Midterms Enter Final Week as Early Voting Surges

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1:02Happening now, one week to go. It is crunch time. Candidates are crisscrossing states. Campaigns are in overdrive. And the Situation Room is live on the trail. Plus, one-on-one with Eric Holder, the former attorney general under President Obama, will join us. We'll get his reaction on new charges against former FBI Director James Comey and his takes on election security and AI regulation. Also, new CNN reporting, Defense Secretary Pete Hexas' faith advisor shared sexist and homophobic posts and how the Defense Department is now responding. Plus, early voting signs, the stories behind the numbers, and the two states and the two new tallies that could spell trouble for the GOP.

1:46Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is on assignment, and you're in the Situation Room.

2:00We are now just seven days out from Election Day and Americans are already making their voices heard at a staggering pace. Look at these numbers right here. More than 31 million votes have already been cast, tracking well ahead of the early voting pace of the 2022 midterms. And fueling this massive wave of early voting is a relentless and record-breaking onslaught of political ads. According to AdImpact,$11.21 billion has already been spent on political odds this cycle, surpassing the record set during the 2024 presidential election. Republicans are growing increasingly anxious about competitive races in usually solid red states.

2:37And while Democrats' chances of power checking President Trump look somewhat hopeful seven days out, our Stephen Collinson warns that it is far too soon to size up any Democratic wave. President Trump is crisscrossing the country in a final day's push to energize the GOP base. He's making two critical stops in Texas today to bolster Republicans facing unexpectedly brutal fights before heading to Ohio and Florida later this week. The Situation Room is in eight states this morning, covering the countdown to the midterms, tracking critical key races in battleground states from Kansas and Iowa to Pennsylvania and Florida.

3:12And we start in North Carolina, where former Governor Roy Cooper is trying to flip a crucial Senate seat and currently leads GOP candidate Michael Watley in the polls. So that's where we find CNN national correspondent Diane Gallagher. Diane, we're one week out and more than one and a half million votes have already been cast. How are Cooper and Watley making their final pitch to voters? You know, Pamela, what we're seeing from Roy Cooper is basically what we've seen him do for the past year. the small to medium events on his Make Stuff Cost Less tour. He has basically put affordability, he has put the idea of things are just too expensive at the heart of his campaign and run a very disciplined campaign in what many people expected initially to be one of the most expensive races, one of the tightest races in the nation.

4:02Cooper has consistently led former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Watley in polls and in fundraising. Now, we're expecting this event to get started very shortly here at Little Rock AME Zion Church in Charlotte. Just as we're getting numbers from these robust early voting numbers we're receiving from the state, more than 1 ,773 ,000 ballots have already been cast in North Carolina. 41 % of those come from registered Democrats. Now, Republicans have seen a slight uptick in their numbers and percentage, with about 24 percent of the ballots from Republicans. The largest registered group here in the state, unaffiliated, has also seen an increase in their participation in early voting at around 34 percent of the actual vote right now.

4:50Something to point out, though, nearly a quarter of black voters in North Carolina have already cast their ballot in this election, according to state data. Democrats tell me they don't want to get too excited, and Roy Cooper has consistently said he wants to run like he's behind, despite what the polls say. But I will tell you that when I talk to them privately, Democrats feel very good about North Carolina right now. All right, Diane Gallagher, thank you so much. And happening now, election monitors in all 50 states. The Justice Department is gearing up to send about 1 ,000 lawyers to observe polling places for potential civil rights violations.

5:26They're instructed by the department not to interfere with the elections, but Democrats and activists are still concerned that monitors could undermine the process. A Washington Post analysis found that online messaging from right-wing influencers has ramped up the rhetoric with more than 7 ,000 social media posts questioning the election's integrity. CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons put it this way. Take a listen. In normal times, that would give people comfort because you would believe the Justice Department is going to help solve problems. Now we all believe the Justice Department is going to help create problems.

5:59That's why they're headed out into the country. When the President of the United States has inserted himself into the way that the Justice Department works, it's hard to trust how any of it works. So this is something that is making everyone nervous. CNN correspondent Gabe Cohen is here in the Situation Room with all those details. So Gabe, observers are a normal part of elections, but this is different in terms of the scale. Tell us more about this broad move by the department. And I think Jamal actually really captured some of the concerns well that I'm hearing from officials across the country.

6:31Look, the Trump administration has said this is going to be the biggest federal election monitoring effort in history. More than a thousand of those monitors going out. They're going to be in all 50 states. That's the newest piece of information we've gotten. But for a little context, the Biden administration during the 2022 midterms did send out monitors a little bit less than 400 in just 24 states. So there is this longstanding precedent, not at this scale, though, as you said. To be clear, these are not law enforcement officers. These are mostly federal lawyers who have very little authority.

7:04In general, they can't even enter a polling place unless given approval by state and local officials. I will say we did have reporting a couple weeks ago indicating that some of the federal monitors who were sent out during the primaries to various states had previously worked on some of the legal efforts to challenge or even overturn the 2020 election in Trump's favor. And we also had this incident in Wyoming where Republican officials there were raising concerns about the two DOJ officials who were sent, two DOJ monitors who were sent to their state during the primaries and some aggressive behavior they say they saw from them.

7:40But as you mentioned, the Trump administration has said that they are just going to be watching. They're not, and we've seen no evidence that there are going to be any disruptions on election day as a result of these monitors. They're going to be watching instead for any sort of disruptions or irregularities that could lead to legal challenges after the fact. And I think that's going to really be the area to watch what comes after election day. We don't expect disruptions, but what you heard from Jamal is something I've heard from other officials, which is, will this Justice Department follow the long-standing federal standards when it comes to monitors?

8:15So DOJ is making a series of moves before the elections. One of the latest moves is seeking information on voter records in Washington state. What can you tell us about that? I think this is a really big deal. At least that's what I'm hearing from folks across the country, including in Washington, where the Department of Justice sent this letter to state leaders yesterday saying that DHS has identified roughly 400 noncitizens who have been voting in the state of Washington, who have cast ballots some 1 ,500 times in recent years, in recent elections. And it's really a sort of a copy-paste letter, what we saw from DOJ, that is very similar to the letter they sent a few days ago to California saying that they had identified 20 ,000 of these non-citizens registered to vote in California and said you need to take action, you need to separate their ballots, and you need to investigate whether these people are non-citizens and are voting before Election Day.

9:13Otherwise, we are going to file a lawsuit that we're going to step in. That's what happened in California. That's now being litigated right now. It's moving through the courts. We don't know if DOJ is going to follow up with a lawsuit in Washington. But one of the reasons this is so important is because DHS has been auditing public voter lists in states across the country in recent months. We didn't even know they had done this audit in Washington. At least that's what appears to have happened. And a lot of people have been calling into question, scrutinizing the data that Homeland Security has come back with, saying that it doesn't turn out to be entirely accurate.

9:48The number of noncitizens who are either registered or voting tends to be much, much smaller. We cannot say if that is the case here, but Washington state is pushing back right away, saying that they don't know that these numbers are accurate. And yet we are just a few days, we're a week away from Election Day. And the administration is calling for an investigation of voters who may be casting ballots right now, saying separate their votes until we know that they're citizens. And people are worried they're going to be disenfranchised. All right, Gabe Cohen, thanks for bringing us that latest reporting.

10:16Very important. Still ahead, daring prison escape, a convicted murderer on the run in Tennessee, and you would not believe where he was spotted on cam. Plus, Israelis head to the polls for the first national election since the October 7th attacks. We are live in Tel Aviv with what's at stake as Benjamin Netanyahu fights to keep power. You're in the Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

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11:17They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your$1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. happening now voters in israel are heading to the polls and that includes prime minister benjamin netanyahu netanyahu is facing a fierce challenge from the former chief of staff of israel's military now even though israelis do not vote for a specific person instead they vote for a party this election is viewed as a referendum on netanyahu's leadership amid wars and conflict cnn's nick robertson joins us live from tal aviv israel nick how has voter turnout been and what What does that tell you about the passion surrounding this election?

