Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

DHS Plans to Launch Voter Fraud Investigations; Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) is Interviewed about the DHS Investigations; Geologist and Engineer Arnold Dix is Interviewed about the Nepal Rescue Efforts; Oil Prices Rise after Iran Attacks. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 01, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:24]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, this morning, a CNN exclusive. CNN has learned that the Department of Homeland Security is planning a surge in its efforts to investigate voter fraud in a number of states, and that starts today. This is a pretty dramatic shift of resources toward an obsession of President Trump's.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now this morning.

Priscilla, what have you learned here?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the Department of Homeland Security has accelerated its efforts under Secretary Markwayne Mullin to look into alleged voter fraud. Of course, as part of the president's broader agenda here and his voter fraud crusade.

And in this case, the department continues to lean on ICE Homeland Security Investigations. That is a branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that has surged an unprecedented number of resources in recent months to voter fraud. This is typically a branch that deals with drug smuggling and human trafficking, among other big cases. But in this case, a lot of their efforts are being spent toward voter fraud.

So, what we know about what is going to start today in this voter fraud surge, it was described this way in the guidance that I received or reviewed. It looks -- it says, for example, "it is a coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative to pursue investigative leads, conduct field interviews, and support timely prosecutorial review." It starts today, but it also goes through mid-October. And it is a select nine states where this will be happening. For example, Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia. California, Pennsylvania, among a few others.

Now, of course, John, the timing of this is interesting. We're not far off from the midterm elections. And generally, the government has tried to avoid overt investigations into voter fraud, unless in exceptional circumstances, to not serve as any sort of chilling effect ahead of any type of election. Now, that is the guidance in the -- for the Justice Department. The

Department of Homeland Security, however, is not obligated to follow that. So, this is something that they are continuing to pursue.

Now, when I asked the Department of Homeland Security about this, they told me, quote, "while ICE Homeland Security Investigations is not able to comment on any active investigations, HIS is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found." They went on to say that, "under President Trump, HSI is committed to restoring integrity to our election systems and ensuring that American citizens, and only American citizens, are electing American leaders."

Now, of course, John, it's important to note that experts say there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in recent elections. However, the administration continues to tout this, including late last week when they announced the arrest of an Honduran national who they say falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen and registered to vote.

John.

BERMAN: And, of course, September 1st, it absolutely is now, the election season.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for sharing your exclusive reporting.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's talk about this.

Joining us right now is Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York. He is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, this -- Priscilla's reporting here that DHS is launching a surge starting today to investigate voter fraud. New York is one of the nine states that they are targeting. What do you know about this? What is it going to do?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): Well, look, here's what's happening. You know, and I think the assessments back in 2015, 2016 that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz and even Lindsey Graham said, Donald Trump is a con man. And again, he's trying to con the American people.

We know that through all of the court cases that have gone through with reference to voter fraud, that there was none and there is none. But he is trying to con the American people because if, in fact, anybody wants to, you know, try to steal or cheat in an election, it is Donald J. Trump himself. He's trying to, as time after time, he tries to flip the script on something that he really does.

And all you have to do is look at his life. He's been conning people his whole life. And now he's trying to continue to con the American people, whether its voter fraud, whether it's the war on Iran, whether its dealing with tariffs, whether its dealing with sanctions. He's trying to con the American people again. And I don't think the American people are going to go for it because they are hurting. They know in their pockets they are hurting because of this con man.

BOLDUAN: What is the impact, though? I mean, do you think there will be an impact, or do you think there will be no impact? You say the American people aren't going to buy it, but if this is launching today, one, you know, one month before the elections, do you think it will have an impact on the election?

[08:35:08]

MEEKS: Look, our attorney general, Tish James, has already said that what he's been trying to put forth with reference to mail ballots in New York is not going to happen. And what's going to happen in New York and other places around this country, because you see the enthusiasm that Democrats have had during the primary season, is just going to make us more determined to come out and to vote. So, he cannot stop this tsunami that's going to take place on the Republican Party because of their failed policies and him trying to con the American people, because they know since he's become president they're not better off.

