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Stabbing on FlyDubai Flight; Putin Says All Weapons on the Table Over Kaliningrad; Student Protests Over School Conditions Turn Violent; TN Inmate in Critical Condition After Botched Execution; New York Governor Weighs in on Cornell Rape Allegations; U.N.: "Radio Silence" In U.S.-Iran Diplomacy; Kushner Company Has Stake In Israel Military-Linked Firm; Renee Good's Family Sues ICE Agent, Trump Officials; SpaceX Crew Dragon Mission Sets Record. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 02, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: 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, President Trump suggesting Iran may have been involved in an attack on a FlyDubai pilot. We hear from the passenger who helped take down the suspect. Russia's president says all weapons are on the table, including nuclear, if NATO tries to take Russia's Baltic territory. That warning coming amid NATO drills in the area. And Spain's parliament is set to vote on new measures to address the country's housing crisis. The forceful removal of an elderly woman from her apartment sparked major protests.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom with Ben Hunte."

HUNTE: Welcome. U.S. President Donald Trump is suggesting a possible Iranian connection in Wednesday's violent incident on a FlyDubai flight, but he's offering a rather vague explanation for that claim. Have a listen to what he said on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Has anybody briefed you about whether or not the guy, the pilot of the FlyDubai plane, is linked to Iran?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're working on it right now. They're being very open with us. I would say the answer, based on what I'm hearing, is yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: New video obtained by CNN shows the dramatic moments after passengers rushed into the cockpit and subdued the co-pilot. He is suspected of attacking and injuring the pilot in mid-flight before the plane plunged 17,000 feet. Officials say they both were flown to Abu Dhabi on Thursday. The motive behind the attack is still under investigation.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond interviewed the man who helped take down the suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's hard to imagine, but this family just survived a dramatic brush with death. Twenty-four hours ago, they were aboard that harrowing FlyDubai flight.

Tali was taking her six-year-old daughter to the bathroom. She says she suddenly heard strange noises coming from the cockpit. I mainly heard banging on the door. Something you're not supposed to hear coming from the cockpit, noises. A man's raised voice. Suddenly, she says, the cockpit door flung open, and she saw one of the pilots stabbing the other. At that moment, I realized that was it. It was over. I couldn't imagine any way we were going to get out of there. I just screamed, they're stabbing the pilot, they're stabbing the pilot, help! I screamed and screamed.

That's when Tzvika, seen here in a bloodied white shirt, jumped into action, grabbing his daughter from the bathroom before rushing to subdue the attacker.

TZVIKA MANES, PASSENGER WHO SUBDUED SUSPECT: I heard my wife scream -- screaming. And I heard my daughters screaming, we don't want to die. Father, we don't want to die. And this -- you know, this is -- I'm getting emotional right now as well. When you hear that your daughters are crying for help, you do whatever you can to help them. And that's the trigger that pushed me.

DIAMOND: Do you describe it as instinct?

MANES: It's absolutely instinct. We were, like, jumping on three guys. And with hands. We were struggling with them.

DIAMOND: And, I mean, this must have all been happening so fast.

MANES: It's so fast. The adrenaline is so high. And I didn't know where -- I was covered with blood from fighting with him. I don't know. Maybe he was injured. I don't know how.

DIAMOND: It was his blood.

MANES: It was his blood, yes. I was covered with blood. You know, I have some bruises here. Only today I just noticed that this is the adrenaline, you know. When you are in this moment, you don't feel anything. You act like actually a machine trying to solve, trying to control, trying to be efficient as much as you can.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Tzvika is one of three passengers who rushed toward the cockpit and took down the co-pilot before he could crash the plane.

[02:04:57]

But they only managed to get in, thanks to the quick thinking of the plane's captain, Smit Machchhar, who managed to open the cockpit door.

MANES: He is absolutely a hero. He is absolutely a hero. Due to his act, we are sitting here today.

DIAMOND: Have you ever been in a situation like this before?

MANES: Never.

