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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Trump Denies Ordering Starshield Slowdown In Ukraine; Zelenskyy Takes Veiled Swipes At Trump As Relationship Sours; Increasing Reports Of Israeli Settler Violence In West Bank; New Protests Expected After CJP Leader Detained; Albania Faces violent Unrest As Protesters Clash With Police; Zacharia Exit Leaves WH Without Press Secy. Before Midterms; Teen Gunman Kills Three Children And A Teacher In Oregon; Aired 12-1a ET

Aired October 17, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to "The Story Is." I'm Brian Abel. Elex Michaelson has the night off.

Coming up, "The Story Is" it wasn't me. That's what President Trump says about the slowdown of a critical satellite service for Ukraine as the relationship between Kyiv and Washington fractures.

"The Story Is" you're fired. Trump oust his Press Secretary after just days on the job and in the final stretch before the midterms.

And "The Story Is" a new mission. A U.S. Navy Sailor returns home from the war with Iran to a new fight, working to bring home her father who was deported while she served overseas.

We begin with a new move by President Donald Trump to blunt the impact of some upcoming sanctions against Russia. Hours ago, he said he's waiving a number of sanctions under the Lindsey Graham Act, which Trump signed into law last month. The announcement came just days before those sanctions were set to take effect. The decision comes amid growing tensions between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The latest friction beginning after Trump cut a deal with Russia allowing it to resume diesel exports. Now on Friday, Zelenskyy took veiled swipes at the U.S. President as he rallied support from EU leaders in Brussels. He called them, "real leaders," an apparent dig at Trump. Zelenskyy also sent a message during his news conference by what he did not say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His personal popularity is very low. Diesel prices in the U.S. are very high. And the war that he started in the Middle East is not going the way he wants it. Do you think you are being treated as a scapegoat for his own problems?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: This is my answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much.

ZELENSKYY: Thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators is pushing for an investigation into the slowdown of the Starshield Satellite Service in Ukraine. Zelenskyy says the service is improving, but is not fully restored. Reuters reporting Thursday that the order to slow the service came from inside the White House. The report did not name anybody specifically, and Trump now says he had nothing to do with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It wasn't us. I checked it this morning. They say it's the same as it always has been. I don't know if it was anybody because it wasn't me, and I don't think it was Elon. And from what I understand, it's the same as it's always been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: For more, we are joined by William Taylor, a former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. He's now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council. He's in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Ambassador, thank you very much for your time. I want to first ask you about that latest news today that President Trump signed an executive order waiving a further slate of sanctions against Russia related to fossil fuel sales that were supposed to go into effect in the coming days. And it comes as Ukraine has reportedly stopped or ran out of defense missile systems. So what do you make of these developments, and how do we get here?

AMB. WILLIAM TAYLOR, DISTINGUISHED FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Well, Brian, it's inexplicable that the United States would take these actions, that the President would take these actions in support of Russia. I mean, these are actions, as you say, the waiving of the Graham bill that he just signed that was overwhelmingly passed by the house and the senate and supported by the American people.

And right now, just today, President Trump waives those sanctions. He's waived earlier sanctions, the diesel deal. He had to waive sanctions to allow the Russians to sell diesel. He's talking about giving back some of the Russian frozen assets that are frozen in European banks that should go to Ukraine. He's talking about easing up on the shadow fleet. So all of these actions, Brian, are exactly what you say. It's inexplicable that the President of the United States would be supporting Russia over the Ukrainians who are defending themselves against this -- against the invasion by Russia, and these -- this is the democracy defending itself against the autocrat.

ABEL: And ambassador, we were talking about that Starlink System that Ukraine uses for drone defense Starshield owned by Elon Musk that saw disruptions. President Trump says he had no part in it. Who did in your estimation, ambassador?

TAYLOR: Brian, it's not clear to me that it matters who did. What's clear is it was stopped.

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Starlink was restricted, number one. And number two, intelligence -- military intelligence of warning for Ukrainians to get out of the way, get into bomb shelters when missiles are coming has also stopped for three days. Someone made that decision. Someone in the executive branch, and I don't know if it was the President or the Secretary or someone else, but someone in the -- I don't think it was Elon Musk, Brian. I mean, he would check with probably the President. So we're not hearing a straight line.

