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Trump Ramps Up Rhetoric, Downplays High Gas Prices in Final Stretch; Obama: Time to Say Enough is Enough to Trump Administration; Judges Skeptical of DOJ Effort to Force California to Set Aside Mail Ballots; Israel Holds First Elections Since October 7 Hamas Attacks. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired October 26, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN FIELD PRODUCER: ... the ceasefire plays out that has been brokered by the First Lady, which begins tomorrow.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and there is that in the midst of all of this. Sebastian, thank you very much for your reporting -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, in Colorado, the National Guard swooped in by helicopter to rescue two people and five pets trapped inside that overturned RV. They'd been stranded for about 12 hours in the water. They got out in just the nick of time before the water really completely took over.

Officials in Oregon say the threat from an ammonia leak at a burning seafood plant has been contained. A fire at the facility prompted an evacuation. Officials say flames broke out in a freezer facility in Pacific Seafood in Newport, causing part of that building there to collapse.

One firefighter was taken to the hospital with exhaustion, no other reported injuries. It's unclear how the fire started.

A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BOLDUAN: The final stretch, eight days until Election Day, and that means we are well into closing argument time, people. And both R's and D's are bringing in some presidential star power to try and seal the deal right now.

The Justice Department, though, not waiting for Election Day, already challenging the results in one state and trying to force another to set aside thousands of ballots. We have the new reporting around all of this and these efforts.

And police make an arrest in the alleged attempt to kidnapping of a child, and there's video of the moment that that child got away.

Sara is out today. I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: Eight days to go. You can feel the tension getting higher. You can almost smell the stakes.

In Michigan, President Trump escalated his attacks on Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is Muslim. The president repeatedly called him by the wrong name, Muhammad. El-Sayed responded at a rally of his own.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm here to keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator.

ABDUL EL-SAYED, (D) MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: I don't even care that he remembers my whole name, because he can just go on and call me senator after November. I will be Senator Muhammad to you, bro.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: In Georgia, the president told the crowd that his advisors, his own advisors, had warned him not to talk about how much America's oil and gas industry is making, even as drivers have been paying more, significantly more, at the pump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The United States oil and gas business is making hundreds of billions of dollars. So, I said, I wonder if I should say this. No, I could just see the fake headlines.

President Trump is talking about all the money they're making while people are suffering at the pump. That'll be the headline. But I said, I don't give a damn.

I'm going to say it. We're making a freaking fortune.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We're making a freaking fortune. Unclear if consumers feel that way. You can see the map there.

That's where the president will be the rest of the week, campaigning in states that are largely red states as Republicans battle to hold on to the Senate -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much. Joining me right now is CNN Chief Political Analyst David Axelrod and former senior advisor -- also former senior advisor to President Obama. And Marc Short, former chief of staff to then-Vice President Mike Pence. It is good to see both of you.

Marc, I must start with you. What do you think of Donald Trump's final message?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Well, Kate, look, I think that I'm alarmed at the prospect of Democrats taking over both the House and the Senate. And I think there's obviously growing momentum for them to do so. I think that David's party has nominated some people who, you know, in New York have a candidate who was part of the Columbia University protests condemning America.

You have candidates in Michigan that I think have condemned President Obama and even condemned Obamacare as not sufficient. And I think you have some radical members that are likely to get across the finish line. But for Republicans, you know, the closing message is hard because I think America elected Republicans to address inflation and affordability.

And that hasn't happened. And it's hard to make this election about them when you control the House, the Senate and the White House. And I think the other issue that you've seen in the last few weeks is the issue of corruption.

And I think in 2016, a lot of Americans elected Donald Trump to, quote, drain the swamp. And they thought an outsider who didn't need the luxuries of Washington, D.C. would achieve that. And now every day there's a new story of corruption and grift coming out of this administration.

And so those are tremendous headwinds for Republicans who are on the ballot right now.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I want to get to that, more of that in just a second. But, Ax, so on the flip side, the other presidential star power being brought out is President Obama. What do you think about how hard he's going at from when he's taken to the campaign stage, how hard he's going at Trump on this?

[08:05:00]

DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, midterms are referendums on the incumbent administration. And nobody knows that better than Barack Obama. He's been on the receiving end of that.

But I think that he landed on the most important point and the thing that is driving the vote here. You know, when people talk about the cost of living, they elected Trump, as Marc said, to do something about it. And now they're looking at their costs going up, and they can point specifically to decisions that he made, decisions to go to war, decisions to raise tariffs that have devastated local economies.

And I think that's the problem for him. And that's the thing that Obama really accentuated. He did go after the corruption. He did go after the characterization of Abdul El-Sayed.