DIAMOND: Never?

MANES: Never. There were moments when we thought this is the end of our life, and I'm glad that we succeeded making the change.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Tzvika's daughters are still processing their ordeal, but Millie's (ph) opinion is set on her father.

He's a hero, she says, and I love him.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Another man is now under arrest in connection to a suspected plot to target an air base in England. A 27-year-old British-Iranian Jew national was arrested in London on Thursday on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act at the Fairford base. Another British national was questioned, and police also searched two properties.

A day earlier, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there are strong indications of Iran's involvement. The base has been used by U.S. bombers to conduct strikes on Iran, but Tehran denies any role in the alleged plot. Despite that denial, one expert says the incident shows tell-tale signs of Iran's revolutionary guard.

CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas spoke with us in the past hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That cell looked like it was preparing explosive devices to attack the base, but due to U.K. law and kind of how they disrupted it, and the fact that the explosives were inert, they were released under U.K law, even though they were pending a charge there.

And now, it looks like another individual with potential links to Iran was involved. And this is very typical of the IRGC in terms of how they operate on the Iranian side, contracting local cells to engage in this type of behavior, whether it's murder for hire or potential terrorist activity. So, the U.K. government hasn't gone that far, but that's the indicators that are sort of being given off. And the furthest we've gotten is the U.K. prime minister stepped forward and said that it appears there's a clear nexus to Iran, but he was very close hold with that information. So, what that signal is the investigation is still ongoing, and they're worried about releasing information, that it will disrupt the remaining activities in terms of what they're trying to do, and looking at this or other cells that may be operating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Russian President Vladimir Putin warns he will use all weapons in his arsenal to defend the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad if it comes under attack, including nuclear weapons. It comes after NATO drills nearby sparked concern in Moscow. Mr. Putin said he has no plans to attack any nations in Europe, but vowed to respond to any western aggression as necessary. Kaliningrad is an exclave of around one million people, sandwiched between NATO members Poland and Lithuania, and is home to the Russian Baltic fleet. It was annexed by the Soviet Union from Germany after the Second World War.

Moscow's threats run far beyond traditional weapons and warfare. NATO and several European countries have accused Russia of conducting hybrid warfare against them, blending conventional combat with cyberattacks, sabotage and espionage in a bid to break their support for Ukraine.

Paul van Hooft is the head of the RAND Europe Deterrence Initiative, and he joins us now from The Hague in the Netherlands. Good to see you, sir. So, Russia has now warned NATO that it could use nuclear weapons. How seriously should NATO take that threat, do you think?

PAUL VAN HOOFT, HEAD, RAND EUROPE DETERRENCE INITIATIVE: Well, good morning. It does seem like it's -- as always, it does seem like it's a threat to invoke the nuclear shadow, and by doing that to hopefully dissuade, especially Europeans but especially western Europeans, from supporting Ukraine.

That said, Kaliningrad is a unique case, and my team and I do write about it in our work because Kaliningrad is both a tremendous strategic asset, a strategic boom to Russia, and also a tremendous vulnerability. It is surrounded -- on the one hand, it's surrounded by NATO. So, therefore, from the Russian perspective, it is hard to defend and easy to close off.

On the other hand, it gives Russia tremendous ability to threaten large parts of northern Europe, and particularly in case of potential escalation in the Baltics, to impede NATO reinforcements, to threaten other targets across Europe.

So, if conflicts between NATO and Russia would escalate for both sides, for both NATO and Russia, it would be a priority to use Kaliningrad or to neutralize it as quick as possible.

[02:10:00]

So, that does make it, I think, a very serious potential flashpoint if the situation escalates further.

HUNTE: Can you just break down a bit more for us? Considering NATO says it has no plans to blockade the exclave, why is Moscow making this threat now?

VAN HOOFT: Well, again, it is sort of hard to read the minds of the top leaders at the Kremlin. Now, are they looking for an excuse? Are they looking for reasons to have -- to be able to further escalate or to make further threats or to reinforce Kaliningrad or to justify the use of other means, the hybrid actions that have already been spoken of, or further drone attacks or, you know, accidental incursions? So, it can be both those things.

