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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Jury Deadlocked After Day Five Of Deliberations In Clancy Trial; Trump Floats Renaming Strait Of Hormuz After Himself; Tiger Woods Reaches Plea Deal On Lesser Charge After Dui Arrest; Tariff Refund Improving Business For Clothing Brand Founder. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 02, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:00:29]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Just how long will jury deliberations go? The Lead starts right now. Courtroom tension five days and still no verdict in the Lindsay Clancy trial. Ahead, the anxiety and drama as the judge pushes the jury for a unanimous decision while outside the court, a chaotic scene leads to a woman facing charges.

Plus a border crisis prompting protests tonight, crowds pushing back weeks after the dramatic video of immigrants overwhelming a small town. And 62 days before the midterms, the new campaign ad featuring a Republic Republican not even on the ballot. Yes, that would be President Donald J. Trump.

Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper. We begin with breaking news in our Law and Justice Lead and the drama at the Massachusetts courthouse where Lindsay Clancy's fate is up to 12 jurors. The judge today making a last ditch effort to break the deadlock and avoid a mistrial. Around 2:15 Eastern this afternoon, jurors once again said they could not reach a unanimous decision on whether Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her three children in 2023.

The judge then read the jury the so called Tuey-Rodriguez charge instructions urging jurors to reconsider their positions and continue working toward a unanimous verdict. They deliberated for another 90 minutes before going home at 4:00 p.m. Deliberations, which have lasted more than 29 hours, will now head into day six. And while that debate goes on inside the courthouse, there was drama today outside.

Take a look here. That's dawn light you see on your screen in the spot shadow running from reporters. She's now charged with intimidating jurors in the Clancy trial. Police arrested the 56-year-old Tuesday after prosecutors accused her of filming jurors as they left the courthouse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE PIACENTINI, ASSISTANT DA, PLYMOUTH COUNTY: She let troopers get the phone and go through her deleted photos. In the deleted folders file, they did locate a video of a number of individuals coming out of the courthouse building. State police then spoke with court officers who were then able to confirm that those individuals in those videos were the jurors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now Light's attorneys dispute this, calling the incident a, quote, "complete misunderstanding," saying the retired nurse was trying to take a picture of Lindsay Clancy and never intended to interact with jurors. Light pleaded not guilty. The judge released her without bail and ordered her to stay away from the courthouse and make no contact with jurors in the Clancy case.

Let's get right to CNN Legal Correspondent Jean Casarez outside the courthouse in Massachusetts. Also with me, attorney Dina Doll and former prosecutor Mimi Rocah.

Jean, as my singular and exclusive Sherpa on this trial where there are a lot of voices weighing in on a lot of things, walk us through what happened today.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Phil, it has been quite a day, just as you outlined right there. First of all, the jury, the most important part of all, this morning they came in and remember they had left a note yesterday saying that they could not become unanimous on any verdict in this case. But they came back today. They -- all day they're deliberating, right? So it's like, wow, they're really deliberating.

Early afternoon, another note, second note saying we've really tried. We cannot reach a unanimous verdict in this case. And that is when that Tuey-Rodriguez charge was given to the jury. It is based on case law in Massachusetts. The Tuey case from the 1800s, the Rodriguez case from 1973.

It is very, very particular. The judge must read it word for word saying keep an open mind, think about what your fellow jurors are saying. So they went back. They actually said they wanted to stay till 4:00 today. But I can tell you that our producer in the courtroom watched them as they came into the courtroom at 4:00 p.m. they were exhausted.

They looked wiped out. They looked just absolutely like zombies as they walked in. Do you know it's a week ago tomorrow that they started deliberating? Tomorrow it will be a week. But they're coming back tomorrow morning, 9:00 sharp.

MATTINGLY: Yes, 29 hours. This will be day six that we're heading into.

Dina, on the Tuey-Rodriguez charge, I've been trying to figure out what kind of impact does -- there's no enforcement mechanism. There's nothing that triggers anything related to reading it by -- based on my very non lawyerly read of it up to this point. What is the sense of whether or not it will push for jurors to actually reach a verdict here?

