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Vance, Caine Raised Concerns About Escalating War; Suspect In Berlin Pride Attack Shot Dead In Police Operation; Trump's Overall Job Rating At 39 Percent Ahead Of Midterms; U.S. And Iran Give Mixed Messages Over The State Of Peace Talks; Pentagon Quietly Changes Accounting Of Casualty Count; Misuse Of License Plate Reader System Growing; Sentencing Hearing Resumes Tomorrow For Teen School Shooter; Trump Asks Americans To Recall Something That Never Happened; D.C. Prepares For Freedom250 Grand Prix. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 26, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:41]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Erica Hill in Washington.

Tonight an apparent pause in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran. The administration suggesting President Trump is giving talks with Iran some space as diplomatic efforts have ramped up in recent days. All of this coming as we're also learning new details about an important meeting on Friday at the White House, where Vice President J.D. Vance and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, raised concerns about a possible escalation in strikes. Sources say General Caine specifically brought up concerns about the U.S. munitions stockpile.

CNN's Betsy Klein is live at the White House now with more of these details.

So what do we know about both that meeting and frankly where things stand, Betsy?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, it remains to be seen how consequential that Friday meeting here at the White House indeed was. President Trump huddling with top advisers and Cabinet officials to discuss options for an escalation in this five- month-long war with Iran. But two straight days of no strikes on Iran and an apparent pause here after those 13 consecutive nights of attacks.

Now, one U.S. source says that the military operations are on hold as they are giving those diplomatic talks at all levels, from the technical level, all the way to the highest level, some time to play out. We heard from U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz addressing that potential pause. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I've spoken with Secretary Hegseth. What the president is doing right now, as we've seen all along, is giving some talks, some space. Talks are ongoing. They're happening at every level from the more technical aspect of it all the way to the highest levels of course within both the Iranian government and the U.S. government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, we have learned, according to two sources, that Vice President J.D. Vance, along with chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, both raised concerns to the president in that meeting about escalating in this conflict. And the president in recent weeks has threatened massive attacks on Iran. He has threatened to target critical infrastructure, things like roads, bridges, as well as Kharg Island, that key oil hub. That could constitute a war crime. Some have warned the president has yet to follow through on those threats.

But Caine specifically in that meeting raised concerns about depleting the U.S. munitions stockpile. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell responding to that reporting in a statement. He says, quote, "We have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests."

Now, sources say that other concerns were raised to Trump in that meeting. That included the possibility of mass civilian casualties in Iran, as well as a refugee crisis along with this conflict becoming a broader issue throughout the Middle East. But sources familiar with the matter tell CNN that there are really few people in the president's inner circle right now who believe that these options for escalation are going to yield the results that he is hoping for at this stage, Erica.

HILL: All right, Betsy, appreciate it, as always. Thank you.

I want to take you now to Germany, where we're following breaking news. The suspect in the deadly ramming and stabbing attack at Berlin's largest pride event over the weekend was shot and killed in a confrontation with police. Police say they found the suspect, who has been identified as Abdul B., at a community garden in Berlin. They say the suspect allegedly rushed toward them with some sort of stabbing weapon. That prompted police to open fire.

The man was wanted in connection with Saturday's attack in which a van hit a crowd of people. One person was killed, 29 injured. Authorities also said the driver later attacked people with a machete.

Here with more CNN senior national security analyst, former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, Juliette Kayyem.

Juliette, good to see you.

I should point out Juliette is also the author of "Early Warning" on Substack.

So what we know at this point about the attack, about the suspect, what stands out to you given also what the focus was in terms of this massive pride event?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, it doesn't exactly make sense given the history. So what stands out is he's a German citizen of Lebanese descent. At least that's what we know so far.

[18:05:02]

He targets an LGBTQ parade presumably, I'm not going to put ideas into his head, but to go after liberalism, you know, identity, unity, all the things that Berlin in particular emphasizes and embraces. Secondly, he was well known to authorities, and he was so well known that he was in what Germany calls a deradicalization program. Germany, like many European countries, had an influx of Muslim country residents coming. A lot of -- there was a lot of radicalization, especially in the era of ISIS. And they have very formal processes. So he was well known, had been arrested. And this looks like a big error on Germany's part, at least in terms of keeping him in jail.

