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Trump Rallies Red States as GOP Plays Defense Ahead of Midterms; Trump Urges Republicans to Vote by Mail Despite Past Opposition; Jane Doe Attorney Confident Cornell Investigators Missed Evidence; Researcher at Russian Plague Laboratory Dies of Unknown Infection. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 05, 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: Patriots walk into the Bills' house and walk out with a 29-26 stunner. Wipe that smile off your face, Berman.

MLB playoffs, Braves and Dodgers series. L.A. with a one-game lead. Atlanta has a runner on third, and Chris Bubic's pitch is wild. Gets away from the catcher, so Michael Harris II scores.

Braves up 2-1, and in the seventh, Harris at bat. He hits one to the wall, scores a run. The Dodgers would get one back, but it wasn't enough.

Braves even the series at one apiece with a 3-2 win.

Check out this one. In the other National League series, Padres up 3-2 on the Brewers. Bottom ninth, but Mason Miller walks the bases full. And then, Jackson Trujillo smacks one up the middle, scores one run. They try to fire it home, but they would also score the game winner.

Miller had only blown three saves all season, but Trujillo becomes the second-youngest player in postseason history to hit a walk-off winner. Brewers win 4-3, taking a 2-0 series lead. Berman, tell me about your Patriots.

How much are you feeling the love this morning?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I was so surprised that entire game that we were still in it. I'm so happy. I want to thank you personally for everything you've done to make it possible.

I really appreciate it. We're back.

A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New polling shows Republicans are losing their grip on some ruby-red districts. The president, during his midterm rally blitz, even admitting he's worried about a few places. But Democrats are by no means a shoo-in.

And authorities in Russia imposing anti-epidemic measures after a researcher at a plague laboratory died of a mysterious illness. Now, dozens of people are reportedly in isolation.

And why a shop owner says she's pretty impressed with the work of a burglar, but happy the burglar was also stupid and didn't know the value of things.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is taking his midterm message on the road again today. He's headed to Nebraska as part of his 32-day blitz. That's showing also in his travel itinerary how deep the worry is among Republicans, even for what were long seen as safe Republican bets, like in Texas, Alabama, Ohio.

Despite polls suggesting big Democratic wins are coming, the president is vowing victory and pleading with supporters to vote like he's on the ballot. Problem is, Democrats want that as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need the votes, and I'm here for that, and I think we're going to win. We're worried about Michigan, we're worried about Texas, we're worried about a few states. You're going to think of me as on the ballot, right?

Everybody, promise? Just get out and vote. If you do that, we're going to win, and we're going to win big.

And we're going to shove it up their ass.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: There you go. With Election Day less than a month out, the president is, though, changing his view on two critical things. Early voting and mail-in voting.

After basically going to war against mail-in voting, trying to use the U.S. Postal Service against it even, President Trump is now urging supporters to utilize mail-in voting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If your state has early voting, do not wait. Go out and vote. Vote early, vote by mail, or vote in person on Election Day, November 3rd.

BOLDUAN: CNN's Kevin Liptak live at the White House. What are we going to hear today, Kevin?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I mean, this trip to Nebraska is pretty remarkable. The president won Nebraska by 20 points in 2024. The fact he's going there to try and defend the seat currently held by the incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts just gives you an indication of the anxieties that are now roiling through the party. You know, they're defending places that they had no idea they would have to be in a defensive posture two years ago. And it really, I think, underscores how grim the picture has gotten, according to a lot of Republican operatives and elected Republicans here in Washington. And when you look at where the president has been, Alabama, Texas, Ohio, these are all places that he won by double digits two years ago.

And it does underscore the anxieties that they have about the president's supporters staying home on Election Day, just not going out to vote. Now, the president over the weekend tried to suggest that the polls did not paint the full picture of the election map, and that once he gets out on the campaign trail, once voters see him out in front of these rally crowds, that things will turn around. But nonetheless, you see him really kind of pulling out all the stops, including using his position as president to try and influence the votes.

[08:05:00]

Whether it's using taxpayer dollars for some of these ads that are running on television or promising voters these $5,000 checks. He repeated that promise over the weekend if Republicans are able to retain their majorities.

Now, there was one big warning sign in a poll of Latino voters. That was a group that helped propel the president to the White House in 2024. But support seems to be slipping.

This was from NBC and Telemundo, and it showed Latino voters saying by a 24-point margin, 59 percent to 35 percent, that they would prefer to see Democrats win in the midterms over Republicans. Only 27 percent of Latino voters said that they approved of the president's job performance. It was even smaller, 20 percent, when they were asked whether they approved of his handling of the economy.

And so some real warning signs for Republicans as the president heads out on this midterm election blitz -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I'd say so. It's great to see you, Kevin. Thank you so much, from the White House for us -- John.

BERMAN: All right, let's get to CNN's Mark Preston. And, Mark, if the president's going to Nebraska, you know there is concern, because CNN put together a list of the top 10 Senate seats most likely to flip, right? North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Maine, Texas, Michigan, Iowa, New Hampshire, Kansas, and Georgia.

