Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) is Interviewed about Iran; Polls on Voter Registration; Trump Says the Reflecting Pool is Complete. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 07, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:31:33]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some breaking news coming in overnight. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that Iran has, in his words, "lost control" of the Strait of Hormuz now, and that oil is flowing through that critical waterway.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: What a bad situation Iran faces. The Straits of Hormuz are open. There's almost as much oil flowing out now as there was before this conflict began. So, they've lost complete control of the Straits. And their economy -- and it's not -- not only in freefall now, the Iranian economy is about to reach a place that few countries in the world have been in terms of how bad it's going to get.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Still, there's renewed concern about maritime safety in the region after the U.K. maritime agency reported Monday multiple tankers have been hit in the Strait. No group immediately, though, claiming responsibility for the attacks.

Joining me right now is Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

It's good to see you, Congressman.

You know, on what -- on that assessment from Rubio, J.P. Morgan has said that, you know, crude is flowing through Hormuz at around like 98 percent of pre-war levels. So, from the way Rubio is describing it this morning, the Trump administration doesn't seem to need or want to change course at all, just wait it out. If that is now the strategy, what do you think?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): I don't see where it ends because there's no evidence that Iran is giving up. And you still have missiles being launched back and forth in the region. You still have a very disruptive region. Certainly you have, you know, what's going on with Yemen, the Houthis, Saudi Arabia and all of that. So, I don't see an end to this.

I mean, the logical end to it is for a negotiated settlement. But neither Iran, nor the Trump administration, seem willing to do that. And it's certainly not true that Iran has completely lost its capability to threaten that shipping area. They still have missiles. They still have drones. They still launch them from time to time. So, it's still going to be very, very volatile.

BOLDUAN: There's also new reporting about why the U.S. B-1 bombers were evacuated so fast from the U.K. air base this weekend. "The New York Times" has reported that they were withdrawn because of the risk of a drone attack ordered by Iran. What do you know about this threat? There's so many questions around what really is happening here.

SMITH: Yes, we don't really know. There is classified information that I'm not able to share. But, yes. No, we -- I don't -- yes, I don't know. And there's things that we cannot say publicly about exactly what was going on there. But clearly there was -- there was a threat and the perceived threat was from Iran. But I can't get into any more detail than that.

BOLDUAN: Totally respect that.

But on top of the -- on top of that, you have the arrests made about that -- I'm still calling it a mysterious incident at that same air base.

SMITH: Right.

BOLDUAN: And with that, Brett McGurk was just on with me yesterday, and he said that if this -- that was a state sponsored event, meaning those men that were arrested, they were sent there by Iran, if you will, he says that it could trigger Article V of NATO. Do you think it would?

SMITH: Well, I mean, he's right. I mean, if Iran is attacking the U.K. and a U.S. base, they are attacking a NATO country. You know, and certainly it could.

[09:35:00]

But we don't have proof of that at this point. So, I don't think we're there yet.

BOLDUAN: Do you think it all represents an expanding threat by Iran or something else?

SMITH: Well, yes, I think it represents an expanding threat by Iran. And look, that's the thing about this. OK, the oil is flowing back through the Strait of Hormuz. That's great. But we're still in a war with Iran. And in the modern era, it is hard to keep a war confined to the space where it was at, OK? The Vietnam War was terrible, but it was in Vietnam, OK. You know, Vietnam wasn't going to start, you know, you know, sending drones into the U.S. or at U.S. bases across the world. In the modern era there's just -- there's cyber capability, there's drone capability, there's other kinds of terrorist capability. This war could spread.

It's just like the problem with the Russia/Ukraine war continuing. You know, Russia is engaged in gray zone activity, you know, threatening some of the partners in Europe that are helping Ukraine. So, we need actual diplomats to get to actual peace here.

You know, we can talk about who's winning the war and who's making progress here or there. The whole world is in danger as long as these wars continue and the various combatants look for ever more creative ways, you know, to, you know, to win or to get an upper hand and an advantage. And where are the guardrails? OK. You know, you -- it would have been unimaginable, you know, 30 years ago, during the first gulf war, you know, to think that Iraq would somehow attack a base in Great Britain, OK.

Look, I don't know where the State Department is in all of this, but they need to get out there and start negotiating and get some end to this conflict before it continues to spiral out of control.