HILL: So when you talk about it potentially being a big error because he was well known, the AP reporting that he had actually tried to join the Islamic State at one point. When someone is that well known, is known for having tried to join or hoped to have joined the Islamic State, I mean, what is that monitoring process actually like? Is it really a one-size-fits-all?

KAYYEM: No, it's not. And of course, the numbers may be too great for any one European law enforcement agency to handle. That's why we -- in counterterrorism, we are very indebted and aligned with our allies to share information. But there's two things that have happened recently that, of course, that may have led to this atmosphere. The first is Germany is very close to elections. Those elections are -- all of us are looking at because it looks like that there's that crime, immigration, the other is going to be a main focus and may actually sweep in right-wing parties in parts of Germany.

The second is, of course, the Iranian war. The Germans, more than any other European country, have been on heightened alert for fears of not just the Iranians promoting something, but just that the atmospherics are going to radicalize Muslims in their country to go after either some -- either Jewish, you know, temples or, excuse me, synagogues or places like an LGBTQ parade, which are viewed as sort of, you know, liberal extremism by Islamic fundamentalists.

HILL: We talk about this one person, the suspect, right, who was killed ultimately. But behind the scenes, what is happening in terms of a wider net, which I imagine is being cast, to see whether there may have been other people involved, who the suspect may have been speaking with?

KAYYEM: Yes, this is what -- where the investigation is going to go. I was looking at some of the statements by German officials. They are not putting to rest the idea that there was a second supporter of it. This was pretty -- this was well-planned. I mean, there was a rental van, there was a machete. So the plan presumably was to be more successful in getting into the parade, more fatalities in his mind. And then, of course, using the machete to kill people with a knife.

Whether he survived or not, who knows? But he of course attacks the police when he's cornered. So, you know, we call this, you know, the sort of suicide by police. He knew that he was going to be killed. So they're going to look for affiliates, other identifications. What got him on their radar list in terms of terrorism and who were his groups.

But, look, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news. This is a heightened threat environment. Lone wolves can do a lot of damage without those close nexus ties that we sort of think of, of terrorist organizations. They're getting radicalized not just by the internet, but by the news. I mean, that is, you know, the anger and the hostility in the Middle East, and Germany has been well aware of that.

HILL: Yes, certainly. And unfortunately, they are well-versed in it.

Juliette, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

HILL: Shifting gears here a little bit, we are now 100 days out from election day. Just ahead, how President Trump's policies are already having a massive impact in a number of races across the country. Plus law enforcement officers caught using A.I. powered cameras to stalk their exes, partners, private citizens? New details and new concerns about the growing invasion of privacy. And the green flag drops next month in D.C. for the Freedom250 Grand Prix, and we've got a look at the 1.7 mile course that wraps around the National Mall.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:14:11]

HILL: We are now officially 100 days out from election day. A new polling this morning from CBS News shows President Trump's overall approval rating stands at just 39 percent as you see there. A full 61 percent of adults responding there said they disapprove of the president's job performance. When it comes to the Iran war, just 35 percent say they approve of how the president has handled the conflict. That means, of course, 65 percent disapprove.

Joining me now to discuss Republican strategist Malik Abdullah and Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright.

Gentlemen, nice to see both of you. So when we look at this, Republicans are in charge of Congress. They've got the White House. How do they manage this public perception of that war from the campaign trail, when there really doesn't seem to be an end in sight for this conflict?

MALIK ABDUL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's a difficult thing for the president. War is typically, irrespective of the president, they really aren't popular.

[18:15:01]

And because Donald Trump, some of the communication around this, they haven't been really as transparent as people would like. But I think the saving grace for Donald Trump and Republicans is that, unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if Democrats have been able to capitalize on that. And we're seeing that now, not just from the polling numbers, but the recent actual fundraising numbers, where Republicans' MAGA Inc. at $400 million, the RNC is at about $140 million.

But you look at the Democratic, the DNC, they're actually in the (INAUDIBLE). Despite the fact that history is working against Republicans, meaning that one party, if the party isn't, you know, in the White House, they typically will lose one or both Houses of Congress, Democrats haven't been able to capitalize on this at all.

HILL: There will certainly be a lot of talk about money moving forward. That is for sure. When we look at, though, just to stick with the war for a minute, that same CBS News poll shows that even with Trump's approval rating on the Iran war, Antjuan, Republicans actually seem to have the upper hand on the issue itself, meaning who Americans think has a better approach in dealing with it.

