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Trump Flew on Backup Jet as Decoy Plane Carried Press, Staff; Voters Head to Polls for Primary Races in Six States; Death Toll Rises to 132, Hundreds More Injured in Colombia Earthquake. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 11, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, an elaborate ruse and a secret flight to protect President Trump. New details on the cloak and dagger operation which involved hiding the president in a catering truck because of a threat from Iran.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll rises from a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake this morning. New images coming in as rescuers dig through the rubble, searching for survivors.

And that didn't take long. A rocket explodes just after takeoff. This morning, trying to determine what went wrong.

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner, on time this morning. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: A secret flight, a catering truck, and a nation kept in the dark. This morning, an elaborate ploy to protect President Trump's life has been revealed. CNN has confirmed a fascinating story first reported by The Washington Post, and it's a story that the White House has not denied, that the president left the NATO summit in Turkey last month aboard a secret plane after an assassination threat from Iran.

This is the president seen boarding Air Force One at 8:24 P.M. local time on July 8th. What few people knew at the time, according to a U.S. official, is that minutes later, the president and several of his aides were covertly shuttled onto an airport catering truck, highlighted just there. At 8:30 P.M., the truck took the president to a smaller plane, an Air Force C32A, which effectively made Air Force One a decoy with reporters and some White House staffers still on board.

Hours later, the president was seen exiting Air Force One when it touched down in the U.K. So far, not clear how he was able to get back on board. Then he got onto a third plane to fly home, the new Air Force One gifted by the Qataris, and said this to reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: You're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags that we have to deal with.

REPORTER: Do you think that Iran was possibly thinking of trying to --

TRUMP: Well, I mean, if they ask you to close your windows, probably they feel that way.

REPORTER: Were you aware of any credible threat by Iran against Air Force One?

TRUMP: Well, I have a threat all the time. I'm number one on their list, before you. But if I go, you go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Okay. CNN's Kevin Liptak is live this morning at the White House. Kevin, what are you hearing from the White House about this and the reporting on this really intricate dance they were doing to try to make sure the president was safe?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, an extraordinarily high level of subterfuge on the part of the White House that I think really does reflect the very real concerns about an imminent threat from Iran.

And, you know, the White House and the president's aides and national security apparatus all seemed to have devised this very, very quickly on the ground there in Turkey. You know, throughout that entire summit, President Trump seemed almost preoccupied with these Iranian threats on his life. He mentioned them over and over again, and that height -- threat only seemed heightened because the president the night before had ordered new strikes on Iran.

But it is really only now in retrospect that we're starting to sort of see signs that something might have been afoot. For example, when reporters got on that old legacy Air Force One, they were all asked to lower their window shades, which would have prevented them from seeing the president in that catering truck move to the other plane.

We also notice that once that legacy Air Force One landed in the U.K., the doors weren't opened for an unusually long period of time, which would have allowed time for the president to get back on the plane, only to get off in full view of the cameras.

Now, at the time, the president claimed that this switch was all because he wanted to show off the new Qatar-donated plane to troops in the U.K. The president said he was making the switch for, quote, old times' sake, but that -- of course, that explanation never really held up. And we know that these threats from Iran had contributed to this whole switch in planes. Now, we know that, in fact, those concerns had led to this entire furtive deception plan.

[07:05:00]

Now, what a White House spokesman, Steven Cheung, said was that, as the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats. But it is rare for presidents to use decoys like this without the press or without the public knowing. You know, in the hours after the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush kept a slimmed down press pool on Air Force One as he flew to a military base and then back to Washington. There is one example, one known example, of a president doing something like what President Trump did, and that was back in 2000 when President Clinton flew on an unmarked plane in Pakistan. But that was known almost immediately after he stepped off of that unmarked plane. The difference now is that the president -- the White House didn't disclose this until now.

It essentially left the press and staff on that plane as sort of unwitting decoys for Iran. I think that will be disconcerning for any regular passengers of Air Force One. Although, I think if you fly on that plane often, you recognize that the security priority is the president and not necessarily anyone else. Sara?

SIDNER: Kevin Liptak, it cannot be missed that this was also a story surrounding this, where the president's administration went after reporters for their reporting on the Qatari plane not being up to snuff when it comes to security. There is so much going on here but fascinating details that you are now learning.

Thank you so much for your reporting from the White House this morning. John?

BERMAN: I'll just add, another way of saying decoy is target, which is all the people left on that plane. And it does also show the continued concern over the reach that Iran still apparently has, at least those are the fears of the administration.

Today, in the meantime, new tests for the Democratic Party's left wing candidates. In Wisconsin, Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong and the more moderate David Crowley face off in a primary for governor. In Minnesota, Congresswoman Angie Craig and progressive Peggy Flanagan are hoping to replace retiring Democratic Senator Tina Smith.

