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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Abruptly Fires Katie Zacharia After Five Days As White House Press Secretary; Dems Gaining Ground; School Shooting Hero. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 16, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:22]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Terminated. Trump firing his press secretary who's only been on the job for five days, creating more chaos inside the White House with 18 days before the election.
And Democrats picking up momentum. One of the nation's top election forecasters moving 11 more House races in the Democratic direction.
And breaking news on the hero. Authorities are now just this moment releasing new details about the father who took down the gunman who opened fire at an Oregon elementary school, killing three children and a teacher.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening, I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight, fired. President Trump abruptly ousting his press secretary Katie Zacharia after just five days on the job, which. that we believe is the shortest tenure of anyone who has ever held that position in American history. Zacharia was terminated this morning before Trump said this publicly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a nice person, a great person. And, you know, Karoline did a very good job. I think Katie maybe would do, but Katie's off to a start that the news has been so nasty there. I've never seen anything like it, actually. And I said -- I said to her, honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You'd think about it, but I would reconsider.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Trump trying to spin what's been an ongoing distraction of his own doing this week during these crucial final days before the midterms. Sources tell CNN that Trump was embarrassed by the coverage of
Zacharia's first briefing, a briefing which only lasted 14 minutes. Trump advisors called it brutal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE ZACHARIA, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning. Hardworking Americans are lining up and packing arenas to support President Trump and Republicans. It's not hard to see why. He had a historic one-day war and now we are -- have a booming economy and a great relationship with Venezuela, just like he delivers on every promise. So, my president -- excuse me, my husband -- that's a good one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Zacharia was clearly unprepared, but just to be clear here, she was pushed to do that press briefing just hours after she got the job. And she was hired a week ago from as we speak, as I'm speaking a week ago today, by Trump himself. This was all him.
Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACHARIA: I got a wonderful phone call from the chief talent recruiter, the president himself. He loved what a fighter I was for him, Jesse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Zacharia made sure Trump saw that she was fighting for him. She auditioned for this job. According to "Politico", she studied Trump's schedule and Truth Social posts so that she would be on television when he might be watching so that he would see her, that she could get the job.
And by the way, that's a smart strategy. It worked. Trump did it. He hired her.
Now, he did not vet her. That clearly did not happen. That was left to the reporters who quickly uncovered that her backstory and resume didn't add up. Despite calling herself an attorney and reposting headlines that called her an attorney, she never passed a bar.
And those headlines dominated just three weeks before the midterms, leaving Zacharia talking more about herself instead of Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACHARIA: I'll take the bar and see what happens. I knew I wouldn't need the bar in China.
I consulted for a very long time, many people in the field. Is it okay and acceptable if I label myself lawyer?
I'm not being hired as White House counsel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Clearly, this is not what Trump wants the media to be focused on. He doesn't want this story. He wants to be talking about himself at the midterms.
So, Zacharia attempted to clean up this mess by going on Fox News. So she thought that this was a place to clean it all up, everything would be fine. Except for the person that interviewed her, Sean Hannity, pressed her on the KFILE report that you saw here on OUTFRONT last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: You took the bar exam, but you didn't pass the bar exam, correct?
ZACHARIA: Yes, Sean.
HANNITY: Okay, there's a report out tonight that showed 15 social media posts where you identify yourself as an attorney.
ZACHARIA: I think they were retweets and I corrected the record and said that those not endorsing the title, they were retweets of a title that had been given.
HANNITY: Why not just say I went to Pepperdine Law School and then took a different career and I took the bar once and didn't pass it? Why get into this long, drawn-out definition between the -- difference between a lawyer and an attorney? Why only three questions in 14 minutes, and what might you do a little differently going forward?
ZACHARIA: I would love, and I do love questions, and I would love to build a relationship with all of those members of the press corps so there is a substantive component to us having an ability to interact, and I will be very prepared, Sean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katie, do you, and it's a tough question, do you think you still have the confidence of the president?
ZACHARIA: I'm standing here and I was able to travel with him through all of the midterm convention -- or excuse me the midterm rallies and I hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You know, in terms of the Sean Hannity interview, obviously Hannity and Trump are friends. So those pointed questions from Hannity are significant. And at the end of it, you heard Hannity's team actually playing the music to go to commercial, to try to go ahead and end that interview.
But her departure now, Zacharia is gone. And now that leaves the White House with this continuing chaos as the midterms end of the final stretch. Chaos, which of course, just to emphasize here, was caused by Trump. He's the one who made this decision.
"The Washington Post" is reporting that senior White House staff members, including the Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, did not know about Zacharia's hiring until just the night before Trump announced it. So, he did this, he made this decision, and right before it went out to the world, he informed them, including his own chief of staff.
