On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took questions from CNN's Kaitlan Collins.
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What Kaitlan Collins said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Kaitlan Collins interviewed Senator Elizabeth Warren about the reported Starlink disruption in Ukraine and Democratic midterm prospects. Warren said if Elon Musk unilaterally dictated foreign policy, it puts the U.S. at risk, and if Trump ordered it, that's another reason for a Democratic majority to constrain him. She claimed Musk contributed a third of a billion dollars to midterm elections to avoid scrutiny, and when Collins cited $276 million to Republicans, Warren called for getting money out of politics, including stopping corporate contributions. On Maine's Troy Jackson accepting billionaire donations, she dismissed it as a minor issue versus Republican outspending. She predicted Democrats would celebrate in two weeks, citing voter anger over costs and Trump's crypto profits.
Key takeaways
Warren says if Elon Musk dictated foreign policy it puts the U.S. at enormous risk
She cited Musk's third of a billion dollars in midterm contributions as a threat to security
Warren wants all billionaires out of politics, including Democrats like Bloomberg
She predicts Democrats will win in two weeks, with voters celebrating
She claimed Trump made $1.4 billion from his crypto scam alone
Well, partly we'd like to know exactly who is responsible for what happened. If it is one man, Elon Musk, who is dictating our foreign policy, then he puts the United States at enormous risk. He's the one who decides whether or not Ukraine out there fighting on the front lines to protect its democracy lives or dies. No, we should not have one man in that position. And if Donald Trump is the one who made this decision, then I will just say that's one more reason we need a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate so that we can actually put some constraints on Donald Trump, so that we can investigate and get to the bottom of this. Two more years of an unconstrained Donald Trump and two more years of an Elon Musk who does whatever he wants to do is going to be an America that's going to have a hard time surviving.
Well, I mean, the Wall Street Journal is reporting tonight that it was, they say, Elon Musk who ordered the Starlink slowdown that blindsided Ukraine. They said some US officials say Elon Musk acted unilaterally and that Trump did not specifically order any retribution against Ukraine. They also cited another person who says that he talked to senior administration officials, including the president, before imposing a new speed cap, which of course is what Ukraine says made it harder to evade Russian missiles. Do you think that there's any way that there could be restrictions to Starshield, which is this program, without the Pentagon knowing about it?
Well, this is the problem. Elon Musk wants to be able to run his outfit however he wants to run it. He wants billions of dollars in government contracts, and then Elon Musk wants to call all the shots. Now, look, he wants to sell equipment to the United States, then it's the United States government through its elected officials who make those decisions. But Elon Musk thinks that he's got a way to wire around that. He has already contributed a third of a billion dollars to these midterm elections, hoping that he can prop up just enough Republicans and Democrats that no one will challenge Elon Musk's ability to do whatever it is that Elon Musk wants to do. And I just got to say it again, that is a real threat to the security and safety of the United States of America.
Speaking of Elon Musk, we recently learned that he has contributed so far 276 million dollars to Republicans in these midterm elections alone. Also today, Michael Bloomberg's team detailed his plans to spend 80 million dollars to support Democrats. You're someone who has said billionaire donors should not be in politics. Given what you've said, do you want Michael Bloomberg's help here?
Look, what I want is to get this kind of money out of politics. Right now, the Republicans know that their only chance, as they see it, to be able to hang on to the House and the Senate and some of these governors' mansions is to be able to just drown people in money, to be able to run all the ads on TV, to lie, to cheat, and that there won't be any opportunity for Democrats to be able to respond. We need a very different system. And part of that is we can start by at least stopping corporate contributions to political campaigns, we could require much more aggressive and immediate disclosures. Look, we need to push back because this campaign, this 2026 midterm, really is about the money or the people. Because the Democrats have got the people on their side, the Republicans have got the money, and they think if they can spend it, they can maintain control of this country, and I sure hope they're wrong.
Troy Jackson is the Democrat who's running against Susan Collins in Maine. This is what he said last week. A report that was subsequently released by his campaign shows he has accepted donations from at least four billionaires. I mean, he says there are no billionaires funding me. Do you think that he needs to address that contradiction?
7 more exchanges in this transcript
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Collins, K. (2026, October 21). WATCH: CNN's Kaitlan Collins Grills Elizabeth Warren Over Democrats Chances In Midterms [Interview transcript]. Forbes Breaking News. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3134517/
MLA
Kaitlan Collins. "WATCH: CNN's Kaitlan Collins Grills Elizabeth Warren Over Democrats Chances In Midterms." Forbes Breaking News, 21 Oct. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3134517/.
BibTeX
@misc{collins2026_3134517,
author = {Kaitlan Collins},
title = {WATCH: CNN's Kaitlan Collins Grills Elizabeth Warren Over Democrats Chances In Midterms},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Forbes Breaking News. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {oct},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3134517/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
