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U.S., Israel And Hamas Delegations Head To Egypt For Gaza Peace Talks; Shutdown Enters Second Week With No Talks Scheduled; Supreme Court To Start New Annual Session Monday; Trump Considers Bailout Of At Least $10 Billion For American Farmers. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired October 05, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: A delegation from Hamas arrived in Egypt a short time ago. Teams from Israel and the U.S. are headed that way for the beginning of these talks tomorrow.

And ahead of that, President Trump told CNN Hamas faces, quote, "complete obliteration" if it refuses to give up power in Gaza. That comment part of a text conversation with our Jake Tapper, who asked what would happen if Hamas insists on staying in power.

Let's bring in Julia Benbrook. She is live at the White House tonight.

Julia, I know the president came back from Virginia a short time ago. He thinks that this is going to move quite quickly. He's saying negotiations would likely last a couple of days, which will be very speedy. What else is the White House saying tonight?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the most detailed timeline that we have heard from President Donald Trump, as these movements have started to take place. He continues to say that he wants negotiations to happen quickly, and he continues to put pressure on both Israel and Hamas to move toward his 20-point plan for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Now, the plan calls for the release of all hostages held by Hamas within 72 hours of an agreement and lays out a roadmap for Gaza following the end of the war. After receiving pressure and a deadline from Trump, Hamas did say that it would immediately enter negotiations to release all hostages, but stopped short of fully endorsing Trump's 20-point plan. While he was speaking with reporters on the South Lawn earlier today, Trump was asked if there was flexibility in this plan, room for flexibility.

He said that he believes it is a great deal for Israel, adding, quote, "a great deal for everyone." But when it comes to the potential for change, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't need flexibility because everybody has pretty much agreed to it, but there will always be some changes. But the Hamas plan, I tell you, it's amazing. You're going to have peace. If you think about it, peace in the Middle East for the first time in, they say, really, 3,000 years. So I'm very honored to be a big part of that.

Look, they've been fighting for a plan for years. We get the hostages back almost immediately. Negotiations are going on right now. Will probably take a couple of days. And people are very happy about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And, Jessica, it's important to note here, there is a lot of optimism. We have seen a lot of momentum toward a ceasefire deal over this last week, but there are still a lot of questions as to how and when a deal could come together. You hear Trump himself there saying that changes are possible to this proposal.

DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook, with the very latest from the White House on the eve of what promises to be quite a big week. Thank you so much for that.

And we are joined now by CNN's senior political and global affairs commentator, Rahm Emanuel. Among the many roles he's had, he served as U.S. ambassador to Japan, U.S. representative for Illinois, also mayor of Chicago. He also just wrote an op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal" arguing Democrats need to embrace education reforms.

And Rahm, I do want to talk about that op-ed in just a moment, but I want to start first where Julia just left off, which is this proposal that President Trump and his administration have put on the table between Israel and Hamas. It would appear this is the closest we've been in the two years since October 7th. How would you rate President Trump's diplomacy here?

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, very good, because he found a series of things that had not existed before and leveraged it to ending the war. One, Prime Minister Netanyahu, made a massive strategic mistake bombing Qatar, and it switched positions where Iran was the regional threat to an uncontrolled prime minister in Israel being that, and all the Arab nations and Gulf nations leveraged the United States and said this has to stop. And the prime minister was in a weakened position.

Second, is Hamas finally realized and they flipped. They went from holding the hostages away to end the war that by releasing them is the way you end the war. And that is a major strategic shift. And then, third, most importantly, all the Gulf and Arab nations realize collectively that this was the time to step in, given what had happened in Qatar, where it's not Southern Lebanon Hezbollah, it's not dealing with broken Syria. It's not dealing with bombing and eliminating a nuclear threat in Iran.

What Israel and the prime minister did, you know, is a major strategic mistake. I would say one thing as a former mayor, former chief of staff to President Obama, and then senior adviser to President Clinton, the only decision a chief executive makes, big decisions, is between bad and worse. It's not good and bad. A.I. can figure that out. A computer can figure that out. You need judgment. And the prime minister in bombing Qatar showed extremely poor

judgment. And that opened up a series of possibilities that didn't exist prior to that. It's that simple.

DEAN: And that's -- yes.

EMANUEL: And then also Hamas realizing the ultimate, releasing the hostages ends the war, not holding them. Big change.

