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Thirteen Killed, Dozens Hurt After Russian Strike In Zaporizhzhia; Crimea Bridge Blast Delivers Major Blow To Putin's War Effort; Trump Brags About 1/6 Crowd Size During Nevada Rally. Aired 3- 4p ET

Aired October 09, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: We are talking about the backup for two of the Miami Dolphins. Teddy Bridgewater, who was injured during play and as a result of the new protocol, they actually pulled him out. So, just wanted to make that correction on his behalf.

All right, thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

The CNN NEWSROOM continues with Jim Acosta right now.

[15:00:26]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington and we begin with Russian missiles slamming into a civilian neighborhood in Ukraine, killing 13 people and wounding dozens more, some of them children, none of them involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine. They are civilians.

It happened earlier today in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, at least six cruise missiles and several anti-aircraft missiles exploded into homes and buildings. Right now, rescuers with search dogs are combing the rubble hoping to find survivors. You see some of this video right here.

Remember, just yesterday this happened, a massive explosion on a bridge that dealt a major blow to Russia's military supply capabilities. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for that damage, but an aide to Ukraine's President says today's missile strike on civilians may be an act of retaliation.

Here is a view of the explosion that we didn't see yesterday. Take a look at this.

Russian officials say three people were killed in all of this. CNN international security editor Nick Paton Walsh joins me now.

Nick, it looks like Russian retaliation. What more can you tell us?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly the striking Zaporizhzhia, we now know the death toll to be 13 with over 80 people injured. Hundreds of rescuers still working at the site of the apartment block that was hit by six cruise missiles dropped by a strategic Tupolev Tu-22 bomber and also an SU-35 attack jet, and also some anti-aircraft missiles S-300s apparently, according to Ukrainian officials involved in this attack, a sign perhaps that Russia's inventory is getting low.

Is it retaliation? Well, I should point out, Zaporizhzhia where this occurred has been being hit over the last week repeatedly, always it seems indiscriminate, often civilian targets.

The death toll in earlier attacks not as utterly horrifying as devastation that hit Sunday morning. But we are also hearing now from the Kremlin head, Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that after talking to the head of his investigative committee, that they believe the Ukrainian Secret Services, with the help of some foreign citizens were behind the attack on the Kerch Bridge, which he refers to as a terrorist attack against civilian infrastructure.

Now, you mentioned the three people killed in that likely, they are civilians, but at the same time, I should point out that Kerch Bridge across the strait into Crimea, illegally occupied by Russia in 2014 is often used to supply military material to Russia's occupation and invasion in the south of Ukraine.

So many calling it a legitimate target, but it is also clear that it has been an enormous blow for Russian prestige. Vladimir Putin is calling a meeting of his Security Council tomorrow on Monday, they often meet weekly, but I think some of the emphasis on this particular meeting is because many are wondering quite what Russia's response to this attack on the strategic Kerch Bridge will indeed be.

Ukrainian officials have frankly been reveling in the damage done by that blast, although stopping short of outright claiming responsibility for it. The question, of course, will be exactly what measures may or may not be announced. In this Monday Security Council meeting, a Kremlin spokesperson when pushed whether or not this might involve them leaning into their nuclear doctrine called that question inappropriate.

So essentially, still, Russia losing militarily week after week after week, suffering symbolic and possibly even practical damage in attacks on things like the Kerch Bridge, and essentially being asked quite what its response is going to be.

We will see if that become anything less than the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians that we saw in Zaporizhzhia this morning, and in previous days as well. And that, of course, leads many in Ukraine and around the world on edge because of the backdrop of nuclear threats, it has become part of Russia's rhetoric over the past weeks -- Jim.

ACOSTA: That's right, and Vladimir Putin is showing no signs of backing down at this point. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much for that report. We appreciate it.

Joining me now, CNN national security analyst and former Chief of Russia Operations for the CIA, Steve Hall; and Jack Barsky, a former undercover KGB agent and author of the book, "Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America."

Jack, let me start with you, first. This strike on a residential area came just hours after Russia saw this symbol of its power, a major supply link blown up. Do you see a connection? Here? It looks like a retaliation measure on the part of the Russians and Vladimir Putin. What do you think?

[15:05:00]

JACK BARSKY, FORMER UNDERCOVER KGB AGENT: Quite frankly, there is nothing new whether there is a direct connection or not. I mean, the Russians have targeted civilians. Either they are totally stupid or they are totally evil. They have targeted civilian complexes and even, you know, schools and hospitals.

