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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Trump: My Rallies Having A "Huge Impact" On Republicans; Vance Declines To Say If He Backs Netanyahu For Reelection; Trump Levels Blame On Zelenskyy For Russia's War In Ukraine. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired October 19, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: We specifically wanted to offer Biggs the opportunity to share his reasoning for his votes, or his political moves. We did not hear back from the campaign.
Anderson.
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That's it for us. The news continues right here on CNN.
DANA BASH, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: Tonight. With two weeks to go, President Trump is in Kansas, trying to stop a Democrat from winning a Senate seat for the first time in nearly a century.
I'm Dana Bash in for Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
15 days until the midterms, and tonight President Trump is on a tour of red states, taking him to Kansas, where the Republican Party is hoping to stave off its first Senate loss in 94 years, and where the President was repeatedly interrupted by protesters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Pretend I'm on the ballot, and I am actually--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible).
TRUMP: You know what he is. They're paid protesters.
Oh, here's another one. Listen to that one. I can tell by the voice they get paid. They get paid.
Whatever you do, get out and vote, so we can get rid of idiots like that.
And we're not going to let that happen to this country.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Tomorrow, the headlines are going to be: Trump has to go through massive protests.
No, we have -- you know, there are 5,000 people standing outside, watching a jumbotron right now.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: He's writing the headlines, during the speech.
Vice President Vance, meantime, spent the day in North Carolina when he was interrupted by a protester, and the VP responded this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JD VANCE (R), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: For too long, ladies and gentlemen, we have been ruled by a corrupt, far-left cartel that subjected this country to -- to woke insanity for years.
PROTESTER: (Inaudible) release the Epstein files. God bless our children, God bless our children.
(CROWD chanting USA)
VANCE: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to have to amend something I said earlier. I said that we have had zero illegal border crossings in the United States of America.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
VANCE: But one isn't bad, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: The protester could be heard shouting that he is a U.S. citizen as security dragged him out.
As for the President, he'll be logging plenty of miles this week, sticking to deep red states he won, several by healthy double-digit margins because the Republicans on the ballot are so vulnerable in these places.
As he left the White House today, the President insisted, that strategy is working for these Republican candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm the one that's winning. I'm the one that's doing the rallies. It's taking people into a winning position. When you look at what's happened, if you take a look at what's happened since I've been doing these massive, totally sold-out rallies. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. As an example, we're up in Texas, we weren't. We're up in Alaska, we weren't. We're up, everybody, every place that I've gone to, we're up.
I went to Alaska, and Dan Sullivan is up. I went to Ohio, Jon Husted is up. I went to Texas, and Ken Paxton is up. So far -- and I went to many other places -- wherever--
REPORTER: Mr. President--
TRUMP: Wherever I go, they seem to be up, and I have the biggest rallies anybody's ever seen. They have packed houses. We have thousands and thousands of people today, and beyond the house, they're broadcast all over. And my rallies are having a huge impact and a positive impact on the Republican Party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Let's look at three of the specific races that the President cited: Senate contests in Alaska, Ohio, and Texas. The latest New York Times/Siena polls in Alaska finds the Democrat Mary Peltola leading by seven percentage points. In Ohio, the latest CNN poll has Democrat Sherrod Brown up by six percentage points.
Now, both of these polls were done before the President visited those states. We don't know if the rallies he had changed the numbers, or more importantly, what his real goal is, is to up the GOP turnout between now and Election Day. We'll have to see.
[21:05:00]
In Texas, President Trump and Vice President Vance have held multiple rallies on behalf of Trump's handpicked candidate, Ken Paxton. And a brand-new CNN Poll of Polls out today shows no clear leader between him and the Democrat James Talarico.
But even as the President cited polls as proof of his impact, he also reverted to his usual attacks on them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I mean, I think, I think it's fake polls. Look, I had one poll where I was down by three, and I won by 20. And the person that was the pollster had to quit in disgrace. So, you know, one of those things.
