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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump in Iowa as GOP Fights to Hold onto Seats in State; Trump: Using Mother of Dem. Candidate in ad is "Fair Game"; Interview with Sen. Thom Tillis (D-NC); More Than 19 Million Pre-Election Ballots Cast So Far Ahead Of Midterms; GOP Faces Tight Races 12 Days Ahead Of Midterms; Now: Trump In Iowa As GOP Fights To Hold Onto Seats In State; WSJ: Trump Called Musk To Restore Starlink In Ukraine; Construction On Trump's 250-Foot Triumphal Arch Could Begin In Just Two Weeks; Tom Skerritt, Star Of "Top Gun" & "Picket Fences," Dies At 93. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired October 22, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KERRY KENNEDY, AUTHOR "ETHEL KENNEDY: THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE AND BOLD LEGACY": ... a holy moment, a spiritual moment from one heart to the other. And that is something to be grateful for.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: It is and just to imagine, obviously, you know, she's gone, but how grateful she must be and would be to know that a daughter could write a book with such love and care and admiration for a mother as you have. That is something truly beautiful and to celebrate. Thank you so much, Kerry.
KENNEDY: Thank you.
BURNETT: And thanks so much to all of you for joining us. AC360 begins now.
[20:00:36]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening, just 12 days to go until the midterms. The President about to take the stage in Iowa tonight in a deep red state that he won by 13 points two years ago.
He's there to try to boost turnout for the Republican Senate candidate, Congresswoman Ashley Hinson. She's currently neck and neck with her Democratic opponent, state representative Josh Turek. But we begin tonight's election coverage with Ohio and the continuing fallout from the ad Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign made using the estranged mother of his opponent, Democrat, Dr. Amy Acton.
President Trump went all-in on it today. First the ad, this is it, it features Acton's estranged mother calling her daughter a liar. Acton has not spoken to her mother since 1978. She was 12 and testified against her mother's husband, her stepfather, saying he sexually abused her.
Her mother sided with the husband, who was indicted for sexually abusing Acton. He fled the state and later died.
President Trump, who has repeatedly said he knows nothing about any abuse or what the stepfather was accused of is nevertheless weighing in repeatedly and verbosely.
This afternoon, he posted more than 400 words of support for Ramaswamy's ad, saying, "I only wish the mothers of my opponents would be so brave as to come forward and explain that their son or daughter is a liar and much worse."
Less than two hours after that post when departing for Iowa, he walked up to reporters and repeatedly quoted from the ad, while again claiming to know nothing about the actual allegations against Acton's stepfather.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins pressed him on that point.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President, why did you make no mention of the sexual abuse allegations that Amy Acton made against her stepfather, who stayed married to her mother?
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, I have no idea. I don't know the mother. I don't know her. I never heard of her until just recently. As somebody running for Governor of Ohio. I can tell you this, if my mother ever made those statements. I had a mother who's up there right now looking down. Mary MacLeod Trump, if she ever made statements like that about me, you and your fake station would have a front row and center. You'd love it.
COLLINS: She accused her stepfather of child rape, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Her mother made a horrible statement about the daughter. Said she was a dirty liar. She said she was a lot of different things. And I don't know why you're not allowed to say that.
COLLINS: But the child rape allegation is different.
TRUMP: You'd be the first one to be broadcasting, and you would have found nothing wrong with them. Amy Acton's mother said horrible things about Amy Acton, and I don't know why you're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to broadcast it.
Now, I'll say this, the press has ganged up because you hate it, because that one ad should really win. Look, if what the mother said about the daughter is half right, she has no right even running for the governor of Ohio.
COLLINS: What about what the daughter said about her mother? What about what the daughter -- she said her stepfather, her mother remained married to her stepfather, who sexually abused her when she was 12 years old?
TRUMP: When did she make that statement.
COLLINS: Years ago,
REPORTER: In 1970s, sir.
COLLINS: Years ago, they charged, he was charged. Mr. President.
TRUMP: We have no idea. All I know is Amy Acton's mother said horrible things about Amy Acton calling her a liar and other things and unreliable. A lot of very bad things and I say that she's fair game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So, just to be clear, he says he does not know anything about Dr. Acton, never heard of her until now. Doesn't know anything about the charges against the stepfather, all of which are pretty important elements in this sick saga. But despite not knowing any fact, the President has no problem opining. And his repeated refrain is he doesn't understand why you aren't allowed to have a mother saying horrible things about her daughter.
He said, I don't know why you're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to broadcast it. Mr. President, you are allowed to do what Ramaswamy did. You're allowed to. It is just really sleazy. It's deeply, deeply sleazy.
