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Government Shutdown Enters Ninth Day; Rep. Greene on Health Care Showdown; Israeli Security Cabinet Meeting on Gaza Ceasefire Plan; Trump to Meet with Cabinet After Gaza Breakthrough. Aired 10:30- 11a ET

Aired October 09, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now. House Republicans are holding a news conference as the government shutdown enters its ninth day. There's still no deal to end the partisan stalemate in sight, and tensions are clearly building up on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a one-year extension. Why don't we sign on right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you a question. Did you get permission from your boss? Did your boss -- Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't we sign on right now? You can easily extend the ACA right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did your boss Donald Trump -- did you --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not my boss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he's not. And by the way --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, let me ask you a question --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- why did you vote to shut the government down? Why did you vote to shut it down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you a question --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For years, you always lectured about how we need to keep the government open.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're making a show of this to make yourself relevant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's sad. It's sad. You could easily sign on to this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're embarrassing yourself right now. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could sign on to this. The only embarrassment here is you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're an embarrassment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could sign on to the bill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you a question --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have four Democrats on here. Why won't you sign on to it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you a question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a clean extension for one year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you a question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Perhaps one of the most controversial members of Congress, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, usually draws the ire of Democrats, but now she's speaking out against some in her own party and coming out in favor of what Democrats demand to reopen the government, an extension of enhanced health care subsidies.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Congressman Greene, thank you for joining us here in the Situation Room. We appreciate it.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA), OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE AND HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: So, let's start there. Let's start with the shutdown. So, you voted for the short-term funding bill, but now you're talking about this health care issue. Help us better understand. Why now?

GREENE: Well, actually, this is something I talked about when I first ran for Congress in 2020, because I grew up in a construction company family, bought that company after my -- after college and retired my parents. And after the ACA was passed --

BLITZER: The Affordable Care Act.

GREENE: Yes, the Affordable Care Act, our family's health insurance premium went from $800 a month to $2,400 a month. So, I've known about this as a major problem for a long time. It's not just ACA recipients whose premiums are going to skyrocket very soon. It has been a disaster for many Americans across the board. And cost of living is so high now. Many of my constituents, many of my friends, and even my own children are finding health insurance to be extremely unaffordable and something that they are having to go without.

So, I think this is an incredibly important issue. I think it is a crisis. I don't think it's something to wear political party team jerseys on. I think it's something that we have to address and fix.

BLITZER: And it's very personal for you.

GREENE: Very personal. It's affected my own life. And the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. So, we're 15 years down the road, and the industry has changed drastically. Many companies dropped out of the market. We've seen doctors stop having their own practices and become hospital employees. We now have to import doctors because we don't have enough. Health care has drastically changed.

And I just -- I get -- I'm one of those that gets real tired of political drama when it's not actually solving a problem. And this is such a crisis that I'm willing to say, OK, everyone, we have to do something about this. It shouldn't be something that we dangle the American people or military pay or all of these things. We shouldn't be dangling them back and forth. We have to fix it.

BLITZER: And it's -- what are you hearing from your constituents right now? And do you have any regrets about voting for that short- term continuing resolution, that spending bill?

[10:35:00]

GREENE: Thank you for that question. Number one, I am a Republican, and I support the president. I was very vocal about I didn't want to vote for a CR. I want to pass our appropriations. That's our constitutional duty, and I want to bring that taxpayer dollars back to my district. I work hard on that. So, that was important to me. But I support the president, and I voted for the CR.

Number two, what am I hearing from my constituents? It's great. We track all the calls that come into my office. About 60 percent of the calls coming in right now are calls of support and saying, yes, health insurance is a crisis. They're telling us stories about how they're already paying $2,000 a month with $10,000 deductibles. I'm getting phone calls from people that are saying if the ACA tax credits expire, they aren't going to be able to have health insurance. They're going to have to drop it.

But I'm hearing from people on both sides, people already on the ACA and people that are already getting crushed by high health insurance premiums.

BROWN: I want to ask you about this new Washington Post poll. It shows that 47 percent of Americans believe that President Trump and the Republicans are mainly responsible for the shutdown, you see it here on the screen, compared to just 30 percent of Americans who blame Democrats. Of course, Republicans are the ones with the power. Do you agree with Americans in that poll that see the shutdown as your party's fault?

GREENE: You know what? I don't think the shutdown is popular for either side. And so, I see the shutdown completely different from maybe my party leadership. And I'm not putting the blame on the president. I'm actually putting the blame on the speaker and Leader Thune in the Senate. This should not be happening.

