Jamaican Officials: Four Bodies Recovered In St. Elizabeth Parish

26:48And we're back with our Money Lead. The cost to borrow money or pay credit card in car loans got a little lower today. The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by another quarter percent to a range between 3.75 % and 4%. This is the lowest in three years. However, after the big announcement, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters another rate cut in December, quote, is not a foregone conclusion. That warning seemed to spook Wall Street and the Dow and S &P 500 closed down while the Nasdaq ended slightly higher. Money matters, specifically trade and tariffs, also top our world lead. In a few hours, President Trump is going to sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.

27:26This is a high-stakes meeting. The two leaders are set to discuss a potential trade deal that would have a seismic global economic impact. And with me now to talk about this and other matters of international intrigue, David Sanger, the New York Times White House correspondent and CNN national security analyst, and Julia Yaffe, a Washington correspondent for Puck. She is also the author of the brand new book, Motherland, A Feminist History of Modern Russia from Revolution to Autocracy. It's out when? This week? Last week. Last week. And it's already nominated for? A National Book Award. A National Book Award.

28:01Yeah. That's just super impressive. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you so much. We're going to get to the book in one second, but there's a lot of stuff going on right now. So we do not know the details of this potential deal between the U.S. and China. What do you think would make it a win for Trump, if anything? Well, I think if there is a deal to be had, right? Any deal. Right, any deal. He wants something to tout. He wants points on the board. And I think if the two sides can climb down from these tariffs and these hostile acts, trade acts, and these trees they've climbed into, I think that would be a big win for both of them.

28:34David, the meeting's expected to result in a framework for the two countries' economic ties. But does this moment not showcase that Beijing is now something of an equal to the U.S. on the global stage, making the trade war in the end something of a win for Xi? Oh, I think it definitely is, because Xi Jinping was the only one who managed to stand up directly to President Trump on the tariffs, cut off the rare earths, said, you want to play this game? we can as well. So I think the best you could hope for, Jake, would be that tomorrow they basically reset the clock to January. Get rid of the tariffs.

29:11China starts buying soybeans again. They suspend the rare earth halt and so forth. The big question, though, is the relationship is so much bigger. Right. It's not just trade and tariffs. It's all this Chinese military aggression. Well, it's military aggression. It's Taiwan. Cyber attacks. It's cyber attacks. Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon, both aimed at the United States. It's the growth of the largest nuclear program, nuclear weapons program that we have seen. It's taking land from and islands from the Philippines. And so far, the president has really focused only on the trade aspect. Julia, let's turn to Europe.

29:52And another major move today, the Trump administration is removing U.S. troops from Romania. That's a move that's drawing strong criticism from Republicans. The Republican chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees released a joint statement that read in part, we strongly oppose the decision not to maintain the rotational U.S. brigade in Romania. On March 19th, we stated that we will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the joint staff, and collaboration with Congress.

30:20Unfortunately, this appears to be exactly what is being attempted. this is really interesting. The Republicans in Congress very seldom stand up to Trump on anything. And do you think this is going to invite in any way aggression from Putin? Well, we're already seeing aggression from Putin, but it's going more. Yeah. And I think it's probably going to continue being these kind of pokes and pricks and testing the limits of what it would take to trigger maybe an Article V declaration by the NATO powers. But in terms of, you know, land army invading, I don't know that, I mean, they still can't take Ukraine.

31:00So I think what you're going to be seeing is more of this kind of prodding and these drone attacks like you've seen in Poland and Denmark. But this is not a great move. And I think it is a little bit kind of Trump, again, being all over the map. First, he sanctions returns Russia more, but he's withdrawing U.S. troops from Romania. So what is Moscow to make from this? Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, he does seem to be all over the map. Some days he really seems to be clear-eyed about Putin, says he basically lies to him all the time, and then he turns around and does something that will be very pleasing to Putin.

31:35Right. So you have seen him obviously face off against Zelensky early in the year, then tells... A couple times. A couple times. Yeah. Then tells Zelensky he could win back all the territory by himself, then tells Zelensky he really couldn't, then do the sanctions and so forth. Meanwhile, Putin has been very steady. His demands haven't changed any. And then in the past two days, past three or four days, he has conducted two tests of exotic nuclear delivery systems. That nuclear-fueled missile. Well, the nuclear-fueled missile. And then yesterday, what's called the Poseidon, which is an undersea torpedo that is designed to be dropped off from the eastern side of Russia, make it under the Pacific and hit California.

32:23And that's pretty remarkable. Julia, let's talk about your book, Motherland, A Feminist History of Modern Russia From Revolution to Autocracy, in which you talk about stuff that I really honestly, to be honest, didn't know how Russia transformed for a country that once championed women's equality to one that now is very right wing and views even just like gays and lesbians as extremists. Yeah. Anyway, tell me about it. How did that happen? Well, what happened is that the men implementing these policies and they were mostly men, the women were very quickly shut out of the process and out of the upper echelons of Soviet leadership, they had never bought in to truly emancipating women.

