Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

CNN Poll Shows Congressional Democrats Hold Ten-Point Edge Over Republicans; Trump Envoy Witkoff Meets With Putin for Three Hours; Evacuations, Explosion Risk in Ohio as Industrial Chemical Tank Leaks. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 21, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news: American freed. Russia releases a 74-year-old retired teacher who has been imprisoned there in Russia for more than four years. The latest we're learning about the negotiations to bring him home.

Incendiary ad, GOP Gubernatorial Nominee Vivek Ramaswamy releases an ad featuring his opponent Amy Acton's estranged mother. Why Acton's campaign is now calling it, quote, despicable.

$8 billion relief plan, President Trump announces a massive aid package as farmers across the country strain under skyrocketing fuel costs. The founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association will join us live. That's coming up.

And one-on-one with Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist will join us on why he's appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court as he fights deportation.

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.

And we begin with the breaking news. Brand-new CNN poll numbers just out with less than two weeks before the midterm elections, and they are very bad news for President Trump and his fellow Republicans. The president's job approval rating now stands at only 32 percent. That's a record low for him.

And while the president is not on any ballot, anti-Trump sentiment certainly is. Congressional Democrats are hitting the final stretch with a ten-point advantage over Republicans nationwide. That's based on the voter's choice in their own district. Republicans are facing broad dissatisfaction with the U.S. economy and the state of the country as they try to hold onto Congress.

I want to bring in CNN political director, the Washington bureau chief, David Chalian, right now. David, thanks for joining us.

President Trump is really hanging over these midterms isn't he right now?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Without a doubt. I mean, you noted that low mark of his approval rating across his two terms, but just look at how his approval rating has come down over the course of this term. Since February of 2025, Wolf, he has been on a steady decline from 47 percent approval at the start of this term, now down to that record low of 32 percent. And it's happening among his fellow Republicans, too. He's at a low point in approval among his fellow Republicans.

And, you know, Wolf, this is not where a president wants to be in a midterm period just a couple weeks before the election. You could stack Trump up to his modern-era predecessors before midterms, and he is at the low mark of all of those as well.

BLITZER: How is the president, President Trump, viewed on the issues specifically?

CHALIAN: Well, in every issue we tested, Wolf, he is below majority approval. His best issue is at 41 percent approval on voting and elections. You see immigration there at 38 percent. Those are pretty anemic numbers to begin with, and those are his strongest issues. But look at the bottom of that list, Wolf. On the most important issue to voters, the economy, inflation, cost of living, that is where Donald Trump is performing the worst.

BLITZER: Is the economy a decisive issue for many voters?

CHALIAN: Without a doubt. It is overwhelmingly the most important issue. Nothing else comes close, voters tell us in our poll. But also for Donald Trump, Wolf, this is the big change maker from his first midterm election in 2018. Look at that first column. His approval rating on the economy now stands at 27 percent. Eight years ago when he was heading into the midterm elections, by the way, his party lost 41 seats in that election, he was at majority approval on the economy, 53 percent.

And if you look, the assessment of the economy in the country among Americans in our poll now is far worse than it was at that point eight years ago. I mean, overwhelming majority now say 20 -- or 69 percent, an overwhelming majority said then that economic conditions were good. Now, it is only 26 percent of Americans in our poll say economic conditions are good. Wolf?

BLITZER: How do Americans, according to all these latest polls, view the war with Iran and its impact on the U.S.?

[10:05:01]

CHALIAN: It's a good question, Wolf. This war was unpopular when it started, and its unpopularity has hardened, especially as people have felt the pinch from the war at the gas pump. 67 percent say that Trump's decision to -- on Iran military action has hurt. Only 18 percent say helped, 14 percent not made a difference. Two-thirds of Americans say his decision to go to war with Iran has hurt.

BLITZER: All right. David Chalian with all the latest numbers, very important information, thank you very much.

CHALIAN: Sure.

BLITZER: And there's more breaking news we're following. An American detained in Russia for years has just been released. 74-year-old former teacher Stephen Hubbard is on his way back home.