So, there is nothing new there, and that has been the case historically. They did the same thing in Syria, hoping that if you kill enough civilians that the civilian population will, you know, make the government give up, but it is not happening, not in Ukraine.

ACOSTA: No, you're absolutely right. And Steve, even before everything that happened this weekend, President Biden was warning of nuclear Armageddon. How dangerous is this moment right now? Does what happened on the bridge and these apparent retaliatory strikes, do they move us in that direction? Are we still in the same place we were 48 hours ago? What do you think?

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think Russia doesn't feel like it is in the same place. I mean, the attack on the Kerch Bridge was obviously, Jim, something that was, you know, that -- it was a big thing for Putin when that bridge went into place. You know, he built it, he forced it, he pushed it, and then he drove a truck across it. So, you know, there is sort of a personal impact in this.

But in terms of it getting us closer to nuclear war with Russia, I still think that there is a low likelihood of that happening simply because Putin understands the ramifications for himself and for his system, for Putin inside of Russia. And I still think he assesses that the advantages that he would gain by engaging in a nuclear fashion are still are greatly outweighed by the disadvantages of doing so.

ACOSTA: And Jack, I see you nodding your head, you agree with that assessment.

BARSKY: I agree with Steve a hundred percent.

You know, this was the case when, at the height of the Cold War, when it got really close to a nuclear exchange, the Russian, the Soviet leaders were not suicidal, neither is Vladimir Putin. He knows if he explodes one nuke, he is toast and he wants to live.

ACOSTA: Yes, and Steve, we saw the Ukrainians doing some major league trolling to mark Vladimir Putin's 70th birthday showing a commemorative stamp of the bridge being blown up. I don't know how they got that out so quickly, but they did and tweeting out this video of the explosion split screen with Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." Also, I guess a bit of a cold war throwback.

What do you both think about this? I'll start with you first, Steve.

HALL: Yes. The stamp was really interesting, Jim. I mean, how long does it take to plan the art and put a stamp out. They got it turned around pretty quickly, almost as though they knew it was coming.

I don't -- I have little doubt that the Ukrainian Special Services were probably the ones behind the Kerch Bridge attack, of course, like any professional intelligence and security service, they probably won't confirm or deny that, not at least immediately.

It is certainly emotionally satisfying for the Ukrainians, and I think important for keeping morale up, not only amongst the Ukrainian population, but Ukrainian troops, but it is equally psychologically damaging for those in Russia, who are probably looking at this. I mean, it's been in the Russian press that this happened and Russians must be asking themselves even more so today, what in the world is going on? And why are we being beat so badly?

ACOSTA: Yes, Jack. I mean, it is pretty inventive on the part of the Ukrainians to be doing this. What do you think?

BARSKY: Of course, it is, and propaganda-wise, they have the upper hand at this point, and I just want to talk something a little bit about propaganda.

This is a war situation. Yes, propaganda that is being distributed from both sides. Propaganda doesn't necessarily mean that you distribute lies, you just determine what of the truth you will tell people.

And so the propaganda that Russia is engaged in is for the Russian population. Ukraine is speaking to the world. The two don't really meet it. There is no arbiter in between to assess what is really true.

I don't believe either one of them. But, you know, the facts speak for themselves and the facts are that the Russians are retreating.

ACOSTA: Right. And Steve, you've written about how Putin, how people should not -- or how Putin should fear the most in Russia aren't the oligarchs or the Russian people, but his fellow spies, that Putin should be fearing his fellow spies. Does that apply to this moment right now when he appears to be, I mean, he is getting beaten. He is, you know, perhaps not ultimately at the end of the day, but he is right now.

HALL: I think Jim, what I'm looking for is the tipping point here. You know, obviously things are going badly. We can start telling them up, you know most recently the Kerch Bridge, but before then it was you know the retaking of Ukrainian territory that the Russian military initially took, and then the Ukrainians went in and liberated it.

[15:10:11]

HALL: So as you go through that list of how badly things are going, and you can include in things there, like, you know, the Russian economy is being hit by sanctions, something we sometimes forget, those are in place.

So I think Russian people themselves are asking what's going on, but we see protests in Russia fairly frequently. Unless it turns into the millions that hit the streets, if I recruit and what I would be looking at are the people that can actually oust him from power, and that those are the people that are close around him, the head of the security services, some leadership with the military, those are the people that he needs to be worried about, I think more than people in the streets.