33:10They were okay with emancipating them in some senses, like letting them get divorced and allowing them into the workplace, which conveniently the Soviet Union needed, all hands on deck, to industrialize at this breakneck rate that they did in the 20s and 30s. But they didn't want women competing with them for power. They didn't want women equal to them in status. And they didn't like some of the ideas that early Bolshevik feminists like Alexandra Kolontai championed around free love and unchaining love and sex for marriage. They were quite conventional, bourgeois, patriarchal men. And then coupled with that, all these promises of emancipating women, letting them work, they never supported women the way they promised to.

33:54They didn't build the required number of nurseries to support them. There weren't the laundromats and the cafeterias. there wasn't food or clothes to go around. So by the end of the Soviet experiment, women were so exhausted by having to do everything, by working a full day's work and then coming home and doing seven hours of domestic labor every day and raising the kids, that they were like, we don't want this anymore. We just want to be stay-at-home wives. We want a rich man to take care of us. And that paved the way for somebody like Putin. Fascinating stuff. Julia Affey and David Sanger. And again, Julia's new book, Motherland, is out now.

34:31Go check it out. Iranian-American journalist Masi Alinajad will be here next on The Lead after coming face-to-face today with two men convicted of trying to kill her.

34:46Let's have I Got News for Your Ears, the podcast. I am your host, Michael Ian Black. When I misbehave, I usually have a sense of guilt about it, right? They don't have that. They obviously don't have that. It seems like that, right? It definitely seems like that. Like someone like Lutnick will just blatantly lie to an interviewer, as we've seen. And then in the Epstein files comes out and he's like, I met that guy once. Was like, he's a disgusting pig. Gross. He's gross. Awful. Haven't seen him since 2005. And it turns out they're in business together. They're literally in business together. Have I Got News for Your Ears releases new episodes every Wednesday.

35:23Don't miss an episode. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts.

35:29So I'm going with the FBI to the court right now facing my would-be assassins. As you see, I'm wearing red because they were hoping to cover all over my body with blood. I'm wearing red to celebrate my life. In our Law and Justice League, that's Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinajad today. Before facing two Russian mobsters who were convicted in trying to assassinate her. Today, a judge sentenced both men to 25 years in prison for this murder-for-hire plot, allegedly arranged by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, in retaliation for Masi's criticism of the Iranian regime and her advocacy for women's rights.

36:10And here now, it's always our pleasure, Masi Alinajad. Masi, what was it like to face your would-be assassins in court. And what was your reaction to the sentence? Excited. I screamed. I started to sing. Dance. I took a bike in New York City to enjoy my life. Jake, I've been through a lot for three years. My life turned absolutely upside down. I was nervous to see them face to face. But seeing a female judge, this is the dream that we are fighting in Iran. And seeing justice, it was beautiful. It was phenomenal. I told them, you are two criminals. You even don't know me, Russian mobsters. You were hired by the Iranian regime to kill me.

36:55And now you are here in court complaining about the situation in prison. You kidding me? My job was to echo the voice of political prisoners. And that's why you wanted to kill me. I am alive. Maybe I lost my Brooklyn home, my beautiful sunflower garden, but not my voice, Jake, as you can hear me. I'm loud. Yeah, that's why we book you. You read a victim impact statement in court. You said you were doing it also for the millions of Iranians still under threat by the Iranian regime. What did you tell the court? I said to the court that this is not about me. They didn't want just to kill me. They wanted to kill freedom of speech because my platform with more than 10 million followers, just echoing the voice of millions of Iranians who say no to forced hijab and no to Islamic Republic.

37:47And that's why they wanted to kill me. And, Jake, I have to say that I am not just talking for myself. In the court, I said the same thing, that these Russian mobsters, the Chinese government, the Islamic Republic, Maduro's government, they're all helping each other, working together and targeting dissidents like me. You know, I created an organization alongside Garry Kosparov and Leopoldo Lopez, another opposition leader. We are bringing dissidents from 56 authoritarian regimes. Can you believe that when I talk to them, all of them saying the same story, that they're dictators targeting them on U.S.

38:23soil, targeting them on Western soil by helping each other? You know my case. They wanted to take me to Venezuela. And that happened to one of my colleagues, Ruho Lazzam. He was tricked from France to actually Iran, and they executed him. And right now, talking to you, another journalist, another Iranian, Jamshed Sharmat, two years ago, was kidnapped by the regime, tricked to Iran. They killed him. And his daughter announced yesterday that they're going to bring his body back in the United States of America. That could have happened to me. I could have been dead. And I love my life. I want to be alive and see this regime is going to be gone.

39:04But that's not going to happen until the U.S. government be tough when it comes to the terrorist regime in Iran. Negotiating or talking to this regime is not going to save the lives of Americans. So this murder plot failed, thank God. It also failed to silence you, thank God. But it did change your life. What is your message to those who see what Iran tried to do to you? First of all, yeah, it changed my life. I have been moved 21 times. You know, I grew up in a tiny village being brainwashed by the regime alongside young schoolgirls to chant death to America, to hate America. How ironic. The same country, America, saved my life, gave me a second life.