12:13Look, huge passion. The records for voter turnout keep tumbling. Two hours ago we got the latest readout. 3.29 million voters have cast their vote. That's 44.9 % of the vote. That's the highest turnout since 1973. So over 50 years. Passions are high. Look, these are some of the people. Let me take you around this policy. These are some of the people they can vote for. atheli bannett former prime minister yeagalan seen as being on the left these are the people that are in the block if you will that want to house prime minister benjamin netanyahu polling station inside a school and look here down on the ground you see these footsteps going in that's the sign if you're voting for gaddy eisenkot he's the guy that's leading the block that's trying to out prime minister benjamin netanyahu there are about 12 000 polling stations like this when you go inside you get one of these little slips when you go into the polling booth this one is for gadi eisenkart's party this one would be for prime minister benjamin netanyahu there are 36 of these to choose from so you get the idea it's going to take a long time counting six hours of voting left to go and as you say the turnout is really high but this is the guy that's really leading the challenge Gadi Eisenkot former IDF chief of staff military man 40 years in the military wearing the green uniform turned politician a few years ago so if the turnout is high a lot of people say that's going to benefit him right now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on social media is telling people to get out and vote because he knows that same equation he needs to get his voters out this polling station here is what is a sort of a mixed community if you will around here so a lot of people voting voting for different sides we have to wait six hours from now 10 p.m here local tonight six hours time that's when we'll get the first exit poll that will give us the first indication of which way it's going does prime Minister Netanyahu hold on.

14:26There's the challenger benefit from this massive turnout. We shall see. Nick Robertson, thank you so much. And coming up, new CNN reporting, a key figure behind Pete Hegseth's push to dramatically reshape the American military and that top advisor's long record of sexist and homophobic posts. We'll be right back.

14:51All right, let's go to Vice President J.D. Vance. He's speaking at Joint Base Andrews right now. Workers and security and public safety and the agenda of the far left Democrats. And it's going to be an easy message to take to Michigan. I think Mike Rogers is a great guy. I think Abdul El-Sayed is a little bit of a psychopath. And we're going to just try to make the argument as well as we can and help Mike out a little bit. Mr. Vice President, why shouldn't Alaskans find it insulting that the administration appears to be suggesting they can't read the word incumbent on their ballots and know to vote for Senator Sullivan?

15:20Well, I think the question presumes quite a bit. I mean, look, a lot of Alaskans are going to go and look at the ballot and realize exactly what you said, that this is all a big fraud. But people are busy. People have lives. People have jobs. And when you put a person on the ballot explicitly to try to confuse voters, I think that's the definition of electoral fraud. And I don't think that we should endorse it. And by the way, I think that if the shoe was on the other foot, if we were running somebody whose name was Mary Petolta in the state of Alaska, the media would be accusing us of election fraud.

15:54So I think that you guys should actually do your job and ask some difficult questions of the Democratic Party. Why are they trying to confuse people? You're right. A lot of people won't fall for it. But some people are going to be confused by that. It's just human nature. Governor Dunn, he means administration. You've asked your question. Thank you. Is Abdul El-Sayed a jihadist like President Trump said yesterday? I'm sorry. Is Abdul El-Sayed a jihadist like the president said yesterday? Well, look, he certainly has a lot of weird friends and he said a lot of crazy stuff. And he's identified himself with a segment of the Democratic Party, which, by the way, I don't think represents most Democrats in the country.

16:31But unfortunately, it represents a lot of elected Democrats who seem to align with people who justify violence against the United States of America. I don't know what's in the guy's heart. I just know he has a lot of weird friends. Can I ask you, do you think that Tucker Carlson's criticism of Rogers and his defense of El-Sayed is going to have an impact in the Senate race in Michigan? You know, look, I'm not a political prognosticator, man. What I will say is I think Mike is fundamentally a decent guy and the kind of public servant that you want in Washington, D.C. And I think any Republican or any conservative who looks at this race and sees, on the one hand, Abdul El-Sayed, who may be more than any Democrat running in the nation, has engaged in the kind of explicitly anti-white racial hatred that has become common on the Democratic Party.

17:18I'd say that person should not be elected. I think what Republicans stand for is whether you're black or white, we're for everybody. And Abdul El-Sayed is, again, more than anybody, a guy who seems to love to traffic in racial hatred. We should reject that guy as conservatives. We should reject him as Americans. And that's obviously a big part of what I'm going to be saying later today. I'll talk to you guys later. Thank you. All right. Well, there you heard J.D. Vance. He's on his way to Michigan to campaign for Mike Rogers, who's running against Abdul El-Sayed for the Michigan Senate seat. And you heard them really heard him going after al-Sayed, calling him a little bit of a psychopath, not directly coming out and saying he's a jihadist, like President Trump has said, but said he has friends that are crazy and that he's part of a group of Democrats that justify violence against the U.S.

18:06Not sure where he's getting that from and that he traffics in racial hatred. So clearly heavily criticizing Abdul al-Sayed in this very, very tight Michigan Senate race. All right, let's turn to our CNN senior investigative reporter on this news story we're following. A senior aide at the Pentagon who CNN has discovered has a long history of posting extreme and offensive statements on social media. Ali Gordon has been digging into all of this. You helped break this story. Tell us more about this advisor and what he said. Pam, Ryan Higgins may not be a household name, but my colleague Haley Britsky and I have learned that he is one of Hegs's senior advisors, and he works on faith issues at the Pentagon.

18:45Now, I reviewed hundreds of social media posts, Instagram streams, archived blog entries spanning years, including some pretty shocking examples from just the past few months. So to start, let's take a listen to what he said on this Instagram stream in 2021. They need to know that abortion is murder. They need to know that marriage is between a man and a woman and anything else is abominable. They need to know that transgender isn't something you choose, but it's actually a mental disorder. So that video is just one example, but I found many other examples of homophobia, like when he referred to, quote, the satanic cult of LGBTQ in March.

19:24He also posted derogatory comments about women, including a post questioning how many abortions former Vice President Kamala Harris might have had, citing her age and claiming that she has, quote, a long record of sleeping around. Now, since joining the Pentagon, he has continued to promote traditional gender roles for women, writing in May that quote, no career will ever give you the fulfillment you're looking for that can only be found from being a mother. And in August he called Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's decision to delay motherhood and freeze her eggs as a self-centered mindset.

20:00He also has extreme views on abortion even for a conservative Republican. Like let's look at this post from August where he said demonic human sacrifice packaged as women's health care would be like saying Nazi concentration camps were ethnic end-of-life care. Be wise and prudent. Don't fall victim to the ways of the devil, the prince of lies. And I know that's a lot of examples Pam, but the last one I wanted to cite for you is something that I know you have done extensive reporting about, which is Christian nationalism. That's a theme that I saw embedded throughout these posts on social media.

20:32For example, he said this is a Christian nation and that he also posted in June that the separation of church and state does not exist. And that's notable because he's supposed to be advising on faith and our service members have a wide array of faiths in our military. So how is the Pentagon responding to all of this? Yes, so in a statement the Pentagon told us quote, Mr. Higgins is a valued member of the Secretary's team and does an outstanding job serving as a senior advisor. He has been completely focused on the spiritual health of our troops and the historic establishment of the Office of Religious Affairs.

21:07And to see all of the examples that we found, including comments about Islam, you can check out our piece on CNN.com. All right, excellent reporting. Allie Gordon, thank you. We'll be right back.

21:19Observe. The North American Dad. 50s. Great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. As we count down to the midterm, CNN's Omar Jimenez is on a road trip through the Rust Belt, stopping in some of the most consequential swing states and districts, including Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Columbus, Toledo and parts of Michigan.

22:03He's talking to candidates, even trying local foods and giving us a real sense of life in the lead up to the election. So let's bring in Omar. He is in Gettysburg this morning. How's your road trip going? Lots of historical sites for you on this road trip, Omar. Yeah, it's going well. Yeah, not so not not everything is going to be politics and voters. Some of it is just, look, what makes some of these places unique as we're driving through Pennsylvania here. And we're on our way west towards the state capital of Pennsylvania. And we saw Gettysburg on the map. And, of course, we had to stop. It's where we've run into General Elysses S.

