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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Georgia, Michigan, Maine Senate Candidates Take Midterm Battles To Debate Stage; Hegseth: Execution Of Nidal Hasan By Firing Squad Will Be Public; Trump Picks Katie Zacharia As Next White House Press Secretary. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 09, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Bob Costas, great to get your point of view, as we remember Mike Ditka passing away at 86 years old, a legendary player and coach.
Thank you so much for sharing your afternoon with us.
THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT starts right now.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt, welcome to THE ARENA. Its great to have you with us on this Friday. We made it.
As we come on the air. We're just 25 days from Election Day. The fight to control Congress heating up.
Today, "The Cook Political Report" moved 18 House races toward Democrats. This as key Senate candidates face off on the debate stage last night in battleground states of Georgia, Michigan and Maine.
We got a snapshot for where these races stand. Democrats clearly feeling confident, Republicans trying to turn the tide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Well, if you have someone in your family that might be on the --
(CROSSTALK)
ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Are you -- are you going to go ahead and say that I'm a -- go ahead and say it.
ROGERS: No, I'm going to say, did you not have family --
EL-SAYED: You've been tiptoeing around the whole time, just say it.
ROGERS: No, I haven't been tiptoeing it.
EL-SAYED: Go ahead and say it.
SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): That's the problem, Mike. It's not just that you've hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office. REP. MIKE COLLINS (R-GA): My opponent is a radical, and he has left
our state less safe.
OSSOFF: If John Lewis were marching today from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy club.
TROY JACKSON (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: And Senator Collins and her husband making money more off of this war.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): That is absolutely outrageous. And you owe me an apology.
JACKSON: No, you owe me an apology.
COLLINS: That is --
ROGERS: I'll tell you what my mother did. She was a small --
EL-SAYED: You go after my mom?
(CROSSTALK)
ROGERS: I'm not going after your mom. What your mom was working --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Clearly, we've elevated here.
Let's get off the sidelines and head to THE ARENA. My panel is here.
CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams; CNN political commentator, Republican strategist and pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson; former Georgia state senator, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, Jason Carter; and senior advisor to the Trump 2024 campaign, Bryan Lanza.
Welcome to all of you.
Kristen Soltis Anderson, set the table here. "The Cook Political Report" moves 18 of these races. You saw some of what these debate stage gave us. Not necessarily everybody's best, but here we are. Is this wave real?
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It sure looks like it from every data point that's out there. And a wave would be a normal thing to happen, even if the president was sort of normal level unpopular. When you -- when you are --
HUNT: Like in the low 40s, instead of 30?
SOLTIS: Well, yeah, when you are the party that's in power, you lose seats in a midterm almost all the time. That's very, very normal. And so, it would be surprising if Democrats weren't going to pick up seats.
The question is, is Donald Trump so uniquely unpopular in the political environment, stacked against Republican enough that even in deep red territory, unprecedented races are about to flip?
And I think to me, that's the big open question right now. The polls suggest we're headed that way, but we still have a month to go. Republican voters who are feeling depressed right now could activate. It's too soon to say for sure that a blue wave is absolutely happening.
So, one of the tactics, of course, Republicans are using in the final weeks here is to essentially try to tie all Democrats to the Democratic socialists of America, essentially saying, watch out. It's a little bit of fear-mongering. Mike Collins tried to do it with Jon Ossoff last night.
Let's watch that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I've never heard him say a word about his DSA pick up there, Abdul El-Sayed, Hasan Piker. He's out there recruiting, supporting, endorsing these Democratic Socialists of America candidates and being endorsed by Hasan Piker. Hasan Piker, also the same way, he's out there and he's endorsed Jon Ossoff for president for 2028.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Jason Carter, I get it. But is it going to work?
JASON CARTER, GRANDSON OF FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER: I mean, I don't think so. I mean, I think one of the things that's true, I mean, you know, I was just talking to someone running in Georgia against incumbent congressman and he says he's knocking on doors and they say, well, are you a socialist? And he says, you know, I've fought three wars for this country and I've got a small business.
And you know what? It sort of ends. Jon Ossoff has been the senator from Georgia for six years. They know he's not a radical. People know who these folks are.
And when you're running against someone who's not on the ballot, it says a lot about the person who is on the ballot. And I think that's going to be a problem for Republicans.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Serious question.
CARTER: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: Do people know who Hasan Piker is? Like, do voters -- swing voters in Georgia know --
CARTER: Honestly, I learned who Hasan Piker was like a week ago.
WILLIAMS: And it's not a defense of Hasan Piker in any way. I'm just -- is this a Beltway thing or do folks in Marietta, Georgia, wake up thinking about the scourge of Hasan Piker every day? I don't know.
BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: Yeah. Listen, I think there's some folks in the base who obviously know who Hasan Piker is. And right now, you know, you have, you know, less than 27 days before, you got to gin out your base.
And so we know there's some trigger words out there. Hasan piker, you know, Abdul in Michigan, there are these trigger words that actually help turn out the base. So that's why you're going to see more.
[16:05:00]
It doesn't help with the broader audience. It certainly doesn't help make anything persuadable with independents, but it does gin up, you know, a very inactive base right now.
HUNT: And if you look at some of these races that were moved, it'll give you a little bit of a sense of what kind of territory Democrats are potentially playing on. And it's territory that has not historically been super friendly, including to these races in Iowa. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa one. Zach Nunn, Iowa three. These two Pennsylvania districts. Scott Perry's in particular, and, you know, they're a little bit more, Kristen, red territory than Democrats often play in, in that state.
How big do you think the House map really is, especially considering all of the changes with redistricting that like, realistically limit how big the wave can be?
ANDERSON: Yeah. So in past years where you've had big wave elections, like in 2010, Republicans pick up 70-plus seats or, pardon me, 60-plus seats in the House. I mean, huge wave. But the only reason you're able to pick up that many seats was because two years earlier, Democrats had had a wonderful election.
And so, we're now in a place where, like we're defining wave down a little bit that what -- picking up 60 seats just doesn't feel as possible between gerrymandering, geographic sorting, et cetera. So nowadays, what constitutes a wave? I do think were defining it by smaller and smaller numbers, because the actual turf that's up for grabs seems smaller.
HUNT: Bryan, what does the White House expect?
LANZA: Listen, they expect a rough night. I mean, it's -- you know, as you said earlier, every midterm of a president is always going to be a tough fight. Certainly, the commitments, the economic commitments they make haven't panned out yet. And it's usually delayed.
You know, a lot of the deregulation that the administration is doing. Most voters want to start to feel that until, you know, year three, year four. So, you know, they're frustrated, I suspect. I suspect it's -- they're preparing for a rough night.
But, you know, you see the president out there, they're spending more and more money. I mean, this is a crew that just never surrender. So, they're going to keep fighting to the end. And I would expect more.
HUNT: Well, I mean, are they? Because, I mean, a lot of Republicans I talked to are not happy with how MAGA Inc. has been playing in their races. Like they want more money and they wonder why it's been sitting on the sidelines.
LANZA: Politicians always want more money. I mean, I've never had the experience. I mean, I look at the checkbooks. I've never had to experience what they want. And not only that -- not only they want more money, they want to be able to control their narrative.
The reality is that a lot of the, you know, whatever money is being spent by MAGA Inc., their absolute control what that narrative is and that narrative is going to sort of paint this positive picture of what's taking place over the last four months, while candidates want a different type of narrative. And that's the -- that's the challenge that they have.
CARTER: And when he says different narrative, he means they don't want Trump, but they do want Trump's money.
HUNT: Fair.
LANZA: I'd say the challenge is, is, you know, and you tell me if I'm wrong, the policies of President Trump are still very popular. It's the implementation that has sort of taken the biggest hit with a lot of these constituents.
HUNT: But not all of them are. I mean, Mike Rogers just put out an ad yesterday or the day before essentially saying like, Canada is not the enemy.
LANZA: Yeah. Well, Canada isn't the enemy, but, you know --
HUNT: Right, but the president has made him that way, especially on tariffs in Michigan, which is --
LANZA: Let's be clear about Canada has done, we've been -- we've been negotiating these tariffs, these tariffs issues with Canada for the last 30 years. And they've ignored us.
They have a monopoly on dairy. They have a monopoly on all these things that they force into our markets. And we're just supposed to eat it because they're our neighbor?
WILLIAMS: Yeah, to your point, it's not a policy per se, but there's a big war happening right now that is in a lot of people's minds that drives down the presidents popularity. I just think, you know, to your point, I don't know if the president's policies are that popular, just given prices are bad, and we're at war, and those two things are motivating a lot of voters right now.
LANZA: No, I --
WILLIAMS: Although -- I mean, God, I wouldn't what I wouldn't give for a Republican pollster to be seated right next to me to sort of unpack some of these questions. But --
LANZA: But let's -- I'll go to you, but let's look at the bigger issue. President Trump said, and I think the international community has agreed that Iran should never have nuclear weapons. That is a policy that has universal agreement.
WILLIAMS: Sure.
LANZA: Now, the implementation to ensure that Iran doesn't have those nuclear weapons has become the broader challenge with this administration. But the policies universal, even Switzerland says Iran shouldn't have nuclear weapons.
