'This Week' Transcript 10-18-26: Energy Secretary Chris Wright
This is a rush transcript of "This Week" airing Sunday, October 18.
A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, October 18, 2026 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: The results from our new poll are just in, and Republicans are facing major headwinds. We traveled thousands of miles from coast to coast, hearing concerns directly from voters. “THIS WEEK” starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: Republican alarm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We’re all pretty staunch Republicans. There’s a lot of wavering going on right now.
RADDATZ: With the midterms now just 16 days away --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are putting it all out on the line.
RADDATZ: The GOP scrambles to blunt the impact of Trump’s low approval. We’ll have results just in from our new ABC News-“Washington Post”-Ipsos poll and coast to coast road trip.
We traveled from Maine to Alaska with the heartland in between to talk to voters and candidates as well.
What’s on voters’ minds as they head to the polls?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The war is hurting us, without a doubt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm voting like my life depends on it.
RADDATZ: This morning, our report from five states across the country.
Waiving sanctions after a controversial Russian diesel deal. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy fires back on Trump’s latest move to ease pressure on Putin. We speak with Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Unprecedented escalation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just an effort to sow chaos into the election.
RADDATZ: Just days until the midterms, the Trump administration threatens to prosecute California election officials.
And overseas, anger over the rising cost of living. The extraordinary scenes playing out in the streets of France.
ANNOUNCER: From ABC News it’s “THIS WEEK.” Here now, Martha Raddatz.
RADDATZ: Good morning and welcome to “THIS WEEK.”
Last night, President Trump told a rally in Kentucky, we are in a golden age of America. But that’s not how many voters are feeling. With just 16 days to go until the midterm elections, Republicans have a lot to worry about. This morning, ABC News, “The Washington Post” and Ipsos are out with a brand new poll that shows 52 percent of likely voters want Democrats to be elected to the House, an eight point lead on Republicans, 59 percent of Americans prefer Democrats to be in control of the next Congress to act as a check on President Trump, whose approval rating sits at 33 percent, the lowest of any point in his two terms.
More specifically, the majority of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling major issues, like the economy, the Iran War and immigration. His worst issue is one voters care about most, cost of living, with 77 percent disapproving.
We heard directly from those voters on an ambitious coast to coast road trip. We felt palpable frustration with the state of the economy and the direction of the country. We spoke with Americans thousands of miles apart, from Maine, to Iowa, to the far reaches of Alaska, where we got some tips on fly fishing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ (voice over): It is here in the breathtaking beauty of Alaska, America’s largest state, where the catch that decides the balance of power in Washington could be, like so many other states, affordability.
Josh, what’s the biggest issue now for Alaska?
JOSH YORK, ALASKA VOTERS: Gas, groceries, paying about $5.50 to $6 for regular gas and upwards of $7 or $7.50 for diesel. It’s just very expensive to live up here.
RADDATZ (voice over): Josh York, a combat-tested retired Army major, works in health care now.
YORK: You know, we’ve had to plan and budget for tariffs. That is, you know, that’s money that could be going back to patient care.
RADDATZ (voice over): York voted for Donald Trump three times. He likes some things the president has done, but not everything.
YORK: I have to question, you know, how are -- how are folks surviving? And it seems like the problems with Iran are just multiplying all of the issues with what we’re paying on a day to day basis.
RADDATZ: Let me -- let me ask you this and let’s go through a few things. Approve or disapprove of the way President Trump is handling the economy?
YORK: Disapprove.
RADDATZ: Approve or disapprove of the way he’s handling the war?
YORK: Disapprove.
RADDATZ: Approve or disapprove of overall the direction the country is going?
YORK: Disapprove right now. Yes.
RADDATZ (voice over): In 2024, Trump won the state of Alaska by 13 percent. But two term Republican Senator Dan Sullivan is running in a tougher than expected race here against Democrat Mary Peltola.
YORK: Typically, I would probably vote for Sullivan. You know, I know that they both have their ideas for Alaska and how they want to do things. And I’m not going to, you know, say ones right versus the other being wrong. But, you know, at this point, I’m -- I’ve got to look at what’s best for my family. I’ve got to look at what’s best for my kids.
RADDATZ: So, it sounds like you haven’t quite decided.
YORK: Not yet.
RADDATZ (voice over): And York is not alone in this state of three quarters of a million people.
RADDATZ: Alaska is not only unique because of its size, but its political population as well. Sixty percent of the voters here are unaffiliated. Peltola, an Alaska native and former congresswoman, is hoping to win over those voters by emphasizing Alaska first and lowering the cost of living, putting Republicans on defense.
MARY PELTOLA, (D) ALASKA SENATE NOMINEE: I do not think there’s any way, shape or form the U.S. should be buying anything from Russia.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Wow. Thank you very much.
RADDATZ (voice over): President Trump headlining a rally this week in Alaska, trying to bolster Sullivan’s chances.
TRUMP: Nobody’s done more for Alaska than Donald J. Trump, that I can tell you.
RADDATZ (voice over): But unlike some Republican candidates in other tight races, Sullivan has not shied away from the president.
