Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Bitter Divide on Capitol Hill as Government Shutdown Enters Week Four; White House Begins Demolition of East Wing for Trump Ballroom; Pardoned Capitol Rioter Arrested for Allegedly Threatening to Kill Democratic House Minority Leader, Jeffries; Trump Threatens Hamas With Heavy Force if Ceasefire Falters; V.P. Vance in Israel to Bolster Fragile Gaza Ceasefire Deal. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 21, 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]

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: So, CEO Jonathan Dean of WindBorne Systems says, we're going to dig into it and make sure this doesn't happen again.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Pete Muntean, thank you so much for bringing that down for us and dispelling any myths --

(LAUGH)

MUNTEAN: A lot of mystery, yeah.

SANCHEZ: -- conspiracies you see online. Thanks so much, Pete. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Digging in President Trump says Republicans will not be extorted into giving into Democrats' demands over the government shutdown, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune says there's no Plan B for ending the impasse. Plus, a man pardoned by President Trump for storming the Capitol on January 6th is arrested, the charge threatening to kill House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. We have new reaction from Jeffries. And

Ballroom blitz, construction crews begin tearing down part of the East Wing to make way for President Trump's $200 million project. We'll break down the big changes underway at the White House. You're seeing some of them in these live pictures right here. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Any moment, House Speaker Mike Johnson is set to begin a pro forma session and lawmakers will be meeting, albeit likely briefly, to fulfill a constitutional demand. But no business is expected to get done as the bitter divide over the government shutdown drags on. This is Day 21 of the shutdown stalemate, which now ties it with the second longest shutdown in American history. Roughly 1.4 million federal employees have been furloughed or working without pay. And with the exception of members of the military and federal law enforcement officers like the FBI and ICE agents, for many people, final paychecks for the foreseeable future have gone out.

To date, 4,000 federal workers have been fired according to Trump administration officials. Last week, a federal judge temporarily halted these firings. But as legal challenges play out, the White House has threatened as many as 10,000 people could ultimately see their jobs terminated. Among the latest furloughs, the agency overseeing the U.S. Nuclear Stockpile, most of its staff stopped working yesterday. Staffing shortages at eight air traffic control facilities are now being reported. Keep in mind, it was air traffic controllers, among those who are working without pay as well.

And time is running out for 42 million Americans who are at risk of losing food assistance next month. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP runs out of money in November, roughly one in eight Americans rely on that program. WIC, which helps nearly 7 million pregnant women, new moms and children could also run out of money in weeks for us. Boris?

SANCHEZ: So as Democratic and Republican lawmakers continue blaming each other, who do Americans hold responsible? Some new polling indicates that more people are apt to say Republicans, but that's not all the numbers say. CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten is with us now. Harry, walk us through the takeaways.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yeah, I like to play the blame game, at least I did when I was a kid. And Americans love to play the blame game, but you mentioned it, more Americans are in fact blaming Republicans in Congress. You can see it on the screen right here when you match up Republicans in Congress versus Democrats in Congress. But it's not the runaway that perhaps I think a lot of people might have expected. It's 50 percent right here for blaming Republicans more in Congress compared to 43 percent.

Now, you know why I love going through the history books, Boris Sanchez, and I will tell you that historically speaking, when it comes to shutdowns, far more people blame Republicans than blame Democrats. So this seven-point margin is a much thinner margin than historically speaking. But again, more Americans blame Republicans than Democrats, at least when it comes to in Congress.

SANCHEZ: Harry, what about President Trump? Where does he fit into all of this and how do those polls see his role?

ENTEN: Yeah, OK. I mentioned Republicans in Congress. I mentioned Democrats in Congress. There's a big guy at the head of the executive branch I didn't mention. It's President Donald J. Trump. And when it comes to him, there's some very interesting numbers because I want you to take a look here. OK, blame Trump for the shutdown, a great deal. Remember, we've played this game before with the Donald Trump administration during his first term, 2018-2019. 61 percent of Americans back then blamed Trump a great deal for that particular shutdown. You come over to this side of the screen, closer to me, look at this. It's 48 percent. All of a sudden, we're seeing going from more than three in five Americans blaming Donald Trump a great deal for the shutdown during his first term to about 50/50 right here, in fact, a little bit less than 50 percent, 48 percent. And this, I think, kind of lines up with the polling that we saw on that first slide, which is, yes, there are a lot of Americans who are upset with Republicans in Congress. Yes, there are a lot of Americans who are upset with Donald Trump, but not nearly by the margins that we might historically expect. Now, you see these numbers right here. And then I think of course, this comes down to political pressure, right? Which side might feel the political pressure to get out of the shutdown?

