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Yosemite & Other U.S. Parks Left to the Wild with Lack of Staff; Airlines Urge Congress to End Shutdown; Food Banks Brace for 42M Americans to Lose SNAP Benefits; Melissa Devastates Jamaica After Hitting as Category 5 Storm; Current & Former Prosecutors Sound Alarm After DOJ Removes Mentions of Trump, Jan 6 from Court Records; V.A. Announces More Employees Furloughed Due to Shutdown; Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) Discusses About Furloughs on V.A.. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 30, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

AVA LEWIS, YOSEMITE VOLUNTEER: ... and, you know, people going off trail and litter and all those things really add up when you don't have full staffing in the park.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Right.

LEWIS: So, you know, folks like me will go around and - and we fill in the gaps where we can but it's -- it's not nearly enough.

WEIR: That's not sustainable long-term.

LEWIS: No, it's not. Yes.

WEIR: Yes.

LEWIS: And a lot of us, you know, we're just passing through or we're visiting.

WEIR: Yes.

LEWIS: People are coming for their weekend vacation or something, so we need -- we need the people that are here, boots on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEIR (voice over): Bill Weir, CNN, Yosemite Valley, California.

(End VT)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We begin this hour with breaking news into CNN. The aviation industry now urgently calling for an agreement in the second-longest government shutdown in history.

KEILAR: Airline leaders met with the Vice President at the White House this afternoon, just days after air traffic controllers missed their first full paycheck.

CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean has been following all of the impacts.

Pete, the only other shutdown longer than this one lasted 35 days during President Trump's first term. That one ended after pressure actually from air traffic controllers.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: And everyone's looking to air traffic controllers to potentially end this shutdown again. And notably, they've not been getting paid for thirty days. As you mentioned, they got that zero-dollar paycheck -- spelled out in letters, zero dollars -- on their pay stub that they got on Tuesday.

It's important to reset here, though. I mean, we've had 300 staffing shortages at air traffic control facilities across the country since the shutdown began, which is really notable. That's four times larger than the same period a year ago. But what is news now is that the rhetoric has really ratcheted it up now from the airline industry, and we just heard from the heads of major airlines, including United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, also backed by American Airlines CEO Robert Isom.

And I also want to read you this statement from Delta Airlines, which is new today, in which Delta essentially calls for Congress to immediately pass a clean continuing resolution -- a clean CR to reopen the government and to get these air traffic controllers paid. The statement goes on to say missed paychecks only increase the stress on these essential workers, many of whom are already working mandatory overtime to keep our skies safe and secure.

Many airline -- many traffic controllers working mandatory six-day weeks of 10-hour shifts because there is a huge shortage of air traffic controllers nationwide, about 1,800 short. I want you to listen now to United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, who said it's incumbent upon Congress to pass a clean CR, not some yearlong funding bill, to make sure that air traffic controllers are paid and they can siphon off the stress of these delays, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT KIRBY, UNITED AIRLINES CEO: It has been thirty days. I also think it is time to pass a clean CR. Use that as the opportunity to get into a room behind closed doors and negotiate hard on the real and substantive issues that the American people want our politicians on both sides of the aisle to solve. But let's get a clean CR and get that negotiation done behind closed doors without the pressure, and without putting the American workers and the American economy at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: This was just after a roundtable with airline CEOs and labor unions who were in a room in the White House with Vice President J.D. Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who noted that it would be a disaster if this shutdown continues into the Thanksgiving travel rush, of which we are only about twenty-eight days away.

It's important to note that today has been particularly tough when it comes to delays in the U.S. airspace system. We have seen staffing shortages from Orlando to the Washington Center facility, responsible for 10s of thousands of miles of airspace in the D.C. region. Also, there is an FAA-imposed delay to maintain safety for flights going into and out of Reagan National Airport, also flights into DFW, a huge hub for American Airlines.

Four thousand delays so far today, and we're only partway through the day. It was already going to be a tough day because the weather has been bad -- unusually bad on the East Coast. Usually, October is a low month for airline travel, also a relatively easy month for weather. So, we'll see as this develops, and we'll see if there is a peak in airline or in air traffic controllers calling out as we go into this weekend. Some people treating it like a three-day weekend because it is Halloween.

