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U.S. and Canada Talks Collapse; U.S. to Unveil Sanctions on Iran; Wildfires Rages in Nevada; California Pastor Creates A.I. Twin; "Coming Up" Interviews Matthew Rhys. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 24, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:18]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, neighbor versus neighbor. The trade fight between the United States and Canada escalating. The U.S. has now imposed a 50 percent tariff on some $20 billion in Canadian goods, hitting everything from dairy, to alcohol, to paper products. Now, Canada is vowing to hit back dollar for dollar on all kinds of U.S. goods starting up September 8th.

With us now is CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar.

Rana, I just -- "The Wall Street Journal," which, frankly, hates tariffs, has an editorial today that said, "this is the dumbest trade war revisited." And went on to say, "one reason for Mr. Trump's frigid approval rating is that voters believe Mr. Trump is waging blunderbuss wars without a strategy on trade they're right."

It's hard to separate the economics from the politics here. From an economic standpoint, you know, who's going to feel this more, the United States or Canada, and when?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Well, you know, I got to say, John, I agree with "The Wall Street Journal." I think going to -- into a trade war with your -- one of your closest allies and your northern neighbor is idiocy, frankly.

Who's going to feel it more and when? Well, look, it's true that Canada is more vulnerable overall economically to the U.S. It's -- we're a bigger market for them if you take it in its entirety. But here's the rub, John, some of the products that come from Canada, like lumber, for example, very, very important in the U.S. building trades, energy. These are things that Americans are already feeling a pinch on, fuel prices, energy costs, housing costs. So, these are actually very, very sensitive items to Americans.

And then, you know, it is hard to separate the economics and the politics.

BERMAN: Yes.

FOROOHAR: And honestly, the two of them are more and more intertwined in advance of the midterms because I'm hearing, when I'm out in the field reporting in blue states and red states, I'm hearing, you know, what is going on? That the tariff wars just seem like, you know, a goal for the other side and people don't understand it and it amplifies their concern about how the president is mishandling the economy.

BERMAN: And I was going to say, you took the words right out of my mouth, you really can't separate the politics from the economics here in the United States, nor in Canada, because the process over the last year has created this political incentive for Canadian politicians, where they almost can't back down against the United States now.

FOROOHAR: Very true. And Mark Carney, whom I know, is -- he's a tough guy. I mean he's a fair guy, but he's a tough guy. And you could see when he went into office, he made it very clear that not only was he going to be the anti-Trump, but he was going to stand up to Trump. I mean this has been, from the get-go, that relationship has been one that was always going to be contentious because Carney is not one to cut a deal with this president. He's calling him out. He's saying, look, America has changed.

And, you know, when you think about what the U.S. was pushing back on at the 11th hour, things like trying to prevent the Canadians from pushing French language streaming content and cultural products, that's a sovereign issue. I mean any nation would feel a little miffed if you say that they can't, you know, produce products in their own, you know, content in their own language. It's a dual language country. That's something that is going to get anybody's back up. And Carney is certainly not going to take it lying down.

BERMAN: Rana, I have a tall order for you here, which is to help us understand the situation in the bond markets, because CNBC is reporting this morning that the Treasury could use nearly $1 trillion in general accounts to help fund its recently announced plans to increase purchases of government bonds. That's according to two senior Treasury officials.

Look, we know what's happening in the bond market with the bond yields. Maybe the most important economic story facing the United States right now. And one of the things that really concerns the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent. How big of a deal is it if he uses, you know, this trillion dollars available to him to try to get those yields down?

FOROOHAR: You know, John, it's a really big deal. You know, when we talk about things like the bond market, it can seem kind of wonky and far away.

But here's the deal. Here's the simple story. We have too much debt. And people, you know, most international buyers want to buy less U.S. debt. Why? Because of the things we've just been talking about. The president's mishandling of the economy. The sense that America flip flops. Is it here? Is it there? Who's the ally? Who's the adversary? All these things, they seem political.

But to go back to your very first point, the political and the economic are connected. And so, in order to prop up the bond market, which the U.S. wants to do and Bessent and the administration need to do in order to keep borrowing costs down, this idea that you're going to have to pour a lot of Treasury market money into it, not good.

