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Anti-Trump Feelings are Fueling a Democratic Advantage in Midterms; Outrage Over Ramaswamy Ad Featuring Opponent's Estranged Mother; WSJ: Must Ordered Slowdown that Blindsided Ukraine; Witkoff to Putin: You Are a Humanitarian also. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 21, 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]

LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: So we'll have to see.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We will have to wait and see on that. Thank you so much, Lisa Eadicicco. Testing that out, seems like you kind of like it, but it's a pretty high price.

EADICICCO: Yes, exactly.

SIDNER: All right, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, new numbers in and another day closer to a critical election being decided. Today's CNN polling shows Democrats now with a double digit advantage in the battle for Congress. It's not love for the left, though, that is fueling those numbers, but record low approval for Trump, anxiety of the economy and the desire for change.

New reporting from the Wall Street Journal that Elon Musk himself ordered the slowdown of the Starlink system, kneecapping Ukraine's defenses against Russia. We're going to speak with one of the reporters behind that exclusive.

And an abrupt end to a wild chase in Texas, a stolen car stopped by a crash at an intersection.

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, brand new CNN polling with just 13 days to go until the midterms. One party has the clear upper hand, and the president has tumbled to new lows. Democrats lead Republicans by 10 points in the race for Congress.

That's the biggest advantage CNN has measured since just before the 2020 election. And it's fueled by a mix of anxiety over the economy and a desire to shake things up in Washington. The president's approval ratings are sinking to record lows in the CNN polls.

Just 32 percent of Americans say they approve of the job the president's doing. I want to get right to CNN's Kevin Liptak, who's at disapproval central this morning -- the White House. What are the plans there?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I mean, I think those numbers are all fueling anxieties among the president's advisers and among Republicans writ large that this is turning into a bloodbath for them in November. Now, we should say the election is still two weeks away. The president has said, and he said it again last night, that he thinks polls are underestimating his own supporters.

And so this is not really a done deal by any means. The races are very, very close. But the public confidence, I do think, sort of belies what behind the scenes has been now a really kind of fevered atmosphere at the White House, that the president will be looking for someone to blame if this turns out very, very poorly for Republicans in November.

And it has led to some aides just convinced that there will be massive personnel shakeups after the elections if this turns out badly for Republicans, both because the president is looking for people to blame but also driven by people who decide to leave the administration at the halfway point here as the president enters what would be a lame duck presidency. You do also start to see sort of a resurgence of the leaking that you saw during the first Trump presidency. You've seen a number of unflattering stories about some of the president's senior most aides, you know, his chief of staff, his political advisers.

Now, their supporters say that this is all just driven by jealous rivals, but it does all contribute to this febrile atmosphere ahead of the elections. Now, one person who does not seem ready to accept any blame for the midterms is President Trump himself. He has been out more and more over the last week or so talking about the historic headwinds that presidents face in midterm elections.

Here's what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just feel this is a great -- I don't know. The president always loses for whatever reason, the midterms, whoever it is, Republican, Democrat, great president, lousy president.

For some reason, I guess they've won two out of 25. I don't I don't know. Is there a reason you can think of medically?

Why do people vote?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: You also see the president trying to head off accusations that he himself didn't do enough to bring Republicans across the finish line yesterday. He said that his super PAC, MAGA, Inc., would be spending $400 million in this race. You also see this frenetic campaign schedule, the president heading to South Carolina today.

But even there, that's a state he won by 18 points in 2024. The Senate race there extraordinarily close, far tighter than anyone expected. I think all evidence that the president himself, and the poll shows this as well, is a huge factor in this election.

Not all of it positively.

BERMAN: Very interesting the president might be looking for someone to blame, the same president who has told voters across the country to pretend that he's the one on the ballot, make the election about him. Kevin Liptak at the White House this morning, thank you very much.

[09:05:00]

And if you all have more questions about the midterms now, 13 days away, you can join us tonight at 7 p.m. David Chalian, CNN political director and Washington bureau chief, will be with me for "OFFICE HOURS." It's your chance to ask us your questions and get them answered. CNN.com/OfficeHours. You can send us your questions now streaming live at 7 p.m. -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, now to the race in Ohio. Ohio's Republican nominee for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, doubling down this morning as he faces bipartisan backlash over an attack ad featuring his opponent's biological mother.

Ramaswamy reportedly spending about $4 million on the ad campaign that's been widely condemned. Here's why. In it, Democrat Amy Acton's biological mother speaks out against her.

