New Polls, Debates Give Democrats Hope with 26 Days Until Midterms

0:00This briefing is brought to you by Easter Seals Disability Services. Real belonging begins with all of us. You're juggling a lot, but you can still squeeze in a financial plan. With the Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor as your partner, it's not only possible, it's personalized. So if you're tying the knot, closing on a house, or welcoming a little one, you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain. That's a better way to money. Let's get started at NM.com, the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In so many states, it's debate night in America. The lead starts right now. 26 days left in the midterm fight for 2026, and what could be major moments in 3K races for US Senate and Ohio, and in Georgia? I had what voters are already revealing about the candidates in two of those races.

1:02Plus, breaking news, hurricane Isayas gaining strength and headed right for the Gulf Coast, a brand new update from the National Hurricane Center, is just coming in and we'll bring that to you. Oil companies in the Gulf are bracing for the impact of this storm. Could that result in even higher gas prices for you, no matter where you live? Welcome to the lead. I'm Jake Tapp, and we start in our politics lead on a consequential day, offering new polls and new debates and new clues, as to how the midterm elections could shake out in just 26 days. While the Republican majority in Congress hangs on for dear life, thanks to President Trump's unpopular war and unpopular tariffs and the cost of living, a brand new CNN poll shows more signs of trouble for Republicans. Namely, Ohio and Iowa. Normally, Ruby Red states Trump won both by double digits in 2024. Republicans currently hold both Senate seats in each state.

2:04But now, in Ohio's Senate race, Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown holds a six-point lead among likely voters over John Heustead, who was appointed to fill the seat, vacated by JD Vance. And in Iowa, where farmers are getting trampled by record-high diesel prices, well, in Iowa, the poll finds no clear leader in that Senate race. Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson is at 45% to Democrat Josh Turks, 43%, well within the polls, 4.2% of point margin of error. The polls also solidify the Trump problem, likely voters in Ohio and Iowa, mostly disapprove of the president's handling of the presidency and say his policies have increased the cost of living and say tariffs on foreign goods have largely been bad for their states. High gas prices, of course, are directly tied to President Trump's war in Iran. Yet despite the wars on popularity, there have been recent reports. The Trump is considering another major attack on Iran even before the midterms, or possibly after.

3:06Trump is responding, he posted on Truth Social today, quote, we are having products of discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran. I want to make it clear to everybody that the Trump is in the state of America, I want to make it clear to everybody that we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd. So should we mark our calendars for November 4th, the next day? Either way, all of this will surely feature heavily in tonight's Senate debates in three other key states. One in Michigan, where Democrats feared their candidate, Dr. Abdul Al-Sahed, might be too left-wing to win a general election in this battleground state that went for Trump two out of the last three presidential elections. Paul show Dr. Al-Sahed just slightly ahead of Republican former Congressman Mike Rogers, but also within the margin of error. In Maine, the debate there will be a test of the staying power for Republican Senator Susan Collins. Usually a survivor, she is up against Troy Jackson, the Democrat whom former president Barack Obama endorsed today.

4:07And then of course there is the Georgia Senate race. A debate tonight, Democrats feel good about incumbent Senator John Asuf's chances against Republican Congressman Mike Collins deemed perhaps too right-wing or at least too problematic perhaps to win. Republicans so troubled that the Republicans have moved some TV advertising spending away from Georgia. Joining us now to discuss it all, Republican Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia. He is a US Marine veteran and an emergency room physician who sits on the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman, thanks for joining us. So you're up for re-election this year as our all-house members. You represent a relatively safe Republican district, but Americans across both parties are tying President Trump's policies and the war to the gas prices, the tariffs to the affordability crisis. Are you worried at all that this is making your own race closer than normally it would be? I'm not worried about my race, I'm not worried about any races in Georgia on the federal level of Congress.

5:08If you look at the poll and you guys say, I actually thought you guys did a really fair and balanced analysis of Iowa, Ohio and Michigan showing that Republicans underpulled there by anywhere from 5 to 8%. So actually if that happens and that's happened both in midterms and presidential elections, we have really strong cases of flipping a seat in Michigan and holding it in Ohio and Iowa. Here in Georgia, I'm not worried about congressional seats. Of course I'm worried about the gubernatorial race and the Senate race. I think we'll handle business in the gubernatorial race. I think Rick's ahead by a couple points. And I think with Collins, I think it's really unfortunate that we're not investing this once again. He needs to just run against Ossoff's record. I don't think it matches Georgia policies. It's unfortunate we're not investing in a race. I think it's a good one to invest in. I think we're just as close as Texas. I think it's something worthwhile. So some Republican strategists are warning that President Trump's actions and words show that he's already preparing for an excuse if Republicans don't do as well in the midterms as you would like them to do.

6:08Conservative Brittany Martinez, she's part of a group called Principles First. She told Newsweek, quote, The President appears to be setting up a story in which a Republican win proves the system works. And a Republican loss proves it was stolen. If the GOP loses both chambers, I expect him to blame the count rather than reckon with why voters turned against the party. Unquote, what's your reaction to that? Well, that's all theoretical, isn't it? And I think we'll see as time goes on. I don't think there's ever been a loss or a win where people didn't posture themselves and put themselves in the most positive light. I don't care which party. I don't care which president. That's just what we do in politics. Of course, you don't have a reason. You have to sit back and do true analysis. And I think the smart people will always take a back and see what was happening. Of course, the energy is going to be a big battle right now. But this is unavoidable. If you think about from the standpoint of how many presidents have talked about Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. The thousand people that died of that were American in 40 different attacks through their proxies, whether it be through Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis from their weaponry, for their tactics, for what they've been doing strategically down in the Middle East.

7:19But worldwide, when they talk about this is the great Satan. Israel is the little Satan. We're the great Satan. When they're developing a ballistic missile system that goes over 2000 miles, even though they may not agree with Obama, they wouldn't do that. Developing enough enriched uranium for 11 nuclear weapons. Even though they said what they wouldn't do that, imagine how bad gas prices and everything else would be. And they became a nuclear power and exerted that power from madmen who are theocrats. Do you think the people who voted for President Trump in 2024 in Georgia, for example, expected that he was going to launch a war against Iran that was going to result in higher gas prices, higher diesel prices and such? I'm not questioning whether or not the Iranian leaders that it's better that they don't have an idea. It's better that they don't have a nuclear weapon, of course. It's better that they don't. But do you think voters thought, okay, President Trump's going to take care of this and we might have to pay higher prices, but that's worth it. Because that's the position Republicans find themselves in, and it's not, I don't think what voters thought they were going to get.

8:19Well, we never know what's going to happen, but sometimes unpredictable things happen. Ultimately, we have to do what's best for the nation, for our children, for the future generations. If you got really the Toronto regime, and I've always been very bullish on this, war is an ugly thing, but making peace with that nation, that regime would be catastrophic to the future of not only the Middle East, but the entire world order. Think about who they support, whether they be Russia, China, North Korea, what they said they're going to do to America, rain down fire from heaven, from people who are deeply religious, deeply believed that we are the country to be destroyed, that Israel is supposed to be destroyed, that the Jews should be wiped out. Imagine those people with nuclear weapons. Hillary Clinton talked about this, Bill Clinton talked about this, George W. Bush talked about this, Reagan talked about this, Obama talked about this, Biden talked about this, this is not a partisan issue. This is very bad people who do very bad things to us. I understand, it's not fun to fill up your gas tank, but this is a temporary blip, and I hope most people are looking at this more intellectually, rather than emotionally, because it's really a battle for the future of America.

9:21The average cost of diesel today in Georgia, $5.78 per gallon, which of course, I don't need to tell you, it hits your state's agricultural industry very hard, it hits people who are in the trucking industry. Wouldn't an escalation in Iran, which President Trump is talking about doing after the midterms, wouldn't that make your constituent's economic situation even worse? There's ways to manipulate the markets, quite frankly we got caught with our pants down. We did not prepare it. We haven't done anything for the strategic preparedness for America to have this sort of war. I blame this as a whole party, but when you canceling pipelines, when you're not building refineries, when you're not making the right agreements in the past, it's come to now. And quite frankly, if you don't deal with these guys, look, they're trying to mess with our elections right now. They should be basically relative peace in the straits, but they're trying to attack multiple ships. They've had some success with nine ships they've actually attacked. They've been attacking other countries in that region, including Saudi Arabia, which I think is a really bad idea. These guys don't want peace. They've never opposed this with anything other than vile, disgusting rhetoric. They want to be violent. They want to apply their violence all over the world.

