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China Kicks Off Security Summit With Putin, Modi And Kim Jong- Un; Iowa Democrat Catelin Drey Flips Senate Seat In Special Election; Interview With Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MN); Legal Battles Over Ten Commandments In Schools; The Environmental Cost Of Using Artificial Intelligence; FDA Approves Updated COVID-19 Vaccine, But Only For Some. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 31, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Also in China, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And on Wednesday at a mass -- and on Wednesday at a massive military parade North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is expected to join them as well.

Joining us now, CNN senior White House reporter Betsy Klein.

Betsy, this is quite a grouping. We're getting the Korean -- North Korean leader for the very first time, but also someone, the Indian prime minister, who President Trump was once quite close with. How is the White House viewing this summit?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, you can be sure that the White House is watching this incredibly closely. And it really underscores how President Trump has transformed global alliances. China's President Xi seeking to position himself and China as an alternative on the world stage to what he describes as the unpredictability and chaos of the Trump era.

Hosting key world leaders, really strongmen at this security summit that includes Russia's President Vladimir Putin, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Positioning these countries as key allies for China on topics like economic cooperation and trade, as well as military cooperation. But Putin's presence at this summit comes just two weeks after he met with President Donald Trump in Alaska to discuss an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.

And it really underscores how the momentum toward ending that war has stalled in recent days. The president, President Trump, growing increasingly frustrated at the pace of negotiations and the lack of progress. He's weighing now how involved he personally should be, according to sources familiar with the matter. And the more time this takes, analysts have said Russia is -- it's better for Russia. It gives them time to shore up those gains on the battlefield, as well as control over those occupied areas.

Now separately, turning to India, Modi's presence here in China is quite notable. And you may recall the close ties that Modi had cultivated with President Trump back in 2020, coming to Texas for the "Howdy Modi" rally and President Trump traveling in February of 2020 to India, the two of them displaying really close ties. But his presence here this week really underscores how U.S.-India relations have deteriorated in large part because the U.S. has slapped those 50 percent tariffs on India that went into effect just this week.

China, of course, providing Russia, North Korea and India a friendly platform on the world stage as they seek to reorient themselves as leaders against a Western oriented global order.

DEAN: All right, Betsy Klein, setting the stage for us there. Thank you so much from the White House.

And we are joined now by CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. He is also a correspondent for "The New York Times" and author of "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West."

David, an apt book for this moment in time, as we're analyzing this summit this week.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes.

DEAN: We have these major powers, as Betsy just laid out, meeting in the show of force against the West. Talk us through the dynamics at play here.

SANGER: Well, Jessica, this dynamic has been going on for some time. I think the most notable thing that's happened in superpower geopolitics over the past four or five years has been coming together first of Russia and China, something the United States was trying to prevent back to the days when Nixon first did the first opening to China. Nixon and Kissinger in the early '70s.

But now it's come to pass. And of course, Iran and North Korea have been significant players with the Russians, as have the Chinese more subtly, in the war in Ukraine. So then comes Donald Trump, who gives each of them an opportunity to tighten that bond. He got into a sort of an unnecessary fight with Prime Minister Modi.

In part, it appears, because Modi would not agree that President Trump played a big role in quieting the Pakistan-India hostilities, and didn't join in helping to nominate him for a Nobel Prize. So there was that personal issue that that came up. And the Iranians, of course, after the U.S. and Israeli bombings, have all the more reason to get tied in with China.

DEAN: And Trump has been criticized for ceding diplomatic grounds to China by cutting the U.S. government's foreign outreach, including closing USAID and the Voice of America. As that's happening, too, is there a sign that Beijing is now starting to fill that void?

[19:05:04]

SANGER: Well, you know, that's what foreign policy is all about. People create vacuums and other nations fill them. And I think the Chinese were looking for opportunities to fill them for the past few years. That's what the Belt and Road Initiative was all about. It's about what China's activities in Africa and Latin America have been all about.

And you know, earlier this weekend, CNN played some remarkable tape from a U.S. senator complaining that we should do nothing to make it easier for the Chinese to win over adherence, and that U.S. senator, of course, was Marco Rubio, the same man who just announced the rescission of $4.9 billion in foreign aid.