I don't rely on the polls, but polls mean something. But a lot of the polls are rigged, just like the journalists are rigged. I could name six of them that I'm looking right here. You're rigged journalists. A lot of the polls are rigged. Not all of you, but there's some good ones I can name also. But a lot of the polls are rigged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Well, November 3rd is Election Day. In many states, voting is already happening. In fact, up two-thirds of all -- up to two-thirds rather of all votes cast in these midterms are expected to be cast early. For example, Texas, the Dallas suburb of McKinney, looked like this today, as voters turned out on the first day of early voting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm getting tired of name calling and attacks. You know, we need to get back to some civility. We need to get back to where we can actually have discussions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've -- we've, you know, we've made it through, you know, all sorts of elections and -- and ups and downs and -- and you know, sometimes my candidate wins, sometimes not, and we'll be fine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kind of exhausting. The research you have to do when you see these commercials just to make sure they're telling the truth is pretty nuts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: When the 9 million ballots have been already cast across the country, and of the seven states the President is visiting this week, we have data on who is voting early in four of them. In all four, we see more ballots being cast by Democrats, people who are registered as Democrats at this stage.
My political sources are:
CNN Chief Political Analyst, David Axelrod.
Former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, Charlie Dent.
And Republican strategist, Melik Abdul.
Hello, one and all.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Hello.
BASH: Happy Monday to you.
First of all, just kind of the vibe of what we're seeing so far. I'm going to go to you here because, as far as I know, you're the only one who's been on the ballot. Never mind in Congress. And what it's like to be in a situation where you know when you're running against big- time headwinds.
CHARLIE DENT, (R-PA) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Oh yes, well, I ran in 2006, and believe me, when you're running into the wind, into a heavy -- into a heavy storm, it's very hard to move a message. If you're trying to -- basically, what you need to do because you're not winning on the issues, you try to discredit your opponent as best you can and knock them down. But it's hard to move numbers.
And that's why I'm skeptical that all this money that's being thrown, I'm not sure it's going to persuade many people at this late hour because, I think that the narrative has been written, the die has been cast, people kind of know where they are. So, just tough running into a headwind.
Now, when the wind's at your back, it's completely different. It's--
AXELROD: Yes, I've experienced both.
DENT: Yes. Well, why--
AXELROD: I've been on the other side of a wave in the White House. And you do what they're doing. You try and find ways to change the narrative.
DENT: Right.
AXELROD: But you try -- and you try and find rationales to make people believe that what is going to happen isn't going to happen. So, though I don't think President Obama ever went out quite as emphatically--
BASH: Yes.
AXELROD: --and told the stories that this president is telling.
BASH: Well, and Melik, the President did speak about what he hopes to do in Kansas on his way there. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I have a man named Roger, and you know him very well, Roger Marshall. He's a fantastic senator. He's one of the best. It's a close race. It shouldn't be. And as you know, I won by a tremendous amount, like 25, 30 points. I won by a lot, Kansas, and they should be winning by a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: I mean, that's maybe the most sort of candid, I've heard him on the reality of what's happening on the ground, particularly in the place where he is tonight.
Betsy Klein, who's our correspondent, who's at that rally, says that she has spoken to so many undecided voters. For anybody who's ever been to a Trump rally, there is almost never anybody who is undecided, and obviously they're not undecided about him if they're there, but undecided about Roger Marshall. It's stunning.
[21:10:00]
MELIK ABDUL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes. Now fortunately, I was just looking at the InsiderAdvantage poll, so it does have Marshall up.
We weren't expecting this to be one of the competitive races. But I think what you're seeing, and not just this race, but really just around the country, it is not simply just an anti-incumbency. I think we're seeing a much more amplified version of what we saw in 2024 with the economic frustration.
But you don't just simply now have the economic frustration. You have frustrations over the war. You have frustration over what you're paying at the pump. And these type of things, the same economic frustration that drove Donald Trump to a victory in 2024, that exists now.
BASH: Yes.
ABDUL: And so, the question for voters is whether or not the administration is doing enough to address those concerns, and that's what we're going to see on November 3rd.
AXELROD: Isn't it--
ABDUL: Donald Trump said he is on the ballot.
AXELROD: Isn't it also it's a little -- it's more than that because voters can point to specific decisions the President made, decisions on tariffs, decision to wage war, and they associate those decisions with higher prices because it's true. So, he promised to bring down costs and he promised not to get us into unnecessary wars.
ABDUL: He did.
AXELROD: And now that is being litigated in these elections.
ABDUL: And they're going to take that out on the Republicans.
