Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Hurricane About To Make Landfall As Winds Pummel Gulf; Protests In NYC After ICE Shoots At Man With Child In Car; Trump: "Absolutely" Approved Execution To Be Livestreamed. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 09, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:20]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, bracing for impact. Hurricane Isaias about to slam into the Gulf Coast with wind gusts of up to 150 miles an hour. Conditions are rapidly deteriorating and we are live along the Gulf as the storm is about to make landfall.
Also breaking tonight, protesters on the streets in New York after an ICE-involved shooting. A New York Democratic socialist who's made headlines across the country shoved to the ground, now calling for ICE to be abolished. She's our guest.
Live streaming a public execution. President Trump just weighing in on Pete Hegseth's plan to let Americans watch a firing squad execution online. Trump talking about who actually approved the idea.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. It's closing in. Hurricane Isaias, the first Atlantic storm to hit the United States in two years, is about to make landfall. Some of the most powerful winds hitting this hour.
Let's just show you these live images. You can see this is in Pensacola Beach in Florida. And you can see the wind there with those palms.
Isaias now racing towards land faster than most landfalls that they're accustomed to in this area. So, let's show you some new video of the massive waves that are pushed by those winds, and you can see the power there.
The storm is about to hammer the Florida Panhandle and Alabama with a life-threatening storm surge of flooding and damaging winds of 115 miles an hour. Conditions right now are getting worse by the moment.
Now, nearly 100,000 people already have lost power, and officials are telling residents that it is time now to hunker down. Too dangerous to evacuate, although they had tried to evacuate as many people as possible.
And I want to show you some pictures live on Earth Cam. We'll show you those. In Florida, 11,000 people were told to get out of town and parts of Alabama. Now there's a curfew for anyone still there.
And making matters worse, there are fears that this monster storm could spawn destructive tornadoes. So, on that front, there are now watches and warnings now posted in dozens of counties. And to give you a look at just how powerful the storm is, we'll show you these new images from the Gulf. I mean, you could see almost the camera going up and down there because you're far out here. So, you could see waves like this when you're nowhere near shore tearing through the surf.
Waves now more than 32 feet high. So just to look at that for one more moment, 32 feet. And we'll show you now what the storm looks like from just above the eye. Hurricane force winds now stretch as far as 35 miles out from that center in the eye.
Let's go to Isabel Rosales to begin our coverage. She is OUTFRONT live in Alabama.
Rafael Romo is in Pensacola Beach, Florida.
So we're going to be speaking to both of you here as you're both now in the midst of it.
Rafael, I'll start with you. How is it on the ground right now?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, the wind is really pummeling us right now, Erin. In the last few hours, we would get waves of rain and wind one after the other. But now, the winds are sustained and they're really hitting us in the face right now. The rain is coming to us sideways, and it stings your face when it hits you.
Let me show you these trees behind these palm trees behind me just to give you an idea how powerful the winds are. Also, if you take look at the other side, those trees on the other side -- if this is only the beginning Erin I'm not sure that those trees are going to be standing by the morning.
And then the other thing that we can see here where we are is that the winds are picking up the water from the ocean. At this point, the winds are blowing out into the ocean and so that's going to change in the next few hours.
Now I have to say Erin, I have some good news to report and one of them is that so far, the power seems to be working. So far, communication seems to be working. But I don't know what's going to happen in the next few hours.
The other thing that I wanted to tell you is that it seems like people have really listened to authorities, and we don't see anybody here where we are. People are hunkering down, and this is the time, Erin, for real, to be hunkering down.
All in all, this is a very powerful hurricane that's about to make history here in Florida. Now back to you.
BURNETT: And I don't know how well you can hear me, Rafael. I see being pushed back there. I mean, could you just describe those winds you're already feeling a little bit more. I mean, I could see them pushing you back.
ROMO: Yeah, the biggest change from a few hours ago is that now they are sustained.
[19:05:00]
They're coming in hard. pummeling you. They're not stopping. We would have a strong wave earlier and then it would stop, and go and stop.
Now, it's just nonstop and we've seen parts of trees, branches being flown away. Very hard for me to see where the camera is at this point because the rain is hitting me in the face. But again, so far, so good given the circumstances, the infrastructure in the area is holding strong so far.
BURNETT: All right, Rafael, we're going to be checking back in with you. And as you can see, Rafael and his team there obviously need to maybe get out of that wind spot that they're in right now, even unable to stand.
Rafael, please stay safe. We're going to check back in with you and your team.
