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David Crowley Wins Wisconsin's Gubernatorial Democratic Primary Race over Francesca Hong, Daughter of Late Sen. Lindsey Graham Heads to a Runoff for the South Carolina Republican Primary; World Awaits Total Solar Eclipse to be Visible in Some Countries. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 12, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hey everybody, welcome to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York.

And we are in the early hours after election night in America, but we still don't know the results of a high-stakes primary in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Throughout the night, CNN has been closely following the Democratic primary for Wisconsin's governor. That's happening between Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.

Now, the margin you see there, it has been razor-thin for almost, really most of the night, but Crowley seems to be edging out a lead, at least for now, with this new batch of votes that was counted just in the last hour.

But that's just one of the many races happening across six states, and that includes South Carolina. The special Republican Senate primary there will go to a runoff, and that afternoon, no candidate got a majority of the vote. CNN projecting that Darlene Graham, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Ralph Norman, will be competing in that runoff in just two weeks' time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DARLENE GRAHAM (R-SC): I want to thank the Republican voters of South Carolina for having confidence in me. I look forward to the next two weeks meeting with you, listening to your concerns, and telling you more about me and my conservative values.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Our political experts standing by for a live discussion in a few moments, but first, let's go to CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who has more on the Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This Democratic gubernatorial primary here in Wisconsin heads into a bit of an overtime. There's an open question here about the progressive support for Francesca Hong. As she addressed her supporters, she certainly did not declare victory, but she said the movement will go on.

FRANCESCA HONG (D), WISCONSIN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Wisconsin, we have built something that will change politics forever. The work we have done will be remembered forever. I know we don't have the final results right now, but what I do know is that we are ready to keep fighting.

ZELENY: Now she also did not talk about her Democratic rival, David Crowley, who has been watching these returns all evening long from Milwaukee. And it is those votes in Milwaukee that could hold the key to this race.

But there is no doubt that the progressive insurgency movement that many expected to come together in Wisconsin did not happen. A very close contest with David Crowley.

Many other candidates in the race actually also impacted this. This has been a wild Wisconsin governor's race. Candidates dropped out of the race.

David Crowley did as well. He got back into the race trying to slow Francesca Hong's candidacy. So these questions of electability that really hung over this race in the end, led by Governor Tony Evers, who was supporting Crowley, and he urged voters to take a very close look at this race.

It looks like the voters did look at this race very closely. So this is still a very narrow race. It may not be called until Wednesday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: All right, our thanks to Jeff Zeleny. As we wait for that counting to continue and potentially a projection, let's go to our political panel.

With me now from Atlanta is political and legal commentator Madeline Summerville. And also joining us is Republican strategist Katie Frost, who's the current chair of the Georgia Republican Party Third District. Welcome to you both, thank you so much for staying up late with me.

MADELINE SUMMERVILLE, POLITICAL AND LEGAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you for having us.

SANDOVAL: Madeline, let's start with you. What do the numbers out of Wisconsin tell you about this battle between a Democratic Socialist candidate, Francesca Hong, and her establishment-backed opponent, David Crowley, who, according to the numbers right now, seems to be holding on to that narrow lead?

SUMMERVILLE: So I actually expected David Crowley to be coming out better than he is right now. And that's because we had so much chaos with the dropping out, the endorsing, right?

I thought that, you know, perhaps people would just have to default to the DSA candidate. But she does have a lot of chaos around her, too. So I think that the voters showed us what they were going to do and it didn't end up making sense in the end.

[03:04:58]

SANDOVAL: Crowley, just about 32,000 votes ahead, that certainly speaks to that deep division within the party itself. Katie, do you think that that division could translate to a possible advantage for Republican Tom Tiffany come November?

KATIE FROST, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND CHAIRMAN, GEORGIA REPUBLICAN PARTY THIRD DISTRICT: But absolutely, can we look at turnout? Because if you are a young voter who was inspired by Francesca Hong and you're working hard to get her elected and then you see what feels like the establishment putting their finger on the scale for David Crowley, getting him back into the race after he's dropped out.

The Governor, he was going around the state campaigning with them. You're going to feel like, do they even care about my vote? Does my vote matter? Why am I going to show up for them when they would and when they did everything they could to keep my candidate from winning?

