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Laura Coates Live

Hurricane Isaias Moving Into AL, TN, GA After Category 2 Landfall; Trump Says He Understands Decision To Livestream Execution; Hegseth Faces Backlash Over Public Execution For Fort Hood Shooter; Trump Picks Katie Zacharia As Next White House Press Secretary; DHS Chief Defends NYC ICE Shooting, Calls Victim Worst Of The Worst; Aired 12-1a ET

Aired October 10, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

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LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Isaias Hurricane is the first hurricane to hit the United States in nearly two years. More than 0.5 million people are without power across the region right now. And that number, it 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 Rafael Romo is in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Rafael, you've been there all night. What's going on now?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a very different situation compared especially to what was happening here in the 8:00 P.M. hour, 7:00 P.M. hour. But, let me tell you. On Friday morning, Governor Ron DeSantis said that the State of Florida had 5,000 members of the National Guard ready to be deployed at a moment's notice for whatever was needed.

He also said that as many as 16,000 linemen were also ready to be deployed to repair power lines that would have been damaged by the hurricane. Based on what I have seen so far, they are both going to be needed, because there's a field of debris around here where we are. We know that here in Escambia County alone, a 120,000 customers have lost power. If you consider all of the Gulf Coast region, we're talking about more than 0.5 million people who have lost power. So the task ahead is very, very big.

Again, in the next few hours, officials are going to have to decide how soon they reopen the Pensacola International Airport. They're going to also have to determine how soon they reopen some of the bridges that were closed. We also know that multiple buildings, shot, water service off, and they're going to have to reinstate that. So many things to be done. This is only the beginning of the cleanup efforts.

And, yeah, what you were mentioning before, only for the first time in two years, a major hurricane makes landfall here in the United States. Laura, back to you.

COATES: We'll see what daylight brings. Rafael, thank you so much. I want to bring in CNN's Isabel Rosales in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Isabel, I mean, hundreds of thousands of people are without power. What are you hearing about the storm's impact there?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I think the big message here is 24 hours ago, Laura, we thought that this part, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, could be at the epicenter of the storm, but a big sigh of relief for folks here as this has moved to the Northeast, to our friends over there where Rafael is at, to the Destin area where this thing made landfall. And because we were on the western side of this eyewall, where this eyewall was, we dodged the worst impacts of the storm. We're talking storm surge, rainfall that lasted for only a couple of hours, and wind gusts.

At its peak, we felt those very intense wind gusts at 60 miles per hour, but we were looking at that intensifying into 60, 70, 80 mile per hour wind gusts that are enough for quite a bit of damage here outside of the storm surge that they were anticipating, but all of that, thanks to the track of this hurricane, got moved away.

Power outages, of course, still are an impactful thing. As you were mentioning here in Alabama, 218,000 households without power. Here in Baldwin County, where I'm at right now. 22 percent of households do not have power. But I anticipate, Laura, that when we wake up in the morning when the lights are back on, this is going to be a positive story because the last time that they dealt with the hurricane was hurricane Sally back in 2020. Folks were worried about this. What they would see, a lot of new people here who have never dealt with a hurricane ever, and what good news they will receive to know that, the worst that they were preparing for did not come to pass here in the Gulf Shores area.

COATES: Oh, thank goodness. Isabel, please stand by. I want to go to Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is -- she is at the CNN weather center. Allison, tell me where this storm is right now.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. So it's not too far from the coast. The center of the storm is likely over Alabama, and that's where the bulk of the heavy rain is located too. Now we do have some heavier showers across the Eastern Portion of Florida starting to slide into Georgia. We're going to start to see some heavier rain bands creep into the Carolinas over the next few hours too. So the storm is not necessarily done just because it has made landfall. It's just going to start to impact other areas.

You look at some of these wind gusts that we have picked up. Look at the several above that 100 mile per hour mark. And again, several different places here, including Pensacola, Santa Rosa Sound, and the town of Jay, Florida, again, picking up some pretty decent strong winds, and that is why it's no surprise that you have such high number of power outages over 600,000 people without power right now across Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. But when you look at where they're really highlighted, it's really that area right near landfall and where the storm has really been over the last two to three hours.

