Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Sources: Jim Jordan Quietly Laying Groundwork For Run At GOP Leader; Pennsylvania Secretary of State Speaks On Election Security; OpenAI Accuses Ex-Employee Of Leaking Intel On AI Device To Apple. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 15, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:32:25]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we've got some new CNN reporting for you this morning on what Congress might look like after the midterm elections and we're learning which Republican is vying for minority leadership if Democrats take the House in November.

Let's take a look at the current balance of power as it stands. The magic number is 218 and right now, Democrats only need a net gain of three seats to take control of the House, but newly redrawn congressional maps have complicated that math a bit. But with only a few pickups in November, Democrats could swing the balance of power. If they are successful one Republican, CNN is learning, is quietly laying the groundwork to be House minority leader, and it is not current Speaker Mike Johnson.

Let's get to CNN's Annie Grayer, who has this new reporting for us. What are you learning, Annie?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Sara, what I'm hearing from Republican lawmakers and sources around the party as -- is that it looks like Jim Jordan is positioning himself to become minority leader in the event that Republicans lose the majority. Now, Jordan himself says that he is only focused on keeping the House majority and keeping Mike Johnson as speaker. But behind the scenes, I'm learning there is a lot of maneuvering going on.

First of all, just look at Jordan's schedule right now. He is campaigning across the country between now and Election Day, and he's working really hard to make inroads with moderate members specifically who were the -- were the voting bloc that had blocked his speakership back in 2023. Now he is donating to their campaigns. He is campaigning with them. And instead of retreating from that group in 2023, he is really trying to make inroads with them.

And we're also seeing that Jordan is -- has -- Jordan has been pointing out, I'm told, behind the scenes to some of his colleagues, things that he would be doing differently if he were to have been in the top job while Johnson was speaker. How he would have had the schedule be different. How maybe he would have had different votes on the floor. But the big thing that his colleagues are looking at is Jordan is not running for judiciary chair next term, and Jordan is the Republicans' best person to handle investigations.

As we know, if Democrats reclaim the majority they are going to launch an onslaught of investigations into President Trump, into his family, across the administration. And many look to Jim Jordan as someone who could be the foil to that -- who could be the potential face of the Republican counterpoint.

So Jordan seems to be positioning himself for something, but Johnson -- House Speaker Mike Johnson, says that he wants to stay in the top job even if Republicans lose the majority.

[07:35:05]

SIDNER: Great reporting from you this morning. Thank you so much. I do appreciate it. Over to you, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Punchbowl reported this morning that Republicans are now in a panic mode over losing the House. Kate was talking about that earlier. That same Punchbowl report suggests that Democrats are beginning to feel better in some congressional districts that President Trump won by a lot. I can go over just a few of those districts that Punchbowl mentioned.

New York's 21st congressional district, which is place that Donald Trump won by 21 points. He won it by 21 points. This is the seat held by retiring member of Congress, Elise Stefanik. She won it by 24 points. But in this race right now, according to Punchbowl, Democrats feel it's within the margin of error.

Out in Nevada, the northern part of the state, Nevada's second congressional district, which is the most Republican district in the state, President Trump won this by 14 points. Again, there was a retiring House member here, Mark Amodei, who's held the seat comfortably for a long time. Democrats feel that this race was within the margin of error.

Kentucky -- yes, Kentucky. Red Kentucky Democrats now feeling that the 6th congressional district, which President Trump won by 15 points, could be competitive. President Trump is actually going to Kentucky in the next few weeks. This might explain why.

And then finally, let's look at Indiana, home state of one Kate Bolduan. In Indiana, there is an incumbent that Democrats now feel is within their sights. It is Victoria Spartz. She won this seat by what? What is that -- 24 points, 28 points? A lot. It's so much it's hard for me to count. Democrats now see this within the margin of error.

So it just gives you a sense of how the map is expanding in a very big way for Democrats right now.

With us now, Democratic strategist and executive vice president of public affairs of Third Way, Matt Bennett. Matt, it's great to see you. So to the extent that the map is expanding for Democrats, if it is, what do you credit it to? Because there are progressives out there who say, hey, it's because of this progressive energy surging within the party. Do you see them as the most successful candidates or is that energy coming from elsewhere?

MATT BENNETT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, THIRD WAY: It is definitely coming from elsewhere. I mean, we are not competitive in Kentucky because of progressive energy coming out of New York City or Philadelphia or Denver. We're competitive in Kentucky because we have really good moderate candidates running in these tough districts and because, let's face it, Trump and the Republicans are unbelievably unpopular. And we've got people that match the district that are able to win there.

You know, in the entire Trump era, in the last decade since 2016, the people that have flipped seats from red to blue -- the people that have made the majority in 2018 and will make it again this cycle are moderates. That is only moderates. The people endorsed by the far left have flipped a total of zero seats so far at least from red to blue.

