Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Teen Shooter Kills 3 Children, Teacher Before Bystander Shoots Him; Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) On Probe Into White House Restrictions On Starshield In Ukraine; CNN KFILE: Zacharia Shared 15 Posts Identifying Herself As "Attorney." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 16, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:30:52]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, police are still trying to determine a motive in the deadly elementary school shooting in Bend, Oregon. The community is in mourning after a shooter killed three children, ages five, eight and 11, and a teacher. A 7-year-old and a second teacher were critically injured.

Police say the 16-year-old shooter shot his way into the Silver Rail Elementary School with a long gun. Then a community member followed him inside and ended up shooting and killing the teen before officers arrived.

CNN's Marybel Gonzalez is at the scene in Bend this morning. Are you learning anything about whether police have determined that the shooter had any connection in any way to this elementary school?

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Sara, that is a key question right now. There are still so many questions, more than there are answers in this case.

What we do know is that this community, this tight-knit Bend community -- population just over 100,000 -- is in shock and they're grieving. The mourners setting up this memorial that you see behind us just hours after police say that shooter forced his way into the Silver Rail Elementary School, killing four people before being killed himself.

Now, some of the things we're still hoping to learn along with the motive and what if any connection that shooter had to the school is the identity of those victims, who that shooter was, and also who the person was who intercepted that shooter. What we do know is that many here are hailing that person as a hero and prevented what could have been further tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN COOK, SUPERINTENDENT, BEND-LA-PINE SCHOOLS: No community should have to do what we're doing right now. I don't have any words for what this community is feeling right now, and I don't think anyone does. We are heartbroken. We are horrified. This is the kind of thing you hear about in other places and pray that it never happens here, and it has happened here.

GOV. TINA KOTEK, (D) OREGON: To the community member who heroically intervened to stop further loss of life, your actions carry a heavy emotional burden, and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GONZALEZ: Now this is the 36th shooting on K through 12 school grounds across the country just this year. That is according to a CNN data analysis.

And here in Bend, the police chief says his officers had just gone through a full day of active threat training at a local high school. That happened back in August.

School is canceled throughout the district today. That -- we're talking about 16,000 students who will not be in class today, Sara, just to give you an idea of the widespread impact this tragedy has had on this community.

SIDNER: Yeah, it is just awful and there are so many questions left to be answered.

Marybel Gonzalez, thank you so much for your reporting there from Bend, Oregon for us. Over to you, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Ukraine and the stunning video coming out of the moment a Russian drone hits a supermarket in Ukraine's Odesa region. It comes as a rift between the leader of Ukraine and the United States is widening. Here's video -- that video I'm talking about that came in. This happened Thursday.

President Trump said just yesterday, though, that he now finds Ukrainian President Zelenskyy "more difficult to deal with than Putin." President Zelenskyy said in an interview that Ukraine is losing a partner in the United States and that he feels betrayed by the -- by Trump's deal allowing Russian diesel exports. And just this morning, President Zelenskyy is speaking out in Brussels and notably thanked the "real leaders in Europe" for their support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I'm so thankful that we have such huge support from EU Council Commission and leaders -- real leaders -- so that they stay with us from the very beginning of this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:35:00]

BOLDUAN: And now there's bipartisan pushback on Capitol Hill on two fronts against Trump's Russia and -- Russia diesel deal and also a bipartisan group of senators calling now for the Pentagon's inspector general to investigate the reported disruptions to critical military satellite communications and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Joining me right now is Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who is one of those leading on both of those fronts. Senator, thank you for coming in and being here.

On Starshield, the military grade version of Starlink, if you will, Reuters is now reporting that the order to limit Starshield capabilities for Ukraine came from inside the White House. That's according to two U.S. officials and a Western official briefed on the matter to Reuters.

You all are calling for an investigation into what happened here, but do you already have the answer?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): The answer is pretty clear because Starshield, which is the military version of Starlink, couldn't be interrupted without the White House ordering the Pentagon to stop it.

And let's be very clear on the importance --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

BLUMENTHAL: -- of Starshield. It is the communications network that enables Ukraine to defend against the drones and missiles that do the kind of destruction that you just saw in that tape.

