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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

CNN International: Curfews Imposed After Weekend Protests; Trump Says He's Open to Trilateral Meeting with Xi and Putin; Ukrainian Drone Attack Strikes Key Russian Oil Terminal; Tech Stocks Bounce Back After Last Week's Sell-Off; Arrests After West Bank Settler Violence; Trump Endorses Netanyahu Days Before Israeli Elections. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired October 19, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Paula Newton in New York. Jim is off. You

are watching "The Brief."

Just ahead this hour, some French cities impose curfews after violence mars largely peaceful anti-government protests. The student-led movement now

inspiring other European countries. Anger in Ukraine after hints of a possible summit on the war without Kyiv. This as Ukraine launches a major

attack inside Russia. And pressure from Washington and Israeli police arrest at least ten suspects as this year's olive harvest in the occupied

West Bank sees a major spike in settler violence.

And it is midnight in Paris, and a curfew is now in effect in parts of the French capital. French authorities have also ordered curfews in other

cities after protests this weekend turned to riots and looting. Now, what started as relatively peaceful protests about education cuts erupted into

violence. The result was millions of dollars of damage and about 2,000 arrests. As business clean up and count the damage, the French government

is facing questions about its response to the crisis.

With a crucial election to succeed, President Emmanuel Macron now just six months away. As the French labor minister visited this trash supermarket in

Paris, the manager said a curfew was indeed needed. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Yesterday, they weren't protesters. They were rioters. So, for me, yes, the curfew is necessary because, well,

apparently, they want to finish what they started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Melissa Bell has more now on the response to the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The violence taking France and the world by surprise. Clashes and looting that

turned so many streets in France to chaos. Town halls vandalized or torched. Attacks, said the president, on the French Republic itself.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (voice-over): Those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable.

BELL (voice-over): The state of public services, the high cost of living, and anger at the government drove more than half a million people to the

streets. But things took a dark turn even before the marches began.

BELL: Air that is heavy with tear gas because already there have been some scuffles here between protesters and police here at the Place de la

Republique. These two marches that are set to set off from this central Paris square are really not due to start for another 45 minutes or so, but

already the scenes have been pretty violent. And again, the air is very thick with tear gas.

BELL (voice-over): Very quickly, the protests descended into chaos. With hundreds of shops looted, the far right, which leads the polls ahead of

next year's presidential election, is laying the blame for the violence and destruction squarely at the government's feet.

JORDAN BARDELLA, PRESIDENT, FRENCH NATIONAL RALLY PARTY (voice-over): If France is still standing, it's no longer thanks to a government that ran

for the hills, but thanks to the dedication of our law enforcement.

BELL (voice-over): President Trump weighing in, blaming migrants and urging French borders to be closed fast. At times, it seems, hoping for a

revolution.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Let's go to the beautiful country of France and get involved in the revolution.

BELL (voice-over): MAGA also seizing on the protests and sharing pictures to warn of similar chaos should the Democrats wrestle back control of

Congress in the midterms. The vice president blaming Western liberals for importing the third world in the name of diversity and compassion, and

House Speaker Mike Johnson sending a warning to Americans of what happens when the quote radical Marxist insurgent left gets its way.

Moscow too is watching, accusing France of hypocrisy in demanding uncompromising condemnation and strict measures to deal with riots at home,

whilst releasing angry press releases about the inadmissibility of suppressing protests elsewhere. Political polarization inside France is

also adding fuel to the fire, with the far-left joining protests to demand action from the government and fears now for next year's presidential poll.

[18:05:00]

SEBASTIEN LECOMU, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (voice-over): There's no way we'll allow violent minorities to impose an agenda of violence and prevent us

from holding this election.

BELL (voice-over): The government is to hold talks this week with French political leaders to urge them to calm their rhetoric, even as it seeks to

control its streets.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: : Now, it's not just France. Democrats are also taking to the streets. Demonstrations have been rocking European cities from Albania to

Italy to Portugal, Greece and Belgium. Grievances range from government corruption claims to anger over the rising cost of living and those

crumbling schools that so many are complaining about.

Joining me now is Mathis Grossnickel, he is a student representative for the National Union of Students of France at Seance Po. Thank you so much

for joining us. And, you know, for so many of us, it was devastating to watch those scenes on the ground in Paris and elsewhere. And I'm sure your

country is still just reeling from this. But I'm wondering, given the credibility of so many grievances from your generation, where does this

protest movement go from here?