Do Democrats need to work on their messaging here? Have you been satisfied with it, Antjuan?

ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, these piss-poor poll numbers you see about the president and his legislative or lack thereof legislative agenda is no accident. Thats why over the next 100 days, you're going to see Democrats aggressively address the corruption that comes from this administration, the affordability crisis brought to you and sponsored by Donald Trump and the Republicans who are in charge of Washington.

But you're also going to see them do a few other things. And that's making certain that we hold the executive branch accountable. You're going to see them fight to save health care. That includes the 18.2 million Americans who are seeing increases in their premiums, co-pays and deductibles because this administration and this Congress refused to expand those ACA credits. And then when you look at gas, grocery goods and services, that is a direct result of Republicans and Donald Trump putting their hands on the economy. And MAGA-nomics has been a failure.

And that's why the American people will continue to hold them accountable every chance they get when there is an election.

HILL: So, Antjuan, you said that that's going to be the message that we're hearing moving into November. But I do just want to go back, right, to the question, when it comes to Iran, does it concern you at all the fact that in that polling, you know, by two percentage points, but still respondents said they still thought in a very unpopular war Republicans and the president handling this better than Democrats. Has that been a missed opportunity for Democrats?

SEAWRIGHT: I don't think so because what most Americans think about when they think about this war of choice is the residue of war, not just the casualty, unnecessarily that we see from the men and women who put on that uniform that have lost their life, but also, when you look at the prices of gas, when you look at the price of fertilizer, when you look at the price of basic services because of this war. I think that that is what the American people think more so than not, when they think about this war of choice that Donald Trump has yet to give a reasonable response to the American people of why we're here.

HILL: When we talk about inflation, when we talk about affordability, just 25 percent of adults said that their income is actually keeping up with inflation. We saw oil going back up, of course, over the last couple of days. There are real questions about the president's priorities. This affordability crisis is not going away. If the war continues, that is certainly going to continue to impact people's pocketbooks. How damaging is that disconnect for your party?

ABDUL: I think that, you know, Donald Trump, and he's much like Joe Biden was, denying that there was economic anxiety. I think it's very hard for whatever reason for President --

HILL: Which did not work out very well for Joe Biden.

ABDUL: Yes. And that's actually the point that I was getting ready to make. And because of the fact that Joe Biden and many Democrats at the time weren't honest about how people felt and whatever the macro numbers are, it's how people feel. How people feel is typically how they vote, which is why we saw that how that economic anxiety played out during the Biden administration. It was Donald Trump, depending on the day, denying that things like the affordability, it is really a crisis.

HILL: Are you saying the president, though, is actually acknowledging affordability in the way that Joe Biden didn't? Because it doesn't -- I mean, when we hear from President Trump, he doesn't seem to be acknowledging the affordability crisis that Americans are living with every single day.

ABDUL: Right. Yes. And that's why I said that because Donald Trump hasn't been very honest about that, despite what the Republican Party may have said, Donald Trump not doing that himself is the same thing that Joe Biden did with denying the existence of this economic anxiety. You cannot -- despite what the numbers may show, it's how people feel. So telling people that you have nothing to worry about, that's not the same thing as far as if they actually believe that and feel that in their pocketbooks, despite the fact that income taxes are up about 11 percent over last year, people are having more money in their pocket, the no taxes on tips, the no taxes on Social Security, the no taxes on overtime.

[18:20:05]

So yes, more money is in the pockets of the American people. But they don't feel it. And that's what Donald Trump has to articulate.

HILL: We are going to have to leave it there, gentlemen. But the good news is 100 days out, we're going to have a lot more conversations ahead. Thank you both.

ABDUL: Thanks for having us.

HILL: Still to come here, a closer look now at the growing human cost of President Trump's war in Iran. New numbers just released by the Pentagon.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Tonight, an apparent pause in strikes between the U.S. and Iran appears to be holding.

[18:25:00]

Now, this follows nearly two weeks of nightly bombing by the U.S. military against Iran and Iranian attacks on U.S. allies in the Gulf region. Regional allies have not reported any new attacks in the past two days.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Jerusalem with more now on how this pause is impacting peace talks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It gives them an opportunity. We heard from the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman today saying that there was progress, that the talks were constructed, that they continue at a political and technical level. But it's key to understanding the details, and we just don't have them. The talks were all about the Strait of Hormuz, of course.

