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Sources Say UVA May Become First Public University to Accept Trump Deal; Critics Slam White House East Wing Construction; Air Traffic Control Staffing Problems Cause Delays at Major U.S. Airports; Government Closure Threatens CDC's Ability to Monitor, Track Viruses; Trump Set to Welcome NATO Chief to White House. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 22, 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]

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: -- enough to dismantle the school's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs. And as you mentioned, it also comes as the White House had encouraged UVA, along with eight other schools, to sign on to what it described as a compact for academic excellence in higher education. If they signed on to that, the schools would receive expanded access to federal funding. And those demands included things like a cap on international students. They wanted a freeze on tuition for five years, and removing factors like sex and ethnicity from admissions considerations. UVA last week declined to sign on.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": No financial aspect, no outside monitor. It'll be really interesting to see what this may be. Betsy Klein, thank you so much for the latest on that. And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Staring down trouble ahead as the shutdown impacts hit more Americans and comes at really a risky time. We're looking at how it's hurting federal employees and how you could feel it in your own life. And on guard, as courts consider the president's right to deploy the National Guard on the streets of Chicago, for example. He suggests he can send those troops into any city where he sees a problem.

And critics are angry over an extreme home makeover at the White House, how one group is pleading with the president to pause construction on a new ballroom before it is too late. We are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

22 days in, now the second longest U.S. government shut down ever. The longest was 35 days during President Trump's first term and no indication at this point that we're not slowing down toward that benchmark. Today, the odds of this one ending don't look good with Congress still deadlocked. The impacts are still being felt more and more each day, airports, food pantries, and now health officials are reporting new struggles.

We're going to talk about all of that, but I want to start first with the staffing issues causing flight delays at major U.S. airports. I want to bring in CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean with us here.

So Pete, what are you seeing on this front? It seems like it has taken a little bit of time, it has been a gradual process.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the short staffing really means that the FAA has no choice but to put delays in place to keep things safe. And it all added up to thousands of delays on flights last night. The reality is this will probably get worse before it gets better. There's already, and we've been talking about it for years, a major shortage of air traffic controllers nationwide that were reporting to work without pay during this shutdown.

And all it takes is a handful of them to call out sick to trigger a ripple effect across the air travel systems. Last night's shortages hit United Airlines particularly hard. Newark and Houston are huge hubs for the airline, about 16 percent of all United flights nationwide were delayed on Tuesday. Southwest also hit hard. The shortages caused Houston Hobby, that's a Southwest hub, to go into a ground stop for part of the evening. The airline ended the day with just over 500 delays nationwide.

Most of the shortages last night were at FAA terminal radar approach control facilities, which handle flights at lower altitudes near major airports. But the problems were limited to only five facilities, less than 2 percent of all facilities nationwide. Just one more example of the outsized impact of these staffing shortages. Now a lot of people have said to me, staffing has been a problem for the FAA all the time, and that's true. But we ran the numbers and so far, there have been 193 air traffic control staffing shortages during this government shutdown, more than four times the same number over the last period a year ago.

So, controllers got partial pay and a paycheck last Tuesday. They get their first $0 paycheck this next coming Tuesday. The real question is when this government shutdown will end and we've got the big Thanksgiving travel period on the horizon to (ph) its limit, hopefully things will be over by then, but not much movement as we've seen.

JIMENEZ: And as you point out, look, there are these structural concerns about shortages, but as this has gone on now 22 days, it can only hold on for so long. Pete Muntean, I know you'll be on top of it. Thanks for being here.

MUNTEAN: Yeah.

JIMENEZ: Brianna?

KEILAR: Now to the shutdown and your health. As flu and COVID season picks up, health officials warn the public is now up against some critical blind spots because of the lack of national disease data. The head of the Outbreak Response Center at Johns Hopkins says it's like weather or traffic reports blinking out but for your health. CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell is with us now. That sounds really bad, Meg, what's the issue here?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Brianna, I mean, we haven't seen these websites from the CDC that we typically rely on for disease tracking data updated since the end of September. So these are things like the weekly updates we typically see for respiratory, COVID and RSV or respiratory syncytial virus.

