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Trump Ratchets Up Rhetoric Against Democrats; Former Governor Tim Pawlenty is Interviewed about the Midterms; Jalen Hurts Out for Rest of Eagles' Season; FlyDubai Captain Speaks about Hijacking Attempt. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 20, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Society now and if it's good?

WILLIAM D. COHAN, FOUNDING PARTNER AND WALL STREET CORRESPONDENT, "PUCK": Like -- well, good. I mean good is a value judgment, right?

BERMAN: Yes.

COHAN: I mean, do we -- do we want our companies to be financed? Do we want our companies to have access to capital? Do we -- do we want that to be a relatively smooth process with a lot of liquidity so investors can get their money in and get their money out? I mean, I think since the 2008 financial crisis, which was, you know, 18 years ago and quite jarring for everybody. Wall Street has been absolutely transformed. And I think part of what I try to tell the story in this book is how that transformation has taken place and the rise of firms like Apollo and KKR and Blackstone, who provide financing that the rest of Wall Street isn't really permitted by regulators to do (ph).

BERMAN: In this book, "Money to Burn," which is extraordinary, gives people, like me, the ammunition to try to understand whether or not it is a good thing or bad thing. It lets us make the value judgment based on your incredible reporting.

William Cohan, thank you so much.

COHAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: The book "Money to Burn" is available now.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The country as it barrels down the tracks toward Election Day. One Republican senator is predicting a train wreck is coming for his party on Election Day. The new numbers in, and what Democrats are saying this morning.

And breaking overnight, oil prices surged to a five-month high. What does that mean for your gas prices now?

And the Eagles are facing real questions after star quarterback Jalen Hurts is diagnosed with a life threatening condition and is now out for the season.

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Just two weeks to go till the election. Control of both the House and Senate, of course, on the line. And with it, the future of President Trump's agenda. But one Republican has got something to say about his party's chances.

Retiring Senator Thom Tillis isn't on the ballot this year, and he's not holding back. In a new interview with "Politico," Tillis is arguing that President Trump will not change and that the people around him need to do a better job of keeping his impulses in check.

Listen to what he says here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): He's going to be whoever he is. The only thing I can change are the people around him that may be able to tamp down some of those emotions, but also not come up with really, really, really shitty ideas that he implements.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, isn't that a hell of a way to run a railroad?

TILLIS: Yes. Hey, look, it's exactly why we're headed to the, you know, to continue the analogy, a train wreck in November.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That analogy of a train wreck showing up in places that Republicans have long considered really safe territory. New numbers for you now in the Senate race, for example, in Ohio. The latest Marist poll showing there that there's no clear leader among likely voters. But this is a state that Trump won by 11 points back in 2024.

With Republicans on edge, President Trump is on the move, and his message is getting darker. He's headed to North Carolina today. And overnight in Kansas, he laid out a very dark vision of what happens if, he says, when Democrats win, trying to link them to the unrest in France, where protesters have erupted in riots and over economic hardships and government cuts there.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live this morning at the White House.

I know you have seen these rallies, and you're noticing that the tone is turning to a much darker way he sees of America if the Democrats win.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Sara. And look, we are two weeks now away from November 3rd, from these midterm elections, and we've seen the president really picking up this aggressive pace of campaigning and really being on defense in a lot of states, as you mentioned, these red states where we've seen him visit time and again, all of them really places he's won by double digits. So, he is on defense trying to do whatever he can to boost these candidates ahead of the elections.

And part of that, of course, is he wants his party to win, and he wants them to hold on to their majorities in the House and the Senate. But it's also because if they lose, if Democrats take one or both chambers of Congress, that would be -- that would spell trouble for him in the remainder of his second term. Potential investigations, oversight investigations into him and his administration, and also their ability to try and block any sort of major agenda items from coming through.

So, that's why, I think, you're hearing the president use some of this darker rhetoric now while he is stomping for candidates in these different states and races. And it's similar to what we've seen him use in the past when he's been running on the trail for his own races, you know, using this kind of fear mongering to try and convince voters to turn out for his party.

I do want you to listen to the message he had last night, because he did argue that he believes that if Democrats were to take over, you would see different cities across America burn, just like we're seeing with these protests in Paris.

