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The Situation Room

House of Horrors in Philadelphia?; Kamala Harris' Political Future?; Gas Prices Rising. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired September 17, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Hey, the artwork is -- it's pretty spot on too.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, good.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: You see this Buffalo Bill?

BROWN: I see the Buffalo Bill.

WIRE: Give that green one to Pamela and match the little outfit there. It looks good.

BLITZER: All right.

BROWN: That's right.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: Put it on.

BROWN: All right, thank you, Coy.

WIRE: Thank you, guys.

BROWN: Always great to see you.

WIRE: Thank you. Go, Bills.

BROWN: The next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM starts right now.

And happening now: Gas prices jump 7 cents in one day, and experts say the worst is yet to come. What's really driving the prices and what is the White House going to do about it?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Plus, millions of disturbing images and videos discovered at a house of horrors. Some included women who appear to be unconscious. The owner of the home is an erotic filmmaker whose work depicted violent themes. And now police are trying to figure out whether the women are dead or alive.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM. We begin this hour with the staggering rise in gas prices across the

United States, and experts are warning it's about to get even worse. This morning, gas is up another 7 cents only from yesterday. According to the AAA, the national average price for a regular gallon of gas is nearly $4.44.

That's today. Prices have soared since the start of the Iran war, and they're up almost $1.50 since the end of February alone.

BROWN: So take a look at this. This shows the massive increase we're seeing with the price of diesel fuel, and that's having a major impact on your wallet. Most of what you buy, from groceries to clothes to electronics and toys, they're all shipped on trucks that run on diesel.

The national average price today is $6.40. That is the highest it has ever been. Speaker Mike Johnson says it's all tied to the Strait of Hormuz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Of course, gas prices are too high. When we get that thing resolved in the Strait of Hormuz, that will have a direct effect on that, and it will help to bring down grocery costs, because those are affected as well by the transport cost of getting goods to market.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting the startling headline, "Oil executives say the great fuel crisis is here," and that's going to impact everything from the price you pay at the pump to the cost of heating your home.

Experts are warning that we might see a 30 percent jump in heating oil costs alone this winter as the Middle East conflict continues to drive up prices.

BROWN: CNN business senior reporter David Goldman and CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak are standing by with the very latest.

David, I want to go to you first.

Speaker Mike Johnson, as you just heard there, says this is all tied to the Strait of Hormuz, and when the conflict is resolved, it'll be better. When will the conflict be resolved and will it be better? I mean, those are two big questions, right?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, yes, four weeks or six months later, right? I mean, the president said this would just be a four-week conflict, so obviously this is a very, very difficult problem to solve.

So, just that aside, he is right that gas and oil prices probably would fall once the conflict is finally resolved. How do I know that? Well, we saw that happen. In mid-June, the Strait of Hormuz reopened, and we saw oil and gas prices both fall.

But here's the thing. Diesel is a completely different game. Not only does it sit on -- in every single truck that takes every single good across America, but it is becoming a bigger problem, because Ukraine continues to bombard Russian diesel facilities.

And Russia is responsible for about 12 percent of global diesel exports. So now we have a record high in diesel with no sign of that resolving at all. And everything that goes on a truck, including all the food you buy, all the goods you buy, those are getting more expensive.

And even if the situation is resolved, those prices probably aren't ever going to come back down.

BROWN: Well, all right, setting us straight here with that. David Goldman, thanks so much.

BLITZER: At the same time, President Trump has repeatedly promised Americans that he would bring prices down. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates and lower the cost of energy.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again. And your prices are going to come tumbling down. Your gasoline is going to come tumbling down, and your heating bills and cooling bills are going to be coming down.

When I win, I will immediately bring prices down. We will defeat inflation quickly. Your energy prices will be cut in half within 12 months from January 20.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:05:05]

BLITZER: Now one of the president's most fervent former supporters is saying this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): This is ridiculous. Let me -- look, everything you buy, your food, your supplies, all of your goods gets delivered by diesel. The war in Iran has got to stop. This is Trump's fault. This should not be this high. It needs to end. Ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's go back to Kevin right now. Kevin, gas prices are up. Inflation is up. Interest rates are up. How

is the White House now responding?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes.

And what you have stopped hearing from the president is this promise that gas prices are going to come down in the near term. That had been what they were saying before it was clear that their projections for the length of this war were just wildly off.

Now what you hear from the president is trying to level with the American public and with his voters in particular, saying that the cost of the war that they are bearing at the pump is worth what he's trying to accomplish in Iran.

This is what he said last night in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You have a little higher. You have a higher gas. It's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we have done. Remember that. It's a little more.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: It's -- even if it was -- frankly, even it was a lot more. But that's going to come tumbling down. That's going to be like a rocket ship in reverse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, it's become pretty clear that message is not being particularly well received by the American public. The last CNN poll, it was in July. When asked about whether Americans approved of the president's handling of gas prices, it was wildly underwater; 21 percent said they approved, compared to 79 percent who said that they disapproved.

