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The Situation Room
Air Traffic Control Staffing Hits Worst Level Of Shutdown; Millions Set To Lose Food Aid With Shutdown In Fourth Week; Search Intensifies For More Suspects In Louvre Jewelry Heist. Aired 11-11:30a ET
Aired October 27, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: Passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown in the same game for the 46th time in his career, surpassing Cam Newton for most all time. I'm not sure, Wolf, if I'm on the show just to talk about the tush push, just to talk about the Bills. I don't know, but I'm happy to be here either way. Back to you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The tush push was great. Two tush pushes indeed.
MANNO: That's right.
BLITZER: Were you watching?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Wolf, I was not watching, but I love -- I asked Wolf how was his weekend, and the only thing he said is, I watched my Buffalo Bills win.
MANNO: There you go.
BLITZER: And it was really amazing to see Josh Allen, you know, the big, beautiful Bill, as we call him, Josh Allen, big, beautiful Bill --
BROWN: Yes.
BLITZER: -- do the tush push twice, score two touchdowns. Really amazing. Carolyn, thank you very, very much. And the next hour of The Situation Room starts right now.
BROWN: And happening now, airport headaches. New reporting on the growing delays across the country with a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Plus running out of funding. The key food assistance program will soon be out of money with a government shutdown now in day 27.
BLITZER: And among all of the other developments, catastrophic Hurricane Melissa is set to slam Jamaica with more than three feet of rain. We have the latest on the strongest storm ever to hit the island.
And later, medical tests reveal President Trump says he got an MRI scan during his last trip to the Walter Reed Medical Center, raising new questions about his health.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in the Situation Room.
And we begin this hour with escalating fallout from the government shutdown now in its fourth week. Forty-two million Americans are at risk right now of losing aid just to buy food. The federal SNAP program is about to run out of money.
BROWN: And we also just saw the worst weekend for air traffic controller staffing since the shutdown began. At least 4,000 flights were delayed across the country. Here's one traveler who spoke to CNN at Atlanta's airport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much of a concern is it for you as a traveler?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot. It's a big concern.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, because I'm thinking that if I weren't getting paid, I would be very angry. And it would be very difficult for me to do my job. And that's a critical function. And I'm hoping that some -- somebody is taking care of them. So I'm -- I'm flying today on sheer faith.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And here's a look at delays as they stack up right now. Overall, there have been more than 1,500 delays so far just today.
BLITZER: CNN Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is joining us right now. Pete, take us through the fallout from these staffing shortages.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just heard from the FAA that they have implemented delays just now for flights going into and out of LAX, which was hard hit over the weekend by some of these staffing shortages. More on that in a second. We have to remind you that air traffic controllers have been working without pay for almost four weeks now.
The shortages typically get worse in evenings and on the weekends. And this weekend, we saw the biggest spike of staffing shortages since the start of the shutdown. Friday through Sunday, a total of 50 air traffic control facilities were short staffed. Remember, there are only about 300 towers, approach controls, and centers nationwide that are operated by the Federal Aviation Administration, meaning this weekend saw one in every six FAA facilities without enough staff.
It all spelled some serious problems for those traveling by air. It's top of mind for so many right now. Perhaps the worst problems at LAX over the weekend. To keep things safe, the FAA implemented a ground stop on Sunday that lasted nearly two hours, and then the delays started to pile up. LAX ended the day with about a quarter of all flights in and out arriving late.
I want you to listen now to Dan McCabe of the National Association of Air Traffic Controllers, who says union members are always under stress, but now more than ever with their first zero dollar paycheck coming in tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN MCCABE, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSN.: The thing we have to really look at right now is, where's the breaking point? We have a very young workforce. This is a workforce that may not be financially set up yet. And like I said, everyone has a story. Some people may not be -- may be spread thin. Some people may have some savings. We don't know that. But what we have to look at now, where is the breaking point for each individual? And that stress is absolutely unnecessary on top of what they're already doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: The FAA has a term for these staffing shortages. They are called staffing triggers. And here is what the list looked like on Saturday night. The longest list we have seen since the shutdown began October 1. Our analysis shows there have been 260 of these since the start of the shutdown. That's more than four times bigger than the same period a year ago.
[11:04:57]
I've said it before. I'll say it again. This is likely going to get worse before it gets better. Controllers got that paced up in their e- mails of what will be the zero dollar paycheck that comes tomorrow. We will see as things go. And so many people will be flying this weekend because it's Halloween. So this is top of mind for so many travelers right now.
BLITZER: And as we know, historically, whenever there are a lot of flight delays, there are a lot of flight cancellations as well.
MUNTEAN: Yes, and things can bubble over. Thankfully, mostly this has stayed as delays. But those numbers are very high. We will see, though, if things sort of tumble out of control and cascade into cancellations. It's a tough ride right now.
BROWN: I just think about those air traffic controllers, too. They're already squeezed, right? There's not enough of them.
MUNTEAN: Yes.
BROWN: Their job is very stressful. And now they're not getting paychecks.
