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Trump Continues Campaign Blitz; Mississippi A.G. Rules Fatal Police Shooting of 1-Year-Old Justified; New Russian Attacks on Ukraine. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 20, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now: new attacks in Ukraine. Russia pounds the country overnight, as President Zelenskyy rushes to repair his growing rift with Washington.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Plus: Mississippi's attorney general now says a police shooting that left a 1-year-old little boy dead was justified. But the child's family and the community are still making a plea for justice.

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 quickly disintegrating relationship between the United States and Ukraine. Right now, the White House special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Norway. And, tomorrow, Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, head to St. Petersburg, Russia, to meet with Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy is raising serious concerns right now that the United States is scaling back the military intelligence it shares with his nation. The White House denies that's the case, but President Trump is doubling down on his severe criticism of Zelenskyy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ukraine could have had this thing settled a long time ago. If he would have listened to me, and you remember the Oval Office, he would have had this settled a long time ago. Maybe it's time for Zelenskyy to get somebody else to negotiate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Also, today Ukrainian officials say at least seven people were killed and several energy sites were damaged in an intense barrage of Russian drone strikes. CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joins

us.

Nick, are the meetings today and tomorrow a sort of Hail Mary for some kind of peace deal before the midterm elections here in the U.S.?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I mean, I think the chance of any progress that's markedly going to get us towards a deal that the Kremlin wants to accept is almost close to zero at this point.

I think we are again seeing a moment in which Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and indeed Kyiv and Kyiv's European allies want to certainly let President Trump feel that a peace process is continuing to try and forge its way ahead.

But exactly what the details on the plan they're discussing is unclear. And as one European official in Oslo said to me, look, it's not really about what plan we come up with,. It's about Russia and whether it would accept any plan at all.

And so here we are after an extraordinary two weeks in which the U.S.- Ukrainian relationship, ultimately through the actions and opinions of President Trump, is at really an all-time low, different perhaps from the Oval Office blowout back in February 2025 that you heard the president refer to back there, because, ultimately, I think the emotional shock for Ukrainians is a lot less.

And, indeed, Ukraine has seen how it's had to become more self-reliant and forge ahead regardless. But we are still in dispute over the basic facts of what's happened in terms of U.S. hampering Ukraine's ability to defend itself and strike back at Russia.

Indeed, today, after the 45-minute phone call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Zelenskyy emerged talking again about Patriot interceptors, Starlink and Starship functioning normally, and intelligence warning of ballistic missile strikes still continuing, three things that ultimately Ukraine has had, without any doubt, from the U.S. over the past years.

Ukrainian officials, Ukrainian troops on the front line we have spoken to, ordinary Ukrainians have noticed interruptions in those. Yet that has been disputed by President Trump and by Marco Rubio in just the last hours or so, simply saying the Ukrainians are wrong here, and so and a remarkable moment, where they can't even really seem to just agree exactly what the facts of the hindrance of each other indeed is.

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So, yes, what comes out of Oslo, unclear, but I think certainly this is a move to try and suggest that peace process, yielding virtually nothing so far, it still at least has a pulse.

BROWN: And this is all happening as President Trump is really ramping up his attacks on Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. How has Zelenskyy responded to all of this?

WALSH: I think with a very different tone of what we have seen in the past months. You can always feel in Kyiv that sense of, oh, my God, here we go again over the past 18 months when President Trump would demand Zelenskyy step aside, when he'd begin saying things that are very similar to the talking points you might hear from the Kremlin, a feeling that maybe the pendulum would swing back again and he would speak in Ukraine's favor a matter of weeks later.

You get the feeling now from Zelenskyy from his public statements that he just doesn't care. He has openly called President Trump an ally of Russia, said he's on the wrong side of history, clearly seeing that that plays well not only domestically in Ukraine, well, he is still the president without any doubt, but also with European allies, who I think are increasingly discombobulated about where the White House really stands, what its policy really is, whether it's really trying to assist Ukraine and Europe's security at all.

The last 10 days have shown a plethora of things that President Trump has supported, a diesel deal, energy cease-fire with apparent, according to Ukraine, hindrance of Ukraine's technology, which has left many European allies deeply concerned, and I think Ukraine is simply saying, we have to pull what we see.

