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Musk, GOP Donors Pour Money into Midterms; New White House Press Secretary Promoted Conspiracies on Social Media; Archbishop of the Military Against Livestreaming Execution. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 13, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:13].

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Today in the chat, it's crunch time for Republicans. They're trying to shrink the map and pump out more cash with just three weeks until the midterm vote. So, can spending save their Senate majority?

Plus, federal agents raid the home of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar just two days after Trump singled her out at a rally. Coincidence, or part of a pattern?

Also, the new White House press secretary gives her first briefing today. What could Katie Zacharia's past posts tell us about her future at the podium?

Plus, power, money, and Elon Musk. I'll speak live with the creator of the new docu series that the richest man in the world does not want you to see.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Here is where we begin. The president's blitz to drive midterm voter turnout. And it continues in states where Republicans are having to spend big to win.

So, tonight, he's going to head to Alaska to help in the suddenly competitive Senate and House races. Then, he's scheduled to travel down to Arizona, Montana, and Georgia.

Now, by the end of this week, he'll have been to roughly a dozen states in two weeks. He was in Ohio last night where the GOP Senate Leadership Fund has poured nearly $100 million into the race to elect Jon Husted.

But he says Republicans should imagine a different name at the polls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: What happens is every time I run, we do great. We have a tremendous turnout, 48, 49 percent more than when I don't run.

So, I'm asking everybody to pretend. Just pretend that I'm on the ballot because in a way, I am on the ballot. Because they will try and destroy everything we've done. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now in the chat, Adam Harris, co-host of "Radio Atlantic"; Chuck Rocha, Democratic strategist; and Ashley Davis, former White House official in the George W. Bush administration. Thank you guys for being here today.

So, you can either spend time or money. Since the president is sitting on his 400 million, not really spending a bit -- even though he says help is on the way -- he's spending time. What do we learn about where he's spending his time?

ADAM HARRIS, CO-HOST, "RADIO ATLANTIC": So, I think what we're learning right now is that Republicans are having to contest in districts that they really didn't think, and states that they didn't think we're going to be on the map this cycle.

You see the president going to -- to Ohio to sort of bolster -- bolster the vote there for Houston, where you know, you see these polls where it says that people don't even necessarily know that he's -- he's the incumbent in the race, because Sherrod Brown has so much name -- name recognition in a state like Ohio, where folks thought he might be struggling a little bit.

CORNISH: So, to be clear, the incumbent senator --

HARRIS: Yes.

CORNISH: -- who is a Republican --

HARRIS: He's a Republican.

CORNISH: -- is fighting for name recognition.

One of the things that's interesting is who's filling the gap with money. Elon Musk has ridden to the rescue. It turns out, when you look at the list of all the people who have given money this cycle, the person who has given the most is looking like Mr. Musk: $366 million into the midterms, 276 million of that has been just since mid-summer.

And that's actually more than he spent in the entire 2024 election. Money can matter if you really flood the zone, right?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST; Right. And if I was a strategist for the Republicans, and Ashley I'm not trying to be, I would say that the money would have mattered more if it would have been pre-Labor Day.

The problem with the money is that you get saturation after a certain amount of time. And Audie and everybody at home, you know, you get all the mail at the very end. Your mailbox is full of mail and you can't open your phone. You see every ad.

The ads go further, politicians, when it's by itself, when you're running it in -- in the summertime, right? And so, what's happening now is they've freaked out, because they

didn't think they were going to be losing this bad. They've come in to throw money at the problem. And let's talk about Ohio really quick. And I'll stop, which is in Ohio, Sherrod Browns running against a guy you said he didn't know -- people didn't know his name.

But the truth of the matter is he was appointed to fill a term. So, he's never run statewide as a senator, even though he was the lieutenant governor. So, he's not well known.

And Sherrod Brown has been there since I had hair and was skinny.

CORNISH: Yes. So, I think that's interesting. We were actually talking with -- I think it was Mark McKinnon yesterday about sort of what was going on in Texas with the sort of Bush-affiliated Republicans, basically raising money for everyone but Paxton.

What do you see in having to be like Montana? That feels like the president should not need to go to Montana?

ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL UNDER GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, it's interesting, because the Montana race is more about an independent, as well as taking away those votes from the Senate candidate.

I don't think Montana is going to be an issue. This is a little bit of this --

[06:05:03]

CORNISH: Then why is he there?

DAVIS: The president?

CORNISH: Yes.

DAVIS: Because there's -- because he's asked to go. I mean, this isn't something that's unusual. I mean, in 2002 and 2018, whatever it is, you always have the president and the vice president go to different states.

