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President Trump Weighs Attack on Houthis; Federal Agents Search Home of Democratic Congresswoman; Backlash Grows Over Trump Deal For Russian Gas; Trump Campaigns in Ohio. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 12, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Banking on the Buckeye State, the president heading to Ohio to rev up Republican voters, but with high gas prices and low approval ratings, is the trip really helping his party in a key state?

Plus: diesel deal. The president touting a new agreement with Russia, what he calls an energy cease-fire with Ukraine as well, to bring down the price of fuel around the world, but is it even legal, and are Americans struggling with the high cost of gas going to see any relief?

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: And on her way out? The president weighing whether to dismiss ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle following new reporting about her conduct.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Republican alarm bells are blaring just three weeks from the midterm elections. And as the president hops on a flight bound for Ohio today, some members of his own party are questioning whether his campaign blitz is backfiring.

One House Republican running for reelection telling CNN -- quote -- "Trump is dragging the party down." Remember, two years ago, the president won Ohio handily. A lot obviously has changed since then, and recent polling finds that Republican Jon Husted trailing in a key Senate race that could determine control of that chamber.

CNN's Alayna Treene live at the White House with more -- Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, Boris, the president heading to Ohio today for the second time this month.

And it comes, this visit, as new data suggests that there's been a surge in Democrats voting in Ohio. I want to break this down for you. So this new data that CNN has obtained shows that Democrats are making up a much larger share of the early vote than they did two years ago compared to this point in 2024.

It's a 27-point shift toward Democrats statewide in counties -- and then, in counties that Trump won by 20 points or more, it's a 25-point shift toward the Democrats. And then counties that Kamala Harris won by 20 points or more, it's also a 25-point shift. Now, I want to be clear here, Boris. This is a measurement of who voted by party, not necessarily how they voted.

But I do think it kind of underscores the enthusiasm gap that we know Republicans are so worried about, and also why you're kind of seeing this frenetic pace that the president has really taken on in recent weeks to try and stump for Republicans in these super red states and districts, places that he won by more than double digits in 2024, because they're worried about turnout.

Now, I do want to get into some other data points that we have here. One is that, again, he's going to Ohio. This is a state that the president won by 11 percentage points in 2024. But if you look now, this is recently a CNN poll that we had out last week, he's completely underwater now in Ohio.

Actually, it shows that he's underwater by 28 points, his approval rating is only at 36 percent in Ohio. And then, if you look at who he's stumping for, I mean, the incumbent in the race, the Senate incumbent, is Jon Husted. He's now losing in the polls to the former Senator Sherrod Brown. Sherrod Brown is at 49 percent, Husted at 43 percent.

And in the governor's race, it's even starker. It's even starker there. Amy Acton, the Democrat, is at 50 percent, Vivek Ramaswamy now at 42 percent. So, really, we're seeing the president going back to Ohio to really play defense, again, in a place where I think a lot of Republicans six months ago, Boris wouldn't have anticipated they would be needing to spend so much time and so many resources in.

And this isn't the only place. We're mentioning Ohio today and how the early voting numbers show kind of the disparity and enthusiasm. We're also seeing the president going to play defense in a number other of red states just this week.

We know he's also going to Alaska. He's going to be in Wasilla, Alaska, tomorrow. On Wednesday, he's also hitting Bullhead City, Arizona, and Flathead County, Montana. We're told there's going to be a lot more travel toward the latter end of this week as well.

And I think you're really seeing the president invested in the strategy. I'd remind you of what he's been saying publicly. We have heard the president argue that it's all going to come down to him, that a lot of the midterms are going to be about him, a referendum on himself.

A lot of cases -- and you played -- you showed that quote from a candidate, a Republican running in the midterm, saying the president's dragging a lot of Republicans down across the board. I mean, a lot of Republicans kind of wishing this wasn't about Trump. I think that's why you're seeing the president so invested in this strategy. And just to give you a sense of the scope of that, the president by

the end of this week will have hit 11 different states in the span of just two weeks, Boris. So I think that just shows how much this White House recognizes more that they -- the more they need to do to try and turn out voters on November 3.

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SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene at the White House for us, thank you so much -- Erica.

HILL: Well, despite the growing bipartisan backlash, President Trump today is defending his new deal to bring Russian diesel into American and international markets.

