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U.S. Midterms Countdown; West Bank Tensions; Residents Rally against Plans for Kentucky Data Center; AI Helps Find Security Flaw Affecting 70 Percent of the Internet; Zelenskyy Views U.S. Partnership as Critical to Ukraine; Non-Union Protests in France Prohibited on Saturday; Trump Admires the Male Physique. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired October 22, 2026 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to the second hour of the show. I'm Lynda Kinkade, coming to you live from
Atlanta.
And we, of course, are less than two weeks away from the U.S. midterm elections with control of Congress at stake.
Now this hour, the final campaign push is in full swing in key battleground states. Right now in Savannah, Georgia, the state's Democratic senator, Jon
Ossoff, and fellow Democrat, Elissa Slotkin from Michigan, are holding an event to mobilize volunteers for door-to-door voter outreach.
In Flint, Michigan, Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is holding a rally with the Democratic Women's Caucus and president Trump is heading to Iowa today
as he continues his seven states in seven days campaign blitz.
On Wednesday, he stumped in South Carolina for Republican Senate candidate Darline Graham, whom he picked -- handpicked to run to replace her late
brother, Lindsey Graham.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, ladies and gentlemen of South Carolina, the golden age of America is upon us, but you must get out and you must vote for Darline and
Republicans. And just -- you're going to be happy. I tell you, you're going to look back.
Years from now, you're going to say it was truly one of the greatest votes you ever made, high quality person. And she's going to be great. She's
going to be great. She's going to be great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, let's get the latest from CNN's Julia Benbrook. She joins us live from outside the White House.
Good to see you there. So you know, our recent CNN polling certainly shows that the Democrats are in a stronger position heading into these midterm
elections.
Just what states, though, could actually swing blue?
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a good question. And there are several to watch. President Donald Trump has been out on the campaign trail
throughout the month and he really kicked things off, though, in some unusual places.
He had campaign stops in Oklahoma and in Alabama and he has continued that pattern of visiting primarily conservative strongholds this week. So far,
he has had stops in Texas, North Carolina and, then, as you pointed out there in South Carolina. That's where he was stumping for Darline Graham.
Darline was appointed to finish her brother Lindsey Graham's term after he unexpectedly died in July. And her campaign performance has been heavily
scrutinized, as Republicans there in the state look to help bolster her.
Trump, though, says that he's not worried about it as long as he is out there supporting her. He thinks she's not only going to win but win big.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Darline, you're going to win big. Darline, you're going to win big. Darline, I saw some good numbers for you. And as you'll see, you're going
to see some very good numbers for me too. I get good numbers. I get good polls but I'm not running. But I am running, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BENBROOK: And that is something that we have heard repeatedly from the president, to pretend like he is on the ballot. An RNC official tells me
that all these events, these campaign events that he's been appearing at, have been focused on turnout, really working to push Republicans to the
polls.
And at a time that the midterm elections seem to be tilting toward Democrats, now this is a strategy that some Republicans hope still
resonates as Trump's approval rating has hovered at all-time lows.
In fact, a recent CNN poll found it at just 32 percent, with broad voter dissatisfaction when it comes to key issues like the economy and the
overall state of the country.
Now roughly three-quarters of those polled said that they see these midterm elections as their chance to have a change, to enact change in Washington.
And over the last couple of years, Republicans have had control of the White House, the Senate and the House.
So any change in that dynamic would have a big impact on Trump's next two years in office. And a number of Republican lawmakers, particularly those
involved in House races, have privately acknowledged to CNN that they are concerned about the growing frustrations that they're seeing, especially
when it comes to working class voters.
As the prices at the pump, the prices at the grocery store have skyrocketed.
[10:05:05]
Now Trump continues this campaign blitz this evening. He is going to be speaking in Iowa tomorrow. We expect him in Florida. And then over the
weekend, stops in Georgia and Michigan.
KINKADE: All right, Julia Benbrook outside the White House, good to have you with us. Thanks so much.
Well, fights over prayer and loyalty to America dominated the Michigan Senate debate between the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, and the
Republican, Mike Rogers. Now this contest will help decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. The debate got really personal and some of the
attacks were quite ferocious. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE ROGERS (R-MI), U.S. SENATE NOMINEE: If you are going to go to the United States Senate, we need to know, are you for America or are you for
these terrorist groups overseas?
You can grin and you can smile and you can talk real pretty. But I'm going to tell you what, that is a risk to our national security.
ABDUL EL-SAYED (D-MI), U.S. SENATE NOMINEE: To bring into a question my commitment to the Constitution is really beneath you. I am proud of
America. I'm proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: I want to welcome CNN's Stephen Collinson to break it all down for us.
