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Trump Makes Midterm Campaign Blitz To Kentucky; Trump Waives Russia-Related Sanctions Before They Begin; Two Killed, Others Hurt After Vehicle Drives Onto Field; Jon Ossoff, Keisha Lance Bottoms Rally In Georgia; Pope Leo Discharged From Hospital After Lung Cancer Surgery; New Cook Ratings: 11 House Races Shift Toward Democrats; Six Flags Over Georgia Reopens After Roller Coaster Death; Violent Protests Spread Across France. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 17, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:01:16]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.
We are 17 days out until election day. President Donald Trump out on the campaign trail this Saturday, stumping for Republicans across the country. Earlier today, he was in Kentucky. There he rallied for Republican Congressman Andy Barr and congressional nominee Ed Gallrein. Barr is running to replace retiring Senator Mitch McConnell, while Gallrein beat out Trump's longtime political rival, Congressman Thomas Massie, in the primary election.
Meanwhile, a number of top surrogates are out campaigning for Democrats this weekend, including California's Governor Gavin Newsom, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. This weekend's midterm push comes with early voting well underway in many states and more than eight million votes having already been cast.
Across the country dozens of so-called "No Kings" rallies are taking place. Organizers say their focus is getting people to vote and to oppose any voter suppression efforts.
Joining us now, CNN correspondent Julia Benbrook.
Julia, you are joining us now from West Palm Beach, Florida. What's President Trump telling voters in these final days before election day?
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, President Donald Trump, he had promised to really hit the campaign trail hard over this last month. And he has done just that. He kicked things off with rallies in Oklahoma and in Alabama, and continued that theme of visiting some Republican strongholds today as he stopped in Kentucky.
And there were two primary candidates that he was stumping for there. You had Andy Barr, a current congressman who is looking to fill the seat of retiring Senator Mitch McConnell. And then on the House side, Ed Gallrein, who has already defeated one of Trump's political foes, Thomas Massie.
An RNC official tells me that this stop, like many others that Trump has done this month, are focused on Republican turnout. They want to make sure that members of the president's party get out to the polls. Trump repeated that message today, but he also said that he doesn't have to do this, essentially, that he's doing this out of the kindness of his own heart. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't need to do this. I could sit home. I already won. Somebody said, good luck with the election. I said, no, I already won. I don't need to do this, but I have to because if they win the midterms, all of a sudden you're going to see a slide and all of the crap that we talk about, the incompetent stuff that we talk about is going to come back and we're going to go through the same process. And I don't think our country can handle it again. I really don't. So that's why I'm here working my ass off for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BENBROOK: And so of course, right now, Republicans do have control of the White House, the Senate and the House. Any change in that dynamic would have a big impact on Trump's last two years in office. Now we expect him out on the trail in the coming days as well, with visits in Kansas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa. And then he's going to end it back here in the state of Florida.
DEAN: All right. And Julia, also Trump signing an executive order last night. This was focused on sanctions. He waived sanctions on Russia, Russian fossil fuel sales. What was that about? What's been the reaction to him doing that?
BENBROOK: Right. So President Donald Trump is waiving sanctions that were set to go into effect in just a matter of days due to a bill that he had signed. Now, this is focusing in Ukraine is already pushing back. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is already pushing back.
I want to read part of this statement as he touches on some recent actions by Russia as this takes place.
[19:05:04]
He said, in part, "At a time when the Russians have carried out such a massive attack on our energy sector, a decision was made in America to completely disregard the Lindsey Graham Act, which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end."
The measures were included in what is referred to as the Graham Act, named after the late Senator Lindsey Graham, of course one of President Trump's allies and also a Russia hawk. Now, Trump's recent push here, this waiver, he says that it is in the national interest of the United States. But he did not go into detail as to why. This is receiving a growing amount of criticism from U.S. lawmakers as
well. One Republican lawmaker saying that this is prolonging the war, not ending it. Another calling the move beyond irresponsible.
DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook, in West Palm Beach, thank you so much for your reporting.
We are joined now by former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. He also served as national security adviser during President Trump's first term.