10:28They've done it to us well before this war started, and they'll do it again with bigger weapons. Republican Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia, thank you so much, and thank you as always for your service. Still had the reporting about two top Trump advisors. It reportedly has the president quote, pissed, but is he more mad about their actions or that it's public knowledge just weeks before the midterms. But first getting stronger, a brand new forecast is coming in for Hurricane Isayas taking aim at the Gulf Coast. Stay with us. Breathe in. Now let it all out with Lincoln Rejuvenate, a multi-sensory feature available in the 2027 Navigator SUV. Experience a gentle massage, expansive visuals, and digital sense to help you relax in the driver's seat. It's your time for a reset. Visit linkin.com to learn more. Lincoln Rejuvenate is not operating unless the vehicle's in park when the vehicle's off or if any doors open. Do not use the feature in a closed garage or another enclosed area as the sea owner's manual for important operating instructions.

11:32No one's journey is the same. That's why Delta Sky Miles moves with you. Whether it's earning miles from coffee runs to flights, to redeeming for vacations your way, or unlocking exclusive experiences, a Sky Miles membership fits into your lifestyle. Letting you do more of what makes you you. It's the membership that flies, dine streams, rides, and arrives with you. Because when you have a membership that's as unique as you are, there's no telling where your journey will take you next. Breaking news in our national lead, a brand new forecast track just in on Hurricane Isaias. And it is headed right for the Gulf Coast. Florida and Alabama have both declared states of emergency. Let's get right to see an end meteorologist, Derek Benjamin. Derek, you just got an update from the National Hurricane Center. What are they saying? Yeah, now that 5 p.m. update bringing this to a category to hurricane with winds of 100 miles per hour. It's located about 400 miles south of the northern Gulf.

12:33We're starting to see some concerning trends on satellite imagery notable in eye starting to form and some deep thunderstorms right around the center as well. This is a visible satellite over the course of the past six hours or so. And we're going to zoom right in. And you can actually see the eye clearing out. You can see straight down to the ocean on our graphics there. So we don't want to see that. But there's a lot of interesting things that play here. National are the hurricane hunters have been sampling the environment in and around this area. They have not found a pressure drop indicating what would be a strengthening hurricane. However, the winds have increased here since the previous update to 100 miles per hour now. It's a very important thing to do in the next category to it is likely going to peak overnight tonight in intensity and it will be a weakening phase as it approaches the northern Gulf late tomorrow and into early Saturday. But there's a lot of wind shear and dryer trying to work into the western side of the storm. And it's how much it interferes with the system is still to be determined. One thing's for sure when we mix in wind shear. We get an expanding windfield. So the impacts will be felt far outside of the center of the storm.

13:42We're encompassing about 250 miles in diameter with tropical storm force winds lesser, of course, for the hurricane force winds. And depending on exactly where this makes landfall, we will see storm surge and likely power outages as well. In fact, that will work its way inland as a storm races northward. So let's time it out for you. If you are under mandatory evacuations, the time to leave is now through about tomorrow morning sunrise. That will be your last opportunity because the rain shield will be knocking on your doorstep conditions deteriorate throughout the course of the day across the northern Gulf and the potential here on the right front quadrant. We call that the dirty side of a hurricane. And there's a reason for that. The winds I talked about just a moment ago, that is going to put a spin in the atmosphere and any of these supercell thunderstorms that form, perhaps some tornadoes across the western Florida panhandle and extending northward into the interior as well. There's a look at the rain, flash flooding and storm surge associated with this. All right, Derek Van Dam, thanks so much. Let's talk about the impact this storm could have on your wallet, even for those who live far away from the Gulf Coast. Tom Closa is the chief energy adviser at Gulf Oil, Tom oil companies are taking precautions, both shell and BP say they're evacuating nonessential workers from the offshore sites. What would happen if those platforms were damaged or even destroyed?

15:01I don't think they'll be damaged or destroyed based on the track of the storm. And let me just put it in perspective. There's about 1.3 million barrels a day of production that shut in in the Gulf of Mexico. Now that's the equivalent of maybe one super tanker. So we've been dealing with the loss of crude oil and other. That make this look small. I think the worry, the biggest worry is for refining and the biggest worry doesn't come from wind damage or even from storm surge, but will the utilities will the power grid manage to stay stable because right now it could be a category to storm, but there is zero zero tolerance for any refining losses in the US on top of the hurricane. So the hurricane obviously Saudi Arabia is reporting strikes. There have been attacks on tankers in the state of Hormuz. All of this combined. Do you expect gas prices here in the US to go up in the coming days and weeks?

16:05It's going to be mixed in the next week or so because you've got a bunch of states North Carolina dropped their state tax from 41 cents to zero this morning. You've got a bunch of states acting like that and you're putting off the bill. So it's probably going to be not suspect that on Columbus day will be paying the highest prices ever by far. And by election day, there's going to be a $4 handle on gas and there's going to be a $6 handle on diesel oil passing through the straight head rebounded before this week. How long do expect that ripple effect to show up at gas stations? Well, you know, it's tough when you wake up in the morning and crude is up $45 gas lanes up 8 to 10 and diesels up 24, you know, anything's possible. My sense is that we won't go dramatically higher on this storm or on what's happened in the Persian Gulf. Again, if you hear that Iran or one of their surrogates attacks things in the Persian Gulf, like they did in the last 24 hours.

17:11Where if the hoodies go after refineries and the Red Sea, you know, all of the numbers come into play at that point. It's a mess. There's no question about Tom Closow. Thanks so much. Appreciate it coming up the direct impact of skyrocketing diesel prices. See how that's translating to higher prices for you well before this hurricane makes landfall. But first the big day in court as President Trump tries to ban news media outlets from access to the White House. The award winning American Airlines Advantage Program rewards more than travel. It takes your whole life to new heights. Our miles when you fly as well as with thousands of your favorite brands and then redeem those miles for flights, upgrades and experiences worldwide. Advantage members also enjoy earlier boarding and free high speed Wi-Fi in flight. Join for free and start earning towards your next adventure at AA.com slash Spotify.

18:13In a long justices lead a federal judge is considering whether to grant a lengthier block on aspects of President Trump's press ban against CNN, MSNOW and Politico. A decision is expected by next Tuesday. If not sooner, but for now US District Judge Timothy Kelly temporarily preserved the news outlets access to the White House. CNN's Evan Pettis was in the courtroom for today's hearing. Evan how did Judge Kelly a Trump appointee we might remind people react to the Trump administration's attempted defense of this ban? Well he was very skeptical of their defense. He said it was an uphill climb for the Justice Department in part because he's already ruled Jake in this temporary training order that the news organizations were not provided to do process which is the law, certainly the law in this circuit. And so he kept noting that he is bound by the precedent in this circuit that goes back to the Jim Acosta case and a couple of other cases which show that you cannot rescind media access without giving the news organizations some effort or some ability to redress any concerns that you have.

19:21So he kept going back to that saying that essentially you have not really proven anything and everything you've said that this is not a violation of the due process. So that's the due process issue. There's also of course a First Amendment Freedom of the Press issue. Did the judge have anything to say about that? Yeah I mean he kept probing the Justice Department on the question of the President's claim for instance of fake news and he wanted to find out who's going to be the arbiter of that. Now for instance an article that the Justice Department cited as one reason why media access was being rescinded from one of these news organizations and he said vibes are bad right this is a reference in one of the articles and he said well who's to say right that seems like a very tenuous thing for someone to make that decision. And he also questioned obviously the Justice Department pointed out well it's okay for the President to say that it's fake news especially if it's based on anonymous sources. Now mind you Jack you and I have covered this administration and others and you have tons of briefings that is organized by the official briefings.

