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The Situation Room

Democratic Advantage Emerging in Early Voting?; Cornell University Students Speak Out; New Details Emerge on Flydubai Attack. Aired 10:30a-11a ET

Aired October 01, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: This morning, we're learning new details about the harrowing attack aboard a Flydubai airliner en route to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now says the co-pilot, an Omani national, struck the captain with an axe.

And Prime Minister Netanyahu also says the suspect, who was subdued by passengers, underwent -- and I'm quoting now -- "radical Islamist indoctrination."

Joining us now is Michael Allen. He served as special assistant to President George W. Bush for national security. He was also the senior director for counterproliferation strategy at the National Security Council.

Michael, thanks very much for joining us. How significant is Prime Minister Netanyahu's claim?

MICHAEL ALLEN, FORMER BUSH NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL STAFFER: I think it's pretty significant.

I mean, it shows, I think, a self-radicalized individual, probably upset about images that he's seen over the recent past about what's been going on in the Middle East taking matters into his own hands, deciding that he wanted to engage in what in all likelihood is an act of terrorism.

I think he probably was acting alone, or else we might have seen more evidence so far, but you can't rule it out. We need to figure out, is he from a decentralized network? Is he connected to a larger organization or network of individuals? But lots of answers need to be derived, but I think that's where we're headed.

BLITZER: If it's true that this suspect underwent radical indoctrination, does it make it more likely that this was in fact an act of terrorism?

ALLEN: I think so. I mean, I think that's one of the hallmarks that you look at when you

see what might have motivated individuals to do such a thing. I know what they're doing right now. They're plumbing through the his communications devices. They're seeing what his search and browser history was online, who he was in touch with.

Was he in touch with anyone, the individual, on let's call it an international terrorism level? Or was it all just sort of self- generated because he's upset about different things, or did it have something to do with his background that was triggered because of recent events in the Middle East?

So I think they're studying all of that now. We have got counterterrorism analysts from Tel Aviv to the United States working through this, and I think we're going to learn more soon.

BLITZER: If it were terror, Michael, would you have expected a claim of responsibility by now?

ALLEN: Not if he was self-radicalized.

If he's by himself out there, I wouldn't expect anyone to just sort of adopt him. I think, if it were something like al Qaeda or ISIS or some sort of Iranian transnational terrorism threat, maybe. But the fact that no one's claimed credit or affiliation with me -- with him so far suggests that he was probably acting alone.

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BLITZER: Michael Allen, as usual, thank you very much for your expertise.

ALLEN: Thank you.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much -- Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: All right, coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Wolf: voicing outrage. Tonight. Cornell students will have a chance to speak out about the alleged rape at a campus fraternity house back in 2024.

We will ask two students what they want to see from the university.

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BROWN: Happening now: a national reckoning.

After details surfaced about an alleged gang rape in 2024 at Cornell University, some women have taken to social media to share their own experiences with sexual assault. Listen here.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it weren't for my faith in the lord, I don't know how I would even be able to get up and walk and go about my life each day. Healing is not linear, and I'm still healing every single day and making sense of what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I provided his confession to both incidents, and they did nothing. Despite him confessing, the prosecutor declined to prosecute.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jane Doe, other survivors out there, anyone who's currently going through it, please reach out to somebody. I still have people that don't believe me, and my abuser is in prison.

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BROWN: Join us now are two current Cornell students, Elliot Scheuer and Hayden Watkins. Hayden is the executive vice president of the student assembly.

Thank you so much for coming on to discuss this really difficult topic.

Cornell's Board of Trustees released a statement this week pointing to the Cornell Presidential Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault established early last year. And it also wrote in response to all of this: "We will continue to examine and strengthen our policies to ensure we are doing all we can to foster a culture where sexual misconduct is never tolerated, those who come forward are supported and individuals found responsible through our process are held accountable."

Elliot, first off, how do you think the university has been in responding to all of this? And what do you say to that statement?

ELLIOT SCHEUER, CORNELL UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I have been displeased with the way the university is responding to this.

I think that they have not taken full accountability for the ways that the case was initially handled and sort of how -- what's continuing to go on. And so a task force doesn't mean anything if there isn't actual actionable outcomes that come from it.

BROWN: What do you think, Hayden?

HAYDEN WATKINS, CORNELL UNIVERSITY STUDENT: Yes, I mean, I think that the main problem I see in the university's response to it is the lack of ownership.

In a statement that the university recently published, they mentioned that the essays that some of the students were allegedly forced to write were not the only form of punishment, but I think, if writing essays is a form of punishment at all, that's a major problem.

Also, pointing to the Presidential Task Force, there's been very little student voice throughout this entire process. That task force included roughly 20 individuals, but only two people were undergraduate students. BROWN: And you point out the essays. Cornell said the essays weren't

the sole consequence for their involvements and pointing to the range of sanctions, which included expulsion and suspensions from Cornell and the Chi Phi chapter at Cornell being closed and borrowed from campus since November 2024.

Elliot, what would you have liked to see the university do?

SCHEUER: Yes, I think, in regards to this case or -- and any cases going forward, I'd like sort of transparent and better standards around how suspensions are handled.

I think there's a lot of lack of trust in the school's disciplinary policies as they currently stand, and so strengthening those with sort of understanding students' perspectives on them and then looking into the presence of the Interfraternity Council, related organizations on campus as a whole, and understanding sort of what they -- what harms they're causing to campus as a whole, and -- yes.

