Hurricane Isaias Slams Gulf Coast and Moves Inland

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1:05Triple-digit wind gusts, a storm surge of five feet, tornado threats. Hurricane Isaias is roaring through the Gulf Coast right now after making landfall near Destin, Florida a short time ago. Good evening, everyone. I'm Laura Coates. And Isaias slammed into the Florida coast as a Category 2, and it's now a Category 1 as it moves inland. More than a half a million power outages have been reported so far. Parts of the region are under a flash flood emergency and tornado watches. People across the Florida Panhandle and the Alabama coast were evacuated and ordered to do so. Our reporters and storm chasers are fanned out across the Gulf Coast and we're tracking the storm from the CNN Weather Center.

1:51I want to get right to CNN's Rafael Romo in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Rafael, you've been through there all night. Describe the conditions. Yeah, Laura, the conditions are so much better now, although let me tell you the wind remains a problem, not as powerfully as we saw earlier tonight, but definitely still a concern here. It's hard to see because it's pitch black. The city of Pensacola and many parts of the city of Pensacola are in the dark right now. People have lost power. 120 ,000 customers have lost power in Escambia County here where we are. You were mentioning before that more than half a million people, when you take into account all of the Gulf Coast region, have lost power.

2:40120 ,000 of those here where we are. Now, it's very important to say that the cleanup efforts is going to be enormous, Laura, because based on what we've seen here, the damage from the wind is just going to take a while for crews by the city and the county and the state to be able to complete that task. Now, we got to remember, it is the first time in two years that a hurricane makes landfall in the United States. And it's funny the way things happen. It was exactly October 9th, 2024, when Milton made landfall. Now, this is a hurricane that is still going to cause some problems, especially when it comes to torrential rains, several states north of here.

3:34but for the most part, the worst for this part of the country has already passed, and now the cleanup effort begins. Laura? Rafael, please stand by. I want to go to CNN's Isabel Rosales in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We've been watching you throughout the evening. There was a curfew put in place. Are people taking it seriously? Right. Yeah, very seriously, Laura, to the point that they hadn't seen a hurricane like this in the Gulf Shores area since Hurricane Sally back in 2020. So curfew in place, bridges shut down. People have been taking this seriously. 24 hours ago, we thought that this might have been perhaps the eye of landfall.

4:14But since we know that the storm, this hurricane moved to the northeast, we're on the west of where the eyewall was, meaning that we have essentially dodged a bullet here. The worst of storm surge, of winds, all of that is behind us, which is a big sigh of relief for the people here of Gulf Shores. hours ago we weren't sure that we had tropical storm winds and rain 60 mile per hour that was the peak of the wind gusts that were hitting to the point where this was painful standing out here and the winds were making you unsteady on your feet but now all of that seems to be beyond us which again big sigh of relief for the people here of Gulf Shores and shortly before landfall The president, Donald Trump, has declared an emergency declaration here for Baldwin counties, where I'm at right now, Escambia, and also Mobile counties.

5:06And back to the gusts that were happening, we were anticipating that that might be much worse, but thankfully has moved beyond us, which is great news for power outages. Having said that, though, Laura, Baldwin County, where I'm at right now, this is the worst in the state of Alabama. 50 percent of people here do not have power at the moment. Oh, my goodness. Isabel, please stand by. We've got meteorologist Melissa Nord at the CNN Weather Center. Melissa, walk me through where this storm is headed. Well, it's made landfall, so we know that. And because it's over land, Laura, it is weakening. But the wind field is really still very large.

5:45The tropical storm force winds extend 195 miles outside the center, and the hurricane force winds still extend 35 miles outside the center. So there's really this corridor northeast of Pensacola heading up through southeastern Alabama, including just west of Dothan, where we have still this core of hurricane force wind gusts that are happening at the moment. So this is what is left of kind of the core of Isaias, and it's right in this section here moving in towards Andalusia where we're seeing some of those strongest wind gusts on that kind of northwestern side of where the core of the storm is.

6:20We've also seen an immense amount of rainfall. In fact, some locations have seen over six inches of rain just this afternoon and evening combined. And because Isaias is moving quickly, that's minimizing the extent of some of this flooding. But every single one of these boxes on the map is a flash flood warning, including one flash flood emergency where some of the flooding, the street flooding, the storm drains just cannot keep up with the amount of rain that's been coming down. And that rain is spreading north. You can see we've got these feeder bands moving on the kind of western coast of Florida there, but also the rain spreads as far northward as north Georgia.

6:59And we're seeing in Georgia also some of those power outages increasing. At this point, over 600 ,000 customers of that power. The core of those, South Alabama and also the western panhandle of Florida. We will see those numbers going up further north in places like Montgomery tonight. Stand by, Melissa. So important. I want to bring in veteran storm chaser Jonathan Petromala right now who is in Miramar Beach, Florida. So, I mean, Jonathan, tell us what you're seeing. At this point, a lot of darkness. She was talking about the power outages. Obviously quite extensive here on the northern Gulf Coast here in the Florida Panhandle from Destin, Fort Walton Beach, here in Miramar Beach, and further to the east as well towards Santa Rosa and Panama City Beach.

7:48So the wind's really impactful here. Power outages, the big story. It occurred around us in Fort Walton Beach. A lot of heavy rain. Fortunately, this is a hurricane that was moving quickly. So it wasn't crawling ashore. at times it felt like you were sitting in a car wash. It was just that much water falling. And then you imagine the car wash with winds blowing around 100 miles an hour plus. It was quite the sight to see with Hurricane Isaias as it was making its way on shore right here near Destin, Florida. I mean, we're looking at some of those images and the wind and the pounding rain. You've been driving around covering the storm all day.

8:28How quickly did these conditions change and progress and how rapidly are they changing now? Right around dusk, that's when the inner core of the hurricane began to make its way on shore. And as soon as it did, it seemed like minute by minute, the winds just became worse and worse. And with it, the rainfall, you're talking about rainfall rates three, four, five inches per hour at times. And that's, of course, why we have that flash flood emergency around Fort Walton Beach, because of just those heavy rainfall rates. no drainage is going to be able to keep up with that. Again, the good thing about it was the storm was moving fast enough on shore that that rain is moving along with it.

9:07The winds as well have moved away. It was kind of a half cane because the backside of this hurricane, you typically will see like that eye, pinhole eye, that does not exist really with the storm. And so sometimes when it comes with a hurricane, the front side will be like a stick. You bend a stick one way and it doesn't break but then you whip it back the other side and it snaps and uh so the backside of hurricanes often can be the most dangerous because that's just when everything breaks this time there was no backside really with that wind and so those power outages are going to be able to be taken care of they've stationed a lot of power crews throughout this region we've been seeing them all day and so they're already getting to work cutting those trees and uh starting to work on the power situation a lot of people can be without power for probably a day or so, but I think they're going to be able to get that restored fairly quickly after this hurricane.

9:55Oh, thank goodness. Well, stand by, Jonathan. We want to come back to you. I'm joined now on the phone by the mayor of Gulf Shores, Alabama, Mayor Robert Kraft. Mayor, how is the Gulf Shores holding up tonight? We're doing really well. All things considered, we've had a lot of rain. We've got a lot of people without power. We've had a lot of wind, but we dodged the worst of it. This thing drifted east. We got more of the backside of the storm than the front side. But we have a lot of issues with power lines down and people without power. But all in all, and we've got a lot of shoreline erosion, obviously.

10:34But all in all, we fared pretty well. Well, thank goodness to hear that. I mean, many people were really holding their breath as Esaiz was approaching your area because of the concerns about the storm surge. Did your city dodge a bullet? We have, yes. We got a lot of shoreline erosions. We didn't have any breaches. We've got a berm that we put up after multiple hurricanes to kind of protect our inland area, and it has held really well. It's eroded, but we didn't have any penetration beyond the berm to have any damage that I'm aware of yet. I haven't had any report of anything. The big issue is power out and flooded streets and a lot of power lines and trees down.

11:16Do you have a sense of how long those power outages might last? I do not. I know that we've got crews on the ground right now working. So I believe they'll be working real hard to get the majority of it back up. I don't know the extent of it, but I know they're working hard right now in the dark trying to get it done. So I think we've got a good group up here providing our utilities. So I believe they will get the majority of it done hopefully tomorrow or certainly by Sunday. I certainly hope so. But, you know, Mayor, this calm, it can be deceptive as well. What should people in your area be watching for if they think the danger has already passed?

