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Air Traffic Controllers Miss First Full Paycheck of Shutdown; Extremely Dangerous Cat 5 Hurricane Melissa Makes Landfall in Jamaica; Israeli Pm Orders Military Strikes in Gaza; Congressional Committee Says Biden Pardons by Autopen Are Void; U.S. Strikes Three More Alleged Drug Boats in Pacific; U.S. Warship Docks in Trinidad and Tobago as Trump Administration Boosts Military Pressure on Neighboring Venezuela. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 28, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- not getting paid.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You have to consider the stress that controllers are already under, working mandatory six-day weeks of 10-hour shifts in some spots. It's a job that's so stressful. There is a mandatory retirement age of 56.5, and there is already a huge shortage of air traffic controllers nationwide. We're still short of about 1,800 controllers in the U.S. That's why that mandatory overtime policy is in place

So, it's something even acknowledged today by Transportation, Secretary Sean Duffy. He says this makes it even harder for the Trump administration to try and get new recruits in the door. Remember, the Air Traffic Control Training Academy in Oklahoma City right now, essentially shuttered also because of this government shutdown. This is going to have lasting impacts beyond just the delays and cancellations we're seeing right now.

SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, live for us at Reagan National. Thank you so much for the update, Pete. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A storm that defies description, Hurricane Melissa making landfall in Jamaica, the strongest storm to make landfall anywhere in the Atlantic since 2019. We have a brand new update on the storm's position,

SANCHEZ: Plus, a blow to the ceasefire in Gaza, as Israel's prime minister orders the military to carry out immediate powerful strikes in the enclave. We're looking at Hamas' reaction to that announcement. And a key congressional committee says, any pardons from former President Joe Biden signed by autopen are void. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Just moments ago, the National Hurricane Center gave an update on Hurricane Melissa, the second strongest to ever make landfall in the Atlantic, the worst ever to hit the island nation of Jamaica. The NHC repeated its warning that Melissa, a Category 5 Storm, is "extremely dangerous and life-threatening." Just listen to the storm in Montego Bay, some 40 miles north from where the hurricane made landfall about an hour ago.

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KEILAR: Now, the western side of the island is facing Melissa's wrath with 165 mile per hour winds and as much as 30 inches of rain. Storm surge could reach nine to 13 feet above ground level. Jamaica's minister of state telling us in the last hour, more than 6,000 people are in shelters. Let's go now to Michael Brennan, the Director of the National Hurricane Center.

Tens of thousands of people expected to be displaced by this, maybe moving to friends or family as well, Michael. So just walk us through what looks like, quite frankly, a hellacious storm behind you. What is the very latest?

MICHAEL BRENNAN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Yeah, this is about as bad as it gets in terms of a hurricane landfall here. Category 5, catastrophic wind damage, life threatening storm surge, 30 to 40 inches of rainfall, and life threatening flooding. So right now, the message to everybody in Western Jamaica is to stay in the safest place you can. You can see the eye is now moving, it's almost moving entirely inland, and it's going to be traversing the western part of the country, moving back offshore later this afternoon.

But think about the high mountains here. We're going to have wind gusts over 200 miles per hour. So you're going to have like total building failures, destruction of trees, power infrastructure. It's going to be a very dangerous post-storm environment in Jamaica for weeks or months to come.

KEILAR: Michael, we've been reading some of these updates and I mean, I've never seen anything like them. It's talking about wearing helmets, maybe having to cover yourself with a mattress if you're in the area. I mean, these are last ditch emergency efforts. So, when you're talking about Jamaicans having this last chance to protect their lives, what kind of scenes are we expecting to play out?

BRENNAN: Yeah, you want to be in an interior room, lowest floor of your house, away from windows, away from trees, preferably under sturdy furniture or mattress. Cover your head, almost like you would hide from a tornado if you can imagine. We tell people to get in that basement or a lowest-floor room of your home. And you don't want to go out in the eye. The eye is moving northward here about seven, eight, nine miles an hour. So there will be, if you go right into the eye itself, a brief period of calm, but you don't want to go outside because the backside of the eye is going to come across very quickly.

And some of these areas are not going to get into the eye at all. They're just going to get pounded with the hurricane force winds, the heavy rain, and that's going to be going on here for the next few hours.