[17:05:06]

DINA DOLL, ATTORNEY: That's a really great question. I mean I think he reminded them of their duty. And it says specifically there will not be other jurors who can come to a decision as well, like, this is your duty. But at the end of the day, if somebody really strongly believes in an acquittal or a conviction, that alone probably isn't enough to change their mind. But it does -- there's a specific part of that charge that says if everybody else thinks one way but you think the other, maybe you should reconsider how reasonable your belief is.

So I do think it's a kind of a philosophical direction that maybe can help people think about a problem in a different way. But at the end of the day, this is a really big decision, whether or not to acquit somebody of a crime like this that is being alleged or to put them, you know, behind bars or some in between with a hospital that most likely, depending on where they stand, that will not be enough.

MATTINGLY: Yes. Mimi, as the judge read the jury this Tuey-Rodriguez charge, Clancy's defense attorney appeared to kind of rub his face, bite his finger before clasping his hands and looking down. I have no idea what that means. Can't read his mind. But give people a sense of what would be going through the minds of the defense and the prosecution at this stage.

MIMI ROCAH, FORMER DISTRICT ATTORNEY, WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y.: I mean, it's an incredibly tense, fraught time. There is very few things that are as stressful as waiting for a jury to be out. And part of that is when you just have absolutely no idea what they're thinking. But now they do know, and what they know has got to be weighing on them. I mean, I think Clancy's attorney has made very clear that for her to go through this trial again is going to be really incredibly difficult.

And I'm sure that he seems to really feel for her, and it's going -- it's -- that alone is weighing on him and the prosecutors, the idea of, you know, having to ramp up and do this all over again, and it doesn't look like they won't if they have that choice before them.

MATTINGLY: Jean, you've done such great work over the course of the last few days, few weeks, to give people a window to what's going on outside the courthouse. We've seen and heard from Clancy supporters from outside the courthouse. What was the scene like there today?

CASAREZ: There were more supporters there today. It was a really filled courtyard, I would say, right outside the courthouse. People are definitely waiting. They want to know what is happening. But while they were outside waiting for a verdict, Dawn Light, who is a retired nurse, was charged with one count, as you said, Phil, of intimidation or harassment of the jury. And this started yesterday. Jury was excused at 3:30, 3:40 is when she was taken into custody because of allegedly trying to get close to the jury. And her attorney is saying no, she wanted to see Lindsay Clancy. But I think it is interesting that this is a retired nurse that is now facing 20 years in prison because it is very, very serious if you intrude on a jury at all during the points of time where they are deliberating.

MATTINGLY: Dina, one of the things I was wondering, is this a sideshow that could affect the jurors? Like, do they have visibility in any of this?

DOLL: Well, that's exactly something that if she is convicted, will certainly be on appeal. You know, she's being arrested here for jury interference. Whether or not the jurors, you know, felt intimidated to come up with a conviction, if that is the case. I mean, every little, you could say, error that happens along the way is something that a defense attorney will use on appeal. There's already really this high profile attention on there on this case.

And if there's a conviction and we ever talk to the jurors, you know, that it's going to come into play. But also here you have this concrete example now on the record of perhaps them being videotaped peers that that was, that would be the basic part of an appeal, for sure.

MATTINGLY: Mimi, to that point, like the tension here is kind of all- consuming at this point. How do you see the impact of this outside drama, if there is any?

DOLL: Yes. I mean, people have said to me -- oh.

ROCAH: I'm not sure --

MATTINGLY: Go ahead, Mimi.

ROCAH: I'm not sure that the jury is, you know, so aware to that. I mean, I think the tension that they are feeling, which is real, is inside that jury room, based on the descriptions that we've heard of what they look like. I do just want to point out, though, that, you know, we don't know what the split is, right? And that is going to be important if there is a hung jury. I mean, there still is the possibility of a verdict one way or the other.

