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Trump Campaigns In Red States As Polls Show GOP Struggling; Attack On Israel-Bound Flight Raises Security Concerns; Small Town At The Center Of U.S. Missile Buildup; Georgia's Demographic Shifts Could Turn The State More Blue; Christa Pike's Condition; Snowbirds From Canada. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 04, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCES HAUGEN, FORMER CIVIC MISINFORMATION PRODUCT MANAGER: Facebook knew they were hurting kids. Fundamentally how Facebook operated was the problem. If I didn't act, and I knew that I was one of the people who could, I would always feel that I was responsible in some way for what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Very revealing. Be sure to tune in the all-new CNN Flash Doc "Zuckerberg: Facebook and the Cost of Connection," premieres tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific on CNN and the next day, with an "All Access" subscription.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. 30 days and counting until midterm election day and more than 700,000 ballots have already been cast in elections that could upend the balance of power on Capitol Hill. And with polling showing voters are growing increasingly angry over rising prices and the war in Iran, Republicans are bracing for the possibility that Democrats could ride a blue wave back into power in Congress.

That's got President Trump out on the campaign trail, speaking at rallies in traditionally ruby red states. The president is downplaying what the polls are showing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, you know, all these fake polls, they don't account for one thing. They don't account for the fact that Trump is out campaigning. They never thought this was coming. They never thought this was going to happen. And it's their fault because they unleashed us. And we're going to -- we're going to really do, as the coach would say, let's go and kick ass. Right, guys?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our Julia Benbrook is at the White House, where the president is preparing to head back out on the trail -- Julia.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and quite a bold statement from him there as he spoke to a crowd late last night. He is promising to really hit the campaign trail over this next month. And that schedule kicked off with rallies in Oklahoma and in Alabama. And he was pressed on this. Why spend time in those traditionally red states right now? He said that he wanted to thank them. He wanted to show gratitude for delivering him sweeping victories in the past.

A GOP source does tell CNN that Oklahoma and Alabama are really outliers in the overall travel strategy, that he will be going to more battleground areas in the future. And last night, he was in Ohio. As he spoke to the crowd there, this was in a town just outside of Dayton, he delivered a familiar message. He said that he wants voters, Republican voters specifically, to pretend like he is on the ballot. He is using that as a way to motivate people to get out and vote.

Republicans have control of the White House, the Senate and the House right now, and he is hoping to keep it that way. Any change there could lead to a big dynamic shift here in Washington. Some of his advisers, though, have privately acknowledged that that push for turnout can go a couple of ways. It can, of course, motivate his base to get out, but it can also motivate Democrats to get out as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So I'm just saying, we win when I'm on the ballot. And I've never really done this certainly to this extent. I don't think anybody has. I don't think any of the president has certainly. But I'm really in to win it. We want to win the midterms. If we can we want to win the midterm. And we have great people. So if you don't mind, please pretend that I'm on the ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And there in Ohio, there is a Senate race to watch. This is between Republican Senator Jon Husted and former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. A recent "New York Times"-Siena poll showed that that race is neck and neck. So definitely one to watch. One that Trump spent a lot of time on as he spoke there last night. He is expected to be out on the trail almost every day over this next month, and the next stops that we are tracking he's going to be headed to Nebraska. And then in a couple of days headed to Texas.

You can see some of that there on the graphic where he's been, where he's headed, and then it should remain busy with just 30 days to go.

WHITFIELD: All right. And then President Trump is also revealing new details about the task force that he's building to supervise A.I. development in the U.S.?

BENBROOK: And this will be a big topic out on the campaign trail as well. People have shown that they are interested, are concerned about this issue. Trump teased the creation of an A.I. task force last month, but he revealed some new details today. He said that he is creating the super intelligence force, that is the term that he is using, and he also announced some leadership for that as well.

Jay Clayton will be a part of that leadership team, the director of National Intelligence. And during his confirmation hearings to lead the U.S. intelligence community, he said that this technology could be a game changer, but then went on to say, when something is both an opportunity and a threat, you better get your arms around it.

[16:05:02]

This comes as a growing number of lawmakers, former A.I. employees, and even top executives at some of those top companies have expressed concerns about the rapid growth of this industry. Trump, for his part, has made it clear that he sees outpacing China and A.I. driven economic gains as a top priority. He has repeatedly said whoever wins A.I. wins. So this force will be in charge of working with some of the different groups that are involved in this technology, and we'll see where that goes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Benbrook at the White House. Thanks so much.