Here's the deal. We are -- by the way, it's not just Elon spending all this money. We all have George Soros going, spending all of a lot of money. We also have Bloomberg.

CORNISH: Yes, if he had spent 366 million, I would have put his name up.

DAVIS: Well, he may. We have no idea.

CORNISH: This is the richest man putting -- well, we -- we looked up the data. That's how we know, yes.

DAVIS: We know what -- we know what he's spending, but we don't know what Soros and Bloomberg is.

CORNISH: And we also don't know what PACs are spending, which they're spending all over on the map, as well.

DAVIS: Well, that's my point. I mean, because Elon's money is really going to get out the vote, which, if anything now, going back to your point of money not being spent until now, that's where it could be helpful.

But we're down to really three states that I -- that the -- that the kind of bigger operation is going after in regards to the president. And it's Iowa, Alaska, as well as Ohio.

And so, those are the three states that they're really concentrating on.

The noise, which is serious noise -- I'm not saying it's not -- with Kansas and South Carolina or Montana. I mean, those are just like, let's make sure we're not doing anything dumb.

CORNISH: Well, in the meantime, Senator Schumer is worried about the money. I should just say he sent out a letter to his colleagues saying, Look, with three weeks left, the battle for control is coming down to this question. Will the unprecedented tsunami of Republican money defeat the massive Democratic advantage in candidates, policies, and political climate?

DAVIS: This is what he should be doing. I mean, he's raising money.

ROCHA: Let me lay the groundwork really quick on Ohio, because I -- I ran past Ohio, and it was the top of the story, is Donald Trump, the bottom line is won Ohio by double digits. Like, we shouldn't even be competing there in mathematical terms of strategy.

But this morning, I went back and looked at the polls and looked at Kalshi. And he's been ahead in the last five polls and has 60 percent on Kalshi to win.

CORNISH: Who's been ahead? Who are you saying?

ROCHA: In Ohio.

CORNISH: Yes, yes. Sure.

ROCHA: Is Sherrod Brown. Because I was thinking, if Sherrod Brown has 60 percent on Kalshi, and Trump won this state by ten points, it tells you everything you need to know about the map; is that it's moving.

Ashley don't know. Chuck Rocha don't know how much it's moving, but it's definitely moving.

CORNISH: Yes. And one thing that's interesting when Trump says, I've won every time I've been on the ballot, one of the things, you know, I just should clarify is general elections, in which he would be on the ballot are always more popular. That's when we turn out. It's the midterms that you see lower turnout.

CORNISH: On average, 35 percent less.

CORNISH: On average. That's any presidential race, there's more people who turn out.

So anyway, coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about some of these attack ads that you may have missed. One that missed by about 3,000 miles, actually. So, we're going to ask how no one caught a mistake.

Plus, Trump's new White House press secretary is facing reporters for the first time today. We're going to check into her social media history to find out what she's said in the past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:12:37]

CORNISH: So, the new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, will hold her first briefing this morning. That's according to the president.

And so, we're looking back at her old social media posts. And there is a history there of talking about conspiracy theories, talking about baseless accusations against Americans. And here and there, some criticisms of the Trump administration in, of course, since deleted posts.

Trump has highlighted Zacharia's loyalty, which appears to go back to 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE ZACHARIA, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The re- engagement in the political battlefield for me was actually the pandemic, was -- was the 2020-2021 when the election was stolen from President Trump. And I'm just going to say it; it was -- it was stolen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Group chat is back. So, we are looking into the kinds of things she was talking about, because first of all, saying the election was stolen is table stakes now. No?

ROCHA: Yes.

CORNISH: No, no, I don't mean that. It's like this is what the president believes. If you want to work for the president, it appears this is what you have to believe. Is that correct? Incorrect?

DAVIS: Well, I mean, I don't know if that's, like, 100 percent factual, but I think it's helpful.

CORNISH: OK. It is helpful.

So, the other thing that is helpful is she's someone who, in the past, has done a lot of sort of heavy punching, so to speak, in the vein of maybe like a Steven Cheung, frankly, in the White House, talking about "The radical left Hollywood elitists are sick, pedo cannibals. Change my mind" is a typical one in the archive.

HARRIS: Yes. I think what -- what we're seeing is that the president often likes people and is looking for someone who's going to be forceful in defense of him, whether regardless of what that comment is, regardless of what that statement is. Right?