I think we should generally treat this as a threat that is intended to justify invoking the nuclear shadow again, which is part of Russia's broader shaping strategy, right, to constantly remind us that things could get incredibly bad, so therefore to dissuade us from continuing to support Ukraine or ramping up our support for Ukraine.

At the same time, I will take seriously, from the Russian perspective, it is, yes, a tremendous outlying vulnerability. I do think, like I said, that this is primarily intended to give us another sort of pressure point, another sort of way to keep that nuclear threat from Russia in the back of our minds.

HUNTE: Let's talk more about that vulnerability. With the exclave surrounded by NATO territory, with Poland and Lithuania on either side, how vulnerable is Russia's position there if a conflict with NATO was to actually break out?

VAN HOOFT: It would be -- if NATO would commit to neutralizing Kaliningrad, I think it would be very hard for Russia to hold out unless it connects Kaliningrad to its ally in Belarus. So, it is also potentially a way that if Russia would move first, it could change Kaliningrad into a real dividing point between Poland and the Baltic states, right, to cut off the Baltic states at least over land, and therefore also make it more difficult to reinforce the Baltic states overseas.

So, it is very much -- I guess what I'm trying to sketch is that it's very much a winner-takes-all kind of situation if you get closer to conflict, and that, I think, makes it always particularly dangerous. Most wars or most potential wars, where there's a very strong first- strike advantage in a specific location or with specific weapon systems, usually are pretty destabilizing.

HUNTE: We have also seen Russian military activity and recent airspace incidents involving NATO countries. How worried should we be about an accidental clash between Russia and NATO that could obviously spark something so much bigger?

VAN HOOFT: I think -- I do believe it's a real concern. I would just say that most of the invoking of the accidental risk is also very convenient from Moscow's perspective, right? Because we are supposed to believe that if NATO neutralizes drone threats, that that would be cause for major escalation, that would only be cause for major escalation if Moscow wants it.

If we would reverse that logic, if NATO drones would end up over Russian territory and they would get shot down, we wouldn't assume that -- we wouldn't assume that, yes, war was imminent on our side.

So, I think we should also take this very seriously, but also remain calm. It is a very specific geographical strategic flashpoint. And if real tensions build in other ways and real potential plans would develop on the Russian side, it would be, I think, one of the first and foremost priorities for NATO and for Russia at the same time, and that does make it a very dangerous point. But other than that, if we remain calm, if we avoid doing things that would give that excuse to Russia, it is a perfectly manageable contingency.

HUNTE: OK. Paul van Hooft, head of the Iran-Europe Deterrence Initiative, thank you so much, sir.

VAN HOOFT: You're welcome.

HUNTE: In Spain now, thousands of demonstrators are camped out on Madrid's main square and across other cities, too, demanding government action on the housing crisis.

[02:15:00]

The demonstrations were fueled by last week's dramatic eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home of more than seven decades. Earlier this week, the government passed two royal decrees aimed at tackling the housing crisis, including a ban on evictions of vulnerable tenants and measures to prevent abusive rent hikes. Parliament is expected to vote on the proposals in the coming hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARKAITZ ANTIZAR, PROTESTER (through translator): It's time for social action, time to do something, to bring changes. And, ultimately, this is about everyone coming together. Otherwise, the problem will carry on. So, well, it's also about putting pressure on the political groups ahead of tomorrow's vote. But this doesn't end tomorrow. It's along our Jewish journey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Student protests over school conditions in France are escalating. Police are dealing with an estimated 900 demonstrations and blockades across the country. The Interior Ministry says thousands of students have been detained since protests broke out last month, including nearly 2,000 on Thursday alone.

