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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Isaias Expected To Be A Major Category 3 Hurricane At Landfall; Cook Political Report Moves 18 House Races Towards Democrats; Sen. Ossoff Calls Out Collins' Ties To White Nationalism; Rogers, El-Sayed Spar Over Personal Character In MI Senate Debate; Eagles Charity Announces $670K Donation For London-Based Research; Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Is Interviewed About Isaias Expected To Be A Major Category 3 Hurricane At Landfall. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 09, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. Thanks very much, my panel. Really appreciate all of you being here. Have a great weekend.

Thanks to all of you at home for watching as well. Don't forget, you can watch more of The Arena tomorrow. The Arena Saturday airs at 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Love to spend some of our weekend with you. "The Lead with Jake Tapper" starts right now.

[17:00:30]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. And we're starting with breaking news. Moments ago, a brand new forecast for Hurricane Isaias. The National Hurricane center warns conditions are rapidly deteriorating along the northern Gulf Coast.

In just a few hours, Isaias is expected to make landfall around the Florida Panhandle as a Category 3 hurricane. The storm's strongest winds and heaviest rains are getting closer to land. One hundred mile per hour winds and even higher wind gusts are possible along with up to nine feet of storm surge and up to 15 inches of rain along the coast. Tornadoes could also pop up with little notice. Nearly 1.7 million people are under tornado watch in parts of Alabama, Georgia and Florida until at least 9:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.

Our teams are stationed in CNN's Extreme Weather Center and along the coast. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will also join us just ahead. But first, let's go straight to CNN's Extreme Weather Center and meteorologist Melissa Nord for the latest forecast. Melissa?

MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Jake, we just got that update in from the National Hurricane Center and the winds are at 115 miles per hour at this point, still a dangerous category three hurricane. And the National Hurricane Center stressing you need to be in your safe place at this point because conditions are going to quickly deteriorate this evening as we track the eye wall onshore. The eye wall, that's this bright red color on the map. That is where the core of the most powerful winds in this hurricane are and that's only about 30 miles off the coast at this point.

Big picture, Isaias still about 90 miles off the coast. We can see feeder bands coming in from the east and I've actually paused this radar so we can measure it. Just over 30 miles that eye wall will be coming on shore. That' two hours or so from now, give or take. And that's where we'll see the most extreme consistent winds.

But in each of these little cells here, that's where we'll see winds gusting well in excess of tropical storm force and that tornado threat. Tornado watch continues until 9:00 Eastern Time, 8:00 Central. And we will likely see more of these watches issued north of here as Isaias makes landfall and moves northward. Landfalling tropical systems when they get on to land, we have a little extra friction and spin in the atmosphere that helps to spin up these quick lived tornadoes.

And we're tracking, we have been a few warnings this afternoon. At the moment our last tornado warning has expired. But we're watching these cells as they move onshore. You can see on the map these are our tropical storm warnings and hurricane warnings and they extend well inland and that's because Isaias is a stronger hurricane and it's moving quickly.

So the hurricane force winds could extend 100 miles inland as we go through the evening hours. That landfall itself will happen between really 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern time and then it quickly moves into central Alabama overnight and through tomorrow morning. And as it weakens, the wind field expands. Right now we've seen some wind gusts. The Pensacola Naval Air Force Base, a wind gust that was already well in excess of 50 miles per hour, Jake, things are really going to go downhill in the next couple of hours this evening as that eye wall starts to move to the coast.

TAPPER: All right, Melissa, thank you.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Isabel, what are the conditions like on the ground?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, they are deteriorating by the hour. I think where we're at right now with Hurricane Isaias, these outer bands, the wind, these tropical storm force gusts, that's the story right now. The winds are coming in from the northeast and with the rain it's like getting slapped right in the face right now, it's just so strong.

I was just talking to our meteorologist Brandon Miller who says that right here in Gulf Shores in this coastal community where we're going live from right now it's 56 mile per hour wind gusts and that's only going to get worse in the hours before landfall.

Fifty, 60, 70, woo, even topping 80 miles per hour here in Gulf Shore to the east of us, closer to where this eye is expected -- the landfall is expected to happen. Triple digit wind speeds of these gusts. The wind is also, if we zoom in to the best of your ability, Mike, the winds, the way that they're pushing, it's actually keeping the storm surge away from the coast. This is offshore, so keeping the water back.