And I don't think -- look, as a member of Congress, we already have a low enough job approval rating. This shutdown is just going to drive everybody's approval rating that much lower.

BROWN: So, you're putting the blame on the leadership of your party.

GREENE: Absolutely. We control the House. We control the Senate. We have the White House. I've been vocal saying, you know, you can use the nuclear option in the Senate. This doesn't have to be a shutdown. But what we have to do is we have to work for the American people.

And our country is so divided right now. We see it all the time in every single way. It's divided in what I would say very dangerous ways. And we saw that with the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, which has upset so many people across the board.

And I -- look, when it comes to hearing from senior citizens or my own friends and neighbors and my own family members and people that voted for me, and they're just saying, Marjorie, we just really want somebody to do something about health insurance premiums. We really want our government and our leaders to actually focus on our country for a change and fix our problems. That is the message I constantly hear from my district.

And I'm a representative. I don't have to be a cheerleader for my party. I have to represent my district because those are the people that hired me and sent me here. And I, myself, I agree with them. And I'm pretty much over the -- it's just drama constantly on TV. No offense, because you guys are on television. But that's all that we see in American politics now.

BLITZER: You know, there's a reporting that President Trump, as you know, recently called at least two senior Republicans to ask, and I'm quoting now from these reports, "What's going on with Marjorie?" end quote. Have you talked to the president about this issue personally? It's obviously so personal for you.

GREENE: Well, you know, the president has my cell phone number, and he's called me many, many times. So, if he wants --

BROWN: How recently? How recent?

GREENE: I don't get into that kind of details, but he knows how to call me and he can ask me himself. But here's the deal. There's also this -- and I'm not blaming you guys, but there is a media narrative trying to say that I don't support the president. I absolutely support the president. I campaigned for him for years. But I'm also an action person, and I want my party to solve problems.

BROWN: And you say that he's not getting good advice, though. You told Manu Raju what specifically?

GREENE: Well, I don't think it's good advice that a government shutdown is going to help Republicans in the midterms. I don't agree with that. I also don't think it's good advice that Republicans ignoring the health insurance crisis is going to be good for midterms. I actually think that would be very bad for midterms. And I think that just not staying focused on America First policies is detrimental as well. BROWN: Yes, and on that note, are you concerned about the cost of living --

GREENE: Very.

BROWN: -- that President Trump said he would lower?

GREENE: Inflation crushed people in the past four and a half years, and the costs have not come down. I myself can tell you my apartment here in Washington, D.C., the electricity bill is $100 more than it was last year because you can look at your own bill and look at costs. Prices have not come down. That is a reality. People's wages have not gone up. That's another reality. And so, Americans are continuing to have a very difficult time getting by.

[10:40:00]

And I'll go a step further. I'm a mom. And so, when it comes to what is affecting my adult children's lives, who are 22, 26, and 28, I'm going to be 1,000 percent fighting for them over any politician in any party. And I can tell you right now, that generation, they are barely making it, and they're very hopeless for their future.

BLITZER: So, you're a mom first, a politician second?

GREENE: That's right. I'm a mom first.

BLITZER: That's good to hear.

BROWN: So, I want to just ask you also about another issue you've been really outspoken about, and of course that is the Jeffrey Epstein files, wanting to release those. I know Democrats have also been calling for that, a few other Republicans as well. The Democrats are accusing Speaker Johnson of delaying the swearing-in of Arizona's Democratic Congresswoman-elect, because she would give the last vote needed to release those Epstein files. I'm wondering, you know, the speaker for his part, he has denied that. He said it's because of the shutdown.

Have you spoken to him? Do you think she should be sworn in right away?

GREENE: Well, I'll say it like this. I can't conclusively say if that's why the House is not in session, but the House should be in session. And the House should be in session for many reasons. We have appropriation bills that need to get passed. There is a new Democrat that's been elected that does deserve to be sworn in. Her district elected her. We have other bills that we need to be passing. And if it's to avoid the discharge petition, why drag this out? That is going to have 218 signatures. And so, I say go ahead and do it and get it over with.

BLITZER: You know, the big news that we're all following right now is obviously the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and Gaza, and the hostage deal that all the remaining Israeli hostages, dead and alive, will be allowed to go back to Israel. President Trump says he might be going to the region as early as this Friday. He wants to be there when this historic moment unfolds. He wants to witness this, talk to his aides, talk to the Israelis, talk to the Palestinians as well. Do you have any concerns at all that this deal could still, God forbid, fall apart?

