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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Administration Sues To Block Certification Of Upcoming Alaska Election; Trump Rallies In Florida As Election Forecast Has Bad News For GOP; Ramaswamy Defends His Incendiary Attack Ad; Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Is Interviewed About House Republicans' Subpoena NJ In Non-Citizen Voter Rolls Probe; Musk Pumps Staggering $445 Million Into Midterms To Help GOP; Four Days Until Israelis Vote To Keep Or Replace Netanyahu. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 23, 2026 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:29]

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right, thanks to my panel. Thanks to you at home for watching. Don't go anywhere. The Lead with Jake Tapper starts right now.

Hi, Jake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to the Lead. I'm Jake Tapper, and we're going to start with the breaking news in our Politics Lead.

More than 23 million Americans have already cast your ballots. With just 11 days to go until midterm Election Day, and the Trump administration is right now trying to sow some doubt in the integrity of elections. The latest case is Alaska, where early voting is already underway and the Justice Department is preemptively filing a lawsuit. They did so yesterday to block the certification of the U.S. Senate election there.

If the Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan loses as a result of voter confusion, the Trump administration is arguing that a different candidate on the ballot, Daniel J. Sullivan, could confuse voters. Despite Senator Sullivan's name being clearly marked as the registered Republican and the senator, as you can see on the ballot still, they're both named Dan Sullivan. That could confuse some folks. The battle for control of the Senate could come down to this race.

In Alaska, primary ballot results from August showed only a few percentage points between Democrat Mary Peltola, the former House member, and incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, the other Dan Sullivan receiving less than 3 percent of the vote. But that ain't nothing.

And despite legal experts saying this suit is based on a, quote, strange and unusual legal theory, it shouldn't come as a complete shock because earlier this month at a rally in Alaska, the president said, said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They put him up to get a little confused and actually, by mistake, he got 2.4 percent. That's a lot. That's too much. That could be the difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: President Trump posted on Truth Social, quote, we are looking at powerful legal options to remove the fraudulent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the ballot and holding the Democrats accountable for their election interference, unquote. This afternoon, President Trump was clear as to who directed this move by the Justice Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any thoughts from Alaska lawsuit with --

TRUMP: Well, I'm the -- I'm the one that said do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Duh. Of course. A spokesman for incumbent Senator Sullivan said he will, quote, let the DOJ complaint run its course. While Paltola's campaign said, this is an example of, quote, the corruption Alaska is fed up with, unquote. This is far from Trump's first overt attempt to contest election results.

There's, of course, that big 2020 election lie that led to the insurrection at the Capitol. This year the president tried to make mail-in voting more difficult with restrictive new rules on the U.S. Postal Service. Those rules struck down by the Supreme Court. And the Justice Department just appealed its case against California election officials, asking them to toss potentially thousands of ballots that the DOJ alleges -- DOJ alleges without concrete evidence, as of now, all are non-citizen voters.

But just yesterday, Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked if there were any scenario where the Justice Department would stop states from certifying their election results. Here is Blanche's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOOD BLANCHE, ATTORNEY GENERAL: It is not DOJ's intention to, and it's never our intention to improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process. But you know, to say that there's no circumstances that we would ever do that. Of course I'm not going to say that. But am I planning my days around the election to be somewhere to not certify? Of course not. No, not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Our panel is here now. Joe, you're a former Republican federal prosecutor. The lawsuit for the Alaska Senate race says, quote, the United States likewise suffers an injury when the certification of the election for a federal office is tainted by a frivolous candidacy because that undermines confidence in the makeup and workings of the federal government.

As a pure legal argument, what do you make of that?

JOSEPH MORENO, FORMER GOP STRATEGIST: It's weak. Yes, I don't blame them for trying. Right. This is a bad faith candidacy. Of course, what anybody says, right? Dan Sullivan, the outsider, the non-incumbent, actually tried to get himself listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican. At least Alaska said, you're Daniel J. Sullivan, you're not a Republican. They went that far.

