Meet the Press NOW — Oct. 9

[0:11] Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Monica Alba and we begin with breaking news. The Gulf Coast [0:16] bracing for Hurricane Isaias, the first Atlantic hurricane of the season, and now a powerful [0:21] Category 3 storm. Isaias packing winds of 120 miles per hour just hours before forecasters [0:28] expected to make landfall tonight between Alabama and the Florida panhandle. There was hope that [0:33] this storm would weaken as it came ashore, but that hasn't happened yet, leading to what some [0:38] forecasters worry could be a worst case scenario. More than a foot of rain is possible in some [0:44] communities and water levels could rise between six and nine feet above ground level. This could [0:50] be a catastrophic event for many communities and more than 26 million people are under flood alerts [0:56] from Mississippi to Virginia. There are also 17 million people under wind alerts through Saturday. [1:03] This is a live look at beaches along the Gulf Coast of Florida via EarthCam ahead of Isaias' arrival. [1:11] And this is the current scene in Pensacola, Florida, where you can see strong winds and rain are already [1:18] wreaking havoc. Just moments ago, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he was expecting Isaias to make [1:23] landfall as a Category 3 hurricane and urged residents to prepare for the storm even before [1:30] it makes landfall tonight. The storm will hit at 11 o'clock, give or take, tonight. But you will face [1:39] very hazardous conditions prior to the storm making landfall. So you really need to finish your [1:44] preparations now. You have to execute your plans now. There's going to be a point in the not too [1:51] distant future where it's not going to be safe to go outside, even though the storm may still be a [1:58] distance away from reaching the shore. Isaias also impacting President Trump's travel plans, [2:05] with the president confirming he will no longer attend tomorrow's Georgia-Alabama football game [2:10] in Tuscaloosa due to the storm. NBC News correspondent Jesse Kirsch is in Destin, Florida. Also with me is [2:17] NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens, who's been tracking the storm, and NBC News senior homeland security [2:23] correspondent Julia Ainslie, who's covering the federal response. Thank you all for kicking us [2:28] off. Jesse, I do want to start with you and just ask how conditions are where you are right now and [2:34] what are local officials bracing for? Yeah, we're bracing for this to get pretty bad and for it to be [2:43] a pretty quick decline, Monica. What we're feeling right now, it's been pretty steady rain like this [2:49] all day since the early morning. It feels like nothing more than a trickle, but these are just [2:54] the outer bands. We are still waiting for the bulk of Isaias to make its way toward us, and we are [2:59] starting to get the occasional wind gust that really picks up speed, and this gives you a good indicator [3:04] of what's starting to happen here. This is a floating dock here in Destin, and you can see that we've [3:09] already got it bobbing in the water a good amount, and we'll just turn around and just show you some of [3:15] the palm trees, give you a sense of what's happening with the wind gusts here. We've seen [3:19] businesses boarding up. You've got sandbags out. It's harder to find food. We are now locking down [3:25] where we're going to be for the storm. We are not going on the roads now because of what is expected to [3:31] keep happening, and you know, it's a little bit of a lull at the moment, but you can even see it when [3:35] even when it's calmer, you've got the wind whipping around these palm trees, and I'm just going to have our [3:39] photographer, Carlos, pivot back with me this way one more time, and you can see what appears to be [3:44] a lineman truck coming over that bridge right now. This is one of the complications of this area, [3:51] this portion of Florida's panhandle in the Gulf region. There are a lot of bridges like this, [3:56] and when the winds pick up to a certain speed, and it can vary community to community, but figure [4:01] roughly around 45 miles per hour, they shut the bridges down, and so if you're trying to get [4:06] somewhere, you might make that journey too late, and so that is why officials keep imploring people [4:11] to not waste time, not second-guess, get out of the evacuation zones, get to a shelter, get to a safer [4:19] inland area, and if you're trying to finish preparations, they really wanted it done yesterday, [4:24] and they had said earlier, rush them to completion, and we are now at the point where officials by and [4:29] large, you would expect, want people to be where they're going to be to ride this thing out. [4:34] Jesse, important point there on the bridge, and exactly that leads me to my next question, which is, [4:39] you said what you're doing, you're going to stay put for now, but what kind of evacuations [4:42] have you seen so far, and are people heating those ahead of this storm coming ashore? [4:47] I don't know that I've ever covered a hurricane moniker where there isn't at least one person [4:54] that seems to be sticking it out, thinking they're going to stay home or wherever they are, [5:01] even if it is in an evacuation zone, even if it is very near to the coast front. This is not the [5:08] highest storm surge that we've ever experienced or are set to experience with a hurricane, but [5:15] this just also speaks to how unpredictable these situations are compared to what we were looking [5:20] at yesterday. This is a stronger storm, a Cat 3 major storm now. The storm surge potential is higher [5:26] than it was, so that just, you know, speaks to if someone was thinking, oh, we're good with our [5:32] situation. It's a different situation today. We did see some people around here earlier. There [5:38] certainly are still people in Destin, and even when you hear mandatory evacuation zone, [5:43] that terminology, you can ask a local sheriff's office in any number of communities. They are [5:49] likely not going to say that we're going to drag people out or put them in handcuffs if they're not [5:54] leaving their home, and so there's only so much officials will do, but one of the other things they [5:58] try to stress is they're not coming to help you in the middle of this. When we get into the eyewall [6:03] portion of the night, when Isaias is making its way on shore, there's going to be a point where [6:08] police, firefighters, EMS, they will not answer a call. They will take notes, and they will come [6:14] check on you when they are able to, but there is going to reach a point where they can't come to you, [6:19] and if you're out on like a barrier island community or you have to try to cross one of these bridges, [6:23] you're going to have no way to get on or off. So that's something that they try to impress [6:27] upon people again and again in the run-up. We try to communicate that as much as possible [6:30] so that people hopefully seek shelter in a safer, more responsible place, but there are definitely [6:36] people who are still in the coastal communities, Monica, as we get ready for what is now a major [6:41] hurricane to