I think if you look back at some of her -- her previous tweets, the ones, the things that said things like "suspend habeas corpus" in response to a post from -- from Stephen Miller. Right?

These are things that have become the administration talking points that at various -- at various points in time. And she seems as if she's someone who is willing to say the things that the president wants her to say.

CORNISH: The only thing I saw that was sort of --

DAVIS: Or who believes.

HARRIS: Or believes.

DAVIS: We don't know.

CORNISH: Yes, yes. No, the only thing that surprised me, she is somebody who, I think, is sort of wants the Epstein files to be out and has criticized the Justice Department for its handling of the Epstein files, which I think at this point maybe is a plus for an administration that has -- was frustrated over that issue.

[06:15:06]

ROCHA: Look, if you're going to have a person who's going to defend and be a little -- my words, nobody else's -- a little crazy, is that this is the person you want.

You want somebody who's going to defend you. If Chuck Rocha had a spokesman, it wouldn't be Ashley. It'd be some crazy Democrat.

DAVIS: I would be so nice about you.

ROCHA: It would be somebody -- oh, my God. Not -- yes, you probably would. But you want somebody who's going to believe what you believe.

CORNISH: You also have to run an office, which I think people talk about.

ROCHA: That is so 1990. Not at all.

CORNISH: No, that was like the most recent -- do you feel that way?

DAVIS: You want somebody who --

CORNISH: The most recent press secretary was known for running the office well.

HARRIS: Yes, the reporting -- reporters would say that, when it was necessary to -- to sort of have that conversation, that she was going to be the one who was -- who was actually directing people. That is still an integral part of the job of press secretary.

CORNISH: And maybe she can. I mean, I don't know.

ROCHA: The woman who just left?

CORNISH: Yes.

DAVIS: Yes. No, Karoline was supposed to be very responsive to --

CORNISH: Yes, Karoline Leavitt. But have a working relationship. So, we're going to see is do you bother having someone who has a working relationship in the lame-duck period?

And I ask that because, when Trump in his first term got to the back half, you started having people at that podium. I'm just joking. They didn't go to the podium. They didn't even have press. Like they basically just sort of shut the whole thing down.

DAVIS: Yes.

CORNISH: So, are we now out of the productive phase and into the --

DAVIS: Well, listen, I -- a lot of criticism about Karoline as the youngest press secretary before she took the job. Whether you believed what she said or not, she was a very good press secretary, and she was very good for the president.

This -- the next press secretary, she's going to be a pit bull for the president, as well. And hopefully, she'll be able to manage the press corps, as well.

And supposedly, there's all these rumors out there that she has some issues with certain people in the West Wing, and we'll see if that's accurate or not.

ROCHA: Ooh. Tell us more.

CORNISH: I know. What's in the group chat?

DAVIS: Well, no, just that, you know, the president picked her directly. This was not anybody else involved.

ROCHA: Let me build off of what you just said for one second. Going into this thing in a lame-duck session, when Democrats probably have control of Congress and the investigation gavel, this job becomes really important.

CORNISH: Yes, because it's just about responding to all of these allegations.

ROCHA: Yes, yes.

CORNISH: OK. Later on CNN THIS MORNING, there is this new documentary I want you to hear about. It talks about the power and influence of Elon Musk. And we're actually going to have the filmmaker here to talk about what he uncovered.

But first, should Catholic soldiers be a part of Pete Hegseth's firing squad? The military's archbishop has thoughts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:44]

CORNISH: OK, the latest person to speak out against plans for a live execution by the Trump administration is a faith leader. We are talking about the archbishop of the military.

He says, in part, "The U.S. military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world. Is there really a value to throwing them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of an execution of a man in a wheelchair to the whole world? Does this decision reflect the dignity of the human person?"

Now, CNN has actually spoken to the man who survived being shot seven times during that shooting by Nidal Hasan. And this man says that he fully backs the death penalty, but he does not back this idea of livestreaming it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAFF SGT. ALONZO LUNSFORD (RET.), SURVIVED FORT HOOD MASSACRE: I think he should be held accountable for his crimes and for his sins. Death by firing squad is warranted, considering what he did that day.

But I don't -- still, the -- the moral -- my moral compass and just the way I was raised in the church, for him to be put to death and it be made a public spectacle. No, I disagree with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, coming back to what he said about the church, you've got this Catholic archbishop in the military saying this, and also going on to say, you know, Catholic soldiers who get asked to do this should back out. This goes against church teachings, et cetera.

I'm sure we're going to hear from the pope himself soon.

But can you talk about this? Because this administration has had its back and forth with Catholicism.

