious hunting stand that was within sight of Air Force One's landing zone in West Palm Beach, Florida. No one was at the stand when the Secret Service discovered it ahead of President Trump's arrival over the weekend. There's an image of it.

[14:35:00]

A senior law enforcement official tells CNN it had been there for some time that nothing indicates that it was built to target Trump. Typically, these stands are used by bow hunters in dense wooded areas. Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino says the stand was dismantled and then flown off for forensic testing. Of course, this discovery follows two assassination attempts during Trump's second campaign, or rather his third last year -- Brianna.

KEILAR: President Trump is dismissing the global rallies against him and his administration over this past weekend. Organizers for the No Kings protest say the demonstrations in all 50 states attracted nearly 7 million people. Despite the groundswell of support for the movement, it didn't appear to faze the president.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's a joke. I looked at the people. They're not representative of this country.

And I looked at all the brand new signs, I guess it was made for by Soros and other radical left lunatics. It looks like it was. We're checking it out.

The demonstrations were very small, very ineffective. And the people were whacked out. When you look at those people, those are not representative of the people of our country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, besides San Francisco. TRUMP: By the way, I'm not a king. I'm not a king.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We're joined now by the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, Larry Sabato. It's interesting, Larry, because he's saying that the people who participated in these protests are not representative of the country. But as you are looking at things, are they representative enough of part of the country to make a real difference?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, Brianna, they're representative of the half of the country that didn't vote for Donald Trump. You know, he almost made it over 50, but didn't quite, which meant a majority, a small majority, did not vote for him. Now, look, are those people, or the 7 million who showed up, representative of America? No.

And his MAGA base is also not representative of America. Political activists tend not to be representative of those who are not political activists, but that doesn't mean they don't matter.

These are the people who are most likely to turn out to vote, most likely to participate in campaigns and do volunteer work and go door to door. They're people who really matter in politics. And that 7 million total, I think, was quite impressive.

The highest the anti-Vietnam War protests ever got domestically was about 2 million.

KEILAR: That's really interesting. As Democratic leaders -- and you and I, you've talked with us a lot about how Democratic leaders are doing, right? Do you think that they have the ability to harness that energy?

Because they've had a lot of struggles in how they are messaging up to this shutdown.

SABATO: Well, if you're talking about the Democratic leaders in Congress, probably not. Maybe they have that ability within their own state or district. I don't know. It varies, I'm sure, by person.

Nationally, they're not in a particularly good position right now. And the main reason why the Democratic Party has favorability ratings well below that of the Republican Party is because Democrats don't give them a favorable rating.

So you want to go elsewhere for your leadership. Governors, Democratic governors and Republican governors, tend to be a lot more popular than their party representatives in the House or the Senate. Many of the local leaders do too.

They can really stir up crowds and they can attract crowds. So you go where the ducks are, and you also go where your leaders are, the popular leaders. And I wouldn't say they're in Congress right now. KEILAR: So President Trump posted an AI video of himself in a crown, dumping apparent waste on protesters. And the vice president got in on the social media trolling too. I think when you look at this, I don't think it fits, obviously, the template for what is seen as conventionally good leadership.

But do you think it makes sense politically for Trump to do something like this?

SABATO: Well, it probably appears to his MAGA base. This is my personal opinion. But I think something like that is beneath the dignity of a high school student, much less the president of the United States.

But I guess people have different views in the AI age, and it makes me happy to be the old age I am.

KEILAR: I mean, how would you like to see him approach it? And what do you think would be an effective way to approach what is sizable, as you point out, 7 million people taking to the streets, opposition?

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SABATO: Every now and then, it would be pleasant to hear him make some kind of effort to unify the nation about things we can be unified about. And there are plenty of them, both in foreign policy and even some in domestic policy.

He makes no effort whatsoever that I can remember. I don't think he's done it during the 10 years he's been the dominant political figure in America. That is so contrary to American history and the American norm.

But he's broken every norm. He's broken our customs and traditions. And I think probably the MAGA people think that's terrific, but it's not good for the polity.

