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Israel Marks Two Years Since Hamas's October 7th Attack; Illinois, Oregon Sue to Stop National Guard Deployment; French Prime Minister Resigns After Just Weeks in Office; Classified DOJ Memo Authorizes Lethal Force on Cartels; Taylor Swift Storms Up the Charts with New Album, Film. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired October 07, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Good to have you with us.
Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, Israel marks two years since the brutal Hamas attack on October 7th, a tragedy for so many families, many who are still calling for the return of hostages in Gaza. We'll take you live to the commemorations underway.
Donald Trump orders the National Guard to be deployed to two major U.S. cities. How leaders in Oregon and Illinois are challenging the federal crackdown.
And 27 days as prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu resigns from his role in France, throwing Emmanuel Macron's government into even more chaos.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Lynda Kinkade.
KINKADE: It is 7:00 in the morning across southern Israel where commemorations and gatherings are set to mark two years since the Hamas deadly terrorist attack.
These are live pictures coming into us right now of the scene that was the Nova Music Festival, where hundreds were killed and where Hamas militants stormed the area near the Gaza border. Also hit hard on October 7th was the Kibbutz of Nir Oz. The memorial was held there ahead of the anniversary. In total, Hamas killed 1200 people and took more than 250 hostages. There is still about 48 in held in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Next hour, Israelis are set to gather in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv to mark the second anniversary of that attack.
Well, that attack triggered a brutal retaliation from Israel. More than two years into the war a new push to end the fighting in Gaza is underway in Egypt. Delegations from Israel and Hamas are set to begin a second day of ceasefire talks, amid what they're calling a positive atmosphere, according to Egypt's state affiliated news agency.
An agreement would be based on Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza plan. The U.S. president is expressing optimism that a deal can be reached.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I really think we're going to have a deal. We have a really good chance of making a deal, and it will be a lasting deal. We want to have peace. This is beyond Gaza. Gaza is a big deal. But this is -- this is really peace in the Middle East. And the amazing thing is we have every Arab country, every Muslim country, we have every country surrounding, they all want it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, the talks haven't stopped Israeli attacks inside Gaza. According to the health ministry in the enclave, more than 67,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed over the past two years.
The U.N. is watching developments with one official saying, if a ceasefire takes effect, eight teams are ready to go in and prepared to deliver supplies.
In Israel, hostage families are hoping if the Gaza deal is finalized, their loved ones will soon be able to return home.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For two years, they have been fighting for sons taken hostage, for daughters killed at a music festival, and for the future of a country at a crossroads.
Two years later, Hamas's October 7th attack and the war it unleashed still defined this small country. Viki Cohen knows that all too well.
Hello, Viki. Hi.
(Voice-over): Her son is still being held in Gaza. And she is at the forefront of the hostage family's movement, demonstrating in front of the prime minister's home, inside parliament and in weekly Saturday night protests.
This is another Saturday night.
VIKI COHEN, MOTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE: Yes, but it's feel different.
DIAMOND: It feels different.
COHEN: Yes.
DIAMOND (voice-over): On the night we join her, the whole country is buzzing about a possible deal to free all of the hostages.
COHEN: And it's a mix of feelings. It's excitement. It's expectation. It's a -- also fear.
DIAMOND (voice-over): This video shows the moment that changed everything. Her 19-year-old son, Nimrod, conscripted for mandatory military service being pulled from an Israeli tank on the Gaza border and taken captive.
This is the Rubik's cube that was in the tank.
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COHEN: The real one that was found in the tank. He used to take it wherever he goes.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Heading to another rally, Cohen cannot help but feel hopeful. But she is determined to keep fighting.
COHEN: We will still fight and do everything we did before until it's final. Until they are at home.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Cohen wasn't always at the forefront of the protest movement, but she ramped up her fight after losing faith in her government.
COHEN: Many other families realized that we need to be more polite and less polite and be more aggressive with the fight.
DIAMOND (voice-over): She soon realized she had real power.
