Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Witkoff: Confident Of "Good Resolution" After Kyiv Talks; Germany's Far-Right AFD Party Projected To Win Eastern State; 40 Million Under Heat Alerts Across Central, Southern U.S.; Flood Threat For Popular Southwest Parks This Weekend; Nepal-China Floods: More Than 1,350 Dead 5,000 Missing Amid Cleanup; U.N.: 84,000+ People Affected By Catastrophic Disaster; Nevada: DOJ Issued Seven Subpoenas Seeking Voter Information; Mom Charged In Toddler's Death Reportedly Followed Clancy Case. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 06, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:28]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news to bring you.

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner making a rare trip to Kyiv, pushing for a return to trilateral talks with Russia. We'll have new details on the discussions.

Plus disaster zone. CNN is on the ground in China's wiped-out border area, as the fate of hundreds of missing people in the floods is still unknown.

And later, charged with murder. An Illinois mother is under arrest for allegedly killing her two-year-old son just hours after texting her friends about the Lindsay Clancy trial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

GOLODRYGA: Hello, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me.

I'm Bianna Golodryga in for Fredricka Whitfield today.

We begin with breaking news.

White House negotiator Steve Witkoff says that he's confident of a, quote, "good resolution" after he and fellow envoy Jared Kushner wrapped up three rounds of talks in Kyiv today with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, WHITE HOUSE ENVOY: We came to see President Putin first. We needed to hear where he stood. We had good concrete conversation with him, which we advised President Zelenskyy and his team about.

Both sides have to come to a resolution here, and my job and Jared's job together is to bring the parties together to narrow the issues between them, to create good communication channels, and hopefully we began that process constructively in the last 48 hours. And we're confident that there'll be a good resolution here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Witkoff and Kushner are in Ukraine for the first time since the war began. And it comes just a day after they met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. They're pushing a new peace plan from President Trump.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is in New Jersey, where the president is spending the weekend. So Julia, after years of war, there doesn't appear to be any breakthrough, though we do hear that both Kushner and Witkoff are pushing for trilateral talks again.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is unclear if there's any sort of significant progress coming out of all of this, but it has been a busy weekend of diplomacy for special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as they discuss ways to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

As you pointed out, they are expressing hope that there could be trilateral talks involving the United States, Russia and Ukraine in the near future.

Now they're meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrapped just a short time. The U.S. delegation thanked the Ukrainian leader for his hospitality. And Witkoff said that he thinks that there could be a good resolution coming out of all of this.

Their visit comes as the Ukrainian capital has seen a barrage of Russian missiles in recent weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED KUSHNER, WHITE HOUSE ENVOY: What Steve and I really thought would be productive, is to go back to the trilateral format, which we were able to do about six months ago. And we've spoken with both parties. And so hopefully well have progress on that very soon.

I think that's important to talk about, the big issues, obviously, but also some of the -- some of the de-escalatory issues that could be done as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And this meeting came the day after the two met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow. That meeting lasted for roughly three hours.

Prior to this, President Donald Trump, who is spending his weekend here in New Jersey at one of his properties nearby. He said that he was sending over great negotiators to essentially see what they could get done here.

Now, he did acknowledge the complicated nature of these discussions. And that is significant because when he started his second term, he said that he thought bringing this to an end would be easy and that it would be done very quickly.

Now, previous attempts to bring a lasting agreement to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine stalled last winter after there were disagreements on some key issues like territory as well as security guarantees.

After the talks that took place in Moscow yesterday, the White House said that there could be plans for next steps revealed in the coming weeks, Bianna.

[14:04:50]

GOLODRYGA: We'll be looking out for any next steps in the coming weeks then. Julia Benbrook, thank you.

Let's continue the conversation. With us now, CNN contributor, Jill Dougherty. She's an affiliated scholar at Georgetown University and author of the book "My Russia", about her time as CNN's Moscow bureau chief.

Jill, always great to have you on and hear your perspective. So the FT today quotes people familiar with talks in Kyiv that the envoys brought revised proposals, but very few new ideas.