The current Republican governor of Ohio, who is term limited and who is Vivek Ramaswamy, is running to replace, weighed in today as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down. It's just -- it's just -- it's just wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And the Republican candidate that President Trump has actually campaigning for in Sioux City tonight is also not a fan of this ad.
ABC's Jonathan Karl asked her about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ASHLEY HINSON (R-IA): It's terrible, I think about it as a mom and you think about your kids surviving childhood sexual abuse and having to relive that trauma on T.V. again. I think it's absolutely terrible and I think they should take the ad down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:10]
COOPER: We begin tonight with Kaitlan Collins from Washington. So, Kaitlan, what's the back story here? Why do you think the President is going to the mat for this ad with less than two weeks until election day?
COLLINS: I think there's a few different factors at play. I think one, he is trying to get every Republican he can elected 12 days from tonight, Anderson, and wants to do as much as he can. And he's not going to criticize them in the final days of the campaign, no matter what really is at stake here or what is included in the content of that ad.
The President said he spoke to Vivek Ramaswamy about this. So, there was a conversation between the two of them where he defended the ad and essentially kept today referencing his own mother, and kept putting this in the lens through himself and saying, if this was my mother making these comments about me, no one would hesitate to cover them.
And as I tried to point out to the President during our exchange where he was simultaneously denying knowing anything about these allegations that Amy Acton has made about her stepfather, and also commenting on them and dismissing them outright. As we were about asking about them, was the allegation is what makes this difference? Yes, of course, politicians have had family members come out and criticize them before or say that they don't believe that they should be holding elected office.
But the difference here is that what's at the heart of this, which is that Amy Acton says it was her stepfather who not only sexually abused her, but that her mom remained with him for the rest of his life and that they have not spoken in decades.
And so, the President kept giving credence to her mother's arguments that Amy Acton is a liar and kept giving those credibility. And so, I think it's not only that that he's viewing it through the lens of wanting Republicans to win, believing that if similar allegations were made about him in terms of a candidate's mother talking about him, that it would be used in the press.
But also, Anderson, when it comes to sexual abuse allegations and sexual assault allegations, we know how the President has responded to those when sexual assault allegations have been made about him, and so he has denied them, pushed back on them.
And he clearly is telegraphing and very outright saying that that is the strategy he believes Vivek Ramaswamy should follow here when it comes to the criticism over using her mother in this ad, he was saying he doesn't understand why anyone would criticize that ad and making the argument if it was Democrats, that it wouldn't be criticized, which of course is not true.
COOPER: Yes, Kaitlan Collins, appreciate it. We'll see you at the top of the hour for "The Source".
Joining me now is former deputy assistant to President Biden, Jamal Simmons, political scientist at Princeton University, Lauren Wright, CNN chief political correspondent and anchor of "Inside Politics" Dana Bash and former White House spokesman for the George W. Bush administration, Pete Seat.
Dana, what do you make of Kaitlan's assessment of the President's kind of strategy on this? DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it's his strategy. It is his go to, all of the layers that she just described but I'll add one other. It's the -- you never, ever, ever give in. If you start to put your foot on the gas, you got to floor it and especially when it comes to something that's negative and something that is bad. I mean, it's the Roy Cohn playbook that he learned so many years ago.
The problem is, and we've seen this in politics during the Trump era, that sometimes most of the time, it works for him. It almost never works for other candidates. It's just he's one of one on those kinds of scandals and trying to weather the storm.
I've spoken to sources in Ohio today who say that this is rippling through the whole state, but especially the suburbs and women in the suburbs who are trying to -- were trying to figure out kind of where to go, maybe even those who are traditionally Republican voters are leaning voters, and they're outraged by this.
What the Ramaswamy campaign is banking on is that low information voters, those who are traditionally Republican voters but not might not be inclined to go out and vote this year because they're so mad at the President, might hear the President watch this ad. Don't know about the context about the mother and say, okay, maybe I'll go vote.
COOPER: Jamal, if you were working for the campaign, would you advise them to, you know, have her out talking about it? I mean, she did an event that was kind of a kind of a listening session. I think it was yesterday or two days ago. It was kind of halfway through, she talked about it.
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She did, there was a woman who came up and hugged her because she felt badly. I think it's time for her. I mean, she will talk about it. She should talk about it. I think, though, that the grenade that has been exploded by Vivek Ramaswamy in this, is really right now all over his face, it's right in front of him.
And it says to me, they must have polling numbers where they knew he was losing and the only option they had left was to do something that was really extreme and just hope that the damage to her would be worse than the damage to him. That's the kind of choice you make.
But when you make that choice, it says something not just about what's happening with Amy Acton, because she's going to be fine in this when this is over. It says a lot about Vivek Ramaswamy and whether or not people really want this guy to be the governor of their state.
