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Protests in Austin, Texas, After ICE-involved Shooting; Trump Proposes 250-Foot Triumphal Arch Doubles as Military Complex; Midterm Countdown, 44 Days Until Election Day; Massive Ukraine Drone Attack Hit Moscow; Polls Close in Russian Vote with Near-Certain Outcome; Trump's Press Ban Puts TV Pool Coverage in Jeopardy; Alaska, the Last Frontier for the Senate. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired September 20, 2026 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Danny Freeman in New York.

We're following breaking news out of Austin, Texas, where people are protesting a shooting, a shooting involving an ICE agent that happened earlier today. You're looking at pictures shot by our affiliate KEYE earlier. And emotions running high in that community after officials say an ICE agent shot a man there just before 1:00 local time this afternoon. He was taken to a medical center in serious but stable condition.

And a warning that you might find the audio in this upcoming video disturbing. A woman who happened to be live-streaming on Facebook actually captured the moment of the shooting. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoa. Oh, my god. Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED) dude. Oh, my god. What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: CNN's Rafael Romo is following the story.

Rafael, what are you hearing?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Danny. Well, the person who was shot, an adult male, had a gunshot wound to the torso and was transported to a local hospital where he's in stable but serious condition. This is according to Austin Mayor Kirk Watson.

As we reported earlier, there were indications that there might have been a chase before the shooting based on images posted on social media that CNN was analyzing. We just saw the video, you showed it, Danny. It's one of those videos that was shot live, and this one was by a woman on Facebook. And it happened to capture the moment gunshots rang out in the video. As a woman records herself, the sound of squealing tires and blaring law enforcement sirens can be heard approaching and getting louder and louder.

Later, the video shows a blue vehicle riddled with bullet holes and what appears to be a man wearing a police vest and a DHS agent standing nearby wearing a mask. But it's hard to determine, Danny, whether the DHS agent seen in the video is the agent who fired the shots. Congressman Greg Casar, who represents part of Austin, said it is appropriate for the community to ask for an investigation with independence, transparency and accountability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GREG CASAR (D-TX): I think the obvious should be said that there is a reason that people in Austin and across the country are deeply suspicious of anything that ICE has said, and there is a reason that people are hurting right now when they hear about this having happened in their city, even before they know all the facts.

We don't know all the facts. People in the community don't know all the facts. But people are hurting and upset because they see how ICE has shot and in some cases even killed people with impunity in other parts of the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said police were not part of the shooting involving an ICE agent, but local police investigators were at the scene and doing traffic control in the area -- Danny.

FREEMAN: All right. Rafael Romo, thank you so much for that update.

For more, I want to bring in Austin City Council Member Mike Siegel.

Councilmember, thank you very much for joining us, especially on a challenging day for your community. Can you tell us what is the latest that you're hearing? Is there anything further you can add about the situation that led up to this incident?

MIKE SIEGEL, AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Hi, Danny. Thanks so much for covering this really important story. The incident for me started about 1:30. I was at my kid's soccer match, and I got a call from the police chief notifying me that a shooting had occurred. This is basically in my city council district.

I immediately went (INAUDIBLE) happens to be about six blocks from my home, and I spoke with bystanders, and I was able to make a lot of observations, frankly, consistent with the video that I believe was just played that apparently ICE officials in a Ford Expedition had smashed into the side of a blue Toyota sedan. And that an ICE official exited the vehicle, went around to the back of the civilian vehicle and fired multiple shots.

I heard as many as five from bystanders, and I could see two bullet holes in the rear passenger window. At least one of these bullets struck the driver. I later saw a video showing a bullet hole in his torso. And, you know, EMS responded and took him to a local hospital.

FREEMAN: Councilmember, when you saw the scene and from talking to bystanders, did you get a sense of if the ICE vehicle intentionally tried to hit this vehicle, or is it too difficult to say at this point?

SIEGEL: Yes. Absolutely, Danny, that this was an intentional maneuver, you know, to box the car in. I could see that the complete side of the blue sedan had been smashed up. And I guess that was the tactic to trap the individual and allow the ICE officer to exit his vehicle and then start firing shots.

