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Trump Set To Meet Xi During 3-Country Asia Sprint; Early Voting Begins In New York City Mayor's Race; Melissa Is Expected To Become A Hurricane This Weekend; Trump Weighing Plans To Strike 'Cocaine Facilities' Inside Venezuela; Russia's Deadly Ballistic Missiles Rip Through Ukraine. U.S. Government Shutdown Enters Day 25 with No End in Sight; NBA Stars and Mafia Among More Than 30 Arrested in Illegal Gambling Crackdown; U.S. Inflation Hits 3 Percent, Rising at Fastest Pace Since January. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired October 25, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:30]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Saturday, October 25th. You made it to the weekend. I've been waiting for you. Welcome to CNN This Morning. I'm Victor Blackwell.

Here's what's new this morning. President Trump is on his way to Asia and he's had plenty to say along the way. His new comments about his spat with Canada and whether he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

It's the first day of early voting in that New York mayor's race. And former Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing scrutiny over his comments about rivals or in Mamdani's Muslim faith, what he said and how Mamdani responded.

Also, parts of the Caribbean are facing what forecasters say could become a catastrophic hurricane. Melissa is expected to dump days of rain on several islands. We've got the forecast and expected impact.

Also, we're learning more details about how NBA players and coaches indicted allegedly worked with the mafia to steal millions of dollars. At the latest on that betting scandal that's rocking the NBA. That's coming up.

All right. First up this morning, President Trump on his way to Asia. He's heading there for the ASEAN Summit which kicks off tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur. Now before takeoff, the president was asked if he plans to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. His answer, no.

President Trump cut off trade talks with Canada Thursday. This was over anti tariff ad that featured audio from former President Ronald Reagan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: You know, it's a crooked ad. I heard he's airing it Canada. That's why I pulled everything with Canada. They wrote a -- they did a crooked ad. They know it was Ronald Reagan loves tariffs. What they did is really dishonest. And I heard they were pulling the ad. I didn't know they were putting it on a little bit more. They could have pulled it tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They'll up Monday.

TRUMP: Well, that's sturdy playing. But I can play dirtier than they can, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So President Trump does not plan to meet with Carney, but there is a leader who he does want to speak with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un?

TRUMP: Yes, I'd like to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This trip? This trip?

TRUMP: I don't know. I don't know. He knows I'm going to there. I don't know. We let him know -- he knows I'm going there. I would to. I get along with him very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, the president leaves behind a government that is shut down and questions over what will happen in a week when roughly 42 million people are expected to lose access to critical food assistance. And despite that, the president said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to direct the Department of Agriculture to fund stamp next month?

TRUMP: Everybody's going to be in good shape. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, the president did not provide any details on how people will be in good shape. And actually on Friday, the USDA said that it will not tap into its $6 billion contingency fund to cover food stamp benefits next month.

Our live look from New York as early voting is now underway. Have that live look. We got these two pictures. The mudslinging is getting ugly. In the mayoral race, Democrat Zohran Mamdani defended himself after independent candidate Andrew Cuomo stoked fears of Mamdani's Muslim faith on a radio show. CNN's Gloria Pazmino explains. Gloria. All right. We'll get back to Gloria Pazmino. Let's bring in now Errol

Louis, Spectrum News political anchor and host of the Big Deal with Errol Louis. Errol, let's start with the president. The president says that he's not going to talk to Carney.

Now, the trade tariffs and negotiations have been on again, off again between the U.S. and Canada and really several countries around the world. What's the severity of this, if you had to put it into greater context and perspective?

ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL ANCHOR, SPECTRUM NEWS: Well, this is very serious. This is the crux of the problem with some of the tariff politics that the White House has been playing. This is our number one trading partner. This is a trading partner that has openly said it will start looking for alternatives. It will start doing more business with the European Union. It will start looking to open supply lines into Asia, that we're going to have farmers and other trade partners here on our side of the border who are going to suffer.

