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Trump's Taxpayer-Funded Ad Warns of Final Battle Ahead of Midterms; SpaceX Attempts to Launch Most Powerful Rocket Ever into Orbit; Trump Says More U.S.-Iran Talks Expected this Week; Week 3 of Testimony in Caleb Flynn Murder Trial. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 28, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Portuguese, port too good raised in the Dallas area, 56 yards away. Now, this kick had more kick than a Caipirinha. The Ravens win 34-31. He missed a kick in his rookie season that would have sent Baltimore to the playoffs.

Now, he's the walk-off winner celebrating like Pele in America, not from heartbreak to hero in Rio. The MLB regular season is over and on the final 162nd game. The Phillies clinched the final NL wildcard birth on the final day.

Kyle Schwarber, his two-run double there clutch slides into second crowd goes wild as the Phillies win seven to three. I know Danny loves that Philly boy. They'll face the Braves in the wildcard round starting tomorrow.

First round WNBA playoffs Liberty beat the top seeded Lynx powered by Breanna Stewart's 34 points, 12 rebounds, two steals in a 91-75 win in their opener of this best of three series.

Danny, I love this time of season. We have WNBA playoffs. We have October playoff baseball arriving.

We have college football Saturdays NFL Sundays. Yes, and we fans, we are eating really good right now and some of us have our Philadelphia Eagles undefeated playing Monday night football tonight against the Bears. Good for you, Danny.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Coy. Life is good for all of us. Appreciate you.

Have a good one.

WIRE: You got it.

FREEMAN: And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning this hour, new reporting on a major midterm strategy shift coming from the White House starring the president while a midterm mood is souring there. And a quote from one of Trump's advisers, "It's obviously going to be effing rough," end quote. Standing by also for a huge moment coming out of Texas. SpaceX about

to launch Starship, the world's biggest rocket into actual orbit for the first time. Got much more on that.

And a daring rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard hoisting a man, an injured man, to safety. How he got here and what happened here.

John and Sara are out today. I'm Kate Bolduan with Danny Freeman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

FREEMAN: Falling approval ratings, rising prices, an unpopular war and polls that have President Trump's own advisers bracing for the worst in November. So how does he plan to turn it all around? Well, we have new CNN reporting this morning on the strategy taking shape behind the scenes as President Trump's inner circle braces for impact.

One advisor telling CNN quote, "It's obviously going to be effing rough," and saying the best case scenario now is holding the Senate while losing the House. Now part of the White House's strategy is putting the president front and center. They're out with another new ad once again funded by American taxpayers.

In this spot, the president warns of a quote, final battle against communists and what he calls the deep state. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now it is the third taxpayer funded ad featuring the president in recent days and now even some Republicans are questioning the spending. CNN's Alayna Treene is live for us this morning at the White House. Alayna, you have, I understand, new reporting around this final sprint strategy from there.

What are you learning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, even as, Danny, many of the president's advisers acknowledge that really the mood has soured among them, that it's going to be difficult to get Republicans across the finish line and hold both the House and the Senate in November. Despite that, they're trying to find the best way to deploy the president in the fall. And I note, a lot of these different districts, some of the candidates in them don't actually want the president there.

I'd note, you know, you've seen a lot of different Republicans in recent weeks actually distance themselves from the president, including Mike Rogers, for example, who is running for the Senate seat in Michigan, acknowledging publicly that grocery prices are too high, that the Iran war has been difficult. And that is really what a lot of people in the president's inner circle and some on his political operation also recognize, that there are a lot of headwinds they are facing, the Iran war specifically, really causing a lot of consternation about how Republicans will do in a couple weeks. However, part of the strategy for the president is really going to be deploying him to some of the most conservative areas in some of these different states, including some of these more purple, swingy districts, and hoping to juice turnout among his fiercest supporters.

They recognize, they say, that they're not going to be able to get a lot of those more independent, moderate-leaning conservatives that they had relied on for the president back in 2024. They don't think it's, you know, that's going to be a target for them for the midterms, but they do hope that deploying him, as well as many other surrogates, people like the Vice President, J.D. Vance, many different cabinet members, will help with that.

