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Robert H.P. Hill is Interviewed about Hurricane Melissa; Jonathan Petramala is Interviewed about Hurricane Melissa; Natassia Wright is Interviewed about Hurricane Melissa; Political Standings Since Shutdown; Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is Interviewed about the Shutdown; Dan Alexander is Interviewed about the Trump Organization; Venezuela Claims False Flag Attack. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired October 28, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wind speeds of 175 miles per hour. And you can see the wall heading for a direct hit on Jamacia that could just be catastrophic. That eye wall, we believe, is replacing itself right now. Now, there are times when that process can lead to a weakening storm. There's not enough time for this to help Jamaica at all. These wind speeds are expected to still be very, very high, almost unfathomably high when it makes landfall, which, again, will happen shortly.

With us now, Robert Hill, the CEO of Kingston and the St. Andrew Municipal Corporation, that's the local government branch in charge of planning, development and regulation.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us right now.

Give us a sense of the situation on the ground.

ROBERT H.P. HILL, CEO, KINGSTON AND ST. ANDREW MUNICIPAL CORPORATION: Hi, John. Nice to be with you. And thank you for allowing us to come on and share our experience.

Here in capital city Kingston, we are a coastal city. Our offices are downtown, right beside the waterfront. And we can see that the weather is kicking up. The wind speeds are increasing. We have taken all the precautions we could have taken to ensure that our citizens are safe or are in certified shelters with enough supplies for them to ride through this storm.

Additionally, we would have positioned and pre-positioned our heavy equipment in the rural parts of Kingston and Saint Andrew to ensure that should any emergency occur, we're able to get our people out and into safe harbor as quickly as possible.

We also looked after our homeless persons across the city, and they are also being cared for in our shelters. So, as far as we're concerned, we're anticipating this catastrophe. This is, as is reported in the 180 odd history -- year history of taking records of hurricanes, this is the most powerful and most catastrophic. So, we're keeping our fingers crossed. We're hoping and praying that

we can go through this successfully with minimum damage, minimum injury, and minimum loss of life.

BERMAN: Now, you were expected not to be in the path of the eyewall itself, but still very much in an area of extreme danger, particularly storm surge, a cause of enormous concern.

HILL: Yes, sir.

BERMAN: What are the biggest threats to Kingston at this moment?

HILL: The biggest threats. We have low lying areas that are prone to flooding. By all reports and by all indications, this is going to be one of those systems that dumps quite a bit of rain right over the island. And that means that we're expecting flood inundation in low lying areas and across other communities that are near the coastal areas. We have taken the precautionary measures to clear those drains and those gullies and those waterways to ensure at least at minimum not too much flooding occurs that dislocates people in a manner -- in a -- in a manner that is going to be that dangerous to their lives and property.

So, we have tried to do that. We are watching our storm surges as they come through. Thankfully, they're not at this time that terrible. But we do anticipate them to get worse as the weather wears on.

BERMAN: You mentioned the storm surge. You also mentioned that you're right on the water, your offices.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: How certain are you that you will be able to get out of your office and work through this over the next 12 hours?

HILL: Well, I'm not going to be here for long. I'm going to head to one of the shelters to work with the emergency team, which is further up the road from me, which is not necessarily threatened by this low- lying area. But we're OK so far.

BERMAN: Well, good.

Listen, CEO Robert Hill, thank you so much for being with us. We, obviously, wish you the best to you and everyone there. Please stay safe. The next 12 hours are going to be, I think, very tense and very difficult.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, John.

We're going to stay live there in Jamaica. We are joined now by Jonathan Petramala, a journalist with Corclips, who is chasing this storm.

Jonathan, where are you now and what are you seeing and experiencing? JONATHAN PETRAMALA, JOURNALIST, CORCLIPS (via telephone): Hi. Good

morning.

I'm in Kingston, Jamaica. Things, for the moment, have calmed down. Earlier, right before dawn, there was some really heavy rain. Some of the tropical storm force winds that were gusting. You saw some waves crashing into downtown Kingston over the seawall. You saw some water ponding on the road, some of that flash flooding I was talking about. And again, power outages, sporadic, I'd say 50/50 around the city. Some parts of the city without power, some parts still with power.

So, again, right now the conditions have calmed down significantly. But again, it's going to be a long day.

SIDNER: Yes, we've been talking with Jamaican authorities who are saying, look -- and weather center, that's saying, look, this is going to be a catastrophic storm that no place on this island will be left untouched by this storm.