Nebraska's not even on that list, and he's going there to campaign to try to preserve that seat. So I guess I'll give you the big picture question. Just big picture, what does that tell you?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, right now, we didn't expect necessarily to be having this conversation, John, that Democrats, we expected them to be on the offense in the House, perhaps being able to take it back. Right now, it looks like Democrats will take back the House of Representatives. But in the United States Senate, Republicans look like they were well positioned, given their candidates.

However, where we are right now, polling is showing all across the country that, in fact, Democrats are on the offensive, not only in states such as New Hampshire and elsewhere, Michigan, what have you, but also in states such as Nebraska, where Kevin was just saying that President Trump won by 20 points, and in the state of Kansas as well, where Republicans haven't lost that seat since 1932. Republicans haven't lost to Democrats for a U.S. Senate seat since 1932. So when you look at the big picture right now, you see Democrats on the offensive.

You see Republicans moving money out of states where they would normally want that money to stay, to stay on the offensive, now they're using it to go on the defense in other states around the country.

BERMAN: Mark, maybe we can put that map back up on the screen of the 10 states that CNN says are most likely to flip. And you tell me, glass half full for Republicans, which of the 10 do they feel best about right now?

PRESTON: Yes, for sure. You know, look, if they're looking up in Michigan right now where they have Mike Rogers, a former congressman, a former colleague of ours here at CNN, he was a political analyst. He is running against Abdul El-Sayed.

Republicans think that they have a shot at this. This is an open Democratic seat. The reality is, though, right now, Abdul El-Sayed, even though he is being painted as a socialist, which is code word really for communist, he has been stayed ahead in the polls.

If you go up to the East Coast, up to New Hampshire, which I had mentioned earlier, you have John Sununu, a former senator who has come from a long lineage of officeholders in that state. His father was the governor. His brother was the governor as well.

John Sununu running against Chris Pappas, a sitting congressman right now. Again, Trump fatigue, though, in New Hampshire, even though they feel, Republicans feel, that they are on the offense. And then you look down in Georgia.

This is a state that really seems a little bit out of their grasp right now. Jon Ossoff, somebody who is actually being mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, although he pushes back against that, is being challenged by Mike Collins, a big Trump backer in a state that really was very supportive of Donald Trump. But we're seeing changing demographics in states all across the country, specifically in Georgia. So the polling across the board shows that Democrats are leading in all these states, John.

But the fact of the matter is, Republicans are trying to look, as you say, glass half full elsewhere around the country, and these are the three states you're talking about.

BERMAN: Look, and in terms of the top ten, I think the answer is where Republicans are not feeling good, it's everywhere else. And I don't think they feel great about Georgia, frankly, either. Mark Preston, good to see you this morning.

Thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John. Still ahead, why the attorney for Jane Doe in the Cornell gang rape case thinks key evidence in the case is likely gone.

Plus, big questions this morning after a researcher who worked at a lab that studies a plague has died of a mysterious illness.

And a medical plane bound for Boston disappears over the weekend with six people on board. Those stories and more ahead.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So just in this morning, there are documents that have now been reviewed by CNN showing that Cornell University campus police drafted letters to two phone companies, Verizon and T-Mobile, to tell them to preserve records in Jane Doe's sexual assault case. The letters were drafted about a week after Jane Doe reported to police that she had been sexually assaulted by members of the Chi Phi fraternity. But what is not clear, according to this new CNN reporting, is whether investigators actually sent those requests to the cell phone providers, ever followed up with a subpoena for records they requested, and whether the Tompkins County DA was aware of the records request by police, something Jane Doe's attorney spoke to just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS GIUFFRA, ATTORNEY FOR JANE DOE: Yes, a lot wasn't looked into by the district attorney's office, and now a new set of eyes is looking at it with the whole team. I mean, candidly, I don't think Tish James is doing the legwork of doing the investigation. She's bringing in a lot of people who are experienced prosecutors and investigators to look into these things, and they'll get everything.

And finally, we'll know what was done, what was said. I mean, look, I've said as much as I can say about what I think about DA Van Houten's investigation. It was not an appropriate investigation.

It was not complete.

[08:15:00]

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson for more on this. Joey, let me read more from the CNN reporting out just now of these letters that were drafted by the campus police investigators. The letters to the cell phone companies included this.

"The Cornell University Police Department is investigating a sexual assault incident, where and it is believed that the account phone number listed below may contain evidence pertinent to the ongoing investigation."

This is what the letter reads in part. But again, it's not clear if it went anywhere beyond that. If -- and if investigators didn't follow through or follow up on this to seek cell phone records, how significant is it?

How big of a hole does it leave in an investigation?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Kate, good morning to you. So this is really significant. And just to be clear, this is standard, right?

This is what happens in investigations. You preserve evidence. Very important.

We don't know what happened, right? And so we want to find out generally. Police are saying, prosecutors are saying, what occurred. And as a result of that, you send a preservation letter out and then you follow that up.

