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Dolly Parton, Queen Of Country Music, Dies At 80; Canada Details Upcoming Retaliatory Tariffs On Us Goods; Iran, Oman Agree On Temporary Hormuz Route; CIA Chief Used Moscow Visit To Warn Russia Against Attacks On NATO Allies, Helping Iran; At Least 14 Newborns Killed In Islamabad Hospital Fire; U.S. To Revoke Visas Of Up To 200,000 Asylum Seekers. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 26, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:32]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. And here's what's ahead on CNN Newsroom.

The world mourning the loss of country music singer and cultural icon Dolly Parton. Look back at her legacy spanning music, film and philanthropy.

Plus, Canada strikes back, slapping billions of dollars in tariffs on U.S. goods and escalating the Trump trade war.

And tragedy in Pakistan after a fire kills newborn babies in a hospital maternity ward. A live report on the way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from New York, this is CNN Newsroom with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: All right, let's begin this hour with the many tributes that are pouring in for the legendary country music star and humanitarian Dolly Parton. She died on Tuesday at 80 years old at her home in Nashville. Parton's publicist says that the trailblazing singer, songwriter died after a brief battle with cancer. She rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most beloved, unifying and philanthropic stars in the country.

She was a fixture in pop culture and a career that spanned more than half a century across music, TV and movies.

Later in life, Parton funneled her success into philanthropy, funding the Imagination Library. The organization has gifted more than 300 million books to children around the world. She also funded research for life saving vaccines and disaster relief efforts.

Parton had been open about various health issues in recent years, especially after the death of her husband of 59 years, Carl Dean. He died in March of 2025. Here's part of the statement that Parton's nephew released announcing her death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN SEAVER, DOLLY PARTON'S NEPHEW: I've imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven't truly felt it until now. It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Dolly Parton's funeral will be private, an official statement said at Dolly's request, a small service will be held for immediate family of fans and friends. They are, however, encouraged to pay tribute on social media by tagging at Dolly Parton or leaving a message on her website, dollypardon.com and in lieu of flowers, her family is requesting that donations be made to Parton's Imagination Library fans, meanwhile, they are remembering what they loved most about her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dolly, she's a legend and an icon. She's who, you know, us girls, we looked up to growing up. You know, we love everything about Dolly, everything she stands for.

CAROLINE PAGANO, NEW YORK RESIDENT: She's the American dream. I mean, look where she started. And she worked hard and believed in herself and what America could do. And she was amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Officials in the Tennessee County where Dolly Parton was born have declared today a day of mourning. The county flag will also be flown at half-staff until pardon is buried. A statement released on Tuesday said that the county has lost a beloved friend, an extraordinary neighbor and an icon whose legacy will forever be part of the story of their community.

"Jolene," "9 to 5" a personal favorite, "Coat Of Many Colors." These are all global hits that not only cemented Dolly Parton's status as an iconic singer songwriter, but they also spoke to her power as a captivating storyteller through music. But where did that inspiration come from? Well, Tom Foreman has more on the meaning behind all of Dolly's legendary lyrics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before the fame, the philanthropy, the dazzling Dolliness of it all, Dolly's songs of working people were everything.

FOREMAN: Her lyrics told the tales of their struggles on the job, in the home. [04:05:04]

FOREMAN: And of course, in the heart, many of her most memorable tunes, including her greatest commercial hit, were about failed relationships.

But there was so much more. Songs about jealousy and longing. Songs about poverty and pride.

Her message could be tough too. When white supremacists rose in the news, she took the name Dixie off an attraction at her amusement park. She supported LGBTQ rights and the Black Lives Matter movement.

DOLLY PARTON, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter?

FOREMAN (voice-over): She promoted reading, access to medical care, education. Her career, life, and lyrics were a constant campaign for women's rights.

FOREMAN: She met Richard Nixon, performed for Jimmy Carter, was honored at the Kennedy Center by George W. Bush, and turned down the Medal of Freedom from both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Through it all, she gently pushed away from any partisan claim to her fame.

PARTON: My joke is that my daddy was a Republican, my mama was a Democrat, and I'm a hypocrite.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Yet, even in tumultuous times, she embraced all who wanted to join her in the kindness and caring of the Dolly Party.

