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Some Republicans Tell Ramaswamy to Take Down Ad; Iowa GOP Senate Candidate Aska Supporters for Gas Money; AOC: Next Congress Needs to Investigate Top Trump Officials. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 23, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: And even less room to work. But they had already talked through what to do when if mother went into labor.

[06:00:07]

Both mom and baby Lacy came through safely. And today, the medics will get a chance to meet them again.

Excellent work there. Above and beyond.

That does it for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. I'm Brad Smith. CNN THIS MORNING with Audie Cornish starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Today in the group chat, the president says, "Thank God" for this midterm attack ad that dredged up a candidate's childhood abuse. What will voters in Ohio decide?

Plus, AOC campaigning for Democrats and talking about subpoenas and investigations after the election. Does this risk alienating some voters?

And both parties pump cash into Mississippi, with the president headed there next week? Is this deep-red state really in play?

And why is Trump picking a fight with the King?

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Here is where we begin in the final weeks of the election. Are these brutal ads fair game? President Trump thinks so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: All I know is Amy Acton's mother said horrible things about Amy Acton, calling her a liar and other things. And unreliable. A lot of very bad things.

And I say that she's fair game. And I know one thing. If it were my mother, I'd be fair game. And you know that. And you know that well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Not everyone feels that way, especially about the ad that Trump is actually talking about, because it features the estranged mother of Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for governor in Ohio.

So, Acton and her brother were actually taken out of her mother's custody at a young age after their stepfather was charged with sexually abusing and raping Acton.

Now, Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate who put the ad out, and some voters say this actually solidifies their vote for Acton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's -- it's just horrible. And I don't want that type of person making decisions about my life. It just made me feel that he is not a good leader at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be voting for Amy Acton, and it's just gotten a little ugly in the last couple of days. So, that kind of seals the deal for me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope it's going to backfire on him. Like the tone from the top. Like, the president sets the tone for this country and him -- slurs and name calling. And it's just -- can we just get back to, like, neighborly decency?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, today in the group chat, we've got Noel King, co-host and editorial director of the "Today, Explained" podcast; Carine Hajjar, editorial board member at "The Washington Post"; and Luke Thomas, journalist and host of the "Morning Combat" podcast. Thank you, guys, for being here.

People have been talking about this ad all week. The difference here is that the president weighing in. And he specifically said something that makes a lot of sense to me, which is if it was me, they'd be playing this ad.

And I think it's true, because --

NOEL KING, CO-HOST AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, "TODAY, EXPLAINED" PODCAST: For sure, yes.

CORNISH: -- Mary Trump, whoever --

KING: Yes.

CORNISH: -- there are Trump relatives that come out and -- and talk about him.

What do you make of how he's defending it? It's him and, of course, J.D. Vance.

KING: Right. Not surprising. Not surprising.

CORNISH: He and Ramaswamy share staff, actually, in terms of Vance.

KING: Exactly. CORNISH: Like, who used to work for Vance, work for Vivek.

KING: They don't -- they don't. These are not people. Trump, in particular, is somebody who doesn't mind getting in the mud. And so, the defense is not surprising.

To me, Vivek is the surprising one. I mean, this is a man who, for a long time, sort of campaigned on positivity, a kind of Reaganesque vision of America as a place --

CORNISH: Nikki Haley would disagree. But --

KING: Yes, that's fair, that's fair. He has had his enemies. He has also, I think, along the way, convinced a lot of people. And in this instance, I think he is simply -- he's off the rails.

CORNISH: The thing is, Trump would write out something like this, right? When you think of his initial campaign, the "grab them by the genitalia" comment that came out. His point of view is not like -- like, oh no, we need to back away from something.

LUKE THOMAS, HOST, "MORNING COMBAT" PODCAST: Well, I mean, this is also the all-star of the Epstein files. Are we surprised that he went to the mat to defend child rape? I mean, this is sort of who we have here.

An interesting note to consider here. It's a smaller one, but it's kind of instructive about, like, the sincerity of the position.

Dana White, UFC president, his mother wrote a tell all book trashing him. Now, again, I'm not comparing that to the Acton situation, which has its own kind of horrors. Nor am I cosigning the criticisms of the mother. I'm just sort of pointing out that guy got an event on the White House lawn.

I mean, the idea that he is especially bothered by people who can't amass the kind of character witness required -- granted, this is leadership that's a friend. Nevertheless, you understand the point, the contradiction inherent.

[06:05:01]

All of this, like there's no line of decency. It's absolutely irrelevant to him.

But the thing is, it's also just strategically poor. Vivek had much higher negatives relative to Acton before the polling started and when this ad came out. I can only imagine that's going to exacerbate, in a sense.