[06:05:08]

This is something that requires a lot of attention, and it can't just be derailed because the president didn't like an ad that he saw. I mean, the mercurial nature of it is itself a problem, Victor, because if you're a business leader and you have to make important decisions about investment and deployment of personnel and your supply chains, you can't do it in an atmosphere where the President wakes up, sees something on television and upends the entire trade relationship.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And the Canadians, their statement simply say that we're here waiting when the President or the United States decides that they want to continue the conversations. Let's talk about SNAP benefits. I mentioned those 42 million people who are going to lose that support at the start of November if something isn't resolved.

The President said, quote, yes, everybody's going to be in good shape. Yes, close quote. Ag Department says they're not tapping into the -- the contingency fund to do that. I don't even know how much of a detail we expected from him in that setting.

But can both be true? I mean, the President just says, yeah, it'll work out.

LOUIS: Well, yes, listen, if you believe that assurance, you know, God bless. But to, I guess, flesh out some of what the problem is, Victor, I just saw a report, we carried it on Spectrum News out of our Kentucky affiliate, where in central Kentucky, because of the shutdown, not the SNAP benefits, but just the government shutdown programs are not being approved. Money is not flowing, and they may have to shut down a number of Head Start programs which provide, among other things, breakfast to needy kids.

This is a very serious problem. And it's not just the SNAP benefits. It's also Head Start. It's also the lack of government officials in place in a nonfunctioning government. This -- there is going to be a hunger catastrophe if something isn't done soon. I know CNN has carried, just as we have of scenes of government

workers lined up down the block at food pantries because they've missed their paychecks and they have to make ends meet to just head off to Asia and say, oh, everything's going to be fine. I sure hope they have a plan, but there's no sign of one just yet.

BLACKWELL: All right, Errol, let's pause here because I know that you moderated the mayoral debate in New York this Week. We've got that Gloria Pazmino report ready, so she's going to set the table. Then we'll keep talking. Gloria.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Victor. And if he's elected in the general elections, Zohran Mamdani would actually be making history as New York City's first Muslim mayor. And throughout the campaign, Mamdani has campaigned across several of the city's mosques, all across the five boroughs. And he came to a Bronx mosque on Friday to address the congregation and also respond to the Congress comments that were made by the former governor Andrew Cuomo on a radio station where he laughed along as the host of the show, suggested that Mamdani would quote, unquote, cheer if a 9/11 type of attack were to happen in New York City again.

Now, Mamdani is not only a Muslim man. He is also a New Yorker. He grew up in Manhattan. He was here on 9/11. He was a nine year old boy. And throughout the campaign he has spoken about how that experience shaped his life, not just as a New Yorker, but also as a Muslim man. He spoke about that personal experience here today. He said he wanted to speak directly to the city's Muslims and no longer to his opponents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D) NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Growing up in the shadow of 9/11, I have known what it means to live with an undercurrent of suspicion in this city. I will always remember the disdain that I faced, the way that my name could immediately become Muhammad and how I could return to my city only to be asked in a double mirrored room at the airport if I had any plan on attacking it.

And since I was very young, I've also known that I was spared the worst of it. I was never pressured to be an informant like a classmate of mine. I've never had the word terrorist spray painted on my garage as one of my staff had to endure. My mosque has never been set on fire. To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity, but indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face is the tolerance of that indignity that does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Mamdani became emotional several times throughout that speech, at one point retelling the story of his late aunt, who after 9/11 was afraid of riding the subway because she wore a head covering.

[06:10:00]

And you could see the symbolism that Mamdani was trying to portray standing next to Muslim men and women who live right here in New York City, because we are in the moment -- in a moment where he is potentially about to make history here in the city if he is elected.

Also on Friday, Mamdani securing the endorsement of Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. This has been something that we have been waiting for and watching for several weeks whether or not Jefferies was going to endorse in this race. He finally made it official on Friday. But he also made it clear that there are differences between himself and Mamdani. Jefferies has praised Mamdani's focus on affordability.

But there's been a lot of tension behind the scenes, specifically because of Mamdani's association with the Democratic Socialists of America, some of whom have suggested that Jefferies should be primaried. That has been a source of back and forth behind the scenes between these two political operations.