WILLIAMS: I don't think anybody is in debates that Iran shouldn't have a nuclear weapon. But I think --
HUNT: The president is making that argument on the trail. And politically, it's -- I mean, if you if you look at voters, they'll say, yeah, but like, my gas is expensive, right?
CARTER: The president's economy is unpopular.
HUNT: Right. Period.
WILLIAMS: In large part because of the Iran war.
HUNT: Let's -- let's watch a little bit more from the Michigan Senate debate last night, because this actually does bring one of Donald Trump's signature issues, tariffs to light. And Rogers had backed Trump's tariffs. So, Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate nominee in Michigan, backed the tariffs until basically this week when he put out this ad saying that he doesn't anymore. And this was El-Sayed last night on the debate stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EL-SAYED: The reason he's flip-flopping has nothing to do with policy, has nothing to do with your costs, has everything to do with his sagging poll numbers. He's doing an ad drinking a Labatt and talking about the Red Wings, pretending like he was not for this the entire time.
Be serious, my guy. Like, just be serious.
Weak, cowardly, won't stand up until his poll numbers drop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean, is it the polls or is it the policy, Kristen?
[16:10:00]
ANDERSON: Well, I mean, the policy outcomes are driving the polls. I think -- I'm confused by the question. I -- like in this coming midterm, the two big things that I think voters are reacting to is that they feel like they wanted to see a White House that was going to lower cost of living. And they don't feel that they've gotten it. And they feel like they wanted a swamp drained, and they don't feel like its particularly drained. They, if anything, feel like its pretty swampy. The issue of political
corruption has risen. And that's on the one hand, for some people, political corruption to them is government money being spent fraudulently. And you've seen the president point to -- we've made efforts to try to root out waste, fraud and abuse.
But then there's also are people taking money? Are people looking for financial benefits in order to get influence? And those are the sorts of things that a lot of voters in my focus group say. They always thought Donald Trump was different. He was different from other politicians.
And now they're seeing what's going on in Washington these days, and they feel like he's just become a normal, just like all the other people they didn't like. And that's -- that's a huge, huge problem for Republicans is.
HUNT: Is that your experience in Georgia?
CARTER: I mean, I think folks in Georgia are frustrated by the implementation to use your term, right? Like the folks that that were Trump people wanted to see some results. They wanted to see something different. And it turns out that rather than fixing a rigged system, he just rigged the system for himself.
HUNT: Bryan Lanza, what are you hearing from the White House about? I mean, there have been a couple of stories this week, Kimberly Guilfoyle and her texts as she's trying to get confirmed to be ambassador to Greece. And then the basically the midterm brain trust going to work for Putin-aligned territory in the Balkans in October.
How is all that going over at the moment? Speaking of --
LANZA: Listen, I think the friends that I talk to, you know, see it as a temporary distraction, that they hope to sort of move on from this as fast as possible, because there's sort of bigger issues at play. Some are disappointed that we're having this distraction. But you know, it wasn't a good week from that standpoint of sort of the Russian aligned narrative.
I know the friends that I've worked with in this administration, they hate the -- they hate that that word gets brought up all the time. And this gave it a reason to be brought up again.
HUNT: Yeah. I mean, does this how does this play into where voters are right now?
ANDERSON : The -- foreign policy and which countries are we friends with or not friends with, and which foreign leaders are we friends with or not friends with is just further down on the list, except when it connects to cost of living. And so to the extent that there are things we can do to help bring down cost of living, that's great. I don't know that, for instance, being more buddy-buddy with Vladimir Putin, though, is going to feel like a great win.
And so I -- I just think that this administration has gotten itself into such a bind because voters wanted cost of living brought down. I think you could reasonably say at two years in, hey, we've been working on it. Give us more time. We passed One Big, Beautiful Bill. We've got all this other stuff going on that we're working on. But whether it's the tariffs or whether it's the war in Iran, it makes it harder to say, hey, the problems aren't our fault. We're trying to fix it because voters think those two things are the fault.
HUNT: You're scribbling.
WILLIAMS: Oh, no, no. I would also just say, you know, do the Kimberly Guilfoyle point. It's like we were talking about Hasan Piker earlier. Do people around the country care about this individual who's now an ambassador to a country used to be married to Gavin Newsom, and it's confusing and messy and all sort of a hot mess? No. However, it fuels the narrative that many people have, which is that Washington, D.C., is corrupt and people are paying each other money and asking for $100,000 to pay off their AmEx bills. Many people just don't like this about Washington, D.C., and I think that kind of thing is what gets politicians kicked out. If it's just -- people see the systemic --
CARTER: And this is also an administration defined by distraction, right? This is not -- this is an administration that we end up talking about Kimberly Guilfoyle, we end up talking about this. We end up talking about that. They seek it out.