[17:05:12]

Brandon Miller was also telling me that after the eye wall passes us, there will be very little rain. But these tremendous winds, they're going to stick around. Even where we're at right now with these winds, 56 mile per hour gusts, this is enough to topple major power outages. And this is why Gulf Shores is taking this so seriously. They have instituted a curfew that said to start here in two hours, they definitely shut down the bridges hours ago.

Two bridges leading in and out here in the community. They don't want people out here in these conditions.

Wow, Jake, I've been in so many hurricanes and probably not as close to where the landfall is happening. These winds are just the power of this. It is incredible. Folks have to take this seriously and the mayor was hoping people would take this seriously.

And based on everything I've seen, it's a ghost town out there. I think people have gotten the message. No more time for preparation. It's time to hunker down and ride this out. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Isabel, be safe.

Melissa, which cities are going to get hit the hardest if the current forecast holds?

NORD: Well, Jake, I think Pensacola and just east of Pensacola along I10 up until the Emerald Coast. That's who's going to see the worst of the winds. And also it's that right front quadrant with the storm surge is where we could see six to nine feet above normal sea level of storm surge that is as tall as a one story building. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Melissa, thank you so much. Isabel Rosales also in the Gulf Shores, Alabama, thanks so much. We're going to check back with both of you coming up on the show.

Let's bring in Grant Brown. He is the public information officer for the city of Gulf Shores in Alabama. Thankfully he is indoors.

Grant, what is the biggest threat to people in Gulf Shores right now?

GRANT BROWN, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, CITY OF GULF SHORES: Well, the water that's approaching. We're very concerned about the storm surge, the surf conditions. The storm will be hitting as the tide is still rising. We have a lot of low lying areas and Gulf Shores, frankly, as Isabel mentioned, that people have heeded the warning. They have left the beachfront.

We've got people that are not in their condominiums and not in their beach houses. So they have heeded the warnings and started to move inland.

TAPPER: For those who don't have a permanent place to hunker down, where should they go?

BROWN: There is one shelter. It's in Robertsdale which is about 30 miles north of here. So we're very limited in the number of shelters but if there is a need for people driving north on Highway 59, our main road out, Robertsdale Coliseum is the shelter of last resort. It is open and staffed and they are ready to receive people.

TAPPER: What's the plan for power and water outages?

BROWN: It looks like with the amount of wind we're going to receive here, we'll probably see widespread power outages. We've already shut the gas service off south of 8th Avenue which is in that high density beach district. That's as a precaution from public safety. We have high pressure gas lines in that area so the gas has been shut off. The water and utilities board have certain shutoffs that they put in place to protect not only people but the systems.

Once the storm has passed overnight tonight and early Saturday morning we'll have crews out assessing damages, assessing the utilities and starting to immediately make repairs as necessary. Clearing the roads off and getting utility companies in first which is why we have the curfew in effect from 7:00 p.m. till 7:00 a.m. We cannot afford to have people on the roadways clogging up the roads when our crews are out trying to reestablish transportation paths and getting utilities back online, which is our first priority.

TAPPER: In addition to the shelter, what resources are already in place as this hurricane starts closing in?

BROWN: Number of resources, our city, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and our Baldwin EMA, fire department, police department, they're on standby ready. However, when the winds get much stronger than they are right now, which is not too long from now, they will have to stop making emergency calls because it won't be safe for our first responders. And so that's why it was very important for people to leave the area. And if they cannot leave, they're in a place they need to hunker down and just ride this out and then call for assistance when it's available.

TAPPER: What's your message to anyone watching who may have thought they were going to ride the storm out but now they're considering that they should try to evacuate sometime before 7:00?

BROWN: The -- it's too late to make any preparations. It's probably too late to even leave. So at this point make sure you're protecting yourself. Find a good place to hunker down and ride the storm up. Run from water is the acronym and hide from wind.

[17:10:02]

There's still some time to, if you're along the beachfront area here in Gulf Shores, to get north of a place so that the water doesn't affect you. The wind, on the other hand, is something else. Find a place. Hunker down. There are hotels that are still open.

There are places where people can go to be safe and find that safety.

TAPPER: All right. The public information officer for Gulf Shores, Alabama, Grant Brown, thank you so much. Stay safe to you and God bless your citizens.

We're going to keep tracking this storm as it moves closer to shore and makes landfall. The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is going to join us live ahead after issuing mandatory evacuation orders in some counties in Florida and warning other residents that they should expect to lose power. Plus today, Department of Homeland Security officials defended the ICE officers who shot a man in New York City yesterday. Their claims plus new video of the aftermath of the incident. That's next.