[20:05:02]

DEAN: Yes. I do also want to ask you, we are -- the other story that's driving our news today is that we are in day five of this government shutdown. I have talked to Democrats and Republicans all day -- for the last four hours, and the one thing they can agree on is --

EMANUEL: You must be exhausted.

DEAN: Yes, I know. But they -- the one thing they can all agree on is there's no movement happening right now, but there's plenty of blame going on. But that it's also the other person's fault, right? The other side's fault. We have this new CBS polling out today that shows 31 percent of Americans blaming both parties equally.

You're a Democrat, so we'll start first with what you think about how they've been handling this.

EMANUEL: Yes. Well, a couple of things I would say that is relevant in this poll. Look, who -- I'm biased by having lived through the '95 Newt Gingrich shutdown, also advising the White House when Senator Cruz did it. Whoever pulls the pin on that hand grenade owns it. I think Donald Trump has played this horribly, and it's basically both parties have their hand on the bloody knife.

That's a break for the Democrats. That's a massive break because the equal blame is not what happened here. And so in that sense, I think the Trump administration, Trump specifically, have played this really bad to basically both parties. And that's a win for the Democrats, given that they had pulled the pin.

Second is I would be -- I think the Democrats are right for having focused on healthcare, but I would be sharper in this point, which is, look, how does Argentina get $20 billion bailout? No questions asked. No changes. And 20 million Americans lose their healthcare. How does Argentina get $20 billion? And their soybean farmers are going to compete against our soybean farmers. How is it that --

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: You're having a soybean (INAUDIBLE) later.

EMANUEL: You know, Buenos Aires and Argentina --

DEAN: Yes.

EMANUEL: And so to me, that's a sharper way. And then third, this is the old chief of staff of me, Republicans want a clean, quote-unquote, "no amendment CR." OK. You get that, but we get a vote on healthcare immediately that same hour. And then both parties can claim a win. Clean CR vote, clean healthcare vote.

But I would sharpen the message as a Democrat that you found $1 billion for members of Congress, rightfully, their safety. Yet you're leaving Americans' healthcare safety on the side of the road? Argentina gets $20 billion of bailout and 20 million Americans are going to lose their healthcare? So I would be sharper about the cost of this healthcare.

DEAN: I also do want to talk about your op-ed. Again, a different message to Democrats.

EMANUEL: OK.

DEAN: And you write that data released in September should have set Washington ablaze. This data showed math and reading scores have fallen below where they were in 1992.

Why do you think more people aren't upset about this?

EMANUEL: Well, I mean, as I said in the piece, I'm not sure whether I'm more upset about the scores or the silence. I mean, the Republicans basically at the national level have washed their hands of public education, and Democrats have brought the -- in my view, in the last five years, brought the culture wars into our schools, arguing about a child's pronoun rather than 30 kids not being able to tell you what a pronoun is.

Arguing about Abraham -- the name of a school named after Abraham Lincoln, but not worrying whether kids knew why Abraham Lincoln was an American giant and I consider one of the greatest presidents ever. But you can go through that. And we lost focus on the classroom.

Now, I'm a Democrat by both birth, education and values. We believe in equity. You can't believe in equity and be silent on the absolute worst educational scores in reading and math. Only a third of our kids are meeting national standards. And so to me, I also lay out an agenda in the elementary years. It's about returning to the fundamentals as shown by the Mississippi Miracle and then the high school years fundamentally reform where we lose kids most to social media, et cetera, and how to make it more about college and career.

We did a couple of things in the city of Chicago. You're in a B average, free community college. We brought college classes into the high school, so 50 percent of the kids were getting college credit. Not only does that save them money, their parents money, it gave them confidence that they could do this. And then, third and foremost, to get your high school diploma, you had to show a letter of acceptance from college, community college, branch of the Armed Forces or vocational school.

Every child has a plan, not just my children. Every child. And those are the things that I say should be the core of a Democratic agenda. But I do think there's enough blame to go around. As far as I can tell, the president of the United States has decided, you know, windmills are a national crisis. He's decided to speak about the logo for a major restaurant chain, Cracker Barrel, but not a peep or sound on education.

[20:10:00]

But that doesn't absolve all of us who care about it. And you will not be a great country if you let the next generation academically fail and be complicit or complacent about it.

DEAN: And I guess the question, too, is, will your fellow Democrats also take that advice? We shall see.