So Crowley's going to have to make sure he gets that base to turn out in the general election. I got to tell you, this has been a wild year. Someone who loves politics and loves studying all these primaries, the way some of these candidates have ended up on the ballot, whether it's David Crowley, Troy Jackson or even Darlene Graham, it's definitely been a fun year to watch.

SANDOVAL: Yes, they really are, especially given just the unpredictable nature of one primary after another. And Madeline, for Wisconsin Democrats, just looking into a potential outcome here, how risky would it be to put Hong against the Republicans in a general election? Or do you think that a best case scenario would include Crowley advancing to November?

SUMMERVILLE: So I actually do think that a best case scenario would be Crowley advancing to November. But I think it's extremely risky for Hong to keep to be moving forward. And the Democratic establishment knows that.

However, the establishment is going to throw their weight and their funds behind whichever candidate could possibly beat the candidates that's endorsed by Donald Trump.

Tom Tiffany is MAGA through and through. And I'm sure that President Trump would be very happy to see him in Congress -- but I'm sorry, in the governor's seat. But here with Francesca Hong in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has been one of the deciding states for years for the presidency. And if it turns out that Francesca takes the seat, it might be that the DSA is more powerful than I thought they were. SANDOVAL: I mean, that certainly would be one way of looking at it.

And, you know, we've seen Hong greatly scrutinized for her previous comments. I mean, that is nothing compared to what we would see come November, especially, you know, when that midterm approaches.

I wonder if we can maybe shift gears, Katie, and talk Minnesota's GOP contest for the race for governor. Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy, lost his primary. What's your takeaway from this latest loss of a Trump-backed candidate?

FROST: I would say Mike Lindell is not your typical Trump-backed candidate. You know, he is someone who is a larger-than-life figure, and he has his own persona completely separate from having that endorsement.

So if you want to look at the power of President Trump's endorsement, frankly, Mike Lindell is not the best person to look for that. I would point you to Darlene Graham for the power of President Trump's endorsement.

Here we have someone who was appointed just a matter of weeks ago. No one was really very familiar with her and now she's coming in first against two sitting members of Congress. That speaks to the power of President Trump's endorsement.

When you look in Minnesota, everyone knows Mike Lindell. Everyone has an opinion of Mike Lindell. And he was someone who really did not have much of a background in politics.

This is his first time trying to run. And people already formed their opinions about him. They are running in his as, of course, a state that leans blue, has swung at different times, but it does have tendencies to lean blue.

So the voters there are going, we need a competitive candidate in the general election, not unlike what Democrats in Wisconsin are feeling about David Crowley versus Francesca Hong.

SANDOVAL: Well, actually, I'm glad you mentioned South Carolina. If we do have the numbers, let's just check in on what the final tally was when it comes to Darlene Graham leading with a little under 33 percent, if I'm not mistaken.

But I mean, we can put those numbers back up of the vote. And this is with support of the President and certainly with the support of the base of his late, of her late brother, Senator Lindsey Graham. We see the 32.7 percent up against Ralph Norman, who trailed at 24.6.

Katie, with all those other factors, though, is it surprising to you that that number wasn't higher?

FROST: Not especially because, you know, this is something else is going to come down to turnout. They just had a primary in a runoff in South Carolina. Now they needed voters to show up a third time.

Darlene Graham had $1.8 million spent on her behalf. Ralph Norman, who just come off a statewide run for governor, only had $200,000 spent on his behalf. But he still had a strong show.

The real person to watch right here is Russell Fry. What does he do as an endorsement? He clearly wants to be in the Senate. So is he going to look at this and try to decide? Does he get behind one of the two candidates? Which one is less likely to serve a long time?

He could be a kingmaker here. So that's the thing to watch.

[03:10:03]

SANDOVAL: And as you both know, Tuesday also brought the latest sign that President Trump could potentially assert control of the 2026 midterm elections. Let's just briefly play a part of the President's conversation with a conservative host that pitched the idea of declaring a national security emergency and as you hear there, the President not ruling it out.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

WAYNE ALLYN ROOT, "AMERICA'S TOP 10 COUNTDOWN" HOST, AND CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: If they never get the SAVE America Act done, you have the right to declare a national security emergency for elections.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (on the phone): Let me just say that stranger things have happened, okay? I'll leave it at that.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Madeline, as an attorney, let me go to you. Would such a move even be constitutional? And what are the legal concerns you have off the bat?