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TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, tensions are rising in New York City after ICE officers shot and wounded a man that they say tried to run them over with his car during an immigration enforcement operation. NYPD released this body cam footage showing its officers responding to the scene yesterday. Local officials say there was a five-year-old in the car at the time of the shooting. Thankfully, the five-year-old's OK.

[17:15:05]

Today the Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said agents were not aware of the child's presence. Just moments ago NYPD released this video. It shows the initial moments that ICE agents approached the man's vehicle before the shooting. An agent wearing plain clothes goes up to the car with a firearm. As the vehicle begins to reverse the agent then starts punching a window on the driver's side of the car as the vehicle begins to pull away.

It appears that the vehicle could have then hit a black car driving by at the same time, though it's not clear if the black car is an ICE vehicle. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here with all the latest.

Priscilla, NYPD has released brand new video showing this encounter. What does it show? What do we know about the man who was shot?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're still trying to gather everything that happened here in the sequence of events because we're still only getting drips and drabs with these videos, some of which is coming from the New York Police Department and also on social media. But we have learned more about the man who was at the center of this. He has been identified as Oscar Bergal, 28 years old from the Dominican Republic. And we know that he was on ICE's radar. He has a criminal history.

They say he had -- he was associated with a gang and he was the target of an operation into an investigation over the shooting of a Customs and Border Protection agent. They had also previously tried to apprehend him in September, but he evaded law enforcement then. Which brings us to Thursday when they carried out this operation. I'll have you listen to the senior official, a senior official at ICE over the sequence of events as he describes it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCOS CHARLES. SENIOR ICE OFFICIAL: We attempted to arrest Mr. Bergal. In the attempt, we used our vehicles to block him in. Mr. Bergal refused lawful orders to exit his vehicle. He then accelerated his vehicle, smashing into two of our government ICE vehicles and then weaponized his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate, going towards other officers.

Our officers, using their training and believing that their life and the life of the partners in general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: So they went on to say that he did stop his vehicle and was taken to the hospital. There was the five-year-old in the vehicle. I asked the Department of Homeland Security Secretary if the agents knew that that child is in the vehicle. He said they did not now.

Bergal remains detained. He remains in federal custody. And there is now a court component to this. There are lawyers that have filed for his release from detention. And there was a hearing this afternoon.

There hasn't been movement on that yet. But the federal judge did say that the Department of Homeland Security cannot deport him until this sort of moves through the court.

And Jake, I have been covering ICE for a very long time. They have done these types of operations before. And the questions here are how did it unfold so poorly that a weapon was ultimately discharged, a child was not noticed in a vehicle? I think those are all questions that they are working through in their investigation.

TAPPER: You've also got some reporting about an overnight phone call between President Trump, DHS Secretary Mullin and the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani.

ALVAREZ: A long phone call, an hours long phone call between the three of them as they tried to almost reach a compromise as to whether Bergal was going to stay in federal custody. Now New York wanted him released from custody and the president and the Department of Homeland Security secretary were willing, but only to him in the custody of the New York Police Department because they say this is a man that had a criminal history.

Now, one of the sources that spoke with CNN said that there wasn't a reason that they could find New York Police Department to have him in custody. So that's where their attentions were. Everyone has described this as a cordial call, but they were far apart on this issue and they were not able to reach a compromise and these negotiations ultimately fell apart. But it is telling that this ultimately involved the president and the secretary and the mayor of New York as they discussed the incident on the ground and what again sources have described as a two-hour phone call and there were multiple calls between all of the parties here.

TAPPER: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

[17:19:02]

This afternoon the White House announced that the new press secretary has been named, the one who will replace Karoline Leavitt at the podium. What we're learning about the new hire. That's next.

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TAPPER: Breaking news, President Trump just commented on his new deal about diesel with Russia. Just after a phone call this afternoon, Trump said Vladimir Putin had agreed to, quote, "immediately supply" more than 300,000 tons of diesel to global energy markets, with another 500,000 tons promised in November. CNN's Kristen Holmes is in Syracuse ahead of a Trump campaign rally.

