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Trump Defends Ramaswamy's Attack Ad, Urges Him to Keep Running It; Brent Crude Surges to $114 Overnight, 11 Days to Midterms; Ukraine Official Says, Russia Targeting Energy Grid in Drone Attacks. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired October 23, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The president says the Democrat targeted in that controversial attack ad is fair game, even though the game is the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. A controversy, though, dividing the Republican Party just 11 days until voters decide.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: One of the key voting blocks that sent Donald Trump back to the White House appears to be turning on him, and not just him, but maybe Republicans as well. How the economy fueled this reversal.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And new video revealing dramatic rescues to save several people from rushing floodwaters in Los Angeles.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: 11 -- nope, couldn't come soon enough. 11 days now to the midterms. 11 days until voters decide, and part of the president's final message now is taking his never back down mantra to a whole new level. He's sticking by the controversial Republican attack ad being pushed by the Republican running for governor in Ohio.

The president now saying that the Democrat that it targets is fair game, even though that game is the sexual abuse that she suffered as a young girl. Last night in Iowa, President Trump said that he has told Vivek Ramaswamy to keep it running, the ad that features the estranged mother of Democratic candidate Amy Acton.

In it, that woman calls Amy Acton a liar. Acton's stepfather was charged with raping her when she was a child. Her mother stayed with him. Her mother lost custody of her children over it. They have not spoken to her since she, Amy Acton, was 12. Yet the president says that he knows nothing about the charges, and that is not stopping him from defending the ad that it's all about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: You mean you have a mother that said terrible things about, well, who knows the daughter? She really said she was a horrible liar. I mean, it was crazy. And he made a commercial. He put it up, you know, like I would do.

So, I told him, leave it up and look upstairs and say, thank you, God, very much. I appreciate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Source tells CNN the president thinks the Republicans criticizing the ad now are being weak. But more of them are speaking out, including Ohio's outgoing Republican governor, Mike DeWine, who said this about it. He said that, the ad on its face is deeply troubling, and that, I, he, would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down.

CNN's Alayna Treene live at the White House this morning, does not seem like that is going to be happening, at least at the moment. Alayna, what are you hearing about this, how the White House is feeling about the president's position on what has really become quite a central focus of this very important governor's race?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, absolutely. The president, and it's not just him, Kate the vice president as well. We heard from J.D. Vance actually on this initially, saying that he was disgusted, not by the ad, but by Republicans, he said, who are going to criticize this more than perhaps are committed to winning. I'm paraphrasing his remarks there.

But I think the key thing is that the president, Kate, is not just defending this ad, it's what he said very clearly and publicly last night, that he had directed Vivek Ramaswamy to keep running it, and that he believes that this is something that needs to continue to be air, essentially commending Ramaswamy for this.

And I do want to walk through just some of the criticism this has received, specifically in Ohio itself. And I should note, President Trump and his political operation have been laser focused, obviously, on many of these races, but Ohio is one of the key ones that they are most concerned about. There's the governor's race, which is what is at heart here with Vivek Ramaswamy, who is the candidate running this ad, but also that Senate race is really competitive.

But, look, you mentioned Ohio's Republican governor, Mike DeWine, saying that this was deeply troubling and that he was urging Ramaswamy to take it down. But you also heard from Republican, Jim Husted, the one who is running in that competitive Senate race in Ohio. You also heard from the former Republican governor, John Kasich, and former Republican senator, Rob Portman, all of them either distancing themselves from this ad or urging the Ramaswamy campaign to remove it.

[07:05:03]

It's honestly hard to find a prominent Republican, Kate, who is arguing for this to stay up on the airwaves except for the president and the vice president.

I want to be clear here, though, because we've certainly covered, of course, political ads in the past that have targeted family members, prominently featured them. The difference here is what is at heart, at the heart of this ad.

I will say as well, I think what's important to keep in mind as all of this comes, this kind of debate over what to do with this ad, as the party itself is debating what they want the future of the Republican Party to look like particularly in a post-Trump world, which we're going to begin to see take more shape after the midterm.

So, a lot of difference of opinion here, but the president certainly leaning into it and continuing to ignore really the accusations and allegations from Amy Acton about the abuse that she faced.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I guess the question then becomes the president saying, I don't really know what this is about, or about the -- well, how long is that an acceptable answer when you're the one saying, keep it up, and defend it, and thank you, God, for it?

Alayna, it's great to see you. Thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: All right. New KFILE reporting this morning on Georgia's Republican nominee for Senate, Mike Collins. A CNN review finds that Collins has a history of suggesting extrajudicial killings of U.S. leaders and perceived enemies. In one August 2021 tweet Collins suggested American military and political leaders deserve to be hanged from a helicopter. He also joked about pushing then Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of an airplane.