We're not getting the straight answers out of administration, but it doesn't matter. It needs to be restored. It sounds like it's partially restored. It needs to be fully restored.

ABEL: Ambassador, it wasn't too long ago that President Trump was talking about giving Ukraine license to produce the Patriot missile system, right? Now we seem to be at this moment where the relationship between Ukraine and the U.S. has again soured. Is there a particular flashpoint moment you see that's led to this this time around?

TAYLOR: No particular flashpoint, Brian. It's a -- but you're right. It's gone up and down. It's gone up and down. They've had good meetings and terrible meetings. What has not changed is Trump's relationship with Putin. It's always been good. He's never criticized. He's always removed sanctions. He's always done what Putin asked him. Trump was about -- you're right to bring up the patriots. President Trump suggested that President Zelenskyy would be able to get those licenses, and then he came back and took it away.

President Trump also at one time was thinking about providing Tomahawk missiles to the Ukrainians, and President Putin called him -- called Trump and said, don't do it, and President Trump didn't do it. So it's inexplicable, as I say, why this is happening now.

ABEL: Ambassador, you mentioned that relationship between Trump and Putin. Many viewers will surely remember the Oval Office scolding of President Zelenskyy that really showcased a low point in the relationship between those two, but it was, to an extent, rebuilt. And throughout that time, the Russian President has certainly shown a smaller appetite to negotiate than Zelenskyy. Yet President Trump continues asking Ukraine to make a deal, not Putin. Four years into the war, where do you see the next chapter of the Trump Ukraine-Russia relationship going?

TAYLOR: So, Brian, what has to happen if we were -- if President Trump wants to end this war, and he says he does, he says he is trying to end this war. If he does, it needs to be the opposite of what he's doing now. He needs to put pressure on Putin, not give gifts to Putin every day. He needs to put pressure on Putin because that's the way the Russians deal. That's the way this KGB agent does. He only responds to pressure, and the Ukrainians have been putting pressure, hitting the refineries, stopping the Russian army in the field.

The Russians are losing more soldiers than they can recruit. The Ukrainians are doing it very well, but the United States and Europe need to put pressure on Putin. That's what needs. If they're going to end this war, that's what needs to happen.

ABEL: Ambassador William Taylor speaking from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Thank you, sir, for your time. Really appreciate it.

TAYLOR: Thank you, Brian.

ABEL: Well, outrage and condemnation are growing after a group of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians during the annual olive harvest in the occupied West Bank. Video shows a group of mass settlers, some armed with clubs, hurling stones at a group of Palestinians, some of whom are also throwing stones. It is the latest in a wave of settler attacks that have been reported since the olive harvest began.

A Washington Post photojournalist was also attacked. Heidi Levine, who was on assignment for the paper, says settlers kicked her while she was on the ground. Levine had to be treated in hospital. And journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who witnessed the attack, told CNN's Jim Sciutto that some settlers also fired machine guns.

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JIM SCIUTTO, ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Machine gun fired from where? You said soldiers came, but you had said earlier that they were standing by. Are you saying they were participating?

JASPER NATHANIEL, JOURNALIST: No. Sorry. So the initial machine gun fire was the settlers. Later, after the attack on Heidi, the soldiers, rather than going after the settlers who had just launched this vicious attack, went into the village and started firing their guns and shot a 54-year-old Palestinian man who works for the village municipality in the leg. The bullet shattered his femur. He's now in the hospital. going to need to have a major surgery tomorrow. So during the attack on Heidi and during that part of the attack, it was the settlers firing their machine guns. Later, it was the soldiers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ABEL: Israel's Prime Minister said he condemns violence against anyone and appeared to cast doubt on the attack saying that serious questions remain. Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly downplayed settler violence despite a growing number of reports in recent years. Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem with more.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you look at Israeli settler violence in the West Bank over the last three years, it has been steadily rising, doubling over the course of the last three years where we're now seeing some 200 attacks a month against Palestinians in the West Bank. And what we are also certainly seeing now is that journalists in the West Bank identified with press fests on them and helmets, as Heidi Levine was today, are also being targeted by these Israeli settlers. And that's exactly what happened to Heidi Levine, a veteran photojournalist, who has a lot of experience in the field, including in the West Bank, as she was surrounded by a group of Israeli settlers who pushed her to the ground, beat her for several minutes before ripping her cameras, her gear, her passport, her phone off of her body and stealing that stuff away, leaving her on the ground bloodied, bruised, and very much in shock.

