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What We Know with Max Foster

U.S. Gulf Coast Braces For Category 3 Hurricane; Strong Earthquake Rocks Panama, Tsunami Warnings Issued; Pentagon Plans To Livestream Execution Of Fort Hood Shooter; Trump: Russia Agrees To Supply Diesel To U.S. & Global Markets; Man Shot And Wounded By ICE Agents In New York. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 09, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:29]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Evacuation is underway along the U.S. Gulf Coast as Hurricane Isaias strengthens.

I'm Christina Macfarlane in for Max Foster. This is WHAT WE KNOW.

The hurricane is set to make landfall in the coming hours. States of emergency have been issued for parts of Florida, along with Alabama and

Georgia. Power outages, storm surges, and even tornadoes are expected.

Isabel Rosales is in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where the weather has been picking up considerably in the last couple of hours.

Isabel, if you can hear us, I know we spoke last hour about how strong the wind is now. Just tell us what you're feeling and seeing there on the

coast.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Christina. The wind has -- I was just inside, so I had a break from all of this. And here in the last hour

or so, the winds have really picked up. I mean, actually, if you go to these curtains, these little umbrellas to give people usually a shade from

the sun, you can see how the wind gusts are picking up.

Wow, that's incredible. Very powerful to the point that it's actually pushing me. So, we're in Gulf Shores. This is a coastal community here off

the Gulf of Mexico. Actually. Go hand that way. Look at that. Our photographer just lost his hat.

That's the extent of these winds. Yeah, we're anticipating storm surge. That's a big, big concern for officials here in this area, up to six feet,

rainfall, six or more inches.

And these winds are no joke either. This is the type of stuff the conditions that will topple trees. Send furniture, any thing that's out and

about and transform it into flying projectiles. This is why the city has been warning people to get ready up until this point.

But I did speak with a city official who said that the point of preparation is done. We're past that point. He wants folks to identify the place where

they're going to weather this storm, because we're looking at peak impacts right now before landfall, is when were experiencing the worst of this. And

he said that here in about two hours local time, that's when he doesn't want people on the roads anymore.

And, Christina, they've actually shut down two bridges, the ways in and out of this community. They're shut down because of this wind. It is so

dangerous being out on the roads. Typically, when they hit sustained winds of 45 miles per hour here, that's when they shut this thing down.

I'm actually at an awe right now, Christina, just how much conditions have changed since I last spoke with you. But that's what were seeing out here.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, just over the course of an hour. Isabel, we'll let you get back indoors. I think I mean, obviously this is set to get worse. This

hurricane expected to make landfall for the first time in two years. So certainly, the big message is stay indoors. Thank you for now, Isabel.

Appreciate it.

ROSALES: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Now, exactly where can we expect this landfall to happen?

Meteorologist Melissa Nord has the forecast.

MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Christina, we're now just hours away from Isaias making landfall. It is a major hurricane now. We have not seen the

winds decrease yet leading up to landfall. And so the extent of impacts along the coast are really going to increase as we go through the next

couple of hours this evening, closer to that landfall.

Here's the track from the National Hurricane Center making landfall sometime this evening, really between about 8:00 or 10:00 and midnight and

then moving inland. But because Isaias is a major hurricane right now and it's moving quickly, the extent of how far north those hurricane and

tropical storm force winds go actually extend fairly far inland. You can see tropical storm warnings in blue stretching as far north as the suburbs

of Birmingham, Alabama. There's also the tornado threat with landfalling tropical systems, and particularly this one, we get a little friction and

spin as these cells move onshore. These feeder bands that can help to spin up tornadoes.

So, there's currently a tornado watch in effect for the Florida panhandle until 9:00 Eastern Time this evening. Peak winds around landfall in excess

of 110 miles per hour. And that purple color, yellow colors, those are all the tropical storm force winds expected. How far across they span, that

wind field will expand in size as we get to landfall and beyond because this storm is taking on a new picture and dynamic.