This morning, a prominent Georgia Republican radio host, Erick Erickson, says he may not vote for Collins, writing online, quote, a vote for him is a vote to staff a United States Senate office with young white supremacists, racists, and Holocaust deniers, putting them into the halls of power in Washington with a United States senator's name on their business cards.

I will get blasted for this. I will be bullied and told I am supporting Jon Ossoff. I am not supporting Ossoff, and I will not vote for Ossoff. I am simply done eating the blank sandwich.

With us now, CNN Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston. Mark, I don't think either party considers Georgia now to be a toss-up. I think it's either lean D or likely D. Still, to hear that kind of reporting about a Republican nominee, and from a prominent Republican like Erick Erickson, our friend in Georgia, saying he ain't going to vote for him, that's a pretty big deal.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, no doubt. And when you look at the political spectrum of where Erick Erickson sits when it comes to his Republican politics, he is very far to the right, certainly the social right of the Republican Party. So, he's not what some folks would say, Oh, he's a RINO, a Republican in name only. Erick Erickson is incredibly, incredibly conservative.

This is also something that he's been raising over the past couple of months. As you say, he is from Georgia, he's from Macon, Georgia, but his words also carry stronger reverberations, not only in the state of Georgia, but it does call into question the judgment of many things that we've seen from Republicans over the past couple weeks, specifically the president. And we just saw Alayna up in Ohio talking about Vivek Ramaswamy and the despicable ad that he has put out up there.

So, really, when we're looking in these final closing days of this election, you have to wonder, will there be, you know, some concern from Republicans saying, is my party making the right judgment calls right now? Do I actually want to show up and vote or do I just stay home? And for Erick Erickson, doesn't sound like he's going to stay home, but he's not going to vote for Mike Collins in Georgia.

BERMAN: Mark, for all the talk about these other issues, it really does seem that one of the major driving forces in this election is the economy, is inflation, and gas and oil prices.

Brent crude is back up over $114 a barrel this morning. I mean, this is a five-month high. This is really in the danger zone that people were talking about before the war. Gas prices up two cents overnight. And Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, quoted in the Financial Times overnight saying the U.S. is prepared for the war with Iran to last, you know, another year.

So, I mean, how does that play into the election? This overhanging the final 11 days can't be what the White House wants.

PRESTON: No, it can't be. And a couple things, it's going to be the defining issue of this election, no question about that. It's usually the defining issue of every election, but certainly what we're going to see on November 3rd.

You know, when you have Mike Waltz saying something like that, you get very strong concern from the likes of Wall Street right now, and Wall Street saying to themselves, you know, these prices are going up. We're seeing inflation continue to rise. Wages are staying stagnant. People are having to worry about their everyday expenses, whether that be groceries, you know, whether that be healthcare expenses. Of course, we talk about fuel all the time.

Just to give you an example about how the rise in gas prices are affecting everyday Americans, you know, if you were to look at where gas prices were and where they are right now, if you were to fill up a 15-gallon tank right now, it's costing you close to $19 more than it previously did.

[07:10:06]

We're also seeing diesel prices have spiked. They've gone up 74 percent. What does that mean for the everyday Americans? It means that your costs on everyday goods are going to go up. So, when we're talking about economic anxiety, we're talking about ballooning mortgage rates, we're talking about young people who are concerned about not getting jobs because we're going to see A.I. wipe out full sectors of the of the of the job sectors, a lot of economic anxiety, John.

And, again, will that spur Democrats to go to the polls? Will it prevent Republicans from saying, Look, I'm going to sit this one out? BERMAN: Mark Preston, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, sources say a DOJ investigation is underway targeting Corey Lewandowski, the former chief of staff to ex-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and former Trump adviser. What we're learning this morning, and the president is also weighing in.

And two presidents headed to Michigan this weekend, showing you just how important this race is. President Trump and President Obama hitting the campaign trail in the key battleground state as one former Democratic official is telling voters to leave their ballot blank in the tight Michigan Senate race.

Also, a history-making dive off an iceberg into freezing water, with a twist.

Those stories and more ahead.

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[07:15:00]

On our radar for you this morning, sources telling CNN the Justice Department is investigating Corey Lewandowski, the Republican operative and former adviser to President Trump.

They say the probe focuses on whether he improperly influenced DHS contracts while he was the de facto chief of staff for then Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. When asked about the investigation, President Trump said he would never do anything to stop a prosecution if somebody is dishonest.

Lewandowski's lawyers tell CNN his client has not been contacted by the DOJ and denies any wrongdoing.

All right, now to New Hampshire. A major voting rights decision from the Supreme Court coming just weeks before the election. The justices are allowing New Hampshire to bar the use of student I.Ds as the valid photo I.D. required to obtain a ballot there.