FOREMAN: If Dolly Parton had done nothing but write songs, she no doubt would have still been a huge impact on the industry. But for so many people who love storytelling and love music and love Dolly, she did an awful lot more. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Canada is releasing details about its retaliatory tariffs against the United States, which are set to take effect on September 8th. The duties come in response to the Trump administration's 50 percent tariffs on many Canadian goods. And Donald Trump responded on social media, calling Canada the most difficult and unreasonable country he's had to deal with. Here's CNN's Anna Stewart with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As promised, Canada has retaliated with tit for tat, dollar for dollar tariffs on over $20 billion worth of U.S. imports. These tariffs are targeted and kick in from September 8, imports of U.S. steel, steel and aluminium will be subject to a 50 percent tariff, doubling it from the current level of 25 percent. And new 25 percent tariffs are being imposed on a number of U.S. goods dairy, fish, appliances, pulp, paper, many other products. This is the full list. It runs around 100 pages long. What we don't know is whether Canada will retaliate on the most recent

threat from President Trump, which is to double a tariff on the imports of Canadian cars and auto parts from 25 percent to 50 percent on January 1st. And ultimately, the big question here is, what will the U.S. do next?

Will we see further tariffs announced in a prolonged trade war? Canada has announced a $5.4 billion package to help those Canadian businesses and workers impacted by tariffs. And that's a reminder that tit for tat tariffs are damaging for both economies, and Canada is preparing for pain. Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Joining me now is Joanna Smith. She covers trade and the U.S.-Canada relationship for The Logic, it's a business news outlet in Canada, and she joins me now from Ottawa. Joanna, thank you so much for joining us.

JOANNA SMITH, TRADE REPORTER, THE LOGIC: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: It's great to have you. I've seen some of your in depth reporting here, and I'm wondering if you could tell our viewers really what the general feeling is among some of the Canadians who you've had a chance to speak to, especially perhaps some of those business owners when it comes to this ongoing trade war.

Have they share their thoughts specifically about the way the Trump administration is approaching these negotiations?

SMITH: Yes, I think part of it is a sense of, oh, here we go again. You have to remember, Canadians and Canadian businesses have been living under this, this cloud, in this chaos for 18 months now.

[04:10:03]

And yet really in the past few days, there's been sort of a realization that we're waking up into a new period of the trade war. And I think that was really brought to bear on Tuesday morning when the federal government announced whole new retaliatory tariffs as well as major relief measures to the tune of $7.5 billion, Canadian dollars, an additional to the $25 billion that was already announced over the past year and a half as really a way to get ready.

So I think businesses have been dealing with this uncertainty for a long time now, and that's really been putting a chill on investments if they need to decide whether to buy a new truck or another type of machinery or hire or expand it really hard to make those types of decisions when you don't really know what's going to be happening next, certainly.

SANDOVAL: And how are consumers and some of those businesses coping with that high level of uncertainty that you described?

SMITH: Well, there has been a groundswell of sort of this by (ph) Canadian movement going on since the launch of the trade war last year. And it was really interesting in a -- at least one of the provinces that had already lifted the ban on U.S. alcohol sales, consumers still weren't buying them. You hear people talking all the time about how they don't want to buy U.S. products.

It's pretty well impossible to escape almost everything. But people really have begun reading labels and making different choices. Now, of course, with the retaliatory tariffs brought in, everyone is also anticipating that we'll be raising prices here. But the government is enjoying a lot of support for these decisions. And there's a sense that this pushback is really needed, even though not everyone is going to be completely united on those choices, or not everyone's going to be affected in the same way either. A lot of the effects are really concentrated in certain sectors or certain regions of the country.

SANDOVAL: Fascinating. So are you finding that there is at least a general approval or satisfaction about the way that the prime minister is approaching this, as well as some provincial leaders?

SMITH: I think it's more a case of dissatisfaction with the way the U.S. administration is approaching this. I think there was a lot of hope that we were close to a deal, and yet you have to remember that Canada and the U.S. and Mexico already have a trade agreement, had a trade agreement for a long time.

So there's also a sense that the U.S. administration walked back on that and, you know, in Canada's view, violated that. And so no one really wants to sign a deal that involves major concessions from Canada that would then not be respected anyway. And we saw some of that in the language from Prime Minister Mark Carney when he talked about some of the last minute developments in the negotiations, sort of raised a cloud of whether or not any deal that they could reach would be would be credible or reliable.

And so I think there is that sense that if Canada is going to be making major concessions to get some tariff relief, that you want that tariff relief to be real and really working for the country and allowing the country to retain its autonomy and its sovereignty.