CORNISH: One of the things I'm curious about is the idea of Republicans who are not sticking by the team and doing what they're supposed to do, right? That's the J.D. Vance argument. Stop whining.

I'm going to play an example of one of these "whiners": Ohio's Republican governor, who is also criticizing the ad. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R), OHIO: The ad, on its face, is deeply, deeply troubling. So, it's wrong to run this ad. I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to -- to take this down. It's just -- it's just -- it's just wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And then the other thing, strangely, is Ashley Hinson, a Republican Iowa Senate candidate who was this week on ABC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY HINSON (R), IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: It's ridiculous. It's -- it's absolutely the wrong tone. Iowans want -- and probably Ohioans -- want someone who's going to be an empathetic leader. And I think it sends absolutely the wrong message.

And I would bet that Amy Acton and I probably don't agree on anything either, but like, the last thing I would want, as someone who's running against, is to force them to relive a childhood trauma.

So, I think -- again, I think it's wrong, and it should come down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, are these Republicans whiners? And will MAGA voters punish them for not taking one for the team? And not going along.

CARINE HAJJAR, EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I mean, they certainly shouldn't, because they're onto something here. I think my idea of an Ohio voter is not somebody who would -- who this ad would resonate with, especially the type of Ohio voter that you're trying to win over.

CORNISH: Yes.

HAJJAR: I think that the --

CORNISH: Remember, the "immigrants eat pets" thing? I mean, that's J.D. Vance. Like, it was about Ohio. It feels like -- you're smiling. Does anyone else remember this?

THOMAS: Absolutely.

HAJJAR: Of course.

CORNISH: That's what I'm saying. It worked. Nobody was like, is that true? Like it was just sort of us in the media, asking if that's true, and voters being like, points were made.

HAJJAR: The problem in the -- I mean, the problem that Ohio voters are facing right now, in particular, is tariffs; is inflation. They deserve a substantive policy debate, not -- I mean, this is the culmination of what has been, actually, a very nasty race in Ohio for a while now.

And when I was in Ohio, I actually visited J.D. Vance's hometown in the last year. And people were complaining, really, about inflation and tariffs.

So, they're going to have some tough questions. I mean, not just we've talked a lot about decency already, but they're going to have questions about Trump administration policies.

And so, I think an ad like this doesn't just give them another reason to wonder, Are these people looking out for us?

And on Vivek in particular, I spent some time with him in 2024 during the -- in the lead-up to 2024, during the primaries. And something -- it wasn't just his positivity. It was also how issue-oriented he was.

And his appeal to a lot of voters -- I was in New Hampshire at the time -- was that he was really eloquent and focused on the issues. He was presenting policy, and he was arguing policy.

And that is certainly not what's happening in that ad.

CORNISH: Remember, he also -- like that's New Hampshire, right? Just being from New England, I could see the appeal there.

He also got afoul of MAGA voters, talking about H1-B visas and talking about American culture and people being lazy. Like to me, he's on shaky ground. He's not Trump doing an indecent thing. He's like a guy that already, there are some MAGA voters --

KING: He's also Indian-American in Ohio. Let's not pretend that that doesn't matter.

CORNISH: Because it's come up.

KING: Because it's come up.

CORNISH: It's come up. Yes. OK. Coming up --

THOMAS: I'll be curious to see what the -- when the voting totals come out, how it broke out by gender. Because I would imagine this is going to be -- I mean, I cannot speak for the panel, but I --

CORNISH: No, we don't know.

THOMAS: -- massively unpopular with women.

CORNISH: We don't know. We don't know. And where people are talking about suburban women, in particular, in all kinds of states right now.

So, you're absolutely right.

I want to talk about also Iowa. Republican candidate there had to ask her voters for gas money. Now, Trump is campaigning for her. We're going to talk about how this all worked out.

And then, Abdul El-Sayed bench presses on the Vic Mensa podcast. We're going to talk about his attempt to appeal to young black voters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:30]

CORNISH: We all need a little help with gas money right now. And one Republican candidate in Iowa is asking voters directly for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HINSON: So, I want you to channel that into action in getting your friends out to vote. Help give us a little gas money for our bus. Make sure we're showing up at the polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, gas prices in Iowa, like the rest of the country, are up since the start of the war in Iran. Diesel prices even more now, more than $6 a gallon.

And it's something Ashley Hinson has called Trump out on, posting last month, "Iowans shouldn't have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran."

Last night, she still stood side-by-side with Trump on the stage in Sioux Falls. So, we're going to talk about that moment here with the group chat.

First of all, her opponent has a lot to say on X, saying, "Multimillionaire Ashley Hinson voted seven times to continue the war in Iran that's driving up gas and diesel prices for Iowans. Now she's begging for gas money" and says that's shameful. Help me make sense of this.