Rahm Emanuel, good to see you. Thank you for your time. We really appreciate it.

EMANUEL: Thank you.

DEAN: Thanks.

EMANUEL: Thanks so much.

DEAN: Tonight, President Trump says there have already been, in his words, positive talks with Hamas about releasing hostages as the administration continues to loom large over the latest ceasefire proposal. The kind of role that they could potentially play in Gaza if the war does come to an end.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:15:20]

DEAN: We are hours away from the beginning of negotiations aimed at ending the war in Gaza. A delegation from Hamas arrived in Egypt a short time ago. Teams from Israel and the U.S. now headed that way, and the focus of these talks is getting President Trump's proposal over the finish line. A short time ago, he posted on Truth Social, saying, the first phase of those negotiations should be completed this week. He says, quote, "Time is of the essence or massive bloodshed will follow. Something nobody wants to see."

Of course, Tuesday will mark two years since the Hamas October 7th attacks on Israel, where 251 people were kidnaped from Israel, 204 of those have been returned, 141 -- 48 of them alive. 47 are still being held captive by Hamas tonight. Of those, 20 hostages are assumed to still be alive, with Israel looking to bring home the bodies of the 27 others who are at this point presumed dead.

We are joined now by former foreign policy adviser in the Bush administration, Dan Senor. He's also the co-author of the book, "The Genius of Israel," and the host of the great podcast "Call Me Back."

Dan, always enjoy listening to your podcast, for sure. Thank you for being with us. It's really nice to have you tonight on the eve of what promises to be or looks to be a really big week in all of this. This has been a really long two years, and it appears were the closest we've ever been to a deal.

Help everyone understand in your mind how the events of the last several weeks and months got us to this point now.

DAN SENOR, FORMER FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER, BUSH ADMINISTRATION: I think focus on about three or four events that I think were instrumental in shaping to how we got here. One was obviously consistent pressure on Hamas. We have seen it at every stage of this war for the past two years. The only time Hamas has actually been truly willing to negotiate is when they were under enormous military pressure.

That was the case with the first hostage deal back in 2023 and that will be the case if there is a hostage deal now because what Hamas seems to have been specifically concerned about was the IDF's advance into Gaza City, which was their last stronghold. It's sort of like their Berlin or their Moscow. And the pressure on Hamas in Gaza City was, I think, rattled them to a great degree, and they just wanted to stop. That's the first thing.

The second thing is the operation, the joint Israel-U.S. operation against Iran in June of this year, which I think took off the map Hamas's most important sponsor. Hamas was ultimately a proxy of Iran, as was Hezbollah. So that reshaping of the region was a big factor. And the third is I think we're going to learn a lot about over the next few weeks the role of the Israeli operation in Doha to target Hamas.

While it wasn't successful, while it failed in taking out Hamas in Doha, I think it increased concern among many of the Arab capitals, not just Qatar, but the UAE, Saudi, others, that the fire of this war could start moving in other parts of the region. And these countries didn't want the fire to come to them. And so many of them, I think specifically Egypt and Qatar, went to Hamas and said enough. It's over. Cut a deal, and the deal will have to include front loading the release of hostages, rather than over some kind of phased approach.

DEAN: Yes. And I do want to talk about the hostage piece of this in just one second. But now we're here. And with this proposal, it's kind of the first time really that we've seen a plan or talks of a plan for what happens the day after this war ends, what happens after that.

Help us understand the importance of the U.S. government and the United States' role in bringing this plan forward.

SENOR: I think it's indispensable because the reality is, Jessica, Israel, and I've talked about this in my podcast and elsewhere, Israel was never going to be able to be the author of the plan, whether it was publicly the author or privately the author. It could never be the official author of the plan. Any plan that came into Gaza on the back of an Israeli tank would be DOA, like right away, just totally discredited. It had to be an American plan backed by the Arab world and acceptable to Israel.

And that's what I think we have now. And the key is an American plan. President Trump, regardless of what many of your -- some of your viewers may think in terms of foreign policy and specifically in the Middle East, he has extraordinary political capital. He has extraordinary capital within the region, not just in Jerusalem, but as I said, in Riyadh, in the Emirates, in Cairo, in Doha, and a number of these places.

