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Trump Stumps in Alaska, Arizona, Montana, Georgia on Deck; Early Voting Begins in Georgia Amid Key Senate, Governor Races; Actress Selma Blair Charged With Assault After Disturbance on Plane; Duane Davis to Be Sentences for Tupac Shakur's Murder; White House Asks Kimberly Guilfoyle to Resign as Ambassador to Greece. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired October 13, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- how she is now responding.

And the fountain of youth in a shot? New research suggesting GLP-1 drugs may not just shrink waistlines, but possibly even slow down the aging process.

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

Three months ago, the red state of Alaska was likely not on President Trump's campaign bingo card, but with just three weeks to go, Alaska is where he is headed right now as Republicans risk losing a key Senate seat. Recent polling shows a tight race between Republican Dan Sullivan and his Democratic challenger, Mary Peltola.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is live for us in Wasilla, Alaska, where the president is going to be speaking at a rally tonight. Kristen, what is going to be the message to Alaskan voters?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, I mean, this is wild that he's going to be here just three weeks before the midterms. This is a state that has not supported a Democrat for Senate in nearly 20 years. The last time was 2008.

Now he's going to be spending a majority of the day in transit on a flight here and then to Nevada. And just for what? A two-hour rally to support Dan Sullivan, who is the incumbent in this state? It just goes to show you how concerned Republicans are that they're not only going to lose the House, but potentially even the Senate in these deep red states.

And when you're looking around Alaska, when you're talking to people here on the ground, despite the fact that they haven't supported a Democrat for Senate in nearly 20 years, they are seeing the same thing that everybody else across the country says they are seeing, which is a rise in prices, an unpopular war in Iran, and particularly they point to those gas prices. Now, the other part of all of this here in Alaska that makes this incredibly unique is the election system. The system here is an open primary, meaning the top-four vote-getters in that primary, they advance to the general election no matter what party they are affiliated with.

Well, that means that there's actually going to be two Dan Sullivans on the ballot. One is the incumbent Senator, the other is a retired teacher, and Republicans are very concerned that this is going to cause some kind of confusion when people head to the ballot box.

But again, you see President Trump here. He has a slew of other red states that he's going to be visiting after this. He's going to Montana, Arizona. We just heard the new press secretary announce he's going to go to Kentucky, Florida.

I just learned he's going to be going to the Tampa Bay game on Sunday. So clearly here trying to get in all of those red states as they continue this mission of just trying to drive out the conservative voters by driving up enthusiasm.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, live for us in Wasilla, thank you so much for that report.

Today, early voting for Georgia's midterm elections is officially underway. This morning, CNN's Ryan Young spoke with Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Keisha Lance Bottoms, asking how she feels as voters get a first chance to cast their ballots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, (D) GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: The energy that we're seeing is the energy we need every single day of early voting. We're asking people to treat every day of early voting as if it is Election Day. And if the morning has been any indication, we're off to a great start.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Patricia Murphy joins us now. She is a Senior Political Columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Patricia, thanks so much for being with us. So in 2024, 71 percent of Georgians who cast ballots voted early. I wonder what you're going to be looking for in these first days.

PATRICIA MURPHY, SENIOR POLITICAL COLUMNIST, ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Well, hello, Boris. First of all, we'll certainly be looking for heavy volumes of early voting because both parties, not just Democrats, but Democrats and Republicans at the grassroots level, are urging their voters to go now.

They call Election Day the last day you can vote, not the best day you can vote. They're trying to bank all of the votes that they can while their fortunes are still anywhere near decent. I would say Democrats feel really good about their chances right now. Republicans are hoping that they can thread the needle between having an anti-Trump year, but a state where there are a whole lot of Trump voters that need to come out to the polls for them as well.

SANCHEZ: To show just how strongly Democrats feel right now, as you said, when Mike Collins and Jon Ossoff face off at their debate tonight, the top Democratic Senate super PAC just pulled its Georgia ads this week, indicating confidence in Ossoff's re-election. Is that your dog trying to say hi? Is that what's going on?

(LAUGH)

MURPHY: We have a few kids and a few dogs around here, but continue, I'm sorry. (Inaudible)?

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: No, of course, it's fine. They're more than welcome. Curious to get their perspective too.

(LAUGH)

MURPHY: We don't need that.

(LAUGH)

SANCHEZ: I just wonder what that confidence from Democrats is based on that they would pull ad spending at such a pivotal week where this debate is going on.

MURPHY: Yeah, well, so I think Democrats see a whole lot of reasons to be confident right now. They have the internal polling. They also have polling that they're sharing with us that shows one of the biggest drivers for Democratic voters to get out to the polls is President Trump. And the fact that President Trump is coming to Georgia at the end of this week, he's coming on Friday, means that they're going to be reminded every day that President Trump is not on the ballot, but he wants them to think that he's on the ballot.

