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Israel Rejects Trump's 15-point Gaza Peace Plan; Captain Behind Capsized Boat Near Statue of Liberty Charged with Reckless Endangerment which Killed Mom and an Infant Daughter; Trial on Tupac's 1996 Murder Set to Begin. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 10, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:32]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Salma Abdelaziz, in London. Let's go straight to our headlines.

Israel is rejecting President Trump's Gaza peace plan. We're going to have a live report on what Prime Minister Netanyahu is now saying about that proposal and the latest on the U.S. conflict with Iran.

Plus we have new details on a boat that capsized near the Statue of Liberty this weekend, killing a mother and her infant daughter.

Plus a trial is set to begin today on Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder. We're going to talk with a legal analyst about what to expect.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: I want to start in the Middle East where the U.S. and Tehran have very different views on the state of negotiations when it comes to the conflict. In a phone interview with Axios, President Donald Trump says Washington is, quote, "low-keying negotiations with Iran." He also suggested that the U.S. is increasing economic pressure on the country.

But Tehran says it's not going to engage in direct talks until the U.S. honors key parts of the Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed back in June.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is urging U.S. military contractors to ramp up weapons production amid concerns that stockpiles are running very low. Sources have told CNN that the issue has frustrated President Trump. In an unusual public break between the Israeli Prime Minister and the U.S. President, Benjamin Netanyahu is now rejecting the 15-point Gaza peace plan that Donald Trump had hailed as a massive breakthrough.

(EGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Israel rejects the 15-point plan. I heard that there were those who said, you didn't say it.

But we did say it, and here I am saying it again. Israel rejects the 15-point plan. The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until the dismantling of Hamas and its weapons.

And when I say dismantling Hamas and its weapons, that means heavy weaponry, less heavy weaponry, and smaller arms. All weaponry. We're talking about a true dismantling, not a fictitious dismantling.

We're now speaking with the Americans about this subject. They have ideas. Some of them are acceptable to us, and some are unacceptable to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: For more on this, we're now joined by CNN's Nada Bashir. She is standing by in London. Good morning to you, Nada.

Let's start with Iran, because as you heard there, President Donald Trump saying in an interview that the U.S. is low-keying negotiations with Iran. Help me understand what that even means.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been hearing from the U.S. President speaking in an interview to Axios, again saying that negotiations, indicating that negotiations would be perhaps less of a focus over the coming days.

He signaled that the U.S. would be relying somewhat on economic pressure. I can read you a little bit of what he had to say to Axios, saying that "We are only semi-negotiating with them, with Iran. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money."

But he also added that he believes it will work out the situation in Iran, describing it like a chess game. But, of course, this does come as Iran issues a new set of demands for the United States in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and, of course, in order to see negotiations being pushed forward. Although important to underscore that while this is the latest set of demands being issued, they reflect the demands that the Iranian regime has long pushed for in previous rounds of negotiations.

These demands from Iran's top security official, according to state media, include lifting the U.S. naval blockade on Iran, withdrawing military forces in action on the country, permanently ending the war. So that would be an extension of what should have been the Memorandum of Understanding into a full-blown ceasefire.

They have also been calling for some time now for the U.S. to compensate the Iranian regime for the damages caused by this ongoing conflict and also have called for the release of frozen Iranian assets.

Now, there is also pressure mounting on the U.S. from its Gulf and regional allies, as well as, of course, from Iran. We know, of course, that talks have been taking place between Iranian officials and counterparts in Oman to try to come to some sort of agreement on the control and management of traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

[03:05:09]

We've heard from both Iranian and Omani officials describing these talks and discussions as positive. It appears, according to both sides, that a deal is near.

But Iran has been very clear that even if those talks have been positive, even if a deal on the table is possible, they will not be reopening the Strait of Hormuz until the U.S. fulfills those demands. And they've also added that they may be looking at further measures, for example, targeting hostile vessels only in the Strait of Hormuz. That would be, for example, U.S. vessels, Israeli allies, for example.