roar on the shore. Jesse Kirsch, you and your team, please stay safe. I'm sure we will be [6:47] checking back in with you throughout the show and the evening. Thank you for all of that reporting, [6:52] and I do want to turn to Bill now to get a sense of this forecast and what areas are in East IS's [6:59] direct path right now, Bill. Yeah, Monica, Jesse's right in the middle of it. I mean, [7:04] he's got a Cat 3 hurricane heading at him at 20 miles per hour roughly, and he's only about 90 miles [7:10] away from us. You can do the math on that. We're going to probably get that initial eyewall in about [7:14] three to four hours moving on shore. Then about an hour after that, we'll start to get the actual [7:19] confirmation from the hurricane center of the official forecast of the landfall. So the bottom [7:24] half of the storm, there's really nothing to it. It's windy, but there's not a lot of rain. It's a [7:28] northern half storm, so the worst of it is now moving in, and the stronger winds will begin to, you know, [7:33] ramp up with every band that comes ashore. This is what our latest computer models are thinking. [7:38] We're still in that 8 to 10 p.m. central time frame for the official landfall, but notice that [7:43] eyewall is almost into Alabama by then, so it's well ahead of the actual center of the storm [7:48] as it begins to rapidly push up into areas of Alabama, and even Georgia's going to have it [7:53] pretty rough later tonight with all these bands and the chance of isolated tornadoes. [7:57] Here's how it looks on our Doppler radar. Look at all the lightning strikes on the west side of it. [8:01] So this is still packing a punch. This is worst-case scenario. I mean, we were thinking it would be [8:05] maybe a low-end Category 2, hopefully a Category 1 at landfall. We're just hoping that this can weaken [8:10] a little bit before landfall, and right now this northern half is not showing any signs of that. We've still got [8:15] about six hours, five hours to go. Hopefully we can knock it down a little bit so we get a little [8:20] bit less wind damage, but now that northern eye is only 70 miles from the coast, and I mentioned [8:25] roughly about 20 miles per hour, so we've got to, you know, knock some dry air into this or something [8:30] because, as we mentioned, things are starting to get worse. Pensacola Naval Air Station just had a gust [8:35] of 56 miles per hour. The buoy offshore, 63, and this is going to quickly be moving onshore. Panama City [8:41] even just had a gust of 43. Once we get above 50, we start getting isolated power outages out of this. [8:47] Oh, man. Bill, well, when you were on yesterday, this was a Category 1 hurricane, so are you surprised [8:53] about how much it's intensified over just the last 24 hours? Well, we had a battle going on, so we have [8:58] the Gulf is extremely warm, and there's not just warm water at the surface, but really deep, too, [9:03] so that's the fuel for the storms, and it's like record warm, so it had, you know, all the opportunity [9:08] to be even more powerful than this, but what we call upper-level winds have been shearing, pushing [9:13] the storm, the top of the clouds off, so it was this battle between one thing was very unfavorable, [9:18] one thing was very favorable, and the Hurricane Center thought it would get just a little bit [9:22] stronger, maybe a Category 2, but then it jumped to a Category 3, and it just hasn't weakened, so that's [9:28] why I say, you know, if you said yesterday, Bill, what's your worst-case scenario? I'd probably say, [9:32] you know, like a low-end Category 3, and unfortunately, that's what we're looking at. [9:36] Wow. Bill, you've been talking about this all week, but we've been kind of fascinated by the [9:40] AI model's accuracy with this storm. What more can you tell us about those? [9:45] Yeah, I mean, this has been kind of like the poster child for an advantage of AI, because we've had [9:52] all sorts of different, you know, weather computers that tell us, you know, over the last, you know, [9:56] 40, 50 years of predicting forecasts, and we all in our lives have this timeline of, like, before AI [10:03] and after AI, and for all scientists and weather forecasters, we're going to probably remember [10:07] this is the storm as after AI, because the Google DeepMind, they call it WeatherNext, has been [10:13] extremely accurate with the path and the intensity of this storm, much better than any of our, what we [10:19] call our old traditional math or physics models. So, Monica, I'm impressed, you know, and it's, you have [10:26] to build trust with these things, these AI models, you know, even the, I'm sure even you do your [10:31] searches, and you're kind of like, okay, let me just double check stuff on this. But with this forecast [10:35] that is done for this storm, the National Hurricane Center is leaning more towards it. All of [10:41] meteorologists are leaning towards it. I mean, it hasn't been the best PR month for AI. I mean, I think [10:46] we'd all admit that. This is a huge victory for how AI can be beneficial. And if it can give people [10:53] better lead time, accuracy, especially of a big weather event like a hurricane, they should be [10:59] tipping their caps right now. That's so interesting, Bill Karens. Thank you for bringing us all of that [11:04] and where the story might go next as we watch for what happens. I do want to turn to my colleague, [11:10] Julia Ainsley, who's here on set with me. And Julia, what kind of preparations are we seeing already [11:15] from FEMA right now? Well, FEMA's certainly monitoring it, and they're going to be running all [11:19] of their response outside of their regional center out of Atlanta. They're also sitting in [11:23] liaison down to the National Hurricane Center that Bill mentioned. But what's different about FEMA and [11:28] this administration is they're really operating under a state's first model. They are not going [11:33] to be sending in more crews than Florida asked for. They really want the local municipalities and [11:38] the states to respond first. And then FEMA is there as the backup. Remember, this is an administration [11:43] that talked about eliminating FEMA, and then they've slowly backed off of that. But everything we're [11:49] getting out of them, all of the talking points really emphasize states first. FEMA is here to [11:55] support. And we've been reporting on this for months, and they did do a review of FEMA. The White [12:00] House looking into that to see if they were going to do away with it entirely. They opted not to, [12:04] but still we have seen major cuts to the agency in the last year and a half under the Trump [12:09] administration. So do you expect any of those cuts could hinder the federal response here or have an [12:16] effect on it? Well, there has been an elimination of about 4,000 jobs at FEMA, which sounds pretty [12:21] extreme. But they still have 20,000 who are there and people who are ready to basically be hired on [12:28] during hurricane season. So they've already been hired on by FEMA really since June. And these are [12:34] people who are really ready to go out and respond in their individual areas. And so we'll have to see [12:38] if that does make an impact