DOJ Sues in Alaska Senate Race, Trump: “I Said Do It”

0:02It would be a shocking admission if any other president made it. I'm Kaitlan Collins and this is The Source.

0:25So we're 11 days out from the midterm elections and President Trump is now acknowledging he directed the Justice Department to intervene in a critical Senate race. Early voting is already underway right now in Alaska. But before anybody knows who those Alaskans are voting for, and before all the votes are even counted, the Trump administration is preemptively suing to block the winner's certification. But only if the Republican candidate loses that Senate race. This call to involve the Justice Department in Alaska's race came directly from the Oval Office. I'm the one that said do it. They have two guys run named Dan Sullivan running.

1:07So the Democrats put up a guy never. I don't think he ever voted before. All of a sudden he decides to run for the Senate and his name is Dan Sullivan. One is Daniel S. One is Daniel J. The Daniel J is the fake. Now, there are two men named Dan Sullivan, as the president noted, they're running for Senate in Alaska. Senator Dan S Sullivan is President Trump's Republican pick. Dan J Sullivan is a former fifth grade teacher. The Justice Department is arguing this could confuse voters. That's despite the Alaska Supreme Court already ruling that both can be on the ticket, both Dan Sullivan's. And the state made a point to label Senator Sullivan, as you saw, both as a registered Republican and as the incumbent.

1:54Also, because Alaska has ranked choice voting, it's not an either or choice for voters here. They'll put in order the candidates that they believe would best represent them. But I'm told that the president has been personally obsessed with this saga and it has become a staple talking point during his rallies. I'm talking about the real Dan Sullivan, not the fake Dan Sullivan. Not the Dan Sullivan put up by the Democrats. No, we can't let that out. That's just cheating. They thought it was there because he's a popular guy. He's done a great job in Alaska. But they actually have two Dan Sullivans.

2:29So people walk in, they say, who the hell am I voting for? Sullivan v. Sullivan. Oh, I'd like to have them change that. They would have. Then they'd really be finished. They're doing very badly now, but they'd really be finished. Now, as you heard the president say, he has directly ordered the Justice Department to get involved here to try to block a state's election certification, something that comes just about 24 hours after we heard the attorney general say that their involvement would only happen if there was some kind of end of the world scenario. Is there any scenario in which DOJ would weigh in on that certification process or try to block states from certifying?

3:09Is there any scenario? Yes, of course, there's scenarios that we could all come up with hypothetically, you know, some doomsday scenario, for example. Right. So I don't think it's proper to to make any kind of conclusory statements about what's going to happen in the future, because I have no idea what's going to happen in the future. It is not DOJ's intention to and it's never our intention to improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process. We start tonight with my legal source, the executive director and founder of the nonpartisan nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research, David Becker.

3:45And it's great to have you back here, sir, because I think some people might look at this and say, is there any scenario or any situation that you can remember like this where the federal government was trying to block the certification of an election before it's even really happened? There is no scenario like this, Caitlin. And I know a lot of people are worried about federal interference, but in some ways I think this is revealing that the feds have just run out of tools and are just throwing everything at the wall because they've got nothing. I mean, this is what happens when you have an administration that has tried to nationalize elections, that has tried to bully the states who have the constitutional authority to run elections.

4:25And they've failed every time. executive orders have been blocked by the courts, including the Supreme Court. Investigations of past elections have found nothing. Lawsuits that they brought trying to seize sensitive voter data. The DOJ is literally 0-27 in those lawsuits, having lost the 27th today in Utah before a Trump-appointed judge. I think they're getting very desperate. And now they're relying upon a DOJ that's been hollowed out, that doesn't have the experienced litigators anymore. They're making really frivolous claims. There's a reason this has never happened before, and that's because the Constitution is very clear.

4:58The states get to set the time, place and manner of elections. They get to set the rules regarding certification. And this is a case in Alaska where the courts have ruled. The courts in Alaska, the state courts have ruled what is appropriate for Alaska's ballot. And they did that four months ago. So I think one of the big questions that the court is going to be asking the DOJ when they come in is, if you have a problem with this, even if you had an arguable claim, which you don't. What have you been doing for the last four months? That's a good point in terms of how long they waited to file this.

