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Trump Faces Question On Iran War, Economic Impact During Ireland Trip; Iran War Fuels Inflation As Gas Prices Rise; Zelenskyy Calls For NATO-Like Support After 9/11; Trump's Pick To Lead Investigations Of His Political Enemies Resigns; Widow Files Lawsuit After Miami Cargo Plane Crash; Lessons Learned 25 Years After 9/11; Latino Voters In Key Colorado District May Decide Majority In Congress; Surf's Up In The Unlikeliest Place. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 12, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:35]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We continue to follow developments from President Trump's trip to Ireland. Just a short time ago the president arrived at a golf course he owns there to watch the Irish Open. Earlier, he met with Ireland's top political leaders and waded into one of the most sensitive issues in Ireland during a bilateral meeting with the taoiseach, which is the equivalent of a prime minister. President Trump said he supported the reunification of the Republic of Ireland with Northern Ireland, a long, contentious, and divisive issue that sparked decades of sectarian violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I'd love to see a unified. I have friends on both sides. Great people. They're Irish people. How could they be bad, right? I'd love to see a unified. I think it would be great. Yes. A great feather in everybody's cap if that happened.

Now the U.K. will have something to say about it, obviously, but I think it would be a great thing. I mean, how could it be bad?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Trump's two-day overseas visit to Ireland comes at a critical time politically for him back home in the U.S.. The high stakes midterm elections just weeks away, and the Iran-backed Houthis are threatening to open a new front in the war with Iran, a development that threatens to push oil and gas prices even higher.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is traveling with the president in Ireland.

Julia, what more can you tell us about the president's trip and his latest comments on the war with Iran?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This trip is coming with the midterms just weeks away and the conflict with Iran, which has dragged into its sixth month has been top of mind because poll after poll has shown that Americans do not approve of the way that Trump has handled that conflict. And it did come up at least a couple of times during this trip to Ireland.

I want to walk you through part of that. This is a two-day trip. It is not an official visit, but it does kind of highlight how the lines get a little bit blurred during some of Trump's travel because he had some official meetings this morning here in Dublin, and then he traveled to Doonbeg, where he is watching the Irish Open. It is taking place at one of his properties there.

This morning he met with the Irish president, Catherine Connolly. They had a handshake rolled out the red carpet, had a courtesy call, a behind-the-scenes type of discussion. And then you also saw him set down for a bilateral meeting with the prime minister, Micheal Martin, and they discussed a wide range of issues.

The White House official told us going into that, that they were going to focus on international topics of mutual interest, including expanding businesses and areas of economic growth. We also know that there was at least some discussion on the topic of Iran. On the topic of other conflicts. And following all of these meetings, the Irish president, Connolly, she put out a statement kind of detailing what was discussed in that behind the closed doors part of this day.

And she said, in part, "I conveyed the strong view of the Irish people that the normalization of genocide can never be accepted. I assured President Trump that the Irish people would strongly support all of those who have the strength to build a shared peace in all those parts of the world currently suffering from such horrific war and violence."

Now, while Trump was in those meetings, he was shielded from some of the protests that were taking place here. And there was one in the area around the city center that was focused in -- it was an anti-war protest. So some were protesting Trump's visit, some protesting specific conflicts there out in the street -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Benbrook, thank you so much.

The war with Iran continues to push gas and diesel prices higher. According to AAA, today's average price for a gallon of unleaded gas is $4.31. That's up $0.16 in the past week. The price of diesel hit another all-time high today at $6.16 a gallon. That's a $0.10 cent spike overnight and more than 60 percent higher than it was before the war when it costs $3.76 a gallon.

[15:05:02]

CNN's Natasha Chen has more on how consumers are reacting to the rising pain at the pump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right here in L.A., this pump for diesel is showing $8.89 here, almost $8.90. The price on the board is actually $0.99. But you're right, if this were to go much higher, there aren't enough digits that can fit across this if it went above $10. I mean, this is really insane. And the diesel costs have risen on average more than 55 percent since the start of the Iran war.