And people are sitting at home like, but what are you doing to the problems that I care about? And at the end of the day, the answer is, well, we're working on the implementation. But that's not what they see. They see the president not out there fighting every day to lower costs. They see him out there fighting every day to build a, you know, something that's going to promote himself, to fix the White House, to go through real estate developments, et cetera. I mean, I think that's a big problem.
HUNT: All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, breaking news, the White House has a new press secretary. Details on the president's pick ahead.
Plus, the Trump administration is bringing back public execution as a former Army officer convicted of killing 13 people is set to face a military firing squad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Death penalty through firing squad. And he deserves it. Killed and wounded many, many people. A maniac.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:18:54]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: He's going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be. And we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public because people need to understand that this is a -- there's serious consequences for these types of things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the military's first firing squad execution in decades will be livestreamed, allowing the public to watch.
Former U.S. Army major and psychiatrist Nidal Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others at Fort Hood Army base in Texas in 2009. The execution by firing squad would be the first of its kind carried out by the U.S. Army since World War Two. Hegseth pledge is drawing criticism from both sides of the aisle, from the U.N. and from the Catholic Church.
Vice President J.D. Vance, a converted Catholic, who is skeptical the execution will be live streamed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, first of all, I've seen these announcements. I don't know that that's actually going to happen. Let's -- let's sort of see what I think is going to happen in December when he's executed. But what I try to remind people is, look, this is a guy who committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11.
[16:20:02]
Look, if it's ultimately live streamed, I'm not going to be watching it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That's one person that's not going to be watching it.
All right. Former marine combat fighter pilot and retired lieutenant colonel, Amy McGrath, joins our panel now.
Colonel, thanks very much for being here.
If this goes forward and is live streamed, what does that say about America?
LT. COL. AMY MCGRATH (RET.), FORMER MARINE COMBAT FIGHTER PILOT: You know, we used to know better in this country. America once understood why restraint mattered. And I think like a lot of Americans, I -- you know, I love this country. We do not have to act barbaric like our enemies do to prove that we're strong. And I think it shows really how low we're going right now.
No one is disputing that this man, Hasan, murdered 13 people. No one is minimizing that. And whatever you think about the death penalty, carrying out a sentence and broadcasting the execution are very different things.
I spent 24 years in the military. We do not need an audience to prove that we're strong. Uh, I think it sends a terrible message. And again, this is another reason why Pete Hegseth should never have been secretary of defense.
HUNT: All right. Let's walk through some of what the response has been to this. The U.S. archbishop, Catholic Bishop Paul S. Coakley, who is the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said this: In no way can Hasan's actions be condoned. But this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered. The public execution, even of one who has done grave harm, will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.
There are also a number of Republicans who are already on the record saying that they oppose this.
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina: Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.
Congressman Austin Scott: I absolutely support the sentence of death. But live streaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that.
Senator John Curtis of Utah: A civilization erodes when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment, broadcasting a death diminishes us and is not an effective deterrent. I urge him to reconsider.
And here was a survivor of the Fort Hood shooting. This is sergeant Alonso Lunsford. He was shot seven times in this incident. Here's what he has to say about this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SERGEANT ALONSO LUNSFORD, FORT HOOD SURVIVOR: It's not something that you should view for entertainment purposes. To show the whole thing without it being censored for the general public, I really don't -- me, personally, I don't agree with that. But it's not about my personal belief. My biggest thing is, is the effect. As far as looking at it for the general public, for our young future leaders, what kind of message would it send to them?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HUNT: Jason Carter, your family has done so much work on the world stage on behalf of the country. What message does it send?
CARTER: I mean, I think, um, you know, certainly Jimmy Carter would be rolling over in his grave if we do this, but the United States has always been a beacon of human rights. That's why we have the military that we have. That's why we do the things that we do as a nation.
And if we are not going to do that, if we are going to stoop, I'm glad to see that the response has been as it is. But if we're going to stoop to that level, I think it would dramatically change who we are in some ways as a people. And I think it would provide great solace to our worst enemies.
HUNT: Bryan, you're a religious man. What do you think?
LANZA: Listen, its clearly a bridge too far. You know, I mean -- I mean, first of all, from a religious perspective, I'm pro-life, right? And so, you know, this is where ending somebody's life here. And that's something they should be serious. And it's not something we just sort of trivially throw on the Internet.