[14:05:00]

I was with Senator Raphael Warnock earlier today and asked him if he thinks voters should believe that President Trump is on the ballot, and he said absolutely, and his name is Rick Jackson. That is the Republican nominee for governor, who is also trying to thread that needle. He's trying to paint himself now as more of a Governor Brian Kemp Republican, who had many very high-profile fights with the President, but also has been able to get those Trump supporters back on his side as well.

I think Democrats feel like it could be a generational election for them. We'll have to see. You know, they tend to feel this way every two to four years, and then it doesn't turn out for them as well as they'd hoped. They've had some recent high-profile victories in this state, but it's still truly a battleground. That governor's race in particular is just a complete toss-up. We can't call it either way, but Democrats do feel more confident than they have in many, many years.

SANCHEZ: Tell us more about Jackson, as you write, "emphasizing his independence," because while Trump is headed there later in the week, he actually held a tele-rally over the weekend, I understand, and Jackson was sort of a part of it. He thanked the president for doing it and then very quickly pivoted away, right?

MURPHY: Yes, Rick Jackson is trying to kind of create his own independent brand, independent of the president, now that the general election has gotten here. In the primary, Jackson, who has never run for office before, introduced himself to Republican voters, saying, I want to be Donald Trump's favorite governor and I will be his favorite governor. He has given Donald Trump $2 million in campaign donations just this year alone. He's very much on the president's radar, even though the president did not endorse Jackson.

Now that Jackson's in the general election, we've seen just a complete pivot from him back to more traditional Republicans. Again, like Governor Brian Kemp, he's been asked at press conferences, would you go along with the president? Will you be able to tell the president no, as so many Republicans have not? And Rick Jackson's answer is, I don't owe anything to anybody. That's his very clear effort, to just build that own brand that he has.

Not 100 percent Trump, but not anti-Trump. He can't afford for those Trump Republicans not to come to the polls --

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

MURPHY: But he's got to get some Democrats and Independents there, too.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it's notable. He beat the gubernatorial candidate that Trump endorsed in the primary. Before we go, there was kind of an awkward debate last night. The Democratic candidate for governor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, stood next to an empty podium at Atlanta's press club, because Jackson wasn't there, and she was responding to criticism about her time as mayor and specifically her COVID response.

What did you make of this one-person debate?

MURPHY: Well, it has not come as a big surprise to us. Jackson did do one debate with Keisha Lance Bottoms last week. However, when he did debate Burt Jones, Lieutenant Governor, earlier in this cycle, it didn't go great.

Because he's not a politician, he's never debated before. This is just not a thing that's been his strong suit. So the fact that they let him debate once, but not more, not a big surprise. Instead, he did a statewide fly-around to multiple airports on his private jet. He said that's the best way he can get out to see voters, instead of a debate. He says he's not asked about it by any voters that he's talking to.

We at the AJC, of course, would love to see these candidates debate more than once, because never has been elected statewide before.

SANCHEZ: Patricia Murphy, thanks so much for sharing your reporting with us. Shout out to our friends off-camera as well.

(LAUGH)

MURPHY: Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still to come, during this midterm blitz, conservative leaders are sounding the alarm. Could a critical part of the president's coalition stay home on Election Day? The push to remobilize white evangelical voters.

And later, bomb threats and calls for assassination all over data centers. CNN speaking to people fed up with the massive projects in their communities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Do you excuse that violence?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't excuse violence at all, but at a certain point, when voting only gets you so far, you know, you got to start asking yourself, what else is there?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Kyung Lah takes us to where police say there is growing outrage, and it is becoming more dangerous.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:14:04]

SANCHEZ: Actress Selma Blair is out on bond today after pleading not guilty to two assault charges following a violent disturbance on a commercial flight. Officials say that Blair injured two attendants during a flight from Los Angeles to New York, biting one, leaving the other with lacerations. After Blair was arrested at JFK Airport, prosecutors say the 54-year-old actress later kicked a law enforcement officer and a nurse at the hospital where she was taken.

Attorneys for the actress blamed the incident on a combination of exhaustion and a medical crisis. Let's discuss with Areva Martin. She is an attorney and a civil rights lawyer. Areva, thanks so much for being with us. What do you think of Blair's attorney suggesting that this incident was a combination of exhaustion and a medical crisis?

AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY: That's going to be a tall task because not only did she assault the two flight attendants, as you said, she also assaulted allegedly this police officer and a nurse later, after the incident on the plane.

[14:15:00]

Now, we have heard her attorney say that she had missed medication for multiple sclerosis, that she was exhausted, and that she was severely confused and disoriented. That was allegedly at the time of the incident on the airplane. Not sure how he is going to be able to claim that she continued to be disoriented and confused even as she was taken to the hospital.

But the real question here is intent. And does she have the necessary intent to commit assault? Or was she, as he has alleged, experiencing a medical crisis that impaired her ability to really control her actions? That's the real crux of this case at this point, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Do you think she's going to potentially face federal charges for these alleged crimes?

MARTIN: Quite possibly, because this did happen on an airplane. The original assault happened with respect to two flight attendants, and federal charges can be brought when there is an incident on an airplane, as in this case. And also, I think it's important to note that there's some prior incidents, or at least one in 2016, where apparently she experienced another in-flight episode, which she also attributed to medication, or in that case, I guess, mixing medication and alcohol.

