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House Republican: "Trump is Dragging the Party Down"; Andrews, Graham Clash in South Carolina Senate Debate; Federal Agents Search Home of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 12, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:01:09]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, midterm woes. New CNN reporting about concerns that President Trump's presence on the campaign trail is actually bringing Republicans down.

And federal officers execute a search warrant at the D.C. area home of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. We'll bring you the latest.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is on assignment. You're in The Situation Room.

Happening now, countdown to the midterms. We are now just 22 days from a consequential election with control of the U.S. Congress on the line. And CNN has new reporting that reveals Republicans are in triage mode, scrambling to prevent steep losses.

Today, President Trump is hitting the campaign trail in Ohio. But some Republicans worry that he's gotten so unpopular that his being on the trail may be doing more harm than good. One House Republican running for reelection telling CNN, and I'm quoting now, "Trump is dragging the party down."

Let's go to CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox right now. Lauren, tell us more about the GOP's concerns right now.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, Wolf, they are in a situation with just three weeks to go until the election where they have to make some tough decisions about where to invest money. Republicans have poured millions upon millions of dollars into so many of these races across the country, but they are having to make some tough calls about where to reallocate some of those resources given the fact that there may be places on this map that just are not going to be a win for Republicans come November.

They've already moved out some money from North Carolina, the top Republican campaign arm on the Senate side, moving money out of there, reallocating about $10 million in the state of Kansas, $5 million in the state of South Carolina. And those are traditionally Republican strongholds. But given the environment, high gas prices, high grocery prices, they are seeing right now a situation in which they truly are having to triage what their campaign strategy looks like for the next several days.

You heard from one Trump adviser when we were reporting out this story, "We were all hoping the war was going to be over by now, but it's not. We shouldn't have a fight in a place like Texas, but obviously we do." One Trump adviser said. And just to put a finer point in that, you've seen that outside groups have poured about $100 million into supporting Ken Paxton in the United States to run for the United States Senate because of concerns right now that even a state like Texas, a Republican stronghold, could be lost given the fact that they are just triaging so many of these races across the country right now, Wolf.

Now, I'm told from many Republicans that I talk to that at the end of the day, a lot of Republican voters might come home. They are hoping that some of this polling that they're seeing isn't capturing some of these low propensity Trump voters. But obviously, Wolf, this is a really serious situation if you are a Republican looking at this map, knowing that you have just three weeks until the November election.

BLITZER: All right, Lauren Fox reporting for us. Lauren, thank you very, very much.

One race Republicans are concerned about is the Senate race in South Carolina. And it's surprisingly competitive right now for such a deep red state. Republican Senator Darline Graham is under a tremendous pressure to prove she's ready for the job. She was appointed to the seat after her brother, the late Senator Lindsey Graham, died in office.

Voters are still talking about her last debate where she admitted she was, "not that informed when it comes to national security." But Sunday, Graham tried to shift the focus to her Democratic opponent, Dr. Annie Andrews. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[11:05:12]

SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): Annie Andrews will not stand up to the Socialist Democratic Party. She's only going to join them.

ANNIE ANDREWS (D-SC), SENATE CANDIDATE: She's been told to come out here and call me Bernie, Ocasio, Mamdani. That's what's in her script. But the truth is, my name is Annie Andrews. And there shouldn't be any confusion about that, because unlike my opponent, I haven't changed my name.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN national correspondent Dianne Gallagher is tracking all these developments for us. Diane, what stood out to you from last night's debate?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Wolf, you mentioned an unexpectedly competitive race. And you could really feel that in the debate last night, which was contentious and sometimes personal, as Darline Graham, the Republican appointed to fill the remainder of her late brother's current term after he suddenly died in July, went after Annie Andrews, a Democrat who is gaining ground in what is usually a reliably Republican state.

Now, they, along with libertarian Casey Whitener, they clashed on issues like health care, data centers, immigration and spending, as Graham sought to paint Andrews as a radical left candidate, a socialist masquerading as a moderate. And Andrews painted Graham as an unserious, unqualified candidate put in place by Washington insiders to do their bidding.

