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Death Toll in Nepal-China Flooding Tragedy Tops 1,000; Army Secretary Resigns Amid Tension with Hegseth; Duane "Keffe D Davis" Found Guilty in Tupac Shakur's Murder; Police Fatally Shoot Knife- Wielding Suspect in Time Square. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 01, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Open champ also rocking cornrows and a headband just like Iverson used to. Osaka would beat Anastasia Zakharova 7-6, 7-6. She's now made the second round at every major this season for the first time since 2018.

Now earlier in the day American Emma Navarro beat Lois Boisson in three sets to advance, and it provided one of the best videos of the year. As Navarro was celebrating, Boisson in the background just taking the loss out on a racket. I mean that's the thrill of victory and agony defeat summed up in five seconds right there.

All right, meanwhile baseball the Cubs set a franchise record nine home runs last night against the Brewers and Alex Bregman he hit three of them. The last coming off first baseman Andrew Vaughn who had come in to pitch for Milwaukee in the blowout. This is the second time in the month Bregman hit three home runs in a game joining Sammy Sosa as the only Cubs to ever do that.

Final in that game 17-3. And finally in Denver, Rockies down 2-1, two outs bottom of the ninth one on for Jake McCarthy. He's going to get a hold of this one deep to center field, but Colton Cowser goes up gets it for the walk-off home run robbery.

So instead of Colorado winning the game Cowser there, John, ends it with an incredible catch, and you know the Orioles only a half game out of that last wild card spot in the American League, John. So if they make the playoffs all their fans certainly going to remember that moment right there.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely that could make all the difference what a catch. Andy Scholes thank you very much for that.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight the death toll in Nepal now tops 1,000 and well over 4,000 people are still missing from the devastating floods. Crews today racing to reach hundreds of people feared trapped in tunnels.

And in the middle of the war with Iran the Secretary of the Army has now resigned. What Dan Driscoll told the president about Pete Hegseth's leadership on his way out the door.

Plus, dash cam video showing a high-speed chase ending with a violent arrest. The state trooper breaking a rear window and punching a passenger. What that man is now telling CNN this morning.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: The official death toll in Nepal now tops 1,000 and there are thousands that are still missing and this morning for the first time we are seeing vantage points. New video of this disaster from six days ago that only now paint a true picture of the force of it all. The video we are getting is coming from this town, this village, Syapru Besi here, you can see it's downstream from that border crossing where so much of the video we have seen comes from.

I want you to take a look at the sheer force of what hit this town. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(VIDEO OF DEADLY FLOOD)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Just horrifying there and you can see at points it almost appears that that water -- which isn't really water it's almost like liquid concrete -- was as high as some of the buildings there are well higher there in that.

I can show you what happened to this village from the force of that flood. This is an aerial image of that rough area from before. Now look at it after that's after, this is before.

Everything that was there is simply just gone now. One more vantage point we can show you here again, this is before from that same area. Take a good look at this area right here, all these structures right near the stream. That's before and that's after.

Everything there just gone. Everything here just gone. Simply stunning images of the destruction the power of what hit now six days ago.

This morning, as we said, there are still thousands of people still missing. A lot of the focus is on hydropower tunnels where there might be hundreds who were trapped. I want to get right to CNN's Will Ripley who is live in Kathmandu.

Will you've been covering this for days now. What's the latest this morning?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a pretty significant emotional milestone on the ground here to have the number of deaths officially cross 1,000. But the reality that people are starting to process and wrap their heads around is it's going to be a question of how many thousand are dead by the time this is all said and done.

[08:05:00]

And the reason for that is simple, when you see a giant wall of water traveling at such a fast speed obliterating buildings in a matter of seconds, it's unsurvivable for most people who are in the path of that. Now there have been some exceptions to that.

We met the mother of a young girl named Manisha, a five-year-old girl who her parents thought she was dead when the flood swept their house away in about five seconds and yet rescuers found her two and a half days or 60 hours after the flood between two battered buildings wedged in an air pocket that allowed her to survive. I spoke with her mother exclusively. Here's a piece of what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: It's miraculous that given the force of that water that she was able to have a place where she could survive.

GITA UCHAI MAGAR, MOTHER OF RESCUED 5-YEAR-OLD GIRL (through translator): It was miraculous. When the child was found it felt like a miracle. I thought there is a God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: They are exceedingly lucky even though they lost their home, they lost all of their possessions. They know that many, many people here in Nepal have lost so much more. And I have to say from my trips to Bidur and other areas really heavily impacted by this flood, everybody who I met who lost family members. I met a young woman who lost 17 family members.