But as he said that he would, Jefferies making his intentions clear, endorsing Mamdani just as early voting is expected to begin here in New York City. Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Gloria. Thank you, Errol still with us. Errol, Governor Cuomo is trailing Mamdani by double digits. So these comments won't likely shake up the race. But what's the significance, the import of what we're seeing now at this late stage in the race?

LOUIS: There's real significance here because what Mamdani has done is awakened a portion of the electorate that really had not been a coherent political force in New York politics. There are about three quarters of a million Muslims in New York City, Victor. But really never before has there been a candidate or really a sort of focused political effort to bring out that community as a political force. And so that's happening now.

And what you hear there in a very raw way is the accumulated slights and resentments and exclusion and discrimination that community has endured for many, many years. And so we're at a turning point. These folks are coming. Some of them are angry, some of them are resentful.

But more to the point, they have a candidate who's speaking to and for them and is going to make politics different regardless of the outcome. This is never going to be a community that can be ignored politically in New York ever again.

BLACKWELL: Errol Louis, thank you very much. Enjoy the Saturday.

All right, this morning's headlines now, the Justice Department announced it will be sending monitors to both California and New Jersey ahead of elections on November 4th. The decision came after complaints from Republican Party officials in both states. The DOJ says its federal election monitors will be in six counties in California.

Voters there will be casting their ballots on a new congressional map that could result in Democrats getting up to five extra House seats. And New Jersey voters will be choosing their governor. New York Attorney General Letitia James has pleaded not guilty to

charges brought by President Trump's Department of Justice. James entered her plea yesterday in Virginia. Now, the DOJ has accused her of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. Her attorney says that they're looking to get the case dismissed.

And they claim the prosecutor was unlawfully appointed. They also plan to say Trump's DOJ selectively and vindictively prosecuted her. James's trial is scheduled for late January.

Debris from the White House's East Wing demolition is being dumped into a Washington, D.C. park golf course. CNN observed four dump trucks unloading the dirt at the East Potomac park golf course. A construction worker said the dirt came from the ongoing construction of the president's new ballroom. And CNN reached out for comment, but has not yet heard back.

This morning, Jamaica is bracing for what meteorologists say could be the strongest hurricane ever to hit the island. Right now Melissa is a tropical storm but is expected to strengthen rapidly and become a major hurricane sometime today. Already one person has died in the Dominican Republic from the storm.

More than a thousand people were evacuated after Melissa unleashed heavy rainfall for days in the Dominican Republic in Haiti. Three others have died in Haiti.

Here with me now, CNN meteorologist Chris Warren. Chris, this is it seems like it's coming up very quickly and it's not a whole lot of time to prepare for it.

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And it's going to be a very big deal, possibly life changing for some people. Their lives today are likely to be different this time next week.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

WARREN: I mean, we're talking catastrophic flooding. We're going to talk about rapid intensification. We're talking about Category 5. Will it be a category, you know, expected to be a category 5? Could it be a 5? That's wind. What is going to be life threatening and really potentially catastrophic with this will be the amount of water, the amount of rain that is going to come with this.

[06:15:07]

So it's expected to rapidly intensify. And this slow moving storm is a big reason why we're going to see the potential for that life threatening flash flooding in landslides, 155 mile per hour winds expected as a Category 4 Hurricane, 157 is a Category 5. So not only will Jamaica be absolutely battered by very heavy rain and the flash flooding, but at the same time, hour after hour after hour, day after day, Category 4, possibly Category 5 winds coming with it. It's not just Jamaica. Also Haiti expected to see some of the white there. That white is more than 20 inches feet of rain is a possibility. Now we turn to Jamaica and see with the terrain as well, which is able

to get that much more moisture out of the atmosphere. And Victor, I want to show you this here. This is tomorrow at 7 o' clock in the morning. Jamaica, it's raining now, a hurricane. This is now Sunday at 7. Now here's Monday at 7 in the morning, still raining, still a hurricane. Now here's Monday, 6 o' clock in the evening, still raining, still a hurricane.

So while this is happening, there's likely to be ongoing flooding and landslides. And now it's not until Tuesday into Wednesday that it moves more so into Haiti into eastern Cuba and then eventually the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos need to pay attention to this.