Here's the forecast radar. You can see that landfall happening this evening before midnight and then moving inland, spreading heavy rain and wind

threats far inland across Alabama, Georgia, and even into the Carolinas. We're expecting gusty winds and a lot of rainfall enhanced by the Atlantic

as well. So multiple threats heading into the weekend

MACFARLANE: Well, we're learning there has been a strong earthquake in Panama. Video posted to social media shows people pouring into the streets

and huddling together. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the quake at a magnitude 7.7, which would be a major earthquake.

And just so we just got this video moments ago that shows buildings here crumbling. This is in Penonome in Panama. Debris can be seen on the ground

as the side of the building appears here, as you can see, to have completely fallen off. Well, the earthquake hits along the southern coast

of the country. We do not have additional information on the damage yet, but tsunami warnings have been issued for several Central American

countries and for Mexico.

Well, let's turn now to the growing backlash over the Pentagon's plan to execute a mass shooter by military firing squad and live stream it. Some

Democrats and Republicans say that type of gruesome public spectacle does not belong in the United States of America. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

is championing the push to publicly execute Nidal Hasan, a former U.S. Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood military base in 2009.

Hasan's execution is set for December 3rd at that same location.

Hegseth talked about plans with a far right podcaster aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: President Donald Trump is defending the death by firing squad for the Fort Hood shooter, but hasn't commented on plans to livestream the

execution.

Vice President J.D. Vance appeared to cast doubt, though, that it will be broadcast

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, first of all, I've seen these announcements. I don't know that that's actually going to

happen. Let's sort of see what I think its going to happen in December when he's executed. But what I try to remind people is, look, this is a guy who

committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11. Look, if it's ultimately livestreamed, I'm not going to be

watching it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, CNN's Haley Britzky is in Washington.

I mean, Haley, its significant there what Vice President J.D. Vance is saying, because we, of course, do not yet know if this is this live stream

is going to go ahead. But also, you know, that represents a bit of a split, doesn't it, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, even with the President

Donald Trump on this, which is, I think, representative of what were seeing play out here on either sides of the political divide.

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Christina. Absolutely. And what Vice President Vance was saying about sort of the

severity of what Nidal Hasan did in 2009, you know, it doesn't seem like there is a lot of people questioning that or questioning that the death

sentence should be applied in this case. It's about the live stream that the Pentagon has said is going to happen that is causing so much concern

and certainly bipartisan, as you mentioned.

I mean, we have heard from Senator Thom Tillis, who is now an outspoken critic of Secretary Hegseth, who called it beyond disgusting. Joe Kent, the

former director of the National Counterterrorism Center under President Donald Trump, who resigned just a few months ago, said that it was beneath

the dignity and decency of our nation, said that it gives terrorists free propaganda, and they will use it to radicalize and recruit more terrorists.

And so, that is largely the concern we're hearing here is that that this imagery of Nidal Hasan, who is in a wheelchair after shots fired during the

attack in 2009, that that imagery could be used by the U.S.'s enemies abroad to recruit more for terrorist organizations. And so, even just

earlier this morning, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also came out condemning this, saying that it was a barbaric promotion of death. But

aside from the criticism here, there are legal questions about how this would be carried out.

Army regulations -- the U.S. Army's own regulations specifies who can witness a military execution. It names people like the families of victims

and the families of -- the family of the prisoner, if requested.

[15:10:02]

Chaplain, the prisoner's counsel, if asked for, and media representatives. But it also says specifically that minors are not allowed to watch a

military execution. Obviously, Christina, something that cannot really be policed at such a broad scale if something like this is livestreamed. So,

there are questions of how the Pentagon is going to approach this, if they will waive that regulation. The army general who oversees law enforcement

has the ability to waive that regulation if it doesn't violate the law.

So, certainly a lot of questions remaining here about how this will actually go forward. Vice President Vance raising the idea that maybe it

won't go forward after all, but certainly something that Secretary Hegseth believes is going to happen and that the Pentagon is confirming as

legitimate, Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right. We will, of course, continue to watch it closely. Haley, appreciate all of the update. Thank you.

