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What We Know with Max Foster

Zelenskyy Meets With UK PM As U.S. Support Concerns Grow; Pope Recovering "As Expected" After Lung Cancer Surgery; Trump Making Campaign Swing Through Arizona & Montana; CNN Hosts Town Hall In Texas With James Talarico; Judge Says Trump Press Ban Likely Violates First Amendment. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 14, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:32]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Ukraine's president says he feels betrayed by the United States.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

We begin with growing fears in Ukraine that the U.S. may be pulling back its vital support for Kyiv at a critical stage of the war with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in London today to make an urgent appeal to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham for more help from the West.

President Zelensky says recent Russian attacks have come without the usual intelligence warnings from Ukraine's partners. A massive Russian strike on

Ukrainian energy infrastructure included more than 100 drones and dozens of missiles. It left more than 600,000 people without power.

Ukraine had accused Elon Musk's SpaceX of restricting Starlink services, leading to a major disruption in military logistics and operations.

But just minutes ago, Ukraine's defense minister posted this message saying the Starlink's connectivity is being restored to previous speeds. He also

thanks SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Let's dive into this with CNN's chief U.S. security analyst and host of "THE BRIEF", Jim Sciutto, of course.

Jim, Break this down into the two parts for us. First of all, the intelligence sharing. What went wrong there?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURIT ANALYST: So big picture, right? A lot of things are happening at once. We reported over the weekend that U.S.

officials warned Ukraine that if it didn't stop hitting Russian energy infrastructure, which is, of course, a demand of President Trump, that it

would do two things, or might do two things, restrict intelligence sharing, which Ukraine relies on for a whole host of defenses and attacks, and two,

perhaps end weapons purchases through what's known as the PURL System, Europe buying U.S. weapons to send to Ukraine.

Now, to our knowledge, neither of those things have happened officially yet, but two things have happened since those warnings went out. First, for

two days, Ukraine says it did not get early warning of incoming Russian missiles. And that's something they rely on the U.S. for, U.S. intelligence

gathering to see those missiles before they're coming so people can get into the shelters. For two nights, that didn't happen.

U.S. officials told them it's a weather problem. That was the issue. Ukrainians I spoke to frankly didn't believe it. They believe the threat

and the lack of those warnings was connected.

Then overnight, you have this second step where speeds were restricted for Starshield, which is a defense product delivered by Starlink. And the

speeds matter because If you can't operate your drones at those speeds, if they lose connectivity at certain speeds, which is what these restrictions

did, then they really can't operate them to hit their targets or to hit incoming missiles and drones, that kind of thing, all the things that they

use drones for.

Now, just like that post you showed from Fedorov saying that those speed restrictions have now been lifted. I'm hearing from Ukrainian officials the

same thing, although I was told by a Ukrainian official here in Washington that the speeds are back up but not quite 100 percent, that they're jumping

around a bit, so they don't -- they don't have the same connectivity they had before. So maybe this is a temporary thing.

But I bring that all up together, Max, because from the Ukrainian perspective, this is not accidental that they see this as a pressure

campaign to get Ukraine to stop its strikes on energy infrastructure, even as Russia is inundating Ukraine with missiles and drones that are costing

lives every night, 20 people killed just in the last couple of days.

FOSTER: And then in London today, we had the president, didn't we, of Ukraine calling out the United States, which was a very bold move, right?

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

FOSTER: Because presumably the administration wouldn't like that.

SCIUTTO: No question. This is Volodymyr Zelensky. He's in the UK. He was doing an interview with Piers Morgan, and he straight up said that Ukraine

can't rely on the U.S. to the same degree anymore.

And I'll just say this, Max, that while you're hearing that publicly in such direct terms from the Ukrainian president now, it is something I've

heard privately from Ukrainian officials for months, because they've seen a series of steps, right? Under President Trump, the U.S. has effectively

zeroed out its direct military assistance to Ukraine, weapons systems, et cetera. And it suspended intelligence sharing before.

You'll remember last March the U.S. did following that contentious Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy. So, their view has been this

could happen again, right? And if you can't trust your ally all the time, then you really can't trust that ally.

