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One World with Zain Asher

Hurricane Isaias Strengthens As it Nears U.S. Gulf Coast; Heavy Rains Sweeps Away Cars And Floods Buildings In Chile; Man Shot And Wounded By ICE Agents In New York; Trump Donor: Guilfoyle Asked Him For 100K To Pay Off Amex Bill; Ukraine, Europe, U.S. Officials Meeting For Talks On How To End War In Ukraine; Pentagon Says it Plans To Live Stream Firing Squad Execution; OpenAI Fires Three Safety Researchers Amid Dispute; Hurricane Isaias Could Cripple Major Gulf Coast Refineries; Aired 12-1p ET

Aired October 09, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:32]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher. The second hour of "One World" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could all change. And I don't -- I don't want to sit here on Friday night going, we should have -- we should have went.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Come hell or high water, Hurricane Isaias is on its way. The storm is now expected to make landfall as a category three.

Plus, the Pentagon says they're going to execute this man by firing squad and they're going to do it live stream. Is it possible? Is it legal? Is it

ethical? We're going to be discussing all of that.

And later, be nice to Claude or else. Anthropics says that cruel behavior towards this A.I. chatbot will not be tolerated.

All right. We begin with a hurricane barreling towards the U.S. Gulf Coast states. Isaias is strengthening rapidly and is set to make landfall later

today, the first hurricane to do so in the United States in two years.

Evacuation orders have been issued for a number of counties in both Alabama and Florida as the storm strengthens to a category three hurricane. The

waters in the Gulf of Mexico are also exceptionally warm for this time of year, which has intensified the storm over the past few days.

The National Weather Service has warned of possible power outages and flooding along western Florida, the life-threatening storm could leave

roads inundated for multiple hours.

Here's the governors of Florida and Georgia on how they are preparing for the extreme weather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We've got everyone mobilized the full -- full monty for the storm. We're taking it very seriously. I hope it weakens. I

think there's conditions where it could.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): as we always do with weather events, we're hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst, just in case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: For the latest on the forecast, let's bring in CNN, excuse me, meteorologist, Allison Chinchar.

So, Allison, obviously a lot of people, we actually heard a sound bite there from one man who's saying that he is getting out. He doesn't want to

have the storm come and -- and regret it later.

The storm is intensifying, it is now a category three. What can the southern eastern part of the United States expect from this?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. So, they can expect a landfall in roughly about 10 hours from now. We've got -- you can see a lot of the

convection of the storm strengthening all around the storm. It looks like all those bubbles popping up. That is the thunderstorms developing around

the storm, so that is a further sign that the storm is continuing to strengthen.

The key thing the National Hurricane Center has really given us in the last hour or so is that they don't anticipate this storm is going to weaken all

that much before landfall, which again, as I mentioned, isn't about roughly 10 hours from now.

Sustained winds of 120 miles per hour, gusting up to 150 miles per hour, that forward speed at about 16 miles per hour. So, it is moving at a pretty

good pace.

Because the storm has strengthened in the last several hours, you're not only seeing an increase in winds, but you're also seeing an increase in

those storm surge numbers. This orange area you see here, including Pensacola, Panama City, those numbers had been five to seven feet

yesterday. That has now increased up to six to nine feet.

And even some of the yellow areas on either side of where we anticipate landfall, those have also gone up by about one to two feet.

So again, the kind of the point here is just showing that as the storm strengthens, you're going to see an increase in the impacts as well.

Here's a look at the storm. Again, still anticipating that it could be a category two or three at landfall later on Friday evening local time, but

even other states that aren't necessarily right there on the water, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, the Carolinas.

A lot of these locations are still expected to get pretty significant amounts of rainfall out of this particular storm as we head through the

next several hours.

Now you can see places like Charlotte, Atlanta, cities that are well away from the coast could still pick up several inches of rain as this system

slowly makes its way inland.

Now, by Sunday, it moves back out. And we see a lot more dry conditions for states like Mississippi, Alabama as well as Georgia.

But it's in that short term. Take a look at some of these areas again, lots of yellow, lots of orange on the map, indicating widespread four to six

inches. But you'll see we've got some areas of red and even pink shaded areas, not just in Florida, but take a look at this over here in North

Carolina where it's going to be pulling up a lot of that extra moisture.

You could be looking at some of these areas to pick up six to 12 inches of rain before it's all said and done. In addition to the fact that we could

even have some decent tornado and waterspout chances, both today and tomorrow.

[12:05:13]

ASHER: Allison Chinchar, we'll keep an eye on it. Thank you for breaking that down for us.

All right. Mud, rocks, and water swept through the streets of Chile's capital on Thursday following heavy rain. The flash flood destroyed cars

and buses and flooded homes and schools.

