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Tennessee Inmate in Critical Condition after Botched Execution; Trump, Vance Visit Red States to Campaign for Candidates; Trump Complains about Supreme Court's 'Loyalty.' Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 02, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: Bring a new meaning to couch surfing here. But perhaps even more impressive, let's just think about the physics that this takes: to prop up a couch on two Lime scooters.

I don't know. I think that deserves some type of commendation or award. We'll see.

That does it for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. I'm Brad Smith. CNN THIS MORNING with Audie Cornish starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, we are talking about the haunting case of a Death Row inmate who is still alive after two lethal injections.

What happens now to the convicted killer, in critical condition?

Plus, almost a month from the midterms, the president is campaigning in red states. So, what does that say about GOP confidence and voters?

And A.I. doppelgangers appearing in midterm attack ads. Are the candidates breaking any laws with these?

And the Justice Department looking at whether Richard Nixon got a raw deal 50 years ago. So, why go down this rabbit hole?

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and here is where we begin. That Death Row inmate in Tennessee is still alive after receiving not one, but two lethal injection shots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDY SPIVEY, CHRISTA PIKE'S ATTORNEY: What we have been told is that she is -- in she's in critical condition, receiving life-saving care. That -- that is the extent that we have at the moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Now, her name is Christa Pike. She's facing a death penalty sentence for her role in the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.

Now, as the sentence was carried out late Wednesday into Thursday, something went wrong. And media witnesses described a process which dragged out over several hours. At one point, they even heard Pike snoring loudly before they were ushered out of the execution chamber, and Pike was rushed to a hospital.

Now, the mother of Pike's victim was in the room to witness the execution and told NBC News, quote, "It was a mess."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE SWEENEY, REPORTER, WPLN: None of it was normal. I covered all the executions last year and most of the ones this year. We haven't seen anything like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: One of the media witnesses there.

Joining me now to discuss is Molly Davis, a reporter at "The Tennessean."

Molly, good morning. And first, do you have an update on her condition in the hospital? What are her attorneys saying?

MOLLY DAVIS, REPORTER, "THE TENNESSEAN": Good morning. Thanks for having me on the show to talk about this today.

But the latest that we have is the news that came directly from Christa Pike's attorneys yesterday, around 1 p.m. Central Time. In that call, which you played a clip from that call, we learned for the first time about Christa Pike's condition.

She's in critical condition at a Nashville hospital, but we haven't heard anything further.

The only statement that we have from the Tennessee Department of corrections says that the department followed its protocol that has been approved by the state attorney general's office, and they noted that the lethal injection drug has worked for multiple executions in the past.

That's all they've shared with us at this point.

CORNISH: So, I don't know. They may be saying this, because this botched attempt marks the first time since lethal injection has become more common.

But the fact that the inmate survived here is raising a lot of questions. And the Tennessee governor, bill lee, actually said this, this morning. I want to talk about government reaction after you hear this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BILL LEE (R-TN): And what happened was not what is intended to happen when the state is called upon to -- to administer a sentence.

So, we need to find out what happened. And until we find out, there will be a stay on executions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Can you talk about this pause? Because I understand there was another failed execution attempt earlier in the year where they were jabbing around looking for a vein in the inmate at that point.

DAVIS: Yes, I covered the aborted execution, the canceled execution, you could call it, of Tony Carruthers in May.

Now, that circumstance was a little bit different than the one we have at this point. Executioners had Tony Carruthers strapped to the gurney. He was in the execution chamber, and the I.V. team was not able, after many attempts, to establish vein access in that case.

The execution doctor, the supervising physician, according to the protocol, is then called to establish a central line. That's a line that direct -- that directly connects to the persons chest and delivers drugs.

[06:05:08]

But the doctor, lawyers said, was unable to complete the central line procedure, and they actually called for an emergency stop to the execution.

Governor Bill Lee, in that case, immediately canceled it. And he also gave Tony Carruthers a one-year reprieve.