MATHIS GROSSNICKEL, NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS OF FRANCE, SCIENCES PO: Hi, Paula. Thanks for having me. We were very sad, too, to see all the violence

in the streets of our country. We were not waiting for that. You know, for four weeks now, students in high school, students in university are

protesting peacefully. And we want to keep protesting peacefully. And the violence's are not what we do. We must absolutely separate the violence's

that take part in the streets from the protests of the students.

NEWTON: : So -- and I understand you. In terms of your demands, though, given it's all been mired in the scenes that we're looking at right now of

the protests and the violence, what do you hope to accomplish now? And who do you believe in France? Which politicians, which leaders do you believe

can give you what you want?

GROSSNICKEL: Well, we do not believe that one single politician will solve the problem. It's a systematic problem. You know, it's because for years

now, we have underfunded the educational system. We have underfunded the social system. So, no one, no single politician now is able to really

respond to our demands. So, we will keep pressure. We'll keep demonstrating because it is a big movement that is taking place. And everyone must take

it into account. And we need to be into account for the next presidential election. But for now, we're still waiting for answers.

NEWTON: : So, you're expecting more of the same until you do have that presidential vote at least. I don't have to remind you, France is in a

really tough economic situation right now. What kind of choices do you want society to make? Because these will be tough choices. There is not enough

money to go around.

GROSSNICKEL: Yes. We cannot wait for the presidential election. It's in six months. What we want is action now. So, we have a budget at the end of

the year. And we want this budget to take into account what we need for the education system. We need more money. We need more money to renovate the

buildings. We need more money to have more teachers, to have teachers in front of every class in France. We need money.

And this can be decided this year, in the next few months. The big changes that we must also have will be discussed in the presidential election. But

now we need money.

NEWTON: : And in terms of the sacrifices that you think should be made, there is a lot of debate about whether or not this early retirement in

France is viable. I mean, where do you believe the budget of France should be rebalanced in order to meet your demands?

GROSSNICKEL: Well, it's clear for me. It must be rebalanced to the youth. The youth is the future of the country. And today, the youth is never taken

into account. The politicians don't really care about the youth. It's been four years now. You know, I was protesting in 2019 with the climate

strikes. And even then, the politicians didn't listen to the youth. So, it must be the priority of the country to invest for its future. And the

future of the country is its youth.

NEWTON: : Now, given what has happened and the fact that we now have curfews in place, and this may last for some time, where does your protest

movement go from here in terms of mobilization? What will it look like? And how can groups like yours make sure that it doesn't devolve? Because, as

you know, so many of the pictures and the chaos just take away from your demands and certainly your legitimacy with the French government.

[18:10:00]

GROSSNICKEL: Absolutely. The picture of destruction must not hide what the students and the high schoolers demand. So, we are still continuing to

protest, to protest in front of our university, to protest in the streets. The curfew does not concern us because we are not the people in the streets

at the night. We are still protesting peacefully in front of our university and in the streets. And we will keep doing that.

NEWTON: : Mathis, we will leave it there for now, but obviously continue to watch your movement very closely in the coming weeks and months.

Appreciate your time.

GROSSNICKEL: Thank you.

NEWTON: : Now, President Trump says he's open to a trilateral meeting next month with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir

Putin. Trump says their talks would have little to do with Russia's war with Ukraine. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I would do it. Not so much for Ukraine. Because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much. And the same thing

with China. We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: : Now, Trump went on to criticize Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, suggesting it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of

Ukraine. Over the weekend, he posted that Zelenskyy doesn't want to end this war and probably never did. This after Kyiv launched one of its

largest drone attacks against Russia, targeting a key oil terminal.

Nick Paton Walsh joins us now. Nick, I'm grateful to have you as we're trying to get, right, the status of play here, because it is difficult to

parse exactly what is going on. This new wrinkle, right, that it seems possible that at this summit in China that Russia would speak to China,

which would speak to the United States, and Ukraine essentially would be frozen out.

What do you think is going on here? Because I think about the confrontation in the Oval Office last year between Zelenskyy and Trump, and I believe

we're right back there again.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Possibly worse. The difference here being, I think, that Ukraine is now used to the

unreliability of its alliance with the United States, or certainly the Donald Trump White House.

Look, if this happens, this meeting between Russia, China and the United States, President Trump, ultimately that is Russia, Russia's bank roller

and key ally, not military, but supporter, with Donald Trump, who President Zelenskyy of Ukraine now considers to be more an ally of Russia than indeed

the mediator between Russia and Ukraine.