So what, in your view, has changed, if at all, in Putin's calculation that can make a deal possible now, when it wasn't six months ago?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. I don't think that really much of anything has changed for Mr. Putin. But it's interesting to hear Jared Kushner. I mean, I think what they're saying is that they went to Moscow, and even the Russians said they brought a range of ideas that could lead to some type of settlement.

So those ideas, if you listen to Jared Kushner, are essentially what didn't work over this past how long -- so many months or years? And what could we do to change it? You know, what could work? If you analyze what didn't work.

And I think that's where they are now. I mean, essentially this is -- they're conceding that at this point, they don't have much progress at all. In fact, what they're saying is, let's go back to the tripartite three-way talks.

Another interesting point -- I think Kushner actually said a few interesting things. And he said, instead of our arguing the Ukrainian position to the Russians and the Russian position to the Ukrainians, let's bring them together. Well, that has already happened, and it led to nothing.

So we can go into, Bianna, obviously, you know what Putin is thinking and kind of what the Russian message was. But I do think we're kind of back at the beginning again.

GOLODRYGA: Right. And President Zelenskyy has been open and has been pushing for face-to-face talks between him and President Putin. President Putin has said yes, but if you come to Moscow, which is a nonstarter, for understandable reasons, for President Zelenskyy.

The "Financial Times" is also reporting that an MP in Zelenskyy's party said that the fact that the two envoys had traveled to Moscow first was a bad sign, in his view, and a possible indication that the U.S. would try to impose a more pro-Putin plan.

Now, we heard from Steve Witkoff saying that one of the reasons they came to Moscow first was to hear where Vladimir Putin stood on these issues as of today. Do you think that's a legitimate justification, in your view?

DOUGHERTY: I don't know if it's a justification. I mean, I think one of the questions is, I believe that the United States pretty much knows where Zelenskyy stands, but I think they wanted to feel out Vladimir Putin one more time. But it appears at this point that they heard the same thing.

I mean, let's go through what the Russians said. Essentially, they said, look, let's look at the -- we must look at the root causes of this war.

Well, that is what they were saying four and a half years ago. They're talking about, in fact, real success by the Russian military in the field. That contradicts actually U.S. Intelligence that they are making any type of significant progress.

So -- and then also, the predictable appearance of Kirill Dmitriev, who is with the Russian investment fund, he speaks very good English, and he's always there to kind of soften things up.

So -- and then Jared Kushner and Mr. Witkoff know him, understand him and feel that he's a, you know, a good person to talk to.

So it felt to me like back to the future, you know, it was the same thing that we have seen before. And this is not to say that this is bad or a waste of time.

And if they could get back to some type of real negotiations where all the parties -- that both parties really are talking to each other with the United States helping, that would be progress because right now there is no progress.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And President Putin has been quite clear. The root cause would -- for the rest of the world lead to the dissolution of Ukraine as we know it today. And again, that is not something that President Zelenskyy nor any of his supporters are willing to compromise on.

Vladimir Putin wants Ukrainian-held territory in the Donbas that his army has yet to capture. President Zelenskyy has been steadfast that he says no territory is to be handed over.

Do you think, though, there is some room, perhaps to negotiate on this demand? [14:09:47]

DOUGHERTY: You know, there might be. I mean, that has been one of the questions almost since the beginning. Could it -- could you have this territory?

Right now, the Russians hold about 75 percent of the Donbas Region. That's the kind of south and eastern part. And it's what -- Vladimir Putin wants the entire thing.

So, but they don't hold 25 percent of it. And that's one of the problems. The Ukrainians are saying you don't even hold this territory and you want it.

So the Ukrainians are saying, freeze everything the way it is, the lines that are there. And I think that's one of the huge sticking points.

And then, of course, the other one would be security in the future.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

DOUGHERTY: How are you going to prevent this from happening again?

GOLODRYGA: Yes. There were those security guarantees so many decades ago promised by the United States, the U.K. to no avail.

Jill Dougherty, good to see you as always, my friend. Thank you.