GREENE: I don't know. I certainly applaud the president. This has been one of the issues that I've campaigned on and talked about constantly. I'm very much against America's involvement in foreign wars. And the president has worked very hard on this.

However, we have to see Israel and Hamas, both sides, truly cement this agreement. But I certainly hope for all involved that this definitely is a peace deal that will remain.

BLITZER: Yes. We all hope that, yes.

BROWN: And on July 28th, you talked about that. You said, quote, "It's the most truthful and easiest thing to say that October 7th in Israel was horrific and that all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza."

On that note, when it comes to the genocide, do you believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal?

GREENE: I don't know if I can accuse him of being a war criminal. However -- well, let's just say both issues are bad. That's why I said that. What happened on October 7th is absolutely horrific. And, of course, our hearts go out to those families and those hostages that remain. But at the same time, the relentless bombing of the Palestinian people, and many of them have been just innocent people.

They're not Hamas. They're literally women and children, and you can't unsee the amount of pictures and videos of children that have been blown to pieces or they're finding them dead in the rubble. That isn't -- those aren't actors. That isn't fake war propaganda. It's very real, and I think that is equally horrific. I just really want to see an end to it, and I think most Americans do.

BROWN: I mean, with President Trump's involvement, it looks like, you know, this first phase, the ceasefire, it's happening. We're monitoring all of that closely. Of course, it's very tenuous. I want to ask you about something else that Ted Cruz responded to.

So, you recently suggested on X that a, quote, "foreign government or powerful people may try to kill you." Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas shared that post of yours on X, writing, quote, "Why do crazy people keep thinking the Jews are trying to kill them?" What do you say to Cruz, and what did you mean by that?

GREENE: Well, first, that was an extremely ridiculous thing for Ted Cruz to say. I never said Jewish people. I'm not anti-Semitic. I don't hate any people group for their identity or who they are. So, that was unbelievably low for a sitting U.S. senator to say that. But what I'm talking about is very real. I have a tremendous amount of death threats. It's documented. I have some of the highest amount of death threats as a sitting member in the House of Representatives. [10:45:00]

And when you speak about certain issues, we can watch the calls and the e-mails and the messages. They increase and the threats increase. And so, when I say I am seriously concerned for my life and I say if something ever happens to me, I really mean it. I'm -- it's OK for me to say that. This is a time that we're living in where we're seeing political violence, and I'm totally against it completely in every which way.

But when I say something like that and to have another Republican of my own party insult me and insinuate I'm saying something I never said is absolutely unacceptable.

BROWN: Right. And I know a lot of members of Congress are getting threats, which is, you know, we can't tolerate that. But when you say the foreign government are powerful people, who specifically were you alluding to there?

GREENE: I'm saying anyone, any foreign government, any people of power. I'm talking about the Epstein list. This has been the most -- I don't understand why. I genuinely do not understand why there's been any effort to hide this and prevent it from coming out. But because of the efforts for years now to hide it and prevent it from coming out, it certainly makes you feel afraid when you're one of the ones truly on the front lines pushing it to come out.

I also serve on the Oversight Committee, and we're leading that investigation there, so I'm involved on both fronts, the Oversight Committee investigation as well as my signatures on the discharge petition.

BROWN: And you don't think Oversight's doing enough, then, on that?

GREENE: Actually, to tell you the truth, the Oversight investigation has the power to go much further than Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna's resolution.

BROWN: But they're not doing that. Why do you think that is, in your view?

GREENE: Actually -- well, number one, there's a government shutdown, and the House is not in session, so nothing is happening. But actually, the Oversight Committee has subpoenaed a lot more information than Thomas Massie's resolution specifically calls for.

But here's my stance. I'll work on any -- this involves women who were raped, women at 14 years old who were raped. And they say there's more people involved. I don't know how anyone in their good conscience can be against letting that information come out. So, I want to help on any front that I can.

BLITZER: You're a courageous politician, but more important, a loving mother. Thanks very much for coming in. We hope you'll come back here in the Situation Room.

GREENE: I would love to. Thank you very much.

BROWN: Thank you so much.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Congresswoman. Appreciate it very, very much. And coming up in the next hour in the Situation Room, President Trump convenes his Cabinet here in Washington after Israel and Hamas agree to the first phase of the U.S.-brokered Gaza plan. We're going to bring that to you live, including the question-and-answer session that the president will have at that Cabinet meeting. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

BLITZER: The breaking news we're following right now. Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire plan. Right now, the Israeli cabinet is meeting in Jerusalem and is expected to give its approval. They're celebrating in Tel Aviv hostage families and other Israelis. The plan calls for the return of all Israeli hostages, both living and dead. In exchange, Israel will release some of its Palestinian prisoners. And Israeli troops would withdraw from Gaza to an agreed upon land. After two years of war, both sides of the Gaza border are celebrating this breakthrough, as you can see what's going on in Tel Aviv right now.

