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Video Shows ICE Officers Pull Teen from Car, Punch Him; Trump Facing Growing Republican Revolt with 46 Days to Midterms; Interview with Representative Jason Crow (D-CO); Patrick Clancy Speaks to "60 Minutes" Following Lindsay Clancy Mistrial; COVID-19 Vaccines Delayed for Around Half of U.S. Children. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 18, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

SCOTT SINGER, CO-DIRECTOR, CHINA A.I. INITIATIVE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: -- comes to managing the most serious risks that cross borders, finding areas to cooperate is going to be essential to manage the most extreme risks.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I am so fascinated. This makes me even more interested in what could possibly come out tangibly from this meeting between the president and Xi Jinping, and just kind of what their public posture is as they come out, when you know they're going to face questions on it.

Scott, your expertise on this is essential. I really appreciate you coming in. Thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, new video appears to show an altercation between ICE officers and two teenagers in Texas. Their attorneys say they were on their way to enlist in the Marines.

And then the glaring new split. Republicans running from the president, not with him. The midterms just over six weeks away.

And then the World Cup is over, and the future is now for the U.S. Men's National Team. The latest surprise announcement about the new squad.

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan, and this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

And new this morning, new video appears to show a physical altercation between ICE officers and two 17-year-olds from Texas who were on their way to enlist in the Marines. That is according to their attorney. On the video, you see one of the officers appearing to repeatedly punch the passenger in the face while he was being held down on the ground.

Want to get right to CNN's Ryan Young, who is following this, to explain what it is we're seeing and maybe what happened just before. RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, a lot of

questions about this. We know across the country we've had people try to get in the way of ICE agents as they try to make an arrest or take someone into custody. And it seems like this case, the teens were on their way to enlist to the Marines. Of course, that's what their attorney tells us. This happened in Alamo, Texas, around September 11th. And they were behind these agents and apparently the passenger at some point got out to film the agents being involved with whoever they were trying to detain.

They were told to get back in the car. At some point, that passenger may have taken a Social Security card and slapped it up against the window of one of the ICE agents. And then you see this takedown that happens after they deployed some pepper spray into the car. You can see the driver being irritated there by the pepper spray. He then walks toward a gas station. Now you see blow after blow there by the agent. It looks like almost to the body area.

But let's take a listen to some of the sounds of what happened there that's been playing out on social media for the last few days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a minor. He's a minor. He's a minor. Hey, he's a minor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes. So you see this going back and forth someone in the background there screaming out that he was a minor. They're both 17 years old. The attorney says once the kid saw ICE detaining someone, one of them got out to record. They may have slapped that Social Security card against the window.

Now you see them take down the driver. The driver was in the car, at some point doesn't sound like he ever got out of the car, so maybe they were focused on that passenger. Once they took that passenger down, then it sort of escalated to the driver as well.

We're told both young men still plan to try to enlist the Marines. DHS, for their part, is saying, look, they were upset about this as well. They gave them verbal commands. And in fact, they've released a statement to us that in part I'll read here for you, John.

It says, "Two agitators proceeded to follow the officers once they returned to their vehicle and one of the individuals approached the government vehicle and repeatedly banged on the officer's window." And then it goes on to say, "Officers verbally commanded the agitator to stop his actions, but he refused. And when officers exited the vehicle and attempted to detain him, the agitator became verbally and physically combative."

Now, one thing I will say here is you do see, maybe they've learned a little bit about how to deal with the public in certain situations here because they did apply body pressure, and then they put a couple blows, but they didn't accelerate this beyond that. So you didn't see any weapons pulled. They did use pepper spray. And for DHS' part, they did talk about the fact they did use de-escalation tactics here.

But a lot of questions about this back and forth and what the teens were doing before the video started -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, I think that is the big question at this point. And with so many of these incidents, I'm not sure that we'll get answers easily or quickly. But, Ryan Young, thank you.

YOUNG: Or quickly.

BERMAN: For the reporting you've done on this case. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So it is election day in America. Yes, really. At least in three states, Virginia, Minnesota, South Dakota, where early in-person voting for the midterms kicks off today.

[09:05:01]

It comes just as, of course, there are more and new warning signs for the president and the Republican Party, with more Republican candidates showing very clearly themselves distancing from him and his low approval numbers. In fact, the president is showing up more in Democratic campaign ads than Republican ones this cycle.

A new CNN analysis of more than 500 Republican ads finds Republicans have aired just 12 ads mentioning Trump this month, spending about $1 million. That works out to be less than 1 percent of their total ad spending during this period.

