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Democrats Lead Across Polls As Trump's Approval Rating Dips; Zelenskyy: "No Early Warning" In Overnight Russian Attack On Kyiv; Driver Released After Pickup Kills Two, Injures 10 At Youth Soccer Field. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 19, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:32:30]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Election Day is still next month but people are voting, people. Eight more states kicking off early in- person voting today and right now the polling suggests that Democrats hold a nine-point edge in the race for Congress -- for control of Congress. That's according to the latest CNN Poll of Polls.

So if they win, what will Democrats do with that majority? That is something that CNN host and political commentator Michael Smerconish is pondering today. Michael joins us now. It's good to see you, sir.

So you posed the question kind of this way.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Legislate or investigate. Explain.

SMERCONISH: Right. So there are limitations on what Democrats can do if they control just the House or even the House and the Senate. They can certainly investigate or hold the president to some form of accountability if they control the Senate -- the big prize confirmations. Yes, they can pass legislation if they have a majority in the House and/or Senate, but he still maintains the veto pen. So you can take a stand, and you can force issues and you can make sure that there is a clear demarcation as we then head toward 2028 that Democrats were for X, but Republicans opposed it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are some choices that Democrats are going to have to make, and there are some limitations on what they'll actually be able to do. Can they rein in President Trump? I have my doubts.

BOLDUAN: And Michael, it's structural, right? Like, depending on how much of a majority they have in one or both, right? But there's also just the vibes of how it works -- the internal workings of Capitol Hill and priorities and focus and what that does. Because Democrats are trying to argue and suggest right now that if they win, they can walk and chew gum at the same time. That Hakeem Jeffries is lining up plans to impeach Defense Secretary

Pete Hegseth. But he's also formed working groups to drill down on the issues that are driving people to the polls, like cost of living. Jamie Raskin, who's expected to chair House Judiciary if they win the majority -- he told CNN that we're going to use every tool in the toolbox.

But there's real questions, and if you -- especially if you look in history, if any majority can actually do both. Can actually walk and chew gum at the same time, which is put the money and the time and the investment into investigating, but also use -- you know, put all -- use your political capital to legislate at the same time.

[07:35:05]

SMERCONISH: A lot of that's performative. I mean, I think that the electorate is angry. I think that if you look at the attendance at the No Kings rallies, not the most recent one, but over the last two years, people who've come out, they're vehement in their opposition to President Trump. They better curb their enthusiasm because I don't know how much will actually be able to be achieved by Democratic opposition to the president.

OK, so you pass a bill in the House, and you restore some of the ACA tax credits. You pass something in the House along the War Powers resolution line, and you say we want to get out of Iran. You pass something in the House, you know, on and on and on, but it doesn't get through the Senate or maybe it gets through the Senate because they take control of the Senate as well. And then President Trump vetoes whatever that legislative initiative was. What really have you been able to achieve?

I maintain that the greatest power that a president holds beyond being commander in chief is the power to appoint the federal bench. And people think only of the Supreme Court of the United States. No, I'm talking about all of those trial court and appellate court positions, which are lifetime appointees. And this administration has done a great job of putting men and women in their 40s into those jobs. That's the real power that a president holds beyond being commander in chief. And if Democrats take control of the Senate, they can thwart that process. I think that's the biggest stake in this midterm election.

BOLDUAN: And probably not talked about enough.

When you look at the CNN Poll of Polls, as I mentioned off the top --

SMERCONISH: Right.

BOLDUAN: -- it shows Democrats right now with a nine-point edge on who will hold power in Congress.

Punchbowl highlighted it, though, and it's always worth reminding everyone that voters still don't like Democrats. I mean, Democrats favorability is underwater. It's at 44 -- sits at 44 percent in The Washington Post-ABC polls, at 43 percent in the NBC poll. The way they put it is they maybe just don't -- really don't like Republicans this cycle.

What are you hearing about this from your listeners?

SMERCONISH: Exactly what you've just said. It's not that -- when I sit here in this radio studio and I take calls from people who are in opposition to President Trump, it's not that they're calling me and promoting a Democratic line. It's not that they're saying -- and they really appreciate that Democratic leadership strives to do X, Y or Z.

It's a referendum on Donald Trump. And frankly, all of these elections for the last decade plus have been referendums on Donald Trump. When he's on the ballot, you know, he can sway and motivate his base to come out. When he's not on the ballot, regardless of what he says out on the campaign trail, it's not the same. The opponents come out, but the proponents of Donald Trump not as motivated to do so. If they get off the couch, then maybe the polls will be proven wrong, but I doubt it.

BOLDUAN: Not long to see exactly who stays on the couch and who gets off the couch, especially now with so many states -- early in-person voting starting today.

It's great to see you, Michael. Thank you so much -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers, also Republican strategist David Urban. I'm so glad you are both with us because you're such good students, and I have some pop quizzes for you this morning.