[14:05:00]

I don't think Donald Trump feels that much pressure. Why do I say that? Because, take a look here. Shutdowns and Trump's net approval rating, 21 days into the shutdown as we are right now, the second longest going on, in 2018-2019, Donald Trump's net approval rating had already dropped in my average of polls by three points, and it would go down considerably further. You come to this side of the screen, you look at the 2025 shutdown. In fact, Donald Trump's approval rating isn't down at all. It's actually perhaps up a smidgen.

So, we're just dealing with a completely different universe than we saw during Donald Trump's first term where this time around he's getting less of the blame and he's not seeing the popularity decline that he had last time.

SANCHEZ: As a self-described history buff, Harry, if you study for decades, the U.S. didn't have shutdowns the way that we have in the last decade plus. They're becoming seemingly more common and I wonder if there's been a de-sensitization among American voters. How tuned in are they to this shutdown?

ENTEN: Yeah, we can go to Google searches. I like going to Google searches because I think it gives you a pretty good idea of what Americans are actually worried about. And you're exactly right. They are completely de-sensitized. Google searches for government shutdown down 45 percent at this point in this shutdown compared to the shutdown during Donald Trump's first term at this particular point. The bottom line is, there are a lot of Americans tuning out, and I'm not really exactly that surprised given this shutdown just seems to have no end in sight.

SANCHEZ: Harry Enten, thank you so much for bringing down the numbers for us. Appreciate it. Brianna?

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

KEILAR: So a short time ago, President Trump was reveling over his latest White House project, which involves the demolition of the East Wing. And some new images show how crews have begun to tear up the wing to make way for a 90,000-square foot ballroom that the White House says will more than triple the capacity of the old space. Here's what the president had to say today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I said, if I do this again, I'm going to get a ballroom built. And we're putting up our own money where the government is paying for nothing. You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound? Oh, that's music to my ears. I love that sound. Other people don't like it. I love it, Josh. I think when I hear that sound it reminds me of money. In this case, it reminds me of lack of money because I'm paying for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House. Alayna, President Trump is obviously proud of this project. The Treasury Department has just restricted images of it. Tell us what's going on and who is paying for it.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, look, I actually was in the Rose Garden, or really, it's really a rose garden patio now with the new changes that the president had made to that as well. But I was there when the president was speaking. You couldn't really hear it in that audio, Brianna, that you played, but it was very loud. You could hear the construction, the rumbling of some of these excavators that are just ripping into the East Wing of the White House right now to really accommodate this massive new structure, this massive new ballroom that the president wants to build.

And you said who's paying for it? I mean, you could hear in that clip that the president has made pains and said repeatedly now that this is going to be financed by private donations. He said some of it will be paid for by him as well. You heard him saying, I'm paying for it. There are going to be a lot of different companies and people who are going to be donating money to help with this project as well. But the point there being, of course, that they're -- it's not going to be financed by taxpayer dollars.

But some things I want to point out, you mentioned this number, but 90,000 square feet, that is the number that -- or the square footage really that this is supposed to be. That's three times the size of the East Room. The East Room is really where you see a lot of those state banquet dinners and other events that the White House is hosting. Now, the president has said and this is really, I should argue, a 15-year ambition of his. He has argued that there needs to be a ballroom at the White House to have much grander, bigger party. So that's exactly what this is going to be.

Back to the money part of this. This project is estimated to cost somewhere between $200 million and $250 million. So clearly, quite an undertaking and it is in keeping with a lot of the other transformations we've seen President Donald Trump engage in since being in office for his second term. I remind you, the Oval Office, it is gilded every time. I'm in there, it looks like something else has become gold. That is something the president has been working on. He has also added a series of photos of past presidents framing the Rose Garden colonnade.

He has added very large flagpoles. And then of course, like I said, the Rose Garden patio, paving over the typical grass in the Rose Garden. But back to that question about the treasury, I did receive a copy of an email from a treasury official that they had sent out to treasury employees. They told them to refrain from taking photos. The Treasury Department is really one of the buildings that has the best vantage point of a lot of this construction.