We'll have much more on that coming up in just a few moments. But all of this comes as the U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff held a three- hour meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in part to discuss a way to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Witkoff met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, yesterday.

And this morning, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Elon Musk is responsible for ordering a slowdown of a crucial satellite communication system used by Ukraine, which made the country more vulnerable to Russian attacks in recent days. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said this morning that the system is still limited, not good for Ukraine.

Let's go live right now to CNN's Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak. Kevin, what more are you learning, first of all, about Witkoff's meeting this morning?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And Steve Witkoff arrived to that imperial palace in St. Petersburg with new iterations of this plan to try and bring the war in Ukraine to an end. He said that he had some papers that he wanted to show Vladimir Putin, and he asked Vladimir Putin to review them at his leisure later in the day.

You know, he arrived there after meetings in Oslo with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and representatives from European countries. A U.S. official described those meetings as constructive. They said that the Ukrainians had come to them with some new proposals for how to bring the war to an end. You know, our understanding is that this new plan would include security guarantees for Ukraine, plans for economic reconstruction in that country, and plans for European integration for Ukraine.

But it also includes some incentives for Russia to agree to some kind of deal. And what the White House officials and what President Trump has said is that they do hope that these new economic incentives will make Vladimir Putin more willing to compromise to come up with some sort of plan to see this war end. And you've seen President Trump over the last several weeks or so really siding in an extraordinary way with Russia, saying that Ukraine needs a new president.

You know, when it comes to this question of Starlink and Starshield, which is the military version of that satellite system that Ukraine has relied on for its missile and drone programs, there are still a lot of questions about what exactly led to that slowdown. Elon Musk has said that that order would have come from the White House and from President Trump. The White House has insisted, and President Trump himself has insisted that he had nothing to do with it. And so still, I think some remaining questions about what exactly happened there. But you've also seen President Trump side with Russia in the form of this deal to purchase diesel from Moscow. You've also seen the president delay sanctions on Russia that were part of the Lindsey Graham Act, the president saying that he didn't want to scupper any chance of peace negotiations at what is a very critical moment.

But that could prove somewhat awkward when the president heads to South Carolina today to campaign with Lindsey Graham's sister, Darline. She has said that she disagrees with the president on that particular move to waive sanctions for now on Moscow.

BLITZER: All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House for us, Kevin, thank you very, very much.

I want to continue the breaking news out of Russia right now. This is new video of Stephen Hubbard, the American imprisoned by Russia for four years, and now leaving the country with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The U.S. said the 74-year-old retired American teacher had been wrongfully detained.

Let's go live right now to CNN Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Matthew Chance, who's in Moscow for us. So what details, Matthew, do you have on Hubbard's release?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we know that even before the meeting, this critical meeting in St. Petersburg, between Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, began that Stephen Hubbard, that 74-year-old U.S. citizen originally from Michigan, was already released. He'd already been transferred over to the airport in St. Petersburg where he awaited his flight back to the United States. It's not clear whether he was going on Witkoff's plane back with him or whether he took a separate aircraft.

[10:10:01]

We haven't got that established.

But, you know, this is a massive relief for -- obviously for him and for the -- for Mr. Hubbard's family. You know, he's been held in sort of very difficult conditions for the past four years in a penal colony in Mordovia, which is a quite remote part of Russia where there's a -- you know, where a lot of foreign prisoners are actually, are actually held.

And he's had some very acute health problems as well. I mean, he's not a young guy, you know, 74 years old. He was detained back in 2022 a- and accused of and admitted to -- pleaded guilty to, rather, sort of fighting for the Ukrainian defense forces. His family have subsequently said, look, that, there's no way he could have done that. You know, he's more of a pacifist than anything else.

Nevertheless, you know, that situation he was in, sentenced to something like six years in prison. He's served a good four years of that, and so, you know, he's done the bulk of his sentence anyway. But, you know, President Putin at that meeting saying that he was pardoned by the Russian Federation and then been allowed to go home.

So, it's being sort of characterized by Witkoff as a humanitarian gesture, and, of course, President Trump has lauded it as well as being something that was a sort of almost personal favor to him. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Matthew Chance with that news, we're glad he's on his way home, thank you very, very much.

