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Jane Doe Attorney Confident Cornell Investigators Missed Evidence; Threats Prompted U.S. to Remove Bombers from U.K. Base; 1 in 8 Cancer Cases Worldwide May Be Linked to Infections; Stray Kids Reportedly Joins BTS in Ignoring the Grammys. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 05, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... targeted in her lawsuit. And CNN has also obtained documents showing that the police at the Cornell University, at Cornell University Police, drafted letters to mobile carriers informing them that they were conducting a sexual assault investigation, letting them know that accounts, phone numbers associated with their company, could have evidence that would be pertinent to the investigation that they were in the middle of. What we do not know yet, Brianna, is whether or not those letters actually made it out to the mobile companies, whether investigators followed up with perhaps a search warrant or a subpoena, and certainly we do not know if the Tompkins County District Attorney, Matthew Van Houten, who initially investigated this case back in 2024, knew that this records request had been made of the mobile companies. But it certainly suggests that the police department at Cornell University was trying to gather some additional evidence.

Take a listen to Jane Doe's attorney talking about his concerns for the evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS GIUFFRA, ATTORNEY FOR JANE DOE: I'm confident, knowing this day and age and the group that we're dealing with, that there were other photos, there were videos, and you know where I think those photos and videos are now? I think they're in the bottom of Lake Cuyahoga, because once they knew there was a problem, they cleared everything out and they got rid of it. And the fact is that the investigators let that happen.

They let that happen. We'd have a lot more evidence, and frankly, I'm not even sure we have everybody who participated in this assault, because my client was blacked out during periods of time, and that's reported in these statements. We don't even know the people we have or the people we definitively know.

If you ask me, I believe there were more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So Brianna, once again, I want to mention the vandalism that happened overnight, because as you said in the beginning, we are about an hour away from a protest that's planned for this afternoon. That protest is scheduled to take place inside the campus. Right now we're very much at the edge of it, that protest being organized by students who are demanding accountability and action from the university.

People here have been talking about how they expect a large turnout. It will certainly be the first time that we're seeing a large public gathering happening inside the campus of the university in response to this incident -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Gloria, thank you so much for the latest from Ithaca, New York.

Ahead, following a new threat, the U.S. just removed its Air Force bombers from a key base in the U.K. Stay with us for details.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Just moments ago, we heard from President Trump saying that threats prompted the U.S. military to move its long- range bombers from a U.K. base. Here's the president on those threats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A specific threat that led you to pull those bombers back from the U.K.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I think we can say that. I mean, they didn't fly out by accident. Yes, no, but there were some threats.

And rather than tempting the enemy, we'll capture the enemy and beat the enemy. But why should we leave them there? So we moved them around a little bit, not very far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The bombers are now back in the U.S. The withdrawal happening just days after the U.K. arrested several people over alleged ties to an Iranian plot targeting that base.

KEILAR: This base is crucial to the U.S. alliance with the British military and has been used to launch strikes against Iran since the beginning of the war. We're joined now by retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. He's a CNN military analyst.

This was a response here to a real world incident. I mean, we're hearing what the president is saying there. He's spelling that out.

What do you think?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, I agree with the president in this case, Brianna, because all the indications are the fact that all 12 bombers left RAF Fairford, the base that they were forward deployed at. That is one indicator that this is not just a rotation. Also, the nature of the threat is pretty clear that you had to do something in order to safeguard the base.

And because it's so close to a populated area, the village right outside of the gates there, it would have also potentially put at risk a whole bunch of British civilians. So it was the right thing to move these aircraft out and to create a space at least for investigative work to continue.

SANCHEZ: The right thing to move them out. But why bring them back to the U.S. when there are other bases in Europe where they can remain?

LEIGHTON: That's an excellent question, Boris. So there are a lot of factors when it comes to basing different types of weapon systems. And a lot of European nations besides the U.K. do not want bombers on their territory.

So, for example, when you look at Germany or Spain, which would have been places to put these bombers, at least from a physical standpoint, neither of those governments wants bombers to be based on their territory. At least that's historically been the case. So for that reason, it was decided to move the planes back to the Continental United States.

KEILAR: The British prime minister said there were strong indications that Iran was involved in that previous plot last week. Today, the Vice President, J.D. Vance, said there's -- raised the possibility, I should say, that this new threat is also tied to Iran and tied to those events last week. There's a lot we don't know here, but I wonder how you're seeing all of this.

