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CNN This Morning

Millions In The U.S. Northeast Brace For A Powerful Storm; Thousands Gather For Pope Leo's Outdoor Mass In Paris; Super El Nino May Trigger Deadly Global Heat Wave; States Can Use Controversial Citizenship Data Tool For Voter Audits; Dems Hoping For Blue Wave With 38 Days Until Midterms. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired September 26, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:00:27]

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN This Morning. Here's what's happening now. Millions in the Northeast are bracing for a serious storm through the weekend. Strong winds, soaking rain, coastal flooding, all of it in the forecast. We are live on the Jersey Shore.

Plus, a sobering new report on the impact of El Nino. Why experts are warning nearly half a million people across the world could lose their lives by February.

Also this morning, we're counting down to the midterm elections with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. He will join us live to talk about the Democrats chances to take the House.

Plus, react to the new rulings from the Supreme Court that could have an impact. And later, the pope is in Paris and so is CNN. We'll get a live report on his historic visit to France ahead.

It is Saturday, September 26th. Thanks for joining us. Victor Blackwell is off today. I'm Isabel Rosales in Atlanta.

Happening now, high tide is causing concern in the Northeast as more than 40 million people brace for the worst of an intensifying nor'easter. The rare September storm has gained strength, threatening heavy rain, coastal flooding and strong wind gusts.

Rough waters are lashing the shores of this Long Island, New York community as the storm takes aim with brute force. We are already seeing flooded streets in Norfolk, Virginia, ahead of the Northeastern. Forecasts project peak impact from the storm today. So a number of big events have been canceled, as you can imagine. That includes the annual Global Citizens Festival in New York. Ed Sheeran's concert at Gillette Stadium, all three days of the All Things Go Music Festival and the AC/DC concert at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

CNN's Danny Freeman is out there right now in Jersey Shore. Danny, now the sun is up. What are you seeing? DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Isabel. So the sun is up now and that high tide, as you noted, is coming in now because it's 8:00 a.m. and that's the thing that has so many concerns all across the Eastern coast, especially here on the Jersey Shore. So we're here in Atlantic City right now. The good news is that I was just speaking with some of the city officials just to see what they were experiencing overnight.

The good news is that they said there were no water rescues necessary overnight or as they've come to this morning. But again, this is really what is so concerning to so many officials. It's this intense waves and tides that have been coming in. And 8:00 a.m. is when they were expecting that high tide.

And in this area of Jersey, as this water comes on in, we were expecting to see higher tides than really Jersey has seen in quite some time as my photographer Josh here gets wet here.

Now, the issue, Isabel, is that when these tides come in, a lot of the low lying areas, a lot of streets that are prone to flooding, that's what gets flooded out here. We have heard that there have been streets flooded in areas like Long Beach Island here in Atlantic City as well. But again, so far no life threatening flooding has been reported at this time.

But again, there are states of emergencies all across the coastal counties of the Jersey shore, of course, in New York as well, and then Boston, they're going to see part of the storm. They're going to get some of the brunt of it as the day goes on. Conditions here very, very interesting right now. It's raining only a little bit, but Isabel, again, the wind continues to pick up and again, the threat of this coastal flooding still very, very much in play here.

I want you to take a listen, though, to how one of the emergency officials that we spoke to yesterday is thinking about the risk of this high tide happening right now. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: How concerning is it that the forecasts are calling for even more potential floodwater come tomorrow morning?

MICHAEL FAMULARO, ATLANTIC CITY DEPUTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR: It is very concerning. It's just going to be more water in the streets. I mean, we're still not calling for any evacuations because we think the houses, if you're in your house, you're going to be safe. The problems are there will be water on the streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: And again, Isabel, that's really the thing that so many emergency officials are emphasizing. You will likely see flooding, especially on parts of the Jersey shore, especially in some of these flood prone areas. But as long as you stay in your home and also do not try to drive through the flooded areas, the hope is that you can stay safe as this nor'easter continues to batter parts of the East Coast, Isabel.