So, look, they can make weighty decisions, they can potentially come up with plans or ideas that they all support, and that could have pressure

potentially on Europe, where China has a lot of sway, but it can't ultimately influence European security, which is what this conflict is

ultimately all about, and with that, transatlantic security and the NATO alliance. It can't impose upon Ukraine decisions that Ukraine doesn't want

to accept, land concessions, for example.

So, it could potentially be a big symbolic moment, certainly, if Trump decides to talk to Russia and China, two very autocratic states, without

Ukraine or Europe being in the mix for any agreements. But it comes in a climate of something, frankly, really staggering that we've seen over the

past days.

And in those comments that you saw, something really stood out, where President Trump said Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. Important

to point out that this is the president, I think, viewing his relationship with the Kremlin in a purely personal transactional basis, that when he's

dealing with them, they're OK.

He's not taking into account there the one-year-old girl, Angelina, who was killed in Kharkiv today by a Russian jet-powered Shahed, according to

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Her mother, Ina, also died in hospital later after that attack. That was a park that was hit near a cafe. These things

are not always making headlines because they've become horrifically regular inside of Ukraine, often the death toll from some of these strikes in the

dozens.

But this is part of the pattern of life that Ukrainians are slowly getting used to, along with the unreliability of the Patriot interceptor missiles

that ultimately the United States supplies and creates, but are in very short supply. Zelenskyy today, I think, showed his exasperation. We've had

a very confusing few days, and I think a lot of that is partly by design.

We still don't know from U.S. officials if they are ultimately behind the slowdown in the important systems of Starlink and Starshield that are run

by SpaceX, a U.S. company run by the richest man on Earth, Elon Musk. He says he's got nothing to do with it unless the White House tells him to.

But they've slowed down over recent days, and President Zelenskyy says they're still having issues with them, and that means issues with systems

on the front line, issues with offensive systems, long-, medium-range drones, and more importantly, issues with interceptor drones that can't fly

at the speed they need to, to intercept the jet-powered Shaheds that we saw, we just mentioned earlier, killed a one-year-old girl in Kharkiv.

[18:15:00]

Zelenskyy, clear that they've made an offer today to potentially declare a three-day ceasefire on Russian refineries. If they get 30 days of Patriot

interception, they're going to have a ceasefire. Ukraine's tone here, Zelenskyy's tone, different from the Oval Office blow-up you spoke of in

February 2025, where they're essentially, I think, accustomed to the idea that President Trump will vacillate. He appears to have swung wholly in the

Kremlin's position over the past 10 days, and Ukraine is inured to that, not flexibility, but unreliability. They expect the Europeans to step up

and assist.

The Europeans are doing their best to do that. And I think they also realize now that the more they pander to President Trump, the more likely

he is to see latitude to pressure them. And the harder they are in their riposte, the more they call the truth of what they believe is happening,

the more likely they are to see pressure on the White House, which indeed is what we're seeing, particularly from Republicans ahead of these

midterms. Paula.

NEWTON: : Yes. And again, we'll see if anything changes after the midterms. And, Nick, I am glad that you brought it back to the civilian

toll, which now in this year has been incredibly tragic, given it is the worst year since the first few months of this war. Nick Paton Walsh for us,

grateful for the update from London.

Joining us now from Ukraine is Peter Gelpi. He's the executive director of Impact Partners Ukraine. I was just talking about the civilian toll there.

And it is clear here that what the Kremlin is now doing is bringing the war directly to Ukrainian cities in a way that is even more devastating than it

was in the first few months of this war. What are you seeing on the ground, given your role in certainly trying to help Ukrainians as they are still

targets, civilian targets?

PETER GELPI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, IMPACT PARTNERS UKRAINE: Yes. Well, I'm quite a bit further out to the east. I'm on the front line in Donetsk and

in Kramatorsk. And, you know, what we're dealing with are glide bombs, FPV drones that are, you know, swarming throughout the streets and back alleys.

So, it's a world where they hunt you if you're in a car. They're looking for vehicles to destroy, breaking up infrastructure, striking just about

everything and largely trying to -- you know, to make it uninhabitable. We just had the city just the other day turned into a now designated as a

combat zone. And so, it's -- you know, that's I'm seeing a different perspective. I'm seeing something that's close enough to the front lines

that we have these glide bombs, cabs coming in on a regular basis that are quite destructive, blow up entire city blocks.

