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CNN This Morning
Mamdani's Tax Rollout on Second Homes; Two Former NBA Players Declare for WNBA Draft; Tucker Carlson Expresses Regret to Hunter Biden. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired August 11, 2026 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: And that it will increase hesitancy and make children safe.
So, help me out, because I'm already confused, right? Like, first I hear we're getting a lower number of shots. Then someone says actually it's more shots. Like, what is the difference here?
DR. CHRIS T. PERNELL, DIRECTOR, NAACP CENTER FOR HEALTH EQUITY: Yes, I think it's most important to first say that baby's immune systems are very strong, very smart, and can handle the commonly recommended vaccine schedule. Children are exposed to anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000 immune triggering substances that we call antigens every day. And before this executive order, children were being exposed to 165 antigens through vaccines, which are like beginner books, right, priming and pumping the immune system to function. So, when you change that vaccine schedule, when you break up MMR, or you say that flu or Covid is not recommended, you take the commonly accepted vaccine schedule, and you spread it out.
What happens when you spread it out? Parents are either more likely to forget and to return for multiple dose vaccines, children miss much needed protection. And it's not just about the child who doesn't get vaccinated. Remember, immunizations help to perform herd immunity. So, it's also about the child or the very vulnerable person who, because of some illness, maybe cannot receive the full recommended vaccine dose. So, we have to think about the collective and the whole.
CORNISH: Over time, measles, for example, measles cases are up in the U.S. under this administration. What are your concerns as we head into the school year?
PERNELL: My concerns are that that vaccination rate that is recommended among kindergartners continues to drop. It's recommended to be 95 percent. It's now 92.5 percent. And when that rate drops, people, unfortunately, get harmed or, worst case scenario, they die.
We are having the worst measles outbreak in over three decades. We are already surging above 2,300 cases in this year alone, and that does not have to be. These are researched, effective vaccines. We know what times are best -- we're best able to give the vaccinations to children, and we actually know the best dose. Now, we took something that was hard core science and we demoted to
guessing. And for Senator Bill Cassidy, way too little, too late. As a physician, he should have stood his guard before the current secretary actually was confirmed and we were allowed to destroy the faith in public health. This is really, really unfortunate.
CORNISH: OK. That's Dr. Chris Pernell. Thank you for your point of view. Appreciate that.
PERNELL: Thank you.
CORNISH: And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, winning was one thing, governing, another. I'm going to talk about the legal roadblock to Mayor Mamdani's agenda in New York. Plus, has the WNBA become another front for America's culture wars? Yes. How fights over race and gender are changing the conversation about the league.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:37:33]
CORNISH: So, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is hitting a roadblock on a signature promise taxing the rich. So, a judge has blocked the rollout of the mayor's effort to boost property taxes on high value second homes in the city. Mamdani says the fight isn't over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: We are confident in our position and that is a confidence coming from both the legality of the city's actions, as well as the importance of a surcharge on secondary homes worth more than $5 million. A surcharge that will help fund safer streets, that will help fund stronger schools, and it will help fund the city that New Yorkers deserve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, group chat is back.
"New York Post" responds, "Hold It Right Terre!," because it's the pied-a-terre tax.
It turned out this ran into a couple of problems. One, that there were people who got caught up in it and it was their primary home, right, when they made their list. Two, he was weirdly public in saying the names of people who had second homes and that really, like, appalled some folks. What else is going on with this tax?
MARIO PARKER, MANAGING EDITOR OF ECONOMY AND GOVERNMENT, "BLOOMBERG NEWS": Well, you saw some of the homeowners challenge the fact that they received a notice and there were some of those had their prime -- they were their primary home. They weren't their --
CORNISH: Yes, this is the home I'm living in. Yes.
PARKER: Yes, as opposed to their second home. And then to your point, they felt as if they had been doxed essentially by having their names, addresses and the value of their homes released publicly.
Now, that being said, there was a way -- that data is public information.
CORNISH: Anyway. (INAUDIBLE).
PARKER: It just wasn't collated in that way.
CORNISH: Well, basically this was a tax on a second home. And this was his backup plan. Initially, he wanted the governor of New York to pass a tax at the state level that would have raised taxes on rich New Yorkers. She rejected it. And that's how we ended up here.
Now, I have to admit, I can see on paper how people in New York, who worry about rent, who see empty apartments because wealthy people are not in those apartments and say, sure, tax them. So, what's the reality here?
ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL: I know you want to go first. I can hear --
CORNISH: Yes, he's really --
DAVIS: I can hear you in my ear.
ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: How you campaign and how you govern are two different things. And I think that's the conversation we're going to have after November. There are a lot of candidates who made a lot of promises to a lot of people, when in reality is, in the Congress, you need 217 people to agree with you, plus a majority in the Senate. At the local level, you're going to need council folks and others to get on board with your idea.
[06:40:00]
If you're not a strong mayor, you have to work with other partners to get things done. And that's my fear about this environment we're living in, a lot of promises. So, you overpromise and under-deliver, then it makes people angry at the system and they tune out.
DAVIS: Or the free bussing, remember, because he can't do that alone. All of -- a lot of his issues he can't.
But I think that this isn't going away. What the judge has stopped was the rollout. And so -- and you said that at the top. But I think it's important. And the list and all the things that happen, it's not necessarily the underlying policy of the five million.
CORNISH: Yes, the taxing. Yes.
DAVIS: The taxing. So, I do think this comes back. He just probably does it better. But, you know, he is a little bit the dog that caught the car because he's got to implement all this stuff now. And it is hard to govern, as you said.
CORNISH: It's interesting watching all these different cities come up with their wealth taxes. You know, this is coming up over and over again. This is why people are talking about the A.I. companies maybe having some sort of tax on them. There is this sense from the average person that some people are so far ahead that it's not going to hurt them if there's this additional taking.
And think about this. Bloomberg used to be the mayor, right? Like, this is the city, a wealthy community that is used to having an ear to city hall. And they've lost it.
PARKER: Yes. Well, I think what we're seeing in this moment, we spoke about movements, right? The seeds of this movement are the fact that we're in a k-shaped economy. The -- those at the top are doing very well. Those at the bottom are having a tough time.
We saw the jobs report last week. Antjuan and I were speaking about that earlier. We'll get an inflation report tomorrow as well. Affordability is a real issue. People are mad and they're taking out that anger, right? So, the progressive wing of the party. Whether or not their prescriptions are going to indeed lead to real world practical solutions is one thing, but they are speaking to that anger and tapping into that --
(CROSS TALK)
CORNISH: Yes. It's like that voter earlier who was like, let's give it a shot.
PARKER: Exactly. Exactly.
SEAWRIGHT: I also --
DAVIS: (INAUDIBLE) different.
SEAWRIGHT: I also think there's an element at the local level that people are figuring out where the real power is. Like D.C. is dysfunctional city. Nothing can get done. But the closer your government is to you, the more important it is for you. So, at the local level, you see mayors, you see city council folks, county executives. You feel -- you see them being more empowered and saying, you know what, we're going to use our power and we're going to fix the system in our own way where we can control it, and to hell with everything else.
DAVIS: City council has the power here, as you know.
CORNISH: Yes. Yes.
DAVIS: I mean, the mayor has it, but you can't do anything if the city council is not on board.
CORNISH: But the idea that states and local governments are the ones to move ahead in legislative areas where this very dysfunctional Congress is unable to make progress, I think, is very true.
So, you guys, stay with us. I'm going to turn to this.
Hunter Biden's media tour. Who won't he sit down with? Right now it's definitely going through all the most provocative voices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN A. SMITH, HOST, "THE STEPHEN A. SMITH SHOW": The right is maneuvering its way through the terrain and making and politicizing this issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, the WNBA is having a moment. Are the culture wars threatening to overshadow the play?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:47:18]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We fought for so many years, but in 2020 especially, to get to a point where we were talking about the basketball.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now somehow the basketball is being used against us. When, think about it, 30 years in --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at the players we're watching tonight. That's what we should be talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The WNBA facing a culture war sparked by Sophie Cunningham. So, the Indiana Fever guard's mission to, quote, "protect young girls in the locker room" has become a right-wing flashpoint. So much so that two former NBA players are declaring for the 2027 WNBA draft. Enes Kanter and Royce White both say they suddenly identify as women. Now, White even unveiled a new wig, saying he's in his feminine era.
Now, I just want to be clear, no openly trans woman has played in the WNBA. League policy simply states that only women are eligible.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert sent a memo to teams simply saying the league is discussing the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL SIMMONS, SPORTS PODCASTER: What the league really needs is a commissioner. And I would personally bet anything that we will not have this commissioner next year.