Good to see you, Stephen. So let's start there in Michigan, possibly one of the best chances for the GOP to pick up a seat.
What is your read on how that may play out?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a fascinating race. The Democrats have to win a net four seats to take back
the Senate. they're doing quite well according to the polls, as Julia was saying, in a lot of Republican states.
But Michigan is a state where they actually hold the seat. There's an outgoing senator. They cannot afford to lose this and still really cling
onto many hopes of winning the Senate.
So this is a rare place where they're playing defense. As you saw there, Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate, he is trying to effectively
disqualify Abdul El-Sayed as a potential senator, to create doubts in the minds of voters.
He's using some pretty hardball tactics there, considering that El-Sayed is a Muslim, born in Michigan. He's trying to create an impression that he's
somehow not an authentic American.
Abdul El-Sayed, his major tactic is to pin Rogers to president Donald Trump, the poorly performing economy in Michigan and to say that, if you
vote for him, you're getting a rubber stamp for Trump.
So this is a very close race. It's also very important because El-Sayed is a progressive. He beat a more moderate Democratic candidate, who many in
the party thought was a more suitable general election candidate in the primary, Haley Stevens.
If the progressives win this, their argument going into the 2028 election is that, if we can win here with a Muslim candidate under this kind of
attack from Rogers and from Trump, we can win anywhere. So this has also the potential to shape the 2028 Democratic presidential race.
KINKADE: And, Stephen, I want to look at Ohio's governor's race, which has been overshadowed by Vivek Ramaswamy's controversial ad, which, of course,
features the estranged mother of the Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. I just want to play some sound of what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY ACTON (D-OH), GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE: You know, I'd hoped he wouldn't sink this low. But, of course, he did.
I had a childhood of extreme physical abuse and sexual abuse. As a kid, my brother and I, are frequent fliers and children's services, finally removed
after a grand jury saw evidence that was so, so, so shocking that we were removed from my mother's custody at the age of 12.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: So Acton says she hopes that the controversy will open the broader conversation around trauma and abuse.
Could this ad actually end up hurting Ramaswamy's campaign?
COLLINSON: That's what a lot of Republicans believe. By pulling up this clearly traumatic history of Acton as a young girl, what he was trying to
do was create an impression, with that video from her estranged mother, who called her a liar, that she couldn't be trusted to run Ohio.
The problem is that this is, you know, one of the lowest actual campaign tactics I can remember in a long time. And that is probably going to have
the effect of alienating many of the voters that Ramaswamy needed to win over in the middle to try and come from behind in this Ohio governor's
race.
So I think a lot of Republicans are really thinking, well, this was a real own goal here. Vice president JD Vance was in Ohio yesterday.
[10:10:00]
He didn't defend the content of the video but he acted in a very Trumpian way, attacking Republicans who he said were whining about an ad and not
talking enough about Democrats refusing to give an inch to the media or the Democrats.
But in the end, I think, if Acton wins this race, this video and this controversy that followed it will be seen as the final blow to the
Republican campaign of Ramaswamy.
KINKADE: And, of course, the Senate race in Ohio is also interesting. You've got the Democrat, Sherrod Brown, leading the Republican, Jon Husted.
But Trump's remarks about the Republican there have been fascinating, very unusual in the way he's focused on the Senate senator's physique. I just
want to play some of that sound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I looked at his ass. And then I looked at his legs and I said, his ass is like, it's like a pile of muscle. Then I looked at his legs and I
said, man, his feet are big. Then I looked at his shoulders and I tapped him on the shoulder and it actually hurt my hand. It was like a piece of
steel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: I mean, that was just one sound bite from one rally. But he has mentioned the senator's physique many times.
Why is he talking about that when voters really are so concerned about the cost of living right now?
COLLINSON: Yes, it is exceedingly bizarre. And I think it's perhaps a symptom of a president who now feels almost completely liberated to say and
do whatever he wants, not that it's going to help Republicans much with the questions that voters have in this election.
If you look at the people behind him in that clip, it was very interesting. They were laughing. It was almost that they couldn't believe what he was
saying.
So if there is a logical tactic here, I think it's that Trump bound himself in 2016 to base voters by saying things that many of them thought no one
else would say, extreme rhetoric in many cases on immigration and China and the economy and other issues.
He seems to be trying to create that rebel sense again in this election, to try and rekindle what made him popular with the base voters, to try and
convince them to go out and vote for Republicans with him nominally on the ticket one last time.
He's not running but he's -- this is a very important election to him. So there is some reason to think, OK, he's got some plan here. But it seems to
be a plan that's completely at odds with what anyone would say Republicans need to do in this election.
And that is convince voters that the economy, gas prices are going to come down and things are going to get a lot better.
KINKADE: Yes, maybe he doesn't believe that is the case, at least not anytime soon.
