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Kushner, Witkoff Visit Russia With Plan To End War In Ukraine; U.S. Military: Three Iranian Tankers Struck In Persian Gulf; Two More People Rescued 10 Days After Deadly Nepal-China Floods; Kennedy Center Grand Foyer Closed After Portion Of Ceiling Collapses; Trump's D.C. Projects Move Forward Amid Legal Challenges; Top Trump Aides To Visit Ukraine After Meeting With Russia's Putin. Trump Sends Kushner, Witkoff to Meet with Putin in Russia; Iranian Woman Faces Deportation to Africa; Judge Declares Mistrial in Clancy's Triple-Murder Trial. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired September 05, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:35]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking news, fresh strikes in and around the Persian Gulf as U.S. military forces say they have hit three Iranian tankers. Plus remarkable rescues, two survivors are miraculously found alive 10 days after devastating flash floods hit Nepal. The family of one already planning her funeral.

And hitting a pause amid an escalating legal battle, LSU has reportedly left their two former NFL pros off the roster for today's matchup with Clemson. Will that be enough to quiet the critics?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

GOLODRYGA: Hello, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Bianna Golodryga in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Two top White House advisers are in Moscow today presenting what President Trump calls a plan to end the war with Ukraine. This afternoon, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived at the Kremlin, where they are set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before heading to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv for the first time.

President Trump praised Kushner and Witkoff as great negotiators ahead of this trip, but Russian officials have indicated that Moscow is not in the mood to compromise.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is in New Jersey, where the President is spending the weekend. And Julia, President Trump previewed this trip at the White House yesterday. What is the administration hoping to realistically accomplish here?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow just hours ago, and these talks are expected to focus in on potential ways to bring this now years- long conflict to an end. And as the U.S. delegation makes this trip, both sides have agreed for a three-day pause in attacks in the cities where these negotiations are taking place.

And the stop in Moscow is just the beginning of this trip. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that the two are expected to travel to Kyiv tomorrow, and that will mark the envoys' first trip to the country, which has been under a steady barrage of Russian missiles in recent weeks. And this is all happening as Ukraine has been pleading with the United States for more Patriot missiles to help intercept those attacks.

President Donald Trump, as you mentioned, he is spending his weekend here in New Jersey at one of his properties nearby, but he previewed this trip yesterday. He said that he is sending great negotiators and that they are going to look and see what they can get done.

Now, he did say, as he expressed hope that there could be some progress, he acknowledged the complicated nature of this conflict. A reminder, though, that as he started his second term, he repeatedly said that he thought that this war would be the easiest to bring to an end and that it would happen very quickly. He now says that he and his team have an idea for peace as this trip takes place. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have an idea for peace. Look, I said late wars. Most of them were supposed to be, in my opinion, more difficult than Russia-Ukraine. It's a personality problem in Russia-Ukraine. You have President Zelenskyy and President Putin. They truly hate each other.

You know what hate is? They have serious hate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And previous attempts at finding a lasting agreement to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine stalled last winter after multiple rounds of talks mediated by the United States. Those talks failed over disagreements on territory and security guarantees. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Russian state media reporting that these negotiations and talks have already started. President Putin describing them as difficult. The situation that they are about to discuss, that is the war between Russia and Ukraine that he launched nearly five years ago.

Julia Benbrook, thank you so much.

We have breaking news from the Gulf region, where the U.S. military says that it struck three Iranian oil tankers. Central Command just released this video of the strikes, which it says are in retaliation for Iran firing ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy warships. One of the tankers was near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, where most of Iran's oil is shipped from.

The other two were in the Gulf of Oman. Iran has not yet commented on the strike. We'll bring you more on this story as it develops.

[13:05:02]

And in Nepal, a woman's family was planning her funeral 10 days after devastating floods buried her home in mud and debris. Then, earlier today, the 60-year-old woman was rescued alive. And she wasn't today's only rescue. A Chinese national was pulled from a hydropower tunnel.

It was not that way, sadly, for hundreds of other families. At last check, nearly 1,400 people have lost their lives in the flooding, and more than 5,000 people remain missing.