20:26So in some briefings with the White House and other administration you know parts of the administration in which they stipulate that you have to say senior administration official anonymous sources. And so that's part of the business of doing journalism in Washington and so that's the irony of the Justice Department saying that using anonymous sources really points to the fake news that the President is complaining about. Kevin Pedestink so much President Trump said today anyone who uses the term artificial intelligence instead of super intelligence is an enemy. We'll see if a leader on his new super intelligence group task force agrees that's next. The real cost of a break in isn't your valuables it's the feeling that your home stopped being safe simply safe keeps danger away from your family with three layers of protection. One smart AI cameras and live US based agents help stop intruders before they break in.

21:29Two we sound the alarm at points of entry three our agents request emergency response play and starting around a dollar a day right now get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring at simply safe calm slash Spotify. Outdoor to turns plans starting 49 a month visit simply safe calm slash licenses for alarm license information. You're listening to a quick ad you know what else is quick selling your car on Carvana just put in your vehicle information and we'll give you an offer. Ton no hassle no negotiation no guy from an online listing lowball in you which means by the time I'm done explaining this you could have basically done it. Still haven't started hey better late than ever sell your car today on Carvana pick up fees may apply. Now the latest in our recurring series AI friend or foe using the term super intelligence instead of artificial intelligence is apparently.

22:30A new loyalty task for president Trump today on truth social he posted quote the what has considers anyone that uses the term artificial intelligence as opposed to the highly accepted new and more accurate term super intelligence. The enemy super intelligence is also the name of Trump's new AI task force let's bring in a leader of this group office of personnel management director Scott Cooper Scott thanks so much for being here. I mean I use the term artificial intelligence I don't mean anybody any offense by it but like I'm an enemy I can't protect you you know but yes SI is is the new work is the new term but I mean is is. Sam all going to change the name of his company I don't know but you may have seen you on did right so you on change the name of his company he's now calling X SI I believe so there's not going to actually be any sort of punishment I don't I don't know I I you got to ask the president that that I'm not briefed on to talk to you about today so Trump is facing criticism for having the country's largest AI company signed that morally binding set of voluntary safety guard rails and I guess the question I have is.

23:31Isn't that flexibility kind of dangerous considering the the power we're talking about I mean that shouldn't there be like a binding legally binding list of rules of the road here yeah so I would say a couple things that first of all. It's not just you know kind of their responsible for their own stuff so as part of that contract they signed they agreed that they would have external third party auditors reviewing it and as you probably know obviously you know if you sit in a public company board in particular outside auditors typically report to the board directors and so if an outside security. Outer comes back to these companies and says hey we got a problem here that board is going to have to actually respond and do something so it's not it is truly legally binding in that respect which is all the traditional fiduciary duties and kind of duties that aboard O's the second thing I would just add is look as I know we'll talk about you know the president put together this Si force that myself and and three others yeah Clayton a me a Michael and and are far the first in the FTC are running I think you should expect that look it's we're not going to sit around and just say great like we're wonderful we're thrilled you can. You guys signed this piece of paper and you know we should just be done and dusted the whole purpose of this committee is to figure out okay what is the comprehensive set of policies that we think meet the dual goals that the president has which is look at the president thinks we should continue to win I certainly believe this is an important fight in a battle that we should win

24:47in a battle that is also said we need to figure out how to do it in a way that's responsible to the economic and national sovereignty needs of the American people so that's what we're going to obviously balance as part of this I understand we're at the beginning of this kind of I don't know if regulations even the word but but for example what we know about AI models that have gone rogue we know because anthropic or an ally whatever I've told us is there an obligation that they have to tell you or Jake Clayton or anyone else next time there is an incident yeah so this is definitely one of the things that I want to say is that I want to do this and I want to do that. that we are going to take up as part of this task force is we need to make sure we have an appropriate, let's call it a notification paradigm for lack of a better word. So we want to encourage the companies and you're seeing this more and more now. We want to encourage the companies to have a paradigm where they say, look, when we see something report it to us and then look, it's in coming upon us as the government then to make sure, okay, what do we do with that information? So is it a FAA issue? So we got to go talk to Department of Transportation, make sure they know what's happening. So again, a lot of what we're going to try to do is talk to obviously the model companies, talk to all the agencies in the government including the intelligence agencies, figure out what

25:49they need. We're also going to go talk to you and this is where I'm going to spend my time is all the various other infrastructure companies. So financial services, you know, oil and gas companies, energy companies, anybody for whom some type of security related incident might obviously turn into a major issue and we've got to figure out a notification system, we've got to figure out a communication system and ultimately action plans to make sure that the American people, you know, feel that they can, they're safe and they can trust the technology. I don't think the American people are prepared for the job losses that are probably going to happen in the next, I'm told year or two. What is the Trump administration? What is Congress doing to prepare people a, psychologically, like this is coming and b, worker retraining some sort of pads so people like can get by, like what needs to happen? What do you want to see happen? Yeah, so one thing I would just note is look so far today, if you, if you were, on the clock about 18 months ago, people like Darro, for example, were actually talking about a coming job apocalypse. So far actually, if you look at jobs, what all the data is shown is that actually we've increased jobs as a result of

26:50a, and I hope that that's true to you, right? And that's, and that's, as you well know, look, when you look at most technological changes, that's what happens. But I agree with you, people are concerned about it. What you have seen and what you will see more from the Department of Labor is there are a bunch of retraining programs that are happening and you will see kind of us address this very, very directly as part of the work that we're doing at our task force. So the, the, I talked to Bill Gates about this for an interview that's going to air Sunday on State of the Union. And there are two things that he's most worried about. One is bad actors and there certainly is no shortage of them in this world. Learning how to make, for instance, a dirty bomb or some sort of bio weapon using the knowledge of AI or SI, whatever. And then, and that's also the threat of cyber attacks. You, you, having these big brains figure out how to do things that humans cannot do. What is being done about that? And how do you reassure the public that we're going to be okay? Yeah. So I think there's a couple things again that you'll see us in act as part of this task force.

27:52One is there is a whole set of laws and regulations that deal with kind of what you're describing the bad actor scenario. So there, you know, DOJ has all kinds of criminal statutes. As do, as as the FTC have civilian stats. Are there enough? Are there enough rules? I think there are. I think look, every corporation has a very basic responsibility to make sure that when they put things out, they put things out that they deem safe and appropriate, you know, for consumer use. Now, look, if a bad actor comes along and takes technology, again, you know, we have the ability of course to go after that bad actor through existing criminal laws. On the other side, though, what's really important is, you know, as you mentioned before, is we've got to protect things on the cyber side as well. So a lot of what you're going to see us do is make sure we have a lot more teeth, you know, behind all the activities of the companies themselves. We have notification schemes. We will have kind of, you know, contingency plans across all the different agencies. And the goal will be to make sure that, you know, if it turns out that there's something there, the government is going to be as well, you know, educated and as well prepared for this as we can be for any possible scenario. Office of personal management director Scott Cooper from the AI or super intelligence

28:53task force. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it. Please come back. We're going, we've been covering this for a while. We're going to get cover on it. Thank you, Jack. Also, today, President Trump handed out several of the nation's highest science and technology honors, including Tesla and SpaceX, CEO Elon Musk. The national medal of science to Elon Musk of SpaceX for engineering achievements of extraordinary ambition and scale that have pushed the frontiers of space exploration, intelligent systems, communications, and beyond. Other honorees included in video CEO Jensen Wong and Google's co-founder Sergei Brin, the White House says quote, these recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation. In an election cycle that could tip the balance of power in Congress, two top Trump advisors were reportedly playing politics in the Balkans. The source says the president is pissed, their language, not mine. But what exactly is he mad about? We're going to get into that next.