Let's go to Isabel Rosales now. She's in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Isabel, we can see what Rafael is enduring right now. What are you seeing?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, I'm west to Rafael's location in Pensacola Beach here in Gulf Shores is coastal community nearby Mobile, Alabama, and the gusts are also out of control here and only expected to get worse. So, right now, these gusts are just coming in spontaneously at about 56 miles per hour according to our meteorologist and they're only going to get OK. They're only going to get worse. They're looking at 60, 70, topping off at 80 miles per hour.
Over where Rafael is at, that's going to hit triple digits. They're thinking.
But look at this as we push into the Gulf. You can see just the power of these winds of these outer bands of Isaias expected to make landfall around 10:00 p.m. Eastern today.
Look at that and talking about storm surge. This wind is now coming in at Northeast, so it's actually pushing this water back. But once that eye wall is past us, that's that water and the change of direction of the wind. It's -- we're going to see those the storm surge moving in onto and land.
It's not just the Gulf. Look at here. You can see this better visually. Look at the pool at this hotel we're staying at. Look at that. Just the power of this wind and incredible.
This is enough 50, even 56 miles per hour. This is enough to topple trees to send debris flying construction sites and power outages as well. Right now, we just checked in the state of Alabama, over 70,000 people without power. They're trying to keep people safe.
They've implemented a curfew here that sentence is start in the next hour or so. Officials are saying the time of preparation that's done and over with, hunker down. Ride out the storm. Stay off the roadways because eventually here and we're going to reach a point where even the first responders for their safety have to be pulled off. They will not be able to answer emergency calls, so don't put yourself in an unsafe situation.
And of course, we're going to keep monitoring this as these gusts continue to get worse.
BURNETT: Yeah, and I mean just looking as you were showing us that that hotel pool and I could see the lounge chairs that they've pushed them in, but obviously things like that can list up and sort of, you know, become essentially flying missiles as can everything. What do you see there?
ROSALES: Right, right. So, they've strapped down all of these umbrellas. I mean, take a look at that. Imagine that impaling someone, right? How dangerous are these chairs just flying off with these gusts? That's a no go.
So, for the past two days, they've been taking over 400 of these chaise lounge chairs and taping them down.
Over here, I want to show you this. How deceiving this can be. Look at that rainbow. My goodness. Look at how beautiful that is. This is an area that's so usually busy with tourists.
And if we actually push in that direction, wow, we're getting our first glimpse of the sun in hours. Can you see that way? The wind is making it hard for the photojournalists here.
Looks can be deceiving. We are not out of the woods. These winds are just going to get more dangerous, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Isabel. That rainbow, really powerful thing to see.
We're going to check back in with Isabel, check back in with Rafael.
I want to go now to renowned storm chaser Mike Boylan of the popular Mike's Weather Page website.
He's OUTFRONT now. He's been covering hurricanes for more than two decades. He's been through six major hurricanes in the very truck that you are in right now, and you're in Navarre Beach, Florida.
So, Mike, I guess let's just start with, you know, we just saw the gusts already in Pensacola, Florida, and also in Alabama. What's it like where you are?
MIKE BOYLAN, STORM CHASER: Oh, it's intense, Erin. We -- you know, we're probably right where the eye is going to be crossing us here in Navarre, which is close to Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach.
And being that it's still two hours away, it's incredible. I mean, I've been in a lot of major hurricanes. This one's still got pressure at 958, it just lowered a little bit. This was not supposed to be this strong of a storm.
[19:10:01]
So, it's definitely packing more punch than anybody expected here. And, you know, I'm a little concerned a lot of local --
BURNETT: Lost you for a second there, but I think we have you back, Mike, because I can now hear. OK, so when you talk about it was 958 in terms of pressure and you weren't expecting it to be this strong, what now worries you the most given the delta between expectations and what you're experiencing?
BOYLAN: Yeah, exactly, the storm surge. Storm surge is the big pillar with storms, 90 percent all hurricane does is the water. I'm hoping the folks that were in evacuation areas, evacuated if they were told to do so. And just these winds -- I mean, these winds are combining with the jet stream.
There's a lot of, so I think we're going to have greater winds than many folks expected and power outages, I'm afraid, are going to be really in the hundreds of thousands as this thing goes up towards Alabama.
BURNETT: You know, gosh, any history buffs will think back to Hurricane Isaac, right, hit Galveston so long ago, but so destructive. I know that the hurricane's name to you means something, Isaias. What's the significance of it?
