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Trump "Not Really" Considering Sending Tomahawks To Ukraine; Government Shutdown Causing 3-Hour Security Delays In Houston Airport; Candidates Head Into Final Stretch Before Election Day; Trump Returns To "60 Minutes" Since Lawsuit; Trump Returns To "60 Minutes" For First Interview Since Lawsuit, L.A. Parade Prep Underway After Dodgers World Series Win; New Study Links Autism And Pregnant Women With COVID-19. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired November 02, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:03]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Be sure to tune in to the new episode of the CNN Original Series, "TONY SHALHOUB BREAKING BREAD." It airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only here on CNN.

And a new hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

We have breaking news this hour. When asked about whether or not he's considering sending Ukraine those Tomahawk missiles, President Trump telling a reporter, in his words, not really. Of course, those missiles, which President Zelenskyy has asked for for a very long time now, would give Ukraine the ability to strike deep within Russia.

Let's bring in CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak.

Kevin, the president just saying this a short time ago. What are you learning?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this is really the furthest that the president has gone in tamping down the possibility that he could provide Ukraine with this new capability. You know, the Tomahawk missiles, they have 1,000 mile range. They would allow potentially Ukraine to target even Moscow.

In the past, the president had seemed inching closer to allowing them to obtain these weapons, including in the lead up to President Zelenskyy's visit here to the White House back in October. But now the president really seems to be putting down the possibility that they could obtain these weapons. He said that, no, not really. He's not considering this at the moment. He did leave out the possibility that that could change down the line.

But at this moment, this is not sort of in the offing. And the president going on to say that this could potentially be a war where the two sides, quote, "have to let them fight it out." You know, he has been open in the past with his frustrations at his inability to bring this war to an end, saying that he thought he would be able to leverage his personal relationship with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to try and come up with a ceasefire deal. But clearly that is not happening any time soon.

Now, the president has laid out two pieces of rationale for why these Tomahawks will not be going to Ukraine. One is the potential for escalation. And certainly Putin has made clear that, in his view, if Ukraine does obtain these Tomahawks, it would be an escalation on the part of the United States. But the president has also made the point that these weapons are not in limitless supply, that the U.S. needs to keep its stockpiles sort replenished in case it needs them down the line. And now the president stating pretty explicitly that he's not considering this new capability at the moment.

DEAN: All right. And we also want to ask you, Kevin, about another clip that we're getting from the president, this one from "60 Minutes." Just releasing this. President Trump addressing the tactics being used by ICE agents. What do you say about that?

LIPTAK: Yes. And it's clear the president isn't backing down. Even amid some of the imagery that we've been seeing from out in the country, whether it's ICE using tear gas in Chicago or breaking windows of cars, really sort of images that have drawn outcry from immigrant groups, but also just the American public at large. But the president, when he's questioned about that imagery, really isn't backing down at all. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORAH O'DONNELL, "60 MINUTES" CORRESPONDENT: More recently, Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows.

Have some of these raids gone too far?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I think they haven't gone far enough because we've been held back by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama.

O'DONNELL: You're OK with those tactics?

TRUMP: Yes, because you have to get the people out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, the president went on in that interview to insist that his goal is to get, quote, "the worst of the worst" undocumented immigrants out of the country. But he also held out the possibility that there is a policy in place by which undocumented immigrants would be able to leave and then return to the country legally.

Now, polling out today shows the president's approval ratings on immigration continue to be underwater. There is a "Washington Post" poll that found 56 percent of Americans disapprove of how he's handling this most central topic of his presidency -- Jessica. DEAN: All right. Kevin Liptak with some news tonight. Thank you so

much for that. We appreciate it.

Meanwhile, it is a big week ahead. As we mentioned, President Trump is returning to Washington. The Senate is returning to Capitol Hill tomorrow. Tuesday is election day and the government shutdown is stretching out now for well over a month. The stakes are high. Most federal employees have been working without pay for 33 days now.

Millions of Americans as of this weekend lost their access to food stamp benefits. The Trump administration is blasting what's known as the SNAP program as broken and corrupt, saying it needs reform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE ROLLINS, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: What this conversation has allowed is a national spotlight on a broken and corrupt program. We found one guy in six different states getting a benefit.