SEN. DAN SULLIVAN, (R) ALASKA: We also know we face challenges. One of those is the high cost of energy. These costs matter. Alaskans should know that all of us, from the president on down, are working on these challenges every day.
RADDATZ (voice over): Not all Republicans here in Alaska thought the rally benefited Sullivan.
BRETT HUBER SR., ALASKA VOTER: I was excited about it. And then I watched, and I wonder why he came. He made it harder, I believe, on electing Republican candidates, not easier. I think without knowing it, he divided conservative Alaskans.
RADDATZ (voice over): Brett Huber Sr. has been involved in electing Alaskan Republicans to local, state and national offices for decades. He says he’s worried about Sullivan’s chances this cycle.
HUBER: Anchorage, we’re running out of natural gas. We’re talking about rolling brownouts this year. So, being able to buy groceries, afford it, have energy for our homes, yes, the war is hurting us without a doubt.
RADDATZ (voice over): This surge in gas and diesel prices exacerbated in some of the far reaches of the state. But with momentum building, Democrats have high hopes here, like Peltola supporter Patrice Parker.
RADDATZ: Tell me what you like about her.
PATRICE PARKER, ALASKA VOTER: I mean, I disagree with a couple things, but she’s honest. I don’t think she’ll vote with the president unless it’s for the benefit of Alaska.
RADDATZ (voice over): Twenty-seven hundred miles away from the glaciers of Alaska, there are more warning signs for Republicans in the heartland.
REP. DON BACON, (R) NEBRASKA: I won’t deny we have headwinds. And it’s going to be a hard fight.
RADDATZ (voice over): Retiring Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska has a long history with President Trump.
TRUMP: I think Bacon’s a bad guy, you know? I mean he’s a bad guy.
RADDATZ (voice over): Bacon has been willing to speak up against the president when he disagrees with him, which he says has helped him get re-elected four times. But Republicans could lose the seat this time around.
BACON: When you’re president of your party is polling in the mid-30s, that’s very hard for Republicans to make up that number. And I mean, I’ve had to do it in 2020 or 2018 and 2020, 2022 even.
I do think, when I go around the district, I do hear from, I would say, more independent minded people, I’m not talking about the left and right, but more independent, that they wanted Congress to be more of a check and balance. We should have been more of a check and balance.
RADDATZ (voice over): Across the border in Iowa, Republican candidates are distancing themselves from the president.
REP. ASHLEY HINSON, (R) IOWA: We need to lower gas prices in this country. We need to lower diesel prices. But I don’t think we need to be making a deal with Russia to do it.
RADDATZ (voice over): Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson is locked in a tight race with state representative and former Paralympian Josh Turek to replace retiring GOP Senator Joni Ernst.
JOSH TUREK, (D) IOWA SENATE NOMINEE: We are in this situation because of this unnecessary war in Iran that Ashley Hinson voted in favor of continuing seven times.
RADDATZ: For Republicans in Iowa, the issues they are facing couldn’t be more difficult. The farmers and ranchers here, everything they need to work, to feed their families, to feed the nation seem to be more expensive.
RADDATZ (voice over): Trump won the Hawkeye State by 13 percent just two years ago.
But here in southwestern Iowa, three-time Trump voter Dan Pederson says the price of diesel is decimating his business.
DAN PEDERSON, IOWA VOTER: Our tanks over there hold 3,500 gallons, and it costs $20,000 now to fill them. A year ago at this time, it was about $10,000 to $12,000.
And then the ripple effect - hauling cattle, pickups, trucks, everything, it's just astronomical. It's crazy. That's what I call it anymore. It's just crazy.
RADDATZ (voice-over): Anger from farmers like Pederson has upended Trump's popularity across the state.
RADDATZ: I know your neighbors are spread apart here.
PEDERSON: Yeah.
RADDATZ: Do you feel a change?
PEDERSON: Yeah.
RADDATZ: What are you feeling?
PEDERSON: Because most -- you know, a lot of my farm friends have -- you know, we're all pretty staunch Republicans at this and that. And there's a lot of wavering going on right now.
RADDATZ (voice-over): This year, Pederson says he plans to vote for Turek.
RADDATZ: Why are you voting for a Democrat instead of a Republican?
PEDERSON: Just a change. Just a change. And I think he's going to be a pretty moderate.
You know, that's what we need. Just -- we don't need the crazy rights and the crazy lefts. We just need back to the good old days.
RADDATZ (voice-over): But it's not just gas prices that have turned Pederson off the president. He pointed to Trump's trade policies, too.
PEDERSON: I love cattle. And why would we ever want to bring in Brazilian beef when we have this? Best cattle to walk the planet.
RADDATZ: Yeah.
PEDERSON: I mean, absolutely positive. That was -- that's my biggest beef with Trump.
RADDATZ: So to speak.
PEDERSON: Yeah, there you go. That's good.
(LAUGHTER)
PEDERSON: Yeah, that's definitely wrong, 100 percent wrong.
RADDATZ (voice-over): Some 1,200 miles away in New Hampshire, it is Democrats that find themselves on defense to keep a Senate seat blue.
REP. CHRIS PAPPAS, (D) NEW HAMPSHIRE: The cost of everything's far too high.
