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Laura Coates Live

Isaias Devastates Florida And Alabama, Traversing The Gulf Coast; New Video On The Shooting Of A Man By ICE Agents Has Released; Trump Strikes Diesel Deal With Russia; Trump Slams Plan To Livestream Fort Hood Mass Shooter Execution. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired October 09, 2026 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:36]

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR, AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Triple-digit wind gusts, a storm surge of five feet, tornado threats, Hurricane Isaias is soaring through the Gulf Coast right now after making landfall near Destin, Florida a short time ago.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Laura Coates.

And Isaias slammed into the Florida coast as a Category 2, and it's now a Category 1 as it moves inland. More than a half a million power outages have been reported so far. Parts of the region are under a flash flood emergency and tornado watches.

People across the Florida panhandle and the Alabama coast were evacuated in order to do so.

Our reporters and storm chasers are fanned out across the Gulf Coast, and we're tracking the storm from the CNN Weather Center. I want to get right to CNN's Rafael Romo in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Rafael, you've been there all night. Describe the conditions.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Laura, the conditions are so much better now, although let me tell you, the wind remains a problem, not as powerfully as we saw earlier tonight, but definitely still a concern here.

It's hard to see because it's pitch black. The city of Pensacola and many parts of the city of Pensacola are in the dark right now. People have lost power, 120,000 customers have lost power in Escambia County here where we are.

You were mentioning before that more than half a million people, when you take into account all of the Gulf Coast region, have lost power, 120,000 of those here where we are. Now, it's very important to say that the cleanup efforts is going to be enormous, Laura, because based on what we've seen here, the damage from the wind is just going to take a while for crews by the city and the county and the state to be able to complete that task.

Now, we've got to remember, it is the first time in two years that a hurricane makes landfall in the United States. And it's funny the way things happen, it was exactly October 9th, 2024, when Milton made landfall.

Now, this is a hurricane that is still going to cause some problems, especially when it comes to torrential rains, several states north of here, but for the most part, the worst for this part of the country has already passed and now the cleanup effort begins. Laura?

COATES: Rafael, please stand by.

I want to go to CNN's Isabel Rosales in Gulf Shores, Alabama, we've been watching you throughout the evening. There was a curfew put in place. Are people taking it seriously?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

Yes, very seriously, Laura, to the point that they hadn't seen a hurricane like this in the Gulf Shores area since Hurricane Sally back in 2020. So curfew in place, bridges shut down, people have been taking this seriously.

24 hours ago, we thought that this might have been perhaps the eye of landfall. But since we know that the storm, this hurricane moved to the northeast, we're on the west of where the eyewall was, meaning that we have essentially dodged a bullet here.

The worst of storm surge, of winds, all of that is behind us, which is a big sigh of relief for the people here of Gulf Shores. Hours ago, we weren't sure that we had tropical storm winds and rain of 60 mile per hour. That was the peak of the wind gusts that were hitting to the point where this was painful standing out here and the winds were making you unsteady on your feet.

But now all of that seems to be beyond us, which again, big sigh of relief for the people here of Gulf Shores. And shortly before landfall, the president, Donald Trump, has declared an emergency declaration here for Baldwin counties, where I'm at right now, Escambia, and also Mobile counties.

And back to the gusts that were happening, we were anticipating that that might be much worse, but thankfully has moved beyond us, which is great news for power outages. Having said that, Laura, Baldwin County, where I'm at right now, this is the worst in the state of Alabama. Fifty percent of people here do not have power at the moment.

COATES: Oh my goodness. Isabel, please stand by.

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We've got meteorologist Melissa Nord at the CNN Weather Center. Melissa, walk me through where this storm is headed.

MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's made landfall, so we know that. And because it's over land, Laura, it is weakening. But the wind field is really still very large.

The tropical storm force winds extend 195 miles outside the center, and the hurricane force winds still extend 35 miles outside the center. So there's really this corridor northeast of Pensacola heading up through southeastern Alabama, including just west of Dothan, where we have still this core of hurricane force wind gusts that are happening at the moment.

So this is what is left of, kind of the core of Isaias. And it's right in this section here, moving in towards Andalusia, where we're seeing some of those strongest wind gusts on that kind of northwestern side of where the core of the storm is.

