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Inside Politics

Second "No Kings" Protest Against Trump Planned For Saturday; WSJ: Admin. Plans IRS Overhaul To Pursue Left-Wing Groups; ME Senate Candidate's Deleted Posts Talk Communism, Cops, The Military; Videos Show Hamas Carrying Out Execution-Style Killings In Gaza; NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Declines To Say Whether Hamas Should Disarm & Give Up Gaza Leadership. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 16, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: -- "reports, where at least from what I'm seeing, I'm having serious concerns that my order's being followed." And then later she said, "I'm really not happy."

Again, she put more conditions on her temporary restraining order, and then she says she wants to see the ICE field director in court on Monday to explain himself, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. That is going to be a very important hearing indeed.

Thank you so much, Whitney. Appreciate you walking us through all that.

And up next, more than 2,500 protests are scheduled all over the country this weekend. And I'll be joined right here by one of the leading progressive organizers planning the massive anti-Trump demonstration. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:14]

BASH: This weekend, millions of Americans are expected to take part in thousands of "No Kings" protests taking place all across the country. It is, of course, a march or set of marches to oppose President Trump.

Now, if it sounds familiar, it's because it's the second "No Kings" demonstration. The first, in June, had a massive showing in big cities and small towns that progressive organizers behind the event say included more than 5 million Americans.

One of the groups leading the effort is Indivisible and its co- founder, Ezra Levin, joins me here now. Thank you so much for being here.

We're going to get to what you're planning for this weekend. But before that, I do want to start with a report out this morning in The Wall Street Journal saying that the Trump administration is planning to overhaul the IRS. And one of the goals in that overhaul is to get the IRS to pursue left wing groups and that he's already on got a list of potential targets.

I can't imagine that Indivisible, which helps plan these giant protests against the President, if they do this, would not be on it. Are you preparing for this? Have you heard anything?

EZRA LEVIN, EXECUTIVE CO-DIRECTOR, INDIVISIBLE: Well, Dana, what do they say? First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.

We're one step from winning. They're not ignoring us. They're not laughing at us. They're worried about peaceful, broad-based protests all around the country. And that's true of any authoritarian regime anywhere in the world.

The number one thing they fear is peaceful protests because authoritarian regimes depend on them convincing the populace. The populace is alone and weak and that they are all powerful. So I'm not surprised, but it is really troubling and it's unconstitutional and it's illegal. But we're not going to back down.

BASH: OK, let's talk about what you are planning. And we have a graphic which I think that you guys put together about all of the events you have planned. That's a lot of events you see there. The last time you say that you had 5 million participants, 2,100 events. This time you're planning about 2,600 events.

What is the goal here? I mean, obviously, number one is protests and to sort of --

LEVIN: Yes.

BASH: -- have people let out steam and make their voices heard. But what would you like to happen?

LEVIN: It's a great question because we're not just doing this to have a map. We're not just doing this to get news coverage. We're not just doing this to be on the right side of history. Peaceful protest is strategic. It is strategic.

And there are two main goals that we can accomplish from strategic protest. One is to burst that bubble of inevitability. The sense that this guy is all powerful. We shouldn't stand up. There's nothing we can do about it. That's how we lose.

Our enemy here is not Trump. It's not the regime. It's not Democrats who refuse to fight back. Those are opponents from time to time in the campaign. Our enemy is fatalism and nihilism and cynicism.

The sense that we are just victims of world events and there's nothing we can do. By showing up in historic numbers, we burst that bubble. We show that we're not afraid. That we can indeed exercise our First Amendment rights. That's goal one. But a protest, even a historic protest, this will be the largest peaceful protest in modern American history, even something as big as this is a one-day protest. And the real measure of success is not just in how big and how peaceful and how joyful it is. It's also how many people plug in to on-the-ground organizing going forward. And that's where we've got to go next.

BASH: I'm sure you have seen that Republicans are talking about your protest a lot ahead of time, even and especially unsolicited --

LEVIN: Yes.

BASH: -- when they're not asked about it. It's clearly part of their talking point strategy. Just take a listen to a sample.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

REP. TOM EMMER (R), MAJORITY WHIP: We call it the Hate America rally because you'll see the hate for America all over this thing when they show up.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: It's all the pro-Hamas wing and the, you know, the Antifa people. They're all coming out.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R), OHIO: I'd be interested if Chuck Schumer's actually going to show up at this No Kings, anti-Trump, crazy left- wing rally that's going to happen in D.C.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: There's considerable evidence that George Soros and his network is behind funding these rallies.

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: The farthest left, the hardest core, the most unhinged in the Democratic Party, which is, you know, a big title. And, you know, No Kings equal no paychecks.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: You have the floor, sir.

LEVIN: Dana, I just have to tell you, I did not pay for this publicity. They are doing it free of charge. We are living rent-free in all their heads. I welcome it. I got to say, I saw a lot of this, and I just laughed. It is ridiculous what we're seeing from them.