FREEMAN: Councilmember, you've said that you want city police to be a part of this investigation, but I would imagine it's currently a federal crime scene.

[20:05:03]

Do you have any sense of how this is going to work?

SIEGEL: It absolutely should be a joint investigation. Right? There's potential federal crimes at play here, but also state crimes that our city police are in charge of investigating. And one of my concerns on viewing the scene and talking to city leadership is that the crime scene was entirely controlled by, you know, Homeland Security investigatory officials with support from state police.

As you heard the mayor say, the city police were relegated to traffic control basically. And from prior incidents across the country, for example, some of the murders that occurred in Minnesota, we know there's a past history of ICE basically taking their officers out of state so state police and state prosecutors can't do their job. So to me, one of the biggest jobs right now is to have ICE promise state and local law enforcement agencies that the officer in question who fired the shots, that he must stay local. He must completely cooperate in an investigation before he's released.

FREEMAN: Councilmember, I know you said that you lived -- you live near where this shooting happened. Can you tell us a little bit about this specific area and the community that you represent just for our viewers who might not be familiar with this part of Austin?

SIEGEL: Sure. I mean, the incident occurred basically under the freeway, but it abuts single family neighborhoods on both sides of the freeway. You know, tree lined streets, you know, a baseball field is maybe three blocks away. Apartment complexes where families and, you know, Austin workers live. And so this is definitely a huge piece of the connective tissue of Austin where this incident has occurred.

And this is unfortunately something we've been fearing for so long, right, that what's happened in Minneapolis and other cities across the country, what happened here with these rogue law enforcement officials acting outside the law, frankly, prosecuting, what are civil offenses, right? These immigration offenses and using deadly force completely unjustified. And so my hope, and this is really the expectation of the Austin community that is already in the streets, there's protests all across the city right now, is that justice of some form will be provided, that this will not be another case of an ICE officer escaping with impunity.

FREEMAN: Well, to that point, we've been watching video of people in your neighborhood right by the scene protesting tonight. And we saw police earlier in riot gear as well. What is your message to those people who are out there gathering and making their voices heard tonight?

SIEGEL: Your pain is justified. I mean, these are extraordinary times where we have a federal agency committing crimes of this nature against completely nonviolent members of our community, and we are right to demand justice. I can speak for the city that I've spoken to the mayor, the police chief, the city manager to demand that we exercise our law enforcement authority to investigate this crime.

We need to communicate with state police that they need to tell ICE to keep this officer here. We cannot allow this to be another case of, you know, federal law enforcement protecting one of their own and evading justice.

FREEMAN: Councilmember, quickly, do you have any sense if this person who was shot by ICE, is he a -- is this person a constituent of yours? Do you have any idea who this person is?

SIEGEL: I've been given their name by other journalists. I've actually -- some of the bystanders I spoke to knew this individual said that he's actually in this country legally. He has full documentation. They knew him as an upstanding member of the community. I actually unfortunately met his wife today, who was extremely distraught as you might imagine. She had traveled to multiple hospitals looking for him and had not been able to find him yet.

And so these are the types of incidents that don't just impact one individual or one family. Like they ripple throughout the community and all of us to some extent, to some form or fashion, feel the pain and agony of this crime against humanity. And so that's where there's a lot of expectation on city council to do everything we can with our city government resources to try to create some sort of justice out of this terrible incident.

FREEMAN: All right. Austin City Council Member Mike Siegel, thank you so much for joining us on I know a very busy evening in your area and your neighborhood. And I hope that you and your constituents stay safe.

SIEGEL: Thank you so much, Danny.

FREEMAN: Still to come, President Trump unveils his plans for the Triumphal Arch he wants to build in Washington. We have new details on how it could also store military drones. And record diesel prices are hitting American businesses, owners and farmers hard. We're going to talk to the president of the Iowa Farmers Union about what he's hearing from members. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:14:30]

FREEMAN: In Washington, President Trump is announcing a new plan to station drones and snipers in the nation's capital. The president now announcing he will convert his so-called Triumphal Arch into a, quote, "top grade military complex." This is just one in a series of construction projects in D.C., but multiple sources working with the administration on the arch project say today's announcement caught them by surprise.