ACOSTA: And Jack, let me get your take on what a Russian TV host said on the air in the last couple of days. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSIAN TV HOST (through translator): There's a lot of fishy stuff going on.

The fall campaign so far, to put it mildly, has not gone so well for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Jack, were you surprised when you saw that?

BARSKY: I actually read the transcript of that interview. It was amazing that Russian television actually sort of told the truth pretty much as it is known. And now, does that mean anything with regard to you know, getting the Russian people to rise up and get rid of Vladimir? I don't think so. But it is a change from the old propaganda at all times. The situation that they had when the war started.

ACOSTA: And Steve, the White House today urged both Putin and Kim Jong-un of North Korea to come to the negotiating table. What do you think? Is anything going to come of that? Is that feasible?

HALL: You know, It doesn't seem to me likely that even if either of those, you know, rogue nation leaders comes to any sort of table to discuss whether it is nuclear things or whether it is, you know, just geopolitics or whatever it is, I seriously doubt at this point that there is going to be any positive resolution to this.

I mean, you have to remember, just take Russia, for example. I mean, it is still amazing to me that the United Nations, you know, the bastion of international law, supposedly, still allows Russia to participate when it almost on a daily basis violates, you know, the founding charter of that.

So, when you've got people coming from that position, we have countries that are basically saying, yes, we're going to be in the Security Council, but we're not going to recognize sovereignty, we're going to annex neighboring nations. I mean, what do we expect would happen if somebody came to the table? You get ridiculous allegations, like oh, the explosion of the Kerch Bridge is terrorism and that's just -- that's just silly.

ACOSTA: Yes. No, you're right about that. Not exactly making the case for putting this in the hands just in the hands of the diplomats.

All right, Steve Hall and Jack Barsky, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks very much.

BARSKY: You're very welcome.

ACOSTA: Thank you.

All right, coming up. Herschel Walker dealing with his own version of the dreaded October Surprise. We'll take you through past surprises that have haunted political candidates and the month before voters head to the polls. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:11]

ACOSTA: Former President Donald Trump taking center stage at a campaign rally in Nevada last night using the event to talk January 6, not the attack, but the crowd size.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They never want to show how massive our crowd was. You know the biggest crowd I've ever seen? January 6th, and you never hear that. That was the biggest and they were there -- they were there largely to protest a corrupt and rigged and stolen election.

It is the biggest crowd and you never hear that, and you see very few pictures of it, but they are there. That was the biggest crowd I believe I've ever spoken to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: My next guests are out with a detailed account of the Trump presidency and they make the argument that what happened on January 6th was no anomaly, but rather the culmination of a sustained four- year war on the institutions and traditions of American democracy.

The book, "The Divider: Trump in the White House 2017 to 2021" is based on extensive research by veteran journalist Susan Glasser and Peter Baker, including 300 interviews, two of which happened with Donald Trump himself down at Mar-a-Lago.

Peter Baker, Chief White House correspondent for "The New York Times;" Susan Glasser, CNN global affairs analyst and staff writer for "The New Yorker." They both join me now.

It is really a privilege to have both of you with us. Thank you so much.

Can I just ask you just very quickly before we jump into the book. You know, to hear Donald Trump out there on the campaign trail, here we are a month -- less than a month before the midterms and he is talking about his crowd size on January 6th in that crass sort of way. I just wonder what your reaction is.

Peter, I know you and I covered him so closely for several years. When you see him, and you just say, "Oh, there just goes Trump again. There he is. That's who we covered. He's never going to change," or do you find something disturbing and some somewhat dangerous about this moment right now that we're in?

PETER BAKER, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT FOR "THE NEW YORK TIMES:" Yes, I think he is celebrating in effect, the January 6th insurrection. He may not say that he approves of the attack on the Capitol, but by celebrating that crowd, that's the message that he's getting across.

And the other thing he said last night was he accused Democrats of putting in jail their political opponents. The only political opponents I can see that had been put in jail since Trump left office are the people who attack the Capitol on January 6th, so if that is who he means, again, he is sort of holding them out as some sort of heroes of his movement and cause, which I think, you're right, it really raises questions about the dangerous level of this rhetoric. It is congratulating people for trying to take it into their hands, taking violence as a means to try to disrupt the transfer of power.