I met a young man who lost eight family members. None of them have seen a body of these family members that they know are lost, that they are grieving. And some of them hadn't even been recorded on the official list of the missing by the time that I spoke to them.

So I think the reality that everybody needs to mentally prepare themselves for is that the numbers from this tragedy, as horrific as they are now, are likely to get even more horrific in the days and weeks and months to come. And there is a very likely scenario that many, many people who are relatives of victims will never get closure in terms of a body.

They're trying to do DNA testing but that's pretty limited. And the fact that bodies are now decomposing so rapidly that they're having to bury them in mass graves hundreds of miles from where they were washed away is a sign of just how grim and dire this situation is.

BERMAN: Will Ripley in Kathmandu, that's such important perspective. We thank you for your report and giving us a sense of what these numbers mean. And of course the only number that really matters is one, if it's someone you love. Thank you, Will -- Sara. SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you John. Another high-level exit at the Pentagon six months into the war with Iran. Sources telling seen an Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has resigned after months of tension with defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

One source says Driscoll raised concerns about Army transformation and readiness and accused Hegseth of blocking those efforts by firing the generals responsible for them. CNN has reported that Hegseth sees Driscoll's close ties to Vice President J.D. Vance and the White House as a means of going around him.

CNN's Haley Britzky has this reporting. You went through and talked to folks about what happened here. What did you learn?

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Sara, so this has been long expected frankly the departure of Secretary Driscoll. We've heard about this for months that it could be coming. And so now he's taking that step of submitting his resignation to the president.

A source familiar said that Driscoll brought up concerns with the administration surrounding Army transformation and readiness. Meaning, sort of adapting the Army to the current state of the battlefield frankly, and Hegseth's blocking those efforts specifically by firing the generals who were responsible.

So we've seen a number of senior officers in the Army and elsewhere in the Army, but particularly within the Army either having their promotions blocked or being sort of forced out or outright fired by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. One of those most notable and most recent General Christopher Donahue who was out at U.S. Army Europe. Who was very instrumental in the Army's getting up to speed on drones.

Who worked with Ukraine a lot on sort of how to bring drones more into the force. As that's largely what the military is looking forward to, like the future of warfare and what is happening in the Middle East in particular. General Donahue, who was forced out, who retired just last week officially. But as you mentioned, Sara, I mean the tensions between Secretary Driscoll and Secretary Hegseth have existed now for months, for over a year.

We reported last year that Secretary Hegseth was feeling that Driscoll's closeness to Vice President Vance and his closeness to the White House was an effort of him going around Secretary Hegseth. So certainly something that has been bothering the Defense Secretary for quite some time.

SIDNER: Yes, this is great reporting by you and the team, we really do appreciate it, Haley. Thank you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: New York police shoot and kill a woman after they say she went and stabbed two people in New York City yesterday. One of them died. What we're now learning today about this terrifying scene that unfolded in the middle of Times Square.

[08:10:00] And a guilty verdict 30 years in the making. What Duane "Keffe D" Davis immediately asked for as soon as he was convicted in Tupac Shakur's murder.

Plus, body camera footage shows detectives catching a man after he had gone, they say, on a rampage destroying homes, all while wearing a mask from the Scream movies. How they tracked him down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: This morning, a guilty verdict 30 years in the making. Duane "Keffe D" Davis is now facing a potential life sentence after he was convicted for his role in the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury in the above entitled case, find the defendant Duane "Keffe D" Davis as follows. Count one, murder with use of a deadly weapon, guilty of first degree murder with use of a deadly weapon dated this 31st date of August 2026.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The jury brought back that verdict after just deliberating for less than three hours. Now throughout the case, prosecutors had argued that Davis had orchestrated the killing, admitted to it, even wrote about the night. His defense team told jurors that Davis had made it all up to protect his family to make money.

CNN's Josh Campbell is in Las Vegas with much more on this. Quite a moment in court. What happened? Tell us more about what played out.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, quite a moment indeed. And as you mentioned, coming three decades after the legendary rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and killed here in Vegas. For so long, there have been people, his fans, his family, his friends wondering would there be any justice, anyone actually held accountable. Which is why it was so surprising when just a few years ago, Duane Davis was arrested near Las Vegas and then put on trial for murder.