BLACKWELL: Yes, you make a good point that we speak about categories and think those numbers.

WARREN: Just winds.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The rain itself is really in these storms what is the most dangerous and often creates the higher death counts.

WARREN: Exactly right.

BLACKWELL: All right, Chris Warren, we'll check back with you a little later in the morning. Our next this morning on CNN This Morning, President Trump has a new target in his war on drugs. Why some say it's more about a power move than and less about the drugs.

Plus, Russia takes aim at Ukraine's capital city in several attacks. We're live with the overnight developments. And the show must go on for the NBA, which is dealing with a current coach and former player who were caught up in a federal gambling indictment.

Last night the league's commissioner talked about the fallout and we'll hear from him later.

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[06:22:00]

BLACKWELL: President Trump is considering attack on trafficking routes related to cocaine inside Venezuela. Even though Venezuela is considered a major source of cocaine. The Pentagon has already ordered the Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier strike group to leave Europe and head to the Caribbean. The President sounds like he's intending to use it.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: I can tell you one thing. We stop all drugs virtually from coming in by sea. I will stop all drugs from coming in by land. Very shortly you'll see that starting.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The President does not plan to ask Congress to authorize any attacks against Venezuela. And that's causing a lot of concern former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I think it's really important that the President had better present a strategy to the American people and to the Congress as to exactly what are the objectives here. Is this about regime change? Is this about narco trafficking? Is it about something else?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused President Trump of using the war on drugs as a deception in order to steal Venezuela's oil. The Trump administration just hit Colombia with sanctions.

Ukraine's air force has issued a rare ballistics threat warning for the entire country. Now, overnight in Kyiv, two people were killed and at least 10 others were hurt in a Russian missile and drone strike. 11 locations were hit. People there are being warned to stay sheltered.

Ukraine's air forces, they said that at least nine Russian ballistic missiles and more than five dozen drones targeted the country. Paula Hancocks is tracking the latest developments. She joins us live from Abu Dhabi. Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, another sleepless night for civilians in Kyiv and in cities across Ukraine as Russia carried out this onslaught. Now we have been seeing a number of fires that have broken out in different areas. We've heard from the Foreign Ministry that once again, Russia appears to be targeting critical infrastructure. They are targeting the energy grid as Ukraine goes into winter. They're also targeting railroads and they are targeting civilian homes, that according to the Foreign Ministry.

Now we just heard from President Zelenskyy as well, condemning those attacks, saying Russia has attacked once again, also saying, quote, no country should be left alone in the face of such evil.

Now, these attacks from Russia come just hours after there was that significant meeting in London, the Coalition of the Willing, where there was a real push by leaders there to try and encourage more nations to carry out sanctions on Russia. It follows a week where we saw President Trump sanctioning the two biggest oil producers in Russia.

We also saw the E.U. rolling out further sanctions against Russia, as well as guaranteeing money for Kyiv for the next two years.

[06:25:08]

And what we heard in London from the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, among others, is that more needs to be done and it needs to be done quickly to further isolate Russia. Victor.

BLACKWELL: Paula Hancocks for us this morning. Paula, thank you. Now, just as hundreds of thousands of federal workers are losing out on their first full paycheck and tens of millions of people could soon lose food assistance nonprofits they would typically turn to, they're struggling also because of the government shutdown.

We'll take a look at what these organizations are having to do as the shutdown drags on.

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[06:30:00]

BLACKWELL: It's day 25 of the government shutdown, and it's not expected to end any time soon. This is a dire situation for both government workers and the people who depend on government programs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came home the other day saying that his paycheck was $0.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to really be depending on the food banks stuff that I can make a meal out of, or if I'm just going to be eating soup for the month.

