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Life-Threatening Flooding on Part of Hawaii's Big Island and Maui; Opening Statements in Tupac Shakur Murder Trial Start Tomorrow; Nanny Back in Philadelphia After a Month in ICE Custody. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired August 16, 2026 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:58]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone!
Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I am Fredricka Whitfield.
We begin this hour with breaking news out of Hawaii. Right now, the worst of wind and rain from Tropical Storm Lala is unleashing across Kauai, Oahu and Lanai after life-threatening flooding hit parts of the Big Island and Maui. One person has died and more than 200,000 are without power.
The storm did not make landfall and weakened to a tropical storm this morning as it traveled west. The National Hurricane Center says Lala's eyewall brushed past the south shore of Hawaii's big island. It brought hurricane force winds of 80 miles an hour and more than 30 inches of torrential rainfall.
Officials say at least 19 buildings lost their roofs. CNN affiliate KITV detailed conditions as the outer bands blew through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA CIFONE, KITV REPORTER: You can see that there is so much wind, just so much rain and massive waves behind me. I am going to step out of the way so you can kind of see.
You're getting hit with these waves and that mist from those waves as they break are brushing onto neighbors' roofs. We had a branch go into the home owner's door screen. There is water coming in through the bottom of the house. The lanai is soaking wet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Governor Josh Green says the state is on full operational capacity and will begin damage assessment tomorrow once the storm clears.
All right, the jury is seated and opening statements are set to begin tomorrow in the Tupac Shakur murder trial. Almost 30 years after the rap legend was shot and killed in Las Vegas, Duane "Keffe D" Davis is accused of orchestrating the killing in an act of revenge.
Davis is the only person ever charged in connection with Shakur's killing, but he says he is innocent. CNN's nick watt has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OFFICER: Hey, Keffe! Metro Police, come over here.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Keffe D was arrested three years ago.
OFFICER: So what they got you for, man?
DUANE "KEFFE D" DAVIS, SUSPECT IN TUPAC SHAKUR'S MURDER: Biggest case in Las Vegas history.
OFFICER: Oh yes?
WATT (voice-over): The shooting, the killing of Tupac Shakur at a stoplight in Vegas late one night after a Mike Tyson fight nearly 30 years ago. Here's what prosecutors will argue detailed by a homicide detective just after Duane Davis, Keffe D's arrest.
LT. JASON JOHANSSON, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: As we all know, Tupac Shakur was an artist who was signed with Death Row Records and that Death Row Records and its CEO, Marion "Suge" Knight, were closely affiliated with the Mob Piru criminal street gangs, and that they had an ongoing feud with the South Side Compton Crips.
Duane Davis was the leader and shot caller of the South Side Compton Crips.
WATT (voice over): Members of both gangs were, say police, at the Tyson fight in the MGM Grand that night and afterwards, in the lobby, Tupac, Knight and others spotted Keffe D's nephew, Orlando Anderson, and beat him up.
JOHANSSON: Duane Davis began to devise a plan to obtain a firearm and retaliate against Suge Knight and Mr. Shakur.
WATT (voice over): Anderson, his uncle Keffe D and two other men allegedly got into a white Cadillac and followed Knight and Tupac, who were in a black BMW en route to a club. Unclear exactly who pulled the trigger, some have said it was Anderson.
Keffe D is the only man who was in that white Cadillac who is still alive. He's now 63. He was, they say, the shot caller. And under Nevada law, he can still be charged with murder.
JOHANSSON: Within the first few months of the investigation, our detectives knew most of the information I just briefed you on. However, we never had the necessary evidence to bring this case forward.
WATT (voice over): His own words, say investigators, were Keffe D's undoing. [15:05:06]
JOHANSSON: Specifically, Duane Davis' own admissions to his involvement in this homicide investigation that he provided to numerous different media outlets.
WATT (voice over): "Them jumping on my nephew gave us the ultimate green light to do something to their (bleep)."
And in the documentary, "Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders," Keffe D describes the moment he says he handed Anderson, whom he calls Lane, a gun while riding in that Cadillac.
DAVIS: I gave it to Dre and Dre was like, no, no, no. And Lane was like, popped the dudes.
WATT (voice over): But in July, Keffe D denied being involved in the killing, telling a Las Vegas news station he wasn't even in Nevada when Tupac was shot.
