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Firefights Told to Leave Site Before Palisades Fire Erupted; King Charles Strips Andrew of Royal Titles & Mansion; Democratic-Led States Sue Trump Administration Over SNAP Funding; Democrats Urge Californians to Approve Redistricting Plan; Jamaica Races to Deliver Aid After Destructive Storm. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired October 31, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: To their car, backwards. And it does not put on the lotion in my house.

[00:00:05]

But my favorite one is "Beetlejuice." It's not that scary, and that's how I can take it. Except for the whole shrimp thing. I don't like the whole "Day-o" with the shrimp in the face.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Speaking of sequels, did you like the sequel to "Beetlejuice," though?

COATES: Yes. Says Warner Media.

I did like it, seriously. I did. I really did. I'm just kidding. It was great.

And your show will be great tonight, too.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

COATES: Have a great show, Elex.

MICHAELSON: Thank you very much, Laura. I'll be a company man just like you.

"The Story Is" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON (voice-over): "The Story Is," could L.A.'s Palisades Fire have been prevented. I'll talk to the journalist behind a shocking new report just out in "The L.A. Times." Plus, exclusive reaction from former L.A. mayoral candidate Rick Caruso.

Then, "The Story Is" royal no more. King Charles strips his own brother of his title and his home. I'll tell you why.

"The Story Is" hunger. California attorney general Rob Bonta is suing the federal government to try to protect food benefits for millions of Americans. He joins me exclusively in studio. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, "The Story Is" with Elex Michaelson.

MICHAELSON: I'm Elex Michaelson, and welcome to "The Story Is."

A new bombshell report, just published, suggests that L.A.'s most destructive fire may have been prevented if officials had simply listened to fire crews on the ground.

A reminder what we're talking about here. The Palisades Fire last January killed 12 people. It burned nearly 7,000 structures and caused tens of billions of dollars in damages.

Federal prosecutors believe the massive fire that grew on January 7th was actually caused by a smaller fire from January 1st, that crews thought was out, so they left the scene.

Well, check out this headline in "The L.A. Times." "Days before the Palisades inferno, firefighters were ordered to leave smoldering burn site."

The report suggests that firefighters sounded the alarm about leaving, but they were not listened to.

Joining us now is Paul Pringle, the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist who coauthored this piece for "The L.A. Times."

Paul, first off, thank you for this important work. Welcome to "The Story Is." Can you sort of break down the main thing that you found here?

PAUL PRINGLE, REPORTER, "L.A. TIMES": Yes. What we found is that the firefighters on the ground of the January 1 fire the next day were ordered to pack up their hoses and leave by their battalion chief, even though they said the ground is still smoldering in places. Rocks are hot to the touch. The tree stumps are smoking or are also hot to the touch.

And that's what they did. They did as they were ordered. They left the scene. And as the federal investigation determined later, and that people had suspected for months, when the winds arrived on January 7th, it picked up those embers that were left behind on January 2nd and caused the Palisades Fire.

MICHAELSON: So, why were they ordered to leave? Why did nobody listen to them?

PRINGLE: We don't know, because the people we've reached out to for -- with that question have not responded to us. We do not -- I don't have a good answer for that.

Everyone we've spoken to said they should not have left, should not have been ordered to leave. And, you know, that's what they -- to stay there longer and to watch that burn scar and to keep your hoses out, that's routine -- you know, routine practice. It's done all the time.

In this case, it wasn't done, even though there were -- you know, we're starting to get those really scary wind warnings. They started arriving, I think, right around the second. Certainly, by the third and fourth. We were expecting very high winds.

MICHAELSON: And on the seventh, there was hardly any firefighters in the Palisades.

PRINGLE: That's right. We -- we reported that. We -- you know, that was part of our investigation, that despite these really -- I think the wind warnings were unprecedented in their seriousness.

For the first time, the National Weather Service used the phrase "life-threatening." And Palisades was always one of the most dangerous areas for that kind of weather.

And despite all that, there was no pre-deployment of extra people or equipment to the Palisades and other areas that were considered highly dangerous. And, you know, there's just -- we just have not received a good explanation for that.

MICHAELSON: So, you reached out to the fire department for an official comment. They haven't given you one.

We reached out to the fire department for an official comment. We have not gotten one back from them.

We do have L.A. Mayor Karen Bass coming on with us tomorrow, which was previously scheduled before your story came out. And we're interested to hear what she has to say about all this.