Now, in a move that could spark confusion and outrage among European allies, U.S. President Donald Trump says his Russian counterpart, Vladimir

Putin, has agreed to supply Russian diesel to U.S. and global markets. In a post on Truth Social just a few minutes ago, the U.S. president said Mr.

Putin had agreed to supply potentially millions of tons of diesel. This comes amid soaring diesel prices across the world triggered by the war in

Iran and Ukrainian strikes, of course, on Russian diesel facilities.

Kevin Liptak is joining me now.

And, Kevin, I mean, this is quite an extraordinary development. And it comes, of course, just ahead of the meeting that is due to be held with

Ukrainian negotiators on Friday this week, with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and I think in a lot of ways, it will be seen as a slap in the face to the Ukrainians who have

been targeting those Russian refineries. That's part of why Russia had halted all diesel exports beginning in July, whereas these ramped up drone

attacks on their refineries and as recently as last week, Putin said that that export ban on diesel could not be lifted unless the U.S. lifted some

sanctions.

And we are learning now that after this phone call between President Trump and President Putin, the Treasury Department says that its issuing a

general license to allow some of the Russian fuel to now be sold on the global marketplace. And what President Trump says is that Putin agreed to

supply 300,000 tons this month, 500,000 tons of diesel next month, all of that potentially expanding into millions of tons, depending on the state of

its refineries over the next several months.

And I think his goal here is to try and bring down the price of diesel, which has been a major political headache for him. Three weeks ahead of the

midterm election, diesel prices reaching record highs, soaring well above $6 a gallon here in the United States. The president searching sort of

every way he possibly can to try and bring those prices down, even if it means allowing Russia to profit off of its diesel in a way that the United

States had been trying to prevent ever since the Ukraine war began.

And so, this is a major step. You know, we had been anticipating this phone call between the two men all week. President Trump said that he had one on

the books, but that was because he suggested that they were going to talk about this mysterious death in Russia, of that researcher at a plague lab

in Siberia. The president didn't mention that at all as he read out this conversation on Truth Social.

He seems exclusively focused on this idea that Russia will now be supplying the global marketplace with its diesel.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. And it raises the kind of concerning question of what the U.S. may have offered in return for that diesel deal. We will, of course,

continue to follow it.

Kevin, appreciate the update. Thank you.

Now, President Donald Trump has picked a new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia will be the permanent replacement to Karoline Leavitt,

according to multiple White House officials. Zacharia is a conservative commentator who previously advised Mr. Trump's social media company and

briefly worked at the Department of Homeland Security.

Coming up, U.S. President Trump is back again on the campaign trail. Find out where he's speaking soon and how his Republican allies are faring on

the debate stage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:40]

MACFARLANE: The shooting of a man by ICE agents in New York has triggered a heated back and forth between the city's mayor and Trump administration's

head of homeland security. Agents shot and wounded the man from the Dominican Republic on Thursday. They claim he ignored orders to get out of

the car and deliberately drove it towards officers. A five-year-old boy, believed to be the man's son, was in the back seat at the time. He was not

injured.

The mayor called ICE rotten to its core. Comments, the homeland security secretary labeled as dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: ICE operates with impunity that they sow chaos and terror across our country, that they have killed far

more of our neighbors than they could ever have claimed to save.

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, DHS SECRETARY: He said he wants to abolish ICE. Well, Mayor, if you abolish ICE, who's going to take criminals off the streets of

your own town? Who's going to take the murderers and thieves and the gang bangers? Who's going to take them off the streets? Because you're not

allowing NYPD officers to do it, and they want to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Let's go straight to our Brynn Gingras in New York.

And, Brynn, I mean, there are quite a few conflicting accounts of what happened here in this shooting. So what more are you learning about what

actually took place?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you're seeing the political jabs go back and forth, right? Christina, between the mayor --

between New York City administrators and Trump administration officials. You know, the big thing here is that there's still unclear why this even

happened.