SUMMERVILLE: So whenever President Trump makes a legal decision, I expect him to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. And that is a strategy that you can move forward with if you want to try to institute something, do something for the first time. And that's what President Trump has done many times with his immigration policies or even with the ballroom, right.

We're not going to check and see if it's legal. We have a legal theory. We know we have one that we can advance if we move this to the next level, we get challenged. And I think as you pointed to here, right, he has a legal theory and he wants to move forward with it.

But I think that he -- the part that frustrates me the most is that he discredits a judge when he doesn't like the judge's ruling rather than saying this is or isn't against the law. He doesn't respect the decision. And so I think moving forward, what he will say is this is unsettled law.

We don't know how the court's going to feel about this until we give them a chance to. But it's safe for us to expect that no matter what, if they don't agree with him, that he's going to keep challenging it, whether that's in court or in the court of public opinion. SANDOVAL: Yes, well, we saw immediately that this is certainly raising

some concerns, to say the least. But unless we'll see how that pans out, CNN did, by the way, reach out to the White House to try to get a little bit more on the President's position on that.

Madeline Summerville, Katie Frost, always grateful to you both for offering your perspectives. Always looking forward to talking to you. Come back again.

SUMMERVILLER: Thank you.

FROST: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Well, it is a race against time following the largest earthquake to hit Colombia this decade. Recovery teams, they are looking for victims beneath the rubble and this after dozens of buildings collapsed in several major cities on Monday.

The U.S. says that it has sent a disaster assistance response team to the region hoping to help support those efforts. And Mexico is currently preparing a large shipment of humanitarian aid, along with two hundred and fifty five specialized search and rescue troops.

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And these are the images that offer some glimmers of hope as they continue to emerge as communities rally in support. Here you're seeing a woman who was rescued alive after being trapped beneath the rubble for about thirty six hours in the debris of a collapsed hotel.

And I want to show you this other amazing video here, a baby being rescued in the hard hit city of Cali. Earlier, CNN spoke with a volunteer who says that he was led to that specific spot by the whispers of a survivor in the rubble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN OSORIO ZULUAGA, HELPED RESCUE BABY FROM THE RUBBLE (through translator): It sounded like a whisper. Yes, I'm here.

I'm with a baby. But it was like a very soft whisper. So I said, silence, because the noise from the girl and everything from the people who were there at the moment who were the neighbors from the area, they all went quiet.

And thanks to the cries of the person, the man who was shouting that he was with the baby, I was able to identify where he was. And that's when I started to act. There is a person at home with a baby Beckham.

So they started coming closer. We began moving some very large pieces of rubble, really heavy ones. We started moving debris.

And there was a piece of the building slab that had fallen quite wide, very large. The seven of us tried, but on the first attempt, we couldn't lift it. Unity is strength because no one person alone could have lifted that piece of rubble. It was so large and so heavy. Let's say that at that moment it was

about taking the initiative. And thanks to that, I would say that was the greatest contribution I made, taking the initiative.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And there have now been more than 70 aftershocks since Monday's initial seven point four magnitude quake. It's estimated that at least 224 people have been killed. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has more on the widespread damage in the region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): We're really seeing scenes of complete chaos coming out of Colombia. The country has been impacted by a seven point four magnitude earthquake, which is the strongest it recorded in over a decade. And among the places most impacted is the international airport in Pereira.

You can see travelers seeking cover and running for their lives as the roof was collapsing on top of them. Pereira is a city in the known region of the coffee growing region of Colombia.

[03:15:05]

Another city close by is Manizales, where the clock tower of the cathedral is tilting. The quake lasted for almost a minute and the damage that was impacted on the church and the surrounding building was significant.

This national disaster is already creating another challenge for the newly sworn-in President, Abelardo de la Espriella, who has called for an emergency meeting of the cabinet and for resources to be made available for first responders.

He was only sworn in on Friday. And when the quake hit at 7:40 a.m. local on Monday morning was meant to be his first day on the job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Stefano Pozzebon for that.