[08:05:09]

ROSALES: It's so easy to get deceived by just the beauty of the coastline there. But it's important to note, as you've said, that, you know, this is serious business. So stay safe out there, Danny, you and your photojournalists. And do not fall in that water. Thank you.

All right, CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is standing by with more on our team coverage. It's been, you know, a slow sleepy season in the Atlantic, but now we have this thing going on.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

ROSALES: What can people expect?

CHINCHAR: Yes, I mean, completely different from a tropical system, but the impacts are still going to be the same. You're going to have those gusty winds which could lead to power outages. You're going to have a surge of water coming through. You're going to have heavy rainfall. So all of these components here are going to be a factor as we head in through the weekend.

So you can see where the rain bands are now and some of them are heavy at times. We kind of zoom in and get a little bit closer. You've actually got some pretty heavy rain up around Albany, in and around New York, spreading into areas of New Jersey. And that's going to be the case as we go through the rest of the day today.

These are the areas that have the highest risk of that excessive rainfall. So that flooding. And again, you can see it's numerous states here. And it's not just today. We fast forward into tomorrow. Notice it's very many of the same areas that you're seeing on the map today. So much of the Northeast, especially right there along the coast.

But even as we go into Monday, while it does shift a little bit farther north, the focus becoming Massachusetts and Maine, you're still going to have that multi day factor here because this system is just moving so incredibly slow.

Here you can see again as we go through about late morning, right around lunchtime, you've got very heavy rain starting to spread into Massachusetts, Rhode Island. You still also have very heavy rain for New Jersey, portions of Pennsylvania. But notice now we push it into later into the evening, it doesn't move all that much. Even as we head into Monday or Sunday, it still doesn't move all that much.

Again, that's going to be the big reason why we anticipate having such flooding potential because this system is just moving so slow. You have those winds that are basically taking all of that water that's coming in not just from above, although there's going to be plenty of that 4 to 6 inches of rainfall expected in some of these places.

That's a month's worth of rain for some spots in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. But you also have all of that water coming in from the front, coming in from the ocean. All of those winds are going to spread it inland. The other key thing to note too is that the high tide, which is occurring right now in most of these areas, this is astronomically high tides.

And they would be that way whether this nor'easter was here or not, because today is the full moon. So now you have what would normally be really, really high water levels. Now we're adding a storm on top of it to make them even higher. So that's why there is such a widespread risk of the coastal flooding for so many of these places, just because everything has kind of lined up perfectly in that sense.

ROSALES: And all the worst ways.

CHINCHAR: Yes.

ROSALES: High tide from the moon, the full moon --

CHINCHAR: Yes.

ROSALES: -- 4 to 6 inches of rain, a month's worth of rain all at once. Wow. Allison Chinchar, thank you.

Now to more of this morning's headlines. CNN and the White House Press Corps are facing a new challenge from the Trump administration. The White House says it is barring CNN from flying on Air Force One in the coming hours when President Trump heads to Tennessee for a college football game.

Now, CNN was scheduled to serve as a TV pool for the trip. And since no outlet was listed as a replacement for CNN, there will be no television pool coverage of the president.

On Thursday, a judge blocked the administration from enforcing a ban that prevented CNN, MS NOW and Politico from reporting from the White House grounds.

A massive data breach at the Pentagon is raising serious national security concerns. Listen to this. CNN has learned that unauthorized users gained access to the names, Social Security numbers and other personal information for Department of Justice employees last October.

But the Pentagon didn't discover the breach until July of this year. The Military Times reports that at least 4 million people may have been affected.

And former college football and NFL star player Tim Tebow is suspending ties with a Life Surge, a Christian organization. The group hires religious minded celebrities to pitch impact classes that can cost as much as $40,000. Investigations by the podcast Pablo Torre found finds out. And Mother Jones reported allegations that Life Surge exploited followers with predatory sales tactics.