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You've got several in Alabama. Those counties looking at high power outages, a few across portions of Georgia as well as Florida. But you're going to start to see those spreading north. So more counties in Alabama, more counties in Georgia are going to start to lose power as the rest of this storm continues to slide north. It's not just the heavy rain, but you're also getting those gusty winds. Those winds are starting to tick back up across Alabama and Georgia, and it will be the same as we head into the Carolinas over the next few hours. You've got several flash flood warnings still in effect along these areas just because of the -- how much rain has fallen.

We have at least one spot that is already picked up over a foot of rain in just the last 24 hours. Several others picking up at least half a foot of rain. So a lot of rain in that short period of time. You also have the tornado watch that's valid until at least 2:00 A.M. eastern time. We could see a different tornado watch, maybe expanding into other counties, as we go through the remainder of the overnight hours.

There's also the severe threat. Here's where it's focused for tonight, but, again, the severe threat is still there Saturday. We just start to notice more of an inland concern and spreading further east. So into South Carolina, Georgia, that's where the focus is going to be for the potential for those damaging winds as well as tornadoes. So here's a look at the forecast radar.

Again, this is about 1:00 A.M. 2:00 A.M., not very far from where it is now, but notice the surge of moisture across Alabama and into Georgia. By about 3:00 A.M., 4:00 A.M., you've got very heavy rain across North Georgia and Northern Alabama. By 8:00 A.M., now you're starting to see it slide into North Carolina, into Tennessee. But we do finally start to see things lighten back up across South Georgia, Southern Alabama as well, finally drying out for some of those locations. By Saturday afternoon, again, the real whole system, really as a whole starts to really crumble and fall apart, but the moisture, especially on the eastern side, is still ongoing.

The coast of North Carolina being able to pull up all the moisture from the Atlantic. So even though, again, that area is well far away from where the center of Isaias was located, they are expecting pretty significant amounts of rainfall out of the storm. For the remainder of today, really for the next few hours, the focus is right there along the coast. But for Saturday, again, you're still looking at very heavy rain from Atlanta up through Asheville, North Carolina. And we all remember several years ago when Asheville got hit from a previous tropical system. So the last thing these areas need is a tremendous amount of rain in those locations.

COATES: Standby, Allison. Thank you so much. I want to go to the phones where we're joined by representatives from the Florida Panhandle, one in particular, Republican Congressman Jimmy Patronis. He was also the former fire marshal of Florida. Congressman, thank you for joining. Tell me, what are you hearing from your constituents about this storm?

JIMMY PATRONIS, (R-FL): Well, look, I think we learned something from every single storm. This one was no different. The county and people ask a lot of times, are you ready? Were we prepared? And I tell people all the time, in Florida, it's not it. It's when we're going to get hit by a storm. This year was no different. And, thank goodness, media partners like yourself, you're talking about this for the last several days creating greater awareness. And it makes it a lot easier for us to do our jobs to make sure people evacuate.

So, thank you for the attention you bring to this, because it makes all of our jobs a lot easier to enforce the importance of heating the war and evacuate the safe areas.

COATES: In this, we certainly understand the need and the partnership because we want to keep everyone safe, Congressman. And you have warned that this is not going to be a normal storm, and the conditions in Florida recently could amplify the impacts. What are your biggest concerns right now?

PATRONIS: (Technical Difficulty).

COATES: Congressman, we're having difficulty hearing you, unfortunately, and I do think it's important to be able to do so. So I'm going to -- I -- we'll try to come back to you. Congressman Jimmy Patronis, thank you so much. It's important to be able to hear you. I want to bring in the former FEMA administrator during President Trump's first term, Pete Gaynor. He's now the President of the Disaster Recovery Organization, Bright Harbor. Pete, what will the first steps be for FEMA once the storm passes and the agency can get on the ground?

PETE GAYNOR, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, this is a team effort. So it really starts locally, in those neighborhoods and communities that are locally impacted. The state is there to back up those communities, and the federal government is there to back up states. So FEMA is -- has pre-staged in the region, so there's plenty of resources available, should states need, extra assistance.

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COATES: So describe for me, and that's important to note. I mean, FEMA does not do this work alone. Obviously, the states and local agencies are impacted and doing their part as well. So what does that coordination, though, look like once daylight breaks, once they're on the ground and they know what needs to be done in the initial assessments? Walk me through that coordination first couple of hours and directives.

GAYNOR: Yeah. So the good thing about the system is coordination happens all year long. So this is just a continued relationship among local states, tribes, and the federal government. So, depending on the level of damage and the kind of the windshield tour that happens locally, they'll go out and do damage assessments, see what, what's broken, what needs to be fixed, look at access, make sure that you can get emergency equipment up and down roads.