You know, you can try to con them, but they know when they go to the gas station and they see that $4, now $4.50, close to $5 a gallon, when they go and try to get -- buy beef and they see the cost there, they know that they're being conned. Even, you know, in the middle of America, when you talk about farmers and you talk about what they're now having to charge because they can't get fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz, or conning the people about Canada right next door and all of those folks that's going to be affected negatively because of his going to war against one of our strongest and best allies. Another con job that he's trying to put forward.

So, it's not going to work, Kate. It's just not going to work. You are not going to be able to con the American people in this upcoming election.

BOLDUAN: The Army secretary has now submitted his resignation after months of tension with Pete Hegseth. What are you hearing about this?

MEEKS: Look, what I'm hearing and what I'm seeing again is where this con man, who's the head -- he's hired another flunky who is now his secretary of defense, who is trying to get rid of anybody that have made their life, have taken an oath of office to support the United States of America, to defend the United States of America. Anybody who is a true patriot has tried to get rid of so that they could put in place stooges who will just follow what the man who wants to be king, who's conning America, wants them to do. That's what's happening here.

So, just think about it. I mean, it's drastically similar to what happens in most authoritarian governments. What that authoritarian does, if you're not true to them, as opposed to the country. And each of those individuals, when they took their oath of office, they pledged allegiance to the United States of America, not to Donald J. Trump.

And so, what Hegseth is the henchmen trying to get rid of all of those individuals who we know are true loyalists to the United States and put in place individuals who just will be the stooges for the man who wants to be king. That's not going to work. And that gives me concern because we see that everybody, whether it's in the military or even in the State Department that has had the ability and the authority and the knowledge and the training to get things done is the -- and the very individuals that they wanted to get rid of. And the people that they put in place does not come anywhere near to the expertise that these individuals that they're getting rid of.

That comes to a halt, though, on January 3rd, because when we take over the House and we win the Senate, we're going to stop these automatic things that Trump is doing because the Congress is giving up its power to this individual. That ends on January 3rd, when we take over the House and the Senate.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask -- even before then, one thing that we have seen that is rare is bipartisan support for anything. We have seen that on an issue that I want to ask you about.

The House needs to consider, still, the massive Russia sanctions bill passed by the Senate, major bipartisan bill. You oppose it as it is written. The lead on the bill right now is Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. He addressed what he thinks is your concerns just on Sunday.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): It has measures to crack down on the shadow fleet, and it has tariff authority, but narrowly constrained to the five largest purchasers of Russian oil and gas.

MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: Yes.

BLUMENTHAL: None of our European allies would be tariffed.

And this kind of sanctions bill, throttling the flow of revenue to his war machine, could undercut completely his ability to wage this brutal, murderous war.

BRENNAN: So, you think -- you think you can get a --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Congressman, why is he and dozens of Senate Democrats wrong?

MEEKS: Look, what's happening here is, if you look at how this bill came about with Lindsey Graham, there was other proposals. We first passed a bill in the House that was a true sanctions bill. It did not have tariffs. It did not give the president waivers so that he did not have to, you know, force those sanctions on Russia.

BOLDUAN: I know, but you've got dozens of Senate Democrats who know the same thing, and they are supporting it. They think this is --

MEEKS: Well -- BOLDUAN: This is -- could fit into the realm of don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

[08:40:03]

MEEKS: And dozens -- we passed a bill first in this house that had certain things in it. So, this doesn't mean it's automatic when it comes here. There was a bipartisan bill in the United States House of Representatives that we passed. And so therefore what should happen now is, let's look at that bill and let's compare it to the other bill, and maybe we can work something out with the two bills. But just because it's coming from the Senate and we should automatically take it and it was bipartisan, well, we first sent them a bipartisan bill to the Senate.

