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CNN This Morning
Fears Grow As Israel Readies Assault On Gaza's Largest City; Trump Sends Letter Of Support To Zelenskyy For Ukraine's Independence Day; Tour Bus Rollover Kills 5 On Interstate In Western NY; More Than 20 Hurt After School Bus Crash In PA; Abrego Garcia Threatened With Deportation To Uganda; Police Shut Down Facebook Page Sharing Intimate Photos Of Women. No Word on When National Guard Would Deploy to Chicago; Maxwell's Interview Transcripts Released; FBI Searches Home of John Bolton; Newsom Trolls Trump will All-Caps X Posts. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired August 24, 2025 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:00:22]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Welcome, welcome to CNN This Morning, Sunday, August 14th. I'm Victor Blackwell.
Here's what's happening this morning. New Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Palestinians. People there are bracing for an expanded Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The NTSB is now on the scene of that fatal bus crash in New York State. The key details they're looking into to determine what exactly happened there and why so many people were hurt.
There's a new turn in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He's a man who was wrongly deported, then brought back to the U.S. and detained for weeks. Now, he may be deported again. What his lawyers have to say about that.
And who would have thought that changing your logo and getting some new furniture, putting some turquoise rolling pins on the wall would be such a problem. The Cracker Barrel controversy that has so many people talking coming up in the morning roundup.
All right, this morning, Gaza's largest city is on edge as Israel prepares for a major assault. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled, or signaled rather, plans to take control of Gaza City, seen as one of Hamas's last strongholds.
An Israeli source says the military will give Palestinians about two months to leave before the operation begins. But the plan is already drawing warnings from governments and aid groups. They point to Israel's record over the past two years, including high civilian deaths, reports of war crimes, human rights abuses, repeated blockades on aid, raising fears of what's to come in the weeks ahead.
CNN's Nada Bashir joins me now. Nada, good morning to you.
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, Victor. We are still hearing those warnings that you mentioned from humanitarian organizations and aid groups around the consequences of this renewed military offensive and potential impact on Gaza's civilian population.
Some one million people in Gaza City now faced once again with a forced evacuation order. The Israeli military telling civilians to move south. They have communicated this to hospitals, to other aid organizations on the ground.
And of course, this is not the first time that civilians in Gaza City have been told to evacuate. We have seen repeated evacuation orders across the Strip for almost two years now, with the repeated messaging from the U.N. and other humanitarian organizations that there is simply nowhere safe left to go for civilians.
And we've seen the overrun humanitarian camps, many of which have been described by the Israeli military as so-called safe zones. But of course, as we have seen and reported on multiple occasions, these humanitarian zones are often then faced with Israeli airstrikes.
Now, the fear is that, of course, for many civilians who are forced to evacuate, once again, they will be nowhere safe to go. And of course, the warning from the U.N. is that this renewed military offensive, which the Israeli Prime Minister has indicated that he has now approved, could create an even more catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Just in the last few days, we had that U.N.-backed report confirming that there is now famine in parts of Gaza, particularly in the Gaza governorate, which is, of course, the location of Gaza City, where we are seeing this military offensive. And there is that warning that famine could continue to spread across the Strip.
And it's important to underscore and remind our viewers that before that confirmation of famine, the entire Gaza Strip was actually placed under a phase 4 emergency category for starvation and hunger by this U.N.-backed initiative. So, it is a dire situation across the board that will only be made worse by this military operation.
As you mentioned, Victor, we have seen protests taking place, large- scale protests, for example, in Australia against this war calling for a ceasefire across multiple cities. It's something that we have seen across the globe over the last almost two years now, frequent protests taking place.
And of course, even in Israel, we are seeing still weekly protests taking place. Just yesterday, another large-scale rally being held by Israeli civilians calling on the Israeli government to do more to bring about a ceasefire agreement that brings an end to the war and secures the safe release of hostages still held captive in Gaza. Victor?
BLACKWELL: Nada Bashir for us in London. Nada, thank you. Today marks Ukraine's 34th Independence Day, and the Trump administration is weighing in with a message of support. Russian- Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg is in Kyiv to show support and attend today's celebrations. You see him here meeting with President Zelenskyy.
