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Rescue and Recovery Efforts Underway in Florida in Wake of Hurricane Isaias Making Landfall; Bay County, Florida, Commissioner Interviewed on Preparations for Recovery Efforts after Isaias; Protesters Gathered Outside ICE Offices in Lower Manhattan Demanding ICE Leave New York City; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Criticizes Deal Announced by President Trump to Allow Russian Release of Oil into Global Market; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Announces Controversial Decision to Livestream Execution of Convicted Fort Hood Murderer Nidal Hasan; Crew of USS Abraham Lincoln Returns Home after 322 Day Deployment; WNBA Prepares for Season Finals. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired October 10, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:36]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar, and you are in the CNN Newsroom.

We have some breaking news. Rescue and recovery efforts are underway as Isaias pushes inland, bringing new dangerous threats. Right now, more than 850,000 people in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia are without power. The storm made landfall on the Florida panhandle as a category two hurricane. You see it there ripping the roof off this hotel, uprooting massive trees. This morning we're learning of at least one death caused by a falling tree in Escambia County, Florida. Downed trees in Alabama are also leaving some roads impassable. And as the cleanup begins, Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, is urging people to be cautious, warning that the threat is not over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS, (R-FL): Although the center of the storm has moved out of Florida, the threat of flooding remains. Forecasted rain totals of four to eight inches across the Florida panhandle and Big Bend this weekend. Water levels along Florida's gulf coast are expected to continue receding throughout the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Meteorologist Melissa Nord is in the CNN weather center, tracking where the remnants of Isaias are now as it's moving further inland. Melissa, what's the latest you're looking at?

MELISSA NORD, METEOROLOGIST: Brianna, it's definitely a wide-reaching storm. You can see on the radar here. Weve got rain as far west as almost the Mississippi and rain spreading east into the Carolinas and eventually up into the mid-Atlantic and northeast as well. And it's the aftermath where the core of Isaias went and just east of it, where we see the most widespread power outages. This map shows you kind of county by county what's the percentage of customers without power. And the darker purple colors, that's where we see the most number or percentage of customers without power right through the panhandle of Florida and into southeastern Alabama. So a lot of folks are without power this morning.

And you can see, even though Isaias is no longer a tropical system in nature, it is bringing two main impacts. The impacts are the wind and the rain. And in terms of the wind, we have wind alerts on the map in the red color. Those are high wind warnings, wind advisories, gusts in some of these places in the higher elevations in the Appalachians could easily get in excess of 50 miles an hour. That plus soggy soil, that is enough to down more trees and cause some isolated power outages.

So we're tracking the rain as well, watching on the eastern side of the center of the system as well the possibility of isolated tornadoes today. Once again, a level two out of five threat of tornadic activity today or severe weather in general. And that's going to include suburbs east of Georgia, or east of Atlanta in Georgia. So down through Augusta, down into Brunswick as well, Savannah, and into western South Carolina. So that's going to include Columbia and down towards Charleston and that beautiful coastline there in lower South Carolina.

So big picture, here's what's going to happen today. Isaias is no longer tropical system. It's post-tropical. But it's wide reaching. So it's going to be spinning and pivoting around a lot of this rain. And it's still really a gusty storm, a very gusty storm in nature. So a lot of areas that are seeing rain are also getting that constant gusty wind where we could be gusting 30, 40 miles an hour. That's going to still down a few tree limbs and branches. When you have higher gusts, you could see more of those tree limbs and branches coming down. You can see by 8:00 this evening a lot of that heavier rain activity is pushing northeast into the Carolinas.

And we have a tight -- we call it a pressure gradient, where we have a big area of high pressure to the northeast, and Isaias, its remnants right here, well, it kind of squeezes and makes a wind tunnel effect in between those. So really windy and rainy conditions this evening and overnight through the Carolinas. And then that rain lifts north. By first thing tomorrow morning we're seeing that rain encroaching into New York City, moving through Philadelphia, and we'll have a lot more rain to come.

You can see here some of that isolated rain totals on the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains there through Greenville, down through Asheville, even into Augusta, we could see rain totals still close to six inches or more in some spots. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, we'll keep our eye on that. Melissa Nord, thank you so much.