And then from there, it's - the local governments will give all clear. So, tonight is really about safety and heating those directions by your local public safety officials. That's what's most important right now. COATES: There have been some changes to FEMA since you left the agency. I mean, we are saying almost 20 percent of the workforce has left since last year. Are there any concern that you have that will impact the agency's ability to respond to a storm like this?

GAYNOR: I think it's stabilized pretty well. I know hiring has, is back on, so that's been going on for quite a while. I think, new leadership there has kind of reinvigorated the workforce and focus on what's important, and that's delivering, disaster resources, critical resources to state. So FEMA's out there today, and FEMA will be out there tomorrow ready to deliver for the American people.

COATES: I certainly hope that tomorrow brings some comforts knowing that the storm will have passed. Peter Gaynor, thank you so much.

GAYNOR: You're welcome.

COATES: We have much more on the storm ahead. But first, Trump now trying to walk back his previous statement on the plan to livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter. The latest on that is next.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you personally authorize or approve the execution, the livestream execution of the Fort Hood?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Did I approve?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you approve?

TRUMP: Absolutely. I did.

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COATES: That was President Trump taking full ownership of the president -- of the Pentagon's plan to livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Assan. But asked tonight by CNN affiliate, WSTM, if he approved the public livestream. Trump said he was not involved in the decision. Hassan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 30, 32 others in a shooting at the military base in 2009. Now this would be the first military execution in more than 65 years.

The plan triggered swift pushback from Republicans. Some lawmakers called the plan beyond disgusting. Livestreaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that. Secretary Hegseth should seriously reconsider this decision. And with me now, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General, Russel Honore. General, thank you for joining. This has triggered bipartisan backlash with concerns that live streaming the execution would turn the Fort Hood shooter into some kind of a martyr. How do you see it? LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, visualize this. You roll him out. He's in a wheelchair, and you line up, eight to 12 soldiers, with live, ammunition and their weapons, and so many of them have live ammunition. And it's live streaming on TV, and they shoot a man in a wheelchair. I have no empathy for this man for what he did. Justice must be served. The judge and the jury, sentenced him to death. But to socialize it in an idea that it will be livestreamed, I've got -- I'm starting to think, Laura, that this might have been a distraction.

Remember where this announcement was away from Abraham Lincoln. The nation's been waiting for a month now for the Abe Lincoln to come back to San Diego, greet those families, and hear the stories. So was this a distraction from the weekend news cycle, was he serious? And will the Congress and the people of America allow this to happen? And I think the voices are starting to be heard on social media. This is a pretty stupid idea, and it's -- it sounds cruel and unusual, something you would see in North Korea, China, or Russia, not something you would see live on TV in America.

COATES: Interestingly enough, as you point out, I mean, enemy adversaries, they often weaponize graphic images for recruitment, for propaganda. And as you mentioned, the much anticipated return of those who have been on that Lincoln for months and months since, of course, they were deployed to that area and before. Do you believe that this puts a target on U.S. troops more broadly, especially those who are deployed overseas right now?

HONORE: Well, it could. I mean, the speculation is that if a U.S. soldier is captured and tried and could be executed publicly, because the U.S. set a new standard, that of publicly executing someone new has been found guilty of a crime, either war crime or being captured.

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I said -- it sets a very bad standard, and it put us right there with countries like Saudi Arabia who have a place called Chop-Chop Square, Thursday or Friday, they bring me criminals out. And if you were caught stealing, they chop your hand off. I don't think we want to go to that level of humanity. That's very medieval, and I don't think it's going to survive next week news cycle as we go into the election because this is starting to dominate the news.

While it took the Abe Lincoln off the news, it took other issues off the news dealing with the war. It becomes a story unto itself, and I can't see this surviving. And I'm sure all the gambling sites now already got posters up. Will it happen or will it happen or will it not happen? And there are a lot of things happening in this government that spur people to do things that folks can make money off. I doubt this this will happen live stream.

COATES: I mean, the idea of sort of someone trying to gamble about this has a different level of barbarism. You heard the President, as you know General, who was walking back some of the idea of approving this plan. But this has really been spurred in part by Secretary Hegseth, who, as you know in his position has become particularly controversial in a number of statements that he has made. What is your assessment of his statements to even do this?