So the administration has got a lot of explaining to do here about how they avoid creating a bigger opportunity for the Chinese starting with Mr. Rubio. And it's interesting. President Trump has never discussed this dynamic as far as I can tell.

DEAN: That is interesting, that you have not, of all the reporting you've done that you haven't seen that. We are --

SANGER: At least in public. I'm sure he's discussed it in private.

DEAN: Yes. Yes. Right, right, right. And we're expecting to see Xi and Putin, along with Kim Jong-un in a few days. We know that North Korea has sent tens of thousands of troops to fight for Putin against Ukraine. And it is also worth noting this is the first time Kim Jong- un is going to be joining a meeting of all of these leaders.

What do you read into that?

SANGER: Well, the first interesting thing about this is Kim Jong-un appears to have recalled in recent weeks some of the North Korean officers who were in Russia. And we can't tell whether that means he's thinking of scaling back, given the huge number of casualties that the North Korean troops took there.

On the other hand, if you're North Korea, you know, suddenly you've got something the rest of the world wants, or at least some allies want. You've got troops and missiles and small arms, and Russia has bought all of that from North Korea in recent times. You know, until then, North Korea was mostly looking at sanctions around the world.

The big other question is, how Xi Jinping deals with Kim Jong-un? They've had a bit of a tense relationship along the way. Same thing for Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi, and India and China have had at various moments border wars. They've had all kinds of tough relations. So this is giving an opportunity for America's adversaries to come up with an alternative system.

DEAN: Yes. And that, I think, is the -- that kind of underpins all of this. And just to bring it kind of back to where we began with all of this, there is still the outstanding question of where Trump and Xi are, what are -- what is the state of the relationship between the U.S. and China at this moment?

SANGER: The fascinating question is they have not met yet, and they haven't talked very much. You know, there's been a lot of conversation and obviously a summit meeting between President Trump and President Putin. But many fewer phone calls with China, which is a much more multi-headed competitor with the United States. Right? In technology, in the military field, financially.

So the administration has been slow getting going on its China relationship and in part that may be because of infighting inside the administration about whether or not to really commit more troops to the Pacific, whether or not to face off against the Chinese or not. I mean, in recent times, you've heard the president actually sound more conciliatory toward Xi Jinping than he did at the beginning.

So the question is, is there a guiding force here within the administration thinking about the China and Russia relationships holistically?

DEAN: Yes. All right. That is a big question.

David Sanger, thank you for being here with us. We appreciate it.

SANGER: Great. Thank you very much.

DEAN: Yes. Still to come, Democrats celebrating a big win after flipping an Iowa state Senate seat in a district Trump carried last year. Harry Enten is going to join us next to crunch the numbers on the trends we're seeing as Democrats prepare for the midterms.

And Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell is here for her take on that win. Plus, what voters can expect from her party as lawmakers head back to Capitol Hill after their August recess. And President Trump escalates his feud with the Fed.

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[19:14:23]

DEAN: It has been a rough time for Democrats since President Trump's win last year, but a special election in Iowa is giving Democrats hope for the future.

CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten, joins us now to run the numbers on this -- Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hey there, Jessica. Happy Sunday to you and happy early Labor Day.

Look, last Tuesday there was a special legislative election out in the great state of Iowa in a district that Donald Trump had won by double digits. But this time around, this past Tuesday, the Democratic candidate easily won in that particular race. And Democrats are hoping what occurred out in Iowa does not, in fact, stay out in Iowa. But in fact expands across the landscape like a big Iowa cornfield.

[19:15:01]

And indeed, looking at history, I think Democrats may have a case that, in fact, what happens in Iowa will spread out throughout the country. What are we talking about? Special election blues for the GOP. Look,

the special election so far should be a big giant blasting red siren for the Republican Party. Why is that? The average 2025 special election so far, state legislative and federal, get this, Democrats on average are doing about 15, that's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Fifteen points better than Kamala Harris did back in 2024.

And again, it's not just the special state legislative elections. It's those two federal special elections as well that occurred out and down in Florida earlier this year, in which the Democrats actually outperformed Kamala Harris by an average of, get this, 19 points, actually better than this 15 points. And this is such a big change from the signal that we got leading into the 2024 election.

