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Millions of Americans Set to Lose Food Stamp Benefits Tomorrow; Teacher Shot By Student Testifies Against School Administrator; More than 1,000 Items Stolen from California Museum in Early Morning Heist; Rescue Group Founder Helps Save Neglected and Abused Animals. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired October 31, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Climbing on the rafters. This was at a spirit Halloween in Plano, Texas. This was a pet monkey, because in Plano, apparently people bring their pet monkeys to Halloween stores.

It broke loose when it got scared by an animatronic Halloween display, which to be fair, can be quite scary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that your monkey? You got a leash for it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: After half an hour, they were able to get the monkey down, enticing it with cookies. Police say there was never any harm to the public. The lesson here could be, don't take your monkey to a Halloween store, even in Plano.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the president telling Senate Republicans, it's time to go nuclear and break hundreds of years of precedent to unilaterally end the government shutdown. The demand coming just as millions of Americans are on the brink of losing crucial food assistance benefits.

Plus, here's a quote, "I thought I had died," the gut-wrenching testimony from a former Virginia teacher who was shot by her six-year- old student, which she says she saw moments before he pulled the trigger.

And as promised -- it was a deep tease -- Flava Flav is in the house to talk about how he is gearing up for the Winter Olympics as the new sponsor and hype man for the U.S. Olympic bobsled and skeleton team.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight as tens of millions are on the edge of a cliff set to lose SNAP benefits. President Trump is demanding that Republicans make the unprecedented move of going nuclear, as he put it, and getting rid of the Senate filibuster to end the shutdown. The president posting online that he wants Republicans to use the Trump card and forgo the long-standing Senate rule to pass funding and reopen the government.

The filibuster requires 60 votes to pass legislation. Getting rid of it would mean Republicans could pass the bill with a simple majority, but we know it won't happen anytime soon because the Senate has left town for the weekend. This, as funding is set to lapse for SNAP tomorrow, a program 42 million Americans rely on.

Many now face the choice of going hungry or not paying certain bills so they can afford food.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pressure, definitely, as a parent, because you never want to see your kids hungry. It's a lot. It's just like a piece of your livelihood getting taken away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It won't stretch. It doesn't. So we'll pull from other parts of our budget, and that means my kids will go without.

My daughter's birthday's coming up. You know, it means I'll compensate in other areas that I shouldn't have to compensate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It shouldn't be happening, and in past government shutdowns, it hasn't happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: She is correct. This would be historic. Joining us now is the director of FORCE SNAP at the nonprofit Food Research and Action Center, Gina Plata-Nino.

Thank you so much for being here. Can you give us a sense of who are the majority of people who are receiving SNAP benefits?

GINA PLATA-NINO, DIRECTOR, SNAP AT FOOD RESEARCH AND ACTION CENTER: The majority of people who are receiving SNAP benefits are children, right, followed by older adults and people with disabilities. Majority are working two to three jobs. They're just not making enough money because inflation, food prices, shelter prices are so incredibly high, and when you have to put 80 to 90 percent of your income on shelter, it leaves very little.

For context, most of these folks are making less than $1,100 a month, so it's incredibly difficult. It's our veterans, it's people with disabilities. Overall it's just struggle -- it's struggling, vulnerable Americans who rely on this benefit to be able to put food on the table.

SIDNER: The program is supposed to be supplemental, so in other words, add to the food budget of a family, not the sole source of food. Is that how it's being used, or there are a lot of families that literally rely on this for their sole source?

PLATA-NINO: It's supposed to be supplemental, as you said, but they relied on it as a whole source. When you look at everything costs a lot more, three times more than it did this time last year, with, like I said, with shelter being so expensive, other priorities, childcare, and other things, when your rent, everything is taking up the majority of your income, it leaves very little money when things don't go right. So for most families, this is it.

This is their whole source of income to be able to purchase food.

SIDNER: We just heard from one of the families. I spoke to her yesterday. She has two children.

She's a single parent.

[08:05:00]

She is working, but again, not making enough to be able to not be on SNAP at this point in time. But she said, look, I'm just going to have to like not pay other bills, and we're going to have to go without.

What are your concerns when you hear that from families? What does that mean to you?

PLATA-NINO: You know, this is an ongoing issue. You know, families will tap into credit cards if they have them, which will increase more credit card debt, which will make these companies even richer, which already got many of these companies got incredible permanent tax breaks during the summer, which dismantled the SNAP program. So these families, you know, we're also looking at whether families will pay the rent.