[00:05:11]

But based off of your reporting, essentially, if they took this more seriously, if the firefighters didn't leave that area, it seems very possible that this Palisades Fire may have been either prevented or stopped much, much, much sooner. Right?

PRINGLE: Well, that's what the -- that's what the experts tell us. The people who fight these fires and have fought them for decades.

That's the whole point of staying there, that if there is a hidden ember, you knock it down before the winds arrive.

It also gets back to the pre-deployment. That's why you pre-deploy a lot of extra firefighters and engines and other equipment, knowing those winds are coming, because in these kinds of fires, because of the winds, because of climate change, you've got to get them when they're small. And all fires basically start very small.

MICHAELSON: Paul Pringle, doing excellent work at "The L.A. Times," LATimes.com. Subscribers can read his work right there.

And obviously, this is going to be a big, big thing as part of the Southern California conversation for some time. Paul Pringle, thanks so much for your reporting.

PRINGLE: Thank you for having me.

MICHAELSON: Rick Caruso is a businessman and philanthropist. He ran against Karen Bass for mayor of Los Angeles last time around. He may do so again. He joins us live right now.

Rick, welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time.

RICK CARUSO, FORMER L.A. MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Hey, thank you, Elex. Congratulations on your new show. It's terrific.

MICHAELSON: Thank you very much.

Your reaction to this new reporting from "The L.A. Times"?

CARUSO: Well, first of all, I want to give a shout out to "The L.A. Times." I mean, it's great investigative reporting. Paul's a great journalist.

And this is why we need independent press, is to hold people in power accountable. So -- but it's a devastating story because, as you reported and Paul just talked about, we now know very clearly, based on these text messages, that the fire could have been prevented, had there been the right leadership involved.

And -- and certainly "The L.A. Times" is clear on putting into question the leadership at the fire department, at city hall, at mayor Bass. And I think for everybody who is impacted by these fires, it's really tough to read this article.

MICHAELSON: What does accountability look like to you? Because you previously criticized Mayor Bass when she demoted the fire chief. Do you now think about that differently?

CARUSO: No, because demoted the fire chief before there were any facts come out.

We're almost a year into this now. There's been an after-action report, and now there's this reporting going on.

The after-action report also laid out all the failures. It's been crickets, Elex. The mayor hasn't made a comment or statement on it, about the after-action report. I don't know of any statement that was made after this article came out in "The L.A. Times" today.

So, I think everybody should be held accountable in some form or fashion that failed in their leadership role.

But I don't think that you should be firing somebody just to deflect attention. And I think that's what, clearly, she did at the time.

I think what's more important right now is we need to have an independent commission. It reminds me, back in the days, Elex, where after the Rodney King, the terrible beating, we had the Warren Commission with Christopher Warren, an independent commission that takes all of this information.

We all need to know exactly what happened before the fire, during the fire, and after the fire. And then we need to make sure we have solutions to all of these problems, so we make sure it never happens again.

I mean, the fire department, which I called out years ago, has been underfunded for years. They didn't have enough equipment. We didn't have the water, because the reservoir was empty.

We wouldn't have worried about any of that, had they pre-deployed, and if they would have stayed there.

But we need to know everything that happened, and we need to make sure we fix it, so it doesn't happen again. Because too many lives were destroyed over very, very bad mistakes and a lot of incompetency at a lot of different levels in the city.

I don't know of another disaster that was so easily preventable, that had so much damage attached to it in this country. Maybe there is, but I can't think of anything.

MICHAELSON: You know, there are a lot of people watching this. They're going to wonder about your future. You have said that you're considering running for mayor and running for governor, that you will make your decision when you make it.

But there are some people that are thinking about a third option, which is to run for the CEO of L.A. County, a job that's in place in two years, a brand-new job. Have you -- does that sound appealing to you?

[00:10:05]

CARUSO: No, it doesn't. I think it's an important job. It's a critically important job, but it's not the job that I'm thinking about.

So, you know, I've focused my attention, and we have a team focused on the governor's race that we're looking at seriously, and the mayor's race, looking at seriously. And I'm getting close to a decision.

Things like this actually motivate me even more. Because I think I could bring some leadership to bear that we need in the city or we need in the state and make sure that we don't have these kind of things happening again.

And it's an honor to serve. And so, how lucky would I be if I have the opportunity to do that?

MICHAELSON: Well, there's a new West Coast-based show that would love to hear your decision first. So, I hope you'll consider us.

Rick Caruso, thanks so much for joining us tonight.

CARUSO: You've got a deal. MICHAELSON: We appreciate it.

CARUSO: Thanks.

