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Trump to Rally for Iowa Republicans Amid Tight Senate Race; KY Gov. Andy Beshear to Visit 8 States in midterms Homestretch; Trump Defends GOP Ad Featuring Oppnonent's Estranged Mother; Zelenskyy on Rift with Trump: "It's Not Something Personal"; Mayor: At Least 2 Killed in Russian Strike on Kharkiv Market; Construction on Trump's 250-Foot D.C. Arch Could Begin in Two Weeks 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 22, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: ... Good.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Good.

TIRRELL: Great.

KEILAR: Thanks, Meg. I appreciate that affirmation.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

Iowa in Play: President Trump returning to the Hawkeye State as he tries to boost Republican candidates in the final days before Election Day.

Plus, breaking new ground. We now have a timeline as to when construction could begin on the President's triumphal arch outside of Arlington National Cemetery. We have details ahead.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, changing the rules at checkout. All those chores you have to do before you leave your Airbnb? Not so much anymore.

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

Barnstorming in the breadbasket. President Trump about to head to Iowa for the latest leg in his midterm blitz. President Trump carried the state by double digits in 2024, and Republicans haven't lost a statewide race there in nearly two decades. Come November 3rd, though, that reliably red track record could be reversed.

KEILAR: That's right. Twelve days out, polls show Republican Senate nominee Ashley Hinson neck and neck with Democrat Josh Turek, while Democratic candidate for governor Rob Sand has consistently led his Republican opponent, Zach Lahn, in polls.

Here to talk about all of this, Democratic strategist and former communications director for Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Corbin Trent, we're also joined by former Trump administration official and the president of Valcour Global Public Strategy, Matt Mowers. All right. So, Iowa, Matt, the President is going there ...

MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes.

KEILAR: ... and it's just really interesting because Ashley Hinson has really tried to distance herself from the President on the war, but she has Trump coming in. How does this work to boost her chances? What are the potential vulnerabilities of doing this?

MOWERS: Yes, look, I spoke to Congresswoman Hinson just a few days ago. I mean, their internals are showing a tight race, but they're very confident they're going to be on the right side of up at the end of the day. And part of the reason you're seeing a lot of these polls tighten, even the public polling, which I would argue isn't always as accurate as the internal polling, because there's just more money to put towards internal polling. They can do a larger sample size. They really know how to look for likely voters. All of that put together, you're seeing Republican enthusiasm begin to actually creep up a bit.

You're also seeing Republicans come back home. A lot of folks who are maybe not identifying as supporting their Republican candidates, they're now coming home. The President's visits are either making them more enthusiastic to show up or reminding them of the stakes of the election, not to mention the surge of money that's been spent since Labor Day.

You know, we were talking for a long time about whether the President's Super PAC and Senate Leadership Fund would put that money to work. We now know the answer. They certainly have. And because of that, you're seeing a lot of these races get very close. And that's why a lot of Republicans feel pretty confident in places like Iowa, where actually Hinson's really built a little bit of her own identity as well.

KEILAR: Can we just say, though, if you -- if you don't think you're going to win at this point, you still have to pretend you do. I just want to put that out there. That's an important part of the theater of all of this.

WOMERS: Is it a requirement? Yes.

KEILAR: It is a requirement. Whatever ...

MOWERS: Having run for office, you've got to get yourself out of bed every morning.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Yes.

KEILAR: ... whatever party you're a member of, I would think.

SANCHEZ: One -- one foot in front of the other.

I don't know if the cameras caught it, but, Corbin, you were skeptical. Your face read skepticism.

KEILAR: Yes, (INAUDIBLE) very much. CORBIN TRENT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I just don't know ...

SANCHEZ: I don't know if ...

CORBIN: ... I don't know you can spend enough. I -- I don't know if you can buy your way out of the problem that the Republicans are having, which is that Americans can't buy their way out of dinner. They can't buy their way out of rent. You know, the problem is, is that Americans feel the pain every day of the decisions the administration's have made. They feel the pain that is coming down from the war in Iran to the tariffs to da-da-da-da-da-da. And that's why you've seen Donald Trump goes, you know, to states that you wouldn't think would even be in play, whether it's Texas multiple times.