22:40Grant here, who's been giving us some perspective on the war. And Ed Guy, licensed battlefield historian, who's been showing us around Gettysburg itself. And one of the cool things, I've never been here before. But this field back here is where Confederate soldiers would have been coming in and marching toward where I'm standing right now. And you might not be able to see it. There's a tiny little break in the foliage of a statue. That is Robert E. Lee facing from where the Confederate soldiers would have been facing off with General Meade here, who would have been fighting Robert E. Lee, facing back towards him.

23:15And as the historians put it, Meade, they now face off for all of eternity. And so it's stuff like that. I mean, one, selfishly, I'm just trying to see some cool things as we go on this road trip. But also, we have been talking to voters. Yesterday, we were in the Swing District 7 of Pennsylvania, Allentown. And we spoke to this woman who had more than 10 yard signs against President Trump and the Republicans right next door to a woman who was supporting the opposite. And I just want you to listen to some of what she told me ahead of these midterms a week out now. A lot of people stop and give us a thumbs up.

23:50Some people stop and give us a different finger. And that's OK, because this is still a democracy. And I want everyone to know where I stand and where our country is heading. So thank you for stopping. Well, and I mean, some people just have one yard sign up. I mean, I've seen a few on the way down and you have I can't even count how many. Well, every week, every Monday when I wake up and I listen to NPR and I listen to whatever the next nonsense level is, it's like I get on Google and I order another sign because it's really we're at a critical moment in America's history. And I can't allow it to continue without doing anything.

24:31Sure. I couldn't help but notice when we drove past your street, your neighbor over there is the opposite feeling. Well, and isn't that what America is all about? We still communicate, barely, but no, we do. This is what we're about, and I respect their interests. They respect mine, and I'm just going to keep it out until we have some change in America.

24:59It's on the minds of a lot of folks, obviously, as we're driving through. I mentioned we're heading to Harrisburg. We'll then go west towards Pittsburgh, go into Ohio, then Columbus, up towards Michigan. So day two of the road trip. But so far, seen a wide range of things, Pamela, including stepping back into some history. I love that. And I love that neighbor you just interviewed saying she barely communicates with her with her neighbor of different political views. So funny. All right. Omar, really illuminating. Yeah, but they do just barely. All right, Omar, thank you so much. Great to have you on.

25:32Enjoy the rest of your road trip. And happening now, more than 31 million votes have already been cast in this year's midterm elections. That's well ahead of the early voting pace of the 2022 midterms. And while a new CNN analysis says the midterms may look good for Democrats, it's too early to call a blue wave. With us now in the Situation Room is CNN political commentator Karen Finney and former Trump administration official Matt Mowers. All right, Matt, 31 million votes have already been cast. And we don't know how they voted, right? We can't predict which candidates these votes are going for.

26:02But how optimistic or should I say pessimistic are Republicans right now? No, I mean, I think there's actually in the last week been some signs of progress for Republicans in certain key Senate states. You look at states like Iowa and Ohio, they've actually been moving slightly in the Republican direction at the Senate level. You know, but there's other races that are going to be a slog to the end. You look at Texas, you look at even Alaska, not really, you know, you're seeing some changing dynamics because of a recent surge of money in the last few weeks. But it's tough to tell with ranked choice voting that's coming into play.

26:31So, you know, if you're the Republican Party, you've got to go out there and you've got to do the work. I mean, look, that woman who was interviewed, the challenge for the Democratic Party is that she can't vote 10 times. She can only have 10 signs on her yard. I don't think she can vote 10 times. That's right. That's right. That's right. And they're fired up. But that's why you're seeing Donald Trump on the road. That's why you're seeing him try to turn out the base, because they've got to change the turnout dynamics. And that's what you're beginning to see. And you talk about the last minute money coming in.

26:56There's some thought, Karen, that Democrats are a little bit too little too late on pushing funding. and some of these southern states where you're seeing it become a tighter race. What do you think about that? Look, it's disappointing that donors haven't stepped up. I mean, many have, but sure. One of the reasons that it's so important, I work for Howard Dean. We talked about a 50-state strategy. Part of the reason I think it's important for Democrats to be willing to contest everywhere is that when you have an environment like this, you never know what's going to pop. Who expected Kansas to be and Mississippi and even Iowa to be places that we're looking at?

27:31So, yeah, I mean, the money absolutely matters. That being said, and I still will take it. I think our candidates would still take the money in this last week. However, part of our advantage is ground game. And one of the things our candidates, we have solid candidates who are doing a great job and have really focused on their ground game because they knew they would be outspent. I mean, there's crypto money, all this dark money going in, in addition to the money that, you know, Trump and others are spending. So at this point, it's about knocking on doors. It's about having those conversations.

28:01And as we've seen, turnout has been phenomenal. We've got to keep that on pace and make sure that our voters continue to turn out in strong numbers between now and Election Day and on Election Day. Can I just say one thing off of what Karen was saying about Ground Game, though? The reason you've had Democrat candidates have to build that themselves is because the Democratic National Committee has been MIA. I mean, they were like$5 million in debt up until a couple months ago, whereas the Republican National Committee had over$125 million on hand going into the fall. They're the entity that's funding this ground game traditionally.

28:32It's the party infrastructure. The Democrats had to recreate it elsewhere because the DNC has been so dilapidated, whereas you've had some strong leadership on the Republican side, well-funded. They've been investing now for almost two years since the last election in these key states. Well, actually, the DNC has been putting money into the states and actually in the southern states, particularly in the aftermath of the Calais decision, recognizing that we really need to rebuild there. And one of the things that's been gratifying is to see black voters turning out in record numbers, even infrequent black voters throughout the South turning out.

29:03And, you know, win or lose, that's going to make a difference going into 2028, particularly if we invest in keeping that infrastructure in place. Do you think some of the Democratic candidates are doing enough to win over black voters? Abdul El-Sayed, Tallarico in Texas. What do you think? Yeah, look, I always want them to do more because and I and I want them to be there early because, you know, one of the you know, we've been having this conversation since I was a baby Democrat, right? That like, you got to get there early and you can't just show up and make it feel late. The thing, one of the things though, I would say with Abdul in particular, he's got a really strong record from his time as Wayne County, as head of the health department.

29:39And so I'm pleased to see he's been having those conversations about what he has been able to do and delivered. Similarly with Tallarico, you know, they're trying to, again, make the conversation about going to churches, going to people where they are. But I'm never going to say that I don't want to see candidates doing more to win over black voters. It's critical. And I actually run a voter registration program called One Million Black Voters Rising with the goal of reminding America that the black vote is untapped at this point. And we are seeing DOJ make a number of moves, filing lawsuits. Now we're learning that they're going to send around 1 ,000 election monitors across all 50 states for the midterms.

30:18it off for context, that isn't unusual for DOJ to send out monitors. It's the scale of this that is unusual. It's significantly more people. What do you make of this move, Matt? Well, I was going to say, Omar's interviewing voters at a gravesite, so actually I'm okay with DOJ coming in and looking into that. However, put that aside. Look, this is pretty common. I mean, I know there's more monitors going out into the field now than there have been before, but the Biden administration, I think it was about 400 monitors out in the midterm elections four years ago. This is not uncommon. And I think both sides of the aisle, I mean, we do a lot of work with a program called the Democracy Defense Foundation, trying to build trust in our electoral processes across the board, across parties.

30:59There's a lot of distrust on both sides of the aisle. I mean, U.S. Democratic voters, do you think the 24 election was up and up? They'll say no. U.S. Republican voters, do you think the 2020 election was up and up? They'll say no. We need a lot to build trust. So if there's transparency through this process and it gives confidence to voters, I think that's a good thing. Really quickly, Carrie. Well, look, but I think we need to be clear. We know what this is. Donald Trump is trying to intimidate voters. We've seen this play. I lived it in 2016. We've seen it from him over and over again. I am very pleased, though, that on the Democratic Party side, the civil rights groups, the voting rights groups, the democracy, pro-democracy groups, we are aligned in a very strong coalition.