HONORE: Well, it's a part of the Bravado he came from history setting, doing -- being a newsman and making the news on Saturday morning, and criticizing the United States military to write in a book that, he think is some kind of a doctrine about lethality and manly man attitude. I think it's just going a little bit too far, and, I think this will get rolled back. But it did change the news from the Abe Lincoln to Pete Hegseth making it up. Remember, the President is very reluctant to say he made a mistake or to admit anything. And it appears tonight that the President is rolling that out.

Well, maybe, whoever made it, I wasn't involved in the decision. I think he's going to walk away from this, and this will be walked back over time. But it's dominating the news this weekend. We're not talking about the crew of the Abe Lincoln.

COATES: Oh, CNN certainly will be talking about that as well. That's the beauty of a 24/7 news cycle. We have room for both. General Russell Honore, thank you so much.

HONORE: God bless America. God bless our troops.

COATES: Indeed. Thousands of people are currently without power as dangerous wind and rain from hurricane Isaias move inland. We're live with a storm chaser who rode out the storm.

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COATES: We're continuing to monitor the impacts of hurricane Isaias along the Gulf Coast. Right now, hundreds of thousands of people have lost power in Florida and Alabama as strong winds and heavy rain continue to slam the region. Let's talk about the search and rescue efforts currently in place for the storm. Joining me now from Vernon, Florida is Josh Gill. He is an Incident Commander for the United Cajun Army. Josh, thank you for being here. I mean, what are conditions on the ground like right now?

JOSH GILL, INCIDENT COMMANDER, UNITED CAJUN ARMY: So thank you for having us, ma'am. First, I'd like to say it's an absolute honor to be with these volunteer firefighters and the Mayor of Vernon. These men and women are some of the hardest working individuals I've ever met, and to even be able to go out on calls with them is absolutely an honor. Conditions are horrible. I mean, we just had a hurricane come through here. It's unbelievable.

We've been on calls for structure fires. We've been on calls for trees across roads. It's just absolutely amazing to see how these people are putting together to save their community.

COATES: What kind of calls have you been asked to make? Are we talking about rescuing people? Has it been about rescuing people in need who cannot get out of it? What is the nature of what you're being asked to do as we speak?

GILL: To clear the roads. Number one, clear roads so first responders can get onto the roads. And it looks just like in the screen right there. Torrential rains came through and knocked down a lot of trees. But what I want to do is show you these men and women right here of Vernon, Florida, and we've got the Mayor of Vernon, Ms. Angel. And I'm going to tell you, these men and women are absolute heroes.

COATES: Undoubtedly. And I want to thank all of them for being here with us tonight and being able to see their faces and put a face to the heroism is undoubtedly going to come. I appreciate you making the time to make sure we see each of them. And each of you are going to have a job to do in the hours, in the daylight hours to come. What is the most important thing people should be doing right now to protect themselves and to make it easy on first responders like yourselves to be able to do what you do best?

GILL: So I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do is I've got the chief right here. This is Shaq, and he's big.

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He's a big old fella. Shaq, what do you say to people that are out in the community?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just stay inside. Don't get out and tour right now. We got downed power lines, downed trees. Let's get a -- let us get that cleaned up for everyone, and we'll let you know when it's safe to be on the roadways and stay hunkered down.

GILL: There you go. I mean, that's look. Words from a professional, right? And these are volunteers. But I've also got the Mayor here as well. Ms. Angel, anything you want to say as far as the community and constituents?

ANGEL LECOMPTE, MAYOR OF VERNON, FLORIDA: Yeah. Definitely stay off the roads, guys. I'll tell you what. Vernon Fire Department, these are all volunteer firemen. They have families at home. They have real jobs. They do this on their own. And I tell you what, I cannot thank them enough as well as all the citizens here in the city. I mean, we could not do it without them.

COATES: So powerful.

GILL: There you go.

COATES: Josh, mayor, Shaq, all of you, thank you so much, and we'll continue to follow what's going on there. We want you to have the very best in your community. Thank you.

LECOMPTE: Thank you, guys. Thank you.

GILL: Thank you, ma'am. Everybody be safe. Thanks.

COATES: Thank you. I want to go back to storm chaser Jonathan Petramala who's currently in Pensacola, Florida. Jonathan, has anything changed since we last spoke? What are you seeing there?

JONATHAN PETRAMALA, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST AND STORM CHASER: A lot of darkness still, as you can imagine, with this storm that came through. Power lines down large trees across the road. They were just talking about, we're seeing a lot of those as well. Very dangerous. Being out here, you got to take us to have a lot of good lights. Obviously, something we build our cars specifically for to cover storms like this because of the conditions that it brings.

