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IndyCars Speeding Through D.C. For Trump-Backed Freedom 250 Race; Trump Fires Back At Canada As Trade War Escalates; Iran Threatens Seismic Retaliation If U.S. Imposes New Sanctions; Source: Top House Dem Jeffries And Kushner Met Privately In Recent Weeks; Georgia Town Rallies Against Proposed A.I. Data Center; Prince Harry & Meghan Are Moving Back To Britain. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired August 23, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:02:10]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right. Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. Right now, 25 IndyCars are zipping through the heart of the nation's capital, racing past some of DC's most historic landmarks at speeds of up to 180 miles an hour. Thousands are gathering along the National Mall and other parts of the race course for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, the first of its kind, car road race in Washington.

The event caps off a series of America 250 celebrations that President Trump has been heavily involved in this summer.

President Trump kicked the day off, taking a ceremonial lap around the mile and a half track in his limo before dropping the green flag, signaling the official start of the 250-mile race.

CNN's Brian Todd joins us now from along the route. Brian, what more are you experiencing out there, along with thousands of spectators?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're all just enjoying the moment here, Fredricka, because really now kind of at the heart of the race. The race has been going on now for about 45 minutes. It's going to be going on for probably another hour and 15, maybe an hour and a half, unless there are crashes. At that point, they may have a little bit of a delay. But we're right in the heat of it.

Come on, let's go over here and take a look. These gentlemen here at various times have been standing on their chairs to get a better vantage point.

But our photojournalist, Manny Climaco, has what we call a monopod, and Manny can extend up and show you these cars as they're coming around.

Well, we just actually saw a bunch of them. They do tend to come around in tight bunches. And they take -- this is Turn 4 -- they take this very tightly, and then they take it wide as they swing around and head down Seventh Street. Then they turn left on Independence Avenue down there, a total of seven very tight turns in this race. We've talked about how many laps. It's 147 laps to get to 250 miles.

Now we do have a separate camera that shows you the Third Street straightaway, which is the starting and finish line. That's where President Trump and some of the dignitaries are watching from suites.

But here, you can kind of get a sense. You know, you have different layers of fans, but pretty much even if you're in the third or fourth row of fans here, you can get a pretty good view of this thing as they can also, across Seventh Street, I hear some of the cars getting closer.

So when they do, we'll be able to show you that in just a second.

I did talk to one of the racers yesterday, Pato Oward, a young gentleman from Mexico, 27 years old. He's been -- he's raced in several of these open wheel street car races.

[14:04:44]

TODD: Here they come. Let's show you that. Manny, let's show how they're taking this turn here. This is Turn 4. Just how tightly they're taking the turn. And then you can see them swinging wide.

And again, they do tend to come in in kind of tight bunches. You don't see any stragglers way behind. These guys are really close to each other. And then when you see the last one, then you won't see him for a little while after that. So there you go. That was one tight --

(CROSSTALKING)

TODD: I'm going to talk to two people who were at their first-ever IndyCar race here, Fredricka. Hold on.

Janese Nichols and Erik Jones. You're here together. Janese is from Maryland. Eric is a D.C. resident.

Ok, Janese, what are your impressions? First time ever, what do you think?

JANESE NICHOLS, MARYLAND RESIDENT: It's amazing. I love fast cars. And I'm very, very excited to be here. The sound, the energy of the crowd, it's amazing.

TODD: Eric, what strikes out to you? The speed, the noise. What is it?

ERIC JONES, D.C. RESIDENT: Definitely the noise and the crowd. Everybody's happy. We've been meeting a couple people from other states we talked to -- just around -- a lot of people came in town just for F-1. So it's a cool experience.

TODD: That's right. You know, as someone, what would you say to someone who's never been to one of these races? This is your first time. Maybe they're on the fence about going to a race. It's a hassle. I don't want to deal with the crowds. What would you say to them? I've talked to people here who've been coming in through the

checkpoints and it's been pretty smooth, but what's your experience been?

NICHOLS: I agree, it's been very smooth. It hasn't -- we didn't have a long line. It wasn't a long wait. But I think the excitement of the cars and the noise and the energy is worth it.

So I would definitely encourage them to come on down and give it a shot.

TODD: You live in Maryland, you live in D.C. What about the road closures? Has it been a hassle, Eric?

