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Republican Bill to Reopen Government Fails Twelfth Senate Vote; Supreme Court Ruling Could Nullify Judge's Order Blocking National Guard Deployment in Chicago; Illinois Investigating Reports ICE Agents Illegally Swapping Out/altering Their Vehicle License Plates; New York City Residents Protest After Chinatown Raid; Department of Homeland Security Targets Counterfeit Goods; King Charles in Rome Ahead of Historic Prayer With Pope Leo; Louvre Museum Reopens to Tourists After Spectacular Theft; Director of Louvre Museum's Offer to Resign Was Rejected. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 23, 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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[02:00:33]

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

Just ahead, the U.S. throws Russia a curve ball, details on the significance of President Trump's new sanctions amid Russia's war on Ukraine.

Tensions escalate further between the U.S., Venezuela, and Colombia as the U.S. carries out deadly news strikes on alleged drug boats.

Americans are expressing shock and outrage over this site at the White House as President Trump demolishes the East Wing to make way for his ballroom.

Plus, the latest on the fallout of that brazen jewelry heist at the Louvre Museum.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. E.U. leaders are set to meet in Brussels this hour with Ukraine at the top of the agenda. The summit coming just one day after U.S. President Donald Trump hit Russia with significant news sanctions. His administration is calling on Moscow to agree to an immediate ceasefire in the war with Ukraine.

President Trump also announcing his expected meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is off for now at least. Those sanctions will target Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft, and Lukoil, and almost three dozen of their subsidiaries. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says, "Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump's effort to end yet another war. We encourage our allies to join us and adhere to these sanctions."

NATO's Secretary General who was visiting the White House is welcoming the administration's decision and says the U.S. president's leadership is crucial to negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: I have total confidence in President Trump and he's the only one who can get this done and who has a clear vision on bringing this work to a durable and lasting end.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is following developments and has more now from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Trump administration seemingly reversing course when it comes to Russia issuing sanctions on two of Russia's top oil companies.

Now, the reason why this is so notable is that this comes just days after we know President Trump spoke for 2.5 hours with Vladimir Putin. They were scheduled to sit down in Hungary to have another one-on-one meeting. It also comes days after President Trump sat down with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. That point had a tense and at times uncomfortable according to sources. Meeting where President Trump said that he wouldn't be providing Zelenskyy with those Tomahawk missiles, those long-range missiles to fire into Russia. Here is what President Trump said about that Russian meeting or that sit down with Vladimir Putin.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We canceled the meeting with President Putin. It just -- it didn't feel right to me. It didn't feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get, so I canceled it, but we'll do it in the future.

In terms of honesty, the only thing I can say is every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations and then, they don't go anywhere. They just don't go anywhere.

HOLMES: Now, when it comes to sanctions, President Trump said that he thought it felt like it was time. He also said something we've heard him say before, which is that he believes that President Putin wants an end to this war, though he could not follow up on why he believes that Putin wants an end to this war.

However, he did say that he has felt these -- he's had these conversations with Putin in the past where they have a very good conversation and then, Putin doesn't do any of the things that he says he is going to do. And that is a part why these sanctions were issued.

The reason why this matters is we've been hearing him say a version of this for the last several months, and he always has flirted with the idea of these potential sanctions, but never actually gone through with it, always at the very end saying, well, they don't work, or they aren't going to help us in a negotiation. Today was the first time we saw him actually pull the trigger and move forward with imposing these sanctions.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: As its economy comes under new pressure, Russia is flexing its military muscle. The country held drills to test the readiness of its strategic nuclear forces on Wednesday. The drills involve the launches of nuclear capable missiles under the supervision of President Vladimir Putin.

[02:05:08]

Russia says the drills were pre-planned. They came about a week after NATO held its own nuclear deterrence exercise in Europe.

Well, Ukraine is reeling from a wave of Russian strikes, including on a kindergarten in Kharkiv. At least one person was killed and seven others injured after a Russian drone hit the school building on Wednesday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the children were evacuated to shelters. Ukrainian authorities say the strike was part of a larger barrage that killed at least five others across Ukraine, including a 6-month-old baby.

We're joined now by Peter Zalmayev, director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative, appreciate you being with us.

PETER ZALMAYEV, DIRECTOR, EURASIA DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE: Pleasure to be here.

CHURCH: So, U.S. President Donald Trump met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House Wednesday, making significant news on the war in Ukraine by announcing new sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies, while also announcing he was shelving his anticipated meeting with Vladimir Putin for now at least. Why has it taken President Trump this long to impose new sanctions on Russia and will this be enough?