And the Latino community in Miami, clearly stepping up to support those ongoing relief efforts. And you see part of that effort right now, Colombian and Venezuelan volunteers in Miami. They're already organizing some of these shipments for those affected by the disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDRES KAUFMAN, COLOMBIA AID VOLUNTEER: The heat's on for me because Colombia is a country neighbor and we will always be there for them like they were here for us when Venezuela earthquake happened. And like I said before, whatever they need, we are going to be there for them because they're like our brothers.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANDOVAL: Yes, Venezuelans all too familiar with the deadly potential of these earthquakes. If you want to help, you can get more information by going to CNN.com/impact. We'll be able to direct you to some other resources available.

And still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," we'll have more on how the Secret Service moved President Trump off Air Force One and into another aircraft in Turkey without anyone noticing. Stay with us.

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[03:20:00]

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SANDOVAL: And welcome back.

We are closely watching election results coming out of Wisconsin at this hour, where the Democratic primary for governor remains a very tight race. And this after a delay, Milwaukee has already reported nearly 25,000 votes, which was the largest batch of votes that was still outstanding.

And so far, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley winning about 39 percent of the votes, netting about 12,000 votes over state assembly member Francesca Hong. You see that that's with about 98 percent of the votes counted.

Let's get more perspective now and head over to Steven Olikara, a former U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin. He's also a senior fellow for political reform at the USC Schwarzenegger Institute, as well as the founding CEO of Bridge Entertainment Labs.

Welcome back. Good to see you again.

STEVEN OLIKARA (D), FORMER WISCONSIN SENATORIAL CANDIDATE, SENIOR FELLOW FOR POLITICAL REFORM, USC SCHWARZENEGGER INSTITUTE, AND FOUNDER AND CEO, BRIDGE ENTERTAINMENT LABS: Thanks for having me, Polo. Great to see you.

SANDOVAL: Of course, Steven, we know it's a very long night here. What do you make as a former Democratic candidate in the state of Wisconsin? What do you make of the numbers? I mean, it was not supposed to be as close a race as it's turning out to be.

OLIKARA: Yes, Polo, this is an upset of the upset as David Crowley is on the verge of making a major comeback. So Francesca Hong, she's a Democratic socialist who came in as an underdog to be the front runner in this race, running on a far left agenda, but also taking on A.I. data centers. That became one of her signature issues, really built quite a following around that.

But as there is a shakeup in the race, two lieutenant governors dropped out. David Crowley came back into the race after having suspended his campaign. And the governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, took a massive political swing in not only endorsing Crowley, but campaigning with him and they were on a massive barnstorming across the state over the last week and a half.

And tonight we stand at a point where David Crowley is likely on the verge of making history and will have massive implications not just for this fall, but also for 2028.

SANDOVAL: So if David Crowley does, in fact, advance to the primary seat, I'm just curious if you can give us a preview of what that matchup would look like. I mean, what would make him, as we heard just a few minutes ago from some of our other political experts, what would make him more of an ideal scenario for Wisconsin Democrats versus Humphrey?

OLIKARA: Well, instead of having a race that was about cultural issues like canceling Thanksgiving and abolishing prisons, that I think would startle a number of voters in the middle who come out to vote in the general election but may not vote in primaries. The entire structure of the race has now changed, likely, if Crowley pulls off this win, where it now focuses on economic issues and affordability because President Trump is underwater on economic issues. His Iran war is extremely unpopular.

The MAGA brand, according to the latest polling in Wisconsin, is about 15 to 20 points underwater. And so now this will be a little bit more of a referendum on the Trump administration, but also David Crowley being able to talk about his record as Milwaukee County executive. He has built a reputation as someone who's been able to reduce homelessness in the county.

The "Journal Sentinel" has done a lot of reporting on that in the state. And so he's going to be able to talk about more of these pocketbook issues as to some of the more far out cultural issues that would have been the case with Francesca Hong. So now this is just a massive political earthquake tonight, Polo, because the race for governor now has changed from being an advantage for the Republicans, if Hong pulls it off, to now likely an advantage for Democrats, with David Crowley poised to win tonight.