There are six states with primaries today. I have to say, there are different kinds of stories in all of them.

With us now, Jackie Kucinich, Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe. As I said, there's actually a lot going on here, Darline Graham running in South Carolina, an incumbent who could lose in Connecticut. But I do think there is so much focus on Wisconsin, because you have a Democratic Socialist candidate- who is fringy enough, she didn't even win the endorsement of Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and you can see Democrats nervous that she could win tonight.

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE: Absolutely. I mean, that contest in general, John, has been kind of wild. You had a campaign finance scandal that made one candidate drop out. You had -- David Crowley had initially suspended his campaign, got back in after the other candidate dropped out, and then, of course, as you mentioned, you have Francesca Hong, who -- the Democratic socialist, who I think surprised a lot of people by her popularity in this race. And Democrats are wringing their hands because Wisconsin is such an important state, it's such a purple state, that she is emerging as the frontrunner here. Tony Evers, the outgoing governor, has endorsed David Crowley. And -- but this one could go down to the wire.

BERMAN: And I will say, up until this point, Democratic socialists and people on the left wing, including Abdul El-Sayed, who does not say he's a socialist, they've been getting a lot of attention, but it's sort of been fought to a draw between the establishment and progressives now. It could be that progressives make a late surge in these final contests here, which I think a lot of people are watching, Jackie.

KUCINICH: Yes. You're absolutely right, John. And you mentioned also Minnesota, where you have Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and Congresswoman Angie Craig. This race has had more to do with ICE and Craig's vote on the Laken Riley Act in the House. She's now said she regrets it, but Peggy Flanagan, who is the more progressive candidate, has really hit her hard on that particular issue because of all of the ICE activity in Minnesota over the past year.

Now -- and then let's go, let's go a little closer to New England, because you know that that's where I -- that's where my head is most of the time. John Larson, longtime member of the House, a member of has been a member of leadership in the past, is facing a, a very strong challenge from Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.

And this, this one, it might -- it's looking like -- it's this generational change argument, and it is looking like Larson could be in trouble. And you would imagine if, in fact, Larson does lose, there are some other candidates in New England, might rhyme with Schmultin, that might choose to use this in their own races that are coming down the line.

[07:10:06]

BERMAN: I'm glad you brought up Connecticut, because if you hadn't, I would. John Larson, the incumbent there, facing a real challenge tonight. And as you say, today is not the last day of primaries. Massachusetts somewhat inexplicably actually holds their primary in September. And there are competitive races there where incumbents could be in danger.

That's another trend in addition to the rise of progressives worth watching throughout the summer, and we could get more direction on where that's headed tonight, a lot to watch.

Jackie Kucinich from the paper of record, The Boston Globe, thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much, John.

Right now, the frantic search for survivors after a devastating earthquake in Colombia, the largest it's had in more than a decade.

Luigi Mangione back in court for the final time before jury selection. The key questions that could be addressed today.

And this morning, the medical community is pushing back hard on President Trump's new effort to change the childhood vaccine schedule.

Those stories and a lot more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, the race to find survivors buried in the rubble after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit western Colombia.

My goodness. Officials say at least 132 people have been killed. That number is almost certain to rise. Hundreds more have been injured. Dozens of buildings collapsed like the one you just saw. Hospitals damaged. Seven airports shut down. Some of the images we are getting back, again, just devastating. Officials are urging people to evacuate any building that may show signs of structural damage, and there are many.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon tracking this for us. Stefano, bring us up to speed here.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're seeing now, John, is that Colombia is waking up to these scenes of devastation. And, of course, you can imagine that the search and rescue operations continued throughout the night as the first responders are working around the clock to try to locate as many people as possible.

Even though the epicenter of the earthquake was in the Western Pacific coast, which is sparsely populated, much of the damage is concentrated in the cities of Pereira and Manizales, which is where some of the airports that you've talked about have been shut down, and in the city of Cali. Cali in particular is the third largest city of Colombia.

And earlier today, the mayor of Cali updated the death toll saying that at least 85 people have been killed by the earthquake in that city alone. So, that's why we believe that the number of the national death toll seems only destined to rise.

I think, John, that at least 40 buildings have been flattened to the ground in the city of Cali alone. One of them was the home of a survivor, Saul Paz (ph). He invited cameras to follow him as he was combing through what was left of his home. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This right here is devastating. This block was completely destroyed. Yes. It leaves you speechless. It's a real shame. It is truly, truly tragic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: It leaves you speechless. Sometimes the words are, do not come when you need to describe such a level of devastation.

As we were saying, Colombia has declared a national disaster declaration. This will allow, of course, for better funding to come through and to move troops as they try to bring some shelter and relief to the people affected.

