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Isa Soares Tonight

President Trump Issues A Major Threat To Oman To Not Interfere In The Strait Of Hormuz; President Trump Warns Of Reducing Joint Military Exercises With South Korea; Opening Statements Get Underway In The First- Ever Murder Trial In The Death Of Hip-Hop Star And Cultural Icon Tupac Shakur; Actress Hayden Panettiere Dies At 36; Ukraine Launches Large Aerial Assault On Russia; Vigil Held For Late Former Cambridge Professor Jason Arday; Search For Survivors After Indonesia's Massive Earthquake. Aired 2- 3p ET

Aired August 17, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: Welcome to the show, everyone, I'm Max Foster in for Isa Soares. Tonight, President Trump issues a major

threat to U.S. ally, Oman, if it, quote, "gets in the way of the Strait of Hormuz. Then another move against another U.S. ally, this time South Korea,

as Mr. Trump says, he'll reduce joint military exercises with the country. We'll explain why?

Plus, opening statements get underway in the first-ever murder trial in the death of Hip-Hop star and cultural icon Tupac Shakur. That and much more

ahead. But we begin with another threat from U.S. President Donald Trump to attack an American ally as efforts to jump-start peace talks with Iran

appear to be in complete shambles.

Now, the President says the United States will bomb Iran -- Oman if it interferes with U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz. It also says there

are back-channel talks going on between the U.S. and Iran's Revolutionary Guards, a claim flatly denied by the IRGC.

Meanwhile, the clock has run out on the Memorandum of Understanding. That 60-day window designed to allow Washington and Tehran to hammer out the

most contentious issues. It doesn't appear that the two sides agreed on much of anything.

President Trump and his Iranian counterpart signed the deal back in June. Let's go to Kevin, who is at the White House for us. Kevin, if we could

start with these comments about Oman. He talks about bombing Oman if it interferes with U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz. What did he mean by

that?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: And a strategic partner of the United States for many years, including over the last year when they

were brokering talks between the U.S. and Iran, and what seems to have set the President off is the idea that Oman and Iran are trying to negotiate an

agreement to get the Strait of Hormuz open.

They haven't been able to strike that agreement yet. But what has been suggested, the contours of this plan would look like is that both of those

countries, because they both share coasts along the Strait of Hormuz, would somehow be able to control which traffic is coming in and out.

And so, one version of the plan had Iran, which controls the northern coast controlling vessels that are going into the strait, and Oman, which

controls the southern coast -- the southern route control which vessels are coming out of that waterway.

And the President seems to say -- seems to be saying that any sort of control over the Strait of Hormuz, he could not live with, and that would

result in, quote, "bombing the S out of that country." And so, it's a remarkable statement. It's not the first time, though, that he has

threatened Oman over the course of this war.

Back in May, when similar discussions were underway, the President said that he would be very upset with that country if they were going to do

anything that would jeopardize the free and open transit of vessels through the waterway.

At the end of the day, the Strait of Hormuz is still closed, and the two countries are going to have to come up with some agreement to try and get

it open. This may be the best way to get ships passing through again and bring oil prices down in a way that the President would certainly welcome,

given the political pressures that he's under as the war kind of proceeds.

But it is kind of a striking suggestion from the President just given how critical Oman has been as a back-channel for the U.S. with the Iranians.

And I think does reflect on the part of the President a certain displeasure with how some of these mediating efforts have gone as he seeks a way out of

the war.

[14:05:00]

FOSTER: For an ally for the U.S., you would assume they'd be talking about every step of progress along the way. Does it suggest to you that Oman has

put its foot down about something here, and isn't necessarily doing exactly what the Americans want?

LIPTAK: I'm not sure it suggests that. I think it probably suggests more of a degree of frustration at the general situation on the part of the

President. He hasn't been able to get the Iranians to break in terms of the economic pressure that he's trying to apply.

And that is where this war seems to be heading, is a war of economic attrition. Both sides of this seem to believe that the other will cave when

it comes to sanctions, or when it comes to pressures on oil. And clearly, the President, you know, as we head into the Midterm Election season, is

under pressure to try and get this opened up, even though he insists he's not.

And it remains to be seen which side will kind of blink when it comes to the economic factors that are heading into all of this.