COLLEEN DELANEY, VITAMIN ANGELS: Formula is so expensive, and without having access to WIC benefits, folks are going to have to decide what to do in terms of feeding their baby and feeding their family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, SNAP, which provides food help to people in need, serves almost 42 million people in this country, WIC, more than 6 million. And with those programs running out of funds, a lot of state officials are telling people to just buy shelf stable foods or visit the food banks. But food banks, they're in jeopardy too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK LOWRY, DIRECTOR, ORANGE COUNTY FOOD BANK: We have to manage the expectations of 310,000 people start showing up at their local churches and food pantries looking for help. Those organizations, again, will do everything humanly possible, but aren't resourced at the moment to fully meet the needs of those families that will be seeking help from them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Nevertheless, community members are pitching in to help any way they can, like a man collecting commissary gift cards for members of the military.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALE HERRING, BOARD MEMBER, MISSION OUTDOORS: Military members don't get the best of pay, enlisted(ph) especially. Their pay is bare minimum. What makes up for that pay is the added benefits, the extra stuff on base, the discounts that's given, that's provided. Now, during a shutdown, I would imagine that those extra added stuff are nonexistent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Or this pizza shop owner who is collecting donations to give to families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATYN MCCUNE, OWNER, LELULO'S PIZZERIA: You need the help and you have pride, please put it aside because this is like -- I mean, you can literally just come in and quietly say it to one of us, and we'll act like you're just coming in and picking up food and like a normal order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, as the government shutdown wears on, nonprofits are unable to -- many of them access their funding. Federal grants and contracts can make up anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent of nonprofits funding. That's according to the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits.

And several projects across the country are already struggling. Diane Yentel from the National Council of Nonprofits is with us now. Diane, thanks for being with me today. Just drive home the severity of this moment for nonprofits, 20 percent to 50 percent, who is feeling it and where are you seeing it the most?

DIANE YENTEL, PRESIDENT & CEO, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NONPROFITS: Sure, good morning and thanks for having me. So, government shutdowns disrupt the vital work of nonprofits, really preventing them from delivering critical services that communities rely on. And the longer a shutdown lasts, the deeper the harm. There's a cascading effect that happens.

Federal workers are furloughed, so they stop processing payments. And those grants and contracts are funds that nonprofits rely on to be able to do their work. When they're not able to get that funding from the federal government, it's really straining their finances. Some nonprofits are having to consider taking out expensive loans just to be able to make payroll.

They're having to consider shutting down programs -- doors. And of course, all of this most harms people in need. People in our communities without the federal contracts being renewed, without nonprofits receiving the funding they need to provide services people in our communities are going without. And again, the longer the shutdown lasts, the deeper the harm.

BLACKWELL: Yes, listen, we're a week out from the first, and whether or not the President invites Schumer and Jeffries to the White House, the rent is due on the 1st. And so, for the families who are trying to triage, they're going to these nonprofits, federal workers and otherwise look down the road a bit. And what's the impact of this, goes into the first week, second week, deeper into November?

YENTEL: The impact will be much greater, and we'll start seeing some real pain in communities across the country. The upcoming stoppage of food assistance is an example of just how harmful a government shutdown can become, and how difficult it will be for nonprofits to meet really surging demand. Food banks are already under strain because grocery prices have been rising since the start of the government shutdown, furloughed workers are starting to go and rely on food banks more just to be able to feed their families.

[06:35:00]

And now the federal government is saying that they will have to shut down food assistance on November 1st. And as you said earlier, there are tens of millions of people in America who rely on food assistance to feed their families.

If that shuts down, then the surge in demand for food banks, for the nonprofits who run those food banks, will be really overwhelming, and to a degree that they won't be able to meet on their own. Congress, the administration, to sit down and come to a closure of this government shutdown.

BLACKWELL: Diane, we've talked about back pay for the workers once this ends. Once the government is back open, is this immediately fixed? Is the recovery immediate for these nonprofits once there's a deal and there's funding?

YENTEL: It takes time, right? It will take time for furloughed workers to get back, to pick up all of their e-mails and phone calls and contracts that are overdue, and to start signing them and getting them back out again. In the meantime, these nonprofit organizations may have taken out loans and have to pay them back with the contracts that come.

There's a -- there's really a cascading effect that continues to deepen the harm to the nonprofit organizations and to the communities and people that they serve.

BLACKWELL: All right, Diane Yentel, thank you for taking a few minutes to help us understand the nonprofits that we're going to be turning to the impact on those. Thank you. All right, the NBA is at the center of a massive gambling indictment involving the mafia. Next, a look at some of the high tech machines allegedly used to rig poker games.

