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North Carolina Homes Collapse into Ocean from Heavy Hurricane Surf; Interview with Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO): Government Shuts Down After Lawmakers Fail to Reach Funding Deal; Journalists Shoved by ICE Agents Outside New York Immigration Court; Private Sector Employment Declines in September. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 01, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This hurricane season, Hurricane Erin a couple of weeks ago, an unnamed coastal storm. They are really eroding our coastal defenses. So we are watching in real time this slow-motion climate disaster that continues to threaten the same areas as these large, powerful storm systems work their way offshore.

And that is the situation we have right now. Believe it or not, it was Humberto's waves, long-period swells, and that consistent northeasterly wind that set up behind these two hurricanes that battered the Outer Banks and threatened once again those coastal communities and those coastal homes, inevitably allowing them to fall back into the ocean. Remember, a couple of years ago, a couple of decades ago, they had prime beachfront real estate, right?

All right, so look at what's happening with Imelda. And that still, that northeasterly flow battering the same regions, the Chesapeake Bay. Look out, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, the Outer Banks, 40 to 50 mile-per-hour wind gusts today from the northeast, continuing over the next 36 hours.

You add on top of that high tide, that's a little bit higher than what we've experienced the past couple of days. So we're going to combine all these with these long-period swells developing from both Humberto and Imelda. And that means we have the potential for coastal erosion in these same locations.

Hopefully, we don't get any more of this because what a mess. Look how difficult that is to clean up. We're so thankful that no one was inside and no one was hurt.

But look at the current risk all along that 2,000 miles of coastal real estate on the East Coast. And guess what? The threat is not done in terms of a landfalling hurricane.

Imelda's got its eyes set on Bermuda tonight. That's go time. Overnight, tonight, we could be in the eye of yet another hurricane in Bermuda, that island taking yet another beating.

What a thing. Look at the satellite, too, Kate. Some eye candy to leave you with. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is wild to see those two huge storms churning so closely together. I mean --

VAN DAM: Wrapping around each other.

BOLDUAN: It is wild, wild to see. Derek, thank you so much. Clearly, much more to come on this.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, you're going to work or maybe you're at work, but Congress isn't. Congress shutting down the government, failing to pass a short-term budget. Now millions of federal workers face furloughs and some have to go without paychecks and continue to work.

Now, some new video showing journalists shoved to the ground by ICE agents in New York. The escalating tensions with the public as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement across the country.

And that must be one hungry bear. Shoppers were left stunned when they saw a bear making an early morning grocery run.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: Well the breaking news this morning, we are now officially in day one of a government shutdown and there's no telling how long it's going to last. A bitterly divided Congress failing to reach a funding deal to keep things running. At the center of this, of all of this, let's be honest, is politics.

Democrats say that they will not back any funding bill without an extension of Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. The Republicans say they're not negotiating until Democrats agree to extend funding now and then they say they'll talk after. The least surprising part of this, neither side is taking responsibility, only placing blame on the other party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Well the Republicans are unserious at this point. They have no interest in having a good faith conversation. And all of the behavior, erratic, unhinged behavior that we've seen subsequent to that White House meeting should suggest to the American people who actually is trying to drive us toward a government shutdown.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Chuck Schumer has made the decision unilaterally, he's the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, to keep the government shut down for his own personal reasons. It is extremely selfish and stunning to me that he is willing to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Speaking of the top Democrat in the Senate, Senator Schumer will be our guest this hour. And the Republican leadership is set to hold a news conference this morning around 10 a.m. So there is a lot more to come.

Now we have yet to hear from President Trump since the shutdown has kicked in, but he does appear to be welcoming it. He's threatening to use it to fire more federal employees and cut programs, as he suggested yesterday, that are favored by Democrats -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is Congressman Mark Alfrod. He is a Republican from Missouri. He's on the House Appropriations Committee. Congressman, great to have you back on the show this morning. Good morning to you.

Look, Democrats, Chuck Schumer, Senator Schumer --

REP. MARK ALFORD (R-MO), APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Good morning, John.

[08:05:00]

BERMAN: -- says this is about protecting the extended Obamacare subsidies. And the Kaiser Family Foundation says it will increase spending by 114 percent on people with Obamacare if they are not extended. What do you say to those people?

ALFORD: Well, look, this is not about health care. This is about keeping our government open. Of course, it's closed down now. This is the Schumer shutdown, America held hostage, day one by Chuck Schumer.

We have already negotiated all these deals under the one Big Beautiful Bill, the reform of Medicaid. We have gotten our work done on the Appropriations Committee, passing all 12 appropriation bills and getting three passed on the House floor, military construction, VA, legislative branch and agriculture. That's about 60 percent of our discretionary spending.

The Democrats simply want to stick a spoke in the wheel to stop the forward progress of Congress to really fight President Trump and not fight for the American people. And I think that's reprehensible.

I think that the American people, the media are going to see this for what this really is. It's a Schumer shutdown. They voted for the same continuing resolution back in March and the December before.

