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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Trump Rallies In Deep-Red Nebraska 29 Days Before Election; New Audio Of 2024 Call Between Jane Doe And Fraternity Member; Trump Posts GOP Senator's Number In Fight Over Daylight Saving Time. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired October 05, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: And hopefully, this does not turn out to be something we need to speak to you again about. But you never know. We've been here before.
Dr. Peter Hotez, it's great to see you tonight. Thank you very much.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR, PEDIATRICS AND MOLECULAR VIROLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Thanks, John.
BERMAN: Obviously, a lot going on in the world.
The news continues right now. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" begins now.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: Tonight. President Trump campaigns in a state that he won three times. As a Republican member of Congress told my colleague, Jeff Zeleny, this is a, quote, five-alarm fire.
I'm Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
And as we come on the air tonight, President Trump is spending one of the most precious resources that a politician has, their time, on defense.
His last week of travel has focused mostly on states that six months ago Republicans would have likely considered to be in the safe column ahead of this November's midterms: Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio, and right now tonight Nebraska.
When he was asked about the schedule by my colleague, Kristen Holmes, as he was leaving the White House earlier today, this is how the President responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think when I travel there, their numbers go way up. We have massive crowds. We have another sold-out crowd today. We went to Ohio. We went to Texas. We went to Oklahoma. We're going to Michigan. We're going all over the country. When I go there, they pick up a lot of steam. When I go there, they win, and that's what I'm doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, if the President feels that Republicans need to pick up steam where he is tonight, at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds in Grand Island. It's pretty telling, given that's a congressional district where he won with 76 percent of the vote in 2024.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We won this state all three times by a landslide. You know that?
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: And I am very honored to have received more votes than any candidate in the history of politics for this great -- the people of this state. I'm with you all the way.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, Trump is in a deep red part of Nebraska. But where is he notably not going this evening? That would be Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, where Democrats are trying to flip the seat of a retiring Republican congressman, Don Bacon.
And the President is in Nebraska, as his Vice President JD Vance was campaigning in Alaska today. As a new CNN analysis ranks Alaska as one of the five Senate seats most likely to flip. When you expand that list, you can see Kansas is now in the top 10. Voters there have not elected a Democrat to the Senate in 94 years.
And right now, when sources look at this, sources say this is a quote, five-alarm fire. That's the message to my colleague, Jeff Zeleny, from a Republican member of Congress who is in a state that the President recently visited. That member of Congress told Jeff, quote, We always welcome the President, but I don't know if he's aware of the feelings out here.
Now, that said, Republicans do very much need the Trump base to turn out this November, even if his name is not on the ballot. And as he's been traveling the country, the President has been delivering that exact message in-person.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Just get out and vote. If you do that, we're going to win, and we're going to win big, and we're going to shove it up their ass.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: That was the President in Ohio, over the weekend.
This all comes, as tonight he's actually reversing course on one campaign move that had gotten backlash from Democrats, and even some Republicans.
After using millions of dollars, taxpayer dollars, to fund those campaign-style ads that all praise the President personally. You know, the ones that the White House had argued were public service announcements. After spending millions in taxpayer money to run those commercials on several national channels, including CNN, the President now writes tonight, quote, "I have decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc."
That would be his own Super PAC, which is right now sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars.
And it's a reversal from the President that comes just a few hours after the Vice President JD Vance defended the taxpayer-funded ads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JD VANCE (R), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: If you look at the message of those advertisements, they're not partisan. They're not, you know, it's not like we're advocating for a particular candidate. We're trying to tell a story, I think, about how great the United States of America is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: My first source tonight is the senior political columnist for POLITICO, Jonathan Martin.
And JMart, I mean, you were laughing watching that moment where -- I mean, the Vice President, of course, defended it. And hours later, the President says, Well, actually, we're not going to have them be taxpayer funded.
JONATHAN MARTIN, SENIOR POLITICAL COLUMNIST, POLITICO: Well, we're sitting here in Washington tonight, Kaitlan, but you can hear the sound of JD Vance being sawed off that limb, all the way out in Alaska at Elmendorf Air Force Base.
[21:05:00]
This is so classic Trump. People climb out on the limb to defend him, oftentimes defending the indefensible. And then an hour later, it's like, Never mind, actually, I'm going to pay for these things. And you just had your VP out there looking at the cameras, trying to explain why actually this was OK. But this is what he does. This is how he operates.
And when there is backlash, and you know this, Kaitlan, from covering him, Trump will back down sometimes. And when there's backlash from his own party, he sometimes does take an exit ramp, and he did tonight. COLLINS: Yes, it was kind of surprising, actually, I mean. But he does have hundreds of millions of dollars that he is sitting on. And these ads so far, I think, were about $10 million.