RADDATZ (voice-over): Congressman Chris Pappas is battling former Republican Senator John Sununu to replace retiring Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
Sununu comes from a Granite State political dynasty.
PAPPAS: I do have an opponent with a pretty famous political last name. But the fact is, this is about more than political pedigree. It's about more than the big money. This is about how people are feeling about their own lives.
RADDATZ (voice-over): Sununu's father and brother were both popular governors.
JOHN SUNUNU, (R) NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATE NOMINEE: I want to make sure America goes in a direction that's right for New Hampshire.
RADDATZ (voice-over): In a state with nearly a third of independent voters, Sununu's message of independence from President Trump may be resonating, according to some Republicans here.
CHRIS AGER, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: John is that quintessential New Hampshire politician -- very pragmatic, very common sense, very independent of Washington. I think that's going to sell very well on November 3rd.
RADDATZ (voice-over): But for Laura Mick, who says she supported both Republicans and Democrats in the past, she believes Pappas will fight harder to lower the cost of living.
LAURA MICK, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: I am voting like my life depends on it, and I feel like the average person can't make it anymore.
RADDATZ (voice-over): Just north of New Hampshire in Maine is a Senate seat Democrats have tried and failed to win for decades.
Republican Susan Collins has won time after time, even when her own party is unpopular.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R) MAINE: I am the first person since Maine directly elected its senators to win a fifth term.
(CHEERING)
RADDATZ (voice-over): Democrats had high hopes oyster farmer Graham Platner could flip the seat, but he was pressured to drop out after accusations of sexual misconduct surfaced. He denies any wrongdoing.
Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, who finished third in the gubernatorial primary, was appointed by the party in July.
TROY JACKSON, (D) MAINE SENATE NOMINEE: I humbly ask for your vote.
RADDATZ (voice-over): With polls neck and neck, a fiery final debate late this week.
COLLINS: So this is obviously one of Troy's supporters.
JACKSON: Oh, shut up. I did not -- I didn't -- I didn’t know that kid.
RADDATZ (voice-over): Lifelong Democrat Mary Ann Lynch wants her party to control Congress, but in this election, she's still backing Susan Collins.
MARY ANN LYNCH, MAINE VOTER: I want the Democrats to win back the Senate. I think it's possible for them to do that. I just don't think we can be indiscriminate. I think when we have a candidate of high integrity, high intelligence, high work ethic and one of the most powerful senators in Washington, we would be crazy not to send her back.
RADDATZ (voice-over): But voters like Brenda Garrand tell a different story.
RADDATZ: Do you wholeheartedly support Troy Jackson?
BRENDA GARRAND, MAINE VOTER: No.
RADDATZ: Are you going to vote for him?
GARRAND: Yes. I'm going to vote for him because I believe the highest and best use of my vote in the 2026 midterms is to make sure that there is a blue majority in Washington.
RADDATZ (voice over): Former Maine Republican Party leader Tony Payne left the GOP after becoming disillusioned with the Tea Party movement. He’s now an independent planning to support Jackson.
TONY PAYNE, MAINE VOTER: He’s got an attitude, and he’s a Democrat with hard edges. And, frankly, that’s what the Democratic Party needs in Washington. And Susan Collins is the enabler of Donald Trump. Aas we like to say, she is the rubber stamp here in Maine.
RADDATZ (voice over): From Maine, to Alaska, to the heartland, clear concern over the direction of the country with control of Congress on the line.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ (on camera): Our thanks to all those voters.
I’m joined now by Amy Walter, the editor-in-chief of “The Cook Political Report.”
It’s great to see you this morning, Amy.
AMY WALTER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Good morning.
RADDATZ: Sixteen days to go. Republicans are clearly very worried about the Senate and especially the House.
WALTER: Yes.
RADDATZ: Is the panic justified?
WALTER: There’s no doubt about it. I mean, the new poll that you all have shows not only that the president is deeply unpopular, which is always a problem for the party that is in power, but the enthusiasm gap is really one of the biggest challenges that Republicans have right now. It’s not simply that voters are feeling disappointed with the president, the president’s own voters are now saying, oh, I don’t know that I’m really particularly interested in showing up and voting for Republicans in Congress.
RADDATZ: And speaking of that, President Trump’s travels have taken him across deep red states where you would assume he was pretty popular.
WALTER: Right.
RADDATZ: Trump’s approval among 2024 Trump voters and white non-college in our new poll shows 2024 Trump voters do approve 77 percent. But look at the white non-college voters' approval, 47 percent. So, what is the president trying to do?
WALTER: Yes, even that 77 percent number is not good. These are people that voted for the president last time who, that’s a decent number, but it’s not as strong as it should be going into this. And that’s really the challenge, Martha, for Republicans right now. The president has lost much of the coalition that he put together in 2020 for younger voters, Latinos, independent voters. They have very much soured on the president. But the reason he’s --
RADDATZ: But let’s look at those numbers.
WALTER: Oh, yes.
RADDATZ: Let’s look at those numbers. Trump’s approval among independents and Hispanics in the new poll, independents, approve 22 percent, disapprove, 76 percent. Hispanics approve 24 percent, disapprove, 74%. Those are five alarm fire numbers.
