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CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Headlines: U.S., Iran Launch New Strikes As Tensions Rise Over Hormuz; Whistleblower: New USPS Ballot System "Rushed" & "Untested"; Deliberations Set To Enter 5th Day In Clancy Trial After Jury Tells Judge They Are Deadlocked; 1,100+ Dead, 4,500+ Missing As Search For Survivors Continues. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired September 02, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:27]
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: A whistleblower is warning of major issues when it comes to the post office's plan for a new mail-in ballot system. We've got those details.
Plus --
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SMITH: Families running for their lives. The new video from the disaster in Nepal and the story of a bus driver who saved dozens of children.
And Tiger Woods in court today to change his plea in a DUI case. More on that hearing.
Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God, oh my God. Get inside now. Get inside. Go, go!
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SMITH: Moose on the loose. Came face to face with it in her yard. How she ended up saving her dogs. We've got that story and the video to match.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. Glad that you're with us this morning.
Let's get this started. New developments overnight in the tit-for-tat strikes between the U.S. and Iran. Iran is claiming a U.S. strike hit a wedding celebration, and Kuwait says an Iranian drone damaged a residential building there.
We begin with this new video from Iranian state media, which purportedly shows the damaged venue.
CNN's Paula Hancocks explains what we know.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shrapnel from one of those U.S. strikes struck a building where a wedding was being held. This is in a southern Iranian state in a town called Kuhestak. We understand from Iranian state TV that four people were killed, including a four-year- old child. They also say that dozens were injured, at least 50 of them women and children.
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SMITH: We should note that CNN has been unable to independently verify the details of the alleged strike, but the video has been geolocated and we are awaiting comment from CENTCOM.
U.S. Central Command released this video on Tuesday with a list of Iranian targets it hit, including air defense and communications sites. Earlier, President Trump threatened Iran, urging Iranians to rise up and fight, even though before this week, the Trump administration was sharing plans to shift away from a military campaign and towards a strategy focused on ramping up economic pressure. Iran said it had launched missiles and drones toward several U.S. allies in response, including Kuwait, where a residential building caught fire during a drone attack, according to a Kuwaiti source.
This video from social media shows what appears to be an Iranian missile exploding in southern Jordan, another target of Iran.
Well, an anonymous whistleblower is revealing a potential crisis at the U.S. Postal Service involving a new digital system that screens mail in ballots before they're sent to voters. The process is being described as rushed and untested. The whistleblowers report was released by Senate Democrat Richard Blumenthal, and it says the sweeping new system was developed on a tight timeline and with a lot of confusion.
Blumenthal warns, quote, "Millions of American voters may not receive their mail in ballots this election cycle in a timely manner or at all. The most shocking part may be how little room there is for error. If just one barcode doesn't check out thousands of other ballots from the same batch could get pulled, even if there's nothing wrong with them until the problem is fixed, if it gets fixed at all.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Postal Service from enforcing these new requirements, but the Trump administration is appealing, so it's not clear if they'll be in effect for the upcoming midterms. This all began when President Trump signed an executive order back in March, giving the agency an unprecedented role in screening ballots. Multiple secretaries of state accused the administration of setting the Postal Service up to fail and ignoring the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CISCO AGUILAR, NEVADA SECRETARY OF STATE: This president is tearing a trusted organization that was loved by Americans apart. They are making them the failure that they're going to be in this upcoming cycle. I'm also not surprised that they're not following the rule of law. When has this administration even considered a law or looked at the law before they made a decision?
JENA GRISWOLD, COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE: It should be abundantly clear that Trump is laying the groundwork to try to reject the results in November if they don't go his way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: A USPS spokesperson says the agency is reviewing the whistleblowers concerns, but has complied at all times with court orders, adding that the Postal Service wants Americans to have confidence that their election will be handled securely via mail.
[05:05:13]
Happening today, jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial are getting ready to head to a fifth day of deliberations, this after they indicated to the judge that they are still unable to reach a verdict that reveal sending gasps through the courtroom on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Clancy attorneys spoke outside the courthouse on her mental state yesterday and whether or not she could stand another trial.