And that leads me to what else Trump is doing tonight, which is trying to tamp down reports that Wiles may also be on the way out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She's been my chief of staff. She's smart. She's tough. She just went through a lot with the cancer surgery and the whole thing, and she recovered, fully recovered, and she's going to be here for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Julia Benbrook is OUTFRONT. She is live in West Palm Beach, Florida, for us tonight.
And Julia, Trump is about to arrive where you are tonight after firing Katie Zacharia after it was turned out to be five days as press secretary. So, what are you learning tonight?
And as those clips that you played really point out there, he was looking for an effective communicator. That communication became more about her than it did this midterm blitz and what he believes that he is achieving for the American people right now. So, it's back to the drawing board when it comes to the role of press secretary.
But President Donald Trump in a brief phone interview with Fox News earlier today, he said that he is in no rush to replace her. That, of course, comes after we learned that Katie Zacharia had been fired from this press secretary role after just five days on the job. And she came in after Karoline Leavitt. There have been several weeks that there was not someone in that position. They have some administration officials fronting some of those briefings, but there was not a specific person really taking that lead there.
There were a number of names floated and out there and discussed. Zacharia, though, seemed to come a little bit out of nowhere. As you pointed out, she's a conservative commentator. Trump had seen her on television. That turned into a bit of an audition.
He thought that she could step into this role. Walking through that though, she started on Monday. She found out late last week, then started on Monday and then that first briefing on Tuesday. It was just a 14-minute briefing. It was stumbling.
She started by giving some prepared remarks, referencing her notes often and then taking questions from just three reporters in that room. So, it ended abruptly.
According to some sources, though, Trump did not think that it went as bad as some others in his orbit did. The interviews that took place later in some friendly territory, some of those Fox News interviews, those, though, led him to believe that she was just not there, not ready for this. In fact, someone said that he described it as not ready for prime time.
But again, the timing of all of this, the focus just weeks away from the midterms. We know he was in Georgia today. He will be traveling to Kentucky tomorrow, this blitz continues, as he makes his case to voters, the case for Republicans and as his approval rating is at an all-time low.
So, the question is, he the most effective communicator or will he find someone else to step into that role as things move quickly?
BURNETT: Yeah, but I know he says he's not in any rush, but. Obviously, the way he hired her would indicate perhaps otherwise. We'll see what happens next.
Julia, thank you very much, as I said in West Palm Beach tonight.
Let's go to Ty Cobb OUTFRONT now, the former Trump White House lawyer.
A lawyer, an attorney, you're all of the above, Ty.
So let me -- let me just get to the core here. He fires Katie Zacharia, White House press secretary. It's five days.
He picked her. He picked her, right? It looks like Susie Wiles found out the night before everybody else did.
[19:10:04]
This was something that there hadn't been taking other people's temperature on. He owns it.
TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: He owns it. And, you know, as you point out, she met the -- she met the key qualification, of course, having filled her pieces on TV with adulation and praise for the president. She met the obsessively loyal idolater standard, which is the essential standard for Trump hires. And, of course, she's blonde, sort of, like Creepy Karoline and, you know, Natalie Harp.
But Trump also thought she was a lawyer, and he was a little surprised. But when Trump says she's been treated unfairly, she hadn't been treated unfairly by the media. She'd been treated unfairly by the president.
The vetting process is there to protect not just the president, but also the candidate. You don't want somebody who is not qualified and is, you know, you're hiring them to fail. And she failed miserably in large part because of the absence of a vetting process.
So, I think it's also not a coincidence that we're talking about Katie and Susie Wiles in this, you know, transitional tone. You know, this is a president who has gotten rid of, you know, Kristi Noem at DHS, Pam Bondi at the Attorney General, Tulsi Gabbard at DNI, Lori DeRemer at the Department of Labor, Guilfoyle is gone now, and now Katie and Elise Stefanik was promised the U.N. position, and Trump canned her and ruined her political career forever and gave it to Waltz.
So, you know, that is contrasted with, of course, Hegseth, who puts an "Atlantic" reporter on a classified telephone conference.
Patel, who flies around the world, you know, drunk everywhere and misuses his airplane and personnel for the benefit of his girlfriend.
And Lutnick, who lies about his Epstein ties. I mean, he said he hadn't talked to the guy in years, and it turns out he was actually on the island, took his whole family. No consequences for the men, only for the women. So, I think that's sad.
And if you think if I'm Susie Wiles, I'm reading the tea leaves.