President Trump also sent a letter to the Ukrainian President. He praised Ukraine's unbreakable spirit. He said the U.S. believes in its future as an independent nation. President Trump also called for a negotiated settlement to end the war. The message comes as Ukraine steps up its attacks on Russia's energy facilities, and peace talks are stalled.
[07:05:16]
Here's what CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger had to say about Trump's letter last hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: The good news out of the President's message is that he used the phrase independent nation, so he envisions an independent Ukraine that is not part of or even controlled by Russia. The bad news is that almost nothing that the President predicted on the stage with President Putin when he tried to cast an optimistic tone around their negotiations has come to pass.
Obviously, there is no ceasefire, and he gave up on a ceasefire almost right away in those talks. He predicted that by last Friday, a couple of days ago, there would be a meeting between President Zelenskyy and President Putin. None is scheduled, and none seems likely.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
BLACKWELL: We're learning new details about the deadly tour bus crash that happened in Pembroke, New York, Friday. That bus was carrying more than 50 passengers from Niagara Falls to New York City. Five people were killed, several others injured.
CNN's Leigh Waldman has more from outside one of the hospitals where patients are being treated.
LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dozens of people are still being treated at at least four regional hospitals here in western New York following a tour bus rollover crash just outside of Pembroke on I-90 on Friday. What we know right now is several of those patients have been discharged from the Erie County Medical Center where we're outside of right now. Several people still being treated inside by medical teams here.
We've heard from first responders that that bus was traveling at full speed. The driver became distracted, lost control, causing that bus to rollover and crash. Several people were ejected or trapped underneath that bus at the time.
Take a listen to the moment after the crash.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a tour bus with 52 passengers, mostly foreign speaking. We have people ejected and people possibly under the bus at this point.
DR. SAMUEL D. CLOUD, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: This is probably the most trauma patients we've had from one incident in my career here in Buffalo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 25 years?
CLOUD: Over 26 years.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
WALDMAN: First responders describing this scene as volatile not only because of the scale of the crash itself but because many of the people on board that bus did not speak English. They had to wait for translators to come and assist them in helping out those people there.
We know that that bus has been taken off of the thruway to open it back up to traffic going both directions. Right now it's at a New York State Police barracks outside of that crash site as this investigation continues. Investigators ruling out driver impairment, ruling out mechanical issues with the bus itself. They're trying to determine what caused that driver to become distracted in the first place.
In Buffalo, Leigh Waldman, CNN.
BLACKWELL: Leigh, thank you.
Let's take a look at some of your headlines this morning. In Pennsylvania, investigators are looking into what caused a bus carrying junior high football players to crash. This happened about 30 miles northwest of the state capitol. More than 20 people were taken to the hospital. One student was in critical condition and underwent surgery. No other vehicles were involved.
The federal and Florida state governments are asking a judge to stay a ruling preventing new detainees from being sent to the Alligator Alcatraz Detention Center. The state wants the order stayed while the appeals process plays out.
On Thursday, judge ruled no new detainees could be brought in and much of the facility's infrastructure must be taken down. The judge cited environmental damage and threats to indigenous lands in blocking that site.
This morning, evacuation orders are in place as a dangerous wildfire burns throughout Napa County, California. As of Saturday, this fast moving picket fire has burned more than 6,000 acres, only 11 percent contained. More than 200 firefighters are working to contain those flames. The cause of the fire is under investigation. And SpaceX is gearing up for the latest test launch of its Starship mega rocket. SpaceX debuted the current generation of Starship vehicles in January. Since then, two mega rockets have exploded over Florida. And in May, it spun out of control near its landing site in the Indian Ocean.
Today's launch will be live streamed.
All right, still to come, the man the government wrongfully deported to El Salvador is no longer in custody, but now he's under renewed threat from the Trump administration.
[07:10:02]
A Facebook page with thousands of followers has been shut down in Italy. What men were posting that sparked a police investigation.