[15:05:00]

That is their view. And again, from the Ukrainian perspective, this is happening as they are just getting inundated. And Ukrainian civilians are

dying every day, so they look at it as an abandonment in the midst of a very deadly period that they fear is going to get worse.

FOSTER: Okay, Jim Sciuto, appreciate it. More from Jim later on on "THE BRIEF".

Now, doctors say Pope Leo, meanwhile, recovering normally after they've removed a cancerous growth from his right lung. They're now waiting on

additional testing to be sure the cancer hasn't spread. His recovery team says he is walking around his room at the hospital and that he ate

breakfast and lunch. The 71-year-old pope is expected to spend about a week at the hospital.

Christopher Lamb joins us from Rome.

Presumably, though, Chris, this depends on the update on the analysis of this growth.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Max. I mean, it is a waiting game at the moment here at the Gemelli Hospital to

see what these more detailed tests tell the doctors about the pope's condition and whether or not the cancer has spread and what, if any,

treatment is needed.

You know, as you said, the recovery by the pope since this Lung surgery has been going well, according to the Vatican. We've also told he was

participating in mass at the Gemelli Hospital on the 10th floor, where there's a special suite of rooms for the pope, but a lot of uncertainty

around Pope Leo's condition and also what is going to happen in the near future. The Pope has got this big trip planned to Latin America. the

question of will that take place and I think across the Vatican the sense I've been getting from people I've been speaking to is this this really did

come as a big shock.

You know, Pope Leo was elected as a relatively young Pope at the age of 69 in good health and you know it was felt that the health problems of popes

would be put on hold for a bit. But we're back here at the hospital dealing with a pope hospitalized and now this cancer diagnosis. So, it's a lot at

the moment for the Vatican to take in.

I spoke to one archbishop who had been taking part in a big meeting at the Vatican, how he felt about it said he was very worried, but there is also

hope that the pope can come through this. He is in good condition physically. He will hope to be able to get back to work, but at the moment

it's a recovery and waiting for these test results.

FOSTER: Okay. Christopher Lamb in Rome, we await that news. Thank you.

U.S. President Trump stumping for Republicans in two states today as campaigning for the midterms enters the final stretch. Next hour, he'll

speak at a rally in Arizona before heading up to Montana. Mr. Trump won both states in 2024, and he's trying to rally his base to show up to the

polls in November, as Republicans fight to retain control of Congress.

We're joined now by CNN's Betsy Klein in Arizona.

I mean, he's really, really working on this, isn't he?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, Max, let me just set the scene for you. I'll put on my John King magic wall hat.

We are in Mojave County, Arizona. This is the northernmost part of the state, and this is one of the reddest places in Arizona as well as maybe

the country. Mojave County voted 55 points for President Trump. It was 77 to 21 for Harris back in 2024. So, this is a very red place and this is all

part of President Trump and his team's midterm campaign travel strategy.

And that is to juice turnout among his MAGA base. They are not necessarily looking to find new voters or to convince undecided independent voters.

They are looking to turn out their base. And so that is what we are seeing here. Of course, there are some candidates that are trying to put some

strategic distance in the midterms between themselves and President Trump. And there are others who are making the calculation that a visit from

President Trump can be helpful.

And that includes Andy Biggs. He is running for governor here in Arizona against the Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, who's running for reelection.

It's a very close race here. But 20 days out, privately, Trump advisers are concerned that they could lose the House of Representatives.

They're also increasingly concerned about their prospects of holding on to the Senate, and that is in part because of the president's unpopularity at

about 33 percent approval rating right now, driven in part by that war with Iran and very high gas prices here in the U.S., as well as overall

inflation. And we got this key inflation report that shows hotter than expected inflation in the last of September, driving up 3.7 percent for

consumer goods.

That is having an impact on how people are feeling about the economy.

[15:10:04]

But I asked people here at this rally if they blamed President Trump for that. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Inflation, we just got a report. It's 3.7 percent. Price of gas is up. Who do you think is to blame for that?

ADDISON URBANZCYK, ATTENDING RALLY IN ARIZONA: Well, I know who's not to blame for that. Definitely got to be those Democrats. I'm not going to lie.

