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Trump Doubles Down on Defending GOP Candidate's Attack Ad; Mississippi Police Officer Who Fatally Shot Toddler Resigns; Trump: Will "Straighten Out" Ukraine's Starlink Access if Needed. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired October 23, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He also talked a lot about the campaign and about where he's heading trying to project confidence in the midterms, Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. A lot from the president just ahead of midterms. Alayna Treene live for us at the White House, thank you for that wrap up. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, new this morning, the Mississippi police officer who shot into a moving car and killed this one-year-old little boy has resigned. The tragedy unfolded in June when police chased two women suspected of shoplifting. Officer Hunter Foster fired into their vehicle, fatally striking the one-year-old little boy.

[11:35:00]

This week, Mississippi's attorney general announced that the officer's use of force was justified, but this case has fueled widespread outrage. CNN's Ryan Young is here following the story. What more are you learning, Ryan?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of outrage on this case, Pamela. And of course, since June, people in the community have been asking questions about how this case would move forward and whether or not the officer would face charges. We now know, of course, that officer has resigned. The mayor of that area confirmed that to CNN this morning.

But there's still a lot of questions about how this led to all of this. And of course, you have the five officers who ran outside, including sheriff's deputies, and surrounded that car. Of course, you see the car here. It did back into another car. And at some point, when that car goes forward and passes, and you can see the officer right there in the video there, he then fires three shots. One of the bullets looks like it enters the front of the vehicle, and then two others went through that passenger window. And of course, there's a lot of conversation about whether or not he needed to fire.

Now, we know a lot of times law enforcement looks at a moving vehicle like it's a weapon, but none of the other officers fired. So, the question in the community is, did this officer need to open fire? Now, there was a news conference yesterday. Ben Crump, other attorneys, people from the community showed up and had a conversation just about what they would like to see happen next. Take a listen to Ben Crump talk about what he hopes happens, but also the questions that are still left unanswered in this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR KOHEN WILEY'S FAMILY: The shot that killed one-year-old baby Kohen Wiley was not justified. He was not in harm's way when he shot from the side. We -- you look at the video for yourself. We believe that when he fired that shot, that fatal shot that killed this one-year-old baby, it was from the side of the vehicle, and it was not justified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Pamela, there have also been a lot of questions, even for folks in the media, just about why this video hasn't been played before. First of all, Dark Horse Press is the one who got that video and originally released it. The video the family saw yesterday came from the department from Mississippi, and they were able to see that from law enforcement for the first time.

So, there's a lot of questions about how this all played out, transparency, how this will move forward. Can the family sue? But now we know this officer has decided to resign. But there are a lot of wounds in that community that still are left unhealed, especially when you see the face of that one-year-old boy just so full of life and obviously now a life that's ended.

So, questions in a community that doesn't know what to do next. So, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few days.

BROWN: Precious little boy. Ryan Young, thank you. Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Starshield shakeup. President Trump says the Vital Satellite Service is back up and running for Ukraine. But officials there say that's not, repeat, not the case, as disruptions seriously complicate their defense against these incoming Russian attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

BLITZER: And there's more breaking news. President Trump just told reporters he would get Ukraine's access to Starshield straightened out, his words, straightened out. That after President Zelenskyy said restrictions on the military-grade satellite internet service were still in place. CNN reported that President Trump asked Elon Musk to restore Ukraine's full access to that service. Starshield is vital for Ukraine's defense. Meanwhile, Russia unleashed more attacks overnight with more than 170 drone strikes. CNN senior military analyst, the retired Admiral James Stavridis is joining us right now. Admiral, thanks so much for joining us. How is this controversy impacting the U.S. military partnership, the relationship with Ukraine?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST AND FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Yes, let's kind of do it from the inside out. Well, so for the Ukrainians, this is devastating whenever that Starshield-Starlink connection goes down because they're defenseless right now in the sense that they don't have the high-end Patriots they need. And this is Putin's way of putting pressure on them. Next click out, it's a big advantage for the Russians, obviously, because it opens up more opportunities for them to go after population centers, military targets like you're showing.

