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Netanyahu Arriving At White House For Gaza Peace Talks; WH: FBI Believes Gunman "Hated People Of The Mormon Faith"; Trump Accuses Former FBI Chief Wray Of Lying About Jan. 6. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired September 29, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:14]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heading back for another meeting at the White House with President Trump. And he promises something special is coming up on Gaza. That's what Trump is promising. Looking at live pictures from the White House right there. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today. And you're in The Situation Room.

Now we begin this hour over at the White House. Any moment now, President Trump will be welcoming the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They will meet as President Trump is revealing his 21-point plan to try to end the war in Gaza. The proposal lays out how the enclave will be governed and calls for the release of all of the Israeli hostages in exchange for a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops.

But Prime Minister Netanyahu is not fully on board, not yet. Just a short time ago, CNN's Alayna Treene had this exchange with the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on the goal of today's meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The fact that there is a press conference today with the Israeli Prime Minister, it signals, I think, that he's expecting there to be a deal announced, or at least that Netanyahu's going to accept the proposed plan. Is that the hope that the President has today?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, the President knows and believes that this is as good of a plan as these sides are going to see, and that's why it's 21 points, it's very detailed, it's comprehensive.

TREENE: Is the expectation, though, that the Israeli Prime Minister is going to sign it today or -- or agree to it?

LEAVITT: The President believes strongly in this plan, and he wants this to be the plan, and he wants this war to come to an end.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Let's go live right now to CNN Senior White House Correspondent Kristen Holmes. Kristen, the U.S. is Israel's most important ally, always has been. Is President Trump expected to use that as leverage with Prime Minister Netanyahu in their talks later today?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the President is going to use whatever leverage that he has, this is something that's incredibly important to him and something that he'd been promising would happen now for months. I mean, one thing to keep in mind, we hear all this optimism from the White House.

This isn't the first time that we've heard this level of optimism from the White House, from U.S. officials, only to have talks completely fall apart. Now, it does seem closer this time. But as you mentioned, Netanyahu himself didn't seem as sure of this plan as the White House does. This is what he said over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We're working on it, Jackie. It's not been finalized yet, but we're working with President Trump's team, actually, as we speak, and I hope we can -- we can make it a go because we want to free our hostages. We want to get rid of Hamas rule and have them disarmed, Gaza demilitarized, and a new future set up for -- for Gazans and Israelis alike.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Yes. And one thing to remember, the stakes couldn't be higher now. Again, this is something that President Trump has promised time and time again, but we also know that these negotiations are ongoing. For example, we know that Netanyahu met for hours with Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, as well as Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkoff. Unclear how much that moved the dial, what that dialogue was like, and really how far Netanyahu is willing to go or willing to push this.

We know President Trump has expressed frustration with the war and at times even frustration with Netanyahu himself. So how this ends seems unclear right now. But again, as Alayna was talking there with the press secretary, they do have a press conference at the end of this meeting, which signals that at least the White House believes that there will be the outcome they want at the end of all this.

BLITZER: We'll see if that press conference happens, if they reach a deal. Presumably it will. If they don't, maybe they'll cancel that proposed press conference. We'll see what happens. Kristen Holmes, we've been showing our viewers live pictures of the driveway at the West Wing over there. Netanyahu's limo has not yet arrived, right?

HOLMES: I was actually just looking, but they just opened the gates, and I'm just now seeing the motorcade, or at least the beginning of the motorcade, come up to that gate here. So he appears to be running just a little bit behind, but we see the police part of that motorcade. Several motorcycles are just now pulling up to the open gate. So in just moments we should see him pull in.

He'll drive right behind me, pull in front of the West Wing over there, and then President Trump will come out and greet him to bring him into their meeting, which as of now is still closed press. Unclear if that opens up. President Trump generally likes to open these kind of things to the press to talk to the cameras. So far that has not happened.

BLITZER: Yes. I want to keep that picture up and see if the President actually walks out of the West Wing to personally receive the prime minister once his vehicle arrives there at that driveway location just outside the West Wing. And -- and as you say, you can see it better than I can. It -- it's moving towards the door, is that right?

[11:05:08]

HOLMES: It is moving towards the door. But right now I don't see the actual motorcade. I just see the beginning of it. So I'm just seeing the police cars. I'm just seeing the actual security, not Netanyahu, not his vehicle just yet. So they're staging right now with that gate open. And just one thing, Wolf, I want to make clear here.

