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CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Headlines: Talarico Tackles Abortion, Faith And "Conspiracy Theories" At CNN Town Hall; Trump On The Trail: President Visits Montana & Arizona As Approval Hits New Low; Sources: Trump Admin. Wanted Aggressive Search Of Ilhan Omar's Home, Went Back-And-Forth With Judge; Pope Shares First Message To Catholic Faithful After Lung Cancer Diagnosis. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 15, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:25]
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: Texas voters got the chance to sit down and question Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico. You'll hear his thoughts on faith, abortion and the billionaire class.
Plus, new details emerging after Representative Ilhan Omar's D.C. home was raided. What's being revealed about the search and the judge that was involved?
And Pope Leo shares his first message after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, how his recovery is going this morning.
A tornado touches down in Texas as the remnants of Hurricane Simon bring a new flood threat. And this morning, we're tracking the dangerous weather still ahead. Stay tuned for that.
We've got that and much more coming your way.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. Glad that you're with us today.
Let's get started.
We begin with the key takeaways from the CNN and Jubilee town hall with Democratic Senate candidate of Texas James Talarico. Texas voters got the chance to ask questions about the issues that we're most important to them, including affordability, health care costs and border security.
Talarico said he does not support abolishing ICE, but he doesn't want a secret police force terrorizing communities, either. The Democrat is locked in a neck and neck race with State Attorney General Ken Paxton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: I don't want people to vote just against Ken Paxton. I want them to vote for me. I want them to know my values and my vision. But the last thing I will say is that we are running against the most
corrupt politician in Texas, and this is not an exaggeration. Since taking office, Ken Paxton has increased his net worth by $27 million. He now owns 15 homes, while most Texans can't afford one.
He has taken bribes from wealthy special interests including half a million dollars from data center companies, all while he sells us out when he makes public policy. This election is not about left versus right. It's about whether we will have a senator who puts money in your pocket, or a senator who puts money in their own. That is the choice before us in November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Talarico worked to find common ground with one Texas voter who said she votes exclusively on the issue of abortion. Talarico said he supports some abortion access, but here's how he responded to that voter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TALARICO: But what I think we can do is actually come together on reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies and the number of abortions, because if we treat this issue as a public health problem and not a culture war problem, then we can actually make progress together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Talarico also pledged to take action to bring down the rising cost of health care and fight big money in politics.
His opponent, Ken Paxton, has refused to debate Talarico and has not responded to an invitation to hold his own town hall on CNN. We'll have more on last nights event ahead in our next half hour.
President Trump was back on the campaign trail Wednesday, where he once again urged voters to pretend that his name is on the ballot in November's midterm elections.
But a new Fox News poll shows Trump, with his lowest approval rating for either of his terms in the White House. Thirty-six percent say they approve of his handling of the presidency, 64 percent disapprove. Meanwhile, in Montana, the president told supporters the Defense Department is working to establish what he called a new super range in the state for testing advanced weapons and technologies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I'm pleased to inform you and announce that right here in Montana, the Department of War is going to establish a new super range for testing advanced weapons and technology -- technologies, including potential autonomous weapons space and electronic warfare technology, supersonic and hypersonics. Montana will help ensure the American military always reigns supreme. So you're getting it, everybody. Will you please leave me alone?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: And at an Arizona rally, the president told supporters in Bullhead City that people who leak sensitive information should be shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Leakers should be -- in my opinion, leakers should be shot. They should be shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: In the old days, we used to shoot leakers, you know? When -- when they leak, what time you're going to attack a country. And the reason you're attacking is really for defense, because you don't want them to have a weapon that can blow up millions of people at one shot.
[05:05:08]
No, leakers should be dealt with very, very strongly. They're real -- to me, they're -- they're the scum of the Earth. The leakers are the scum of the Earth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Trump is expected to travel to Georgia tomorrow for a midterm rally on his way to Mar-a-Lago, where he will spend the weekend.
Days after U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar's D.C. area home was searched, and this was all in an immigration fraud probe, sources tell CNN the search that the Trump administration wanted was unusually aggressive and involved prolonged arguments with the judge. Sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN the judge and prosecutors went back and forth for days, ultimately putting limits on how investigators could access documents from the Minnesota Democrat. Omar has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.