5:33I mean, as you just heard from the president, this has clearly been on his mind. I just think from a practical perspective, when you look at that ballot and it says Republican incumbent next to the Dan Sullivan that Trump wants to win. I mean, these are Alaskan voters who also were able to handle a write-in campaign that Lisa Murkowski mounted where she won. they successfully had to go in and spell her lengthy last name on the ballot. I mean, do you think that the ballot is clear enough in your view when you look at how it's laid out? Well, and the Alaskan voters have also navigated the change to ranked choice voting, as you mentioned earlier.

6:07I mean, they're obviously quite well prepared. But the most important thing is it really doesn't matter what I think about the ballot or what you think about the ballot or what President Trump thinks about the ballot. This is under Alaska law. And the highest court in Alaska, the Alaska Supreme Court, has ruled. They've decided. They've looked at all of the aspects of Alaska law. I'm a lawyer, but I'm not an Alaska bar lawyer. So I don't know what Alaska law is, as well as the Alaska Supreme Court. And the Constitution is very clear on who gets the final say about these issues. And that is the state of Alaska.

6:40And under Alaska state law, the Alaska Supreme Court gets the final say. They had that final say by the end of June of this year. And in the meantime, the DOJ did nothing. The candidates litigated this out. This was completely ruled on by the courts. And then they waited even additional period of time after the primary and now bring this lawsuit just 11 days before the election trying to upend an election. I mean, it clearly smacks of desperation and kind of political propaganda. But I think it's pretty clear the court's going to reject this very easily. You know, another point here, if you look at the primary results where both of these candidates were on the ballot, the Senator Dan Sullivan that the president wants to win, the incumbent, he won over 68 ,000 votes.

7:28The only one there got only a 4 ,000. Do you think that is evidence enough that it makes it clear that the voters know the difference in these two Dan Sullivans? I mean, the evidence seems to be there, but certainly the Alaska Supreme Court felt that this was not a big problem. I mean, I've seen the ballot. I've seen ballots all over the country. It's pretty clear who the incumbent is. It's pretty clear who the Republican who's who's with the Republican Party here. This happens occasionally where there are candidates who have similar or even the same names. This is not the first time it's happened in American history at all.

8:01It's happened multiple times, even in recent history. And the state courts get to decide this. It is not for the president. The elections clause of the Constitution, Article 1, Section 4, is extraordinarily clear on this. The state legislatures get to set the terms, the time, place, and manner of running elections. Congress can rule if they want to, but Congress has done nothing with regard to state certification. So the states get to decide that. And one individual who was left out of Article 1, Section 4 intentionally is the president of the United States. The founders were very wise to give this power to the states.

8:35David Becker, always great to have your expertise. Thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you, Kaven. My congressional source joining us on this is the Democratic senator from New Jersey, Andy Kim. And thank you, Senator, for being here. First off, what went through your mind when you heard the president say, yeah, I directed the Justice Department, this was my call to have them get involved on this? Well, what I heard was an admission of guilt that the president has weaponized the Department of Justice, weaponized government for political purposes. And I hope the American people see this for what it is.

9:10Trump has turned the Department of Justice into a Republican law firm, and he is using it to be able to fight their political battles. And what I hope the American people understand here is that we're paying for this. The American people are paying for the Republican Party, for Donald Trump, to try to score political points here. And that's absolutely against the law. It's absolutely against what our government should be about. And that's what really went through my mind. And I hope it goes through the minds of Americans all across Alaska, all across this country. You heard what the Attorney General said when he was asked, you know, are you guys going to interfere in the elections?

9:50And he said that they're not going to improperly get involved in this certification or the election process. When you heard that answer, do you think that was sufficient that they're saying we're not going to get involved? I mean, it happened 24 hours before the DOJ filed this lawsuit. Yeah. I mean, look, it's very clear who's calling the shots. And that's something that, again, the attorney general, this is why we were concerned about him, right? He was Trump's personal attorney before. And it's clear that he is still Trump's personal attorney now. And that's a huge problem because the oath that the attorney general swears is actually the same one that I swore to come in as senator.