BOYLAN: Well, it was actually the first storm I really chased in Florida, and here we are six years later. It's ironic and one thing that stood out for me is the sunset last night. It was captured all over the Internet and there's this weird phenomenon that I've noticed. It seems like the day before hurricane, you have the most brightest oranges, pinkish sunset last night. So, yeah, fast forward out.
I mean, every storm is different, Erin, you know, they all bring different impacts. We don't know what this storm is going to do, but I think the winds to me right now are so intense. And this thing's still two hours away. I think we're going to see a lot of damage when the sun comes up in the morning. A lot of power lines are going to be on the ground. And I think there's going to be some postal issues, especially with folks that didn't listen to the evacuation orders.
BURNETT: Yeah. Well, Mike, we'll be checking back in with you. Please stay safe. And thank you very much.
I want to go to Jamie Rhome OUTFRONT now, the deputy director of the National Hurricane Center.
And Jamie, just hearing what Mike is talking about, the sustained winds, it's feeling stronger than he had anticipated. And obviously, our reporters are really being hit with some very serious sustained winds on the coast as well. What are you seeing in terms of how close we are to the hurricane making landfall with those winds already in place?
JAMIE RHOME, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NOAA'S NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Yeah. We're probably a couple of hours away. In fact, we've gone ahead and issued in partnership with our local offices at the National Weather Service. what we call an excessive wind warning, that this is issued when landfall is imminent of a major hurricane. It's sort of analogous to a tornado warning in terms of the response.
What this means is that everybody should get into their safe place, their shelter and stay there for the duration of the storm. This means that the core of a powerful hurricane is imminent and you're going to start to see the damage and destruction. go uphill really rapidly over the next hour or two.
BURNETT: Mike was talking about concern over storm surge, especially given what they're seeing with the winds right now. When you look at the hurricane, Jamie, what stands out to you the most right now?
RHOME: So you're going to get that six to nine-foot storm surge that we were predicting a near and to the east of where the center makes landfall. It won't be just in the eyewall because the storm is getting larger, as it approaches land and the size of the storm is often as important or more important than the intensity, especially for storm surge. So as this storm broadens out as it makes landfall, you're going to see this wide swath of significant damage from storm surge, potentially six to nine feet of storm surge.
Now to put that in perspective, I stand six feet tall, so that means a water over the top of my head so you can see why the local emergency managers called all those evacuations yesterday and why so many people rightfully fled the path of this particular storm.
BURNETT: Yeah, absolutely and sounded like where our reporters were that it was very quiet, hopefully people have left.
Jamie, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
And we're going to keep monitoring this breaking news. A storm chaser who is in the midst of the extremely dangerous and damaging hurricane force winds is standing by as we watch this hour. Also, protests are growing in New York City as I speak after an ICE-related shooting in the Bronx as we have new video tonight of what happened just before shots were fired.
And Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico back on the campaign trail tonight after 12 days away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:19:07]
BURNETT: Breaking news, these are protests from just a couple moments ago in New York following the first ICE shooting in New York City in Trump's immigration blitz. The man shot, Oscar Belgal, was wounded in the neck after ICE said agents fired at his vehicle. They say Belgal weaponized his car, driving it towards the officers. Now we've got new video released by the NYPD which shows the moment two plainclothes ICE officers approached Belgal's car and fire after he appears to actually try driving away from them.
Belgal is from the Dominican Republic, and he was inside the vehicle with his five-year-old son. Now police body camera video after the shooting shows a man in a construction vest holding a semi-automatic rifle and wearing an ICE badge around his neck.
Let's go to Shimon Prokupecz live OUTFRONT now he's with protesters in Manhattan. Obviously, the shooting was in the Bronx.
Shimon, what more are you learning about the shooting?
[19:20:01]
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so we're here, Erin, in Manhattan because that's where the ICE offices are. We actually were just in Foley Square where there have been so many protests the last couple of years over ICE enforcement. They have now moved over to this area outside another ICE office of Homeland Security on Varick Street.
I want to show you some of the people out here. Steve, let's show Erin. I mean, we're seeing thousands of people out here.
Many of the people out here from the immigrant community out here speaking out, talking about see, you're seeing little kids here as well, just talking about the fear that they're facing and really demanding that this city fight back. They want the mayor to do everything he's been doing, but now they're also calling for the police commissioner to be fired. They are concerned that the Police Department is somehow complicit, despite the fact that we have now today, as you mentioned, it is the that is releasing all this video, trying to put out as much information as possible to show what happened here.