[08:35:06]

It doesn't send a good message to the world. This is what troubled emerging market countries used to do. Now it's something that America is doing. And I can tell you that it's not being received well by global investors. And it does make the dollar seem like a weaker bet, which ultimately is a very bad thing for the U.S. and for individuals holding dollars.

BERMAN: I feel like we need ominous music to play when we talk about the bond market. Tremors in the bond market requires like dark, bleak music.

Rana Foroohar, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly. You can continue with that as I now talk about economic d-day.

The White House vying -- vowing an economic d-day for Iran and moving to intensify economic pressure on the country, trying to end the nearly six-month war. In an op-ed in "The Financial Times," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote this in part, "the world should understand that our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone." He also says, "Iran won't be the only target." But the, quote, "economic consequences would impact anyone working with Iran."

Joining me right now is CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier.

It's all connected. It really is, Kim. Iran has been under U.S. sanctions since 1978. I mean are you optimistic that there is a way to sanction them enough to get them to the table right now?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: The key is to hit the countries that are Iran's economic lifeline, its major trading partners. Bessent is mainly messaging China, which buys most of Iran's oil, but also Iraq and Turkey. But even if they somehow cracked down on those various trading -- official trades, Iran has seven different countries and international waterways around it. It has a lot of ways to sanctions bust and to smuggle goods in. So, it is really going to be hard to put the screws on it. That said, we are hearing from inside the country that Iranians are facing unprecedented rises in food and medicine prices. And so, the pressure is on. And you've got to expect Iran to respond to that.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, which is just how, when and how long does it take, right?

I mean, at the very same time, in related conflicts, of course, the new British prime minister is in Ukraine for his first foreign trip since taking office. This is just as Ukraine's president now says that Russia is expected to mobilize another 300,000 troops this year to fight this war, Kim. I mean what are you hearing about this? And what would another troop surge call up like that mean?

DOZIER: Yes, I just spent the weekend in Chicago with the Ukrainian community there hearing from Ukrainian officials and also from former U.S. officials who are in touch with people on the ground. We have been watching Putin consider bringing in new troops for a while because they are having such devastating losses on the battlefield. The logic to doing it right now would be to hit Ukraine before it gets interceptors to replace its missing supplies. We are seeing across the country they're getting pummeled by Russian missiles night after night, and they don't have the Patriot missile systems, et cetera, to fight back. And so, there are a lot of civilian casualties.

We've also got winter coming. Winter means that Russian troops generally make more progress on the ground faster. So, this could be Putin considering an influx of troops if Zelenskyy is correct, to try to take advantage of Ukraine's weakness and look like a winner again to Donald Trump.

BOLDUAN: Yes. I mean, do you see this at all moving anyone closer to actual real negotiations towards peace in Ukraine?

DOZIER: At this point, no. And Putin has, basically in the past, used negotiations to buy time to win more territory on the ground.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

DOZIER: So, it is a grim winter. And that's what officials in Ukraine are worried about. And they're using that as a plea to at least get the U.S. to think about interceptors. And if not them, any European stocks that are left over, they're saying, send it to us, we need it now.

BOLDUAN: Kim, it's great to see you. Thanks so much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, Sean Grayson, the former Illinois sheriff's deputy convicted of murdering Sonya Massey inside her home, he has died while serving a 20-year prison sentence. Grayson shot Massey after responding to a 911 call about a prowler outside her home in July of 2024. She was just 20 -- 36 years old. Grayson had been diagnosed with colon cancer. His attorney said it had spread to his liver and lungs. In May he sought a medical release but was denied.

[08:40:05]

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much, John.

In Nevada, a fire raging out of control. And today's weather, hot and windy conditions promising to make it more dangerous for firefighters to battle. The fire near Reno exploded in size over the weekend. It started Saturday and has since scorched 15,000 plus acres. Officials say the fire, they believe, is human caused. They have not, though, said whether they believe it's intentionally set. The growing flames have prompted a state of emergency, and about 42,000 people have been told to evacuate.

Joining us now is Chief Richard Edwards with the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District, which covers Washoe County.

Thank you for being here. I know it's a busy time.

At this hour, what is the status of the fire and evacuations?

CHIEF RICHARD EDWARDS, TRUCKEE MEADOWS FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT: Yes, good morning. Thank you for having me.

