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POTUS Holds Rally In Florida Ahead Of Midterm Elections; Obama Hits Campaign Trail In Final Days Before Midterms; At Least 8 people Killed In Shooting At Church In Jordan; U.S. Orders Diplomats To Depart Saudi Arabia Amid Houthi Strikes; Thousands Protest Against Far-Right National Rally Congress In France; Records Outline Legal History Of Amy Acton's Estranged Mother. Court Documents Reveal Troubled Past of Amy Acton's Estranged Mother; AI Hacks Flood and Overwhelm the Internet; Officials in New Mexico Evacuate Residents Due to Flooding. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired October 24, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:25]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN This Morning. Here's what you need to know today. 10 days now from Election Day, both parties bringing out the superstars.

Both President Trump and former President Obama will be on the campaign trail this weekend. The key races and issues shaping these final days are ahead.

The U.S. is quietly moving diplomats out of several Middle Eastern countries as fears of regional escalations grow. New this morning, the unclassified memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio laying out the threats to Americans in the region.

Also happening now, police in France are preparing for another round of massive protests, how they're hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that happened across the country last weekend.

And for the first time, we're hearing from the man who stopped the Bend, Oregon school shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started hearing children pleading for their lives and then I started hearing gunfire and I just started army crawling faster and faster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: What he saw when he entered the school and the heartbreaking phone call he made to his mother afterwards. It's all coming up this hour on CNN This Morning.

Good morning. It's Saturday, October 24th. Thanks for joining us. I'm Victor Blackwell.

Final sprint now. We're just 10 days away from Election Day in America. This morning, President Trump and the first lady will head to the polls to cast their ballot early in Palm Beach County, Florida. So far, more than 23 million ballots have been cast in early voting across the country. From Florida, the president will head straight to Perry, Georgia, to rally voters in a contentious Senate and governor's race there. And on Friday, Trump took to the trail to reliably red southwest Florida.

And he blasted Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon, called her a Marxist maniac. He also went after the former Republican turned Democrat David Jolly, who's running against the GOP's Byron Donalds in a competitive governor's race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We also need to defeat the radical left Democrat candidate for governor, David Jolly. So I never told -- I never told Byron this, but I knew Jolly. I knew him as a Republican. I knew him and used to be a Republican. And he was thrown out of the party like a dog. We threw him the hell out. He was terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Adam Cancryn has more from the rally in Fort Myers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM CANCRYN, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, oil prices have been the dominant political story now in the days leading up to the midterms. And frankly, they've been the dominant political story for the last eight months since the U.S. attacked Iran and started this war that has now dragged on with no real end that we can see in sight.

And you can see the political damage here now, both in the polling and in voters frustration with the rising cost of both gasoline and everything else that relies on oil, whether it's diesel, whether it's just basic everyday goods that people are seeing prices go up. And we've also seen it politically, just the fact that President Donald Trump has had to come here to southwest Florida, which is typically a reliably Republican district in Florida, a reliably Republican state.

Now, 11 days before the midterms, he's having to come here, try to juice turnout, convince Republicans that she should come out in a few days and vote down ballot congressional Republicans in and prevent Democrats from taking back both the House and the Senate. It's a real illustration of the uphill battle that Republicans and Trump are seeing.

He's going to keep doing this right through the end of the tape. He's traveling near daily, but again, not to a bunch of swing districts, not to a bunch of states with toss up seats. This is real dominant Trump country, that he really just needs his MAGA voters to come out and vote. That's the main challenge here for the White House at this point. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Adam, thank you. Now, President Obama is going to be in Michigan today. He's going to be in Ohio as well. Key battlegrounds that could decide the control of the Senate.

He starts in Cleveland alongside former Senator Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton, the Democrat running against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for governor. And then he heads to Detroit to rally voters for Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed in high stakes clash against Republican Mike Rogers.

