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Anger In Israel Over Delay Release Of Deceased Hostages; Donald Trump: $20 Billion Lifeline Contingent On Javier Milei Staying In Power; U.S. Strikes Kills Six "Narcoterrorists" Off Venezuela's Coast; Madagascar's Military Says It Has Seized Power; Madagascar's Military Says It Has Seized Power; President Rajoelina's Whereabouts Unknown; French PM Lecornu No-confidence Vote Set for Thursday; Cheech Marin's Art Museum Celebrates Mexican American Heritage Through Art. Aired 2- 2:45a ET

Aired October 15, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:39]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max, I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, anger and frustration is building against Hamas, as the militants have yet to hand over many of the deceased hostages still held in Gaza. NATO defense ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss their next steps in trying to end Russia's war with Ukraine.

Some lawmakers are crying foul over the Trump administration's $20 billion lifeline for Argentina, while the U.S. government remains shut down.

And renowned comedian Cheech Marin is lending his clout to promote the heritage of Chicano artists.

Thanks for joining us.

U.S. President Donald Trump says phase two of the cease fire deal between Israel and Hamas is now beginning, even as major questions remain about the path forward in Gaza. An Israeli source says negotiations on critical next stages in the agreement are still ongoing in Egypt.

In a social media post, the US president also said the job from phase one is not done yet, as Hamas has yet to release all the deceased hostages.

When asked if Hamas is holding up its end of the deal, President Trump said, we'll find out, and issued this warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they don't disarm, we will disarm them, and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently, but they will disarm. Do you understand me? Because you always -- everyone says, oh, well, they won't disarm. They will disarm.

And I spoke to Hamas, and I said, you're going to disarm, right? Yes, sir, we're going to disarm. That's what they told me. They will disarm, or we will disarm them. Got it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: In southern Gaza, hospital officials say the bodies of 45 deceased Palestinians transferred from Israel as part of the ceasefire deal remain unidentified.

The Palestinian health ministry says Israel has not provided a list of names and is not clear when or how the Palestinians died. Nasser Hospital says the remains came with numbers marking them and with their hands and legs cuffed. Some were blindfolded, some had gunshot wounds, while others had been run over by tanks.

CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces about the circumstances around the deaths.

Hamas has so far released just eight of the 28 deceased hostages held in Gaza, and we're now learning that the families of three of those hostages have just released their names. Uriel Baruch, Eitan Levi and Tamir Nimrodi were returned to Israel late Tuesday, alongside another deceased hostage who has yet to be named.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is following all the developments from Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: The bodies of four more hostages are now back on Israeli soil after Hamas handed them over to the Red Cross late Tuesday night, you can see in this video from inside of the Gaza Strip, these Red Cross vehicles arriving at some kind of Hamas building where the bodies were indeed handed over. This now makes eight bodies total that Hamas has handed over to the Red Cross.

From there, they were handed over to Israeli forces inside of the Gaza Strip and then made their way into Israel where they will undergo forensic analysis at Israel's National Forensic Institute. The primary purpose of that to confirm that the bodies are indeed those of the hostages that Hamas claims them to be.

But despite the handover of these additional bodies, there are still 20 bodies being held by Hamas inside of Gaza, and that's why we've been seeing the families of some of these deceased hostages going public and making clear that the fight for the hostages is not over yet, until all of those bodies are handed over, calling on the United States, calling on Israel to ensure that Hamas is held to its end of the bargain.

And amid those calls, we've heard from President Trump directly in a Truth Social post, saying that while a big burden has been lifted, the job is not done. He says the dead have not been returned as promised.

[02:05:10]

Now, given the slow pace of Hamas handing over these bodies, the Israeli government seems to be planning to take action now. Israeli authorities informing the United. Nations that aid shipments into the Gaza Strip will be reduced or delayed as a result of not all of the bodies having been handed over yet.

In addition to that, Israel's security establishment recommending that Israel not open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Wednesday as previously scheduled, seemingly in retaliation for Hamas not returning more bodies of hostages.

And all of this is a reminder of just how fragile this cease fire agreement actually is, and that's before we even start talking about the next phases of this agreement, which we are told are currently being negotiated in Egypt as we speak.

