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Trump: GOP Doing Extremely Poor Job of Promotion Ahead of Midterms; Democrats Show Signs of Advantage in Early Midterm Voting; Israel: Co-Pilot Stabbed Captain During Suspected Hijacking Attempt; Newly Built Veteran Health Centers Struggling to Hire Staff. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired October 01, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: He also says a suspect used an axe in the attack.

And man's best friend lives up to that reputation once again. A loyal dog leads police straight to his injured owner.

Kate's out today. I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And new this morning, the early edge appears to go to the Democrats. CNN is launching its early vote tracker today and a new analysis finds that nearly 700,000 Americans have already voted across at least 29 states. In Virginia, where more early votes have been reported than anywhere else, Democratic-leaning voters outnumber Republican-leaning ones by about 18 points.

Why is that important? That's up from eight at this point in 2024, so that's a pretty big jump in two years. And in several states with key races, Democrats are a bigger share of ballot requests than they were in 2024.

You can see in Iowa, 13 points, Pennsylvania, four points, Maine, four points, North Carolina, six points. That's a pretty big share. Now, we don't know how the people who requested ballots will actually vote, but this could be an early sign of enthusiasm.

Today, the president hits the campaign trail while blaming Republicans for a, quote, extremely poor job of promotion. He heads to Texas to back Senate hopeful Ken Paxton. Just yesterday, the New York Times reported that Paxton told supporters that his poll numbers dropped when President Trump held his midterm convention in Dallas last month.

The president also did an interview with Time magazine. He said, quote, he was asked about potentially invoking the Insurrection Act around the midterms, and he said, quote, "I don't rule anything out or in. We'll see."

That was his response -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much. Joining me now is CNN political analyst Alex Thompson of Axios and -, a staff writer for The Atlantic. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here this morning.

Let's talk about what the president is saying to Republicans, saying out loud, saying that Republicans are doing an extremely poor job of promoting the good things that this administration has done. Is that the problem or is the real problem the Trump policies like the war in Iran and lack of account affordability that Americans are living with, Alex?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Sara, you've covered enough campaigns at this point that, you know, when principals are saying, you know, we just have a messaging problem, not a policy problem. It usually means they actually have a policy problem, and they don't want to confront what is the real problem. The truth is, when a lot of the voters in the middle voted for Trump in 2024, they were voting for Trump one poin1.0, which really meant Trump with guardrails.

Now, there was a lot of chaos and infighting in the White House, but, you know, people in the country on a day to day basis, they didn't feel that and they felt the economy was in a good place. Gas prices were lower, you know, and Trump 2.0, prices are not lower, both because of tariffs and because of the energy shock from the Iran war. And, you know, Republicans across the spectrum that I talk to are really struggling in order to message this, which is like a tough, you know, a tough policy.

SIDNER: Toluse, as Alex alluded to, like I'm sure you recall that the Biden administration also said it was just a messaging problem when it came to how Americans were feeling about the economy at the time. I mean, I guess the question is, what do Democrats do to use this where the president is saying, hey, hey, hey, I'm doing great. I'm doing great.

We're doing great. The country is doing great.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: I imagine you'll see Democrats using the president's own words and actions against him. Show that he is focusing on things like his ballroom and all his various construction projects in Washington, D.C., and his efforts to try to convince Americans that the economy is the best that it ever was, even though a lot of people feel like the affordability crisis is hurting their own pocketbooks. And so we did see this in the 2022 midterms with Joe Biden trying to convince Americans that things were better than they actually were. And we saw a lot of voters reject that and vote against Democrats.

And so I imagine that Democrats are going to use that same playbook that Republicans used, basically using the words of the president against him and against the Republicans that they're facing and tying as many candidates to the president as possible. He is very unpopular in a number of states, even in Republican leading states, he's unpopular.

So I imagine a number of Democratic candidates are going to be trying to tie their opponents or Republican opponents at the hip to President Trump and his unpopular policies and his unpopular rhetoric about how he believes the economy is great and that he wants to focus on things like his ballroom and his triumphal arch in Washington.

[08:05:00]

SIDNER: Alex, I know you've heard this, this leaked audio that The New York Times got a hold of, of Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton talking to donors and talking about the fact that every Republican kind of lost ground after the Trump created midterm convention that kind of doubled as a as a Trump rally. I mean, how are Republicans dealing with this?

Is what Paxton saying out loud how Republicans across the board are feeling?

THOMPSON: It depends which Republican you talk to. Some Republicans think Ken Paxton is just making excuses for his own sort of listless campaign right now. I mean, you're a Republican in Texas and now you have to have Super PAC come in and donate tens, if not maybe over 100 million dollars in order to save his campaign.

So there's some Republicans that believe Ken Paxton is trying to shift blame here. Now, what is true, though, is that there are some Republicans that are frustrated that Donald Trump will not let them run away from him. Essentially, like sometimes in midterm elections, you have a president say, listen, if you need to throw me under the bus and if it means to win, that's OK.