David Urban, I want to start with you. The president is going to Kansas today. Can you tell me how much President Trump won Kansas by in the 2024 election?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: John, I admit I will fail on that, but it's a big number. Kansas is generally a ruby red state, and Democrats should be happy that they have President Trump going to Kansas to try to help defend that seat.

BERMAN: All right. The answer -- the answer is almost -- it's 16 points, David. Sixteen points President Trump won Kansas by. So why is he going there? Why does he need to go to a state he won by 16 points?

URBAN: Well, because listen, candidates matter. The candidate running in the Democratic slot for Senate there happens to be very talented political athlete.

The president, you know, is -- has a little bit of a red undertow because of his policies in the Middle East and with tariffs. It's hurting Kansas farmers and they're unhappy. The affordability kind of, you know, notion is on the table here -- gas prices, diesel prices, fertilizer prices. All those things that Kansans rely on. So his numbers are down.

Roger Marshall kind of got off to a slow start out of the blocks, and you have an incredibly talented Democratic opponent. So that's a bad -- that's a bad trifecta for Republicans.

Trump's going there, as you just heard Michael, trying there to get people off the couch to the polls, Bakari always talks about the couch winning. We Republicans got to make sure the couch don't win here and in Kansas.

[07:40:07]

BERMAN: Yeah. This is the reason why President Trump is going to Kansas today because this race -- this is the latest poll from The New York Times about a little more than a week ago but basically tied there in a state where the president won by 16 points.

OK, Bakari, your turn here. We'll see how you do. You are South Carolina's favorite son, right? That's indisputable. So how much did President Trump win South Carolina by in 2024?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (D) FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I'm going to say about 18 points.

BERMAN: OK.

SELLERS: Maybe a little bit (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Bakari Sellers --

SELLERS: Eighteen --

BERMAN: -- about 18 points, about 18 points. Bakari Sellers for the win here.

So my question to you is why is President Trump going to South Carolina later in the week, a state he won by 18 points?

SELLERS: I mean, I think David hit the nail on the head. We're seeing it in South Carolina, we're seeing it in Kansas, we're seeing it in Texas where you have this combination of poor candidates.

Darline Graham is just a really awful candidate. I think a lot of people were hoping she would just be a placeholder, not necessarily a candidate, and she's shown herself to be just one of the worst candidates probably in the history of this state. We have a well- funded challenger who is articulate about a message -- and she's talking about South Carolina issues, not necessarily national Democratic issues -- in Annie Andrews. You have a third party libertarian candidate and you also have some momentum of a write-in vote for Ralph Norman.

So all of the kind of combination of things that have to happen to have the first Democrat elected in South Carolina since the '90s is there.

But also, I mean, the one thing that David didn't say out loud is people in competitive races in states that aren't ruby red don't necessarily want to see Donald Trump either. So you're not going to see Donald in -- Donald Trump in Michigan or Wisconsin or states that are swinging. He just does not have -- he's a -- he'll be more of an anchor than a boost. He can only go to red states at this point in his presidency.

BERMAN: While we're on South Carolina, Bakari, you've won -- you've run statewide there. You know how hard it is for a Democrat to win statewide in South Carolina. Do you really think that there is a chance here that the Democrats could win that Senate race?

SELLERS: Well, I actually looked at Robert Cahaly's polling this morning, and one of the things that stuck out to me was that he had Annie Andrews getting 37.7 percent of the white vote. There's always this huge talk about Black voters and where they'll be in particular states, but in South Carolina and throughout the South, you have to look at what percentage can a Democrat get of white voters.

My target was 27-28 percent. I got 19 percent, so I missed it by 10 percent. I only got 42 percent of the vote.

If she hits 37 percent of the white vote, I'm not sure people understand how cataclysmic that is. She can win this race. And it looks like polling actually has her at that number, which is why this race is closer than anybody could imagine.

BERMAN: David, I want to pull out again here and talk a little bit more about some of the polling we've seen. This was from The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos. And they asked basically, "Are you as well off or not as well off as you were at the beginning of this president's term?" Forty-eight percent say they're not as well off as they were as when the president took office two years ago. You can see how this is charted over time with previous presidents. This is pretty much the worst it's ever been, with 48 percent saying that they -- are you as -- you know, are you as well off as you were four years ago? The Ronald Reagan question there.

That's a bad number for Republicans. How would you advise Republican candidates to explain that?

URBAN: Listen, it is a bad number. What I would say is that, you know, there have been good things this administration has accomplished. It's not -- John, that number is solely because of one issue, and that is the conflict in the Middle East, the conflict with Iran. That conflict's going to end, but what's not going to end is the Democrats' war on oil and gas, on renewables, on EV mandates, and all those things that drove prices up prior to Trump getting here.