Those next parts of the agreement, of course, revolve around everything from Hamas disarming Hamas, handing over power in Gaza to a transitional authority, and, of course, the Israeli military withdrawing from the rest of the Gaza Strip, ensuring that this end to the war in Gaza, as President Trump has said it is actually sticks in the long term.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not abandon the mission of bringing home the bodies of deceased hostages from Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister spoke from a hospital where he had been visiting freed hostages and their families, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Regarding the fallen with the same determination, the same responsibility, the same seriousness we are dealing with the return of the fallen. We will spare no effort and no means to bring them back. I believe that this way, we will first receive good news about the return of additional fallen hostages.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me now from Jerusalem is Amit Segal, an Israeli journalist who serves as the chief political commentator for Channel 12 news, the author of the newsletter, It's Noon in Israel, and the author of the new book, A Call at 4 AM: Thirteen Prime Ministers and the Crucial Decisions that Shaped Israeli Politics. Appreciate you joining us.

AMIT SEGAL, ISRAELI JOURNALIST: Thank you so much

CHURCH: So, President Donald Trump has hailed the return of all living Israeli hostages under his Gaza peace plan as the historic dawn of a new Middle East, and says that phase two of his ceasefire deal is now underway, but Hamas has not yet returned all the bodies of the remaining hostages and is showing no signs of disarming, while Israel remains in Gaza and still rejects a two state solution.

So, is this the dawn of a new Middle East, as President Trump claims?

SEGAL: You know, there is a joke in Israel that the light that you see at the end of the tunnel might be the train in front of you. So, we still don't know.

President Trump gave two allegedly contradicting pledges. One, is that the war is over, and second is Hamas is to be disarmed.

Now, how is it going to happen? The IDF chief of staff asked his American counterparts a few days ago, how do you think it's going to happen? I mean, there are still thousands of Hamas militants in Gaza. Are they going to surrender voluntarily to this non existing international force?

Israel is quite skeptical about this, but we have to say that Israel was a bit skeptical about Hamas releasing all the live hostages.

So, President Trump gets a credit. This credit line is for something like two months, I think, in which Israel will not attack Hamas, but after that, if Hamas does not give the locations of each and every tunnel and gives every RPG and Kalachakra rifle. I think we'll see more clashes.

However, President Trump is quite sure that the pressure put on Hamas by Qatar, Turkey and the other Sunni states will force it to actually disarm.

CHURCH: And as we've been mentioning, 20 bodies still remain inside Gaza, of those hostages, and in response, Israel is now threatening to delay or reduce humanitarian aid deliveries until those bodies are returned. But that punishes Palestinian civilians, doesn't it yet again? And is that the answer? Is there a better way here?

SEGAL: OK, so first of all, unfortunately, it's 21 because in the last few minutes, the IDF announced that the one of the bodies returned by Hamas belongs to a Gazan and not to an Israeli deceased hostage. So, Hamas keeps on with playing.

[02:10:00]

Unfortunately, population suffers when its regime is a terrible one. And here's the problem, Israel was almost forced to actually have these sanctions in order to get the bodies. Without those even threats with sanctions, the last three bodies would not be returned, and the same applies to the next bodies.

So, to be honest, I think Hamas is doing it in purpose, and the threats will actually accelerate the phase of withholding the deceased hostages. I personally don't see any sanctions imposed at Gaza, but I do see the rest of the at least 10, 12 bodies return to Israel. CHURCH: Now, the next phase, as you mentioned, of this cease fire agreement is being negotiated in Egypt, including Hamas disarming, and you touched on this and handing over power to a transitional authority and the Israeli military fully withdrawing from Gaza.

So, let's start with the governing of Gaza and the disarming of Hamas. What is the best way to do this. I mean, it is complicated, isn't it?

SEGAL: It's very complicated. It's something that has never done before, especially in Gaza. And we have to admit that the experience we have in the Middle East with foreign military powers trying to enforce peace or cease fire is not very successful.

It didn't work in Lebanon with uni-film. It didn't work in Syria either with the U.N. peace forces. And it didn't work in Egypt prior to the six day war.

But we didn't have back then President Trump. So, maybe it'll succeed where everyone else has failed.

However, President Trump, and it's quite interesting, did not mention even once, the two state solution in his speech at the Knesset and I don't think it was a coincidence. He speaks about a Palestinian future very, very vaguely. He said that he doesn't even support the two-state solution. It's up for the -- for the parties, he said in the White House a few days ago.

So, I think this is for the long run, what Israel and what Gaza will see in the next few years, in my opinion, is the two state solution. But inside Gaza Strip, you will have one area controlled by Hamas in ruins under the fundamentalist Muslim dictatorship, and the other half controlled by Israel from a security perspective and funded by the Emiratis, etcetera, where you have better conditions.

And the hope in Israel and in the -- in the Emirates, is that the Gazan population will actually take Hamas out, because once they see that just a few miles from there, there is a better future, they'll go there, thus defeating Hamas.

CHURCH: The international community supports a Palestinian state, so we will certainly see what happens on that very sensitive issue. Amit Segal, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

SEGAL: Thank you so much for having me.