here. But really, it's always about where the storm hits. If a storm hits in a [12:44] place like Texas or Florida, where they are so well-funded and ready for these things, a lot of [12:49] times we see FEMA not have to do as much. If you're talking about a small town that doesn't have those [12:54] kind of resources, and there is a path through many small towns here, we might really see FEMA get put [12:59] to the test. Do you think it's unusual that FEMA didn't do any kind of national briefing today ahead [13:04] of this? Yeah, typically you would see that. This is the new FEMA. They want DeSantis to be talking [13:09] about this. They want those state leaders really to be taking the helm. But FEMA is still around. [13:15] They will still do their job to respond in that case. Before I let you go, Julia, we do have to [13:21] note that many of the country's offshore oil production facilities are basically in the path [13:26] of this storm right now. Would the federal government have any role in protecting those [13:30] facilities? How should we be thinking about that? Only in like a third tier responsibility. First, [13:34] it comes to the companies. And many of the major US-based oil companies have already pulled their [13:40] men and women who are working on those rigs off out of precaution of safety. And then you would [13:45] leave that to the states if there's something else behind that. FEMA is there. And DHS overall could [13:50] have a response because it is considered critical infrastructure, which would fall under CISA, [13:54] something else that has definitely been shrunk under this administration. But as far as real concerns [14:00] about oil rigs being destroyed, that's essentially up to these companies to ensure that they are able [14:05] to endure that in the market. And at this point, they say they're pulling people to protect safety, [14:10] but they're not worried about the infrastructure. We'll see how it all goes. Yes, we will. [14:14] Julia Ainsley, thank you so much for bringing us that reporting. We appreciate it. And we are going [14:18] to turn now to Okaloosa County Commissioner and Chairman Trey Goodwin, who joins me now. Thank you so [14:24] much for being here. And I just want to start with what Governor DeSantis said, which is that landfall is [14:29] expected somewhere in the Santa Rosa, Okaloosa County area around 11 p.m. tonight. So can you [14:34] describe what you're hearing and seeing around you in this moment and how your community is preparing? [14:41] Well, in Okaloosa County, we are treating this as that we're going to be ground zero. [14:46] This storm has tracked further east over the past couple days based on the models, and we know [14:54] that we're going to see significant impacts. We are expecting a low Category 3 impact with storm surge [15:03] and high winds. What that means is low-lying areas, they need to be evacuated. We've issued the orders [15:11] as of yesterday for those evacuations, and most folks are taking heed following those evacuation orders [15:20] because it's so important. Now, we do have some holdouts. There always are holdouts, and the reality [15:27] of it is during the storm, we're not going to be able to send in first responders. We cannot put our [15:34] first responders in life-threatening situations. They will come in when things subside, but for those who [15:41] choose not to evacuate when we've sent out the warning that they're on their own for a little bit of time, [15:47] and that's unfortunate. But most people we're seeing take this seriously. They're doing their [15:52] preparations. We're seeing houses boarded up. People were out getting their supplies this week, [15:57] so we feel that most of our community is really taking this seriously. [16:00] Oh, and we hope that everybody can, but to your point about those holdouts, I mean, [16:05] how does this happening overnight kind of impact the way that you do prepare and respond to a storm as [16:11] big as this one? Well, the reality of it is this one has come fast. It is really, it's not something [16:20] we didn't know about. We've had some warning, but we haven't had the warning that we're used to having. [16:25] Now, fortunately, Okaloosa County has taken the approach that we prepare for storms all the time. [16:31] So back in the summer, we had our Hurricane Expo where we brought in community members. We brought in, [16:37] you know, all the stakeholders and really tried to educate our public on all the things they need [16:44] to take seriously. So getting ready for a storm like this doesn't happen when it receives a name [16:49] in the Gulf. Getting ready for a storm like this takes place in advance by months, years, [16:56] all the time. And that's really the approach we've taken with it. [16:59] And where should people be going if they are in an evacuation zone? Can you make that clear to [17:05] anybody who might be listening and wants that information? [17:07] Absolutely. Okaloosa County has two shelters currently open. One at the Northwest Florida [17:13] State College Raider Arena. In fact, that's attached right here to the Okaloosa County Emergency [17:19] Operations Center where I am right now. And we have plenty of room. We have room for at least 400 there. [17:28] And we have already seen about 50 maybe taking advantage of that. Then in the other end of our [17:34] county on the northern side, we have Davidson Middle School. That shelter also has a capacity of around 400. [17:41] We do have maybe 60 people there at this time. That is the shelter to go to if you have special needs [17:48] because we have the Department of Health there with resources to help special needs evacuees. And we also [17:56] have designated that as the shelter for folks that have pets. So if you're evacuating and taking your [18:02] pets with you, that would be the shelter to go to. That's Davidson Middle School. And so those are both [18:08] operational, fully staffed. Important information there. And quickly before I let you go here, [18:14] Trey, are you getting the support that you need from state and federal agencies right now? Is there [18:18] anything else you're looking for? I can tell you this. The state is here with us. The federal government is [18:25] here. We have representatives from Edwin Air Force Base, Herbert Field. So the military is here. But [18:32] the way that we approach it in Okaloosa County, we prep first. We are not waiting on somebody else to [18:38] bring us the resources. We budget for this. We plan for this. Now, after the storm, more resources from state [18:46] and federal entities will be useful. But in the eye of the storm coming down at us, we have what we need [18:54] together because we plan for this year round. Trey Goodwin of Okaloosa County will be thinking about you [19:01] and everybody there as this storm approaches. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Monica. And we are going [19:09] to turn now to Mobile, Alabama. And joining me is Michael Evans, the director of the Mobile County [19:15] Emergency Management Agency. Thank you for being here. And let's start with, as you are bracing for [19:21] this storm, what the conditions are like where you are and what you expect. Yes. So thank you for having [19:28] me. The conditions now are starting to deteriorate. So I know you guys have been showing the radar imagery. [19:37] So if you look what's going on, we're starting to see tropical storm force, gusty wind. We're starting [19:43] to see some pretty substantial rainfall. So what we understand, it's going to continue to get worse [19:51] as we move into the later part of the night. And then at some point, it'll be well beyond us and [19:57] conditions will clear. So what's your message to people in the area right now? So, you know, [20:04] the message right now is the conditions are rough, but there's still time to get to a safe location. [20:11] We have a lot of coastal residents. And my concern are the people that live in some of our surge areas [20:18] and are very flood prone areas, manufactured housing. We have a substantial portion of Mobile County [20:25] that's not in any kind of flood, surge zone. So what we're asking the people in danger to do is leave [20:33] and go to a safe place. So we do that in several ways. We ask them, hey, if you have a friend, family, [20:39] or relative who lives in some of these safer areas, you know, please go and shelter with them. [20:46] If you have the ability to go somewhere and go out of town, please do that. [20:50] Now, if you don't meet any of those criteria, we've opened three shelters within the county. [20:57] They're all in safe areas. We encourage you to go to a shelter. Earlier today, we were using [21:04] transit assets and public school buses to move people who asked for a ride. But, you know, [21:09] it's all about being safe. We need you to be in the safest location that you can be. And that's away [21:15] from our surge areas or flood prone areas and some of the manufactured homes. [21:21] We have seen all week long the preparations underway for this hurricane, people fueling up, [21:26] people making their own kind of sandbags. So would you say Mobile is prepared for this storm? [21:32] How would you assess that right now? I would say we're prepared. We've been talking about this, [21:39] you know, preparation very strongly since Wednesday morning. You know, Wednesday and Thursday was [21:46] was decent weather days. So, you know, I was encouraging everybody, you have time today and [21:51] tomorrow to do the things you need to do at your home to get prepared. You have time to go to the [21:56] store and buy the items that you need. You know, have 72 hours worth of food and water, have batteries [22:04] and flashlights. We know we'll get some power outages during this. We've had a lot of rain in the last couple [22:10] weeks. So the ground's already saturated. So this type wind and more rain makes trees fall, power line [22:17] issues. So we've been encouraging everybody to get ready and we've been encouraging those who don't [22:22] feel like they're in a safe area to please go to a safer area. So I've got my EOC activated. There's about [22:31] 80 people in there from the municipal governments. I have my state of Alabama partners in there. I have [22:37] some federal partners from DHS and FEMA. We've got the Army National Guard from Alabama. I mean, [22:44] the room is full. Alabama power, the water and sewer. So everybody's in there. We're prepared [22:50] to react. When people have a need, we want to go respond, help them and get them to safety. [22:56] You know, there's a point coming though, when we get to tropical storm force sustained winds [23:01] and rain where it's not safe, you know, we'll have to shut down. You know, obviously, [23:06] if we can talk to someone in need, we will take all their information. As soon as it's safe for [23:11] our first responders to go respond, we will certainly go to them. And that's always the [23:17] concern right in these kinds of situations. Michael, I do want to also ask you about a threat [23:21] for tornadoes, especially across the southern part of Alabama to the east of Mobile. Have you and other [23:27] officials prepared for that possibility? And what should residents really be on the lookout for in terms of [23:32] messaging from your agency on that? Yeah. So, you know, we've messaged for all of the [23:38] threats to include tornadoes, storm surge. We've been under watches and warnings since [23:44] early yesterday. And, you know, the message is we want everybody to have a way to get [23:51] the weather information, you know, get you a NOAA weather radio. We have an app. We have local [23:58] stations, affiliates with, they have different apps. We encourage everybody to have a way to get the [24:06] message, even if the power's out, you know, go ahead and have those flashlights and batteries, [24:11] have a radio, have those apps on your phone, have a way to charge your phone. And so now, [24:16] if you get the message there's a threat in your area, such as a tornado, then, you know, [24:22] the encouragement will be to go to that safest place in that structure that you're in [24:26] and get there and stay there until the threat is over with. Great tips there, Michael Evans. [24:33] Thank you so much. We'll be thinking about everybody there in Mobile. Please stay safe [24:37] and thanks for your time. Thank you. And joining me now is former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. [24:44] Thank you so much for being here, sir. As we mentioned, FEMA says it is actively monitoring [24:49] and preparing to help states as needed in their response to this hurricane. But what is FEMA's role [24:54] in this moment, given your expertise? And do you feel the agency is doing enough to prepare? [25:01] Well, you've heard already. FEMA may not be doing a press conference. They're letting the [25:07] governors take the lead on that. But FEMA has staff in the state emergency operations centers. They've [25:10] been helping support the local EOCs. Again, a lot of this response will be managed by state and local [25:16] government. You know, they've called out their national guard. They're moving mutual aid teams across the [25:20] state. FEMA is going to be in those EOCs throughout the storm, primarily right now if response issues [25:27] come up. And I'll give you some examples. When I was running the state, we had Hurricane Charlie. We [25:33] needed additional disaster medical assistance teams, which FEMA sent in that night and got in the next [25:38] day. So if those kind of things happen, FEMA's there in those EOCs as those issues are coming up and [25:45] they're working those issues. So I don't see a big delay there. So it's working as it should. [25:50] I think the whole message about states are taking the lead and FEMA is taking a little bit more of [25:56] waiting and supporting the states. That's actually how it was designed. When the governors asked [26:01] President Carter to create FEMA, they didn't ask FEMA to take over. They asked FEMA to be there to [26:05] support the governor when disasters get that big. And you did note in this first answer that [26:12] this does look a little bit more like when FEMA was originally conceived, but FEMA has lost 4,000 [26:18] staffers in the last year and a half. And this is the first hurricane since those cuts. So how should [26:24] we be thinking about that change potentially impacting FEMA's response? I don't think about [26:30] it at