31:34Governors, secretaries of state, we are ready. We have been preparing for a very long time. 1866, our vote is a nonpartisan number. If people have any questions or any concerns, there are resources out there to make sure that if you run into any trouble, people have your back and we'll help you through it. Go check out Gettysburg. What's happening out there? I don't know about that. All right. Stand by because we have some breaking news we have to get to right now. We are learning that the FBI is searching a Beverly Hills mansion tied to former Congressman Eric Swalwell. The home is owned by a Swalwell donor where Swalwell briefly stayed recently.

32:07Let's go live now to CNN Crime and Justice correspondent Caitlin Polantz. What are you learning, Caitlin? Well, Pamela, the details are pretty scant, but we do know, in fact, that federal investigators, the FBI, they are going and investigating and searching a home owned by a Swalwell donor. This is in relation to a probe connected to former Representative Eric Swalwell. Now, this appears to be a federal probe. That would be the presence of the FBI agents there. And this is reporting that's coming from our own Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez. Now, step back a little bit. Representative Swalwell or former Representative Swalwell has had a number of investigations swirling around him, criminal investigations that included back in August, federal agents seizing his devices when he was at the airport in San Francisco and also searching his own home in Washington, D.C.

33:03This could potentially be part of something like that or some other federal investigation around Swalwell. There are other criminal investigations as well. The Manhattan D.A., the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, all related to accusations of sexual misconduct. The same accusations or some of the same accusations that prompted Swalwell to leave Congress previously in recent months under a cloud of accusations. of sexual misconduct. This investigation, we are still trying to find out exactly what its shape might be, what it may be about, but it does appear to be in connection to former Representative Eric Swalwell.

33:48And this is a search by the FBI of a home owned by a donor to him. Pamela? All right. Thanks so much, Caitlin. I want to bring in CNN, Senior Investigative Reporter, Alison Gordon, you were part of this reporting team that broke this story about misconduct allegations against Swalwell. He denies that, we should note. But this is interesting because after we released that reporting from several women who were accusing Swalwell of sexual misconduct, including sexual assault, he went to this home to stay for a brief period of time and now the FBI is searching it. Right. So we don't know the identity of the home quite yet.

34:26We do know that it was a donor for Mr. Swalwell. We should note that both you and I have reached out to Mr. Swalwell and his attorney, haven't heard back yet. Mr. Swalwell is facing charges both in New York and in California. And so we'll continue to see how this bears out as the day goes on. But this is a significant development in a case that you and I have been tracking from the very beginning. Yeah, we've spoken to several women. And I know from previous reporting we've done when they searched Swalwell at the airport in San Francisco, they searched his home in D.C., that the FBI and DOJ is investigating color of law, whether Swalwell took away the civil rights of some of these women, because the FBI doesn't typically investigate sexual assault cases.

35:06And so that is what we are told, I'm told, that they are looking at. So we'll hopefully learn more, but we're looking at these live pictures right now, or actually moments ago, of FBI agents there searching that home. Beverly Hills Mansion tied to former Rep. Eric Swalwell. Karen Finney, bringing you in, former Democrat right here. He was a leading contender in the California governor's race this year. He dropped out after our reporting, dropped out of Congress, and now this. Look, I think it was very important, and any man, and I say this to the men who are running for office, because we don't tend to see this from women, you're going to get found out.

35:43And if it is the case that you are guilty and you have engaged in this kind of behavior, you should not be running for office, you should not be holding office, you should be held accountable. And so I was pleased to see when the reporting came out, he did drop out. And my party, I think, stepped up to say very quickly, this is not okay. This is not appropriate. You can claim your innocence, but you better go prove it. And you can't prove it while you're running for office. And I just think that's an important standard across the board. I recognize Donald Trump has set a different standard, but across the board, There should be no room for people who, if you are guilty of sexual assault, no room.

36:23What do you think, Matt? Look, I think this could actually have some implications on the 2028 race. If you're a Democrat, primarily a Democrat, where you have a wide open field looking to run in 2028, if you had a relationship with Eric Swalwell, if you knew Eric Swalwell, if you're hanging out and partying with Eric Swalwell, even if you weren't, maybe you've got some other speculation around other types of activity you've been involved in, you're going to think long and hard before you expose yourself and your family to the type of criticism of running for president. It's always been true, but I think this makes it even more clear.

36:49Yeah, I don't see that necessarily. I mean, it's very different than like the Epstein files where we know there are still plenty of men in this country, likely who are maybe in those files and we don't know their identities because the Trump administration won't give us the full files. But look, I think it does set a standard and I'm glad to see culturally, we are recognizing the importance of believing women. look at what just happened with the Cornell situation. Look at what has happened with Graham Plattner, that we believe women that things are investigated. If you have your right to prove yourself innocent, if that is the case, but these cases should be investigated to the fullest extent.

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38:35All right, we're covering this breaking news right here out of LA. We're seeing FBI agents search a home of a donor connected to Eric Swalwell. Right now we're seeing an overview right now, but hopefully we're zooming in. We can look at those agents. This is all connected according to the limited information we know of this sprawling investigation by DOJ into Representative Eric Swalwell. Ever since our reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle that several women accused him of sexual misconduct, including sexual assault. Now he has denied those claims but this search is clearly more evidence that the FBI is very much moving forward with this investigation and it comes after Eric Swalwell was searched at the San Francisco airport not long ago and had his home searched in Washington DC.

39:21So I'm going to go back to our panel to discuss this really big development. We're just days away from the midterms here and everything ties back to politics here and you have to think as we take a step back and look at this big development. I mean, Eric Swalwell was a rising star in the Democratic Party this year. Yes, earlier this year. Earlier this year. Yeah, the timing, now that I've given all my disclaimers about how much I discussed I have for the behaviors, look, the timing is not insignificant. We're a week away from the election. It's Eric Swalwell. We saw them go after last week, Democrat in Virginia, the head of the state legislature, I believe.

40:03And, you know, it was odd to have Todd Blanche in Virginia for this press conference. So, again, I go back to, we know what this is. Two things can be true at once. Yes, it is appropriate to fully investigate whatever was going on with Eric Swalwell. However, the timing, I even said when it first popped, I thought, well, the timing seems odd. But it doesn't if you consider the kind of games that we can expect from Donald Trump. I mean, think about it was only a few weeks before that first California gubernatorial primary when all of this started coming to the surface. And if there's been any validation of why you run campaigns till the very end, it's that.

40:40Think about it. I mean, had everyone just given up, said, well, he's leading the polls, whatever. He'd be the Democrat nominee for governor right now in a Democrat state and likely a Democrat year. That guy would become governor with all these skeletons. I mean, he did drop out, but he really didn't have a choice either. Right. Correct. I mean, the party leadership made it very clear, and I suspect his donors and supporters made it very clear that it was going to be untenable for him, and I can imagine his family, that it was just untenable to try to continue in the race. But you're exactly right.

41:12I mean, think about it. You know, there was such a divide between there was sort of Eric Swalwell and then sort of the everybody else who was running. And now the dynamics have changed dramatically in terms of the California gubernatorial race. We saw something similar in Wisconsin where things changed very quickly at the very end. And we learned after our reporting, there were five members of Congress that were under investigation by the ethics committee for misconduct. Either they resigned or weren't reelected. You do have one member, a Democratic member in California, who the Ethics Committee is investigating for sexual misconduct.

41:47He has denied those claims. But, I mean, that is significant. Absolutely. Look, these claims need to be investigated. Members of Congress need to know that they will be investigated and that there will be consequences. I don't care what party you're in, frankly. I think it's important that there is accountability. That's what an election is. Elections are about accountability, holding our leaders accountable for what they say they're going to do. This kind of a process, absolutely, should be investigated. What do you say to critics, like Karen? They said there's a double standard among Democrats versus Republicans.