And Washington, D.C. is reporting a moderate dip in reported crime since National Guard troops were deployed. Now, President Trump says he'll send guard members to Chicago.
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[07:15:05]
BLACKWELL: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national who was wrongfully deported, was finally released from custody Friday after spending weeks in a U.S. detention facility. But now, he's facing deportation again. This time he could be sent to Uganda, and it could happen in the next few days. The Department of Homeland Security sent a notice to Abrego Garcia just minutes after he was released from criminal custody.
Joining me now is one of Abrego Garcia's immigration attorneys, Benjamin Osorio. Good to talk with you again. So there was another attorney who says that sending him to Uganda is a form of retaliation and pressure to accept a plea deal. Do you agree with that?
BENJAMIN OSORIO, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY FOR ABREGO GARCIA: I do, given that they know that the U.S. government knows they have an offer on the table from Costa Rica. So if you have an offer of asylum status to the U.S. government for an individual you say you want to deport who is a Spanish speaker and has a family here in the United States, why would you not take that over sending him to a country where he doesn't speak the language and is thousands of miles away from his family? So the only reason that you would choose Uganda over Costa Rica is to try to punish him.
BLACKWELL: So there was the judge who ordered that facilitation, and we remember the word from the order, of Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. or from El Salvador also ordered that he be afforded 72 hours advance notice before deporting him to a third country. So do you know anything about the precise timing of when this retrieval and deportation could happen since that notice has come?
OSORIO: Yes. Yes. So, I mean, we got the notice and I received the notice as well Friday afternoon about 4:00. So there, he has a check- in with Baltimore ICE on Monday. So I fully expect him to be detained at that time. And then, you know, we're going to try to present a fear-based claim to Uganda.
So we're going to do everything we can legally under the INA to prevent his removal to Uganda, a country to where he has no ties.
BLACKWELL: More than his preference and having no ties, what is the opposition to Uganda?
OSORIO: I mean, if you drop me in the middle of a country where I have no family, don't speak the language, have no ability to support myself, there's no indication that he's going to get a work permit there, any type of refugee or asylum status. So great, he's going to be undocumented there.
The other objection is what's to prevent Uganda from sending him back to El Salvador. So, I mean, it looks like they're trying to run -- you know, to do a switcheroo here. Let's send them to Uganda, knowing that Uganda is very likely to deport him back to El Salvador where he's going to end up in CECOT again. So, I mean, that's our objection to it.
BLACKWELL: Yes. And so he's at -- I last read, he's at home now. Is there a possibility, and you know this better than I would, that he could self-deport to Costa Rica, or is he still under the custody or the surveillance, probably the wrong word there, of the federal government because of those human smuggling charges?
OSORIO: So he is under supervision right now pending trial that's set for January and the criminal case. So he would need to resolve the criminal case before he could try to self-deport. That, I mean, that's one of the things being discussed.
I am not part of the criminal team, so I'm not part of those discussions. But I know that is being looked at as a possible option. But right now, you know, he's under both sort of eye supervision and probation supervision by the federal -- in the federal district court.
So we'll see what happens in the future. You know, I think that that would be a better outcome for everybody and cheaper for the U.S. government, and, you know, a better outcome for him and his family long-term than being sent to Uganda.
BLACKWELL: All right, we'll be watching.
Benjamin Osorio, thank you so much.
Still ahead, a popular Facebook page in Italy has been shut down after thousands of complaints and a police investigation. We'll take you live to Rome.
Governor Gavin Newsom's standing in the Democratic Party has skyrocketed. We take a look at his Trump trolling strategy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:23:43]
BLACKWELL: There's a disturbing story out of Italy this morning. A Facebook page named My Wife has been shut down after a police investigation. Men used it to share intimate images of their female partners, their sisters, women they didn't even know, often without consent.
CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau joins us now from Rome. Barbie, this page was launched in 2019. The violation, the betrayal, how did this come to public attention?
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes, you know, I mean, it is really an astonishing, you know, betrayal of privacy, but it's also an astonishing lack of action when it comes to Facebook, because it was only when the Italian authorities launched a criminal investigation, which was really launched by an Italian journalist here, an activist who does a lot of writing on issues involving women and violence against women here.
