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Trump Approval Rating At Or Near Career Low Ahead Of Midterms; Interview With Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY); France Faces Major Cleanup After Violent Protests; 2 Dead, Multiple Injured After Mom Drives Onto Youth Soccer Field; New Polls Show Democrats Leading Among Voters Nationally; Interview With Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE); Sailor Deployed To USS Lincoln Reunites With Deported Dad. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 18, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:02:03]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And tonight, President Donald Trump gearing up for another busy week of campaigning as election day gets closer. Trump is expected to make stops across the country this week. New polling out today signaling some troubling signs for Republicans as they look to defend control of Congress.

CNN average recent polls that asked voters which party's congressional candidate they would support in their district, and Democrats lead Republicans on that question by nine points. This as the president's approval rating also hovers near a career low.

CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak is joining us now.

And, Kevin, Republicans out there have to face these headwinds. In the meantime, what is the message we're hearing from the president?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And the message that he's been delivering is he's kind of crisscrossed the country has been pretty similar. It has been about himself. You know, he's casting himself as the saving grace for the Republican Party. He's framing his record as one of unalloyed success. But it is clear that the American voters see things fairly differently, and that is now becoming really the big gamble in this midterm election season.

Does making this campaign all about a historically unpopular president? Is that necessarily a good strategy? Now, the president and his advisers do believe that it is. And what they argue is that in order to get some of the president's supporters to the polls, these voters who don't ordinarily vote in midterm elections, the president needs to be out there and needs to be promoting his success.

And so that will be his goal as he hits these states this week. Kansas on Monday, North Carolina on Tuesday, South Carolina on Wednesday, Iowa on Thursday, Florida on Friday, and Georgia on Saturday. All of these states are still -- tell a somewhat similar story. They're all places that he won in 2024, but they're also places where Republicans are now running in some surprisingly competitive races.

And so tomorrow, when he's in Kansas, that's where the incumbent Republican senator, Roger Marshall, he suddenly appeared to be in some political trouble. A lot of the president's actions have been unpopular there, whether it's tariffs, whether it's the price of gas and diesel, whether it's this plan to import foreign beef. Roger Marshall kind of battling against an unpopular record on the president's part there.

South Carolina similar story. The Senator Darline Graham, who replaced her brother Lindsey Graham when he died in some political trouble as well, according to the polls. You know, when he heads to North Carolina, a lot of Republicans have kind of written the Senate race there off entirely, pulled the money out of there and put it instead into Kansas. And so in all of these places, the president really trying to convince his supporters, as he says, that he is on the ballot, to pretend that he is running, trying to boost some enthusiasm among his base.

But of course, that's a liability potentially as well for some of these Republicans as they appear alongside the president, risking turning off some of these moderate independent voters as well.

[19:05:10]

And so it will be an active week for the president. He won't be spending much time here at the White House as he puts kind of everything into this final blitz before election day.

DEAN: All right. Kevin Liptak, at the White House for us. Thank you so much for that reporting.

Meantime, law enforcement agencies are investigating suspicious substances mailed to dozens of election and congressional offices nationwide. On Friday, Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York posted that his office had received one of those envelopes. The FDNY tested the substance and determined it was not hazardous.

We're joined by Congressman Torres now.

Thank you so much for your time tonight. It's nice to have you here with us. Let's start first with where things stand. You turned that envelope over to the FBI. Where is the investigation now?

REP. RITCHIE TORRES (D-NY): Well, my understanding is that the FBI is investigating the matter. So far, neither the perpetrator nor the motive, to my knowledge, has been established. But, you know, the moment my staff opened the envelope and was exposed to white powder, we notified the authorities, the FDNY, the NYPD responded promptly, and ultimately determined that the substance was not hazardous.

And as you noted, you know, the mailing of the white powder to my office was not an isolated incident, at least based on media reports. At least 36 members of Congress in 26 states were targeted. So this was clearly a coordinated effort. DEAN: Yes. And clearly meant to instill some sort of fear. You know,

and I have to think, whenever your staffers were opening that, that's a really scary moment.

