Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN International: Trump Takes Midterm Campaign Blitz To North Carolina; Ukraine Zelenskyy Says "Intelligence Sharing Works Now"; New CNN Poll Could Spell Trouble For Trump, Republicans; Italy Approves Tougher Security Measures After Milan Unrest; Iran Offers To Mediate Between Saudi Arabia And Houthi Rebels. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 21, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:00:35]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

Ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," new polling out this hour by CNN shows Democrats with a clear advantage heading into the midterms. But even with President Trump's approval rating at a record low, Democrats still face challenges. We'll break down the numbers.

Plus, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff arrives in Russia hoping to discuss proposals aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

And later, an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now the world's second largest on record. We'll speak with the country director of the International Rescue Committee in the DRC who says the crisis is unlike any Ebola outbreak she's seen before.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Lynda Kinkade.

We begin this hour with brand-new CNN polling that could spell trouble for U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republicans with less than two weeks to go until the midterm elections. It shows Democrats with a 10- point advantage over Republicans nationwide in voters' choice in their own congressional district, 49 percent to 39 percent.

Those surveyed expressed broad dissatisfaction nearly two years into unified Republican control of the federal government.

Satisfaction with President Trump has fallen to a new low. Only 32 percent approve of his handling of the job. That's down a point from September and down seven points from his first midterm election in 2018. Sixty-seven percent say they disapprove of his performance.

Younger Republicans are particularly sour on Trump's presidency. His support has also eroded noticeably among white Americans without college degrees, which had formed a core part of his Republican base.

Seventy-three percent of respondents say they disapprove of the way President Trump is handling the economy. Only 27 percent approve.

Two-thirds of Americans, including roughly one in three Republicans, say his policies have made economic conditions worse.

And the poll shows cost of living is most important for voters, followed by government corruption and the state of the U.S. democracy. The economy was a bright spot for Trump in 2018, but now his approval ratings on economic issues are lower than his overall rating.

The numbers are even worse for inflation, a whopping 77 percent disapprove of his handling of the issue. Only 23 percent approve. A majority of voters say Trump has gone too far in using his presidential power and overseeing deportations.

Nearly seven in 10 say he's not gone far enough in trying to reduce prices. And 70 percent of voters say things are going badly in the country right now and neither party has strong support. 35 percent say they have a favorable opinion of Democrats. Thirty percent have a favorable opinion of Republicans.

Democrats appear to have their work cut out for them if they want to win control of Congress. 41 percent say the country would be better off, 37 percent say it would be worse off and 22 percent say it wouldn't make any difference.

President Trump will campaign later today in South Carolina with stops later this week in Iowa, Florida, Michigan, and here in Georgia.

On Tuesday, he visited North Carolina. CNN's senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With just exactly two weeks until those midterm elections, President Trump continued his red state blitz in North Carolina, a state he won back in 2024, but now seems unlikely to have a Republican go to the Senate.

Michael Whatley, his handpicked candidate, someone who ran the RNC for him, and he was also part of the campaign in 2024, someone who is a loyalist to Donald Trump, has really been written off by Republicans.

Those of his major super PACs stopped spending money here, and Michael Whatley's campaign itself actually went dark, yet, President Trump was here, trying to court his very red MAGA voters. This is what he said about all of his travel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: A good president tends not to -- and I don't -- there's no reason for it. You know, people have said deep down, psychologically. So, we're going to try and change it. Now, I'm doing something different. I'm working like a dog. And I love being with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) [04:05:09]

HOLMES: Now, President Trump was interrupted a number of times by protesters. He continued to brush it off, although he did attack them as losers, saying they were going back to their moms.

Now, this is just one of a multitude of stops. He has stops every single day this week. I'm talking about Iowa, Florida. Again, all states he won by a huge margin. They are just trying to drive out that base to try and make -- do anything they can and try and get Republicans to hold on to at least one of the chambers of Congress they are hoping for the Senate.