Now, there was a lot riding on this for Graham. Republicans just invested about $5 million in South Carolina to bolster her struggling campaign after President Trump urged her to run for this full term. We didn't hear Trump's name a lot during this debate, but Graham, unlike other Republicans this cycle, didn't do anything to separate herself from the President or any of his unpopular policies, including the war in Iran, something Andrews seized on and also used as an opportunity to bring up that embarrassing debate answer from the primary runoff.

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ANDREWS: My opponent is the only one on this stage who had the opportunity to vote to end the war. But three times in a row, she voted to continue it. And several days after one of those votes, she had the audacity to walk out onto this stage and admit that national security isn't really her thing. South Carolina, if your surgeon said that appendectomies aren't really his thing, would you still hand him a scalpel? No. So why would we hand Darline Graham a full term in the U.S. Senate? She is unserious and unqualified.

GRAHAM: We all want the war to end, but I support a strong military. I believe in peace through strength. But talking about not my thing, let's talk about what's not your thing. Your thing apparently is not being honest with people of South Carolina. At least I'm honest. If I don't know something, I'm glad to say it. And I'll say it again tonight. But you have -- you are deceiving the people of South Carolina. You have flip flopped on everything. There's so many social media posts out there to prove different. Shame on you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, Graham did sneak in two jabs on Andrews about transgender issues, something that her campaign has hit the Democrat hard on. But they weren't asked any questions about it and nobody had to go into their position. So Andrews didn't actually have to go into it. I spoke with Republicans after the debate who tell me that there were no major flubs and they feel like Graham did what she needed to do to get herself across the finish line.

And, Wolf, this is likely going to be the only debate between the two of them. Andrews pressed Graham to do another one. But at this point, it's just this one.

TAPPER: All right, Dianne Gallagher reporting for us. Dianne, thank you very, very much. And joining us now, CNN political commentators Karen Finney and S.E. Cupp. And good morning to both of you. S.E., let me start with you. CNN's new reporting shows that Republican officials are in triage mode right now to avert major losses, with one saying the President is dragging down the party. First of all, do you agree? And how likely is a Democratic sweep in November?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do agree. You know, I host an election show every day. I'm talking to voters every day. And I hear this. And it's not just in the places that we're all talking about, like Texas, Ohio, Alaska, Iowa, and how crazy it is that Republicans are having to spend money in those places. It's also places like Maine. I think in another environment, Susan Collins would not have as difficult a time winning her reelection there.

I think in Michigan, Mike Rogers is kind of the prototypical Republican candidate for a place like Michigan. And he's having a hard time. And that's because some of these candidates, including Collins, including Mike Rogers, are having to decide where do I agree with the President and where do I feel comfortable stepping away from him. It's just a little late for that. If we've spent the past two years hearing some of these people defend Trump on the war and tariffs, and now suddenly they're trying to sort of nuance their way out of those positions, it just feels a little late with less than three weeks to go.

[11:10:27]

BLITZER: S.E., let me follow up and play something for you that the President said at a rally on Saturday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's such love. It's like, like, I mean, it's amazing. When you stand up here, it's just like the love. I could say the stupidest things and you clap, you know, I love you so. That's true. But we don't say the stupidest things. We say things of common sense. We say things that make sense. And we probably are mostly conservative. But it's not really conservative. It's things of common sense. I don't actually have to be in Tennessee because Bill Hagerty is going to win. Marsha is going to win. You better win, Marsha. She took a little risk. She decided to leave the Senate. But she's great. She's going to win. These guys are all going to win. These congressmen are phenomenal. So I'm saying, what the hell am I doing in Tennessee?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, S.E., how helpful are comments like this when Republicans are expressing more and more concern?