Kristen, what did the president have to say?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president was defensive of this deal. There has been an enormous amount of pushback, even including from the president of Ukraine, Zelenskyy, who said that waiving the sanctions, which is part of the deal on Russia, is going to prolong the war. Here's what President Trump said on his way to Syracuse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That is a big deal. That is massive amounts of oil coming into our country. And I want to thank President Putin, to be honest with you. We have massive amounts of oil being coming into our country and it's diesel, which is what we want. So, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And quickly, I do want to read to you one of the things Zelenskyy said. He said, "Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world." Clearly there President Trump defending this. But this is just the latest step that he has taken to try and bring oil prices down, war in Iran, as well as those striking of Russian refineries has raised the global price of oil. He is still trying to get the cost down ahead of the midterms.

[17:25:00]

TAPPER: All right, Kristen Holmes with President Trump in Syracuse, New York, thank you so much.

In our politics lead, President Trump has made his selection to replace Karoline Leavitt as the next White House press secretary. Sources tell CNN that the president has chosen conservative commentator Katie Zacharia to fill the role.

Zacharia briefly worked as a spokesperson at the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year and serves as a senior adviser for Trump's Truth Social Company. Zacharia has been a frequent guest on Fox, Newsmax. She's been right on -- right here on CNN. And of course, we look forward to having her on The Lead someday in our Politics Lead.

With just 25 days to go until the polls close in the midterm elections, House Republicans are staring down a sobering new forecast. The Cook Political Report, nonpartisan, well-respected, it's revising its election projections, they're moving 18 House races in Democrats favor. This includes four Republican held seats in Iowa and Pennsylvania, shifting from toss up to leans Democratic. We also see four seats that did lean Republican now shifting towards toss ups. The report is now projecting that the Democrats will pick up between nine and 19 seats.

The editor of the Cook Political Report spoke with my colleague Dana Bash earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY WALTER, PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: When we think about just what election night looks like is the races now in play are those that traditionally we wouldn't be talking about. They're in deep red territory, including some districts that Trump won by double digits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And my panel joins me now. Kurt Bardella, what do you see as the driving reason between this shift towards Democrats in these final weeks?

KURT BARDELLA, CO-HOST, POLITICON'S "PARTY LINES": Well, you know, a lot's been made about the financial advantage Republican campaigns have heading into the final stretch here. But the clear thing here is the economy has calcified in the minds of the voters. And no matter how much money in the avalanche of ads that we're seeing play out, it doesn't do anything to move away from the expectations that Donald Trump Republicans initially said at the beginning of the year, inflation would go away, wars would go away, gas prices would be down, things would be more affordable, the exact opposite has happened. And now as voting comes in and we get into this period of time where it's the final sprint, it's calcified, completely hardened that the economy is upside down and nothing Republicans say can reverse that.

TAPPER: What do you think, Erin?

ERIN MAGUIRE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST & MEDIA COMMENTATOR: I think that the economy is certainly a leading factor here. And I think that you are seeing a shift across the country right now in voters. Republicans brought in low propensity voters in the 24 race. When we talked big tent, it meant that we were trying to get people in from the sidelines. So trying to keep those pattern of behavior with new voters is very difficult.

And keeping a swing unpersuadable, young, not easily persuadable voter engaged is harder. So the work that wasn't done in the two years to keep them in the fold for the Republican Party is coming back to bite Republicans. Now, that was a core group we needed to keep and one we have not been able to engage for these midterms.

TAPPER: Let's turn to some of the debates that happened in Georgia. Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff laid into his Republican challenger, Congressman Collins, on the debate stage last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): This is a man who cheered on a group of young men who were mocking a black woman on a college campus with monkey sounds. If John Lewis were marching today from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy club. His office has been in cahoots with some of the most notorious white supremacists on the country.

It's not just that you've hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office and you have promoted Neo-Nazi content online.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So Mike Collins response has basically been to attack Senator Ossoff for not condemning Mamdani, Abdul El-Sayed, Hasan Piker, et cetera, et cetera. It did seem like Ossoff had a pretty good debate.

MAGUIRE: It was a strong debate performance, but he's a strong debater. And he has a lot riding not only on this race. Kurt and I have talked about this before, not only on his Senate race, but what this means, the road ahead for him for '28. If leash -- I do it every time, Keisha Lance Bottoms wins that gubernatorial, he's going to be able to walk into '28 and into South Carolina having elected the first female Black governor or help elect the first female Black governor in the country. That's a compelling story to be telling in '28. So these --

TAPPER: You see him as a presidential candidate.

MAGUIRE: One hundred percent. I think he is going to try to run and that's why you're seeing a bit of this careful calculation from him. He is good in these debates. However, it is going to be, how does the rest of the ticket fare out for him? I do think that Rick Jackson is running better on the top of the ticket.