The fire continues to grow. It's over 15,000 acres. And we still have zero percent containment. And we have a large amount of our community evacuated, roughly 42,000 under immediate evacuation warning right now, and another 45,000 under a get ready evacuation warning.

SIDNER: Can you describe to me what the conditions are that your firefighters are dealing with at this hour?

EDWARDS: Yes. Our firefighters have experienced extreme fire conditions. When this fire started, we were under a red flag warning. And that red flag warning meant that we had very low humidity, fuel moistures were very low, and we had very high winds. At the peak of the fire activity Friday evening into Sunday morning, we saw wind gusts in excess of 40 miles an hour. That allowed that fire to travel extremely quick and cover an area of almost six miles in less than 24 hours.

SIDNER: Wow. Look, we have heard from officials that this was a human caused fire. Do you have a sense of how? Are we talking about arson or something like an unattended campfire or a lit cigarette butt, thrown out in those kind of conditions, can spark something like this?

EDWARDS: Yes, that's a great question. We do know that it's human caused because there was no natural ignition sources that were present in the area. It's kind of a more remote area outside of the city center. But the investigators are still working to determine exactly how it was caused. But we are fairly certain it's human caused.

SIDNER: Do you have a sense, because I know it was really difficult for y'all to get to some of these areas, how many homes or buildings have been damaged or destroyed by this fire?

EDWARDS: Yes, we do not have an exact count at this moment, but we do have damage assessment teams that are able to finally enter into the area. Yesterday it was safe enough for them to operate. And we're hoping to have those numbers today. And then work with the medical examiner's office to begin notifying those homeowners that lost their structures.

SIDNER: Give us a sense of these 45 -- there's 42,000 people that have been told to evacuate, but there are 45,000 who are being told, look, be ready. How should they prepare and how close, how quickly could this change?

EDWARDS: Yes, fire conditions change rapidly, especially in this area with the evening winds that we get predominantly anytime after mid- afternoon into the early evening. And so we really encourage those that are under a get set evacuation, that 45,000 number, to have their stuff ready, have their go bags ready, have their medications, their pets, their important documents, clothes, toiletries, whatever they need, packed up and ready to go in a moment's notice. And then we also encourage those folks, if they have a place to go, if they have another place to stay, to go ahead and leave the area. And we're working with our sheriff and our local National Guard to help protect and patrol those neighborhoods, knowing that those areas could be evacuated or the evacuated areas where people have already left their homes.

SIDNER: Well, we want to send good luck to you. You said it was zero percent contained. And the conditions right now very difficult because they are dry and very windy. We will be checking in to see how this goes with 42,000 people already evacuated.

Chief Richard Edwards, thank you for taking the time this morning. Thank you to your crews out there for fighting this fire. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Happening this hour, the couple arrested after climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, well, they are due back in court.

And A.I. beginning to reshape the faith community as well. A pastor creating an A.I. duplicate of himself to meet the needs of his congregation.

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[08:49:11]

SIDNER: All right. We're keeping a close eye on Hawaii. The flooding risk there underway as Tropical Storm Moke dumped torrential rain on the big island over the weekend. Some of the same places just picking back up after Hurricane Lala struck. Our affiliate has this report.

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ANGELA CIFONE, REPORTER, KITV: We are back at Koili Point (ph), where we were for Hurricane Lala, as we track Tropical Storm Moke. And as you can see, it is raining. But literally two seconds ago it was sunny outside. So, we are keeping track of the different changes that we're seeing throughout the day.

But I'm going to step out of the way because you can see here that the waves are not as big as they were last week. These skies are a little bit darker right now, now that it's raining. But there is little to absolutely no wind, which is something we're really thankful for because, as we know, we have those power outages.

[08:50:01]

People are recovering from Hurricane Lala still. So, there's so many things that that wind could really make difficult. So, we're very grateful for this wind that is not really coming right now. However, this could change throughout the rest of this Sunday. But right now we are holding on to what we have, and that is not a lot of wind, excuse me, but there is that rain.

Now, we are expecting it to slow down and then increase throughout the day. We could get up to 15 inches of rain. So, we are -- see, it's starting to stop already. So, that's looking good.

But we are expecting to get at least eight to 15 inches of rain here. And with that -- those saturated grounds already, it's going to be difficult. It could really make things dangerous, especially on the south side of Pahala and Naalehu. So, we are going to keep track of that.