MICHAELSON: Now to an extraordinary move in the U.K. King Charles is stripping his own brother Andrew, of his royal titles and kicking him out of the Windsor royal estate.

The move comes as Buckingham Palace attempts to distance itself from the ongoing scandal over Andrew's ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and a recently published allegation from a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre.

She worked for Epstein and, in her book, accuses Andrew of sexually assaulting her as a teenager.

The king's brother has repeatedly denied these accusations. Here's how some in London are reacting right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY HUMPHRIES, CONTENT CREATOR: Is this what we represent? Is this what the people represent? No, it's a disgrace. So, I'm happy he's got a stripped of his titles, his royal titles, as well.

CHARLIE CARTER, SENIOR RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT: We all saw it coming, to be honest. As soon as the first thing came out, we all knew immediately something was wrong. Just by the way that he got removed from all the royal duties. All of the lists and everything that was conveniently mentioned and got covered up. What we're hearing, just the way that he was on paying rent and all these sort of different things that we hear.

It's sort of -- it's a bit of an embarrassment, to be honest, on the nation, on the country, everyone in general. This is a member of our royal family. These are our leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Joining me now from London is CNN royal correspondent Max Foster.

Max, what does this all really mean?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've basically responded to public pressure, political pressure; people very frustrated with Andrew's inconsistencies with his story. And they just wanted him out. I'm speaking for politicians here and members of the public, all the polling. And the king finally responded.

So, he's officially evicted Andrew from the monarchy by taking away all of his titles, including that of prince, and evicted him from his mansion out in Windsor, which was becoming an intensely sort of sensitive topic for the British public. Why does he still have this huge mansion and all the privileges that come with it? So, he lives there currently with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. She's

been told she's going to have to make her own arrangements. But Andrew has been offered a house on the king's private country estate, and he will be looked after there. So, he'll be given some sort of income. We'll wait to see how the public responds to that.

But he's effectively been thrown out of the monarchy, all of his privileges taken away, all because of the way he mishandled the crisis around Jeffrey Epstein.

MICHAELSON: But it's not exactly like he's going to be on the streets begging for money, it sounds like. It sounds like he's still going to be taken care of.

And so, is that enough for the public: that he essentially gets a cushy house and an income after all of this, while there's victims who feel like there was some real injustice?

FOSTER: Well, absolutely. And I think that is going to be an issue with the public. I don't want to speak before they've responded, but he still has a very expensive house. And he's -- he's got it in perpetuity now, instead of on a lease agreement. And the king is going to be giving him an income.

Royal sources saying to me and pointing out that he is still his brother. The victims are obviously central to all of this. Jeffrey Epstein's victims. Virginia Giuffre, who is Prince Andrew's, or Andrew's, main accuser, there -- is no longer with us. She committed suicide some months ago. She can't speak for herself.

Her family coming out today, saying today an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage. Today, she declares victory.

Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing. But this whole Epstein affair -- Andrew's just one part of it -- just keeps coming back to haunt the royal family. But all of the men that were accused by Virginia Giuffre and other victims and survivors here.

So, this story is not going to go away. We'll wait to see how the public responds. But you know, the king feels he's done all he can now.

[00:15:05]

MICHAELSON: Max Foster, reporting for us from London.

And on a personal note, thank you for joining us on "The Story Is" for the first time on what I hear is your birthday. So happy birthday, Max.

FOSTER: It is. Celebrating from a -- a pavement in London.

MICHAELSON: What a British way to respond to that. Thank you so much. Max Foster in London.

Someone buy that guy a drink.

Up next, the attorney general of California is here to talk about the state suing President Trump over the issue of food assistance. Tens of millions of people around the country could soon lose theirs if nothing is done.

And a desperate race to deliver aid in Jamaica. Our reporters on the ground as recovery from Melissa gets underway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:20:20]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: They're doing this on purpose. It is deliberate. It is intentional. They have the funds. They're just not using them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: That right there is California Attorney General Rob Bonta announcing a lawsuit against the federal government over the issue of SNAP benefits. Today, he was at the L.A. regional food bank, meeting with folks there who are concerned that they might not have enough food because of that shutdown.

Joining us now here in studio is the attorney general of California, Rob Bonta.

Good to see you.

ROB BONTA, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CALIFORNIA: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: Welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time. Nice to have you here.

BONTA: I'm grateful to be here.

MICHAELSON: Talk to us about this lawsuit. What's your main point?

