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The Situation Room

Today, Trump Heads to Texas as GOP's Senate Concerns Grow; Trump Admin Wants Answers from Russia on Potential Plague Death; Attorney Say, Christa Pike Conscious, Speaking After Failed Execution. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 07, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, warning signs for the Republican Party. There are serious concerns right now within the party that the midterm elections could be, quote, a bloodbath for the GOP.

Russia, meanwhile, is pushing back the new comments from the Kremlin as the -- as U.S. officials ramp up pressure for information about a potential plague death.

Plus, a new tropical storm churning in the Gulf right now could turn into the first Atlantic hurricane of the season. We're tracking the storm's potential impact.

And marking three years since the October 7th terror attack, I'll speak to the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog. That's just ahead.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is on assignment. You're in The Situation Room.

We begin with the march to the midterm elections. We're less than a month away from elections that potentially could completely shift the balance of power in Congress and the rest of President Trump's term. Today, he's making his third recent trip to Texas to boost Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who's struggling in the polls against Democrat James Talarico.

President Trump is projecting confidence in his party, but CNN's Kristen Holmes has new reporting from Republican insiders who are worried about his impact on the race and Democratic gains.

Democrats, meanwhile, are targeting the state of Maine right now, where longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins is running for re- election.

She sparred on the debate stage last night with her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson. The two debated about her relationship with President Trump, the war with Iran, and abortion rights.

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TROY JACKSON (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: He helped overturn Roe versus Wade, and today she says she has no regrets. You said at the time that he said that he considered Roe v. Wade settled law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you feel at any level that Brett Kavanaugh lied to you on that day?

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not feel that he lied, but I think that he should not have said it was settled law because to me that meant that it would not be overturned. But to be fair, you cannot ask a nominee how he might vote on some hypothetical future case.

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BLITZER: CNN Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston is here with me in The Situation Room. So, Mark, who do you think won that debate?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, Wolf, it was really only the first of four battles we're going to see over the next couple weeks between Troy Jackson and Susan Collins, two politicians who are very well known in Maine.

Look, they both got in their hits on each other last night. But again, this is one of these races that's going to come down to the wire. And what we've seen in this race in Maine is we've seen Troy Jackson trying to turn this into a national referendum, trying to make it all about Donald Trump, saying that Donald Trump has been bad for Maine, and Susan Collins has basically abdicated her responsibility to stop Donald Trump from doing things such as putting these tariffs into place.

Remember, Maine is right along that Canadian border and is getting hit very hard by the tariffs. At the same time, though, we have Susan Collins saying, I've been here for five terms now. Put me in for a sixth term. I've always defended Maine, and you can trust me.

BLITZER: CNN has been reporting, as you know, on Republican concerns heading into the midterm elections, with some operatives worried very seriously about Trump's impact on those elections. Our Kristen Holmes has new reporting from one insider who says there are fears of a possible bloodbath among these Republicans.

PRESTON: Well, and not only do we see the reporting from Kristen, who has very great sources, but we're also seeing it in the spending. We're seeing money now from Senate Republican leaders that should be earmarked for other races to either defend some of their colleagues, such as Susan Collins in Maine, who might have tough reelections, and they're putting them into states that necessarily they shouldn't have to worry about, or Donald Trump is going to states he doesn't have to worry about.

We've seen him go to Nebraska. You know, we see that Kansas has now been put on the board. He's going back to Texas of all states right now. He's going back to try to save the candidacy of Ken Paxton. Now, get this, I was talking to a Republican strategist last night just about South Carolina. South Carolina, Lindsey Graham's seat, his sister was basically put into that seat by Donald Trump. She won a very contested primary. Now, there's concerns that she is not running a very good campaign.

[10:05:01]

Now, again, a very Republican state, probably going to win, but the fact is that you have these Senate Republicans that have to start focusing, putting their focus on races they shouldn't have to, and that's why the bloodbath is being discussed.

BLITZER: Well, we'll see what happens. That's coming up. Mark, thank you very, very much.