Beyond that though, there is no good faith requirement under either Alaska or federal law. So basically, if the non-incumbent Dan Sullivan meets the bear requirements, which is 30 years old inhabitant of Alaska, U.S. citizen pays his $100 to get in the ballot, that's it.

And so while I think many of us on my side selfishly would say, well I'd love there to be some legal remedy to stop this injustice, the fact is there's not. And as a conservative, we shouldn't try to bend the law to get to the outcome that we want because that's just not the interpretation that we're meant to believe that we follow.

TAPPER: And then we should note that this kind of -- these kinds of shenanigans, and I agree with you, there's no way that this isn't just some sort of tomfoolery.

[17:05:06]

Unfortunately, it's commonplace. Like we see third party candidates propped up by Democrats to peel off votes from the Republicans, by Republicans to peel off votes from the Democrats. I mean, if it's legal, it's unfortunate, but there's not much you can do.

ADRIENNE ELROD, FORMER SENIOR SPOKESWOMAN, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: Yes, look, it's a tale as old as time. I mean, we can go back and look at Ross Perot, for example, and the fact that Bill Clinton largely became president because there was a president person who got 20 percent.

But look, this is the -- Trump has been weaponizing the Department of Justice since he first came to office, even more so in the second term. While this is certainly disappointing that he's doing this and that his DOJ is taking these actions, it's not surprising Democrats are prepared. We have a whole war room operation in every single state where there's a major election to help combat this.

We've got a huge legal operation that's doing this because we're prepared, we're ready. He's given us the warning signs from the very beginning that he would use DOJ in a way that benefits him. And we're seeing it play out right now, and I think we're going to see it play out more and more over the next two weeks.

TAPPER: Jonah, you heard the Attorney General Todd Blanche there saying he would never intentionally interfere. How much confidence do you have in him? JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I have very little confidence in him. I think I generally agree with you. I think the lawsuit itself is not going to get passed. A lot of judges, you know, on appeal, it's going to get thrown out and appeal again, all that.

But what I think Trump is trying to do here is, you know, Trump often wants the headline more than he wants the substance. Right. He just wants, you know, get Zelenskyy to say they're investigating corruption in Ukraine and he'll do the rest. Right. I think he's trying to lay down a predicate for a talking point about how the midterm elections were stolen and they're illegitimate and set up sort of a permission structure to not deal with Congress, to question its legitimacy and all that kind of stuff. I think it's shabby.

I mean, there was a time in American history not too long ago where just simply saying that the president was going to direct the attorney general --

TAPPER: To do anything.

GOLDBERG: To do anything like this. Right. I mean, like, the president has no role in state elections that are lawfully conducted and he doesn't care. And we're sort -- this is so the new normal, that we're just sort of going along with it.

TAPPER: So let me, you know, you just teed me up perfectly because Todd Blanche disagrees with you.

GOLDBERG: Shocking.

TAPPER: Here he is on a podcast earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANCHE: There was this misperception that there's this separation and independence between the Department of Justice and the White House. And everybody likes to champion that. And they accuse me of not suffering from independence. I don't. I work for President Trump. But they did, too. They did too. So this idea that Garland was just on his own making decisions independent of what the Biden administration wanted him to do is not true.

And by the way, I'm not being critical of that. What I'm being critical of is the lie that he was independent. He wasn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So I just have to say, having done some reporting on this, that's not true. The White House was furious with Garland. They were furious with him for allowing a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. They were furious with him for not prosecuting Trump more quickly and setting up the special counsel.

I mean, there is a -- they even announced by the -- they basically made him a lame duck with somebody leaking that like he wasn't going to be appointed if Biden got reelected. So that's just not accurate. MORENO: Yes, but I'm going to side with the Attorney General on this one.

TAPPER: On the independent question.

MORENO: We have had this Watergate era fiction that there has to be this hard wall between the White House and the Department of Justice. Some presidents have maintained that, others have not. The Attorney General does work for the president and his powers to enforce the law emanate from the president's powers under Article 2 of the Constitution.