CNN's Gage Goulding has the story of today's rescues.

GAGE GOULDING, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: An absolutely incredible day. That's the best way to describe Nepal today, because two more people have been rescued. One of them trapped in a hydropower tunnel, the other in a severely damaged, albeit destroyed, home. This is incredible.

Let's show you the picture, starting with what we know out of this hydropower tunnel rescue. A Chinese national rescued by a joint effort between the Nepali army and South Korean rescue crews. This man was trapped in the tunnel about 700 or so feet deep. That's what we're being told, according to the Nepal army. He's a Chinese national wearing a uniform of Power China, a state-backed energy firm.

He was found there 10 days after this flood. Remember, this flood happened back on August 26. His health currently being assessed, and he was flown to a hospital in Nepal's capital. And again, this is just another sensational miracle that has occurred in Nepal.

And then just downstream, a woman in her 60s was rescued around 1:30 p.m. local time on Saturday. She was in this badly damaged, I mean, truthfully, it looks destroyed home. And this is really a montage of what looks like rescue workers, but also locals working to pull her out. A 60-year-old woman who has survived 10 days, presumably maybe without any food or water. And she is now being rescued, also taken to a hospital in Kathmandu, the nation's capital.

But again, this is two new miracles, which is incredible, because on Friday, there was two other workers that were rescued from a separate hydropower tunnel. So let's wrap up and kind of talk about all of the rescues that we know of right now. We know that on Friday, two workers were rescued from the Trishuli-3A hydropower station. They were in that tunnel originally.

Rescue crews heard voices and then brought those two workers out. And then fast-forward to Saturday, you have another sensational rescue from 700-plus feet inside another tunnel, that tunnel belonging to the upper Trishuli 1 hydropower station. And then downstream, you have this rescue of a woman trapped inside a home for 10 days after this flood.

Again, these are rescue crews. These are locals that are working with high-tech equipment, but also some of them, we've seen video of them out there in their bare feet, digging through rock and mud with their hands, using whitewater rafting rafts, crawling on their stomach.

I mean, really, the textbook goes out the window here, and they are doing everything they can, using every resource they have, any tool at their disposal, to get to people in their community. These people that are working in their community, that were simply washed away as a result of this flood. But again, another sensational day of rescues in Nepal.

GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to CNN's Gage Goulding for that reporting.

Still ahead, the Lindsay Clancy murder trial declared a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury. So where does this leave the former nurse accused of murdering her children?

Plus, potentially deported to a country she's never set foot in. An Iranian woman detained in the U.S. is told she could be sent to the war-torn Central African Republic. She speaks to CNN about the nightmare she's now facing.

And duct tape in first class. The wild details behind what's being described as an unruly passenger's midair meltdown.

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[13:13:48]

GOLODRYGA: All right, welcome back. I want to show you these unbelievable photos of a passenger restrained to his first class seat with duct tape and zip ties on board in American Airlines flight headed to Newark. According to other passengers, more than halfway through the flight, the man became physically abusive and allegedly used racial and homophobic slurs and even bit another passenger.

The agitated man was eventually secured to his seat by passengers who used duct tape provided by a flight attendant. Pilots were forced to make an emergency landing in Baltimore, where the man was taken into custody.

And the Grand Foyer at the Kennedy Center will remain closed at least through the weekend after a chunk of the ceiling fell off and shattered on the ground. No one was injured. It is not clear what caused the damage, but it came after two days of heavy rains in Washington, D.C. In two controversial votes earlier this year, the Kennedy Center board, now chaired by President Trump, decided to close the iconic building for two years for renovations.

It released this statement saying, in part, "The structural failure stems from decades of neglect and deferred maintenance by the previous leadership, and there's no justification for further delays in restoring America's cultural center."

[13:15:03]

Well, President Trump's building blitz in Washington is apparently all for himself. The White House ballroom, the golf course, the reflecting pool, the triumphal arch, the list goes on, telling New York magazine, quote, "Nobody will do it once I'm gone. When I leave here, nobody will."