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REPORTER: But if you have to retry this, do you think that your client is emotionally prepared to do it again?
KEVIN REDDINGTON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No.
REPORTER: You don't think she is. Would you do anything different in the second trial? If you have a second trial?
REDDINGTON: I don't know about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: CNN reporter Ivan Rodriguez has the latest from Plymouth, Massachusetts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: About an hour into their deliberations Tuesday morning in the Lindsay Clancy trial, the jury sent the judge a note saying that they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
At that point, the judge brought the jury into the courtroom and asked them to continue their deliberations. JUDGE WILLIAM SULLIVAN: I know that this was a long trial, all right?
I know there were over 80 witnesses. There were over 300 exhibits. And -- but because of that, I'm going to ask you to go back out, keeping in mind all of the instructions that I gave you.
RODRIGUEZ: If the jury still can't reach a unanimous verdict, the judge could send jurors back to deliberate multiple times in an effort to reach a unanimous verdict. If jurors remain deadlocked, the judge can read special instructions known as a dynamite charge, giving them a final chance to reach a verdict. If the jurors remain at an impasse, the judge typically will declare a mistrial, ending the proceedings without a resolution and leaving open the possibility of another trial down the road.
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SMITH: Tiger Woods is expected in a Florida courtroom today for a change of plea hearing, according to court records. He pleaded not guilty in March to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence. The golf champion was found at the scene of a crash not far from his home in Martin County, Florida.
According to an arrest affidavit, Woods failed a field sobriety test and had prescription painkillers in his pocket. It's unclear how Woods may change his plea or if he has reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
All right, now to the latest on the devastated border region between Nepal and China. The death toll now tops 1,100, with more than 4,500 still missing. This is after a wall of water washed over communities there. The new video shows the moment that a woman and two children barely escaped.
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SMITH: Nepali media reports that they did make it to safety. And those who survived are still coming to terms with the scale of the destruction, which makes it hard for many to learn the fate of their missing loved ones.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery joined the rescue crews in the search for victims along the devastated Nepali riverbanks.
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HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now, we're on a search and recovery mission with Nepali police. They found hundreds of bodies that have washed downstream from the Himalayas in this river. So we're just going to go and see if we can find any more human remains that might need recovering.
We found an animal carcass, and you can tell that it's been here for a few days. It's pretty badly decomposed.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): The police tell us the same is happening to human remains. And what they do recover, they bring here, a center where photographs of the found dead flicker across screens. Families stare at image after image, looking for a brother, a son, or for this man, his sisters.
Reunited holds a different meaning here. But the hundreds who can't be identified are brought deep into the forest to a freshly dug mass grave, with the bleak hope that using collected DNA samples, one day someone will come looking for them.
Back at the river, the police find what they're looking for.
MONTGOMERY: When we were with the Nepali police, we didn't find any remains. But at the same time, they called us and they told us they found two bodies in the river. And now begins the really painful process of identifying these people. And then reuniting them with their families.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Behind every missing person is a family still waiting. And behind every recovered body, the enormous task of learning who they were.
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SMITH: Very powerful reporting from CNN's Hanako Montgomery in Nepal, bringing us those families' stories.
[05:10:05]
For more information on how you can help Nepal flood victims, you can go to CNN.com/impact.
New this morning, CNN projects that longtime Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey will win the state's Democratic primary. Markey survived a challenge from Congressman Seth Moulton. The 80-year-old's age became a focal point in the campaign, with Moulton saying the longtime lawmaker should step aside for newer, younger leadership. Markey, who came to Congress in 1976, says he will not seek a fourth term if reelected.
Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall on the Texas-Louisiana border Tuesday afternoon. Now weakened to a tropical depression, the storm is still dumping heavy rain in parts of southeast Texas, with some areas still on alert for flooding. At last check, about 70,000 customers are without power, according to poweroutage.com.
All in all, a slow start to hurricane season running at only about 11 percent of the average. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Lots more to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, a shooting outside a Tucson bar that left two people dead has now turned into a hate crime investigation. What authorities found on the suspect.