BONTA: Our main point is that federal law requires the United States Department of Agriculture to use the money in this contingency fund to pay for Food Stamps for the hungry. It has 5 to $6 billion in it. The -- it can be used to pay for Food Stamps for the hungry.

But the Trump administration is willingly, intentionally, and in my view, cruelly and certainly unlawfully, not using that money to feed the hungry in America.

MICHAELSON: Are you suggesting that they are trying to make a political point and sort of using these people as pawns to do it?

BONTA: I am. I don't see any other way to understand what they're doing, because the federal administration, less than 30 days ago, said that they would continue to use the funds to pay for Food Stamps throughout the United States of America. They said it twice. They said it to the states, and then they put something on their website, which they since took down.

And then they did a complete about-face, 180-degree turnabout, and said, the well is dry, meaning there's no funds when there's 5 to $6 billion worth of funds.

So, it seems like a really cruel, dangerous, and damaging effort to try to put pressure on Democrats during the government shutdown. In my view, it's -- it's disgusting, and it's dangerous; and it's immoral and unlawful.

MICHAELSON: So, the vice president of the United States is blaming the Democrats, saying you all could reopen the government. Here's some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The problem is, as reasonable as some of these people can be in private, in public the current obsession of the Democratic Party in leadership -- I'm not saying every Democrat in the country -- but the current obsession of every Democrat in Congress is get President Trump, fight President Trump, attack President Trump.

It is impossible for us to work across the aisle unless a person is willing to put down their partisan sword, shut the hell up about fake scandals related to Donald Trump, and actually work with us. That's the way you make this happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: So, they basically make the point that they want a continuing resolution to reopen the government. We can negotiate all the rest of this stuff later. Just keep things as is. Reopen the government.

Democrats are saying no. So, isn't this really the Democratic shutdown?

BONTA: No. And by the way, his comments sound like a lot of grievance and complaining. And there's -- from my office, we're not attacking the Trump administration. We're attacking unlawfulness. We're attacking unconstitutional actions.

And the payment of SNAP benefits, of Food Stamps for the hungry, has nothing to do with the government shutdown. Government doesn't have to be open. In fact, the -- the contingency fund at issue here is supposed to be used in exigent circumstances like this when there is a government shutdown. That's why it's supposed to be -- when it's supposed to be used and the time when it's supposed to be drawn on.

So -- but look, the Democrats are standing up for health care. Trump is seemingly saying we're going to starve the hungry, the most vulnerable; our children, our seniors, the disabled, veterans. So that you can sign onto a -- an agreement which strips health care away from Americans. And I don't think Democrats are going to stand up for that. But -- but Trump has said that, when there's a president of a certain

party, and there's a government shutdown during that administration, it is that president's fault. So, his own words are coming back to haunt him. And Trump is -- is the one responsible for this shutdown. It's Trump's shutdown, not the Democrats' shutdown.

MICHAELSON: Of course, he said that when Obama was president.

BONTA: He did.

MICHAELSON: He did not say that when he was president.

Meanwhile, there is voting going on in California right now. And the federal government, the Department of Justice, has said that they're going to be sending in federal election monitors to monitor the election that's happening for Proposition 50 in California. That is a state race, not a federal race.

BONTA: Right.

MICHAELSON: In the past, they have sent in monitors, both parties, for federal races. You've got a problem with what they're doing. What's wrong with transparency?

BONTA: Nothing's wrong with transparency. We welcome it. And it's not needed. There is incredible amounts of transparency already built into the -- the system in California. We're going to have representatives from both parties. Republican representatives, Democratic representatives, people from non-profits like the League of Women Voters.

[00:25:15]

I'm going to have people. The secretary of state's going to have people all there, watching the process. It is transparent. It's open.

Normally, transparency from the federal government is not a problem, but we have to look at their credibility, or rather lack thereof. This is an administration led by a president who called the secretary of state of Georgia, asking for more votes.

When -- he denied the outcome of an election in 2020. He's trying to get rid of vote by mail, because Vladimir Putin told him to.

He issued an unlawful and unconstitutional executive order, trying to deny people's vote being counted if they cast a vote by mail ballot timely before election day but it arrived after election day.

So, we have to look at it in that context and can't be naive about it. And so, we're just going to make sure that the election monitors that come are doing their job and nothing beyond it; aren't interfering with the election in any way.

We will have observers watching them to make sure that they are within their rights and not exceeding those obligations and those rights.

MICHAELSON: We always end with something fun on this show. So, we want to get to know you a little bit better.

BONTA: Sure.

MICHAELSON: It's Halloween week.

