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Yankees Eliminated; IRS Conducts Furloughs; Transportation Secretary Threatens to Fire Missing Air Traffic Controllers; Americans Losing Trust in Federal Health Leadership; Cease-Fire Deal in Gaza. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired October 09, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:05]

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, SENIOR CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That did not happen yesterday. And so we will see if things will start to get back to normal.

But to argue today that somehow this area, this one stretch, this one block is under siege, I don't know how the administration is going to go about doing that.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And I just want to point out that the White House statement said the judge impermissibly second-guessed the president's military judgments, arguing tense protests at ICE facilities are the main reason for mobilizing these troops.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Absolutely.

All right, Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much for bringing us the latest there from Portland.

And just ahead: Israelis and Palestinians both celebrating the cease- fire deal and what it means after two years of brutal fighting in Gaza. We're going to get reaction from former U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:35:12]

BLITZER: Breaking news, Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a cease-fire plan. And it calls for the return of all Israeli hostages, both living and dead. In exchange, Israel would release some Palestinian prisoners and its troops would withdraw to an agreed-upon line.

This comes after two years of war that has killed some 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and destroyed so much of Gaza.

Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM is CNN's senior political and global affairs commentator, Rahm Emanuel. Rahm served as mayor of Chicago, chief of staff during the Obama White House. Rahm, this is a very significant agreement. How much credit do you

think President Trump deserves?

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: He deserves credit, there's no doubt. And America's once again reestablished the fact that in the Middle East it is the essential power.

There's no doubt about that. I think also I would say that not written and covered, the Israeli public and the Palestinians in Gaza deserve credit because they put pressure on the two -- on the leading -- both entities, both Hamas, as well as the Israeli government, to force them into this position that they didn't want to be.

Third, I would say the other piece of this, Wolf, is that as you both -- as we both know from Middle East and our history of working this issue, this is the first paragraph of what's next, not the last paragraph of what just ended. And where this goes, America's going to play a major role in deciding that road from here.

Lastly, I would say does President Trump take the lesson out of here of what he applied the pressure on Bibi Netanyahu? Will he do the same and take the lesson and apply that same pressure and leverage that he has with President Putin to end that war?

BLITZER: And Ukraine, the war in Ukraine, the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

EMANUEL: Yes, that war, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: If this peace deal, this cease-fire deal works and all the hostages come back to Israel and all the humanitarian aid and medicine and food start returning to Gaza right now, does President Trump deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?

EMANUEL: Well, as you know, back in January, I wrote a piece, literally, his hunger for a Nobel Peace Prize. The committee there will decide, but there are four areas that will determine that.

And what -- that's why I meant what I said, which is this is the first paragraph of what's next. If he decides to say, OK, here's what we're going to build out of this, then he deserves it. If he decides to use his leverage and knowledge of how to leverage to end the war in Ukraine and end the gray zone war, he will deserve it.

But you don't get -- you don't -- there's not an award for a cease- fire. There's an award for peace. And he has to achieve that peace. But this is no doubt an essential building block.

BLITZER: It's a very significant moment, indeed, historic moment.

EMANUEL: Yes. Yes.

BLITZER: He's going to be heading to the region in the next few days to watch it all unfold.

EMANUEL: Yes.

BLITZER: You're the former Chicago mayor, among many other important titles that you have had, former U.S. ambassador to Japan.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: The Texas National Guard is now just outside of your hometown of Chicago. Next hour, Chicago and Illinois, for that matter, will argue that President Trump is exceeding his authority.

You have been critical of this move to introduce troops, National Guard troops into Chicago. Do you have any confidence at all that the courts will rule against the president?

EMANUEL: Yes, well, I'm not a lawyer, but, based on what I know, yes, I think they're ruled as they did in Portland.

In both situations -- and I would say this, Wolf. It's not just In the courts. One is, look, defunding the police was a failed policy. Sending in National Guards is a failed policy. It's not going to achieve public safety. Community policing and investing in community policing and the pieces of putting more police on the street, getting kids' guns and gangs off the street is how you solve crime.

These are failed choices and failed that were also a notion that those are the only two choices available. They don't work. And in the same level...

BLITZER: If you were still the mayor of Chicago, Rahm -- excuse me for interrupting...

EMANUEL: It wouldn't be the first time.

BLITZER: ... would you support -- there's still a lot of violence going on in Chicago. There's no doubt about that. Would you welcome the help of the National Guard troops?

(CROSSTALK)

EMANUEL: As I -- look, anybody that is a mayor has way too many times gone to see a kid being a victim of senseless gun violence, way too many times seeing a yellow ribbon or a tree with balloons and pictures. It just breaks your heart.