MUNTEAN: And -- and the thing is, controllers, you know, the staffing shortage generally has been a problem for years. But all it takes is for one or two controllers, just a handful we're talking about, to call out sick at one facility to lead to this inordinate outsized impact. And that's what travelers are experiencing now.
BROWN: Yes.
BLITZER: Yes. Pete Montana, as always, thanks very, very much.
BROWN: And thank you to the air traffic controllers who are continuing to do their jobs in the midst of all this. Thank you.
Well, as we mentioned, tens of millions of Americans could lose their SNAP benefits for food aid in this shutdown. The program is about to run out of money without government funding. I spoke with the recipient on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAJEE KINARD, SNAP RECIPIENT: It will make us people like myself and other individuals have to make the hard choice. Are we going to put food on the table or have proper health care? My daughter, she had to get a replacement of her glasses and her premium was $20, but it went up to $50 because of the pending current changes. And luckily, I did have the funds in order to acquire glasses. But what happened if I didn't? And other families and individuals will face that, that they may have to sacrifice putting food on the table for their health care or vice versa. And it shouldn't have to be that way.
As an American, it really makes me upset. Us as the American people, we're really taking the actual hit of the effects of their choices. And if we don't receive relief soon, it can put people in desperate situations to make mistakes that they cannot come back from. And that's not OK. So you guys should vote to come to whatever consensus that needs to be done in order to put the American people first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: All right, let's bring in CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju, who is on Capitol Hill. Manu, you just spoke to the House speaker. What did he tell you?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's standing by his strategy, which is trying to pressure Senate Democrats to reverse course and to pass a bill that they have blocked a dozen times, a bill that passed the House about a month ago to keep the government open and to reopen the government until November 21st.
And he's contended that he would not engage in what he calls backroom negotiations with Democrats who are calling for an extension of Obamacare subsidies that are expiring at year's end as part of any deal. The speaker says, open the government first. That is the position of Republican leadership.
And I asked the speaker about his own controversial decision, which has been to keep the House out of session now since September 19th, five plus weeks as part of an effort to pressure Democrats to accept their bill. The committees could still meet. They could have committee votes. The committees could have hearings. Bills could still come to the floor not related to the government shutdown. So I asked him, why not do that rather than keep members back home?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: There cannot be a regular legislative session so long as the government is closed and Americans are feeling so much pain. We -- we -- we won't do that. Now, in the meantime, Republicans, I don't know what the Democrats are doing other than publicity stunts, but I can tell you the House Republicans are doing some of the most meaningful work of their careers. They are in their districts, working around the clock with their constituents, helping them not only to negotiate the crisis that's been created by this Democrat shutdown, but all the other matters that they need to attend to.
And I'm hearing from them individually. They -- they are having some of the most meaningful interactions at a time of great crisis with their constituents that they've ever had. And that's really, really important. So I don't want to pull them away from that work right now when their insight and their counsel and their assistance and those of their staff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And the House was expected to be in session this week too, not in session now because of the Speaker's decision here. But this crisis, the Speaker mentioned, is spiraling. In fact, now more than 730,000 people are working without pay. Federal workers, 60 -- 670,000 people are not working and not getting paid. They have been furloughed. And then you mentioned those SNAP benefits expected to dry up as soon from federal funding portion of that as soon as November 1st.
And that can have a huge impact on people's ability and low-income households in particular, their ability to pay for their own food back home. So this crisis only going to deepen the longer this drags out. And right now there's a wide expectation that this could eventually be the longest government shutdown in American history, which of course was in 2018 and 2019. And that one lasted 35 days.
[11:10:16]
BROWN: All right, Manu -- Manu Raju, live for us on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much. Wolf?
BLITZER: And still ahead, a breakthrough in the Louvre of investigation. What was found and what's still missing after the shocking crime at the iconic museum.
BROWN: And dire warnings for Jamaica as this nightmarish category 5 hurricane closes in with 160 mile per hour winds and several months worth of rain.
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[11:15:24]
BLITZER: Happening now, an urgent manhunt for two more suspects in the Louvre heist. Two men were arrested over the weekend.
BROWN: And prosecutors say one of the suspects taken into custody Saturday was at the airport in Paris about to board a flight to Algeria. CNN senior international correspondent Melissa Bell is following all of these developments. So Melissa, what more are you learning about these arrests and the investigation into the missing jewels?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When the prosecutor released a statement over the weekend talking about these two arrests, it was with a fair degree of frustration that news of the arrests had been leaked. They feel that this might compromise the rest of their investigation. What we understand, though, is that they had to act quickly.
Remember that they were looking for four suspects believed to have been part of that group that made it into the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre Museum a week ago last Sunday, stealing in just seven minutes those more than $100 million worth of jewelry.
Now, for people they've been watching for several days, we understand it, because, although this was a very meticulously planned heist, what we understand from investigators over the course of more than last week now is that, in fact, they left a lot of traces behind, 150 different traces of DNA in all, pieces of equipment they hadn't planned to leave behind, a glove, a helmet, one of the scooters they escaped on, a lot of things investigators have been able to piece together to figure out who these people are.