COHEN: I heard for so many people who told me, I heard you. You are asking and you are calling for us to come and we will come. We are coming because of you. This is so important.
DIAMOND (voice-over): These rallies are where Viki found her voice and where she found a community to fight alongside.
Saturday nights in Israel have represented a chance for the hostage families to raise their voices week after week, with the support of so many Israelis. Viki and her son are just about to go on stage.
(Voice-over): Today I was filled with excitement, anticipation and great hope. But also, she tells the crowd, concerned. The Israeli prime minister was speaking while Viki was on stage.
COHEN: Did Netanyahu say something?
DIAMOND: Yes. That he hopes that they can be returned during Sukkot.
COHEN: The hostages?
DIAMOND: He said the goal is to limit negotiations to a few days. He doesn't want it to be dragged out.
COHEN: They thought it's going to be safe here.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Sigal and Menashe Mansuri are also still fighting. SIGAL MANSURI, DAUGHTERS KILLED ON OCTOBER 7TH: We just know that they
went to a festival and they never came back. And we do know that their last couple hours were --
MENASHE MANSURI, DAUGHTERS KILLED ON OCTOBER 7TH: Hell.
S. MANSURI: Were hell.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Two years after their daughters were slaughtered inside this bomb shelter, they are fighting for answers and accountability.
M. MANSURI: We're looking for is the truth.
S. MANSURI: We want to know the truth in a legal way, in a decent way, in a respectful way. We want to know what led us to October 7th. We want to know how come the IDF didn't respond for so many hours.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The couple helped found the October Council, pushing for an independent commission of inquiry to investigate Israel's failures that helped lead to October 7th.
But two years later, can you believe that you still have to fight for all of this? Did you think this fight would last this long?
S. MANSURI: No, no. You know what? It's even more than that. I didn't think that I will have to fight for this.
DIAMOND (voice-over): But the Israeli prime minister has refused, claiming the commission would be biased.
S. MANSURI: When you have nothing to hide, you just, you know, how come you're so against it? I mean, why are you trying to fight -- fight it?
DIAMOND: Do you believe that a state commission of inquiry will ever be set up while Prime Minister Netanyahu remains in office?
M. MANSURI: No.
S. MANSURI: Most likely and unfortunately no.
M. MANSURI: Country, the state of Israel, need to have the truth about what happens.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Along the border where Hamas militants stormed into Israel, the devastation wrought by Israel's subsequent attacks on Gaza is unmistakable.
Here, the fight for Israel's character and its future are also on display.
SAPIR SUZKER AMRAN, ISRAELI ACTIVIST: We came to the fence today, as close as we can to Gaza, and to say that not all Israelis support the genocide, not all Israelis are supporting the starvation of Gaza.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Others have come to see and revel in the destruction.
RAFAEL HEMO, ISRAELI CITIZEN: There is no Arab supposed to be next to us here.
DIAMOND: So you want Gaza razed to the ground?
HEMO: No Gaza. No Gaza.
DIAMOND: No, Gaza.
HEMO: All the building. I see a couple of buildings there which helped me, I want this flat. If you ask me, Trump wants to build a base here, You're welcome.
DIAMOND: Some would say that's genocide or that's ethnic cleansing.
HEMO: No, it's not genocide.
DIAMOND (voice-over): For Viki Cohen, whether Israel prioritizes a deal to free the hostages or a forever war in Gaza will also define its future.
COHEN: It's a fight of something bigger than to release the hostages. It's something very basic that -- of the Jewish community here in Israel, that we care for each other. We don't sacrifice the lives for the land.
DIAMOND: Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, U.S. President Donald Trump says he may invoke the Insurrection Act to send National Guard troops to U.S. cities.
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Oregon and Illinois are already challenging the administration in court over the deployments. The president has said he wants the troops to crack down on crime and to protect federal immigration agents.
Chicago's mayor is urging Americans to fight back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON, CHICAGO: What this president is doing is illegal. It's unconstitutional, and it's dangerous. Nowhere in the country am I hearing mayors request that we occupy the cities in America with the military.