DAVIS: I ain't worried though, I didn't do (bleep) so.
OFFICER: Well, I mean, that's what court's for, right?
WATT (on camera): So it's Keffe D's own words that landed him in court. Here's how that happened.
Back in 2008, he struck a deal with law enforcement. He told them about narcotics and gang issues. He was up on some charges at the time. And he also told them that, that night that Tupac was shot, he, Keffe D, got the gun, had it in the front seat of the car, passed it into the back seat and Tupac was shot.
Now the deal was that those words could not be used against him. That was the quid pro quo. Then in 2019, he wrote the book and he started talking about it. So investigators said, well, the deal is off. If he's talking about it, we're going to use those words from 2008 against him. And that is what's happening.
The trial is expected to last four to five weeks.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Watt, thanks so much.
Joining me right now to discuss further is criminal defense attorney, Elyse Hershon.
Elise, great to see you.
I mean, the case is going to trial 30 years -- 30 years after Tupac was killed. What are some of the challenges in this kind of delay in prosecuting a case, in your view? ELYSE HERSHON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you for having me back on your show. So the challenge for this is that a lot of people are no longer here. So as we heard in the in the spot leading up to this, Davis is the only one that is still alive that was in that car. So three of the four people, including who is alleged to have actually pulled the trigger on Tupac, are not alive. So that's part of the challenge here for the prosecution, but also to the benefit of the defense.
The less eyewitnesses for Davis, for any defendant, the better.
WHITFIELD: And so the prosecution is really, you know, hoping to rely on Davis' own words in order to secure this conviction. Right? I want you to take a listen, you know, to what Davis said back in 2019.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIS: He was hanging out the window like he was in a parade --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tupac?
DAVIS: Yes, he was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what happens next?
DAVIS: And we just came and (bleep)! I ain't going to go into details like that. You know what I am saying? But, you know, you got it in the book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And then, despite what the book says, Davis then tries to distance himself from the book. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you regret the book and the interview?
DAVIS: Yes, I was just after the money, and they said I was covered. I did it for the money.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did anyone close to you say not a good idea?
DAVIS: That was the ghostwriters did it. I didn't write that book. I -- you know, I don't know nothing about no Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra. Just read the book. You know, I didn't write that book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So he is essentially saying, you know, there was some embellishment in order to, you know, live up to, you know, the compensation for getting the book. So, then will this be a challenge for the defense? Or do you see this even a challenge for the prosecution to try to assert that, no, he is culpable.
HERSHON: I think it is a challenge for both sides. But the prosecution obviously has the burden of proof in any criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt. And that's going to be -- they are going to have a challenge here, right?
So a case is, usually, it could be a he said-she said this is literally just a he said, and the prosecution is going to say, he said it, believe him!
You know, so the prosecution is going to have to further corroborate what he said with other pieces of evidence, whether he told other people from the search of his house, did they have any computer forensics, like handwritten notes, something equivalent to a diary entry that could show that he actually did do these things, as opposed to just did this for entertainment value for a book. So they will have a challenge there.
WHITFIELD: All right, Elyse Hershon, glad to have you back. Thank you so much.
HERSHON: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, you can watch special coverage of the Tupac Shakur murder trial on CNN, all access, beginning tomorrow with opening statements. Just go to cnn.com/watch.
[15:10:07]
All right, also coming up this hour after a month in ICE custody, an Argentine nanny is back home in Philadelphia. What she says happened behind bars and why she believes she should never have been detained.
And a power plant was taken offline after swarms of jellyfish clogged its water intake. We will talk with a climate scientist about what may be driving this unusual phenomenon and what it could mean going forward.
Plus, we are nearing the end of the political primary season, with voters set to make key choices in several races Tuesday. That includes a high profile governor's race.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:15:30]
WHITFIELD: All right, new details now about the Argentine woman working as a nanny in Philadelphia who was detained by ICE last week. We told you about Iliana Lick, who was arrested at the airport while on her way to attend a World Cup match.
Well, now she is back in Philadelphia after being transferred across multiple ICE facilities since July.
Joining me right now with the follow-up on all of this, national correspondent, Rafael Romo.
So you actually spoke with this young woman. You had already spoken with her fiance? Boyfriend?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boyfriend.