BROWN: What about -- were either of you on campus when this initially was filed in 2024?

SCHEUER: Yes, I was.

WATKINS: Yes, I was on campus when this was initially filed.

BROWN: OK, so bring us into that and tell us about the atmosphere now.

We will start with you, Hayden.

WATKINS: Yes, when the news first broke on campus, I think a lot of students were upset. But I think the reason the outrage is much more pronounced now is the last that we had heard when I was a student here in 2024 was that the assault, like, it had allegedly taken place.

And we didn't hear much about the process after that. Now there's been a lot more news because of the lawsuit filed about how these allegations were handled. And I think a lot of that has to do with once again a lack of student input in our code of conduct.

Student control in the code of conduct was ripped away in 2020. And there's really been a culture that our administration has created where our code of conduct is not open to students. Even just last year, there was a referendum passed where roughly 90 percent of students argued that our code of conduct was not fair, and our administration essentially shrugged that referendum off.

BROWN: Just to follow up with you, tell us more about what changes you want to see to the code of conduct.

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WATKINS: I think it needs a complete overhaul, and I think undergraduate students need to be the individuals involved in that overhaul. I also think it needs to be more targeted what we're actually

punishing students under in the code of conduct. Disproportionately on campus, our code of conduct has been used to punish student protesters. And Cornell calls ourselves the American university. And I think these allegations are a very American problem.

And a large part of that is because of the severe lack of punishment that many of these students have received for events like the Chi Phi house.

BROWN: So, Elliot, what about you? You were on campus as well when this initially got out, right, that the police were investigating, Cornell investigated. Tell us about what it was like then and how it is now since the civil suit has really brought the campus into a -- put it into a national spotlight.

SCHEUER: Yes, I would second everything that Hayden said.

I remember receiving the initial e-mail. I remember there being horror and sadness around campus. And then, as the semester continued, there were not updates around it. And it kind of fizzled away into the way the semester goes.

Now I think there's a lot more national attention and a lot more student solidarity in keeping the task at hand of figuring out how we can better strengthen campus culture and policy to make sure that something like this will never happen again.

BROWN: I want to mention Cornell reported in 2025 that 35 percent of undergraduate women on campus reported -- quote -- "nonconsensual sexual contact."

With this in mind, Elliot, what do you want to see from the university as more details emerge about the initial investigation in the specific case? And now you have this civil suit. It has a different standard than a criminal investigation. But I'm just wondering, based on those numbers, what you think.

SCHEUER: Yes, I mean, they're terrible numbers to hear. And they're also not all that different from national numbers around sexual assault and harassment is something that I would point out.

And I would like to see, very similar to what Hayden said, a student representation in developing codes of conduct and standards around discipline. And I think that would create far more trust in a process so that, if terrible things happen again, then students have a say in forming the policies around that.

BROWN: Elliot and Hayden, thank you so much. We really appreciate you coming on the show.

And we just want to note that, if you or anyone you know is struggling after a sexual assault, there is help. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7. The number is 800-656-HOPE, and there are also resources available at RAINN.org.

We will be right back.

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BLITZER: Happening now: With 33 days until the midterm elections, hundreds of thousands of Americans already have cast their ballot. And so far, signs are beginning to emerge of a potential Democratic advantage.

CNN's Tom Foreman is outside of polling place in Fairfax, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

Tom, what do we know so far about who is voting?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know this morning, Wolf of the number of early votes crossed the 700,000 threshold in more than 29 states or 29 states that offer early voting. And there is a clear trend out there, just as the polls indicated there might be.

In some key states where they have both a governor and senator on the ticket -- that would be critical races out there -- the people who tend to vote Democratic are showing up in greater numbers than those who tend to vote Republican. That's true also here in Virginia, where I am right now in Fairfax.

Several places in this state where Kamala Harris led the local race by 20 points when she ran against Donald Trump, those people are turning out in significantly greater numbers than in the places where Donald Trump led in Virginia by 20 points.

That's the enthusiasm gap we have been talking about for months and months here growing among Democrats, receding among Republicans. Now, it's important to remember this doesn't necessarily mean this is how the election will go.

Wolf, you're a basketball fan. It's like a basketball game where the team that's favored scored the first two goals. Well, there's a lot ahead here that can still change things. We don't know if this is just a general voter trend or exactly what it looks like right now.

But you can follow it all on our CNN.com early voting tracking. Really worth checking out, Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly is.

All right, Tom Foreman, reporting for us, thank you very, very much.

And to our viewers, take a look at the bottom of your screen right now. You will start seeing real-time early voting numbers along with business data as we get closer and closer to November 3, Election Day.

BROWN: All right, here's what's coming up all new at the top of the hour.

The family of the Minnesota woman shot and killed by an ICE agent earlier this year has now sued the federal government and Trump administration officials. The breaking details next hour.

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BROWN: And we just wanted to take a moment to share a special honor my wonderful co-anchor, Wolf Blitzer, received this week.

Wolf was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. Here's part of Wolf's speech and the call to protect the free press.

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BLITZER: Undermining a free press in the United States of America is something I never thought would happen. And all of us, all of us must do everything we can to protect our constitutional right to a free press.

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BLITZER: It is vital to our democracy.

As the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says -- and I'm quoting now -- "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press" -- end quote.

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