Ambassador Bolton, thank you for your time tonight. I appreciate it. The executive order states that waiving these sanctions is in the U.S. national interest. It does not specify anything beyond that, does not specify why it's in the national interest of the country. What do you think is going on here?
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I think, I think waiving these sanctions is directly contrary to our national interest. But I think Trump is rewarding the Russians for having signed this deal for us to purchase diesel fuel in Trump's effort to say he's reducing fuel prices for consumers in this country. The diesel deal will not have that effect. I don't know anybody other than Trump who believes it will.
And this act of this -- really it's a present to Vladimir Putin, undercuts the continuing force of our sanctions and everybody else's sanctions against Russia to try and prevent it from accumulating resources to continue to wage the war. It's inexplicable, and it contravenes American national security interests because it's very much to our advantage to have Russia lose this war, to prove that aggression in Europe, where we have a real significant interest in peace and stability, won't succeed.
Waiving these sanctions tells Putin he's got a friend in the White House.
DEAN: And how beneficial is this to Russia at this point in the war?
BOLTON: Well, Lindsey Graham's bill was intended to add force to the existing sanctions, including by imposing penalties on people who buy Russian oil, whose earlier sanctions have prohibited from being sold. The same kind of logic applies to Iran, where we've got sanctions in place there, too. When you alleviate these sanctions, when you waive them, when you allow Russia or Iran to sell their oil, you're allowing them to get paid for it with money and other resources that can be used in the war in Ukraine or in the war in the Middle East.
We're trying to squeeze the Russian government through sanctions. This opens another big loophole that will advantage the Kremlin, disadvantage Ukraine, and therefore disadvantage the United States.
DEAN: Yes. And I mean, I think this is pretty obvious, but you can drill down on this, the signal that it sends to Ukraine at a time when the president is pressuring Zelenskyy to stop striking Russian oil refineries. But we know that Russia continues to strike Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
BOLTON: Right. Well, Trump is criticizing Zelenskyy because he's saying when you strike at Russian oil refineries, you're raising the price of oil around the world and to American consumers. That's essentially completely untrue. Russian oil has already been sanctioned. What we're trying to do is make the sanctions even more effective. The consequences for the price to consumers in America of Ukrainian attacks in Russia or buying this diesel that the Trump has agreed to do really have a minimal effect, almost imperceptible on consumer prices.
The real question Americans should ask is why it's in our interest that Russia be defeated here. And the answer is that peace and stability in Europe are in our interest. And keeping this kind of aggression to a minimum to make sure that Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and others understand we're not going to tolerate it when our friends and adversaries are attacked, deters the Russians and others from doing it in other places they might otherwise consider vulnerable.
We're not doing this for Ukraine as an act of charity or because we're nice people, although we are. We're doing it because it affects us directly and we want to stop this Russian aggression.
DEAN: Trump just signed this bill into law last month. It was 86 to 11 vote in the Senate. It is rare, anything gets 86 votes in the Senate.
[19:10:07]
Additionally, several lawmakers in Congress have already said that this diesel deal that Trump announced with Russia last week is not legal because of the sanction bill and another law that was passed back in 2022. Do you get the sense that the president either doesn't care about what is written down as law, or that he's out of step with the Republicans on Capitol Hill?
BOLTON: Well, I think he's very much out of step with Republicans on Capitol Hill. But people should understand almost every bill that Congress passes that tries to affect foreign policy contains a provision that says if the president determines it's in the national interest of the United States, he may waive the provisions of the bill. That happens in almost every single foreign affairs bill that Congress adopts.
Now, you can like that or not like it, but the fact is, the president has that authority and he's chosen to use it here. It's a mistake, though.
DEAN: Yes. All right. Ambassador John Bolton, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.
BOLTON: Thanks for having me.
DEAN: Any minute now, Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff set to take the stage in a rally in the battleground state of Georgia. We will take you there live. Plus, police clash with activists in fiery protests across France, as half a million people take to the streets. We're going to take you to Paris for more on what's driving those demonstrations.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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[19:16:09]
DEAN: New tonight, two people are dead, several more injured after a vehicle drove onto a field during a youth soccer game. It happened this afternoon in Wichita, Kansas.
