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Memphis Considers Plan to Pause New Data Center Construction; Volodymyr Zelenskyy Meets With U.S. Officials; Trump Campaigns in North Carolina. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 20, 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: Carolina on President Trump's mind, as he heads to North Carolina, campaigning for another Republican in a tight race that could decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, with Election Day just two weeks away.

And a fight over the future. Memphis leaders considering a plan to pause new data center construction for up to a year, two weeks after a meeting on the issue that led to a fistfight and all-out brawl at city hall.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And a deepening divide. President Trump says someone other than Ukraine's leader should negotiate for Kyiv, as President Zelenskyy meets with the U.S. envoy for more talks over ending the war.

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

SANCHEZ: Hoping for a battleground boost. Today, President Trump takes his campaign blitz to North Carolina, as Republicans look to turn up the turnout, and Democrats hope to flip a Senate seat.

With just 14 days until Election Day, new voting data finds registered Democrats in the state far outpacing Republicans so far, a possible sign of where an early advantage might be. And while President Trump won North Carolina three times, the state's retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis is issuing a new warning for his party.

Tillis' take today in Politico, Republicans are heading for -- quote -- "a train wreck in November."

Let's go live with the White House with CNN's Alayna Treene.

Alayna, North Carolina the second state in this seven states in seven day blitz from the president. What should we expect?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, this state is a little bit different. I'm glad you brought up the spending in it, Boris, because what's been so interesting about North Carolina.

Obviously, you mentioned this is the seat, when you look at the Senate race, that these candidates are vying to fill as the seat being vacated by Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican. However, if you look at the spending in this race, you have seen in recent weeks, Republicans and some of these committees that are really meant to help bolster these candidates have been pulling money out of North Carolina, almost in a sign that they believe that perhaps this race this race is not winnable anymore.

To give you a sense of who's running, and part of the reason I think Trump is going, is because Michael Whatley, he is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was actually handpicked by President Trump to lead the RNC. He is running in the Senate race against the former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

So, what many people thought would be a tight race looking less tight in these final two weeks before November 3. And that's part of -- you look at polling, and I think the polls are very important in what we have been seeing, particularly as you look at some of the polls, that the president's approval rating at the lowest levels we have seen across his two terms.

But a lot of people in the White House, a lot of different Republicans will discount the polls. And I think, if you look in North Carolina specifically, the spending here, you can't look away from the money and where it's going and where it's being pulled from. So that's one of the things I think in North Carolina that is so fascinating.

I should say there are also two house races, of course, that where they are watching this White House very closely as well, very tight races between the Republicans and the Democrats in those districts. So you might hear a lot of that from the president tonight too.

I will say Trump was yesterday in Kansas, a different state. I mean, Kansas, I think no question that it is deeply red. That is more in line with where we have seen the president really visit in recent weeks, going to a lot of red states that arguably Republicans would have thought a couple months ago should not be in play.

These are places that should be safer for them, but they are seeing now the president and other Republicans really needing to play defense in. And Trump did, I should note, give a much darker message last night when addressing his supporters.

One of the things he brought up that really stood out to me was he argued that Democrats want to see American cities burn, like some of the protests you're seeing happen in Paris. I mean, that is very dark rhetoric from this president, kind of similar almost to some of the fearmongering you heard him use during his own campaigns in 2016, 2020, and 2024.

So we will see whether he brings that message, Boris, to North Carolina this evening.

[13:05:02] SANCHEZ: We will be watching closely.

Alayna Treene at the White House, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Just in, a brand-new analysis highlighting the shifting landscape in three critical Senate races.

We're joined now by Jessica Taylor, the Senate and governors editor for The Cook Political Report.

All right, Jessica, take us through South Carolina. Walk us through the shifts that you have seen among the two parties in these final couple weeks here and how this factored into the new projections.

JESSICA TAYLOR, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: The Republicans are still favored in South Carolina, but this is going to be the closest race in decades here. You have, of course, after Lindsey Graham passed away, his sister is appointed to the seat. She wins a very bitter primary and run-off, and she has been lagging in money.

Democrat Annie Andrews has -- she had the airwaves to herself for a long time, was able to define herself. We have seen national Republicans come in, have to put $5 million into this race to just shore her up. Republicans I worry about -- I talk to, they worry about this race. They say this is not a state that they should be concerned about, but yet it's one that's worth watching.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a really stunning move for South Carolina, of all places.

And then, when you look at Mississippi, I mean, Mississippi, so historically deep red.