So, it's not what -- even now I'm up in Kharkiv for -- we just moving our operation up here because it's just not safe to be in Kramatorsk any

longer. So, we're experiencing something we've been had -- you know, had going on since I've been here for the last five, four and a half years.

Starting out, you know, as far east as Severodvinsk and Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, Konstantinovka, one city after another just gets completely

destroyed, turned into rubble. And then eventually with infiltration. Go ahead.

NEWTON: : Peter, it's really staggering, really, to hear what you're saying right now, to really understand the magnitude of it, given the fact

that we are now, as you said, it's almost it's four and a half years. This war could eventually last longer than World War II. And still, you are

seeing dramatic effects there.

I'm wondering what you then make of the Trump administration lifting sanctions on Russia, now perhaps proposing some kind of a, you know, a

summit with Putin. I mean, as an American, how do you feel about that, given your work of the last four and a half years?

GELPI: You know, I hate to say it, but we all ignore it. So far, it's done nothing to help us here. And when I say us, I consider myself, you know,

just another member of the community here. So, we've had to ignore it. We've just had to move forward, just like Zelenskyy, quite frankly, which

is that nothing's come from Washington for so long. And when it did in the past, it was too slow, too late.

So, yes, it's really hard. I have a very hard time. I just sort of have to put it aside and just focus on what I can do here. So, yes, it's very

discouraging, as you might imagine, especially the Starlink piece is something that's critical for us, because that mid-range targeting wipes

out the carriers, you know, basically the archer, if you will, that fires those slide bombs. And if we can't use that, then we can't -- you know, we

can't hit those airfields in those airplanes that are launching these bombs.

[18:20:00]

So, yes, it's, we've all felt it, but again, like I said, you just have to forge on, right, and ignore it.

NEWTON: : You say forge on, I am wondering what you've heard from Ukrainians themselves in terms of morale. It has been so long, and as you

said, the situation where you are continues to deteriorate.

GELPI: You know, we -- you know, it's, it's amazing. I -- you know, it's - - people attribute it to resilience, but we all -- I mean, these people all live here and they're dedicated to where they've lived for generations. So,

again, you just wake up every day and you've got the same team, we're a real solid crew out here. I'm one of the few foreigners, but we're a

community that's been together for since, almost since the full-scale invasion.

So, we all know each other, we all sort of support each other, and it's really kind of a local event. We kind of sort of tune out what goes on

beyond sort of Donetsk. And yes, I -- you know, I haven't seen or heard, you know, sort of more discouraging temperaments out here. We just wake up

every day and know we've got to get accomplished.

NEWTON: : Yes.

GELPI: But I'm sure, you know, they share the same thing I do, I'm sure, deep inside, because we've been doing this for so long.

NEWTON: : But the resolve has been extraordinary, especially from what you see close up. Peter, we will leave it there again, but I certainly hope

to continue to check in with you again. So many people trying to take the politics out of it, but given what you just said about the glide bombs, I

mean, it is material to civilian lives where you are right now. Peter Gelpi for us. I appreciate your time.

GELPI: No, no. Thank you. Thank you.

NEWTON: : OK. Still ahead for us, U.S. tech stocks. Back in the winner's circle, investors buying the dip after last week's deep losses. But big

challenges for tech await, we'll discuss after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: : And welcome back. In today's Business Breakout, U.S. tech stocks bounced back Monday after days of selling pressure. The NASDAQ rose

more than 1 percent after its more than 4 percent drop last week.

[18:25:00]

Blue chip stocks, which acted as safe havens during last week's tech grout, were little changed. Investors snapped up beaten down memory chip stocks

like Micron, Scandisk, and SK Hynix. They've been hit hard by demand and Chinese competition concerns.

Now, shares of cloud computing firm CoreWeave, however, fell about half a percent. Shares have fallen more than 25 percent this past month alone on

fears that it's borrowing too much for its A.I. buildout. CoreWeave bonds have sold off sharply as well. All this as third quarter earnings season

for tech kicks off the week. Meta, Tesla and SpaceX all set to report results.

Paula La Monica joins us now. He's a senior markets writer at Barron's magazine. Good to see you. And please make sense of the we're in --

PAUL R. LA MONICA, SENIOR MARKETS WRITER, BARRON'S: Thank you, Paula.