BURNETT: So, Susie Wiles, Trump's denying that he's considering replacing her as chief of staff. And "The Washington Post" is reporting that several Trump allies have begun angling for the position anyway, you know, if she steps down after the midterms. You know, that's obviously the big if, but they're angling.
And this includes, "Washington Post" is going through deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, top housing official Bill Pulte, who, of course, was the one who spearheaded going after Trump's perceived enemies with those mortgage fraud cases, and the EPA administrator Lee Zeldin.
What do you think is going to happen here, Ty?
COBB: It's hard to say. I do think that this unforced air and disastrous press secretary hire by the president probably buys Susie Wiles a little bit of cover because he's not going to be eager to jettison another woman --
BURNETT: Yeah.
COBB: -- prominent in his administration immediately. So, he may have bought some time, but we know he was calling around and asking people about it.
And in terms of those that are circling -- Stephen Miller actually benefits from having Susie Wiles in the role because Stephen Miller is the de facto chief of staff. He dictates the policies at the White House. You know, he gets a -- he gets a little bit of cover there. If he was OUTFRONT and had the title you know he might take more flak even.
And in terms of Pulte -- I mean, Pulte -- you know, he does have the, you know, two-digit I.Q. that, you know, qualifies many of the people in this administration, but we'd rather see somebody more competent. And, you know, there are other people, as you say, you know, there are other people out there who, you know, perhaps could do a good job. I saw one place, Jay Clayton was floated today.
BURNETT: Yeah. COBB: Jay Clayton, of course, is somebody who actually is a real lawyer and would be capable and somebody that, you know, people would be relieved to sort of see in that position. unlike, of course, Pulte or Miller.
BURNETT: So I want to ask you in this context, we're talking about who could be around him, about the article from "Axios" that came out today. The headline is, Ty, Trump's MAGA allies openly discuss martial law.
And Peter Ticktin, somebody who's been Trump's friend since boarding school and is now a lawyer in Florida, apparently, "Axios" says, is pushing Trump to declare martial law if he believes the election is rigged, which, of course, Trump has said every election that he hasn't won has been.
So, Mr. Ticktin tells Axios, quote, "They'll probably need to be commandeering of ballots and election equipment to make sure that we can get to the bottom of it before anything further occurs."
Okay, now this is black and white now, Ty.
COBB: Oh, yes. And if people have been listening, frankly, it's been out there in black and white for two years. On his very first day, Trump issued an executive order against mail-in ballots. Now, he did get kicked in the teeth by the courts on the mail-in ballots for trying to do something that was clearly unconstitutional.
But, you know, but the Justice Department, at Trump's direction, is out there flailing to try to attack the election mechanisms on every front. We've got the California lawsuit, over 20,000 voters that the Justice Department is allegedly concerned about. They don't know for a fact that any of them are improperly on the rolls, but they gave California 48 hours, and then they went to court.
It's all pretextual. It's just -- it's the same thing, same reason that they're sending 1,000 observers to the polls, three times more than we've ever sent in history before. And unlike prior times in history, when the observers go to the polls, they're there to try to make sure that minorities and others, you know, have the opportunity to actually exercise their right to vote.
These observers are there to try to develop a reason for declare an emergency. Same with CISA, you know, that we've got Hegseth and Markwayne Billy Bob colluding to try to use the cybersecurity infrastructure in a way that also would generate a pretext, even though they've cut CISA's money, you know, by a remarkable percentage, and they fully defunded the infrastructure coordinators between the federal, state, and local officials.
So, we've got -- we've got pretext context on the rise, and we also have the circumstance where President Trump in 2020 asked Bill Barr to seize election machines and to seize ballots, and he refused. He doesn't have anybody who will refuse this time.
BURNETT: Yeah, it was a different -- a different group of people. Thank you very much, Ty Cobb. I appreciate you.
And I want to go straight to Gretchen Carlson and Karen Finney OUTFRONT now.
So, Karen, when it comes to Katie Zachariah, right, Trump did this on his own. So there was no vetting, which actually, in a sense, shows how things operate. Something like this would ordinarily, just by virtue of there being a system and a process that was respected, somebody would get vetted for a job as crucial as press secretary. That clearly didn't happen here. So, five days into the job, she's out.
How embarrassing is this for Trump? What does this mean for him?
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, a normal human being would be mortified, but I don't think Trump has the good sense to be mortified because in his mind, everything is always somebody else's fault. And he tried to -- I mean, we heard the rationale that he gave.
But I tell you, Erin, it's a as someone who has been considered for this job a couple of times and has interviewed. -- I mean, I'm appalled. You know, but from day one of the first Trump administration, when we when there was a back and forth with the press and Sean Spicer fighting about, you know, the definition of the --
BURNETT: Crowd size on the mall, yeah.