All right. New today, early indications are that the co-pilot suspected of attacking his colleague on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was probably acting alone. That's according to Israeli sources. The attempted hijacking is also raising questions about aviation security.

CNN's Oren Liebermann has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport is known worldwide for its vaunted security. In the past, aviation safety experts would come to see how it's done.

So how did Israel's security safeguards fail so spectacularly with this Flydubai flight?

Ten years ago, we got an inside look at Israel's aviation security system. Listen to this from a story we did as we went inside the Ministry of Transportation's security operations center.

Each flight, each passenger, each pilot, and each member of the flight crew is checked long before arriving in Israeli airspace. This room is staffed 24/7. There's never a moment without pressure an off-course aircraft, a flight without security clearance, all of this is flagged immediately.

DVIR RUBINSTEIN, DIRECTOR OF AVIATION SECURITY, ISRAEL MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION: There is every day situation that a flight can be, and we have such concerns about it. And we check that and verify that everything is secured clear prior to entering the Israeli airspace.

LIEBERMANN: That's Dvir Rubenstein, and he's the director of aviation security at the Ministry of Transportation. He's describing exactly the sorts of checks that should have stopped this event from ever happening before it started. But that clearly didn't happen. In fact, in a briefing on Saturday evening, the Transportation Ministry said it didn't know the names of the crew members on board the Flydubai flight. Instead, the ministry said it's the country's security agencies that have access to those lists, which the ministry doesn't have.

Those security agencies have yet to issue a public comment. The Ministry of Transportation relies on foreign airlines and foreign authorities to do the background checks for the pilots flying into Israel. In 2023, Israel passed a law creating a passenger and crew member information database. It sits under the National Center for Passenger Data Analysis in the Tax Ministry.

Even so, that data about who's on each flight can be used for the, quote, "detection, prevention, forestallment, investigation, and prosecution of members of a terrorist organization, of a terrorist activity, or of a terrorist offense."

But in this case, it clearly wasn't. One year later, Israel's watchdog issued a report warning that the country needs to conduct a thorough review of all aspects of aviation security, including incoming foreign flights. The warning was there.

We have reached out to the Ministry of Transportation for comment. Much of the focus now in Israel is on the failures in vetting and background checks that allowed this to happen. So far, no one has taken responsibility.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oren Liebermann, thank you so much.

Still to come, a U.S. Marine is arrested on suspicion of murder and robbery after a woman was found dead in a Japanese hotel room. The furious response from Japan's prime minister ahead. And next, America is racing to replenish its missile stockpiles. That's putting one small Arkansas town at the center of the defense buildup. But can this rural community keep up with surging demand?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:13:34]

WHITFIELD: At the heart of America's defense manufacturing surge is a small town in Arkansas being stretched to the limits. Defense contractors there are running massive plants in rural Camden, which is about 10,000 residents. But a daily influx of 4,000 workers keeping up with the manufacturing boom is straining the local infrastructure and overworking the employees.

CNN's senior reporter Isabelle Khurshudyan is joining us now with more details on this.

So, Isabelle, I mean, you visited Camden. You spoke with several people there. What did they tell you about the impact on this town? ISABELLE KHURSHUDYAN, CNN SENIOR ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we

know there's a lot of pressure right now on defense contractors after wars in the Middle East and in Ukraine have really strained some U.S. stocks of missiles. And Camden, it's kind of feeling that pressure as well. Several of the largest defense contractors are located there.

The town, it's hoping this defense industrial boom will also lead to a boom for the town, but it's dealing with some of the same issues as other places in rural America. The hospital is navigating bankruptcy. A lot of people I spoke to said the school districts are not necessarily the best, and there's a lack of affordable housing. In fact, there's not enough housing to really accommodate the growing workforce there.

So the town, it sees this opportunity to really change its fortunes. And it's hoping that, you know, the defense firms can help. Right now a lot of people who work at these defense companies, they're commuting from up to an hour away, and they're not spending any time there on the weekends.

[16:15:02]

They're not really living in the town. So people I spoke to in the town, they're saying, hey, if the defense firms invest in this town, help us, then it'll be a better place to live and that'll also help the defense companies hire more people, which is something they need to do to keep up with the demand.