And it's also becoming clearer and clearer that Republican dissatisfaction at the president's handling of this conflict is also (AUDIO GAP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:13:24]

BLITZER: New reporting this morning, we're learning that former Vice President Kamala Harris will deploy to battleground Michigan next week to campaign for Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

But, already, speculations are swirling whether or not this will set the stage for another run for the White House. Despite the midterms only 47 days away, her fellow Democrats are looking beyond and they're waiting on her next move, with some even saying what she decides will determine their own political future.

BROWN: Here's what California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom told CNN's Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Well, I wouldn't run if she ran.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: If she runs, you will not?

NEWSOM: Of course not. Why would I?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Sources tell CNN Harris has not decided yet on whether she plans to launch another presidential bid.

While other potential Democratic P.R. hopefuls zigzag through battleground states looking to make early inroads, Harris says for now she's focused on midterm elections as Democrats look to flip control of Congress.

BLITZER: Joining us now here in THE SITUATION ROOM is CNN senior reporter Isaac Dovere and CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

Isaac, let me start with you and your latest reporting, which is excellent.

Tell us a little bit more what you're learning about what Kamala Harris is thinking of doing.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Listen, she knows that people are waiting on her, and she is planning to keep them waiting for at least a little while longer. She has not decided whether to run or whether not to run.

But she is doing -- as you say, some of this campaigning will take her to Michigan. That's an early primary state now for the Democrats. She will go to Nevada. She's doing some other stuff, not a very heavy travel schedule, not making any major policy speeches, not doing the sorts of things of reaching out to potential aides about forming a campaign.

[11:15:13]

This has left a lot of people thinking maybe she's not going to run. And in -- although you played the what Gavin Newsom told, Jake, I talked to people connect to a number of other potential candidates who said -- one of them said to me it had -- it's not a factor whatsoever in the thinking about whether to run.

BROWN: So, if he decided to run, it wouldn't impact her decision, like the way it would impact his decision?

DOVERE: That candidate and others said that it is not where their minds are. I talked to Ruben Gallego, the senator from Arizona, who is thinking about running himself. He said to me, we're all going to make up our decisions on based on our own factors.

He said to me that for him it's much more tied up with how he thinks about what it'll mean for his children than what Kamala Harris may decide to do. But I also talked to a major donor who met with several of the potential candidates of the last few months who said to me there's not any big donor across the country who's sitting by waiting for a phone call from Kamala Harris.

And it should be said that one of the things that Harris has been doing a lot of is calling people on the phone and just talking and giving people the impression, well, why is she calling if not to think about running, although she never says that. And what she keeps saying is that she is focused on the midterms.

I spoke to somebody who spoke with her in the last few weeks who said to me she's not going to be rushed based on other people's timetables.

BLITZER: Is she going to South Carolina?

DOVERE: She is at the moment not scheduled to be in South Carolina. And I was in South Carolina a couple weeks ago with Gavin Newsom, actually, when he was there, and the South Carolina Democratic state chair asked if any -- which other candidates people might want to see to one of the crowds, and they said -- one person said, Kamala Harris.

He said, oh, we haven't heard from her for a while.

BLITZER: Are Democrats who are running for reelection or for election, are they seeking her support?

DOVERE: Some are. El-Sayed in Michigan -- it's a tight race there -- is. She will spend the final weekend of the midterms, we know already, in Georgia, a battleground state in the presidential election, but also campaigning with Jon Ossoff, who is hoping to get a second term in the Senate for -- as a Democrat there.

So, some are distancing themselves, saying they don't want to be with her at all, and some are clearly seeing that there's a political advantage in their races for her there -- for her to be there.

BLITZER: Let's go to Jeff.

Jeff, I want to turn to Republicans' pitch to voters right now. We have, what, less than 50 days until Election Day, November 3. That's coming up pretty soon. I want you to listen to what the vice president, J.D. Vance, said in an interview yesterday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Give us another chance or give us another couple of years to continue to work on the amazing things that we have been doing for the past two years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Is this the kind of argument that's going to win support? JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, perhaps

not for Republicans. I mean, the reality is I think that those few words which neatly fit on a bumper sticker really encapsulate what the Democrats have been trying to make the point here.

Give us another chance is not exactly a rallying cry. It's an acknowledgement that things have not been going well. That is something we don't hear from this White House a lot, you know, we feel your pain. The economy is improving. We don't hear that.

We hear President Trump talking about the greatest economy in the world. Well, people don't see that when they drive by the biggest billboard of all, perhaps the most important campaign sign of all, the gas station, the gas pumps. So that is something that is really weighing people down.