He's been -- you know, Kansas is in play, South Dakota is in play. It's really, I think, we're getting to a point now where it's looking like the -- the chessboard is taking a reset. And it's -- there's nothing to blame except the decisions that this administration has made, the vilification of immigrants, the attacks that we've seen on American citizens with ICE. You know, you're even seeing Republican candidates walk away from that.

I mean, they've -- they've made a bit of a mockery of America on the world stage. They've made the mockery with our allies. We've seen this party take America in the wrong direction. And I think voters are going to, you know, show them that that is the case at the ballot box.

KEILAR: The Democratic Governors Association chair, Andy Beshear Corbin, is going to be in Iowa. It's part of an eight-state swing. And I just wonder how you think Democrats are looking at flipping these governor's mansions in red and purple states.

TRENT: What -- what I hope isn't happening is that Democrats are getting too confident in their ability to win the states. Because I think even if they do, that's just like the beginning of the game that -- you know, you're being handed the keys, maybe in the House, maybe in the Senate, to make people's lives better.

And I think that the -- the -- you know, the desire for the American people is strong, but their bar is so low that it's a great opportunity to transform things.

[15:05:03]

You know, we -- my state of Tennessee was solidly Democrat for 136 years in the House there, in the state legislature. And now it's thought of as this very red state. Five of nine representatives were Democrats. We had Al Gore, voted for Bill Clinton twice, West Virginia, trifectas. So, things can change.

And they can only change, though, I think, if Democrats themselves change.

SANCHEZ: Matt, I'm not sure if you got a chance to see it, because you may have been on set, but President Trump posted about this ad that Vivek Ramaswamy ran against Amy Acton in Ohio. It features her estranged mom, who Acton says she hasn't seen in 50 years since she was -- I -- I can't remember the exact details, but effectively, Acton was removed from her custody after it was found that the man that she married apparently had sexually abused her, according to Acton. He was charged for it.

The President here is saying that this is a great ad, that he doesn't want Vivek Ramaswamy to take it down. Mike DeWine, the governor who Vivek is running to replace, suggested that he should. In this post, Trump calls him a RINO, saying that he probably wants a Democrat to win. Who wouldn't use such an ad? Your thoughts?

MOWERS: Well, a few things. I mean, I think there's no shock that there's not a lot of love lost between Vivek Ramaswamy and Governor DeWine. So, I'm not too surprised by either side of that equation. I mean, look, there are different factions of the Republican Party. You have kind of the old guard in Ohio, and you've got folks like Vivek who are very much an outsider to this process.

I'll look at the ad from a purely political standpoint, take out how you feel about the ad, because a lot of emotions under that.

KEILAR: Wait, why would we do that?

MOWERS: Because if you look at the pure ...

(CROSSTALK)

MOWERS: ... but though if we look at the pure politics of it ...

KEILAR: Okay.

MOWERS: ... there's been testing done on this ad. There's also been testing done already on the response ad. And if those voters in that subgroup that they've tested respond more towards the Vivek Ramaswamy ad than they are against the Amy Acton ad. You can feel about that how you want, but that's the politics. This is a tied race in Ohio right now. Both sides know what's at stake. It's the reason why you saw Vivek Ramaswamy announce they're going to put $4 million behind that spot.

They're putting it behind that spot because they believe it works. They have the data to back it up.

KEILAR: But a lot of Republicans are worried that that's not the case. They're coming out against the ad. So, they're concerned it's going to backfire and splash onto them.

TRENT: Well, maybe they even have principles. That would be a strange thing to see from a politician ...

KEILAR: Well, that ...

TRENT: ... that's a possibility, too.

MOWERS: Also, you know, look, if you're looking at other candidates in the ballot, the easiest thing to do is say, oh, it's controversial. Let's -- let's -- that's their problem, not my problem, right? You're going to see Republican candidates do that, likely even in Ohio. It's the easiest way to move beyond the news cycle.