BASH: And candidates matter.
ABDUL: Yes.
BASH: And the fact is that the incumbent Republican Roger Marshall, talking to a lot of Republicans, I don't know if you've heard the same thing, is that he was a little bit asleep at the switch and wasn't as sort of aggressive about campaigning.
And he is up against a Democrat who is part of kind of a new wave of Democratic candidates this year. He is a member of the clergy. And not just a member of the clergy. He has a megachurch in Kansas.
Listen to what he told Jake Tapper today about the President coming to Kansas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM HAMILTON, (D) KANSAS SENATE CANDIDATE: I took it as a big compliment. I took it as a statement that the Republican Party felt they needed to send the most powerful man in the country to try to save Roger Marshall, and I think it's only going to hurt him. So, I'm glad he's here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DENT: Well, yes. Well, Donald Trump is a turnout machine. Yes, he'll probably help Republican turnout, but he's going to help Democratic turnout too. And I've always said, the President should be lying low right now, and just spending his money to help turnout. That's what he should be doing. But he's not -- it's not in his DNA.
The fact that he's in Kansas. I mean, I don't think the President's really helping Marshall that much there because the President's numbers are not just sagging in battleground states and districts, but they're sagging in reliably red areas, like Kansas. And incumbents get caught, you know, who are in those types of communities, states, where they never really had to run a race before. They didn't--
BASH: So even if you were in a very red district, which you really never were?
DENT: Yes.
BASH: But even if you were, and the President said, I want to come. You would say, No way, right now?
DENT: Well, maybe at this point, that's the only thing they can -- if they're going to have the President come in, just drive up base turnout because--
BASH: Yes.
DENT: --they're beyond the point now, trying to persuade some of the--
AXELROD: Yes.
DENT: --the more moderate and independent voters.
ABDUL: It's base turnout. That's--
(CROSSTALK)
DENT: It's base turnout, but that might not be enough, though.
AXELROD: No, it might not. But what's Plan B? I mean, they're in a -- they are in a situation where they have to try and change the equation, and the way you change the equation is to get people who don't customarily vote in these primaries. The problem is those people are really sensitive to these issues of the economy and the wars and the Epstein stuff and so on.
DENT: Yes.
AXELROD: So, you're really -- you're trying to energize a base that doesn't feel particularly enthused.
ABDUL: And Republicans know that Donald Trump is the most popular Republican figure, as far as where you were saying, like those rallies, really turning out the base. This is -- this is all about turning out the base, and Donald Trump is going to every red state, even went to Syracuse. All of those--
AXELROD: It's a risk, though because, you can also turn on the opposition.
ABDUL: Yes. But you said, What's the plan B? (CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: And they're gambling that they're already turned on.
ABDUL: There is no plan B.
BASH: David, as somebody who has run more races than probably we all--
ABDUL: One or two.
BASH: --we all want -- I mean, I first met you when you were running local -- well, statewide races in Illinois.
AXELROD: Yes. We were teenagers.
BASH: Yes, I was. It was so weird that I was there. Right. And obviously, pretty big races like the President of the United States. What is sort of the -- sort of big picture that you're looking at here that we should all be focused on?
AXELROD: Well, it's interesting. What Roger Marshall said is--
BASH: Yes.
AXELROD: --is actually true. Like, the worst thing that can happen to you when you're a candidate is to be ignored because that means there's a great deal of--
BASH: What Adam Hamilton--
AXELROD: I'm watching the money.
BASH: Yes.
AXELROD: Not Roger Marshall. I mean--
BASH: Yes, yes.
AXELROD: Hamilton.
I watch the money and I see where the money is moving. And I'm watching whether the favorable ratings of these Democratic candidates are being impacted negatively by this barrage. I mean, what's interesting about Texas is you would think after $250 million that Talarico would be buckling here, and he's not. And part of it is his durability. Part of it is that Paxton is so unpopular; it's very hard to push people his way.
[21:15:00]
ABDUL: Yes. Well, Paxton, you know, there was some conversation before Donald Trump even decided to endorse Paxton, saying that Cornyn was the better candidate here.
I think the big thing that concerns me about, while we'll be watching coming out of Texas, is not just the Hispanic vote. I was looking at the numbers, and when Ted Cruz ran against both Allred and Beto O'Rourke, he was never behind in the polls. The latest polls that I looked at, going back to this summer with July, I think since July, Ken Paxton has only led in one poll. I don't know what it's like.