I think it looks less and less likely every day, every hour that goes by, but you never know. But if there is a hung jury, it will be very informative to know was it one person holding out and which way, you know, was it half and half? And the prosecution is going to have to take that into account when they learn that, which they will, in deciding, you know, how to go forward if there is indeed a hung jury. But it sounds like it is just incredibly understandably, you know. I mean, this is an emotionally draining case, even after one day of deliberations, let alone this long.

[17:10:40]

So the tension, though, seems to all be inside that jury room.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it's a really great point. I really appreciate your time, your expertise. Thanks to you -- to you all.

Well, here in Washington, tonight's White House mood will be all about the upcoming midterms if the weather holds. Trump is set to host dinner in the Rose Garden for several Republicans facing competitive races. What he's already saying about one of the most controversial Republicans in a hot Senate race, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Plus the worry about what's arguably the most important financial market. It's not even arguably. It is the most important financial market in the world. Why it has so many experts on edge and how it could affect your own bank account.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:31]

MATTINGLY: In the morning we take a look at the Dow, S&P, Nasdaq closing numbers. You see some green. They're all rising today as the U.S. Treasury yields started tick down a little bit from high that's been putting pressure on the market. However, this week, last week before that too, investors around the world have been selling off those government bonds at a way faster rate than usual. Prices are dropping, which means yields are going higher and by extension, things like mortgage rates, they're hitting recent highs, all from a host of factors converging all at once.

Now if what I just said sounds like pig Latin to you, don't worry. When we were discussing this plan this morning, I said it will take me an hour to explain it the way I do. Call in Dave Goldman who can actually explain this for normal human beings in a coherent and precise manner.

So Dave, can you give us a quick explainer about what the bond market is and what's contributing to this global sell off?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, we'll see how easy this explanation is. So I brought in a scale. I got some props for you today. Think of the bond market like a scale. OK?

So when you lend money to the government, you're going to want a return on that investment. And that's what we call the yield. So the price of the bond we're going to be representing here with this scale here. And the yield is the other side of that scale. You can think of it like an old balance scale.

And my example, we've got the little pointy thing here, right, it goes up and down. So a lot of things are weighing down on the price. So we've got all of that government borrowing and you've got a lot of AI spending competing with the government borrowing and you've got inflation coming back and you can see that yield is coming all the way down to the other side. It's much, much higher now. And so your question is probably going to be, well, what do we do about this? Well, to combat inflation, the Federal Reserve wants to raise rates probably maybe this month, maybe in another six weeks. But, you know, getting that down to 2 percent, I don't really know what the current plan is for that. It's going to be very difficult because if you raise rates, the obstacle is going to be, you know, how does the government start spending, you know, in a fiscally responsible way, reducing that $40 trillion in debt that we have. That's a really, really difficult thing.

This is not a problem that's easily solved.

MATTINGLY: Yes. It's a sense of skepticism implicit in what you're saying, that we can grow our way out of it. As Scott Bessent said of the $40 trillion debt during the G20 finance ministers meeting.

OK. So for, again, targeting the normal people here who now understand what the bond market is and why yields and prices go in opposite directions, what kind of problems could what we're seeing pose for people at home and their money?

GOLDMAN: Yes, well, this yield, right, that is a benchmark. So the 10- year Treasury yield is, it influences rates that you care about, your mortgage rate, namely, but also credit cards and your auto loans. So when the 10-year Treasury yield goes higher, so to do those rates, and that's why your mortgage rate, which was below 3 percent during the pandemic, it's now closing in on 7 percent.

MATTINGLY: It is extremely important. Dave Goldman, your ability to explain these things is an absolute godsend. Your ability to have small bags of money that you stole from the Hamburglar, I think that are perfectly sized for your props. I have nothing but good things to say.

Dave Goldman, appreciate you, buddy. Thank you.

GOLDMAN: Thanks, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Well, after renaming Lake Ontario, President Trump has a suggestion to rename another body of water. But was it a joke? We're asking the panel next.