JONES: I've been hearing that it's been a hassle. Me, myself, I haven't been (AUDIO GAP) Downtown, D.C., but I've been hearing a lot of guys and people that work in D.C. complain about the road closures and the traffic building up to the event.

TODD: Thank you guys very much for talking to us. Enjoy the races.

Thank you.

Fredricka, I was saying before I went over to Eric and Janese about one of the drivers. I spoke to Pato Oward, because one of the issues that Bud Denker, he's the organizer of this race, he runs Penske Racing.

Isabelle Khurshudyan, our colleague, interviewed him and asked him about, is this a bumpier track than normal? Is it -- is it -- is it smoother than normal? And according to one of the racers, Pato Oward, he said it's got its share of bumps, but it's not really any bumpier than some of the other tracks he's been on.

Now that can be an issue for the drivers because they're only about two inches off the ground. And what Bud Denker, the organizer said is, hey, we don't mind bumps. It's a test of the drivers. The better they are, the better they can handle those bumps.

But what I can also tell you is one of the modifications that they did have to make for this course, Fredricka, about 50 manholes on the streets had to be fastened, put level with the street and covered with silicone.

If they didn't do that, then these cars, because of the speed and the heat, would suck the manhole covers right off as they went by. So that's one of the modifications they had to do here to stage this spectacular race.

WHITFIELD: Yes, modifications that make a whole lot of sense except for, you know, on that course. They did happen to pick some of the D.C. roads that are not known to have a whole lot of potholes. So that's partly why it's so smooth too. So I guess that was pretty, pretty wise.

All right. Brian Todd, we'll check back with you. Thank you so much. All right. Now to the expanding trade war between the U.S. and Canada.

Today, President Trump lashing out after efforts to reach a deal between the two countries collapsed. Overnight he posted on social media, I'm quoting now, "Canada wants the benefits of being a state without being one. They have also charged our great farmers for many years massive amounts of tariffs. No more," end quote.

The dispute reignited after tense trade talks fell apart Friday night. That's when President Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods. Canada responded by imposing retaliatory dollar- for-dollar tariffs on hundreds of items, ranging from steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment and paper.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is joining us right now from the White House. Julia, bring us up to speed, so to speak, on where things stand.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this all injects more uncertainty when it comes to the relationship between the United States and Canada. And as of right now, there is no sense of when these two sides might come back to the table.

We do know that over this past week, President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, as well as top trade officials from both countries, had been in direct contact. That was after Trump put a three-day pause on the tariffs.

Both sides had expressed optimism that they would be able to come to an agreement before that deadline. In fact, just hours before everything fell through, Trump said that things were moving along with Canada and that they should be able to come to a deal.

There is now, though, that 50 percent tariff on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. And Canada has vowed to match that tariff dollar-for-dollar starting September 8th.

[14:09:46]

BENBROOK: Earlier today, during an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, former vice president, Mike Pence said that he hopes both sides will soon come back to the negotiating table. He added this, quote, "The last thing we need right now is a trade war with Canada."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've taken a firm position since Liberation Day tariffs that fortunately, the Supreme Court turned over, that American businesses and American consumers pay American tariffs.

And I think the last thing we need right now as our economy is getting back on its feet, is a trade war with Canada. My hope is for the sake of American families and for the sake of the American economy, that that what we're looking at here is negotiation and not confrontation in a trade war.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BENBROOK: And some important background there that during Trump's first term when Pence was his vice president, Trump touted the U.S.- Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement as a fair and balanced deal.

In recent months, though, he has decided not to renew it. That does not mean that it entirely goes away, but that the status quo is maintained and that bilateral talks take place on some specific issues.

The latest, though, is that this recent round of talks have failed. Both sides have said that some last-minute changes unraveled a delicate balance that was struck in recent days. We have reached out to the White House to see if there are any plans for more conversations.

WHITFIELD: Ok. Julia Benbrook at the White House, thank you so much.

All right. Tomorrow, the Trump administration says it will impose tough new sanctions, economic sanctions, on Iran as the war reaches the six-month mark this week with no end in sight. And Iran is threatening to retaliate.

