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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Isaias Pushes Into Southeast U.S. With Dangerous Wind, Rain; U.S. Cuts New Deal On Diesel Exports With Russia; Hurricane Isaias Makes Landfall As A Category 2 Storm; Powerful 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Panama; New Video Shows I.C.E. Agents During NYC Shooting; Trump Names Katie Zacharia Next White House Press Secretary; Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 10, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida as a powerful Category 2 hurricane around 08:30 P.M. Central Time, Friday. It was the first hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since Milton hit Florida exactly two years ago. And despite weakening, authorities warn Isaias is still dangerous. Heavy rain, flash flooding, storm surge, and tornadoes are serious threats in the hours ahead. Officials are warning anyone who did not evacuate to hunker down and shelter in place.
Power outages continue to rise with more than 600,000 people now without power. We start things off with CNN's Isabel Rosales who is in Gulf Shores, Alabama. She joins us now with the latest. Isabel?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Elex. 24 hours ago, here are the people of Gulf Shores, Orange Beach nearby. They were really worried because they hadn't been through something like this since hurricane Sally back in 2020. And they thought based on the track that they could be at the center of this. But to their relief, this moved off to their neighbors into the Northeast, putting us west of where the eyewall was, meaning that the worst of the storm surge, rainfall, gusts, all of that has passed, and they essentially have dodged a bullet here.
But I think the story here, Elex, is in the next 24 to 36 hours is as Isaias moves off of the water, off of its energy source, and moves inland, it'll continue to weaken, but that doesn't mean that the danger is over. What's in store overnight, as you mentioned there off the top, intense rain flash flooding. The worst flooding could still be ahead for areas east of where this, you say yes made landfall in Destin. So parts of Florida's Big Bend, Southern Georgia, they face a rare level four out of four, risk of rainfall flooding, especially into the early morning hours as people are asleep or getting up when rainfall rates could reach 3 to 6 inches per hour.
We're also looking at storm surge that, yes, it's true. The worst of the storm surge has passed, but parts of Florida's Gulf Coast, could continue to experience these rising flood levels, water levels, storm surge as the winds shift and push from the south, pushing that water onshore. And, of course, you mentioned the power outages. With all of these gusts, it doesn't take a lot to bring down these trees between Florida and Alabama. 600,000 customers without power. This is what they're going to wake up to, and hopefully, crews and linemen getting out there and turning back on the lights as soon as they can. Elex.
MICHAELSON: Isabelle, as we've seen, and I've been out there reporting on hurricanes before as well, sometimes it can be deceiving because it seems like everything is over.
ROSALES: Yeah.
MICHAELSON: And then the water can come later.
ROSALES: Right.
MICHAELSON: In terms of the flooding. Talk about that phenomenon.
ROSALES: Exactly. Yeah. That happened actually as I was covering hurricane Milton two years ago. Intense flash flooding that occurred inland in areas that the Tampa Bay area had never seen before. University Plaza suddenly was underwater to the point where they needed water rescues. Assisted living facilities had to be evacuated. So it's always a sign that while the storm is beyond you, that doesn't mean you are out of the woods.
Weird things happen here that, are beyond the comprehension of non- meteorologists. I'm not one of them, but you're about to get one after this. That shows you've got to stay on your toes when it comes to hurricanes and tropical storms. So pay attention to what the experts are saying here and stay on your toes.
MICHAELSON: Well said, Isabel Rosales in Gulf Shores, Alabama. That goes for you. Thanks for joining us. Be careful out there. And you brought her in. CNN -- actually, before we get to Allison Chinchar, our meteorologist, let's go to Maranie Adams. She is riding out hurricane Isaias in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Marni, are you with us? Describe the situation where you are.
MARANIE ADAMS, GULF SHORES, ALABAMA RESIDENT: Yeah. It has. The wind is still blowing pretty strong here, but the rain has cut back. It stopped raining probably around 07:30, 8 o'clock. We're getting plenty of wind, though. Plenty of wind.
MICHAELSON: Why the decision to stay?
ADAMS: We stayed through Sally a few years ago, made some mistakes, but we learned a lot. So we felt like we had the experience, we have animals. So we decided we could just be prepared. We started preparing on Wednesday, got our gas, got extra food, brought our dogs and our chickens in the house, and decided we could just hunker down and make it through it.