CHURCH: A meeting between the NATO defense ministers is set to begin soon in Brussels, where leaders plan to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth will also be joining the discussions. This comes as the White House prepares to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. President Donald Trump says he already knows what will be at the top of Ukrainian President's agenda. He also claimed the prolonged conflict is making Russia's Putin look very bad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's got to really settle this war. And, you know, they have long lines waiting for gasoline in Russia right now. He could end it quickly.

And I have to tell you, I give credit, because who would think that Ukraine could have fought Russia for four years to essentially a standstill?

We'll be talking about Ukraine. I mean, I have the president coming in on Friday, and will -- I know what he has to say. He wants weapons. He would like to have Tomahawks. Everyone else wants stuff, and we have a lot of Tomahawks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And President Trump recently floated the idea of sending Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv. And should President Putin refuse to end the war, which would allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia.

Well, Donald Trump says a $20 billion lifeline for Argentina is contingent on President Javier Milei staying in power. The currency swap or bailout is controversial, coming in the middle of the U.S. government shutdown and budget cuts by the Trump administration.

CNN's Julia Benbrook reports from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Argentinian president and political ally of President Donald Trump's Javier Milei visited the White House on Tuesday. This visit comes just days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a controversial. Agreement to provide Argentina with a $20 billion lifeline coming in the form of a currency swap with Argentina's central bank.

[02:15:17]

In a social media post last week announcing this move. Bessent wrote, in part, Argentina faces a moment of acute illiquidity, adding the U.S. Treasury is prepared immediately to take whatever exceptional measures are warranted to provide stability to markets.

TRUMP: He's on the verge of a breakthrough. I think -- I think he's really on the verge of tremendous economic success, and I know that Scott Bessent is helping.

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: We're using our economic strength to create peace, just as you've done all over the world, and it is much better to form an economic bridge with our allies.

BENBROOK (voice-over): The Trump administration has argued Argentina's financial strife could spill over into other countries if it is not contained swiftly.

Critics, though, have said this move has more to do with politics than economics or American interest.

In fact, the move could have a negative impact on American farmers, already having a tough year. China, formerly a major buyer of us soybeans, halted purchases of the commodity back in May in response to Trump's trade war, but recently, China swooped in and bought tens of thousands of pounds of soybeans from Argentina.

BENBROOK: The timing of this bailout is also receiving attention as the government shutdown here drags on with no clear solution in sight, resulting in more than a million federal workers furloughed or working without pay.

At the White House, I'm Julia Benbrook.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, the Trump administration defends yet another deadly strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean.

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[02:21:13]

CHURCH: A U.S. military strike has killed six people on board a boat that was allegedly trafficking drugs off the coast of Venezuela. It's at least the fifth time that President Trump has announced such a strike, which is likely to further inflame regional tensions and spark more questions over the legality of the U.S. operations.

CNN's Gustavo Valdes has the latest.

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GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The United States military destroyed another alleged narco boat in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people on board. It was President Donald Trump who made the announcement on his social media, through social arguing that the vessel was trafficking narcotics and was associated with illicit narco terrorist networks, but did not identify a criminal organization.

This would be the fifth known attack in this -- in the Caribbean in the past couple of months, killing at least 27 people that we know of. And this is an activity that has been controversial.

The White House argues that the United States, the president has the authority to conduct these attacks because they argued that the United States is in an armed conflict with international organizations.

But some, even Republicans in Congress, question this authority. The attacks have also been criticized by the experts in the United Nations, saying that the attacks go against international law. And the president of Colombia said that in one of those attacks, recent attacks, there were Colombians on board of one of the vessels that were killed. He didn't offer any proof, and the White House refuted those accusations.

But this is another example of how President Trump is trying to escalate the attacks against what his administration perceives as a national threat to the United States, and also escalated tension in the region. The Venezuelan government has condemned these attacks.

Gustavo Valdes, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Celebrations erupt in Madagascar after weeks of protests, the country's president has fled, and military leaders say they are now in control. We'll explain.

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[02:28:51]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. An army colonel in Madagascar says the military has taken power from the president, who has fled the country. This comes after weeks of unrest and violent government crackdowns against a youth led popular uprising.

CNN's Larry Madowo reports from -- with the latest.

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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The young people of Madagascar appear to have succeeded in overthrowing their government after just three weeks of popular protests, though it is not exactly clear who is in charge. Because President Rajoelina and the military both claim to be in charge. The elite military unit that helped bring him to power in 2009 on Saturday turned against him and supported these Gen Z protesters.

And on Tuesday, declared that they had taken over and dissolved all institutions except the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly.