Now, we have no idea what the timeline looks at this looks like at this point. We know that there's a review, a third-party review that's been ordered by the governor.

But executions have been paused before in the state of Tennessee.

In 2022, we were mere hours away from the execution of an inmate named Oscar Franklin Smith. And according to findings at the time, the state had not been following its own legally-approved protocol in that case, and the execution was called off at the last minute.

We had a long review process in that case, and then the state brought back this protocol in 2025. They successfully executed Oscar Franklin Smith, Byron Black, and Harold Wayne Nichols in 2025.

And at this point, there's only been one successful execution in 2026 under that protocol.

CORNISH: Right now, there's going to be, apparently, a review. Another pause. We've also seen that before.

Molly Davis, I hope we can have you back to find out what happens next from Tennessee.

Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, what is next for Christa Pike after she survived her attempted execution? Is there going to be any legal fallout? Plus, the president kicks off a campaign schedule that's going to

swing through red states. So, we're digging into the Republicans' midterm strategy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:11:43]

CORNISH: OK. I can't believe this, but the midterms are just over a month away.

President Trump and Vice President Vance are hitting the road. And where are they going? Well, red states.

The president spent Thursday at a truck factory in Texas before headlining a rally in Oklahoma, while Vance was delivering a speech in Florida. Three normally ruby-red states that Republicans are now nervous about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're worried about Michigan. We're worried about Texas. Were worried about a few states. But it's all about 35 different contests, not states, contests. And I'm going to just about all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Noel King, co-host and editorial director of the "Today, Explained" podcast; Michael Warren, politics editor at "The Dispatch"; and Luke Thomas, journalist and mixed martial arts analyst. Welcome back.

OK, so there's a bunch of questions here about why go to red states. And some answers, people will say, well, because that's a crowd he can stand in front of --

NOEL KING, CO-HOST/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, "TODAY, EXPLAINED": Yes.

CORNISH: -- and look good. Other people say maybe it's because they're vulnerable. Like, where are you on the spectrum?

KING: Like, states might be in trouble.

CORNISH: Yes, I don't think Oklahoma is in trouble on any level, but maybe I'm missing something.

KING: Oklahoma is not in trouble on any level. I'm sorry.

President Trump and Vice President Vance are both kind of thin-skinned performers, right? They like to be in front of --

CORNISH: Did you say thin-skinned --

KING: Thin-skinned, yes.

CORNER: -- performers. OK.

KING: They like to be in front of crowds that are friendly. Going to a swing state right now, going to a place with a lot of independent voters, I don't know. It doesn't seem like a smart move if you're a guy who likes applause, as they both do.

So, I'd probably go to Oklahoma if I were president.

CORNISH: Yes, let me go to my combat sports guy, because a crowd that's on your side is helpful. No?

LUKE THOMAS, JOURNALIST: Yes, well, he likes those, too, and he gets a lot of them at UFC events.

But in this particular case, I find the entire thing, like, on one sense, sensible. Right? You -- part of the pillars of avoiding catastrophe in the midterms is making sure that MAGA doesn't stay home. So, there's something to be said for kind of energizing them.

But at the same time, the entire thing feels incoherent. He's going to Alabama this weekend. I realize he's going to touch other places.

But yes, I realize that he wants adulation. But didn't we have Ken Paxton on audio, saying even when he shows up in some of these places, or -- for example, the midterm convention that they had -- that their numbers went down.

It's not even clear to me that getting him out there is good for any kind of local candidate who was running, particularly in any kind of contested election in some of these other places, whether or not they have fears about Oklahoma or not.

CORNISH: When I look at the polling -- and of course, there's a lot -- the president's job performance and disapproval rates obviously come up a lot. He's been very sensitive to them, probably because right now the disapproval rate is 67 percent.

So, the question is, when you get on camera, when you are in these places, how is it helpful, if at all?