We've also seen an immense amount of rainfall. In fact, some locations have seen over 6 inches of rain just this afternoon and evening combined. And because Isaias is moving quickly, that's minimizing the extent of some of this flooding. But every single one of these boxes on the map is a flash flood warning, including one flash flood emergency, where some of the flooding, the street flooding, the storm drains just cannot keep up with the amount of rain that's been coming down and that rain is spreading north.

You can see we've got these feeder bands moving on the kind of western coast of Florida there, but also the rain spreads as far northward as North Georgia.

And we're seeing in Georgia also some of those power outages increasing. At this point, over 600,000 customers of that power, the core of those, south Alabama and also the western panhandle of Florida. We will see those numbers going up further north in places like Montgomery tonight.

COATES: Stand by, Melissa. So important.

I want to bring in veteran storm chaser Jonathan Petramala right now, who's in Miramar Beach, Florida. So Jonathan, tell us what you're seeing.

JONATHAN PETRAMALA, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST, AND STORM CHASER: At this point, a lot of darkness. She was talking about the power outages, obviously quite extensive here on the northern Gulf Coast here in the Florida panhandle from Destin, Fort Walton Beach, here in Miramar Beach, and further to the east as well towards Santa Rosa and Panama City Beach. So the winds, really impactful here.

Power outages, the big story. It occurred at about (inaudible), a lot of heavy rain. Fortunately, this is a hurricane that was moving quickly, so it wasn't crawling ashore.

At times, it felt like you were sitting in a car wash. It was just that much water falling. And then you imagine the car wash with winds blowing around 100 miles an hour plus.

It was quite the sight to see with Hurricane Isaias as it was making its way onshore right here near Destin, Florida.

COATES: And we're looking at some of those images and the wind and the pounding rain. You've been driving around covering the storm all day. How quickly did these conditions change and progress? And how rapidly are they changing now? PETRAMALA: Right around dusk. That's when the inner core of the

hurricane began to make its way onshore. And as soon as it did, it seemed like minute by minute, the winds just became worse and worse.

And with it, the rainfall. You're talking about rainfall rates three, four, five inches per hour at times. And that's, of course, why we have that flash flood emergency around Fort Walton Beach because of just those heavy rainfall rates.

No drainage is going to be able to keep up with that. Again, the good thing about it was the storm was moving fast enough onshore that that rain is moving along with it. The winds as well have moved away.

It was kind of a half cane because the backside of this hurricane, you typically will see like that eye, pinhole eye, that does not exist really with a storm. And so sometimes when it comes with a hurricane, the front side will be like a sticky, bent a stick one way and it doesn't break. But then you whip it back the other side and it snaps.

And so the backside of hurricanes often can be the most dangerous because that's just when everything breaks. This time there was no backside really with that wind. And so those power outages are going to be able to be taken care of.

They've stationed a lot of power crews throughout this region. We've been seeing them all day. And so they're already getting to work cutting those trees and starting to work on the power situation.

A lot of people are going to be without power for probably a day or so. But I think they're going to be able to get that restored fairly quickly after this hurricane.

COATES: Oh, thank goodness. Well, stand by, Jonathan. We're going to come back to you.

I'm joined now on the phone by the mayor of Gulf Shores, Alabama, Mayor Robert Craft. Mayor, how is the Gulf Shores holding up tonight?

MAYOR ROBERT CRAFT, GULF SHORES, ALABAMA (on the phone): We're doing really well. All things considered, we've had a lot of rain. We've got a lot of people without power.

We've had a lot of wind, but we dodged the worst of it. This thing drifted east. We got more of the backside of the storm than the front side, but we have a lot of issues with power lines down and people without power.

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But all in all, and we've got a lot of shoreline erosion, obviously, but all in all, we fared pretty well.

COATES: Well, thank goodness to hear that. I mean, many people were really holding their breath as Isaias was approaching your area because of the concerns about the storm surge. Did your city dodge a bullet? CRAFT (on the phone): We have, yes. We got a lot of shoreline

erosions. We didn't have any breaches. We've got a berm that we put up after multiple hurricanes to kind of protect our inland area, and it has held really well.

It's eroded, but we didn't have any penetration beyond the berm to have any damage that I'm aware of yet. I haven't had any report of anything. The big issue is power out and flooded streets and a lot of power lines and trees down.

COATES: Do you have a sense of how long those power outages might last?