Several other journalists and activists and medics in the area then came in to get her out as settlers tried to pursue them once again. She was taken to a hospital where she's been treated for moderate injuries. She was clearly shaken up as she spoke with several journalists at that hospital, and she described this attack lasting for several minutes. She said that the settlers simply seemed like monsters attacking her, and she also said that she doesn't have any faith that these settlers will ultimately be prosecuted by the Israeli police. And that's because we have seen a continuous cycle of impunity in the West Bank as, only about 6 percent, of all cases, in the West Bank of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians are ultimately resulting in any kind of indictments.

Now Heidi Levine was attacked alongside multiple other Palestinians in different parts of the West Bank today. We saw several people who were bloodied in attacks. We saw multiple vehicles, including a fire truck that were set on fire. And part of this is because we are now in all of harvest season in the West Bank. And it seems like just like last year, all of harvest season in the West Bank is becoming synonymous with dramatic increase in Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians, as these settlers have increased the number of outposts and settlements in the West Bank and are now also trying to keep Palestinians from harvesting their olives oftentimes on privately owned Palestinian lands.

The Israeli military for its part has said that these are, "Grave and unacceptable acts," but we have seen time and again as the Israeli military has said that they are going to confront this Israeli settler violence, yet it still continues.

ABEL: Jeremy Diamond there. Still ahead this hour, protesters pour into India's capital as the youth led cockroach movement appears to be gaining strength. We look at what's fueling the momentum.

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ABEL: More protests are expected Saturday in India after police detained the leader of the country's cockroach movement. Indian media are reporting that Abhijeet Dipke, a Founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, has been placed under preventative arrest. Dipke called for a major rally in New Delhi on Friday where protesters demanded the resignation of India's election chief. The youth led movement believes he removed 130 million names from voter list. Demonstrators say that that favors the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AANCHAL SINGH, PROTESTOR: They don't want people to come out in a huge numbers. But people are anyway coming out, so there is no use of detaining them. They will come back again tomorrow just like us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Let's bring in Bobby Ghosh, now a Columnist and Geopolitics Analyst and also the author of the Substack Ghoshworld joining us from New York. Bobby, thank you for your time. I do want to take a step back for a moment as a refresher. Help us understand the currents in India that led to these protests in the first place.

BOBBY GHOSH, COLUMNIST & GEOPOLITICS ANALYST: Well, this is a problem that has been a long time in coming. Young people in India have been frustrated for more than a decade now with this government's inability to deliver what they want most of all, which is jobs.

India -- If you're looking at India from a distance, it looks like a great success story. The economy is growing 6 percent, 7 percent, 8 percent every year, and that sounds terrific, particularly if you're in a country where those kinds of numbers are unheard of. But the -- if you look more closely at the numbers, you realize that despite that growth, not a lot of jobs are being created. And particularly among young Indians, and we're talking about hundreds of millions of people. Young Indians, the rate of job growth is non-existent. And so there's been a lot of frustration. There's been a lot of sense that not only the government, but also the opposition does not really fully understand the anxieties.

So over the last several weeks, we've seen young people take to the streets, taking charge of their future almost off in and by themselves.

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They've protested a couple of months ago. They began protests against India's Education Minister. That protest ended in success. They were able to force the Education Minister to resign. They were able to force the Modi government to back down. And now they are emboldened. They feel like they have the momentum behind them. They feel like this is their political moment, and it looks like they're seizing it.

And the immediate cause of this has been this massive attempt by the Indian government to remake the electoral rolls. We're talking about a 130 million people being removed from the electoral rolls. That's an enormous number. And the sense is that this was done, without sufficient clarity, without sufficient transparency. The Election Commission, which is a political appointee was acting in the favor of the Modi government. Modi government denies this, but what we are seeing now in this -- on the one side, these huge protests, On the other side, you're seeing a crackdown by the Modi government. It looks like it gives the impression of a government that is beginning to panic. ABEL: And Bobby, let's talk about that a little bit. Let's zero in on the detainment of the leader of the cockroach protests. I remember when these protests started, there was a question then of whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi would arrest him then. Well, we're here now. Dipke has been detained. What does the timing of all this tell you?