MARTIN: Yes.
COLLINS: So, it's not like that they can't pay for them. That's why it was so confusing, they were using Department of Homeland Security money.
MARTIN: And it's not coming out of the family trust fund. Exactly. This is coming out of a massive Super PAC that is loaded with money, some of which I think some candidates could use this year. So yes, I mean, it's not a hard call.
But why put your party through, what, 10 days of having to answer these questions about ads that are obviously political in nature? Even though he's calling them patriotic ads. It just creates challenges when your party is trying to find a message and they're having to answer these questions every day.
COLLINS: What do you make of his travel schedule? Where he's going? And today, as he was leaving the White House, he told my colleagues he might go to --that he's going to go to Michigan, and he might go to Maine.
MARTIN: Yes.
COLLINS: Does Susan Collins want the President in Maine?
MARTIN: If he goes to Maine, I'll buy you lobsters for the rest of our lives. I don't think we're going to see--
COLLINS: I'm allergic to lobsters.
MARTIN: OK. Clam chowder.
So, we're not going to see Donald Trump and Susan Collins together in Maine. He may go to Maine, but it ain't going to be with Susan Collins. So, that's for sure.
So, you mentioned our friend, Jeff Zeleny, a proud Cornhusker. Jeff has pointed this out. Kaitlan, the last time a president went to Grand Island, Nebraska, George W. Bush, 2006. The echoes of that campaign are eerie, they're so similar to today. And this is what happens. George W. Bush in October of 2006 got sent to Deep Red America because he wasn't wanted anywhere else.
And the fact is that blue state and purple state Republicans don't want to be with Trump because, they're already being hurt politically by Trump. Why would they remind voters about their connection to him? So, where can he be helpful? He can be helpful in these red states to galvanize turnout. And I think that actually is useful because, part of the problem that GOP has this fall is getting their base out. And if they don't show up, it's going to be a landslide.
COLLINS: Yes, but there are some states where he's saying, Pretend I'm on the ballot.
Those candidates want the exact opposite.
MARTIN: Well, especially for example, you mentioned -- you mentioned Nebraska, like if he's on the ballot in the Omaha congressional state, well, that's a real problem, right? Because he's very unpopular there. Different in the rest of the state. And for statewide candidates like Senator Ricketts, he's probably a net gain because he's at least driving out folks.
Apathy is the biggest challenge the Republicans have this. Like, you talk to pollsters in the GOP, their problem is just getting their people out, and there's just a massive enthusiasm gap. Democrats are willing to crawl over rocks to show up to vote.
COLLINS: Yes.
MARTIN: And right now, the Republicans don't want to show up.
COLLINS: Yes, and you wrote about in your latest column -- because one area that when I talk to Republicans, about their outlook on the midterms--
MARTIN: Yes.
COLLINS: --they're pretty realistic privately, off the record.
MARTIN: Yes. Sure.
COLLINS: One thing they have pointed to, though, is their fundraising numbers are way better than Democrats right now. And you write that that's also though where the money is being spent.
You said, quote, "Major Democratic contributors and small-dollar givers are flooding Senate hopefuls with cash, but in some of the most politically crucial states they could lose winnable gubernatorial races because they're being so dramatically outspent" by Republicans and Republican groups.
MARTIN: Yes. It's one of the great untold or under-told stories of this cycle, I wrote about it over the weekend, that, in places like Florida, Texas, Ohio, Nevada, Georgia, really consequential states on the presidential map, or at least they used to be, or perhaps will be again.
These candidates for governor who are Democrats are being just overwhelmed with money. And Democrats may leave some bread on the table this year politically because they just don't have the money to compete in gov. races because the culture, Kaitlan, of the Democratic Party is so focused on Trump and therefore focused on Congress, and these candidates for governor just don't get the same attention. Therefore, the money.
So, Talarico in Texas is going to be able to like walk away with like, you know, the King Ranch is his because he's going to have so much damn money. COLLINS: Yes.
MARTIN: But the candidates for governor in Texas or Florida are going to get overwhelmed by the Republicans. And if you don't have big money in those big states and you're a candidate for governor, it's really hard to win.
COLLINS: Huh? That's fascinating.
JMart, great to have you and your reporting, as always.
MARTIN: Kaitlan Collins, appreciate you. Go Tigers.
COLLINS: Roll Tide.
I knew, you were going to say that.
[21:10:00]
I want to turn now to the Senior Senator from New Jersey, Democratic Senator Cory Booker.
Senator, thank you for being here.