[06:05:06]

Now, the former president's presence in Detroit, a city that is three quarters black, aims to energize crucial voters in the state that is vital to control the Senate. El-Sayed is campaigning with Obama and it came as a surprise to some, as many pointed out his past criticisms of President Obama. Here's how he responded to those questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D) MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: I deeply appreciate what he made possible for somebody like me. And at the same time, I had criticisms. There were things that I looked at, I said, I wish we could do that differently. And you know what I'm trying to do now? I'm trying to pick up the baton and run. Right.

And that's not because of any animosity for him. It's actually out of a deep love for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Coming up later this hour, we will talk with a political reporter in Michigan about this really crucial senate race between El- Sayed and Rogers. That's coming up in about 15 minutes. So stay with us for that.

Headlines for you. Now this morning, the Trump Justice Department is taking preemptive legal action in a Senate race that could help decide the control of the chamber.

The Department of Justice is suing to potentially block Alaska from certifying the election if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses. They're arguing that another candidate on the ballot with nearly the same name could confuse voters. The President Trump says that he ordered that challenge.

A man in Georgia is facing federal charges after allegedly he threw a Molotov cocktail at an ice building in downtown Atlanta. Prosecutors say security Cameras captured this 31-year-old lighting that item and throwing it toward the building. This was Tuesday night. It hit a fence, started some flames there. The suspect was later arrested and now he faces attempted arson and property damage charges.

There's a suspect in custody after a fire at Eagle's Nest, the historic mountain retreat in Bavaria used During World War II by Nazi officials, including Adolf Hitler. A police are investigating how the suspect might be connected to the fire. No one was hurt. The retreat is now owned by the state of Bavaria and is classified as a historical monument.

Police are patrolling outside a church in Jordan this morning, a day after a man opened fire during a funeral service there. At least eight people were killed. Dozens more were wounded. The attackers are still on the run. And Jordan's king is vowing a harsh response to what he called a terrorist act.

Now this comes as the State Department quietly removes staffers and their families from across parts of the Middle East. A new memo warns Iran has stepped up efforts to target U.S. personnel with some plots now considered to be in advanced stages. CNN's Oren Liebermann is with us now.

Oren, what do you know?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, sources with whom CNN has spoken have described this as a frustrating and chaotic deja vu. Why deja vu? Well, many diplomats and their family members were moved out of the Middle East at the beginning of the Iran war in late February and early March. They were moved out for months because of concerns over their safety and the fact that Iran carried out attacks across the Middle East, including targeting U.S. facilities personnel.

They spent months out of the Middle East and in some cases only recently came back. And now, according to sources with whom CNN has spoken, they are being moved once again.

It was earlier this week that the embassy in Saudi Arabia and facilities there were moved to order departure. That was stated publicly because of the threat of Houthi attacks. The Iran-backed rebel group have attacked not only Saudi oil infrastructure but also major airports as well. And that has led to ongoing fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.

But it's just in Saudi where we're seeing the U.S. move embassy staff in countries like Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. According to sources who have spoken with CNN, the U.S. State Department has quietly moved embassy staff out of those facilities.

That as the U.S. State Department is warning of the potential for escalation with Iran. Look at the language in this October 23rd memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It warns that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel and that Iran has plotting efforts that have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries. President Donald Trump has warned that he may renew strikes on Iran.

Meanwhile, Israel has plans on the table to renew strikes against Iran. It's unclear if this could happen before Israel's election in a few days or before the midterms or whether it's more likely to happen after the midterms. Regardless, the U.S. is well aware of the potential for a larger regional escalation here.

There has never been a clear end of the war between the U.S. and Iran. There was a memorandum of understanding that collapsed.

[06:10:02]

And now we're at this uncertain stage here where we're seeing the possibility for escalation. And that likely is what's precipitating the quiet move of some diplomats and their family members away from the Middle East once again.

BLACKWELL: All right. Oren Liebermann reporting from Jerusalem. Thanks so much.

Ahead on CNN this morning, France is bracing for more violent protests with authorities now launching a massive security operation to keep it under control. We're live in Paris with an update.

Plus, gas prices for drivers in Michigan shot up more than 30 cents per gallon in a week. How this has now become the center of Michigan politics. That's ahead of the midterms.