WHITFIELD: -- previously while she was detained. What's the latest?
ROMO: Well, she is home, but that doesn't mean that her case is over, far from it, and after a month in ICE custody, Iliana Noeli Lick is back home in Philadelphia, where she has been working as a nanny for two families for the last couple of years and where she lives with her American boyfriend.
Lick told me she is going through a roller coaster of emotions and that trying to go back to normal has been weird because she is thinking all the time about the other people in detention she met while in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As we first reported last week, Lick was detained by ICE at the Philadelphia International Airport on July 11th after she was dropped off by her boyfriend to take a flight to Kansas City, Missouri, where she planned to attend a World Cup game between Argentina, her native country and Switzerland. Lick told CNN, she was held at a county jail in Pennsylvania and three different detention centers in Louisiana, Texas and then New Mexico before being granted bond on August 10th after a full month in custody.
She calls her ordeal both traumatic and shocking, not only because she was not expecting to be detained in the first place, but also because, she says she and other detainees were at one point held with the general prison population.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ILIANA NOELI LICK, ARGENTINIAN NANNY: Suddenly they put us with them, with the people have a little like a lot of mental issues, and it was a nightmare the first two days. It was really, really bad, like we were not able to sleep. They were like screaming the whole day.
ROMO: You've probably seen what ICE is saying about you. They say that you were in the country with an overstayed visa. To that, what do you say?
LICK: I didn't commit any crime. I was trying to do everything right. Like everything they asked me, I did, and all of this legal process. And I told ICE several times, I am not illegal. I never stayed in this country illegally and they put in my Notice to Appear that I overstayed without permission, basically, like which is not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: And while their asylum case was pending, she was granted a work permit. In a statement sent to CNN before Lick's release, the Department of Homeland Security described the nanny as an illegal alien from Argentina who was detained during a targeted arrest operation at Philadelphia International Airport on July 11th.
In a new statement sent to CNN after her release, DHS says that on August 10th, Lick was granted bond by an immigration judge and was released with a GPS tracking device. She will receive due process.
To be clear, they said, work authorization or a pending application do not confer legal status in the United States. Lick also told me that when she was held at the Cambria County Prison in Pennsylvania, she and other detainees had to wear a black and white striped jail uniform while wearing full restraints that included ankle cuffs and shackles.
She told me all of this in Spanish because she is more fluent in her native language, adding that she felt she was being treated as a common criminal and insisting that she shouldn't have been detained in the first place because she has always complied with immigration law.
She said, "I paid all the fees. I went to all the hearings. My case was pending. I was never out of status." Again, DHS saying that she was indeed out of status.
WHITFIELD: So what now? She is waiting for the hearing in a month.
ROMO: There will be a an appointment with ICE in about a week-and-a- half and then she is going to have a hearing in front of an immigration judge in probably about a month or so.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rafael Romo, keep us posted.
ROMO: Of course.
WHITFIELD: Thank you so much.
All right, coming up, Democrats see an opening in what has historically been Trump country: The frustration over the economy and the war that could reshape the midterm map.
[15:20:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you think this is actually a Democratic year in Iowa?
MICHELE PEGG, CHAIR, LOUISA COUNTY DEMOCRATS: I feel like the opportunity is there and I feel like people want change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And in the 90s, sports scandals fueled the headlines. Athletes became superstars. New dynasties were built and legacies were defined.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody wants to be humiliated again and again. So when John Elway made this fourth Super Bowl, his mother goes, do we have to go? I don't want to go. So, they go there. They are 12.5 point dogs. Elway does the helicopter play and they win the game. Finally! He did it! After the game, John gets back to the locker room and he goes, "Give me five minutes." He goes, "I'm going to take a shower. I will give you five minutes." So it is just me and the old towel guy and I was in the shower, and we can hear him going, "Whoa! All right! Yes!" And I said, "You know, dude, that's the sound of a guy getting the monkey off his back." He is finally letting loose with his own celebration.
And the old guy says, "Now, we ran out of hot water." He is taking an ice cold shower.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, a new episode of "Decades in Sports" airs tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:25:44 ]
WHITFIELD: All right, we are looking ahead to many key races in Florida, Wyoming, California and Alaska on Tuesday.