According to the podcast, Life Surge has denied all wrongdoing. Tebow says his team will do its own investigation.

Pope Leo is in Paris for his four day trip to France. Today's Mass is expected to be the biggest event of his tour, with more than 600,000 people registered to attend. CNN's Melissa Bell is there with more. Melissa.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Isabel, the crowds out here all along the place of really quite extraordinary.

[08:10:00]

And I've been watching them sort of gather and grow over the course of the morning. Children, families, many of them standing and they have been for several hours. And this huge crowd goes all the way up the Champs Elysees towards the Pope Mobile even now preparing to bring Pope Leo the 14th down the Champs Elysees.

He's currently around the Arc de Triomphe there and will be making his way here through those huge crowds to hold this Mass. The main part, the big part really of this Paris leg of the visit at least, and what we've seen even over the course of yesterday was a great deal of enthusiasm from Parisians, in fact, people who come from all over France just in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Pope.

Now, this is a country that's better known really, Isabel, for its secularism. And yet what we have had in France over the course of the last few years is more and more baptisms, many young people turning to Catholicism.

And that's something that Pope Leo spoke to certainly here, a great deal of fervor all around the Concord and all the way up the Champs Elysees to hope to see and certainly hear Pope Leo's mass this afternoon here in Paris. Isabel.

ROSALES: We're looking at live images right now, Melissa, and you can tell all the excitement. You mentioned that France is known for being more secular. But wow, look at these crowds, just incredible to look at that. Melissa, thank you.

Well, still ahead as a hurricane skirts Hawaii, there's a dire warning about the El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific.

And the Supreme Court steps into the high stakes battle over congressional maps, dealing a blow to President Trump and the GOP. We have the latest on the midterm shakeup from Washington.

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[08:16:30]

ROSALES: Happening now, Hurricane Nolo appears to be steering south of Hawaii, which is great news. But the storm is still expected to bring light to heavy rain to parts of the island this weekend. We'll continue to keep a close eye on its track as it continues to move across the Pacific.

Fueling storms in the Pacific is a weather phenomenon known as El Nino. And researchers are warning about the potential impact of a super El Nino on communities across the globe. Researchers estimate the extra heat linked to this year's El Nino could contribute to more than 450,000 additional heat related deaths by early next year. They say for a planet that's already warming, the heat is being magnified with some of the biggest impacts expected in the world's most vulnerable communities.

Joining me now is Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, Associate Professor of Professional Practice in Climate at Columbia University. Jeff, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate your insight with all of this. Talk to us about an El Nino.

How common is it? How often does that happen? And what is it that has scientists so concerned?

JEFFREY SCHLEGELMILCH, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN CLIMATE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Yes, so I come at this more from the impact lens and the disaster lens, but have a lot of great friends who study this for a living. And so we do see this periodically, every number of years. But what's really sort of different about this is that it's just far, far worse, far early on than anything we've seen since modern record keeping began really more than 50 years ago. And so there's a lot that we know from prior El Ninos, but also a lot that's unprecedented.

We're already seeing impacts in some areas that are getting drier, that are getting hotter. We're seeing crop failures and corn and beans in Central America. We're seeing the extreme rainfall like we're seeing in some of these weather reports. But this is only just the beginning and there are a lot of impacts come.

ROSALES: Heat, extreme rainfall, crops failing. What does that actually mean for the people on the ground who are having to be affected by this?

SCHLEGELMILCH: Yes, I mean, one of the things that we're seeing now, the flooding events, the extreme rainfall, are things that are very acute and very visual. Right. We can see impacts to infrastructure, houses being swept away, really, the disruption of lives and livelihoods and the economies that surround that in other areas that will see less rainfall, where we're seeing that drought and that crop failures, that's where we actually see some of the most severe consequences.