GHOSH: Well, the timing suggests that the government is really concerned that these protests are beginning to hit home, that they're beginning to rattle the certainties, the confidence of the Modi government. We don't know how long this detention is going to be, and he is not the only one. Several senior leaders have been detained. And there's no question that a momentum has been achieved, because it's not just these young people. You're beginning to see opposition parties that for more than a decade now have been in a kind of disarray, have not been able to respond to the Modi political tidal wave. Those opposition parties are glomming on to these protests and are expressing sympathy for these young people because they too realize that something big is going down in the streets of India.

And the government is clearly, clearly, rattled. And both these young people, these protesters, and the political opposition, they're sensing that there is blood in the water here, and they're going in for the kill.

ABEL: Bobby, quickly, are we seeing the makings of something akin to the tea party in America, a political movement of the moment that could shake the makeup of government?

GHOSH: Well, I -- you could say that, but India itself has plenty of examples of this kind of thing in the past. The political parties have come out of this kind of movement. In the United States and also other parts of the world, you've seen young people protest. We -- I'm thinking about Occupy Wall Street. I'm thinking of the Arab Spring, which I covered very closely on the ground at the time.

You see these youth movements rise, and then once they achieve their immediate goal, which is to remove a minister, remove a regime, then the young people don't seem to able to follow-up by creating a sustained political movement. But in India, there's a long record of this, of these protests turning into not just political movements, but into actual political parties that win seats in state legislatures and the national, parliament.

So this is something -- that's what makes the Modi government so concerned that they can't wish this away. They can't think that, oh, this is here today, and in a couple of weeks, young people will go home and it'll all be forgotten. They know from India's political history that these movements can turn into something really meaningful, really substantive, and really sustained. And that's what frightens the Indian political establishment more than anything else.

ABEL: And we will see what happens next. Bobby Ghosh, Columnist and Geopolitics Analyst, thank you very much for your insights.

GHOSH: Thanks for having me. ABEL: France bracing for possible unrest as nationwide protests there are planned for Saturday. Student led demonstrations have swept the country for several weeks now as protesters call for education reform. French Prime Minister Sebastien Letourneau says the protest no longer resemble a student led movement. Instead, he describes them as a movement of urban violence. Over 60 marches are planned for Saturday with up to a 100 million people expected near Paris.

And meanwhile, Albania is also facing its own unrest as protests have erupted into violent clashes between police and demonstrators.

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CNN's Isa Soares has the latest.

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ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another volatile night in Tirana. The streets once again filled with smoke and anger as protesters demand the resignation of Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama.

BORA, ALBANIAN PROTESTOR: We want a change. That's why we are here. We want a revolution. We want a -- we want a new government. We are not looking for any negotiations. We need a new government as soon as possible.

SOARES (voice-over): The explosion of violence is months in the making. Students upset over the high cost of education sparked this week's protest, which rapidly devolved into rock throwing, smashed windows, and running street battles with police. But students aren't the only ones who are frustrated. A wider public anger is boiling over in Albania, fueled by the rising cost of living, health care, and unemployment.

Over the summer, the streets of Tirana were packed with thousands of demonstrators, staging mostly peaceful rallies against a luxury resort project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Protestors accused Rama and his deputies of selling Albania's coastlands to foreign investors. Rama has defended the project, calling it a boost for tourism and says an environmental review is underway. Whatever cause drove them to the streets, protesters are now unified in their call for Rama to leave office.

ENEA, ALBANIAN PROTESTOR: We don't want to negotiate anything. We have been protesting. We asked him peacefully. He didn't want to. We now have been going violently. They are pushing us to the limits.

SOARES (voice-over): Rama isn't backing down, and he claims the violence is politically motivated and an attempt to derail Albania's path into the European Union.

EDI RAMA, ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER: This entire scourge is not a student phenomenon. This whole hostage taking of the city carried out by people in masks has nothing to do with the hardships, the problems, or the legitimate aspirations of anyone who simply desires a better life.

SOARES (voice-over): Albania is bracing for more clashes, but it's just one flash point in a wave of student led unrest happening around the world. In France, there have been weeks of turbulent student protest over poor school conditions that are expected to converge with widespread cost of living demonstrations this weekend.