10:28And it's to protect and defend the Constitution. It is not there's nowhere in the oath that the attorney general swore that says that he reports and that he is working for Donald Trump. He works for the American people, not for Donald Trump. And clearly he has lost sight of that or never even really cared about that to start with. If you were running for reelection and there was another Andy Kim on the ballot, would it bother you? Look, what I would say is that it's up to the states to decide. and the state of Alaska, the Supreme Court of Alaska, the highest court there in that state, said that this is what the ballot's gonna look like.

11:08And I think especially when you have it labeled as incumbent, when it's rank choice voting, that's what the law has allowed. And we are a nation of rule of law. And I get it, it gets in the way of Donald Trump's political aspirations for how this midterm's gonna go, but we have to follow the law. You know, as we're 11 days out now from the midterms, you have been in Georgia as part of this effort to get out the vote there. When it comes to your party and what you're doing when it comes with turnout that we've seen drop in a lot of Democratic strongholds a couple of years ago in 2024, what are you seeing on the ground this time?

11:46Yeah, you're right. You know, I was in Texas. I was in New Hampshire. I was in Iowa last week. I was in North Carolina yesterday. Georgia today and all across this country what I'll tell you is the energy is just through the roof I mean I'm someone who ran in the 2018 midterms to flip a Republican seat and the energy right now is significantly larger than the energy in 2018 just to give you a sense of scale and people are why do you think that is well I think because they're livid right now I mean they are angry right now because of the gas prices going through the roof, because of grocery prices, housing prices.

12:25And the one thing, Caitlin, here that is just so crystal clear is I've never seen a situation where they are so clearly focused in and blaming one person for those problems. This isn't about government raising their gas prices. This isn't about Congress raising their gas prices. They label it on Trump. And I remember this. I'll show you this one story. I was in Iowa and I was talking about the gas prices going up and said, we need to stop this Iran war. And a person there, a man interrupted me and he said, no, it's Trump's war. They know it's Trump and they know that Trump is the one raising their costs right now.

13:02And that is something I've seen crystal clear in every single state that I've been to. How much do you trust the polling that you're seeing? Because this has been something that we've heard from Republicans and from the White House. They've said, we think the polling is off. We don't think it's right. You know, let's see what happens. Yeah, there's claims of momentum and early voting and you can see that. But what do you say to that? Well, I'll be honest with you. I'm somebody that, you know, I see the polling and I think it's a reflection of the energy. I think it's a reflection of the anger towards Trump.

13:36But this is really about turnout now. And as someone who won a district that Trump won there in the 2018 midterms, we have to mobilize. No one should get complacent. Everyone should fight and show up and vote as if they will be the deciding vote. And that's how we need to operate all across. I'm here in Georgia right now. We're going to get Senator John Ossoff elected, but we cannot get comfortable. We have to keep pushing here and all over this country. And that's what I'm asking the voters to do. Senator Andy Kim, thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. Up next for us here on The Source, the president and Vivek Ramaswamy are doubling down, tripling down on that controversial new ad.

14:18But a top election forecaster actually just shifted that race in the Democrats' direction. We'll talk about the numbers right after this.

14:37My guest is Lil Jon. He's a rapper, DJ, and producer known for hits like Get Low and Turn Down for What. In February 2026, his 27-year-old son Nathan went missing near Nathan's home in Georgia. Three days later, his body was found in a pond nearby. Lil Jon has a memoir that just came out called I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me. It takes time to heal, and I kept myself busy that I didn't let myself mourn. I needed to laugh again. I needed to be silly and interact with people and feel other people's energy and make people happy, too. We have to share so other people can see that they can get through it, too.

15:19Talking grief, building community. That's what the podcast is all about. This is all there is. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. You may have noticed gambling doesn't require a casino anymore. You can just open up your phone. It's designed to keep us coming back or maybe never even leaving in the first place. We're going to talk to Dr. Timothy Fong, co-director of UCLA's Gambling Studies program. You're going to learn what your brain is really chasing when you place a bet, and also importantly, how to keep the game from playing you.

15:55Gambling addiction, gambling disorder is the hidden addiction. You can't smell it. You can't taste it. You can't see it. You can't have a urine drug test. Who are we talking about here, Professor? Who's the most likely demographic to be affected by this? Literally any single human on Earth. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now wherever you get your podcasts. With just 11 days to go until the midterm elections, Ohio's Republican candidate for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, defended that incendiary ad that features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. despite the growing calls from Republicans to stop running it.