TORRES: Look, when you open mail and get exposed to white powder, you have no way of knowing whether it's a prank or a chemical attack. And that uncertainty can be unnerving. And there are several members of my team, including myself, who came of age in a post-9/11 world. So we're old enough to remember the anthrax attacks of 2001. And it's not lost on us that we live in a world where the threat of political violence has become a new normal. I mean, elected officials and their staff are facing threats of violence to an extent that we've never seen before. The number of congressional threat assessment cases has risen from 9500 in 2024 to nearly 15,000 in 2025. That's an increase of 60 percent in just one year.

DEAN: Yes. And to that point, "The New York Times" had an investigation recently that examined hundreds of records, court documents, law enforcement logs from 2024 to August of this year. So, you know, just about two years. And it found that thousands of violent threats against elected officials took place in unprecedented ways, and what goes very much in line with what you're saying. And this is happening to Democratic lawmakers like yourself. It's happening to Republican lawmakers.

What does this mean, do you think, for our democracy and for politics? It's hard to convince somebody to get into politics if you think you or your family could be at risk.

TORRES: Look, I worry that facing threats of violence has become not a bug, but a feature of political life in the United States. You know, most members of Congress, most senators, have been targeted with threats of violence. I've been targeted with death threats. I've had people tell me, I'm going to put a bullet in your head, or I'm going to beat you to death. And that's no longer the exception. It's become the rule.

You know, I was sworn in on January 3rd, 2021. January 6th was my third day on the job. When you have a president who legitimizes political violence, I do believe it opens the floodgates. It emboldens extremism. It erodes the guardrails of liberal democracy.

DEAN: And to be fair, I mean, he's had multiple assassination attempts on his life as well. I mean, this is -- this is happening, as I mentioned, across the spectrum.

Going back to this particular incident, does it change your posture in any way? Do you do anything differently moving forward to protect your staff, yourself?

TORRES: Look, my team and I will continue to exercise caution when opening mail. We wear protective gloves and masks. You know, we open mail under a mail screening hood. We follow every procedure that's been prescribed to us by the House of Representatives.

DEAN: Yes. And I'm sure, unfortunately, you will have to continue doing that for as long as you are holding public office in the environment that we live in right now. But we are certainly glad that you and your staff are OK.

[19:10:07]

Congressman Ritchie Torres, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

TORRES: Always a pleasure.

DEAN: Thank you.

Still ahead, widespread destruction and hundreds detained after the worst night of violence and looting across France in years.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:15:03]

DEAN: Tonight, French President Emmanuel Macron is vowing to hold rioters and looters from Saturday's massive protests accountable after more than half a million people hit the streets across France. Despite starting as a largely peaceful anti-government protest, demonstrations descended into chaos. One protester and a police officer both died. Officials now saying 600 police officers -- over 600 police officers were injured and more than 2,000 people detained.

Last night in the central city of Limoges, the historic 143-year-old city hall was set on fire and its spire collapsed to cheers.

CNN's Melissa Bell has the latest including President Macron's response.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The French president speaking to the nation this Sunday after the worst unrest France has seen in years swept the streets of the country on Saturday was to a shocked nation that he addressed himself after Saturday's protests saw more than half a million people take to the streets over demands that protesters say haven't been met, not just ones led by students that we've seen these last few weeks, but also anger over the cost of living and government inaction.

There were violent scenes very early on in the day that left so many cities scarred and hundreds of businesses looted. It was to that that the French president turned first, vowing to bring the full force of the law to bear on those responsible.

PRES. EMMANUEL MACRON, FRANCE (through translator): Those who destroyed property must pay. Those who looted must reimburse the damage. Those who sought to bring down the republic will be held accountable. Prefects will make decisions in coordination with mayors to protect

our cities, public buildings and businesses, including, where necessary, banning certain gatherings and taking any other necessary action.

BELL: The French president also spoke to the grievances of the protesters, explaining there would be meetings with student leaders, but also with France's main political parties to try and calm some of the anger that we saw so spectacularly spill out onto the streets of French cities on Saturday.