COLLINSON: Yes.
KINKADE: Stephen Collinson, good to see you. Thanks so much.
Well, Texas has long been a Republican stronghold but, this year, Democrats see a potential opening as voters voice frustration on the economy,
immigration enforcement and, of course, the war with Iran. CNN's John King reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Corpus Christi Bay, Southeast Texas, a spot on the map that was supposed to
be a safe harbor for Republicans this year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm calling on behalf of James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa and Democrats down the ballot (ph).
KING (voice-over): Supposed to be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're asking for your support, for your vote.
KING (voice-over): It's crunch time and Nueces County Democrats are bursting with energy, believing even ruby-red Texas might be part of a
giant midterm message.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Connect with each other and figure out what we need to do ahead.
KING (voice-over): The governor's race is tight, so is a nasty Senate clash. And the House race here in Texas 34, a toss-up too despite election-
year redistricting, Texas Republicans thought would paint it red.
This picture does speak a thousand words. The Speaker of the House trying to save his narrow majority, looking out at the very reason he is on the
road non-stop. Yes, it's a hot sweltering weekday but still a tiny crowd. Republicans are worried about enthusiasm, worried about turnout, worried
about a big swing blue from Latino voters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say that Texas is going to turn blue, is it true?
CROWD: No.
KING (voice-over): The Politics bar is in the slice of Corpus Christi added to the redrawn 34th. Four friends around the table, two Democrats and
two Republicans.
KING: So let's skip the parties and the names for a minute.
[10:15:02]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
KING: Raise your hand if you think things need to change. OK, so that's everybody at the table.
KING (voice-over): Republicans Milton Reyna and Richard Contreras in a very different mood from our first chat here eight months ago.
MILTON REYNA, TEXAS VOTER: I don't trust what's being said right now. I think we've been told the same thing over and over again and we haven't
seen any results, any action from it. And yes, I am disappointed.
RICHARD CONTRERAS, TEXAS VOTER: Our war is the problem, to be honest with you. I think we're struggling with that and we need to get out of that. We
need to finish it and move on.
KING (voice-over): Still on Team Abbott for governor.
CONTRERAS: I like Abbott.
REYNA: I like Abbott too.
KING (voice-over): But Republican Senate nominee, Ken Paxton turns their stomachs.
KING: You're a Republican and you're having a hard time in a race that could determine which party controls the United States Senate.
CONTRERAS: I need to be an American first. I think, honestly and I have to make that decision based on character. And right now, Paxton's character is
just not doing it.
KING (voice-over): This side of the table is excited.
KING: Does this time feel actually different that it's possible as opposed to a dream?
RAMON HERRERA, TEXAS VOTER: It does. It does.
ADELITA CAVADA, TEXAS VOTER: I think it's different.
KING: Ramon Herrera is betting on a big swing in the Latino vote.
HERRERA: We need to stop Trump from everything that he's doing. It's not working out for us.
CAVADA: Yes, I'm saying --
KING (voice-over): And Adelita Cavada sees another positive for Democrats.
CAVADA: I've seen young people more excited this time on the line in person.
KING (voice-over): The new 34th stretches 150 miles from Corpus Christi to the Mexican border. Kingsville is conservative, working class, more than 70
percent Hispanic. The lines for the Kingsway Family Church food bank keep getting longer.
PASTOR STEVE MARTINEZ, TEXAS VOTER: You know, the economy right now has been hard but like from people, you ask people right now, food is getting
expensive, gas and then in our community right now, lately, our electric utilities have gotten real expensive.
KING (voice-over): Pastor Steve Martinez votes his values. Abortion, gay and transgender rights matter most to him and he will vote Republican. But
at the moment, prices matter most to many of his congregants.
MARTINEZ: Just a while ago, I think one guy just was in line. He's like, man, I'm just struggling. The economy is hard. You know, it's like, what do
I do?
KING (voice-over): Plus, a lot of anger at ICE enforcement. Even Trump supporter Martinez says is too aggressive and is reaching way beyond the
bad guys.
MARTINEZ: A lot of people's decision is going to be now because of what the big -- ICE has been just hard on a lot of families.
KING: And if their decision is made by that, then they're voting for Democrats. They're voting against Trump, right?
MARTINEZ: Yes.
CHRISTINA ALVAREZ, (D-TX) CAMPAIGN STAFF: (Speaking foreign language).
KING (voice-over): Christina Alvarez, among the campaign workers walking door-to-door in working-class neighborhoods, vital to Democratic hopes.
ALVAREZ: I'm here on behalf of Vicente Gonzalez for Congress. Sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's my man.
ALVAREZ: Oh, he's your man. Awesome. That's good to hear.
KING (voice-over): But a few doors down, a reminder every vote matters.