We see severe food insecurity for hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of people around the world as a result of potential crop failures as well as in addition to those communities being affected, all of us seeing higher food prices, higher commodity prices as a result of that. And as there's pressure on other areas to produce to make up that shortfall.

ROSALES: Meaning even if you're not in one of these vulnerable communities firsthand, being impacted because of how globalized agricultural is, you're still going to see impacts.

SCHLEGELMILCH: Absolutely. And we also see impacts even outside of just agriculture. You know, we're in a globally connected global supply chain, often on just in time supply chains, which means disruption to shipping lanes, droughts in the Panama Canal, making it harder to get ships through. Things like this also sort of disrupt all aspects of our lives.

And so we're seeing the early effects of this now, but we do expect to see this accelerating through the fall and into the spring and summer of next year. And again, some of this we can infer from prior El Nino's and get a rough sense of what's going on. But we also have to keep a close eye on the weather reports and the seasonal forecast because there is a lot of this that just doesn't have precedent.

[08:20:03]

ROSALES: Yes, it seems difficult and nuanced to forecast for something like this. And when we talk about a super El Nino, are there specific communities or regions that are especially vulnerable right now and what makes them more at risk than others?

SCHLEGELMILCH: Yes, absolutely. And so we do some see some areas that are just meteorologically more at risk. They're hotter, they're drier. When we look at the Horn of Africa and sub Saharan Africa, Central and South America, certainly parts of the U.S. but then we also have to look at the underlying vulnerability of the region itself.

Right. You know, in my field, hazard exposure has very little to do with risk. It has a lot more to do with vulnerability and capacity to cope. You know, in the U.S., in Europe, in areas with more advanced disaster management system, more money to be able to put into responding and recovery, there's a lot more to work with and very fragile ecosystems.

Flooding events in Somalia, destroying crops, there's not a lot of room to have failure. And so the consequences are much larger and much more widespread. So it's a combination of both where these events are hitting, but also what is the ability of the region or the country or the community to actually absorb that. And unfortunately, like in so many cases, the most vulnerable continue to be the most vulnerable.

ROSALES: And for people living in those places expected to see the biggest impacts, what, if anything, can they do about this or do to prepare?

SCHLEGELMILCH: So this is actually the good news with El Nino forecasting is we actually have these seasonal forecasts, weeks, sometimes months in advance. And so there are things that can be done, things like the World Food Program, releasing anticipatory finance to farming communities so that they could change what they're planting for the season or otherwise make adjustments to be able to prepare for this, to be able to move in and actually build, you know, I saw videos of people building these stone walls based on prior flooding in Somalia.

So when we have a couple of weeks and even a couple of months, there a lot of things that we can do if there are resources available for doing this, which is why I think really sort of the broader conversation around disaster funding, both domestically and with the demise of USAID, it's also adding more pressure to this internationally because the funds that can be used to prevent this are also under increasing pressure.

ROSALES: Hey, it's a nuanced conversation. It can be complicated at times, but it's so important. Really appreciate you coming on the show and talking to us about this, Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, thank you so much for your time.

SCHLEGELMILCH: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

ROSALES: Thanks. And we're around five weeks away from the midterms. How are Democrats feeling about their chances? House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will join us to talk more about that and more. That's ahead.

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[08:27:05]

ROSALES: Welcome back. In 38 days, Americans head to the polls to make their voices heard in the midterm elections. And the Supreme Court just handed President Trump a big win in his quest to root out noncitizen voters, despite little evidence that it occurs in a widespread way.

The justices ruled on Friday that states can use SAVE, a controversial citizenship data collection tool for reviewing voter rolls. But the opinion made it clear the program can only be used for individualized checks of a person's citizenship and not for mass purges.

Meanwhile, for the third time, the Supreme Court has blocked a congressional map in Missouri that was designed to net Republicans another seat in the House. Let's go to D.C. and CNN's chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju. He has a special guest this morning.