[19:05:02]

We found about 5,000 people that are dead who are still getting benefits. Like it is time to drastically reform this program so that we can make sure that those who are truly needy, truly vulnerable are getting what they need, and the rest of the corruption goes away, and we can serve the American taxpayer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And just a reminder, there are millions of Americans who do get those SNAP benefits, including many, many children and seniors out there who are at risk of losing access to those benefits because of the shutdown and because of the funding.

The shutdown also impacting airports across the country, causing major delays. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning it's going to get worse in the weeks ahead of Thanksgiving.

Tonight in Houston, the airport there telling fliers to arrive early as they're facing security delays of three hours or more.

CNN's Rafael Romo is joining us now.

So, Rafael, we look toward Thanksgiving now just several weeks away. What are we expecting to see at our nation's airports?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, we have seen disruptions across the country today. And those disruptions may turn into chaos if the problem, the situation with the government shutdown does not resolve any time soon. The problem at George Washington International Airport that you mentioned, according to officials there, is that they have only been able to open TSA checkpoints at terminals A and E, and that's why they're warning travelers that the wait time may be as three hours or more.

That's on the TSA side. But there are staffing problems at control towers as well. We've been closely watching what is known as the National Airspace System Status today, a page managed by the Federal Aviation Administration that monitors airport delays and ground stops, and things have gotten only slightly better.

In the last couple of hours since you and I spoke, Jessica, the average delay at Newark Liberty International Airport has decreased to nearly two hours and 40 minutes, down from three and a half hours earlier. Just one of many airports facing similar challenges today.

Staffing shortages have caused ground stops at at least two airports over the weekend, including Nashville and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. There were also widespread delays at airports like Newark and San Francisco, and this is just to name a few.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Saturday that more than 64 percent of Friday's flight delays were due to staffing and air traffic control towers, adding that this percentage is, listen to this, Jessica, a record for this shutdown. In an interview with ABC earlier today, Duffy said that Sunday may pale by comparison to what may lie ahead if the government doesn't reopen soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We will delay. We will cancel any kind of flight across the national airspace to make sure people are safe. But there is a level of risk that gets injected into the system when we have a controller that's doing two jobs instead of one. We manage that, we look out for it, and safety is the priority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And also earlier today, Duffy told CBS that even before the shutdown, the FAA was already down between 2,000 and 3,000 controllers, although the number of trainees at the academy has increased by 20 percent so far this year, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Rafael Romo with the very latest, thanks so much for that.

We are also now two days out before election day in America, and one of the most watched races this cycle is -- on Tuesday is who will become mayor of New York City. The frontrunner right now is the Democratic nominee, Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani. And also he's running against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who's running as an independent, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. A recent poll has Mamdani at 48 percent over Cuomo's 32 percent and Sliwa's 16 percent.

Joining us now, Brian Lehrer, host of the "Brian Lehrer Show" on WNYC.

Brian, it is great to see you. You have been covering New York politics and races in this city for about 30 years now. So far, this has been a fascinating race on so many levels. But just to kind of level set with everyone, the polling in this race has been pretty consistent. What are you watching for on Tuesday? BRIAN LEHRER, HOST, "THE BRIAN LEHRER SHOW" ON WNYC: Well, the polling

has been kind of all over the place, I would say in the last few days. There were three polls that I saw that came out on Thursday. Another one that came out yesterday, and they had Mamdani up anywhere from about seven points to about 25 points.

So, you know, it ain't over until it's over, as they say. And anything can happen. Mamdani himself came back from way behind at the last minute to win the primary over Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic primary.

[19:10:04]

And we know polls have been wrong, like with Donald Trump, who was supposed to lose in 2016. So I'd say anything can happen.

DEAN: Yes. And I think, look, there is, you hear this narrative, especially from the Cuomo world that anything could happen. And until we know, we don't know, right? But it will be interesting to see. What about early voting trends? What have you been picking up on there? That ended today.