ACOSTA: And Susan, from a historical standpoint, we just look at you know the last century or so of world history. I mean, there are parallels.

[15:20:10]

ACOSTA: I mean, it seems like history is talking to us once again when you see a former president who incited an insurrection out there conducting himself in this fashion and getting those kinds of cheers.

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, look, that's right. Certainly, there is a precedent outside the United States that Donald Trump has often operated a playbook that's familiar to anyone who has worked in a country as Peter and I did in Russia, where its democracy was under attack, you know, going after independent media, going after the independent judiciary or other potential rival power centers. That's right out of not only Trump's playbook, but many others.

And to your point, though, about history, Jim, I would say, the thing that is so remarkable as you contemplate the Trump phenomenon, one of the reasons Peter and I want to do the book is because there has never been a President in American history, Democrats or Republicans, even in many periods of conflict, there has never been a President who sought to overturn the results of a lawful election.

And so I feel like two years later, the fact that the Republican Party has remained tethered to Trump really puts us in uncharted territory, even by history standards.

ACOSTA: Right, and Peter, one thing you talk about in the book is how Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, washed their hands of all of this stolen election talk before the results were even called and that opened the door for some of the crazies to come in.

The crazies appear to still be there, but tell us about what you wrote about in the book.

BAKER: Well, that's exactly right. Basically, two days after the election, before the networks had even called it, Jared Kushner woke up in his house here in Washington and told Ivanka, hey, we're moving to Miami. And within a few weeks, they had picked out $32 million property down in Florida, they were looking at schools for their kids.

They knew the election was over, they knew it hadn't been stolen, they knew it was not going to be overturned. But rather than participate in the debate that was going on in the White House, Kushner basically said, if you're going to go with Rudy, he told the President, then I'm going to be -- I'm not going to be part of this.

And that gave people like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell and John Eastman, and all of these other people had free rein. There was a void that they filled whispering in the President's ear, "Yes, you lost. Yes, you can contest this. Yes, you can overturn this," without fear of contradiction from one of his closest advisers, his own son-in-law, who instead went off to the Middle East to work on Middle East Peace and maybe his future business contacts, as well as moving his family to Miami.

ACOSTA: Yes, I remember seeing Mike Lindell hanging out outside the West Wing and thinking, you know, this guy is not here to sell pillows.

And, Susan, I have to ask you about this anecdote in the book where you write about then Chief of Staff, John Kelly, who we all remember, one of the many Chiefs of Staff to go through that White House buying quite a surprising book that he hopes will help him understand his boss, can you tell us about that?

GLASSER: Yes, I mean, that was one of the amazing through lines, I think when Peter and I were able to do the reporting for this book to him is to see how the testimony about Trump that is so disturbing, invariably has come from Republican officials, from his own appointees. These are the people who are in the room with Donald Trump.

John Kelly, retired four-star Marine General, told others that he actually purchased a book by a couple dozen mental health professionals, "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump," to try to understand the psychological basis of, you know, this very disruptive President he was dealing with and he told others, that it actually was helpful.

And we have reporting for the book that showed that there were even other members of the Cabinet who would routinely debate among themselves, is Donald Trump, in the words of one cabinet official, "crazy, crazy," or just acting crazy.

And, you know, this is obviously again, a way in which Trump was a real outlier among American Presidents, and very, very challenging, as you see him now becoming ever more dramatic in the effort to appeal or to keep his hold over his followers, rallies like last night, you know, in some ways are even more provocative than the rallies he was holding in 2020, as he seeks to maintain his political appeal.

ACOSTA: Yes, and I am just trying to figure out when I watch him at these rallies, you know, is he trying to hang on, as you said, Susan, to what he has? Or is it about trying to reclaim the presidency? Perhaps, it is just as simple Peter, as he just doesn't want to let this follow and get away from him?

BAKER: Well, I think that's right. We anticipate a course that he may run in 2024, but if he doesn't run in 2024, he is not going to tell us until the last possible moment because he does crave the attention. He craves these rallies and the money that comes in through fundraising as long as he is a possible candidate for President.

And of course, with all of these investigations swirling around him, there is another motive for him to run as well, which is that he thinks or at least possibly thinks that being a candidate might protect him in some ways, that people might be more reluctant to charge somebody who is an active candidate for President, or at the very least, he can rally these crowds by making himself out to be a martyr, a victim to the Deep State and the Democrats and the media who are out to get him.