As CNN's Sunlen Serfaty explains, Trump's ambition to cement his legacy isn't slowing down, despite facing many legal challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: That's pretty great.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Without the usual approvals and still in legal limbo, the Trump administration is pushing forward to break ground on President Trump's triumphal arch.

TRUMP: I think it will be the most beautiful in the world.

SERFATY (voice-over): Announcing they will start excavating the ground to build the arch in the next two weeks.

TRUMP: The Arc de Triomphe would be the one that you would probably know in Paris. It's one of the most beautiful. It's a very similar size, slightly larger. We're doing -- we have to do slightly larger.

SERFATY (voice-over): The proposed 250-foot arch planned for Memorial Circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery has not been approved by the National Capital Planning Commission, the last of the two agencies that need to review and approve the work. Nor has it gone through a full review necessary under the National Historical Preservation Act.

The FAA's final aeronautical study looking at the safety impact to the nearby airport has also not been finished. And the project is still bogged down in the courts, with a veterans' rights group seeking a temporary restraining order Friday, saying the arch obstructs the view of D.C. from Arlington Cemetery.

TRUMP: You get a better view right over here.

SERFATY (voice-over): All this comes after the administration scored a major victory for one of the President's other projects, the Supreme Court allowing the construction of President Trump's ballroom to move forward.

TRUMP: This will be the greatest military complex/ballroom anywhere in the world. There won't be anything like it.

SERFATY (voice-over): That decision appearing to embolden the administration.

TRUMP: What I do best in life is build. I build buildings really well.

SERFATY (voice-over): With Justice Department lawyers now using that ruling to make the case that other challenges to the President's construction projects should be dropped. Administration lawyers for the arch and for the President's desired championship golf course he once built in D.C. this week both requested the courts to dismiss each case.

TRUMP: This will be here long after we're gone. No matter what happens with the world, this is not moving.

SERFATY (voice-over): Meantime, as the President pushes ahead with all these projects to remake Washington in his style and liking --

TRUMP: We weren't necessarily thrilled with the contractor.

SERFATY (voice-over): -- his reflecting pool renovations continue to grow in cost. The administration hiring yet another new company to help clean and maintain the reflecting pool, adding another $2.7 million to a project that has already ballooned in cost to now over $16 million.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY (on-camera): And all this comes even as the President's own administration, the National Park Service, recently acknowledged that the arch would cause a slew of adverse effects to historical landmarks nearby. But so much of this does come down to the President's legacy, as Trump acknowledged himself.

A source telling CNN, though, even if his successors go on to undo his policies, the ballroom, the arch, those will likely still stand. And he believes that has lasting impact.

GOLODRYGA: Sunlen Serfaty, we thank her for that reporting.

Well, U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner's Moscow meeting with Vladimir Putin is now underway. What they hope to accomplish at the Kremlin, that's next.

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[13:22:52]

GOLODRYGA: And more on our breaking news. White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The two are there to present a new plan to end the war in Ukraine. Meantime, the Russian leader is suspending strikes for three days on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv. That's where Kushner and Witkoff are headed next.

With us is Ivo Daalder, he is the former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and senior fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center. He's also the author of the book, "The Empty Throne" about the U.S.'s role in global diplomacy.

Welcome back to the show. It's been a while. Good to see you, Ivo. So President Putin can pause strikes for visiting Americans, as he's just announced. What would it take to turn that into a ceasefire for the Ukrainians?

IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Well, I think that's the really big question. And I'm afraid it's not going to be having Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner or, for that matter, the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, visiting Moscow, which, of course, he did a little over a week ago. The fundamental reality means until the pressure is really felt in Moscow, not just from what the Ukrainians are doing, which is very significant, they're hitting the Russians very hard, particularly the energy infrastructure, but also bringing the war home to the Russians.

But until the pressure really comes from the United States, together with its allies around the world, I don't see Vladimir Putin doing anything other than entertaining meetings with people from the United States and then basically sending them on their merry way to say, until you go convince the Ukrainians to stop, I'm not stopping.

