Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Kansas Now Among 10 Senate Seats Mostly Likely To Flip In 2026; Supreme Court Kicks Off New Term Today With Round Of Critical Cases; Jane Doe Attorney "Confident" Cornell Investigators Missed Evidence. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 05, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

PATRICK SVITEK, CNN REPORTER (via Webex by Cisco): They currently hold it -- an open seat now -- because the Republican incumbent Thom Tillis is not seeking re-election. But it was -- nonetheless it was a state that Donald Trump won three times. And now it's remarkable that a state like that -- they're taking money out of and having to put into a state like Kansas, which has -- as you pointed out, it hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932. It is a state that President Trump has won by double digits, including in 2024.

And Democrats have this strong candidate in Adam Hamilton. He's the pastor of one of the largest, if not the largest church in Kansas, and he's trying to distance himself from the national Democratic brand and give, you know, Republicans and Independents in Kansas a viable alternative to the Republican incumbent, Roger Marshall, that they can be comfortable with.

And this is also, I should note, a very agriculture-heavy state. It's getting disproportionately impacted by rising fuel prices due to the war in Iran. And we've seen the Republican incumbent even write to the administration asking for some temporary relief from diesel prices. And so, this is a state where there may be a perfect storm for Democrats this cycle.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. I was going to say it does seem Kansas is one of those states that is that perfect storm. Roger Marshall having to speak out -- definitely been pushing for some relief, pushing for the president to course correct in his -- in Roger Marshall's mind on these issues like tariffs, like diesel prices, like all of the above and not seeing it so far.

It's great to see you, Patrick. Thanks so much for the reporting -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With us now, Margaret Talev, a senior contributor for Axios, and Sophia Cai, a White House reporter for Politico.

And I just want to put a little more meat on the bones of what Kate was talking about there, this big investment from the Senate leadership. Punchbowl reported on it this morning. The Senate Leadership Fund plans to invest $14 million -- $14 million to defend GOP Senator Roger Marshall in deep red Kansas.

And one other data point here -- it came from The New York Times over the weekend, and this is what really raised a lot of eyebrows. The New York Times Sienna poll has them tied, Adam Hamilton and Roger Marshall tied at 45. Take my word for it. You don't even need to see it. There it is -- tied at 45.

So my question you, Margaret, is Kansas?

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM AND CITIZENSHIP, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY (via Webex by Cisco): Huh. Yeah, it's -- on the surface it seems like a stunning turn of events. And then on the other hand, I'll tell you a source of mine in Democratic politics has been saying for six months look out for Kansas. Adam Hamilton's coming. It's the sleeper race of the season. Nobody -- why isn't anyone covering this? Nobody will believe it.

So I think for people who live in the Kansas City area, they understand the power of a candidate like Hamilton. It's not one church. I mean, it's one church. It's Church of the Resurrection, but it's multiple outposts of this church. It is one of the largest in Kansas City and so he is a really known figure in that area.

But on the other hand, no chance that this race would be tracking in this direction if not for the economic impacts of tariffs. The backlash against the foreign beef importation, frustrations over the war in Iran, and frustrations over the way immigration has been carried out. And so it is both a reflection of that and a reflection of the poor state of affairs for the Republican nominee in that North Carolina race.

BERMAN: Yeah.

TALEV: Also one wild card, not massive Hispanic population. It's not Florida or Texas, but there is maybe 7-8 percent of the electorate that can vote in Kansas are Hispanic voters. And so as we're looking at this declining support for Trump among Hispanic voters, interesting to see how that will play a role.

BERMAN: Yeah, we'll get to that in just a second because I do think that is interesting not just in Kansas, but around the country.

But Sophia, Margaret was saying she had a Democratic strategist tell her to look out for Kansas. I had a Republican strategist last week tell me that they were more concerned about Kansas than Ohio, which has been seen as endangered for a long time. They -- this person was very concerned about Roger Marshall, in particular, as a candidate.

SOPHIA CAI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. I mean, I think starting in the summer, you started hearing rumblings of, oh, we've really got to watch the Senate. But in the summer, you were not hearing about Kansas. Kansas is a deep red state. And I think, you know, we're -- it's kind of -- it's grind time for Republicans. And the fact that they're pulling --

BERMAN: Yeah.

CAI: -- money out of a state like North Carolina, where you've got top Trump ally Michael Whatley, Trump's RNC chair, who he credited with helping him win the 2024 election, pulling money out of there and putting double digit millions into Kansas tells you a lot about where we are right now. It's not just the House.