[17:19:22]

Also a migrant crisis and protesters pushing their government to do more. We're on the ground with crowds making their demands.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: News in our World Lead, you're looking at massive protests today in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, one of hundreds across Spain as the country and the European Union grapple with an exploding migrant crisis and deep divisions over to handle that crisis. A month ago, more than 70,000 people coming from Morocco rushed the shore. Some were trampled, others drowned. Thousands of migrants are still there. CNN's Clarissa Ward is in Ceuta among the protesters today. CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thousands and thousands of people have taken to the streets of this relatively small city of Ceuta. Just 84,000 people actually live here. And so many of them are out tonight to demonstrate just how fed up they are with this crisis. You probably remember it was just over a month ago that more than 70,000 migrant came in from the border with Morocco, the majority of them returned to Morocco, but the Spanish government says at least 5,000 migrants still remain. The local authorities here say the real number is actually 9,000.

[17:25:09]

As many as 9,000 migrants, including more than a thousand unaccompanied minors, which creates huge problems for a small community like this in terms of feeding them, housing them. A lot of these migrants are seeking rough in makeshift shelters on the beaches. And people live. You can hear it. They are saying enough is enough.

You see over and over again the slogan Ceuta is not for sale. Ceuta will defend itself. They want Spain and the government to take the initiative to bring this crisis to a rapid end.

MATTINGLY: Clarissa Ward, thank you for that on the ground reporting.

Well, also in the World Lead, on this date, September 2, 2025, the Trump administration launched its first strike on suspected drug boats. It's a story we've covered extensively here on The Lead. To date, the U.S. military has destroyed some 70 vessels, killing at least 227 people. The most recent just this past Friday. The U.S. says it took out a, quote, "floating refueling station" for other narco boats.

Beforehand, U.S. military members boarded the vessel, removed the crew and escorted them to Ecuador.

Well, to our Politics Lead, President Donald Trump's renamed bodies of water spree is now potentially extending to the Middle East. Today on Truth Social he wrote, quote, "Now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to Trump Strait? Like America itself, it would be hotter than ever before." This of course follows Trump recently changing Lake Ontario to Lake America, which Trump says both Google and Apple Maps have now recognized. Last year, of course, he changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

But the President's Trump Strait proposition comes as the U.S. and Iran again traded more strikes last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We blew up much more than their radar last night. It was a -- it was a very heavy attack last night and we're prepared to do another one anytime we want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The panel is here to discuss. And Jonah, I don't feel like this is necessarily the most important element of the now hot conflict that has reengaged in the Middle East. However, the renaming policy spree thing, who does that play to?

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think plays to him. I think he thinks it's really cool. I think it's of a piece with the Kennedy Center stuff and the ballroom things and, you know, it's -- he's sort of in a mode where he's just falling back on the more cowbell for everything, right. And so I think its impact on the Iranians doesn't matter. They're going to be stay as pissed as they're going to be.

But I think it's these kind of little things that breakthrough for, like, the midterms that make it harder when he's doing these ads, trying to get his favorability up and people say, well, isn't he spending all his time renaming -- trying to rename the Gulf, you know, straight a Hormuz and all these things after himself? I just think it's a bad look.

MATTINGLY: Ashley, again, the name thing is just not the thing that I fixate on, as much as I know that's what we should definitely be focused on as opposed to policy issues. The actual conflict itself has reengaged, I think, in earnest over the course of the last 72 hours, which even if the president wants to talk about renaming the strait, that puts the strait in a much worse place than it had been. We talked to Shermichael and I talked about this the other -- a couple days ago. The U.S. was finally in a bit of a more power and leverage position than it had been in months. Where does this go?

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, VP HARRIS: I mean, that's the question everyone's been asking the president for months. I mean, he said at the beginning of this conflict that it was only going to be a matter of weeks. And now we are in a matter -- now we're months into this conflict, and it's cost the American people $87 billion from higher gasoline prices to higher energy prices. The American people are hurting. And to Jonah's point, that's exactly why the Republicans want this whole thing to be over quickly, as quickly as possible, because they understand that more than 65 percent of the nation thinks that we're not winning this war, that it wasn't worth the effort, and that they're suffering the consequence of what now looks like a vanity project on the part of the president.