A state law was enacted in April that removed student I.Ds from the list of forms of identification that election officials would accept. The court invoked the Purcell principle, which limits last-minute rule changes before an election. That was due to the lower court's ruling so close to the election.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, warning the decision creates more confusion, she said, for young voters.

And a Virginia jury has indicted Democratic State Senator L. Louise Lucas on federal racketeering and money laundering charges. The 82- year-old surrendered yesterday to authorities. Prosecutors accuse Lucas and six others, including some of her family members, of illegally selling marijuana and laundering the proceeds.

Lucas, for her part, is vowing to fight back and says the federal government is trying to silence her because of her political activism.

A judge has ordered President Trump to sit for a deposition in the president's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC. The judge also denied Trump's request not to videotape the deposition, but said only attorneys will be able to watch it. She then turned Trump's attorneys to do a better job of producing information that the British news outlet is entitled to, or risk seeing the lawsuit simply tossed out.

And two of Trump's leading political advisers say they donated fees they earned for work on behalf of a pro-Russian government in the Balkans to Trump's presidential library. James Blair and Chris LaCivita announced it on social media platform X.

This comes after Trump threatened to fire them both if their outside consulting work turned out to be a conflict of interest. The donation amount is unknown at this time, but The New York Times is reporting they were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their legal work on voting matters. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on this. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Well, the breaking news overnight, Russia launches 176 attack drones at Ukraine. This wave comes as President Trump claims Ukraine's Starlink access has been restored. But sources tell CNN that is not the case.

And the federal government is issuing a warning to candidates and campaign staff this election. We'll come after you if you're found betting on your own races.

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[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: Some breaking news overnight, Russia launched another massive drone attack targeting Ukraine's energy grid. Reports are multiple regions have now been left completely in the dark. Ukraine says Russia used 176 attack drones as part of it, most of them jet- powered. Only further reinforcing how critical it is to clear up the ongoing, it seems unnecessary, mystery around Ukraine's access to the satellite internet system Starshield.

It's become Ukraine's lifeline on the battlefield. President Trump said yesterday that Elon Musk had fully restored access to it, except Ukrainian officials tell CNN this morning the limits and restrictions are still very much in place.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has the very latest. Nick, I feel like I'm asking you the same question I asked you last time we spoke, which is what is known and not known? Why is this so confusing?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I wish I could tell you exactly why we are in this position of President Trump saying, quote, he put it back, referring to what Elon Musk has done to the SpaceX-run Starshield system. And what we're hearing from Ukrainian troops on the ground, who say still that if a device flies at a speed higher than 100 miles an hour, it begins to see its signal cut out.

Now, that's essential not just for offensive operations against Russia, but for the interceptors they use to tackle jet-powered drones. Limited, unsuccessful, as so many are, but that's the one trick Ukraine has to try and stop this kind of new variant of the Shahed drone, which is causing significant death across Ukraine.

[07:25:04]

Nine dead, 76 injured in just the last 24 hours, and overnight, half a million people left without power as missiles struck six separate regions, hitting power facilities there.

How are we in this position? Well, it's unclear exactly how the first restrictions on Starlink and Starshield began. Elon Musk, since that began, stepped forward to say, well, I don't control Starshield. That's the U.S. government who sets those limits. But he did say he didn't want to see Starlink terminals, a commercial entity, he said, being used in offensive operations.

Fast-forward now to the very public blowout between Ukraine and the United States about this and what it does for Ukraine's ability to defend itself and we now have President Trump saying, It's all back, and Ukraine saying, No, it's not.

And indeed, the White House clearly briefing that President Trump has asked Elon Musk to fully restore this service, a source familiar with the matter telling our Kevin Liptak that has indeed been the case.

So, where are we? Well, look, I mean, it's hard to understand why, after all of this, if indeed Starlink was functioning fine on the ground, that Ukrainian troops would continue to complain that it's not. I'm sure they would welcome this whole matter being put behind them, essential as, frankly, for life and death.

So, are we in a position where Elon Musk, President Trump are perhaps not being 100 percent transparent with each other? Unclear. I don't really know still how we ended up in this position. But for those facing life and death on the Ukrainian frontline, all this obfuscation and lack of clarity and lack of results must be deeply troubling.

BOLDUAN: Yes, because it is -- as you have documented and are showing, it is -- means lives lost on a daily basis if they cannot have this lifeline that they have had for years now on the battlefield.

Nick, thank you very much. John?

BERMAN: All right, one of the president's favorite songs from the Village People, YMCA, has the line, young man, there's a place you can go. Stay with me here, because new polling out this morning shows these young men are not going to the president or his party. Dramatic new video of rescues as dangerous floods hit Southern California.

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