BERMAN: Two things can be true. It can be a sign of, you know, almost panic, but it can also be smart politics. This may be the right decision for the Republicans to do this and put money where it can make a difference.

[07:35:00]

And Sophia, while I have you on this, and Margaret brought this up, the shift among Hispanic or Latino voters since 2024 is stark, right? If you look at the exit poll for president in 2024 -- that split -- 51 Democratic, 46 Republicans. The Democrats still had an edge, but it was a tiny edge. Now, according to the latest CBS YouGov poll, that split is 60 to 39. This is a big swing, Sophia, toward the Democrats for Hispanic voters matters in Kansas, as Margaret said, but also it could affect a lot of races around the country.

What are you seeing?

CAI: Yeah, absolutely. And I can tell you Trump's political team close to him and inside the White House is very aware of this. The Trump White House, including Susie Wiles, they have been putting policy out there saying -- telling ICE to stop arresting non-criminals. Trump has hosted events for the Hispanic Heritage Month. That's not something he did in person last year. And for the first time that I've heard he's acknowledged the challenge of finding the right balance on immigration, and he did that in front of a largely Latino audience. That tells you they're making tangible moves to shore up that Latino voter base.

BERMAN: Margaret, what are you looking for going forward? I guess there's a four weeks and two day or one day, four weeks from tomorrow is actual election day. Where else could Republicans make a shift that would indicate to you that they're deeply concerned?

TALEV: Uh, you saw the president start to tease some of this. I don't know if you noticed over the weekend, he is now for mail-in voting, at least when he's talking to Republican voters. So we saw this in 2024 also after campaigning against it. All of a sudden, he's like, yeah, do it -- vote however. And seeing him do this now -- calling Republican audiences vote as soon as you can any way you can. So I think that's part of what we're going to see.

But I would say to voters if the president's been messaging something consistently for two years and stops with a month to go before the elections, that's a sign for you, number one, that the policy has gotten him in trouble; and number two, that it may be a temporary position. He's not telling ICE to never be aggressive about immigration. He's telling them to cool it for four weeks.

So that's what I'm watching.

BERMAN: Margaret Talev, a month and one day. Sophia Cai, thanks to you as well. Appreciate it -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much, John.

New this morning, a new nine-month term begins for the Supreme Court. The justices are set to dive straight into one of the most high- profile disputes they will hear in the coming months. Just before the term, we're hearing from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in a new interview with CBS, where Alito talked about several subjects, including whether he's considering retiring.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN CRAWFORD, CBS NEWS CHIEF LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: What made you decide to stay on?

JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO, U.S. SUPREME COURT: I thought about it, and I --

CRAWFORD: You did. You considered it.

ALITO: I will continue. Well, it's something I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term.

CRAWFORD: So you'll be kind of reconsidering this probably every year -- rethinking it.

ALITO: Yeah, I think I have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining me now is CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck -- Steve Vladeck.

We should mention he has a book out. He has done a couple of interviews. But he also talked about there being great damage done to the Supreme Court due to attacks from recent presidents. He blamed both President Biden and President Trump for their rhetoric and insisted the court is not political.

I just want to get a sense from you whether the public can view the court as nonpolitical anymore.

STEVE, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST (via Webex by Cisco): I think it's very hard, Sara, and I think Justice Alito's behavior is a big part of it -- I mean, this media tour, notwithstanding.

This is the same Justice Alito who wrote the majority opinion in Dobbs. This is the same Justice Alito who was at the core of the evisceration of the Voting Rights Act. And so, you know, I think it's really one of those situations where you have someone like Justice Alito going on this media tour, and it's like the guy in the hot dog car meme, where we're all trying to figure out, you know, who's responsible for this. I think he might look in the mirror every once in a while and see what the court has wrought.

SIDNER: Look, there are some big cases this term being considered by the court. Let's get into those a bit.

There's a gun rights case involving AR-15 rifles that is challenging state law. What are the justices considering there?

VLADECK: Yeah, I mean -- so Sara, this is probably one of the biggest Second Amendment cases the court has had in a while. This is about whether state laws that ban these kinds of, you know, semiautomatic rifles, AR-15s, which are such a common feature of mass shootings in the United States -- whether those are unconstitutional. You know, the fact that the court is even hearing this case when the lower courts have all basically said those laws are permissible, I think is a pretty telling sign of where the court's likely to go.