ALVAREZ: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
ALVAREZ: OK. Undecided.
KING (voice-over): This neighborhood is a bit more upscale. Daisy Alcazar and her husband bought here eight years ago.
ALCAZAR, TEXAS VOTER: This is home.
KING: But you say at the moment home doesn't always feel like home.
ALCAZAR: There's a lot of fear in the community.
KING: Even here?
ALCAZAR: Yep. People are inside their houses, not going outside unless they need to for survival.
KING: Ten or twelve?
ALCAZAR: Ten. Your reading skills are not --
KING: I didn't even look at the box. That's the box.
(LAUGHTER)
KING (voice-over): La Pale is Alcazar's business. Traditional Mexican ice cream treats.
KING: This is what most people would think of as the American dream. Family with immigrant roots, starts a business, employs people, makes their
community richer in every way.
ALCAZAR: I'm proud. I'm proud to be Mexican. I'm proud to represent our culture. I'm proud to grow and scale the business. But we have never seen
this before. We have never seen our community being hunted down in the streets.
And that is the reality of what's happening.
KING (voice-over): Alcazar had to close a couple of shops during COVID. She will continue to sell to grocery stores and to restaurants. But this
last storefront is closing soon.
KING: This right now is worse than the pandemic?
ALCAZAR: Oh, a thousand percent times. Because when there's fear in the community, it paralyzes you. You don't eat and we don't have customers. I
sell ice cream for the love of God. We sell paletas. We are the cherry on the top, where it's joy and the experience here should be joy, should be
happiness. Where the reality is, we don't have customers.
[10:20:00]
KING (voice-over): Alcazar is voting blue in every race she can, hoping to send a message to the president and to the governor.
She urges everyone she sees to vote and to take along family and friends. But she worries that fear will keep people home or the belief it just won't
make a difference.
ALCAZAR: If we get united and we show up, I mean, we could flip everything. The reality is, is it going to happen?
Will my people show up?
We don't know.
KING (voice-over): John King, CNN, Brownsville, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, still to come, a U.S. congressional is -- a U.S. Congress member is released by the Israeli military after being detained in the West
Bank. We'll find out more about what happened there next.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Two people were killed and eight others injured at an airport in Damman, Saudi Arabia, after an attack by
Yemen's Houthi rebels on Wednesday. Well, now the U.S. is ordering some embassy staff and their families in Riyadh to leave. A separate attack on
the Shabab oilfield left two people dead.
In recent weeks, Saudi Arabia has been facing intensifying fire from the Houthi rebels. It's the latest escalation in Yemen's civil war, in which
Saudi Arabia has deployed forces on the government side.
Candidate for U.S. Congress, Brad Lander, is rejecting a claim by the Israeli military that his group was a security risk when they were detained
in the West Bank.
Lander said that he was picking olives with volunteers to protect Palestinian farmers when the incident occurred. The IDF says the harvesters
should have obtained prior approval to pick their olives.
Now Lander has since been released but dozens of volunteers and activists remain in detention. And the acting director for Rabbis for Human Rights,
Anton Goodman, was also detained. He's also been released and joins us now.
Thanks so much for your time.
ANTON GOODMAN?, DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIPS, RABBIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: Thank you for having me on.
KINKADE: So Anton, you were among dozens of volunteers detained by Israeli forces while accompanying Palestinian farmers who were harvesting olives
near Bethlehem. Just take us through what happened.
What did the soldiers say to you?
GOODMAN: So yesterday we arrived in the Palestinian town of Nahalin to help with the olive harvest in an area of land that the Palestinians
haven't been able to reach. And we spent about 1.5 hours on a peaceful olive harvest there until the security forces arrived and presented us with
a closed military order.
The minute that we received this order, we said to them, we'll accept the order and we'll leave the land. However, this was not allowed and we were
detained, massive numbers taken to the police station and held for about nine hours.
KINKADE: So Israeli authorities are saying that your group didn't have the proper, you know, coordination to approve the visa.
[10:25:00]
And that bringing so many activists into this small area was provocative.
What's your response?
Did you seek permission in advance?
GOODMAN: So this is the manipulation of falsehoods that we see around us today. And it's a very sad reality when you can take objective truths and
twist them. And so, in terms of the numbers of activists who were there, there were 70 of us there in an area of land that has hundreds of acres.
Hundreds of acres that are not reached by Palestinian farmers, whether it's the hilltops with the olives or the valley, with the ancient vineyards in
them, they're not being harvested and they're not being cared for.
And so, quite simply, we were a small dot on the horizon there. So we -- our presence did nothing to generate violence or to create conflict,
something that we're seeing across the West Bank with the settler violence that is really rampaging.