SANDOVAL: We haven't yet heard from David Crowley yet. We saw at his campaign headquarters, essentially taking down the stage, potentially waiting for a few more hours when they have a better sense. What did you make, though, of Hong's statement when she addressed some of her supporters late Tuesday night?

[03:25:05]

OLIKARA: Well, first, the energy going into the room, this was at a music hall in Madison, Wisconsin, was just off the charts, just absolutely electric because the Hong campaign was positioned to make history.

There had never been a Democratic Socialist nominee for governor. And she really built a movement of young people and liberals across the state. But then people started to notice the race was changing and she wasn't pulling the numbers she needed to deliver in Madison, which is her home base. And so when she came out on stage, she didn't concede, but it sounded like a concession speech. She didn't have the energy of someone who felt like she was going to win. I think she was probably processing in real time this incredible turn of events.

Now, David Crowley, he was waiting for the Milwaukee ballots to drop. There were some outstanding, about 28,000 outstanding absentee ballots. Those have now been processed and they've gone in Crowley's favor.

But I think it was too late for him to do a speech. So look in the morning for him to deliver a speech. David Crowley is an extraordinary communicator and so I encourage people to tune in because I think he will basically lay out his case for the general election.

And then there will be a unity breakfast that actually is now turning into a brunch for Democrats to show that they're united as they go into the general election.

SANDOVAL: Yes, my colleague, Elex, who I know you had some great conversations with in the last hour, put it best. There's a lot we're going to be learning about him in the next few hours, especially once we get to hear from him.

Steven Olikara, thank you so much for staying up late for us and continue with your analysis as we wait for a potential projection coming out of Wisconsin.

OLIKARA: Absolutely, my pleasure. Welcome to Wisconsin politics, Polo. It's a little wild.

SANDOVAL: I do love the great state of Wisconsin. Thanks again, Steven.

OLIKARA: My pleasure.

SANDOVAL: All right, the U.S. President says that Iran would, quote, "get blown away if it tries to do something in the Strait of Hormuz." And this comes as Donald Trump insists that the U.S. still has total control over the critical waterway.

Meanwhile, Trump administration officials say a warning of higher oil and gas prices into next year. And the latest shakeup in Iran's military leadership could be a sign that Tehran and Washington are far from striking a deal. Iran's supreme leader reportedly appointing six hardliners to top security positions this week.

And we're learning new details about the covert operation to get President Donald Trump on a secret flight out of Turkey, with the "New York Times" now reporting that the U.S. had identified a threat of an Iranian assassination plot, which included a surface to air missile targeting Air Force One.

And President Trump spoke about that secret plane swap on Tuesday night. Here's what he said on the tarmac.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do. So I go by Secret Service and the military.

They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say.

REPORTER: Why was it too dangerous for you flying on Air Force One, but not too dangerous for the press?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know. I think, actually, the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. I think it was at greater risk, because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for.

REPORTER: Were you worried about a shoulder-fired missile?

TRUMP: I don't worry about anything, to be honest. Whatever it is. You know my attitude? Whatever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: So how did this covert switch play out?

Well, U.S. official tells CNN that after boarding Air Force One in front of the cameras that day last month, President Trump secretly exited the aircraft by a catering truck and then rushed him into a smaller military plane for that first leg of the return home. You could see reporters at the rear of that aircraft boarding, not knowing that the President had been moved and unknowingly flying on a decoy plane.

CNN's Ken Liptak has more on what we know about this ruse and how it was pulled off.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER (voice-over): At 7:54 p.m., preparations get underway at the Ankara airport to execute the subterfuge. You can see in this video airport catering trucks begin getting into position at the side of the blue and white legacy Air Force One that Trump said he was using to return to Washington.

At 8:24 p.m., Trump's motorcade arrives to the tarmac as it speeds towards Air Force One. Another smaller plane, a C-32A is parked nearby. This shot is the best vantage of how the two planes are positioned on the tarmac.

As the motorcade rounds the corner, you can see the two catering trucks at the side of the jumbo jet lifted up on hydraulics to doors on the right side of the plane. A few minutes later, Trump climbs the staircase and waves before entering his cabin. You can see the catering truck right there beneath the fuselage.