[07:40:00]

There are other culture war disputes about medical care for transgender minors, about publicly chartered religious schools, where I think what we are seeing, Sara, is a 6-3 conservative majority that is not shy about flexing its muscles, even in cases in which the lower courts aren't divided. Even in cases in which historically the court might have been just as happy to sit on the sidelines. This is not a court that likes to sit on the sidelines.

SIDNER: There is also this voting rights case. What is the argument with the voting rights case -- a case certainly the details of which the president has been very, very interested in and certainly trying to make an agenda around voting rights?

VLADECK: Sure. I mean, so we already, of course, had the mail-in ballots case that came up last month. We have a case that's going to be argued in December about just how the federal National Voter Registration Act interacts with the ability of states to review their voter rolls. We have cases about the administration's efforts to have these databases that states are supposed to check.

But, Sara, what I'm most interested in, you know, with four weeks from tomorrow until --

SIDNER: Yeah.

VLADECK: -- the election is, what are the election cases that aren't on the docket yet? What are the potential late-breaking emergency election cases that we'll see this court be responsible for? The courts already played quite a role in setting up the 2026 midterms through its redistricting cases, through its Voting Rights Act decisions. Is the court done or are we going to see even more of a role in last-minute, late-breaking challenges between now and the beginning of November?

SIDNER: It is a really good point because we saw so much of the emergency docket. It felt like they were working the whole time. Information was just coming out and coming out and coming out from the court. It makes you feel like they didn't really even have a break in some instances.

Steve Vladeck, it is a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on this morning -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Today, the former "AMERICAN IDOL" contestant who was just convicted of murdering his wife -- he is going to face his sentence. A jury convicted Caleb Flynn last week in the shooting death of his wife, Ashley. He could now face life in prison.

Let's get to scene as Jean Casarez, who's following all of this very closely for us. Jean, what's expected today?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the sentencing is today -- obviously what you just said, and I think a lot is going to happen.

First of all, let's talk about the sentence because there are multiple charges here. He had convictions from the top count in Ohio, which is classified as capital murder -- it's called aggravated murder in Ohio -- all the way down to tampering with evidence. And there are numerous murder convictions that normally in jurisdictions are merged because you can't convict on each murder conviction or else it is double jeopardy.

But what the prosecution is going to argue here is no possibility of parole at all. They're going to look at the fact that a firearm was used, which is an aggravating statutory factor here. They're also going to look at she was sleeping. It was two shots in the back of her head. She was ambushed by him. The defense will focus in on no criminal record at all. But it is up to the judge if there is ever a moment in his life that he will have the possibility of parole.

Now, most importantly, today is a day for justice for Ashley Flynn and her family will testify and they will give victim impact statements. It's not testimony, it's victim impact statements to talk about who she was, the life she had, the love she had for her children. The life that she will never know of her children growing up.

And throughout this trial, we learned about her. She was a beautiful, loving mother.

Let's listen to her mother as she testified during trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL SMITH, ASHLEY FLYNN'S MOTHER: We were best friends. We talked every day, encouraged each other every day and her whole life we just had a wonderful relationship. She was an excellent daughter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And then, of course, there are the two children. There are two young children. She was a mother. She was devoted to her church. She was devoted to her children. The question is, will her young children either write victim impact statements that will be read by the court, or could they conceivably even talk in court and speak to their mother today? And this all happens at -- beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. We

will have live coverage on CNN All Access.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Jean, thank you so much. Where the focus needs to be on justice for Ashley. Thank you -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, we have a new survey on how some tech workers feel about AI. CNN got an early look at their survey. CNN tech editor Lisa Eadicicco is here with that. Now, these are some of the people who are like on the early front lines of AI. What do they say?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Yeah, exactly, John, and that's why this is so interesting.

[07:45:00]

So in this new survey, six in 10 software developers that responded to this survey said that they try to avoid using AI. And that's really interesting because adoption throughout the industry is very high. But I think what you have happening here is that some workers are shying away from the technology for a couple of reasons.

One, I think AI has kind of amplified a lot of existing pressures in this industry. For example, there's general uncertainty about the economy right now, which I think across the board a lot of jobs are dealing with. But I think with software engineering in particular, there's uncertainty about where this job is going to go as AI plays a bigger role in it. So you have veteran software developers that might be unsure if their skills are as relevant as they once were.