The damage has really caused a great deal of shock here in France, with a lot of surprise about how quickly the protests escalated into violence and a lot of criticism about the police response. The French president spoke to the need for a meeting and urged calm to be restored. The problem is there's already another protest planned here in France for November 5th, and protests of this sort about housing and cost of living have now spread to other European cities.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Thanks, Melissa.

And earlier this evening, I spoke with David Andelman, a former "New York Times" correspondent and former CBS News Paris correspondent. He's also the author of "Andelman Unleashed" on Substack. And he walked us through the origin of the protests and what's led us to this moment. Here's our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ANDELMAN, FORMER NEW YORK TIMES CORRESPONDENT: It's been building for quite a while. So this is -- first of all, this is a very French way of folks expressing themselves. There's no gunfire in either side. People don't get wounded by gunfire. They build barricades. And this goes back to the times of Les Mis. But 40 years ago, in 1986, I was tear gassed in front of the national assembly, the parliament. Many folks remember eight years ago, near the start of the Macron presidency, the Yellow Vest Movement. That was about gas prices, inflation, the retirement age, a lot of the same issues that are happening today.

I was live on the Champs-Elysees for CNN when a tear gas grenade went on right behind me. I jumped. So back in 1968, students were protesting like crazy. The real violence is not from the students and protesters. And there has been real violence, although people woke up this morning, there was destruction, a lot of destruction in various parts of the city, the Champs-Elysees, the Rue de Matignon. It was, it was really -- it was a very, very tense evening.

My wife actually got tear gassed when she was coming out of the Gordes last night after coming back from Germany, a trip there. So it's certainly not fun when you're right in the middle of it. And there are roots to this. There are some very real roots. The students and the protesters, they have some grievances. And Macron frankly hasn't been very good at addressing these grievances. So that's really the kind of the background of where we were right now.

DEAN: Yes. And I hope your wife is OK. That's very scary. I -- a lot of this is, is economic and it's been building over years. This happens to be focused on schools and funding for schools.

ANDELMAN: Yes it does. But remember back in 1968, the students began protesting overcrowded universities. This time it's high schools. That nearly brought down the government in '68. President Charles de Gaulle actually fled Paris for a time, and there were barricades in the streets. There was a barricade in the street right in front of my apartment house last night. When it comes down, they tried to get a -- an ambulance tried to get through. They took the barricade down so the ambulance could get through, and then they put it back up again.

[19:20:04]

The French can be very polite that way in terms of their protesting. There are also, however, these people called the casseurs, the breakers. They're the nasty guys, the looters. They jump in to take advantage of this. And that's where a lot of things really -- that's where it can get out of hand. And it did to a degree. And it has in the past. But this passes, you know, and the biggest problem right now that we have is that nobody really trusts Macron anymore.

And he is still the president until next April. So it's going to be interesting to see how he can get out of it if he can get out of it like he has gotten out of other things. A little concession here, a little understanding and so on. But a lot of that trust with the people of France has been broken.

DEAN: And as you noted, these demonstrations started as mostly peaceful and continued as mostly peaceful. However, they have become violent in some cases, also, as you noted, and as we were seeing there, we've seen looting, we've seen the rioting. We saw an over 100- year-old city hall burned and lit on fire, cheering as something that lived through, you know, World War II burned to the ground. What changed?

ANDELMAN: Well, not much did change. I mean, again, this was an intense -- it's a level of intensity. The level of intensity went was up here about past riots very often, past demonstrations happens down here. So it's really a question of just how pent up the anger is and how frustrated people are. People are very frustrated now.

The biggest problem I can see coming out of this is there's a lot more political issues involved buried here that is really going to make things very difficult in the next six months of political campaigning. You have the far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon. France Unbowed is the name of his party, and he's very much in favor of all of these protests. He was marching with them. And then you have Marine Le Pen on the far right on the national rally.