So there is one Republican, though, talking about the president in a new ad from his adopted home state of Florida. But in it, she tells him some of his supporters feel betrayed. Here's Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR (R-FL): Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. In July, 50 percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policies. The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Let's get to CNN's Jeff Zeleny for more on this.

Jeff, what do you make of this?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate. Good morning. I mean, my question here, going into the weekend and into the final six weeks of this campaign is, how many Republican candidates are going to view that ad that we just saw as a permission structure to also try and separate themselves and show some independence from this White House? We will see if others follow suit there. But we've been watching all of these ads. And if you live in a

battleground state out there in America, you know this already. You are seeing this deluge of ads. But one thing that became clear to us that President Trump, despite being the salesman for his party, despite saying, pretend I'm on the ballot, he's actually not in these ads. As you were saying there, our analysis shows that only 12 -- that he is featured in only 12 of 500 Republican ads.

And these aren't just Republican candidates trying to distance themselves. These are ads by Trump's own political advisers, his own network. So what that shows that they realize that he is a bit of a liability here. But Democrats, of course, are using the president again and again, trying to tie him to the policies of the Iran war. Republicans are deciding to use their money to try and bring down these Democratic candidates by trying to disqualify them.

But it's a very interesting snapshot, and it's a departure from how he is acting. When we see him in a campaign rallies and things, he's talking about the hottest economy in the world. All of these bold proclamations, some of them aren't quite standing up to the fact checks are not in these ads. So Republicans clearly are trying to effectively take away their salesman-in-chief from a lot of their big sales jobs in these battleground races.

BOLDUAN: Speaking of campaigning, J.D. Vance is headed to Iowa today. What's expected there?

ZELENY: Well, look, I mean, Iowa is a red state. It has become that. This year is going to test whether that is true. There's a competitive governor's race, an open Senate race. The first time since 1968, both the Senate and governor's race has been open. There's three competitive House races, but we're keeping our eye on who is not going to be there today.

Ashley Hinson, who is a Republican member of Congress, she is running for the open Senate seat there. She's a Republican of course. She is not available. She will not be at this J.D. Vance rally today. She said she had a previous scheduling conflicts. We'll see how many other Republican Congress members are there as well.

We always look at the travel schedules of course in these final weeks of the campaign. Of course that is a saying a lot about where the sides believe that they need some help to lift up their supporters. But we also look at the members of Congress, the senators who are not available to travel with the vice president. So that was very notable to me.

He'll be going to Council Bluffs today on the western side of Iowa. Ashley Hinson, a key Senate race, one of the Senate races Republicans have to hold, she is unavailable -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: OK. Super interesting. Great to see you, Jeff. Thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: All right. With us now is Congressman Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado who for the Democrats in the House you are running sort of the elections in battleground states.

You're the battleground guy, right?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Right. I'm the co-chair of the battlegrounds. One of the people that's managing the midterm effort. You know, we have recruited these candidates. We're running these candidates. They're doing an amazing job. And you know, the things like you saw like Maria Salazar there, how stupid do House Republicans think we in Americans are that they just spent the last two years enabling every single thing that Donald Trump did, the war, the tariffs, maligning our allies, undermining the economy, cutting health care? And now we're less than two months out, and they somehow have seen the light? I mean, come on.

BERMAN: OK. So that's your message in response to Maria Salazar. She's splitting with the president, which, you know, Democrats have been arguing you should speak out against the president. But when she does, you say?

CROW: I say, where have you been the last two years?

[09:10:01]

I mean, it's as if everything that has happened that has brought us to this moment has just started happening in the last couple of weeks. That it's all in isolation. No. Like we have had hundreds of votes. We have been in session for almost two years now. We have time and time again said, enough, stop this. Stop the war. Stop the cuts on health care, address costs, address the rising cost of energy, stop the abuses of ICE. Stop it.

And they have every single opportunity to do that. They have passed in every opportunity. Now we're 47 days out, and somehow they want us to believe they've seen the light. I don't believe it.

BERMAN: So battlegrounds, how many battleground districts, roughly, are you focused on?

CROW: We have about 50, but we're expanding the map, right? We are seeing opportunities. Americans are coming our way. They have said enough is enough. Donald Trump lied to them. He turned their backs on rural working class Americans.

I mean, listen, Donald Trump campaigned on ending wars in the Middle East. He said, we're going to end quagmires. We're going to end wars in the Middle East. And look what happened. We're in another war in the Middle East, and it's another quagmire. And we're spending hundreds of billions of dollars on it. It's crazy.