So the idea that the Attorney General is he doesn't have to listen to the White House or doesn't have to -- has to not communicate and have this firewall between them. No. The Attorney General's job is to bring righteous cases. Doesn't really matter who tells him what to do. That's his job, and that's the standard he should be held to.

I know Todd Blanche, and I have every confidence that if he's going to bring a case, it's a legitimate one.

TAPPER: What do you say?

GOLDBERG: I have less confidence about that. Look, I think he invalidated his case for being Attorney General when he went to CPAC. First of all, just going to CPAC was a bad. Look, he as the Deputy Attorney general and then said that granting all the pardons to every single January six rioter was proof of how he is -- how -- Donald Trump will always support his base. Like that was a perversion of what the pardon power is. It was a perversion of his role.

I think, Blanche -- I think your theory of where his power comes from is correct. I mean, I think that's as a matter of constitutional law, it's a unitary executive. There's only one president and all of that. But at least there was some tribute paid to the fiction that he's talking about in the past, where the appearance of interfering with the Justice Department was something that presidents wanted to avoid.

[17:10:00]

This is the guy, you know, fired, you know, Comey, who I'm not a big fan of, because he said, I want personal loyalty from you. That's how Trump sees this kind of stuff. And he doesn't mind people knowing that. And I think that's bad.

TAPPER: We can go back all the way to Bill Clinton. He hated his attorney general, Janet Reno. Hated her. Hated her --

ELROD: Yes.

TAPPER: -- because she allowed special counsel investigations of him.

ELROD: Of course. Absolutely. I mean --

TAPPER: Ken Starr. ELROD: But this is what -- exactly, exactly. But this is what, you know, I understand where you're coming from, but I think the American people, and certainly, you know, those of us who have worked in administrations, we certainly are used to an independent Department of Justice. I think the Biden example is, and the Clinton example.

I worked in that administration. I worked in the Biden administration. President Biden's White House was infuriated with Merrick Garland slowness. But we are not used to seeing so much coordination and to an extent, collusion with the DOJ and the White House. And it's something that, frankly, the electorate doesn't like either. And that's why you're seeing this backfire on Trump time and time again.

MORENO: That's the distinction, though, right? There's the legal requirements and then there's the political. And I get legally, the White House can direct the Justice Department. Politically, people might not like that. And you know what? It's absolutely legitimate for them to reflect that in their vote.

TAPPER: Well, when standards are eroded, they tend not to return. So we'll see what happens next. Thanks to everyone.

In Ohio today, Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor, tried to defend his controversial ad about his Democratic opponent and said it was never about childhood sexual abuse. You can hear his reasoning coming up.

Plus, see the court records that challenge Ramaswamy and President Trump calling Amy Acton a liar on her childhood trauma.

Plus, more than $150 million in the Texas Senate race dumped into that state by one man, tech trillionaire and tech bro Elon Musk. We're going to talk about his potential return on investment.

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[17:15:38]

TAPPER: Sticking with our Politics Lead because it's only 11 days until midterm Election Day, President Trump is in Florida, where he held a rally in Fort Myers to support Republican gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds. But as the president left for this latest Ruby Red state stop on his midterm rally tour, there's more unwelcome news for his party.

Today The Cook Political Report says Republicans look unlikely to hold their House majority as Democrats hope to make gains in key states. Given these stormy political forecasts, one has to ask, why on earth would President Trump and his fellow Republicans want their closing argument to be at least in part one attack a victim of child rape and stand with the predators and two implicitly attacked law enforcement which tried to protect the victim of child rape.

I am of course referring to this ad from Ohio Republican governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, which trots out Donna Arthur, the estranged mother of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton, to call her own daughter a liar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Specifically the mom's referring to Amy Acton talking about having been raped by Donna's husband. This ad has now faced days of backlash, even among many Republicans, including the incumbent, Governor Mike DeWine. Plenty of time for the Ramaswamy campaign to take it down, try to backtrack. Instead, they're doubling down. Here is Vivek Ramaswamy earlier today when CNN's Lauren Fox pressed him on the appropriateness of this ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIVEK RAMASWAMY (R) OHIO GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: They are lying about an ad that is about lie. Our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse. We condemn that as forcefully as anyone. Our ad was about a consistent track record of Amy Acton telling lies, including during this campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any doubts given the fact that you did platform her mom about her story of abuse and neglect from her stepfather?