What are we talking about? Well, let's take a look here. The party that outran the prior presidential showing, look, so far this year, it's Democrats by 15 points. Look, in the average special election 2024, though, it was actually the Republican Party in the average special election that was outrunning the prior presidential baseline, they were doing two points better than Donald Trump did back in 2020, which, of course foreshadowed Donald Trump doing better himself, doing better himself in the 2024 presidential election.

Of course, what's going to occur in 2026 is a midterm, a midterm election. And of course, we're talking about the state legislative and federal special elections as well. And it's really those federal special elections that are oftentimes so telling, like those elections we had out down in Florida earlier this year, and of course, have been reinforced by those special state legislative elections.

So I went back through the history books, Jessica. Get this, special elections and midterm results. There's a lot of font on here on the screen, but it's pretty simple. If a party outperformed in special elections since the 2005 cycle, did they go on to win the U.S. House of Representatives? Get this, five out of five times they in fact did. They did go on to win the U.S. House of Representatives.

So, so far the signals are very good for the Democratic Party in the special elections. These are should be blues. Republicans should be singing the blues when it comes to the special election so far. And that is why, of course, I believe that so far the special election should be a flashing red siren for the Republican Party because when you look at the special elections, they ain't nothing good for the GOP.

Back to you.

DEAN: Harry Enten, thanks so much.

Let's bring in Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan.

Congresswoman, thank you very much for being here with us on this Sunday evening. I want to start with what Harry Enten was just walking us through there. He says this special election good sign for Democrats, which, and walked through all the reasons it should be. At the same time, we are seeing historic low favorability for Democrats.

How do you reconcile these two things, and what's your thinking when it comes to this?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): So it's good to be with you. Happy Labor Day weekend.

DEAN: Thank you.

DINGELL: I'm going to start that you can take nothing for granted. So have these elections that he was talking about showed signs that people are frustrated. They don't like what they see is happening. And that we've got to work hard so that we do win the House back in two years. But there are other signs that Republicans know they're in trouble. Start with what we're seeing when President Trump is asking Republican governors to redistrict, because he's trying to, instead of doing what we normally do, which is to have redistricting every 10 years, he is trying to stack the field and try to get some Republican seats back because they're worried about it.

And then when you heard in the last week that they want to rebrand, I could use many words to describe it. Beautiful is not one. He knows. This president knows, and Republicans know. The American people are not happy with what's in that bill. But we got a lot of work ahead of us. Democrats have got to show people that they deserve better and that we will deliver for them. And we cannot take anything for granted until every poll is closed in election day.

DEAN: And you all have been out on an August recess. I know you've been holding a number of town halls, talking to people in your district. Congress is back this week, and we've got this funding deadline coming up. And I'm curious what you're hearing from people in your district when it comes to kind of the ethos around what they want you to do when you go back to Washington? Do they want Democrats to work with Republicans on something like a funding bill, or are they more into fighting fire with fire, as it were?

DINGELL: So, you know, my district reflects the country, which is why I love my district. I have my Downriver has voted for President Trump. Ann Arbor is one of the more progressive liberal areas in the country. And I have a lot of people in between. And I did a lot of town halls. And nobody could say that I wasn't out there.

People are worried about costs. They want to see us do something about costs. They are worried about tariffs. And now, not only in Michigan do we have to worry about a potential federal shutdown, but the state government could shut down as well.

[19:20:06]

People want us to fight back. They are, you know, I think that some people are getting discouraged. They don't know what to do. They don't like the many things that they are seeing, and they don't want us to roll over.

I am somebody who works with Republicans. I'm not afraid to reach across the aisle. I work on getting some bills that shouldn't be political absolutely done. But the American people, the people in my district are worried about costs and they're worried about their democracy.

DEAN: And so when you say they want some -- they want you all to fight back, what does that look like do you think moving forward?

DINGELL: Well, that's what I ask them, too, what does that mean. But they want to know that -- people are really worried. They are concerned that we are losing our freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion and due process. I've heard that all month. There are others that don't want to see the government shut down.

But I want to make this point to you. Both Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer have tried to meet with Republicans. They sent a second letter asking to meet with the leadership of the House and Senate, and they haven't met with President Trump. And then this week, the president again refused to spend money that the Congress had appropriated. So we're going to -- look, September is going to be a very tough month, I think.