COLLIN COWHERD, SPORTS PODCASTER: Could you guys get ahead of anything? You're just constantly playing catch-up. And I do wonder if it just reached the point where, listen, we got to get a new commissioner in here.
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: This league has just been paralyzed on so many things led by Cathy Engelbert. And it's a shame because Cathy Engelbert was a top official at Deloitte, a woman in a man's world. The exact kind of woman that we celebrate
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, joining me now, Randall Williams, senior reporter at "Bloomberg News."
So, during the break, I was joking with you, more money, more problems. Like, the more attention on the WNBA, the more random sports dudes like the ones we were playing have thoughts on how it should be run, right? There's a lot of money at stake.
Why did this issue about trans players come up? Is it simply what Sophie Cunningham said, kind of hopping on this conversation, or was there more to it?
RANDALL WILLIAMS, HOST, BLOOMBERG "BUSINESS OF SPORTS" PODCAST: I think, of course, Sophie Cunningham has a right to have her beliefs, but this sort of issue is not something that has actively threatened the WNBA really ever. And so, her bringing this up, this idea that she does not want to play with men in -- biological men in a women's locker room didn't exist until that started this culture war where now everybody is talking about it.
And now you have two NBA players who are saying, I identify as women, and now Cathy Engelbert, the WNBA commissioner, has to come out and say, we're going to be thoughtful about these sort of conversations, knowing that, of course, this is collectively bargained and the collective bargaining agreement says that women can play in the WNBA, but it doesn't mention anything about trans women.
[06:50:04]
CORNISH: And they had a long conversation about that collective bargaining agreement. I mean they kind of just got it, which included, of course, more money for them.
WILLIAMS: Right.
CORNISH: I want to play for you our reporter, Christine Brennan. She was talking about the fact that this -- bringing this culture war issue in particular to this league is going to be tricky for these players who, on the whole, the league has seen as very progressive.
Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Colin Kaepernick, when he came out and was kneeling on -- with the terrible things happening, Black Lives Matter, the whole issue that we saw occurring, the WNBA was a month ahead of Colin Kaepernick. The Minnesota Lynx, Maya Moore and company, were a month ahead of Kaepernick. Most people don't know that or remember that or even paid any attention. So, the WNBA is an activist league, no doubt about it. Seventy-four percent black, 30 to 40 percent gay. And they are very liberal minded.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: How is that going to affect how these players talk about this?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think now they're faced with, you know, somewhat problem solving a situation that didn't need to be solved to begin with. They have to now sort of -- you have to wonder, does this impact the collective bargaining agreement? Do both sides decide to say, hey, we need to add a new clause in there? There's no signs of that just yet. But the sheer fact that they're having conversations about what this means, if Enes Kanter decides that he does want to declare for the WNBA draft, what sort of rules and regulations do they have to permit that because he's obviously making a mockery of this entire thing and using it for his own political gain.
CORNISH: The last thing I want to ask is, I -- there is some sensitivity here I think when I think back to -- I don't know if it was the Olympics, but do you remember there was a track star and people questioned her genetic makeup, her biological sex. And it went into this whole thing where people were questioning her body type and how she spoke and her voice. And in a league full of women who are queer, right, where there are plenty of black women, does this raise the specter of this kind of policing of your body and telling you that you look like a man and all of this stuff that, it's like, the wrong group of people to be foisting this on?
WILLIAMS: Yes. All I can think about is what these WNBA players go through on a daily basis of being compared to men, of often -- like you think of Brittney Griner in particular, who has dealt with that, I'd argue, more than any WNBA player over the last ten years of just her having a deep voice. And she's just -- she's a large version of that. And I think of the players who are 5'8", 5'9",, 5'10",who are just simply very, very good at basketball. Now that they're -- now they're put on, you know, the forefront of this culture war that they have no intentions of really fighting. They just want to play. And yet all we seem to talk about for the new collective bargaining agreement, the new media deal, all these players getting paid new money is things outside of basketball that have no threat on basketball at this current moment. So, it is annoying to say the least.
CORNISH: OK, Randall, thank you so much. Always appreciate your time.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
CORNISH: I want to turn to something else. Regrets, he has a few. Tucker Carlson apologizing to one of his longtime punching bags, Hunter Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, "THE TUCKER CARLSON SHOW": I advocated for all kinds of things that I now regret advocating for.
HUNTER BIDEN, FORMER PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S SON: Particularly the things that you said about me.
CARLSON: Yes, deep regret. No, I do actually -- I mean, I --
BIDEN: Yes.