[08:35:01]

So, for you, where are you going to go as you try to chase this? Where will you go to -- to get shelter? Have you mapped that out? And also, for people who have not yet gone to shelter that might need to, what would you tell them?

PETRAMALA: Absolutely stay away from water. So, anywhere there's water, stay away from those areas. So, whether it's the coastline with, you know, right along the coast here in the harbor or along the southern coast, absolutely that's going to be dangerous when it comes to storm surge. And then, of course, you have the rivers. Because you imagine, you have the mountains and the water's going to be rushing down like if it was on a water slide. And so there's going to be a lot of force behind the water when the rain falls up there and it comes down into the cities and towns, and that's going to add another level of danger when you have that rushing water that can absolutely not only wash you away, can wash vehicles away, can wash homes away.

If these forecast numbers are correct, and we do get two feet of rain, and it comes in a very short amount of time, there's really no system in place that could handle water at that speed and that amount. So, it's going to leave the banks and it's going to come into the communities.

We saw as late as yesterday evening government officials clearing out what they call gullies, where the water escapes to the ocean, with excavators, trying to clear the dirt that has built up over the years, to make more of a channel so that water can make its way quickly to the ocean rather than into communities.

SIDNER: Yes. And we should mention that even in the hills, you know, landslides could potentially happen because it's been so saturated with water and more rain and wind is on the way.

Jonathan, thank you so much. Stay safe out there as you watch this storm come in. Let's go now to Jamaican resident Natassia Wright. She is hunkering

down in Portmore, which is just west of Kingston.

Thank you for being here.

Can you give me a sense -- you are -- you are in your home. I think you've been online on Instagram warning people about this storm and to be prepared.

NATASSIA WRIGHT, JAMAICA RESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER OF MIND FOOD INTERNATIONAL (via telephone): Yes. Yes.

SIDNER: What are you experiencing where you are?

WRIGHT: OK. Thank you so much, Sara.

Well, from where I am, which is very close to the sea, we have been just, you know, constantly being hammered by the winds. I know a lot of persons who are still in St. Catherine. They are saying they are not feeling anything. Well, it depends on where you are.

But I can tell you that we have been having winds for almost 24 hours now. Very heavy winds. We do get showers from time to time. But right now I can tell you that it's kind of eerie. The sound from the sea is really scary. And I'm just hoping everybody is safe and prepared for what's about to come.

SIDNER: Yes, we're looking at live pictures from Montego Bay, Jamaica, on the other side of the island. And we are seeing the effects of those winds whipping through the palm trees.

WRIGHT: Right.

SIDNER: And listening to that -- that ominous sound that you've been talking about.

WRIGHT: Yes.

SIDNER: What is it that makes you feel safe in your home? What have you done to prepare?

WRIGHT: Well -- well, for one, I can tell you most, most Jamaican structures are built specifically to handle these kinds of conditions. That's one. Although we're never too prepared. But also just ensuring that we have food supplies, that we, you know, there's not much leakage. We would have fixed any roof issues that we had. And, you know, just making sure that we stay put because even though the structure of the home may be perfect, if the surroundings have -- has a lot of trees or, you know, there are debris that have not been taken care of, they -- those things are missiles in this kind of wind that we're feeling right now.

SIDNER: Yes. You make a really good point, that anything that is loose can become a missile, especially when we're looking at 175 mile per hour winds, sustained at this point. But it is also the rain that everyone is concerned about. WRIGHT: Absolutely.

SIDNER: And the storm surge and flooding.

Natassia Wright, thank you for warning people in any way you can online and on your social media and right now with us here at CNN. Please, please stay safe. I hope everything is boarded up and you've got all that you need there inside your home. Really appreciate you taking the time this morning,

John.

BERMAN: All right, we want to keep our eye on that storm as it moves over Jamaica.

Overnight, President Trump spoke to thousands of U.S. troops in Japan. Back here in the United States, the government shutdown entered day 28. Not clear, by the way, how much longer these service members will get paid. Air traffic controllers missing their first paycheck this morning.

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

Harry, we saw the troops. He talked about air traffic controllers. Not clear their pain on the shutdown.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: One thing that might end a shutdown is political pain, if parties start to feel that it's hurting them.

[08:40:01]

So, let's talk about that, starting with Republicans. How has the shutdown seemed to have affected their political standing?

ENTEN: Yes, you might think, given that the Republicans are in charge of both the House and the Senate, that a government shutdown might actually hurt the Republican brand. But, in fact, it hasn't. If anything, it's been helped a little bit.