And if there is a shutdown and Republicans don't meet with us, don't tell us what their strategy is, don't try to work with us, don't say the money we appropriate is going to be spent. If there's a shutdown, it's going to be a Republican shutdown. Democrats are trying to meet and trying to get a strategy.

DEAN: I also do want to ask you, as we look ahead to this next week, obviously, you'll be back in Washington, D.C., the president has said, that he's likely to look at Chicago next for this federal immigration enforcement surge, using federal agents and federal troops.

What do you think about or how do you think states should be thinking about Trump sending in federal troops to their states?

DINGELL: Well, when I hear the president talk about federal troops into Chicago or to other cities, I don't hear him talk about immigration. I hear him talk about they're not safe, and he's going to send the military in. I believe that there is a difference.

The military is trained to protect us as a country from foreign enemies. Law enforcement is there to protect us at a local level. I worry about the militarization of our law enforcement and the kinds of dangerous things it could result in. So I know that both the mayor and the governor, the mayor of Chicago, the governor of Illinois, have made it clear how they feel. And I believe the federal government has a responsibility to listen to those that have been elected by those constituencies.

DEAN: Yes. And this is just one action in which we have seen President Trump really testing the limits of his executive power, and he's doing it in myriad of ways. And I hear you when you -- when you say you're talking to your constituents and they're really worried. They're worried about the cost of everything. They're worried about getting by. I am -- I am also curious if they are saying to you that they're

worried about things like executive power, which seems like a luxury item if you can't afford to feed your family.

DINGELL: I very much hear both. I want to say that. People are really worried about our democracy. They're very worried about what they are seeing. And they want to know that people are going to fight to protect their liberties and their freedoms. So I think it depends where I am in my district, the kind of group of people that I'm with but from one end of my district to another, people are concerned that Democrats aren't fighting hard enough.

They've got to fight back. I've heard that at my town halls. My town halls have been feisty and intense and a lot of opinions. But I think they also want to see us work together to try to do something. But they're worried about tariffs. There are people that are -- that voted for Donald Trump who know that tariffs are threatening their jobs and increasing the cost of their goods. And I get yelled at because I think tariffs can be a tool in a toolbox so that we play with a level playing field when we're -- like producing cars against China.

So I think a lot of people are just plain worried that they are scared about everything. They want to know who they can trust, and they want safety, and safety means they want to be able to afford food and be able to buy what they need. They want their job to be safe, and they want to be safe on the street.

DEAN: All right. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thank you so much for your time tonight. We really appreciate it.

DINGELL: Thank you.

[19:25:00]

DEAN: We'll be right back.

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DEAN: It is likely to end up being the first big test of how the Supreme Court will handle religion in the classroom. Some Texas public schools now scrambling to find copies of the "Ten Commandments" to display in class by tomorrow to comply with a new state law.

The Texas law and similar laws by Louisiana and Arkansas are being contested in court. A federal judge recently ruling several Texas school districts, including Houston and Austin, do not need to post the commandments in class, calling that new state law, quote, "plainly unconstitutional."

Joining us now is an expert on how U.S. law treats religion, Michael Helfand.

Michael, thank you for being here with us. Let's just start first with that question. Is this law legal?

[19:30:08] MICHAEL HELFAND, LAW AND RELIGION PROFESSOR, PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY: I think that's the big question right now. As you said, testing the new rules the Supreme Court has established for interpreting the First Amendment. I think reasonable minds differ on this one and we'll have to see. What the Supreme court says. But so far, all federal courts that have dealt with the issue have certainly said it's unconstitutional.

DEAN: And the Supreme Court struck down a similar law back in the 1980s. How might its supporters of the new law say this is different, or why might it be perceived as different?

HELFAND: Yes, 1980, you had a very similar law in a case called Stone v Grant that the Supreme Court held was unconstitutional. But the rules of the First Amendment and its interpretation have changed dramatically since the 1980s. Gone are big hair bands, boomboxes, and as well the Supreme Court's lemon test, which really imposed a vision of the First Amendment that required laws to be secular. And in recent years, the Supreme Court has said that its discarding that particular test for interpreting the First Amendment and instead thinks that the courts need to focus more on history and tradition.