I wonder for you, what do you think the President's travel schedule says about how they're feeling about the midterm elections?
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Look, I think they realize that it's too little, too late. He hasn't been out there, and he's been hurting his candidates. We see this time and time again as more and more Republicans who are running for office disavow him.
So, he's going to travel. He's going to remind a lot of people in the very states he made the biggest promises. I'll keep us out of foreign wars. He got us into a quagmire. I'm going to lower your costs. He raised them. And every time he goes to one of those towns, he's going to be passing gas stations that are going to be billboards to his failures to keep gas prices down. They're at records high.
So, again, four weeks left. This is going to be an election that's not decided by his appearances, but by the frustrations the American people have with him.
COLLINS: He just announced that he or -- his Super PAC is going to be funding those campaign-style ads that have been being -- paid by the taxpayers with Department of Homeland Security money. As I mentioned to JMart. There was backlash over that, not just from Democrats but also from a few Republicans who said they didn't think it was appropriate.
Were you surprised that the President reversed course on that?
BOOKER: No. I mean, first of all, this is again another symbol of his callous disregard for what Americans are going through. A guy who's too concerned with his ballroom, his arch, gilding statues. I think it's actually the source of frustration. He didn't reverse course because of what Democrats said. He reversed course because he's reminding voters that he's an out-of-touch president, spending Homeland Security money, money -- millions that could be going to making us safer, for what were clearly campaign ads, and there was an outrage from the average American that said, this is more of him doubling down on all the things we hate about his presidency.
COLLINS: I mean, it was like $10 million. Do you think that they should -- the Trump campaign, that they should pay that money back to the federal government?
BOOKER: Absolutely. And the fact that Republicans in Congress aren't demanding it, just points out again that this Congress is full of hypocrites and, worse, enablers, that they're not asking for some kind of accountability from a president who is wasting money, millions that should be going to our national security on his campaign ads.
COLLINS: The President, over the weekend, did something that I don't think many people expected him to do, which was put out a video, encouraging Republicans to vote by mail.
And that comes -- the reason I say it's surprising is because there have been years of comments like these.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots.
Mail-in ballots are a big fraud.
It gives people more time to vote illegally, let's say.
We, as a Republican Party, are going to do everything possible that we get rid of mail-in ballots.
If your state has early voting, do not wait. Go out and vote. Vote early. Vote by mail, or vote in person on Election Day, November 3rd.
I'd rather have them vote in person, but they can vote by mail if they want because, we seem to have no choice. Because a lot of people want to vote by mail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Do you welcome those comments?
BOOKER: This is clearly a guy who's been scared straight. He's scared of losing, so finally he's giving straight talk to people. That, we have had generations now of people who have been voting by mail. He votes by mail, and finally, he's being -- he's level-setting with people. But unfortunately, he's doing so because he's afraid of losing this election.
COLLINS: You think that the reversal and telling people vote by mail, after saying it was rife with fraud, is because they're worried about Republicans' prospects?
BOOKER: Yes, he's worried that people won't vote by mail, and therefore because, many people are not able to go to the polls or are going to, for some reason, miss that day, he's afraid that they're going to lose out on those votes.
And we know that voting by mail is safe and secure. There are very few instances of the kind of fraud that he is alleging. And this is a president that finally, is leveling with the American people. I'm sorry that it took his own fears of losing to get him to be straight with folks.
COLLINS: You recently said that it is time for new Democratic leadership in the Senate. If Democrats win the majority, would you want the gavel?
BOOKER: Look, I'm focused right now on winning, and then I think we need to have a family conversation about whether people are getting gavels and leading committees, or who's going to be the leader of the Senate. One step at a time.
Right now, the American people, I think, are demanding change. They want a Congress that's going to hold this president accountable, not bend over backwards to enable him in the worst of behaviors and hurting the American people.
[21:15:00]
So, let's win back the Senate first, and every single state. The urgency is there. And folks can't take anything for granted, can't rely on the polls. Polls don't vote. We need people in this country, left and right, independents, to come out and vote, and let's check this president finally and stop his worst vices, his foreign war, his raising our costs, his taking away our health care.
COLLINS: OK. But that wasn't a no.
BOOKER: I'm not committing to anything after this election. One step at a time. And frankly, I'm crisscrossing the State of New Jersey, with key races there, and I'm going to be crisscrossing the country.
I'm going to run through the tape, and I'm going to be exhausted, tired because, this is the most important midterm of my lifetime. So much is on the line, and so many people are hurting. And the only way that we can make change is by being a part of that change and getting out and vote and working to organize and mobilize others to do so.