CRAFT (on the phone): I do not. I know that we've got crews on the ground right now working, so I believe they'll be working real hard to get the majority of it back up.

I don't know the extent of it, but I know they're working hard right now in the dark trying to get it done, so I think we've got a good group up here that's providing our utilities, so I believe they will get the majority of it done hopefully tomorrow or certainly by Sunday.

COATES: I certainly hope so. But you know, Mayor, this calm, it can be deceptive as well. What should people in your area be watching for if they think the danger has already passed?

CRAFT (on the phone): Down power lines probably more than anything else. Don't get in your car and drive around. There's standing water, and that can cause accidents and floating of cars, so stay home, be safe.

The sun will come up tomorrow, and we'll be able to help you more understanding where you can and can't and should or shouldn't go.

COATES: Really important words, Mayor Robert Craft. Thank you so much.

CRAFT (on the phone): Thank you very much.

COATES: We have a lot more on the storm ahead, but first, a new flashpoint between New York City and the Trump administration over that ICE-involved shooting. DHS Tonight defending its ICE agent as new video emerges of the moment before the shots were fired. Next.

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COATES: Well, tonight we're getting our very first look at the moments directly before a shooting involving immigration agents in New York City last night.

Newly released street camera footage shows an agent in plain clothes approaching a car with his weapon drawn. The car begins to back up. The agent punches the driver's side of the window as the car pulls away.

DHS says one of their agents then opened fire. Driver Oscar Bergall, seen in this body camera footage, was shot once in the neck. The NYPD confirmed he had a criminal record.

A five-year-old who was sitting in the back of the car was thankfully uninjured. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the agents had no idea the child was there. Here's how a senior ICE official described the chaotic encounter.

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MARCOS CHARLES, SENIOR ICE OFFICIAL: An environment for criminal activity to thrive. 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)

COATES: With me now, former acting ICE Director John Sandweg. Glad to see you, John.

Let's get right into this because if you take ICE's account at face value, if a suspect rams law enforcement cars and drives toward your officers, is pulling a firearm a justified response if that's what happened?

JOHN SANDWEG, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: Yes, Laura, listen, the standard is the same pretty much across all law enforcement agencies. That is, if you are of reasonable belief that you face imminent bodily harm or others face imminent bodily harm, you can use lethal force.

I think the bigger concern here, first of all, Laura, it's difficult to tell from the videos we have now as to whether the story being put forward by DHS is accurate, but I think the bigger concern I have is the planning that led to the actual shooting were what appears to be a lack thereof, potentially.

And so here we have in the middle of the day, late afternoon, school is just let out, busy New York streets. We see these people walking around, the agents are in plainclothes, they're not clearly marked, they approach, guns drawn. In a circumstance like that, Laura, you can expect that there's a high risk the driver's going to attempt a high speed getaway, right? He doesn't know necessarily if it's law enforcement, and when that happens, there are so many risks to the public at large, to the agents themselves.

And I guess that's what concerns me the most, is just looking at how this operation appears to have been planned, why it was done with, why there was such a sense of urgency. Why rush up to that car right then at that moment? Why not wait for the individual to exit the car to where you can take him into custody in a much safer manner, not just for the individual himself, but for the agents as well?

COATES: I want to unpack that, because it's so important to weigh those things out.

Number one, if you do not know who is actually surrounding your vehicle or punching out your window, it might be reasonable for an average person to then try to leave that scene to get out of danger. And if you have a child in the car, maybe that's even more pressing on you. And yet, this was, we were told as of last night, a targeted operation, so you do have to wonder the questions you raise, whether they believe that they were in imminent harm, whether they were aware of where the person was going next, all very important questions.

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And DHS policy explicitly prohibits discharging weapons at moving vehicles. It also warns that incapacitating a driver creates an out- of-control vehicle that, of course, then would threaten bystanders. So when you fire seven rounds into a moving car, that doesn't seem to be in line with the protocol as described.

SANDWEG: No, Laura. And again, like you just mentioned, it goes back to the original plan, right? You want, listen, this is a high-risk stop. They know this was targeted.

And I think the fact that they were wearing undercover clothes, that suggests to me that they were waiting in the area, probably for him in particular. So unlike some of these other shootings we've seen where these are individuals with a random encounters, or individuals with no criminal history, this is a target, the kind of person that you do want us to be focused on, someone with a criminal history who's not documented in the country.