FOSTER: Obviously, tense relationship with one ally there and Oman, also, we've heard some comments about South Korea, which haven't gone down very

well over there and the joint exercises, America not being as involved in them.

He's just been speaking about that, President Trump, I wonder if you could take a listen to this, Kevin, and tell us what you think.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are you -- where are you in conversation --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very positive. Well, just so you understand what South Korea -- look, South Korea has been protected

by us for many years. And during my first term, they agreed to pay close to $3 billion a year for protection because we don't -- you know, they

essentially weren't paying.

And I asked them to do that at my request. I said, not -- they weren't happy about it, but they agreed. I asked for $10 billion, and they were

very unhappy. But we agreed for a short term that it would be $3 billion, and next year it would go up and the next year it would go up.

So, they start paying for their protection. When the election was rigged, and I ended up watching for four years and then coming back, I watched

Biden rescind that $3 billion here for whatever reason. When I called recently, President of South Korea, who I like, I think he's very nice,

actually -- but I called him, I said, would you like to give us a little hand?

We don't need help with Iran, but if you'd like, give us a hand with Iran. He said, no thanks. And I said, wait a minute. We have 39,000 soldiers over

there guarding you from Kim Jong-un, your next-door neighbor, and you're not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran?

That's strange. No, we'd rather not get involved. I see. Well, why are we involved in helping you? So -- and I want to help them. But, you know, when

you ask somebody, would you like to give us a hand? And they say, no, thanks. And then we're guarding them from a country and paying ourselves

billions of dollars -- it's costing us billions and billions of dollars to protect not only them, but other countries.

Look at NATO, we spend hundreds of billions of dollars protecting Europe from Russia. Hundreds of billions, mostly from Russia, but from other

things too. And then they say, well, they don't want to get involved with getting -- you know, guarding the strait where they get most of their oil.

They get 50 percent of their oil, and they don't want to get involved. Why are we doing it? So, all I want is fairness, and South Korea, I get along

with them very well. But they were paying $3 billion a year, and then they convinced Biden that I was probably a bad person and they shouldn't.

And he immediately rescinded that order. So, we were getting paid. We would have been getting paid a lot more. But we can't go around and protect all

of these countries, especially when they're not there to help us.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Memorandum of -- on experts of the Memorandum of --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Explaining his reason for cutting back on the support he's giving South Korea, and he broadened it out to the similar issues he's expressed

about European countries not showing the support to America that he feels he's giving to them. So, this is his broad geopolitical view right now.

It's a punishment, effectively, for South Korea.

LIPTAK: Yes, it seems to be. You know, I think there are some real questions about what capabilities South Korea actually would have had to

help the U.S. in the war with Iran. You know, experts have suggested that their Navy just doesn't have the abilities to, you know, go halfway around

the world to protect the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

And so, the President still clearly very frustrated that this sort of reciprocal relationship that he thinks the U.S. allies should have with the

United States isn't being met either in NATO or in the Asia Pacific region.

[14:10:00]

I think that sort of belies the fact that these war games that the U.S. has now pulled back on also benefit the United States. They create a degree of

interoperability between the two militaries that would be necessary if a conflict were to arise in the region that would pose a threat to American

interests.

And so, his view of it is certainly, I think, in the near term, he's not necessarily thinking out to the middle term or the long term, but

obviously, the President has a very specific view of how these alliances should be working.

FOSTER: Yes, OK, Kevin, thank you so much for joining us from the White House, reacting to those comments from the President a few moments ago.

Next, a first rare meeting with Hamas now closed-door talks in Jerusalem.

U.S. envoy Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today looking to advance the U.S.-backed peace plan for Gaza. An Israeli

official says Mr. Netanyahu told him that Israel won't withdraw from Gaza or allow reconstruction until Hamas fully disarms.

Another source acknowledged that progress on the plan is difficult because of political pressures on Mr. Netanyahu ahead of Israel's elections, that

source says Kushner asked him to not, quote, "create obstacles". The timeline is critical here because Hamas is refusing to disarm until Israel

stop all attacks in Gaza and begins withdrawing troops, as required by the plan.

Kushner held a rare meeting with the new leader of Hamas on Sunday in Egypt. Oren Liebermann joins us now from Jerusalem. The White House putting

as much as it can to try to get these talks going. Is the suggestion here that there might have been some progress with Hamas and not with Israel?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: I'm not really sure that you can call it progress with either side. Jared Kushner came to the region and

held all of the right meetings. He met Hamas' new leader, Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt.

