Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

A.I. Goes Rogue and Hacks Company's System; Trump Attends Dignified Transfer for Four U.S. Soldiers Killed in War; Trump Vows to Hit Bridges, Power Plants if Iran Strikes in Strait; Sources Say Trump Approves Nuclear Deal With Saudi Arabia; Today, 25 Percent Tariffs on Brazilian Imports Take Effect; Grisly Details Revealed in Murder Case Against Singer D4vd. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 22, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:56]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A historic agreement. CNN is learning the U.S. has cut a major nuclear deal that is sending shockwaves throughout the Middle East. But it's not with Iran, it's with Saudi Arabia. We have new details straight ahead.

Plus, new tariffs going into effect today on imported goods from Brazil as Americans are already facing high prices and tight wallets. Then later, A.I. goes rogue. OpenAI says a combination of its advanced models hacked into another company's system all on their own.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Honoring America's fallen heroes. Just last hour, President Trump and top government officials paid their respects during a dignified transfer of the four U.S. service members killed over the weekend in the war with Iran.

Here are their faces and their names. 25-year-old Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, who was looking forward to getting married. Private Isabella Gonzales, who was the youngest, just 19-years-old. Sergeant Angel Rompersad, who was 28 and from New York. And 30-year-old Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton. His mom says that his wife and two kids were the center of his world.

Before the transfer, the president, on social media, threatened to destroy civilian targets in Iran if new strikes happen in the Strait of Hormuz. But also rattling the region today are reports of a new nuclear deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. CNN's Nic Robertson is live for us in Jerusalem with more on this.

Nic, what's the reaction been to this agreement?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, there's been some concern expressed here in Israel for several reasons. One is that, you know, in the words of a former defense chief here, that this is ultimately going to lead to a nuclear weapon. A retired general said that this is a dangerous reality.

Why are they saying that? They're saying that because the deal gives Saudi Arabia, appears to as far as we know so far, appears to give Saudi Arabia the right to enrich uranium itself for its own civilian nuclear power plants. And it also has limited oversight. That's in comparison to sort of the standard deals that countries that are moving over to nuclear power get.

They generally get their enriched uranium from outside. It's given to them. And there's inspections and oversight from the International Atomic Energy Agency. So the concern is that Saudi Arabia could, at some point in the future, that's a concern in Israel, then use their knowledge, use this equipment to do what Iran has done in the past, which is develop medium, highly enriched uranium and then go on a pathway to make a bomb.

I think when you take one big step back here and look at it, Saudi Arabia has already a defense treaty, a military treaty with Pakistan. Pakistan has a nuclear weapon, a number of them, and it's widely understood that if Saudi Arabia ever wanted a nuclear weapon, it could, within the bounds of its treaty, get one, so to speak, from Pakistan.

This is a deal, however, it has to be said, that Iran would like to get, one where they can enrich the uranium themselves, one where there is this limited oversight, not the additional protocols. So that's why it's raising concerns that potentially, for what it could do in the future. It's also leading, by the way, to some criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu for not being able to influence President Trump about this deal.

KEILAR: And Nic, President Trump is threatening civilian infrastructure if Tehran continues to strike ships in the Strait. Where do things stand with that?

ROBERTSON: Yeah, and Iran has shot right back, saying you do that and we'll do the same. What President Trump has said, that any missile, weapon, gun, whatever it is, rocket propelled, grenade, drone, that targets a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the United States will respond by hitting an infrastructure target.

[14:05:00]

One ship, one bridge. And the President said that it could be a bridge near Tehran, in Tehran. So he's making a very clear equivalency there over the Strait of Hormuz, over the attacks on shipping there.

KEILAR: All right, Nic Robertson, live for us from Jerusalem. Thank you. Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: We're joined now by CNN Global Affairs Analyst, Brett McGurk. He is the former Middle East and North Africa Coordinator at the National Security Council. Brett, good to have you.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Great to be here. SCIUTTO: So first, I want to drill down on this Saudi deal, because this is not the first time this was discussed. It goes back to previous administrations here. From your point of view, are there provisions in this deal that prevent what the region appears to be worried out here, that this is a path to nuclear weapons?

MCGURK: Yeah, Jim, I think folks are getting ahead of themselves. Let's see the details. So we negotiated in the Biden administration, I was part of those negotiations, Amos Hochstein, my colleague, the NNSA, the National Nuclear Security Agency, the Department of Energy was a part of this, a very comprehensive civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia.

Now, enrichment is important because the Saudis really want that capability. That goes back to the JCPOA. Their position was if Iran can enrich, we should be able to enrich. What we negotiated was an arrangement where if we found uranium deposits in Saudi Arabia, there'd be an enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia, a U.S. enrichment facility. And there were a number of details and arrangements about how that would actually work in practice.