And now it's saying something about the President and J.D. Vance, because they're joining in in the meanness. And it's the meanness that you're hearing about, I think, from voters all over the place that maybe this era has just gotten to be too coarse, too mean we are attacking each other too much, and we need to all sort of pull back a little bit. And if you can't defend somebody in a child rape allegation, I just don't know what else you can do.
[20:10:42] COOPER: Lauren, how do you see it?
LAUREN WRIGHT, POLITICAL SCIENTIST AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: I happen to completely agree with this. You know, I think one of the parts of the story that's so important is Amy Acton is an extremely strong candidate. She is not a "nut-nut" DSA member. She is not anti-ICE or anti-police. She's for Medicaid, work requirements and voter I.D. for God sakes, and she's against transgender surgeries for kids, and she's against transgender women and women's sports.
She is winning this race. And so, the way I see it is it was just a desperate, futile attempt by Ramaswamy to mix it up. Big Hail Mary totally blowing up in his face.
And I also just add to Dana's point, very quickly, Trump has been losing a lot lately on Katie as press secretary on the live stream executions, and so there might be something where he's saying, I can't give in on this other thing too, even though it's plainly horrible.
COOPER: Pete, I mean, do you think the President is helping Ramaswamy at all by elevating this and continuing to talk about this? I mean, he went all in on this today.
PETE SEAT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN FOR THE GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION: Well, I think there are two plausible scenarios in my mind. One, in that phone call, that conversation that the President had with Vivek Ramaswamy, Ramaswamy or the campaign could have asked the President to weigh in because they're tired of the dissent that they're hearing from Republicans, both inside and outside of Ohio.
They clearly made a calculated political move here, and they thought that the reward would be greater than the risk and it's turned out to be the opposite, based on the coverage, based on the fact that we continue to talk about this.
So, it's one thing to criticize Ramaswamy, it's another thing to disagree with Vice President Vance. it's a whole different ball game when President Donald Trump tells every Republican complaining to effectively zip it.
The other plausible scenario, let's just be honest. Donald Trump wants to be the center of attention. And for three days, he has not been the center of attention. So, here's a way that he can insert himself into the news cycle a lot like influencers ride the wave of whatever is trending on social media, he got himself into the story.
COOPER: And which, it is so accurate and so true and so terrifying that the President of the United States acts in times like an influencer. I mean, literally saying, I don't know any of the facts of this, but let me let me weigh in on it.
BASH: Well, it's like when he was just, you know, sitting in Trump Tower before he went into politics. I mean, he used to do that all the time on Twitter. it's one of the many ways that he became known.
One thing that I will say is that, I don't want to lose sight of the fact that Mike DeWine, the sitting Republican Governor, came out and made a point to go to cameras at the statehouse and say how horrible this ad was and that he needs to take it down.
He's a normie, you know, maybe an old school dying breed of Republicans, but he was trying to give voice to others, including those who were on the campaign trail, like you played Ashley Hinson. I mean, the President is going to go campaign with her now and other Republicans who have not been, in the words of J.D. Vance and Donald Trump, complaining and whining they've been trying to save their party from themselves and that was the response that they got. ] COOPER: If you're Ramaswamy, do you' think you try to continue pushing this or do you try to, you know, whatever spotlight you have, you try to use it for something else.
WRIGHT: I don't know how you can go back on it now. What do you think.?
SIMMONS: Yesterday was the day that he should have gone back?
WRIGHT: Yes, it would have been instant. Yes, that was a mistake.
SIMMONS: Now he's in this. They decided to put money behind this, not just walk away.
WRIGHT: Exactly.
BASH: And I think that's important. This was a video that was out there in the ether that they were kind of testing. And they could have just taken it down. But whatever they saw made them think that the deficit that he's at and the polls clearly internally, it was worth the risk to put $4 million behind it. So, they knew the blast radius would be very big.
SIMMONS: I mean, look, 20 something years ago when Max Cleland was running for Senate in Georgia, I was his communications director and the Republican senatorial campaign committee put the first ad using Osama Bin Laden against Max Cleland, who was a war hero who lost three limbs in the Vietnam War.
People exploded about it. It was a very big deal in Washington. We had Republican senators who were threatening to do exactly what Republicans are doing right now. You know, Chuck Hagel was going to write it, was going to do an ad for Max Cleland. I helped write it.
[20:15:08]
What happened was, they went to Bill Frist and the Republican Senate Campaign Committee, and they said, take it off. And what they did was they took out the offending parts, and then they kept in the parts that were going to work. And Saxby Chambliss ended up winning that race.
So, there's a way to do this. If you think something is extreme and it's gone too far, but were very far from those days when people had any sense of what was appropriate. COOPER: Yes, we sure are. Everyone, stick around. We're going to have more ahead on the Ramaswamy ad controversy, including reaction from Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who's not shied away from criticism of President Trump.