In that video that the NYPD released that was taken from a pole camera, NYPD video showing the moments, the moments right before the shooting. The shooting itself was not captured on any of that video that the NYPD released, but it shows how two officers, at least two of the ICE officers, rushing up towards the vehicle as the man inside, Oscar Belgal was sitting in the driver's seat backing up and then as he saw the ICE officers approaching with their guns out, he tries to flee and the Department of Homeland Security say that is at that moment that he's weaponizing his vehicle.
And already, they have basically said this shooting has been justified, that their officers were facing a threat and that is why their officers opened fire. However, the Bronx District Attorney's Office which is where this happened is investigating. Today, they put out a statement saying that they are going to conduct an investigation and in fact, we are already seeing some action from the Bronx D.A. because they have two of their investigators out in the community today trying to talk to potential witnesses trying to find other video. So that could be certainly an interesting moment if the Bronx District Attorney's office tries to take any kind of other action.
The other thing, you know, the NYPD, they have released all of their information. The FBI is also investigating. They were on scene last night collecting evidence. But as far as the Department of Homeland Security is concerned, this shooting at this point was justified.
But of course, many in the community have heard that before, and that's not stopping them from fighting back. They want accountability. They want answers. And they want independent investigations, Erin.
All right, Shimon, thank you very much. Shimon's going to bring us more. Obviously, those protests are growing.
I want to go OUTFRONT now to Darializa Avila Chevalier. She's a Democratic socialist who beat a four-term incumbent to win the Democratic nomination for New York's 13th Congressional District, which is where the shooting took place. She was pushed to the ground by a New York City police officer at an anti-ICE protest last night after the shooting, as you can see in this video here that we are showing.
During that protest, she called for ICE's abolishment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARIALIZA AVILA CHEVALIER (D), CANDIDATE FOR U.S. HOUSE IN NEW YORK: We are going to abolish ICE, and we're going to take that to the federal level, and we're going to do that in Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And she is with me now.
Darializa, I appreciate your time. So, I want to talk about ICE. I want to talk about the shooting. I want to begin with the video, though, that I just show. It captures the chaos of that moment in the Bronx last night. People are pushing. People are shoving. Some police officers are pushed to the ground, and then you are shoved to the pavement by a police officer.
So, can you tell me exactly what happened in that moment?
CHEVALIER: Yeah, first of all, thank you so much for having me.
This was obviously a very tragic series of events that happened last night. And I'm glad that the media is reporting on this because these types of injustices only come to pass because they believe that people are not paying attention. So thank you so much for addressing this.
But, you know, at that point in the evening, we had already, left the scene where the incident had occurred, where Oscar Belgal had been shot, where, so many families were traumatized by the incident with ICE and we were outside of the hospital standing with protesters.
And before I even arrived, I could see from a distance that there was police already pushing people aside to make room for a law enforcement vehicle that was unmarked. The only reason I knew it was a law enforcement vehicle was because of the lights that these NYPD officers were pushing people aside to make way for that vehicle.
I don't know who was in that vehicle, I don't know whether it was ICE or whether Oscar himself was in that vehicle. But what I do know was what I saw and the kind of conduct that I saw the NYPD engaging in.
[19:25:02]
When I was trying to deescalate the situation as police were putting up barricades, which were completely unnecessary, you know, they were pushing people to make space for the barricades and we're getting in tug of wars with people, escalating the situation every moment.
And when I would try to reason with them to, you know, deescalate the situation, to create a safer space for people to express their rightful outrage at what was happening, you know, they continued to just simply escalate to the point where you know myself and others were pushed to the ground,, and it was just a very -- all around concerning situation.
And for me, as someone who is not new to protest, as someone who is not new to this kind of chaos, this was particularly alarming. I have never been thrown to the ground. I have been arrested three times in protest, and now once have I been slammed to the ground by a police officer.
BURNETT: I want to ask you about the NYPD in a moment because I know you're making a very significant call on that. But first, I want to ask you about Oscar Belgal. He's the one, of course, who was shot here.
DHS says that he has gang ties, two prior arrests on guns and weapons charges, that he was allegedly part of an investigation into a shooting of a Customs and Border Protection officer.
Now, you know, again, this is what they're saying, so you could take issue with it if you know more, but do you think a person has that kind of criminal history, if that indeed ends up being the case, is a legitimate target for law enforcement to remove from the country if he's a non-citizen?