COLLEEN URBANZCYK, ATTENDING RALLY IN ARIZONA: The Democrats and the RINOs, not backing Trump. Definitely. Not President Trump. He's doing what

he can to try to clean up the mess they made.

JENNIFER PERRY, ATTENDING RALLY IN ARIZONA: How do we know that it wouldn't be more if someone else was in office? How can you blame it on

someone not knowing what the other result would be?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now in this critical 20-day sprint to the midterm elections, it's all going to be about driving up that turnout and there are some signs here

that they are doing just that and trying to organize. There's information for attendees about early voting as well as mail in voting. All of that

trying to drive up that MAGA based turnout -- Max.

FOSTER: Okay, Betsy, thank you so much. More from you from there later. Pretty high-energy crowd there.

Several key races could determine which party controls the Senate, including the closely watched showdown between Democrat James Talarico and

Republican Ken Paxton in Texas. Now, Texas -- Talarico is trying to become the first Democrat in a generation to win a U.S. Senate seat in that state.

He'll speak to voters directly tonight in a town hall co-hosted by CNN. The newly released polls show the race is too close to call, according to the

Marist College survey, 47 percent of likely voters in Texas back Talarico, compared to 45 percent for Paxton.

Let's go to Jeff Zeleny on Texas.

I mean, it would be extraordinary if the Democrats took it, right?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Max, it would be extraordinary. It would also be historic. I mean, there's no doubt that

Texas is now at the center of this fight for control of the U.S. Senate, a place that Republicans did not think they would be a few months ago. And

Democrats hoped they would be, as they've hoped so many times over the years here in Texas.

But this year, so many things are different. A, the Republican nominee, the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, is seen as a weak nominee, to put it

charitably, even by most Republicans. He has a string of controversies. He was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives. He was not convicted,

but there have been a string of investigations, other matters.

But Democrats have their hopes in James Talarico. And we are standing right here at this set of a CNN town hall, which will happen this evening here in

Fort Worth, Texas, where voters will be talking and questioning him. But as we've been talking to voters here, Democrats are hopeful but also mindful

of that history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOYCE FRANKLIN, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I'm trying to remain as optimistic as I can without being totally let down. I know in '24, we were devastated by

what happened here in the state and in the country, that Trump was elected and everything went for the Republicans. I was devastated. And I don't want

to set myself up for that disappointment again, but I think this time, I think we finally have the right formula to move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And that was Joyce Franklin, a longtime Democratic voter from here in the Fort Worth, Texas area. Again, putting all of this into the historic

context here, but you can tell that this is different than any other Texas race that we have covered really for the last quarter century because

Republicans are spending so much money here trying to defend this seat.

Again, it's the combination of the weak Republican candidate versus a really a rising Democratic star. We'll see if he can cross that hurdle.

There obviously are many questions about the Democratic brand here in Texas if voters are willing to vote for a Democrat at this moment.

But if you look at this stage behind me here, as well as some video that we have, this is going to be unlike any other town hall that you have seen.

There will be a segment called Change My Mind and at this table here, the candidate, James Talarico, would be sitting directly across just a few feet

from undecided voters and others who will have a chance to ask him a question and he'll try and change their minds. We will see if any of that

actually has an impact on the race.

But there are, of course, undecided voters. But more importantly, Democrats are trying to turn out their base and independents and all these surveys

are leaning heavily toward the Democratic side.

The question is, these Republican voters are Is Talarico able to get a big enough share of them or will some of them simply say, look, I'm not voting

in this contest because I do not like Paxton and I can't bring myself to vote for a Democrat?

So many questions heading into the final three weeks of this midterm election campaign.

[15:15:01]

Early voting starts here next week in Texas -- Max.

FOSTER: There's some jeopardy to this performance right for him because as you say if you could convince some softer Republicans to vote for him,

that's a big opportunity. But what are the risks of tonight for him do you think?

ZELENY: Look I think the risks are just you know not being able to convince people and perhaps being challenged on some of his own record he

has said a variety of things. He's a Texas state lawmaker. He was the youngest member of the Texas legislature elected in 2018 when he was just

29 years old and he represented the Austin area.

Austin, of course, is much more liberal than the rest of the state and he has taken some positions that have been quite controversial. He has even

acknowledged that some of them, you know, we're not wise. And in his words, they were a bit cringy.

