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Judges Order Trump to Fund SNAP Benefits during Shutdown; Trump Denies Approving Military Strikes in Venezuela; FBI Thwarts Potential Halloween Weekend Attack; Virginia Giuffre's Brother Wants Meeting with King Charles; Sarah Ferguson Considers Next Move after Royal Eviction; Egypt's New Museum Showcases Archeological Treasures. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired November 01, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you with me.
Coming up on the show, the U.S. government entering the second month of the shutdown, with millions of Americans in danger of not receiving federal food assistance as soon as this weekend.
An alleged Halloween terror plot foiled in the U.S. Details on what authorities uncovered and why they believe the people involved were inspired by ISIS.
And search and recovery efforts continue across parts of the Caribbean, days after a devastating hurricane.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.
HUNTE: Welcome.
The U.S. government shutdown is now entering its second month. It's just days away from becoming the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Starting today, tens of millions of Americans are at risk of losing critical food assistance because of the lapse in funding.
But two federal judges are now requiring the Trump administration to continue funding food stamp benefits. President Trump says he still needs some clarification from the courts. And despite Republican control of both the White House and Congress, he blames Democrats for everything. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: After two federal judges ruled Friday the Trump administration must find a way to at least partially fund food stamp benefits, families now are heading into the weekend wondering when those funds may come.
The SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, of course, benefit some 42 million Americans, about one in eight Americans. The funding effectively ran out at the end of October, so heading into the weekend and into the month of November, with an uncertainty over funding, all because of the government shutdown.
But two judges ruled on Friday the administration must find a way to at least partially pay these funds using billions of dollars that the USDA has at hand.
Now president Trump had sought to use this as a point of leverage to urge Democrats to come to the negotiating table and reopen the government. Of course, Democrats have been holding fast for a month. They are pushing for a larger negotiation over health care premiums and the extension of the subsidies for the ObamaCare program.
But Democrats did not blink on food stamps. But the president now is saying he does not want to be responsible for effectively Americans going hungry. He wrote this in a message on Truth Social on Friday night.
He said, "I do not want Americans to go hungry just because the radical Democrats refuse to do the right thing and reopen the government. Therefore, I have instructed our lawyers to ask the court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible."
He goes on to say, "It will be my honor to provide the funding, just like I did with the military and law enforcement pay."
The question, of course, is when that funding will come.
In a broader question, the government shutdown, there is no end in sight. President Trump, spending the weekend at his Florida resort. The House, of course, has been out of Washington for more than a month.
The Senate also is not in session. Next week they will come back and see if they can solve this stalemate, again now entering its second month -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
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HUNTE: And airline passengers are feeling the effects of the shutdown. Both LaGuardia and JFK airports in New York issued ground stops on Friday because of a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Ground stops have been spreading and forcing delays, as staff call out sick rather than work without pay. Airlines are calling on Congress to reopen the government with a clean funding resolution, known as a continuing resolution.
The Pentagon is now shifting its focus from the Caribbean to the eastern Pacific as it carries out strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats. U.S. officials say there is more evidence linking the transport of cocaine via western routes in the Pacific. The Trump administration has yet to provide any significant evidence
showing these vessels are, in fact, trafficking drugs. Since early September, the U.S. has struck 15 vessels and killed at least 61 people in the Pacific and Caribbean combined.
Meanwhile, tensions are still high between the U.S. and Venezuela. But on Friday, president Trump denied claims that he's decided to launch military strikes in the Latin American country.
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CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has more from Caracas.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States president Donald Trump has told reporters on Friday that he's yet to decide whether he will order direct military strikes within Venezuelan territory.
This is happening as tensions are escalating in the southern Caribbean. The U.S. has so far conducted more than a dozen similar strikes and killed over 60 alleged narcotraffickers without presenting any conclusive evidence.
The so-called anti-drug campaign has been criticized by the United Nations' representative for human rights, Volker Turk, who deemed it unacceptable and, on Friday, openly called for an investigation. And the U.S. members of Congress have also questioned the legality of these attacks.
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REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: They're basically being killed because they are either part of these gangs or, quote, "affiliated" with those gangs. Really what that means, if they happen to wind up on a boat -- and they're probably drug smugglers, don't get me wrong.
But we don't know who they are or directly who they're affiliated with. And the thing to remember here, drugs are a major problem but this is a huge escalation of presidential power. He is judge, jury and executioner.