COLLINS: JMart was just reporting, as we were talking about, you know, there's a lot of Democratic momentum. That much is clear from the special elections. But there is a Republican advantage in fundraising. And he was saying that so much of that money that's going to certain Senate candidates or congressional candidates, that there are some gubernatorial candidates, Democrats, who are not -- who are not seeing that same kind of influx.
Do you think there needs to be more done for those candidates, in places like Texas and other states, where there's some potentially competitive races?
BOOKER: I think we need to focus on the entire ballot, not just some folks. It's why I'm going to be out in Nevada, not just visiting my mom, but helping a great Democratic gubernatorial candidate out there. I'm loving what's happening in places like Iowa, where we have a great Senate candidate and a great gubernatorial candidate.
And so, again, we need change. We need leaders that are not going to just bend over and do what Donald Trump wants, praise his outrageousness, whether it's using taxpayer monies, misusing taxpayer money, or his foreign war, or justifying his ballrooms. We need leaders that are going to stand up to this president, hold him accountable, and fight for the people of their states and be more loyal to the people than they are to this president.
COLLINS: The former Vice President just said something about what she thinks could happen, should Democrats be successful in November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's be prepared because, if, as many predict, we win the midterms, if we don't win by substantial numbers, I can see a situation where they find some reason to refuse to seat Democrats who win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Is that something you're worried about?
BOOKER: Look, I'm going to be very clear. I think we need to overwhelm the polls. We need to have as big victory as possible. We need to take nothing for granted.
Donald Trump is a serial election denier. He is a serial cheater. Remember, he was indicted by a grand jury for his cheating in the 2020 election and what he did infamously in Georgia. Find me 11,000 votes. I don't trust him. I know that he -- if he wins an election, it was a great election. If he loses an election, the other side cheated.
Right now, we need to get a big voter turnout, we need to take nothing for granted, and that's really what I'm working for. We have four weeks left. Everyone needs to organize and mobilize. Go out there and vote, not for a party. Vote for people's health care. Vote for ending this war. Vote for making sure we can get prices down. This is one of those times I hope and believe that America will show up.
COLLINS: Senator Cory Booker, thank you for joining us tonight.
BOOKER: Thank you.
COLLINS: Up next. We have new audio of a secretly recorded conversation between Jane Doe and one of the men that is accused in the Cornell University rape investigation. We're going to play that audio for you, and have our legal source break it down, right after this.
[21:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, Cornell University is grappling with new fallout over its rape case investigation amid massive student protests today, as you can see here.
This comes, as ABC News has released new audio of a phone call between a student that is known as Jane Doe and one of the fraternity members that she says invited her to the house where she was allegedly gang raped in 2024.
On the call, which Jane Doe secretly recorded, three weeks after the alleged assault, she tells the man that she spent time in the emergency room and in therapy because, quote, "...there's so much damage on my body and my brain... what y'all did would be classified as gang rape... you already knew when I came in... I was 10 shots deep."
Now Jane Doe is also asking for help identifying all the men, saying that she remembered four who were in the bed and more standing around the room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRATERNITY BROTHER: I have racked my brain for this mystery. You know, it's possible that both of us, like, remember this, and it's not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, in that call, Jane Doe responds, quote, "No, because I remember looking up and being like, 'That is too many people.'"
She then asks, Do you remember how any of these guys walked in? And he responded this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRATERNITY BROTHER: The party was sort of, like, crowded, so people started, like um, filling up the balcony just because there was nowhere else to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, ABC News says that in that same call, that fraternity member never mentioned his Snapchat message to his own brothers, inviting others to join in.
[21:25:00]
Now, CNN is also learning tonight that about a week after Jane Doe reported what happened, Cornell University's police drafted letters to Verizon and T-Mobile for phone records. It's not clear if investigators ever actually sent those letters, however. Jane Doe's attorney says the phone records never made it to the district attorney's office. My sources tonight are:
CNN's Gloria Pazmino, who is on Cornell's campus.
And Joey Jackson, a criminal defense attorney.
And Gloria, what more can you tell us about these phone records that the Cornell police were at least considering seeking?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kaitlan, I think the revelation in these phone records, once again, in addition to the recorded phone calls that we learned about today, show us that there was at least some effort, in part by Jane Doe, but also by the Cornell University Police Department, to do some due diligence and try to gather some evidence and some information about the case.
We obtained these letters that were drafted to T-Mobile and Verizon, informing them that Cornell University was in the middle of an investigation having to do with a sexual assault, and notifying them that accounts, a.k.a. phone numbers registered with their companies, Verizon and T-Mobile, might have information pertinent to the investigation that they were carrying out. They also said that they would follow up with a search warrant.