But Acton has been estranged from her mother since she was 12 years old, when she and her brother were removed from her mother and stepfather's home. According to legal documents, Acton's stepfather was indicted for allegedly raping and abusing her but fled the state before trial. Acton's mother stayed married to the man and lost custody of Acton and her brother.

Here's what she's saying now this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY ACTION'S BIOLOGICAL MOTHER: It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past.

She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She's lied her entire life.

My daughter needs help and she can't help you if she needs help herself. Don't vote for people who lie. Don't let her become your governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Acton's brother says it is her mother that needs help and has been very vocal. CNN's Patrick Svitek is joining me now. Patrick, is there anyone but Ramaswamy who thinks this was, OK?

PATRICK SVITEK, CNN REPORTER: Yes, right now we're seeing a lot of condemnation from Democrats in Ohio and nationally. You know, I've heard from some Republican sources who are a little uneasy with this, but especially in Ohio, you're not seeing many prominent Republicans speak out about this quite yet. I mean, this is a critical homestretch of the midterms.

And Ohio is really one of those states that is at the center of it all. And you're already seeing efforts by Democrats in Ohio to try to make the Republican opponents answer for this. You saw the Democratic candidate for Senate, Sherrod Brown, put out a tweet the other day saying that his Republican opponent, Senator Jon Husted, should condemn this ad.

And so you are seeing an effort to try to make the Ohio Republicans really weigh in on this. And it's a very uncomfortable moment, obviously, politically in Ohio, especially for Republicans there. Let's take a look at what Amy Acton had to say yesterday in response to this, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY ACTON, (D) OHIO CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR: It's awful to see this, it's awful to see her this way, and it's even more incredible to see that my opponent has taken advantage of someone who is who's clearly not well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SVITEK: Yes, and also the trajectory of this ad over the past 24 to 36 hours has been really interesting to watch. It initially was surfaced by an Ohio political blogger who was sent it by someone who got a kind of a poll call or a text message kind of testing the message with voters in Ohio. Initially, the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign did not take responsibility for this ad.

But by the end of the day yesterday, they were not only saying that this is our ad, but they were announcing that they were going to be spending $4 million to air it across Ohio. And so that is a very significant escalation. And, you know, it's just worth noting that this is a really remarkable ad, even by the standards of how nasty campaign ads have become in these midterms.

SIDNER: Disturbing to many anyone who has been abused in their homes and are watching all of this. Patrick Svitek, thank you so much. I do appreciate your reporting -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now, CNN senior political analyst, Bloomberg Opinion columnist Ron Brownstein, for more. And Sara exit stage right.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Driver away.

BOLDUAN: I know. Sara, you don't have to run.

BROWNSTEIN: Only one Californian on the Senate at any given time. That's the rule.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly. Yes, yes, yes. One must leave.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about what's happening in Ohio when it comes to Ramaswamy and Acton. I mean, all signs and every analyst operative you give them the name that is talking about this now is saying that this is going to backfire. It is not smart politically, strategically, all of all of the things.

But this is politics. Is there a case that could be made that is nasty and gross as it may fee, it may work?

BROWNSTEIN: I think not. I mean, nobody would put this ad on unless they were pretty sure they were losing. And even then, not many people would put this on.

Ramaswamy goes into this with a minus 16 favorability in Ohio, according to the Marist Poll released. Not many people would put this on. Ramaswamy goes into this with a minus 16 favorability in Ohio, according to the Marist Poll released earlier this week.

In other words, 53 percent of people had an unfavorable view of him even before this ad. He was losing women by 13 points in the head to head in that Marist Poll this week. This, I think, is going to -- I mean, it would be shocking if this did not backfire.

And I think it might not only seal his fate but make it very hard for Jon Husted to survive in the Ohio Senate race.

BOLDUAN: Because Berman brought this up. He was like, of course he is going to be asked about this.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: When Trump goes back to Ohio, of course he's going to be asked about this as well. I mean, it's unavoidable with just the exposure.

BROWNSTEIN: He's created like kind of a whirlpool that's going to pull all of the Republican candidates in Ohio down with him. Now, you know, look, I mean, there's an underlying partisanship. And this is really the issue we're talking about across all of these states.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. I mean, after you get past North Carolina and Maine, every other Senate race Democrats are contesting is in a state that Trump won by double digits. You don't see many examples of the president's party losing Senate seats just two years later in states that voted for him by double digits. It does happen.