[09:05:03]

Listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what's happening in France, a once great nation that is being conquered, looted and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists and communists who hate Christianity and they hate, frankly, the western civilization itself. This is what's happening to France, they want to happen to our country. It's never happening here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, Sara, clearly quite a stark portrait. The president is trying to paint between what would happen if Republicans were to win versus Democrats. He will be taking this message to North Carolina today, where he'll be stumping for the former Republican national convention or committee, excuse me, chairman Michael Whatley, who's running against the former governor of this state, Roy Cooper.

SIDNER: Yes. And to be fair, no Democrat who was running or otherwise has said they want to burn America to the ground. So, there is that as well this morning.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much for your reporting there from the White House.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: To talk about the state of this race, joining us right now is Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota.

It's good to see you, Governor. Thanks for being here.

Let's talk about Thom Tillis. He's predicting now a train wreck is coming for Republicans this November. Do you think it is?

TIM PAWLENTY (R), FORMER MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: Well, good morning, Kate.

I know. To change the metaphor, it's going to be a blue wave. We just don't know if it's knee deep, waist deep, or going to hit us right in the face. But it looks like the Republicans are going to have a hard time hanging on to the House, of course. The margin, we'll see. But I think the real chance for Republicans to salvage something out of this is to hang on to the Senate. And that's a real possibility.

BOLDUAN: Yes. I mean, if -- you've known me long enough to know I love a mixed metaphor, so you can bring anyone you win -- anyone you want into the conversation always.

As a smart CNN writer (ph) -- she kind of put it though, when it comes to Minnesota, "Minnesota is often seen as the reddest blue state in America, which places it high on the list of places that Democrats are closely watching that could harbor signs of trouble if a blue wave fails to materialize." What do you think is happening? Especially when we're looking at this very closely watched Senate race? What do you see right now?

PAWLENTY: Well, it is a blue state, Kate, but it does have an independent streak to it, so it can, from time to time, go purplish or sometimes even red, as, you know, that's how I got elected twice.

Of course, Minnesota hasn't voted for a Republican for president since Nixon. So, that tells you something. But in terms of the current environment, nationally, of course, the economy and affordability, for understandable reasons, is item number one, issue number one for voters. But in Minnesota, there's something else going on, which is the -- it's the home of, unfortunately, of this mass government fraud. So, as it relates to independent voters, those voters are saying it's not just about the economy, it's about cleaning up this fraud. And they're kind of blaming the Democrats for that and maybe reconsidering the Republican candidates in the Senate race in particular. So, it's a little more complicated than that. But basically, it's become a referendum on the Republicans trying to make it about fraud, the Democrats trying to make it a referendum on Trump. So, it's the Trump v fraud election.

And that Senate race, by the way, is closer than people realize. It's almost within the margin of error. Democrats still favored. But it -- you know, I wouldn't be shocked if the Republican won, or at least did better than most people expect.

BOLDUAN: Definitely one to watch.

I want to also ask you, in talking about Minnesota, Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has her home -- had her home in D.C. searched by federal agents. CNN has reported that the search was related to an immigration fraud probe into whether Omar's father lied about her age when she obtained citizenship in -- U.S. citizenship in 2000.

President Obama, just this week, spoke out, calling this move by DOJ this close to the election especially appalling. And the way that Obama put it is this, "the fact that any president or any administration is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omars political views."

Are you comfortable with the FBI making a move like this less than a month before the election?

PAWLENTY: Well, the timing of it does suggest a political layer to it. Of course, because it's political doesn't mean it isn't necessarily meritorious. You should keep in mind, a judge signed a search warrant. And the judge has a history, that particular judge, of donating to Democratic candidates and clerking for Democratic people who were previously in the political world, Democratic, you know, leaning. So, it doesn't look like the judge would be necessarily biased in that regard. And so, the judge signed off on this.

So, we'll see, Kate. I don't know whether there's something real here or not. All of us are just going to have to wait until the actual evidence is produced.

BOLDUAN: Her faith, her upbringing has long been a target of President Trump's. A very similar -- and very similar attacks we are seeing now that he is trying to use against a Senate candidate in Michigan in Abdul El-Sayed. And the president bringing it up, it stops far outside of Michigan, as he did last night in Kansas.

[09:10:06]

Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Somebody said, how did you do that? I said, I'm the president and I can call him whatever the hell I want. And then they sent me his full name. And actually, his middle name is Mohamed. You can believe it. One good thing, if you call somebody from that part of the world Mohamed, you're about 65 percent sure to get it right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Abdul El-Sayed was born and raised in the United States, but the point being is, do you think that's a smart approach by the president right now? Do you like that approach that he's making here and what he is suggesting, insinuating and targeting?