In Italy, crowds of young people march to the education ministry, calling for better funding for schools. And in India, a youth driven movement called the cockroach party is demanding the resignation of the country's election chief. A push for change that's getting strong pushback in some places, leaving some cities on edge for the weekend ahead. Isa Soares, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Still ahead this hour, President Trump weighs in on firing his new Press Secretary after just five days. It comes with critical midterm elections right around the corner. Stay with us.

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ABEL: Katie Zacharia made her first public statement since President Trump fired her as White House Press Secretary. She posted on X that working for him was an honor and she wished more Americans appreciated him. Her exit leaves the White House without a Press Secretary just before critical midterm elections. After a rocky debut, Zacharia joined the President on a trip to Alaska, and sources say he told her she performed well. But it soon emerged that she failed the bar exam and never retook it while repeatedly calling herself a lawyer. That ended her White House run in just five days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: She's a nice person, a great person. And, Caroline did a very good job. I think Katie maybe would do, but Katie's off to a start that the news has been so nasty there. I've never seen anything like it actually. And I said to her, honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: So Zacharia's one business week tenure in the White House press room, that breaks a record previously held by Anthony Scaramucci. You might remember during President Trump's first term, he lasted 11 days in the job. The mooch, as he's called, weighed in on social media about having his dubious record broken. He posted on X, records are made to be broken, but I take no pleasure in other people's pain.

Meanwhile, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is putting $1 million behind Michigan Senate Nominee Abdul El-Sayed. It's an unusually large contribution from a house member backing a senate candidate in another state and a sign of just how much AOC wants to see El-Syed win. CNN's Gloria Pazmino has been following the duo as they campaigned across Michigan this week.

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ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Thank you, Michigan. And let's hear it from my friend, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the closing weeks of the midterms, U.S. senate Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez barnstorming across Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

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It may be a Republican stronghold, but El-Sayed is hoping his populist message with a focus on Medicare for all and affordability might appeal to moderate, even conservative voters.

ABDUL EL-SAYED, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FROM MICHIGAN: The number of people who tell me I voted for Donald Trump 2 or 3 times, and I'm voting for you. The difference in our politics right now is not red versus blue. It's not Democrat versus Republican. It's the people who've been locked out of their politics for a very long time.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Among the Great Lakes, the Sleepy towns, and Rosie's Diner, where the waitress greets you by name. Voters say they're worried about the basics.

SCOTT PETERSON, ESCANABA, MICHIGAN RESIDENT: We hunt, we fish, and we can put the -- put stuff in the freezer, right? But now we're starting to see even the cost of fuel for the boat. Things are starting to affect us up here, so it's getting to be a serious thing. It keeps you up at night.

PAZMINO (voice-over): These are the voters El-Sayed is hoping to make inroads with. Ocasio-Cortez making a direct appeal to Republicans.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I want to welcome you here. I want to thank you for keeping an open mind and an open ear. And really what we want to say is that we're better together than we are apart.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Elliot Eckstein opened this butcher shop five years ago. He's a Republican, but hasn't made up his mind on the race.

ELLIOT ECKSTEIN, OWNER, BURIED STONE FARMS: The Upper Peninsula is its own economy. The fuel prices have made it challenging to deliver product. We had to put a delivery charge on.

PAZMINO (voice-over): It's not just gas prices voters are worried about.

KIM GONEAU, EL-SAYED SUPPORTER: There are people who care about what's happening to immigrants right now. There are people who care about what's happening to those on Medicaid and losing snap that it's -- these issues are very important.

PAZMINO (voice-over): There's also palpable frustration about the ongoing trade war with Canada, Michigan's largest trade partner.

PETER GREGOIRE, REGISTERED DEMOCRAT IN ESCANABA, MICHIGAN: Even though we're fairly conservative up here, the -- most of the people are fairly conservative there. I mean, nobody wants to be in a war. Nobody wants to have tariffs on Canada who we've been trading with forever and have our prices go up because somebody picks a fight with somebody who doesn't need to have a fight picked with them.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Here at Blades Bait and Tackle, they agree on how to catch the lake fish.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So these are giant suckers that people use for catching big musky out on the lake.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Less so on who to vote for next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd probably vote for Mike Rogers. I agree with more of his policies.