CNN's Cristopher Ulloa has more from Chile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRISTOPHER ULLOA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At least six people have been injured and hundreds of vehicles and homes have been affected after a sudden flash

flood here in Santiago, Chile.

And I'm going to show you right away in the images of my cameraman, Jose Vazquez (ph), the level of damage and affecting here in this zone.

Amid the heavy rainfall intensified by the El Nino phenomenon, Chilean authorities reported that the collapse of a ravine triggered a mudslide

that swept these vehicles, many of them with people inside along for several blocks.

Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast declared a state of catastrophe here in the Las Condes district, one of the most affluent areas here in the capital

zone.

And you can see in the images there are -- there are fallen trees, there are rocks, there's water and mud everywhere. And the authorities have also

urged to the public to respect the evacuation orders and also have called to the people to remain cautious because the rainfall and the thunderstorm

are expected to come back tonight in many regions of the country.

For CNN, Cristopher Ulloa, Santiago, Chile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: All right. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says a man drove his car at ICE offices in New York before he was shot and wounded. A five-

year-old child, believed to be his son, was also in the car. The man was treated for what authorities say are non-life-threatening injuries before

being detained. He is from the Dominican Republic. And authorities say he has a prior criminal conviction and arrests as well.

Police say that the child was not physically hurt and is now with family members. Officials -- immigration officials say that the man refused orders

and weaponized his car. Here's what the DHS secretary said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I want to make it very clear, sanctuary politicians, they create an environment for criminal

activity to thrive.

We go out for the worst of the worst every single day. Every single day. Our goal is to get them off the streets. If sanctuary politicians refuse to

take care of their own streets, President Trump has made it very clear, we will. This individual is a threat to our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us live now from New York.

I mean, what has been the reaction to this? I mean, obviously, Brynn, you have the ICE officers essentially saying one thing, this idea that this man

was weaponizing his vehicle, allegedly drove his vehicle into two government vehicles and then accelerated towards other officers.

But, of course, given the history over the past year, there is, you know, very little trust in that. Just walk us through what New York officials are

saying.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And Zain, think that's the issue here because these things really don't happen in a vacuum, right?

That's why I think these protests broke out almost immediately here on the streets of New York City last night.

Now, the big issue is -- is that there is video available to show what happened, both from the city cameras that we're seeing here, but also we

know that those ICE agents were wearing body cameras and they are not releasing that footage as of yet. But we do have footage to show you that

the NYPD released.

Now, again, this is a federal investigation, but the NYPD did respond. Of course, it happening on a New York City street. And you can see in that

video how the officers basically just rushed to the scene and tried to start giving aid to the 28-year-old, Oscar Belgal, who is handcuffed on the

ground.

At that point, we know that seven shots were fired into this or in this seven shots were fired and one of them actually grazed Belgal at the time

of his five-year-old son was also in the car.

And we also see from that video, from the NYPD, that they did try to take him into -- or they did take him rather into their vehicle and brought him

into the hospital to get aid.

At this point, we know Belgal is no longer in the hospital and he is actually in the -- in ICE out of state it to our knowledge.

I do want to say though as you heard from the DHS secretary there is definitely a trading of jabs here going on, you know, of the political back

and forth.

Mamdani has not responded to the DHS secretary at this point, but he did have some words to say last night after this incident happened and take a

listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: For the past two hours, I have been on the phone with President Trump and Secretary Mullin, negotiating the

release of the man ICE agents shot. Those negotiations were unsuccessful.

[12:10:08]

Just moments ago, ICE put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away. Let me say this plainly, what happened today was an outrage. This

city wants ICE out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Yes. And again, we haven't heard from Mamdani at this point in response to what Mullin was saying.

Again, the -- the gentleman Belgal, he is in the custody of ICE. You heard him say he was on the phone with the president and also Mullin having

negotiations. He was trying to get him in his custody.

Mullin saying at that news conference today, Zain, that they offered to give him to the NYPD, but they decided not to because they would not keep

him in being detained. So, that's why that all fell through. Zain.

ASHER: All right. Brynn Gingras, live for us there. Thank you for that.

All right. President Trump is gearing up to hit the campaign trail again, this time for a rally tonight in Syracuse, New York, alongside the

Republican candidate for governor.

Before he heads to Upstate New York, Trump hosted a Columbus Day celebration at the White House. This comes as the White House is facing

growing questions about Trump appointed ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump donor, is accusing Guilfoyle of offering access to top

Trump officials in exchange for paying off her credit card.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC DETERS, PRESIDENT TRUMP DONOR: Right before her cynic confirmation, she says to me, I need $100,000 to pay off my American Express card or I'm

not going to become Greek ambassador. I said, Kimberly, why should I do this for you? And she told me, it's in the text messages, I'll be your ride

or die forever in the Trump administration.