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POZZEBON: Caracas denies any involvement with narcotrafficking and says that this show of force is part of a campaign to oust the president, Nicolas Maduro. The confrontation could escalate even further in the coming week, as the U.S. Navy is moving the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford to South America.
This is the largest aircraft carrier in the U.S. military fleet and was stationed south of Italy, preparing to cross the Atlantic and add even more firepower to a situation that is already very critical -- for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: U.S. president Donald Trump has decided against sending Ukraine Tomahawk missiles for now. U.S. and European officials say the Pentagon had earlier approved the deal. They say the Pentagon concluded last month that the transfer would not negatively impact U.S. stockpiles.
But just days later, Mr. Trump told Ukraine's president that the U.S. needs Tomahawks for its own defense. Europeans believe Washington now has fewer excuses to deny the transfer.
The United Nations is confirming hundreds of civilians and unarmed fighters may have been killed by rebel forces in Sudan when they took over the city of El Fasher on Sunday.
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HUNTE (voice-over): Recent satellite imagery revealed burning across the north Darfur capital. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, seized the city from Sudan's army, ending an 18-month siege.
Tens of thousands have fled, with refugees describing bodies in the streets. The RSF has been accused of committing genocide against non- Arab ethnic groups and one witness describes what he saw.
ALKHEIR ISMALI, AL-FASHER REFUGEE (through translator): These people had collected 300 of us civilians, travelers. They brought us to a reservoir. The people on camels and motorbikes gathered us and killed us there.
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HUNTE: RSF officials denied carrying out massacres, calling the report "media exaggerations." But the U.N. says more evidence continues to emerge.
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SEIF MAGANGO, SPOKESPERSON, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE: Since the RSF made a major incursion into the city on the 23rd of February -- of October, we have received horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against Italian (ph) walkers, looting, abductions and forced displacement.
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HUNTE: The FBI said on Friday that it thwarted a potential terror attack. Director Kash Patel posted on social media that his agency had, quote, "arrested multiple subjects" in Michigan, who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend. CNN's Leigh Waldman has the story for us.
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LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Multiple people have been arrested here in Michigan after the FBI foiled a planned terrorist attack for Halloween weekend, according to FBI director Kash Patel.
Police here in Dearborn are confirming FBI activity in this community today. Video shows some of that activity at homes in nearby Inkster. Police there confirming FBI activity at a storage facility.
Law enforcement officials with knowledge of this case say that this plot was inspired by ISIS and unfolded in online chat rooms. We know two people have been arrested, three others are currently being questioned.
A group being monitored by the FBI went to a shooting range this week with AK-47s. They fired multiple rounds and were practicing high-speed reloads. Now Patel says there was references being made to, quote, "pumpkin day" and that's what prompted the FBI to jump into action.
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Police here in Dearborn and in nearby Inkster are telling the community that there's no threat to the public -- Leigh Waldman, CNN, Dearborn, Michigan.
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HUNTE: OK. The remnants of hurricane Melissa are moving across the open Atlantic Ocean but it will take some time for Jamaica to recover from its devastation. We'll have a report from the hard-hit southwestern part of the island. Stay with CNN.
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HUNTE: Welcome back.
The family of the woman who accused the former Duke of York of sexually assaulting her is calling for a meeting with King Charles and a full investigation.
Virginia Giuffre was one of the most prominent victims of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring. She accused the king's brother, Andrew, of the assaults while she was a teenager. She died by suicide earlier this year. Her brother says he wants the chance to share his sister's story with King Charles.
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SKY ROBERTS, VIRGINIA GIUFFRE'S SISTER: I would welcome it with open arms. I mean, if he said, you know, we'd love to speak with you and hear your sister's story, I think it's one thing to see somebody over camera when we're having this conversation.
But it's another when you're face-to-face with a survivor. And we can really tell her story and help get that across to them, because I think It's important for them to be listening. [03:15:00]
Not to the perpetrators but to the survivors themselves. So if he asked me to come meet with him, I'd be in London tomorrow.
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HUNTE: Buckingham Palace declined to comment on that request. Andrew has denied accusations against him. Still, King Charles took the historic step of stripping his brother of his titles and honors. CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, look, it's been a slow roll, if you will. 2019, when Prince Andrew, as he was then, got taken
off of royal duties. 2022, the queen takes away his military titles. Then just less than two weeks ago, he voluntarily says, well, I won't use the
Duke of York title. Now it's gone way beyond that. This is something historic, monumental. It hasn't happened in the U.K. for over 100 years.
