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Luigi Mangione Could Plead Guilty in Federal Case as Soon as Today; Catastrophic Floodwater Pours into Indiana Homes and Businesses; Trump Asks Supreme Court to Intervene in White House Ballroom Battle. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 14, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, trial or deal? Luigi Mangione in court this morning. Will the accused CEO killer strike a plea deal at the last moment?

And rivers rising. Indiana's flood disaster swelling this morning as new storms threaten the Midwest.

Plus, mounting pressure, calls for accountability growing louder about the U.S.S Abraham Lincoln. Could a formal investigation be next? Senator Richard Blumenthal is my next guest.

And horror in the air, a jet engine blade cuts into a plane, causing young passengers to be partially sucked out of a window. How close did this flight come to disaster?

And President Trump's next cut. Thousands of federal workers facing a choice, relocate or walk away.

And pass or fail? The controversial call at one major university, is it easing pressure or lowering standards, or both?

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is off today, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with that breaking news. It has been almost two years since this stunning moment, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson gunned down outside his hotel on a New York City street. And today, sources tell CNN Luigi Mangione, the man accused of carrying out that killing, could plead guilty to federal charges related to the fatal shooting. There's a hearing scheduled this morning with a federal judge overseeing this case, along with prosecutors and Mangione's attorneys.

CNN previously reported that plea negotiations were ongoing, but sources say the talks are fluid. And it's worth noting nothing is final until it's announced in court, and the judge will need to sign off on any potential agreement. Let's bring in CNN Senior Crime and Justice Correspondent Shimon Prokupecz right outside the Manhattan courthouse where this hearing is set to take place. Shimon, what's the latest on these plea discussions?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we really don't know at this moment. It all really is up to Luigi Mangione and what he wants to do, and that's why we've sort of been cautioning viewers and people to say, hey, we really don't know what's going to happen here, because I really think the court, the lawyers involved in this aren't really sure how this is going to play out ultimately.

There are two people that will decide here what happens. It's Luigi Mangione and then the judge. The judge ultimately will have to make that decision on whether to accept the plea, and that plea would involve two federal counts of stalking, one of them involving the death of Brian Thompson, the former UnitedHealthcare CEO.

Significant also, we have learned here in the last few moments that Brian Thompson, the victim in this case, the CEO who was executed on the streets here of Manhattan in such a violent and horrific way, caught by surprise, as video captured the moment where he was shot in the head early in the morning on his way to a conference. His family is expected to be in court.

Now, why this is so significant is because it will be the first time in this close to two-year case that we will see the family, perhaps maybe hear from the family. But any plea deal certainly would have to involve them signing off on it, meaning that the prosecutors in this case would have to ask them, are you okay with this, before we go ahead and propose this deal to Luigi Mangione.

And so with them being in court today, this will be a significant moment. It will be the first time perhaps that they get to see Luigi Mangione, and perhaps a moment for them to get some kind of relief and accountability if, in fact, he is to plead guilty.

There are a lot of unknowns here because of just the uncertainty surrounding over what Luigi Mangione plans to do. And also significant is if he does decide to plead guilty, it will be the first time that we hear from him. He will have to stand up in court and tell the judge what he did, and that is certainly going to be a significant moment here.

So, a lot unknown, but there are certainly going to be some pretty big developments here today.

BROWN: Yes, for sure.

[10:05:00]

And like you said, Brian Thompson's family is expected to be there. That certainly will bring a level of emotion to all of this.

And I wonder, Shimon, if you could just expand on how a plea deal in the federal case could affect the state trial that's set to begin next month.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. So, New York State has a very specific and very strict law, dubbed this double jeopardy issue, where if you plead guilty in federal court to a crime, of the circumstances, the act being the same in which you are charged in state court, there is a law here that says double jeopardy could attach, and therefore, that case, the state case, would get dismissed.

Now, that would ultimately be up to the judge in the state court. That trial, which he's facing murder charges on, is set to take place on September 8th. It could delay it, but there is some nuance here. Nothing is definite. There is some nuance here for the judge to perhaps rule against Luigi Mangione, and we could see that trial. But that's going to be tied up in all kinds of legal papers and arguments.

And so no matter what happens here today, perhaps that case will get delayed as well.