LEHRER: Yes. Early voting ended today after nine days of early voting. Voting was very heavy. There's a lot of interest in this race, as you would imagine. And CNN, I saw your analysis and it was very good that it had started to trend younger as the week went on. Older voters turned out first earlier in the week. That would be good for Cuomo because the split here is very much by generation, and younger voters were turning out more by the end of the week. More than in past mayoral elections. So that's good for Mamdani.

That's partly, largely, how he won the primary. More early -- more voting at all by younger voters than in the past and we'll see if that persists through Tuesday. I think that's a key.

DEAN: Yes. And look, this race, Mamdani as the Democratic nominee after beating Cuomo in that primary in the spring, it's been such a lightning rod for the Democratic Party itself, the Democratic establishment in New York and New York City. A lot of Democratic leaders waited to endorse with Hakeem Jeffries just recently doing so. Senator Chuck Schumer ultimately chose not to.

As you've kind of watched all of this unfold, what has been your takeaway for that piece of it?

LEHRER: Well, I don't think there is such a thing as a future face of the Democratic Party. Some people are asking that question. I think that all politics is local. There are much more conservative Democrats than this Democratic socialists who's leading in the polls in the city just outside the city. And when you go around the country, there are different kinds of Democrats. So I think it's political rather than sort of an objective reality.

I think clearly the Republicans are going to try to make Mamdani the face of the Democratic Party if he wins because they think that will hurt Democrats in swing districts in the midterms next year. That's also why some of the national leaders of the Democratic Party, like Chuck Schumer, have not endorsed Mamdani officially. But, you know, I think it's complicated. New York City is New York City. It's not necessarily everywhere.

And Mamdani might be seen as a model for some other places where if he's elected, he's seen as giving hope to a young generation who doesn't think their lives are going to be as affordable as their parents' lives were. With some of his solutions, like taxing the most wealthy New Yorkers two percentage points more to pay for things like universal child care. That might work as a model for other people if he succeeds. In other places, it's not going to be their thing.

DEAN: Yes. Well, what about the President Trump factor in all of this? He's weighed in a little bit. There's also the piece of it about what's going to happen should Mamdani win if the Trump administration really turns its focus here to New York City with federal troop presence, immigration crackdown increases, that sort of thing. How do you see all of that?

LEHRER: Well, Cuomo has been running on that, among other ways, that he says people should fear Mamdani. This one is Trump is going to come down much harder on our city if this young Democrat -- he doesn't say Democratic socialist, Muslim immigrant. He doesn't say all that like that. But that's sort of the implication. Trump is going to come down harder on New York if Mamdani is the mayor. And that's a reason to fear a Mamdani mayoralty.

And Cuomo has been running on that in part. So that's a big thing. And then if Mamdani is elected, of course we will see. We will see what kind of pushback he can galvanize among his supporters and other New Yorkers. And we'll see how much Trump wants to pick that fight.

DEAN: Yes. Well, before we get to how they will govern, of course they have to vote first.

Brian Lehrer, we will see what the voters say on Tuesday. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

LEHRER: Thanks for having me, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, and I believe President Trump has been speaking. I do want to listen in to what he's saying here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) you envisage U.S. boots on the ground?

TRUMP: Could be. I mean, a lot of things. I envisage a lot of things. They're killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria.

[19:15:02]

And they have other countries very bad also. You know that. That part of the world, very bad. They're killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. I'm not going to allow that to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, what's going on with Russian assets? Would you say? Are you going to use those as a negotiating tool? What's your --

TRUMP: Russian assets.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: On the frozen -- on the frozen Russian assets. So what are you -- are you planning --

TRUMP: Is this a totally different question than Nigeria? Is that right?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Different. Different.

TRUMP: That was quite a turn. I'm not doing that. What happens is I guess Europe and Russia are having discussions. I'm not involved in those discussions.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Your administration provide Ukraine with long range Tomahawk missiles? Is that something that --

TRUMP: No.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're not considering that?

TRUMP: No, not really.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It could happen, I could change, but at this moment no.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What would be the final straw for you that proves that Putin is really not ready yet?