And why didn't they take it? Because when I talked to many Democrats, they wanted to take it. The Republicans wouldn't do it. Why? Because they said Donald Trump did not want it. And so, then they designed a bill that was exclusively designed by Donald Trump. That's what Lindsey Graham even said before his unfortunate death, that he went there and he had to get Trump's approval to make sure that it is something that Trump wanted.

We are a separate but equal branch of government. It should not be where we are just doing and only do what the president says. We should make our own independent determination, irrespective of the president, and then send it to the president in a bipartisan way.

So, I'm saying, we have a bipartisan bill that also passed the House. And let's look that bill -- let's look at both of those bills, and then let's come up with a compromise. That would be the best way to do it.

BOLDUAN: All right. Congressman, thank you so much for coming in today.

MEEKS: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right, one more look this morning at stunning new video we are seeing from the flooding in Nepal. Just to remind you of what happened here, this section of a glacier snapped off up here sending this wall of water and debris downstream here.

Now, we've seen video. The first video we saw was from the border crossing here, simply devastating the structures there.

Now we're getting new video in. Here's the border crossing. We're getting new video in from downstream from another village a few miles downstream, Syapru Besi.

Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Simply devastating there. Again, in some cases, that water, which isn't just water, it's like filled with debris. Anderson described it as liquid concrete as high as some of the buildings there. It can give you a sense of some of the destruction, the aftermath of that.

This is this village before. Some of the structures there lining the riverbank. Look at this area right here. Look at this area right there. That's before the flood struck. And now after. You can see what was there is simply just gone now.

So, as I said, Anderson described the water as liquid concrete. He actually had a chance to visit this village in Nepal in the aftermath of what happened.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: This is the town of Syapru Besi, or what's left of the town, I should say. This is all that's left of the once bustling market district in the town. All of this area, and all the way down to the river, down this hill, would have been businesses and homes. People lived here. There was a lot of commerce.

The border with Tibet is just about 18 miles from here. And there was a very important road from that border area all the way down to Kathmandu that ran through this town. But that road now is wiped out.

It's stunning to see it up close. I don't even think the camera can really capture just the scale of this. It looks probably, just on camera, like some dirt field. But this isn't -- this isn't -- you know, we talk about water and this flood that came down. And, yes, there was a lot of water in it. But look, this is -- there's rocks in this. There was boulders. There was vehicles. Everything that the sludge picked up from further upstream. It's like -- it's like -- it's like concrete, essentially. And it just covers everything. If you walk out into this area, you can tell by my shoes, you'll just sink in it. It's like concrete quicksand.

This was once a destination spot for Hindus and Buddhists on religious pilgrimages. They would come here. Also, trekkers from all over the world. There is 15 Australian trekkers who are -- have been reported missing in this area, as well as dozens of other foreigners. It's not clear how many people died here in this town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.

All right, around 900 people who were working inside the hydropower tunnels in Nepal are among the thousands still missing this morning. The internal tunnels for some of those projects stretched several miles long. Others included rooms and resources that could allow people to survive.

[08:45:00]

But that's only if the tunnel itself was not filled to the brim with the mud and debris, and their air supply is holding out.

Joining us now is Professor Arnold Dix. He's a geologist and engineer who is advising rescue teams that are going inside these tunnels.

You have an expertise in trying to save people in tunnels. It's now day six after this catastrophic flooding in Nepal. When you look at the technical drawings and the satellite images and the aerial views of all of these tunnels, can you give us some sense if you think there is any chance that there are survivors still?

PROFESSOR ARNOLD DIX, GEOLOGIST AND ENGINEER: Absolutely. So, my role is, in fact, doing exactly that, looking at the as built drawings, looking at the cross-sections, looking at the calculations on what we found there on the ground. And you can see in that cross section you've got there, what we're looking at and what we think is like the goldilocks zone. If anyone survived, it's up there in that golden area at the top. That area at the top is quite large. It's like a block of flats sort of thing. Like, it's big because we're in a power station. But getting to it has proving to be really hard.