Saskya Vandoorne has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF: High school protests are intensifying here in France. I'm in Aubervilliers, just outside Paris, where students have been blockading their high school for over a week now, protesting conditions inside. Just moments ago, protesters were setting bins on fire, throwing bottles at the riot police, and in response, the riot police tear-gassed the protesters.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): The protests began last week and have since spread across the country. And now, university students are joining the movement. In Nantes, part of a high school was set on fire on Thursday. And in Lille, riot police used tear gas and charged students gathered behind barricades.

VANDOORNE: The students say their classrooms are overcrowded, that they don't have enough teachers, and some say their schools are literally falling apart.

ALI BEN SAID, STUDENT (through translator): We're 30 in a class. We're overloaded. We cannot concentrate. And then the A.C., when it's hot, there's no air conditioning, and when it's cold, there's no heating.

VANDOORNE: Some blockades have been peaceful, while others have descended into clashes with police. On Wednesday alone, over 600 people were detained, according to the Interior Ministry. Some blame heavy-handed policing for fueling the protests, while others point to members of France's far-left LFE party turning up at some of the demonstrations. LFE rejects that, saying its politicians are there to support the students' demands.

French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the violence.

EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): High schools are there to be open and to educate. They're not there to be blockaded or for bins to be burned.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: France's interior minister said security forces have intervened in cases of disorder, violence or property damage, while stressing that most protesters are high school students and minors, which police do take in to account. New instructions were also issued to law enforcement agencies to reinforce the government's policing approach.

There is much more to come here on "CNN Newsroom," including a Tennessee inmate survives an execution attempt. Ahead, witnesses describe the chaotic scene as the botched lethal injection brings renewed scrutiny of the death penalty. And the latest on the investigation into allegations of rape at Cornell University and what the governor of New York says she's doing about it. See you in a moment.

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[02:20:00]

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HUNTE: Welcome back. Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike remains in critical condition and is receiving life-saving medical care after surviving an execution attempt. We are awaiting an update on her health, and there are still many questions about what went wrong there.

Pike survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday night, an outcome that death penalty experts are calling unprecedented. Witnesses say she could be heard snoring loudly for more than an hour after the process began and for nearly another 30 minutes after the second dose. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has suspended executions, pending an investigation.

Pike's lawyer is urging the governor to commute her sentence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDY SPIVEY, CHRISTA PIKE'S ATTORNEY: The state of Tennessee has shown us again that they are not capable of carrying out an execution consistent with basic human dignity. Last night was not just inefficient, it was cruel and it was torturous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

CNN's Karin Caifa has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARIN CAIFA, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Attorneys for the woman who survived a failed execution in Tennessee said she was alive Thursday afternoon and receiving hospital care.

SPIVEY: What we have been told is that she is in -- she is in critical condition, receiving life-saving care. That is the extent that we have at the moment.

CAIFA (voice-over): Media witnesses to Wednesday night's failed execution of convicted murderer Christa Gail Pike by the state of Tennessee called it unprecedented.

UNKNOWN: I covered all the executions last year and most of the ones this year. We haven't seen anything like it.

CAIFA (voice-over): Now, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has halted the state's remaining execution this year. And on Thursday, he told reporters he is calling for a third-party review of the process. Lee said -- quote -- "I immediately took action to call for a thorough and comprehensive and third-party review and investigation."

Fifty-year-old Pike was scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday morning for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, a crime she committed at age 18.

[02:25:02] An appeals court delayed the execution until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that stay hours later. Pike's attorneys say she was given two doses of pentobarbital. Witnesses say she was still alive and snoring loudly after the second dose. Some of the process, witnesses noted, was blocked from their view.

UNKNOWN: There were moments when the blinds were down for us, and there were moments when the blinds were up for us.

CAIFA (voice-over): The state does not have protocol for what happens if an inmate is alive after the second dose.

In Washington, I'm Karin Caifa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: New York Governor Kathy Hochul says she is appointing State Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in a Cornell University sexual assault investigation. Hochul says she has lost faith in the ability of the Tompkins County district attorney to fairly oversee the case. The university says it supports that decision. But students are calling for transparency and accountability from the school.