But if you're -- the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign, they have data to back up saying that this ad works ...

TRENT: Controversial.

MOWERS: ... and that's why they're running it.

TRENT: Controversial is calling somebody a liar to their face. Controversial is calling somebody, you know, a -- a name or -- or calling a system corrupted or calling a politician crooked, right?

I don't think it's what you would call controversial to take a woman's abuser and put her on TV. And you know, this woman was married to her abuser and her -- until the guy died. He was on the run from law enforcement until he died for sexually abusing.

MOWERS: Right.

TRENT: I mean, I don't think that's controversial. I think that's just jacked up.

MOWERS: Yes. Look, I was on -- on air yesterday saying obviously no one would ever want and would try to help anyone who's in Amy Acton's situation there.

KEILAR: Okay.

MOWERS: I'm not trying to say that, so yes.

KEILAR: You -- you've run for office, Matt.

MOWERS: Yes.

KEILAR: Would you want this ad and this mother vouching for you or -- or against your opponent?

MOWERS: No. I mean, because one, I'm not sure it would work. But look, when you're in these campaigns in the final two weeks in a tight race, you're letting the data play out. And I'll tell you this, Vivek Ramaswamy has an experienced Ohio team behind him. These are not just a bunch of Trump folks either. These are folks who work for John Kasich. People who have deep Ohio history. They know how to win tough races in that state. They would not be putting $4 million behind this ad unless they believed it was effective. And that's why you're seeing them do it right now.

TRENT: But the willingness to do that, the willingness to burn up your soul, right, to burn up who you are as a human being, to win an election, to beat a Democrat versus Republican, right, to beat another American because you think that their politics are so deadly or so awful as -- I mean, is that the theory? Maybe you think that their brand of politics is so awful ... MOWERS: No, but -- no, no, no, but look ...

TRENT: ... that you're willing to sell your soul?

MOWERS: Look, they -- they believe that there's also an underlying issue that's been dogging Amy Acton this entire campaign, and that's her willingness to tell the truth. And so, they've been doubling down on that a lot of different ways. This ad emphasizes that issue if you watch it.

And by the way, if you just watch that ad without knowing anything else around the scenario, it's a very powerful spot. I also think the counterpunch is a very powerful spot.

SANCHEZ: But it's important to know -- to know what ...

MOWERS: Of course.

SANCHEZ: ... what surrounds that scenario. And -- and to that point, the President is posting, frankly, anybody whose mother spoke about a daughter in that way would normally -- would normally lead to the daughter being precluded from serving in office. The President is elevating somebody who lost custody of their children over alleged sexual assault of a minor.

MOWERS: Mm-hmm.

KEILAR: Indicted. He was indicted.

SANCHEZ: Indicted.

KEILAR: Yes.

MOWERS: Well, talking -- talking about the -- the ...

KEILAR: Alleged, but yes.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: The -- the President ...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: ... I mean, the -- the President -- the President didn't have to post this.

TRENT: Well, he also shows up in a lot of the Epstein files. He's also a real fan of Ken Paxton, who gave a sweetheart deal to a guy who was raping a child. I mean, there seems to be a theme among (INAUDIBLE) ...

SANCHEZ: I -- I -- I just want to -- I just want to get back to the point. You're arguing that this is the politics of the era, essentially. The -- you're saying that we should look at this from a political lens and focus on winning. How is this a winning message for the president taking the side of this woman who lost the custody of her child over alleged sexual assault, Matt?

[15:10:08]

MOWERS: Look, the fact is, the President is elevating this issue because he wants Vivek Ramaswamy to win. And the data shows that this is a message that's going to help them win. I'm just ...

SANCHEZ: So, win at all costs.

MOWERS: I'm just -- you -- you can debate whether people ...

SANCHEZ: Win at all cost then.

MOWERS: ... you think that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just telling you the reality of why it is.

TRENT: (INAUDIBLE) debate.