WHITFIELD: So overall, what are defense companies doing to produce more weapons faster?

KHURSHUDYAN: Yes. Well, for starters, they have to hire more people and that's what they say they're doing. In Camden that workforce is going to increase by 50 percent. They're also automating parts of that production line. Both these things are going to add more shifts and speed things up. But ultimately, the biggest bottleneck is the supply chain. It's very complex. If you have, you know, a single delay from a single supplier, there are thousands of parts and materials that go into a single missile.

So one delay, it causes a big ripple. They're reducing the reliance on single suppliers and getting backups just in case to reduce those delays. The goal is increase production by three to four times. And a missile that right now takes years to manufacture, reduce that time down to months.

WHITFIELD: And Isabelle, I know you, you know, touched on the stresses that it brings these, you know, workers to try to produce more and faster. But I'm wondering in general, did you know the folks there in Camden tell you about the conditions, you know, of what it is to, you know, work right now at that plant right now?

KHURSHUDYAN: Yes. It's intense times, they're saying. The production quotas are going up constantly. There's a lot of demands from the Pentagon. And so engineers I spoke to, they said they're working 70 hours a week. And some of those engineers, they're salaried. So that's not even getting overtime. They said they're concerned about burnout, but they also understand that the mission is important.

This is important work they're doing for the U.S. military so they can understand it for now. But they're also seeing new people hired every month. And still there's job openings across every department. So that goes to show what kind of hiring surge there is there right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Isabelle Khurshudyan, thank you so much. Great reporting. Appreciate it.

KHURSHUDYAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, as we count down to the midterms, we'll take a closer look at the changing demographics in Georgia, where both Democrats and Republicans see a path to influence the balance of power in Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:21:41]

WHITFIELD: With just 30 days until the midterm elections, several Senate races are up for grabs.

CNN's John King zeroes in on Georgia, a state with two Democratic U.S. senators, but also one where voters usually vote for Republican candidates. John King found a once deep red state where the economy has voters looking for change and Democrats making gains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Early to work at Rebel Teahouse, Christine Nguyen first opened these doors four years ago. Six employees then, 18 now. A success story, but plenty of stress.

CHRISTINE NGUYEN, GEORGIA VOTER: Cost has risen 18 percent across the board for us. It has been a struggle for a lot of people to get out there and to sort of purchase goods. So we're grateful that we do have such a good local community that will show up for the small businesses.

KING (voice-over): This is Decatur in DeKalb County, the Atlanta suburbs. Decision time as Georgia picks a new governor and decides whether to send Democrat Jon Ossoff back to the Senate.

And so the cakey at the bottom is the sugar?

NGUYEN: Yes, the cakey at the bottom is the sugar.

KING (voice-over): Likely Ossoff for win. She likes how he mixes it up on social media and sees Democrats in Congress as more likely to help with a major business goal.

NGUYEN: Right now, for us to afford health care, it's not like I can work any harder to get it. It has to be something that comes from, you know, a bigger policy change. KING: Right.

(Voice-over): Nguyen tends to vote blue, but is less certain in the governor's race. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is the Democrat, health care executive Rick Jackson, the Republican. Data centers is a big issue.

NGUYEN: Energy costs has already gone up. Being able to differentiate between whether or not it ties in with the data centers would be nice to know. But the biggest thing is how it affects the community and the people living in those areas.

KING (voice-over): Taxes and safety also on her list.

NGUYEN: I have to wait to see what the debates will say.

KING (voice-over): Georgia's recent history is deep red. A Republican governor for 23 years now, Republican control of the legislature for 22 years. And Georgia has voted Republican in eight of the last 10 presidential elections. In 2020, though, Joe Biden narrowly carried Georgia. And in early 2021, Ossoff and fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock won runoff elections for both Georgia's U.S. Senate seats.

So is Georgia still a red state, a purple state or a state about to tip blue? It's a big and legitimate question because of the rapid pace of demographic change here. Back in 2000, Georgia's population was 65 percent white. That's down to 48 percent now. Blacks were 29 percent of the Georgia population in 2000. That's up to 32 percent. Hispanics were 5 percent back in 2000, more than 12 percent now. And the Asian vote is also growing fast. Just 2 percent of the population back in 2000, now above 5 percent.

CAREY FULKS, GEORGIA VOTER: So this is Marietta Campus.