TRUMP: What?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What would be the final straw for you that proves that Putin is really not ready to end this war in Ukraine?

TRUMP: There's no final straw. Sometimes you have to let it fight it out, and they're fighting and they're fighting it out. And it's been a tough war for Putin. He's lost a lot of soldiers, maybe a million. That's a lot of soldiers. And it's been tough for Ukraine. It's been tough for both. Sometimes you have to let it, you know, just get caught out.

You know, we have, I've said in eight wars, I thought that that one would be easier than some of the ones we settled. And by the way, we got three hostages back. The, you know, the hostages were so sad. You're talking about dead bodies which people call hostages. But I don't know what you'd call them. I spoke to the parents. I got Neutra, you know, from New York and from the United States. And I spoke to his parents, and they're thrilled in one sense. But in another sense, obviously not too great, but we're very happy to have done it. We have three -- we got three bodies back today that they found, and we're looking for the remainder of the bodies.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) on Wednesday?

TRUMP: What?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you going to go to the Supreme Court for the tariffs?

TRUMP: No, I --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Oral arguments.

TRUMP: I think it's the most important decision. One of the most important decisions in the history of our country because without tariffs, without our being able to use tariffs freely, openly and in every way, we are really would suffer tremendously from a national security standpoint. The national security of our country is at stake. It's the biggest -- I think it's one of the biggest decisions in the history of the Supreme Court.

Other countries use tariffs against us. If we weren't able to openly and freely use tariffs against them, I'll give you an example. China, that was going to be a disaster for the world. And I was able to settle it very quickly, very easily, because I was able to use tariffs. It's total national security and economic health is also part of national security, by the way, but without tariffs, we -- our country would be in great jeopardy.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So will you attend to the oral arguments at the Supreme Court?

TRUMP: No, I don't think so, because I don't want to call a lot of attention to me. It's not about me. It's about our country. I'll be going to Miami. I'm going to make a speech in front of a large group of people in Miami and said, I wanted to go so badly. I just don't want to do anything to deflect the importance of that decision. If we don't have tariffs, we don't have national security. And the rest of the world would laugh at us because they've used tariffs against us for years and took advantage of us.

And you see what's happened. We've become wealthy. Our stock market hit a record high on Friday, a record high. It's at 48 record highs during my term. And a large part of that is because of tariffs and our good trade deals. Without that, you couldn't make a good trade deal. And, you know, we were subject to being abused by a lot of other countries for years. Not anymore. Tariffs have brought us tremendous national security.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In Venezuela, is there a deadline for Venezuela to act against these alleged drug gangs before they --

TRUMP: I don't ever set deadlines. I do what I do, but I don't set whether it's Venezuela or anything else. I don't set deadlines.

(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, is it not true that you've made a decision on striking in Venezuela? Are there actual plans for those strikes in the near future?

TRUMP: How can I answer a question like that? Are there plans for a strike on Venezuela? Who would say that? Supposing there were, would I say that to you? Listen, we have very secret plans. Who would say that? You know, what kind of a question is it? Look, we'll see what happens with Venezuela.

[19:20:01]

Venezuela sent us thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of people from prisons, from mental institutions, drug addicts. And so did other countries. That's bad. I mean, other countries did it, too, because we were run by very stupid people. Very, very stupid people. Biden was the worst president in the history of our country by far. We had open borders and many countries, the Congo, many countries, they sent their prisoners. They sent prisoners, they sent drug dealers. They said drug addicts. They sent anybody, anybody that they didn't want. They sent them to our country. And Venezuela was one of the worst abusers.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) this shutdown ends is if you directly engage and negotiate a deal on extending these ACA subsidies. Is that something you're --

TRUMP: All they have to do is open up the country. You know, we voted 14 times to open the country. We have voted 14 times to open the country, and they vote to keep it closed. All they have to do is vote to open the country. And we only need five Democrats. They have a lot of Democrats. We only need five. But the Republicans have voted 14 times to open the country.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You directed your lawyers on SNAP -- on SNAP benefits. You put out that Truth Social post on Friday directing your lawyers to look into whether or not you can move around funds. What do they get back to you to find out if you can --

TRUMP: Well, it's a much easier situation than that. If they vote to open the country, it's opened up immediately. We don't even have to think about that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, I wanted to ask you about (INAUDIBLE), and ask (INAUDIBLE). Prince Andrew in the U.K. has had his royal titles stripped away because of the Epstein scandal. I know you're close to the royal family. Do you have any thoughts on that?