She started posting some of the screen grabs of this page, not the pictures, of course, and that really is what got the attention of the authorities. They finally closed it down. But what we don't know, and this is going to be the difficult thing, is if anyone will actually be held criminally liable or culpable in this case, because it's going to be those victims.
The women whose pictures were posted without their consent and were commented upon in vulgar ways, I can't even describe, they're the ones that are going to have to do the heavy lifting when it comes to getting any sort of criminal action. They're going to have to denounce their partners, their family members, the people who posted them.
[07:25:13]
And, you know, all across the Italian press, especially this morning, there are interviews with some of the victims, and they're afraid. You know, they've been told by their partners, oh, this is just boys being boys. This is just nothing. You're taking it too seriously. You know, don't denounce me.
And so there are a lot of women who are kind of victims twice over because they're afraid now to do anything in retaliation and take it any further in the criminal court. So it's disturbing as well is that the last post on the site before it was taken down was that it will be recreated on another platform.
And, you know, we -- understanding that there are many sites like this, these sorts of voyeur rooms where people post these pictures and then others comment on them. This particular site had nearly 32,000 members, mostly men, who commented on a lot of these pictures, Victor. Really disturbing, and it's not over.
BLACKWELL: Thousands, thousands of pictures there from brothers and husbands and boyfriends and strangers. Astonishing is the right word.
Barbie Latza Nadeau, thank you.
All right, coming up, transcripts of Ghislaine Maxwell's jailhouse interview provided a lot of new details in the Epstein investigation. A lot of questions, too. Will it quiet the controversy? That story and more in the roundup.
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[07:30:00]
BLACKWELL: President Trump's next National Guard rollout could be in Chicago. Officials tell CNN the plan has been in the works for weeks. Joining me now, Ernie Suggs, racing culture reporter, Atlanta Journal- Constitution, Judge Ashley Willcott, and former political reporter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WABE Bill Nigut, welcome back to all.
Ernie, let me start with you and Chicago. The Washington Post adds in their reporting that the deployment would be at least a few thousand National Guard members, and as soon as next month. Let's listen to President Trump here on why Chicago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The people in Chicago, Mr. Vice President, are screaming for us to come. They're wearing red hats just like this one, but they're wearing red hats. African American ladies, beautiful ladies are saying, please, President Trump, come to Chicago, please. I did great with the black vote, as you know, and they want something to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Black women all over Chicago are screaming for the National Guard. What is this about?
ERNIE SUGGS, RACE AND CULTURE REPORTER, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Well, he did great with the black vote, as he said. But this is about unchecked power. This is about the fact that not -- you know, what he did in Washington, D.C. was not because crime was spiking, he did in Washington, D.C. because he said he can do it, and he wanted to prove that he can do it.
So, Chicago has always been a talking point for MAGA. It's always been a talking point for Republicans and for white voters to see -- to show that this is a city that's under control -- that's out of control, that black people -- like he said, that black people are out of control in Chicago. So, it's goes from Washington, D.C. to Chicago, next is going to be Los Angeles, maybe New York City, maybe here in Atlanta. So, this is just an incremental step in Trump's grab of power and proving that he can do what he wants to do.
BILL NIGUT, FORMER POLITICAL REPORTER, AJC AND WABE: Yes. It -- first of all, I'm a Chicagoan by birth and spent many years there. I don't think Chicago, a Democratic stronghold, you'll find a whole lot of red hats being worn by people there. But that does not mean that there hasn't been a charitable problem as I think everyone knows of crime, especially in black communities in Chicago, and the city has tried over and over to get it under control.
But as I think you point out, Ernie, in the same way that Washington, D.C., the deployment has not been in neighborhoods where there is major crime, they've been at places where tourists gather. So, you can't help but see this as performative, a show of strength and power, and we'll see if this really happens in Chicago, where these troops are going to be deployed.