The brave women and men who signed up to protect our democracy did not do it with the idea of being used against the American people. And so we're going to stand firm and resolute in protecting the interests of Chicagoans and, quite frankly, protecting our democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KINKADE: State and local officials also say protesters at immigration facilities have been mostly peaceful, and the troops are acting as instigators.
More now from CNN's Omar Jimenez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're here at this ICE facility that's been at the center of a lot of protests just outside Chicago here. This is in Broadview, and you'll notice there aren't that many people. In fact, there's actually no one really here. But you see the fencing that was put up here in response to some of the level of protests that we've seen to this point.
We are at this point under a protest curfew instituted by the mayor. But numbers here typically wildly fluctuate. So this isn't really a direct indication of a response to that, but it's also a place where National Guard troops could be deployed. And the reason for that is because the orders that they are being given at this point, as we understand from the White House, is that they would be to protect federal property and personnel.
And many in the Trump administration have argued that the personnel here have been under direct threat when faced with some of these protests, but also, critically, a federal judge did not immediately block the deployment of National Guard troops here in Illinois. Instead, gave the Trump administration two days to respond, but also wanted answers to three questions. In particular, when National Guard troops will arrive in Illinois, what municipalities they will be sent to, and what the scope of the troop activities will be once here, with the hearing set for Thursday morning.
Now, we mentioned the Illinois National Guard troops. Texas Governor Greg Abbott says around 400 Texas National Guard troops were authorized to send to other states, including Illinois, among the -- along those similar lines to protect federal personnel and property, though we don't know exactly what that will look like here on the ground just yet.
And for context, in the Chicago area, if we want to go into the city limits, we are coming out of what has been a very tense week. Just Monday, the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, signed an executive order barring federal immigration officials from using city property to prepare for operations. That includes staging for potential raids. And we've seen controversial raid in the city of Chicago, where 37 people were arrested. But a lot of damage done and a lot of people detained, including American citizens as well.
And on that order, I asked the mayor if that would mean if police officers could be arresting federal agents. He told me that it really was more about setting a legal way in for accountability if they find federal immigration officials are breaking those rules. And we saw responses from a number of local state leaders today against the Trump administration. But I think the sentiment across all of them was summed up best by Mayor Johnson, who said, quote, "I'm calling on this president to leave us the freak alone."
Omar Jimenez, CNN, Broadview, Illinois.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: To Los Angeles now, and Jessica Levinson, professor of law at Loyola Law School and host of "Passing Judgment" podcast.
Good to have you with us. Appreciate your time tonight.
JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Absolutely.
KINKADE: So Chicago's governor has called the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago an unconstitutional invasion. Legally speaking, does the federal government have the authority to send troops into a state over the objections of its local leaders?
LEVINSON: Sometimes they do. The answer is a very lawyerly one, which is it depends. So essentially, we're looking at different statutes to determine when and whether the president has the ability to say, I'm sending in the National Guard even though the governor doesn't want it, even if locally elected officials don't want it. And so one of the things we've seen play out in Los Angeles and Oregon and now in Illinois as well is the president is invoking the statute that's called 12-406.
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And he essentially has to show that there is an invasion or a rebellion, or that he's unable to execute federal law through the regular forces. That would, under that statute, give him the power to federalize the National Guard. And then, of course, there's the Insurrection Act, which hasn't been used in our country for decades. And there are portions of that act which similarly, if there are prerequisite facts on the ground, like an insurrection, would give the president the power to send in active duty military members and the National Guard, again over the wishes of the governor and locally elected officials. But you have to make sure that those factual prerequisites are present.
KINKADE: So in Oregon, for example, a federal judge has temporarily blocked a similar deployment there. Trump has suggested that he could invoke the Insurrection Act. So it sounds to me like you're saying the bar is pretty high to invoke that.
LEVINSON: So I don't know that the bar is pretty high, but there is a bar. And so I know that sounds strange, but one of the things that the Trump administration had argued with respect, not to the Insurrection Act, but that first federal law we were talking about, is that a decision by the president to federalize the National Guard against the wishes of the governor just couldn't be reviewed by judges at all.