all. Quite honestly, people in this storm need to be getting ready to go to their safe rooms, [26:36] know what they're going to do. They're not going to see FEMA. That's not what FEMA does. They're going to [26:40] see local responders, the sheriffs, just as these local officials have told you. They'll get to the [26:44] point where they've got to shut down because the storm's there. When the storm passes, they're going [26:48] to be going out and doing the rescues and stuff. And again, look at the size of FEMA. If this was, [26:54] you know, the fifth or sixth hurricane, I may be more concerned. It's the first hurricane. [26:59] FEMA has a lot of staff. They haven't been deployed on a lot of disasters. I think if you see [27:04] anything with FEMA staffing, it's going to be later in recovery periods if there's more storms, [27:09] more disasters. That's even in the Obama administration was a challenge for us [27:14] to keep staffs where we were having disasters and a new one would happen. We'd have to pull [27:18] recovery staff, but it didn't impact our responses. Let's talk a little bit more about those rescue [27:24] and recovery efforts. Do you feel the agency is well-placed then to deploy assets to assist [27:30] states with that part of it after the storm clears? Yeah, I'm going to tell you something. I was [27:36] really worried last year when Noem had that stupid $100,000 limit on contracting because a lot of [27:42] what FEMA does is bringing in contracted resources and those were just crippling to the agency. That's [27:48] going away. New leadership in at Homeland Security, new leadership at FEMA. They don't have that restraint. [27:54] That was probably the biggest thing I saw that would hinder a response. So the teams are there. [28:00] They've been funded. They're bringing staffing back up. There was a hiring freeze. That was another [28:05] thing that I was very concerned about. Cutting positions is one thing, but when you have [28:10] vacancies in critical areas, especially in your search and rescue IMATs, the management assistance [28:16] teams, your FEMA logistics and not being able to fill positions, that's critical. So that's changed. [28:22] They've been adding positions. They're bringing people in. And remember, FEMA has 10 regional offices. [28:27] They can bring people from across the nation to support this response. So I'm not concerned about it. [28:34] What I am concerned about, we're talking a lot about FEMA. We're not talking about people getting [28:37] ready for the storm and what they should be doing in the immediate aftermath because we're not going [28:41] to prevent the damages right now, but we can keep people safe and hopefully reduce the number of [28:45] lives we lose if this storm is coming in as a category. We share that concern. Craig Fugate, [28:52] thank you so much for your expertise on all of this. And we hope that people will be able to heed the [28:57] warnings and stay safe. Thank you. And we are following Hurricane Isaias closely, [29:05] and we'll bring you an update from the ground in one of the Gulf Coast cities bracing for impact [29:11] straight ahead. Plus, trumping the trail. We're live in Syracuse, New York, ahead of the president's [29:18] latest campaign stop with just 25 days to go to the midterms. And we have the takeaways from last [29:24] night's lineup of Senate battleground debates. You're watching Meet the Press now. Welcome back. As we do [29:38] keep an eye on the path of Hurricane Isaias, we turn now to the latest with just 25 days to go until [29:44] the midterms. President Trump is getting ready for the next stop in his midterm sprint around the [29:48] country, heading to Syracuse, New York to campaign with Bruce Blakeman, the Republican challenging [29:53] incumbent governor Kathy Hochul. It's the president's seventh campaign stop in nine days with more on [29:59] deck for next week, as the White House hopes that the president's popularity among Republicans [30:04] can potentially boost GOP turnout, even as his approval among Americans broadly is significantly [30:11] underwater. Also on the trail today, Vice President J.D. Vance in his home state of Ohio, [30:16] stopping to cast his ballot on his way to stump for incumbent Republican Senator John Husted. [30:22] Recent polls have Senator Husted trailing former Senator Sherrod Brown in a race Democrats see as a prime [30:28] pickup opportunity. And joining me now from the campaign trail in Syracuse is NBC's Chief White [30:35] House Correspondent, Garrett Haik. Garrett, thanks so much for being there with the soundtrack of that [30:41] rally season. We know the president has been amping up these pretty friendly crowds in deep red states [30:47] and key battlegrounds over the last week. So what is he doing in deep blue New York? Why is he in Syracuse? [30:53] Monica, it looks set to have a fairly friendly crowd here of about a few thousand people in Syracuse. [31:00] It is a strange choice for location. We are in a Democratic-held congressional district. [31:05] But this is an area in the upstate more broadly where the president's hoping to turn out his base [31:09] voters to help defeat the Democratic governor here, Kathy Hochul, who's very unpopular with Republicans. [31:15] We're a fairly fair distance from the Democratic center of the political world in New York, [31:19] New York City, of course. But whether the president can be effective for Republicans here, [31:24] remains very much an open question. And there are a number of local officials who've told the [31:28] local newspaper here they're not coming. Well, the president today also announced this [31:34] major plan for Russia to supply global energy markets with 800,000 tons of diesel [31:40] in an effort to lower prices. Just talk about how significant this is and what this could mean. [31:48] It's hard to overstate just how stunning this really is, Monica. It was only about a month ago that [31:53] the Congress gave the president authority to jack up tariffs and increase sanctions [31:58] on buyers of Russian energy products. Now the president's announcing the U.S. will become one [32:03] of those buyers. He says the Russians are prepared to release three million tons, an interesting unit [32:09] of diesel fuel onto the global markets, and that the U.S. and other countries could potentially [32:14] purchase that. This is fuel that's been under U.S. sanctions since the start of the Ukraine war. [32:19] Treasury Department says those sanctions will be lifted until April. Already President Zelenskyy [32:25] has been out calling this weakness and a gift to Putin. And it comes as a congressional delegation [32:31] was in Kyiv meeting with Zelenskyy just today. So a shocking move from the president and one that [32:36] I think will face blowback domestically and globally after the U.S. has spent years leaning on European [32:42] allies to stop buying the same kind of Russian fuel products. America will be buying now amid our own [32:48] fuel price squeeze. Absolutely, Garrett. And of course, before I let you go, you have a new [32:53] preview of the latest Here's the Scoop election edition episode. Tell us all about that. Monica, [33:01] voters are voting across the country. And so this week we're talking about the