KING: I think it's a thing that you say just comes out accidentally. Like I -- I bet she wishes she had asked for money for snacks or something. Like gas was just the one. It was the one thing she shouldn't have said. And she did. And I bet she regrets it.

On the other hand, it is 2026. It's the "why not?" election. Will anyone remember this?

CORNISH: Why not? OK, here's an example. Tom Llamas, anchor, "NBC Nightly News," actually got to talk to Ashley Hinson about this. Here's how it went down.

[06:15:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM LLAMAS, ANCHOR, "NBC NIGHTLY NEWS": I just saw a report that said you were asking your supporters for gas money for your bus. Is that how bad things are?

HINSON: What I'm hearing from Iowans is that they want a leader, a common sense mom who's going to focus on their priorities, because there are a lot of Iowans who are being priced out of the American dream. I understand that I am focused on that.

LLAMAS: Do you feel on your campaign -- I mean, you noticed that the gas prices are high?

HINSON: I'm focused on these solutions, driving down energy prices. That's what we all want to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAJJAR: I mean, I think it is just a blip, to be honest. Agreed that it's an unfortunate choice. Snacks would have been more strategic for sure.

But I was in Iowa recently for the Iowa Ohio state game, and Josh Turek was there, the Democrat running in this race. And the issues, I mean, this is one of his strong issues.

The other one is especially trade wars. And Iowa is an interesting state to watch, in particular, because it is really receiving the brunt of a lot of these kitchen-table issues because of its sort of economy with so much farming.

So, tariffs and -- and just trade wars and all the uncertainty there, is creating a lot of chaos for farmers. And that was a big complaint.

CORNISH: I'm going to put up the polling right now. It's extremely close, looking at likely voters.

And you're saying they sort of received. Iowans voted for Trump.

HAJJAR: Yes.

CORNISH: They are now living in Trump's economy. And I think that, while a slip of the tongue, it's a slip of the tongue because it's a reality, right? Like, yes, she actually has to sign checks that are like, how much was gas for the bus? And I'm sure it was in the back of the mind.

THOMAS: It's just hard to reconcile that. I mean, I agree with the panel that that -- here is someone who has consistently voted, essentially, for tariffs or certainly not against them.

And then with the Iran War, I know her opponent and her have some differing sense about what she did and didn't do, but pretty consistently getting behind it, or at least not getting in front of it, I should say.

And then she has this comment. There's just not a lot of recovery possible other than, to your point, the passage of time itself. And the --

CORNISH: But can I put out something? I don't know. Please hit me up in the comments on socials. Is there an instance where we have seen rural voters, or rural white voters, in particular, actually punish Trump at the ballot box? That is not clear to me, that they vote that way. KING: I do not recall such a thing in the last decade. You know, this

has happened before, in the sense that the American economy has been bad before under President Trump. It happened during the pandemic. Various reasons.

And the question always is, will people punish Trump's Republican Party? And look at where we are.

So often, the answer is no. And I think that this is why everyone is so curious this year about whether it is finally a breaking point.

HAJJAR: Well, I mean, rural voters did -- a lot of rural voters did vote for the president, because he was voicing and giving voice to the issues that they were feeling.

The problem is now he hasn't solved them. And so, I think it's interesting, because it's not just Iowa. But you're looking at other rural states where Republican Senate candidates are effectively having to run against the president while also standing next to him. It's a very awkward situation.

I think Iowa is a good example for the tariffs. But other -- I'm thinking about Michigan. I'm thinking about Maine, where tariffs are a huge issue, especially with the trade war with Canada.

And you effectively have Republicans there, trying to thread the needle with, I'm a Republican, but also, I'm basically running against the president's policies.

THOMAS: Also, Trump was in Sioux City, I believe, last night, the night before. I mean, this is deep red Western territory. I mean, I we -- you say punished by --

CORNISH: I mean, will they stay home?

THOMAS: What does that mean? Voting for Dems. Yes, exactly.

CORNISH: Or will they vote for Dems?

THOMAS: Voting for Dems? I don't know. Staying home, I think, is a real threat.

CORNISH: OK, so after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about Democrats. What are their plans, if they do manage to flip Congress. They're talking about impeachment. We're going to talk about who.

And then, Democrats have their eye on Mississippi, as well. So, do they actually have a shot in that state? It hasn't elected a Democratic senator since the '80s.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:19]

CORNISH: So, Democrats are already making plans to target key members of the Trump administration if they're able to take back the House in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Fourth, day one, we need to be opening investigations into the heads of every single one of these agencies, and we need to hold them accountable. I'm talking subpoenas. I'm talking investigations. I'm talking, if necessary. And if the evidence leads us there to court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, topping that list, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Democrats are also keen on investigating the alleged weaponization of the Justice Department and at the FBI.