BASH: Well that's--
AXELROD: Cruz also had a much more favorable rating.
ABDUL: Right.
BASH: And this is -- this is not in Texas. This is nationwide. But there is a new poll from Telemundo that shows the majority of voters say they are going to vote in opposition to Trump. Which, speaking of Texas, is fascinating because one of the reasons why the White House wanted to--
ABDUL: The gerrymandering.
BASH: --a mid -- a mid-decade--
ABDUL: Yes.
BASH: --gerrymander in Texas is because they felt so bullish--
ABDUL: Yes.
BASH: --on the increase in the Latino vote, and that's part of having--
ABDUL: And many of us were saying early on--
DENT: Well--
BASH: You said don't do it?
ABDUL: --don't misread this vote.
DENT: Yes.
ABDUL: And it's not just a Hispanic vote.
AXELROD: You know, it's--
ABDUL: The Black vote as well. That coalition was not a Donald Trump forever MAGA-style coalition.
AXELROD: I remember--
ABDUL: It wasn't.
AXELROD: I remember when Obama got elected, and you'll remember this too, there were people saying, Well, this is the coalition of the ascendant. This is going to dominate our politics for the next generation. Eight years later, we had Donald Trump. It is hubris to assume that you have permanent--
DENT: Yes.
AXELROD: --possession of a base of voters. These Hispanic voters, who were working-class people, small business people, they had reason to vote for Donald Trump in 2024.
ABDUL: I was that two-time Obama voter who then voted for Donald Trump.
AXELROD: Yes.
DENT: Well, it's a dummy-mander down in Texas. I mean, they -- look, they drew the maps based on 2024 performance, not anticipating -- apparently not anticipating a midterm wipeout in 2026, and that's why they're having problems. Not just in South Texas. I've been down to Henry Cuellar's district in Laredo. That's a -- that's a fairly conservative Democrat, a Hispanic Democrat down there. But you also go down to South Florida.
ABDUL: Yes.
AXELROD: Yes.
DENT: Look at the district of Salazar.
AXELROD: Yes. Yes.
DENT: Trump won that district by, I think, 15 points, and you've got probably a toss-up race going on down there. So, it's a -- it's a massive problem. There's just too many assumptions being made about voter behavior, going forward, based on past performance.
ABDUL: Yes.
AXELROD: Well, not just the economy, but the -- the immigration program. I mean, people in South Texas wanted to seal the border. They did not want to demonize every Hispanic in the country and have to carry their passports around and watch -- or witness the abuse of people. And that's what has turned a lot of those voters.
DENT: By the way--
ABDUL: This election will be the first time that we will see how all voters, but definitely Hispanic voters, feel about Trump's -- the implementation--
AXELROD: Yes.
ABDUL: --of Trump's immigration policies--
AXELROD: Yes.
ABDUL: --and the first indication of that will be in Florida.
DENT: And those Hispanic voters down in South Texas, I always said, one reason why Trump won down there. Where do they work? Oil services sector. They're in the Border Patrol, state, local law enforcement, kind of Republican issues.
BASH: You say, follow the money.
Also, follow where the principles are going. The House Speaker has been to South Texas, especially southeastern Texas, multiple times, and he didn't expect to be there.
Thank you all. Great to see you.
Up next. Would President Trump endorse JD Vance for President in 2028? What Vance just said about that?
And later, President Trump's response when asked about ending Russia's war in Ukraine may leave you a little bit confused.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. President, have you agreed to a trilateral meeting with Presidents Putin and Xi to talk about Ukraine?
TRUMP: No, but I would, I would do it. Not so much for Ukraine I, because Russia frankly has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BASH: President Trump and Vice President Vance are usually in lockstep publicly. But tonight, there's a rift when it comes to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his competitive reelection battle.
Here's what Vance said tonight when asked whether he supports Netanyahu's reelection, like the President did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: I endorse American candidates, and that's where I'm focused on is the midterms. So, I'm not getting involved in the Israeli elections.
MARK HALPERIN, AMERICAN JOURNALIST: So -- so you're not -- you don't want to say one way or the other whether you support.