MICHAELSON: So you're currently hanging with dogs and chickens together?
ADAMS: Dogs and chickens, yes. They are in separate cages, but they are deeper. We have five roosters in the back room in the office. Yep. MICHAELSON: It sounds like it could be a loud and late night for you. So talk about what it's felt like so far, what it's sounded like.
[01:05:00]
Thankfully, it looks like right now you still have power.
ADAMS: Yeah. We only had a few power flashes. We had a couple of flashes luckily. We had -- our house is up on pilings. We're about 14 feet up. So we definitely felt the house swaying at one point when the winds were at their strongest. But right now, it's calmed down and seems to be going much better since it moved a little bit east.
MICHAELSON: How does this compare to other hurricanes?
ADAMS: It is a lot less stressful than Sally. Sally was our first one that we'd been through since we moved down here. We weren't as well prepared as we thought we were. And of course, it was a direct hit, so it was a lot more involved. But I do feel like we prepared a lot better. We're only about half a mile from the Gulf of Mexico where we are here. And we're between -- there's a lagoon between us and the Gulf of Mexico. So we're surrounded by water. Last time we had 2-feet of water under our house. This time the rain's been much less. We have had no flooding. So that's a blessing. That's a blessing.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. I mean, if the house is built on pilings like that, that means that there is, of course, that flooding danger literally built into the way your home is constructed. Is there some concerns about literally getting out of the house and going down and seeing what's left?
ADAMS: Not this time. With Sally, it was. There was a lot more rain. It'd be much easier to assess the damage in the morning.
MICHAELSON: Well, it is good to hear that you're doing OK. I'm glad all the animals are doing OK as well. Best of luck in the night ahead.
ADAMS: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Maranie Adams riding out the storm in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Thank you so much for joining us.
ADAMS: Thank you for having me.
MICHAELSON: We want to go now to talk about the Mayor of Gulf Shores, Alabama who spoke to CNN earlier about how his city is holding up during the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF ROBERT CRAFT, GULF SHORES, FLORIDA MAYOR: We dodged the worst of it. This thing drifted east. We got more of the backside of the storm than the front side, but we have a lot of issues with power lines down and people without power. But all in all, and we've got a lot of shoreline erosion, obviously, but all in all, we feared pretty well. VOICE OF LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, thank goodness to hear that. I mean, many people were really holding their breath as Isaias was approaching your area because of the concerns about the storm surge. Did your city dodge a bullet?
CRAFT: We have. Yes. We got a lot of shoreline erosions. We didn't have any breaches. We've got a berm that we put up after multiple hurricanes to kind of protect our inland area, and it has held really well. It's eroded, but we didn't have any penetration beyond the berm to have any damage that I'm aware of yet. I haven't had any report of anything. The big issue is power out and flooded streets and a lot of power lines and trees down.
COATES: Mayor, this calm, it can be deceptive as well. What should people in your area be watching for if they think the danger has already passed?
CRAFT: Down power lines probably more than anything else. Don't get in your car and drive around. There's standing water, and that can cause accidents and flooding of cars. So stay home. Be safe. We will -- the sun will come up tomorrow, and we'll be able to help you more understanding where you can and can't and should or shouldn't go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Second now live with CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar who's been tracking the hurricane. She's in the CNN Weather Center. I think this is hour, I don't know, 47 in a row. Allison, thank you for your stamina. Where are we at right now?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. So it has already made landfall, and, basically, what we're trying to do at this point is we're trying to get a lot of the -- pay attention to the radar where a lot of the heavy rain is now moving well inland. So these areas of Central Alabama, Central Georgia, this is where the focus is really going to be over the next 24 to 36 hours. But it's also been very windy along the Gulf Coast.
Look at some of these numbers. At least all five of these locations have picked up wind gusts of over a 100 miles per hour. Jay, Florida topping out at 118, and you can see about 116, in Santa Rosa Sound. So, again, you're looking at very high wind numbers there, which is why we are also seeing such high power outage numbers. Look at this. You're almost at 700,000 people without power across Florida, Alabama, as well as Georgia.
So a lot of these areas, are going to continue to see power outages. And the thing is the crews are not out. They're not out there trying to fix them right now. It's going to be a few more hours before we start to see those, sorry. Before we start to see a lot of those power outage numbers dipping back down. We are starting to see more areas of Georgia that are starting to see those power outage numbers go back up. More and more counties are going to be added to this list as we go through the rest of the day today, and then the heavy rain.
