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Wholesale Inflation Rose in September; Trump Approval Hits Low; Republican Panic has Set In; Bloomberg News' Julie Fine is Interviewed about the Talarico Town Hall; Maduro and Wife Return to Federal Court; Jim Jordan Quickly Lays Groundwork to be GOP Leader. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 15, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The character with us. But somehow we can't hate you because, as you said --

RUFUS SEWELL, PLAYS HAL WYLER IN NETFLIX'S "THE DIPLOMAT": Well, that's nice. I don't think he's a bad guy.

SIDNER: No, as you said, so much of what happens is like you're kind of rooting for him.

SEWELL: Yes.

SIDNER: But he's also so conniving. And you're like, how can I hold these two feelings at the same time?

SEWELL: Yes, he's not entirely a good guy either. I think he's a mixture. He's a mixture of the two.

SIDNER: Oh, like us all, I would say. Like us all, right?

SEWELL: Exactly. Exactly.

SIDNER: I think that's what also draws us all in.

SEWELL: Yes.

SIDNER: Rufus Sewell, thank you so much for coming on.

SEWELL: My pleasure.

SIDNER: I do appreciate it.

SEWELL: Thank you.

SIDNER: And congratulations on your fourth season.

Breaking news, back to back inflation reports coming in hot. That confirms what you already know, prices on diesel, gas computers are soaring.

Brand-new polling showing abysmal numbers for the president. An historically low approval rating of Trump. Panic reportedly setting in amongst Republicans with just 19 days to go to the election.

And NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw dropping a bombshell that his TV days are coming to an end. He just wrote a book called "Looking for Terry." This hour, you will find him right here talking to John Berman on our set.

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we begin with breaking news and a flat- out bad report on inflation. The second in two days. Wholesale inflation soared to its highest level in four years.

Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan here.

These numbers, much worse than expected.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, John, look, another day, another hot inflation report. Both of these reports are showing that prices aren't just rising rapidly, but that this inflationary pressure, it's broadening out. And it's not just energy, right? It's animal feed. It's fertilizer. It's electronics as well.

So, this is the Producer Price Index. It measures what businesses charge for their goods and services. And it showed that between August and September, prices surged by 1.3 percent. That might not sound like a lot, but this is almost triple the forecast. It is a major move in the wrong direction from the month before. And this is the biggest monthly increase since March of 2022, the year that inflation hit a four decade high.

On an annual basis, prices skyrocketed 6.3 percent. That's a full percentage point above what the consensus was from economists. And also the biggest since the end of 2022.

When you look at the monthly rate, you can see that this is, roughly when the war started, inflation picked up, cooled off as energy prices briefly came down and now moving dramatically in the wrong direction. This is a look at the annual rate. Back four years ago, it was much higher, almost 12 percent, but then it plunged. By the time the president started his second term, this metric was above two percent. It was probably around three percent or so. But look at this, it's much, much higher now. And you can see the impact of the war. I mean that's really when it started to pick up.

So, what is getting more expensive? Well, diesel leads this list here. A hundred and fifteen percent more expensive year over year. That is a big deal because this is the fuel that's powering the trucks and trains and tractors at the heart of the economy. Gas, no surprise there, dramatically more expensive. But because of that diesel spike, truck-based freight, 19 percent more expensive. You got to think that's going to get passed along to consumers. Animal feed, fertilizer, that's going to go into food prices as well. And then this is evidence of the A.I. boom and all the demand for electronics, because computers and equipment, 23 percent more expensive. Now, we pay close attention to the Producer Price Index because it's

kind of like an early warning system for price hikes that may eventually hit us consumers, right? The red line is today's number, the Producer Price Index. The blue line is the Consumer Price Index. You can see how they kind of move in tandem. And, in fact, wholesale inflation tends to move first.

As we take a quick look at how the markets are reacting, not a dramatic reaction. This is similar to how things looked before this report came out. But, John, I got to tell you, the fact that we have another hot inflation report, this is probably going to force the Federal Reserve to at least consider doing something that it probably doesn't want to do, which is raising interest rates in two weeks, which would, of course, mean a rate hike just days before the midterms elections.

BERMAN: That is a very politically difficult decision but with more and more data coming in, one that they might have to face head on.

EGAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Matt Egan, thank you very much.

EGAN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you.

The president's approval rating hitting an all-time low in brand-new Fox News polling. Just 36 percent of registered voters approve of his handling of the presidency overall, and just 25 percent say they'll be voting to express their support for him, 47 percent saying they are going to the polls to vote against him.

CNN's Alayna Treene joining us right now with more on this.

These are very, very difficult numbers for this president who keeps insisting that his constituents pretend that he's on the ballot.