KINKADE: Brad Lander, the New York politician, who was among those detained, was reportedly released about three hours later, while other
volunteers were held much longer.
Do you know why people were released at different times and if any of them were formally charged?
GOODMAN: Absolutely. I mean, all of the Israelis were formally charged with trumped-up offenses of entering area A, which is prohibited to Israeli
citizens. But we were never in area A.
There was also charges of disturbing the public order.
And if you'd have come to see yesterday, what disturbing the public order looks like, it looks like a peaceful harvest where there are many
Palestinian farmers and groups of Israeli and American rabbis, academics, people who have contributed to society, coming together in a mark of
solidarity and of human rights.
And so to be charged with the disturbance of the public order is really very offensive. And different people were released at different times
because I don't think the Israeli authorities understood that the people who were there were prominent individuals. And Brad Lander being one of
them.
And this has become an international incident pretty quickly.
KINKADE: Yes. I mean, your organization is Israeli Jewish. You're working to protect these Palestinian farmers. And you say that these farmers have
struggled to reach these olive groves for three years.
Why have they been able to access the land?
And what has changed this year that made your organization accompany them?
GOODMAN: We've been accompanying Palestinian farmers for over 25 years. But this year we see an unprecedented reality of human rights catastrophe
on the ground.
And in order to respond to that, we're bringing something like 120 to 150 volunteers every day to two different locations in the West Bank, working
with many different Palestinian communities who we have deep connections and ties with.
It is an untenable reality when people are not allowed to access their private lands and their olive groves. There's an economic crisis in the
West Bank. People really need this income.
And more than that, it's also a statement about human dignity and basic social constructs of having ownership of land. And so for us, it's very
important to work with our Palestinian partners on this and to bring some sort of human rights-based response at a time when standards have fallen.
KINKADE: And can you give us a sense of how you provide protective presence to the volunteers there, to witness incidents, deter attacks or
perhaps intervene if farmers are threatened?
GOODMAN: The idea of protective presence is an unarmed civilian protection, that our very presence in the area can lower violence and can
be a positive influence for Palestinians to achieve access to their lands and to have some kind of defense of their human rights.
At the moment in the West Bank, as you've seen with the settler terrorism, there is no safety net. There is no number that Palestinians can call. And
this is a very worrying situation because it is spreading to all of us.
And so I would say that the work that we're doing is a call for help but at a much higher level and it is meant to model the fact that there can be
good Israeli-Palestinian relations but they need to be based on human rights.
And the lack of defense of human rights in the West Bank at the moment, in the Occupied Territories, is a crime against humanity.
KINKADE: Anton Goodman, we appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for joining us.
GOODMAN: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, still to come, a security vulnerability that could affect 70 percent of websites. We're going to bring you the details on how
researchers used AI to find a critical flaw.
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[10:30:00]
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KINKADE (voice-over): Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade in Atlanta. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Good to have your company. These are the
headlines this hour.
Two people have died. Eight others injured after an Iranian-aligned Houthi rebel group attacked an airport in Damman, Saudi Arabia. A strike in a
Saudi oil field also killed two and injured two others. It comes as Saudi Arabia has been facing intensifying fire by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The French president says protests not organized by trade unions will be banned on Saturday, when a fresh wave of demonstrations has been organized.
Last weekend saw the worst rioting in France in years.
Protests began over the cost-of-living crisis and cuts to education but have spiraled nationwide. Emmanuel Macron also rejected comments by Donald
Trump, who this week claimed that France was being burned down by migrants and jihadists.
President Trump picks up his seven states in seven days campaign blitz with a rally in Iowa later today. On Wednesday, he stumped in South Carolina for
Senate candidate Darline Graham. The rally was interrupted by a handful of protesters, whom Mr. Trump called "serious losers" as security had them
removed.
KINKADE: AI and data centers have emerged as the focus of many voters' frustrations ahead of the midterms, particularly in Kentucky, where Meta
plans to build a major AI facility. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan meets some of the locals who are determined to stop it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE MCGOWAN, ACTIVIST, HUMANS FIRST: We are responding to this huge data center overreach, what looks like an invasion across our country, this
explosion.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in Maysville, Kentucky, a Trump stronghold, activists and locals have gathered to protest
the building of a massive AI data center by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not all progress is good, all right?
O'SULLIVAN: President Trump recently -- I think he said, you know, communities that don't want AI centers want to stay backward or something
like that.
MCGOWAN: I did -- I did hear that.
O'SULLIVAN: When you hear that, how'd 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.
MORAN: I'm Republican but due to his stance, I feel he's going to cost the Republicans the House and the Senate. Maybe by not big margins. It might be
very slim margins. But he needs to reverse his stance.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Max Moran is among the locals who have organized to oppose the data center.