[15:25:17]

BAKER: So, yes, I think that you're right that in some ways, his rallies are just as significant today as they were when he was President.

ACOSTA: And Susan, not that we need another "Jurassic Park" sequel, there have been so many of them. But there's one point in the book, where Trump is compared to the velociraptors in "Jurassic Park" that gradually learned how to open the door while they're hunting their prey, which I will confess, that is one of the more terrifying moments in that movie. Tell us about that.

GLASSER: Yes, I mean, that was a chilling moment when I was speaking with a former very senior national security official who spent a good amount of time directly in the Oval Office with Donald Trump and made the observation comparing him to the velociraptors, who learned to open the door. We remember that scene, with the children hiding in the kitchen, and of course, they're not safe.

The point was about how a Trump in a second term, Trump had he been reelected, you know, would have been a very different and potentially even more dangerous, effective character than he was at the beginning of the presidency.

People often forget that Trump, you know, was the least experienced President, in some ways in modern times in terms of government. He had never served a single day in government, never served a single day in the military, unlike every other President in American history.

And I think, you know, clearly, he didn't quite understand who he was surrounding himself at first, but over the course of the four years, he learned to operate the machinery of government to get what he wanted more. There are signs that he is already preparing his advisers thinking about how to do things like fire thousands of civil servants, potentially in a second Trump term.

ACOSTA: Right.

GLASSER: And I think that, you know, he would pursue many of those agenda items that he didn't manage to get done in a first term, things like not just building the wall, but you know, potentially withdrawing from NATO. John Bolton and others who said that that would have been top of his second term agenda.

He talked to us about his willingness to hold up South Korea for billions dollars more, or else to withdraw US troops from South Korea. That was in our interview in Mar-a-Lago.

ACOSTA: Yes. He seems to think that, you know, he can conduct this kind of foreign policy, you know, if he gets back into the White House and it is remarkable to think about it. I've talked to advisers who have said to me if he gets back in there, it's going to be Trumpism on steroids.

I guess, as Samuel L. Jackson said in "Jurassic Park," hold on to your butts, but, all right, Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, thanks so much. Really great talking to both of you. Appreciate it very much.

Again, their book is called "The Divider: Trump in the White House 2017 to 2021." Be sure to check it out.

Many thanks to Peter and Susan for joining us.

Coming up next, Republican leaders are standing behind Georgia Senate candidate, Herschel Walker despite allegations he wants paid for an ex-girlfriend to get an abortion and also urged her to terminate a second pregnancy. Walker who supports a national ban on abortions without exceptions denies the allegations. And CNN has learned Senator Rick Scott, the Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee will campaign with him on Tuesday, the scandal just the latest in a long history of the October Surprise before a November election.

CNN's Eva McKend reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER (voice over): It's October, leaves begin to change color, the weather starts to chill. But in the world of politics, it's when campaigns start to heat up and it is when unexpected news or events often occur during the election cycle, commonly known as an October Surprise. A game-changing event that can possibly damage one candidate's chances and boosts the others.

October surprises have been around for decades and it is part of US politics, even before the term was used politically. Going back 50 years to 1972, President Richard Nixon's National Security adviser, Henry Kissinger has late news about the unpopular Vietnam War. HENRY KISSINGER, FORMER US NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We believe that

peace is at hand.

MCKEND (voice over): He was wrong and the war wouldn't come to a close for two and a half more years.

In 1980, in what was the October Surprise that never happened, 52 US hostages held in Iran were not released before the election despite President Jimmy Carter's efforts. Instead, they were set free as soon as Ronald Reagan was inaugurated.

In 1992, Reagan's successor George H.W. Bush seeking reelection was days away from the vote when a top Reagan team member, Caspar Weinberger was indicted over the Iran Contra affair.

Bill Clinton took the White House.

In 2000, in what was already a tight presidential race between Vice President Al Gore and then Texas Governor George W. Bush, news emerged that Bush was arrested 24 years earlier for drunk driving.

Bush lost the popular vote although he ultimately won the presidency following a controversial Supreme Court decision.

[15:30:13]

MCKEND (voice over): Eight years later, with the stock market taking a nosedive, and recession rearing its ugly head, GOP presidential nominee, John McCain insisted --

JOHN MCCAIN, FORMER CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Fundamentals of our economy are strong.

MCKEND (voice over): Voters disagreed with this assessment and what was once a tight race became a Democratic blowout with Barack Obama winning.

