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Hamas Moving to Reassert its Dominance in Gaza; Tensions Between U.S. and Venezuela Escalates; First NYC Mayoral Debate with Mamdani, Cuomo, and Sliwa; Trump Considers Giving Ukraine Tomahawk Missiles. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 17, 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]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- of Gaza an uncertain future and a long road ahead.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND (on camera): And President Trump has made clear that these public executions and other attacks by Hamas inside of the areas it still controls in Gaza must stop. He said in a Truth Social post yesterday that if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.

Another reminder, of course, that so much of the future of this ceasefire hangs on how President Trump reacts to what the different parties are doing here. But based off of senior U.S. advisers who we've been speaking to in recent days, it does appear that this ceasefire is holding for now. Humanitarian aid is flowing into Gaza in larger quantities. More bodies of those deceased hostages expected to come out soon and efforts underway to locate more of them inside of the Gaza Strip. A very complicated situation. But again, for now, that ceasefire is holding. Wolf and Pam.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's hope it continues to hold. All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you very, very much. And we'll be right back.

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[10:35:00]

BLITZER: We're keeping a very close eye right now on the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland. That's just outside of Washington, D.C. John Bolton is set to make his first court appearance in less than 30 minutes. The former Trump national security adviser faces an 18-count indictment for allegedly mishandling highly classified information during his time in Trump's first administration.

During the proceedings, Bolton will hear the charges against him and the judge will decide whether Bolton will be detained or subject to any conditions if he's released. We'll keep you posted on any of these breaking developments. All that will come out of this hearing that's about to begin. Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And, Wolf, happening now, tensions between the United States and Venezuela are escalating after yet another American strike on a boat in the Caribbean yesterday. It marks at least the sixth strike by the U.S. military on six separate boats. Unlike the last five, this one was not made public by the Trump administration and it's believed that there are survivors among the crew hit. Their status at this point is unclear. U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers also flew off the coast of Venezuela for hours this week.

So, I want to bring in CNN National Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand to tell us more about what we know about this latest military strike.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pam, so this is the latest in a series of strikes the U.S. has carried out on suspected narco-traffickers operating in the Caribbean. But as you noted, this is particularly notable because it's the first one that the administration has not publicly disclosed. Previously, of the last five strikes before the one yesterday, you saw President Trump tweet about it, you saw Secretary of Defense Hegseth post about it, saying that all on board these boats were killed in these strikes.

But the one yesterday, we're told -- was not publicized and it appears to be the first one that actually left survivors on board. And so, that indicates that it was botched in some way. And the administration to this moment has still not publicly acknowledged that it occurred.

Now, it's worth noting that the administration has said they're going to continue to carry out these strikes on suspected drug traffickers. So, expect to see more of these. But clearly, something happened yesterday where things did not go according to plan.

BROWN: And we're also learning at the same time that the commander overseeing forces in the Caribbean is set to retire just one year into his tenure. What's going on here?

BERTRAND: This is really significant. It is highly unusual for a commander of a combatant command to retire about one year into his tenure, Admiral Holsey. He was sworn in in November 2024. He is in the middle of a major operation in the Caribbean. And he apparently is going to be retiring on December 12th.

Now, we're told that tensions between Holsey and Secretary Hegseth, they have been simmering in recent weeks because Holsey was apparently concerned about the operations being carried out in the Caribbean, including about whether they were lawful. And Secretary Hegseth was frustrated that he was not moving faster, we're told. And all this came to a head during a particularly tense meeting last week with Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Holsey at the Pentagon, where we're told he offered to resign. And we're seeing the results of that now. He is going to be stepping down. Very unusual.

BROWN: Yes, as you said, significant. Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much. Wolf? BLITZER: All right. Amid the flurry of military activity in the Caribbean, CNN is now learning there's a bipartisan push in the U.S. Senate to force a vote to prevent war on Venezuela without formal approval from Congress. Virginia Senator Tim Kaine is teaming up with Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and his fellow Democrat Senator Adam Schiff of California.

Let's go live right now to CNN's senior reporter, Annie Grayer, who's up on Capitol Hill. Annie, first of all, what can you tell us about this effort and the chances of the vote actually passing?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, we are expecting this vote, Wolf, to happen in the next few weeks, but it's unclear if it will be successful because this is not the first time that the pair have teamed up to try and push the Senate to vote on a War Powers Resolution. We saw last week the Senate did not pass a War Powers Resolution on the military action in the Caribbean. Earlier this summer, it failed to pass a War Powers Resolution on the military strikes in Iran.

And this is a larger question now in front of lawmakers, particularly in front of Republicans, about what role Congress has to play here. Democrats say that President Trump must come to Congress, his constitutional authority, to get approval from Congress for any war powers or war actions he wants to take, whereas Republicans seem comfortable ceding this authority to the president aside from Republican Senator Rand Paul, as you mentioned.