KING (voice-over): Carey Fulks lives in Atlanta, sees the change every drive to his graduate school studies in Marietta. Suburban Cobb County was solid red 15 years ago. Solid blue now.

FULKS: A lot of the programs were found --

KING (voice-over): But Fulks still sees a lot of conservative bible belt outside of the suburbs and he worries some younger students don't share his zeal for voting.

[16:25:00]

FULKS: Gen Z is just apathetic toward all of it. They don't see any sort of feasibility in voting because it's all just going to be terrible anyway, why are we a part of this. And to some extent, I had that as well as a younger person.

KING (voice-over): The governor's race is his test.

FULKS: Like, has there been enough talk, enough push for people to see, oh, we can have a black woman in office? So I think that's where the skepticism comes in. KING: Georgia has never had a woman governor. It's never had a black

governor and it's never had a former Atlanta mayor become governor. You think she can knock all those three down in one election?

FULKS: I hope that she can. It would be great if she did.

CHANTA VILLANO-WILLIS, GEORGIA VOTER: We're trying to stay in Cobb County because that's where my son's job is.

KING: Right.

(Voice-over): Powder Springs is near the western edge of Cobb County, about 25 miles from Atlanta. Chanta Villano-Willis would have voted for Donald Trump in 2024 had President Biden stayed in the race. But she went for Vice President Harris in the end.

VILLANO-WILLIS: I was really trying to go with the lesser of two evils. Sorry to categorize her that way but yes.

KING (voice-over): Unhappy now with losses in crypto investments she blames on Trump, unhappy with the Iran war, and with gas and grocery prices.

VILLANO-WILLIS: Why is everything always somebody else's fault? When do you take responsibility for what you put in place?

KING (voice-over): A fan of Senator Ossoff, but Villano-Willis lived in Atlanta when Bottoms was mayor and says she often didn't feel safe.

She would break three barriers in one election if she won. Does that matter to you at all?

VILLANO-WILLIS: Nope. Nope. I want the person who's most qualified, who cares about all the people.

KING: Do you like Mr. Jackson or is it just you can't vote for her?

VILLANO-WILLIS: I like some of the things he's done, but no, I can't vote for her. I won't. Being a black woman, all that, I'm -- she don't get my vote for that.

KING (voice-over): The Port of Savannah is all the way east, Chatham County.

All aboard.

(Voice-over): Lifelong Republican Randy Powell lists immigration and taxes as his top issues, and he says it is unfair to blame just Trump and Republicans for high prices and high mortgage rates.

RANDY POWELL, GEORGIA VOTER: I put the blame on both parties because they're not talking.

No longer than 400 days.

KING (voice-over): A flashback from 2009. I met Powell here 17 years ago, a Savannah police officer who, at the age of 50, was called back to military service and sent to Iraq.

POWELL: The soldier always does what he's told.

KING (voice-over): That war was unpopular and brought big political change. The current war is unpopular, too, with the big election just ahead.

POWELL: I feel he did the right thing. President Trump loves America. He loves the people. And, you know, granted, there's a short term pain.

KING (voice-over): Powell loves retirement. He politely spars with neighbors who are Democrats and during a lap around the lake was quick to point out his Republican friends.

POWELL: There's another two of my Republican friends.

KING (voice-over): He hopes Republicans hold the House and says if Georgia and other blue Senate seats flipped red, maybe Trump could get more done.

POWELL: If we can get 60, you know, we can start passing.

KING: Ossoff's counterargument would be if the Democrats take the Senate, maybe they can force Trump to talk.

POWELL: You know what? Trump's doing the best he can. President Trump's doing the best he can when it comes to the American people.

KING (voice-over): Powell is as upbeat as they come, but he knows his midterm hopes might be unrealistic. Savannah is 250 miles from Atlanta, but also a big part of Georgia's shift. George W. Bush was the last Republican to win Chatham County in a presidential race 26 years ago, back before Powell became a grandfather and was sent off to war.

POWELL: Tides are changing, and getting people from other states that are moving down here because, one, they like the low taxes, they like the lifestyle and everything. But with that comes change in our voting percentages.

KING (voice-over): John King, CNN, Savannah, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, with death row inmate Christa Pike hospitalized and on a ventilator, legal questions remain after a failed lethal injection. Ahead, her attorney explains why he believes Tennessee's governor should commute her death sentence to life in prison.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: We're learning more about Christa Pike's condition after Tennessee's botched attempt to execute her. Her lawyer, Stephen Ferrell, says Pike remains unconscious and on a ventilator in a Tennessee hospital. And, to his knowledge, she has not regained consciousness.