So, I think when he's asked about those specifically, it'll be very interesting to say. One example is God is nonbinary. He's also a

seminarian, so he talks about his faith incredibly. So, I think just hearing him explain some of his past comments will be very interesting.

But look, the big risks are turning off some of those voters that you hope that might have an open mind to vote for you. But, look, the bottom line of

this race is that Republicans and the president kind of are a bit of an undertow here. This is not a good moment for the party, but we will see if

it's a good one for Democrats in a state like this or not -- Max.

FOSTER: It's going to be a fascinating evening. Jeff, thank you so much for that.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed a notice of appeal after a judge's ruling on media access to the White House. On Tuesday night, Judge Tim

Kelly said Mr. Trump's attempt to bar CNN, MS NOW and "Politico" from the White House likely violates the constitutional rights to free speech and

freedom of the press. He ordered the Trump administration to grant them access to the White House while the lawsuit plays out.

CNN's chairman says the network will never stop fighting for a free press.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK THOMPSON, CHAIRMAN, CNN: It's the judge saying that our complaint that our fundamental rights to cover the president properly inside the

White House and the rest of it were violated and that we're likely to prevail in the final trial. So, to me, it's a vote of confidence in free

speech and our right not -- not really so much for ourselves, but on behalf of the public everywhere, and on behalf of, by the way, all the people who

are subscribers to the TV pool, which we're part of.

This topic is one we're never going to back down from. And no matter how many court cases, investigations, court appearances, and all the expense

that entails, we will fight this one to the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Officials at Cornell University are under fierce scrutiny over their handling of sexual assault allegations. Still to come tonight, we'll

take a look at how past accusations of sexual misconduct have been handled by the university, plus a potential no confidence vote by faculty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:17]

FOSTER: Any moment now, the Cornell University faculty senate will discuss a possible no confidence motion, and it's in connection to the school's

response to sexual violence on campus. The university is under scrutiny for both its handling of recent 2024 sexual assault allegations, as well as 51

past complaints about alleged assaults on campus.

A CNN review found that nearly half of those cases, officials handed out relatively lenient punishments such as reprimands or probation.

We've also learned about a new investigation into a reported sexual assault at a fraternity on Sunday, this time at the University of Chicago.

According to Chicago police, a young woman reported she was raped at a fraternity house near the university. A person of interest has been

identified and has been banned from campus. This person is not a student or affiliated with the university. Police tell CNN no one is in custody.

So, what we want to know is, is this a turning point for American frat culture?

Joining us now, John Hechinger, author of "True Gentleman: The Broken Pledge of America's Fraternities".

Thank you so much for joining us.

Obviously, we're going out around the world right now, and I think it's fair to say that fraternities are something quite unique to American

culture, aren't they? Could you just describe how you would describe them?

JOHN HECHINGER, AUTHOR, "TRUE GENTLEMEN: THE BROKEN PLEDGE OF AMERICA'S FRATERNITIES": Sure. I mean, they date back to the early 19th century,

these kinds of social fraternities, and they really kind of, in many ways, created the kind of college culture in America where your extracurricular

activities and leadership is stressed and self-governance but from the very beginning I found in my book, they created all kinds of problems from out

of control drinking and allegations of sexual assault.

So, the debate that we're having today started in the 19th century and has been happening again and again in decades since. There have been many

reckonings this is one of them and it's -- you know, it's amazing how -- how resilient they are and how powerful they are, and how they resist

really any kind of cause for regulation, which is what we're hearing today.

FOSTER: Have universities been afraid of facing this? I mean, why? I mean, this isn't the first case. Obviously, we've heard that throughout the whole

Jane Doe case. Everyone keeps talking about how this is not a unique case. Why have universities not dealt with it?

HECHINGER: Well, fraternities are very popular. There are about a quarter of a million men belong to fraternities. They have a very powerful alumni

network. Their alumni are in Congress. They've been president of the United States, Supreme Court justices. And they donate more to colleges than other

alumni.

So, in my book, I found that when college presidents took them on, there would be huge pushback. Even if they restricted a fraternity, they banned

fraternities, parties on campus, there'd be a massive, massive complaint from all the alumni. I even found a couple of presidents who lost their

jobs.