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So, apart from this, there's also this question of what oversight Congress should have here. Democrats say they most have not been briefed on any of these strikes or actions. Republicans, again, largely seem comfortable with this. So, this is a broad question -- a constitutional question, that lawmakers are having to answer. But with the government shutdown, there's a lot on their plate. We'll see how this unfolds in the next couple of weeks.

BLITZER: All right. We'll watch it together with you. Annie Grayer, thank you very, very much. Pamela.

BROWN: And coming up right here in the Situation Room, taking to the debate stage, the candidates for New York City mayor did not waste any time taking shots at one another. So, who won the night? We're going to discuss next.

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BROWN: Well, the sparks were flying as the top three contenders vying to be the next mayor of New York faced off at their first debate.

Last night, Democratic frontrunner Zohran Mamdani took shots from his challengers, Independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, sparring over issues like housing, crime, even President Trump.

[10:45:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: The difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in D.C.

ANDREW CUOMO (I), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump would go through Mr. Mamdani like a hot knife through butter. He's been in government 27 minutes. He passed three bills. That's all he's done. He has no experience with Washington, no experience in New York City. He would be Trump's delight.

CURTIS SLIWA (R), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: You lost your own primary, right? You were rejected by your Democrats. You're not going to stand up to Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Gloria Pazmino is in New York. She watched this debate as it unfolded. What were the big takeaways here, Gloria?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it was so interesting to watch Republican Curtis Sliwa right in the middle of the two candidates landing blows, honestly, on both of them throughout the evening. But the question going into this debate, Pam, was whether or not they were going to be able to significantly shift the conversation in any way that could potentially alternate the momentum of this race so far.

And I think the conclusion at the end of the two hours was that no, the debate did not really change the conversation in terms of where this race is going. But it was an opportunity to see the very issues that all of these candidates have been focused on. Zohran Mamdani, the frontrunner, focused on affordability, trying to tell voters that he will be a clean break from politics of status quo, people like Andrew Cuomo, who have been in the New York political scene for a very long time.

And then Andrew Cuomo, still trying to make a comeback, arguing that his experience as an executive matters, especially when it comes to defending New York City from a potential attack from the Trump administration. Take a listen to this other exchange between the candidates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: This is not a job for someone who has no management experience to run 300,000 people, no financial experience to run $115 billion budget. He literally has never had a job.

MAMDANI: What I don't have an experience, I make up for in integrity. And what you don't have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PAZMINO: That was another defining moment of the debate, Pamela. Zohran trying to criticize Cuomo for his lack of, quote/unquote, "integrity," of course, making reference to the scandals that resulted in the resignation of Andrew Cuomo, which in part he has denied. But the issue of how he handled the pandemic, the sexual harassment accusations that he had while he was in office, all came up last night.

And Cuomo tried to pivot again to public safety, to experience, while Mamdani tried to say that he would do things in a different way, focus on affordability and working-class people and the concerns that New Yorkers who live in this city and struggle to make ends meet are actually worried about.

BROWN: All right. Gloria Pazmino in New York. Thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Pamela, I want to discuss what's going on in New York right now with Christina Greer. She's a political science professor at Fordham University in New York City. Christina, thanks so much for being here. Do you think anything really changed as a result of the debate last night?

CHRISTINA GREER, POLITICS PROFESSOR, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: Well, yes and no, in the sense that people don't necessarily tune into debates to be changed or moved. But I do think Mamdani's grace, presence, the fact that he really hit home affordability and all of his talking points so well, I think made some voters who may have been waffling just a bit a lot more comfortable and confident with the fact that he could lead a city of almost 9 million people.

BLITZER: There are some new numbers from our data analyst, Harry Enten, that show that Zohran Mamdani maintains his lead in this race big time, now at 49 percent, up from 45 percent last month. Former Governor Edward Cuomo has 31 percent support and Republican Curtis Sliwa has 15 percent. This poll was done before the debate last night. We're waiting for new polls to come out to see if there's been any significant changes in those numbers. Cuomo certainly needed a big night to become more competitive with Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary. Do you think he got that support?

GREER: He absolutely did not, Wolf. I mean, don't forget, Cuomo lost the Democratic primary on June 24th by roughly 13 percentage points. And so, he needed a huge night and he'll have an opportunity on October 22nd when they debate again but there was nothing forward thinking really from the Cuomo talking points. There was a lot of drudging up the past of Mamdani, but I think a lot of New Yorkers, because there's so much chaos going on in Washington D.C., they're really worried about the future of the city.