LEIGHTON: Yes, I think what the vice president said, Brianna, is probably correct. Just based on the kind of evidence that we're seeing right now, you have the possibility of those five people who were initially picked up being part of an Iranian sleeper cell.

[15:40:00]

Maybe they were witting of this potential operation. Maybe they were not. But regardless, they were working probably for the Iranians based on what the British prime minister has said. Then you have the possibility that other sleeper cells are being involved here or that there's further work being done.

So this is something that requires a lot of investigative work and a lot of intelligence work. So in Britain, MI6, the Foreign Intelligence Service, or MI5, the Domestic Intelligence Service, would clearly be watching exactly what these people are doing, especially on British territory. And the fact that those five came really close to the base, that is an indicator that they were at the very least scouting things out.

But the other part of it is they could have been doing a dry run for the purposes of actually mounting an attack.

SANCHEZ: Does this alter the U.S. force posture when it comes to a potential future air campaign with Iran? LEIGHTON: It certainly changes it in terms of where forces are forward deployed, assuming that we don't go back to RAF Fairford or to similar bases in the United Kingdom. But the fact of the matter is, is when you redeploy back to the continental United States, you are flying for basically double the distance from here to the Middle East, as opposed to flying from the U.K. to the Middle East. So it does increase flying time.

It also possibly shortens loiter time over target once you get to an area where you're supposed to be dropping bombs or your mission calls for you to drop bombs. So it's going to require certainly a change in operational planning. It doesn't necessarily weaken the U.S.'s capabilities, but it doesn't strengthen them either.

SANCHEZ: Colonel Cedric Leighton, I appreciate the perspective. Thanks for joining us.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Boris, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come this afternoon, a new study finds a link between millions of cases of cancer and certain infections. We'll detail them for you when we come back.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A new study finds that about one in eight cancer cases could be tied to infections, and most of the infections are treatable or preventable. The research suggesting then that some cancers could be avoided altogether. CNN Health reporter Jacqueline Howard has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Certain infections in the body may cause more cancer cases than people might realize. That's according to new research that now shows that more than 2 million cancer cases worldwide in 2024 were attributable to infections. And most people are probably already familiar with how HPV is a viral infection that we know can cause cancer.

But when looking at the year 2024, that's the year with the most recent data available, scientists found that a common bacterial infection in the stomach known as H. pylori was the infection associated with the largest number of cancer cases that year. That infection was mostly tied to gastric cancers.

And the top five infections linked to the most cancer cases in 2024 were H. pylori, followed by HPV, which is often tied to cervical cancer and other cancers, hepatitis B, which caused mostly liver cancers, Epstein-Barr virus, which we know can cause certain head and neck cancers, and hepatitis C, which was tied to mostly liver cancers. But the good news here is that we can use this information to prevent these cancers from developing in the first place by testing for these infections and treating them quickly once they're detected. That's because having one of these infections, it does not guarantee that you will get cancer. It's just that it can raise the risk. And the longer the infection lingers without treatment, the greater that risk.

That's why testing and treating these infections quickly is important and can be a way to prevent cancer from developing later down the road. We also have vaccines for some of these infections. There are vaccines to help prevent HPV and hepatitis B.

So we can prevent many of these infections from occurring in the first place by vaccinating against them as well. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Jacqueline Howard, for that report. Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.

Longtime Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert has passed away at the age of 84. The Kendall County, Illinois, coroner says Hastert died of natural causes. He was the nation's longest-serving Republican House speaker, holding the role from 1999 to 2007. He later admitted to molesting high school athletes during his 16-year career as a wrestling coach.

In 2016, he was sentenced to more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to evading banking laws so he could pay hush money to a former student.

Also, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments in one of the biggest climate change cases to reach its docket in years. Today, Boulder, Colorado, faced pointed questions in its lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor, two companies the city claims contributed to climate change and then misled the public about the role that fossil fuels plays in it.

The conservative justices expressed concern about the implications of letting local governments wade into the issue, warning a wave of similar cases could bankrupt these companies. The oil companies, which are arguing greenhouse gas emissions are an interstate issue that can't be solved by one state's law, also face tough questions from the court's liberal wing.

And former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is joining Fox News as an on-air contributor starting next month. Fox says she will provide political analysis and commentary.

[15:50:39]

A source tells CNN that Fox News will reportedly build a studio in her New Hampshire home. She's, of course, now the second former Trump press secretary to join the cable news network.