SANCHEZ: No doubt, it's going to have a compounding effect as the days and -- and weeks go on without getting a paycheck for those important folks working in air traffic control. Pete Muntean, thank you so much for the update.

MUNTEAN: (INAUDIBLE) ...

SANCHEZ: We're also monitoring a potential lifeline for millions of Americans worried about their government food assistance. A federal judge in Boston now says she could intervene to make the Trump administration utilize emergency funds, a contingency fund to keep SNAP and other programs operating. As it stands right now, about forty-two million Americans will begin to lose SNAP benefits on Saturday.

KEILAR: Tens of thousands of federal employees have been fired or furloughed since the shutdown started. One food bank in Houston put on an event specifically to help the thousands of government employees who are impacted there, and some can't believe the circumstances that they're now in.

[15:05:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINIQUE ANDERSON, FORMER FDA EMPLOYEE: When I first started working with the FDA, I really thought that that was the best career move. Honestly, this has been devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All this is putting a lot of stress on food banks across the country. We're joined now by the president of the North Texas Food Bank, Trisha Cunningham.

Trisha, thank you so much for being with us and for the work that you and all of the employees there are doing. How are you preparing? What kind of traffic are you already seeing?

TRISHA CUNNINGHAM, PRESIDENT, NORTH TEXAS FOOD BANK: Well, we know that even taking care of those impacted federal workers puts an additional strain on an already strained system. Food banks were never designed or equipped to be able to take care of the millions of -- of Americans who are on SNAP benefits. If you just look at our twelve counties alone, we have 460,000 individuals, which is an $81 million per month impact to their paychecks, and half of those, sadly, are children.

So, behind every one of those numbers is a person, is a family, is someone that's having to pay rent. And we know that those SNAP recipients, in particular, they don't have savings. They cannot float through this. And so, that's where food banks like the North Texas Food Bank and all those across the country are preparing to see this surge of needs.

SANCHEZ: Yes. It's so important to keep that in mind as we look at these numbers, which in themselves are staggering. I wonder, Trisha, if you have an estimate of how many additional people might come to you seeking resources.

CUNNINGHAM: Well, we know it's been an extremely difficult time. We're serving needs already that are higher than they were during the pandemic, and you just don't see the long lines like you did then. But as you just saw on the Houston Food Bank, you know, we're seeing those lines likely to come up again, and people are really desperate to know where they can get access to this additional food.

If you just look at the numbers overall, our normal ability to be able to serve, we probably have about 744,000 in our twelve counties. We're looking at an additional 460,000, so that's like a sixty percent increase likely overnight for those that don't get the benefits. And no food bank has the resources to be able to -- to meet that deficit that each of these families is going to be feeling without having those SNAP benefits.

KEILAR: Yes, that is significant.

And today, New York's Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency there and is dedicating state funds to try to minimize the damage. Are you receiving additional support from the Texas state government, or do you anticipate anything like that kicking in for you?

CUNNINGHAM: I think one of the challenges we've seen is that the states have been told that they will not receive any reimbursement from the federal government if they decide to do their own emergency funding. So, that certainly creates a barrier in many states of being able to have access. We did put in a request to the governor to be able to act to put in place some additional funds for Texas food banks to be able to purchase food from local food producers, which would also help our farm economy here in Texas as well, to be able to access more food and resources to be able to -- to meet this surge.

So, I've spoken with elected officials on both sides of the aisle. They don't want the people in our communities to go hungry during this time, and so they've all been working together to try to see what they can do to encourage more resources to be given to food banks.

SANCHEZ: And generally, when you're having those conversations, and even now as -- as you're live on CNN, I -- I wonder what your message is to lawmakers who are in the middle of this impasse.

CUNNINGHAM: Well, it's very much what you heard Scott Kirby. We need a resolution. We need our elected officials to understand that people, children, are being impacted right now by the lack of funding for some of these programs, and there's not a safety net for the government to be able to -- to meet those needs in the interim. So, we really do need those benefits. We need those air traffic controllers back to work. We need those SNAP benefits funded in order to make sure that we can continue to not only meet the current needs but also these needs that are being created through the government shutdown.

You know, one thing I can tell you, though, about the food bank network is we're very resilient, and we have a lot of people that want to be able to support us, and we're going to take those resources and we're going to do everything we can. And we proved it during COVID, if we have access to the resources and the people, we can come to the table and make sure that people don't go hungry. That's our mission.