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31:00My panel is here, so there's less than a month to go until the midterms and there, two of Trump's top advisors, when this storm is coming for Republicans. I mean, we don't know how big it's going to be, but whatever. Let's get paid by Russia. Are often the Balkans working for pro-Russian governments? What are Republicans that you talked to saying about this? Well, I think you've probably heard that they're repeating what we heard about what went on in the White House once Donald Trump found out about it. This stuff is kind of, it had been bubbling over some time now, and then when the story dropped and from what I'm hearing, it may not end with just those two, as far as being in the White House. There may be other shoes to actually drop, but Donald Trump doesn't just need to distance himself. He needs to put the, what is that? The Gulf of, like America. Like America? It's not the Gulf of America. He needs to put the Gulf of America and the Lake of America between him. Then I think, I think, Lasavita, he what did, I think earlier in the year, Donald Trump said that he was taking a leave of

32:03absence, like April, but forget the leave of absence. Donald Trump needs to cut ties with both of them, because this is on the backs of what we just saw with Donald Dunn Jr. with the oligarch thanks for his wedding celebration. Like, stop all of this. What this is, this is a lot of greed, and it's taking over the administration and Donald Trump should cut ties. What do you think about this? I mean, I've heard Democrats say this feeds into the corruption narrative, but I don't know what you think. I mean, it's not really a narrative. I don't, it's just a corruption avalanche, I think, is what you've got in this White House. If Mr. I don't think about the American people's economic problems, says that you're being tone deaf, that's probably a bad sign. You know, if Donald Trump is saying, hey guys, whoa, settle down, the midterms are coming, right? Then you've gone probably too far for any reasonable person. I think, yeah, this administration is its worst nightmare. They're the Republicans worst nightmare. There's no, you know, Democrats are like, what, 40% approval? If you don't, yeah. But luckily, they're head and shoulders above Donald

33:04Trump, who is in the gutter and the Republican party. So right now, what you see is a, as a democratic party that has the wind in their sales of the hatred of Trump and the Republicans. So, meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is on his own campaign tour trying to save the House. He's appearing alongside some of his more vulnerable members. Listen to what he told Fox earlier today about his efforts to keep a Republican majority. If you lose the House, who's fault is that? If we lose the House, it would be because the people were misled. Ronald Reagan used to say you could trust the American people. Does your fall on your shoulders? I don't know how it could be. I mean, I'm traveling nonstop. What do you think? Beyond that, that we win. Giant giggle. I did it. If we win, it's on me. My dad used to say what was really great about Peyton Manning is if they lost, he took the blame and if they won, he gave away the credit. So it's interesting to see, and he said that's what the sign of a good leader was. Looks like Mike Johnson's going the other way. They lose. It's just people didn't get informed. They were too stupid. We didn't do enough. They didn't read enough

34:08about all the great things we had done. And I'll bet if they win, he'll take credit. And I have to say, we quoted this conservative activist, I think her name is Brittany Martinez earlier in the show. She told Newsweek, basically Trump is setting up a scenario that if they keep the house, it's great. It's a win. And if they lose, it's because it was stolen. And not because of policies. And I believe, I don't want to speak for her, but I believe she's saying, look, there's some serious policy issues that conservatives in the mega coalition take issue with, especially with the war in Iran. What do you make of this leadership or lack thereof? I think that Donald Trump, I don't think that he will focus so much on the election being stolen. Donald Trump being Donald Trump more than likely. Donald Trump will say that the reason that we lost is because I wasn't on the ballot. And that is something that we've seen kind of Donald Trump say before. These races have to be ran on at the local level because the national politics is not popular. So you have to talk about what's happening in your state, whether that's a Florida, whether that's a Texas or Maine or a South Carolina. If it's focused on the national politics,

35:12you know, we're not going to have a good night. But I think we still have a very good chance of keeping the Senate. It's going to be a smaller margin than the 2.6 between Beto-Ovarian and Ted Cruz. But I think we'll keep the Senate and the House is looking a bit iffy. How local do you have to go before things are good though? Like you say, if it's the national environment locally, like, you know, even though six bucks are gallon across Tennessee. So what you have to do, we just saw Byron Donnells down in Florida. He was talking about the Black vote. He was talking about data centers. Those are some of the things that are important. Talking about lowering taxes. We saw a similar thing with Ken Paxson. The ad he actually just ran on Tallarico where he's talking about, he's criticized in Tallarico, but he's talking about the work that he's done as Attorney General. I think that was around human trafficking or something. And then that's the guy that was raping the kid. Well, that's not exactly what happened. That's not exactly what happened. That's not exactly what happened. That wasn't in his office. On the subject of Tallarico, he's been the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas. He's been sick. So he's been off the campaign trail. President Trump noted his absence and posted

36:17on social media. Tallarico has been missing for 12 days now after looking for him throughout all of Texas and beyond probably even weirder places than anyone would think possible. He put out a statement that he has the quote, flew, 12 days is a long time to rid yourself of the so-called flue bug. What's going on? I mean, if people are sick, people are just sick. We have to remember that when Donald Trump, two days after Donald Trump, I think got out of Wall to read when he had COVID, he was back at the house, a White House with another rally. So he fights through it. I imagine this is part of his criticism. I don't think that Tallarico and all of these type of things, these are things that appeal to MAGA. It doesn't appeal to independence. I doubt it appeals to even those recalcitrant Democrats who were uncomfortable with Paxton. Yeah, I mean, Trump's up against the same headwinds as Biden was before. I mean, this is the problem. Ignoring the same thing. And interestingly, both presidents that are now saying we didn't do a good enough job

37:19telling people how good a job we did, right? That seems to be the go-to. It's always a comms issue. But that's the problem with Trump. He just simply walks over his message. Well, I mean, in your life, or attacking Tom Cotton. About the day like this every time. I can tell. Well, given that a phone number, did you get it? It was there. Quickly, Axios is reporting the Trump and the White House are frustrated with Fox. And how Fox is covering Michigan Senate Democrat candidate Abdul Al-Sayed. Because they've been giving Abdul Al-Sayed interviews. And Abdul Al-Sayed has been doing well in them. And in the White House's view, allowing himself to portray himself as more moderate than he is, Trump posted about Fox's Macat and Martha Macalman interview with Elsaid this week calling it a softball saying Fox spends more time covering the dumbot crats than the Republicans. And of course, Abdul Al-Sayed's campaign put this out about how the Trump people are trying to get Fox to stop booking him. Yeah, I mean, just putting somebody on Fox doesn't mean it's going to go well. You can go really, really badly. You know, Abdul could have gone there and fallen on his face and made,

38:22you know, made horrible gaffes. I mean, they tried to keep President Biden off of TV. Let me just also say Martha Macalman did not do a softball. It wasn't softball. No, not at all. Right. And besides the fact, you know, when I turn in, I see Islamist a lot. I mean, they really refer to Abdul in some pretty strange ways. They're not really what you would call pumping. They're not doing that campaign event. No, but I guess the point is that he's handling himself better than Trump would like him to. Yes, and Trump has a problem with it. But, you know, stop going to Fox if you have a problem with it or this is the same thing similar criticism that people had about his bromance. So you don't like al-said, but you do have a bromance with Mondani. Interesting. Thanks to both you appreciated coming up next issue number one for many voters. The economy cost of life. We're breaking down the supply chain. Just how long it takes to see those high diesel prices reflected at grocery stores and why promises to bring oil prices down are much easier said than done. Traditional home security only alerts you after a break in and that's too late.

39:23Simply safe is changing that. Stop. This is simply safe. Police are on the way. We don't just alert. We help stop crime before it starts. Plan starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring at simplysafe.com slash Spotify. Simply safe ahead of crime in real time. Outdoor to turn plans start at $49.99 a month. Visit simplysafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information. We're back in our money lead and a closer look at the impact of skyrocketing diesel fuel prices and the ripple effect on you, the consumer. Here's seen an instantatoche. We are going to need reinforcements. Okay. Angel and George Diaz can tell the price of groceries around the country are about to go up. Like potentially frozen chicken or frozen turkey. The brothers co-owned JD and L.A. trucking near the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. They took over the family business when their father passed away. They've got 20 trucks hauling goods from the two largest and busiest

40:27ports in the US. A lot of it is perishable and needing refrigeration. Which takes more diesel. Earlier this year, it was $5.15. Today, I checked it here locally. It's at around $8.30. Diaz took me along to fill up one of their trucks as the price of diesel hit a new record. We're only at 18 gallons and we're already 150 bucks. I mean, it's not necessarily double what you're paying last year or is it? It's close to. So if we would have topped off, we would have spent about $1,600. What? Yeah. 1600 to fill up one truck. Each truck needs to fill up once or twice a week. And if their whole fleet runs at capacity, that's up to a quarter million dollars a month. The typical trucker will save over $100 every time they fill up. And President Trump's recent executive order aimed at lowering diesel prices likely isn't going to help them. The order temporarily lets truckers use a type of cheaper diesel called red dye diesel on highways instead of just off-road. But each state makes its own rules about where red dye

41:29diesel can be used and how it's taxed. And California still has restrictions on it. Unfortunately, it looks like we're in it for the long run and that's the scary part. There's still a crude oil supply problem, but more recently, a diesel production bottleneck. Because major refineries in the Middle East and Russia have been damaged by wars involving Iran and Ukraine, trucking companies have to decide how much of the increase to pass along to their clients, who then decide how much to pass along to their consumers, like Lydia Sanchez. Where the ones we're going to pay, you know, if we want to eat whatever we want to eat, we have to pay. It's as come out of our pocket. Sanchez has already cut down how much beef she buys. And Angelic Avasquez has taken on a second job. We just tried to survive and it's really hard, especially for the guys. I hope the president gives more this mark. The gas will go down as soon as the war's over, it'll drop like a rock. The Food Industry Association says it takes 30 to 45 days for a spike in diesel prices to trickle down to prices and grocery stores.