And later, new reporting from "The Wall Street Journal" that the President called Elon Musk to get him to restore the military grade Starlink service in Ukraine. More on that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:15]
COOPER: Back now with our breaking news. President Trump doubling down in the face of bipartisan criticism of Vivek Ramaswamy's new campaign ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent calling her a liar.
Amy Acton has said repeatedly she has been estranged from her mom since the late 1970s, when she accused her mother's husband of raping her, for which he was indicted. He later fled the state and died. Amy Acton was just 12 years old at the time. The President calls using Acton's mother in the ad fair game.
Joining us now is Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who made the decision in 2025 not to run for reelection this year. He's also the author of a new book, "How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents" which he has done, which is on bookshelves now.
Senator, thanks so much for being here. I do want to just start by asking you about the Ramaswamy ad in Ohio. President Trump is supporting it, urging Ramaswamy to double down. Do you think it is, as he says, fair game.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I think it's a bad idea. I mean, if you look at the whole premise of the ad, it looks like it's a very sad story to be told about this family. And quite honestly, I ran a number of campaigns, including the effort for us to win a majority here in the State House back then in 2010. I would have never allowed an ad like this to go on.
In fact, you view this ad as maybe a calculation that even the backlash that would come from it may be necessary feels like, to me, Ramaswamy may be in trouble.
COOPER: In the book "How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents", you call voting to confirm Pete Hegseth the biggest regret of my career? Is he the worst Secretary of Defense you have seen, and if so, why?
TILLIS: I think yes, I think Pete's a problem, and again, it's nothing personal with any of these people, but Pete's a problem, he's not engaging Congress. He's not engaging the Senate. He's asking for appropriations requests. And he hasn't even built meaningful relationships with chairmen of the committees of jurisdiction, let alone rank and file members like me, that they need to get the funding bill passed.
So, I just think he has all the hallmarks of somebody that's waited out of his depth. He doesn't know how to leverage the expertise of the Pentagon. I think he's trying to micromanage. He doesn't even understand the basics of the tooth to tail ratios. He wants everybody to look like they're ready to go to the front line when he should well know that three-fourths of the people in in an area of responsibility are for deployed or supporting the war fighter.
You got to have a lot of diversity, a lot of capabilities to make a war effort work and make it successful. And it doesn't seem like Pete remembers his training very well.
COOPER: There's been criticism of, well, there may be bloat in some of the, you know, upper echelons of, of leadership of some of his firings, of some very experienced, you know, very, combat -- you know, people who perform remarkably in combat, some generals. Do you worry about the depletion of some of the generals who have left?
TILLIS: I do, Anderson, I will tell you, I was either the chair of the ranking member of the personnel subcommittee for eight years, the eight years that I was on Senate Armed Services. And I think arguably that committee is closer to the personnel of the of the DoD than anybody.
The way that Hegseth has just reached down after extensive board reviews to put forth promotions and to pull people out of promotions, it really discredits the whole process that people, men and women in uniform go through to get to that point, that's one example.
I also think that Pete apparently feels uncomfortable with people smarter than him. I like surrounding myself with people smarter than me. That makes me better. And it looks like he's forcing out some of the best people. And quite honestly, I think it was a disagreement with Dan Driscoll that probably resulted in that resignation.
Dan Driscoll is a quality guy. We need more of him, not fewer of him, just like we need many of the generals that have been pushed out in service. And it sends a horrible message to the next generation of generals, generals like that, as it really is. The DoD becoming that politicized, where I may invest another ten years and have this sort of treatment by future secretary of defense. it's not good personnel on H.R. leadership.
COOPER: Does the President, in your view, deserve to have a Republican controlled senate? I mean, he ran point on defeating John Cornyn. He was prepared to support a primary challenge to you if you'd run for reelection is policies of behavior. They put other Republican seats in jeopardy. Now, a Democrat is poised to win your seat. By the way, are you voting for Michael Whatley, the Trump ally nominated by North Carolina Republican?
TILLIS: Let's go back to what the American people deserve. The American people, I believe, will be best suited by having a Republican majority in the Senate. That's why I hope that Ramaswamy's ad will not, affect negatively, Jon Husted, who is a quality Senate member in Ohio and he deserves to get elected.
So, you know, I think that what we what we need now is some checks and balances. It looks like to me that that's what's driving some of the vote. And to the extent that we have to deal with the Democrat majority in the House, I can accept that. But I don't want the Democrats to take control of a chamber that just a couple of years ago, they voted to nuke the filibuster.
Fortunately, we had a few that respected the chamber enough not to do that. But what I do know is that this Republican majority has resisted President Trump's continuous pressure to nuke the filibuster.