FINNEY: Right. It was absurd. You could tell that he does not respect this that what this job really is, nor does he respect the role that the media plays. constitutionally in our -- in our society and in our democracy. And so, to him, it's just -- let's just throw up somebody who can, you know, do some talking points and look pretty doing it.
I mean, that's really quite frankly how little he thinks of what this job is really supposed to be about.
BURNETT: Gretchen, you know, it's interesting. Zacharia said that she tailored her television hits to pick times, you know, to come on when she knew Trump would be watching. And in that sense, I mean, you know, she obviously very smart person. She played that right. He saw her and then he picked her.
But then in these five days, she goes on Fox News and she's struggling and she's on defense in what she expected to be very friendly territory, right? I think that Sean Hannity interview was expected to be go out, clean this up, you know, explain lawyer versus attorney and just move along, right? That's what she thought it would be, but that's not what it was.
Here's two of the exchanges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Why get into this long, drawn-out definition between -- the difference between a lawyer and an attorney? Because I don't think most people see much of a distinction. Why didn't you just say, I never practiced law?
ZACHARIA: Well, Sean, when I moved back from the United States, I didn't retake the bar. I had four kids in six years. It was never my intent to go into the practice of law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you still have the confidence of the president?
ZACHARIA: I'm standing here, and I was able to travel with him through all of the midterm convention-- or excuse me, the midterm rallies. And I hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I'm curious, Gretchen, because those interviews were obviously with people that Trump likes and knows, right? Sean Hannity is a friend and informal advisor to Trump, right? That's why she went on that show.
And then Trump admitted he watched the interviews. He called them tough.
So, are you surprised by what you saw here? I mean, is there any scenario where those interviews would have played out the way they played out if they didn't already know that Trump wanted that sort of questioning?
GRETCHEN CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: Well, that's a great point, Erin, because I was there 11 years, and I can tell you that most things happen there are directed from the top.
So, I have not seen those hosts push back on a variety of other topics over the last two years, or for that matter, in the first term of Trump. They never even covered the Kimberly Guilfoyle story about being out as ambassador of Greece, which probably also came from the top.
So, the idea that you would suddenly have tough questions from Sean Hannity and then again on the show that I used to do, "Fox and Friends", signals to me that the messaging had come from somebody within the administration to lay it on harder against her. And that's just, I don't know that to be absolutely true, but having been there, that would be my supposition. It just seems so out of the ordinary that suddenly, they would -- she would be in enemy territory on Fox News.
BURNETT: Yeah, well, as you point out, I mean, they don't -- they don't cover Kimberly Guilfoyle and then this is how you handle this. Those two things don't go together.
So, Karen, who's going to be the next choice? Kimberly Guilfoyle actually might have been on the list, but not now.
FINNEY: Well, if she was a blonde, because I mean, you know -- but can I just say those were not really tough questions? I mean, the fact that she didn't have answers for pretty. Those are pretty fair, basic questions.
CARLSON: For Fox, it was, though, Karen.
FINNEY: Fair, fair, fair point. That's a very fair point.
No, look, I suspect that Trump has a list of people that he has seen on television who he thinks will be perfectly fine to stand at the podium and lie to the American people and Say whatever the talking points are. Perhaps this time they'll just make sure that the bio actually matches what the person has done.
Yeah, well, we'll see how -- how quickly he moves here. Thank you both very much. I appreciate seeing you guys on this Friday.
And next, breaking news is from one of the nation's top election forecasters, just now moving 11 House races in the Democratic direction. These are important races that could determine who controls Congress. And guess what? There are Senate seats in those as well. So, we'll have Dave Wasserman on.
Plus, Elon Musk throwing a lifeline to a group spending massively on Ken Paxton, a $150 million of maximum. Harry Enten tells us something we don't know about that funding.
Also tonight, an eye-opening report on why so many young men are leaving MAGA in the rearview mirror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Why was it the Iran war that broke it for young men specifically?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the perfect example of his betrayal of everything that he campaigned on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:26:39]
BURNETT: Breaking news, 11 more House races moving in the Democratic direction tonight. "The Cook Political Report", which is one of the nation's top election forecasters, is now moving those 11 seats away from Republicans. And they're doing it here right on the eve of the election, right? We're less than three weeks away.
And these races could very well decide which party controls the House. And in some of them, there are incredibly competitive Senate races as well.