What they've done successfully is they make a lot of noise, they get a lot of attention, and they make blue seats bluer, like the seats that -- the primary seats that they won in New York and Philadelphia and Denver and elsewhere. But they have not helped build a majority anywhere in either the House or Senate yet. I hope that changes this year, but if it does, it will only be at the margins. It'll be the moderates that make the majority.

BERMAN: Overnight, James Talarico was part of the CNN-Jubilee Town Hall in Texas. He's running for Senate there, and he seemed to be campaigning in that lane that you prefer. I want you to listen to what he said about what type of senator he would be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES TALARICO, (D) TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm not running for the U.S. Senate to represent the Democratic Party. I am running for Senate to represent all 31 million Texans. And I will -- I will -- I will always do what's best for Texas, even if that means standing up to my own party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So if Democrats do take control of the House and Senate, what would you like to see in terms of how they govern?

BENNETT: Well, look, governing is a relative term. Trump will still be president so there's going to be a severe limit on what they can actually do. Obviously, they'll have to conduct investigations into the millions of illegal and immoral things going on in the Trump administration. They'll have to keep the lights on, and they'll have to pass some bills.

What I hope they do though is focus on the things that they're running on, which is affordability, kitchen table issues, and not kind of revert to the things that were animating the races in these very, very deep blue districts that were won by the -- won by the far left last summer. I mean, those districts -- by the way, Kamala Harris won those districts by an average of 54 points. Like there are no Republicans in those districts.

We need to focus on the things that are animating voters in places like Texas and Iowa and Alaska -- places where we have a chance to build majorities in areas that we didn't think were at all possible a year ago.

BERMAN: Matt Bennett, appreciate you being with us morning. Thank you very much -- Kate.

[07:40:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nineteen days out, early voting happening in so many states. And the president yesterday, while campaigning to try and turn out the vote, continued sowing doubt about elections past and future. Here he was in Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had the greatest first term, financially speaking, in the history of our country. And I get elected and then we had a rigged election, so that was not so good. We had a terrible -- but because we did so well -- because we actually won by millions and millions of votes, it was just rigged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So with the president pushing that message still, what does this mean for the state officials, local officials actually in charge of running the elections from state to state now?

Joining me right now is the Secretary of State for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Al Schmidt. It's good to see again, Secretary. Thanks for being here.

So with Donald Trump, the president, you know, questioning election security and doing so, so publicly, one month out, are you concerned about the security of the election in Pennsylvania?

AL SCHMIDT, SECRETARY OF STATE, COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA (via Webex by Cisco): Well, we work closely with our county partners who really run elections in the commonwealth to make sure that they have the support that they need. But hearing sort of all these accusations day-to-day, we should reach our conclusions about voter fraud based on reality, not paranoid fantasy.

A recent audit of Pennsylvania voter rolls by our Republican auditor general found one case out of 200,000 where a voter should not have been registered, who was not eligible. And really, I ask, like, how many eligible voters is it OK to disenfranchise in an effort to find that one individual who didn't even vote, by the way?

BOLDUAN: Yeah, that's a valid -- a valid question. The governor had just said on Monday that he is quite concerned that,

in his words, that the president will dispatch federal officials, whether it be ICE or others, to our streets, he said.

There's currently no order for such action. But if that would happen, what can you do about it?

SCHMIDT: Well, we have an election threat task force in Pennsylvania set up to have open lines and continuous lines of communication between federal, state and local partners, so that if we do see any effort at election interference, whether it be from the federal government or anyone else, we are prepared to act to protect our voters, to protect our republic, and make sure that voters can make their voices heard on Election Day. So a lot of preparation goes into all this in advance of election.

Now I've run elections at the county level for 10 years prior to coming to the Department of State and you consider every possible scenario. And admittedly, we've had to consider a lot more scenarios now than we ever have before.

BOLDUAN: Mail-in voting is a big thing in Pennsylvania. Do you have any early numbers on that turnout if you will? How many mail-in ballots have been requested compared to years past so far?

SCHMIDT: Yes, it's well over a million. Voter -- voting by mail or applications to vote by mail are down relative to the recent elections, but they've been gradually coming down a bit since 2020 during that peak sort of COVID time, and I think that's a natural sort of progression for where we are. Voting by mail is still very popular in Pennsylvania, and voters should choose to vote however they prefer, by whatever method, whether it's in person at the polls on Election Day or by mail.

BOLDUAN: Do you think that the president has anything to do with the decline at all? Are you seeing any evidence of that? His big push to restrict and undermine mail in voting kind of from coast to coast. He's reversed course on it, of course, but do you see any signs or evidence or hearing that that is impacting mail-in voting?