But the focus of it was the things that are bedeviling you, that are troubling you, are things that this president is responsible for. And it's very rare that you can point to specific decisions like that and say this is why we are where we are.

BOLDUAN: Let's dig into that a little bit more, because it is a fascinating, I think, moment right here, Marc, that you're also hitting on, which is now this renewed focus on -- not renewed focus, but I would say more people leaning into saying that corruption is driving them and what they are focused on as much or more than inflation or gas prices, which we've clearly been talking about for the entire election cycle. You wrote -- and I'll read for everyone just a bit of the piece that you wrote for The Economist, which is, "Between real economic consequences, Democrat-lite rhetoric, and administration officials from top to bottom bathing in the swamp rather than draining it, Republicans' control of the House and possibly the Senate is now in question."

And there's a Fox News poll out that John highlighted earlier in the show that gets to this concern that you have, which is voters saying that they're more concerned about corruption in this poll in government than inflation and gas prices. What is this getting at? Is it just because people are hurting so much, hearing even the whiff of corruption and a grift, is just too much for anyone to be able to look past at this point?

SHORT: Kate, I think it's a combination of factors. I think, for one, you're right. It's that as the affordability issue is difficult and inflation has remained persistent and not really addressed, it's harder to see people working in the government making fortunes off of American taxpayers.

For Americans, that is counterintuitive, and it's something that they will resent and vote against. But as I said, I think there's something else a little bit deeper here, in that Donald Trump won a lot of independents and Democrats in 2016 with his promises across Wisconsin and Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania to drain the swamp. People were tired and frustrated and felt like D.C. no longer represented them. And that was a motivating factor for many voters to support. And now when you see a new story literally almost every day coming out of this administration, I think it drains the enthusiasm. So as much as it is also probably a rallying point for Democrats, it's also one that makes Republicans or voters who supported Trump before less willing to come out in a midterm cycle.

And as you know, in a midterm, it's largely about turnout. And if you're depressing your vote, it's really going to be hard.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's deflating. It's exhausting. You take it wherever you want but let me add this to it.

Mike Johnson offering the counterargument to everything right now, which is that he says he literally continues to say and making the case that the polls are wrong. He told Fox News, "I've been to 21 states, 39 districts just in the last three weeks. I'm going to the swing districts, the places where we're going to flip blue states to red. And we're having hundreds of people turn out for these events. It's excitement levels like 2024." Is this possible?

AXELROD: Look, we'll know in eight days someone's right and someone's wrong. And I think he's going to be wrong. And I think he knows he's going to be wrong.

But you can't go into these states and say we're probably going to get our asses kicked. But I'm here to say, yea, team, that's not that's not what you do. And so he's doing what you do in these situations.

I think Marc is absolutely right about the corruption issue. And so when the president when he -- first of all, when the president says I probably shouldn't say this, it's usually because he probably shouldn't say it. And when we knew when he was down there in Texas and he talked about how everybody's getting rich and so on, that just exacerbates it.

That just underscores the point that Marc is making. The fact is, Donald Trump has gotten much, much richer. And a lot of the folks around him have gotten much, much richer at the very time that people are struggling with these higher costs.

And so comments like that just throw logs on the fire.

[08:10:00]

He I understand why he's out there because the last refuge for these guys is to try and get their base out. And so they'll say things like Marc said at the top of this of this discussion, to try and rally the troops. But Trump is a very mixed blessing out there because now he's like a dry drunk at open mic night.

You know, he just goes out there and he says whatever pops into his head. And oftentimes it's very destructive.

BOLDUAN: You say with his straight faces, Marc and I are trying to hold it together. Marc, why are you here? Because you could have helped me try to hold this one down.

SHORT: Invite me up. I'll come up there.

BOLDUAN: I'm always invited. Always invited. Your travel plans I'll handle personally. It's good to see you both.

AXELROD: Good to see you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

SHORT: Thanks,

BOLDUAN: JB.

BOLDUAN: Evocative imagery. This morning, a panel of judges casting doubt on the Justice Department's effort to force California to pull tens of thousands of mail-in ballots.

A gas milestone thanks to war fueled rising prices. The average price of gas in the Trump term higher than under President Obama.

And a suspect in an overturned car has just one question before being hauled to jail. Can I get a cigarette?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: This morning, a U.S. Circuit Court is weighing a controversial Justice Department order for California to set aside certain mail-in ballots from suspected, they say, non-citizens. The Trump administration says it believes there are 20,000 non-citizens on California's voter rolls. CNN's Katelyn Polantz joins us now with the latest on where this all stands this morning.

Good morning, Katelyn.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. This is a case about how far the Justice Department can go to get involved in how a state administers its elections and specifically how California is already counting its ballots. Is the court going to allow the Justice Department to have California set aside some of those ballots?

