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Arrest Made in Los Angles' Deadly Palisades Fire; Hearing on Portland Federal Troop Deployment Set for Thursday; Protests Continue Outside Portland ICE Facility; Former FBI Director Comey Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Charges; Surveillance Video Shows Mark Sanchez After Altercation; Dog Leads Police to a Fallen 86-year-old Woman; Bob Ross Paintings to Be Auctioned to Help Public TV. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired October 08, 2025 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Federal prison. He's going to be in court today in Orlando, near where he was arrested yesterday. Boris?
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Veronica Miracle, thank you so much for that reporting. Still to come, a meeting that apparently did not go well between Portland's mayor and Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem. She is now threatening to send, "Four times the amount of federal officers" to that city. We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: So hundreds of Texas National Guardsmen remain just outside Chicago awaiting deployment orders into the city. The president's federalization of troops to Illinois comes amid his call today for the governor and the mayor of Chicago to be put in jail. Meantime, a deployment to Portland, Oregon has been put on hold by a judge pending a federal hearing set for tomorrow. The White House has repeatedly claimed the city's crime is raging out of control.
This was the scene outside of Portland ICE facility on Tuesday where protests have unfolded nightly. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem toured the facility earlier and met with the city's police chief and mayor, and then threatened to send quadruple the number of federal troops presently there. CNN's Tom Foreman is here to give us the facts on what's really happening in Portland. Tom, walk us through what you've learned.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House's description of Portland and the reality of Portland are two very different things. Crime has been coming down in Portland already, just like it was here in D.C. before troops came here. Look at the area where they've been having clashes with ICE. This is the ICE facility. It's down here in the southern part of town. Most of these clashes are right down there. This is a town, the immediate area, which 600,000 people. The metro area, more than 2 million people. This is where it is. And the chief himself has said, look, one block in Portland does not define the city's identity. In fairness, there is some shifting definitions here, Boris, where at one minute, they're talking about the safety of police officers. The next minute they're talking about crime in general. The next minute they're talking about crime possibly committed by people who are here in undocumented status. A lot of moving parts here for the White House to justify the claim, which so far the court has said is not valid.
[13:35:00]
SANCHEZ: There's been some conflation, as you put it, between just general crime that the administration says they want to address, immigration crackdowns, and the middle, the gray area in between. I looked into arrests in Portland since protests began sometime in June.
FOREMAN: Right.
SANCHEZ: And it does appear that police are moving to arrest folks that get out of hand during rowdy demonstrations. But the number overall, it doesn't imply that there's an open rebellion.
FOREMAN: Well, if you look at Portland ICE facility, near the facility since June 11th, look at this, flammable material stacked against the wall. They were -- another person lit the material, a suspect punched and tried to choke an officer. Certainly, it's very serious, right? Police logs. They've had a hundred plus calls in this year to around the ICE facility. Total arrests though, look at this, 40 since early June and total federal charges, 31 defendants charged with federal crime since June 13th. Again, this is in an area of more than 2 million people.
SANCHEZ: Right.
FOREMAN: So is this serious? Yes, it is serious. Does this rise to anything like what Kristi Noem or Donald Trump is describing as this ravaged city that's just coming apart at the seams? A lot of local people are going to say, no, not at all. There are some problems, but nothing like that.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, it seems to imply that officials on the ground have it under control if ICE is still capable of carrying out its mission in the eyes of the administration. So, what are we anticipating for court tomorrow?
FOREMAN: Well, what you're going to hear tomorrow is the White House is trying to push the notion broadly that this is the president's prerogative to say that -- the mere fact that he says this is in effect an emergency, that we have to do it, that that is definition enough and that nobody has a right to challenge that. The question is, does the court say, yeah, we do have a right to challenge that because it's not enough for you to simply say it, unless the evidence supports it.
Obviously, a lot of people who support the White House and the president, they look at this and they say, yeah, this is enough. The whole idea that they might be doxing officers or trying to follow officers home, they say that's enough. That's enough to say this is in effect, the word they keep trying to use, insurrection against the United States. The question is, if this kind of resistance rises to the level of insurrection, I think a lot of legal scholars are going to say, well, then what else rises to insurrection? Does simply another party opposing you rise to that level at some point? We don't know. The court does have to sort through it all.
SANCHEZ: Big question with big implications. Tom Foreman, thank you so much for that reporting.
Coming up in our next hour, we're going to speak one-on-one with Oregon's Attorney General about the federal deployment in Portland. So stay tuned for that. Erica?
ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We are turning now to the case against former FBI Director, James Comey. He of course pleaded not guilty to two federal charges in court earlier today. The charges are related to testimony that he gave to Congress in 2020 where he is now accused of lying in that testimony about his knowledge of a leak of classified information. So, the judge set the trial date for January 5th. Comey's attorneys say they're already working on a plan though to get the case dismissed. You may recall, Comey was indicted two weeks ago, just days after President Trump openly called for the Attorney General to do something about Comey.
Joining us now is former FBI Senior Intelligence Adviser, Phil Mudd. Phil, good to see you again. So based on what we know publicly here too and what was rolled out in court today, what do you make of these charges?