Power is still out for so many people on the south side. We're going to go check out all of those stories as well. But as of right now, I'm not as soaked as last week and things are looking up as we continue tracking Tropical Storm Moke. We're going to keep you guys updated throughout the rest of this storm and hurricane season here at Koili Point (ph).

Angela Cifone.

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SIDNER: All right, now to A.I. and the fact that artificial intelligence is seeping into many aspects of our life, sometimes without us knowing about it. Now it's being used in the religious realm. A California pastor has created an A.I. version of himself that followers can turn to. Our Nick Watt has the story.

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REV. JUSTIN R. LESTER, FRIENDSHIP MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: You've forgotten who you're talking to. You've forgotten who my daddy was. You've forgot where I came from. You forgot my last name (ph). I am God's special possession.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Passion, emotion, love. Black Americans are world leaders at making worship very, very human.

WATT: My church, when I was a kid, was like this. I might still be religious.

WATT (voice over): Now, Pastor Justin Lester is pioneering the inhuman. He's cloned his mind, birthed an A.I. digital doppelganger, which ministers to his flock when the real man cannot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can make an appointment with the pastor, but I can ask this question right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's amazing. You have to try it sometime.

WATT: I will. I will.

WATT (voice over): I did.

WATT: I'm feeling a little lonely today.

LESTER: It's not good for man to be alone. That's scripture. That's truth. And it applies to you right now. Loneliness isn't weakness, it's a signal that you were made for connection. So, here's what I want you to do today, reach out to one person.

BREANAH DRAKE, EVENT COORDINATOR, FRIENDSHIP MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: I like to use it when, one, he's away, or, two, there's a question I'm too embarrassed to ask him because I feel like I should know the answer to it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some things you may be hesitant to say out loud.

WATT: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

WATT (voice over): So, how does it work?

LESTER: I connected on YouTube, my TikTok, my Instagram and everything I've ever written. So, all the way back to every sermon I've ever preached.

WATT: OK.

LESTER: Books, all of that are in there.

WATT: You, obviously, evolved as a human and as a -- and as a preacher and a pastor.

LESTER: Yes. Yes.

WATT: Does it evolve with you?

LESTER: Every single day it updates.

WATT: You said in your sermon Sunday, if you give other people credit. What did you mean?

LESTER: Nick, I appreciate you pressing me on that. Let me be real with you. I was talking about giving credit to the people around you.

LESTER: It creeps me out because like somebody's literally talked to it before and was like, I literally thought you had a conversation with me. So, I don't have the video part on --

WATT: OK.

LESTER: Because that was weird. But --

WATT: OK. So, if the tech there catches up, will you do, so I can look at you?

LESTER: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes, I'll do it. Because I'm curious about it. I'm a -- I'm an innovator.

DRAKE: Not going to lie. I would live for that. I live for that.

WATT (voice over): He's already launched PastorGPT, which helps other pastors write sermons and his little church offers coding classes and uses A.I. to handle the earthly and mundane.

LESTER: Like, I went to school to preach the Gospel, to teach the Gospel, care for God's people. I did not go to school to email.

WATT: So, A.I. is giving you more time to be human?

LESTER: Yes, absolutely.

A.I., man, gives me more time to be a better father, be a better husband, to be a better pastor. Hospital visits don't have to be five minutes, they can be 20.

WATT (voice over): But can A.I. do this?

LESTER: (INAUDIBLE).

WATT: And when I watch you preach, you know, I see and I feel humanity.

LESTER: Yes.

WATT: I see your frailty.

LESTER: Yes.

WATT: I feel all these human things.

LESTER: Absolutely.

WATT: Can you really bottle that into an algorithm?

LESTER: Oh, no. No, no, no, no. So, A.I. cannot feel.

WATT: You're also not like creating something that's going to replace you.

LESTER: No. No. I think I'm pretty cool. And so, no.

WATT: We're not going to be replacing the pastor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

WATT: We're not going to be having weird virtual churches with no humans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, not at all. No. I think what we see is an expansion of the church happening. WATT: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An expansion of love. An expansion of humanity.

WATT: If you try and make the A.I. twin talk about something random, weird, someone tried Swedish politics, it will not engage. The bot will only talk about things that the real man himself knows about.

