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CNN Live Event/Special

Hurricane Melissa Makes Landfall In Jamaica As Strongest Storm To Hit The Country; Trump Set To Meet South Korean President Lee On Asia Tour; California Prop 50 Campaigns Making Final Pitches To Voters; At Least 64 Killed In Rio's Largest Police Raid On Gangs; South Korea to Gift Trump Replica of Ancient Golden Crown; CNN Confronts the Man Who Held Journalist Austin Tice Captive; Blue Jays Claim Game 4 Against Dodgers, Tying Series 2-2. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 29, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: June, perfect timing. Just in time for America's 250th birthday. How cool is that new work from Dr. Seuss. The next hour of The Story Is starts right now.

Cuba, Hurricane Melissa is set to make landfall. The story is in South Korea where. President Donald Trump is meeting with their leader. We're live in Seoul.

The story is in California where Congressman Kevin Kiley could lose his job if Proposition 50 passes. He's with us one-on-one to fight back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN KILEY (R-CA): When you fight fire with fire, the whole world burns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The story is in Syria where Clarissa Ward of CNN traces the steps of her missing friend, journalist Austin Tyson, and makes a shocking discovery.

And the story is in Los Angeles. We have new reaction to World Series game four.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles. The Story Is With Elex Michaelson.

MICHAELSON: And welcome to The Story Is. Thanks for being with us for night two of our new show. I'm Elex Michelson. And our top story is Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic, which is now moving on to Cuba after making a, quote, catastrophic landfall in Jamaica.

That's a look at the winds, the Category 5 hurricane, the most powerful on record to smash into the island nation. Jamaican officials say the country's infrastructure has been severely compromised after the storm made landfall on Tuesday.

It is now a category form -- four as it strengthens and approaches eastern Cuba. Look at some of these videos of flooding there. Landfall expected in Cuba within the next few hours. U.S. National Hurricane Center is warning people to seek shelter immediately with conditions expected to deteriorate rapidly.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann is in Santiago de Cuba and he joins us now. Patrick, what's it like? What's happening right now?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now we're in a total blackout. So the entire city of Santiago, a city of about half a million people and actually the entire eastern edge of the island of Cuba has no power. We're only able to transmit because we brought a generator with us from Havana.

So it's a little surreal. You have these gusts of wind. The rain will pick up and come out like a come down like a fire hose. And you just imagine what Cubans are experiencing in their homes in the dark. This is going to be a very long night and a very long day for them when the sun comes up because this storm has been moving very slowly, still a very powerful storm. And it's going to cause a lot of damage as it cuts across the island.

MICHAELSON: What's it feel like to be outside right now? Describe the power of this storm.

OPPMANN: You know, it comes and it goes and that's how it always is with hurricanes. You kind of feel like maybe it's not going to be that bad. And it picks up again and for a couple hours you just couldn't even see behind me was solid rain. And the scary thing is, of course, that can lead to flooding.

But this is a very mountainous part of Cuba. And so if you are a Cuban lives up in that kind of region and when these communities, it's a little bit isolated to have this rain come in that can lead to a mudslide, that can lead to roads will be washed out, can really complicate help getting to you. They're talking about 20 inches of rain and that can be a lot for anyone to receive in one go.

So that is perhaps the greatest danger here. Along with, of course, the wind and the storm surges, is just that people will get their homes washed out and help will not be able to reach them for some time.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And you wonder about the infrastructure. Is the infrastructure strong enough to withstand something like this? Patrick Oppmann, thank you so much for your reporting. Stay safe out there.

Now to the latest stop on President Trump's Asia tour. He has been speaking to economic leaders at the APEC CEO summit in South Korea, but also has meetings with other world leaders on the books.

Right now he's scheduled to meet with the new president of South Korea, who sat down with CNN's Will Ripley last week. President Trump's final event is a high stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, a meeting many hope will mark an end to the Trump administration's trade war with China.

Speaking of Will Ripley, he joins us live right now in Seoul. You had a whole conversation with the president of South Korea about this meeting with President Trump. What did he tell you?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Elex, basically he was very careful not to say anything that could be perceived as disrespectful to President Trump.