KEILAR: We'll see if it's a miscalculation or if you're right, Matt.

MOWERS: If the -- if the data -- if the data that they are seeing is accurate, then it's actually going to give them a leg up in this election. That's the reason they're putting $4 million behind the TV spot. They believe that the underlying credibility for Amy Acton to tell the truth matters. They believe this spot emphasizes that issue and that if there's anything, it's going to actually be an issue they want voters to be thinking about in the final 12 days of this election.

SANCHEZ: And perhaps voters may see her as someone resilient who survived that and went on to potentially hold higher office in Ohio. We'll see. Matt Mowers, Trent, Corbin, thank you both for the conversation.

MOWERS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

Still plenty more news to come this afternoon. Ukraine's president says the recent rift between him and President Trump is nothing personal. Other details from his sit down with CNN when we come back.

Plus, construction on the President's 250-foot arch in D.C. could begin within weeks. What we're learning about the final preps.

KEILAR: And less work, more play. New Airbnb rules that will probably make just about everyone happy. Unless you like chores. That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:48]

KEILAR: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says there is nothing personal about recent tensions with President Trump. Relations between the U.S. and Ukraine deteriorated after Trump announced he would reverse U.S. policy and let Russia profit by selling its diesel to world markets, including the U.S. Zelenskyy spoke about this with CNN's Christiane Amanpour a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: We need to have strong relations with American administration, with -- with Congress, and we need bipartisan support. And this all is very important because it's not about days, it's not about personalities. My attitude to Putin is very clear. I think that if we will lift sanctions, we will make him stronger. And that's why I'm like a president, it's not something personal between me and President Trump. And of course, I'm against any lifting of sanctions.

I always said it to European partners and I said it directly to American administration. I'm course, I know what I do. I have to strengthen me, my country, my people, my army, but not my enemy. That -- this is, I think, very clear and fair between us. That's why I know that if you give something to Putin, he will need everything. He will want everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Overnight, Russia launching huge strikes, massive strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, killing two people and injuring dozens more. In a separate attack, the Kharkiv mayor says at least two people were killed in a Russian strike while they were shopping at a local market. We're joined now by Josh Rogin, lead global security analyst at Washington Post Intelligence.

And we hear Zelenskyy telling Amanpour it's not something personal between him and Trump. How do you see what's going on?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he's being diplomatic because in the last week, the Trump administration has taken several steps that have crippled Ukrainian defenses and enabled the Russians to perpetrate attacks against Ukrainian civilians, including throttling the Starlink systems. We're not sure exactly who did it, but somebody did it. Weird technical glitches ...

KEILAR: Which affects how drones can actually operate.

ROGIN: Right. Which makes the Ukrainian interceptors slower than the Russian drones, which means the Russian drones get to kill Ukrainian civilians. Intelligence failures for the early warning systems. Patriot missiles that haven't been delivered or signed off on by the Pentagon. And you add all of this up and Zelenskyy is in a situation where actually the Trump administration is the one who's hurting his ability to win the war. And, yes, it's not personal, but it is very, very serious.

KEILAR: I mean, it's personal of the people who are dying, right? And we're seeing that. Russia now without those interceptors, these missiles, they just come through. They hit whatever they're aiming for. And Russia is hammering Ukraine as it is now open for talks.

I mean, if you are going into talks, you want to be coming from a position of strength. So, what's happening with that?

ROGIN: Right. Christiane's interview with Zelenskyy was fascinating because Zelenskyy said that the throttling of Ukrainian use of Starlink is still going on today. And if you listen to Secretary Hegseth, what he said was, well, that's just Starlink's terms of service. And what he seems to be saying is that Starlink has a speed limit on its use of its service. And the Ukrainians were exceeding that.

But, of course, they were exceeding it because people were dying and they're trying to save those lives. It would be like telling an ambulance they have to run at speed limit, even though the patient might die. So that's a terrible situation.

And what the Trump administration seems to be doing ...

KEILAR: But that's a cop out to you, what he's saying there about the terms of service.