PHILIP MUDD, FORMER FBI SENIOR INTELLIGENCE ADVISER: There's a couple of things I'd observe. The first is, if this weren't so tragic, it'd be comical. You mentioned the timeline, the charges date or the issue dates to 2020, so five years. You go into court today with a limited document from the Department of Justice and realize that there aren't prosecutors in the courtroom at the Department of Justice who seem that familiar with the case because they had to be dragged in from North Carolina. And the defense attorneys, in particular Pat Fitzgerald, the Chief Defense Attorney, doesn't seem to be familiar with the charges because they haven't been detailed by the Department of Justice.
Bottom line is this is a huge case in terms of not only American government and American law, but also American culture. Can the president try to get a Trump opponent to shut up? And we have two sides, the prosecutor and the defense, who go into the courtroom without much awareness of what the case is about. Simply remarkable, Erica.
HILL: Well, and you touched on something I also wanted to ask you about. So we have, in the -- Attorney General Pam Bondi, of course, yesterday, appearing for a number of questions in front of the Senate. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, asked Bondi whether she considered the post from the president to be a directive to the Department of Justice. Pam Bondi then said in response, "I don't think he has said anything he hasn't said for years." And the president has made it pretty clear that he wanted to go after James Comey. What's remarkable is Pam Bondi said at her confirmation hearing that she believes the DOJ must be independent and that "politics will not play a part." As you're watching this play out, what do you see eight months in with her as Attorney General?
[13:40:00]
MUDD: I see a couple of things. You're talking about the legal side of this, that is bringing a case that the president of the United States appear to be -- to want to bring to court. I mean, his social media feed tells you enough. You have him talking about the case, but also obviously replacing the prosecutor in charge of the case there in Virginia. I think there's a second piece of this in terms of what's going on with the attorney general in these cases that has been under reported and that's the cultural impact on this.
Regardless of whether this case is dismissed, regardless of whether James Comey is found not guilty, people in the public eye, including people on CNN, are going to be reluctant to criticize the president because the president is willing to use the levers of government to muzzle people. It's not just about the law, Erica. It's about whether people like James Comey feel muzzled because they're afraid they're going to be attacked by their own government.
HILL: What do you think about the internal culture potentially at DOJ and even -- and more specifically, at the FBI? Do you believe that they'll be able to operate independently in this environment?
MUDD: No. There's a short-term answer and a long-term answer. You've seen some of what's happening. Some individuals, prosecutors, for example, don't appear to want to be affiliated with this case. That's why you had to bring in presumably prosecutors from North Carolina, a few hundred miles away. I'll give you an optimistic view. I served 25 years in government, some good leaders, some really bad leaders. We can endure a three years of this, four years of this. If you get into multiple presidencies where the independence of the Department of Justice and the FBI are questioned, I think at that point, the short- term problems we'll see now start to seep into the long-term culture and that is really hard to change. Culture is the hardest thing to change in any organization, Erica.
HILL: Yeah. And as you point out, we're talking about culture on two different fronts here. Phil, good to see you. Thank you.
MUDD: Thanks.
HILL: Just ahead here on "CNN News Central," the happiest place on earth may also be one of the most expensive. The price of a ticket for the Magic Kingdom hitting a new high, but there is a silver lining. That's next.
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[13:46:50] HILL: Taking a look at some of the other headlines we are watching this hour, surveillance video obtained by the New York Post shows Mark Sanchez shortly after that incident that landed him in the hospital in Indianapolis over the weekend and also facing a felony charge. So, you can see the former NFL quarterback here covering what appears to be a blood-stained shirt. He's facing a charge of felony of battery for his role in that altercation, which began over a parking space, of course, ended with him being stabbed.
According to the county prosecutor, the 69-year-old truck driver who stabbed Sanchez sustained severe injuries and is quoted in the affidavit as saying, "This guy is trying to kill me."
How about this little timeline cleanse story for you? Eeyore, sweet Eeyore, talk about a good dog. He led a sheriff's deputy write to his owner's mom. When the 86-year-old woman had fallen while out on a walk, her husband was concerned about just how long his wife had been gone, so called the sheriff's office. And as the deputy drove around the neighborhood, she spotted Eeyore on the street and asked the dog, "Where's your mommy?" And Eeyore led her right to the woman who appeared to be injured. Sweet Eeyore.
Alright, if you've ever wanted to own your very own authentic Bob Ross painting, 30 of his works are going up for auction. The money raised will help public television stations hit hard by federal funding cuts and will help them afford the licensing fees for popular shows. Bob Ross, of course, was a fixture on public television in the '80s and '90s, and he's also become a fixture in many ways for people on social media today with his program, "The Joy of Painting." He was known for his kind and encouraging way of speaking, often saying there were no mistakes, of course, only say it with me, Boris -- happy accidents.
SANCHEZ: Happy accidents, some fluffy clouds. Yeah. Listen, everything seems like it's getting more expensive and parents soon might have to shell out even more money to take their kids to Disneyland and Disney World theme parks. Both resorts are raising ticket prices effective immediately, but there are some ways to avoid sticker shock. CNN's Natasha Chen is here with what you need to know. Natasha, take us through the advice.
