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U.S. And Iran Trade Attacks In First Major Escalation In A Month; Day Three of Deliberations In Lindsay CLancy Murder Trial; Frantic Search For Missing Hikers In Grand Canyon. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 31, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: And just, just how resolved they are, how they've rallied around pushing back against this as just a national identity. But then on the border, you know, when you see, oh, Canada go down on the PA system, how all the Americans jump in and sing that anthem, it's just a different world than what is playing on social media. Philip, as you say, it's trolling.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Trolling. Yes. I mean, that pretty much sums it up. Thank you so much for joining us on Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN NEWS CENTRAL ANCHOR: A fighting flare up. Iran and the U.S. trading attacks for the first time in over a month. An exchange that risks reigniting the conflict after weeks of relative calm.

Plus, day three of deliberations in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. The jury debating questions around reasonable doubt, criminal responsibility and mental illness.

BRIANA KEILAR, CNN NEWS CENTRAL ANCHOR: And a frantic search in the Grand Canyon. Two people have died, 15 could be missing after flash flooding over the weekend. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

We start this afternoon with the Middle East on edge after the first major escalation in fighting between the U.S. and Iran in more than a month. Iranian state media releasing this video overnight showing what they say were ballistic missiles launched at a U.S. military installation in Jordan. Jordan says air defense has intercepted eight missiles that entered their airspace.

The UAE also says it was targeted in an Iranian drone attack. Yet in a new interview, President Trump said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're doing very well. Their navy's gone, their air force is gone. Their leaders are gone. All of their anti-aircraft, I mean, it's all wiped out. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Iran struck just hours after U.S. Central Command says it destroyed two Iranian rocket launchers on Iran's Lurak Island. This military escalation risks igniting the conflict after a month of relative calm. And the Washington Post exclusively reporting that several U.S. military leaders have warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that prolonged large-scale operations against Iran would be unsustainable and leave the U.S. vulnerable to other threats. CNN's Alayna Treene is live for us at the White House.

Alayna, what more is the Trump administration saying about these latest Iranian strikes?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, I think there is a key question with all of this of whether or not we would see more escalation. As you both mentioned, Boris and Brianna, this is the first strikes that we have seen since July 29, more than a month now. And really comes as we know that the president himself and his administration have really been trying to change this war from a military one to more of an economic one.

And one thing I want to point out here is that and you laid this all out. But the U.S. were the ones to strike Iranian military targets, saying that they wanted to prevent them from launching more mines into the Strait of Hormuz. Then we saw, of course, Iran retaliate, as you said, in Jordan and the UAE. But there was a question of whether this could reignite the military use of strikes.

The different assaults and shooting we have seen that took place overnight, yesterday. And essentially the president, he did a Fox News interview today and said that there will be a response to Iran's retaliation on Jordan and the UAE and said we'll be hitting them very hard.

Now, if that's actually true, we don't necessarily know when I've talked to my sources here at the White House, they wouldn't give me any indication of whether we could expect more strikes. But I keep that in mind as there are questions of whether or not this could escalate into more fire exchanged between the two.

Another thing I want to point out is that the President posted an AI generated video on social media showing the U.S. military essentially blowing up Kharg Island. He said in that post, Kharg island is being blown to smithereens.

Now, none of the strikes that the U.S. launched on Iranian military targets actually were going after Kharg Island. And the vice president, who is traveling today, was asked specifically about that by a report. I want to listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: He doesn't make announcements about military actions on social media, but I think that he's sending a message to the Iranians. Look, we know that they continue to shoot a commercial shipping. We continue to have a lot of tools at our disposal to prevent them from doing so, or at least cut down on them from doing so. And that's what the President is saying is, look, you guys are shooting at commercial shipping.

You guys are behaving like a terrorist country. You've got to stop or there are going to be some consequences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, I will say Boris and Brianna, his answer, you know, didn't really get into why the president seemingly was posting about a potential target that had nothing to do with the strikes that happened. But the strikes that we did see come after. We know that the President, President had just declared that the Trump administration, the military, had cleared all mines from the Strait of Hormuz and had threatened potential military action if they were to try and place more mines. So that's really what we saw.

[13:05:03]

And we saw the U.S. Central Command put out a statement making clear that this was limited in scope and was meant to be precise. And from the conversations I'm having, it does appear that they do not want this to turn into all out war once again. But we'll have to wait and see what the president ultimately decides.