So, I think they are afraid of the pushback. And the other thing that, you know, universities often don't talk about is that they heavily market Greek

life. Cornell even now markets Greek life as part of the appeal of going to Cornell, this kind of vibrant party culture that people want. And they

definitely downplay many of the terrible things that have happened, the sort of out-of-control drinking, the numerous allegations of sexual

assault.

[15:25:01]

And, you know, one of the changes that Cornell's own faculty is talking about is providing information about where sexual assaults happen. They did

a survey that found that more than half of sorority women reported being sexually assaulted, compared to 29 percent for other students. And I found

statistics like that throughout my research that women who go to fraternity parties face one and a half times the risk of sexual assault.

So, you know, they're really going to have to crack down on these spaces and try to police underage drinking and reports of sexual assault and shut

chapters down, you know, if they if they misbehave. And they've just been really leery about doing that.

FOSTER: So, this does feel like a reckoning because Cornell, as you know, as you've been saying, is famous for its fraternities like many other

universities. They have canceled the social events for the rest of the year.

But this is just one case amongst many. So how -- how do you think the authorities can actually use this to create a meaningful change across the

entire fraternity structure in these universities?

HECHINGER: Well, Cornell took this step, but they just said it was for the academic year. And what I found is that when there's a particularly

horrific case, you might have a single chapter shut down, or in this case, you might have one campus shut down. But I think it's pretty clear that

fraternities will be back at Cornell, and the issue is once memories fade, the kind of behavior returns. Cornell itself had a horrific death related

to initiation ritual in 2011, which led to a kind of reckoning too and a criminal investigation. But fraternities are back there and the same

questions are being raised again and again.

So, it's going to take sustained regulation on the part of the universities, you know, banning alcohol from chapter houses, maybe

eliminating any kind of pledging, you know, understanding that three quarters of fraternity men are underage so that if they're having a party

with alcohol, perhaps the campus police can't look the other way. And there have been schools that have done this and it's made a big difference, but

it has to be, it has to be sustained. It can't just be for weeks or months for the academic year.

FOSTER: No, John Hechinger, I really appreciate that insight into fraternity life in the U.S. Thank you.

HECHINGER: Thanks.

FOSTER: Coming up, Ukraine's newest challenge in its war with Russia, accusations that Elon Musk's Starlink put a dent in Kyiv's efforts to

counter Russian attacks. We'll speak to a military analyst next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:16]

FOSTER: Back to our top story. Ukraine getting some much-needed help amid the Trump administration's controversial diesel deal with Russia in London

today. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the British Prime Minister Andy Burnham following another Russian attack on the Ukrainian

energy facilities. He told reporters at 10 Downing Street that Ukraine is ready for any kind of ceasefire.

Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, have accused Starlink of restricting some services, leading to a disruption in military operations. Elon Musk, the

CEO of SpaceX, responded online, saying the Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government.

What we don't know is how much do Starlink disruptions hurt Ukraine.

Joining us now, CNN military analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Thank you for joining us, Colonel. I think in this latest announcement from Musk, he separates the military Starlink setup and the commercial one. And

he's saying the commercial one shouldn't be used for military operations. So, you could read it either way. Perhaps he is saying we can restrict the

Starlink commercial side for military operations, which might have been what happened yesterday, but it's not clear yet.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, Max, I think the -- there was certainly a restriction on the Starshield system, which is

that military system that you and Elon Musk have just spoken about. But the key thing here is that, you know, no matter which system is used, it has

been a very critical element of the Ukrainian war effort.

And back when this invasion first started back in February of 2022 and in the subsequent weeks after that, The Starlink system, the commercial

system, was actually used extensively by the Ukrainians, and Elon Musk did allow that at that particular point in time. And then they moved to develop

a system based on the technology that was resident within Starlink, basically using low Earth orbiting satellites to provide a rapid

dissemination of information to various military units, to the drones and unmanned ground vehicles, and other systems that are dependent on really

high-speed data in order to control them.

Plus, it's also a very convenient intelligence speed. So, the Starlink system and its military cousin, the Starshield system, are absolutely

critical for Ukraine's war effort. And for the Ukrainians to be successful, those systems have to work very well, and in particular now, of course, the

Starshield system.