CNN's Jason Carroll has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNKNOWN: We, as a campus community, stand with victims of sexual violence.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A public hearing at Cornell University where students reacted to the alleged sexual assault at the Chi Phi fraternity house.

JANE WANG, SOPHOMORE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: I'm also speaking as Jane Doe. I was sexually assaulted almost two years ago.

CARROLL (voice-over): Jane Wang, a sophomore, shared her own experience.

WANG: Hearing any story from, you know, another student here on campus that they've experienced something similar is so heartbreaking.

CARROLL (voice-over): Cornell continues to face scrutiny following a New York Times report that a crucial part of the school's internal investigation omitted Jane Doe's statement. I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped. That allegation not included in what the university handed over to the district attorney.

UNKNOWN: The common sentiment is that there's like a moral failing.

UNKNOWN: People are just like really frustrated that it's taking a whole lawsuit for these people to be held accountable and for the survivor to get the justice that she deserves. CARROLL (voice-over): Students reacted to a New York Times report, which revealed the school gathered more than 1,000 pages of materials from an internal investigation in 2024, which included a transcript of campus police interviews with Jane Doe, interviews with Chi Phi fraternity members accused of sexually assaulting her, along with emails and text messages.

The Times report says Jane Doe spoke for hours to a Cornell police investigator as well as an investigator for the school's Title IX office. According to the Times, the transcript of their conversation stretches about 120 pages. The D.A. telling CNN Wednesday, we never received it and still don't have it. It was not part of what Cornell provided to us. We got the six-page statement and nothing more except the Snapchat video. The Snapchat was allegedly sent from Chi Phi members asking others to join in on the alleged assault.

Cornell's investigation also revealed Jane Doe documented her injuries. Two weeks after the 2024 incident, she went to an emergency room for a pelvic exam. She also went to the school's health clinic for treatment of a urinary tract infection, telling a doctor she had contracted the infection in a traumatic way.

The material reviewed by the Times shows Jane Doe went to police after she saw online comments about what happened to her that night at the Chi Phi house, saying members were gang-banging. Jane Doe saying, that's kind of when I came to the realization that I had been gang- raped, gang-assaulted, whatever you want to call it. That's what happened.

Cornell's investigation revealed Jane Doe planned to go back to the Chi Phi house the following week after the alleged assault for a Halloween party. Her attorney telling CNN it was all part of processing what had happened. She was still in the denial stage. She could not accept what happened to her.

Cornell declined to comment about the Times report. No one from the administration spoke at tonight's student assembly. Jane Wang still has a message for them.

WANG: Future cases of sexual violence or sexual harassment on campus cannot only be treated with urgency when it's something that reaches national headlines or national news.

CARROLL (voice-over): Jason Carroll, CNN, Ithaca, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Still ahead on this hour of "CNN Newsroom," Palestinians mourn the lives lost in a 2023 Israeli strike. Why only some of the thousands of remains buried have been recovered. Plus, following the money. What a CNN investigation found out about Jared Kushner's major stake in a firm linked to the Israeli military. See you in a moment.

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[02:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:34:26]

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.

The U.N. is urging Iran and the United States to keep lines of communication open as peace talks stall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: I think the situation remains extremely, extremely worrying. We are in a moment of a bit of radio silence. We know there were indirect contacts between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. We hope that this -- this round of discussion continues through the good offices of Qatar and obviously other countries are involved, whether it be Pakistan and others.

[02:35:08]

And so, it is very -- it is very important that these, these channels of communications remain open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: The U.N. is also focused on concerns surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. The U.K. maritime trade operations says a tanker crossing the critical waterway caught fire on Thursday after being hit by an unidentified projectile. The crew was reported safe, but the extent of the damage is still not clear.

The Trump administration is imposing new sanctions in an effort to ramp up economic pressure on Tehran. The penalties hit the country's two biggest automakers and several key rail companies. They also target foreign auto parts suppliers, which the administration says helped Iran to sidestep existing sanctions.