BONTA: Yes.

MICHAELSON: So rapid-fire Halloween questions. Do you have a favorite Halloween candy?

BONTA: I like Snickers bars.

BONTA: OK. Very nice. Favorite -- favorite Halloween costume you've ever worn?

BONTA: Oh, man. My whole family got in costumes that were consistent with "Wicked" and sort of "Wizard of Oz" themes. I had -- I had a -- we had an infant at the time. I had a wizard costume on. My wife did, as well. My other children got dressed up. And we went out together, and it was fun to dress up as a family and be part of the spirit of Halloween.

MICHAELSON: And lastly, you're a Bay Area guy, but who represents the state of California. The honest answer: are you rooting for the Dodgers in the World Series, or do you want them to lose?

BONTA: I'm rooting for the Dodgers in the World Series. I want them to win.

It's tough, as someone who grew up around the A's and in the district where the A's are and the Giants and all the Giants World Series, and that rivalry.

But go California, go Dodgers. Ohtani is redefining baseball and setting records and doing things no one has ever done before. It's a sight to behold. It's incredible. I think he'll be the MVP again. And the Dodgers deserve to win. And I hope they will.

MICHAELSON: If you notice, he preserved his ability to run for statewide office with that -- that very safe answer there. Mr. Attorney General, great to see you.

BONTA: Elex, great to see you.

MICHAELSON: Safe travels, as well.

BONTA: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: In our next hour, an exclusive with Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights. She is the one actually overseeing the federal election monitoring program. She's got a very different view, as you can imagine, than A.G. Bonta.

But up next, our panel is here to break it all down. Peter Hamby of Puck News, Molly Mason of "Politico" standing by live. We've got some breaking news from President Trump. Stay with us for that. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:32:47]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: California, with Prop 50, you have the power.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: You have the power to stand up to Donald Trump.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): You have the power to protect reproductive freedom.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): You have the power to stop election rigging.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): You have the power to give America a fair midterm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have the power to restore checks and balances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: You have the power to be part of the political avengers, apparently.

Some of the biggest stars of the Democratic Party there, urging California voters to vote yes on Prop 50. Last day to vote is Tuesday. Only some of those people actually live in California.

So, if approved, it would temporarily redraw Californias congressional districts and likely give Democrats five extra seats in the U.S. House. That is aimed at countering Republican led redistricting efforts in other states, including Texas, ahead of next year's midterm elections.

Joining me now to talk about this and a whole lot more, our political panel, Melanie Mason is a senior political reporter for "Politico." And Peter Hamby is the host of Snapchat's "Good Luck, America," founding partner of Puck News, host of their podcast, as well. Good to see both of you. Welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time --

PETER HAMBY, FOUNDING PARTNER, PUCK NEWS: Great to be here.

MICHAELSON: -- two of my -- two of my favorite people.

MELANIE MASON, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, "POLITICO": Glad to be here.

MICHAELSON: I'm so excited to do this.

Melanie, let's start with you. You've got new reporting on Proposition 50. What do you make, first of all, of that ad? I mean, it's clearly the Democratic Party showing we're united.

MASON: Yes. Democrats in array, which is not always the case. I think that the -- the fact that, as you said, some of those people don't even live in California is precisely the point.

This election was nationalized from the get-go by Newsom. And so, the fact that you have a former president, a senator from Massachusetts, a senator from Connecticut. They wanted this to be not about, you know, district maps in California and how many seats in the House.

It was a broader conversation about stopping Trump and getting the entire Democratic Party to do it.

MICHAELSON: And so, part of the message is to try to send a big middle finger to Donald Trump.

And so, we've got some polling. We want to put this up on the screen. A lot of the polls seem relatively consistent recently. This is a poll from CBS/YouGov: 62, yes; 38, no.

We've seen other polling, as well, that's in similar places.

But essentially, Peter, what that is, is all the Democrats and the Democrat-leaning independents all saying, yes.

[00:35:08]

HAMBY: This race has been about mobilization. And that means the Democrats and Newsom and his allies decided there's a lot of Democrats in California, and we're just going to get all of them to go vote.

If you look at the PPIC poll about the race that came out today, there's no undecided voters. The Republicans are coming out to vote against it. The Democrats are coming out to vote for it. There's more Democrats in this state. This is exactly what that is about.

The other thing that was in that poll, Donald Trump's approval rating in California is terrible. It's 33 percent. Gavin Newsom's, 53, 54 percent. Not great, by the way, but way better. People here don't like Donald Trump.