CUPP: Incredibly helpful for Democrats. Incredibly. I mean, to have the leader of the Republican Party going out and not just mocking his own voters, but mocking candidates. Mocking issues like affordability. I mean, you don't really even need to campaign as a Democrat. The President is doing so much heavy lifting and thinking, in his mind, I can say anything and get away with it. I'm just not sure that's true. We're hearing from a lot of voters who feel, Trump voters who feel betrayed by Republicans, who feel embarrassed by Republicans. So I'm just not sure he can get away with that this time.

BLITZER: Karen, let me get your thoughts. So the Texas Democratic Senate nominee, James Talarico, is back out there on the campaign trail after saying he had the flu. His opponent's campaign published a flurry of social media posts claiming Talarico is nowhere to be seen, their words. This is a very tight race right now that potentially could influence which party winds up taking control of the Senate. Do you think his absence from the campaign trail will hurt his campaign?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't. And actually, what we've seen is that he has maintained about the same position over the time that he had to be off the campaign trail. Obviously, it's a very smart decision for him to be doing this town hall with CNN to get himself right back out there. But, you know, I want to pick up also on something that S.E. said. I mean, you really have to believe that the American people are stupid to not be able to connect the dots between the economic pain that they're feeling, the decisions that Donald Trump himself has made, and the Republicans who have been in Congress, not just defending them, but voting in support of them and not holding him accountable.

And so they look at someone like a Ken Paxton and they realize, wait a second, he's going to be another vote for Trump. He's not going to be a vote for me. I think it's, you know, Democrats ought to go back and let's recycle. I would refresh it a bit. Let's put people first, because we've had 10 years of Donald Trump really putting himself first, frankly, when he wasn't president. And you hear someone like James Talarico talking about people and you hear Paxton, the best he's got is to attack James Talarico. I mean, that's part of the problem here on this equation is that the Republican candidates themselves, they're trying to deflect from their own baggage and their own issues in addition to not wanting to be able -- not wanting to have to talk about Trump and not wanting to have to defend that record.

BLITZER: Let me follow up with you, Karen. Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, said, and I'm quoting him now, "I am concerned that Donald Trump and Mike Rogers are not committed to the institution of our democracy." He went on to say this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D-MI), SENATE CANDIDATE: We've got to win by massive numbers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or else what?

EL-SAYED: Donald Trump has already threatened to do what he did in 2020, which is deny the outcomes of an election. And right now he is President of the United States. He has weaponized ICE in ways that are really quite dangerous if you think about the implications for our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: So what is your level of concern, Karen, when it comes to election integrity and candidates accepting the results of these upcoming midterm elections?

[11:15:02]

FINNEY: Yes. Look, Wolf, like a lot of folks, I'm concerned, but I have faith in the American people. You know, our mantra on the Democratic side is too big to rig. And, you know, myself and a lot of organizations across the country, we are very focused right now. Early voting has started in a lot of places and making sure people have made a plan to vote. They know where their polling location is. They have access to nonpartisan information at resources like 1-866-OUR-VOTE, where if they have any questions or any problems, they can get those questions answered.

And so I think the most important thing we do, I share the concern, but we just got to make sure that voters, you know, understand it's kind of like COVID. We told folks, look, it's going to be a little different when you go to the polls. We want to make sure people, again, they have a plan. They know that they may expect, you know, some challenges, but that they can do it. They're going to be able to vote. It's important to vote early in person if possible because, you know, that kind of mitigates a lot of the potential for any kind of chaos at the polls.

BLITZER: All right. Let me get S.E. back into this conversation. S.E., Elon Musk has poured at least $276 million into these midterm elections since the summer, reemerging as the top known donor to the Republican Party. Just last week, we reported that the President purchased $5 million of bonds issued by SpaceX, which is run, of course, by Elon Musk, just days before making a key policy change that would benefit SpaceX. How concerned are you about Musk's influence on American politics? S.E., what do you say?

CUPP: Well, I'm very concerned. I'm very concerned about cronyism in general in this administration. And this is just one more example of it. But I also know that people reject the kind of parachuting in that Elon Musk is attempting to do again. They rejected it when he tried this in a judge's election in Wisconsin. I think people are wise to this now, and they don't want to see these elections being hijacked by technocrats, by the oligarchy, our version of that, by billionaires, by Trump's chosen friends. So I think people's eyes are open to that now in a way that maybe, you know, they weren't in previous elections.