But we are seeing the beginning of what will be fascinating to see if -- Republicans as they try to show their own independence and separate themselves from this White House.

Just a short time ago this morning, a member of Congress from Florida, Maria Salazar, she explained why she is putting some distance between herself and President Trump. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARIA SALAZAR (R-FL): Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy. The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Well, look, that's a pretty blunt message, and it's one way to get the president's attention perhaps here. And she represents a district in Florida that the president won by 15 points. So that would be the outside of the potential wall here if there is a wave.

Excuse me. She's clearly trying to differentiate herself. So we will see if a lot of other Republicans or any Republican sort of go along with that. We have seen a few small instances of trying to show independence, but this is the first really blunt example of going directly to the president, saying, hey, your immigration policies have hurt me, particularly with Hispanic voters.

BROWN: All right, thank you so much, Jeff Zeleny, Isaac Dovere. Appreciate you coming on.

BLITZER: I do too.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: All right, Wolf, well, good.

Up next: guns, drugs, fake I.D.s, and now a growing missing persons case. Philadelphia police are combing through more than a million images after discovering videos of women who appeared unconscious or lifeless -- the search for answers coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:24:33]

BROWN: Happening now: At least three people have been killed after they were swept away in flash floods in New Mexico as the wider Southwest is facing even more severe storms.

There's video just coming in showing a helicopter rescue. As you see, that crew airlifted people from their cars in Arizona yesterday. More than three inches of rain fell in just three hours around Phoenix, and the threat continues today with a level three out of four risk for floods in parts of Arizona and New Mexico.

[11:25:03]

Well, Paul Whelan is helping to craft a bill to compensate Americans who are wrongly detained abroad. This bill is expected to be announced today. He was detained in Russia for more than five years and was released in 2024 as part of a prisoner swap.

And Susie Wiles says she is cancer-free. The White House chief of staff told President Trump in March that she had early stage breast cancer. Wiles says her pathology results came back clear and thanked the president and her family, friends, doctors, and others who supported her -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Also happening now: It started as a search into an illegally parked BMW. Now police are investigating the whereabouts of five potentially missing women after officials said they discovered photos and videos of at least five women who appear unconscious or possibly even dead in one man's Philadelphia home.

CNN correspondent Danny Freeman is joining us right now.

Danny, walk us through what we know so far. This is so disturbing.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Wolf.

It truly is very disturbing. This case is as scary as it is frustrating and, frankly, mysterious. But law enforcement officials in Philadelphia, they maintain that they are determined to try and find answers for the family members of these many missing women, and they still believe that the answers might be at this house that has gotten so much attention over the past few months.

So, as you noted, Wolf, the headline here is police now believe they found digital images and video from this house in Philadelphia's Olney neighborhood of five women who they believe may be dead, who appear to be dead in these images.

Several are seen unconscious, Wolf, and one is seen on video actually being strangled with a zip tie. But here's the big challenge, Wolf, and why this case has had a lot of problems moving forward. First, still have no evidence of human remains or DNA from the actual house, which is why they keep saying feared dead or apparently dead here.

And they have been turning over that home for months. They even excavated the backyard. Second, the person at the center of this investigation, Raymond Horsch, passed away last year, though his son, Eugene, is in custody. I will get to that in a moment.

And, third, because this man, Raymond Horsch, was, according to "The Philadelphia Inquirer," a known drug manufacturer and erotic filmmaker who had published several works of fiction with violent masochistic themes, it's been really difficult for investigators to tell what is real and what is just for the camera and what is just for these violent movies that he used to make.

That being said, police say they're working hard to determine exactly what happened here, but that means combing through thousands and thousands of videos and images they discovered in the house.

I want you to take a listen, though, to how the deputy -- one of the deputy commissioners of the Philadelphia Police Department characterized the challenge, again, between what is real and what is not.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK VANORE, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INVESTIGATIONS, PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Let's remember he was making movies. Some of his movies are there on this digital evidence. So that's the part where some of this is playacting, and some of it-, we believe, could be real. But we're not there yet.

We don't want to end our investigation before it even -- we're not even in the middle of it. So there's a lot more to unpack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: So, again, Philly -- so, again, Philly police and now the FBI as well combing through up to a million images. The FBI says they're about 30 percent done.

The other thing I will note, though, Wolf, is the police has actually been able to identify some people in those images who they found alive too. So it's really a puzzle. It's a mystery. But at the bottom line, there are many missing women who police believe do have a connection to this house as they keep investigating -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, very disturbing indeed.

Danny Freeman reporting for us, thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, just ahead, Wolf: A bipartisan push to punish Russia is headed at President Trump's desk, but critics warn the bill could also lead to even higher gas prices weeks before the midterms.

We will be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)