[14:05:00]

Typically, we can look there every week as we get into this flu season and COVID season, and see how bad things are. How many people are going to the ER in the hospital? Where are things really bad? Where have things not really picked up? What strains of these different viruses are circulating? So that hasn't been updated since before the shutdown began. We also aren't seeing wastewater data being updated and that really can give sort of a passive sense of how much virus is out there in the community and where.

We also haven't seen the FluView, that's the weekly look at flu with really in-depth information about flu. That hasn't been updated since before the shutdown began either. And Brianna, we are seeing states still collect data. So for example, Florida, typically RSV, respiratory syncytial virus starts in the U.S. in the southern states and then spreads to the rest of the country. So you can see there in Florida, several counties are reporting increasing levels of RSV, but we're not getting that national picture of it from the CDC, which often other states might rely on in order to do their planning, get their hospitals, their clinics ready for what might be coming in the season ahead. And so that's really worrying folks, Brianna.

KEILAR: What about measles? Cases have been on the rise.

TIRRELL: Yeah, so that's an interesting one. We are still seeing the CDC update measles case counts. Actually, we just got an update today. There are several measles outbreaks, active outbreaks going on right now, and we asked the HHS, why is measles different from other viruses? And they said it's an active public health intervention, classified under law as an accepted activity. And so, measles reporting is still going on and these outbreaks are continuing. It's been a historically bad year for measles, but the concern of course is that flu and other respiratory viruses can be unpredictable as well. And we don't have that same national picture of those right now.

KEILAR: All right. Yeah, very important stuff. Meg Tirrell, thank you. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Well, another aspect of this, putting food on the table, also a growing concern for some of the 1.4 million federal workers who are going without their paychecks. One food pantry just outside of Washington, D.C. and Maryland served hundreds of federal workers yesterday. You can see the long line there. More than double by the way of what they were expecting. I want to bring in CNN's Rene Marsh, who is following this. So Rene, just what more are we learning about this? Clearly, I mean, that line stretched down the block.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it was around the block. And these individual, these federal workers who just regular Americans --

JIMENEZ: Yeah. MARSH: I mean, this really does illustrate what the impasse on Capitol Hill means for Americans. These federal workers, many of them were waiting for hours in line. They had to show their federal workforce I.D. in order to get the free food. Many of them told our cameras that they never expected to find themself in this situation. I mean, when you think about it, a federal job is seen as a stable form of income, a stable job. But here they are. We got to speak to some of them and here are their stories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROLANDA WILLIAMS, FEDERAL WORKER: There's really no words. It's like, wow, I can't believe I'm here, you know? Because you -- you always thought that getting a government job or a federal job, that that's security. And it is -- it's not.

SUMMER KERKSICK, FEDERAL WORKER: This is very important. I mean, you know, with my rent due next week, I could take anything I can get. At this point, I haven't gotten a paycheck this month.

PAMELIA CARTER, NO LIMITS OUTREACH MINISTRIES & FEDERAL WORKER: It's overwhelming. It's overwhelming. There are at least 200 to 300 people in this line that we're servicing today, federal employees. It's mind boggling.

PASTOR OLIVER CARTER, NO LIMITS OUTREACH MINISTRIES: I'm really concerned because I know that with this current administration, our food bank has not received as much food. And now, seeing the need today and with our current population that we are already serving from the community, adding those federal workers on, in my mind, I'm really trying to figure out how are we going to meet this need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And Rene, you know, hearing one of the women talk about the stability of the federal job, as you were saying, I mean, for all the talk of how close we typically get to federal government shutdowns, it's relatively rare that we actually get to a shutdown and no less one that's stretching into 22 days. But this Friday is also another major deadline for a lot of these workers. What happens this Friday and do we hear any of them, the folks that you all spoke to concern?

MARSH: Yeah, I mean, this Friday, some of these agencies and some of these federal workers were supposed to get another paycheck but this will be the first time that they're missing a full paycheck. If you remember the last time, the last pay period, they received 80 percent, many of them, of their paychecks. It was a partial payment. This time they will get nothing. And at that food bank, they served some 370 families. They were only expecting, I mean, that's more than half that they were expecting.