According to Ferrell, hospital staff are still trying to clear the pentobarbital from her system after she was given two doses during the attempted execution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CO-HOST OF STATE OF THE UNION: What do you want to happen? What do you think the state should do now?

STEPHEN FERRELL, ATTORNEY FOR CHRISTA PIKE: I think, at the very least, the governor should commute Miss Pike's death sentence to a life sentence. At the very least. We -- like I said, we don't know what her physical state will be, but it is clear that she has endured a torturous attempt at executing her.

And we had already asked that the governor commute her for many good reasons. I think she's spent over 30 years in prison, most of that in solitary confinement, only to be taken out and not executed, but tried to execute her.

[16:35:03]

FERRELL: And that we don't know right now, and we may never know, what sort of torture she endured during that process. Where her consciousness was. What physical pain there was. What mental torture she went through.

I can tell you that we had a two and a half day hearing about lethal injection. The special master that was appointed to hear the case insisted that Miss Pike be present and listen for two and a half days as to how the state of Tennessee was going to kill her.

I think she has been put through some really, really bad mental torture and physical torture. And that -- at the very least, that deserves a commutation of her death sentence.

TAPPER: There is, obviously, another side here, in terms of the case itself. The family of Colleen Slemmer, the 19 year old that Christa murdered. Colleen's mother was on the grounds of the prison that night. She was waiting for your client to be executed. I'm wondering what you think justice looks like, in terms of the victim?

FERRELL: Yes. I think that's very hard to say. I can tell you what justice shouldn't be for the victim's family. And that's this long, many years of back and forth for her and to be brought here to witness an execution that doesn't happen.

Nothing that anyone can do will bring back Colleen Slemmer. Nothing that anyone can do will make this right for May Martinez, her mother. I can't give any better solution than the fact that Christa has been, and may very well continue to be, severely punished, harshly punished. And maybe not overly so, but certainly this has been a serious punishment for a very serious and awful crime. I don't -- I don't think that attempting another execution is going to bring justice.

TAPPER: It is certainly an odd and unusual situation where the world is waiting, at least as far as I can tell, for your client to recover from these botched execution attempts so the state can kill her for good. That just seems bizarre.

FERRELL: It's -- I -- as far as I know, it's unique in this country. There have been other attempted executions that were botched, as in they couldn't get the vein. They -- other things went wrong.

I don't know of any situation where the state says that the execution was carried out exactly as it planned to do and the person survived. And that is a unique situation. And I think that your word bizarre is exactly right. And one thing that should definitely come from this is that this needs to be a much more open process.

Over a year ago, in the face of another execution, we asked for information about what the state was going to do. A judge ordered one thing to be disclosed, and that was the expiration date of the chemicals they were going to use to execute him. The state immediately filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Court of Appeals that blocked that order.

With Christa Pike's execution, there was a delay. It was supposed to happen at 10:00 a.m. in the -- that day, and it didn't end up happening until about 8:00 that evening.

We don't know what drugs there were, whether they were manufactured compounded. How well they were preserved. What was done with them. That could have played a role.

In order to find out what happened, the state of Tennessee has got to start telling its people exactly what it is doing. So that in the Democratic process, the people of Tennessee can decide if that's what they want to be done in their name.

Because this torturous execution leaves so many questions that the state of Tennessee will refuse to answer. We don't know who's performing this. The people who placed the I.V. lines, who obviously were not able to do it successfully. Or to me, obviously, I -- you know, I don't --

TAPPER: Yes.

FERRELL: -- have definitive answers on what happened. But that caused the drugs to not effectively circulate, and that's probably why Christa Pike survived. But the state of Tennessee had assured us that these were people with decades of experience at setting I.V. line.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: Ferrell says he has not been allowed to see Pike. She remains under guard, and he says he doesn't know if anyone else has been allowed to see her, either.

All right. New today, Japan's prime minister is pretty upset with the U.S., following the arrest of a Marine suspected of killing a woman in Okinawa.