He has thus far lost that argument. Judges have in general said, look, when it comes to this question, Mr. President, of if you have to federalize the National Guard, judges owe you deference. But what we've seen over the weekend from the judge in Oregon is that that deference is not limitless and that presidents have to be able to point to some facts on the ground indicating that the statutory prerequisites, again, that the facts show that they can take these extraordinary steps. So how high a bar is it? Honestly, we're about to find out, I think.
KINKADE: Yes, we certainly are. And I want to ask you a little bit about that in just a second, but I want to look at the numbers. In Chicago, the troop deployment so far is 300 Illinois National Guard troops in a city of three million people. From a legal and political perspective, does this strike you as symbolic?
LEVINSON: So it really, again, it depends on why the president is saying that those troops are needed if it is because there are specific areas where I think what he would be claiming is that he cannot, through the normal forces, through the regular channels, execute federal law, what does that mean? That ICE agents couldn't do their job, for instance. Then what he would say is the statute only allows me to send in as many National Guard members as is necessary. And that's what I deemed based on the facts on the ground.
So, you know, again, this is a situation where, as the attorney for the federal government said just last night in an emergency hearing, we just don't have a lot of precedent because we haven't had presidents test this statute before. So we don't know what's legally permissible.
KINKADE: All right. I'm sure we'll be discussing this again in the coming days.
Jessica Levinson, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much.
LEVINSON: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, the political chaos in France has claimed yet another casualty. Ahead. what brought down the prime minister. Plus, a last ditch request from the French president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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KINKADE: Welcome back. The political crisis in France is deepening after the resignation of yet another prime minister. Like those before him, Sebastien Lecornu failed to build a stable majority. Unlike his predecessors, he lasted just weeks, not months. And that's leaving the French president with few options. Emmanuel Macron has asked the latest outgoing prime minister to hold talks with rivals one more time in the hopes of a breakthrough, with an answer expected by Wednesday.
CNN's Melissa Bell reports from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another French prime minister steps down, this time after just 27 days in office and only hours after naming his government, parts of which appeared unhappy from the start.
SEBASTIEN LECORNU, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The very principle of building a compromise between political parties is to be able to combine green lines and take into account a certain number of red lines. But we cannot be at both extremes.
BELL (voice-over): Sebastien Lecornu becomes the fourth French prime minister to fail to build a stable majority since the June 2024 dissolution of parliament. A staunch ally of President Emmanuel Macron, he took office after Francois Bayrou was ousted by lawmakers in September. Before him Michel Barnier had also lost the confidence of parliament and much for the same reasons.
MICHEL BARNIER, FORMER FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We proposed a budget, a difficult budget, where everything was difficult to reduce our deficit. This deficit did not disappear by the magic of a no confidence vote.
BELL (voice-over): After just three months in office, Barnier had been the shortest serving prime minister in the history of the fifth republic. Now he's been beaten by Lecornu who served just days rather than months with the pressure on President Macron to call another parliamentary election growing.
MARINE LE PEN, NATIONAL RALLY (through translator): I'm calling on him to dissolve the national assembly because we've reached the end of the road and there is no solution. And therefore the only wise decision in these circumstances is to return to the polls and for the French to give direction to the country.
[00:25:04]
BELL (on-camera): Those calls from the far-right, growing all the more insistent that polls suggest that the party would do even better in a snap election today than it did in 2024. The problem for President Macron is that with this latest resignation, he's fast running out of any other options.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: The U.K. police say one man has been arrested in connection with a suspected arson attack at a mosque. The incident is being treated as a hate crime.
This video shows two suspects attempting to force their way into the mosque in East Sussex, before pouring and igniting gasoline on the front steps. Two people were still inside and were able to escape. The attack is the latest in a string of violent incidents involving a hate crime in the U.K.
Still to come, a CNN exclusive, a classified Justice Department memo reportedly justifies a lethal strike on suspected cartel boats in international waters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Let's take a look at today's top stories.