You have a crime problem. Partner with Superintendent Snelling of the head of the Chicago Police Department. Partner with community groups, say, where can we help? And I will tell you exactly where -- for the price of sending 500 National Guards, you could train 500 police officers. You could actually prosecute the 3 percent of the gang members that are creating overwhelming crime.

Get the U.S. attorney's office to prosecute those gang members and get them off the street. Invest in 30,000 kids doing after-school programs. Any mayor across this country, Portland, Boston, would welcome the federal government as a partner. But I will also tell you, not only is it on a public safety level, Wolf, is this failing.

[11:40:02]

You can't have open borders on immigration and you can't have open warfare on the American cities, again, a false binary choice. Invest in the fact that the United States is a country of immigrants and a country of laws, and both of them have to be enforced. It's time to fix the immigration system. And, in either case, public safety, false choice, in immigration, false choice.

And I think the president is making a false choice. And I'd say this in conclusion, which he's about to go to the region for a cease-fire. Stop forcing Americans into these war games and "Braveheart"-like paint on their face, and bring the cease-fire to the United States, and stop our politics of constant anger and turning against each other, and figure out how we actually build a future together.

BLITZER: I want to turn to the government shutdown now in its ninth day.

EMANUEL: Yes.

BLITZER: You have got a lot of experience in this area.

(CROSSTALK)

EMANUEL: Sometimes, I get PTSD from that experience, a lot of government shutdowns.

BLITZER: I know. A lot of us do.

Extension of subsidies for the Affordable Care Act is a key demand from Democrats.

EMANUEL: Yes. Yes.

BLITZER: Last hour, Pamela and I spoke with the Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. I want to play something she said about this issue. Listen to this, and then we will discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Pretty remarkable to hear this Republican congresswoman speak like that. Do you think there could be a groundswell of bipartisan support on this issue?

EMANUEL: Yes, because not only this, but also other Republicans realize the idea with health care premiums going to shoot up close to 50 percent, this is a -- both a bad health care policy and a dead-bang loser on politics.

I think it's insane that the United States last week wrote a $20 billion bailout of Argentina and 20 million Americans are going to lose their health care. And we lost the money in Argentina. It's gone, $20 billion for Argentina, but 20 million Americans get to lose their health care?

That's not a trade America is ready to do. And I think, obviously, she's heard from her constituents, she's heard from her own children, and members of the Congress and Senate in the Republican Caucus are realizing that the idea that they cut premium support for middle-class families, working-class families for health care is going to cost them their job.

BLITZER: Twenty million or $20 billion?

EMANUEL: Twenty billion for Argentina.

BLITZER: Twenty billion dollars?

EMANUEL: Secretary treasurer made a trade to give them a line of credit for $20 billion, and 20 million Americans are going to lose their health care in the ACA.

This is insane. It's a horrible deal. And the only reason you're helping Argentina is because it's the president's friend. And those soybean farmers in Argentina are now competing against American soybean farmers for markets around the world. It is a god-awful trade for a guy who thinks he knows the art of the deal.

BLITZER: All right, Rahm Emanuel, thanks, as usual, for coming in.

EMANUEL: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, new this morning, a new poll is showing that Americans are having trust issues with the federal government when it comes to health advice, especially under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

I want to bring in CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell.

Meg, break down these numbers for us, because this really matters when it comes to Americans and their health and what they should do about it.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela. I mean, this really reveals a lot of partisan divides in who people trust to get health information. This is a poll from the health research and policy group KFF. It was

of more than 1,300 U.S. adults done in the last week of September. And, overall, they looked at RFK Jr.'s overall job approval ratings. And, there, 59 percent of Americans disapprove either strongly or somewhat of the job he's been doing overall, including a 40 percent strong disapproval rating.

Now, as you can see, that really breaks down bipartisan lines, with Democrats much more likely to disapprove of the job he's doing than Republicans. Now, if you look specifically at how people think he's doing on vaccine policy, of course, this is somewhere we have seen a lot of action from him both before and during his tenure as HHS secretary.

There, 62 percent overall strongly or somewhat disapprove. And, again, you see this breakdown by partisan lines. In terms of who people trust to get their vaccine information, there, we see divides between Republicans and Democrats as well. But, overall, the most trusted source of vaccine information is people's own doctors or health care providers, with 83 percent total.

But, again, you can see a little bit of a delta there between Democrats and Republicans. The American Academy of Pediatrics comes in next, and they have broken with the CDC when it comes to vaccine policy. The CDC itself has been losing the trust of the American people, down to about 50 percent trust right now.

[11:45:13]

KFF says that is the lowest we have seen since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. RFK Jr. comes in at the bottom of the list of folks they asked about, with just 35 percent total trust, and, again, a massive split between Republicans and Democrats, Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Meg Tirrell, thanks so much.

