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Firings Imminent with Shutdown; Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) is Interviewed about the Shutdown; Meta Plans to Use A.I. for Ads; Nini Nguyen is Interviewed about Food in New Orleans. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 02, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:52]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just a short time ago, President Trump says he will meet with Budget Director Russ Vought today to decide which federal agencies could face cuts. And he made it clear, they'll be targeting Democrats. And the cuts could be permanent.

So, what are some of the impacts of the shutdown that you could be feeling now? Let's get right to CNN's Rene Marsh for that.

Good morning. Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Well, it's day two of the shutdown, and really no end in sight. And the impact is already being felt as thousands of federal employees are furloughed and living with this anxiety of really not knowing how many paychecks will be missed before Congress strikes a deal to end the shutdown.

Now, yesterday I spoke with a furloughed FDA employee who spoke to us in his capacity as president of the union representing FDA employees. And here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY LEE, FDA EMPLOYEE: We have been traumatized, many use that word, with the illegal firings, the reductions in force and even the threats of that occurring during this shutdown has been -- really has angered people. Not knowing how they're going to pay their next bills, their mortgages, and really not being able to continue to deliver the public services.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: And as the shutdown continues, within days, access to federal programs, like WIC, that provides healthy food for women, infants and children could become uncertain depending on what state you're living in.

We do know, and have said, and it's important to repeat, that essential services will continue, like Social Security payments, Medicare payments, veteran medical care, the TSA and air traffic controllers at airports. But yesterday we heard from the air traffic controllers' union, and they warned that controllers who are already in this very high pressure environment and a difficult job working without pay, in the words of the union, is putting the safety of the skies at risk.

Meanwhile, the president is certainly signaling this morning a strategy of inflicting pain on federal workers and Democratic programs, with the White House suggesting that federal firings are imminent. OMB Director Russ Vought, as you mentioned at the top, has told agencies to plan for reductions in force. And he took to social media. He announced cuts are already underway to very specific programs, saying there, "nearly $8 billion in green new scam funding to fuel the left's climate agenda is being canceled." And we expect to hear about more programs that they don't like, that they don't believe align with the Trump presidency will be canceled or ended, and they will put that under the umbrella of needing to do it because of this shutdown.

John.

BERMAN: And we're watching very closely what comes out of these meetings today.

Rene Marsh, thank you very much for that report.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, joining me now is Democratic congressman from New York, Pat Ryan.

All right, Trump has just said he's meeting with the OMB to do more targeted cuts that will hurt Democratic projects. He's already talking about taking away billions of dollars that was promised to New York to try and fund things like helping to fix the subway and a tunnel. What is your concern here? Are these threats worrying you at this hour?

REP. PAT RYAN (D-NY): Well, the reality is, separate from the process, which we are in the middle of and have to talk about, my job and every representative's job is to serve and protect their constituents. And the reality is, is for the last nine months of this administration, there has been incredible harm inflicted on my constituents. We're seeing tariffs drive up costs. We're seeing health care premiums almost double already because of these Medicaid cuts. They're talking about deploying, and already are, deploying U.S. troops against U.S. citizens and American cities. So, part of what's happening here is we have to stop this harm that has already been happening. And that's what I hear from my constituents. Separate from the process and the inside baseball is, please, protect us from the harm that's already happening. And now, instead of responding to that, the president's essentially doubling down, cutting infrastructure funding, bipartisan infrastructure funding. It's just not what the people want.

SIDNER: But the president is promising this.

[09:35:02] Is there a point at which the pain becomes too great for your constituents and for you and you approve this -- what the Republicans are calling a clean CR, to try and fund the government, and then get to the issue of health care?

RYAN: Well, the reality is, is the pain is already tremendous because of the actions of the last nine months. What I hear from my constituents, and I -- I represent a very swing purple district, by the way, they want us to stop the harm that is already being inflicted and, again, that's what -- what I'm doing. How can I, in good conscience, vote for a budget or a plan that adds more harm on top of the harm that's already happening? What I hear mostly is, please stop the pain. And if Trump doubles down and escalates that, his popularity is just going to continue -- continue to plummet. He's already -- and these actions are deeply, deeply unpopular, as I have talked to my constituents at home, and -- and it's only going to get worse. So, I think they're -- he is just fundamentally misreading where the American people are. He just talks to his cronies around him and to -- to billionaires, essentially, rather than listening to the people.

SIDNER: Congressman Ryan, you brought some of this up, and I want to go back to it. You're a veteran yourself. You did two tours in Iraq. And we've seen big headlines out of Pete Hegseth talking to this unprecedented gathering of top military brass. A meeting he demanded.