So, I believe that we're showing respect for this institution, and we can weather a deal on a bipartisan basis with a Democrat led House if we need to.
[20:25:50]
COOPER: Senator Thom Tillis, I appreciate it. The book is "How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents".
Up next, we'll be joined by CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten to dive into some of the Senate's most vulnerable races for the GOP.
And later, new reporting from "The Wall Street Journal" on President Trumps phone call with Elon Musk over his Starlink service in Ukraine and trying to get it up and running in full speed.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:30:20]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We are still 12 days away from the midterm elections but early voting is already well underway. More than 19 million people have cast their vote so far, nearly 8 million of those in person, another 11 million by mail.
The President is in the midst of what was a seven-day, seven-state tour but is now up that to 10 states in ten days, all of them states he won in 2024 which speaks to the concerns the GOP has in some areas usually considered deep red territory.
CNN's Harry Enten joins us now at the Magic Wall with a closer look at some of the most vulnerable Senate races. Harry?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA REPORTER: Yes, you know, Anderson, when we started off this year, I don't think that most people thought that the Senate was really going to be in play but where we are right now, the Senate is very much in play.
I mean just take a look here. Take a look at the -- right now and essentially if you have the toss-up states, at least 47 seats are leaning to the Democrats, you got 46 seats leaning to the Republicans and of course Democrats need 51, Republicans need 50 of course because Vice President Vance would break the tie.
But at this point what are we seeing in the polling? Well to me what is so interesting is if we see the polling averages, look how tight these races are. I mean my goodness gracious, you really can't get tighter than this.
I mean Kansas, which of course no Democrat has won since 32, that's a tie. Iowa which Trump won by double digits, Democrats by one. Maine, Democrats by two, again well within the margin there. Texas which of course hasn't elected Democrats to the Senate since 1988, plus three for the Dems.
Michigan very tight, three. And Ohio plus four with Sherrod Brown's trying to reclaim his seat. But I think the thing to take away from this is that the Democrats do in fact hold even a nominal advantage in these states. And what happens if all of these polls are right?
Well I'll tell you this much, we can take Maine, we can turn it blue, we can turn Ohio blue, we can turn Michigan blue, we can turn Iowa blue, and we can turn Texas blue, and there's also Alaska polling turning blue. So if the polling is exactly right, Anderson, the Democrats will be on their way to a majority.
The question is will the polling be exactly right?
COOPER: Yes. Well, I mean, we've all seen this story before. What does history say about the accuracy of polling, particularly when it comes to how Republicans vote in Senate races?
ENTEN: Yes, sometimes it feels like deja vu all over again, Anderson, right? It feels like I'm Yogi Berra and we've seen this story before. And indeed, we have seen this story before, because take a look at this.
OK, how about the GOP in the Trump era? GOP outperformed their final Senate poll averages. In the states that Trump has won, look at this, they've outperformed on average by 4.1 points. And of course, Democrats need to win a slew of states that Donald Trump not just won in 2024, but won by double digits.
Of course we're talking about states like Texas, states like Alaska, states like Iowa, states like Ohio. So what happens if we get the exact same polling error this time around? Well, what happens? Hello! This is what happens. We get Republicans actually holding on.
So the question ultimately is, is the polling going to be right this time around or Republicans going to outperform like they have in the past? If they have, Republicans hold on. If the polling is right on, the Democrats head to a majority.
Anderson, I don't know what's going to happen.
COOPER: I don't know, that's why we got to watch.
Harry Enten, thanks very much.
And participate -- back now at the panel. Thanks so much. What do you think is going to happen?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't know.
COOPER: Do you think the polling -- do you believe? I mean, I'm so -- I just feel so skeptical of all this.
BASH: I -- listen, the way that I answer that is to believe the way Republicans are behaving. And when we see the President -- never mind going to Iowa, which he has crushed in the last decade. Never mind going to Kansas, which was like, has not been on the Senate map for almost a century. He's going to Mississippi. You know what that means.
Mississippi! So regardless of what the polls show or don't show, the Republicans are nervous enough to send the President of the United States to one of the reddest states -- and by the way, I'm forgetting Alaska -- reddest states a week and a half before the election. So I think that's the best way to answer.
COOPER: Lauren?
LAUREN A. WRIGHT, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY POLITICAL SCIENTIST: You said skeptical, I'm cynical about polls.
COOPER: OK.
WRIGHT: Some of them recently are outright fake, as we saw with Wedgwood. Then we have the issue that actually most polling firms can't tell the difference between AI bots taking an online survey and humans, that's another can of worms. And all those weaknesses that Harry very aptly pointed out are in favor of Democrats. Republicans are not participating in polls.
COOPER: Right.
BASH: But they also are not participate in the election.