PAZMINO: You're redshirt Republican, but you've supported Democrats in the past and you still might.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. I'm wide open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Joining us now is CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger, also the author of New Cold Wars, China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West. David, great to see you as always. And out of the gates is potentially the most talked about political story of the day, Katie Zacharia's swift departure from the White House. Over the years, we've heard the President time and again say that he only hires the best people. Yet the second term alone, David, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, and now Zacharia have all been shown the door. How do you see this moment being viewed by America's allies and enemies and the Republican Party this close to the midterms?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, thanks for having me on, Brian. It is remarkable. As we've, all been observing, she didn't make it to half a Scaramucci, the measure of time usually for short termers in the administration. But it seems to be for a fairly common reason, which is that, in this administration, one is hired chiefly for loyalty, not necessarily for depth of knowledge and judgment. You saw that in the difference between the people who President Trump hired in his cabinet in the first term, when you had Jim Mattis as Secretary of Defense. I could go on for a long time.

And the people he's hired in the second term. And they keep getting tripped up by the same problem, which is they rush people through before they've had a chance to figure out what these jobs are all about. And, Ms. Zacharia herself said on Fox News that she had been given a briefing book an hour, hour and a half prior to standing up at that podium for the first time. That's a really hard job. And I can't imagine putting somebody in the position of briefing that quickly.

ABEL: All right, David. Let's talk a little bit about the midterms here, specifically my home state of Michigan and the news that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez transferred $1 million to Abdul El-Sayed's senate campaign running against Mike Rogers. And there's a lot of reporting out there as well that this is a tight race and not every Democrat who voted for rep. Haley Stevens in the primary has moved over to team El-Sayed.

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What do you think matters more here for the El-Sayed campaign in this home stretch? Financial support and high profile names or that divide, especially among some in the Jewish community?

SANGER: I think the financial support is important because he's got to stay in the game, but it's not sufficient. And, I think he's going to have to spend a fair bit of time in the next few weeks convincing independents, others who had voted for his opponent, that in fact, while he may have come from the far left wing of the party, he is not going to operate that way when he's representing all of Michigan if he gets that far. And that's going to be a tough and uphill battle. It is amazing that this is such a tight race. I'm hoping to get out there, with President Trump. I think when he's going to visit in a few days, he's going to go out to campaign. But this is going to be -- this and Maine, I think, are going to be two of the most fascinating of those races to watch.

ABEL: And, David, the President is out there on the campaign trail himself telling his supporters to act like he is on the ballot and keeping that in mind. We have the cook report moving multiple house races from either lanes or likely a republican to closer to the center, and all while there are reports swirling that President Trump is considering using a massive weapon on Iran, and there are also these new strains on the relationship with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine. How do you see these foreign policy impacts on the midterms?

SANGER: Well, by and large, foreign policy doesn't usually play a big role in elections unless the U.S. has got troops actively at war. So think again 2004 and then the midterms in 2006 in -- during the Iraq war. That's not the case with the Iran war. Whatever you think about how it's been executed, then obviously, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth and others were taken by surprise by much of what happened.

I think that you have not seen, American troops on the line as much. We've lost 21 people so far in the war. That's a tragedy, but nowhere near the kind of numbers that we saw, say, in Iraq. So I'm not sure that this is going to move many votes except for the sensibility that the president's approach to the world is backfiring on him, that America is looking weak around the world because of the way he has gone about this. And that creates an impression that I think, President Trump at this point probably cannot get passed, certainly not between now and the midterms.

ABEL: All right. David Singer, appreciate your time tonight and expertise as always. Thank you.

SANGER: Great to be with you.

ABEL: Still ahead, we are learning new details about the teen responsible for a deadly school shooting in Oregon. That's after the break.

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ABEL: We are learning more details about the deadly shooting in elementary school in Bend, Oregon. According to police, all the victims were shot in one special needs classroom. Police also say the 16-year-old gunman previously attended special needs classes at Silver Rail Elementary School. He was shot and killed by a father with two children at the school. CNN's Nick Watt has more.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were so afraid. The looks on their faces was really hard to see. Some kids were praying. Some kids were consoling other kids. And so, but they were doing so quietly because they know you don't make any noise.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifth grade teacher Kathy Smith saw the teenage shooter carrying a rifle through her classroom window. This was all over in about three minutes. Three kids and a teacher dead, the shooter dead, killed by a local father, two kids in the school himself who saw the shooter walk into the school and followed him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That person saw something. They did something, and that took its own courage. I just figured, OK. Today is a day that I'm sure that every teacher at the school thought today is a day that I am going to die, save my kids.