TRUMP: I feel very badly. I mean, it's a terrible thing that's happened to the family. That's been a tragic situation. And it's too bad. I mean, I feel badly for the family.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you still planning to meet with Jensen Huang? Have you spoken with him after your talk?

TRUMP: Who?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jensen Huang of Nvidia, the CEO of Nvidia.

TRUMP: Yes, I've spoken to him. What about it?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you planning to meet with him? You said when you were --

TRUMP: I meet with -- look, he's one of the great geniuses of our time. His chips are 10 years ahead of anybody else's. And, you know, I meet with him all the time. He's a great -- it's a great American company. It's now the biggest company in the world. So what would you like to know? Nvidia is a -- is really just a brilliant company. The chips are 10 years. The New Blackwell that just came out. It's 10 years ahead of every other chip. But there's nothing to meet with other than saying congratulations. But no, we don't give that chip to other people. We don't give that chip.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you meeting with the Syrian president at the White House, or did you invite him? The Syrian president, the Syrian president?

TRUMP: He may be coming, I don't know. He's working very hard. We took sanctions off of Syria to give them a chance at survival. And I hear he's doing a very good job. Thank you very much, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: I'm going to try and watch "60 Minutes," but I may be delayed. Let's see if they treat me better than they treat other people, although I do say this. They treated Kamala very well.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you going to watch it?

TRUMP: In fact, they changed their answers.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You can watch it again?

TRUMP: I will try, but we may land just as it starts, right? It's very split second. But thank goodness for TiVo or something thereof. Right? TiVo. We love TiVo. We love TiVo. One of my favorite -- one of the greatest inventions in history.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Then have a good time. Thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President.

DEAN: You were listening to President Trump there aboard Air Force One and some news that he made there, the president saying that the body of 21-year-old Israeli American Omar Neutra has been returned to Israel by Hamas in the last several hours. You'll remember Neutra was 21 years old. He was serving in the IDF as a tank platoon commander. The IDF says that he was killed on October 7th then Hamas took his body to Gaza.

Again, the president breaking that news tonight, saying he spoke with Neutra's parents upon their son's remains, return back to Israel. So we are certainly tracking that and waiting for more from the official channels out of Israel.

And then again, hearing that news from earlier tonight that President Trump responded when asked if he -- how he was considering or if he was considering sending those Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, something President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked for for a long time now, he said, no, not really. Kind of as far as he's gone publicly to wave off the idea that he would be doing that.

We are going to continue to monitor all of that. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

[19:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: President Trump makes his return to CBS' "60 Minutes." This is the first time the president has done a "60 Minutes" interview since suing the network over an interview with Kamala Harris last year.

Let's bring in CNN's Brian Stelter.

Brian, look, this is interesting to see him doing this. What's the significance of the president sitting for this interview?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, there are layers to this right now. The president clearly wants the attention from "60 Minutes." It's the highest rated news magazine in America. It's on right after football. So it has a big audience. And he wants that big audience. But he rarely gives news interviews. You know, when he sits down for interviews these days, it's usually with his friends on Fox or other right-wing networks.

[19:30:15]

In some cases, literally his family members like Lara Trump. So, it is rare for him to sit down for a news interview, so that's one layer of intrigue. Another layer is certainly the lawsuit that he filed last year, that frivolous lawsuit against "60 Minutes." That was then settled by parent company, Paramount, over the summer. That was a payoff to make Trump go away and it worked in the short term. And now, "60 Minutes" sitting down with the President for an interview.

There's going to be big questions about whether and how the interview was edited, because his gripes about "60 Minutes" last year were about the editing of Kamala Harris and her answers. So how will CBS edit the interview? That's a big question. And I think the biggest layer of all here, Jessica, is about -- and the reason why this interview will be so highly scrutinized is because CBS has gone through a politically charged merger in recent months.