CNN's Julia Benbrook joins us now with the latest.

Julia, what are we hearing from the president on this?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, President Donald Trump says that he now wants his proposed 250-foot Triumphal Arch to double as a top grade military complex.

[20:15:10]

And he announced this development of plans on social media earlier today. He said that this arch would, quote, "house, store and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus snipers on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition and storage." He added, "There will be no facility like this anywhere in the world."

As you pointed out, our team did learn that many working on this project, working alongside the Trump administration on this project, were caught off guard by this announcement, and there's already been some controversy surrounding this arch. Its proposed location is at a traffic circle near the bridge that connects Washington, D.C., and Virginia. And a group of veterans have said that this large structure would block the view from Arlington National Cemetery to the Lincoln Memorial, and have taken legal action against the arch.

This is just one of the most recent examples of Trump working to put a stamp on the nation's capital to really kind of get it to reflect his style and his image. It's also not the first time that he has kind of added a military component to justify the creation of these structures, including the White House ballroom, which he says will go where the East Wing once stood. That project is now tied to an underground military complex.

But all these latest developments on the arch, there are still questions on how this would work when it comes to the approval process. There are a couple of groups, some federal agencies that oversee major changes to architecture and design here in Washington, and those original plans that were submitted, they did not include this as part of the concept. So still a lot of questions there. We have reached out to the White House for more -- Danny.

FREEMAN: Yes, a lot of questions indeed. Julia Benbrook, thank you so much for that reporting.

To this now, there's just 44 days until the midterm elections and new polling released today shows more voters want to see Democrats flip control of Congress. 43 percent of voters also said they are using their midterm ballot to signal opposition to President Trump. That is the highest share of people saying their vote is motivated by opposition to a president in NBC polling since the 1990s.

For more on this, Washington bureau chief for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Tia Mitchell, joins us now.

Tia, good to see you. Let's start here. What does this tell you about how voters are feeling about the second Trump administration's first two years?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes, I mean, I think we should level set in that usually in a midterm, voters make it a referendum on the president. And it usually doesn't go well for the party of the president. So in that way, the polling is not that unusual. But as you note, it's a higher percentage. Trump voters under Trump 2.0 are even less favorable towards President Trump and his party.

And I think it doesn't bode well for Republicans who are on the ballot in November. And it's not just disagreeing with how the president and Republicans are governing, but disagreeing even with the priorities of Trump and the Republican Party, as exemplified in his focus on building monuments in Washington.

FREEMAN: Well, let's talk a little bit more about that. I mean, how are Republicans? How have you seen Republicans both on and off the campaign trail reacting to these latest poll numbers as we head into the final stretch of this election season right before the midterms?

MITCHELL: Yes. Yes. I mean, I think there's a mixture of ignoring the polls, saying that they're not accurate or saying that, you know, we think Trump is doing a great job and just stick with us. I do think but we're starting to see some Republicans are like J.D. Vance, where they're admitting that they have some issues and that voters are a little bit concerned. And they're saying, you know, we hear VP Vance saying, stick with us. We know that there's more work to do, but we're the ones who you should elect to finish this work.

But then there are other Republicans, not many, but a few, like Congresswoman Salazar, that we saw in Florida who are more willing to completely split with Trump. Now, again, very few Republicans but I think we're going to start seeing more and more as we get closer to election day and as these polls show that under Trump, again, Republicans are in trouble in November.

FREEMAN: Yes, that video and that split from Congresswoman Salazar, really one of the more stunning examples, just because of how clear she was calling out the president really, when it comes to especially Latino voters.

Tia, we've seen President Trump start to be on the campaign trail more last week in North Carolina. Also the vice president, J.D. Vance stumping for Republicans.

[20:20:07]

Do you have a sense of what the White House strategy is going to be when it comes to getting the president out there, even though he is not super popular, especially in some of these battleground districts?

MITCHELL: Yes, it's really interesting. For example, in Georgia, where of course we had that high profile Senate race with Mike Collins challenging incumbent Jon Ossoff. Right now, we haven't heard that the president is coming to Georgia, but we know that the president often has campaigned with Georgia on behalf of Republicans. But we don't know right now if they've even asked.