KEILAR: Yes, we will. Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Live for us from the White House.

Any moment now, jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial could reach a verdict. She, of course, is the former nurse and mother accused of murdering her three young children, five year old Cora, three year old Dawson and eight month old Callan. Prosecutors tried to prove to the nine women and three men on the jury that Clancy acted, quote, deliberately and meticulously when she strangled the kids in their Massachusetts home three years ago.

SANCHEZ: And Clancy's defense arguing that she's not criminally responsible for the deaths because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis on the day of the killings, which also included a suicide attempt. The jury is now in the third day of deliberations.

While we wait for a verdict, let's turn to trial and jury consultant Richard Gabriel. Richard, thank you so much for being with us. What does it tell you that we're now in day three of deliberations?

RICHARD GABRIEL, TRIAL AND JURY CONSULTANT: Well, it tells me that these jurors are taking this very seriously. It's been a long trial. It's been a very emotional trial. And they have to sort through a lot of evidence, especially on this key issue about whether she actually did have a mental disease or defect at the time that she was killing the children.

And so it's a very delicate analysis here and whether there's real intent there, whether she was aware of the wrongness or the criminality of her actions, which is one of the difficulty of jurors to analyze, to try and figure out, well, okay, if she is suffering a mental disease and defect, what does that actually mean? Can there be some clarity? Can there be some intent behind there? But still there is a mental disease and defect.

And there's also the division that can happen in a jury where different jurors may see the trial and the evidence in a different way. So they're trying to work with each other. They're trying to sort through the evidence and it could take some time.

KEILAR: Richard, talk to us about the dynamics of a jury. Right. This one is nine women and three men and women. And they've now been together watching this trial for a very long time. And now they've been in a room deliberating for hours and hours. What starts to kind of happen there?

GABRIEL: Well, first of all, the emotionality of this case really does show that probably these jurors are fairly well bonded. That being said, there may be differences. Jury deliberations typically occur where there are opinion leaders. In other words, two to three people who are the strongest voices in the room that sort of dominate the conversation and then leave the other jurors there, and then it's about discussion.

Well, how they see it. But a lot of this really has to do with how whether they are meticulously going through the evidence, which they can do, and they can take their time literally going from the beginning of the trial to the end of the trial, or whether they're divided on certain issues. I think we saw on Friday that the jurors came back with a question about wanting to see the knife and also see something about the prescription bottle. And that may have to do with them trying to work through this issue of intent.

Was there -- was a knife shar enough where it was a serious suicide attempt. But a lot of this can be one or two jurors, because they obviously have to come back with a unanimous verdict for -- for an acquittal or a conviction. And whether they are working with each other to try to reconcile really what is the story that they themselves think happened here.

How do they see her mental defect or disease and how that was operational at the time when she actually was killing the kids.

SANCHEZ: And Richard, the jury here is not weighing just one potential outcome for Clancy, right? There's a number of conviction options in the sense that there's first degree murder, second degree murder, manslaughter, plus the option to find her not criminally responsible. How do they work through that decision?

GABRIEL: So a lot of times this happens where jurors, it becomes a negotiation point, even though the manslaughter charge is actually not really supported by the evidence in this case, oftentimes when there is divisions in the jury and somehow some think, well, I think that she's responsible for this somewhat, or there was some clarity at the time of this, but they do think that there's some mental disease and defect, it allows them to say it's not a first degree where there's actual real intent and planning and manipulation involved, but there might be. There is some wrongness involved, and it allows them to kind of negotiate.

Well, I'm not going to give you the first degree, but maybe a second degree or maybe even a manslaughter even though the evidence really doesn't support that.

KEILAR: Really interesting.

SANCHEZ: Yes. We will be watching for a decision from the jury which could come at any moment pending their deliberations. Richard Gabriel, thank you so much for your analysis.

[13:10:08]

GABRIEL: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a block out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes. Officials are searching for more than a dozen people after deadly flash flooding sweeps through the Grand Canyon. We're also following the latest in Nepal where rescuers are racing to reach hundreds of workers believed to be trapped in hydropower tunnels after last week's deadly flooding there. CNN will take you to the ground.