In Florida, redistricting has Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz facing criticism for running in a district long held by Black Democrats, and there is also a messy Republican primary in Florida to replace Governor Ron DeSantis, who is term limited; and then in California, two Democrats meet in a runoff to replace Congressman Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April after allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, which he has denied.
And then in Alaska, former Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola is facing two Dan Sullivan's in their open Senate primary. One of them, the Republican incumbent.
And you can watch CNN for results and analysis on all of the races. "Election Night in America," live coverage begins Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. Eastern on CNN and on the CNN app.
All right, in Iowa, President Trump won by more than 13 points, and the state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in 11 years. But that might change this November.
Here is CNN's chief national correspondent, John King, with the latest edition of "All Over the Map."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice over): The mighty Mississippi. Back to Iowa from the East. Davenport is Iowa's third-largest city. Scott County, a critical battleground within the battleground.
KING (on camera): Just that Iowa's in play as we enter the stretch is a big deal in and of itself. KING (voice over): Iowa Democrats are upbeat about Rob Sand's odds for governor. Josh Turek is competitive in a Senate race that would be a huge midterm upset if the Democrats can win. Christina Bohannan running for Congress again in the First Congressional District. She lost by just 800 votes last time.
The First District spans 20 counties, most of them rural. For the past decade, Trump country. He won 19 of the 20 in 2024.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you are. Hello there.
KING (voice over): Door-to-door in the sweltering summer heat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did we hit here?
KING (voice over): Grueling enough. Now add in this.
PEGG: My name is Michele. I'm actually the Louisa County Democrats chair. This is Diana.
KING (voice over): Seven in 10 Louisa County votes went to Trump last time.
PEGG: I think he's a Republican. Fine.
KING (voice over): But Michele Pegg keeps walking, keeps knocking.
KING (on camera): Do you think this is actually a Democratic year in Iowa?
PEGG: I feel like the opportunity is there. And I feel like people want change. I think that people want to feel heard. I do not feel like they are actually feeling like they're heard with either party. So if you want that, that opportunity is absolutely there, 100 percent, come on down.
Thank you, sir.
KING (voice over): So far, no takers beyond local candidates.
PEGG: We've been trying to get candidates to come walk with us, meet their constituents. That's been met with a little resistance.
KING: So why is that?
PEGG: You know, I think there's nervousness about coming out and knocking on doors and being met by people who don't necessarily agree with your views. And --
KING: So there's nervousness about democracy?
PEGG: You shut the front door.
KING: The Democrats see opportunities even here in Iowa, speaks volumes about the 2026 midterm year and about President Trump's political standing. Donald Trump carried Iowa all three times he's led the Republican ticket. 52 percent in 2016, 53 percent in 2020, and 56 percent, just two years ago, in 2024.
Plus, Republicans hold all four of Iowa's House seats. Republicans hold both of Iowa's Senate seats. And Republicans have controlled the governor's office here for 15 years.
KING (voice over): This is the Iowa Amateur Championship, Beaver Hills Country Club in Cedar Falls.
CHRIS MUDD, IOWA VOTER: I would probably just run a nine-iron up there.
KING (voice over): Chris Mudd plays as often as he can.
MUDD: He's going to play it back in a stance and hit it low, and I'll bet he's up pretty good. Beautiful.
KING (voice over): And he clearly knows this course.
MUDD: Everyone has their way. I'm not good enough to lead a way.
[15:30:05]
KING (voice over): Loyal Republican, three-time Trump voter. Yes, has a few friends upset with Trump. Others, though, like him, more frustrated with Republicans in Congress.
He hears the summer buzz about a big Democratic year. Mudd's belief, though, is that Republicans will get things straight by November.
MUDD: I do think that Republicans will come out. I think we have to -- he is -- Trump is on the ballot, whether anybody likes it or not. I mean, if we want any of Trump's policies to move forward, we're going to have to do well in November.
KING (voice over): Mudd's vote is not in question, but his take on the economy and the mood here helps you understand why Iowa is now in the middle of the midterm competition.
MUDD: Housing is expensive. The interest rates are expensive, and gas is expensive. People are upset. They're frustrated with the way things have gone on them. You know, I can't tell you that I'm a hundred percent excited about everything that's happened, but I believe that there's some pain that we have to go through to get this thing fixed.