And then finally, your point, it hurts U.S.-Ukrainian cooperation because we provide, quite correctly, intelligence to the Ukrainians that prepares them to put their drones in place to take out incoming threats. Without the Starshield, they can't receive that and actionize that intelligence as effectively. So, it's devastating.

Final thought, I hope the president is sincere. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I hope he puts the top of his list to straighten this out, which means full speed, full speed ahead for Starshield and Starlink.

BLITZER: Yes. He said in this news conference just a few minutes ago, I heard it was fixed. Well, clearly, it has not yet been fixed.

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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said this morning that speed has not been fully restored to Starlink and Starshield. So, what impact do you think this will have on the ground for Ukraine's military, especially as it's trying to protect civilian populations, including schools, churches, all sorts of hospitals in Ukraine?

STAVRIDIS: Very clearly, Wolf, this is going to lead directly to more Ukrainian tragic and unnecessary deaths. That's quite obviously the worst part of this. And then secondly, it only improves Russian morale. And I think it hardens Putin's desire, his view that the longer he holds out, the better his chances are at the negotiating table.

I would argue if we want to get Putin to the negotiating table, which we talk about all the time, let's get to a deal here. The way to do that is not to hinder the Ukrainians, quite the opposite. The way to get there is to give the Ukrainians all of the tools, all the high- speed internet, the intelligence. They're getting the weapons that we are largely making here in the United States. We then sell them to the Europeans to pay for them. And then they're given to the Ukrainians. That's where we need to up our game.

And then final thought, Wolf, not really related to the startling star shield, but the more we can put sanctions on Russia and put economic pressure, that's how we get Putin to the table, economically pressuring him, militarily pressuring him. He'll come to that table if he has to. And if we can get him to the table, I think there's a reasonable chance we could cut a deal here.

BLITZER: And removing the sanctions that the U.S. had imposed on Russia, that's just going to be the opposite effect, right?

STAVRIDIS: Exactly. Again, if your stated objective is to get to a deal, stop the killing, get Putin to the table, the two things you need to do are put economic pressure with sanctions and give Ukraine the tools to conduct the military pressure. That's the only way we're going to get Putin to the table.

BLITZER: You're the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral Stavridis. How do you believe U.S. allies, NATO allies, especially in Europe, are seeing this star shield controversy?

STAVRIDIS: They see it as confusing. They see it as part and parcel of the general tendency of the Trump administration to lean back away from Ukraine. And thankfully, the European NATO allies are standing up and are supporting Ukraine in these very turbulent and fraught times. They're doing it by buying weapons for them. They are doing it by giving them economic support through the European Union. They're giving them diplomatic support.

And if we do get to that negotiating table, by the way, we're talking about U.S., Ukraine and Russia, I would like to see that be a quad set of talks that include a representative from the European Union.

BLITZER: Good point. Retired Admiral James Stavridis, thanks as usual for joining us. Appreciate it.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Wolf, coming up, Vice President Vance tells Republicans to, quote, "stop whining" about the controversial ad that has inflamed the Ohio governor's race. But could his defense come back to bite him in two years? We're going to ask Michael Smerconish, up next.

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BROWN: Well, just moments ago, Ohio's Republican candidate for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, addressed the growing backlash to a controversial ad from his campaign. It features his opponent's estranged mother urging people not to vote for her. The ad has faced bipartisan backlash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- to call the down ad. Your reaction?

VIVEK RAMASWAMY (R), CHIO GOV. CANDIDATE: So, I respectfully have a different point of view. And I think the issue here -- and I just want to be crystal clear about it. The issue here is that our opposition, and I think with the media aid, they are lying about an ad that is about lying.

Our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse. We condemn that as forcefully as anyone. Our ad was about a consistent track record of an act and telling lies, including during this campaign. And I do think that there has been very little to no coverage of the lies she has told about me, about my family, about my mother. An ad they put up falsely calling me a murder of a man's wife who was on television, deluding people across Ohio. That's inexcusable.

And I do think it is wrong. And it's more than double standard wrong. It's just wrong that there was pin drop silence from the media about those lies from my opponent. And yet, when we call her out for lying, they have the gall to deflect the topic to something that the ad had nothing to do with. I think the people of our state are smart enough to see through it. We're not going to dignify those lies by bending the knee to their deflection.