GOLODRYGA: When you mention additional pressure needed from the United States, we know that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are set to present a new plan to Vladimir Putin. Do you think any of that pressure will be explicit in this new plan?

DAALDER: Well, I hope so. But the record doesn't give you a lot of confidence. Steve Witkoff in particular, but Jared Kushner as well, have been having discussions with the Russians now for a good 18 months or so.

[13:25:05]

And the focus of those discussions have been, in some ways, less on how to end the war on Ukraine and more on how we can re-establish economic relationships with Russia. That has been the singular interest of Steve Witkoff. He sees, in some ways, the end of the war as the step towards an improved economic relationship. That's exactly, of course, what Vladimir Putin and people around him want.

And so I think the -- rather than pressure, the focus is once again going to be incentives. Incentives about normalization of economic relationships, incentives about trying to find ways to explore gas and oil exploration, particularly up in the high north, rather than the kind of pressure which we need, which is to have Vladimir Putin understand that if you invade a neighboring country and try to take its territory, there are consequences and prices to pay and not some economic incentive down the road if you say, well, I'll just stop and keep 20 percent of my neighboring country.

GOLODRYGA: Do you think the United States is still presenting more carrots as options here to end the war than sticks? It comes as Russia, meanwhile, still demands that Ukraine withdraw before any ceasefire. This is Putin negotiating terms of peace, perhaps, or the terms of Ukraine's capitulation is what it appears to look more like, Ivo.

DAALDER: Yes, no, exactly. And I think, you know, this idea that somehow after four and a half years, the Ukrainians should give up territory that they have spent an extraordinary amount of casualties and worked so hard to defend, to give it up in the face of what? A promise of what?

Even if there were a ceasefire today, the reality is that there will not be an end to this war. Vladimir Putin will not be satisfied until he controls the future of Ukraine. And by that means no membership in NATO, no relationship with the Europeans, no relationship with the West. Moscow needs to control Kyiv's destiny. That's what this war has always been about. And until it is very clear to Vladimir Putin, he can't have what he wants. And the Ukrainians are demonstrating day in and day out that he can't have what he wants. Until he accepts that, we're going to be in a situation of some form of conflict.

So the idea that the Ukrainians should preemptively surrender, they didn't do it when the war started. They're certainly not going to do it after four and a half years of bitter, bitter fighting.

GOLODRYGA: So we now see Steve Witkoff, who's met with Vladimir Putin several times, along with Jared Kushner, and I believe their trip to Ukraine after this meeting will be their first trip to Ukraine in Trump's second term. This comes after, as you noted, the meeting with CIA Director Ratcliffe as well.

It has been reported that Vladimir Putin is not getting perhaps accurate information from his top aides about how dire the situation really is, both on the battlefield and for Russia longer term. Do you believe that any of that information will be presented today in the meeting, or was presented when Steve -- when the CIA Director met with his counterpart?

DAALDER: So I think it's likely that John Ratcliffe was presenting, among the many things he discussed to his counterparts, the kind of detailed information about what is actually happening on the front line, in the belief, which I shared, that Vladimir Putin is not getting that information.

John Ratcliffe said a few weeks ago that the average lifespan of a newly recruited soldier on the front line, a Russian newly recruited soldier, is 20 to 30 minutes. And after that, he is either dead or no longer -- or incapacitated and can no longer fight. It's not clear to me that Vladimir Putin knows that.

It's not clear to me that Vladimir Putin knows that, in fact, in the last six months, there has been a complete territorial stalemate. Putin still talks about taking all of the Donbas, which is the area he wants, by the end of the year. It's just not going to happen.

And so telling Vladimir Putin that this war is not going in the way he thinks it's going is very important. But, of course, John Ratcliffe did not meet with Vladimir Putin. And I'm not convinced that either Jared Kushner or Steve Witkoff are the credible conveyors of this kind of information to Vladimir Putin.

They, after all, continue to say and believe that somehow Russia seems to be winning the war rather than losing it. And so I'm not convinced that they are going to be the best messengers for this very important task.