What we're seeing is some Republicans are suggesting, you know, maybe the president should stay away from battleground states. Maybe he's not the most helpful in some of these toss-up Senate races. So what we're seeing other -- we're often seeing President Trump and Vice President Vance going to red states where they're more on the defensive than maybe they normally would be expected to be.

So I think the strategy for the president in particular is go where he's asked, but also go where there's a candidate who he feels has been loyal to him and he wants to reciprocate that loyalty by campaigning with them.

FREEMAN: Yes. I mean, the interesting area that I am looking at, just because I live in Philadelphia, is northeast Pennsylvania, where there are a handful of competitive congressional districts, and still there has not been a stumping from President Trump up there. And I'm just curious about that because those are exactly the kind of places that you're describing.

It's interesting, though, because President Trump, he has explicitly now told voters to pretend that he is on the ballot. Does it seem like even though history is not on the incumbent president's side in a midterm election, does it seem like he still feels like his legacy may be on the line here?

MITCHELL: I think so. And I think he feels that he can pull Republicans over the finish line. I think Trump says, hey, I won in 2016, even though the odds were against me. And all the polls said I was going to lose. I won in 2024. I carried more states. He thinks he approaches this from a position of strength that he can pass along to fellow Republicans. Now what he doesn't necessarily acknowledge is he lost in 2020, partially because, you know, his policies after his first term in the White House proved to be very unpopular.

And I think he's also ignoring that there have been a lot of warning signs even before this midterm election. There have been, you know, special elections where Republicans have lost in races that they weren't necessarily expected to lose.

FREEMAN: Right.

MITCHELL: Conservative-leaning candidates just not doing as well. There are warning signs, but I don't think Trump is listening.

FREEMAN: Tia Mitchell, so good to see you and always appreciate your excellent insight into the political state as it is at 44 days before the midterms. Appreciate it.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

FREEMAN: All right. Still to come, we're going to take a closer look at the Russian elections taking place inside Ukrainian cities now occupied by Russian troops. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:27:44]

FREEMAN: Ukraine hit Moscow and the surrounding area overnight with one of the largest ever drone attacks on the Russian capital. Video from this morning showed the extent of the damage in residential areas. At least three people were killed and a major oil refinery was damaged. The latest attack comes on the final day of parliamentary elections in Russia, with the ruling pro-Putin party nearly certain to win.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As far as Moscow's mayor is concerned, this was the largest Ukrainian drone attack against the capital since the war began. Now, he said that there were some 1600 drones that were shot down across Russia since Saturday, 450 of them, he says, were targeting the capital itself.

Now, authorities say at least two people were killed, some 20 people were injured, including three children. We do see footage of a residential building that appears to have been struck. And also images of one of the biggest oil refineries in the region, at least in terms of volume.

Now, this was video that was posted by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as he praised the attacks. He says that facilities targeted were bringing in billions of dollars that sustain the war machine. Moscow's mayor said he believed that these attacks were intended to try and disrupt the ongoing election, something which Zelenskyy did not mention.

Sunday does mark the third and final day of the first parliamentary elections across Russia since the full scale invasion of Ukraine back in 2022. They are widely expected to go Vladimir Putin's way, and his party is expected to win. Critics say that these are not fair and they are not free elections, as there is no credible opposition.

Now, what we also saw was Russia continuing its significant attacks against Ukraine. We have seen near constant aerial attacks for almost a month now against Ukraine. In the latest barrage, we understand three children and one woman has been killed we hear from Kyiv authorities. We also heard from President Zelenskyy on Sunday putting this into context, saying that this week alone, more than 2,000 attack drones, 1700 aerial bombs and missiles have been fired by Russia against Ukraine.

[20:30:16]

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Paula, thank you very much for that reporting.

We're joined now by CNN contributor and former CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty.

Jill, good to see you. Thank you for joining us on this very, very interesting evening. We don't have the final election results yet, but there is likely few surprises. What message is Putin sending by holding elections now while the war is still very active?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, you're absolutely right. There's no question that the Kremlin-allied party, United Russia, will win. This is preordained. But I think really this is an exercise for Putin to show his message, which is unity, that the country supports his war against Ukraine. And, you know, that's what he wants to prove. So the question really is more what he wants to show rather than the results of this election.