Donald Trump has not really been willing to do that for a lot of these swing state and critical Republicans. So, you know, there might be something specific to that Texas race, but the you know, but his, you know, what Ken Paxton is saying is not a minority opinion among some Republicans.

SIDNER: Look, it's still very early, but mail in ballots of nearly 700,000 people have been cast so far. And, you know, CNN reporting this morning, there are signs emerging that Democrats are voting in higher numbers than they did a couple of years ago. So Toluse, does this give us an idea, a real idea of what could happen or is it just simply too early?

And what's the message, the takeaway that Democrats should see here?

OLORUNNIPA: It is a little early, but it definitely gives Democrats a boost of confidence that their voters are eager and fired up. And we've heard that from Democratic candidates. We've heard that privately from Republicans as well.

They believe that the Democratic base is fired up for an opportunity to cast the ballot that they will believe is a vote against Donald Trump and his policies, their first opportunity in many states to reject what the president has done during his first two years in office. And so this Democratic enthusiasm is something that we'll be watching very closely to see if it continues throughout the rest of this month and into November when Election Day happens. But it is a sign that there's a lot of enthusiasm.

There are a lot of people that have been chomping at the bits to be able to get their ballots and cast a vote and register their complaints about this presidency, whether or not that is just a subset of voters or whether or not that carries through for the next month. Plus, that will determine whether or not Democrats go into this election with a clear advantage that could lead to them not only taking back the House, but also winning the Senate, something that was almost unheard of just a few months ago.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean, there are a lot of surprised faces just in the last couple of months to see the possibility that Democrats might get both the House, might, and also the Senate. I do want to ask you, lastly, Alex, about, you know, what we heard from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the war with Iran, really unpopular with the American public. And Hegseth announced he is now cutting a fifth or 20 percent of generals and admirals across all the armed services.

And he's consistently leaning into culture wars. How is this going over with Republicans?

THOMPSON: Well, I can say it's going over very well with the one Republican Pete Hegseth cares about, which is Donald Trump. Pete Hegseth is doing what Donald Trump wants him to. Donald Trump felt the Pentagon actively resisted his first presidency and undermined him.

Pete Hegseth was picked in part to go in and clean house. Now, obviously, you're losing a lot of institutional memory, a lot of institutional expertise by going in and dismissing a lot of these top people, sometimes in ways that people at the Pentagon have felt were more vindictive or emotional rather than strategic. But, you know, Pete Hegseth has an audience of one, and he and that is Donald Trump.

And this is what Donald Trump wants.

SIDNER: Alex Thompson and Toluse Olorunnipa, thank you both so much. Appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right. The latest in the investigation into the apparent hijacking averted. What investigators have learned about the assailants.

New questions this morning after a woman on death row survived two lethal injections overnight.

And deputies rushed into a smoke filled home to save a disabled man trapped inside.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, buddy. It's OK.

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BERMAN: All right, this morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the co-pilot who carried out the cockpit attack that nearly crashed a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv used an axe to attack the captain of the plane before passengers stepped in to subdue him. One of those passengers spoke with reporters about those harrowing moments.

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ALON MARGONINSKI, FLYDUBAI PASSENGER (through translator): The challenge lay in the neutralization itself. Once we neutralized him, it wasn't difficult. There were no punches thrown, nothing like that.

He had a knife and was overpowering the Indian pilot. The flight attendants, a Jamaican crew, helped us restrain and handle him. The Indian pilot had been stabbed.

The pilot who stabbed was incapacitated, unable to speak and was slumped over with his hands raised.

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BERMAN: Let's get right to Nic Robertson in Jerusalem. This morning with the very latest and so many new details coming out this morning -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, and those details tell us a lot about what happened. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the attacker used an axe that he was either stabbing or sort of cutting with the axe. That's what he was doing.

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And after he had attacked the pilot, when the pilot, the captain, had managed to open the door and the passengers got in, they found they found the other pilot with the axe, apparently trying to smash the equipment on the plane. So he wasn't even trying to fly this into the ground in any particular place, it appears. He was just trying to make it absolutely impossible for the alternate pilot on the plane to actually take controls and do what he did, which was which was save the plane.

We've learned a couple of other things about the attacker. We've learned that he is an Omani, that he'd only been flying for the airline Flydubai for about eight months. We still -- it's not it's still not clear what his motivation was.

We do know as well that the Emirati authorities have opened an investigation. Their attorney general has done that. And he's looking at the possibility of terrorist act.

That's the way they're describing it. Also, and I think this is sort of critically important to understand here about the planning or direction, which implies the Emirati is looking at how long had he been planning this? And was somebody else involved?

Was somebody directing him on this? And that's what the Emirati attorney general is looking at right now. Prime Minister Netanyahu says he expects Israel to be involved in that investigation, interrogation -- he actually called it.

He said he expects the attacker, the attacking pilot to be sent from Saudi to the Emirates. And that's where he expects this interrogation to be to begin where they'll get more information.

