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Illinois, Chicago Sue Trump Admin. Over Natl. Guard Deployment; Delegations In Egypt For Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Talks. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 06, 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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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, deployment denied. A federal judge is blocking President Trump's plan to send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, as he greenlights hundreds of troops for Chicago.

Plus, Bad Bunny bites back at the backlash over his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show.

And they fight asthma, but are they quietly fueling climate change? The shocking new study about the inhalers millions of Americans use.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is off, and you're in The Situation Room.

Happening now, Illinois and Chicago are suing the Trump administration over its move to deploy National Guard troops to the Windy City. President Trump this weekend authorized 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, and Texas is planning to send its Guard troops to Illinois.

Meanwhile, in Portland, Oregon, the National Guard is blocked, rarely, from any deployment. A Trump-appointed federal judge stopped the administration's efforts to send more troops there. The White House says the operations are aimed at protecting federal officers and buildings during anti-ICE protests.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed that just moments ago. CNN law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild is in Chicago, and our Kristen Holmes is at the White House. So, Whitney, I want to start with you. What did the mayor say?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, the mayor has made clear that he is signing as many executive orders as he can to try to push back against this infringement, you know, his words, by, you know, federal authorities like the Department of Homeland Security, like the potential for the National Guard to move into the city.

So we've seen several of these. Pamela, today he signed an executive order that creates ICE-free zones, and it prohibits ICE from operating on city-owned property and then goes even a step further, Pamela, and prohibits ICE from operating, either, you know, enforcing an operation or even using it as a staging area, areas that are owned by private businesses, empowering private businesses to push back against ICE. Here's more from the mayor just minutes ago.

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MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON (D), CHICAGO: The order establishes ICE-free zones. That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids. Extending this protection beyond city-owned land, the order builds a broad civic shield that limits the reach of harmful enforcement practices. It strengthens neighborhood solidarity, and it reaffirms Chicago's role as a welcoming city. The fact is we cannot allow them to rampage throughout our city with no checks or balances. Nobody is above the law.

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WILD: Pamela, the question is, who is going to enforce this? Will ICE voluntarily agree to this? Will the Chicago Police Department be forced to enforce that? The mayor was asked about that. He did not clarify exactly who would enforce this and exactly how.

Meanwhile, Pamela, as you mentioned, Illinois has now filed their lawsuit. This happened within the last hour, as this is something they've been talking about. They have now feel like they have grounds to sue the Trump administration over the deployment of the National Guard. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Thanks so much, Whitney Wild. Kristen, to bring you in, what is the White House saying?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: OK, so when it comes to both Illinois and Portland, they're not backing down. This is something that they view these blocks, at least in Portland, as somewhat annoying, but they believe that sending in the National Guard, talking about fighting crime, particularly in Democratic cities, is a winning issue for them.

Now, let's talk about Portland specifically, because as you mentioned, this was the second time a judge had blocked the National Guard from coming into Portland, or at least temporarily blocked it, in two days. And of course, from the White House, we've heard a scathing criticism of this order.

But just remember, let's reiterate what you said, this was a Trump- appointed judge. Both judges were Trump-appointed judges. So let's talk about what's actually in that order. So the order blocks federalized members of the National Guard going anywhere in the U.S. to Portland, Oregon. It also temporarily is a restraining order that is in effect until October 19th, and the next hearing is not -- and is not happening until October 17th.

Now, Trump has argued that the troops are needed against protesters targeting Portland ICE facility. That has been strongly disputed by local officials on the ground. The judge said Portland did not pose a, "danger of rebellion."

Now, I do want to give you a statement here. This is from the White House talking about this order. It says, the facts haven't changed, President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement.

We also have a statement from the Oregon governor who says the rule of law must stand. It's not just about Oregon or a handful of states anymore. It's about the integrity of our democracy.

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Taking all of this as a whole, we are hearing from the White House. They are going to fight this in court. They believe this is a temporary holdup. And if it's a continuation of a holdup in Portland, they're going to have their eyes on other cities. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, we'll see how this all plays out. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much.