[11:55:00]

She should be answering for why it is she has not told the truth about her own record, about multiple different 911 calls on her across multiple different marriages made by her own child, made by ultimately calling the COVID death rate 50 percent when it was less than 1 percent. Slanderous lies told about me. She does need to be held accountable for that. And I think that those in the media know this.

If this were a Republican, if the same shoe fit the other foot, President Trump mentioned the same. I think he was right about this. If this was President Trump or a family member of a similarly situated Republican, it would be frontpage news, not out of criticism, but out of promoting the story.

And so, we're not going to accept those double standards. Ohioans don't accept those double standards. And most importantly, it unnecessarily allows our opponent to deflect from the fact that she has no plan to improve the state. She doesn't have the qualifications to be the governor.

And I think in this final week, we need to be focused on the issues that impact Ohioans. And I believe I'm the only person in this race, who will be able to deliver on the things that this state needs, which are lower property taxes, lower electric bills, fighting Medicaid fraud, combating waste, fraud and abuse, prosecuting criminals, restoring the rule of law. I'm going to be the candidate who fights for Ohioans, who has the capabilities to do this job.

And I think it is legitimate to be able to criticize the opponent's capabilities without getting into any issues which we have not gotten into relating to the topic they're discussing. They're the ones who brought that up, not us. And I do think that we do have any doubts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any doubts that -- do you have any doubts, given the fact that you did platform her mom about her story of abuse and neglect from her stepfather?

RAMASWAMY: So, let me let me just say a word about this, because I didn't see a single media story when they platformed a man who completely wrongly and I feel bad for him, he's an older man, had him reading from a script on screen calling me a murderer of his wife, which is the most insane claim they could have made put millions of dollars in advertising across this state. I didn't hear a peep from the media.

Her mother has spoken since 2020. I've never met Amy Acton. I've never met or spoken to her mother. But I do think that if a candidate has repeatedly told lies in this campaign, as she has, and she is called out for it by a lot of people who are close to her from the state physicians to people who worked for her to now another person who's close for her.

I think that in the standard of political advertising that they have used and that the media regularly accepts, I think it is absolutely acceptable for voters to hear and make a decision for themselves. We'll see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now, CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish. He's the host of CNN's "Smerconish" and also the Michael Smerconish program on SiriusXM. Michael, first of all, what do you make of the way Ramaswamy is now reacting to all of this?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he's trying to make it much more confusing than it actually is. Amy Acton maintains and said then that she was sexually abused by her stepfather when she was 12 years old. He was charged. He became a fugitive. Her birth mother supported him. And now, they've brought her out 47 years after the last time mother and daughter saw one another to say that she's a liar. It's all about the sexual abuse claim. So, they've played for political purposes that card. That's what it's all about.

Now, he's trying to muddy, I think, the waters as to what the commercial did and did not represent. I can't imagine that 11 days out from the conclusion of the midterm that it's in the best interest of the Ramaswamy campaign that this is what everybody's buzzing about. But here we are.

BLITZER: Here's what Vice President J.D. Vance said earlier this week about some of the outrage over this ad. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: But I have to admit that I'm a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America.

Politics is a tough business. And my message to my fellow elected Republicans is if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days. Next question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Michael, what do you make of Vance's strategy?

SMERCONISH: I don't know why he would choose to become a part of this story. Politically speaking, I would think it would be most prudent for him to just stay the heck out of it and likewise for the president. The difference between the president and the vice president, the difference between the president and everybody else is that Donald Trump has nine lives and Donald Trump can just take a page from that Roy Cohn playbook and deny, deny, deny and obfuscate.

And tomorrow there's something else that he'll have moved on to. Nothing sticks to him. Nothing has stuck to him. I don't think that's going to be the case in a post-Trump era, and I'm talking specifically about 2028. I think it comes back to haunt Vance. I might be wrong. We'll see.

BLITZER: We will see. Michael Smerconish, thanks as usual. And Michael's live every Saturday morning here on CNN, 9:00 a.m. Eastern. We'll be watching Saturday morning.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. We'll see you back here Monday morning. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts right now.

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