39:46But I don't have a normal life. I have to watch over my shoulder in New York City. We have to stop transnational repression. And that's not going to happen until we Americans ask our policymakers to be united with all the democratic countries to stop the terrorists, to target dissidents beyond their own borders. Masi Alinajad, God bless you. We're so happy to have you. Thanks so much and congratulations. Thank you so much for having me back, Jake. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, are lawmakers finally making progress on a compromise to end this government shutdown? Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that talks are ramping up between Republicans and moderate Democrats.

40:26But with 42 million Americans at risk of losing food assistance this weekend, will Congress make a deal? Plus, devastated communities are getting their first look now at just how extensive the damage is from Hurricane Melissa. More than 30 people were killed in Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba. but officials in Jamaica say they cannot give a death assessment yet because crews can't even get to the hardest hit areas right now. Just how long could this recovery process take? And what could be a break in the Louvre heist? Today, French prosecutors announced two suspects have admitted to being involved in the robbery.

41:02So are investigators any closer to recovering the more than$100 million worth of necklaces, earrings, tiaras and diamonds?

41:13The lead tonight, two days left until 42 Americans lose a critical lifeline to help put food on the table. Snap food assistance benefits, what people commonly call food stamps, are set to expire this Saturday, setting up another battle along party lines on Capitol Hill as we hit day 29 of the federal government shutdown. Pressure will keep building on lawmakers. Military paychecks remain in jeopardy. Obamacare enrollees are seeing premiums rise without the subsidies that Democrats want to renew. Elections are on Tuesday. And there remains the potential for this shutdown to set a new record for the longest ever.

41:49Or worse, outlast the original end date for the funding plan that Senate Democrats continue to vote down. Let's go to CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. And Manu, it's getting heated up there. Yeah, it absolutely is. frustration is boiling over because there is simply no endgame to this crisis that is getting worse every day, that people are losing now critical benefits that they rely on for their food assistance. That could happen as soon as Saturday, as the Trump administration is indicating that it will not dip into what's known as contingency funds to keep that money flowing. They say that money needs to go elsewhere.

42:26They also say that they are legally prohibited from doing so, prompting significant pushback from Democrats who went to the floor of the United State Senate today to try to pass a bill to allow for those funds to continue to flow for at least a few more weeks. That prompted an irate Senate Majority Leader John Thune to push back, saying if Democrats wanted to fund that program known as SNAP, that they could actually pass the bill that they have blocked 13 times to fund the full federal government. SNAP recipients shouldn't go without food. People should be getting paid in this country. And we've tried to do that 13 times.

43:04And you voted no 13 times. This isn't a political game. These are real people's lives that we're talking about. And you all just figured out, 29 days in, that, oh, there might be some consequences. 13 times people over here voted to fund SNAP. 13 times they voted to fund WIC.

43:29My Aitken back.

43:55Jake, today I caught up with Catherine Cortez Masto. She is one of the three Senate Democrats who have voted consistently with Republicans to reopen the government. And I asked her whether she believes her party is making a big mistake. I don't think federal workers should be political pawns. I don't think we should swap the paint of some Americans for others. I think we should be lifting all of them up and helping them. I think we can keep the government open and address this looming crisis of the health care cliff that we are seeing. Have your fears about the shutdown been borne out? I can tell you what I know and I'm hearing in my state.

44:31People are suffering because they're not getting a paycheck. And Jake, despite the back and forth, there are some signs that there are talks that are happening, not at the leadership level, not with the White House and top Democrats, but at least some rank and file members who are trying to figure out a way out of this crisis. One Senate Democrat, Tammy Baldwin, who I just caught up with moments ago, Jake, told me that there's a, quote, shadow negotiation happening, that when and if Republican and Democratic leaders come together and the president gets directly involved, that perhaps that can lead to a larger deal to end the stalemate.

45:04But, Jake, expect this to drag into next week, which could make this, which would make this, the longest shutdown in American history. All right, Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, thank you. I want to bring in my next guest. She's a single mother of two from Tennessee whose children rely on SNAP and WIC benefits. Soraya Burdine is joining us now. Soraya, how are you feeling ahead of this approaching expiration of benefits with SNAP benefits set to expire on Saturday?

45:32It's kind of a scary feeling. I was telling someone I was talking to earlier, if I didn't really have faith like I did, I'd be panicking. and I know that a lot of, you know, a lot of other mothers that are in the same position that I'm in are most likely panicking. And it's just, you know, it's a really scary feeling, but it kind of, they make it feel like it's nothing we can do. So what are you going to do? I mean, is there a food kitchen? Is there a church that will help out? What are you going to do for your son and your daughter? They're young and obviously they need food. Right. So there are food banks around.

46:21I personally have been saving. So I'll just be pretty much saving money. And there are a couple of food banks around where we live. And then my home church. I know that they help out with things like that. So I don't know how much of the government shutdown politics you're following. There are some lawmakers here in Washington, D.C. trying to work towards a solution to help keep these programs funded. But if that doesn't work, do you have any sort of long term plan on how you would supplement the money from SNAP if it disappears for an extended period of time? My plan would just be to keep working hard to save money.