PAWLENTY: Yes. And so, of course, we're six years into this experience with President Trump. And, you know, he regularly says all kinds of things that are sort of out of bounds or provocative. And I wish he would focus on the things that matter most to voters, especially two weeks out from the midterms, which is the economy and affordability. And talk about how we're going to wind down the Iran war on strategic terms that are favorable to the U.S. Talk about how you're going to increase supply to bring down prices, for example, in energy. People are really concerned about diesel and gas and their home, either air conditioning or heating bills. And so, bringing more supply online, passing the permitting reform before Congress, for example, would be things that I think more would resonate with voters.

Of course, he's in these places trying to increase base turnout. Even a half a percent, one percent base turnout in a place like Kansas could decide the election. So, that's what he's trying to do, and that's why he's in those places. But I wish he would focus more on the main issue at the moment, which is, what are we going to do about these rising costs in our economy?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

Tim Pawlenty, good to see you. Thank you for coming in.

PAWLENTY: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: The governor talking about energy prices there. Breaking overnight, oil prices surged to a five-month high. This time it could be problematic for the president.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts out for the season because of life- threatening blood clots in his lungs. The team now facing questions about why he was allowed to travel and play.

And then a huge cargo ship gets a little too close to shore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:43]

SIDNER: New this morning, Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback Jalen Hurts is out for the rest of the season after facing a life- threatening health scare. The Eagles revealed he had been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli, meaning blood clots in both of his lungs. Hurts suffered a calf injury from a cleat during a game against the Rams on October 4th. And then on October 9th, he flew to London with the team and was then diagnosed with the blood clots. After an overnight stay in the hospital, though, he played in the Eagles' game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The team says the 28-year-old will now be treated with blood thinners and will be unable to play during his recovery.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is joining us now.

This is an extremely dangerous, really life-threatening situation when you have blood clots in your lungs.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes.

SIDNER: Give us some sense of this and the fact that he went out and played again but is now not going to be playing with his team (ph). TIRRELL: Right. So, our picture of this situation obviously has

emerged over the past two weeks. But what we heard about when he was in London was that he had a superficial venous thrombosis, which is essentially a blood clot in a vein that's closer to the skin. And what doctors really worry about, however, that can be associated with this deep vein thrombosis. But it's deep vein thrombosis. When you have a clot in a deeper vein. And typically that is in the lower legs or in the upper legs. And it can also be in your arms.

And so, what we know from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is that deep vein thrombosis and really what it can lead to, which is the thing people worry about is pulmonary embolism, blood clots getting to your lungs and blocking arteries, they affect 900,000 people every year in the United States. And an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 people die from DVT, or pulmonary embolism.

And I was talking with Dr. Jordan Schafer at the University of Michigan. He's a hematologist. He's an expert in blood clots. And he was saying this superficial vein thrombosis, which is the first thing that Hurts was diagnosed with, can be associated with deep vein thrombosis. So, it is something you want to look at, even though it's considered less serious.

But, of course, now we know that Hurts has this deep vein thrombosis. So, you can see this image here. That is when you have that blood clot in a deep vein. Typically happens in the lower extremities. The concern is then it becomes a pulmonary embolism, gets up into the lungs and blocks the blood flow there. And we know that is what happened.

And so, a lot of people might be wondering, what are the symptoms of these things? What should you be looking out for? Because prompt care is essential to take care of these things.

So, for deep vein thrombosis, things like swelling, pain and tenderness not caused by an injury, if your skin's warm to the touch, if you have redness or discoloration, that is cause for contacting your health care provider. And for a pulmonary embolism, of course, this is very serious. Any difficulty breathing, chest pain that gets worse when you lie down or take a deep breath, coughing or coughing up blood, and a fast or otherwise irregular heartbeat, these kinds of things you want to get care essentially right away.

SIDNER: Immediately.

TIRRELL: Yes.

SIDNER: What about prevention? We also hear, you know, when you go onto a plane, people say, make sure you get up.

TIRRELL: Yes.

SIDNER: Make sure you walk around because that is a place where you can certainly potentially get deep vein thrombosis. What kind of things should people do to prevent this? TIRRELL: Yes, that's really important. And what doctors say is really

it's important to know when the risk is high for these kinds of things. So, particularly after a hospital stay, after surgery, after pregnancy, that's when we see blood clots.