RAMASWAMY: Her mother has spoken since 2020. I've never met Amy Acton. I've never met or spoken to her mother, but I do think that if a candidate has repeatedly told lies in this campaign, as she has, and she is called out for it by a lot of people who are close to her, I think it is absolutely acceptable for voters to hear and make a decision for themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So the irony, of course, is that Vivek Ramaswamy is misrepresenting what the ad is. The idea that this ad has nothing to do with Amy Acton's having been a victim of child rape. That's not accurate, given that Acton's estranged mother accuses her of being a liar and lying about, quote, her past.

The only real part of Amy's past that this woman is a witness to is Amy's first 12 years. Why only 12 years? Because that's the last time Amy Acton saw her mom. Because Amy Acton was taken away from her mother at the age of 12, specifically because her mother's dad, Amy Acton's stepfather, was charged with raping her when she was a child. And Donna Arthur did not believe her daughter.

She chose to stay with her husband. Donna Arthur is the walking definition of an unreliable source. Despite this, today, President Trump actually upped his praise for this estranged mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: This is a person, a mother, a smart woman. I watch. Smart woman. She said her daughter is a disaster. Her daughter is a liar, and she felt that she had an obligation. Why wouldn't you listen to a mother that says that? Why?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I'll tell you, Mr. President, because I have a bunch of reasons, and I'm going to lay those out in a moment. But for you at home. President Trump then continued cheerleading for Team Estranged mom and brushed off the child rape charges against Amy's stepfather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The press is trying so hard to nullify. You know, they called me up about it. I said, wait a minute. The mother said these things. The mother looks like she's totally lucid. She looks very smart, actually. And she felt she had an obligation to Ohio voters to tell them that her daughter is a liar. That's all I know. Whether --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the stepfather was charged.

TRUMP: Nobody knows. Nobody knows anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:20:06]

ATAPPER: Nobody knows anything. The President says after a reporter says the father was charged. That's also not true. It turns out we actually know quite a bit. And if you're watching, Mr. President, I'm going to show you the court documents and the records to back it up. As I mentioned, Amy Acton has not seen her mother since Amy Acton was 12, when the state of Ohio took her and her brother away from her mom, Donna and Donna's husband, Cledith Arthur, who had been charged with raping Amy Acton when Amy Acton was 12.

We should note when Donna married Cletus in 1975, Cledith had already been accused in 1974 of raping his daughter from a previous marriage, an entirely different minor. Here's a look at a newspaper article showing that Cletdith Arthur was charged with incest.

The thing is, this isn't just a matter of Amy Acton at age 12 and her brother accusing Cledith Arthur of rape and abuse. It's not just those two, as if they wouldn't be enough, but it's also Ohio law enforcement accusing Cledith Arthur of rape.

July 14, 1978, Austintown police arrested Cledith, charged him with rape. Here's the arrest warrant and the arrest record. Four days later, Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty to raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Amy Acton. That court document reads that between December 1976 and April 1978, Cledith Arthur, quote, did engage in sexual conduct with Amy Stearns. That was her name at the time, not the spouse of the offender. When the other person is less than 13 years of age. Amy Stearns is now Amy Acton. One day later, court records show Amy Acton was subpoenaed as a

witness. A police detective submitted testimony that Cledith Arthur engaged in sexual conduct with Amy when she was under the age of 13. That's from a police officer. There's more.

The local newspaper, the Youngstown Vindicator, actually reported on the court proceedings at the time. July 17, 1978, the newspaper reads, quote, Cledith Arthur, 43, Terrence Lake Park Rogers, recently of Austintown, will appear in Austin Town County Court Tuesday morning having been charged with the rape of a 12-year-old girl. Austintown police arrested Arthur at his home Friday following an investigation initiated by the girl's father, her actual father, her birth father.