TAYLOR: Right.

KEILAR: Trump carried it by 23 points in the last election. That just really drives that home. But the projection there has gone from safe Republican to likely Republican. Why?

TAYLOR: Again, I think it merits being -- that we should be watching this race on election night. If Mississippi is flipping, then Democrats have already won the Senate. This is going to be a blue tsunami night.

But we have seen the Senate Majority PAC just put up a $1.2 million dollar ad campaign here. They like what they're seeing from Scott Colom, district attorney. Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Republican, has underperformed the presidential baseline before they're in the state. Democrats think that if they can get the heavily black population in the state to turn out, they feel like they are energized, especially after the Voting Rights Act was gutted.

So this is a race that we believe still merits watching, but one where Republicans, as you mentioned, a plus-23 point state. It's still very hard, but it just shows how much this map is expanding into the Deep South. KEILAR: And what's the status in Minnesota, specifically the Senate

race there, Tafoya versus Flanagan?

TAYLOR: So, in Minnesota, you have a little bit of a unique situation because, of course, they have had this fraud scandal that has just overwhelmed the state.

And I had one Republican say to me, had Operation Metro Surge not happened, and we saw those two killings there, this could have been a very different race because this is a state where voters are concerned -- voters are concerned about corruption everywhere, but it really hits home here.

So you have the lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, that is the Democratic nominee, and Republicans have a very strong candidate in Michele Tafoya. Unfortunately for her, she's running in a very difficult year for her party. She's trying to distance herself from Trump. She's up with an ad talking about how she is pro-choice.

So we have seen some tighter-than-usual polls in here, so we are shifting the race in Republicans' direction from likely Democrat to lean Democrat. But Peggy Flanagan is still favored here.

KEILAR: Really interesting shift, though.

And this early vote count here, because right now more than 10 million Americans, they have already cast their ballot. Election Day has come and gone for them, right?

TAYLOR: It's already -- voters are voting.

KEILAR: Voters are voting. Voters have voted. So what does that mean for candidates who have their closing arguments when other people are -- their ears may be closed?

TAYLOR: I mean, this is why some of these late spending decisions, they -- if you have already decided, then you weren't one of these undecided voters that they're targeting. You're probably a high- propensity voter. You were out there, you were ready to get your sticker on day one and make these decisions.

But we're seeing heavy turnout in Texas. That bodes well. We don't want to overread into these things, but I think that Democrats, I think, feel good. Republicans still think that Republicans vote on Election Day, though, too. So we can't -- we don't know what Election Day turnout is going to look like either.

KEILAR: All right, we will be looking for that.

Jessica, thank you so much for that tour through these races.

TAYLOR: Thank you.

KEILAR: We appreciate it.

And still to come: Can the rift be repaired? We are monitoring a critical meeting between President Zelenskyy and Trump administration officials, as Ukraine accuses the U.S. of siding with Russia.

Plus, short viral videos known as clippers are shaping the way that voters view the midterms. But could they be misleading them as well?

And then, later: military enlistments hitting a 15-year high. We take a look at why Gen Z sign-ups are surging.

That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: Breaking news out of Norway: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy just met with White House envoy Steve Witkoff today in Oslo, the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, joining remotely.

It's the third face-to-face meeting between Witkoff and Zelenskyy and potentially the most critical. This comes as the Ukrainian leader accuses the U.S. of hobbling his country's ability to defend itself against Russia. Zelenskyy says the U.S. has stopped warning of incoming Russian strikes, restricted the satellite network that Ukraine relies on to intercept Russian drones, and is holding up the transfer of Patriot missiles.

After a 45-minute call with Zelenskyy earlier today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that's the case.

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MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The president made it very clear he's ordered no such changes. So none of that has changed, none of it. And I see reporting that it has, but it's just not accurate.

I think at its core is the president is frustrated because he -- first of all, he doesn't like to be blamed for things that aren't true, including accusations that somehow he had ordered intelligence sharing to be cut off. And that's not true. He said that repeatedly.

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KEILAR: Zelenskyy posted on social media that he had a substantive conversation with Rubio. He also reiterated his country's need for U.S. help. Today, Ukraine says another barrage of Russian drone attacks in the Kyiv region killed seven people.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is with us now on this story.

So, Nick, what will you be listening for after this meeting?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think any signs of any new real tangible ideas that differ us from the course we have been on, frankly, for months of these repeat sort of shuttle visits of Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner joining virtually today, where essentially they seem to discuss the same problem, which is that Ukraine does not want to see the Donbass -- as Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, laid out in the last 48 hours, they consider that to be their key defensive line.