NEWTON: : -- we're in, we're out. The A.I. trade is at risk. No, it's fine. We have to jump on these earnings. What do you think is at work here?

And the buy the dip mentality, to be honest, kind of sometimes they seem to be ignoring the fundamentals on some of these companies.

LA MONICA: Yes, I think that is a valid point, Paula, but keep in mind with chip stocks in particular, you had nine straight days of declines for

the major semiconductor indexes. So, companies like Micron and NVIDIA and Intel, maybe they got beat up a little too much, even though you have to

factor in that they all have run up phenomenally this year as well on hopes of continued A.I. spending by the big hyperscalers, including meta

platforms, which will be reporting earnings later this week as well.

But to your point about SpaceX kicking off earnings tomorrow, I think investors are really going to be focusing on whether or not that company is

monetizing Starlink, which has been a thorn in the side for investors of companies like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile worries that Starlink and SpaceX are

going to steal wireless customers.

NEWTON: : Yes, which is another entrant into this competitive issue that we're having with communications. And yet, and yet, SpaceX still has issues

of its own in terms of valuation. Given what has been going on with A.I., do you think some of the debt concerns will still hit this sector in the

coming weeks? I mean, does it really just all hinge on earnings here? And if those earnings continue to be stellar, there won't be any issues with

the issuance of debt here.

LA MONICA: I'm not so sure about that, because the issuance of debt, people aren't necessarily worried about Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet,

Amazon, the big giants of technology. It's CoreWeave, which is a company that is significantly sizable in its own right, but is a newer entry to the

tech landscape, only having gone public last year.

So, I think there are still legitimate worries about some of these, quote/unquote, "neo-cloud companies" and how much debt they are taking at a

time where long-term bond yields are rising. The Federal Reserve, they may not raise interest rates at next week's meeting, but a lot of people think

they will in December. So, that could continue to put pressure on companies that have a lot of debt.

NEWTON: : You know, we have had issues certainly with Oracle also on that topic. Broadcom had a warning in the last week. What is it going to take?

What is everyone looking for in the earnings? Because the earnings are stellar, and many expect them to continue to be stellar.

LA MONICA: Yes, Meta's earnings are expected to grow pretty substantially from a year ago. Tesla's actually, you know, analysts are forecasting a

decline in revenue and profits from last year. But Tesla is a stock that now seems to be catching a bid because of all the hope and expectations

that SpaceX will eventually buy it to merge Elon Musk's two babies, if you will, into one company.

With regards to Meta, I think investors are looking, again, for proof that these A.I. investments are paying off. And now, Meta, thanks to Muse, you

have yet another potential revenue and profit generator as well that could help that company show investors that, yes, the billions of dollars we're

spending on A.I., they are bearing fruit and they are going to be leading to significant revenue and profit over the next few years.

NEWTON: : Yes. It has been hard to keep track, though, and I think investors are having the same hard time understanding where to get value

out of that. Paul La Monica, always good to see you. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

LA MONICA: Thank you.

NEWTON: Now, checking some of today's other business headlines, U.S. authorities say an open A.I. employee fired for allegedly installing a

recording device in the firm's offices was in regular contact with a member of the Saudi royal family.

[18:30:00]

The disclosure was made in new court filings in the case. The fired employee is a Saudi national with permanent U.S. residency. Federal

authorities are looking to keep him in jail pending trial and call him a flight risk.

Saudi Arabia is canceling its annual investors conference in Riyadh due to attacks from Houthi fighters in Yemen. The so-called Davos in the desert

was set to kick off next week. Organizers say the future investment initiative conference will resume next year.

The world's worst performing stock market of 2026 suffered yet another sizable drop on Monday. Indonesia's benchmark stock index fell more than

three and a half percent today after tumbling more than 11 percent on Friday. It's the largest two-day slide for Indonesian stocks on a record.

It was triggered by news that rating firm SMSCI may strip Indonesia of its emerging market status.

NEWTON: OK. Still to come for us tonight on "The Brief," after an alarming spat of settler -- spate, pardon me, of settler violence in the West Bank,

Israeli police make a series of rare arrests. We'll have more on that and also on the Israeli elections.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: And welcome back to "The Brief." I'm Paula Newton. Here are the international headlines we're watching today.