And he's spending that capital. He's saying, this is my plan. This is the -- this is the Trump plan. In fact, he's putting his name on the actual entity that's going to oversee the reconstruction and the transition in Gaza, with him having a role on the board. So I just think the degree to which he's saying this is mine, I'm not just putting American credibility on the line here, I'm putting the presidency on -- presidency's credibility on the line here I think is a big factor.

[20:20:11]

DEAN: And we do have the 47 remaining hostages held in Gaza that are such a key piece of all of this. What did it say to you that Hamas on the front end was willing to say, OK, we'll release them before they got to the rest of these negotiations?

SENOR: I think this has been the most jarring thing to me. And I say this, I'm relieved. I know many of the families of the hostages. I know you've spent time with families of hostages. There's been a lot of coverage of the families of the hostages and their -- and their horrendous plight that they've gone through.

I think there was a sense that the hostages were no longer valuable currency to Hamas, but were actually a liability. President Trump, in particular, of all the issues related to Gaza in this war, of the -- of those issues, the one that he's most been singularly focused on are the hostages. And I think the sense that you can't drag out the release of the hostages, it's not helping Hamas's cause to do that.

And so just take the hostages off the table, get them back to Israel if, in fact, that's what happens. And then Hamas, I think, may try to jam things up, potentially on issues of disarmament, whether or not they have a role in the future of Gaza and all that will obviously be sorted out. But the issue of the hostages is a massive obstacle and a distraction. And Hamas was told by its -- some of its friends or interlocutors in the region, you need to remove this issue, or President Trump is not going to be able to deal with your other issues.

DEAN: Yes. And just lastly, as someone who has been so intimately involved in the conversations around this and talking to people, are you hopeful tonight?

SENOR: I hate saying this, Jessica. I mean, I'm cautiously hopeful, cautiously optimistic. I've been hopeful in the past in seeing these deals fall apart. I've seen Hamas agree to a deal and then start renegotiating details after they got the headline of they agree to the deal. I hope that's not going to be the case here. I am -- I am hopeful. I think we will start to see the return of some, God willing all, but at least some of the hostages relatively soon.

And I got to say, and I should say this, I think Israel is a winner in this deal. I think the Palestinian people are a winner in this deal because it gets Hamas out of their lives and an end to this war. I think the Arab world is a winner in this deal, because it brings some stability to the region. The losers in this deal are Hamas, Iran and the other proxies of Iran.

And I think if that's how you line up the winners and the losers, I think this is -- if this actually gets implemented, it will be an extraordinary success and something to be hopeful and grateful for.

DEAN: All right, Dan Senor, thanks so much for your time. We really do appreciate it.

SENOR: Thank you.

DEAN: Good to see you.

SENOR: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:27:21]

DEAN: Earlier today, police in Washington, D.C. arrested and charged a man with possessing explosives at an annual mass to mark the start of the Supreme Court's new term. That event, known as the Red Mass, was meant to bless those responsible for the administration of justice. The Supreme Court tells CNN none of the justices were in attendance, though some had gone to the mass in previous years.

The Supreme Court's new session is set to start Monday. There are plenty of high-stakes issues on the docket, including transgender participation in sports.

Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic has more for us -- Joan.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Jessica, after a rough summer with deep disagreements over Trump administration policies, the Supreme Court is about to hear several important cases that involve even more Trump controversies, but also difficult culture war issues.

I'll first mention two that will be heard this month. The justices on Tuesday will take up a dispute over whether states, here it's Colorado, can stop licensed healthcare professionals from engaging in so-called conversion therapy. That is the practice of working with LGBTQ teens to try to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Trump administration is siding with a counselor, a woman who describes herself as a practicing Christian engaged in talk therapy, who is challenging the Colorado ban as a violation of her right to free speech.

Next week, the justices will hear a dispute over the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act that could affect redistricting practices across the country and influence election results as soon as the 2026 cycle. The Louisiana case tests whether states found to have discriminated in their maps with boundaries that diluted the voting power of blacks or Hispanics can then be required to draw what are known as majority- minority districts. These districts are intended to give blacks and Hispanics a chance to elect their candidates of choice.

In November, it's tariffs. The court will hear a Trump appeal of a lower court ruling that found he had exceeded his power with the sweeping tariffs that date to April in what the president called liberation day. The justices fast-tracked this case as the administration stressed that billions of dollars were at stake.

Then, in December and January, the court will take up two cases over Trump's effort to remove leaders of independent agencies. Rulings here could ultimately affect the power of the Federal Reserve, which Trump has been heavily pressuring on interest rates.