I'm not even clear or sure what the main objectives are and whether or not we're going to achieve them. And that's the same question that the American people are asking.

MATTINGLY: Shermichael, when you talk to Republicans on the Hill, it's -- what I find interesting at this point is, you know, to that point, nobody's really sure at this point, like people just want to end, right? Even hawks, folks who are dead set, were totally supportive of the objectives. They certainly want what the initial objectives were.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I did.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

SINGLETON: One of the very few people -- MATTINGLY: One hundred percent --

SINGLETON: -- defending this on air.

MATTINGLY: But at this point, it's just like people are tired and fed up and have races to run. Political --

SINGLETON: And reality set in --

MATTINGLY: -- constituents were frustrated.

SINGLETON: Yes, look, political reality set in. I think everyone wants it to end. And if I'm being honest, I think even the president wants it to end. He looks at the same polls as everyone else. Tony Fabrizio, his chief strategist, has given the President and the White House a number of assessments on the risks and vulnerabilities that this presents for the overall party and our majority in the House, but also the challenges it presents in the Senate.

[17:30:19]

However, I will say we have neutralized, or we are neutralizing, Iran's ability to continue to use the Strait as a force, a non- military force, to increase prices in the U.S., to restrict global economy, to restrict trade, and I think that's important. Now, does that ultimately get us to the end goal of resolving this issue in the immediacy, to Ashley's point? No, but I do believe that it is a crucial and necessary step to trying to bring the Iranians back to the table to figuring out what part two of this looks like, and I don't think that's going to happen in weeks or months. That could be a next- year thing, and that's just a reality that we're all going to have to accept.

MATTINGLY: Yes, a reality that's also framed by the strait was open prior to all of this. Supportive of the objectives or not, that was the baseline.

ETIENNE: This has just been a colossal incompetency on the part of the President. It has weakened the hand of our American military. You've got military members who are over there dying. You've got a situation where at the lowest point we've ever been with our munition. We've got more than two dozen senior military officials who've left, who've been fired. I mean we're going this alone. We're turning off our allies. So it's not just a political consequence for this nation, but it's also a consequence for our military and our standing in the world.

SINGLETON: In terms of national security, Ashley, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but how we leave and resolve this, I think absolutely matters. We can't just leave the Iranians in a much stronger position than we were.

No, I would agree with that, and I think a part of the calculus for the administration has got to be to figure this out. Look, I said that allowing the Iranians to shut off the Strait of Hormuz whenever they want is literally allowing them to be a quasi-superpower. They don't have nuclear capabilities, but they understand that they can literally freeze the entire global economy whenever they want, and so leaving abruptly, we can't do that because you still allow them to have and maintain that power.

That means Iran is more dangerous, and so the President has to figure out how do you navigate this in such a way while keeping them in a weaker position than a stronger one.

MATTINGLY: It is a complex reality.

SINGLETON: Oh, absolutely.

MATTINGLY: There's no question about that. It's also happening, of course, in the sprint to the midterms, where you have a U.S. Senate race in Texas that is much closer, I think, than Republicans wanted. I think they probably expected it when they figured out John Cornyn was going to lose, but it's still much closer.

In some polls, Democrat James Talarico has a narrow lead over Republican Ken Paxton, the state's attorney general, who's got a rather long list of scandals. Listen to what President Trump said today about Paxton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some people, I'll be honest, some people don't like an interview that he'll do or something, you know. The bottom line is he was a phenomenal attorney general. He may have been the best attorney general in the whole country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without question.

TRUMP: And, you know, some people don't like things about him, but he was the best there is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: We all laugh, because, like, you know what Trump means when he says some people don't like things about him. Not the most, I mean, clearly supportive of him and supportive of him against Cornyn. I'm fascinated to see what the White House, what his political operation, what his money does in this race in the next 60 days.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I mean, you're getting a real, I mean, that's the most positive I've heard, messaging I've heard for Paxton in months. I mean, seriously, it really is.

MATTINGLY: That is true.