42:32But Rolanda Pozos is trying hard not to raise prices at all. He's the CEO of Amapola Market, a small chain of Mexican grocery stores in Southern California. We can see how our suppliers start adjusting prices and they put you that surcharge that we all love to see, that fuel surcharge and it's definitely hard to swallow. Both Amapola and JD and L.A. trucking are family-owned businesses who have served their communities for decades. It's going to get to the point where is this even worth, is it worth operating? What would your dad say? He would say that we've made it through worse and that we're going to make it through this one. Natasha Chen, CNN Los Angeles. This is CNN Breaking News. Welcome to the lead on Jake Tapper. We start this hour with breaking news in our National Lead New York Police confirmed that a person was shot during an encounter with federal immigration officers. This was just north of Manhattan. In the southern tip of the Bronx,

43:34let's get right to CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller with the Breaking Details. John, what are you hearing from your law enforcement sources about this breaking news? Well, Jake, we know a little bit and we'll go through that. There's a lot we don't know. A lot of that is because the NYPD is trying to piece together that information now because they don't work with ICE in the field on immigration matters. So they were not there when the shooting happened and they responded after the fact and are trying to gather information at the same time everybody else is from the federal government. But here's what we know. Around 4 p.m. today, officers from ICE, the enforcement removal office, the ERO agents. These are the core group of agents that are sent to go after identified illegals in the field. That's their main job. There was an encounter with one of the people they were targeting. We are told, and I got to say all of this is preliminary because it's still developing. In that encounter,

44:41shots were fired by the agents. Individual was wounded, transferred to a nearby hospital where I am told at this point his injuries are not considered life threatening. But that's again also preliminary. The two agents also were reportedly injured, although not shot, and they are being treated as well. John Miller, thanks so much. Now to our other lead story, tonight, fresh reaction from Trump administration officials after a MAGA donor revealed that the US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Gilfoil, begged him for cash to pay off her $100,000 AMX bill just before her Senate confirmation hearing to become ambassador. The donor, Eric Dieter, is told the Wall Street Journal that he believed it was a quid pro quo to get him the access to Trump administration officials that he wanted as he dealt with, quote, personal tax and legal issues. Ambassador Gilfoil whom we should note is Donald Trump Jr.'s former fiancée was in regular contact with

45:43Dieter's last year. Dieter's made an unsuccessful run for a house in Kentucky in 2024. He says he has supported Donald Trump since his first presidential run 2016, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump and his family through speaking fees and donor events. Dieter's shared with the journal tax messages between him and Gilfoil. He also shared them with us at CNN, including one chat on July 3rd, 2025. Six days before her confirmation hearing, when Gilfoil texted Dieter's, quote, honey, please, I need you to get this done for me today. Hours later, she wrote, quote, it won't show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express. That's all it will show, please. Just a couple minutes later, she wrote, I can get you in for a meeting on the matter we discussed. Please get back to me ASAP, unquote. Dieter says he did not end up wiring her the money because he didn't have the money in liquid assets at the time. A lawyer for Ambassador Gilfoil disputes the authenticity of the tax. Dieter says he revealed the story because he wants the Trump administration to extradite an Ohio spine surgeon who fled to Pakistan after being charged with

46:49healthcare fraud and performing unnecessary surgeries. Earlier today, Ambassador Gilfoil was at the airport with Secretary of State Mark Rubio in Athens and Secretary Rubio was asked about the story. Our job is not to respond every time someone decides to give the media something without any advance warning. You guys somehow walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it's a gospel. It's not the gospel. It's not the gospel for me. Secretary Rubio was engrieved to meet with world leaders and delivered a speech about democracy in American foreign policy at the Acropolis. Back in the United States, Vice President J.D. Vance was asked what he thought of a scenario when an American ambassador would try to exchange access for money. This is what the Vice President said. With that hypothetical, Jen, obviously, I don't love that, but I don't know who exactly you're talking about. I don't know the full details. Joining us now, Eric Dieter, Eric, there you are. Hello, you there.

47:49Eric, you shared a good to see you. You shared a big report with us that includes those messages. In that report, you say, Gilfoil is wicked. Kimberly knows plenty. Thus, the peaceful exile to Greece ambassador ship. What do you mean by she knows plenty? Well, that's just common sense. I mean, when Don Jr. and her broke up, she gets to Greek ambassador ship. It's my opinion that that was throwing her a bone. She could find herself a Greek billionaire and the trumps could have peace. However, it's not working out very good because she's been flying around Europe with a energy lobbyist. And now she's having a deal with the allegations that I've brought forward against her. What do you think she was expecting when she was asking you for this money? I mean, obviously, she thought you were going to give her the money, but why would you give her the money? I'm going to tell the story real quick.

48:53After the 2024 Patriots Day Freedom Fest, I wanted to bring attention to the Dr. Durrani victims, the way medical protective was committing massive fraud. I wanted Durrani extra-dited back here in the United States. So what I did, an out-president, Trump was president, what I did is I told Kimberly, I said, Kimberly, if you help me draw attention to this, when the A-Settles, I'll give you a million bucks and she said fine. And she said that she start doing all these things for me. By the way, my tax issue was not a criminal tax issue. It's a dispute on a tax deduction. And I felt like Biden had targeted me because I was a Trump supporter. It's not a big deal. It's a tax court. That is Wall Street Journal made that bigger part of the story. So here's what went down. She claimed that she was going to get me on Tucker Carlson and all this stuff, but none of that ever happened. So right before her cynic confirmation, she says to me, I need $100,000 to pay off my American express card,

49:54or I'm not going to become Greek ambassador. This is embarrassing. And I said, Kimberly, you haven't done anything that I've asked you to do. I mean, just nothing. She hadn't accomplished anything. And I said, Kimberly, why should I do this for you? And she told me, it's in the text messages, I'll be your rider, die forever in a Trump administration. I won't keep track of how many favors, how big the favors. So that's why she asked for it. There was no question. It was a quid pro quo. She knew she was nominated. She tried to cover it up. She wanted to paper it by coming up with this idea that it was for past consulting fees. And I wrote her that fake letters saying, here's for those fake consulting fees. But she's talking deeper whole now. She says the text messages are fake. I proved that to the Wall Street Journal. They're not. She said that I was a known blackmailer, never blackmailed anybody, never been charged with blackmail. And she's basically dug a deeper hole for herself. So let me ask you, the journal says that Gilfoil told her friends

50:57that she was broke before the confirmation hearing underwater on several liabilities after her engagement to Donnie. Junior was broken off, including a boat loan, a mortgage, Med Spa, a New York vodka company. You share text that reveals she was pretty sensitive about her financial situation. Is this quid pro quo situation that you allege? Is this standard operating procedure in the Trump orbit? Because I know you've given money to other people in the Trump world for speaking fees and such. The only folks in Trump world that I think still access and of course I don't know everybody in Trump world, but I know a lot of them. I know Corey Lewandowski did it all the time. I know Christie Knome did it. I know Kimberly Gilfoil has done it. I'm not aware personally of others in the Trump administration that sell access like this quid pro quo. I will

51:58share with you that I am and we might disagree with some of this Jake, but I just so you know about my motivation here. I have been a Trump supporter forever. I still consider myself a supporter of Trump's policies for the most part, but I've never cared for Trump's egomania like the Trump arch and all that stuff. I do support the ballroom, but I don't like Trump's lifestyle is not for me. Okay, but the other thing I don't like is I bash the Biden's all the time for what I saw is shadow criminality with Hunter and the family. Well, what the Trumps are doing is just totally different. Jared Kushner is involved in the Abraham recall accords and then does a $3 billion fund with Saudi Arabia. Don Jr. Trump says crypto is a scandal and then his son's getting involved in crypto and all of a sudden Trump's a proponent of crypto. So they're adding to their wealth just out in the open. They're not drifting. They're just getting appointed to boards and boom.