KEILAR: And later, for the first time ever, the prediction market Kalshi is banning someone from placing bets on its site. And it's a name that we all know we have that and much more coming up on CNN News Central.

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KEILAR: We're breaking news. A second person has just been confirmed dead after fierce flash floods swept through the Grand Canyon national park in Arizona. Search and rescue teams are racing to find more than a dozen others who may still be missing.

[13:15:02]

At least 62 people have been evacuated, many of them by helicopter, after they were stranded by rushing water, mud and debris. And the danger isn't over yet. A flood watch remains in effect with more rain possible across the area through this evening.

Joining us now is Dr. Chris Davis. He is a wilderness and rescue medicine expert and associate professor of emergency medicine at Wake Forest University.

Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. You taught Swiftwater rescue at, at the Grand Canyon as a volunteer. First, can you just talk to us about what it's like to be down there as the creeks start rising, as the flash flooding starts, how much time is there to react? DR. CHRIS DAVIS, WIDERNESS AND RESCUE MEDICINE EXPERT: Yes, thanks for having me out here tonight. The -- the big issue you have when you're dealing with flash flooding in some of these canyon environments is, you know, as someone standing there, you know, in this beautiful Slide Canyon, you may have completely blue skies over you and you know, heavy precipitation that could be miles upstream from you can fall really without any warning. And you really only have moments as the water can rise extremely fast.

So it can really take people by surprise.

KEILAR: So at this point, there are several people missing. What are the biggest challenges of trying to find them?

DAVIS: You know, there's a lot of challenges when trying to search for people after flash flooding events. You know, the big issues are, you know, they have major difficulty reaching any of those areas on foot because the flooding did destroy a lot of the bridges that would allow you to normally get down that trail and which really allows you can have some really broken up sections that are hard to reach. You know, that they've got good air assets and things to be able to reach folks by helicopter. But it can be difficult with weather and wind to be able to insert rescuers right exactly where you want to get them.

And then actually searching for folks can be really difficult. They can be, you know, it's somewhere in a big debris pile. They can be, you know, have gotten to higher ground and then somewhere where you may not expect to find them or they may be trying to self-rescue and be somewhere where you wouldn't really expect to find them at all.

KEILAR: It sounds like as you're talking about it, you'd expect that some did not make it and that it's possible that some could have survived. So, talk to us then about, I mean, how would they survive something like this and then what would the survival concerns be as they're awaiting rescue?

DAVIS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, the general advice that we have, if you are in a canyon experiencing a flash flood is to go up, not out, right? So, we want people to try to go up to get to higher ground.

And that may leave you with no way back the way you came once you go up in some of those situations, you know. So, folks that may be, you know, and missing doesn't mean necessarily was even involved in the flooding. You know, there's really no good communication once you're down below the rim in the Grand Canyon by traditional cell phones.

You have to rely on satellite messaging and other technologies to be able to communicate. So, some people may truly just be unaccounted for. If folks are stranded in that environment, your biggest concerns over the first few days is truly finding water.

We can, you know, food is great for our morale and things like that, but finding water will be critical for the survival for that first few days. That and managing temperature are the really the two big things.

So, finding water, trying to stay cool in that heat and also likewise not getting too cold as the temperature drops, particularly people are wet things as well.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. So, water and temperature and knowing that, as you said, being wet can affect that. More showers and thunderstorms possible Monday. Flood watches in effect through tonight. How might that further complicate this?

DAVIS: It's really difficult, particularly for any folks that are out there trying to, you know, trying to hunker until they're rescued. Obviously, they're going to need to be wary about any additional flash flooding, you know, but they won't probably know that's a -- that's a concern.

As far as the rescuers are concerned, as -- as I kind of mentioned, getting into some of these places can be really tough and technically challenging without your traditional, your traditional trail access. And with impending flash flooding, you know, they wouldn't have a lot of notice about getting out or getting evacuated either.

So, they really, you know, one of our primary principles whenever we're doing rescues like this is we don't want to create additional rescue. You know, we don't want an incident within an incident. We often call it, where as we have to end up turning a rescue for others into rescuing our rescuers.

So, we really try to keep a very, you know, big buffer for our own safety when we're in there operating. So really keeping a close eye on the weather. If there's, you know, storms in the area, probably, you know, I don't know what their particular tactics are on this particular rescue, but typically we would have a really, you know, we would be -- have a really short, you know, short operational window if we're concerned that there could be thunderstorms in the afternoon or additional flash flooding.