JIMENEZ: Sure.

MARSH: And really again, Omar, this is the first full missed paycheck. We expect to see the need grow even more.

[14:10:00]

That means longer lines and more of these workers lining up for these sort of services as this shutdown stretches on. Lawmakers have yet to reach an agreement on whether they will come to some sort of consensus on paying federal workers. The Republicans Senator Ron Johnson introduced a bill that would pay only those who continue to show up for work, but the Democrats are holding out there, pushing back. They say that all federal workers should receive pay.

That has not been resolved. So really what we're looking at is federal workers who continue to have bills, have the rent to pay. They will be signing up for more and more of these services.

JIMENEZ: Wondering when their next paycheck will actually come.

MARSH: Yeah.

JIMENEZ: Rene Marsh, appreciate the reporting as always. All right. Still to come, President Trump prepares to meet with NATO's Secretary General as Russia launches a new round of deadly strikes on Ukraine. We have the urgent message from Ukraine's leader ahead of today's talks. That's coming up. Plus, new reporting from The New York Times reveals Amazon's plan to replace more than half a million jobs with robots. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:15:45]

KEILAR: New developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. This afternoon, President Trump will welcome NATO Secretary, General Mark Rutte to the White House, just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came away empty handed from his meeting there with Trump. At the same time, Russia says preparations are ongoing for a second meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin despite Trump saying yesterday, another summit could be a waste of time.

Meeting or not, Ukraine is suffering severely. Today, a new round of Russian strikes killed at least six people including a six-month-old, while knocking out power across the country. Zelenskyy called this another night, proving that Russia does not feel enough pressure for dragging out the war. We're joined now by CNN Military Analyst, Retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks. General, Trump says last night, he doesn't want to have a waste of time, so no summit as we were expecting. And Putin strikes a kindergarten. What is the signal that Russia is sending with these attacks?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Russia has felt no incentive at all to stop what they're doing. And we understand completely that Russia responds to power. And I would think that our president at this point, may realize that the power of his influence may be getting bested by Putin. There is no incentive. And also bear in mind, Brianna, we're moving into the non-fighting season and -- in Ukraine, which means Putin will continue his activities. Activities on the ground may be kind of frozen in place. So again, what is the in incentive that the West is applying to Putin to get him to stop? And right now, it doesn't exist. So, it may be at the point where, if nothing else, there could be an imposition of a ceasefire in the air. In other words, a declaration of nothing from Russia will fly over Ukraine. Ukraine does not have the capacity to resist that entirely, but it would have to be backed up by NATO, selective NATO partners. I don't know that that's in the offing.

KEILAR: So, Trump insisted, you heard him so many times, last week as he was sitting across the table from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, that Russia wants peace. And we see what's happening now in the war. And Russian state media is now going as far as belittling Trump in the wake of this Budapest meeting being indefinitely postponed. They don't do that without the Kremlin's blessing. How should Trump be seeing that?

MARKS: Yeah, I think the challenge is right now, both Zelenskyy and Putin appear to be -- don't appear to be, they are both intransigent, uncompromising in terms of what is necessary moving forward. We talk about the establishment of some type of a ceasefire as a precondition to move forward for the inevitability of some type of a peace agreement, regardless of what that may look like. And we have historical precedents of the different kinds of treaties that exist and we should take advantage of those and bring those forward.

But it really appears that any type of a ceasefire is going to be conditional. And in Zelenskyy's case, it's "We are not going to give up all of Donbas and we certainly might surrender Crimea, but we're not going to give all of Donbas. That portion of Donbas that Russia has not yet claimed and been successful at claiming, we are not suddenly going to surrender to the Russians.

Russia, on the other hand, is saying, "That's exactly what we want." So it's that kind of an impasse that's going to require something in advance of a ceasefire that exists, either in the air or on the ground, and I don't know how you get to that point. And sadly, what the president may be saying to the Secretary General is, look, we're going to continue to sell everything you need. We're going to increase the ability of -- Ukraine's ability to reach into Russia, deep into Russia, to go after stockpiles, munitions plants, maintenance facilities, et cetera, so that Russia can't bring forces forward effectively.