BROWN: All right, we'll see. Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much.

And happening now, the Midwest is being pummeled with drenching storms and flash flooding as hundreds of people are forced from their homes. Water rescues and evacuations are underway in Indiana after historic rainfall brought catastrophic flooding to the region for nearly a week. Video from Connersville shows the scale of the devastation as water rages over bridges, submerging homes and cars.

Let's go live now to CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar for the very latest. Allison, which areas are at the greatest risk today?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Honestly, the same areas that have been seeing the rain over the last few days. We're really just kind of seeing training storms, meaning the same spots over and over and over again.

So, you've got the green area highlighted here. That is a flood watch, meaning we do anticipate conditions to continue throughout much of the day today. And then, obviously, all of the dark red ones, those are flash flood warnings. That is where we currently have ongoing flooding.

When you look at the numbers since Monday, take a look at some of this, all the red and the orange indicating at least six inches of rain has fallen, and in the pink area here over portions of Indiana. Now, you're talking at least 10 to 12 inches of rain that's already come down, and now we're going to be adding more to it, some of these areas picking up two months' worth of rain in less than two days.

We've also talked about river flooding. Because this is more of a prolonged effect, it takes time for all of that water to recede. So, even after it's done raining, these rivers are still expected to be swollen and remain high for days afterwards until they start to come down. And you've got more than 50 of those river gauges at or above the flood stage in some of these locations.

Here's a look at the live radar now, where you can see where it's raining. Again, portions of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, all of the same places that we've been seeing the heavy rain over the last few days, and those red boxes indicating where you have the flashflood warnings in effect, again, pretty wide swath there, too. It's going to continue today and even into Saturday as well.

BROWN: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for bringing us the latest on that front.

And still ahead, the Lindsay Clancy trial is shedding light on postpartum psychosis. This morning, we're answering your questions about the life-threatening disorder.

Plus, lawmakers are demanding answers after families of sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln raised concerns about mental health and living conditions on the ship.

Plus, I'll speak with the father of a sailor on that aircraft carrier that I visited just last month.

And a man is nearly sucked out of a plane shortly after takeoff.

You're in the Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

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BROWN: Breaking news coming into The Situation Room, President Trump is asking the Supreme Court to step in over the construction of the White House ballroom. The emergency request, filed this morning, comes after lower courts repeatedly ruled that President Trump needed approval from Congress before moving forward with the sprawling 90,000 square foot project.

So, let's go live now to CNN Senior White House Reporter, Betsy Klein. Betsy, what more are you learning?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Pamela, the crux of this legal issue isn't the structure of the ballroom itself, or even that demolition of the East Wing, it is the processes that President Trump ignored along the way, namely among them securing that approval from Congress. So, last week, a federal appeals court ruled that the president must halt construction on that project until he had secured that Congressional green light.

Now, the president had suggested that he would immediately be asking the Supreme Court to step in here, that his administration has now formally filed that emergency request.

Now, this marks the first time that one of his construction projects could reach the Supreme Court. That is if they decide to take this up. But the Trump administration in this filing arguing that this is a matter of national security.

I want to read to you a little bit from the solicitor general, John Sauer. He says, quote, the government will suffer extreme irreparable harm because this injunction threatens the security and safety of the president. He goes on to say that the threat landscape against the president has evolved and become increasingly volatile and dangerous since this case was submitted.

Now, above ground construction on this ballroom project got underway around April, and it has made significant progress.

[10:10:04]

We have seen significant amounts of concrete being poured to support columns, things like that. They're getting ready to lay the floor of the ballroom itself.

But I spent some time talking with sources last week about what might happen. The Supreme Court could take this up and rule in Trump's favor. They could also potentially rule against him, and that would mean that the president would have to go to Congress, which is going to set up a major political test. So, we'll be watching all of this closely. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. I want to talk a little bit more about what's going on at the Kennedy Center. Tell me more about this board's vote.

KLEIN: So, the board essentially is testing this federal judge who ruled earlier this year that they were in violation of the law when they renamed the Kennedy Center after President Trump, and then he separately ruled that they could not fully close for two years for that planned renovation and had to keep up some form of programming.