Kristen Holmes, Greenville, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: We'll have more on that shortly.

But right now, we are following developments out of Russia where President Trump's foreign envoy, Steve Witkoff, has just arrived in St. Petersburg. He's expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin during his visit, which comes one day after he held talks with the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Norway.

The U.S. official says the meeting between Witkoff and Zelenskyy produced meaningful progress and that the two sides are now in strong alignment at the working level on the next steps.

The official says the goal now is to build on the progress made with Ukraine and Russia, so Ukraine and Europe, and to discuss their proposals with Russia. Zelenskyy had this to say about a possible path to peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELESNKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We have some clear ideas on how to get to peace, and we are united with our European partners in this effort. And we want the Americans to take these ideas to the Russians.

And one of the important ideas is to move to a trilateral, potential trilateral meeting of the leaders to address the issue that only the leaders can do.

Steve is going to Russia tomorrow. And let's see what Putin has to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments and joins us now from London. Good to see you, Clare.

So, we have heard complaints from President Zelenskyy about not just the holdup in the defense interceptors, but also, you know, reports that intelligence sharing was -- was -- was halted. We saw that report in "The Wall Street Journal" that Elon Musk had ordered restrictions on Ukraine's military-grade Starshield satellite service, disrupting its attack and air defense drone operations.

If that is true, what does it tell us about Ukraine's dependence on that technology, which is controlled by private companies and the U.S.?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, Ukraine has been open about how critical Starlink is to its operations, you know, sort of understanding the -- the -- the locations of Russian military facilities and certainly in terms of intercepting critically Russian drones. It needs those speeds to be up as the speed of the Russian drones that it's trying to intercept have increased. And that is a critical component of what we've seen in recent months.

The jet powered drones are equipped with jet engines and so defined by how fast they can fly. So, it has been a real bone of contention between the two sides.

And officially, the U.S. government has continued to deny that it had anything to do with slowing down the speeds. There's been noises, particularly from the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, that perhaps technical issues were behind that.

So, look, it's been very mysterious over the past 10 days or so. We haven't been able to understand really what's been happening here. But Ukraine has openly, in particular, Zelenskyy criticized the U.S. government for what it's doing.

So, look, that is part of the backdrop in which we go in into these talks in St. Petersburg today. We did hear positive noises coming out of the talks in Oslo that were the prelude to this.

On Tuesday, the U.S. side, as you say, U.S. officials told CNN meaningful progress was made.

But, look, shortly after those talks wrapped in Oslo, President Trump came out and spoke again. And his stance towards Ukraine, it seems, has not changed. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zelenskyy has to want to settle this war. And if he doesn't, I think it's going to be a very bad thing.

We've given a lot to Ukraine. We've gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss. We've gotten nothing back. And the American taxpayers are tired of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: You know, he also said on Monday that Russia has, quote, been fine on Ukraine and hasn't been doing much, even, of course, as we've seen civilian deaths this week. Again, there's been particular targeting of the area around Russia's second city of Kharkiv. Two more deaths reported there overnight in shelling. Private houses were struck. Eleven people also injured, including children.

So, look, Trump has now eased sanctions on Moscow. He has this diesel deal, and I think it's therefore unsurprising that the noises coming from Moscow ahead of this meeting in St. Petersburg is that they will not be making concessions.

[04:10:11]

Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister, even said so in comments quoted by state media on Tuesday that they were open to talks but they would not be making political concessions.

And we have Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, out this morning saying, reiterating Russia's position that they want peace, he said, not a ceasefire. So, that is a position that they've had all along. They do not want to give Ukraine the room to negotiate, not under the gun, as it were.

And -- and so look, that's where we are. There are these two tracks, right? We've got the Europeans and the U.S. side who are now apparently in alignment, but there's no sign as of yet that they are in any way in alignment with Russia. And that is where this process has fallen down time and time again over the past couple of years. Lynda?

KINKADE: Yes, it certainly seems that Russia and Ukraine are still miles apart when it comes to an agreement.