[14:20:00]

Or -- it's so unpredictable at this point, right? President could go the other way and say, "I'm out. This is your fight. You guys have got to kind of work it out." And that's the unfortunate thing because the United States is still very much a part of NATO and you can't afford to have this administration refer to NATO in the third person. We're very much engaged and we need to be engaged.

KEILAR: He's meeting, you mentioned NATO, he's meeting with Mark Rutte at the White House this afternoon. What should come of that meeting? MARKS: Well, we'd hope -- we'd hope it would be "We're behind NATO. We are on board. We are going to continue to sell munitions to the NATO partners." NATO partners will obviously use those, I think it's fair to say, without putting words in their mouth, that they will use those to inject into the fight in Ukraine for them to use further into their operations. We would hope that would be the case. But as I said, things are so unpredictable, you don't know. You really don't know. I would hope that would be the result, Brianna.

KEILAR: General Marks, great to speak with you. Thank you.

MARKS: Thank you, Brianna.

JIMENEZ: All right. We are also monitoring -- we are also monitoring provocations from North Korea. The country just carried out its first ballistic missile test in five months. And it happened just days before President Trump and other world leaders are set to meet in South Korea. Now, this visit will be the president's first trip to Asia of his second term. He has repeatedly expressed hopes for new diplomacy with North Korean Leader, Kim Jong-un. Kim meanwhile has been accelerating the pace of his weapons test since a 2019 summit with Trump failed to bring relief from U.S. sanctions.

Still ahead, despite demolition being well underway, one group is hoping President Trump will hit the pause button on construction of his grand ballroom. We'll tell you what they're asking for. And we're tracking today's court hearing over the Trump administration's use of the National Guard in Chicago, the three options a federal judge is considering, details straight ahead.

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[14:26:38]

KEILAR: Happening now, live pictures of demolition underway. That is actually the White House there. CNN camera is able to capture some of the work as parts of the East Wing of the White House are being reduced to rubble to make way for President Trump's planned 90,000- square foot ballroom. The White House is moving forward with construction despite pushback, including from a prominent preservationist group. CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House, following this. Kevin, what have you been able to see and what are you hearing?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, I mean, this is the first day that you can kind of see this demolition underway from where we are on the North Lawn. You can kind of see the tangled rebar peeking out from behind the North Portico. Occasionally, you see the arm of that track excavator going up and down. I think probably more noticeable is what we can hear, which is kind of the rhythmic pounding of drill on concrete, occasional crashing sounds coming over from the east side of the White House as the East Wing comes down to make way for the president's ballroom.

The President said yesterday that this was music to his ears, but it's not music to the ears of preservationists who are now crying foul and asking the White House to halt this demolition in order for this process to go through a more public approval process. The National Trust for Historic Preservation writing this letter to the administration yesterday, saying that this 90,000-square foot ballroom, in their words, would overwhelm the White House itself which is only 55,000 square feet but also, in their view, permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House.

And they're asking the administration, one, to halt the demo, but two, to go through these approval processes that they haven't done thus far, including through the National Capital Planning Commission. Now, when it comes to that particular board, its head is actually Will Sharp. He's the White House Staff Secretary and he has said at meetings of this commission in the past that its purview doesn't actually apply to demolition, it only applies to construction. And that eventually this project will go in front of the board when they're ready to start building.

Now, the White House has sort of dismissed all of this. They've called it manufactured outrage. They've said it amounts to pearl clutching and that the project echoes the storied history of improvements at the White House. And it is true, presidents have renovated the building before in a lot of ways. It's a constant work in progress. But certainly, this project really of a different scale and the president clearly eager to move very quickly.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, this isn't a putting green. Kevin Liptak, live for us at the White House. Thank you so much. Still ahead, attorneys for the city of Chicago in court today, hoping to convince a judge to extend a temporary restraining order over President Trump's use of the National Guard. We're going to explain why Trump now feels empowered to send the Guard where he sees fit.

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