CNN's Jerusalem bureau chief Oren Liebermann has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: After months of military conflict have failed to militarily defeat Iran or to secure a nuclear deal, President Donald Trump is shifting to a new strategy, which may well be an old strategy. Economic warfare, with a new set of sanctions set to be unveiled on Monday by the U.S. Treasury secretary in an effort to put pressure on Iran's economy and either force the Iranian regime into a nuclear deal, or perhaps defeat the regime or topple the regime in some other fashion.

This is less a brand-new strategy and more what appears to be a return of the maximum pressure campaign we saw in the Trump administration's first term, an effort to weaken Iran economically here.

Trump is trying to bring in other countries to help put pressure on Iran. This isn't an immediate solution to the conflict. Economic sanctions and economic pressure take time to work, and this seems to be an acknowledgment that the military conflict, the strikes on Iran over the course of the last few months have failed to bring about what Trump was looking for. That is, a nuclear deal that he would consider acceptable.

So now that that has failed, it's back to economic pressure. And we have seen this in an acknowledgment from Iran's president, who described this now as a full-scale conflict.

He said, according to Iranian state media, this is Masoud Pezeshkian. "We are apologetic that these problems exist as we find ourselves in a full scale economic, military and security war."

So you see him acknowledging there the pressure on Iran's economy, the inflation, the other issues facing the Iranian public, but trying to rally around the idea and this continued economic conflict now with the United States.

Here is an Iranian national security official as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHSEN REZAEL, SECRETARY OF IRAN'S SUPREME NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL (through translator): If President Trump decides to take further action, our response, our retaliation, will be seismic.

First, we will tell all neighboring countries and countries around the world not to join the United States in its economic war. Any country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy.

Of course, we will first negotiate with them. We will hold talks and tell them to step aside and distance themselves from the United States.

But if they do not act, we will strike. We will target that country's interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: Now the question becomes, who can hold out longer if this is economic warfare? The Trump administration is betting that the pressure on Iran's economy will pressure the regime into either a nuclear deal, or perhaps some of the wide scale protests around economic issues that we saw earlier this year.

The difference, of course, now is that there is a conflict. There is an enemy at which the Iranian regime can point and say, this is their fault and see if they can rally the people around Iran and around Tehran. And the Supreme Leader there.

Iran, meanwhile, is betting that trying to limit the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will put pressure on Trump through gas prices and the effect the general prices of everything are having across the United States ahead of the midterms, which is what Iran is looking at in terms of the economic warfare from their perspective.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Oren.

[14:14:47]

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, Republicans are pushing back on data centers from Georgia to South Carolina and Texas, but not President Trump. The president says, bring it on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I was a mayor or if I was a governor in a state, I would want to have the data centers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Plus, new CNN reporting on the private meeting between House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Jared Kushner, Trumps son in law. What they discussed behind closed doors.

[14:15:16]

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WHITFIELD: All right. New today, a source is telling CNN that Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and close advisor, has met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in recent weeks.

The two met in New York to discuss how they might collaborate on a range of issues, from immigration to the cost of living.

Jeffries could become House Speaker if the Democrats win back the House in November. Current House Speaker Mike Johnson downplayed the idea that the meeting was an acknowledgment by President Trump that Democrats could potentially control the House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I love our candidates. I love our message. I love our fundraising advantage. I'm telling you, we're going to defy history and hold this majority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: With me now is Sophia Cai. She's White House reporter for Politico. Great to see you, Sophia. So we just heard Mike Johnson say, you know, he's pretty confident. Republicans can keep the House. If that's the case, then why would Jeffries and Kushner be talking?

SOPHIA CAI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: That's what Speaker Johnson has to say, right. But Jeffries and Kushner, look, I have to give them both credit.

If you're Jeffries, you want some credibility when you go into the Oval Office If Dems win and negotiate the budget, among other items.

And if you're Kushner, you want to have face time with the person who's leading the party that's going to be investigating you.

So, you know, either side, you cannot lose by having this meeting. It is sort of low stakes right now.

WHITFIELD: So is this typical of a White House to kind of preemptively do something like this?

CAI: It's pretty rare, right? You did not see Hunter Biden meeting with the Republicans ahead of the midterms last cycle. This was not something they did. But the Kushner brothers, both Jared and Josh, they have a lot on the

line. They have two firms. Josh has his Thrive and Jared has Affinity Partners. And both of these will be under immense scrutiny.

