Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Deadly Strike On Riyadh's Airport; Isaias To Blame For At Least Four Deaths; Trump Stumps In Tennessee. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired October 11, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:00:16]
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London, let's go straight to our headlines.
Chaos and carnage after Saudi Arabia's main airport comes under Houthi attack the third time just this week. At least a dozen people are dead, hundreds more injured, we're live in the region.
Donald Trump says it is time for Ukraine to get a new president in what may be the biggest drift between the two leaders since this infamous meeting, we'll have reaction for you from Kyiv.
And Isaias continues to leave a wet footprint across parts of the southern U.S. after causing destruction along the U.S. Gulf Coast. We'll look at where the next major storm is brewing.
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Salma Abdelaziz.
ABDELAZIZ: Saudi-led forces are vowing to retaliate against Iran- backed Houthis after an attack on Riyadh's International Airport killed at least 12, including an American, and wounded hundreds of others. Saturday's attack came without warning and with no alert issued by Saudi Arabia's warning system. It is the third attack this week on King Khalid International Airport and marks the deadliest strike in the kingdom in more than a decade.
Footage shared on social media that you can see there appears to show the aftermath of that strike. After the attack, a Houthi official announced that the group had, quote, shut down Riyadh International Airport. The militant group declared the kingdom's airspace to be a zone of military operations after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government launched its offensive on Monday.
Earlier, President Trump said he plans to speak with the Saudi crown prince and weighed in on that attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT: I think it's terrible. Well, you're going to find out, Steve, but I think it's terrible. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were the Saudis able to defend themselves without
U.S. Support?
TRUMP: Well, they're able to defend. Look, the Saudis are good fighters, but I think the attack was a terrible thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: Our Oren Liebermann joins us live now from Jerusalem with the latest on this.
Good morning, first of all, to you, Oren. I mean, this is a major escalation on a civilian target in the heart of the capital. What are you learning about this attack and the response from the kingdom?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This is now the latest in what has become a string of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and in particular on this airport in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The Houthis are showing a willingness here to escalate and also showing that they won't back down, even if Saudi is backing the internationally recognized government in Yemen as it tries to retake territory from the Houthis.
In many ways, this is analogous to what we're seeing between the U.S. and Iran. Iran doesn't have the military that the U.S. does, in the same way the Houthis don't have the military capabilities that the Saudis do. And yet that doesn't mean they're weak or don't have ways of attacking the Saudis. And that's what we're seeing here, an incredibly deadly attack, the deadliest we have seen, as you point out, in years on a Saudi airport, again, the third in a week, that killed 12 people, including an American citizen, and wounded hundreds of others, forcing the Saudis to cancel hundreds of flights and effectively shutting down the airport here for at least a day, perhaps even longer here.
The Saudis have carried out strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, and yet that hasn't slowed down the Houthis at all in terms of their escalation and in terms of their willingness to conduct what very much looks like an open conflict here now between the Houthis on one side, the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen, and then on the other side, the internationally recognized government of Yemen, backed by the Saudis here.
Where does this go from here? Well, it doesn't seem like there's any clear off-ramp here, and that is the danger. And this is an incredibly important point, because this isn't happening in a vacuum. These are -- this is an Iran-backed rebel group, and that's -- they're showing the abilities that they have, especially, as it seems, as they've learned from what happened on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.
Now, Iran has lost a lot of their leverage and control over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical waterways. But what we're seeing now on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula is that the Houthis are able to leverage their own power and their own abilities to threaten the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and that's at the southern end of the Red Sea and is one of the world's other most critical waterways. And that is the risk here, that they're able to show leverage and exert pressure on the global economy with drones, ballistic missiles, and the capabilities that they have. And that is the point to watch here going forward, Salma.
[05:05:10]
ABDELAZIZ: You said there's no clear off-ramp, there's no clear solution. But what Saudi Arabia wants to see as a solution currently is that the U.S. gets more involved. We know that they have been calling on America to carry out airstrikes against the Houthis. I can imagine that those calls will only grow louder now. There is a call that's supposed to take place between President Trump and the Crown Prince. What do you think is going to happen here?