There was no question it was a quid pro quo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Obviously, that does not look good. CNN's Betsy Klein joins us live now from the White House.

So, two questions for you here. One is, you know, if you could please, Betsy, just remind our international audience who Kimberly Guilfoyle is,

because yes, she is the ambassador to Greece, but she also became somewhat of a household name here in the U.S. because she was engaged to Donald

Trump's son. She was also married at one point to the governor of California as well. She was also a Fox News host too.

And then what has been the White House's reaction to these text exchanges?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Zain, this is a remarkable story. We are seeing these allegations of a quid pro quo between

a key Trump ally who is now a U.S. ambassador posted abroad and this former Trump donor.

Eric Deters is the former Trump donor. He has run for Congress in Kentucky. And he says that Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is, as you mentioned, a very close

ally of the Trump family, asked him to wire her $100,000 to pay off an American Express bill in the lead up to her confirmation hearing to be the

ambassador to Greece.

And as you mentioned, she is extremely close with the Trumps. She was engaged to Donald Trump Jr. for years, starting back in 2020 up until the

presidential transition. She's really a part of the family, spending holidays with them and all of the Trump siblings, as well as the president

and first lady, a member of Mar-a-Lago. She is well entrenched within the Trump family orbit. She's a former Fox News host, as you mentioned.

She also was, at one time, married to California Governor Gavin Newsom. Of course, he's a Democrat who has really been a thorn in the side of this

administration.

But according to Deters, she sent him a series of text messages asking for his help. She said, honey, please, I need you to get this done today. This

was six days before she was going to have her first confirmation hearing.

And she also appeared to be aware that this was improper. At one point she texted him, it won't show up anywhere if you wire money to American

Express. That's all it will show, please. And then later says that she can get him in for the meetings that he has requested if he completes this

transaction.

Now, of course, this is raising eyebrows in Trump world. And we heard from Vice President J.D. Vance. He was asked more broadly about the situation

without naming Guilfoyle. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any reaction to a U.S. government official, in this case a U.S. ambassador, asking someone to pay off debt in

exchange to access to other government officials?

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, so with that hypothetical, obviously, I don't love that. But I -- I, you know, I don't

know exactly who you're talking about. I don't know the full details.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, Vance went on to say that he does not like the idea of any government official selling access to another government official. Deters

tells CNN he ultimately didn't wire Guilfoyle the money. He says he didn't have the liquid assets at the time.

[12:15:07]

And a lawyer for Ambassador Guilfoyle is disputing the authenticity of these text messages that were provided to CNN. But Deters tells our

colleague Jake Tapper, quote, no question it was a quid pro quo, Zain.

ASHER: All right. Betsy Klein, thank you for that.

All right. Still to come here on "One World," U.S. envoys are holding new talks in the stalemate between Russia and Ukraine. Details ahead on why

Ukrainians could likely face another harsh winter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right. How to get back on course? Today in Miami, U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to meet with Ukrainian and

European officials. They will discuss how to end Russia's war in Ukraine nearly two years into the second Trump term and the war is still raging.

There are growing signs that Ukrainian citizens will likely face another difficult winter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that recent

Russian strikes have dealt significant damage to the country's power grid.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio weighed in on how to end the stalemate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Stalemates only end one of two ways. Number one, you have a negotiated settlement, one in which each side have

to give up something in order to get peace. And we have tried and we will continue to try and do what we can to facilitate a negotiated settlement to

the end of that war.

The other way that stalemates end is through escalation. One side or the other or both escalate what they are doing in order to try to break the

other side and break the stalemate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: My next guest is the founder of the Substack Report, "World Briefing." Michael Bociurkiw joins us live now from Odessa, Ukraine.

Michael, what do you make of what the secretary of state said there, that there are two ways to sort of end the stalemate?

MICHAEL BOCIURKIW, FOUNDER, WORLD BRIEFING ON SUBSTACK: Hi, Zain, good to be with you. Well, let me put it to you this way. Your previous report on

the lack of ethics of the Trump circle is all anyone needs to know.

I mean, we're talking about two gentlemen, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are leading the talks on behalf of the U.S. side. Their conflicts of

interest, their financial entanglements are very, very well documented. There's no doubt.

And we saw "The New York Times" reporting recently about how they're -- how they're connected to a sale of a stake of Russian-owned Lukoil, which owns

assets in Africa, Europe, and the United States to Trump donors. So, these are the type of people we're dealing with, number one.

