Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Soon: Trump Departs WH As New Poll Highlights Voter Concerns; At Rally, Trump Signs Order Aimed At Lowering Diesel Prices; Trump Speaks Ahead Of Departure To Maryland; Whistleblower: Trump Demanded FBI Probe Into Protesters Over A TikTok. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 06, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Don Riddell, thank you so much for bringing us that report.

A new hour of CNN News Central starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We are standing by for President Trump to depart the White House. His new polling shows what's top of mind for voters ahead of the midterm elections. As famed Democratic strategist James Carville once said, "it's the economy, stupid."

Plus, dozens of people remain in quarantine after a lab worker dies of an unknown infection at a facility that researches the plague. And now, the U.S. is pressing Russia for more transparency surrounding this mysterious death.

And the faculty at Cornell University are preparing a no-confidence vote against the administration over its handling of an alleged gang rape. We'll speak with a professor about that vote and the growing outrage on campus.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

With 28 days left until the midterms, President Trump is taking a quick break from the campaign trail for a speech in Baltimore today, as new polling finds what voters are wanting to hear more about. According to tracking by KFF, 62 percent say they want candidates to talk about the cost of living. The other top issues, health care, government fraud, Iran, and immigration.

Earlier, the President suggesting on social media that his rallies are saving the Republican Party, again. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live at the White House.

I said it that way because there were multiple exclamation points there at the end of his post, Kristen. What can we be expecting today?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, and it's coming as we are hearing from Republican candidates who are deeply concerned about these midterm elections. And you hear President Trump out there saying, he's flipping races.

I actually want you to put up another Truth Social that he posted about all of his midterm travel before we get to the event today, saying, "My Rally crowds and enthusiasm are unbelievable. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. We are flipping races all over the place."

I mean, that comes again at a time where we know that candidates are distancing themselves from President Trump and President Trump's policies.

So today, not a campaign event. This is meant to be a message, though, that resonates with voters across the country because it does involve creating new jobs. This is going to be a $6.6 billion partnership that they're announcing to work on submarine manufacturing at this plant in Dallas. And the White House says that this is going to create both temporary and permanent jobs to the tune of $13,000.

As you noted, this is coming at a time where people want President Trump to focus more on the cost of living, the economy. He's trying to show a recommitment to manufacturing and the creation of jobs. But whether or not it's a little too late, particularly given how close we are to those midterms, that's not necessarily what people need right now. What they need is to be able to afford gas, afford groceries. And that's what you're hearing when you hear these people say they want the candidates to talk about the cost of living.

So, I want to show you some polling here because it goes -- it kind of breaks down even more what you were just talking about, which was the top economic worries among voters. The first one, health care.

We know President Trump has been trying through the Most-Favored- Nation program, but people are not yet seeing those results. Gas prices is a close second. Many people, or if not most people across the country, use their car to get to work. So, this is something that impacts so many people. Food and groceries, utilities, rent and mortgage. These are all that cost of living, the basics of the cost of living.

Now, that leads us to the next poll, which is, who is more motivated to vote -- to vote given the current set of circumstances? Well, our polling shows that Democrats are 63 percent motivated to vote. That is -- Republicans, they're only 38 percent motivated to go out and vote.

So, that's actually why you're seeing President Trump go to places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama, like San Antonio, Texas, like Oklahoma, because they're trying to get those Republicans off the couch and to the voting polls in November to try to drive out turnout. Again, we're not talking about swing states here. We're talking about deep red states where they want to drive out voter turnout because Republicans, as you can see from this polling, just aren't that enthusiastic about voting.

KEILAR: Yes, you can see it there in the numbers. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Boris? Just hours after President Trump signed an order aimed at bringing down skyrocketing diesel prices, which waives restrictions on cheaper red dye diesel, federal officials are warning that diesel prices are not expected to drop before the midterms. Today, the national average for diesel stands at around $6.32 a gallon. CNN's Matt Egan joins us now.

So, Matt, what should we know about the President's executive order?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Boris, the good news is that, yes, some help is on the way for truckers who are struggling from near-record diesel prices.

[15:05:03]

I think the bad news, though, is that help, it's pretty modest, and it's not nearly enough to make diesel cheap again. So, the order the President signed, this amounts to a pre-election tax holiday. The order instructs the IRS to waive penalties for highway use of what's known as dyed diesel.

So, what is dyed diesel? It's the same as regular diesel. It's just restricted normally for off-road use, like in tractors, and it's untaxed. It's dyed red to distinguish it.

Now, this order is in effect until the end of the year. The catch, though, is that the tax payments, they're not going away completely. They're just being deferred, and it does instruct officials to explore forgiveness, but that is not a done deal by any stretch. The order also encourages states to adopt similar policies.