You could argue that they are the number one target for Democrats. Jamie Raskin has already sent letters to Jared Kushner about Affinity Partners. You know, they know that they have a target on their back.

WHITFIELD: Republicans and Democrats, and they're pretty far apart, you know, on several topics, including immigration, which apparently was discussed. Is there potential you see here on these sides finding middle ground?

CAI: Not on immigration, right. I mean, Trump keeps saying that he's open to a compromise on immigration, but he keeps saying the same thing. And every time at the last minute, he sort of blows it up.

So, you know, I think what this meeting between Jeffries and Kushner, it's not what they talked about. It's the fact that that happened, that the meeting happened that's important for us.

WHITFIELD: Right now, as Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, I mean, he's having to navigate, you know, sort of these fissures within the Democratic Party with Democratic Socialists, you know, moderates, and with these DSAs winning primaries. Do we have a sense of how much more complicated his job or life has become as a result of this?

CAI: It's going to be really complicated. What he really wants to do if he becomes speaker is gain credibility with each faction of his party. So with the moderates, with the progressives on everything, right?

Because there's a lot of people, you ask them, are you supportive of the DSA? And they say, yes, we're supportive, but they're not sure if they want the endorsement. And that tells you everything you need to know about how the party feels about DSA.

You know, there are these divides and that something as speaker, it's going to be really tricky for a potential Speaker Jeffries to thread that needle.

WHITFIELD: You touched on this with you know, potential investigations involving the Kushner's depending on, you know, where, which direction the House goes.

But can we elaborate a little further on that? I mean, potentially, what kind of investigations could be launched if Democrats win the majority in the House?

CAI: So the thrust of the investigation into Jared Kushner would really look like this. It would look like asking Jared Kushner, who do you work for? Do you work for the American people? Because he does not currently have a formal role with the White House.

But he's taking this big role in negotiating the end of the Iran war, Ukraine, other deals on behalf of the president. [14:24:49]

CAI: And on the other side, his firm, Affinity Partners, is taking Saudi money, for instance. It's taking Emirati money. And so that is the thrust of the question that Jamie Raskin will be asking Jared Kushner.

Now, for Josh Kushner, the question will be, what was your involvement with FIFA? Who prompted you to get into this deal with FIFA about selling stakes in the World Cup? It was wildly unpopular.

And it's not just about Josh. It's really also about how closely FIFA was operating with Trump. That's another investigation that Jamie Raskin has said that he wants to undertake.

So both brothers, and we know that both brothers are also very close to each other, they will have to answer for those questions.

WHITFIELD: Oh, there is a lot there, potentially.

Sophia Cai, thank you so much. Great to see you.

CAI: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, the Trump-backed IndyCar race is underway right now on the streets of Washington, D.C. We're back out at the race track with the buzz around the race running right by and around the National Mall.

[14:25:55]

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[14:30:14]

WHITFIELD: Live pictures right now. It's been musical chairs. Who's sitting next to the president now as he is in the stands watching this Indy race?

Well, right now, it's Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. That's the action going on while on the course. It's lap 61 with 86 more to go to complete the Freedom 250 Grand Prix currently underway in the nation's capital. 25 Indy Cars racing past some of the city's most historic landmarks at speeds of up to 180 miles an hour.

President Trump kicking off the day by greeting the drivers along with the first lady there and then dropping the green flag, signaling the official start of the 250-mile race. The event caps off a series of America 250 celebrations that Trump has been heavily involved in all summer long.

CNN's Brian Todd joins us now from along the race route.

You've got your headphones because it is loud as they buzz by. But that's part of the fun, isn't it? BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is fun, Fredricka. It's fun

even having the headphones on, even with the noise here, the noise. Pardon me, I have to tell you that the noise is actually part of the fun.

It's part of the challenge of covering this race, but it also kind of lends to the energy and the excitement for this, I'm going to give you a little bit more of the fan perspective here. Manny and I are going to walk over here, and this is where you can kind of take a break from the -- from the sun and the heat and take some shelter. So, some people are feeding back here just to kind of take a break from it.

But you don't have to go far. Look, you can still press up against the fence here. And it's not so crowded that it's impossible to get near the fence and get a good view.