Also happening now, new questions emerging over the death of a woman who worked at an anti-plague lab in Russia. The U.S. wants answers with President Trump saying he has a phone call scheduled with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Several countries near Russia have implemented quarantine controls at border crossing points. Travel between China and Russia remains normal.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen is joining us live from Berlin right now. Fred, Russian authorities have downplayed any global concerns of possible plague exposure. What are they saying?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they continue to do that, Wolf, and one of the things that's been happening over the past couple of days since this case has really snowballed and gotten a lot of attention, obviously, in the U.S. and globally as well, is that the Kremlin has been asked about it pretty much every day, and today also was no exception as well.

And there, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, and said out -- came out and said that the World Health Organization had been informed by the Russians duly and according to established procedures, as he put it.

Now, you mentioned the fact that President Trump, of course, yesterday said that he had his call scheduled with Russian leader Vladimir Putin very soon to talk about all of this. The Kremlin was asked about that as well. They say at this point in time, to their knowledge, nothing is in fact scheduled. However, Vladimir Putin actually is expecting a bunch of calls from world leaders today because it is also his 74th birthday.

However, when it comes to this case of this plague scare that's been going on in Russia, the Russians are strictly saying that any new information is going to come from their agency combating infectious diseases, which is called Rospotrebnadzor, and that agency really hasn't come out with very much in the way of statements.

However, they do say that, as they put it, the situation there regarding any sort of epidemiological anomalies is very much under control. They also say that some of the quarantine measures that they have been putting in place are slowly coming to a close, or could slowly come to a close. They say that many people have already been tested for exposure, and so far no exposure to the plague has been found.

However, they also say that the quarantine measures are still in place, and CNN was actually able to speak to one woman who was inside a maternity ward, which is under lockdown, who said that her relatives can't visit her, but who also said that there was a questionnaire that she was asked to fill out regarding infectious diseases, including the plague, that also there were health checks and people were asked to wear masks.

Now, Wolf, the United States is not the only country asking the Russian Federation for more information on all this. The head of the World Health Organization also came out and called on the Russians to be very transparent, and also asked for more information about Russian media reports indicating that there could be a second case of someone coming down with pneumonia with an unknown cause, which is of course exactly what that lab worker died of a couple of days ago. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Fred Pleitgen in Berlin for us, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, and I'm quoting now, house of horrors, investigators raiding a Los Angeles County home. Now, now the couple living there is facing child abuse charges tied to an alleged surrogacy scheme.

And next, conscious and speaking. Inmate Christa Pike remains in the hospital this morning as her attorneys are pushing to preserve evidence in her botched execution.

CNN's Ryan Young is live for us in Nashville. Ryan?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, new details in this case on this botched execution. We'll have those details, and we're standing outside the courthouse where there'll be a hearing just this afternoon. We'll have more coming up in a live report.

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BLITZER: Happening now, lawyers for inmate Christa Pike, the woman who survived two doses of a lethal injection drug, say she has regained consciousness and is now speaking. Pike was facing the death penalty after murdering her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, back in 1995.

After surviving the botched execution just last week, Pike's attorneys are now looking to preserve relevant evidence from the failed execution attempt. They're set to appear in court later today.

Let's go live right now to our senior national correspondent, Ryan Young, who's in Nashville. Ryan, tell us what more you're learning about what happened last week and Pike's current status.

YOUNG: Yes, 100 percent, Wolf. We hope to have more information from those attorneys this afternoon when we're able to talk to them after this hearing.

We went up to the fourth floor where this hearing will happen to see what we could figure out how this will move forward, how long it would take. So many people are saying this is unprecedented with the way this has played out so far. We also have calls out to the governor's office and other state officials to figure out where the investigation into what happened is moving forward.

But let's talk about Christa Pike right now. Her attorneys did release a statement, we'll put that up on the screen for you so you can see it, which basically says, against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care. Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed.

Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.

Of course, Wolf, we were talking to witnesses who said they watched over and over again as they tried to put needles in his arm -- in her arms, and, in fact, she even tried to direct people to where to put those needles in her arm when this botched execution happened.

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But listen to her attorneys talk about what this whole situation has played out like and what they hope to have moving forward.

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STEPHEN FERRELL, ATTORNEY FOR CHRISTA PIKE: Nothing that anyone can do will bring back Colleen Slemmer. Nothing that anyone can do will make this right for May Martinez, her mother. I can't give any better solution than the fact that Christa has been, and may very well continue to be, severely punished.