MICHAEL WARREN, POLITICS EDITOR, "THE DISPATCH": Well, it's helpful because you get local media coverage, and you get a chance to sort of rally the troops.

But look, at the end of the day, a president and a vice president's time is a precious commodity, especially with a month left of the election.

So, where they go tells us, maybe even more than what the polls say, or even what -- what spending is being done on ads.

The fact that they're having to go to red states and rally the troops, I think, tells you that this map, which looked good for Republicans when the cycle started --

CORNISH: Yes. WARREN: -- has really expanded for Democrats in ways where Republicans, including the president and the vice president of the United States, have to go out and defend.

[06:15:05]

Now, they may win.

CORNISH: Like Texas.

WARREN: That's right.

CORNISH: Texas is turning into a financial Alamo: 300 million spent compared to 2018, 55 million.

And I mean, usually if I was doing a political story on Texas, it would be like these Democrats trying again. This one doesn't look like it's going to work. And we don't know if it will work. But what we do know --

KING: We don't. We'll be here in six weeks.

CORNISH: Three hundred million dollars does not say, I'm confident it will.

KING: No, it doesn't. That is an extraordinary amount of money. That is an extraordinary --

CORNISH: And it's still not enough.

WARREN: But Texas is an expensive state. It's got a bunch of media markets. It's all on TV.

CORNISH: It's Texas.

WARREN: Exactly.

CORNISH: The attorney general of Texas. It shouldn't be this hard.

WARREN: But -- but no, I agree.

And look, at the end of the day, if Republicans win in some of these red states that Trump advance go to, they will take credit. They'll say, see, we stopped it.

But again, that's money being spent in Texas that Republicans aren't able to spend in Michigan as much. I mean, they will spend money in Michigan.

CORNISH: Yes.

WARREN: They're not spending any money in Georgia. I mean, they've written that state off on the Senate race. I think they may pull across the governor's race, because he's financing his own race.

North Carolina, that's off the map. I mean, they're not fighting this. CORNISH: That they are offering when they are out. J.D. Vance

Lakeland, Florida on Thursday. He's in Florida, where obviously, there is, like, a race that's bringing a lot of national attention with Angie Dixon, the Democratic candidate there. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I have the easiest job in the world. I get to talk about how crazy the Democrats are. When Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, I think the right response is to say, "Then get the Hell out of here. You don't belong in America, if those are your views."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Luke, that's sort of all the messages in one. Right? Your immigration. Now, don't you think it's a combination method message? It's your -- these are socialist message. What do you think of it?

THOMAS: Repugnant to say that to someone to get out of the country. I don't even understand what this exactly -- it's like -- it's so -- it's so offensive, to the point of being stupid that I really am actually quite shocked by it, to be -- to be perfectly honest.

I saw Angie Nixon respond to this with, like, a multi-tweet thread about how essentially she -- I mean, this is the child of -- or her descendant. She is descended from slaves, you know, from this particular area.

Like, this idea that she has to leave because of the kitchen-table issues, which she is presenting this insurgent campaign that is clearly resonating in the state with Floridians.

CORNISH: Yes, like anyone brown is not from here.

THOMAS: And he's coming in here and saying that these kinds of things are undercutting what it means to be American. It's offensively stupid to say something like that.

CORNISH: Yes. But given what he said about Haitians, it's probably deeply on brand.

WARREN: Yes. And he's not -- he's not -- he doesn't -- he doesn't have that same gift that Trump has of, like, being able to get away with outrageous things.

But at the end of the day, the vice president of the United States is in Florida, you know, a month away from the election, trying to help a Republican win.

I'm not saying that Dixon is going to win that race.

CORNISH: Yes.

WARREN: I don't think she's going to. But the fact that they have to get there to hold serve, it just shows you how big of a problem Republicans have around the country. They're having to defend places they shouldn't be defending.