And CNN's Mark Morales joins us now with more.
I know there are scant details, Mark, but what do you know?
MARK MORALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, these are just heartbreaking details. You had one child and one adult that were killed on this field, and several other people are hurt. They all went to local area hospitals for treatment. And now it's the job of investigators to figure out just how this happened from -- and from the very beginning it's figuring out how this truck was able to get through any sort of barriers to get onto that soccer field to begin with.
Now the driver is in custody. The driver also in that car, there were two juveniles. We don't -- we don't yet know why this driver decided to drive in that location and drive over that soccer field. This is something investigators are starting to go through at the moment. Now they are asking for anybody that was at the field, any parents or anybody that was there to send them any video recordings from the soccer field.
This is something that law enforcement routinely does in these scenarios, where they just try to collect as much digital evidence as they possibly can to sort of piece together not only where the truck was going, but where it was coming from. And this is all, again, very early in the investigation. We're expecting a briefing later on tonight from law enforcement where they can give us, hopefully, a few more details about the driver and the incident.
But again, we've got one child -- one child and one adult have been killed in this whole scenario -- Jessica.
DEAN: All right. Mark Morales with the very latest. Thank you for that reporting.
More than 100 college students in North Carolina marched to the polls after early voting sites were moved from two Greensboro campuses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROTESTERS: We're live. We're here to make our voices clear. We're live. We're here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Students from UNC Greensboro and two HBCUs, North Carolina A&T and Bennett College made the roughly 45-minute march to vote. Earlier this year, the state board of elections approved a plan removing early voting sites at UNC Greensboro and North Carolina A&T. Sites at Elon and Western Carolina Universities were also cut. The board said those locations weren't used enough according to CNN affiliate WXII.
Democrats pitching voters in the final weeks before election day as they look to flip control of Congress. And tonight in Georgia, Senator Jon Ossoff rallying with his fellow Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is running for governor.
CNN national correspondent Rafael Romo is joining us now with the latest from Georgia.
Rafael, obviously, we are in the waning days of this campaign season. What are you hearing?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. Well, the Jon Ossoff rally started promptly about a little under 20 minutes ago, with a total of six speakers, including the Georgia senator himself, of course, delivering the main speech at the very end of the program. Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, who's running for Georgia governor as a Democrat, is speaking right now. And the senator will be next.
Other speakers included former Georgia State Senator Jason Carter, the late President Jimmy Carter's grandson. Ossoff's campaign, Jessica, is feeling very confident right now. The senator has raised $33.1 million in the third quarter. Also, he's getting support from some Republicans, including Jeff Flake, the former Arizona senator.
Georgia's race for the U.S. Senate is so contested, the president, Donald Trump, made a stop here on Friday in support for Mike Collins, the Republican Senate candidate who's waging an uphill battle to unseat Ossoff in a state that Trump narrowly carried in 2024 after losing it in 2020, also narrowly. The president's message focused on style over substance. Let's take a listen.
[19:20:07]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The people of Georgia are going to defeat your weak, arrogant, hate filled, radical left senator who is really -- I call him Pee Wee Herman. Pee Wee Herman. He looks like Pee Wee. His name is Jon Ossoff. Highly overrated. Somebody said he's a good looking man. I don't think he's a good looking man. I actually think Mike Collins is a good looking man. And he's all man. He's all man. I'm not sure about Ossoff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Senator Ossoff scheduled to speak here at this podium in a matter of minutes, Jessica. The other race generating attention is the one for the governor's office, where former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, speaking right now, who's running against businessman Rick Jackson, a Republican.
Vice President J.D. Vance was also here in Georgia on Wednesday campaigning for Republican candidates during a stop at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. President Trump is expected to return to Georgia later this month for a rally in the city of Macon.
So when we hear from Ossoff here, you can bet your bottom dollar, Jessica, he will for sure reply to the criticism from the president yesterday. Now back to you.
DEAN: Thank you, Rafael Romo, in Georgia. We appreciate it.