Now, the better news at this particular gas station, if you can believe it's better news, is that the regular price of gas is only, and I say only, you know, in context here, if you have cash, it's only $5.39 a gallon. Now this is actually better than some of the other gas stations around town. In fact, I met somebody who drove halfway across town just to come pump gas here for a regular because in his neighborhood he said it had creeped above $7 a gallon.

So this is becoming very, very difficult for the everyday person to handle. Now, obviously the diesel is skyrocketing. That increase has outpaced the 40 percent jump in gasoline prices since the start of the war. But everyday people are struggling to figure out where they can cut back. In fact, both people that I talked to at the pumps here today were pumping only two or three gallons at a time because that's what they could afford.

Here's what they told me about how hard it is right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH MCKINLEY, LOS ANGELES RESIDENT: I think everyone I know is struggling, like everyday working people are struggling and doing their best to survive, and I think everyone is cutting back. But there's only so much you can do to cut back.

BRIAN GARCIA, LOS ANGELES RESIDENT: When the gas prices go down, it's like you're taking a breather. But when they go right back up, it's -- you got something on your back, you know, just haunting you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And here in California, as well as nationwide, we're seeing on average about gas -- regular gallons of gas, $0.13 higher than the week before. This is a lot for people to take in and they're just trying to compare some shop all the time and only pumping a little bit at a time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Very tough. Natasha Chen, thank you so much for that.

All right. Coming up, in an exclusive interview with CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lays out what he needs to win the war against Russia. Hear what he has to say and what it has to do with NATO's response to the 9/11 attacks. Plus, the economy is reshaping the political map in a key Colorado district. Latino voters who backed President Trump are now weighing rising costs, immigration and what comes next before they cast their votes in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Has Congress done anything in his first term to help you?

MIKO RIOS, COLORADO VOTER: Not that I can feel. Nothing comes to mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:12:29]

WHITFIELD: All right, now to a CNN exclusive, in a conversation with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for support against Russia the way NATO supported the U.S. after 9/11. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Importantly, it was the time when NATO was able to show its strength by applying Article Five, which means that if people are willing to save and preserve their civilization, the rights, the freedoms, the values, they have to respond to every enemy, to every terrorist, the evil must be punished. That was done that time.

I'm not the one to judge it. I think the historians, analysts, politicians, political analysts will have to do it. But definitely it begs for answer. And that time there was an overwhelmingly worldwide response. This time, the response to Russian terrorists is provided mostly by Ukraine, in response to the strikes, the killings, the capturing, and the response is justified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: With us now is Jill Dougherty. She's a CNN contributor and affiliated scholar at Georgetown University and author of the book "My Russia," about her time as CNN's Moscow bureau chief.

Jill, great to see you. So, President Zelenskyy, I mean, he's been in a very difficult spot for quite some time now. Will this appeal make a potential difference?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean, we don't know. It's really hard to say. I think it's an appeal definitely. And it's a way of his saying, making common cause with the Americans and saying, look, you were attacked on that day in 2001 and Ukraine is being attacked in a sense kind of 9/11 now for, what, four and a half years? And interestingly, you know, he used the word terrorists and he has made that accusation against Russia many times before.

He said, just like al Qaeda was attacking the United States, the terrorist, as he would call it government of Vladimir Putin, is doing the same thing. And then he does make the analogy that in, you know, on 9/11, the allies, NATO allies, did invoke Article Five, and they did come to the aid of the United States.

[15:15:09] But he's saying the same thing is not happening with Ukraine. Now, obviously, they are not members of NATO. So there's no obligation by any country in that alliance to come to their aid. But that is what he wants. In fact, that phrase, and I think, you know, Fred, that phrase has been used before, actually a couple of years ago, beginning, which was Article Five-like guarantees. And that I think is what he wants.

He wants, you know, some type of guarantee that if Russia tries to do the same, even if there is an agreement, some type of peace agreement, that if Russia were to try this again, that there has to be some type of guarantee that it won't happen.

WHITFIELD: This week European allies did pledge more than $7 billion to Ukraine so that it could buy critically needed defense munitions including missiles. Is that a meaningful amount? And then what happens if and when that dries up?