47:07I mean, and, you know, visit the food banks if needed. But since it started, I kind of already started to prepare. So my plan is to just to keep building what I have and, you know, keep working the best that I can to stay prepared for those times. When you hear about politicians arguing over this, do you have an opinion on who is to blame in terms of Democrats or Republicans? Or do you just think about, you know, these people are paid to work this out and they need to they need to fix it. And you don't really think about it in terms of partisan labels.

47:56well i just you know i look at it like they they do get paid to to fix all of this and i just feel like there's nothing being done if it's been going on for 29 days and you know tomorrow is the day that it could be shut off completely um so i just feel like the people that are in charge of it need to get it together because like you said there are real this is real people's lives that we're dealing with and there's children and you know elderly people and families that are going to go hungry if things like this happen how old are your kids five and six do they have any idea about what's going on or you keep that away from them i i'm doing my best to keep it away from them and i was um earlier i was just saying that i know a lot of other parents are trying to do the same but it it can get hard because it's scary like some people really don't know what they're going to do next and that's a scary place to be um but i'm doing my best to kind of keep it from them so they have no idea what's going on all right Soraya Burdine, thank you so much.

49:14I hope this comes to an end soon. Let's bring in Congressman John Rose. He's a Republican from Soraya's state of Tennessee. So, Congressman, what's your reaction to what she said about the politics of the shutdown? Her basic take is not to assign partisan blame. It's just you and your colleagues are paid to solve these problems and make sure that they're not, that people like her kids are not pawns in this fight. Absolutely, Jake. Thanks for having me on. For 29 days, Republicans in the Senate have kept the government shut down. And it's really deplorable to see them using people like Mrs. Burdine as pawns, if you will, or leverage, as the Democrats refer to it, to try to get what they want.

50:00And, you know, we know that Republicans, with the help of one Democrat in the House, passed a bill to keep the government open 40 days ago. And unfortunately, Chuck Schumer decided that a shutdown made sense for Democrats. And he's played this game using the American people as fodder to accomplish what he wants to accomplish politically. And it's really shameful. Well, let me ask you, there is a six billion dollar contingency fund at the Department of Agriculture that until September 30th, the Trump administration said they could use to help keep snap going even during a government shutdown. But now the Trump administration has said, oh, no, we're not going to do that.

50:49Those funds aren't for that. The top Senate appropriator, Republican Susan Collins, says her team's analysis is that the Department of Agriculture can use that fund. Shouldn't you support using that contingency fund to pay for SNAP so kids like Soraya's that we just heard from don't go hungry? Well, that certainly seems tempting, but the fund,$5.6 billion, is not nearly enough to cover the cost in the short run. And secondly, that fund is there for emergencies. And we have a hurricane bearing down on us now. And so if we use those funds here, then they won't be able to be used elsewhere. We see Democrats make these tradeoffs all the time where they pick winners and losers with funds like this.

51:39And so I think we have to be careful if we take something that's there for an emergency and use it when the answer is simple. You know, the Senate is in Washington. You know, five or six senators could join all the Republicans and get this done and reopen the government and spare people like Ms. Burdine and her family, her five year old and her six year old from the suffering that the Democrats are using. The Schumer shutdown should end. I think they miscalculated. They need to just take stock of that. But we've seen this mistake over and over in the past, and it just doesn't work to use people as leverage in these situations.

52:19I get that the that that six six billion dollars in contingency funding is a short term solution, only two or three weeks worth of snap funds. But that's that means a lot to those kids. And if Senator Susan Collins says they can use it, she's the head appropriator on this matter. She says they can use it for this. Why not just do it? We're talking about an emergency situation here of kids and seniors and disabled people and veterans being able to eat. Well, my understanding is Senator Collins may be right, but my understanding is that the administration made the assessment that those funds could not be used for this purpose.

52:58and more importantly, that they're there to make way or to provide for emergencies. And so I think, again, we need to just get back, get the Senate to get us back in business. And, you know, that's that's easy for five or six Democrats. And then we can negotiate on these bigger questions that they want to talk about. But as long as they keep the government shut down, they're holding all of America hostage for their political, frankly, their progressive, radical left-wing agenda. And so, you know, this needs to end and they need to quit hurting everyday working Americans like Ms. Burdine. And there are 76 ,000 recipients of SNAP benefits in my district and over 700 ,000 in Tennessee.

53:48And, of course, millions across the country who are going to be negatively impacted on top of the Transportation Safety Administration workers, the Customs and Border Protection, our troops, et cetera, that are being impacted by this or certainly will be impacted in a negative way. And the Senate keeps voting. They voted 13 times to impose this pain that Democrats have, and it's enough. They need to come to the table and bring this to an end. Republican Congressman John Rose from Tennessee, thanks so much, sir. Appreciate it. The ceasefire is allegedly back in place after Israel launched a new wave of strikes against Hamas, accusing Hamas of breaching the truce.

54:28Does this mean the efforts to find the rest of the deceased hostages have also resumed? I'll ask the father of American Itay Chen next. Plus, Hurricane Melissa, still a threat, impacting the Bahamas tonight after lashing Jamaica and Cuba, the latest on the rescue and recovery efforts in some of the hardest hit areas. Coming up.