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[06:15:21]

BLACKWELL: Happening now in France, anti-far right protests. Demonstrators are gathering in the city of Orleans as the National Rally Party opens its annual congress. The demonstrations are expected to grow throughout the weekend and authorities are taking no chances. 70,000 police officers are being deployed across the country after the violent unrest last weekend. Two people were killed and dozens were injured then.

French officials are expecting thousands of people at rallies, including a major march planned today in Paris. CNN's Melissa Bell is with me now. Melissa, it is still early there before the start of some of these protests, but what are you seeing and what's expected?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned, for now, the crowds that we're seeing are over in Orleans. It's a couple of hours to the south of Paris by car, Victor. That is where the National Rally is launching its presidential campaign -- that presidential campaign race rather just six months away.

Now the far right is poised to win their highest in the polls. They're launching this congress and this presidential campaign amidst a great deal of tension with lots of counter protests, lots of protests against the Iran being held there in Orleans. Those are some of the crowds that you're seeing this hour.

Elsewhere for now, things are pretty calm. That's partly, Victor, because the authorities have held curfews in a number of French cities over the course of the last few days because a number of the protests and the rallies and the gatherings that had been planned have been banned. So determined are they to avoid a repeat of some of those scenes that we saw last week.

Now still, we've been wandering around Paris. There are lots of shopkeepers really boarding up their shops in anticipation of what they expect later today and the government's warning. We've been seeing the interior minister out and about this Saturday, visiting policemen who are positioned in strategic parts of the city.

Remember, this is a man who resigned last week. His resignation was not accepted by the president. Given that chaos, he has been warning the interior minister that they believe that there will be more efforts this Saturday by far left groups to seek incidents as they describe them, with police, in repeats of some of those clashes we saw last week that caused so much of the damage. The official march that has been allowed here in Paris is the one led by the unions.

It's due to leave here from the Porte d'Italie, which is very much on the periphery of Paris. It had been due to happen in central Paris at the very last minute. That was banned by authorities and despite a judicial appeal, it is from here on the outskirts of Paris, following a sort of periphery road around Paris and very not at all centrally, not at all where these marches tend to happen that the march will take place, the one that's been officially allowed, that will be led by the union.

Still, they are bracing for more trouble today because as I mentioned, those groups that made so much of that anger plain last week are determined, they say, to do that once again this Saturday despite, as you mentioned, Victor, that police presence, it is substantial, some 70,000 policemen, Gendarmerie, member of the military that are out on the streets of France and again, a number of the protests that have been planned in many of the cities simply banned. Victor.

BLACKWELL: A destructive weekend last weekend. We'll see what happens today. Melissa Bell for us there, thanks so much.

All right. In Michigan, today is the first day of early in person voting and Democrats are calling in their closer. Former president Barack Obama hits the trail for Abdul El-Sayed after a fiery debate showdown with Mike Rogers. We'll talk Michigan politics next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:19]

BLACKWELL: Today, former President Barack Obama will appear with Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit. Now this rally is happening as early in-person voting begins in Michigan. Former President Obama's spokesperson said he will lay out the stakes of the race. Gas prices are one of the chief issues for Michiganders.

According to AAA, the average price of regular unleaded gas in Michigan was 4.52 a week ago. Yesterday it was 4.77. Today it's up to 4.84.7 cents overnight. That's a 32 cent jump in one week.

With us now to discuss, Lauren Gibbons. She is senior Capitol reporter at Bridge Michigan. Lauren, good morning to you. Let's start with the Obama appearance.

This is his first day out in person at these rallies of this cycle. He's going to Ohio first, then to Michigan. What is the political potency for El-Sayed to have Obama on stage with him 10 days out there in Detroit.

LAUREN GIBBONS, SENIOR CAPITOL REPORTER, BRIDGE MICHIGAN: Good morning. Thanks for having me. That is a very potent appearance by President Obama for Abdul El-Sayed. Abdul El-Sayed really during the primary did not perform as well as his primary opponent in Detroit, particularly with African American voters.

President Barack Obama does perform well and still remains popular with this key voting demographic for Democrats. So this appearance is a pretty big gift for Abdul El-Sayed and other Democrats hoping to drive turnout among this base.