Palestinians have honored dozens of lives lost in an Israeli strike in October 2023. A mass funeral for over 100 people was held in Gaza City on Thursday. Palestinian authorities say Gaza's civil defense personnel recovered the remains from under the rubble of a residential building destroyed nearly two years ago. They estimate more than 8,000 people remain buried in the rubble of buildings in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUMAYA BAKHIT, VICTIMS' RELATIVE: I had 15 of my family members under the rubble of Al Taj building. They recovered the remains of three children, my brother's children, Abdul Aziz (ph), nine years old, Najmuddin (ph), five years old, Afnan (ph), two years old.

MAHMOUD BASAL, PALESTINIAN CIVIL DEFENSE SERVICE IN GAZA SPOKESPERSON: We are talking about more than 39 children or 36 children. Among these victims, we are talking about a big number of the elderly. We are talking about women. We are talking about families who were wiped out of the civil registry completely. We are talking about a real tragedy lived by the residents in this area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: And now to a CNN investigation. Jared Kushner, tasked by President Trump to negotiate peace in Gaza, owns a company with a major stake in a firm linked to Israel's military. And as Kushner has acted as a diplomat, his company has profited in the hundreds of millions of dollars from its investment in the Israeli firm.

CNN's Katie Polglase reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCHER (voice-over): Jared Kushner, president Trump's son-in-law, often seen acting as America's unofficial peace envoy to the Middle East.

JARED KUSHNER, UNOFFICIAL U.S. MIDDLE EAST PEACE ENVOY: Why can't the world be better? Why can't there be peace? Why can't there be more prosperity?

POLGLASE (voice-over): But he's also a billionaire private investor.

KUSHNER: The fund is doing great and we've got a great team, great portfolio.

POLGLASE: And a CNN investigation has now found that his firm, Affinity Partners, is the largest shareholder in an Israeli financial giant, backing businesses that provide equipment to the Israeli military equipment.

Equipment that has been used in Israel's wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, the same wars Trump sent Kushner to resolve. His Israeli investment is the latest in a series of examples where Kushner has blurred the lines between business and politics. The dual roles have drawn sharp criticism from some but Kushner has wholeheartedly embraced it.

KUSHNER: When you get an Arab and Israeli together and they start talking about a business opportunity, they forget about everything else.

POLGLASE (voice-over): It all begins back in January 2021. President Trump leaves office. The next day, Kushner sets up a firm that would become Affinity Partners with financial backing later coming from the Saudi state and then later Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Fast forward to July 2024, Affinity buys a stake in Israeli financial institution Phoenix Financial. Then, in January 2025, days before Trump returns to the White House, Affinity doubles its stake in Phoenix, making it the largest shareholder.

By October 2025, Kushner is publicly involved in politics, standing in Tel Aviv, celebrating the release of the hostages after weeks negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. POLGLASE: This is perhaps one of the most prominent moments when Kushner is performing both roles as a businessman and a diplomat at the same time.

Here he is, negotiating a peace deal for Gaza while also holding an investment in an Israeli company that is backing some of the very businesses linked to the war in Gaza.

And thanks to Israeli transparency laws, we can see what some of those businesses are.

POLGLASE (voice-over): CNN went through thousands of financial records and amid the hundreds of companies Phoenix invests in. We identified at least nine supplying military equipment for Israel.

Affinity doesn't directly hold a stake in the nine companies CNN identified but it does stand to reap rewards when Phoenix makes a profit from such investments. All nine companies saw their stock market value rise last year. And many said they've seen a material increase in business as a result of the war in Gaza.

Phoenix shares in these companies are worth more than $456 million. One of the nine companies was Elbit Systems --

[02:40:01]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The IDF also made operational use of the Lahav launcher.

POLGLASE (voice-over): -- Israel's largest arms manufacturer.