42:21And the allegations that you've heard on the Republican side of things against Donald Trump and others versus Democrats like Eric Swalwell. Well, look, you had Tony Gonzalez, Republican member from Texas who also resigned around the same time. actually I believe in the same day give or take as Eric Swalwell and so I think there's the difference I mean there's a reason why you have investigations there's a reason why you actually have to have the details and the facts looked at and that's because you know everyone deserves their day in court and everyone deserves have the full truth out there I mean look we should believe all women but we should also ensure that all sides are told because you know that's an important piece of our judicial process here and I do think sometimes we jump to conclusions politically before you let the facts bear out the facts are there we've seen people be held accountable now and that's a good thing.

43:05Yeah well Trump was found guilty and Republican voters didn't quite. He was found guilty sexually liable. Yes that's what I didn't mean. Yeah E.G. Carroll case. Yes the E.G. Carroll case. Which was a civil suit not a criminal just to be clear. In a civil suit absolutely I mean there are other allegations obviously that are out there but look I think what's important is that we acknowledge this kind of conduct is not appropriate in our leaders, period, full stop. And I would hope that's something the whole country can agree on. One thing that's just fascinating to me is, like, go inside the mind of Eric Swalwell.

43:41You know this is your history. You know this is at some point probably going to come out. Yeah, you stayed in Congress for as long as you did. You ran for governor. Heck, that came after you ran for president. I mean, it kind of gives you a little bit of an insight to the psychology of some of these folks who are looking to run for higher office. And I know we're just talking about before, but I think it doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on, you're going to start looking if you're looking to run for president you're going to think a lot more harder about whether you should jump into it if you believe that you've got this type of past.

44:06I mean I've joked sort of 50-50 joking I want them all to have to do a lie detector test before I'm going to give them any money or any of my support. I would argue some of these people are so inside their own head and willing to say certain things they'll actually pass the lie detector test but you know. That's all right. I won't speculate too far on that. All right we'll leave it there on the lie detector test. Matt, Karen thank you so much. Thanks. And here's what's Coming up all new at the top of the hour, former FBI Director James Comey charged a third time by the Justice Department. We're going to discuss with former Attorney General Eric Holder.

44:34He joins us. That's all new next hour.

44:42Observe. The North American dad. 50s. Great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. Happening out, breaking news. The FBI searches a California home connected to former Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell. We're going to get reaction from former Attorney General Eric Holder. And we'll also ask him about the Justice Department's latest effort to prosecute former FBI director and prominent Trump critic James Comey.

45:32Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is on assignment and you're in the Situation Room.

45:45This is CNN Breaking News. All right, let's get to that breaking news. we're learning that the FBI is searching at Beverly Hills mansion tied to former Congressman Eric Swalwell. The home is owned by a Swalwell donor. The Democrat resigned from Congress and dropped his bid for governor in April after CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle detailed allegations of sexual misconduct. He denies those allegations. CNN has reached out to the FBI and a lawyer for Swalwell for comment. I've also reached out to Congressman Swalwell. No response back. But in April, federal agencies and electronic devices from Swalwell, actually earlier this year I want to say, at the San Francisco airport, not in April, it was a little bit, just about a month or two ago, and then raided his home in Washington the next day.

46:26He's facing criminal investigations by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. Joining us now is Eric Holder. He was the Attorney General under President Obama. So thanks for coming on. I just want to start with your reaction to this FBI search underway, the home of a donor to former Congressman Eric Swalwell, who resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct. Well, it's kind of hard to say exactly what's going on. There is that ongoing investigation, and I can see how this would be a legitimate investigative step. But, you know, the Justice Department, the Trump Justice Department is paying a price here because of the way in which they have done other investigations by bringing matters right before an election.

47:08That is something that I think creeps into people's minds about whether or not the timing here is somehow politically related. If this were Bill Barr's Justice Department, if this was Jeff Sessions' Justice Department, if this were my Justice Department, I don't think people would be asking those same questions. But again, this could be a legitimate step. Why they're doing it now, though, is a question that this Justice Department, unfortunately, as a result of the actions that they've taken, is going to have to answer. But just to be clear, if you were overseeing an investigation of a Democratic congressman as an attorney general, would you be OK with this kind of action just before the election if it was a legitimate investigation?

47:50No, if there's a legitimate reason to do it, if you were concerned about the destruction of evidence, concerned about some negative impact, the case that a delay might have on the case that you were bringing, sure, you would do something akin to what it is that they're doing now. And people would not question why my Justice Department was doing this. And again, as I said, Republican attorneys general would not be questioned on that as well. But this Justice Department, because of what it has done in other matters that are inconsistent with the traditions, the norms of the Justice Department, has to face that question.

48:28I'm not in any way condoning that which Mr. Swalwell is charged with. I'm just talking about the process that is being used by the Trump Justice Department. And no doubt factoring into your equation here is what's going on with former FBI Director James Comey, who is facing these new charges from the Justice Department. He's accused of mishandling classified information that leaked to a reporter over a decade ago, and it is the third time he's been targeted by the Trump administration. Here's how the former FBI director responded on social media. Well, they're back again. It would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to.

49:11Nothing's changed with me. I'm still innocent. What is your reaction to these new charges? Well, again, a process question immediately comes to mind. The Fifth Amendment gives any American who is charged with a felony the right to have that considered by a grand jury, as opposed to what happened here. where prosecutors simply filed what's called a criminal information. That means a grand jury did not consider these charges. This is highly unusual. In my years as a line prosecutor at the Justice Department, I never used that process. I think they're concerned about the fact that you're talking about incidents that happened, allegedly happened, over 10 years ago, and they're concerned about the statute of limitations.

49:55At some point, what they have done is going to have to go before a grand jury to make sure that they're doing something consistent with Mr. Comey's constitutional rights. But again, again, it comes down to process and why now and why use this process. We have to understand this Justice Department is an arm of the political component of the White House. And Todd Blanche is not your typical attorney general. This is not your typical United States Department of Justice. They are operating as part of the reelection effort of the Trump White House and trying to have an impact on on the midterms that they are almost surely going to lose and lose badly.

50:42Are you talking about these lawsuits that it's filing and that kind of thing? I'm sorry, say again. Are you talking about when you say it's operating as an arm of the Trump White House for the election? Are you talking about some of the steps it is taking now in terms of the lawsuits? We saw what's happening in California as well as Alaska and now potentially Washington state. Yeah, I mean, you know, the Alaska suit, let's look at that one. I mean, that is just specious. There is absolutely no basis for that lawsuit. In fact, if I were an attorney and had my name on that pleading, I would be concerned about bar actions being taken against me at some point.

51:23The request for California to look at its voting rolls is consistent with what they did in Nevada when they said they had 17 ,000, 19 ,000 people who were ineligible to vote. Once a further examination was done, that number was reduced to zero. I suspect that's what's going to happen in California as well. But they're just throwing all of this stuff out there. in an attempt to discourage people from believing in the system and trying to discourage people from coming out and registering to vote and then actually voting themselves. Again, this is not the way in which a United States Department of Justice conducts itself.

52:00Any of these things that they're doing could have easily been done after the election, consistent with the way in which the Justice Department normally operates. I wonder what you think about Todd Blancy, the current attorney general, really saying outright that he works for the president, that DOJ is part of the executive branch and that he works for President Trump. That is who he answers to. Well, I'd say, first off, duh. I mean, that's pretty obvious. Yeah, he operates in a way that he thinks of himself and continues to think of himself as the president's lawyer. As I've said on a number of occasions, when I was up for consideration, up for confirmation to become attorney general of the United States, Patrick Leahy, who was then the head of the Judiciary Committee, told me, you know what, you're going to be the attorney general of the United States.

52:52You're not going to be the secretary of justice. You're a different person than other cabinet members. Your responsibility is to the American people. And every attorney general, I think, certainly post-Watergate, except for this one, has conducted himself or herself in that way. Well, Pam Bondi, I'm not sure about her either. But other than the Trump attorneys general, I think AGs have conducted themselves in this way. And the fact that he would simply come out and say that is really appalling. It's really appalling and hard to imagine that an attorney general would say, well, I don't represent the American people.