So there are some questions as to where this leaves both sides with regards to the negotiations, if, indeed, President Trump is, as he said, low-keying those negotiations. But pressure is certainly mounting. And, of course, there are concerns around weapons stockpiles as well on the U.S. side, and particularly amongst those Gulf allies, around defense assets as well.

ABDELAZIZ: I want to ask you about some other mediation efforts around a different conflict, Gaza, of course. President Trump had hailed this 15-point peace plan for Gaza as a massive breakthrough. Now we're hearing that the Israeli Prime Minister is not going to support this deal.

Why are they not on the same page here?

BASHIR: Well, clearly we've been hearing some differing views, and there is a significant amount of daylight between both the United States and the Israeli government at this point with regards to that 15-point peace plan.

We heard just a little moments ago from the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, very clearly rejecting that peace plan. But he has said that discussions and talks are still ongoing with U.S. officials, that there are some ideas that they agree with, others that they do not stand to agree with.

But he has also been very clear that he doesn't want to see any sort of moves or developments that could allow for a future development of a Palestinian state or any sort of state apparatus, be that in Gaza or in the occupied West Bank. But, of course, this comes at a time where the U.S. President has been pushing this as a success.

And, of course, we did hear from the U.S. President just a few days ago upon that announcement. We're going to take a listen to his words at that point, which are very different from what we're hearing from the Israeli Prime Minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Israel is very happy about it.

Israel helped us. And they've been very good. They've been very good about it.

Most people said that would be a deal that would be undoable now. Will it go through its ups and downs? It's a very complex situation over there. The people are very complex and difficult.

In many cases, wonderful. In many cases, not so wonderful. But that will be a -- it's a great breakthrough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Of course, the Israeli Prime Minister is set to face elections at the end of October. So he is now balancing pressure from Washington, but also from those hardline ministers within his cabinet who do not want to see a withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza.

Hamas, for its part, according to one official, has said that it would be willing to keep up the terms of this agreement. However, they want to see Israeli forces pulled back beyond the yellow line, and they want to see strikes coming to an end in Gaza.

And, of course, important to note that following that announcement by the U.S. President, we did see an uptick in those Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. Salma?

ABDELAZIZ: Deal not done on Iran. Deal not done on Gaza.

Nada Bashir there on the mediation efforts on multiple fronts. Thank you so much.

Investigators believe a boat was likely overcapacity when it capsized near the Statue of Liberty. This was in New York on Saturday night, and this is according to a law enforcement source who had been briefed on the investigation. Very tragically, a 27-year-old mother and her five-month-old daughter died.

The baby's father was also on the boat and is among the 12 survivors. The boat's captain has been charged with reckless endangerment, and authorities are now investigating what caused the boat to capsize and whether it was operating illegally.

CNN's Gloria Pazimino has the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, a very sad and tragic story out of New York City this weekend.

And now the U.S. Coast Guard conducting an investigation to try and determine what happened and what led to the capsizing of a vessel that resulted in several people being in the water near the vicinity of the Statue of Liberty late on Saturday night.

Also, the captain of this boat, a 46-year-old resident of Manhattan, was arrested early on Sunday morning. He is facing at least 13 counts of reckless endangerment.

Now, here's what we know so far about how this incident unfolded. Police say that they got a call shortly after 10:20 in the evening reporting a capsized vessel and people in the water near the Statue of Liberty.

[03:10:02]

This happened not far from Liberty Island, which is home to the Statue of Liberty National Monument. And this meant that several first responders tried to get to the area, including the NYPD harbor unit, the fire department. There were air units as well as marine units that all responded. The NYPD's diver team was also on scene.

But it was actually another commercial vessel that was in the vicinity of this incident that first got to the people who were in the water. That vessel was actually able to pull several people from the river. And once NYPD and other first responders arrived, those people were able to be pulled and transferred to area hospitals.

Sadly, NYPD divers also recovered the young mother and this 5-month- old infant. They were transferred to an area hospital but were later pronounced dead.