MORAN: So that is Delsia Bare. She's actually nearly blind in her eyes. She's one of the landowners we have been helping since last year. They felt
coerced into signing these contracts to sell their land.
DELSIA BARE, MASON COUNTY, KENTUCKY LANDOWNER: Zuckerberg and Meta should have never walked out of that courtroom with a dime left in their damn
pockets. Amen.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Delsia and her mother, Ida, live on a 1,200- acre farm a few miles outside of town.
[10:35:00]
The pair made headlines around the world when it was reported they turned down $26 million to sell their land.
IDA HUDDLESTON, MASON COUNTY, KENTUCKY LANDOWNER: They come through the door around May the 2nd, 2025 and said, "We wanted to buy your land for
$35,000 an acre."
O'SULLIVAN: Technically, on the contract, you don't know who's trying to buy your land.
HUDDLESTON: Nope.
BARE: It's a nondisclosure agreement.
O'SULLIVAN: But people here believe it's Mark Zuckerberg. It's Meta.
BARE: Mom goes through the contracts, really, with a fine-tooth comb and says I don't care what you do but get out of this.
O'SULLIVAN: What does the land mean to both of you?
BARE: Freedom.
HUDDLESTON: Yes, life and freedom.
BARE: Should I choose to live totally off of this land that we've got, I could. I wouldn't have to be beholden to anything out there.
O'SULLIVAN: Did they tell you what they wanted to do with the land?
BARE: No, they did not tell us what they wanted to do with the land. They were just in a very big hurry to get it off you as fast as possible.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Trump won this Kentucky county in the last election by a 44-point margin.
BARE: I voted for Trump.
HUDDLESTON: I have every time he's run. I would go questioning it now.
O'SULLIVAN: Trump said if you're against data centers, you're going to end up backward and poor.
BARE: And that pisses you off when you're from Appalachia anyway. You have always been backward and poor.
O'SULLIVAN: Do you think this issue is going to hurt Republicans in the midterms?
BARE: I hope it hurts them.
HUDDLESTON: Maybe they need to be voted out.
BARE: Voted out.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): In this Bible Belt Household, this fight is spiritual.
O'SULLIVAN: For you, it's about more than land. It's --
BARE: It's about humanity. If we don't stop this, there's not going to be a future for humanity. That's anti-human. That's what AI is. Oh, let's let
it make the decision.
But it doesn't have any morals. And it can't be held to God's standards.
O'SULLIVAN: Is there any amount of money Zuckerberg can give you to get the hell out of here?
BARE: Nope.
HUDDLESTON: No.
O'SULLIVAN: Really?
BARE: Really.
HUDDLESTON: Her last words to him was, you may get it but I'll have been a -- you have brought me out of here feet first. You can bring the bulldozers
if you want to. You'll have to bulldoze it down around my head.
O'SULLIVAN: You're really going up against -- it's David and Goliath here.
BARE: But I'll remind you, it only took one stone to bring down a Philistine. One itty-bitty little stone in the right place can bring down
any giant that there is on this planet.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, Kentucky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, cybersecurity researchers say they used AI to expose critical vulnerabilities in a programming code that could affect 70 percent
of all websites. Now the websites around the world temporarily went dark as governments and private operators scrambled to fix their systems.
The security flaw meant hackers could have access sensitive information, including passwords. Well, to unpack what had happened, I'm joined by AI
expert Andrew Grill in London. He's a former global manager partner at IM IBM (ph).
Good to have you with us.
ANDREW GRILL, AI EXPERT: Good to be here.
KINKADE: So Andrew, government and corporate websites around the world face disruption as organizations rush to address these critical
vulnerabilities in what is widely used software. And AI agents essentially helped not only identify the flaw but helped provide the solution.
What makes this striking to you?
Have we reached a stage where AI can uncover security weaknesses at a speed and a scale that fundamentally changes how we protect the internet?
GRILL: We have. So this vulnerability actually has existed for about 14 years. The software, PHP, has been around since 1994, so it's not new. But
two years ago, they thought, yes, we could actually see this happen. But at the time it wasn't possible to actually understand how it would happen.
Now AI, in the last even few months, has become so fast, so powerful, it was able to uncover this in moments. And so what we're seeing today is the
good guys have found out there's a flaw and this is what's happening. CNN website, my own websites all run with PHP.
And so people are now scrambling to patch them so they can't be left vulnerable.
KINKADE: As you mentioned, this flaw was identified a few months ago. I believe it was back in August.
Why did it take until now to get that -- those patch that -- that resolution?
GRILL: Well, probably actually finding how to get into the software that's so old and actually have that fix that's in there, it was actually
embargoed and yesterday it leaked. And so they weren't ready to actually put the fix out there yet.
What happens, these things leak. And so.