12:00Down power lines probably more than anything else. Don't get in your car and drive around. there's standing water, and that can cause accidents and flooding of cars. So stay home, be safe. The sun will come up tomorrow, and we'll be able to help you more understanding where you can and can't and should or shouldn't go. Really important words. Mayor Robert Kraft, thank you so much. Thank you very much. We have a lot more on the storm ahead, but first, a new flashpoint between New York City and the Trump administration over that ice-involved shooting. DHS tonight defending its ICE agent as new video emerges of the moment before the shots were fired.

12:40Next.

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13:19Let me tell you. Your car is here, Mr. Shaq. Thank you, Mr. Carvana guy. Can't wait to take it for a spin. Only the best for you, Mr. Shaq. Hey, have you always been so big, tall, and handsome? Not always. I was 6 '10 once. Seven days to love it or return it, Mr. Shaq. Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. So buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com. Well, tonight we're getting our very first look at the moments directly before a shooting involving immigration agents in New York City last night. Newly released street camera footage shows an agent in plain clothes approaching a car with his weapon drawn.

13:59The car begins to back up. The agent punches the driver's side of the window as the car pulls away. DHS says one of their agents then opened fire. Driver Oscar Bergall, seen in this body camera footage, was shot once in the neck. The NYPD confirmed he had a criminal record. A five-year-old who was sitting in the back of the car was thankfully uninjured. DHS Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen says the agents had no idea the child was there. Here is how a senior ICE official described the chaotic encounter. An environment for criminal activity to thrive. He then accelerated his vehicle, smashing into two of our government ICE vehicles, and then weaponized his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate going towards other officers.

14:53Our officers, using their training and believing that their life and the life of the partners in general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons. With me now, former Acting ICE Director John Sanweg. Glad to see you, John. Let's get right into this, because if you take ICE's account at face value, if a suspect rams law enforcement cars and drives toward your officers, is pulling a firearm a justified response if that's what happened? Yeah, Laura, listen, the standard is the same pretty much across all law enforcement agencies. That is, if you are in reasonable belief that you face imminent bodily harm or others face imminent bodily harm, you can use lethal force.

15:39I think the bigger concern here, first of all, Laura, it's difficult to tell from the videos we have now as to whether the story being put forward by DHS is accurate. Right. But I think the bigger concern I have is the planning that led to the actual shooting or what appears to be a lack thereof, potentially. And so here we have in the middle of the day, late afternoon, school is just let out. Busy New York streets. We see these people walking around. The agents are in plainclothes are not clearly marked. They approach guns drawn. In a circumstance like that, Laura, you can expect that there's a high risk the driver is going to attempt a high speed getaway.

16:14Right. He doesn't know necessarily if it's law enforcement. And when that happens, there are so many risks to the public at large, to the agents themselves. And I guess that's what concerns me the most is just looking at how this operation appears to have been planned, why it was done with why there was such a sense of urgency. Why rush up to that car right then at that moment? Why not wait for the individual to exit the car to where you can take him into custody in a much safer manner, not just for the individual himself, but for the agents as well? I want to unpack that because it's so important to weigh those things out.

16:44Number one, if you do not know who is actually surrounding your vehicle or punching out your window, it might be reasonable for an average person to then try to leave that scene to get out of danger. Even if you have a child in the car, maybe that's even more pressing on you. And yet this was, we were told as of last night, a targeted operation. You do have to, under the questions you raised, about what they knew about the individual, whether they believe that they were in imminent harm, whether they were aware of where the person was going next. All very important questions. And DHS policy explicitly prohibits discharging weapons at moving vehicles.

17:21It also warns that incapacitating a driver creates an out of control vehicle that, of course, then would threaten bystanders. So when you fire seven rounds into a moving car, that doesn't seem to be in line with the protocol as described. No, Laura, but again, like you just mentioned, it goes back to the original plan, right? You want this. This is a high risk stop. They know this and this was targeted. I mean, and I think the fact that they were in undercover clothes, right, suggests to me that they were waiting in the area probably for him in particular. So unlike some of these other shootings we've seen where these are individuals with a random encounters or individuals with no criminal history, this is a target, the kind of person that, you know, you do want us to be focused on, someone with a criminal history who's not documented in the country.

18:07But then when you take it and go from there, Laura, that's where the things start to get really concerning, right? Why was there this rush to take him into custody? Why on a busy street? Why was there a lack of surveillance? Why didn't we take that time that typically when you're doing a high-risk traffic stop like this, you're going to take? Why isn't there a marked unit? Some of that might be because it's difficult for the NYPD to cooperate with ICE. But there are a lot of steps here that were taken that I think ultimately increased the risks that anybody driving that car would have driven away and increased the risks to everybody involved in the operation.

18:39Again, there was a five-year-old in the backseat. And Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen says that agents did not see the five-year-old in the backseat when they engaged with their suspect. DHS policy requires target identification before shooting into a vehicle. How did agents fail to spot the child then? I mean, that's an incredible question. One of so many, I think, needs to be asked about this entire ordeal. First of all, let's just note, I mean, this could very well have been incredibly tragic. We could be talking about, you know, a five-year-old getting shot, but for, you know, just great fortune here, right?

19:18But I think this, again, Laura, raises a number of questions about the quality of the surveillance, the quality of the plan, and the quality, you know, the tactics that were being utilized by the agents. It is very surprising to me that they did not know that a five-year-old child was in the car. And that raises the questions of, you know, listen, they think this is a high-risk individual. Why are you running up to the car, guns drawn, when you don't even know who's in the back of the car? What if it was, you know, if they think this individual is linked to criminal street gangs? What if it was full of criminal street gang members?

19:48Why engage in such a reckless operation? And Laura, if I may, very quickly, I think you have to look at one big factor in all of these shootings is these quotas. This incredible pressure the administration has placed on ICE to ramp up the number of arrests. This type of arrest would never, this would typically be done with extensive planning, care and caution to minimize the risks to everybody involved. None of those, it doesn't look like any of those, you know, any care caution was taken in terms of the, you know, exercising this plan or making this arrest. And the only reason that, you know, if you look back and you think, why would they do this?

20:21It makes you say the pressure, this incredible pressure to make these quotas. It's forcing the agents to take risks, engage in tactics they are not trained to do. Well, Secretary Mullen denied that they're ramping up immigration enforcement ahead of the midterms, if that's the moment in time. Do you believe that that doesn't, A, play any factor, or that there has been no quotas? Well, look, I don't know if it's the midterms that's driving it or what's driving it, but we've seen very clear that Secretary Mullen started off with a more targeted-based approach, going back to what ICE historically has done, primarily taking people out of prisons and jails.

20:56And when they did targeted operations, doing them early in the morning at their homes in ways that create less risks to the public. He started getting some criticism lower as a result of that. There were concerns about whether or not he was dedicated to the mass deportation mission. And since then, we've seen a real increase in aggressive promotion of this by ICE. Right. They've been talking about these record number of arrests. We've seen them lower the targeting rules. We've seen them engage in new and aggressive tactics like arrests at airports and these vehicular stops. So I don't know if it's the midterms are driving it, but it's very clear that there has been a concerted effort at DHS and ICE to increase the number of arrests, especially over the last three months.

21:31A lot of this will come down to trust. And we know ICE has really taken a hit when it comes to even getting that the bare minimum from the American public. John Sandweg, thank you so much. My pleasure. Up next, Hurricane Isaias moving into Alabama and Georgia as half a million people remain without power. We've got live updates from the Storm Zone next.

22:14millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your$1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. I want to head now to Destin, Florida, where authorities have issued an emergency flash flood warning until 2 a.m., warning of a, quote, particularly dangerous situation. Storm chaser Edgar O 'Neill joins me now from Destin. And Edgar, what are you seeing right now? Right now, the city's dark and pretty quiet. There are a few people out walking around, kind of seeing what's going on.