I hope this is being reconsidered. I don't see how this helps my party. Certainly, we know my party supports the death penalty. That's great, but I don't see how it how it brings more supporters for the death penalty. It's a gruesome thing. And I think the vice president is right in what he said.
HUNT: Do you -- the vice president also seemed to suggest, after we heard from Hegseth that it won't happen.
LANZA: Yeah.
HUNT: Do you think the administration will ultimately put a stop to it?
LANZA: So I think -- listen, the people that I know, the administration, I can't imagine they see this as a plus for them either, either 30 days before the election or before Christmas.
HUNT: Let's watch what the president said about it this morning. Here was President Donald Trump talking about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Today, you can do almost anything. Nothing happens. But we're changing that. You see that.
In fact, we're giving a man the death penalty who killed 14 soldiers, a couple of years ago.
(APPLAUSE)
[16:25:06]
TRUMP: Death penalty through firing squad. And he deserves it. Killed and wounded many, many people. A maniac.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Colonel McGrath. I mean, obviously, he didn't say anything there about the idea of the live stream, but he still is talking about this type of execution that way
MCGRATH: Yeah. I mean, death by firing squad hasn't been done since World War Two. I think that outrage really is this idea that it would be live streamed. And, you know, I live in Kentucky. Kentucky hosted Americas last recognized public execution. It was back in 1936.
And there was so much outcry back in 1936 about this, that we stopped it here in our state. And we stopped it in our -- in our country. And why we're now thinking about reviving this on a massive scale, because we have Internet, you know, think about that. It's going to be clipped. It's going to be used by our enemies.
This is a massive this would be a massive propaganda win. We'd be giving this guy martyrdom and think about what it does to our soul of our country. Our kids are going to see this on their phones. They're going to clip it. This is something we should be cheering about?
It's bizarre. It's wrong. It's immoral. And so, I think a lot of people on both sides of the aisle are stepping up and saying, what are we doing here? That's the problem. It's the -- it's the -- not the execution itself. This man arguably deserves to die.
It's the public display of this, that is un-American.
HUNT: Elliot Williams --
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
HUNT: -- is there legal recourse here for if, for example, family members --
WILLIAMS: Yeah, quite a lot. Quite a lot.
And part of why in the back of J.D. Vance, Yale law graduate's mind as to why this wont happen is that there will be legal challenges to it. Now, the interesting thing about this case is that typically, it's the press wanting access to be able to broadcast an execution in some way. The closest example was Timothy McVeigh, where they sort of they streamed it only to a private room of, I guess, family members of victims or whatever, but not --
HUNT: Well, there's a big difference between an argument about recording what's happening, and then broadcasting it, right? Separate questions.
WILLIAMS: So, but here's the thing -- on the legal point. It's under the -- as colonel knows, it's under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which gives a lot more latitude for it to happen. So it can happen.
Now, Hasan himself can challenge it, saying that, look, you can execute me. But by live streaming this, it's a form of lack of a better term, humiliation that compounds just simple deterrence, that makes execution.
HUNT: The U.N. spokesman for human rights straight called it like it would -- says it would violate the prohibition of torture.
WILLIAMS: Yeah. No. And the whole point is, you know, we punish people to punish them for the crimes they do, not to humiliate them in public as a form of literally torture there. And so, he has a challenge there.
Now, the question is, as the colonel had said, is he seeking martyrdom and does he just accept it? And to help his cause? And that -- that's not out of the question here.
HUNT: All right. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Amy McGrath, thank you, as always, for joining us. Really appreciate it. Come back soon.
The rest of our panel is going to stand by. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, new questions over an incident where immigration officials fired into a car with a five-year-old child inside, as local and federal officials fight over who's to blame.
Plus, the White House has a new press secretary. The hacks on tap are here. David Axelrod and Mike Murphy will join us. What do they make of the president's pick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE ZACHARIA, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What I want to say is President Trump has re-energized the base. He's re-energized midterm elections like no other president I have ever seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:33:12]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACHARIA: President Trump has re-energized the base. He's re-energized midterm elections like no other president I have ever seen. We have to take what President Trump is doing seriously, not just with the booming economy that he is resurging, but with all of the energy, all of the military infrastructure, and really reclaiming the western hemisphere. That is what's on the ballot right here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. That was conservative commentator Katie Zacharia yesterday on Fox touting the president's midterm efforts.
Today, we have learned that President Trump has selected her to serve as his next White House press secretary.
CNN's senior White House reporter Betsy Klein joins us now with more on this.
So, Betsy, what more do you know about the presidents decision? Why her?
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, Kasie, as you know, the question of who was going to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary was one of the hottest parlor games in Washington, D.C., and there was some question as to whether the role would even be filled.