Now, Cook previously considered eight of these seats, okay? Eight of the 11 were considered solid or likely Republican. So, this is a huge shift. It's not sort of a lean Dem going Dem, okay? And look at these five seats currently held by Republicans that are now lean Republican or toss up. These five all went for Trump by double digits in 2024. I want to go Dave Wasserman. He's OUTFRONT now, senior editor and
elections analyst for "The Cook Political Report".
So, Dave, obviously, you know, and I've seen all of your commentary on polls and all the conversation about polls these days. So, as you look at this and put it in context, what do you see? I mean, how serious is this fire for Republicans?
DAVID WASSERMAN, SENIOR EDITOR & ELECTIONS ANALYST: Erin, this has gone from bad to potentially catastrophic for Republicans. We're seeing some shocking polling numbers in districts that voted for Donald Trump in 2024, not just by five or 10 points, but by 15 or even in some cases 20 points. And there are a couple emerging themes with the races we're seeing move. First of all, this is kind of a back to the future election in the sense that the places that zoomed most towards Trump over the last 10 years are also the places where Democrats have the most upside and potential to swing back in their favor.
Iowa is a huge problem state for Republicans. They're at risk of losing three of the four districts in Iowa. In fact, Republicans have pulled out of two of those three, and that's two Republican incumbents.
In upstate New York, where Democrats, according to two polls we've seen, have a chance at winning Elise Stefanik's district, that voted for Trump by more than 20 points last time.
Places like Kentucky 6th District, which hadn't elected a Democrat, hasn't had a close race since 2012, and South Texas, South Florida, Ohio.
The other theme we're seeing is that Republicans have big problems in open seats. Now, the Republican incumbents who have established brands that are distinct from Trump, some of them are in the game and doing better than Trump's approval.
For example, Susan Collins or Ashley Henson or Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania. But in these open seats, a lot of Republican nominees who are less well-known are getting dragged down by Trump's disapproval, and whether that is in South Carolina one or Montana one or North Carolina 11, the mountains of North Carolina where we're seeing Democrats ahead in an open seat. There are migraines popping up for Republicans everywhere.
BURNETT: So, half of the let me show the map again, because the House race is moving towards Democrats include races in these states, these four -- Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, and South Carolina. Now, those states are obviously usually reliably red.
Okay, so the question is, is when you're seeing a shift in the House, right, that's not the statewide, like a senatorial election, right? But does that shift the math on Senate seats? Some of these are seem to be dead heats.
[19:30:02] Some of them were expected to be reliably read. What does the shift in House races mean?
WASSERMAN: One theme we're seeing is this is the worst anxiety economically we've seen in farm countries since 1986 when there was a 25 percent foreclosure rate on family farms. And between $6.50 diesel, rising interest rates, surging fears about A.I. and rural hospital closures, and then you have on top of that the trade war and the White House's decision to import 300 million metric tons of beef, which has created some blowback among cattle ranchers in Iowa, Kansas, Texas -- it's not that these voters are at huge risk of defecting towards Democrats because they're kind of culturally incompatible, but there's a huge risk for Republicans that they stay home.
And that's what makes the math potentially work for Democrats in some of these deep red states and districts, which we're also paying attention to close Senate races in Nebraska and Kansas, which are exciting Democrats. And it's not that they're likely to win a lot of these rural districts, but it's forcing Republicans to spend money there. And if Democrats do flip a few, they could potentially get to a 15 or 20 or even larger seat gain in the House.
BURNETT: All right, Dave Wasserman, thank you very much. I appreciate talking to you, as always, of course, as you know.
And next, the breaking news, authorities just revealing new details tonight about the heroic actions of a dad and a teacher who both helped end the deadly mass shooting at that Oregon elementary school. And Democrats in states they should not be competitive in are now bringing in an incredible amount of money, right? They had been at a huge disadvantage, but now the money flows are dwarfing their Republican opponents.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:35:57]
BURNETT: Breaking news, authorities just identified the shooter in yesterday's horrific attack on Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. They're saying the gunman's name is Griffin J. John II. He was a 16-year-old former special needs student at the school, according to police. He shot and killed three children, aged five, eight, and 11, and a teacher who was only 25 years old, critically injuring at least two others.
All the victims were killed in the same special needs classroom, and police say the shooter went directly to that classroom. where he fired up to 15 rounds.
Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHY SHEIL SMITH, 5 GRADE TEACHER AT SILVER RAIL ELEMENTARY: They were so afraid. Looks on their faces. It was really hard to see. NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A 16-year-old shooter, once a pupil here, armed with a pump-action shotgun, blasted his way through double doors into the school, into a classroom right by those doors.
STEVEN COOK, BEND-LA PINE SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT: That classroom was a special needs classroom, and the suspect was a special needs student in that school.