[08:05:00]

I should note, though, that when I talk to some advisors behind the scene, Danny, they tell me that there is a catch-22 when it comes to having the president out there. Yes, he is a big driver of enthusiasm among his fiercest supporters. Not so much, though, when, you know, again, you look at these more moderate, independent-leaning voters, but then also he's just as much of a driver of enthusiasm and turnout for Democrats, as well.

And so that's an issue that they're trying to deal with. But really, this is all they have. One advisor telling us that essentially the cake is already baked, so the president has to go out there, do what he can, even as his low approval numbers are really dragging down some of the Republicans overall across the country.

All of this, Danny, as we know, that we've seen the president lean into this idea of putting his name on the ballot, trying to convince voters to pretend his name is on the ballot with these different ads. And you're right, it has caused a lot of -- we've seen a lot of outcry around this. One person from Common Cause, it's a government watchdog group, suggested that these ads could violate certain rules using taxpayer dollars for, quote, propaganda.

The White House, for their part, argues this is a public service announcement -- Danny.

FREEMAN: Yes, and again, as you noted, the risk for even those government-funded ads, that they might energize Democrats even more. Alayna Treene, thanks so much for that reporting. Appreciate it -- Kate

BOLDUAN: Yes, we are following breaking news. Fueling is a go. SpaceX's super heavy rocket booster and the Starship spacecraft are now being filled up for flight this morning.

This hour, SpaceX is aiming to make history with the most powerful SpaceX rocket ever made, set to be sent into orbit for the first time. This is a test flight still, but a critical step. It's being seen as for, well, one, Elon Musk's space plans, and they're big, and also a critical moment for the U.S. government and the future of NASA's spaceflight program. The launch window was just pushed back by about 30 minutes. It's now set to open at 8:46 a.m. Eastern. We're keeping a close eye on all of this as it changes, can change minute to minute.

If all goes as planned, the spacecraft is going to be up there for 10 hours, which is much longer than all of the suborbital space test flights before that. Up there for 10 hours, making six laps around the Earth and deploying 26 new Starlink satellites. To make sense of all of the words I just said, let's get to CNN aerospace analyst Miles O'Brien for much more.

I always get it in concept, and then I'm like, the words coming out of my mouth, I'm never really sure where we're going. Remind everyone why this, yes, it is another test flight, why this one is different and so significant.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: Well, it's all about orbit, Kate. If you're going to go to space, you've got to get to orbit. And on the previous 13 flights of Starship, they didn't quite make it.

It's been quite a development process to watch. This is an extraordinary rocket, which is chasing kind of the holy grail of space, which is to say completely reusable spacecraft. You know, imagine if you and I got into a 737 and flew to Cleveland and after the flight was over, they threw away the airplane.

You might think that that ticket would be kind of expensive. And that's basically what we do with rockets and the space launch system, which NASA has developed is that kind of rocket where you dispose of the pieces as you go up into space. And the simple fact is that the amount of stuff you need to keep everybody safe, the rocket and the people safe on return is very heavy.

It's a huge penalty. And so it's been very difficult heretofore for engineers to figure out a way to make a rocket fully reusable. And that's what Elon Musk and SpaceX are aiming for here.

Full reusability and a big rocket to boot.

BOLDUAN: And what is at stake here? Why is NASA watching this so closely?

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, Elon Musk wants to go colonize Mars and we'll watch that unfold over the next many decades, I suppose. But in the nearer term, NASA's Artemis program is watching this extremely closely because a modified Starship, which we hope to see launch into orbit shortly, will be used by NASA to take astronauts from orbit around the moon down to the surface. And so if you can't get this craft into orbit around Earth, you've got a problem about talking about putting people on the surface of the moon.

So this is an important key step, and it is a step that is required for NASA to meet its goals for Artemis. And so as a result, the space agency is watching this very closely.

BOLDUAN: When it goes into orbit, that brings with it a whole new host of risks.