New this morning, some of those who took part of the aid flotilla for Gaza say they were mistreated while in Israeli custody. This is a group of 21 of those former detainees arriving in Spain. You see right here, the Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg is among some 170 flotilla participants deported by Israel. She and the others have spent several days in custody.

Some of the freed activists say they were subjected to beatings, rotten food and undrinkable water and say they're worried for the safety of the flotilla participants still being held. Israel calls the claims of mistreatment, "brazen lies."

And in southern England, police are investigating the arson attack on a mosque as a hate crime. This doorbell video captures two men pouring gasoline on the mosque steps and then setting it ablaze. This is video from the next day. You can see the burned car that was shown in the doorbell cam. Two men were inside the mosque and were able to escape without injuries. This comes just days after a deadly attack outside a synagogue in Manchester.

Still ahead, Gaza ceasefire talks are getting underway in Egypt as President Trump makes a new threat against Hamas.

And thousands of jobs are on the line as the government shutdown enters its first full week. I'm going to speak to a union leader about what these employees are facing. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: Happening now, Illinois and Chicago are suing the Trump administration over its move to deploy National Guard troops to the Windy City. President Trump this weekend authorized 300 members of the Illinois National Guard. The White House says the goal is protecting federal officers and buildings during anti-ICE protests. Joining us now is Lawrence Benito, the Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Lawrence, thanks for coming on. So what are you hearing from your community right now?

LAWRENCE BENITO, EXEC. DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE RIGHTS: Well, on the streets of Chicago and the near suburbs, we're seeing increasingly aggressive tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the threat of an even larger presence of the National Guard. The presence of the federal agents are unwanted, unlawful and unnecessarily putting people, citizens and non-citizens alike, at risk. There's another way and we can and we must do better.

BROWN: So let's discuss that operation at a Chicago apartment building overnight last week. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 37 undocumented immigrants were arrested in that operation and the building was targeted because it was known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua gang members. How do you respond to people who say these sorts of efforts are making the country safer?

BENITO: Well, there is no evidence to show that ICE operations were conducted for those reasons. They used Black Hawk -- Black Hawk helicopters to repel ICE agents in full military gear in the middle of the night in a working-class neighborhood. These kind of tactics are not putting community -- making community safer. They're putting them more at -- at risk. And people are increasingly seeing the aggressive tactics, you know, by ICE and saying this is not the country -- kind of country that we want. We don't need the federal guard. We don't need increased, you know, troops.

If -- if it is case -- the case that they're trying to make our streets safer, then why are they acting with such lack of transparency? Unmask the agents. Be more transparent about who you are trying to pick up because we saw through accounts and video kids, families being zip-tied, right, in the middle of the night for hours at a time, citizens and non-citizens being targeted.

BROWN: Yes. And -- and we're checking on that about the zip ties. But just to follow up, you know, per DHS, two people were arrested in that operation are believed to be members of the gang Tren de Aragua and a number of others arrested had criminal histories, including aggravated batteries and possession of a controlled substance. Is there any upside that those people are now off of Chicago streets?

BENITO: Well, what we have seen is ICE repeatedly making statements that are completely untrue. If they are, then please come forward. Please -- please state and -- and show evidence of -- of their activity and their harm. But I don't think the aggressive nature of -- of ICE warrants the kind of operations that they are doing in our -- on our streets. I think for those two individuals, if those -- if that's indeed the case, I think there is a different way of -- of detaining those people at this -- at this time.

BROWN: And tenants of that apartment building are also saying that it appears U.S. citizens were detained by federal officers and then released hours later. I'm curious, given everything that is going on and what your organization does. How is it impacting community members day to day and -- and, you know, just their sense of feeling safe?

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BENITO: Well, they're turning our neighborhoods into training grounds for our federal troops. I don't -- I don't think that's how they should be used. That's not what they sign -- signed up for. So if -- if they are truly about trying to create safety, we know what keeps our communities safe.