As you mentioned, the jury very quickly coming out with their verdict yesterday that he is indeed guilty of helping orchestrate the murder of Shakur. Now, as you mentioned, the prosecutor all along, their strategy was basically to point to Duane Davis's own words in interviews that he gave with the police that were played in recordings for the jury, in interviews that he did with the media and in documentaries, and even a book that he wrote talking about his involvement in the case. Take a listen to prosecutors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC DIGIACOMO, CLARK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Do we honestly think a guy who was dumb enough to write a book could keep this story straight this many times, this many times over? Mr. Davis is attempting to escape responsibility for a crime everybody knows he committed, even him, and he admits to it for seven, eight times over the course of 30 years, and there's no evidence contradicting that fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now, what an image right there that we just saw. The prosecutor in his closing arguments. Kate, behind him, you could see Duane Davis there, you know, clapping his hands. You could see kind of the frustration coming out. As you mentioned, his own attorney had the strategy to say, look, yes, my client may have made all these comments, but please don't believe him then. He was simply trying to profit from the story. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SANFT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You're reading a book that is fiction and not fact, but the state wants you to believe that this is somehow a confession, that he was there and present at the time of the shooting.

The question's always going to be asked, why would he say these words? Well, obviously it was because he wanted to protect himself, he wanted to protect his family, and he wanted to make money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now, of course, the jury didn't buy any of that. Again, after just three hours, the jury's rendering a verdict that no, he is guilty. Kate, sentencing in this case is set for October the 13th. In somewhat of an unusual moment, we saw Duane Davis speak out himself in court yesterday, telling the judge, I want to appeal. So, of course, we're expecting that at some point after sentencing.

BOLDUAN: Yep, first up, as the judge said, sentencing coming now next month. It's good to see you, Josh. Thank you so much for that -- Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you, Kate.

Coming up, the CNN exclusive, the Trump administration is planning to launch a voter fraud operation surge today, even though there's never been any evidence of major fraud. So what are they going to do exactly?

And the ballroom blitz, the Supreme Court rules on whether Trump can continue the $400 million ballroom project. Those stories are more ahead.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Developing this morning, police here in New York are investigating a deadly stabbing that took place in the heart of Times Square. Now take a look. It's a chaotic scene. Police say a woman randomly just stabbed two people. That woman ended up killing someone and injuring another man. The

suspect was then shot and killed by officers after refusing to drop the weapon. CNN's Mark Morales joining me now.

This is -- it was a stunning -- when you see the number of people, of course, in Times Square. But when you look at her, a lot of people might not think this woman is going to do anything she was sort of like walking around. And then -- what did you see?

MARK MORALES, CNN REPORTER: Right, so witnesses describe seeing her standing there. They see her reaching into a red bag and pulling out both knives. And the one thing that witnesses tell us is the same thing that police sources that we spoke to say, that police officials say, is that these attacks were completely unprovoked.

So she removes these knives from her bags, and the first person she sets her eyes on is a 68-year-old man who's believed to be from Rhode Island. He was with his wife. They just left the train station.

They were at the crosswalk waiting to cross the street. She sees him and attacks him, stabs him in the abdomen. She then turns her sights on a 32-year-old woman, not too far away from where he was, and stabs her in the abdomen.

And she's walking up 7th Avenue and then witnesses actually flagged down police. Because as you know in Times Square, they're everywhere. So they corner her on the between 42nd and 43rd Street. And that's where this major attempt at de-escalating starts.

They're all surrounding her. You see in the video, they're all trying to talk to her. And the police commissioner spoke about this in a news conference last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: The whole incident enfolded from the first stabbing until the conclusion unfolded in approximately 5 minutes. Four of those minutes were the police engaging the subject in dialogue trying to get her to drop the knives. But the two stabbings happened within approximately 20 seconds of each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORALES: So those 20 seconds really goes to what you mentioned at the beginning, the speed of this attack, the violence, the ferocity. And you wouldn't necessarily assume this just from judging a book by its cover at the very beginning, but that's exactly what happened here.

[08:25:00]

Now officers that confronted her were wearing body-worn cameras and you could actually hear her tell police I'm not dropping anything. I would rather kill both of you. I will kill you.

And that happened moments before she has both knives in her hands, goes towards officers and they open fire. That's important to note that she is believed to have some mental health issues that some of that has been in her history. Investigators are going through now to try and figure out what her whereabouts were, where she was coming from, where she was.

But the one thing they can say definitively is that there is no connection to terrorism.

SIDNER: When you are walking the streets in New York, a lot of people are afraid of this sort of unprovoked attacks where you don't even realize what's happening until you are injured or in this case, one person was killed. Disturbing scene there. Thank you so much, Mark, for I do appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right, a high-speed chase ends with a trooper smashing out a car window and appearing -- you can see it right there -- to pull a passenger out by the hair.

And then a man wearing a mask from the Scream films went on what is being called a destruction spree. How it all ended.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]