We've previously traced Elbit weapons to multiple Israeli strikes that have killed civilians. We also found Israel shipyards on Phoenix's books. They supply warships to the Israeli navy, ships that have repeatedly fired on Gaza.

Further companies include one making gearboxes for Israeli tanks and another making electronic fuses for shells used in Gaza.

POLGLASE: An attorney for Kushner told us Kushner is not involved in Phoenix's decisions on where to invest. He's not on their board and he's never held a management role at the company.

But we found Kushner's relationship with Phoenix is actually a bit more complicated.

POLGLASE (voice-over): He told "Forbes" in September last year he had a very active dialogue with Phoenix, meeting with their team every few weeks.

And an attorney for Kushner told us this was true at the time and that Kushner regularly spoke with Phoenix about the company, broader market trends and potential strategic opportunities.

Here he is talking about how he's encouraged Phoenix to invest in the Gulf. KUSHNER: Phoenix, which is a monster company, is now looking at investments in Saudi Arabia, investments in UAE.

POLGLASE (voice-over): This encouragement, in fact, goes both ways.

KUSHNER: My investors from the Middle East are now looking at Israel and they're saying, wait a minute, maybe there's a benefit to having these wars done. And they're seeing a good example there.

POLGLASE (voice-over): Around the same time this podcast published, Kushner was working on Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan. Kushner's attorney told us that Kushner has significantly reduced his interaction with Phoenix management since becoming substantially more engaged in volunteer public service and diplomatic efforts.

Nevertheless, Kushner's held this Israeli investment amid his diplomacy.

In July this year, Kushner's firm cashed in a quarter of its stake in Phoenix for more than $340 million, a return of more than five times its original investment. Kushner's firm, Affinity, still remains Phoenix's largest shareholder.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POLGLASE: Well, Phoenix Financial declined to answer CNN's questions, but a spokesperson did say that the company is regulated and that shareholder value is derived primarily from operating performance rather than investment returns. None of the nine companies we identified commented for this report, and a spokesperson for the White House said that Jared Kushner's personal business activities have nothing to do with his diplomatic engagements.

Katie Polglase, CNN, London.

HUNTE: All right. We have much more coming up on the show, including the family of a woman shot by an ICE agent, speaks out why theyre filing a lawsuit against the agent and members of the Trump administration.

See you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:47:25]

HUNTE: Welcome back.

A federal judge will hear arguments next Thursday on President Trump's White House media ban. CNN, MS NOW and "Politico" want a two-week restraining order extended, maintaining their access to the White House. Right now, that access is limited. In fact, CNN was barred from traveling with the president on Air Force One today.

The media outlets say the ban is unconstitutional, but the White House claims reporting by the groups is a threat to national security. The family of Renee Good is filing two lawsuits against the U.S.

government and top Trump officials over her death. They include Kristi Noem, Tom Homan and Stephen Miller. Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7th.

The suit against the agent and top administration officials alleges the immigration operation was a carefully planned, coordinated effort to interfere with the civil rights of Somali and Hispanic residents and silence their allies and neighbors.

CNN's Whitney Wild has more for us

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: In this search for accountability, there are two lawsuits that are being filed.

The first is a lawsuit against the United States government. In total, it is being filed by -- under rather the Federal Tort Claims Act.

The second lawsuit is much bigger and it is being filed against several members of the Trump administration, including Department of Homeland Security secretary at the time, Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, Greg Bovino, the agent who opened fire, whom CNN has identified as Jonathan Ross, as well several unnamed agents.

Both lawsuits detail the moments that led up to this shooting, and the lawsuit alleges that as Renee Good was on that street in Minneapolis on January 7th, she never posed any real threat to any of the federal agents, and that when Jonathan Ross opened fire that he violated several DHS policies, violated certainly Minnesota state law, as well as the Constitution itself.

The second lawsuit is much broader and actually goes back all the way to November and makes the allegation that Renee Good's death did not happen in a vacuum. And actually, it was the predictable result of a sweeping, ill-conceived and frankly reckless operation that happened here in Minneapolis, which as we all know was called Operation Metro Surge, it was that enormous ramp up here in Minneapolis, where we saw thousands of immigration agents descend on the city over several weeks.