Take a look here. The shift in net popularity versus pre-shutdown. Among the -- when we're looking at the Republican Party overall, that brand actually up two points. That's within the margin of error. But clearly it hasn't dropped.

Come over to this side of the screen. Look at the net approval ratings for Republicans in Congress. It's actually up five points since pre- shutdown. So, what we're seeing here is the Republican brand in Congress has actually improved somewhat compared to where we were pre- shutdown, despite the fact that Republicans control. And that's the math that John Thune and Mike Johnson are looking at is, hey, why should we give, electorally speaking, when our brand has actually improved a little bit?

BERMAN: Now, we say their position is getting better. With whom? ENTEN: Yes, OK, with whom. So, I think it's two groups that it's so

important to keep an eye out on. All right, change in the Republican Congress' net approval rating versus pre-shutdown. It's rallying the base for sure. Look at this, the net approval rating up 12 points versus pre-shutdown.

But it's not just with the base. It's also with the middle of the electorate. Look at this. Among independents, it's up eight points as well. So, we've got a situation here where Republicans, with the shutdown, are actually rallying their base. But it's also something that's not hurting them with the folks in the middle. If anything, it's helping them with folks in the middle. And this is the type of math that if you're Republicans you like to see, right? Because something could rally the base but alienate those in the middle, or something could rally those in the middle but alienate the base.

But the truth is, we're not seeing that. What we're seeing is the Republican brand has actually gotten better among independents, and it's also gotten better among Republicans as well. That Republican brand, when it comes to those in Congress. So again, what's -- what's the electoral reason that Republicans would give in at this point?

BERMAN: And Democrats, of course, they have their eyes on the midterm elections. Yes, we have elections one week from today. But what Democrats in Congress are mostly focused on are one year and one week from today from the midterms. So, how do Democrats, how are they positioned right now?

ENTEN: Yes, so, I mean, look, the generic congressional ballot, which traditionally Democrats have done really well on. And if you look at this point, back when Trump was president the first time around, Democrats were up 11 points. Look at where it is now. Democrats are ahead, but they're actually only up three points. This is, in fact, the worst position Democrats have been on in a generic ballot at this point in a midterm when there was a Republican president in the last 20 years. And this is no different from pre-shutdown. So, Republicans aren't losing on this metric either. They become more popular and they're actually in a pretty good position for them historically when it comes to the generic congressional ballot.

BERMAN: This is a concerning number for Democrats, you say, in Congress?

ENTEN: This is a concerning number for Democrats because it's considerably worse than they traditionally do in midterm elections when there's a Republican president.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, it is past time to end this shutdown. That is the message this morning from the president of the American Federation of Government Employees. That is the largest union of federal workers in the country, representing more than 800,000 people. The unions president, Everett Kelley, now saying in a new statement in part this, "it is long past time for our leaders to put aside partizan politics and embrace responsible government. The path forward for Congress is clear, reopen the government immediately under a clean, continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues."

Joining me right now is the number two Democrat in the Senate, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Senator, thank you for being here.

Telling you all to pass a clean funding bill and then negotiate, is this influential union of federal workers siding with Republicans and the president on this shutdown fight?

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Everett Kelley is a good leader and he represents thousands of federal employees. I can understand his sense of urgency. We feel the same on the Democratic side. But I'll tell you, we also add in the people who are receiving letters from their health insurance companies and realizing that Republican's actions that eliminated the tax subsidies mean that premiums are going to go up dramatically for millions and millions of American families. So, of course, we want to do everything we can to help the federal employees, but we also feel an obligation to help these millions of families.

BOLDUAN: But when it comes to a federal government shutdown, if they are suggesting that Democrats essentially need to give in for now, how do you respond? Does this change things for you?

DURBIN: We're prepared to meet with the president when he returns from his overseas trip. We're prepared to meet with the House of Representatives, which has been on vacation for four weeks. We're prepared to sit down at the table quickly and resolve this. But we want to include relief for families facing health insurance costs they just can't afford.

BOLDUAN: Hearing from this union, as you said, Everett Kelley, you called him a good leader, hearing them effectively side with Republicans and the president, does that have an impact on you?

DURBIN: Of course it does. I felt strongly for this union. Everett's a friend and he's doing a good job. But we also feel strongly for these families. And -- and the possibility that other Republican actions are going to be closing hospitals and clinics and nursing homes across this country.

[08:45:07]

This is a crisis situation. We should resolve it as quickly as possible.

BOLDUAN: It does not change the strategy that Democrats have employed so far when it comes to this shutdown stare down?