CHIEF MIKE KRANTZ, BEND, OREGON POLICE: The teacher in the classroom threw her cell phone at the suspect and then tackled him and fought to take the firearm from him.
WATT (voice-over): Two other teachers were shot, one dead, the other now in critical condition. A dad with two daughters at the school happened to be passing, saw the shooter enter.
KRANTZ: The 36-year-old man who parked at the school took out a 40 caliber pistol that was legally secured in his vehicle and carried it towards the school. As he made entry through the forced open doors, he heard shooting and saw a teacher involved in a physical altercation with the suspect. He then went to the classroom where the struggle was underway and fired his weapon, striking the suspect multiple times.
WATT (voice-over): His name, Kaylub Giamanco. He is not seeking recognition, said his mom, but instead wishes to express his gratitude to the first responders, school personnel and community for the outpouring of love and support. This could have been so much worse.
KRANTZ: In total, the suspect had approximately 44 remaining rounds of 12-gauge ammunition on his person or in his backpack.
WATT (voice-over): This was all over in about three minutes. Three kids aged five, eight, and 11 dead, and a 25-year-old teacher also killed.
A 10-year-old student described to ABC those several minutes of fright.
TEN-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: I locked the door and I went back behind our lockers as all my classmates did the same. All of my classmates and my teacher were safe, but we were definitely scared and most people were crying and it was really hard.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Now, authorities, a source tells us that it was the mother who originally purchased the shotgun used in this shooting. We went, ran to her place. We saw her sitting on her balcony, smoking a cigarette, crying, clearly very distraught over what had happened.
She said, "I miss my boy. He was a good boy." We asked if she had a message for the parents of the kids who were killed. She said, "I'm so sorry. I wish there was something that I could have done."
She said that there were no red flags. There were no warnings. I asked, how did your son get the gun? She said, "I can't comment on that," and walked through the doors into her apartment -- Erin.
BURNETT: Nick Watt, thank you very much, outside that elementary school in Bend.
And I want to go straight now to Greg Ehrie, former FBI special agent in charge, also is a section chief of the Bureau's domestic terror operations and the chief security officer of the New York and New Jersey Port Authority.
So, Greg, I guess let's just start with some of the new information that Nick had in there. There were 15 rounds fired. Four human beings were killed. He had 44 more rounds. And obviously, that hero of a daddy saved a lot of lives.
But 44 rounds. Can you put that in context?
GREG EHRIE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, NEWARK FIELD OFFICE: Well, when we're looking at this entire incident that happened in three minutes, what happens at another three minutes, at another two minutes, five minutes?
[19:40:04]
He had the means. He obviously had the motivation. He was looking to hurt people and he had the ammunition.
So, without this intervention, without this very heroic individual stepping in and taking these actions, this would have been so much worse.
BURNETT: And we understand now that this was a special needs classroom in which he had been a student. This is so within the past six years or so, this is an elementary school, so it goes up through fifth grade. We know he's 16.
But what stands out to you about what his mother's saying? We know his mother bought the gun and he had the gun. She refused to tell Nick Watt how he had the gun and all of that ammo, but she did purchase it.
EHRIE: Absolutely. And there's a couple of threads that the investigation is going to uncover as we watch this unroll. One, certainly in Oregon, as we've talked about, is an open-carry state. You can purchase a firearm, and in this case, a shotgun.
But there's also the legal responsibility to secure that firearm, whether it be in your home, your car, on your person. You can't just leave it out. And if this is in a residence where you have a juvenile, let alone a juvenile with potentially some mental health issues, you have a legal responsibility to prevent them from gaining access to this.
BURNETT: When you hear no red flags, I saw you shaking your head.
EHRIE: I've done this, you mentioned, worked at domestic terrorism for a lot of years, and we've seen this. I have never seen a case where this is just like a light switch on and off. There's always indicators.
Now, that doesn't mean that you may have noticed them, but one doesn't turn from a healthy person or a juvenile and then a murderer overnight or in a couple seconds. There has to have been some red flags.
BURNETT: Greg, thank you very much.
And next, is Elon Musk single-handedly keeping Penn Paxton's campaign alive? Could he be the one that makes Paxton win? Our Harry Enten is next to tell us something we don't know.
Plus, betrayed, a special report on why so many young men are turning on Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This whole administration, even before the Iran war, has done nothing to help out the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:41]
BURNETT: Tonight, propping up Ken Paxton. President Trump defending his decision to back the floundering Paxton race in the Texas Senate, saying that the Republican he passed over, John Cornyn, would have lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think Cornyn would have lost. I think Cornyn would have lost. Look, the base in Texas. Here's the way I look at it. Ken Paxton, some people don't love him, but everybody admits he was the best attorney general in the history of Texas, one of the best in the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, I mean, you guys think about some of the Republicans who moved to impeach him in the Texas House. I guess I'll just put that aside for a brief moment here. Elon Musk -- that's Harry Enten here, by the way. He's about to come on.