JUDGE ASHLEY WILLCOTT, RETIRED JUVENILE COURT JUDGE, TRIAL ATTORNEY AND CERTIFIED CHILD WELFARE LAW SPECIALIST: But also, you've got to do the deeper dive, right? No matter what you've got to make sure that the whole reason is to deal with people either who you have warrants out on, right, valid warrants, or who are committing crimes, that it's not used for the other purposes, like detaining illegal immigrants. You've got to do the deeper dive.
NIGUT: Which is what's happened in Washington. The reporting in Washington is that most of the people being picked up are undocumented immigrants. There's only been something like 400 people picked up for crimes, and most of those apparently minor crimes, there's a homicide that the feds were able to act on. But most of this has been minor crimes.
BLACKWELL: Some of them are fair evasion that they count in those numbers. To your point, in D.C., since August 7th, this is according to CNN analysis, federal officials have arrested 300 people in D.C. who don't have legal immigration status. That's more than a tenfold increase of what would be typical in that time. So, is this, let's say as we walk through the cities in Chicago, which Tom Homan, the border czar, has focused on for ICE enforcement and for being a sanctuary city, is this an immigration effort dressed up to be an anti-crime fighting initiative?
[07:35:00]
WILLCOTT: The numbers are going to show that, right? I think that the proof is in the pudding. It depends on how many they detained simply for being illegal immigrants versus the other legal reasons.
NIGUT: I don't think we should overlook the larger question, and I think you were making that point, Ernie. These are National Guard troops who are going to be armed, certainly in Washington. This is basically armies of American soldiers, national guardsmen now moving into our cities, and that in and of itself is, I think, really distressing for us to think about that this is what Trump wants to do, is bringing federal troops in major cities around the country. We've never seen anything like this in our history.
WILLCOTT: It takes away the state's power, right? You always have separation of the state and the feds. But now, that takes that away.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Jeffrey Epstein, his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, and the release of the recordings and the transcripts. We're now hearing from a relative of Virginia Giuffre, one of his victims. The family writes, this travesty of justice entirely invalidates the experiences of the many brave survivors who put their safety, security, and lives on the line to ensure her conviction, including our sister. They said that this interview was a platform to rewrite history. Judge, how do you see it?
WILLCOTT: I don't necessarily disagree. So, again, she didn't get a deal, so to speak, for the two-day interview, but she did get a promise of limited immunity that she wouldn't face any additional criminal charges. And so, I think it was a platform, I don't believe what she said in that interview personally.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
SUGGS: Do you not believe that her getting leniency in terms of moving where she is that that's part of a deal?
WILLCOTT: Well, allegedly it's not part of the deal, but is that a benefit to her and she happened to give an interview? Absolutely.
NIGUT: When you read the transcripts, it's striking how often she seemed to be making an appeal to President Trump for a pardon.
WILLCOTT: Oh, he was in a book.
NIGUT: She, at one point, talks about the fact that -- she said, well, no, there was never anything that I saw that was untoward about Trump. And by the way, I think he's doing a wonderful job in the White House right now. I mean, clearly --
WILLCOTT: She wants a pardon.
NIGUT: Yes.
SUGGS: And when -- Victor, when we talk about what the families are saying about what she's been talking about, she's spent her whole adult life protecting powerful men, from Epstein now to Trump. So, this is kind of following a pattern. And if it's going to benefit her in terms of leniency or a pardon, then, you know, she's going to do --
WILLCOTT: She's going do it.
SUGGS: -- what she's going to -- yes.
WILLCOTT: I agree.
SUGGS: She's going to do what she's going to do. Yes.
WILLCOTT: That's all she knows. That manipulative personality.
SUGGS: Exactly, exactly.
BLACKWELL: There was also, Bill, the handover of thousands of documents to the House Oversight Committee as well. And Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna said that less than 3 percent of those documents represented anything new. Overall, it's only 1 percent of the documents that DOJ has. So, does any of this quiet the conspiracy theorist?
NIGUT: Well, I mean, I certainly would not consider myself a spokesman for the MAGA conspiracy theorists.
BLACKWELL: OK.