GOLODRYGA: It's also not clear how much Vladimir Putin actually cares about the high casualty count on the front lines either. Many view that he sees this as just mere cannon fodder. He has acknowledged some of the setbacks, including gas shortages, oil shortages, and economic strife for Russians now. Nonetheless, he continues to move forward, and despite Ukraine having success with its drone warfare and innovation on that front, it's clear that President Zelenskyy is sounding the alarm about their air defense shortage and the need for Patriot missiles.

Do you think that the U.S. can broker a peace deal without Ukraine agreeing to give up the remaining parts of the Donbas region that they still control, given some of those limitations that they have in weaponry?

DAALDER: So, I find it very difficult to see how that happens unless one of two things happens. One, a few months ago, it was very clear that the offensive operations that the Ukrainians were taking in and around Crimea were causing very serious problems in Crimea, and if there were to be a threat that Crimea were to fall to the Ukrainians or come close to it, I think that becomes a moment in which Putin will have to say, maybe we need to recalculate.

I think the other way in which this will escalate is if the Ukrainians continue to pummel, with very little resistance and air defense capabilities, Russian energy and other vital infrastructure, and are bringing the war back home. And we'll have to see how the elections, which are, I guess, later this month in Russia, of course not free or fair, but nevertheless elections, how they will turn up.

But unless the pain really starts to increase quite significantly on Russian society or in a part of Ukraine, Crimea, that Vladimir Putin cares a lot about, I find it hard to see how he's going to end the war. He now thinks that because of the low interceptor capacity that the Ukrainians have and the reality that he is producing about 100 ballistic missiles a month, that he has an offensive capability to pummel Kyiv and cause great damage.

Now, of course, we know that strategic bombardment doesn't generally lead to capitulations. It hasn't been true with Iran and it certainly hasn't worked with Kyiv. But all of those together make it just seem to be unlikely that Vladimir Putin is going to end this war anytime soon.

GOLODRYGA: Well, we know that that bombardment, while not leading to a ceasefire, sadly leads to the loss of hundreds and thousands of civilian lives, just terror inflicted upon civilian areas and Kyiv itself as of the last few months in particular. Ambassador Ivo Daalder, no one's really holding their breath also as it relates to Russia's upcoming elections, as you know, as well. A lot to continue to follow here with these talks underway. Thank you so much.

DAALDER: Thank you, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: And coming up, CNN speaks to a woman who fled Iran, thinking she'd be safe in America, but now she's being deported to an African nation she's never seen. Her terrifying ordeal, up next.

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[13:35:00] GOLODRYGA: An Iranian woman who fled to the U.S. for religious reasons is now being deported to the Central African Republic, a war- torn country she's never been to, but has a deal with the U.S. to accept deported immigrants.

CNN's Rafael Romo joins me now with more on this. So, Rafael, she entered the U.S. undocumented in 2024 and is currently being detained in Georgia. What more can you tell us?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Bianna, the detained Iranian woman asked CNN not to reveal her name because she has fears that she may face persecution, not only her family in her country, but also retribution from immigration authorities here in the United States. And according to her attorney, the 21-year-old woman has been held for 14 months by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and that was at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, located about 143 miles south of Atlanta.

Last month, she received a document stating that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security intends to deport her to the Central African Republic, a war-torn country. As you mentioned, that she has no ties to. I don't know from where the order came that they needed to send me to the Central African Republic, and I had to sign a paper the Iranian woman told me over the phone, and I was so shocked, so shocked, I was scared, and I kept telling them that I wouldn't know what to do in that country. This is making me crazy.

Her attorney, Martin Rosenbluth, told me that his client entered the country legally through the Mexican border in 2024, but won what is known as a withholding of removal case, which allowed her to stay in the country. Rosenbluth also told me her arrest at her apartment here in Atlanta in June of last year was completely unnecessary, Bianna, because she had been fully compliant with immigration authorities.