One, this is the fourth meeting the two men have had. But another thing to keep in mind here is the fact that basically these negotiations stalled after Israel bombed Qatar. And that has been a point of contention. We know that the president then met with the leader of Qatar shortly afterwards. He condemned that bombing. But now they seem to be back -- back in play here.

BLITZER: Yes, we'll see what happens at this meeting. There are some obviously major agreements between Netanyahu and Trump, but also some significant potential differences, some major disagreements, including in his 21-point plan. Trump is now proposing that there could be some steps taken towards a new Palestinian state, the so-called two-state solution, which Netanyahu strongly, strongly opposes, as we heard in his U.N. General Assembly speech. We'll see what happens on that front. Kristen Holmes reporting for us from the White House, thank you very much. We'll stay in close touch with you.

Also new this morning, the White House is calling the deadly attack at a crowded church in Michigan, "an act of evil." Hundreds of people were inside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when a man slammed his truck into the building and then opened fire and intentionally set the church ablaze. At least four people are confirmed dead, eight others wounded. There are new images coming into The Situation Room right now, photos taken by a CNN crew on the scene show a car across the street from the church riddled with bullets.

And this is new video of the burned-out church in Grand Blanc Township. Crews are looking for a possible -- for possibly more victims in the charred ruins. Police are also searching for the motive. One lawmaker says the focus needs to be on a community in pain, serious pain right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): We -- this is clearly a mentally ill man, and we just don't understand the motive yet. What we know is that people who were just trying to pray at church were killed in their house of worship, a place that should be a sanctuary and safe. And we need to focus on the community right now and getting them the healing that they need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to -- I want to go to CNN's Leigh Waldman. She's on the scene for us right now. What are you learning this morning, Leigh, about the shooter and a possible motive?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's good to be with you. Right now we know that investigators are digging into the man that they believe is behind this shooting, Tom -- Thomas Jacob Sanford. They know at this point he is a Marine Corps veteran who served from 2004 to 2008 and was deployed to Iraq. Now, his social media that we've looked through ourselves show that he is or was an avid outdoorsman.

They've searched his home, and they're working on looking through a digital footprint to see if that sheds any kind of light at this point to a motive. Now, we did speak to a man who was running for city council in the community that Sanford is from, and he said in their conversation just one week ago, Wolf, he said that Sanford himself brought up what the councilman's thoughts were on guns and what his thoughts were on the LDS community itself.

Now, he said nothing in that conversation, raised any red flags. But now a week later after this tragedy struck, he said he is heartbroken, and he's deeply reflecting on that conversation. We're going to speak with him more later on throughout the day today, but we mentioned those ongoing investigative efforts.

I'll move out of the way so you can see the church for yourself here, Wolf. And -- and you can see the burnt remains, the entire top of that church is -- is completely gone. We've seen FBI agents, ATF agents, members of local and state law enforcement going in and out of that church there. And we've seen people in hazmat gear coming in and out, digging through the remains there, looking for any victims that are buried beneath. Obviously, this is something that is so incredibly heartbreaking.

We want to take a listen now to what the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, had to say about this tragedy here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: From what I understand based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith. And they are trying to understand more about this, how premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note. All of those questions have yet to be answered, but certainly will be answered by the FBI.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: We spoke with people who live in this community, a woman who's down the street from us here and another man who lives just down the other side of the street there, Wolf, and they're heartbroken. They can't really wrap their minds around what happened here.

[11:10:06]

We spoke to another gentleman, Brant (ph), who said that his wife was just at this church the night before everything happened. He's in tears looking at what's left of it now today.

BLITZER: So sad indeed. Leigh, it wasn't that long ago that houses of worship here in the United States were rarely attacked. Sadly, that's no -- no longer the case, is it?

WALDMAN: It's no longer the case, unfortunately. Just a few weeks ago, we were in Minneapolis at the Annunciation Catholic Church when two kill -- kids were killed who were quite literally praying, as the mayor of that community said. June 2022, a gunman killed three people at the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Alabama.

If we look back to October 2018, 11 people killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. November 2017, 25 people killed at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. I covered that one as well. More than half of that congregation killed. Entire families killed.