22:53The winds have died down here a little bit. And we still do have some pretty busy surf over there behind me. Do you have any indication yet on when it'll be safe enough to start for people to continue to be outside? I'm a little surprised they're already out there. Yeah, they got out here pretty fast. I did talk to some power crews recently, just a few minutes ago, and they let me know that at about 6 a.m., they were really going to be out and start trying to diagnose to get the power back. So I think that's really the time that it's going to be safe. But like I said, there's just a few people out right now.

23:24But like I said, as you can see, it's really calm out here right now. It kind of died pretty fast after the I came on shore here. Tell me about the initial when it started to touch down. What was that like in that moment? Oh, yeah. So when the eye was coming on shore, I mean, the biggest impact here in Destin was definitely the storm surge. I mean, we had waves crashing up over boardwalks, pieces of the boardwalks falling off. Yeah, I mean, mainly just large amounts of water. And then, of course, the wind knocked out the power to the whole city. I mean, I haven't seen power. I've been driving around for the last 20 minutes.

23:58No power anywhere. That happened because of the wind alone. Correct. Yeah, yeah. There was definitely some strong winds. We measured 105 mile per hour winds where I was at right here on the beach. So that's definitely strong enough to knock down some tree limbs and definitely knock that power out. And I think that's why you're seeing no power in large portions of the Gulf Coast over here in Florida. From what you can see, do you see any destruction of buildings or damage that you can visibly see in this darkness? The main damage that I've seen is going to be all along the beach. This is actually a shed right here behind me that was way out on the beach over there.

24:34and it got pushed up about 50 feet over here. So most of the big damage I've seen has been out on the beach. There is a little bit of like trees down in the roads and that type of thing, but I haven't seen a lot of damage to structures much further inland right off the coast. Thank goodness. Edgar O 'Neill, thank you so much. Of course, the federal government is closely watching the storm and standing by to assist as soon as it clears. And I want to bring in the former FEMA administrator under President Obama, Craig Fugate. Craig, it's been almost two years since the hurricane has made landfall anywhere in the United States.

25:05Is the agency ready for the storm or what the aftermath might be? Yeah, I think FEMA will be supporting. I mean, right now, most of this is going to be state and local government utility crews. That's the primary response. I think you're going to be seeing FEMA really, they've already been supporting the states and the emergency operation centers. is really going to come back tomorrow when you start seeing the kind of damage. So, Craig, I mean... Four minutes.

25:38...and prepare for a storm like this. What would happen in terms of steps being taken right now to be prepared?

25:48General Guard moving mutual aid, having everything ready to go, and start responding into these areas to do any search and rescue. FEMA would be sitting in the emergency operations center as these issues are being discussed, if there was any shortfalls, if they needed additional search and rescue teams, any additional things like that. But because Florida and Alabama have such well-trained and they respond, unfortunately, to a lot of these storms, I think FEMA's more in a supporting role in this. Maybe it'd be different in other states, but in this state it's very much, especially in Florida, going to be led by the governor in response of the local officials.

26:23Yeah, this is the first hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since Trump's second term started. And there has been some pretty big changes to FEMA during the administration. Will that impact FEMA's response or is it, as you say, really going to be the onus more so on the states? Well, I think the states are going to manage their response. I think we'll see if there's any issues as FEMA supporting recovery, rebuilding costs. And again, a lot of these, I think, have started to go the right direction. And the first party administration, I think some of the limitations that the previous DHS secretary made on like contracting and hiring freezes were very detrimental.

27:05That's gone away. So I think FEMA is in a better position. They now have a full time administrator. And again, these are states that are well experienced in the response. I think it's going to determine what it looks like tomorrow, what kind of assistance to federal taxpayers will be asked to provide. Yeah, daylight will bring us a lot of clarity into what comes next. Craig Fugate, thank you so much. I want to bring in the mayor of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Nick Allegretto. Mayor Isaias is making a made landfall, a made landfall very close to your city. Describe the conditions right now where you are.

27:42Boy, Laura, I'll tell you what, thank you so much for having me. It's a lot better right now than it was a few hours ago, that's for sure. We unfortunately really did sustain some pretty widespread damage. I was just in recent contact with our county folks. Pat Maddox, who does so much for our county, sent me a few pictures of downtown Fort Walton Beach. And unfortunately, there is a lot of water there. and then you know just throughout the neighborhoods there's pretty widespread power outages trees down a few power lines down here and there and obviously some property damage but I've yet to hear of any fatalities which is the main most important thing obviously life is so much more important than property and you know we were pretty well prepared as well prepared as you could be emergency crews are out now I'm currently sitting on my neighbor's front porch because he has Wi-Fi due to a generator.

28:37And I'm glad to be able to join you. I'm so glad there's no fatalities and the neighborly, you know, communing that's happening right now. Thank goodness for that, Mayor. But at one point, as you mentioned, your city was under a flash flood emergency between the rain and the storm surge, which was projected to hit nine feet. You said you've already seen some evidence of damaging and a lot of water in the downtown area. What could be the impact of that flooding in your community? Well, it's, Laura, it's terrible. Obviously, we couldn't, it's not going to be great for those businesses and all of the people that use those businesses, obviously the employees of those businesses that depend on those places of work.

29:22So that's going to be a major, major thing for us going forward. But again, I just want to stress more than anything that obviously life is so much more important than all of those things. I would also like to add too that you mentioned briefly, you know, the neighborly situation. I think that's what's the most important and makes me feel the best about our country, period, is when these type of events happen, seeing your neighbors come together, seeing that person that lives down the street from you that you maybe never met. And, you know, everyone loves to talk about the good old days and how it used to be and I think that's the one thing that we've actually gotten too far away from is knowing your neighbors and knowing who lives across the street from you.

30:03It doesn't matter who you voted for, what political party you're a part of. You know, when things like this happen, we're all the same. We're all the same people and we just have to lend a hand where we can and help each other out. That is so important and certainly true tonight. Mayor Nick Allegretto, thank you and we will continue to follow and hope your community continues to get through this. Thank you. Thank you. I want to check back in with Rafael Romo, who's in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Rafael, I mean, does it seem like people heeded the warnings there? Oh, for sure, Laura. That's one of the things that I noticed, because we have been here for multiple hours now, and officials told people early on, do not go out.

30:46And the only vehicles that I have seen here where we are are official vehicles, police, first responders. I saw some power company vehicles, but people for the most part stay in the home. And it's been really interesting for me to see, Laura, how quickly this storm has weakened. In less than two hours, Laura, it went from a category two hurricane when it made landfall to a category one and it continues to weekend now looking forward is going to be very difficult for people here because it's hard to see right now because it's so dark but there's a field of debris right behind me so that gives you an idea about the challenge that officials here are going to face right now there's no easy way of getting out of here reaching the mainland because the bridge connecting us has been closed that will probably reopen in the morning.

31:47The other thing is we're still waiting to hear from officials when the Pensacola International Airport will reopen. It was shut down at 10 in the morning today. So a lot of decisions to be made, a lot of things to do, and it's going to take a while for this part of the country to clean up after this massive, massive hurricane. You know, we're hearing a lot about the water, the flooding, different parts across that panhandle, impacted. Are you getting a sense of any structural damage?

32:22Okay.

32:25Oh, I think we lost some. Rafael, we're going to come back to you. Thank you. Stand by, please. We've got so much more ahead. And President Trump, we know in terms of other news, cutting a deal with Vladimir Putin to help bring gas prices down ahead of the midterms. Does the cost outweigh the reward? We'll talk about it.

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33:21They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website, to marketing, to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your$1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. Today, Russia agreed to send us millions and millions of barrels of oil, and it's diesel. That's what we really need. So thank you. President Trump taking a major victory lap after he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import diesel fuel to the United States.

34:06Now, the move marks a stunning reversal after years of economic pressure on Russia over the war with Ukraine. But with the midterms just around the corner, this is also a gamble to lower the stubbornly high fuel prices at the pump before the November midterms just 25 days from now. Joining me now, Democratic strategist Mike Nellis and conservative radio show host Jason Rantz, host of The Jason Rantz Show. Glad to have both of you here. Let me begin with you, Jason. Look, Republican Congressman Don Bacon had this to say. we need lower diesel prices for American farmers, ranchers and consumers. But buying Russian fuel is the wrong answer.