We closed out the No Kings rally in Philadelphia, me and my spouse Leah. And how did we close it out? There were 100,000 people in the crowd waving American flags and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I think the question isn't, is there any truth to their claims about this? Obviously, these are peaceful protests at enormous historic scales.

The question is, why now? Why are they coming at us now? And it's because they are worried that they are losing their grip on power. They are worried that other people in blue states, red states, and purple states in rural community, in Trump country, are going to see the public doesn't support this, and that makes them scared. [12:40:13]

I think it's stupid. I think what they're doing is backfiring. Our numbers are skyrocketing. We have more than 2,600 events. We have more RSVPs than we had in No Kings in June.

This is going to be enormous. It's going to be joyful. It's going to be patriotic. It's going to be powerful.

BASH: Thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

And calling yourself a communist isn't exactly a winning campaign strategy in America, but that's what a Democratic candidate in the hottest Senate race in the country did before he became a candidate. The exclusive CNN reporting and his fascinating response to that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:13]

BASH: Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is new to politics, and today, thanks to him, a reminder to all of us that deleting posts doesn't mean they are forever gone. A new report from CNN's KFile gives a raw look at his past views now deleted in social media posts.

In one from 2021, Platner, a Marine veteran turned oysterman, called himself a, quote, "communist." He responded to a thread about people becoming more conservative as they age by saying, quote, "I got older and became a communist," end quote.

In that same year, he reflected on a life after military service, writing, quote, "I'm a vegetable-growing, psychedelics taste -- taking socialist these days. After the war, I've pretty much stopped believing in any of the patriotic nonsense that got me there in the first place and am a firm believer that the best thing a person can do is help their neighbors and live a loving life. Still got the guns, though. I don't trust the fascists to act politely."

And the posts made under Platner's Reddit handle, P-Hustle, were deleted ahead of the campaign launch. Platner told CNN the posts came from a time when he felt disillusioned and angry and expressed those emotions online.

So back with our panel now. Mariana, it's the posts first and foremost, but to me, I think it's the response to it that is, frankly, different than you hear from most of the politicians that we cover, maybe because he is a first-time politicians -- politician.

Let me just give you a little bit more of what he said. "That was very much me f-ing around the internet. I don't want people to see me for who I was in my worst internet comment or even, frankly, who I was in my best internet comment. I don't think any of us is indicative of who I -- any of this is really indicative of who I am today, really."

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: I mean, the one thing about him is that he is human. He is actually able to engage voters. And I know saying, wow, he's a human being, of course all politicians are. But what I mean by that is that there's a legitimate discussion, especially among Democrats, about how to even relate to people, relate to voters.

And he has done a good job on that, and I think that's why him kind of just talking honestly and saying what you just read is different, to your point. It just sounds different. Here's the thing, though. Republicans, of course, have been saying for years that as much as Democrats have tried to move away from the far left or positions from 2020, they still are who they are.

And anyone who is running, trying to be more of an independent or moderate, well, they're far-left Democrats in sheep's clothing. And maybe some of those voters will take that into consideration. But I'm actually kind of curious to see. Maine is a pretty moderate place.

BASH: Yes.

SOTOMAYOR: Voters kind of like to choose someone different. Maybe he can --

BASH: Yes.

SOTOMAYOR: -- talk his way out of this.

BASH: Although is -- he has to get through the primary first --

SOTOMAYOR: Exactly.

BASH: -- because he's running against a pretty popular person, and that is the sitting governor of Maine, Janet Mills, now for the Democratic nomination.

Just one other post. He -- in 2020, he wrote, "White people aren't as racist or stupid as Trump thinks. Living in white rural America, I'm afraid to tell you, they actually are." Now, he also said in response to that, "I'm also a white guy, and I don't think I'm racist. I don't believe that. I'm sure I was just angry on the internet about the state of things back then."

HANS NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: So everyone in the state of Maine is going to see the statement on the left, courtesy either the Mills campaign or the Republican campaigns. They may not all see the statement on the right. And that's why Maine is going to be an incredibly interesting and dynamic state. He's going up against Susan Collins, who's now what? She's been in for four terms.

This should be going for a fifth. She's a survivor. It's obviously a state that voted for Kamala Harris. It's like firmly Democratic. So, you know, yes, he is being human to use sort of in his sort of explanation/apology. I didn't do that. I didn't think it was their firm apology there, or was it --

BASH: I don't know that there was -- it was an -- I don't think so.

NICHOLS: I didn't see the poll (ph), yes.

BASH: I think it was more of an explanation in all of these hubs (ph).

NICHOLS: So it reminds me a little bit what happened with Mamdani, where -- they found a -- like a bunch of things Mamdani said and people like, well, that was just in the past. And that's a fine argument in sort of New York, which is a left of center place.

I just -- I don't know whether or not people are going to believe the statement on the right or the one on the left. And that's what the campaign is going to come down to.

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, right.

NICHOLS: And other things, too.