CORNISH: OK, well, we're going to talk more about it, because in some places they are defending it with ads.

So, on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to be talking about whether A.I. is making it harder to trust your own eyes in this election. We're looking at the rise of A.I.-generated ads. One candidate actually complained to the police about them.

Plus, the president returns to a familiar target: the Supreme Court justices that he helped put on the bench. We're going to dig into his latest round of attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:22:44]

CORNISH: So, the president, talking down to his own Supreme Court appointees. When asked in a recent interview with "TIME" magazine if he straight-up regretted nominating, say, Amy Coney Barrett, or Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh, Trump said this: "Yes. Yes, what can I do? I put them in. They voted against me too often. I was very -- I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often. They vote for me, too. The Democrats stick like glue. Those three, they virtually never vary. You can come up with the worst thing in the world, and they'll vote as a group. And while I don't like it, there's something I admire about it. There's loyalty."

CORNISH: I encourage everyone to actually go and read the "TIME" interview, which is a full transcript, in his own words. what's the deal? He seems to praise the Democrats, because they vote together.

WARREN: And it's also not true.

CORNISH: But the way he talks made me made it sound to me like he thinks the Supreme Court is Congress.

There are teams there, and you have -- you've just filled up the chairs with your team, and they got to do what you say.

WARREN: Well, I think he has a total lack of understanding of separation of powers in general, because also, Congress is not supposed to be his folks either.

I mean, right? Republicans are in the same party, but they are an independent branch of government. Same thing with the Supreme Court.

CORNISH: I mean --

WARREN: Well, they ought to be. They ought to be. There's article one, the first one.

But look, I think he's angry. And it's interesting, because I recall covering the first Trump administration. You would hear from conservatives who didn't like this thing that Trump did or that thing that Trump did.

And they would say, but what about Gorsuch? At least he -- at least, you know, don't -- don't forget Gorsuch.

And now, here you have Trump sort of criticizing Gorsuch and the other appointees.

It's a -- it was a big win for Donald Trump, in Republican eyes and conservative eyes. But it's not total loyalty from these justices, who are independent, you know, judicial thinkers. And he doesn't like that.

CORNISH: Since you brought up Gorsuch, I'm going to play that for the group. Here was Gorsuch talking in May to CBS News about this idea of loyalty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me just -- does a justice owe a president loyalty.

JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH, U.S. SUPREME COURT: No, my loyalty is the Constitution and laws of the United States. That's the oath I took.

Think about it. You -- you've given nine old people a life tenure. But you give them life tenure if you believe their job is only to apply the law fairly without regard to anybody or anything else, or politics, or any of the noise. And then, the --

[06:25:14]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Immune from external forces.

GORSUCH: Immune from it. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And yet, confidence in the Supreme Court right now, the partisan numbers are pretty bad. Just 12 percent of Democrats, just 26 percent of independents, have confidence in the Supreme Court.

And Republicans, I mean, good, but just barely cracking.

THOMAS: Is he so wrong? I mean, I'm not saying I agree with him in that way. I don't share the same worldview.

But this idea, like I grew up in a time when the Supreme Court hearings, when there would be a new nomination. Would this be -- there was this idea that they would treat law; they would respect existing precedent; they would sort of try to treat things with the -- with a -- with a -- with a, you know, a neutral eye or at least a semi neutral eye. Even if they had a particular partisan valence.

And that has gone completely out the window. We don't live in that world anymore. This is not -- I mean, I understand that Gorsuch has some principle

and has gone opposite of Trump in certain ways. But this idea that the Supreme Court is some kind of removed body, independent of partisan rancor, independent of partisan influence, independent of partisan feeling, is just obviously not true anymore. We don't live --

CORNISH: Is that why Democrats want to expand the court?

THOMAS: Of course it is. Of course it is.

CORNISH: I mean, there's many legal reasons, but --

THOMAS: It is to explode this idea that, well, this is a separate body that's going to take things as they come. No, it's not.