Sure. The DHS secretary has said that the person that they were targeting has a long, lengthy criminal history. They've tried to actually pick up in

September. And he fled from police at that time. Again, this was a targeted, you know, stop that they were performing, when this all went

down.

But the big question is what happened before this incident happened when the shots were actually fired at the car, when a five-year-old was in the

back seat. And that's where all the protests are coming from. Even more are planned for later today. Now, DHS says they do have body camera footage on

their body, but they will not right now release that footage as of yet, saying its still under an active investigation.

But the NYPD did release some body camera footage. And I believe you're showing your viewers some of that footage, essentially showing their

officers arriving on the scene after the chaos really started.

[15:20:00]

You can see the person that DHS says they were targeting, Oscar Belgal, who's a 28-year-old from the Dominican Republic. He's on his knees. He's

being handcuffed. You can also see some ICE agents, one wearing a construction vest, holding a big gun in the air. And you can see the NYPD

officers really trying to provide some aid to Belgal, who was, you know, had a graze wound underneath his ear onto his neck. And also eventually

they took him in their own vehicle to the hospital. And he has since been released.

Now, look, what we're waiting for right now is in the next 15 -- 10, 15 minutes or so, we're waiting for a court hearing. Belgal's attorneys trying

to make sure that the government does not deport him back to the Dominican Republic. We'll have to see what the judge rules on that. But certainly

those efforts are already in place.

Meanwhile, we are also still waiting to see if Mamdani does make any comments based off of what the DHS secretary said earlier today. So,

standing by for a lot of things, guys.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, it's becoming highly politicized. Brynn, appreciate it. I know you'll continue to follow it. Thank you.

U.S. President Donald Trump is again hitting the campaign trail. He traveled tonight to Syracuse, New York. Now, unlike some of his recent

stops, this one is not about boosting a Republican Senate candidate. Instead, he's hoping to help Republicans running for Congress and for

governor in New York.

Candidates in three key senate races hit the debate stage Thursday night, hoping to garner more support as both sides battle for control of the

Senate. One of those debates played out in Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): Tonight, a united Georgia will hear the trial of Mike Collins. Mike Collins has brought dishonor to our state through his

personal bigotry and his widely documented ties to white nationalists.

REP. MIKE COLLINS (R-GA): No one has ever asked or held Jon Ossoff accountable for any of his votes or the reasons why. Why did he -- I had to

write a bill to fight these synthetic drugs because he left that border open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff and his Republican challenger, Congressman Mike Collins, they're faced off in their

first debate. And while Ossoff tried to link Collins to the president, Collins avoided mentioning Trump's name and appeared largely on defense

during the hour-long debate.

Another heated debate played out in the state of Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: You go after my mom?

MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm not going after your mom. That's what your mom was working at. I was going after that organization

that was indicted for funneling money to al Qaeda.

That's your mom? My mom worked at a local Chamber of Commerce. I'll put my mom up any day for that.

MODERATOR: All right. We'll give you a rebuttal, and we're moving away from the subject.

EL-SAYED: Again, he wants this to be about anything but his own record. He's okay if the federal government --

(CROSSTALK)

EL-SAYED: -- the federal government spies on you. But he wants to make this about anybody else, going after my mom, my sister, got nothing to say about

me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, there were plenty of personal jabs and insults there in Michigan as Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed clashed in

their first debate. Rogers repeatedly called El-Sayed a con man, while the Democratic candidate mocked Rogers as weak and cowardly.

Meanwhile, in Maine, longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins clashed with Democrat Troy Jackson, who has now been endorsed by former President Barack

Obama. The second debate covered a number of issues, including health care, Social Security, abortion access and immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TROY JACKSON (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: Look what's happening because of the Iran war. She voted against it nine times before she voted for it five

times when she had a chance to stop it. Before we got into this crisis, she could have stopped it.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): It's under Troy's leadership that electric rates in Maine became the fourth highest in the nation, the nation. What does

that have to do with the Iran war?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: All right. Coming up, Amnesty International says the U.S. death penalty is irredeemably broken as criticism grows over plans to live stream

an execution. Ahead, I'll speak to Amnesty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:42]

MACFARLANE: Tonight, two hugely controversial moves from the Trump administration are drawing sharp criticism from NGOs as the United States

commitment to human rights and international law are called into serious question. We told you earlier about the Pentagon's plans to livestream the

execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, the man who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood army base in 2009.