Let's go live now to CNN's Rafael Romo. He is in Pensacola, where some of the strongest winds hit overnight. Rafael, tell us what that was like and what you're seeing now [10:05:03]

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Yes, as hurricanes go, Brianna, it was a very quick hurricane, but it was massive. And the winds were very, very powerful. And that's probably the reason why. And it's sad to report this, but Escambia County officials say that at least one person died due to a fallen tree here where we are now.

Now, Melissa was telling us about the winds and the soggy soil, and we're seeing the effect here where we are in Pensacola. Take a look at these tree branches that fell right behind me. And even more serious than that, this is a light pole. As you can see, it fell over the street, and that wire is all across the street connecting with another power pole on the other side of the street.

Now, when we got here, we thought that this line was dead, and then we saw a car go by and sparks were flying. And that gives you an idea of the danger that residents are facing today. Here we see a truck that was, it seemed like they were about to go over, and they're making the right decision. They're going back.

Now, that's the bigger part. The other part that I wanted to show you is that everywhere you go, Brianna, you see this, you see loose debris. And it's going to be weeks after weeks of cleaning this up. You see, at the end of this parking lot behind me, that massive tree. That's going to require major effort to clean that up. So we're talking about a massive impact. Yes, like I said at the beginning, a quick storm, but it's going to take a lot of time and money to clean it up. Just to end here, as of this morning, 860,000 customers without power in the region. So, so many impacts that we can talk about, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. Rafael, thank you so much for keeping an eye on things for us there.

Let's bring in Daniel Raffield. He's a commissioner in Bay County, Florida, which is along the panhandle. Commissioner, thanks for being with us. Can you talk to us? It sounds like, obviously, the fear of the worst damage was not realized. And yet we're obviously seeing that there are a lot of things out there that people need to keep their eye on. Tell us how it went and what your message is to folks at this point.

DANIEL RAFFIELD, BAY COUNTY, FLORIDA, COMMISSIONER: So thank you so much for having us. Today marks the eight-year anniversary for us here in Bay County and throughout the panhandle of, ironically, hurricane Michael. So we definitely feel for our neighbors to the west.

We were blessed. We didn't get what we anticipated on the storm. We were very fortunate that here in Bay County, what we're dealing with is a lot of localized flooding. We've had weeks, or a week or two of really torrential downpour rains on top of the flooding that we had due to storm surge here in Bay County. Right now, what we're doing is cleaning up a little bit of road debris throughout our roadways and getting our residents back up and going with electricity. Our partnerships that we have here locally with FLP, Florida Power and Light and different utility companies, 16,000 linemen right now in the panhandle of Florida taking care of business.

KEILAR: Yes, and that's really the issue here, right, is a lot of people are without power. And there are the dangers of what that means, as those linemen may be responding. What do people need to know if they're in an area where power is out, where wires might be down?

RAFFIELD: So what they need to know is please do not get out, obviously, and get around hazardous power lines. They will kill you, not hurt you. So if you're able to stay where you are, stay in place for now. Even though the weather has subsided and gone away, we still want you to stay put. I say all the time, we do not want you to become part of the scene. So we need them to stay where they are.

Help is coming. To our neighbors, to the west, know that we have your back. Okaloosa County, they supported us during hurricane Michael. And, you know, we hear you guys talking about weeks of recovery. This is years of recovery. This is a long road to go. And they will definitely need our help in the future. And we're here for them as well.

KEILAR: Yes, you really put it into perspective there, and you certainly know. Daniel Raffield, thank you so much for the update. We really appreciate it.

RAFFIELD: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead, President Trump is hitting the road to boost Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections, but he's still taking time to once again attack the Nobel Peace Prize.

And CNN's new reporting about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's plans to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the man behind that 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:14:30]

KEILAR: Today, President Trump is taking his red state campaign blitz to middle Tennessee, heading to Clarksville, seeking to boost GOP enthusiasm just weeks before the midterm elections. But last night, at a rally in Syracuse, New York, some of his focus was on a different kind of campaign -- his enduring quest to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. CNNs Kristen Holmes has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After visiting a slew of deeply red states, President Trump was here in New York campaigning alongside Bruce Blakeman, who is the Republican running for governor in New York, as well as a slew of Republican candidates.

[10:15:06] Now, he gave the best of his highlights, talking about how Biden was responsible for inflation. He again promised every adult $5,000 if they were to vote Republicans and Republicans were going to win in both the Senate and the House.