KIM: Exactly, exactly. And you do start to understand why someone like Janet Mills would be the favorite candidate of the Democratic establishment because, I mean, I don't know, you know, I don't know how well known his online persona was before he entered politics. But those are -- these are certainly comments that could be political ammunition for his opponents, whether in the primary or in -- or by Republicans.

[12:50:04]

But you do -- you are still going to see this debate persist in the Democratic primary about a new generation versus an old tested politician. And I think, you know, irrespective of what happens with these posts, that debate is certainly going to continue with Graham Platner and Janet Mills.

BASH: All right, everyone, thanks for being here.

Don't go anywhere. We have an important conversation after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:05]

BASH: Four days in, the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is holding but it seems by a thread. You're looking at new video of trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza. And it comes as a close ally of Benjamin Netanyahu calls on Israel to halt aid until Hamas releases all deceased hostages, as is required by the U.S.-led deal.

So far, just nine of 28 bodies have been returned. And the situation in Gaza is still dire and violent as clashes erupt between Hamas terrorists and rival groups.

Well, joining me now is Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who is the director for Realign for Palestine and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. I'm so glad that you're here.

I do want to begin with something that we've been reporting on, I know you've been speaking out about, which is Hamas continuing to slaughter, to execute people who have spoken out against them. Now, we want to warn our viewers that you are about to see disturbing video.

Video of these executions is widely circulating on social media. CNN has analyzed the footage, and we are not showing it in full, but you can still hear what happens.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

(Speaking in Foreign Language)

(GUN SHOTS)

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: Your reaction?

AHMED FOUAD ALKHATIB, DIRECTOR, REALIGN FOR PALESTINE: Well, good to be with you. These videos have sent shockwaves across Gaza in that they've terrorized the civilian population that's just beginning to breathe a sigh of relief after two years of deadly bombardment in the coastal enclave.

Hamas has continued to go after a variety of families and clans that it perceives as being a threat to its rule. They've killed two children belonging to the Abu Ajwa family. They've killed Umm Nidal Dormush (ph) and her son. They've killed women and children as part of their onslaught. They're still kidnapping people and torturing folks as part of an effort to impose their will.

Now, we've also seen some clans preemptively actually surrender their weapons and submit to Hamas which is --

BASH: So they're not executed.

ALKHATIB: Precisely. And so this means that Hamas is winning. It's succeeding in its terror campaign.

BASH: You wrote recently, quote, "Hamas is a cancer, which is unfortunately supported by the fraudulent pro-Palestine movement that doesn't care about Gazans." That's a big statement. But I want to ask even more broadly about the Free Palestine movement, which we saw on the streets, on college campuses, everywhere, definitely on social media, for two years. Where are they now that Hamas is still there and the Palestinian people are far from free because of Hamas' terror against them?

ALKHATIB: Precisely that. I think Palestinian lives should matter whether they're harmed by Israel or Hamas, a nefarious terrorist organization that has wasted two decades in the Gaza Strip and prevented the sustainable development of our people and set back the national aspirations towards sovereignty and statehood.

My concern with the pro-Palestine advocacy group, and while there are well-meaning people in such a movement, is that they really disappear once the -- once Gaza's out of the headlines because Israel is no longer bombing Gaza for the time being, then they don't care about Hamas. They don't care about the suffering. They don't care about what's really unfolding, and that's just a shallow, hollow way of caring about the Palestinian people.

BASH: I want to play something for you that the leading Democratic candidate -- or the Democratic nominee for mayor in New York and the leading candidate for mayor said on Fox yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that Hamas should lay down their weapons and leave the leadership in Gaza?

ZOHRAN MAMDANI, DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR MAYOR IN NEW YORK: I believe that any future here in New York City is one that we have to make sure that's affordable for all, and as it pertains to Israel and Palestine, that we have to ensure that there is peace, and that is the future that we have to fight for.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you won't say that Hamas should lay down their arms and give up leadership in Gaza?

MAMDANI: I don't really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel beyond the question of justice and safety and the fact that anything has to abide by international law. And that applies to Hamas, that applies to the Israeli military, applies to anyone you could ask me about.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: You are a proud Palestinian who has been fighting very hard for those things that he talked about, justice and safety. What do you make of that answer?

ALKHATIB: Very disappointing. Look, I'm not in the business of commenting on mayoral races. However, it should be straightforward and low-hanging fruit to say that a terror organization that harmed the Palestinians should be able to disarm. Claiming that you don't have an opinion on international and foreign relations and -- while at the same time saying you will arrest Bibi Netanyahu, that's a contradiction to me.

You should be able to definitively distance the just and urgent Palestinian people's aspirations from Hamas. I was very disappointed, very disturbed by the rhetoric. And again, this is symptomatic of a larger trend within the so-called pro-Palestine movement that exists in the diaspora.

BASH: I'm really grateful that you came on. Thank you so much.

ALKHATIB: Thank you.

BASH: Thank you.

And thank you for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts right now.