[08:10:00] One quote from Elon Musk, he said recently at a conference, "What we're most concerned about is if the ship were to break up over land and rain debris on people, our popularity would diminish very rapidly." I mean, that's one way to put it, but what are the risks that then come with this?

O'BRIEN: Well, that's kind of at the top of the list, that the chicken little aspect of this is a big deal. If once you're in orbit, you want to safely return it to a splashdown point if you can. The ideal location where there's recovery ships waiting is off the coast of South America.

There's an alternate near Hawaii in case the number of orbits is different than the six they hope to do. But if for some reason things don't go well in orbit and they lose control of it, then it becomes quite a crapshoot. And, you know, for those of us old enough to remember Skylab, the U.S. -- the first U.S. space station, which came down in the late 70s uncontrollably and hit parts of the Australian outback, nobody got hurt, but it certainly caused quite a stir.

The good news is that the Earth is about 70 plus percent ocean. So statistically, there's a very good chance it's not going to hit anybody if this happens. But as Elon Musk points out, it doesn't do well in public opinion polling, does it?

BOLDUAN: I would say not. Miles is going to stick around to make sense of everything they're going to see play out as the launch window is set to open now at 8:46. I was just looking about just how huge this thing is.

It's stacked -- when it's all stacked up, it's 407 feet tall when fully stacked. It was just wild how absolutely massive this thing is. We're going to watch it together.

And Miles is going to be right beside me because I can't do it -- I cannot do it without him.

O'BRIEN: I wish you were down here.

BOLDUAN: I know, that's the next step. The next step, Miles down there. Next step, Miles in space.

We know how this goes. We know exactly what the program is. Thank you, Miles.

Still ahead for us. What President Trump is telling Axios about possibly picking up talks with Iran again this week.

And for the first time in his own words, Caleb Flynn, the former American Idol contestant on trial for murdering his wife, telling police what he claimed happened on the night that his wife was killed.

Plus, the deadly storm that slammed the huge parts of the northeast of the United States with this powerful wind flash floods all weekend long. Not done yet, unfortunately. What we're now having to watch out for today. [08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So President Trump is expecting to hold more talks with Iran this week. That is what he told Axios in a new interview, even after Trump rejected Tehran's latest offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get back to the negotiating table, calling that, quote, unacceptable. That happened this weekend.

Iran, though, says that it is still waiting on a definitive response through mediators. Also asked by Axios if he was considering resuming strikes against Iran, Donald Trump said, I am always thinking about it.

Joining me now is the man behind this new reporting, Barak Ravid, global affairs correspondent for Axios with more. Barak, it's good to see you. Tell me more about what you are hearing, really is the state of negotiations, non-negotiations right now.

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning. I think negotiations are still ongoing. I think they started last Tuesday in this indirect meeting between Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a meeting that was brokered by the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. And since that meeting, the Qatari mediators have been shuttling between both sides. On Thursday, for example, the Qataris met with the Iranian president and right afterwards went to see Witkoff at his hotel in New York.

And this back and forth continued all weekend with the Qataris basically putting on the table some sort of a bridging proposal that they gave to both sides. And both sides, both on Saturday and Sunday, gave their amendments to this Qatari bridging proposal. From what I hear from my sources, today and tomorrow, the Qataris are going to continue conducting meetings with both the Iranian delegation that is still in New York and with White House officials to try and see if they can reach some sort of a breakthrough and some sort of a text that is agreed on both sides.

I have to say, the gaps are really wide because the Iranians want to focus on lifting the U.S. naval blockade on their ports, while the U.S. is mostly interested in getting nuclear concessions out of them. And at least at the moment, the time we're talking now, the gaps are still very wide.

BOLDUAN: Yes, when you say the gap is between, you know, talking about the Strait of Hormuz and the nuclear program that has been, you know, at the center of years and years and years of negotiations, definitely it seems like a gap being very wide. When it comes to the approach to these negotiations, President Trump has consistently said that he thinks the midterm election is very much a factor in Iran's negotiating tactic.