DOUGHERTY: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, new today, Germany's far-right AFD is projected to come out on top in a key regional election, winning 44.5 percent of the vote. If the party can form a government, it would mark the first far-right state leadership in Germany since World War II. The AFD is calling for tougher immigration policies, including mass deportations.

CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is following all of this from Magdeburg (ph), Germany.

So Fred, I guess not so much a surprise given what the poll numbers had been showing for weeks now. But what does this result actually mean?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there were certain surprises. You're absolutely right. The AFD being very strong, Bianna, is certainly not something that really surprised a lot of people.

But the weakness, especially of the Christian Democratic Union, which is, of course, the party of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, that is certainly something that a lot of people were surprised about.

And, you know, we were on hand here when the first exit polls came out. And I can tell you, the leadership of the AFD went out and they cheered immediately as those exit polls were published. And immediately also their main candidate, Ulrich Siegmund. He said he

wants to be the governor of the state. He wants to be the governor of Saxony-Anhalt, which would then make him the first far-right politician to have a governorship in post-World War II Germany.

Now, you're absolutely right. The AFD has been talking about mass deportations from Germany, especially undocumented immigrants. They want to deport in a large scale. That's not necessarily something he could do as a governor.

But they also say they believe that the elections here, if they manage to get the governorship, could be a stepping stone for the far-right AFD to take power in all of Germany.

They also say they want better ties with Russia as well.

Here's what Ulrich Siegmund told me earlier tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ULRICH SIEGMUND, AFD CANDIDATE (through translator): The development now is that we want our national sovereignty back, that countries have politics in the interest of their people, their own nations, and not try to save the world.

And so I want to emphasize both in the direction of Russia and the United States of America, we need both of them if Germany is going to be successful. If we want to have politics in the interest of our country. And that is the only benchmark that drives us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So that's Ulrich Siegmund speaking to me earlier today. And of course, Bianna, you know, we report so much on German politics. So, you know, that coalition building here is very difficult and very complicated.

So it's unclear whether or not Ulrich Siegmund is actually going to manage to become the governor or whether or not some large coalition is going to be put in place to try and prevent that.

Nevertheless, the party chairwoman of the AFD, Alice Weidel, she told me earlier today that she believes that Friedrich Merz the German chancellor's days in office, are numbered. She says she believes there's going to be new elections in Germany.

So clearly the AFD coming out of this in a very bullish way, saying that they are a force to be reckoned with in Germany in the future, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Potential significant shakeup in the months and weeks ahead.

Fred Pleitgen, thank you.

And still ahead, wiped off the map. CNN gets rare access in China near the Nepal border zone where rescuers are desperately searching for hundreds of people still missing after those catastrophic floods.

Our team is on the ground.

Plus horrific tragedy, yet another one. A mother accused of killing her toddler. Her lawyer claims she had a psychotic break, but prosecutors say she was very invested in the Lindsay Clancy case. We'll bring you those details ahead.

And illegal street takeover. The chaotic scene from the streets of Los Angeles that led to more than 500 citations and dozens of arrests.

[14:14:31]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Roughly 40 million people are under heat alerts this holiday weekend. The scorching temperatures are affecting the central and southern parts of the country. There's also a chance of flooding in some parts of the southwest, home to some of the nation's most popular national parks. Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Death Valley National Parks could see flooding conditions.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is going to be hot and steamy across much of the central U.S., but even diving deep into portions of the southeast. And that heat is also helping to spawn a lot of showers and thunderstorms across the country.

[14:19:48]

CHINCHAR: Now again, when we talk about how many people, roughly 40 million people are under some type of heat alert. The orange indicating heat advisories, the pink is going to be those extreme heat alerts.

And these temperatures are averaging 10, even 15 degrees above average in some spots. 101 for the high today in Oklahoma City, 97 in Nashville, 96 in Atlanta.

The only really nice spot has been the northeast. Temperatures there have been in the 70s. That will be the same for the -- as we head into the holiday on Monday. Nice mild temperatures.

Most other places, you're looking at those temperatures much higher than they should be, even the next few days. Take Kansas City, for example. The normal this time of year is 83 degrees. Monday's high 94. Tuesday we get up to 102.