It's a right-leaning body in general that is purposely stacked that way. And they are expected to rule that way. When they don't, to me, it's more of an aberrant than it is confirmation.

WARREN: But I don't -- I don't think that reflects the truth. I mean, you do see, for instance, the liberal justices side with the conservative justices.

You see -- the reason why Trump is upset with these justices is because, on many of these cases, they don't go the way that he thinks they should, because they have their interpretation, which is, yes, conservative in its -- in its sort of underlying foundations. Right? It's much more, you know, strict constructionist. They have a specific view.

But remember, Elena Kagan said, you know, we're all originalists now, right? There has been a philosophical shift within sort of jurisprudence that has been driven by kind of conservatives winning elections and appointing judges.

And but the fact of the matter is that the results are not always what -- what conservatives or Republicans want. They're not reaching those conclusions because of any political bias.

THOMAS: But -- but they dress it up in law language to say that there isn't any partisan influence.

WARREN: But you can't say. You can't say that it's dressed up in law language. It's a -- it's a judicial theory. I mean --

THOMAS: In certain cases, yes. I do grant that there are individual instances where you can read the justices' opinions and you can come to a conclusion like that. I don't deny that its 1 to 1, but for a guy like Trump, he wants 100 percent fealty. He wants 100 percent.

So, like, yes, there are times when they go against him, but in general, in general, this is I mean, the unitary executive theory has been pushed no harder than by this particular Supreme Court.

CORNISH: Yes.

THOMAS: And I think trying to say that there's different. Well, you know.

CORNISH: No, no, it's OK. I mean, at the end of the day, are we kicking dirt over? Like, it feels like we're all in Trump's worldview now, that the court is a place that people are either loyal or not loyal, and there's no going back.

KING: Yes.

CORNISH: That's why -- that's why I'm bringing that up. Democrats are not saying we got to bring it back. We're going to just give them a chance to be neutral. They're like, no, let's adjust the numbers.

KING: I like to remain optimistic here. I think you're both right, actually.

There might be going back. There might be going back. I mean, listen to what Gorsuch said there really, truly. And if you believe him, what he is saying is we rule on the law.

President Trump will be gone in two years, I think. And -- and a new president will come in, and the Supreme Court will have to do what the Supreme Court does.

This is one of those -- maybe I'm being too optimistic. This is one of those where I think President Trump's worldview will -- will go with President Trump.

And the Supreme Court might be able to go back to some version of what we had in the '90s or the early aughts, where we really did feel like these people were less partisan and more just look at the Constitution, look at what -- I mean, unitary executive theory.

Like, the reason the justices are being forced to rule on this -- not forced to. The reason the justices are ruling on this is because President Trump's pushing his agenda. Right?

CORNISH:

WARREN: But can I say, can I just say, in defense of Donald Trump's Supreme Court justices, that the two most -- that you could argue the most partisan right-wing justices were not appointed by Donald Trump.

CORNISH: Yes.

WARREN: That's Clarence Thomas, who was appointed by George Bush and Sam Alito, appointed by George W. Bush. I just think that speaks volumes.

And -- and these were people who were presented to him, these three that he selected by the Federalist Society, which is a -- which was -- had a political project.

CORNISH: And the voters were told, vote for me because you want the court to be X. So, it's always been --

WARREN: I think it speaks well to the Federalist Society. THOMAS: One last thing. Don't forget the ethics complaints and all the

ethics issues.

CORNISH: Yes.

THOMAS: This is part of the same reason why the Democrats have lost faith in this particular Supreme Court. Their unwillingness to be reined in.

CORNISH: Yes. Or acknowledged.

THOMAS: Or acknowledged. Even that.

CORNISH: In a lot of ways, the ethics issue.

So straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about the president's meme coin. There's new questions about whether it's even a good idea.

Later on CNN, new developments in the investigation of that alleged rape at Cornell University.