CHEVALIER: That is an issue of the criminal courts, right? If we have a criminal justice system in this country and it does not make sense to me that we would subject somebody to the double jeopardy of being tried by our criminal courts and then again subjected to the cruelty of what we just saw yesterday by another law enforcement agency like ICE.
The additional punishment being here, of course, deportation, permanent separation from your family. His child, his five-year-old son was in that car. What that tells me is that these ICE officers did not care about the impact that this would have on our community.
This was in broad daylight, at a time where people were leaving their jobs to come home. They were leaving school to come home, and they were -- everybody in the vicinity was endangered by the shooting.
BURNETT: It was about 4:30 in the afternoon.
CHEVALIER: The fact that ICE agents -- it was, yeah, it was at four -- just a little bit after four in the afternoon. And the fact that this happened in broad daylight, they were neighbors who were looking down at the scene who were telling us exactly what happened.
Meanwhile, NYPD officers would not answer any questions of any of the elected officials who were there. We were grilling them. We wanted answers because the people who voted for us to be in office, right, were demanding answers. And we were just trying to provide that to our community.
BURNETT: So --
CHEVALIER: As I was leaving that area, I would see, I saw HSI agents, the Homeland Security Investigation agents, then going into residential buildings and talking, trying to talk to folks.
And we had to go in and tell folks that they were under no obligation to talk to these agents.
BURNETT: So let me ask you because you brought the NYPD and I will emphasize as Shimon was at all the video that we have specifically the video that appears to at least at its face. The one angle that we have does not back up the ICE version of the vehicle being used as a weapon. It appears he's trying to drive away from the angle they showed us, but that's provided by the NYPD, not by ICE.
The New York NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. She did go through Belgal's rap sheet when she spoke and Mayor Mamdani stood behind last night as she was addressing reporters about the shooting. She has not condemned ICE or, of course, the NYPD, which she is the commissioner of, for its response.
And I know that you are now calling for Tisch to step down. But the mayor, who backs her and, of course, was a crucial backer for you in your primary, is standing behind her as of now.
What will you do?
CHEVALIER: You know, I'm simply echoing what the folks in my district want to see and have called for. That is my role, right, as someone who was trusted by this community to represent them as a Democratic nominee for Congress. And I will continue to make those calls because it is what is right and it is what our community is calling for.
You know, to me, I was honestly disgusted to hear the way that the commissioner refused to address and condemn ICE for its actions, refused to address directly the fact that, you know, sanctuary policy was being violated, if not in spirit, if not in letter, right, by the fact that, you know, this was not immediately investigated and addressed.
She herself could have taken the moment to condemn it, to remind folks that this is a sanctuary city, but she didn't.
[19:30:02]
And instead, she chose to demonize our neighbors, right, and try to pretend that there's any justification for having a rogue agency act as cowboys and shoot into a crowded street. And shoot into a car where there was a five-year-old child. And to me, that is not leadership.
You know, as the police commissioner, I understand that she has to be present at these -- at these press conferences. I understand her role, but she, in my view, failed in her role to address public safety concerns in our city.
BURNETT: All right. Darializa, I appreciate your time and thank you very much for being with us tonight as we continue to monitor those protests. Appreciate your time.
CHEVALIER: Thanks for having me.
BURNETT: And next, President Trump moments ago talking about Pete Hegseth's plan to livestream an execution by firing squad so that every single American can watch it.
Plus, more on our breaking news. Hurricane Isaias about to make landfall, and you've seen some of these images. Our reporters are in the midst of it right now. Winds now packing up to 120 miles an hour. The storm surge already devastating.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:35:45]
BURNETT: Breaking news, President Trump claims he personally approved the Pentagon's announcement that it would livestream the firing squad execution of the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Did you personally authorize or approve the execution, the livestream execution of the Fort Hood --
TRUMP: Did I approve?
REPORTER: Did you approve?
TRUMP: Absolutely, I approved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Trump's comment, "Absolutely, I approved," coming just hours after he also said the shooter deserved to be executed by firing squad, which, of course, would be the U.S. military's first since World War II.
Now, today, Vice President J.D. Vance was asked about it. Now, he tried to dance around the whole thing, but eventually he did make it clear that if it is live streamed, he will not watch it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, first of all, I've seen his announcements. I don't know that that's actually going to happen. Whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people. Now that said, I mean, look, if it's ultimately live stream, I'm not going to be watching it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now former Democratic Congressman Max Rose and Tara Setmeyer. I appreciate both of you.
So, Max, President Trump said today, it was a very explicit question. He leaned in, he wanted to answer it. Did you approve it? Absolutely.