It happened a little 2010. It happened a lot in 1986. But, you know, you look at other midterms, 1994, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022, I think there's one total case of the president's party losing a Senate seat in a state that he won by double digits two years before. So that's what Democrats have to do. I mean, there is that distant history. 1986 it happened a lot with Ronald Reagan. And that's what Democrats have to do.

But I think this kind -- I mean, this is not going to help.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Let me ask one aspect of the poll that is the CNN pulling out today that's fascinating. Yes, Dems are up. They have the ten point advantage for control of Congress.

But it's not a glowing endorsement of Democrats, obviously. I mean, asked about the country would be better off with which party. Democrats have the edge.

But 22 percent said it would make no difference. What is the message? What's the message for everybody here?

What's the message to Democrats if they do win big? And where's the advantage that I think the White House is saying there's some advantage in that, no matter how it turns out.

BROWNSTEIN: Look, I've been calling this the Casablanca election because the fundamental things apply. And as I've argued all year, views of the president who is actually in the White House matter a lot more in the midterm election than the views of the out party. I mean, you know, in 2010, the Republican image was no better than the Democratic image, and they won 63 seats in the House, the most since 1938 for either party because people were voting on Obama.

That's what we are seeing again. It would be a mistake for Democrats to believe, obviously, that this is some sort of grant of confidence or expression of confidence. And then, you know, Kate, no president has held -- has gone into a midterm with unified control of government and held it through that midterm since Jimmy Carter in 1978.

This will be the sixth consecutive time that a president has gone into a midterm, in all likelihood, with unified control and loses it. And that has never happened before in American history.

BOLDUAN: And that's not even putting against the backdrop of what the reality is that he's looking at.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. But I think part of the reason for that, why we are seeing such volatility, yes, part of it is because we are so closely divided that the parties have no cushion, no margin for error. But it's also because voters keep kind of ricochet, almost like in a pinball machine between party to party, because they feel that neither has been able to solve the core problem that the society has been dealing with really for decades that has been crystallized post COVID.

People do not feel that their living standards are keeping, you know, keeping pace with their costs.

BOLDUAN: Twenty two percent is a real thing that we're looking at. It's great to see you.

BROWNSTEIN: Good to be here.

BOLDUAN: Thanks for being here -- John.

BERMAN: All right, new reporting this morning that Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a critical communications system used by Ukraine's defenses.

And a CNN exclusive, the Pentagon greenlights a test of military grade -- a military grade heat ray weapon that could be used at the U.S.- Mexico border.

And the mission to rescue a hiker who broke a leg 12,000 feet up a mountain.

[09:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: All right, some more breaking news we're tracking. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is leaving Russia now after wrapping up a three hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. One result of that meeting and talks, Russia has now freed -- Putin, let's be honest -- has now freed 74 year old American Stephen Hubbard, who was captured in occupied Ukraine, held by Vladimir Putin, of course.

Witkoff, though, going as far to call Vladimir Putin a quote, humanitarian because of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: He's a 75 year old man and you talk so much about my president, President Trump, being humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir. And I salute that.

I commend you and I thank you again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Hot take from one Republican senator, Republican Thom Tillis, just now, "WTF, Steve, look up the definition of humanitarian. What an embarrassing, outrageous thing to say. You should go back to Ukraine and ask the families of the children Putin has kidnapped and murdered whether they agree your friend Putin is a humanitarian."

All of this just playing out this morning here with me now. CNN chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto. When I read that, I really -- it did stop me in my tracks, I'll say, Jim, because it's one thing to say thank you for releasing an American. This is something to applaud.

It's another thing to go and call Vladimir Putin a humanitarian.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Listen, you know, it's preposterous, right? And look at it from a Ukrainian perspective. Every day they are sitting in shelters if they have the warning to get into shelter, trying to survive Russian attacks that are deliberately targeted at civilians, right? At apartment buildings, at schools, at playgrounds, et cetera. So it's preposterous.

[09:20:00]

What Witkoff feels he needs to say in the wake of releasing an American, which is significant, is one thing. Humanitarian it's insulting to the to the folks who are living through Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. I spoke yesterday to Oleksandra Matvichuk. She is a Ukrainian civil rights lawyer.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 precisely for documenting Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including going back to the Bucha massacre, if you remember, in the early days of the war. And I asked her -- because prior to the Witkoff comment, you remember, President Trump said a couple of days ago that Russia has been just fine on Ukraine. I asked her about that comment and her words were and I'm quoting her.