KING (voice over): Ashley Hinson is the Republican congresswoman here. But she's running for Senate now, and the House seat is up for grabs. Iowa's 2nd congressional district leans Republican. Trump won 20 of its 22 counties just two years ago. But Republicans are suddenly a bit nervous, even here.
KING (on camera): The Democrats have a very simple message -- vote blue, hurt Trump. The Republicans are having a harder time motivating their base because a lot of their base is dealing with the cost of diesel, the cost of fertilizer, the cost of gas, and all that is from a war that they thought their President would not start. KING (voice over): These new homes are in West Des Moines, part of the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the Midwest. These changing suburbs a critical piece of Iowa's midterm math. The reading and public bookstore doesn't hide its politics.
LINZI MURRAY, IOWA VOTER: We're trying to say that, especially with literature, sharing your story is what cultivates more empathy in the world, and we are severely in a deficit of empathy in the world right now.
KING (voice over): Linzi Murray was born in China, adopted by a family in Kansas City, went to college in Iowa, and returned three years ago to open the bookstore and start a family. She sees the chance for a big blue year, organizes the shelves with a purpose.
KING (on camera): Are Democrats dreaming, I guess, is the question.
MURRAY: I would -- I mean, doesn't anything start with a dream to begin with?
KING (voice over): The bookstore is close to breaking even. Murray went to Washington to promote legislation to lower credit card fees, says Iowa's Republicans in Congress wouldn't help.
MURRAY: We're just going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing, and we just have no more -- I don't know, more diplomatic way to say we have no more effs to give.
KING (voice over): The third district includes Polk County, Des Moines, and its suburbs, but then a giant rural swath stretching to the Iowa-Missouri border. Trump won 20 of its 21 counties in 2024. Yet the third is a midterm toss-up, and another test of whether Democrats can manage at least a modest rural rebound.
More cows than people here.
SHANEN EBERSOLE, IOWA VOTER: She's going to snuggle you, because remember, Sarah's a --
KING: That's all right.
EBERSOLE: -- total pet.
KING: Just roll it right off?
KING (voice over): Molasses and minerals in these 200-pound tubs.
EBERSOLE: You got it?
KING (on camera): I got it. Sorry, I didn't realize you get a double.
KING (voice-over): Giant salt cubes on top. These cows will deliver calves just before Election Day.
EBERSOLE: Girls, be nice.
KING (voice over): Shanen Ebersole is a rancher, a Republican, a three-time Trump voter, and a midterm wild card.
EBERSOLE: Our governor's race is ridiculous.
KING (voice over): Not happy with the war.
EBERSOLE: First and foremost, we need to take care of our Americans. And that is one frustrating point of the Iran war, is because I voted to take care of us first.
KING (voice over): And not happy with a Republican congressman, she sees as too willing to put the party line ahead of rural Iowa.
KING: Do you take a chance on a new Democrat and say that would send a message, right?
EBERSOLE: I am really still leaning that way.
KING: Leaning for change?
EBERSOLE: Yes. I believe that change is always a good thing.
KING (voice over): Change would mean voting for Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott. And if Democrats win this seat, it's a safe bet they win the House majority. And that gives Ebersole pause, because she keeps hearing about the rise of Democratic socialists.
EBERSOLE: It's a really tricky time, because, in my opinion, we have to consider, like cows, the people that you hang out with, the friends that you have in life, are so important.
KING (on camera): So you want change, you're just kind of afraid of it?
EBERSOLE: I'm afraid of how the other people will change them.
KING: Right.
EBERSOLE: The friends that they hang around will change them. Because once they get together as a group, herd dynamics.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[15:39:29]
WHITFIELD: All right, tomorrow, jurors will hear the fourth week of testimony in the trial of the Massachusetts mother accused of murdering her children. Lindsay Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, admits to strangling five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan.
But her lawyers say that she was not criminally responsible because she was in the throes of postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors, however, say Clancy killed, "deliberately and meticulously."
On Thursday, jurors heard a state investigator read Clancy's notes found in her cell phone, describing her mental health struggles. [15:40:10]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHIAPPINI, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE: I am sad and depressed because I am not able to parent my third child like my first. I want to treat any one of my babies like my first, but I know that's a feasible possibility. I am sad that I stopped breastfeeding.