Of course, at the end of last week, the president announcing President Vladimir Putin had agreed to -- quote -- "immediately supply" more than 300,000 tons of diesel with another half-a-million tons promised next month, for November. But this comes on the heels, of course, of Congress just last month overwhelmingly passing a bill to place heavy sanctions on countries that import Russian oil and gas.

In defense of his new deal with Moscow, President Trump posted on TRUTH Social, "The European Union has paid Russia $250 billion for energy," adding that he -- quote -- "made the right choice for the American people."

All of this coming as Trump continues to lash out at Ukraine's president, blaming Ukraine strikes on Russian oil refineries for those skyrocketing diesel prices. Sources tell CNN of the Trump administration is now warning Ukraine and also European allies that the U.S. could halt intelligence sharing and sales of us weapons if Kyiv doesn't stop attacking Russian energy facilities.

On Sunday, President Trump announced Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a -- quote -- "energy cease-fire." Now, for his part, President Zelenskyy he says, while he supports it, Moscow is already proving that Russia is not on board.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Immediately after the post, Russia launched a targeted strike on a power plant in Kharkiv. It was clear that Putin does not read TRUTH Social.

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HILL: CNN business senior reporter David Goldman joining us now.

So David, first of all, let's start with the president and this new diesel agreement with Moscow. Number one, the president promised in his social media post that this would help lower costs for Americans. Is that really what would happen?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, let's take a look. So you mentioned that we have got 300,000 tons of diesel that's coming into the country this month, and then maybe even 500,000 next month. That sounds like a lot of diesel, doesn't it?

And the only expense is that we have to get rid of Russian sanctions, which, of course, as you mentioned, is controversial. So let's take just a step back, Erica, and figure out why it is that diesel is so expensive in the first place. Well, a big part of that is Ukraine continues to bombard Russian diesel refineries.

That is a huge part of this. But, also, there's that whole Iran war thing. Remember that? Yes, that's why a big part of diesel has exploded higher. It's actually 120 percent higher today than it was at the start of the Iran war. It has something to do with that too.

OK, so will this plan succeed? Well, what does 300,000 tons actually mean? Well, that's 2.3 million barrels. That is less than half of what America consumes in one day. And we're getting this in one month.

So, no, I don't think that that's going to work necessarily. And this is contingent on Ukraine and Russia agreeing to this plan, which, as you heard, President Zelenskyy already says that he said Russian -- the Russians have already said no to this.

So what's going to happen? We will have to see, but don't count on this lowering your diesel prices any time soon, Erica.

HILL: Yes, a very important reality check. David, appreciate it. Thank you.

Still ahead here: federal agents searching the D.C. area home of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar just weeks before the midterm elections. What we know this hour about the investigation.

Plus, new video shows the moment the Saudi Airport is struck in a deadly attack.

And a man dies after entering a tiger enclosure at a wildlife park. How it happened and what the park now says will happen to the tiger.

That and much more ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: We're following a developing story here in the nation's capital.

Just hours ago, federal agents searched Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's home. A spokesperson for the Justice Department saying it was part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.

HILL: In a post on X, Omar writing: "I'm OK. Make no mistake, this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For 10 years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation of his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced."

CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz is following this story for us.

So, first of all, how much do we know about the reason for this search, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The reason for this search, it appears to be immigration-related, and that's because we can piece a couple pieces together on who's involved here.

We already see and the Justice Department has said through a spokesperson that this is an investigation being done by Homeland Security Investigators. That indicates immigration. And then, on top of that, there's a couple other pieces we can learn from what we know happened here.

One, we know that the Justice Department secured this search warrant, so that would be Justice Department prosecutors, and this criminal investigation going to a federal judge and getting approval to do this search of Ilhan Omar's home in the D.C. area this morning, even though it is very close to this election, where she's not only a Democratic sitting congresswoman. She is running for reelection.

She's on the ballot, and people may be voting for her at this time. The other thing that we know here is that this has been an investigation ongoing for a bit of time. Here's a little bit more where the White House border czar, Tom Homan, addresses that.

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THOMAS HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: Well, I'm not going to get ahead of Todd Blanche on this or Secretary Mullin, but we know this investigation was ongoing for a while. There was a warrant executed this morning. So I will leave it at that.

The specifics to the investigation, I think I need to get -- turn that over to Todd Blanche or Markwayne Mullin. I don't want to get ahead of them...

QUESTION: Got it.

HOMAN: ... on commenting on an ongoing investigation.