CARLSON: Yes, I mean, I regret in the sense that as someone who has dealt with addiction --
BIDEN: Yes.
CARLSON: Not quite as in an exciting way as you did, but I've been there for sure.
BIDEN: Yes.
CARLSON: You know, extending grace to people who are out of their minds. Like, you would think I would do that. I should have done that more. So, I do -- I do regret that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Turns out, the two rivals can find common ground in having the same enemy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The one existential threat that I think that we face as a country is Donald Trump.
CARLSON: We've had a lot of bad leaders, actually, or mediocre leaders. I don't know if we've had a flamboyantly corrupt leader like this. We haven't, ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, group chat is back.
I won't run through them all, but I'll run through some of them. "Macrodosing" with PFT, "Armchair Expert" Dax Shepard, "This Is Gavin Newsom," "The Tucker Carlson Show," "America First," "Candace Owens." I think you could get Hunter Biden at your bar mitzvah at this point. The man is everywhere.
DAVIS: I wonder what the end game is though. I mean, look, I don't fault him for it. He had such a horrible reputation and he was picked on for years, rightly or wrongly.
CORNISH: Yes. But Americans love a comeback. We love a person who comes back and says --
DAVIS: Yes. I just wonder what --
CORNISH: Yes. DAVIS: What --
CORNISH: What is the point?
DAVIS: What -- no. I think there is a point. I just don't know what his is. Is it, does he want to run for office sometime? Maybe. I don't know.
CORNISH: I thought it was about challenging some of these people in their own environment, right? Like, he was with Nick Fuentes at one point.
[06:55:00]
And I think he thinks he's injecting into a particular vein of politics, like the words and thoughts from Democrats and from Biden era politics.
PARKER: You're absolutely right. And then speaking in a very unfiltered way, which people have an appetite for.
CORNISH: Which is the whole thing. Yes.
PARKER: Which is why he's making so many rounds as well. Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens, as you mentioned.
CORNISH: Yes.
PARKER: You just, you tick off the boxes. Each of these has -- he's made news with each of these appearances because, again, he's speaking in a more unfiltered way after it.
CORNISH: Or even just being there.
PARKER: Yes.
CORNISH: If you think about how much handwringing there was over like able (ph).
(CROSS TALK)
CORNISH: Kamala Harris appeared in terms of whether she'd do Joe Rogan and all this stuff. There's always this like idea that Democrats are too cautious. And he's very much being like, look at me dancing through multiple lion's dens.
DAVIS: Yes.
SEAWRIGHT: I think he's challenging a system in a way that Democrats traditionally have not been able to do and get away with it. I said earlier, our homework is not great. At the same -- I still believe that.
But Hunter Biden's father is no longer in office, so he can say what the hell he wants and it's OK. Plus, there's no one out there, I think, defending his father and his father's legacy, for people continuing to beat up on his father.
As a son, my late father, if that happened to me, I would be out there on the front line defending my dad.
CORNISH: Yes. Which he has said multiple times, right, and -- but he's just dropping f bombs left and right.
SEAWRIGHT: I --
CORNISH: And, you know, I think he's really using the kind of language people are jokingly calling like dark woke. Like the idea that it's going to be more pugilistic than before.
DAVIS: And these -- the people -- the shows he's going on loves it because they're getting more viewers. They're getting different viewers. It's --
CORNISH: Yes, it's a good booking, so to speak.
DAVIS: Yes.
CORNISH: Yes.
SEAWRIGHT: It's non (ph) tradition. I also think politics is a contact sport, but it sometimes can be a sport of convenience. Tucker Carlson, Hunter Biden is a convenient opportunity for both of them to up their numbers.
DAVIS: Right. It's the Newsom and --
CORNISH: What's the opportunity for Tucker? What's going on with his tour of whatever this is?
PARKER: Well, for Tucker, you get -- I mean he just released a ten- point plan that he has. There was a picture with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and others. He's been flirting without necessarily saying he's going to create a third party, a third lane as well.
SEAWRIGHT: And he is running (ph) in the 2028 election, like (ph) Donald Trump. Oh, you think?
CORNISH: I know, but I thought the implication was that he wouldn't run if it was J.D. Vance. That somehow if it was Marco Rubio, where he can complain about military intervention and things like that, he might run.
PARKER: Right.
CORNISH: But with J.D. Vance, not so much. OK, yes, it was in "Politico" they were saying this.