16:33They are lying about an ad that is about lying. Our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse. We condemn that as forcefully as anyone. Our ad was about a consistent track record of Amy Acton telling lies, including during this campaign. okay so Favek Ramasamy is claiming this ad has nothing to do with sexual abuse you can decide the campaign put four million dollars behind that spot featuring Amy Acton's mother who remained with Cletus Arthur the man that was indicted for raping her daughter when she was 12 years old Amy Acton hasn't spoken to her birth mother in nearly 50 years because of that so yeah it seems like it has something to do with the sexual abuse of a child Now politically speaking, people have been looking at this and wondering could all of this that is roiling the race in its final days out affect the outcome of this election.

17:36The Cook Political Report today actually shifted this race between Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton from a toss up to lean Democrat. As Cook is saying that the ad not only confirmed the race is slipping away from Ramaswamy, it could even damage other Republicans. None of that has stopped President Trump, though, from defending it.

18:24I'm with NBC, sir. But there are very serious sexual abuse allegations. Quiet. Steve, isn't she a fresh person? You're a horrible little reporter, aren't you? If my mother said bad things about me, do you think the Democrats would put it up? I think so. And my political sources are here with me tonight. Sure, Michael, this is a story that obviously came out a few days ago when this ad happened. It is now dominated so much of the political conversation in these final 11 days before the race. Does that concern you? Of course it concerns me. I mean, Ramaswamy has never led in this race, at least from all the polls that I looked up.

19:12And my worry is that you could hurt Senator Husted, for example. I mean, it's odd to say that it's not about the sexual abuse. It's about the lies. And look, I'm all for drawing a contrast to your opponent on policies and inconsistent statements, et cetera. I'm all for that. But why in the world would you feature an ad of her mother who was married to the man for, what, five decades, four decades, five decades, who literally sexually abused her child? I mean, that makes zero sense to me. That's a despicable person. I would never want to feature a person like that. And I'm willing to bet most voters probably wouldn't trust a parent who stayed married to the guy who abused their child.

19:55I mean, I don't know what type of logic and circles you have to jump through in your own head to make that make sense. It just doesn't make any sense to me. And so, look, whether he wins or loses, I have no clue. I really don't care. You know where I stand on Ramaswamy. I'm not a big fan of that guy for a lot of reasons. He's a snake oil salesman as far as I'm concerned. I'm worried about the other Republicans, good, solid conservatives, who should easily win their races being damaged by his stupidity. Charlie Dent, you're no stranger to the political world. I mean, is this how you would want your race closing?

20:29Oh, heavens no, my goodness. You know, had I done something like this, I have a campaign consultant, a great pollster, campaign manager. We talk messaging. And I suggested doing something like this. They would have said, you know, take that grenade off the table, pull the pin and shove it in your mouth because you're going to blow up your own campaign. That's exactly what they've done here. It's, you know, and the fact that they're doubling and tripping, tripling down on it is even a greater error. Such malpractice. I'm sure that the Ramaswamy campaign is going to do some polling after this ad saturates for a few days.

21:03And they're going to find out this isn't helping them because they put themselves on the side of a pedophile protector. There's nothing good here. So I can't understand what world these guys are operating in. They've obviously never run in competitive districts. It's okay to attack somebody and engage in hard-hitting campaigns. And there might be times you can go after another person's family, but you have to be very careful. There need to be cool heads and calm people in the room making these decisions and judgments. Yeah, I mean, and Karen, by this point, you heard the president as he was leaving the White House, was unhappy with Monica Alba of NBC asking him about this, and Ouija as well from CBS.

21:40I mean, at this point, this is the third day of questioning for the president on this ad. It has been explained to him by myself and other reporters multiple times what these allegations are. There is really no way the president can say he doesn't know what Amy Acton alleges her stepfather did to her. But there can be no surprise that the man who said grabbed them by the you know what, who is part of protecting pedophiles in the Epstein files would say something like that. First of all, his default on so many topics that he doesn't want to get into is to say, well, I don't know anything about that.

22:21I never met that person. And then, boom, here's a picture of him with that person. I mean, you know, that's a default setting for him. But secondly, I don't think he understands why this is, again, not just disgusting as Charlie and Shermichael just described. It's a question of leadership. It means that at some point, somebody made the decision that this was a good idea. Somebody put the money behind putting it on the air. And there were two, for whatever reason, pigheaded, ignorant, vile to understand once the reaction started coming in that, huh, maybe this is a bad idea. I mean, you know, it's hard to justify the sequence of events that go into making an ad.