[01:05:00]

Even though here in South Korea, there's certainly been a lot of talk about some of the demands coming from the United States, including a $350 billion investment fund that South Korea agreed to in principle. But President Trump wants the cash up front, whereas here in South Korea, they say they have to work out some other way to invest $350 billion without just pumping cash directly into a fund that the president controls, because they say that amount of money, which is a significant percentage of their GDP, would actually plunge this country into a financial crisis.

So there's plenty of serious business on the economic side for the two of them to sit down and try to sort out as they try to hammer out this trade deal. But before they get to that, we're expecting to see the South Korean president award President Trump with one of its highest honors, not just its highest civilian honor, a medal known as the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, but also with a gold crown, a gold plated crown from the 5th and 6th centuries that was worn by the ancient Silla kings who ruled the region where President Trump spoke just a short time ago and where he is now meeting with the South Korean president.

So he will be receiving as a gift a crown from the South Korean President, Elex, as they also prepare to sit down and have some potentially difficult conversations that likely won't be resolved while he's on the ground here for just one night in South Korea.

MICHAELSON: And of course, the timing of that is interesting. We just had the No Kings protest. Seven million people in the streets. President Trump put out AI generated images of him wearing a crown, dumping poop on the heads of protesters. And so now he's literally getting a crown. Interesting timing there.

Meanwhile, it sounds like a lot's going on behind you. Talk about some of the pomp and circumstance that we expect in the next few hours.

RIPLEY: Right. Yes. This is actually the changing of the guard happening at the palace here in Seoul. President Trump's about 200 miles from here. But you kind of -- it's a fitting backdrop as we talk about all of the pomp and circumstance happening down in the southern portion of South Korea, where President Trump will be meeting with business leaders, including Jensen Huang of Nvidia, who is going to be speaking as well in the coming hours.

And also tomorrow morning local time, the big event will be President Trump's scheduled meetings on the sideline of the APEC Economic Summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Now, obviously, the U.S. and China have announced that they are getting closer than ever to hammering out a trade deal.

A big sticking point between the U.S. and China are these rare earths that are crucial when you're talking about manufacturing semiconductors that power all of our tech. And China basically controls all of the rare earths and the processing of them at this moment. So that's been the big issue that they're trying to sort out.

President Trump being very careful in what he's saying publicly ahead of his meeting with President Xi, including being careful not to even bring up the contentious issue of democratically self-ruled Taiwan, even though he's getting a lot of questions about that. So it should be very interesting to see that meeting unfolding, really a dramatic climax to President Trump's Asia trip happening right here in South Korea. Elex.

MICHAELSON: There are so many diplomatic landmines in that region of the world and things to avoid. Will Ripley, thank you for that. We appreciate it.

If we have that crown presentation, we will go back there live. Meanwhile, we are now just a week away from polls opening. Well, polls are already open here in California. Folks are voting on Proposition 50.

As this battle over redistricting intensifies, many voters are raising concerns about what they see as partisan gerrymandering from both sides. Earlier, I spoke to California Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley, who opposes Prop 50 but is proposing a different idea nationwide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: The Democrats want to gerrymander California, which would potentially add five Democratic seats after Texas Republicans gerrymandered Texas to likely add five Republican seats there. So let's look at what the Democrats want to do.

They want to get rid of the independent redistricting commission here and put forward a new map. Here's a map of your congressional district right now. That's what it looks like, as is. This is the new map of what it would look like instead.

So it's a very different district that we're talking about. I know you and your wife already voted against it. You put a picture up of that. What's your main argument against it?

KILEY: Yes, if you see my district there, the new one that they would institute, it's been called the elephant district because it kind of is shaped like an elephant with a trunk there going into Sacramento.

But my main argument against it is that gerrymandering is wrong. I oppose it wherever it occurs. I'm against it in Texas, I'm against it in every other state that's looking at doing that, and I'm against it in California. And so we as Californians, we can't do anything about what's happening

in any other state. But we can reject gerrymandering in our own state. And the way to do that is by voting no on Proposition 50.

And by the way, the gerrymander map they're trying to adopt here in California, it's not just a gerrymander map.

[01:10:05]

It is literally, it's been called by Princeton University's Gerrymander Project one of the two worst gerrymanders of the last 50 years. They gave it an F grade for fairness. And if you ask me, Elex, Californians deserve a lot better than an F.