ZALMAYEV: Well, first part of your question, of course this has to do with Donald Trump's persistent belief that Vladimir Putin is someone he can negotiate with in good faith. And this is not something that's unique to Donald Trump. If you remember going back to George W. Bush, you know, who saw into Vladimir Putin's soul and saw a beautiful man. I mean, Vladimir Putin is a consummate KGB agent. He is able and capable of manipulating, you know, sometimes naive Western leaders, you know.

But in coming back to your second question, Donald Trump has had a -- has had enough with Vladimir Putin, started to hurt him politically, it started to hurt him politically, started to hurt him with his spouse Melania Trump as Donald Trump himself acknowledged every time Donald, you talk to Vladimir, he turns around and bombs Ukrainian cities harder, as you just mentioned in the -- in the lead in into this to our talk, score of cities hit just after the conversation and apparent, you know, plan to meet in Budapest.

And finally, there's been some pressure on the Hill, the normally complacent Congress, you know, bipartisan support for some strong action on Russia. It's really been very difficult for Donald Trump, and he's seen that Vladimir Putin has not been willing to throw him any bone, meaning to make any meaningful concessions, meaning that he was not willing to make this Budapest trip for Donald Trump anything other than a repeat of the fiasco that we saw in Alaska.

CHURCH: And Peter, after previously threatening to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, President Trump acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that he told president Zelenskyy he would not be giving him the long-range missiles due to the training required for their use. Why did Trump backpedal and appear weak, clearly in the eyes of Putin?

ZALMAYEV: Well, listen, the Russian nuclear blackmail has been effective. And once again, whatever the spoken in that, you know, phone call making plans to meet in Budapest, the major component of that Vladimir Putin who I actually don't believe really had intentions or believe that it would be worthwhile to meet in Budapest.

I think he wanted Donald Trump to stand down on the Tomahawk threat because contrary to what Russians are saying, Tomahawks do hurt. They are a serious threat to Russia's ongoing war efforts in Ukraine. Con -- you know, in contrast to the sanctions that have been slapped on Russia, which is a good step.

But will they force Putin to end this war? Sit down and negotiate? Probably not in the near future. So, you know, we -- and we've been here before, Rosemary. We've been here with HIMARS missiles. We've been here with F-16s, with the Biden administration every time we hear that it's a huge escalation. It will take a long time to train the Ukrainians to use it, and then finally, every time we were given those weapons.

So, I wouldn't put too much stock on this. You know, I think the issue is still very much on the table, but once again, Donald Trump wants to try other, you know, tools of pressure before he delivers the Tomahawks because the Tomahawks are a clear escalation in this war.

CHURCH: And President Zelenskyy discussed his conversation with Donald Trump about the U.S. president's suggestion to freeze the war along current battle lines. And now Zelenskyy says this is a good compromise, but that wasn't how he initially felt, was it? What changed his mind?

[02:10:04]

ZALMAYEV: Well, it seems that, you know, there's been a concerted push by the Europeans to do exactly that. It's a painful compromise for Ukraine, but most Ukrainians are now on the same page with the rest of the world that Ukraine probably will not be able to get back the 20 percent of the territory it has lost over the last, you know, 3.5 years, or even longer if you take longer spend. The war started in 2014. So, you know, as a matter of fact, this puts Donald Trump on the same page with the Europeans, and that's why the Budapest talks were a non- starter. Putin continues to insist on addressing the, what he calls, the root causes of the conflict, which is a code for saying, you know, destroying Ukraine's ability to run its own foreign policy, to run its affairs, essentially turning Ukrainian into a semblance of Belarus next door, a puppet state.

That's why Vladimir Putin is not interested in a -- in a ceasefire. He's not interested in genuine peace. He's not interested in any additional territory, any territorial concessions. It's not about territory, it's about controlling Ukraine and essentially annihilating Ukraine as an independent nation and Ukrainians as an independent culture with its own language, etcetera.

CHURCH: Peter Zalmayev, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.

ZALMAYEV: Thank you.

CHURCH: President Trump says he believes the U.S. has legal authority to launch strikes in international waters when targeting drug cartels. He also hinted more strikes on land could await alleged traffickers trying to chance their tactics or change their tactics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There are very few boats traveling on the water right now actually that includes fishing boats, that includes any other kind of boat, but there are very few boats traveling on the water.

So, now they'll come in by land at a lesser -- to a lesser extent, and they will be hit on land also.

We have legal authority, right? We're allowed to do that. And if we do buy land, we may go back to Congress. We will hit them very hard when they come in by land, and they haven't experienced that yet. But now we're totally prepared to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: He also announced a stop to all payments and subsidies to Colombia accusing President Gustavo Petro of doing, "Nothing to stop production of drugs there."

Also, at odds with the U.S., Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro warns that his country has 5,000 Russian anti-aircraft missiles in defense positions. CNN has not been able to verify that number.