[01:10:00] The heavy rain is going to start to spread farther north and not just maybe a few miles inland. You're talking Carolinas, Tennessee. A lot of these areas that are well far away from the coast are going to start to see heavy rain. You've got a lot of these flash flood warnings in effect. We now have one from Montgomery, Alabama. That is a new one. Again, that's where all the heavy rain is moving. So all of these areas, that's where you're going to start to see more and more of these warnings pop up.
We do still have about an hour left of this tornado watch. Now that doesn't mean the tornado threat goes away after an hour. It's just going to shift into different areas as the storm continues to move north. Two will the potential for, tornadoes and even some very damaging wind gusts. You're still looking at some of these areas, that are going to spread into Saturday. So all of these locations in Georgia and the Carolinas, and I'm going to toss back to you now, they have the potential for tornadoes as well.
MICHAELSON: Head on "The Story Is" the President of the United States cuts a deal to try to lower diesel prices. Head of the midterm elections just ahead, you'll hear what role Russia may play in that plan.
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MICHAELSON: We continue to track hurricane Isaias. It made landfall near Destin, Florida as a Category 2 storm. It's now been downgraded to a Category 1 as it travels through Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee. Nearly 10 inches of rain has fallen across the Florida Panhandle in just three hours. More than 600,000 people are without power in the region. Isaias, it's the first hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. in two years.
Meanwhile, President Trump is lashing out at Norway after being passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize. At a rally Friday in Syracuse, New York, he said that he should have won this year's award.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The United States of America represented by me as your President should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn't. This is an indelible stain on the country of Norway and those people that made such a disgraceful and embarrassing decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: The 2026 prize was awarded to Navi Pillay, a former Judge on the International Criminal Court, hours after the announcement the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on the ICC. The court condemned the move, and at least eight U.S. allies expressed support for him. Trump's classes with the ICC date back to his first term when the court tried to investigate alleged war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio later said that the President would never allow the court to prosecute Americans, which he says is the reason why the U.S. imposed the new sanctions. He added that the U.S. will ban transactions with what he called a rogue court, saying it will cut off its resources and cripple its ability to operate.
Backlash is growing over plans to livestream a military execution in the U.S. The latest criticism came from the UN, which said that the move would violate its prohibition against torture.
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SHABIA MANTOO, SPOKESPERSON, OFFICE OF U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: The livestreaming 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. And the absolute prohibition of torture prohibits public executions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Former army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan is scheduled to be executed in December for killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution by firing squad would be livestreamed and send a message about the consequences of such crime. That plan drew bipartisan pushback with political leaders comparing it to the actions of terrorists and dictators.
President Trump gave conflicting statements on Friday, first saying that he absolutely approved the live stream, then saying his administration would make a determination, later telling CNN affiliate WSTM he was not involved in the decision at all.
Negotiators have wrapped up six hours of talks in Miami aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Sources telling Reuters that officials from the U.S., Europe, and Ukraine met just as the U.S. cut a new deal on diesel exports with Russia. Fred Pleitgen has more.
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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Kremlin has confirmed that Russia is willing to provide oil and petroleum products to both the U.S. and global markets after a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Now according to the readout provided by the Kremlin on the call, the two sides spent a lot of time speaking about the conflict in Ukraine and how to possibly resolve it, and then also spoke about the situation on global energy markets. It was then that Vladimir Putin, according to the Russian readout, said that Russia is willing to supply both oil and petroleum products to both the U.S., but also to global markets as well.
It was, of course, U.S. president Donald Trump who came out in a post on social media, who then said that there had been this phone call between himself and Vladimir Putin and that Russia was willing to supply significant amounts of diesel fuel to both the United States and to global markets. Now the Ukrainians have also already commented on this matter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seemed to be criticizing the U.S. measures to allow Russia to export oil and petroleum products, saying that this would not bring peace to Ukraine.
[01:20:00]
However, the Ukrainians currently are floating a possible energy ceasefire, which would mean the Ukrainians would stop attacking Russian energy sites, and the Russians would then stop attacking Ukrainian energy sites. The Ukrainians currently have a negotiating team on the ground in the United States to talk about how the conflict could possibly end.