Usually, when the nines start a new annual session, they have had a relatively restful summer. But last summer was anything but restful. The justices ended up ruling on a series of rushed emergency appeals from the administration on its immigration raids, foreign aid cuts, wide scale firings.

[20:30:06]

In virtually all of the disputes, Trump won. The three liberal justices in the minority on this court that has a conservative supermajority have protested strongly. And I'll leave you with this line from Sonia Sotomayor, the senior justice on the left.

In a July case involving deportations, she said, as she dissented, quote, "Today's order clarifies only one thing. Other litigants must follow the rules. But the administration has the Supreme Court on speed dial," unquote -- Jessica.

DEAN: Joan Biskupic, thank you so much for that.

So many of these cases have to do with either presidential power or the president's policies.

Joining us now, Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst.

Steve, good to see you. It's going to be a big week kicking this off. This court has been allowing many of the president's actions to stay in place, but only until the court gets to formally decide on the merits. So are we about to see the rubber meet the road in a way with some of these?

STEVE VLADECK, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: You know, Jessica, I think we are. But it's going to be in a weird progression where the cases are not going to come back to the court as quickly as they've gotten there through all these emergency applications, and where the timing really is actually very much being controlled by the Trump administration. And Joan mentioned the tariffs case. You know, there's a reason why that one is first.

It's first because that's the one that the Justice Department wanted to be first. So, you know, I think it's absolutely right that the Supreme Court term that starts tomorrow is going to be even more of a reckoning for Trump policies than what we've seen to date. But I think the reckoning might tilt toward the Trump administration earlier on, when it's the cases that the Justice Department hustled to the court, and maybe only against the administration as we get further into the term.

DEAN: And one of the biggest cases involving the president, maybe if the court decides whether his sweeping tariffs, obviously a centerpiece of his economic agenda, are legal, are there any tea leaves to be read here? Any signals?

VLADECK: You know, it's hard to read tea leaves because, Jessica, here everyone wanted the court to take this case, and everyone wanted the court to hurry to take this case. And so it's not clear that the justices have been playing any favorites.

The larger question in the tariffs case, though, is a question that we're seeing so many times with this administration, which is if Congress has said you have certain authorities when certain things are true on the ground, and the president or other members of the administration say things are true, that we all just know are not. To what extent can the courts really look behind those kinds of assertions?

To what extent can the courts look behind, you know, the president saying things like, there's war in Portland? And the tariffs case are in some respects the appetizer course for that meal because President Trump has claimed that the tariffs are necessary to meet this massive economic emergency. You know, I think that's going to be a very early, very important test for whether the justices are willing to take the president's word for it or whether they're going to keep their own counsel about what is actually true on the ground.

DEAN: Yes, that will be quite interesting to see. We also know, because the Supreme Court said this week that it will wait until January now to decide on the president's efforts to fire the Fed Governor Lisa Cook, that Cook is allowed to stay on the job until then. This is, of course, about one person, Lisa Cook, but it's also about the independence of the Fed and what kind of role the president can have.

What's your thinking as we -- as we go into that case?

VLADECK: Yes, I think there are really two different pieces to the Lisa Cook case. And Jessica, you hit on one of them, which is, you know, this question of whether the Fed's independence, which the Supreme Court has already alluded to in its decision earlier this summer, allowing the president to remove members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board. Is the court really going to be invested in protecting the Fed's independence, in contrast to those other agencies?

But the second piece, Jessica, is in the Lisa Cook case, we have another example of the president saying things as a basis for his actions that really don't appear to be true, namely the allegation that Lisa Cook engaged in mortgage fraud. You know, we've now seen substantial reporting, both from our colleagues at CNN and on other media sources, that that was all just not true, that it was pretextual.

And so I think part of the question for the Supreme Court in the Cook case is, can the president say, I'm firing someone for cause in a context in which it's pretty clear he didn't have cause? What kind of hearing might Lisa Cook be entitled to before she can be fired? I think, Jessica, that's part of why we're seeing the court move differently in the Cook case than in the cases about the Federal Trade Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, not just because of the Fed's independence, but because of this question of just how much should we defer to what really seemed to be inaccurate, if not sort of reverse engineered factual findings by the president.

[20:35:07]

DEAN: Yes. And, too, just this idea of what is cause, right? And that sounds like a very legal question, but I think that's going to be important as well.