And then we heard this from President Trump. And I want to get your -- your response to this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's really a very important mission. And I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Do you think that's what's happening now? What's the biggest fear here?

RYAN: Of all the things happening and all the harms that I talk about, to me, the most dangerous is this un-American, unconstitutional, and again, unpopular decision to deploy our U.S. troops, our own American men and women against U.S. citizens in our own cities and to -- and, you know, the whole speech, which was over an hour, makes very clear, this is a political thing. Whatever the BS rhetoric that he puts out, he made very clear that this is only about people who happen to disagree with him, or who exercise their First Amendment constitutional rights to -- to peacefully speak out or -- or assemble.

And I did not risk my life 27 months in combat to come home and see U.S. troops in my own city or my own state. And again, this is something when I talk to constituents, especially those that have served, actually, they know. They've received the training, that we take the oath to the Constitution, not to an individual. And so, to bring those generals together in that way, put them in an impossible situation. But I have faith in our military leaders and soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines that they know who the oath is to. Donald Trump does not understand that because he dodged the draft five times. But our troops know. And I have faith in them.

SIDNER: All right, Representative Pat Ryan, thank you so much for spending time with us this morning.

Still ahead, the new moves for Meta and Facebook. How you can tell its A.I. chatbot will change the way you see -- what you see on your feed.

And an incredible rescue. A police officer pulling a woman trapped inside of a burning car. Watch some of this.

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[09:42:56]

SIDNER: New this morning, it's not like Vegas. What you do with the A.I. chatbot, what you say to the A.I. chatbot, does not just stay with the A.I. chatbot. Meta says it will soon use conversations that you are having with its artificial intelligence chatbot on Instagram or Facebook to target you with very personalized ads on its platform.

CNN's Clare Duffy is joining me now with more.

For Meta and, you know, looking at this, it's a grand opportunity. For the consumer, this might be a little creepy.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, Meta says there are now one billion people using its A.I. platform every month.

SIDNER: Wow.

DUFFY: This is a chatbot that you can access on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and they also have a standalone app. And it now wants to be targeting people with ads across its platforms based on what they say to that chatbot.

And it says, this is going to allow it to get better signals about what people are interested in. It gave this very rosy example of, if you're talking about your hiking trip to the chatbot, it can serve you hiking gear ads on Instagram.

But I think it's really important for people to understand how this is different from the other kinds of advertising that Meta does because previously it used signals like who you're connected to, who your friends are, what you're clicking on, what you're watching. But all of those are inferences. And now it's going to be directly using what people tell its chatbot to advertise to them. That could be, you know, you're telling the chatbot about a trip you're taking or a problem that you have that it could solve with a product.

Now, Meta says there are certain things that it won't advertise to you. Certain types of conversations that you would have with its chatbot that it won't use for targeted advertising. Things like religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health. But it will be using this information also, you know, your conversations with the chatbot to decide what kinds of content you see across its platforms. And I think there will be a responsibility for the company to avoid, you know, very personal conversations that people are having with the chatbot, sending them down rabbit holes of content on Instagram or Facebook.

Now, users will start to see notifications about this next week. It will go into effect in December, December 16th.

[09:45:00]

SIDNER: There is a lot to unpack there because I think people are having very personal conversations with the A.I. chatbots and may not realize that it's kind of being used, and maybe they like it and maybe something gets out there that they really don't want to be bombarded with.

DUFFY: Exactly.

SIDNER: And is it -- is it ads only or is it ads and content that --

DUFFY: It's ads and content.

SIDNER: OK.

DUFFY: So, this will impact the ads that you're seeing, and also the different types of reels and photos and other content that's being recommended to you across Meta's platforms.

SIDNER: Fascinating. There is always something new in tech. And you know -- you are on top of it all.

Clare Duffy, thank you so much. I appreciate you.

DUFFY: Thank you.

SIDNER: All right, coming up, two planes colliding on the taxiway at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Passengers were inside both of those planes. And we will see and let you know what happened at the moment of impact and the latest on that just ahead.

And a look at the new CNN original series, "New Orleans: Soul of a City." We talked to one chef about how creole cuisine and international flavors are creating a delicious melting pot.