On Sunday afternoon, he met Egypt's President, one of the key mediators, and then he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a lengthy meeting that

went longer than four hours. In terms of the public statements that have put out, these were deep discussions here, but that doesn't mean there was

any real progress.

In fact, the only concrete thing coming out of these is the creation of two working groups, one on the disarmament of Hamas, one on improving

sanitation in Gaza. But this is ten months on from the 20-point plan that we saw in October, that 20-point plan was so stalled and wasn't going

anywhere.

So, that required President Donald Trump to announce a 15-point plan at the end of last month. And if all you have from that is two working groups with

no specific deadline on what they're supposed to do, it's not clear that there's any real progress here.

Crucially, the Board of Peace, which is supposed to oversee the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire plan, appears very much to have sided

with Israel and with -- and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejected very publicly the 15-point plan, and said Israel wouldn't take any

steps towards withdrawal until the complete disarmament of Hamas. Hamas, from its perspective, accepted a disarmament --

FOSTER: OK --

LIEBERMANN: Plan, but said it's not doing it unilaterally --

FOSTER: Oren --

LIEBERMANN: Max?

FOSTER: Sorry, Oren, I'm sorry to interrupt. The President is actually speaking live at the same time as you, and he has been talking about the

war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz. So, let's dip into that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Thank you, guys, thank you guys, keep moving, keep moving guys, keep moving.

LIEBERMANN: Are we done with me, are you going to --

FOSTER: Apologies there, coach, just caught the end of it, Oren, but obviously very focused along the Strait of Hormuz, and that's tied into all

of this, right? And trying to resolve things with Hamas and Israel as well. We're going to come back to you later. Thank you so much, Oren.

Now, President Trump's conflict with Iran is impacting U.S. military operations all the way out in east Asia. Just hours before they were

supposed to begin, Mr. Trump announced he had dramatically scaled back those military exercises with South Korea.

We were talking about with Kevin, he said his personal relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un makes the drills unnecessary, and he also

connected it to the war with Iran. CNN's Gage Goulding has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There's a lot to unpack here at the President's post on Truth Social. Really two main points. The first

being that he's really walking back, scaling back Ulchi Freedom Shield.

And that's the joint exercise between the United States and South Korea military members. We're going to start there because this is a very large

exercise, about 18,000 Korean military members will join the 28,000-plus U.S. military members based in South Korea for a ten-day exercise.

[14:15:00]

Now, this is something that the President is aware of in 2018 and 2019, during his first term in office, he scaled back the operation, then citing

cost in 2020 and '21, it was scaled back due to Covid 19. But then the President saying that he wants to scale it back again, citing cost, but

also the fact that he says our relations with North Korea are good.

Now, South Korea did respond, saying that they started the operation as scheduled on Monday morning local time. In the South Korean Blue House, the

government agency, the executive government agency, saying that they hope the relations between the U.S. and the North Koreans are great and continue

to be good and hopefully bring a period of peace for the Korean Peninsula.

But I want to keep in mind that this is kind of a two-pronged thing here, because in that same Truth Social post, President Trump kind of throwing a

jab, if you will, at the South Korean government, saying that he's also upset that whenever he asked the South Koreans for help with

denuclearization of the Iranian government and the Iranian regime, he said that the South Korean government basically said, no thanks.

Now, South Korea says in a statement to CNN that they are working to help open the Strait of Hormuz and also bring a peaceful ceasefire with Iran.

However, the big thing here that we're going to be looking at over the next coming days is one, is there actually a scaled-back with the operation, the

exercise that's happening in South Korea?

And two, is there going to be any other blowback from South Korea, which at this point is one of the strongest allies the United States has? Gage

Goulding, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Additional perspective on this, we welcome CNN Global Affairs commentator Sabrina Singh. Thank you for joining us, Sabrina. I mean,

earlier in the day, we were under the impression that the President made this decision because they don't need the exercises, because he gets on so

well with North Korean Leader.

We've just heard him speaking at the White House saying that it's more to do with the fact that South Korea didn't support the U.S. with its Iran

strategy. So, what do you think it is?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: You know, I'm sure it's a combination. And it seems like the President is just lashing out. I mean,

he's clearly very frustrated with how this war is going. And the fact that the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before this war started, and really

this war of choice that the President led the United States into is now closed.