[02:50:01]

For the first time, we heard from Becca Good. She was there the moment Renee Good was shot. And in very emotional statement described how her life has changed dramatically, how much damage this has caused Becca Good, their son, Renee's two other children, and the entire family.

Here's more from Becca Good.

BECCA GOOD, RENEE GOOD'S PARTNER: Now, I'll grow old without the love of my life. I think about how we should have had 40 or 60 more years together. We were all robbed.

Her youngest, our son, is six years old and he's already lost more than anyone ever should. And he misses his mama.

Accountability and change, true accountability and change is the only way to make sure that no other family has to go through what we have.

I don't hate the people who took Renee from us. But what I want them to understand is every single day they get to look at their children and their wives and their sisters and know what they took from our family. They took a mother away from her children. They know that and they will carry it forever.

WILD: CNN has reached out to those members of the Department of Homeland Security who are named in the lawsuit. We've also reached out to the White House about the other lawsuit that's filed against the federal government. In total, the search for accountability here continues.

And in fact, in July, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that they had received volumes of evidence in Renee Good's shooting. They are continuing to investigate this case. They received those volumes of evidence from the Department of Justice.

So federal, excuse me, state officials here say that they are absolutely committed to continuing to investigate her death.

Back to you.

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HUNTE: An attack at a secondary school in northern Mexico has left a vice principal dead and three people injured. Authorities say two 18- year-old brothers, both former students, have been detained. Local media reports the suspects were armed with knives and homemade explosives. Neighbors entered the school when they heard the explosives and held the suspects until authorities arrived. Attacks on schools are rare in Mexico, where most violence is linked to organized crime.

And coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, SpaceX launches a history-making mission. Details just ahead. See you in a moment.

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[02:55:11]

HUNTE: Welcome back.

The Korean War ended in 1953, but the conflict has played a major role in shaping the geopolitical landscape in Asia ever since. Have a look at this latest edition of "Meanwhile in Asia".

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The North Koreans pushed the U.S. and their South Korean allies right down to the very tip of the peninsula where Busan is today. Shortly thereafter, though, Truman ordered the U.S. to let's -- come on. We need to get out of this. We got to get out this peninsula.

HARRY TRUMAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We know that the cost of freedom is high.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. troops pushed north way north, almost up to the border with China.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But by pushing up to the Chinese border, that kind of ushered in China's direct intervention in the conflict, which then dragged on for years afterwards, and for which the American troops were woefully unprepared for in the mountains for the Korean winter.

PATRICK FINN, U.S. VETERAN: I realized there was a Chinese soldier to my left, and so I rolled around to shoot him, and my gun just clicked. It was frozen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In fact, some of the veterans said, you know, we just kind of got off the ship and were sent up to the front lines in this Korean winter in November, December 1950, we had limited supplies. The medics used to put the syringes in their mouth to unfreeze the medicine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was that cold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: If you're in the U.S., you can catch "Meanwhile in Asia", on CNN's streaming platform, all access or on YouTube if you're outside of the U.S.

SpaceX made history with its latest mission to the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon space capsule launched on Thursday from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It carried a Russian cosmonaut, a Canadian astronaut and two U.S. astronauts, including Jessica Watkins, the first Black woman to lead a space mission. The capsule also set a record for fastest time from launch to docking, reaching the ISS in just eight hours.

European scientists have high flying hopes for their own version of a Mars rover. The prototype, known as Charlie, is being tested in a desert in Spain. The goal is to test technologies and operations relevant to ESA's Mars mission. That will include the navigation system, as well as tasks that the rover will perform after landing on Mars in 2030. The purpose, to search for evidence of past or present life. How exciting.

That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me in the team this hour. I'm Ben Hunte. Stay tuned for another hour of CNN NEWSROOM with me after this short break.

See you in a moment

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