And they made the race about national issues. When you saw these ads, the backdrop was ICE raids. It was the economy, democracy.

MICHAELSON: Yes. There's a lot of congressional lines.

HAMBY: It's not -- yes, it's not about the, you know, Shasta County congressional district lines. It's about Donald Trump. That's what this race is about.

And it's also kind of become about Gavin Newsom and this launch, where now he's finally admitting publicly that he's considering running for president, which apparently, he was the only person who didn't realize that he was considering running for president.

And this is helping him with donors. You've got new reporting on that.

MASON: That's right. We did this analysis, my colleague at "Politico" and I, about how Newsom has expanded his small donor list. I mean, if you're getting these emails from Gavin Newsom, you may have

actually seen a pretty interesting one in the last week which said, you can stop giving us money now, which is pretty unheard of.

MICHAELSON: Yes. When does a politician ever say, stop giving me money?

HAMBY: By the way, I think -- I thought that was, like, smart of him. I think a lot of Democrats are exhausted by the endless outrage-text messaging, asking people to donate. The DNC is still paying off part of Kamala Harris's campaign debt.

I think it builds trust with small donors, by the way, that Gavin Newsom said that. Sorry to interrupt.

MASON: No, I agree. It was very, very savvy for him to do that. But I think what it also is, is he brought in so many new to Newsom donors.

So, the analysis that we did found that almost 94 percent of these small-dollar donors had never given to a Gavin Newsom campaign before.

So, what that means is that now you have all of these new people who are in the habit of supporting a Gavin Newsom political project. And if that happens to be a larger project in 2028, he has their email addresses; he has their phone numbers; he has them subscribed to his YouTube channel now.

It's just such a foundation that has been laid that any other potential 2028 contender is probably pretty jealous.

MICHAELSON: That's interesting phrase: New to Newsom. We're talking about here.

So, what do you make of where this -- this leaves him? Because right now, Peter, it seems like there's really a battle for the soul of who the Democratic Party is, essentially.

You've got somebody like Gavin Newsom: I want to punch Trump in the face. You got somebody like Pete Buttigieg who is saying, let's focus on the issues and try to help people.

You've got somebody like Zohran Mamdani, who's a Democratic socialist, proudly so; with AOC and others. Where do you see Democrats?

HAMBY: I think Melanie is exactly right that Gavin Newsom is probably the most fully-formed adult in the 2028 field for organizational reasons and for reputational reasons.

Pete Buttigieg has run before. Obviously, AOC, if she runs, has something of a national profile, though she's not popular nationally.

Gavin Newsom now has this fundraising machine, and he -- he has this reputation now as being the fighter against Donald Trump. It's -- you know, it's kind of been there for a while. He's -- he went toe to toe with Donald Trump after the wildfires.

I think Trump kind of has a weird respect for Gavin Newsom, just because he's telegenic. He's a larger-than-life figure.

MICHAELSON: Right.

HAMBY: He figures prominently in the political imagination.

MICHAELSON: He's rich. He's handsome. He's good on TV.

HAMBY: All of these things.

MICHAELSON: He has good hair. A lot of the things that Donald Trump really likes.

HAMBY: Correct. He likes good hair. He doesn't respect a lot of the other Democrats.

But he has carved out a lane as the puncher. The question is, does that have a shelf life?

A month ago, Echelon Insights and Puck did a poll. Gavin Newsom surged to the top of the 2028 field. He's come down a little bit. Maybe people get tired of the trolling. Whatever.

He's still, though -- you have to count him as one of the top one or 2 or 3 people in that field.

MICHAELSON: Interesting who was not in that ad with all the top Democrats, including folks that don't live in California, the one who was the Democratic presidential nominee last time around, and the senator from California, Kamala Harris.

MASON: That's right. And she happened to tweet out today a video of her voting yes. And it kind of felt like all her friends are hanging out without her. Right?

There's this ad. And by the way, you know, Gavin Newsom, who she, of course, has this sort of frenemy relationship with for a long time, the same consultants. There's just so much history there.

But also, yes, if you're thinking about who are the, you know, preeminent national figures, you would think the person who just ran for president as a Democrat --

MICHAELSON: Right.

MASON: -- would be one of them. And yet, she's sort of on her own saying, I'm voting for this, too. It felt pretty diminished.

MICHAELSON: Obviously, she lost to Donald Trump, who is the president right now, and he making some news within the last hour, posting to Truth Social that the way he thinks the shutdown should end is that Republicans in the Senate should get rid of the filibuster.