I think he's looking all around to see, you know, hey, who is going to help me and help, you know, open the Strait of Hormuz, and many countries, you

know, including our allies, are not willing to put their men and women in uniform and put their lives at risk to open the strait, because they know

that this was not a war that they were even consulted on.

So, I think it's a combination of both, and I think also we're not surprised by the President's overtures to someone like Kim Jong-un, who

he's praised previously.

FOSTER: Yes, and he's rewarding him effectively, isn't he, with some of his --

SINGH: Right --

FOSTER: Comments today? And what risk does that create for the world?

SINGH: Yes, absolutely. I mean, this is exactly what someone like Kim Jong- un wants to hear. This is an exercise -- I mean, we've been doing exercises with South Korea for the last 70 years, I mean, since 1955. There is a deep

history here of our two countries coming together.

And the reason why you do exercises like this is to ensure that there's interoperability between the two militaries should there be a confrontation

either with China or North Korea. And this particular exercise was going to be quite interesting because they -- because as we know, you know, North

Korea has sent its soldiers into fight Russia's war, and they have gained a lot of Intelligence and access to the modern battlefield and how to use

drones in the battlefield.

And so, this was going to test that and some of their cyber security tests though that they were going to conduct during this exercise. So, you know,

I think -- I think unfortunately, the President, you know, got ahead of himself, even Pete Hegseth earlier this year at Shangri-La said South Korea

is actually the model for burden-sharing and cost-sharing when it comes to U.S. -- the U.S. military and our exercises.

FOSTER: He was talking to the President about how the U.S. is spending billions protecting South Korea. But is it as simple as that? Because

there's a massive U.S. presence, a U.S. base in South Korea, which is also useful to the U.S., right?

SINGH: Right. And this is where there's a lot more to that statement. I mean, actually, South Korea bears a lot of the costs and responsibility to

house U.S. troops. I mean, there's about 30,000 troops on the peninsula there.

[14:20:00]

And, you know, working not only within the community, but establishing relationships between our militaries, and it's something that's critically

important should the United States ever need to confront a possible war with, you know, within the Indo-Pacific and with China, South Korea would

be one of our allies that we would look to first when it comes to something like that.

I also just want to mention that, you know, when it comes to South Korea, we have pulled a lot of capabilities out of the Indo-Pacific region. We

have moved a Patriot battery out of South Korea. We have pulled a Marine unit out of the -- out of the region.

And now, as of course, you know, the George Washington Carrier Strike Group is going into -- to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to

backfill the Lincoln. So, a lot of capabilities have come out of the Indo- Pacific right now and unfortunately.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. And this is --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: OK, CNN global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh, appreciate it. Thank you so much for joining us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Writer(ph) Williams who is a 16-year --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Today, still to come tonight on the show, nearly 30 years after his death, opening statements are underway in the Tupac Shakur murder trial.

We'll be live with the very latest for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Opening statements underway for the man accused of orchestrating the 1996 deadly shooting of Hip Hop star Tupac Shakur. Shakur was killed in

a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip. His murder came at the height of the East Coast-West Coast rap feud of that time.

Sixty-three-year-old Duane Davis was indicted in 2023 on a single count of murder using a deadly weapon. Prosecutors don't claim Davis fired the fatal

shots, but allege he orchestrated the killing in retaliation for the beating of his nephew by Shakur and his entourage.

Josh Campbell joins us now from Los Angeles. Josh, just first of all, just explain what a huge cultural icon this guy was and what we know in that --

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he --

FOSTER: That time of the crime.

CAMPBELL: Yes, he was a mega star. And again, this is someone who was relatively young. He was already a star both in the music industry, he had

also started appearing in films as well as an actor, someone who, for all intents and purposes, had this long future ahead of him as this cultural

icon who was listened to around the world.

[14:25:00]

I mean, just a really a renowned superstar that was gunned down here, not far from where I am 30 years ago. And that is one of the most fascinating

aspects about this trial that is now underway. This is something that has been three decades in the making, when many people believe that maybe there

wouldn't be a resolution, maybe no one would actually be held accountable for his murder.

Prosecutors recently came out and said, no, this individual, Duane Davis, who they say was inside a vehicle that pulled alongside Tupac Shakur, his

car, that night, three decades ago, when someone opened fire, he is now responsible.