They've shut down the government, many parts of the government, with the exception of -- of ICE activities. Let's invest in violence prevention programs. Let's invest in affordable housing. Let's invest in our -- in our workers. Let's invest in health care. Those are reasonable things that we can be doing to make sure that our communities are safer and communities have what they need.

BROWN: OK. Lawrence Benito, thank you so much. We appreciate your time.

BENITO: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: All right. New today, more negotiations are getting underway with Israel, Hamas and the U.S. The talks in Egypt focus on President Trump's ceasefire plan. He has called on Israel to pause its bombing. But this morning, as you see, smoke has been seen over central Gaza. At least 100 Palestinians have been killed since Friday when President Trump told Israel to stop. And tomorrow marks two years since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel that ignited this war. Here is a dramatic visual reminder of its ravages.

Right here, look at this of Gaza on the left, Gaza before the war. On the right, the flattened cityscape after two years of Israeli strikes. Let's continue this conversation with Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East peace negotiator for the State Department and CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel, Cedric Leighton. Aaron, do you believe Israel and Hamas are closer to a ceasefire or at least the release of the hostages?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPT. MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: You know, my -- my experience with these negotiations, particularly Israelis and Palestinians, that they only have two speeds, slow and slower. I do think, though, that there are new factors now that have brought us closer than ever, even though the details with respect to ever need to be finalized. The key issue here is Donald Trump.

No president in my experience, Republican or Democrat, has ever pressured an Israeli prime minister in the way and to the degree that Donald Trump has spoken with Benjamin Netanyahu on an issue for Netanyahu which is critical to his political survival. And since he's conflated that survival with the national security the -- of the country, to Israel's security, it's rather extraordinary.

And the reason we're having this conversation, it's great to be here with you and Cedric, is largely because of Trump's pushing and pressuring the prime minister. BROWN: On that note, what do you make of the fact that the lead Israeli negotiator isn't part of these talks right now in Egypt? He's not there. What do you think about that?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, that's very strange to me, and I'm not sure if Aaron has a different view on this. But I would say that, you know, the lead negotiator not being there is a key signal that maybe Israel doesn't think that it's going to use these negotiations to advance its interests. In other words, that Israel may say these negotiations are really not going to provide the solution that it is seeking, and that may be a signal that Israel is prepared to resume military operations to the fullest extent possible.

BROWN: Does it make any difference in your calculation that he -- he could be participating later remotely?

LEIGHTON: I suppose that's possible, but, you know, in those -- in these kinds of situations, it's always good to be there in person, face-to-face with at least the intermediaries, in this case, because I know they don't negotiate directly with Hamas, but it is one of those areas where it is really important for them to be there if they want to achieve a solution, and if they're not there, they're not going to achieve that solution.

BROWN: So let's look at those pictures again, the side-by-side of the photo showing just the devastation in Gaza right here. How much more can Israel's military achieve in Gaza?

LEIGHTON: Really not very much, Pamela, and part of the problem is that the Israelis have actually, in essence, destroyed at least 70 percent of the actual structures and then made basically 90 percent of them unusable, and that is something where they've definitely achieved what they can achieve militarily. But what they haven't done is they haven't really determined what their end state is, and that's a real problem because they -- they do say, you know, they want to destroy Hamas as being part of their end state, but that's an unrealistic end state because, you know, once you get into the psychology of a particular rival or a particular adversary, you have to understand where they're coming from, and they're not doing anything to get rid of the psychological underpinnings that made Hamas possible, and that's, I think, a very significant problem.

In fact, they're doing the exact opposite. They're making it much easier for Hamas to recruit the remnants of the Gaza population. They're much -- making it much easier for Hamas to be in a position where they can come back another day, and that's going to be a real problem long term for the Israelis.

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BROWN: Right. The psychological underpinnings, I think that is such an important point, right? And to bring you back in, Aaron, you know, you have Israel wanting Hamas to disarm. You have Hamas wanting guarantees of safe passage for senior Hamas officials leaving the territory, which obviously, you know, comes at a sensitive time. You said that -- that Hamas leadership targeted in Qatar, right? So if agreed upon, do you think Hamas or Israel could be trusted to honor those commitments? I mean, and do you even think they could be agreed upon at this point?