54:52In our world lead, Hamas and Israel keep firing at each other. But the Trump administration and the Netanyahu government insist the ceasefire is back in effect. This after a series of overnight strikes in the region killed at least 104 people, including dozens of children in Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Israeli government says it targeted, quote, more than 30 operatives in command positions, unquote. Israel accused Hamas of killing an IDF soldier and also staging the fake discovery of a real deceased hostage. Among the deceased hostages is Itai Khan. Itai is a dual or was a dual American-Israeli citizen.

55:29and he is someone that the lead has spoken about many times over the past two years. Someone whose family is still waiting for him to be returned. And Itai's father, Ruby Chen, joins us now. Ruby, always good to see you. We haven't spoken since the ceasefire began. Do you feel any more hopeful now that you will be reunited with your son? Yeah, you know, it was signed. The agreement was on 48 hostages, not 40, 45, 48, meaning that Hamas needs to comply and provide all the hostages, including my son. The last two weeks, I had the opportunity to meet the president of the United States, the vice president, Mr.

56:14Whitcock, Mr. Kushner, Secretary Rubio. All of them gave their commitment, their personal commitment, that this U.S. citizen, the youngest U.S. citizen taken, will come back. And I hope that they will be able to finish the job, which is bringing back my son and allow us to be reunited with him. You recently met privately with Rubio when he was in Israel, as you noted. Did he give you any new details, any information about the remaining deceased hostages? So I'll just speak specifically about my son. It's known that Hamas knows where he is. Like, that's not a secret. The secretary knows it. The president knows it.

56:56Mr. Whitcoff knows it. Now it's the way to find a way that the United States puts the pressure on Hamas to release this young U.S. citizen from captivity. And I hope that's where everyone is looking at. And, you know, we feel positive that the president can make it happen. But everybody is watching him. And only then, you know, we could say that the U.S. came on top with the victory of getting all of the 12 U.S. citizens that were taken on October 7th have indeed returned back home. You and I have talked about Itai a lot over the last two years. And obviously, I know this is a priority for Secretary Rubio and others in the Trump administration.

57:39But as you have said and I have said, Itai was an American. He was I mean, he was a dual citizen, but he was an American citizen. Are you surprised at the lack of outrage among the American public at large over the fact that an American's remains are still being held in Gaza by a terrorist group? Yes, I think for us, it begins with the fact that I think that most Americans are not aware of that fact. It's a bit painful to say, but, you know, there were also hostages from Russia. All of them came out. Hostages from the U.K., hostages from France, hostages from other places. All of them got there.

58:24Citizens out. But the U.S. have not been able to get all of those 12 out and convince my son. And I hope now is the time to say, OK, this is the priority. And the president has unique relationships with the mediators. if it is Qatar, if it is Egypt, if it is Turkey. And I would expect that this administration would, that has prioritized the release of U.S. hostages. And I've done a fabulous job, by the way, in getting these hostages out. Just two weeks ago, we saw a U.S. citizen in Afghanistan that was held by the Taliban, was released by this administration, that they would put the same emphasis and prioritization on my son.

59:09and not wait even one day more to get him out. Yeah, I hope they get him out soon. Ruby Khan, thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Jake. God bless. French prosecutors say the two suspects have admitted to their involvement in the shocking heist at the Louvre, but are authorities any closer to recovering the more than$100 million worth of jewelry?

59:41In our world lead now, French prosecutors say two suspects have admitted to being involved in the heist at the Louvre. But are they giving investigators any clues as to where the$100 million in missing jewels might be? CNN's Melissa Bell is in Paris tonight with all the new details. Jake, the two men who were arrested here in France last Saturday in relation to the Louvre heist have now been placed under formal investigation. We've been hearing from the Paris prosecutor about the latest on that investigation. Those two individuals, we understand, two men in their 30s, one of them of Algerian nationality, both of them living on the outskirts of Paris, were tracked down thanks to DNA that was left at the scene of the crime.

1:00:24They had been known to authorities before and had been involved in things like low-level delinquency, petty crimes, nothing on the scale or with the ambition of what we saw at the Louvre Museum that Sunday morning. She also explained that their understanding now was that four people were present that day, the two who'd gone up to the Apollo Gallery wearing those high-visibility jackets. The other two had stayed down at street level. Another two suspects, therefore, are still at large, as are the jewels themselves, she explained. For now, the French authorities have yet to get their hands on those more than$100 million worth of jewels that were taken.

1:01:00Jake. All right, Melissa Bell in Paris, thanks so much. A Jamaican official tells CNN that catastrophic is a, quote, mild term to describe the damage that they're seeing now from Hurricane Melissa. How long could recovery efforts take? I'm going to ask the former head of FEMA. That's next.

1:01:21Back to our world lead, utter devastation in Jamaica after Category 5 Hurricane Melissa thrashed the island. At this hour, we know at least four bodies have been recovered. Listen to one resident of Montego Bay. Yesterday was horrible, horrific, terrifying. The worst day of my entire life, it was terrifying for me and my child. The water level reached me to my waist. I was stuck in my house. They had to break into my home to save me. Right now, it's the Bahamas that are getting battered by now Category 1 Melissa. More than 20 people died, including 10 children in Haiti from flooding. And Cuba faces widespread devastation.