23:11And so but the president, neither the president nor Ramaswamy seemed to really care about that. And, you know, I've I've heard reporters indicate that, you know, the campaign, the people who did this had thought, well, it's it seems to be doing well and focus groups. So let's go for it. I mean, I don't know what they were thinking. Yeah, I mean, if that's true, that was before the major backlash, because I think, sure, Michael, to your point about whether this could affect a Republican like John Husted, who was on the ticket and is in a tough race. There is a rift in what Republicans in Ohio are saying versus what Ramaswamy and the White House are saying.

23:48And just to kind of lay that out, here's some of it. What's happened is the press has ganged up on a woman making a horrible statement about her daughter. And I don't know why she should be shielded. She accused her stepfather of child rape, Mr. President. The ad on its face is deeply, deeply troubling. I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down. Why would you shield somebody from that? Why would we do that? So I told him, leave it up and look upstairs and say, thank you, God, very much. I appreciate it. This ad is going to go down as the most shameful, disgusting, offensive ad this election season.

24:36Politics is a tough business. And my message to my fellow elected Republicans is if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days. How do you think that's going to look in 11 days from now, Shermichael? I mean, look, I want to win the race like many other Republicans would like to win the race. You know, I remember when Ramaswamy first came on the stage. You want Ramaswamy to win? Harvard trained. No, no, no, Lee, just hear me out here. Spoke well. And then I started to listen more intently to what he said about Americans.

25:11And I talked about this on your show last week, particularly the H-1B visa, which I'm not a big fan of. And I listened to the way he described Americans. I've spent a lot of time in Ohio. You know, I own a company in a firearm space. I spent a lot of time in rural parts of the country, hardworking people who love the heck out of this country and want nothing but success for their children. This guy insults those people. Many of them happen to be members of my party every single chance he has had. And he never said, well, wait a minute here. You know, look, Americans may not be able to feel all of these skills.

25:47Maybe we bring people in temporarily, but we got to train the next generation of Americans for complicated technological jobs. That was never his position. He called them lazy. He called them stupid. He called him fat. And so whether he loses or wins, I really don't care, Caitlin. I'm not a fan of this guy. He should not be the type of person that represents my party. And again, there's a worry that he could impact other Republicans in his state who are running in very competitive races because of his ignorance with not understanding the moment and how negatively that ad is being viewed. Charlie, do you agree with that?

26:22it. Well, yeah, I have. Look, I'm not a fan of Ramaswamy. Never was. You know, I'm the kind of guy who likes to support normal Republicans. I like Mike Rogers. I know him well. I like Mike Turner in Ohio. But what Ramaswamy is doing here. Look, this is a guy who ran a foolish campaign for president and now he's running for governor. He got endorsed by Donald Trump. And you can just tell that these are he's an inexperienced candidate. Doesn't I don't think he's sophisticated enough to understand how to win a difficult race. You know, they kind of grew up in the age of Trump where you feel like you can just say anything and nothing will stick to you.

26:58Well, that's nonsense. So Ramaswamy put himself in a bad spot here. And, you know, he just keeps on digging. And I agree with Shermichael. I don't really I'm not I'm not real enthusiastic about that guy. Let's put it that way. Karen, go ahead. Can I answer your question? Let me answer your question. It is having an impact on other Republicans because even the clip that we've seen of the current governor of Ohio, you know, he went through talking about the ad and talking about children, but he still acknowledged he was going to vote for Ramaswamy. And that's part of the problem. The problem is, I mean, this should not be hard for any Republican in the state of Ohio to come out and say this is disgusting.

27:42It is dangerous in terms of children who right now may be being abused and assaulted, who may think that if they come forward, this tells those kids people are going to call you a liar. I mean, there's so many. It's poor judgment. It's bad leadership. Is that the kind of moral leadership you want running your statement? There's so many ways that Republicans could very easily denounce it and basically probably move on in their own races. But as you've pointed out, we've been talking about this for days. We're going to be talking about it over the next several days, in part because they keep doubling and tripling down and trying to justify why it's OK.