Joining us now is CNN analyst and Axios global affairs correspondent Barak Ravid. He knows the story. He knows it well. Barak, thanks very much for joining us. The war has killed nearly 67,000 Palestinians according to the Palestinian health ministry. And what's left of Gaza is in the grips of a humanitarian crisis. So, what has changed to bring Israel and Hamas together now?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, FORMER AXIOS MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS: I think two major things changed. On the one hand, on Hamas' side, I think Qatar, Egypt and Turkey managed to convince Hamas for the first time that keeping the hostages is not an asset, it's a liability. And that now is the time to, quote/unquote, "cash in" and give back the hostages in return for ending the war. And I think that's a shift in Hamas' thinking that now is the time to give back the hostages in order to end the war. This is number one.

Number two, it's the fact that I think Donald Trump, after the Israeli strike in Qatar, had enough. And he ratcheted up the pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu and made it clear to him that now is the time to end the war. Obviously, the military pressure that Netanyahu ordered and led on Hamas in the last two years obviously had also influence. But I think it was Donald Trump that saw an opening and took this crisis over the Israeli strike in Qatar and turned it into an opportunity and saw how this could lead, this could create a path that would get both Netanyahu and Hamas to agree to a deal at this current time.

BLITZER: Yes, there's no doubt that President Trump deserves a lot of credit for achieving this breakthrough right now. It's historic. President Trump spoke by phone, as you know, with some of the hostages' families and told them that their loved ones will be freed, he said probably on Monday, this coming Monday. Obviously, they are desperate to be reunited with their loved ones after two years. What do you see as the potential roadblocks, God forbid, that could potentially stop this agreement?

[10:55:00]

RAVID: Well, first, you know, the war is still going on. There's still not -- the official ceasefire has not come into effect yet. So, every second something can happen that will -- on the ground, that will derail the process. Number two, I think we'll have to see that Hamas really releases all the live hostages in the first 72 hours after the deal is approved, as the agreement says.

And another point is that Hamas at the moment is trying to get its last achievements out of these negotiations when it's negotiating the last names of the prisoners that Israel is going to release. This is the last issue that still hasn't been settled 100 percent. It was -- it's been settled 98 percent. We're now talking about like five or 10 names of prisoners that they're haggling over. So, I think that -- I don't think this would derail the deal, but it's a sensitive issue that we need to look to look for.

BLITZER: Yes. And over the years, as you and I well know, when there have been these negotiations to release Palestinian terrorists convicted of terrorism being held in Israeli jails in exchange for Israeli soldiers and others who were being held by Palestinians, Israel has agreed to those exchanges. We'll see if that happens again. I suspect they will.

If this ceasefire agreement holds, and we all hope it will hold, Barak, how much would that add to President Trump's push to receive the Nobel Peace Prize?

RAVID: Well, I don't know if, you know, because the decision -- the announcement is tomorrow. I'm not sure. I'm imagining the decision was already -- has already been made by the committee. But there's always next year. And if this agreement holds, then, you know, I don't think anybody can dispute the fact that President Trump will deserve a Nobel Peace Prize.

And by the way, from my conversations with both President Trump just the other day and with his team, he's not planning to stop here. Meaning this ceasefire, the end of this war, is a beginning of a push he's going to conduct to broaden the Abraham Accords, to get a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, to move forward on maybe also the Israeli-Palestinian track. So, I don't think this deal is the end. I think it's the beginning of something that could be much bigger.

BLITZER: Yes, I think you make a very, very important and very serious point indeed, that this could be a huge breakthrough in the Middle East. The Abraham Accords, in which Israel wound up establishing full diplomatic relations with several key Arab countries like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and others, was very, very significant. Some people thought that Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize for the Abraham Accords. Let's see if that happens this time around with these -- the hostage deal, the release of the hostages and a ceasefire. Barak Ravid, you know your stuff. Thank you very, very much.

RAVID: Thank you, Wolf.

BROWN: And still ahead, right here in the Situation Room, President Trump will be holding a Cabinet meeting after his breakthrough on Gaza. We will bring that to you live.

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