What's not clear to us, as you said, is whether those letters actually ever made it out to the phone companies. We have reached out to the phone companies to try and get a little more information. We don't know if investigators actually followed up with that search warrant, if there was ever a subpoena that was submitted in order to obtain those records.
And we don't know if the Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who initially reviewed this case, back in 2024, was even aware that the police department was making this request to preserve records.
So, it's yet another instance that seems to suggest that there was some sort of effort that was launched in this case, by the Cornell police, to try and gather more information.
Then, you have Jane Doe recording the phone calls. You see that she too is trying to gather more information. But we've heard from Jane Doe's attorney that he is not sure how much of that evidence has actually been preserved, and his concerns that some of that might have been lost in the time between 2024 and where we are today.
COLLINS: Yes.
And Joey, when you hear that audio, the recorded conversation that we're now learning about, I wonder what stands out to you.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So, it's a data point, Kaitlan. It's a very significant data point. What are you looking at when you listen to these tapes?
Number one, what's contested in these cases? One is the issue of consent, and that's going to be hotly disputed. And when you look and examine that, you have to examine what he said versus what he may have said at some later time, like during the investigation for Title IX.
Title IX, of course, is what the school undergoes because of federal funding to ensure that students are in compliance with behavioral standards. And there was, we know, a very robust Title IX investigation and hearings. So, when you examine that data point, did the conversation between them and what he said there differ in any way, and was he inconsistent later on? So, you're going to examine it for the issue of consent.
Number two, you're examining it to determine the degree of intoxication or whether they were under some other type of influence.
And number three, you're looking for whether anybody else may have been involved, how they came to be involved. Did he invite them? Did he not? Did she consent to that? Did she not? And so, all of those things are going to be evaluated.
Now, when I say Kaitlan, a data point, you have to not just take in any case, no matter what the case is because, cases are driven by facts. Not only that conversation, but you have to -- you have to match it up versus other conversations she may have had with other parties. In addition to that, there's some indication that the fraternity members were speaking amongst themselves, and what if anything they said there that may have been different or the same.
And so, I think, at the end of the day, investigators are going to hone in on those issues.
COLLINS: Yes.
JACKSON: Consent, and whether or not it was given, and with who.
Number two, the issue, as I just noted, with respect to drugs or intoxicants.
And number three, who specifically was involved, when, and what did they do, and were they permitted to do it. And if not, is there any crime resulting from it?
COLLINS: Yes, and you know, as we're looking at all of that, that Joey laid out there, Gloria. All seven of these men have denied any wrongdoing. But The New York Times is reporting tonight that one of them argued that he was a victim. What more do we know about that?
[21:30:00]
PAZMINO: Yes. Kaitlan, I want to pick up right where Joey left off on this issue of consent, right? Because he's right that this is going to be central to the investigation, central to any case that may or may not be brought forward in the near future. How we define consent, how we can -- how prosecutors will be able to prove whether she was able to give consent, that's going to be central to this case moving forward. And what we have learned from some of The New York Times reporting is that, actually, one of the accused students, one of the seven students, is actually has claimed that it was he who was not able to give consent. That Jane Doe at one point performed oral sex on him, but that he could not have possibly given consent because he was so intoxicated in that moment.
So, I think it's another example of how this issue of consent and whether or not people, whether it's Jane Doe or the accused student, are able to give it, and how that is defined in a court of law that is going to be central to this going forward.
COLLINS: Yes. I mean, Joey, what do you make of that argument from one of the men?
JACKSON: I mean, listen, I think that certainly they're going to have defenses that they raise.
Him claiming that he wasn't able to give consent, and he may in fact have been sexually abused. I'll keep my thoughts to myself.
But I think everything is going to be hotly contested, and I think the ultimate issue is going to be who was involved? To what degree were they involved? When were they involved? Did they know or should they have known that she was otherwise under the influence of anything, whether it was the ketamine or whether it was the alcohol or anything else? And in the event that they knew that, did they take advantage of the situation because she was openly in a way that would have her impaired? Or did she actually invite this and abuse them as was claimed?
COLLINS: Yes.
JACKSON: I think all of that will come out ultimately in the event that the case moves forward.
COLLINS: And Gloria, what are you hearing tonight about these calls for change at Cornell among the leadership?
PAZMINO: Yes, we had an interesting day here on campus, Kaitlan. Today, there was a protest that was held on the campus of Cornell University, the first sort of big show of force that we have seen by both faculty and students coming together to protest and issue their demands to the administration, right? They want to see accountability. They want to see change.