But President Rajoelina had previously said and attempted to dissolve the National Assembly. The National Assembly went ahead to carry out an impeachment vote that overwhelmingly impeached him, and local media reported that the Constitutional Council had approved the vacancy in the office of the president. It's not clear how effective that is if the military court had already dissolved the Constitutional Court.

[02:30:00]

But on the streets, there has been celebration as they celebrate the end of the term of 51-year-old Rajoelina, who has seen a lot of dissatisfaction. These protests began over widespread water and power shortages, but morphed into wider dissatisfaction with the state of things with unemployment, the cost of living, and corruption.

Madagascar, the Indian Ocean Island, has more than three quarters of this population living below the poverty line, and that's the backdrop for this celebration about the end of the rule of President Rajoelina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is very good news for us, for activists, for all Malagasy. It's incredible because two weeks ago, we were fighting tooth and nail with the military, and today we have won. This announcement deserves a national celebration.

MADOWO: One of the current mysteries is where is President Rajoelina? He is reported to have fled the country on a French military jet on Sunday, according to the Reuters news agency. He did give an address on Facebook. He didn't say exactly where he is, but he said he was in a safe place after an alleged attempt on his life. The presidency previously said that the national assembly, any setting would be null and void as the president had already dissolved it, but they went ahead and impeached him anyway.

So right now, with the elite military unit, CAPSAT saying they have taken over, the president's still kind of hanging on in defiance. But the young people in the street celebrating the end of what they see as a terrible rule.

Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": French Prime Minister, Sebastien Lecornu will face a no-confidence vote on Thursday, but his government has bought itself some time with a key concession. Lecornu says he will suspend an increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64, winning him a pledge from the Socialist Party to not topple his government.

French President, Emmanuel Macron says a vote of no confidence would likely trigger snap elections, resulting in a strong performance for the far right. Lecornu resigned more than a week ago, but President Macron reappointed him on Friday.

Still to come, Comedian Cheech Marin is celebrating his Chicano heritage with the museum where the art reflects the lives of Mexican Americans. We'll have that after the break.

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[02:36:59]

CHURCH: Welcome back. Cheech Marin is known for his comedy routines and dozens of funny movies, but now he's shining a light on art that reflects his Mexican heritage. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones caught up with the renowned comedian in Riverside, California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's art that reflects America as much as a Norman Rockwell painting, more so even around these parts. Inside this bright modern space, comedy legend turned arts patron, Cheech Marin has built a museum where the art reflects the lives, dreams, and perspectives of the tens of millions of Americans of Mexican heritage or Chicanos.

CHEECH MARIN, COMEDIAN AND ART COLLECTOR: It is a viewpoint of America and American population that a lot of people don't ever get to see if they don't travel out of their own local. VARGAS JONES (voice-over): He says Chicano artists never gave up the brush. A handmade painterly tradition that has resisted trends and keeps the work grounded in skill and touch.

VARGAS JONES: What is the one thing that people still get wrong about Chicano art?

(LAUGH)

MARIN: It doesn't have to have a cactus and a guy in a big sombrero sleeping under it to be Chicano art. That was the concept before. The Chicano artists by means of sticking to the brush, you know, have become great painters and there's a lot of great painters in this collection, a lot.

VARGAS JONES: What do you think that having Chicano art in a space like this gives this community, gives a family of mixed data, so it gives like the child of a farm worker when they see a space like this?

MARIN: Oh, they get -- feel great pride because they go into -- if they ever go into other museums, they don't see that in other museums. Our roots are in Mexico and we're very proud of those. And you see it -- you see that verified in the work that they do but we are of both countries at the same time. But our flag is planted here. We are part of this culture. This is the first Chicano museum and it is here in Riverside.

VARGAS JONES (voice-over): Riverside, a city at the heart of California's inland empire where nearly half the population was Latino and where Cheech wants Chicanos to claim space in a country that hasn't always welcomed them.

MARIN: Hey, get over here. Somebody, I'm an American citizen.

VARGAS JONES: In your 1987 movie --

MARIN: Yeah.

VARGAS JONES: -- "Born in East L.A.", you play an American citizen who is arrested during an ICE raid in downtown Los Angeles. I am curious --

MARIN: Yeah.

VARGAS JONES: -- about how you felt in the past few months when all of that played out again in front of our eyes.

MARIN: That's played out many times already, you know, and it's just curious that we have not adapted laws or programs to enshrine that, you know, and how we depend on Mexican culture and always have.

[02:40:00]

VARGAS JONES (voice-over): Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Riverside, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Impressive work there. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then, I'll be back at the top of the hour with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stay with us.

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