So, Clare, if Witkoff's, you know, trip to Russia produces no agreement, what happens next? I mean, does Washington continue pursuing diplomacy? Or could the dispute of a military assistance become more acute?

SEBASTIAN: Look, I don't think anyone's expecting a sort of peace deal to come out of the talks today. We're still in the very early stages. There are some new ideas, according to the European allies that Zelenskyy had in the meeting in Oslo yesterday, the Norwegian prime minister and the Finnish president.

So, look, there are some new ideas on the table. It'll -- you know, it'll be interesting to see if Moscow moves at all on any of those.

There is a separate issue here. President Trump has hinted strongly that he is pursuing the release of an American, man named Stephen Hubbard, a former retired English teacher who was convicted by Russia on charges of being a mercenary for Ukraine in 2024. So, there are strong hints around that. That may be more to do with his, you know, desire to present a victory for his America First foreign policy ahead of the midterms.

But I think, look, the signals are from the U.S. that they want to continue to pursue diplomacy. But strangely, at the same time, we still do have this mounting pressure on the Ukrainian side from the U.S., which shows no sign of abating and clearly isn't provoking any sign from Moscow towards a compromise, Lynda.

KINKADE: All right. Clare Sebastian, staying across it all with the latest from London. I appreciate you. Thank you.

We are going to have more on the midterm elections coming up, and much more on "CNN Newsroom," including tighter security measures being rolled out in countries in Europe with more anti-government protests planned in the days ahead.

Plus, Iran, the U.K. and the U.N. are all weighing in on the escalating conflicts between the Saudis and the Houthi rebels. What they're saying, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:40]

KINKADE: Returning now to our top story, brand-new CNN polling released this hour shows the state of the economy could spell trouble for the U.S. President and the Republicans less than two weeks ahead of the midterm elections.

Joining me now is Richard Johnson, senior lecturer of U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London. Good to have you with us.

RICHARD JOHNSON, SENIOR LECTURER OF U.S. POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY: Good to be with you.

So, the big question is whether a strong democratic lead in these national opinion polls can translate into control of Congress. Now, the latest CNN polling out this hour shows the Democrats 10 points ahead nationally, 49 percent to 39 percent.

Is this now shaping up to be a decisive repudiation of Donald Trump? Or is it too early to call it a democratic wave?

JOHNSON: Well, midterm elections typically do go against the party. We know that. And a couple of examples in the last hundred years where that's not been the case, 1998 and 2002.

But what we're seeing in the overall generic numbers is really significant unfavorability for Donald Trump, such that he is not experienced at all in his presidency until this point.

The numbers of his approval are -- are at lows for his presidency, but also the pessimism in the country, the sense that the country is going in the wrong direction, are really at staggering levels.

And then you add on to that the 10-point spread in the generic ballot, which you've just shown between the Democrats and the Republicans. And this is all shaping up to be a very, very significant, I think, set of victories for the Democrats.

Now, when you go and look at the state level polling, you see Democratic leads which are tighter than that. And that's because the most of the states that are in play in this midterm election are the more Republican leaning states.

But assuming that the state level polls aren't drastically off, then I think the Democrats are looking for sizable wins both in the House and in the Senate.

KINKADE: The striking finding in these polls is that Trump's approval on the economy and inflation is even lower than his overall approval rating. Has the cost of living issue become the one that could finally break the coalition?

JOHNSON: I think so. And when you look at how Trump put together this winning coalition in 2024, he was able to actually reach out to elements of blue collar America, the working class that no Republican in recent time has been able to reach.

Much of his appeal, for example, with Latino voters who tend to skew as a more working class electorate was on the perception that the Biden administration had not been able to tackle the cost of living crisis and that Trump was promising to do so that the economy ran pretty hot when Trump was in his first office.

And, of course, Trump had this ongoing perception of business acumen from his pre-political career. And that all feels really shattered, particularly because the -- the -- the blame or part of the blame for this is Trump's intervention in Iran.