No longer the Duke of York. No longer the Earl of Inverness. No longer the Baron of Killelea. No longer a prince. Quite simply Andrew Mountbatten
Windsor, forced to leave this 30-room mansion on the royal estate in Windsor.
Where he is going, he is still sort of, if you will, auspices of the King. But it's a private estate, privately owned residence that he'll be moving
to, privately owned by the King. So no burden on the taxpayer there.
It is something that has been met, I think, on the streets of the U.K. with support, certainly at the beginning of the week. King Charles was actually
heckled by people saying, what did you know about Epstein and Andrew at an early stage?
So this is something that has been building. And it is really
going to remove, it certainly seems Andrew very much from the public eye.
Sandringham Estate is about 100 miles north of London. Monumental, historic and I think for a lot of people in the country, this was
something that was a long time coming. And inevitable for the King, albeit a tough decision not to push him entirely out of the royal family.
By the way, no longer a prince but Andrew does remain still eighth in line to the throne.
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HUNTE: Well, Andrew is not the only one being evicted from the Windsor estate. His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, has lived with him for the past 20 years. Andrew's historic downfall has totally changed her life and possibly even impacted the decades-long bond between them. CNN's Max Foster reports.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They married in 1986. It was the wedding of the year, watched by millions. Prince Andrew introduced to Sarah Ferguson by a close friend Diana, Princess of Wales. For a time, Fergie and Diana epitomized the modern, approachable faces of a new generation of royalty.
SARAH FERGUSON, ANDREW MOUNTBATTEN WINDSOR'S EX-WIFE: We married for total love and when I went up that aisle, I had -- I married my man. I also married a sailor and I got a prince.
FOSTER (voice-over): Daughters Beatrice and Eugenie followed. But with Andrew serving in the Royal Navy at sea and long periods apart, strains appeared. They separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, remaining unusually close, co-parenting publicly and even holidaying together.
Throughout the 1990s, Ferguson became a regular in the tabloids, including after photographs with American financial adviser John Bryan made scandalous headlines, images that shattered the fairy tale image and intensified scrutiny of her private life.
She rebuilt a public career and a much-needed income, writing children's books and fronting television projects; in later years, raising awareness for breast cancer and melanoma, both of which she had been treated for. Admirers see resilience, charity, humor. Critics see misjudgment, poor choices and entitlement.
In 2010, a tabloid sting filmed Ferguson appearing to offer access to Prince Andrew in exchange for money. She apologized, later describing it as very poor judgment and said she'd been struggling with debt and that Andrew wasn't aware of the alleged deal.
Then came 2011 reports that Ferguson had accepted money from sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein for help paying off her debts. Ferguson later said she deeply regretted ever knowing him, calling it a gigantic error and condemned the abuse detailed in his cases.
But fresh controversy followed when a British newspaper reported last month that she had referred to Epstein as a supreme friend in 2011, an email where she apologized for condemning him just weeks after publicly saying she would never contact him again. The revelation led several charities to cut ties with her. A spokesperson said Ferguson wrote that email to stave off a lawsuit
from Epstein.
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When allegations against Andrew escalated, Ferguson stayed publicly loyal. The now-former prince denied the claims and settled a civil case in 2022 without admitting liability.
By Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding in 2018, Ferguson was back at major royal events. And after Queen Elizabeth II's death, the late monarch's two beloved corgis were entrusted to Andrew and Sarah, a sign, friends say, of enduring family bonds.
In June of this year, the now-former duchess was spotted at the Royal Ascot horse races laughing with King Charles; the message, at least on that day, that Ferguson was back in the royal fold.
CNN has reached out to Ferguson's representative for comment but she hasn't said anything publicly about her eviction from Royal Lodge or where her next home might be -- Max Foster, CNN, London.
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HUNTE: Volunteers in Haiti are searching through mud and debris for victims of Hurricane Melissa. Authorities report at least 31 people were killed and 20 people are still missing. Haiti was not hit directly by Melissa but it endured days of torrential rain from the slow-moving storm.
In Jamaica, drone video shows the devastation after Hurricane Melissa slammed into the western part of the island as an unprecedented category five storm on Tuesday. Jamaica's ambassador to the U.S. confirmed that at least 19 people were killed.