WALTER: That is. Well, those numbers alone, Martha, if those were the -- if you just showed me those numbers. But the president, among his base, was still at 90 percent with white, non-college voters, with 2024 voters, within the nineties and that -- on the approval rating among his voters who supported him before, then maybe we’d be talking about a blue wave, but not the five alarm fire kind of wave that you’re talking about. It’s the fact that those folks who have showed up for him election after election are the ones who feel incredibly burned right now, especially about the cost of stuff, the war in Iran, and they’re deciding right now whether or not they’re going to actually show up and vote.
RADDATZ: Show up. And if they vote, who they will vote for in those Senate and House races.
WALTER: Yes.
RADDATZ: Now, for Democrats, their Senate races in states that they have done well in the past, but surprisingly close now.
WALTER: Yes. If you think about the group of voters that are going to decide this election, they kind of go into two buckets. In those blue states like Michigan, now Maine is a state that is held by a Republican, but where Democrats overall have won that state at the presidential level, those are states where voters there will tell you they want to see and a voter actually in your piece said, I want to see a Democratic Senate or a Democratic Congress, but they’re not sold on the Democratic candidate yet.
In the red states, the challenge is a little bit different. They, many of them, want to see a Republican Congress, but they don’t know that they want to show up and vote for Republicans because of their frustration about the direction that things are going in the country.
RADDATZ: And looking at these polls, look, Democrats have been burned in the past. So, should they sort of temper their glee?
WALTER: Yes, you always have to know that every single one of these races for the Senate in these battleground states that you went to, all within the margin of error. We remember the margin of error means it could be better for Democrats. It also may not be as rosy as that for Democrats.
And again, I feel like a broken record here talking about enthusiasm. But that’s really the issue here. It’s the reason the president is going and stumping. They want to get those disaffected Republicans to show up because they feel like the partisanship, at the end of the day, may be the one thing that saves those red seats from flipping blue.
RADDATZ: Sixteen days to go.
WALTER: Indeed.
RADDATZ: Thanks, Amy Walter.
Up next, President Trump hands a lifeline to Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine war and diesel prices stay sky high as the Iran war drags on. I'll ask Energy Secretary Chris Wright about that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump is facing pretty difficult midterm elections. His personal popularity is very low. Diesel prices in the U.S. are very high. And the war that he started in the Middle East is not going the way he wants it.
Do you think you are being treated as a scapegoat for his own problems?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: This is my answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: That was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's response when asked what's driving President Trump's approach to him and the war in Ukraine.
Overnight, Ukraine launching one of its largest drone offensives of the war, targeting Moscow and St. Petersburg. This comes after late Friday President Trump offered another lifeline to Vladimir Putin.
Our Rachel Scott reports on the fallout.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RACHEL SCOTT, ABC NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Late Friday, President Trump signing an executive order to exempt Russia from new economic punishments. That decision rendering the sanctions and tariffs bill named after the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham all but meaningless.
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think the president wants to take the 60-day period of time to sort of analyze what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the U.S. economy.
SCOTT (voice-over): The bill was supported by 86 senators and signed into law exactly one month ago. Graham's sister disagreeing with the president.
SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): Personally, I would choose to keep the pressure on Russia to end the war and get the gas prices down, because I don't trust Putin and I don't trust Russia.
SCOTT (voice-over): Republican Senator Thom Tillis accusing Trump of capitulating to a Russian dictator. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal asserting Trump stands on the side of a bloodthirsty thug.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urging allies to keep the pressure on Putin. "The decision to undo all of this, to block all of it seems wrong to me," he said. "And it definitely helps only the Russians."
On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump had said he would end the Ukraine war in 24 hours.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will have that war settled between Putin and Zelenskyy as president-elect before I take office on January 20th.
SCOTT (voice-over): But nearly two years into his second term, Russia's war in Ukraine rages on, and Putin has given no indication that he's ready to end it despite what Trump now says.
TRUMP: I think they actually both would like to see it end. But I think I find Zelenskyy to be more difficult to deal with than Putin.
SCOTT (voice-over): The president lashing out at Zelenskyy for targeting Russian oil refineries as high diesel prices fuel frustration in the U.S..
TRUMP: I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal, because he could have made many deals. But for some reason, he never does.
SCOTT (voice-over): The more than $6 a gallon diesel prices prompting Trump to recently negotiate a deal with Putin to import millions of tons of diesel despite a 2022 law banning the U.S. from importing Russian energy.
Zelenskyy calling that deal a birthday gift to Putin and blaming the high energy prices on a different conflict.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: It's more simple to speak about the prices and connect it with Ukraine when everybody in the world understands because of the war in Middle East, the prices are rising.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ: Our thanks to Rachel Scott.
I'm joined now in studio by Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Good morning, Mr. Secretary. Good to see you.
The White House statement said that exempting Russia from new sanctions and tariffs would impede ongoing U.S. efforts to negotiate a durable peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. The president has called it good for the country.
Russia invaded Ukraine. How is essentially giving Russia an economic lifeline anything but a reward?
CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: So it's not an economic lifeline. Russia today exports a lot of oil. That's what they want to export. We have very tight sanctions on Russian oil. The tightest ever we put on last fall, meaning they're large companies, all their Russian exporters cannot export oil. It's only sanction evasion oil that goes almost all to China.
What the president’s move has done was for diesel fuel, which is what the world is short right now, and Russia exports today zero diesel. This is an incentive to Russia, that if they can reduce the conflict with Ukraine, they can get an energy ceasefire or reduce the conflict such that they have diesel to export, we'll allow it to flow to world markets.
This is a carrot to try to end a war. It's not an economic lifeline for Russia.
RADDATZ: You don't think this helps Russia in any way?
WRIGHT: The only way Russia gets benefit from this move means they have to export diesel, which means they have to either consume less diesel internally, reduce the war effort, or have an ability to repair their refineries, which they only can get to through a peace agreement with Ukraine, an energy ceasefire, or a step towards peace.
RADDATZ: Let's talk about the reaction to this and that’s 300,000 barrels or tons going out of the diesel. Ukraine's President Zelenskyy says it only fuels Russia's satisfaction and their desire to keep killing people.
A bipartisan group of senators called on President Trump to reverse course. They wrote, “This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our allies. Allowing Russian-origin diesel into global markets will offer limited to no relief to Americans. It will have a negligible impact on fuel prices, but the revenues the Kremlin will receive from this agreement will undoubtedly finance its desired war of attrition.”
Senator Ted Cruz calling it a mistake.
Are you saying they're just all wrong? This won't have --
WRIGHT: In fact, they are all wrong. They don't understand what President Trump's doing.
Energy is complicated. This is not a removal of sanctions of what Russia is currently exporting.
RADDATZ: But it's what Russia wants, and Russia invaded Ukraine.
WRIGHT: Russia did invade Ukraine. Russia started this war, and President Trump has worked relentlessly to find a road to peace and to find a road to greater energy supplies in the world. This checks both boxes.
Russia would get a benefit if they reduce their war effort and then they can export diesel.
This is a carrot for Russia to reduce the war effort and drive down energy prices for Americans and the rest of the world at the same time if they do --
(CROSSTALK)
RADDATZ: But still something Russia wants.
Look, the administration had been berating countries for buying Russian oil.
This is what you said just over a year ago about India buying Russian oil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: India has decided to make the trade-off to buy cheaper oil and sort of look the other way, that that's giving money to a guy who's murdering thousands of people every week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: What has changed? Putin is still murdering thousands.
WRIGHT: And my point there stands. We haven't reduced sanctions on the export of Russian oil, which is what I was speaking about.
RADDATZ: Diesel.
WRIGHT: They're very different. Russia wants to and can export oil, as a -- as was true when I said that, and as is true today. We have not removed the sanctions on Russian oil. We are removing sanctions on a product that Russia currently does not and cannot export.
The way forward for Russia to be able to export diesel is to reduce their war effort, make progress towards peace.
RADDATZ: President Trump said that there was a deal, a ceasefire, an energy ceasefire a week ago. Russia and Ukraine said there was no such thing. Were you involved in that? Was there anything?
WRIGHT: This is President Trump encouraging Russia if they want to export diesel, if they want to get the benefits you believe that are about to be showered upon them, the only way they can do that is with an energy ceasefire or reduction of war effort.
(CROSSTALK)
RADDATZ: Was there ever one, because Russia and Ukraine didn't?
WRIGHT: President Trump is always working to move them in the direction to have that kind of a deal. That is the only way Russia would benefit from this reduction of sanctions, only on diesel exports, not on oil exports, not on any other Russian exports.
RADDATZ: So a carrot, no pressure right now. Why give Russia a carrot?
WRIGHT: Oh, a lot of pressure with the -- there have never been sanctions nearly as strong on Russia today as there -- as there is under the Trump administration. The Biden administration --
(CROSSTALK)
RADDATZ: But why a carrot? Why a carrot at this moment?
WRIGHT: Because four-and-a-half years into this war, a million-and-a-half casualties haven't brought an end to the war. President Trump isn't going to just throw up his arms and say, well, I guess we can never stop it. Look, the Biden administration was feckless here, had over $5 a gallon price of gasoline, and did nothing meaningful to end the war. Clearly, it's a tricky problem.
(CROSSTALK)
RADDATZ: That's about two years ago.
WRIGHT: But President Trump is working on it.
RADDATZ: President Trump has been president almost two years. I know you're making efforts to lower gas price and improve the economy, but voters don't appear to be buying that. In our poll, three-quarters of Americans rated the economy negatively and now say, they trust Democrats to handle the economy more than they trust Republicans, a flip from the poll in July and from our polls going back to 2022 where Republicans had the edge.
Voters are not happy about this. You know they are not happy about this, and how can anything possibly change before the midterms?
WRIGHT: Both gasoline and diesel prices peaked a few weeks ago. They've pulled back only slightly. We'd like them to pull back a lot more than they have. So your point is correct there, people are upset about high gasoline and diesel prices and we understand that. That's why we're working in all different avenues to address that problem.
The first refinery to be built in the United States in decades will go under construction next year. We're working with existing refineries to expand their throughput. In contrast, Martha -- in contrast, the Democrats for 15 years have done everything they can to make energy more expensive. They've closed coal plants. They've closed refineries.