So, as -- we believe that there's enough air. Of course it's pitch black. There's no food. There should be water. So, human beings, plus water, means survival. And we're on it. And we've -- and today we've had some good progress. I see there in your cross section the access tunnel down there towards the river.

SIDNER: Yes.

DIX: On the project that I'm involved with, the team have managed to now excavate around that access tunnel portal and also using explosives get into the top. And we're preparing now to tunnel inside a tunnel to try and make our way to the power station. In fact -- yes, that's some of the imagery of the one I'm talking about.

SIDNER: Yes.

DIX: And we're also -- the other issue that we're dealing with, and we've had some very good progress today is, we're digging a huge trench from -- well, the tunnel, down to the river, because we've discovered quite a lot of water in there as well. So, we're trying to drain it. So, one of the issues we're addressing at the moment is the possibility that water is backing up into the power station. It's -- it really is hour by hour. We're adjusting our strategy all the time.

SIDNER: We're looking at --

DIX: Yes, that's --

SIDNER: I mean these are remarkable images that came out just a couple of days where people were saved from some of these air pockets, some of these areas inside of the tunnels. You can see just how difficult it is to maneuver in this, what Anderson Cooper has been calling sort of like a liquid concrete, almost like it sucks you in when you stand on it. And so, you see the crawling just to get into these areas.

Can you give me a sense of what is the most dangerous part of this? Because you mentioned using explosives, trying to get in to these areas that are just mounded with mud. And you just don't know how high it is.

DIX: No. And we also don't know how much water is behind it. So, when you're crawling in like that, and I recognize some of the faces on those men. So, I work with these guys. We did a rescue in India a couple of years back.

When we're working in like that, if we breach one of these plugs and there's water on the other side, it kills us. Like, this -- it's not just that the people on the other side are needing rescuing. We have to be really alert to hurting ourselves as well.

That tunnel, because it wasn't completely overwhelmed, at least they've got access from the surface. The power station I'm dealing with mostly, we've had to dig down, like actually dig down something like ten meters through a whole new landscape. But on day one, when I was called in, we couldn't find the power station. I couldn't find it.

SIDNER: Wow.

DIX: It had been completely eliminated from the surface. So, even finding the spots to dig to find the tunnel, to crawl up the tunnel to find the power station has been an enormous challenge. It's just --

SIDNER: It just --

DIX: It's just an extraordinary (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: It is extraordinary to see the effort being made, but also just to think of the power of this cataclysmic flood that came barreling down in the crevices and just destroyed so many things and covered so much area. Ten meters is like 30 feet or so.

DIX: Yes.

SIDNER: It is extraordinary that they were able to rescue some people. And now the rescue mission continues with somewhere about 900 people missing just in those tunnels.

Professor Arnold Dix, thank you for your expertise. Really do appreciate it.

[08:50:03]

John.

BERMAN: All right, here's a live look at oil prices on the rise this morning. GasBuddy says this weekend could be the most expensive Labor Day at the pump ever. And oil companies are heading to the White House today. And we are standing by for jurors to begin deliberations again at the

Lindsay Clancy trial. The woman who killed her three children. The verdict could come at any time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, breaking this morning, a live look at oil prices. You can see tipping up ever higher this morning. This after the U.S. and Iran traded attacks for the first time in more than a month this week.

Gas prices ticking back up as well. The national average is now $4.09 a gallon. And GasBuddy estimates that drivers could face the most expensive Labor Day at the pump on record.

With us now is Rick Newman, founder, editor and publisher of the Pinpoint Press.

Rick, always great to see you.

So, $4.09 or so heading into Labor Day weekend. the highest Labor Day ever. What are the chances that will subside by a big Tuesday in November?

[08:55:02]

RICK NEWMAN, FOUNDER, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, "THE PINPOINT PRESS": I think the -- very low. I think we're very likely to have $4 gas right into the midterm elections. And I think that's because Iran wants that to happen. If they were going to cave to President Trump on the war over there, they would -- I think they would have done it by now.