Amnesty International says that decision showcases, quote, the authority's utter disregard for the right to life and would only perpetuate cycles of

violence.

But also new today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to sanction the International Criminal Court, saying it had no jurisdiction over the United

States. That came just hours after the former ICC judge, Navi Pillay, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Pillay had recently chaired a un commission

that concluded Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Well, Israel has always strongly denied those claims, and its foreign minister called Pillay's win grotesque. Here in this video, you can see her

being congratulated on the prize at the Nuremberg Court. And that video actually came from the secretary general of amnesty international, Agnes

Callamard, who joins me now.

Very good to see you. And I want to talk to you about Pillay and her reaction in just a moment. But first, though, to what we are seeing today,

this U.S. move to sanction the ICC just hours after Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Agnes, when you take that together with the news today that the defense secretary has announced the decision to live stream the execution of the

Fort Hood attacker, how would you characterize how the U.S. are acting and behaving right now?

AGNES CALLAMARD, SECRETARY GENERAL, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Well, it's a betrayal. I think it's a betrayal of the American values. It's a betrayal

of everything that the U.S. has stood for.

You know, I was in Nuremberg all day in the tribunal where U.S. judges, U.S. lawyers put the foundation of international law, of international

criminal law. It was a tribunal where the Nazis were tried.

[15:30:02]

And 80 years later, what a betrayal to what those people stood for and what, you know, 80 years of generation of American have stood for. So the

first thing is that it's a betrayal of American values, and it's a betrayal of, you know, humanity.

MACFARLANE: Yes. And look, we are learning more details in the case of the public execution, such as the fact that the firing squad will use rifles at

1:00 p.m. on December the 3rd against Hasan, who is disabled. And look, we don't yet know if this is going to go ahead yet or if it's going to face

legal challenges.

But in your view, when you turn something like this into a spectacle, and some would even say entertainment, what are the ramifications?

CALLAMARD: Yeah. It's normalizing violence. It's making a show of something that is already cruel and inhuman enough. It is not providing any lesson.

It is not providing any justice.

Who can truly believe that watching someone dies is an opportunity for learning anything, is an opportunity for justice? Definitely not the

soldiers that are on frontline. Definitely not the journalist covering warfare. Definitely not people like me who are monitoring executions and

killings the world over.

There is nothing to be learned by watching someone die. There is only a price to be paid for the entire society. And let me add that the U.S. is

joining a very dubious club here.

In 2025, there was only two countries that publicly executed people. It was Iran and Afghanistan. So that is a club that the U.S. is joining right now.

MACFARLANE: And look, given that you, as you said, you were at Nuremberg today, you were with your friend Pillay today. I mean, at a time of

repeated attacks against the International Criminal Court. And in light of, you know, that attack that we saw today from the U.S. to impose sanctions,

how important and symbolic is it that Navi Pillay received the Nobel Peace Prize today?

CALLAMARD: Oh, it is so symbolic. I mean, you know, on the day that the U.S. is sanctioning the entire International Criminal Court, let's be very

clear. It is -- it has sanctioned individuals, and now it is sanctioning the entire court. On that day, the Nobel Peace Prize attributed their most

important prize to Navi Pillay, a former International Criminal Court judge, a current International Court for Justice judge, a judge on the

international tribunal for Rwanda, a judge for the highest court of South Africa, someone who made international law, international justice, who has

made it her call, who has stood for victims around the world.

That is, who is now standing as a symbol of what we need to fight for, which is international justice for all. The notion that no one is above the

law, no arm groups, no head of state, no one should be above the law when they commit atrocity crimes. And that is what Navi Pillay stands for.