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And if the Russians took it, they'd have a straight shot at Kyiv. Those are Rubio's words, not mine. And the Russians clearly seem to have very little interest in peace more generally. I should say, though, in the press conference we have just been seeing after that Witkoff and Zelenskyy meeting, Alexander Stubb of Finland said that they found some elements of peace negotiations which will be taken by Witkoff to Russia tomorrow.

Now, I should probably dampen expectations of how fruitful that meeting may indeed be with Steve Witkoff and likely Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Putin's hometown, because Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, has just said they will listen to what Witkoff and Kushner offer, but will not make political concessions, so an issue here, I think, where we're seeing again an intransigent Russia who ultimately sees peace as the victory they want overtaking the remainder of the Donbass.

But it's important, Brianna, to characterize where we are after the last 10 to 15 days of U.S.-Ukrainian relations being in freefall, I should say Trump and Zelenskyy, ultimately. We have had the diesel deal allowing Russia to make potentially billions from selling its diesel. We had the energy cease-fire that Trump unilaterally declared that really they seemed to restrain Ukrainian strikes on refineries for a few days, but made no change in Russian behavior.

We have had Ukraine persistently saying that having issues with Starlink, Starshield, and other parts of their intelligence sharing with the United States, Marco Rubio echoing President Trump, saying that simply hasn't happened. Well, we have had Ukrainian troops on the front line talking about the Starlink and Starshield issues they have indeed been having.

So, no shared sense of facts here between the two sides, and I think what we're seeing now is another round of the Witkoff-Kushner traveling to Oslo to meet Zelenskyy. They went to Kyiv last time for the first time and then on to Moscow.

Is there a new idea in there? We have to wait and see. But I think one of the European officials in Oslo prior to this meeting said to me: "The problem is not really whether we have a plan. The problem is whether or not Russia is willing to listen to any kind of plan" -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, and to that point, Nick, Putin, who really didn't do anything that Trump wanted in their big summit coming out of that, without repercussions, you now have President Trump saying that he finds Putin easier to deal with than Zelenskyy.

How are you seeing that?

WALSH: Yes, look, I mean, it depends on what you want from that relationship, right? And I think it's clear, when you hear President Trump speak about this situation, that he views it much in a personal transactional way.

When he spoke recently about how, frankly, Russia has been fine on Ukraine, he was speaking in a matter of hours after Russia had killed a 1-year-old girl, Anhelina, and her mother, Inna, just outside of Kharkiv. And so there's obviously a very different perspective of how horrific Russia's acts on Ukraine have indeed been that which the president voiced there.

So I think, yes, when he speaks to Vladimir Putin, he clearly has a sympathy, an empathy, a desire to be liked almost by Vladimir Putin, which leads to those conversations being probably less contentious than the ones he has with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Their relationship has been rocky, ultimately, I think, because Zelenskyy always comes back to the hard place where he's stuck, which is, he can't concede too much or Ukrainians will die and their country will essentially continue to be invaded and we will have the continued nightly assault against Ukrainian civilians we have indeed been seeing.

So, yes, I mean, it's obvious here that, if you are President Trump and you hear Vladimir Putin offering you diesel deals, essentially creating a narrative where Russia were not to blame for their invasion of Ukraine, when you deal with Zelenskyy, who often has to say hard no on territorial concessions and has the ask of please can we have more military aid to survive, that relationship is less smooth.

KEILAR: Yes, he's making it clear he will not betray his country in fulfilling those requests.

Nick, thank you so much for the analysis. We do appreciate it -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Let's dig into these developments with former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer. He's now the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He is at the center, I should say.

Steven, thank you so much for being with us.

So Trump's foreign envoy Witkoff, this meeting with Zelenskyy, heading to Russia afterward. Are you optimistic that peace talks are getting back on track?

STEVEN PIFER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UKRAINE: Well, Boris, I guess it's good that there's a conversation going on, but the real question is, does Mr. Witkoff have some new ideas to move the negotiations forward?

What we have seen in recent months is what Mr. Witkoff has been pushing for is further and further concessions by the Ukrainians, when it's been rather clear for a year now that Kyiv is prepared to make some fairly difficult decisions to compromise to try to reach a settlement.

But you have seen no such movement on the Russian side. In fact, as Foreign Minister Lavrov said and other Russians have said, the Russian position has not changed since 2024, which suggests that thus far Mr. Witkoff has not succeeded in moving the Russians towards some kind of middle ground.