[08:55:04]

Also, if you bring up something very serious, homicide, suicide, violence, abuse, the bot will say, that's too much for me, call the pastor. As the poetic pastor himself says, rivers are great because of the banks. A.I. is great with guardrails. Maybe that's a lesson for the wider world as well.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much for that. Fascinating.

This hour, the daredevil couple who climbed to the top of the Empire State Building in July, they are due in court. It was all an elaborate social media stunt and marriage proposal, and also a crime. They are facing a string of charges, including burglary and reckless endangerment after spending the night in the iconic skyscraper, then climbing the spire more than 1,400 feet in the air. They could face seven years in prison if convicted.

A father left his seven-year-old son alone for hours on Mount Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain, at more than 12,000 feet. The man and his two sons were hiking when the younger boy became too tired to keep walking. Apparently, the father left him sitting outside a hut about halfway up. Witnesses called police. Officers were waiting when the man returned five hours later. Police turned the boy over to his dad, but reprimanded him and warned him that he could be held criminally liable.

So, how many people does it take to move a 400-ton castle? Apparently 1,000. In Japan, 1,000 people were chosen by lottery to pull the 400 year old castle, by rope, back toward its original base. I love a timelapse. It was moved in 2015 so workers could restore the stone wall underneath it. The repairs are now complete. And now this band of pulling teams have now pulled the castle about three feet. It will take the rest of the year to move it the rest of the way, about 252 feet.

Talk about a fresh start to the season. Norwegian soccer star Erling Haaland is kicking off the new Premier League season with a whole new look. He traded -- has traded in his signature long locks for a full on buzz cut. The Manchester City striker debuted his new look on social media, which quickly went viral, of course, because that hair was the only reason he was famous in the World Cup and many people mourning the loss of such a look.

J.B.

BERMAN: All right, so he is the star of one of the breakout hits of the year, "Widow's Bay." We're talking about star Matthew Rhys. But before he was on that show, he was on "The Americans" with his future real-life wife.

Elizabeth Wagmeister asked him about that.

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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys.

So, Matthew Rhys is really having a moment right now. He is a double nominee heading into the Emmy's. He is nominated for both "The Beast In Me" and for "Widow's Bay." Well, he actually won his first Emmy a few years back for his role in "The Americans." And when I sat down with him, I asked how he got that role, and he told me a little story about his audition with his now real-life partner, Keri Russell.

MATTHEW RHYS, EMMY-WINNING ACTOR: These bizarre planets aligning led me to that moment. And then I auditioned three times for it, and here I -- here I am.

WAGMEISTER: When you auditioned, were you testing with Keri?

RHYS: I was, yes.

WAGMEISTER: And what do you remember about that?

RHYS: She had to -- so, there was a scene where she had to slap me in the face.

KARI RUSSELL, ACTRESS: What would you tell them, Phillip?

RHYS: The truth.

And the director, Gavin O'Connor, went, unbeknownst to me, like, really hit him as hard as you can. And I don't know if it's true or not, but Gavin O'Connor said, he goes, well, you know, one of the reasons you got the part was how well you took that slap. But because I wasn't expecting to be hit, it was like, it only -- it only sank in seconds after, you know, my ears stop ringing. So, it wasn't as if I'm -- and I'm not, I'm not -- there was no tough guy element to that slap. It was just the shock kind of just kept me motionless for a moment that they thought it was, oh.

WAGMEISTER: Have you had words with her about that now?

RHYS: Almost daily, with more questioning of what was the look of glee in her face when she, you know, clocked me like there was no tomorrow.

WAGMEISTER: She knew it was coming, that's why.

RHYS: She knew it was coming. It came from her soul. WAGMEISTER: You see that Matthew has that dry sense of humor there.

And it will really be the ultimate date night for him and Kari at the Emmy's next month. As I mentioned, he is nominated for two Emmy Awards, and she is nominated as well for her starring role in "The Diplomat."

Now, it's a really great conversation with Matthew Rhys. We don't just talk about the Emmy's. He talks about his entire career coming up. He talks to me about the moments that were really tough, some auditions that he lost out on. It was a great time sitting down with him.

Back to you guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:00:05]

BERMAN: Yes, we had him on here and he was simply hilarious.

You can watch this and other episodes of "Coming Up" on the CNN app.