MILLER: Look, right now, Pamela, we're -- we're talking about a partial implementation at best of the President's 20-point plan. Once you get into the broader issues, an international stabilization force, who's going to constitute it? Will the Arabs really deploy? Were the Israelis still in Gaza fighting and killing Hamas fighters? What about decommissioning, taking away Hamas's weapons, demilitarization of the Gaza Strip? And then there's the issue of the technocratic government.

Right now, if in the next 10 days you get a deal which frees 48 hostages living and dead, you get a diminution of Israeli kinetic activity, military activity, more defensive posture, they stop their offensive against Gaza City. You get an environment where aid can be brought in, access to potable water, sanitation, shelter, inadequate food supply. You get that within the next 10 days, and you will achieve an extraordinary thing.

The rest of it, frankly, right now, is tethered to a galaxy far, far away, rather than to the cruel and unforgiving realities of what's occurring back here on planet Earth. And the truth is, Pam, if Donald Trump gets these hostages out and reduces Israeli military activity, he will rightly consider that he has accomplished an extraordinary, extraordinary thing. Then the question, of course, becomes, is he, will he be focused on the broader issues which could actually end the war and lead to something that normal humans, the three of us, for that matter, would agree could be a more peaceful conflict-ending solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Tough lifts ahead. But I'm more upbeat now, frankly, than I've been in quite some time.

BROWN: Wow. Are you as upbeat as Aaron, Colonel?

LEIGHTON: I'm -- I'm upbeat that at least there's going to be a bit of a tactical solution to this. I think that's very possible. I'm a bit more concerned about the longer-term possibilities, but there is movement in those areas as well. So I'm basically suspicious that we're not quite at the -- at the end state that President Trump wants us to be at. But it doesn't mean we haven't made progress. And that is, of course, a significant thing.

And as Aaron mentioned, these are, you know, critical components to something that could come afterwards. But we have to wait and see what the results are going to be at this point.

BROWN: All right, Aaron David Miller, Colonel Cedric Leighton, great to have you both on and hearing your perspectives on this pivotal moment. Thanks so much.

[11:23:32]

Coming up right here in The Situation Room, new charges against a former NFL quarterback. The latest details about Mark Sanchez, next.

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BROWN: Happening now, the government shutdown drags on into its sixth day. The Senate will vote again on a Republican-backed funding bill later today, but so far, neither side appears ready to compromise, and now the White House is threatening tough actions.

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KEVIN HASSETT, WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISER: Today, the -- the Senate opens its gavel, I think, around 3 o'clock. I expect there'll be a team of people in the Oval with the President hoping that we're going to get the government to stop being shut down, but if not, then I would guess that that team in the Oval is going to start taking sharp measures.

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BROWN: Everett Kelley is president of the American Federation of Government Employees. Everett, thanks for coming on. So the Trump administration has threatened to use this shutdown to fire federal employees. How concerned are you that the administration will follow through on this threat? Bring us into how your members are feeling.

EVERETT KELLEY, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVT. EMPLOYEES: Well, you know, I take the threat very seriously. Number one, you know, this administration is, you know, you -- you can't determine what they're going to do, right, next. So I take this threat very seriously. The members that I represent take this threat very seriously, you know. And what we want is for the government to open so that these employees can provide the services that they provide for the American people and they get paid on time.

BROWN: And they're supposed to be getting paid mid-month, right?

KELLEY: That is correct.

BROWN: Yes. So your union has asked a federal judge court to stop the Trump administration from conducting these mass firings. Bring us up to speed on where that lawsuit stands and why you filed it.

KELLEY: Well, we filed it because, first of all, we think that it's a violation of the law. We think it's illegal for the President to fire massive amounts of employees simply because they can't agree on politics, you know.

[11:29:59]

And so we will always defend the members that we represent in that manner. So the lawsuit has been filed. We believe that we'll prevail. We believe that it's illegal. And --