53:29I work for Donald Trump. That's a very dangerous thing, given the powers that the Justice Department has with regard to taking liberty from people, taking property from people, and having an impact on the electoral system. And let's go back to just talking about the midterms, the electoral system, and what we expect. So DOJ is taking a number of steps. And we're also learning that it's expected to send around 1 ,000 election monitors out across the country on election day. Now, DOJ sending out election monitors, that's not new. You did it as well when you were attorney general, but 1 ,000 is different in terms of scope and scale.

54:05What do you think about that? Well, again, you know, they don't come into this with, as we say in the law, clean hands. Yeah, attorneys general have always sent out election monitors, usually to those places we are concerned that people's rights might be impacted in a negative way by what local officials are trying to do. A thousand is a substantial number. But when you think about the fact that we have, you know, 330 million people in this country, probably 150 million who will be voting, a thousand is not a very substantial number. But again, it's designed to instill fear in people, concern in people, and especially in certain communities to discourage people from participating in the process.

54:48I mean, one of the distinctive things I think we see between the Republican and Democratic parties right now is Democrats want as many people to vote as is possible. Republicans want to have as few people to vote as is possible and to select the people who will actually be participating. And the Justice Department is complicit in that effort. I want to ask you about something else that's gained a lot of attention right now. We had the Maryland Governor Wes Moran yesterday, who is, along with former President Obama, urging Maryland voters to back a constitutional amendment that would change the rules for drawing the state's congressional districts.

55:23Let's listen. We will not disarm unilaterally, not while Donald Trump is attacking our democracy the way that he is. How do you think this redistricting fight will impact the midterms? Well, I think that we're going to watch people who are going to come out and vote yes for question three, because I think they understand how significant and severe this assault is right now. So you've called for a national ban on partisan gerrymandering and mid-decade redistricting, but you've also said Democrats shouldn't stand by while Republican-led states pass new maps. So can you have it both ways? Well, what I've said is that given the moment in which we find ourselves, Republicans are attacking our system.

56:06And so what are Democrats supposed to do nothing while they actually destroy the system. And so what I've said is that we have to take necessary steps on a temporary basis, save our democracy, and then ultimately heal it. And I think what the governor is talking about in Maryland, something that I support and what I also supported, I also supported what Governor Newsom did in California, again, on a temporary basis, is to respond to that which Republicans have started. When Donald Trump said, I want five extra seats in Texas, the question was, what are Democrats going to do in response? I think a lot of people expected us to clutch our pearls, to write op-eds, come on, talk to you on television.

56:47But what we decided to do, and I'm head of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, what we decided to do was to fight back and to take these necessary temporary steps. And so we fought back by filing lawsuits in Utah and Missouri won those. We had the steps that were taken in California. And then we also got people in the grassroots. We got the people of the United States to say, especially in places like Georgia and South Carolina, we don't want this to happen. And that pressure from the people precluded Republicans in those two state legislatures from further gerrymandering their already gerrymandered maps.

57:26So what Governor Moore is talking about, what President Obama supports, what I support in Maryland, as I said, is a temporary measure to respond to that which the Republicans have done. And then if there is a Democratic trifecta to actually pass a ban on mid-cycle redistricting, pass a ban on partisan and racial gerrymandering. So I'm still for fairness, but I'm also a realist. Okay. Before we let you go, I want to turn to artificial intelligence. Anthropic just released 90 pages of risk factors, including this warning that AI could pose, quote, catastrophic or existential risks to humanity as it prepares to go public.

58:10Now, you know, companies do this. They release, you know, risk factors, but 90 pages, that seems like a lot. What role do you think the government should play to mitigate those risks? Well, I think the government has to play a role in this. We simply can't have these new potentially civilization-shaping processes roll out without the government having some regulatory role in this. The notion, the Trump notion that we'll simply let these companies do the right thing because we trust them, given the stakes, is simply an inappropriate way to go. this is new technology that, if used properly, can be of great help to many societies, make the lives of many people better.

58:58But there are a lot of risks, as is detailed in that, I guess you said, 90 pages or so. And given the nature of the risks, the breadth of the risks, some kind of government intervention, some kind of government regulation is appropriate. I mean, let's look at what happened in social media, where we trusted people who run social media companies to kind of do it on their own. And we've seen the negative impacts that's had on our society. When you talk about artificial intelligence, you're doing something that is far more powerful than social media. And so making sure that it is rolled out appropriately, that there are appropriate guardrails, I think means that having the government play a part, having hearings in Congress, having statutes considered, having regulations put in place, all that is just a reasonable way of dealing with this new technology.

59:50All right, former Attorney General Eric Holder, I appreciate your time today. Thank you. Thank you. Still ahead here in the Situation Room, Midwest Money Moves, why a top Republican super PAC is spending millions to help a Kansas senator keep his seat and keep a long GOP streak alive. And we're live in South Carolina where Democrats hope for a historic flip. We've got a lot to share ahead in the Situation Room.

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1:00:56Mail and ship when you want, how you want with Stamps.com. Print postage on demand 24-7 and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90 % with automated rate shopping. That's why over 1 million small businesses trust stamps.com. Go to stamps.com and use code podcast to try stamps.com risk-free for 60 days. All right, just one week until election day and Republicans are crisscrossing the country to salvage seats they never expected to defend. Last night, Vice President J.D. Vance was in Kansas rallying for Senator Roger Marshall. Top forecasters project that his traditionally deep red seat could be in play for Democrats.

1:01:36Here is Vance's pitch to voters. We have a free and open debate. The American people will realize that all the Democrats are selling is a fat load of bulls**t. The truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that America is being built back better than ever before. All right, Kansas was not even on the radar for either party heading into this midterm cycle. A Democrat hasn't won a Senate seat there in nearly a century. But a brutal political environment for Republicans has given Democrat Adam Hamilton massive momentum, and it has some in the GOP scrambling. New federal election commission filings reveal a top Republican super PAC just dumped$700 ,000 into Kansas to help Marshall.

1:02:20Joining us now is the chairwoman of the Kansas Republican Party, Denidri Herbert. Thank you so much for coming on. So early voting data shows fewer registered Kansas Republicans have cast ballots compared to this point in 2022 and 2024. Are you concerned at all that this Senate seat could slip away? No, I'm not. We've seen this. We've seen this movie before. In fact, this is the not the sequel, but the next version. This is number three in 2010. No, 2014. It looked like then Senator Pat Roberts was on the ropes against a so-called independent. Roberts ended up winning by 11 points. Then in 2020, this same seat, Senator Marshall was running against a state senator Democrat.

1:03:03It looked like Marshall was on the ropes. He ended up winning by 11 points. We've seen this film before. We know exactly how it ends. It ends with the Republican holding the office. That's just the tradition. So, yeah, no, I'm not concerned. Well, J.D. Vance just made a second trip to Kansas in two weeks. You, you know, you were there. If you're not concerned about voter enthusiasm, why does the vice president need to keep coming back to stump for an incumbent? Look, I think it's really important that we I will admit I think there has been a little bit of an enthusiasm gap. But I think that gap has peaked.

1:03:38If you look at our early voting numbers, the Democrats have been outvoting 2022 numbers. But so have the Republicans. And obviously the Democrats have done that at a larger percentage. but they have far fewer voters. There's about 500 ,000 Democrats compared to about 900 ,000 Democrats in Kansas. Their higher propensity voters are the ones who are running to the polls or were running to the polls that first week of early voting, and they're cannibalizing their election day. We just have so many more voters to reach, so many more opportunities to get our vote out, and Republicans are going to come home.

1:04:13And you mentioned that there has been a bit of an enthusiasm gap. You say it's peaked. What do you think is behind that? I think it's just the normal cycle of an election. Kansas hasn't had this much intensity or focus in several, in a handful of years. The last time the president was here was 2018. I think the vice president at the time, Pence, was here in 2018. It's been about eight years since we've had some of the very higher axelons of the Republican Party come to Kansas. But I don't think that's because there is concern, but the enthusiasm gap was always going to close. It's closing a little slower than we normally anticipate, but Republicans vote on Election Day.