And there was a very large turnout. Thousands of people were gathered at that protest, earlier today. We saw hundreds of students who were wearing purple ribbons in solidarity with Jane Doe. Many of them were also wearing name tags with the name, Jane Doe, again, in solidarity with her, and calling on this -- on the school to respond.
I also want to tell you, we have some new reporting tonight that the faculty senate of Cornell University is preparing to submit a resolution for a vote of no confidence in the administration's ability to handle sexual assault cases on their campus. That is a significant development in terms of what the faculty is doing to respond.
The resolution, I am told, will be submitted to a committee tonight. Then that will be sent to the full Senate for a vote. The full Senate is expected to meet later this month.
And while these votes of no confidence, are largely symbolic, they do send a strong message that the faculty and the student body is dissatisfied with the response from the university--
COLLINS: Yes.
PAZMINO: --and that they want to see more.
COLLINS: Gloria Pazmino, keep us updated on that.
Joey Jackson, as always, thank you for your legal analysis. It's great to have both of you here tonight.
JACKSON: Of course.
COLLINS: Up next. We're also going to go live to Nebraska. President Trump just walked off the stage at a rally. He was defending a lot of home turf that normally should be a pretty easy win for Republicans. One Republican lawmaker is calling it a five-alarm fire.
[21:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, as President Trump rallied in deep-red Nebraska, he notably acknowledged voters' concerns, their economic concerns, amid Republican fears that a Senate seat there could flip to Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're kicking Iran's ass. You do know that, right?
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: And that'll end soon. It's going to end -- one way or the other, it's going to end very soon, and your prices are going to come tumbling -- all your prices have been tumbling down.
But it'll end very quickly, and prices are going to come down very sharply. You might say, Please, please, sir, it's going down too fast. You watch. You watch what's going to happen in a very short period of time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I have some excellent political sources here with me tonight.
I want to start with my colleague, Jeff Zeleny, who is on the ground in his home state. He is in Grand Island, Nebraska.
Jeff, when you heard the President's remarks there tonight, his pitch to voters, I wonder what stood out to you.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kaitlan, as yet another Trump rally is in the books, you can see they're breaking it down behind me here. The President's on his way back to Washington.
It was so interesting to watch the voters' reaction to when the President repeatedly says the Iran war is ending soon, costs are coming down soon. There was tepid applause. It was respectful applause. There's no doubt about it. This is a self-selected group of Trump loyalists. But even among those, there is deep concern about the Iran war.
That certainly was a through line in our conversations all day long here. There are people who love President Trump, who waited in line for hours, buying merchandise, other things. They are still confounded by the Iran war, not sort of buying the explanation and the urgency for the need for the U.S. to do this, and they are suffering the consequences.
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The question here, in the final month now -- there is one more month now until the votes are counted in November. Anything that the President is doing to try and fire up voters, is that actually going to work? He had a diesel executive order that he signed here this evening. He has showcased it on stage. Is that going to ease some concerns?
The voters here are going to have patience with him. But the bigger question is, will the voters outside these rallies? And that is what that congressman told me earlier today. He said, Look, it's a five- alarm fire, and he said, We welcome the President, but we are not sure that he understands the feeling out here.
And Kaitlan, I'm not sure the President, after leaving this event, of course, being at one of these things, you know, he's surrounded by applause. He didn't hear from any voters. He didn't talk to any voters. He didn't do a farmer roundtable. He didn't talk about the beef situation at all. So, that is one of the open questions here.
Republicans are nervous about this Senate seat, and not just Nebraska. In neighboring Iowa, Kansas, Texas as well. One thing I did not expect in this long midterm campaign: it would be playing out the final month here in Trump Country.
COLLINS: Yes, that's a great point.
ZELENY: Kaitlan.
COLLINS: And Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much.
Jeff has an excellent piece on CNN.com right now, with those concerns from a Republican congressman and what is happening all over the country, in a lot of these states that the President is visiting, unlikely places. Harry Enten is also here with me tonight.
And Harry, you are often quoted by the President for what you -- you know, your polls. Even though he criticizes CNN polling, he often quotes your polling that -- when he does like it.
There's a new set of New York Times/Siena polling tonight showing that Democrats lead in Alaska and Texas. A dead heat in three others: Ohio, Kansas, and Iowa.
What are your takeaways from those numbers tonight?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Look, I think the takeaways: these are all states that Donald Trump won by double digits, and the best that he can do in any of those states is what Iowa, where he's ahead by a point and there's no clear leader there, and he's trailing in Ohio, although no clear leader there, and tied in Texas.
I mean, we were talking about Texas, on Friday night, a state that Republicans haven't lost the Senate race since 1932, and you're tied there? I mean, what the heck is going on out there? It's not a five- alarm fire if you're losing in Kansas. It's a six-, seven-alarm fire.