And as you mentioned, they're not saying he pulled the trigger, but they're saying that he helped orchestrate this entire thing. It all stemmed from a

brawl that broke out at one of the large hotels in Las Vegas, following a Mike Tyson fight.

There was a group of people, including Duane Davis, who were essentially seeking retribution against Shakur and his entourage, and they pulled up

alongside, Duane Davis had said in a previous law enforcement interview that he handed a firearm to the back seat of his car to his nephew, who

ultimately fired the shot.

But one thing that is so fascinating in this case, Max, is that, that is in Duane Davis' own words. But he told law enforcement that under an

arrangement many years ago where it could not be used against him, authorities were going after him on a separate drug trafficking

investigation.

But since he's done so many media interviews after that police interview, he even wrote a book, it appears that is largely the evidence that they are

bringing in now to actually accuse him of being part of this murder.

And then finally, we're getting a sense even now, and opening statements have just recently begun, what the strategy will be, but the prosecutors

are saying, look, don't listen to us, listen to what Davis said on camera in these interviews.

His defense attorney is essentially attacking the witnesses being called by the government, calling these police officers that are set to testify,

essentially corrupt, pointing to other people as having criminal records, really raising that doubt about whether they can be trusted.

And we'll see how the jury ultimately decides here. Again, 30 years ago, we don't have a lot of the high-tech forensic technology that we do now. There

isn't the ubiquitous TV surveillance footage on every corner. A lot of this will be a word of mouth, and we'll see who the jury ultimately believes

here, Max.

FOSTER: Yes, and we've started hearing from the witnesses so does some of the emergency responders on the night, right? The last people to see him

alive?

CAMPBELL: That's right. One officer on the stand is a former Metropolitan Vegas bicycle officer who was there down near the famous Las Vegas Strip 30

years ago when this happened. He said that when the shots rang out, he had responded and essentially went to the hospital with Shakur.

And police are trying to figure out, well, who were the assailants here, who was responsible? Shakur allegedly told him, according to this officer,

we'll handle it. We'll handle it. And that is something, obviously, that law enforcement has been concerned about.

They wanted to know from the actual victims here who the people that were culpable, but Shakur and you know, his entourage are saying, no, we'll take

care of this ourselves. And so, you know, that's where we are right now. And we'll have to wait and see exactly who the next witnesses are and what

it's called. But that seems to be where this is headed right now.

FOSTER: Josh from Las Vegas, thank you so much for that. We'll be following that trial very closely.

CAMPBELL: Of course.

FOSTER: Hollywood in shock today over the death of acclaimed TV actress Hayden Panettiere. Panettiere was found unresponsive in a South Carolina

apartment on Sunday. She had battled addiction and mental illness for years.

Panettiere was a child star, appearing in movies and TV shows before the age of ten. She grew to worldwide fame with starring roles in TV shows,

"Heroes" and "Nashville". In a statement, her father said, "it is with profound sadness we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was

an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her and to the millions who watched her on screen."

Our Lisa Respers France is tracking developments on this story. I mean, a huge shock to her fans, but even non-fans, because of her very young age.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN REPORTER: Yes, she was 36 years old and she was also in everything it felt like. You know, there's so many memories that

fans have of the multiple films and TV shows that she was in. And right now, Max, we don't know what caused her death.

What we do know is that an acquaintance called 9-1-1, according to the coroner, she was in cardiac arrest at this particular residence. We know

that she was declared dead, and it's probably going to be weeks until we actually have any answers, because that's how long it takes for toxicology

reports and things like that.

But we do know that, you know, they are currently investigating this. They said there appeared to be no type of foul play or indications of anything

like that. And so, we're just going to have to wait and see what the autopsy finds out, you know, what the autopsy report tells us.

And like I said, that could take weeks because you have to do toxicology, there's a lot that goes into this. But in the interim, people have so many

questions, especially because she had recently released her memoir, where she talked a lot about, you know, being a child star. She talked about her

challenges, as you mentioned, substance abuse. She had postpartum depression. She, you know, ended up giving custody of her child over to her

child's father. She has an 11-year-old daughter.

[14:30:25]

So, it's just a profound sadness among fans and people who just were familiar with her work, who maybe, you know, were not following her career

as closely, especially because she had been back in the public eye, Max, you know, talking about that memoir and about her life.