[09:05:05]

What are you learning this morning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think that breakdown that you just got from Matt Egan on these inflation report numbers are exactly why you're seeing a lot of these poll numbers looking really bad for the president and Republicans, with less than three days to go until the midterms.

Just to dig into that Fox News polling, as you mentioned, Sara, this is actually the worst approval rating that the president has received from Fox News across both terms in office. You had that 36 percent only approving of his handling.

But when you look at the specific issues, you look at the economy, only 29 percent of those polled said they approve of his handling of the economy. On inflation specifically, this is why I just brought up those inflation numbers from Matt, only 22 percent approve of his handling on that.

When you go in lower and dig even further into these numbers, you look at gas prices. Democrats have a 12-point advantage on voters believing that they will handle gas prices better than Republicans. So, a lot of, I think, warning signs in these polls.

Now, I should note, when I talked to White House officials, when I talked to the president's, members of his political operation, when I talked to other Republicans, a lot of times they try to dismiss these polls. They try to discount them. They say polls have been wrong in the past.

But I would have you also pay attention to the money, the massive amounts of money that are being spent in these races, and particularly in districts and states that Republicans, I think six months ago would say, don't waste your time and resources in these areas. Well, now, they're having to play defense with their money, with their time, and with their energy. In a lot of these states that have become really tight races for them when, again, typically they wouldn't actually be on the map.

You look at some of the places the president has been recently. On Monday, he was in Ohio. Yesterday he was in Arizona and Montana. You saw the vice president in Texas. Friday he's going to Georgia. Saturday the president's going to Kentucky. I mean these are places where they're really having to drive home this message with their voters to try and turn out on Election Day, while a lot of these numbers, again, really not looking good for them, particularly when it comes to inflation and the economy, one of the key issues we know voters are saying they care about when they look ahead to November 3rd.

SIDNER: Alayna Treene, it's good to have you. Thank you for being here this morning from the White House, live for us.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more about this. Joining us right now is Republican strategist Doug Heye.

It's good to see you, Doug.

"Punchbowl" today, the headline being, the House Republican panic has set in. And they're quoting Republicans like long time veteran of the House, Dvid Joyce from Ohio, telling them the political environment is, quote, "certainly toxic for Republicans" and voters, quote, "were promised things in '24, and none of those things are really coming to fruition." Joyce added, "my thing has always been, just be truthful with folks. Don't go out there and tell them it's rosier than what it is."

The question is, can you make a bullish case for House Republicans like Mike Johnson has been trying to do over the past week, and saying that Republicans will still hold on to the majority there?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The short answer is, no, and it's exactly because of what Dave Joyce said. He's one of the -- everybody's favorite members of Congress, Republican or Democrat, and a real truth teller. That's an example right there. And ultimately, it all comes down to what we're hearing on -- what we're seeing and what we're hearing when it comes to prices. And what we're seeing is what we pay at the pump every day, what we pay at the grocery store every day, at restaurants and when we decide not to spend money because something's too expensive. And what we hear is that the economy has never been hotter, we've never been richer.

And that disconnect from what we hear from the president and what we all see with our eyes every day is causing real problems from -- for Republicans on the ballot. They've been in -- they've been in hot water for a long time now, but it's getting hotter and harder -- hotter and hotter as that map continues to expand for Democrats.

BOLDUAN: Larry Sabato was on the show yesterday saying that the CPI inflation numbers released about last month, of course, and the way he put it was like, could be the final blow to the Republican hopes of maintaining Congress.

And then overnight, his forecasting team moved five more races, four towards Democrats, one towards Republicans. Here's a bit of a graphic of it.

Senate races we're talking about like Kansas now a toss-up. Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire moving towards Democrats as well. Just really showing what seems to be a more challenging environment for Republicans. But with that, Sabato's team also notes the following. "We have heard and read," they say, "that pollsters may be having a more difficult time than usual reaching certain subsets of Republican voters. This may be distorting expectations in red-leaning places where Republicans who are reluctant to answer polls might still vote."

I don't know, what do you take from it?

HEYE: I think there's truth there. And look, I won't trust any poll that I see about the Alaska Senate race. It's so hard to poll in Alaska.

[09:10:02]

We know that our polling has been off for a while, but let me compare it to 2010, Kate, when I worked at the Republican National Committee. Our magic number for Obama was 46. We felt if he was at or below that, Republicans would take back the House. And he was at 46, basically, in everything leading up to Election Day.