[12:20:15]

And secondly, if we look at if there's been any results, tangible results from all of their meetings, most of which have been held in the Kremlin,

but the last one was in Moscow and not far from me in Kyiv, they produced zero results. So, you know, forgive me for saying this, but this is

buffoonery on an epic scale.

And, you know, the other thing I'm picking up here on the ground is that Ukrainians are wondering, why is Mr. Zelenskyy turning so much to the

United States as an interlocutor, mediator, when there are far more capable, far more credible interlocutors, Turkey, Oman, even Pakistan?

So, that's my answer to your question on where we stand right now and what the hopes are for any breakthrough.

ASHER: Just in terms of how any kind of peace proposal, I mean, as you point out, there have been these meetings with the Kremlin that have

amounted to zilch. What would it take for the next peace proposal, so to speak, to succeed where all the others have failed?

BOCIURKIW: Well, Ukraine has put forth various scenarios. I mean, I think we're at the point where most people here would agree that Crimea is gone,

sadly, that the Donbas will be very difficult to take -- to take back from the Russians and any peace deal. I -- I think there is some wiggle room for

Ukraine to say, OK, we're not that interested in NATO. But other than that, Mr. Zelenskyy doesn't have any more wiggle room.

And, you know, as difficult, again, as it is for me to say this, and this is also based on closed-door briefings, I attended in New York on the

sidelines of the UNGA, it now appears that Mr. Putin is intent on taking all of Ukraine.

And the reason I say that to you is that no aggressive state which is just interested in causing difficulty for population would now start to bomb,

destroy critical infrastructure like bridges, like airports, like ports, border crossings even. It does look like that is their intent right now.

And, you know, the West has to wake up because if Mr. Putin is allowed to cross the Dnipro (ph) River, go further west, he will not stop. He will go

into Moldova. He will go into Poland.

But unfortunately, elected leaders, and this stretches all the way to the United Kingdom. I've been watching Andy Burnham and the leader of the

opposition, you know, kicked the can down the road on defense spending. So, there's very little pushback.

One more quick thing, Zain, I don't mean to manipulate, take over the conversation.

ASHER: No, please go ahead. Go ahead.

BOCIURKIW: It also -- yes, it -- it also seems that Mr. Putin believes this is key, believes that -- that we, he West, will not go to war with him,

that we are afraid to engage with him. And he feels very little or zero deterrence. And that is a very, very bad scenario for -- for the West to be

in.

ASHER: You know, thank you so much for laying all of that out, just in terms of the military strategy and Putin's calculation. But you're in

Ukraine. And I really want to understand what ordinary --

BOCIURKIW: Yes.

ASHER: -- Ukrainians are feeling right now, because we're in October. And I think a lot of people, not just in Ukraine, but really around the world

who've been watching this war go on, are very nervous about, myself included, honestly, about what the winter is going to look like.

Because there are temperatures that are so cold, I cannot even imagine not having heat in that kind of scenario. We're talking about minus, what,

minus 10 degrees Celsius. I -- I think even colder than that --

BOCIURKIW: Yes.

ASHER: -- for December to January. The energy infrastructure is being targeted relentlessly. There's talk of potentially a partial ceasefire

where maybe grain and energy infrastructure is sort of put to the side. Who knows whether Putin is going to agree to that?

But what does the winter look like for ordinary people in Ukraine? And I'm thinking especially about children.

BOCIURKIW: Yes. And I just visited the Mriya Family Center a few blocks away from me today. I brought them early Halloween treats. And I -- I got a

sense from them that, you know, the numbers there of children has really increased. These are displaced families that can no longer cope. So, they

drop their children off and they're -- they're fed and they're cared for and that sort of thing.

But here in Odessa, it's a bit of a different situation than Kyiv. It isn't targeted as often. But the fact of the matter is, is that they pretty much

targeted and destroyed everything they've found here.

And I'd point to the port just down the road from me, World Port (ph) Odessa, which feeds the world.

I mean, Zain, there's nothing left. I mean, the port is silent. There's a huge vessel pretty much immobilized in the middle of the port here. And,

you know, what people have to remember is that Odessa port not only feeds the world, it is the lifeblood of Odessa.

[12:25:10]

And just today, I saw young students, you know, studying maritime law and this sort of thing. They were in uniform and that points to some hope among

people here.

But it's as if you go to Cape Canaveral and take NASA out of there. And that's how destructive it's going to be here.

And as for the winter, I mean, going back to what we started at the beginning, the negotiations, I mean, Russia has also been targeting U.S.

assets here, warehouses of Coca-Cola, Boeing and other firms as well.

Ironically, it is the small businesses here that are not as big targets and they have small generators and they can probably make it through the

winter.