TAPPER: Interesting. Let's turn to the Michigan race, also very closely watched and perhaps more competitive than Georgia. The two candidates took the debate stage last night. It got pretty personal. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE ROGERS, MICHIGAN REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Catching people who were suspected of terrorists and being terrorists -- committing a terrorist act, that's really, really important. And why would that bother you? Well, if you have someone in your family that might be on the side of the watch list --

ABDUL EL-SAYED, MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE: Are you calling -- are you going to go ahead and say that I'm -- go ahead and say it.

ROGERS: No, I never say --

EL-SAYED: You've been -- you've been -- you've been tip toning (ph) around the whole time.

ROGERS: Did you not have family on -- did you not --

EL-SAYED: Just say it.

ROGERS: Let's open up can of worms.

EL-SAYED: He want (inaudible). I'll give you --

ROGERS: I'll tell you what my mother did. She was a small --

[17:30:01]

EL-SAYED: You going after my mom?

ROGERS: I'm not going after your mom. What your mom was working at, I was going after that organization that was indicted for funneling money to al-Qaeda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you make of that, Kurt?

BARDELLA: I think this is the exact kind of thing that just turns voters off at this point. I don't think that that's a win for Mike Rogers. I think Sayed handled it actually really well. And it's a sympathetic way to put it. You're going to go after my mom? Like, you have nothing to say about the economy, about affordability, about things that actually affect everyday people in Michigan, but you're going to go after my mom? That is weak. That is not going to work.

TAPPER: Because she worked at the Holy Land Foundation.

MAGUIRE: Yes. I mean, he was tying together a larger narrative that he's been painting. But I don't think there was any winner out of that Michigan debate. That was a political food fight of the likes we haven't seen in a while, to the point where the moderator put out a statement and said they continued yelling at each other during the commercial breaks here.

And on affordability, you did hear there were multiple pushes by Mike Rogers on him about affordability, especially when it came to health care and his want for Medicare for all by El-Sayed. There were pushes about who was more dangerous, Iran or Israel, and El-Sayed couldn't give people the option there.

BARDELLA: But I think when the story --

MAGUIRE: But it's the interrupting there in the debate that is what people are going to dislike. It turn voters off.

BARDELLA: When the story that were --

MAGUIRE: Just like that's right here Kurt.

BARDELLA: Erin, I love you.

MAGUIRE: I know you do.

BARDELLA: When the story coming out of it is so-and-so attack someone's mom, I think that person loses.

MAGUIRE: Well, it was a your mom conversation, and it's your mom, my mom, who's talking about whose mom? It's a political food fight that doesn't serve anybody. Nobody's walking away feeling more sympathetic for El-Sayed's mom.

BARDELLA: Well, it ties in with the ads that Rogers and his allies are playing right now, alluding to that. And so I think that together tells a story that, OK, this guy's going after El-Sayed's mom. And I just don't think that's a narrative that's going to work coming out of a debate.

TAPPER: But let me ask you a question. Beyond that, there are -- there is a question of how candidates handle tough questions, right? Audrey Fahlberg, who writes for the Free Press, had a question for El-Sayed after the debate, I believe it was after, it might have been before, but about the fact that there was this leaked audio of El-Sayed after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei.

And El-Sayed said in this audio that he didn't want to give a statement because there were people in Dearborn who liked the Ayatollah. And so she asked him about this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm wondering, do you regret the private comments you made on a leaked audio of a call? I think it was in early March. Where you talked about the death of Ayatollah Khamenei and many people in Dearborn being sad that day.

EL-SAYED: Do you want to talk about gas prices, groceries, do you want to talk about actual issues that Michiganders face? I'm happy to answer questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I bring it up because you talk constantly about foreign policy.

EL-SAYED: That I know your readers will get two clicks, but actually not relevant to people's lives. I'm just not interested in this dog and pony show.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: What do you think, Erin?

MAGUIRE: He's a master deflector. I understand why he doesn't want to answer that question, because the answer is clear. He was more concerned about the Ayatollah than he was about anybody else in that instance. And he thought feeling more sympathetic to them was a better strategy than anything else. He's showing who he is ultimately in that moment. And listen, he's very good at the, I'm going to answer what I want to answer. I'm going to answer the question I wish was asked. And that's media training. I give my clients all the time.