The next month, Cledith Arthur was indicted by a grand jury. And the next month. This is October 1978. Now, Cledith Arthur was summoned to appear in court. But then, just 20 days later, October 26, Cledith Arthur fled the state. One court filing reads, quote, it appears that the defendant has willfully vacated his last known address and has failed to provide any forwarding address, and his present whereabouts are unknown. It is therefore ordered that a warrant for the arrest of the defendant, Cledith Arthur, shall issue forthwith, unquote.

A few Years later, in 1981, a second arrest warrant was issued for this fugitive.

So during this time, what was happening with Amy Acton's mom, Donna Arthur? Well, she, too, became a fugitive. She went on the lam with her husband, Cledith. She left her daughter and her son behind. Now, Cledith died a fugitive in 2004. Donna appears to have led a rather troubled life since fleeing her daughter and her son. She lived in her car at one point.

A 2021 case shows that Donna was found guilty of animal neglect for keeping cats and kittens inside the car in which she apparently lived with the windows rolled up on a hot day. Testimony saying that one of the kittens died. An appeals court later found a procedural error, and that conviction was vacated, as was the sentence, remanded it back to the trial court for further proceedings.

Vivek Ramaswamy surely could have found any number of normal ways to try to highlight what he claims are lies from Amy Acton about her actual record as a health official, for example. But this ad not only uses Amy Acton's quite legitimate childhood trauma as a rape victim for political sport.

Vivek Ramaswamy and President Trump and Vice President Vance are effectively standing with the woman who stood by a child rapist.

Now, Ramaswamy was already facing strong headwinds against Republicans because of the unpopular war in Iran, the unpopular tariffs, a lack of confidence by the public in the president's performance. And then amidst that, Vivek Ramaswamy decided to create this ad, again, siding against a victim of child rape, siding against law enforcement, standing with a predator and the predator's wife That's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for him. I'm going to go to CNN's Lauren Fox. She's been with Ramaswamy at

campaign stops across Ohio today. Lauren, this ad with Acton's mom came out Monday.

[17:25:03]

This is all, as I understand it, that Ohio voters are talking about.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I have yet to find someone who hasn't seen this ad, heard of this ad, responded to this ad in some way. And I have been all over the state of Ohio today with our team talking to voters as well as listening to his stump speech a few different times. And he does briefly address this ad controversy.

But it's very interesting because in the conversations I've had with voters at these Republican rallies today, it's clear that even some of them have some concerns about this ad. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm not happy about it, but I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. So we'll just see what happens. And politics is a dirty game. You can't be weak in something like this. So.

FOX: Do you hope that Ramaswamy's campaign decides to take this ad off the air?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do. I do hope so. And maybe after today he will.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't like the ad. I didn't dislike the ad. It seemed to me it reinforced the fact that she lies about a lot of stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: So certainly you have Republican voters who you hear there are still going to vote for Vivek Ramaswamy. But I would just point out that in a state like Ohio, which traditionally had been a swing state, obviously Donald Trump has won here the last three presidentials cycles. It is an important factor to consider independent voters, to consider some of those voters who might be on the fence.

And right now I think that is where this question lies. What do those voters do on election day and how much might this damage Vivek Ramaswamy with those voters? Jake.

TAPPER: Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. An interesting maxim to bring out at a, at a moment like this. Lauren Fox in Circleville, Ohio, thanks so much.

Exactly how did some 6,000 non-citizens end up on New Jersey's voter rolls? The state's governor, Mikie Sherrill, next, as a new subpoena also pushes for that answer.

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[17:31:28]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, New Jersey is facing a subpoena from House Republicans asking how the state mistakenly added more than 6,000 non-citizens to its voter rolls. New Jersey's Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill revealed the error in July, saying it happened several years before she took office. Since then, House Republicans have launched an investigation.

Joining us now, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill. Governor Sherrill, thanks for coming on. So, in their letter to New Jersey's Acting Secretary of State, Republican leaders from two different committees write, the state of New Jersey has not, "produced any documents that explain how the alleged software error resulting in the registration of non-citizens was discovered or why non-citizens remained on the voter rolls until 2026." They say your administration has only provided 12 documents. So, what's your response?