WRIGHT: Yes, they don't have an idea of what a likely voter looks like right now in Michigan or in Maine or Alaska. So I think when there is uncertainty this time around, it's in the favor of Republicans, but of course structural advantages for Democrats across the board. I just don't know if they're going to get there in the Senate.
[20:35:07]
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. What makes me nervous is that the Republicans are really good at data targeting. They know how to find voters, they know what to say to those voters --
BASH: Yes.
SIMMONS: -- to get them to move. They don't do it necessarily by demographics or they really look at what's motivating people based on their behavior and they go out and turn them around. And if the President has figured out that there are some voters in these states that they just need to get motivated and he can go there and get them excited and say things that'll make them move, then you could see Republicans closing this gap and Democrats might not have as good a night as they want.
But, man, they are really up against a wave, against a big wave of sentiment where the President's unpopular with general election voters and Republicans are unpopular too.
COOPER: Pete, I mean, do you think, just from a political strategy perspective, should the President stop saying at all these rallies that America is in a golden age or the -- and the prices are down when they're not?
PETE SEAT, FORMER WH SPOKESMAN, GEORGE W. BUSH ADMIN.: Yes, he needs to start being realistic about his message, but he's playing to the crowd. He's playing to his strengths. He loves to amp people up and part of it is turnout. They enjoy seeing him, they enjoy being part of the spectacle and I want President Trump to go to the places where he's going to make a positive impact and I want him to stay far, far away from the places where he's going to be a drag on Republican candidates.
I trust his political team is not just throwing darts at a map and shipping him off to places wherever those darts land. They know where he can make a difference. And in some of these races where Republicans are in competitive, tight races and they win by 1, 2, 3 percent and he showed up, that margin of victory will probably be as a result of Donald Trump campaigning there.
COOPER: Dana, I mean, you've covered a lot of midterm. Does it feel different in some ways or?
BASH: It does in that the pendulum is swinging so much faster these days, in that the people's patience is -- wears thin very easily. It was only two years ago that this very sort of accountability, excuse me, affordability message and people's economic angst propelled Donald Trump into the White House.
COOPER: Right.
BASH: -- and now two years later, they're like, OK, not only what has happened, not much, but they look at his main policies, tariffs and also the ramifications of the Iran war on the economy and they say, no, this is not what we expected. It's not just here.
I mean we're seeing elections globally and the anti-incumbent fervor is so, so strong and it continues to sort of overturn government after government after government. This is a global anxiety post-COVID and we haven't really gotten out of it.
COOPER: It's interesting to me to see how corruption has risen in --
WRIGHT: Yes.
COOPER: -- something that voters are really thinking about. I think it was number two in a poll we had just yesterday.
WRIGHT: That's a drastic change. I noticed the same thing because really for the last 10 years, it hasn't been anywhere on voters radar. And, you know, I actually said the same thing during the Hunter Biden stuff. Republicans were saying, of course people care about corruption. I mean, look at this. And it was never ever even top of the list. Not near economics, not near abortion, but now that is changing.
I do think though that it is a bipartisan issue. I think Republicans see Democrats as corrupt and vice versa. So we have to be careful about that.
SIMMONS: Except the billions of dollars the President is making are really conspicuous. I think people are paying attention to it and they're connecting the friends and family benefits that are happening in this administration to their own particular economic pain.
COOPER: Jamal Simmons, Lauren Wright, thanks so much. Dana Bash as well. Thank you, Pete Seat. Great to have you.
Up next, a new report from the Wall Street Journal that President Trump called Elon Musk to get him to lift the restrictions on the military-grade Starlink service in Ukraine. One of the reporters who broke that story joins me. Plus, we'll hear what the President is saying about it now.
And later, we're learning when construction could start on the giant, gorgeous, controversial sniper position, sniper ammunition, storage triumphal arch, and whether it will still be home to drones and a sniper's nest. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:43:31]
COOPER: Tonight, the Wall Street Journal has new reporting involving the President and Elon Musk and the steps taken to restore military- grade Starlink satellite technology that Ukraine had been relying on to help defend itself. The headline, quote, "Trump called Musk and asked him to lift Ukraine Starlink restrictions."
The President was asked about this new report late this afternoon. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, whether I called or whether somebody else called doesn't make any difference. I guess the bottom line, he put it back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Put it back, he said. Now tonight, a CNN source says that some Ukraine military units are reporting higher speeds using Starlink but it's not fully restored everywhere.
Joining us now is Lara Seligman, one of the Wall Street Journal reporters who broke the story. Lara, thanks for being with us. I spoke with your colleague Alex Ward on Tuesday about the article about Elon Musk's role in the Starlink slowdown. According to your new reporting, what happened in the White House after that story was published?