And the idea is that we in the U.S., we still import our nuclear fuel about 20 percent or a little more from Russia. So we do need --

SCIUTTO: Yeah, it's amazing.

MCGURK: -- we do need the fuel. The idea was here, this would be very carefully negotiated arrangement. If all of those details are in this agreement, I think people will be a little more comfortable.

But I would say one important thing. This was negotiated as part of a comprehensive regional package that included normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. And a quirk of history here, on October 6th of 2023, I had the Saudis in my office in the White House talking about kind of the final arrangements of this. And it was the Hamas attack that obviously kind of wiped this off the agenda.

SCIUTTO: Right.

MCGURK: I know President Trump wants to get back to that, perhaps after the Israeli elections coming up on October 27th.

SCIUTTO: But he's giving the deal prior to Saudi Arabia making a concession.

(CROSSTALK)

MCGURK: But this is a key. So I would -- I mean, my question is, why now? What is kind of going on behind the scenes? I know we need some things from Saudi Arabia for the campaign that we're prosecuting against Iran. So those are the questions I would have.

But if the details are similar to what was negotiated in the Biden administration, I think the nuclear proliferation concerns are probably less risky than what some of the commentators are saying. (CROSSTALK)

MCGURK: We got to see it.

SCIUTTO: Two questions. In the near term, let's talk about Iran, because the president, despite the escalation militarily, still says he wants a deal and a negotiation that would somehow handle Iran's nuclear program long term, perhaps even allowing for some small domestic enrichment here. If you're Iran, does this Saudi deal make you more or less likely to negotiate?

MCGURK: Well, Iran's always said they're never going to give up their so-called right to enrich. This would be, again, the agreement I'm familiar with -- it's a U.S. enrichment facility. It's basically the United States enriching on a facility inside Saudi Arabia.

Would Iran sign up to that? I doubt it. I know that we were trying to negotiate before this conflict broke out some sort of enrichment kind of offshore. You would have a regional consortium, which Iran rejected. So this is a very different agreement than the type of thing that Iran wants.

SCIUTTO: OK.

MCGURK: They want their own domestic enrichment that they control.

SCIUTTO: Let's talk bigger picture though, because it's not just concerns about proliferation are not just confined to the Middle East. I mean, there are concerns in Asia and in Europe, too. As the confidence in the U.S. nuclear umbrella declines, you have public discussion in South Korea, public discussion in Japan. And maybe, hey, do we have to go there? You have Germany talking about sharing France's nuclear deterrent. You have concerns about the Iran nuclear program. And now you have Saudi Arabia.

So if you were other players in the Middle East region, Turkey and others, why wouldn't you now think, I got to go nuclear as well just to keep the balance level?

MCGURK: Jim, this is a huge issue if you look at it. I mean, the whole nuclear non-proliferation apparatus regime that has been in place since the Cold War, the New START treaties, that's all now gone. So we're kind of in the Wild West.

And I mean, one thing that the view from our administration, obviously, we're doing negotiations to try to extend some of those agreements that now many of them have expired, was that at least we want the United States of America and our allies to kind of be the umbrella under which this is all controlled. Yes, a lot of countries want to move in their own direction. And frankly, you have China and Russia waiting in the wings.

I mean, one issue with Saudi Arabia was they really want to move in this direction. And of course, they got the Chinese and the Russians offering them all sorts of technology, which is very dangerous. So this is a hugely complicated issue, Jim. I know you cover it. And as you really look forward here, combination of non-proliferation concerns, combination of A.I. expansion, this is like getting into a very dangerous new world.

[14:10:00]

And the rules of the road --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MCGURK: -- that governed nuclear proliferation, right now, they're gone.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

MCGURK: U.S.-Russia agreements are gone also. Yeah, huge, huge issue, but this is agreement, let's see the details before we --

SCIUTTO: And we show in the midst of a time when the U.S. president is taking the country to war because he's concerned about a nuclear threat, that one of course from Iran. Brett McGurk, thanks so much.

MCGURK: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, a CNN investigation finds a series of cover- ups and aggressive tactics led to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. We have new exclusive reporting on the ICE shootings in Minnesota.

Plus, a 25 percent Tariff on Brazilian goods now in effect. We're going to break down exactly which products could see price hikes as a result and how long these tariffs could last.

And one of the sheriff's who helped rescue two federal employees from a hostage situation Accounts exactly how it all unfolded. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:18]

KEILAR: Today, President Trump's new 25 percent tariff on billions of dollars of goods from Brazil is now in effect. The administration announcing the new round of tariffs last week while accusing Brazil of unfair trade practices after conducting a year-long investigation. This is one of the first new tariffs to be imposed since last year when the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority when he issued sweeping global tariffs under an Emergency Powers Act.