[16:40:00]

WHITFIELD: CNN's Clare Sebastian has more details on the incident and how it could strain U.S. relations with a key Asian ally.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know, at this point, from Okinawa police is that they have a 20-year-old U.S. Marine in custody on suspicion of robbery and murder, after they found the body of a 39-year-old woman in the early hours of Saturday morning in a hotel room on the island of Okinawa.

Now, they say they have CCTV footage, showing what appears to be a man with a shaved head. They said it looked like a foreign national. Arriving at the hotel with the woman and later leaving alone with what appeared to be her belongings.

Now, the U.S. Marine Corps says it is cooperating with the investigation, but this has the potential to revive old tensions. Okinawa Island, which is a southern Japanese territory in the Pacific, it hosts a significant U.S. military presence.

And there have been incidents in the past. Protest erupted on the island in 1995, after three servicemen, U.S. servicemen, were jailed for the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl. There have been a string of incidents since then. And repeated calls from locals on the island to reduce the U.S. military presence there.

So, we got a very strong response from the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, on Sunday. She said, the occurrence of such an extremely brutal and heinous incident is a matter of profound regret. And as the Japanese government, we have lodged a strong protest with the U.S. side.

Now, this is an active investigation. The U.S. embassy in Tokyo said it is cooperating with the Japanese authorities, but it is one that risks political fallout between the U.S. and its key ally in the Pacific. Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you, Clare.

Still to come, a drop in tourism dollars as fewer Canadian snowbirds travel to the United States. How the changing climate in relations with the U.S. are sending some travelers elsewhere.

[16:42:01]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right, let's take a trip south, shall we? Oh, does that look nice or what? That is Lauderdale By-the-Sea in Florida. And the state of Florida is a popular spot with Canadians coming down each year to get a break from the cold winters.

But some places that rely on tourists say they've been seeing a drop in visitors from Canada. A war of words and a war of tariffs between the U.S. and Canadian leaders may be partly to blame.

Canadians making a return trip by car to the U.S. dropped almost 37 percent in 2025 from the year before. And one Canadian website advising snowbirds said the current environment for its members has been, quote, "polarizing."

Stephen Fine is president and managing editor of the Website, Snowbird Advisor. And he's joining us now from Toronto. All right. Good to see you.

STEPHEN FINE, PRESIDENT AND MANAGING EDITOR, SNOWBIRD ADVISOR (via Webex): Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Well, what are your friends and family and readers telling you about why they haven't been coming down to the U.S. like they had in the past?

FINE: Well, there's a number of reasons why people are considering not going to the U.S. now. I mean, obviously, there's the political and trade tensions that are happening. There's the weak Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar which makes things more expensive in the U.S.

And then, last year, there was the introduction of more stringent registration requirements for some Canadians who go to the U.S. So, there was some confusion and some concern over that as well.

So, kind of a perfect storm for people to consider not going down to the U.S. from the snowbird demographic.

WHITFIELD: Right. And so, we just showed that graphic of, you know, down 37 percent in 2025. Is it about the same this year? Or people change their minds or they're still kind of unhappy about the idea of coming to the U.S. to spend their winters?

FINE: Well, you know, I want to clarify. That statistic isn't really for snowbirds. That's for all Canadians. The actual number of snowbirds who didn't go to the U.S. was actually -- the decline was much smaller last year. It was about 15 percent decline last year for snowbirds.

You know, just to put that in context.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

FINE: Last year, about 70 percent of Canadian snowbirds went to the U.S. And the previous year, 81 percent had gone to the U.S. That's about a 15 percent decline. So, a much smaller decline in travel to the U.S. amongst the snowbirds than other demographics, where you saw bigger drops of 30 or 35, or 40 percent even. And there's a number of reasons why that happened.

WHITFIELD: Oh, and what are some of those reasons?

FINE: So, you know, they're -- snowbirds have a much closer tie to the U.S. than some other travelers, who are just coming for a week or a weekend or two weeks. I mean, you remember, you have to think about it. Many Canadian snowbirds own properties and vacation homes in the U.S. Florida, Arizona, Texas, other places.

So, if they own a property there, where they usually go for the winter, they're going to still go there for the winter. The other factor for Canadians is that many of them drive down for the winter and want to have their cars with them. So, if you want to have your car with you, you want to drive to your snowbird destination, the U.S. is really the only option.

And the third big reason is many Canadian snowbirds have very close ties to the communities that they go to in the U.S., whether it's Florida, Arizona, Texas, other places. They go every year. They go for between a month and six months.