It's not good for the general population. We have to live and work together. It'd be nice to see an acknowledgment of that.

And also, there is something called dignity. Dignity is an important part of representation and keeping support for the institutions of government. Again, it's just so undignified.

KEILAR: Larry Sabato, great to speak with you. Thank you for being with us.

SABATO: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Still to come, new allegations against Prince Andrew that he tried to hire online trolls to harass his accuser, Virginia Giuffre.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: Prominent Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre thought she might die a sex slave at the hands of the deceased pedophile and his associates. She opened up about her alleged sex abuse in a posthumous memoir released this week. There's a lot to get into in this book.

CNN Royal correspondent Max Foster is in London and joins U.S. now with the details. Max, what can you tell us?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: I haven't read the book. There are a couple of journalists that managed to get hold of a copy that was released early by a bookshop and suddenly withdrawn. So the book actually comes out tomorrow.

I think a lot of it from what I've seen is reporting that's been out there already, but you hear it from Giuffre's voice. And this is someone whose story people are questioning less and less as they question those she accuses more and more, most notably Prince Andrew. So, for example, some new information that we learn here from her, an allegation that he used trolls against her to undermine her case, which actually ties with an e-mail that was emerging over the weekend from British media suggesting that Prince Andrew had tried to dig dirt on Virginia Giuffre around the time that this photo was released.

Suggesting she had a criminal record and that the Royal Police Protection Officer could possibly look into that. Andrew allegedly giving over her social security number, undermining the idea that he never knew anything about her. The police are taking that allegation seriously.

And as I understand it, so is the palace saying that the police should effectively investigate this properly. So this is a story that just isn't going away for the royal family. Very difficult for the King today.

He was at a really important event commemorating those who died outside a synagogue in Manchester in the U.K. But all anyone was talking about was this story. A source telling me they were hoping that the focus would be on this heinous crime rather than any other matters.

So they're having to address Prince Andrew, despite the fact that they're trying to carry on with their work.

SANCHEZ: And her family, Virginia Giuffre's family, has insisted that Andrew face further accountability for this. They've demanded this directly from King Charles. So far, what has been the royal response?

FOSTER: Well, I think there was -- so last week reported how Prince Andrew is no longer going to use his titles. That's something the King wanted and takes away all his status within the monarchy.

So in terms of monarchy, it was a quite damning thing for Prince Andrew to experience. But in the wider world, they're all saying he's still allowed to be called Prince Andrew. That's one title that couldn't be taken away. But it's a title he's best known as. So why hasn't the prince title been taken away? That's what Giuffre's siblings are asking for now.

That's something the could actually do just by writing a legal note. But it wasn't done. So there's a sense that he was sanctioned, but nothing was actually taken away.

And much more needs to be done by King Charles.

SANCHEZ: Max Foster, thank you so much for that reporting -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. A cargo plane skidded off the runway and into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport early this morning. And as it slid, the aircraft hit an airport security patrol car, pushing it into the water and killing the two airport workers who were inside.

The plane also broke in two as it came off the runway. Officials say this happened after the Boeing aircraft veered off course as it was arriving from Dubai. The four crew members on board the plane were hospitalized.

And in Canada, a new video shows the moment that robbers hit a jewelry store making off with about $100,000 worth of jewelry. These masked men smashing display cases with hammers, then dousing security with a kind of spray before running off. They were caught when police stopped their getaway car on a highway.

Four suspects have been charged. The jewelry has been recovered. Authorities are still searching for a fifth suspect.

And in India, a record 2.6 million oil lamps were lit on Sunday, illuminating the banks of the river and setting a new Guinness world record.

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This was the day before Diwali, the festival of lights, which is one of the most significant Hindu festivals, symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. Happy Diwali to all who celebrate.

And still to come, with federal and city health leaders now in a public debate over the safety of vaccines, parents are left in the middle trying to decipher mixed messages.

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KEILAR: We're learning some new details about the meeting that President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had on Friday. European officials were briefed on the meeting and they tell CNN the tone shifted when Trump pushed Ukraine to make territorial concessions to end the war with Russia.