1:02:03Joining us now, former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. Administrator Criswell, of course, FEMA doesn't have jurisdiction over these hard-hit Caribbean islands. But what can you tell us about what you think might be ahead for their recovery, particularly in places such as Haiti, that are also dealing with gang violence and other kinds of unrest on top of this natural disaster? Jake, the destruction that we are seeing already from Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, in Haiti, and what's going to come in in the Bahamas is really devastating. And when I think back to, you know, even Asheville, North Carolina, they lost 100 percent of their infrastructure for days and part of their infrastructure for weeks.

1:02:49Right. But they had resources that were able to come in and we were able to bring them from across the country to be able to help them. When we look at these island nations, right, they have on the island and being able to get them the right resources to not just start the recovery, but just to stabilize this incident is really going to be complicated for them. And so it's going to take the work of nonprofits to be able to come together and really help these communities understand what their recovery is going to look like and to mobilize resources from around the world to come in and help multiple island nations.

1:03:23So in the last hour, the minister of the interior in Jamaica told me it's very hard right now to get a picture, a decent picture of the death toll because heavy equipment is still needed to clear debris to even get to the hardest hit areas on the western side of Jamaica. Do people just have to wait for emergency crews to do the work? Do they need people and equipment to come from the United States, from other countries? How does it work? There are a lot of search and rescue teams that are part of an international certified group of search and rescue teams. Two of FEMA's urban search and rescue teams are part of that group.

1:04:03And those teams have gone out to many of these different events. They've gone to the earthquakes in Haiti. They went to the earthquakes in Pakistan. They could definitely go to help support the search and rescue efforts from Hurricane Melissa. And this is made up of search and rescue teams from around the world. Those teams are going to need to come in with that equipment, that specialized equipment, to be able to help these communities identify and find anybody that's still unaccounted for. But you're also going to see neighbors just going in to start to look. And I think the biggest thing that I would caution is that they just need to make sure that they're taking precautions to not get themselves in harm's way so they're not adding to the death toll.

1:04:46right? And so it's going to take everybody coming together. But these special teams that are trained to go international, they're the ones that are going to really make the difference in helping them find anybody who's been unaccounted for. I want to ask you, CNN's Gabe Cohen has an exclusive report detailing a new Trump administration probe into FEMA over Hurricane Helene and allegations that Republican citizens did not get the help they needed because of their political affiliation. This is after the Biden administration probe on the same issue found no widespread effort to deny aid based on politics, although you did have to fire FEMA field supervisor Marnie Washington, who did direct her small team to, quote, avoid Holmes advertising Trump, unquote.

1:05:27Homeland Security Secretary Noem says her probe found, quote, systemic bias. What's your reaction? Yeah, Jake, what I can say is that I testified before Congress on what we had initially found. And I stand by that testimony that I gave to Congress. And we directed the Office of the Inspector General, as well as the Office of Special Counsel, and our own Office of Personnel Responsibility, right, to look and see if there were systemic issues. Even the administrator that came in after I left my position, Cameron Hamilton, he even got the reports and said that there was no widespread issue. And so, you know, we'll have to see what the Privacy Act continues to find and where it goes from here.

1:06:11But I certainly stand by the actions that I took along with my team towards the end of my administration. Former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Two federal prosecutors have been suspended after describing the January 6th attackers as, quote, a mob of rioters in court documents about new charges of one of those rioters. Those new details next.

1:06:37In our politics lead, the current president is 79. The previous one is 82. And one quarter of Congress is over the age of 70. Now, one of the reasons behind this gerontocracy of sorts is that Americans are living longer and healthier. But we cannot pretend that aging is always graceful or that leaders always know when it's time to leave the arena. And that brings us to the sad tale of D.C.'s longtime delegate, 88-year-old Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. In Washington, D.C., she is a legend. I will not yield, sir! But now that legend seems to be coming to a sad end. D.C.'s delegate in Congress since 1991, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, is 88 and facing new questions about her fitness for office.

1:07:26The 18-term Democrat recently filed a police report saying she was the victim of scammers posing as HVAC workers at her Capitol Hill home, allegedly conning her out of more than$4 ,300. After local TV station NBC4 here in Washington, D.C., reported that the internal police commander's report stated Norton, quote, suffers early stages of dementia, unquote, her office issued a statement that, quote, the medical diagnosis included in the police report was based on an assumption the reporting officer was unqualified to make. Norton's office telling CNN in a statement she won't be commenting on the incident, saying, quote, the Congresswoman is allowing law enforcement to investigate and apprehend the suspects without interference.

1:08:09I yield you no ground. Moments like this from 18 years ago, defending the district's right to self-govern, cementing her reputation. But these days, Norton is often seen reading from prepared remarks. President Trump declared a crime emergency. Fueling concerns about her stamina and effectiveness, even among those who once worked beside her. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, someone whose work inspired me so much that I threw aside my own legal career to work under her. Now that same former aide, D.C. Councilmember Robert White, is challenging his one-time boss in next year's Democratic primary.