I have to say at this stage, we don't know the procedure that's going to take place. Which country has precedence on investigating this? Is it the Saudis?

Because that's where the plane landed and the incident happened in their airspace. Or is it is it going to be the UAE, which is where the plane took off from? Some Israeli politicians are saying the attacker should actually be brought to Israel for investigation here.

So there's as you say, there's a lot we're learning, but there are still some key things that motivation and with somebody else involved. Those are the things that are still outstanding -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Nic Robertson for us in Jerusalem this morning. Perhaps we will learn new details over the coming hours. Thank you very much.

New CNN reporting this morning on how the Veterans Administration built dozens of pricey new clinics, but now they cannot find enough medical staff to work them.

And this one is a stunner, a family suing a funeral home, they say, accidentally cremated their loved one and presented a stranger's body at the viewing.

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SIDNER: New CNN reporting this morning, dozens of newly opened VA health centers and clinics are struggling to hire enough staff. Some veterans have reported difficulty getting appointments, even in urgent situations. This is unfolding amid a larger healthcare crisis, especially in rural areas, because there are not enough doctors and nurses available.

CNN's Brian Todd joining us now. What are you learning from your reporting about what's happening inside the VA?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, we have new reporting, especially with one of the new VA clinics in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This VA clinic there was supposed to be a real crown jewel. It cost more than $350 million to build. The VA touted it as the largest VA health care clinic in the U.S., spanning more than 470,000 square feet, completely state of the art. But now, 19 months after the ribbon cutting, the VA is struggling to staff that facility, according to our sources.

And some veterans are telling us their care has suffered as a result. According to VA data obtained by CNN, the Fredericksburg clinic has a staffing vacancy rate of nearly 40 percent, which means more than 350 positions there have not been filled. The VA says it's open to 41 new clinics across the U.S. That same data that we obtained shows that roughly half of those new facilities had double digit vacancy rates as of July. Now, at Fredericksburg, that has translated into some hardship for some veterans.

I spoke with one Marine veteran who has sought treatment there, Michael Dunlap, who told me he's gone through four primary care doctors in the span of a year and a half at the Fredericksburg clinic. They've all quit, he says, just sending him a form letter saying they wouldn't be there anymore.

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MICHAEL DUNLAP, MARINE VETERAN WHO SOUGHT CARE IN VIRGINIA: You have to start over every time. You know, they can look at your records, but until they talk to you and know you, it slows everything down, you know. And you build up a rapport with a doctor and now you lose a little bit of confidence because now you've got to explain everything all over again.

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TODD: Now, other veterans told us they had problems getting in for initial appointments at Fredericksburg, and one veteran was turned down for urgent care visits, all because of staffing shortages. Those veterans described going to a gleaming, clean facility without many people in it and with a huge parking lot, much of it very empty, as these pictures that we took recently show you. One health care provider at Fredericksburg who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution told us doctors and other providers at Fredericksburg are burned out, exhausted, and that's why they're leaving.

This provider likened the work atmosphere there to, quote, a car production line. Now, that was reiterated to us by Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman, a veteran himself who represents that district where the Fredericksburg VA clinic is located.

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REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D-VA): It is the fact that they can't keep staff, that they can't hire staff, that it's taking too long, that's making wait times too long, that's making it impossible for veterans to actually get in the door, and that's what needs to get fixed.

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TODD: Now, the VA is staunchly defending its operations at Fredericksburg. VA Press Secretary Quinn Slavin, in a statement to CNN, said this quote, "The Fredericksburg VA clinic is opening in phases. It met its hiring goals in the first three phases and is now in phase four. In less than two years since opening, the clinic has already completed more than 245,000 appointments and is ahead of schedule for enrolling new patients."

Now, outside analysts tell us some of this is not the VA's fault.

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They say the VA opened these clinics as the entire country is experiencing a shortage of doctors, nurses and other providers with even greater shortages projected in the next decade. And they say the VA has to deal with an unwieldy bureaucracy and often cannot pay doctors the same salaries that they would make in the private sector -- Sara.

SIDNER: Does that have to do with the fact that the VA contends with basically a salary cap that's mandated for doctors?

TODD: Yes. Yes, it's almost like these pro sports leagues with a salary cap. Under this salary cap, doctors at the VA cannot earn more than the annual salary of the president of the United States. That's $400,000 a year. Under legislation passed during the Biden administration, the VA can use waivers for 300 doctor positions to pay above that amount.

The VA has used most of those already, not all of them, but both VA officials and analysts tell us 300 waivers really is not enough for an agency as large as the VA -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, Brian, it sounds like there's both a hiring problem and a retention problem. Those two things making it very difficult for veterans to get care. Brian Todd, great reporting from you. Thank you so much, appreciate it.

A new report this morning says OpenAI ignored safety warnings months before its AI models went rogue.

And an incredible rescue after a man's boat sinks off the coast of Alaska.

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