28:22And it's it's not OK and it's not credible, you know, trying to say, well, the ad, it wasn't really about that lie. Well, you use the person who basically considered her daughter a liar when she came forward and acknowledged that, you know, when she basically said she was being assaulted by her stepfather. So, you know, it just doesn't pass the smell test. So, of course, it's going to impact the race. And, of course, it's going to hurt Republicans. And also, the White House did not like it when Pete Hegseth's mother's letter about him was made public and amid his confirmation hearing. They pushed back strongly on that.

28:57We'll see where this goes next. Karen, Charlie, Michael, great to have all three of you here tonight. So thank you for joining us. Up next here, the president today says Elon Musk restored Ukraine's access to that critical Internet service. Ukraine says no, they didn't. My source tonight is their top diplomat in the United States.

29:20Tonight, Ukrainian officials say they're still struggling with disruptions to Elon Musk's Star Shield, which is that military-grade version of Internet services that the forces there rely on in their battle against Russia. That is, despite the claim from the president yesterday that service had been restored. My colleague, Elena Treen, asked the president about this today. Mr. President, you must know now who ordered the Starlink axis in Ukraine to be restricted. Who was it? Was it the Pentagon? Well, I wouldn't tell you if I did know. I have no idea. But I wouldn't tell you if I did know. Why would I tell you who you is?

29:57Why would I tell CNN? Zelensky said they still are receiving slowdowns. Well, if there is a problem, I'll get it straight. Now, a source tells CNN that the president spoke to Elon Musk on the phone recently and asked him to fully restore the Ukraine's service, though Musk has publicly denied having anything to do with the slowdown. Ukrainian officials say the Starshield slowdown has lasted for over a week now, and it affected their ability to detect and intercept incoming Russian attacks. The Air Force in Ukraine actually said that Russia had launched 176 attack drones last night and killed at least nine civilians, injuring dozens more.

30:32My source tonight is Denis Sienyk, who is Ukraine's top diplomat in the United States. And thank you, sir, for being here. I mean, you heard the president say he'd get it straightened out. Has it been straightened out yet? Hi, Kathleen. Thank you for having me. Unfortunately, the situation remains the same. and we still have the limits imposed which constitute 100 miles per hour meaning that when our speed exceeds 100 miles per hour then the message comes out that the speed limit reached and then we lose connection with the drone which effectively does not allow us to intercept Russian jet-powered drones which are causing more destruction and claiming more lives of Ukrainians.

31:23As I speak now, there is another air alert in Kyiv and other cities, drone attack. So it hasn't been restored to the full capability? It hasn't been restored. And I think that we are receiving, as you just outlined, the mixed messages, which are, of course, confusing to the general public. They are confusing for Ukrainians as well. All we want is to know what has happened and actually have understanding what's going to wait for us next. Because it's not only about our ability to intercept Russian drones. It's also about our operations on the front line, our defensive operations on the front line.

32:07In a situation when we have effectively stopped the Russian advances and are actually liberating Ukrainian territories. So this predictability means a lot for us. And the very last thing we want is to give Russians another chance to advance. So the predictability matters. And I really hope that the speed limits will be lifted because before everything happened last Tuesday night, the speed was unlimited. Right. Right. Well, and when you look at this, I mean, the question has been who is responsible, not really just to blame them, but I mean, it's who do you who do you go to address to to to fix this?

32:54I mean, do you believe it's the White House or do you think it's Elon Musk? I don't know. I don't have answer for you. All I can know is that we understand that it lies somewhere in between Pentagon and SpaceX primarily. And we have reached out to them both immediately. Unfortunately, we don't have clear answer from them. And, well, those answers that we are receiving, they sound like we are waiting for further instructions. What happens if it doesn't get resolved? Ukrainians will lose more lives, definitely, unfortunately, because Russians keep sending hundreds of drones in a single attack. And in a situation when we have a limited number of F-16s and the limited ammunition for them and also other capabilities are being exhausted.

34:01So our own drones, interceptor drones, are vital. This is our technology. Our companies have worked for years to be effective. And in a situation when recently Russians started using jet-powered drones, which are flying 400, 500 kilometers per hour, it's like a cruise missile. So the availability of the capability that we have, Ukraine, and to be able to effectively use it is instrumental here. But in a situation when the speed cannot exceed 100 miles per hour and Russian jet-powered drones are flying 300 miles per hour, well, you understand what it means. Yeah, you can see the math. Dennis Sienek, please keep us updated.