FREEMAN: Well, let's talk a little bit more about this because last month, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy warned that Russia was preparing to mobilize at least 300,000 troops following the elections. So is this -- is that potential posturing? And also these elections, does it all point to Putin looking to strengthen his war mandate?

DOUGHERTY: Well, that's certainly, you know, if you look at what the Russian people, and it's very hard to judge exactly what they are thinking at this point. But there is a lot of concern in Russia about what will happen after this election because the things that are hanging over Russia's heads are mobilization. As you mentioned at the beginning of the war essentially, they mobilized 300,000 men.

And now the concern is that obviously they need more troops going to the front and that there could be another mobilization. But politically, it would be almost impossible for President Putin to do that before the election. It would be very unpopular. So many in the populists think it could happen after this election, and now it's almost after that election.

And then, Danny, there are other concerns, too. This could go up, the control of the internet that has been really mammoth over the past few months. That could happen. That could happen even more. So I think it's kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop for many Russians who don't know where this war really is going either.

FREEMAN: I'm curious, it's not just who is on the ballot of course in these Russian elections, but also who is missing, notably. The only anti-war party was blocked from participating. I mean, again, is -- in this particular environment, is there any credible challenge to Putin's power?

DOUGHERTY: Oh, I would have to say no. First of all, the election is engineered beforehand to make sure that only the parties that are either, you know, pro-Kremlin or even created by the Kremlin. You know, there's a new political party that's called New People, and that's kind of to siphon off some of the more liberal members of society, people who live in big cities. And -- but it's essentially a party that's controlled by the Kremlin.

So, no, there's really, you know, nothing credible. And the biggest threat, if you want to call that, to the Kremlin was actually the Yabloko. That is the Russian word for apple. That party has been around for a very long time. They're an established party, but they are the only party that was anti-war. And so that is why they were not permitted to participate as a party in this election. So again, we're back to the point that the election per se is not really the issue.

It's the messaging and the kind of, you know, the message that President Putin wants to get out that the country is behind him and supports him.

FREEMAN: Right. And what actions he may then justify because of that messaging.

Jill, one other thing. President Zelenskyy said that he spoke with President Trump today and had agreed to meet in New York as the U.N. General Assembly takes place this week. Following the visit two weeks ago by the U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Moscow and Kyiv, it's interesting because there really hasn't been any movement in efforts to end the war.

So what are you reading into this potential meeting that will happen with president Trump and Zelenskyy coming this week?

[20:35:04]

DOUGHERTY: You know, it's very hard to predict this because the American administration really has been back and forth, you know, between pressuring Zelenskyy, not pressuring Zelenskyy, trying to pressure Putin and then allowing him to do pretty much what he wants. So at this stage, they have -- the administration has sent Kushner and Witkoff to Moscow and to Kyiv as we know. They came back with essentially nothing.

They are looking for new ideas. In fact, that's the phrase that they -- that both men are using. New ideas. And the only new ideas that I really can perceive are to offer business deals to Russia. And that's exactly what President Putin wants. So at this point, I cannot see that there will be a lot of progress quite honestly.

FREEMAN: Well, Jill Dougherty, thank you so much for jumping on for a very consequential weekend in the war, rather, yes, between Russia and Ukraine and also during these elections. Appreciate your time.

DOUGHERTY: Thank you.

FREEMAN: Well, ahead of a critical week for President Trump, the White House ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico puts the pool coverage in jeopardy. We're going to explain why that matters after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:41:03]

FREEMAN: President Trump has denied three news outlets access to the White House, including CNN. Before that, CNN was scheduled to travel with the president tomorrow covering his upcoming U.N. trip to New York for all of the TV networks. It's known as the White House press pool. But it's not clear even at this time, 8:40 at night on the East Coast, what's going to happen tomorrow.

Joining me now is CNN media analyst Sara Fischer.

Sara, great to see you. For our viewers out there who might not know, explain what the pool is and how it works.