VANCE: I'm not anti-endorsing him.
HALPERIN: Yes.
VANCE: I'm not pro-endorsing him. I'm not getting involved in Israeli elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: He certainly has been involved with elections outside the U.S. as Vice President. Remember, he traveled to Hungary, earlier this year, to support Viktor Orban, ahead of his election, which the longtime prime minister then lost.
And while Vance has declined to take a stance on Netanyahu, President Trump made his endorsement very clear in a lengthy post, saying, quote, "Bibi Netanyahu has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace... [He's] been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself."
My White House insider tonight is Shelby Talcott, White House correspondent for Semafor.
Now, the outlier here, to be fair, is President Trump.
SHELBY TALCOTT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, SEMAFOR: Yes.
BASH: Because it is sort of used to be verboten to get involved in internal politics from an ally -- well, especially by an ally during an election. Never mind what JD Vance did with Viktor Orban.
But what is your take on this? Is this just kind of the difference between the two of them on Israel? Is this JD Vance kind of tacking more to the Tucker Carlson wing of the party?
[21:25:00]
TALCOTT: I see it more as this is the difference in how each person views what America First means, and I think that that is going to become more evident should JD Vance formally announce and start running because, I do think he has different ideas of what sort of the America First mentality that really rose under President Trump means than somebody like President Trump.
We know that JD Vance was much more skeptical of the Iran war. We know that he's more skeptical of foreign intervention and of how sort of the U.S. treats allies like Israel, like Ukraine. And I think this is sort of the first real glimpse into those differing opinions, and I think we're going to see more of it should he run.
BASH: In this interview with Mark Halperin, he was asked about whether or not the President would endorse him in 2028.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: I think I would get his endorsement, but I also think there's something to be said for people actually running their own race. And because the President's endorsement is so dispositive, you could absolutely see a scenario where the President says, You know what? We need to let like this race play out--
HALPERIN: Yes.
VANCE: --and not like preemptively prejudge the results. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Record scratch.
TALCOTT: I mean, the President loves to see people sort of fight over who's going to be his successor. He always has. And so, it wouldn't be surprising to me, and I think a lot of the people that I've talked to, both inside and around the White House, wouldn't be surprised if the President sort of sits back and waits and kind of sees what the candidates.
BASH: Yes, and he's trying to set that expectation.
TALCOTT: He's trying to set that expectation, which is really interesting.
But I do think everybody I've spoken to, both inside and around the White House, people who really like Vance, people who are more skeptical of Vance, say that the President's endorsement could effectively shut this race down. So, it really depends, at the end of the day, if JD Vance decides to run and the President says--
BASH: Yes.
TALCOTT: --OK, the candidates who might be running against JD Vance, I don't like them, or Hold on a sec, I want to wait and see what this looks like.
BASH: And isn't there another factor here that the sooner the President endorses, the sooner he is more of a lame duck.
TALCOTT: That's a really good point, yes. And I think you're seeing in -- even in these first two years, the President has been sort of acutely focused, I think it's fair to say, on his legacy and legacy project and sort of how he's going to be remembered and things that he's doing here in Washington, D.C., that are going to be around for a lot longer than he will be around.
And I think the last two years of his presidency are going to be really interesting to see, particularly depending on how Republicans do in the midterms, say they do really poorly in the midterms, and the President is struggling to really get -- move things forward in Congress. What is it going to look like as the President realizes that this is his last two years in office?
BASH: You have some new reporting tonight on that, on what's already going on inside Trump world in anticipation of these midterms in two weeks.
TALCOTT: Yes, the really big question that I'm hearing inside Trump world is what happens after the midterms, particularly if Republicans don't do well, and the main question there is: Is there going to be a blame game?
Is it going to fall on somebody like James Blair, who the President is very close with, his outside adviser, but who has faced some controversy because, he went overseas on a trip, just a month before the midterms, when he's supposed to be sort of focusing on the midterms.
Is it going to be somebody like Susie Wiles, who I have been told by a dozen people inside the administration is incredibly safe and is one of the only people that would be very hard to push out?
But people are trying to sort of see if that's something that is -- that the President might be open to, or is it going to be somebody else? Maybe Pete Hegseth, right, is another name that I've heard, if the President sours on the Iran war.