But perhaps his lengthiest rant was about something completely different and something that is clearly on his mind, and that is the fact that he did not win the Nobel Peace Prize again. He attacked the country of Norway, the committee, and even the individual who received it.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: The Nobel Prize was given out today to a liberal person who works at the United Nations who nobody has ever heard of. I've never heard of the president.

(BOOS)

TRUMP: I know a lot of people. I never heard of this particular person. But congratulations anyway. The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn't.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And this is an indelible stain on the country of Norway and those people that made such a disgraceful and embarrassing decision. The Nobel Peace Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilization.

HOLMES: Now, in addition to that, President Trump talked at length about the various wars that he solved. He said he would soon be ending the war with Iran again, as well as the war between Russia and Ukraine. He also had a lengthy tirade about New York officials, including the Democratic governor here and his nemesis, Attorney General Letitia James.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Syracuse, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KEILAR: President Trump has selected his new press secretary, conservative commentator Katie Zacharia, who worked briefly at the Department of Homeland Security, says her first day on the job will be Monday. This morning on FOX News, she was asked what she's looking forward to the most.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE ZACHARIA, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm looking forward to walking in and working for President Trump. This job is not about me. This job is about him and how he wants to communicate to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Zacharia is replacing Karoline Leavitt, who left the White House in August.

CNN has learned that when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the execution of the convicted Fort Hood mass shooter would be made public, it caught people across the Pentagon and the Army off- guard. Sources say it was the first time that many had heard about this idea, and there were immediately questions on what "public" would mean. CNN's senior national security reporter Haley Britzky has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: The Pentagon announced this week that the execution of Nidal Hasan, the man convicted of killing 13 people in a mass shooting on Fort Hood in 2009, will be livestreamed. The confirmation comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln that the execution would be public, saying, quote, "People need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things."

But many questions still remain about how the livestream will be carried out. This is the first firing squad execution for the U.S. since World War II. And Army regulations bar minors from watching a military execution, something that would not be able to be enforced if it were livestreamed, though the military could waive that regulation.

But the idea of livestreaming this execution has brought bipartisan backlash. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN that the move is, quote, "disgusting" and is mimicking ISIS executions. Republicans have also criticized the announcement. Senator Thom Tillis, now an outspoken critic of Hegseth, likened it to what occurs in Iran and under the Taliban in Afghanistan. And Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center under the Trump administration, said it was beneath the dignity and decency of our nation, and, quote, "gives terrorists free propaganda."

And that is the primary concern that we've seen here. Not that necessarily the death sentence is being applied to Hasan's case, but how the imagery of his execution, particularly as Hasan is in a wheelchair, could be used by terror groups and enemies of the U.S. abroad.

Vice President J.D. Vance was asked about this on Friday and cast doubt on it, saying he didn't know if the livestream was actually going to happen. But if it did, he wouldn't be watching.

Haley Britzky, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KEILAR: Up next, growing protests over ICE's presence in New York after a five-year-old boy sat in the back of a car as agents shot his father.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

KEILAR: This morning, Alabama's governor is warning of dangerous spin off tornadoes that could pop up as the remnants of what was hurricane Isaias pushes north, dumping heavy rain. More than 200,000 people across Alabama are without power right now. There are downed trees, power lines. There are two major highways in the state that have been reported impassable.

Alabama's coastal city of Gulf Shores was bracing for the eye of the hurricane, but the storm then shifted northeast late yesterday. Grant Brown is the public information officer for Gulf Shores. He's with us now. Grant, thanks for being with us. Tell us a little bit about what you went through and what things are like now.

GRANT BROWN, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, CITY OF GULF SHORES, ALABAMA: Well, thank you very much for having us. And we were expecting the worst of the storm. Unfortunately for our neighbors to the east, when it jogged, it really spared us significant damage. We did have a significant number of trees down. We've got power outages.

[10:25:00]

Still 32,000 customers in the Baldwin County area are still without power. Our crews are out and the EMC, which is our municipal government power company, is out doing repairs to get those back up. We had to unfortunately cancel a major shrimp festival event, 150,000 people were planning to be in our area this this weekend for the 53rd annual National Shrimp Festival. The stages were set up, the tents were set up, and had to be removed on Thursday in anticipation of the storm.