Meantime, the U.S. Secretary of Defense has announced military strikes on two separate boats in the Eastern Pacific. Officials said two people were killed in the first strike and three killed in the second. That makes nine known strikes by the U.S. military since the start of September.

Well, a top U.N. court rebukes Israel, the ruling criticizes the country's blockade of Gaza during the war, we will have details of the ruling next.

Plus, New York residents protest the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. What the acting ICE director says is coming next for the city.

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[02:17:43]

CHURCH: U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to meet with top Israeli officials in the coming hours. It's part of an effort to ensure Israel remains committed to the Gaza Ceasefire agreement. The U.S. Secretary of State is also arriving in Jerusalem on Thursday. Marco Rubio says he's not worried about the ceasefire falling apart.

On Wednesday, Vance met with Israeli hostages and families of hostages after a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister earlier in the day.

The top U.N. court says Israel must help facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza and ensure the basic needs of Palestinian civilians are met. The court criticized Israel's restrictions on aid into Gaza during the war.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has details from Tel Aviv.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: The United Nations top court has rebuked Israel's efforts to restrict humanitarian aid into Gaza and its refusal to work with a key U.N. agency. The International Court of Justice, in a ruling issued on Wednesday, says that Israel, as the occupying power in Gaza, must facilitate humanitarian aid there and is obligated to ensure that the basic needs of the civilian population are met.

And this ruling not only rebukes that weeks-long blockade, total blockade of aid into Gaza that we saw Israel impose earlier this year, but also a law that Israel passed effectively banning any cooperation with and the operations of UNRWA, that U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, within Israeli-controlled territory.

The ICJ, in this ruling, says that Israel must cooperate with the United Nations, including with its agencies, and that UNRWA has not violated its impartiality. Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA of harboring a slew of Hamas-affiliated employees, but the top court from the United Nations here, finding no substantial evidence to substantiate those allegations.

A U.N. investigation had previously found that nine employees, quote, "may have been involved" in the October 7th attacks, but that's out of a total of some 13,000 UNRWA employees in Gaza. Now, this ruling from the ICJ is non-binding, but it does carry a lot of legal and political weight, and it could affect how U.N. member states interact with Israel in the future, how they choose to respond to any future attempts by Israel to restrict humanitarian aid in Gaza, or its work with U.N. agencies. [02:20:18]

Israel, for its part, is rejecting this opinion outright, saying that this a political ruling by this top U.N. court, and also making clear that it has no plans to reverse course on its cooperation with UNRWA. It's -- the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying in a statement that Israel will not cooperate with an organization that is, "Infested with terror activities," and they insist that Israel is and will continue to uphold all of its obligations under international law.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: U.S. President Donald Trump claims his tariffs have greatly benefited U.S. cattle ranches amid criticism over his plans to import more beef from Argentina.

But many ranchers and lawmakers representing rural states are not supporting Trump's beef import plan. Meantime, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the $20 billion rescue package to Argentina using taxpayers funds during the government shutdown was an essential action for the Treasury.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee has questioned the Treasury's plans to work with private sector banks to generate a $20 billion loan to Argentina on top of the $20 billion rescue lifeline.

Well, the East Wing of the White House is now a demolition site. President Trump plans to build a big ballroom even as the uproar over the construction grows ever louder. Stay with us.

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[02:26:36]

CHURCH: President Trump is moving full speed ahead with his plans to build a huge new ballroom at the White House. The project has fared criticism and many questions over whether the president has the legal authority to tear down sections of the historic executive mansion.

Sources say the ballroom is now expected to be larger than initially planned. The cost has soared from $200 million to 300 million, which the president says will be paid for by private donors.

The White House released a list of the donors on Wednesday, which includes Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Comcast, Meta, and Lockheed Martin. And the president is pushing back against those who say he was not transparent about the renovation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, certain areas will be -- yes, certain areas are being left. We determined that after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world, we determined that really knocking it down, trying to use a little section. You know, the East Wing, was not much, it was not much left from the original.

So, over the years, many presidents have made changes. This obviously would be the biggest change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And on Capitol Hill, another failed attempt to pass a Republican bill to temporarily fund the government. Senate Republicans need 60 votes to advance the measure, but so far they can't pull in enough Democrats to pass it.

Democrats want to preserve certain healthcare subsidies. House Speaker Mike Johnson says they have proposals ready for discussion, but insists that demands to include it in a bill to fund the government are not appropriate.

I spoke earlier with Larry Saboto, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, and I asked him why there's been so much backlash against the demolition of the White House East Wing to build President Trump's ballroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY SABOTO, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: I think a conservative Republican senator from North Carolina put it very well when he said the optics on this are terrible, and they absolutely are.

Also, the stories changed. Donald Trump, when he announced it, said, oh, it wouldn't touch the West Wing or the East Wing of the White House everything would be preserved.