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, if there's anything you take away from this, it's try to avoid a Disney theme park at the busiest times of year, and that's Christmas and New Year's weeks. That'll be very crowded, very expensive tickets. So, those prices at the very top range are going up. At Disneyland, that's going to cost you $224 for a single-day single-park ticket there. During that peak time at Disney World, that's going to be around, just under $223. That's including sales tax in Florida. In California, those tickets are not taxable.
But if you can avoid those peak holiday times, there are plenty of other dates during the year when it's a lot cheaper. That $104 base Disneyland ticket in California has not changed in priced since 2019. That's like the Costco hotdog staying steady there in price. At Disney World, that lowest price ticket is also staying steady at just under $123 for Animal Kingdom, including tax. [13:50:00]
Now, the price hike for most other ticket ranges in between the bottom and the top. For Disneyland, that increased at about 3 percent or less. And keep in mind that right now, inflation is sitting at 2.9 percent. So that's on par with inflation. It's a lot less of an increase than we've seen in years past and that's telling, especially when you consider the hot deals that Disney is offering, some of the best in years. Let's show you those. Because in California, California residents make up more than half of Disneyland visitors, they're going to get a three-day park hopper opportunity for $249.
We have not seen a list price for that kind of ticket since 2013. Since 2013, it hasn't been that price. At Disney World, you can get a lot off of your hotel stay. For a minimum four night stay, up to $250 off per night. You can stack that with the other discount listed there, free dining plan for kids ages three to nine, if an adult buys one as well. That's all through 2026. So bottom line, Boris, do not try and go during the busiest times. If you can shift your vacation dates to a slower time of year, Disney will give you plenty of deals to get you there.
SANCHEZ: That's very good advice. You can also avoid going, like I do year round, much to the chagrin of my nephew and nieces.
(LAUGH)
SANCHEZ: Shout out to them. Natasha Chen, thank you so much for that reporting.
CHEN: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: We have the latest coming up on the arraignment of James Comey. Lawyers for the former FBI director argue that he's the victim of a vendetta by the president. We're going to look at their argument. And the puck has dropped on a new season for the NHL. Can the Florida Panthers do something we haven't seen in 40 years?
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[13:57:11]
HILL: Well, for sports fans, it is officially one of the best times of the year. You've got your football, your basketball, plus baseball playoffs, and a new hockey season just started. In fact, the puck drops on sister network TNT tonight. CNN's Andy Scholes is in Las Vegas for some of that action. Andy though, first though, I think we have to talk baseball. I woke up to texts from my kids from late last night saying, just play the song. They wanted to hear "New York, New York," which told me maybe there'd been a little upset.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, and Erica, we've got a quadruple header of elimination games today in baseball. So the drama is just getting started. But Yankees fans, they were actually in a really bad place last night. They were down 6-1 in game three against the Blue Jays. It wasn't looking good. Pick it up in the fourth inning, they're down 6-3 now. When Aaron Judge comes to the plate and he finally has his postseason moment, he's able to somehow keep this fall fair. It's going to go off the foul pole. It just sent Yankee stadium into a complete frenzy and that three-run home run tied the game. And in the next inning, Jazz Chisholm, he would break that tie with his solo home run, had a big-time bat flip as well. Yankees went on to win 9-6 to keep their season alive. Game four of that series tonight at 7:00 Eastern.
The Mariners meanwhile, moving to within a game of their first ALCS since 2001. And Cal Raleigh, who hit 60 home runs in the regular season, hitting a two-run shot in the ninth. And look who catches it on the bounce. A Mariners fan that had a custom hoodie on that said, "Dump, 61 here." I mean, what are the chances? Well, after the Mariner's 8-4 win, that fan, he actually got to meet Big Dumper, got an autographed bat. So what a night for him. Seattle can close out the Tigers today at 3:00 Eastern.
The NHL season, meanwhile is now underway. The Florida Panthers getting things started by raising their second straight championship banner last night. And they were tied with the Blackhawks 2-2 and the third when Jesper Boqvist coming through in the clutch, kind of bats this goal in for the game winner. The final in that one was Panthers winning 3-2 in their opener.
You got many more teams set to open their season tonight. Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals are going to host the Bruins at 7:30 Eastern. Then you got the Golden Knights hosting the Kings, both of those games on TNT, or you can stream them on HBO Max. Coverage starts live from here in Vegas at 6:00 Eastern.
Now a lot of people put on a great show in sports, but the best one of all is here in Las Vegas done by the Golden Knights in their pre-game show. And I got the chance to talk to the executive producer of that pre-game show, Andrew Abrams. He's been with the team since day one. It's his ninth year doing this. And I asked him about tonight's opening show. He says it's going to be one of the best ever.
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ANDREW ABRAMS, VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS VP & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Tonight, we're lucky enough to do something that's never been done before in the NHL. We're going to be the first to do it. And right now, we're the only ones to do it. And the fans are going to instantly recognize what it is when it happens, and it's going to be amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yeah. And Erica, I tried to ask Andrew. I tried to --