VLADECK: Absolutely. Because, I mean, Jessica, if cause is whatever the president says it is, then the Fed's independence isn't worth very much, right? I mean, if the whole fight here is over the constitutionality of statutes Congress has enacted that say that the president can't fire these senior agency officials without cause, but the president, in turn, can say, cause means whatever I say it means, then, you know, this is all -- this all just goes away.

And so it's part of why I think it's interesting that the Supreme Court is not just hearing the Cook case in January, but it's hearing this other case in December about Rebecca Slaughter, the last Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission. You know, that case really is, I think, even more of a structural question about these kinds of for cause removal statutes.

Is the court going to try to maybe split the difference where, you know, President Trump is allowed to remove Rebecca Slaughter? Indeed, he already has, but he's not allowed to remove Lisa Cook. And if so, how big of a deal is that? If it really is just carving out the fed, are there other agencies whose independence is worth protecting, like the Federal Reserve?

Jessica, it's part of why this term is going to be so fascinating to watch. Not just now, at the beginning, and, you know, next year at the end, but to see how these cases relate to each other as they progress.

DEAN: Yes, for sure. All right, Steve, great to see you. Thanks so much.

VLADECK: Thank you.

DEAN: Straight ahead, billion-dollar bailouts. Sources telling CNN the Trump administration is planning to use billions to help farmers affected by the president's trade war. We're going to talk with a Kentucky soybean farmer about the kind of impact that might have, when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:41:34]

DEAN: Sources tonight tell CNN President Trump is considering a massive bailout for farmers ranging from $10 billion to $14 billion. America's largest agricultural export, soybeans, have taken a massive hit. Last year, the Department of Agriculture valued exports at more than $24 billion, with about half of those exports going to China. But since May, those Chinese exports have dropped to zero. In retaliation to Trumps tariffs, China has placed a 20 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans, instead turning to other countries like Argentina.

And we are joined now by soybean farmer Caleb Ragland. He's also the president of the American Soybean Association.

Caleb, thanks for being with us on a Sunday night. We really appreciate it.

CALEB RAGLAND, SOYBEAN FARMER: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: First, we can kind of back into this. First, I just want to get your thoughts on a potential bailout for soybean farmers and what you think about that.

RAGLAND: Well, I think that any time that we need assistance from the government, that it is a last ditch effort. We want to be able to make a profit from the market, and we need strong markets and need demand for our soybeans. And right now, we don't have that unfortunately. And the need for government assistance is certainly the last -- the last effort that we have because the government payments never make us whole. They never make us profitable.

They just really kind of bridge a gap and get us to where stronger markets come and where there's hope around the corner. But they never make us whole. And we do not lobby for this. It's not something that we want, but it's kind of something to keep the lights on because right now with the Chinese market completely gone, that's our largest export market. And that's half of our exports and about 25 percent of our total demand for our soybeans.

And right now we need something to keep our bills paid. The bills never stop. Our expenses are higher than they've been ever. And we have much lower prices for our soybeans currently. It's a very bad combination of high cost, low returns, and not a whole lot of hope quite frankly. And what we need to be doing is finding new markets and finding ways to diversify away from not just China, but all of the other opportunities that we have in the market and grow demand for our products.

And we can do that at home through biofuels. We can do that through feeding livestock. We can do that through soy foods. The soybean has thousands and thousands of uses, but also in the short term, we need these export markets because that's the quickest way to get strong demand for our products. And unfortunately, we don't have that right now. It's a very complicated situation. DEAN: Yes. And look, the thing about farming is soybeans don't keep,

you got to sell them when they're ready to go, you know. And that's, you know, adds a layer of complication to all of this.

Do you feel, and when you talk to other soybean farmers, do you feel abandoned in all of this?

[20:45:02]

What do you guys make of kind of how this has all affected you?

RAGLAND: Well, we feel like that we have a target on our back because we are the largest ag export that is raised here in the U.S. so we do get a lot of attention. And we also feel like that we get that attention because, in the last trade war in 2018, we were a big target, had the tariffs on us as well. But it's because we're good at what we do and we get that attention because the U.S. soybean farmer does a great job and we have a great product. And the world market wants it.

DEAN: Yes.