BERMAN: Fifty, which is a higher number than I've heard, anywhere between 30 and 40. I've heard 50 would be a higher number. You say even more than that maybe. I don't know if you heard Jeff's analysis right there, but we've looked through the ads and of the ads that have run the last few weeks, about $160 million worth, only $1 million worth of Republican ads have mentioned Donald Trump.

CROW: Yes.

BERMAN: So what are you seeing in terms of Republicans running with the president or trying to put distance there?

CROW: Well, it's pretty clear they've realized he's a huge liability, right? That his policies have failed, that his rhetoric is extreme, that the things he's doing to Americans is abusive at best and horrible at worst, that he's undermining our democracy, that he's corrupt. That's the other thing. The corruption is so rank. It's so obvious, right?

My constituents back in Colorado are losing their health care, losing their homes. And guess what? He gets $1 billion gold ballroom. He gets new private planes. He gets a brand new arch.

BERMAN: You're --

CROW: It's crazy.

BERMAN: Again, you're getting your talking points. And my question, though, is, are you seeing Republicans running with him or just trying to ignore him?

CROW: They're trying to ignore him. Right? I went down to Dallas for the midterm convention actually. I went into the lion's den to the convention to actually point out the hypocrisy of what was happening. And my Republican colleagues, I mean, I still talk to them, and a lot of them felt compelled to show up and they didn't want to be seen. They didn't want to do media. They didn't want to speak.

They didn't want to be seen because they know he's a liability because they go back home and they're getting crushed by their constituents, as they should, because of the failed policies. And here's a great example. They canceled votes yesterday again. They've now canceled 63 voting days, 25 percent of the voting days. They canceled it again yesterday to avoid taking a vote on Pete Hegseth.

So they have canceled votes to avoid taking votes on Pete Hegseth, to avoid taking votes on Epstein files, to avoid taking votes on ending the Iran war. They know that what's going on is unpopular.

BERMAN: Changing subjects here for a second. Hasan Piker, streamer, has been doing -- he did this interview with Axios with Alex Thompson, and it's a humdinger of an interview, right? They have a heck of a discussion there. A lot of it came out yesterday when he talked about al Qaeda in the United States, comparing who's the worst terrorist here. But he has these new comments that Axios just released today, when he's talking about campaigning with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Maybe if she were to run for president. I want to listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASAN PIKER, LEFT-WING POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND STREAMER: I think AOC would be a good candidate. I think the left --

ALEX THOMPSON, AXIOS: You've talked to -- you don't have to say what the conversations were, but you've talked to her team?

PIKER: I mean, I've talked to AOC. Yes, I have contact with AOC and her team. Yes. What goes on --

THOMPSON: Would you want to campaign for her if she did run?

PIKER: Oh, absolutely. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: "Would you want to campaign for her if she did run? Oh, absolutely yes." And I'm asking you this in your capacity as someone overseeing battleground states for House Democrats, how much do you want Hasan Piker campaigning with any Democrats going forward?

CROW: Well, what I can tell you is that there is this fascination and fixation on what's happening in New York City, what's happening in the coast, what's happening outside of districts. When you are running a battleground House race, it's about that district. You know, candidates that I've recruited and I'm working with, they are focused on fixing lead in the drinking water of their schools, getting farm irrigation projects fixed, making sure that bridges are rebuilt in their districts that are falling apart. That is the focus, and that's why we're going to win in those races.

BERMAN: Are there some districts, though, where you would help?

CROW: Possibly, possibly. I mean, that's -- that depends on the candidate, right? We are building a big tent right now, and that's going to include a lot of different folks. And that's up to individual candidates who they want to have come in. But I always tell folks when I'm mentoring these candidates is make sure that when somebody comes in for you, that it's helpful, that it's not more helpful for them than it's helpful for you.

[09:15:04]

And say no to surrogates actually. Say no to people, right? And I tell them to say no to me. If I'm not helpful coming into a district, don't have me come into the district. Right? Don't become a celebrity candidate. Right? We want real people, real servant leaders who are going to roll up their sleeves and govern and focus relentlessly on their districts. That is still the beauty of the House of Representatives.

You know, you have 435 districts, about 800,000 per district. It's like running for mayor of your district. It's local. It's focused on the interests of the people. That's where it starts. That's where it ends.

BERMAN: Congressman Jason Crow from Colorado, thanks for coming in today. Appreciate it.

CROW: Yes, thank you.

