Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Monster Category 5 Hurricane Melissa Bears Down on Jamaica; United Cajun Navy in Jamaica Preparing to Help in Hurricane's Aftermath; Trump Praises Japan's New Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi; FBI Employees Ordered to Dig for Jimmy Hoffa-Related Documents. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 28, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: ... says he noticed heavy smoke in a truck on fire in the driveway, he noticed the flames had spread, the family did make it out safely and crews put out those flames.

And in Utah, a man dropped a giant pumpkin on his 35-year-old Geo Metro, which crushed it. Why?

He vowed years ago that he would do this if he ever grew a pumpkin that weighed more than that car. So when he finally grew one that weighed in at 1,917 pounds, he fulfilled that promise.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, Hurricane Melissa, the most powerful storm on the planet this year, set to make landfall on Jamaica. The island now bracing for what could be the worst storm to ever hit there. And forecasters are warning of conditions that could cause total structural failure.

President Trump with big praise for the new Japanese prime minister today. His show of force there as he now prepares for the big face-to- face with China's leader next.

And a police chase ends with a stolen car crashing into a family's home, some of the family inside critically injured.

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we are beginning with breaking news. We just received a new forecast and track for the strongest storm on the planet this year from the National Hurricane Center. The World Meteorological Organization says it expects the situation in Jamaica to be catastrophic.

A live look for you now from Jamaica. You are seeing winds whipping up there where Hurricane Melissa expected to make a direct hit today. The outer bands, as you can see, they're already starting to lash and drench the island. The new update shows the extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane is now about 55 miles south of Negril, Jamaica, with maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. Along with the intense winds, flash floods up to 13 feet of life-threatening storm surge and landslides are all expected. The storm is blamed for at least seven deaths already in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica. Mandatory evacuations are in place along parts of the coast.

And just in, the National Hurricane Center says the eyewall could change before hitting landfall, growing larger ahead of impact. And it warns those powerful winds in that eyewall could bring total structural failure to Jamaica, especially at the higher elevations in those mountainous areas.

CNN's Derek Van Dam is live for us in Kingston this morning. What are you seeing there? It looks like there's a little bit of a lull, but I can see those winds still whipping around.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Sara, you just brought up a really good point. I want to touch on that because you talked about the growing wind field. This often happens with these large Category 5 hurricanes.

They go through what's called an eyewall replacement cycle. So it cycles through an inner and an outer eyewall, and that grows the wind field or the strongest winds kind of in a concentric form. It expands the diameter.

So that just increases the coverage of those catastrophic winds. So we'll be on the lookout for that, certainly.

We are in Kingston. We're awaiting the unthinkable here in Jamaica. We are waiting for the inevitable landfall of this monster, slow, agonizing crawl, Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5. I just want to give a bit of a scene set for you here.

The mountains behind me, the Blue Mountains in Kingston, they tower over 7,000 feet. I'm going to get low here because this is water runoff on the roadways, but it's inevitably going to come from those mountains and funnel down into the city streets. And this is just a drop in the bucket of the communities that will be impacted by rising floodwaters, especially near the coast.

When the storm surge right in that right quadrant of the hurricane comes in, it's going to be two opposing forces working together. The surge from the Caribbean Ocean and the inland flooding meeting together, and the ocean and the water just rising right along the coastline in the most vulnerable areas of the south-facing shores of Jamaica. So I just want to show you here some of the scene in Kingston.

There are a lot of unfinished construction buildings. And we've been seeing the sheet metal swaying back and forth. As the wind picks up, we're often hearing the ominous noise of that hum.

If you've been in a hurricane, you've probably heard it before. The sheet metal kind of hums as it vibrates. And those are the initial signs that the storm is picking up an intensity here.

And we know it is. We see it on the satellite. We know what's coming.

[08:05:00]

But this is the stuff that can become deadly missiles in the height of a storm. And with these catastrophic winds that will make landfall, any unfinished construction, sheet metal, rebar has the potential to really cause serious damage.

That's why the National Weather Service warns of this complete structural failure, catastrophic wind damage, isolating communities for days. But when we talk about Kingston, I want to harp on the mountain ranges here because this is what makes it so vulnerable. That water will rush down to the communities below.

Flash flooding, landslides, and mudslides are potential across this entire country. There are so many vulnerable areas. But the western side of the country, this is where we anticipate that inevitable landfall of the world's strongest storm to form in 2025.

We are awaiting, praying, hoping for the best -- Sara.