We look back to June 2015, and nine people were killed at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina. Wolf, we wish these things weren't happening at all, but to see them happening more and more at these houses of worship, it -- it really tears your heart out of your chest.

BLITZER: It certainly does, and now we're hearing from the White House that the FBI believes the gunman in this particular case hated people of the Mormon faith. It's just awful, awful situation. Leigh Waldman reporting for us. We'll stay in close touch with you. Thank you.

Also new today, the man accused of opening fire on a waterfront bar in the coastal North Carolina area is due in court. Forty-year-old Nigel Edge is charged with killing three people and injuring at least eight others Saturday night. Edge is a U.S. Marine veteran who received a Purple Heart for combat injuries during the war in Iraq. The local prosecutor says the right suspect is in custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON DAVID, SOUTHPORT, NC DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Evil has come ashore in Southport, North Carolina. Ironically enough, at the very place which once served as a backdrop to the movie "Safe Haven." When the dust settled, eight people were shot. Three of them are dead, and at least one is now clinging for their life. I'm confident, based on what I now know, that we got the right guy and that he acted alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Police are not revealing a possible motive, but call the attack highly premeditated, their words, highly premeditated. Officials say many of the victims appear to have been simply on vacation. Heartbreaking.

President Trump, meanwhile, is accusing the former FBI Director Christopher Wray of lying about the Bureau's presence during the January 6th Capitol riot. The accusation comes just days after the extraordinary indictment of Wray's predecessor, James Comey. Trump picked Wray to lead the Bureau after he fired Comey back in 2017.

CNN crime and justice correspondent, Katelyn Polantz, is here with me in The Situation Room. Katelyn, what does the President exactly say?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is an accusation from Donald Trump that just isn't true. He's claiming that the FBI was secretly placing agents into the crowd as agitators on January 6th whenever Trump supporters overtook the U.S. Capitol building, searching for lawmakers there.

In fact, the Justice Department watchdog, the inspector general, had looked into this, and there was no evidence of under-FBI agents at the Capitol on January 6th. Instead, they were responding to the violence because there was a police response needed there.

But Trump is relentless on this. After the indictment of James Comey, another FBI director who had left the position early in Trump's first term, Trump then goes on social media and writes, Christopher Wray, then the director of the FBI in 2017 on, has some major explaining to do. That's two in a row, Comey and Wray, who got caught lying with our great country at stake. We can never let this happen to America again.

The broader point here, Wolf, is that Donald Trump is making clear that he wants his opposition to be these former FBI directors, people who were overseeing the bureau at times when Donald Trump himself was being investigated first in the Mueller investigation and then related to January 6th.

This is also a moment where Donald Trump is saying there are more to come as far as indictments following this indictment for lying of -- of James Comey. There are several political opponents of Donald Trump that are under investigation at this time.

BLITZER: So who else specifically is the Trump administration looking into right now?

POLANTZ: Well, we know that there are two investigations, three investigations, open around mortgage fraud or allegations of mortgage fraud. One of them would be the Democrat Adam Schiff, the senator from California, another one would be the New York attorney general, Letitia James. Those cases have not materialized into anything at this point from as far as we know.

[11:15:11]

And then there's the investigation of John Bolton, which seems to be an investigation that's pretty far along, and investigators had enough to get the authority to go search his home and his office at the end of August. We do know, though, that the Justice Department was pushing, or at least political leadership under Trump was pushing for a quick indictment of Bolton. That has not come yet, though it does appear to be a serious case that is not yet charged.

BLITZER: They showed up at John Bolton's house at 7:00 in the morning, Saturday morning and started going through all of his material there. We'll see what happens on that front. Thanks very much, Katelyn Polantz reporting.

And still ahead, we're standing by for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump to hold a joint news conference over at the White House. Will they agree on a ceasefire plan in Gaza?

Plus, Ghislaine Maxwell wants the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her federal sex trafficking conviction. What the U.S. justices will consider later today. Stay with us. Lots going on. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: All right, take a look at this. You see the arrival right there. The Prime Minister of Israel just arriving outside the West Wing of the White House, greeted personally by President Trump. They'll be going inside, having a bilateral meeting, a substantive meeting. They'll have some lunch at the White House. They'll have a joint news conference later today. Let's see if they say anything.

[11:20:08]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- any time soon. And the 21-point plan, is everyone on board?