But then when you go from there, Laura, that's where the things start to get really concerning, right? Why was there this rush to take him into custody? Why on a busy street? Why was there a lack of surveillance? Why didn't we take that time that typically when you're doing a high-risk traffic stop like this, you're going to take? Why isn't there a marked unit? Some of that might be because it's difficult for the NYPD to cooperate with ICE.

But there are a lot of steps here that were taken that I think ultimately increased the risks that anybody driving that car would have driven away and increased the risks to everybody involved in the operation.

COATES: Again, there was a five-year-old in the back seat, and the Secretary Markwayne Mullin says that agents did not see the five-year- old in the back seat when they engaged with their suspect. DHS policy requires target identification before shooting into a vehicle. How did agents fail to spot the child then?

SANDWEG: That's an incredible question. One of so many I think needs to be asked about this entire ordeal. First of all, let's just note.

This could very well have been incredibly tragic. We could be talking about a five-year-old getting shot, but for just great fortune here. But I think this again, Laura, raises a number of questions about the quality of the surveillance, the quality of the plan, and the tactics that were being utilized by the agents.

It is very surprising to me that they did not know that a five-year- old child was in the car. That raises the questions of, listen, they think this is a high-risk individual. Why are you running up to the car, guns drawn, when you don't even know who's in the back of the car? What if they think this individual has links to criminal street gangs? What if it's full of criminal street gang members? Why engage in such a reckless operation?

And Laura, if I may very quickly, I think you have to look at one big factor in all of these shootings is these quotas. This incredible pressure the administration has placed on ICE to ramp up the number of arrests.

This type of arrest would never, this would typically be done with extensive planning, care, and caution to minimize the risks to everybody involved. None of those, it doesn't look like any of those, you know, any care or caution was taken in terms of exercising this plan or making this arrest. And the only reason that, you know, if you look back and you think, why would they do this?

It makes you say the pressure. This incredible pressure to make these quotas, it's forcing the agents to take risks, engage in tactics they are not trained to do.

COATES: Well, Secretary Mullin denied that they're ramping up immigration enforcement ahead of the midterms, if that's the moment in time. Do you believe that that doesn't, A, play any factor, or that there has been no quotas?

SANDWEG: Well, look, I don't know if it's the midterms that's driving it or what's driving it, but we've seen very clear that Secretary Mullin started off with a more targeted-based approach, going back to what ICE historically has done, primarily taking people out of prisons and jails, and then they did targeted operations, doing them early in the morning at their homes in ways that create less risks to the public.

He started getting some criticism, Laura, as a result of that. There were concerns about whether or not he was dedicated to the mass deportation mission. And since then, we've seen a real increase in aggressive promotion of this by ICE, right?

They've been talking about this record number of arrests. We've seen them lower the targeting rules. We've seen them engage in new and aggressive tactics, like arrests at airports and these vehicular stops.

So I don't know if it's the midterms that are driving it, but it's very clear that there has been a concerted effort at DHS and ICE to increase the number of arrests, especially over the last three months.

COATES: A lot of this will come down to trust, and we know ICE has really taken a hit when it comes to even getting that, the bare minimum, from the American public. John Sandweg, thank you so much.

SANDWEG: My pleasure.

COATES: Up next, Hurricane Isaias moving into Alabama and Georgia as half a million people remain without power. We've got live updates from the storm zone next.

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COATES: I want to head now to Destin, Florida, where authorities have issued an emergency flash flood warning until 2 a.m., warning of a, quote, particularly dangerous situation.

Storm chaser Edgar Oneal joins me now from Destin. Edgar, what are you seeing right now?

EDGAR ONEAL, STORM CHASER: Right now, the city's dark and pretty quiet. There are a few people out walking around, kind of seeing what's going on. The winds have died down here a little bit, but we still do have some pretty busy surf over there behind me.

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COATES: Do you have any indication yet on when it'll be safe enough to start for people to continue to be outside? I'm a little surprised they're already out there.

ONEAL: Yes, they got out here pretty fast. I did talk to some power crews recently, just a few minutes ago, and they let me know that at about 6 a.m., they were really going to be out and start trying to diagnose to get the power back. So I think that's really the time that it's going to be safe, but like I said, there's just a few people out right now.