[03:30:04]

At the back of the plane, reporters and staff line up to get on board. Once they're in their seats, the Secret Service tells them to keep their window shades down. Agents even come to the cabin, which faces out toward the smaller C-32A to make sure all the shades are lowered.

And this is when the shell game begins. A U.S. official says Trump was whisked off the plane and into a waiting catering truck. At 8.28 p.m., you can see a man in a suit climbing into the truck's cab. The container is lowered and the truck pulls out a minute later.

The truck drives away from the bigger plane across the tarmac and pulls up to the C-32A. By zooming in, you can see it right there behind the engines. A person in a suit steps out of the cab, walks to the stairs and gets on board.

The bigger plane, now without the President on board, takes off at 8:44 p.m., passing right past the smaller plane with Trump inside. The smaller plane taxis away a minute later.

As for the third plane, the Boeing 747 donated by Qatar, which Trump has been using in the U.S. and actually flew to Turkey on, it departed a few hours earlier, which can be seen here with the other two planes.

Trump claimed at the time he wanted to show it off to troops in England. Flight tracking data shows that former Qatari jet landed at Mildenhall Air Force Base in the United Kingdom at 6:26 p.m. local time. It bore the call sign SAM-33, short for Special Air Mission. 40 minutes later, the legacy Air Force One plane, the blue and white one, appears on radar near Istanbul with no call sign.

Tracking data shows that as it flies over Romania, the plane begins using the call sign AF-1 for Air Force One, though the President was not on board. It lands at Mildenhall at around 10:29 p.m. local time.

LIPTAK: The smaller plane, the one Trump is actually on, doesn't show up on publicly available flight trackers, but video from YouTube shows it landing at Mildenhall at around the same time as the bigger plane. We don't know exactly how Trump moved from the smaller plane to the bigger one, but it took about 20 minutes for reporters to get off the plane once it had touched down, plenty of time for President Trump to sneak back on board.

LIPTAK (voice-over): By 10:56 p.m., Trump can be seen descending the stairs of the legacy Air Force One, this time in view of the cameras. He walked across the tarmac slowly back to the Qatar jet for the flight home to Washington. On the way home, he was asked about some of the unusual security precautions.

TRUMP: Because you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags that we have to deal with. But if I go, you go. So perhaps someday you want to change professions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, did you put Americans at risk by having them fly in Air Force One when it was under threat? How persistent is that threat to the President?

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Thank you, guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And that was Jennifer Hensler asking and getting ignored by the Secretary of State about what other Americans aboard the Presidential jet at risk. Since revelation, the White House Correspondents Association is pressing the administration to establish protocols for handling such security issues in the future.

Now to a former U.S. Marine that's been held in Russia is now back on American soil. That's where he will be receiving medical care. Robert Gilman was released from detention on Tuesday after warnings that he had suffered torture and was near death, he had been detained since 2022 and disputed those charges.

Jennifer Hansler with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANSLER: U.S. Marine veteran Robert Gilman was released from Russian detention on Tuesday after more than four and a half years after mounting concerns around his health. Gilman was released on humanitarian grounds, according to both U.S. officials and a Russian official. U.S. officials said nothing was exchanged or given to secure Gilman's release.

Now, President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the matter and Putin had agreed to free him. Trump also said that he spoke with Gilman on his way back to the United States and that Gilman had, quote, "one request, a really great cheeseburger when he landed back in the U.S."

Now, his ability to speak with the President was a promising initial sign, given the massive concerns around his health. However, a picture posted by both Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio showed Gilman as incredibly gaunt. And a source told CNN that he was non-ambulatory, meaning that he wasn't able to necessarily stand up or walk on his own.

After arriving back in the U.S., Gilman is expected to be treated at a military hospital in Texas, where his family will also meet him. There have been mounting concerns around Gilman's health, especially in recent weeks.

[03:35:01]

An advocate for the family told CNN that he was subjected to psychological and physical torture while he was detained in Russia and that more than six weeks ago, he had slipped into a dissociative stupor. His family was concerned that they might not ever see him alive. Gilman's sister, Lexi Hudson, said in a statement on Tuesday that she was incredibly grateful that her brother was on his way back to the United States. Her statement said, in part, quote, "There is no other reason that

Robert is alive today other than that President Trump heard about the case and took action." She also thanked Senator Ed Markey for his work on this case.