LIEBERMANN: At the end of the day, it's all up to President Donald Trump. If he had wanted to get involved, and the Saudis and the Saudis -- and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman want him to get involved, if he had wanted to get involved, he already had that reasoning, that excuse, if you will, before this latest deadly attack that killed a U.S. citizen. But it very much seems like Trump doesn't want to get involved.
We'll see if that phone call between Trump and MBS changes anything. But remember, earlier in the administration, Trump signed a ceasefire agreement with the Houthis in which the Houthis agreed not to attack U.S. shipping going through the Red Sea and through the Bab al-Mandab Strait. It's unclear if Trump is willing to risk that, especially this close to the midterms.
The war with Iran, incredibly unpopular amongst U.S. voters. The effect it's had on the U.S. economy, on gas prices in particular, that has driven Trump's popularity way down. And to open up another front, to get involved with the Houthis again, to break what had been a ceasefire agreement he had reached, that would make Trump in all likelihood even less popular so close to the midterms.
So, it's unclear if Trump wants to get involved here, even as he said that he'll make a decision soon and that he is considering it. He said that repeatedly when it comes to Iran, and yet he has shown that he doesn't want to get more deeply involved there, at least not yet. We'll see if he feels any differently about the Houthis.
ABDELAZIZ: Oren Liebermann there on the deadliest attack on the kingdom in a decade that is sending shockwaves through the region. But is it enough to get the U.S. involved? Unclear for now. Thank you so much.
To answer that question on how likely it is the U.S. will get involved, CNN National Security Analyst Alex Plitsas weighed in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, it's clear at this point that they are pushing back against the Yemeni government's offensive. So, the Saudis have made no qualms of their support for the Yemeni government there. This is not their first foray into this battle that has been sort of a shadow war between Saudi Arabia and Iran for years now, going back, didn't receive as much attention.
And then there was sort of a detente for a little bit after there was a rapprochement that was brokered by the Chinese between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and things had calmed down. But now that this has been activated again, it looks like the Houthis obviously successfully pushed through to the coast after they routed the host nation forces. And then the Saudis are going to provide some support to the host nation government. And once again, we see this tit for tat strike.
But it's getting to the point where this additional pressure now that's being placed on the Saudis could force the U.S. hand. So, the next 48 to 72 hours will be very telling as to whether or not there's going to be an additional, you know, set of new targets in the region if the U.S. is going to join this fight against the Houthis.
ABDELAZIZ: Now, the latest on the post-tropical cyclone Isaias. The storm's remnants could bring high winds and heavy rain along the Atlantic coast from the Carolinas up to New York later today. Hundreds of thousands of people are still without power in the eastern U.S. This is after Isaias made landfall as a Category two hurricane along the Gulf Coast on Friday. Local authorities say at least four people have died in Florida and Alabama.
CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and brings us a closer look at the destruction left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hurricane Isaias slamming into Florida's panhandle late Friday night as a Category two hurricane, packing 110-mile-per-hour winds, tearing down trees and power lines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That used to be my driveway. And these trees were huge. They were like 30-foot-tall white oaks. So, they're all gone now.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): In Pensacola, Florida, the roof was torn off this hotel. Hundreds of thousands of people are without power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is years of recovery. This is a long road to go.
RODRIGUEZ: The storm also carving out a path of destruction in parts of Alabama, like Dothan, where downed trees crushed several cars, one tree slicing through this home's roof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did have a significant number of trees down. We've got power outages still.
RODRIGUEZ: While the storm has weakened, the threat of heavy rain and strong winds remain.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): The threat of flooding remains. Forecasted rain totals of four to eight inches across the Florida panhandle and Big Bend this weekend. RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): As this system moves inland, portions of Georgia and the Carolinas are under flash flood risks.
In Gulf Shores, Alabama, I'm Ivan Rodriguez reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[05:10:05]
ABDELAZIZ: Post-tropical cyclone Rachel is creating dangerous surf along parts of northern Mexico and Southern California. This video shows huge waves crashing over a seawall and into homes in Long Beach, California, prompting evacuations in the area.
Forecasters say Rachel is weakening, and it is expected to dissipate early Sunday, but it will still bring strong winds to the Baja Peninsula and heavy rain to Southern California and the southwestern U.S. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Simon is approaching Mexico's Pacific coast as an extremely dangerous category storm.