34:54And thank you for taking the time to join us here tonight. Thank you. Up next, it's time for a behind-the-scenes look at what happened this week in Washington. You won't want to miss this.

35:08A presidential midterm blitz, a major rift between Washington and Keeve, and an ad that is roiling the Ohio governor's race. Here's a look behind the scenes this week in Washington. If I can get my voters, MAGA, Republicans, whatever you want to call, if they get out to vote, we'll win in a landslide.

35:35Mr. President!

35:45Outside you have the new heliport that just opened and behind you you're going to have one of the greatest ballrooms and military complexes. There it is.

35:57Zelensky is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago. I think it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.

36:12All you have to do is turn out. If you turn out, we win.

36:22Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zelensky has to want to settle this war. We've gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss. Wait, do you believe the peace process is valid contract? Wait, wait, wait. I don't know who the hell you are, but you better be careful. You own a lot of golf course. Wait, wait, wait. Quiet. Quiet.

36:51I'm doing something different. I'm working like a dog. I've done like about 10 rallies in about eight days. Two weeks from tonight, the campaigning will be over and the vote counting will begin. You've been in six states, I think, in just the last two weeks alone. We're seeing different numbers in Michigan or Maine. Why do you think that is in those two races? There's a lot of money out there. There's a lot of money that the Republicans have used to flood the zone. In both Maine and Michigan, what we're seeing is enthusiasm on the ground.

37:44You're going to South Carolina tonight. You're campaigning for Darlene Graham. What has she said to you about lifting those sanctions on Russia that her brother fought so hard for? We have a gentleman coming home from Russia that they've been after for years. They said, why aren't you putting Russia's sanctions and all this in the midst of a negotiation to try and get a long-term hostage back from Russia? You say you didn't give Russia anything in exchange for his release. If I would have done that, you would not have Mr. Hubbard coming back. You did give him something in exchange for the release.

38:13Right now, and you don't know anything. I had a very good and very fast negotiation with President Putin. You know, I have the right to do them at any day. But you're saying you lifted the sanctions in exchange for his release, right, Mr. President? You don't know what you're talking about. We're getting him back because of me. Should have been brought. It should have never happened.

38:33We had him extended back and forth.

38:41There's no one who is not happy that Stephen Hubbard, an American, is free and on his way home after being kidnapped. But when you hear the president say that he gave nothing to Russia in exchange for his release, do you think that's true? It's great that Mr. Hubbard is coming back. The president of the United States is now actively supporting a brutal dictator, a war criminal, and an adversary of the United States. The new CNN poll shows Trump's approval rating is at a record low, 32%. There is no president who has been anywhere close to this unpopular in a midterm election. The Pew poll, it was 38 points.

39:13You have to go all the way back to FDR. And while I may sound like an elderly man, I was certainly not alive back in 1938. 1938 polls mean absolutely nothing. They just know you. A hundred percent different way. Defend your analysis. I will defend my honor and the pollster honor here. I am just merely saying what we're seeing here is historically unprecedented.

39:38Hey, how are you?

39:42Why did you make no mention of the sexual abuse allegations that Amy Acton made against her stepfather who stayed married to her mother? Well, I have no idea. I don't know the mother. I don't know her. I never heard of her until just recently as somebody running for governor of Ohio. What's happened is the press has ganged up on a woman making a horrible statement about her daughter. And I don't know why she should be shielded or the daughter. She accused her stepmother of child rape, Mr. President. A horrible statement about the daughter. If what the mother said about the daughter is half right, she has no right even running for the governor of Ohio.

40:21What about what the daughter said about her mother? Her mother remained married to her stepfather who sexually abused her when she was 12 years old. When did she make that statement? Years ago. In the 1970s. Years ago. He was charged, Mr. President. I have no idea.

40:36When I first saw it, I said, wow, that means Vivek easily will win the race. Then I got a call from Vivek. He said, what would you recommend? I said, you got to ride with it. Up next, it's time for Source Code. And tonight it is 22. We'll be right back with some breaking reporting this hour.