And Putin is targeting homes, malls, schools, the power grid in a way that is absolutely an atrocity. In fact, the Russian slang for what they're doing from them is "human safari." They are targeting human beings. And Starlink is a necessary channel, especially when the Russians are using higher powered drones with AI as guidance.

BOLDUAN: If the call came from inside the White House without giving Ukraine -- without giving Congress clearly a heads up about it, what does that mean? What do you do? What is your reaction? If this came from the White House, they didn't give them the heads up. That means what?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, first of all, the American people should know that we are in effect aiding Putin, who is supporting Iran with intelligence and fiber optic technology. Iran is killing our sons and daughters or wants to destroy our bases and ships and other assets. Putin is an adversary supporting an enemy at war with us. And yet we are regarding him as more deserving of support.

In effect, what Donald Trump is doing is a pressure campaign, a coercion against Ukraine, trying to force concessions. He wanted an energy ceasefire. Zelenskyy said yes. Putin continued bombing the Ukraine infrastructure.

So what we are going to do is demand answers as we did in that letter that I helped to lead against the diesel --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum. BLUMENTHAL: -- deal and the kind of investigation that's necessary to show the American people what the Pentagon is actually doing in aiding Putin and then we'll use the power of the purse. We have the National Defense Authorization Act. We control spending. And I am hoping Republican colleagues will join us just as they did in these letters.

BOLDUAN: There's new reporting into CNN today that Ukraine has now run out of the missiles for the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system. This is according to a source familiar. Is that your understanding? They're now out of Patriots.

BLUMENTHAL: They are virtually out of the interceptors --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

BLUMENTHAL: -- whether they're for the Patriot system --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BLUMENTHAL: -- or for the THAAD systems that are essential to their self-defense. So that is another need in addition to Starlink that the Ukrainians have. And it is an urgent need because Ukrainians face a really harsh winter. Putin is trying to starve and freeze them.

BOLDUAN: I spent probably too much time this morning trying to get a clear memory of where things stand with the promise that the President of the United States made to the President of Ukraine of giving them the technology to make their own Patriot interceptor missiles.

Do you know where that stands? Like, do -- have they been -- is that -- does the promise stand and do they have the technology yet to start making the missiles?

BLUMENTHAL: The answer is the promise stands but it's been stalled whether it's by the Pentagon or by the American manufacturers. The Ukrainians are ready to start making their own air defense systems. They need the licenses to do so -- in effect, the legal permission. But the point here is that we need to regard Ukraine as necessary to our national security.

If Putin conquers Ukraine, he will keep going against NATO allies. He's already aiding Iran. He's no friend of the United States. In fact, he's an adversary. And so Ukraine needs those interceptors and the licenses to begin manufacturing them. But Kate, even then, even with that permission and the licenses, it will take a while for them to actually put them on the battlefield. And that's why we need to provide more of those interceptors.

[07:40:05]

BOLDUAN: Quite a moment in a new low, it feels like, between Trump and Zelenskyy on this one, all of this foreign policy and all wrapped up into.

I do want to ask you. We are 19 days out from the midterms and one of the interesting questions about whatever comes is if Democrats do end up winning the majority in the Senate the question quickly turns to who is going to be the new majority leader. Clearly, Chuck Schumer has been leading the party for quite some time. In terms of who would challenge him, all the reporting suggests it is among Chris Van Hollen, Brian Schatz, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

What do you do in the scenario of home state Murphy versus Chuck Schumer for leader, Senator?

BLUMENTHAL: You know, right now my focus is truly on aiding my colleagues all around the country who are running and the challengers who will make that majority. I really think that is the focus also of all my colleagues. There's been really no talk about who a successor might be. But right now, the majority leader is Chuck Schumer. There's no indication that he will be leaving.

BOLDUAN: But is there -- do you have -- you have known Chuck a long time. Is there a possibility of you not supporting him for majority leader?

BLUMENTHAL: I would support Chris Murphy for any office that he's seeking, and I believe strongly in his leadership, but Chris Murphy hasn't indicated publicly that he's interested in that position, and there are a lot of other possibilities for him.