Another K-pop group reportedly joins BTS, saying it will not take part in next year's Grammy Awards. We've got details in a matter of minutes. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We're following new backlash after the Recording Academy announcing it would keep its controversial Best Asian Pop Performance category at next year's Grammys. As a result, the mega K-pop group BTS has declined to submit any music for consideration. And now a second K-pop group, Stray Kids, says it also plans to skip out on Grammy submissions.

The band's label did not explain the decision. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment either.

[15:55:00]

SANCHEZ: But members of BTS have said that they object to awards being divided by region or language. In a statement obtained by CNN from the CEO of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr. says quote, "We understand this conclusion will not satisfy everyone, and that never feels good. At the same time, we're confident it's the right conclusion for the music community overall."

K-pop columnist at Billboard, Jeff Benjamin, joins us now. Jeff, walk us through this controversy. What is driving these band's decisions?

JEFF BENJAMIN, K-POP COLUMNIST, BILLBOARD: Yes, no, thanks for having me. And this has been a really interesting road because on one hand, the Grammys are the epitome of music excellence and recognition from artist to artist. The Grammys are different because it's a field of your peers recognizing you and voting for you.

This is quite different because K-pop is quite a new genre, a new industry. It's relatively young to a lot of the genres we may know. So K-pop is still quite new and still looking for those grander accolades.

And the fact that there was seemingly a category that might keep them from those more general categories, album of the year, song of the year, it felt like something like best Asian music performance was something that felt a little bit more siloed and would sort of give Academy members an opportunity to recognize K-pop in a separate category but ultimately probably not recognize them in these larger general fields.

KEILAR: So if you don't have BTS and you don't have Stray Kids submitting for the Grammys, what does that do to this category? What does that do to just the overall competition considering, I mean, especially BTS, they're such a big deal?

BENJAMIN: Right, and to be fair, you know, this isn't the first time that an artist, you know, as big as BTS has made a public statement to not submit to the Grammys. The Grammys are unique in that you do need to submit to be considered, you know, whether that's been The Weeknd or Drake.

But the thing that's kind of unique about this situation is that those artists, Drake, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, they have won Grammys. BTS has been nominated, has performed, but has not actually won a Grammy. So the fact that sort of arguably the top-running artist in something like Best Asian Music Performance isn't, you know, sort of giving their cosign or putting their music up for submission in that category, it does kind of, you know, shed a bit -- dim the light a bit and makes you kind of wonder, OK, so who will be recognized in that?

And so there's a big kind of question mark now is will other K-pop acts, you know, still submit? Will other countries such as China, Japan, the Philippines be recognized? Does India, does the Middle East count?

There's a lot of question marks as a result of BTS pulling out.

SANCHEZ: To that point, there are other categories that are based on culture and location. So how do you think this applies differently?

BENJAMIN: That's the thing, is that this has been a topic that has been going around for a while. You know, there are categories like Best Latin Pop Song or Best African Music Performance that a lot of people, you know, Africa is a big continent. You know, there are a lot of different countries.

There's not one sound that defines an entire continent. And I think that was a lot of people's criticism with the actual category, that Asian pop music performance was too vague. And the fact that the Grammys itself in the requirements, the major requirement was that it had to use an Asian language in a meaningful way.

And that was a bit vague to people, too, because it became less about the music and more about what language it's used or what region it's from. And that was kind of BTS's point in their initial statement, not to divide music by language or region.

KEILAR: So what do you make of this statement from the Recording Academy where they're basically saying, yes, no, this is how we're going to do things. Sorry that everyone's not happy about it.

BENJAMIN: Yes, you know, and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they're doing their best here. It's true that in September, they began having a lot of conversations with different industry people, even people in the K-pop industry. And I understand their perspective that yes, technically by adding a new category, nothing is lost for these artists, that it's just another way to recognize them.

But I think they've missed sort of a bigger picture argument. And this has happened. I've watched BTS since they debuted in 2013, that many a times, even though they're hitting accolades and milestones like their pop peers, they're not getting recognized in those sort of larger categories, whether that was the VMAs or the American Music Awards, what have you.

They kind of are put into this K-pop category and then they kind of crawl their way out to eventually be recognized. And yes, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, what have you. But it's kind of like you're not being led in the front door, like everyone else, you have to enter through the back door and then make your way to everyone else.

And I think BTS is just frankly sick of it. They've worked so hard. They have a great album that just came out, a really huge album, one of the biggest of the year.

[16:00:00]

So I think they're ready to make their statement and it's worth maybe missing out on a Grammy this time.

KEILAR: Yes, and they have so many fans, right? Fandemonium. Jeff Benjamin, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

And "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END