And, so far, it seems Trump's Republicans around him are actually turning, and that may be the lesson from here ahead of the midterms.

BROWN: All right, Nick, thank you, as always -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I want to continue the conversation with former NATO Supreme Allied Commander retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark.

General Clark, thanks for joining us.

The U.S. now says it has not cut off military intelligence to Ukraine. But is that the biggest leverage the U.S. potentially has over Kyiv right now?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's one of the major leverages, and we don't know whether it's been cut off or not, frankly, Wolf.

As I have followed the dialogue over the last few days, there's contradictory statements. And really the only people you can listen to and believe are the people in Ukraine, because they're the ones that are either receiving it or not receiving it. So when we hear from Ukraine that they're getting early warning that they know what's happening, then we will know that it's not cut off.

BROWN: So, what message do you think Steve Witkoff is carrying to President Zelenskyy in today's meeting in Norway?

CLARK: I think he's going to tell him that the United States is at the end of its rope, that he's got to make a deal. He's got to give up on Donbass. And I think he will say that it's got to be sweetened by some more economic gifts from Ukraine to the -- let's say, to the United States and maybe to Russia, because the president clearly is pressuring Ukraine to step out of the war.

And this is a -- it's really a shame, because we signed an agreement in 1994. We promised Ukraine we would defend their borders and their security if they gave up nuclear weapons. And they're doing everything they can, and we certainly aren't.

I was in Warsaw at the security forum last week, and when the word of this came out, everybody was saying, what's happened to the United States? Where's the national -- where's the leadership of NATO? What does this mean for the rest of the alliance? Is Trump a traitor?

I mean, there were all kinds of terrible things that as a -- there were a few Americans there, and it was extremely hurtful and difficult to defend, to be honest, Wolf. And so I think we're at a real turning point here in this conflict if the president continues on the current course he's on.

BLITZER: You think, General, that President Trump is feeling any serious pressure from within his own Republican Party to back off trying to normalize relations with Russia and clearly undermining U.S. support for Ukraine?

CLARK: Yes, he is feeling pressure, but I believe he feels that this is the best time to do it because he's out there campaigning. He knows these Republicans that are up for reelection have to have his support.

If he pulls his support from them, then, for whatever it means, they're afraid that they will lose for sure. So he's playing his power right now on the Republican Party. And even though we see statements coming out from the Republican senators, what's their real means of influence on this?

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And that's what our friends in Ukraine are asking. They're saying, how can you abandon a democratic country that's fighting against an aggressor and side with the aggressor? I mean, all the lessons of history say that this is a tragic mistake that's going to result not only in the loss of Ukraine, but a massive -- possibly a third war in Europe and certainly more trouble and destabilization in Europe.

And we have seen this pattern before. This administration in Afghanistan just wanted out and pulled the plug on their agreement. We have seen what happens when our allies are forced to go along with an agreement that they don't respect and that they're warning us won't work.

And I think what President Zelenskyy's trying to say to the United States is, you give up Donbass, you give up our defenses, there's nothing to stop Russia moving forward at a later time. And President Putin hasn't changed. He hasn't given up, made any concessions. He hasn't changed his opinion or his aims.

He wants Ukraine. He wants the Baltics. He wants NATO basically broken up and the United States out. So this is a -- it looks like a peace at any price move that's not really going to bring peace. It brings back all kinds of memories historically of Munich in 1938, where the allies pressured Czechoslovakia, and it didn't do a bit of good preventing World War II.

BLITZER: Yes, very quickly, before I let you go, General Clark, you think Trump is more interested in a good relationship with Putin than he is with Zelenskyy?

CLARK: Well, I think everybody thinks that, Wolf.

And the question is always why. And so he's decided, for whatever reason -- and you can make rational arguments for it or otherwise -- that it's easier to get peace and an end to the conflict by pressuring the weaker party. But that's not the American way. That's not what the leader of the free world is expected to do.

And so this is a really painful moment for our friends and allies around the world.

BLITZER: Very painful, indeed.