BOLDUAN: But what about -- would you -- do you -- are you definitely throwing your support if Dems win behind Chuck Schumer as majority leader?

BLUMENTHAL: Again, my focus is on winning the majority, and if Chuck Schumer wants to be leader, there's every indication that he will be.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you. Thank you for coming in.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

I think that's a standby to stand by, John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I think that was a let's wait and see.

All right. New this morning, CNN's KFILE has new reporting on White House Press Secretary Katie Zachariah, finding that over the last two years, she shared at least 15 social media posts identifying herself as an attorney, despite the fact that she did not pass the bar exam in California or anywhere for that matter.

She defended herself last night, speaking with Sean Hannity on Fox, saying these were retweets and that she was not endorsing the title of attorney. Not clear if Hannity was impressed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Why get into this long, drawn-out definition between the difference between a lawyer and an attorney because I don't think most people see much of a distinction? Why didn't you just say I never practiced law? KATIE ZACHARIA, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, Sean, when I moved back from the United States, I didn't retake the bar. I had four kids in six years. It was never my intent to go into the practice of law. When I was at -- when I went to go engage in media and give legal analysis, I consulted attorneys and legal professionals as to whether or not they agreed that I could be labeled a lawyer, both because I had a valid juris doctor from a good law school, a reputable law school, Pepperdine Law School, and in conjunction with the fact that I did have actual substantive legal experience. I wasn't providing any legal analysis, Sean -- or, excuse me, legal advice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Well, it's now, CNN senior political commentators David Urban and Paul Begala.

And one disclaimer here. I did take the LSATs. I am not representing myself as a lawyer or an attorney for the purposes of this interview.

Look, social media was abuzz overnight, Paul, suggesting that, you know, Katie Zacharia lost Sean Hannity. Sean Hannity was tough on her.

How much more does she need to answer for and how much of a problem is this for the White House?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's the least of their problems, I got to tell you. She may not be a lawyer, but her boss is a liar, and that's what I care about. I'm not interested in beating up on some staff person I never heard of the day before yesterday, OK?

This is about the president of the United States looking the citizens United States in the eye and lying to them and saying he won't take us in any wars. We're in a war. Telling us that he's going to cut the price of gas in half. It was under three bucks we took office. It's over four bucks now.

So I think the whole thing is just a distraction and the whole thing's a circus, but let's focus on the ringmaster, not the clown.

BERMAN: David, inside Republican circles, I'm not sure if you've heard anyone from the White House about this. How are they feeling that it's going?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, listen, I love my colleague there, Paul Begala. He is always -- he is very quick, I'm telling you. He should be -- forget Talarico, I'm for Begala.

Listen, it's a distraction. The press secretary --

BEGALA: Never.

URBAN: -- doesn't -- you don't want to be -- you don't want to be the news if you're the press secretary. You want to be sub rosa and all this stuff. And so it is a distraction. And like Paul says -- listen, I'm sure she's a very nice person. She screwed up. Can she get past this? I'm not quite sure. You're losing Sean Hannity. That's not a good thing if you're the Republican press secretary. So we'll see how it plays out.

[07:45:00]

But to Paul's point, there are much larger issues on the table here.

I'm happy to hear Sen. Blumenthal not fret about who the majority leader he's going to vote for because that's never going to happen. There were some debates and some exchanges last night. I watched my good friend Sen. Dan Sullivan go at Mary Peltola, probably the meanest. Listen, I worked for Arlen Specter, John, and Paul knows this. He was rated the worst boss, the meanest senator in the history of the Senate year in and year out. He was never as mean, as nasty, as demeaning as Mary Peltola has been to her staff.

I watched. I talked to Michele Tafoya yesterday. She's optimistic in Minnesota. John Sununu is optimistic in New Hampshire. Susan Collins in Maine. AOC's campaigning in the northern -- in northern Michigan and El-Sayed's inviting Bernie back. I'm not sure. I think he may know his campaign's going down. He's just trying to be an icon of the left.

So there are lots of things to talk about. I like to talk about how Republicans are going to -- you know, continue to gain ground and maintain the Senate.