Also, a lot of flash flooding, flash flood emergencies happening during the hurricane. We really, really lucked out though that this is a hurricane that was moving quickly, because while it did stop just a tremendous amount of rain, 4 or 5 inches per hour rates of rainfall along with those winds around a 100 miles an hour is like sitting in a car wash. It moved on. And so the rain is not still falling like some hurricanes that are moving like.

COATES: Yeah. That -- I hear -- I think we lost sound for you for just a moment there. I'm not hearing sound. I don't have you anymore. Standby, Jonathan. Oh, wait. Wait. I got you back. OK. Can I hear you?

PETRAMALA: I mean, it's dry on the backside of this hurricane.

COATES: Oh, good. OK. And we're talking about the backside of the hurricane and what the impact is that. So what do you -- when do you expect conditions to fully calm down and people to be able to maybe return to some sense of normalcy. Well that's the nature of having a hurricane, everyone. He's going to have a little bit of issues trying to communicate. Glad to have him right there. But I want to go right now to CNN's Ivan Rodriguez who's in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Ivan, what's happening where you are? How has it been?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Laura, I can tell you for the last couple of hours now, Gulf Shores here is breathing a sigh of relief because the winds have calmed down. The heavy rain that we were seeing earlier, this evening have also calmed down, and now we're really just looking at to what could possibly come into the inland areas. We heard from officials earlier today, including Alabama's Governor saying that just because it seems like in these areas of Gulf Shores, Orange Beach nearby, the conditions are improving, it doesn't mean that it's the same case for other inland areas, for example, just in the state of Alabama.

Officials had earlier said that we could still expect anywhere in the range of 74 mile per hour winds, about a 100 miles inland into the state. So that is still a major concern here. Obviously, we're keeping a close eye on power outages because those heavy winds can continue to have an impact when it comes to customers without power. Just between Florida and Alabama, we're looking at more than 650,000 customers without power. Florida is currently carrying most of those. More than 400,000 customers are without power in the state of Florida.

But again, as this continues to go on, yes, hurricane Isaias is weakening, but those heavy winds are continuing. And we also have some areas of Alabama and Georgia under a tornado watch as well. That's something else to keep an eye on. But here specifically, Laura, in these areas that we're in, we're currently in a curfew here until 7:00 A.M. tomorrow. So a lot of these people are staying home. They're not on the roads because as we heard earlier, just now, first responders need to be able to access those roads. They want to be able to clear those roads before anybody else is getting on them.

COATES: Right. Now our mayor, they were talking about the idea that these are people who have families themselves. Many of them are volunteers wanting to be first responders and still needing to be safe as they try to help others. Standby, Ivan. I want to go to Meteorologist Allison Chinchar at the CNN Weather Center. Allison, where is the storm tracking now?

CHINCHAR: Yeah. So it's moving inland, and that's really where the focal point of the story is going to continue to be over the next 24 to 36 hours. Not necessarily on the coast, but all of these areas far away from the coast that are now expecting to get those strong winds as well as very heavy rainfall.

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You can already see some of that heavy rain sliding into Birmingham and into Montgomery. It's going to spread eastward in the next 24 hours. So Atlanta, Columbia, Charlotte, Asheville, all of these areas are going to start to see some heavier rain tick back up as well. Here's a little bit more zoomed in. Again, you can see we've got some pretty decent lightning and some gusty winds with that storm to the north of Jacksonville.

Another thing to note too, now we have lost a couple of our flash flood warnings since things are starting to dry back out in portions of Florida, but we still have them lingering in Alabama. And it's not out of the question to start seeing more of these flash flood warnings pick up just in other locations that are following where that heavy rainfall is located. So here you can see all of those red boxes. That's the flash flood warnings.

But anywhere you see this green has the potential for those flash flood warnings as we go through the next 24 to 36 hours. The flood watch is basically telling folks, if you are in the green, you have the potential for flooding to occur over the next 24 hours. Here's a look at the forecast radar. Again, right now, the focus is really kind of over Central Alabama, and we will start to see it spread into Central and North Georgia as we go in the coming hours.

Again, look at this 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock in the morning, Atlanta and Birmingham really looking at some heavy rainfall.

