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Political Ad Spending for Midterms Surpasses $10 Billion; Trump Holding Two Tele-Rallies Today from Oval Office; Source Says, U.S. Considers Using Mother of All Bombs on Iran. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 15, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, Talarico pitches his message. The Democrat in a critical midterm race faces skeptical voters in Texas. We'll bring you the top moments from the CNN town hall.

Plus, OpenAI sued. Eight states accuse the company of deceiving parents about ChatGPT safety risks for teens, an allegation OpenAI denies. The attorney general from one of those states will join us just ahead.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And President Zelenskyy says he feels betrayed by President Trump. The Ukrainian president is laying bare his mounting frustrations with the U.S. as he vows to resume attacks on Russian oil sites.

And Pope Leo's health, he's recovering after having part of his lung removed. What we're now learning from the Vatican about his cancer diagnosis.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

19 days, $10 billion, and one president on a cross-country campaign blitz as a new poll shows President Trump's approval rating at a new low. If you need any proof of how important these midterm elections are, just take a look at the money. More than $10 billion have been spent on campaign ads so far, and these midterms are on track to be the most expensive ever.

BROWN: And on another record-setting note, James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, has announced $64 million raised in third quarter. That is the most a Senate candidate has ever raised in a third quarter. Talarico is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a race that's as close as it is critical.

BLITZER: The Democrat faced voters last night at a CNN town hall and was asked about his previous claim that, quote, God is non-binary, a controversy that Republicans have seized on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: The first comment about about God not being defined by gender when I said that, I was being provocative, and I want to admit that and come clean about that.

But I think what I was saying is actually not controversial theologically, the idea that we can't define God using human categories.

So, yes, I was doing it maybe in an annoying way. I can admit that. But I think --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we have to be careful using modern cultural terms when talking about God.

TALARICO: Sure. I think that is very fair criticism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're covering all the angles here in the Situation Room. CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is in Fort Worth, Texas, where the town hall was last night, and our Alayna Treene is over at the White House. Jeff, let's start off with you. Give us a sense.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf and Pamela, James Talarico sat face to face with some undecided voters and some supporters and skeptics as well at that remarkable town hall on Wednesday evening here in Fort Worth. He made clear that he would fight for Texas and not the Democratic Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TALARICO: I will stand up to my own party if they mess with our oil and gas industry, and I will stand up to the other party if they mess with renewable.

Joe Biden failed us during his administration by not securing the border. I'm a border security Democrat.

I'm a proud Texas Democrat, but I already have a religion, and I already have a sports team. So, I have no problem, I have no problem sharing hard truths with my party if it's what's best for Texas.

The only minority destroying America is the billionaires. They are constantly trying to divide us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And there is no doubt that Talarico is trying to present himself as more of a moderate than he has been portrayed, certainly in this onslaught of Republican advertising here by Ken Paxton, his Republican rival, who's been saying that Talarico is simply too liberal for Texas.

Now, Paxton's name barely came up. It was in the final moments of the town hall when Talarico said this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TALARICO: You may have noticed that I haven't talked about my opponent at all tonight because I don't want people to vote -- I don't want people -- I don't want people to vote just against Ken Paxton. I want them to vote for me.

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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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now, this race is at the center of the fight for control of the Senate. There's no doubt about it. I mean, Republicans are exceedingly nervous about keeping this seat in their hands.

Democrats have not won a Senate seat in Texas since 1988, a year before Talarico was born. There is no clear leader now in polls. Enthusiasm is on the Democratic side. Spending is on the Republican side, despite Talarico announcing today that he has raised some $64 million in the third quarter, a record sum.

The final days of this campaign, early voting starts Monday, will be critical in this midterm election contest.

Back to you, Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much, Jeff.

I want to turn it over now to Alayna Treen at the White House. Alayna, the president is campaigning again today, but without leaving the White House. What can you tell us about that?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. He has some tele-rallies later today. I should note, he did get back from his West Coast swing at 4:00 A.M. this morning on Thursday. So, staying at the White House today, but he'll be back on the trail tomorrow, Wolf and Pamela, going to Georgia first on Friday, and then Saturday he'll be in Kentucky.

But, look, despite all of the different campaign stops he's done, this aggressive travel from the president, but also, of course, if you look at all of the money being poured in to many of these competitive races and also the ad blitz that we've seen as well across the country not really doing a lot when you look at the polls.

Despite that, if you look at this latest Fox News poll, it actually shows the president's approval rating at the lowest levels in Fox's polling history across the president's two terms. 36 percent of those polled saying that they approve of the president compared to 64 percent who say they approve of his job performance in office. And I think the warning signs are much more clear when you dig into the specifics of that. On the economy, only 29 percent of those polled said that they think the president is doing a good job, 22 percent saying they approve of his handling of inflation. All of this coming as we just got another bad inflation report this morning, Wolf and Pamela, with wholesale U.S. inflation soaring in September to its highest level in four years.

And that's really a huge issue for this White House and Republicans at large. They recognize that voters are really worried about the economy, and that is actually an issue that is driving the majority of them to the polls on November 3rd. So, this is something they're grappling with. But despite that, we did hear from the president yesterday.