Several French cities have now imposed curfews after protests over education and the cost of living spiraled into a wave of violence over the

weekend. Police fired tear gas into crowds and fought running battles with rioters who set fires and broke into shops and government buildings.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he's opened a meeting with his Russian and Chinese counterparts for talks to end the war in Ukraine. It comes just one

day after one of Kyiv's largest drone attacks this year. The target was a Russian oil terminal in defiance of President Trump's calls to halt attacks

on energy facilities. Trump says the three leaders also have other topics to discuss other than Ukraine.

[18:35:00]

An Australian lawmaker is hospitalized after being hit by a car outside their office. MP Helen Haines represents a district in rural northeast

Victoria. Authorities say the driver was detained and a knife was found during a search of the car. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls the

incident a deliberate act, though there's been no motive reported.

After a surge of settler violence in the West Bank, Israel has now arrested at least 10 people suspected of attacks on European diplomats and an

international journalist. On Friday, settlers attacked and hospitalized Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine as she traveled with

Palestinians at the start of the Olive Harvest.

Now, the following day, settlers attacked a group of European diplomats visiting a Palestinian Christian town. The U.S. ambassador to Israel caused

the arrest of positive development. An Israeli human rights group says there have been more than 500 incidents of settler violence since the start

of the Olive Harvest last month, with Israeli soldiers being present at around a quarter of them.

The U.S. president has just given a ringing endorsement to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That's just days before the Israeli elections.

President Trump sidestepped questions about the issue for the past month. The two leaders have not always seen eye to eye over the past year,

particularly over Israeli strikes inside Lebanon and Gaza during peace efforts led by the U.S. president.

Now, a reminder here, Israelis head to the polls in just about a week. Jeremy Diamond picks up the story from there from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu certainly received a shot in the arm for his campaign just over a

week before Election Day with this endorsement from President Trump posting on Truth Social that Netanyahu has been, quote, "strong, brave and

brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition." And he says that Prime Minister Netanyahu will never let the Israeli public down.

The Israeli prime minister quickly responding, saying together we'll finish the job, a reference to the fact that both men seem to have their eyes on a

potential next confrontation with Iran. That seemed to have played quite a role in President Trump's decision to endorse the Israeli prime minister.

But how much of an impact will this actually have on those Israeli elections in just over a week from now remains to be seen.

We know that President Trump remains by and large a very popular figure in Israel, but far less popular than he was, say, a year ago after he helped

secure that final ceasefire deal and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Polling from the Jewish Public Policy Institute indicates

that the number of Israelis who expressed a, quote, "great deal of trust" fell from 34 percent this past March to just 10 percent in August. And

that's why perhaps this will have less of an impact than Prime Minister Netanyahu would like it to be.

It's also worth noting that while this is the first time President Trump has officially endorsed in an Israeli election back in 2019, he gave Prime

Minister Netanyahu perhaps an even bigger gift than a public endorsement by recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, showing at the time

that Prime Minister Netanyahu could deliver for the State of Israel. And that's certainly the case Netanyahu is making.

But the opposition candidates, they are making a very different case, positioning this election as a referendum on the Israeli prime minister, a

referendum on the security failures that led up to October 7, 2023, when that Hamas-led attack killed more than 1,200 Israelis. The Israeli prime

minister is also under fire for not agreeing to launch a state commission of inquiry. That's something that the opposition candidates say that they

will do on day one in office.

Right now, polling indicates that the government block and the change block, they are basically running neck and neck, and both of them falling

short of the 61-seat majority in Israel's Knesset in order to form the next government. But there are a number of other scenarios, such as the

opposition candidates forming a minority government, which certainly seems to be potentially a viable option. But we will see.

The polls are set to close in Israel in eight days from now. And after that, there will be weeks of wrangling to decide who gets to even try and

form the next government, let alone who will become the next prime minister of Israel.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Still ahead for us, Donald Trump trying to energize his MAGA base in traditional Republican strongholds like Kansas. What the U.S. president

trips to deep red states say about the state of midterms. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