ROGIN: Well, if the -- if Hegseth was for the Ukrainians having the ability to fight Russian drones, he would have said, oh, my God, turn that back on. He didn't say that. He kicked the can down the road. He punted. He said, well, nothing I can do about it. I'm only the secretary of defense, the secretary of war.

He didn't say, oh, my God, Elon, turn it back on because people are dying. That's what he could have said. But he didn't say that. So obviously he's okay with it, even if it wasn't his decision. And going into negotiations, what it does is it gives Putin the upper hand, which he doesn't -- which is terrible for those -- for the Ukrainians.

[15:20:07]

And if you were the Russians and you were getting all of the support from the Americans, including diplomatic support, a diesel deal, financial support, an invitation to the G20, the only conclusion you could draw is that Trump is on your side. And in that situation, the chance that Putin is going to make any real concessions is slim to none.

KEILAR: So last night, Trump directly tied the waving of those Russian related sanctions to the release of an American detained, Stephen Hubbard, who was there in Russia, despite stating earlier, Trump did, that the United States gave Moscow nothing in exchange for this, right? And so now we're hearing -- earlier they said nothing in exchange for the freed American.

I think certainly we want to champion a American wrongfully detained abroad being released, just to be very clear about that. But what questions do you have now about what this means?

ROGIN: Sure. Well, I've seen in the past other administrations hold off on punitive measures while they were negotiating hostage releases. That's not unheard of. You don't want to anger the person you're negotiating with. But usually what would happen is after the hostage release, you go ahead with the policy that you had before. So, if Trump were being sincere in that this wasn't related, he could add those sanctions back now. Now, there's no more negotiation. There's no -- the hostage is home, but he's not doing that. So, it's very clear that President Trump doesn't want to add the sanctions that were -- empowered him under the Lindsey Graham bill. And yes, if Putin can grab a U.S. hostage and then sell him back to us for relief on the Ukraine front, that's an incentive for Putin to do that over and over again. It's called a moral hazard.

And what you do when you appease a hostage taker is that you embolden that hostage taker to ask again. So unfortunately, I think this hostage taking strategy by Putin will continue.

KEILAR: Josh, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Construction of the president's 250-foot arch just outside of Arlington National Cemetery could be just weeks away now from starting. What we know about these plans next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:35]

SANCHEZ: President Trump is moving to fast track his controversial arch in Washington. The Justice Department telling a judge that construction on the 250-foot structure could begin as early as November 5th, just days after the midterms.

KEILAR: The administration is pushing ahead with the triumphal arch while lawsuits seeking to block the project move through the courts. We have CNN's Sunlen Serfaty following these developments.

What are the details here?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, this arch as you know we've been talking about for months now is really key part of what President Trump sees as his enduring legacy here in D.C. One of the many projects -- construction projects that he has really prioritized and the move that they're making really, really illuminates that. They have announced that despite these legal challenges that they intend to as early as November 5th to break ground and start construction on the arch.

Now, this is significant because the date of November 5th is the date of the National Capital Planning Commission meeting. This is in essence the last regulatory step the arch has to go through to get formal approval from these two key boards. It is expected that it will be green lit. And so, the administration here is saying we are going to start in essence that very same day. It really speaks to the immediacy that they want to bring to this project.

But keeping in mind that the way that that has been kind of the track record of this is that they have really overcome hurdles and fast track their approvals. This section 106 process really was abruptly stopped on the part of the administration. So, they're going through this at breakneck speed and it also really underscores that they're in defiance of these two legal lawsuits. The one from a veteran's group that has been very vocal in their opposition of the arch.

But President Trump making clear that when they get the green light despite these legal maneuvers -- legal hurdles that he's going to potentially break down -- ground in just two weeks.

KEILAR: Wow. Sunlen, thank you so much for the latest there. We know you'll continue to follow it as you have.

As we are inching closer to the midterm elections it's all about Iowa today for President Trump. After the break, a candidate for governor there joins us to talk about some of the big issues facing the state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)