FOSTER: Yes, such a sad story. Lisa, thank you so much.

FRANCE: Thank you.

FOSTER: Still to come tonight on the show, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh gets an exclusive look at the high-tech U.S. missile launchers sitting idle in

Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Welcome back. I'm Max Foster in for Isa Soares. Ukraine launched one of its largest aerial assaults of the war against Russia over the

weekend. Moscow says it shot down more than 800 Ukrainian drones and that at least six people were killed.

Video shows another fire at a Wildberries warehouse in Russia. The e-tailer has been called Russia's Amazon. Kyiv says it's hit seven out of the

company's ten largest logistics centers in recent months. Now, even as Ukraine attacks deeper inside Russia, it continues to face a shortage of

missile interceptors.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh got a first-hand look at launchers that have run dry. And here's his exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Out in the quiet corn, a moment of absolute desperation. Ukraine's never shown anyone these before, an American-made Patriot air defense

launcher.

[14:35:00]

The interceptors they fire, the only thing that can take down Russian ballistic missiles that rain down on Ukraine, are under a huge global

supply shortage. But these here are sitting idle, doing nothing, when in Ukraine they could be saving lives almost nightly. Why? They're empty, out

of ammo.

WALSH: This tube being empty is a sight really that would spark fear for ordinary Ukrainians, and is the product of dozens of phone calls to any

ally, all sorts of deal-making President Zelenskyy told me to try and find the interceptors to fill this up. An extraordinary step they're taking by

showing us the fact this particular Patriot battery is essentially out of action until interceptors arrive, a sign of desperation.

WALSH (voice-over): Chief Engineer Dmytro says it is two and a half months since this one fired, and six weeks since he saw one fire at all.

DMYTRO, CHIEF ENGINEER, UKRAINE'S PATRIOT SYSTEM: You know, actually, this is a really heartbreaking sight, when you have equipment, but you're not

able to intercept any missile. This is very sad. When you know that ballistic missiles are flying over your head and you are not able to do

anything with it, and you know that behind you there are citizens.

WALSH: And how does that make you feel, knowing that you should help, but can't?

DMYTRO: Like, you learn how to walk, but you're not able to walk. Or you know how to breathe, but you're not able to breathe.

WALSH (voice-over): He knew the global supply crunch was coming.

DMYTRO: When we saw how many interceptors were launched in the Middle East, we predicted that we will be in trouble.

WALSH (voice-over): Ukraine has been reluctant to admit if they have zero interceptors left, President Zelenskyy telling me every morning he begs

allies for more.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I do some things which I can't even share. It's not -- it doesn't mean that it's out of the law, no, but

it's -- I can't speak about it.

WALSH (voice-over): Kyiv is rocked by a massive ballistic attack normally once a week, racing to the subway and shelters where before, they felt

protected, they are not anymore. It is America first in the queue and Ukraine left to anxiety in the rubble.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now, discussions over the life and career of the youngest black professor in the history of Cambridge University are persisting, even after

the 41-year-old was found dead on Friday. Now, in recent weeks, media reports questioned not only Jason Arday's academic record, but aspects of

his personal life and claims he had made about his achievements. Arday's family are blaming what they call a campaign of sustained abuse for his

death.

Over the past year, there have been more than 200 newspaper articles printed about Arday and hundreds more online. At this hour, mourners are

gathering in central London for a vigil in his honor. Our Anna Cooban is at the vigil. It's in Trafalgar Square. Anna, what's the tone like?

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS and ECONOMICS REPORTER: -- a big fan of the police at the time. So --

FOSTER: We don't have Anna's audio right now, but we are going to bring that to you as soon as we can. A big crowd, they're gathering there. A

short break now. Do stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:00]

FOSTER: So, before the break we were trying to get through to Anna Cooban, a vigil in central London for the recently passed Jason Arday, the

professor from Cambridge University. It's become, hasn't it Anna, a very sensitive issue here and only more tragic since he died. Just describe the

atmosphere at the vigil.

COOBAN: Well, it's a very somber atmosphere as you can imagine. This only happened on Friday when we learned of Arday's death. And going around the

crowd trying to get a sense of it, trying to talk to people to share their thoughts with us, we only really got one person who wanted to speak. There

was a lot of anger towards the media, who a lot of people, the people in this crowd, are blaming for Arday's death.