DOUGHERTY: Well, this is almost, you know, a weekly question here. Obviously, look, the burden of the war is being pushed onto the Europeans, and many of them are actually taking it because they realize the United States has -- there's no guarantee that the United States will actually provide what Ukraine wants. In fact, right now, basically they aren't. So they are looking to -- the Europeans are looking to themselves and saying, we have to come to the fore, we have to do this. And that's why you're getting more and more assistance.

Will it be enough? I mean, the one really big problem right now that Ukraine has is look at these reports about all of the bombings with missiles, not just drones, which they can, you know, kind of more or less handle. But these missiles, they do not have the Patriots or any other type of protection to really take care of incoming missiles.

WHITFIELD: President Trump said, you know, he actually had a good conversation with Putin this week. And that call came shortly after his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and, you know, negotiator Steve Witkoff visited Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Separately, of course. You know, do you think Putin could take an offramp if he were offered one at this point?

DOUGHERTY: Well, he's been offered one a million times, you know, since the beginning of his war. No, I don't think that he will. And -- but it was interesting with the Witkoff and Kushner visits to Moscow and to Kyiv when President Zelenskyy was asked about that. He did say, you know, it's a positive signal that they came to Kyiv because that was the first time they actually had done that after multiple visits to Moscow.

And what he's now saying is Kushner and Witkoff brought some ideas, and they publicly have talked about these. Now, what are they? You know, some are ideas that have been out there for a while and didn't work, but might be reformulated. So I think that is, you know, what perhaps Zelenskyy is looking at. But I don't think judging by what he's been saying recently and in the interview with Fareed, which is very, I think, very interesting, he is not saying that any of these ideas are really something that's going to clinch it because there are many reasons. And we -- I think we've talked about this previously why Putin, it's

actually, you know, sadly, probably not in Putin's interest the way he sees it to end this war right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jill Dougherty, we'll leave it there for now. We'll be talking again because this continues. All right. Thank you.

DOUGHERTY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And you can see the full interview with President Zelenskyy on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" tomorrow, 10:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific.

All right. Coming up, a new lawsuit is raising questions about who could be held responsible after an Amazon cargo plane overshot the runway and crashed into a van, killing five people. We'll break down the legal fallout and what could come next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:55]

WHITFIELD: The Trump administration's pick to oversee sweeping investigations into the president's perceived enemies has resigned under pressure from the Department of Justice. Sources tell CNN that Joe DiGenova left because of disagreements with top DOJ officials over the pace of his investigations. DiGenova released this statement, saying, "As an old prosecutor of more than 50 years, I make cases the old fashioned way. Witnesses, evidence, et cetera. That takes time," end quote.

CNN's Evan Perez is following this for us.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Joe DiGenova, the top prosecutor overseeing a conspiracy investigation into President Trump's political foes, resigned under pressure from his bosses at the Justice Department. DiGenova stepped down amid disagreements with top Justice Department officials over the pace of the Florida based investigation, the case that was intended to pursue possible charges against a swath of Donald Trump's top political foes, including former CIA director John Brennan. But after months of delays and turnover at the top, no charges have been brought so far.

[15:25:05]

DiGenova's resignation came after a series of clashes with top Justice Department officials, including one in recent days where officials made clear that he had lost the confidence of his superiors, according to sources who told this to CNN. One source we talked to said that DiGenova lacked focus going down what they called 9,000 rabbit holes instead of pursuing readily available charges.

Now in a brief phone interview, DiGenova told me it was an honor and privilege to serve the president and the department. He declined to give further comment, but back in April, DiGenova took over the case vowing that he could bring charges in as little as 30 days. He replaced a seasoned career prosecutor in Miami who was removed after she balked at bringing charges more quickly.

The conspiracy probe is examining what Justice Department officials believe are possible crimes associated with various government investigations into Trump, stretching as far back as the 2016 Russian election interference inquiry and culminating in the federal charges against the president in the January 6th and the Mar-a-Lago classified documents cases.

Now, with DiGenova gone, charges in a more narrow case could come more quickly, we're told. It's an investigation being watched closely by President Trump, who has expressed frustration at how slowly the work has gone.

Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the widow of one of the five men killed when an Amazon cargo plane crashed at Miami International Airport. The suit claims multiple concurrent failures contributed to the disaster leading to the men's deaths. Amazon, the plane's pilot and the jet's operator, 21 Air, are among the defendants named in the lawsuit.

The victims, who were part of an aircraft cleaning crew, were driving between assignments this past Sunday, and that's when the Boeing 767 ran off the runway, crashed into the van. An attorney representing two of the victims' families say that those responsible should be held accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORGE GUTIERREZ JR., ATTORNEY REPRESENTING TWO FAMILIES OF CARGO PLANE VICTIMS: These folks worked cleaning airplanes at Miami International Airport and were, you know, between jobs, driving on a road when an aircraft came out and slid off the runway and killed them instantly. And we are seeking justice on behalf of all of these individuals who left behind, you know, tremendous amount of grief and sorrow as a result of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: An Amazon spokesperson said the company is committed to supporting families and the broader community impacted by the crash. CNN reached out to 21 Air for comment. The NTSB is investigating and flight data recovered from the wreckage raises new questions about exactly what happened in the cockpit as the plane careened off the runway.

Joining me right now to talk about this and so much because this case is really fascinating, former state prosecutor Julie Grant.

Julie, great to see you. I mean, let's start with -- yes, indeed. Let's talk about that, you know, the cockpit recording which revealed one pilot communicating to the other pilot, wait a minute, we may be coming in too fast. How is that going to be folded into potentially this lawsuit or these lawsuits?

JULIE GRANT, FORMER STATE PROSECUTOR: Right. Fred, you're hitting on something so key. So these statements are not only chilling, they're going to be some of the best pieces of evidence for these plaintiffs. Why? Because when you're a plaintiff in a lawsuit like this, statements that the opposing party is making are like gold. They're worth their weight in gold in a courtroom.

And if we have one of these pilots in those tense moments, right as this aircraft was approaching the runway, saying that this aircraft was going way too fast and that the other pilot did not rectify this properly, these statements --

WHITFIELD: So there's both an acknowledgment and then could also be implied that there's negligence for not addressing it in hearing that, right?

GRANT: Yes. Exactly. The jury can give them that kind of weight. Exactly, Fred. And negligence really is what these lawsuits are alleging here. They're alleging that this was gross negligence and failure to train, failure to comply with safety regulations, failure to employ the proper brake system that should have been employed at the time. It looked, as, you know, like that plane was going in for the landing and then decides to keep on going upward and then goes back down, overshooting that runway and taking out those innocent victims.

WHITFIELD: And even there are some former pilots, apparently, who worked for Amazon, who have been interviewed, who are also saying that there is some history of safety issues. That, too, could be used to the advantage of these family members who are suing?

GRANT: Oh, and Bingo was his name. You're exactly right. And this also goes to what did Amazon know, right? Because that's where the deepest pockets are.

[15:30:04]

And there's a big question, when it comes to who you do business with, knowing what they're doing, how much did Amazon know, how much was Amazon at all involved, is going to be key here because we have that concept of the vicarious liability. And it's not an easy question.

As you know, Fred, this is complicated as to whether or not Amazon is going to be held liable and if so, to what degree of liability. That's what the investigation is.

WHITFIELD: And the investigation is ongoing. But isn't this -- this is pretty quick that you have these lawsuits already.

GRANT: Yes.

WHITFIELD: I mean it's -- tomorrow will be exactly one week. And already we're talking about the lawsuits that have already been filed?

GRANT: Yes. And when you see that video, it's so chilling. It takes your breath away. And I know when I first saw it, my reaction, knowing that this lawsuit had been filed, I thought these defendants better settle this as fast as that plane was going when it killed those people and injured those other folks.

WHITFIELD: Because what do you see when you see that video?

GRANT: I see no question of liability. It's the degree of the damages that is the question for me, because obviously that plane was supposed to land on the runway. It did not. It's going on a roadway where these people were lawfully positioned when they were literally wiped off the face of this earth. So to me, this is a matter of how much money gets paid out.

Sure, the investigation is key in determining what we call the probable cause. The fault, who had operational control of that aircraft at the time that it crashed. But it also helped separate the liability questions, the degree to which somebody has got to open up their wallet and try to help compensate these victims to make them whole.