Plus, shocking video, a motorcyclist crashes right through the doors of a moving bus, and they're still looking for the cyclist. And after calls to outfit agents, all of them with body cameras for ICE, some changes could be happening sooner than later. Details on that and much more right here on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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SMITH: A developing story out of Tucson, Arizona, where a hate crime investigation has been launched after a deadly shooting in the parking lot of a local gay bar.
CNN's Samantha Lindell has more for us.
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SAMANTHA LINDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two people have died after a shooting in the parking lot of a gay bar in Tucson. The gunman was injured and transported to a local hospital where he later died, according to the Tucson police department. Authorities say the incident is now being investigated as a hate crime and double murder suicide.
The suspect, Ousman Ceesay say, was carrying a list of LGBTQ+ associated businesses when he went to the Venture-N bar parking lot and got into an argument with two men. Ceesay shot the two victims, and they died at the scene. Community members created a memorial in the parking lot to pay their respects to the victims.
CNN affiliate KOLD reports. Colette Barajas, a longtime member of the LGBTQ community and a local business owner, said the incident shows there's still more work to do to conquer hate.
COLETTE BARAJAS, BUSINESS OWNER: We will not allow fear and guns to keep us, you know, behind closed doors. We will continue to help those who need our help.
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SMITH: ICE agents working in the field could be wearing body cameras by the end of the month. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told CNN he thinks the body cameras will be distributed by the end of September. He added that they are looking at permanent camera options. Mullin said the department is also working with Motorola on the microphones agents use. He's set to meet with that company's CEO this week.
ICE had previously said it expected all field officers to have body cameras by the end of August.
Still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, as measles cases and deaths continue to rise, the CDC says they are not counting two recent measles deaths in their national numbers right now. We'll explain why on the other side of the break.
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[05:22:41]
SMITH: In an unconventional move by the CDC, the agency says it is not counting two measles related deaths in Pennsylvania at this time. The CDC posted the update days later than usual after Pennsylvania reported two measles deaths in Lancaster County last week. They were the first two reported measles related deaths in the U.S. this year. The CDC saying, quote, "At this time, available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles."
Former CDC official Demetre Daskalakis resigned from the agency over concerns about its direction under RFK, Jr., and he explains what makes this move to not count these cases so unusual.
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DEMETRE DASKALAKIS, FORMER DIRECTOR, CDC CENTER FOR IMMUNIZATION & RESPIRATORY DISEASES: What CDC is actually a lot of really poor communication, which is creating a deeper vacuum where people are able to make assumptions and we can see more miscommunication and misinformation. Generally speaking, if a state decides that a death is attributable to measles, it reports that death to CDC and then CDC posts that death in their epidemiological data.
And so, it is atypical to dispute with the state if it's gone through its normal process with the state epidemiologist, with the Department of Health, and is then sent to CDC as a death.
So, I mean, ultimately, it's -- the analogy would be if somebody has a heart attack and has underlying diabetes, they may have died of a heart attack, but the diabetes is a mitigating event. And this is how measles works. Measles causes the immune system to not be as strong. Measles can be something that can cause premature birth.
And so, I think that what you're seeing is a distortion of information, a distortion of data, in a way to serve the goal of trying to say that measles is no big deal. It is a big deal.
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SMITH: The CDC says it is reviewing more information about the, quote, circumstances and causes of the two deaths, and that the CDC will update the national count as additional information becomes available.
Let's stay in health news. A new study finds that a growing number of women have never been screened for cervical cancer. Research published in JAMA Network Open shows cervical cancer screening rates are falling.
[05:25:05]
And in 2023, nearly one in three women ages 21 to 29 had never been screened. That is up from one in eight in 2005. The rate also tripled among women ages 30 to 65. Researchers found significant disparities by race, education and insurance status.
Straight ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, the new developments in the case of the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk. What a judge ruled in a hearing on Tuesday. And one family is still hopeful about their missing loved one after
those deadly flash floods in the Grand Canyon. That story and more, straight ahead.
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