But for the average person, those who can afford it, who have the means, are leaving. And that's exactly what Mr. Putin wants, the kind of

demographic hauling out of Ukraine.

I'm sorry to be so pessimistic, but this is exactly what I'm picking up on the ground. And I too, sadly, will have to make a decision soon when to

leave. Not if to leave, but when to leave, because it is going to be that bad.

ASHER: It's going to be brutal. And so, yes, as you point out, a lot of people will leave. But for those who end up having to stay for whatever

reason, it --

BOCIURKIW: Yes.

ASHER: -- completely, psychologically breaks down your will, right? Your will to sort of -- the willpower to keep on fighting. That's what it does.

The psychological effect of living through that kind of winter is extremely traumatic.

Michael Bociurkiw, live for us there. Thank you. Thank you for that. Appreciate it.

All right. Still to come here on "One World," a controversial plan by the Pentagon announced by the Defense Secretary is drawing widespread

condemnation. Details, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: A Pentagon plan to live stream the military's first firing squad execution in decades is sparking condemnation and outrage. A man who is set

to be executed in December is this man, Nidal Hasan. He's a former army psychiatrist who gunned down 13 people at the military base in Fort Hood,

Texas, back in 2009.

[12:30:11]

The defense secretary says he wants to make sure people are able to watch Hasan's execution. Pete Hegseth talked to a far-right podcaster about the

USS -- on board rather, the USS Abraham Lincoln on Wednesday about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, he's going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be. And we'll make sure that people are

able to -- to watch it, that it's public, because people need to understand that this is a -- there's serious consequences for these types of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: The United Nations Human Rights Office has strong opinions about the planned live streaming and is weighing in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHABIA MANTOO, SPOKESPERSON, U.N. HIGH COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: Public executions constitute a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment. The live streaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture.

Failure to respect this prohibition would inevitably render the execution arbitrary in nature and result in a violation of the right to life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Time now for The Exchange. And I want to discuss this issue further with Bryan Stevenson. He's the founder and executive director of Equal

Justice Initiative and a public interest lawyer whose book, "Just Mercy," was made into a movie.

Bryan, I didn't really think that I would have you on twice in one week to discuss capital punishment, but here we are.

You know, it's interesting because even those people who are for capital punishment would still agree in the basic sort of sanctity of human life,

right? That human life is sacrosanct. That even if you believe that somebody who has committed murder should be executed, you still also

believe that there is a certain level of dignity that has to be conducted through the process.

And so when you have an execution, not just by lethal injection, by the way, by firing squad, being made into a public spectacle, maybe even

entertainment. I don't know if I should go that far, but at the very least a public spectacle, what are the ramifications of that?

BRYAN STEVENSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: Well, I do think it will so degrade the United States and our commitment to human

rights. It is spectacle violence. When you shoot someone to death and you invite people to watch, you're inviting them to watch violence on display.

And it's the conduct of organizations and nations that are weak, that are trying to gain power by demonstrating this violent force. This is the

conduct of Al-Qaeda. This is what ISIS did. And we condemn them for those kinds of public executions as not only unfair and unjust, but as

fundamental violations of human rights.

And I just think it is the most misguided thing I've heard in the death penalty context in a very long time.

You're going to pit the most powerful government in the world, the strongest military in the world, against a disabled man who will be in a

wheelchair because Mr. Hasan is paralyzed from the waist down based on injuries he sustained during this incident.

You're going to wheel him out, and then you're going to have him executed by a firing squad. I think you will ultimately end up glorifying his son

and condemning the United States. That's why we don't engage in spectacle violence. That's why we don't permit this kind of public execution.

The last public execution in America took place in the 1930s, at a time when black people were being pulled out of their homes and tortured and

lynched on courthouse squares and mobs would gather to kind of feed this frenzy.

And so it really will undermine this government, this administration, our nation in ways that an -- that an, quote, ordinary execution would not.

ASHER: Some people even argue that it is perfect P.R. for those looking to radicalize others, just in terms of having this video.

You're a lawyer. Help us understand the law, because it does require approval from the U.S. President, but also it might even require -- well,

you can explain this appellate review.

Is it on shaky legal ground in terms of moving forward? And I don't just mean the capital punishment side of it itself, but actually the public

viewing.

STEVENSON: Yes. I think one of the things that's very confusing about this is that there are people who've been -- there are four people on -- on the

military death row. As you recall, President Biden commuted most federal death sentences at the end of his terms, that there only four people on the

military death row.