Now, this was a major rescue operation, and you should think about the conditions last night, right? This happened far away from shore. It was late at night. That means it was dark.

So these were really difficult conditions for both first responders and the victims who were in the water. I want you to take a listen from a bystander who witnessed as first responders were arriving at the scene. Take a listen.

MADELEINE MONTERO, WITNESS: So I saw three helicopters, two active boats on the water, and just a lot of NYU ambulances, cops, firefighters, trucks. So there was a lot of traffic going on. And then I saw that there were boats here, and then people were just speaking that there was a mother and a child that needed to be rescued from the water, and that they were found.

By that time, I was already here seeing the boats just flying out, coming in back and forth, and that's when the rescue happened with the mother and the child.

PAZMINO: Now, the other victims suffered minor injuries and were transferred to area hospitals. We've also learned from a law enforcement official briefed on this investigation that the father of that child who was killed in this incident was also aboard that vessel.

Now, the U.S. Coast Guard is investigating. Part of what they are looking into is trying to determine whether this vessel was being operated legally, and if they were meeting all of the safety standards required to operate this kind of vessel. Certainly they'll be looking at, you know, why were there that many people on board? Was that the right number of people? Did they have life jackets? All of that will be part of the investigation, and also they will try

to determine exactly what led to the capsizing.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: Now to the Pacific Northwest, where crews are facing very challenging conditions while battling destructive blazes across the state of Washington. Officials there say progress is being made while trying to contain three major blazes.

This is in Spokane County that have been burning since last week. More than 10,000 acres have burned, and hundreds of homes and structures have been destroyed. Police have arrested and charged a Spokane resident with first-degree arson in one of those fires.

High temperatures and gusty winds and dry lightning are also threatening to worsen wildfire conditions across western Canada, where more than 100 fires are currently burning in British Columbia, among them the Bald Range Fire, which has already burned an estimated 33,000 acres, or more than 13,000 hectares, in just two days. The very fast- moving wildfires forced the evacuation of more than 20,000 people this weekend. The province issued a state of emergency on Saturday.

Typhoon Dolphin has made landfall in eastern China. It marks the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the country this year, receiving China's highest red alert level on Sunday. Some coastal regions faced 93 mph winds, or 151 kilometers, near the storm center at landfall.

Here you're seeing video of very strong winds flipping a truck over on its side. Torrential rain is forecast throughout today, prolonging the risk of widespread flooding and landslides. A rescue operation is ongoing in at least one coastal town after a nine-year-old boy was swept into the sea.

Still to come, 30 years after his death, Tupac Shakur will finally have his day in court. More details on the man accused of murder and the death of the famous rapper right after the break.

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[03:15:00]

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ABDELAZIZ: After nearly 30 years, the man accused of providing the gun and being the shot caller in the 1996 murder of famous rapper Tupac Shakur is now going to trial.

A grand jury indicted Dwayne Davis in 2023. This is after investigators say they were able to gather enough evidence against him. Now much of it is coming from Davis himself.

Through various interviews and a memoir that he authored about gang life, Davis described the events that led up to Tupac's murder, admitting to be one of the four people that were present the night Shakur was shot. Shakur was only 25 years old at the time, and his murder has, of course, been the subject of massive conspiracy theories and huge public interest ever since. Shakur's stepbrother spoke to CNN and says the family is cautiously optimistic going into this trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOPREME SHAKUR, TUPAC SHAKUR'S STEPBROTHER: Over the years, we have found ways to cope with the trauma, with the drama, and try to still continue on and have a full life. These are strange days we're living in, so we're just being cautiously optimistic. Let the process take its course and see where we land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:20:00]

ABDELAZIZ: I want to welcome now Areva Martin. She is a civil rights attorney and legal affairs commentator to talk more about this case. Thank you so much for being on.

First of all, I think my first question, Areva, was why now? Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was killed, does the prosecution actually have enough proof to convict Keffe D. if they're not even alleging that he pulled the trigger?

AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY AND LEGAL COMMENTATOR: It's a very interesting question, Salma. In some ways, Davis brought this trial and this indictment on himself. This was pretty much a cold case.

The Nevada law enforcement agencies were not actively pursuing this case. In 2019, Davis writes this memoir describing in detail his involvement in the death of Tupac Shakur. He goes on a media tour, he does podcast interviews, he is involved even in a documentary. So he hand-delivers in many ways a case for the prosecution that points the finger at himself.

So this is going to be a very interesting trial because so much of what will be presented by the prosecution will be things that were said by Davis himself about that night and about the shooting.

ABDELAZIZ: So you're saying he's handing the information over himself, essentially, through these various interviews, through the memoir. But he did also, Davis did also speak to investigators under a proffer agreement in 2008. That offered him certain protections.

How much of what he said then can prosecutors actually use against him now? And could the dispute over the proffer agreement become central to the defense?

MARTIN: That proffer agreement is going to be one of the most interesting legal issues in this case. There's already been lots of motions filed by the defense trying to keep out the statements made, and essentially they were admissions made by Davis during his interaction with law enforcement in 2008. Now, it's important to note that that proffer, which is basically a contract between the prosecuting attorney and the subject, in this case the witness, Mr. Davis, that information he provides to law enforcement cannot be used against him. So it's a form of immunity that's provided to witnesses to help them or to help law enforcement solve crimes. The defense is arguing that that proffer, the information provided during that proffer, should not be admitted at this trial.

So far, the judge overseeing the trial has said that that information can be admitted, and the prosecution has argued that, okay, the information may have been subject to immunity at one point, but once you went out and told the world everything that you said to law enforcement, all bets are off. I suspect this is going to be the subject of multiple appeals in the event that there is a conviction of Davis during this trial.

ABDELAZIZ: And you said that the argument is that once Davis stepped out and started sharing this information with the world, as you just put it, that that agreement might no longer be binding. But the defense is going to argue, look, those aren't real statements, this was just exaggeration, he wasn't aware of the memoir, and it was written by a ghostwriter. How much of that will hold up in court?

MARTIN: Yes, it's going to be interesting, too, because, as you said, we know part of the defense's story is, look, there are cases that that memoir was not even written by Davis, that it was written entirely by a ghostwriter, and Davis apparently is going to take the position that he never read the memoir and never authorized it, that he simply told his life story to this ghostwriter. But interestingly, the ghostwriter is on the witness list for the prosecution.

So we're going to get to hear, in the words of this ghostwriter, which story is true. Is it true that Davis didn't read this book, this manuscript, didn't give him this information about the shooting? Or is it like the prosecution has argued that Davis revealed this information in this book because this is, in fact, what happened?

And we know the defense's position is, as you said, this was embellishment. This is a fictionalized book. This was Davis trying to cash in on Tupac Shakur's very famous murder.

And he said, look, a lot of folks are making money on Tupac. I might as well get in the action myself and make money on this. Jurors are going to have to grapple with these two different versions of events.

ABDELAZIZ: Areva Martin there on a trial nearly 30 years in the making. Will justice be served? Tupac Shakur's family is also waiting and watching.

Thank you so much.

Prosecutors in Dublin charged alleged Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan with directing a criminal organization. This was after he was extradited to Ireland on a government plane from the UAE.

[03:25:10]

He had been living openly in Dubai for the last decade, organizing high-profile boxing matches. He is also wanted by the U.S., which has accused him of being one of three leaders of the Kinahan crime organization. The U.S. designated the group a transnational criminal organization four years ago.

Irish police say the gang went from selling heroin locally to operating all across Europe. He has previously denied accusations that he is a crime boss.

Still to come, how the Israeli Prime Minister's rejection of President Trump's Gaza peace plan could further strain the close ties between the two leaders. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back, I'm Salma Abdelaziz. Let's check some of today's top stories.

The captain of a boat that capsized near the Statue of Liberty Saturday night now faces more than a dozen counts of reckless endangerment. Investigators are looking into whether the vessel was operating legally and possibly over capacity. A young mother and her infant daughter died; 12 people, including the baby's father, were rescued.