Also, we're up on -- about a foot of elevation here, above where those people are on the sidewalk. So, if you want to get a little bit higher up, you can stand up here and get a view here. They come around turn four, there's one of them and a bunch of them will be coming back. Here they come.

And, Fredricka, just gave us an update. So, when she was showing me, they were on lap 61, this has to be at least lap 62 by now. So we're getting to the halfway point of this race. And you can see how tightly they're taking these turns and you can see just kind of the depth of the layering of the fans.

Now, Manny and I are going to step back here a little bit and some of the children sitting here, over here, this is what we also want to show you. This is the National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery of Art has it's normal operating hours today. I believe it's 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and you can come in and out any time.

I remember in the Fourth of July, officials were actually encouraging people to go into the museums to get a break from the heat. So, people have been kind of going in and out of the national gallery of art all day. It'll be closing at 5 p.m., but in order to get into the national gallery, you actually have to have tickets for this race.

And right here, Fredricka, this is what they've had to do to kind of secure some of the collections from damage from vibrations. They've had to do that inside and they've cordoned off this sculpture on the outside. Part of it is to kind of protect the sculpture from the effect of the vibrations of the racers.

Just kind of a perspective here of what the museums and the fans have had to do and how they've had to adjust to be able to handle this race.

WHITFIELD: Right. Lots of precautions, lots of measures. All right. Brian Todd, thank you so much.

All right. Coming up, communities across the country are debating whether to give A.I. data centers the green light. They can bring much needed tax revenue and jobs. But then sometimes at a very significant cost.

We'll break it all down.

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[14:38:33]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

More governors are shifting their stance on data centers as public opinion soars in midterm elections near. But despite concern even from his own party, President Trump says he is fully supporting their construction.

Listen to what he told reporters on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I were a community, I would want the data center. It means jobs. It means income, and it means lower taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But for whom?

For a closer look at how cities are responding, CNN national correspondent Rafael Romo is joining me now.

You have heard from some of these communities and why they are pushing back.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's the old debate whether people want milk. Everybody likes milk, but nobody wants a milk farm in their backyard. It's something similar. I don't want to make it trivial, but it's kind of similar.

And data centers have prompted a national debate that has been raging for a while, a debate that is heating up as we approach the midterm elections here in Georgia. The city of Lovejoy, population 13,000, considered a proposal that would have included a 15-building, 403-acre data center campus that would have been located between two schools and several residential neighborhoods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the type of contamination that comes from a data center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: The proposal generated such a public outcry that city officials and the developer canceled the data center plan.

[14:40:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN WORRELL, LIVES NEAR PROPOSED DATA CENTER: We don't need something like that within our community right here. Yeah, it's come across as a very negative thing. I think many people are against it, and I'm one of those people as well.

KENISHA CLEMONS, LOVEJOY, GEORGIA RESIDENT: This is a place to have families grow, not data centers.

TINA CORIA, FOUNDER, CONSERVE HENRY: We're not against data centers. We're against data centers in our communities. That's not what we came here for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Lovejoy -- Lovejoy Mayor Marci Fluellyn told me she is happy that consensus was reached on what's best for her residents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MARCI FLUELLYN, CITY OF LOVEJOY, GEORGIA: Accomplished. That's the way I feel. For the residents, they had a chance to have their voices heard, which is very important for such a subject as large as and an important as data centers.

ROMO: When you heard from your residents what were some of the concerns that they had?

FLUELLYN: The most common concerns that the residents had were the environmental impacts, water consumption, power consumption, air and noise pollution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And, Fred, a recent Gallup poll showed 71 percent of Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their communities. About a dozen states have proposed data center building moratoriums and New York has recently enacted one. Four other states have taken up similar bills, but they failed to get enacted.

In spite of all this opposition, Shelly Palmer, a professor of advanced media at Syracuse University, says data centers are here to stay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHELLY PALMER, CEO, PALMER GROUP: The velocity of data is increasing and will always increase. There's no version of the world where there's less data tomorrow than there is today. Every time you pick up your smartphone, every time you sit down at a computer, every time you do practically anything, you swipe a credit card, data centers are involved. In order to make data actionable, to turn it into something tangible and valuable, you must process it, and that happens in a data center.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMO: The United States had -- listen to this -- more than 5,400 data centers at the end of last year, according to Stanford University's A.I. index report. That number is set to nearly double. Data research center Aterio found A.I. companies have announced plans for nearly 4,000 additional data centers. And again, every time you use your cell phone, every time you use your computer, you send a message.