Forecasters are urging residents to make life-saving preparations now. The hurricane is expected to bring torrential rainfall, damaging winds, and storm surge to Mexico's west central coast when it makes landfall later today.
There's much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. What U.S. President Donald Trump is promising in the hope of swaying voters on the campaign trail this weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:15:01]
ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. The hot and cold relationship between the U.S. and Ukrainian leaders appears to have reached a low point again. On Saturday, President Donald Trump said this about Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I think he should have an election. And he could have settled this thing many times. And he should have an election. And he can't raise the price of oil. He's done enough. This is a war that should have never happened. Ukraine-Russia should have never happened. If I were president, it never would have happened. But President Zelenskyy could have solved this war or he could have made a deal many times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: Mr. Trump spoke after President Zelenskyy pushed back against a new U.S.-Russian deal that allows Moscow to export diesel. The Ukrainian leader described it as a gift to the Kremlin, which will keep its war machine going. Experts are not sure Russia can even deliver the fuel it's promised because of Ukraine's strikes on its refineries. Aside from calling for elections, Mr. Trump also suggested Ukraine should get a new leader.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia is reeling from a Russian attack that killed 20 people. This video shows heavy damage on what appears to be a residential building, with rescuers searching for victims in the rubble. Ukraine says Russia launched 160 drones overnight.
For more on all of this, we're joined now from Kyiv by Oleksandr Merezhko. He is the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee at Ukraine's parliament.
Thank you -- thank you so much for joining us. Of course, I want to start with the headline here, of course, which is this deal that President Trump says that Washington, D.C., has been able to secure with President Trump -- with President Putin, rather, to supply more than 300,000 tons of Russian diesel fuel to global energy markets, with another 500,000 tons promised in November. President Zelenskyy has said this is a gift to Russia. What is your take?
OLEKSANDR MEREZHKO, CHAIR, FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Thank you for calling me. Well, we should remember that it's not just a regular trade deal or economic deal between the United States and Russia, which is conducting war of aggression against Ukraine. This is about, and that's why it's so dangerous, that this is about providing money to Russian war machine. It's about helping Russian genocidal war machine to continue to kill Ukrainians. We have losses among civilian populations, dozens of them, including killed by Russians' children. It's absolutely morally wrong at this moment to give money to Russians, and thereby to encourage Putin to double down, to continue to kill us.
It's like siding with the aggressor, siding with the perpetrator of genocide. It's absolutely morally wrong, and I hope that it will not happen, because it will tarnish the image of your president, and it will be a serious blow to the reputation of the United States as the biggest and the most important democracy in the world.
ABDELAZIZ: And President Trump has not only just announced this deal, he has also criticized President Zelenskyy for criticizing that deal. He's called on him to step down. He said that Ukraine needs a new leader. Are you worried that this is more than just rhetoric, that D.C. might actually try to influence who leads your country?
MEREZHKO: I hope it's something temporary, just on the eve of the midterm elections in the United States. I don't want my country to become a hostage to internal political fighting. I don't want my country to be blamed for the lost war, for example, in Iran or something like that, or for the gas prices rising in the United States.
And it's absolutely unacceptable when a leader of one country dictates to the people of another country who should be their president, especially a war leader during the war. It's unacceptable. International relations are based on the principle of sovereign equality. Ukrainian people, Ukrainian government never dictated any country in the world who should be their president. And we expect the same respect for the choice of our people, for our democracy in times of war. And I hope that our biggest supporter, American people, they continue to support Ukraine, that they don't agree with such statements which go against American values and against international law.
ABDELAZIZ: But let me push you a little bit further on this, because there is fear, of course, that this spat could lead to consequences. Ukraine has had success in targeting Russia's refineries, which is, of course, something President Donald Trump has called on Ukraine to stop. Are you worried that the United States could limit cooperation with Ukraine, perhaps withhold intelligence as a consequence of this?
[05:20:04]
MEREZHKO: We cannot stop defending ourselves. We're just fighting for our survival. It's a matter of life and death for us. And we're defending ourselves because we're trying to stop Russian war machine, which is genocidal, which is killing us. And under the circumstances, to blackmail Ukraine by, for example, threatening to withhold intelligence information or Starlink or something like that, it's like siding with the perpetrator of genocide. It's absolutely morally wrong and unacceptable. I'm sure that it will not happen.