The group chat is back. Luke, applause in that room. Do voters actually want that, though? The voters that we're now targeting, these red states, suburban, moderate, et cetera.

THOMAS: I think that the polling seems to be indicating, at least for now, that there is a growing appetite for government that is not so heinously corrupt. You are seeing it in a variety.

It's asked in different ways and through different polls, but people are now becoming sensitive to it. The way in which the Trump family has enriched themselves, which is really just one kind of corruption, has certainly made a lot of attention.

But there's been a lot of just obviously, infighting within the administration, but poor performance in other ways. A lot of scandal- plagued issues following them.

People are rightly beginning to observe that this is a problem. And I'll just say, too, like legislatively, what would you expect?

Even if the Dems take back the House and the Senate, what can they realistically achieve if Trump is just going to veto everything, and you don't get Supreme Court reform?

Well, not a lot, probably. But what you can do is begin to hammer these issues, stopping judicial appointments. And in this particular case, going after the corruption that exists.

And I think, frankly, if we don't do that, we will not have much of a republic left to save.

[06:25:06]

HAJJAR: Look, I agree that this is, in a lot of ways, a corruption election. It is polling at highs we haven't seen for decades.

People are really clocking the fact. And in some -- in some polls, people are rating corruption even above inflation and gas as a concern.

But that being said, look, it's a great talking point for an election. Obviously, the base is frustrated about it. But if Democrats take Congress and go into this and only focus on investigations and still don't have an actual solution to affordability issues, inflation, they can run on that right now. Because Trump isn't winning voters over on those issues.

But Democrats lost on those issues in the last election. So, they're going to need to go in and actually have something to show for it, if they want to run in '28 on the kitchen table issues.

THOMAS: I fully agree that there has to be a vision for the Democrats, which they don't really have right now. There's a lot of infighting between the left flank and the centrist flank. What is our view on Israel? What is our view on the Iran War? Because some of the Dems are actually in favor of it, or at least some version of it.

So, they have to iron that out.

But there's no world where you can pump the brakes on investigating this kind of lawlessness and expect to hold your Dem base. It won't happen.

CORNISH: Well, there's also all of the contracts people may want to look at, maybe at ICE, right, where under Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski -- we're going to talk about that later.

DOGE alone, given so many of those firings, ended up in court, but that's not what we're talking about. They're talking about Pete Hegseth.

KING: That's what's so interesting here.

CORNISH: Hold on. Here's Speaker Jeffries. I want you to tell me. Translate for me.

HAJJAR: Listen to the man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Donald Trump needed to fire this guy a year or so ago, and I first called for that.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, you think the votes will be there to impeach him?

JEFFRIES: I think there's a reason why Republicans raced out of town to avoid holding that impeachment vote, because they know Pete Hegseth has been a failure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: I don't know about a failure, but looking at public polling, do you approve of the way Pete Hegseth is handling his job as secretary of defense, are polling finding 66 percent say no.

KING: Right. Pete Hegseth is uniquely unpopular. The war in Iran is uniquely -- the war in Iran, and all that it has wrought, is uniquely unpopular.

Pete Hegseth has seemed throughout like a guy who is in over his head, who is in disarray, who is making decisions based on his gut.

CORNISH: Not to Trump.

KING: Right. But it's 2026. And so, it's like, well, who cares what Trump thinks?

And I don't mean that to be flip. What I mean is it is interesting that voters care about corruption. They do. Pete Hegseth is not a guy who you associate with corruption. He's a guy you associate with getting us into an unpopular war and not being able to bench press. Right?

So -- so where -- what does that have to do with corruption? I think what the Democrats need is one person who they can say, we're going to go after this guy.

So, pick the guy who is uniquely unpopular for all the mess, use his name again and again and again. I think the corruption stuff is going to be a lot harder.

CORNISH: You know what that reminds me of? Kind of the, under the Darrell Issa age, of talking about Benghazi, talking about -- like, there were various sort of investigations that Republicans were very good at sort of holding hearings about and oversight about and really staying focused.

KING: Same name again and again and again and again.

CORNISH: Right. OK. In the meantime, these headlines, I'm going to show you, everybody's lawyering up as they get ready for this. So, we're going to talk more on this topic, and we're going to talk about Trump's Justice Department.

Coming up next, they're going to be opening a criminal probe into Corey Lewandowski.

And later on CNN, Michigan gas prices. This time, they're skyrocketing, up $0.17 in a day. So, we're going to talk about the effects on the races there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)