We keep talking about that because that's what we saw -- that's what we keep seeing when things get more difficult for families. When you live paycheck to paycheck, it leaves very little, very little room for any emergencies to come up.

So we're going to see people, even when they do receive their benefits later on this month, hopefully the damage will already be done because things are due usually for the most families at the beginning of the month.

SIDNER: What next? I mean, how is this going to -- how are families going to deal with this? Because it does not look like this is going to be fixed at least in the next several days.

PLATA-NINO: Well, I think it's, we didn't have to be here, right? FRAC, my organization and other organizations have been calling to the Trump administration to fix this since September 30th, before the shutdown began. They have contingency funds. They have reserve funds.

You know, they were able to pay other priorities. You know, it's difficult as to what next. It really is up to the administration. There's a lawsuit that was filed by 26 plus states. The judge is supposed to rule today. Even with that, they're arguing for the contingency funds, which we know are not enough.

The secretary of agriculture has research funding, which she has utilized in other instances, you know, just as a couple of weeks. So the best fix right now as to what's next, the Trump administration act forward, issue contingency and research funding, contact the states, tell them to process the files so that families' benefits are going to be delayed, that that ship has sailed, but that they will be fully there in time for families to be able to put food on the table.

SIDNER: Yes, what we're hearing now from the administration is he is asking actually Congress to go nuclear, so to speak, instead of him jumping in on this particular issue and passing a bill to reopen the government. We will see what happens. There could be a lot of time that families are waiting for these benefits.

Gina Plata-Nino, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time this morning -- John.

BERMAN: A former teacher shot by her six-year-old student takes the stand for emotional testimony about what she went through.

Breaking news just in from FBI Director Kash Patel. He posted online that plans for a violent Halloween attack have been thwarted.

Trying to get some information on this. We'll bring it to you when we do.

And how burglars were able to walk away with more than 1,000 historic items from a museum in an early morning heist. That's a lot of items.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: We have breaking news out of Michigan. FBI Director Kash Patel says the FBI has thwarted what he is calling plans for a violent terror attack over the Halloween weekend.

He did not provide any details other than to say multiple people have been arrested there. He did say there will be more details to come. Obviously, we're digging, trying to find out what we can. We'll bring it to you when we find anything out.

In the meantime, testimony resumes on Monday in the case of a Virginia teacher who was shot by a six-year-old student. Abby Zwerner says she thought she had died and was, quote, on the way to heaven after the student shot her in the hand and chest in 2023.

She's suing the school's former assistant principal for $40 million, claiming she ignored warnings that the young student had brought a gun to school that day.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here. You've been watching all the twists and turns in this trial, including this dramatic testimony.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was a pivotal moment, and the direction began to look at a chart that was in the classroom, and it was the protocol for children's behavior, what the teacher is to do. And so the plaintiff put the chart up, and what we saw was that tier three behavior, a child with a gun, you need to report it to an administrator immediately. We do know from prior testimony that the teacher who taught next to Abby said, look, I'm going to go and report it to the vice principal -- who is the defendant.

You stay in your classroom, you watch him. And then the question was, what do you remember right before you were shot? She paused a long time and then said, the student had a blank stare, but yet it wasn't a blank stare.

And then she didn't say anymore. And the attorney said, is that why you put your hand up? She said, yes.

And then she said this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY ZWERNER, TEACHER WHO WAS SHOT BY 6-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: I thought I was dying. I thought I had died. I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven, but then it all got black. And so I then thought I wasn't going there.

And then I, my next memory is I see two coworkers around me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:15:03]

CASAREZ: And then after that, the attorney tried to go farther, but she just started to have a glaze over her eyes. And someone told me it's like she's reliving it. And so it was very brief. It ended.

Now, on cross-examination, it was very aggressive because the focus was what you, Abby, could have done, what you, Abby, didn't do. Did you go up and ask the student himself, do you have a gun?

Did you remove the student from your classroom? Did you remove his backpack from your classroom? Did you yourself go down to the vice principal and report this?

So it'll be interesting to see how the jury reacts to legal terminology blaming the victim, right? But that's what they had to do to try to win this case.

BERMAN: How much more testimony do we have here, do we think?