ABDELAZIZ: Oleksandr Merezhko there calling that deal that President Trump has been able to draw for Russian diesel, morally incomprehensible. You've been saying you hope that this ends peacefully, but that spat, again, escalating between President Zelenskyy and President Trump.
Thank you so much for your time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If the Republicans win, you will each have $5,000 in your pocket and economic success for our country like we have never seen before.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: That is President Donald Trump yet again promising every adult American $5,000 if Republicans win control of Congress in the midterm elections. He made that pledge at a rally in Tennessee on Saturday. CNN's Steve Contorno looks at what made this stop a little bit different for him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: The President Donald Trump appeared on Saturday in Clarksville, Tennessee, where he called the Iran war a detour, downplayed high gas prices, insisted polls showing that he is unpopular, are rigged, and repeated his promise, his controversial promise to give $5,000 to every American if Republicans hold the House and Senate this fall.
The question is why he decided to choose to deliver this message in Tennessee, a state that is not expected to be much of a factor in determining who controls Congress next year. But Trump said that he wanted to give Republicans here a chance to see him.
TRUMP: I don't actually have to be in Tennessee because Bill Hagerty is going to win. Marsha is going to win. You better win, Marsha. She took a little risk. She decided to leave the Senate, but she's great. She's going to win. These guys are all going to win. These congressmen are phenomenal.
So I'm saying, what the hell am I doing in Tennessee? And in a way, I'm here because you want to reward the places that have automatically treated you well.
But I said, you know, sometimes it's nice to go to a place where you don't have to be, but you're there to say thank you to the great people that elected you three separate times in record time. That's what I'm here for.
CONTORNO: Trump's stop in deeply red Tennessee continues a tour of Republican states that has also included Oklahoma and Alabama. GOP officials say that they expect the president to campaign in more competitive battleground states in the weeks ahead. Trump's message to voters here with just 24 days until the election was vote as though I am on the ballot, saying that if you don't vote and Republicans lose, they will blame me.
Steve Contorno, CNN, Clarksville, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: Earlier, I asked CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein why President Trump was campaigning in Tennessee. It's a state that won't have much impact on the midterms.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: If there is reasoning for it, it's that polls consistently show that Republicans are much less engaged in this midterm, much less likely to vote at this point than Democrats. And one thing that Trump has always been able to do is turn out the Republican base.
Now, his ability to do that is compromised by the fact that the decline in his approval to a much greater extent than in 2018 has spread into core Republican groups, including rural voters, whites without a four-year college degree, the cornerstone of his coalition, even evangelical whites and Republicans who identify more with the party than with MAGA.
So, I think that is what they are intending. That's the strategy. But the impediment for it is that, as I say, to a much greater degree than in the past, he's seeing cracks in his own foundation this time. ABDELAZIZ: You describe him as compromised in being able to bring out the Republican vote. And absolutely, the Republicans are facing an uphill battle with inflation. The gas prices is, as some candidates are doing, separating themselves from Trump enough to win, or does it carry more risks with the base than it's worth?
[05:25:01]
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. I mean, look, that's what they're all balancing. In the end, it's really hard to separate at this point, right?
I mean, you have someone like the Republican Senate candidate in our state of Iowa, Ashley Hinson, who is now calling for an end to the Iran war after she's voted for it basically half a dozen times. Or Mike Rogers, who's running in for the Republicans with the Michigan Senate seat, calling both for an end to the war, a military war on Iran and the economic war with Canada after cheerleading it, the one asset Republicans really have going for them in these final weeks.
Most indications are that they are facing a more serious, larger, more threatening wave than they did even in 2018. Voters are far more negative on the economy. Voters are far more negative on Trump than they were there.
But the one thing they have going for them is that the battlefield this year is being fought out almost entirely in places that voted for Trump in 2024, including some really red-leaning states. And, you know, whether we're talking about Alaska, Ohio, Iowa, Texas, much less Kansas, Nebraska, and South Carolina, even amid disappointment in Trump, there are a lot of voters there who are going to be hesitant about turning over Senate control to the Democrats. And if anything limits their losses this year, I think it'll be that dynamic more than the distancing from Trump.