Manu, good morning.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning to you. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who wants to be the next speaker of the House. He is joining me live now to talk about the midterm elections 38 days away. Mr. Jeffries, good morning to you and thanks for being here.

As you know, Cook Political Report is now predicting that Democrats will take the House in November. You've actually been saying that for months, making that, that prediction. So right now, what are you exactly predicting? Are you, do you anticipate a Democratic wave or a narrow victory?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, we're going to work as hard as we can to get to 218 and then win as many seats on top of that as possible because we're focused on fighting for an affordable America. Life is way too expensive, Manu. Here in the United States of America, there are too many people. Millions of folks working hard, playing by the rules can't thrive and can barely survive.

The Republican economic policies have been a disaster. They promised to lower costs on day one. Costs haven't gone down, they've gone up. Democrats are determined to do something about that.

RAJU: Mr. Leader, are you worried about the amount of GOP spending that is coming in late from Trump's outside organization and GOP outside groups? They are really bombarding the airwaves and they're dwarfing Democrats by nearly 200 million doll in house and Senate races. How concerned are you about that?

JEFFRIES: Well, we always understood that MAGA Republicans were going to try to unload as much of their special interest money as possible. This is part of the problem with why Republicans have failed. They're not interested in promoting the public interest. They haven't done a damn thing to make life more affordable for the American people.

Instead, they, they spent all their time raising money from their MAGA big donors, who they rewarded with a massive tax break in the one big ugly bill, while at the same time ripping Medicaid, health care and nutritional assistance away from the American people. We're going to stay focused, continue to communicate our message.

[08:30:00]

We know the most important issues in this election are not going to be about MAGA money. It's going to be about the economy, the high cost of living and combating inflation, which Donald Trump and Republican economic policies have dramatically worsened in this country.

RAJU: Mr. Leader, let's talk about the generic ballot. The CNN poll from this week has Democrats with an eight-point advantage when voters are asked which party should control Congress. But in 2018, that's when Democrats had picked up 41 seats. At this time, Democrats had a 12 point advantage in the generic ballot.

And given how bad the environment is for Republicans, why aren't Democrats holding an even bigger advantage now?

JEFFRIES: Well, a plus 8 advantage is incredibly strong and we're going to continue to run through the finish line. And Remember, Manu, in 2018, we needed to flip 24 seats. We were at 194. We needed to get to 218. Right now we're at 215. It's one of the reasons why Republicans are running scared all across the country because we only need to flip a handful of seats to take back control of the majority. And that's exactly what we're going to do, at minimum.

RAJU: But does the fact that your advantage isn't even higher have anything to do with your own approval ratings, Mr. Leader? I mean, in that same poll, the approval of Democratic leaders is abysmal. It stands at 26 percent and that is just two points better than GOP leaders.

So why are the approval ratings of Democratic leaders still so low?

JEFFRIES: Well, we're not running a popularity contest. We're working hard to run Republicans out of power because they've done so much damage to the American people. And the American people clearly deserve better. They clearly deserve party --

RAJU: But do you think --

JEFFRIES: -- House Democrats, which are going to focus on making life better for the American people, those are the stakes at this moment.

RAJU: But do you think the public is not sold yet on Democrats leading Congress?

JEFFRIES: Well, I think that -- we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now we have to accomplish the mission. And the mission is to make sure that we take back control of the House, which we've maintained we were on track to do now for months. In fact, we were very confident about our ability to change direction in January of 2025 and began to say so publicly.

And we've had two goals. Push back against the Republican extremism that has been unleashed on the American people and chart a better course forward so that the American people actually can live a comfortable life, an affordable life, and a good life.

RAJU: I want to drill down to one critical district that you know very well. New York's 17th congressional district. That's where incumbent Republican Mike Lawler, one of the top Democratic targets in the country. He's one of three Republicans who sit in districts that Kamala Harris won last cycle.