In 2012, in what was more of a September Surprise than an October Surprise, audio tape of Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney surfaced characterizing almost half the voters as dependent on government handouts.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what.

MCKEND (voice over): President Obama went on to win reelection.

In 2016, in what seemed like every event constituted as an October Surprise, "The Washington Post" published a 2005 video of Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump boasting about being able to grab women by their genitals.

TRUMP: I'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And where you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.

TRUMP: Grab them by the [bleep]. You can do anything.

MCKEND (voice over): Trump's Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton also faced scrutiny when the FBI reopened an investigation into her staff's use of a private e-mail server.

TRUMP: We can be sure that what is in those e-mails is absolutely devastating.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They will reach the same conclusion they did when they looked at my e- mails for the last year. There is no case here.

MCKEND (voice over): And during the 2020 presidential election, where it was a true October Surprise, Trump along with the First Lady tested positive for coronavirus, days after the first presidential debate with Joe Biden.

JOE BIDEN, THEN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My wife, Jill and I pray that they will make a quick and full recovery.

MCKEND (voice over): And while Trump tried to make his own October Surprise in the closing days of his campaign, it all but fizzled from a pre-election vaccine to a massive new stimulus package.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Thanks, Eva, for that report.

For the first time since Hurricane Ian, residents of the hard-hit area of Fort Myers Beach are allowed back into their neighborhoods to see the damage. We'll get a live report to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:57]

ACOSTA: For the first time since Hurricane Ian demolished Fort Myers Beach, residents and business owners there are returning today to see the damage for themselves.

CNN's Nadia Romero is live in Fort Myers Beach for us.

Nadia, I am sure this was a very tough day for many people, and you can just see the damage is all around you right where you're standing.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. It is so hard to really picture exactly what happened here on Fort Myers Beach when you see the images and then when you actually come here, it really does look like a bomb or tornado, a Category 4 hurricane just wrecked this entire area, and this is the livelihood for so many people here who poured in their money, their hearts, their souls into these businesses.

I want to introduce you to one of those owners of Zanzibar. This is Lee. Her and her family owned this restaurant right behind us.

Lee, just tell me what's going through your mind as you come back and see everything you poured into.

LEE LEVY, ZANZIBAR CO-OWNER: You know, there is no world -- no words to describe it. It is like, we are mourning. So first of all, we're in denial, you know. Now, we are like -- so it's just unbelievable what's going on. It's like right now starting to sink down that everything that we worked all our life, where we have put everything we have into in order to have it up and running is gone, and we see no way out really, you know? We see no -- we went to FEMA, we tried to see what we're hearing the news that they are providing help, you know, in millions being raised to help survivors and --

But when we actually went there, we spent so many hours, FEMA doesn't help any small businesses. So, basically no help there. SBA offer loans, but we already -- actually we started returning the EIDL loan from COVID, which we don't know how we will pay back considering what's going on now.

But what they are offering you is like, to take more loans on top of that, and when you don't have an income, you know, it's a really scary place to be especially after you've invested everything basically you have, you know, to have a business.

I'm not the only one. I met -- basically all of us here are small business owners. You know --

ROMERO: This is -- to one side of us, we have Mario Subs and Wraps. You know Mario really well.

LEVY: Of course.

ROMERO: Right. And then you would have another restaurant, you have your bar and then you would go up --

LEVY: We have Sue that had clothing --

ROMERO: Souvenir shop.

LEVY: Souvenir shop.

ROMERO: And then you have the nightclub, and then you would go up the steps --

LEVY: We had a pizza place. We have a shake place like margaritas and stuff like that. The bar was right here. Yes.

[15:40:10]

ROMERO: And then, right upstairs was the hotel where a lot of guests would go.

LEVY: With the hotel, exactly, yes. And there was your hotel- restaurant also over there. By the way it was the -- it's the best spot in all the beach. The view here is amazing -- was amazing. The atmosphere here was amazing. It was the epitome of life.

You know, everybody came to rejoice and to vacay and to you know, to be happy, and that's gone. That's gone. And I don't see any hope, seriously. I'm not -- I don't know that we can take more loan and to get into more debt. You know, it's not a possibility for us.

ROMERO: And I was speaking with your other family members, Lee, I know that -- and I want everyone at home watching this to know that despite everything that you all are going through, your family was still cooking for others and delivering those meals to the synagogue.