SANDOVAL: Briefly, Joanna, what is their understanding in Canada of where the misalignments are between both countries right now?

SMITH: I think one of the major issues of misalignment is what the Trump administration wants to see for the auto sector, and that is Canada has largely set up its auto sector to work with the U.S., to work with Mexico. Parts are traded across the border over and over and over again because the supply chain is so well integrated.

And yet U.S. commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told an audience in Toronto virtually last year that their goal really is for there to be no more manufacturing of autos in Canada, that Canada is absolutely going to be secondary. And that is a large sticking point because it's a major manufacturing industry for us. And there's a sense of betrayal there, I think, too.

SANDOVAL: Joanna Smith, thank you so much for your time. We'll certainly be following your reporting closely as this trade war continues.

SMITH: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: And Iran is reportedly seeking a return to the memorandum of understanding that was signed with the United States back in June. Iran's semiofficial news agency citing an unidentified source who says Tehran's conditions, chief among them Iran's arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, that they were relayed to the Pakistani intermediary, who is expected to then convey that to the United States.

After weeks of negotiations, Iran and Oman are opposing a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz. And the Iranian and Omani foreign ministers are saying the two nations discussed a framework to facilitate the corridor and also clear it of Mines. CNN's Nada Bashir is live for us in London. Nada, good morning. So what's the latest?

[04:15:00]

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, both Omani and Iranian officials have been holding talks for weeks now to try to come to a conclusion, an agreement on how to manage and control the Strait of Hormuz to allow for vessels to pass through there securely and to ensure that both sides are accepting of the terms of how that mechanism is actually carried out and implemented.

Now it is understood, according to officials, that both sides have come to an agreement, at least a broader, a framework for a phased, essentially a phased system of allowing ships to pass through to clear the shipping route of mines and to ensure both sides, both the Omani officials and Iranian officials, are maintaining control of that shipping route.

Now, the finer details of this agreement are unclear at this stage. There hasn't been a concrete announcement that this deal has been agreed firmly by both sides. We had heard previously from officials on either side that essentially a proposed framework for this deal would look like both sides controlling both inbound and outbound traffic or taking control of either element of this shipping route.

And of course, this is crucial given the attacks that we have seen over the last few weeks on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. And that is of course, not only a concern for those party to these mediation efforts, but also for regional leaders who have been calling for such some time now for all mediators, for all parties involved in these negotiations to really ramp up the pressure to ensure that there is a negotiated settlement to allow for the Strait of Hormuz to return to pre-war shipping levels.

So that is the understanding now that this is an agreement, a phased agreement rather, that would allow for essentially a firmer deal in the long run. But of course, this also comes as we continue to see the U.S. now ramping up economic pressure on Iran, threatening to sanction any nations which maintain economic ties and trade relations with Iran. Iran has said, Iranian officials have said that they have long been

preparing for such measures. And of course, important to underscore, this is a country that is no stranger to sanctions by the United States. For decades, Iran has grappled with painful sanctions which have not only, of course, impacted the Iranian regime, but have had a significant damaging impact on the Iranian people themselves as well.

But of course, as you mentioned, Polo, we are also seeing on the sidelines mediation efforts, dialogue continuing by Pakistani officials and mediators who are trying to continue that push for a resolution, not only on the street of Hormuz, which has of course been the key stumbling block in the past, but on an overall peace agreement. And we have heard that Iranian officials, according to an unnamed source cited by state media that Iran is looking for a push forward towards negotiations for a return to the memorandum of understanding.

Whether this latest agreement, potential agreement between Oman and Iran on the Strait of Hormuz could potentially shift the needle for that wider negotiation effort, that remains to be seen. But it certainly is a more positive development in comparison to the mounting rhetoric or damning record rhetoric we have had both on the Iranian side and on the U.S. side as well.

SANDOVAL: Nada Bashar, thank you so much for following those efforts to mediate out of this conflict. Nada Bashar live in London.

Now to CIA Director John Radcliffe and also this surprise visit that he made to meet with some Russian officials. And that is according to a US Official who spoke to CNN, an official declining to discuss the topics or also the substance of that meeting, as well as the CIA not commenting on this. The Kremlin spokesperson says that there are currently no plans for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

And there's much more ahead here on CNN Newsroom, including families in Pakistan, they are grieving after a deadly hospital fire swept through a maternity ward. Still had an update on the rescue response and what may have caused this blaze in the first place.