David Ellison, the new owner of paramount, the new CEO of Paramount, he was a Biden donor last year, but he sought to ingratiate himself with Trump this year, showing up at UFC matches, for example, and agreeing to have an ombudsman at CBS. And then recently he installed Bari Weiss as a new editor-in-chief of CBS.

So, the network has really been upended in recent months. There's a lot of anxiety inside CBS News about the future of the news division, and all of a sudden, a big get, the President of the United States. Some people wondering if the network will go easy on him, others wondering if they'll be tough on the President. We don't know but there's a lot of intrigue around that interview. And those are some of the reasons why.

DEAN: Yes, certainly there are a lot of layers, as you say. I also do want to ask you about all Disney owned channels being removed from YouTube T.V. this week after they failed to reach an agreement. We've all heard about this from somebody that ESPN -- they can't get it or ABC or whatever the case may be.

STELTER: Yes, it's a huge example of a cable carriage fee battle, but in the digital age, YouTube T.V. is one of these newer distributors of television where you can get a bundle of channels without having to have a satellite dish, or somebody come over to your house to set it up.

In this case, it is a carriage dispute between two heavyweights between Google and Disney, with each side saying they're trying to help consumers. But ultimately it always comes down to money, in these cases. Disney trying to get more money for its channels. YouTube trying to hold the line and not increase the price of the bundle.

There is an interesting wrinkle in this case, though, and it might actually end up getting the attention of the federal government. Disney is being charged with favoring its own services. Google is out there saying Disney is trying to favor its own distribution services like Hulu or Disney+ And so, there's a little bit of a battle underway here, a tug of war.

Normally, for viewers who are wondering -- normally, they resolve pretty quickly within a matter of days, but this one's already dragged out for the better part of -- or for several days, and its heading into a week. So, this may be one that lingers for quite some time.

DEAN: All right, it will be very interesting to see.

Brian Stelter, as always, good to have you to add a lot of context to these stories. Thank you.

And still to come, a dramatic end to the World Series, with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning it all for a second year in a row. We're going to take you live to L.A., where preparations are already underway for the parade tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:33] DEAN: The city of Los Angeles is getting ready for a big celebration after the Dodgers' wild game seven World Series win last night. The team beating the Blue Jays five to four in an 11th inning thriller, making them the first team to win back-to-back World Series in 25 years.

Now, preparations are underway for a parade, and CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is in L.A. with some more details on that. Julia, they are getting right to it. That parade is tomorrow.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is tomorrow, bright and early L.A. will stop again, Jessica, to celebrate this historic win for the L.A. Dodgers.

Last night was truly like an unbridled joy throughout the streets of Los Angeles from South L.A. to the Valley. We saw fireworks lighting up the skies, fans flooding the streets. Sunset Boulevard completely stopped around Echo Park, and those bars close to Dodger Stadium, thousands of people on the streets. Take a listen to what some of them had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT CULHANE, BARTENDER: People were doubting it at the beginning of the game. Everyone online was going deeper mode. They thought we were going to lose, but you know what, we won one and now we got the second one, baby.

AARON PEARLAR, ADVERTISING WORKER: Amazing, it's a great series, fought through adversity. I don't know how we won that, but we did. Let's go Dodgers.

BRIAN PAUL, CATERING COMPANY CEO: Go Dodgers, baby, back-to-back. Let's go, we got this. What a win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: It's really hard to not be taking it -- take all that in, Jessica here in Los Angeles.

The mayor of L.A. Karen Bass, said earlier today that this win was really just the shot in the arm that the city needed after a very difficult year for Los Angeles that started with the fires and then mudslides and we've had protests throughout the city this summer.

So, this is just a moment for all Angelenos, just take a deep breath together and enjoy some of this win yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The celebrations will continue.

DEAN: Yes, and that is all very positive and I should say very positive. I do know some of the celebrations tipped into the getting out of hand category last night, though.