President Trump says the U.S. is low-keying negotiations with Tehran. He told Axios Washington is only semi-negotiating and signaled an emphasis on ramping up economic pressure on Iran. Meanwhile, Tehran says direct talks cannot start until the U.S. honors the agreement in the memorandum of understanding signed in June.

[03:30:03]

The Israeli Prime Minister has rejected a 15-point Gaza peace plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump's board of peace.

Benjamin Netanyahu says no Israeli troops will be withdrawn until Hamas is fully disarmed. The comments come after President Trump had announced the deal and said that Hamas was willing to give up all its weapons.

For more on this, I want to bring in Mairav Zonszein. She is a senior Israel analyst with the International Crisis Group.

Good morning, first of all, to you. Thank you so much for being on.

I'm so interested in understanding Prime Minister Netanyahu's calculus here in saying that Israel would not agree, would not abide, would reject that 15-point roadmap that has been laid out by President Trump. He was obviously under a great deal of domestic pressure, but it's a hugely unusual move to break, of course, with his most important ally. How did he come to this decision?

MAIRAV ZONSZEIN, SENIOR ISRAEL ANALYST, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: It's good to be with you, Salma.

I mean, we should look at what has happened since Trump forced a ceasefire on Netanyahu in Gaza in October 2025. Netanyahu hasn't actually -- he hasn't embraced the Trump 20-point plan. He hasn't implemented the obligations that Israel is under in the first phase.

I mean, Hamas gave back the hostages, and Israel was supposed to start allowing aid to go in. Now Israel constantly boasts that the aid that's going in is enough, but Gaza is still closed, and the humanitarian situation there is horrible. And so Israel hasn't even implemented.

So that's the reality on the ground of what's happening now, when Netanyahu says, as you say, can suit his political domestic needs at the time. So certainly, as long as he's Prime Minister, I don't think we're going to see any kind of withdrawal of troops in Gaza. Israel currently controls over 50 percent of Gaza, and then it has extended that control to something like 70 percent.

And so Netanyahu is trying to say, I'm not going to be forced to do any of this. And I think the U.S. knows, and I've spoken to officials on the ground here, who say we don't expect Netanyahu to do anything as long-until the election. So what they're saying, what Netanyahu is saying, what Trump is saying, is quite different than what's happening on the ground.

On the ground, for example, we do see that there has been a scaling back of strikes in Gaza. That doesn't mean that it's come to a complete halt. But Israel has been doing many targeted assassinations, and those have been scaled back in the last few days.

So even though Netanyahu will say that he's not adopting the plan, I think in reality there is a certain amount of U.S. pressure to scale back strikes.

ABDELAZIZ: So you say that you don't believe or you don't see Netanyahu actually pulling back from Gaza while he remains in office. But if he's not going to go with the Board of Peace plan, what is the alternative endgame for Gaza? Does, as you just mentioned, that occupation continue of Israeli troops just furthermore? Or is there a plan here?

ZONSZEIN: I mean, I think for Netanyahu it's clear that he promised a total victory over Hamas. He promised that Hamas would no longer exist in Gaza. And his right-wing flank in the government has promised that Gazans would, what they call voluntary immigration but in reality forcible expulsion, that they would build settlements in Gaza and so this is the line.

It's between the status quo that we have now and much further aggressive tactics to get them to leave. I don't see Israel relinquishing its power unless forced to, certainly in this government, possibly also in a different government after the election. So this is the situation.

And it's similar to what's happening in Lebanon. The U.S. forced Israel into a ceasefire. There are troops in south Lebanon.

They've kind of frozen the situation. They're trying to keep it, you know, as under control as possible. But they're not actually forcing Israel to do that much.

The same here. Israel is basically being forced to kind of just be quieter about it but not actually take any real meaningful steps. And if you notice what happened with the Board of Peace in recent days, there was this announcement of a Hamas disarmament plan.