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That's the real question. Can he get Moscow to move?

SANCHEZ: So Zelenskyy now says that Ukraine has missed ballistic missile warnings four times in a single week. Secretary Rubio says that President Trump hasn't ordered any changes, suggesting that there must be some technical problem on Ukraine's end.

From your experience, how does something like that happen?

PIFER: Well, I look at that in the context of reports 10 days ago that American officials were threatening the Ukrainians that, if they did not cease attacks on Russian oil refineries, that the United States might dial back some intelligence sharing cooperation.

So I do wonder if in fact that there has been some cutoff, because bear in mind, if the Ukrainians don't have this advanced notice, these ballistic missiles strike Kyiv, they strike other Ukrainian cities with no warning. And Ukraine has every incentive when they get that warning to put it out.

There have been now multiple reports that in Kyiv that those missiles have arrived, and there's been no warning, no air rate alerts to warn people to get to shelter.

SANCHEZ: So, what do you then make of the effectiveness of this dual approach of giving Putin sanctions relief, economic incentive, and then delaying weapons shipments, and, at the very least, threatening to suspend intelligence sharing with Ukraine?

PIFER: I think the last 10 days have not advanced Mr. Trump's effort to mediate a solution to the war.

I mean, go back and look at, nine days ago, Mr. Trump says, I have achieved an energy -- a mutual cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine in a tax on energy facilities. The Ukrainians say, well, we hadn't heard that, but we would accept a mutual cease-fire. And then Zelenskyy suspends for three or four days attacks on Russian oil refineries.

The Russians keep right on attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure all through this, and then Zelenskyy finally says, well, we're going to attack oil refineries again. Then Mr. Trump says, Zelenskyy is the problem.

Here's the issue. At some time, if he wants to achieve any progress, Mr. Trump has to back the mediation effort with real pressure on Moscow to get the Russians to negotiate seriously. Buying Russian diesel, suspending sanctions or waiving sanctions on Russia is not the way to do that. Mr. Trump is undermining his own mediation effort.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador Steven Pifer, we appreciate your time and perspective. Thanks for joining us.

PIFER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Next: The city of Memphis once again is going to attempt to vote on a data center moratorium after the City Council's last meeting on the issue ended with fist fights and 911 calls. We have got a live update.

Plus, California officials say a U.S. citizen was found handcuffed and bleeding after being detained by ICE. The details on that next.

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KEILAR: In a few hours, the Memphis City Council will meet to discuss data centers, which is, of course, this growing national flash point we're seeing.

At its last meeting two weeks ago, a councilwoman was pulled from the room after arguing with protesters. A fight broke out in the lobby. People rose up with bullhorns, this chaos erupting after the board delaying a vote on a proposed moratorium on new data center construction and expansions.

Memphis is home to the controversial supercomputer known as Colossus. It's a SpaceX AI data center that Elon Musk describes as the most powerful AI training system in the world.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is following the developments on all of this.

What's the latest?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, it's not clear which way this vote happening in just a couple of hours will go, but certainly all eyes are on Memphis City Council, which, by the way, council members propose this moratorium in the first place because they learned that Elon Musk was planning to expand that data center you mentioned from a post on social media.

They weren't happy about that. So now there's this proposed moratorium that, if passed tonight, would temporarily pause new data center construction for up to a year, also pause the expansions of any existing ones, and also create this committee to establish ground rules, regulations for these data centers.

Now, two weeks ago, when City Council members in Memphis voted to delay that decision making on this moratorium, the chamber erupted. There were calls to police. There were protests. And even, as you mentioned, there was a city -- a fistfight there within City Council.

So let me give you a little bit more of the backdrop as to what's been going on in Memphis. You mentioned Colossus. There's been this local effort to essentially make Memphis this hot spot for advanced technology. They saw Elon Musk's AI company come in about two years ago and turn this abandoned factory in a portion of Memphis that's historic and majority black into what he calls the world's largest supercomputer.

It's been dubbed Colossus. And because of all of this, there's been this surge of data center construction. This has escalated public resentment, people worried about pollutants coming from these gas- powered turbines, all of this relentless noise pollution, physical vibrations from these centers, and about the AI itself, fears about the infrastructure.

And what we saw in this early October meeting there in Memphis was this fierce opposition in full display, over 100 people showing up to protest to hear what the decision was going to be on the moratorium. And we saw even clashes from people there in the public and even City Council members.