KEILAR: I mentioned the 165 mile per hour sustained winds, 30 inches of rain. There's this storm surge, right? There's reports of flash flooding. So, you have the wind and you have the water. Both are extremely dangerous here. Is there one right now that is of greater concern to you?

BRENNAN: It depends on where an individual is located and what their relative risk is. Historically, in the Caribbean, rainfall and rainfall flooding has been the biggest killer, again, because you have a whole island that's mountainous.

[14:05:00]

You have widespread rainfall, totals 15 to 30 inches, isolated totals as high as 40 inches. But yeah, certainly the wind is not to be -- it is a huge risk in a storm that's this powerful. Again, you can see complete building failures, roof ripped off homes, tree fall, and the storm surge along the immediate coast here, in this Black River Bay and off to the east where we could have seen as much as nine to 13 feet of inundation of ocean water moving on shore with dangerous waves on top of it. So, it's really all the hazards are at that catastrophic level with a storm this powerful.

KEILAR: When you have a storm that is this bad and we saw this in some parts of Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria, there can be a delay in getting eyes on the damage. You don't always immediately see how bad it is. How long could it take to get a sense of the full scope of the devastation where people there in the hardest hit areas are able to have some kind of connectivity or people are able to get in from the outside?

BRENNAN: Yeah, I mean, it'll take days at least. Again, you're going to have communications lost. You're going to have communities that are isolated that people may not be able to get in and out of. So, it may take days to weeks to fully capture the scope of what's happening in here and what's happening in the next few hours. So yeah, again, it's going to take a long time for us to piece together everything that's happening right now in days to weeks into the future.

KEILAR: Yeah. Michael Brennan, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. This is unlike really anything we've seen, bearing down on Jamaica right now. Thanks for being with us.

BRENNAN: Thanks.

KEILAR: We have CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam who is in Kingston. The capital of Jamaica is about a hundred miles east from where Melissa made landfall, which is part of the reason why, quite frankly, Derek, we're able to speak with you because we're not able to speak with folks who are right there in the hardest hit area right now. Tell us what things are like there in Jamaica.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, there's no doubt, Brianna, that communications and power are out on that part of the island, at least a large part of it, right? So, that is because the catastrophic winds have come in. We've got a 2:00 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center, that has reduced the current winds from 185 to 165. That's still Category 5 strength, and the pressure has risen to 899 millibars. The reason that this is happening, sorry, every once in a while we'll get one of these stronger gusts that come through.

The reason that the hurricane is weakening slightly is because its interaction with the mountainous terrain of Jamaica. So it's lost its energy source, which is the Caribbean Ocean. So it's going to continue to kind of get disorganized, but it's still a very, very formidable and dangerous hurricane. It's got its eyes set on Montego Bay. And I'm concerned about that area because just looking at the latest satellite image, as it traverses Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth Parish, the western portions of Jamaica, Montego Bay is on the north side of the island and there's a lot of tourism and a lot of hotels within that area.

So, we know that if it makes an eyewall pass over that region, there could be a lot of people impacted, that our tourists who were not able to evacuate from this island. So, the concerns here going forward are the access to that part of the country, to assess storm damage. But this is a really important time for people. It's a critical moment actually, because of the eye is so clear, it's so well-defined with this powerful high-end Category 5 Hurricane, that people often dismiss the storm as being over if they are in that eye.

So, it's relatively large, OK? And so if they see the sun come out, blue skies overhead, and the birds start chirping and the wind goes calm, your natural reaction is say, "Hey, I can go outdoors and go assess the damage from this hurricane." My advice to you, and if you can get this through to people who maybe are stuck over in the western parts of Jamaica, is that the storm is not done. We are in the height of it now. And the problem is as that eyewall comes through, the destruction and the wind comes from one direction on the north side of the eyewall, and then the backside of the eyewall will take that same debris and shoot it in an opposite direction. So, don't get caught off guard.

The threats here in Kingston are still very real. The flooding that will come down from the mountains around this area is still very, very possible. Landslides and mudslides are a great concern, but we do know that the greatest impacts from this hurricane still remain on the western side of the island. Hey, Boris and Brianna, sorry. Every time we get one of these stronger gusts, it takes my breath away. This is a potent storm.