CASAREZ: The defense will start their witnesses on Monday, and they seem to have a lot of experts that are flying in from out of state. So we'll see how far it goes next week --

BERMAN: All right. CASAREZ: -- but it'll be a shorter trial versus a longer trial.

BERMAN: Got it. But I know you're watching it very closely. And of course, Jean, everyone can watch it closely if they want to.

You can stream this trial and you can stream CNN on the CNN app. If you scan that QR code down there at the bottom to get full trial coverage, go to cnn.com/allaccess --Kate.

BOLDUAN: So it's not just the Louvre now. We have a brand new museum heist to tell you about. Right now, there's an investigation after a thief or thieves stole more than 1,000 items from the Oakland Museum of California's collection.

Police say that the theft happened in the early hours of the morning earlier this month at an off-site storage facility for the museum. Stolen pieces include walrus tusks -- you see them there -- Native American baskets, memorabilia from the 20th century, such as campaign pins and athletic awards. The museum says they -- their investigation has now gone public -- they are now going public with their investigation in case the stolen items appear at flea markets or pawn shops. Basically asking the public to keep an eye out. The Oakland Police Department's declined to provide more detail at this time, but they're working with the FBI that specializes in art crime -- Sara.

SIDNER: They had to have been inspired from the Paris heist, but they didn't get the same amount of stuff, like expensive, really expensive stuff. All right, Kate.

Ahead, Prince Andrew is a prince no longer. Britain's King Charles' unprecedented move to evict his brother Andrew from a royal mansion and strip him of his status.

Also, spooky season underway at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. President Trump and First Lady Melania opened the South Lawn for trick-or- treaters.

Look at the costumes that were on display. You can see one of them there, a replica of the family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: The top five CNN heroes of 2025 are now out, and you, our viewers, will help us choose which one of them will be named CNN Hero of the Year this week.

We meet Tim Woodward, a man who's made it his mission to save neglected and abused animals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM WOODWARD CO-FOUNDED ANIMAL RESCUE CORPS: We see animals living in conditions that I would have never imagined before doing this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got a little dog down here in this crate.

Hi, mama.

WOODWARD: Their physical condition is incredibly debilitated. It can be very gruesome. Your average shelter is used to taking animals in one or two at a time.

We pull in large numbers of animals from a crisis situation. We'll work with law enforcement. They will designate us as an agent of law enforcement to go onto the scene to seize those animals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're OK. See?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at that smile. Yes.

WOODWARD (voice-over): We bring a very tight, trained team, including a state-licensed forensic vet, vet techs, as well as an intake team, and, of course, our trained handlers.

WOODWARD: They're in five different pop-ups. We'll split them up, two, two, and two.

WOODWARD (voice-over): We're kind of the midway point between where they came from and where they will find their forever home.

WOODWARD: We'll get you all fixed up.

WOODWARD (voice-over): So for the time that they're in our care, we try to make sure that they are becoming healthier.

WOODWARD: What are you doing, huh?

WOODWARD: And we try as best we can to prepare them for life in a home. The change in the animals is always remarkable.

They come out of situations where they have no trust, and then with time and attention, they begin to literally blossom.

WOODWARD: You're getting out of here.

WOODWARD (voice-over): We've rescued well over 10,000 animals.

WOODWARD: Where's that tail at?

WOODWARD (voice-over): My hope is that they have the best life possible and forget all about where they came from.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Oh, my heart. Oh, what a beautiful thing. What a beautiful man.

You can vote at cnn.com/heroes to help decide who will be the next CNN Hero of the Year.

All right, coming up. The mouse no longer in the house. Why Disney has yanked all of its channels off of YouTube TV.

[08:25:00]

And two sheriffs and 12 officers in Mississippi charged in a massive drug and bribery sting. How the FBI posed its cartel members to nab law enforcement suspected of helping drug traffickers.

Those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, countdown to Election Day. One of the marquee races on Tuesday is for governor in New Jersey. Former President Barack Obama scheduled a campaign with Democratic candidate, Congressman Mikie Sherrill, this weekend.

A new poll shows that Sherrill has an edge over Republican Jack Ciattarelli, 51 to 43 percent. But I think a lot of people on both sides think this race is close.

With us now is the Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, Congressman Mikie Sherrill. Congresswoman, great to see you this morning. A lot of ink spilled on your race. It really is the marquee race in the country people think.