NIGUT: But I don't see that this is suddenly going to quiet things down. I think the Ghislaine Maxwell testimony is not going to suddenly satisfy them. And not just because of Trump, but they want to know about Clinton and all that sort of thing. So, I don't think it's going to quiet them down. But it's another example of the performative nature of this administration. Everything is done for show. And so, they can make a big deal out of we've released thousands of pages, but as you point out, we now know most of them were public already.
WILLCOTT: But everything is done to prevent transparency that I see it. And so, why not give us all the transparency and say, here are all the documents. Figure out what you will. You're smart. Read them. See what you think.
BLACKWELL: Is the timing -- I think I know what the answer's going to be here -- of the search of John Bolton's home and office on the same day of the handover coincidental?
SUGGS: You answered that question. When you talk about the performative nature, the John Bolton is another example of performative nature. This is a guy who has been loyal to Trump. He was loyal to Trump for about 18 months, and now he's a critic. He's on this set all the time criticizing Donald Trump, and that comes with a cost, and he's seeing that as the FBI is going into his house, is going into his office with their jackets on saying FBI and they're pulling out files.
So, this is an example of unchecked power in the White House, that if you are -- you're not with Trump, you're against him, and if you're against Trump, you're in trouble.
WILLCOTT: But I have to push back on that a little bit because a federal judge had to issue a warrant based on probable cause. And so, does that not balance that unfettered power? Question mark.
BLACKWELL: I --
WILLCOTT: And the room goes quiet. I'm not sure.
BLACKWELL: Question mark.
[07:40:00]
NIGUT: I defer to you, Your Honor, on this. But I do -- look, the question is, when you go into John Bolton's house, is it because DOJ thinks there's really something there, or as we've seen over and over again, is DOJ acting at the demands of a president who wants a retribution for people who turned against him? And we know, unfortunately, that the federal judiciary now has people in various courts, unfortunately, not many, perhaps, who are willing to do the president's bidding.
WILLCOTT: And probable cause is such a low standard. You don't have to show a lot to show probable cause.
SUGGS: Yes, yes.
BLACKWELL: All right. Stay with us. We have a lot more to talk about, including Cracker Barrel. And if you need something to watch, Netflix has a suggestion and it's based on your zodiac sign.
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[07:45:00]
BLACKWELL: Welcome back. California Governor Gavin Newsom is fighting fire with fire, trolling President Trump with all-caps posts on X. Here's the latest one. This was just last night going in on Fox News. He calls it, Fox edits the tapes news and says they must cancel their weekend stinkers immediately while calling himself America's favorite governor. And then, he says and many say the most handsome in history. Thank you. And signs it off with thank you for your attention to this matter.
And then of course, these, you know, the A.I. pictures that post make fun of President Trump, Dems and progressives try to rally their voter base. Ernie, does this help? Is this effective?
SUGGS: For -- well, for one, it's my favorite news story right now.
BLACKWELL: OK.
SUGGS: And, you know, Bill, you know, you're a movie buff and I know you've all seen "Eight Mile." And the way that Eminem wins the rap battle at the end is by telling his rival everything he's going to say about him. And he wins. And I think that this is an example of Gavin Newsom brilliantly using Donald Trump's words brilliantly using MAGA's images. You see the iconology that's been shown to show just how absurd all of this is, and he's bringing attention to himself just to show this is crazy stuff that we're seeing here every day.
You know, he's the most handsome governor in the world. I don't know if that's true or not, but by him saying that people are paying attention and seeing how ridiculous some of the other stuff that's out there is.
NIGUT: Yes. You know, I think I agree with you, this is really a wonderful story to watch. And, you know, Democrats, as we all know are -- they're wandering in the wilderness right now. They have no idea of how to combat Trump in any strategic way. So, I think at the very least, Gavin Newsom is injecting some new energy, a little bit of excitement and fun into attacking Trump.
Now, whether in the long run that works in his favor or not, we have no way of knowing. But it -- there is something about it that's really entertaining to watch.
WILLCOTT: And they're entering the fray. Good for him for entering the fray in an entertaining way.
NIGUT: Yes.