Still ahead here, fires in the streets of Paris as massive demonstrations between students and activists turn violent across France.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:26:00]
DEAN: Pope Leo is out of the hospital just four days after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous growth from his lung. The 71-year-old was discharged after doctors reviewed his x-rays and blood tests. It was just last Sunday when Pope Leo announced he would need that surgery.
CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb joins us with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pope Leo looking well as he left the Gemelli Hospital, discharged after doctors said that he could leave hospital following that lung surgery and cancer diagnosis. The Pope greeting well-wishers, waving at the crowd that had gathered to see him and greeting a young Ukrainian girl who had herself been treated for cancer in Italy.
Pope Leo trying to get back to work as soon as he can. He is in the Vatican and due to make his first public appearance on Sunday leading the Angelus in St. Peter's Square. Now, the big question that people are asking in the Vatican is will Pope Leo make this long and strenuous trip to Latin America scheduled from November 6th to the 17th? All the signs are, though, that the Vatican is saying we are going. And this is what the surgeon who treated Pope Leo had to say.
DR. STEFANO MARGARITORA, LEAD SURGEON (through translator): Since almost a week has already passed I believe that in another 10 days or so the Pope could be fully recovered. As for a long trip involving air travel in about three weeks, I would say there are no clinical reasons why such a trip should not go ahead. LAMB: So Pope Leo essentially cleared for travel by his surgeon. He
does really want to make this trip because it would mean a kind of homecoming to Peru, a country he served for many years as a missionary and a bishop. But for now, Pope Leo, back in the Vatican, taking up his duties again after that, lung cancer surgery.
Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: Thank you. Christopher.
Still to come here, nearly a dozen House races shift toward Democrats, including in districts President Trump won by double digits in 2024. We break it down next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:42]
DEAN: President Trump campaigning today in Kentucky as analysts say the voting map is looking increasingly worrisome for Republicans. A new update from the Cook Political Report shifts 11 additional House races toward Democrats, including districts the President won by double digits in 2024.
And earlier, I spoke with the Cook Political Report founder, Charlie Cook about what this could mean.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLIE COOK, FOUNDER, COOK POLITICAL REPORTER: What we are seeing is Republicans are struggling in places that they shouldn't have to be struggling, and if you think about whether it is high gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, fertilizer prices because of the Iran War, whether you're talking about tariffs that hit farmers particularly badly that Red America has actually been hit more, hurt more than a lot of blue, more Democratic areas or purple swing areas.
And so where we are seeing Republicans ratings in both Senate and House races is where it is disproportionately rural small towns, smaller cities. It is not where Republicans normally have to worry about. But they've sort of borne the brunt of this and that's why Republicans are so worried about their turnout, that their own people just may not show up, which to is a certain -- it is typical a little bit to midterm elections, but this looks like it is a bigger problem than it normally is for a President's party.
DEAN: And there is kind of piggybacking on that, another trend that has been noted in some of the recent analysis on the Cook Report is that seats that voted or congressional districts that voted for Barack Obama, but then swung back toward Republicans in this Trump era are starting to look much more competitive than they have been in recent years, and I think a lot of those would probably fall into the bucket that you're talking about as well.
But tell us about that because I know that's happening here in kind of Upstate New York as well.
COOK: Well, you had some minority, some Hispanic, African American, young African American men, you had certain groups that normally are pretty Democratic but in 2024, they moved away from Democrats and I think it was because they got hit so hard by inflation and interest rates, that sort of thing and so they kind of swung over more towards Republicans.
[19:35:10]
And I think this time we are going to see them sort of kind of revert back to the main, come back over, back towards Democrats. We are seeing that in sort of congressional races in South Texas and, you know, a lot of places around where groups that Republicans thought they had been making some inroads may be slipping going back to where they were prior to 2024.
DEAN: And as somebody who has covered politics for a long time and done a lot of analysis of American voters, I am curious what happened -- what we are seeing is a trend now is we are swinging so far back and forth, back and forth especially in the executive branch, but even in Congress as well, obviously, you have a lot of districts, far fewer districts, let's say, that are true purple, that really could be a swing district. What does that mean for our politics? And how does that impact what we are seeing right now?