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. So, Danny, not every news outlet can bring a big camera in to cover the president, whether he's at the White House or he's traveling. And so instead, the big five networks, which are CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX and ABC, rotate who is going to manage the coverage, the video coverage of the president.

Now, they provide that feed for all of the other outlets in the press pool. And then those outlets distribute the content to viewers all around the world. And so it matters if there is not a clear understanding of what happens with the press pool, which is possibly what's going to happen tomorrow, because it means we wouldn't get video feed of the president.

And as you know, Danny, that's a huge, huge issue. We've seen over the past few weeks instances where having video footage of the president has been critical. I think back to some of the 9/11 coverage of the 25-year anniversary. You know, all the footage that was captured that day came from the pool. So the press pool is critical. We just don't know what's going to happen tomorrow with it.

FREEMAN: Sara, this ban singles out these three outlets. But President Trump warned that other outlets could absolutely be next. How do you think that could be reflected in a, well, I think Brian Stelter has at least suggested a perhaps broader response from members of the White House Press Corps?

FISCHER: So I expect those -- remember, I said the big five are part of the video press pool, like they manage the video feed? I think that there's going to be some solidarity from them. And then I also think you're going to continue to see a lot of solidarity from the broader White House Correspondents Association. The president of that association, Jacqui Heinrich, who is an anchor for FOX News, has been repeatedly putting out statements supporting her fellow outlets and saying that this ban is not correct. So I think even if the president were to try to broaden it, he's going

to continue to get lots of pushback. And, Danny, I would be remiss not to note you have plenty of conservatives who are pushing back on this because their fear is that if President Trump does this to outlets he doesn't like during his administration, then what's stopping a future Democratic president from trying to target conservative outlets?

So nobody really seems excited about this ban. In fact, one thing we keep hearing, and I keep talking to sources about this is that broader folks within the administration and the White House, even they felt caught off guard by this ban. And so it comes to show you that President Trump sort of tweeting one thing, saying one thing one day, it has massive repercussions. But it's not like there's a huge, huge, you know, alliance of people who really wanted this to go down.

FREEMAN: Well, that being said, Sara, I mean, are there any signs that President Trump plans to follow through on what we heard him say at the end of last week, following through on the plan to ban other outlets?

FISCHER: I'm sure that he's going to try to do something. But there's two issues here. One is the legal issue, like the law very clearly states that this is unconstitutional. And so I'm sure there's going to be legal action taken if he were to expand this even further. And then there's also the issue of what the president himself likes and probably wants. He's somebody who loves the camera, Danny, you know that. And so if the pool was not able to come and bring a camera, that would be a serious problem for him.

I see this as a distraction for the headlines at a time when his administration is facing so much heat and blowback and low approval ratings. I think he's just trying to drum up and focus everyone's attention elsewhere. But I don't think he ultimately wants to put himself in a position where he's not getting a lot of coverage. And if they take a look at what's happened at the Pentagon, Danny, where the Pentagon is basically forced out, a lot of mainstream outlets and only favorable outlets are there, that does not seem like something that I think the president wants either.

[20:45:01]

He actually likes the attention from big mainstream organizations because he knows they have big distribution and they have big influence and reach.

FREEMAN: Last quick thing, I only have about 10 seconds, Sara. Are you hearing anything on the legal front that you mentioned? Should we expect some sort of legal action over the next maybe 24 hours?

FISCHER: It wouldn't surprise me if there is. But one thing I want to note, Danny, is that historically, it's not just the outlets themselves that take legal action, but it's press freedom groups. And so I'm watching them closely to see how they're going to respond to this.

FREEMAN: Sara Fischer, always great to see you. Thank you so much for that reporting.

FISCHER: Thanks, Danny.

FREEMAN: All right. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:50:19]

FREEMAN: And welcome back. You're taking a look right now at pictures from earlier today from Austin, Texas, where protesters gathered after an ICE agent shot a man earlier in the day. Local officials say the man was shot in the torso before he was taken to a medical center in serious but stable condition.

Now, an immigration lawyer who says she is representing the man's family identified him as 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez. She says he was working as a DoorDash driver when he was shot. A federal law enforcement source tells CNN Perez is an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela and had a final order for removal. But the lawyer told CNN his wife said she did not know about the order of removal. The lawyer says her understanding was he was an active proceedings.