34:48He goes on to say now is the time to use those sanctions to squeeze Putin's war machine, not reward a dictator by putting more money in his hands. Based on that and what we are seeing, do you think that Trump's making a mistake? I mean, politically, could it be seen as a mistake? Maybe. But I think most people are focused right now on just the price of oil, price of gasoline, price of diesel. And I think most people are willing to say that they are willing to take a little bit of a break at the gas pump, even if it means we're purchasing from Russia. You know, morally, ethically, I don't love this idea at all.

35:31But let's also note that other sanctions with Russia are not gone, right? This is not happening at the same time as if we are lifting all these other sanctions. I think some of the claims I think the Democrats will make will come down as a little bit ironic, given the fact that they're asking us to completely end a war with Iran, which they're on the brink of an actual economic disaster, and they are clearly a direct enemy of ours that poses a threat. So I do think we sometimes, unfortunately, have to deal with actors that we would prefer not to deal with. Ultimately, this is for a larger end goal.

36:06And I hope, I don't know yet, but I certainly hope that this is part of the deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine as well. Mike, I wonder what you believe in terms of whether voters would be on board with sort of the by any means necessary, given the pressure economically at the pumps. But also, we know that Russia helps Iran. So this raises a real question of why the president would do anything to financially benefit Russia right now. How will Democratic campaigns, how will voters view this? Yeah, well, I agree with Congressman Bacon. I think this is a disaster for the United States, and I appreciate any effort to try to reduce prices.

36:43But if Donald Trump were serious about reducing prices on anything, he would end this war in Iran and he would stop these stupid tariffs because they're what's driving costs up for everything. It's a war of choice. There was no reason for us to do this. Iran was not close to having a nuclear weapon. They were not an imminent threat. to the United States. It's very clear that Trump and Hexeth had no plan here and had not thought through the consequences of it. And now they're panicking before the election. And what are they doing? Donald Trump is turning to his best friend, Vladimir Putin. He's given him another deal.

37:09There was reporting this week as well that Jared Kushner and Steve Whitcoff and the rest of the administration officials who are working to try to negotiate an end to the Ukrainian war with Russia, Russia's war with Ukraine, excuse me, that they're trying to create some oil deal for themselves, where their own people are going to be able to sell for rich for that. So my guess is Donald Donald Trump found a way for him to put money in his back pocket to create the appearance that they're doing something that's going to make your life better. And they're not. And I think the American people at this point understand that Donald Trump doesn't give a damn about their personal finances.

37:37He only cares about himself. And that's why the Republicans are going to get creamed in these midterm elections. And they deserve it. They put themselves in this position by betraying all the campaign promises they made in 2024. Naturally, they would take issue with what you've said. And he has said repeatedly, the president, that he hopes that the short term pain, that's how he describes it, for the long term goal of no nuclear war, no nuclear weapon is what will satisfy the American public. I'm not convinced that the polls see it the way that Trump does at all. We can all agree to that. However, I want to turn to another really important issue because the administration is catching a lot of heat for their plans to live stream the execution.

38:14And believe me, that blows my mind to even have that phrase. But to live stream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter. And here's how the president and the vice president addressed that very thing today. Do you want the execution of the Fort Hood shooter to be live streamed? And are you worried that the video would be used as propaganda to radicalize? Determination about that. But he will be killed. He will be through firing squad. But he killed 13, 14 people, badly wounded 20-some-odd people, and he's totally nuts. So I really don't care how he goes as long as he goes. Did you personally authorize or approve the execution, the live stream execution of the court?

39:02Did I approve? Did you approve? Absolutely. Well, first of all, I've seen his announcements. I don't know if that's actually going to happen. Let's sort of see what, I think it's going to happen in December when he's executed. But what I try to remind people is, look, this is a guy who committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9-11. Look, if it's ultimately live streamed, I'm not going to be watching it. Now, we don't have to debate, any of us, the horror of what this person did. It was unconscionable. It was wrong. The results is what has transpired in the courts.

39:35But Jason, even some conservatives who support the death penalty think that this is a bad idea. Do you think that White House will back down from the notion of live streaming the execution? On that clip with J.D. Vance, it all sounds like they are kind of maybe potentially walking this back. We'll see. I think ultimately they're going to look at the politics of it and they're going to see where things are in December to make that determination. I mean, frankly, count me in that group of conservatives who do not like this idea. I completely support the death penalty. This guy is a monster who deserves to be killed.

40:10But I don't like what this says about the culture, the toxic nature of some people watching this, looking forward to this. I understand the argument that is being made for the live stream by some that this might serve as a deterrent. And we really do have to show people that we are going to take you out if you pose a threat like this to us. However, I don't think that it's going to work. I think it is a problem that there will be some people who will use this to celebrate death. And I just I can't stomach that. I obviously will not be watching this. At the same time, I also want to just call out some folks on the left who celebrate violence but then are going to complain about this.

40:53I just want consistency across the board because I unfortunately still see pretty disgusting memes of Charlie Kirk being assassinated online. And I think this is playing into some of that nastiness of the culture. And we should not be celebrating this. Hold on. Let me just be clear. You think that Charlie Kirk and what happened to him belongs in the same conversation of a live stream execution of the Fort Hunt killer? No, I'm saying that people are celebrating that and they're saying that at the same time, Trump is a monster for live streaming this. I think at the end of the day, the people who are celebrating the death of a conservative should not be going after Donald Trump for wanting to live stream this.

41:39but ultimately I don't think we should be showing the video period. I want to hear from you, Mike, on this. It seems to be a stretch to me, but what do you think? Yeah. Yeah, well, Jason's engaging in the type of reductive, ridiculous debate that MAGA can do right now, which is they're finding a handful of idiots online who were celebrating Charlie Kirk's death, and that was wrong and they shouldn't have done that. It's more than a handful. And equating that to the Secretary of Defense basically slobbering over himself in an interview this week talking about how excited he is to live stream the execution of a 60-year-old man who is a paraplegic.

42:09That is not the visual image that I think the administration wants. And this guy's a monster. What he did was absolutely disgusting. I am personally morally opposed to the death penalty. As a practicing Catholic, I think it's disgusting and we shouldn't do it. It's also proven not to work as a deterrent, so it's bad policy. But regardless of that, I don't care whether you're pro-capital punishment or anti-capital punishment, live streaming a public execution and firing squad of a paraplegic 60-year-old man is an incredibly wrong thing to do, just absolutely disgusting. I appreciate that Jason's willing to say that he's not going to watch it.

42:39I appreciate that the vice president is saying he's not going to watch it. And I hope that cooler heads prevail here to me. This is an example of one, the complete and total lack of empathy and respect for life the Republican Party under Donald Trump has. And more importantly, how Pete Hegseth is just an absolute incompetent boob. He's so excited for this stuff because a handful of people out there are going to get excited about it so he can pretend to run for president or whatever the hell he's doing. That guy should be removed. He's not qualified for the job. And he just creates stupid moments like this.

43:07You have empathy for him? Well, let me tell you my take on this. You have empathy for who? Hold on. I'll give you my take on this as a former prosecutor. Please. Deterrence has been a core tenet and principle of our justice system since we've had a justice system. And somehow we have managed to have deterrence as a goal and as an achieved goal without having to live stream every component of how it is carried out. So I am stunned this would be the result. But I am curious as to whether this is really a political move or truly a changed culture. Either way, this is not ending today. Mike and Jason, thank you both.

43:44Thank you. Thank you. And hey, just into us, President Trump is now trying to clarify his position on live streaming the execution. He told reporters tonight, quote, that he was not involved in the decision, but said, quote, I understand the decision. We'll have more on this story in our next hour. Plus, millions still on the path of Hurricane Isaias. Hundreds of thousands without power as the storm moves into Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. Our live coverage picks up right after a short break.

44:22T 'was many nights before Christmas, and one woman knew she needed a tree, so to Wayfair she flew. She found more decor and added to cart. Merry Christmas to all. Get your Wayfair head start. For holiday decor you can count on, Wayfair delivers. Extreme rain, 100-mile-per-hour gusts, and a sleepless night ahead for millions along the northern Gulf Coast as Hurricane Isaias marches north. We've already seen what the storm can do as it made landfall near Destin and the Florida Panhandle as a Category 2 hurricane, producing wind gusts close to 120 miles per hour. Isaias, now a Category 1 storm, now spinning into Alabama and bringing heavy rain and powerful wind gusts.