[14:10:00]

They told them to please refrain from taking photos without prior approval from the Office of Public Affairs. A treasury spokesperson, Brianna, told me that's because they want to proceed with abundance of caution in case this could show some national security reasons. So, that's one warning coming from this administration on all of the construction we're seeing.

KEILAR: All right. Alayna Treene, live for us at the White House, thank you. This just in, a New York man who was convicted of charges related to the January 6th Capitol attack and later pardoned by President Trump has been arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Democratic House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. According to court records, an anonymous source told the FBI that Christopher Moynihan had said on Friday that, "In a few days, he would kill Congressman Jeffries in New York City for the future."

Moynihan was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for his participation in the Capitol attack before he and more than 1,500 others convicted of January 6th offenses were pardoned by Trump. In a statement today, Leader Jeffries thanked law enforcement or writing "threats of violence will not stop us from showing up, standing up, and speaking up for the American people." Any moment Jefferies is expected to hold a news conference on Capitol Hill, which we will monitor to see if he addresses this arrest and also the shutdown.

Still to come, Vice President Vance publicly praising the stability of the ceasefire in Gaza today. But behind the scenes, some administration officials fear the deal could fall apart. Plus, a positive update on the cancer treatment for former President Joe Biden. And later, new CNN reporting about complaints from veterans that the VA is cutting short their mental health therapy sessions against their doctors' recommendations. We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:29]

SANCHEZ: Right now, Vice President J.D. Vance is leading a U.S. delegation in Israel as sources tell CNN the Trump administration has concerns the fragile ceasefire in Gaza could soon fall apart. Earlier today, Vance expressed confidence in the deal while also saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Our warning to Hamas is very straightforward. The terms of the 20-point plan that the president put out there is very clear. It's supported not just by Israel, but by all of our Gulf Arab friends. It's that Hamas has to disarm. It's that Hamas has to actually behave itself and that Hamas, while all the fighters can be given some sort of clemency, they're not going to be able to kill each other and they're not going to be able to kill their fellow Palestinians. And if Hamas doesn't cooperate, then as the president of the United States has said, Hamas is going to be obliterated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Those comments echo President Trump's social media post this morning, warning Hamas that allies would welcome the U.S. going into Gaza with "heavy force" to straighten out Hamas. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, what more is the Trump administration saying as it tries to solidify the ceasefire?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, in many ways, the visit by the vice president to Israel, coming just two days after we saw the biggest test for the ceasefire yet with the killing of two Israeli soldiers, a wave of Israeli airstrikes. A big part of this visit by J.D. Vance was aimed at bolstering confidence in the ceasefire, by simply projecting that confidence himself, by having a high-level U.S. official come here and say that the United States is committed to this ceasefire and doesn't want to see violations of the ceasefire resulting in it collapsing altogether.

And what was also extremely clear to me, in visiting this CMCC, this Civilian Military Coordination Center that the United States has stood up is just how much -- how many resources and how much effort the United States is putting into all of this. And also, how much of this is still really being developed on the fly. So much still needs to be done. And that was also evident in the remarks of the vice president who said that, listen, the execution of this ceasefire deal in Gaza, the next phases of it is going to take, he said, "a very, very long time." He also made clear that there is no timeline for when exactly Hamas will be disarmed, when it will hand over power in Gaza. And he also said that he doesn't necessarily think that that should be rushed.

We also heard him talk about the return of the bodies of deceased hostages, making clear to an Israeli public that has been frustrated by the slow pace of the return of some of those bodies, that this is something that is difficult and is going to take some time. He even stressed the fact that some of these remains are buried under, he said, thousands of pounds of rubble, some of them he said nobody knows the exact location of. And so he made clear that it's going to take time, urging the Israeli public in a sense to have some patience here.

Now, as the vice President was leaving the center, we also learned that the Hamas intends to return the remains of an additional two hostages according to Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades. And just moments ago, we learned from the Israeli military that the Red Cross is indeed on its way to go and retrieve those bodies. If indeed two remains of deceased hostages are returned, this would be the 14th and 15th remains of deceased hostages returned to Israel out of 28. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond live for us in Tel Aviv, thank you so much. We are following Breaking News right now out of Los Angeles, a U.S. Marshal has been injured during an immigration enforcement operation.