So again, Little Rock, Shreveport, Dallas, Birmingham. A lot of these areas well above where they normally would be and a few of these spots, we're talking record breaking temperatures.

And because they're so warm, you're also seeing a lot of these thunderstorms being fueled. Again, this entire area here highlighted in green and yellow, has the potential for some damaging winds as some of those showers and thunderstorms erupt.

And then down across portions of the southeast, you also have the concern for not only flooding, but even some small hail at times, especially throughout the evening hours tonight. That's going to be a concern, even say about 9:00, 10:00 tonight.

Look, you've still got some of those showers and thunderstorms across the southeast. You have a few into the Midwest.

Also noting too, some flooding potential out to the west, areas of southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. There's a lot of national parks there that people like to go and visit, you know, for the holiday weekend.

But do keep in mind, you could end up seeing some of those pop-up showers and thunderstorms even through the evening hours tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Allison Chinchar, thank you for that.

Still to come for us. New developments in the battle over mail-in ballots. The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court for the third time now to greenlight restrictions on mail-in ballots. What this means for the upcoming midterms as ballots are already heading to some voters' mailboxes.

[14:21:45]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Well, nearly two weeks since catastrophic floods buried the border between Nepal and China and CNN has reached a site of total devastation. No survivors have been found at the Gyirong Port border crossing, where -- which was completely engulfed by an enormous wave of water.

Officials say nearly 1,400 people were killed and more than 5,000 are still missing.

CNN's Simone McCarthy is on the Chinese side of the border on a rare trip organized by the government and accompanied by Chinese officials.

Now, we want to clarify that CNN still has full editorial control of the coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR CHINA REPORTER: So we're walking into the main hard-hit port area. Now, I mean, even just some of the ground here is incredibly unstable. It's like -- it feels like it's almost hollow underneath. You can see there's quite large rocks here.

There's also excavation going on behind us. A number of workers are actively in the midst of some of the response and repairs here.

We've been told as well as we were walking over, that there are the risk of loose rocks.

I'm standing in the location that was once a five-story border checkpoint. This used to be a bustling hub of transit between Nepal and China, with travelers, travel agents, people involved in trade coming over that border, moving through what was once a huge building here.

This is the spot where a huge wall of water washed over a five-story building, in video that was captured on surveillance footage on August 26th when devastating floods and landslides hit the China-Nepal border.

I'm standing now in the area where that building was.

This is Gyirong Port in Tibet, where CNN is part of a small group of foreign reporters who've been given access to this site, the first time that foreign media have been allowed entry.

And now to see what the impact of that was here, where there's just -- I mean, you would -- you would never know that there had been anything here at all.

There's actually a sign which is indicating that this was a foundation. You can still see some rebar, but that's really the only thing that remains. There have been no survivors found in this location.

And right now, the rescue teams are just contending with this heavy, heavy mud.

The road that we took to get in here was actually layered in some places with five feet of mud. It took the better part of a week for emergency workers to be able to enter via road.

One of the other things that we can notice is that the flood waters actually reached so high up onto the mountain, you can see some of the greenery has actually been scraped away there as a result of just how high those flood waters came as they barreled through this area.

We asked one of the responders how long he thought the operations would continue, and he wasn't able to give an answer.

They've put up a Chinese flag to memorialize what was here, but there's just absolutely nothing left.

This area has also been a focal point for families who are desperate for information about what happened to loved ones that they believe were at this border crossing at the time when that landslide and flooding hit this area. They're still waiting for answers.

The government has yet to publish publicly a list of who was at the border crossing at the time. Families are really desperate for more information about what happened here. [14:29:45]

MCCARTHY: And looking around, it's -- you can see that there's no answers immediately visible.

Simone McCarthy, CNN, Gyirong Port.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Well, the U.N. estimates more than 84,000 people have been impacted by the catastrophic flooding along the border. The organization and its humanitarian partners are appealing for nearly $50 million for life saving assistance for these communities. It's a monumental task for groups trying to provide shelter, food and health care on this scale.