She's also been supporting a lot of these protesters wanted. And these may be, in fact, the only two choices the French get next year in the second round of the election. So we're going into a very, very difficult and torturous time in many ways, in many respects. And that's something we have to really watch carefully. Is this going to be the beginning of the end, or is it going to be the beginning of something much more important that will change the way France deals with itself and with the rest of Europe and the world and the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: All right, David Andelman, thanks for your time again.

And still to come here, a district that President Trump won by double digits in 2024, according to the Cook Political Report, has shifted from solid Republican to likely Republican. And the Republican incumbent running for reelection there joins us next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:09]

DEAN: A woman has been released from police custody tonight after she allegedly drove onto a soccer field during a youth game in Kansas Saturday, killing two people, including a child. Ten others were also injured.

CNN's Mark Morales is following the latest.

Mark, what is the latest?

MARK MORALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the driver was released pending the results of a toxicology report and a mechanical examination of the car. So she has not been charged. But it's important to note that she's not out of the woods yet. This is a situation where investigators are really trying to figure out what led to the -- to this event, what happened in the moments before, because we saw the video and we've seen videos of the car driving on that soccer field. So we know that that was there.

But it's incredibly important to find out what led up to this because prosecutors can only charge what they have in -- what they have evidence for. So the evidence is incredibly important here. Now, investigators have been reviewing video. They've been asking witnesses to send them any types of videos that they might have. They've interviewed as many as 30 witnesses. And that includes the two children that were in the SUV before this driver started driving onto the soccer field.

We also understand that she was parked nearby at a parking spot before this whole thing took place. And investigators also were talking to witnesses where they heard more about those opening scenes, those chaotic moments where the car had just careened and just driven over some of those people. As you remember, witnesses were talking about how first responders were arriving at the scene, and it was actually the people that were there that were actually treating some of the people that were hurt.

Now, witnesses also spoke to our affiliate, and they had more descriptions of the chaotic scene that they saw. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

BRYANT GAZA, WITNESS: I was mainly just shocked, you know, when you see a car driving over a bunch of people, you're just like, you're just in shock. I was scared, obviously. Didn't know what to think. Just ran out the way, hoping it didn't follow me. Hoping I didn't get hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORALES: Now, 10 other people were hurt in this incident. That includes five children that were on that field. Now, the investigation is still ongoing and police are still trying to gather as much evidence as possible. And they'll be meeting with the district attorney's office in the coming days and making their initial case presentation. But it remains to be seen. Still, the evidence collection and what they turn up -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Mark Morales with the latest. Thank you for that.

And we'll be right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:34:33]

DEAN: We have just 16 days now until Election Day. We've got new polling today. Among those new polling numbers, CNN averaging Poll of Polls showing what is essentially the generic ballot. It gives the question to voters who they would vote for in their district. Democrats leading Republicans, 54 to 45 percent there.

Nebraska Republican Congressman Mike Flood joins us now to talk about that, and a host of other issues.

Congressman, thank you so much for being here with us. We really do appreciate your time on a Sunday night.

[19:35:10]

Recently, the Cook Report did shift some of these very solidly Republican races to likely Republican. Yours was one of a number of those.

Did that surprise you at all?

REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): Well, no. Not really. It is likely Republican. Listen, I won by 20 points last election. I routinely perform above the generic ballot and I outpaced President Trump by seven points. He won by 12 and you know, I was 19 or 20. So I think what the Cook Political Report is responding to is the political environment in the Upper Midwest, where you have these very aggressive U.S. Senate races in states like Nebraska and Kansas and Iowa.

That is more than anything, just the environment that we are in right now. But hey, it is a midterm. The headwinds aren't favorable to the party in power. But I do believe as, as even The Cook Report said, it is very unlikely that anything changes here, but I am not taking anything for granted.

Just today I had four or five stops and I've still got more to go. We are making our case, and our case is resonating, and I am finding that Republicans are understanding what is going on, and they will be out together with the Independents and the Democrats, to vote on election day.