Whatever the polls show you, Donald Trump is nowhere near that. And the redistricting that we saw is not going to stem that tide, especially because, and this is not to say that Democrats are going to pick up 63 seats like we did under Michael Steele at the RNC, but they only need just a handful of seats to have a big night taking back the House. And then the Senate is obviously a much harder question.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

You know North Carolina very well. Trump's going there next week. And following the money is, you know, an important part about all of this. The Republican Senate nominee there does not currently have any future like linear TV ads booked. I was reading, in this race. And this is less than three weeks out. Major outside groups have pulled or paused spending there. Both Republicans and Democrats. Democrats moving their money elsewhere. That says what to you, Doug?

HEYE: It tells me that that race is over. It was always going to be a difficult one because Roy Cooper is a good candidate. He's been elected statewide repeatedly. And look, I think the Republican attacks on Cooper, they keep calling him "radical Roy," just don't work. Here's a guy who looks and he talks like Matlock. So, you can't tell voters that that guy they voted for who talks and looks like that, and they voted for repeatedly, is radical.

The attacks didn't work. The money's not there. And now I'm concerned about House races in North Carolina as well.

BOLDUAN: Really? All right, Doug, you know better than most.

Good to see you. Thank you so much.

HEYE: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

HEYE: And, by the way, I heard that you might be with Terry Bradshaw, my childhood hero, in a little bit. I'm not really happy with you people right now.

BOLDUAN: What? I mean, why are you -- why am I getting the heat on this? My goodness. We'll send your love.

HEYE: I would like to be with Terry Bradshaw, number 12.

SIDNER: We'll get his autograph.

BOLDUAN: We will send your love, Doug. Thank you so much.

Sara.

HEYE: Please do.

SIDNER: See if we can -- we'll see if we can get him an autograph.

All right, new this morning, in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the nation, with just 19 days to the midterms, James Talarico, the Democrat running in Texas against Republican Ken Paxton, is smashing some records. His campaign now says he's raised $64 million in the third quarter. That announcement coming on the heels town hall with Talarico hosted by CNN and Jubilee. The candidate faced voters in a unique town hall and answered questions on a whole host of issues, including his recent absence from the campaign trail, which he blames on the flu and has sparked a barrage of conspiracy theories online on the right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: I think the responsible thing to do when you have something like the flu is to stay at home and not get other people sick. And I was able to work remotely from home.

But you're right, I mean, that decision to stay home for a week sent my opponent and his conspiracy theorists spiraling.

Conspiracy theories don't put food on the table. They don't put gas in the tank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN has also, for the record, offered to host a town hall for his opponent, Ken Paxton. That invitation still stands.

Joining me now is Julie Fine, the Texas bureau chief for "Bloomberg News."

Julie, thank you for being here.

I want to go to the cost of living, the cost of things, because we've just seen another inflation report. And back-to-back they are showing just how high prices are climbing and could climb even higher, especially energy prices.

James Talarico was, of course, asked about his plans, in particular what he would do to lower gas prices for Americans. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: We should immediately suspend the federal gas tax and the federal diesel tax, which would drop the price of gas by 18 cents a gallon tomorrow. And it would save those who use diesel about $200 a year. I know that's not enough, but it could provide some immediate relief now as we bring this war in Iran to a close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: How do you think this is going over in Texas? What did you make of how he was able to respond to that question?

JULIE FINE, TEXAS BUREAU CHIEF, "BLOOMBERG NEWS": Well, I think that will go over very well in Texas, only because who is against not lowering gas prices? It's certainly something that people want to hear about. Affordability is a huge issue, as you know. When you talked about what it was most important to voters, their affordability and the economy was at the top of your list early on. I think that's one that will be well received. SIDNER: Look, one of the issues he also was asked about, which is on

the minds of voters, is immigration. And he attacked kind of both parties on this issue. Let's listen to how he answered that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: Joe Biden failed us during his administration by not securing the border. I remember talking to my colleagues in the state legislature who represent border communities, and they were telling me about the utter chaos along our southern border during the Biden administration. That's unacceptable.

But now we've seen, under this administration, a different kind of extremism.

[09:15:02]

ICE should be focused on going after the cartels, not our communities. They should be going after violent gang members, not moms and babies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: He was really clear that he was like perfectly happy to go up against his own party. So, is this more moderate style doing well for him, where he's not afraid to criticize his own party, but saying, look, I'm just here to work for Texas and for Texans?

FINE: Well, that's something that he has to do because he has to get some moderate and Republican voters if he wants to win that election. There will be Republicans that watch that. They will attack him and say, this is not what you said originally.

But I think what he really tried to do last night is appeal to both parties. That specifically stuck out to me when he was discussing the Save America Act. He didn't commit to it, but what he committed to was being there for both parties.

I think that will do well, but it will also bring on some new attacks. And you have to understand, here in the state of Texas, all people are seeing are attack ads. One after the other.