BOLDUAN: Look, and this is -- this has become a big issue in this -- in this midterm election. And you have -- you are known -- we've talked many times about offering a candid, often sober and critical assessment of your party in the past, especially post the '24 election. Now less than a month to the midterms, do you think the rosy predictions for Democratic chances in taking back the House, possibly the Senate, do you think that they are on target? Like, are you confident at this point Democrats will retake the House majority?

SMITH: I am, yes. No, I think they are on target. I think, you know, you know, a lot of this is just driven by the sheer awfulness of Donald Trump. I mean it's just hard to, you know, adequately explain. I mean, he takes taxpayer funds to pay for his own campaign ad. Mike Johnson defends that. I mean, what world are we living in? He's obsessed with the ballroom while the war in Iran spins out of control and the cost of living goes up on gas, on food on, you know, on everything. I mean, just the terrible, terrible job that Trump has done gives us an opportunity.

And then they recruit candidates like Ken Paxton? That's who they wind up supporting? Someone, to say he's ethically challenged is a massive understatement. Just because Trump's an awful human being and he won, it's like the Republicans decided, well, let's just nominate the worst people in the world because that's what's going to work.

So, yes, the challenge, as you well know, is how do we bring our coalition together once we win to govern effectively in a very difficult environment? Trump's still going to be president. We're still going to be $40 trillion in debt. And we still have massive differences of opinion within our coalition.

But, yes, in terms of winning the election, I think we've got good candidates. We have strong campaigns. Republicans are weak. I think we are very well positioned to do really well. BOLDUAN: And it seems the read from Adam Smith is, and that is just

the beginning of the work. If that is how it plays out, the beginning of the work for Democrats ahead if you do retake the majority.

SMITH: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's good to -- it's good to see you, Congressman. Thank you very much, Adam Smith.

Ahead for us, a storm churning in the gulf is now a tropical storm and threatens to grow to become hurricane strength very soon. Where along the U.S. it's threatening and when, where the forecasts are. We'll have that for you.

And a bizarre arrest as a man is caught crawling in the ceiling of a department store.

For more 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 BREAK)

[09:44:13]

BERMAN: All right, 27 days until the midterm elections. And we've been talking a lot about how there are serious Republican concerns about the results in less than a month. And a lot of the polls show things moving away from the Republicans. But there are some big picture macro trends which could have Republicans smiling. What am I talking about?

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

So, if you're taking the big picture, like backing -- I'm backing way up out of frame here.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes. Whoa.

BERMAN: What looks good for Republicans?

ENTEN: Yes, its voter registration. The long term -- long term health of the Republican Party versus the Democratic Party in terms of how are you registered to vote, Democrat, independent or nonaffiliated or Republican. You can see in the key swing states that we normally look at in presidential elections that, look, the Republicans are gaining versus where they were eight years ago during Trump's first midterm election.

[09:45:06]

Take a look here. GOP gains and party registration margin versus Election Day 2018. In Arizona, the Republican margin versus the Democrat. Republicans are up four points. How about Nevada? Republicans up five points. How about North Carolina? Republicans up eight points. How about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania? Republicans up seven points. So, when you take a look at how people are actually registering, this is not polling data, compared to where we were eight years ago, Republicans are doing considerably better in what are the swing states, at least normally in presidential elections.

BERMAN: OK, so someone could look at this and say, Harry, this is 2018. What about in the last two years? Because trends, the polling at least, has been moving in Democrats' favor.

ENTEN: Yes. OK. You see the polling over the last two years really moving in the Democrats' favor, but are they actually gaining in terms of registration, at least compared to where we were two years ago? Well, I think this makes it pretty simple, right? Pretty simple.

In Pennsylvania, no. North Carolina, no. Nevada, no. Arizona, no. There may be some tiny late gains that are going on right now, right, that I think over the last month maybe Democrats are gaining. But when you take the longer term view versus the 2024 election in which Republicans won all of these states, Democrats are, in fact, not actually gaining ground.

BERMAN: I'm glad you put in that disclaimer, because over the last couple months, I think people have seen some ticks up for Democrats, but not over two years.

ENTEN: Correct. There's been some ticks up, but they, in no way, blows away the Republican gains.

BERMAN: OK. So, put this in historical perspective. How good is this, these bigger trends for Republicans?