LARA SELIGMAN, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, thanks, Anderson for having me. This has really baffled Washington for more than a week now. So in between Tuesday and Thursday, what changed obviously is that the Wall Street Journal, we reported that it was Elon Musk that made the decision to slow down this military-grade version Starlink -- of Starlink that Ukrainian forces use to defend themselves on the front lines from Russian attacks.
Since then, Trump has been telling allies and advisers that he wanted Musk to reverse the slowdown. And then there was this call in the last few days that we reported today between Trump and Musk, where Trump said he was frustrated that the system's speed limits were being capped and asked him to lift those limits.
[20:45:08]
Today, U.S. and Ukrainian officials told us that they were beginning to see the return to normal speeds. Now it's not fully restored yet, as you said, and tonight's attacks, Russian attacks, will probably be the true test of whether it's been fully restored. But at least in some tests they're doing, the system is back to normal.
Of course, there's still one big unanswered question, which is, did someone in the White House, whether it was Trump or someone else, tell Elon Musk to impose the restrictions in the first place? And that we still don't know.
COOPER: And, I mean, that is a great question, because obviously the President has been pressuring Zelenskyy and publicly commenting, indicating he wants there to be a deal and thinks Zelenskyy has not been willing to do that. Obviously Zelenskyy, you know, is no fan of Vladimir Putin and has reasons not to give up territory.
As you've heard President Trump said that about Elon Musk, quote, "the bottom line, he put it back," does that sound to you like the White House is putting the responsibility for all this incident on Elon Musk and SpaceX?
SELIGMAN: Well, look, the timing here is really suspicious. This slowdown first happened last week, just days after the President and Musk both publicly criticized Ukrainian President Zelenskyy for attacking Russian diesel refineries, which Trump has blamed for elevated energy prices.
And since then, the administration just cannot get its message straight. You had Defense Secretary Hegseth and Marco Rubio saying that the slowdown came from Elon Musk, but then the Vice President today muddied the waters when he suggested that Musk would only act if the U.S. government directed him to. So from all of our reporting from the President's comments today, it seems like even if it was actually Musk that actually pressed the button, so to speak, he may have had some direction or at least a wink-nod from the White House, if not Trump himself, someone senior in the White House where he understood that this was what Trump wanted him to do. Now, again, we don't know for sure, but that's where my reporting has led me to believe so far.
COOPER: The capabilities that Ukraine would get back if this is fully restored, and that's an if, are they both defensive and offensive?
SELIGMAN: So under the restrictions, the system speeds were capped at around 100 miles an hour, which means that Ukrainian drones and missile interceptors could not stay connected when traveling at high rates of speed. This, of course, rendered them powerless against Russian attacks.
With those limits removed, now Ukraine's missiles, drones, and missile interceptors can now travel at higher speeds, which are needed to intercept Russian Shahed-type drones, bomb the Russian army logistics chain, and stall Russian's invasion force. So it's both offensive and defensive weapons that this applies to, and it really, as the Ukrainian officials have said, it really hampered Ukraine's ability to defend against those attacks in the last week. And now we see that coming back online, that should help a lot with Ukraine's ability to defend itself.
Lara Seligman, as always, great reporting. Thank you so much, from the Wall Street Journal.
The Trump administration is indicating that construction on the President's proposed 250-foot Triumphal Arch could begin just days after the midterm elections. It's part of the President's wider effort to reshape the nation's capital to his liking, I guess. But the final plans released by the administration last week removed a key feature that the President had proposed.
CNN Sunlen Serfaty has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: I think the arc is going to be incredible.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite legal challenges and fierce resistance, President Trump is expediting plans to get his long-desired 250-foot Triumphal Arch built while he's still in the White House.
TRUMP: And I want to see if I can get it built before we leave.
SERFATY (voice-over): In a new court filing, the Trump administration is now announcing they will commence construction in just two weeks, as early as November 5th. November 5th is when the arch will likely pass the final regulatory hurdle at the National Capital Planning Commission.
After the administration streamlined the process by abruptly cutting off a historical preservation review that's required under law.
CROWD: No arch! No arch! No arch!
SERFATY (voice-over): The immediacy of breaking ground, potentially on that very same day, is despite the legal limbo that the project remains in.
CROWD: Veterans over vanity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop arch insanity.
SERFATY (voice-over): With two separate lawsuits, including a high- profile one brought by a group of preservationists and veterans.
JOHN GUNDERSON, U.S. ARMY VIETNAM WAR VETERAN, PLAINTIFF IN LAWSUIT: It's a little ironic that a man who gets out of service for foreign altars should build a gargantuan arch, blocking the view of all these iconic memorials.
SERFATY (voice-over): Today, the plaintiffs in that case responded to the building plans, filing a preliminary injunction to stop the administration from taking any steps to construct or to direct or facilitate construction of any structure in Memorial Circle while the lawsuit plays out.