BLITZER: All right, so you see the President of the United States personally welcoming the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. They're going to go in for some substantive meetings. At issue right now is the President's 21-point plan to try to end the war in Gaza and free all the remaining hostages and return the bodies of hostages back to Israel.

Key components include an agreement on the remaining hostages as well as an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Joining us now is Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and a former member of the Israeli Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Ambassador, thanks so much for joining us. Do you believe Prime Minister Netanyahu is ready to sign on to this 21-point White House peace proposal?

MICHAEL OREN, FORMER MEMBER OF ISRAELI KNESSET: Good to be with you, Wolf. It's a very interesting proposal. Look, what's been published so far is as you just posted on the screen. It's basically an end to the war, the release of all the hostages, reconstruction of Gaza, and -- and a peace plan. A peace plan that will have a pathway, quote- unquote, a pathway to Palestinian statehood.

All that looks very good on paper. The devil is very much in the details here. It calls basically for Hamas to surrender, to say it's giving up on its jihad, giving up its weapons. That the Hamas members who remain in Gaza, according to the plan, have to actually take a pledge that they will no longer pursue terror, that they will actually accept Israel's right to exist and accept the peace process. I don't know if Hamas is prepared to do that.

On the Israeli side, the key members of the prime minister's coalition, even his own party, reject any discussion of that pathway and any involvement of the Palestinian Authority in a post-Gaza arrangement. So there are significant obstacles on both sides. It will be very interesting how these two leaders will somehow maneuver around these obstacles and come out with what looks like a plan for ending this war.

BLITZER: You know, the plan, the 21-point peace plan that's been reported on and published in various news media organizations also includes not only the return of all the Israeli hostages, the ones who are still alive, about 20 Israeli hostages, and the bodies of the remaining Israeli hostages, but in exchange, Israel would free, release, perhaps 1,000 Palestinian terrorists who have been convicted of all sorts of crimes in Israel and allow them to go free. Is that something you think Netanyahu will accept?

OREN: Well, he has accepted it in the past. He accepted it in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011. Israel freed 1,027 convicted terrorists. About 80 percent of them went back to being active members of Hamas, including Yahya Sinwar, who became the head of Hamas and the architect of the October 7th massacres. So and this is -- every deal that Israel has struck with Hamas and, interestingly enough, also with Hezbollah in the north, has involved the release of great numbers of Palestinian or Lebanese terrorist prisoners from our -- from Israeli jails.

So there's precedent, certainly, and -- and Netanyahu will go back to his government and say, you know, what can we do? We have established a precedent. I think the major point here, Wolf, is -- is Netanyahu's relationship with Donald Trump. Israel is facing, as you know, increasing isolation in the world, the possibility of sanctions, boycotts.

There's one major barrier to that, and that is Donald Trump. And Netanyahu is going to do everything possible not to in any way alienate this president. We've seen, and I -- I say this delicately, we've seen in the U.N. in the last couple of weeks how the President can change his position very quickly, on the Ukraine, for example. And it'd be very, very delicate always to maintain a very solid relationship between the prime minister and the President.

BLITZER: In his 21-point plan, Trump is now supporting what he calls a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood. And, of course, we -- we know that Netanyahu strongly opposes what's called a two-state solution, a new state of Palestine living alongside Israel. How serious of a problem is this between these two leaders?

OREN: A serious problem internally for -- for Netanyahu. The question is whether he can agree to that and maintain his coalition, or whether there be opposition heads. Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot, you know these people, are the heads of the opposition. Whether they would come into the government and prevent it from falling, even if the most radical elements in the coalition leave the coalition.

The -- the key word here is pathway, Wolf. What is a pathway? A pathway is a thing with gravel. It's not saying Israel has to create a Palestinian state, it just has to discuss the pathway. This is an old and longstanding Saudi requirement. I think the Saudis understand that it's difficult for Israel to create a Palestinian state, but they certainly need to discuss it. But even that discussion would prove very difficult for the present Israeli government with these radical right-wing coalition members.

[11:25:23]

BLITZER: Yes, in a speech the other day at the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu strongly, categorically rejected any notion of a future Palestinian state. We'll see what happens on this issue in these talks later today. Ambassador Michael Oren, thanks so much for joining us.

OREN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And we'll be right back.

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[11:30:06]

BLITZER: Happening today, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to vote on --