So, the board had to meet and come up with a plan to satisfy those requirements, and they appear to be trying to circumvent what he is asking for. Number one, yes, President Trump's name was removed from that exterior signage, but they have now voted to put an inscription under that sign that says, renovated by President Donald J. Trump. Then they also agreed that the center would close for two years, but they would keep part of it known as The Reach, a smaller facility, open during that time.

Now, one of the members of the plaintiff's legal team tells our colleague, Sunlen Serfaty, that this is too cute by half and that they do plan to take this to court. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Betsy Klein, live for us from the White House, thanks so much.

Coming up, the Cyclospora outbreak expands. The two new states added to this growing list.

And then later, we're going to go one-on-one with the father of a sailor on board the USS Abraham Lincoln amid these reports of worsening crew member mental health. What he has to say about all of that, just ahead.

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[10:20:00] BROWN: We have some breaking news to get to with a double header of economic data giving us a snapshot at where inflation is going. Consumer sentiment fell nearly 8 percent this month after two consecutive months of improvement.

Also this morning, the Commerce Department revealed new retail sales numbers. They're showing the sharpest drop since May of last year, falling 0.6 percent in July from the prior month.

So, let's pack all -- unpack all of this with our CNN Business Senior Reporter David Goldman to understand what this all means. What do the numbers tell you about the state of the economy, David?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, it's one month of data, Pam, so I mean, it's really hard to, you know, see this as a trend. I think that what we've seen in the numbers behind retail sales is that, you know, gas prices were falling and so people are spending less because, you know, they were spending less on gas.

Now, remember, this is all looking backwards. Since July, gas prices have gone back up. In fact, you know, they're well above $4 when we were kind of flirting with going underneath $4 nationally for a while.

So, you know, not the numbers that economists wanted to see, but we were up in retail sales eight straight months. That is the trend that I think most economists are going to look at. And then if August is not so great and September is not so great, then, you know, maybe we can say that we're in a little bit of trouble.

But so far, consumer spending is pretty good. On the sentiment side, no question, people hate this economy. That is nothing new. It's really just a question of how much does that influence their spending. We have one month of data to say it wasn't great. We'll see if we can get two or three or four.

BROWN: All right, David Goldman, thank you so much.

Coming up here in The Situation Room, lawmakers are demanding answers after families of sailors on board the USS Abraham Lincoln raised concerns about their mental health and living conditions. We'll speak with one senator who wants answers about the aircraft carrier's lengthy deployment.

We'll be right back.

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[10:25:00]

BROWN: Happening now, a federal prosecutor now confirms that a substance found in the van of a man shot and killed by immigration officers was not meth. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed in July after ICE officers in an unmarked van chased his work van through the streets of Houston. His family's attorney says it was a homemade electrolyte mix. The U.S. attorney did not say what the substance was. Also, the multi-state cyclospora outbreak is growing. The FDA says people in 17 states have now been sickened by iceberg lettuce tied to the outbreak, the new additions being made in Massachusetts.

The outbreak has been linked to more than 9,400 people. And in Spain, going to the extremes to capture a solar eclipse stunt.

Photographer Noah Wetzel and Red Bull Air Force athlete Mike Brewer teamed up to capture a once-in-a-lifetime wing suit flight during the total solar eclipse. They had an 84-second window to capture the perfect shot. This is the final product. Together, the two men invested 600 hours and nine months to pull it all off, and they did it.

All right, happening now, new details from a sailor currently on board the USS Abraham Lincoln shedding light into the mental health toll an extended deployment has taken on some of the 5,000 crew members. That sailor telling me, quote, it's been very difficult. It feels like our leaders who sent us out here were making no efforts to bring us back. Neither did it feel like they were considerate of our lack of supplies and mental exhaustion.

I first reported yesterday that a sailor was rescued after going overboard this month off the Lincoln. Officials said the sailor was not injured, and the Navy considers this incident a mental health episode, but also emphasizes that man overboard incidents are not unique to the Abraham Lincoln.

Now, I had the privilege of spending a few days aboard the aircraft carrier as it sailed through the Arabian Sea, and I was able to speak to sailors and Marines who left port way back in November.

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AVERY WINGER, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: You wake up and you're like, this is like another.