[06:25:00]

Republican Mike Rogers, has also been attempting to make inroads with this heavily Democratic area or to, you know, discourage people from turning out to vote because of concerns with Abdul El-Sayed. So, I think this appearance in particular is pretty important for Democrats.

BLACKWELL: So let's talk about Mike Rogers, the president -- President Trump is coming to Michigan tomorrow. What's the potency or maybe risk for Mike Rogers having President Trump come tomorrow and stand on stage with him?

GIBBONS: I think the risk there is that the Trump administration's policies aren't particularly popular in Michigan right now. As you mentioned at the top of the show, gas prices are soaring, the economy is not doing great for a lot of these average Michigan voters who are going to be asked to turn out and support the Republican base.

It typically Trump voters with Trump not on the top of the ticket may be less inclined to vote. So I think Mike Rogers does need to keep Republicans in the fold, so cannot anger Trump voters by any means by completely disavowing him.

But you have heard him distance himself from a lot of Trump's more controversial policies in Michigan, such as the Iran war and tariffs that have especially the ones between Canada, which is a key trading partner with Michigan.

BLACKWELL: Let's put that back up. The most important issues to voters there. This is a survey from CNN from last month. If you look at the numbers, the cost of living, the economy, 47% of respondents said that was the top issue, half that at the state of the democracy at 24 percent.

Everything else is in single digits. And so when gas prices go up 32 cents in a week there in Michigan, talk about how that's shaping the race and the discussion there about the candidates.

GIBBONS: I think the key point is that voters already have their absentee ballots. In a lot of cases, early voting starts today. They're voting now and they're pretty upset with these high gas prices in particular. But that's not the only affordability issue affecting Michiganders right now.

I think affordability in health care is one that Abdul El-Sayed particular has tried to exploit. Mike Rogers too has talked a lot about high prescription drug costs, affordability and groceries, affordability across the board, really. But those gas prices have really made a big difference in a lot of cases, you know, exacerbates a lot of the other issues that voters are experiencing already. So I think they're pretty important and could definitely play a role in this election.

BLACKWELL: El-Sayed campaign released a new ad, let's play part of it. And some of these faces are familiar to people who watch conservative news watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EL-SAYED: Don't want to take my word for it. How about some folks you know a little bit better?

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HSOT: You got to respect Abdul because he beat the machine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's very charismatic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Campaign now it's America First.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Abdul El-Sayed, who by the way, was captain of his high school football team, Mike Rogers wants to pick a fight with him about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a good looking guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a great speaker.

TUCKER CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: I wouldn't vote for Mike Rogers at gunpoint.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And the campaign says that they're putting six figures behind that to air it only on Fox and Newsmax. So obviously playing to conservatives, how robust is the El-Sayed pitch to conservative voters in the state? Beyond the ad.

GIBBONS: Abdul El-Sayed is really making the case to conservative voters that he is the one who can address some of these issues and is speaking directly to them. He has made appearances in the Upper Peninsula, rural Michigan areas that are not necessarily considered Democratic hotspots by any means.

So, I think if he makes any inroads in this arena among disaffected voters who may not be happy with the government or believe the government hasn't delivered on promises offered by President Trump, even if that's a couple percentage points and a race this close, it might make a difference.

BLACKWELL: All right, Lauren Gibbons, senior Capitol reporter at Bridge Michigan, thanks so much. There are disturbing new details this morning about Donna Arthur. She's the estranged mother of Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton. Arthur was used in a controversial GOP attack ad targeting her daughter.

CNN has obtained new court documents revealing a past conviction for cruelty to animals as well as multiple fraud charges. Acton is in a tight race with Republican billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, who paid for the ad and refuses to pull it. Here's CNN's Brian Todd with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have new information from court documents which shed more light on the troubled past of Amy Acton's biological mother.

[06:30:05]

Court documents from a case in Pennsylvania in the Spring and Summer of 2021 say that Donna Arthur was found guilty of neglect of animals.