[10:40:00]
If the bad guys have access to this then they can actually run a lot faster because, remember, the hackers are also using AI. Just as AI is being used
to find the vulnerabilities and fix them, the criminals out there are doing exactly the same.
In fact, what I'm seeing is that criminals are using AI in far better ways than the good actors are. So we have a battle there of AI versus AI. And we
have to get there first and fix these vulnerabilities.
KINKADE: Yes. And that no doubt will only continue. I do want to turn to Barclays and the news that they are laying off 5 percent of their workforce
-- that's about 5,000 jobs -- by the end of this year. A significant proportion of the reductions affecting support functions.
So Andrew, are we now moving from the AI productivity experiment to a genuine restructuring of the workforce?
GRILL: Well, what I'm seeing is it's ongoing. What AI is doing is actually exposing the inefficiencies that have been in these businesses for a long
time. And until recently, AI wasn't able to pick up the slack.
What I do is, when people ask me, am I going to lose my job through AI?
I ask them to look at their own job, your job, my job and actually slice it into a series of tasks. Some of those tasks can be sliced off and given to
AI. Some of those tasks we need to keep because we need judgment and human intelligence there.
So what we're seeing is the inefficiencies are being exposed. Banks and other organizations are saying, we are now at the point, with AI where it's
at, we can start to take up the slack with these inefficiencies. Unfortunately, that means that whole jobs and lots of tasks will be left
over to AI.
KINKADE: And speaking of tech companies and, you know, the massive fine that Meta has faced, I want to talk about that. The New Mexico judge
ordering Meta to pay $25 billion after a jury found that the company misled consumers about Facebook's privacy practices.
What message does this send to tech companies that believe they can deal with accountability later?
GRILL: Well, it's now 10 years on. And what happened with the Cambridge Analytica, it's the situation that's led to this fine, what we're seeing is
that if you don't handle your consumers' data properly, you don't tell people what you're going to do with their data and you make assumptions,
there will be consequences.
I think in the coming decade, we'll actually see what happened over the last few months with some missteps from OpenAI and Anthropic, where their
agents were in a lab and started hacking things like Hugging Face and Australian databases.
We're going to see a raft of lawsuits because people are saying we're above the law when they're not. These laws still exist. And I think AI companies,
especially, are going to be very careful that they take seriously people's data, people's privacy and what they're doing in the labs.
KINKADE: I'll have to leave it there for now. Andrew Grill, covering plenty of news today for us, we really appreciate it.
GRILL: Good to be here.
KINKADE: Well, still to come, a trial over the death of the football legend Diego Maradona reaches closing arguments in Argentina. We're going
to bring you the latest when we come back.
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[10:45:00]
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KINKADE: Russia and Ukraine are exchanging strikes just hours after president Vladimir Putin told the U.S. that Moscow would be ready to resume
trilateral peace talks with Ukraine and the U.S. in November.
The latest exchange of attacks underscores the challenges facing efforts to end that war. Ukrainian officials say Russia launched at least 21 ballistic
missiles in three separate waves, while Moscow claims it came under attack from 630 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Meantime, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells CNN's Christiane Amanpour why strong ties with the U.S. remain critical and warns against
any move to ease sanctions on Russia. Here's some of that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President, obviously, there's been a lot of spotlight on the latest ruption (sic) in
your relationship with president Trump. He's blaming you. You're saying that he's on the wrong side of history with that diesel deal for Russia.
Are you stepping back from that personal criticism?
Have you been, you know, advised that this might not be the best way to be public about it since you need American help?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have all our partners and it's United States. And we have -- we need to have strong
relations with American administration, with the -- with Congress. And we need bipartisan support.
And this all is very important because it's not about days (ph). It's not about personalities. My attitude to Putin is very clear. I think that, if
we will lift sanctions, we will make him stronger. And that's why I am like a president. It's not something personal between me and president Trump.
And, of course, I'm against of any lifting of sanctions. I always said it to European partners and I said it directly to American administration. I'm
-- of course, I know what I do. I have to strengthen me, my country, my people, my army but not my enemy.
And this is, I think, very clear and fair between us. That's why I know that, if you give something to Putin, he will need everything. He will want
everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: You can see Christiane's full interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 1 pm Eastern. That is 6 pm in London today.
A landmark trial is reaching the final stages in Argentina over the cause of Diego Maradona's death. The Argentine football legend died of heart
failure in 2020 at the age of 60. He was under home care at the time following brain surgery two weeks prior.
Prosecutors allege that his medical team didn't provide adequate care during his recovery. So let's bring in Cecilia Dominguez, who is following
the story from Buenos Aires.
So prosecutors want to hold Maradona's neurosurgeon and six other health care providers responsible.