ETIENNE: That is not true.

GOLDBERG: It's the web of lies. But the interesting thing is, like, earlier, I saw another clip on CNN earlier today of Trump saying that we will never have another Republican president again, America will go to hell if we lose the Senate, that's why we have to support Paxton. You had Ted Cruz have a sort of vein-popping tantrum with Laura Ingraham the other night, saying everybody is bellyaching about Paxton needs to just shut up and get with the program. And what this reveals is that the underlying problem Paxton has is not that he can't win Democrats or that big Democrats are going to come in.

There are more than enough Republicans in the state of Texas to elect Paxton. It's that a huge number of them don't want to vote for him, and they won't show up, they'll leave his line blank, they'll just stay home. You're not going to get a lot of Republicans or right- leaning independents to cross over for Talarico. They're just going to be so disgusted with Paxton, and they're just, I'm just not going to do it.

MATTINGLY: Yes, and I think the fascinating thing right now is --

ETIENNE: It's Talarico.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it's been the Republicans who, it's now weeks after the primary, the runoff ended, who are still not seeing people come home. And I think the expectation was, well, it's Texas, like people will come home. And I think that's where you're seeing some of the anxiety. Ashley, I want to ask you about this because I've been trying to figure it out throughout the course of the day.

And that's what happened in Tarrant County, Texas. It's right next door to Dallas, third largest county in the state of Dallas. Officials just approved a plan to cut 92 polling stations. Battleground County in Texas, includes Fort Worth. I still haven't really figured out exactly what the rationale is yet. What's your read on it?

[17:35:07]

ETIENNE: Yes. The rationale is voter suppression. I mean, it is really that simple. I don't think anyone in the state of Texas, I was just on the phone with a Texas legend and we were talking about this race and no one's surprised at what happened, the polling locations being closed. That particular judge has said in the past, you know, I quote, if you're a Republican elected official and you're not being called to races, you're not doing something right.

So he's always been hostile toward black and brown voters. So this is an intentional play to suppress the vote in Tarrant County. We saw a similar situation happen during the Democratic primary and it actually backfired on Republicans. During the Democratic primary, when they closed the polling locations, there was still record turnout of Democratic primary voters. So folks on the ground are feeling like, hey, this is not ideal. We were not surprised by this. We're prepared, but this could very well backfire on Republicans.

MATTINGLY: On the phone with a Texas legend. You were talking to Beyonce.

ETIENNE: I wish. I wish.

MATTINGLY: Shermichael, we talk about this every time you and I are on together, gut check me on kind of what your read is right now of this race. SINGLETON: Yes. Look, I think Jonah's overall assessment of Republicans being worried and concerned about some slippage is a real reality. However, the expectation is once we start to dump money in the Texas, you get your ads up and going, you can scale the hell out, scale, scare the hell out of enough Republicans about Talarico that they're going to vote for him, Jonah, vote for Paxton that is regardless, because of some very real concerns about some of his religious pronouncements, his cultural pronouncements, some of his views on immigration that more normal Republicans may say, you know, I don't like Kim Paxton, but I certainly don't want a senator who believes these things representing my state. That said, I think the vulnerability for Talarico remains black voters, particularly black men.

Ashley and I have talked about this ad nauseum. You have 34 percent who voted for Trump in 2024. Now, I'm not saying those same numbers will vote for Kim Paxton, but what percent decides to vote for Kim Paxton? What percent decides to stay home? And mathematically, what does that do to Talarico's coalition, which appears to me to be a Hispanic centric first strategy in bringing in enough black people to sort of consume or build his numbers to get him across the finish line.

I'm just not convinced, though, that you can get enough black voters to vote for this guy to get him to the victory, which is why I ultimately believe Ken Paxton will win, albeit by slim margins.

ETIENNE: But this is why it's going to backfire, because you're going to energize black voters because they're going to feel like there's an effort to suppress their vote.

SINGLETON: For Talarico, you think?

ETIENNE: No, I mean, no one's going to sit back and let Republicans suppress their vote.

SINGLETON: Oh, I don't disagree with that.

