Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Vance Calls Talarico Crazy Left-Wing Candidate, Not a Moderate; Politico: In Private, Top Republicans Believe House is a Lost Cause; Only Two of 16 Students Found Responsible for Sexual Assault at Cornell Were Expelled; OpenAI Employee Arrested for Bugging Conference Room. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 14, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a Texas toss-up, brand new numbers just out in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country, and it's a dead heat with less than three weeks until the midterms. The Marist poll shows that only two points separate Democrat James Talarico and Ken Paxton, Republican endorsed by President Trump, well within the margin of error there. And a second poll by University of Texas and Texas Politics Project is better for Talarico, but still within that margin.

It's these competitive races in red states where Republicans are usually, normally safe, that are really fueling anxiety in the Republican Party. And so President Trump is hitting the road again today in the middle of a six-day, six-state blitz this week. He's traveled more than 3,000 miles to be in Alaska last night.

On his itinerary today, Arizona, later Montana, a state he won by 20 points in 2020. And then it's on to Georgia Friday and Kentucky on Saturday. And that's a lot of political turf for Republicans to defend with just 20 days to go -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much, Sara. So with us now, our very own Jake Tapper. Jake, hey, how are you?

It's good to see you. There is the CNN town hall tonight in Texas. Erin Burnett moderating with James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate there.

Ahead of that town hall, the Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance. He was in Texas. And I want to play what he chose to say.

He apparently thought it was very funny. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Before we get started, I love you too, sir. In a totally platonic way, to be clear. I'm the vice president, not James Talarico.

The best part about this guy is, you know, he was asked what he loves in life besides his own family and friends. And he responded without skipping a beat. And I quote, trans children.

Now you got to wonder what the Internet search history of a man like that looks like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's what I like to call a single entendre from the vice president there, Jake. What did you hear and why do you think he's doing it?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD AND STATE OF THE UNION: So first of all, let me just say when there were all those really crude jokes about Vice President Vance, then Senator Vance and couches back in 2024, his team was very offended and thought it was really inappropriate when Governor Walz made a joke about it. And they weren't wrong. I mean, those are really crude and invented, nonsensical jokes.

And it was beneath the public officials making those jokes. It's hard to reconcile his team being affected by that and this. And I will say beyond the appropriateness of a vice president, A, intuiting, suggesting that James Talarico, who's straight, is gay as if that's an insult.

And B, suggesting that there is I mean, that seemed to be a suggestion of kiddie porn or trans kiddie porn on his computer or something beyond the appropriateness of that, which is just, of course, it's inappropriate and public officials should not be doing that. It makes me wonder how competitive this seat is. We're in the crunch time now, fewer than three weeks to go.

And I'm pretty skeptical of polls, public polls, especially in general. They're snapshots. They're not predictors.

And also, I just I don't want to get into the methodology, but I tend to be somewhat skeptical. What I look for, what I watch in these last weeks of any election is the tactics and the money and the tactics against Talarico in the last week have been smears. There was that insane thing over the weekend by right wing influencers.

And now there's this, the vice president saying these things. And that makes me think that this race is a lot more competitive than I necessarily would think so otherwise, because why would the vice president be doing that? Why wouldn't you just be going after Talarico the way that most Republicans go after Democrats statewide in Texas, which is, you know, he's anti oil, he's anti gun, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Those traditional methods usually work in a conservative state like Texas, but instead they're doing smears. And then the other thing I watch is money. Where are the Democrats and the Republicans putting their money and where are they taking it out?

BERMAN: Yes, look, this is spoken like someone who's been out on the trail covering campaigns before. Where do candidates go? What do they say and how much do they spend and where. You look at those data points, and they can tell you every bit as much as polling.

[08:05:00]

And it may be that the vice president's statements have a whiff of desperation around there. So that might tell you something about that race. In terms of where Republicans are spending, we got some new data points overnight there too, and the National Republican Party, these various committees pulling spending out of at least two races for Republican incumbents, Tom Kean in New Jersey, not far from Philadelphia, not spending to get him reelected there. He won that race by about five points a couple of years ago.

And the other candidate that they are pulling the national spending for is Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Now, her district is basically a 50- 50 district. It's very close, but she's wildly popular among some national Republicans.