He was in Montana and Arizona, and he talked about some of these issues, but he also went off script a lot and at one point talked about leakers and suggested, Wolf and Pam, that he believes leakers should be shot. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Leakers should be -- in my opinion, leakers should be shot. They should be shot.

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. No, leakers should be dealt with very, very strongly.

They're real -- To me, they're the scum of the earth. The leakers are the scum of the earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Pretty dark and controversial rhetoric there from the president.

And I note that while this isn't necessarily the issues that we know many Republicans are wanting their leaders to discuss with just less than three weeks until the midterm elections, this is a bit of red meat that he is throwing at his base as he continues to try and pull out all the stops to convince them to actually show up and vote on November 3rd.

BLITZER: Alayna, the new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, has presented herself as an attorney, but so far there's no evidence she's been admitted to any state bar. She did graduate from law school. So, what's the latest on that controversy that's erupted?

TREENE: There has been a lot of attention on Katie Zacharia's credentials, and specifically this claim that she's made repeatedly now on television presenting herself as an attorney, as a lawyer. She was actually asked about this on Tuesday shortly after she had taken the podium for the first time in the briefing room when a reporter asked, where did you pass the bar exam? And she responded that it was when she moved to China, something that also kind of you could see caught the president himself off-guard.

Now, a source familiar with the matter told CNN that Zacharia had actually taken the California Bar Exam but failed to pass it. That was something that was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. But Katie actually, Katie Zacharia, did speak with The New York Times yesterday trying to address and clarify some of this, particularly about her credentials.

And she said that on this question that she was asked when the president was departing, she said it was really loud. She said, I assume the question was, where were you after law school, explaining why she mentioned that she was in China when asked about where she had passed the bar.

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But she also told the Times that when she began appearing on cable news, she consulted with Pepperdine's president, Pepperdine is where she went to law school, and they said it was all right for her to refer to herself as a lawyer, but not to identify herself as an attorney or use the term esquire.

But a lot of questions about what this actually means. I should note, Zacharia also said that she had the credentials to practice international law in China, but there're still questions about what exactly those credentials are. All of this, I think, raising questions about her credibility.

I will say, the White House has defended her. The White House communications director, Steven Cheung, said that she is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team, saying she is uniquely qualified and whip-smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his administration have been doing. Wolf, Pam?

BROWN: All right, Alayna Treane, thank you so much.

And we have some breaking news to get to, some tragic news out of Pakistan. At least 32 children and a teacher were killed when the roof of their school collapsed after heavy rain. Rescue officials tell CNN that dozens of other people are injured, and that some children are still trapped in the rubble right now.

Pakistan's president calls it a, quote, heart-wrenching tragedy. Right now, an investigation is underway, and a police official is telling CNN the school's owner has been arrested.

BLITZER: And still ahead, CNN exclusive reporting. The U.S. now weighs whether to use the, quote, Mother of All Bombs on Iran.

BROWN: And then later, officials near Chicago say they stopped a teen from possibly carrying out a mass shooting at a Hindu temple, details on this disturbing story just ahead.

You're live in the Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

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BROWN: Breaking news, President Trump has called off the proposed live stream of the Fort Hood shooter's execution.

I want to go straight to Alayna Treene back at the White House. So, Alayna, this is quite the reversal here for the administration.

TREENE: It is, although we had reported a day or so ago, Pamela, that this was actually something the president and his team were fiercely debating behind the scenes with the president leaning toward wanting to call it off. Part of that because I was told by a, a couple sources familiar with the matter who said that the president had not at first realized that the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down. He was shot in the back during that mass shooting in the early 2000s, in 2013.

And so I just want to read for you, though, what the president had said here. He pointed out at the start of this post in this announcement calling off these plans, saying that Hasan was a vicious killer, that he was a former U.S. Army major turned traitor. But later on after detailing how terrible the crimes that Hasan committed, saying that, with all of that being said, I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the world to witness how America deals with terrorists and scum like Hasan, but many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die through streaming or through any other visual device. These are direct quotes from the president.

He confirms as well that the execution will move forward by firing squad, and that the only people who would be able to view it in person would be immediate families of the victims if they so choose.

Look, this was a huge controversy as soon as it was kind of floated by the Defense Department, and specifically by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, himself. He confirmed on social media that there were plans to live stream the execution. But it raised immediate concerns from, I think, people across the spectrum. We saw bipartisan backlash to this, many Republicans as well arguing a key point, which was that they believed in executing someone publicly for all to see in a live stream could potentially be used as propaganda by terrorists abroad.

And so this was something I know that the president, many of his advisers have been speaking with him about behind the scenes. He was leaning toward calling this off a few days ago. Now, he's made it official. Wolf and Pam?

BROWN: All right, Alayna Treene, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And also there's more news this morning. We have exclusive new CNN reporting. Multiple U.S. officials now telling us that the Pentagon has developed new strike plans on Iran that could potentially include what's called the mother of all bombs, strike plans to attack Iran's energy and nuclear sites.