And so, these are questions that people inside the administration, close to the administration, are asking is: If things go really poorly, who is the President going to blame?
BASH: Is he going to look in the mirror? That was a rhetorical question.
TALCOTT: Yes.
BASH: We know the answer to if things go poorly--
(CROSSTALK)
TALCOTT: But I do think that if Republicans maintain control of the Senate, that will be acceptable for Trump.
BASH: Yes, no, I agree with that.
Thank you so much. Really good to see you always, Shelby.
And up next. The President says Russia hasn't, quote, been doing much in Ukraine, as he signals he's open to a meeting about ending the war without Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
My congressional source, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, is next.
[21:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BASH: Tonight, President Trump is making clear that he's increasingly open to sidelining Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when it comes to ending the war in his country.
It's a war that Russia started, but listen to what the President said today about efforts to end it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. President, have you agreed to a trilateral meeting with Presidents Putin and Xi to talk about Ukraine?
TRUMP: No, but I would, I would do it. Not so much for Ukraine I, because Russia frankly has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much.
I would meet in order -- anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody is there or not. Whatever I can do to end the war. And they do want to have a meeting at my suggestion because I'm going to be over in China in November on the denuclearization. And if we can do denuclearization, I will have done the world a big, big favor.
[21:35:00]
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)
BASH: Still Zelenskyy is clinging to hope that a meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, and Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, will happen in Norway this week. After the President slammed Ukraine yesterday for launching one of its biggest drone attacks this year on Russian energy sites. The attack followed the White House offering more concessions to Russia, including waiving sanctions on Russian diesel sales ahead of the midterm elections.
Today, Zelenskyy pointed to Russia's constant attacks on Ukraine, including a missile attack on a Kyiv metro station and a drone attack that killed six people, including three children.
I want to warn you: the pictures Zelenskyy shared of that drone attack are disturbing, and include this blurred image of one of the victims, a child in a stroller. Her name was Angelina (ph), and she was just over a year old. Zelenskyy says this shows the truth about this war.
Ukraine has accused the U.S. of choking off access to critical intelligence and the Starshield satellite program that Ukraine uses in part to detect incoming missiles.
Listen to the President's response when he was asked about those issues today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Have you investigated at all who slowed down or who ordered the interruption of Starlink in Ukraine -- who ordered that interruption?
TRUMP: I don't know who it was, but I'd like to find out.
REPORTER: Did you stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine on Russian attacks?
TRUMP: Yes, we share intelligence. We share a lot -- we've given a lot to Ukraine. You know what? We've given a lot to Ukraine. They've given nothing to us. Remember that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: My Democratic source tonight is Senator Richard Blumenthal, who serves on the Armed Services and Homeland Security committees.
Thank you so much for being here, Senator.
Based on the President's actions and rhetoric, do you think the U.S. is still behind Ukraine in the war that Russia waged four years and seven months ago?
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): That's the question that President Zelenskyy is asking, and what we said today to him, members of Congress. I convened this meeting, asked President Zelenskyy to join us, to express to him our determination to continue to stand with Ukraine. The vote on the Russia sanctions bill was an overwhelming 86 to 11, bipartisan in the Senate. Likewise, in the House.
The American people are with Ukraine. The President is contradicting the will of the American people who want to stand with Ukraine and who want the Starlink service to be continued despite its continued disruption by the Trump administration. They want that warning from shared intelligence to prevent the kind of missile and drone attacks that cause children to be killed atrociously, heinously, deliberately by Putin, and that's the reason that I think that the moral will of the American people still is with Ukraine.
BASH: You were talking about the legislation that passed overwhelmingly in the name of your late very good friend, Lindsey Graham, and the President used the ability, which was written into the law, of course, to delay these sanctions that were put in place for 60 days.
What do you -- what do you make of that, and whether or not -- my question is whether or not you buy the idea that the delay is in order to get Russia to the table?
BLUMENTHAL: The delay has nothing to do with getting Russia to the table. It has everything to do with Trump sucking up to Putin.
Remember, Trump is siding with Putin, who is providing intelligence to Iran, that it is using to target our sons and daughters, our bases, our troops in the Middle East. He is using that intelligence from Putin -- Iran is, to target American assets there.
And Trump is trying to blame Zelenskyy in Ukraine for economic problems he's created, the soaring prices of diesel and fuel.