And the key point here is, do the Iranians finally agree that they give up control of the Strait of Hormuz and allow traffic to pass through marine traffic and not try to get any tolls and not tell them which passages and pathways to go down through the Strait of Hormuz. And there's no indication that's about to happen.

So it will be the output of that meeting, what the Omanis pass on to the U.S. diplomats, what the White House gets back from those talks is going to determine the next moves. Clearly, the implication we've heard from Ambassador Walz, from the Pentagon, from the indications from the White House, is this is a sort of unannounced temporary ceasefire type deal to make the space for diplomacy.

But it's not clear just because you're talking that there's actually going to be an outcome that's good enough for the White House.

I think on the Houthi front in the Red Sea and the trying to stop the Saudi oil getting out to world markets, it's having a chilling effect. But as far as we know today, the Houthis haven't fired any additional missiles at Saudi infrastructure. So perhaps, you know, they're aligned with Iran. So perhaps they're taking a beat on all of this at the moment as well. And then, of course, tomorrow, Prime Minister Netanyahu will leave

Israel. He'll head to the United States for the funeral of Lindsey Graham. But it also is meeting at the White House with President Trump on Tuesday. We can expect the Israeli prime minister to thank the president for announcing that Saudi Arabia has to normalize with Israel before it can have this civilian nuclear deal.

But also the key thing there will be what intelligence does Prime Minister Netanyahu share with President Trump about Iranian nuclear assets? Where are they? Of course, it was the Israelis that had a lot of information about leading towards the Pickaxe Mountain as being a storage facility for some of the highly enriched uranium and other nuclear storage sites that the Iranians have. So what else is Prime Minister Netanyahu going to put on President Trump's desk that then may influence where this war goes next?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: All right. Our thanks to Nic for that.

Well, the Pentagon has updated its war casualty database over the weekend, recording more than 140 additional wounded and restoring the four soldiers who were killed last week amid questions about a lack of transparency. The number of killed and wounded had actually decreased from the official database last week.

CNN national security reporter Davis Winkie is joining us now with more.

So in terms of these numbers and the way they're being handled, there has been not only a lot of questions, but also concerns and frustration. How are these numbers being handled? Did anything change now based on what we're seeing over the weekend with these updates?

DAVIS WINKIE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica. The way these numbers are being handled has changed. And it says a lot about this Defense Department's attitude towards transparency. It's remarkable that reporters and the public have been pointed at the Defense Casualty Analysis System database, which is largely maintained for historical purposes as the primary source of information about casualties in an ongoing conflict.

We've been monitoring that database on a minute-by-minute basis all week, and we found that it has pretty frequent data errors. They seem to have improved over the course of the week. But that was also when they published a updated category to it called Overseas Operations, that seemingly took some of the casualties from Operation Epic Fury, the name for the first phase of the Iran war, and broke them off on the July 7th date moving forward.

HILL: So talk to me about the July 7th date. Why that date?

WINKIE: Yes, Erica. So July 7th is the magic date that according to the Trump administration's notification to Congress that the Iran war started again, except in a new second phase of the conflict. You see, that is to do with the machinations of the War Powers Act, which means that a president can't wage a war without congressional authorization for more than 60 days. After the ceasefire was declared in April, the administration claimed that the conflict was over for the purposes of the War Powers Act.

[18:30:01]

And then when the ceasefire was declared over, July 7th was the day that that new 60-day clock started. And the Defense Department probably wanted to make sure that their casualty database was aligning with what the administration was telling Congress when it comes to this ostensibly being a second separate conflict.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Davis, really appreciate the reporting. It's good to have it on tonight. Thank you.

WINKIE: Thank you.

HILL: Still ahead here, the Georgia teen who pleaded guilty to a high school mass shooting back in court tomorrow. What you can expect as a judge decides his ultimate fate.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:15]

HILL: You may have been hearing more lately about Flock cameras. They're those automated license plate readers. Well, now, according to the nonprofit public interest firm Institute for Justice, cases of police misusing those readers are actually growing. Multiple law enforcement officers have been accused of using the cameras to run unauthorized personal searches, including searches for romantic partners or exes.

Officials maintain the technology, though, is helpful in solving crimes, particularly when you're talking about stolen vehicle cases.