Jim, that's the spirit of Lee and her family members, still helping others despite losing everything -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Wow. I mean, it just goes to show you what the folks down there are going through, even after they've lost everything. They are still trying to help others and I can just tell from that conversation we just had with Lee there, Nadia that they are facing some just really difficult choices at this point.

If they try to continue on, sometimes they're taking on loans that maybe they can't handle.

Nadia Romero, thank you so much for staying on top of all of this. We greatly appreciate it. Please give Lee our best, everybody there, our best. I was down there a week ago and it was just so hard to watch.

But for more information about how you can help the victims of Hurricane Ian and they need lots of help, go to cnn.com/impact.

Coming up, a teenager parked at a fast food restaurant just eating a meal is now in critical condition after he was shot by an officer in San Antonio. How did that happen? We'll show you the bodycam footage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:11]

ACOSTA: In San Antonio, a 17-year-old is fighting for his life right now after being shot by a police officer while he was sitting in his car eating at a McDonald's.

CNN's Camila Bernal is following the story for us.

Camila what a disturbing story. What more are you learning?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim. The District Attorney in Bear County saying that the former cop is James Brennan. He had been working with the police department there for about seven months before getting fired for this incident.

About a week ago, his body camera was recording when he shot out the 17-year-old who appears to simply be eating a hamburger. I want to show you the video, but also warn you that it is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BERNAL (voice over): This is former officer James Brennan's bodycam

video. While at McDonald's for an unrelated incident, he spots a car he thinks he recognizes.

JAMES BRENNAN, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: I've got a vehicle here that fled from me the other day.

BERNAL (voice over): But he doesn't wait for backup.

DISPATCH: Ten-four. Get you somebody else over there.

BERNAL (voice over): Instead, he approaches the car.

BRENNAN: Get out of the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

BRENNAN: Shots fired. Shots fired. Shots fired.

BERNAL (voice over): A total of 10 shots and a 17-year-old now in critical condition. According to his attorney, he is fighting for his life.

The teen was initially charged with evading detention and assaulting an officer, charges that have now been dropped.

Instead, the investigation now focused on Brennan. He was fired for violating the department's tactics, training, and procedures. And after the San Antonio Police Department's investigation, the case will go to the Bear County District Attorney Civil Rights Division and eventually handed to a grand jury.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERNAL (on camera): Now that teen was found about a block away from that McDonald's. He was with someone else. The passenger in the car was not injured. But again, the 17-year-old's family is saying that he is just fighting for his life and they are saying that they need any blessing they can receive.

Of course, there are now a lot of questions directed at that officer -- Jim.

ACOSTA: I'm sure there are plenty. All right, Camila Bernal, thank you very much. A very disturbing story there out of San Antonio.

A quick break, we'll be right back.

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[15:53:00]

ACOSTA: Another successful launch for SpaceX, incredible video the launch of two satellites named Galaxy 33 and Galaxy 34. Less than 10 minutes after the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed hundreds of miles from the Kennedy Space Center on an unmanned platform in the Atlantic Ocean. These satellites are part of a project to replace their aging fleet that keeps dozens of cable television channels including CNN on the air. Very important mission.

It's prime pumpkin season and an Illinois man is carving out a place in the history books. This isn't your average pumpkin and weighing in at more than 1,700 pounds -- you heard that right -- it is officially the largest one grown in the entire State of Illinois this year.

Joe Atkins, the man behind the giant gourd says it grew at a rate of about 40 pounds per day. What is he watering it with, I wonder? And needed about 150 gallons of water every 24 hours for three months.

Speaking your food, get ready for more food, more fun and more amazing adventures. "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy" is back with an all- new season. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STANLEY TUCCI, CNN HOST, "SEARCHING FOR ITALY": In typical Calabrian fashion, my relatives have been up day and night for half a week preparing a feast of some of our favorite dishes.

Like this: Stock fish cittanova style.

This is a Tropiano family dish that is very similar to the baccala and tomato sauce that I grew up with.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: They say the water in cittanova is very good. And that's why stock fish is so good.

TUCCI: know my mother would make this with baccala.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baccala.

TUCCI: Si.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: We tend to use stockfish here, but we eat salted cod sometimes, too.

Too salty?

It is my homegrown tomatoes.

TUCCI: It is so good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The all-new season of the Emmy-Award winning "Stanley Tucci: "Searching for Italy" premieres tonight at nine on CNN.

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