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Melissa Hits Cuba After Causing Widespread Destruction In Jamaica; Man Arrested, Accused Of Threatening Attacks On Multiple Synagogues; Israeli To Resume Ceasefire After Deadliest Day In Gaza In Weeks. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 29, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a new update on Hurricane Melissa. The storm made landfall in southeastern Cuba a short time ago with winds of 120 miles per hour. That makes it a major category 3 hurricane. There was vast flooding outside and inside. Now the island could get up to 25 inches of rain. That's in addition to potential storm surge of up to 12 feet and the threat of landslides.

CNN's Havana bureau chief Patrick Oppmann is in Santiago de Cuba. Patrick, I want to warn people that communications are tough because you're in the middle of a hurricane. But it's worth it because of the view you have and the experiences you're having. Tell us what you're seeing and feeling right now.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah, technical issues may be my new nicknames today. But we continue to feel hurricane-force winds and the amazing thing about that is it's been going on now for about 12 hours -- all night long.

The building, which I think is a cement-walled building, where we've been sleeping in has been getting rocked by these winds. We've been hearing roofs being torn off. We've been hearing people yelling in the night. Trees going down.

And you get a break and then all of a sudden, the winds come back through again. Pounding rain, John, and that is really dangerous in the mountainous region like where we are. And so it just continues to just beat us up.

And you wonder about the people around us in the city who do not have housing that is as sturdy as where we are -- how they are holding up. Hundreds of thousands of people have evacuated here -- have gone to higher ground.

But the storm -- it's slow-moving. It remains very, very powerful. It's going to be crossing Cuba all day today and it'll just be kicking the hell out of this country -- a country that does not have very strong infrastructure. A country that is already, you know, dealing with major economic problems. We've been in blackouts pretty much the entire time since we've been here. And nobody has power anywhere near us at this point.

So a very tough situation and it will continue throughout the day today. And perhaps later we'll get a sense of the damage that's been done, but at this point it's just not safe to go outside. There is a curfew. You're not supposed to go outside, and that's probably wise because you can still get a wind gust. It can still pick up a piece of roof and that just becomes shrapnel.

So we are hunkering down and that is what people continue to do here just to stay safe.

BERMAN: We can hear the wind. And you're inside and I can see the wind pushing against your face, Patrick. That's how powerful this storm is. I know that big cement building you're in is a godsend unlike in Jamaica where they had trouble --

OPPMANN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- moving people into shelters. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people in Cuba did respond to authorities and moved to safer ground?

OPPMANN: Yes. When authorities tell you to do something here, you know, it's not really an option. And so -- particularly, we saw some islands off the coast where people live. They were evacuating. There were a couple of holdouts there. I hope those people left considering what they must have gone through.

But by and large, the government comes. They come with buses, and they tell people to leave, and people leave. You know, they know how bad a hurricane is. I'm not sure many people have ever went through a hurricane as bad as this one though.

BERMAN: No. This one just slicing through the island where you are right now.

Patrick Oppmann, to you and your team, in shelter right now, stay safe. When you can, go get a look around. We appreciate all this reporting you are doing. Thank you -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

Happening today, the Federal Reserve will make its decision on interest rates. The big question is will the Fed cut rates for the second time this year? This time there is a complicating factor in their decision. The shutdown has sidelined the release of critical economic data used by the central bank to make monetary policies.

CNN's Matt Egan is in Washington for us this morning. There are a lot of other factors that the Fed can look at to try to make this decision. You have already told us about the fact that inflation is ticking up -- going in the wrong direction.

What is the market expecting this morning?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well Sara, look, there is some Fed meetings where there's a lot of suspense over what's going to happen with interest rates. Today is not one of those meetings. It's basically a forgone conclusion that the Fed is going to cut rates by a quarter point. The market is pricing in a nearly-100 percent chance of a quarter-point cut today.

And yet, this is an unusual meeting because for the first time since the Fed's rate-setting committee was established back in the 1930s, the Fed is making a decision on interest rates without the monthly jobs report. And that's significant because the jobs report is kind of like the Fed's north star when they're trying to decide whether or not to bump up or lower interest rates. But because of the government shutdown we still have not gotten that September jobs report -- and by the way, it's almost November.

And it's not just the jobs report that's been delayed by the government shutdown; it's the weekly jobless claims. Job openings, major inflation reports, and numbers on consumer spending and durable goods.