53:00Value stock goes up. They get some stock. They make some money. And now Jared Kushner's an envoy over the Middle East and wants to help develop the Gaza Strip. I mean, it's it's kind of sickening. It's it's two sides of the same coin and that's that bothers me. Eric Deeters, thank you so much for your time today. Sir, I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. Breaking news. Hurricane Issa, yes, has intensified is now a powerful category storm. Why forecasters are so concerned about how powerful category two storm? Why forecasters are so concerned about its expected north turn. Plus the crew of the USS Lincoln is finally home after 10 and a half long months at sea. Supply problems, low morale, even eight attempted suicides that we know of CNN is with the crew stay with us.

54:17Kettickets Friday October 16th at LiveNation.com. Death Lepert through Kukudas. In our national aid, many moving moments today as service members from the USS Abraham Lincoln officially docked in California after their record 322 day deployment including 265 days at sea without a port call. CNN's Pamela Brown was aboard the Lincoln and spoke with a new dad really ready to meet his baby for the very first time. Mixed in the emotion on this Navy pier are 122 sailors who have never met their children. The only person my daughter knows is my wife right now. Joey Montemoreno's daughter Madeline Grace was born while he was away at sea. These images are all

55:17he knows of his 10 month old child. What are you going to do when you see them? Probably cry a little bit. I try to hold back the tears while I kiss my wife hug my wife and meet this baby that I've never met before that I can't wait to meet in an interact with. We met Joey and many more of the roughly 5,000 sailors at sea on the USS Lincoln as they headed into port. Most admit, their returning home changed. This is the hardest one I have to had to deal with so I feel like if I could do this one I could do anything. It's the end of a harrowing 322 day deployment that faced scrutiny over the living conditions on board and low morale that included attempted suicides. When the man overboard that was a crazy day. Many confirmed the uncertainty around the extended deployment brought mental challenges. Just thinking about my family and things going on back home that you can't control. I would go to prayer service with the chaplains and that would help out a lot. Others we met confirmed food supplies ran low at times.

56:21I was in cargo for a while the people that bring the food up and I was in there during the tough times not a lot of food was bringing brung up but as we progressed it got better. It was stressed but we never shut anything down. Captain Dan Keeler, commanding officer of the Lincoln, Telsian and supplies were mainly affected when support ships under threat from Iran were forced to alter their movement in the region. We served 14,000 to 16,000 meals a day four times a day so four meals a day. We never missed a meal not for 10 and a half months. There were some sacrifices made. Maybe there was only one protein option instead of two but there was always food. Some of the family members had a town hall with Navy leadership because they were really concerned about their loved ones on this ship. They were getting pictures of toilets overflowing and mold. What do you say to that? What I'll say to all the families is they were also amazing. You can't do what we just did without a lot of support. I think a lot of the reporting focused on some anecdotal things because we looked into all this stuff and there really were no systemic issues.

57:22It's a big ship. It's a floating city. We have a toilet gets clogged. Eventually gets fixed. Kailer acknowledges there were five suicide attempts on the Lincoln itself and three others on its support ships. He says anyone with mental health problems had access to treatment on the ship. The most severe cases were sent home. We had zero suicides. We had zero casualties on the ship. Every single sailor that left is coming home. And they're coming home awarded with a presidential unit citation. The military's highest honor for a unit in battle. It's going to be pretty cool to be able to wear that and tell everybody why I'm wearing it and what I did to wear it. On board you could feel the anticipation as we pulled into port. Moments later, among this flood of emotion, Joey Montemarino, a father who served on a ship at war. Now with his daughter, together in peace. She's perfect. Such a beautiful reunion there.

58:24And Jake, you could appreciate this as a dad. Joey actually took classes on board the ship with other dads who had kids while they were deployed to learn how to change diapers and hold babies and all kinds of stuff like that. So now it's going to be put into practice and the reintegration for all these new dads and everyone else who came off this ship begins today. So much excitement, but there's a lot in the road ahead as they adjust back to normal life. Not just for the humans on board, Jake, but also for our furry friends, Captain Fathom, who was on board. This ship is a therapy dog, one of the many resources for those on board. He's also coming off today as well. I got to meet him yesterday, so that was a lot of fun. But you know, the families are reunited today, Jake. That's very exciting, but they're already having to look ahead because in two months, the ship Abraham Lincoln's going to be moved to Washington state to get a whole cleanup and everything like that. It needs that you see all the rust and the crew. A lot of the crew will have to move to Washington and just a couple of months from now. Are you?

59:25I mean, Jake, sorry. No, it's Jake here. Are you going to be taking Captain Fathom? A long day. I can imagine. Are you going to be taking Captain Fathom home with you? Is that, are you adopting him? Is that a thing? I have a tendency of just taking random animals home with me. I know. But I think Captain Fathom belongs to the Navy. And so it was made very clear to me that yeah, he's off limits unfortunately. That's a dog that got a lot of scritches. I'll tell you that. Great stuff. Pamela Brown, thank you so much. Golf Coast, a major heads up that hurricane off your coast is now a category two storm. It just intensified. We're going to check in with CNN team stationed in the potential impact zone. Stay with us. You Breaking news in our National Elite Hurricane, Isai Yass has rapidly intensified, growing from a 40 mile per hour tropical storm to a 100 mile per hour category two hurricane

1:00:25in just 24 hours. Forecasters are worried about the storms expected north turn, hitting the golf coast at an angle that could send water straight toward land, theoretically causing a dangerous storm search. CNN's Alison Chanchar is in the CNN Weather Center to break down this coastal weather phenomenon. Yeah, problems with Alison's audio obviously. Parts of Alabama are under a state of emergency as the storm closes in. CNN's Isabel Rosalas is in Orange Beach, Alabama, where officials are urging residents to leave now. Isabel? The peak impacts from Hurricane Isai Yass isn't expected here in the golf stores area until late Friday afternoon into the evening before landfall. But all right, take a look at how choppy the golf is. The governor here of Alabama, K.I.V. has declared a state of emergency for 40 counties. And just this evening issued a mandatory evacuation order for all non-residents

1:01:29and tourists here in golf shores in Orange Beach and also Dolphin Island. This is something that the mayor of golf shores has been pushing for because his population here essentially tripled overnight. Lots of visitors in town for this annual festival that has since been canceled. His message in the governors, please get out. Isabel Rosalas in Orange Beach, Alabama, thanks so much. Parts of the Florida panhandle are also under evacuation orders. CNN's Rafael Romo is in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Rafael Howard, Florida officials preparing. Jake, it's the calm before the storm here in Pensacola, except for the fact that we've seen crowded stores and busy streets all day long as people stock up on necessities and preparation for the arrival of Isai Yass earlier today. Pensacola Mayor DC Reeves told me that he has declared a state of emergency here in his city. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had already declared on Tuesday a state of emergency for 25 counties

1:02:29in the path of the storm. City Hall here in Pensacola will be closed as well as it can be a county government building since schools starting Friday. Pensacola International Airport will be closed on Friday starting at 10 in the morning. Mayor Reeves also told me there will be evacuations in the Pensacola Beach area as well as the coastal areas that are expected to be hit hard by the storm. Highwater vehicles from the National Guard will also be deployed to the area. The mayor said while he reminded citizens that the time to prepare for Isai Yass is now with enough water, prescription medications and other necessities. Jake. All right, Rafael Ramo in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Thank you so much. Stay safe and as the system develops, you can also track the updates and possible impact using the CNN weather app. It's available now in the Apple store. Still ahead, a brand new interview with an attorney for one of the men accused in the Cornell University scandal why he says no crime was committed in that Cornell fraternity in 2024.