There was an expectation that certain Israeli troops' withdrawal would start to happen in parallel to certain actions by Hamas. But then all of a sudden, Mladenov met with Netanyahu, Trump met with Netanyahu, and now we don't hear anything about a withdrawal being required before Hamas fully disarms.

And I think anybody who understands anything about decommissioning weapons understands that this is a long process, and it's not going to be that Hamas is going to disarm tomorrow and all of a sudden everything will be fine.

ABDELAZIZ: Mairav Zonszein there on the Israeli government's very rare break from America on that Gaza deal that President Trump had touted as a major breakthrough but has now been rejected by Israel. Thank you so much.

[03:35:02]

Hundreds of residents of Ceuta are asking the Spanish government and European leaders to find lasting solutions for their latest migrant crisis.

As many as 72,000 people illegally crossed land and sea borders into Spain's tiny North African territory late last month. Dozens of people were killed in the rush. And Spanish officials say the vast majority of those migrants did quickly return to Morocco, but some remain, including more than 1300 unaccompanied minors.

Protesters say they celebrate Ceuta's diversity and multicultural makeup, but they warn that the sheer number of migrants arriving at once is just too much to handle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMUEL LEVY, DEMONSTRATION ORGANIZER, AND "FOUR CULTURES" SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Ceuta cannot tackle on its own a situation that far exceeds its capabilities and which affects the whole of Spain and Europe. For this reason, through this peaceful civic gathering, we call on the Spanish government, the European institutions and all public authorities to urgently address the reality our city is facing.

(END VIDEO CLIP

ABDELAZIZ: Still ahead, oil prices are on the rise amid the uncertainty in the Middle East. We're going to bring you the latest market forecast and what it means for your wallet. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. Here are your business headlines.

Oil futures rose above just 1 percent on Sunday after Tehran said it was not going to engage in negotiations with the U.S. According to AAA's latest figures, the U.S. national average price for a gallon of gas is now $4.01, nearly 35 percent higher since the start of the conflict with Iran.

[03:40:00]

Tonight's Powerball jackpot now sits at $905 million, no ticket matched all the winning numbers from Saturday night's drawing. Tonight's drawing comes as Powerball tickets became available in the U.K. For the first time last month, the all-time highest jackpot was just over $2 billion, won by a California resident in 2022.

"Spider-Man Brand New Day" is enjoying another week of massive box office success. Its second weekend in theaters drew another $145 million in America, that's according to "Variety." The film starring Tom Holland and Zendaya has now drawn $655 million in the U.S. and nearly $1.7 billion around the world.

Parts of Europe will be treated to a rare celestial event on Wednesday, a total solar eclipse. It will be the first one visible from the Iberian Peninsula since 1912.

People lined up at Madrid's Planetarium on Sunday to buy eclipse glasses. Free pairs had been offered earlier, but they went very quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XIAOXI WU, TOURIST FROM SHANGHAI: It has been a dream for me to see the real one with a sunny day. And this year it will be a solar eclipse during the sunset.

So I guess it will be more romantic with all the sunset views. So it will be really exciting to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: We're going to take a quick break for our viewers in North America, I'll have more news in a moment. For our international viewers, "World Sport" is next.

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[03:45:00]

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ABDELAZUIZ: Welcome back to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and Canada. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. A new batch of U.S. states is set to hold primary elections this week.

They come just days after Abdul El-Sayed's very narrow win in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary.

The key races that we are watching are in South Carolina, where Senate Republican Darlene Graham joins a crowded field for the seat once occupied by her brother, the late Senator Lindsey Graham. She was appointed to finish the final months of his term, and now she wants the party's nomination to run in November. She has no previous experience in elected office.

And in Wisconsin, another test of Democratic Party unity. Progressive Francesca Hong is leading the field in the race for the governor nomination. She's hoping to prove that Democratic socialists can win in a true battleground state.