Add to that the fact that the two arrested on Saturday, one as he tried to flee to Algeria, the other -- the other, we understand, as he was hoping to flee to Mali, is that these were two people who were known to police, and that would have made a big difference. We spoke to one of France's leading criminologists earlier today, just outside the Louvre, who explained the very latest about the arrests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAIN BAUER, CRIMINOLOGY PROFESSOR: The four men, they tried to catch them all at the same time, but, unfortunately, one of them tried to escape early by taking a plane to Algeria, so they had to accelerate the operation. The two others are probably under the scope of the police and will be arrested any time. It's difficult to know exactly because of the acceleration and the mediatization of this arrestation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: So not ideal that a couple of them had to be arrested early, even as they try and find the other two. All four, as they say, had been closely watched by investigators for several days before the arrests were made. BROWN: All right.
BLITZER: All right, Melissa Bell, thank you very much. Melissa is in Paris.
BROWN: All right. Thanks so much, Melissa.
[11:17:54]
BLITZER: Up next, the mandatory evacuation is underway right now as Jamaica prepares for what could be the strongest hurricane to ever strike the island. We're tracking the storm's path. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Breaking news, Hurricane Melissa is getting even stronger. Top winds of the category 5 storm ticking up to 165 miles per hour. That is according to the National Hurricane Center. And this right here is brand new video of wind-driven waves pounding the beaches this morning. The catastrophic hurricane is set to make a direct strike in just hours.
BLITZER: And right now, conditions are deteriorating big time. Take a look at these live pictures of Kingston's harbor. More than three feet of rain are expected in some areas. The mayor of Kingston warning everyone to find shelter right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ANDREW SWABY, KINGSTON, JAMAICA: We have never had the experience of a category 4 or category 5 hurricane. This is going to be huge. And I would say to persons with lowland area, you know your area. You have seen what funding is like. And I'm just encouraging you to find somewhere safe. You may not want to go to the shelter. Find a family member or a friend and start right at the storm there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: CNN meteorologist Chris Warren is tracking Melissa's path for us. Chris, what's the latest?
CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the latest is that it is getting stronger. As you mentioned, it was 160 mile per hour category 5 hurricane. Now it's up another five miles per hour. This is the storm. And the most dangerous part of the storm is what we're looking at right here, just moving slow at three miles an hour.
Explain why that is very bad here in just a moment. This is Jamaica. And just to give you an idea of what people in Jamaica are facing. Nobody on the island has seen this, at least not on this island here. What is on the way? Do not see any good scenario right now. Do not see any way there is a best case scenario.
With the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center, keeping it as a category 5 hurricane as it approaches landfall at some point overnight or really before sunrise tomorrow. And this is several hours. Because it is such a slow mover, it is going to drop a lot of water out of the sky.
A lot of rain, more than three feet of rain is a possibility. And even with some movement, this is not going to change much. There is still going to be an awful lot of rain here for Jamaica. Here's 7 o'clock. You're going to be in it. And the worst of the winds, not even there yet.
[11:25:06]
Now going through the overnight. Here's 7 o'clock in the morning, now coming on shore. So maybe around sunrise. It's a little bit slower than what we were looking at just a few hours ago. So the latest model runs bring it in a little bit slower. And then moving out.
This is a very dangerous situation. And Pamela and Wolf, I can tell you, I believe that people's lives, a lot of people in Jamaica, their lives will be different in a couple of days.
BROWN: Yes, we are thinking about them as they are bracing. It must be so scary.
BLITZER: Good luck to all of them.
BROWN: Yes, best of luck to them. We're going to continue to track all of this. Chris Warren, thank you.
BLITZER: And CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam shows us how hurricane hunters are flying into the eye of the storm to determine just how strong the winds are inside.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: These airborne laboratories capture critical weather information from all corners of a storm. This crisscross pattern that you see here allows for weather conditions to be sampled at different altitudes and quadrants of a hurricane. At this stage, the storm could be rapidly strengthening.
Significant drops in pressure and increases in wind speed are adding stresses to the aircraft. Now, the crew can experience extreme turbulence with drops in altitude of hundreds of feet in a matter of seconds. The plane descends to 10,000 feet so they can punch through the eye wall, the strongest part of the storm where winds can exceed 150 miles per hour.
And just like that, conditions go eerily quiet. The clouds clear above them as the air descends into the center of the storm, creating a stadium effect where the towering clouds of the eye wall surrounding the storm's clear center and create the look of a stadium. Wow, you could see all the way to the blue sky.
At this point, the navigator marks the center of the storm, an important waypoint for predicting the future path of a hurricane. While a device known as a drop zone is released from the belly of the plane, this little instrument transmits crucial weather data back to the plane as it falls all the way down to the ocean surface. That data is analyzed by meteorologists and computers back at the National Hurricane Center, helping to create the updated forecast that you see at home so you can make informed decisions ahead of the storm.
BLITZER: And our special thanks to Derek Van Dam for that report.
BROWN: That was fascinating to watch.
All right, just ahead here in The Situation Room, Vladimir Putin says Russia is working on a new nuclear-capable missile that, quote, no one else has in the world. We're live in Moscow next.
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