WHITFIELD; People are much more reliant on.

ROMO: You're using a data center.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

ROMO: So what do we do with that? It's just a very tough question.

WHITFIELD: You know, and the issue of jobs -- I mean, the president is saying, hey, it means jobs. And a lot of communities like the idea of jobs too, but they don't necessarily feel like these data centers are bringing the people who live in the community, the jobs?

ROMO: That's a very good point, because those jobs are probably not going to go to the local communities. It's probably going to be people coming from outside. And so there's another issue that these communities are not very particularly happy about.

WHITFIELD: Fascinating.

All right. Rafael Romo, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Straight ahead, a sure sign that Prince Harry and Meghan are moving back to the U.K. Madame Tussaud is temporarily moving their wax figures to the British culture section of it's museum. We've got full coverage of the stunning news of their return straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:53]

WHITFIELD: All right. Last week's stunning news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are moving back to the U.K. has left many unanswered questions.

CNN's Max Foster takes us through what we know about the decision and the reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a move nobody saw coming; Prince Harry and Meghan returning to the U.K., six years after they stepped back from official royal duties and fell out with other members of the royal family.

Both the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex have spoken out repeatedly about the unfair treatment they believe they received in the U.K., including tabloid intrusion and racism in the British establishment.

In April, Meghan told young people during a visit to Australia --

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: For now, 10 years, every day for 10 years, I've been bullied and attacked. And I was the most trolled person in the entire world. Man, hold on. I'm still here.

FOSTER (voice-over): Why the couple have decided to return now is unclear. A source close to the couple only remarked how much they enjoyed their visit to the U.K. last month.

In July, King Charles hosted Harry, Meghan and their children at his private country residence in Gloucestershire. It was the first time in four years that the King had seen the whole family.

However, Harry has made several solo trips back to the U.K. since moving to California, including after King Charles' cancer diagnosis.

FOSTER: CNN understands that when the family moves over to the United Kingdom, they'll be staying in a private residence, not a royal residence. And they won't be returning to their full-time royal roles.

Where that residence will be is a mystery at this point, but the British media speculating it could be in the affluent Cotswolds in the countryside and Oxfordshire. It could be near Althorp House, which is the Spencer family ancestral home where Princess Diana, Harry's mother, is buried. Or it could possibly be near friends that they've retained here in the United Kingdom.

The other big question is about security, how that will be afforded.

[14:50:02]

Prince Harry recently lost the case against the government's decision to downgrade their taxpayer-funded security.

FOSTER (voice-over): In the BBC interview last year, he said the decision made it impossible for him to return to the U.K. with his family explaining --

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: I can't see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point, no matter how much private security I have around me. There's only so much that I can do and -- and operate and function within the U.K. when it comes to supporting my charities, visiting my friends, all of these things.

FOSTER (voice-over): However, the couple's children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, have now been enrolled at British schools. The new school year begins in September, meaning, their move is likely to take place soon, possibly within a matter of days.

MEGHAN MARKLE: Are you feeling excited for your parents?

FOSTER (voice-over): Once back, the couple are expected to carry on the kind of charity work they've been doing in California and outside the U.K.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Australia.

FOSTER (voice-over): It's not yet clear how long they'll stay, or how closely they'll coordinate with the Royal household to avoid clashes in public engagements and how they'll be folded into private royal family events.

CNN understands the king was only told on Sunday about their decision to move back.

The Sussexes may have kept their secret until now, but how much privacy they can hold once they're back in the U.K. remains to be seen.

Max Foster, CNN, Buckingham Palace, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh man, so many questions. That's why we decided to bring in Trisha Goddard. She knows everything. She's the host of "The Trisha Goddard Show".

Trisha, great to see you.

Okay. So why do you believe, you know they are coming back even after hearing Harry kind of reiterate, he was like, I don't see a world in which id be able to return. And now here we are. They're returning.