Gavin Newsom has forced the closure of two refineries in the last 12 months.
RADDATZ: I just -- the Strait of Hormuz and the Iran War, you would admit, caused a lot of these problems.
WRIGHT: Absolutely. To prevent the Iranian regime from getting nuclear weapons, absolutely comes at a cost. The Iranian regime killed 30,000 to 40,000 of their own citizens in January. Since then, they've bombed every neighbor they have. Are you comfortable --
RADDATZ: I understand that.
WRIGHT: Are you comfortable with a nuclear-armed Iranian regime?
RADDATZ: I understand the point of stopping a nuclear weapon. That has not happened yet, and there's no end in sight at this point.
WRIGHT: It's a tricky problem. I appreciate tremendously the president's courage to end a long-term problem. Does it come with some short-term political pain? It does. But that's called leadership. President Trump wants to bring peace to the world and drive energy prices down. He works every single day for that.
To hear Democrats today, who for 15 years have striven to raise the price of energy, very successfully, I'll add. Gasoline and diesel are much more expensive in states governed by Democrats. Electricity is much more expensive in states governed by Democrats.
So their newfound love of low energy prices is a little politically disingenuous.
RADDATZ: I also want to go back to that poll where these voters are blaming the president for these energy costs. But we thank you for joining us this morning. Mr. Secretary, appreciate it.
WRIGHT: Thank you.
RADDATZ: Coming up, the extraordinary move by the Justice Department threatening to prosecute California election officials. Our Chief Justice Correspondent, Pierre Thomas, explains when we come back.
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RADDATZ: With the midterms just 16 days away, the Department of Justice is ramping up their pressure on states as part of their hunt for non-citizen voters, making a dramatic threat late Friday. Chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas has the latest.
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PIERRE THOMAS, CHIEF JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Late Friday, the Justice Department taking the extraordinary step of threatening Los Angeles election officials with criminal charges and prison if they don’t comply with its demands to hunt for non-citizens among state voters. DOJ was blunt, writing that if state officials knowingly count votes cast by suspected non-citizens, “they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.”
DOJ telling California officials to set aside more than 20,000 ballots for review, raising questions about whether ballots from those potential voters would be counted in the upcoming midterms.
President Trump has been closely watching it all, immediately amplifying DOJ’s threat Friday night on social media, saying if California officials don’t comply, “they will all go to jail for a long period of time.”
And it’s not just California in the crosshairs. The administration has also been claiming that Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada have thousands of non-citizen voters. Only New Jersey finding non-citizen voters.
MIKIE SHERRILL, (D) NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: This entire situation is unacceptable.
THOMAS (voice over): State officials said a glitch in its software registered more than 6,000 non-citizens to vote, less than 400 actually cast ballots.
ABC News getting a rare glimpse into how the administration’s unprecedented pressure campaign is unfolding, both in public and private, obtaining this recording of a recent video conference between Nevada election administrators and federal Homeland Security officials, including Heather Honey, who participated in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Nevada election officials appearing highly skeptical that the state had 15,903 non-citizens on state voter rolls as DHS had suggested.
C. MURPHY HEBERT, CHIEF DEPUTY, NEVADA SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE: So, what you’re saying is the 15,000 number is -- has not been vetted?
KIMBERLEY VOGT, DHS OFFICIAL: I probably wouldn’t use the sentence, it hasn’t been vetted.
THOMAS (voice over): Nevada officials telling ABC News that to date they’ve not found a single non-citizen voter based on the information provided by the Trump administration. With DHS previously telling ABC News, they stand by their numbers.
In one tense moment, a Nevada official explaining what’s at stake.
MARK WLASCHIN, NEVADA DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ELECTIONS: We also don’t want to, you know, inadvertently accuse a U.S. citizen of not being and then, you know, they’re terrified and disenfranchised.
THOMAS (voice over): The administration’s aggressive efforts come despite all recent credible studies concluding that voter fraud is not widespread and that non-citizen voting is rare and certainly not widespread enough to impact elections in any meaningful way.
CISCO AGUILAR, (D) NEVADA SECRETARY OF STATE: There is no widespread fraud in any election across America.
THOMAS (voice-over): That's Cisco Aguilar, the top election official in Nevada.
He called the administration's efforts pure intimidation. And his response to the threat of being jailed regarding non-citizens?
AGUILAR: This is just an effort to sow chaos into the election, to create confusion, but also to add a level of intimidation on election folks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
THOMAS: Martha, with the administration accusing some officials in key states of allowing conditions where non-citizens can vote, we appear headed to court battles in the final days of the election -- Martha.
RADDATZ: Pierre Thomas, thank you.
We'll get the roundtable's take on that and the barrage of money being spent. Will a major cash advantage help Republicans?
We're back in two minutes.
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KATIE ZACHARIA, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a president, an administration that is looking out for you, the American people. And I'm thrilled to officially be part of this incredible journey together. And with that, I will take your questions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: That was Tuesday.
By Friday, Press Secretary Katie Zacharia was out of a job.
We're back in two minutes with the roundtable.