But like I said, as you can see, it's really calm out here right now. It kind of died pretty fast after the eye came on shore here.

COATES: Tell me about the initial, when it started to touch down, what was that like in that moment?

ONEAL: Oh yes, so when the eye was coming on shore, I mean, the biggest impact here in Destin was definitely the storm surge. I mean, we had waves crashing up over boardwalks, pieces of the boardwalks falling off.

Yes, I mean, mainly just large amounts of water. And then, of course, the wind knocked out the power to the whole city.

I mean, I haven't seen power. I've been driving around for the last 20 minutes, no power anywhere.

COATES: That happened because of the wind alone? ONEAL: Correct, yes. There was definitely some strong winds. We

measured 105 mph winds where I was at right here on the beach.

So that's definitely strong enough to knock down some tree limbs and definitely knock that power out. And I think that's why you're seeing no power in large portions of the Gulf Coast over here in Florida.

COATES: From what you can see, do you see any destruction of buildings or damage that you can visibly see in this darkness?

ONEAL: The main damage that I've seen is going to be all along the beach. This is actually a shed right here behind me that was way out on the beach over there. And it got pushed up about 50 feet over here.

So most of the big damage I've seen has been out on the beach. There is a little bit of trees down in the roads and that type of thing.

But I haven't seen a lot of damage to structures much further inland right off the coast.

COATES: Thank goodness. Edgar Oneal, thank you so much.

Of course the federal government is closely watching the storm and standing by to assist as soon as it clears. And I want to bring in the former FEMA Administrator under President Obama, Craig Fugate.

Craig, it's been almost two years since a hurricane has made landfall anywhere in the United States. Is the agency ready for the storm or what the aftermath might be?

CRAIG FUGATE, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Yes, I think FEMA will be supporting. I mean, right now, most of this is going to be state and local government utility crews. That's the primary response.

I think you're going to be seeing FEMA, they've already been supporting the states in the emergency operations center. It's really going to come back tomorrow when you start seeing the kind of damage.

COATES: So, Craig, I mean --

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-- and prepare for a storm like this. What would happen in terms of this being taken right now to be prepared?

FUGATE: In regard of moving (inaudible) away, having everything ready to go, and start responding into these areas to do any search and rescue, FEMA would be sitting in the emergency operations center as these issues are being discussed. If there were any shortfalls, if they needed additional search and rescue teams, any additional things like that.

But because Florida and Alabama have such well-trained and they respond, unfortunately, to a lot of these storms, I think FEMA's more in a supporting role in this. This may be different in other states, but in this state it is very much, especially Florida, going to be led by the governor in the response of the local officials.

COATES: Yes, this is the first hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since Trump's second term started, and there has been some pretty big changes to FEMA during the administration. Will that impact FEMA's response, or is it, as you say, really going to be the onus more so on the states?

FUGATE: Well, I think the states are going to manage the response. I think we'll see if there are any issues with FEMA supporting recovery, rebuilding costs. And again, a lot of these, I think, have started to go in the right direction.

In the first part of the administration, I think some of the limitations that the previous DHS secretary made on contracting and hiring freezes were very detrimental. That's gone away.

So I think FEMA's in a better position, they now have a full-time administrator. And again, these are states that are well-experienced in the response. I think it's going to determine what it looks like tomorrow, what kind of assistance to federal taxpayers will be asked to provide.

COATES: Yes, daylight will bring us a lot of clarity into what comes next. Craig Fugate, thank you so much.

FUGATE: Thank you.

COATES: I want to bring in the mayor of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Nic Allegretto. Mayor, Isaias made landfall and made landfall very close to your city. Describe the conditions right now where you are.

MAYOR NIC ALLEGRETTO, FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA: Well, Laura, I'll tell you what, thank you so much for having me.

It's a lot better right now than it was a few hours ago, that's for sure. We unfortunately really did sustain some pretty widespread damage. I was just in recent contact with our county folks.

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Pat Maddox, who does so much for our county, sent me a few pictures of downtown Fort Walton Beach, and unfortunately there is a lot of water there. And then, you know, just throughout the neighborhoods, there's pretty widespread power outages, trees down, a few power lines down here and there, and obviously some property damage. But I've yet to hear of any fatalities, which is the main, most important thing.

Obviously, life is so much more important than property. And, you know, we were pretty well prepared, as well prepared as you could be. Emergency crews are out now.