And you just look at the numbers and you go, Oh my God, President Trump is underwater by double digits in all of these states. No wonder the Democrats are doing so well.
And more than that, with Independents, Donald Trump in these states won when you aggregate them all rather easily, nine, 10, 11 points, depending on how exactly you aggregate it. And now, the Democratic candidates for Senate are overwhelmingly winning by double digits among Independents. So, that when Trump is attending these rallies, he is not getting the full picture whatsoever. The MAGA base is still with him. That ain't the problem. It's the folks in the middle of the road, and they are abandoning him in great numbers.
COLLINS: Yes, it was notable to hear Jeff report that he did not do a farmer roundtable or sit down and talk to voters when he came to this rally tonight.
ENTEN: Yes.
COLLINS: Harry Enten, great to have you. Thank you for being here.
And Brad, when you look at these. The decisions the President is making, where he's going, what he's saying in Nebraska. What does that say to you as a Republican tonight?
BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, CO- FOUNDER, ONMESSAGE INC.: Well, I'm glad he's out working to rally the base and to bring low-propensity Republicans to the polls. One of our two challenges -- and we do have two -- one of them is to get voters who prefer Republicans and the President, but who don't vote a lot in midterms to show up. The wheels -- things have switched. Democrats used to worry about low-propensity voters, and we were always comfortable that our voters would always show up. I think shoe's on the different foot now. So, I'm glad he's doing that.
And I think this is very different from Obama's second midterm in 2014, when the Senate was on the line. Republicans did take over the Senate that year. Do you know how many states Obama campaigned in, in 2014, for Senate candidates? One, and he did it on November 1st in a non-targeted race.
And so, the fact that an unpopular president or a president whose approval ratings are low right now is out campaigning, and he's doing it in strategic ways and going to places where he can help the team, I think it's pretty smart.
COLLINS: How do you see it?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, the fact that we're talking about places like Nebraska, like Texas, like Alaska, we're also talking about places like Mississippi, Kansas. That, five months ago, Kaitlan, would be crazy to think about.
And when we first started the cycle, we talked about the possibility of Democrats taking over the House, but oh no, the Senate would be an impossibility because the map is completely against us, and it's true. The map is very difficult for Democrats.
But here's the problem: this Republican congressman said to Jeff that it's a five-alarm fire. The problem is, is that Donald Trump is the arsonist. He caused this five-alarm fire.
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Everything that he has done in office is the reason why all these prices are skyrocketing. It's the reason why not just Independents are now going against him, Latinos are going against him, young people are going against him, but -- farmers. MAGA moms in Texas are supporting Gina Hinojosa. I mean, this is a sort of blanket countrywide alarm that this administration and this president doesn't care about the economic situation of American voters.
And of course, he didn't go and meet with farmers. Of course, he didn't go and meet with families. Everything that he has done, every gesture he has made, makes American voters think that he does not care about them.
COLLINS: Well, I thought it was interesting, Jeff said he didn't bring up the beef issue, which allowing more of these beef imports is obviously -- they're helping to -- hoping to drive down prices, but it's upsetting a lot of these farmers.
But then also what he said about gas prices, they're going to come down so fast, you know, you're not going to like how fast it comes down. I'm not sure anyone would say, I don't like how fast gas prices are coming down.
TODD: Yes, well, there's a problem in the Midwest, right? We have high interest rates, tariffs have been uneven and unpredictable. And farming is an industry, we need some predictability. And diesel prices and interest rates. So, those three things are things that Republican campaigns are dealing with.
But the issue of beef. For instance, most of the Midwest Republicans, like Ashley Hinson, who's running our best campaign of any, in my view, in the Senate, in Iowa, she has campaigned against big corporations. She's campaigned against bringing in foreign beef. And so like, there's -- this is a -- this is a little more lumpy than we've mentioned.
COLLINS: We shall see. Thank you all for being here.
CARDONA: Thanks, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Great to have you, and to Harry and Jeff as well.
Up next. This weekend, the President doxxed a Republican senator over an issue that some Republicans were shocked about: why he posted Tom Cotton's personal cellphone number.
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COLLINS: President Trump's push to make daylight saving time permanent became personal over the weekend, after he posted the cellphone number of Republican Senator Tom Cotton to his tens of millions of followers, while urging them to directly call the Arkansas Republican for opposing him on this issue.
The President accused Senator Cotton of, quote: holding up a very important Bill. It's called, 'The Sunshine Protection Act' or, 'We Don't Want to Change Our Clocks Twice a Year Act.' To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.
Now, this is a bill that passed overwhelmingly in the House, but it has been stalled in the Senate ever since July when it passed.