TRUMP: I think it's going to be fantastic --
[20:50:12]
SERFATY (voice-over): The arch has become a key part of the President's quest to remake Washington in his name and style as part of his legacy in office.
TRUMP: A totally magnificent, triumphal arch to honor the 250-year triumph of the American spirit, American military, and, frankly, American competence.
SERFATY (voice-over): Intended to be the tallest arch in the world.
TRUMP: The most beautiful one is the one in Paris, the Arc de Triomphe. It's beautiful, big. Ours is going to be bigger and more beautiful.
SERFATY (voice-over): Last month, the President debuted a new justification for building the arch.
TRUMP: It's going to be great. And it's got a military component. Everything has a military component nowadays.
SERFATY (voice-over): Claiming it will become a top-grade military complex for drones, snipers, and ammunition storage. However, the plans revealed this month did not include any military infrastructure at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So do we know why that there's no military component any longer now included?
SERFATY (on-camera): Well, Anderson, sources tell me that time certainly is likely part of the equation here. When President Trump came out with this plan last month to add a military complex as part of the arch, sources saying that there was a big question whether the arch plan needed to be re-reviewed and then re-approved by the two commissions that over the course of this year, it's slowly been making its way through.
So there was a sense that the administration could, if they added the military complex, essentially go back to square one. And time is of the essence here for the administration. President Trump wants to see this arch starting to be built as soon as possible. He wants it finished by the end of his term. So they point blank did not want to slow down any part of this equation.
Now, at a meeting last month at the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, they said that the plan for the military complex and a plan for construction of the actual arch will be separate and apart from each other. And that plan for a potential military complex would come from the Department of Defense. Anderson?
COOPER: OK. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up, from a spaceship captain, the alien to a no-nonsense flight instructor and top gun. Remember the remarkable career of actor Tom Skerritt.
And coming up at 9:15 Eastern tonight, my streaming show, All There Is Live. One of the voices you'll hear from tonight, you'll hear from him in a moment. His beloved grandmother, Jean Sippy, died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER SCIORTINO, JEAN SIPPY'S GRANDSON: I'm so exhausted from being strong. And I feel like I witnessed this enormous thing and accompanied someone through death. And that the world just kept on going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:57:01]
COOPER: Tonight, we remember veteran actor Tom Skerritt, who died yesterday of natural causes, according to his family. His breakthrough role came in Nash in 1970 as Army Surgeon Duke Forrest. He had a whole string of hits, including nearly a decade later, he was the spaceship captain in the remarkable film, "Alien," 1986, "Top Gun," where he played the Viper, the hard-charging flight instructor as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen, you are the top 1 percent of all naval aviators. The elite, the best of the best, we'll make it better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Four years later, 1989, he starred in the hit movie "Steel Magnolias." Then in the 90s, the TV role that earned him an Emmy, Sheriff Jimmy Brock on "Picket Fences." Tom Skerritt was 93 years old.
In just about 15 minutes, I'll be joining you for All There Is Live. You can only watch it at CNN.com/AllThereIs. It's a show about loss and love and people from all over call in and watch. One person you'll hear from on the show tonight is a young man named Christopher Sciortino, who left us this voicemail shortly after his grandmother, Jean Sippy, died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCIORTINO: Hi, Anderson. My name is Christopher. I'm 25. And four weeks ago, my grandmother died of congestive heart failure. I called her Grams. She was my best friend since I was five. We talked on the phone constantly when something was wrong or something was funny or I was broken up with or when nothing interesting happened. We just talked about our days.
The day she died, hospice called. They said she had 24 to 72 hours, so I got on the fastest flight I could. I thought I was going to get to spend a day or two sitting beside her. When I got to her house, she was sleeping. After about half an hour, she opened her eyes, halfway.
I put my face in front of hers. I told her that I was there and that I was there to see her because I loved her. And she looked really far away, so I couldn't tell whether she could see me. And a tear came down her cheek, and then another. She died about an hour later. I think that's the part that I can't get out of my head.
I don't know if she knew I was there. I don't know what the tear really was. I just remember looking into the eyes of someone I had loved my entire life. And I was desperately trying to find her so that I could tell her everything was OK, like she'd always told me.
And when she closed them, I sat holding her hand until her nurse had declared she'd pass. What has surprised me so much is how badly I've needed someone to ask me about what that was like. I'm so exhausted from being strong, and I feel like I witnessed this enormous thing and accompanied someone through death, and that the world just kept on going.
I called her number many times since she's passed, and it's been disconnected. And I think that's why I'm leaving this. I miss her terribly. And I just need someone else to know that it happened, that I was there, and that I will never be the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You can join us, All There Is Live 15 minutes from now, CNN.com/AllThereIs. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