ABDELAZIZ: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is focusing his attention this weekend on nearby Maine. He was out campaigning for the state's Democratic candidate for Senate, Troy Jackson, on Saturday. Jackson is taking on incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins in November's midterms.
Speaking to supporters in Maine's city of Van Gogh, Senator Sanders argued that electing Jackson would be the best way to hold President Trump to account.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Now, I know that there are people in Maine who like Susan Collins, that's fine. There are many people in Maine who may have a disagreement with Troy on this or that issue. That's fine. But if you want to hold Donald Trump and his disastrous policies accountable, the only way we do that is by electing a Democratic Senate. And this election here in Maine could mean all of the difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ABDELAZIZ: President Trump is once again escalating pressure against the White House press corps. The Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation into major U.S. television networks including "ABC," "FOX News," "NBC," and our network, "CNN." The probe comes after the networks jointly suspended their White House pool coverage after the Trump administration banned "CNN" and other news outlets from the White House.
Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, including a controversial plan to livestream the execution of a former U.S. military psychiatrist, sources tell CNN the plan is opening a legal and logistical can of worms.
And thousands detained in India's capital over youth-led anti- government demonstrations. Why those protesters are now targeting the country's top election official, right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:31:37]
ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.
Let's take a look at today's top stories: Yemen's Houthi militants struck an airport in Saudi Arabia's capital on Saturday. Killing at least 12 people and leaving hundreds wounded. It is the third strike on Riyadh's King Khaled International Airport this week alone. And is the deadliest attack against the kingdom in more than a decade. President Trump says he plans to speak with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. And is considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the eastern U.S. are still without power. As the remnants of Isaias move further inland. Isaias made landfall in Friday -- in Florida Friday as a Category two hurricane. Authorities say severe weather has killed at least four people across Florida and Alabama.
U.S. President Donald Trump campaigned for Republican candidates in Tennessee this weekend. President Trump addressed a crowd at a rally in Clarksville on Saturday. He urged supporters to vote as though he was on the ballot. And once again promised every adult American $5,000 if Republicans win in November.
Mr. Trump also has a new answer to questions about a planned live stream of a military execution. He's been making conflicting statements about whether he approves the plan announced by his defense secretary. Mr. Trump said Friday he's not involved in the decision at all. But on Saturday he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There are two thoughts. Don't show it and show it. Because, you know, by showing it, maybe other people won't be doing what he did. So, I'll make a decision ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but we'll make a decision. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: If the plan gets the go-ahead, it would likely be the first public execution in the United States since 1936. But as Haley Britzky reports, many questions about the potential live streaming are still unanswered.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALEY BRITZKY, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: People across the Army and the Pentagon were caught off-guard this week when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the execution of a man convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009 would be public.
Hegseth made the comments in an interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln this week, and sources said officials were scrambling behind the scenes to determine what public meant. One source said it was ultimately decided by Hegseth, acting Army Secretary Adam Tell, and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell that public would mean it was live- streamed.
The idea has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike. A former Trump administration official, Joe Kent, who was the director of the National Counterterrorism Center before resigning earlier this year, said it is, quote, beneath the dignity and decency of our nation.
And there are still questions as to how this live stream would work. One source said a military unit has already been chosen to carry out the execution, but there are concerns that a live stream would identify the soldiers who did so. There are also questions as to if soldiers can say no to participating in something that the military considers a legal order.
Sources also raised concerns about the psychological impacts this could have on soldiers and other personnel involved in the execution. One source stressed this is different than soldiers killing an enemy in combat.
Nidal Hasan is in a wheelchair after being paralyzed in the attack in 2009, and the source said he would be, quote, "immobile and put up like a target."
[05:35:08]
But there are also questions as to if the live stream will even happen despite Hegseth's wishes. President Donald Trump said Saturday that he knows what the military wants to do, but that ultimately he would make the decision.
Haley Britzky, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: Christa Pike was discharged from the hospital after surviving a botched execution in Tennessee. Her attorneys say she is now back in prison. Pike was hospitalized after surviving two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital on September 30. Death penalty experts say Pike is the first person to survive an execution attempt after two injections. It is not clear whether she still faces the death penalty.