So that is a big concession among them. This is only two races, but it may be only two races so far when the National Party basically abandons incumbents. What does that tell you?

TAPPER: Yes, and it's also where a super PACs, which is where a lot of the money is actually channeled these days, where are they pulling their money from? And I just saw a report in Punchbowl that the Texas district that belongs to Congressman Cuellar, a Democrat that Trump pardoned, I think in the hopes that Cuellar would then become a Republican, but he didn't, that Punchbowl is reporting that Republicans are pulling money out of that district too. So that really is just a sign of Democratic strength and Republican weakness.

And we had Republican Senator Thom Tillis a couple of weeks ago was talking about how Republicans needed to think about their priorities when it came to his own state, when it came to the Senate candidate, Michael Whatley, the Republican being -- he didn't say this, but the suggestion was this is not the best use of our time. Former Governor Cooper is going to win. We should be spending that money, sending it to other places.

So that's really where you watch. And also look at Trump. Trump is on a red state tour.

Ohio, Alaska, Montana, Kentucky. These are places that Republicans shouldn't even have to worry about. They are deep red states.

Likewise, Democrats shouldn't have to be spending money in Michigan. But Abdul El-Sayed is somebody that is having trouble getting over 50 percent and sealing the deal. So this is what I watch in these closing days, who's smearing who?

I think you ran earlier on the show some clips from Senator Roger Marshall from Kansas, some desperation of mud throwing against Adam Hamilton, the Democrat in that Senate race in Kansas. Who's smearing who and who's spending where?

BERMAN: Yes, and on the Kansas Senate race, Jake, you don't have to scratch the surface very far to hear Republicans very nervous about that. Many Republicans tell you they're more nervous about that race than they are about, you know, Ohio or Iowa and in some cases even Texas there. And we saw it with Manu there, the way that Roger Marshall was talking.

Jake Tapper, great to see you. We will see you later today on "THE LEAD" -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's a new CNN investigation this morning. Recent years, nearly half of Cornell University students found responsible for sexual assault were punished with extra study programs and written reprimands avoiding suspension or expulsion. Much more on that.

And new details also about what happened on the Six Flags roller coaster that led to a man reportedly falling to his death. Now, at least 10 other roller coasters have been closed as police investigate.

And a former OpenAI employee arrested after allegedly hiding a sophisticated recording device inside OpenAI's offices.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: There is new information this morning about how Cornell University handles cases of sexual assault reported on campus. A CNN investigation found a pattern that shows Cornell punishing students found responsible for sexual assault with extra study and reprimands, but rarely expulsion. That pattern now faces national scrutiny after a woman known as Jane Doe has come forward and alleged that she was gang raped at a fraternity house, has brought a civil lawsuit and now has sparked, as I said, a national conversation about the school's handling here.

CNN's Isabel Chapman has been learning much more about all of this. She talked to another Cornell survivor. Isabel, what have you learned?

ISABELLE CHAPMAN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Yes, my colleagues and I learned that Cornell has a pattern of punishing students found responsible for sexual assault with extra study programs and written reprimands similar to several of the men involved in Jane Doe's case rather than expulsion. Between 2020 and 2024, Cornell had roughly 50 formal complaints about sexual assault. The university found students responsible in 16 cases but only expelled two of those students and seven received written reprimands, probation, directed studies or reflection papers.

I should note six were suspended.

BOLDUAN: Isabel, I mentioned that you spoke to another student who says that she was assaulted during that time. What have you learned?

CHAPMAN: We spoke with Kacey Lee, who told us that she was raped while at Cornell in 2022. She went through the university's Title IX process and Cornell officials found her fellow student responsible for sexual assault. They said his actions caused significant harm, but that he didn't act maliciously.

[08:15:00]

And his punishment included a reflection paper, a reprimand and probation. She told us that she felt betrayed by the university and the process.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KACEY LEE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY RAPE SURVIVOR: I know I would never would have done that if I knew that he could have just received an essay if he was found guilty. An essay is just an extra homework assignment. Like, oh, you rape someone here's homework.

CHAPMAN: What did you hope was going to happen?

LEE: I was hoping that if they found him responsible for sexual assault that he would have been suspended or expelled.