What did it look like to disestablish religion at the time of this country's founding and figuring out exactly what happens when you use that new test for questions like for example, Ten Commandments in public schools is probably the biggest question that will ultimately be faced by the Supreme Court in figuring out what the new rules mean.

DEAN: Yes. And so, what happens now with these laws specifically in Texas, we know that there are similar ones in Louisiana and Arkansas. But what about this one in Texas? What happens now?

HELFAND: Well, I suspect were going to get yet another appeal to the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit has already the fifth circuit court of appeals has already at least one panel deemed a similar law, as you said, in Louisiana unconstitutional. And really, what we're going to have to try to figure out is what are these new rules at play for the Supreme Court and its new test. You know, one vision of what it means to think about the First Amendment through the prism of history is to say, yes, we need something that looks like separation of church and state, but only -- it's only a problem when that separation of church and state or lack of it is coercive, forces people to engage in religious exercise or religious practices.

And at least some people say, well, we're just putting these Ten Commandments on the wall, nobody's being asked to do anything and as a result, maybe that's constitutional. And people who make this argument really hone in on what was going on at the time of the founding. At the time of the founding, there was a pretty decent chunk of religion in public life, presidential proclamation, thanksgiving proclamations, legislative chaplains praying before Congress met.

There was a lot of religion in public life when you look at the time of the founding, and at least some people say, well, if it was good, then maybe it should still be good now. DEAN: Yes and it is interesting to think too, because obviously the United States founded on freedom of religion, that you couldn't be persecuted for your religion here in the United States that we're not a country that has one religion. And so, how does that play in to this? Because I hear you talking about, obviously, there's the First Amendment piece of this, but what how might that play into this, if at all?

HELFAND: Yes, I think this is, you know, trying to figure out what the rules, especially in public schools, which, you know, we have compulsory education laws, the kids need to be there. What it means to put up religious symbols when you're talking about public school classrooms. I think the big question is, you know, a long time ago, in the 1960s, the Supreme Court said, when it comes to this thing called the Establishment Clause, we often think of it in terms of separation of church and state. When it comes to those rules it doesn't matter if what the government is doing is coercive, is forcing people.

The very idea of having religion pushed by government, set up by government, enforced by government, that in and of itself is a constitutional problem. And I think what a lot of people want to know is whether or not that key proposition of constitutional law is still good -- is still good law. You know, you think about the 1960s when the Supreme Court said no to prayer in public schools. It said so even if kids could leave the classroom when those prayers were going on, and you might have said to yourself, hey, this looks fine, the only people who are praying are people who want to. If you don't want to, you can leave. Nobody's being forced to do anything.

At least in the 1960s, the Supreme Court said that wasn't good enough. It was a problem even if government, even if public school teachers and administrators were participating in something religious. And now the question is, well, if we look back to history, is that still true? Is there still a problem if government is advancing religion in some way, even if nobody's being forced to do anything.

DEAN: Very interesting question. All right, Michael Helfand, thank you so much for walking us through it. We appreciate it.

HELFAND: Pleasure to be here with you, Jessica.

DEAN: Thank you.

Coming up, artificial intelligence could be using up a lot more energy than you think. An expert explains how you can still ask all the questions you want and use less energy. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[19:39:55]

DEAN: As more people keep sending questions to artificial intelligence, chatbots are becoming an essential part of life for people all around the world. It's estimated more than 2.5 billion messages are sent to ChatGPT every day. But that requires a lot of energy and resources that could ultimately hurt the environment. CNN's Clare Duffy talked to an expert about how you can use A.I. In a more sustainable way.

[19:40:13]

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SASHA LUCCIONI, CLIMATE AND AI RESEARCHER The pole pipeline, the whole life cycle of A.I., requires a lot of energy and the amounts of energy are truly phenomenal. The hyperscale data centers, like the ones that have a lot of A.I. running on them can use as much energy as a town. essentially.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER (voice over): The data centers answering your A.I. questions are pulling a whole lot of electricity from local grids and a ton of water to stay cool and the computers inside are made from rare Earth metals that have to be mined out of the ground.