MAX ROSE (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Sure.
BURNETT: Absolutely I approved it. An execution by firing squad being live streamed so that anybody can watch it.
ROSE: Yeah, he also approved today buying hundreds of thousands of barrels of diesel from Russia. So, it's now at the point that third- world countries like Afghanistan, between that and public executions, live-streamed, are looking at us and saying hot damn.
BURNETT: Right, funding food or what, 15 hours of diesel --
ROSE: Hot damn, this is third-world stuff.
It's even to the point, look, this is well beyond whether you approve of the death penalty or not. It's whether you believe this country has dignity.
So, Republicans, like Senator Thom Tillis, have come out and said, this has no place in the United States of America. It is reprehensible, disgraceful, and quite scary.
BURNETT: And I will note, you know, remember those ISIS beheadings? And I hope nobody actually saw those, but they were briefly on social media platforms, right? And they got removed, because those platforms will not show executions of people.
ROSE: Right.
BURNETT: Okay, so -- the White House or the Pentagon wants to livestream an execution by firing squad. None of those sites would show that if that were done by a terrorist organization. So, Tara, when you hear Vice President Vance say, well, I'm not sure
it's going to actually happen, but then he did finally say, if it happens, I'm not watching, okay?
Multiple Republicans, as Max raises, have already criticized the prospect of this happening. Republican Congressman Austin Smith, Austin Scott, I'm sorry, posted, quote, live streaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that.
Thom Tillis, as Max mentioned, called it beyond disgusting. Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. And Republican Senator John Curtis said civilization erodes when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment. Secretary Hegseth's plan to livestream the Ford Hood execution risks feeding that appetite.
So, Tara, does this -- does this change their mind in any way, or Trump and Hegseth have to just go ahead and do it?
TARA SETMAYER, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we'll see. Donald Trump very rarely backs off of things, but J.D. Vance, I wish somebody would have asked him, why not? The follow-up question should have been, why not? And then let him explain why not because even J.D. Vance understands the depravity of this.
I mean, when you have -- is this America? Are we better than this? Well, this is Donald Trump's America. This is why people are beginning to revolt against Donald Trump and even Republicans are waking up saying this is not the America we expected.
I mean, many of us predicted that this is the route it would have gone, but it is uneasy, so many people are uneasy with this because it's indecent, because it's depraved and because in Donald Trump's America, you have a giddy secretary of defense who's grossly unserious, acting like this is some type of "Hunger Games" meets "Celebrity Apprentice" with public executions.
This is very serious stuff. This, of course, this person deserves the type of justice that he's going to get. However you feel about the death penalty, this was a horrific crime. But this is not what we do in a democratic America where you glorify public executions. It's what our enemies do, and it's consistent with what Donald Trump has done, and it's pretty rich that it comes on a day like today, to Max's point, where we are now paying our enemies to rescue farmers and rescue Americans from the higher diesel prices because of a war that Donald Trump started and betrayed his own people.
So we're now taking the side of dictators and public executions is what dictators do and We're supposed to be okay with this? Absolutely not. I'm glad more people are speaking out about it.
BURNETT: Yeah, yeah. I know I said it before, but on the diesel, I mean, there's that -- it's funding Putin and it's also trying to get credit for weighing down diesel prices. It's a drop in the bucket. It's like hours of diesel use. So, it isn't even actually what it's cracked up to be on the other side of it, even as he is supporting Putin.
Max, I want to ask about what's going on in the Senate race in Texas because it's gotten so much attention, right? If it flips, it's the first time in 30 years. James Talarico running.
He was seen tonight at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Why is this news? Well, it is news because he had not been seen in 12 days. That is -- that's a really long period of time coming into an election. His campaign said he had the flu.
The speculation, if you were online, obviously had taken a complete life of its own.
Ted Cruz was among Republicans trolling him. They put a milk carton out. Has anyone seen this man? He's been off the trail for 12 days.
Okay, but he's back. The question is, Max, can he move past this?
ROSE: Of course, 36 hours from now, no one will be talking about this distant memory, but I'll tell you what won't be. The price of diesel, price of gas, general price of everything in the supermarket, the war in Iran, all of these things will still be egregious realities, and that's what is making this just not stick.
Republicans are grasping at straws. It's self-evident. The guys out there, everything is just fine.
In politics, you know, the American people, and this is a beautiful thing about them, they see B.S., and they understand it, and these attacks are going to go nowhere.