But the president, going with a wild card pick with Katie Zacharia, who will be his new press secretary. And this was a little unexpected. As of last week, she wasn't even on any short list, but he did go with Zacharia. She's a conservative communicator with experience as a guest on Fox, Newsmax, even here on CNN. She had a brief stint for about two months at the Department of Homeland Security. She has a law degree and has most recently been serving as a legal advisor to Fix California, which is a group founded by the Trump ally Ric Grenell, as well as a senior communications advisor at the president's social media platform of choice, Truth Social.
Now, she has young children. She lives in California and had commuted during her time at DHS. We'll have to see if she makes the more permanent move. But in announcing this, the president took to social media.
He wrote, quote, "It is my great honor to have just appointed as press secretary, Katie Zacharia."
[16:35:03]
He goes on to say she has an unblemished record of support and has been a loyal and brilliant supporter right from the beginning. She is likewise a devoted fan and member of MAGA. I am confident that Katie will deliver strong results for our country as the next White House press secretary, as she has the respect of, and will work fantastically with, the media, the American people and my administration.
Now, throughout the search to replace Karoline Leavitt, the White House had struggled with some candidates who had given disqualifying remarks spoken negatively of the president. But we understand that president Trump met today in the Oval Office with Katie Zacharia. We'll be watching as to when she will fill that role and when her first briefing will be, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. We will indeed.
Betsy Klein for us at the White House. Betsy, thank you very much.
All right. Joining us now here in THE ARENA to discuss, CNN chief political analyst, former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, and Republican strategist Mike Murphy. They are, of course, our hacks on tap. They co-host -- co-host a podcast together.
Guys, its great to see you. Thank you so much for being here.
Mike, let me just start with you on this press secretary question, because, of course, I -- Karoline Leavitt was actually a very close adviser to the president. She was in the room. She was somebody that he would listen to.
Do you -- what impact do you think this woman is going to have, especially with just a month out to the midterms? MIKE MURPHY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You know, I think they're kind of
interchangeable. The new key to that job is to be able to speak in a 200-word, run on sentence with a lot of positive platitudes, and often more than a few mistruths about President Trump ending in, he's the greatest president in the history of human civilization.
So I don't know if she'll have the inside influence that Leavitt had. But as far as kind of breaking the traditional mold of press secretary of answering questions and instead monologuing about the magnificence of Donald Trump, I don't see any change.
HUNT: Axe, I mean, you've -- you've been in the White House and understand this role. And it also seems as though, you know, I mean, the president picks people off TV, it seems like all the time.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. And particularly people who are on Fox a lot.
Look, you saw his tweet. The thing that he emphasized was she's been an unquestioned loyalist and she's all MAGA all the time and so on. So, you know, he wants to choose someone who he thinks is from central casting, which is usually off the bench at, at Fox News. I mean, we pick secretaries of defense from there these days.
And he wants someone who -- he wants someone who will be an unquestioning voice for his policies and advocate for his policies and, who will be a loyalist. And Karoline Leavitt was that, and she will be that as well.
So I think this was -- you know, it is maybe outside the box for a normal White House, but for this White House, it's very much in character.
HUNT: Fair enough. So what I really want to talk to you guys about is the midterms, and actually especially 2028 and, Axe, I mean, when I when you talk to people here in town, I mean, the expectation is 2028 gets underway essentially on November 3rd. And there are expectations that we could see some really early announcements.
I'm curious your assessment of what various potential '28ers are doing in the midterms here. Is there anyone that is standing out to you for what they're doing, how they're doing it? Or do you think at this point its all a wash?
Yeah. Go ahead.
AXELROD: Oh, no, no, no, I don't -- look, Jon Ossoff has elevated himself into the front ranks of candidates, by the way he's conducted himself in the -- in the Georgia election. I mean, they've been very clever about how they've parceled out vertical videos from his speeches. And they've gone viral and he's become, you know, quite a sensation among activists Democrats.
You know, I think Governor Shapiro is playing a different game, which is he's going to roll up a big score, but he wants to be able to say, and I brought three or four congressional seats with me, and that will be part of his messaging.
Rahm Emanuel, who was our colleague for a while here.
HUNT: Memorably.
AXELROD: My friend, the former mayor of Chicago, but he's been incredibly active around the country, campaigning for candidates.
Pete Buttigieg has been active campaigning for candidates.
Governor Beshear is head of the Democratic Governors Association, and he's handing out money to candidates, which is always an effective technique.
J.B. Pritzker created a $20 million PAC to give out money to candidates.