DAVIS: Yes, I think that this third party thing -- listen, I'm all for it. I think the machines can -- but I just think it's very difficult.
CORNISH: It is very difficult. Do you remember Ross Perot? DAVIS: Well, Ross Perot, but he -- but also what was last cycle --
SEAWRIGHT: Jill Stein.
DAVIS: No Labels.
CORNISH: No Labels.
DAVIS: Yes.
SEAWRIGHT: Jill Stein. There were a couple of them.
PARKER: The irony, of course, is that in the podcast yesterday, Tucker said that he felt humiliated because he overstated his influence and impact in being unsuccessful in convincing Trump not to wage the war with Iran.
CORNISH: What? I feel like that's kind of B.S. Like, isn't that a way of just admitting you were ignored, but trying to spin it into distance?
PARKER: And just failed, right, which is -- which feeds into the White House narrative that this is just a lot of sour grapes as well.
CORNISH: I think they called them whiny turncoats. It was like a complete -- they were way more specific than that.
DAVIS: The president's not going after them because he's almost like not spending any time on them, which is shocking.
CORNISH: Yes.
DAVIS: Which I think makes it tougher for these guys. If he was going after them, it's almost better because it makes it more relevant.
SEAWRIGHT: When the baby throw -- when the baby doesn't get attention, the baby cries louder.
DAVIS: Hmm.
CORNISH: OK, we got to talk about what's in your group chats. Can I talk to you, Antjuan, first?
SEAWRIGHT: You know, I've been getting a lot of questions about how I feel about these style versus substance primaries we're having.
CORNISH: Oh, my God.
SEAWRIGHT: And what do I feel? I think Tina Turner's song summarizes it best for me. "I don't really wanna fight no more. I don't care who's wrong or right. I don't really wanna fight no more."
CORNISH: Wow.
DAVIS: We get -- we get singing in everything. Wow.
CORNISH: OK, Ashley. Better be good today.
DAVIS: OK, I'm not -- I don't want to -- OK, I'm not singing.
Mine was Martha Stewart is living her best life. She just dyed her hair pink.
CORNISH: Really?
DAVIS: At 80. At 81, I think.
CORNISH: Oh, I'm into it.
DAVIS: Look.
CORNISH: Oh, OK.
DAVIS: Look. She looks --
CORNISH: Honestly --
DAVIS: OK, I'm not dying my hair pink, but look at her.
CORNISH: That's (INAUDIBLE). That looks great.
(CROSS TALK)
DAVIS: I could -- maybe I would do that.
CORNISH: Honestly, Ashley, I'm here for you in a -- in an ombre bob. Like, you need to come and rock that.
OK, Mario, you're new. What's in your group chat?
PARKER: Mine is Duane Keffe D going on trial. I mean it was the big -- it's --
CORNISH: Yes, the Tupac trial finally coming to pass.
PARKER: Trial. Who would have thought, right? So, me and my friends, huge Tupac fans.
CORNISH: Well, I would have thought, the guy wrote a book and went everywhere to talk about it.
PARKER: Yes. And then the FBI found out in 2018 and saw it. But what's funny, and it's relevant to this conversation we've had, is just that Tupac, I mean, was talking about some of the same things that we see fueling this progressive movement.
CORNISH: Yes.
PARKER: Money for wars but no money for the poor.
SEAWRIGHT: Look at the lyrics.
DAVIS: By the way -- no, no, no, no, no, why don't you rap? (CROSS TALK)
DAVIS: You two are going to be shocked (ph). I know all the words to Tupac songs.
CORNISH: I actually listened -- there's a history to Ashley we don't know.
PARKER: There we go.
CORNISH: We don't know.
[07:00:01]
But, yes, you're going to be watching the trial. What in particular?
PARKER: Just I want to see whether or not it comes out that there were other people, other coconspirators there, right? Because one of the things that we did back then was go down the rabbit hole of who killed Tupac. He was the Elvis of my generation.
CORNISH: Yes. And the connection to Bad Boy, if there's anything, and things like that.
PARKER: I was -- I was -- that's what I was illuding too.
CORNISH: Well, in the context that he --
(CROSS TALK)
SEAWRIGHT: Is he even dead was a question --
PARKER: That part too.
(CROSS TALK)
CORNISH: OK, we're not going to go that far, OK.
PARKER: I told you, I went down the rabbit hole.
CORNISH: All right. We're here.
Thank you guys for being with us. The news headlines are next.