There's nothing really new in this. No new spending except for added security money for the three branches of government, which we need. And so for the Democrats to stand in the way, to have our military not being paid. Down at Fort Leonard Wood in my district and Whiteman Air Force Base not getting paid. The 30,000 federal employees in the Kansas City area in our in our area not getting paid.

They're going to catch on to this and realize that this is Chuck Schumer who's doing nothing more than trying to keep his Senate seat and stave off a primary run by and challenged by AOC. That's all this is. It's political games. BERMAN: You call this the Schumer shutdown. President Trump said a lot of good can come from shutdowns. What good?

ALFORD: Well, I think, you know, Russ Vought is very intent on cutting the workforce. We have grown exponentially. If you look at the stats on that, the federal workforce under President Biden, it needs to be rolled back as a lot of programs do the pre-COVID level spendings for one in a lot of these programs. And that's what we're intent on doing.

And so if if they intend to go forward with this for a long period of time, this is going to give the administration the authority to start making these cuts in the federal workforce that Russ Vought, President Trump and others in the administration want to see happen.

BERMAN: So --

ALFORD: It's harder to get through Congress because we don't have a 62 majority in the Senate.

BERMAN: So you think that there could be good that comes from the shutdown?

ALFORD: Well, if we can shrink the government and when someone's deemed non-essential, that's going to not be working today because of a shutdown and for however long Chuck Schumer wants to carry on this charade. Yes, it's a good thing that we shrink our government and get it back to pre-COVID levels. We are $37 trillion in debt and growing another trillion dollars every I think 10 or 11 months now.

A lot of that has to do with the interest rates. Those are coming down. But we've got to make sure that we get our spending in check.

There are a lot of unnecessary federal workers in the workforce right now who may end up losing their job because of Chuck Schumer.

BERMAN: But it sounds like you welcome that. If you think good can come from the shutdown, are you suggesting that you're in favor of this?

ALFORD: Yes, John, I welcome in right sizing our government. We are labor heavy in the federal government, especially when people have been staying at home now. They've been ordered to come back to work.

Let's give the U.S. Department of Agriculture a good example of that. Their office is about two blocks north of my office there on Capitol Hill. I tried to get over there when I first got into office. I wanted to see for myself because I was on the ag committee. They wouldn't let me in the front door under Secretary Vilsack.

That's because only four percent of their workforce was at their desk. They are starting to come back. And now a lot of these agencies are disseminating their workforce into the interior of America, including the FBI, which has sent some 40 agents into Missouri.

Thank God we need them because a crime in Kansas City and St. Louis is is horrible. And the USDA is moving part of its offices to Kansas City. We need to get federal workers back in the heart of America where where they can have real contact with real Americans and not just inside the Beltway or New York City.

BERMAN: Are you in favor of extending the Obamacare subsidies? Congressman, the Obamacare subsidies that expire, are you in favor?

ALFORD: Say that again.

BERMAN: Are you in favor of extending the Obamacare subsidies? It's estimated 22 million people receive them. Just in a vacuum, are you in favor?

ALFORD: No.

BERMAN: No.

[08:10:00]

ALFORD: John, John, I just finished a 15 town hall stop, 15 stop town hall tour, four days, took 256 questions. Got two questions on this, very passionate. I understand where people are coming from.

But we've got to get back to pre COVID level spending. And there are some people taking advantage, not all some people taking advantage of this premium tax -- premium credits for ACA that are making a lot of money that really don't need these benefits.

Now that maybe -- those may be outliers. I know there's some people who've come to depend on these but now is not the time to discuss this. Now's the time to reopen our government pay our employees, get the government services to the people who actually need them. And then we can have that discussion.

We just need seven weeks. That's all we were asking for john to get to November 21 so that we can get the rest of these appropriation bills, nine remaining off the House floor over to the Senate and under the President's desk. We're trying to get back to order.

But the Democrats don't want to do that. They want to go back to the days of the omnibus under under Nancy Pelosi, where we we vote on everything at the last minute and then read it to find out what was in it. We're not doing that anymore.

We're going to have 72 hours to read these bills. We're going to vote on them after knowing what's in them.

BERMAN: Congressman Mark Alford from Missouri. We always appreciate talking to you. Thanks for coming on.

All right, tensions flare inside a courthouse journalists shoved and grabbed by ICE agents. The new response this morning.

A judge denies Sean Combs last minute bid to have his conviction thrown out just days before he's set to be sentenced.

And happening now the urgent search for students trapped under the rubble after their school collapsed.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, ICE once again caught on camera shoving a person to the ground, this time injuring a journalist. New video out of New York showing ICE agents pushing a journalist to the ground. One, he was taken out in a stretcher as they tried to document an arrest outside immigration court.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is following this. Priscilla, there was also this recent situation in Chicago involving, I think, a woman and her husband. Tell us what is happening here.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, there have consistently been clashes now between protesters or people standing by, as you saw there, with the journalist in that immigration court, who are, again, coming up against ICE agents who are similarly carrying out their duties of arresting immigrants.