WHITFIELD: And you're talking about a major, a very busy airport as well, which will also be folded into this is horrible. Five people killed. But the potential also was still very great given the traffic over Miami International Airport.

GRANT: Yes. That's an excellent point. I mean, when we think about negligence in a duty of care, we can think of it how we all operate our car, for instance, on the roadway, you know, when we drive, we have to exercise that duty of care for other drivers. And just like in the air, these aircraft operators have to exercise a duty of care. And so if there were these red flags raised, like you mentioned, if 21 Air had been warned about problems with the safety, with training, all of these things, if they were warned and did nothing, then that indicates there may be some deep responsibility with them.

And if Amazon knew something, that's still a big question, too. They're not necessarily shielded, Fred. We'll have to wait and see what the investigation shows.

WHITFIELD: This is a big case. And this, you know, made a big impact for these families.

Julie Grant, great to see you. Thank you so much.

GRANT: Thank you, Fred. You too.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, 25 years after 9/11, the wars that followed still shaping American foreign policy. A look at the lessons from those conflicts and whether they're being repeated today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:38]

WHITFIELD: All right. This week, as we mark 25 years since the 9/11 attacks, a lot is being said about how those events forever changed the world. Chief among those changes, how American presidents have expanded their power to wage war without consulting Congress as the Constitution says they must.

I want to discuss this now with CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen. He is the author of the new book, "All the Presidents' Wars: 25 Years of America's War on Terror," which examines the presidency from George W. Bush to Donald Trump.

Good to see you, Peter. So what lessons of war post-9/11 resonate today?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: And Fred, thanks for having me on. You know, I think when the U.S. commander in chief, he or she goes to war, you'd want a few things. You'd want a congressional authorization, you'd want maybe a U.N. resolution in favor, NATO allies. You'd want a real imminent threat. You'd want to plan for the day-after hostilities appears to be over, and a strategy.

And with the Iran war, we've really done none of those. I mean, the one thing that we haven't done is put large numbers of American troops on the ground in Iran, which I don't think would go very well, given the fact that they have a pretty substantial military. Obviously, we can win every battle, but sometimes we lose the war strategically. And the United States is very good at breaking things and killing people if you look at the last 25 years.

But we've had a less good record in getting the big overall strategy correct. And, you know, tactics without strategy, you know, isn't -- doesn't -- isn't a recipe for success. And we can win every tactical engagement, every operational engagement. But if it's not attached to a strategy, we end up in situations where, you know, we precipitate a civil war in Iraq, which eventually led to the rise of ISIS.

WHITFIELD: And in this war with Iran, the question continues to be asked of the White House and the Pentagon, which is, you know, what is the strategy? And there hasn't been any real clarity in that. In your book and in your latest CNN write, you say that Trump's predecessors actually laid the groundwork for this war and the way in which it's playing out. Give me, you know, some of the ideas as to how you believe that is the case.

[15:40:03]

BERGEN: Well, the framing of the George W. Bush war in Iraq was very similar to the framing of the Donald Trump war in Iran, which is there's an imminent threat. This is a regime that supports terrorists seeking weapons of mass destruction. It's basically the same framing. So George W. Bush laid some of the groundwork. He did have congressional authorization for the war, and it was initially quite popular.

President Obama, I think, also went to war in Libya, overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator, in 2011, without congressional authorization. And he himself has said that his biggest problem was not planning for the day after Gaddafi fell. You know, after Gaddafi was overthrown, Libya went into a decade of civil war, and today still has two governments. He also expanded the drone program to a bunch of countries that we weren't formally at war with. For instance, in Pakistan and Yemen, in Somalia.

And I quote him in the book, saying, he said rather wryly, you know, I didn't -- I didn't believe that one of my skill sets would be, you know, killing other people. He, you know, he's a constitutional law professor. But he and Bush were more similar than dissimilar than either of their critics or their cheerleaders would believe. I mean, President Obama launched various kinds of military operations in eight Muslim countries. So he wasn't a sort of the peacenik that some people thought he might be.