Some of those cases date back to 1988. This is not the oldest case. It's actually one of the most recent cases. Anyone sentenced to death in this

country has a right to a trial and an appeal. And in most death penalty cases, there is a habeas corpus petition, a pursuit. You pursue remedies in

collateral courts. That has not happened in the Hasan case.

It's tricky because he represented himself at trial. But he still has the option to follow habeas corpus petition, which if he does, will mean three

to five years of more litigation, which would mean that this administration would not even be in power when he became eligible for an execution,

whether he does that or not is uncertain.

[12:35:13]

But, yes, this would be very, very unusual to have a case where someone is executed pre -- in this way so much earlier than they would be if the

appeals process took its place.

I think one thing that worries a lot of people is that there has been sentiments expressed that he wants to be a martyr. And, of course, this

kind of public execution would facilitate that kind of martyrdom more than anything else.

One of the things I've learned in my work is that a lot of my clients would prefer execution to life imprisonment without parole because they see

condemnation in a prison cell for decades a much less sort of fulfilling way to respond until Secretary Hegseth's announcements about this.

Very few people could remember the name of Mr. Hasan. They could very -- they didn't remember anything about him. Now, we've thrust him back into

the mainstream light through this kind of spectacle, which I think is so misguided and undermines the effort that we're trying to make, which is to

deter this kind of radical violence that was so tragic at Fort Hood.

ASHER: Yes. And just to remind our audience that this is a man who killed 13 people who were getting ready for military deployment. One of them was

pregnant. He also wounded 32 others. It was a horrific and heinous crime.

But a lot of people are questioning whether or not, A, capital punishment, and B, making a public spectacle out of it in just terms of live streaming

it would do anything to enhance justice for the victims' families.

Bryan Stevenson, we are out of time, sadly. We have to leave it there. Thank you again for coming on -- on -- I mean, what a bizarre week to have

this particular issue on twice in one week.

But, Bryan, we wanted you specifically to break it down for us because we knew that you were the best person to do just that.

All right. Still to come here on "One World," three open A.I. safety researchers say they were fired for speaking out. And now Anthropic is

cracking down on how people treat its chatbot. What's behind these controversies? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right. Take a look here, green across the board. Good way to end the week. The Dow is up by almost one percent. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500

up about half of one percent. This is your Business Breakout.

[12:40:04]

All right. Americans -- Americans are still feeling down about the economy. That's according to the University of Michigan's early read on U.S.

consumer sentiment for October. The high cost of living remains the top concern. And in September, borrowing became more expensive when the Federal

Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in three years.

Microsoft is disputing the Trump administration's claims that the tech giant and some others took advantage of the permanent residency program for

foreign workers so they could replace American citizens with cheaper labor from abroad. Microsoft is now banned from sponsoring foreign workers.

And after 10 years, star designer Anthony Vaccarello is parting ways with Saint Laurent. The legendary fashion house is following other major Kering

brands such as Gucci, Balenciaga that switched creative directors last year. Industry watchers say that Kering is overhauling the group amid a

luxury goods slowdown.

All right. Three former OpenAI safety researchers say they were fired under suspicious circumstances after raising concerns about the company's

systems. OpenAI denies that, saying that they were fired for violating policies on handling sensitive information.

CNN's Hadas Gold joins us live now with more.

What's interesting is that these three researchers, Hadas, actually worked on A.I. safety and alignment, but they also played a key role in

investigating the Hugging Face incident, which is why they're questioning about the timing and how they were fired.

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, all three of these safety and alignment researchers and staffers said that they were fired around the

same time. They also said they were given slightly different reasons from OpenAI as to why they were fired, but they all believe, this is what they

say, they believe that they were fired because they consistently were raising safety concerns within OpenAI.

And that they believe they were also fired for their interactions with one of these third-party auditors, these outside groups, this one is called

METR, which was officially brought in by OpenAI to help them investigate that Hugging Face hack where a swarm of OpenAI agents escaped their testing

environment, ended up hacking into a different A.I. company called Hugging Face, all while trying to cheat on a cybersecurity exam.

Now OpenAI, I should say, disputes this. They say this wasn't about them raising safety concerns, it was about how they handled sensitive info.

But this matters, Zain, because it's not just an employment debate or, you know, he said, she said, they said, but it goes to a larger kind of issue

that we're seeing in the industry right now where there are some within these A.I. companies are fearful that the companies are trying to dampen

down on this talk of safety concern because of this wave of the sort of A.I. safety panic we saw recently.

And they are concerned that they aren't going to be able to speak up like they have been in the past. Now, these three different staffers have now

been openly posting about this on social media. One of them, for example, says that they were fired. They were told because of how they talked with

METR, which is that third-party auditor that was brought in to help investigate Hugging Face. But they say that was their job. They say that

they were actually the point of contact, the technical expert for METR within OpenAI.