In many ways, the Fed is basically -- it's operating mostly in the dark when it comes to official government economic data. I say mostly because there are some alternative private data that's available, but that's really no substitute for the official numbers.

[07:35:00]

This would be like trying to navigate your living room during the middle of a power outage without a flashlight. It probably will be OK, although in my house I would also probably trip over a Lego.

But you can see why this is complicated for the Federal Reserve and yet every economist I talk to says that yes, an interest rate cut is imminent. And it's not because the Fed thinks that inflation has been defeated. It hasn't been, right? We're at three percent inflation, going in the wrong direction in part because of the president's tariffs.

The Fed is cutting interest rates because it's concerned about the health of the job market, and those concerns are only going to be amplified both by those mass layoffs that were announced just yesterday by Amazon.

And so that's why we are expecting a quarter-point cut today. This would lower the Fed rate to a range of between 3.75 percent and four percent. Now that's not low. It was lower during the president's first term. It was lower during COVID. But this is notable because it would be a three-year low for the Fed rate.

So for consumers, rates are finally moving in the right direction. This is going to help people who have credit card debt and home equity lines of credit.

And for Wall Street, Sara, the big focus is going to be what does Fed chair Jerome Powell say about interest rate cuts going forward.

SIDNER: All questions that will be answered. We will wait and see what these numbers are.

Thank you so much, Matt Egan. You're so far away. Come back. We will bring Legos you can trip over. You're welcome.

EGAN: I'll be back soon. Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: All right -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more about the government shutdown. It is entering its fifth week with no signs this is going anywhere other than stuck, leading to a very real question of just how bad does this need to get. Where are the pressure points to make anything change? There are some new ones coming in the days ahead that you now need to keep an eye on, which leads us back to the calendar.

Starting on October 31 -- this Friday -- that's when military paychecks are at risk again. This will be the first time in history all servicemembers miss their paycheck during a shutdown. The Trump administration has pushed off this pain once already, reallocating other funds. Then there's an anonymous $130 million gift from a donor that helped a bit more. This means that it could actually push this pain off to November 15 for military members. But still, it's coming.

And then take you back to November 1. Two key pressure points that are about to flare up in a big way on the same day. Obamacare premiums are set to rise sharply as open enrollment begins, and SNAP food assistance for 42 million Americans could basically evaporate. A new Kaiser Family Foundation report now says that premiums for Obamacare coverage could jump on average 26 percent next year if nothing changes. So pressure mounting to come.

And then take you just ahead to Election Day. Why Election Day? That becomes key as there are races in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City. Focus on Virginia especially. It's most likely to feel effects of the shutdown due to the size of the federal workforce there. The outcome of these races could equal political leverage for Republicans or Democrats, depending on which way the votes go. Read that as more added pressure.

And then the very next day on November 5, this shutdown becomes the longest shutdown in U.S. history, passing the record set in 2018 and 2019. The embarrassment factor alone should become a motivator after this. Should, I guess, is the operative word.

Move ahead to November 21. This marks the day this shutdown even outlasts the short-term funding bill and date that House Republicans had passed, meaning when Republicans say just passed the bill that the House did, they cannot say it anymore come this date because the House and Senate will need to return to Washington to land on a new short- term funding extension date. When they would pass -- when the bill -- when the funding would last until, even though the last one clearly never became reality.

Finally, keep your eye on Thanksgiving. That is when all of this pressure may come to a head. For one, holiday deadlines we know are motivators for lawmakers to get anything done. And two, air travel has already been impacted by the shutdown. Throw in a major travel holiday and you have a potential for a nightmare scenario at the airports.

Add all of this calendar together come Thanksgiving -- paychecks, food stamps, health care -- it could be tough to find things to be thankful for at the Thanksgiving dinner table, meaning pressure is mounting -- John.

BERMAN: You can be thankful for friends and family. They last even through the shutdown.

New this morning, after days of new speculation prompted by claims by his allies that President Trump could be allowed to seek a third term, this morning he seemed to rule it out.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have the best numbers for any president in many years -- any president. And I would say that if you read it, it's pretty clear I'm not allowed to run. It's too bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: "If you read it, it's pretty clear I'm not allowed to run. It's too bad."