CNN correspondent Rafael Romo joining us now.

So they're helpful, understandably. Walk us through, Rafael, these alleged abuses of that access, and just how widespread is it?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica. Well, it seems to be a problem across the nation, especially in the last couple of years. There has been a series of cases nationwide involving the alleged misuse by law enforcement officers of automated license plate readers, or ALPRs that were originally designed, we got to remember this, to locate vehicles and drivers potentially involved in a crime.

Here in Georgia, Erica, employees of multiple law enforcement agencies have been accused of misusing Flock safety and other ALPR systems. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that police dispatcher supervisor in Conyers was arrested Wednesday after it says a GBI investigation revealed she had access to the system more than 30 times between April and July for non-law enforcement purposes. Earlier this month, the GBI also said it arrested five former Albany

Police Department officers as part of another investigation into the misuse of their access to the Flock safety system. Officials say the Albany Police Department requested the GBI to investigate the officers following an internal audit of the Flock license plate reader camera system. Earlier this month, a former Milwaukee police officer was sentenced to 12 months of probation and a $500 fine after pleading guilty to attempted misconduct in public office as part of a deal.

Detectives investigating Officer Josue Ayala found he secretly used Flock to learn the location of his romantic partner 124 times, and that partner's ex 55 times, according to a February criminal complaint.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW TORBENSON, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, MILWAUKEE COUNTY: With that position of trust, Mr. Ayala was given tools to investigate crime, and one of those tools Mr. Ayala used for his own personal reasons.

MICHAEL STEINLE, AYALA'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Every time there's a misuse of Flock by a police officer, Mr. Ayala's picture is on the news as a result of this.

JOSUE AYALA, DEFENDANT: I mean, as you heard, I dedicated 11 years of my life to law enforcement targeting violent offenders, making a difference in the community, and I don't offer that as an excuse, but I just wanted to -- don't want that incident to reflect the person who I truly am and have been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Now let's have some perspective here, Erica. The Institute for Justice says its ongoing review of media reports and public records, quote, "has identified at least," listen to this, "28 cases nationwide of officers allegedly abusing ALPR data to stalk romantic interests, with the bulk of those incidents happening since 2024. Nearly all of these officers were criminally charged and lost their jobs," either by resigning or getting fired.

Most of these systems are made by Flock Safety, the largest ALPR company based here in Atlanta, which says its network includes more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states. Flock CEO and co-founder Garrett Langley told CNN in an interview the company last month launched an audit assistance tool that alerts an auditor to abnormal uses of its system.

So, Erica, they're trying to do something, but apparently a lot of things have been going wrong with these systems.

Now back to you.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Rafael, really appreciate it. Thank you.

Tomorrow, prosecutors and defense attorneys will be back in court for the sentencing hearing for convicted Georgia school or for accused Georgia school shooter Colt Gray. The 16-year-old has pleaded guilty to all 55 charges against him in that deadly 2024 rampage. It happened at Apalachee High School. That's about 50 miles outside of Atlanta. The attack killed two teachers, two students, nine others were injured.

On Friday, the court heard victim impact statements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BREANNA SCHERMERHORN, MASON SCHERMERHORN'S MOTHER: Every morning I wake up to the reality that my son is gone. Every night I go to bed knowing that there is nothing I can do to change it. I have lived 688 days so far of a sentence with no parole, and that is what he should receive as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Joining me now is criminal defense attorney Elyse Hershon.

So, Elyse, Gray is pleading guilty here.

[18:40:02]

More evidence, though, is set to be presented tomorrow. How do you see this impacting his sentencing?

ELYSE HERSHON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think every victim and every witness in a case has a right to speak at the sentencing of a defendant, whether or not they testified in the trial, and they get to do that without exposing themselves to rigorous cross-examination like what would have happened during a trial.

Now, we know the father was tried earlier this year, Colin Gray. He also faces sentencing this week. He was tried first and he was convicted, including counts of murder. So the son is pleading guilty or has pled guilty and in terms of sentencing, even though Georgia has the death penalty, minors are -- it's determined that under the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, minors are not subject to the death penalty in this country. But with regards to the chance of parole that is still on the table for him.

HILL: Still on the table. So he entered this, it was a non-negotiated plea. So nothing was offered by prosecutors in return. Based on everything we've heard so far and, you know, you mentioned his father's own trial, where do you see this landing?