Plus, the field is set for the U.S. Senate race in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Results from the runoff between Senator Darline Graham and Congressman Ralph Norman. When we come back.

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SANDOVAL: Police in Pakistan are saying that a devastating fire at the largest hospital in Islamabad has killed at least 14 newborn babies. Sources are saying that an air conditioning compressor likely exploded and appears to have sparked that fire in the nursery on Wednesday morning. Hospital staff reportedly rescued just one child. Joining me now is CNN's Gage Goulding, who's live in Hong Kong as he closely follows this.

Gage, so what do we know about firefighting efforts and, and just the sheer number of the victims? This story is awful.

GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think that's the best way to describe it. This story is absolutely terrible. And the fire is out, but the fallout is just now beginning. 14 Children, newborn babies. We're talking about infants that are still at the point where they're in a nursery at a hospital. So they're just in their first days of life that were killed in this fire.

We're told that it was an air conditioning compressor, according to sources, that exploded and then ignited this fire inside the hospital. And you know, the images that you see there on your screen doesn't look like anything too terrible, but it's inside where that the worst of the damage was, where only one child was able to be rescued by hospital staff.

One father saying that no one, quote, no one can understand the pain that I'm going through. And he's speaking of his newborn child that again, was just only a few days old. This fire starting around 7:00 a.m. local time there in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. And this is at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Services. It's the largest hospital there in the city and it's on a sprawling campus.

Pakistan's prime minister says he's, quote, deeply saddened and strict action will be taken against anyone who responsible for this. But I think for the parents here, Polo, for people that are now dealing with this, family members that are reeling through this, I don't think it's about responsibility. It's about the loved ones, the babies, the newborn lives that were taken from them. Take a listen.

[04:25:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUNEEBA, RESCUED INFANT NEPHEW AND SISTER-IN-LAW FROM FIRE (through translator): At around 6:00 a.m. the fire erupted. But the staff and doctors did not inform us about this. Rather they fled the scene and saved their own lives. There was a lady who screamed and informed us. When I went upstairs the fire was spread so much that it reached our room. Then I first rescued my nephew. Then I evacuated my sister-in- law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOULDING: And the government agency there is now actually forming a fact finding committee that's new this hour looking into exactly what caused this fire. But it's important to note here that these government run hospitals are chronically underfunded and they have aging infrastructure. It's something that's happened in the past. There's been massive fires at hospitals in Pakistan in the past.

But this one here, Polo, devastating as 14 newborn children lost their lives.

SANDOVAL: Yes. No doubt grief stricken parents there will certainly be demanding answers from officials there on the ground. CNN Gage Goulding, thank you so much for that live update from Hong Kong. Now to the Trump administration currently working to dramatically

expand its immigration crackdown. I want to go to CNN's Jennifer Hansler now reports on the latest plans to target visas specifically for asylum seekers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: The U.S. State Department is moving to revoke the visas of potentially hundreds of thousands of foreigners who have applied or are seeking asylum in the United States. The move would go after those who came to the U.S. on temporary visas meant for things like tourism or business and then stayed and applied for asylum here.

State Department spokesperson said that they are working with the Department of Homeland Security to identify those who would be subject to those visa revocations. And he said that those who come here on a temporary visa and then apply for an asylum case are committing, quote, visa fraud.

Now a source familiar with the matter said that these revocations would not be done in, quote, one fell swoop and they described the number as dynamic.

Now this all comes as part and parcel of the Trump administration's broader anti-immigration policies as they've sought to crack down both on who is coming to the U.S. and those who are already in the country. An immigration attorney and a former consular official told CNN that the revocations would not likely result in the immediate deportation of these individuals. The attorney explained that if there is an asylum case, at the very least they would have to go before an immigration judge before they could be removed from the country.

They said that this is all part of the administration's efforts to claim that this is a visa system that has been abused and that it is more symbolic than anything else. Still, we have seen a large number of visa revocations under the Trump administration. Earlier this month, they said they've revoked more than 170,000 visas. We also saw them crack down on attempts to have people use that temporary visa to come into the U.S. and apply for asylum.

In order to apply for asylum, you do have to be here in the country and fleeing persecution. Jennifer Hansler, CNN, the State Department.

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SANDOVAL: And there's much more to come here on CNN Newsroom, including fans paying tribute to the life and the legacy of Dolly Parton. My interview with a music journalist on why the late icon was in a league of her own.

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