Also, there are genetic conditions that can raise your risk of getting blood clots. So, if you have access to that information, it's good to know.

[09:20:02]

But then general things like getting up and moving around if you're on a long flight, not sitting in the car for a long time, every couple hours really, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking, those kinds of things are recommended.

SIDNER: Meg Tirrell, it is good to have you here. I know the Eagles fans are going to be real upset about all of this --

TIRRELL: Yes.

SIDNER: But thank goodness he is OK. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new comments from the FlyDubai captain who fought off a would-be hijacker and helped save more than 150 lives. More of what he said from his hospital bed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMIT MACHCHHAR, FLYDUBAI PILOT: To be honest, I was not very sure that I make it out alive from this. Did I give up? No. I can 100 percent tell you I did not give up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN's Pete Muntean.

Pete, it's been at least 20 minutes since we've seen you with an axe like the one that this captain was attacked with. He went through a lot. Really. I mean it is representative of how much he survived to save those people.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, this is supposed to be used as emergency equipment, not to attack your copilot, John, just to be clear. Two and a half feet long. About 15 to 16 inches long, actually. Two and a half pounds. I got that backwards. You can see the sharp blade here. The pickaxe end here. You can see how you could do a lot of damage with this. It sits behind the first officer in the cockpit. And prosecutors say that the first officer essentially turned this into a weapon to attack the captain of that flight.

And what's so incredible about this new interview that Captain Smit Machchhar says that the first blow to the head made him think that something had gone horribly wrong with the plane. Only after subsequent blows did he realize that he was being attacked. You can see the image there, the damage to his head, also to his arm that he held up to try and block some of those blows.

This was done by Emirati outlet "The National" in a hospital in Abu Dhabi, where Machchhar is recovering right now.

Want you to listen to his presence of mind here. As he was taking these blows, he managed to unbuckle his seat belt, reach for the cockpit door and screamed for help. But also he was very much aware that his copilot was trying to intentionally crash the plane, pulling back the throttles on this Boeing 737 and putting it into a dive.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMIT MACHCHHAR, FLYDUBAI PILOT:: The scariest thing that I heard and felt was the engines spooling down. When I say spooling down, it's the engine sound going from full blast to like, which is not what you want at that stage in the flight. And the second thing was I felt the aircraft nose steeply going down.

To be honest, I was not very sure that I make it out alive from this. Did I give up? No. I can 100 percent tell you I did not give up. But was I sure I'm going to make it? No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: You've seen all of the video of Captain Machchhar bloodied on the floor of the cockpit of this Boeing 737. His effort to get help was really critical here. Passengers and crew were able to intervene and overpower the first officer. Two other FlyDubai pilots happened to be on board, took control of the plane, but even still, the jet plunged about 16,000 feet in 30 seconds time, ultimately landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, with part of the plane's rudder missing. A sign of the extreme force of that dive and the incredible speed.

Emirati prosecutors say the first officer, Hamam al-Hammami, intended to crash the plane into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv as an attack inspired by 9/11, John. An incredible save here.

BERMAN: I got -- so much had to go right for all those people to be saved, including that captain surviving the horrible attack, which you really get a perspective of as we see the weapon in your hands, Pete. And I have to say, the nicest thing is to see his smile today after all that he's been through.

Thank you so much for explaining that so well.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: The breaking news, President Trump is reportedly frustrated with Ukraine. That's according to the secretary of state today. As Ukraine's president says he's willing to meet President Trump halfway. But he needs more missiles. A critical meeting on that is about to get underway.

And what not to do when you're in Vegas. Well, owe so much, including steal a live flamingo from its enclosure. The man, the crime and the time he could now serve.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:05]

BOLDUAN: The breaking news, moments ago, Ukraine's president, Zelenskyy, arrived in Norway, where he's expected to meet with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. These meetings come as the rift between the Ukrainian president and President Trump widens.

This morning, Zelenskyy posted on social media that he had substantive conversations with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and that his country, as he has said many times before, needs ballistic missile interceptors, needs early warnings of Russian attacks and needs restored Starlink capabilities, all of which he says has been either withheld, slowed or disrupted.

Also this morning, Marco Rubio insists the United States has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, nor interfered with those satellite communications. And the president, he says, is frustrated with the accusations.

Sara spoke to Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman this morning, who said this about Rubio's claims.

[09:30:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D-VA): Let me be 100 percent clear here. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is lying. He is lying, and so is the