BERMAN: Kate? BOLDUAN: So for the first time since her mistrial, we are hearing from

Lindsay Clancy's ex-husband sitting down for a new interview just as the lone holdout juror that brought about that mistrial is also speaking out. Plus, exclusive reporting on the U.S. Military, shifting critical drone supplies to South America. So what does that major move mean? And the most friendly guard dog you will ever meet. Home intruder meets golden retriever. All caught on video.

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[09:20:44]

BERMAN: All right. For the first time, we're hearing from Patrick Clancy and his new wife are speaking out after the murder trial of his ex-wife, Lindsay Clancy after that ended in a mistrial. Clancy admitted to killing their three children, but argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Now Patrick Clancy is speaking to "60 Minutes."

Let's get to CNN's Jean Casarez.

What is Patrick Clancy saying now?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the first time that he's speaking, which is extraordinary because he has been the focus of the trial in many respects. He was the first witness to testify, and he testified as a prosecution witness. On cross-examination the defense, they were nice to him, but they also said to him in early December, Lindsay said she was hearing some voices and you went out of town a couple days later, didn't you?

So there were some insinuations made. On social media it went viral against him. His attorneys came out after the trial saying, we're reporting things to law enforcement. This has to stop. And now he's telling his own story. A man that lost it all. He lost his children and he lost his wife.

Let's listen to Patrick Clancy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK CLANCY, LINDSAY CLANCY'S FORMER HUSBAND: I talked to them.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What do you say?

CLANCY: Help me. All the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And also his new wife also spoke to "60 Minutes." And we have some of her words about her husband. I think we can take that sound now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RACHEL DENIS, WIFE OF PATRICK CLANCY: I don't understand how the story has been so twisted. But I would hope people know that Pat is, as I said before, the most selfless father and supportive partner, and I was just a girl that met a guy running in Central Park on a really cold Saturday. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And John, there might be a retrial. And Patrick Clancy has come out saying it would be very hard for him to go through this again. But in about a week, we are going to be back to Massachusetts because there is going to be a big hearing. Defense wants everything dismissed. The prosecution may show their cards on whether they will retry this case.

BERMAN: You will no doubt be there for that. Jean Casarez, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So as kids head back to school and we head toward quickly cold and flu season, access to new COVID-19 vaccines for some children is getting harder. For about half of the children in the United States in fact.

CNN's Meg Tirrell is taking a closer look at that. She's here with me now.

What's happening?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. So this pertains to a program that's known as Vaccines for Children. And it actually affects about half of kids in the United States. It's a federal program that provides no-cost routine vaccines to kids whose families may not be able to afford them. The CDC says this is one of the nation's most important contributors to vaccine access.

And typically, states are able to start the ordering process through that program very shortly after the FDA approves updated seasonal vaccines. And, of course, the FDA did that at the end of August. Now, what we hear from experts is that it's not unusual necessarily for there to be some delay between commercially available vaccines and vaccines through these federal programs. But given the environment right now and the stance from HHS and the Trump administration toward vaccines and COVID vaccines in particular, there's quite a lot of anxiety.

And if these are not made available for free, they could cost up to $150 without insurance out of pocket. So that is --

BOLDUAN: Just cost prohibitive for many.

TIRRELL: Exactly. That's a really big concern. Now, the HHS tells us that since COVID doesn't follow these predictable seasonal patterns like flu and other respiratory viruses, that they say it's arbitrary for September to be treated as this public health deadline for procuring vaccines. They also say that -- I don't know to work this thing.

BOLDUAN: Just tap again. There you go. TIRRELL: The CDC is finalizing its decision. So we could still see

this potentially come. But there's, of course, a worry that any delay, particularly for low-income kids, contributes to inequity and kids not getting protected.

BOLDUAN: So talk about where COVID levels are now. Like, what's the projection for this?

[09:25:00]

TIRRELL: Yes. So, you know, we had kind of a quiet summer, but it is starting to heat up so you can see emergency department visits, particularly across the south, but then across up the East Coast and up the West Coast, and this is data from Pop Hive at Yale and others showing that ER visits from COVID is increasing.

And then more of a leading indicator, this is viral activity seen in wastewater data, we're starting to see that really increase, and of course, getting close to levels where we were over the winter, not quite as high as previous years, but there's a concern that now we're headed into a bigger wave. And of course, it is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics that particularly kids under 2 should get vaccinated against COVID.

BOLDUAN: All right. Much more to come here for sure. Thanks so much, Meg.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John?

BERMAN: All right. The most expensive gas September has ever seen, up $0.40 in the last month. How much longer will these prices rise?

It's just a brutal collision at first base with the pitcher there. We have an update this morning on how the first baseman is doing.

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