The three of them got together. They wrote a letter to OpenAI leadership about their concerns and also with a list of recommendations that they say

that they hope the company will continue to work on when regards to safety.

Now, OpenAI says, once again, their firings had nothing to do with them raising safety concerns. They say that they -- they agree actually with

quite a few of the recommendations in the letter.

But they say in a statement that their "investigation confirmed that these individuals mishandled sensitive information outside established company

procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work."

Now, these researchers have disputed that. They have been openly calling for more details, more information on exactly what OpenAI fired them for.

All three of them say that they were given slightly different reasons as to the reasons behind their firings.

And now they are saying that they worry that this is incident has created a culture of fear within OpenAI where people will now be afraid to speak up

for fear of losing their jobs.

And until now it's been quite unusual to see at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic just how open these employees are with talking about safety

concerns and how tolerant these companies have been about letting them speak openly.

One of the fired researchers, Mikita Balesni, he wrote, "My former colleagues are telling me they're confused about what to believe. They also

are afraid to speak and worry their personal phones will be searched for messages to us in third parties. I worry the pervading fear to speak up and

engage with third parties will mean OpenAI will cut corners on safety behind closed doors."

So, Zain, I don't think this is the end of this story. I have a feeling there's going to be quite a bit more. And there have been increasing calls

on social media from others in the A.I. industry for more details and information from OpenAI about why these three were so quickly summarily

fired versus other, you know, disciplinary actions that could have been done.

[12:45:08]

So, I'm sure we will hear more from both sides as this all plays out.

ASHER: All right. Hadas Gold, live for us there. Thank you for that.

All right. Hurricane Isaias is barreling towards U.S. Gulf Coast, and that's bad news for the U.S. oil refineries that are sitting on their path.

The refineries are already working at near capacity to try to offset the shortages, because of the wars in both Ukraine and Iran.

Already, major oil companies like Shell and B.P. have evacuated non- essential workers and curtailed production.

Even if Hurricane Isaias comes ashore as a category one storm, it could take a week before the refineries are back to normal.

Matt Egan takes a look at how all of that will affect the U.S. economy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, Zain, the global energy system is already being pushed to the brink. A major hurricane hitting the U.S. Gulf

Coast, that's the last thing we need right now, because there's just almost no margin for error in the system.

And, yes, this storm is barreling towards America's nerve center when it comes to the energy and refining industry along the Gulf Coast.

However, the path of the storm, it has veered a bit to the east. So, that means that the bulk of the refineries, which are really located in Texas

and Louisiana, that may be out of the direct path of the storm.

But we also know that there's a risk of storm surge in and around New Orleans, where there are major refineries located.

Veteran analyst Andy Lipow, he says that he believes that only two refineries, one in Mississippi, one in Alabama, are at risk at this point.

However, keep in mind those, two refineries, they're processing almost half a million barrels of oil per day. That's not nothing. That's about two

percent of the nation's refining capacity.

And analysts say that even a small refinery outage can have a big impact on prices. That's because U.S. refiners, they're already maxed out. They're

running as hard as they can to capture record high refining margins and to make up for the loss of refineries in the Middle East and in Russia because

of war and the loss of refining capacity in China, because they've been holding back their exports.

Now, normally, when a U.S. refinery goes out, we rely on stockpiles of fuel. However, those stockpiles, which act like shock absorbers during a --

during a crisis, they've been shrinking rapidly. They are historically low for this time of year.

And America's stockpile of emergency oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, it hasn't been this low since the early 1980s when the Reagan

administration was still filling it up for the first time.

And keep in mind, prices are very high. Here in the U.S., the national average, $4.37 a gallon for regular gas. That's 47 percent more expensive

than before the Iran war started at the end of February. Diesel, diesel is $6.28 a gallon. That's 67 percent higher than before the war started. Near

all-time highs.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there is a significant amount of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. officials, they estimate that

about 1.3 million barrels per day of oil in the Gulf has already been shut down as a precaution because of the storm. That amounts to about 63 percent

of the region's total production. That, of course, is not going to help prices either.

But the big focus remains on the refineries, and whether or not this hurricane causes wind and flooding damage and power outages that force any

those refineries to go offline for any significant amount of time.

Zain, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: Matt Egan reporting there.

All right. Still to come here on "One World," sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are met with hugs, kisses, and tears. Some of them are

meeting their kids for the first time. That story is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:41]

ASHER: All right. One of the American football's biggest -- one of American football's, rather, biggest stars and names in football has passed away.

Mike Ditka has passed away at the age of 86. Ditka started his career as a player back in 1961 and revolutionized the tight end position, but he also

is known as a legendary coach as well of the Chicago Bears.