There's limited data out there, but some big A.I. companies have given us at least some indication of the resources their A.I. systems use. In its latest environmental report, Google said the electricity consumed by its data centers grew 27 percent in 2024 compared to the year prior, although it said emissions were falling thanks to investments in clean energy and making its technology more efficient.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has written that one ChatGPT query uses just about 0.34watt hours about what a high efficiency light bulb uses in a couple of minutes. But OpenAI also says that more than 2.5 billion messages are sent to ChatGPT daily. So, if you do the math, every day ChatGPT is using enough energy to keep that light bulb running for more than 9,500 years. Google estimates the average text question to its chatbot Gemini uses slightly less, about 0.24 watt hours. Part of the challenge is that A.I. systems demand a lot more resources than earlier computing models.

SASHA LUCCIONI, CLIMATE AND A.I. RESEARCHER According to the studies that I ran on open source models it's 30 times more energy for a generative model compared to an old school like traditional model for a task-like web search. We're still using Google, we're still using Bing. The fact that were switching out tasks that were traditionally done in a much more efficient way with generative A.I. and then multiplied by the amount of people that uses these tools every day, that's what really worries me because the interfaces are the same but the back end is so much more energy and resource intensive and we don't see that.

DUFFY (on camera): So for consumers out there who are trying to be mindful. About the impact of their A.I. usage, how do you go about that?

LUCCIONI: I think that by default, a lot of A.I. models are quite verbose. So, just like being very specific about what I'm looking for is like a single number or a single fact can be really useful. If you're having this long conversation and then at the end you say thank you, you're essentially asking it to take all of the context that came before and then just like one small token, and then it responds, you're welcome, use specific tools for specific tasks, so use a cookbook or recipe website, don't use ChatGPT.

ChatGPT uses probably like 10,000 times more energy than a calculator or your phone. Same thing with a book or a simple web search. A good rule of thumb, if a model does a single task, it's going to use a lot less energy for a lot of people, it's become ChatGPT for just about anything, and that's where environmental costs add up. We should be using multiple platforms, multiple tools, and I think that that's a healthy practice to have as a user.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DUFFY: Now, I do think it's important to say that addressing the environmental impact of A.I. is going to require more than just individual action. More than anything, it's going to rely on companies making mindful decisions about how and where to build and run their A.I. data centers.

And Jessica, this is of course, important as Silicon Valley is spending tens of billions of dollars each year to build out this A.I. infrastructure -- back to you.

DEAN: All right, Clare, thank you so much.

New rules and changes when it comes to getting the COVID vaccine. We're going to break down new guidance from the FDA and also explain why some pharmacies may not offer the vaccine this year.

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[19:48:48]

DEAN: Updated COVID-19 vaccines will be available in the coming days as we move into the cold and flu season, but only high risk groups will be able to get that shot right away. Others will have to see a doctor first.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more now on how these changes could impact you and your family.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Here's what we know about the updated COVID-19 vaccines this year. The FDA has approved the vaccines for a limited group of people adults ages 65 and older and younger people who are at an increased risk of severe COVID-19. That could be due to an underlying health condition for instance. But for healthy people who don't fall into either of those groups, you may have to get a doctor's prescription to receive the shot and it's not clear whether your insurance may cover it.

So far, the vast majority of COVID vaccinations, they've happened at pharmacies. But due to state level regulations, some pharmacies may not offer the vaccines anymore.

At CVS Pharmacy, for instance, the company says it is offering COVID shots at most of its locations. But in 16 states, you won't be able to just walk in to get the vaccination. That's because of those state's policies. In all but three of those states, CVS pharmacies can administer a COVID vaccination if you have a prescription.

The three states where that isn't an option are Massachusetts, Nevada and New Mexico. And these states could change at any time. This does appear to be an evolving situation.

[19:50:21]

DEAN: All right, Jacqueline Howard, thank you, so much for that.

And here's a look at five stories were tracking on Monday. Millions of people are set to head home from their Labor Day weekend travels tomorrow, keeping airports and highways across the U.S. busy. Lower gas prices prompted many Americans to hit the road for the long weekend. If you are leaving home tomorrow, be prepared for heavy traffic. But you probably already knew that.