Up next: The transportation secretary speaks out, as more and more air traffic controllers call out during the government shutdown.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Just in, the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, now says air traffic controllers who don't show up for work and -- quote -- "aren't dedicated" may be fired. Listen.

[11:50:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: If we have if we have a continual small subset of controllers that don't show up to work, and they're the problem children, listen, we need more controllers, but we need the best and the brightest, the dedicated controllers.

And if we have some on our staff that aren't dedicated like we need, we're going to let them go. Again, I can't have people not showing up for work. And I want to be clear; 90, 95 percent of them are amazing, beautiful, wonderful American patriots that show up to work every day. Even though they may not get that paycheck on time, they show up.

It's a small fraction of people who don't come to work that can create this massive disruption. And that's what you're seeing rippling through our skies today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Some air traffic controllers have been calling out with the government shutdown now in its ninth day. Otherwise, they are working without pay.

BROWN: Happening now: The government shutdown has forced the IRS to furlough more than 34,000 people. That is nearly half its entire work force. And this news has confused workers at the tax agency, because the IRS initially said everyone would remain on the job.

Let's bring in CNN senior writer Tami Luhby.

So what has changed here?

TAMI LUHBY, CNN SENIOR WRITER: Right.

Well, when the IRS filed its contingency report for the shutdown last week, it originally said that all 34,300 workers would be able to stay on the job and be paid through funds with the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. But then, yesterday, all of a sudden, they filed an updated report that said, as you said, they're going to furlough 34, 400 people.

Those people will not be able to come to work and they won't get paid. They will be keeping nearly 40,000 workers on the job. And it seems that they may get paid through other resources such as the IRA. But, as you said, my colleague Rene Marsh spoke to workers at several locations at IRS offices.

And there was a lot of confusion and a lot of concern. In the Kansas City office, a worker told her that the -- they learned of the furlough through the building emergency alert system, which usually talks about weather alerts or building emergencies and such. And they got a message, a recorded message that said, as of October 8, you are considered furloughed unless you hear from your employer.

So that was of concern. They were told -- the ones who are remaining were told that they could be fired if they take leave, like sick day or vacation. So they were very upset and concerned about that. But the impact will go beyond just the agency itself. There's an October 15 filing deadline for those who asked for extensions.

And one of the employees told Rene that there will be no one there to process those returns when they come in. Taxpayer services will be affected, automated collections. So people will be feeling this.

BROWN: Yes, a reminder of the impact of the government shutdown.

Tami Luhby, thank you so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up: The postseason is heating up big time out there on the baseball diamond and the basketball court, for that matter.

CNN sports anchor Andy Scholes is in Las Vegas this morning -- Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, well, this time of year is always so great, right? So much going on. And we had high drama in the WNBA Finals and on the diamond in the postseason.

Coming up, we will hear what Aaron Judge had to say about another disappointing end to a season in the Bronx.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:57:57]

BLITZER: The season comes to an end for the New York Yankees.

The Blue Jays have eliminated the Bronx Bombers from the postseason and now Toronto is one step closer to the World Series.

BROWN: All right, let's go to CNN sports anchor Andy Scholes -- Andy.

SCHOLES: Yes, Pam and Wolf, another season, another disappointing end for the New York Yankees.

They have now only won one title in the past 25 seasons. That was back in 2009. So all their fans leave Yankee Stadium once again not very happy. And in game four against the Blue Jays, the Yankees managed to score only two runs, the Blue Jays then striking out Cody Bellinger in the bottom of the ninth for that final out to win 5-2, and then the celebration was on, as Toronto's back in the ALCS for the first time since 2016.

And here is Aaron Judge after being eliminated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON JUDGE, NEW YORK YANKEES: We didn't do our job, didn't finish the goal. Had a special group in here of a lot of special players that made this year fun, but we didn't get the ultimate prize, so we came up short.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, the Phillies, meanwhile, surviving to fight another day against the Dodgers, Kyle Schwarber finally breaking out of that big slump with two home runs.

Philly would win 8-2. Game four is today 6:00 Eastern. You can watch that one on TBS or stream it on HBO Max. Now, here in Vegas, they need to start planning a victory parade down the Strip, because the Aces are one win away from another WNBA title. Game three in Phoenix was an absolute nail-biter, tie game, five seconds left. MVP A'ja Wilson comes through with a turnaround jumper. She had a game-high 34 points. DeWanna Bonner almost miraculously tied this game at the buzzer, but that shot rimmed out. Aces win 90-88 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in that series. Game four is going to be tomorrow.

Now, it was an awesome atmosphere here in Vegas, as the Golden Knights, they opened up their season taking on the L.A. Kings. And the pregame show is always a must-see for Golden Knights games. They had 64 drones flying around the ice as a part of that pregame show. It was really cool. As for the game, it was a slugfest.