We're joined now by CNN Business Senior Reporter, David Goldman. So, David, what strategy is the administration employing here with these tariffs?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, well, you said it. It's about unfair trade practices, unfair labor practices as well. So, this is going to get a 25 percent tariff on basically everything that Brazil produces, well, almost everything. We'll get to that in a second.

And the reason that the Trump administration needed to cite, because the Supreme Court says you can't just unilaterally impose tariffs, there needs to be a reason for it, is they're angry about digital trade, they're angry about ethanol, they're angry about deforestation.

Does that sound like something that the president might be upset about? Well, maybe not. We'll see. So, this is the basic stuff that's going to get tariffed, right? We're looking at ethanol, we're looking at sneakers, some furniture, sugar. We import all of that from Brazil, but we actually export more to Brazil than we import.

And so, there are some pretty important exemptions on the stuff that is not going to get this tariff, including coffee, there's an awful lot of that in Brazil, beef, orange juice, and, of course, crude oil. We don't want those prices to go up. So, now you're getting a clearer picture about this might not be everything that it seems.

In fact, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, says, well, this is because Brazil has not negotiated in good faith with the United States, which prompted the president of Brazil, Lula, to say, well, you know what, this is arbitrary, we don't agree with any of this. Well, this could go up even more. So, we're looking at 25 percent tariffs right now, as of today, it could go up to 37.5 percent by the end of this week because there's another tariff regime coming down the pike, and that is looking at unfair labor practices.

Again, these are not things that the Trump administration gripes about a lot, but what they do gripe about is the state of Brazil, the president of Brazil, they're politically opposed to that. This looks like a lot of talk, and not necessarily the actual reason why they're putting these tariffs in place, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yeah, those are big exemptions there, right? Coffee, crude oil, orange juice, and beef. Those are pretty big.

GOLDMAN: You got it.

KEILAR: Yeah. People might be mad.

GOLDMAN: Those are big exemptions. Well, these are the prices that aren't going to go up because of that.

KEILAR: Exactly. They'd be mad if they did go up.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLDMAN: So that's the good news. Exactly.

KEILAR: Which is why they're exempt.

GOLDMAN: Yes, you got it.

KEILAR: I mean, a burger these days is so expensive, right? And who's eating steak?

GOLDMAN: It's very expensive.

(LAUGH)

KEILAR: David Goldman, thank you so much.

Coming up, gruesome new details from inside the courtroom as a judge decides whether the singer known as D4vd will go to trial for the murder of a 14-year-old girl.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:23:07]

SCIUTTO: Happening now, prosecutors are presenting more evidence against murder suspect, David Burke, to see if the case against the rising music star can now proceed to trial. 21-year-old singer is accused of killing and dismembering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez last year.

Prosecutors allege he wanted to stop her from going public about their sexual relationship which began when she was just 13. The girl's remains were found inside a Tesla registered to D4vd last September. He was arrested in April and has pleaded not guilty.

CNN's Kyung Lah has been following the case closely. And Kyung, this is day two of the preliminary hearing and it strikes me that just some of the details here are deeply, deeply disturbing.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: They are deeply disturbing. The first day really dealing with that heartbreak and the grisly details. But this morning, what prosecutors are zeroing in on is the money. And we're talking about millions of dollars.

Defendant David Anthony Burke, known as D4vd to his fans, is facing first-degree murder charges with special circumstances. Those special circumstances involve continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14 and mutilating human remains. Those remains belong to a child, 14- year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

Her body was found stuffed in bags in the trunk of a Tesla registered to D4vd. D4vd's representatives were called by the prosecution and one testified that D4vd made an estimated $10 million to $11 million in gross earnings from 2023 to 2025.

The lawyer representing Celeste's family, the victim here, spoke to reporters saying that the family believes that this was about money.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK STEINFELD, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF CELESTE RIVAS HERNANDEZ: I understand her desire to protect her son.

[14:25:00]

But at some point, you have to stop babying the adult man and he needs to take accountability for his actions. And it seems to me, right now, all the family's doing is looking out for their best interests as well as the interests of D4vd so they can continue making millions and millions of dollars like they have in the last few years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: And Jamie Ruth (ph) talked about how grisly and difficult the first day was. Well, prosecutors showed graphic photos of the recovered body parts. Among them severed hands with fingers. In one photo she is missing a ring finger. The reason that that is important is the prosecution previously accused D4vd of removing that finger because it contained a tattoo that linked him to Celeste.

Celeste's mother was in the courtroom as these pictures were shown. She had to look away, understandably, because she just wasn't able to look.

Prosecutors have also laid out in court documents that show that D4vd and Celeste met when she was just 11-years-old and that a sexual relationship began when she was 13. And that the motive here beyond the money may be that Celeste threatened to expose their relationship. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Good Lord, that poor family. Kyung Lah, thank you so much.

Still to come, a scenario OpenAI was not expecting at this point. We're going to explain how the company's own artificial intelligence hacked into its system and then went rogue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)