SIDNER: Derek, you and your crew, I know that you know how to quickly get to safety. But you make some really good points for people to stay indoors and away from windows because of the debris. If nothing else, it can be picked up and thrown through with incredibly strong force.

And you're also in Kingston, which is sort of built in a bowl where you're going to see those waters rise. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much for all your reporting so far out there -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Brian Trascher. He's the vice president and spokesperson for the United Cajun Navy.

The organization has a team on the ground ready to aid in possible rescue efforts. Brian, great to hear from you this morning. What are your teams on the ground telling you at this moment?

BRIAN TRASCHER, VICE PRESIDENT AND SPOKESPERSON, UNITED CAJUN NAVY (via phone): Well, thanks for having us this morning. And what my teams on the ground are telling me that conditions are deteriorating very rapidly. And with the storm shifting west and then now stalling and then looks like it's going to eventually make it turn back to the northeast, it's been very hard to safely preposition people because it's sort of like playing dodgeball at this point.

But what we want everybody to understand that's in the path of this storm is that this is not going to feel like hurricane conditions. This is going to feel like a tornado, just a very, very large tornado. So there's really -- there's no amount of caution that they can take that would be too much or overkill.

BERMAN: We just had this map that was really, really very telling where you could see the storm eye making a direct hit, about to make a direct hit on Jamaica. We're talking about a powerful -- there it is -- Category 5 storm. The eye will just kind of slam into the middle of this island.

For people who haven't been through a storm like this, and that's almost everyone on Earth, because this is as strong as a storm gets and as direct hit as you can get. What do people need to know who are in this path?

TRASCHER: Well, they need to know that the wind speeds, like I said, are going to be like very tornadic, very life threatening. As you mentioned in your segment before it came on, that any kind of loose objects on the ground can be turned into dangerous projectiles that could possibly penetrate windows, possibly penetrate wooden structures. If anybody can get to, you know, concrete type structures, if you can get on the lee side of a hill or a mountain that's high enough to where you're not in danger of something above you landsliding.

We're talking about trillions of gallons of water that's going to be dumped into a mountainous island, and the gravity is going to take that water nowhere but down. So just, you know, everybody has to take an abundance of caution. You have to keep your head on a swivel.

You're going to be looking up, down, side to side, because the danger is going to be coming in many forms in many directions.

BERMAN: What are the situations -- and obviously you never can predict what's going to happen during and after a storm -- but what situations do you think are most likely for your team to have to deal with?

TRASCHER: Swiftwater Rescue, we have a couple of storm chasers on the island, and we have one of our task force leaders who is in the Kingston area, and we're currently trying to find him a small boat because he is Swiftwater Rescue certified, and he's a Marine combat veteran, so he's seen a lot of the worst, and he's very brave and will go out and help anybody that needs it. But we're just trying -- and we're also trying to locate him a ham radio because we didn't have time to get a Starlink down there to try to keep his comms up.

But we are expecting -- we're praying that it's not going to be a mass casualty event. We hope that everybody has had enough preparation and has taken it seriously enough to shelter and get into a safe place. But we are just monitoring, trying to get assessments as soon as the storm passes through.

We're working with the U.S. State Department as well as the government of Jamaica to be able to move rescue teams in afterwards to try to meet any needs that are being unmet on the ground.

BERMAN: Brian Trasher, to your team there, the best of luck. We all hope they stay safe and are there to help people when they are needed after the storm hits. Because that map above me right now really does tell the story.

[08:10:00]

You have this eyewall incredibly well formed that's about to make landfall on Jamaica as one of the most powerful category five former storms that we frankly ever seen in this area.

Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Look at that size comparison, John. Absolutely. Also new this morning, Republican lawmakers now say some of Joe Biden's pardons should be deemed void.

And what they are now asking the Justice Department and the attorney general to do about it.

And here's a quote for you. Go out and buy a Toyota. Why President Trump is making the pitch for Americans to buy Japanese cars.

And roads buckling, the ground washing away just a few feet from several homes. A look at the damage left behind by some relentless rain.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Happening right now, President Trump just wrapped a speech to business leaders in Japan on what has become one of the busiest days of his visit to Asia so far. He spent the day with the country's newly elected leader, Prime Minister Takaichi, and Trump said this just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want to say that she is a delight and she's going to be -- I think she's going to be a great prime minister, I really do, I've got to know pretty well in a short period of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Earlier, the president spoke to thousands of U.S. troops aboard the USS George Washington at the Yokosuka Naval Base -- you see some video of it there -- descending kind of below deck on an elevator, standing between fighter jets.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is in Tokyo following all of this, a busy day for the president. What are you hearing about all of this praise Donald Trump is offering the new prime minister?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, this was probably what we expected in terms of their relationship. We know that the new prime minister had given nothing but compliments to President Trump. And in addition to that, she was a mentee of Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister, prime minister when President Trump was serving his first term. And if you look back on President Trump's tenure, his first time in office, he had almost no friends and no allies on the world stage except for Shinzo Abe.