With us, Neil Chatterjee, Republican strategist, and Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona.

So case closed, Maria. All the speculation over. Does this allay all your concerns?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Oh, absolutely, it does, John. Ha! Just kidding.

Look, just because Trump said it -- you know, he's such a trustworthy guy -- I don't think we can believe it. I think we all need to be on call, on alert because there's been many things in the past that he has said he wasn't going to do, and he has done.

He said that he -- no one believed that he would send the military into cities. He said he's going to do that. No one believed that he would try to overturn a fair and free election by getting his supporters to attack the Capitol, and it happened.

So I think we all need to be on alert. Yes, obviously, the Constitution is very clear that he cannot run for a third term, but we're talking about a guy who does not give a crap about the rule of law. He has completely eviscerated norms before. He has ignored judicial things that the judges have said he needs to do.

So I would not be so quick to rule it out. Democrats are going to continue to be on alert and the American people should as well.

BERMAN: I will say this is as far as he's gone here. This is by far the furthest he's gone now to say that he doesn't think he can do it. He said it's pretty clear. I appreciate what you're saying Maria, but he has gone further than he has before here.

Neil, I want to take a slightly different take on this. David Urban was here yesterday, and he was speaking on TV the night before on this. And he said no, you know, Donald Trump's not going to seek a third term. But what people are missing here is the impact he's going to have on the election even as he is not seeking at third term. We've never seen anything like this kind of impact.

Can you imagine being a Republican running in the presidential primary in 2027 and 2028 where then-President Trump -- lame duck President Trump will be live tweeting your events and your rallies? You know, poking each of the candidates constantly all the time.

What's that going to feel like for the other Republicans running in his shadow?

NEIL CHATTERJEE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION (FERC): I mean, we don't have to project to 2027 and 2028. We see it right now in primaries, right? You've got primaries in governor's races around the country and House races and Senate races, and everyone is clamoring for President Trump's endorsement, and he's pretty selective in allotting those endorsements out. And I think that will be the case heading into 2027 and 2028. People are going to seek that coveted endorsement.

I thought it was notable that the president singled out two individuals, Vice President J.D. Vance, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio as potential successors. That's almost like the first step in this process. I think he's definitely going to have an impact on the race.

And that's why I think, like, he is having fun kind of trolling people about the possibility of running for a third term. He doesn't have to and that's why I do take him at his word that he recognizes he can't run for a third term because we've got a great bench. Either Vice President Vance or Secretary of State Rubio or a number of other qualified Republicans are in the wings waiting to take on the mantle from the president.

And so I think, you know, Republicans remain confident, and President Trump is definitely going to have a hand in anointing his successor.

BERMAN: Secretary Rubio and Vice President Vance -- I'm sure they appreciate being floated at the same time. It's a little bit like Thunderdome, right? Two will enter and one will leave.

I want to ask both of you about layoffs because just as I was coming out on the set here, I was reading -- I think it was The Wall Street Journal announced that Paramount announced 2,000 layoffs. There are issues there structurally to do with the entertainment industry. But this follows Amazon saying 14,000 layoffs that could reach 30,000. Yesterday, UPS.

There's a lot of layoffs being announced right now, Maria, and I wonder what it says to you about the economy and when this will become a salient political issue.

CARDONA: I think it already is a salient political issue, John, in terms of the economy writ large. And we're seeing that Donald Trump's numbers on the -- on the economy are tanking. They are as low as they have ever been.

And what I think this means politically for Republicans is that Democrats get a chance to say that Donald Trump and Republicans have betrayed the American people on the one issue that they trusted him on, and that is the economy.

Donald Trump and Republicans promised to bring down the cost of groceries, gas, and rent. Bring down inflation. Clearly, they talked about increasing job numbers. And everything that we have seen and every single piece of policy that they have put out there has done completely the opposite.

[07:45:05]

Costs are up. Groceries are up. Mortgages are up. Rent is up. Layoffs are coming as you just noted, John.

And so I think on the one huge salient issue on the economy, politically, this is a bad look for the Republicans --

BERMAN: Let me --

CARDONA: -- and that's why I think Democrats are going to do well in the coming elections and especially going into the midterms next year.

BERMAN: Let me get Neil's take on this quickly. I will say the unemployment numbers -- the unemployment rate hasn't really gone up that much. Of course, we don't have an unemployment rate because of the shutdown. But Neil, go ahead.