She says, "This presidential administration has lost the ability to distinguish between good and evil." So the point about the Witkoff statement is that it is not -- let's not take it in isolation. It's part of a President Trump approach to and apparently impression of Vladimir Putin, right?

He praises him. He reserves some of his worst criticism for Volodymyr Zelenskyy or European allies, etc.

And that, you know, like I said in the last hour, that's a propaganda win for Vladimir Putin in this war. It's a gift. It's a gift to him.

And I'll tell you, the Ukrainian perspective is it is more than preposterous, right? It's insulting.

BOLDUAN: Jim, it's good to see you. Thank you so much for jumping on. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, new overnight. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that it was Elon Musk who was behind the slowdown to Ukraine of Starshield communications. That's the military grade service of a Starlink satellite network.

Ukraine relies on Starshield to defend itself from Russian attacks and carry out its own strikes. According to the Wall Street Journal. Musk capped the speeds at which Ukraine could connect to the network, hampering its ability to do things like use its drones, intercept missiles or launch attacks.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy spoke this morning about the situation and said he has talked to the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: About Starlink, Starshield, it's still limited, but the secretary told me that he will work with his team on this to unblock this question. God bless. It will be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining me now is Natalie Andrews, one of the reporters at The Wall Street Journal who broke the story. Thank you so much for being here this morning with us. Look, before you're reporting, I know you saw this.

Elon Musk posted the decision saying it involved Starshield that was coming from the military and or the president himself. What did you learn about whether the president was aware of this move or not?

NATALIE ANDREWS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, Sara, we know that when this -- when Zelenskyy started talking about Starlink being down, it kicked off a lot of confusion inside the White House and that SpaceX was reaching out. There was a lot of miscommunication or wondering how this happened. And we saw that Trump himself said he wants to look into it.

And this happened on the backdrop of Donald Trump doing like rallies every day on the West Coast. And they launched kind of a -- SpaceX said and White House said back and forth as they tried to lock this down.

SIDNER: Look, in the end, if Musk acted alone, that's an incredible amount of power for one person to be able to wield without oversight when it comes to sort of national security issues.

ANDREWS: Yes.

SIDNER: And then the other hand, if the president was involved, it says a lot about how it's dealing with Ukraine versus how close and cozying up it is getting to Russia. What does all this tell you in your reporting?

ANDREWS: It really does show the power that Elon Musk has when it comes to this war that Donald Trump's comments may have had as he was this came after Donald Trump had called for Zelenskyy to be replaced in Ukraine. He said now several times he thinks that Ukraine needs a different negotiator. And now you have that Starlink was shut down.

We do know from one person that Elon Musk and Donald Trump had spoken before Starlink was slowed down in Ukraine. And we know they spoke directly after as the White House tried to find out more information on what was happening.

SIDNER: Look, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that the Pentagon issued no directives and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration has no knowledge. What are the sources telling you about the Pentagon and its role potentially?

ANDREWS: They do seem to be in the dark in some ways on how this happened or we are continuing to do more reporting to try to understand, like you said, as one person shuts this down and can weigh. I mean, Zelenskyy said that people were being hurt. They're not able to fly their drones at the pace they need to in order to defend against Russian attacks.

[09:25:00]

This has real world, potentially tragic implications on a war that is hurting so many people. And for one person to be in charge of that, it's quite dramatic.

SIDNER: Are you surprised there's no big definitive answer? Because I know, and comments from -- public comments from, say, the White House or some of these other organizations, the Pentagon, all on one page here, because in your reporting, you say, look, we've got one source that is saying that there was some talk between the president and Musk beforehand and others saying, no, no, this was done solely by Elon Musk. What do you think about the messaging here?

ANDREWS: I think that it did catch a lot of people in the White House off guard that this had happened and there was confusion. There was a lack of understanding as to like when Zelenskyy alerted the world to this, it did kick off a cascade of trying to understand what had happened in the conversations that had happened.

SIDNER: To make it clear, some people certainly didn't seem to know what was going on.

ANDREWS: Yes.

SIDNER: Natalie Andrews, great reporting from you and the team. Really appreciate it.

ANDREWS: Thank you.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: In the final stretch to the midterm, Democrats are urgently trying to bridge a divide they're seeing with Black voters in Michigan. Former President Obama is headed their way. So what is going on there? We're live in Detroit.

And Texas police released video of a wild chase between officers when the officers try to stop a stolen car and the crash that ended it. We'll be right back.

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