[13:40:00]

MARTIN ROSENBLUTH, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: They handcuffed her, they shackled her, and they took her to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, and there was no need for it. She was fully cooperating, and she's 20 years old. I mean, she's a child. She's a kid, and they arrested her in this brutal manner and took her to the Stewart Detention Center.

ROMO: Did she have a criminal background?

ROSENBLUTH: No, sir, nothing at all. And again, I know I've said this, but I mean, she was fully cooperating with ICE. She was doing everything she was supposed to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: During our telephone interview, I asked the Iranian woman why she fled Iran in the first place, and she told me the following, quote, I left Iran because I converted to Christianity. I was born a Muslim, and I converted to Christianity, and we had some problems with the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, so I had to leave the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSENBLUTH: She converted to Christianity from Islam, and in Iran, that is a death sentence. So, I mean, she came here because she didn't have any choice. I mean, she came here because she was in fear of her life, that she would be killed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Rosenbluth said they are trying to block ICE from sending her to the Central African Republic, even though she won her asylum case and proved that it was unsafe for her to go back to Iran in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security told CNN the following, if an illegal alien chooses to file a claim in court refusing to go to their home country, we are required by law to find a safe and secure nation for them to go to. To be clear, they said, a pending application does not confer legal status in the United States.

According to Rosenbluth, an immigration judge has granted a stay of removal and a motion to reconsider, which means his client cannot be deported before September 17, when she's scheduled to have a hearing. Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Rafael Romo, you'll stay on top of this story for us. Thank you.

And still ahead, a wild legal battle is brewing in college football, as a judge cleared the way for ex-NFL players to suit up for LSU. But the Southeastern Conference is now suing to stop them. We have new details on who is actually on the roster for tonight's kickoff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:00]

GOLODRYGA: Turning now to the Lindsay Clancy's triple murder trial that came to a dramatic end Friday. The judge declared a mistrial in the case of the former nurse accused of murdering her three young children before attempting to take her own life. After seven grueling days of deliberations, the jury emerged in a deadlock. We learned from Clancy's attorney that a single holdout juror prevented them from reaching a unanimous decision. CNN's Jean Casarez has been following all of the developments from outside the courtroom in Massachusetts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDGE WILLIAM SULLIVAN, MASSACHUSETTS SUPERIOR COURT: At this point, I'm going to declare that the jury is deadlocked and I'm going to declare a mistrial.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lindsay Clancy's triple murder trial coming to a dramatic ending on Friday, a mistrial.

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: This is not a time for gloating, bragging, expressing victory. It's a very sad case. CASAREZ (voice-over): But not before a few last-ditch efforts by the defense, including filing an emergency appeal to the Massachusetts highest court. But that appeal was denied after six and a half days of deliberation and several notes to the judge from the jurors saying they were uneducated to come to a unanimous verdict. The last note from the jury read simply, quote, "It is with a heavy heart that we report we are unable to come to a unanimous decision and will not be able to."

Earlier in the day, when the court reconvened, the defense asked the judge to question the lone holdout juror.

REDDINGTON: It clearly and unequivocally indicates that they are basically 11 to one and this person will not apply reasonable doubt to the evidence to return a not guilty verdict.

CASAREZ (voice-over): The judge denied the request. The defense then pushed for a forceful reminder to jurors to follow the law, drawing visible exasperation from the judge.

SULLIVAN: What do you want me to do?

REDDINGTON: I want --

SULLIVAN: Get a brass band?

CASAREZ (voice-over): Later on outside court, in an unusual moment, the defense spoke out about that one juror who was a holdout.

REDDINGTON: They know that they were robbed by one man for whatever his agenda was, who stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors that were so attentive, so beautiful, so wonderful and listen to this evidence and you could see how defeated they were sitting there.

CASAREZ (voice-over): Clancy is accused of strangling her young children, five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month- old Callan, in January of 2023. She does not deny that she killed her three children, but pleaded not guilty. The 36-year-old's defense team argued she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

REDDINGTON: She loved her children. They were her life. This young lady is not guilty of the killing of her children because she was suffering from a disease and defect.