[00:30:58]
Israel is marking two years since Hamas's deadly October 7th attack. Commemorations are being held in communities in Southern Israel and Tel Aviv.
The anniversary comes as indirect talks are being held in Egypt between Israel and Hamas. Delegations are working towards a final deal based on Donald Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan.
U.S. President Donald Trump suggests he could invoke the Insurrection Act if courts continue to block his efforts to send National Guard troops to U.S. cities.
Oregon and Illinois are fighting the deployment of National Guard troops amid weeks of protests against the administration's immigration -- immigration enforcement campaign.
And just hours after he resigned, the French president [SIC] has agreed to hold one final round of talks with political rivals. That request came from the French president, who is under pressure to call snap elections.
Sebastien Lecornu is France's fifth prime minister in less than two years. He quit shortly after unveiling his new cabinet.
The Trump administration is facing tough questions over a classified Justice Department memo that reportedly tries to justify lethal strikes against suspected cartel targets.
At least four attacks have been carried out on small boats in the Caribbean since early September. They've killed more than a dozen people who they claim are alleged drug traffickers in international waters.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is set to face lawmakers on Capitol Hill later today as questions mount over the administration's legal justification for these strikes.
In a CNN exclusive, senior national security reporter Zachary Cohen reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Sources tell us the Trump administration has produced a classified legal opinion that appears to justify carrying out lethal strikes against an expansive list --
COHEN (voice-over): -- of drug cartels and alleged drug traffickers in Latin America. Now, this is a list that's even -- that goes well beyond the groups
that the Trump administration has already publicly labeled as foreign terrorist organizations, and it appears to leave the door open for a more open-ended war against these cartel groups and their associates.
Now, look, this is going to be a controversial opinion, and it's one that will likely come up during tomorrow's hearing when Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before the Senate.
We've heard from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who have made clear that they're dissatisfied with the Trump administration's legal justification for these strikes against boats in the Caribbean.
Many have asked to see this legal opinion that has been produced by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, but they have not received it yet.
So, tomorrow will really be the first time that lawmakers in public will have the opportunity to press the Trump administration's top law enforcement official on not only what the legal justification for these strikes is but revelations related to the OLC opinion.
COHEN: Zachary Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Still to come, Taylor Swift proves her fans are still interested in "The Life of a Showgirl." The big box-office release to coincide with her new album.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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KINKADE: Welcome back. "Vogue" will soon stop featuring animal fur in editorial content or advertising.
The guideline, issued with few exceptions by "Vogue's" parent company, Conde Nast, will also affect other titles, including "The New Yorker," "Vanity Fair" and "GQ."
The decision comes after a nine-month campaign by CAFT, the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade.
Well, Taylor Swift has struck box-office gold once again. The pop star released "Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl" in the weekend in theaters, earning more than $50 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
The film acts as an informal listening party for the album, which was also released last week.
CNN's Lisa Respers France reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Taylor Swift just keeps on winning.
FRANCE (voice-over): From raking in more than $33 million at the box office for her limited-run film, "Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl," to breaking Spotify records and ruling the top of the streaming charts all at the same time --
FRANCE: -- the pop superstar is continuing her reign of success.
Even with some of the Swifties --
FRANCE (voice-over): -- expressing that her 12th album, "The Life of a Showgirl," may not necessarily be up to her usual standards as far as they are concerned, Swift continues to be a force in the music industry, selling 2.7 million copies on the first day of its release.
But don't expect her to slow down any time soon. After all, she recorded this album on her off days while in Europe on her highly successful Eras Tour. And she's been everywhere promoting the new album ever since it came out.
And while yes, she does have a wedding to plan with her football playing fiance Travis Kelce, Swift said during a recent interview that shell focus on that after she's done promoting her new album.
FRANCE: When it comes to her career, Taylor Swift keeps it 100 at all times.
Lisa Respers France, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, me and my girls had fun watching it this weekend.
And thanks so much for watching us tonight on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. I will be back with much more news at the top of the hour. Stick around. WORLD SPORT is next.
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