The search also stood out because the Justice Department generally avoids steps that could affect an election this close to Election Day.
All right. The Vatican says that Pope Leo spent a good night in the hospital, and he thanked fellow Catholics for their prayers in his first message after undergoing surgery for lung cancer in Rome. The Vatican said the pontiff is recovering as expected and will remain in the hospital for about a week.
In his message, the pontiff wrote, "I thank you warmly for your prayers and for the work you have done together. Your sharing of experiences and attentive listening are indeed a gift to the whole church. I ask you, please to pray for me as I pray for you."
A speedy recovery. Lots to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, the man convicted of killing four college students in Idaho, returns to court today. What he's trying to do to get his guilty plea thrown out.
And -- a dramatic rescue as officers pull a man from a burning car. More from this body cam video coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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[05:11:31]
SMITH: There are some new fallout from the 2024 gang rape allegations at Cornell University. Wednesday, Cornell's faculty senate took the first steps for a no confidence vote against university leadership. That meeting closed to the public. Decision is expected early next month.
But as faculty debate how to move forward, the CNN investigates team examined four years of sexual assault cases at Cornell. According to their findings, the university punished several students who we're found responsible for sexual assault with extra study and reprimands, but rarely expulsion. Cornell's practices now under intense national scrutiny after a former student known in court documents as Jane Doe, sued the school and others last month saying that she was gang raped at a fraternity house in 2024.
Now, if you or anyone you know is struggling after a sexual assault, you are not alone. Free confidential 24/7 support is available online at RAINN.org. That's RAINN with two N's, or you can call 1-800-656- HOPE.
Bryan Kohberger will appear in a post-conviction hearing today to request a new judge to oversee the next steps in his case. Attorneys for the man found guilty of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students are arguing that comments the judge made during his sentencing show bias and call into question his ability to remain impartial for upcoming proceedings. If the court denies Kohberger's petition, his convictions and life sentences will remain in place and if a judge allows him to withdraw his guilty plea, the case could return to trial, which would put the death penalty back on the table.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris is urging governments and tech companies to put A.I. safeguards in place, warning that the window for containing its gravest risks is quickly closing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think it's critical. You know, the analogy really the -- I think the most appropriate analogy is how we came together around nuclear. But the difference in large part among many is that what we are dealing with now is being created by the private sector, entirely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, right.
HARRIS: And if we are to have any -- any guardrails and safeguards, they have to be at the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Harris went on to list three main threats -- cybersecurity, bioweapons, and A.I. agents acting on their own.
Sticking with A.I., OpenAI accuses a former employee of stealing intellectual property and sharing it with Apple. Court documents say the employee worked at Apple before joining OpenAI for six months. The company alleges he downloaded more than 100 confidential files to personal accounts, then gave a presentation to Apple senior leadership. Apple tells CNN it found no evidence it received stolen data and says it will work with OpenAI on a resolution.
Severe weather sparked a huge tornado in West Texas on Wednesday. These are images from Fort Stockton in Pecos County. You can see the massive scale of the twister as it looms over fields, homes and businesses.
[05:15:00]
Meanwhile, the flood threat and the heavy rainfall that continues in the Southern Plains, and there are warm record breaking temperatures ahead.
Here's CNN's Allison Chinchar with the latest forecast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Another day of heavy rainfall across the southern plains that will continue through the remainder of Thursday. And then the rain begins to make its way farther off to the north and east, as we wrap up the rest of the week. Here, you can see the morning hours. We do still have some showers, especially around Kansas City, stretching all the way back down to the Texas-Mexico border.
But it's what occurs in the afternoon and the evening hours. Notice we really start to get a lot more of these showers and even some thunderstorms beginning to fire up late into the day. Those will continue through the overnight hours as they continue to slide off to the east, but not very much. A lot of the heavy rain really just stays focused across Oklahoma and Texas.
For Friday, this is where we're looking at most of the rain. To be kind of focused is up into the northeast as well as the mid-Atlantic.