So they're all aware that there's benefit to these midterms. But I would say, you know, that the biggest beneficiary to date is Ossoff. And when this election is done, there's going to be a stampede down to Atlanta to try and persuade him to run.
HUNT: Mike?
[16:40:00]
MURPHY: Well, one salute to my pal Axe for working every name in which is the position --
AXELROD: No, man. We've got -- there's a much larger roster of people --
HUNT: There are a couple missing I will say.
AXELROD: She's only got an hour. I couldn't do the whole --
MURPHY: You forgot Wes Moore, you're going to get a letter.
AXELROD: Yes, you're right, you're right, you're right.
MURPHY: But I would say the reality of this thing, the reality of it is Ossoff is the king of the pre-preseason, just like Gavin Newsom a year ago was the key to the pre-pre-preseason. That's treacherous space.
That said, if he runs he'll be a contender. I think the race is wide open and it'll really hit peak pre-campaigning when we get to the summer of 2027. But I think there's no front runner in control. And there is an emerging first tier. And I would put Ossoff there along with a few others, but long road ahead.
AXELROD: Oh, there's no -- there's no doubt about it. And honestly, it's a trap to be the kind of, you know, remember, president DeSantis in 2022, right after the midterm elections and all that --
HUNT: I can remember President Jeb Bush, too, if I recall. AXELROD: I mean, it's --
MURPHY: Yeah, President John --
AXELROD: You had to go there, didn't you?
HUNT: Sorry.
AXELROD: But the -- but, you know, I think that, this is going to be as wide open a primary, I think, as we've seen in a very long time. And it's going to be really important to the Democratic Party because parties aren't defined by midterm elections. They're defined by who their presidential candidate is.
And so the party is going to have a definitional fight during that presidential race. And, and you're right, I think it will begin at 12:01 on November 4th because with a field this large and a race so undefined, everybody's going to want to make sure they get in early, I think. You know, DeSantis waited until May --
MURPHY: By the way --
AXELROD: And it was a big mistake.
MURPHY: Yeah.
HUNT: Yeah. Go ahead, Mike
MURPHY: Same on the Republican side, I think Vance is probably I take the field against him. You never know this early, but it's pretty wide open. And this is one of those rare moments in American politics where there's really not a dominant candidate on either side. The shadow of Trump will be out there.
But that's where both parties define themselves. And the one thing I know about both races, beyond they're both open, is it's going to be about the future in both parties, which is the ultimate kind of definitional fight you want. So stay tuned. It's going to be something.
HUNT: So speaking about the future of the past acts, correct me if I'm wrong, but did you mention Kamala Harris? How does that play in?
AXELROD: Well, like I said, you only have an hour long show, so I don't get a chance to mention everybody. But, I mean, we'll see if the vice president -- we'll see if the vice president runs. You know, I think there are a lot of reasons for her not to, and, you know, I don't think people are going to be looking backward. They're going to be looking forward and, there aren't a lot of warm feelings about what happened. Some of it wasn't of her making, but what happened in 2024.
So I don't think people are going to want to do a rerun of that. I suspect that she will realize that and not run, but we'll see.
Listen, like I said, this is a wide open race and I -- people denigrate American campaigns, but they do test you in really, in many different ways. And we do learn, we learn. I said their MRIs for the soul by the end of it. You know who these people are. And, so we need that, we need that contest in both parties.
HUNT: Mike, you want a quick last word?
MURPHY: Yeah. I think, it's a good thing. And how Donald Trump handles a bad election day this year is going to drive his behavior, and you might see more of an accelerated departure from Trump to the future in the Republican Party than people would think is normal now.
A year ago, nobody thought the Dems could win the Senate. Now they're in the hunt. Politics is always changing.
HUNT: Indeed, it is.
All right, David Axelrod, Mike Murphy, thank you guys so much. Always love having you. The hacks on tap.
AXELROD: See you.
HUNT: See you soon.
AXELROD: Thanks.
HUNT: All right. Ahead here in THE ARENA, a growing rift between New York City and the federal government. After immigration agents fired bullets into a vehicle that had Dominican man and his five year old son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARKWAYNE MULLIN, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We wasn't aware that child was in the car, I can tell you that. But do you know who was? Oscar. Oscar knew he had a child in his car. The public outcry should be also towards this criminal, this thug, this gangbanger, this possible murderer -- the outcry should be with him for endangering the five-year-old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[16:49:06]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: The pretext of ICE is, in their words, to keep this country safe. How is it keeping everyone safe to have -- as you just heard from the police commissioner -- individuals wearing construction vests and masks with long guns. Residents have no idea if these are law enforcement agents or if they are simply attacking someone on the street. And when it comes to ICE, it begs the question what's the difference?