I feel not as connected with Callen now. I think I sort of resent my other children because they prevent me from treating Callen like my first baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Criminal defense attorney, Elyse Hershon is back with me. That was quick, wasn't it, Elyse? All right, so the state investigator was a prosecution witness. How does detailing Clancy's mental health struggles help the state prove that these were premeditated murders.
HERSHON: Great to see you again. It is a great question.
So the prosecution is presenting evidence, but this evidence can be explained or argued both ways. And the prosecution has the burden here. So they are essentially saying, look, she was fed up with her situation. She was overwhelmed.
But look how clearly she was expressing herself. She was lucid. That means she was able to form the intent to commit these premeditated murders. That's their argument.
WHITFIELD: What more can be expected this week from the prosecution standpoint?
HERSHON: I think the prosecution is very close to resting. And, you know, from what I've seen so far, it hasn't come close to that beyond a reasonable doubt. We are expecting the defense to really put on a case here. They have no burden to do that in Massachusetts. The prosecution has to prove all the elements of murder. Plus, essentially disproving criminal responsibility, but excited to see what the defense is going to do.
WHITFIELD: So the defense though, while the burden is on the prosecution, the defense would likely want to underscore the fragility, kind of a state that she was in for starters.
HERSHON: Yes. I think what they are anticipating that they do is they have a lot of medical experts that they are going to call. So from all the pretrial motions and the witness list, the defense has infanticide expert to explain how mothers become capable, so to speak, of killing their children. Obviously horrific, terrible situation, but it is an actual thing that happens. What is the mental capacity that is when that happens.
In terms of postpartum psychosis, we don't know exactly what that is yet. We've heard it thrown around, but I anticipate that the defense is going to call a witness to explain it and explain how his client could have appeared lucid, but also been in straight psychosis and is therefore not criminally responsible.
WHITFIELD: Okay. Elyse Hershon, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
HERSHON: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, extreme weather seen in all parts of our world. We will explain how an El Nino intensifying in the Pacific can impact storms on the other side of the globe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:46:49]
WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.
With a super El Nino intensifying in the Pacific, forecasters warn we could soon be in unchartered territory. There is now a nearly 70 percent chance this event becomes the strongest on record, surpassing the massive super El Nino of 1982 and 1983. That's according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Our CNN meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, is in the Extreme Weather Center. And Derek, this could have a major impact on weather across the board, but especially hurricane season.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Strong El Nino's like the one that's building right now, having outsized influence on the Atlantic hurricane season, reducing both the number and the strength of tropical systems.
Now, El Nino isn't just about the warmer waters here in the Pacific, it's also a change in global circulation patterns. These altered patterns shift sinking air across the tropical Atlantic, stabilizing the atmosphere, reducing thunderstorm development that's needed to create a hurricane.
Additionally, these circulation changes, they help displace the jet stream across the tropical Atlantic. These strong upper level winds create wind shear, which is a hostile environment for tropical development, and can deliver a death blow to an emerging hurricane.
In the early stages of a tropical storm's life, it needs a calm environment at all levels of the atmosphere to grow. When wind shear is introduced, it disrupts this vertical alignment, making it harder for thunderstorms to organize into a tropical system and get stronger.
Now think of a hurricane as a spinning top. Wind shear would be like pushing this top and altering its spin. This is particularly disruptive when the top is spinning slowly, just like the early formative stages of a tropical system.
With more wind shear around, it's harder for budding hurricanes to get over that hump. Now, while wind shear and sinking air can put a big dent in tropical activity throughout the Atlantic, it doesn't eliminate it altogether.
Previous El Nino seasons, like the destruction brought on by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, have proven that it only takes one landfall to make this a catastrophic season.
So, be hurricane ready this year by downloading the all new CNN Weather app.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, Derek Van Dam.
All right, this weekend alone, multiple massive wildfires are burning across Europe amid severe drought and extreme heatwaves. Catastrophic flooding is pummeling the Midwest for a solid week. And in Hawaii, it is still feeling the impacts of a brush with Hurricane Lala.
Joining me right now to discuss is Professor Kim Cobb, Director of the Institute at Brown University for Environment and Society.
Professor, great to see you. So I mean, it already feels, you know, like we are experiencing plenty of extreme weather. So what can we expect from a Super El Nino?