FOSTER: Yeah, so the Americans will be aware of that. Alongside this restriction, apparent restriction in Starshield, there was also a

restriction of intelligence, according to the Ukrainians at least. They said they didn't get a warning about a Russian attack yesterday, which they

normally would have done.

So, we've got Starshield being restricted. We've got a lack of intelligence, but the U.S. not admitting that they caused any of that. What

do you think is happening here?

LEIGHTON: Yeah, I'm certainly -- and I hate to say this as a former U.S. military officer, I hate to say that I'm suspicious of what the U.S. has

said in this particular case. The excuse was that there was cloud cover and it was difficult for the data to be transmitted so that the Ukrainians

would get that early warning but -- of those impending missile attacks.

But the problem is is that a lot of the systems that now exist are basically weather-independent. Now, in the old days, back in the `60s and

`70s, it would be a very logical and reasonable excuse that the weather actually did hamper satellite collection efforts as well as communications

efforts.

[15:35:11]

Today that's a bit different, because we have so many different sources that could provide adequate early warning for impending missile attacks.

And so, I have to share some of the suspicions of the Ukrainians that this may not have been unintentional, and that, of course, is a very painful

prospect to consider.

FOSTER: President Zelensky in London saying that he felt betrayed by the United States, which is a bold thing to say about an ally they rely on, but

it does feel as though patience is running out.

LEIGHTON: Yeah, for sure. And these words by President Zelensky are certainly an expression of his frustration. But Zelensky is a fairly frank

man. And when he speaks and he talks not only to world leaders like the British prime minister, but also to the public at large through the media,

he tends to be very blunt in his characterizations of things. And I think it's been remarkable that he hasn't been more blunt with regard to U.S.

support or planned U.S. support than in the past.

And so, in this particular case, I think he's basically reached the limit. And one of the things to think about, Max, is the fact that the Ukrainians

have actually made some significant progress, both on the battlefield in the east as well as in terms of technical developments. They are developing

interceptor drones that can go after the Shahed jet-powered drones that the Russians are now firing against Ukrainian cities.

So, they need as much intelligence support as they can possibly get. Unfortunate thing is when you cut off intelligence supplies like this at

very critical moments, it tends to throw back the Ukrainian war effort, both in terms of technical development as well as in their ability for

their emergency services to respond to impending attacks and for the people themselves to respond. And this results in increased deaths and injuries in

these areas. And that, of course, is a significant issue.

And frankly, it's immoral that that is not -- that this information is not being provided to the Ukrainians in this case.

FOSTER: Okay, Colonel Cedric Leighton, as ever, thank you so much for your insights on that relationship today.

Now in the final moments of trade on Wall Street, stocks are having a down day. The Dow has been in the red all day, whilst the S&P 500 and Nasdaq

have each fallen by one percent or more after some rough inflation numbers came out.

This is our Business Breakout.

Bank of America shares are falling after the bank was fined more than $1.2 billion by the U.S. Treasury for violating money laundering laws. The

Treasury said the company failed to respond properly to red flags about suspicious customers, including those with links to drug trafficking. The

bank's international president told CNN that it's working to get its compliance measures back on track.

The president of the European Central Bank says she has no plans to intervene in France's budget crisis. Christine Lagarde, who is France's

former finance minister, said any solution to the country's debt problems would be domestic. Speaking at the CNN Global Perspectives event in

Bangkok, Ms. Lagarde said the economic problems facing France are not unique to that country.

Russia's economic envoy says the country's diesel deal with the United States is facing, quote, "execution issues" but insists the deal will go

ahead. Kirill Dmitriev says that Russia is ready to work together with Americans to make sure the fuel is supplied to the U.S. He also accused

Europe of hypocrisy over its criticism of the agreement.

The final set of inflation numbers before the U.S. midterms does not make for happy reading for American consumers. The annual rate of inflation went

up to 3.7 percent last month, a bigger jump than expected. Rising gas prices are behind most of the increase. And there are worries too about

wages no longer keeping up with inflation.