DEAN: And I know you're talking to a lot of your constituents as you make your case to them. Obviously, your district is very rooted in agriculture. You've said -- you were talking about the Farm Bill. You said agriculture isn't just Nebraska's number one economic driver. It is the heart of who we are and what we do in the first congressional district and we know that diesel prices are now, you know, almost $3.00 more than what they were before the beginning of the Iran War. That's hard for farmers to try to account for all of that, that these tariffs have been hard on farmers. What are you telling them?

FLOOD: Well, obviously the prices are too high. And I came -- I drove two hours today from Lincoln to Norfolk, Nebraska, and I saw everybody was out in the field. We are going to have a great crop. We are going to have great beans.

Our soybean prices are up 24 percent since the beginning of the year, January 1. We have two soybean crush plants just in the first district alone, which is pushing up pricing. We are going to have a bountiful harvest. As for the diesel prices, yes, they are too high. That's why I supported both our governor and the president backing off on the red-dye diesel taxes, to do anything we can to bring that price down.

Listen, the farmers in this state and the Farm Bureau, which is the largest, most respected organization representing corn and bean farmers, beef producers, they have given me their sole endorsement. They have been with me since the beginning. They know that in the House, we passed a farm bill with year-round E15, more price supports for farmers and a safety net that's bigger than anything we've ever had.

We want the prices to come down. We also want the prices for our products to go up. And we are seeing that, the President recently landed a deal with the European Union, where they put a 15 percent tariff on their products and a zero percent tariff on ours, and that's our fourth largest trading partner.

So there is some good news out there. There is progress, a lot more progress than we saw under Joe Biden, and it is going to take some time, but we will get there.

DEAN: What about the President's move on waiving these sanctions on Russian fossil fuel sales? So, you know, again, it does circle all the way back. He says, you know, he wants to release some diesel. Experts have said that the amount that would be released would probably be about 15 hours of consumption for the U.S., so it is very minimal.

But do you support his decision to waive these sanctions?

FLOOD: No, I don't, and here is why. Any dollar that goes into that thug's pocket over in Moscow ends up potentially helping Iran and we are in an active conflict with them or hurting our allies in Ukraine, where I have always supported the U.S. assisting Ukraine and backing up our friends in the NATO Alliance. I just don't think that's in our national interest, and so I break with him there. I have said that from the beginning.

I do believe we need to keep the focus on ending Iran's ability to chant death to America and be able to do something about it and help our allies over in Ukraine as they deal with Vladimir Putin, who has done and supported atrocities against the people of Ukraine.

DEAN: And I hear you on Putin. The moves that the President has made recently, though, you know, emboldens Putin. It gives him benefits.

If this is to go through, if he is allowed to sell oil globally, that could be a boon for Russia. Doesn't that worry you? Upset you?

FLOOD: Well, a lot of this --you know, a lot of this came out Friday. A lot of this happened on Friday. We are going to have the opportunity as we start the workweek tomorrow, to better understand where The White House is.

[19:40:02]

But just on its face when you ask me, do I think allowing Putin to sell diesel without the constraints that we've had on him is a good thing? I don't want him to have more resources. I don't want him to help Iran. I don't want him to continue his purge against the people of Ukraine, that's not -- and you know, I am up to finding out more about what is going on.

But quite frankly, its Sunday night. Monday will come and we will have the opportunity to better understand where we are going on this.

DEAN: And you mentioned Iran, the war in Iran is directly correlated to rising gas prices, rising diesel prices. Do you still believe that the U.S. should be engaged in that war?

FLOOD: Well, it is actually more complicated than that because Iran is funding the Houthis, the Houthis are engaging in Yemen, and Saudi Arabia is involved, and there is another pressure point there. Plus, you've got Ukraine hitting Russian refineries. This isn't just a one country is at the core of the problem. The problem is complex.

It is in countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, it is in Iran, it is in Ukraine. It involves Russia. We have an unstable world right now. We have nation states that support terrorism. And, you know, you could find an easy way to maybe calm this conflict, but it doesn't mean this doesn't happen again in two weeks. We are dealing with a bunch of folks in Iran that are essentially mercenaries for their cause.