Of course, none of the money will be taxpayer money. That will all be contributed even by me. That is Donald Trump contributing. I think we'll all be surprised to see that.

But it's turned out that it's something quite different. People were shocked when they saw the demolition of the East Wing. This has touched a cord in the United States among people who apparently haven't been moved by the other outrages of Donald Trump, but this one has really got them.

CHURCH: Yes. Interesting. And of course, specifically on the government shutdown now in its third week, what's it going to take to make a deal and end the stalemate as cracks start to appear on the Republican side?

SABOTO: This may be up to the American public because right now they haven't made a firm choice between the two parties. Who is being held more responsible, the Republicans, but not by a wide margin.

If the public shifts either in the direction of Republicans being guilty or Democrats being guilty, then I think you'll see movement.

But for the time being, there's nothing. And Donald Trump shows no interest whatsoever in putting the parties together here for peace negotiations as he did in the Middle East.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Our thanks to Larry Saboto. And you can see our full interview next hour, right here on "CNN Newsroom."\

[02:30:00]

Well, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in the coming days that could overturn a judge's ruling blocking Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops in Chicago. The federal judge has extended her temporary order, but the Trump administration is asking the High Court to intervene.

A separate judge's order restricting the crowd control tactics of federal agents is being extended until early November. The judge is barring ICE agents from using brute force, tear gas or pepper balls against protesters. And Illinois says it will investigate reports that ICE agents are illegally swapping out or altering license plates on their vehicles, presumably to avoid identification.

New York City residents are protesting the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Several hundred people marched peacefully on Wednesday. Federal agents arrested nine people in a chaotic ICE raid on the city's Chinatown neighborhood a day earlier. The Trump administration is accelerating its crackdown in New York City, warning that more arrests are coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD LYONS, ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: You will see us making those criminal arrests to make New York safe again. But I will tell you that it's definitely intelligence driven. It's not random. We're just not pulling people off the street. There's a specific reason based on criminal intelligence and criminal activity that we showed up on Canal Street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: More now on the New York protest from CNN's Shimon Prokupecz.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in lower Manhattan, protesting what ICE did on Tuesday when they raided Chinatown targeting, they say, vendors of counterfeit goods. They arrested nine people, they say, who are of West African descent. They say they were here illegally and that they were being targeted for their activity of selling counterfeit knock-off purses and other leather goods that are usually sold in the Canal Street area.

Many of the protesters out here tonight are voicing their concerns over the tactics of federal officers Tuesday, coming to the streets of Canal Street with long guns and forcefully holding people, detaining people, and arresting those nine individuals. The Department of Homeland Security says that they are going to continue their ICE enforcement here in New York City, which is certainly very concerning for many of the people out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The head of the Louvre says she raised concerns over security and staffing months ago, well before thieves made off with the country's crown jewels in this stunning daylight heist. The French government's response to her offer to resign, that's next.

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[02:37:42]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. King Charles is now in Rome, ahead of an historic meeting with Pope Leo. In just a few hours, Charles will become the first British monarch to publicly pray with a Pope since 1534. As King, Charles is Head of the Church of England, which officially split from the Catholic Church in the 16th century. While the two are broadly aligned, this represents a clear sign of improving relations between the two denominations.

The Louvre Museum in Paris is back open for visitors for the first time since more than $100 million worth of jewelry was stolen in a matter of minutes. The Apollo Gallery, where the robbery took place, remains closed. CNN's Melissa Bell has more on the fallout from the shocking heist.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Director of France's Louvre Museum has been defending herself in front of a Senate Committee explaining that she'd tendered her resignation in the wake of Sunday morning's dramatic heist. It had been refused, she said, by the culture minister. Both women are saying, the culture minister and the director of the Louvre, that the security system's function defending their record.

This in the face of a great deal of criticism and calls for both their resignation, have been questions, of course, about the security breach itself on Sunday morning, how robbers could have got in with such rudimentary tools to what should have been some of the best-guarded crown jewels in the country. But there is also a not yet published report that has emerged in parts of the French press by France's highest auditing body that was critical, specifically of what it described as security lapses in the museum between 2019 and '24, the lack for instance of CCTV cameras in a number of the museum's rooms.

So all of these have been pounced upon by the French press. In the meantime, the manhunt continues, as does the hunt for the jewels themselves. More than a hundred French investigators are working on the case, we understand, and continue to gather clues. A scooter left behind by the robbers, a glove, a motorcycle helmet, and of course, the truck that was used with its mechanical ladder on it that is being scoured for any fingerprints, any evidence they can find to try and help them track down the robbers.

[02:40:00]

But of course, with every day, every hour that passes, the hopes that that will happen grow slimmer.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

CHURCH: 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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