[14:10:00]

SANCHEZ: Yeah, no doubt. Derek Van Dam in Kingston, we hope you and the crew stay safe. Thank you for that report.

Still to come, the U.S. conducting deadly new strikes against suspected drug boats in the Pacific. Plus, record numbers of voters casting their ballots early in the race for New York City's mayor. We're going to dig into those numbers.

KEILAR: And we will keep tracking Hurricane Melissa as it is lashing the island of Jamaica, especially on the western side. These are live pictures of Montego Bay, which is expected to get a hit coming up soon from Melissa. Stay with us for the latest details here on "CNN News Central."

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[14:15:25]

KEILAR: We have Breaking News. The U.S. military says it has struck four more alleged drug smuggling boats in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 14 people on board, with one survivor. We have CNN Anchor and Chief National Security Analyst, Jim Sciutto with us now. Jim, what do we know about these strikes?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, listen, I mean these are now familiar videos, right? We are seeing these saw almost every day. The airborne video of the strike as you hit these alleged narco terrorist boats, that's the term you hear from the administration. In this case, this is taking place on the Pacific side, right? And they began on the Atlantic side, in the Caribbean, et cetera, closer to the Venezuelan coast. And the administration in recent days and weeks has now expanded where they're striking here.

There are the obvious legal questions, the administration says intelligence indicates that these are drug smuggling boats. Is there any legal process to doing this? Is there any recourse for those involved in this? Especially now that you have survivors, right, of some of these strikes. Those are open questions, but what is certainly true is they're becoming more frequent and they're taking place on a broader geographical kind of swath in Latin America. And the question is if they broaden even further.

KEILAR: And they're expanding -- the U.S. military expanding its presence in the Caribbean,

SCIUTTO: It's a big deal. So, they have the USS Gravely, which is a guided missile destroyer, now in Trinidad and Tobago, quite close to Venezuela. You have a U.S. aircraft carrier on its way now from the Mediterranean, the USS Gerald Ford, which happens to be the newest and most capable U.S. aircraft carrier in the world. And you also have more land forces in and around the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, et cetera.

What I'm told by folks briefed on the intelligence is that at a minimum, they're giving the president a wide range of options here. Right? And you could look at that just based on the kinds of hardware you have in the region right now. There's also a special forces support ship that has shown up in the Caribbean. Doesn't mean he's taken that step, doesn't mean he is going to use all of those options, but at least the forces that are now in the region gives the president enormous options here.

Interesting, CSIS, the think tank has said that the arrival of an aircraft carrier is one marker they've used to predict at least the possibility of an invasion. Again, it doesn't mean an invasion is happening and -- or that the president will ever order one, but you have such an array of resources there now that the president's list of options is growing.

KEILAR: They're saying you couldn't do one probably without the carrier. Right?

SCIUTTO: Exactly.

KEILAR: So it sort of opens up that possibility. And in the middle of all this, you have Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, talking about mercenaries.

SCIUTTO: He says that -- he says -- he's now claiming they've made a series of arrests of what could be a group of mercenaries trained and financed by the CIA. We don't know what he's basing this on. He's an authoritarian leader. He can pick -- he picks up people all the time. But what's key about this is that President Trump and other administration officials have said quite publicly that the U.S. has CIA operatives on the ground, and CNN has reported this as well. So, they're nervous there, right?

And they're looking for -- I'm sure, they're looking for these teams and anybody tied to these teams. And probably this is part of a fear operation by the Maduro regime to strike fear in the minds of anybody who might come into contact with them or might think about working with them, right? Because there is some hope here that by carrying out these operations, both military and otherwise, that the U.S. can weaken the Maduro regime, who they accuse of being part of the drug trafficking operations.

KEILAR: Yeah. Questions about whether some of what's going on could be about regime change. Right?

SCIUTTO: Exactly.

KEILAR: -- out there. Jim Sciutto, thank you so much for taking us through all of that.

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much.

KEILAR: Really appreciate it. Still to come, as the government shutdown drags on, the toll on travelers is increasing. Why safety is becoming a bigger concern with air traffic controllers facing more shifts without getting paid? And more live updates as Hurricane Melissa slams Jamaica with unprecedented winds and heavy rain. Stay with "CNN New Central."