WHITFIELD: Listen to President Trump and his Defense secretary at a 9/11 ceremony at Arlington this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We salute every member of the United States Military who served in the war on terror. And we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're still sending terrorists where they belong, to hell, and tankers to the bottom of the ocean where they belong. And we are ensuring that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what are you hearing in, you know, those collection of words and statements?

BERGEN: I mean, it's a remix of what we heard from George W. Bush in 2003, right? I mean, it's essentially the same set of arguments. You know, and right now we're kind of caught in the stalemate with neither side. You know, the way you come to peace is you either get the enemy to surrender totally, or you kind of come to a kind of mutual understanding that we have a mutually hurting stalemate and that we need to make a deal.

But right now, what the Iranians want and what the Americans want are very, very different matters. And, you know, I'm 63, Fred and I'm the same generation of the people now running Iran. Their first real adult experience, either as teenagers or as young adults, was fighting an eight-year war with Iraq in which a million people died in the 1980s. It ended in a bloody stalemate.

But I'm just saying, these are not people -- they're not going to be pushed around by people making threatening statements. We've applied a lot of military pressure to them. We've ended up in a place where the regime is probably more radical than it was, you know, when we started the war on February 28th. So it gets back to this question of, you know, the commander-in-chief, he or she has to have a real strategy. They have to have a plan for the day after hostilities seem to have ended, and they have to understand the environment they're going into. One thing we, I think, did -- I don't think President Trump and his

war cabinet did a lot of deep thinking about either the day after or the environment that exists in Iran in terms of what they were hoping for, which was a popular revolution and regime change, neither of which happened because the Iranian clerics have all the weapons and they're prepared to use them. And, you know, they've been around for half a century now.

WHITFIELD: All right, Peter Bergen, great talking to you. Thank you so much.

BERGEN: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, in a key Colorado district, rising costs are forcing some Latino voters to rethink where they stand. One Democrat who voted for President Trump is still undecided about who will get his vote in the midterms.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:24]

WHITFIELD: It's a midterm battleground with a 40 percent Latino population primed to be a bellwether in the fight to control Congress. Voters in Colorado's Eighth District will choose between Republican incumbent Congressman Gabe Evans and progressive former state representative Manny Rutinel.

John King is all over the map in Colorado to find out if President Trump's 2024 gains with Latino voters will stick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): Platteville, Colorado, population 3,000, a frontier outpost back when the railroad spread west, now a quiet ranching town with a giant say in the country's direction.

Miko Rios took charge of the Silver Spur when his mother died last year. He is a registered Democrat and a 2024 Trump voter.

RIOS: But the charisma caught my attention. I felt like we were a little stagnant for a while, and I wanted something -- some change.

KING: Secret recipe, just like the colonel?

RIOS: Secret recipe. Exactly.

KING: OK, got it.

(Voice-over): But margins are down and costs keep going up for everything, including flour for the homemade bread. Keep going up despite Trump's 2024 promise they would come down quickly.

RIOS: I don't believe it has changed. The economy I feel like right now is hard for small businesses, and that's what our supplies, our insurance, our cost of living has gone up so much. KING (voice-over): Platteville is in Colorado's 8th Congressional

District. Republican Gabe Evans is the first-term incumbent, and the race is a tossup.

Has Congress done anything in his first term to help you?

RIOS: Not that I can feel. Nothing comes to mind.

KING (voice-over): And yet registered Democrat Rios is undecided.

[15:50:03]

Would you prefer a more moderate candidate, personally?

RIOS: I would.

KING (voice-over): Manny Rutinel is the Democratic candidate, a progressive who beat a moderate in the Democratic primary. Adams County is the blue southern end of Colorado 8th, suburban neighborhoods within sight of the Denver skyline. Trump ran stronger among Latinos here in 2024, and that helped Congressman Evans.

Manny Tejada and his wife, Alexandra, are active in Hispanic community organizations. He is a Republican, but knows a lot of longtime Democrats who voted for Trump in 2024 because of inflation and because of Biden immigration policies.

MANNY TEJADA, COLORADO VOTER: When they opened the borders, that inflated, you know, like millions of migrants that you will see, you know, on the streets. So Hispanics have been here for decades. They saw that and they didn't like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, so the cost of the aluminum, I want to say three, four years, it's double or more.