News reports from that time, which cited court documents, say that Arthur was arrested after four-five-day old kittens were found locked in her, quote, "filthy vehicle with the windows rolled up and the temperatures inside reaching about 120 degrees".

The report says, a Humane Society police officer who responded to the call described feeling a quote, "wave of heat release when he opened the door", and they say a staffer at a local animal rescue nonprofit testified that one of the kittens later died from heat exhaustion.

Donna Arthur, at the time disputed that the car was dangerously hot, she was given a fine and sentenced to probation. Arthur appealed the conviction, which was later vacated we should say, because of a procedural error.

But the appellate court did not overturn the conviction on its merits. CNN has also obtained court documents regarding the alleged rape of Amy Acton by her stepfather. One document from July 1978 says Amy Acton's biological father, lodged a formal complaint then against the stepfather, alleging that the stepfather engaged in, quote, "sexual conduct with someone who was less than 13 years old."

The documents say the stepfather pleaded not guilty to rape charges on July 18th, 1978. They indicate that he was indicted by a grand jury in September of 1978, but that the following month, October of that year, he vanished and became a fugitive.

The stepfather never stood trial. He died in 2004. We also have documents from three fraud cases involving Donna Arthur. She was charged with fraud three times in Pennsylvania. In July 1995, January 1996 and March 1996. She pleaded guilty in the 1995 case and was found guilty in the January 1996 case.

In that last case, though, in March of 1996, she was declared a fugitive. CNN has attempted several times to reach Donna Arthur for comment on these matters, we have not been able to get a response. And there is also new sound resurfacing of Donna Arthur saying in a 2020 interview that Acton's stepfather was accused of rape by another child, his own daughter.

Donna Arthur gave that interview to the extremist anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. In it, she indicated that one of the stepfather's biological daughters had accused him of rape. Here's a clip from that interview.

DONNA ARTHUR, AMY ACTON'S MOTHER: Him and his wife were divorced, and his oldest daughter lived with him, and he was -- he always made her do her homework, do this and that, and she wanted to run around. She had accused him of rape and -- but that was dropped too, because it never happened.

TODD: It never happened is presumably what she says there. The audio drops out there at the end of that Operation Rescue interview. CNN has reached out to Donna Arthur for comment on the audio. She has not responded. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Brian, thanks. Next, we're hearing from the man who took down the Oregon school shooter. What he told police dispatchers when he saw the shooter enter that school.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLUB GIAMANCO, KILLED SILVER RAIL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTER: She was asking me, oh, do I know the person? All these things. And I said, I'm sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That's the man who shot and killed the Oregon school shooter recalling his conversation with police dispatch moments before he went in. Three students and a teacher died before he took matters into his own hands. Here's CNN's Leigh Waldman with more of his interview with "Oregon Public Broadcasting".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): For the very first time, we're hearing from the hero father who stepped in and stopped a shooting at a Bend, Oregon, elementary school. Kaylub Giamanco had dropped off his own daughters at Silver Rail Elementary that morning for picture day, and was driving past the school a few hours later at lunchtime, and that's when he saw a man going towards the school with a gun.

He made a split-second decision, reached for his own gun that was in the console of his truck. He called 9-1-1, told them, I'm sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die. Take a listen to how he describes those moments in a sit-down interview for the very first time with "Oregon Public Broadcasting".

GIAMANCO: The gunman had thrown his rifle up and over the fence, and that's when panic fled into my brain. And I was just -- that's when I opened my center console and I just said, no, and I grabbed my gun and I put the magazine in it and I racked the action, and then I proceeded into the parking lot.

And I saw him walking all the way across the school, and I just was in full panic, like, no, there's children. There's babies in there.

WALDMAN: And he said a series of seemingly insignificant decisions led him to that moment, calling his wife, asking for her to have lunch ready, that's why he was driving by that school. Immediately after the shooting, he called his wife back, let her know what happened, and then he called his mother. Listen to how he describes that heartbreaking call.

[06:40:00]

GIAMANCO: I called my mom and I told her -- you know, I called her and I was like, mom, I just had to take the life of what I think might be a child because he went in to my daughters' school with a gun, and, you know, she was just like, OK, baby, calm down.