One such organization is ShelterBox and program manager Sonja Hughes joins me now to discuss disaster relief efforts.

Sonja, first of all thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you for everything that you are doing right now in response to this disaster. And we hear more and more about, thankfully, some survivors are still being found, but mostly it is just those who are impacted and how this is going to change their lives for years to come.

You've responded to disasters around the world, and you say, Nepal is calling that. You say people in Nepal are calling this a tsunami flood. What does that capture about the destruction that you are seeing?

SONJA HUGHES, PROGRAM MANAGER, SHELTERBOX: Uh-huh. Well, people are describing how everything -- they have lost everything. So they've lost obviously loved ones, but also their homes, their livestock, their crops, and there really is nothing left. Usually in disasters like earthquakes or flooding, people would intend to go back to, to where their home was and rebuild. But that's just not an option here.

GOLODRYGA: With so many still missing, families are living with terrible uncertainty. What support do they need beyond just shelter and supplies?

HUGHES: Yeah. So what were hearing is people really need things like, you know, blankets, kitchen sets, but also solar lights because the power plants have been destroyed as well. We're also very conscious that winter is coming. Temperatures are going to start to drop come end of September. So we're really thinking about what people are going to need, not just in these immediate weeks, but in the months and months to come. This is going to be a disaster that's going to take Nepal a really long time to recover from.

GOLODRYGA: And the concern is that as attention fades, those that have survived are not going to be getting the necessities that they need. I know you're planning immediate supplies, but they need lasting materials as well. With access so difficult, how quickly can you reach families and what will that first delivery actually allow them to do?

HUGHES: Yes. So, we -- right now, we have -- we've got items that are ready to go, for distributions, in the next couple of days that we've been able to buy locally on the Katmandu market, but markets are really under pressure here. We have 36 metric tons of aid arriving over flights in the next few days. But what we're hearing is that, as you say, the access to some of the areas, its extremely challenging. We heard about one community that would usually take about 30 minutes to reach, from across the river, but because the bridge has gone, it took an organization we spoke to three days to reach them.

The other real challenge is where even where their roads are still functional. They're really narrow and muddy. So we're usually we would want to send a big truck with lots of aid at one time. We're going to have to send small trucks, small vehicles. So it's going to take a while or hopefully, we'll also do some airlifts as well.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, a logistical nightmare for sure.

For viewers wanting to help explain to us why donating money is more useful now than sending clothing, and what can money provide right now.

HUGHES: Yeah, absolutely. So disaster response, this is absolutely been led by the Nepalese people and the government. So like other organizations, we are very much coordinating with what they are saying are the needs and where the support is needed. So that coordination and understanding where the gaps are is absolutely critical. And it's really important in disasters like this that we don't duplicate efforts.

So by working in a coordinated way, donating to organizations like ShelterBox and other organizations that are supporting the disaster is the best way to, for your for your money, to reach those who need it most.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Sonja Hughes, again, thank you for all the work that you are doing. It is so important.

And remember. For more information about how you can help Nepal flood victims, go to CNN.com/impact or scan the QR code here that you see on your screen.

Still ahead for us, she was texting friends about the Lindsay Clancy trial just hours before prosecutors say she killed her two year old son. Now, her defense team claims she was in a psychotic episode. We'll bring you the disturbing new details, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:39:43]

GOLODRYGA: Just 58 days before the midterm elections, the Trump administration is demanding information on voters in Nevada. State officials say they've gotten seven voter-related subpoenas from the FBI over the past three months.

It's not clear exactly what information the Justice Department is asking for, but the subpoenas follow a slew of baseless accusations of nationwide voter fraud from the Trump administration and come as President Trump continues to insist, without evidence, that the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden was rigged.

Well, President Trump has focused much of his election related ire on mail in ballots, which he claims are a major source of fraud, despite the fact that he himself has repeatedly voted this way. Well, now he's asking the U.S. Supreme Court for a third time to leapfrog over state and federal courts and allow him to implement sweeping changes to the mail in ballot system that would take effect immediately ahead of the midterm elections.