KEILAR: Yes, and I know this was, I think, the 50th anniversary or the 50th annual. So that was a big event of what is already a big annual event for you. Talk to us a little bit about the power issues and the dangers of downed power lines, because I know in a situation like this, you're going to have a lot of residents who feel the danger has passed, but there could still be some out there.

BROWN: Absolutely. And it's 70 degrees down here in beautiful blue sky. But we're still asking residents to not drive over any downed power lines. They may be live. There's always a danger in that. It's part of the public safety push and shove, when you when you really want people to stay off of the roadways while you can repair and get things safe. But you do have people that want to get out and check on their properties and really go out and see where the damage is. And so people have to be careful as they're driving around.

KEILAR: And I know with the jog of this track at the last minute, as you said, it spared you some. But you're still going to be dealing with a lot of cleanup. What is that going to look like? What's the timeline on that, Grant?

BROWN: Oh, it will be within the week. We should have everything back to normal very early in the week. Most of the major downed trees are already off of our roadways. So now we get to move on to some of our trail systems and other things in the area. It really, as far as the cleanup, will not be a major cleanup effort. We'll be back ready for business here midweek.

That jog to the east spared significant storm surge. We were concerned about the six to nine foot storm surge coming in at high tide with a very low lying area. The governor did order a mandatory evacuation of nonresidents south of a point, which is where the storm surge typically inundates us. The dune system that we've been building over the years held in place. We did not have any breach of the sand dunes. None of the gulf waters ended up over the roadways. There's no major infrastructure damage. Some of the traffic lights are still down because of the power outage, so our police department is manning those. But all in all, we spared a significant threat. And, again, our prayers go out to our friends to the east of us.

KEILAR: Yes. Good luck for you guys. As you make clear, your good fortune is someone else's misfortune. So we're keeping our eye on the damage there to the east of you. Grant Brown, thank you so much for being with us.

BROWN: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: Some more protests are expected in New York today after Homeland Security says an ICE agent shot a man while his five-year-old son was in the backseat of the car. In the days since, protesters have demonstrated. They've called for ICE agents to leave the city. CNN's senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Protesters gathered outside here of the ICE offices here in lower Manhattan for about two hours, demanding answers, demanding accountability. But most importantly, they want ICE out. They want ICE out of New York City, especially after what happened here on Thursday in the Bronx. This is all happening as the investigation continues. The Bronx district attorney's office on Friday announcing that they're going to investigate what happened here. They have investigators out in the neighborhood already.

And also the NYPD releasing crucial video showing the moments just before the gunfire erupted. Now, the video doesn't capture any of the gunfire, but it does capture some significant information, because it shows the two ICE officers running up on the car, and the man who's in that car trying to take off. And you see those ICE officers with their guns out. One of them is banging on the window. And then sometime after that is when the shots were fired.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security says that the man driving the car used it as a way to attack officers, weaponizing the vehicle, and that essentially, from their standpoint, they say this was justified and that the officers felt threatened, and that's why they opened fire.

But there are a lot of questions here about the tactics, about why these officers opened fire. And that's why many of the people out here certainly are calling for accountability, but also now the Bronx District Attorney's office is investigating.

Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KEILAR: Just ahead, Ukraine's president is slamming a new deal between President Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin. It will supply countries with Russian diesel as the war with Iran keeps prices high.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:34:40]

KEILAR: New this morning, Ukraine's president Zelenskyy is speaking out about an agreement on diesel fuel between the U.S. and Russia. He says the deal is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged. The president announced it on Friday after a phone call with President Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: I think you heard about the oil deal with Russia. 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:35:10]

The agreement was hammered out as the White House is pushing to lower fuel prices ahead of the upcoming midterms. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Kremlin has confirmed that Russia is willing to provide oil and petroleum products to both the U.S. and global markets after a phone call between U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now, according to the readout provided by the Kremlin on the call, the two sides spent a lot of time speaking about the conflict in Ukraine and how to possibly resolve it, and then also spoke about the situation on global energy markets.

It was then that Vladimir Putin, according to the Russian readout, said that Russia is willing to supply both oil and petroleum products to both the U.S., but also to global markets as well. It was, of course, U.S. President Donald Trump who came out in a post on social media, who then said that there had been this phone call between himself and Vladimir Putin and that Russia was willing to supply significant amounts of diesel fuel to both the United States and to global markets.