CNN senior national security reporter Zachary Cohen is here with us in The Situation Room. This would be a pretty serious escalation, wouldn't it?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Absolutely, Wolf, and one that would almost certainly prompt a strong retaliation from Iran while also likely not forcing them to capitulate to U.S. demands. And in the case of Iranian nuclear sites, using this particular weapon against a site that -- with facilities located deep underground is unlikely to have the penetrating capability to actually destroy those targets, which raises the question of why would you take this step and use this particular weapon potentially if Donald Trump decides to resume combat operations?

And, and we're told that this weapon does carry a psychological effect that other more conventional munitions in the U.S. arsenal do not have, and it's one that President Donald Trump could use potentially to try to find a way to present a definitive end to this war, at least message it as such, try to sell that to the American people.

He's very aware that this war is deeply unpopular amongst Republican and Democrat voters.

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The midterms have really highlighted that for the president. He has publicly said that he does not intend to launch additional strikes, though, against Iran before the midterms, though one Trump adviser did question whether that could potentially change.

And I think what's clear here, though, Wolf, based on this reporting, is that President Donald Trump is looking for a way out of this conflict without having to commit additional U.S. forces to the region, without putting U.S. boots on the ground, and certainly, if he can avoid it, without escalating the conflict further for fear of it widening the war.

BLITZER: And this bomb, they call it the MOAB, the mother of all bombs. It's a huge, powerful, explosive device.

COHEN: Absolutely, but it's not designed, in particular, for these kind of targets, like underground facilities, or even destroying energy infrastructure, which is one of the things that was listed in this target package that sources described to us, too.

So, again, it does raise this prospect of is Donald Trump looking for something more performative that he can use to sell -- declare victory effectively and pull U.S. forces out of the region.

BLITZER: I want to ask you about another surprising comment we just heard from the president. He now says he may have gone too far in killing Iran's leaders. Tell us about that.

COHEN: Yes, Wolf, I think that comment does underscore a concern that was actually raised by the U.S. Intelligence Community before Donald Trump launched this conflict, which was that if you target the Iranian leadership, the now killed supreme leader, that that leadership would be replaced by a more hardline, likely IRGC-led conglomerate of Iranian officials.

And that's exactly what has played out here, and the president has been frustrated by that reality as he sought a diplomatic resolution, one that really does not appear to be in reach at this time.

BLITZER: Zach Cohen, thanks very much. You're a busy guy. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Coming up, new CNN exclusive reporting, a judge limits the Justice Department's access to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's records in a sprawling immigration fraud probe.

We'll be right back.

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BROWN: All right. Now to a CNN exclusive, sources tell us that a federal judge in Washington, D.C., has limited how the Justice Department could access documents taken from Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's home Monday in a search. That judge told prosecutors they would need to set up a process for screening the records to protect Omar's legislative work from investigators.

CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz is here in The Situation Room. What are you learning, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, there's a lot that has been unusual about this search of Representative Ilhan Omar's home. The timing, she's running for re- election, but also she's not just any person under criminal investigation right now.

She's a sitting member of Congress, and the Justice Department wanted to be very aggressive in the way that they were accessing and potentially seizing records from her home. Whenever they went to the court to get the search warrant, they wanted to treat it as if it were just her home, like any person's home, not a legislate -- not a possibility that there would be any legislative records there, communications that she would do as a lawmaker. And this is her home in D.C., so very close to where she would be working on Capitol Hill.

What ended up happening is that in sealed proceedings or back and forth with the judge in D.C., the judge ultimately told the Justice Department, You can't just go and take this congresswoman's records. You have to set up some level of process, because there are constitutional protections under the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution that say that there has to be some sort of mediation, sequestering those records, filtering them out, making sure that investigators don't get access to the legislative work, the official business of a member of Congress as they're investigating her. The impact here is it could slow down the investigation into Representative Omar quite significantly. It could take many months to get through documents that may have been seized in her home on Monday. And so, if there were to be charges based on what they believe they would find there and could get access to, it could take a very long time for those decisions to be made and the process to happen at the Justice Department.

BROWN: What more do you know about this investigation and what it's focused on?

POLANTZ: Yes. So, the sources we were talking to for this story about how the search went down, we also were able to get a very -- a much better understanding of what they were looking for in that search. This is an immigration fraud probe.

Now, Representative Omar has been facing federal investigation about her immigration to the U.S. in 2000. Now, she came to the U.S. as a Somalian fleeing that country as a child, but then she became a citizen in 2000. The allegation that is being looked at by federal investigators is whether she was a minor at that time or whether she actually may have been 18.

It's very hard to get records in Somalia, date of birth, that sort of thing. And there is going to be continued investigation. Was there a conspiracy around this in more recent years? Have there been subsequent false statements? So, a lot there, a lot of work for the Justice Department in the future here ahead if they want to keep pushing forward with this investigation.

BROWN: All right. Katelyn Polantz, thank you. Wolf?

BLITZER: And coming up Volodymyr Zelenskyy's growing frustration with the United States. Why the Ukrainian president now says he feels betrayed.

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