I mean, we took out their entire organizational leadership system earlier in the year, more so maybe the Israelis did. And they had people step right up to continue this terror, that Iran wants to inflict on the world. So, it is not as easy as just saying, shut things down with Iran. You've got a lot of different players in here that are hell bent on causing pain to the American people, and they will continue to do it regardless, if they aren't, you know, ultimately forced to lay down their arms.

DEAN: Yes. And I hear you on all of that, so you do support continuing the war in Iran.

FLOOD: Well, I don't want to cut and run. I want prices to come down as much as anybody. I mean, I don't want farmers in Nebraska or truckers in Alabama or just a mom and her kids going to soccer practice having to pay more. But I also don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don't want them to continue funding terrorism around the world. I don't want them to fund Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, whoever else they're into.

I mean, this is a bad actor. We've been at this for 50 years. We have a President who understands this cannot continue. And I agree this cannot continue. This is not going to age well. If we found some political, uh, solution on Wednesday of this week, I guarantee you we will be out biting our fingernails about the next -- two months from now when they've got their nuclear weapon ready to go or they've enriched their uranium, or they've funded another Hezbollah group somewhere else in America, or God forbid, they get a dirty bomb or some kind of a chemical weapon that they unleash on an American city.

We are not dealing with people here that are into diplomacy. They are into destroying America and our allies, and they can't be allowed to do that.

DEAN: Yes, and so to that end, how does it end, though, if it can't be done through diplomacy, how do you end that conflict?

FLOOD: Well, if you look at the current conditions inside Iran right now, the value of their currency, the lines, the economic pressure that they're dealing with, I mean, I don't get a daily briefing on what is happening in there like some of my colleagues in Congress do, and certainly in the executive branch. But it isn't a day in the park in Iran right now.

And ultimately, the people of Iran have to decide what kind of country they want to live in. We are talking about a country that killed upwards to 50,000 of its own people earlier this year to quell unrest. That should tell every American exactly what we are dealing with. Fifty thousand Iranians killed for seeking the same kind of life we have here with freedom and democracy and free enterprise. That's who were dealing with. And it doesn't get better by ignoring it or making it go away. We have to deal with it.

DEAN: All right, Congressman Mike Flood, thank you for your time. We do appreciate it.

FLOOD: Have a good evening. Thank you.

DEAN: You, too.

Don't forget to tune in to the CNN special Countdown to Election Night with Laura Coates tonight at 8:00 P.M. Eastern, only on CNN and streaming on the CNN app with an all-access subscription.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:49:24]

DEAN: The immigration crackdown is also impacting members of the military as they are serving the country. When the USS Abraham Lincoln recently docked in California after nearly 11 months at sea, the homecoming for sailor, Jessica Martinez was missing one very important person, her father, and that's because while she was deployed, her father was deported.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see her.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When Jessica Martinez emerged from the crowd into the arms of her sister, months of emotion poured out.

The 22-year-old Navy sailor spent more than 10 months deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, which returned to California earlier this month, but this homecoming wasn't what she dreamed.

[19:50:10]

JESSICA MARTINEZ, U.S. NAVY: I feel a little disappointed. It's like a stab in the back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My sister is the military. She is doing the process for him.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Two months into her deployment, Martinez learned her father was deported to Mexico.

He wore a U.S. Navy sweatshirt the day she headed out to sea, but he wasn't there to welcome her home.

MARTINEZ: When I got the news that my dad got deported, I just didn't want to continue anymore. My dad was all like, I've always taught you to keep going in life. I didn't raise a quitter, and I had to keep going. It was for my dad.

This is my first time visiting Tijuana.

LAVANDERA (voice over): The reunion happened a few days later.

MARTINEZ: You'd see dad. He's right there.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Jessica Martinez and her sister Ana (ph)walked across the border from San Diego into Tijuana, Mexico. Waiting on the other side was her father, Humberto.

Humberto told us he's grateful his daughter returned safely, that it's been his dream come true to see Jessica become a sailor and go on to finish college.

(HUMBERTO MARTINEZ speaking in foreign language.)