It is part of an effort, very simply, to bleed Ukraine into submission, so that Putin can be rewarded with conquering more territory and undermining Ukraine's security--
BASH: You think it's as simple as that?
BLUMENTHAL: --like the principle of nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.
[21:40:00] BASH: You think it's as simple as that, that this is the President just simply deciding to side with Russia and kind of give up on Ukraine?
BLUMENTHAL: Obviously, I'm the last person in the world to try to get inside Donald Trump's head as to what his real motives are.
But certainly, that's the inevitable, unavoidable appearance of the kinds of actions he's taking. Lifting the sanctions that fuel Putin's war machine with revenue from oil and gas. Ending the kinds of penalties on the oligarchs and the financial institutions and energy companies of Russia that provide that kind of support for killing in Ukraine. And disrupting the Starlink service that enables the Ukrainians to defend themselves against the faster-moving drones, more rapid than a 100 miles an hour, or the early warning systems that enable Ukrainians to seek shelter in bunkers.
BASH: Yes.
BLUMENTHAL: And I've been there.
BASH: You worked with Lindsey Graham to get -- obviously it didn't pass while he was still alive, but then it was named for him, to get these sanctions that he put -- that the President put a pause on, through Congress, and to get the President to sign it.
Did you talk at all about the possibility of the President doing what he did, putting a pause on it?
BLUMENTHAL: We talked about a lot of possibilities, and Lindsey Graham was nothing if not realistic about Donald Trump. And we disagreed on many, many issues. Most issues, we voted differently.
We agreed on Ukraine that Ukraine's security has to be assured, and Lindsey Graham thought that Trump might not use these sanctions in the way that Congress intended, and he said that there has to be an outcry and outrage, which is what we're seeing beginning now, that will pressure the Trump administration into using the laws intended, changing course to bring Putin to the negotiating table.
And one more point here: Zelenskyy today on this call said very emphatically he would engage in a ceasefire on energy facilities and resources and civilians, if Putin went along with it, for whatever period of time that ceasefire might last. Zelenskyy wants peace. Putin does not. That's the obstacle.
BASH: Can you tell me more about this call with Zelenskyy that you arranged?
BLUMENTHAL: Zelenskyy was firing. He was passionate and fierce in describing and showing pictures of those civilians who were killed, just in the last 24 hours because their air defense has been crippled by the disruption of the Starlink or Starshield service, as it's called. He was emphatic in blaming the Trump administration for purposeful and intentional disruption. And he was really heartbroken, almost tears in his eyes, when he talked about the toll on his country.
You know, I've been in Ukraine when those air raids sounded, and I've seen the importance of that intelligence in providing the warning about the launching of the missiles. Because, there are only minutes to get to the bunkers, and they need those minutes. So, he was just extraordinarily passionate about the need for all of these services to be continued.
BASH: And even in the -- before these recent events and the moves by the President, there was fear that Ukraine was getting close to collapsing because they needed and still need more weaponry. Never mind the ability to communicate with Starlink and Starshield. The Washington Post is reporting tonight that the administration is holding up Patriot missiles for Ukraine.
If they're not getting these weapons or sufficient technology, never mind the reports of the lack of intel sharing, which you heard the President deny. How much longer can Ukraine keep fighting this war?
BLUMENTHAL: President Zelenskyy once said to me on one of my 11 trips, In the end, it will be fine, and if it's not fine, it's not the end.
Zelenskyy was offered a ride out of Ukraine when the Russians were just kilometers away, and I've seen how far away they were. You can travel it in about 15 minutes by car, and he said, Don't send helicopters; send ammunition. That's when President Biden gave him that option.
[21:45:00]
The Ukrainians are absolutely determined, and they will continue fighting. They will lose lots more women, children, civilians, if we fail to provide the intelligence that's needed for their warning about ballistic missiles and the Starlink service that's necessary for them to intercept those drones. But they will continue fighting. And they need that air defense, the interceptors you just mentioned, which we've promised, and now the Trump administration is holding up.
But the Europeans have stepped up, and they know the truth about whose side Vladimir Putin is on, and they want to be on the right side of history there -- here because, they know Putin will keep going. The Finns, the Swedes, the Moldovans, the Poles, they all know because they've seen up close and personal what Russian rule looks like. They want to stop it.