CNN's Matt Egan broke down the numbers earlier with Sara Sidner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: What's going on here? Well, let's look at some of the drivers. Not surprisingly, the energy and the war impact. It's

really clear here, right?

So, gasoline, 34 percent more expensive year over year. That's because we have gas prices above $4.30 a gallon nationally.

Look at this airfare, a 22 percent spike. That's because jet fuel has skyrocketed. Motor oil, nine percent increase. That's the biggest increase

for this specific category in three years. And again, this is related to the Strait of Hormuz and the war.

But it's not just about the war though, right? We're also seeing that electricity is up more than 4 percent. That's above the overall rate of

inflation and that reflects in part a lot of demand driven by the A.I. boom.

And then look at this, an almost 10 percent spike for computers and peripherals. This is really being driven by all the demand caused by the

A.I. boom.

The BLS has been tracking this category since 1998, and this is the biggest annual increase on record for this category. And again, it's all about the

A.I. boom.

There was some silver lining though here. Look at this food at home. This is groceries up by less than two percent. This is the best number of the --

of the president's second term. You have to go back to the end of 2024 to have a lower number than that.

So that is encouraging. What we do have to point out though is that we have a situation where people's paychecks, they're getting completely gobbled up

by inflation. If you go back two years ago, this blue line is paychecks, red line, that's prices.

Look at this. You had a situation where for a while paychecks were going up faster than prices and then that stopped being the case right when the war

started and now, we have a situation where for six months in a row, for the half a year real wages adjusted for inflation, they're getting smaller. So

that's helps explain why people just are feeling so frustrated and they feel like they can't keep it up right now because they literally can't in

some cases.

One last point for you here. New research out this week from Moody's analytics. They're finding that the war with Iran since it started is

costing consumers $265 billion for the typical household that works out to $2,000.

And, Sara, this is a running tally. So, the longer the war goes on, the more it's going to cost consumers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Pretty extraordinary numbers there from Matt.

Now coming up, the latest in President Trump's saga involved in Greenland says massive oil and gas exploration will soon get underway in Greenland,

but Greenland says that's not even close to happening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:09]

FOSTER: The U.S. and Greenland are now clashing over oil and gas exploration, President Trump writing on social media that massive

exploration is about to begin in Greenland. However, the island has refuted those claims, saying that in reality, it's very far from happening.

The confusion is just the latest chapter of President Trump's fixation on the strategically located territory.

Let's take a closer look with Anna Stewart.

He appears to be jumping the gun a bit on this one.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, not for the first time. We're back to talking about Greenland, and Greenland and the U.S. seem to be at odds

with each other, at least President Trump does, saying that this massive exploration is about to begin. And Greenland's government, the deputy

mining minister, saying there are activities by U.S. companies, but they're very far away from massive exploration.

Now, Greenland, as everyone probably knows, isn't very green. It's really quite white. It is covered in ice, 80 percent covered in ice, and very

thick ice at that, Max. On average, the ice is about a mile thick. It makes exploration incredibly difficult, whether we're talking about oil, gas or

rare earth minerals, which are probably all there in big reserves, just very hard to get out.

Also, often in remote places, when you're looking at offshore, you actually can't access a lot of it unless it is summer. So, there are huge challenges

here. And actually big oil majors like Shell and BP have tried and failed to drill commercial oil here before.

There was another big question mark from this Truth Social post as well. The president saying that oil is far greater than that of almost any land

in Greenland, which frankly simply isn't true. A U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that on the east of Greenland in a big basin, there could be 31

billion barrels of oil, which is significant. is less than a tenth of what you have in Venezuela, say, which has more than 300 billion barrels of oil.

So, really, we're getting very mixed messages here in terms of how much oil is there, when it's going to be drilled, whether there's anything new, and

what prompted, frankly, this Truth Social post from the president.

FOSTER: Anna, thank you.

Still to come, a former OpenAI employee has been arrested, accused of hiding a sophisticated recording device inside the company's offices. More

details coming up after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: A top executive at OpenAI says A.I. agents are exposing internet vulnerabilities on an unprecedented scale.