I don't think that attempting another execution is going to bring justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes. Moving forward, Wolf, I just got a statement from Representative Justin Jones here, and he told -- basically says Governor Bill Lee's suspension of the death penalty for the rest of the year must become permanent going forward. There's a lot of people asking for new steps in this state. Marsha Blackburn, who's also running for governor of the state, said they should bring back the electric chair. So, this conversation about how things should move forward is not over just yet. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Ryan Young reporting for us. Ryan, we'll stay in close touch with you. Coming up, we're tracking the potential impact to the Gulf Coast as the latest storm could very well turn into the first Atlantic hurricane of the season.

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[10:20:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, a California couple is facing child abuse charges after investigators say they're behind a surrogacy scheme involving at least 21 children ranging in age from a few months to thirteen years.

Los Angeles County deputies raided the home yesterday. 15 children were removed from the residence, which the district attorney said, and I'm quoting now, could only be described as a house of horrors for these young children. And according to prosecutors, the couple allegedly misled surrogates they paid to carry their children through their own surrogacy company. The couple pleaded not guilty and have denied all allegations.

Also new this morning, the FBI is saying that a contractor's failure to implement a security patch led to a major data breach at the FBI. Last month, a criminal -- a cyber criminal group claimed to have stolen sensitive personal data on thousands of current and former FBI employees, and that included information like Social Security numbers and home addresses.

The FBI says the contractor has been removed, and all necessary steps have been taken to try to mitigate further risks.

And in Chile right now, a stray dog swept up in a raging river prompts a major rescue operation. For hours, rescue crews and passerbys -- passersby tried saving him by rope, by foot, even cornering him on a concrete barrier, but the dog was not having it.

In the end, the dog saved himself, getting to dry land one paw at a time. A couple found him on a roadway and cleaned him up. Very nice.

Also happening now, a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico is gathering strength. It's expected to intensify into a tropical storm and then a hurricane, which could be it would certainly be the first of the Atlantic season.

CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is in the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. He's monitoring all of this for us. So, what's the potential path and the impact?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Wolf, just when we thought we were going to sneak past this entire hurricane season without a hurricane, now we are facing down our first Atlantic hurricane that will likely form.

We've got Tropical Storm Isaias here cozying up across the Bay of Campeche, and at the moment, there's record warm water here that is going to help fuel the strengthening process. The National Hurricane Center has this just shy of a major Category 3 hurricane. We're talking about a degree or rather a temperature or so -- or rather a mile per hour difference between a major hurricane.

Regardless of that, this storm is expected to weaken on its final approach across the northern Gulf Coast. And we could start seeing impacts anywhere from Biloxi into Mobile, New Orleans and Pensacola with heavy rain by Friday morning. But the brunt of the storm comes in late Friday and into early Saturday morning according to most of our computer models.

And I want you to pick up on what's happening east of the center of the storm. These are individual cells. We're concerned about the potential of isolated spin-up tornadoes within this region. That is called the dirty part of the storm. It is often a very big threat with a lot of wind shear with these systems.

So, the forecast rain accumulation, that will be a major concern going forward with flash flooding, but a big part of this story has been the wind shear. Budding hurricanes don't like wind shear. This happens to expand the wind field, but it also weakens the storm. That means impacts will be felt further away from the center.

And this is something interesting to note here as well. Wolf? This is going to be passing over several oil and natural gas wells. With the price of gas on Americans' minds, this is a concern going forward.

BLITZER: It certainly is. All right, Derek Van Dam, you're going to be busy. Thank you very, very much.

Coming up, the Israeli president Isaac Herzog joins me live from Israel to talk about the October 7th attacks and where things stand in the region three years later. That's coming up next.

You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: It was three years ago today that Hamas launched the deadliest terror attack in Israel's history. More than 1,200 people were killed in that massacre, with witnesses describing horrifying scenes of rape, mutilations, and sexual torture. Another 251 people were taken hostage, and survivors described their own ordeal of starvation and sexual abuse, among other horrors.

Today, there is a day-long series of memorials, ceremonies, and protests across Israel. This was held at the site of the Nova Music Festival in Southern Israel. More than 350 people were killed in and around that festival on this day three years ago.

The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, is joining us now from a community that was also attacked on October 7th.

[10:30:05] President Herzog, thanks so much for speaking with us on this important day.