But right now, of course, it's the race against time to try to locate as many survivors as possible for the newly elected government of Abelardo de la Espriella, the new president of Colombia, who was sworn in just on Friday, and on Monday morning was meant to be his first day on the job. 7:30 A.M., the earthquake hit. John?

BERMAN: Yes, people need to be braced for more tough news to hear as they continue to search that rubble.

Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much for that update.

All right, scathing reaction this morning to the president's new executive order on vaccines, and the moment he admitted he had no evidence for at least one of the claims that he made.

And ticketed for driving too tall, a truck too tall for the roadway. How do you know it was too tall? Because it crashed into the overpass.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

SIDNER: All right. Happening today, Luigi Mangione will be back in a Manhattan courtroom for what could be his final public appearance before jury selection begins in his high-profile murder trial.

Now, Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December of 2024. If convicted in the state murder case, he faces the possibility of life in prison. Today's hearing is a pretrial conference as both sides prepare for jury selection next month.

Joining me now, CNN Legal Analyst and Criminal Defense Attorney Joey Jackson. Let's start with this. What are we expecting to hear today? Both the prosecutors and defense always have something to argue over as they try to set the parameters for the trial.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, they really do, especially in a case of this magnitude. Good morning, Sara.

So, generally, at a pretrial conference, and there are multiple, but this is it, right? You're going to really set the stage for what is to become the trial in September. Set it how? I think there'll be discussions to be clear about you understand the rulings, you understand the evidence that's admissible, the evidence that's not admissible. Are we good with logistics in terms of scheduling, et cetera? Have you both turned over everything of evidentiary value to each other? I want no surprises here. We don't, in this country, do trial by sandbagging, right? Everyone has what everyone has. Defense has their certain constitutional rights. I think that'll go over.

There's an interesting issue though that has arisen with respect to the defense wanting this really to be live-streamed. Their view, the defense, is that their client is entitled to a public trial. And they're arguing that it's high time that this be televised, and that everybody get an opportunity to peek in and look about what's happening.

[07:25:06]

And it's really interesting, Sara, because New York is very restrictive.

SIDNER: They are.

JACKSON: Right? It's amazingly so. I think there's Louisiana and D.C. that are just as, as restrictive as New York. Other than that, come one and come all with regard to the other states to broadcast and see what's going on.

SIDNER: California's in that as well.

JACKSON: Yes.

SIDNER: You have to petition the judges to see if you can get cameras in the court or be able to sort of l- live text and stream. It will be interesting.

Has the court given any indication of exactly what it is going to do when it comes to whether the public will be able to watch this trial from gavel to gavel?

JACKSON: So, I think it's coming, and I think we might get more indications now, right, in terms of the arguments today. But New York has to change its law before the judge would have, you know, discretion, pure discretion to allow it, because literally it's been 75 years, enough already. And there's been legislation that's introduced, but the general standard is if there's a subpoenaed witness, it can't be. It's unlawful, right, that the trial be televised in that regard for the subpoenaed witnesses.

So, it's a little glitch, and I think that if ever there was a time to revisit this, to examine this, and to change it, let the public see what's going on, particularly in a case like this. Inquiring minds want to know what the evidence is. Is it compelling? Is it not? Did he do it? What's happening here?

SIDNER: Yes. There was so much interest in this. I mean, it was weeks and weeks of coverage because the public was quite interested.

I want to ask you about the defense dropping its plan to use this extreme emotional disturbance defense after the judge said that Mangione's psychiatric records would have to be turned over to the court, to the prosecution. What do you know about that?

JACKSON: Yes. So, I think, Sara, that that was a very good move in terms of the defense withdrawing it. Why, right? Now, clearly, we see on video it seems to be that he's the guy. There seems to be a lot of evidence and information, DNA, et cetera. They're tracking his movements. I think we'll see surveillance. They know where he came from. They know what he did. They know how he plotted and planned it. And so the defense has to be, you know, understanding of what exactly are we going to be fighting against.

SIDNER: Yes.

JACKSON: So, they put this extreme emotional disturbance on the table.

The problem is that it's not a recognized defense in federal court. So, you could have an instance where, for example, you say, hey, I did it, it's extreme emotional disturbance, guess what happens in January? He goes across the street to federal court, it's not recognized. You've said you're guilty, you're going away for life.

So, they had -- they were boxed in, and that was the basis for the defense saying extreme emotional disturbance based on mental acuity and what he understood and what he didn't. Let's take it off the table. Let's fight the case.

SIDNER: All right. Joey, always making things clear. We do appreciate you.

JACKSON: I appreciate you.

SIDNER: Thank you.

JACKSON: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, an unusual conversation. Former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson sits down with Hunter Biden for an in-depth talk.

Also, gas, diesel, jet fuel all facing another big squeeze. We're tracking if prices are set to go back up.

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