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[14:24:10]

SANCHEZ: So, early voting is in full swing as New York City is set to elect its next mayor. And new data shows a record number of people, more than 200,000 casting their ballots so far.

KEILAR: Democrat Zohran Mamdani still seen as the front runner despite lukewarm support from some in his own party. We have CNN Chief Data Analyst, Harry Enten with us now. All right, Harry, put the turnout into context for us historically.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yeah, I, I'll note a historic little anecdote, which was my mother voted early. If my mother's voting early; you can vote early too here in New York City. But let's take a look here at the numbers. What we're looking at so far, in 2025, we're looking at, look at this, already north of 220,000. The entire 2021 campaign only had 170,000 people turn out early and we're only three days into this thing.

[14:25:00]

I think we might be looking at the highest turnout in a New York City mayoral election since at least 2001, which of course was a close affair between Mark Green, the Democrat, and the Republican, Mike Bloomberg. And you might have to go all the way back to 1993, when of course David Dinkins, the incumbent mayor, was defeated by Rudy Giuliani, the Republican.

SANCHEZ: Harry, who do you imagine is benefiting from this high early turnout?

ENTEN: Oh, Boris, that is the question, isn't it? And if I wish, if I was a magical person, I could tell you for sure which candidate was.

SANCHEZ: You are a magical person.

ENTEN: I am a magical person, but not in that way. I'm a magical person in the way that I'm able to look at the camera and a magical person insofar as my personality is absolutely fantastic. But actually telling you who it's necessarily benefiting, I'm not quite sure I can do that for you. I think there's good signs for both the candidates. Why don't we start off with a good sign for Mamdani?

All right. New York City general election early voter turnout, the top increase in the boroughs versus 2021 is Brooklyn. That is where we expect and where the polling really does suggest that Mamdani is going to do quite well. He did quite well during the primary there. That is also obviously where there are a lot of folks who might agree with Mamdani's further left politics than Andrew Cuomo might necessarily have. So Brooklyn being high in the turnout, that's good for Zohran Mamdani.

Now, if you're looking for a good sign for Andrew Cuomo, why don't you look at the turnout by age group. All right, this is 2025 New York City and the largest early voting age group. In the primary, it was younger voters, those aged 30 to 34. That was the top group in terms of turnout in the early vote. Now look at this side of the screen. Look at what we have here in the general election so far. It's actually early voters who are making up the larger share of the early votes so far, 65 to 69 is the large group. That, of course, is a group that Andrew Cuomo is expected to do very well amongst, he's expected to do poor among younger voters.

So the fact that older voters are turning out to vote so far, that is a good sign for Andrew Cuomo. I won't tell you though which age bracket my mother belongs to because I'm very young. She could be very young too.

KEILAR: Yeah, very young.

ENTEN: Yeah.

KEILAR: Magically young even. Right? See what I did there?

ENTEN: You said right (ph).

KEILAR: OK. Mamdani though, he's still the favorite?

ENTEN: Yeah, I think so. You can see it in the prediction markets right here. At this particular point, what do we see? The top chances to a New York City mayor, according to the Kalshi Prediction Market odds, look, Mamdani has an 86 percent chance. Andrew Cuomo comes in at 14 percent. I will say, Cuomo is up a little bit from where he was yesterday. But the bottom line at this particular point is Zohran Mamdani is driving the subway car. He's driving the bus.

He's not driving the car because, of course, most people in New York City actually commute via mass transit or by walking, they don't drive their cars. So at this particular point, Mamdani is the favorite. Andrew Cuomo has got a shot, perhaps a little bit up from where he was just a few days ago, but at this point, Zohran Mamdani is in the driver's seat, guys.

SANCHEZ: A magical and humble, we should add.

KEILAR: So humble.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

ENTEN: So, I know.

SANCHEZ: Harry Enten.

ENTEN: I know.

SANCHEZ: -- from the magical forest (ph).

ENTEN: I just want to thank you all for this beautiful segment. It's going to stay with me for a long time as well as our viewers.

(LAUGH)

SANCHEZ: Harry, thank you.

Still to come, we have an update on the wrath of Hurricane Melissa now crossing over the island of Jamaica. As we take a live look at Kingston Harbor, see a lot of strong waves there. We'll get you a report, next.

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