But then another thing that stood out to me, I spoke to the CEO of the company behind the survey, Stack Overflow. He said that also entry- level engineers are having -- the expectation is that they should perform as if they have, like, three years of experience coming into a job because AI has raised the bar. So I think that's a really interesting side to this story.

Now there's the pressures, but then also on the other hand, what I'm hearing from some software developers is that the technology also just isn't as -- it just doesn't do all aspects of the job in the way that you might expect it to based on what a lot of these big tech companies are saying about how they're writing so much code with AI and developing all these products with AI and seeing all these productivity gains.

And I think the other fear here, and this is something that I think perhaps couldn't be applied broadly to other jobs, is that if the developers aren't there writing the code they just don't understand the system as well. And again, software engineering, just one job. But since they have been on the front lines of this and this has been really one of the first jobs to be meaningfully reshaped by AI, I do think it's interesting to pay attention to because it could perhaps provide some clues about the challenges that other industries might face as AI plays a bigger role in these jobs.

BERMAN: Yeah, these are the people who were there first and perhaps know it best, and six and 10 say they try to avoid it. Interesting.

Lisa Eadicicco, thank you very much.

EADICICCO: Of course.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: So a homecoming block party takes a horrific turn. Two people are dead, dozens are hurt, and police are still trying to piece together what happened. We've got more details. We'll tell you about it.

And a shopkeeper in definitely the right place at the right time, catching a child that fell from a window. We have details on how the child is doing and really what happened here.

And for more of the stories you need to get your day going, my show "FIVE THINGS WITH KATE BOLDUAN" is streaming on the CNN app and CNN All Access right now and every morning.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:00]

SIDNER: New this morning, as calls for accountability grow in the Cornell University gang rape case, the attorney presenting Jane Doe's -- representing Jane Doe says he believes key evidence is likely gone and that it is possible that more people were involved in the assault. The criminal investigation has been now turned over to the New York Attorney General.

Over the weekend, the university's president called Jane Doe's allegations deeply disturbing and that he welcomes an independent review by an outside law firm into Cornell's handling of the case.

CNN's Jason Carroll has been following this story. There have been so many new details that almost come out daily in this case. What are you learning?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Every single day, and you know those folks up at Cornell, they are looking at all of those details as they come out. You know, we've heard these protesters call for more accountability. A lot of criticism directed at Cornell and directed also at the district attorney for his handling of this.

Meanwhile, you've got Jane Doe's attorney who's also sharing a lot of these concerns as well, as you say. His fear is that much evidence in this case could have been lost or at the very least overlooked.

Now you know The New York Times reporting that the D.A. had declined to look at additional evidence that was actually gathered in this case. You remember he said he received that six-page summary from Cornell police and in that summary, it did not include that key detail that she had said where she had told Cornell police that she knew with when -- with 100 percent certainty that she had been raped. That not included in the six-page summary. But also, Jane Doe's attorney is also concerned that there are phone records, pictures of her that were allegedly taken that night that may have been lost. Now, early on in the investigation, CNN has learned that Cornell police, on its part, at the very least, that they had drafted letters to some of these phone carriers asking these phone carriers to preserve all available data. Now, CNN -- we have reviewed these drafts, but it's unclear if these draft letters have been sent.

But aside from that, once again, Jane Doe's attorney telling Jake Tapper he believes that some of this evidence might be gone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS GUIFFRA, JANE DOE'S ATTORNEY: I'm confident knowing this day and age and the group that we're dealing with that there were other photos, there were videos. And you know where I think those photos and videos are now? I think they're in the bottom of Lake Cuyahoga because once they knew there was a problem, they cleared everything out and they got rid of it.

And the fact is that the investigators let that happen. They let that happen. We'd have a lot more evidence. And frankly, I don't I'm not even sure we have everybody who participated in this assault because my client was blacked out during periods of time and that's reported in these statements. We don't even know the people we have or the people we definitively know. If you ask me, I believe there were more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:55:00]

CARROLL: Now again, a special prosecutor has taken over the case. Letitia James, appointed by the governor, who you remember hearing from the governor last week --

SIDNER: Um-hum.

CARROLL: -- saying that she had simply lost faith in the Tompkins County District Attorney. But that has also raised some questions with some folks who are concerned about James' objectivity. She -- before she was appointed a special prosecutor, remember, she did post that post on Facebook where she said we stand with you in relation to Jane Doe. So definitely some concerns on that front as well.