BLACKWELL: You know, this is interesting because it may be working for him in a way that it did not work, if you remember, when then- Senator Marco Rubio tried it in the primary in 2016, where he kind of turned back some of the vitriol that then-private citizen Trump tried to use and it did not work for him.
NIGUT: Well, part of the issue here is the reason it may work better is he's done it with a real sense of humor.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WILLCOTT: Yes.
NIGUT: I'm not sure Marco Rubio has that kind of sense of humor, and he certainly didn't in the way he fought back against Trump.
WILLCOTT: And it may be timing. They're ready now.
NIGUT: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Can we talk about Cracker Barrel?
WILLCOTT: Yes. I want to talk about Cracker Barrel.
BLACKWELL: I mean, Cracker Barrel is just taken it because they've made some changes to the logo. Let's put up the older logo, which is not the original, but the most recent logo, and now their new logo, they went from, I guess, a pinto beam to a barrel. They got rid of the man and the barrel and the old country store.
WILLCOTT: Why? Why, Victor? Why?
BLACKWELL: That's the thing.
WILLCOTT: Leave it alone if it works. Leave it alone if it works. You can modernize, but why do you have to change the logo that that's what people see and know all over the country?
NIGUT: Well, I'm interested in the fact that you said they got rid of the man in the logo. That man, I have subsequently learned, is Uncle Herschel.
BLACKWELL: That's Uncle Hersel himself?
WILLCOTT: Yes.
NIGUT: Who was a real character.
WILLCOTT: Yes.
NIGUT: And has always been identified with Cracker Barrel. There's a many -- one of the ways that Cracker Barrel's fighting back is saying, what do you mean? We didn't get rid of him? We still have his menu item.
BLACKWELL: We have his meal in here.
NIGUT: His meal on the menu.
BLACKWELL: Yes. And you know, this is the thing is that it's been now put into this partisan lens. Congressman Byron Donalds says that it's a woke rebrand and said, it's time to make Cracker Barrel great again. Their stock price dropped 12 percent last week. And so, I mean, woke is now a catchall for everything. If this is now considered woke.
SUGGS: And I want to hear what Byron Donalds has to say about the Smithsonian.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WILLCOTT: Yes.
SUGGS: You know, if he thinks that this is a woke, what is he saying about the Smithsonian and all the changes that Donald Trump is proposing? I went to Cracker Barrel on Wednesday of this week. I love it. I don't know if I should be saying this probably, but I love Cracker Barrel and you know, I had the grandma sampler platter.
WILLCOTT: Is the food the same? So, the food tasted the same. They didn't change the menu.
BLACKWELL: At least the syrup is still warm. I'm in. I don't care about the logo. Let's talk about Netflix because we have just a little bit of time left. Netflix has now launched a zodiac watch list. You can browse shows and movies based on your zodiac. And let's start with you, Bill. You're an Aries, apparently you love chaos and competition. "Squid Game, "Love is Blind," "Building the Band." You've seen any of these?
[07:50:00]
NIGUT: I have seen the first "Squid Game." I didn't like it at all. I think Netflix understands my algorithm better than my Zodiac signs. I'm in -- I want Scandinavian police procedure.
BLACKWELL: I don't know what side --
NIGUT: My wife won't even let me in the room when she's watching shows like "Love is Blind" because she thinks I'll embarrass her.
BLACKWELL: Well, speaking of "Love is Blind," yes, it's one of yours. Ernie and Judge, you are both Pisces.
SUGGS: All right.
WILLCOTT: No, I'm Taurus. No.
BLACKWELL: You're a Taurus?
WILLCOTT: Yes. You're a Pisces. BLACKWELL: You're a Pisces.
SUGGS: I'm Pisces.
BROWN: OK. All right. So, you're a Pisces. "Hopelessly Romantic," "Bridgeton," "Irish Wish," "Forever,"XO, Kitty." You've seen any of these?
SUGGS: I've never any of these. But I am hopelessly romantic. My wife is here.
BLACKWELL: OK.
SUGGS: So, maybe we're going to start watching some of these shows.
WILLCOTT: Yes. You never know. I think there's a brilliant strategy. I just have to tell. I'm going to offer Taurus, "Mama Mia." That says it brings the party. So, that's my other personality, I guess. And yes, I like that movie.