45:09Isaias is the first hurricane to hit the United States in nearly two years. More than half a million people are without power across the region right now. And that number, it could rise as more areas are impacted. We're tracking the storm from the CNN Weather Center and our reporters and storm chasers are fanned out across the Gulf Coast. CNN's Rafael Romo is in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Rafael, you've been there all night. What's going on now? It's a very different situation compared especially to what was happening here in the 8 p.m. hour, 7 p.m. hour. But let me tell you, on Friday morning, Governor Ron DeSantis said that the state of Florida had 5 ,000 members of the National Guard ready to be deployed at a moment's notice for whatever was needed.

46:03He also said that as many as 16 ,000 linemen were also ready to be deployed to repair power lines that would have been damaged by the hurricane. based on what I have seen so far they are both going to be needed because there's a field of debris around here where we are we know that here in Escambia County alone 120 ,000 customers have lost power if you consider all of the Gulf Coast region we're talking about more than half a million people who have lost power so the task ahead is very very big again in the next few hours officials are going to have to decide how soon they reopen the Pensacola International Airport they're going to also have to determine how soon they reopen some of the bridges that were closed we also know that multiple buildings shot water service off and they're going to have to reinstate that.

47:06So, so many things to be done. This is only the beginning of the cleanup efforts. And yeah, what you were mentioning before, only for the first time in two years, a major hurricane makes landfall here in the United States. Laura, we'll see what daylight brings. Rafael, thank you so much. I want to bring in CNN's Isabel Rosales in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Isabel, I mean, hundreds of thousands of people are without power. What are you hearing about the storm's impact there? Right. I think the big message here is 24 hours ago, Laura, we thought that this part, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, could be at the epicenter of the storm.

47:47But a big sigh of relief for folks here as this has moved to the northeast, to our friends over there where Rafael is at, to the Destin area where this thing made landfall. And because we were on the western side of this eye wall, where this eye wall was, we dodged the worst impacts of the storm. We're talking storm surge, rainfall that lasted for only a couple of hours, and wind gusts. At its peak, we felt those very intense wind gusts at 60 miles per hour. But we were looking at that intensifying into 60, 70, 80 mile per hour wind gusts that are enough for quite a bit of damage here outside of the storm surge that they were anticipating.

48:29But all of that, thanks to the track of this hurricane, got moved away. Power outages, of course, still are an impactful thing, as you were mentioning here in Alabama. about 218 ,000 households without power here in Baldwin County, where I'm at right now. 22 % of households do not have power. But I anticipate, Laura, that when we wake up in the morning, when the lights are back on, this is going to be a positive story because the last time that they dealt with the hurricane was Hurricane Sally back in 2020. Folks were worried about this, what they would see, a lot of new people here who have never dealt with a hurricane ever and what good news they will receive to know that the worst that they were preparing for did not come to pass here in the Gulf Shores area.

49:18Oh, thank goodness. Isabel, please stand by. I want to go to meteorologist Allison Chinchar. She's at the CNN Weather Center. Allison, tell me where this storm is right now. Right. So it's not too far from the coast. The center of the storm is likely over Alabama. That's where the bulk of the heavy rain is located too. Now we do have some heavier showers across the eastern portion of Florida starting to slide into Georgia. We're going to start to see some heavier rain bands creep into the Carolinas over the next few hours too. So the storm is not necessarily done just because it has made landfall.

49:50It's just going to start to impact other areas. You look at some of these wind gusts that we have picked up. Look at this several above that 100 mile per hour mark. And again, several different places here, including Pensacola, Santa Rosa Sound, and the town of Jay, Florida again picking up some pretty decent strong winds and that is why it's no surprise that you have such high number of power outages over 600 ,000 people without power right now across Florida Alabama and Georgia but when you look at where they're really highlighted it's really that area right near landfall and where the storm has really been over the last two to three hours you've got several in Alabama those counties looking at high power outages a few across portions of Georgia as well as Florida.

50:32But you're going to start to see those spreading north. So more counties in Alabama, more counties in Georgia are going to start to lose power as the rest of this storm continues to slide north. It's not just the heavy rain, but you're also getting those gusty winds. Those winds are starting to tick back up across Alabama and Georgia. And it will be the same as we head into the Carolinas over the next few hours. You've got several flash flood warnings still in effect along these areas just because of how much rain has fallen. We have at least one spot that has already picked up over a foot of rain in just the last 24 hours.

51:05Several others picking up at least half a foot of rain. So a lot of rain in that short period of time. You also have the tornado watch that's valid until at least 2 a.m. Eastern time. We could see a different tornado watch maybe expanding into other counties as we go through the remainder of the overnight hours. There's also the severe threat. Here's where it's focused for tonight. But again, the severe threat is still there Saturday. We just start to notice more of an inland concern and spreading farther east. So into South Carolina, Georgia, that's where the focus is going to be for the potential for those damaging winds as well as tornadoes.

51:39So here's a look at the forecast radar. Again, this is about 1, 2 a.m., not very far from where it is now. But notice the surge of moisture across Alabama and into Georgia by about 3, 4 a.m. You've got very heavy rain across north Georgia and northern Alabama. By 8 a.m., now you're starting to see it slide into North Carolina, into Tennessee. But we do finally start to see things lighten back up across South Georgia, Southern Alabama as well, finally drying out for some of those locations. By Saturday afternoon, again, the whole system really as a whole starts to really crumble and fall apart.

52:11But the moisture, especially on the eastern side, is still ongoing. The coast of North Carolina being able to pull up all the moisture from the Atlantic. So even though, again, that area is well far away from where the center of Isaias was located, they are expecting pretty significant amounts of rainfall out of the storm. For the remainder of today, really for the next few hours, the focus is right there along the coast. But for Saturday, again, you're still looking at very heavy rain from Atlanta up through Asheville, North Carolina. And we all remember several years ago when Asheville got hit from a previous tropical system.

52:45So the last thing these areas need is a tremendous amount of rain in those locations. Stand by, Allison. Thank you so much. I want to go to the phones where we're joined by representatives from the Florida panhandle, one in particular, Republican Congressman Jimmy Petronas. He was also the former fire marshal of Florida. Congressman, thank you for joining. Tell me, what are you hearing from your constituents about this storm? Well, look, I think we learned something from every single storm. This one was no different. You know, the counting and people ask a lot of times, you know, are you ready?

53:20Will we repair? And I tell people all the time in Florida, it's not if it's when we're going to get hit by a storm. This year was no different. And, you know, thank goodness, you know, media partners like yourself, you're talking about this for, you know, the last several days, creating greater awareness. And it makes it a lot easier for us to do our jobs to make sure people evacuate. So, you know, thank you for the attention you bring to this because it makes all of our jobs a lot easier to enforce the importance of heating the warrants and evacuating the safe areas. In this, we certainly understand the need and the partnership because we want to keep everyone safe, Congressman.

53:57And you have warned that this is not going to be a normal storm and the conditions in Florida recently could could amplify the the impacts. What are your biggest concerns right now? We learned from every single storm. This one's no different. And what we've seen, especially when we compare Hurricane Ian to the same now. Hurricane Ian, we had about 22 EV fires because of water. and EVs, they just admit, well, now what's happened? We've got a market that is flooded with e-bikes. Congressman, we're having difficulty hearing you, unfortunately, and I do think it's important to be able to do so. So I will try to come back to you, Congressman Jimmy Petronas.

54:40Thank you so much. It's important to be able to hear you. I want to bring in the former FEMA administrator during President Trump's first term, Pete Gaynor. He's now the president of the disaster recovery organization Bright Harbor. Pete, what will the first steps be for FEMA once the storm passes? and the agency can get on the ground? Well, this is a team effort. So it really starts locally in those neighborhoods and communities that are locally impacted. The state is there to back up those communities, and the federal government is there to back up states. So FEMA has pre-staged in the region, so there's plenty of resources available should states need extra assistance.

55:23So describe to me, and that's important to know, I mean, FEMA does not do this work alone. Obviously, the states and local agencies are impacted and doing their part as well. So what does that coordination, though, look like once daylight breaks, once they're on the ground and they know what needs to be done in the initial assessments? Walk me through that coordination first couple of hours and directives. Yeah. So the good thing about the system is coordination happens all year long. So this is just a continued relationship among local states, tribes and and the federal government. So depending on the level of damage and the kind of the windshield tour that happens locally, they'll go out and do damage assessments, see what's broken, what needs to be fixed, look at access, make sure that you can get emergency equipment up and down roads.