Now, the Ukrainians have also already commented on this matter. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy seemed to be criticizing the U.S. measures to allow Russia to export oil and petroleum products, saying that this would not bring peace to Ukraine. However, the Ukrainians currently are floating a possible energy ceasefire, which would mean the Ukrainians would stop attacking Russian energy sites, and the Russians would then stop attacking Ukrainian energy sites. The Ukrainians currently have a negotiating team on the ground in the United States to talk about how the conflict could possibly end.

At the same time, the war remains in full swing. Social media video that came out on Friday seemed to show a man in a place north of Kyiv narrowly avoiding a Russian drone strike that appeared to hit a sports facility and school in that area. At the same time. It was a very bloody end of this week with a massive strike in the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region that killed well over 30 people when two municipal busses were hit.

The Ukrainians, for their part, have also continued to hit that Russian energy infrastructure, hitting two sites in Russia on Friday.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KEILAR: And with the midterm elections just weeks away, President Trump is selling the diesel deal with Russia as relief for fuel prices, while Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says it could actually just prolong the war.

We're joined now by Tia Mitchell who is the Washington bureau chief for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution." Tia, what's the political calculation here with the midterms so close?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION": I think it's such an interesting situation that we're now in, where the deal -- yes. American people want the price of fuel to go down. Truckers, the farming industry would like diesel to go down, which we know has a trickle down effect to regular people.

But the war with Ukraine, people want to -- Russia's war with Ukraine, the American people are on Ukraine's side. The war in Iran is unpopular. And so I think it's interesting that American people attribute the rise in diesel to the war in Iran. But now the remedy that's coming out of the White House could have negative effects on Ukraine's position in its war with Russia. It's just all these moving parts. I can tell the White House is prioritizing bringing the cost of fuel down. But the trade-off may still be unpopular.

KEILAR: Yes. And also, is he trading something here, right? I guess the question will be what kind of effect can this have, how quickly? And is it worth the price politically of doing this with Russia and the perception of what that means for America?

MITCHELL: Yes. And I mean, I think we also can't ignore the fact that President Trump said, if you elect me president, I'm going to make sure the Ukraine war with Russia comes to a quick end. And he's now been in office for almost two years and could be perceived as taking steps that, as you just said, could prolong the war. That could be, you know, just another example where people look to President Trump and say, we elected you to do certain things and you're not doing them. Matter of fact, you're making things worse.

I just think I -- it's almost like he created a problem, and now he's solving it by making another problem he was supposed to solve worse. I just think that the -- again, I know that bringing the cost of fuel down is important to a lot of people.

[10:40:04]

And so short term, this might be popular among some people, but I think long term it could be creating more problems for the president.

KEILAR: Yes. And to that point, he did catch the Pentagon and the Army off-guard, it appears at this point in time. So CNN has learned that is the case, and there's been backlash, bipartisan backlash from lawmakers. Is that the kind of thing that could register for voters here in the final weeks of this contest?

MITCHELL: Yes, I think it could register for voters, especially if the cost of fuel doesn't come down significantly in the short term. Sometimes these types of changes internationally take a while to trickle down. And how significant will the impact of this deal with Russia be on the cost of diesel, for example? So if it takes a while, if the savings aren't significant, I think there could be a lot of voters that say, you know, what was the other cost? Why did we do this? And especially again, why did we kind of blindside our military, blindside our allies in Ukraine? And then if the effect wasn't significant, it's like, what was the reason?

KEILAR: And Tia, before I let you go, the president, as of Monday will have a new press secretary. Tell us about her.

MITCHELL: Yes. So I'll be honest. I'm learning more about the new press secretary now. I know that she, you know, briefly served as the spokeswoman in the Department of Homeland Security. She, of course, has a longstanding job at Truth Social, which is the, the social media network that kind of President Trump has partial ownership of, majority ownership of. So she definitely comes from Trump world.

Already she's making statements that kind of support the president's somewhat, you know, skeptical relationship with the media at times, somewhat critical relationship with the media at times. It seems like she's going to take a similar posture.