TRISHA GODDARD, HOST, "THE TRISHA GODDARD SHOW": Well, remember, Fredricka, much later they talked to he talked to Anderson Cooper, and he kind of softened his tone already. And the, you know, now that he's talking about bringing his, you know, whole family, including the children back, they will be -- they think there is going to be a scramble to review their security arrangements by the British government.

Now, one of the things being that recently we had the profile, a high- profile politician, Ann Widdecombe, who was murdered. And so that has made people far more aware of the issues.

And remember, Harry does have credible security issues. Remember, in spare, in spare, you know, he wrote about having killed 25 members of the Taliban, which immediately, got a response from al Qaeda saying he was on the hit list. Harry says he's been approached, you know, targeted by far-right groups. So that was extensive review anyway.

WHITFIELD: Right, expensive for his own to handle his own security there in California and beyond. So then moving back means, you know, granted, as we learn from Max, the king found out about it last weekend, almost like everybody else did. But with the British family in some way pay for his security, even though he is separated from, you know, royal duties and all that. He is blood, right? So, I mean, would they pay for some of his security?

GODDARD: That remains to be seen because Charles is, you know, always wanted that rapprochement. And as you said you know, they only told the king last weekend. They've been trying to keep this very, very quiet. I don't think it's out of the blue, though, because. Yeah, yeah, Harry's been dropping sort of hints all along the way about wanting to come back. And he talked to Joss Stone at the WellChild Awards only last year saying about, you know, he's in praise of British schools and wanting his children to learn rugby and things like that.

So, it's kind of a shock, but not a surprise. And you know what, Fredricka, what's different about this? When he went to see the king with, you know, his wife and the children, nobody knew. There was no publicity about it, was there? We didn't even know until it was all over. That is a very different Harry to the one that we've kind of seen before.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So -- and so do you think it's something about? Yeah. Sorry about that stepping on you, but do you think it was something about seeing dad? I mean, he was battling cancer. You know, you start to look at things differently when you, you know, see the seasons changing in people.

GODDARD: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: Might that have been the catalyst or a significant catalyst?

GODDARD: I think it would have been a significant catalyst. You know, as you know, I'm living with cancer and, you know, there have been reports of the king wearing makeup as indeed we all do. But to cover the effects of the treatment.

When you see somebody, you're so right, Fredricka.

[14:55:00]

When you see somebody up close and you haven't seen them for a while in anything other than maybe, you know, Facetime or WhatsApp or whatever. Yeah, it brings things home.

Fredricka, you know what, people, you and I will probably click into this, but a lot of, let me put it, male commentators haven't thought about this. What about the cousins? You know, William and Harry might have their differences. And it sounds like William really wants to build bridges. But -- and Harry, you know, wants to do that. How much does William want to do that?

Everybody's talking about, oh, we don't think that's actually that's going to happen. How do you keep cousins away from each other?

WHITFIELD: Cousins want to know each other.

GODDARD: Because George is old enough to know -- George is old enough to know that his cousins are kind of up the road.

WHITFIELD: Right. I want to know them. Okay. And then so with that dynamic, that means, okay, bringing those

adults together. I mean, Kate is very popular. So is William. And they're going to be public events. Organizations are going to say, Harry and Meghan are back.

We want them, too. How are they -- how are they going to all kind of coexist?

GODDARD: That's going to be interesting because, you know, one of the few criticisms against you know, William and Catherine is how few appearances they make in comparison to other members of the royal family. They do have young children. And William has been very vocal about this is kind of going to be a different monarchy when he steps into the role of king, that he put his puts his family first.

So, remember, Catherine had her cancer diagnosis not so long ago. And you don't just bounce back from that. So, this is going to be putting pressure on them to make more appearances. But you know, in private, in private, when you have remember everybody, all of the kids start school in September -- in private, you know, you can't keep the news from Prince George, for instance, or Charlotte. They're of older age. Mum, dad, our cousins are in the country. Can we get together?

So privately --

WHITFIELD: Of course.

GODDARD: -- there's going to have to be -- even if the parents kind of sit there and bite their tongues, those kids are going to want to get together.

WHITFIELD: Kids are going to bring everyone together.

All right, Trisha, that's why we love you. Thank you so much. And I did not know about your own personal battle with cancer. So all the best on that. Thank you for making the time with us.

GODDARD: Yes. So welcome.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll be right back.

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