COOK: Well, I think your point about swinging is absolutely right. I mean, this is the first time in American history that we have now had five consecutive new presidents come into office, take the Oath of Office with majorities in both the Senate and the House and when they left office, their party had not only lost the presidency, but lost their majorities in both the House and Senate.
So starting with, you know, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, so that a party gets in, they overreach, they try to do too much or too many things too fast and get thrown out and then the other party comes in and they do the same thing.
The other statistic is that, you know that in the 13 elections that we've had this century, starting in 2000, in 11 out of 13, control of either the House, the Senate or the presidency has flipped from Democrat to Republican or Republican to Democrat, 11 out of 13. That's -- we've never seen this before.
So your point on swinging is absolutely right.
DEAN: Yes, and it is also interesting to then see what that means when these parties govern and then how it is kind of a rinse and repeat. So we will see what that means moving forward. But yes, go ahead. Did you have a last point?
COOK: Yes, yes. The voters -- in midterm elections, voters punish whoever has disappointed or betrayed them most recently, and which oftentimes means they are turning against the party that they just voted for two years earlier, and that is the norm and that is what seems to be really, really, really happening here is that they were mad at Joe Biden in the Biden-Harris administration, two years ago. Well, you know, now they're mad at President Trump and his party is going to pay a price, too.
DEAN: All right, Charlie Cook, great to have you. Thanks so much for your time.
Still to come, a new CNN investigation reveals six flags has previously faced accusations that it failed to properly maintain its parks and rides.
A closer look at what was found, that's next.
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[19:42:57]
DEAN: Six flags Over Georgia has reopened after a roller coaster incident left a man dead. The 42-year-old died from falling from the park's signature Goliath roller coaster Monday. His family and community still reeling as many questions remain unanswered. Four minors were also injured.
And the park reopened Friday for its annual Fright Fest Events, but the Goliath remains closed. One mother says the tragedy, while very sad to her, did not impact her decision to return.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCHELLE, SIX FLAGS PARKGOER: We -- just Fright Night, I mean, I am -- honest to God, if the Goliath was open tonight, I would ride that Goliath.
REPORTER: Okay. Really? Okay.
ROCHELLE: Yes.
REPORTER: So you're not afraid of going back on the Goliath?
ROCHELLE: No. I am a daredevil. I am not scared. If it was meant to be, its meant to be. But I don't teach my kids to be scared of anything if it is something they like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: And new CNN investigation reveals Six Flags has faced accusations it failed to properly maintain its parks and rides.
CNN's Kyung Lah takes us through what was found in an analysis of public records and court filings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Long before Monday's fatal accident on a roller coaster in Georgia, Six Flags faced accusations of failing to maintain its aging thrill rides. Six Flags this week said, "We are committed to rigorous ride
inspection, maintenance and safety procedures that meet or exceed industry standards." But CNN's review of court documents and safety records from three different states reveal reports of maintenance issues, mechanical problems and injuries.
In California alone, nearly 300 accident reports have been filed, ranging from broken bones to dislocations to back and neck injuries over the past five years at Six Flags' parks. These records do not show details of the injuries, including whether they were proven to be caused by the rides.
It was also in California, where Six Flags' X2 roller coaster was permanently shut down last month, after a CNN investigation revealed a series of deaths and injuries suffered by X2 riders. Two women were injured the same week. Both were rushed into emergency brain surgery. One remains in a coma; the other is still struggling to recover.
[19:45:10]
PAMELA GUILLEN, INJURED ROLLER COASTER RIDER: I won't be a hundred percent back to how I was.
LAH (on camera): Ever!
GUILLEN: Because it's brain damage.
LAH (voice over): Hundreds of people came forward after CNN's report claiming they, too, suffered head trauma from X2.
Records from New Jersey show other injury claims. For example, at the El Toro Roller Coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure, more than a dozen riders reported injuries. A month later, the state deemed the ride structurally compromised. Six Flags said the ride would be inspected before reopening.