I think a lot of us who, you know, work at the White House, work with the Trump administration are wanting, are going -- are curious about what type of press secretary she will be, because Karoline Leavitt had pretty good relationships with the media, notwithstanding, again, sometimes Trump's approach towards the media. So we'll see how this new press secretary approaches the job.

KEILAR: Yes, that's an important behind-the-scenes to know.

Also, Tia, CNN has learned that the Army and Pentagon were caught off guard by Pete Hegseth's public execution order, which has been met with backlash from lawmakers, even uncertainty from the vice president. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, I've seen these announcements. I don't know that that's actually going to happen. Whatever the controversy is about the method of execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people. Now, that said, I mean, look, if it's ultimately livestreamed, I'm not going to be watching it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What do you make of that?

MITCHELL: I -- this is another, you know, policy announcement or, you know, position coming out of the White House that I find kind of baffling. And I think that a lot of people, again, I think Vice President Vance kind of laid out why there are a lot of concerns.

A, yes, this man is accused of a mass shooting at a military base. Not a lot of sympathy for him. I think a lot of people probably would support him, you know, facing the death penalty. But how we do it matters. And, a, doing it by firing squad instead of something that is considered more humane matters. Doing it publicly so people could watch like it's some type of reality show, that matters.

And, you know, as a person of color whose ancestors were lynched, I just don't know if the American public is ready for the implications of public executions, whether you feel they are justified or not. It's too not always a great effect for the people watching. Like, what does it say to watch someone be killed? Again, even if you think that person did a terrible thing. So I think that's why Vice President Vance said, even though he thinks this man did awful things and should face the death penalty, said he won't be watching. But we know if the opportunity is out there, lots of people will still watch. And again, what does that say about us?

[10:45:00]

KEILAR: Yes, and what are the ramifications of that? Tia, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

There is no place like home. Thousands of sailors are now back on U.S. soil after one of the longest aircraft carrier deployments in decades. The USS Abraham Lincoln and the ships that travel with it, the carrier strike group, arrived in California, and this ended a 322 day deployment. CNN's Pamela Brown was there for the emotional reunions with family and friends.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally home.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Mixed in the emotion on this Navy pier are 122 sailors who have never met their children.

JOEY MONTEMARANO, U.S. NAVY: The only person my daughter knows is my wife right now.

BROWN: Joey Montemarano's daughter, Madeline Grace, was born while he was away at sea. These images are all he knows of his 10-month-old child.

(on camera): What are you going to do, you think, when you see them?

MONTEMARANO: Probably cry a little bit, probably try to hold back the tears while I kiss my wife, hug my wife, and meet this baby that I have never met before that I can't wait to -- can't wait to meet and interact with.

BROWN (voice-over): We met Joey and many more of the roughly 5,000 sailors at sea on the USS Lincoln as they headed into port. Most admit their returning home changed.

AJANAE KELLY, SAILOR, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: This is the hardest one I have to -- had to deal with. So I feel like, if I could do this one, I could do anything.

BROWN: It's the end of a harrowing 322-day deployment that faced scrutiny over the living conditions on board and low morale that included attempted suicides.

LUIS MORAN, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: The man overboard, that was a crazy day.

BROWN: Many confirmed the uncertainty around the extended deployment brought mental challenges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just thinking about my family and things going on back home that you can't control.

MORAN: I would go to prayer service with the chaplains, and that would help out a lot.

BROWN: Others we met confirmed food supplies ran low at times.

BARRY USERY, SAILOR, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: I was in cargo for a while, the people that bring the food up. And I was in there during the tough times. Not a lot of food was being brung up. But, as we progressed, it got better.

CAPT. DAN KEELER, COMMANDING OFFICER, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: It was stressed, but we never shut anything down.

BROWN: Captain Dan Keeler, commanding officer of the Lincoln, tells CNN supplies were mainly affected when support ships under threat from Iran were forced to alter their movement in the region.

KEELER: We served 14,000 to 16,000 meals a day, four times a day, so four meals a day. We never missed a meal, not for ten-and-a-half months. There were some sacrifices made. Maybe there was only one protein option, instead of two, but there was always food.

BROWN (on camera): Some of the family members had a town hall with Navy leadership because they were really concerned about their loved ones on this ship. They were getting pictures of toilets overflowing and mold. What do you say to that?