And it appears, maybe not surprisingly, that President Trump's efforts did not sway Senator Cotton, who wrote shortly after the President posted his cellphone number online and said, quote, "No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter. Arkansans don't want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I'll always put Arkansas first."
Now, he did not reference how the President gave out his personal number to the entire world.
But for more on this tonight, Josh Barro is here. He is the writer of the "Very Serious" newsletter, and the host of the "Central Air" podcast.
And Josh, I'll just say, I have had -- I've rarely had so many Republicans text me after the President post something like that. And really, the responses were WTF. This seems disproportionate to like the importance of this bill.
I wonder what you made about what the President did over the weekend.
JOSH BARRO, WRITER, "VERY SERIOUS" NEWSLETTER, HOST, "CENTRAL AIR" PODCAST: I mean, this has been an ongoing hobby horse of the President's.
And one thing he went on about in the post was about golf and how the PGA Tour wants this change. The golf industry has been, in general, in favor of this because they think people will get in more rounds of golf in the winter if sunset is later.
But yes, I mean, I think in an election where people are very focused on gasoline prices, you know, I don't think that this indicates that the President is laser-focused on affordability. But he has his hobby horses.
COLLINS: Yes, he wrote, the PGA Tour as an example needs more daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their tournaments.
BARRO: Who will--
COLLINS: Which I'm not sure--
BARRO: Who will think about the PGA Tour?
COLLINS: I'm not sure that was -- my dad might like that argument, but I'm not sure it would appeal to a wide swath of people.
BARRO: No, I mean, the funny thing is here, you have all these little pockets of the country that have different reactions. The golf industry is in favor of this bill. But the skiing industry is opposed to it because there's a bunch of stuff that ski patrol has to do in the daylight before they can open the lifts. So, at ski resorts, look at this, they say, Well, we're not going to be able to get the lifts open at 09:00 a.m. if we have this policy.
But the main way that this will affect the public is that a lot more people will have to get out of bed, in the dark, to start their day in December and January. Like in Seattle, for example, you'll have sunrises as late as 09:00 a.m. if you adopt this policy, which is why, as Senator Cotton notes, we've done this before, most recently in 1974, we had the rule for a few months in 1974. People were so upset about it, that Congress within months repealed it. The vote in the House was 383 to 16.
I mean, when people talk about this, they focus on what they're going to do with all the additional daylight hours in the evening. When you actually impose the policy, people notice that it's dark out when they have to start their day in the morning. They get very upset about it.
COLLINS: So, if it was that unpopular in 1974, why do you think lawmakers are trying to repeat it again?
BARRO: Because it's been 52 years and people don't remember it. I mean, I think that's what it is. I basically -- I think the reason you have me on about this is I've like written the same piece about this over and over since 2018.
COLLINS: Yes.
BARRO: When people -- every year there's this -- and people love talking about this because everyone can form an opinion about it. But back then, I kept telling people, You know, we did this before, and they'd always be like, We did this before? They didn't know.
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And then, you go look at the coverage of it from The New York Times in 1974. It becomes very clear that if the President gets his way, all of these congressional offices are going to have their phones ringing off the hook in the way that I'm sure Tom Cotton's has, with people being like, My kid had to wait for the school bus in the dark, I'm so upset about it.
You had school districts changing their schedules in 1974, so they start later, and then you get all of this non-coordination, where like your kid's school changes schedule on one day, but your workplace doesn't change it at the same time, and people were very unhappy, and they realized there was a reason we had the policy we had to begin with.
COLLINS: Yes, and there was other Republicans, Steve Daines, John Thune, Mike Rounds, who were also against it. Ted Budd. Deb Fischer.
BARRO: Yes.
COLLINS: None of their numbers were posted.
BARRO: Not yet.
COLLINS: Josh Barro, great to have you. Thanks so much for joining us tonight.
BARRO: Absolutely. Good to be here.
COLLINS: Up next. It is time for Source Code. Tonight's Source Code is 34. And I'll be right back with the story.
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COLLINS: Tonight's Source Code is 34. Because that is the number that I'm honored to be ranked, in Vanity Fair's New Establishment List, which, according to Vanity Fair's editors, identifies the 50 people they believe have the most -- have most defined the moment this year.
They started this New Establishment List, back in 1994. Now, in 2026, it's a wide-ranging list that includes the titans of AI and technology, politicians, and CEOs, accomplished producers and directors, and yes, even the Pope.
Thank you so much to Vanity Fair and to Annie Leibovitz for that amazing photo.
And thank you so much for joining us here tonight on THE SOURCE.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT" starts now.