HERSHON: I don't see Colt Gray ever getting out of prison. But in terms of constitutionality, life without parole as a minimum mandatory sentence, meaning right away not being -- the judge has no discretion to reduce that, that is not allowed for minors. So the judge has to give at least a shot to the lawyers, or at least the appearance, right, of discretion. But given the heinous nature of these crimes, students were killed, parents were killed, we know there was a confession video, we know there was a notebook where he said his father had nothing to do with it. Interestingly enough, that didn't come in in the father's trial. Could that have changed the convictions that the father faced in terms of murder? Perhaps.

But I think the judge has already made his decision. Likely life without the possibility of parole just given how scary gun violence is in schools.

HILL: Yes. You mentioned his father's conviction. Found guilty of murder for buying him that AR-15 style rifle that was used to carry out the shooting. We are seeing in more cases, adults being held responsible for their children. Right? A parent or even a teacher being held responsible. Do you see this trend continuing and do you think it's having an impact?

HERSHON: It's such a difficult question that when there's a school shooting, who is responsible and where is the line? There's arguments that it's a slippery slope and where does it stop? Well, we know that the Ethan Crumbley case, which was several years ago in Michigan, the parents were charged with manslaughter for giving him access to a gun, although it was a handgun. In this case with the Grays, it was an AR- 15.

We have to remember, I'm up in Massachusetts. I'm a Boston criminal defense attorney. We don't have gun laws like they do down south and in Georgia. So in Georgia, it's not technically illegal for a minor to have access to an AR-15 for use in hunting. So that is a little bit tricky with the father's trial because it wasn't technically illegal that he gave his son that gun. The question in that trial that the jury answered was, should he have known what his son was going to do with it?

The jury answered there, but certainly perhaps if the son had pled first or gone to trial first, or that notebook where the son confessed, Colt Gray, in the notebook that we heard that was presented on Friday, right, that he said my father didn't know any of this. He had a shrine to Nikolas Cruz, you know, the Parkland shooting, a horrific case, that the father didn't know about it and shouldn't be held responsible.

So if that had come into the case, would that have made a difference? We'll never know. But certainly I don't expect Colt Gray will ever be released.

HILL: Yes. Elyse Hershon, I appreciate it. Thank you.

HERSHON: Thank you, Erica.

HILL: "Remember that?" It's a phrase you have likely heard President Trump use a lot. Certainly, if you've ever watched or attended one of his rallies. But sometimes the things that the president is asking you to remember never actually happened. Ahead here, CNN taking a look at the president's tendency to rewrite the past.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:49] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They were saying wind was so wonderful, so wonderful. Except you couldn't watch your television. They wanted to watch the debate. Donald Trump against Sleepy Joe Biden. Nobody could watch it because the wind wasn't blowing. Remember that? Darling, would like to watch the debate tonight. I'm sorry the wind isn't blowing. That's one of the great scams of all time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: That was President Trump earlier this week, remembering a massive television outage two years ago that never actually happened.

CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale joining us now to dig into this claim. And it's not the first one. There have been other claims like this that the president has made.

So, Daniel, when it comes specifically to the TV outage that wasn't, walk us through what we know.

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys. I can almost -- I don't know if it's supposed to be programed, but I can't hear anything pretty much.

HILL: I think we're having an issue with Daniel's connection. So we're going to try to get that back to you. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:54:29]

HILL: CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale back with us. I think we have fixed the technical gremlins.

So, Daniel, you've been digging into these claims. The most recent one from President Trump on Thursday saying, you know, oh, remember when all the TVs went out because there was no wind to power the wind turbines that brought the electricity, which was an event the president asked us to remember that never actually happened. And it's not the first time he's done this.

DALE: It's not. The president is making stuff up again. So he's asking people to recall this massive nationwide television outage caused by the wind not blowing on June 27th, 2024, when he debated Joe Biden.

[18:55:02]

Did not happen obviously. He said nobody could watch that debate. More than 51 million Americans watched that debate on television alone, including people, of course, in the state that produces by far the most wind power, and that is Texas, Republican-dominated Texas then and now the nation's leader in wind. Now, the underlying premise of this story also makes no sense. He's

been telling it for years now, but televisions don't go out. Houses are still powered when the wind isn't blowing, even when wind power is used. And that's because wind is used as part of a mix of power sources, not as a sole source. Also, batteries exist that can store wind for periods when the wind isn't blowing, so this specific "nobody can watch the Joe Biden debate" story completely made up, and the underlying premise that TVs go out when the wind isn't blowing also completely made up by the president of the United States.