BURNETT: All right. Well, I will let everyone know we're going to be doing a town hall with the Senate candidate, James Talarico, next week in Texas.
And thank you both very much.
And next, our breaking news continues. Live pictures out of Alabama where Hurricane Isaias is closing in on the Gulf Coast. Reports already of flooding and power outages. We go back to the ground next.
And the storm incredibly dangerous as it comes ashore. The latest on its track, which will hit much of the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:47:26]
BURNETT: All right. Breaking news. You're looking at the track right now. The most dangerous hours are beginning along the Gulf course right now. Gulf Coast, sorry. Hurricane Isaias is moments from coming ashore. Winds right now of up to 120 miles an hour. You can see the track there, the life-threatening storm surge. Waves are getting dangerously big. We talked about 30, 35 feet off the coast, right in the deepest waters. Those are the swells that they're seeing. The Florida Panhandle and coastal Alabama are now facing the storm's
full force. More than 100,000 people are now without power as conditions continue to worsen.
So, I want to go now to Jonathan Petramala, a storm chaser. He's in Fort Walton Beach in Florida.
And Jonathan, as we're seeing these images come from Pensacola Beach, all different locations, obviously where you are. I can see behind you the storm. Can you see? Tell us what you're seeing and how quickly really conditions have started to deteriorate.
JONATHAN PETRAMALA, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST AND STORM CHASER: It's really been the last hour or so that it's beginning to feel like a hurricane where you can feel the rumble. It's like a jet is about ready to take off or is passing close by. That's the sound of a hurricane-force wind and that's what we're seeing, and it comes with rolling gusts of wind.
Where I'm standing right on the eastern side of Fort Walton Beach, this is the Island Hotel. Part of the reef is already beginning to feel away from the ports of those winds that I was just talking about. We're also seeing, as you might imagine, a lot of rain. We're in a flash flood of running here and this part of the cloud handle for just an immense amount of rain.
And as well, we're beginning to see storm surge coming in from Hurricane Isaias. This part of the beach, it's predicted to be six to nine feet. So very dangerous storm curves. It's been becoming in with this thing. You can see it's dark.
The winds really began to pick up around dust. And this is going to be a nighttime fall and hurricane. Most people will live (AUDIO GAP) tourists especially. They're all gone inward away from this very, very vicious storm that is on its way to making landfall in the next couple of hours.
BURNETT: And obviously, we could see some of the impact here. I mean, I can hear most of what you're saying, but the ins and outs, I know, are a result of the deterioration. As you've been moving along the coast, and I know you've been doing that, you've been seeing different conditions and also, Jonathan, people, whether people have left and where they have left from and where they have not wanted to leave.
[19:50:00]
What have you seen on that front in terms of who has evacuated and who hasn't?
PETRAMALA: Well, you have a lot of people down here from fall break. People from Illinois I spoke with yesterday. They had their large RV and they were packing up, getting ready just to cut out last. They wanted to move away from the core of this storm because really smart.
Now, in hurricanes, you don't necessarily need to move hundreds of miles away. You can move away 50 miles or so from the core of a swim because miles really matter when it comes to hurricanes and the impacts. And so, when you're really close to the core of the storm, that's (AUDIO GAP). The most in the storm see.
People on boats, they tend to scare you out in these four things more than anyone else. They -- that's their home. And so, they are very hesitant to leave. I spoke with a gentleman yesterday who rode out Hurricane Salley, the most recent hurricane in (AUDIO GAP), a category three storm in 2020 showing you where his boat literally were away a section of one of the pylons where his boat is moored. But he said he's going to be staying by as well, going to be adjusting the ropes throughout the storm.
And so that's kind of the mix. You have people that are saying, you know what, I don't want to deal with this. I'm not familiar with hurricanes. I'm from Illinois. And then you have others who have been through hurricanes before.
And that's often what happens. People use the storm before to make their judgments on what this current storm is going to do, and that's the risk and reward that they're weighing them on.
BURNETT: All right, Jonathan, thank you very much. We'll be checking back in with you, of course, Pensacola Beach.
And I want to go now back to Mike Boylan, the storm chaser who's in Navarre Beach, Florida, back with me.
Mike, wow, I can see, you know, just I guess that light on that water and wind behind you. What are you -- what are you experiencing right now?
BOYLAN: Yeah, it's incredible. I moved closer to Fort Walton Beach here and this is almost where the eye coming in and it's incredible. I mean these winds are streets falling down, power flashes. It's right now the winds have picked up so much compared to what it was just like an hour ago.