By later Saturday morning, say 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock now you're starting to see some of those heavier showers creep into Tennessee, North and South Carolina as well, but you still have some showers over Alabama and Georgia. Now by the time we get to Saturday evening, the bulk of the really heavy rain has really started to spread eastward. So, again, essentially from the North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia state line right there and then everything east of that. That's where you're going to see some of the heavy stuff. Unfortunately, that includes Greenville, Spartanburg. That includes Asheville, North Carolina. That's where you're going to be looking at several inches of rain for some of these areas in a very short period of time.

COATES: Thank you so much, Allison, so much to unpack. Thank you. We'll continue to watch what's happening there. We're also watching Washington D.C. where after weeks of speculation, President Trump has finally picked his new Press Secretary. You're looking at her. But who is she? I'll tell you about her next.

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KATIE ZACHARIA, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: My first day on the job, Jesse, is Monday. I don't know if that's a briefing, but President Trump is full of surprises. So I'm looking forward to serving him and the American people.

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COATES: A new voice is about to take center stage in the White House Briefing Room, conservative commentator Katie Zacharia, who worked briefly at the Department of Homeland Security. "President Trump was quick to praise his new Press Secretary for having an unblemished record of support and for being a loyal and brilliant supporter right from the beginning. She is, likewise, a devoted fan and member of MAGA. I am confident that Katie will deliver strong results for our country as the next White House Press Secretary."

Zakaria has been a frequent guest on Fox News and Newsmax, including with my West Coast colleague, Elex Michaelson, on his show, and he joins me now. Elex, we have now news of who the next White House Press Secretary is going to be. You've had her on your show many times. You've interacted with her firsthand. What stands out to you about her style?

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's introduce who she is. She's a 41-year-old Californian. She's a mother of four. She is an attorney by training. She's a graduate of Pepperdine School of Law, and she likes to prosecute a case. Sound familiar? And part of that is that she spent years in China, actually, working there, and is very familiar with issues when it comes to China. She spent a short time working in Homeland Security. She's especially passionate about issues with the border.

Here's one of the debates that she had with Assemblyman Isaac Bryan on our show on the issue of Homeland Security and the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KATIE ZACHARIA, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Absolutely would spare lives if you would allow federal agents to come in and apprehend criminal illegal aliens that have committed crimes or being released by prisons could be picked up by federal enforcement officers and then sent home to their home country. And yet California and the liberal legislation that has allowed this to happen, they release these criminal illegal aliens out onto the streets after they've raped children, after they've killed people. And they're still coming out on the streets, and it would be easy to call I.C.E., which is the -- a very, very simple and really should be a bipartisan. We don't want criminals on our streets.

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MICHAELSON: So that's a sense of how she argues. Another thing that's interesting is, of all the people we've had on the show, she is among the nicest people ever, in terms of not only to the crew and to us, but also to the Democrats. It's been really interesting that almost every Democrat she's been on with ends up becoming personal friends with her, because she is so nice to them. It'll be interesting to see how that personality works in the high intensity world of Washington politics.

COATES: Intense indeed. We'll see what happens when that lectern or podium is in front of her. We'll see if that holds. Thanks, Elex. We'll see you in just a few minutes as well. You'll have more ahead on this.

And still ahead, anti-I.C.E. protests in New York City as DHS defends the actions of their I.C.E. agent in yesterday's shooting. What new video is now revealing about the moments before shots were fired. That's next.

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COATES: Well, the chaotic I.C.E. confrontation in New York City that's now exploded into a fierce political war between the White House and New York officials. While Democrats condemn federal agents for opening fire near a five-year-old child, Republicans are pointing directly to the suspect's criminal record. President Trump is turning the incident into a rallying cry for his law and order platform.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And just yesterday, our heroes of I.C.E. apprehended a man with a criminal record a mile long who is wanted for possible murder and murder in a gang. He's a very dangerous man, and they got him. But instead of being praised, I.C.E. was scorned by New York politicians who set him loose. They want to set him loose. We want him to be loose. Guys wanted for murder, they want him to be loose.

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COATES: Mike Nellis and Jason Rantz are back with me. Jason, according to court and police records, the suspect's conviction is for grand larceny, and he has a pending drug charge. He's not, as far as I've seen, currently charged with murder. What is the reason to exaggerate the suspect's record? Is it to shield I.C.E. from questions about the operation itself, or is it about a larger conversation he wants to have about the need for I.C.E.?