A man in Erie, Pennsylvania, has shot and killed eight people in his home before taking his own life. Seven of those killed were his relatives. They include two children and a pregnant woman. Pennsylvania's governor, Josh Shapiro, offered his full support to Erie's mayor. Erie's county district attorney urged the public to refrain from speculation while the investigation continues.
Now, officials have confirmed investigators will speak to other relatives and examine the cell phones of two of those killed, but they say it's too soon to discuss the shooter's motive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK LORAH, ERIE POLICE CHIEF: Some scenes stay with you long after you leave them. This is one of those tragic scenes. I think that mental health is at play here, but I think it's too soon to really go into a motive at this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: Protesters hit the streets of New York to demonstrate against U.S. immigration and customs enforcement in the city. The crowd was protesting against the federal agents who shot and wounded a man in his car on Friday. 28-year-old Oscar Belgal is in ICE custody after suffering a superficial wound to the neck. His 5-year-old son was in the car at the time. The child was not physically harmed and is with family members. The man, who serves as the U.S. Border Czar, defended the agents involved in the shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: The men and women of ICE perform -- they perform exactly as they were trained. This man tried to run an officer over. He feared for his life, so he took action. And now this person's in custody. He'll be charged with a federal crime of assaulting a federal law enforcement officer. But many of these instances could be avoided if they simply give us access to the bad guy in the safety and security of a jail, rather than release him in the community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: The founder of India's youth-led cockroach party has been released from detention following a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations by New Delhi's police. More than 2,000 people were reportedly detained on Saturday as authorities deployed heavy security to curb planned demonstrations. CNN Correspondent Gage Goulding has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Those young protesters clashing with police in India's capital city of New Delhi. But the gentleman that called this protest, asking for tens of thousands of young people to come out and fill central Delhi, he was detained in New Delhi after his plane landed before the protest even started. This is Abhijeet Dipke, the leader of the Cockroach Janta Party.
Now, this protest is what he's calling season two of the Cockroach Party and their opposition to the government. This specific protest, though, they're focusing on the chairman of the election commission. They're alleging that millions of people have been stricken from voter rolls in India.
Now, the government says that they have been going through those rolls. They've been taking off people that have since died or there are duplicate entries or ineligible to vote.
However, it's the opposition parties, including mainstream parties, but that of the cockroach Janta Party, they're saying that they're removing eligible voters, trying to remove people that oppose the current government's ideologies, if you will, their thoughts there. And on Saturday, the government meeting those protesters, from what we understand, about 1,000 police and paramilitary members there in Central Delhi. The government turning off access to mobile Internet on Saturday, meaning that many of those protesters do not have access to communicate with one another or post videos of exactly what was happening.
But you can see in these videos that there's clashing between law enforcement and those protesters. People were detained. Again, the leader of the cockroach party was detained after his plane landed in New Delhi, along with other leaders of the party, including a YouTuber, a very popular YouTuber with more than 33 million viewers, Dhruv Rathee, was detained as well.
And this is, again, the second season of their protest, if you will, earlier this year. In July, they protest against the education minister, who ultimately resigned. The argument there was the allegation that the results of -- or the answers, excuse me, to exams were leaked and or sold.
[05:40:16]
And this whole cockroach party kind of started with a meme on social media, kind of an interesting name, but it was the leader, Dipke, that started this on social media, and then it really did take off.
Again, he called for tens of thousands of young people to fill central Delhi on Saturday. That did not happen, but there still were a number of people that turned out.
But you can see there, they clashed with law enforcement, a number of them there. That number isn't actually definitive, but we do know that many of them were detained.
Gage Goulding, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ABDELAZIZ: Serbia's student-led political movement is preparing for the upcoming snap elections on Saturday. It held a campaign rally in Nis. This is the country's third largest city.
President Aleksandar Vucic called the parliamentary and presidential elections back in June, following 18 months of protests against corruption. He said he would step down, but his party is running against the student-led movement and the pro-Western opposition. The election is set for October 25th.
Fears are growing about potential copycat attacks by young people in Poland. That's after police said three people were injured in a stabbing at a university in Warsaw on Saturday. The victims were expected to be OK, but the attack came after two recent stabbing incidents by teenagers in just as many days.