Trump grew frustrated at one point. He raised his voice multiple times, according to sources.

CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak is with U.S. now. Kevin, tell U.S. what you're learning about the call.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and it's becoming more and more evident that the president is growing impatient that this war has not been resolved. And the sense that you get from officials who are briefed on this meeting is that the president is now energized by the truce he was able to broker in Gaza and now wants to use that momentum to try and bring the war in Ukraine to an end. And it did at points become very tense, in particular when the president raised this idea of land concessions that would be necessary in order to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

It's a topic that he had discussed a day earlier with Vladimir Putin. They had that more than two hour long phone call. And in that call, the Russian leader made this proposal where Ukraine would surrender the entire Eastern Donbass region in exchange for some parts of some southern regions that Russia currently holds.

And the president essentially said that it would be necessary for Ukraine to surrender some territory in order for this war to come to an end. At moments he raised his voice, it became quite contemptuous. And I think, you know, for Zelenskyy, this will be something of a disappointment.

One, he walked away from this meeting without a guarantee for those long range Tomahawk missiles, which is something that he had been hoping for heading into it. And two, the president seems to be zigzagging back and forth, because remember, it was only last month that the president thought that Ukraine might be able to win the war, that it might be able to regain some of the territory that it's lost to Russia over the course of this conflict. Now, the president seems to be zigzagging back.

And he has said since this meeting on Friday that he thinks that the current battle lines should be frozen, and that essentially that that would be the basis point for any kind of ceasefire. Now, the president was asked today about this discrepancy in what he's said. And he said that he never said that Ukraine would win the war, just that it could, but that he thinks it highly unlikely.

KEILAR: Kevin Liptak live for us at the White House -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: The big cities health coalition has a clear message for the public, get vaccinated. The group released a statement today, encouraging vaccines and raising concerns. The federal government is limiting access and purposely casting doubts on their effectiveness.

This comes as falling vaccine rates across the country have led to more frequent outbreaks of diseases that had previously dwindled almost out of existence, measles and polio. CNN's Meg Tirrell joins us now. So Meg, what more can you tell us?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, this is a group of local health leaders representing some of the biggest cities and counties across the United States in both red states and blue states. Two dozen of them coming together to sign this statement, starting out by saying, quote, we are united behind a simple message, get vaccinated. They say vaccines have eradicated devastating diseases and saved millions of lives.

And as you know, they point out that respiratory virus season is rapidly approaching flu, COVID and RSV. They're also worried about outbreaks of measles and cases of polio that we've seen as vaccination rates are falling.

They note, quote, vaccination rates are declining in many parts of the United States. And we are deeply troubled, they say, by the repeated false claims about vaccines from too many federal officials, which they say have contributed directly to these trends.

Put another way, from the head of the Dallas County Health Department, Dr. Phil Huang, he says we have to make our public health decisions based on data and not on political ideology.

Boris, we did reach out to the Department of Health and Human Services in response to this.

They said, quote, we are restoring the doctor-patient relationship so people can make informed decisions about their health and their providers. And they accuse the Biden administration of being the ones to politicize vaccination -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: And Meg, there have been some recent changes to federal vaccine policy. Could you just remind us, walk U.S. through what we should know?

TIRRELL: Yes, well, it's really important to know as we head into flu season, there is expected to be potential another winter COVID wave and, of course, RSV. All of these are coming. A lot of folks may have heard about changes in COVID vaccination policy in particular, but what that actually really means for folks is that now the CDC recommendation is that folks should consult with their health care provider, their doctor, their pharmacist, or other health care provider about whether vaccination against COVID makes sense for them.

And then they can get vaccinated if they choose to do so. So that is a softening of the previous blanket recommendation for everybody, but they are still available. And, of course, for flu, there is a recommendation for everybody over six months to get a seasonal flu vaccine.

And RSV protection is out there for the groups that require it as well, typically the very young and the very old -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Meg Tirrell, thank you so much for walking us through those recommendations.

We have plenty more news to come. A lot of updates from the White House, including some foreign...

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