LAVANDERA (voice over): He says, "I tell her that maybe someday we'll be able to reunite over there as a family. Hopefully, somebody is going to help me, and I can go back to my family."

But the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to CNN earlier this month, Humberto Martinez is, "Never going to be welcomed back in the United States."

The DHS statement goes on to say Martinez is a "... criminal, with convictions for DUI and drug offenses and arrests for false citizenship and human smuggling, and that he's been removed from the U.S. at least six different times."

When CNN first asked about Humberto Martinez's immigration record seven months ago, the DHS statement offered different details. The agency told us in March, Martinez had been removed from the U.S. four times, not six, and also included a conviction for unauthorized use of a vehicle. It did not mention the other crimes he allegedly committed.

In a public records search, we were only able to find the DUI conviction. Martinez told us it was a misdemeanor charge and that he completed the court-mandated classes and community service.

We have asked DHS for clarifications on the details in these statements, but they have not responded to that request.

Humberto Martinez denies he was involved in any other crimes, but admits he unlawfully crossed the border multiple times, and that he hopes to find a way back to his family.

(HUMBERTO MARTINEZ speaking in Foreign Language)

TRANSLATION: I have nothing against the country, and I am grateful for the opportunities it gave me and for everything else.

MARTINEZ: I don't care how many lawyers I have to go through. I have to pay. I'm going to find justice for my dad, for him to come back.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Ed Lavandera, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

I see her.

DEAN: All right, Ed, thank you for that.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is spending big on this year's midterms, and those investments could pay off if he decides to run for president in 2028. The billionaire has already poured nearly $40 million into Democratic candidates and groups. He is also helping fund a $20 million effort to help Democrats expand the map as they try to win back the House.

CNN's Patrick Svitek has this reporting.

Patrick, great to see you.

Governor Pritzker saying this is about 2026, not 2028. But how could this impact him if he decides to make a presidential run?

PATRICK SVITEK, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Look, he has a bit of a point. He told me this is not his first rodeo, and that's true. He has long been a top donor to the Democratic Party, long before this election cycle. But of course, it is hard to entirely separate these donations from the fact that he is a potential presidential candidate. It could be a very crowded field.

And right now, all of these potential Democratic presidential candidates are looking for unique ways to try to help out in the midterms. You mentioned that $20 million effort that he is helping fund here in the final weeks. That group is going after seats that are coming online for Democrats as the political environment worsens for Republicans.

And so, he is trying to help expand the battlefield. Some of those seats are seats that are being prioritized by the Congressional Black Caucus. He was at odds with the Caucus earlier this year in the Illinois Senate primary, when he had one candidate, they had another. And so they seem to be repairing their relationship. And now, he is helping them with some of these seats that are a priority for them in this bid to push the House map into redder and redder territory.

DEAN: And Patrick, is there -- are there any races in particular he is really going in on or a type of race?

SVITEK: In Texas, he has given over a million dollars to the gubernatorial candidate there, Gina Hinojosa. And there are some 2028 intrigue around this because her allies in the Latino community have been pleading with another potential 2028 candidate, Andy Beshear, to use his role as the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association to send more money into the state, and he is providing a little bit of a contrast with Beshear, who could be a rival in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary.

[19:55:10 ] DEAN: Yes, and is he using his own money? Is he fundraising for these,

like bundling for these candidates? How is that working?

SVITEK: I think it is a little bit of both. I mean, he is cutting personal checks to some of these Democrats. He is funneling it through different political groups that he oversees or that his aides oversee. You know, he is worth an estimated $4.2 billion. You know, he has long been very wealthy and able to self-fund his own campaigns. And so that is where I think some of this money is coming from.

And I should also note, he still has his own re-election campaign in Illinois. But given the blue politics of Illinois and this national political environment, he is expected to cruise through re-election.

DEAN: All right, Patrick Svitek, thank you so much for that.

And thank you for joining me tonight. I am Jessica Dean. We are going to see you right t back here next weekend. The CNN special Countdown to Election Night with Laura Coates starts right now.

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