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RADDATZ: And the roundtable is all here now. Former DNC Chair, Donna Brazile; The Washington Post, Dan Lamothe; ABC News Chief White House Correspondent, Mary Bruce; and National Review Editor, Ramesh Ponnuru. And I am going to start with you, Ramesh.
You've seen the polls. I don't know if you were surprised by those polls. You heard the voters in my piece with really some strong comments against President Trump. They were unhappy with him. You think this will really hurt in the midterms?
RAMESH PONNURU, NATIONAL REVIEW EDITOR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, I think no question. Midterm elections in modern America turn on opinions of the president. And this president has shed a lot of his supporters from 2024. They feel, and I think accurately feel, that he took them for granted.
They elected him on the basis of prices being too high. He said prices were going to come down. They haven't come down. In fact, inflation is about the same level it was at the end of the Biden administration, and they don't see Trump taking action or even really registering much concern about it.
RADDATZ: And Donna, they keep trying to take it back to Joe Biden. You heard the Energy Secretary there. But are you pretty confident about what you're seeing? Were you shocked by these numbers or no?
DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC CHAIR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I was surprised by these numbers. The reason why, two years ago, the American people wanted change, and they gave Donald Trump an opportunity to bring back the golden era. I mean, he used that term on election night in 2024.
Instead, what are they receiving? Higher prices at the gas pump, higher prices when you go out and buy groceries. We were talking in the green room, if you don't mind me telling our private conversation, about the price of chicken. I mean, yes, you can no longer afford to buy a whole chicken, and if you cut it up, you better make sure you get the best part of it, which is cheaper, which is dark meat.
OK, the prices are insane, and the American people are tired of it. They're tired of Trump's tariffs, Trump inflation, and Trump's forever wars.
RADDATZ: But Mary, you're at the White House every single day, and there's one person who's very confident about the midterms, thinking they're going to do great, and that is President Trump. And yet, you've seen where he has been campaigning in states that should be guaranteed.
MARY BRUCE, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and he does claim that these rallies that he's doing are helping to turn the tide for these embattled Republican candidates. I mean, he's traveling non-stop. He's out there blitzing these GOP strongholds, these seats that would have been considered safe, states that he won, but now where Republicans are playing defense.
But you know, I keep thinking back to some of the voters in your piece this morning, and the unease that comes across. And I think there's a real challenge, because the president, while he's getting out there and amping up the base, is he able to reach those voters that are feeling uncertain?
And so many of these candidates are now having to walk that fine line between trying not to alienate the president and his supporters, but also to reach those who are concerned about the price of chicken, the rising price of gas, who we know have the cost of living so front and center in their mind.
RADDATZ: And it really matters to voters.
BRUCE: And it really does. And you heard that Republican who you spoke to in Alaska who said he didn't know if the president's visit actually helped. But I will say this, you know, the president, while he is expressing confidence, he's also starting to lay the groundwork a little bit.
And I keep thinking back to something he said this week, where he said, quote, "I've won my election. I'm here whether we win this or not."
RADDATZ: Exactly. And Dan, when you look at him trying to appeal to the base, is that really, when you look at it, the only way they have a chance?
DAN LAMOTHE, WASHINGTON POST PENTAGON REPORTER: I mean, I think some of this is built on decisions that were made months ago. You know, you pick candidates, you endorse candidates, and then as it plays out and all the numbers are going in the wrong direction, it's too late now to really change course, significantly.
RADDATZ: Ramesh, let's talk about this Russia deal. When you look at that, again, you heard Chris Wright say it's complicated, it's complicated, it's not what you think, despite all the criticism he's getting. As our friend, Susan Glasser from “The New Yorker” said, Trump's October surprise is a pivot to Putin.
PONNURU: You know, the thing about it is the one concrete thing the administration has done, attempting to bring prices down, but it's pathetically small.
It's not going to deliver the kinds of results for prices or for the election that Republicans need.
RADDATZ: Certainly not before the election. Those 300,000 tons or --
PONNURU: But at the same time, it angers our allies. It strategically, and I think morally obtuse, and it just highlights the administration having the wrong priorities.
RADDATZ: Donna, what would your reaction to what the president did this weekend and those sanctions?
BRAZILE: It reeks of desperation. At a time when our allies in Europe are trying to basically hang in there to help the Ukrainian people, what is Donald Trump doing? Giving Mr. Putin a lifeline. Probably because Mr. Putin called him and was chummy, chummy, nicey-nice. And Mr. Zelenskyy is not so nice.
But the bottom line is he's alienating our allies. It's not going to help lower prices, diesel prices in the short term. I don't even think it'll happen in the long term. He has to end the war on Iran and get the strait reopen.
RADDATZ: And Dan, one big advantage, speaking of price or money or anything else, is Republicans have the money. Elon Musk gave $158 million to the Republican Senate funding group. That went towards Ken Paxton in Texas. In total, Musk has given $276 million in support for Republicans this cycle.
Talk about the importance of that money, where that go, what goes, what that does, what it means.
LAMOTHE: Yes. I mean, I think as we look at this money, I mean, it's a jaw-dropping sum, first of all. And second of all, how it resonates where you spend it. I mean, I think many of -- many of us have been watching, you know, football games and other things where, you know, we're watching a game that we're seeing local commercials for an entirely different state. And that's because there's so much money being spent --
RADDATZ: The voters say they're absolutely inundated by ads.