I'm currently sitting on my neighbor's front porch because he has Wi- Fi due to a generator. And I'm glad to be able to join you.

COATES: I'm so glad there's no fatalities. And the neighborly, you know, commuting that's happening right now, thank goodness for that, Mayor.

But at one point, as you mentioned, your city was under a flash flood emergency between the rain and the storm, which was projected to hit nine feet. You said you've already seen some evidence of damaging and a lot of water in the downtown area.

What could be the impact of that flooding in your community?

ALLEGRETTO: Well, it's, Laura, it's terrible. Obviously, we couldn't, it's not going to be great for those businesses and all of the people that use those businesses. Obviously, the employees of those businesses that depend on those places of work.

So that's going to be a major thing for us going forward. But again, I just want to stress more than anything that, obviously, life is so much more important than all of those things.

I would also like to add, too, that you mentioned briefly, you know, the neighborly situation. I think that's what's the most important and makes me feel the best about our country, period, is when these type of events happen, seeing your neighbors come together, seeing that person that lives down the street from you that you maybe never met.

And, you know, everyone loves to talk about the good old days and how it used to be. And I think that's the one thing that we've actually gotten too far away from is knowing your neighbors and knowing who lives across the street from you.

It doesn't matter who you voted for, what political party you're a part of. You know, when things like this happen, we're all the same. We're all the same people and we just have to lend a hand where we can and help each other out.

COATES: That is so important and certainly true tonight. Mayor Nic Allegretto, thank you. And we will continue to follow and hope your community continues to get through this. Thank you.

ALLEGRETTO: Thank you.

COATES: I want to check back in with Rafael Romo who's in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Rafael, I mean, does it seem like people heeded the warnings there?

ROMO: Oh, for sure, Laura. That's one of the things that I noticed because we have been here for multiple hours now and officials told people early on, do not go out. And the only vehicles that I have seen here where we are are official vehicles, police, first responders.

I saw some power company vehicles, but people for the most part stay in the home. And it's been really interesting for me to see, Laura, how quickly this storm has weakened. In less than two hours, Laura, it went from a Category 2 hurricane when it made landfall to a Category 1 and it continues to weaken.

Now, looking forward, it's going to be very difficult for people here because it's hard to see right now because it's so dark, but there's a field of debris right behind me. So that gives you an idea about the challenge that officials here are going to face.

Right now, there's no easy way of getting out of here, reaching the mainland, because the bridge connecting us has been closed. That will probably reopen in the morning.

The other thing is we're still waiting to hear from officials when the Pensacola International Airport will reopen. It was shut down at 10:00 in the morning today.

So a lot of decisions to be made, a lot of things to do, and it's going to take a while for this part of the country to clean up after this massive, massive hurricane.

COATES: We're hearing a lot about the water, the flooding, different parts across that panhandle impacted. Are you getting a sense of any structural damage?

Oh, I think we lost them. Rafael, we're going to come back to you. Thank you.

Stand by, please. We've got so much more ahead.

And President Trump, you know, in terms of other news, cutting a deal with Vladimir Putin to help bring gas prices down ahead of the midterms. Does the cost outweigh the reward? We'll talk about it.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Today, Russia agreed to send us millions and millions of barrels of oil, and it's diesel. That's what we really need. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: President Trump taking a major victory lap after he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import diesel fuel to the United States. Now, the move marks a stunning reversal after years of economic pressure on Russia over the war with Ukraine. But with the midterms just around the corner, this is also a gamble to lower the stubbornly high fuel prices at the pump before the November midterms just 25 days from now.

[23:45:04]

Joining me now, Democratic strategist Mike Nellis, and conservative radio show host Jason Rantz, host of "The Jason Rantz Show." Glad to have both of you here. Let me begin with you, Jason.

Republican Congressman Don Bacon had this to say. We need lower diesel prices for American farmers, ranchers, and consumers, but buying Russian fuel is the wrong answer. He goes on to say, now is the time to use those sanctions to squeeze Putin's war machine, not reward a dictator by putting more money in his hands.

Based on that and what we're seeing, do you think that Trump's making a mistake?

JASON RANTZ, SEATTLE RED RADIO HOST, AND AUTHOR, "WHAT'S KILLING AMERICA: INSIDE THE RADICAL-LEFT'S TRAGIC DESTRUCTION OF OUR CITIES": I mean, politically, could it be seen as a mistake? Maybe, but I think most people are focused right now on just the price of oil, price of gasoline, price of diesel.