Jennifer Hansler, CNN, the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And we do continue to follow election results coming out of Wisconsin at this hour with the Democratic primary for governor is perhaps it could be getting closer to a projection. We're going to have much more in a moment.

Stay with us. You're watching "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

SANDOVAL: It is 2:38 a.m. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and CNN can now project that Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley will win the Democratic nomination in the race for the governor's mansion in that state.

This means that Crowley will be the one to face off against Republican Tom Tiffany come the general election. This has certainly been a tight race from the very beginning as he was facing up against Democrat fellow Democrat Francesca Hong.

So what will this race look like for the next few months? Let's go to Richard Johnson, who's a senior lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London. He joins me from Oxford, England.

[03:40:00]

It's great to see you again, Richard, with the breaking news now that CNN now projecting that David Crowley, as expected in the last couple of hours, will be the one to advance to the general election. What is your initial reaction? Any surprise?

RICHARD JOHNSON, SENIOR LECTURER IN U.S. POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: This is a huge upset. If you look at the polls leading up to this race, Hong was leading Crowley in most of the polls by as many as 20 percentage points with 10 or fewer percentage of voters undecided.

And so this is a real polling miss that actually reminds me of what we saw last week with the Michigan Senate race where their Haley Stevens nearly defeated Abdul El-Sayed, which was unexpected. And it's in both cases we see a pattern where the more moderate candidate, Stevens in Michigan and Crowley in Wisconsin, are far overperforming their polling.

And polling is a very difficult exercise. We still don't quite know why the polls are so far off. I've got a couple of thoughts on that. One might be that we see greater enthusiasm from more left-leaning

Democrats to participate in polls. So that would be a kind of response bias as to who fills out a response to a poll.

The other is about waiting turnout. And that may be what we're seeing here. It's very difficult when you're doing a poll to estimate different groups in the electorate as to who's going to actually turn out. It's one thing for them to say they'll vote for a candidate.

The other thing is, are they going to show up? And I wonder if the pollsters in Michigan and Wisconsin have quite substantially underestimated the turnout of more moderate Democrats.

SANDOVAL: As the more conventional Democrat, Richard, what does facing David Crowley mean for the Republican Party as a whole?

JOHNSON: Well, you know, this Wisconsin is a purple state. It's a state that has flipped back and forth between Democrats and Republicans at Presidential level. And it's also a state which has elected Republicans to statewide office in recent years.

Wisconsin had a very famous Republican governor, Scott Walker, who pursued really quite a conservative policy agenda. And Democrats tried to recall Scott Walker on a couple of occasions and was unable to do that. Those elections are often fought in Wisconsin on knife edge.

Wisconsin's also seen highly competitive state Supreme Court elections which have been decided on a knife edge. And I do wonder if what we're seeing here in this victory for David Crowley is the argument of electability over ideological purity.

Is it the case that Democrats wanted a winner who could defeat the Republicans? And that's what mattered more to them than whether or not Crowley had signed up to some of the more kind of left leaning positions on, say, ICE or defunding the police.

SANDOVAL: Going to Francesca Hong, what do you think that Democratic socialists are taking away from this, Richard, especially for when it comes to that segment of the party and its future?

JOHNSON: Well, I thought it was very interesting seeing the response of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders to Francesca Hong's candidacy, which was to say that they didn't want to get involved in this race, which is quite different from some of the other cases where Sanders was very happy to endorse El-Sayed. There's been an important contest in Minnesota with Peggy Flanagan and Sanders was willing to endorse that, but not here in Wisconsin.

And I think with Hong, she clearly did have some flaws as a candidate, particularly some of the comments that she had made. There have been a lot that have been made about this comment she made in 2020 about canceling Thanksgiving, which came back to haunt her, probably somewhat of a trivial point.

But I think what it perhaps shows for the Democratic socialists is the importance of vetting their candidates and making sure that their candidates aren't going to have past statements that then become a weight around their neck in the campaign, particularly if these contests are going to be fought on such narrow margins. You don't really have room for error in these kinds of contests at the moment for the Democratic socialists.