41:00Tonight's Source Code is 22, as in the 22 months that Fox News' Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhart have been engaged, something the president was talking about as he landed in West Palm Beach tonight. Have a good time, everybody. We're going to go over and celebrate with Sean Hannity and Ainsley at Mar-a-Lago. They're doing a big, beautiful thing. CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter joins me now with some reporting on what that big, beautiful thing is. Brian. Yes, it's a wedding rehearsal dinner because the wedding is tomorrow. Sources confirmed to me that the first couple of Fox News will be tying the knot tomorrow.

41:40President Trump will not be in attendance for this grand affair tomorrow, but he was in attendance tonight at Mar-a-Lago, along with the First Lady, for this rehearsal dinner. But, you know, Caitlin, let's tell the viewers how this works. You're the one that had this reporting. You're working so hard, even during your show, that you're texting our group Slack during a commercial break, telling us you're now the White House, what do we call you, the White House wedding correspondent? Because you confirmed it was a rehearsal dinner. I mean, well, you know, I don't know if they were trying to keep this quiet until it happened.

42:12I mean, it was the president who kind of tipped us off earlier, as he pretty much so often does. Right. That's right. But Hannity and Earhart, they do want a little bit of privacy as they go on with the wedding weekend. So the actual ceremony is tomorrow. I'm told that they wanted to hold an event at Mar-a-Lago in part to celebrate with the president and the first lady. Hannity says in a statement just a few minutes ago that he's been friends with the president for 30 years. So he wanted the chance to be there. And this is so telling, Caitlin. The statement even says that he paid full price for Mar-a-Lago.

42:43He said, I paid fair market value for the venue. He says, we're grateful that he and Melania can celebrate alongside our families and friends. It's quite an event tonight. Marco Rubio, RFK Jr. there, Janine Pirro, the cast of Fox and Friends, Tim Scott, Darlene Graham, Janine Pirro, I mentioned, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith. So, you know, a grand Trump-Fox kind of night at Mar-a-Lago, very symbolic of how they have been fused together for years. Hannity and Earhart, they've been dating for the better part of, I think, about six years, maybe even a little bit longer. I remember during COVID, there were times when she was doing his show from his studio or vice versa, where they were working from home at the same time.

43:23So this has been a relationship has been blossoming for years. But as you said, they got engaged in December of 2024 and now making it official this weekend. Yeah. Notable that he clarified in the statement there that you just read that he paid to hold this at Mar-a-Lago tonight. Right. He wanted to get that on the record and have that out there before anybody asked. It is a very unusual and interesting time when it comes to the Trump-Fox relationship. Fox has stopped airing Trump's midterm rallies and the president has been uncomfortable and upset about that. But tonight, certainly it is a very cozy relationship with the head of Fox News and many of the top stars of the network all hanging out at Mar-a-Lago with the president.

44:08Yeah. Brian Stelter, thank you for joining us with that breaking reporting tonight. And it might be Friday night, but for the rest of you on Sunday, be sure to tune in. we're going to have a two-hour special edition of The Source as we are getting closer and closer to election night. We're going to take you inside the key midterm races that could shift the balance of power in Washington and America, really. That is going to be this Sunday night, 8 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. Of course, you can also stream it if you have an all-access subscription. Thanks for joining us tonight. CNN Newsnight with Abby Phillip starts now.

44:42I'm Adi Kornish. I'm Ari Shapiro, and it's Engagement Party. And we get to talk about what we're obsessed with, what we're engaged with, what we need to process with a friend. Her name is Amy O'Dell. She is a fashion writer blogger. But the thing is, she's a journalist who's written about the sacred cows of fashion. And yes, I mean, Gwyneth Paltrow and Anna Wintour. She has done biographies of both. And she is also the sort of rare fashion writer who at this point kind of outside the system. And so the question that we're going to try to tackle is... Is fashion terrible now? Well, no, I mean, I would phrase it as how do you develop a personal style in the age of AI slop?

45:20You know, on social media, like creators have to try a whole bunch of different things and see what catches and then they make it over and over and over again. The same thing happens with clothing. So they're sort of seeding the market, seeding the Internet with all of these different ideas. And then they can see what sells and then they can just make them really fast. Follow Engagement Party. Wherever you get your podcasts.