KEILAR: Yes. I think a lot of people are watching this kind of coverage and thinking about how they're going to pitch in, so we're certainly hoping that that is going to go in your direction.

Trisha Cunningham, thank you so much.

And we do have some breaking news. Rescue efforts underway across the Caribbean after Hurricane Melissa tore through the region as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in more than one hundred fifty years.

[15:10:07]

Torrential downpours, strong winds unleashing widespread destruction along the storm's path.

SANCHEZ: At least 30 people are known to have died, though the full toll the storm may take days, even weeks, to be determined. The island of Jamaica took the heaviest battering, with Melissa making landfall there as a powerful Category 5 storm. That's where we find CNN's Derek Van Dam. He joins us on the phone from Black River, Jamaica, not far from where the storm made landfall.

Derek, what are you seeing where you are?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Boris, this is hell on earth. That's using one survivor's description of what is unfolding across this part of western Jamaica. We have now finally made it into some of the hardest-hit regions of Black River, and it's completely devastated. It is quickly becoming a race against time. This is truly a developing crisis. If we don't get significant aid into this area, there will be a humanitarian disaster that develops, and we need to get access and aid and crucial -- critical infrastructure here desperately. It is extremely hot here.

Obviously, there's no power, no -- very little communication. We're working off of a -- a Starlink as we speak, but we're one of the very few who has access to that around this area. And we are, just to set the scene, at the mouth of the Black River, which exits into the Caribbean Ocean. I can see the turbulent seas behind me. And there are -- this has almost become an ad hoc meeting point for family and friends to come and check on their loved ones because the bridge that goes across the Black River into the town of Black River, where the largest population resides who rode out the fury of Hurricane Melissa is -- is located.

So, this ad hoc meeting place because no one can communicate with the people who were the most badly impacted by this storm, so they've come here to try and desperately find people. I -- I've seen reunions happen right in front of my face -- tears, people crying, hugging, smiling, telling stories. We've witnessed people walking with suitcases on top of their heads, taking motorbikes, trying to exit the region, but the roads are just completely decimated and littered with debris, feet of sand, a mixture of brackish water.

We have had helicopters -- we had a helicopter fly over; I don't know whether or not that was the Jamaican Defense Forces -- but it definitely had that look to it. It was racing very expeditiously as if it was trying to get to the Black River region as fast (INAUDIBLE) and just kind of let you hear what we are witnessing. I see police officers right now. I can hear the sirens. I'm seeing some heavy construction equipment moving into the area, but it is complete gridlock and -- and really chaotic down here, because not only of the amount of people but really the desperation that is only going to mount as the hours pass, because people will need water, they will need food, they will need medical assistance.

There's no telling what's beyond this bridge because we can't drive over it. We're going to try and walk over it. It seems as if people from the Black River are doing that to evacuate from the region, but that is going to be challenging in itself. I see Jamaican police officers here directly in front of me, that's -- that's a good sign.

But Boris and Brianna, I just cannot reiterate the unfolding humanitarian crisis, especially for this part of Jamaica. And if we don't get aid here, it's going to be a disaster.

KEILAR: And Derek, talk about the landscape. I mean, looking at some of those trees, it -- it almost looks like what I've seen after a tornado, just the way they've been broken off. There's no leaves. I -- I imagine this is a place that's normally pretty lush, and it's been completely denuded of all leaves in -- in these -- in these trees. What kind of force ...

VAN DAM: Brianna ...

KEILAR: ... do you have to go through to do that?

[15:15:00]

VAN DAM: Brianna, on any given day, this place is absolute paradise, but now it is hell on earth. The storm surge, which authorities said in Black River reached 16 at their command center, has wiped out, you know, at least a hundred yards of real estate property here right along the coastline, and that water sucked back into the ocean and brought the debris with it, which is stuck right along the coast. You're seeing pictures of it, I'm sure. It's -- it's absolutely devastating.

KEILAR: It's terrible. Derek, thank you so much. We know that you're just getting into the area. You're on the phone with us -- it speaks to some of the connectivity issues, obviously, that have come after the storm, of course. And we know you'll continue to keep us updated. Stay safe and stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:15]

KEILAR: Just in, a group of former and current career prosecutors are now sounding an alarm after the Justice Department removed mentions of President Trump in the January 6th attack on the Capitol from a recent court record.