[04:20:59]

And that, I think, also breaks apart the Trump coalition, because one of the Trump's selling points to those voters who were skeptical of Republicans in the past, was that Trump was bringing around a different Republican party that was much less interventionist abroad. And then you see this -- this runs -- it's sort of breach of trust. And trust is really important in politics. When you breach that trust, that demotivates voters and they stay home.

KINKADE: Yes. That -- that is the risk for Democrats if they do stay home.

In terms of the 10-point national lead, it sounds enormous but the U.S. electoral map is not proportional. How much of this advantage can Democrats realistically convert into House seats?

JOHNSON: Well, look where the House is at the moment. Already, the -- if we look at last -- the last set of House elections, it was on a knife-edge. Republicans have one of the slimmest House majorities in American history.

And the -- the -- the polling now is much more favorable for the Democrats than it was two years ago. Now, there's been a lot of contention over the redrawing of maps and that's dependent in -- in different states and -- and so on.

And there was this thought that if basically you froze frame from two years ago and redrew the maps that would give the Republicans a big enough advantage to hold the House. That viewpoint, which was quite widespread a year ago, I think we don't -- we're not hearing that anymore because the -- the scale of that national polling lead is -- is so significant.

So, unless it's going to be a really big polling miss, and you can't -- you can't discount that possibility when it comes to statistics. There are always chances that the statistics could be wrong.

But looking at all the evidence in front of us, including CNN's latest polling, this would be a favorable headwind to the Democrats.

KINKADE: Richard Johnson, appreciate you sharing your perspective. Thanks so much for joining us.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

KINKADE: Well, European authorities are cracking down on the recent wave of violent unrest. The French government is promising a massive police presence for more demonstrations which are planned for Saturday following the nation's worst rioting in years.

Overnight curfews were ordered in some French cities Monday and Tuesday to help restore the peace. The Prime Minister acknowledged that officials failed to recognize just how severe the protest situation had become.

And in Italy, 500 soldiers are now patrolling the streets of Milan as part of new security measures targeting rioters. The Italian government approved decrees Tuesday after cost of living protests devolved into chaos over the weekend.

Hundreds of demonstrators threw stones, looted stores, and set trash bins on fire. Now, rioters acting in groups could face up to five years in prison and a fine as high as $22,000.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon is following the developments from Rome and joins us live. Stefano, good to have you with us.

So, you know, we've obviously seen these demonstrations in France, in Italy, in Belgium, Albania. I want to start with the ones we're seeing in Italy and the crackdown by the government there. Just how serious are they responding to this unrest?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, how serious should law enforcement respond to the level of protest that we've seen in the last few weeks is not just a question that Italy is facing, but also, I would say, the whole of Europe.

Like you said, some parts of Paris woke up once again under a curfew. And Sebastien Lecornu, the French prime minister, said that there will be a massive deployment of police ahead of next Saturday's protest.

Here in Italy, it's not just the deployment of the army, but also Giorgia Meloni has written down new measures to hold the protesters accountable, even in the case that they are underage. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIORGIA MELONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Hundreds of very young people, many of them minors, arrived in small groups summoned by a video on social media. They came to the public square to smash things, steal, and film themselves doing it.

We must address this seriously, not least to prevent these images from becoming a model for others to imitate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: And so the debate right now is how do we defend the rightful space for protesting and also hear the grievances that especially the students have brought forward since the beginning of the school year without allowing for the violence that we've seen in both Paris and the other French cities and Milan here in Italy to erupt and explode in that collective anger that was on display on Saturday and Sunday.

Both governments seems to be heading for the hard fist. It remains to be seen whether that will be enough to quell the calm -- and calm the streets. Lynda.

[04:25:06]

KINKADE: And certainly, Stefano, this protest movement we're seeing wide across Europe, of course, started in France, you know, last month. We are hearing that police are expecting to come out in -- in large numbers this weekend for a mass demonstration that's planned. What more are you learning about that?