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani didn't mince words after the first ICE involved shooting in the city since President Trump's immigration crackdown.
The NYPD released this body camera footage showing its officers responding to the scene yesterday. Federal officials said that immigration agents shot a man during a targeted enforcement operation in the Bronx because the agents believed their lives were in danger, when he, quote, "weaponized his vehicle". Local officials said there was a five year old child in the back seat.
[16:50:00]
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin saying the agents were unaware the child was there. He also defended their actions and criticized New York leaders, including the governor, Kathy Hochul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MULLIN: When I said help us, my words, that came back to me were -- well, right now we need to put a pause on enforcement. No, we're not putting a pause on enforcement. I'm sorry. We're not.
In fact, I'm not sorry. Our job is to enforce the nation's laws and go after the worst of the worst. And our men and women do a dang good job at it every single day. And we will not stop doing our job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller joins the panel.
And, John, we got new video just in of this incident. Can you walk us through what we're looking at?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Sure. You see that silver Honda CRV with the tinted windows just pulled up next to the fire hydrant? The suspect is in the front seat -- in the front seat, Oscar Belgal.
Now, you see the ICE agents in plainclothes, a point -- you know, point guns show up bang on the window. The car takes off. Now, when you get to the corner in this angle here, you got to direct your attention to the far right of the screen, because that's where that car collides with another car. Shots are fired. You can see the backup team moving in, but you can also see people diving on the ground as they hear the shots fired.
And now you see. You actually don't see, but you can see them kneeling over where they've pulled the suspect out of the vehicle. And Oscar Belgal is in custody at this point.
What we don't see is the five year old child who was apparently sitting in the back behind the tinted windows, which made it harder to see him from the first video we looked at. But we do know that he was located three hours later by the NYPD, safe and sound, with an aunt who took him from the scene and brought him to a beauty parlor, while they sorted things out.
HUNT: So, John, this question about weaponizing the vehicle, I realize we've only got limited angles so far, and our information is relatively limited. But how do you assess that claim by DHS, by these agents at this stage?
MILLER: Well, this is about tactics, Kasie. If you see the vehicle pull up and park, you've got a surveillance team in the area. Once you know you were sitting on that car, one thing that could happen is the suspect could get out, which makes it much easier. Now, you don't have a suspect in control of a vehicle running up to the vehicle, with the window up, the door is locked and pointing guns.
You know, in these ICE incidents where there have been 42 shootings since 2025, many of them involving people in vehicles, what people naturally do when they see people running up on them with guns is what you're looking at right here. They take off.
And, you know, in this case, you have to ask the ICE policy is not to shoot at a moving vehicle. If the vehicle is the only thing being used as a weapon, meaning if the suspect was shooting out the window of the vehicle, you could theoretically return fire. The main thing is you're supposed to get out of the way of the vehicle.
That is written in the policies of the Department of Homeland Security for use of force. But apparently, in many of these cases, they've just disregarded that policy. And if the vehicle takes off, rather than get out of the way, they open fire on the idea that they say the vehicle was now a threat to us.
So there seems to be some -- I don't know how you would put it. Tactical confusion on the point of what the policy and tactical procedures really are in the field. But this is the first shooting that we have had with ICE in New York City since this latest enforcement effort started back in 2025. And obviously, it's become a bit of a political hot potato.
HUNT: Yeah. I mean, John, you've run police departments, how do you -- what are you reading into the way that the NYPD leadership is handling, how they're commenting about this? What do you think that says about ICE and this incident?
MILLER: So that's really interesting, Kasie, because the NYPD does not work with ICE on immigration matters. If they wanted this guy for robbery or something else, that might be different. But if it's strictly about a deportation, the NYPD stays out of it.
In fact, they're mandated to by law, but they do get the call. Homeland security requesting backup. They do show up in the scene, as we saw in the very first video. Rather than wait for the ambulance, they actually took Belgal, put him in the back of a police car, rushed him to a hospital.
[16:55:02]
But they have nothing to do with the post-shooting investigation. Their thinking was just to handle the scene, handle the crowds and stay out of it, basically because, you know, once they get involved in it, they're identified with those efforts.
HUNT: All right. John Miller for us, John, always appreciate you. Thank you very much for being here.
MILLER: Thanks.
HUNT: We'll be right back.
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HUNT: All right, thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate all of you being here. Have a great weekend.
Thanks to all of you at home for watching as well. Don't forget, you can watch more of THE ARENA tomorrow. THE ARENA SATURDAY airs at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. I'd love to spend some of our weekend with you.
"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.