HARRIS: They have. And I think that at the root of this, right, it is a sort of moral question about what we, as a nation, believe in and what we believe is right and wrong.

You know, William McRaven wrote a piece for "The Atlantic" where he highlighted the fact that there have been 17 public executions, according to Amnesty International, in 2025. And those were in Iran and Afghanistan.

CORNISH: Yes. Our last one was the '30s, basically.

HARRIS: Our last one was the '30s. Exactly.

And so, the question becomes what, as a nation, are we trying to do by televising a public -- by publicizing an execution? Is there something -- something moral about it that we are trying to respect?

CORNISH: Yes. Going back to the court martial documents, you had the gunman, Nidal Hasan, actually saying to the military mental health panel that was studying him, quote, "I'm a paraplegic, could be in jail for the rest of my life. However, if I died by lethal injection, I would still be a martyr."

Just reinforcing here that this was an act of terrorism. Right? It was a political statement committing violence against people. And at that time, he said, I'm happy to be a martyr.

The thing that intrigued me is the daughter of the Fort Hood shooting victim saying something that I honestly didn't understand, truly, until she said it. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEELY CAHILL VANACKER, DAUGHTER OF FORT HOOD SHOOTING VICTIM: We pursued the death penalty, and so we understand where this was going to end, where it was always going to end.

But in this case, when it comes to the livestreaming, when it comes to a firing squad for somebody who is paralyzed, none of that, we were never consulted, never asked. I found out on an Instagram reel. My son called me going, Hey, Mom, is this real? Like, I -- he saw a meme, you know. He was, like, 2 when my father was killed.

[06:25:04]

And you know, that is not a way any of our -- that should -- it should never have been handled that way at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: People who approve of the death penalty see it as an end. Justice served. It ends.

The Internet doesn't forget.

ROCHA: Right.

CORNISH: A live stream might as well go on forever.

DAVIS: And he's becoming a martyr, even more importantly, because we keep talking about it. I mean --

CORNISH: We're bringing back the story from 2013, yes.

DAVIS: We're bringing this back. Then he'll always continue to live online.

I just don't think it happens, at the end of the day. I think this was potentially the speaker or the secretary of war getting out in front of himself. The president obviously starting to backtrack it.

CORNISH: Yes, we're seeing that leak to Axios, doing a little reporting there that Trump expresses doubts.

DAVIS: But also, I do think there's a reason that it's continuing to be that the president didn't say, no way. Because I think, you know, as I always say, I think he likes some of this chaos that happens, because then it concentrates on other things.

CORNISH: Yes. But going back to Bush era, you can't be soft on terrorists.

DAVIS: No, you can't.

CORNISH: And if the president was to turn around and say to Hegseth, no, that's not right. I don't think that would go over well.

So, I'm just trying to figure out how he got himself into this situation where even Mike Johnson, even J.D. Vance, would be like, I'm not watching it. And I don't think this is a good idea.

DAVIS: Exactly. I just don't think it happens. But more importantly, I don't want this guy to ever be martyrized. I don't think that's a word, but --

ROCHA: And that's -- and that's exactly what we'd be doing if you put this out there to, to our point about the Internets, because what -- I mean, experts in foreign relations and experts in terrorism have told all of us, this is the kind of ammunition that folks around the world would use to try to get other folks to do things that are really crazy and stupid. And we don't want that.

CORNISH: Meaning, saying America is not better than you. Here's an example of something they have done.

ROCHA: There's somebody in their village saying, America wants to kill all of us. Look at this video. It proves it. And they'll do it in the public to shame all of us because of this guy's religious, whatever. Fodder.

HARRIS: And the thing that you should always remember about these things is that there's this idea of them as being clean.

But what McRaven was talking about was that bullets are never clean. If you were going to livestream something like this, it's going to be gruesome, and it's going to be something that people won't forget.

And that's both in a sense of creating a martyr out of somebody.

CORNISH: But isn't that the point? It's deterrence, he says. The -- Hegseth says, anyway.

HARRIS: Will that deter people?

ROCHA: Or will it incite people?

DAVIS: I think yes, that's what I think.

CORNISH: Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about federal agents who have raided the home of a congresswoman. She claims the president is just targeting his political enemies. And you're going to hear what the president says about that.

And tomorrow night, Erin Burnett is going to moderate a new CNN Jubilee town hall. Senate candidate James Talarico comes face-to-face with Texas voters. So, is that going to help this Democrat turn the red state blue?

You can watch it on CNN. It's also streaming live with an all-access subscription.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)