Lawmakers are heading back to Capitol Hill after their August break, and they have a jam packed agenda. Congress will have to fund the government before the end of September, tackle legislation on sanctioning Russia and address some of trumps latest firings. Also, at the top of their agenda, the Jeffrey Epstein saga and that question of will those files be made public.

Representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Republican, plan to hold a press conference on that Wednesday.

In the ongoing battle over the President's control of the Federal Reserve, a judge has asked for more written arguments on Tuesday in President Trump's attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook. Cook is fighting to keep her job while the Trump White House is arguing the President has the right to fire her "for cause." It is the first time a president has ever tried to fire a Fed governor. The case is expected to ultimately head to the Supreme Court.

Classes start on Tuesday at Harvard for the fall semester. Meanwhile, the Trump administration, still going after the Ivy League school in court. Trump is calling for Harvard University to pay "nothing less" than $500 million to restore its federal funding while calling the elite university, "very bad." The White House also wanted to bar any foreign nationals from entering the United States to attend Harvard that was blocked by a judge back in June.

Russia's Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are among the leaders gathered in China for a regional security summit. It comes just days before China will host a major military parade in its capital city to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. No major western leaders were invited to the parade, which will include North Korea's Kim Jong-un for the very first time. It is supposed to serve as a major show of force for China's military.

Still ahead, I sit down to chat with actress Eva Longoria about the new season of her CNN original series, "Searching for Spain." The sights and sounds and the food when we come back.

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DEAN: Tonight, Eva Longoria returns for special back to back episodes of "Searching for Spain," where she opens the door to her home in the sunny coastal town of Marbella. I sat down with Eva to discuss the future of Spain's culinary scene and what has drawn her to the Spanish way of life.

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DEAN: (on camera): Now we go to where -- to where you live, Marbella.

EVA LONGORIA, AMERICAN ACTRESS AND FILM PRODUCER: Marbella.

DEAN: The Marbella episode.

LONGORIA: Yes. When I decided I wanted to do searching for Spain, I knew I wanted to do one episode on Marbella, which is where I live. It's in the South, it's in Andalusia, but it's a really special, special, beautiful town in Costa Del Sol, which is the coast of the sun. The sun is always shining.

DEAN: Why did you say I'm going to move there? I'm going to move my family there.

LONGORIA: I know. Because somebody once told me. Live where you're the happiest. I've been visiting Marbella for 20 years, and every time I would go there and I would leave, I would just be lifted into a different realm. I'm so happy there.

The weather, the food, the people, the culture. It's really nice to have sandy, you know, grow up in a smaller place that is a culture that loves to live life, meals are slower there. Time goes by, slower there. Meal time is for eating and enjoying each other. There's something called Sobremesa, which means after you eat we talk and you can talk for hours after a meal and that culture, that way of living is so beautiful to raise my son in to -- breaking bread is still the basis of family units, right?

This is where we have a conversation, this is where we're going to connect. This is where we're going to catch up. And the fact that there's such importance put upon meals in Spain, it means that there's an importance put on family structure and family values and I think that's beautiful.

DEAN: I do want to talk a little bit more broadly, too, just as you're kind of stepping back at the end and kind of observing everything you did, everything you saw. Where do you see the future of Spanish cuisine going?

LONGORIA: I think heaven is next.

When you get to experience what I did on this journey in Searching For Spain, I realized there's so much I didn't discover. There's so much more that I have to discover. But I think from here, you're just going to hear a lot more about the chefs from Spain, the talent that's coming out of the country. There's a saying in Madrid, "Madrid, Al Cielo" which means Madrid and then heaven, which is a bold claim to say Madrid is so amazing, the greatest thing after Madrid is heaven.

I'm going to start saying, "Spain, Al Cielo" because after you've experienced Spain the way I did, the next place you have to go is heaven. I mean, you can't get any better than that.

DEAN: That's pretty good.

LONGORIA: Yes.

DEAN: All right.

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DEAN: It's such a fun watch. Perfect for Labor Day weekend. Be sure to tune in back to back episodes of "Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain" a premier next only here on CNN. I'm Jessica Dean, thanks so much for joining us. I'm going to see you again right back here next weekend, enjoy your night.