RAGLAND: So what we've got to do is to help our government, President Trump see how important that soybean sales are and that we have to be competitive on the world market in order to sell our soy product. And we have bills to pay, and we have financial obligations. I mean, this is how my family makes 100 percent of our income is from our crops that we grow. So we need strong markets and we need good competition because we have a great product. We just need a level playing field on which to compete.

DEAN: You got to get it out. Right.

RAGLAND: That's right.

DEAN: Caleb Ragland, thanks for your time. We really appreciate it. And good luck to you.

RAGLAND: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: More CNN NEWSROOM when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:51:07]

DEAN: Here's a look at five stories we'll be tracking this week.

On Monday, the Senate will return to Washington after failing to make progress on any bipartisan proposals to end the current government shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson has decided not to bring back members of the House, dragging the government shutdown into a second week.

Also tomorrow, ceasefire negotiations set to start in Egypt. Delegations from Israel, Hamas and the U.S. will meet in Egypt to finalize an agreement based on President Trump's 20-point ceasefire plan. Trump has been optimistic a deal will get done. He's also suggested dire consequences if Hamas insists on staying in power.

On Tuesday, Canada's prime minister will head to Washington to meet with President Trump. Mark Carney's office says that they will focus on building a new economy and security plan together. Tariffs put in place by Trump have hurt Canada's economy and led to job losses.

On Thursday, former FBI director James Comey will be arraigned in federal court. He's charged with making a false statement to Congress and obstruction of justice. The charges stem from statements he made about allegedly authorizing media leaks in the FBI's investigation of Trump during his first term. Comey has denied those claims.

And hockey season kicks off Tuesday. The puck drops with an opening night tripleheader for the National Hockey League. Game one pits the Chicago Blackhawks against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:12]

DEAN: A new CNN Original Series takes viewers around the world with award-winning actor Tony Shalhoub discover how bread brings people together. And I had the chance to sit down with Tony to talk about the bread he ate, the people he met while filming the premiere episode. It takes place right here in New York City. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: OK, Tony. So for the first episode, you're here, you're in New York.

TONY SHALHOUB, AWARD-WINNING ACTOR AND HOST, "TONY SHALHOUB BREAKING BREAD": Yes.

DEAN: Where you now live. What really stood out to you about New York and its bread?

SHALHOUB: I love the food scene here obviously. But what was wonderful about this episode was I started to discover things I did not know existed, like Mary O's, for example, down in the Lower East Side. She makes these delicious Irish soda bread scones and --

DEAN: Not a muffin, she corrects you.

SHALHOUB: She's not shy about correcting people. You know, we all sort of understand on a deep level that New York is endlessly interesting and endlessly fascinating. But when you experience these things and you see them for the first time and you taste them for the first time, it's just reassuring. It's a city that's constantly influx and kind of constantly reinventing itself.

DEAN: And the other, the other dish that you obviously focused on, you're in New York. Pizza. SHALHOUB: Ironically, the one we focused on is in Jersey City, just

across the river here. This guy makes the most incredible sourdough pizza dough, has a beautiful wood fired oven.

DEAN: So you also visit Chinatown here in New York?

SHALHOUB: Yes.

DEAN: And I have to say, when you think bread and Chinatown, you wonder kind of what is the connection. But what did you find when you went to Chinatown? You interviewed the most interesting man there.

SHALHOUB: When I used to live in New York back in the day, we used to frequent Chinatown. You know, it's interesting to see how. Yes, it's maintained. It's retained its character. But there's a whole new energy that's being infused. There's this whole group of young people coming up who are very respectful of the traditions that go back centuries, but they're also trying to put a modern spin on it.

I realized, too, in doing this show, and it hit me when we were in Chinatown, really, the show becomes about the people, the history of the place, the history of the food and how it's evolving.

DEAN: Like so many times, the bread is the vessel in, right?

SHALHOUB: It is. It's the vehicle to get us talking about, not just the food, but the stories. How do these people get here? How did they survive? How did they figure out to take these, you know, traditional recipes and innovate and modernize?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Tony is the perfect host for this. He's all heart, but he's also so much fun. And the episodes are great. You're about to get to see the very first one, but it is such a great show for this moment right now. It is a fun, fun journey. You should definitely go on.

Be sure to tune in this new CNN Original Series, "TONY SHALHOUB BREAKING BREAD." It premieres right here next. So don't go anywhere. You can just wait and it's going to come right on your television.

Thanks so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. I'll see you again next weekend. Have a great night.