MACFARLANE: And I have to ask, given you where I think you spent all day with Navi Pillay today when she heard the news and you filmed this video, I

think we can show it on the screen again. You know, when she first was told and she made remarks in your video that she would share this prize with

Donald Trump. So she certainly has a bit of a sense of humor about all of this.

But what else did she say in the moment? And how is she feeling about this honor?

CALLAMARD: Look, in the impromptu press conference that she also gave, she spoke about the attacks on international law. She talks about standing up

for it and wanting to be continuing the fight for international justice. She also mentioned feminism, the fact that she has worked on behalf of

women and children through her work as a judge.

She mentioned as well the fact that she is attached to fact and truth and that what a letter to conclude that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

That's what she communicated. In addition to being so shocked that she needed further proof that she actually got the Nobel Prize.

[15:35:08]

MACFARLANE: Yeah. And it was, I think, a bit of an expected move to hear from the Israeli foreign ministry, in light of the fact that she obviously

-- the last thing she did was to work on the inquiry into the occupied Palestinian territory. I just want to read a quote of what they've said

today. They said awarding Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize isn't a recognition of justice. It's the grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize

anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.

I mean, Agnes, as I said, this was the last thing that Pillay did was report on Gaza. How important has that work proven to be, and what do you

make of Israel's response here?

CALLAMARD: Well, it is -- it is -- first, let me say that Navi Pillay was one of the judges on the International Tribunal for Rwanda. She has a lot

of experience dealing with genocide. She dealt with very difficult cases of genocide in the case of Rwanda. She brought that expertise to the work

she's done on the on the commission of inquiry for the occupied Palestinian territories.

And that is what led her to conclude that Israel was committing the crime of genocide. It is really important, the commission of inquiry is a

fundamental body. It is also a body that is under attack, like many special procedures and human rights bodies.

Look, she stands for truth. She stands for fact. She has the rigor of a judge who has spent decades dealing with the most difficult cases. Israel

is completely of, you know, of everything here.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, yeah. Well, look, I mean, in light of events this week, this is a very important conversation for us to be having today. And I'm

sure we will have it again in future.

Agnes Callamard, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

CALLAMARD: Thank you. Thank you very much.

MACFARLANE: Now, we are in the final moments of trade on Wall Street. And stocks are in the green. The Dow is up around 1 percent heading into the

highest close it has had in two weeks.

This is our Business Breakout.

U.S. consumer confidence continues to fall. The first reading of the University of Michigan's monthly survey shows sentiment is at its second

lowest level on record. The lowest number was set in May, meaning that Americans are feeling worse about the economy now than they were -- than

they were during COVID or the financial crisis.

U.S. President Donald Trump is trying again to remove the Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The White House says it's forming a committee to

investigate alleged false statements she has made. Mr. Trump has sought to fire Cook for months over unproven allegations of mortgage fraud. The

Supreme Court says he lacked the authority to remove her.

Adidas is suing a popular fashion brand in Australia over designs that feature four stripes. Adidas says the clothes from White Fox boutique are

too similar to its own famous three stripe designs. Lawyers for White Fox are denying any infringement. A hearing is set for early next year.

Now, incoming Hurricane Isaias could cause big headaches for U.S. oil companies and consumers alike. Large refineries are in the storms path,

while Shell, Chevron and BP have evacuated all non-essential personnel from their oil platforms in the Gulf. With around three quarters of the regions

oil production shut down, plus the war in Iran, the storm could disrupt prices even more.

Matt Egan is following all of this and tracking it from New York.

So, Matt, what do we know about the threat the hurricane poses to these refineries on the Gulf Coast? How -- how serious is it?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Christina, it's very serious because multiple wars have already pushed the global energy system to the brink.

There's almost no room for error right now. And the last thing that this system needs is a major hurricane barreling towards the epicenter of

America's refining industry.

Now, what's really important to remember here is that refineries in the Middle East and in Russia have been damaged or destroyed by war. China is

holding back its exports as really just U.S. refineries that are the last ones standing. Now, the big risk here is that this hurricane knocks off

line multiple refineries in this industry.