You know, the first -- the first year of the Trump administration, gas prices were down to about $2.50 a gallon. If I was a Democrat -- a Republican running, I'd say, listen, this war in the Middle East is going to end at some point in the near future. And then Democrats get to come in, and they're going to go back at war with you on all these issues. On natural gas, drilling, offshore drilling, and war. All the things that we've fought over 100 times they're going to continue to re-dig up and re-litigate, and that's just going to drive gas prices up again and hurt this economy and make you worse off.

That's the argument. That's the best argument you can make, John, at this point, and that's the one I'd stick with if I was Republicans.

BERMAN: You know, the problem is it doesn't deal so much with the now, but I hear what you're saying there.

David Urban, Bakari Sellers, I have to say all my classes are pass- fail. You both passed. Thank you very much for being with us -- Sara.

[07:45:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much, John.

Breaking overnight, Ukraine's capital under attack from Russian ballistic missiles. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy posted online saying, "Once again, there was no early warning from our partners." He says a metro station in Kyiv, energy facilities, a clinic, and a school were hit. This would be the fourth time in just a week that Ukraine got no early warning before a Russian attack. Warnings, by the way, the U.S. often sends.

Over the weekend, Ukraine launched one of its biggest drone attacks on Russia this year, hitting an oil terminal.

Now, President Trump, for his part, berated Zelenskyy on Truth Social, claiming, "He doesn't want to end this war and probably never did." Not mentioning, of course, Russia's clear desire not to end the war it started.

CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now with more on this. Clare, does it -- does it appear that these tensions between Washington and Kyiv -- between Zelenskyy and President Trump appear to be heading towards a really critical breaking point at this time?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara. Look, I think Ukraine, in particular President Zelenskyy, are very concerned that they see this sort of economic rapprochement between Russia and the United States. First the diesel deal, then the sanctions waiver on the Lindsey Graham Act that we got over the weekend. And President Zelenskyy has been vocal about his concerns that that could go into other sectors of the Russian economy. More deals perhaps on gas, discussion of the Russian frozen assets in Europe. He's worried that Russia could get access to them before Ukraine can.

So, look, he has spent the last 18 months, I think, using gratitude and flattery and all those things to try and keep the U.S. on his side and it's pretty clear that he's now trying a bit of a different approach. Take a listen to this exchange from his interview on "MEET THE PRESS" on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, MODERATOR, NBC "MEET THE PRESS": Can Ukraine win this war without the United States, President Zelenskyy?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Very difficult. If it's without the United States' support, it's very difficult. But if United States will support Putin, I mean, it's unbelievable. It's tragedy. It's historic mistake and big tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: A historic mistake. So he's gone from sort of the gratitude effort to now, you know, serious warnings that this could end badly. And I think, look, he is in a very vulnerable position. We reported last week that Ukraine had run out of Patriot interceptors. That makes early warning all the more crucial. \

Though I will say we did get a clarification from the Air Force spokesman who said that there were two ballistic missile hits overnight. There was one at 11:00 p.m. where they didn't get early warning, but then on the later one at 3:00 a.m. they did get early warning. And obviously, this came after in that same interview, President Zelenskyy told NBC that intelligence sharing had been switched back on. And meanwhile, obviously, the U.S. side has denied that it switched any intelligence sharing off in the first place. So it's a curious situation.

But it is clear that this rift between President Trump and Zelenskyy is still deepening and the violence in Ukraine is still worsening, Sara.

SIDNER: Yeah. These warnings are so important. Lives are on the line. We'll see what happens next.

Clare Sebastian, thank you so much for all your reporting this morning.

All right. Ahead, new details this morning after a mother crashed a truck into a youth soccer field, killing two people. Why she was released without charges. And a new documentary about convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes making box office history. Those stories and more ahead.

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[07:52:57]

BOLDUAN: This morning, investigators are just trying to understand why a pickup truck sped onto a youth soccer field in Wichita, Kansas. A six-year-old boy and a man were killed, and 10 other people were injured.

And in video obtained by CNN, you can hear people screaming as they see what is unfolding before them. A warning, you may find this tough to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Screams as truck plows onto soccer field.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Oh my God, that gives you chills. CNN's Mark Morales joining us now. Mark, the woman that was driving

the truck, she was released from custody yesterday without charges. What's the latest here?

MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTER: Right. So they released her pending the results of a toxicology report and a mechanical review of the car.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

MORALES: Now, no charges were filed yet, but this doesn't mean that she's out of the woods. What this points to and what this tells us is that investigators need to do more work. They need to get more evidence because if you're going to charge somebody, you need evidence. So this really means that the evidence is going to dictate what charges, if any, end up happening here.

So they have a lot more work to do and they've been doing that. They've been reaching out to people. They've been wanting to get more video. They've been going through surveillance video at the actual complex. They've talked to over 30 witnesses and that includes the two children that were in the car. They were her kids that were in the car.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

MORALES: So they talked to them as well. That's how they were able to figure out that she was parked in a parking spot near that soccer field that day.