MICHAELSON: So, you know, the Democrats say we don't like gerrymandering either, but we've got to fight fire with fire. And it's not fair for Texas to be able to get more representatives if they're going to gerrymander. So we've got to as well. We had Governor Newsom here on our set last night. Here's what he had to say.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D) CALIFORNIA: We're going to win in Proposition 50, and the narrative is going to shift. Democrats are finally now no longer on their back heels. They're on their toes again. It's about weakness versus strength. And the challenge the Democrats have had is we've appeared weak and meek, and now we are asserting ourselves. And that's what 50 is also an assertion that we're back on the playing field and we are going to fight fire with fire.

MICHAELSON: Your response to Governor Newsom?

KILEY: Well, the problem is when you fight fire with fire, the whole world burns. So Governor Newsom is saying, well, Texas did this, and that's a bad gerrymander, but California doing it in response, that's a good gerrymander.

Well, the problem is now we have, you know, North Carolina and Missouri that are looking at redistricting to help Republicans. Is that a good or a bad gerrymander? And then you also have, you know, states like Illinois or Maryland or Virginia that are going to redistrict to help Democrats. Is that a good gerrymander or a bad gerrymander? Even Texas would tell you, oh, no, were only doing it in response to New York and other states that have done that before.

And so the inexorable logic of this, or a consequence of this contorted logic is just this race to the bottom that degrades democracy anywhere, everywhere. And so I think my position is much simpler. It's that gerrymandering is wrong wherever it occurs, and that's why we should reject it in California.

MICHAELSON: Well, and to be fair, you're, like, one of the only people with, like, an ideologically consistent position on this. Right? And so you put forward legislation. We put this up on the screen that would essentially say nobody gerrymanders anywhere. It would prohibit States from carrying out more than one congressional redistricting after a decennial census and apportionment, which essentially means every 10 years you do the census, you draw the lines and then you keep them that way.

Texas, obviously not doing that. This would make it where nobody can gerrymander. Why are you not getting more support for this?

KILEY: Well, I think I do have a lot of support for it. I have members on both sides of the aisle.

MICHAELSON: Why isn't there a vote on this? I guess you have no -- you have a shutdown government, so you can't do it that way.

KILEY: But that's one problem.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

KILEY: Exactly, is when you don't have the House here, you can't vote on literally anything. There's a lot of other things we should be voting on. But I've made no, you know, I've made it very clear I'm very disappointed that the speaker has not brought this bill to the floor for a vote because I hear from Democrats and Republican members all the time that they think this is the solution.

MICHAELSON: But so then why, once again, what is Mike Johnson, the Speaker, saying to you when you say, here's the answer out of this? Are you basically saying they actually like all of this because they think it's good for them and it's going to get more Republicans in the House?

KILEY: I can't tell you what the speaker actually thinks. You know, there's a long and ignominious history of gerrymandering in the United States, but this seems to be reaching levels that we've never seen before. And, and I just think it's terrible for the country, it's terrible for representation.

And so in addition to adopting this bill, I've also encouraged the creation of a bipartisan commission in Congress to come up with a solution where we just get rid of gerrymandering across the board in the United States by the time of the next census when we're actually supposed to redistrict and.

MICHAELSON: Well, one thing I think that's good for the country is that we have a West coast based show now.

KILEY: I agree.

MICHAELSON: Which is exciting, right? It's good.

KILEY: Absolutely.

MICHAELSON: We're grateful to have you talk about it. And you know, I like rapid fire questions, so we're going to end with something quick.

KILEY: Oh, boy. OK.

MICHAELSON: First thing that comes to mind, what is your favorite TV show you've been binging lately?

KILEY: You know, I never actually watched "Veep" and we've been watching that, my wife and I, the first season, and it's interesting.

MICHAELSON: What's that like for you now that you're there watching that show.

KILEY: Yes, I don't know. I was actually a big fan of the "West Wing" growing up, so I don't think it quite reaches those levels. But, you know, it's entertaining.

MICHALESON: What is more like Washington "Veep" or the "West Wing"?

KILEY: Oh, man, that's a tough one. Maybe somewhere in between. I mean, I think the "West Wing" was a little more aspirational, whereas "Veep" is maybe a little more grounded in reality.