KEELER: What I'll say to all the families is, they were all so amazing. You can't do what we just did without a lot of support. I think a lot of the reporting focused on some anecdotal things, because we looked into all this stuff, and there really were no systemic issues. It's a big ship. It's a floating city. We have -- a toilet gets clogged, it eventually gets fixed.

BROWN (voice-over): Keeler acknowledges there were five suicide attempts on Lincoln itself and three others on its support ships. He says anyone with mental health problems had access to treatment on this ship. The most severe cases were sent home.

KEELER: We had zero suicides. We had zero casualties on the ship. Every single sailor that left is coming home.

BROWN: And they're coming home awarded with a Presidential Unit Citation, the military's highest honor for a unit in battle.

ARIANA WESTFALL, AVIATION ORDNANCEMAN, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: It's going to be pretty cool to be able to wear that and tell everybody why I'm wearing it and what I did to wear it.

BROWN: On board, you could feel the anticipation as we pulled into port. Moments later, among this flood of emotion, Joey Montemarano, a father who served on a ship at war --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who's that? Is this your daddy?

BROWN: -- now with his daughter together in peace.

MONTEMARANO: She's perfect.

BROWN: New dads like Joey actually took classes on board the ship during the war to learn how to be dads, how to change diapers, feed a baby, hold a baby so that they could be ready for this moment and go into dad mode immediately.

Now, in terms of what's next for this crew and the ship itself behind me, in a couple of months from now, the ship and its crew will be moved to Washington state, where the ship will undergo repairs. So this is just a short reprieve here in San Diego before that next move.

Pamela Brown, CNN, San Diego.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KEILAR: Thanks to Pam for that report.

And up next, the WNBA finals are set, and one of the teams vying for a title has only been around for two seasons. We'll have the latest when we come back.

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[10:53:54]

KEILAR: In sports, a historic night for WNBA fans, one of the league's newest teams took out the defending champs in a three-game sweep. Carolyn Manno has more on the Golden State Valkyries and the powerhouse they'll face in the finals, the Atlanta Dream.

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CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It was just about a year ago that Angel Reese said that she was manifesting an appearance in the WNBA finals while watching them from home. And in her first postseason appearance professionally, she was tremendous for Atlanta. The Dream and Angel Reese marching into Barclays Center, finishing off a sweep of the New York Liberty to advance to their first finals since 2013. Reese ending the night with 22 points and nine rebounds.

New York's Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones did everything they could to keep New York alive. Per usual, they scored 26 points apiece, but Atlanta holding on down the stretch to seal it and move on, 85-83 the final.

ANGEL REESE, ATLANTA DREAM FORWARD: I manifested this. When I came to Atlanta, I knew what I was getting. this team has poured so much into me. We poured so much into each other. We poured so much into each other. And I'm just so thankful.

[10:55:01]

Atlanta, I can't wait to see you in the finals!

MANNO: And in just their second franchise season, the Golden State Valkyries completing a stunning sweep of their own over the defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces, in overtime to earn their first finals berth. Golden State trailed by nine at the half after a stellar first half from the Aces Chelsea Gray. She is such a phenomenal player. But then the Valkyries used this massive 17-nothing run in the third quarter to get back in the game. They tied it at the end of regulation, and they dominated the extra session, outscoring Las Vegas 16 to six in overtime. Atlanta and Golden State now facing off in a best of seven finals beginning on October 17th.

GABBY WILLIAMS, GOLDEN STATE VALKYRIES FORWARD: I'm honestly just so proud of us. No one really believed in us except for us. And so we just leaned on each other all season. We knew that we could get here. I signed here because I wanted to contend. I knew this team had what it, what it took. So I just want to shout out my teammates, my circle, my staff. We just really relied on each other and leaned on each other all year.

MANNO: So Atlanta and Golden State will face off in a best of seven finals that begins on October 17th, in a moment that is historically significant for the league because it also illustrates the growth that we've seen over the last couple of years. You have a team like Atlanta who has never won a title, and also a relatively new franchise like Golden State, who is also looking for its first title. So it will be very exciting to watch when it kicks off in just about a week.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KEILAR: All right, Carolyn Manno, thank you for that.

In minutes, we're expecting the latest update on what is left of Isaias as the storm pushes further inland and brings the threat of rain and wind with it.

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