And in Texas, state records show injury reports involving water parks, such as riders thrown from inner tubes resulting in head injuries. That state is also where 52-year-old Rosa Esparza died after she was ejected from a Six Flags roller coaster in 2013.
CARMEN BROWN, WITNESSED ROLLER COASTER FATALITY: She goes up like this and then when it drops to come down, that's when it released and she just tumbled.
LAH (voice over): At the time, Six Flags said their investigation found that no mechanical failure had occurred, but it added additional restraints for riders before reopening the ride.
This week, after the fatality at the Goliath in Georgia, Six Flags closed the ride plus nine other similar coasters at its parks across the country out of an abundance of caution. One issue experts point to, uneven oversight.
BRIAN AVERY, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: Unfortunately, across the board, we don't have a lot of uniformity. We have not federally adopted our mandated standards in all spaces. It's a state-by-state. Most large park operators are responsible for their own safety and self-regulation.
LAH (voice over): Separately, an investor's civil lawsuit last year alleged Six Flags neglected to invest in basic park maintenance, infrastructure repairs, and ride design and development updates. Six Flags has not yet responded in court.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: Kyung, thank you so much for that. We'll be right back.
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[19:51:47]
DEAN: New tonight, protests turned violent across France.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
DEAN: Police deployed teargas in several cities as they clashed with protesters. The French Interior Minister saying over half a million people have now joined those demonstrations. The protests started a month ago, with students speaking out against poor school conditions.
CNN's Melissa Bell is there in Paris with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been a day of violent protests across France and even here after nightfall, the police are still struggling to get protesters off the street. Fires have been lit. The firemen just trying to put those out.
And here, really, you can see the remnants of what went on through the course of the day here around Republique, where protesters, even before the march was due to begin, had been taking on the police. The police had thrown a lot of teargas. It was really thick. The air was thick with that earlier and still is even at this late hour and fought throughout the course of the day across France.
But here in Paris, too, you've had this back and forth between the police and the protesters. It has really left a lot of damage to the streets of many of France's cities. You can see some of that here, very violent scuffles at times, because what we saw today was the protests go way beyond the demands of the students and even the public sector workers here in France.
And protests that ballooned to include yellow vests from those protests of a few years ago about the high cost of living.
LOLA, STUDENT: High schoolers get a like violent and hurt everywhere, all over the country because they just try to protest and ask for, like, more teachers and decent conditions to learn in. LUCE, STUDENT: It is clearly a good sign because it shows that a lot
of support come from like a wide multitude of the population. So not only students, but also people of everyday life who have job.
DANA, PUBLICITY INDUSTRY WORKER (through translator): They want better life or a little cheaper and that's what we want to. That's why we are drawing together and everyone is here with the students, the farmers, and everyone who wants a decent life in France in the future.
BELL (on camera): So a lot of different grievances and many different kinds of people out on the streets of France today to make their anger known.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: Melissa, thank you.
Right now, back here in the U.S., Senator John Ossoff holding a joint rally with fellow Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, the state already seeing record breaking numbers at the polls with more than 188,000 people already casting their ballots on the first day of early voting.
Senator Ossoff is facing Republican Mike Collins, while Bottoms, who is running for governor, is in a competitive contest against GOP challenger, Rick Jackson.
Tonight on "The Whole Story" with Anderson Cooper, senior correspondent, Donie O'Sullivan examines the cracks emerging in the MAGA movement as some of President Trump's most loyal supporters have started questioning their allegiance from the war in Iran to data centers to the Epstein Files, Donie O'Sullivan crisscrossed the country to find out what's driving some Trump diehards to break it off, and what it might mean for the future of the Republican Party. Here is a preview.
(19:55:10)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a Saturday afternoon here in Maysville, Kentucky, a traveling anti-A.I. data center group made-up of Tea Party activists pulled into town.
BROOKE MCGOWAN, HUMANS FIRST ACTIVIST: We are responding to this huge data center overreach, what looks like an invasion across our country -- this explosion.