BERMAN: Well, since David brought up the Senate, let me play an exchange that took place. This is in Michigan last night, and it has to do with small animals. But more importantly, I think it has to do with how perhaps the White House is positioning itself against Abdul El-Sayed sending J.D. Vance out in this fight. Let's listen to that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You deserve better than a little weasel who should shut his mouth and show a little gratitude to the country that gave him everything.

ABDUL EL-SAYED, (D) MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: It's funny. He called me a -- JD Vance called me a little weasel today. I'm like, no, no, no. What you're talking about is a (bleep) wolverine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The word that was bleeped out there begins with F and ends with G, Paul.

This positioning of Vance versus El-Sayed, who is that better for?

BEGALA: If it begins with F and ends with G, he's a fighting wolverine, right, because that's what Wolverines do. He's A Michigander.

Look, JD Vance -- I'm just going to -- JD must stand for just dumb. Because I know he went to Yale, it was just some college apparently in Connecticut, it's very nice. But come on, that must have been like some hillbilly DEI thing. He's a dumb-dumb. He comes to my state of Texas and slurs James Talarico, slurs gay Americans and gay Texans, which there's a whole lot of them. Now he's going and calling El-Sayed -- it's just so dumb. Like, are they trying to lose? There's a reason that Donald Trump is 30 points underwater everywhere you look and JD is only a small part of that, but it's just astonishing to me.

Now I will say I would rather Abdul be campaigning with moderates than leftists. We saw my buddy Talarico Wednesday night capture the center. Only 25 percent of Michiganders are liberal, and I believe Abdul's got them nailed down so I don't understand what AOC or Bernie brings him. He needs -- he's bringing in President Obama, which will help a lot. He ought to be campaigning in that Upper Peninsula with Bart Stupak, a Democrat who won that district nine times. You know, we've only won the Upper Peninsula once in a presidential election in this century. So I have my concerns with the way Abdul is running his campaign.

But the kind of just dopey slurs coming from this dimwitted vice president, this charmless oaf, you can have him. Urban loves him, I'm sure, but he's not from me.

URBAN: Well --

BERMAN: David, quickly, because I have one other point I want to get to. You already got your licks in on the Senate. But David -- well, okay, let me bring up -- let me bring up Texas here because you brought up Arnold Specter. Let's bring up another senator from the '90s. I'm old enough to remember when Phil Graham from Texas was going to be president and one of the things that Sen. Graham liked to say was that I have the best friend you can have in politics, which is ready money, right? That's a rough quote from Phil Graham. He had a lot of it then in relative terms, nothing like what they have now because the fundraising numbers came out from the third quarter. James Talarico brought in $64 million -- $64 million to Ken Paxton's $18 million. That's a staggering, staggering difference, David.

What do you see in that, and of how much concern is that?

URBAN: Yeah, listen, there is a lot of momentum, as Paul said, with Talarico, a lot of enthusiasm. Listen, I think that when people go to the polls in Texas, they may not be voting for Ken Paxton as much as they're voting against James Talarico. If money were dispositive politics, we'd have had a president, Michael Bloomberg. So I'm not quite sure it's dispositive. It's helpful.

But as you know, as anyone watches a football game on Saturday or Sunday knows that you cannot -- it's all, you know, political ad after political ad after political ad, and at some point, you hit -- you hit the, you know, diminishing return point and we may be there now. And so dollars, you know, it helps you turn out the vote. It helps you on game day before and after. So it's important, but it's not dispositive.

[07:50:05]

And listen, just back to -- back to El-Sayed. His Democratic opponent Haley Stevens is not campaigning with him. She noted that Mike Rogers is doing incredibly well -- the best she's ever seen a Republican do in her career with African Americans in the state. So even though Barack Obama is going to campaign there, I think it's too little too late. I think you put Michigan down in the in the R column and it just makes the Senate further out of reach for Dick Blumenthal and his colleagues.

BERMAN: There were some quotes in Politico today, you're both looking at there, in terms of what's going on in Michigan. An interesting picture in time there.

David Urban, Paul Begala, great to see both of you. Thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, a car smashes into a daycare. How several children are doing after this terrifying incident there.