[13:20:13]

So, it really does give you a lot more constrained time to complete these rescues.

KEILAR: Yes, they have to pay a lot of attention to that. Dr. Chris Davis, we really appreciate your expertise on this. Thank you so much.

DAVIS: Thank you.

KEILAR: Next, President Trump calls for a well-known journalist to be punished for citing election results that are accurate but unfavorable to the president. Plus, has your map been updated?

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[13:25:14]

SANCHEZ: President Trump is ratcheting up his attacks on the media. Now targeting Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, calling for her to face rebuke for punishment from the FCC. The president complaining on social media after Welker said this about candidates that he has endorsed. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, HOST, MEET THE PRESS: He's going to loom large over these midterms, there's no doubt about that. He, of course, has endorsed a slate of candidates in the primaries. He's had some mixed results, but most recently, his pick of Senator Darlene Graham, of course, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, was successful in her primary battle. So now she takes on Dr. Annie Andrews in South Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The president apparently taking issue with Welker describing mixed results there. In addition to demanding her punishment, Trump also called the press a disgrace and a threat that the FCC should take very seriously.

A spokesperson for NBC News is responding by saying, quote, "Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her." We should note the FCC has limited power over issues like this and its own website says that the agency cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view.

We're joined now by Scott MacFarlane. He's the chief Washington correspondent for the MeidasTouch Network.

Scott, great to see you as always. What's your reaction to President Trump targeting Welker like this?

SCOTT MACFARLANE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: He may not be able to target her or NBC News for the speech she gave on the air, but he can target, through the FCC, local owned television stations. That's where the FCC has its jurisdiction. And in fact, Kristen Welker was appearing on a locally owned NBC owned television station in Washington.

Even running them through the ringer of a meritless complaint is a burden on these TV stations. They have to get legal defense teams. They have to mobilize their viewers to understand what this criticism is. The same thing's playing out with ABC News where Trump had some concerns what was being said on the View or on Jimmy Kimmel. And through the machinations, there's an investigation of ABC's own TV stations.

ABC has mobilized, though. They filed suit challenging it. And oh, by the way, they had a quarter million people issue statements of support to the FCC.

SANCHEZ: So the substance of what she was saying was that Trump has had mixed results with some of his endorsements. Historically, he has done really well, especially in primaries. But this primary season in this cycle has seen the most losses for Trump endorsed candidates while he has been in the White House. I wonder why you think he took exception to her saying that he's had mixed results.

MACFARLANE: It's not a perfect record. And it's almost a binary thing. Either you're perfect or you're not. And he has had some losses.

Corey Mills, the Florida Republican congressman, lost his primary. Mike Lindell, Austin, Minnesota, the pillow guy in the governor race. So, if it's not perfect, it may lose some of its muscle. I'll tell you, though, he really had to want this.

I used to appear on that same broadcast on the local NBC news station. It's real early in the morning. I used to call it the friends and family show. Like your friends and your family are watching. We're not sure who else is. Apparently, Trump is watching local news at 6am on Sunday mornings.

SANCHEZ: So, what does it tell you about the relationship between President Trump and the FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, if Carr decides to pursue this the way that he has? As you noted with those ABC stations?

MACFARLANE: There's clearly an alliance there that Carr is not shying away from. He is articulating the president's vision of what broadcasters should and shouldn't do. But there is a dissenting voice, Boris, on the FCC, a Biden appointee named Anna Gomez, who is championing local broadcasters, pushing back, encouraging them to, in fact, she's championing that ABC lawsuit.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Overall, what would you say is the goal of the Trump administration with this sort of thing? As you said, not only the burden that some of these stations may have to carry, but also the president making this a focal point and a public attack on a journalist.

MACFARLANE: I don't think anybody in the administration really thinks Kristen Welker or NBC are going to lose any licensure. But did it make somebody less inclined to want to talk about his endorsement record on a different channel at a different time? Does it have a chilling effect? If so, it worked.

SANCHEZ: Scott MacFarlane, appreciate the perspective. Thanks for joining us.

Still to come reporting you will only see here on CNN. We've been granted exclusive access to a global shipping choke point under threat from Iranian proxies. That's actually not the Strait of Hormuz. Stay with us.

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