U.S. search and rescue teams have begun arriving in Jamaica to provide humanitarian aid. CNN's David Culver has this report near hard-hit Black River, Jamaica.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now where we're headed is toward Black River. And that's an area that you've seen a lot of devastation of some of the homes that have just been totally decimated.
And the folks who are on this path headed the direction that we're going -- and we can walk just a little bit here to keep traffic going -- are folks who are, many of them, going back to their homes for the first time -- or what's left of their homes.
You've got others who are bringing supplies with them and others who are bringing communication devices to try to see if they can get to individuals who they've not been able to be in touch with so far.
Now here we are, several days out after the storm. And you're at a point where the adrenaline has started to wear down. The shock has started to subside. And reality is starting to sink in.
We were talking to some of our local team here, too.
And as we were just sitting here, he looked up and he said, "It's not just the homes that were destroyed but also the beauty of my country."
And he said, "You should see what this was before."
And this was a beautiful canopy, Bamboo Avenue. And you can look now. And the bamboo is just shredded. I mean, all of it just torn apart.
And he said that's another thing that they're thinking about and mourning even.
Well, this is the issue. I mean, everyone you speak with will have a story of someone they have yet to be in contact with. And that tells you there are so many areas that are like this corridor; I mean, just so difficult to get through and cut off at this point.
So they're starting to mobilize quickly. We're starting to see a lot of those efforts come internationally as well. The military here is certainly playing a role in that.
But as of now, the latest death toll that we've seen is at 19. It's expected to rise. But, again, it's trying to get to these areas that are next to impossible to go through. I saw an ambulance trying to go through just a few minutes ago. And it was just going as slow as we were. I mean, it's a huge challenge.
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HUNTE: The U.S. says it won't send any officials to the COP 30 climate talks this month in Brazil. Some were concerned that Washington would send a team to undermine climate negotiations. The goal of the talks is to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
In a speech at the U.N. General Assembly just over a month ago, Donald Trump called climate change "the worlds greatest con job."
It took over 20 years and more than $1 billion to build. But on Saturday, Egypt inaugurates its new grand national museum, showcasing many of the country's archeological treasures. As Salma Abdelaziz reports, the venue is designed to impress, starting from the moment you walk in.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A building worthy of the pharaohs. That has been the vision for the Grand Egyptian Museum from the
start. And two decades and a billion later, the largest archaeological museum in the world is finally opening its doors.
HASSAN ALLAM, CEO, HASSAN ALLAM HOLDING: The world has been waiting for this museum to open up for a few years. Everyone's excited. ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Visitors will be welcomed by the more than 3,000- year-old statue of Ramesses II but that's just one of the highlights. There are over 50,000 restored artifacts detailing life in ancient Egypt to
explore with the collection of King Tutankhamun as the main attraction.
I visited as part of a CNN team in 2018 and saw firsthand how conservationists worked around the clock to restore objects thousands of
years old, including King Tut's very degraded sandals.
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MIHAMED YOSRI, CONSERVATOR, GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM: We create a new technique by using some special adhesive. As you saw the -- its condition,
it's -- it was very bad. And here I think it's come to life again.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Construction started in 2005 but was delayed several times over the years. First because of the Arab Spring and later
the COVID-19 pandemic. But now the museum is finally opening. The building is part of a wider infrastructure development in the Giza area with
millions being poured into roads, parks, even an airport in the hope of boosting tourism.
AHMED GHONEIM, CEO, GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM: A museum with this size is expected to increase the number of tourists to Egypt. We're anticipating
that this will increase definitely the numbers of tourists coming to Egypt by at least 10 percent or 20 percent.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): In a land where history and culture are counted not in centuries but in millennia. The hope is that the Grand Egyptian Museum
will become a unique part of that heritage -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: The World Series is headed to a winner-take-all Game 7 in Toronto on Saturday. The Los Angeles Dodgers held on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 in Game 6 at the Rogers Center on Friday night.
The Jays almost tied things up in the bottom of the ninth, with runners in scoring positions. But the Dodgers shut it down with this double play. And that means Game 7 on Saturday night. The game was a tense pitchers' duel through nine innings. The only
runs scored were in the third inning. The Blue Jays won their first World Series title in 32 years, while the reigning champs, the Dodgers, are looking for a repeat.
And that's baseball.
Thanks so much for joining me on the team. That's all I've got for you. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. "CONNECTING AFRICA" is next. Then CNN NEWSROOM continues in around half an hour. See you tomorrow.