You know, you did the right thing. You're a hero. You saved lives, and then I just kind of broke down at that point. And I was just like, you know, I didn't save everybody. I didn't -- I didn't get them all. And I kind of just broke at that point.

WALDMAN: You can hear in his voice the guilt that he is wrestling with a week later that he wasn't able to save everyone. He said he's still dealing with the aftermath of that shooting, saying that when his family goes to sleep at night, he stays awake reliving those moments, seeing those children, hearing their screams from that day. It's absolutely gut-wrenching.

He says he also still thinks about that 16-year-old gunman who he stopped in and shot and killed that day to stop the killing. He said, quote, "I want to believe that if he had more love in his life and better parenting, that this could have been prevented."

He also is battling with that hero narrative that's been put on him, saying that the true hero in all of this was this unknown teacher, this unnamed teacher who was wrestling with the gunman, putting herself between the children, the babies, as he refers to them in her classroom, unarmed and that gunman himself.

He said that's what gave him the opportunity to step in and truly save lives that day. Leigh Waldman, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Leigh, thank you for that report. Advances in A.I. They're making it much easier for hackers to break into websites, corporate networks, your personal devices. A simple mistake or careless password can trigger a massive cyber-attack from criminals using Next Generation AI-powered hacking tools and malware.

CNN's Hadas Gold has more on protecting your platforms, your identity, and your devices.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's important to know that this vulnerability that was discovered is not a data breach or a major hacking incident. It is an architectural flaw impacting the backbone of the internet.

It's like discovering that the concrete used in all of our bank vaults actually has a weakness that can be exploited by burglars. So, it's really on the website operators and the system operators to patch this vulnerability so that we won't be impacted by it.

But it's always a good time to work on your own cyber hygiene and making sure that you are protecting yourself as much as possible. So, the number one thing to remember is to update all of your software on all of your devices, even your, you know, smart speakers and smart fridges and whatever else you may have.

Because all of these patches that they will be incorporating will then filter down to you and your devices. The second is also to watch where you browse, make sure that the URL that you're going to is the place you actually want to go to. It's not some misspelling.

Stay -- stick to trusted, well-known websites, especially right now, where all of these smaller websites, smaller companies, it might take them a bit longer to implement this patch for this vulnerability that was found. When it comes to your passwords, everyone should know this by now, but do not reuse your passwords.

Do not use simple passwords. And really, you should be using some sort of password manager, which comes up with very complicated passwords for you, remembers them for you, so you don't have to keep typing in that long list of numbers and letters. Google, Apple, offer all of these.

There's also services like One Password that you can use that do this for you. You can also start using a Passkey. This is something that, for example, Apple offers where it will use either a PIN or your face scan or your fingerprint in place of typing in a password.

Again, a lot of these are already offered on your devices from companies like Apple and Google and others. Also, any place that offers two-factor authentication, that means that you type in your password, and then you also get sent a code, or you pull up a code from somewhere else, and you type that in, utilize that. That is another layer of protection. And cybersecurity experts even say that it's best if you can actually

go beyond the text message or the call code and use an authenticator app. These are offered from places like Google, Apple has one as well, where they will generate these codes for you and you type them in.

But even just getting a text message code is better than nothing. Always monitor your important accounts and put alerts on for those accounts. You can also freeze your credit report, and this is another one, we have seen lately an increase of hackers using A.I. to mimic people's real voices to try and get sensitive information out of you.

[06:45:00]

We've all done it. You forget your credit card account number, you forget a password, you call a loved one, and you ask them for that information. But hackers are starting to mimic people's voices to try and get that sensitive information for themselves.

So, one thing you can do is call that person back and make sure they are who they say they are. But you can also create a family password. This is something that you can use when you just want to make sure that the person that you're talking to is actually who they say they are.

Obviously, you can use a password that will be not only easy to remember, but something that will not be easily guessed. But as always, it's a good time to make sure that your cyber hygiene is as clean and as protected as possible. Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Hadas, thank you. There are flood threats on the east and west coasts. People in New Mexico are being forced out of their homes because of the rising waters. Allison has your forecast next. And the "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" crew is never shy about roasting the week's biggest --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Later this morning, President Trump and the first lady are expected to cast their ballots for the Midterms in Palm Beach County, Florida. After voting, the President will travel to Perry, Georgia, where he'll speak at a Midterm rally.