I think what was very refreshing last night that voters will like is that there wasn't mudslinging. I don't believe he even brought up Ken Paxton until the last question. And he seemed very authentic about that. So, I think that is something that will hit well with voters.

SIDNER: Julie Fine, it's a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us this morning there from Dallas, Texas.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Very soon the former Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, will be back in court, facing a judge now, a federal judge, on new allegations of torture. We are outside the courtroom. We'll bring that to you. Plus, there's new CNN reporting on the job that apparently Republican

Congressman Jim Jordan would like next. To get it, though, Republicans will have to lose the House next month.

And the ground swallows up a van in Los Angeles. Officials just revealed what created this giant sinkhole.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:03]

BERMAN: This morning we are standing by for former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his new wife -- sorry, and his wife, to return to a New York courtroom. They're facing new charges over the alleged torture of Americans.

Let's get right to CNN's Kara Scannell, outside the courthouse in Manhattan for what we can expect today.

Kara.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Both ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores will be arraigned on the new conspiracy to commit torture charges that authorities announced last week. And in those charges, authorities say that for more than two decades, both Maduro and Flores had authorized the use of torture and oversaw a system designed to use torture, arbitrary detention and violence as a means of repression against political opposition.

And according to the indictment, Maduro and Flores had both authorized the torture against numerous Venezuelans and at least three U.S. citizens, according to the charges that Maduro and Flores had authorized people to use torture and torturous means against these people, specifically against the Americans. They're accused of, in one instance, pouring noxious liquid over the face of one person who then vomited and was forced to eat his own vomit. They were also allegedly using electrocution, electrodes against their genitals. Also asphyxiated. And authorities say that one of these individuals was punched hourly in the head, face and ears and suffered permanent eye damage as a result.

Now, these new charges make the stakes from the Maduros that much higher. They were already facing narco conspiracy charges. Also conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S. and weapons charges. But with these new torture conspiracy charge, they are facing a potential increased sentence if they are convicted, a minimum of 50 years in prison and a maximum of life. So, Maduro and Flores will be in court later this morning, where they will be arraigned on these new charges.

The trial right now is still set for June of next year. We'll see if the judge makes any changes there based on the additional allegations in the indictment now. But this will get underway in just a short time.

John.

BERMAN: It will be interesting to see if that trial date does get shifted with all these new allegations.

Kara Scannell, outside the courthouse. Great to have you there keeping us posted. Thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And some of the breaking news overnight, tragic news out of Pakistan. A collapse at a school has killed at least 32 children. There are new details on what happened coming in. We'll bring that to you.

Plus, a new sign that House Republicans are preparing to lose the majority. One Republican firebrand now laying the groundwork to try and become the next Republican minority leader. That new reporting is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:49]

BOLDUAN: All right, this morning, a look at what Congress could look like after the midterm elections in just 19 days. And another sign of how worried Republicans are that a blue wave is coming.

Let's take a look at the current balance of power. The important number is 218. Right now Democrats only need a net gain of three seats to take control of the House.

Now there are those newly redrawn congressional maps favoring Republicans that may have made that a bit harder, but with only a few pickups in November, Democrats could swing the balance of power. One Republican is already, albeit quietly, laying the groundwork to be House minority leader if Democrats manage to take control.

Let's get to CNN's Annie Grayer, who has brand-new reporting for us this morning.

What are you learning there?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Sara, what I'm hearing from lawmakers and sources is that it looks like Jim Jordan is laying the groundwork to make a run to lead Republicans if, in fact, they are in the minority after the midterm elections. This is according to conversations with over a half dozen lawmakers, Republicans, and sources.

And they see a number of factors here. The first is, Jordan is not running to continue as Judiciary chair. So, he does not have a position in leadership lined up for the next Congress. And in the meantime, he is campaigning across the country, helping candidates and donating millions of dollars to their campaigns, as well as to the Republican fundraising campaign arm.

And this is a very different Jim Jordan than back in 2023, when he first ran for speaker after Republicans had ousted Kevin McCarthy. At the time, Jordan faced opposition from a group of moderate Republicans who didn't know him very well beyond his public persona. But since then, Jordan has really worked to make inroads with that group, campaigning with them, taking them out to dinners, I'm told, traveling to their districts. And in the meantime, he's quieted a lot of his front-facing role with the far-right House Freedom Caucus, which is a group that he founded that's known to be in a lot of clashes with leadership. We haven't seen Jordan involved in that.

And at the same time, Jordan is considered the face of Republican investigations. And we know that if Democrats reclaim the House, they are going to launch an onslaught of investigations into President Trump, his family, the entire Trump administration.

[09:29:58]

And a lot of people look to Jordan as the perfect foil to that, given his experience leading investigations on the Judiciary Committee, given his experience with messaging and his roles in the previous two