You can hear the howl, the hurricane howl that it's so infamous with these major hurricanes and every now and then you just get a gust and it's like incredible. You can see it here behind me as this storm is still offshore amazingly.
BURNETT: I mean, so you're getting closer and closer, but I'm just saying, Mike, anyone who's been watching with us, they saw you about a half an hour ago. You were getting some gusts, but it is very different right now. I mean, that's a pretty rapid change in conditions.
BOYLAN: Oh, it's intense. I mean, this is all that I -- you know, all these major hurricanes that I've been in. It's this is incredible winds where you know trees are starting to snap. We're seeing like I mentioned power flashes and the surge is yet to come that the eye is still offshore, and you know, everything's happening that that we were expecting.
I just don't think that -- I was expecting this much wind here with the eyes still offshore.
BURNETT: Wow. All right, Mike, we're going to check back in with you in just one moment.
You're in Navarre Beach. I'm going to go back to Gulf Shores now in Alabama. Isabel Rosales is there.
Moments ago -- yeah, go ahead. Isabel, can you hear me? Big change where you are too.
ROSALES: Yeah, Erin, I got you.
Hello, yeah, yeah. The good part about all of this, Erin, is that a few hours prior, it was that rainfall coming in sideways and slapping you in the face. Right now, we're under a pagoda, but that rainfall has led up. These winds have not. In fact, they're only picking up more and more and more.
Mike, let's see if we can zoom in. I don't know if you're able to. You can see these like umbrella covers. What would normally be keeping guests out of the sun here and I just saw some lightning.
What would normally be keeping guests out of the sun? You can see it whipping in the winds underneath it. I don't know if you can hear that, Erin, that wind gusts coming in. Wow, yeah.
These chairs have been strapped down because that's dangerous. That can be flying projectiles when winds are reaching 56 miles per hour. These sustained gusts, and they're only going to get worse, stronger 60, 70 up to 80 miles per hour topping here in this area of Gulf Shores throughout the night before landfall of Hurricane Isaias, excepted around 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time over where Rafael Romo is at in Pensacola Beach. Triple digits for these wind gusts.
Such a dangerous situation that they've shut down the bridges coming in and out here of Gulf Shores. There's curfew in place now the message is stay home hunker down weather this out, let the storm pass.
BURNETT: We see obviously a real change in what you're experiencing here in just these past few moments.
All right, Isabel, we'll be checking back in with you in just a moment as we take a brief break. We continue to follow the breaking news of hurricane Isaias and the dangerous threat to states as it moves in that are far from the Gulf.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:58:06]
BURNETT: So, we're following the breaking news. Hurricane Isaias, moments from bearing down on the Florida Panhandle tonight. Conditions in Pensacola have deteriorated incredibly quickly as we've been talking about, strong winds, even lightning across the sky.
I want to go straight to meteorologist Melissa Nord tracking Isaias from the CNN Weather Center. These are the live images we're looking at from Pensacola.
Melissa, where is the storm right now? And then where is it headed? I know obviously this is a devastating moment for the Gulf, but the storm will then continue across a big part of the U.S.
MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It absolutely will continue throughout the U.S., Erin, and eventually we're going to be looking at impacts around Georgia, Florida, Alabama, even up to the Carolinas and the remnants of this storm will impact the Northeast later in the weekend. But right now, in the next two hours, this storm is making landfall.
We just got an update from the National Hurricane Center just about two minutes ago. Isaias now a category two hurricane winds of 110 miles per hour. Even though it is a two and not a three, the impacts do not change whatsoever. In fact, we just had in Gulf Breeze, Florida, which is just southeast of Pensacola, a sustained wind of 83 miles per hour, and a gust of 97 miles per hour.
At this point, you can see on radar, the center of the eye when we'll have landfall still about 35 That would be about nine o'clock hour, between nine and ten o'clock. But the core of the winds with this storm, they are moving onshore right now, and that's why you're seeing in all of these live storm chasers that are out there in the field showing the howling winds. You can hear those and really see the impact of those winds.
In fact, in these purple boxes, these are extreme wind warnings. They do this when we have landfalling major hurricanes when the winds could be in excess of 100 to 110 miles per hour. So, we're seeing right now the worst, the core of the northern eyewall moving onshore at the moment.
And, Erin, we are expecting that landfall here 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern, conditions are really going downhill.
BURNETT: All right. Melissa, thank you very much.
And thanks to all of you for being with us.
Anderson starts now.