56:14And then from there, it's, you know, the local governments will give all clear. So tonight is really about safety and heeding those directions by your local public safety officials. That's what's most important right now. You know, there have been some changes to FEMA since you left the agency. I mean, I understand almost 20 percent of the workforce has left since last year. Are there any concern that you have that will impact the agency's ability to respond to a storm like this? I think it's stabilized pretty well. I know hiring has is back on. So that's been going on for quite a while. I think new leadership there is kind of reinvigorated the workforce and focus on what's important.

57:00And that's delivering disaster resources, critical resources to the state. So FEMA is out there today and FEMA will be out there tomorrow ready to deliver for the American people. I certainly hope that tomorrow brings some comforts knowing that the storm will have passed. Peter Gaynor, thank you so much. You're welcome. We have much more on the storm ahead. But first, Trump now trying to walk back his previous statement on the plan to live stream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter. The latest on that is next.

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58:36Did you personally authorize or approve the execution, the live stream execution of the forthood? Did I approve? Did you approve? Absolutely, I did. That was President Trump taking full ownership of the Pentagon's plan to live stream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter, Nadal Hassan. But asked tonight by CNN affiliate WSTM if he approved the public live stream, Trump said he was not involved in the decision. Hassan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting at the military base in 2009. Now, this would be the first military execution in more than 65 years. The plan triggered swift pushback from Republicans.

59:18Some lawmakers call the plan beyond disgusting. Live streaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that. Secretary Hags said seriously reconsider this decision. With me now, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russell Honore. General, thank you for joining. This has triggered bipartisan backlash with concerns that live streaming the execution would turn the Fort Hood shooter into some kind of a martyr. How do you see it? Well, visualize this. You roll him out. He's in a wheelchair. And you line up eight to 12 soldiers with live ammunition in their weapons. and so many of them have live ammunition and it's live streaming on TV and they shoot a man in a wheelchair.

1:00:14I have no empathy for this man for what he did. Justice must be served. The judge and the jury sentenced him to death. But to socialize it in an idea that it will be live streamed, I'm starting to think, Laura, that this might have been a distraction. Remember where this announcement was away from, from Abraham Lincoln. The nation's been waiting for a month now for Abe Lincoln to come back to San Diego, greet those families and hear the stories. So was this a distraction from the weekend news cycle or was he serious? And will the Congress and the people of America allow this to happen? And I think the voices are starting to be heard on social media.

1:01:03This is a pretty stupid idea. And it's it sounds cruel and unusual. Something you would see in North Korea, China or Russia, not something you would see live on TV in America. You know, interestingly enough, as you point out, I mean, enemy adversaries, they often weaponize graphic images for recruitment, for propaganda. And as you mentioned, the much anticipated return of those who have been on that Lincoln for months and months since, of course, they were deployed to that area and before. Do you believe that this puts a target on U.S. troops more broadly, especially those who are deployed overseas right now?

1:01:46Well, it could. I mean, the speculation is that if a U.S. soldier is captured and tried and could be executed publicly because the U.S. set a new standard, that of publicly executing someone who has been found guilty of a crime, either a war crime or being captured. I said it sets a very bad standard and it put us right there with countries like Saudi Arabia who have a place called Chop Chop Square Thursday or Friday to bring the criminals out. And if you were caught stealing, you chop your hand off. I don't think we want to go to that level of humanity. That's very medieval. And I don't think it's going to survive next week news cycle as we go into the election, because this is starting to dominate the news.

1:02:42While it took Abe Lincoln off the news, it took other issues off the news dealing with the war. It becomes a story to itself. And I can't see this surviving. And I'm sure all the gambling sites now already got posters up. Will it happen or will it happen or will it not happen? And there are a lot of things happening in this government that spur people to do things that folks can make money off. I doubt this will happen live stream. I mean, the idea of sort of someone trying to gamble about this has a different level of barbarism. You heard the president, as you know, General, who was walking back some of the idea of approving this plan.

1:03:30But this has really been spurred in part by Secretary Hegseth, who, as you know, in his position, has become particularly controversial in a number of statements that he has made. What is your assessment of his statements even do this? well it's a part of the barabba bravado he came from in his history setting uh doing being a newsman and making the news on saturday morning uh and criticizing the united states military didn't write in a book that he think is some kind of a doctrine about lethality and manly man attitude. I think it's just gone a little bit too far. And I think this will get rolled back.

1:04:16But it did change the news from the Abe Lincoln to Pete Hedghtag making it. I remember the president is very reluctant to say he made a mistake or to admit anything. And it appears tonight that the president is rolling that out. Well, maybe whoever made it, I wasn't involved in a decision. I think he's going to walk away from this and this will be walked back over time. But it's dominating the news this weekend. We're not talking about the crew of the A. Blinken. Oh, CNN certainly will be talking about that as well. That's the beauty of a 24-7 news cycle. We have room for both. General Russell Honore, thank you so much.

1:04:58God bless America. God bless our troops. Indeed. Thousands of people are currently without power as dangerous wind and rain from Hurricane Isaias move inland. We're live with a storm chaser who rode out the storm.

1:05:19We're continuing to monitor the impacts of Hurricane Isaias along the Gulf Coast. Right now, hundreds of thousands of people have lost power in Florida and Alabama as strong winds and heavy rain continue to slam the region. Let's talk about the search and rescue efforts currently in place for the storm. Joining me now from Vernon, Florida, is Josh Gill. He is an incident commander for the United Cajun Army. Josh, thank you for being here. I mean, what are conditions on the ground like right now? So thank you for having us, ma 'am. First, I'd like to say it's an absolute honor to be with these volunteer firefighters and the mayor of Vernon.

1:05:54These men and women are some of the hardest working individuals I've ever met. And to even be able to go out on calls with them is absolutely an honor. Conditions are horrible. I mean, we just had a hurricane come through here. It's unbelievable. We've been on calls for structure fires. We've been on calls for trees across roads. It's just absolutely amazing to see how these people are putting together to save their community. What kind of calls have you been asked to make? Are we talking about rescuing people? Has it been about rescuing people in need who cannot get out of it? What is the nature of what you're being asked to do as we speak?

1:06:30To clear the roads. Number one, clear roads so first responders can get onto the roads. And it looks just like in the screen right there. Torrential rains came through and knocked down a lot of trees. But what I want to do is show you these men and women right here of Vernon, Florida. And we've got the mayor of Vernon, Ms. Angel. And I'm going to tell you, these men and women are absolute heroes. Undoubtedly. And I want to thank all of them for being here with us tonight and being able to see their faces and put a face to the heroism that's undoubtedly going to come. I appreciate you making the time to make sure we see each of them.

1:07:06And each of you are going to have a job to do in the hours and the daylight hours to come. What is the most important thing people should be doing right now to protect themselves and to make it easy on first responders like yourselves to be able to do what you do best? So I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do is I've got the chief right here. This is Shaq. And he's big. He's a big old fellow. So, Jack, what do you say to people that are out in the community? Just stay inside. Don't get out and tour right now. We got downed power lines, downed trees. Let us get that cleaned up for everyone, and we'll let you know when it's safe to be on the roadways and stay hunkered down.

1:07:44There you go. I mean, that's, look, words from a professional, right? And these are volunteers. But I've also got the mayor here as well. This is Ms. Angel. Anything you want to say as far as the community and constituents? Yeah, definitely stay off the roads, guys. I'll tell you what. Vernon Fire Department, these are all volunteer firemen. They have families at home. They have real jobs. They do this on their own. And I tell you what, I cannot thank them enough, as well as all the citizens here in the city. I mean, we could not do it without them. So powerful. There you go. Josh, Mayor, Shaq, all of you, thank you so much.

1:08:19And we'll continue to follow what's going on there. We want you to have the very best in your community. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you, ma 'am. Everybody be safe. Thanks. Thank you. I want to go back to storm chaser Jonathan Petromala, who's currently in Pensacola, Florida. Jonathan, has anything changed since we last spoke? I mean, what are you seeing there? A lot of darkness still, as you can imagine, with this storm that came through. Power lines down large trees across the road they were just talking about. We're seeing a lot of those as well. Very dangerous. Being out here, you've got to take it slow, have a lot of good lights.