SIDNER: There are just so many threads to this, but it has really taken the campus and really the country by storm. People are weighing in in many, many different ways, and I know you will get to the bottom of where this investigation goes because that's what everyone is watching.

Thank you so much, Jason Carroll, your coverage -- appreciate it.

CARROLL: You bet.

SIDNER: Kate. BOLDUAN: This morning, police are looking for whoever was behind this -- opening fire at a homecoming block party in a small Georgia town. Two people were killed. Thirty-five other people were hurt. It happened just yesterday in the town of Vienna, about 50 miles South of Macon. Police say more than 1,000 people were believed to be at this party. The victims who died have been identified as a 21-year-old and a 23-year-old. Authorities -- they're still obviously at the very beginnings of this and trying to determine what led to this shooting.

And a shopkeeper in Egypt is being celebrated as a hero after that. He saved a falling child from serious -- I mean, from -- God knows what would have happened to this poor child. It almost looks like a miraculous catch, all caught on CCTV. The video has gone viral. You can see the boy -- he fell out of a balcony window. A washing line apparently delays his terrifying drop by a split second, which seemed to be just enough time for the shopkeeper to be able to jump into action and catch him and save him -- unbelievable. The child is reportedly doing okay, thankfully.

There's also some incredible new dashcam video coming out of Japan. It shows a bear just literally attacking a car on a dark road. The driver just there, helpless, trying to figure out what to do -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Bear attacking car.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The driver was on her way home from work. She noticed the bear with her cub ahead and said without warning. The bear -- then, as you see, lunges at the car, biting, clawing, and shaking the vehicle. She said she locked the doors and prayed that it wouldn't smash the glass. She was eventually able to drive away and drive to a police station to report the attack after the bear and the cub ran off. But this wild attack did leave some apparently pretty big damage and scratches to the vehicle, J.B.

BERMAN: The car would have been within its rights to fight back or maybe put its wipers on or something.

BOLDUAN: Wipers.

BERMAN: Because that would have helped.

BOLDUAN: Maybe this --

BERMAN: The sprinklers. Like put, you know, put the wash.

BOLDUAN: I see.

BERMAN: Yeah. BOLDUAN: J.B., not a bad idea.

BERMAN: Yeah. See, I'm good. I'm good in a crisis situation. (INAUDIBLE) know the difference.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, I want you in an emergency. If I'm getting attacked by a bear, I'm following you.

BERMAN: All right, Kate, I don't know if you heard this but sports is back.

BOLDUAN: What?

BERMAN: Yeah, I had almost canceled sports in my life --

BOLDUAN: Oh, really?

BERMAN: -- but then we had a good weekend, and there were a lot of other football games as well.

Let's get right to Coy Wire for what happened this miraculous weekend, Coy, thanks to one of your teams, but we'll get to that in a second.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hey. Oh, yeah, and one of your teams who also are good in crisis situations. We'll get to that in a minute.

Let's start with the undefeated Raiders and undefeated Chiefs. And for the first time in this storied rivalry, they were both meeting at 3-0. Something's got to give, right? This game was a barnburner.

Raiders up 19-17 in the fourth. Patrick Mahomes hits Tyquan Thornton -- career day -- 111 yards, two touchdowns. But when he gets up, he goes right back down -- a dislocated ankle.

Kenneth Walker punched it in on the next play. Vegas would fumble the ensuing kickoff. And just 19 seconds after that touchdown it's Walker again. Kansas City up 30-19 with under two to go. Kirk Cousins, though, finds Brock Bowers -- touchdown. The two-point conversion was good, so it's 30-27. Vegas gets another chance, but Cousins is picked off.

Chiefs' defense slamming the door shut. Kansas City survives the storm in Vegas 30-27. They're now 4-0.

To the other heavyweight rivalry, New England. Berman's boys at undefeated Buffalo, and Josh Allen makes history. He sneaks it in, his 88th career touchdown from scrimmage, passing Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas for the most in Bills' history.

In the fourth quarter, Allen would have to find Keon Coleman for 34 yards for Buffalo to take the lead. But Drake Maye, Berman's boy -- after two earlier turnovers, responds with this. He launches to Efton Chism. A one handed masterpiece for the touchdown with a 1:50 to play. Bills' Efton-ed around and found out.

Maye finished with three touchdown passes. New England defense finishes the job. Allen picked off. Previously unbeaten Buffalo unbeaten no more. Patriots walk into the Bills' house and walk out with a 29-26 stunner. Wipe that smile off your face, Berman.