mechanics of voting [33:06] and questions about election security. Obviously, it's one of the president's favorite topics. [33:11] We spoke to Republican Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt of Pennsylvania, [33:17] about not just the actual threats to the physical infrastructure of our elections, [33:21] but his concerns that a lack of trust in those elections perpetrated by the president and his [33:27] allies could be a threat in and of itself. Listen to part of our conversation with Al Schmidt of [33:31] Pennsylvania. And when the president talks about this big kind of conspiratorial large scale fraud, [33:38] I mean, you testified in the January 6th committee that that wasn't the case in 2020. [33:43] We've had elections in 22, 24, now 26. Have you seen any evidence of that kind of thing in any of those [33:48] elections? No. And I would encourage everyone to be driven by evidence of facts when reaching [33:53] conclusions about their confidence in elections. It's easy to throw out these sort of things. It's [33:59] easy to do some matches of big databases and get an avalanche of false positives. But election [34:07] integrity requires hard work. It requires a thoughtful, deliberate, methodological examination [34:15] of accusations to determine if it's actually occurring or not, and to what degree. [34:19] Al Schmidt, a Republican, was Governor Shapiro's first hire in Pennsylvania, speaking to the [34:27] importance of this idea of keeping elections safe and keeping people trusting that their election [34:33] results will be safe. Monica, it's a very interesting interview. [34:36] Garrett Haig, we know that song says 9 to 5, but when it's a rally day, it's more like [34:41] 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. So thanks for being there for us. We really appreciate it, Garrett. Thank you. [34:46] And you can always catch more of Garrett's great reporting on Here's the Scoop, election edition, [34:51] every Saturday until election day. You can watch it on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. [34:57] And turning now from the campaign trail to the debate stage, [35:01] Last night, candidates in three closely watched Senate races faced off in a set of fiery debates. [35:06] And from Michigan to Georgia to Maine, Democrats, making their strategy clear, [35:12] tie their opponent to President Trump. He said he thinks the war is going to end. [35:17] He's got a direct line to the president who's making sure the war does not end. [35:20] And he's not using it because he's true led this war the entire time. [35:23] Can you afford your gas? Can you afford your groceries? [35:26] Under this guy who's going to rubber stamp everything Donald Trump tells him to rubber stamp? [35:29] Our economy is being strangled by Donald Trump and Mike Collins' economic record. [35:35] Whatever Donald Trump says, Mike Collins does. Doesn't matter what it is. Doesn't think for himself. [35:42] We are in a crisis here because she would not stand up and her Republican colleagues would not [35:46] stand up to Donald Trump. Joining me now for more on what we heard and didn't hear is NBC [35:52] senior national politics reporter John Allen. So John, three big debates last night. We saw the [35:58] Democrat strategy. That was pretty clear. What else stuck out to you? [36:02] So amazingly, in that Michigan debate, we found out that we are at the yo mama stage of the campaign [36:07] where Mike Rogers was going after Abdul El-Sayed's mother in the place that she had worked before. [36:14] But even more than that, I think what you're seeing shape up here is an obvious move by Democrats to [36:20] talk about the economy because everybody thinks the economy is bad. I mean, almost everybody in the [36:24] country thinks the economy is bad. And then the Republican, you know, and I've watched several [36:27] of these debates, the Republican response is basically like the Democrats will make it worse. [36:32] Their argument is Democrats want to raise your taxes. You know, Medicare for all, [36:36] all of that will increase prices. I think it's a tough sale with President Trump in power right now. [36:42] Let's talk a little bit more about those personal attacks that you raised because we did sort of [36:45] see that in the Michigan debate. It did get a bit more personal. The moderator even quipping that he [36:49] wanted to jump in there and be part of it. But do you think that those attacks, you know, help Rogers [36:55] or El-Sayed more heading into November? I think it tends to freeze the field, right? So I generally [37:01] speaking, I think that if there is an equal attack going on there and they're not actually talking [37:05] about the issues that you're unlikely as the candidate who is behind to make up ground. Right now, [37:12] the polling generally shows Abdul El-Sayed up by a little bit, but I don't think any candidate would be [37:17] comfortable with essentially a margin of error lead, which is what he has. I also want to talk [37:21] about a moment from the Georgia debate where Senator Ossoff pressed Congressman Collins over [37:27] neo-Nazi posts that he, that his son-in-law had shared. Let's take a listen to that. That's the [37:34] problem, Mike. It's not just that you've hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office [37:39] and you have promoted neo-Nazi content online. I've condemned racism, antisemitism, hate. I don't [37:46] care where the source is. And I tell him that too. It's wrong. We have no, no place in this world for [37:52] that. But I've never heard him say a word about his DSA pick up there, Abdul El-Sayed, Hassan Piker. [37:59] If John Lewis were marching today from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy [38:06] club. His office has been in cahoots with some of the most notorious white supremacists on the country. [38:13] He himself has amplified neo-Nazi propaganda. He's never apologized for it. And he should tonight. [38:21] So talk a little bit more about the background there, John, and whether you think this could [38:25] turn the tide in this race at all. Well, first of all, just on the specifics, [38:29] the Third Reich, all of them are dead. So Mike Collins didn't actually hire half the Third Reich. [38:34] But I think what you're seeing here is John Ossoff is leading by so much in Georgia that he is starting [38:38] to run for president from the debate stage. The message that he's carrying there is one [38:42] that is built for a 2028 Democratic presidential primary. And I think he is not at all concerned [38:48] about what Election Day will bring this year in Georgia. An important reminder that the moment [38:51] these midterms end, we're basically in 2028 mode, right? John Allen, I know you'll be tracking all of [38:56] that. Thank you so much for being here. And after the break, new details and new footage of two separate [39:05] ICE-involved incidents, including a deeply unsettling video showing federal agents tearing [39:10] children away from their family during a traffic stop in New Jersey. Stay with us on Meet the Press [39:16] Now. Welcome back. Turning now to some disturbing new incidents as the Trump administration continues [39:27] its immigration enforcement crackdown and a warning that some of the