SANCHEZ: At the crux of this case is a man who was charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot but was pardoned by President Trump before his trial started. Prosecutors say the changes just made to a new court filing about him are an alarming whitewashing of history. CNN's Evan Perez is closely following this.

So, Evan, what are you learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This is far from normal, right? We've never -- we don't usually see this where prosecutors put in a sentencing memo for a regular crime and then they pull it and then substitute one because they've removed all references to the President of the United States. And so, that's what's happened here.

Taylor Taranto, right now there is a sentencing hearing going on at the federal court in Washington. He is -- he has been found guilty of gun crimes, making threats. He was alleged to have live stream saying that he was going to attack federal facilities. He was driving in the neighborhood of President Barack Obama, former President Barack Obama. And so, that's when he was arrested. He was found with guns and -- and rounds of ammunition.

And what happened in the last few days is that prosecutors put in a sentencing memo, which is normal, asking for 27 months. Remember, he was pardoned previously for his presence in January 6th. He had served 23 months in -- in prison, in -- in jail, but he had never actually gone to trial because President Trump pardoned him.

And so, somewhere in the last few days, prosecutors removed any reference to January 6th and any reference to President Trump because in the original sentencing memo it said that President Trump had posted on social media a -- a story that essentially -- that -- that showed the address of President Obama's neighborhood. And -- and so, they have since -- we -- they had put -- put a new sentencing -- sentencing memo in there that removes all references to January 6th and to President Trump.

So, we don't know what the judge will do. That hearing is ongoing right now. But it is unusual to -- to do this, and it's clear that it is part of an effort by the administration to make sure that January 6th is being told in a totally different manner than the way we know it happened.

SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, thank you so much for that reporting.

PEREZ: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, millions of Americans are at risk of losing SNAP food benefits as the shutdown will soon enter its second month. The latest on that crisis and whether there is a way to avoid it next.

And by the way, if you haven't heard, you can now stream CNN whenever you want in United States right in the CNN app. For more on the new experience, go to cnn.com/watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:35]

KEILAR: New today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announcing that nearly 2,000 more employees are being furloughed due to the government shutdown. According to the V.A., roughly 37,000 employees are now furloughed or working without pay. That is almost 8 percent of the V.A.'s total workforce. With us now to talk about this is Republican Congressman Warren Davidson of Ohio. He was also an Army Ranger.

Thank you so much for being with us, Congressman.

As I mentioned, and I want to start on this -- you -- you're a veteran and we're looking at these V.A. furloughs, more of them. We should note that medical centers are still operational. Disability benefits, military pensions are still going out. But there are really important benefits like the agency that helps vets with service-connected disabilities obtain employee -- employment, that's not operational. There's regional V.A. benefit offices that are closed. So, briefings for service members transitioning out of the military, which -- I mean, you're aware that's such a vulnerable time. That's not happening. What's your reaction to these additional furloughs?

REP. WARREN DAVIDSON (R-OH): I mean, the whole thing is very disappointing. I mean, the House funded this back in September. So, we've -- we've waited a lot of time. And let's remember, you know, we keep putting it on the floor in the Senate. And Democrats keep voting not to keep things running. So, for them, they've said, yes, we know they're suffering. But what we want is too important. So, they've got one and a half trillion dollars worth of spending and policy changes that they want. They put it in writing, and they haven't moved.

So, I think a lot of people are disappointed, including a lot of the federal government employee unions. And, you know, the -- the CR is status quo funding. So, we had appropriations going -- going along. I talked with Chairman Cole, the Chairman of Appropriations. He felt like there was some bipartisan consensus in appropriations. But according to Democrat leadership, not enough. And so, they decided that unless they could get what they wanted in this kind of hostage taking way, they were going to shut the government down.

And Republicans, of course, we've got things that we want to. We kind of front ran the negotiation and said, well, let's draw a truce and just pause the negotiations and do a CR so that we don't run out of time and bad things like this don't happen. So, I hope that Democrats in the Senate will come together and get the government open.

SANCHEZ: The SNAP benefits that millions and millions -- 10s of millions of Americans rely on are about to go poof, right?

[15:30:07]

And a federal judge in Boston just ...