SCHMIDT: Well, what it has impacted is it has created a lot of noise in an effort to create a lot of confusion around the election. There's no doubt about that. Whether it's had any impact on voters coming out to vote in one method -- using one method or another, I don't know. But what I encourage voters to do is to make sure that they do vote and they don't get distracted or discouraged by any of this noise and back-and-forth and accusations and the sort of nonsense that we've heard.

BOLDUAN: I first met you covering the 2020 election when you were helping to run the voting -- the vote counting operation in Philadelphia. And back then, everyone will remember you faced horrible attacks from the president, death threats to your family and more. And I remember you talking about how it kept you up at night.

Now in this role, you've gone through an election cycle in this role. What is keeping you up at night ahead of this midterm?

[07:45:00]

SCHMIDT: Well, anyone involved with elections, whether it's at the county level or the state level, is concerned about everything. So you can't really say this is a concern and this isn't a concern. Everything is always a concern when it comes to election administration because the smallest mistake can get exploited by bad faith actors seeking to undermine confidence in election results.

So if a county runs out of ballots at one precinct, that becomes some evidence of a conspiracy. If the smallest thing happens, it can be taken completely out of context in an effort to, as I said, undermine confidence in election results when losers come up short.

BOLDUAN: What's your message then to voters? And also, if you would, Secretary, what is your message to President Trump 19 days out?

SCHMIDT: Well, I'm really only interested in speaking to voters. They are the only people that I really care about. At the end of the day, all that matters is if you are eligible to vote, you should register to vote, and if you register to vote, you should vote in this election and every election. And that is our job. Republicans and Democrats and Independents across Pennsylvania are working night and day to make sure that you can make your voice heard.

BOLDUAN: Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Al Schmidt. It's good to see you. Thank you for being here -- Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you, Kate.

This morning, OpenAI is accusing a former employee of stealing files related to an unreleased device and later sharing some of that information with Apple. OpenAI alleges that the employee had previously worked at Apple, then joined OpenAI for six months before going back to work for Apple.

CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy joining us now with more. Can you give us some sense of what happened here and what the sharing was all about? What the -- what was being shared?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yeah. Well, the context here, Sara, is that these two companies are engaged along with much of the rest of the tech industry in trying to create the big device for the AI era -- the AI-enabled device. And now both Apple and OpenAI are engaged in somewhat of a back-and-forth here about alleged trade secrets theft related to their efforts to build this AI device.

Apple, earlier this summer, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI accusing it of stealing trade secrets from Apple, saying that former employees of Apple's had taken information about its own AI gadgets' efforts to OpenAI.

Then yesterday we got this filing in the same case from OpenAI alleging that this former Apple employee who had worked at Apple and went to OpenAI, as you said, and then went back to Apple and took a number of materials related to OpenAI's device efforts to Apple. That includes more than 100 confidential files that were allegedly downloaded by this employee before leaving OpenAI about this unreleased device, including they say this employee made a presentation about OpenAI's product plans to Apple's senior leadership, including Apple's vice president of operations in Asia.

Now Apple is denying this, saying that there's no evidence that materials were taken from OpenAI by this former employee. Apple also says that it has strict policies in place to ensure that new employees don't take information from former employers.

But I think this back-and-forth really speaks to the stakes here for both of these companies, just how important it is for them, they feel, to win this race to create this next big AI gadget.

SIDNER: It's interesting to see this happening. But at the same time, all this worry about the advancement of AI playing into this and what Congress may or may not do and whether there are guardrails. But you have this race going on as well, which is something that has a lot of people afraid of what we're going to see in the future. We will see what happens in this case.

Clare Duffy, it is good to see you again.

DUFFY: Thank you.

SIDNER: Appreciate you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: A terrifying tornado just rips through Texas. We have a new look at the damage that it left behind and how everyone is doing there.

And the Milwaukee Brewers bring the late-game magic, putting them one win away from the World Series.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:54:05]

BERMAN: The Dodgers are now on the brink of elimination after losing game three of the NLCS to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Let's get right to CNN's Andy Scholes. Andy, the Brewers are up 3-0. Just remind me, no team has ever blown a 3-0 lead in a championship series, have they?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Just one, and I'm pretty sure that's one of your favorite series of all time, Berman. More on that in a second. But you know, I certainly didn't have the expensive Dodgers dynasty ending in a sweep, but that could happen tonight. The Brewers now just a win away from their first trip to the World Series since 1982.

And fans didn't even get to take a bite out of their Dodger dog last night before they found themselves down 1-0. The very first pitch of the game, Jackson Chourio homers for the Brewers. It would be 1-0 all the way into the sixth inning. That's when L.A. loaded the bases. And Will Smith, whose wife announced the birth of their third daughter hours before game three, comes through with the clutch two-run double. Dodgers take the lead, but it did not last long.