DURBIN: No. As a matter of fact, I think we can resolve this matter as soon as the president's willing to sit down with Republican leaders and Democratic leaders.

BOLDUAN: On the immigration raids in Chicago, Senator, the Border Patrol official who's become really a face of the administration's crackdown is expected to appear before a judge today amid a lawsuit over tactics federal agents are using there. The judge wants him to explain video of what appears to be him throwing tear gas into a crowd. Where is this headed right now in Chicago?

DURBIN: Well, I'm afraid it's a terrible situation. Remember, this is supposedly inspired by the rapist, terrorists and murderers who were sneaking across the border, and now they're going to be stopped by this federal effort. And yet I want to tell you, 70 percent of the people who are being arrested and detained have no criminal record whatsoever. And in addition, this ICE operation, this secret police operation, the masked policeman that the federal government has sent in, are going to places looking for terrorists like outside churches on Sunday, or the Halloween parades on Saturday. This is a farce. It is an outrage that they're continuing this military presence and the presence of this federal agency.

BOLDUAN: Very interesting to see what happens in federal court today.

House Republicans, Senator, released a report this morning saying that they've investigated and they want all of President Biden's autopen pardons to be voided because they believe that he was, in their investigation and their report, that he was in such cognitive decline that he might not have been aware of what he was signing off on, and they're asking the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to get involved.

You're the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. What's your reaction to this?

DURBIN: I'm not surprised. It's a political move by them to continue to hammer away at the Biden administration, instead of facing the reality of the Trump administration with health insurance premiums going through the roof and the economy still too expensive for families. It still costs a fortune to go into grocery stores. And the basics, electric, utility bills and the like are going through the roof. They want to change the subject and talk about the last president. It's not going to work.

BOLDUAN: Former President Biden and his team responded to the claims, calling the claims that House Republicans put together in this report "ridiculous" and "false." But do you think this could end in the Justice Department moving to void pardons of a prior president?

DURBIN: I have no idea how far they'll go. But the Constitution is clear in terms of the president's power. The fact that they want to keep changing the subject back to the Biden administration tells you what a mess they've made of this country.

BOLDUAN: Senator Dick Durbin, thank you so much for coming in today.

Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you, Kate. Next, a stolen car barrels through a California home, trapping a man

and his children inside that home. What police are revealing about the crash this morning.

And a rescue with a purr-fect ending. A kitten rescued after it was found hiding under a food truck. It's a place I also like to hide, hoping for a morsel or two. We'll show you that story ahead. Oh.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:02]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, an investigation into how President Trump and really the Trump family is making some serious money. According to a new report from "Forbes," the president has already made hundreds of millions of dollars abroad, much of it coming from the United Arab Emirates. The Trump family has at least nine deals with ties to the UAE, which, according to "Forbes," "include five licensing agreements and three cryptocurrency deals that will provide an estimated $500 million in 2025," that's this year, "and about $50 million annually for years into the future."

With us now is Dan Alexander, senior editor at "Forbes," who broke this story. Dan is the author of "White House, Inc.: How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency into a Business."

Dan, it's always great to see you. Going through this report here, just how extensive are the Trump family ties to the UAE?

DAN ALEXANDER, AUTHOR, "WHITE HOUSE, INC.": Well, you know, what caught my interest about this is, as I was looking broadly at the business and seeing what are the places where Trump is really making money right now, what are the areas of growth, whether that's issuing stablecoins or selling other sorts of cryptocurrency or expanding the international licensing portfolio? In all of those cases it's happening in the UAE. And this is business that has come on suddenly. You know, most of this began in 2024 and has extended into 2025, right as Donald. Trump has sort of consolidated his political power and, of course, become much more important for a country like the UAE, who wants to have an impact on the global stage.

BERMAN: And in the very beginning of your report, one of the things that jumped out to me is how different you note this is from when Donald Trump first won election in 2016 and 2017. How?

ALEXANDER: Certainly. There was a press conference inside Trump Tower on January 11, 2017, so nine days before Trump took office. And he had a bunch of folders in front of him, and he was trying to make the case, hey, I'm really separating my private interests from what's going to become my public responsibilities. And one of the examples that he gave was he said that somebody in the United Arab Emirates had just offered him $2 billion to do a deal, which he had turned down. And then he proceeded to say that he wasn't going to do any more foreign deals anywhere in the world while he was president.

Now, that's all different. He's striking foreign deals all over the world. But principally, in the very country that he used as an example in 2017, in the United Arab Emirates.