1:08:53obviously something we build our cars specifically for to cover storms like this because of the conditions that it brings. Also, a lot of flash flooding, flash flood emergencies happening during the hurricane. We really, really lucked out, though, that this is a hurricane that was moving quickly because while it did dump just a tremendous amount of rain, four or five inches per hour rates of rainfall, along with those winds around 100 miles an hour, it was like sitting in a car wash, it moved on. And so the rain is not still falling like some hurricanes that are moving like.

1:09:29Yeah, I hear you. I think we lost sound for you for just a moment there. I'm not hearing sound. I don't have you anymore. Stand by, Jonathan. Oh, I got your back. Okay. Can I hear you? It's dry on the backside of this hurricane. Oh, good. Okay. And we were talking about the backside of the hurricane and what the impact is that. So what do you, when do you expect conditions to fully calm down and people to be able to maybe return to some sense of normalcy.

1:09:57Well, that's the nature of having a hurricane, everyone. He's going to have a little bit of issues trying to communicate. Glad to have him right there. But I want to go right now to CNN's Ivan Rodriguez, who's in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Ivan, what's happening where you are? How has it been? Laura, I can tell you for the last couple of hours now, Gulf Shores here is breathing a sigh of relief because the winds have calmed down. The heavy rain that we were seeing earlier this evening have also calmed down. And now we're really just looking at what could possibly come into the inland areas. We heard from officials earlier today, including Alabama's governor, saying that just because it seems like in these areas of Gulf Shores, Orange Beach nearby, that the conditions are improving, it doesn't mean that it's the same case for other inland areas.

1:10:45For example, just in the state of Alabama, officials had earlier said that we could still expect anywhere in the range of 74 mile per hour winds about 100 miles inland into the state. So that is still a major concern here. Obviously, we're keeping a close eye on power outages because those heavy winds can continue to have an impact when it comes to customers without power. Just between Florida and Alabama, we're looking at more than 650 ,000 customers without power. Florida is currently carrying most of those, more than 400 ,000 customers are without power in the state of Florida. But again, as this continues to go on, yes, Hurricane Isaias is weakening, but those heavy winds are continuing.

1:11:25And we also have some areas of Alabama and Georgia under a tornado watch as well. That's something else to keep an eye on. But here specifically, Laura, in these areas that we're in, we're currently in a curfew here until 7 a.m. tomorrow. So a lot of these people are staying home. They're not on the roads because, as we heard earlier just now, first responders need to be able to access those roads. They want to be able to clear those roads before anybody else is getting on them. Right. Right. Now, our mayor there was talking about the idea that these are people who have families themselves. Many of them are volunteers wanting to be first responders and still needing to be safe as they try to help others.

1:12:03Stand by, Ivan. I want to go to meteorologist Allison Chinchar at the CNN Weather Center. Allison, where is the storm tracking now? Yeah, so it's moving inland, and that's really where the focal point of the story is going to continue to be over the next 24 to 36 hours. not necessarily on the coast, but all of these areas far away from the coast that are now expecting to get those strong winds as well as very heavy rainfall. You can already see some of that heavy rain sliding into Birmingham and into Montgomery. It's going to spread eastward in the next 24 hours. So Atlanta, Columbia, Charlotte, Asheville, all of these areas are going to start to see some heavier rain tick back up as well.

1:12:41Here's a little bit more zoomed in. Again, you can see we've got some pretty decent lightning and some gusty winds with that storm to the north of Jacksonville. Another thing to note, too, now we have lost a couple of our flash flood warnings since things are starting to dry back out in portions of Florida, but we still have them lingering in Alabama. And it's not out of the question to start seeing more of these flash flood warnings pick up just in other locations that are following where that heavy rainfall is located. So here you can see all of those red boxes. That's the flash flood warnings.

1:13:09But anywhere you see the screen has the potential for those flash flood warnings as we go through the next 24 to 36 hours. The flood watch is basically telling folks if you are in the green, you have the potential for flooding to occur over the next 24 hours. Here's a look at the forecast radar. Again, right now, the focus is really kind of over central Alabama, and we will start to see it spread into central and north Georgia as we go in the coming hours. Again, look at this three, four o 'clock in the morning, Atlanta and Birmingham really looking at some heavy rainfall. By later Saturday morning, say nine, 10 o 'clock.

1:13:41Now you're starting to see some of those heavier Your showers creep into Tennessee, North and South Carolina as well. But you still have some showers over Alabama and Georgia. Now, by the time we get to Saturday evening, the bulk of the really heavy rain has really started to spread eastward. So, again, essentially from the North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia state line right there and then everything east of that. That's where you're going to see some of the heavy stuff. Unfortunately, that includes Greenville, Spartanburg. That includes Asheville, North Carolina. That's where you're going to be looking at several inches of rain for some of these areas in a very short period of time.

1:14:14Thank you so much, Allison. So much to unpack. Thank you. We'll continue to watch what's happening there. We're also watching Washington, D.C., where after weeks of speculation, President Trump has finally picked his new press secretary. And you're looking at her. But who is she? I'll tell you about her next.

1:14:36My first day on the job, Jesse, is Monday. I don't know if that's a briefing, but President Trump is full of surprises. So I'm looking forward to serving him and the American people. A new voice is about to take center stage in the White House briefing room. Conservative commentator Katie Zacharia, who worked briefly at the Department of Homeland Security. President Trump was quick to praise his new press secretary for having an unblemished record of support and for being a loyal and brilliant supporter right from the beginning. She is likewise a devoted fan and member of MAGA. I am confident that Katie will deliver strong results for our country as the next White House press secretary, unquote.

1:15:16Zachariah has been a frequent guest on Fox News and Newsmax, including with my West Coast colleague, Alex Michelson, on his show. And he joins me now. Alex, we have now news of who the next White House press secretary is going to be. You've had her on your show many times. You've interacted with her firsthand. What stands out to you about her style? Well, let's introduce who she is. She's a 41-year-old Californian. She's a mother of four. She is an attorney by training. She's a graduate of Pepperdine School of Law. And she likes to prosecute a case. Sound familiar? And part of that is that she spent years in China, actually, working there, and is very familiar with issues when it comes to China.

1:16:03She spent a short time working in Homeland Security. She's especially passionate about issues with the border. Here's one of the debates that she had with Assemblyman Isaac Bryan on our show on the issue of Homeland Security and the border. Absolutely would spare lives if you would allow federal agents to come in and apprehend criminal illegal aliens that have committed crimes are being released by prisons, could be picked up by federal enforcement officers and then sent home to their home country. And yet California and the liberal legislation that has allowed this to happen, they released these criminal illegal aliens out onto the streets after they've raped children, after they've killed people.

1:16:42And they're still coming out on the streets. And it would be easy to call ICE, which is the very, very simple and really should be a bipartisan. We don't want criminals on our streets. So that's a sense of how she argues. Another thing that's interesting is of all the people we've had on the show, she is among the nicest people ever in terms of not only to the crew and to us, but also to the Democrats. It's been really interesting that almost every Democrat she's been on with ends up becoming personal friends with her because she is so nice to them. It'll be Interesting to see how that personality works in the high intensity world of Washington politics.

1:17:24Intense indeed. We'll see what happens when that lectern or podium is in front of her. We'll see if that holds. Thanks, Alex. We'll see you in just a few minutes as well. You'll have more ahead on this. And still ahead, anti-ICE protests in New York City as DHS defends the actions of their ICE agent in yesterday's shooting. What new video is now revealing about the moments before shots were fired? That's next.

1:17:55Well, the chaotic ICE confrontation in New York City, that's now exploded into a fierce political war between the White House and New York officials. While Democrats condemn federal agents for opening fire near a five-year-old child, Republicans are pointing directly to the suspect's criminal record. President Trump is turning the incident into a rallying cry for his law and order platform. And just yesterday, our heroes of ICE apprehended a man with a criminal record a mile long who was wanted for possible murder and murder in a gang. He's a very dangerous man. And they got him. But instead of being praised, ICE was scorned by New York politicians who set him loose.