WATT (voice-over): Investigators searched the shooter's home, took away computers and other electronics, interviewed the parents. They were, a law enforcement official tells us, cooperative and confirmed their son did once attend Silver Rail Elementary, where it was picture day yesterday. A 10-year-old student described to ABC several minutes of fright.

ALZEN, STUDENT AT SILVER RAIL ELEMENTARY: We didn't really take it in as a gunshot, and then maybe 10 to 20 seconds later, we heard more gunshots. And this -- and that time, we definitely knew it was a gunshot. I locked the door, and I went back behind our lockers as all my classmates did the same.

[00:50:00]

All of my classmates and my teacher were safe, but we were definitely scared, and most people were crying, and that was really hard. WATT (voice-over): He locked the door. The district started installing new locks in 2022 that allow classrooms to be locked from the inside. The gunmen, we're told, shot through locked doors as he tried to get into the school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's bad enough when an adult does something heinous like this, but for another, basically, child to do it, it -- you just can't understand it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: That was CNN's Nick Watt reporting there. Floodwaters continue to devastate Nepal, now facing a massive reconstruction bill. Coming up in the next hour, how the U.S. war with Iran is hindering efforts to rebuild the Himalayan nation.

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[00:55:00]

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ABEL: For one sailor aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, the 326 day long deployment did not have a happy ending. That's because while Jessica Martinez was half a world away serving her country, the U.S. government was deporting her father. CNN's Ed Lavandera followed Martinez to Mesco for her long awaited family reunion.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see her.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Jessica Martinez emerged from the crowd into the arms of her sister, months of emotion poured out. The 22-year-old Navy sailor spent more than 10 months deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, which returned to California earlier this month. But this homecoming wasn't what she dreamed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel a little disappointed. It's like a stab in the back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My sister's in the military. She's doing the process for him.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Two months into her deployment, Martinez learned her father was deported to Mexico. He wore a U.S. Navy sweatshirt the day she headed out to sea, but he wasn't there to welcome her home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I got the news that my dad got deported, I just didn't want to continue anymore. My dad was all like, I've always taught you to keep going in life. I didn't raise a quitter, and I had to keep going. It was for my dad. This is my first time visiting Tijuana.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The reunion happened a few days later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dad, he's a teen.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Jessica Martinez and her sister Anna walked across the border from San Diego into Tijuana, Mexico. Waiting on the other side was her father, Humberto. Humberto told us he's grateful his daughter returned safely, that it's been his dream come true to see Jessica become a sailor and go on to finish college.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): He says, I tell her that maybe someday we'll be able to reunite over there as a family. Hopefully, somebody is going to help me, and I can go back to my family.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to CNN earlier this month, Humberto Martinez is, "Never going to be welcomed back in the United States." The DHS statement goes on to say Martinez is a, "Criminal with convictions for DUI and drug offenses and arrests for false citizenship and human smuggling, and that he's been removed from the U.S. at least six different times."

When CNN first asked about Humberto Martinez's immigration record seven months ago, the DHS statement offered different details. The agency told us in March Martinez had been removed from the U.S. 4 times, not six, and also included a conviction for unauthorized use of a vehicle. It did not mention the other crimes he allegedly committed. In a public record search, we were only able to find the DUI conviction. Martinez told us it was a misdemeanor charge and that he completed the court mandated classes and community service.

We've asked DHS for clarifications on the details in these statements, but they have not responded to that request. Humberto Martinez denies he was involved in any other crimes, but admits he unlawfully crossed the border multiple times and that he hopes to find a way back to his family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't care how many loans I have to go through. I have to pay. I'm a find justice for my dad for him to come back.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Ed Lavandera, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: And thank you for watching. Stay with us. The next hour of "The Story Is" begins right now.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to "The Story Is." I'm Brian Abel. Elex Michaelson has the night off.

Coming up, "The Story Is" a fierce battle for control of congress. How both President Trump and top democrats are making the most of the pre- midterm momentum.

"The Story Is" another break for Russia. Why the Trump administration is waiving sanctions as Ukrainians brace for winter.

And "The Story Is" growing protest, how a student led movement in France has sparked clashes and chaos in countries across Europe.