You need to flip that seat. And just last week, a member of your caucus, Jared Golden, a Democrat of Maine, issued an endorsement of Lawler. Are you okay with that?

JEFFRIES: Well, I issued a statement making clear that I thought the endorsement effort by Mike Lawler was a desperate attempt to head off what's coming on November 3rd, which, which is that Kate Connally, a decorated combat veteran, a patriotic hero, is about to flip that seat.

In fact, I was with Kate last evening. I'll be spending some time with her in the district at some point soon. We're all in to make sure that she wins. Mike Lawler is an unmitigated fraud. He voted to cut Medicaid of his own constituents. He's consistently voted to rubber stamp Donald Trump's reckless.

RAJU: But what about the fact that you have a member of your caucus endorsement.

JEFFRIES: The skyrocketed gas prices.

RAJU: You have a member of your caucus.

JEFFRIES: You have to talk to -- well, you have to talk to Jared Golden about that. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats leadership, the members of the New York congressional delegation, across the ideological spectrum, we all stand behind Kate Connally. And mark my words, she's going to win.

RAJU: OK. I want to ask you about something many people saw last night when watching the Northwestern Indiana college football game. There's a taxpayer funded ad from the White House. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing was going to stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Mr. Leader, the administration says that these are public service announcements with the goal of educating Americans and to ensure they are unapologetically patriotic. Any issue with that?

JEFFRIES: Well, these aren't public service announcements. These are ads designed to elevate Donald Trump because he has record low approval ratings across the board. Certainly the American people are disgusted with the performance of Donald Trump and Republicans in the House who are nothing more than reckless rubber stamps for his extreme agenda.

[08:35:00]

And this is another example of how taxpayer dollars are being misused by the Trump cartel to try to elevate themselves or enrich themselves, their family members, their friends and their donors, as opposed to actually doing what Democrats will be focused on, which is spending taxpayer dollars to make life more affordable for hardworking American taxpayers.

RAJU: Trump is also saying that he wants this election to be about him. He said vote like on the ballot. He has suggested he could be in a few dozen battleground districts as well. Is that -- do you want Trump on the campaign trail?

JEFFRIES: Yes. And the reality is Donald Trump is effectively on the ballot. His failed economic policies are on the ballot. The Trump tariffs, which have increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year. On the ballot, his one big ugly bill that ripped Medicaid away from about 14 million Americans. That's on the ballot. The Epstein cover up is on the ballot. The failure of this administration to actually keep its promise not to start wars in the Middle East, but to stop them is on the ballot because they turned around and did the exact opposite with the reckless war of choice in Iran.

So certainly Republican policies are on the ballot. The Democratic vision to make life more affordable for the American people, that's on the ballot as well.

RAJU: Mr. Leader, I do want to ask you about the Wall Street Journal. It's reporting that President Trump has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the midterm election. So if you become speaker, will you vow to end the Iran war?

JEFFRIES: Absolutely. In fact, we've made that clear. We've now successfully on the House floor passed three different war powers resolutions to end this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran. RAJU: You cut off that funding?

JEFFRIES: That shouldn't best interests of the American people. Well, listen, we'll deal with the appropriations process when we deal with the appropriations process. Right now, the mechanism that is in front of us will be to aggressively move war powers resolutions until we end this war in the best interest of the American people.

RAJU: All right, we're going to have to leave it there. Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you so much for joining me this morning. Really appreciate it.

JEFFRIES: Thank you, Manu.

Absolutely. Isabel, back to you.

ROSALES: Hey, that was a lot money you spoke about. Key races, 30 days out to the midterms, the GOP dwarfing Democrats and ad spend. And Leader Jeffries there, we heard him hammering about the economy and affordability. There's a lot to break down.

Manu, stick around right after this break. We're going to dig into the main parts.

Plus, we are watching a powerful nor'easter threatening millions along the East Coast. Allison Chinchar has another check of your forecasts.