GOV. MIKIE SHERRILL (D-NJ): Well, Jake, these are the questions that have already been asked. We've been engaged with them on some of the documents they're interested in, what's appropriate, what's not. But for them to drop these congressional subpoenas 13 days before the election is something no other administration would have done and certainly shows that this is just partisan, you know, trying to really go after this in a campaigning way, not get to the bottom of it.

But I think despite all of the attacks on the election system we have seen from Republicans across the country, up to and including redistricting attempts, what we are seeing is a blue wave, voters that are coming out, and it really, all of the ways in which they're trying to undermine the election system cannot overcome both the great candidates that Democrats have put forward with their vision on driving down costs and how unpopular the President is and all of the policies we're seeing coming from the Republican administration in Washington.

TAPPER: So, the subpoena from the Republicans gives your administration until November 16th to provide additional documents. Will you be providing those additional documents?

SHERRILL: We'll certainly provide what's appropriate and as we have said we would do from the original questions that they've already put out. Again, what I think they're continuing to focus on is trying to upend some of the elections and we have been fully transparent.

I discovered this, which happened in a previous administration. Days after this came to light we went forward with a press conference. We have been very transparent and then focused on making sure we have a resilient election system, which I'm really proud to say not only do we have a very resilient system but we have a very mature election protection effort that is in place as well.

TAPPER: I want to get your reaction to a different gubernatorial situation in Ohio and the fallout from Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's attack ad against his opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, which enlisted Acton's estranged mother to accuse her of lying about her past, which of course includes the fact that Acton's stepfather was charged with raping her when she was 12 and her mom stood by her and then when he became a fugitive she went with him and hasn't seen Amy Acton since he was 12. What was your response when you heard about this ad?

SHERRILL: Well, it's disgusting. I know Amy, she's fantastic and I think I felt like a lot of voters feel that this is somebody who has been through a really tough situation, came out of it stronger and understands what's going on across the country as people are struggling and is such a resilient, tough fighter, somebody who's been through her own struggles and is ready to take on those tough fights.

[17:35:04]

We saw how she operated working for DeWine during COVID and now she is, I think, at the height of her game as she comes into the end of this election, really connecting with voters. I'm so excited about this election because there is probably no election where the differences in the candidates are more stark.

Here you have Vivek Ramaswamy who has proven very incompetent at his current job and is now showing his true colors as if anyone needed to see more, really, of the fact that he will go to -- there's no low he won't go to, to try to get what he wants. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He thought he hit a triple.

He is not ready to be governor of the state of Ohio. He doesn't have the temperament. He doesn't have the values. Amy Acton is tough. She's a fighter, and she cares about the people she wants to serve.

TAPPER: A source tells CNN that over the last 10 days, you raised $500,000 for Democrats running for governor in Texas and Wisconsin. Why was it so important for you to raise money in those two races?

SHERRILL: Well, as we see the attempts, certainly what you've seen from Congress across the country to upend our election system, if we are going to have strong fighters at every single level to help make sure that we see the results we want here in New Jersey. So, for example, with every step forward I take in affordability, we have huge hits from Trump with the war, with gas prices, with grocery store prices. And then across the country, if we are going to see great results in '28, we need strong Democratic governors so that Trump and Republicans can upend our elections.

And so I really, when I looked at Gina Hinojosa's race, especially here is somebody where I think we are going to see really, really big turnout and a big swing with Latino voters. That's what I saw in 2025 in my race. So I want to pay it forward, raise some money for her. David Crowley is a fantastic candidate and we got out there for him. So we called a bunch of people and in about 10 days got $500,000.

TAPPER: New Jersey Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill, thanks so much for joining us. Have fun out there on the campaign trail.