And Arday was subjected to a relentless amount of media scrutiny, delving into his past, questioning whether he was truthful about things he'd said

in a forthcoming autobiography around his athletic achievements, his fundraising achievements, but also accusations of plagiarism in some of his

academic work.

Now, Arday denied those accusations of plagiarism. He did resign from his spot at Cambridge a few days ago. But he made it quite clear in a statement

that that was not because he agreed with the accusation of plagiarism, but because he just simply couldn't take the media scrutiny any longer. And it

bears note that even after he resigned, the attention still kept coming thick and fast.

And so, there's so much anger here today in what many people are calling a racist witch hunt because they simply do not believe a white professor

would have been subjected to the same level of scrutiny, Max.

FOSTER: In terms of the anger, as you say, very much pointed towards the media and their coverage and how they're almost turned into a character

assassination into him. But how much criticism is held for the university for failing to protect him and putting him in this position in the first

place if they didn't actually check his credentials properly?

COOBAN: Well, that is the criticism that's being leveled at Cambridge. They appointed him to be the youngest black professor at 37 years old in 2023.

There was a lot of celebration. They put him into the media spotlight. And there is criticism that they didn't do a proper sort of check of his

credentials.

And some of the claims that he made about not being able to read and write for the age of 18, that's raised lots of questions about, you know, how can

somebody then go on to have the kind of stellar academic career by the age that he was at the time of his appointment? There are all of these

questions.

And Cambridge did open an investigation into accusations of plagiarism against or accusations against Arday's credentials in the weeks that led up

to his death. And so, yes, there are questions that people are asking about what that institution, the role that they played in many people's views,

putting up a lamb to the slaughter.

And so, there's a lot of blame going around from the media, but also, you're right, the institution that is Cambridge University. Max.

FOSTER: Anna Cooban, that's a vigil for Jason Arday. Thank you so much.

The search for survivors continues in Indonesia after Saturday's massive earthquake. More than 50 people were killed in the 7.7 magnitude quake that

struck off the coast. Now, close to 16 sorry, 1500 homes are severely damaged, along with health care facilities, schools and government

buildings. Rescue teams are digging through the rubble in search of bodies and any survivors.

[14:45:00]

The Latino community in Miami is coming together to help victims of the earthquakes that hit both Venezuela in June and Colombia last week. On

Sunday, a benefit concert featured a big name artists line up like Fade, Marc Anthony, Cheyenne, Chino and Nacho. The money being raised is meant to

address immediate and long-term needs like rebuilding homes, repairing community spaces and schools, supporting children and providing mental

health care support. Proceeds will go to non-profits like All Hands and Hearts Care and others. Volunteers are also organizing an aid shipment for

Tuesday.

Now, heatwave conditions fueling Europe's wildfires are taking a toll on the region's water supply. Low water levels are exposing vast stretches of

river banks like the images you're seeing right here. It's causing significant disruption to Europe's power production and supply chains, as

Stefano Pozzebon now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of Europe's mightiest rivers are running dry. Great waterways reduced to a sliver of

their size in the hot summer heat.

In Hungary, authorities sank barges and dropped cement blocks in the shrinking Danube to try to raise water levels and redirect the current to

keep water flowing to a nuclear power plant that produces about a third of the country's electricity. Hungary's prime minister says it's a race

against time.

PETER MAGYAR, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The water level is dramatically low, and no significant precipitation is expected in

the catchment areas for the next few days or weeks, which could also mean that the problem could persist for months.

POZZEBON (voice-over): This power plant is already operating at a fraction of its capacity because of a lack of cooling water, and if the Danube drops

even further, one of its two remaining turbines could be shut down.

Neighboring Romania took similar measures to try and raise water levels there, but it was forced to shut down its nuclear power plant just a few

days ago. The country had already declared a state of emergency over power shortages, with some cities going dark at night and residents asked to

conserve energy use.

MIRCEA, RESIDENT (through translator): It seems we've reached this point due to poor decisions that were made considering the climate crisis we've

faced for decades.

POZZEBON (voice-over): The Rhine, too, is running dangerously low. It's a major artery for moving fuel and raw materials across the continent, and

cargo vessels have been forced to lighten their loads to avoid grounding themselves and divert shipments over land.