General Wesley Clark, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, still ahead: With the midterms getting closer, some Republicans in tight races are trying to move further from President Trump.

BLITZER: And a mayor demands an independent investigation after a man was hurt during a run-in with ICE. What the videos tell us about the moments just before this scuffle.

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BROWN: Happening now, 14 days from the midterm elections, and more than 10 million ballots already are cast. President Trump's next stop in his campaign blitz is tonight in North Carolina, and it will come on the heels of Vice President J.D. Vance's visit to the Tar Heel State and after both parties pulled back on ad spending there. Polls show Democrat Roy Cooper leading Republican Michael Whatley in the Senate race.

Here now are CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton and Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha.

Thank you both for being here.

Shermichael, what do you think about Trump's campaign blitz? Is he going to the right places right now?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he is, and they're being specific in terms of going to areas in these various states where the president did well.

And a part of the calculus, Pamela, is to try to turn out the president's base. They're nontraditional voters. They're low- propensity voters. They typically do not vote if Trump isn't on the ballot. We have seen this in previous elections.

However, the difference this time is that the president is hoping, the theory is that if he goes to these places, he excites that base, that maybe they will still turn out, despite the fact that Trump isn't running for another term. We will see how effective they will be, but I believe, in terms of the math, if you can get just 2 percent of that base to turn out, when you're looking at some of these toss-up races that are within the margin of error, mathematically, that 2 percent could make a difference for many of those Republicans.

BROWN: Where the races are really tight.

So, Chuck, there's this data from AdImpact, and it shows the mentions of President Trump in Republican ads fell 46 percent from May to October. Let's listen to this ad from Trump-backed Republican New Hampshire Senate candidate John Sununu, who, we should note, as I just said, has Trump's endorsement, so it's really interesting to hear this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SUNUNU (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: The way Chris Pappas tells it, I'm President Trump's long-lost son. I have never even met the man. When the president's policies are bad for New Hampshire, I will oppose them, just like I opposed the war in Iran and the trade war with Canada.

That's New Hampshire independent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Do you think that message is going to work with voters?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look, it's really important for folks at home to realize that the midterm elections are held in just a handful of marginal congressional races. That means they're pretty evenly split, maybe R-plus-five, maybe D-plus five. Today most of them are like R-plus-eight, plus-10, in that range.

So the goal there is to tie them to a very unpopular president, and that's what we're doing. That's why you're seeing what you're seeing, because these aren't MAGA-loving, all the right-wing, all the things. No, no, no, these are folks who have to worry about some percentage, to Shermichael's point, of Democrats and independents voting for them to have success.

So they're running away from a president who you yourself have said on this show, all of us, how unpopular his numbers are right now.

BROWN: Now, based on the polls.

ROCHA: Right. Yes, right.

SINGLETON: And that's important, right? It's important for Sununu, for Susan Collins, for Mike Rogers, for Senator John (sic) Marshall in Kansas to have a degree of separation from the president on the unpopular issues.

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And what you have seen, and this is not normal for President Trump to allow those candidates to divorce themselves from the president. And despite those things, he's still campaigning in various states trying to turn out his base. I think that's really, really important.

BROWN: Yes, I mean, but, like, in Kansas, Senator Marshall barely has distanced himself, and Trump's there connecting himself to Marshall.

(CROSSTALK)

ROCHA: And that's a strategy, an important strategy that Shermichael actually said a while ago, is that the only pathway they have to victory -- and I have been working on many of these races for a year -- is they have to, they are desperate to figure out how to get these infrequent Donald Trump presidential voters back.

Because, if they don't come back, there's going to be more than a blue wave because they're counting on them to vote. What people don't talk about is that, in the presidential year, there were a lot of new people that voted. It's just Trump had more new people.

SINGLETON: Yes.

BROWN: I wonder what you think about Trump's messaging too, Shermichael, where he's trying to say what's happening right now with these protests in France and in Europe could happen here if voters elect Democrats.

(CROSSTALK)

SINGLETON: Remember, there were two things. For the broader electorate, it was the economy. But for Trump voters, it was immigration. And so what he's trying to say is, if you allow Democrats to regain control of Congress, you will see the type of mass immigration, the influx of immigration that you saw under the Biden years that will lead to this type of internal turmoil.