At the same time, the war remains in full swing. Social media video that came out on Friday seemed to show a man in a place north of Kyiv narrowly avoiding a Russian drone strike that appeared to hit a sports facility and school in that area. At the same time, it was a very bloody end of this week with a massive strike in the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region that killed well over 30 people when two municipal buses were hit.
The Ukrainians, for their part, have also continued to hit that Russian energy infrastructure hitting two sites in Russia on Friday. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
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MICHAELSON: Fred, thank you. Next on "The Story Is," we'll have the latest on Hurricane Isaias as our breaking news coverage continues. We take you back live to the region.
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[01:25:00]
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MICHAELSON: Hurricane Isaias continues to move inland after making landfall near Destin, Florida hours ago. The storm has now weakened to a Category 1 hurricane. It's expected to weaken further overnight. Danger, not over yet. Tornadoes flooding still possible in parts of Florida and Southern Georgia. Nearly 10 inches of rain fell in just three hours in the Florida Panhandle, and damaging wind gusts and rain are expected to spread in the coming hours. Hundreds of thousands of customers without power along the Gulf Coast, people in the region who did not evacuate before the storm are now being urged to shelter in place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE EVANS, DIRECTOR, MOBILE COUNTY EMERGENCY MGMT. AGENCY: The message is you're in your safe place. Stay in your safe place. Don't be in a hurry to get out. This storm will get past us. And, once it's out of here, then that's when you go see how things look. But right now, we need people to stay hunkered down and not be interested in what's going on out in the community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: For more, we want to bring in Troy Gorlott, Public Safety Supervisor for the town of Dauphin Island in Alabama. Welcome to "The Story Is." How are things where you are?
TROY GORLOTT, PUBLIC SAFETY SUPERVISOR, TOWN OF DAUPHIN ISLAND: Right now, good and quiet. We've, the storm's passed us, so everybody's kind of sheltering in place and waiting daylight to go out and assist the damage.
MICHAELSON: Describe what it felt like, what it sounded like, what it looked like as the storm was overhead.
GORLOTT: Well, coming through, we did have some storm surge come through. Of course, the winds picked up. Luckily, we were on the Western side, so we didn't get the full brunt of it, but water started to roll in. We did have some very, very heavy bands of rain come through. Luckily, that's all passed now, so we're just waiting on daylight to get out and see, what the damage is.
MICHAELSON: Do you have any reports of damage or basically everybody's hunkered down right now so they really have no way to tell?
GORLOTT: Luckily, the reports we've gotten so far from our area of Dauphin Island in South Mobile County is we do have some minor structural damage, some Terros. We got a couple houses with trees on them. That's about the extent of it. Nothing like they were having over in Northwest Florida.
MICHAELSON: So it sounds like so far so good, and you may have dodged a bullet on this one.
GORLOTT: Yeah. We did. Luckily, this time we did. We always use these storms when they get close to almost like a training exercise if you can be. All our plans worked, so we'll just roll on to the next one.
MICHAELSON: Good to hear. Troy Gorlott joining us, staying up late for us. Glad to hear. All things good so far on that front. Thanks for joining us.
We now want to bring in Jonathan Petramala. He is in Pensacola, Florida. He's an independent journalist and a storm chaser. Where are you at now? What are you seeing?
JONATHAN PETRAMALA, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST AND STORM CHASER: Good evening. We just headed further to the west here in Pensacola. We spent the evening during landfall right there in Destin Fort Walton Beach. Winds were intense. Definitely those category 200 plus mile per hour winds blowing in 4 to 5-inch per hour rainfall rates. So that's why there was a flash flood emergency there around Fort Walton Beach. Very, very intense landfall there, but this is not a full hurricane as it were just because as it was making landfall, it starts to fall apart. It's kind of half cane.
And so the front part was the most vicious on the backside, dry and much less wind. And so you can see people are getting around at this point, starting to clear those roads. A lot of trees down, power outages, widespread, very, very dark. Here in Pensacola, they even had some damage as well even though they were further on the western side of the storm.
[01:30:00]
Still some decent winds that caused some damage in a hotel and also knocked some of those trees down. So definitely not a good time to be on the roads, because these trees are down everywhere and very dangerous. It's very dark because the power is out in so many spots.
MICHAELSON: So a half cane, that's quite an expression I haven't heard before. In terms of where you are, where are you headed next? Are you trying to catch up with it?