MATTINGLY: Next time, we're just hitting this conversation between the two of you. I like your reaction. Jonah and I are just going to hang out.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: On the phone with Beyonce. Thank you, guys. I appreciate you, as always.

[17:37:50]

Well, what President Trump said today about Tiger Woods after the golf giant appeared in court pleading no contest to a reduced DUI charge. Ahead, the bigger discussion about older athletes dependent on medication years after competing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I know Tiger very well. He's a great guy. He's unique in so many ways, especially as an athlete, but also as a man. You know, he suffers great pain. He's going to have somebody drive him from now on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: In the sports lead, President Trump reacting this afternoon to Tiger woods no contest plea to a reckless driving charge. Woods will have his driver's license suspended for five years after a rollover crash back in March. The golf legend, after initially pleading not guilty to a DUI misdemeanor charge, made a deal with prosecutors.

Now joining me now is sports psychologist Dr. Jarrod Spencer. Dr. Spencer, this is Tiger Woods third crash, second time that woods has faced a DUI charge and had it downgraded to a reckless driving charge. To step back a little bit because I feel like this is an important conversation to have. What leads someone like him, former star athlete ending up in such a similar situation time and again after that?

DR. JARROD SPENCER, SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, while Tiger is special on some occasions, the reality is this isn't just a pro athlete problem. This is a pervasive problem. We've got a situation in America where there are a lot of individuals struggling with the emotional health and well-being. You accompany that with some physical pain and consequently that's going to lead eventually to possible self- medication. So this is a pervasive problem. Look at any community in any high school in America and people will say, I know somebody in a situation that may not be exactly like Tigers, but similar in some way.

MATTINGLY: That's a really good point. You know, after that DUI charge in 2017, in addition to 12 months probation, a fine and community service, Woods had to attend DUI school and attend victim impact workshops to get the reckless driving charge expunged. Today, license suspended for five years. Here's what the judge said when that was handed down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE DARREN STEELE, FLORIDA 19TH DISTRICT COURT: Sir, I want you to understand that five years of driving is for the safety of the public. There are no exceptions. If you were to drive for any reason at all, you would go immediately back to jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: I read off what he had to do prior because I think the question is what other types of support do you think someone like Woods needs to have in place to keep him accountable and to help him through this in the future?

STEELE: Well, this issue really speaks to mental health support in America. And if we're being really candid and real about this, look, we need more mental health professionals at every middle school in America. But even when it comes to high capacity professionals like Tiger, the truth is there are not enough skilled professionals at that level that can really understand the psychological challenges that accompany somebody like him, you know, fames, success, money. These things bring unique psychological challenges that even very few professionals can understand.

[17:45:17]

And so my point here is that Tiger isn't alone in saying I need more support. I need better support. I need more specific individuals that can help me in unique ways with the psychological challenges he's having, because obviously this has been a repetitive thing. And if nothing changes, nothing changes. It's my sincere hope, while I don't know Tiger personally, that he gets that help.

MATTINGLY: Yes, certainly share that hope. At the same time, the day before this happened today, football star Tony Romo recently pleaded no contest to a civil charge of OWI operating while intoxicated. He wrote on Instagram, I own this completely. Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than I expected and left me with constant debilitating pain. That pain led to dependence on pain medication and my efforts to get off those medications led to an over-reliance on alcohol. How common is substance abuse for former professional athletes dealing with pain?

STEELE: Well, it's way more common than we think because really pain is the body's physiological signal that something's wrong and really need a medical care. But suffering is the mind's interpretation of that pain signal. And so for a lot of athletes that have retired, that are starting with chronic pain, they're in a lot of suffering, that psychological interpretation, how does this affect my ego? If I used to be able to be a star athlete, now I can't even run, or I have trouble picking up my kids.

And so the suffering, the emotional toll of the pain is a really important factor. And here's one reason why. Sleep is the number one factor in mental health. And when you have chronic pain, that's often accompanied by sleep disruptions. And that leads to anxiety, fear of the unknown, depression, hurt held inward, and then they get down that slippery slope where it can get unraveling pretty quick.