On Friday, thousands of police officers went to schools across Poland to reassure students that they are safe. Officials say the perpetrator of the latest attack was a 21-year-old college student.
Coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM, frustration with expensive groceries, soaring gasoline prices in the war with Iran is seeping into MAGA country. What shoppers at a Donald Trump merch store have to say about the president when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:16]
ABDELAZIZ: President Trump's approval ratings are at an all-time low. And with the midterm elections just a few weeks away now, Republicans are on edge. It's not just the polls that have them worried. There are also troubling signs on the campaign trail. CNN's Elle Reeve returned to a MAGA-themed shop in rural Virginia, and sales are taking a big hit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITEY TAYLOR, OWNER, TRUMP TOWN USA: Come here. Let me show you the hottest two items that we have in the store.
And the Wokeness ice cube maker when it comes --
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's Trump's face?
TAYLOR: Yes.
REEVE: It's Trump's ice face?
TAYLOR: Yes.
REEVE: OK, that is kind of cool.
TAYLOR: The liberals, they bought -- I designed this glass myself.
Says, "I took a shot for you, now take one for me." REEVE (voice-over): Things aren't like they used to be at Whitey Taylor's Trump Town USA.
TAYLOR: It's not selling like it was.
REEVE: At the peak, how much were you selling a day?
TAYLOR: We had a lot of $12,000 days, maybe a $15,000 day occasionally but yes.
REEVE: And now what is it?
TAYLOR: Well, $1,500, $2,000, sometimes hit $3,000.
REEVE: It's a really big falloff.
TAYLOR: Well, it is. It is.
REEVE (voice-over): When we first visited Taylor's store in December 2023, sales were better and they gave us a sense of the energy around Trump before he won the Republican nomination to be president again. Taylor took issue with our report.
TAYLOR: You said the place was almost vulgar. That was your conclusion.
REEVE: Well, there are --
TAYLOR: Oh, gosh.
REEVE: Let's go look at them. Let's go look at them. Let's go look at the Trump balls.
TAYLOR: I'm still selling a lot of them because of you. Yes.
REEVE (voice-over): Taylor disputes the idea sales are down because Trump supporters are mad at the president and says sales will pick back up once he leaves office.
TAYLOR: They'll come here by the droves and say, what do you got, man? I know you're still there. So we'll be here waiting on it.
REEVE (voice-over): But his customers say they see public opinion turning.
STEVIE LOVELL, TRUMP TOWN USA CUSTOMER: I've seen a lot of Trump supporters just say, heck with him, put his sticker upside down or not fly his flag or put a red zero on it. You know, I've seen a few of those. Very few people still support Trump.
REEVE (voice-over): Stevie Lovell says he still backs Trump and he'll vote straight ticket Republican in the midterms. But he has a lot of criticism.
LOVELL: I'm not a supporter of the war in Iran. And just like later on, we found out information about the war in Iraq. We found out that we shouldn't have been there. This thing that's going on in Gaza is horrible. I think it's more horrible than what's going on in Iran personally.
REEVE: What do you think about the ICE raids and arrests and stuff?
LOVELL: The ICE raids?
If you give people absolute power, they abuse it. I listened to a report that was very, very reliable. It showed where Trump had made more money in the office in his position than any other President.
REEVE: Yes, that is true.
LOVELL: Yes, it bothered me a little bit. But I still like him. Profit isn't a dirty word but it kind of does bother me a little bit that he's in office and he's gaining a lot.
REEVE (voice-over): Two-thirds of Americans say Trump has made the economy worse. And majorities say the Iran war and tariffs have hurt them financially, according to a September CNN poll. The president is at his lowest approval rating ever.
BARBARA KEITH, TRUMP TOWN USA CUSTOMER: What I don't understand is how can we make agreements with, like, Venezuela and yet the gas prices are still up? What's going on there?
REEVE: What do you think about that?
KEITH: Well, I don't think it's Trump's fault.
REEVE: OK.
KEITH: You know, everybody blames Trump for everything. It's a whole bunch of people.
REEVE: Do you think, though, that the war is making gas prices worse?