videos we're about to show [39:32] may be distressing to some viewers. The NYPD has released new video this hour of the moment ICE [39:38] officers shot a man in his car during a traffic stop in New York City on Thursday. You could see [39:44] the car reversing as officers with guns drawn approach before pulling out. And body camera [39:49] footage from the NYPD responding to the scene shows the man, Oscar Belgal, wounded in the neck [39:56] with NYPD officers then taking him to the hospital. DHS said the man was part of a targeted enforcement [40:02] operation and was in the country illegally with a prior criminal history. They say he tried to ram [40:08] officers, but NYPD's police chief said he was trying to park when plainclothes officers confronted him. [40:14] He pulled forward and then shots rang out. And officials say a five-year-old was in the car [40:20] but was said to be physically unharmed by the seven shots fired. And meanwhile, in nearby New Jersey, [40:27] a dramatic video has emerged of ICE officers separating what appears to be parents from their children [40:33] during a traffic stop. A DHS spokesperson said they were targeting a man from Honduras [40:38] who was in the country illegally and had multiple traffic infractions. They said during the encounter, [40:44] the man declined repeated lawful instructions to exit his vehicle and that a female passenger [40:50] and a bystander are under investigation after they attempted to disrupt the address and the arrest. [40:57] Now joining me is senior homeland security correspondent, Julia Ainslie. Once again, [41:02] Julia, I do want to start with that incident in New York. We did hear from Secretary Mullen this [41:07] morning, but how is the agency responding to the shooting? Well, it's what happened so quickly [41:12] last night that they announced a press conference after midnight. This is undoubtedly because of the [41:17] protests that we saw outside of the hospital where Burgall was being kept and because of the comments [41:23] from New York City Mayor Mendoni. Basically, this is a thing we're seeing a lot more of before midterms [41:29] where if DHS can go against what they see as unlawful sanctuary city policies from blue cities [41:35] like New York, they will take the opportunity to do so. And so Homeland Security Secretary Mark [41:40] Wayne Mullen held a press conference today to talk about this incident. And here's what he said. [41:45] No, we're not putting a pause on enforcement. I'm sorry, we're not. In fact, I'm not sorry. Our job is [41:53] and enforce the nation's laws and go out for the worst of the worst. And our men and women do a [41:56] dang good job at it every single day. And we will not stop doing our job. [42:02] This is coming after Mamdani called for ICE to stop enforcement in the city because of what he says [42:08] as policies that are making the city less safe. And Mayor Mamdani speaking with President Trump, [42:13] we know as well, it sounds like for an extended amount of time. But Julia, I do want to ask you about [42:17] that, that really disturbing video that we just played from New Jersey, where it does appear that [42:22] parents are being separated from their children. What more are we learning about that? [42:26] Well, that's what I asked the secretary about today. I wanted to know if he had seen the video, [42:31] what he could say more broadly about times where we see time and time again, families being separated [42:37] by ICE enforcement actions. And then we'll hear comments from people like Tom Homan who say, [42:41] this is not a family separation policy, because these families can deport together. But in that moment, [42:46] are those parents really given a decision about whether or not they'll see their children again? [42:50] I asked him that exact question. And here's what he told me. [42:54] Once the scene is secure, once we settle everything down, we figure out who is who, [42:58] then we'll start having communications with the individual when it's when we're in the [43:01] middle of the operation. It's very chaotic. You got to assume every time we're approaching a car [43:07] that there could be criminal behavior. There's a fight or flight mentality. We see it over and over [43:11] again. So once it is secure, once everything is calm, they will start having the conversation. [43:17] Who are these kids? Are they really with the individual? And he said he had not seen that [43:22] video, but he stopped me saying what this person wanted for trafficking. And I said, [43:27] no traffic infractions, which is obviously very different. This person was not wanted for any [43:32] violent crime, but this is an individual who has now been apprehended. And he says the family [43:38] will be given the opportunity about whether or not they would deport together. But obviously, [43:42] I mean, chaotic doesn't begin to do it justice because you see at the end of this video, [43:47] an ICE officer not sure what to do with a tiny pair of Crocs at the end, and he throws them on the [43:52] sidewalk. Very hard to watch that. Julia Ainslie, thank you for your dogged reporting on this. [43:58] You've stayed so on top of it, and I know we'll be talking more about it. Thank you. Thank you. [44:03] And we are continuing to track Hurricane Isaias. Our other major story today, which as we mentioned, [44:09] is now a category three storm with 120 mile per hour winds. Forecasters predicting up to 15 inches [44:16] of rain in some areas and warning of potentially life threatening storm surges that could reach nine [44:24] feet. NBC News correspondent Chris Pallone is in Mobile, Alabama. He joins us from there now. [44:30] So Chris, what are the conditions there? And what have you seen so far? [44:37] Yeah, Monica, you can certainly tell that Hurricane Isaias is going to make landfall in the [44:42] next several hours. Most of the day today, we had a pretty steady but light rain, almost no wind, [44:47] just a few light gusts. And in the past hour or so, the wind has really picked up. The rain has [44:53] gotten heavy at times as those outer bands of Isaias come ashore. Sometimes the rain lets up a [44:59] little bit. But the wind now, Mobile Airport has registered wind gusts in excess of 40 miles an hour. [45:05] And I want to show you this. This is the Mobile River right here, just on the banks of the downtown [45:11] area. And the wind is clearly coming from the north, northeast. We're on the backside of the storm [45:16] as it comes in. And you can see that it's actually blowing the Mobile River down into Mobile Bay. That [45:22] might be good news. This is one of the most flood prone areas of the country. This is actually the [45:27] rainiest city in the country. And so they are they flood all the time. But if the winds continue to blow in [45:33] this direction, it might keep the Mobile River pushing down into the bay. So that's one good [45:39] aspect for people here in Mobile. You can kind of see the winds dying down a little bit right now. But [45:44] you can see the trees blowing here behind me when it really kicks up. You'll see them really bend in [45:49] the wind here. But other than that, in downtown, it's been pretty desolate all day as people have mostly [45:57] listened to the warnings and