So, what are these taxes that we're talking about? Well, the federal tax on diesel is just over $0.24 a gallon. That's what the order is specifically addressing. State taxes on diesel, they really vary widely, as you might imagine, but the average is 35.5 cents a gallon. So, you put this together, and in the states that are adopting moves related to diesel, you're looking at potentially $0.60 a gallon of relief. That's not nothing. That's about a 10 percent discount off the national average from diesel.

Now, the problem, of course, is that it's really expensive to fill up right now because of how high prices are. The cost of filling up an 18-wheeler is almost $1,600 at current prices. Now, if you account for the federal move and state moves on taxes, then the cost would go down, but it would only go down by about $150 per fill-up. And it's not really clear how much of this $150 is going to be shared with consumers.

Now, the other problem here is we have different states with different policies. So far, about 10 U.S. states have suspended dyed diesel restrictions. This includes mostly red states, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and at least one purple state, North Carolina. But, of course, the problem is that truck drivers, they're often moving across state lines. So, you're going to have a situation where a truck driver might start in North Carolina where there's no state restrictions on dyed diesel and no federal restrictions, but then they might move into another state, like Virginia, where there are.

You can see how this is going to limit the impact of this executive order. And I talked to a truck driver -- a truck company owner in my home state of New Jersey, and he said that this all amounts to just a Band-Aid. And he said the Band-Aid's arriving pretty late because they've been dealing with sky-high prices now since the war started, which brings me to the other point here.

When you look at diesel prices so far this year, going back to the year 2000, there have been years where there have been increases, maybe a 20 percent, 25 percent increase. Even in 2021 and 2022, after COVID and during the Russia-Ukraine war, you saw significant increases. But look where we are now. You're looking at a nearly 80 percent increase in the cost of diesel so far this year, by far on track to be the biggest annual increase since AAA started tracking.

And that's what gets lost in this conversation here about the executive order, is that it really doesn't do anything to address the underlying problem, which is this global shortage of refineries. Because of the war between Russia and Ukraine, we have refineries in Russia that have been destroyed. The war with Iran has destroyed refineries in the Middle East. China is holding back restrictions and allowing truck drivers to use dyed diesel. It doesn't do anything to address those problems. Boris, back to you.

SANCHEZ: Matt Egan, not a great looking end of that bar graph. Thank you so much for breaking that down for us.

EGAN: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, the mysterious death of a lab tech working at a plague research facility, prompting a push for answers. A message from U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, for the Kremlin.

Plus, the former head of Germany's intelligence service arrested, accused of sharing state secrets with a foreign intelligence service. We have the details on that.

And later, a disaster emergency declaration in New York, what the state is now doing to fight a number of growing measles cases. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:13:45]

SANCHEZ: Let's get straight to the White House and President Trump, who is answering reporters' questions before he departs for Baltimore, Maryland. Let's listen.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll be going to a very special place. We're opening a big shipyard today. We're opening, really, a lot of shipyards over the next year. Our military is building like we've never built before. We have 17 different factories being built. Ammunition factories. And we're doing very well.

Iran is doing very poorly. Their economy is gone. They have inflation of almost 300 percent. Their oil minister just quit. He said, we have no economy, we have no oil, we have nothing. The Hormuz Strait, tremendous amounts, millions of barrels of oil has been delivered just over the last couple of days. We're getting it through at levels that were now even and sometimes exceeding prior to the war. And we've done very well.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... after yesterday, diesel (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: Well, we're thinking about that.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you change my mind for a taxpayer-funded ad and will you reimburse the government for the millions of dollars (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: Well, the ads -- the ads were really good.

[15:15:03]

They were a promotion for the country. Done by many presidents before, so we'll decide.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, your meeting with -- your meeting with the Gold Star Family today, how did that go may I ask?

TRUMP: It was great. In fact, there they are. There they are. Hello, everybody. That was the most beautiful meeting. These are the most incredible people. So, I invited them out to check out the new helipad, check out the new ballroom, and check out the new helicopter. Thank you, everybody. That meeting -- that meeting went fantastic.

(CROSSTALK)

Mr. President, (INAUDIBLE) the dollar is trading too much versus the euro right now.

TRUMP: No, we have a very strong dollar. That's because we're doing well. You know, a strong dollar is good in many ways. In certain ways, you could make a case that it slows things down, but a strong dollar gives you a lot of life. And by the way, you know what a strong dollar does. It gives you no inflation.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the midterm elections, how confident you are ...

TRUMP: I think we're going to do very well. I think that the rallies I'm doing are really changing around it. I think (INAUDIBLE) all I'm doing is saying what we've done. But the rallies that we've -- that we're having, I mean, I'm doing them every night. This is the opening of a shipyard. But the rallies have changed things around. We're letting people know what the Republicans have done, and it's incredible. And prices are now coming way down. And oil, as soon as the war is over, which will be soon, will be coming way down.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) are you worried about vandalism in the future and are you going to (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: Yes, well, we had vandalism there, and we have about as vandal proof as you can get. But only sick people do that. And we have their pictures. We have their -- but sick people do that. Yes, it's starting. I think they're going to fill it up this week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, are you going to (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: The reflecting pool is totally complete. We changed the old pipes. We wanted to get open for July 4th. And now we went and got rid of all of the old pipes, which we were going to do later and during the winter. We did it. And I think it's almost complete (INAUDIBLE) ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to visit again?