JONES: They did, they did and we and we have to be fair here. I'll say that there were seven arrests from the Los Angeles Police Department, including one woman who is accused of running her bike into a police horse. I'll say that the horse is okay, but we heard from the chief of police here in Los Angeles, a little bit more about that, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM MCDONNELL, LOS ANGELES POLICE, CHIEF: Unfortunately, a small number of individuals turned what could have been a joyous occasion into one marred by some vandalism and destruction of property. That behavior is unacceptable and won't be tolerated.

Tomorrow's parade is an opportunity to show the world the very best of Los Angeles. The unity, pride and respect that defines our city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And that's the message, Jessica, for tomorrow, for Angelenos or anyone who's going out to celebrate, to just please do it respectfully and safely.

DEAN: All right, Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much.

[20:40:33]

Still ahead, a new study shows autism diagnosis rates are higher among children born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy. We're going to talk with an OBGYN to make sense of all this when we come back.

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[19:45:26]

DEAN: A new study looking at a possible link between COVID-19 and autism is getting a lot of attention. Researchers found children may be more likely to be diagnosed with autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders if their mothers had COVID-19 while pregnant.

That study was done early in the pandemic, before vaccines were widely available. But the question is, what does this mean for women who are pregnant now or who recently had their babies and might be worried?

Joining us now is an OBGYN, Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell. Great to see you, thank you for being here. I think people have a lot of questions about this just to let everyone know this was an independent study done by Massachusetts General Hospital. What was your takeaway from this study?

DR. VERONICA GILLISPIE-BELL, OBGYN: So I thought this was a very interesting study. The researchers have previously looked at COVID-19 and neurodevelopment at 12 months and 18 months after delivery. And so, this is looking a little further down the line at three years. So, the findings were not new or surprising, but I think as we're still trying to understand the impact of COVID-19, as were trying to understand neurodevelopment, I think this is something that is a highlight for us to just better understand that disease process. DEAN: And so, what advice would you give to people who had children, mothers who had children during -- had COVID, during their pregnancy or people who are pregnant right now?

GILLISPIE-BELL: Yes, I know it can be very concerning. It can be very scary. First, I would tell mothers do not worry while in this cohort they did find those moms that contracted COVID-19 did have a higher risk of neurodevelopmental disorder. That rate was 16 percent compared to nine percent for those moms that did not have COVID-19.

So, while the rate was raised, it was not a hundred percent. So, this does not necessarily mean that your child is going to have a neurodevelopmental disorder. Also, this is not causation, this is linked and we see that it's an increased risk, but that does not mean causation. So, that does not mean that even if you contracted COVID-19 that your baby is going to have neurodevelopmental disorder.

DEAN: I think that is worth underlining. This is not showing causation. It is causing -- it is showing a link and those are two different things. I wonder too, the idea that, look, if you had COVID, especially during that time, because as we said to people, this is before vaccines, when COVID was really worse in a lot of ways because many people weren't unvaccinated. They got, you know, they were sicker. The idea that you would have fever and what that might have done as well.

GILLISPIE-BELL: Yes, so very true. I think this is one of the reasons that we as experts have been really challenged with some of the things that are being said about Tylenol causing neurodevelopment disorders, or to even say, now, COVID-19. We don't know. We don't know if it's the fever from the illness that causes neurodevelopment disorders. We don't know if it's the Tylenol. And more than likely it's not the Tylenol. There are many factors that go into neurodevelopment, and so, we have to consider all of those things.

Again, infection, not just COVID-19 but when we look at other infections like the flu, we do see that increased risk. And again, it's not saying causation. We just see that the risk is increased.

DEAN: Yes, and look, you noted on the Tylenol that was coming out obviously of Secretary Kennedy, his CDC. This is again an independent study that was done through a hospital. Those are different sources of information. But as parents out there, it's a lot to sort through and it certainly takes a lot of time and effort. How would you be advising parents to evaluate information like this that's coming out? What should they be looking for?

GILLISPIE-BELL: Yes, Jessica, you know what I'm going to say, because it's what I've said before --

DEAN: It's good advice.