1:03:41We're back in the National League Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth said today that the firing squad execution of the man convicted in the forthood mass shooting would be a public execution. Former US Army major in psychiatrist Nidah Hassan was convicted of killing 13 people on the Texas Army base in 2009 and wounded dozens more inspired by extremist Islamic beliefs. Secretary Hagseth today told far right extremist Jack Posovic in an interview that people need to understand the serious consequences of this case. A Pentagon official said this execution will be live streamed. Just so you know, Posovic is, according to the Southern poverty law center, somebody who has quote, collaborated with white supremacists, neo-fascists, and anti-Semites for years, unquote, that's who the secretary of defense gave an interview to. This will be the Army's first firing squad execution of anyone since World War II of a soldier rather since World War II.

1:04:42And this public execution aspect of it does bring to mind another public televised execution. A fictitious one that was the climax of the Black Comedy Film Network, released in 1976. It was a movie that satirized corporate news and the lust for ratings. The idea of televised executions has been portrayed in other dystopian films portraying sick cultures. The running man in 1987 based on a Stephen King short story. There was an episode of Black Mirror and of course the Hunger Games. On to that list now comes the Trump administration. In our law and justice lead the attorney for one of the accused Cornell University students, Delcy and N that his client did not commit a crime. In fact the attorney says he believes all the men named in Jane Doe's civil lawsuit are not guilty. I've seen all of the evidence in the title line file. There was no crime committed, but I'm aware of so you don't believe a crime was committed at all not just with your clients' involvement but

1:05:45with everyone. Correct and I certainly don't think a crime was committed by Jillio. Andrew Miltonberg represents Jillio Lopez. He says that Lopez had consensual sex with Jane Doe on October 19th, 2024. In her 2024 statement to Cornell University police Jane Doe said Lopez was one of the men involved in a threesome with her that was initially consensual and that the alleged assault happened in Lopez's room at the Chi-5 fraternity house. Miltonberg says the public narrative will shift when all the evidence comes out. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is the journalist who spoke with that attorney today. Gloria what else did he say? Well Jake one important you know fact that we discussed today between the attorney and I is the fact that he says his client describes the sexual activity that happened between him and Jane Doe as consensual. He has described her as an active participant in that sexual activity. So this is important because as you said the incident took place inside Jillio Lopez's room but he has attorney denied that

1:06:51Lopes engaged in any drug use which is something that Jane Doe accused him of in her civil lawsuit. He also denies that you know there was any sort of assault. He says that this was all consensual between the two of them. Now I also wanted to speak to him about how his client is doing because this is the first time we are starting to hear from some of these attorneys right there are seven accused students some of them have issued statements through their lawyers but this is the first time that we're getting a real look at what the client has said so far about what actually went on and actually talking about how he is dealing with it all. Take a listen. There are clearly very real really serious allegations that are being made and it's ignited a conversation about this issue across campuses. Is he upset about that?

1:07:53The public has made an absolute decision on what amounts to little drips and dribs without context, sound bites, partial pieces of paper, rumors and hearsay. 90 or more percent of the evidence has not been seen has not been reviewed and so the fact that he and the other young men have been tried and convicted and hung effectively in public opinion with no one really knowing what happened. We've been in this case since the outset. I sometimes look on the social media and I can't believe what I'm reading. People are just completely disregarding the fundamental principles of our judicial system. Jake, he also told me that his client has been facing some harassment on

1:08:58campus. He remains enrolled at Cornell University but that he is just trying to take a day-by-day. In the end, he does not believe his client committed a crime and that he would ultimately be vindicated and as you heard him say there, he believes that most of the evidence in this case has yet to be seen by the public. All right, Gloria Pesbina, thank you so much. Calls to the National Sexual Assault Hotline for Rain have surged in the wake of this Cornell story. Let's bring in Megan Cutter, chief of victim services at Rain. That's the rape, abuse and incest national network, R-A-I-N-N Rain. Megan, thanks for being here. The National Sexual Assault Hotline, which is operated by Rain, reports calls are up 73 percent in just the last week alone. The president of R-Ansus, Jane Doe's story has inspired people to reach out. What do you make of that? That's absolutely what we're seeing. On Monday alone, we saw nearly double the amount of calls we typically receive in a day. And so what we're hearing from people is that what Jane Doe has shared and kind of the discourse that's ensued in the media and on social media is helping people

1:10:04look at their own experiences and identify something that they might not have identified before, which is that they've experienced sexual assault, sexual violence. We're also hearing from people who maybe were assaulted many years ago and have never told anyone and they're looking for a safe place to talk to as they process what's going on in the news and how it brings up their own experiences and their own stories. How are you able to deal with this increase? Do you have the resources to take in all these calls and emails? We would always love more resources certainly, but we've got an incredible team of staff and volunteers who are there 24-7 to meet people where they are and to let them know you're not alone. We believe you and also that this isn't your fault and there are resources to support you. So maybe you can help clear up some of the questions that I'm seeing online from people. Like the first one is how come her story has changed? How come initially in the early days before she even went to Cornell police, according to in the New York Times and according to her own words, she didn't necessarily think that she had been assaulted or

1:11:08raped, then a few weeks later she did and now there's even more of an evolution of her thinking. This type of experience is really common for survivors. Actually one of the questions that we get the most on the national sexual assault hotline is was I raped. When people are first processing an assault or some sort of active violence, often those first hours, days, even weeks are really about trying to understand and conceptualize what happened to them. Especially if they were drunk or on drugs. Absolutely. And then you add on how trauma impacts the memory and our brains and how we kind of look back at situations and the idea of identifying as a victim and saying this happened to me, that can be really scary and complicated for people. So it's very layered, but that experience of taking some time to understand what happened and then coming forward is something we see all the time on the hotline. And what do you make of there's been so much public discussion of this and a lot of people attacking her, attacking Jane Doe when actually

1:12:11this week she was she and people closer were doxed, swatted, lots of stuff and people going and doxing the accused as well. What do you make of all of that and how this discourse has has happened? I think we have to keep in mind that there are survivors in every room with us. More than 800 people are assaulted each day in the United States. And so that means that survivors are seeing what's happening to Jane Doe and they're saying well what might happen if I come forward. Some of the calls and texts and chats were getting to the hotline are people saying you know I was already kind of doubting myself in my own experience and now I'm hearing people in my life talk about you know that maybe this person is lying and so I don't feel safe coming forward. And so I think we have to remember that the way we talk about survivors can impact what people feel comfortable saying and reaching out for help about and and that's really important. We don't want to keep anyone from coming forward. We want to create an environment that's safe. All right Megan Cutter, thank you so much. For those who may need the resources at rain, the website is rain.org. That's

1:13:16our AI NN 2Ns or call 1-800-656-HOPE. 1-800-656-HOPE. Someone is available 24 hours a day. The 2026 midterm election cycle has been reportedly been a record year for campaign ad spending. We're going to show you some of the creative ways candidates are trying to get your attention and your vote. That's next. Back in our politics lead, cue the election music, please. Nice. 26 days left until election day. The midterm cycle is on track to get a record. 11.6 billion with a B. Billion dollars in ad spending more than both the 2024 midterm and the 2024 presidential cycle, according to ad impact. Main's Senate race is among the leaders in spending. Today President Barack Obama jumping in to endorse democratic nominee Troy Jackson in a new video. And this economy, we need a fighter like Troy. So do not sit this one out. Get out there and vote for

1:14:18Troy Jackson. My panel's here, Karen. That's about the first of about 24 videos, we're expecting to see from Obama to support Democrats in tough races in November. So he's still the closer, I guess. He is still the closer. There was a Democratic president after him just to remember. But anyway, keep going. Well, that one is also undergoing chemo therapy and then not great health, but that being said. So yeah, he's the closer. He's become, you know, Bill Clinton for a while with the explainer and chief. I think, you know, now we see Obama kind of playing that role. He is still a voice that matters. People will stop and pay attention and particularly in, and we you both know this obviously in this crowded environment breaking through is really hard. People are throwing out ads. And so having someone, you know, president, you know, Obama will make somebody pause and say, okay, he's endorsing. Maybe I should pitch attention. In South Carolina, Brad, a Democratic Senate candidate, Dr. Andy Andrews is confronting her

1:15:19opponent. Republican Senator, darling Graham, who was appointed to that seat after her brother, Lindsey Graham died directly in this new ad. The ad is about transgender issues because all of a sudden, President Trump was attacking Dr. Andrews as being pro-trans or something. Anyway, here is her response. I want you to hear me loud and clear. I don't support biological men playing women's sports and I don't support and haven't ever performed gender surgery for minors. I'm Dr. Annie Andrews and I approve this message because darling Graham lying about me won't do a thing to help you. Now, obviously, the economic issues are at forefront, but she must be doing this because she was worried that it was breaking through those attacks. Well, Democrats are culturally to the left of the people of South Carolina for sure. And they're, this problem they have in swing states all over the country. It's why they'll, the president won all seven target states in 2024. It's because of those cultural issues. And so it's smart for her to try to get in front of it.