One of his biggest accomplishments came in 1986 when he led the Bears to win Super Bowl 20. After retiring from coaching, Ditka became a familiar

face in television being restaurateur, pitchman and a football analyst too.

All right. The crew aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are back with their families at this hour. The ship docked in California on Thursday, ending

the second longest Navy aircraft carrier deployment since the Vietnam War.

It was an emotional reunion for these families, including 122 new dads meeting their babies for the first time. Can you imagine?

CNN's Pamela Brown was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally home.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mixed in the emotion on this Navy pier are 122 sailors who have never met

their children.

CHIEF PETTY OFFICER JOEY MONTEMARANO, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: The only person my daughter knows is my wife right now.

BROWN (voice-over): Joey Montemareno's daughter, Madeline Grace, was born while he was away at sea. And these images are all he knows of his 10-

month-old child.

BROWN: What are you going to do, you think, when you see them?

MONTEMARANO: I'll probably cry a little bit. Probably try to hold back the tears while I kiss my wife, hug my wife and meet this baby that I've never

met before that I can't wait to -- can't wait to meet and interact with.

BROWN (voice-over): We met Joey and many more of the roughly 5,000 sailors at sea on the USS Lincoln as they headed into port. Most admit their

returning home changed.

AJANAE KELLY, SAILOR, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: This is the hardest one I have had to deal with, so I feel like if I could do this one, I could do

anything.

BROWN (voice-over): It's the end of a harrowing 322-day deployment that faced scrutiny over the living conditions on board and low morale that

included attempted suicides.

LUIS MORAN, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: The man overboard. That was a crazy day.

BROWN (voice-over): Many confirmed the uncertainty around the extended deployment brought mental challenges.

NICHOLAS SANCHEZ, PETTY OFFICER, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Just thinking about my family and things going on back home that you can't control.

MORAN: I would go to prayer service with the chaplains and that would help out a lot.

BROWN (voice-over): Others we met confirmed food supplies ran low at times.

BARRY USERY, SAILOR, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: I was in cargo for a while -- the people that bring the food up. And I was in there during the tough times.

Not a lot of food was being brung (ph) up. But as we progressed, it got better.

CAPT. DAN KEELER, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: It was stressed, but we never shut anything down.

BROWN (voice-over): Captain Dan Keeler, commanding officer of the Lincoln, tells CNN supplies were mainly affected when support ships under threat

from Iran were forced to alter their movement in the region.

KEELER: We served 14,000 to 16,000 meals a day, four times a day, so four meals a day. We never missed a meal, not for 10 and a half months. There

were some sacrifices made. Maybe there was only one protein option instead of two, but there was always food.

BROWN: Some of the family members had a town hall with Navy leadership because they were really concerned about their loved ones on this ship. And

they were getting pictures of toilets overflowing and mold. What do you say to that?

KEELER: What I'll say to all the families is they were all so amazing. You can't do what we just did without a lot of support. I think a lot of the

reporting focused on some, you know, anecdotal things because we looked into all this stuff and there really were no systemic issues.

[12:55:08]

It's a big ship. It's a floating city. We have, you know, a toilet gets clogged and eventually gets fixed.

BROWN (voice-over): Keeler acknowledges there were five suicide attempts on the Lincoln itself and three others on its support ships. He says anyone

with mental health problems had access to treatment on the ship. The most severe cases were sent home.

KEELER: We had zero suicides. We had zero casualties on the ship. Every single sailor that left is coming home.

BROWN (voice-over): And they're coming home awarded with a presidential unit citation, the military's highest honor for a unit in battle.

ARIANA WESTFALL, AVIATION ORDNANCEMAN, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: It's going to be pretty cool to be able to wear that and tell everybody why I'm wearing

it and what I did to wear it.

BROWN (voice-over): On board, you could feel the anticipation as we pulled into port.

Moments later, among this flood of emotion, Joey Montemarano, a father who served on a ship at war --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who's that? Is this your daddy?

BROWN (voice-over): -- now with his daughter together in peace.

MONTEMARANO: She's perfect.

BROWN: New dads like Joey actually took classes on board the ship during the war to learn how to be dads, how to change diapers, feed a baby, hold a

baby so that they could be ready for this moment and go into dad mode immediately.

Now, in terms of what's next for this crew and the ship itself behind me, in a couple of months from now, the ship and its crew will be moved to

Washington State where the ship will undergo repairs.

So, this is just a short reprieve here and San Diego before that next move.

Pamela Brown, CNN, San Diego.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: All right. That does it for this hour of "One World." I'm Zain Asher. "Amanpour" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END