You know, that message discipline, whether or not you like it, him consistently saying, let's talk about affordability, about gas. We shouldn't talk about the, you know, podcaster, streamer, or however he calls his best friend Hasan Piker these days. He does say message discipline, even if it is frustrating.

TAPPER: Speaking of leaked audio, I do want to run this. I don't know who Ken Paxton has been hanging out with. I don't know if this is one conversation or 50, but there's more leaked audio. This one obtained by CNN, Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton talking about his primary rival, the incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN PAXTON (R-TX), SENATE CANDIDATE: He goes, I realize it's hard to lose an election, but it shows a lot of character that you're supporting the ticket and you're supporting Ken Paxton. And he -- Cornyn's face went red. He backed off. He said, Paxton's going to lose. We need to teach those Republicans a lesson. It's going to be hard to learn, but they need to -- they need to know that their decisions have consequences and we need to make sure they understand that. That's what he's trying to do. That's John Cornyn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you think?

BARDELLA: I mean, one, this has been a masterclass in putting out leaks because again, we don't know is it one ongoing conversation we get five, six, seven different bites of. But also I think there's a lot of truth to it. This thing has legs because we're hearing behind the scenes what we all know to be true. It's not what they say in public. It's not what they say in the debate states, not what they say to their supporters necessarily when the cameras are on. But when those cameras go off, the very candor that we're hearing, yes, I think John Cornyn believes that they need to learn a lesson.

When you, when you nominate someone who's got this much baggage, they shouldn't win. There should be a price and that would actually be in the better health of the Republican Party overall. I think for Paxton --

MAGUIRE: I don't want your advice on how to make the Republican Party better. BARDELLA: I care deeply about the Republican Party as a former Republican.

TAPPER: In terms of winning though, you agree that Cornyn would be a stronger general election candidate?

MAGUIRE: Not necessarily.

TAPPER: No.

[17:35:00]

MAGUIRE: Ken Paxton has run multiple times statewide in Texas with all of this known. You have to admit that.

BARDELLA: You can't honestly think that Cornyn wouldn't be a stronger candidate than Paxton. Come on.

MAGUIRE: Listen, I'm going with the facts on this here. The facts are that the Republican base was upset with John Cornyn. They did not like the way he led. They voted him out. And Ken Paxton with all of his baggage has been known statewide with that for a while now. He's won statewide races with that. So I cannot say that I think --

BARDELLA: So he loses Texas. When he loses Texas are you going to be like, oh, that was that?

MAGUIRE: I'm not saying it's perfect, but what I am saying is he's going to win.

TAPPER: I want to see some wagers, and then we'll, after the elections, we'll come back.

MAGUIRE: Oh yes, let's go, you and me.

TAPPER: All right, we've got Michigan, Georgia, Texas, let us know, and then we'll bring you back after the elections. Thanks, everyone.

Up next, we've got a special guest as we head into yet another weekend of fall football, the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jeff Lurie, is here to preview my hometown team's game in London this weekend, and more importantly, to discuss his contribution to autism research. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:17]

TAPPER: In our Sports Lead, legendary tight end and coach Mike Ditka of the Chicago Bears has died at 86 years old. As head coach, Iron Mike, led the Bears to their only Super Bowl win in 1986. That was quite a series. That whole season. Twenty-five years early, Ditka had been drafted by the Bears as a player. He won Rookie of the Year. Ditka briefly played with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. That's where he won his first Super Bowl ring in 1972. Ditka is one of only two people in history to win a Super Bowl as a player, as an assistant coach, and as a head coach. In 1988, Mike Ditka was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. May his memory be a blessing.

Also in our Sports Lead, week five of the NFL is here and two teams are headed across the pond. The Philadelphia Eagles and the Jacksonville Jaguars are set to headline the league's fourth international game this season in London. For the Eagles, the real work happens off the field. While in London, the Eagles Autism Foundation will be donating $670,000 to support autism research.

And joining us now is the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jeff Lurie. Jeff, thanks so much for being here. Good to see you again. I know your brother has inspired you to get involved in the autism world. What inspired you to make this donation while the team's in London?

JEFFREY LURIE, OWNER, THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: So, well, Jake, as you may know, wherever we are, we try to support autistic researchers, medical science, anything that can enhance our global view of what can try to piece together the puzzle that is autism. And it's very different for many different people. So wherever we are, whether it's Brazil two years ago, the Super Bowl in New Orleans recently, London, we assemble the top medical and scientific researchers in autism in that country.