Now, out ahead of that front, we've been talking about this for days. You've got a lot of very warm air, so warm that we've got record breaking temperatures in some of these cities. A couple of them, its now going to be multiple days in a row of those record temperatures -- 92, for example, in Nashville for the high temperature Thursday, 88 in Atlanta, several others reaching those upper 80s and low 90s.
But it's likely going to be the end of it as we head into the weekend, those temperatures are expected to drop back. Take Nashville, for example. That 92 on Thursday drops all the way down to only 69 on Friday. Atlanta, it's a little bit more of a delayed effect. Still warm for both Thursday and Friday before the temperatures drop back to highs only in the 60s for the weekend.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: All right. Still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, the fatal incident at six flags this week brings new scrutiny to ride safety. What a new CNN analysis shows about past allegations against Six Flags theme parks.
And a new investigation into suspicious letters in the mail that contained a strange, powdery substance. That and more right here on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:21:30]
SMITH: Among a multitude of questions swirling around D.C. right now, there is one that continues to be striking a nerve. Is the new press secretary actually a lawyer?
Katie Zacharia has presented herself as a lawyer and even President Trump called her an attorney when announcing her appointment. He was asked about that on Tuesday. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: What state did she pass the bar exam in? You said she's an attorney, where did she pass the bar exam? Which state?
TRUMP: Which state?
REPORTER: Can she tell us?
KATIE ZACHARIA, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: When I moved to China.
REPORTER: Where did you pass the bar exam?
ZACHARIA: When I moved to China.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: So you heard Zacharia say that she passed the bar exam when she moved to China. That's causing some confusion because it turns out only Chinese citizens can take their version of the bar exam. And you can't take an American state bar exam while residing in China.
Zacharia later told "The New York Times" she misheard the question. So is she legally allowed to practice law here in the U.S.?
Anderson Cooper asked CNN's Zach Wolf about it last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, AC360: So is she practice -- license to practice law in any of the 50 states? I assume she does have a law degree, right?
ZACHARY WOLF, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER: She does. She went to Pepperdine. She has a law degree. She's still active in the school there, you know, on the on the dean's council.
But there's no evidence that she passed a bar exam. It seems like if she had taken one, the White House would simply have told us that at this point, and specifically in California, there is no record of her ever taking the bar exam. And interestingly, in that state where she lived, it's actually illegal as it is in many other states, to present yourself as an attorney or a lawyer. She's used both the term attorney and lawyer online and social media to describe herself, and it can be punishable by prison time or, you know, a fine.
There has been a complaint raised by a watchdog group today asking for the state bar of California to investigate whether there is anything untoward that happened here, but it's possible because of that states privacy laws that well never know the results of any -- any kind of investigation like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: The White House is defending Zacharia's appointment with spokesman Stephen Cheung calling her, quote, "uniquely qualified and whip smart".
New this morning, a deadly accident at Six Flags in Georgia is raising new questions about safety. A CNN analysis of public and court records found the company had already faced accusations of poor maintenance amid hundreds of injuries. It temporarily closed ten rides in seven states this week after a 42-year-old man who worked at an Atlanta charter school fell to his death on the Goliath roller coaster Monday. Several other people we're also reportedly hurt.
Six Flags was already under scrutiny over a ride safety after a CNN investigation found its X2 coaster at Magic Mountain was linked to serious brain injuries, hospitalizations and deaths. Now, records from more than a dozen parks show more problems, including a derailment, faulty restraints and rider injuries.
Investor lawsuits accused the company of failing to maintain its parks, and Six Flags told CNN it is committed to rigorous inspection, maintenance and safety procedures.
Election offices in several states say that they've received suspicious letters containing a powdery white substance this week. The FBI and U.S. postal inspection service are investigating. No injuries have been reported. The letters arrived just weeks before the midterms.
[05:25:02]
In 2024, similar powder filled packages we're sent to election officials in at least six states ahead of the presidential election. We'll continue to bring you any updates that we receive there.
Straight ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, new details this morning about the raid at Representative Ilhan Omar's house. What happened between the Justice Department and the judge in the fight for the warrant?
And the message Pope Leo is sending after his surgery from lung cancer. That story and more coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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