O'SULLIVAN (voice over): They're here because an A.I. company believed to be Meta is hoping to build a massive data center. Meta has not confirmed this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not all progress is good, all right? O'SULLIVAN (on camera): President Trump recently -- I think he said,
you know, communities that don't want A.I. centers want to stay backward or something like that.
MCGOWAN: I did. I did hear that.
O'SULLIVAN: When you hear that, how did you feel?
MCGOWAN: I said, well, I guess I'm going to be backwards and poor. But I also want to reiterate that not everything the President does do I agree with, but not everything my husband does do I agree with.
MAX MORAN, MASON COUNTY RESIDENT: I'm Republican, but due to his stance, I feel he's going to cost the Republicans the House and the Senate. Maybe not by big margins. It might be very slim margins, but he needs to reverse his stance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: All right, Donie joins us now. Hello, Donie!
O'SULLIVAN: Hi, Jess.
DEAN: We just heard that voter -- hello -- did that voter say Trump's stance data centers could cost Republicans control of Congress? Did you hear that same level of concern from the other voters you were talking to?
O'SULLIVAN: Yes, it has been really notable over this past year. You know, I think the second term presidency really, really putting to the test the loyalty of the MAGA base. And look, I think, you know, we shouldn't overstate this and people will see in the documentary, there is plenty of very hard-core Trump supporters that remain totally loyal to him. And that despite the war in Iran and despite the economy or the cost of gas, reasons some folks told me back in 2024, they voted for him, you know, I went back and visited some of these Trump loyalists and they are still convinced that the world is -- America is a better place under President Trump than it would be Biden-Harris.
But that being said, as you heard there, some frustrations in Kentucky about the building of these A.I. data centers, also we are hearing about the cost of gas, about the war in Iran and about the Epstein files.
It has been interesting actually that quite a few people have been unhappy with his presidency, but you know, it is not as if, they are going to go vote Democrat necessarily.
DEAN: Yes, and so to that end, are these just pockets of frustration do you think you're seeing or is this a bigger shift within the MAGA movement?
O'SULLIVAN: Yes, I mean, I think it is going to be a real challenge going into 2028, especially when it comes to enthusiasm for J.D. Vance. I do want to play just another short clip for you, Jess, from the
documentary. This is a woman named Trisha Hope. She is a voter in Texas. She was a Trump super fan, voted for him 10 times, and was one of what was called the Front Row Joes. She went to, I think, 42 Trump rallies. She broke with Trump last year when just in one day when he said -- when he was asked about the Epstein files and he said to a reporter, "Are we still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? People need to move on from that."
That was her breaking moments. and we actually -- we interviewed her as it happened at an Epstein -- there was an event for Epstein survivors in Dallas when we interviewed her, and this is Trisha meeting an Epstein survivor, Dani Bensky. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'SULLIVAN: Trisha, this is Dani.
DANL BENSKY, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Hi, nice to meet you.
TRISHA HOPE, FRONT ROW JOES: It's very nice to meet you.
O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Dani was a 17-year-old aspiring ballerina in New York City when she was sent to Jeffrey Epstein's townhouse as a masseuse. More than a year of sexual abuse followed. She's become an advocate for justice, even testifying before Congress.
BENSKY: Thank you so much for coming and being a part of this and taking the time to support. I'd love to hear --
HOPE: I'm so sorry. I'm just so sorry.
BENSKY: Can I hug you?
HOPE: So, sorry. I can't imagine. People care. A lot of people who care. They may just be learning, but they care.
BENSKY: Thank you for saying that.
HOPE: It's true.
BENSKY: It means a lot.
HOPE: I was a Trump supporter for a long time, and, you know, I mean, a really hardcore Trump supporter, 42 rallies, and I am so sorry for any pain.
BENSKY: I'm so grateful that you took in that moment and were able to really see it for what it is.
HOPE: I am too. I am sorry we didn't see you.
BENSKY: Thank you.
HOPE: And I won't make that mistake again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: It's really powerful stuff. Donie O'Sullivan, thank you much for that.
And stay with CNN. "The Whole Story" MAGA Ever After starts right now with Donnie.
We will see you right back here tomorrow.
[20:00:17]