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[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: All right, we're getting more reactions now from the NBA after the bombshell report an indictment that led to the arrest of 34 people that included current and former players and a coach. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called the scandal deeply disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ADAM SILVER, COMMISSIONER, NBA: My initial reaction was, I was deeply

disturbed. There's nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Portland Trail Blazers' head coach Chauncey Billups, former NBA journeyman Damon Jones and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were all arrested in connection with two separate federal gambling investigations. The probes examined allegations of insider information used to place bets on NBA games and rig underground poker games. CNN's Brynn Gingras has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a cheating scandal that rocked the NBA. And at the core, members of New York City's most notorious crime families.

JESSICA TISCH, POLICE COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY: Bonnano, Gambino, Luchesse and Genovese crime families.

GINGRAS: Spook, Flappy, Juice, The Wrestler, some of the nicknames of men allegedly tied to the scheme, all reminiscent of a scene straight out of Hollywood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Better check.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't rush me, sunshine. And rushing me all -- night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he didn't study this hard in school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cry me a river. It's really beautiful kings.

GINGRAS: La Cosa Nostra is the nickname given to the Italian-American mob, their lore dates back decades to when the families ran criminal enterprises in New York City, often in competition with each other. This court paperwork alleges though, the mob families are not a thing of the past. And for one gambling scheme, they teamed up, adopting new technology to rig poker games, allegedly taking nearly $2 million from a single victim.

TISCH: And when people refused to pay, these defendants did what organized crime has always done, they used threats, they used intimidation, and they used violence.

GINGRAS: As part of the investigation, authorities scanned thousands of hours of surveillance video. At one point, spotting these men, including one dubbed Big Bruce. Court documents show this group already ran illegal gambling operations backed by the Bonanno crime family when they got involved in the poker scheme.

Same goes for a defendant who went by the name Flappy, who, in text messages confirmed his illegal ring was backed by the Gambino crime family. CHRISTOPHER RALA, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE, FBI'S NEW YORK FIELD

OFFICE: This alleged illegal gambling operation hustled unwitting victims out of tens of millions of dollars, and created a financial pipeline for La Cosa Nostra to help fund and facilitate their organized criminal activity.

GINGRAS: Defendant Robert Stroud referred to as Black Rob, allegedly supplied along with other defendants, rigged shuffling machines to the operations.

SAL PLACENTE, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSAL GAME PROTECTION DEVELOPMENT INC.: That shuffle machine is altered to transmit to an earpiece to tell the people who are going to win.

GINGRAS: And in one case, allegedly helped carry out a robbery to steal one. "S getting real in NYC", a text read, after the alleged heist. Federal prosecutors have asked that some of the dozens of defendants be detained on the new charges, citing their mob ties like Angela Ruggiero Jr., a member of the Gambino family who allegedly once boasted in prison about being tight with former boss John Gotti Sr., and that he had shot a man in the chest. Some defendants have entered not guilty pleas, and in some cases have even posted bail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:45:00]

BLACKWELL: Well, last night, the Portland Trail Blazers played without their head coach, and they beat the Golden State Warriors 139 to 119. This morning, 15 million people along the Gulf Coast are under severe storm threats tornadoes, hail, strong winds are all possible. Let's now turn to CNN meteorologist Chris Warren. Busy weekend for you.

CHRIS WARREN, METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, and dangerous thunderstorms ongoing right now, Victor, that's essentially round one before the next round rolls in. Here's where the thunderstorms are right now. Rolling through Houston, stronger than 58-mile per hour winds, also about a quarter of a million in the Houston area without power this morning with these thunderstorms continuing with a lot of lightning, heavy rain, the potential for damaging winds continues and will pick back up later on for Houston.

Also, large hail, a possibility, even tornadoes couldn't rule out a strong tornado or two as well. And that's the threat area for tornadoes going from Houston to New Orleans with the yellow showing just a slightly better chance for some of the stronger storms and that tornado risk. About the timing, here's round one moving through.