A busy day on the campaign trail today for former President Barack Obama. He headlines a rally in Cleveland this morning for Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton. Ohio has become more reliably Republican in recent years, but it's a contested battleground this year.

Mr. Obama will also campaign in Michigan today to support Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. This event kicks off early voting in Michigan. Obama is also scheduled to headline a rally in Georgia next week for Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff. Well, now to this flooding emergency in northern New Mexico, at least

60 people have been rescued in San Juan County. Rivers there have overflowed their banks, people are being ordered to evacuate because there could be more rain coming.

Now, this latest system could also bring damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. A separate flood threat will be impacting parts of the East Coast this weekend. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins me now. High tides along the coast are helping to ramp this flood threat up, and maybe more records coming.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

CHINCHAR: They've already set record king tides just the last two days. We are expecting to potentially break those records going for at least the next three days, because it's kind of lining up. You've got the full moon coming up.

You also have all of this water that's going to be pushed in from the contraction of both what we've got the high-pressure system here, and a low pressure that's going to develop just off the coast of Florida. In between, you're going to get incredibly strong winds, and that's going to push a lot of that water inland up and down the East Coast here of the southeastern region.

In addition to that, you also have the rain. Again, take a look now. Most of this rain is really going to start to ramp up overnight tonight, and especially into Sunday, but it's going to continue into Monday and Tuesday as well.

So, you not only have the flood threat from the rain that's coming down, but all of that water that's going to be pushed in and it's because of this wind. Again, very gusty winds expected to ride basically from the Carolinas down through the Atlantic side of the Florida coast.

You're talking wind-gusts up around 30 to even 40 miles per hour. It's pushing all of that water inland. So, you have these coastal flood alerts again from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, down through Florida. You have all of these areas that are looking at these flood alerts.

Keep in mind, these are not just for today. Many of these areas are going to keep these flood alerts well into Monday and potentially even Tuesday. So, this is going to be a prolonged flooding event for a lot of these coastal regions.

Now, we also have the addition of the rainfall that we talked about. You also have the separate system out to the west, again not just today, but also into Sunday for areas of the west.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison Chinchar, I know you'll be watching it. Thanks so much. In Mexico, government health programs often fail to provide wheelchairs or prosthetics for people living with amputations or other disabilities.

Kiko Trujillo is an engineer, and he made it his life's mission to empower people through mobility and employment and hope. And for him, it's not just his life's work. It is also personal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIKO TRUJILLO, INDUSTRIAL ENGINEER & FOUNDER, ARIZONA SONORA BORDER PROJECTS FOR INCLUSION: If someone is amputated, they have two choices go home or go out in the streets and beg. And the same goes for kids that are born with a neuromuscular disability that require a customized wheelchair. We need to help them. (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Nobody walks out of here without what they need.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

TRUJILLO: I've been living on the border for many years. I come from a family of 11 brothers and sisters. One of my brothers was born without his left hand. I took on industrial engineering, but I wanted to do something for my community.

I got a phone call from Dr. Duncan(ph), he's a pediatrician. He said, I'd like to help people with disabilities. My brother came to my mind at that time. He's just a very resourceful guy. Kiko knows everybody in Nogales. We're a village, and everyone is kind of contributing to make things happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[06:55:00]

TRUJILLO: We hire folks with the same disability that the devices they're going to be building. The person that makes prosthesis, he wears a prosthesis. Once we receive people that have lost a limb, they're devastated. They're depressed.

When they talk to a guy that makes the prosthesis, and he lost his leg, they'll listen. Close to 3,500 people with disabilities have benefited from our program. We're located right next to the border. We have been able to involve all sectors of the society on both sides and work towards helping people overcome the barriers that they face. We are changing the lives of not just the patient, but the entire family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: For the full story about Kiko and his important work, go to CNNheroes.com.

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