CHAPMAN: When Jane does case became public, what was your reaction?

LEE: I was so sure they were going to get expelled because that's insane.

CHAPMAN: What made you decide to come forward?

LEE: I didn't want people to think of her case and just think that it was a one-off, you know, because so clearly not just her. There's this very strange default to assign essays to rapists on campus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHAPMAN (on camera): A Cornell spokesperson gave us a statement saying that the university takes sexual misconduct allegations extremely seriously. They told us that the university investigates reports through established processes providing support and resources to those who come forward. According to the statement.

BOLDUAN: Isabel, thank you for to you and the team for your reporting -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate. Coming up moments from now a new report on inflation. How much the war is costing each American household and what the new numbers will reveal.

Also an important update on Pope Leo after he underwent surgery. The Vatican confirming he has lung cancer. Those stories and more ahead.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Federal authorities have arrested an OpenAI employee for planting a recording device inside a company conference room. The suspect is a Saudi Arabian national employed as an engineer in OpenAI's San Francisco office. He's since been fired by OpenAI. CNN's Hadas Gold has been covering this developing story. Has the latest details for us. What are you learning about this, Hadas?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm told this is the first time this has ever happened at OpenAI. An employee arrested for allegedly planting a recording device and hiding it within OpenAI's offices. The employee arrested has been identified by the Department of Justice as 35-year-old Abdulrahman Alfozan, who is also a Saudi national.

He had been working as an engineer in OpenAI's product team since the summer of 2025. And according to both OpenAI and the Department of Justice. In late September, they believe he installed this secret recording device within the USB port of a television screen within an executive conference room in OpenAI's San Francisco's offices.

OpenAI says that they discovered this device just a couple of days later. And the Department of Justice said that he was arrested last week. OpenAI says that this device monitored audio, had advanced encryption and a mechanism for transferring data designed to evade monitoring.

They say they have evidence that he planned to plant more recording devices in other areas of OpenAI's offices. The Department of Justice also says that Alfozan used a productivity tool to find information about OpenAI's meeting rooms, calendars and where leadership is going to be. And that his wife's chatbot account was found to have submitted prompts about building an encrypted audio recording device.

OpenAI in a statement said that "At this time we have no indication of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code or customer data. We take protecting our technology, data and people seriously and as a matter of national importance." Alfozan is also a partner at a Saudi based venture capital firm called Raed.

We reached out to both Raed and the Saudi embassy for comment and have not yet heard back. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said the protection of U.S. technology and companies is a matter of national security, saying this arrest highlights our relentless efforts in partnership with the FBI to identify and prosecute those who seek to steal our technology as alleged in the complaint. Alfozan is currently in federal custody.

He will make his first appearance before a judge next week. Back to you.

BERMAN: All right. We are standing by for the release of a brand new report on inflation. The final data point on prices before the election.

And a cruise ship passenger who went overboard rescued after being stranded in the ocean for nearly 24 hours.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SIDNER: Twenty days out from midterms. President Trump, you've seen scrambling across the country, campaigning for candidates who have to try to combat his dismal poll numbers. One of the biggest things those candidates have to contend with are high gas and diesel prices.

CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten joins me now. So I understand that President Trump has a historic record here.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes.

SIDNER: One that he may not be proud of.

ENTEN: Yes, perhaps one he should not be proud of. But again, another record. Another record for President Trump.

Not so much congratulations for you. I mean, just take a look at this. OK.

The most days in a year ever for any president of over $4 a gallon for gas. For gas. Look at this.

2026. President Trump, according to GasBuddy now and AAA as well, we are talking about for nearly half the year. For nearly half the year, we have had gasoline that has been over $4 a gallon.

That breaks the all-time record that Joe Biden, I believe, had. And so we are dealing with a absolute backbreaker for Republicans who are running nationwide. They do not want this record.

President Trump shouldn't want this record. But again, it's another unwanted record for the president of the United States, at least under his presidency.

SIDNER: And it certainly didn't come from nowhere. I'm curious how his approvals changed since the start of the Iran war, which is impacting, of course, this big issue, and seeing these climb and go up and up and up. And not just gas.

Diesel as well, which helps run the economy.

[08:30:00]