Elon Musk is throwing a staggering $158 million behind a Senate PAC helping Paxton. Polls show Paxton trailing Democrat James Talarico. And again, who knows what will happen in Texas. If Talarico wins, he'd be the first Democrat to win statewide in the state in more than three decades.
Harry Enten is here to tell us something we don't know.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Here I am.
BURNETT: Moving beyond Paxton's impeachment debacle. Okay, so Elon Musk, he is playing big time and just having come from
Texas. There are a lot of ads airing about Talarico and they are nasty ads. So how much is Musk's money helping Paxton?
ENTEN: I mean, Elon Musk is the rocket ship that essentially Ken Paxton is hoping to hitch himself to in order to become the next senator from Texas because you spoke about the $158 million that he's thrown in. Ken Paxton needs all the help that he can get, because look at this, in terms of Ken Paxton's fundraising, we're just talking $18 million, and that includes the joint fundraising committees.
I mean, you could do the math right there. Musk is throwing in, what, $140 million more than Paxton has. So, Paxton is a dud of a fundraiser. He needs all the help he can get.
BURNETT: Okay. So, he's got this $18 million and then he's got this one guy.
ENTEN: Yeah.
BURNETT: Okay. If you took Musk out, what would it look like if you compared Paxton and Talarico?
ENTEN: Yeah. I mean, Ken Paxton, that's what we're talking about, because you want to talk about a good fundraiser and a bad fundraiser. James Talarico this cycle has raised, get this, $134 million. My goodness gracious. Compared to Ken Paxton, when you just look at the individual campaign committees, only $19 million.
James Talarico, if this were just a race between Talarico and Paxton in the airwaves, Talarico would absolutely be crushing Paxton. That's why he needs all that outside money to try and pump him up in a state that, really, a Republican shouldn't be pumping up on.
BURNETT: No, they shouldn't. Musk certainly didn't have to expect that he would be spending $158 million in Texas.
ENTEN: No, he would not.
BURNETT: And back to Trump's original point, Musk wouldn't be spending that much if it were John Cornyn on the ticket.
Now, tell me something else I don't know.
ENTEN: I'll tell you something else that you don't know. You know, that individual candidate comparison is representative of the nation at large, because if you look at the key Senate races and you look at how much the Democrats have been raising, how much the Republicans have been raising, look at this, $231 million to just $43 million for the Republicans.
We're talking about 10 states here, and one state that is even more representative. Go to South Carolina, right, another candidate that, of course, Donald Trump's pumping up, Darline Graham, look at this, just $786,000. Look at that, the Democrat, $9 million.
So, Texas representative of the nation at large, massive differences, a lot of momentum behind the Democratic candidates.
BURNETT: Yeah, we'll see what happens. Of course, polls do show Graham still ahead in South Carolina. But, I mean, money -- the point is, money doesn't necessarily buy it for you or not, but it can matter a whole lot.
ENTEN: It can. She's a competitive Democrat.
BURNETT: Yeah, she is. And in Texas, I can say that money is being spent. If advertising sinks in, there's a lot of negativity to sink in.
ENTEN: Always positive between the two of us.
BURNETT: Yeah, there always is, Harry. And it's wonderful to see you on Friday.
ENTEN: Nice to see you.
BURNETT: All right. And next, MAGA influencers are breaking with Trump over the Iran war. They're calling it, quote, the perfect example of his betrayal, a strong word.
And Donie O'Sullivan is OUTFRONT with some eye-opening reporting. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Sneako, a hugely popular and controversial streamer, formerly a fixture of the manosphere. He was a Trump fan, but before that, he was a Bernie bro.
SNEAKO, STREAMER: Bernie was the first politician that I really liked.
[19:50:00]
The focus on citizens, the working class, prioritizing healthcare, being against the endless wars around the world, not being stuck in a binary left-right system. It seemed like a political movement that was backed by the people instead of by money.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): And then he lost.
SNEAKO: The Democratic Party, because they screwed over Bernie Sanders, and I can never support them again.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Like many young men, Sneako went to Trump.
CROWD: USA! USA! USA!
SNEAKO: Trump single-handedly, I think, was the biggest leader in destroying the woke mind virus.
We ended up going over to Trump. He said specifically, no new wars, but if he goes against his own word, then you got to distance yourself.