[16:50:02]

FINE: They have friends. They have family. They've been going for several years.

So, for all of those reasons, there's a lot more of a connection between snowbirds in the U.S. than there may be between casual, short- term visitors.

WHITFIELD: And so, for those who -- you know, those Canadians that you said have their, you know, communities, you know, in the U.S. and, you know, it spans quite a bit of time. Do they feel like those bonds are unshakable, even though there has been this, you know, spat between the U.S. and Canada, particularly over tariffs et cetera? Do they say anything to you about what those relationships are like these days?

FINE: Well, you know, that's actually a great question, because it's varied in terms of what people's opinions and feelings are on that front. Some of them feel that the bonds have been broken or are frayed. Some of them, you know, are a little bit concerned and some don't feel that way at all. So, it really depends on the individual. We're hearing from all different sides of the spectrum on this.

WHITFIELD: And so, for those Canadians who are choosing not to spend time in the U.S. this winter, like they may have traditionally before, where are they going instead?

FINE: Well, there are a number of international destinations, that have been popular over time that are also growing in popularity now. So, the number one snowbird destination outside the U.S. is Mexico, but it's followed closely by Portugal, Spain, Costa Rica, and an increase in interest in various Caribbean countries as well. And other snowbirds go as far away as Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and some other central American countries as well. But those would be the top destinations and there -- they are definitely growing.

But, you know, as we can see from last year, 70 percent of Canadian snowbirds still went to the U.S.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

FINE: So, the majority went. We expect that to be the trend going forward. You know, it's a little early to tell what's going to happen this coming year, this coming season. We usually do a survey of Snowbird Advisor members later in the year, so we can get accurate numbers on where people are going.

You know, our expectation is -- probably the largest drop happened last year. It will probably be -- you know, it will level out this year. Maybe we will see a little bit more of a drop, but time will tell. We'll have to go and ask our members and see where they are.

WHITFIELD: All right, very encouraging. Stephen Fine, thank you so much. All the best.

FINE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ahead in the next hour and the CNN NEWSROOM, President Trump has turned his attention to turning the clocks back and forth. Why he wants to keep daylight saving time all the time.

[16:52:39]

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WHITFIELD: Caught on camera, a split-second save that is going viral right there. I mean, incredible video out of Egypt of a man who is standing outside his shop as a boy was pointing up at a child falling from a second-floor balcony.

As you saw right there, he actually caught him after the child, you know, got a little tangled up in a clothesline on the way down, kind of slowing the fall a bit. Pretty miraculous. And of course, the man is so shaken himself, he sits down, recovering from after having caught that child.

He later told local media, that he, too, thought this was a miraculous catch. Quite heroic of a tale there.

And now, to this week's CNN Hero. Sherri Franklin's nonprofit Muttville has saved the lives of thousands of senior dogs. As CNN Heroes marks its 20th year, we're highlighting how far this 2016 honoree's mission has come.

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SHERRI FRANKLIN, FOUNDER, MUTTVILLE SENIOR DOG RESCUE: Watching these old dogs spend their last weeks in a cold, hard, loud shelter made me realize that we need to give these dogs an opportunity to get the love and to give the love that they still have left.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST OF ANDERSON COOPER 360: Sherri Franklin's passion for senior dogs inspired her to found Muttville in 2007, a rescue dedicated to saving older dogs from shelters and helping them find loving, forever homes.

FRANKLIN: Chewlo (?) has got a new mommy because he's getting adopted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need somebody to hug.

FRANKLIN: And he needs you to hug him so thank you. They have changed people's lives with their gratitude, with their tenderness.

COOPER: She was recognized as a CNN Hero in 2016, an honor she credits with giving senior dogs a voice and helping her expand her mission.

FRANKLIN: Thanks to the exposure and the credibility, we have been able to save over 13,500 senior dogs at Muttville. Weve even opened a whole new community center here in San Francisco.

COOPER: Muttville's new 18,000 square foot facility is a thoughtfully designed, cage-free shelter. Every detail supports senior dogs from acoustic floors that absorb sound to ramps and soft surfaces. And all furniture is donated or second hand.

FRANKLIN: We wanted to make something really different. We wanted to make something that people would enjoy coming to.

Not the scary animal shelter that you're used to. A place where dogs can also relax and enjoy. Our adoptions are through the roof. Our dogs are happy.