So the idea that they are linked is special to President Trump, which you heard him say over and over again today. Now, this meeting and this day was really, much of it was setting the table for the big meeting at the end of this trip, which is happening with the Chinese president. President Trump wanted to shore up the relationship with Japan with this new prime minister who he'd never met face-to-face.

He wanted to show strength. And you would hear that when he was talking about the alliance with Japan and the United States. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The cherished alliance between the United States and Japan is one of the most remarkable relationships in the entire world. Really, there's never been anything like it. Born out of the ashes of a terrible war, our bond has grown over eight decades into the beautiful friendship that we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So what you ended up seeing here, Kate, was a show of force on two fronts. One was economic and one was military. When it comes to military, he announced that missiles were being sent to the Japanese defense forces.

He talked about the partnership between the U.S. troops as well as Japanese troops. And then when it came to economic, you heard him announce these big deals like a $10 billion deal from Toyota as well as investments up to $490 billion. But one of the most important parts of all this was a rare earth mineral deal that President Trump signed with the prime minister.

Remember, one of the things that President Trump has been trying to do is stop the United States from being so dependent on China, who really has a monopoly over those rare earths. So anything he could do to show strength, to build up his leverage going to the meeting with the Chinese president, he was trying to do here in Japan.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you, Kristen. Thank you so much for that update -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. We continue following breaking news this morning. The most powerful storm on the planet is barreling straight for Jamaica right now.

Its outer bands already hitting the island nation. The changes we're starting to see in this mega category five storm. We will have live coverage from Jamaica all morning long. Stay with us.

Plus, a new spotlight on a mystery that has gone unsolved for 50 years. Why the FBI is now turning its attention to the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: The Trump administration is turning its attention to one of America's oldest mysteries. The disappearance of the former Teamsters leader known to have deep ties to the mob, Jimmy Hoffa. Sources tell CNN the White House has ordered FBI employees to immediately search their workstations and digital files for any records tied to the missing union leader.

It's the latest in a string of unusual directives pushing agents to revisit decades old cold cases. Our Josh Campbell has a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A 50-year-old mystery is now an urgent assignment for FBI agents who have been ordered to help find out what happened to the famed union boss, Jimmy Hoffa. Sources tell CNN that FBI employees have received a directive from the Trump administration to immediately search their workstations and digital media for any records pertaining to the disappearance of Hoffa, who was last seen outside a Michigan restaurant in 1975 and is presumed dead.

Hoffa was one of the most powerful union leaders at a time when unions wielded great sway over U.S. elections and were notoriously tied to organized crime. CNN has reached out to the FBI for comment.

Now the new directive to search for files related to Hoffa's disappearance comes nearly a month into the federal government shutdown and is the latest in a series of high-profile, unusual demands in recent months directing FBI employees to conduct priority searches for any files they may have on decades-old mysteries. Earlier this month, CNN reported that FBI employees had received a similar order to conduct priority searches for material related to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, who was attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world when her plane went missing over the Pacific Ocean in 1937.

Trump has previously ordered the release of documents related to other high-profile deaths that have sparked conspiracy theories, including records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

[08:25:00]

The new order to search for records relating to Jimmy Hoffa comes as FBI employees have been pulled away from other assignments since the start of the Trump administration to work on other high-profile priority topics, like immigration enforcement, countering violent crime, and redacting files associated with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Josh Campbell, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, thanks to Josh for that.

So the most powerful storm on Earth this year, about to make landfall. You can see the eye bearing down on Jamaica, that eye wall recharging at this very moment.

The wind speeds we're talking about here are just staggering.

And members of a mercenary group with alleged ties to the CIA captured. Why the U.S. is being accused of a plot to spark a military conflict.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news. Hurricane Melissa inching toward a direct hit on Jamaica. Landfall is coming shortly.

Maps show you the eyewall there. You can see it. This is a Category 5 hurricane.

Staggering wind speeds of 175 miles per hour. And you can see the wall, heading for a direct hit on Jamaica. That could just be catastrophic.

[08:30:00]