CNN's Manu Raju spoke with Republican Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina about the upcoming midterm elections, as well as the current ads that are running about Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator Tim Scott is bullish about his party's chances in November. He is the chairman of the Senate GOP's campaign arm, and is in charge of holding the Republican majority.

He thinks not only will they hold the majority, that they can expand their 53-47 majority and add another seat, meaning 54-46, over the next two years. Democrats, of course, discount that. But it is a difficult road to the majority for the Democrats.

They have to pick up a net four seats. That means they have to win in red states. Ohio being one of them, Alaska being one of them.

Can they win in a place like Iowa? Can they win in a place like Texas?

They also have to flip in main seat with the incumbent Senator Susan Collins. Always a difficult race. They have a very good chance in flipping the North Carolina seat, but then they have to hold two of their incumbents, Georgia. John Ossoff, the incumbent there, running ahead in that race.

But what about that open seat in Michigan? That's where Abdul El- Sayed, the progressive candidate, won in that very divisive Democratic primary last week, beating Haley Stevens, who is backed by the moderate establishment of the Democratic Party.

Tim Scott told me that El-Sayed makes their job easier to win in November. And they've been using his full name in attack ads.

Abdul El-Sayed is Muslim, he's the son of Egyptian immigrants. And in the ads from the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, they've been using his full name. And I asked Tim Scott if this is a way to try to gin up fears about El-Sayed and to remind voters that he is Muslim. SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): Not at all. What we're always saying to voters is a simple thing. He says he's the most dangerous candidate you can find, he's right.

We should trust his words, not ours.

RAJU: But why not just use his name, Abdul El-Sayed, which he goes by.

SCOTT: Well, listen, I go by Timothy Jean, and so I get called that all the time. Here's what I know about that question. It's about what he stands for.

RAJU: Democrats believe those kind of attacks will backfire in a pivotal swing state. But nevertheless, this is going to be a very vicious and ugly campaign between El-Sayed and Mike Rogers over the next couple of months.

Manu Raju, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: My colleague Kristie Lu Stout asked CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein whether we'll see continued attacks like the ones on Abdul El-Sayed as the midterm elections draw near. He says that Republicans are lashing out as a symptom of a much larger fear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, AND OPINION WRITER, BLOOMBERG: In modern U.S. politics, the single most important factor in midterm elections over really the last three decades has become views of the incumbent President.

And, you know, right now, Trump's approval rating is lower than it was in 2018. It's also lower than it was for Biden in '22, Barack Obama in 2010, George W. Bush in 2006, and Bill Clinton in 1994. If the election is a referendum on Trump's performance, Republicans are going to have, by these historical metrics, a very bad night.

So their goal is to shift the focus to Democrats wherever possible. And that is going to largely be, given that people are so unhappy with the economy, that's largely going to be a cultural argument. It's going to vary from place to place.

But it's basically the Democrats are weak on crime, weak on immigration, extremists on issues, LGBTQ issues, and in the case of El-Sayed, emphasizing his background.

[03:50:09]

You know, some of these candidates that are off to the left are giving Republicans a lot to shoot at on policy. But the history is that it's been really tough for the party in the White House to make the midterm about the party that isn't in the White House. So we'll see how far Republicans get with this strategy. The best thing they have going for them is that it's being fought out

mostly in Republican terrain in the Senate and the House. Most of the districts and the Senate seats that are being fought over are places that Trump won.

So there may be a bigger audience for this. But again, the historical record is that this has not been an easy kind of switch for the in party to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Republican Representative Max Miller will officially remain on the ballot for re-election. This is according to his spokesperson.

And now it's too late to turn back. The deadline for party leaders to replace him with a new candidate for Ohio's 7th district has now passed.

Miller is defying widespread pressure to step down after abuse allegations by his ex-wife came to light. That pressure is also coming from his former father-in-law, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno. He is calling Miller a danger to my daughter and says he should, quote, "not serve in Congress."

Miller has denied these allegations. He told CNN that U.S. President Donald Trump warned him the race would be, quote, "tough." The controversy could, of course, jeopardize Miller's chances of re- election, which could keep Republicans from controlling the House after the midterms.

Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton is asking his party to spend money in his race against Democrat James Talarico. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Paxton said, we need help now. And according to filings with the Federal Election Commission, Paxton has raised nearly $2 million by the end of June, this is compared to about $21.5 million for Talarico.

Paxton says Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senator Tim Scott have pledged to devote resources to his race. But the National Republican Senatorial Committee has yet to offer strong financial support for Paxton, defeated incumbent Senator John Cornyn in the May primary runoff.

The director of the National Economic Council is defending job growth under President Trump. This is despite July's very lackluster statistics. On Sunday, Kevin Hassett downplayed concerns that the economy lost some 23,000 jobs last month.

Here's what he told Jake Tapper when he was asked about that data.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, U.S. NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR: The bottom line is that if you look at the overall economy, then things are really booming. As an example, there are 83,000 construction workers building factories right now. That's a number that we've never seen before.

Initial claims for unemployment insurance are the lowest they've been since World War II. There are more job openings than there are unemployed workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: But the public does not agree that things are really booming. CNN's Harry Enten breaks down the polling numbers for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Friday had a disappointing jobs report. It wasn't just that the report itself was disappointing, but the revisions from the prior months were also disappointing. And indeed, I think it can get sometimes lost just how much ground President Trump has had with the American people when it comes to jobs, given all the problems that we've had with inflation.

But you can see it right here.

President Trump's job approval rating on jobs has really taken a tumble, my goodness gracious, from where it was at the beginning of term number two as well as at this point in term number one. Just take a look here.

Okay, right now in my aggregate of polls, when it comes to President Trump's net approval rating on jobs, look at this. He's 22 points underwater. A very unlucky 2-2 for President Trump.

Get this, that is a 31-point decline from where he was at the beginning of term number two. And more than that, look at where he was at this point in term numero uno. He was 10 points above water, that is his approval rating was 10 points greater than his disapproval rating.

So right now, President Trump, when it comes to jobs, is very much, well, dare I say, in the red, as the font color is right here on this screen. And the big question is why?

Why is President Trump's job approval rating on jobs underwater in the deep red sea in this particular case? Well, simply put, Americans just don't think that we're on the right track when it comes to jobs.

I mean, just look at these numbers. Hello.

Okay, on jobs and employment, we are on the wrong track or the right track. Well, back at the beginning of Trump's second term, the clear plurality of Americans said that we were on the right track, 40 percent.

Just 32 percent, we were on the wrong track. Those numbers just haven't only flipped. The percentage has gone way up in terms of the flipping.

[03:55:02] Look at this. Wrong track number.

Now, the majority of Americans, when it comes to jobs and employment, believe that we are on the wrong track as a country, 51 percent. That is a jump of nearly 20 points from where we were at the beginning of Trump's second term when it was 32 percent.

That right track number -- that number has absolutely dipped right into the Hudson River. Look at this. Less than a third of Americans, just 29 percent of them, now say that the country is on the right track when it comes to jobs and employment.

Now, here's the big question. Why is it?

Why is it that the country believes that we are, in fact, now on the wrong track when it comes to jobs and employment? Simply put, I don't know if you know anybody who's been looking for a job, but Americans very much don't think that it's a good time to get a quality job.

Look at this. I mean, these numbers are terrible. Good or a bad time to find a quality job? You go back to the beginning, just before the beginning of Trump's second term.

Look at this. You have the plurality of Americans, 48 saying it was a good time to find a quality job.

Slightly less, 45 percent said it was a bad time to find a quality job.

Look at this percentage who say bad. Up like a rocket. Now up to 63 percent it was at the beginning of quarter two this year.

Look at that good number. That good number, again, way down. We're talking about just 33 percent.

So what was a three-point advantage in terms of the percentage of Americans saying it was a good time to find a quality job has turned into a 30-point advantage for the percentage of people, in fact, now saying it is a bad time to find a quality job.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. I'll be back with another hour of "CNN Newsroom" right after a quick break.

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