are staying home after they completed their final preparations. [46:03] Oh, yeah. We hope that the fact that it is the rainiest city in the country [46:07] helps them with that kind of experience. Chris, just tell us a little bit more [46:11] about any conversations you've had with residents about whether they are staying in town [46:15] or did many of them evacuate? So the governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, [46:23] actually issued a mandatory evacuation order for non-residents, for tourists. Obviously, [46:28] this is a big beach area. And this is a fall break period where a lot of people had come to the [46:34] beaches of Alabama and Florida. So the governor issued a mandatory evacuation order. We saw long [46:40] lines of people trying to get out of town on I-65 up towards Montgomery yesterday. People who live here [46:47] have to decide for themselves. If they're in flood-prone areas, they're recommended to get out. [46:53] Dauphin Island, which is south of here, that tends to flood when there's storm surge, [46:57] part of that has been under mandatory evacuation. But in the inland parts of town, the real risk for [47:04] those people are going to be uprooted trees, downed trees and power lines, some high winds, [47:10] but then also flash flooding, not necessarily storm surge. For those folks, they raided the grocery [47:16] stores. They got all the last-minute supplies and food that they need in case they are without power [47:21] or they're trapped in their neighborhoods for a few days waiting for trees to be cleared, power lines [47:26] to be cleared. But the attitude here is they're generally used to these things, although it's [47:32] crazy. I was looking it up. This area, which is so generally we consider to be hurricane-prone, [47:38] hasn't taken a direct hit in about six years. And then there was another one two years before that. [47:43] So 2018 and 2020, really the last time that this stretch of the Florida Panhandle and the coast of [47:49] Alabama have taken a direct hit from a hurricane. So some people might be rusty in their preparations. [47:53] We'll have to see how it goes. Chris Pallone, thanks so much to you and your crew [47:58] for being out there for us. Please continue to stay safe. Sure. And we will be following the storm [48:05] closely and we'll bring you any major updates as we get them. But still to come, an unprecedented move [48:13] by the Pentagon. Defense Department officials say they're going to live stream the firing squad [48:18] execution of the man who shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. That story and the fallout [48:25] next on Meet the Press Now. Welcome back. The Pentagon says it will live stream the firing squad [48:39] execution of a former army officer convicted of a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. Secretary of Defense [48:46] Pete Hegseth says Nadal Hassan's execution will be carried out at 1 p.m. on December 3rd, [48:51] the same time of day and day of the week as the attack. But speaking to reporters today, [48:56] Vice President Vance seeming to express some skepticism about whether it actually will be [49:00] public. I've seen his announcements. I don't know that's actually going to happen. Let's sort of [49:06] see what I think it's going to happen in December when he's executed. But whatever the controversy is [49:11] about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally [49:16] murdered a lot of innocent people. Now, that said, I mean, look, if it's ultimately live stream, [49:21] I'm not going to be watching it. Some fascinating comments there by the [49:25] Vice President and joining me now to talk about all of this is NBC News senior national security [49:28] correspondent Courtney Kuby. So let's start with just the number one question that people probably [49:34] have about this, which is would this even be legal? That's what we've been trying to figure out. [49:39] So under federal law, the answer is no. You cannot make images, video, anything like that [49:44] public of an execution. But this could be under the UCMJ. He's held in a military facility. It's [49:51] clear the firing squad is going to be U.S. military. We suspect they will be U.S. soldiers. [49:56] And the UCMJ just doesn't have anything that addresses a live stream. So it's just not really [50:02] clear at this point. It seems as if the Pentagon is really making this up or figuring this out [50:08] as they go. I think the fact that Vice President Vance really paused this and said it's not [50:13] clear if this is going to happen could be a good indicator that now there may be some question [50:17] about whether even under military law this would be legal. And it raises all sorts of questions about [50:22] who was kind of looped in on this. Is this something that Secretary Hegseth announced [50:26] on his own? Was it his idea? Do we know? And also we know that Hassan had said after the attack [50:33] he wanted to be a martyr. He wanted to be killed and wanted to die. So is there a concern that doing this [50:40] could deliver that for him? He openly said in 2013 that he wanted to be killed [50:45] so he could be a martyr. In fact, he expected he would die at Fort Hood that day in the back and [50:49] forth in the shooting. So yes, this provides that to him. Putting it on camera and distributing that [50:55] image, whether it's stills or video or anything, that provides propaganda that enemies could use to [51:01] incite other people to join. It also, you know, it calls into question the moral authority of the United [51:07] States that they would publicly put something like this out when it could be seen as a serious [51:13] human rights violation here. And frankly, it's just not the way that it's been done. [51:16] In the past, when there is an execution, there is always this, it's almost a solemnity about it, [51:23] where it is held quietly. People think about the victims rather than the individual who's being [51:28] killed. And that's the way that they honor the legacy of the individuals, the victims of a crime like [51:33] this. I think right now what's very clear is Secretary Hegseth has been talking about bringing [51:40] some of these people who are on death row in the U.S. military, bringing them to justice, [51:46] following through on executions. The U.S. Army has been planning for that for months. [51:50] This has thrown a complete wrench into that planning. The idea of Fort Hood, the idea of firing [51:56] squad, and then now this live stream. And in these last few seconds that we have, [51:59] does this change anything about the appeals process for this specifically? [52:03] It does not. Courtney Kuby, as always, thank you for staying on top of this. There will be [52:08] much more to this story. We know that. And thank you all so much for watching, [52:13] for being with us here today. We will be back Monday with more Meet the Press Now. [52:18] And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press on your local NBC News station. [52:22] Kristen will have exclusive interviews with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, [52:25] Senator Tom Tillis, and author Michael Lewis. You don't want to miss it. [52:30] And there is much more ahead on NBC News Now.