PETRAMALA: No, we're not going to catch up with it at this point, but what we like to do is like to be mobile and we like to show as much of the story as we can. And so with a hurricane, even half cane, there's quite of an extensive stretch in where the impacts are from here in Pensacola. We're just outside of a hotel where the roof blew completely off of three of the buildings during the hurricane to where we were in Fort Walton Beach and Destin. A lot of flash flooding, a flash flood emergency, some water getting to homes and to businesses flooding to the highway there, Highway 98, some storm surge as well. And then of course just the widespread power outages. I think that's the biggest story here along the Gulf Coast from this storm.
While again it was a Category 2 coming in, the backside not nearly as vicious as I was saying. Usually you have a hurricane that you're going to have an eye that's a circle and you have the front side, the winds kind of blow one way and if you can imagine a stick, you bend a stick then when you go the other way it snaps and it breaks and so in a lot of hurricanes, strong hurricanes, when you get to the backside of those storms, it's actually the most dangerous, because everything begins to break when the winds shift and blow in the opposite direction. This case with Hurricane Isaias in 2026, don't have the backside. You just have the front side. So not as much extensive damage.
I think that people are going to be relatively pleasantly surprised. I mean, nobody really wants a hurricane, but if you have to have a hurricane come by your home, this is the kind of hurricane that you want to see. A hurricane that is weakening upon landfall, not strengthening.
MICHAELSON: That was quite an explanation. Thank you for that, Jonathan Petramala. I appreciate it. And now we know about the front side and the back side and the half cane. Definitely things to take away from that.
Let's get the latest on where the storm is right now. Let's check back in with CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar in Atlanta. Allison, can you hear me?
CHINCHAR: Yes. So we've got -- looking at -- sorry, we've got a lot of heavy rain that is sliding up into areas of Alabama and Georgia, also into South Carolina. This is only going to get heavier as we go through the remainder of the day today and even into Sunday because it's not moving as fast right now as it was. So you've got to wait for those storms to kind of continue to slide out.
Here's a look at the rainfall totals we've had so far. Numerous ones well over half a foot, even looking at this one, your Caney Creek, Florida, a foot of rain so far. And, again, keep in mind for some of these places, these numbers are just going to tick back up as we go through the remainder of the day today, especially across Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas where we're going to start to see some of the heaviest rain just start to begin over the next few hours.
So here's a look at what we've got for the remainder of this area. You've still got some flood warnings in effect. That does include Montgomery, Alabama. That one has been new within the last hour because that is where the heavier rain is starting to slide into some of these places. You also have the flood watch. That's the green color you see here on the map. Those are the areas where it's not necessarily heavy rain yet, but the potential is there for that flooding because heavy rain is expected across all of these areas.
And you can see that on the forecast radar as we go through the overnight hours and into the early morning hours of Saturday, more of that heavy rain begins to spread northward, even in the states like Tennessee, North and South Carolina. So these -- some of these states that are well away from the coast are still going to have some pretty significant impacts, especially as we go through Sunday. Take a look at this rain band right through here.
Look at all of that heavy rain. You're talking widespread totals of at least 4 to 6-inches. Some of these areas just to the East of Asheville could end up getting 6 to even 10-inches of rain before the system finally exits out some of these areas. So, again, even though these areas, Elex, are very far away from the coast, they are still going to have some pretty big impacts.
MICHAELSON: Allison Chinchar, thanks so much for your tireless reporting. Still to come, a former federal administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA spoke to CNN earlier about that agency's role in the aftermath of the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG FUGATE, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, the biggest thing for the state was getting the National Guard moving me delayed, having everything ready to go, and start responding into these areas to do any search and rescue. FEMA would be sitting in the emergency operations center as these were issues are being discussed. If there was any shortfalls, if they needed additional search and rescue teams, any additional things like that.
[01:35:00] But because Florida and Alabama have such well trained and they respond, unfortunately, to a lot of these storms, I think FEMA is more in a supporting role in this, maybe be different in other states, but in this state, is very much, especially Florida, going to be led by the Governor in the response of the local officials.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Turning now to here in Southern California where one popular beach city is dealing with coastal flooding. Look at this. This is what it looked like in Newport Beach, which is about 45 miles South of Los Angeles in Orange County. Officials warn high tides could continue to flood parking lots and roads near that beach. Surfers and swimmers have also been warned about dangerous rip currents. Torrential rain has triggered devastating flash floods and mudslides in Chile's capital of Santiago.