GILLISPIE-BELL: Yes, it's great advice, you need to talk to your physician, to your health care provider, if that's a midwife, you need to talk to your physician. We are trained to understand these studies. We are trained to understand what they mean and to understand the difference between something being linked and being caused. We can help you, your physician, your health care provider that you are trusting with the care of your pregnancy should be your trusted advice for all of this information.

DEAN: Yes and then what about the COVID vaccine? Obviously, there have been a lot of changes to who can get that vaccine with insurance or without insurance. What are you telling your pregnant patients right now about getting that vaccine and also the flu vaccine?

[19:50:10]

GILLISPIE-BELL: So, I always discuss risk, benefits, alternatives. But it is my recommendation that my patients get both the COVID-19 vaccine as well as the flu vaccine. We cannot forget that during COVID-19 and in the height of the pandemic, that COVID-19 was the leading cause of pregnancy related deaths, and so we cannot forget that as well as some of the other things that we are seeing that could possibly be linked to having the virus.

And so, I still recommend for my patients to get the vaccine for COVID-19 as well as the flu.

DEAN: All right, Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, thank you, always good to see you. We really appreciate it.

GILLISPIE-BELL: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, a look at this week's big stories that were stories that we're going to be watching. Stay with us, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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DEAN: Here's a look at five stories were tracking this week.

The government shutdown dragging on. If it continues through Wednesday, it will become the longest in history. Right now, millions of people are without SNAP benefits and food banks are overwhelmed with demand as they work to accommodate families. More than one million federal workers still going without pay and this morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was not clear on whether Trump would comply with two judges and use those contingency funds to make federal food benefits available.

On Tuesday, voters will head to the polls in several high stakes elections across the country. New Jersey and Virginia will be electing new governors in pivotal races for Republicans and Democrats. Recent polling has shown New Jersey Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, leading Republican Jack Ciattarelli. Virginia Democrat former Representative Abigail Spanberger is running ahead of Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears. There's also a hotly debated race for New York City Mayor and a redistricting measure in California that could have big implications for next year's midterm elections.

At the Supreme Court, justices will meet to hear arguments about President Trump's sweeping tariffs. The case will consider whether Trump has the legal authority to issue tariffs using an emergency law. The White House is urging the court to uphold the tariffs, and says it is working on backup plans.

A Harvard laboratory will reopen tomorrow after an explosion inside a medical building that police say appeared to be intentional. An officer reportedly saw two people leaving the building early Saturday morning after the fire alarm was pulled. Two masked people, as you see here, were later seen on surveillance footage. Investigators say there was an explosion of some kind on the fourth floor. Boston Police did not find any additional explosives and that investigation continues.

Testimony resumes tomorrow in the civil trial, brought by a first grade teacher in Virginia who was shot by her six-year-old student. Abby Zwerner filed a $40-million lawsuit against a former assistant principal who she says ignored warning signs about that first grader. Zwerner took the stand last Thursday beginning tomorrow, the defense will present its case.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, we'll be right back.

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[19:58:14]

DEAN: Tonight, investigators are looking into what caused a deadly fire in Mexico, that fire tore through a general store in Northern Mexico, where 23 people were killed, 11 others injured. The fire started at a convenience store in Northwestern Mexico, and officials say several children are among the victims.

The record homeless crisis in New York City has been a key issue in this year's race for mayor, but little has been mentioned about who it arguably impacts the most, New York City's children. Last school year a shocking one in seven public school students experienced homelessness in some form.

And tonight, CNN's "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper, the hidden homeless, gives voice to some of the children bearing the brunt of this crisis. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: This is the final touch, the ears.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brooklyn, do you know what homelessness is?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Homeless means like, that means they're, like, sad because they don't have, like, any money or food to eat because they don't have any money to buy anything. Some people just eat from the trash, or some people just beg for food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you homeless?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Nods yes.)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me what you want people to know about you. UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Because some people are rich and some people are not but when I was born with my mom, I came beautiful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: She came beautiful. "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper, "The Hidden Homeless" airs next. You can watch it right here on CNN and on the CNN App as well.

Thank you so much for joining me tonight. I'm Jessica Dean, we're going to see you again next weekend right back here. Have a wonderful night, I will see you then.