It's a major case. It's before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The arguments yesterday, they lasted about two hours.

The judges didn't rule from the bench. There were three judges on that panel. And two of them, one of which was a Trump appointee, seemed very, very skeptical about what the Justice Department was arguing and even how this case happened to be before the Ninth Circuit already.

This issue arose from a lawsuit that began less than two weeks ago, John, when the Justice Department said that it had gained access to a list of California voter rolls and that they believed that there were 20,000 names among those voters in California who could be non- citizens. With this fear, the Justice Department went to the court and said, we have the responsibility to enforce the criminal laws of this country, meaning that non-citizens are not allowed to vote. But the court, in hearing those arguments yesterday, they indicated that they thought that this appeal at this point seemed very rushed.

The judges also were asking, how is this even part of the law where California has the ability to regulate their own elections? Judge Mark Bennett, he's that Trump appointee on the panel. He says, "It seems to me that under the Elections Clause, they," meaning California, "has the right to determine the manner of the elections, including sorting out non-citizens."

We are waiting for a ruling, but this is just one example of some very different new tactics the Justice Department is trying in court in this final couple of days before the election -- John.

BERMAN: You read those quotes from the judges, including the Trump- appointed judges there, it does seem like an uphill battle for the administration. Katelyn Polantz, it's great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

We're standing by for the first national election in Israel since the October 7th attacks. What are the current prospects for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

And caught on camera, a man tries to snatch a child. The child manages to break free. [08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Hours from now, voters will be heading to the polls in Israel's first national election since the October 7th attacks. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to win an unprecedented seventh term. And in his, I guess what's become a final pitch, he posted an AI-generated image on social media showing an atomic bomb falling on Tel Aviv and warning that a nuclear Iran poses a quote-unquote real and tangible existential danger to Israel.

The post sparking quite a bit of backlash and debate in these final moments. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv with much more on where things are headed with this critical election. And what are you hearing, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, look, the way the polls are looking at the moment and if polls can be trusted because they've been wrong before, but the way polls are looking at the moment is Prime Minister Netanyahu is not going to, and his bloc won't get the sort of largest number of votes. That's likely to go to his, the sort of opposition leader, Gadi Eizenkot, a former chief of staff of the IDF who was actually in the polls in that sort of post Hamas 2003 attack, was in the security cabinet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and then stepped out of it a year or so later criticizing him. So look, it looks like Netanyahu's not going to get the larger percentage or his bloc's not going to get the larger percentage of the votes.

So what we seem to be witnessing with that AI traumatizing sort of image of an atomic bomb detonating over Tel Aviv seems to be a real sort of last ditch effort by Netanyahu to throw it all down on the road. And what is he throwing on the road here is he's throwing down the image and the message that only he is able to lead the country at a time of threat from Iran. On the opposition side, there are leaders who are criticizing him for that.

Gadi Eizenkot himself called this sort of lies -- hyperbolic lies designed to destabilize the situation. The prime minister has also talked about the possibility of more economic sanctions coming in the future.

[08:25:00]

There are some arising because of the way he's perceived to have handled the war in Gaza, etc. And he has suggested that cryptocurrency might be a solution for that in the future. And he's actually been put down on that by the Bank of Israel.

That's a pretty strong message saying cryptocurrency really isn't in the future for Israel, it's going to get around sanctions. So it really comes down to, at the moment, a lot of people here feel it's time for change. Anybody but Bibi Benjamin Netanyahu.

And that is because they see the military chiefs, they see the intelligence chiefs have all been removed or stepped down and many of them have apologized for the failings of the October 7th attack. Not seeing it coming, not getting the right response.

And Prime Minister Netanyahu is really broadly not seen as sort of stepping up and taking responsibility in that way. So you have Gadi Eisenkot, this former IDF chief of staff, with a message that he is tough, that he can handle these issues. But let's face it, at the moment, there are several things that could happen.

The pollsters could all be wrong. It's cloudy today, it could rain tomorrow. That could dampen the number of people coming out to the polls.

And the other part of it is really, Prime Minister Netanyahu in the past has been seen as something of a political magician and I think people here do wonder if when all the votes are in, somehow, he manages to find a position that can pull together a ruling coalition.

BOLDUAN: An election, certainly though, being so closely watched, far, far from Israel included. It's good to see you Nic, thank you very much.

Ukraine says access to Starlink has now been fully restored, but the dust up with Elon Musk over it all is now taking a new turn. Elon Musk accusing Ukraine of violating the company's terms of service. So, what now?

And speaking of polling, there's new polling from four battleground districts in the United States, of course, that could decide the balance of power in Congress. We're going to run the numbers for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END