And if you're heading out, remember, you can stream our show from anywhere in the U.S. right from the CNN app. You can also go to CNN.com/watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:42:42]

ROSALES: Welcome back. Moments ago we heard from house Democratic leader minority leader Hakeem Jeffries on a wide range of issues. CNN's Manu Raju is back with us. Manu, wow, you ran the gambit there with all sorts of topics and subjects.

He seemed really confident that they can win. But a question here is how much of a majority too? What do you tell?

RAJU: Yes, that's actually really an interesting point because we've seen past wave elections which Democrats or Republicans when they've won they've won dozens and dozens and dozens of seats. But Jeffries is very, very careful not to go too far. He thinks that they are going to win the House.

He's been saying that for months. And obviously the environment is very much favoring them right now. But there are just so few battleground, true battleground districts at play this election cycle due to all the gerrymandering that we take place. So he is careful to go too far, because we could -- there's a very decent possibility that Democrats retake the House, but they have a narrow, very tight Democratic majority, and it'll be difficult for Democrats to govern. Right now, he just wants to get to 218. But, Isabel, there are a lot

of issues that they have to confront in order to get to that 218 number.

ROSALES: And we've got to talk about the Money, because the GOP is outspending Democrats. I think $200 million in those critical days leading up to the midterms, and we're right around the corner from that. What did he tell you about ad spend?

RAJU: Yes, it's clearly a concern of theirs. He tried to downplay the amount of Republican money coming in because he says that they are right on the issues and the messaging of affordability and the like. But there is a lot of nervousness within Democratic circles, as you can see on that screen there, the amount of money that is coming in late here, the Republicans are just swamping the airways. And House races, Senate races, they were bolstered by a Supreme Court decision that allowed outside groups, party committees, to essentially coordinate money with candidates themselves.

That was a huge advantage for Republicans late in the game here, and they are taking full advantage of that. Plus Trump's outside organization putting a lot of money in there. And there's also the question about Democrats, their own approval ratings, Isabel, they are down. They are in the dumps, just like the Republican ratings are that hurt them going in.

The interesting thing he told me there is that this is not a popularity contest.

[08:45:00]

So the voters may not like either party, but very much Jefferies wants to make this a referendum on Trump himself and is very happy to say that Trump is on the ballot here because he thinks that this focus on Trump, that'll be enough for them to win back the majority as well.

ROSALES: Yes, that was notable, him saying, I want President Trump on the ballot, throwing his own words back at him. And he also spoke about the war in Iran. What did he say there?

RAJU: Yes, because there's been a lot of questions about how they will deal with this, how if they do take back power, if they do take back both chambers of Congress. I want to get him directly on will he vow to end the Iran war if he becomes the next speaker of the House. He said yes, he was very definitive about that. But the mechanism of doing that is a little more complicated.

He thinks -- he said they'll pass war powers resolutions to check the president's power. We've seen them do that already in the United States House just this past week that died in the United States Senate. If we were to pass the Senate, that is still a symbolic resolution.

Does actually force the president to do one thing or the other. The one thing they do have, though, Isabel, is the power of the purse. They can cut off funding. I tried to press him on that. He said, we'll worry about the appropriations process when we get there. But very clearly that's a big issue. They're campaigning on Iran, another issue they think that can bring them back into the majority. Isabel.

ROSALES: Manu Raju, always asking the tough questions. Thank you very much.

RAJU: Thank you.

ROSALES: And be sure to catch Manu on Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. We're also, by the way, keeping an eye on that powerful nor'easter along the East Coast. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is back.

How's it looking?

CHINCHAR: Pretty much the same, because again, we talked about this. The storm isn't moving all that fast, and that means it's just going to keep hitting the same areas over and over again. So you have a lot of heavy rain bands starting to really creep into some areas. You've got a few clusters up around Albany.