MICHAELSON: And lastly, what is your favorite quote or motto?

KILEY: Favorite quote or motto? Oh, man, California is worth fighting for. That's what I always write when I'm signing things and whatnot.

[01:15:00]

That's what I've been saying the last several years, that I've been involved in politics. It's what got me involved in politics is I think we've got the greatest state in the country, but we also got a lot of problems. And with a little more sanity and common sense, you know, we could really anything could be possible.

MICHAELSON: Congressman Kevin Kiley, first time on The Story Is and hopefully not the last. Thanks so much for joining us.

KILEY: You bet. Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Up next, just a wild story out of Rio de Janeiro. 64 people killed in a massive police operation. Still ahead, we'll look at why Brazilian police launched all of this and what's going on with the notorious gang behind it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:00]

MICHAELSON: It is being called the deadliest police operation ever in Rio de Janeiro. At least 64 people were killed in a massive police raid targeting organized crime. Huge columns of smoke were seen rising from a lower income neighborhood north of Rio. Officials say 81 people were arrested.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones joins me now. Julia, you are Brazilian. You grew up there. You've done a lot of reporting in this region. Put this moment into some historical context.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is happening in a way that we've seen happen so many times before. There's a big event coming up to Rio in just a few weeks. It's part of COP. So this is the mayor's big climate conference happening. It's happened before. We see there's a cleanup effort that happens ahead of these big events. There's a lot of security in town. That's why that push now.

Now, the police had said that they had been working towards this for more than a year. They've been rehearsing this operation for two months. But still, 64 people dead. That raises a lot of questions to me. Something must have gone wrong, or at least not according to their plans. Right. In order for us to have such a high death toll. What they were targeting is the Comando Vermelho.

The Red Command is one of the major gangs that operates not only in Brazil, in the favelas of Rio, but across so many other cities. And they have a turf war with the PCC, another one of these big gangs, I'll say international gangs at this point. They're operating not just in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, going through the Amazon. And not just in drug trafficking, but also guns and now gold out of the Amazon as well.

So, very much a big concern not just for Rio, but for a lot of cities across the country.

MICHAELSON: What do we know about this actual operation in terms of what happened? How did we get here?

JONES: Well, so more than 2,500 police officers.

MICHAELSON: Wow.

JONES: With no help from the federal government. That is what we're seeing unfold now. There's a cabinet meeting being called for tonight in Rio de Janeiro. President Lula still on his way back from Asia, where he met with President Trump. Not in the loop yet. A lot of questions, Elex. I'm being asked about how this actually got to this point.

Did they underestimate the firepower from this gang in Brazil? Did they not really fully prepare for that kind of blowback? We saw those images, drones carrying explosives going over big avenues to hit those police officers. Four of the dead were police officers.

MICHAELSON: Wow.

JONES: So a lot of these details are still coming online at this point. But a big question from the federal government is did you really put the guardrails in place to make sure that civilians were being protected as you're carrying out this operation, or was this carte blanche to go in there and target anyone they believed could be associated with this game?

MICHAELSON: Just staggering numbers when you think about it. Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much and great to have you here with us on the story. I appreciate it.

JONES: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: Thank you. Live right now to South Korea, we now see the president of the United States. He is there. They're about to begin a big special presentation to sneak in a quick commercial break and bring you more from there. When we come back, it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:28:09]

MICHAELSON: Happening right now. This is a live picture from Seoul, South Korea. We are -- or sorry, Guangzhou in South Korea, where President Trump is right now shaking hands with leaders. He's been accompanied by the president of South Korea for a big meeting in the region. CNN's Will Ripley joins us live. Now talk about the stakes of today's meeting.

RIPLEY: Hey, Elex. Yes. And I can't see what you're seeing, so please feel free to interrupt me if we see the big presentation that we're expecting minutes from now where the president of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, who's been preparing with his team around the clock for this high stakes meeting with President Trump.

Before they get down to the nitty-gritty of talking about the trade deal and the billions of dollars, $350 billion that the U.S. is asking South Korea to pony up front in exchange for lower tariffs, President Lee is going to present President Trump with a golden crown, A crown, A replica of a crown that the kings of the Silla Dynasty wore in Korea in the fifth and sixth centuries.