But today's request comes as North Carolina has already started sending its mail in ballots out to voters.

Joining me to talk about this is David Becker, CEO and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.

David, good to see you.

So, the administration is arguing that these are simply reasonable preparation requirements for election mail, in your view. At what point does regulating how ballots move through the mail become controlling how states actually run their elections?

DAVID BECKER, CEO & FOUNDER, CENTER FOR ELECTION INNOVATION AND RESEARCH: Well, I think wherever that line is, this is clearly gone beyond that. Remember, the administration waited until after the primaries had already started this year to sign this executive order in the first place. Then the postal service dragged their feet for an additional two months until they published proposed rules, which put the states on notice, which might -- what might happen here.

And this -- these rules that the postal service are trying to implement and which have been blocked by every court to consider them, would put them in a position where they get to decide who gets the mail and who doesn't get the mail, who gets a mail ballot, where the state has determined that that person was eligible to get a mail ballot, and who doesn't?

And simply federal law, statutory law does not entitle them to do that. The Constitution, Article One, Section Four, says the president cannot sign into law any kind of regulations with regard to elections. Only the state legislatures or Congress can do that.

And so, this is actually a pretty clear example of the president trying to exercise authority that he simply doesn't have. And that's why every single court, whether its courts in Massachusetts district courts or district courts in D.C., appellate courts, have decided that this is illegal and unconstitutional and simply couldn't be implemented now anyway, given the close proximity to the election.

Even the Supreme Court hasn't ruled on the merits of this. They sent it back to the lower courts on a technical issue, and that has been resolved now. And even as this goes up to the appellate courts in the Supreme Court, it will likely be resolved in a week, within about a week or so, where we know for sure that mail voting is going to proceed, as its always proceeded in the last few years.

GOLODRYGA: Well, as we've already noted, ballots are already going out. So if the Supreme Court allows these rules to take effect immediately, what changes for a voter who has already requested or even returned a ballot?

BECKER: Look, we're not exactly sure. Even the postal service isn't exactly sure how this will work, as the administration is arguing, we need to start doing this right away. The Postal Service has argued in court that theyre not ready to start this anyway, and there are states who could voluntarily take advantage of these new rules if they wanted to. States presumably aligned with President Trump that have not done so even under the existing orders that the courts have issued.

The Postal Service is simply not ready. But if they did put these into effect, what would happen is they might be in the position to be rejecting mail ballot envelopes that have been printed long ago, and there's no time to reprint and get them out. And even incredibly, this new postal rule would give them the power to reject an entire batch of mail ballots, perhaps as many as 10,000 or so based on a single typographical error, meaning they would be rejecting thousands of valid mail ballots based on a single potential error within that batch.

Clearly that's illegal. It is not -- is not something that federal law would allow, or state law would allow. The postal service isn't ready to do this. A whistleblower really revealed that they rushed this whole process into effect, and it's got a lot of errors in it.

So, I think for a variety of reasons, there's just zero chance that courts are going to allow for the postal service and the president to kind of seize this power from the states over regulating elections. And who gets those mail ballots? The states have already determined when voters are entitled to them.

GOLODRYGA: So given everything you've just laid out, the fact that we are up against a clock, the fact that that some of these ballots have already started going out, what evidence would justify implementing these restrictions right now, and what safeguards would actually prevent eligible voters from losing access to a ballot?

BECKER: Yeah. Well, the courts have repeatedly said there is no evidence that would justify it. And even if there was, if there was some good evidence that since the civil war, which is when we started doing mail voting, there is now this reason we need to change mail voting, even though the president himself uses it. He even chooses to vote by mail when he's physically present in Palm Beach County and could vote in person.

But if there was that evidence, there's only one path for the president under the Constitution, and that is to go to Congress, present that evidence and persuade them to pass a law.

[14:45:07]

Regardless of the evidence, he just doesn't have the power to do this. That evidence doesn't exist. There is no evidence of widespread mail fraud or any other kind of widespread election fraud. His own administration has confirmed that they've been investigating it for nearly 20 months and have found nothing, even just very small numbers that don't warrant any kind of federal interference.