POZZEBON: Well, we're learning that the protesters don't want to give up their -- give up their fight, give up their struggle. Of course, when we spoke with student organizations, especially here in Italy, for example, they said they don't want to see the scenes that we've seen in Milan repeat themselves, but also point at what they call is another type of violence, which is the violence of a system that is no longer working for them.

You look at the situation in Rome. We spoke with several students over the last couple of days here in Rome universities. And the rent price for a single room, if you are a student who is not from Rome, the rent price for a single room here has grown between 30 and 40 percent since the pandemic.

So, what thought -- what was thought to be a -- an important, a possible experience, starting in Rome at a university is no longer affordable for thousands of students, and this is why they're on the streets.

KINKADE: Stefano Pozzebon, certainly a busy time in Europe right now. Good to have you there for us. Thanks so much.

Well, we want to turn now to the Middle East where Iranian media reports that the country's security chief says there would be no talks with Washington until Tehran's demands are met. Now, these comments came during talks with Pakistan's army chief who

held a series of high-level meetings in Tehran Tuesday. Pakistan has been a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran during the course of this war.

The United Kingdom says it will deploy fighter jets to defend Saudi Arabia against attacks by the Iranian allied Houthi rebels in Yemen. The British Defense Ministry announced it will fly defensive counter air missions using Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets to protect Saudi cities and key infrastructure.

And Iran's Foreign Minister claims Yemen's Houthis are acting independent of Tehran. Abbas Araghchi says Iran is offering to mediate between Saudi Arabia and the rebel group to help end the conflict, but has received no response from either side. He says the offer was made on Tuesdays fighting intensified in Yemen after the launch of a Saudi- backed military campaign.

Well, I want to welcome CNN's Oren Liebermann who joins us live from Jerusalem. Good to have you with us, Oren.

I want to start with the British deployment of the RAF Typhoon fighter jets to defend Saudi Arabia against Houthi missile and drone attacks. Just how significant is this move to expand support for the Saudis? And does it risk drawing the U.K. deeper into that conflict?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: I think it certainly does to some extent. The U.K. committing a fairly significant asset here, that is Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets, to help Saudi Arabia defend itself against Houthi ballistic missiles and drones.

The defense ministry said the goal here is to protect critical infrastructure and civilian cities those have come under attack from Houthi attacks that have also disrupted the economy of Saudi Arabia, that has disrupted the flow of oil, so the U.K. is committing fighter jets specifically for that defense.

They've already provided aerial refueling to Saudi fighter jets and -- and aircraft as well. So, you see a deeper involvement here by the U.K.

Now, they have tried to draw a line and say, look, the U.K. won't be taking part in offensive strikes as part of the Saudi-backed campaign to push back against the Iran-backed Houthis, but it's unclear if that distinction, defensive versus offensive, makes any difference to the Houthis. And they may simply see it as the U.K. now siding blatantly and openly with the Saudis.

And that's a key question here, what happens -- what could happen that is, if the Houthis are able to down or damage one of these Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets, then we're in a whole different world.

So, there is a deeper level of involvement, of commitment here, as the U.K. shows that it's -- that it's -- that it's willing to help out Saudi here as it defends against these escalating attacks from the Houthis. KINKADE: Yes, certainly a risk. And Iran, of course, says is prepared to mediate between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis while insisting that it's not directly involved. And Iran has also said that -- told Pakistan that there will be no talks between Washington and Tehran until their demands are met. Of course, they're talking about the conditions related to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Does this suggest that the diplomatic efforts and the wider U.S.-Iran war are at a dead-end?

LIEBERMANN: The dead-end might be too strong of a word there, but it -- but it doesn't seem like it's too strong by much. Iran has repeatedly shown that they're not negotiating on anybody else's timeline. They don't care that President Donald Trump has midterm elections coming up. And it's unlikely that they're going to reach a deal before those.