[13:50:00]

CASAREZ (voice-over): The prosecution acknowledged Clancy had a mental disease or defect, but claimed the former labor and delivery nurse deliberately killed her children with premeditation and extreme cruelty and that she was not in a state of psychosis at the time of the murders.

TIM CRUZ, PLYMOUTH COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This case is not about a health care system or about how women are treated in it. Those are all important issues. This case, however, was about Lindsay Clancy and what she did on January 24, 2023, and the cruel and calculated killing of three innocents.

CASAREZ (voice-over): The focus now turns to what happens next, prosecutors saying they will decide whether to retry the case against Clancy at a future court hearing.

CRUZ: I do know that one of the questions that are out here right now regarding retrials, I will let you know that there'll be no decisions made today regarding that. I'm going to be meeting with our team and we will address this case further at the appropriate time in the context of an official court proceeding.

CASAREZ: There is a status hearing set in this case for September 29th in the courthouse right behind me. The defense is going to have a motion for consideration and we may learn from the prosecution if they actually are going to try this case again.

In Plymouth, Massachusetts for CNN, I'm Jean Casarez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: And we are so fortunate to have Jeanne Casares' incredible reporting throughout this trial, our thanks to her.

And coming up all the next new hour, crucial conversations, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on the ground in Moscow meeting with Vladimir Putin. Can they revive peace talks between the Kremlin and Ukraine? We'll have the very latest.

Plus, a state of emergency in Hawaii as a monstrous category four hurricane takes aim at the western islands and it could get even stronger.

And the world is about to get a fresh look why the U.N. just voted to completely redraw the globe and what it means for how we see our planet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:00]

GOLODRYGA: They are two of the most iconic siblings in tennis. Serena and Venus Williams are out of the U.S. Open after the duo lost last night in a marathon match in the first round of the women's doubles. Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint clinched the tiebreaker in the third set and defeated the Williams sisters. It marks four years since the sisters last played together at the U.S. Open. It was also the second time Serena Williams lost to Maya Joint after the two faced off earlier this summer at Wimbledon.

And in college football, ahead of tonight's high-stakes matchup between LSU and Clemson, the Associated Press reports that former NFL players Zxavian Harris and Dae'Quan Wright won't be on LSU's roster for tonight's season opener. CNN Sports Correspondent Carolyn Manno, this move comes amid a legal showdown we know about the former pro athlete's eligibility to play college games.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Bianna, today is the first full Saturday of this year's college football season with games actually spanning all across the holiday weekend, but the matchup that everybody continues to talk about is LSU and Lane Kiffin versus the SEC and NCAA.

Before the season began, Kiffin and LSU made the decision to recruit players with NFL training camp and roster experience, which quickly triggered a legal battle over whether professional players should be included in collegiate athletics. A very polarizing topic. LSU did make the decision to leave former NFL players Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris off of its final 103-man roster for tonight's season opener against Clemson. That was the big question. Will these players play or won't they, or will they even have the option to play?

This decision came despite an injunction from a Louisiana court that legally cleared them to play today. Both are former undrafted NFL signees who played under Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss last season and are looking to return to college under a legal challenge regarding the NCAA's new five-year eligibility rules. It is worth noting that LSU did leave two spots open on its 105-player limit, signaling that while they're making the decision to avoid legal chaos for the opener, the players could be added later on in the season.

For now, LSU and Clemson are going to proceed with their season opener, which LSU won last year 17-10. But we will be hearing more about this topic as the college football season officially rolls on. Back to you, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Carolyn Manno for that.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Hello, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Bianna Golodryga, in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Today, right now, two top White House advisers are at the Kremlin presenting what President Trump calls a plan to end Russia's war with Ukraine. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff are meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin after spending time with one of Putin's key aides earlier today. President Trump seemed to be somewhat optimistic ahead of the visit, but Russian officials have indicated that Moscow is not in the mood to compromise.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is in New Jersey, where President Trump is spending the weekend. Julia, what is the administration realistically thinking could come out of this, as we are getting some headline as both Kusher and Witkoff has started their meeting with Putin.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

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