Election officials in the states, both Republicans and Democrats, agree that they're already running secure elections. My organization organized an amicus brief that was filed in the courts on this executive order with about 100 election officials from around the country that included Republicans and Democrats, state election officials, Republican election -- Republicans and Democrats who agree this couldn't be implemented. There's no -- there's no justification for it.

It's not legally warranted. It's not factually warranted. And the time has simply run out. It's not going to take effect for this election.

GOLODRYGA: David Becker, thank you, as always, for the time. We'll see how the Supreme Court responds to now, this third request from the administration.

And coming up, all new in the next hour. Leaked texts, missed meetings, and a senator accused of checking out. John Fetterman is hitting back at his own former aides tonight, calling their bombshell leaks nothing but smears from disgruntled staff. We have his exclusive response right after the break.

Plus, two million robots, dark factories and very few human workers. Inside look at the massive machine workforce that's fueling Chinas factories. Is it a sign of what's to come here in the U.S.?

And fury at Flushing Meadows, from courtside photo shoots to selfie lights mid serve, fans and players have officially had it with influencers at the U.S. Open. We'll bring you their growing backlash, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:32]

GOLODRYGA: New details from Los Angeles, where 66 people were arrested and more than 500 tickets issued during a street takeover bust. Police say more than 700 people gathered for the illegal takeover, prompting a major police mobilization called operation street sweeper, involving more than 150 officers and a fleet of tow trucks. Seven firearms were found in a total of 200 vehicles were impounded. In addition to the dozens of arrests, more than 100 citations were issued for juveniles who were out past the city's 10:00 p.m. curfew.

And new details in the case of an Illinois mother charged with the murder of her toddler. Witnesses cited in court documents say Corie Walsh had become very interested in the Lindsay Clancy trial, discussing it with friends on Tuesday, just hours before prosecutors say she killed her two year old son. Her attorney says Walsh was in the midst of a mental health crisis at the time. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is covering the latest from New York.

This is so disturbing, Gloria. What more are you learning?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Bianna, we should warn our viewers that the details of this story are, in fact, very disturbing. Police say Corie Walsh of Frankfort, Illinois, mother was arrested and charged with first degree murder last week after she allegedly strangled her two year old son. The toddler was found in the house's basement by a neighbor, who also found Walsh in an upstairs bathroom, where she was in the process of attempting to hurt herself. There were three other children who were found unharmed, and Walsh's husband was apparently out of the house and out of the state at the time of the incident.

Now, as you said, Bianna prosecutors have laid out the details of their investigation so far, and court documents show that witnesses told investigators that Walsh had become, quote, very invested in the Lindsay Clancy trial out of Massachusetts.

As you know, Clancy accused of triple murder, the mother of three. Her trial ended in a deadlocked jury and a mistrial last week. Prosecutors say that Walsh had actually been texting with friends about the Clancy case shortly before she allegedly killed her two-year-old son. Now we have gotten a response from m an attorney for Walsh, who said that this has been a tragedy for the family, who is now mourning the loss of a child.

And she also said that, quote, "Corie herself was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time that this happened and that it is our hope that through thorough and through a thorough presentation and investigation of the facts, that all of us will come to see this heartbreak for what it is, that mention of a psychotic episode, also very similar to what we heard out of the Clancy case, as you remember, her defense tried to argue that Clancy was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time that she killed her three children.

Walsh remains in custody at the will county adult detention facility in Illinois, and there is a scheduled court hearing for Tuesday. There's been so much discussion about the Clancy case, about the issues discussed in the Clancy case, and unfortunately, this very disturbing case out of Illinois. We will wait to learn more at this court hearing next week -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Gloria Pazmino, thank you.

And help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health.

[14:55:02]

Just call or text 988.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: CNN remembers the September 11th attacks with a screening of the acclaimed film "9/11", which shows the only footage from inside the Twin Towers. The film will be accompanied by a new interview from the filmmakers.

Here's a preview.