BASH: Yes, and they all are in the neighborhood and then some.
Thank you so much, Senator Blumenthal. Really appreciate you coming on tonight.
BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.
BASH: And up next. A tense showdown in court today over the President's efforts to transform a public golf course. My legal source joins me next.
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BASH: Tonight, a showdown in court between a federal judge and Justice Department lawyers.
President Trump is determined to plow ahead with the renovation of a public D.C. golf course, despite a judge's order requiring notice before any construction. This morning, the President posted, quote, "They do not need an approval. Work is scheduled to begin IMMEDIATELY." Adding, "The judge on the case is a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane?"
Today's hearing turned tense -- not surprising -- when that judge grilled DOJ attorney, over what Trump said and the actions of the government officials actually overseeing the golf course. Judge Ana Reyes said in court, quote, "I don't know what to do, when I keep getting different stories."
Elie Honig is my legal source tonight.
I'm trying to imagine, as I'm sure you are, with the experience that I don't have, what goes through a lawyer's mind when you're representing the President, and you wake up and you see this post from the President attacking the judge that you're about to go have a hearing before.
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER ASST. U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NY, FORMER STATE & FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, Dana, I think what went through these lawyers' mind is, Oh, great, our client, the President of the United States, just flatly contradicted us.
Because, the legal team has been saying in court, for the last several appearances, There are no imminent plans to completely renovate that golf course. Instead, this is just sort of standard maintenance.
And here comes the President, multiple times, over the weekend, saying, No, no, no, we are about to renovate this, all-caps, IMMEDIATELY.
And that's exactly why this whole situation has escalated so quickly.
And today in court, Judge Reyes tried to put the government lawyers to that very question. She said, Hang on a second. Is there a plan to do a renovation here or not? And the government really struggled to answer that. And I think that's largely why Judge Reyes has expressed such frustration and, at times, anger with the government lawyers, rightly so.
BASH: Yes, and obviously, we're talking about a golf course, which is very important, but it also speaks to what we have seen the President do, the East Wing, for example, what he's trying to do with the Kennedy Center.
But specifically in this courthouse, that it was probably one of the tensest--
HONIG: Yes.
BASH: --tensest situations between the Trump administration and a judge, really, in recent memory. It lasted like seven hours, right?
HONIG: Yes, Judge Reyes and other lawyers for the plaintiffs here grilled several high-ranking officials from the Interior Department, from the Justice Department.
And you're right. This started as just a dispute over trees and a golf course, but it's really become a showdown of sorts between the courts and the executive branch.
Because Judge Reyes, who has this case, initially said, I'm not going to issue a formal order blocking the President or anyone else from undertaking plans at this golf course. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm not going to take extreme action. I'm just going to say to the government, if you're going to do something that's serious and irreversible here, you need to notify us first.
Well, on Friday, October 9th, the Friday before the long Columbus Day weekend, at 04:55 p.m., five minutes before the end of the day, the government said, Oh, judge, we might be doing something soon.
And by the next day, 400 trees had been removed. And Judge Reyes said, essentially, I extended you this trust, and you violated it. So, that was another issue that was animating Judge Reyes today. She said, basically, I gave you a chance. I assumed you would act in good faith, and you've not done that.
BASH: Well, this is obviously hardly the last of it, and I'm guessing we'll be talking soon to see what the next chapter in this drama is.
Elie, thank you so much. Good to see you.
HONIG: Thanks, Dana.
BASH: Up next. The Source Code. Tonight, it is 43. We'll be right back with the story.
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BASH: Tonight's Source Code is 43. That's how many years Christiane Amanpour has worked at CNN. The network's Chief International Anchor said today that she will sign off from CNN next June, after becoming a household name worldwide for her heroism as a foreign correspondent for almost as long as CNN has existed.
In a statement, Amanpour said she looks forward to interesting new projects down the line, and will always be rooting for CNN and maintaining its history of independent journalism. Remember: always be truthful, not neutral.
She will certainly be missed here at CNN.
[22:00:00]
You can stream THE SOURCE live or watch on demand anytime with an All Access subscription. Scan the QR code on your screen, or go to CNN.com/Watch to learn more.
Thank you so much for joining us.
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