NEWTON: And welcome back to "The Brief." U.S. President Donald Trump starting off a week of campaigning by heading to Kansas with only about two

weeks to go into the midterm elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: My rallies are having a huge impact and a positive impact on the Republican Party. I'm going to Kansas because I won it by a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: He did win it by a lot. All this comes as a Senate race in the traditionally red state becomes a surprise toss-up. There's also a tough

battle brewing in the race for governor. Democratic candidate Cindy Holscher spoke to our colleague Boris Sanchez earlier. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY HOLSCHER, U.S. DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR KANSAS GOVERNOR: Our people here have been struggling with high gas prices, the tariffs, the importing

of beef. It's hurting our farmers and it's hurting our people and driving costs up. And so, the message is that people here in Kansas are tired of

politics as usual. They're tired of the debt being stacked against them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Betsy Klein joins us now and you are in Kansas. I'm not sure how much you can hear me. Let's give this a shot because I'm just going to say

the word, Betsy, Kansas. If the Democrats didn't have a shot here, the president wouldn't be there, right?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, it's remarkable, Paula. The fact that Kansas has emerged as one of the most competitive

battleground races for the Senate in this midterm election cycle. Just imagine that this is a state that President Trump won by more than 14

points just two years ago. Democrats now hoping that they can pull off their first Senate victory here since 1932.

Now, President Trump is here to make a push for Roger Marshall. He's the incumbent Republican Senator here. He is running in this very tight race

against the Democrat Adam Hamilton, who is a mega church pastor. And the president has framed Hamilton as a radical left liberal.

Hamilton, meanwhile, we've seen in that polling that his neck and neck has been able to peel off a number of registered Republicans and many

independent voters. And he's also able to really appeal to these registered Republicans by casting himself, in his words, a liberal conservative or a

conservative liberal, depending on the day.

[18:45:00]

But the president's appearance here, 15 days out from this midterm election, really underscores how Republicans are playing catch up in this

once reliably red state. And the Republican Party and Republican-aligned groups pouring millions of dollars into bolstering Marshall, who is really

struggling to keep up here.

The president's strategy, as we are seeing both today and for the rest of this week, he makes a number of stops, and that is to drive turnout among

his MAGA base. They're not necessarily looking to find new voters or persuade independent voters. They are now in the process of looking to turn

out their most ardent supporters, the MAGA voters they already have, and get them to the polls.

But I've talked to a number of undecided voters, both here in the Wichita area, as well as here at this rally, which is honestly very surprising,

given many of the rallies, you know, you see people who are diehard, the president's most super fans. But there are still undecided voters here. And

the issues they are talking about are all economic issues.

Of course, the war with Iran driving up diesel and gas prices, as well as the president's tariff policies, that's been an issue. They also mentioned

the president's comment that he wants to ban Bombardier, which is a Canadian jet manufacturer. And that could lead to the removal of more than

1,200 jobs in the Wichita area. That's been a major area of concern in some of my conversations.

I also talked to one Republican who is on the ballot here in Kansas, and he is worried that Republicans are increasingly disillusioned, while

Democrats, in his view, have been more motivated. And there's some data to back that up. We saw from the Kansas Secretary of State's office that more

Democrats are registering to vote at a faster pace than Republicans. We'll have to see how that bears on turnout. It's going to be a really

interesting one to watch, Paula.

NEWTON: It really will be. And the president is perhaps, as many pollsters have said, fighting the couch at this point, right? He believes he's out

there in order to get turnout. I only have about 30 seconds left. I'm shocked to hear you say there are undecided voters. Is this not a hardcore

MAGA rally that we have behind us?

KLEIN: It is. It 100 percent is. And every single one of these -- I mean, you are getting the most ardent Trump supporters, the cream of the MAGA

crop here. But what's interesting is that Kansas is a state with somewhat of an independent streak, and we're kind of seeing that bear out here.

There are a lot of people who voted for Trump who would be open to voting for a Democrat, particularly a more moderate Democrat like Adam Hamilton.

And I heard that as I was asking them about this, you know, back in 2022, Kansas actually voted against a measure that would have restricted abortion

access. The state actually has a Democratic governor. So, their voters here are very proud of their independence, and many of them just haven't decided

how they're going to cast that ballot, some leaning Hamilton, some leaning toward Roger Marshall. We'll have to see what happens.

NEWTON: Betsy Klein, on the ground for us as we continue to await the president's remarks there. I really appreciate you laying that out for us.

Thanks so much.

Now, one group of voters could play a pivotal role in the fight for control of Congress. Latino voters helped to propel U.S. President Trump to victory

in 2024, but now some polls suggest things are changing, and dramatically so. Juan Carlos Lopez has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We're doing an extremely poor job of promotion and an extremely great job of running the country.

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Despite what the president says, not everyone is on the same page, at least los Latinos, or not nearly as much.

Check this out. Recent polls suggest that Latino voters, who aren't that different from other American voters, are moving away from Donald Trump and

the Republican Party.