ANDREA BARTEL, DUISBURG HARBOUR SPOKESPERSON (through translator): More, smaller, more easily maneuverable lighter ships are being used, but a great

deal is being transferred onto the train and onto the lorry in order to enable the transport and keep the supply chains going.

POZZEBON (voice-over): And if navigating shallow water isn't challenging enough, the skeletons of sunken ships are surfacing in some places. Rome's

Tiber River is so depleted that the remains of a 2000-year-old structure called Nero's Bridge is visible once again. These relics of the past,

exposing just how urgent the crisis is.

Hungary says a longer-term plan is underway to build a dam-like structure underneath the Danube to help manage water flows, but that will take weeks.

And if the river continues to drop, its nuclear power plant might be forced to shut down entirely like Romania's did, further straining the country's

energy grid and the budget much longer than the summer season.

Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Still to come tonight on the show, the U.S. attorney general speaks out about independence from the Trump administration. We'll look at why

critics are concerned and why Todd Blanche says they shouldn't be.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:00]

FOSTER: The newly confirmed U.S. attorney general is refusing to pledge total independence from the president. Critics of President Donald Trump

and his administration have expressed concern over neutrality prior to Todd Blanche's confirmation.

However, during an interview on Sunday, Blanche said no Attorney General should ever make that pledge. Blanche also said President Trump has never

and will never ask him to cross a legal or ethical line. Here's CNN's Katelyn Polantz, with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Attorney General Todd Blanche keeps having to field questions on how may his decision-making fall

in line with what President Donald Trump wants.

It's an important question for this Justice Department because the White House, and specifically President Trump, keep demanding the investigation

of political enemies and the retaliation against people that the president has disagreed with. Here's what Blanche has said in an interview on Sunday

at Meet the Press on NBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: There's a big difference between saying we will always do our job and investigate any case and act

independently of the White House. No, I'm not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that.

Will I take the president of the United States' view on something into consideration? Yes, of course. And I hope every attorney general in history

would not answer that question differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: Now, there's a difference between the attorney general following the policies of any administration and defending the presidency itself and

someone like Blanche as the attorney general doing whatever the president would like for a political set of reasons or even for personal protections.

So, far, what Blanche is saying is that he believes that he could say no to the president. That is what he said both in his confirmation hearing and

then again over the weekend. But we have not seen that thus far from this attorney general. He's been in the administration in a senior leadership

role at the Justice Department, and he has backed up retaliation against prosecutors at the Justice Department who worked on January 6 rioter

criminal cases, cases they were assigned to prosecute and did. Trump wanted them fired, and thus they were. Many of them are now suing.

There also have been the cases against Trump political enemies, people who Trump had said on social media he wanted to see prosecuted by the Justice

Department under Pam Bondi, the previous attorney general. Blanche also was standing behind those prosecutions, including the prosecutions of Jim

Comey. There have been two indictments of him, one still surviving and the now-dismissed indictment of Letitia James, the former New York or the

current New York attorney general.

There also has been Trump's anti-weaponization fund and a set of immunity protections that Blanche at first was backing in May in a settlement

between the Justice Department and the administration and Trump himself. Now, he's had to rescind a lot of the plans for that because of pressure

from Congress in order to become attorney general and get his nomination through.

But now that he's attorney general, we're going to wait and see exactly what Trump is saying publicly, that he's demanding of his Justice

Department and of his attorney general, and how far Blanche may be willing to go to say no to the president if the need were to arise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:55:00]

FOSTER: Police are on the hunt for four Renaissance artworks stolen from a Sicilian museum. Authorities say the works were taken on Saturday during an

Italian national holiday. Thieves bypassed alarms and security systems. One of the paintings was apparently removed from an armored display case.

Officials call the stolen pieces central to the region's heritage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ENZO CARUSO, MESSINA CULTURAL COUNCILOR (through translator): More than a loss, this is a real disaster because Messina without Antonello is robbed

of the very essence of the greatest artist of the European Renaissance. Together with the mayor, we want to be close to the museum and we hope

these works may return home as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The theft in Sicily comes just days after Italian police announced the arrest of five people in connection with three stolen masterpieces in

Parma. Authorities say the works from Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse were found in a storage room and stashed in an empty cardboard box.

Thank you so much for watching tonight. Do stay with CNN. I'll be back after the break with "What We Know."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:00]

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