The map here shows these circles -- these brownish circles are all refineries. Now you can see that most of them are to the west of the path

of the storm. So analysts that I'm talking to today, they do suspect that most of the refineries are going to be spared from the storm.

[15:40:06]

We have to wait and see what actually happens. But that's the thinking at the moment. However, there are at least two refineries, one in Mississippi,

one in Alabama that do remain at risk from this storm.

Now, the other risk here has to do with production of oil and natural gas. As you can see, all of these dots here, these are all platforms producing

oil in the Gulf of Mexico. And U.S. officials say that 129 of these platforms have already been evacuated. And actually evacuated, and some of

them have been shut down because of the hurricane. The latest estimate from federal officials is that 1.5 million barrels of daily production in the

Gulf of Mexico have been knocked offline. That's significant. That's about 72 percent of the daily output.

Now, history shows that as long as these platforms don't experience major damage, then after the storm passes and after those inspections, they can

quickly return back online. The bigger risk does still seem to be about the refineries, because if there's extreme flooding or widespread power

outages, it can take days or even weeks to get those refineries back online.

And remember, fuel prices are historically high for this time of year, right? The national average here in the U.S., $4.37 a gallon for regular

gasoline, it's almost never been as high during the month of October as it is now, 47 percent higher than it was before the war with Iran started back

in late February.

And diesel -- diesel is the powerhouse, the workhorse fuel in the modern economy. Diesel was never above $6 a gallon before the war. Now, it's

$6.28, 67 percent higher. So look, the bottom line here, Christina, is it all depends on the exact path of the storm and just how much flooding, wind

and power outages there are.

But the big point here is that because of the system being so stressed out now, even a small disruption to refineries could have a big impact to

prices. Back to you.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, we will certainly keep our fingers crossed that oil production is not further damaged by this storm.

Matt, appreciate it. Thank you.

EGAN: Thanks.

MACFARLANE: All right. Coming up, be nice to your chatbot. Why a leading tech company says it won't let you say mean things to its A.I. chatbot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:34]

MACFARLANE: A.I. giant Anthropic is utilizing the old adage, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. The company says it

will ban activity from users that is, quote, abusing their A.I. chatbot Claude. Users are not allowed to exhibit, quote, "sustained and needless,

abusive or cruel behavior towards the model". The move is sparking further questions over how the company sees A.I. consciousness.

So what we want to know is do A.I. chatbots have feelings?

Joining me now is CNN's Hadas Gold.

I mean, Hadas, just walk us through what prompted this move and whether or not, in fact, they do have feelings.

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: So, Anthropic has long studied the sort of idea of what a model thinks. And you could call it feeling. Some people

might call it consciousness. Some people might call it something else. They actually have a whole team that sometimes calls himself a sort of model

psych team.

And it's not just about, you know, can Anthropic chatbots have its feelings hurt? But it's also important because of what that can mean then in terms

of the models output. And so they study that sort of thing, that sort of activity to look for signs of deception, manipulation, awareness that it's

being used or evaluated in some way.

And actually last August, so last year, Anthropic announced that Claude would be able to end conversations with users -- normally, a chatbot will

never end a conversation with you -- if it was being abused or, you know, spoken to in a not nice way. And now they've added something to their usage

policy. It's very lengthy document about everything that you're not supposed to do when engaging with an A.I. such as, you know, planning

bioweapons or any sort of attack. Using this A.I. is something that says you are not allowed to engage in sustained and needless, abusive or cruel

behavior toward our models.

Now, Anthropic still first line of defense on this is just to have Claude end the conversation. But according to this usage policy, you know, one of

the other methods that they could use is to bar a user from accessing its chatbot, from accessing Claude.

Now, they do say that that is meant to apply only in extreme cases where users repeatedly act cruelly with no discernible purpose. They say it does

not apply to common versions of other user frustration, pushback, dark themes, model testing, research, not clear exactly how they'll be able to

determine the difference between those.

And again, this is more than just, you know, oh, we think the model is alive. We think it's a real thing. It's conscious.