They've been talking to witnesses. They've been giving them a flavor of some of that chaos and what happened because first responders arrived and they actually found community members were giving first aid to some of the victims.

So an affiliate of ours actually spoke to some of these witnesses that actually saw some of this and we actually heard a little bit of this chaos. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHILD: My dad went to the truck and took the person out the truck so they don't hit any more people. I was shocked he did that because if he didn't do that maybe the car wouldn't have stopped and more people could have gotten hit.

[07:55:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was mainly just shocked, you know. When you see a car driving over a bunch of people, you're just like -- you're just in shock. I was scared, obviously. I didn't know what to think. I just ran out the way, hoping they didn't follow me and hoping I didn't get hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: It's just tough to hear all of that. And it was not just two children in the car with her, Mark; it was also one -- another of her children was playing soccer on a field nearby.

MORALES: Nearby, right.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

MORALES: And in this whole thing there's 10 other victims. Five of them are children. And we can't forget about the investigation part because that's still going through. The local police have been working with the local district attorney's office. They're going to do an initial presentation of the case later on this week --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

MORALES: -- but this is not over.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, clearly not, and what a tragedy already.

Mark, thank so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. On our radar for you this morning now to a disturbing and tragic accident in front of a crowd -- a big crowd. A military service member has died rappelling from the ceiling onto the field before a football game in Texas in the Alamodome where the military was being honored just before the game. Now we've stopped the video to avoid showing you the impact that happened here after he rappelled from that ceiling. He has not yet been identified. An investigation is, of course, underway as to what caused this horrible accident.

All right, a tragic, dramatic rescue in Northern California. Two state park officers were driving early Friday morning when they came across this -- a car flipped onto its side, engulfed in flames with the woman still inside that car. Officers jumped -- went into that fire and pulled her out from the car. The 46-year-old woman was conscious when she was taken to the hospital. She actually was able to be released later that day.

And the film, "You Can See Everything" about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes just scored the biggest opening for a non- music documentary in more than two decades. It brought in more than 15 million bucks and so far, has played on fewer than 900 screens. The film's directors worked on the project in secret for years, filming with Holmes in the weeks before she ended up going to prison in 2023. It's set to expand nationwide to theaters next weekend.

And it's on the run -- an emu on the run in Santa Clara, California. No, Santa Cruz, excuse me, California. Police were called to help corral the Emu wandering the streets of the neighborhood, having a good old time, apparently. Neighbors and officers say they were able to keep the emu out of traffic long enough for the owner to finally come and get ahold of it.

Apparently, this isn't the only escaped emu wreaking havoc on Santa Cruz streets. There are more. California Highway Patrol caught another one just a couple of days ago. I guess those are the preferred pets of Santa Cruz -- emus, John.

BERMAN: There's like an emu outbreak in Santa Cruz.

Sara, you may want to cover your ears for this.

SIDNER: I'm covering. I'm so sad.

BERMAN: So the Rams lost to the Cardinals. Pretty much no one is supposed to lose to the Cardinals. So what happened here?

Let's get to CNN's Coy Wire for the latest on this. What -- the Rams -- I remember when the Rams were supposed to be good -- favorites to win the Super Bowl.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, and they could still do that. How you going to throw shade on a ton of Arizona Cardinals fans like that, John.

BERMAN: No, no, no.

WIRE: I have friends who are Cardinals fans. But a great win for them. To John's point, Rams were 13 1/2 point favorites in this game. Preseason Super Bowl favorites by many.

It was another rough day for L.A. Their new kicker Blake Grupe gets rocked. He's knocked out of the game. The Rams just cut their previous kicker last week. So the punter Ethan Evans. who had never kicked in a game, had to kick the extra point to give L.A. the lead with 47 seconds left.

Sara thought the game was over -- she's cheering -- not so fast. Jacoby Brissett finds Jalen Brooks. They're within field goal range, and Chad Ryland from 43 yards out. Good night, L.A. Ryland goes six for six, John, scoring all 18 of Arizona's points, and beat them without scoring a touchdown. The Cardinals shocked the Rams 18-16. Arizona's only two wins this season, both in L.A. The Rams are now 2-4 just like the Cardinals.

The Jaguars-Texans in London. Look at this. Jacksonville's two-way wonder Travis Hunter scores a touchdown off a reception there and he gets an interception. The first player in 24 years to do both in the same game. But Houston kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn 49 yards out at the buzzer. It is good. John, look at the Jaguars' mascot falling on the turf in an existential crisis. Texans win 34-31.

In Atlanta, Caleb Williams is back. First game after a hamstring injury and it was like the Bears quarterback was barely missing. Thirty for 36, career best. Eighty-three percent of his passes completed.