[00:40:00]

Here's what he put out: "It is now time for the Republicans to play their 'TRUMP CARD' and go for what is called the Nuclear Option -- get rid of the Filibuster, get rid of it, NOW!"

So, for folks watching around the world that may not know what the filibuster is, basically in the Senate, it's not majority rule. There is a -- you have to get to 60 votes to basically continue debate on things. That means you need Democratic votes in order to move forward.

The Democrats have been withholding those votes. That's why there's a shutdown right now.

Institutionalists in both parties have said, let's protect the filibuster, protect minority rights. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the Senate. Will John Thune move after this?

HAMBY: First of all, CNN, this is why you need a show at this time of night, so we can react to Donald Trump's posts on Truth Social.

A couple of things are going on here. Poll from "The Washington Post" came out today, continues to show that Americans blame Republicans and Donald Trump for the shutdown more than Democrats. We've seen different polling, but it's usually consistent there.

Two, John Thune, Senate majority leader, does not want to get rid of the filibuster. He is -- as much as he is genuflecting before Donald Trump, letting Trump do whatever he wants, kind of emasculating the Republican party on Capitol Hill in the process, he's still a little bit of an institutionalist.

He doesn't want to get rid of the filibuster. He's already said that about specifically the government shutdown. He thinks the filibuster has blocked many bad things; is basically, I'm paraphrasing what he said a few days ago.

There's a couple off-ramps coming up, though. I think the SNAP benefits story that Attorney General Bonta was talking about on your show earlier is very important.

I think the Senate is also -- they've gone home for this weekend. They're back in their states. Members, Republican members will be back in their districts, maybe hearing about this issue.

The other off-ramp might be later, toward Thanksgiving, if there's still air-traffic control issues during Thanksgiving holiday season.

Anyway, Donald Trump is about -- is just -- he's hearing about bad polls. There's going to be negative public feedback on SNAP, possibly air traffic control. And he's just, like, we need to be done be done with this. I think that's Donald Trump's saying.

MICHAELSON: And health care premiums, Melanie, going up for folks. They're about to get letters in the mail that say, here comes my health care premiums.

MASON: Including disproportionately in red states, right?

MICHAELSON: Yes. MASON: I mean, these are Trump voters who are going to be feeling it.

But I think, Peter, to your point, I agree with you that -- that congressional Republicans don't want to do the -- Senate Republicans don't want to do this. But how many times have we said this before, that Senate Republicans don't want to do something? Donald Trump says jump. And they end up saying how high?

I mean, the filibuster has seemed like a red line up until this point.

But I do think that this is a very interesting moment, because we -- it just -- we've seen this movie over and over again; that Trump seems to -- to barrel through these norms, and -- and Republicans seem to go along with him.

HAMBY: More -- more in this term than the first term, for sure.

MASON: Yes.

MICHAELSON: His force of personality is unbelievable, if you really think about how he's operating.

All right. End on something fun. Dodgers, we'd hoped they would -- would have already won the World Series. In fact, now they're down, heading to Toronto. You're a huge Dodger fan.

MASON: I am.

MICHAELSON: How are you feeling?

MASON: Not great. But you know what?

MICHAELSON: Honest.

MASON: We have the best player that's ever played the game playing for our team. We have Yamamoto, who has just been pitching lights out. And we've got heart.

And so, you've got to have heart. You've got to have faith.

HAMBY: You need to get hits too, though. You've got -- you've got to get some hits.

MASON: We do. We do need an offense.

HAMBY: You need some runs.

MASON: I would love for Mookie Betts to join us.

MICHAELSON: As the more objective person here, you think it's the Blue Jays winning the World Series?

HAMBY: I -- you know, I'm a Cincinnati Reds fan. I have adopted the Dodgers as my second hometown team. I want them to win, but I like, as a Reds fan, a - I mean, Toronto is not a small market. It's a huge city. But these teams with lower payrolls, they deserve some dubs. I want to

see a championship from a team that doesn't have an evil empire-style payroll. I'm sorry, and I think.

MASON: Bring it. Bring it.

MICHAELSON: But they're good. But they're good guys. They're good guys. They're not an evil empire. Shohei Ohtani, big smile on his face.

HAMBY: I love Sasaki. I love Sasaki.

MICHAELSON: Yes, yes. All right. Peter, Melanie, thanks for hanging out with us. We really appreciate it.

We take a live look right now from the CN Tower in Toronto, where it is already Friday. And they are getting ready for that big World Series game, Dodgers and Blue Jays.