So, wouldn't be surprised if that allegation of 2016 also becomes relevant in this new case that's going to be moving forward.

SANCHEZ: Pivoting to another story that we're following, Areva, Duane "Keffe D" Davis is going to be sentenced today for the murder of Tupac Shakur. Remember, we had you on multiple times talking about this case and how he was found guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, with the intent to promote further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur's death.

These are actually live images of the hearing right now. Talk to us about what factors you anticipate the judge is going to weigh in his sentencing.

MARTIN: Yeah, one of the things that I think we're going to be looking for in this case is the judge talking about the 30 years, the justice delay for 30 years. We know this is a case that has haunted the hip-hop community and the American public in some ways for now three decades. I think the fact that Tupac Shakur was only 25 years old when he was murdered, again, I think that's going to weigh into this judge's decision.

We're going to hear impact statements, if we haven't already heard them, from his family, talking about how long they have waited for accountability. Obviously, no sentence can give them back this young man whose life was cut short at 25 years old, but in many ways, this was the outcome that this family had been hoping for, for decades.

SANCHEZ: Do you expect Davis is going to get life in prison?

MARTIN: I expect he will get life in prison. The question becomes with or without parole. He's already 63 years old or approximately that age, so life for him could be another 15 or 20 years.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, Areva Martin, appreciate the legal expertise. Thanks for joining us.

MARTIN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, can a weightloss shot also help turn back the aging clock? We're going to take a look at this new surprising research when we come back on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:22:50]

SANCHEZ: Kimberly Guilfoyle is being shown the door. The White House says it's asked her to resign as U.S. Ambassador to Greece after a string of damaging reports, including that she sought $100,000 from a Trump donor to pay off her Amex bill. Allegations that she is denying, as sources tell CNN, a State Department watchdog is investigating her. She was once engaged to President Trump's eldest son, Don Jr., and the president was asked about her today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kimberly Guilfoyle, she was almost a member of your family. How surprised were you to learn about these allegations? What do you make of them?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: She wasn't a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago, but she wasn't, no. She (inaudible), she was doing a good job, but we didn't like what we were reading.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Kylie Atwood is here with more on this. So Kylie, what are you hearing?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle, from her personal Twitter account, came out and said following, you know, the White House saying that President Trump had asked her to resign, that it has been honor of a lifetime for her to serve as an Ambassador to Greece, touting some of what she believes to be her achievements and then going on to defend herself saying, quote, "I also want to address the recent allegations against me. These allegations are false and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation and my integrity."

But she also made it clear in this post that she doesn't want to leave the MAGA movement, going on to say, quote, "While my time as ambassador may be coming to an end, my commitment to President Trump, the America First movement, and the country I love will never end. So it's clear there that she's still trying to maintain that closeness to the Trump administration albeit President Trump himself, as we played in that introduction there, trying to distance any familial ties to her.

So we'll watch and see where this goes, but it is sort of interesting that she has not officially said that she's resigned yet. We haven't heard from her lawyers on that front, so maybe there's some legalese and you know, the statements that they're going to put out on that front, particularly because one of the people who has come with claims of her wrongdoing that she had asked this Trump donor to pay her $100,000 American Express bill in return for access to Trump administration officials, he has said that he's going to be suing her and her lawyers for defamation.

[14:25:00]

So maybe there's you know some legal situation at play there. But we should note that this was a pretty rapid fall from grace for the ambassador to Greece. You know, these initial reports by the Wall Street Journal broke less than a month ago, and now President Trump is asking her to resign.

SANCHEZ: It's interesting that she doesn't, as you said, acknowledge that she is resigning. So what does that mean for the State Department investigations in her alleged activity?

ATWOOD: So we really don't know where that stands right now. And it is a critical question because lawmakers have been saying that they want the State Department's Office of Inspector General to do this investigation because they want to find out more about her, you know, requesting money from Trump donors for favors, effectively. But also, if she did that in any other instances. And obviously, a fulsome investigation by an independent body would be a place to do that.

They could potentially keep it open. But, you know, if the Trump administration and the State Department says she's resigned and there's really no need to put resources towards that investigation, they could potentially close it down as well. The other element to look at here in terms of if this story has legs, you know, further developments, is what happens on Capitol Hill.

SANCHEZ: Right.

ATWOOD: Because we know that some of the messages that she sent to that Eric Deters, who is the Trump donor, were shared with Capitol Hill. He has said he's going to be meeting with some members, some Democratic lawmakers on this. So we'll watch and see if they take up this issue for a more fulsome investigation beyond the really widespread reporting that The Wall Street Journal and now other outlets have been doing.

SANCHEZ: One of many possible investigations Democrats may take up if they gain control of Congress. Kylie Atwood, thanks so much for that.

Still to come, no group of voters has been quite as important for President Trump as evangelicals. Will they show up at the polls this year, though? A big question, perhaps a problem as well for Republicans. We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)