Chile's President has declared a state of emergency in one of the hardest hit districts where rainfall reached 9x the October average. CNN's Christopher Ulloa has the latest from Santiago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER ULLOA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At least six people have been injured and hundreds of vehicles and homes have been affected after a silent flash flood here in Santiago, Chile. And I'm going to show you right away in the images of my cameraman Jose Basquet the level of damage and affection 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 mudslides 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 effort areas here in the capital zone. And you can see in the images, 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, Christopher Ulloa, Santiago, Chile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Southern Panama on Friday causing minor injuries as well as damage to some buildings. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake's epicenter was in a thinly populated area about 200 kilometers or a 124 miles from the capital of Panama City. CNN's Patrick Oppmann reviewed some of the dramatic video sent to our newsroom and has more on the earthquake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: An incredibly powerful earthquake has shaken Panama. We are seeing images that keep coming in of buildings, that have collapsed of water coming out of pools and high rise, thousands of people evacuating, as this incredibly powerful earthquake hit the Central American nation. In some of the images, we're actually seeing one of the bridges that crossed the Panama Canal rocking with the shaking of the earthquake.
Officials say they continue to try and determine the number of injuries, if there are any deaths, as a result of this earthquake, but it is the strongest earthquake. Most devastating earthquake in Panama in years, if not decades. My family happened, to be there when the earthquake shook. They immediately filled it. The pictures on the wall were moving and that people in the neighborhood immediately had evacuated from high rises. There was photos of damage that we have seen where buildings have collapsed, and people, according to officials, had to be rescued. At this point, though, they're still taking stock of the damage. Panama's international airport was closed.
Several lines of the metro were closed. Panama Canal was not seriously affected. Their traffic continued to run through Panama and now it seems that this country was spared the worst of the earthquakes since it struck in an area where there was less of a population center. Panama City was farther away from the epicenter of this earthquake. People still feel it though there.
Of course, we've already seen other strong earthquakes shake and cause extreme loss of life in both Venezuela and Colombia this year already. So Panamanians are saying whatever the toll ends up being, this is certainly one of the worst earthquakes they have felt in years. Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Nevada.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Patrick, thank you. Coming up on "The Story Is" new demands to get federal I.C.E. agents out of New York. Up next, the shooting that sparked protests and drew a heated response from the city's mayor.
[01:40:00]
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MICHAELSON: Welcome back to "The Story Is." It's Elex Michaelson. Let's take a look at today's top story is.
Hurricane Isaias has made landfall as a Category 2 storm. It is the first hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. in two years. The storm surge has hit 5-feet from Southern Louisiana to the Western Florida Coast. Isaias is now a Category 1 storm as it moved into Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, heavy rain, flooding, and tornadoes remain a danger.
[01:45:00]
A man who officials say held 13 children hostage at a day care center in Brazil was shot and killed by police on Friday. Local law enforcement say that man stormed the day care carrying a knife and gasoline. After more than two hours of tense negotiations, officers opened fire on the suspect when efforts to end the standoff failed. All the children made it out unharmed.
7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Southern Panama on Friday, sending thousands fleeing into the streets as buildings were damaged. So far, no fatalities have been reported. Several people have suffered from minor injuries. Despite the quake's intensity, much of the country escaped widespread damage. However, a church was seriously damaged and some buildings collapsed in the city of Penonome, which is halfway between the Panama City and the epicenter.
A shooting by federal immigration and customs enforcement agents has sparked protests and sharp rebuke from the Mayor of New York. On Thursday, an undocumented man was shot and wounded in his car while his five-year-old son sat in the back seat. Senior Crime and Justice Correspondent Shimon Prokupecz has the latest.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Protesters gathered outside here, the I.C.E. offices here in Lower Manhattan for about two hours demanding answers, demanding accountability. But most importantly, they want I.C.E. out. They want I.C.E. out of New York City, especially after what happened here on Thursday in the Bronx. This is all happening as the investigation continues. The Bronx district attorney's office on Friday announcing that they're going to investigate what happened here.