1:16:23She's going to have to come out and say other Democrats are wrong on it if it's going to work. She's going to have to criticize her own party, all of whom voted for legislation that was opposite of what she just said. So I think she's doing the right thing politically. She probably have to go step further. You know, I mean, it's part of the pattern that we're seeing, right, where we're seeing Republicans across the country kind of going back to the playbook. They're trying the culture war issues, transgender issues. Part of the reason it was a problem in 2024, frankly, I've said this for a long time, we didn't have a good answer. Kamala Harris didn't want to answer the question. So you can't, I mean, it's hard to fight back when you're just leaving the information hanging out there. So it is, I agree that for candidates to get out there and say where they stand, I thought Gina and the host had a great one where she said, my pronouns are mother, wife, senator or governor, at which, you know, like, which was a little bit of a play on it, obviously. But I think what we're finding is that the economic pain is so intense that people just don't care as much about these cultural issues, as much as these cultural war issues,

1:17:23in as much as you see Trump trying to play them up, you see some of the other members of the cabinet trying to play them up and make these contests instead of about the issues, making it about the democratic candidates and where they might stand on some of these issues. Brad, I want to just bring in, I know we've got a lot to talk about here, but Texas is another state where ad spending is surpassing initial projections according to ad impact. Take a look at this new ad today from Texas Republican Congresswoman Beth Vandine, she represents a 24th district near Dallas for it worth, which went for Trump by 16 points in 2024. Take a listen. They're coming. I am a democratic socialist. A socialist mayor in New York City. We tell ourselves this won't happen in Texas. The truth is, they're already here. If you are okay with getting taxed more, you are welcome to join this movement that we are building. I'm Beth Vandine and it's time to stop the socialists. She doesn't even mention her own opponent in that ad. She's not running against James Tallerico. She's not running for Senate. She's just lumping in Tallerico with other democratic socialists around Mamdami, Corey Bush. What do you make of that tanker? Well, my business

1:18:28partner actually made that ad. I was not involved in it in its creation and I saw it for the first time today, but I think this again goes to the back to what we mentioned in South Carolina. Democrats are to the left of the mainstream in a lot of these swing districts on cultural issues. We've had about eight elections where cultural issues are the main thing. Democrats are betting big, as Karen said, that this is an economic selection. It'll be the first one we've had on economics in quite a while if it is. And it may well be on economic issues. But, you know, Beth Vandine's in a suburban district. It's very hard for her in a big market, Dallas. It's very hard for her opponent to get much name ID. She's trying to tell you who she's against and let him pay for his own name money. Let me just squeeze in one more ad because, you know, this is the season. The Super PAC aligned with Schumer's Senate Majority PAC. Here's a $2.5 million dollar outhitting Susan Collins for the Iran War and Stock Trading. Take a listen. I voted for Susan Collins every time she's run. But this time, no, I just can't overlook what's

1:19:28happening now. Susan voted for Trump's war and I ran five times driving up our gas prices. While Susan Collins is off getting rich from stock trading, making us pay more while she's off getting rich, I can't hold for Susan anymore. Yeah, that's the cultural issue that we want to run on, which is that, you know, this idea of this ban on stock trading, this big money in politics, it is a winning issue for Democrats across the country. And the second piece on that was interesting. I heard months ago, when a guy named Grand Platter was still in the race, that one of the big, issues they were going to run against Collins on was she's not who she says she is. She keeps trying to portray and we saw this in the debate. She's trying to be an independent and I stand up for Trump and people just don't feel that. They feel like they have been let down. And so they're trying to play into that message. I just thought Susan Collins always runs ahead of the Republican brand in Maine, usually seven, eight, nine points ahead of the brand. In fact, she runs ahead more than any Republican Senator does of the Republican brand. In order for Democrats to win this

1:20:30race, they have to convince people who voted for Susan Collins many times to not vote for. That's why that's why that guy called her Susan. Yes. And he said he voted for in the past. Yes, right. And people tend to do what they've done before. And so this is going to be a pretty big lift. And I think the polls continue to show Susan Collins ahead. It's going to be close. It's going to be close. Thanks to both you really appreciate it. Has social media rewired our brains? My conversation with award winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who's out with his new thriller called the social reckoning that debuts tonight. Stay with us. Do you have an interest in social media? Not even a little bit. Look, I'm an investigative reporter and that guy and this company are playing an unprecedented role in our lives. Start with a gentle nod to show engagement. Yeah, not so much a little softer. Yeah. And I pop culturally today 14 years after his Academy Award winning screenplay for the social network. Aaron Sorkin is releasing a

1:21:33new Facebook thriller. I sat down with him outside the New York theater where the first stage revival of a few good men since the classic 1992 will debut where I asked him how his new movie, the social reckoning is different from its predecessor. Social network was about the invention of Facebook. This is about what it's become. And centers on a young Facebook engineer named Francis Hougin. She's played by Mikey Madison who just discovers this one thing about Facebook. This one terrible thing and she can't get the attention of the people she works for and she finally has to do what at Facebook is the unthinkable, which is talk to a reporter. Absolutely not supposed to do that. Talks to Jeremy Allen, white's character, investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and things just begin to snowball from there. They uncover together these very dark secrets that

1:22:33Facebook's been keeping from us and she becomes a whistleblower. And we know that social media has some serious problems and has been causing serious damage, not just Facebook obviously, but Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, all the rest. Yeah, well you're putting it in your calm, Jake Tapper, Anchorman, voice. These are huge problems that that are coming to get us. Facebook is not just pumping a fire hose of misinformation out into the public, but they tweaked their algorithm. They want you to stay on the platform longer. And the thing that's going to keep you on the platform longest is resharing stuff. So the algorithm wants to give you stuff that you're going to reshare. And Facebook knows because they've done study after study after study that the stuff that you reshare the most is things that make you angry. How do we break free of all these people making money

1:23:34and gaining clout and power and and riches by successfully tapping into our worst impulses the need to have enemies? I don't have an answer, but I'm sure that the first step is identifying the problem. And yes, the problems hate cells. You can make a lot of money hating people. Ask Megan Kelly who just every time you think she has hit bottom, she finds a new sub basement down there to go to. How do we get out of this? I don't know, but one thing that has to be done and it's what Francis ends up imploring Congress to do. Past laws. You know, the law has always lagged way behind technology. And but in the past, that's really only affected copyright laws of piracy, you know, movies and music is what are affected. Now it's much bigger. The social reckoning opens tonight and

1:24:37you can look for my full interview with Aaron Sorkin and others on the stage revival of a few good men in a few days. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, threads, X and on the TikTok at the end of the day. I'm Jake Tapper. You can follow the show on X and Instagram with the lead scene and Aaron Burnett on the front starts now. Traditional home security only alerts you after a break in and that's too late. Simply safe is changing that. Stop. This is simply safe. Police are on the way. We don't just alert. We help stop crime before it starts. Plan starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring. Add simply safe dot com slash Spotify. Simply safe ahead of crime in real time. Outdoor to turn plans start at $49.99 a month. Visit simply safe dot com slash licenses for alarm license information. The news is better. We are in the toilet. To get away. How do you think I feel? The Havagot news for you crew is back to keep you safe. Do you think anyone here knows what you're talking about? Nope. Havagot news for you. Now screaming on the CNN app.