1:08:47For 35 years, Congresswoman Norton has served the district well, earning the title Warrior on the Hill, but that is not a title that she can hold now. Another challenger, D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto joined the race this month. We need someone to be dynamic and protect our District of Columbia values that are so under attack. Questions about Norton's fitness have arisen before, including in 2015 after she was caught on camera hitting a neighboring vehicle while attempting to park her car at the Capitol. Her office confirmed to Mother Jones magazine earlier this year that the 88-year-old no longer drives.

1:09:24Despite growing questions about her age and capacity, Norton has twice stated publicly this year that she intends to seek re-election. But her staff has since walked back or clarified those announcements, leading to accusations they're shielding the congresswoman from reporters. In the Washington Post. Did you read? We're not talking about this right now. I'm so sorry. Her office denied our request for an interview. The police report also said that Norton's, quote, caretaker power of attorney was not at residence, unquote. Norton's office denied that she has a caretaker. Covering for an aging politician is sadly par for the course in D.C.

1:09:57Last year, Republican Congresswoman Kay Granger lived in an assistant living facility for dementia patients while still serving in Congress and drawing a congressional paycheck. Since November 2022, eight sitting members of Congress have died in office, all of them Democrats. Norton's situation has drawn comparisons to President Biden, who faced similar scrutiny over age and reliance on staff during his tenure. All of which is sparking internal criticism that the Democratic Party has a gerontocracy problem. Like everyone else who loves her, I also recognize that she doesn't have that fire and energy in a time where D.C.

1:10:35really needs someone fighting on Capitol Hill. Delegate Norton has until March to formally file to run in the Democratic primary. Here now is our panel, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, who's author of the brand new book, Retribution, Donald Trump and the Campaign that Changed America. Also with us, Democratic strategist Mo Alethe. Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. They want me to hold up the book. There it is. Look at that. Retribution. It's a great, I mean, that photograph. It's quite the photograph. It's quite the photograph. So Democrats, we should note, are still reeling from Joe Biden, abandoning his reelection bid because of his age and acuity and pressure.

1:11:11The generational battle is going to play out in a few primaries we have coming up in the Democratic Party. 79-year-old Senator Ed Markey in Massachusetts facing 46-year-old Congressman Seth Moulton. In Maine, Governor Janet Mills, age 77, is running against 41-year-old Graham Plattner for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Why does this seem to be a particular problem for Democrats right now, do you think, Mo? Yeah, it's interesting. I think I have a slightly different take on it. You disagree? Okay. Well, it's that I think everyone is trying to frame this as a generational issue. when in reality, I think it's something different.

1:11:49When you look at Democrats, people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who are on the older side of the spectrum, are not getting the same kind of pushback. Why? Because they're seen as fighters who are taking on the establishment, who are taking on the status quo, even while they're in office. They're vibrant. You heard time and time again in that clip where it's like warrior fighting. And that seems to be what people are looking for. And you said it earlier, people age differently. If you're aging well and you are seen as a fighter and someone who's taking on the status quo, this is going to be a good cycle for you.

1:12:26If you're not, then it's not. John, let's turn to your book. It's all about how Donald Trump campaigned on seeking retribution. And boy, is he following through on that promise. Today, CNN's reporting two federal prosecutors were placed on leave because in pursuing charges against a former pardoned January 6th rioter, they described the January 6th attack as a, quote, mob of rioters. This is in a sentencing memo. And this follows firings in other U.S. attorneys' offices, prosecution of several Trump critics. Is retribution, is the lens of retribution, do you think, the best way to view so many of President Trump's activities here?

1:13:04Oh, absolutely. And Jake, my book sketches out how he got back to power and how he faced that presidential election where he faced the real possibility of going to prison or becoming the most powerful president of our lifetimes, knowing that as he was going through that, that trial in New York, the indictments in Georgia and Florida and in D.C., that he was going to get back at the people that were trying to bring him down. And he won, and that's exactly what he's doing. And it's not just the prosecutors. It's anybody he sees that was trying to take him down, including Republicans who didn't defend him strongly enough.

1:13:42Some of the people he's trying to bring down, though, it's very tenuous whether or not they actually had anything to do with going after him. I mean, for example, I'm thinking of the prosecutor from the Eastern District of Virginia, a guy named Michael Benary. the only ammo against him was somebody hypothesized, some MAGA person hypothesized, oh, he worked for Lisa Monaco, the deputy attorney general under Biden. I bet he also opposed the Comey indictment, which he didn't. And there was no evidence of it. He still got fired. Couldn't this hurt Trump? Because that's an experienced prosecutor going after a terrorist.

1:14:17Couldn't all this retribution focus hurt Trump? Well, absolutely, because they're going through and trying to weed out anybody who could in any way be tied to any case remotely associated with January 6th or any of the Trump prosecutions. And in doing so, they have gutted the FBI. They have gutted the ranks of the career officials at the Justice Department. They have gutted the ranks of the Eastern District of Virginia, which, don't forget, is perhaps the most important U.S. attorney's office in the country in counterterrorism and espionage cases. We still face a situation where there is a terrorist threat, where there is a threat from hostile powers and hostile groups.