[15:50:05]

Kiran Main runs OpenAI's Asia Pacific division and admits some models in development quote behaved in ways they shouldn't. He goes on to say the

company is committed to ensuring A.I. is used safely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRAN MANI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, OPENAI ASIA-PACIFIC: There is a sense of urgency than ever before in having the conversation about safety and

security as here and today. I think both in the case of Hugging Face and as flesh in Australia, we have publicly acknowledged that we have had models

which were in development which behaved in ways that they shouldn't.

We absolutely believe that as a company, developing frontier A.I. is as much about furthering the technology as it is about ensuring that it is

used safely and in ways in which it is under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: OpenAI is also answering questions about the arrest of a now- former employee. The 35-year-old Saudi national is accused of hiding what's being called a sophisticated recording device in a company office. He's now

in federal custody.

CNN's Hadas Gold has details on what investigators say they've found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: I'm told this is the first time this has ever happened at OpenAI, an employee arrested for allegedly planting a

recording device and hiding it within OpenAI's offices. The employee arrested has been identified by the Department of Justice as 35-year-old

Abdulrahman Alfozan, who is also a Saudi national. He'd been working as an engineer in OpenAI's product team since the summer of 2025 and according to

both OpenAI and the Department of Justice, in late September they believe he installed this secret recording device within the USB port of a

television screen within an executive conference room in OpenAI San Francisco's offices.

OpenAI says that they discovered this device just a couple of days later, and the Department of Justice said that he was arrested last week. OpenAI

says that this device monitored audio, had advanced encryption and a mechanism for transferring data designed to evade monitoring. They say they

have evidence that he planned to plant more in other areas of OpenAI's offices.

The Department of Justice also says that Alfozan used a productivity tool to find information about OpenAI's meeting rooms, calendars, and where

leadership is going to be, and that his wife's chatbot account was found to have submitted prompts about building an encrypted audio recording device.

OpenAI in a statement said that "at this time, we have no indication of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights,

source cord or customer data. We take protecting our technology, data and people seriously and as a matter of national importance."

Alfozan is also a partner at a Saudi-based venture capital firm called Raed. We reached out to both Raed and the Saudi Embassy for comment and

have not yet heard back.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said, "The protection of U.S. technology and companies is a matter of national security," saying, "This

arrest highlights our relentless efforts in partnership with the FBI to identify and prosecute those who seek to steal our technology as alleged in

the complaint."

Alfozan is currently in federal custody. He will make his first appearance before a judge next week.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Hadas Gold there.

Now, the creator and co-director of "Kpop Demon Hunters" remembers growing up in Toronto as a Korean -- Korean thinking her culture wasn't so cool.

But fast forward a few years and in some K-pop and the likes of Squid Games and Maggie Kang's whole outlook pretty much changed. She decided. Koreans

had already produced so much animation for so many others, it was time for her to do something Koreans could call their own.

Earlier today, Kang spoke with our Hanako Montgomery in Bangkok, Thailand, and thanked the Korean cultural creators before her, who laid the

groundwork early on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGGIE KANG, ACADEMY AWARD WINNING CREATOR & CO-DIRECTOR OF "KPOP DEMON HUNTERS": I think just also growing up in Toronto, which is a city that

just really embraces multiculturalism and it's really a big part of the city's identity is that it's multicultural. It kind of gave me the license

to celebrate my own culture, even though I didn't have too many people to do that with. And my parents were a huge factor in that too. They really

instilled in me this like Korean pride and not just like -- not just telling me that I'm Korean, but really teaching me the history of it.

So I feel like even at a young age, like I had a pretty like, you know, not like intensive, but a general knowledge of like why our language was

created and you know, how as this tiny nation between two powerhouses like Japan and China, like we survived.

[15:55:00]

And just knowing the history of that and how my people thrived and through a lot of suffering, I think that kind of gave me -- just really allowed me

to create a deeper relationship with my culture, just understanding where our people come from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Finally, tonight, Joni Mitchell has finally become an American citizen more than 60 years after leaving her native Canada. The legendary

singer-songwriter made it official at the naturalization ceremony on Tuesday. The 82-year-old posted a picture of herself holding a U.S. flag

with a caption, "A journey that began 62 years ago".

Mitchell was born in Alberta, Canada in 1943. The iconic artist is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the

Grammys back in 2002.

I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW. Do stay with CNN.

END

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