BERMAN: And what do people who are close to Trump, for instance, Jared Kushner, you write about this, say when presented with the possibility that there could be a conflict of interest here in dealing on the business side, but also the diplomatic side with some of these countries?

ALEXANDER: You know, they sort of brush it off and say, look, in this part of the world, if you have business connections, that's actually an advantage. You can call up the major players and they'll take your phone calls. And that's important when dealing with, you know, issues like, for example, the Israel-Gaza ceasefire.

[08:55:02]

There's obvious questions that ethics people would have about whether or not that places the United States interests first or theirs. But they're saying, this is actually an advantage for the U.S.

BERMAN: And, Dan, you've also done really extensive reporting on what's happening at the White House, the former East Wing of the White House, which is now no longer. And those who are helping to fund what will be this new ballroom, a price tag of some $200 million there.

When you look at the list of funders here for this, what jumps out at you?

ALEXANDER: Well, the first thing is, it's sort of exactly what you would expect. You know, I mean if you look at, OK, if Trump's raising money, who's he going to go to? Well, he's going to go to his old friends. You know, guys like Pepe Fanjul, who has a house near Mara- Lago. He's going to go to the crypto crowd, which, of course, is fully behind Trump, as he's fully behind them at this point. He's going to go to tech giants, which are super susceptible to regulation from Washington. All of those people combined in this list to fund this project.

But what's most interesting are the people that you might not expect, the names that you haven't seen before. And I'll give you an example. Theres a guy named Paolo Tiramani, and he has a company called BOXABL. This company makes sort of box housing. And the regulations on housing are different in each state in the country. What they want is sort of a federal framework. And so, they reportedly donated $10 million to help fund the construction of this ballroom. And you can bet that they're hoping to see a return on that investment, that they will make much more than $10 million from making the donation.

BERMAN: Yes, again, follow the money.

Dan Alexander, great work, as always. Thanks so much for being with us this morning,

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, on our radar for you this morning, a Sacramento family is reeling after a stolen car crashed into their home, pinning a man inside beneath the rubble. It happened during a police chase. Video of the aftermath shows severe damage to the home. Although I think you're seeing a hospital there. But the man injured is in critical condition this morning.

And in central Florida, a rare and powerful storm leaves parts of Lake County underwater at this hour. More than 19 inches of rain fell Sunday, flooding streets and washing out roads. One car flipped into a hole carved out by rushing water. You see that there. Wow. Officials say there is a lot of damage, but thankfully no one has been injured. They're calling it a once in a thousand-year reign event there.

And New York police officers not so tough when it comes to kittens. Body camera video -- who could be -- shows officers responding to reports of tiny meows coming from under a food truck. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty. A kitten was stuck near one of the wheels, and the officers managed to get a hold of that little tiny thing and instantly there was love.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look who found you. This cute guy. This cute guy found you, beautiful. You're so pretty. It's OK. You're safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Oh, there is so much love there from the officers to that kitty cat. The rescue officer ended up adopting, as you would expect, the kitten.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: I mean that's super cute. Just paws for total and utter cuteness.

SIDNER: He's so cute, so, beautiful. Oh, kitty. I mean --

BOLDUAN: I got you. It' so cute.

SIDNER: Warms your heart.

BOLDUAN: And then we're going to turn the this.

Thanks, Sara.

This morning, the government of Venezuela is accusing the United States of plotting a so-called false flag attack on American military vessels off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, allegedly as part of a plan to spark a U.S. military confrontation with Venezuela.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon is in Caracas with much more.

Stefano, what are you learning about this?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Kate, like everything that comes out of Miraflores, which is the Venezuelan presidential palace, we need to take these allegations with a pinch of salt. However, the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, was live on

television late on Monday and saying that he believes that the CIA is concocting a plan to attack a U.S. facilities in the region. We know that there are several assets from the U.S. Navy in -- in the Caribbean, in the southern Caribbean, to try to stem the flow of drugs coming out of South America. And this, he says, is an attempt to trigger an open conflict.

Now, I think that regardless if we believe what Maduro is saying, and, by the way, Kate, we are not being told either how many people the Venezuelans have detained, where these detainees are from in order to present any proof of these alleged plans. But as I was saying, I think that this speaks to the dramatic potential for open warfare and conflict that we're seeing here. The miscalculations that we could see.

[08:59:56]

We are learning from the White House, Kate, that President Trump is still mulling options to take internal action, action inside Venezuela to target these drug cartels, which could perhaps lead to an open confrontation.