1:14:56And it's Trump's watch now. And a lot of people have been rooted out for reasons that have nothing to do with whether or not they are competent on the job. And, Mo, we covered this earlier in the show, but the lack of guardrails. And not only is John Kelly not there providing guardrails, President Trump is getting rid of institutions that provide guardrails. And he's able to do basically anything he wants to do, Like, look at the tearing down of the East Wing and the ballroom he's building. A new Yahoo! YouGov poll finds most Americans disapprove of how this is being handled. 28 % approve, 55 % disapprove, 17 % say they're unsure.

1:15:34I mean, again, this Trump with no guardrails focused on retribution could end up hurting him. That's right. It could end up hurting him. And it could also end up hurting a lot of other Republicans. I mean, you talk about the guardrails. They're constitutionally one big guardrail supposed to be out there, and that's the Congress. What is that? What is it called? Yeah. Have you heard of this thing? Bannon called it the Duma, the American Duma. Yeah. And as all these sort of chickens come home to roost and people start to feel the impact of this lack of expertise and the firing of all these officials and the dismantling of all these institutions, there's a midterm coming up.

1:16:14And they're going to ask Republicans to answer for that. who are on the ballot next year. This is going to be a political problem for them as much as anything else. So just one last thing before you go, John, Steve Bannon floated the idea of Trump for a third term. Trump today said, I guess I'm not allowed to run based on what I read. It's pretty clear I'm not allowed to run. So is that kind of just over? I wouldn't say it's over, but I don't think Trump has been serious about this. I think he's done this to troll his critics. But look, it's out there, and I don't see how Trump voluntarily passes the baton to other Republicans and says, OK, I'll be a lame duck for the rest of my presidency.

1:16:53So I don't know when he makes it official that he's taking a bow. Again, John Carl's new book, Retribution. It's on sale now, getting great reviews. Thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it. We'll be right back.

1:17:09There's a real ripple effect when it comes to the government shutdown. Here's CNN's Bill Weir. After Elon Musk took a doge saw to the National Park Service, America's best idea was already understaffed and under siege. About a quarter of the service staff and their combined experience was lost. Then came the shutdown with furloughs and threats of more layoffs. And under Trump, parks like Yosemite stay open with no one at the gates and a skeleton staff. One of the worst ideas for National Park Health, according to 43 former superintendents. They tried but failed to convince Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to protect the nation's most cherished landscapes from unmanaged crowds.

1:17:54I'm concerned, definitely. I've seen this kind of stuff before in the past. This one feels a little different. I have a feeling it's going to last a lot longer. As founder of the Yosemite Climbers Association, Ken Yeager has been a fixture on rocks like El Capitan for over 50 years. I worry about damage in a lot of ways to these parks. When you've got so many people in a national park like this, it disrupts the wildlife, disrupts the plant life. Trash gets left everywhere. I clean up trash. That's what I've been doing for 22 years with a bunch of volunteers in the Yosemite Facelift. And we've cleaned up 1.2 million pounds of trash.

1:18:30So it can show you how much and how quickly it'll build up. A reservation system is supposed to control the numbers hiking up Half Dome. but social media shows moments of crowded chaos. Never seen that before. Right in the middle of the f***ing meadow. Wow. Boulder base jumpers and drone pilots. Last year, there were 15 campground rangers in Yosemite Valley. This summer, just six, who also had to pitch in on basic maintenance alongside good-hearted citizens. I know a lot of volunteers are sort of filling the gap in these shutdown days. Who are these folks? A lot of them are maybe furloughed employees or folks that work for the concessionaire or people in the local community and people that just really care about this place and care about this park.

1:19:17For the most part, I think we're seeing the best of people come out at this time. Volunteers like Corey Goring from the non-profit Yosemite Conservancy are trying to provide as much basic info as they can. But he says days like these remind Americans that the park belongs to them. and it's time to be a good steward. Number one, and I think the most important, plan ahead and prepare. Number two, travel and camp on durable surfaces. Number three, dispose of waste properly. Number four, basically leave what you find. Take only pictures, leave only footprints. That's the one my dad hammered into me.

1:19:55Yeah, and number five, you know, only use established fire rings. Number six, respect wildlife. Ooh, okay. So keep wildlife as a difference. And then number seven, yeah, respect each other while you're here, while you're visiting. But good campers can't control invasive species or protect wildlife from poachers or identify archaeological wonder like the pros can. More traffic through the park and, you know, people going off trail and litter and all those things really add up when you don't have full staffing in the park. Right. So, you know, folks like me will go around and we fill in the gaps where we can, but it's not nearly enough.

1:20:32That's not sustainable long term. No, it's not. And a lot of us, you know, we're just passing through. We're visiting. People are coming for their weekend vacation or something. So we need the people that are here, boots on the ground. Bill Weir, CNN, Yosemite Valley, California. Aaron Burnett Out Front starts now.

1:20:53New cycle making your head spin? The Have I Got News For You crew is here to help with a comic take on the week's headlines. New episodes Saturdays at 9 on CNN and next day on the CNN app.