HILL: You mentioned this isn't the first time the president has made something else. What are some of these other claims, like this one, that the president has thrown out there over the years?

DALE: Yes. So there have been at least a few times where he's asked people explicitly to remember something that absolutely did not occur. For example, last year he said, remember when I was at my golf course in Scotland the day of the Brexit vote? And I correctly predicted that Brexit was going to pass in the referendum? In fact, he was at that golf course the day after. So obviously couldn't make a prediction at the time.

And then he has repeatedly offered fake history. This month alone, he's at least on two other occasions told stories that are also made up. One about George Washington and one about the construction of the Panama Canal. So listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He picked a good location, but George Washington had two desks in his pre-White House. One was -- and they were right next to each other. One was for business and one was for the presidency. He had two desks in the same room.

And by the way, 38,000 Americans died to give us one of the greatest engineering feats of all time, the Panama Canal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DALE: When President Trump started telling us George Washington had two desks story during his first term, I reached out to a number of historians who were experts on George Washington. They say they have no idea what the president is talking about. George Washington did not have two side-by-side desks, one for business, one for official matters. And then this Panama Canal number, 38,000 American deaths, wildly overstated.

So during the U.S. construction phase of the canal in the early 20th century, about 5600 people in total died. But the vast majority, more than 5,000, were not Americans. They were poorly treated workers, most of them black from the Caribbean. So, president making up numbers, making up anecdotes and making up things he's asking people to remember even though he made them up.

HILL: One thing we can't make up is how grateful we are for you, Daniel Dale, always here to help us with the facts because facts first and they matter. Thank you.

Washington, D.C. is set to host its first ever high speed IndyCar race next month. So IndyCars going around the National Mall 180 miles an hour? Could it happen?

CNN actually got a guided tour of the Freedom250 Grand Prix race track. Here's CNN's Isabelle Khurshudyan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABELLE KHURSHUDYAN, CNN SENIOR ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: I'll be your racing driver today.

BUD DENKER, CHAIRMAN, FREEDOM250 GRAND PRIX: All right. Well, very good. We'll see how fast you are.

KHURSHUDYAN: Let's get started. Has D.C. ever hosted a road race like this before?

DENKER: No. This will be the first time we've ever seen a road race, a motorsports race, in the nation's capital. I mean, it's so hard to do first of all. It's -- there's a lot of intrusion, obviously, putting up walls and barriers and bridges.

This track will go 1.7 miles, seven turns. We're on Third Street now, which is right in front of the nation's capital. It dissects the National Mall that's on our right here. And these cars on this street, this is about a third of a mile. Straight away it will be about 140 miles an hour.

KHURSHUDYAN: It is a little bumpier, probably, than what a race car driver would want to be going 180 miles an hour over. How much work still needs to -- we just went over a bump. How much work still needs to be put in on the roads to get this ready to be a race track?

DENKER: We don't want to have an absolutely, totally smooth surface here because the streets are never going to be that way. Right? Our drivers are used to having some bumps, and frankly, it separates the great drivers from the good drivers when you have that kind of technical differences. So there are some improvements we're going to make. Of course, the nation's capital, we just went by on Third Street is obviously the most iconic figure.

KHURSHUDYAN: What did you think of my driving?

DENKER: Very good. A little slow for us, but pretty good.

KHURSHUDYAN: This is a big bet by IndyCar. Why do you feel like it's worth it?

DENKER: Fireworks are great. A UFC fight is fun. How about celebrating on these roads around our city with these iconic structure for racing around, celebrating our country's history?

KHURSHUDYAN: IndyCar did have some backlash recently over a "One Nation, One Race" T-shirt that got pulled. What happened there? DENKER: That was my fault. You know, as we were designing and having

people design T-shirts for us, you can imagine my thought of it was a race here in D.C. and the nation here. So I take the blame for that.

KHURSHUDYAN: What do you say to fans of IndyCar who maybe don't think you should be doing a race here under this administration?

DENKER: I don't have exclusive areas for the -- anybody that's in red or blue, it's come --