SANDOVAL: Do you expect Francesca Hong appearances on the campaign trail for the next couple of months?

JOHNSON: Well, look, I mean, you I heard earlier on, there's just there's your previous guest was talking about there being a unity breakfast or maybe a brunch now that the results are coming up really quite late in the U.S. Some people want to catch up on some of their sleep.

[03:45:08]

But look, I think the nature of partisanship in the United States is at the moment so strongly almost tribal that I sort of had a bit of a working theory that it doesn't matter a great deal who the parties put forward as their nominees. It can make a difference on the margins and in close races like potentially the one we might see in Wisconsin that could make a difference.

But generally speaking, people who identify with the party, people who are committed Democrats are going to come out and support the Democratic nominee, whoever they may be. And so Crowley is not some kind of you know, he's not a conservative. Crowley is a sort of middle of the road Democrat who signed up to climate justice and all these kinds of other issues that Democrats expect candidates in this day and age to believe in.

It's just that on some of the other issues, particularly the kinds of positions that some candidates were taking during the pandemic about defunding the police and abolishing ICE and so on, he's been a bit moderated in his message. But I don't think that would prevent Democrats from coming out and voting for him in November.

So I don't see an issue with holding campaign for him. I don't think he's taking any positions that would stop her from campaigning for him.

SANDOVAL: Sure, without a doubt, I'm sure we're going to see plenty of support for those in the progressive movements supporting David Crowley in a few months' time. Richard Johnson, always grateful for your political analysis. Thank you so much for your time.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: David Crowley securing the Democratic nomination in the state of Wisconsin in the race for governor. And with that, we'll be right back.

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[03:50:00] SANDOVAL: A quick recap of our breaking news that we're following at this hour, CNN projecting Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley will win Wisconsin's Democratic primary for governor. He had been locked in a tight race with state assembly member Francesca Hong. Crowley will be facing Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, who has been endorsed by President Trump.

Well, the U.S. Inflation report for July is set to be released in just a few hours. Economists are looking to the Consumer Price Index data for more guidance on whether inflation is cooling or remaining sticky.

Early estimates are for annual inflation to go down a tick from 3.5 percent in June to 3.4 in July. A decrease is also expected for core CPI, which strips out energy and food prices.

The surge in energy prices due to the war with Iran has raised expectations for higher Fed rates by year's end. But the market remains divided on trying to figure out the Fed's next move, but also the timing of any potential rate hikes.

Many eyes will be looking up to the skies pretty soon, hopefully with some protective glasses, though. And this is a total eclipse stretches across parts of Europe. I'll tell you more in a moment.

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[03:55:00]

SANDOVAL: I want to get you back to our top story that we're following at this hour, CNN can now project that Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley will be the one to win Wisconsin's Democratic primary for governor. He had been locked in a tight race with state assembly member Francesca Hong. Crowley will be facing Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, who does have the support of President Donald Trump.

Now to powerful storms across the Midwestern United States and mid- Atlantic that have left over a million people without power and at least one person dead. The system has triggered flash flooding, thunderstorms and tornado warnings. Wind gusts over 75 miles per hour were recorded from northeastern Iowa to northern Indiana.

And parts of Chicago saw hurricane force winds over 90 miles per hour that knocked down trees and power lines there. Multiple rounds of storms are expected in the same areas over the next few days, but conditions should ease up by this weekend, according to forecasters.

Well, celestial sky will be putting on quite the show over the next few days. First up, a total solar eclipse that's set to cross over Iceland, Greenland, Spain and Russia. For about two minutes, the moon will line up just perfectly with the sun, plunging several countries into darkness.

And in a rare alignment, the northern hemisphere will be getting a dazzling look at the meteor shower in the early hours of Thursday morning. NASA says that the meteor shower is best. It's going to be one of the best that you can observe. And be sure to tune in to CNN special coverage of the total solar eclipse coverage starting at 1 p.m. Eastern in the U.S. at 6 p.m. for you folks in London, 9 p.m. for viewers in Abu Dhabi. Coverage will also be available. You can stream it on the CNN app.

Thank you so much for watching. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. I'll be right back with you with more of your headlines and more of the breaking news out of Wisconsin on "CNN Newsroom."

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