They are suffering pretty severe pain. There is a blockade on their own ports and on their own oil shipments. So, this is hurting them. But since it's gone on this long, I mean they clearly understand the political situation in the United States and they want President Trump to face the consequences of $4 gas when voters go to the polls in November.

I think the big question is, what happens after that? If there is going to be some kind of come down in this war and Iran might make some concessions, we will know by mid-November. And they might not. They might want this to persist indefinitely.

BERMAN: So, the big announcement from the president, the U.S. would somehow profit from the Venezuelan oil reserves. How soon would that mitigate these prices?

NEWMAN: Not during Trump's presidency, and possibly not for a long time after that. I mean, this is supposedly -- this sounds kind of phony, to be honest. Supposedly this is a deal to develop oil fields in Venezuela that have not even gotten started yet. And this -- this is -- this is really difficult to do. So, energy analysts are saying, we're not going to see meaningful amounts of new oil if this actually goes through for at least five years, it could be 15 years. I mean Trump seems really like he's just trying to grasp at anything to make drivers who are paying $4.09 a gallon think, oh, maybe this will get a little bit better soon, but I just don't think it's going to.

BERMAN: So, Rick, if we can enlist your help here in helping understand what may be the most important economic trend, yet the hardest to actually understand for a lot of people here, the bond market. Yields are high. You can see, the ten-year Treasury yields is at 4.78. That's higher than when the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, intervened in this pretty unprecedented way to try to lower them. Apparently, it didn't work here. So, how much more do you think he is likely to do, and what does it mean for consumers?

NEWMAN: It's a great question because if the Treasury Department is trying to lower interest rates and failing, we have a whole new problem on our hands, which is the Treasury Department loses credibility, possibly the Federal Reserve credibility and that makes the whole problem worse.

So, to zoom out here, John, what's going on? I mean this is not an imminent crisis for most Americans. Interest rates are not unusually high. What's happening is, we've had relatively low interest rates for the last 15 years or so, and they are going back to levels you might call historical averages. So, if you're buying a house, you're probably never going to see a four percent mortgage rate again. You know, it may possibly never -- we may never get interest rates that low. So, a mortgage rate is going to be seven percent%. That's the historical average.

But what this -- these -- this rise in interest rates is telling us is that there is too much debt on the markets. And a lot of that is U.S. government debt. It's from other governments. This is happening at the same time. All these companies that are investing in the A.I. buildout are issuing debt. And when there's a lot of debt, the interest rate has to go up.

So, the message from the bond market is, hey, Uncle Sam, now is the time for you to start dealing with that $40 trillion pile of debt. That's the national debt. You have to do something about it. Now is the time.

BERMAN: Yes, Uncle Sam, though, has his hands over his ears going, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, I'm not listening, I'm not listening.

NEWMAN: That's right.

BERMAN: Rick Newman, great to see you this morning, as always. You explain things so well. Appreciate it.

NEWMAN: Thanks.

BERMAN: Sara.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the ground now. Get on your face now. On your face. Put your hands behind your back.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: Well, that is a vandal in Virginia police say terrorizing a

neighborhood, wearing a "Scream" mask. He's caught with the mask on. And once cuffed, officers unmasked him. Officials say the 22-year-old suspect went on a destruction spree, smashing windows at a neighborhood community center and causing up to $8,000 in damages and scaring the bejesus out of people. He's now facing multiple charges.

The GOAT is ending his run in international football. Lionel Messi announcing he's retiring from the Argentina national team. It comes on the heels of Argentina's back-to-back World Cup final appearances and weeks after the death of his father. He says he's even more sure of his decision after losing his dad. Messi says he's going out with peace of mind and pride, especially after leading Argentina to a World Cup victory back in 2022, though Argentina did end up losing to Spain in the FIFA World Cup this past year.

All right, this was the scene in Utah's Zion National Park Monday. Heavy rain pounded that area, causing flooding.

[09:00:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)