JASON RANTZ, HOST, THE JASON RANTZ SHOW: I don't know if he's shielding anything. I mean, I think he's talking about this guy's background. He's accused of being in a gang. He's wanted for questioning in the shooting of federal law enforcement officer. He's got weapons charges that he has faced or questions of that. I think this is a bad guy. I do think that, to the extent that there's politics involved, I'm sorry.

It wasn't the Trump administration that went out last night and was spreading a bunch of information prior to actually understanding what went on. I think any question over these kinds of operations are totally valid, and I think we should be completely transparent, and we'll get the details. But Mayor Mamdani last night goes on and says that he was working to get this guy released. Even if you don't think that I.C.E. should be engaging in this kind of enforcement actions, you're going to be out there saying you negotiated for two hours for this person to be released from jail.

I don't think that that plays well for moderate Democrats, independents, and obviously, it doesn't play well for Republicans. There is a difference between someone who is your next door neighbor who is otherwise not violating the law other than being here illegally and someone who is a convicted felon.

COATES: Mike, the phrasing of negotiating for release harkens back to the idea of a hostage situation. And so there is a presumption that this person is, unlawfully taken and should be released. That's the phrasing that comes to mind. However, to Jason's point, many have looked at this issue, and the public may see a suspect with a felony record who has I.C.E. alleges has gang ties. I've already told you what the actual court records say, but alleges gang ties. How do you -- how do Democrats convince voters that sanctuary policies are keeping neighborhoods safe or that the statements of the Mayor of New York in terms of negotiating for this person's release is not feeding into the hands of a stereotype. The Democrats are soft on crime.

MIKE NELLIS, FORMER ADVISER TO KAMALA HARRIS: Yeah. Well, let's just be honest with the American people for a second. Donald Trump and his entire administration have zero credibility when they talk about the people that they are terrorizing in immigrant communities. They've been caught lying so many times about these incidents and what have happened, whether or not it was to Renee Good or Alex Pretti, who I believe were murdered by I.C.E., or any of the thousands and thousands and thousands of immigrants they have rounded up and thrown into camps without any actual criminal record. They keep doing stuff like this. That's why Donald Trump on stage is saying that this guy is wanted for murder when he isn't, and you brought to light the truth in that, and Jason isn't willing to admit that on camera. Fine. What I see when I look at this is that there should be a process.

RANTZ: He is a convicted felon.

NELLIS: In those these things we should have officers who know what the hell they're doing instead of people who have no idea what they're doing are untrained, wearing masks, driving on my cars. I see a seven- year-old kid, and I see agents who fired into the car of a seven-year- old kid.

COATES: Five-year-old. Yeah. I want to say five-years-old, 7 bullets, though. Go ahead. That's reason you have that. Go ahead.

NELLIS: Excuse me. I put -- you know what I probably conflated it with as a father is I have a seven-year-old, and I just think about how scary that situation is. And, again, you could feel however you want about these guys. These agents and these tactics are disgusting. And, again, the point that I was making is my father, 34-year veteran of the FBI, would never fire shots into a car with a kid. That's the bottom line.

They have a responsibility to protect everybody whether you like what this guy did or not. Let the system figure it out. And if they were operating within the law, they if were operating within the standards you would expect from law enforcement in this country, these things would not happen. But they're so thirsty to go after and attack anybody because of the color of their skin to score cheap political points and then go on stage and lie about them, that they're comfortable with this stuff. And everybody involved should be ashamed of themselves.

COATES: Jason, what's your reaction? Obviously, he's invoking that that race was a factor?

RANTZ: Yeah. It's obviously not a factor. I think, again, anyone can look at this guy's background and see what he is...

NELLIS: I mean, the vast majority of people they brought in had no criminal record.

RANTZ: Excuse me, Mike. Hold on.

COATES: I can't hear you, guys. Jason, where's your point.

RANTZ: I've been told by democrats.

COATES: I can hear you, Jason. Go ahead.

RANTZ: I've been told by Democrats that they're OK with going after folks who are criminals. This is someone who is a criminal. And so ultimately, the same complaints happen whether or not you go after the hardened criminal, the worst of the worst, or anybody else. [00:55:00]

It's the exact same talking point. So either come out and say that you don't want any immigration enforcement at all, that you truly want I.C.E. to be dismantled.

NELLIS: No, That's a lie. That's not what I'm saying.

RANTZ: Completely abolish. Or at least say there is room to go after bad guys like this.