[07:55:05]

Top of the seventh, Jake Bauers -- another incredible at-bat in the series. He had a 12-pitch at-bat in game two which he walked. This time an 11-pitch at-bat ends with him launching that two-run home run. Then the very next batter, Garrett Mitchell crushes this one for back- to-back home runs.

The Brewers end up winning 6-2. They're now a win away from becoming the first team ever to sweep a team that swept them the postseason before, but the Brew Crew knows the job is not done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT MITCHELL, OUTFIELDER, MILWAUKEE BREWERS: It gives me goosebumps just to think about it. I think -- you know, I think we earned it. I think we still got one more to go. It's not over yet. You know, anything can happen in this game. So I think we're dialed in and we're ready for one more and, you know, we don't want to leave any doubt.

DAVE ROBERTS, MANAGER, L.A. DODGERS: Well, they know what's at stake. And, you know, we've won four in a row, you know, a number of times this year -- 10 times, I think -- something like that. So -- but again, we've got to win tomorrow. So that's our only focus.

MAX MUNCY, THIRD BASEMAN, L.A. DODGERS: At the beginning of this year we set out to do something historic and it looks like we're going to have to make a little more history along the way if we want to accomplish that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah, we're going to get some afternoon baseball today. Due to rain on its way to Cleveland tonight they moved up game three of the ALCS to 1:00 Eastern this afternoon. You can watch that one on CBS and HBO Max. They also moved up Dodgers and Brewers game four to 8:00 Eastern and a must-win for those Dodgers, John.

Teams that are down 0-3 in a series are just one in 41 all-time, but I know that one is your favorite one of all time. It's the 2004 Boston Red Sox who came back to beat the New York Yankees. Dave Roberts, manager of the Dodgers, was on that Red Sox team and got that famous steal of second base. He said he didn't have to tell his team about that, Berman -- about those Red Sox -- because they've all seen the documentary by this time.

BERMAN: Right, as should everyone. It should be required viewing in every school across the country.

I have to say both those teams are so good right now. Watching the Brewers play, they are so good right now. Andy Scholes, great to see you. Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. What season is longer, hockey season or baseball season?

BERMAN: Baseball season goes on for -- actually, I don't -- that's a great question. I mean, the hockey playoffs are 19 months long.

BOLDUAN: There is a difference of calendar and how it feels.

BERMAN: Yes, exactly. I mean, they play hockey until like deep August when all the ponds are frozen, yeah.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, J.B. I feel seen.

Let's go -- let's go here. New bodycam video in this morning showing the moments New York police officers pulled a man from a burning car after a wrong-way crash. It happened on the Henry Hudson Parkway last week. The video just came out though. The NYPD says a Good Samaritan actually alerted them to the emergency. The man was pulled from the wreck, taken to the hospital with severe injuries, but he did survive the crash. Four other people were also taken to the hospital with injuries after this.

And it's more video to show you -- a tornado caught on camera in Texas. It captured the moment when it touched down just yesterday during severe weather in Fort Stockton. These things are terrifying in size, especially in Texas. The area was -- also saw gusty winds, hail, thunderstorms. I'm sure it was like frogs and locusts as well. Crews from the area cleaned up downed power lines and debris. That area is facing more severe storms today and is also under a flood watch until Friday.

And just in time for spooky season, Pringles is daring diehard fans to prove their love of the stackable chip for a chance to win a one-of-a- kind can-shaped urn. Yes, an urn. An urn. You can also-- apparently, you get to win an after-lifetime supply of Pringles. The company is asking fans to sign -- I'm quoting them -- "a will and taste-ament" pledging to be buried in a Pringles cam. They're calling it the Once You Drop campaign -- no joke -- and says it is inspired by --

there's the interesting tidbit -- by the inventor of the Pringles can whose ashes were apparently buried in one in 2008. The contest runs until October 22 -- Sara.

SIDNER: I will not be taking part just so you know, unless you want that for as a gift, Kate -- no.

BOLDUAN: Christmas is right around the corner. It's so creepy.

SIDNER: So creepy.

BOLDUAN: OK, OK.

SIDNER: Thank you, Kate.

All right. Happening today, Southern California is facing fire alerts as gusty Santa Ana winds are moving in. Red flag warnings have already been issued into the weekend.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joining me live now. Give us a sense of where all this could be affected there and it is a huge swath of the state.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is, and I think that's kind of the key thing here is that it's going to impact a lot of people. And it's not even just for one day. You have multiple days where we have that fire risk.

So let's take a look at today, for example. Again, you're talking Chico wrapping all the way back around to those northwestern L.A. suburbs there for today. Tomorrow, it shrinks a little bit, but you still have a pretty decent area here, still covering Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo, and then up towards the northwestern portion of Los Angeles.

I want to note here, though, the area that's missing -- that is San Diego, and that is because this area actually got a decent amount of moisture. You're looking at the last five days. A lot of this moisture was from Tropical Storm Rachel over the weekend.