What are lawyers for the accused saying?
CECILIA DOMINGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. How are you?
We are here and we're working outside the corridor of San Isidro in the province of Buenos Aires, where the trial over Maradona's death has been
taking place for the last six months. And today is the last hearing.
And this is what's happening outside the court in San Isidro. There are fans with flags, trophies that Maradona had the chance to have in his
hands, like the World Cup he won in 1986. There are fans asking for justice because they think that Maradona deserves justice.
The prosecution began its closing last week and are seeking the 12 years in prison for Maradona's neurosurgeon, Leopoldo Luque. The defense teams are
asking for all the defendants to be acquitted. And the date of the verdict is yet to be determined.
And this is what we're seeing outside the courtroom. Today is a very important day. Many people expect, at least, to hear that the judges have a
date until we can -- we can hear a -- the sentence, the verdict, but is still not confirmed.
KINKADE: Cecilia Dominguez, good to have you on the story. There's certainly one that's certainly impacting many people throughout the
country. Thanks very much.
The French president says protests will be banned this weekend unless they are formally organized by a trade union. Major walkouts are anticipated
Saturday, a week after some of France's worst rioting in years.
[10:50:00]
Police today banning protests in parts of Paris and other cities like Lyon. And rallies have also fueled a war of words in the French assembly. A left-
wing lawmaker blames the government for the cost-of-living crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXIS CORBIERE, FRENCH ECONOMIST AND SOCIAL GROUP MP (through translator): We need a comprehensive political response aimed at reducing social
inequalities and addressing the demands of youth and school.
Are you looking for an effective policing strategy?
Start by building a just and equitable social order. Otherwise, it's a strategy for maintaining disorder. We need a political response that runs
radically counter to the budgets you have been imposing on us since 2022 and the one you are still demanding today to the point of absurdity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. There's more news ahead. Stay with us.
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KINKADE: Welcome to the tail end of CONNECT THE WORLD. That's fitting, given our next story. With the midterms less than two weeks away, the U.S.
president appears to have developed a particular fixation. I shall say no more. But here is Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Erstwhile Manhattanite and derriere aficionado President Donald J. Trump, whose approval rating, according to a new CNN
poll, is currently at a bouncy 32 percent, thanks to all his political junk in the trunk.
Is once again making sure voters know that, as far as he's concerned, Ohio junior senator Jon Husted is an unmitigated smoke show.
TRUMP: I'm studying his body. I've never studied the body of a man before. It's not my thing. Nothing wrong with it, of course.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Nothing. I always precede it by saying nothing wrong. But it's never been my thing, to be honest with you. But I looked at his ass.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: And then I looked at his legs. And I said, his ass is like, it's like a pile of muscle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Just to be clear, that was last night in North Carolina, where the president's chosen Senate candidate is so far behind, so to speak, that the
Senate GOP's campaign arm has canceled most, if not all, remaining spending there. It's no heated rivalry. The Democratic candidate in Ohio, Sherrod
Brown, is out in front.
The assman-in-chief says his fixation with Ohio's second-highest- ranking senatorial caboose is just a one-off. It's never been my thing, you heard
him say. But -- and I do emphasize but -- the beauty of the male form is not exactly forbidden fruit for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I never did that with a man before.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: I examined his ass. And then I looked at his shoulders. I looked at his feet. This guy walks through the door. I said, look at this beautiful
guy.
I actually think Mike Collins is a good looking man. Rick Jackson's a very handsome, distinguished, beautiful looking guy. Oh, he's a good looking
guy.
You're not allowed to say that about women or men anymore. It's the end of your political career. But yes, he is a good looking guy.
I wish Tim didn't look that good. You know, he's a very handsome guy. I don't like handsome guys. I started examining his body. I watched up and
down. I looked at his ass.
Is he central casting, by the way?
You can't miss a big, strong, handsome Oklahoma studs. No, I'm looking at the legs there. He's this beautiful guy. He's got legs like tree trunks.
He's a handsome guy, by the way. I didn't -- it's usually not my thing but he is a good looking sucker.
Arnold Palmer was all man. When he took showers with the other pros that came out of there, they said, oh, my God, that's unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:55:09]
COOPER: I'm not sure if the sound you're hearing is Arnold Palmer rolling over in his grave, if that's even possible, or of Senator Husted, giving
back his key to the locker room at Trump Doral.
What I do know is that there's nothing at all unusual and certainly nothing gay about a president, who dances daily to "YMCA" and who publicly pined
for a prize of Betty Buckley in "Cats."
With less than two weeks left to go, there's no telling where this might end up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: My gosh, that was good. Our thanks to Anderson.
And thanks to you for joining us for this edition of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Do stay with CNN. "ONE WORLD" is up next.
END