TRUMP: I'm going to visit, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay, good.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And they also, the grass, which they destroyed, you know, they destroyed the brand-new beautiful grass at the reflecting pool.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: The grass was destroyed with the letters, the famous letters. And that's been just about completed too. We put all new grass in, again. And this -- this is brand-new grass. This is all new.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's beautiful.

TRUMP: With about 200 loads of brand-new topsoil. So, it's going to be very healthy grass.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The merge of Paramount and Warner, your reaction on that.

TRUMP: What about it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Supreme Court allows today the merge of Paramount and Warner. Your reaction was on that.

TRUMP: It allowed the ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The merge of the two companies, yes.

TRUMP: The merger? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, the merger.

TRUMP: Yes. Oh, I'm happy about that. I didn't know that you're telling me that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: That's great. It's a great -- it's going to be a great company. They're terrific people and it's going to be a great company.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you mean when you said ...

TRUMP: You know, we're doing -- we're doing so well economically. We have numbers the likes of which our -- our country has never had anything like we have right now. We're building hundreds of factories and plants all over. That's a great merger. I'm glad they let it go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you mean when you said let them take down Los Angeles and San Diego?

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: All right, we're listening there to President Trump as he's on his way to promote this shipyard investment in Baltimore, Washington. He's talking about the Iran war and trying to paint a picture of kind of recovery of Iran suffering and oil going through the Hormuz Strait. That really has ticked up. Of course, it's incredibly dangerous still to go through the strait, and that makes it expensive to go through and we're still seeing high gas prices.

And he was asked about ads, those ads that were controversial and quite political. He again said that lots of presidents have done this, but he also seemed to make it a little unclear as to whether his PAC associated with him, MAGA Inc., is going to pay for them, right? He said, we'll decide.

SANCHEZ: Yes, he initially, when there was bipartisan criticism of these ads, came out and said that if people were upset, he would fund them himself to be determined if that is going to be the case. And notably, he also promoted his midterm campaign blitz, saying that his appearances are boosting Republican candidates. Of course, he was in Nebraska last night. He heads to Texas and Alabama this week. States that he's won every time that he's run for president, I think by at least double digits.

[15:20:07]

Notable that the President is going to red states as opposed to playing offense when Republican candidates are facing political headwinds.

KEILAR: Topsoil and grass as well. He also talked about that.

Still to come, a whistleblower saying the FBI opened investigations in anti-ICE protesters after President Trump saw them in a TikTok video. We'll have details ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:06]

KEILAR: An FBI whistleblower has filed a complaint alleging that the nation's top law enforcement agency opened preliminary investigations targeting ICE protesters in Southern California. This was during the early weeks of the President's immigration crackdown back in 2025. According to the whistleblower, in at least one instance, the FBI launched investigations after President Trump demanded a probe of people he saw in a TikTok video. The protesters were using bullhorns to warn neighbors about immigration agents. CNN's Evan Perez joins us now.

So, Evan, what is this whistleblower saying?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So, this is a -- a senior intelligence analyst in the Los Angeles field office of the FBI. And according to her, she's made these two disclosures to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying that she witnessed, at least twice, there were two instances where investigations, preliminary investigations were opened on these protesters who were out there protesting against the ICE and CBP crackdowns in the Southern California area.

She says that in -- in these cases, there was no evidence, there was nothing to actually open investigations on, that there was simply because of pressure from the White House, from President Trump. In this case, the one instance in Alhambra, California, the President saw a TikTok video and he was angry and he told the FBI director, Kash Patel. Kash Patel relayed this to his -- to -- to the senior agents of the FBI that the President wanted people arrested.

Now, that's against the law, against FBI protocol. Going back to the 1970s, when there were a lot of excesses by the FBI, they put into place these rules that say you have to have evidence of some wrongdoing or a crime, possible crime, before you open an investigation like this. She says that was not done and when she complained, she was pushed out.

I have -- we have a statement from the White House and from the Justice Department, but the White House one says that these allegations are false and she says that the -- they say that the First Amendment does not protect violent rioting, obstructing law enforcement, and assaulting law enforcement. So, the White House pushing back very strongly on this.

What we expect though, Boris, is that this is not an issue that's going away because we know from other -- reports from other people in the FBI that this has been a problem around the country. And, of course, if the Democrats have the ability to investigate this after the midterms, I think we're going to hear a lot more about this.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Evan Perez, thank you so much for that.

Up ahead, a troubling sign for Republican candidates. A look at the new polling numbers that show some reliable Republicans may be ready to vote for Democratic candidates in the midterms.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)