And this has been the case in Chicago. Chicago has been the target for the Trump administration for weeks, if not months. But recently, they had ramped up resources in that city, so they have a heavier presence there. And they are carrying out multiple arrests using aggressive tactics, the way that was done in Los Angeles.

And protesters have swarmed outside of the facility in Broadview, which is about 10 miles outside of Chicago, where over the weekend, for example, there were also clashes with federal law enforcement in tactical gear that deployed these non-lethal munitions while pushing the crowd.

Now, the administration announced this week that four of those protesters now face federal charges. And just yesterday, the acting ICE director sent a letter to local ICE -- sorry, to local city officials saying the following, quote, These rioters are laying siege and interfering with legitimate law enforcement operations. Failure to help provide relief makes you a party to the obstruction of justice. There will be no change in our operational posture until these unlawful activities cease.

So, this has been the tone and the tenor from the Trump administration, not only in Chicago, but also in Los Angeles and also in Portland, where they have similarly forcefully responded after protests outside of an ICE facility. And some of what is being protested is, again, the tactics that are being used to arrest immigrants.

Now, you showed their earlier video of what occurred at the New York immigration court just yesterday. These arrests are different in the way that the administration is arresting those who come to the U.S. immigration courts where they are supposed to be and then are arrested. And it is these clashes in particular that have really set off a firestorm. And yesterday, what occurred is that a journalist was shoved down. This after an immigrant was shoved last week. According to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE agents were in the process of arresting an immigrant. And they say that this journalist got in the way.

In a statement to CNN, they said the following, quote, Rioters and sanctuary politicians who encourage individuals to interfere with arrests are actively creating hostile environments that put officers, detainees and the public in harm's way ...

Going on to say, we are urging the media and politicians to stop fanning the flames of division and stop demonization of law enforcement.

Now, Sara, there is concern on both sides of the aisle of the dangers here, both for immigrants but also for ICE agents. Of course, we saw the shooting at the Dallas ICE facility just last week.

But all of it appears to continue with these clashes. And it's also worth noting, Sara, that given even in light of the shutdown, immigration enforcement activities will be continuing in all of these cities.

SIDNER: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, good reporting from you this morning. Thank you so much.

[08:20:00]

Ahead, Elon Musk taking on Wikipedia, why the billionaire says he wants to build his own rival platform to Wikipedia.

And homes collapsing into the ocean on North Carolina's Outer Banks. The culprit, huge waves caused by those twin hurricanes that didn't even touch U.S. soil. But they are still out there doing some damage. We will talk to you all about it coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So, breaking moments ago, private sector employment declined pretty sharply last month. And, as Matt Egan noted earlier, this could be the only major monthly report on hiring that we get this week since the September jobs report is expected to be delayed because of the government shutdown. The aforementioned Matt Egan is here with us now.

So, what did we learn in this report?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, well, Kate, this is more evidence of a slumping job market, right? ADP said that private sector payrolls fell by 32,000 jobs during the month of September.

BOLDUAN: There's a bunch of zeros you can't see.

[08:25:00]

EGAN: There's a bunch of -- yes, there's about three zeros that we can't see.

BOLDUAN: You're using invisible link. Don't worry.

EGAN: But look, this is a surprise because the forecast was for a gain of more than 50,000 jobs. And this was a double whammy of bad news because ADP also revised lower the prior month of August to reflect a loss of 3,000 jobs.

So that means that three out of the past four months --

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: -- the private sector, according to ADP, has lost jobs. So where are the job losses? Well, surprisingly, one of the categories is leading the way down is leisure and hospitality. That's bars, that's restaurants, hotels. That's something to keep an eye on, right? Because if consumers are cutting back, that's where they'd be cutting back first.

Also, construction, losing 5,000 jobs. We know that construction has been very much exposed to high interest rates, to the housing slump, to the immigration crackdown. Manufacturing down by 2,000 jobs as well.

That's ironic because the Trump administration has these high tariffs. They're trying to prop up manufacturing.

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: But manufacturers, when you talk to them, they say there's so much uncertainty over those tariffs that a lot of them are pulling back right now and they're actually cutting jobs.

Now, ADP measures just private payrolls, right?

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: So this does not tell us what the government, in particular the federal government, is doing. But we know the federal government has been cutting jobs massively.

Now this ADP indicator, it kind of has a mixed track record when it comes to predicting the more important monthly jobs report put out by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But as you mentioned, we're probably not getting that BLS jobs report on Friday because of the government shutdown. The BLS is dark right now.

So that's why investors and policymakers have to rely on this ADP report. And the picture it's painting is not a pretty one -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Off we go.

EGAN: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Matt. Let's see what happens. They could always get their act together if you want to say hope springs eternal. EGAN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Right now the government is shut down, as we were just talking about, for the first time in seven years. What this means for you and how long it could last.

And a late night show of force. Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert guest starring on each other's shows calling it, quote, the show the FCC doesn't want you to see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!: Tonight Stephen is a guest on our show. I will simultaneously be a guest on his show. We thought it might be a fun way to drive the president nuts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:30:00]