Trillionaire Elon Musk is pouring more than $445 million into the midterms, about a quarter of that spent in one state alone. So what's in it for Musk? We're going to discuss that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:51]

TAPPER: Our Politics Lead now. He is already the world's richest man and the first one to ever be a trillionaire. And Elon Musk is also one of the largest political donors in the United States ever. The current billionaire has poured a jaw-dropping $445 million just into this midterm election. And much of that money funneled directly into the all-important Texas Senate race, which pits Republican Ken Paxton against Democrat James Talarico.

That race itself just officially became the most expensive non- presidential race on record. And as Elon Musk leverages his fortune to push Paxton over the finish line, Talarico is calling it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's almost single-handedly bankrolling the effort to install Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate. But why is the world's first trillionaire doing this? Elon wants to buy up our land. He wants to buy up our water. And now he wants to buy his own personal U.S. senator. Let's remind Elon, Texas is not for sale.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We should note for full disclosure that Elon Musk just invented -- just invested a billion dollars into Skydance, which is our new parent company here at CNN. Of course, that's not going to change how we cover him. Joining us now, Josh Dawsey, the chief political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, who just penned a new article on Musk. Josh, always great to have you.

Elon Musk, of course, has a lot to gain from having friends in Congress, including landing potential contracts for some of his companies, such as Tesla, SpaceX. But in the end, I do wonder, do you think pouring this substantial amount of money into the election might do him more harm than good?

JOSH DAWSEY, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, I think it's too early to know. But it's certainly in Texas where, you know, President Trump endorsed Ken Paxton and a lot of powerful senators there wanted him to endorse John Cornyn, as you know. And they said, this race is going to cost us hundreds of millions, 200, $300 million more with Ken Paxton as a nominee.

And so Elon Musk has stepped into the fray. Obviously, he calls Texas to be home, and he is almost single-handedly. You know, there are a lot of other donors as well, but he is running lots and lots of money in Texas, lots of money in Senate campaigns. He has power right now with Starlink and Ukraine. He's, you know, at the center of that debate on whether it should be turned on, turned off. The President, his interactions with him this week.

I mean, it's hard to imagine anyone who really has amassed more power and more facets of society from, you know, technology to politics to even national security now than Musk has in the last few years.

TAPPER: Yes, we'll get to Ukraine in a second, but sticking with Texas for a moment, polling indicates that the race for Senate is pretty tight. If the Democrat, Talarico, wins, what might that tell you about the impact, or lack thereof, that donors like this, oligarch donors, have in politics today and perhaps even going forward?

DAWSEY: Well, I mean, in some ways, right, money only matters so much in politics. Candidates matter, message matters, whether people feel about the cost of living, what they feel about, you know, affordability, government corruption, all sorts of things, right, matter in some ways more than money. So money can come in and do, you know, a lot of negative ads and a lot of, it can move the needle to some degree, but it's not the only thing.

[17:45:11]

And there can be, you know, a rebellion against that too. You're seeing a lot of folks who want to see less oligarchs have power, less influence for people like Elon Musk. It's sort of an issue that's been animating, you know, the trail this time is sort of, are people getting too wealthy and have too much power while I am not doing that well? You hear that from a lot of voters if you're out there across the country.

And so I'm not sure that without Elon Musk money, it might even be a tougher race in some ways for Paxton in Texas, but there are downsides, obviously, of course, too, when you have someone of that wealth and that much power bankrolling the campaign.

TAPPER: And as you noted, Musk's influence is beyond financial because he also owns the satellite company Starlink and Starshield, which suffered a sudden wave of service disruptions in war-torn Ukraine earlier this month. Now you reported that this was at the hands of Musk himself. President Trump was asked about this earlier today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so Elon Musk stopped messing around with Ukraine's Starlink connection?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have not spoken to him. I might, I might have to, but I have not. I've heard it was fixed, but if it's not, I'll speak to him.

First of all, he's a very good person. He's not going to do anything wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He's a very good person. He's not going to do anything wrong. You reported this week that Musk authorizes satellite restrictions and has been discussing Ukraine with Trump and yet Trump denies knowing any of this. DAWSEY: Yes. We reported this week that he ordered the restrictions on Starlink, but also that the President talked to him and called him to ask him to turn it back on. So I think there's been more contact there than the President is letting on.