KIM COBB, DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE AT BROWN UNIVERSITY FOR ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY: Well, you just said it. This is nothing new at this point in many ways. Every summer brings just an incredible pattern of headlines to us about record breaking temperatures in different regions of the world crushing drought, wildfires, of course, as well. So some of this is a bit same old, same old, sadly.
But we do have a record breaking El Nino brewing in the tropical Pacific and that is reaching levels which we know have impacted weather patterns globally every time one such event occurs.
[15:50:17]
And so as much as this is a wild ride linked to fossil fuel burning, it is going to get a lot more wild later on this year. Thankfully, we do understand a lot about what is to come, both with continued warming as well as El Nino impacts.
WHITFIELD: So I also want to ask you how this might be affecting wildlife patterns or marine life patterns, because a nuclear power plant in France was partially shut down after a huge swarm of jellyfish blocked the plant's pumping systems and this is actually the second time, you know, that that has happened to that plant, which uses sea water to cool its reactor.
So what do you think this means? Is there a correlation?
COBB: Well, certainly there are any number of differences in the ecosystem functions and structures as warming progresses. So when we think about El Nino's, we think about coral bleaching as a first line of damages, but of course warming levels are bringing changes to marine ecosystems all around the world, just talk to fishermen and shellfish industries here in the United States, which have been dramatically impacted.
So these jellyfish are associated with warmer waters and this is something that, you know, is I would put it in the column of perhaps expected surprises, if you will, in terms of the disruption to nuclear plants in Europe.
But please note that, of course, in Romania and Hungary, we are seeing plants shut down from record drought as well that has nothing to do with jellyfish. And so this really points to the need to lean into the science of how climate change is impacting energy infrastructure, because of course, we are not prepared for climate of now, let alone continued warming over the next decade or two.
WHITFIELD: Wow! So as it pertains to that power plant in France, I mean, what might be learned about the behavior, you know, or the movement of the jellyfish and, you know, having to do this temporary shutdowns of the plant? What is being learned now that might help them better plan for a possible repeat occurrence next year?
COBB: Well, obviously, I am no marine scientist in terms of biology, if you will, but I can speak to what we know about the impacts of climate change. And that is its going to get a lot hotter. And that means it is going to get a lot drier.
And so one thing that we can do is help prepare ourselves from that long list of impacts that we know are related to climate change, and I think the public needs to understand that even for a modest increase in global warming levels, for example, up to 1.5 degree Celsius where we are knocking on that door right now, we should expect a very large change in the frequency and magnitude of heat waves up to nine times more likely at 1.5 degree Celsius than in a cooler climate.
And so preparing for this list of known impacts will help us prepare for some of these surprises, like the jellyfish.
WHITFIELD: Wow! And it has been sweltering in so many parts of the world this year, just to anticipate it being hotter, that's a lot to bear.
All right, Professor Kim Cobb, thank you so much.
COBB: Thanks for having me.
WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, severe storms are pounding parts of the Midwest, bringing dangerous flooding and leaving communities under water. We will show you the devastation left behind.
Plus, Ukraine unleashing hundreds of drones on Russia in one of its biggest aerial assaults of the war. Moscow is responding with its own strikes as the fighting gets even worse.
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WHITFIELD: In Mongolia, some of the world's oldest traditions are still part of everyday life. Nomads live off the land, eagle hunters roam the mountains, and a centuries old musical tradition known as throat singing still echoes across villages.
CNN's Will Ripley takes us to one of the most remote corners of the world, where a song can carry the history of an entire people.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Western Mongolia, home to one of the world's oldest musical traditions, throat singing.
RIPLEY (on camera): I got goosebumps.
RIPLEY (voice over): Mongolia's Wild West is one of the most remote places on Earth where eagle hunters roam, and China and Russia meet. People here are still living as nomads, just like their ancestors.
RIPLEY (on camera): Even in this day and age of A.I. and the internet, and social media, you have so many people here in Mongolia that are choosing to continue to live off the land and live in a simple way. It's really beautiful and incredible, but this is something I've never heard before.
The last song you sang was about this, this river behind us. Can you tell us the meaning behind that song?
GANZORIG, MONGOLIAN THROAT SINGER (through translation): The meaning of this song is about our Altai heritage. It's our hymn.
This beautiful famous song is praising this river, and it has been sung for 75 or 80 years now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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