They had investigators out in the neighborhood already. And also the NYPD releasing crucial video showing the moments just before the gunfire erupted. Now the video doesn't capture any of the gunfire, but it does capture some significant information because it shows the two I.C.E. officers running up on the car and the man who's in that car trying to take off. And you see those I.C.E. officers with their guns out. One of them is banging on the window.
And then sometime after that is when the shots were fired. Now the Department of Homeland Security says that the man driving the car used it, as a way to attack officers, weaponizing the vehicle, and that essentially from their standpoint, they say this was justified and that the officers felt threatened, and that's why they open fired. But there are a lot of questions here about the tactics, about why these officers open fired, and that's why many of the people out here certainly are calling for accountability. But also now the Bronx district attorney's office is investigating. Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.
MICHAELSON: President Trump is redoubling efforts to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. White House statesman says that Cook is accused of making false statements in connection with one or more mortgage instruments. President Trump has appointed three people to a committee of inquiry to consider those allegations. Former President Joe Biden appointed Cook to the Federal Reserve in 2022. She is the first black female fed governor. Her term set to expire in 2038.
Well, this one hit close to home. President Trump has tapped Conservative Commentator Katie Zacharia as his next White House Press Secretary. She replaces Caroline Levin. Zacharia, as you can see here on our show, has been on with us more than 9x on "The Story Is," one of our most frequent guests and panelists here. She previously served a two months stint at the Department of Homeland Security before working as a Senior Communications Adviser for Trump's Media Company. In a social media post on Friday, she thanked the President for the appointment. She wrote, "Serving President Trump and the American people at this critical 250-year mark is the honor of a lifetime." Here's, she's been on with us a lot. We want to show you one of her past appearances. She's especially interested on the issue of the border. Here's what she had to say about I.C.E. and immigration in a previous appearance alongside Isaac Bryan, an Assemblyman from here in California.
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KATIE ZACHARIA, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Absolutely would spare lives if you would allow federal agents to come in and apprehend criminal illegal aliens that have committed crimes or being released by prisons could be picked up by federal enforcement officers and then sent home to their home country. And yet California and the liberal legislation that has allowed this to happen, they release these criminal illegal aliens out onto the streets after they've raped children, after they've killed people. And they're still coming out on the streets, and it would be easy to call I.C.E., which is the -- a very, very simple and really should be a bipartisan. We don't want criminals on our streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That gives you a sense of her style that we may see at the podium. Two things really stood out to us, when Katie Zacharia was here. One, in all of her appearances on our show, she never once said anything critical of President Trump.
[01:50:00]
And in fact, the statement that President Trump put out said that she was always loyal to him. In fact, CNN has some reporting that some of the other candidates that were being considered for White House Press Secretary, were disregarded because they found past critical statements that they had made about President Trump.
And as part of the vetting process of Katie Zacharia, they didn't find any including her appearances here on her show. The other thing that stands out about Katie Zacharia is she was perhaps the nicest panelist we had of anybody that's been in this this building. Everybody around her really liked her, and she became friends with almost all of the Democratic panelists that she sparred with on the air. She found ways to become friends with them outside of being here. It'll be interesting to see how that personality fits in Washington where people may not always be as nice and how that works.
President Trump said she likes many of you, most of you, and it'll be interesting to see how that dynamic goes. But Katie Zachariah, is now going to be serving as the White House Press Secretary and starting her run on Monday.
Well, it is just over three weeks until the midterm elections, and president Trump's approval rating has been dropping like a rock. As CNN's Elle Reeve found in Virginia, even some longtime supporters are voicing frustration with his presidency ahead of the vote.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here. Let me show you the hottest two items that we have in the store in the Wokeness ice cube maker when it comes --
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a Trump ice face? OK. That is kind of cool.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The liberals, they bought -- I designed this glass myself. Says I took a shot for you, now take one for me.
REEVE (voice-over): Things aren't like they used to be at Whitey Taylor's Trump Town USA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not selling like it was.
REEVE: At the peak, how much were you selling a day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had we had a lot of $12,000 days, maybe a $15,000 day occasionally, but -- yeah.
REEVE: And now what is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, $1,500, $2,000, sometimes hit $3,000.
REEVE: This is a really big falloff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it is. It is.
REEVE (voice-over): When we first visited Taylor's store in December 2023, sales were better, and they gave us sense of the energy around Trump before he won the Republican nomination to be President again. Taylor took issue with our report.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said the place was almost vulgar. That was your conclusion.