BLACKWELL: And so, I'm a Libra. diplomatic and charming.
WILLCOTT: Of course.
BLACKWELL: "Ozark, "Peaky Blinders, "Back in Action," "Designated Survivor," and "Hitman." I haven't seen any of those.
SUGGS: "Ozark" and "Designated Survivor" I've watched.
BLACKWELL: I hear they're great.
WILLCOTT: But that's the point, it's telling you what you should watch.
BLACKWELL: Oh, what I should watch.
WILLCOTT: Because surely --
BLACKWELL: OK. All right. Maybe I'll get into "Peaky Blinders." All right. Everybody, thank you for joining me this morning. It's been great. All right. we'll be right back with sports.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:55:00]
BLACKWELL: Tonight, CNN's Nick Watt goes inside the world of a 24- year-old pro gambler whose winning strategy looks more like Wall Street than Vegas. It is data, it is discipline, it is high stakes analysis, it is not luck.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Listen, this is a fascinating world of which I knew almost nothing. I'm not a gambler, not one of my vices, but we got to dive deep, spend time with people who are in this world and bring it to you.
Now, one of the side effects we've seen is harassment of athletes. Some guy loses 10 bucks because a college freshman misses a bucket, sometimes that turns into abuse. Take a watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go sit behind a team, a college basketball team, men's or women's team at one of the conference tournaments. Listen to the yelling and screaming that gets directed at them from thereby batters. Stuff like, I know where your exit out of the building is. You cost me five grand. I'm going to kill you. We have at some of our championships put 24/7 police protection around some of our teams.
WATT: Over threats relating to betting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, threats from betting that were deemed to be legit.
WATT: You would like to just see it, that you can just bet on who's going to win, who's going to lose?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.
WATT: And that's enough.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: You know, I didn't understand the appeal of gambling on sports, not my thing. Fascinating. I thought that the appeal was winning tons of money, speaking to a lot of gamblers, the appeal is the dopamine, the excitement of placing the bet, the anticipation. That's what they love. And now, because of apps, you can get that every few seconds. You can be sitting middle of the night here in L.A. betting on ping pong in Taiwan, getting that rush every few seconds as you bet on every single point in the game. Fascinating world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All new episode of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper: Sports Betting: America's Big Gamble." It airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.
Our big 12 showdown between 17th ranked Kansas State and 22 Iowa State. It kicked off the college football season in Dublin, Ireland. Coy Wire is here.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It was sloppy, there was lots of stumbling, and that's just from the fans drinking all the Guinness. It was a party. Also, from the rain, though. It rains 150 plus days in Dublin.
Look at this, field conditions were so bad you couldn't even see the yard lines or hash marks at one point. Coaches requested they repaint the lines at halftime. Game was tied at seven after half. But Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht says, give me my lucky charm. His receiver, Brett Eskildsen, with a pot of gold there at the end of a beautiful rainbow. Excuse me. Kansas State quarterback Ava Johnson, they called back.
Look at this pot of gold. Touchdown. Jayce Brown to Johnson projected to be one of the Heisman candidates this year. But it all came down to this, fourth down, two minutes to go and cyclones running back. Carson Hansen seals the deal. Iowa State wins 24-21. Might have been a big 12 title game preview. Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell gets his 100th career win, 65th with Iowa State.
A week ago, the San Diego Padres got swept at Dodgers Stadium. Padres' pitcher, Nestor Cortes, said they kind of got punched in the mouth, but yesterday, Nasty Nester as he's called, he was the one throwing the heat, retiring the first 16 batters he faced, allowing one hit in six scoreless innings. And then the bottom of the eighth, Xander Bogaerts puts a fork in L.A. A two-run double to right Padres wins five to one, beating the Dodgers twice this weekend with 32 games to play. San Diego now stands alone, the top the NL West.
Now, to our celebration of the day, Lions, Texans in the final state of NFL pre-season games. Lions rookie, Isaac Teslaa went for two catches, 41 yards of touchdown.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
[08:00:00]