And we have seminars, symposiums, give them a chance to explore what they do best. We listen. We explain what we're doing with the Lurie Autism Institute and the Eagles Autism Foundation. It's just a great collaboration. And as part of it, as we did in Brazil, you know, we want to leave something behind which carries through, which is really to donate $670,000 towards a pilot fund and is also a postdoctoral fellowship.

So it's a way of -- it's going to be a global effort to try to, you know, get to the bottom of all aspects of autism and support the autistic community around the world. That's what the Eagles are all about.

TAPPER: Yes. And we've covered it a number of years. Your foundation was created in 2019, the Eagles Autism Foundation. Since then, we've seen a lot of projects that have benefited the autism community all over the world. What is the one thing that your foundation has accomplished as of now that you're the proudest of?

LURIE: You know, I would say it's really a collaboration. So, for example, starting the Lurie Autism Institute at CHOP and Penn really is a way to take a structure that is necessary to help progress a human condition that is just sitting there to be helped.

And so we're at a time, we're at a real important time in the world where structure and technology can combine with all the great scientists. So you have an amazing opportunity with artificial intelligence, with genetics, with epigenetics, with mitochondrial research, imaging, the list goes on and on and on. And we've waited for this technology to really match the expertise of the scientists.

So I'd like to say we have number one draft choice scientists all over the world looking to try to do their part in autism research. And now is the time technology and structure can combine to really be the best opportunity ever to make a huge dent in what is really taking place in the brain with autistic people. It's, as you know, incredibly common and we've never had a sort of a catalytic event or a catalytic institution.

And we hope that, you know, what we've established at Penn and CHOP and the technology that's now available globally can create something very, very special, finally, in an underfunded human condition. So that's really, I'm most proud of how we're strategizing the whole thing because I think that's how you get real long-lasting results.

TAPPER: I hope so. Jeff, you know I bleed green, so I have to ask you about the Birds.

[17:45:04]

LURIE: I know that.

TAPPER: It's been a rough week for the team, starting with the loss to the Rams, but also the injuries, Lane Johnson retiring, trading Cam Jurgens, and more and more. Is this a "rebuilding year"? I know there's still a lot of football to play. We're only about to head into the fifth game. We're still trying to win, right? We're still with Jalen and Saquon and everyone else.

LURIE: This is -- now we've got a great roster. We have a deep team. It's, you know, unfortunate with Lane Johnson retiring, but this was going to be his last year. He's one of the greatest players I've ever seen play right tackle. Great guy, serious concerns on mental health, and I think he got to respect that.

But we are gung-ho to win big and win our division first and, you know, go from there. So we couldn't be more excited. We were two and two when we won the Super Bowl two years ago, and we're two and two, and we're going to -- you need resilience in the NFL. You're going to go through periods where you have, you know, extra injuries, and you just next man up, and we have a deep roster. So our expectations are very high.

TAPPER: You know what it's like. You know what we Eagles fans are like. You know what we Philadelphians are like. We're a little perpetually worried and neurotic, so you'll forgive me for asking that. While I have you --

LURIE: Yes, we try to be the opposite.

TAPPER: Go ahead.

LURIE: We try to be very, you know, forward-thinking and strategic, and that's the thing. We -- the Cam Jurgens trade was a trade we wanted to make because of the value we got.

TAPPER: Yes.

LURIE: And Cam's one of my favorite players, but you got to do what's best for the franchise at all times.

TAPPER: Before you go, any thoughts on the passing of Mike Ditka, obviously a legend. He played for the Eagles for a teeny bit. What legacy does he leave?

LURIE: Yes. So I think he's, you know, one of the iconic figures of the last several decades. I remember him as a boy, as a terrific tight end. I admired him as a coach. He was a game analyst. You know, I think high integrity, said what he felt, honest, and just an excellent motivator. And, you know, I think we'll all miss Mike Ditka. There aren't many Mike Ditkas going around every decade or every year. So, you know, sad day to lose Mike Ditka.

TAPPER: Jeff Lurie, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Hope you win this weekend. Go Birds.

LURIE: Thanks, Jake. Go Birds. Thanks for having me on.

TAPPER: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is here next as Hurricane Isaias could bring dangerous conditions to large parts of his state. How officials there are preparing to help residents deal with the impacts. That's ahead.