And I think most people are willing to say that they are willing to take a little bit of a break at the gas pump even if it means we're purchasing from Russia. You know, morally, ethically, I don't love this idea at all. But let's also note that other sanctions with Russia are not gone, right?

This is not happening at the same time as if we're lifting all these other sanctions. I think some of the claims I think the Democrats will make will come down as a little bit ironic given the fact that they're asking us to completely end a war with Iran, which they're on the brink of an actual economic disaster and they're clearly a direct enemy of ours that poses a threat. So I do think we sometimes, unfortunately, have to deal with actors that we would prefer not to deal with.

Ultimately this is for a larger end goal and I hope, I don't know yet, but I certainly hope that this is part of the deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine as well.

COATES: Mike, I wonder what you believe in terms of whether voters would be on board with sort of the, by any means necessary, given the pressure economically at the pumps. But also we know that Russia helps Iran, so this raises a real question of why the president would do anything to financially benefit Russia right now. How will Democratic campaigns, how will voters view this?

MIKE NELLIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, well I agree with Congressman Bacon. I think this is a disaster for the United States and I appreciate any effort to try to reduce prices, but if Donald Trump were serious about reducing prices on anything, he would end this war in Iran and he would stop these stupid tariffs because they're what's driving costs up for everything. It's a war of choice.

There was no reason for us to do this. Iran was not close to having a nuclear weapon. They were not an imminent threat to the United States.

It's very clear that Trump and Hegseth had consequences of it and now they're panicking before the election. What are they doing? Donald Trump is turning to his best friend Vladimir Putin and he's giving him another deal. There was reporting this week as well that Jared Kushner and Steve Witfoff and the rest of the administration officials who are working to try to negotiate an end to the Russia's war with Ukraine, that they're trying to create some oil deal for themselves where their own people are going to be able to self-enrich for that. So my guess is Donald Trump found a way for him to put money in his back pocket and I think the American people at this point understand that Donald Trump doesn't give a damn about their personal finances. He only cares about himself and that's why the Republicans are going to get creamed in these midterm elections and they deserve it. They've put themselves in this position by betraying all the campaign promises they made in 2024.

COATES: Naturally, they would take issue with what you've said and he has said repeatedly, the president, that he hopes that the short-term pain, that's how he describes it, for the long-term goal of no nuclear war and no nuclear weapon is what will satisfy the American public. I don't see it the way that Trump does at all. We can all agree to that.

However, I want to turn to another really important issue because the administration is catching a lot of heat for their plans to live- stream the execution and believe me, that blows my mind to even have that phrase but to live-stream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter and here's how the President and the Vice President address that very thing today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you want the execution of the Fort Hood shooter to be live-streamed? And are you worried that the video would be used as propaganda to radicalize the military?

TRUMP: Well they're making a determination about that, but he will be killed. He will be through firing squad, he killed 13, 14 people, badly wounded 20-some-odd people. And he's totally nuts. So I really don't care how he goes, as long as he goes.

REPORTER: Did you personally authorize or approve the execution, the live-stream execution of the Fort Hood?

TRUMP: Did I approve? Absolutely.

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, first of all, I've seen his announcements. I don't know that that's actually going to happen. Let's sort of see, I think it's going to happen in December when he's executed.

But what I try to remind people is, look, this is a guy who committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11. Look, if it's all through live-stream, I'm not going to be watching it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:50:01]

COATES: Now, we don't have to debate, any of us, the horror of what this person did. It was unconscionable, it was wrong. The results is what has transpired in the courts.

But Jason, even some conservatives who support the death penalty think that this is a bad idea. Do you think that White House will back down from the notion of livestreaming the execution?

RANTZ: Well, in that clip with J.D. Vance, it almost sounds like they are kind of maybe potentially walking this back. We'll see. I think, ultimately, they're going to look at the politics of it, and they're going to see where things are in December to make that determination.

I mean, frankly, count me in that group of conservatives who do not like this idea. I completely support the death penalty. This guy is a monster who deserves to be killed.

But, I don't like what this says about the culture, the toxic nature of some people watching this, looking forward to this. I understand the argument that is being made for the livestream by some, that this might serve as a deterrent, and we really do have to show people that we are going to take you out if you pose a threat like this to us. However, I don't think that it's going to work.