It's an extraordinary piece. I believe we have some images from the National Museum to show the actual crown. President Trump will be receiving a gold plated replica of it adorned with trees, deer and birds, all symbols of sacred authority and divine rule.

So President Trump is really getting the royal treatment here in South Korea. He will also be receiving South Korea's highest honor, the Grand Order of Mugunhwa, which is usually presented to the presidents here in South Korea and also occasionally to foreign leaders as well.

And then after all of the pomp and pageantry and the flattery of President Trump, then they're going to have to talk about this trade deal and the fact that the U.S. and South Korea have a lot of distance between them right now about how South Korea is going to fulfill its pledge to invest three hundred and $50 billion in an investment fund controlled by President Trump without congressional oversight.

[01:30:04]

Basically, President Trump is the one who decides where this money would go and how it would be spent. South Korea is saying that $350 billion in cash upfront would plunge them into a financial crisis the likes of which this country hasn't seen for decades.

So they're trying to work out what President Lee described to me in an interview with him a few days ago as a rational solution. And President Lee did say that he believes in the end, he and President Trump and their teams will be able to come to a rational agreement, because in the end of the day, they are close allies.

(CROSSTALKING)

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Will. Will. Will, I'm going to interrupt you. We now are looking at that crown. Let's listen in, see if we can hear anything.

[INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fitting the best of leaders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we give this medal to you, we convey our highest respect and appreciation to you for demonstrating the will to defend peace, strong leadership, and dedication to the Korea-U.S. relationship.

To honor your achievements and paving the way toward peace on the Korean Peninsula six years ago, and in anticipation of the peace and prosperity you will bring to the Korean Peninsula, we present you this medal with our deepest appreciation.

MICHAELSON: So there is the president of the United States and the president of South Korea. We know President Trump certainly loves gold, and that is quite a gift that he is being gifted right now by the people of South Korea at this big summit.

Quite an interesting moment. We are going to continue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This medal with deep appreciation.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much. It's a great honor. And we'll -- we're going to keep it very good. Korea is very, very special. We have a very great relationship and it will continue and get stronger. Thank you very much.

TRUMP: I'd like to wear it right now. Thank you so much. We'll cherish it. Thank you very much, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next is a gift from President Lee Jae Myung to President Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the Cheonmachong gold crown, which is a key artifact that represents the Silla Dynasty, the first Korean kingdom to unite the Korean Peninsula.

This gold crown is the largest and most extravagant of the six existing gold crowns from the Silla period.

The Cheonmachong gold crown symbolizes the divine connection between the authority of the heavens and sovereignty on earth, as well as the strong leadership and authority of a leader.

We present this gold crown to you on this joyous occasion of your state visit to Gyeongju, because it symbolizes the spirit of Silla, which brought peace to the Korean Peninsula for the first time, and the opening of the golden age of the Korea-U.S. alliance. TRUMP: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To new trust and companionship between Korea and the United States.

Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you.

MICHAELSON: So some priceless gifts there for the United States of America and the president of the United States from the leader of South Korea.

[01:34:48]

MICHAELSON: President Trump, in the country for a leader -- a meeting with several leaders, including the president of China, which we will have live coverage of tomorrow night right here on THE STORY IS.

But an interesting moment that will be seen very differently by different people depending on your political persuasions. President Trump there literally accepting a gold crown.

More news after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Now to a CNN exclusive and a personal journey for our chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward.

She and her team traveled to Syria to investigate the disappearance of her friend, U.S. journalist Austin Tice. Tice went missing in Syria back in 2012 while covering the country's civil war, and for the first time, we are hearing from those with direct knowledge of his disappearance.

Here's Clarissa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These are some of the last known videos of U.S. journalist, Austin Tice, shown here for the first time.

AUSTIN TICE, U.S. JOURNALIST: It's clearly a popular revolution, right?

WARD: They were shot in the city of Yabroud in Syria in July 2012, shortly before Austin went missing 13 years ago.

TICE: It's just -- it's so moving and peaceful, and it's such like an act of community.

[01:39:53]

WARD: Ten months after the collapse of the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, his dungeons have been emptied, but the ghosts of tens of thousands of his prisoners remain.