And we're following other breaking news, this time coming out of Ohio, very hazardous material blanketing the Toledo area. One woman telling CNN, and I'm quoting now, my airways felt like they were burning. She'll join us live. That's coming up.

And later, straining under surging fuel prices, new CNN reporting into President Trump's plan to ease the pain and whether it will actually make a difference.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

BLITZER: Breaking news, there's a serious hazmat situation underway right now in Toledo, Ohio. Some people are being evacuated because of a, quote, hazardous material release. Others are being told to shelter in place. Officials say the chemical is an industrial product used in coatings. Symptoms of overexposure include headache, dizziness, tiredness, nausea, and vomiting.

Toledo's mayor says there's still a risk of explosion and that hazmat teams are re-evaluating whether they can approach the chemical tank.

Joining us now, two guests, Lynda Ragland, who took this video, also with her sister, Lynn Claybrooks. Lynda and Lynn, to both of you, thanks very much for joining us.

Lynda, let me start with you. What is the air like right now in Toledo where you are?

LYNDA RAGLAND, TOLEDO RESIDENT: It had -- it has a strange smell to it. I can't describe it because I don't know what chemical was exposed -- we have been exposed to.

BLITZER: Tell us --

RAGLAND: But it's definitely a chemical.

BLITZER: Yes. Tell us, Lynda, how you first figured out something was very wrong.

RAGLAND: A smell in my room, a strange smell, and a phone call from my auntie asking me was it smoky over in my area. So, I got up and I went downstairs, and I assumed the house was on fire because we just recently had that, a house on fire. So, I assumed it was a house fire. And when I opened up the door and first peeked out, I realized it was something different, and that's when I grabbed my phone.

And then when my nose started burning, I knew it was definitely something different. It was a -- it was -- the smell was so bad, I literally had to cover my, my mouth and my nose. That's how bad it was. And I ran in, I woke up all my family members, and checked on two of my grandkids who have asthma real bad, and I was more concerned about them than myself.

BLITZER: Yes, which is understandable. Lynn, officials said this morning there's no immediate health danger related to the incident that occurred last night, but do you believe that?

LYNN CLAYBROOKS, TOLEDO RESIDENT: I do believe for people that have asthma that, yes, it would be immediate health for someone who is suffering from some type of respiratory illness.

RAGLAND: Yes, it was -- I can't describe it because we don't even know. We done heard so many different names of what chemical and we don't even know.

So, I'm hoping that the city of Toledo, you know, the public deserves to know what we was breathing in last night. I had to cover up my air conditioners and put out towels around my door to try to keep it out. The inside of my own home was foggy. So, it was scary.

We've been up since 1:45 A.M.

CLAYBROOKS: Yes.

RAGLAND: We have not got any sleep. I was more concerned about everybody in the house, and everybody was nervous and didn't know what was going on.

BLITZER: Lynn, what have you heard from the city of Toledo? What are the officials telling you and others?

CLAYBROOKS: We're just basically watching the news. So, basically, we're just getting the information that we see on the news. And, basically, you know, just staying in. Well, currently we're not in, but --

RAGLAND: Yes, we're --

CLAYBROOKS: -- just basically staying in.

RAGLAND: The air is a little bit better now. And the only reason we're out, because I had to take my daughter to a doctor's appointment. You know, hospitals don't close, so I had to take her to her appointment, but the air is much better than last night. But you -- it's a strange smell.

[10:20:00]

And where we're at, we're pretty much farther away from our home. At my home, the smell is very strong. Here, it's just a little lingering. It's very strong at my home still. BLITZER: Have there been any official alerts at all, official alerts?

RAGLAND: There probably have been. I have not seen any. I'm just being honest. You know, I just got up. I was more concerned about my household and making sure everybody was safe. That was my major concern, was the two grandkids that has asthma. I was more concerned about them.

And all the Toledo Public Schools did close, so I wasn't worried about them having to stand at bus stops or walk to school. So, I wasn't concerned about that. I was glad that at least Toledo Public did that.

CLAYBROOKS: Yes.

BLITZER: How, how old are your grandchildren and, and how are they doing?