TAPPER: Josh Dawsey, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

DAWSEY: Thank you.

TAPPER: Israel is also counting down to an election day. Can Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold his seat here from his top challenger, next?

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[17:51:16]

TAPPER: Horrific violence in the Middle East tops our World Lead. In Jordan, gunmen shouting Allahu Akbar opened fire on a funeral at a Christian church that killed seven and wounded 28 others. Officials say the gunmen have not been captured. And in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli military checkpoint, killing two soldiers and wounding three others. The IDF says both gunmen were killed. Hamas praised the attack but did not claim responsibility.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel ordered a full closure of the West Bank and he sent in security forces. That attack comes four days before voters in Israel go to the polls. As CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports for us now, this will be Israel's first nationwide election since the October 7th, 2023 terrorist attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The candidates are making their final rounds. Campaign ads hang from buildings and over highways. One of the most consequential elections in Israel's history now just days away. For the first time since the Hamas-led October 7th attacks and the three years of war that followed, Israelis are heading to the ballot box facing a stark choice to keep Benjamin Netanyahu in power or set the country on a new path.

That path is being forged by Gadi Eisenkot. Once Israel's top general under Netanyahu, he's now the candidate best positioned to unseat him. According to the latest polling, Eisenkot's newly formed Yashar party is projected to win 23 seats, overtaking Netanyahu's Likud, now polling at 19 seats, down from the 32 it currently holds.

But the 120-seat Knesset needs a 61-seat coalition to form a majority government. The change-block parties led by Eisenkot are projected to win 55 seats, while Netanyahu's right-wing governing coalition would win 51. The Arab political parties are on track for 14 seats.

Those parties also want to see Netanyahu ousted, but a majority of Israelis oppose including them in a governing coalition. In recent polling, a majority of Israelis say it's October 7th that will be front of mind as they vote, the first opportunity they've had to hold Netanyahu accountable for the colossal security failure that took place on his watch.

The Israeli prime minister has repeatedly refused to take responsibility, rejecting calls to establish a state commission of inquiry akin to the U.S.'s 9/11 Commission. Netanyahu has instead tried to turn voters' attention to how he responded.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: They all ganged up on us to wipe us off the face of the earth. We delivered crippling blows to all of them.

DIAMOND (voice-over): With a commitment to finish the job in Iran, President Trump endorsed Netanyahu, promising he will never let you down. But in an election that centers on Israel's longest-serving prime minister, who is still on trial for corruption and denies the allegations, Eisenkot cuts a stark contrast as a relative newcomer to politics and one vowing accountability.

GADI EISENKOT, YASHAR PARTY LEADER (through text translation): Almost three years after the failure, Netanyahu and his government are still running away from responsibility, still running away from the truth, and almost three years without a state commission of inquiry.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Eisenkot left the opposition to join Israel's war cabinet after October 7th. Two months later, his son was killed in combat in Gaza.

EISENKOT (through text translation): I promise to you that we will do everything to be worthy, in contributing to the right decisions for those who have sacrificed.

[17:55:01]

DIAMOND (voice-over): That story has struck a chord with many Israelis.

DIAMOND: Gadi Eisenkot is far from the most charismatic candidate in this campaign, especially when you compare him to Benjamin Netanyahu. But people here say that they are drawn to his message, that he is honest and that he's the man to unify this divided country.

DIAMOND (voice-over): That drew this former Netanyahu voter to Eisenkot's campaign.

YIGAL PEDAEL, EISENKOT VOTER: I think it's the time to unite the -- all the people on Israel together. This is the time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: And with both coalitions currently falling short of a majority, Eisenkot has said he is prepared to form a minority government if needed to avoid repeat elections and to get Netanyahu out of power.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv. TAPPER: And our thanks to Jeremy Diamond for that report.

Today, President Trump said he thinks there is great Republican enthusiasm in the midterm races. How his actions might suggest concerns about the opposite.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:08]

TAPPER: That's the CNN election jam.