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[09:50:31]

BERMAN: All right, new information this morning as the FAA investigates what caused two Delta jets to collide on the taxiway at New York's LaGuardia Airport, sending the wing of one plane slamming into the others cockpit window. You can see the damage that was done there. The front just completely shredded. According to a preliminary report, investigators say one jet was taxiing inbound to its gate and failed to yield. One flight attendant was injured. New body camera video shows the moment a Massachusetts police officer

rescued the driver of a burning car after the vehicle crashed into the house. A house. You can see right there, the officer rushing toward the car, smashing the window, then dragging the driver to safety. The homeowners say the car came within inches of hitting their gas line. Police believe the driver was intoxicated and not wearing a seatbelt.

Sara.

SIDNER: Get ready for some mouth-watering content. This CNN new original series, "New Orleans: Soul of a City" explores the city's unique food, culture and sports. The first episode takes a look at the diverse influences and history behind New Orleans food culture, like the cooking of Chef Nini Nguyen. She brings flavors from her Vietnamese heritage to the local culinary scene there. Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NINI NGUYEN, CHEF: I think what makes New Orleans so special in regards to the food is because there's so many different influences. There's things that you don't see all over the country.

So many people have come through New Orleans, and I think Vietnamese people were one of the latest group of people to come and kind of put our imprint onto the city.

When I decided I wanted to be a chef, I really wanted people to become more exposed to the dishes that I grew up eating.

There's so many similarities from Vietnam to Louisiana.

In New Orleans, we have our po'boy. And in Vietnam we have our banh mi (ph). And we share like the same style of bread. And we have our own version of beignets. And coffee and beignets is something that we also enjoy in Vietnam. Everything's a little more relaxed. It is very much the way we are in Vietnam.

And like the humidity is real. They're like, oh, this is like home. We're home. It's tropical. It's hot. Very hot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining us now to discuss the chef and cookbook author, Nini Nguyen.

Nini, you have just become my favorite guest. Why? Why is that? Because you are amazing. But also maybe because you brought us a gift. What are these? Where are they from?

NINI NGUYEN, CHEF: These are beignets.

SIDNER: I knew that.

NGUYEN: Yes. They are from a restaurant in Brooklyn called Strange Delight. They are making really delicious New Orleans style food here in Brooklyn. SIDNER: I am so happy you're here with your little friends that we

will share later.

So, we see in this clip that there are these parallels between what the Vietnamese and how they cook and what the cooking is like in New Orleans. Of course, there's a French influence. Like, that cannot be ignored.

NGUYEN: Yes.

SIDNER: How do you see it, though, ingredients wise? And why have -- has your -- your cuisine become so popular?

NGUYEN: I think, you know, there -- there's -- geographically, it's hot. It's humid. The Mekong Delta and the Mississippi Delta are very similar. We have the beloved catfish. We have bananas that grow everywhere.

SIDNER: Right.

NGUYEN: And I think, for my family in particular, it felt like home. Coming to America, like, this is the place that resembled the most of the motherland.

SIDNER: That's a beautiful -- like it felt like home. And then you found your place in this home doing what you love. Can you give us some sense of how it is that you came to become a chef and make this your life's work?

NGUYEN: It's very cliche. I feel like every chef blames -- or not blames, but, like, honors their grandmother. And my grandmother really taught me how to cook, or just made me love hospitality. And I just -- I'm just addicted to feeding people. And I think, in this moment in my life, I want to feed people things that I grew up eating, things that I really -- that really excite me, and things that people probably haven't eaten before.

SIDNER: You're addicted to feeding people. And luckily, everyone here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL is addicted to eating. So, we're kind of a perfect match.

Can you give me some sense of why you feel strongly about sharing this food, sharing sort of -- through, you know, food, you often get the culture as well, right, and what your favorite dishes are to make and serve?

[09:55:10]

NGUYEN: Oh, man.

SIDNER: I know. It's always hard when someone asks that. Sorry.

NGUYEN: I'm like, I don't -- yes.

I think -- I think it's important for me, especially because I'm -- I'm first generation. My mom came over with my whole family. And so, I'm very lucky to be able to speak the language, to know how to cook a lot of different things, to be able to grow the things that we can grow in Vietnam. And so, I -- I have a book that -- and recipes that I love to share with people because I want to keep my -- our heritage alive. And in these dishes, because there's so many different things, but the things that I grew up eating, I want other future generations of Vietnamese people to be able to enjoy.

SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE) of the new CNN original series "New Orleans: Soul of the City" premieres this Sunday at 10:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

I thought you were going to start dancing to this (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Well, people can't see the band, just off set right now, playing. We come with our own jazz band. They're just over there, I promise.

SIDNER: Well, the second line is happening. What's going on?

BERMAN: Fantastic.

All right, thank you for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM," which has no in-house band, they're up next.

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