1:18:41They want to set him loose. We want him to be loose. Guys want him for murder. They want him to be loose. Mike Nellis and Jason Rantz are back with me. Jason, according to court and police records, the suspect's conviction is for grand larceny and he has a pending drug charge. He's not, as far as I've seen, currently charged with murder. What is the reason to exaggerate the suspect's record? Is it to shield ice from questions about the operation itself or is it about a larger conversation he wants to have about the need for ICE. I don't know if he's shielding anything. I mean, I think he's talking about this guy's background.

1:19:21He's accused of being in a gang. He's wanted for questioning in the shooting of federal law enforcement officer. He's got weapons charges that he has faced or questions of that. I think this is a bad guy. I do think that, you know, to the extent that there's politics involved, I'm sorry, it wasn't the Trump administration that went out last night and was spreading a bunch of information prior to actually understanding what went on. I think any question over these kinds of operations are totally valid. And I think we should be completely transparent and we'll get the details. But Mayor Mamdani last night goes on and says that he was working to get this guy released.

1:19:59Even if you don't think that ICE should be engaging in this kind of enforcement actions, You're going to be out there saying you negotiated for two hours for this person to be released from jail. I don't think that that plays well for moderate Democrats, independents, and obviously it doesn't play well for Republicans. There is a difference between someone who is your next door neighbor, who is otherwise not violating the law other than being here illegally, and someone who is a convicted felon. Mike, the phrasing of negotiating for release harkens back to the idea of a hostage situation. And so there is a presumption that this person is, you know, unlawfully taken and should be released.

1:20:40That's the phrasing that comes to mind. However, to Jason's point, many have looked at this issue and the public may see a suspect with a felony record who has ICE alleges has gang ties. I've already told you what the actual court records say, but alleges gang ties. How do you how do Democrats convince voters that sanctuary policies are keeping neighborhoods safe or that the statements of the mayor of New York in terms of negotiating for this person's release is not feeding into the hands of a stereotype that Democrats are soft on crime? yeah well let's just be honest with the american people for a second donald trump and his entire administration of zero credibility when they talk about the people that they are terrorizing in immigrant communities they've been caught lying so many times about these incidents and what have happened whether or not it was to renee gooder alex pretty who i believe were murdered by ice or any of the thousands and thousands of thousands of immigrants they have rounded up and thrown into camps without any actual criminal record they keep doing stuff like this and that's why donald trump on stage is saying that this guy is wanted for murder when he isn't and you brought to light the truth in that.

1:21:43And Jason isn't willing to admit that on camera. Fine. You know, what I see when I look at this is that there should be a process. We should have officers who know what the hell they're doing instead of instead of people who have no idea what they're doing, are untrained, wearing masks, driving on marked cars. I see a seven year old kid and I see agents who fired into the car of a seven year old kid. My father was a 34 year old. Yeah, he woke up. Yeah, I want to say five years old, seven bullets, though. Go ahead. That's the reason why you had that. Go ahead. excuse me i put you know what i probably conflated it with as a father as i have a seven-year-old and i just think about how scary that situation is and again you could feel whatever you want about these guys these agents and these tactics are disgusting and again the point that i was making is my father 34 year veteran of the fbi would never fire shots into a car with a kit that's the bottom line they have a responsibility to protect everybody whether you like what this guy did or not let the system figure it out and if they were operating within the law if they were operating within the standards you would expect from law enforcement in this country these things would not happen, but they're so thirsty to go after and attack anybody because of the color of their skin to score cheap political points and then go on stage and lie about that, that they're comfortable with this stuff.

1:22:46And everybody involved should be ashamed of themselves. Jason, what's your reaction? Obviously, he's invoking that race factor. Yeah, it's obviously not a factor. I think, again, anyone can look at this guy's background and see what he is. I mean, the vast majority of people they brought in and know that. Excuse me, Mike, hold on. I can't hear you guys. Jason, finish your point. I've been told by Democrats. I can't hear you. Jason, go ahead. I've been told by Democrats that they're okay. I've been told by Democrats that they're okay with going after folks who are criminals. This is someone who is a criminal.

1:23:16And so ultimately the same complaints happen whether or not you go after the hardened criminal, the worst of the worst, or anybody else. It's the exact same talking point. So either come out and say that you don't want any immigration enforcement at all, that you truly want ICE to be dismantled. No, that's a lie. That's not what I'm saying. or at least say there is room to go after bad guys like this. Mike, I want you to respond. I'm sorry. I want you to respond, but hold on. I want to impart this one part of it. Can both be true that you can want to have criminals apprehended, but you also would have tactics that are used and employed that would keep the community safe?

1:23:55That's what law enforcement does, presumably, every single day, right? They can try to apprehend criminals, but they also are bound by constitutional issues. They're bound by the rights and they're bound by the tactics. Describe for me in more detail what you think is the either or. And then Mike, you can respond. Go ahead, Jason. I want them. Oh, sorry. Well, I was just saying that the talking point coming from folks on the left is always the same regardless of what happens. Even this talking point of people who don't have criminal histories being deported, what they're not telling you is that they've also been ordered to be deported by a judge.

1:24:32So the system is working, that they've gone through the case. It's been adjudicated. And then the judge has said, you do not get to stay in this country illegally. You do have to go ahead and make those arrests for the people who are choosing not to deport. So you cannot have it both ways. If there is a specific issue in this case where policy wasn't followed, I noticed that people are pointing out the fact that he was fleeing. Again, you should not flee. You should not use your car as a weapon. that is going to elicit a response from ICE. Well, Jason, hold on. Let me stop you there. If they didn't, they should be punished.

1:25:04Let me stop you there because we don't, Mike. We know the person who shot at the car were not in law enforcement uniforms, right? That's part of the lingering concern here is whether there was notice there was law enforcement, number one. Well, it's not normal to just have somebody come to a car, bust out your window, and have a long gun drawn or anything else, and you would automatically... Well, that's not what Mark Lee Mullins said, to be quick. And you would automatically know that the person is law enforcement. I don't care if Mark Mayn Mullen said if somebody walked up to your car right now and they punched out your window and you know they were a cop, would you try to leave the scene?

1:25:36No, but I'm saying Secretary Mullen said that they identified themselves prior to that. OK, I'm going to take the word no. If someone who did not, if someone who just broke into my, that's different. But if someone was saying I'm ICE and then it happened, that's also different. That's all I'm pointing out. All right. Well, Mike, I want you to address your point that you wanted to raise about the tactics used here. And, of course, respond to what Jason has said quickly. Yeah, well, look, I have no problem with anybody with a criminal record, particularly a violent criminal record, being held accountable in this and being deported out of the country.

1:26:08I want violent criminals who have broken the law to be removed. And the problem here is that the person who is the most innocent in this scenario is the five year old kid in the back. The agents are acting incredibly irresponsibly. responsibly. Any system that's going to be comfortable with officers who are untrained and are unmarked and not identifying themselves, shooting into a car and endangering the life of a kid like that, that is fundamentally not OK. I think we can all agree that we need to do better on securing our border. We need to do better on immigration enforcement generally. But these guys have no idea what they're doing.

1:26:35They've rushed to get these people into power. They've hired people who would not be hired by any other law enforcement agency in the country. And because of that, they're creating incidents like this. And when we bring up these legitimate concerns, which, by the way, are shared by the majority of Americans because Donald Trump is underwater on every single issue from the economy right down to immigration. His best issue. People are sick and tired of this crap. They're creating more chaos. They're terrorizing people. And I want to remind you, the vast majority of the people that they have arrested, harassed, rounded up, however you want to describe it, have not had a criminal record and they have a proven record at DHS and in the Trump administration of lying about these people.

1:27:09You cannot believe a single thing they say. They have had to walk back in courts so many times these incidents and say that they were lying or they were misunderstanding the facts in the beginning. But they lie. They lie. And they lie. Don't believe anything that they say. They're harassing people indiscriminately based on the color of their skin. It sounds like this is exactly the thought process of voters who might be considering both sides of this issue. There are still a lot of questions left. And what happened here? They're not answered yet. We'll continue. Mike and Jason, thank you both.

1:27:38Appreciate it. Thank you. And that'll do it for me tonight. Alex Michelson picks up CNN's live coverage of Hurricane Isaias next. Good night.

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