[08:20:00] You mentioned Iran's foreign minister. He was on the Sunday shows, and he said yesterday that the midterm elections are not part of Iran's calculation. Chris Coons, the Senator, was just on with me, and he said, though, Iran has made clear for years that they understand American domestic politics. And then you have what the president has told you about being open to continuing the strikes even before the midterms.

Barak, what are you hearing about how the U.S. midterm elections is or isn't factoring into decision-making on both sides, possibly, right now?

RAVID: I think it's factoring on decision-making on both sides, it's factoring on decision-making of everybody who has polls around the world. There's no doubt this is the number one consideration of everybody who has any relationship with the United States, because everyone is trying to see what's going to be the results. Any results will have influence not only on U.S. domestic policy, but on U.S. foreign policy. And I think that, for example, on the one hand, if Democrats win the House and if they win the Senate, then it will be much harder for President Trump to resume the war. On the other hand, if that happens, then President Trump has less ability to push forward his domestic policy, and he will most likely deal even more with foreign policy. So, obviously, any result of the midterm election will influence the Iranian crisis.

The Iranian knows it, Trump knows it, everybody else in the world knows it. And that's why I think what we see now is sort of a, I don't want to say garbage time, but I don't think that on both the U.S. and the Iranian side, there's a lot of hope that you can reach some sort of a deal. I think both parties want to maintain the diplomatic talks.

The mediators definitely want to maintain it. But I find it very hard to believe that we'll see any breakthrough before the midterms.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Extra time. Nope, that's not it.

Waiting game. Maybe that's something along those lines. Maybe that's what we're talking about.

It's great to see you, Barak, either way, and getting your reporting, as always. Thank you so much.

We have breaking news. Moments ago, Ukraine's President Zelenskyy is now saying that a Russian strike has hit the National Academy of Science building in Ukraine's capital in Kyiv. We're getting this video from the scene just now.

One woman is said to have been killed in the attack. Several others injured. Let's watch this together.

You see the smoke rising there. And then this in the aftermath, another angle of it. Right now, they do also say rescue operations are underway, with many more people trapped inside.

You can see people kind of hanging out of the windows there. We're also told that people were seen jumping out of some of the windows to escape the flames. Obviously, the latest in the constant escalation in Russia's attacks in Ukraine.

We're going to continue to monitor this. We're going to bring you updates as we get them.

Ahead for us also, some truly disturbing allegations coming out of Cornell University. Prosecutors now reopening an investigation after a female student is suing the school over an alleged gang rape.

And a possible terror threat thwarted. Police say they arrested five men who were planning an attack against an air base used by the U.S. military in the U.K. What we are learning about those suspects now. We'll be right back.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREEMAN: Happening today, week three of testimony is set to begin soon in the murder trial of former worship leader and American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn. Prosecutors accuse him of killing his wife, Ashley, and staging the scene to look like a home invasion. And in the next hour, a police detective is expected back on the stand as prosecutors play more of Flynn's lengthy police interview about the night of the attack.

Joining me now is CNN's Jean Casarez, who's been following every single detail. Jean, what are we expecting?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is going to be a big week. I'm going to tell you that right now. And it's going to be a lengthy video very shortly, when they reconvene, that's going to be played. We actually don't know what it is.

So we will see. But following that, the judge said that possibly, if we get to that point, there could be a charge conference this afternoon, which is where the attorneys determine what charges will actually go to the jury and the jury instructions. But here's the question.

Is the defense going to put on a case? Does Caleb Flynn say to his attorneys, I'm taking that stand because I want my story out. I want to tell the jury exactly what happened.

We will have to wait and see. But on Friday, there were two interviews, he was free to leave -- of Caleb Flynn.

The second one became more aggressive. We'll tell you about that in a second. But the first one, he went over exactly what happened when that intruder came into the home that night this year in February.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALEB FLYNN, DEFENDANT: I didn't know what to do. I froze. I was scared. I didn't know. I didn't know what happened. I mean, I knew what I heard.

But I didn't know, did I? Then I got up, walked out, ran in the door, leave the garages open, turn with the room. They said her name and grabbed her foot.

I said, Ashley, please, Ashley. And she didn't answer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:30:00]