KING (voice-over): Now costs are still going up, and Tejada says it is Trump's immigration policy and tone driving the conversation.

You think it's going to swing back to the Democrats this time?

TEJADA: I think so. I think so.

KING: And the reasons why? People disappointed in Trump or disappointed in Evans?

TEJADA: You know what, Trump -- mainly Trump. We're hardworking people, we're people of faith. So when you start attacking, you know, our community, then everybody, you know, comes together and says, hey, this is not right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: John King, thank you so much.

Coming up, hundreds of miles from the ocean, surfers are chasing waves in icy waters? A closer look at the Midwest surf town, where the cold is part of the culture.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:56:53]

WHITFIELD: The American Midwest is not exactly famous for surfing, but along the shores of Lake Michigan, one Wisconsin city has turned unpredictable waves and freezing water into a surfing destination, and a community that's proud to call it home.

Here's Will Ripley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surfing can be like whatever you want it to be at that moment. You can have the moments of solitude, you can have the community.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hundreds of miles from the ocean, a small city on the edge of Wisconsin has built a surf culture that feels entirely at home in the Midwest. This is Sheboygan. Sometimes called the Malibu of the Midwest.

ANDREW JAKUS, OWNER, EOS SURF SHOP: Sheboygan is kind of set up as this perfect little amphitheater for surf, right? We have our harbor structure in the middle, right? That kind of drops out to the piers. Then you have almost two bays on the north and the south side. Right? So what that does is it creates little pockets to receive clean surf.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Lake Michigan can go from glass to chop with little warning, and locals make the most of the conditions even on smaller days. For surfers, that unpredictability is part of the appeal.

JAKUS: You're watching wind maps, you're watching pressure systems, you're watching all of these things, creating a hypothesis of like, I believe that with these conditions, if I go to this spot, I'm going to be able to surf well, I'm going to have a good surf. And sometimes you totally score. Sometimes you're like, I'm glad I'm not a meteorologist by profession.

RIPLEY (voice-over): As winter brings icy waters and biting winds, some here face the cold head on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you keep going under more or getting flushed more, you start to build like ice. It doesn't really stick to your face, but it like hangs off like my beard.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Surf season runs September through March. And while at crowded breaks around the world, a good wave is something to fight over. Here in Sheboygan apparently there's room for everyone.

JAKUS: We're excited to see you. Right? Normally, normally we wish there was more people with us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Hey. And surfing, no sharks. That's another good one.

All right, Will Ripley, thank you so much.

All right. The "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" crew is back to break down the news of the week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY WOOD JR., HOST, "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU": President Trump posted 60 times in less than 11 hours, or as the "New York Post" put it, "Trump floods social media with A.I. images annexing two countries, renaming the state and claiming ownership of the moon."

JON LOVETT, COMEDIAN, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So he's right about the moon. That's our (EXPLETIVE DELETED) moon.

MICHAEL IAN BLACK, TEAM CAPTAIN: We got there first.

AMBER RUFFIN, TEAM CAPTAIN: A hundred percent, 99 percent of what this man says is dribble drabble. This 1 percent, that is our (EXPLETIVE DELETED) moon.

LOVETT: And I got to tell you something, this may not be politically correct. I see --

RUFFIN: Say it anyway.

LOVETT: I will. I see a flag of another country on my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) moon, there will be no expense that will not be worth getting some more dudes up there and women for once.

RUFFIN: That's right.

LOVETT: To rip that flag out of the ground.

RUFFIN: "Goodnight Moon" was written by an American.

WOOD: This is blasphemous. Did Neil Armstrong not get out on the moon and say one giant leap for mankind? He didn't walk on the moon and go, this is our moon, bitch. And then --

BLACK: Roy, it was implied that this is our moon.

LOVETT: Yes. I don't remember them putting the U.N.'s flag up there, though.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. Getting loose. Watch the season premiere of "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" tonight at 9:00 on CNN and streaming tomorrow on CNN All Access.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "THE ARENA SATURDAY" starts right now.