1:04:53We know this. And so I anticipate they will be there on November 3rd, casting their ballots for Roger Marshall, Tyne Asterson, Chris Kobach, Stephen Johnson, Tracy Mann, Derek Smith. They're going to be there voting for our Republican ticket and they're going to carry us home. They just, they always show up. That's who they are. And you say that there have been tight races before or races where you thought maybe a Democrat could pull it off for a Senate seat. That didn't happen. But something that's also different this time is just the amount of money that is being poured in. I mean, we're talking about that super PAC that just put in, what,$700 ,000 for Marshall.

1:05:28Spending has really exploded in the Senate race altogether. According to Ad Impact, there's been$65.7 million in ad spending and future ad reservations just in the month of October. I want to look at one of the ads hitting local screens right now. There's a bright line that divides our politics. And you're either on the right side of it, working for the release of the Epstein files, or you're on the wrong side with Roger Marshall. Marshall voted against releasing the Epstein files. Sex abuse at a fall church camp. A child predator working for Adam Hamilton's megachurch. What did Hamilton do when victims reported him to church leaders?

1:06:07Parents were ignored. Are you worried that this barrage of negative ads in your state is driving voters away or even changing minds? No, I'm not worried at all. It's so saturated here in a way I've never seen. If you're watching television in any of our major metropolitan, well, all of our DMAs, you are seeing back to back to back to back political ads. And they're basically making the same accusation at each other. And I think at some point the voters just tune those out. that they already know what they think in their gut. This may give them a little bit of confidence that what they think is correct to begin with, but I don't think it keeps voters home.

1:06:49I'm not even sure it turns voters out other than it reminds them that there is an election coming up. I don't think these messages are landing anymore just because we are so saturated. You can watch the same ad three times in a row watching some TV or over-the-top streaming like same exact ad three times in a row. Are people just sick of it? We just thought, what are people just sick of it? It seems like the sentiment I hear from folks is like, they're just over it. Yeah, they are over it. I'll tell you what, I love it. This is my only time of the year where I like to watch the TV ads, but yeah, people are sick of it.

1:07:23They're looking forward to when we have insurance commercials and prescription drug commercials back on the air for sure. All right, Deidre Herbert, great to have you on. Thank you. Hey, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Up next here in the Situation Room, South Carolina showdown. Republicans send in the heavy hitters, including President Trump, for Senator Darlene Graham as GOP anxiety over her race grows.

1:07:54Well, several prominent Republicans, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, have hit the campaign trail in South Carolina, that's stumping for Senator Darlene Graham and a surprisingly competitive matchup. Their goal is to nationalize the race and convince GOP voters to put aside any reservations about Graham for the good of their majority. But that strategy would also tie Graham to the war with Iran, and she was asked about that yesterday. Senator Graham, Senator Graham, can you think it's worth it for your constituents to pay higher prices for the war in Iran? Senator Graham, can you answer some questions?

1:08:27Senator Graham?

1:08:31Well, you saw there are Manu Raju in Myrtle Beach. He is our chief congressional correspondent. So, Manu, the Senate race is surprisingly competitive. Explain the Republican strategy and stopping for Graham here and how concerned they are. It's serious concerns because the polls are showing a very tight race against Democrat Annie Andrews as Democrats spend millions on the airwaves, seeing a potential opening in this very red state that President Trump won three times, Which is why Trump is coming back here for a second time in his many weeks, in the final days of the campaign, to remind Republican voters to come home and put aside reservations about Graham.

1:09:08Remember, Graham had a flub in her primary debate against Congressman Ralph Norman, in which she was asked then about national security. She said national security is, quote, not my thing, and that she needs to get better informed on that issue. And that led to concerns about whether she's qualified or whether she should actually have this job for the United States Senate for the next six years and take the position that her late brother held for so many years in the United States Senate. I asked her about that debate comment and whether or not it is hurting her campaign. But your comment in the debate that national security is not your thing, how much did that hurt you in this race?

1:09:44I don't think it hurt me at all. I'm becoming very informed on national security. I never said it wasn't important. It's extremely important. But what's important to South Carolinians is affordability, the price of gas, putting food on the table. Every time I go to one of these events, they're not talking about that. They're talking about affordability. So that's what's on my mind. That's what's important to the people in South Carolina. But Democrats still very much view this race as a reach of source. If they believe they can actually flip this state, it would probably mean a wave election come next week.

1:10:18And Republicans think that the governor's race that is happening here in South Carolina could be enough to drag Darlene Graham over the finish line if the gubernatorial candidate wins with long enough coattails could help Darlene Graham at the end of the day. But nevertheless, still some serious concern as polls show this race very close, Pamela. All right, Monty Raju, thanks so much. We appreciate it. And just ahead, 30 million ballots and counting what early voting could tell us about party momentum with just a week until America decides who controls Congress.

1:10:53All right, President Trump is now speaking at JBA on his way to Texas. Let's listen. A load of a million barrels of oil, and I'm giving that to the United States of America. And Rubio is going to be with you? I think so, yes. Corpus? Corpus? I believe. I believe. We're going to do it. I think it's the third stop basically. But we're going to accept a million barrels of oil, and I'm going to give it to you people to use it the way you want. And we're going to have oil prices are going to be dropping very sharply very soon. Thank you. The Pressure President, if you do not prevail in this election, despite having worked as hard as you have, how do you intend to work with Democrats if they have control of the House or the Senate?

1:11:35We'll figure a way. Look, I have a strong veto. I hope that that won't be the case. But if it is, that's happened before with many presidents. You have strong veto and you end up working our deals. And you'll respect the results, whatever happens? I will, if they're honest elections, yeah. Earlier this month you said you were worried about Texas. Are you still worried about this Senate race? I think he's going to do very well. You never know. It's politics, but you never know. But I think he's going to do very well. James Calarico is holding an event tonight in Lubbock, the same time as you're going to be there tonight.

1:12:05What do you make of that? The President is swamped because we have thousands and thousands of people. You know, they've been lined up for three days. You've seen the crowds. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. So this is like it was for the regular election. You know, a midterm is usually not that exciting. This has become very exciting. And the crowds are incredible. Last night in Mississippi, we had 20 ,000 people waiting outside that couldn't get in. The place was incredible. Thank you very much, everybody. All right. So you just heard President Trump there touting the momentum, he believes, going into the midterms for Republicans.

1:12:43He's on his way to Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas, to campaign for Ken Paxton. We should note he's been to Texas many times leading up to the midterms because this is shaping up to be a close race there for the Texas Senate seat between Ken Paxton and James Tallarico. And as we've been noting, we are one week away from Election Day and voters are showing up in a really big way to cast their ballots early. More than 32 million votes are in, pacing several days ahead of what we saw during the 2022 midterms. And a record$11.21 billion is fueling the relentless cycle of political ads, surpassing the bar set during the 2024 election.

1:13:22So let's check in with our Tom Foreman and what we're calling our Situation Room Battleground Dashboard. dashboard, Tom, you're at the hot spot right now. Where are we seeing some of the biggest voter turnout right now? Well, not where President Trump says they are. Look, we've got about 32 million out there right now that have come in in pre-election ballots cast. We're probably going to wind up around 120 million total, maybe. Could be a lot more, could be a lot less, but that's one estimate that's out there. And look at what's happening in places like North Carolina here. You know who's showing up?

1:13:51The Democrats are showing up. Their numbers up from 22 to 24, 26, 41 percent. Over here on the Republican side, it is down. Let's go to Kansas, another hot race out there. Same effect. Low, low, low. Higher, high, high, lower. Maine, where Susan Collins is in that big fight up there for her seat. Look at that. 50 percent turnout so far on the pre-ballots cast on the Democratic side. Only 21 percent here. 26 percent. That's pretty robust middle ground. Iowa, 51 % to 32%. Again, same pattern. Up, although matched up here, and down over here. Alaska is a little bit of an outlier because you have these really big, beefy parts in the middle here that are neither Democrat nor Republican.

1:14:34Don't know exactly where they wind up or what that tells us. But then Ohio as well, you see. Less of an edge and a big, fat middle here of people who could go either way. But overall, what we have seen over and over again is, again, the opposite of what the president described. The momentum, the enthusiasm has relentlessly for weeks now been on the Democratic side, Pam, with Republicans like the operative you spoke to earlier, hoping that Republicans come back into the game by Election Day. So do we know about who is voting early? We have some ideas. There are many states where it's not by party.