CHATTERJEE: Yeah. Look, that's totally unfair. Look, these are white- collar jobs. These layoffs, while unfortunate, are resulting from artificial intelligence. Let's not hide the ball here. This is all about AI.

And there's a real limiting factor to AI -- and this is my area of expertise -- is we need energy. In order to win the AI race we need all kinds of energy, whether it's wind and solar or geothermal, or natural gas and nuclear. There are going to be jobs created in the energy space to meet the surge and demand that we've driven by the AI boom.

AI is going to give and it's going to take. There will be white-collar layoffs, no question. Jobs replaced by AI. But other jobs will be created as a result. I think this is a direct correlation that we just need to see how this is going to play out.

BERMAN: All right, we'll be watching.

Neil Chatterjee, Maria Cardona, great to see both of you -- thanks -- Sara. CARDONA: Thank you.

SIDNER: All right. New this morning a terrifying plot to possibly attack multiple synagogues in Alabama and other states thwarted. Law enforcement arrested a 33-year-old suspect before he could carry out the alleged plot after the FBI and other agencies learned of credible threats. When they searched the suspect's home, they say they found weapons, body armor, and a suitcase full of ammunition. You can see some pictures of what they found there.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is here with us this morning. What are you learning about this -- this plot and this suspect as well?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So I wish I had a little bit more details of what was being planned and also what tip led FBI to this suspect. But you know what? Thank God they did because you could see that video. There was so much --

SIDNER: Yeah.

GINGRAS: -- allegedly that this person had inside their home when officials carried out that search warrant of Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker, 33 years old, that Sara mentioned. He is now behind bars on local charges, but authorities say listen, this is still a federal investigation, and they fully expect federal charges to come down the road.

Again, unclear what sort of threats were being made, but what we're told by authorities at this point this morning is that there were threats against several synagogues in Alabama, also in neighboring states, and also against public officials.

Apparently, there was also plans for this suspect, Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker, to not get arrested alive. Not to be taken alive. So there was a very carefully thought out plan that officials somehow uncovered with this particular case. And like I said, he's being held now on federal charges.

Of course, though, Sara, we know that there is just a growing number -- a seismic increase, really, of attacks or planned attacks against -- antisemitic incidents I should say. Of course, we know that they've just been rising. It's the fourth-straight year that they have gone up. And it's now we've reached a point where it's the most antisemitic incidents that the ADL has recorded to date since they started recording. So this just adds another one to the list.

SIDNER: It certainly does.

GINGRAS: Scary incident. Thank God officials were on --

SIDNER: But thwarted --

GINGRAS: Yes.

SIDNER: -- this time.

Brynn, thank you --

GINGRAS: Yeah, all right.

SIDNER: -- for your reporting.

All right, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Four boats in the Eastern Pacific Ocean attacked in new U.S. strikes. Fourteen killed. The deadliest wave of attacks -- the attacks yet at sea as the administration continues its campaign against alleged drug traffickers and facing big questions. Is this use of military force legal and where does it stop?

And homes crashing into the ocean. New details about why so many homes fell into the water off the coast of North Carolina.

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[07:53:10]

SIDNER: New this morning, the Israeli military says it will resume the fragile ceasefire with Hamas after causing the deadliest day in Gaza since the U.S.-brokered truce began. Gaza hospital officials say at least 104 people, including dozens of children, were killed in Israeli strikes overnight. Both Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.

CNN's Nada Bashir is joining me now. What can you tell us about this sort of fragile ceasefire and where we go from here?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well look, Sara, this has certainly raised a huge amount of concern and, of course, this has come as a troubling development for those in Gaza. We've seen that devastating round of airstrikes on Tuesday night.

At least 104 people killed in Gaza, according to hospital officials, and that number is expected to rise. Among the dead, according to hospital officials, are dozens of children and they have warned that figure could continue to rise as Gaza's civil defense continues to recover bodies from beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings.

This has marked the deadliest day in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect. And we heard from the Israeli prime minister's office instructing the Israeli military to target these particular ones in Gaza forcefully and powerfully. We've from the IDF in updates saying that they targeted some 30 terrorist operatives belonging to Hamas, according to the IDF. But this has had a significant and tragic civilian impact as we have seen in these devastating videos coming out of Gaza.