Tomorrow night at this time, the Blue Jays could be champions, but we hope not. At least I hope not.

We'll be back with more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:48:59]

MICHAELSON: A torrential downpour in New York City, prompting fire department there to perform water rescues in Brooklyn. Major parkways around the city closed for hours Thursday night due to that flooding.

And check this out. That is water -- look at this -- gushing through the New York City subway. Service was disrupted on some of the lines as crews worked to clear water off of the tracks.

Hurricane Melissa is now heading for Bermuda after leaving a path of destruction through the Caribbean, including Cuba. We begin with our Derek van Dam in Jamaica.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST (via phone): We have now finally made it into some of the hardest hit regions of Black River, and it's completely devastated.

It is quickly becoming a race against time. This is truly a developing crisis. If we don't get significant aid into this area, there will be a humanitarian disaster that develops.

And we need to get access and aid and crucial, critical infrastructure here, desperately.

It is extremely hot here. Obviously, there is no power, no -- very little communication. We're working off of a Starlink as we speak, but we're one of the very few who has access to that around this area. And we are, just to set the scene, at the mouth of the Black River,

which exits into the Caribbean Ocean. I can see the turbulent seas behind me.

And there are -- this has almost become an ad hoc meeting point for family, friends to come and check on their loved ones, because the bridge that goes across the Black River into the town of Black River, where the largest population resides, who rode out the fury of Hurricane Melissa, is -- is located.

So, this ad hoc meeting place, because no one can communicate with the people who were the most badly impacted by this storm. So, they've come here to try and desperately find people.

I've seen reunions happen right in front of my face. Tears, people crying, hugging, smiling, telling stories. We've witnessed people walking with suitcases on top of their heads, taking motor bikes, trying to exit the region. But the roads are just completely decimated and littered with debris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, we've just come across this scene as were leaving Santiago de Cuba and it goes on for a long, long way. All these banana plants that have been completely knocked down, destroyed. You can see the force of Melissas winds came through here with.

And the issue for Cuba, even though the storm didn't hit as hard as Jamaica, is it's done a tremendous amount of damage, and Cuba doesn't produce enough food as is. So, when you have a whole crop like this that's lost, that is going to have a big impact. Cuba can't afford to import food.

And so, you know, it just is going to be less food that's available for people, food that they were counting on producing and is now lost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: If you want to help those impacted by Hurricane Melissa, go to CNN.com/Impact.

Sean "Diddy" Combs has been transferred to a low-security federal prison to begin serving the rest of his sentence. People familiar with the case say he was moved to Fort Dix in New Jersey.

The music mogul asked to serve his time there to take advantage of its drug treatment program and to be closer to his family.

Combs was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and sentenced to more than four years behind bars. His legal team is appealing that conviction. He's expected to be released in May of 2028. Well, it is the end of an era for one of the most successful teams in

pro basketball. The NBA's board of governors have approved the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter and his group.

The Dodgers owner will pay $10 billion for majority interests in the Lakers. That's the most ever paid for a sports franchise anywhere in the world.

And it means that, for the first time in almost half a century, the Buss family will not have majority control.

It all started when Dr. Jerry Buss bought the team in 1979 and brought Hollywood flair to the franchise. Showtime was his invention.

The Lakers won 11 titles with the Buss family with stars like Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James.

A thriller at the White House as the president and first lady mark Halloween eve by handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, including one dressed as, you know who.

Still ahead, a look at Mr. Trump's whirlwind tour of Asia. And did he do the "Thriller" dance?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:58:48]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At long last, we can begin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: "Stranger Things," season five drops November 26.

The series will then wrap up with an episode on Christmas day and the finale on New Year's Eve.

And if that's not enough, another spooky trailer dropped this Halloween Eve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SCREAMING)

NEVE CAMPBELL, ACTRESS: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Sydney. Did you miss me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: How do they not have caller I.D. at this point? "Scream 7." "Scream 7" reunites stars Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox.

The plot involves Campbell's Sydney, who's built a new life for herself and her daughter. But no surprise: doesn't go well.

The movie hits theaters in late February.

A celebration blooms at a farm near L.A., where families stop by to pick bunches of marigolds ahead of the traditional Mexican Day of the Dead or Dia de Los Muertos.

Marigolds are known in Mexico as the flower of the dead for their strong and sweet scent. It's said to attract souls and draw them back to earth.

In Mexico, the Day of the Dead draws thousands of people to burial grounds and public plazas. People picnic at gravesites and decorate altars.