ENTEN: Yes. You see these trends in these key swing states. How about this one? OK, take a look here. The GOP's best party registration position relative to the Democrats in a midterm in at least 20 years. Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona.

The bottom line is this, Republicans, right now, are in a much stronger position than they have been, not just compared to eight years ago, but over the long term as well, the relative health of the Republican Party, at least in terms of party registration, is pretty gosh darn good relative to the Democrats.

BERMAN: And if you're talking about registration over the last ten, 15, 20 years, one state where we've seen some really big shifts is Florida. What are the prediction markets saying about what might happen there in a few weeks?

ENTEN: Yes, I remember when Florida was a swing state. I remember when Florida was a swing state. But look at this. OK, the chance that the GOP wins the key races in Florida. How about that Senate race? Ashley Moody, look at that, a 91 percent chance. Byron Donalds, in the gubernatorial race, that one's a little bit tighter. But even there, Byron Donalds is the favorite, a 76 percent chance according to the Kalshi prediction markets.

The bottom line is that Florida has had major gains for Republicans in party registration, and it's reflected in the races in which people are running. BERMAN: Harry Enten, great to see you this morning.

ENTEN: Great to see you, my friend.

BERMAN: We have a lot of news.

ENTEN: We do.

BERMAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:52:14]

BOLDUAN: So, after months of drama over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the president says that it will soon be refilled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I think they're going to fill it up this week. The Reflecting Pool is totally complete. And we changed the old pipes. We wanted to get open for July 4th. And now we went in and got rid of all of the old pipes, which we were going to do later during the winter. We did it. And I think it's almost complete.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: This was the second, though, round of work, you'll remember, after the multimillion dollar renovation project that resulted in more problems with the new lining and that big algae bloom that changed the color of the water. Despite a filing from the Justice Department pointing to hasty and botched work with that first round, the president continues to blame vandals.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is tracking this one. She's joining us now.

Sunlen, so what is going to happen now?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, TBD, Kate. We do know, according to President Trump, that the water will be refilled, he says, in the -- in the Reflecting Pool sometime soon. And it certainly has been a long time coming.

You know, this is, as you noted, a project of personal importance to President Trump that since the last summer -- this summer has been really plagued by controversy, scrutiny, and many problems, as you see there. That was a picture from over the summer.

After the July 4th holiday is when we saw the Reflecting Pool drained. And in the meantime, we have seen contractors come back and attempt to fix the sealant on the bottom. And now we're at the point where it will be refilled very soon.

But it was notable when President Trump made that announcement yesterday, saying he believes it will happen at some point this week, he also doubled down on these allegations of vandalism, claiming that he believes the new pool will be vandal proof in his mind. And this is despite an important aside that the U.S. attorney's office in D.C. over the summer, they determined that the problems with the pool was not due to vandals, but was due to damaged -- damage -- or installation problems that was on the fault of the contractor. And they -- so we saw them drop many charges over people who had been alleged to have caused vandalism over the summer.

Now, even so, here is President Trump yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we had vandalism there and we have it about as vandal proof as you can get. But only sick people do that. And we have their pictures. We have the -- but sick people do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, as far as the timeline for when we will see water to return to the Reflecting Pool, Kate, we have asked the Department of Interior. They just say to point to President Trump's statement.

[09:55:00]

So, not -- no timeline laid out yet, even though President Trump, Kate, says it will be this week.

BOLDUAN: All right, Sunlen, thank you so much for the update.

John.

BERMAN: This morning, a teenager is in critical condition after a hayride crash in Willsboro, New York. In total, 11 people were hurt, including the driver. Passengers noticed the brakes had started smoking. Investigators say one brake afterwards looked discolored and overheated.

In southern Indiana, a cautionary tale. A car. A car spinning around, digging up a lawn. The problem is, the lawn belonged to the local courthouse, where there are cameras. Deputies arrested a 68-year-old woman for DUI, among other charges.

And in Vancouver, mall employees reported someone crawling in the ceiling of a department store. Police say a burglary suspect spent more than an hour up there, breaking the tiles and damaging lights. This video seems to indicate it did not end well for him, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I was going to say, I feel like that was maybe -- maybe, yes, we find a better hiding space.

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: There we go.

Thank you so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)