I think it is a problem that there will be some people who will use this to celebrate death, and I just, I can't stomach that. I obviously will not be watching this. At the same time, I also want to just call out some folks on the left who celebrate violence, but then are going to complain about this.

I just want consistency across the board, because I unfortunately still see pretty disgusting memes of Charlie Kirk being assassinated online. And I think this is playing into some of that nastiness of the culture, and we should not be celebrating this.

COATES: Hold on, let me just be clear. You think that Charlie Kirk and what happened to him belongs in the same conversation of a live stream execution of the Fort Hunt killer?

RANTZ: No, I'm saying that people are celebrating that, and they're saying that at the same time, Trump is a monster for live-streaming this. I think at the end of the day, the people who are celebrating the death of a conservative should not be going after Donald Trump for wanting to live-stream this. But ultimately, I don't think we should be showing the video, period.

COATES: I want to hear from you, Mike, on this. It seems to be a stretch to me, but what do you think?

NELLIS: Yes. Well, Jason's engaging in the type of reductive, ridiculous debate that MAGA can do right now, which is they're finding a handful of idiots online who are celebrating Charlie Kirk's death, and that was wrong, and they shouldn't have done that.

RANTZ: More than a handful.

NELLIS: I'm equating that to the Secretary of Defense basically slobbering over himself in an interview this week talking about how excited he is to live-stream the execution of a 60-year-old man who is a paraplegic. That is not the visual image that I think the administration wants, and this guy's a monster.

What he did was absolutely disgusting. I am personally morally opposed to the death penalty as a practicing Catholic. I think it's disgusting and we shouldn't do it.

It's also proven not to work as a deterrent, so it's bad policy. But regardless of that, I don't care whether you're pro-capital punishment or anti-capital punishment, livestreaming a public execution and firing squad of a paraplegic 60-year-old man is an incredibly wrong thing to do. Just absolutely disgusting.

I appreciate that Jason's willing to say that he's not going to watch it. I appreciate that the Vice President is saying he's not going to watch it, and I hope that cougar heads prevail here. To me, this is an example of, one, the complete and total lack of empathy and respect for life the Republican Party under Donald Trump has, and more importantly, how Pete Hegseth is just an absolutely incompetent fool.

He's so excited for this stuff, because a handful of people out there are going to get excited about it so we can pretend to run for President or whatever the hell he's doing. That guy should be removed. He's not qualified for the job, and he just creates stupid moments like this.

RANTZ: You have empathy for him?

COATES: Well, let me tell you my take on this.

RANTZ: You have empathy for who?

COATES: Hold on. I'll give you my take on this, as a former prosecutor.

NELLIS: Please.

COATES: Deterrence has been a core tenet and principle of our justice system since we've had a justice system. And somehow we have managed to have deterrence as a goal and as an achieved goal, without having to livestream every component of how it is carried out.

So I am stunned that this would be the result, but I am curious as to whether this is really a political move or truly a changed culture. Either way, this is not ending today.

Mike and Jason, thank you both.

RANTZ: Thank you.

NELLIS: Thank you.

COATES: And hey, just in to us, President Trump is now trying to clarify his position on livestreaming the execution. He told reporters tonight, quote, that he was not involved in the decision, but said, quote, I understand the decision. We'll have more on this story in our next hour.

Plus, millions still on the path of Hurricane Isaias, hundreds of thousands without power as a storm moves into Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. Our live coverage picks up right after a short break.

[23:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: Extreme rain, 100-mile-per-hour gusts, and a sleepless night ahead for millions along the northern Gulf Coast as Hurricane Isaias marches north. We've already seen what the storm can do as it made landfall near Destin in the Florida Panhandle as a Category 2 hurricane, producing wind gusts close to 120 miles per hour. Isaias now a Category 1 storm, now spinning into Alabama and bringing heavy rain and powerful wind gusts.

[00:00:07]

Isaias is the first hurricane to hit the United States in nearly two years. More than half a million people are without power across the region right now, and that number could rise as more areas are impacted.

We're tracking the storm from the CNN Weather Center, and our reporters and storm chasers are fanned out across the Gulf Coast.

CNN's Raphael Romo is in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Raphael, you've been there all night. What's going on now?