KEITH: Well, that's what they blame it on. But explain it to me when you still have oil but yet you already raised the prices but you're still using the oil that you had. They do it all the time. That's why I don't think grocery prices are going to go down, because they saw that we could afford it, so they're going to keep them high.
JAMIE VARELA, TRUMP TOWN USA CUSTOMER: My son's 17, my daughter's 14. My grocery bill is anywhere between $800 to $1,000 a month. When you're going to the store and you're paying $5 for a pineapple --
REEVE: Yes.
VALERA: -- then you've got to choose fruit or gas, like, it's really, really hard.
REEVE: Do you think any of the responsibility for those high prices falls on Trump?
VALERA: Yes, because of the war. REEVE: Are you going to vote in the elections coming up?
VALERA: Yes.
REEVE: Who do you plan on voting for?
VALERA: I'm not sure yet, to be honest.
REEVE: What are you weighing?
VALERA: Well, to be honest, I need someone who's going to continue on with closed borders.
REEVE (voice-over): A couple customers brought up that they felt like people weren't as nice to each other anymore and that people need to come together and not be so mean about political differences.
VALERA: Doesn't matter what you believe in, what religion or if you think the color purple is better than the color pink. Like, all that matters is that they bleed, we bleed, we're human. If you don't agree with someone's opinion, that's fine. That's what our forefathers fought for, is that everyone could have their own opinion.
REEVE: Wait, wait, wait, wait. You're saying you want people to be nicer to people. But look at the thing that you're buying.
VALERA: Oh, I do believe she should go fuck off. No, I can say she should kindly go fuck off but I don't think that she should be around at all.
REEVE: I know. But you see what I'm saying, that there's a little bit of, one might say, a contradiction.
[05:50:00]
VALERA: OK. Wait, wait, what if I said, please tell her to go fuck off, take a hike. Or I could say, (bleep).
REEVE: Right. Sure.
VALERA: That's what I'm talking about. The way you say things versus how you say things can be completely taken different.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm freezing my balls off.
TAYLOR: The balls, he's freezing his balls off.
Shut up, Trump. We've had enough of you today.
REEVE (voice-over): Taylor says Trump's made him millions of dollars.
TAYLOR: People ask me all the time, say, oh, so when are you going to close?
You know, I said 2040.
They said 2040, why?
I said, well, it gives all the Trump kids time to run through the office first.
REEVE (voice-over): Elle Reeve, CNN, Boones Mill, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: We want to bring you a breaking news update to a story from just a few moments ago regarding Ukraine's campaign to target Russian oil refineries. Now, President Trump is blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for helping to drive up diesel prices. He's gone so far as to say Ukraine needs a new leader.
Mr. Zelenskyy now says Ukraine is ready to stop those attacks on Russian refineries if Russia stops attacking his country's own energy infrastructure. The past few months have been brutal for Ukrainian civilians as Russia has taken advantage of Kyiv's crucial shortages of air defense missiles. Ukrainian cities have endured near nonstop aerial attacks. No response yet from the Kremlin on Mr. Zelenskyy's proposal.
More CNN Newsroom is just ahead right after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:55:31]
ABDELAZIZ: Let's dive into some of the latest U.S. college football highlights. Rough weather brought on by Hurricane Isaias did not stop two SEC titans from going head-to-head in Alabama on Saturday. The lead traded several times between Bama's No. 6-ranked Crimson Tide and the No. 2-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. But the Bulldogs secured a fourth- quarter field goal and managed to run out the clock, narrowly beating Alabama 20-17.
Meanwhile, the showdown between Kentucky and Louisiana State went down to the wire. Despite LSU marching down the field, to score first in overtime, Kentucky clapped right back with a touchdown of their own.
Then, quarterback Kennith Minchey put the team on his back, sprinting untouched for a two-point conversion that pushed Kentucky to a narrow 35-34 win.
And in Pennsylvania, the No. 19-ranked University of South Carolina silenced Penn State's home crowd. The Nittany Lions always remained in striking distance, but this 10-yard dagger was quarterback Jayden Maiava's third touchdown on the night. It ended up sealing the win for USC 31-23.
Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. For our viewers in North America, "CNN This Morning" is next. For the rest of the world, it will be "Marketplace Asia."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