We'll keep close attention to this story.

To this now, Alaska could be the last frontier when it comes to winning political control of the Senate. Democrats are hoping their candidate can beat out incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan on election day in just a few weeks, giving them an opening in the race for the majority.

CNN's John King leaves the Lower 48, heads all over Alaska's map.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The state fair has a spectacular snowy backdrop. Rides. Games. And, yes, a little politics if you wish. Alaska Republicans put the president front and center as they try to promote Senator Dan Sullivan and other GOP candidates. The Democrats also feature Trump hoping anger at the president helps their ticket.

Daily celebrations of native Alaskans and traditions many in the Lower 48 might not understand. There are about 15 percent of the population now, many living in the most remote corners of this giant state. Lisa lynch lives in the Anchorage suburbs now, but her mother is from Nome.

LISA LYNCH, ALASKA VOTER: These are salmon trips.

KING (voice-over): And much of their family is still there.

LYNCH: It is crazy to think that you could go to a grocery store here in America and there's no fresh meat, there's no fresh fruit, there's no fresh vegetables. And it gets so bad in some of the villages.

KING (voice-over): A visitor gets VIP Inupiat treatment. The curved ulu used to chop slices of dried salmon in muktuk. Whale blubber. Yes, some policy disagreements with Senator Sullivan, but Lynch says her vote for Peltola is mostly because of her rural Alaska roots.

LYNCH: He has lived here for a long time, but it's not quite the same because he never had to rely on the fish runs to feed his family. He never had to worry about if they could have a moose in their freezer or go caribou hunting.

KING (voice-over): Everywhere you go, reminders of the big choice. And don't make the mistake of thinking these warnings are just for show. Rick Brown moved to Alaska three decades ago, the day he retired from the fire department back home in Kentucky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Michael just wrote logistics.

RICK BROWN, ALASKA VOTER: Apparently so.

KING (voice-over): Started his own adventure company 20 years ago. Fishing, hiking, kayaking, panning for gold. He just turned 75.

Happy birthday.

BROWN: So anyway, you know, if I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it.

KING (voice-over): Business this summer was OK. He expected better.

BROWN: I think the war had a little bit to do with it, and people were unsure of what was going to happen. We get a lot of campers that come up, they drive up, and I see that changing as the years go on, as the price of fuel gets up.

KING (voice-over): Brown likes Senator Sullivan and says he helped the company get access to federal land for some of its tours. Before Sullivan twice before. Leaning Sullivan this time, but some hesitation because of campaign support the senator receives from larger fishing operations.

BROWN: Seward, it used to be a little village with a fishing problem, you know. Now, it's a tourism town. But I still have a lot of friends that are commercial fishermen. And I want to see what's going to happen to support some of the issues they got.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: What an incredible piece. John King, thank you so much for that reporting.

And to this now, no relief in sight for Americans at the pump. Let's take a look now at the latest numbers from AAA. A gallon of regular gas up nearly $0.20 from last week to $4.48. Diesel prices jumped $0.30 in a week, putting even more pressure on the nation's trucking and transportation industry, hitting $6.50 a gallon.

This as President Trump downplays the soaring prices, saying they're just a small price to pay for the Iran war. But this morning, White House economist Kevin Hassett put it this way. [20:55:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES: We've been bringing oil through the straits. It's up to a billion barrels of oil have come through the straits with naval escorts to try to keep the price as low as it can possibly be, given the disruption. And so, you know, President Trump will decide when enough is enough. But I can say that the U.S. government has done everything we can to make the price effect way smaller than people expected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: All right. And before we go tonight, let's take a look at oil futures if we have that to see what we might be looking at. Here you go right here. All right. Oil futures looking down at the moment both for the crude oil index and then for Brent crude oil as well. Oil and gas, we're going to be talking a lot about both of those as we of course head towards the midterms.

Thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm Danny Freeman. Remember, if you are in the U.S., you can now stream CNN whenever you want on the CNN app. Visit CNN.com/Watch for more.

The CNN Original Series, "THE DETOUR WITH DAVID CHANG" premieres next. Have a good evening.

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