[14:20:00]

Sources say that a suspect was also gravely wounded in the incident. Let's go live to CNN's Veronica Miracle. Veronica, what are you hearing about this?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Boris, we understand this is happening in South Los Angeles. This started this morning during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation involving U.S. Marshals and ICE. And sources tell CNN that agents were approaching an individual as they were conducting an enforcement operation and that individual, the suspect, started to ram their vehicle into ICE and U.S. Marshal's vehicles. So agents then went to the car, smashed the window open, and they were trying to retrieve that individual. As it was happening, an agent's gun discharged and injured both the suspect and a U.S. Marshal.

Now, in terms of the extent of both of their injuries, that is not clear, but they're both at the hospital and as soon as we have more information, we'll bring it to you. Back to you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Veronica Miracle, thank you so much for tracking that for us. As she said, we will continue to monitor developments in this story and get them to you live.

Still to come this afternoon, the window to find the thieves who stole priceless jewelry from the Louvre may already be closing. What investigators can still do to try and track them down. And some new reporting on what is behind the rising cost of buying a home. We've got new details when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:03]

KEILAR: We're learning new details about those missing crown jewels that were stolen during the brazen heist at the Louvre. The Paris prosecutor says, the looted artifacts were worth an estimated $102 million and that is not even including its historical value to France.

SANCHEZ: And as authorities race against the clock to find the thieves and hopefully the jewels, we've learned that a recent security audit obtained by France's Public Broadcast Service warned about security concerns at the museum, including a "persistent delay" in updating its security systems. Michael Finkel joins us now. He's the author of the book, "The Art Thief." Michael, thanks so much for being with us. At this point, what would you say is the likelihood that these valuables wind up in the hands of authorities?

MICHAEL FINKEL, AUTHOR OF "THE ART THIEF": Of course, I don't have a crystal ball, but I'm imagining right now, as painful as it sounds, that all the jewels are being forcibly removed from those pieces and will end up being raw pieces that can be easily fenced on the black market and make them way -- make their way to a legal market. So I'm saying slim chance and as the minutes tick away, not getting any more likely.

KEILAR: Which is kind of crazy in a sense, right? Because the true value of these, that they're priceless because of their historic value, will then be eradicated in that process, right?

FINKEL: I mean, the sum is the -- the whole is so much more valuable than its parts. Of course, there's cultural heritage. It's not just the $100 million valuation. It's -- and the victims, by the way, of this crime are all of us who won't be able to see these pieces. But the sad truth is that these thieves did not care about art or aesthetics. They just want money and they're successfully going to get it, it seems like.

SANCHEZ: You wrote the book on the most prolific art thief of all time. We noted the book just a moment ago. What did that research teach you about this type of criminal, this kind of enterprise that would plan something like this and go after these kinds of artifacts?

FINKEL: I mean, let's -- while condemning the crime, I am happy to say that nobody was injured during this theft and quite brazen. But also, the thief that I wrote about, his name is Stephane Breitwieser. He had this theory that the best crimes were what he called invisible crimes. That is no guns, no bombs, none of these sort of movie heists, but really going in quietly during daytime hours. And these thieves, they put an elevated ladder right under a window and they sort of pretended as if this was business as usual. This was some sort of construction job, and managed to go in and out in seven minutes without injuring any humans, thankfully.

And so, Stephane Breitwieser, the protagonist of "The Art Thief" would probably, as the French would say, say Chapo or tip his hat to the style that these were done in, but also would condemn the fact that these were stolen probably for their parts, not the aesthetic beauty.

KEILAR: They left stuff though, right? The vest. I mean the ladder, the cutting device. There could be things that have DNA on them. Do you think they could be caught?

FINKEL: Of course. I mean, the dropped crown, the mistakes do point out that this was not the perfect crime. Of course, I hope, as do everyone -- does everyone in France and probably around the world. I hope that these pieces are returned and that I get to see them in person. As I expressed earlier, I have my doubts. The most famous art museum heist in the United States, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist of $500 million worth of pieces was done in 1990. That's 35 years ago, and none of those have been recovered. So, the track record for a superlative heist like this is not great.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Michael, one last quick --