Among the missing, Austin Tice -- journalist, U.S. Marine captain, Georgetown law student, devoted son and brother, and my friend.

For me, this is personal. I've come to Syria to find out what really happened to Austin and track down the shadowy figure who knows the answer.

I'm just looking back through all of these emails that Austin and I were sending each other. And I have one from Sunday, August 12th.

He was getting ready to cross into Lebanon. I was getting ready to meet him in Beirut. And he says, "If I cross when I have plans to, we'll be throwing back those cocktails pretty soon. Of course, plans never really work out here."

I never heard from him again.

TICE: Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus.

WARD: Weeks after Austin disappeared, a video surfaced online purporting to show him held by jihadists.

Former U.S. officials tell CNN they quickly determined it was a ruse, and that Austin was in the custody of the Assad regime.

Safwan Bahloul was a general in external intelligence at the time, and one of the last people to see Austin alive, summoned in by the man who was holding him.

SAFWAN BAHLOUL, FORMER SYRIAN EXTERNAL INTELLIGENCE GENERAL: I was contacted by a four-sun general at that time. He was called Bassam al- Hassan. He's very close to the president.

And he told me, we have caught an American journalist. We want you to interrogate in a way or meet the guy and see the possibility if he's not a mere journalist. If he's -- if he's a spy in -- in a way.

He told me that he's an ex- Marine officer. He was brave. He was not a shaky character. He wasn't shaky. He was brave enough to face his custody.

WARD: Did he ever ask you for help?

BAHLOUL: If you mean help to be freed, no, not at all. But he told me if I could obtain some -- some things to make his life easy in the cell he was kept there.

I told him, like what? He told me, you know, some magazines, journals to read, and, you know. Ok, and what else? And he told me soap and towel, and I told him, ok.

And after that, I think the next day I was called by another guy in Bassam's office. He told me in Arabic, (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) which it means our pal just escaped. They discovered that he used the soap to rub his body, their body with the soap to lubricate his body, and he put the towel on broken shattered glass, which is cemented to the external fence.

WARD: We managed to get into the compound where Safwan says he interrogated Austin, at the time, under the control of Assad's Republican Guard. It was never a formal prison, a perfect place to hide a high-value captive.

It could be this. Look. Obviously, it's all been refurbished, so it's hard to match the descriptions exactly. But one thing particularly that Safwan talked about was this high window.

You can imagine he just spent days and days in here plotting how he was going to escape.

For more than 24 hours, we're told Austin was on the run in the upscale neighborhood of Meza, perhaps hoping to reach the many embassies and United Nations offices in the area. But he didn't get far.

BAHLOUL: Every security apparatus in Damascus, which there -- there are thousands of operatives, they started the search, and he was caught by one of them.

[01:44:51]

BAHLOUL: And he was re-delivered to the National Defense Forces militia, which headed at that time by Bassam al-Hassan.

WARD: Al-Hassan brought Safwan in to see Austin one more time.

BAHLOUL: It wasn't like the previous times I saw him. He was optimistic and energetic.

WARD: But he had lost hope.

BAHLOUL: Yes, absolutely, absolutely. Because I was talking to him and he was not responding. He was, in a way, we could say depressed. And I never saw the guy again.

WARD: Did you understand when you left what was going to happen to him?

BAHLOUL: It's unimaginable, even. In my wildest thinking, I wouldn't suspect that he will be, let's say he will just disappear.

WARD: So let me ask you this. Who knows what happened to Austin? Who knows the truth?

BAHLOUL: Bassam.

WARD: Is this him?

BAHLOUL: Can I see him? Yes, absolutely, 100 percent. 100 percent.

WARD: For years, Bassam al-Hassan stayed in the shadows. Now CNN has obtained new, never-before-seen images of him.

Known in regime circles as "Khal", or "uncle", he was a top Assad advisor and founder of the Iran-backed National Defense Forces militia, blamed for brutal massacres.

After the fall of the Assad regime, al-Hassan fled quickly to Iran. Then in April of this year, he showed up in Beirut, Lebanon and sat down with the FBI for a series of interrogations about Austin.

We've been given a tip about where al-Hassan is now hiding out, an upscale apartment complex in a suburb of Beirut.