Why does it matter? First, the Latino vote was key to Trump's return to the White House in 2024. In 2024, exit polls showed that he received 46 percent

of the Latino vote, a historic number for a Republican compared to 51 percent for Democrat Kamala Harris. This year, only 24 percent of Latino

voters approve of Trump's job performance.

When it comes to Trump's 2024 campaign promises, many Latinos aren't convinced that he's delivered. According to some of the polls, only 20

percent approve of his handling of the cost of living. On immigration, even though 30 percent say they approve Trump's handling of the issue, two-

thirds say his administration has gone too far in its approach to immigration enforcement.

Around 25 percent of them also say they know someone who has been deported or detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, in the past two

years amid the sweeping immigration crackdown pushed by the White House, which had promised to only go after dangerous criminals but cast a wide net

for the raids.

Could all of this translate into a big loss for Trump and the Republican Party on November 3rd? Let's remember that around 39 million Latinos are

eligible to vote in the upcoming midterm elections, making them the second largest racial and ethnic voting group in the U.S. electorate after white

eligible voters.

LOPEZ (through translator): So, we'll see.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:50:00]

NEWTON: Indeed, we will see. Still ahead for us, a case that shocked Silicon Valley now captivating Hollywood. We have more on the documentary

that is rewriting the rules for storytelling. It's called "You Can See Everything, and you can hear everything about it up, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: They say the truth can be stranger than fiction, and in Hollywood, it might also be more lucrative. A documentary about Elizabeth Holmes and

the Theranos scandal has made more than $15 million in its opening weekend at the box office in North America. That's despite a limited run of less

than 900 screens. The project was worked on in secret for years before it debuted at the Telluride Film Festival last month. Some critics believe it

could be the first documentary to be nominated for Best Pictures at the Oscars.

Segun Oduolowu joins us now. OK. I have not seen it. You have. Do tell, because if we look at, you know, the arbiter here, Rotten Tomatoes, 99

percent or something like that? Incredible.

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Yes. Paula, this is one of those, this is one of those films where it's almost perfect. Both the

critics and the theater-goers, the audience loves it, and what it is a genre-bending type of documentary.

Amanda Seyfried, who we know from "The Dropout," who played Elizabeth Holmes the real life, you know, villain behind the Theranos scandal, she

appears in the documentary doing reenactments of scenes that Elizabeth Holmes might have also been in.

So, there's a weird way that it has been put together, which we should expect nothing less from A24, and it's breaking records. There hasn't been

a documentary like this since "Fahrenheit 9/11" in 2004 that has done this well at the box office. So, it's number two there. And not since "Borat"

has a movie been on this few theater -- few screens in theaters and done this well.

To give the audience, you know, a way to kind of encapsulate this, the number one movie in the United States box office was "Street Fighter" on

almost 3,500 screens, and it did 31 million. This movie did 15 million on 855 screens. So, audiences are loving it. People are talking about it. And

it is everywhere right now.

NEWTON: And in terms of what the audience is going to get from this, like look, this story is well told. They've had the movie before, as you

mentioned, the dramatization. There has been another documentary on it. What is it about this and certainly the documentary's producer and

director?

[18:55:00]

ODUOLOWU: OK. I don't want to ruin it. But what I will say is this, do you believe she's a villain, or do you believe she's a victim? Did she get in

over her head, or was she leading people astray? However you view her, if you're -- whatever you -- however you view her, when you walk into the

theater, you're going to leave either validated or questioning yourself, and I think that's what makes it so delicious.

The writer and the creator of this is, you know, known for off-beat comedies and deadpan comedies that have been on cable networks. This is his

first foray into the world of film, and has completely knocked it out the park.

NEWTON: Yes. And likely won't be its last. Listen, I only have about 20 seconds left. This is three hours long. Segun, you're recommending it

though.

ODUOLOWU: Pack a lunch.

NEWTON: Have a bathroom break.

ODUOLOWU: I'm saying pack a lunch. I do recommend it. But yes, in the remaining time that we have, if you're still unsure about what happened and

you want to see something artsy and informative, go watch this.

NEWTON: Got you. And let's see, right? Let's see what the awards ceremony say about this because those seasons are about to kick off. Segun, thanks

so much. We'll have to leave it there. Appreciate it.

And I want to thank you for your company. I'm Paula Newton in New York. You have been watching "The Brief." Stay with CNN for more news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:00]

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