You also have some of that spreading into areas of New Jersey and New York right now. That's just going to continue throughout much of the day. So when you look at the potential for flooding today, this is where the greatest exists. You can see essentially from far eastern Maryland all the way up to that very southern tip in Maine.

That's where you're going to have the best potential for all of that water to kind of surge into these areas. We fast forward into Sunday. It's many of the exact same places you saw on the map for today. And then by the time we get to Monday, it does shift a little bit farther to the north.

But again, a place like Boston in it for the next three days. So today, tomorrow and into Monday, you're looking at that flooding potential because of just how slow this system is moving. You can kind of see the swirl as we get to around lunchtime today. You've got very heavy rain bands up around Boston, Providence into Hartford, but you also still have some heavy bands across New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

By the time we get towards tonight, again, notice it's many of the same places because that swirl is moving. It's just not making much forward progression that we would really like to see with a storm like this. Then by the time we get to Sunday yet again, many of the same places, Boston all the way down through areas of like New York, Newark, those kind of areas. Still looking at the very heavy rain.

About 4 to 6 inches of rainfall is expected in these areas as we go through the first half of the day on Monday, which could lead to those flooding.

ROSALES: Still an incredible data point right there and just sluggishly moving along.

CHINCHAR: Yes. ROSALES: Allison, thank you. Well, still ahead, college football got off to an explosive start this week with Indiana outlasting Northwestern. Carolyn Manno has your sports after the break.

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[08:52:41]

ROSALES: Welcome back. A big night for college football, including a close one for Indiana. CNN's Carolyn Manno joins me now. Hi Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Good morning Isabel and everybody at home. This was a valiant effort for the Hoosiers in their Big Ten opener last night. Indiana kept their momentum rolling with this hard fought win over Northwestern at home. The Hoosier starting running back Turbo Richard left the game with a right lower leg injury in the first half and did not return.

So in his place, Lee Beebe Jr. completely took over the game by tearing through the Wildcats defense for 203 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. This was not an easy game for the Hoosiers though. Northwestern quarterback Aiden Childs kept things interesting with nearly 300 passing yards and two scores, but Indiana's defense stepping up in crucial moments, sacking him four times to seal the win and escape with a 29-23 victory.

Elsewhere, Clemson hit the road and secured a solid 24-10 win over Cal. The offense powered by running back Gideon Davidson who put on a Show rushing for 159 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, including a massive 75 yard burst. Even though the Tigers leaned on their ground game and dealt with a couple of turnovers, their defense really locked down when it mattered most in this game, intercepting two passes, shutting down Cal's offense to comfortably steal a road win here, 24- 10 the final.

And in baseball, the Phillies are down to the wire in the final weekend of the regular season, trying to officially lock up the National League's final wild card spot. This has been a bit of a freefall for Philadelphia lately their bats have gone ice cold. Last night they dropped their third straight potential playoff clinching game with a 2 nothing loss to Tampa.

They've scored only two runs over their last 27 innings and they have a two game cushion over there. Arizona right now, but Arizona kind of breathing down their necks a bit, so they're going to need to finish strong or have some help over these final games to officially punch their postseason ticket.

In the meantime, baseball's postseason will start with a classic rivalry, the Yankees hosting the Red Sox in the best of three wildcard series starting Tuesday with the winner advancing to face Tampa Bay in the Division Series at the teams meeting for the seventh time in the postseason and they are nodded at three apiece all time in postseason matchups.

So if you're in the rain Isabel, you got nothing to do today. Plenty of sports to watch. Just get cozy on the couch and get ready for baseball's postseason.

ROSALES: And hey, as a person who married somebody who was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area.

[08:55:02]

He it is an exciting time. And he would say to any of those two teams, bring it on. Carolyn Manno, thank you and thank you for joining us this morning. Victor Blackwell and First of All will be back next weekend and I'll be back here tomorrow starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. Smerconish is up next.

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