You subpoena the documents that you need. And it gives you a broader picture with regard to what happened. Now, we also know, though, Kate, that there was this title nine investigation. What is that?

It's the school and schools that receive federal funding have an obligation to have certain policies in place so that if you are offensive -- or engage in some kind of misconduct, that misconduct can be really made accountable for, right? You're called in. There's a hearing, et cetera.

Why do I bring that up in the context of your question? Because what I would look to see is whether or not in that investigation, any such phone records, text messages, any other types of audio or visual communications were used, which would make them more likely to have been preserved.

But make no mistake, there was the dropping of the ball here. And that's significant because investigations are about evidence. And if you don't have all the evidence, how can you really proceed in a way that's thorough, appropriate and fair to all parties?

BOLDUAN: Jane Doe's attorney who was on with Jake yesterday morning. He also talked about how Jane Doe has recorded conversations with some of the men after the fact in the weeks that followed the alleged incident. The recordings did not make it to the district attorney's office.

How he and also how he thinks like that included how Jane Doe's attorney thinks so much evidence is missing. To your point, let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIUFFRA: 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'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)

BOLDUAN: What do you make of it?

JACKSON: Listen, this is why the governor, right, is entirely annoyed by this and not only annoyed, but signed the executive order so that you can have a special prosecutor, Tish James, the Attorney General, evaluate, look into this. That's why she says there's no confidence here. This is not how things are supposed to go.

You're supposed to, in fact, as we said, preserve the evidence, subpoena evidence, follow up with evidence so you can have a clear depiction with respect to what happened. And just to be clear, phone records and those type things give you a picture of what's happening, what's critical in this case. Many things.

Consent versus the lack thereof, intoxication or some other drug or what have you that may have --

BOLDUAN: It could help everyone.

JACKSON: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: It's good for everyone to have more evidence out.

JACKSON: It really is, because certainly you want the victim to get justice and you want anyone who was involved to be accountable. But accountability might mean that I wasn't there, I wasn't involved, I didn't recognize or understand or appreciate. There could be a variety of defenses here.

But when you have all the evidence and information, it gives you what you need to make those arguments. And to the extent that they're absent, what do you do? And that's just extraordinarily troubling.

But, again, with the Title IX investigation, much of this might have come out in that investigation. And so, therefore, that file is going to be so important.

BOLDUAN: All right, much more to come. Joey, thank you.

JACKSON: Of course.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

Developing this morning, a U.S. Marine is now under arrest accused of the heinous murder of a woman in Japan. The case is sparking protests there.

[08:20:00]

And the Supreme Court set to kick off its new term today. We detail the critical cases that you should watch. All those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Developing this morning, dozens of people are reportedly being quarantined in Russia after a researcher who worked in a lab that studies the plague died of a mysterious illness. Officials say the 28- year-old female lab technician died after being diagnosed with a pneumonia of unknown origin.

Let's get right to CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who is following this. Clearly, authorities are taking this very seriously, and there's a lot of concern about what happened here. What are you learning this morning?

[08:25:00]

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There certainly is a lot of concern. Actually, some folks that we spoke to down in that region are saying that folks in that place where this happened are extremely concerned about the situation, that there are indeed quarantine measures there that are in place. Now, all this happened in a town called Shelekhov, which is near the border with Mongolia, just south of Lake Baikal.

And that's where this infectious disease laboratory is, which was dedicated to fighting the plague, but also fights other infectious diseases as well. Now, as far as this lab researcher is concerned, the authorities there are saying that she died of an unknown pneumonia, didn't say what exactly that was. And I want to read you part of the statement that came from the Infectious Disease Institute of Russia.

They said, "No microorganisms associated with the employee's professional duties, where detected and sampled taken from the patient." That's that institute. However, the head of that institute then went down to that region for -- and this comes from the local governor -- "... that suspected case of dangerous infections affecting a resident of the region." And the governor of a neighboring region, Sara, then said that this lab researcher may have died of the plague.

So as you can imagine, folks, they're extremely concerned, even as the authorities are saying the situation is stable. And those measures are indeed in place. Media reports are saying that around 200 people are in quarantine.

And the way this is apparently happening is that everybody who was in contact with this person has been quarantined. Also, hospitals have essentially been shut down. That means people who were inside of those hospitals, who were inpatients, they're not allowed to leave, and no new patients are being admitted in that town either.

It's a very big lab. 95 researchers work in that lab. We have heard from the Kremlin in the meantime.

That's the last thing that I'm going to bring to you. They say that they're not going to comment on the matter, but they also warn against what they call rumors and speculation -- Sara.

SIDNER: Information helps deal with that. We will see what happens next. I know you're on it and paying attention.

Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much for bringing us that reporting this morning -- John.

BERMAN: So why did the U.S. military suddenly move some of his most important bombers, almost scrambling, scrambling to get them back to the United States?

And then a hole in the wall. A thief broke right through that to get into a store before walking away with the goods.

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