One balcony and one man in particular draws our attention. By the end of a long night of watching, we're convinced it's him.

Wearing hidden cameras, producer Sarah Sirgany and I go to confront him.

WARD: Hi. How are you? My name is Clarissa Ward. I'm a journalist for CNN. Can I ask you a couple of questions?

I'm looking for more information about my friend, Austin Tice.

BASSAM AL-HASSAN, ADVISER TO FORMER SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD: Come in.

WARD: He invites us into the apartment, but he is clearly rattled and asks over and over again how we found him.

AL-HASSAN: I insist to know, who told you about this place? No one knows where I live.

WARD: I'm not going to tell you how we found out where you are. It's not important.

We've been looking for you for a while. We know that you've given multiple different stories. Can you just tell me, because he was my friend, is Austin Tice dead?

AL-HASSAN: Of course Austin is dead. Austin is dead.

WARD: He tells us he explained to a team from the FBI that President Assad gave him the order to execute Austin and that the order was carried out by a subordinate.

AL-HASSAN: I don't want to protect Bashar Al-Assad because he abandoned us and left us. This relates to President Bashar only.

WARD: But you sent him to his death.

AL-HASSAN: I don't want to go into any details. These are details that I told the team. I told the team that I received the order and I passed it on. That's it.

WARD: Can you just tell me one thing? Can you tell me when Austin died? AL-HASSAN: He passed away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From 2012? October? 2012? 2013?

WARD: 2013

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 2013?

WARD: He refuses to give any more information. When he asks to take a photograph of us, we decide to leave.

At the door, he talks about Austin's mother, Debra Tice. His voice cracks.

AL-HASSAN: I owe her an apology and it upsets me to remember it. Truly.

WARD: Understood.

AL-HASSAN: I wish what happened hadn't happened.

WARD: It is a gut punch to think that Austin may have been killed 12 years ago.

One thing that he was very emphatic about is that Austin is dead. Austin is dead. And he wants to pass his condolences to Debra.

CNN has confirmed that al-Hassan failed the FBI polygraph test. What is less clear is what parts of his story are a lie.

[01:49:49]

WARD: In September, a U.S. delegation, including FBI investigators, came to Damascus to search for Austin's remains, based on a location given to them by al-Hassan. They came away empty-handed.

The full truth of what happened to my friend may well never be known, like the fate of countless Syrians.

Everyone was keeping so many secrets.

BAHLOUL: In a way, in a way.

WARD: Everyone was lying.

BAHLOUL: It's all about loyalty and worshipping -- nearly worshipping the commander. He's a supreme commander. He's a president. He's everything.

So, yes, lying is widely spread in the ex-regime, yes. It's nothing personal. I was doing my job. That's -- that's all it is.

WARD: Austin may simply be remembered as yet another victim of the endless lies and senseless cruelty of a ruthless regime.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Clarissa for her extraordinary and fearless reporting.

The Tice family has repeatedly described Bassam al-Hassan as a liar. In a statement to CNN this family said this, quote, "Austin Tice is alive. We look forward to seeing him walk free."

For 13 years, the Assad government denied ever holding Tice captive. After the collapse of that regime, Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia. Attempts by CNN to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.

We'll be right back.

[01:51:26]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Baseball's World Series is all tied up at two games apiece after a lopsided Game 4 here in L.A. After losing a record tying 18 inning duel, the Blue Jays came back.

Look at it right there. Shohei Ohtani giving up a two-run homer to Vlad Guerrero Jr. right there. Toronto went on to score four runs in the seventh. That's basically when they knocked him out.

They won 6 to 2. Game 5 Wednesday night in L.A. but if the Dodgers can't win the World Series then, there will now be a Game 6 Friday night in Toronto.

Here's Blue Jays manager John Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SCHNEIDER, MANAGER, TORONTO BLUE JAYS: I get that it's easy to write Ohtani versus Guerrero.

It's -- to us, it's Toronto versus Los Angeles, you know. But that swing was huge, you know what I mean? That sweeper is a pitch designed to generate pop ups, in my opinion. And the swing that Vlad put on it was elite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: More on that tomorrow night.

Thanks for the gift of your attention. I'll see you back here tomorrow.

The news continues right after this right here on CNN.

[01:56:46]

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