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POLANTZ: Now, I will say there are no charges at this time. And there has been denials by Representative Omar that she has committed any issues that would require some sort of criminal investigation around immigration.

She's a Somalian who came to the U.S. as a child and is now a U.S. citizen.

SANCHEZ: Katelyn, how unusual is a search like this so close to the midterm elections? POLANTZ: Really unusual. There are policies within the Justice

Department that say that there should not be overt investigative activity, especially something like charges. You also see those investigators outside of her home in the D.C. area wearing HSI jackets.

So, a big question there as to why this would be happening right before the election, although I was told by a source this morning that the top Justice Department leadership signed off on this, and, of course, they would have gone to a federal judge for approval as well. So that indicates that this went the whole way up to the top.

At the same time, remember, this is a member of Congress that the president has criticized repeatedly, called her a disgrace, said that she and others, female Democratic members of Congress, the group known as the Squad, they should go back home. She would be the one that is the immigrant in that group.

So this is a highly unusual situation. There's a lot of politics in the discussion here, for good reason, yes.

SANCHEZ: And you can imagine, if any charges are brought, that evidence will be very scrutinized.

Katelyn Polantz, thanks so much for that reporting.

Still to come: a dangerous escalation of the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen. The latest on the deadly attacks targeting a Saudi airport. We have new video showing the terrifying moment of Saturday's strike.

HILL: And a disturbing mystery in Michigan. Does one city have a serial killer stalking a river trail? The latest from police is just ahead.

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SANCHEZ: We're seeing new videos showing the terrifying moment an airport in Saudi Arabia was attacked on Saturday.

And, first, we should warn you this video contains graphic content. It shows dozens of people waiting to board a flight at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Suddenly, an explosion causes part of the ceiling to collapse, as you see the passengers there scrambling for cover.

That missile attack by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was the deadliest in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade. At least 13 people were killed, including a U.S. citizen. Here's the same blast captured by a different security camera. Another person died in a second missile strike on that same airport yesterday. It remains closed until further notice.

President Trump says he is now considering getting U.S. forces involved.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now.

So, Nic, what is the latest?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the airport is looking likely to remain closed until the end of the week. This is certainly a big problem for the Saudi leadership. They want to be able to project stability because they need to attract investment.

They have a big global conference going on in Riyadh right now. They have their major global conference coming up in two weeks, the so- called Davos in the Desert, a big investment conference. So they're really facing a huge challenge from the Houthis, who, by the way, also had deadly strikes on that same airport on Wednesday killing one person, on Thursday killing three people.

It begs the question, in a way, have the Houthis got new missile systems? Is there some kind of defect or work-around that the Houthis have found in the Saudi air defense system? But, right now, it puts them at in an incredibly difficult position, because their enemy is in another country. They are attacking the Houthis with airstrikes.

About 1,800 is the count so far over the past week or so, trying to take out those attack systems, the launch -- the missile launchers, the ammunition storage dumps, but they're also trying to support an offensive against the Houthis by the internationally recognized Yemeni government inside of Yemen.

But the message that we're getting from the Saudi leadership at the moment, we heard it -- heard this from the energy minister speaking today at a global energy conference in Saudi Arabia, it is a strong pushback against the Houthis and the Iranians. This is what he said:

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ABDULAZIZ BIN SALMAN, SAUDI ARABIAN ENERGY MINISTER: We value our commitment. We make sure that, whatever happens, our resilience, our plans, our commitment to the world will be adhered to. There is no way that somebody will break our back. We are like a phoenix. We come out of the ashes all the time and every time.

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ROBERTSON: So that's the message there about stability. Obviously, they don't want to rise up out of any more ashes.

But then there's a strength part of the equation, and this is something that's important to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He wants to be seen as the strong man in the region, if you will, the most powerful leader.

And that is clearly challenged if a not quite ragtag group, but if a nonstate actor who plays like a state inside of Yemen, the Houthis can take on a majority regional power that has huge economic deep pockets and come out looking like a winner, this doesn't do the Saudi leadership any good. So, it does seem the stage set to ask for more U.S. support, the stage set to take the fight in some way back to the Houthis at a higher level.

SANCHEZ: We will see what President Trump decides.

Nic Robertson, thank you so much for that reporting.

A rising tide lifting all boats or an anchor around the feet of some Republicans? President Trump rallying the GOP faithful today in Ohio. Unclear, though, if he's helping or hurting candidates in tight races. We will discuss in just moments.

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