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[17:52:15]

TAPPER: Back with breaking news in our National Lead. The Florida panhandle is already beginning to feel the wrath of Hurricane Isaias, which is now just a few hours away from making landfall. There is a powerful Category 3 storm. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis joins us now. Governor, thanks for joining us. What's your biggest concern right now about this hurricane?

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Well, it's got a long reach. So, it's going to make landfall probably in the Destin area, which is a beautiful part of the Florida panhandle. But the storm surge is going to extend throughout the whole extent of the panhandle to the east. And so the most significant storm surge will be where the eyewall goes and just to the east of that. But you're going to see it extend to Panama City, the Apalachicola Bay, even to the coast where Tampa Bay is. And not like Helene was for them, but you're going to see it.

Then the other thing you're going to see is tornadoes. It's a long storm to the east. It's going to spin off. We're going to have nasty weather throughout the night and into tomorrow. There's going to be bands that follow it, which could also do that. And then the final thing is there's a lot of saturation in that part of Florida. So, as this storm moves through, it's going to dump a lot of water. You're going to have flash flooding. You're going to have water rising in areas that are far from where the eyewall makes impact.

TAPPER: This first hurricane of the season is bringing this life- threatening storm surge that you mentioned, winds, flood warnings, tornado warnings. Floridians, of course, are not strangers to hurricanes or these kinds of warnings or weather events. How do you break through storm fatigue to make sure that Floridians take this specific storm as seriously as they need to?

DESANTIS: Well, part of it is if you look at this part of northwest Florida, they haven't really -- we haven't really done one of these in a while. We did have Hurricane Sally come kind of at the end and wobbled and got Pensacola in 2020. But we haven't done a full run-up west of Panama City for quite a while now. So, I think a lot of those folks take it seriously. I think they realize that this is something that they want to take precautions of. I think there's been a lot of folks that have heeded the warnings for local officials in the low- lying areas.

And all of those local emergency managers in those counties, they've been on top of this from the moment the storm formed. And so, they're doing a really good job.

TAPPER: Santa Rosa County issued an evacuation order for an additional area this morning. How many Floridians are under evacuation orders right now? Do you have an approximate sense of that or how many people have actually evacuated or moved to shelters?

DESANTIS: So, I would say if you go from Escambia, which is our westernmost county, and you go all the way to Bay County, which has Panama City, you know, that spans almost the entire central time zone portion of the Florida panhandle. I would say Zone A's and B's on all of those counties are under evacuation orders. That typically is the Barrier Islands and other low-lying places.

[17:55:17]

There also may be county-dependent areas interior based on the potential for flash flooding. So, it's a pretty significant amount because if you go to that part of the Florida panhandle, those are some of the best beaches in the world. And a lot of the population lives pretty close to the water in one way or another. And so, I would imagine it would be a pretty significant chunk if you were to add up all those numbers.

TAPPER: Do you already have reports of any significant damage?

DESANTIS: No, but we are getting gusts. You're starting to see some modest power outages. We've told from the beginning, assume you're going to lose power. Assume you'll lose power. We have a station working with the utilities. We've got 16,000 linemen that are pre- positioned. So, as soon as the storm passes, they will go in and restore power as rapidly as possible. We also have 5,000 National Guard pre-positioned.

Our State Guard, Urban Search and Rescue teams, as well as the local authorities that will be available for search and rescue should that be needed. And sometimes it's needed. Sometimes we're able to get it pretty quickly and get things stabilized. A lot of it depends on the shape of the storm and who decided to remain back in the most dangerous areas.

TAPPER: I've covered enough of these and you've lived through enough of these. What do you want to say to people who are thinking about venturing out right after the worst of the storm passes?

DESANTIS: Just wait. So, the roads may be dangerous. Our guys are going to go out there and clear it. There may be downed power lines. Do not mess with those. Those are very hazardous, particularly if the power lines are in standing water. Don't try to drive through floodwaters. It's very dangerous. We have huge amounts of resources that will be brought to bear to try to get everything back to normal as quickly as possible. They will clear the roads. They will do all that.

Just give it a little bit of time. But these guys are going to be working as soon as the storm passes and as soon as there is daylight tomorrow morning. They will be out there.

TAPPER: All right. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, thanks for your time. Prayers for the people of Florida. Really appreciate it.

DESANTIS: Thanks.

TAPPER: As the hurricane nears landfall, we're headed to the Gulf Coast. Next, we're going to look at how residents are preparing. Plus, we've got an updated forecast from the CNN Extreme Weather Center. Stick around.

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