REEVE: Let's go look at them. Let's go look at them. Let's go look at the Trump balls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm still selling a lot of them because of you.
REEVE (voice-over): Taylor disputes the idea sales are down because Trump supporters are mad at the President and says sales will pick back up once he leaves office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They'll come here by the droves and say, what do you got, man? I know you're still there. So that's -- we'll be here waiting on him.
REEVE (voice-over): But his customers say they see public opinion turning. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen a lot of Trump supporters just say, heck with him, put his sticker upside down or not fly his flag or put a red zero on it. I've seen a few of those. Very few people still support Trump.
REEVE (voice-over): Stevie Lovell says he still backs Trump, and he'll vote straight ticket Republican in the midterms. But he has a lot of criticism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a supporter of the war, in Iran. And, just like later on, we found out information about the war in Iraq. We found out that we shouldn't have been there. The stain that's going on in Gaza is horrible. I think it's more horrible than what's going on in in Iran, personally.
REEVE: What do you think about the I.C.E. raids and arrests and stuff?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The I.C.E. raids? If you give too -- if you give people absolute power, abuse it. I listened to a report that was very, very reliable. It showed where Trump had made more money in office in his position than any other President.
REEVE: Yes. That is true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It bothered me a little bit, but I still like him. Profit isn't a dirty word, but it kind of does bother me a little bit that he's in office and he's gaining a lot.
REEVE (voice-over): Two-thirds of Americans say Trump has made the economy worse, and majorities say the Iran war and tariffs have hurt them financially according to a September CNN poll. The president is at his lowest approval rating ever.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What I don't understand is how can we make agreements with, like, Venezuela and yet the gas prices are still up. What's going on there?
REEVE: What do you think about that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I don't think it's Trump's fault.
REEVE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody blames Trump for everything. It's a whole bunch of people.
REEVE: Do you think, though, that the war is making gas prices worse?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that's what they blame it on. But explain it to me when you still have oil, but yet you already raised the prices, but you're still using the oil that you had. They do it all the time. That's why I don't think grocery prices are going to go down because they saw that we could afford it, so they're going to keep them high.
JAMIE VARELA, TRUMP TOWN CUSTOMER: My son's 17. My daughter's 14. My grocery bill is anywhere between $800 to $1,000 a month. When you're going to the store and you're paying $5 for a pineapple. Then you got to choose fruit or gas. Like, it's really, really hard.
REEVE: Do you think any other responsibility for those high prices falls on Trump?
[01:55:00]
VARELA: Yes. Because of the war.
REEVE: Are you going to vote in the elections coming up?
VARELA: Yes.
REEVE: Who do you plan on voting for?
VARELA: I'm not sure yet, to be honest.
REEVE: What are you weighing?
VARELA: Well, to be honest, I need someone who's going to continue on with closed borders.
REEVE (voice-over): A couple customers brought up that they felt like people weren't as nice to each other anymore and that people need to come together and not be so mean about political differences.
VARELA: It doesn't matter what you believe in, what religion, or if you think the color purple is better than the color pink. Like, all that matters is that they bleed, we bleed, we're human. If you don't agree with someone's opinion, that's fine. That's what our forefathers fought for is that everyone could have their own opinion.
REEVE: Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. You're saying you want people to be nicer to people, but look at the thing that you're buying?
VARELA: Oh, I do believe she should go -- off. No. I can say she should kindly go -- off, but I don't think that she should be around.
REEVE: I know. But you see what I'm saying. There's a little bit of -- one might say a coffee bitch.
VARELA: What if I said, please tell her to go -- off. Take a hike. Or I could say, that bitch. Right. That's what I'm talking about. The way you say things versus how you say things can be completely taken different.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The balls. He's freezing his balls off. Oh, shut up, Trump. You've had enough of you today.
REEVE (voice-over): Taylor says Trump's made him millions of dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People ask me all the time, oh, so when are you going to close? I said 20:40. They said 20:40, why? I said, well, guess all the Trump kids time to run through the office first.
REEVE (voice-over): Ellie Reeve, CNN, Boones Mill, Virginia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That was an interesting story. This is usually the time where we say good night and goodbye for the week, but we get two extra hours tonight as we continue to watch what's happening with hurricane Isaias. So we're going to take a quick break, and then we've got two more hours of "The Story Is" right after this.