This is this evening at 6 O'clock, and you can see the next one going through. This morning seeing a bit of a line of storms, but by this afternoon, these individual thunderstorms, severe thunderstorms, the big storms with their individual -- they have kind of all the ingredients in the atmosphere for themselves, and they can really be nasty. And then overnight lining out, continuing with a damaging wind threat

as well. And on top of all of that, these thunderstorms still tapping into a lot of that moisture coming up from the gulf, able to produce some serious rainfall. And Victor, with that, the potential is there for flash flooding, and it's always dangerous, but especially when it happens during the overnight hours, just that much more.

BLACKWELL: All right, Chris, thank you.

WARREN: Right.

BLACKWELL: Prices rose less than expected last month. Sounds like good news. But annual price hikes on everyday goods just hit their highest point this year. We'll explain what's driving the surge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: The cost of living in the U.S. rose again last month. The September Consumer Price Index report shows that the price for a range of consumer goods rose at the fastest pace so far this year. It's the first major federal economic report released since the government shutdown started. CNN's Matt Egan has more on what's driving higher prices.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER (on camera): Inflation is not nearly as bad as it was a few years ago, but prices, they're still going up uncomfortably fast, and that is making the cost of living even worse. Now, the good news is that consumer prices, they only ticked up by 0.3 percent between August and September.

That's a step in the right direction, and that is better than feared. And yet the annual inflation rate still ticked up to 3 percent, that's the highest annual inflation rate since January. And when you look at the trend, what's notable is that inflation is higher today than it was last Fall. Back when candidate Trump was crisscrossing the country, saying that inflation was out of control.

And inflation is significantly higher than it was back in April when it bottomed out at 2.3 percent. Of course, April is the month that many of the President's tariffs kicked in. Now, what's getting more expensive? Well, one of the drivers in this report was the fact that gasoline prices jumped in September. They're not high, but they did move up last month.

And we have to pay close attention to that because the U.S. just imposed major sanctions on Russian oil companies. But this is not just about gas prices. There's also evidence of tariff-driven price increases. For example, some items that are largely imported into the U.S. got more expensive, including footwear, clothes for men and boys, watches as well.

And then the grocery store aisle, prices for lunch meat surged by just over 4 percent. That's the most on record. And bad news for doughnut lovers, prices for donuts spiked by almost 6 percent in a single month, that's the most since 1999. Now, I love this analysis from Moody's because it does demonstrate how inflation is cumulative, and how there's this snowballing effect from years of high inflation.

Moody's found that due to higher prices, the typical U.S. household had to spend a little over $200 more per month than they did last September to buy the same goods and services. So, it's not that they're buying more necessarily, it's just that they're spending more because of higher prices. And $200 more per month, that's nothing to sneeze at, especially for families that are living paycheck-to- paycheck.

And zooming out, households are spending a little over a $1,000 more per month than back in January of 2021, again, because of higher prices. Bottom line, inflation is not as bad as it was back in 2022, and it's not as bad as some had feared it would get this year because of tariffs. But as those numbers show, inflation doesn't need to be run away for it to still be painful to many families. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Matt, thank you. Tomorrow, discover the breads that bond Sao Paulo on the new episode of the CNN original series, "TONY SHALHOUB BREAKING BREAD", here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Need a bit of salt. Cut.

TONY SHALHOUB, ACTOR: Why do you want to cut away the crust?

[06:55:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they're Japanese style. And look, it's raw inside.

SHALHOUB: Oh --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes --

SHALHOUB: Look at how beautiful the --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

SHALHOUB: Presentation is --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look -- let's try it. It's crazy --

SHALHOUB: There is so much going on in there for crunchy and soft --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And spicy --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And spicy -- SHALHOUB: Spicy and sweet and -- I don't know whether to laugh or

cry.

(LAUGHTER)

SHALHOUB: Honestly --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's crying --

SHALHOUB: This is amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's crying.

SHALHOUB: I cry at everything. All right, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: I don't know if I want something that's so good it'll make you cry. A new episode of "TONY SHALHOUB BREAKING BREAD" premieres tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN. There is much more ahead on the next hour of CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND. The Toronto Blue Jays dominate in game one of the World Series. We're live in Toronto with highlights and reaction.

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