Now, make of that what you will intellectually, but it does mobilize and motivate his base enough. Now, will they turn out as because of that issue singularly, I'm not exactly sure, but I do understand why he's trying to draw the correlation.

BROWN: He's done it before in his past campaigns and it worked for him.

ROCHA: Yes. I'm not trying to break this down intellectually, but I will tell you this.

And I have just finished my 251th TV commercial. And every commercial I have made for Democratic congressional candidates been about cost, corruption, or the overreach of ICE, while, in return, Republicans have attacked the Democrats around trans issues, around border issues, around whatever the flavor of the month.

Now, these are two separate strategies, where, in 14 days, we're going to see which one works.

BROWN: Well, you mentioned corruption. So Democrats have linked corruption to the economic pain.

And there's this new FOX News poll out that finds 88 percent of voters say they are extremely or very concerned about corruption in government. That tops their concern over inflation, high gas prices, health care. Are you surprised by that?

ROCHA: And when I'm making an ad, a smart ad maker like me will take that corruption and tie it to the voter around your cost of living. If they have got money to build a new ballroom, why don't we have money to do this thing to bring our costs down? If we have money for this thing in Iran to go to war and be dropping bombs and paying for bombs, why don't we have money to bring the price of diesel down?

BROWN: Is that effective?

SINGLETON: Yes, that's a legitimate concern about independents, though, those swing voters who have shown the propensity to vote for either party.

Like, how many of them find resonance in that messaging that Chuck is talking about and decide to vote for a Democrat, as opposed to staying home, as opposed to voting for the Republican? And, again, you just go back to the math. The calculus is, if you lose some of them, and you're looking at that variability in the delta, can some of the president's base turn out to usurp whatever losses you may see with independents?

It's a tough game to try to figure the math out here, Pamela. We will see, again, if the president's theory is accurate. Lose some here, but turn out my base, you can still help Republicans win.

ROCHA: Independents and Republicans and Democrats all have the same anxiety. The benefit that Democrats have right now is Republicans are in charge of everything, and it's easy for us to blame them.

SINGLETON: That's true.

BROWN: There you go, summing it up right there.

Chuck and Shermichael, thank you both. Great to have you on.

BLITZER: Good discussion.

Up next: The attorney general of Mississippi says a police shooting that claimed the life of a 1-year-old little boy was justified. But the child's family says their fight for justice and accountability is not over.

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BLITZER: Happening now: Mississippi's attorney general says a police officer was justified in a shooting that left a 1-year-old little boy dead. It happened in June in the town of Senatobia.

Police were responding to a shoplifting call at a Walmart. Officers say the suspect's car came right at them, so they opened fire. A child in the car, Kohen Wiley, was shot and killed. His mother's friend who was driving was wounded. Cohen's mother denies her friend was trying to hit officers, and so far there have been no criminal charges.

CNN national correspondent Rafael Romo has more details for us.

Rafael, what else are authorities now saying? And how is the family responding?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, first of all, the statement by the Mississippi attorney general's office doesn't provide details about how the decision was made, nor does it discuss the circumstances of the shooting where 1-year-old Kohen Wiley died in mid-June as police in a town in Northwestern Mississippi fired into a vehicle while investigating a shoplifting call at a Walmart.

As the AP reported last month, the boy's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, denied that she or a friend accompanying her had stolen anything, and no charges have been filed against them. In a statement, the Mississippi attorney general announced that it has completed the review of the June 14 incident in Senatobia involving one officer with the Senatobia Police Department.

The statement says that: "In this incident, the attorney general's office found the use of force was justified pursuant to Section 4516 of the Mississippi Code. The review followed an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation."

Wolf, this decision is likely to renew calls for justice in the case not only locally in Senatobia and the state of Mississippi, but also nationally, because the shooting has made headlines across the country.

In a statement, Ben Crump, a nationally renowned civil rights attorney who is representing Cohen's family, reacted to the decision by the Mississippi attorney general.

He said the following: "How can anyone accept that conclusion when Cohen's family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body camera footage?" he asked.