Again, there are elements and parts of the A.I. industry that do believe that A.I. has consciousness, but this does have an actual real scientific

basis because A.I., so much of it, is trained and reacts to what we put into it. Sometimes the phrase goes garbage in, garbage out.

So there is a concern that if a user is talking to a model in such an abusive way, that could affect how good and how safe the models response

are, back to the user -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. Bad behavior breeds bad behavior. It's fascinating. We'll wait to see where this goes and whether other A.I. companies follow suit.

Hadas Gold there for us, thank you very much.

And we will be right back after this quick break. Stay with us

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:25]

MACFARLANE: We are getting some more images out of Panama, where a strong earthquake has hit. A video posted to social media shows buildings

collapsing in central Panama. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the quake at a magnitude 7.7, which would be a major earthquake.

And just moments ago, we got this video that shows buildings crumbling here. Debris can be seen on the ground as the side of this building appears

to have fallen off. The earthquake hit along the southern coast of the country. We do not have additional information on any damage yet, but

tsunami warnings have been issued for several Central American countries and Mexico.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann is tracking this story for us.

And, Patrick, so as we were saying there, 7.7 is a fairly major earthquake. As we look again at those images coming into us of the damage to buildings,

are you learning anything more about the areas that have been affected, about the extent of the damage?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It seems like the worst of the damage is outside of the capital, Panama City. My family was actually there

and called me as soon as they felt it the shaking. They said the picture frames on the walls, you know, were about to fall off, that everyone at the

same time just realized that the earthquake was happening, an earthquake far stronger than anything that ever felt.

But some of these images were seeing now, you know, I don't remember ever seeing damage from earthquake like that in Panama, a country I know very,

very well. My wife is Panamanian. We've been going there for -- for more than two decades now.

And while they do have the occasional earthquake, to see buildings collapsing, to see places like Playa, which is a very popular tourist spot

with surfers, you know, buildings that have crumbled there, that's very concerning. It leads you to believe that there could be casualties, perhaps

even fatalities. But of course, the government at this point just doesn't have that information because it is still preliminary.

But never before do I remember seeing this kind of damage in Panama. It seems like the capital felt the -- where, of course, the large population

center is, felt a very strong shake there. People evacuated by the thousands. You know, the high rises, but it's really in the outer areas,

more towards the border with Costa Rica. The interior of the country, we still have tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people

living in essentially what are many, many small towns heading up from Panama City towards Costa Rica, places I know.

And the damage there seems quite significant, quite widespread. It leads one to believe that there could be casualties, perhaps even fatalities.

This is something that Panamanians have really not experienced in a generation.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. I mean, its deeply concerning, especially when, you know, we have in our minds so recently, the major earthquakes of Venezuela, of

Colombia, too.

Patrick, a tsunami warning has been issued. Do you know if that might just be a precaution for an earthquake of this size or whether there is sort of

genuine concern there could be knock on effects here?

OPPMANN: So I think there's always going to be concern until there's an all clear. But it does seem this is more of a precaution at this point because

what the earthquake experts say, and I am not one, is that because this struck land, it didn't strike out in the ocean that it's less likely to

cause, you know, the kind of catastrophic tsunamis that are caused when earthquake takes place in the ocean.

But of course, people, you know, can't lower their guard.

[15:55:00]

You can have aftershocks. Or earthquakes, of course, are so unpredictable. And, you know, it's just not something that people really have experienced

to this degree in Panama. You know, such a powerful earthquake that that's actually caused buildings to collapse. It's not something we've seen in a

very long time in Panama.

I've been there when you felt a little -- a little temblor, and something grabs your attention. Nothing like this before, you know, that has happened

in many, many years.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. Well, Patrick, as we say, we're sort of getting just sort of new information in really by the hour here. So we will continue to

follow us. And obviously the, you know, get some sense of how wide scale that damage is.

Thank you very much, Patrick, for joining us now telling us what you know.

And that is it for us and the show, too. Stay with CNN, though. We're going to have much more news on this and other stories right after this quick

break.

END

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