BLITZER: And Karen, let me get your reaction as well. Go ahead.

FINNEY: Yes, I agree, actually, with S.E. I think people are a lot more savvy about looking at who's paying for ads and where the money is coming from. I mean, we've seen that certainly in the Democratic Party primaries, but also just this whole, you know, I serve on the board of End Citizens United, and this whole money in politics has really become such a huge issue this cycle. Because people are realizing that the dollars that are coming in from people like Elon Musk means you have candidates who, when it's time to make a decision, they're making decisions based on what's good for Elon Musk, not necessarily what's good for them.

And obviously, you're hearing candidates talk about that on the campaign trail. And frankly, I also think when they see what Trump is doing, when they see Trump talking about an arch, when they see these stories about taxpayer-funded ads, which I know Judge has now said he's got a halt, but still, people see that and they say, that kind of corruption is not helping me deal with my pocketbook issues. They're not keeping my health care costs low, you know, again. So I think it just adds to this feeling and frustration against, as S.E. so beautifully said, the oligarchy that people now associate with people like Elon Musk.

BLITZER: Karen Finney and S.E. Cupp, to both of you, thank you very, very much.

And this note, make sure to tune in to a new CNN Jubilee town hall. Senate candidate James Talarico comes face-to-face with Texas voters. Erin Burnett moderates the CNN and Jubilee town hall with James Talarico. That's Wednesday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN and streaming live with an all-access subscription.

And happening now, federal officers carry out a search warrant at Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's home in the D.C. area. Up next, we've got late-breaking details.

[11:19:22]

Plus, Ukraine's president says Russia has already violated the surprise energy so-called ceasefire President Trump announced over the weekend. Can the deal actually hold? Lots going on. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Happening now, federal agents have carried out a search at the D.C. area home of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. The Justice Department says it's part of a criminal investigation. CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz is gathering all the latest information for us. Katelyn, what are you learning?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A criminal investigation into the Democratic Congresswoman who is running for re- election in the middle of election season, a highly unusual thing to be happening this morning, the search of Representative Ilhan Omar's home in the Washington, D.C. area.

Now, a couple things we've learned so far about this Wolf. This is being done by Homeland Security investigations. Investigators, those would be the jackets that you can see on their backs. It's indicating they are from the Homeland Security Department. That means that their -- this is very likely some level of an immigration probe.

[11:25:13]

Now, the criminal aspect of this, there haven't been any charges filed or any accusations that Representative Omar herself has violated any laws. However, this does mean that the Justice Department has been involved here and they would have went to a federal judge to get court authorization for conducting the search at this time.

Here's a little bit more that we have from a Justice Department spokesperson today. They say that Homeland Security investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Justice Department and that this enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. Not much more about what exactly this investigation would be.

But the White House border czar our Tom Homan. He commented on this this morning. Here he is on "Fox News."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: We know this investigation was ongoing for a while. There was a warrant executed this morning. So I'll leave it at that. It is specific to the investigation. I think I need to turn that over to Todd Blanche or Markwayne Mullin. I don't want to get ahead of them commenting on an ongoing investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: It's all very unusual, though, even to have anyone from the administration commenting on an ongoing criminal investigation, especially if charges have not been filed so close to the election involving a sitting member of Congress who's running for reelection.

And then on top of that, this is not just any member of Congress. This is one of the women in what is commonly called the squad, the group of female Democratic lawmakers that the Republican right has largely criticized. And Donald Trump himself has called a disgrace. So, Wolf, a lot to come here. I should also note that Representative Omar is a U.S. citizen. She immigrated to the United States after fleeing Somalia as a child with her family.

BLITZER: All right, Katelyn Polantz with the latest developments. Thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, a health update on Pope Leo as he reveals he will need surgery. We'll go live to Rome for the latest. Stay with us.

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