[10:50:00]

And it's not just public safety, a large percentage of New Yorkers who make from $40,000 to $400,000 are worried about whether or not they can stay in the city, and Cuomo didn't really provide a vision and especially since he's been a politician, you know, as governor, as AG, he's been in the New York political realm for close to four decades, I think there was a lot more expectation that he could lay out a plan and that just didn't happen last night.

BLITZER: Christina, as you know, a lot of the analysts are suggesting that the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, did well last night and his numbers may go up, that would be at the expense of Cuomo, right? He'll take voters away from Cuomo, not necessarily from Mamdani. Do you agree with that?

GREER: Absolutely, Wolf. Don't forget, in 2021, Curtis Sliwa got roughly a third of the vote and those are people who are Republicans that can't bring themselves to vote for a Democrat. You know, Curtis Sliwa was on stage last night without his famous red beret. He tried to present himself as an alternative to those who might think that Mamdani is too progressive or that Cuomo is too problematic. I think we might see a bump for Sliwa, but I don't think that we'll see the 30 percent that we saw in 2021. I think he'll just give some folks a place to land their vote especially if they can't seem to bring themselves to vote for a Democrat or an Independent.

BLITZER: All right. Christina Greer of Fordham University, thank you very, very much. Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Wolf, breaking news into CNN, protests are happening right outside an ICE detention facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview right here. These are new pictures coming into the Situation Room. There are reports of several people being detained. We do have a reporter on the ground there and we will be checking with her very soon. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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[10:55:00]

BROWN: A potential game-changing tool in the fight against Russia. CNN is now learning that President Trump did not take the possibility of the U.S. sending long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine off the table during his long call with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday. But President Trump is also not expected to commit to providing them in his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House today. Sources are cautioning CNN, though, that things could always change once the president is alone in a room with the Ukrainians. So, we shall see what happens there.

But let's learn a little bit more about these weapons. I want to bring in CNN military analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, just how powerful are these missiles? Why is it that Zelenskyy wants these missiles so bad?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE AND CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Pam, this is one of the key things here. First of all, these missiles are pretty fast. They go at 550 miles per hour. They were first used during Desert Storm, about a thousand pound of conventional explosives right here in the warhead. And they're mainly used for anti-armor, anti-personnel effects.

And one of the key things is this missile flies really fast and it's very, very accurate. And in fact, the range that these missiles have is really incredible because it's up to 1,553 miles. That means that cities like Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, and Omsk are right within the range of a Ukrainian missile strike. That's way beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg, which are the main reasons that Ukraine would be wanting to use these.

BROWN: All right. So, tell us a little bit more about the kind of impact these would have on the battlefield and how deeply it could go.

LEIGHTON: Well, one of the key things with this is that, you know, when it goes so deeply, you can see that they will actually move forward in certain areas like right along here. So, what will happen is these are longer-range missiles, the Tomahawks, if they're used. So, they'll go after areas throughout Russia, but that'll also free up Ukraine to use other weapons in the more close-run areas, such as along the front lines right here. And if the Russians were to attack, say, against Kharkiv, for example, their second largest city, they could use other weapons that would then be freed up.

So, what that means is that the Ukrainians would then have the ability to go way deep into Russia and really put at risk all the industrial sites that Russia has that have been basically retooled to be the war economy for the Russians.

BROWN: So, what about training for this? I mean, do the Ukrainians have the training for these Tomahawks?

LEIGHTON: So, one of the key things is that they do not have the actual training for this type of missile. But one of the key things is that the Ukrainians can learn very quickly. The Russians themselves have basically said that they want to make sure that the missiles don't come in because they think that the training would be provided by the Americans or the Americans would have to stay in Ukraine to allow these missiles to be fired. But that is probably not going to be the case because the Ukrainians have proven that they are very capable of taking the training that they learned from the West and then using it for their purposes.

BLITZER: And all of a sudden, you know, Cedric Leighton, Trump is now suggesting he may not necessarily be able to send these Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine because it would deplete the U.S. stockpile, which would not necessarily be good. How significant is that warning that he's releasing right now? Because that would only encourage the Russians to go ahead and continue doing what they're doing if they don't think these Tomahawk cruise missiles are going to be coming to Ukraine.

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's exactly right, Wolf. So, there is some truth to exactly what President Trump has been saying because there was a production of less than 100 Tomahawk missiles for the U.S. in the last year. The Navy only took delivery, I think, of less than 70, if I remember correctly.

So, what that means is that these missiles are basically being used quite effectively by the things that the U.S. does, say, in the Middle East, for example. But if they're being deployed to Ukraine, then what that would mean, Wolf, is that they would then be used in a fashion that would really put at risk everything that's out there for the Russians. And it would also cause some difficulty in our defense --

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