And Elon Musk unveiling what he says is Tesla's flying car. See how this demo went.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:55:20]

BOLDUAN: There was a very scary incident in Florida yesterday. An SUV crashed into a daycare, sending three children to the hospital. Two adults were also hospitalized, including the 79-year-old driver of the SUV. Officials say, though, that they are all in good condition now. The kids were all four years old. The County Fire Chief describes it as "A blessing that there are no fatalities here." There is no word yet and clearly an investigation underway of how the driver lost control and what led to this.

There's also new video coming out of Utah, and before we show it to you, be assured, police say that this police dog is on the mend after jumping off a highway overpass.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE OFFICER: Yeah, 561, we have a dog down. Dog's done a flyover. He's on I-80 right now, underneath the flyover. Call Life Flight. Call Life Flight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: As you could see, his handler raced down and comforted the pup until they could get him further aid. Officers had been responding to a suspicious object on the overpass when the dog jumped. The department says that he underwent surgery for the pretty serious injuries to his front legs and jaw. He's now recovering at home. They later posted that -- oh, what a cutie pie -- the dog named Bruno is much more than a police canine. They say that he is a partner, companion, and part of their police family. And what a cutie patootie.

So Elon Musk just unveiled Tesla's new Roadster flying car. Ahead of the demo, he himself seemed to be trying to manage expectations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: Success is not guaranteed. So I want to -- you know, I mean that. It'll probably work. But if it doesn't work, we're at a safe distance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Musk said the vehicle used suction underneath the car to climb up that steep ramp and hang upside down before spinning, flipping in the air, and then using air jets to land. The car, which they say can go zero to 60 in less than a second, did not have a driver during the demonstration. I think we can all say thankfully. Despite the success of this staged event, whether this works in real life and what one would do with it still stands to be proven because there are so many ramps that go like that.

BERMAN: I was going to say, I find myself often wanting to do a full loop and landing gently like that.

BOLDUAN: Gently, like this.

BERMAN: I hope that adds a lot of extra cost.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. J.B., may I also offer this? For more of the stories you need to get your day going, my show "5 THING WITH KATE BOLDUAN" and sometimes John Berman is streaming on the CNN app, CNN All Access right now and every morning -- J.B.

BERMAN: If you're bringing the coffee, I will -- I will be there.

BOLDUAN: I'm pouring it without looking at the coffee.

BERMAN: That's impressive, by the way.

One of the most cherished records in sports is intact. The Yankees are still the only major league team to blow a 3-0 series lead. More importantly, the really fun Milwaukee Brewers are headed to the World Series.

Let's get right to Andy Scholes for that. The Brewers are a fun, good team, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: They certainly are, John. You know, before last night, the Brewers were the only National League team that had never won the pennant. They were still in the American League when they went to their one and only World Series 44 years ago, but they do remain one of five Major League teams that have never won it all. But now they're going to have that chance thanks to sweeping the Dodgers.

Now L.A. put up a fight in this one. Shohei Ohtani finally breaking out of that slump with a three run home run in the second and that was his first homer since August 18, and he was certainly pumped up about it. The Dodgers were up 4-0 at that point, but the Brewers kept chipping away. And in the sixth, Garrett Mitchell with a go-ahead solo home run. It was his second home run in as many games. The Brewers would then hold on to win six-4 and then the party was on in the clubhouse. Milwaukee, the first team ever to sweep the team that had swept them

the year before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT MURPHY, MANAGER, MILWAUKEE BREWERS: They got a bunch of Hall of Famers, and we got a bunch of gamers.

(Cheers)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. The Guardians meanwhile taking control of the ALCS thanks to Petey Halpin, the rookie outfielder with his clutch blast in the fifth that gave Cleveland a 3-2 lead. That was only Petey's fifth home run of the season. He had that epic backflip to celebrate as well. Closer Cade Smith then came on to get the final four outs of the game. The Guardians win 3-2 to take a 2-1 lead in that series. Game four tonight at 8:00 Eastern. You can watch that one on TBS.

Week six of the NFL season, meanwhile, kicking off last night in Denver as the Broncos and Seahawks -- they both wore their pretty cool throwback uniforms. Now Seattle was down 14-11 in the fourth. They were driving to win the game, but Sam Darnold here going to throw the interception.