And, of course, this has come in response to what the Israeli government has said is violations on the part of Hamas to the ceasefire agreement -- namely, they say, killing an IDF soldier and also failing to return the bodies of some 13 hostages -- deceased hostages still believe to be in the Gaza Strip. They say that they had returned remains that were not belonging to those hostages. And in addition, they have accused Hamas of staging the retrieval of a hostage body.

[07:55:10]

Now we have heard from the U.S. President Donald Trump saying that this will not jeopardize the ceasefire agreement. The IDF has said that it has resumed the ceasefire following that round of strikes. But this has certainly underscored the fragility of this deal and, of course, the concerns over the next few days and weeks of what could take place -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Nada Bashir. Thank you so much for that reporting this morning. I appreciate it -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: There is also new CNN reporting in just this morning as President Trump says the U.S. is considering direct strikes on Venezuela. We're learning about covert actions taken during his first term against the Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro.

Sources are now telling CNN in the last year of Trump's first presidency the CIA carried out a clandestine cyberattack against the Venezuelan government, disabling the computer network used by Maduro's intelligence service. The sources say that attack was successful but also say it was considered a throwaway, if you will. Simply an effort by the CIA to satisfy President Trump's desire to do something against Venezuela while avoiding riskier, more direct conflict.

But CNN is also learning that President Trump, even then, wanted military options to remove Maduro, according to a former White House official. And sources say he grew increasingly frustrated when that didn't happen.

This time around, President Trump is keeping -- well, isn't keeping it a secret anymore. One former senior administration official summed up the president's thinking this way, as if he was saying, "I told these guys I wanted the military option in 2018 and 2019. They didn't give me one. I want a real one now."

CNN national security analyst Carrie Cordero is here with much more on this.

Fascinating reporting coming from Katie Bo Lillis and team. What do you think of this from the first term?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, one of the things that I take away from it is the focus that they were using, according to this report, cyberattacks, cyber activities, which really is a means, not an end. So the fact that it wasn't ultimately satisfying to whatever were President Trump's objectives in his first term -- and we're still learning a lot about --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

CORDERO: -- what potentially his interest is -- what the United States government's assessment is that the threat to the U.S. is posed by Venezuela such that it would justify either years ago cyber activity or now more recently we're seeing actual military activity against these drug boats in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

BOLDUAN: And just the shear U.S. military firepower that they've moved toward -- moved to doing this. The military experts telling me, like, it is like taking -- using something you take on an elephant to attack a mouse. It's just like this shear power that they've put on it.

But they -- we have more strikes that just were publicly announced yesterday. Three more strikes yesterday, 14 people killed. One person survived. In all, there have been 14 publicly disclosed attacks on these alleged drug boats by the administration.

The way the defense secretary has talked -- talks about it, Carrie, is this. He says, "These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than al Qaeda and they will be treated the same."

What do you think of that in terms of just the legal assessment on the legality of this?

CORDERO: Yeah. This is a fundamental shift in U.S. policy towards drug cartels. This administration is obviously taking a national security and military strategy towards addressing the cartels. But what they haven't done from a legal matter is they haven't actually articulated how they got from the activity that the drug cartels are engaging in to an actual armed conflict, which is a term of art under law to an armed conflict with the United States.

And you need to be able to justify a government -- the United States government, under our laws, needs to be able to justify why it's an armed conflict and why the United States is in that armed conflict with these drug cartels, which is a little different than simply asserting yes, a lot of Americans have been killed by drug trafficking and illicit drugs.

And so when they provided their notice to Congress --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

CORDERO: So the administration has to notify Congress. When they provided their notice, they didn't actually make those connections, and that's what a lot of members of Congress have interest for and obviously, the broader legal and public.

SIDNER: Yeah. And it's not ending, and these questions not only remain but they're only getting bigger.

Thank you so much, Carrie. It's good to see you.

CORDERO: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right. New video out of Buxton, North Carolina. The ocean eating homes there. This was one of five houses to collapse in the surf in a single day. Officials say at least 12 houses have been lose in the last 30 days due to hurricane-generated tides. These are all in areas right next to the water obviously. We've seen so many pictures like this.

All right. Happening now, monkey on the lam. Officials in Mississippi are looking for at least one monkey after a truck carrying several medical research monkeys overturned outside Jackson.