O'SULLIVAN: Trump has done a lot of stuff. Why was it the Iran War that broke it, for young men, specifically?
SNEAKO: It's the perfect example of his betrayal of everything that he campaigned on, that he was not an establishment Republican, that he wasn't going to make the same mistakes. This whole administration, even before the Iran War, he's done nothing to help out the country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Okay, this is fascinating. So, the manosphere, as some call it, it has been a powerful part of Trump's base. So when you look at the midterms are what, 18 days away, how significant is the split that he is showing?
O'SULLIVAN: This has been huge. I mean, Iran has been the camel that broke. Trump's back when it comes to young men, especially. Sneako, as he goes by there, you know, he's a fascinating character, very controversial, has been, you know, involved in all sorts of sort of online controversies, including being seen in a bus in Miami a few months back, singing along with the Kanye West song "Heil Hitler". Those things to one side for a moment.
He is an interesting case in that he started off, as you heard there, a Bernie bro at 16, 17. After Bernie lost the primary, he moved to Trump. Now he is upset with Trump, and he doesn't really know where to go next. And I think that's what we're seeing with a lot of these young men especially, is they want an anti-establishment candidate, and whether it's on the far right or the far left, or on the very, very far right and very, very far left.
So, I think that that's what's happening, especially with these young men, and that's also where you see the appeal of the sort of extremists like Nick Fuentes. When they feel let down by somebody like Trump, they might go all the way to far, far, far --
BURNETT: This is very fascinating.
All right, Donie, thanks so much. When Donie said, you know, was going through some of the controversy there, you can hear all about it, right? All the context with Donie's full report on "THE WHOLE STORY". That is tomorrow night at 8:00 on CNN. And then, of course, you can get it on the CNN app as well.
Next, the story of a Russian girl who was forced to flee Russia because of something she drew about Putin's war to leave the country. Well, guess what? We found her and she's speaking out tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:46]
BURNETT: Tonight, a Russian teenager forced to flee her country because of a drawing about Putin's war with Ukraine. She left, and we didn't know where she went. But then Melissa Bell found her and has this special report OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here, it's glory to Ukraine, and here, no Putin, no war. So very political. You were 12.
MARIA "MASHA" MOSKALYOVA, RUSSIAN ACTIVIST (through translator): Even though it's a child's drawing and seems so simple, who could have expected it to have such consequences?
BELL (voice-over): Four years on, Masha is 16 and still on the run.
MOSKALYOVA (through translator): I would return to Russia with enormous joy. But when will this regime change? I don't know. How many decades will it take? How many decades before Russia becomes a democratic and free country?
BURNETT: Tonight, on the run.
BELL (voice-over): When Masha's father was sent to jail in 2023, CNN covered the story. He was charged with, quote, "discrediting the Russian military" for his online posts criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine while Masha was sent to an orphanage.
ALEXEY MOSKALYOV, MARIA MOSKALYOVA'S FATHER (through translator): When I called today, she could barely speak to me. She was just crying, crying the whole time, crying. And no matter how much I tried to calm her down, I just couldn't.
BELL (voice-over): After he was released from jail, the pair fled through Armenia and onto France.
MOSKALYOV (through translator): You know, everything I've lost, everything I had in Russia, is compensated for by the fact that we can now speak freely and tell the truth, by the fact that we are now in a country where people are not persecuted for their words or their opinions. And so, everything we left behind in Russia is nothing compared with what Masha and I have now.
BELL (voice-over): Yet what they have is precious little, a temporary visa and the promise of a new life, which for Masha means schooling in a language she doesn't speak, with an eye always over her shoulder.
BELL: Are you worried about your safety now?
MOSKALYOVA (through translator): Always. Yes, of course, you can be afraid for safety, because absolute safety doesn't exist anywhere in any country, especially if you continue to speak out.
BELL (voice-over): And speaking out is what Masha continues to do. Through YouTube and social media, she fights to raise awareness inside Russia and elsewhere.
MOSKALYOVA (through translator): I want to say that what Trump is doing is terrible. The fact that the president of a free country shakes hands with a murderer, the fact that you could say he's being controlled by him is another matter altogether.
BELL (voice-over): It's hard to fathom that a single child's drawing could have angered Russian authorities as much as it did. But Masha says she would do it all again.
MOSKALYOVA (through translator): Here was a child who spoke the truth, who wasn't afraid. And if that child isn't alone, if there are many children like her, if it's not just one teenager, but 1,000 teenagers, not just one adult, but a million, Then that is what will change Russia for the better.
BELL (voice-over): Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Just an absolutely incredible story from start to finish.
Thanks so much to all of you for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