LAMOTHE: Yes.
RADDATZ: But they're kind of tuning them out in some ways.
LAMOTHE: I mean, I think at this point, a lot of voters can kind of see the playbook a bit. You know, this is years and years of discussion, years and years of, you know, Trump politics. We are potentially at the end of an era one way or the other within a couple of years, and this kind of looks like a significant sea change coming very shortly.
PONNURU: If you're worried about the price of chicken, campaign spending is not going to overcome that at all.
RADDATZ: It absolutely is not.
Mary, whether he says the confidence in the president, we've heard him, but he's also, as you sort of alluded to, saying, if they lose, if it is this giant blue wave, he's already figuring out who to blame, saying it's Karl Rove. It's whoever. He can turn the blame. It's Ken Paxton's fault, setting up for that. You've seen that?
BRUCE: Yes. Look, if the elections don't go his way, he's going to want someone to blame. And I think that's true of any president. So I don't think it's surprising that you're starting to get inklings of what that finger-pointing is going to look like. I think there is a real sense of unease in the West Wing right now. We saw a lot of speculation this week about his chief of staff. Susie Wiles is incredibly a devoted chief of staff.
The president says she's not eyeing the exits, that she's going to be there until the end. But I think it would be foolish to think there aren't changes that are going to be coming. And I do think you have to remember, you know, what this could look like if Democrats do win big in November. I mean, this administration could be facing a huge amount of oversight investigations that could be quite grueling and fierce.
And imagine what a lame-duck Donald Trump presidency could look like. I don't think we've ever seen anything like that before. Not to mention the underlying challenge that is driving up all of these costs. The war in Iran, there still is no way out of that. There is no clear path forward. And while the president insists that this is going to end and prices will come down shortly after the midterms --
(CROSSTALK)
RADDATZ: (INAUDIBLE) things over and over. Right? Yes.
BRUCE: It's not clear how. And that is still going to be a huge challenge.
BRAZILE: He's promising --
RADDATZ: That's right.
BRAZILE: He's promising every state a little bit of candy. It's like he's already opening up the trick or treat bag. In Kentucky the other day he said, hey, I'll give you – the DOD will give you another drug manufacturing. He's promising $5,000 to voters.
PONNURU: If they vote the right way.
BRAZILE: If they vote the right way, so they don't have anything to campaign on. That's the problem because the big, beautiful bill is not selling.
RADDATZ: And Ramesh, I want to ask you about this lawsuit. We just saw that report from Pierre Thomas about this lawsuit in California for possibly election officials who they claim are might be letting noncitizens in. What is this about?
PONNURU: Well, look, a two-day deadline before they file a lawsuit to say you've got to verify 20,000 voters or agree to sequester these votes. I mean, the two-day deadline does not smack of good faith. And the administration has a track record, and President Trump has a track record of baseless claims about elections and setting up excuses for when Republicans don't do well in elections.
I'm prepared to believe that California is not following best practices, but we have to look at the context of this administration's track record.
RADDATZ: Dan, I want to ask you something that happened this week. It began with Pete Hegseth and something you've covered for sure, that they will put to death Abdul Hassan in -- for the Fort Hood massacre by firing squad, a horrific crime, but Pete Hegseth said it would be live streamed. President Trump has come out and said, no, it will not. How did that -- how did that happen?
LAMOTHE: Yeah, I think that getting walked back was striking and the pushback was striking, not in just from places you expect to hear pushback to Secretary Hegseth at the Pentagon, but retired generals, many Republicans, and I think --
RADDATZ: Some of the survivors and yeah --
LAMOTHE: Yeah, and I think that speaks to an issue where a lot of Americans said this, how do we want to look? How do we think about ourselves? The polling on that would suggest eight out of ten Americans were against the live stream. I think even President Trump could read those numbers and say this is not something we need to do.
RADDATZ: Although in the beginning, he appeared to sort of side with Pete Hegseth, but put off that decision for now.
Thanks all of you. 16 days and counting, that's all is left, and we'll follow it every step of the way.
Coming up, a report on the dramatic protests in France. We'll be right back.
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RADDATZ: Before we go this Sunday, a look at the remarkable scene playing out overseas in France. Anger there over the cost of living, tens of thousands taking to the streets. Marcus Moore reports from Paris.
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MARCUS MOORE, ABC NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands taking to the streets across France this week, a protest that started with high school students now spiraling to more general concerns about the cost of living and France's future.
Saturday, the most violent day, with hundreds of demonstrators and police officers injured. Police clashing with protesters using tear gas and stun grenades. President Emmanuel Macron defending the right to protest and calling for calm. But saying vandals and looters will be punished, all the while calls for change are growing louder.
MOORE: Do you feel like you are making a difference?
ELISHKA LE TEXIER, PROTESTER: We are making a difference because we are a large group of people. We're like so many in the streets. And so the government can't say that they don't see us because we are here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: Our thanks to Marcus Moore. That's all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Check out "World News Tonight” and have a great day.
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