1:15:10So where it's not by party it's much harder to know where the you know exactly how they're voting but you can tell a little bit by where they come from how those areas vote for example look at the Latino vote here the share versus 2026 right now versus 2022 and you can see North Carolina up by 1.2 points Kansas we mentioned earlier up by 1.4 points then you have places like Texas look at it down there up by almost five points so we know that that group is is up a little BIT WE KNOW FROM RESEARCH BY PEW THAT VOTING FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE 30 AND UNDER IS UP SUBSTANTIALLY. THE ONE GROUP RIGHT NOW WHERE THE REPUBLICANS SEEM TO BE DOING STRONGEST IS ROUGHLY 50 TO 65 YEARS OLD IN VOTERS.

1:15:55ABOVE THAT, OLDER VOTERS WHO TEND TO VOTE RELIABILLY REPUBLICAN IN TERMS OF PRE VOTES, PRE-ELECTION VOTES HERE, THAT SEEMS ABOUT EVENLY SPLIT RIGHT NOW. SO THERE'S REASON FOR the Republicans to be concerned about what's going on out there. And there's reason for the Democrats to be hopeful. But, but, but there are still days and we don't know who's going to show up on Election Day. And if the Democrats are burning everything out early and then they're not there on Election Day, or if it just goes right through the finish line and they have a big, strong finish. Pam. All right, Tom Foreman, thank you so much.

1:16:29We'll see. Well, coming up, legal logjams. The Trump administration is getting pushed back as it looks for more control over how states handle elections.

1:16:44Welcome back here are some of the top stories we're following. Russian attacks hit Ukraine's capital overnight killing at least one person and injuring more than a dozen others. This video right here captures people running for cover and ducking as airstrikes slammed the streets of Kyiv. Meanwhile a ceasefire that first lady Melania Trump brokered is now in effect for a captured city in eastern Ukraine. It's meant to help elderly residents safely get out and let humanitarian aid get in. The city has been occupied since Russia first invaded in 2022. And German officials are investigating a cruise ship captain after the boat collided with two container ships.

1:17:22The luxury ship was leaving a German port when it encountered high winds and scraped the other vessels. Several The lifeboats were destroyed and the cruise was canceled. Well, new this morning with just seven days until the midterms, legal battles are already being waged in courtrooms. Yesterday, a federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration's bid to block 20 ,000 ballots that the Justice Department claimed were non-citizens. Here now is Professor Derek Muller from Notre Dame Law School. Professor, thanks for coming on. So listen to what California's attorney general told CNN about this effort to block ballots in California.

1:17:57And they are preparing for a blue wave and shellacking in the midterms, and they're planning their post-election loss excuses by planting seeds across the country to sow distrust. It is wrong, it's undemocratic, it's un-American, but unfortunately it's what this president has done time and time again. What do you think? Do you agree?

1:18:17Well, certainly litigation has a very public-facing component, and I think you just saw the president and suggest otherwise he's really looking for a fair election defined by his terms and suggesting there's lots of non-citizens voting in these elections. And so far, there's been precious little evidence of that. Isolated instances here and there, but American people will vote. There'll be over 100 million ballots cast, and I think the people have spoken at the end of the day in November. How could this be used, though, from a legal perspective after the election if, say, it doesn't go the administration's way?

1:18:52Right. I mean, there are narrow and technical situations where you can contest the results of an election. After an election, states have processes to file a contest saying the result is fundamentally unfair. But you really need substantial evidence of wrongdoing. Again, if you were to show that there were hundreds of ballots that were cast by fraud with specific evidence of unlawful noncitizens who are casting those ballots, You might be able to succeed if it's an extremely close margin. But so far, the evidence presented by the administration, you know, a lot of it has had a lot of mistakes in terms of the voter registration matches.

1:19:29So far, there's lacking that kind of evidence in many elections. The margin is so wide that a handful of sporadic episodes of unlawful voters or fraud will not be enough to overturn the results of an election. So, again, wait and see how close it is and then wait and see what kind of proof you have. And so far, really not a lot of proof. Alaska officials are accusing the DOJ of trying to cast doubt on Senate races and court filings after the Justice Department sued election officials in the state to block the results. If Republicans enter Dan S. Sullivan loses because there is another Dan J. Sullivan Jr.

1:20:01on the ballot, the vice president just spoke about this moments ago. Let's listen. I mean, look, a lot of Alaskans are going to go and look at the ballot and realize exactly what you said, that this is all a big fraud. But people are busy. People have lives. People have jobs. And when you put a person on the ballot explicitly to try to confuse voters, I think that's the definition of electoral fraud. And I don't think that we should endorse it. So he thinks that many Alaskans will not fall for two Dan Sullivans. And I wonder what you think about what he said and whether it undercuts this argument by the attorney general that this lawsuit is to ensure Alaskan voters wouldn't be confused or misled.

1:20:44Right. I mean, Alaska, again, it's unfortunate that you have a candidate, pretty marginal candidate with the same name who tried to get on the ballot. The Alaska Supreme Court said that was OK. But the division of elections here did a really admirable job distinguishing the two candidates, not just the middle initials, identifying the incumbent senator as a registered Republican, as the incumbent. In the primary election, we saw there wasn't a lot of voter confusion. So I think the hope is that the margin will be wide enough where there's not going to be any doubt about who the real winner in this election was.

1:21:13And ideally, again, at the end of the day, the voters will make that choice. The voters are busy, but we do the best we can to distinguish the candidates and hopefully their voices will be heard. And so far, courts are not interested in suggesting that the results of this election will be somehow otherwise tainted because of the risk of confusion for a handful of voters. I wonder what you think about this move by the Justice Department. It plans to send approximately 1 ,000 election monitors to all 50 states. Let's listen to what former Attorney General Eric Holder told me about this just moments ago.

1:21:45It's designed to instill fear in people, concern in people, and especially in certain communities to discourage people from participating in the process. Is that how you see it? Yeah, I would be cautious about saying that it's designed to instill fear. The Department of Justice for 60 years has been sending election observers to sites throughout the country. The Biden administration did it. The Trump administration has already done it in California and Massachusetts and Wyoming in primary elections so far this cycle. So it's sending a thousand people. That's going to sound like a big, scary number.

1:22:22But most of the time, those officials show up, they observe, they take some notes and they go home. So I think the key message for the public is to recognize it's a regular occurrence. There has been very little evidence of any kind of disruption when those officials show up. Go cast your ballot and don't be intimidated or fearful that there might be a Department of Justice official walking around taking notes near your precinct. All right. Before we go, officials in Washington state said they're carefully reviewing this request from DOJ. Over 400 voter records. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said, quote, We take our responsibility to protect voter information seriously and will only respond to requests that follow due process.

1:22:58We saw what happened in California, and we don't want Washingtonians to be harassed. So far, no district court has ruled in favor of the DOJ in these voter data lawsuits. What do you think? Do you expect that to change? And what do you think about this latest attempt there in Washington state? Yeah, I think we just saw a court in California say that the Department of Justice couldn't do this. And I think we're going to see the same thing here in Washington state. These are challenges brought very late in the day. Again, voting is already underway in many of these jurisdictions. Many ballots are being returned.

1:23:33And the evidence from the Department of Justice, there are ways of raising this with state officials months ago to say your voter registration lists are out of date and you should take a look at this and allow them the time to investigate it. Showing up the week before an election, saying these are people who are on your voter rolls and who might be casting ballots. Let's hold their ballots aside and maybe litigate them sometime in the future where there's going to be new challenges that arise. That's not how state law operates. There's no federal law that explicitly permits this kind of practice.

1:24:03And a reason why I think these legal challenges will continue to fail. All right, Derek, thank you so much for coming on the show. We appreciate your perspective. Thanks for having me. All right. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. You can keep up with us on social media at Wolf Blitzer and at Pamela Brown CNN. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning. and every weekday morning at 10 Eastern for two hours. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts after a quick break. Have a great rest of your day.

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