RAGLAND: The youngest is -- she's eight. That's the one that has -- she has anything, she gets sick real quick. She's the one that has the serious asthma problem.

And actually, the other one, he's not quite young. He's 21, and he has -- he was wheezing this morning. He was wheezing, so something triggered his wheezing.

BLITZER: Have there been --

RAGLAND: And we believe it was what --

BLITZER: I was going to say, have there been any issues, serious issues, health-related issues at this specific facility before that you know of?

CLAYBROOKS: No, none, whatsoever.

RAGLAND: None. This is -- we was blindsided by this. Waking up in the middle of the night, and this -- like I said, I thought it was a house fire because we just --

CLAYBROOKS: That's the first thing I did was run out.

RAGLAND: We recently thought because we recently had that issue, it was a house fire, and it was a fatal house fire. So, that's what I assumed, another house had caught on fire.

BLITZER: Well, good luck to all of you. And we'll stay on top of this story, make sure our viewers know what's going on.

RAGLAND: Thank you. We just want clarity of what we was breathing in. We don't even know.

BLITZER: Yes.

RAGLAND: That's all we want to know.

BLITZER: We just want to make sure you're safe and get through this ordeal.

Lynda Ragland and Lynn Claybrooks, to both of you, good luck, thanks so much for joining us.

CLAYBROOKS: Thank you.

RAGLAND: Thank you.

BLITZER: And coming up, President Trump is now rolling out plans to try to ease rising fuel prices. Is relief coming?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00]

BLITZER: Less than two weeks to go until the midterm elections here in the United States, and we have some brand new CNN reporting on President Trump's last minute push to try to bring down prices at the pump just ahead of election day. With gas averaging just over $4.25 nationwide right now, and diesel topping $6 voters are feeling the pinch, and sky-high fuel is becoming a political liability for both President Trump and the Republicans.

The administration has rolled out a series of moves in recent weeks to try and ease some of that pain. The latest, an $8 billion farmer rescue plan unveiled on Monday. It's the second major federal farm aid package in less than a year as farmers grapple with soaring fuel and fertilizer costs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE KULPER, PRESIDENT, IOWA CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION: Everybody in agriculture is tired, is, would be the best way to put it. They're just tired. They feel very beat up right now.

KELLY WALKER, OWNER, WALKER FARMS: The bottom line is you're trying to make it profitable so you can be here next year. But, you know, sometimes the fight gets to be too much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's go live right now to CNN Senior Reporter Matt Egan, who's in New York for us. Matt, the farmer relief plan is, what, the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to try to ease fuel prices. How much of an impact could these moves really have on voters' wallets, and how quickly?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Wolf, the president is waging this last-minute scramble to try to contain the damage from high fuel prices. He's bailing out farmers, importing Russian diesel, and trying to drive down skyrocketing shipping costs. All of these moves, they should be helpful on the margin, but none of them, none of them look like the silver bullet that will make energy cheap again.

And, look, there's no doubt the war with Iran has caused prices to skyrocket. Before the war started, gas was cheap, below $3 a gallon. Now, it's been stuck above $4 a gallon for more days this year than any other year in history.

Diesel, a crucial fuel for farmers and truckers, has also skyrocketed above $6 a gallon for the first time in history. And jet fuel, look at this, jet fuel has almost doubled from before the war. Airlines have responded by jacking up airfare, baggage fees, and killing some of their cheaper routes.

Now, all of this is really squeezing consumers just before the midterms. Research from Brown University shows that consumers are paying an extra $140 billion since the war started just on gas and diesel alone. That works out to almost $1,100 per household. And keep in mind, this doesn't even factor in other costs that have gone up, such as rising mortgage rates and other borrowing rates.

Now, the spike in diesel has really hurt farmers, and so the president has thrown them an $8 billion lifeline. These are one-time payments to farmers. The USDA has cited what they're describing temporary market conditions and increased input costs because it's not just diesel, it's also that spike in fertilizer.

[10:30:00]

Now, some of the details here are somewhat sketchy. Payment rates have not been disclosed, but researchers say that, yes, this $8 billion rescue.