MATTINGLY: Dr. Jarrod Spencer, really important conversation, really appreciate your expertise. Thanks so much.

SPENCER: Always a pleasure.

MATTINGLY: Well, up next, the follow-up. We're catching up with a small business that took a hit from Trump's global tariffs. How is that company doing now after refunds were given out?

Plus, will there be consequences for two Democrats who crossed party lines to help Republicans? We heard from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries today. Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:54]

MATTINGLY: It's time for our Business Leaders series, where we talk with small business owners about how President Trump's tariffs are impacting them. Nearly a month after Trump's Liberation Day in April last year, we spoke with Steven Borelli, the founder and CEO of CUTS Clothing. He voted for the President, but told us Trump's tariffs were putting stress on his online retail business.

Let's catch up with him now, because it's been a year plus, sometimes feels like a lot longer. Steven, since we last spoke, were you able to take advantage of the program put in place to give out refunds?

STEVEN BORRELLI, FOUNDER & CEO, CUTS CLOTHING: Yes. Cuts, we've received about half of our refunds so far, and it's been such a blessing after such a hard year. Last year, tariffs, we were hit hard. We lost nearly 20 percent of gross margin. But I told the team out of the get-go, we're not going to be victims. We're not going to blame President Trump. Business, sometimes things change. And fast forward a year, we're having one of our best years yet. And to get that tariff refund, it's been huge for us to have more cash and to be able to reinvest it into the business.

MATTINGLY: Given the year that you've been through, first off, it's great news. I can't be more thrilled that you're in a better place now. Your ability to plan, to look forward into the future, which is such a necessity for any small business owner, have you been able to rebuild the losses, replace workers that you had to lay off, lower prices? How are you thinking through next quarter, the quarter after that?

BORRELLI: Yes. So one of the things we learned last year was to have diversity in our supply chain. So we moved away from the high tariff countries into other countries. The big thing originally was we just needed consistency in the tariff plan. So now that we've had that, the business from a supply chain level has never been better. And then the staff, one of the cool things going through the tariffs was we had to cut our staff by 50 percent.

And then we had to think creatively. Our old VP of marketing became our VP of product. And there's a lot of efficiencies we gained with that because he was closer to the customer. And now he's leading the product team, and it's leading to a lot of innovation. So tariffs put a lot of pressure on the business, but we learned how to operate within those uncertainties, and it's made us much stronger moving forward.

MATTINGLY: It is positively remarkable to listen to how small business owners are able to make things work in moments and times when it seems absolutely impossible. I certainly wouldn't be able to do it. One of the things that I've often wondered since you were first on, the tariffs obviously had a drastic impact on you and other entrepreneurs. As your business enters this place, are you still a supporter of the President?

BORRELLI: Yes, absolutely. One of the things I learned in this process was sometimes when new laws and regulations come out, it wasn't about cuts. President Trump had a plan, and he was carrying out that plan, and it didn't affect our business positively, but I wasn't going to throw away my support for him just because it hurt our business in the short term. I still believe in the President's plan long-term, and I'm a happy supporter of his.

[17:55:03]

MATTINGLY: Steven Borrelli, I couldn't be happier to hear your company's doing much better at this point in time. I really appreciate your time sharing your story. The business is CUTS Clothing. I highly recommend. Steven Borrelli, thank you, my friend. Appreciate it.

BORRELLI: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, all eyes on two Democrats who voted to help Republicans. Was it a party defection, or were they simply voting their conscience? I'll ask a House Democrat who voted with his party next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper this hour. With just 62 days until the midterms, you think Democrats would be laser focused on taking the House and Senate back from Republicans. Instead, the night Democrats are fighting amongst themselves trying to decide whether to punish two of their own for crossing party lines. How big of a problem is this really for the elections and maybe after?

[17:59: 59]

Plus, the jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial once again telling the judge they're deadlocked and cannot come to an agreement. But the judge has given them a special final instruction to see if they can reach a verdict. CNN's --