COATES: Mike, I want you to respond. But hold on I want to impark this among part of it. Can both be true that you can want to have criminals apprehended, but you also would have tactics that are used and employed that would keep the community safe. That's what law enforcement does presumably every single day, right? They can try to apprehend criminals, but they also are bound by constitutional issues, they're bound by the rights, and they're bound by the tactics.

Describe for me in more detail why -- what you think is the either or. And then, Mike, you can respond. Go ahead, Jason.

NELLIS: Oh, sorry.

RANTZ: Well, I was just saying that the talking point coming from folks on the left is always the same regardless of what happens. Even this talking point of people who don't have criminal histories being deported, what they're not telling you is that they've also been ordered to be deported by a judge. So the system is working, that they've gone through the case. It's been adjudicated, and the judge has said, you do not, you do not get to stay in this country illegally. You do have to go ahead and make those arrests for the people who are choosing not to deport.

So you cannot have it both ways. If there is a specific issue in this case where policy wasn't followed, I noticed that people aren't pointing out the fact that he was fleeing. Again, you should not flee. You should not use your car as a weapon. That is going to elicit a response from I.C.E.

COATES: Well, Jason, hold on. Let me stop you there.

RANTZ: They didn't, they should be punished.

COATES: All right. Let me stop you there, because we don't, Mike, know that we know the person who shot at the car were not in law enforcement uniforms, right? That's part of the lingering concern here. It's whether there was notice there was law enforcement, number one. Well, it's not normal to just have somebody come to a car, bust out your window, and have a long gun drawn or anything else, and you would automatically know that the person is law enforcement. I don't care what Markwayne Mullin said. If somebody walked up to your car right now and they punched out your window, and you didn't know they were a cop, would you try to leave the scene?

RANTZ: No, but I'm saying Secretary Mullen said that he identified themselves prior to that.

COATES: No, but you would not. OK, I'm going to take the word no.

RANTZ: If someone who did not -- if someone who just broke into my -- that's different. But if someone was saying I'm I.C.E. and then it happened, that's also different.

COATES: OK. All right.

RANTZ: That's all I'm pointing out.

COATES: All right. Well, Mike, I want you to address your point that you wanted to raise about the tactics used here and, of course, respond what Jason has said quickly.

NELLIS: Yeah. Well, look. I'm have no problem with anybody with a criminal record, particularly a violent criminal record being held accountable in this and being deported out of the country. I want violent criminals who have broken the law to be removed. And the problem here is that the person who is the most innocent in this scenario is the five-year-old kid in the back. The agents are acting incredibly irresponsibly.

Any system that's going to be comfortable with officers who are untrained and are unmarked and not identifying themselves shooting into a car and endangering the life of a kid like that, that is fundamentally not OK. I think we can all agree that we need to do better on securing our border. We need to do better on immigration enforcement generally, but these guys have no idea what they're doing. They've rushed to get these people into power. They've hired people who would not be hired by any other law enforcement agency in the country, and because of that, they're creating incidents like this.

And when we bring up these legitimate concerns, which by the way are shared by the majority of Americans because Donald Trump is underwater on every single issue from the economy right down to immigration, his best issue, people are sick and tired of this crap. They're creating more chaos. They're terrorizing people. And I want to remind you, the vast majority of the people that they have arrested, harassed, rounded up, however you want to describe it, have not had a criminal record, and they have a proven record at DHS and in the Trump administration of lying about these people. You cannot believe a single thing they say.

They have had to walk back in courts so many times, these incidents, and say that they were lying or they were misunderstanding the facts in the beginning, but they lie, they lie, and they lie. Don't believe anything that they say. They're harassing people indiscriminately based on the color of their skin. That's it.

COATES: We will. It sounds like this is exactly the thought process of voters who would be considering both sides of this issue. There are still a lot of questions left in what happened here. They're not answered yet. We'll continue. Mike and Jason, thank you both.

RANTZ: Appreciate it. NELLIS: Thank you.

COATES: And that'll do it for me tonight. Elex Michaelson picks up CNN's live coverage of Hurricane Isaias next. Good night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

MICHAELSON: I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles tonight. "The Story Is" breaking news. Right now, Hurricane Isaias is pushing inland after slamming the U.S. Gulf Coast. It has weakened to a category one storm as it moves across the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida as a powerful category two hurricane around 08:30 P.M. central time Friday. It was the first hurricane to make landfall --